Reproductive effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals, bisphenol-A and 17β-oestradiol, on Cerastoderma edule from south-west England: field study and laboratory exposure

Endocrine disruption has rarely been reported in field populations of the edible cockle and the context with the general health of the shellfish is unclear. This study examined the reproductive state of two Cerastoderma edule populations over a 6-month period to assess their reproductive condition, the incidence of intersex and presence of parasitic infection. A further seven native sites from south-west England were examined during the peak reproductive season to identify the presence of intersex within the region. Laboratory exposures of organisms collected from field populations showed a significantly female-biased sex ratio compared with controls when exposed to the endocrine disrupting chemicals, bisphenol-A (nominal concentration: 0.1 µg L−1) and 17β-oestradiol (nominal concentration: 0.1 µg L−1), but none of the chemical exposures induced intersex. Intersex was revealed in seven out of the nine native populations of C. edule sampled at peak reproductive season. The highest incidence and most severe case of intersex were reported at Lower Anderton on the River Tamer which also had a significantly female-biased sex ratio. Additionally, the dominant trematode family was the Bucephalaidae. Parasitic infection influences the maturity of C. edule by lowering both mean gonad index and condition index. These results suggest that endocrine disrupting chemicals could be contributing factors towards the development of intersex in C. edule.

Reproductive effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals, bisphenol-A and 17β-oestradiol, on Cerastoderma edule from south-west England: field study and laboratory exposure

Endocrine disruption has rarely been reported in field populations of the edible cockle and the context with the general health of the shellfish is unclear. This study examined the reproductive state of two Cerastoderma edule populations over a 6-month period to assess their reproductive condition, the incidence of intersex and presence of parasitic infection. A further seven native sites from south-west England were examined during the peak reproductive season to identify the presence of intersex within the region. Laboratory exposures of organisms collected from field populations showed a significantly female-biased sex ratio compared with controls when exposed to the endocrine disrupting chemicals, bisphenol-A (nominal concentration: 0.1 µg L−1) and 17β-oestradiol (nominal concentration: 0.1 µg L−1), but none of the chemical exposures induced intersex. Intersex was revealed in seven out of the nine native populations of C. edule sampled at peak reproductive season. The highest incidence and most severe case of intersex were reported at Lower Anderton on the River Tamer which also had a significantly female-biased sex ratio. Additionally, the dominant trematode family was the Bucephalaidae. Parasitic infection influences the maturity of C. edule by lowering both mean gonad index and condition index. These results suggest that endocrine disrupting chemicals could be contributing factors towards the development of intersex in C. edule.

Effect of web holes on web crippling strength of cold-formed steel channel sections under end-one-flange loading condition - Part II: Parametric study and proposed design equations

A parametric study of cold-formed steel sections with web openings subjected to web crippling under end-one-flange (EOF) loading condition is undertaken, using finite element analysis, to investigate the effects of web holes and cross-section sizes. The holes are located either centred above the bearing plates or with a horizontal clear distance to the near edge of the bearing plates. It was demonstrated that the main factors influencing the web crippling strength are the ratio of the hole depth to the depth of the web, the ratio of the length of bearing plates to the flat depth of the web and the location of the holes as defined by the distance of the hole from the edge of the bearing plate divided by the flat depth of web. In this study, design recommendations in the form of web crippling strength reduction factor equations are proposed, which are conservative when compared with the experimental and finite element results.

