Search

Objective: This study explores the validity of Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) reported in unpublished skeletal reports, based on macroscopic analysis alone. \ud Materials: The high prevalence of ‘suspected’ Paget’s disease (10.7%) in an early modern sample from St John’s the Evangelist Church in Redhill, Surrey is reassessed.\ud Methods: Signs of PDB were examined in 53 well-preserved adults aged 35+ years using macroscopic, radiographic and histological techniques.\ud Results: Macroscopic features of PDB were identified in 8 individuals (15%), with 5 individuals later rejected using radiography. Two individuals showed classic radiographic features of PDB, with a third presenting possible features in radiography (5.7%). These three cases were confirmed by histological analysis. \ud Conclusions: PDB should not be suggested as a single diagnosis in cases of bone hypertrophy without confirmation using radiography. \ud Significance: The growing popularity of ‘big data’ projects and limited collections access means that unpublished cases of PDB are often included in large scale analyses, impacting our understanding of the evolution of this disease. Using macroscopic analysis alone leads to overdiagnosis. Histological analysis is unnecessary when radiographic features are present, but provides a useful diagnostic step in long bones in advanced cases of PBD.\ud Limitations: The radiographic sample in this study was limited to three individuals.\ud Suggestions for Further Research: The conclusion that radiography alone can be used to identify PDB in archaeological cases merits further research on a larger number of cases.

Background Reducing meat consumption could help to protect the natural environment and promote population health. Interventions restructuring physical micro-environments might help to change habitual behaviour. We synthesised the scientific evidence pertaining to whether, and which, interventions restructuring physical micro-environments effectively reduce the demand for meat. Methods We did a systematic review of quantitative studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions restructuring physical micro-environments to reduce the demand for meat. We identified relevant records by searching six electronic databases (CAB Abstracts, Embase, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index, MEDLINE, and Dissertations & Theses) on Aug 31, 2017, contacting experts, screening publicly accessible online resources, and searching references. We included studies that evaluated the effectiveness of interventions restructuring physical micro-environments to reduce the demand for meat, defined as the actual or intended consumption, purchase, or selection of meat in real or virtual environments. We extracted data pertaining to the study samples, the interventions, and meat demand at the follow-up closest to intervention completion and at the longest follow-up, with the former representing our primary outcome. We synthesised data narratively and did a qualitative comparative analysis to identify configurations of intervention characteristics associated with, and those not found to be associated with, significant reductions in meat demand. Our Systematic Review is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42017081532. Results Of 10 733 titles and abstracts screened for eligibility, we assessed 60 full papers and included 14 papers reporting on 18 studies with 22 intervention conditions. Three interventions reducing the portion size of meat servings reduced meat consumption in randomised trials. Three interventions providing meat alternatives with supporting educational material were associated with reduced meat demand in pre-post design studies. Three of four interventions altering the sensory properties (eg, visual presentation) of meat or meat alternatives at point of purchase reduced meat demand in randomised trials. Four interventions repositioning meat products to be less prominent at point of purchase were associated with lower meat demand, but only two such interventions reached statistical significance in a randomised trial and a multiple treatment reversal design. Only one of five interventions manipulating the description of meat or meat alternatives at point of purchase was associated with lower meat demand in a multiple treatment reversal design. Evidence from randomised trials evaluating a pricing intervention or interventions restructuring several aspects of micro-environments was too scarce or inconsistent to be conclusive. The results from our qualitative comparative analysis supported the findings of this narrative synthesis. Interpretation Some interventions restructuring physical micro-environments could help to promote lower demand for meat. Interventions reducing portion sizes of meat servings, providing meat alternatives, or changing the sensory properties of meat and meat alternatives at point of purchase offered the most promise in the context of experimental studies.

