Chronologie des EHEC O104:H4 Ausbruchsgeschehens bis zur Gr��ndung der l?nder��bergreifenden Task Force EHEC aus Sicht der Lebensmittel��berwachung in Schleswig-Holstein am Beispiel des Kreises Schleswig-Flensburg

The article describes the chronology of events of the recent EHEC O104:H4 outbreak from the perspective of food inspection in Schleswig-Holstein until the National Task Force EHEC was founded. Taking the district of Schleswig-Flensburg as an example, the collaboration and information exchange between health and food control authorities is described. The Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of Schleswig-Holstein (MLUR) received the first information about clusters of disorders with symptoms of bloody diarrhoea and HUS from the districts around Hamburg and the city of Hamburg on 19 May 2011. On the same day, the veterinary services and the service for consumer protection in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg were informed about a situation comparable to the one in the environment of Hamburg. Due to this situation, official procedures were initiated to discover the origins of this food-associated outbreak - both at the state and county level and in collaboration with the health authorities. On 1 June 2011, an initial telephone conference was held between the responsible ministries and the food inspection and health authorities of the counties and cities in order to coordinate a joint action. On 3 June 2011, the National Task Force EHEC was founded at the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in Berlin. By founding the National Task Force EHEC, the coordination of the clearing process was passed over to the BVL two weeks after the public health authorities had knowledge of accumulated and cross-border cases. On 7 June 2011 an employee of the district Schleswig-Flensburg was sent to the Task Force EHEC in Berlin by the MLUR. The lesson to be learned as a result of the EHEC O104:H4 outbreak is that among the ??dangerous foods?? there are more plant-based foods than often assumed. In the future this must be much more taken into account.     

Experimental determination of the higher electric field level inside an overmoded reverberation chamber using the generalized extreme value distribution

Reverberation chamber (RC), in which a complex electromagnetic environment is created, is of great interest as a versatile test and measurement tool, and its performance is conveniently evaluated through the field statistics. Following a previous paper in which the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution was proposed to model the maximum field inside an RC, this work presents an experimental validation of the GEV use for the overmoded RC. The electric field is measured with a small sensor for a large number of points inside the RC, and the GEV parameters are accurately estimated. Since the maximum field distribution for this overmoded RC is found to be of reverse Weibull type, the field distribution is right bounded by a higher level that can be determined.     

Reconfigurable handling system

The demand for more versatile assembly and handling systems to facilitate customized production is gaining in importance, especially with regard to the constantly-increasing cost pressure, to expansion of the range of product versions and the shortening of innovation cycles. As a cost-effective approach for frequently changing assembly tasks, a novel manipulation concept has been developed by combining given robot technologies. This new handling system has a modular and adaptable layout, which consists of several mobile arms to manipulate the object in six-dimensional Cartesian space. After grasping, when the arms are attached to the object, the mechanical architecture is similar to parallel manipulators or cooperating robots. As the mounting and gripping points of the arms can easily be changed, the manipulator can be reconfigured so as to match the user’s preferences and needs. In addition to the kinematic adaption the regarding task, the hardware and new functions can be reconfigured as well. Contact elements, measurement and assembly devices as well as testing modules can easily be in integrated in the concept. A modular automatic control concept combined with a self-optimizing planning tool helps the user to find the optimal configuration and realize it in an economic way.     

Combining probabilistic algorithms, Constraint Programming and Lagrangian Relaxation to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem

This paper presents an original hybrid approach to solve the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). The approach combines a Probabilistic Algorithm with Constraint Programming (CP) and Lagrangian Relaxation (LR). After introducing the CVRP and reviewing the existing literature on the topic, the paper proposes an approach based on a probabilistic Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) algorithm. Given a CVRP instance, this algorithm uses a randomized version of the classical Clarke and Wright Savings constructive heuristic to generate a starting solution. This starting solution is then improved through a local search process which combines: (a) LR to optimise each individual route, and (b) CP to quickly verify the feasibility of new proposed solutions. The efficiency of our approach is analysed after testing some well-known CVRP benchmarks. Benefits of our hybrid approach over already existing approaches are also discussed. In particular, the potential flexibility of our methodology is highlighted.     

Improvement of Water Status Methodology for Leafy Vegetables Reduces Consumption of Time, Skilled Labor, and Laboratory Resources

When determining the water status of leafy vegetables with oven-drying techniques, consumption of time and resources is inevitable. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of both relative water content (RWC) and free water and bound water content (FW–BW) techniques to obtain the water content index (WC) of different leafy vegetables in order to dispense with the traditional methodology for water content determination. By doing this, not only consumption of time is reduced, but also skilled labor and laboratory resources. Butterhead lettuces harvested at different growing stages and stored at different postharvest conditions were evaluated. In all cases, water content values obtained with RWC technique were statistically equivalent to those obtained with the traditional methodology. Instead, water content values obtained with FW–BW technique were considerably higher than the original WC. Consequently, using RWC technique data to obtain water content, the time required to determine water status in butterhead lettuce is reduced by 25%. In addition, fresh plants of swiss chard, akusay (chinese cabbage), and romaine lettuce were evaluated in order to validate the simplified methodology. Results obtained were similar to those observed for butterhead lettuce.     

高炉冶炼钒钛矿过程中炉缸沉积物的形成原因

高炉冶炼钒钛矿时炉缸会产生大量的沉积物,影响高炉正常生产。对炉缸沉积物进行了检测,对高炉渣的冶金性能进行了试验研究,结果表明:沉积物的成分复杂,其中一些沉积物的铝、硅含量较大;沉积物形成的主要来源为TiC包裹金属铁的沉降聚集,渣铁对耐火材料的侵蚀,含高熔点物质的高黏度炉渣在炉底堆积。高铝中钛渣的黏度过大,炉渣碳含量较高是导致沉积物形成的主要原因,因此,改善高铝中钛渣的冶金性能可以有效抑制沉积物的形成。     

基于EBSD的金属变形激活滑移系的确定方法

针对多晶金属力学变形过程中的激活滑移系,提出了一种基于电子背散射衍射(Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction,EBSD)技术的滑移系确定方法。借助材料表面晶体取向和滑移带形貌分析,计算并测量滑移带与加载应力轴之间的夹角,通过两者比较确定滑移面;计算该滑移面对应的可能滑移系的Schmid因子,根据Schmid定律确定滑移方向,从而判断实际被激活滑移系。以奥氏体不锈钢为例,试验证实了该方法的可行性。与其他方法相比,该方法可获得表面损伤形貌及其晶体取向分布,更适用于多晶材料力学变形后的滑移系分析。