非稳态浇注对帘线钢洁净度的影响

为全面掌握某钢厂帘线钢在非稳态浇注工况下的洁净度水平,为生产制定合理的头尾坯长度以及进行产品分级管理提供依据,对非稳态浇注和稳态浇注工况下的连铸坯分别取样,对比分析其洁净度差异,并通过水力学试验模拟分析了中间包充包过程中的渣-钢界面行为,进而解释了造成铸坯洁净度差异的原因。研究结果表明,非稳态浇注工况下帘线钢铸坯的洁净度明显低于稳态工况,其中T.O质量分数是稳态浇注工况的1.76倍,N质量分数是稳态浇注工况的1.23倍;两种工况下的显微夹杂物分别为52.89个/mm²和26.1个/mm²,大型夹杂物分别是11.49 mg/10 kg钢、4.36 mg/10 kg钢。充包时钢液裸露、二次氧化和卷渣是造成非稳态浇注时铸坯洁净度差的主要原因。     

Concentrations of selected essential and non-essential elements in arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) and wolverines (Gulo gulo) from the Canadian Arctic

Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) and wolverine (Gulo gulo) tissues were collected in the Canadian Arctic from 1998 to 2001 and analyzed for various essential and non-essential elements. Several elements (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, Sb, Sn, Sr, Tl, U and V) were near or below the detection limits in >95% arctic fox and wolverine samples. Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, total Hg (THg), Mn, Pb, Se and Zn were quantifiable in >50% of the samples analyzed and reported herein. Hepatic elemental concentrations were not significantly different among arctic foxes collected at Ulukhaqtuuq (Holman), NT (n=13) and Arviat, NU (n=50), but were significantly greater than concentrations found in wolverine liver from Kugluktuk (Coppermine), NU (n=12). The mean (+/-1 S.E.) concentrations of Cd in kidney were also significantly greater in arctic fox (1.08+/-0.19 microg g(-1) wet wt.) than wolverine (0.67+/-0.18 microg g(-1) wet wt.). However, mean hepatic Cu concentrations (Ulukhaqtuuq: 5.5+/-0.64; Arviat: 7.1+/-0.49 microg g(-1) wet wt.) in arctic foxes were significantly lower than in wolverines (32+/-3.3 microg g(-1) wet wt.). Hepatic total Hg (THg) concentrations in arctic fox from this study were not significantly different from specimens collected in 1973, suggesting that THg concentrations have not changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The mono-methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in selected (n=10) arctic fox liver samples from Arviat (0.14+/-0.07 microg g(-1) wet wt.) comprised 14% of THg. While the molar concentrations of THg were correlated with Se in arctic foxes and wolverines, the hepatic Hg/Se molar ratios were consistently lower than unity; suggesting that Se-mediated detoxification pathways of Hg are not overwhelmed at current exposure.     

Effect of tube size on performance of a fixed-film tubular bioreactor for conversion of hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur

A fixed-film continuous-flow photobioreactor was used for the removal of hydrogen sulfide from synthetic industrial wastewater and conversion of it to elemental sulfur using sixteen 150 mm length Tygon tubes as the active part of the reactor. Three different tube sizes (internal diameters (ID) 6.4, 3.2, and 1.6mm) were used to investigate the effect of tube size on reactor performance. The reactor with 1.6mm tube attained a higher sulfide loading (1451 mg/Lh) than previously reported in the literature. High bacterial concentration, light to volume ratio and intimate contact between attached bacteria and influent sulfide resulted in excellent performance of the 1.6mm tube reactor.     

