Endocrine disrupting nonylphenols are ubiquitous in food

4-Nonylphenols (NPs) are common products of biodegradation of a widely used group of nonionic surfactants, the nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). These compounds are known to be persistent, toxic, and estrogen active. There is a worldwide scientific and public discussion on the potential consequences of human long term dietary exposure to such endocrine disrupters. Despite numerous determinations of NPs in environmental samples no systematical reports exist relating to concentrations of NPs in food. We analyzed NPs in 60 different foodstuff commercially available in Germany. The results indicate that NPs are ubiquitous in food. The concentrations of NPs on a fresh weight basis varied between 0.1 and 19.4 microg/kg regardless of the fat content of the foodstuff. Based on data on German food consumption rates and these first analyses of NPs in food, the daily intake for an adult was calculated to be 7.5 microg/day NPs. For infants exclusively fed with breast milk or infant formulas daily intakes of 0.2 microg/day and 1.4 microg/day NPs, respectively, can be estimated.     

Low molecular weight oligo-β-hydroxybutyric acids and 3-hydroxy-N-phenethyl-butyramide – new products from microorganisms

Summary A new group of low-molecular weight channel-forming oligo(hydroxybutyric acids) (cPHBs, 1 with n = 8–30; main component MW ≈ 1300 dalton) was isolated from microorganisms of different origin. Inclusion bodies were electron-microscopically visible in cells in the state of autolysis, not in cells in the exponential phase of growth. cPHB and high-molecular poly(l3-hydroxybutyric acid) (sPHB) is cleaved by phenylethylamine and forms the corresponding monomeric hydroxybutyramide and – under drastic conditions, the crotylamide. One of these compounds, the 3-hydroxy-N-phenethyl-butyramide (5), was isolated as a new natural product now. Received: 28 March 2002/Revised version: 26 July 2002/ Accepted: 26 July 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Marine Bakterien, XVII. XVI: R.P. Maskey, R.N. Asolkar, E. Helmke, and H. Laatsch, Chalcomycin B, a new antibiotic from a marine Streptomyces sp. B7064. J. Antibiot., submitted 2002 Correspondence to Hartmut Laatsch, e-mail: hlaatsc@gwdg.de, Fax: +49-551-399660     

Diffractive optical isolator made of high-efficiency dielectric gratings only

The working principle of an optical isolator made of two corrugated dielectric gratings is introduced. One grating acts as a polarizer, and the other acts as a quarter-wave plate used in conical incidence converting linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light. Global maxima of diffraction efficiency for surface-corrugated gratings with binary, sinusoidal, and pyramidal ridge shapes with dependence on the material index are identified. Regarding technological feasibility for use in the visible wavelength range, high-frequency gratings with a binary shape were realized. With these gratings, an extinction ratio of more than 40 dB for the polarizer is theoretically possible, and more than 20 dB was experimentally achieved. A good correlation between theoretically calculated efficiencies and birefringences based on rigorous methods and the experimental results is demonstrated.     

Modeling and querying moving objects in networks

Moving objects databases have become an important research issue in recent years. For modeling and querying moving objects, there exists a comprehensive framework of abstract data types to describe objects moving freely in the 2D plane, providing data types such as moving point or moving region. However, in many applications people or vehicles move along transportation networks. It makes a lot of sense to model the network explicitly and to describe movements relative to the network rather than unconstrained space, because then it is much easier to formulate in queries relationships between moving objects and the network. Moreover, such models can be better supported in indexing and query processing. In this paper, we extend the ADT approach by modeling networks explicitly and providing data types for static and moving network positions and regions. In a highway network, example entities corresponding to these data types are motels, construction areas, cars, and traffic jams. The network model is not too simplistic; it allows one to distinguish simple roads and divided highways and to describe the possible traversals of junctions precisely. The new types and operations are integrated seamlessly into the ADT framework to achieve a relatively simple, consistent and powerful overall model and query language for constrained and unconstrained movement.     

The effect of small time-delays on the closed-loop stability of boundary control systems

It has been observed that for many stable feedback systems, the introduction of arbitrarily small time-delays into the loop causes instability. In this paper we present a systematic treatment of this phenomenon for a large class of boundary control systems which allows for in-span control. Our approach is based on a combination of input-output methods and modal analysis. We give a number of sufficient conditions for robustness/nonrobustness of closed-loop input-output stability with respect to delays. Our framework includes a large class of ill-posed systems, i.e., systems whose open-loop transfer function is unbounded on any right half-plane. We then analyze the relationship between the poles of the transfer function and the exponential modes of the underlying boundary-value problem to derive internal stability properties from external ones.This work was supported by the British Council/DAAD (ARC project 464), by the Human Capital and Mobility programme (Project number CHRX-CT93-0402), by the National Science Foundation (Grant DMS-9206986) and by NATO (Grant CRG 950179).     

Bildung von oxydischen Einschlüssen in halbberuhigtem Stahl

Untersuchung von 20-t-Blöcken mit unterschiedlichen Aluminiumzugaben für die Feindesoxydation während der Erstarrung in der Kokille. Oberflächenfehler von halbberuhigtem Stahl. Bildung von oxydischen Einschlüssen dicht unter der Blockoberfläche und im Blockinnern. Maßnahmen zur Beeinflussung der Einschlußausbildung.     

Beobachtungen zur Oberflächenveränderung durch-Erosion und Kavitation

Observations of the effect on surfaces of “erosion and cavitation” With the cavitation of material due to liquids, the meterial is damaged by blowholes. In addition, observations on highgloss polished pure metals, tested in H. Schröter's and O. Walchner's flow apparatus with weir and counter-weir, occasionally showed damage caused by small particles of solids entrained by the liquid. In order to simulate mechanical damage by small particles, steel shot of different edge lengths was entrained with the liquid so as to bit the surface of the specimen. The results were lines of sliding in the case of Armco iron and mechanical twinning in the case of zine. An energy comparison is then carried out between the entrained solid particles and the blowhole. Solid particles with a maximum energy content theoretically equal to the minimum energy content of a blowhole are able to cause a plastic deformation of the surfaces of materials within minute zones, whilst blowholes with equal energy content obviously do not cause any mechanical damage. This indicates the need, with metallographic investigations into initial damage by flow cavitation, to ensure adequate filtering of the test medium so as to preclude the possibility of sand erosion.