Arsenic, lead and nickel accumulation in Rubus ulmifolius growing in contaminated soil in Portugal

This work investigates the potential of Rubus ulmifolius, indigenous to a metal contaminated site--Esteiro de Estarreja--for phytoremediation purposes. The site has a long history of metal contamination. The accumulation of lead (Pb), arsenic (As) and nickel (Ni) in different sections--roots, stems and leaves - of the plant was assessed and compared to the levels of those metals in the soil and in the available fraction. The distribution of metals throughout the area was quite heterogeneous, presenting levels of As, Pb and Ni of up to 3078, 1400 and 135 mg kg(-1), respectively, and the metal content in the sections of R. ulmifolius collected in the banks of the stream varied among sites of collection. Levels of metals were higher in the plant roots: As levels (mgkg(-1)) ranged from 277 to 1721 in the roots, 30 to 110 in the stems, and 60 to 265 in the leaves; Pb concentrations (mgkg(-1)) ranged from 248 to 1178 in the roots, 35 to 133 in the stems, and 25 to 149 in the leaves; and Ni (mgkg(-1)) ranged from 48 to 151 in the roots. Significant correlations were found between the total levels of Pb and As in the soil and the levels in the roots of the plant; further correlations between total and available levels in the soil and metals in other plant tissues were generally found as non-significant. According to the metal accumulation patterns of R. ulmifolius, this species seems to be valuable for application in phytostabilisation strategies.     

Optical aberrations of intraocular lenses measured in vivo and in vitro

Corneal and ocular aberrations were measured in a group of eyes before and after cataract surgery with spherical intraocular lens (IOL) implantation by use of well-tested techniques developed in our laboratory. By subtraction of corneal from total aberration maps, we also estimated the optical quality of the intraocular lens in vivo. We found that aberrations in pseudophakic eyes are not significantly different from aberrations in eyes before cataract surgery or from previously reported aberrations in healthy eyes of the same age. However, aberrations in pseudophakic eyes are significantly higher than in young eyes. We found a slight increase of corneal aberrations after surgery. The aberrations of the IOL and the lack of balance of the corneal spherical aberrations by the spherical aberrations of the intraocular lens also degraded the optical quality in pseudophakic eyes. We also measured the aberrations of the IOL in vitro, using an eye cell model, and simulated the aberrations of the IOL on the basis of the IOL's physical parameters. We found a good agreement among in vivo, in vitro, and simulated measures of spherical aberration: Unlike the spherical aberration of the young crystalline lens, which tends to be negative, the spherical aberration of the IOL is positive and increases with lens power. Computer simulations and in vitro measurements show that tilts and decentrations might be contributors to the increased third-order aberrations in vivo in comparison with in vitro measurements.     

131I content in the human thyroid estimated from direct measurements of the inhabitants of Russian areas contaminated due to the Chernobyl accident

The method of processing and the results of measurements of 131I content in the thyroids of Russian people performed in May-June 1986 are presented. The contribution of radiation from Cs radionuclides in the human body was taken into account in the processing of measurement data with an SRP-68-01 device. The greatest individual 131I content was found in the thyroids of inhabitants of the Bryansk region, up to 250-350 kBq, and in the Tula and Orel regions, up to 100 kBq. The average 131I thyroid activity in the middle of May 1986 reached 80 kBq for inhabitants of some settlements in the Bryansk region, 5-8 kBq in the Tula region and 5 kBq in the Orel region.     

Spatial information systems for emission reduction

In this presentation, we discuss the heightened role of spatial informatics on both ‘sides’ of the Kyoto process, i.e. in direct emission reduction in intelligent transport, and in indirect processes and the feedback of interventions, as in land use and forest management. The development of intelligent infrastructure has an acute role in the reduction of direct emission. The embedding of infocommunication technologies increases the effectiveness of the systems, and this results in significant energy savings. Intelligent transport based on geospatial information systems is among the most important intelligent infrastructures. This article analyses the role of spatial informatics in the reduction of the environmentally damaging effects of transport. Furthermore, various indirect processes contribute to emission reduction. One is monitoring the actual environmental impact of applied emission reduction solutions, e.g. in the area of land use and forest management. Therefore, spatial informatics has a key role in the factual determination of actual environmental conditions, in the preparation of human interventions directed towards the improvement of these, in decision-making and in the impact analysis of these interventions. The article analyses the possibilities of the use of geospatial tools in monitoring the factual effects of afforestation in the framework of carbon dioxide trade related to the Kyoto process.     