In 2008, a group of conservation scientists compiled a list of 100 priority questions for the conservation of the world's biodiversity. However, now almost a decade later, no one has yet published a study gauging how much progress has been made in addressing these 100 high‐priority questions in the peer‐reviewed literature. We took a first step toward reexamining the 100 questions to identify key knowledge gaps that remain. Through a combination of a questionnaire and a literature review, we evaluated each question on the basis of 2 criteria: relevance and effort. We defined highly relevant questions as those that – if answered – would have the greatest impact on global biodiversity conservation and quantified effort based on the number of review publications addressing a particular question, which we used as a proxy for research effort. Using this approach, we identified a set of questions that, despite being perceived as highly relevant, have been the focus of relatively few review publications over the past 10 years. These questions covered a broad range of topics but predominantly tackled 3 major themes: conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems, role of societal structures in shaping interactions between people and the environment, and impacts of conservation interventions. We believe these questions represent important knowledge gaps that have received insufficient attention and may need to be prioritized in future research.

1. Theory predicts that mothers should adaptively adjust reproductive investment depending on current reserves and future reproductive opportunities. Females in better intrinsic state, or with more resources, should invest more in current reproduction than those with fewer resources. Across the lifespan, investment may increase as future reproductive opportunities decline, yet may also decline with reductions in intrinsic state. 2. Across many species, larger mothers produce larger offspring, but there is no theoretical consensus on why this is so. This pattern may be driven by variation in maternal state such as nutrition, yet few studies measure both size and nutritional state or attempt to tease apart confounding effects of size and age. 3. Viviparous tsetse flies (Glossina species) offer an excellent system to explore patterns of reproductive investment: females produce large, single offspring sequentially over the course of their relatively long life. Thus, per-brood reproductive effort can be quantified by offspring size. 4. While most tsetse reproduction research has been conducted on laboratory colonies, maternal investment was investigated in this study using a unique field method where mothers were collected as they deposited larvae, allowing simultaneous mother-offspring measurements under natural conditions. 5. It was found that larger mothers and those with a higher fat content produced larger offspring, and there was a trend for older mothers to produce slightly larger offspring. 6. The present results highlight the importance of measuring maternal nutritional state, rather than size alone, when considering maternal investment in offspring. Implications for understanding vector population dynamics are also discussed.

Piezoelectric materials exhibit high electromechanical coupling that allows them to both generate an electrical signal when strained and, conversely, to produce a strain under an applied electric field. This coupling has led to the use of these materials for a variety of sensing and actuation purposes. One unique application of these materials is their use as self-sensing actuators where both the sensing and actuation functions are performed by a single patch of material. Since the actuation and sensing voltages both exist simultaneously in the piezoelectric material, a specially designed electric circuit, referred to as a bridge circuit, is required to realize the concept. Configuration of the material in this manner is advantageous for control systems due to the enhanced stability associated when collocated control is applied. While certain advantages result from this type of system, precise equilibrium of the bridge circuit is required to achieve stability. This equilibrium is easy to achieve in theory, but difficult in practice due to the thermal dependence of the piezoelectric material's dielectric constant. This study will investigate a novel method of accounting for these changes through the use of thermal switches to passively adjust the bridge circuit and maintain a balanced state. The proposed concept will be theoretically modeled and simulated in a vibration control application to identify the thermal range for stability with and without the array of switches. It will be shown that, through the use of nine thermal switches, the stable operating range can be increased by 95 °C while maintaining vibration control performance.

