Comparison of digestion methods to determine heavy metals in fertilizers

The lack of a standard method to regulate heavy metal determination in Brazilian fertilizers and the subsequent use of several digestion methods have produced variations in the results, hampering interpretation. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of three digestion methods for determination of metals such as Cd, Ni, Pb, and Cr in fertilizers. Samples of 45 fertilizers marketed in northeastern Brazil were used. A fertilizer sample with heavy metal contents certified by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was used as control. The following fertilizers were tested: rock phosphate; organo-mineral fertilizer with rock phosphate; single superphosphate; triple superphosphate; mixed N-P-K fertilizer; and fertilizer with micronutrients. The substances were digested according to the method recommended by the Ministry for Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil (MAPA) and by the two methods 3051A and 3052 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). By the USEPA method 3052, higher portions of the less soluble metals such as Ni and Pb were recovered, indicating that the conventional digestion methods for fertilizers underestimate the total amount of these elements. The results of the USEPA method 3051A were very similar to those of the method currently used in Brazil (Brasil, 2006). The latter is preferable, in view of the lower cost requirement for acids, a shorter digestion period and greater reproducibility.

Valores de referência de qualidade para metais pesados em solos do Rio Grande do Norte

O crescimento industrial e o populacional têm aumentado os teores de metais pesados nos solos e impactado a qualidade desse recurso. Nesse contexto, as agências de proteção ambiental vêm despendendo esforços para o estabelecimento de índices que possam identificar áreas suspeitas de contaminação. Valores de Referência de Qualidade para Solos (VRQs) refletem a concentração natural de determinada substância no solo, sem interferência antrópica. O trabalho objetivou estabelecer os VRQs para os metais Ag, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, V e Zn exigidos pelo Conama, para composição da legislação direcionada ao monitoramento desses elementos nos solos do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Foram coletadas 416 amostras de solo em áreas de mata nativa ou com mínima influência antrópica. A abertura das amostras foi efetuada pelo método EPA-3051A, sendo os metais determinados por espectrometria de emissão ótica (ICP-OES) e absorção atômica (AA). Os resultados do trabalho comprovaram que estudos regionalizados são essenciais para definição de VRQs. Os VRQs calculados para o Rio Grande do Norte foram mais restritivos que os de outros estados do país. A análise fatorial de confirmação dos dados foi útil para obtenção de VRQs mais confiáveis e demonstrou que para o Estado esses valores podem ser estabelecidos com apenas duas repetições por local de coleta. Nesse sentido, é primordial um planejamento prévio, de distribuição dos locais de amostragem, de maneira que os diversos compartimentos geomorfológicos, pedológicos e geológicos do Estado sejam representados.

Single cell tuning of Myc expression by antigen receptor signal strength and interleukin-2 in T lymphocytes.

Myc controls the metabolic reprogramming that supports effector T cell differentiation. The expression of Myc is regulated by the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-2 (IL-2). We now show that the TCR is a digital switch for Myc mRNA and protein expression that allows the strength of the antigen stimulus to determine the frequency of T cells that express Myc. IL-2 signalling strength also directs Myc expression but in an analogue process that fine-tunes Myc quantity in individual cells via post-transcriptional control of Myc protein. Fine-tuning Myc matters and is possible as Myc protein has a very short half-life in T cells due to its constant phosphorylation by glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) and subsequent proteasomal degradation. We show that Myc only accumulates in T cells exhibiting high levels of amino acid uptake allowing T cells to match Myc expression to biosynthetic demands. The combination of digital and analogue processes allows tight control of Myc expression at the population and single cell level during immune responses.

Fågelkvartett C-dur

Soitinnus: viulut (2), alttoviulu, sello.

Static pressure and wall shear stress distributions in air flow in a seven wire-wrapped rod bundle

An experimental investigation is performed in a turbulent flow in a seven wire-wrapped rod bundle, mounted in an open air facility. Static pressure distributions are measured on central and peripheral rods. By using a Preston tube, the wall shear stress profiles are experimentally obtained along the perimeter of the rods. The geometric parameters of the test section are P/D=1.20 and H/D=15. The measuring section is located at L/D=40 from the air inlet. It is observed that the dimensionless static pressure and wall shear stress profiles are nearly independent of the Reynolds number and strongly dependent of the wire-spacer position, with abrupt variations of the parameters in the neighborhood of the wires.

Interleukin-12 and protective immunity to schistosomes

The attenuated vaccine against Schistosoma mansoni induces Th1-mediated protective immunity and we have sought to identify a role for IL-12 in this model. Elevated levels of IL-12 (p40 mRNA) were detected in the lymph nodes (LN) and the lungs of vaccinated mice, whilst treatment of vaccinated mice with anti-IL-12 antibodies decreased the ratio of IFNg:IL-4 secreted by in vitro-cultured LN cells. However, there was only marginal abrogation of the level of resistance in these mice. Soluble antigens from the lung-stage of the parasite (SLAP) appeared to be efficient stimulators of IFNg and IL-12 secretion. These antigens when used to immunise mice in conjunction with IL-12 as an adjuvant, elicited a polarised Th1 response with abundant IFNg secretion but no IL-4. This immunisation regime also induced significant protection against reinfection, whereas inoculation of mice with SLAP alone did not. The induction of a dominant Th1 response using SLAP + IL-12 probably operates via IFNg production by natural killer (NK) cells stimulated by IL-12, since in vivo ablation of NK cells using anti-NK1.1 antibody reduced CD4+-dependent IFNg production from cultured LN cells by over 97%. Nevertheless, in mice with a genetic disruption of the IFNg receptor, administration of SLAP + IL-12 induced levels of IFNg equal to those in wild-type mice, thus showing that in this model IL-12 can directly prime T cells independent of IFNg. Clearly, IL-12 has a critical role in protective immunity to schistosomes and it may aid the development of an effective vaccine against this disease

Illustrations of masonry (1855)

The universal masonic library, a republication, in thirty volumes, of all the standard publications in masonry designed for the libraries of masonic bodies and inviduals…volume III embodying Preston's illustrations of masonry.

