The economic and social costs of body dissatisfaction and appearance-based discrimination in the United States.

This study estimated the social and economic costs of body dissatisfaction and appearance-based discrimination (specifically, weight and skin-shade discrimination) in the United States (USA) in the 2019 calendar year. We used a prevalence-based approach and a cost-of-illness method to estimate the annual cost of harmful appearance ideals for cases of body dissatisfaction and discrimination based on weight and skin shade. Impacts on conditions/illnesses such as eating disorders that are attributable to body dissatisfaction, weight discrimination and skin-shade discrimination were identified through a quasi-systematic literature review, which captured financial, economic, and non-financial costs.

Development of a niobium-doped titania inert anode for titanium electrowinning in molten chloride salts.

The direct electrochemical reduction of solid titanium dioxide in a chloride melt is an attractive method for the production of titanium metal. It has been estimated that this type of electrolytic approach may reduce the costs of producing titanium sponge by more than half, with the additional benefit of a smaller environmental footprint. The process utilises a consumable carbon anode which releases a mixture of CO2 and CO gas during electrolysis, but suffers from low current efficiency due to the occurrence of parasitic side reactions involving carbon.

A furnace and environmental cell for the in situ investigation of molten salt electrolysis using high-energy X-ray diffraction.

This paper describes the design, construction and implementation of a relatively large controlled-atmosphere cell and furnace arrangement. The purpose of this equipment is to facilitate the in situ characterization of materials used in molten salt electrowinning cells, using high-energy X-ray scattering techniques such as synchrotron-based energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction. The applicability of this equipment is demonstrated by quantitative measurements of the phase composition of a model inert anode material, which were taken during an in situ study of an operational Fray-Farthing-Chen Cambridge electrowinning cell, featuring molten CaCl(2) as the electrolyte.

Persistence and metabolic activity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in farm animal faeces.

Ruminants, and to a lesser extent monogastric farm animals, are known to be natural reservoirs of Escherichia coli O157:H7, and contact with contaminated faeces has been linked to human infection. This study used a nontoxigenic, chromosomally marked, lux reporter strain to compare the persistence and activity (bioluminescence) of E. coli O157:H7 over 21 days in the faecal liquor of five farm animals: horse, sheep, cow, pig and piglet.