Compliance Program report of findings: FY 79 pesticides and metals in Fish Program (7305.007)

Because fish bioaccumulate* certain chemicals, levels of chemical contaminants in their edible portion must be closely monitored. In recent years, FDA has conducted several surveys designed to determine the occurrence and levels of selected chemicals or groups of chemicals in fish. Previous fish surveillance programs included the Mercury in Wholesale Fish Survey (FY 71), the FY 73 and 74 Comprehensive Fish Surveys, the Canned Tuna Program (FY 75), the Kepone and Mirex Contamination Program (FY 77), and the FY 77 Mercury in Swordfish Program. In addition, recent Compliance Programs for Pesticides and Metals in Foods and Pesticides, Metals, and Industrial Chemicals in Animal Feed have specified coverage of fish and fish products. Because of previous findings and the sustained high level of fish imported into the United States, a separate compliance program dealing solely with chemical contaminants in fish was initiated by the FDA Bureau of Foods in FY 78. The program includes all domestic and imported fish coverage except that directed by the Bureau of Veterinary Medicine for animal feed components derived from fishery products. The earlier surveys indicated that "bottom feeder" species such as catfish generally had the highest levels of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). For this reason, coverage at these species has been emphasized. Similarly, tuna has received special attention because it is the most prevalent fish in the U.S. diet and because of potential problems with mercury. Halibut, swordfish, and snapper also were emphasized in the sampling because of potential problems with mercury levels determined in previous years. The findings in this program were used in detecting emerging problems in fish and directing FDA efforts to deal with them. Care must be exercised in drawing conclusions about trends from the data because this Compliance Program was not statistically designed. Sampling objectives and sources may vary from year to year; thus the results are not directly comparable.

A method and tool for 'cradle to grave' embodied carbon and energy impacts of UK buildings in compliance with the new TC350 standards

As operational impacts from buildings are reduced, embodied impacts are increasing. However, the latter are seldom calculated in the UK; when they are, they tend to be calculated after the building has been constructed, or are underestimated by considering only the initial materials stage. In 2010, the UK Government recommended that a standard methodology for calculating embodied impacts of buildings be developed for early stage design decisions. This was followed in 2011-12 by the publication of the European TC350 standards defining the 'cradle to grave' impact of buildings and products through a process Life Cycle Analysis. This paper describes a new whole life embodied carbon and energy of buildings (ECEB) tool, designed as a usable empirical-based approach for early stage design decisions for UK buildings. The tool complies where possible with the TC350 standards. Initial results for a simple masonry construction dwelling are given in terms of the percentage contribution of each life cycle stage. The main difficulty in obtaining these results is found to be the lack of data, and the paper suggests that the construction and manufacturing industries now have a responsibility to develop new data in order to support this task. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Corrugated carbon nanotube microstructures with geometrically tunable compliance

Deterministic organization of nanostructures into microscale geometries is essential for the development of materials with novel mechanical, optical, and surface properties. We demonstrate scalable fabrication of 3D corrugated carbon nanotube (CNT) microstructures, via an iterative sequence of vertically aligned CNT growth and capillary self-assembly. Vertical microbellows and tilted microcantilevers are created over large areas, and these structures can have thin walls with aspect ratios exceeding 100:1. We show these structures can be used as out-of-plane microsprings with compliance determined by the wall thickness and number of folds. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Transducer and base compliance alter the in situ 6 dof force measured from muscle during an isometric contraction in a multi-joint limb.

Although musculoskeletal models are commonly used, validating the muscle actions predicted by such models is often difficult. In situ isometric measurements are a possible solution. The base of the skeleton is immobilized and the endpoint of the limb is rigidly attached to a 6-axis force transducer. Individual muscles are stimulated and the resulting forces and moments recorded. Such analyses generally assume idealized conditions. In this study we have developed an analysis taking into account the compliances due to imperfect fixation of the skeleton, imperfect attachment of the force transducer, and extra degrees of freedom (dof) in the joints that sometimes become necessary in fixed end contractions. We use simulations of the rat hindlimb to illustrate the consequences of such compliances. We show that when the limb is overconstrained, i.e., when there are fewer dof within the limb than are restrained by the skeletal fixation, the compliances of the skeletal fixation and of the transducer attachment can significantly affect measured forces and moments. When the limb dofs and restrained dofs are matched, however, the measured forces and moments are independent of these compliances. We also show that this framework can be used to model limb dofs, so that rather than simply omitting dofs in which a limb does not move (e.g., abduction at the knee), the limited motion of the limb in these dofs can be more realistically modeled as a very low compliance. Finally, we discuss the practical implications of these results to experimental measurements of muscle actions.

Compliance and Force Control for Computer Controlled Manipulators

Compliant motion occurs when the manipulator position is constrained by the task geometry. Compliant motion may be produced either by a passive mechanical compliance built in to the manipulator, or by an active compliance implemented in the control servo loop. The second method, called force control, is the subject of this report. In particular, this report presents a theory of force control based on formal models of the manipulator, and the task geometry. The ideal effector is used to model the manipulator, and the task geometry is modeled by the ideal surface, which is the locus of all positions accessible to the ideal effector. Models are also defined for the goal trajectory, position control, and force control.