Point contact spectroscopy in Fe-based superconductors: Recent advancements and future challenges

Iron-based superconductors (FeSC) present an unprecedented variety of features both in the superconducting and in the normal state. Different families differ in the value of the critical temperature, in the shape of the Fermi surface, in the existence or absence of quasi-nesting conditions, in the range of doping in which the antiferromagnetic (AFM) and the superconducting phase coexist and in the structure of the order parameter in the reciprocal space, and so on. In this paper the most important results of point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) in Fe-based superconductors are reviewed, and the most recent advances are described with the aim to discuss the future perspectives and challenges of this spectroscopic technique in the characterization of the superconducting properties of these complex compounds. One of the main challenges, faced so far only by a few researchers in the PCS field, is to fully explore the phase diagram of these materials, as a function of doping or pressure, to understand the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism, the effect of intrinsic or extrinsic inhomogeneities, the role of spin fluctuations (SFs) in the pairing, the symmetry and the structure of the order parameter(s).     

Leukaemia following childhood radiation exposure in the Japanese atomic bomb survivors and in medically exposed groups

Incidence and mortality risks of radiation-associated leukaemia are surveyed in the Japanese atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors exposed in early childhood and in utero. Leukaemia incidence and mortality risks are also surveyed in 16 other studies of persons who received appreciable doses of ionizing radiation in the course of treatment in childhood and for whom there is adequate dosimetry and cancer incidence or mortality follow-up. Relative risks tend to be lower in the medical series than in the Japanese A-bomb survivors. The relative risks in the medical studies tend to diminish with increasing average therapy dose. After taking account of cell sterilisation and dose fractionation, the apparent differences between the relative risks for leukaemia in the Japanese A-bomb survivors and in the medical series largely disappear. This suggests that cell sterilisation largely accounts for the discrepancy between the relative risks in the Japanese data and the medical studies. Excess absolute risk has also been assessed in four studies, and there is found to be more variability in this measure than in excess relative risk. In particular, there is a substantial difference between the absolute risk in the Japanese atomic bomb survivor data and those in three other (European) populations. In summary, the relative risks of leukaemia in studies of persons exposed to appreciable doses of ionizing radiation in the course of treatment for a variety of malignant and non-malignant conditions in childhood are generally less than those in the Japanese A-bomb survivor data. The effects of cell sterilisation can largely explain the discrepancy between the Japanese and the medical series.     

Modification of the phased-tracking method for reduction of artifacts in estimated artery wall deformation

Noninvasive measurement of mechanical properties, such as elasticity, of the arterial wall, is useful for diagnosis of atherosclerosis. For assessment of mechanical properties, it is necessary to measure the deformation of the arterial wall. In this study, a modification of the previously proposed phased-tracking method was conducted to improve measurement of the small change in thickness (deformation) of the arterial wall due to the heartbeat. In our previous method, a set of two points along an ultrasonic beam was initially assigned, and the change in thickness of the layer between these two points during an entire cardiac cycle was estimated. In motion estimation with ultrasound, the motion of an interface or a scatterer, which generates an echo, can be obtained by estimating the change in time delay of the echo. For example, in the case of a carotid artery of a healthy subject, there are only two dominant echoes from the lumen-intima and media-adventitia interfaces. Thus, only the displacements of the lumen-intima and media-adventitia interfaces can be estimated, which means that ultrasound can estimate only the change in distance (thickness) between these two interfaces. However, even in this case, our previous method gives different estimates of the change in thickness, depending on the depths (positions in the arterial radial direction) of the two initially assigned points. In this study, modifications of the previous method in terms of the strategy for assignment of layers and the required thickness of an assigned layer were made to reduce such an artificial spatial variation in the estimated changes in thickness. Using the proposed method, errors in estimated changes in thickness were reduced from 21.2 +/- 24.1% to 0.19 +/- 0.04% (mean +/- standard deviation) in simulation experiments. As in the case of the simulation experiments, the spatial variation in estimated changes in thickness also was reduced in in vivo experiments in a carotid artery of a healthy subject and in vitro experiments using two excised, diseased arteries.     