A state-of-the-art review and feasibility analysis of high altitude wind power in Northern Ireland

In many countries wind energy has become an indispensable part of the electricity generation mix. The opportunity for ground based wind turbine systems are becoming more and more constrained due to limitations on turbine hub heights, blade lengths and location restrictions linked to environmental and permitting issues including special areas of conservation and social acceptance due to the visual and noise impacts. In the last decade there have been numerous proposals to harness high altitude winds, such as tethered kites, airfoils and dirigible based rotors. These technologies are designed to operate above the neutral atmospheric boundary layer of 1,300 m, which are subject to more powerful and persistent winds thus generating much higher electricity capacities. This paper presents an in-depth review of the state-of-the-art of high altitude wind power, evaluates the technical and economic viability of deploying high altitude wind power as a resource in Northern Ireland and identifies the optimal locations through considering wind data and geographical constraints. The key findings show that the total viable area over Northern Ireland for high altitude wind harnessing devices is 5109.6 km2, with an average wind power density of 1,998 W/m2 over a 20-year span, at a fixed altitude of 3,000 m. An initial budget for a 2MW pumping kite device indicated a total cost £1,751,402 thus proving to be economically viable with other conventional wind-harnessing devices.

Statin use and survival in colorectal cancer: Results from a population-based cohort study and an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between statin use and survival in a population-based colorectal cancer (CRC) cohort and perform an updated meta-analysis to quantify the magnitude of any association.

METHODS: A cohort of 8391 patients with newly diagnosed Dukes' A-C CRC (2009-2012) was identified from the Scottish Cancer Registry. This cohort was linked to the Prescribing Information System and the National Records of Scotland Death Records (until January 2015) to identify 1064 colorectal cancer-specific deaths. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for cancer-specific mortality by statin use were calculated using time dependent Cox regression models. The systematic review included relevant studies published before January 2016. Meta-analysis techniques were used to derive combined HRs for associations between statin use and cancer-specific and overall mortality.

RESULTS: In the Scottish cohort, statin use before diagnosis (HR=0.84, 95% CI 0.75-0.94), but not after (HR=0.90, 95% CI 0.77-1.05), was associated with significantly improved cancer-specific mortality. The systematic review identified 15 relevant studies. In the meta-analysis, there was consistent (I(2)=0%,heterogeneity P=0.57) evidence of a reduction in cancer-specific mortality with statin use before diagnosis in 6 studies (n=86,622, pooled HR=0.82, 95% CI 0.79-0.86) but this association was less apparent and more heterogeneous (I(2)=67%,heterogeneity P=0.03) with statin use after diagnosis in 4 studies (n=19,152, pooled HR=0.84, 95% CI 0.68-1.04).

CONCLUSION: In a Scottish CRC cohort and updated meta-analysis there was some evidence that statin use was associated with improved survival. However, these associations were weak in magnitude and, particularly for post-diagnosis use, varied markedly between studies.

Anförande: Academic work : A tale of essential tension between research and teaching

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Nanoindentation Relaxation Study and Micromechanics of Cement-Based Materials

Ce travail évalue le comportement mécanique des matériaux cimentaires à différentes échelles de distance. Premièrement, les propriétés mécaniques du béton produit avec un bioplastifiant à base de microorganismes efficaces (EM) sont etudiées par nanoindentation statistique, et comparées aux propriétés mécaniques du béton produit avec un superplastifiant ordinaire (SP). Il est trouvé que l’ajout de bioplastifiant à base de produit EM améliore la résistance des C–S–H en augmentant la cohésion et la friction des nanograins solides. L’analyse statistique des résultats d’indentation suggère que le bioplastifiant à base de produit EM inhibe la précipitation des C–S–H avec une plus grande fraction volumique solide. Deuxièmement, un modèle multi-échelles à base micromécanique est dérivé pour le comportement poroélastique de la pâte de ciment au jeune age. L’approche proposée permet d’obtenir les propriétés poroélastiques requises pour la modélisation du comportoment mécanique partiellement saturé des pâtes de ciment viellissantes. Il est montré que ce modèle prédit le seuil de percolation et le module de Young non drainé de façon conforme aux données expérimentales. Un metamodèle stochastique est construit sur la base du chaos polynomial pour propager l’incertitude des paramètres du modèle à travers plusieurs échelles de distance. Une analyse de sensibilité est conduite par post-traitement du metamodèle pour des pâtes de ciment avec ratios d’eau sur ciment entre 0.35 et 0.70. Il est trouvé que l’incertitude sous-jacente des propriétés poroélastiques équivalentes est principalement due à l’énergie d’activation des aluminates de calcium au jeune age et, plus tard, au module élastique des silicates de calcium hydratés de basse densité.

