DISCUSSION: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANTITRUST DIVISION

Industrial Organization,

Managing Construction Logistics

Book ReviewManaging Construction LogisticsGary Sullivan; Stephen Barthorpe and Stephen Robbins Publishers : Wiley-Blackwell 2010, 304 pages, ISBN 978-1-4051-5124-5 (paperback), GBP 49.99, EUR 60.00,  AUD 99.95, NZD  115.00.&nbsp

The LifePump: A Strategy for Introducing Affordable Clean Water to the Developing World

The intent of introducing a new technique for purifying water in the developing world is to make a healthier and easier method of collecting and cleaning water for human consumption when there is a chance of causing disease from the pathogens in the water source. However, the currently implemented systems and products used for water filtration and purification in developing countries go unused or are abandoned once they break down; the local people go back to filtering water in less effective ways. The reason for the lack of use of these foreign designed tools is because they are not accepted in the local community they were designed for. A lack of understanding for the socio-economic and environmental conditions creates a communication barrier between the designer and the end user. This thesis focuses on the importance of creating a fully integrated point of use water filtration and purification system in Haiti that will be focused on solving certain factors that are usually overlooked in the majority of designs created for the other 90%

NMR studies of solid nitrogen-containing dyestuffs

This thesis is concerned with the structural analysis of dyestuffs in their natural solid state by the application of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. These dysetuffs are all derived from the phenylazobenzene group, but tautomerism can produce structural changes, which have so far been uncharacterised in the solid-state for many of the dyestuffs currently under investigation. The information obtainable from (^13)C and (^15)N chemical shifts, both isotropic and anisotropic will be applied in this structure determination. Under magic-angle spinning the anisotropic nature of solid-state interactions is partially averaged or removed. The rotational resonance technique will be presented, which reintroduces the homonuclear dipolar interaction allowing dipolar coupling constants to be measured. Second-order effects arising from the (^14)N quadrupole interaction broaden spin-1/2 lines (RDC) in such a manner that bond lengths can be determined. This RDC analysis will be applied to a series of hydrazone structures to determine the (^15)N-(^14)N bond length within the hydrazone linkage. Finally, the two-dimensional magic-angle turning experiment will be discussed and applied to both the (13)C and (^15)N nuclei for a range of dyestuffs to show that accurate shielding tensor information can be obtained from large molecules

Studies on the biology of Sphaerospora Sp. (myxozoa: myxosporea) from farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. in Scotland