Experimental and numerical simulation of the flow in a driving module with an annular and linear double-slot nozzle

This paper presents the results of numerical and experimental studies of the flow and comparison of propulsion performance characteristics of a model of a jet engine exhaust system equipped with an annular or (equivalent in gas consumption) linear double-slot nozzle with an inner cavity and circular segment deflector in the axial section. Calculations performed for the annular nozzle and double-slot nozzle corresponding to it in geometric parameters demonstrate that a flow similar to the flow in nozzles with a central body is formed in the exhaust system. According to the data obtained, the initial turn of the flow takes place in the oblique shock wave. In the double-slot nozzle, the final turn of the flow in the direction of the thrust vector occurs in a configuration of four shock waves positioned downwards in the flow; in the annular nozzle, it is in the intense barrel shock wave. It was established that the exhaust system with an annular of the linear doubleslot nozzle develops a thrust and specific impulse that exceed the corresponding values for the sonic nozzle equivalent in gas consumption by almost a factor of 2.     

复杂环境下大型火电厂房爆破拆除技术

以重庆发电厂东厂房拆除爆破为例,根据控制爆破拆除的一般原理,阐述了复杂环境下大型厂房结构定向爆破拆除的特点、难点和要求;基于关联技术分析,确定安全控制指标,制定结构解体倒塌顺序和结构预处理方案,实现爆破参数和爆破网路合理设计;并对爆破灾害采取了有效控制措施,使大型厂房的爆破拆除达到预期效果。     

The Neurdein Fréres and the photography of medieval architecture

Abstract

For those engaged in the study of historic architecture, nineteenth-century photography has been an essential avenue of research. For many scholars nineteenth-century photographs continue to be documents of choice for publication and research, both for their frequent superiority to modern photographs and for the evidence they supply of buildings and their structural features that have been altered or obliterated. The superiority of early photographs of historic architecture has a foundation, apart from their technical excellence, in their makers' knowledge of the buildings and in the cultural centrality of these structures that have no real equivalent in photography today. From the beginning the first generation of photographers in Paris elevated architecture to a distinguished category, in part because the technical capabilities of photography in the first two decades of its development were ideally suited to the photographing of still subjects in wide-angle view. More important, there was a very early association of photography with efforts to classifY, preserve and revere the monuments of France. ¹ The revival of interest in the Middle Ages, initially an expression of romantic nationalism, corresponded almost precisely to the advent of photography in France. Much of the pioneering work was done in the service of recording monuments of the Romanesque and Gothic styles, together seen as the pure expression of a native French architectural idiom. The experimental photographers who created and recreated the medium in its infancy all produced master series of national monuments — Henri le Secq at Chartres, Reims and Strasbourg, Charles Nègre at Chartres and in Romanesque sites in Provence, Edouard Baldus in his albums of Romanesque architecture in Burgundy and the Rhone Valley, Charles Marville in Paris, and the Bisson freres in Gothic monuments of Paris and Rouen.     

The fractal dimension of grain-boundary fracture in high-temperature creep of heat-resistant alloys

The fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture in high-temperature creep was estimated by the vertical section method on several creep-ruptured specimens of the cobalt-nickel- and iron-based heat-resistant alloys. Grain-boundary microcracks linked to the fracture surface were also taken into account in the present analysis by the box-counting method. In the specimens containing many grain-boundary microcracks linked to the fracture surface, the fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture was larger in the scale range of more than about one grain-boundary length than in the scale range less than this length. Thus, there was a cross-over in the fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture at about one grain-boundary length in these specimens. In the specimens containing much fewer microcracks, there was no clear cross-over in the fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture with regard to the scale of the analysis, irrespective of creep-ductility and grain-boundary configuration of the specimens. The fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture was generally larger in specimens with serrated grain boundaries than in specimens with straight grain boundaries in these heat-resistant alloys, because the fractal dimension of the grain boundary and the number of the grain-boundary microcracks were larger in the former specimen. The fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture did not tend to converge to unity when the scale of the analysis approached the specimen size. The inclusion of near-specimen size data with regard to the scale of the analysis did not affect the fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture in these alloys. Thus, the grain-boundary fracture in the creep-ruptured specimens exhibited a fractal nature, at least in the scale range below specimen size, although there was a cross-over in the fractal dimension of the grain-boundary fracture in specimens containing a large number of grain-boundary microcracks.     

Using the Vincenta code to analyse pressure increases in helium during the quench of a superconducting magnet

The Vincenta code is used to simulate the pressure increases in helium in case of a quench in the superconducting coils. We focus on two classes of coil in which helium is in direct contact with the conductor: coils consisting of cable-in-conduit conductors (as in ITER or JT-60SA), in which supercritical helium is forced through long channels; and bath-cooled coils, in which static helium is confined in short channels perpendicular to the conductor and opening into a bath (as in Tore Supra or Iseult). Various physical phenomena are responsible for the pressure increases in helium, which is subjected to strong heat flux in the conductor during a quench: at the local level, i.e. in the heated channels, the inertial forces that must be overcome to expel the fluid and the friction forces due to the induced velocity; at the global level, i.e. throughout the cryogenic system, the adiabatic compression of non-heated volumes hydraulically connected to the heated channels. Here we analyse the thermohydraulic behaviour of helium to highlight the dominant phenomena, according to the geometry of the helium flow paths. The results are applied to numerical simulation of the pressure rise in case of quench in a JT-60SA cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) and in the bath-cooled Iseult coil.     

Quantum Hall effect in the field-induced spin density wave states

The Hall conductance is investigated in the field-induced spin density wave phases of the quasi-one-dimensional system. The role of the order parameters in the quantization of the Hall effect is shown in the framework of the topological number of the wave functions in the momentum space. A possible mechanism of the sign changes of the Hall conductance observed in the experiments is proposed in this framework.     

State of the problem of evaluating precision in measuring the flow of water in open canals and waterways

Conclusions General evaluations of the accuracy of methods used for measuring the flow of water in open canals and waterways are at present used on a wide scale in literature. However, in citing an evaluation of a method it is not usually stated that the evaluation is general and tentative. This leads to the erroneous notion that the problem of errors in measuring the flow of water in open canals and waterways has been fully resolved.The problem of errors in measuring the flow of water by the area-speed method depends on the determination of errors in the above-mentioned direct measurements.The solution of the problem of errors in measuring by means of weirs depends on the determination of the error in the flow coefficient of weirs. This value can be determined by the same method as that used for evaluating the error in flow coefficients of constricting devices for measuring the flow of liquids in pipelines [3]. This problem requires special consideration.     

固相法CPE非晶相中氯含量的WAXD法测定

本文采用迭代法对固相氯化法氯化聚乙烯(CPE)的广角X射线衍射(WAXD)数据进行处理,同时获得了固相法CPE非晶相含量和非晶相中氯含量的定量数据。实验结果表明:对于表现氯含量为2.1％～12.0％的CPE,其非晶相含量是原料PE的1.9～3.4倍,非晶相中的氨含量是表观氯含量的1.7～3.0倍。     

生物质与生活垃圾共气化过程重金属的迁移转化规律

为了研究流化床生物质气化协同处置生活垃圾衍生燃料过程中重金属的迁移转化规律,在湖北某循环流化床气化炉耦合燃煤发电厂进行掺烧试验。研究表明重金属主要赋存于飞灰和炉渣中。空白工况下86.2%的Cr赋存于飞灰中,13.3%于炉渣中;75.5%的Pb在飞灰中,23.8%在炉渣中;79.5%的As迁移至飞灰中,11.7%在炉渣中。RDF工况下75.8%的Cr迁移至飞灰,20.7%迁移至炉渣;44.6%的Pb存在于飞灰中,52%存在于炉渣。协同处置后,重金属在飞灰和炉渣中的分配比例明显发生了变化,飞灰中重金属含量减少12.5%~31.3%,炉渣中重金属增加7.33%~20.1%,气化气的引入改变了炉内重金属的分配情况。协同处置可以有效处理生活垃圾,对固废中的热量进行资源化利用,且出炉物料中重金属含量均低于我国现行标准限值。     

