Subacute toxicity assessment of water disinfection byproducts on zebrafish.

Disinfection of raw water is essential to the production of drinking water. However, by-products of disinfection may exert toxic effects. The potential toxic effects of two of these compounds, 4-ethylbenzaldehyde (EBA) and 2,4-difluoroaniline (DFA) were investigated using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model. The two compounds, dissolved, were introduced in duplicate aquariums containing zebrafish in two different concentrations based on LC50 values. The aquarium water containing EBA or DFA was changed every 96 h throughout the 3 months of treatment. Behavior of the fish in each replicate was inspected twice daily. In course of treatment with both concentrations, fish exposed to DFA displayed behavior associated with visible anxiety, while EBA treated were lethargic and did not evade capture. Application of both concentrations of each component into the aquarium water resulted in dystrophic lesions in the liver, kidney and skin of the fish while preneoplastic lesions and tumors were not observed.

Non-invasive monitoring of the light-induced cyclic photosynthetic electron flow during cold hardening in wheat leaves.

The effect of irradiance during low temperature hardening was studied in a winter wheat variety. Ten-day-old winter wheat plants were cold-hardened at 5 degrees C for 11 days under light (250 micromol m(-2) S(-1)) or dark (20 micromol m(-2) s(-1)) conditions. The effectiveness of hardening was significantly lower in the dark, in spite of a slight decrease in the Fv/Fm chlorophyll fluorescence induction parameter, indicating the occurrence of photoinhibition during the hardening period in the light. Hardening in the light caused a downshift in the far-red induced AG (afterglow) thermoluminescence band. The faster dark re-reduction of P700+, monitored by 820-nm absorbance, could also be observed in these plants. These results suggest that the induction of cyclic photosynthetic electron flow may also contribute to the advantage of frost hardening under light conditions in wheat plants.

Genotoxic potential of by-products in drinking water in relation to water disinfection: survey of pre-ozonated and post-chlorinated drinking water by Ames-test.

Mutagenic potential of drinking water samples derived from ranneywells was studied. 100-100 l of untreated (rough) and ozone-treated as well as chlorinated-disinfected water were dropped on and adsorbed by macroreticular resin columns (Serdolit PAD-III and Amberlite XAD-2). The adsorbed material was desorbed by methanol and dichloromethane. After elimination of the solvents by vacuum distillation the adsorbed material was dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide. The mutagenic activity was tested in the Ames-Salmonella/rat liver microsome system. The tester strains were TA-98 and TA-100. The material adsorbed to Serdolit PAD-III from rough and also disinfected water did not induce mutagenicity in case of the TA-98 tester strain, irrespective of activation by liver microsomes. However, the material adsorbed to Amberlite XAD-2 exerted mutagenic effect on the TA-98 tester strain, with and without liver microsome activation, both in case of rough and disinfected water. The TA-100 tester strain showed mutation after, but not without activation, when treated with the material adsorbed by either Serdolit PAD-III or Amberlite XAD-2, in case of rough water. Material derived from disinfected water and adsorbed to Serdolit PAD-III, caused mutation of the TA tester strain also only after activation. The material derived from disinfected water and adsorbed to Amberlite XAD-2 proved to be mutagenic to the TA-100 tester strain both without and after activation. Mutagenic activity was exerted by the amount of concentrates derived from 0.28 to 0.83 l of rough and 0.83-2.5l of disinfected water. The mutagenic activity of drinking water raises the possibility of carcinogenic effect, too. Search for alternative methods of water disinfection may be recommended.

Generation of longitudinal vibrations in piano strings: from physics to sound synthesis.

Longitudinal vibration of piano strings greatly contributes to the distinctive character of low piano notes. In this paper a simplified modal model is developed, which describes the generation of phantom partials and longitudinal free modes jointly. The model is based on the simplification that the coupling from the transverse vibration to the longitudinal polarization is unidirectional. The modal formulation makes it possible to predict the prominent components of longitudinal vibration as a function of transverse modal frequencies. This provides a qualitative insight into the generation of longitudinal vibration, while the model is still capable of explaining the empirical results of earlier works. The semi-quantitative agreement with measurement results implies that the main source of phantom partials is the transverse to longitudinal coupling, while the string termination and the longitudinal to transverse coupling have only small influence. The results suggest that the longitudinal component of the tone can be treated as a quasi-harmonic spectrum with formantlike peaks at the longitudinal modal frequencies. The model is further simplified and applied for the real-time synthesis of piano sound with convincing sonic results.