Can the scaling behavior of electric conductivity be used to probe the self-organizational changes in solution with respect to the ionic liquid structure? The case of [C8MIM][NTf2]

Electrical conductivity of the supercooled ionic liquid [C8MIM][NTf2], determined as a function of temperature and pressure, highlights strong differences in its ionic transport behavior between low and high temperature regions. To date, the crossover effect which is very well known for low molecular van der Waals liquids has been rarely described for classical ionic liquids. This finding highlights that the thermal fluctuations could be dominant mechanisms driving the dramatic slowing down of ion motions near Tg. An alternative way to analyze separately low and high temperature dc-conductivity data using a density scaling approach was then proposed. Based on which a common value of the scaling exponent [gamma] = 2.4 was obtained, indicating that the applied density scaling is insensitive to the crossover effect. By comparing the scaling exponent [gamma] reported herein along with literature data for other ionic liquids, it appears that [gamma] decreases by increasing the alkyl chain length on the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids. This observation may be related to changes in the interaction between ions in solution driven by an increase in the van der Waals type interaction by increasing the alkyl chain length on the cation. This effect may be related to changes in the ionic liquid nanostructural organization with the alkyl chain length on the cation as previously reported in the literature based on molecular dynamic simulations. In other words, the calculated scaling exponent [gamma] may be then used as a key parameter to probe the interaction and/or self-organizational changes in solution with respect to the ionic liquid structure.

Switching ‘on’ the Luminescence of One Metal Ion with Another: Selectivity Characteristics with Respect to the Emitting and Triggering Metal

Complexes 1a·EuIII and 1b·EuIII, but not 1a·TbIII and 1b·TbIII, display strong ‘off–on’ switching of delayed luminescence with alkali cations; the switching efficiency of 1b·EuIII is stronger with K+ rather than Na+.

Accessory minerals and potentially toxic elements in Tanzanian vermiculites with respect to agricultural applications

The study assessed accessory minerals and metals in Tanzanian vermiculites with respect to their potential suitability for agricultural applications. Mineral and chemical analyses were involved. Pot experiments were also conducted to assess plant uptake of metals from soil with vermiculites. Fibrous sepiolite and amphiboles were minerals of health concern found in some samples. The sepiolite fibers had aspect ratios similar to those of asbestos minerals, which cause respiratory disorders and lung cancer when inhaled and thus pose a potential health risk to animals and humans. The amphibole fibers were thicker than 10 μm and are unlikely to be inhaled. Chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) concentrations in some samples were greater than the limits permitted in agricultural soils, but the elements are not highly plant available and do not inhibit the uptake of essential macronutrients. Heating vermiculites at 400-600° C enhanced extractability of Cr and Ni and should preferably be avoided. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The effect of heating temperature on the properties of vermiculites from Tanzania with respect to potential agronomic applications

This study was carried out to assess the properties of vermiculites from Tanzania with respect to the temperature used to expand them. Vermiculites from five locations in the Mozambique Belt of Tanzania were sampled and heated at 15, 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C in a muffle furnace. Palabora Europe Ltd provided one sample for comparison from their South Africa deposit which provides vermiculite used worldwide as a soil amendment. Water release characteristic, cation exchange capacity, pH, mass loss, and bulk density were among the properties assessed. All six vermiculites responded differently on heating, and had a significant variation in their agronomic properties. Water release characteristic varied with the degree of exfoliation and phase composition. Although vermiculites from Tanzania expanded on heating, their capacity to retain plant available water was relatively low as compared to vermiculite from Palabora. Disintegration on heating and the presence of a high amount of iron could be among the factors affecting their water release characteristic. Loss of hydroxyl water was higher in vermiculites than in hydrobiotites. Dehydroxylation enhanced the availability of exchangeable K⁺ and reduced significantly the cation exchange capacity of vermiculites. The optimum exchangeable K⁺ was obtained on heating at a temperature of 600 °C. The pH was unaffected by heating to a temperature of less than 600 °C. At higher temperature, the pH increased in some samples and was accompanied by substantial amounts of exchangeable Mg²⁺. Thus, it was concluded that initial characterization of vermiculites is essential prior to potential agricultural applications in order to optimize their agronomic potential. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Challenging conventional risk assessment with respect to human exposure to multiple food contaminants in food: A case study using maize

