Combating moisture in timber flat roofs

Soft rot which occurred in timber-based flat roofs of houses in Albertslund, a Copenhagen suburb, provoked a major on-site research and testing programme. The main findings are presented here by Knud Prebensen, of consulting engineers, COWI consult, who worked on this collaborative project and co-authored the original reports and this article with Georg Christensen, of the Danish Building Research Institute, and Prof. Vagn Korsgaard, of the Danish Technical Institute.     

Electrical conductivity of milk: ability to predict mastitis status

Electrical conductivity (EC) of milk has been introduced as an indicator trait for mastitis over the last decade, and it may be considered as a potential trait in a breeding program where selection for improved udder health is included. In this study, various EC traits were investigated for their association with udder health. In total, 322 cows with 549 lactations were included in the study. Cows were classified as healthy or clinically or subclinically infected, and EC was measured repeatedly during milking on each quarter. Four EC traits were defined; the inter-quarter ratio (IQR) between the highest and lowest quarter EC values, the maximum EC level for a cow, IQR between the highest and lowest quarter EC variation, and the maximum EC variation for a cow. Values for the traits were calculated for every milking throughout the entire lactation. All EC traits increased significantly (P < 0.001) when cows were subclinically or clinically infected. A simple threshold test and discriminant function analysis was used to validate the ability of the EC traits to distinguish between cows in different health groups. Traits reflecting the level rather than variation of EC, and in particular the IQR, performed best to classify cows correctly. By using this trait, 80.6% of clinical and 45.0% of subclinical cases were classified correctly. Of the cows classified as healthy, 74.8% were classified correctly. However, some extra information about udder health status was obtained when a combination of EC traits was used.     

Upscaling and automation of electrophysiology: toward high throughput screening in ion channel drug discovery

Effective screening of large compound libraries in ion channel drug discovery requires the development of new electrophysiological techniques with substantially increased throughputs compared to the conventional patch clamp technique. Sophion Bioscience is aiming to meet this challenge by developing two lines of automated patch clamp products, a traditional pipette-based system called Apatchi-1, and a silicon chip-based system QPatch. The degree of automation spans from semi-automation (Apatchi-1) where a trained technician interacts with the system in a limited way, to a complete automation (QPatch 96) where the system works continuously and unattended until screening of a full compound library is completed. The performance of the systems range from medium to high throughputs.     

Critical review of methods for risk ranking of food-related hazards,based on risks for human health

This study aimed to critically review methods for ranking risks related to food safety and dietary hazards on the basis of their anticipated human health impacts. A literature review was performed to identify and characterize methods for risk ranking from the fields of food, environmental science and socio-economic sciences. The review used a predefined search protocol, and covered the bibliographic databases Scopus, CAB Abstracts, Web of Sciences, and PubMed over the period 1993–2013.

All references deemed relevant, on the basis of predefined evaluation criteria, were included in the review, and the risk ranking method characterized. The methods were then clustered—based on their characteristics—into eleven method categories. These categories included: risk assessment, comparative risk assessment, risk ratio method, scoring method, cost of illness, health adjusted life years (HALY), multi-criteria decision analysis, risk matrix, flow charts/decision trees, stated preference techniques and expert synthesis. Method categories were described by their characteristics, weaknesses and strengths, data resources, and fields of applications.

It was concluded there is no single best method for risk ranking. The method to be used should be selected on the basis of risk manager/assessor requirements, data availability, and the characteristics of the method. Recommendations for future use and application are provided.     

Thermal processes in indoor icerinks

Indoor icerinks often have condensation problems in the roof due to radiant heat transfer between the ice and the roof ceiling, which can also account for 25 percent of the total cooling load. From case studies on two Danish indoor rinks involving computer modelling, this paper highlights the benefits from shielding or covering the ceiling with a fabric of low emissivity. Vagn Korsgaard is Professor at the Thermal Insulation Laboratory of the Technical University of Denmark. Teresa Forowicz, now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Warsaw Technical University, worked on this project while she was a guest researcher at the Danish laboratory.     