C ORROSION is an extremely costly problem for industries and business sectors throughout the world and results in severe economic impact. In 1998, Congress funded the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to estimate the total cost of corrosion on theU.S. economy and provide corrosion prevention guidelines. The final results of the survey estimated the extrapolated total direct corrosion cost to be $278 billion per year, which is 3.14%of the gross domestic product in theUnited States [1]. In 1996, the U.S. spent $1.7 billion on commercial aircraft maintenance and lost $0.3 billion due to corrosion downtime [2]. The “find it and fix it” maintenance practices of the airline industry are costly and, in some cases, inadequate. The present note will focus on identifying a detection method for the galvanic type of corrosion that plagues aircraft. Many techniques exist for detecting corrosion in aircraft; however, these methods are typically inadequate due to the intrinsic human error present and are difficult and time-intensive to implement. Two general categories of corrosion monitoring techniques exist, nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM). NDEmethods include techniques such as visual, eddy current, ultrasonics, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, color visual imaging, radiography, and infrared imaging [3]. The second class of detection is SHM and is typically superior due to the automated nature of the sensing system. Examples of SHM systems used in aircraft include the monitoring of pH and humidity, acoustic emissions, ion concentration, and chemical potential detectors. The present study will provide results on a series of tests performed using piezoelectric-based impedance techniques, which are a newer and less developed method of performing SHM. These methods use the electromechanical coupling present in piezoelectric materials to determinewhen structural changes have occurred.When the piezoelectric material is bonded to the structure, its electrical impedance is coupled to themechanical impedance (a function of the mass, stiffness, and damping) of the structure, providing a means for characterizing it. As damage occurs or progresses, the electrical impedance measured from the piezoelectric materials shifts, which can be quantified using statistical methods, providing a method of measuring the damage present. For a detailed review of the impedance method and it application see Park et al. [4] However, the ability to use this technique to measure the small changes associated with the onset of corrosion has not been identified. This note will experimentally evaluate the use of piezoelectric materials in conjunction with the piezoelectric-based impedance method to detect, locate, and quantify precrack surface corrosion damage. The impedance variations caused by changes in corrosion location, pit depth, and surface coverage will be correlated to the damage metric, which is calculated from the measured impedance signatures.

With the recent advances in wireless technology and low power electronics the idea of capturing the ambient energy surrounding a system and using it to provide electrical power to devices that do not rely on external power supplies has received a significant amount of attention. Much of this attention has been aimed at the use of piezoelectric materials to capture ambient vibrations. However, the energy generated by such materials is far too small to directly power most of the electronic devices. Therefore, in the present study a Seebeck heat pump is used to convert the ambient thermal gradient generated by solar radiation and waste heat into usable electrical energy. To increase the amount of thermal radiation captured by the power harvesting device, the hot side of the thermoelectric generator is placed in a small greenhouse, while the cold side is secured against a thermal sink, such as a highway bridge. The power generated by the thermoelectric device is shown to be substantially greater than that produced by piezoelectric materials and the ability to recharge a discharged battery is demonstrated. This research focuses on the use of thermal electric generators in a passive configuration where only conduction is used to remove heat from the device. The majority of previous studies have implemented convective heat transfer to increase power output and have only reported gross energy production. The results show that thermal electric materials when used in a passive fashion can form effective power sources with the ability to quickly recharge discharged batteries.

Self-sensing actuation allows a single piezoelectric (PZT) element to be simultaneously used as both a sensor and an actuator. A specially designed electric circuit, referred to as a bridge circuit, is required to realize the concept. However, precise equilibrium of the bridge circuit is extremely difficult to obtain because of the continuous changes in environmental conditions. In this study, the effects of an unbalanced bridge circuit are analytically and experimentally evaluated in an attempt to quantify the variations in the PZT capacitance in terms of performances in vibration testing and control. Once the dynamic characteristics of self-sensing actuation are identified and understood, methods for improving the system’s performance are developed by utilizing capacitors in series and in parallel with the PZT patch. The analytical and experimental results clearly indicate that the new design scheme increases the stability of the system. However, the increase in stability comes at the cost of the increase in the power required for the control system.

