Bonding Quality of Joined Glass Components Exposed to UV and Fluidic Influences

Components of structural glazing have to meet different requirements and resist various impacts, depending on the field of application. Within an international research project of the EU innovation program Horizon 2020, special glass panes with a fluid circulating in capillaries are developed exploiting solar energy. Major influences to this glazing are UV irradiation and the fluidic contact, effecting the mechanical and optical durability of the bonding material within the glass setup. Regarding to visual requirements, acrylate adhesives and EVA films are analyzed as possible bonding materials by destructive and non-destructive testing methods. Two types of specimen are presented for obtaining the mechanical behavior and the surface appearances of the bonding material

The Relationship between Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance in Europe

In Europe, antimicrobial resistance has been monitored since 1998 by the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS). We examined the relationship between penicillin nonsusceptibility of invasive isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae (an indicator organism) and antibiotic sales. Information was collected on 1998-99 resistance data for invasive isolates of S. pneumoniae to penicillin, based on surveillance data from EARSS and on outpatient sales during 1997 for beta-lactam antibiotics and macrolides. Our results show that in Europe antimicrobial resistance is correlated with use of beta-lactam antibiotics and macrolides

Design, construction and testing of a low carbon thin-shell concrete flooring system

Rapid global urbanisation and population growth is driving unprecedented levels of building construction, with the total worldwide floor area expected to almost double over the next 40 years. Since most of the structural material in a building exists within the floors, these present a significant opportunity for structural engineers to contribute to a more sustainable construction industry. This paper examines a novel flooring system of textile-reinforced concrete shells with a foamed concrete fill, which has the potential to halve the amount of materials in a building’s entire structure. A new design and geometry optimisation method is described, as well as the construction and testing of two prototypes; each 18mm thick, 2m in span and 200mm tall. These textile-reinforced concrete shells are unconventional in their low total depth, low reinforcement content and lack of rigid supports. Both were reinforced with AR-glass fibre textile and constructed using fine-grained concrete, however only one featured a foamed concrete fill. Each was tested to destruction under an asymmetric load. In both cases, a hinged collapse mechanism was formed rather than sudden catastrophic failure, with positive implications for safety and robustness. A non-linear finite element model was developed which replicated the observed behaviour well, including cracking patterns. Inaccuracies in geometry arising from the hand-made construction methods were measured and their structural impact was assessed and found to be small. The investigations confirm the strength, robustness and buildability of the structural system, and establish a reliable analysis method.This research is supported by the EPSRC Centre for Decarbonisation of the Built Environment (dCarb) [grant number EP/L016869/1], the Building Research Establishment Trust (BRE) and the Cambridge University Department of Engineering

Bayesian Inference in Processing Experimental Data: Principles and Basic Applications

This report introduces general ideas and some basic methods of the Bayesian probability theory applied to physics measurements. Our aim is to make the reader familiar, through examples rather than rigorous formalism, with concepts such as: model comparison (including the automatic Ockham's Razor filter provided by the Bayesian approach); parametric inference; quantification of the uncertainty about the value of physical quantities, also taking into account systematic effects; role of marginalization; posterior characterization; predictive distributions; hierarchical modelling and hyperparameters; Gaussian approximation of the posterior and recovery of conventional methods, especially maximum likelihood and chi-square fits under well defined conditions; conjugate priors, transformation invariance and maximum entropy motivated priors; Monte Carlo estimates of expectation, including a short introduction to Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures, invited paper for Reports on Progress in Physic

Predictors of serum dioxin levels among adolescent boys in Chapaevsk, Russia: A cross-sectional pilot study

BACKGROUND: Toxicological studies and limited human studies have demonstrated associations between exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and adverse developmental and reproductive health effects. Given that children may be particularly susceptible to reproductive and developmental effects of organochlorines, and the paucity of information available regarding childhood exposures to dioxins in particular, we undertook a pilot study to describe the distribution of, and identify potential predictors of exposure to, dioxin-like compounds and dioxins among adolescent boys in Chapaevsk, Russia. The pilot study was also designed to guide the development of a large prospective cohort study on the relationship of exposure to PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs with growth and pubertal development in peri-pubertal Chapaevsk boys. METHODS: 221 boys age 14 to 17 participated in the pilot study. Each of the boys, with his mother, was asked to complete a nurse-administered detailed questionnaire on medical history, diet, and lifestyle. The diet questions were used to measure the current and lifetime consumption of locally grown or raised foods. Blood samples from 30 of these boys were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for analysis of dioxins, furans and PCBs. RESULTS: The median (25(th), 75(th )percentile) concentrations for total PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs were 95.8 pg/g lipids (40.9, 144), 33.9 pg/g lipids (20.4, 61.8), and 120 pg/g lipids (77.6, 157), respectively. For WHO-TEQs, the median (25(th), 75(th )percentile) for total PCDDs, PCDFs, and coplanar PCBs were 0.29 (0.1, 9.14), 7.98 (5.27, 12.3), and 7.39 (4.51, 11.9), respectively. Although TCDD was largely non-detectable, two boys had high TCDD levels (17.9 and 21.7 pg/g lipid). Higher serum levels of sum of dioxin-like compounds and sum of dioxin TEQs were positively associated with increased age, consumption of fish, local meats other than chicken, PCB 118, and inversely with weeks of gestation. CONCLUSION: The total TEQs among Chapaevsk adolescents were higher than most values previously reported in non-occupationally exposed populations of comparable or even older ages. Dietary consumption of local foods, as well as age and weeks of gestation, predicted dioxin exposure in this population