Transient sensitization to house-dust mites: a study on the influence of mite exposure and sex

This study aimed to evaluate the prognosis of a previous positive skin test to house-dust mites (HDM) in relation to environmental exposure. A total of 115 children, 50 from Stockholm and 65 from northern Sweden, all with a previous (average 2.5 years) positive Phazet (Pharmacia AB, Uppsala, Sweden) skin prick test (SPT) to extracts of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dpt) and/or D. farinae (Df) were included. Dust samples were collected from the children's mattresses, and the total (Dpt, Df, and D. microceras [Dm]) amount of major mite allergen was measured by ELISA (50 children) and expressed as microgram allergen per gram of dust, or was measured by microscopy (65 children). The results of microscopic mite counts were transformed to approximate allergen levels as 2 micrograms equals 100 mites per gram of dust. Of 115 originally SPT-positive children, only 48 (48%) remained positive at retest, while the majority (58%) were SPT negative after 2 years. Among the 67 converted children, 11 were still exposed to mite allergen, but only to low concentrations (only one converted child being exposed above the suggested threshold level [TLV] of 2 micrograms/g), compared to 15/48 children still SPT positive who were exposed above the TLV. This shows that continued mite exposure is a major risk factor (OR = 30, CI 4.8-184) for continued positive SPT to HDM. A minor risk factor for continued sensitization was sex, boys having a higher risk than girls (OR = 2.2, CI 1.0-4.8). In conclusion, a surprisingly high rate of SPT conversion occurred, mainly as a result of a favorable indoor environment with low exposure to HDM and, to a lesser degree, as a result of sex. The present results support the view that the risk level of exposure is 2 micrograms mite allergen per gram of dust.     

Thermal processes in indoor icerinks

Indoor icerinks often have condensation problems in the roof due to radiant heat transfer between the ice and the roof ceiling, which can also account for 25 percent of the total cooling load. From case studies on two Danish indoor rinks involving computer modelling, this paper highlights the benefits from shielding or covering the ceiling with a fabric of low emissivity. Vagn Korsgaard is Professor at the Thermal Insulation Laboratory of the Technical University of Denmark. Teresa Forowicz, now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Warsaw Technical University, worked on this project while she was a guest researcher at the Danish laboratory.     

In vivo estrogenic activity of branched and linear alkylphenols in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

The in vivo estrogenic activity of the two branched alkylphenols, tert-octylphenol and technical nonylphenol, and the two linear isoforms, n-octylphenol and n-nonylphenol, was compared. The compounds were administered to juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by either intraperitoneal injection or water exposure and their estrogenic potential was evaluated by ELISA measurements of induced plasma vitellogenin. Intraperitoneal injections (50 mg/kg) of the two branched alkylphenols resulted in a significant vitellogenic response after 12 days whereas no significant induction was seen with the two linear isomers. Water exposure for 9 days to a nominal concentration of 150 micrograms/l of the alkylphenols elicited the same response pattern as seen for the injection experiment. Furthermore, in the present vitellogenin assay tert-octylphenol was giving a higher estrogenic response compared to technical nonylphenol using either of the two exposure routes.     

Considering situational and dispositional approaches to rational self-interest: An extension and response to De Dreu (2006).

The authors respond to C. K. W. De Dreu's (2006; see record 2006-20695-004) critique of their article (B. M. Meglino & M. A. Korsgaard, 2004; see record 2004-21169-004) published in the special section on Theoretical Models and Conceptual Analyses of the Journal of Applied Psychology. They maintain that De Dreu misinterprets their definitions and the psychological processes they addressed and thus raises a number of issues that are not relevant to their model. Meglino and Korsgaard's model focuses on the distinction between rational self-interest and other orientation, whereas the approach taken by De Dreu focuses on the distinction between rational self-interest and collective rationality. In this response, the authors clarify this distinction, address discrepancies between these two approaches, consider the effect of goals and rationality on other orientated behavior, and suggest directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)