US Foreign Sales Corporations, Export Tax Credits and the WTO

Rhodes, Mark. 'US Foreign Sales Corporations, Export Tax Credits and the WTO', in: 'The WTO and the Regulation of International Trade: Recent Trade Disputes between the European Union and the United States', (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005), pp.177-189 RAE2008

Reliability of antitransglutaminase antibodies as predictors of gluten-free diet compliance in adult celiac disease.

OBJECTIVE: Strict lifelong compliance to a gluten-free diet (GFD) minimizes the long-term risk of mortality, especially from lymphoma, in adult celiac disease (CD). Although serum IgA antitransglutaminase (IgA-tTG-ab), like antiendomysium (IgA-EMA) antibodies, are sensitive and specific screening tests for untreated CD, their reliability as predictors of strict compliance to and dietary transgressions from a GFD is not precisely known. We aimed to address this question in consecutively treated adult celiacs. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 95 non-IgA deficient adult (median age: 41 yr) celiacs on a GFD for at least 1 yr (median: 6 yr) were subjected to 1) a dietician-administered inquiry to pinpoint and quantify the number and levels of transgressions (classified as moderate or large, using as a cutoff value the median gluten amount ingested in the overall noncompliant patients of the series) over the previous 2 months, 2) a search for IgA-tTG-ab and -EMA, and 3) perendoscopic duodenal biopsies. The ability of both antibodies to discriminate celiacs with and without detected transgressions was described using receiver operating characteristic curves and quantified as to sensitivity and specificity, according to the level of transgressions. RESULTS: Forty (42%) patients strictly adhered to a GFD, 55 (58%) had committed transgressions, classified as moderate (< or = 18 g of gluten/2 months; median number 6) in 27 and large (>18 g; median number 69) in 28. IgA-tTG-ab and -EMA specificity (proportion of correct recognition of strictly compliant celiacs) was 0.97 and 0.98, respectively, and sensitivity (proportion of correct recognition of overall, moderate, and large levels of transgressions) was 0.52, 0.31, and 0.77, and 0.62, 0.37, and 0.86, respectively. IgA-tTG-ab and -EMA titers were correlated (p < 0.001) to transgression levels (r = 0.560 and R = 0.631, respectively) and one to another (p < 0.001) in the whole patient population (r = 0.834, N = 84) as in the noncompliant (r = 0.915, N = 48) group. Specificity and sensitivity of IgA-tTG-ab and IgA-EMA for recognition of total villous atrophy in patients under a GFD were 0.90 and 0.91, and 0.60 and 0.73, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In adult CD patients on a GFD, IgA-tTG-ab are poor predictors of dietary transgressions. Their negativity is a falsely secure marker of strict diet compliance.

Using the institutional grammar tool to understand regulatory compliance: The case of Colorado aquaculture

What is the relationship between the design of regulations and levels of individual compliance? To answer this question, Crawford and Ostrom's institutional grammar tool is used to deconstruct regulations governing the aquaculture industry in Colorado, USA. Compliance with the deconstructed regulatory components is then assessed based on the perceptions of the appropriateness of the regulations, involvement in designing the regulations, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The findings suggest that levels of compliance with regulations vary across and within individuals regarding various aspects of the regulatory components. As expected, the level of compliance is affected by the perceived appropriateness of regulations, participation in designing the regulations, and feelings of guilt and fear of social disapproval. Furthermore, there is a strong degree of interdependence among the written components, as identified by the institutional grammar tool, in affecting compliance levels. The paper contributes to the regulation and compliance literature by illustrating the utility of the institutional grammar tool in understanding regulatory content, applying a new Q-Sort technique for measuring individual levels of compliance, and providing a rare exploration into feelings of guilt and fear outside of the laboratory setting. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

The empirical analysis of cigarette tax avoidance and illicit trade in Vietnam, 1998-2010.

Illicit trade carries the potential to magnify existing tobacco-related health care costs through increased availability of untaxed and inexpensive cigarettes. What is known with respect to the magnitude of illicit trade for Vietnam is produced primarily by the industry, and methodologies are typically opaque. Independent assessment of the illicit cigarette trade in Vietnam is vital to tobacco control policy. This paper measures the magnitude of illicit cigarette trade for Vietnam between 1998 and 2010 using two methods, discrepancies between legitimate domestic cigarette sales and domestic tobacco consumption estimated from surveys, and trade discrepancies as recorded by Vietnam and trade partners. The results indicate that Vietnam likely experienced net smuggling in during the period studied. With the inclusion of adjustments for survey respondent under-reporting, inward illicit trade likely occurred in three of the four years for which surveys were available. Discrepancies in trade records indicate that the value of smuggled cigarettes into Vietnam ranges from $100 million to $300 million between 2000 and 2010 and that these cigarettes primarily originate in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, and Australia. Notable differences in trends over time exist between the two methods, but by comparison, the industry estimates consistently place the magnitude of illicit trade at the upper bounds of what this study shows. The unavailability of annual, survey-based estimates of consumption may obscure the true, annual trend over time. Second, as surveys changed over time, estimates relying on them may be inconsistent with one another. Finally, these two methods measure different components of illicit trade, specifically consumption of illicit cigarettes regardless of origin and smuggling of cigarettes into a particular market. However, absent a gold standard, comparisons of different approaches to illicit trade measurement serve efforts to refine and improve measurement approaches and estimates.