Chemical diffusion of fluorine in melts in the system Na2OAl2O3SiO2

The volatilization of fluorine from three melts in the system Na2OAl2O3SiO2 has been investigated at 1 atm pressure and 1200–1400°C. The melts chosen have base compositions corresponding to albite, jadeite and a peraluminous melt with 75 mole % SiO2. Melt spheres were suspended from platinum loops in a vertical tube furnace in a flow of oxygen gas, then quenched, sectioned and analysed by electron microprobe. The microprobe scans indicate that transport of fluorine to the melt-vapor interface is by binary, concentration-independent interdiffusion of fluorine and oxygen. FO interdiffusivity increases in the order albite < peraluminous < jadeite. There is no simple reciprocal relationship between FO interdiffusivity and melt viscosity. Comparison with data on high-pressure interdiffusivity of fluorine and oxygen in jadeite melt indicates that FO interdiffusivity increases with pressure from 0.001 to 10 kbar while the activation energy remains unchanged. Fluorine chemical diffusivity in albite melt is substantially lower than H2O chemical diffusivity in obsidian melts suggesting that different diffusive mechanisms are responsible for the transport of F and H2O in igneous melts. Fluorine diffuses in albite melt via an anionic exchange with oxygen whereas water probably diffuses in obsidian melt via an alkali exchange mechanism

Autonomy of Nations and Indigenous Peoples and the Environmental Release of Genetically Engineered Animals with Gene Drives

This article contends that the environmental release of genetically engineered (GE) animals with heritable traits that are patented will present a challenge to the efforts of nations and indigenous peoples to engage in self‐determination. The environmental release of such animals has been proposed on the grounds that they could function as public health tools or as solutions to the problem of agricultural insect pests. This article brings into focus two political‐economic‐legal problems that would arise with the environmental release of such organisms. To address those challenges, it is proposed that nations considering the environmental release of GE animals must take into account the underlying circumstances and policy failures that motivate arguments for the use of the modified animals. Moreover, countries must recognize that the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights place on them an obligation to ensure that GE animals with patented heritable traits are not released without the substantive consent of the nations or indigenous peoples that could be affected

Galactic and Extragalactic Samples of Supernova Remnants: How They Are Identified and What They Tell Us

Supernova remnants (SNRs) arise from the interaction between the ejecta of a supernova (SN) explosion and the surrounding circumstellar and interstellar medium. Some SNRs, mostly nearby SNRs, can be studied in great detail. However, to understand SNRs as a whole, large samples of SNRs must be assembled and studied. Here, we describe the radio, optical, and X-ray techniques which have been used to identify and characterize almost 300 Galactic SNRs and more than 1200 extragalactic SNRs. We then discuss which types of SNRs are being found and which are not. We examine the degree to which the luminosity functions, surface-brightness distributions and multi-wavelength comparisons of the samples can be interpreted to determine the class properties of SNRs and describe efforts to establish the type of SN explosion associated with a SNR. We conclude that in order to better understand the class properties of SNRs, it is more important to study (and obtain additional data on) the SNRs in galaxies with extant samples at multiple wavelength bands than it is to obtain samples of SNRs in other galaxiesComment: Final 2016 draft of a chapter in "Handbook of Supernovae" edited by Athem W. Alsabti and Paul Murdin. Final version available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_90-

Human CD34+ CD133+ Hematopoietic Stem Cells Cultured with Growth Factors Including Angptl5 Efficiently Engraft Adult NOD-SCID Il2rγ−/− (NSG) Mice

Increasing demand for human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in clinical and research applications necessitates expansion of HSCs in vitro. Before these cells can be used they must be carefully evaluated to assess their stem cell activity. Here, we expanded cord blood CD34+ CD133+ cells in a defined medium containing angiopoietin like 5 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 and evaluated the cells for stem cell activity in NOD-SCID Il2rg−/− (NSG) mice by multi-lineage engraftment, long term reconstitution, limiting dilution and serial reconstitution. The phenotype of expanded cells was characterized by flow cytometry during the course of expansion and following engraftment in mice. We show that the SCID repopulating activity resides in the CD34+ CD133+ fraction of expanded cells and that CD34+ CD133+ cell number correlates with SCID repopulating activity before and after culture. The expanded cells mediate long-term hematopoiesis and serial reconstitution in NSG mice. Furthermore, they efficiently reconstitute not only neonate but also adult NSG recipients, generating human blood cell populations similar to those reported in mice reconstituted with uncultured human HSCs. These findings suggest an expansion of long term HSCs in our culture and show that expression of CD34 and CD133 serves as a marker for HSC activity in human cord blood cell cultures. The ability to expand human HSCs in vitro should facilitate clinical use of HSCs and large-scale construction of humanized mice from the same donor for research applications.Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( Infectious Diseases research grant

