The OARSI histopathology initiative recommendations for histological assessments of osteoarthritis in the rabbit

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S106345841000244X

Femoral morphology and epiphyseal growth plate changes of the hip during maturation: MR assessments in a 1-year follow-up on a cross-sectional asymptomatic cohort in the age range of 9-17 years

The goal of this prospective study was to characterize the morphology and physeal changes of the femoral head during maturation using MRI in a population-based group of asymptomatic volunteers.

Dimensions of impulsive behavior in adolescents: laboratory behavioral assessments

Impulsivity is a multifaceted construct that defines a range of maladaptive behavioral styles. The present research aimed to identify different dimensions of impulsive behavior in adolescents from a battery of laboratory behavioral assessments. In one analysis, correlations were examined between two self report and seven laboratory behavioral measures of impulsivity. The correlation between the two self report measures was high compared to correlations between the self report and laboratory behavioral measures. In a second analysis, a principal components analysis was performed with just the laboratory behavioral measures. Three behavioral dimensions were identified -- "impulsive decision-making", "impulsive inattention", and "impulsive disinhibition". These dimensions were further evaluated using the same sample with a confirmatory factor analysis, which did support the hypothesis that these are significant and independent dimensions of impulsivity. This research indicates there are at least three separate subtypes of impulsive behavior when using laboratory behavioral assessments with adolescent participants.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS (LCAs) OF PYROLYSIS-BASED GASOLINE AND DIESEL FROM DIFFERENT REGIONAL FEEDSTOCKS: CORN STOVER, SWITCHGRASS, SUGAR CANE BAGASSE, WASTE WOOD, GUINEA GRASS, ALGAE, AND ALBIZIA

Renewable hydrocarbon biofuels are being investigated as possible alternatives to conventional liquid transportation fossil fuels like gasoline, kerosene (aviation fuel), and diesel. A diverse range of biomass feedstocks such as corn stover, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, waste wood, and algae, are being evaluated as candidates for pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading to produce drop-in hydrocarbon fuels. This research has developed preliminary life cycle assessments (LCA) for each feedstock-specific pathway and compared the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the hydrocarbon biofuels to current fossil fuels. As a comprehensive study, this analysis attempts to account for all of the GHG emissions associated with each feedstock pathway through the entire life cycle. Emissions from all stages including feedstock production, land use change, pyrolysis, stabilizing the pyrolysis oil for transport and storage, and upgrading the stabilized pyrolysis oil to a hydrocarbon fuel are included. In addition to GHG emissions, the energy requirements and water use have been evaluated over the entire life cycle. The goal of this research is to help understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of the feedstocks and the resultant hydrocarbon biofuels based on three environmental indicators; GHG emissions, energy demand, and water utilization. Results indicate that liquid hydrocarbon biofuels produced through this pyrolysis-based pathway can achieve greenhouse gas emission savings of greater than 50% compared to petroleum fuels, thus potentially qualifying these biofuels under the US EPA RFS2 program. GHG emissions from biofuels ranged from 10.7-74.3 g/MJ from biofuels derived from sugarcane bagasse and wild algae at the extremes of this range, respectively. The cumulative energy demand (CED) shows that energy in every biofuel process is primarily from renewable biomass and the remaining energy demand is mostly from fossil fuels. The CED for biofuel range from 1.25-3.25 MJ/MJ from biofuels derived from sugarcane bagasse to wild algae respectively, while the other feedstock-derived biofuels are around 2 MJ/MJ. Water utilization is primarily from cooling water use during the pyrolysis stage if irrigation is not used during the feedstock production stage. Water use ranges from 1.7 - 17.2 gallons of water per kg of biofuel from sugarcane bagasse to open pond algae, respectively.

Assessments and Computational Simulations in Support of a Time-Varying Mass Flow Rate Measurement Technique for Pulsatile Gas Flow

This thesis covers the correction, and verification, development, and implementation of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for an orifice plate meter. Past results were corrected and further expanded on with compressibility effects of acoustic waves being taken into account. One dynamic pressure difference transducer measures the time-varying differential pressure across the orifice meter. A dynamic absolute pressure measurement is also taken at the inlet of the orifice meter, along with a suitable temperature measurement of the mean flow gas. Together these three measurements allow for an incompressible CFD simulation (using a well-tested and robust model) for the cross-section independent time-varying mass flow rate through the orifice meter. The mean value of this incompressible mass flow rate is then corrected to match the mean of the measured flow rate( obtained from a Coriolis meter located up stream of the orifice meter). Even with the mean and compressibility corrections, significant differences in the measured mass flow rates at two orifice meters in a common flow stream were observed. This means that the compressibility effects associated with pulsatile gas flows is significant in the measurement of the time-varying mass flow rate. Future work (with the approach and initial runs covered here) will provide an indirect verification of the reported mass flow rate measurements.