The life cycle, morphology, development, epidemiology and pathology of a previously unreported myxosporean parasite of Atlantic salmon is described. The parasite infects fish at a number of freshwater smolt-producing hatcheries across Scotland. A three year epidemiological sampling programme indicated that the parasite had two distinct life cycle phases in the fish. The first, an extrasporogonic stage, was first detected in late June/early July, though a retention experiment showed that infections were pre-patent for two to four weeks prior to their becoming detectable. Extrasporogonic stages rapidly rose in prevalence in a single cohort; this was related to a presumed synchronous release of infective agents from alternate hosts in the rivers supplying farms, perhaps as a result of a temperature stimulus. Extrasporogonic stages were found in the circulating blood, liver sinuses and spleen, but were concentrated in the interstitium of the kidney. Such stages measured 10-60/xm in diameter and consisted of a primary cell containing 1-120 secondary cells in its cytoplasm. Secondary cells could contain one, or two, tertiary cells. Ultrastructural observations noted that secondary and tertiary cells were situated in vacuoles in the cytoplasm of primary and secondary cells respectively. Primary cell nuclei showed marked developmental changes in appearance, from early released stages with few secondary cells through to more advanced ones containing many secondary cells. Tertiary cells appeared to be formed by two means; endogenous cleavage of the secondary cell, and the engulfment of one secondary cell by another. The extrasporogonic stages were responsible for morbidity, mortality and histopathological changes. The role of the extrasporogonic stage as a stressor, rendering fish more susceptible to secondary invaders and lowering tolerance to environmental factors and additional stresses was discussed. The host response resulted in the engulfment and/or the attachment and destruction of some extrasporogonic stages by leucocytes. Extrasporogonic stages were last detected in early September in cohorts. Sporogonie stages first became detectable in the kidney tubules in late August. The earliest stage comprised an enveloping pseudoplasmodial cell containing two sporoblast cells. This appeared homologous to the secondary cells containing two tertiary cells formed in, and released by, extrasporogonic stages. These stages appeared to reach the kidney tubules via two routes; penetrating between adjacent cells of the basal lamina of the kidney tubule, and by the disruption of the glomerular capillaries followed by entrance to the tubule via the Bowman’s space. Glomerular means of entry was more common and caused histopathological changes. Although some tubules were completely occluded by sporogonie stages, they caused little pathology. The two sporoblast cells of each pseudoplasmodium subsequently divided until twelve were present; the twelve then differentiated to form two spores. Sporogenesis was described from both light and electron microscopical observations. The parasite was identified as a member of the genus Sphaerospora by virtue of its spore morphology and dimensions, and presence of an extrasporogonic stage, but showed close affinities with Leptotheca. Spores were considerably more broad and deep when immature. Experimental transmissions via the IP-injection of kidney suspensions containing extrasporogonic stages resulted in infections in naive Atlantic salmon and brown trout but not in rainbow trout. Spores and sporogonie stages were not transmissible by IP-injection or orally. The Sphaerospora sp. from Atlantic salmon was compared with related species in the literature, especially PKX and S. truttae. Despite a close similarity to S. truttae, the parasite was not assigned to this species due to a lack of information on S. truttae ultrastructure and extrasporogonic stages, and the presence of intracellular sporogonie development in S. truttae. Studies of infection intensity showed distinct variations between individual farms. A number of aspects of the epidemiology of the salmon Sphaerospora pointed to a limited potential for proliferation for individual extrasporogonic stages. Studies of salmon cohorts with different infection histories indicated that previously infected fish were not susceptible in their second year. Fish in their first year, and year old fish not previously exposed, were susceptible. Mature spores could be found in fish held on freshwater away from any source of reinfection 18 months after they had first been detected. However spores were lost from the kidney tubules of fish within three months of their transfer to sea-cages as smolts. A study of the habitats at and around infected farms for actinosporean life cycle stages in alternate hosts resulted in the discovery of five species of actinosporean of four distinct genera. All species were detected from the oligochaete population of a settlement pond at one farm. Two were identified to species level, Synactinomyxon longicauda and Triactinomyxon mrazeki, but the remainder appeared to be new species of the genera Aurantiactinomyxon, Raabeia and Synactinomyxon. Polar filaments of Aurantiactinomyxon, Raabeia, Synactinomyxon sp. 1 and Synactinomyxon longicauda everted in response to mucus from Atlantic salmon, brown trout and bream. In the case of S. longicauda, the sporoplasm of spores hatched and was motile. The spore release patterns of worms infected with Aurantiactinomyxon sp. were studied and showed that peak release occurred during the night. The ultrastructure of Aurantiactinomyxon was described, polar capsule formation being particularly unusual

Exploration of the mechanism of rhodium(III) co-precipitation with copper sulfide (at low rhodium concentrations) incorporating the cationic substitution reaction path

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This study is a preliminary investigation into the mechanism and kinetics of Rh3+ coprecipitation with CuS upon aqueous thiosulphate addition to acidic base metal sulphate solutions, where Rh3+ concentration is two orders of magnitude lower than Cu2+, over 50 - 150 °C. The heterogeneous cationic substitution has been identified as a new precipitation path in metal sulfide co-precipitation, namely, the reaction between more soluble, co-precipitated metal sulphide (CuS) and the less soluble cation in solution (Rh3+), with the large KSP difference providing the chemical driving force

The Effect of training, aim pattern and target type on the ergonomics and efficiency of handheld scanners

Handheld scanning is a prevalent industrial task that is prone to injury due to the repetitive motion of the task. Studies conducted with Rochester Institute of Technology and Honeywell have sought to discover the ergonomic and efficiency benefits of various scanning technologies and methods. One factor not fully investigated in these earlier works is the effect of training on the proper use of scanners. This thesis study compares trained and untrained user performance and ergonomics during a series of scanning tasks using a hand held omni-directional scanner. Comparison is based on such variables as target type (image that is scanned), aiming pattern (image projected from scanner) and time stress (self-paced versus time stress paced). Through this study is the potential to assess the value of training on efficiency and ergonomics during hand held scanner use. A trained and an untrained group (each consisting of eight subjects) performed scanning tasks daily for ten days. Wrist postures and task completion times were recorded throughout the study as well as perceived comfort and usability. Results show that the untrained group tended to have greater wrist deviations and thus poorer ergonomics overall. With the exception of the first day, the trained and untrained groups did not differ in terms of efficiency. As a result of this first day difference, level of training seemed to affect efficiency over time resulting in a quick learning curve for the untrained group. There was a significant aim pattern-target type relationship for both training groups in terms of ergonomics and efficiency. Results suggest aim pattern preference was a function of training level. Under time stress, the effect on ergonomics depended on wrist posture and training level, but the trained group tended to have a more detrimental effect to ergonomics than the untrained group. As expected, efficiency increased under time stress, but time stress had no significant effect on perceived usability and comfort