Pesticide monitoring programme of the Ministry of Health of Brazil

The structure of the recently introduced Brazilian government programme for monitoring pesticide residues in six major agricultural products is described. Residues found from the analysis of samples of tomatoes and strawberries are discussed in detail. The much greater frequency of detection of pesticide residues, many of which are not approved for use in Brazil, in produce being sold on the domestic market, as opposed to that produced for export, is of major concern. It is perceived that this new monitoring programme will become permanent and be used to underpin enforcement actions that will need to be taken to reduce the numbers of incidents of illegal residues occurring, particularly in fresh fruits and vegetables.     

Surface Activation of Diamond Particles in the Process of Chemical Coppering

The effect of the composition of sensitizing–activating solutions on the activation efficiency and the chemical coppering of diamond powders is studied. The results demonstrate that stabilizing additives improve the stability of the solutions, influence the average coppering rate, and play a key role in determining the morphology and quality of the resultant coatings. The most effective stabilizing additive is synthamid-10, which ensures the deposition of high-quality copper coatings.     

An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

Host/guest complex of Me-β-CD/2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenyl acetophenone for initiation of aqueous photopolymerization: Kinetics and mechanism

Methylated-β-cyclodextrin (Me-β-CD) was used to complex the photoinitiator, 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenyl acetophenone (DMPA), yielding a water-soluble host/guest complex. The comparative studies demonstrated that the Me-β-CD complexed DMPA exhibited a high photoreactivity identical to the uncomplexed DMPA, while the CD complex obviously influenced the products of primary photolysis of DMPA and the photopolymerization kinetics due to the steric effect of CD on the subsequent initiation reactions. The photopolymerization rate of acrylamide can be described by the equation: R_p=K[2a]^0.62[M]^1.37[I]^0.5[Me-β-CD]⁰. The mechanism of polymerization was also discussed.     

Sensory analysis of polystyrene packaging material taint in cocoa powder for drinks and chocolate flakes

Polystyrene packaging material taint was sensorily evaluated in cocoa powder for drinks and chocolate flakes using short-cut signal detection measures on differences between control and test samples and on recognition of styrene. No differences were observed in cocoa powder for drinks and plain chocolate flakes treated with 0.5 dm2 polystyrene of 1 mm thickness. However, differences were detected in milk chocolate flakes and plain chocolate flakes, which were in contact with a larger area or thicker polystyrene packaging material. The latter results were confirmed by the styrene recognition test, so polystyrene is a potential source of off-flavour for chocolate products. The amount of residual styrene in the polystyrene used was about 320 ppm, while the amounts of styrene ranged from 7 to 132 ppb in cocoa drinks and from 414 to 1447 ppb in chocolate flakes.     

近期国内天然橡胶市场动态

本周（10月20～24日）亚洲天胶市场天胶价格小幅震荡，现货市场成交有限。期货沪胶在13000元震荡较为明显，市场商家仍多处于观望状态，对橡胶后市信心不足。本周CIF中国主港11月船期报价：泰国烟片胶RSS3外盘报价1640美元-1675美元／吨，泰国标准胶STR20外盘报价1550美元～1605美元／吨，印尼标准胶SIR20外盘报价1560美元～1580美元／吨，马来西亚标准胶SMR20外盘报价1670美元～1705美元／吨，越南标准胶SVR3L外盘报价1670美元-1705美元／吨，泰国乳胶外盘报价1340美元～1390美元／吨。本周国内天胶两大产区均未有成交，本周标准胶SCR5近期跟随期货市场价格波动，国内大部分销区市场主流报价在14700元～16000元／吨左右，下跌幅度高达1000元／吨左右。     

Effects of compressive and tensile stress on the growth mode of epitaxial oxide films

Oxide films were deposited on different substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction was performed to in situ investigate the change of growth mode and the lattice relaxation during the growth. An asymmetrical phenomenon was found in the two kinds of strain states, compressive stress and tensile stress of heterostructures with different lattice mismatch. In the case of BaTiO₃/SrTiO₃ (2.2%), 2D layer-by-layer growth mode without lattice relaxation can be maintained for a longer period for BTO films on STO with compressive stress, comparing to STO films on BTO with tensile stress. When MgO films were deposited on SrTiO₃ with a large mismatch of 7.8%, compressive stress leads to rapid lattice relaxation with a very thin wet layer, and 3D strained island were observed. As a comparison, SrTiO₃ films on MgO with tensile stress were configured. No RHEED patterns can be observed duo to a large tensile stress.