An NMR study on internal browning in pears

Internal browning in pears (Pyrus communis L. cv. Blanquilla) has been studied by NMR and MRI in order to develop a non-destructive procedure for on-line disorder identification. For NMR relaxometry, disordered tissue shows higher transverse relaxation rates compared to sound tissue, especially at higher magnetic field strength and for long pulse spacing. Membrane alteration and therefore tissue disintegration, as well as water evaporation, appear to be the main causes of this response. Correlation between relaxation times and diffusion showed that the proton pools in disordered tissue are grouped into a smaller number of populations compared to sound tissue, also highlighting cell decompartmentation in disordered tissue. At a macroscopic level, fast low angle shot MR images, effective transverse relaxation-weighted (TR 11 ms and TE 3.7 ms) and proton density-weighted (TR 7.6 ms and TE 2.5 ms), were acquired for pears at a rate of 54 mm/s. Images have been discriminated for internal breakdown according to histogram characteristics. Up to 94 and 96% of pears, respectively, were correctly classified in the former and the latter type of images. In this study a minimum value of 12% of tissue affected by breakdown was always clearly identifie

The Oswald Clergy Burnout Scale: reliability, factor structure and preliminary application among Australian clergy

This study assesses the Oswald Clergy Burnout Scale (OCBI), the psychometric properties of which have not been previously described. Analysis of responses from a large number (N  = 3,012) of ministers in charge of Australian congregations showed that the scale’s internal reliability was satisfactory, and that the scale could be represented by two factors, identified, respectively, as the personal and social aspects of burnout. This structure was supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Several demographic and job-related variables that might relate to burnout were regressed on the total, personal and social factor scores. Age is the predominant (negative) predictor of burnout as measured by the total scale and the personal factor scores. All variables predict burnout as measured by the social factor. However, in all models, the predictor variables account for no more than 5% of the total variance. These findings suggest that demographic factors and working conditions are poor predictors of burnout among clergy

Carbon capture in the cement industry: technologies, progress, and retrofitting

Several different carbon-capture technologies have been proposed for use in the cement industry. This paper reviews their attributes, the progress that has been made toward their commercialization, and the major challenges facing their retrofitting to existing cement plants. A technology readiness level (TRL) scale for carbon capture in the cement industry is developed. For application at cement plants, partial oxy-fuel combustion, amine scrubbing, and calcium looping are the most developed (TRL 6 being the pilot system demonstrated in relevant environment), followed by direct capture (TRL 4–5 being the component and system validation at lab-scale in a relevant environment) and full oxy-fuel combustion (TRL 4 being the component and system validation at lab-scale in a lab environment). Our review suggests that advancing to TRL 7 (demonstration in plant environment) seems to be a challenge for the industry, representing a major step up from TRL 6. The important attributes that a cement plant must have to be “carbon-capture ready” for each capture technology selection is evaluated. Common requirements are space around the preheater and precalciner section, access to CO2 transport infrastructure, and a retrofittable preheater tower. Evidence from the electricity generation sector suggests that carbon capture readiness is not always cost-effective. The similar durations of cement-plant renovation and capture-plant construction suggests that synchronizing these two actions may save considerable time and money

Total immersion: maps, landscape and memory

It has been argued that we live in a map immersed world, but that the ubiquity of maps may actually lead to their devaluation and perhaps, even a form of invisibility. This paper describes a project designed to share ideas about the value of maps and mapping with the people of the county of Kent (UK) during International Map Year (IMY). The project involved a team of geographers at Canterbury Christ Church University writing a series of articles on maps and landscape to celebrate the year, but also engage people with mapping

Aspects of personal happiness and their relationships with individual differences in personality

There is a substantial body of literature on the positive associations between personal happiness (subjective or psychological well-being) and a wide range of human activities such as personal relationships, leisure, work and religious beliefs. It has also been reported that well-being is related to personality, particularly the traits of extraversion (positively) and neuroticism (negatively). The main aim of the work now described is an investigation of the extent to which the self-reported satisfactions derived from a variety of activities, generally assumed to be conducive to well-being, are mediated by individual personality differences. In addition, the scale used to measure happiness, the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI), was examined and revised and new data has been provided on the relative importance of extraversion and neuroticism as predictors of well-being. Three studies (section 2) were concerned with the positive moods generated by leisure. With the exception of membership of sports clubs (section 2.1), it was not possible convincingly to demonstrate that any of the activities was directly associated with selfreported happiness. A study of adult users of the Internet (section 2.2) showed few statistical associations with personality and well-being when the effects of gender and age were controlled for. An investigation of three pre-existing theories of leisure motivation (section 2.3) suggested that among young people, leisure motivations could best be explained by the opportunities provided for making social contacts. Other investigations examined the connection between well-being, spiritual experiences and religiosity (section 3). Mystical experiences were widespread among an adult sample, irrespective of religious affiliation, but were not associated with happiness (section 3.1). A study of members of religious organisations and of performing musical groups (section 3.2) showed that both activities evoked similar positive affects and these were stronger for musical than for religious participation. No evidence was found for a relationship between happiness and either of the activities. The influence of religiosity upon attitudes to work was also investigated (section 3.3). The components of a Contemporary Work Ethic (CWE) were identified and compared with those of the traditional Protestant Work Ethic. Religious people endorsed the value of hard work more and were marginally less self-reliant than those who were non-religious, but neither the CWE nor religiosity was associated with happiness. An overall association between happiness and extraversion has often been reported and confirmed here. However, a study of happy introverts (section 4.1) established that there is little difference in the levels of happiness reported by individuals who vary widely in introversion/extraversion. It was also demonstrated (section 4.2) that emotional stability is a stronger predictor of happiness than extraversion and the sole predictor of happiness for younger participants. The failure to record an association between most of the activities studied and self-reported happiness might have been due to the properties of the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) that was used as a measure of well-being throughout. A new scale, the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) has been devised and its psychometric properties established. This scale may possess some practical advantages over the OHI, and it appears that the form of happiness measured by the OHQ is uni-dimensional (section 5.1). Overall, happiness might better be considered as a personal pre-disposition, rather than a consequence of particular activities