This chapter focuses on the occurrence of the five mycotoxins in foods imported into the United States during the years 2000 to 2006: aflatoxins, patulin, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, and ochratoxin A. All of these mycotoxins have been found worldwide in foods and are of regulatory concern to the FDA. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the naturally occurring aflatoxins as being carcinogenic to humans, group 1A; aflatoxin M1was classified as 2B, indicating limited evidence for carcinogenicity to humans. Patulin is a toxic metabolite produced by fungi of several genera, including Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Byssochylamys. These fungi can grow on a variety of foods, including fruits. Deoxynivalenol (DON), commonly known as vomitoxin, belongs to a class of sesquiterpenoid mycotoxins that are referred to as trichothecenes. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a naturally occurring toxic fungal metabolite produced by certain species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium. Data on OTA levels in imported foods from 2000 to 2006 are shown in this chapter. The FDA organized and cosponsored the International Workshop on Mycotoxins at College Park, Maryland, 22 to 26 July 2002. This workshop was an international outreach effort by the FDA to assist economically challenged nations worldwide in minimizing the problem of mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs in their respective countries. The extent of mycotoxin contamination of foods is greatly influenced, in part, by uncontrollable environmental conditions that prevail during the growth, harvesting, and processing of crops that are used for the preparation of human food.

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method for determining deoxynivalenol (DON) in white flour, whole wheat flour, and bran at or above the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory level of 1 μg/g was evaluated by an interlaboratory study. Test samples of processed wheat (flour and bran) were extracted by blending with acetonitrile-water (84 + 16). Extracts were filtered and passed through a solid-phase extraction (SPE) column. The eluate was then chromatographed on a reversed-phase LC column with a water-methanol gradient. DON was measured at 220 nm. Naturally contaminated white flour, whole wheat flour, and bran samples and spiking solutions of DON to be added to the 3 commodities at 0.5,1.0, and 2.0 μg/g were sent to 4 collaborators in Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Washington states. Three collaborators completed the study. Average recoveries of DON from the 3 commodities spiked at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 (μg/g were 94, 87, and 97%, respectively. Within-laboratory relative standard deviations for repeatability (RSDr) ranged from 3.1 to 21.7% and between-laboratory relative standard deviations for reproducibility (RSDR) ranged from 10.8 to 38.7%. On the basis of the results of this study, the SPE/LC method for DON in white flour, whole wheat flour, and bran was adopted as a peer-verified method by AOAC INTERNATIONAL

This chapter explores the controversial history and contemporary practice of an immensely popular devotion, sketching the charismatic role of its originator, Saint Faustina, and the various artistic representations of the Divine Mercy that have been created and circulated. It interrogates a highly influential contemporary form of Catholic spirituality as a socio-cultural as well as subjective, material and experiential form of belief and practice. Focused on an image arising out of a visionary experience by a simple girl, the framing narratives make explicit the association between this simplicity and the spirit of trust which lies at the heart of the devotion. The Divine Mercy images and prayers have achieved a striking global resonance through their scope for personal individuation and agency, whether clerical or lay. This very vitality has proved challenging and ultimately uncontainable. Keywords: Catholic spirituality; devotion; Divine Mercy images; Saint Faustina

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method for determining deoxynivalenol (DON) in white flour, whole wheat flour, and bran was developed. A 25 g test portion was extracted with acetonitrile-water (84 + 16), and the extract was filtered and applied to a column containing a combination of charcoal, Celite, and other adsorbents. The eluate was then chromatographed on a silica-based, reversedphase LC column by using a gradient of water and methanol. DON was measured at 220 nm. Average recoveries of DON from white flour, whole wheat flour, and bran spiked at 1 fig/g were 88,86, and 85%, respectively. The limit of determination of the method was

Mycotoxins are considered unavoidable contaminants in foods and feeds because agronomic technology has not yet advanced to the stage at which preharvest infection of susceptible crops by fungi can be eliminated. The aflatoxins have received greater attention than any of the other mycotoxins because of their demonstrated carcinogenic effects in susceptible animals and their acute toxic effects in humans. Since 1965, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has enforced regulatory limits on the concentrations of these toxins in foods and feeds involved in interstate commerce. The FDA routinely monitors the food and feed industries through compliance programs to ensure that the levels of exposure to these toxins are kept as low as practical. This report summarizes data generated from compliance programs on aflatoxins for the fiscal years 1989, 1990, and the first half of 1991. Commodities sampled included peanuts and peanut products, tree nuts, corn and corn products, cottonseed, and milk. Higher than usual levels of contamination were found in corn examined from all areas of the United States in 1989 as a result of the severe drought that affected the 1988 corn crop. The drought in parts of the South and Southeast in 1990 resulted in increased contamination in corn and peanuts from those areas. A review of the surveillance data obtained on deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A, sterigmatocystin, penicillic acid, and patulin over the years along with available toxicological data for these mycotoxins indicated that no regulatory actions were warranted. The lack of sufficient surveillance data on other mycotoxins that occur in the United States can be attributed in part to the unavailability of reliable analytical methodology.