Mycotoxins and heavy metals are ubiquitous in the environment and contaminate many foods. The widespread use of pesticides in crop production to control disease contributes further to the chemical contamination of foods. Thus multiple chemical contaminants threaten the safety of many food commodities; hence the present study used maize as a model crop to identify the severity in terms of human exposure when multiple contaminants are present. High Content Analysis (HCA) measuring multiple endpoints was used to determine cytotoxicity of complex mixtures of mycotoxins, heavy metals and pesticides. Endpoints included nuclear intensity (NI), nuclear area (NA), plasma membrane permeability (PMP), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and mitochondrial mass (MM). At concentrations representing legal limits of each individual contaminant in maize (3. ng/ml ochratoxin A (OTA), 1. μg/ml fumonisin B1 (FB1), 2. ng/ml aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), 100. ng/ml cadmium (Cd), 150. ng/ml arsenic (As), 50. ng/ml chlorpyrifos (CP) and 5. μg/ml pirimiphos methyl (PM), the mixtures (tertiary mycotoxins plus Cd/As) and (tertiary mycotoxins plus Cd/As/CP/PM) were cytotoxic for NA and MM endpoints with a difference of up to 13.6% (. p≤. 0.0001) and 12% (. p≤. 0.0001) respectively from control values. The most cytotoxic mixture was (tertiary mycotoxins plus Cd/As/CP/PM) across all 4 endpoints (NA, NI, MM and MMP) with increases up to 61.3%, 23.0%, 61.4% and 36.3% (. p≤. 0.0001) respectively. Synergy was evident for two endpoints (NI and MM) at concentrations contaminating maize above legal limits, with differences between expected and measured values of (6.2-12.4% (. p≤. 0.05-. p≤. 0.001) and 4.5-12.3% (. p≤. 0.05-. p≤. 0.001) for NI and MM, respectively. The study introduces for the first time, a holistic approach to identify the impact in terms of toxicity to humans when multiple chemical contaminants are present in foodstuffs. Governmental regulatory bodies must begin to contemplate how to safeguard the population when such mixtures of contaminants are found in foods and this study starts to address this critical issue.

Gastrointestinal symbionts of chimpanzees in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau with respect to habitat fragmentation

One of the major factors threatening chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Guinea-Bissau is habitat fragmentation. Such fragmentation may cause changes in symbiont dynamics resulting in increased susceptibility to infection, changes in host specificity and virulence. We monitored gastrointestinal symbiotic fauna of three chimpanzee subpopulations living within Cantanhez National Park (CNP) in Guinea Bissau in the areas with different levels of anthropogenic fragmentation. Using standard coproscopical methods (merthiolate-iodine formalin concentration and Sheather's flotation) we examined 102 fecal samples and identified at least 13 different symbiotic genera (Troglodytella abrassarti, Troglocorys cava, Blastocystis spp., Entamoeba spp., Iodamoeba butschlii, Giardia intestinalis, Chilomastix mesnili, Bertiella sp., Probstmayria gombensis, unidentified strongylids, Strongyloides stercoralis, Strongyloides fuelleborni, and Trichuris sp.). The symbiotic fauna of the CNP chimpanzees is comparable to that reported for other wild chimpanzee populations, although CNP chimpanzees have a higher prevalence of Trichuris sp. Symbiont richness was higher in chimpanzee subpopulations living in fragmented forests compared to the community inhabiting continuous forest area. We reported significantly higher prevalence of G. intestinalis in chimpanzees from fragmented areas, which could be attributed to increased contact with humans and livestock.

增訂敬信錄Zeng ding jing xin lu.Le livre du respect et de la fu édition augmentée.