The Use of a Computer-Based Simulation Game (CSG) for Learning and Teaching

Introduction A computer-based simulation game (CSG) was used for the first time in a final-year undergraduate module. A change management simulation game was used in the seminar classes as a formative exercise that was linked to parts of the students’ summative assessment. The module evaluation suggests that most students learned from using the CSG.

Study and analysis of the waves and currents interaction phenomena

Interaction of ocean waves, currents and sea bed roughness is a complicated phenomena in fluid dynamic. This paper will describe the governing equations of motions of this phenomena in viscous and nonviscous conditions as well as study and analysis the experimental results of sets of physical models on waves, currents and artificial roughness, and consists of three parts: First, by establishing some typical patterns of roughness, the effects of sea bed roughness on a uniform current has been studied, as well as the manning coefficient of each type is reviewed to find the critical situation due to different arrangement. Second, the effect of roughness on wave parameters changes, such as wave height, wave length, and wave dispersion equations have been studied, third, superimposing, the waves + current + roughness patterns established in a flume, equipped with waves + currents generator, in this stage different analysis has been done to find the governing dimensionless numbers, and present the numbers to define the contortions and formulations of this phenomena. First step of the model is verified by the so called Chinese method, and the Second step by the Kamphius (1975), and third step by the van Rijn (1990) , and Brevik and Ass ( 1980), and in all cases reasonable agreements have been obtained. Finally new dimensionless parameters presented for this complicated phenomena.

Study and comparison on freshwater snail fauna in the paddy fields and related river and lake (Babolroad & Parishan) water supply in Mazandaran & Frace provinces of Iran

As a result of this investigation, for the first time from Babolroud river in Iran is 15 species identified, which they belong to 8 genera, from 7 families. The most and least distribution, 13 and 5 species, belong to Miandasht and Rostaye Anarestane Babol stations respectively, which they are 50 kilometers away from each other. Also 20 species belong to 10 genera from 6 families were identified in Parishan lake. The most the distribution belong to stations 1 and 5 with 6 and 18 species respectively. The most commonly distributed family is Lymnaeidae with 6 species: Lyamnaea truncatula, L. auricularia, L. palustris, L. pereger, L. stagnalis and L. gedrosiana, which L. trancatula is identified as the most frequent and has medical importance. L. stagnalis is identified to be the most important to agriculture. Planorbis planorhis, Physa acuta, Lymnaea pereger, Bithynia tenculata and Vavata piscinalis are reported for the first time from this region.

Study and development of UV photodetectors envisaging COMPASS RICH-1 upgrade and applications

COMPASS is an experiment at CERN’s SPS whose goal is to study hadron structure and spectroscopy. The experiment includes a wide acceptance RICH detector, operating since 2001 and subject to a major upgrade of the central region of its photodetectors in 2006. The remaining 75% of the photodetection area are still using MWPCs from the original design, who suffer from limitations in gain due to aging of the photocathodes from ion bombardment and due to ion-induced instabilities. Besides the mentioned limitations, the increased luminosity conditions expected for the upcoming years of the experiment make an upgrade to the remaining detectors pertinent. This upgrade should be accomplished in 2016, using hybrid detectors composed of ThGEMs and MICROMEGAS. This work presents the study, development and characterization of gaseous photon detectors envisaging the foreseen upgrade, and the progress in production and evaluation techniques necessary to reach increasingly larger area detectors with the performances required. It includes reports on the studies performed under particle beam environment of such detectors. MPGD structures can also be used in a variety of other applications, of which nuclear medical imaging is a notorious example. This work includes, additionally, the initial steps in simulating, assembling and characterizing a prototype of a gaseous detector for application as a Compton Camera.