Selenate removal in methanogenic and sulfate-reducing upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors

This paper evaluates the use of upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) bioreactors (30 degrees C, pH=7.0) to remove selenium oxyanions from contaminated waters (790 microg Se L(-1)) under methanogenic and sulfate-reducing conditions using lactate as electron donor. One UASB reactor received sulfate at different sulfate to selenate ratios, while another UASB was operated under methanogenic conditions for 132 days without sulfate in the influent. The selenate effluent concentrations in the sulfate-reducing and methanogenic reactor were 24 and 8 microg Se L(-1), corresponding to removal efficiencies of 97% and 99%, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and sequential extractions showed that selenium was mainly retained as elemental selenium in the biomass. However, the total dissolved selenium effluent concentrations amounted to 73 and 80 microg Se L(-1), respectively, suggesting that selenate was partly converted to another selenium compound, most likely colloidally dispersed Se(0) nanoparticles. Possible intermediates of selenium reduction (selenite, dimethylselenide, dimethyldiselenide, H(2)Se) could not be detected. Sulfate reducers removed selenate at molar excess of sulfate to selenate (up to a factor of 2600) and elevated dissolved sulfide concentrations (up to 168 mg L(-1)), but selenium removal efficiencies were limited by the applied sulfate-loading rate. In the methanogenic bioreactor, selenate and dissolved selenium removal were independent of the sulfate load, but inhibited by sulfide (101 mg L(-1)). The selenium removal efficiency of the methanogenic UASB abruptly improved after 58 days of operation, suggesting that a specialized selenium-converting population developed in the reactor. This paper demonstrates that both sulfate-reducing and methanogenic UASB reactors can be applied to remove selenate from contaminated natural waters and anthropogenic waste streams, e.g. agricultural drainage waters, acid mine drainage and flue gas desulfurization bleeds.     

Colored and White Sectors From Star-Patterned Petunia Flowers Display Differential Resistance to Corn Earworm and Cabbage Looper Larvae

Anthocyanins are likely a visual aid that attract pollinators. However, there is also the possibility that anthocyanins are present in some flowers as defensive molecules that protect them from excess light, pathogens, or herbivores. In this study, resistance due to anthocyanins from commercial petunia flowers (Petunia hybrida) was examined for insecticide/antifeedant activity against corn earworm (CEW, Helicoverpa zea) and cabbage looper (CL, Trichoplusia ni). The petunia flowers studied contained a star pattern, with colored and white sectors. CEW larvae ate significantly less colored sectors than white sectors in no-choice bioassays in most cases. All CEW larvae feeding on blue sectors weighed significantly less after 2 days than larvae feeding on white sectors, which was negatively correlated with total anthocyanin levels. CL larvae ate less of blue sectors than white sectors, and blue sectors from one petunia cultivar caused significantly higher CL mortality than white sectors. Partially purified anthocyanin mixtures isolated from petunia flowers, when added to insect diet discs at approximately natural concentrations, reduced both CEW and CL larva weights compared to the controls. These studies demonstrate that the colored sectors of these petunia cultivars slow the development of these lepidopteran larvae and indicate that anthocyanins play some part in flower defense in petunia.     

Thioarsenate transformation by filamentous microbial mats thriving in an alkaline, sulfidic hot spring

Thioarsenates dominate arsenic speciation in sulfidic geothermal waters, yet little is known about their fate in the environment. At Conch Spring, an alkaline hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, trithioarsenate transforms to arsenate under increasingly oxidizing conditions along the drainage channel, accompanied by an initial increase, then decrease of monothioarsenate and arsenite. On-site incubation tests were conducted using sterile-filtered water with and without addition of filamentous microbial mats from the drainage channel to distinguish the role of abiotic and biotic processes for arsenic species transformation. Abiotically, trithioarsenate was desulfidized to arsenate coupled to sulfide oxidation. Monothioarsenate, however, was inert. Biotic incubations proved that the intermediate accumulation of arsenite in the drainage channel is microbially catalyzed. In the presence of sulfide, microbially enhanced sulfide oxidation coupled to reduction of arsenate to arsenite could simply enhance abiotic desulfidation of trithioarsenate and potentially also monothioarsenate. However, we were also able to show, in sulfide-free medium, direct microbial transformation of monothioarsenate to arsenate. Some arsenite formed intermediately, which was subsequently also microbially oxidized to arsenate. This study is the first evidence for microbially mediated thioarsenate species transformation by (hyper)thermophilic prokaryotes.     

