Dow Chemical (Japan)

Oat grains are increasingly consumed worldwide due to their health benefits, yet they are highly susceptible to contamination by Fusarium toxins, particularly T-2 and HT-2 toxins (T-2+HT-2). These toxins pose serious health risks and are unevenly distributed, with a few highly contaminated grains often driving a batch over legal safety limits. Current detection methods are destructive, slow, or inadequate for detecting contamination at the individual grain level. This study is the first to demonstrate the potential of visible-near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy and near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) to detect T-2+HT-2 in individual oat grains nondestructively. 200 grains were scanned, and their toxin content quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Classification models were developed to identify grains exceeding both the European Union (EU) legal threshold (1250 μg/kg) and a higher risk level (10,000 μg/kg). Both techniques achieved high accuracy (up to 94.5 %) in identifying contaminated grains. Key wavelengths were identified (e.g., 1203, 1419, 1424 and 1476 nm in NIR; 440-455 nm in Vis), and reducing the model to 20 wavelengths preserved performance while simplifying computation. Critically, removing just 21.5 % of the most contaminated grains could reduce overall toxin levels by over 95 %. Moreover, sampling simulations revealed that analysing 30 % of grains guarantees detection of contamination above legal limits, whereas 0.5 % sampling yields only a 25-33 % detection chance. These findings highlight a feasible path for integrating spectroscopic screening into industrial oat sorting lines, improving food safety, reducing economic losses, and overcoming key limitations of conventional mycotoxin monitoring.

As research has well established, the fashion industry has a significant and growing waste problem. In response, experts argue that our clothing needs to have a longer life. However, not all items of clothing can be used for a long period of time. Children’s clothing, for example, can quickly become obsolete, creating a waste issue. To explore this issue further, we examine the Swedish childrenswear market and how designing for the circular economy can address this market segment’s unique sustainability challenges. Rather than centering on a consumer perspective, we investigate the role of design in supporting the transition to a more circular children’s clothing industry. As a key contribution, this article demonstrates that there are more circular design strategies available than prior research has explicitly mentioned. In particular, we show how design for longevity and design for neutrality can help to overcome some of the sustainability challenges facing the industry.

ABSTRACT This study reports on a research project which took place in a mainstream primary school with a small specialist resource provision for autistic children. The study aimed to elicit the voice of eleven autistic pupils on their perspectives of what an autistic friendly primary school should be like. This is important, as all children have the right to express their views and engage in decisions which affect them. A specifically devised approach, the three houses, was used in group and individual interviews as a way of engaging the meaningful participation of the pupils in order to elicit their views of the school. The pupils had perspectives in common and were, overall, positive about their school experience. Three keys theme emerged: understand me (I may be tricking you); help me to understand (myself and others) and hide support for me (or I won’t use it). The pupils were able to identify adjustments which would lead to a more positive school experience. These adjustments may help to alleviate feelings of anxiety which the pupils were working hard to hide. Adjustments requested by the pupils may be beneficial to all pupils in the school and would certainly not be detrimental to them.

Health disparities have been documented in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population, but more research is needed to better understand how to address them. To that end, this observational study examined what is documented about sexual orientation and gender identity in narrative home care nurses' notes in an electronic health record. Lexical text mining approaches were used to examine a total of 862 715 clinical notes from 20 447 unique patients who received services from a large home care agency in Manhattan, New York, and extracted notes were qualitatively reviewed to build a lexicon of terms for use in future research. Forty-two notes, representing 35 unique patients, were identified as containing documentation of the patient's sexual orientation or gender identity. Documentation of sexual orientation or gender identity was relatively infrequent, compared to the estimated frequency of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the US population. Issues related to fragmentary language emerged, and variety in phrasing and word frequency was identified between different types of notes and between providers. This study provides insight into what nurses in home healthcare document about sexual orientation and gender identity and their clinical priorities related to such documentation, and provides a lexicon for use in further research in the home care setting.

Art therapists face challenges of implementing digital or new media art practices due to concerns for privacy, confidentiality, and unfamiliarity with legal standards and best practices. This article discusses the ethical challenges of digital media use in art therapy, illustrated with case vignettes. The authors present informed consent guidelines to guide practice and to identify potential ethical concerns, and highlight the importance of digital literacy as it relates to cultural humility. Recommendations are offered for more effectively navigating the complexities of digital media in art therapy.

Joints are introduced into concrete pavement to control cracking and to allow thermal movements. Sealing of concrete pavement joints to keep incompressibles and water out of the system is critical for the long-term performance of a roadway. Water introduced into the system through the joints can destabilize the slabs and accelerate the degradation of the load transfer rods. Incompressibles introduced into the joints will retard and inhibit the designed movement of the joints. This study assesses the durability of three different sealants placed in assemblies utilizing concrete typical of roadways with various surface preparation methods. Sawed concrete blocks were evaluated with various consolidating primers on concrete. Joint assemblies were fabricated with sealant according to ASTM C719-14 dimensions and subjected to tension movement after immersion in MgCl2 solutions at various temperatures. Visual inspection based on ISO 19862 criteria for adhesion performance was recorded so that surface preparations/treatments could be compared to one another. Controls of joint assemblies immersed in tap water at elevated temperatures showed that MgCl2 had a significant impact on the durability of two of the three sealants tested. This test method of evaluating the adhesion degradation in salt solutions at elevated temperatures proved to be a highly effective method of inducing failures in two of the three sealant materials tested.

This paper details Australian commercial and academic silicon research. Areas of interest include silicon metal, polysiloxane polymers, copolymers, cyclics, emulsions, microemulsions, silanes, silane coupling agents, sol-gel chemistry and water-treatments, porous silicon, polysiloxane degradation, silicon hydrogel contact lenses, silanolate synthesis, siloxane interfacial polymerisation, hydrosilylation, polysiloxane electrolytes for lithium ion batteries, silanes for PBX materials, octafunctionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS), POSS hybrids, sol-gel hydrogenation catalysts, silane modification of silica, sol-gel energy storage, silicate grout stabilisation, GeoPolymer concretes, aerogel insulating foams, "Phaco-Ersatz" Accommodating Gel-Intraocular Lens technologies. Strong collaborative opportunities, in silicon, with Asia, exist with organisations such as: 1) The Asian Silicon Society and 2) The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) Indonesia.