The Caerwys tufa in North Wales (UK) contains basal deposits thought to represent carbonate precipitation during the Late-glacial interstadial. These deposits are used to test whether stable isotope data record all or part of a warming-cooling-warming trend through the transition of the Late-glacial interstadial, Younger Dryas stadial and early Holocene. The d18O values and molluscan abundance data suggest that deposition of the Late-glacial tufa occurred mainly during a relatively warm period (? GL-1c or 1e) followed by cooling, the latter likely to be the transition into the Younger Dryas stadial. Tufa deposition is not recorded in the coldest part of the stadial: it is replaced by a sandy horizon. d13C values around -8.5‰ in the basal Late-glacial interstadial tufas show there was a significant influence from isotopically light soil-zone CO2, consistent with development of birch scrub and woodland further south in North Wales. During climatic cooling into the Younger Dryas stadial a 1‰ decrease in tufa d13C is interpreted to represent decreasing phytoplankton photosynthetic activity in pools causing less isotopic enrichment of the tufa d13C. In the (pre-9000 cal. years BP) early Holocene tufas at Caerwys, palaeo-water temperatures calculated from d18O in tufa calcite and from shell carbonate of Lymnaea peregra agree well and suggest summer water temperatures in the range 13 to 16.5°C. d13C data from these early Holocene pool-micrite tufas demonstrate that phytoplanktonic photosynthetic activity within the water column resumed under the warmer conditions causing isotopic enrichment of the tufa d13C values. Le tuf de Caerwys situé au nord du Pays de Galles (Grande-Bretagne) contient, à sa base, des dépôts à précipitations carbonatées, attribués à l'interstade du Tardiglaciaire. Ces dépôts sont utilisés pour tester la validité des isotopes stables dans l'enregistrement d'une séquence de température chaud-froid-chaud au cours de la transition Interstade du Tardiglaciaire-Dryas récent- début Holocène. Les valeurs de d18O ainsi que la courbe d'abondance des malacofaunes indiquent que le tuf tardiglaciaire s'est déposé au cours d'une phase tempérée (GL-1c ou 1e ?) suivie par un refroidissement qui pourrait correspondre à la transition vers le Dryas récent. Au cours de la phase la plus froide de cet épisode stadiaire la formation du tuf cesse et la sédimentation devient sableuse. Les valeurs de d13C qui se placent autour de -8.5‰ dans le tuf interstadiaire de base montrent une influence significative de la zone CO2 du sol isotopiquement faible qui est cohérente avec l'extension vers le sud de forêts de bouleaux dans la partie nord du Pays de Galles. Pendant le refroidissement du Dryas récent, la baisse de 1‰ du d13C du tuf est interprétée comme la représentation de la diminution de l'activité photosynthétique du phytoplancton dans les mares qui est la cause d'un enrichissement isotopique plus faible du d13C du tuf. Au sein des tout premiers niveaux de tuf holocènes (pré-9000 cal.an BP) à Caerwys, les paléo-températures de l'eau calculées à partir du d18O de la calcite du tuf et des carbonates des coquilles de Lymnaea peregra sont en bon accord et suggèrent des estimations des températures estivales de l'eau situées entre 13 et 16.5°C. Les données de d13C obtenues dans ces tufs de mare-micrite du début de l'Holocène démontrent que l'activité photosynthétique du phytoplancton à l'intérieur de la colonne d'eau reprend quand les conditions sont plus chaudes et provoquent un enrichissement isotopique des valuers de d13C du tuf.