The ultrasonic wave damping in the region of a magnetic phase transition in manganese-zinc spinels

Data on the damping of ultrasonic waves in the vicinity of the point of inversion of the first anisotropy constant are reported for manganese-zinc spinel crystals grown by various methods. A low-frequency maximum in the ultrasonic wave damping caused by the magnetoelastic interaction in the region of a magnetic phase transition in the spinel is observed for the first time. A difference in the acoustic properties of crystals of various types observed in the region of the phase transition is explained by the difference of internal fields related to differences in the degree of macroscopic disorder and in the arrangement of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions in the spinel crystal lattice.     

电磁场作用下半固态合金熔体流动行为对凝固组织的影响

电磁场技术在半固态合金加工中的应用促进了制备工艺的开发和创新,也为获得高质量的半固态合金制品提供了保障。电磁场引起的半固态合金熔体流动状态和性质对合金元素传输、晶粒长大、温度场分布、凝固组织等均有重要影响。主要综述了电磁场对半固态合金流动行为的影响、数值模拟技术在解析半固态合金流动行为中的应用等方面的研究进展,并结合笔者的研究经历介绍了电磁场搅拌技术在半固态合金浆料制备中的应用、熔体流动对半固态合金凝固组织的影响,以及在半固态合金熔体流动特性研究中的新发现。在这些研究工作的基础上,着重综述了应用商业软件和数学建模对半固态合金熔体中电磁场作用引起的流动行为进行模拟、仿真所做的工作和取得的成果。最后,对电磁场技术在半固态合金加工中的应用以及电磁场作用下半固态合金熔体流动特性对半固态合金凝固组织影响的研究进展进行了总结,并对其发展前景和主要发展方向进行了展望。     

Scientometric research in South Africa and successful policy instruments

This document provides an analysis of scientometric research in South Africa and it discusses sources of growth in the country’s research literature in general. South Africa is identified to have limited expertise in the field revealed mainly during the last decade. However, the country is ranked 21st in the world among the countries publishing in the journal Scientometrics and it is the only African country with such a standing in the field. Identification of the forces affecting positively the growth in the number of research publications in the country indicates that the primary incentive fuelling the recent growth is the new funding formula in the country which subsidizes the universities by more than R100 000 for each publication that their staff produces. The increase in the number of journals indexed in the ISI Thomson Reuters database and the incorporation of social sciences at the NRF have also affected the growth of research publications, but to a lesser extent.     

Effect of Dissolution Rate and Food on Oral Bioavailability of Bropirimine Tablets in Dogs

Abstract

Three different tablet formulations of bropirimine were evaluated in an in vitro dissolution study. Further, the effect of dissolution rate of bropirimine and food on the bioavailability after oral administration of the tablets was investigated in dogs. A tablet formulation with lower bropirimine content percent and smaller tablet size showed faster in vitro dissolution rate due to the larger tablet surface area per unit mass of bropirimine and the higher ratio of hydrophilic excipients in a tablet. In the fasted state, the bioavailability of bropirimine after oral administration of tablets tended to reflect the in vitro dissolution characteristics. The bioavailability after administration of tablets with slow in vitro dissolution rate was increased by food intake due to the in vivo dissolution increased in the fed state, while the postprandial effect on the bioavailability of tablets with fast in vitro dissolution rate was not clearly observed. In the fed state, there were no differences in the plasma concentration profile and pharmacokinetic parameters of bropirimine between the tablets with a slow and a fast in vitro dissolution rate. This suggests that the postprandial administration of bropirimine tablets may maximize the bioavailability without distinction of the in vitro dissolution rate.