'Special K' and a loss of cell-to-cell adhesion in proximal tubule-derived epithelial cells: modulation of the adherens junction complex by ketamine

Ketamine, a mild hallucinogenic class C drug, is the fastest growing ‘party drug’ used by 16–24 year olds in the UK. As the recreational use of Ketamine increases we are beginning to see the signs of major renal and bladder complications. To date however, we know nothing of a role for Ketamine in modulating both structure and function of the human renal proximal tubule. In the current study we have used an established model cell line for human epithelial cells of the proximal tubule (HK2) to demonstrate that Ketamine evokes early changes in expression of proteins central to the adherens junction complex. Furthermore we use AFM single-cell force spectroscopy to assess if these changes functionally uncouple cells of the proximal tubule ahead of any overt loss in epithelial cell function. Our data suggests that Ketamine (24–48 hrs) produces gross changes in cell morphology and cytoskeletal architecture towards a fibrotic phenotype. These physical changes matched the concentration-dependent (0.1–1 mg/mL) cytotoxic effect of Ketamine and reflect a loss in expression of the key adherens junction proteins epithelial (E)- and neural (N)-cadherin and β-catenin. Down-regulation of protein expression does not involve the pro-fibrotic cytokine TGFβ, nor is it regulated by the usual increase in expression of Slug or Snail, the transcriptional regulators for E-cadherin. However, the loss in E-cadherin can be partially rescued pharmacologically by blocking p38 MAPK using SB203580. These data provide compelling evidence that Ketamine alters epithelial cell-to-cell adhesion and cell-coupling in the proximal kidney via a non-classical pro-fibrotic mechanism and the data provides the first indication that this illicit substance can have major implications on renal function. Understanding Ketamine-induced renal pathology may identify targets for future therapeutic intervention

Real-time co-ordinated scheduling using a genetic algorithm

Real-time co-ordination is an emerging approach to operational engineering management aimed at being more comprehensive and widely applicable than existing approaches. Schedule management is a key characteristic of operational co-ordination related to managing the planning and dynamic assignment of tasks to resources, and the enactment of the resulting schedules, throughout a changeable process. This paper presents the application of an agent-oriented system, called the Design Co-ordination System, to an industrial case study in order to demonstrate the appropriate use of a genetic algorithm for the purpose of real-time scheduling. The application demonstrates that real-time co-ordinated scheduling can provide significant reductions in time to complete the computational design process

Non-invasive assessment of pulmonary vascular resistance in pulmonary hypertension: Current knowledge and future direction

Pulmonary Hypertension (PHT) is relatively common, dangerous and under-recognised. Pulmonary hypertension is not a diagnosis in itself; it is caused by a number of differing diseases each with different treatments and prognoses. Therefore, timely and accurate recognition of the underlying cause for PHT is essential for appropriate management. This is especially true for patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) in the current era of disease-specific drug therapy. Measurement of Pulmonary Vascular Resistance (PVR) helps separate pre-capillary from post-capillary PHT, and is measured with right heart catheterisation (RHC). Echocardiography has been used to derive a number of non-invasive surrogates for PVR, with varying accuracy. Ultimately, the goal of non-invasive assessment of PVR is to separate PHT due to left heart disease from PHT due to increased PVR, to help streamline investigation and subsequent treatment. In this review, we summarise the physiology and pathophysiology of pulmonary blood flow, the various causes of pulmonary hypertension, and non-invasive surrogates for PVR

Nutrition and the Primary School Child

With a greater range of foodstuffs available today, it is necessary to educate children in choosing the correct foods to eat, and why they should eat them in preference to others. The concept of nutrition is related closely to the growth and well being of the child and subsequently should be an important part of a child\u27s primary school education

Eddy Structures Induced Within a Wedge by a Honing Circular Arc

In this paper we outline an expeditious numerical procedure to calculate the Stokes flow in a corner due to the rotation of a scraping circular boundary. The method is also applicable to other wedge geometries. We employ a collocation technique utilising a basis of eddy (similarity) functions introduced by Moffatt (1964) that allows us to satisfy automatically the governing equations for the streamfunction and all the boundary conditions on the surface of the wedge. The circular honing problem thereby becomes one-dimensional requiring only the satisfaction of conditions on the circular boundary. The advantage of using the Moffatt eddy functions as a basis in wedge geometry is clear and the technique greatly reduces many of the concerns with accuracy and time expenditure associated with alternative numerical methods. An investigation of the details of the eddy structure for our particular geometry is presented