Total mercury,methylmercury and selenium in mercury polluted areas in the province Guizhou,China

The province of Guizhou in Southwestern China is currently one of the world's most important mercury production areas. Emissions of mercury from the province to the global atmosphere have been estimated to be approximately 12% of the world total anthropogenic emissions. The main objective of this study was to assess the level of contamination with Hg in two geographical areas of Guizhou province. Mercury pollution in the areas concerned originates from mercury mining and ore processing in the area of Wanshan, while in the area of Quingzhen mercury pollution originates from the chemical industry discharging Hg through wastewaters and emissions to the atmosphere due to coal burning for electricity production. The results of this study confirmed high contamination with Hg in soil, sediments and rice in the Hg mining area in Wanshan. High levels of Hg in soil and rice were also found in the vicinity of the chemical plant in Quingzhen. The concentrations of Hg decreased with distance from the main sources of pollution considerably. The general conclusion is that Hg contamination in Wanshan is geographically more widespread, due to deposition and scavenging of Hg from contaminated air and deposition on land. In Quingzhen Hg contamination of soil is very high close to the chemical plant but the levels reach background concentrations at a distance of several km. Even though the major source of Hg in both areas is inorganic Hg, it was observed that active transformation of inorganic Hg to organic Hg species (MeHg) takes place in water, sediments and soils. The concentration of Hg in rice grains can reach up to 569 microg/kg of total Hg of which 145 microg/kg was in MeHg form. The percentage of Hg as MeHg varied from 5 to 83%. The concentrations of selenium can reach up to 16 mg/kg in soil and up to 1 mg/g in rice. A correlation exists between the concentration of Se in soil and rice, indicating that a portion of Se is bioavailable to plants. No correlation between Hg and Se in rice was found. Exposure of the local population to Hg may occur due to inhalation of Hg present in air (in particular in Hg mining area) and consumption of Hg contaminated food (in particular rice and fish) and water. Comparison of intake through these different routes showed that the values of Hg considerably exceed the USA EPA Reference Concentration (RfC) for chronic Hg exposure (RfC is 0.0004 mg/m(3)) close to the emission sources. Intake of Hg through food consumption, particularly rice and fish, is also an important route of Hg exposure in study area. In general, it can be concluded that the population mostly at risk is located in the vicinity of smelting facilities, mining activities and close to the waste disposal sites in the wider area of Wanshan. In order to assess the real level of contamination in the local population, it is recommended that biomonitoring should be performed, including Hg and MeHg measurements in hair, blood and urine samples.     

Veteran interest in family involvement in PTSD treatment.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 7(3) of Psychological Services (see record 2010-17074-004). The copyright for the article was listed incorrectly. This article is in the Public Domain. The online version has been corrected.] The present study examined interest in family involvement in treatment and preferences concerning the focus of family oriented treatment for veterans (N = 114) participating in an outpatient Veterans Affairs outpatient posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program. Most veterans viewed PTSD as a source of family stress (86%) and expressed interest in greater family involvement in their treatment (79%). These results suggest the need to consider increasing family participation in the clinical care of individuals with PTSD and to develop specialized family educational and support services for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kontextbasierte Kooperation für mobile Geschäftsanwendungen

Realistic requirements of mobile business applications often exceed the capabilities of their respective local environments. In order to overcome such restrictions of specific mobile devices, services, and resources, this contribution introduces the concept of context-based cooperation. It is based on mobile processes which enable applications to cross boundaries of individual systems and thereby allow combining both mobile and stationary resources in order to realize highly dynamic individual applications. This contribution presents an approach for realizing context-based cooperation built upon on a respective context management infrastructure and execution environment. It also identifies specific requirements and proposes related enhancements for mobile business applications.     