The earliest days of the teetotal movement: dialogues on drink and physiology for the young (1900)

Contents extracted from "Upward", the monthly magazine of the Preston Board of Hope Union, July 1897-January 1899 and June 1900, and from "The Temperance Mirror", February 1900, one of 20 copies. Inscribed on "Explanatory" page: Wm. Livesey. August 3rd 1900. Inscribed on title-page: J. Sherlock, with W. Livesey's Kind Regards.

Temperance Poster - Alcohol Education Week

A poster advertising "Alcohol Education Week...in Galt, Preston, Hespeler Schools, Churches, Service Clubs, Industry. A Community Study of Alcohol Problems". In the top right corner is a picture of an individual, W. Gray Rivers, Field Secretary of O.T.F. in Charge for the Ontario Temperance Federation.

World War I Memorial Plaque

World War I Memorial Plaque (17 ½ cm in diameter). This is a bronze plate encased in a 26 ½ cm x 24 cm wooden frame. The inscription on the plate is “He died for freedom and honour, Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff”. [In 1916 the British Government decided to issue a memorial plaque to be given to the relatives of those who died in the Great War. On the plaque is a figure of Britannia who is facing left and holding a laurel wreath over the box where the serviceman’s name is placed. In her right hand she holds a trident which represents Britain’s sea power. There are 2 dolphins facing her on her left and right hand sides. A lion stands in front of her. He faces left with a menacing growl. A very small lion that faces right is located below the larger lion’s feet. He is biting into a winged creature which represents the German Imperial eagle. Near the lion’s right paw there are the initials E CR P which stand for Mr. E. Carter Preston who designed the plate. Some of the plaques include a stamped batch number in front of the lion’s rear left paw. This plaque was produced in batch 17].

Mortalité par suicide au Canada depuis le début du XXe siècle : perspectives sociodémographiques et macroéconomiques

Robert Bourbeau, département de démographie (Directeur de recherche) Marianne Kempeneers, département de sociologie (Codirectrice de recherche)

The English novel in the time of Shakespeare

The rise of the English novel needs rethinking after it has been confined to the "formal realism" of Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (Watt, 1957), to "antecedents, forerunners" (Schlauch, 1968; Klein, 1970) or to mere "prose fiction" (McKillop, 1951; Davis, Richetti, 1969; Fish, 1971; Salzman, 1985; Kroll, 1998). My paper updates a book by Jusserand under the same title (1890) by proving that the social and moral history of the long prose genre admits no strict separation of "novel" and "romance", as both concepts are intertwined in most fiction (Cuddon, Preston, 1999; Mayer, 2000). The rise of the novel, seen in its European context, mainly in France and Spain (Kirsch, 1986), and equally in England, was due to the melting of the nobility and high bourgeoisie into a "meritocracy", or to its failure, to become the new bearer of the national culture, around 1600. (Brink, 1998). My paper will concentrate on Euphues (1578), a negative romance, Euphues and His England (1580), a novel of manners, both by Lyly; Arcadia (1590-93) by Sidney, a political roman à clef in the disguise of a Greek pastoral romance; The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) by Nashe, the first English picaresque novel, and on Jack of Newbury (1596-97) by Deloney, the first English bourgeois novel. My analysis of the central values in these novels will prove a transition from the aristocratic cardinal virtues of WISDOM, JUSTICE, COURAGE, and HONOUR to the bourgeois values of CLEVERNESS, FAIR PLAY, INDUSTRY, and VIRGINITY. A similar change took place from the Christian virtues of LOVE, FAITH, HOPE to business values like SERVICE, TRUST, and OPTIMISM. Thus, the legacy of history proves that the main concepts of the novel of manners, of political romance, of picaresque and middle-class fiction were all developed in the time of Shakespeare.

Estado del arte acerca de las discusiones teóricas sobre soberanía del estado y la unión monetaria europea entre 2002 - 2010. Caso: El Reino Unido

El siguiente trabajo tiene como objetivo el Estado del arte acerca de la discusión teórica de la repercusión de la unión monetaria en el principio de soberanía nacional, específicamente el caso de Gran Bretaña, ya que éste es el único país que expresa abiertamente su incertidumbre referente a algún tipo de amenaza a su soberanía. Se pretende precisar si existen criterios concluyentes, o por el contrario determinar si no hay claridad con respecto al futuro de Gran Bretaña como miembro de la unión monetaria.A partir de lo anterior, se plantean como sus propósitos particulares construir un marco conceptual acerca de la soberanía. Este estado del arte se inicia con citas de los principales autores de finales de siglo XVII y XVIII y finaliza con las posiciones conceptuales aportadas por los teóricos modernos motivados por el nacimiento de la Unión Europea como un nuevo orden político. Entre las que se citan: modelo centrico o intergubernamentalista, modelo de gobernabilidad multi-nivel, modelo neo-funcionalista y modelo federalista. Igualmente, el trabajo, busca desarrollar un marco conceptual sobre Unión Monetaria y su evolución hasta el logro de una unión fiscal europea en el periodo de 1950-2010, establecer las relaciones teóricas entre Soberanía del Estado y Unión Monetaria y por último realizar un análisis histórico hermenéutico de la Unión Europea y el caso del Reino Unido de acuerdo a las relaciones evidenciadas en los apartados teóricos entre soberanía del Estado y Unión Monetaria.