Corrosion begins as moisture penetrates the protective barrier of a surface, starting an electrochemical process which over time leads to surface pitting. The combined action of mechanical stresses and corrosion induced pitting reduces structural integrity as the pits enlarge to form nucleation sites for surface cracks, which propagate into through-the-thickness cracks. In most cases, the total mass loss due to corrosion within the structure is small; however, significant reductions in mechanical strength and fatigue life can occur in the corroded material leading to advanced crack growth rates or fast fracture. Since the structural damage due to localized corrosion pitting is small and the crack growth rates may be large, traditional inspections methods and "find it and fix it" maintenance approaches may lead to catastrophic mechanical failures. Therefore, precise structural health monitoring of pre-crack surface corrosion is paramount to understanding and predicting the effect corrosion has on the fatigue life and integrity of a structure. In this study, the impedance method was experimentally tested to detect and quantify the onset and growth of pre-crack surface corrosion in beam and plate like structures. Experimental results indicate the method is an effective detection and tracking tool for corrosion induced structural damage in plates and beams. Additionally, impedance based monitoring of the corrosive effect on the piezoelectric sensors may serve as a useful tool for predicting corrosion growth rates on the surface of structures.

Corrosion begins as moisture penetrates the protective barrier of a surface, starting an electrochemical process which over time leads to surface pitting. The combined action of mechanical stresses and corrosion induced pitting reduces structural integrity as the pits enlarge to form nucleation sites for surface cracks, which propagate into through-thickness cracks. In most cases, the total mass loss due to corrosion within the structure is small; however, significant reductions in mechanical strength and fatigue life can occur in the corroded material leading to advanced crack growth rates or fast fracture. Since the structural damage due to localized corrosion pitting is small and the crack growth rates may be large, traditional inspections methods and "find it and fix it" maintenance approaches may lead to catastrophic mechanical failures. Therefore, precise structural health monitoring of pre-crack surface corrosion is paramount to understanding and predicting the effect corrosion has on the fatigue life and integrity of a structure. In this first third of this study, the impedance method was experimentally tested to detect and the onset and growth of the earliest stages of pre-crack surface corrosion in beam and plate like structures. Experimental results indicate the impedance method is an effective detection tool for corrosion induced structural damage in plates and beams. For corrosion surface coverages less than 1.5% and pit depths of less than 25 microns (light corrosion), the impedance method could successfully detect corrosion on plates and beams at distances up to 150 cm from the sensor location. Since the impedance method is a proven tool for corrosion detection, it makes sense to determine how well the method can quantify and track key corrosion variables like location, pit depth, and surface coverage. In order to make fatigue life adjustments for corroded structures it is necessary to quantify those variables. Thus, the second portion of this study uses the impedance method to quantify corrosion location, pit depth, and location. Three separate tests are conducted on beam-like structures to determine how well the damage metrics from the impedance method correlate to the key corrosion variables. From the three tests, it is found that the impedance method correlates best with the changes in corrosion pit depth, so if combined with data from routine maintenance it would be possible to use the impedance method data in a predictive or tracking manner. The impedance method can be correlated to location and surface coverage changes, but the relationship is not as strong. Other NDE techniques like Lamb Waves could use the same sensors to quantify corrosion location, and perhaps surface coverage. The impedance method can detect and quantify pre-crack surface corrosion which leads to shortened fatigue life in structures; however, the sensors must be robust enough to withstand corrosive environments. The last portion of this study tests the following: corrosive effect on Lead Zirconate Titnate (PZT) and Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) sensors, Kapton protected MFC actuators for corrosion detection, and determines if corrosion damage can be sensed on the side of the structure opposite the damage. Sensor recommendations regarding the use of piezoelectric sensors in corrosive environments are made. Master of Science