Assessment of the neighborhood environmental effects of highway improvements through micronetwork simulation

New Cut Road is a major arterial highway serving South Louisville. Until recently, it was a narrow two‐lane highway of rural‐type design carrying up to 14,000 vehicles per day under forced flow conditions. Then construction began to widen the road from Southside Drive to Old Third Street Road, as a result of Urban Corridor Demonstration Program funding. The impacts (traffic, noise, and air pollution) on the neighborhoods surrounding this widening have been measured through micronetwork simulation techniques. Traffic will be diverted from surrounding roads (up to 20 percent) to the widened New Cut facility, thereby eliminating “over‐capacity” conditions in these facilities, adding several years’ life. Further, expeditious movement of vehicles through the New Cut Road “area of influence” will have a beneficial, albeit small, effect on the local air and noise environment. New Cut Road will be a highly cost‐effective, low‐capital‐intensive improvement.     

Removal of lead contaminated dusts from hard surfaces

Government guidelines have widely recommended trisodium phosphate (TSP) or "lead-specific" cleaning detergents for removal of lead-contaminated dust (LCD) from hard surfaces, such as floors and window areas. The purpose of this study was to determine if low-phosphate, non-lead-specific cleaners could be used to efficiently remove LCD from 3 types of surfaces (vinyl flooring, wood, and wallpaper). Laboratory methods were developed and validated for simulating the doping, embedding, and sponge cleaning of the 3 surface types with 4 categories of cleaners: lead-specific detergents, nonionic cleaners, anionic cleaners, and trisodium phosphate (TSP). Vinyl flooring and wood were worn using artificial means. Materials were ashed, followed by ultrasound extraction, and anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). One-way analysis of variance approach was used to evaluate the surface and detergent effects. Surface type was found to be a significant factor in removal of lead (p < 0.001). Vinyl flooring cleaned better than wallpaper by over 14% and wood cleaned better than wallpaper by 13%. There was no difference between the cleaning action of vinyl flooring and wood. No evidence was found to support the use of TSP or lead-specific detergents over all-purpose cleaning detergents for removal of lead-contaminated dusts. No-phosphate, non-lead-specific detergents are effective in sponge cleaning of lead-contaminated hard surfaces and childhood lead prevention programs should consider recommending all-purpose household detergents for removal of lead-contaminated dust after appropriate vacuuming.     

Large apparent electric size of solid-state nanopores due to spatially extended surface conduction

Ion transport through nanopores drilled in thin membranes is central to numerous applications, including biosensing and ion selective membranes. This paper reports experiments, numerical calculations, and theoretical predictions demonstrating an unexpectedly large ionic conduction in solid-state nanopores, taking its origin in anomalous entrance effects. In contrast to naive expectations based on analogies with electric circuits, the surface conductance inside the nanopore is shown to perturb the three-dimensional electric current streamlines far outside the nanopore in order to meet charge conservation at the pore entrance. This unexpected contribution to the ionic conductance can be interpreted in terms of an apparent electric size of the solid-state nanopore, which is much larger than its geometric counterpart whenever the number of charges carried by the nanopore surface exceeds its bulk counterpart. This apparent electric size, which can reach hundreds of nanometers, can have a major impact on the electrical detection of translocation events through nanopores, as well as for ionic transport in biological nanopores.     

Electron fluctuation induced resonance broadening in nano electromechanical systems: the origin of shear force in vacuum

This article presents a study of the poorly understood "shear-force" used in an important class of near-field instruments that use mechanical resonance feedback detection. In the case of a metallic probe near a metallic surface in vacuum, we show that in the 10-60 nm range there is no such a thing as a shear-force in the sense of the nonconservative friction force. Fluctuations of the oscillator resonance frequency, likely induced by local charge variations, could account for the reported effects in the literature without introducing a dissipative force.     

Effect of long term dietary supplementation with plant extract on carcass characteristics meat quality and oxidative stability in pork

The effects of dietary supplementation in pigs with plant extract (PE) from Lippia spp., titrated in verbascoside (5 mg/kg feed), from weaning to slaughter (166 days), on carcass characteristics, meat quality, collagen characteristics, oxidative stability and sensory attributes of Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle were examined. Ten pigs per treatment were slaughter at a live weight of 109.5 ± 1.4 kg. No influence on carcass characteristics, LD meat quality parameters and collagen characteristics were observed. Dietary PE increased (P < 0.001) α-tocopherol levels in LD muscle. Raw LD of pig fed PE showed lower (P < 0.001) lipid oxidation levels than controls. A reduction (P = 0.05) of fat odor and rancid flavor intensity in cooked LD muscle stored at 4 °C for 24 h was observed in the treated group. This study shows that PE is an effective antioxidant in pork meat, enhancing oxidative status and sensory attributes, without affecting other meat quality parameters.     

X-ray pushing of a mechanical microswing

We report here for the first time the combination of x-ray synchrotron light and a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS). We show how it is possible to modulate in real time a MEMS mass distribution to induce a nanometric and tunable mechanical oscillation. The quantitative experimental demonstration we present here uses periodic thermal dilatation of a Ge microcrystal attached to a Si microlever, induced by controlled absorption of an intensity modulated x-ray microbeam. The mechanism proposed can be envisaged either for the detection of small heat flux or for the actuation of a mechanical system.