The Impact of Human Resource Practices on Actual and Perceived Organizational Performance in a Middle Eastern Emerging Market

This is a study centered on the impact of the specific set of HRM practices on organizational performance (OP) within an emerging-market setting. It seeks to explore which HR practices are most closely associated with better OP within the financial services industry in Jordan based on a survey of managers and the annual reports of the companies encompassed by the study. It was found that the only HR practice seen to consistently impact on OP was training; in other words, we did not encounter any recognizable "bundle" of HR practices that optimized OP across the sector. We argue that this reflects the weaker and more partially coupled nature of institutions in many emerging markets, which makes it difficult to generate the type of complementarities associated between regulation and practice in mature markets. It also reflects the limited transferability of perceived best practice models in the context of emerging-market settings. Although belied by objective firm performance data, many respondents believed that it was not only training but also the extensive usage of extrinsic incentives (pay and promotion) that would translate into superior results. This highlights the limitations of relying on managerial reported performance data in exploring the consequences of specific HR practices

Past 140-year environmental record in the northern South China Sea: Evidence from coral skeletal trace metal variations

About 140-year changes in the trace metals in Porites coral samples from two locations in the northern South China Sea were investigated. Results of PCA analyses suggest that near the coast, terrestrial input impacted behavior of trace metals by 28.4%, impact of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) was 19.0%, contribution of war and infrastructure were 14.4% and 15.6% respectively. But for a location in the open sea, contribution of War and SST reached 33.2% and 16.5%, while activities of infrastructure and guano exploration reached 13.2% and 14.7%. While the spatiotemporal change model of Cu, Cd and Pb in seawater of the north area of South China Sea during 1986-1997 were reconstructed. It was found that in the sea area Cu and Cd contaminations were distributed near the coast while areas around Sanya, Hainan had high Pb levels because of the well-developed tourism related activities. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Gender-Based Violence Education for Youth:A Caribbean Arts-Based Facilitation Guide

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Early influences on cardiovascular and renal development

The hypothesis that a developmental component plays a role in subsequent disease initially arose from epidemiological studies relating birth size to both risk factors for cardiovascular disease and actual cardiovascular disease prevalence in later life. The findings that small size at birth is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease have led to concerns about the effect size and the causality of the associations. However, recent studies have overcome most methodological flaws and suggested small effect sizes for these associations for the individual, but an potential important effect size on a population level. Various mechanisms underlying these associations have been hypothesized, including fetal undernutrition, genetic susceptibility and postnatal accelerated growth. The specific adverse exposures in fetal and early postnatal life leading to cardiovascular disease in adult life are not yet fully understood. Current studies suggest that both environmental and genetic factors in various periods of life may underlie the complex associations of fetal growth retardation and low birth weight with cardiovascular disease in later life. To estimate the population effect size and to identify the underlying mechanisms, well-designed epidemiological studies are needed. This review is focused on specific adverse fetal exposures, cardiovascular adaptations and perspectives for new studies. Copyrigh

Assessing availability of European plant protection product data: an example evaluating basic area treated

Besides the benefits of plant protection products (PPPs) for agricultural production, there is an increasing acknowledgement of the associated potential environmental risks. Here, we examine the feasibility of summarizing the extent of PPP usage at the country level, using Ireland as a case study, as well as at the European level. We used the area over which PPPs are applied (basic area) as an example variable that is relevant to initially assess the geographic extent of environmental risk. In Irish agricultural systems, which are primarily grass-based, herbicides fluroxypyr and glyphosate are the most widely applied active substances (ASs) in terms of basic area, followed by the fungicides chlorothalonil and prothioconazole that are closely associated with arable crops. Although all EU countries are subject to Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009, which sets the obligation of PPP usage data reporting at the national level, we only found usable data that met our criteria for Estonia, Germany, Finland, and Spain (4 of 30 countries reviewed). Overall, the most widely applied fungicide and herbicide in terms of basic area were prothioconazole (20%, 7% and 5% of national cultivated areas of Germany, Estonia and Ireland) and glyphosate (11%, 8% and 5% of national cultivated areas of Spain, Estonia and Ireland) respectively, although evaluations using application frequency may result in the observation of different trends. Several recommendations are proposed to tackle current data gaps and deficiencies in accessibility and usability of pesticide usage data across the EU in order to better inform environmental risk assessment and promote evidence-based policymaking.Publishe