Contient : I太上感應篇Tai shang gan ying pian.Le Tai shang gan ying pian ; II感應篇讀法纂要Gan ying pian du fa zuan yao.Principes pour la lecture du Gan ying pian ; III太上洞玄靈寶梓潼本願眞經Tai shang dong xuan ling bao zi tong ben yuan zhen jing. Autre titre : 文昌帝君本願眞經Wen chang di jun ben yuan zhen jing.Le vrai livre sacré des vœux du dieu de la Littérature ; IV文昌帝君陰騭文Wen chang di jun yin zhi wen ; V文昌帝君勸孝文Wen chang di jun quan xiao wen.Traité pour conseiller la piété filiale, par le dieu de la Littérature ; VI南無大慈大悲觀世音菩薩救苦經Na mo da ci la bei guan shi yin pu sa jiu ku jing.Sūtra de Guan yin miséricordieuse qui sauve du malheur ; VII南無大慈大悲觀世音菩薩救苦經Na mo la ci da bei guan shi yin pu sa gan ying bao sheng jing.Sūtra de Guan yin miséricordieuse qui répond aux pričres et préserve les êtres vivants ; VIII文昌帝君救劫寶章Wen chang di jun jiu jie bao zhang.Précieux articles du dieu de la Littérature pour le salut du monde ; IX文昌帝君聖訓 。蕉窻十則Wen chang di jun sheng xun. Jiao chuang shi ze ; X文昌帝君勸敬字紙文Wen chang di jun quan jing zi zhi wen. Autre titre : 勸敬惜字文Quan jing xi zi wen.Traité pour conseiller le respect des caractères d'écriture ; XI文昌聖願十戒Wen chang sheng yuan shi jie.Les dix défenses du dieu de la Littérature ; XII東嶽大帝回生寶訓Dong yue da di hui sheng bao xun.Précieuses instructions du dieu du Dong yue sur la transmigration ; XIII圓明斗帝勸世文Yuan ming dou di quan shi wen. Autre titre : 斗姥勸世文Dou mu juan shi wen.Conseils au monde, traité de la déesse Yuan ming dou mu ; XIV玄天上帝金科玉律Xuan tian shang di jin ke yu lü.Lois de l'Empereur céleste.Quan shi ge yan.Conseils au monde, par l'Empereur céleste ; XV關聖帝君眞經Guan sheng di jun zhen jing. Autre titre : 關聖帝君寶訓Guan sheng di jun bao xun.Le vrai livre sacré du réveil du monde, par le dieu de la Guerre ; XVI魏元君勸世文Wei yuan jun quan shi wen.Conseils au monde de Wei Yuan jun ; XVII蓮池大師放生文Lian chi da shi fang sheng wen.Traité conseillant de mettre en liberté les êtres qui ont vie, par Lian chi ; XVIII純陽祖師延壽育子歌Chun yang zu shi yan shou yu zi ge.Chant sur la longévité et l'obtention de fils, par le dieu Fu you ; XIX袁了凡先生立命篇Yuan liao fan xian sheng li ming pian ; XX俞淨意公遇竈神記Yu jing yi gong yu zao shen ji ; XXI文昌帝君功過格Wen chang di jun gong ge ge. Autre titre : 太微仙君功過格Tai wei xian jun gong ge ge.Échelle des mérites et des péchés, par le dieu de la Littérature ; XXII呂叔簡先生居官戒刑八章Lü shu jian xian sheng ju guan jie xing ba zhang.Huit conseils aux fonctionnaires, relativement aux châtiments ; XXIII遏淫說E yin shuo ; XXIV戒賭十條Jie du shi thiao.Dix articles contre le jeu ; XXV勸戒溺女言Quan jie ni nü yan.Paroles pour interdire l'infanticide des filles ; XXVI感應篇致福靈驗Gan ying pian zhi fu ling yan.Exemples miraculeux de bonheur produit par le Gan ying pian ; XXVII文昌帝君陰隲文靈驗Wen chang di jun yin zhi wen ling yan.Miracles du Yin zhi wen ; XXVIII損子墮胎異報Sun zi duo tai yi bao.Châtiment extraordinaire de l'infanticide et de l'avortement ; XXIX救急五絕良方Jiu ji Wu jue liang fang.Recettes contre cinq genres de mort ; XXX安胎催生藥方An tai cui sheng yue fang.Remèdes pour faciliter l'accouchement ; XXXI異傳不出天花經驗奇方Yi chuan bu chu tian hua jing yan qi fang.Recettes merveilleuses pour éviter la petite vérole ; XXXII經驗瘧疾方Jing yan yue ji fang.Recette contre la fièvre intermittente ; XXXIII經驗救急良方Jing yan jiu ji liang fang.Formules pour les cas urgents, avec suppléments ; XXXIV勸世良言Quan shi liang yan.Conseils au monde ; XXXV百忍說Bai ren shuo.Traité des cent résignations ; XXXVI百忍歌Bai ren ge.Chant des cent résignations ; XXXVII文昌帝君救世文Wen chang di jun jiu shi wen.Traité pour sauver le monde, par le dieu de la Littérature ; XXXVIII道德天尊像Dao de tian zun xiang.Portrait de Lao zi ; XXXIX靈通萬應丸Ling tong wan ying huan.Pilules de la pénétration spirituelle et des 10. 000 effets ; XL敬信陰隲文獲報Jing xin yin zhi wen he bao.Effets miraculeux du Yin zhi wen ; XLI牙頤神方Ya yi shen fang.Formules merveilleuses contre le mal de dents et la fluxion ; XLII功過格分類彚編Gong ge ge fen lei hui bian.Liste méthodique des mérites et des péchés