Residues of deoxynivalenol (DON) in pig tissue after feeding mash or pellet diets containing low concentrations

Residues of deoxynivalenol (DON) and its metabolite de-epoxy-DON (DOM) were analyzed in specimens of pigs fed diets containing 0, 25, and 50% contaminated wheat (2.5 mg DON/kg) fed as mash or pellets over the final growing period of 11 wk. Median DON concentrations decreased from bile > kidney > serum > liver = muscle, while DOM was only detected in bile and kidney. Maximum carry over rates were 0.0319 for kidney, 0.0064 for liver, and 0.0043 for muscle, demonstrating that the contribution of animal derived food to the consumers' exposure is very low. The high interindividual variation of DON concentrations in all analyzed specimen of pigs fed diets containing similar concentrations of DON does not allow a diagnostic differentiation of animals fed diets containing DON concentrations of approximately 61% of the guidance level of 0.9 mg DON/kg, and those fed diets containing 137% of this concentration. The different feed forms did not affect residue concentrations in any of the investigated specimens.     

Supportive colleague, unsupportive supervisor: The role of provider-specific constellations of social support at work in the development of low back pain.

In a 5-year longitudinal study, social support was investigated as a predictor of low back pain (LBP) in 46 initially asymptomatic individuals. Distinguishing between colleagues in general and the colleague one feels closest to, the authors analyzed constellations of support from supervisor (which had positive effects) and closest colleague (which had detrimental effects). Configural frequency analysis yielded a type characterized by high support from one's closest colleague and low support from one's supervisor at Time 1 and more LBP and disability at Time 2. Controlling for negative affectivity did not change findings. Results are interpreted in terms of being dependent on that one source of support in an unsupportive environment, which creates feelings of dependence, incompetence, and reciprocity obligations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microemulsion synthesis of MgO-supported LaMnO3 for catalytic combustion of methane

Catalysts with 20% LaMnO₃ supported on MgO have been prepared via CTAB-1-butanol-iso-octane-nitrate salt microemulsion. The preparation method was successfully varied in order to obtain different degrees of interaction between LaMnO₃ and MgO as shown by TPR and activity tests after calcination at 900 °C. Activity was tested on structured catalysts with 1.5% CH₄ in air as test gas giving a GHSV of 100,000 h⁻¹. The activity was greatly enhanced by supporting LaMnO₃ on MgO compared with the bulk LaMnO₃. After calcination at 1100 °C both the surface area and TPR profiles were similar, indicating that the preparation method is of little importance at this high temperature due to interaction between the phases. Pure LaMnO₃ and MgO were prepared using the same microemulsion method for comparison purposes. Pure MgO showed an impressive thermal stability with a BET surface area exceeding 30 m²/g after calcination at 1300 °C. The method used to prepare pure LaMnO₃ appeared not to be suitable since the surface area dropped to 1.1 m²/g already after calcination in 900 °C.     

Temporal Fade Reduction for Fixed Wireless Diversity Receivers with Unbalanced and Correlated Branches

Temporal correlation between diversity branches degrades the fade mitigation expected in a multi-antenna diversity receiver. We study the case when the receive power is unequal across the diversity array. We also include the effect of correlation among the received signals. The results are of particular interest when the diversity receiver is stationary because the antennas will be unbalanced since they experience a single instantiation of the spatial fade statistics. We present a simple analytical model applicable to fixed wireless links (FWLs). Experimental results illustrate the improvement in temporal link stability resulting from the use of an equal gain combiner (EGC)     

Innovative material technology removes dioxins from flue gases

Adiox™ is an innovative material for removing toxic dioxins from combustion gases, making it an ideal absorbing material for tower packings and demisters in wet scrubbers. Adiox can also be used as a police filter to reduce the memory effect, as well as the primary dioxin removal technology. Sven Andersson, Siegfried Kreisz and Hans Hunsinger discuss this novel technology for the cleaning of flue gases.     

Some aspects of formation and tribological properties of silver nanodumbbells

In this paper, metal nanodumbbells (NDs) formed by laser-induced melting of Ag nanowires (NWs) on an oxidized silicon substrate and their tribological properties are investigated. The mechanism of ND formation is proposed and illustrated with finite element method simulations. Tribological measurements consist in controllable real-time manipulation of NDs inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with simultaneous force registration. The geometry of NDs enables to distinguish between different types of motion, i.e. rolling, sliding and rotation. Real contact areas are calculated from the traces left after the displacement of NDs and compared to the contact areas predicted by the contact mechanics and frozen droplet models.

PACS

81.07.-b; 62.25.-g; 62.23.Hj     

GIS Applications for Building 3D Campus,Utilities and Implementation Mapping Aspects for University Planning Purposes

In city planning managing, the third dimension is becoming a necessity. Using 3D GIS modeling offers a flexible interactive system while providing one of the best visual interpretation of data which supports planning and decision processes for city planners. As a result, 3D GIS model expresses terrain features in an intuitive way which enhances the management and analysis of a proposed project through 3D visualization. This paper discusses the concept of 3D GIS modeling techniques using a simple procedure to generate a university campus model （real 3D GIS model） which will show the effectiveness of this approach. The 3D GIS model provides access to mapping data to support planning, design and data management. Intelligent GIS models and GIS tools help community planning and apply regional and discipline-specific standards. Integration of GIS spatial data with campus organization helps to improve quality, productivity and asset management. The following study built 3D GIS map and all utility information for AI al-Bayt University campus as an example. The primary objective is to improve data management （e.g., maps, plans, usage of facilities and services） and to develop methods using 3D spatial analysis for specific applications at the university.     

Exploiting intrinsic fluctuations to identify model parameters

Parameterisation of kinetic models plays a central role in computational systems biology. Besides the lack of experimental data of high enough quality, some of the biggest challenges here are identification issues. Model parameters can be structurally non‐identifiable because of functional relationships. Noise in measured data is usually considered to be a nuisance for parameter estimation. However, it turns out that intrinsic fluctuations in particle numbers can make parameters identifiable that were previously non‐identifiable. The authors present a method to identify model parameters that are structurally non‐identifiable in a deterministic framework. The method takes time course recordings of biochemical systems in steady state or transient state as input. Often a functional relationship between parameters presents itself by a one‐dimensional manifold in parameter space containing parameter sets of optimal goodness. Although the system''s behaviour cannot be distinguished on this manifold in a deterministic framework it might be distinguishable in a stochastic modelling framework. Their method exploits this by using an objective function that includes a measure for fluctuations in particle numbers. They show on three example models, immigration‐death, gene expression and Epo‐EpoReceptor interaction, that this resolves the non‐identifiability even in the case of measurement noise with known amplitude. The method is applied to partially observed recordings of biochemical systems with measurement noise. It is simple to implement and it is usually very fast to compute. This optimisation can be realised in a classical or Bayesian fashion.Inspec keywords: biochemistry, physiological models, stochastic processes, measurement errors, fluctuations, parameter estimationOther keywords: model parameter identification, deterministic framework, biochemical system, steady state, transient state, stochastic modelling framework, objective function, immigration‐death model, gene expression, Epo–EpoReceptor interaction, stochastic fluctuations, measurement noise