Application of ISO 9002 and FDA's good manufacturing practices to general chemical manufacturing.

Two manufacturing standards are discussed and compared, namely, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Good Manufacturing Practices and the International Standards Organization 9000 (ISO 9000) series. Conclusions are drawn relative to quality improvement strategies.     

Physiological aspects of androstenone and skatole formation in the boar-A review with experimental data

The advantages of boars in fattening performance and carcass traits when compared with the other sexes are explained by testicular anabolic hormones. The steroid androstenone with a pronounced urine-like odour is the main objection against boar meat. More recently skatole (faecal odour) has been identified as another contributor to off-odour of pork. Androstenone is synthesized in the testes, secreted into the circulation and accumulated in adipose tissue due to its lipophilic property. Its biosynthesis is linked to the synthesis of anabolic testicular hormones. Therefore no practical method is available to maintain the sex-dependent anabolic potential of boars and to suppress androstenone selectively. Skatole is formed from tryptophan by specialized microbes in the colon when energy in the colon is limited. Gonadal hormones, but also growth hormone and IGF-1, favour its formation. Oestrogens, which are synthesized in high amounts in boar testes, decrease voluntary food intake, thus lowering the intestinal passage rate. Additionally oestrogens probably influence directly intestinal contractions via specific gut receptors. It appears, however, that glucocorticoids are more important. They counteract mitogenic hormones, such as IGF-1, ultimately leading to gut mucosal cell degradation. The resulting cell debris probably is the main source of tryptophan for microbial skatole formation. In contrast to androstenone, skatole formation can be easily suppressed by dietary means.     

Variations in the Usability of Independent Web-Based Personal Health Records

ABSTRACT

Previous research on personal health records (PHRs) has focused on applications that are “tethered” to a specific electronic health record (EHR). However, there is a gap in research on the usability of unaffiliated, independent PHRs, as well as research on college-aged PHR users. Therefore, we performed a comparative usability study with 18 college-aged participants on three popular, freely available, independent PHRs. Participants completed the same six tasks in three different PHRs. Dependent variables included task time, mouse movement, mouse clicks, keystrokes, errors, and user satisfaction ratings based on the Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significance in the difference of the means for each dependent variable. Results showed statistically significant differences in CSUQ survey categories, errors, and keystrokes. Results supported one of the three PHRs (“System A”) as having better usability than its tested counterparts; participants scored best in System A of all categories of the CSUQ, and used System A with less mouse movement, commission errors, and keystrokes than the other PHRs.     

In-flight spectral calibration of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Preflight testing of AIRS determined that the shapes of the detector spectral response functions (SRFs) do not vary under different instrument conditions. This reduces in-flight spectral calibration to the determination of detector spectral centroids. A spectrometer grating model has been developed to calculate detector centroids. Only two parameters of this model need to be determined in orbit. An algorithm is presented for determining these two parameters in orbit by correlating observed upwelling radiance spectra with modeled spectra. The method of selecting spectral regions against which to correlate is detailed. The in-orbit spectral calibration algorithm was tested on one day of simulated global AIRS radiances, showing that the uncertainty in the frequencies of the SRF centroids is between 0.006 /spl Delta//spl nu/ and 0.01 /spl Delta//spl nu/, compared to the spectral calibration requirement of 0.01 /spl Delta//spl nu/, where /spl Delta//spl nu/ is the SRF full width at half maximum. The simulation also indicates that the stability of the spectral calibration can be monitored at the 0.001-/spl Delta//spl nu/ level on a daily basis.     

Hardware-assisted feature analysis and visualization of procedurally encoded multifield volumetric data

We take a new approach to interactive visualization and feature detection of large scalar, vector, and multifield computational fluid dynamics data sets that is also well suited for meshless CFD methods. Radial basis functions (RBFs) are used to procedurally encode both scattered and irregular gridded scalar data sets. The RBF encoding creates a complete, unified, functional representation of the scalar field throughout 3D space, independent of the underlying data topology, and eliminates the need for the original data grid during visualization. The capability of commodity PC graphics hardware to accelerate the reconstruction and rendering and to perform feature detection from this functional representation is a powerful tool for visualizing procedurally encoded volumes. Our RBF encoding and GPU-accelerated reconstruction, feature detection, and visualization tool provides a flexible system for visually exploring and analyzing large, structured, scattered, and unstructured scalar, vector, and multifield data sets at interactive rates on desktop PCs.     

Regulation of acetylcholine synthesis: does cytoplasmic acetylcholine control high affinity choline uptake?

When brain synaptosomes are obtained from animals that have been injected intravenously with [2H4]choline 1 minute before being killed, their high affinity [3H] choline uptake is correlated inversely with their acetylcholine content and directly with the rate at which they synthesize [2H4]acetylcholine. The control of such choline uptake by the cytoplasmic acetylcholine concentration is proposed as a mechanism regulating acetylcholine synthesis in cholinergic nerve terminals.     

Organic–inorganic hybrid composites for photovoltaics: Organic guest molecules embedded in μc-Si and ZnSe host matrices

The concept of organic–inorganic hybrid composites for bulk sensitization of inorganic semiconductors by organic dye molecules is introduced. The idea is either to increase the absorptivity of e.g. indirect semiconductors as μc-Si or to expand in a two-step process the absorption spectrum of wide gap semiconductors to photons of energy smaller than the band gap. The composites are prepared by vacuum-based codeposition. Raman and optical spectroscopy, and photoemission have been used to prove the stability of the organic molecules ZnPc and F₁₆ZnPc for the applied growth conditions. Enhancement of photoconductivity has been shown for ZnPc–Si bilayer. As a crucial parameter for the transfer of excited charges, the alignment of dye HOMO–LUMO states versus semiconductor band edges has been determined using photoelectron spectroscopy.     

Die nutzung gentechnischer methoden zur produktion wertvoller proteine in mikroorganismen

The genetic make-up of living systems especially of isolated cells can be altered by a variety of methods including chemical or light-induced mutation. More modern procedures are the in vitro recombination of nucleic acids and the cell-cell fusion. The new methods are especially useful to reprogram microorganisms to produce valuable proteins or other natural products in excess quantties. In the following we will elucidate the importance of the new techniques by describing the bacterial production of glucose dehydrogenase, of the proteinase inhibitor stefin A and by outlining the methods and promisses of substractive cloning. Although the economic value of genetic engineering techniques still awaits justification, the importance of the methodology for basic biological research is well documented.     

Anisotropic Microstructural Development During the Constrained Sintering of Dip-Coated Alumina Thin Films

Alumina thin films were manufactured from aqueous slurries by dip coating. Film thickness as function of substrate withdrawal velocity could be correctly modeled by Landau and Levich's theory. Samples were sintered on a rigid substrate at 1350°C for different isothermal times to achieve relative densities from 84% to 97%. Microstructural analysis of polished cross sections revealed a continuous development of pore alignment, as expected by theoretical considerations. With increasing density pores become more anisometric and orientate along the thickness direction. A further preferential orientation of pores was found in the normal plane, apparently due to the coating process. Constraining conditions had less influence on the size and shape of the grains; they tend to become more equiaxed in the constrained plane, presumably due to the biaxial tensile stress state.