Thermodynamic Evaluation of Inclusions Formation and Behaviour in Steels during Casting and Solidification

For demanding applications high steel cleanliness and strictly controlled inclusions are required. Primary inclusions are formed during steel treatments in the ladle. Most of these are removed to the ladle slag or on the lining. However, the rest of the inclusions still remain through the successive process stages, and additionally new inclusions are formed during casting and solidification due to decreasing thermodynamic solubility of oxygen in the steel at lower temperatures, reactions with surrounding slag, refractory materials and eventual contact with air. Inclusions formation and transformation are simulated by thermodynamic calculations in the steel/inclusions/slag system taking into account the solidification phenomena. In this paper inclusions in Si/Mn‐deoxidised steel and Al‐deoxidised Ca‐treated steels are contributed. Calculations are compared with experimental results from steel plants.     

What footdrumming signals in kangaroo rats (Dipodomys heermanni).

Footdrumming during social interaction was studied in kangaroo rats (Dipodomys heermanni). Behaviors that elicited and followed footdrumming during mixed-sex encounters between adults were examined. Females spent more time in the burrow and footdrummed. Males showed higher rates of digging and approaching the females' burrow: these acts were reliably followed by female footdrumming. Footdrumming was associated with male retreat. The authors then tested whether this effect reflected a difference in sex or in social status, using each possible dyad in triads (adult male, adult female, juvenile male). Juvenile males drummed to all adults, but females only drummed to adult males; relationships were transitive. Social context and initial approach tendencies account for the occurrence of footdrumming, which communicates unwillingness to interact, particularly from within the burrow. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isolation and characterization of the solvent-tolerant Bacillus cereus strain R1

Toluene-tolerant gram-positive bacteria were isolated and identified to belong to the genus Bacillus. They grew in a medium containing yeast extract and in the presence of a separate phase of toluene or other hydrocarbons, but not when aliphatic alcohols were present. The isolate Bacillus cereus R1 did not metabolise or transform toluene. Toluene accumulation in its cells was rapid, unless the organism was supplied with glucose as energy source. In bacteria adapted to toluene, the amount of toluene accumulating in cells was one-half that in nonadapted bacteria. Valinomycin (K+ ionophore) and o-vanadate (ATPase inhibitor) as inhibitors of energy metabolism partly counteracted the effect of glucose as energy source. These results suggest the presence of an efflux mechanism for toluene in strain R1. The nature of this mechanism and its function in a solvent-tolerant gram-positive strain are discussed.     

The feasibility and outcome of clinic plus Internet delivery of cognitive-behavior therapy for childhood anxiety.

Seventy-two clinically anxious children, aged 7 to 14 years, were randomly allocated to clinic-based, cognitive-behavior therapy, the same treatment partially delivered via the Internet, or a wait-list control (WL). Children in the clinic and clinic-plus-Internet conditions showed significantly greater reductions in anxiety from pre- to posttreatment and were more likely to be free of their anxiety diagnoses, compared with the WL group. Improvements were maintained at 12-month follow-up for both therapy conditions, with minimal difference in outcomes between interventions. The Internet treatment content was highly acceptable to families, with minimal dropout and a high level of therapy compliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quantifying ethanol content of beer using interpretive near-infrared spectroscopy

On the basis of absorption measurements in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range, a new method for the quantification of the ethanol content of beer is presented. Instead of the multivariate calibration models most commonly employed in NIR spectroscopic works, we use interpretive difference spectroscopy: Two wavelengths are selected according to the assignment of the absorption bands of the main substances of content of beer in the NIR region, and the difference between the absorbances at these wavelengths is used for ethanol quantification. Absorption spectra of the dominating beer ingredients are discussed and the calibration procedure with ethanol/water mixtures is shown. Robustness against the carbohydrate content of beer samples was demonstrated by analyzing solutions of ethanol and maltose in water. Validation of the method was performed with various beer samples with an ethanol concentration range between 0.5 and 7.7 vol %. The pertinent advantage of the procedure developed in this work is the indication that the results are independent from seasonal variations of the ingredients, which is of high interest for products with natural ingredients such as beer.