Achieving Control of Coating Process in your Foundry

Achieving control of coating thickness in foundry moulds is needed in order to guarantee uniform properties of the mould but also to achieve control of drying time. Since drying time of water based coatings is heavily dependent on the amount of water present in the coating layer, a stable coating process is prerequisite for a stable drying process. In this study, we analyse the effect of different variables on the coating layer properties. We start by considering four critical variables identified in a previous study such as sand compaction, coating density, dipping time and gravity and then we add centre points to the original experimental plans to identify possible non-linear effects and variation in process stability. Finally, we investigate the relation between coating penetration (a variable that is relatively simple to measure in production) and other coating layer thickness properties (relevant for the drying process design). Correlations are found and equations are provided. In particular it is found that water thickness can be directly correlated to penetration with a simple linear equation and without the need to account for other variables

Microbial responses to changes in land use

Background/Question/Methods
Land use change is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide. This is especially true for land use change that results in the destruction of intact forest, or "deforestation”. Deforestation is causing a loss of biological diversity on an unprecedented scale, especially in the Tropics. It is unclear how the majority of the biodiversity on Earth – microbial biodiversity – is responding to these extraordinary rates of deforestation. I will provide an overview of our current understanding of microbial responses to deforestation. I will focus, as an example, on our current research regarding the effects of deforestation on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), bacteria and archaea within Amazon Rainforest soils. This study takes advantage of an established chronosequence of primary rainforest, pastures of various ages, and secondary rainforest to determine the effect of deforestation on the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of soil microorganisms, assayed using culture-independent methods.

Results/Conclusions
There is increasing evidence that deforestation significantly affects microbial diversity, and that “recovery” of microbial diversity in secondary forest soils is incomplete. For example, rarefaction curves suggest that the accumulation of AMF taxa is higher for Amazon primary forest soil relative to secondary forest soil. In addition, the community composition varies with land use; three AMF taxa were shared between primary and secondary forests, seven were found only in primary forest, and three were found exclusively in secondary forest soil. We also observed that the phylogenetic diversity of AMF is more reduced in secondary forest soils than expected given the regional pool of AMF taxa.

*The audio track for talks in this symposium may be obtained at the following web address:*

*https://sites.google.com/site/esa2010symposium13audiocontent/esa2010-symposium13-audio-content

Enhanced Support for High Intensity Users of the Criminal Justice System – an evaluation of mental health nurse input into Integrated Offender Management Services in the North East of England

The current UK Government’s focus on the development of services to manage and support offenders with mental health problems has resulted in a number of innovative project developments. This research examines a service development in the North East of England which co-located Mental Health nurses with two Integrated Offender Management teams. While not solving all problems, the benefits of co-location were clear – although such innovations are now at risk from government changes which will make Integrated Offender Management the responsibility of new providers without compelling them to co-operate with health services

Auger recombination suppression and band alignment in GaAsBi/GaAs heterostructures

Using a combination of experimental and theoretical techniques we present the dependence of the bandgap Eg and the spin orbit splitting energy so, with Bi concentration in GaAsBi/GaAs samples. We find that the concentration at which so,> Eg occurs at 9%. Both spectroscopic as well as first device results indicate a type I alignment

Phase Diagram for Charge Density Waves in a Magnetic Field

The influence of an external magnetic field on a quasi one-dimensional system with a charge density wave (CDW) instability is treated within the random phase approximation which includes both CDW and spin density wave correlations. We show that the CDW is sensitive to both orbital and Pauli effects of the field. In the case of perfect nesting, the critical temperature decreases monotonously with the field, and the wave vector of the instability starts to shift above some critical value of magnetic field. Depending on the ratio between the spin and charge coupling constants and on the direction of the applied magnetic field, the wave vector shift is either parallel ($CDW_x$ order) or perpendicular ($CDW_y$ order) to the most conducting direction. The $CDW_x$ order is a field dependent linear combination of the charge and spin density waves and is sensible only to the Pauli effect. The wave vector shift in $CDW_y$ depends on the interchain coupling, but the critical temperature does not. This order is affected by the confinement of the electronic orbits. By increasing the relative strength of the orbital effect with respect to the Pauli effect, one can destroy the $CDW_y$, establishing either a $CDW_x$, or a $CDW_0$ (corresponding to perfect nesting wave vector). We also show that by increasing the imperfect nesting parameter, one passes from the regime where the critical temperature decreases with the field to the regime where it is initially enhanced by the orbital effect and eventually suppressed by the Pauli effect. For a bad nesting, the quantized phases of the field-induced CDW appear.Comment: 30 pages (LaTeX) + 15 figure

Antibiotic Resistomes and Microbiomes in the Surface Water along the Code River in Indonesia Reflect Drainage Basin Anthropogenic Activities

Water and sanitation are important factors in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in low-and middle-income countries. Drug residues, metals, and various wastes foster the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) with the help of mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and therefore, rivers receiving contaminants and enfluents from multiple sources are of special interest. We followed both the microbiome and resistome of the Code River in Indonesia from its pristine origin at the Merapi volcano through rural and then city areas to the coast of the Indian Ocean. We used a SmartChip quantitative PCR with 382 primer pairs for profiling the resistome and MGEs and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to analyze the bacterial communities. The community structure explained the resistome composition in rural areas, while the city sampling sites had lower bacterial diversity and more ARGs, which correlated with MGEs, suggesting increased mobility potential in response to pressures from human activities. Importantly, the vast majority of ARGs and MGEs were no longer detectable in marine waters at the ocean entrance. Our work provides information on the impact of different influents on river health as well as sheds light on how land use contributes to the river resistome and microbiome.Peer reviewe