Process studies of odour emissions from effluent ponds using machine-based odour measurement

Replicable experimental studies using a novel experimental facility and a machine-based odour quantification technique were conducted to demonstrate the relationship between odour emission rates and pond loading rates. The odour quantification technique consisted of an electronic nose, AromaScan A32S, and an artificial neural network. Odour concentrations determined by olfactometry were used along with the AromaScan responses to train the artificial neural network. The trained network was able to predict the odour emission rates for the test data with a correlation coefficient of 0.98. Time averaged odour emission rates predicted by the machine-based odour quantification technique, were strongly correlated with volatile solids loading rate, demonstrating the increased magnitude of emissions from a heavily loaded effluent pond. However, it was not possible to obtain the same relationship between volatile solids loading rates and odour emission rates from the individual data. It is concluded that taking a limited number of odour samples over a short period is unlikely to provide a representative rate of odour emissions from an effluent pond. A continuous odour monitoring instrument will be required for that more demanding task

Psychologists’ Diagnostic Processes during a Diagnostic Interview

In mental health care, psychologists assess clients’ complaints, analyze underlying problems, and identify causes for these problems, to make treatment decisions. We present a study on psychologists’ diagnostic processes, in which a mixed-method approach was employed. We aimed to identify a common structure in the diagnostic processes of different psychologists. We engaged an actor to simulate a client. Participants were asked to perform a diagnostic interview with this “client”. This interview was videotaped. Afterwards participants first wrote a report and then were asked to review their considerations during the interview. We found that psychologists were comprehensive in their diagnostic interviews. They addressed the client’s complaints, possible classifications, explanations, and treatments. They agreed about the classifications, more than about causal factors and treatment options. The content of the considerations differed between the interviews and the reports written afterwards. We conclude that psychologists continuously shifted between diagnostic activities and revised their decisions in line with the dynamics of the interview situatio

Computer Aided Statistical Analysis of Motive Use and Compositional Idiom

This thesis discusses the creation of a means of pitch-based data representation which allows automated logging and analysis of melodic motivic material. This system also allows analysis of a number of attributes of a composition which are not readily apparent to human analysis. By using a numerical data format which treats motivically related material as equivalent, groups of tonally equivalent intervals (n-tuples) can be logged and have statistical procedures carried out on them. This thesis looks at four applications of this approach: measuring the most commonly occurring motivic material; creating a transition matrix showing probabilities of movement between intervals; measuring the extent of disjunct or conjunct writing; and measuring concentration of motivic writing (the extent to which motives are reused). Following the discussion of the data representation system, a set of expositions taken from the piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi are converted to this method of data representation, and results are collected for the above four applications. The implications of the results of this analysis are discussed, and further potential applications of the system are explored

Biological background of pediatric medulloblastoma and ependymoma: A review from a translational research perspective

Survival rates of pediatric brain tumor patients have significantly improved over the years due to developments in diagnostic techniques, neurosurgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and supportive care. However, brain tumors are still an important cause of cancer-related deaths in children. Prognosis is still highly dependent on clinical characteristics, such as the age of the patient, tumor type, stage, and localization, but increased knowledge about the genetic and biological features of these tumors is being obtained and might be useful to further improve outcome for these patients. It has become clear that the deregulation of signaling pathways essential in brain development, for example, sonic hedgehog (SHH), Wnt, and Notch pathways, plays an important role in pathogenesis and biological behavior, especially for medulloblastomas. More recently, data have become available about the cells of origin of brain tumors and the possible existence of brain tumor stem cells. Newly developed array-based techniques for studying gene expression, protein expression, copy number aberrations, and epigenetic events have led to the identification of other potentially important biological abnormalities in pediatric medulloblastomas and ependymomas. Copyright 2008 by the Society for Neuro-Oncology

Efficient synthesis of phenylene-ethynylene rods and their use as rigid spacers in divalent inhibitors

The synthesis of phenylene-ethynylene rods and their use as rigid spacers is described. Alternation of a Sonogashira reaction and silyl group cleavage was used to obtain rigid spacers with even and odd numbers of phenylene units. Preliminary applications of these rods in divalent systems are shown. Inhibition studies with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa lectin LecA showed that the rigid spacer proved greatly beneficial for the inhibitory potenc

The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of. service organizations. This study develops a conceptual frame work to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioural responses of . consumers., as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers' to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2 x 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect

Het feest van de suikers en andere gasten

Koolhydraten spelen een veel belangrijkere rol in biologische processen dan altijd werd aangenomen. Prominent aanwezig op celoppervlakken, zijn zij betrokken bij veel communicaties en interacties. Soms zijn deze interacties ongewenst en ontstaan ziektes. Het maken van moleculen die hier kunnen helpen is het doel. De ongebruikelijke taal van de suikers vraagt een specifieke synthetische aanpak met aaneengekoppelde suikersystemen. Naast de route naar geneesmiddelen zijn diagnostiek en het oplossen van biologische vraagstukken belangrijke mogelijkheden

Blocking Disease Linked Lectins with Multivalent Carbohydrates

Lectins play important roles in the development of disease. Mediating the adhesion of bacterial or viral pathogens or bacterial toxins is an example. Blocking these interactions may be a useful approach for intervention with these disease‐causing processes. Most of these lectins carry multiple carbohydrate binding sites. This provides an added handle to create highly potent and specific compounds for intervention. Depending on the organization of the binding sites, different molecular designs are needed for optimal inhibition. This chapter explores a number of solutions for a series of medically important lectin targets

Blocking Disease Linked Lectins with Multivalent Carbohydrates

Lectins play important roles in the development of disease. Mediating the adhesion of bacterial or viral pathogens or bacterial toxins is an example. Blocking these interactions may be a useful approach for intervention with these disease‐causing processes. Most of these lectins carry multiple carbohydrate binding sites. This provides an added handle to create highly potent and specific compounds for intervention. Depending on the organization of the binding sites, different molecular designs are needed for optimal inhibition. This chapter explores a number of solutions for a series of medically important lectin targets