The state of in vitro science for use in bioaccumulation assessments for fish

Through the concerted evaluations of thousands of commercial substances for the qualities of persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity as a result of the United Nations Environment Program's Stockholm Convention, it has become apparent that fewer empirical data are available on bioaccumulation than other endpoints and that bioaccumulation models were not designed to accommodate all chemical classes. Due to the number of chemicals that may require further assessment, in vivo testing is cost prohibitive and discouraged due to the large number of animals needed. Although in vitro systems are less developed and characterized for fish, multiple high-throughput in vitro assays have been used to explore the dietary uptake and elimination of pharmaceuticals and other xenobiotics by mammals. While similar processes determine bioaccumulation in mammalian species, a review of methods to measure chemical bioavailability in fish screening systems, such as chemical biotransformation or metabolism in tissue slices, perfused tissues, fish embryos, primary and immortalized cell lines, and subcellular fractions, suggest quantitative and qualitative differences between fish and mammals exist. Using in vitro data in assessments for whole organisms or populations requires certain considerations and assumptions to scale data from a test tube to a fish, and across fish species. Also, different models may incorporate the predominant site of metabolism, such as the liver, and significant presystemic metabolism by the gill or gastrointestinal system to help accurately convert in vitro data into representative whole-animal metabolism and subsequent bioaccumulation potential. The development of animal alternative tests for fish bioaccumulation assessment is framed in the context of in vitro data requirements for regulatory assessments in Europe and Canada.

Status and Causal Pathway Assessments Supporting River Basin Management

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires a status assessment of all water bodies. If that status is deteriorated, the WFD urges the identification of its potential causes in order to be able to suggest appropriate management measures. The instrument of investigative monitoring allows for such identification, provided that appropriate tools are available to link the observed effects to causative stressors, while unravelling confounding factors. In this chapter, the state of the art of status and causal pathway assessment is described for the major stressors responsible for the deterioration of European water bodies, i.e. toxicity, acidification, salinisation, eutrophication and oxygen depletion, parasites and pathogens, invasive alien species, hydromorphological degradation, changing water levels as well as sediments and suspended matter. For each stressor, an extensive description of the potential effects on the ecological status is given. Secondly, stressor-specific abiotic and biotic indicators are described that allow for a first indication of probable causes, based on the assessment of available monitoring data. Subsequently, more advanced tools for site-specific confirmation of stressors at hand are discussed. Finally, the local status assessments are put into the perspective of the risk for downstream stretches in order to be able to prioritise stressors and to be able to select appropriate measures for mitigation of the risks resulting from these stressors.

Third party assessments in trust problems with conflict of interest: An experiment on the effects of promisesm

Is it possible to elicit reliable assessment from an assessor having a conflict of interest (e.g. a professor that writes a recommendation letter for a formal PhD student)? We propose an experimental test and show that compared to a not-incentivized assessment, a promise to give a truthful assessment reduces misreporting to the same extent as an incentivized assessment (i.e. when the assessor gains higher payoff if the assessment is correct).

Correlation between broiler lameness and anatomical measurements of bone using radiographical projections with assessments of consistency across and within radiographs.

Lameness represents a major welfare and production issue in the poultry industry with a recent survey estimating 27% of birds lame and 3% unable to walk by 40 d of age. A variety of factors may induce lameness and are typically grouped into 2 broad classes on the basis of being infectious or skeletal in nature with the latter accounting for the majority of cases. The current work sought to build upon a large body of literature assessing the anatomical properties of bone in lame birds. Our specific objectives sought to identify relationships between relevant anatomical properties of the tibia and metatarsus using digital quantification from radiographs of legs and a measure of walking difficulty. Resulting output was statistically analyzed to assess 1) observer reliability for consistency in placing the leg during the radiograph procedure and quantification of the various measures within a radiograph, 2) the relationship between the various measurements of anatomical bone properties and sex, bird mass, and gait score, and 3) the relationship between each measurement and leg symmetry. Our anatomical bone measures were found to be reliable (intra-rater and test-retest reliabilities < 0.75) within radiograph for all measures and 8 of the 10 measures across radiographs. Several measures of bone properties in the tibia correlated to difficulty walking as measured by gait score (P < 0.05), indicating greater angulations with increasing lameness. Of the measures that manifested a gait score × bird mass interaction, heavier birds appeared to exhibit less angulation with increasing difficulty walking with lighter birds the opposite. These interactions suggest possibilities for influencing effects of activity or feed intake on bone mineralization with the bone angulation observed. Our efforts agree with that of others and indicate that angulation of the tibia may be related to lameness, though subsequent efforts involving comprehensive measures of bird activity, growth rates, and internal bone structure will be needed if the validity of the measures are to be accepted.