Formation of toxic 2-nonyl-p-benzoquinones from α-tertiary 4-nonylphenol isomers during microbial metabolism of technical nonylphenol

In many environmental compartments, microbial degradation of α-quaternary nonylphenols proceeds along an ipso-substitution pathway. It has been reported that technical nonylphenol contains, besides α-quaternary nonylphenols, minor amounts of various α-H, α-methyl substituted tertiary isomers. Here, we show that potentially toxic metabolites of such minor components are formed during ipso-degradation of technical nonylphenol by Sphingobium xenophagum Bayram, a strain isolated from activated sewage sludge. Small but significant amounts of nonylphenols were converted to the corresponding nonylhydroquinones, which in the presence of air oxygen oxidized to the corresponding nonyl-p-benzoquinones-yielding a complex mixture of potentially toxic metabolites. Through reduction with ascorbic acid and subsequent analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, we were able to characterize this unique metabolic fingerprint and to show that its components originated for the most part from α-tertiary nonylphenol isomers. Furthermore, our results indicate that the metabolites mixture also contained several α, β-dehydrogenated derivatives of nonyl-p-benzoquinones that originated by hydroxylation induced rearrangement, and subsequent ring and side chain oxidation from α-tertiary nonylphenol isomers. We predict that in nonylphenol polluted natural systems, in which microbial ipso-degradation is prominent, 2-alkylquinone metabolites will be produced and will contribute to the overall toxicity of the remaining material.     

Short communication: Principal components and factor analytic models for test-day milk yield in Brazilian Holstein cattle

A total of 46,089 individual monthly test-day (TD) milk yields (10 test-days), from 7,331 complete first lactations of Holstein cattle were analyzed. A standard multivariate analysis (MV), reduced rank analyses fitting the first 2, 3, and 4 genetic principal components (PC2, PC3, PC4), and analyses that fitted a factor analytic structure considering 2, 3, and 4 factors (FAS2, FAS3, FAS4), were carried out. The models included the random animal genetic effect and fixed effects of the contemporary groups (herd-year-month of test-day), age of cow (linear and quadratic effects), and days in milk (linear effect). The residual covariance matrix was assumed to have full rank. Moreover, 2 random regression models were applied. Variance components were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood method. The heritability estimates ranged from 0.11 to 0.24. The genetic correlation estimates between TD obtained with the PC2 model were higher than those obtained with the MV model, especially on adjacent test-days at the end of lactation close to unity. The results indicate that for the data considered in this study, only 2 principal components are required to summarize the bulk of genetic variation among the 10 traits.     

Producing a sulfamethazine quality control material under the framework of ISO/CD Guide 80

The increasing use of antimicrobial agents such as sulfonamides by the pig industry is of concern, since residues in both pork and its by-products, when derived from animals treated improperly, can endanger human health. The aim of this study was to establish the production conditions and to evaluate the homogeneity and the stability of sulfamethazine in porcine liver quality control material, produced 'in-house' for use in ring tests of the laboratory network of residues and contaminants of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Brazil. In the process of preparing the material, a FOSS blender was used, where the samples were ground to obtain a homogeneous mass, which was packed in polypropylene bottles. The material resulting from this process of homogenisation was sampled and analysed by LC/MS/MS. The analytical results were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVA. According to statistical evaluation, the material produced was considered homogeneous, with 95% confidence. Stability tests were performed with the bottles stored under the specified storage conditions. They were randomly selected and analysed in duplicate by the same analytical method as the homogeneity study. The analytical results were statistically evaluated by the procedures for a stability check described in ISO 13528:2005, indicating that the material was unstable under the conditions of storage.