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Sample records for sag western pearl

  1. Thermal-history reconstruction of the Baiyun Sag in the deep-water area of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Xiaoyin; Yang, Shuchun; Hu, Shengbiao

    2017-11-01

    The Baiyun Sag, located in the deep-water area of the northern South China Sea, is the largest and deepest subbasin in the Pearl River Mouth Basin and one of the most important hydrocarbon-accumulation depression areas in China. Thermal history is widely thought to be of great importance in oil and gas potential assessment of a basin as it controls the timing of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from the source rock. In order to unravel the paleo-heat flow of the Baiyun Sag, we first analyzed tectonic subsidence of 55 pseudo-wells constructed based on newly interpreted seismic profiles, along with three drilled wells. We then carried out thermal modeling using the multi-stage finite stretching method and calibrated the results using collected present-day vitrinite reflectance data and temperature data. Results indicate that the first and second heating of the Baiyun Sag after 49 Ma ceased at 33.9 Ma and 23 Ma. Reconstructed average basal paleoheat flow values at the end of the rifting periods are 57.7-86.2 mW/m2 and 66.7-97.3 mW/m2, respectively. Following the last heating period at 23 Ma, the study area has undergone a persistent thermal attenuation phase, and basal heat flow has cooled down to 64.0-79.2 mW/m2 at present.

  2. SnSAG5 is an alternative surface antigen of Sarcocystis neurona strains that is mutually exclusive to SnSAG1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowdus, Carolyn A; Marsh, Antoinette E; Saville, Willliam J; Lindsay, David S; Dubey, J P; Granstrom, David E; Howe, Daniel K

    2008-11-25

    Sarcocystis neurona is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Previous work has identified a gene family of paralogous surface antigens in S. neurona called SnSAGs. These surface proteins are immunogenic in their host animals, and are therefore candidate molecules for development of diagnostics and vaccines. However, SnSAG diversity exists in strains of S. neurona, including the absence of the major surface antigen gene SnSAG1. Instead, sequence for an alternative SnSAG has been revealed in two of the SnSAG1-deficient strains. Herein, we present data characterizing this new surface protein, which we have designated SnSAG5. The results indicated that the protein encoded by the SnSAG5 sequence is indeed a surface-associated molecule that has characteristics consistent with the other SAGs identified in S. neurona and related parasites. Importantly, Western blot analyses of a collection of S. neurona strains demonstrated that 6 of 13 parasite isolates express SnSAG5 as a dominant surface protein instead of SnSAG1. Conversely, SnSAG5 was not detected in SnSAG1-positive strains. One strain, which was isolated from the brain of a sea otter, did not express either SnSAG1 or SnSAG5. Genetic analysis with SnSAG5-specific primers confirmed the presence of the SnSAG5 gene in Western blot-positive strains, while also suggesting the presence of a novel SnSAG sequence in the SnSAG1-deficient, SnSAG5-deficient otter isolate. The findings provide further indication of S. neurona strain diversity, which has implications for diagnostic testing and development of vaccines against EPM as well as the population biology of Sarcocystis cycling in the opossum definitive host.

  3. The Yin and Yang of SagS: Distinct Residues in the HmsP Domain of SagS Independently Regulate Biofilm Formation and Biofilm Drug Tolerance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dingemans, Jozef; Poudyal, Bandita

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT The formation of inherently drug-tolerant biofilms by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa requires the sensor-regulator hybrid SagS, with ΔsagS biofilms being unstructured and exhibiting increased antimicrobial susceptibility. Recent findings indicated SagS to function as a switch to control biofilm formation and drug tolerance independently. Moreover, findings suggested the periplasmic sensory HmsP domain of SagS is likely to be the control point in the regulation of biofilm formation and biofilm cells transitioning to a drug-tolerant state. We thus asked whether specific amino acid residues present in the HmsP domain contribute to the switch function of SagS. HmsP domain residues were therefore subjected to alanine replacement mutagenesis to identify substitutions that block the sensory function(s) of SagS, which is apparent by attached cells being unable to develop mature biofilms and/or prevent transition to an antimicrobial-resistant state. Mutant analyses revealed 32 residues that only contribute to blocking one sensory function. Moreover, amino acid residues affecting attachment and subsequent biofilm formation but not biofilm tolerance also impaired histidine kinase signaling via BfiS. In contrast, residues affecting biofilm drug tolerance but not attachment and subsequent biofilm formation negatively impacted BrlR transcription factor levels. Structure prediction suggested the two sets of residues affecting sensory functions are located in distinct areas that were previously described as being involved in ligand binding interactions. Taken together, these studies identify the molecular basis for the dual regulatory function of SagS. IMPORTANCE The membrane-bound sensory protein SagS plays a pivotal role in P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and biofilm cells gaining their heightened resistance to antimicrobial agents, with SagS being the control point at which both pathways diverge. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the two

  4. A low-angle normal fault and basement structures within the Enping Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin: Insights into late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the South China Sea area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Qing; Mei, Lianfu; Shi, Hesheng; Shu, Yu; Camanni, Giovanni; Wu, Jing

    2018-04-01

    The basement structure of the Cenozoic Enping Sag, within the Pearl River Mouth Basin on the northern margin of South China Sea, is revealed by borehole-constrained high-quality 3D seismic reflection data. Such data suggest that the Enping Sag is bounded in the north by a low-angle normal fault. We interpret this low-angle normal fault to have developed as the result of the reactivation of a pre-existing thrust fault part of a pre-Cenozoic thrust system. This is demonstrated by the selective reactivation of the pre-existing thrust and by diffuse contractional deformation recognized from the accurate analysis of basement reflections. Another significant result of this study is the finding of some residual rift basins within the basement of the Enping Sag. Both the thrust system and the residual basins are interpreted to have developed after the emplacement of continental margin arc-related granitoids (J3-K1) that define the basement within the study area. Furthermore, seismic sections show that the pre-existing residual rift basins are offset by the main thrust fault and they are both truncated by the Tg unconformity. These structural relationships, interpreted in the frame of previous studies, help us to reconstruct a six-event structural evolution model for the Enping Sag from the late Mesozoic to the early Cenozoic. In particular, we interpret the residual rift basins to have formed as the result of back-arc extension due to the slab roll-back of the Paleo-Pacific Plate subduction in the early K2. The thrust system has recorded a compressional event in the late K2 that followed the back-arc extension in the SCS area. The mechanism of this compressional event is still to be clarified, and might be related to continuous subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate or to the continent-continent collision between a micro-continental block and the South China margin.

  5. A Simple Sag Generator Using SSRs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Senturk, Osman Selcuk; Hava, Ahmet M.

    2010-01-01

    conditions (critical loads) and this property often may not be accommodated inside the device itself and sag compensating power conditioners have been developed for such purposes. While in practice voltage sags are not wanted, generating sags becomes necessary for the purpose of experimentally verifying...... the performances of the equipment (both the equipment under sag condition and the sag compensating power conditioner) under sag conditions. In this work, a simple and economical, yet highly performing sag generator is developed, its design discussed, and its feasibility demonstrated by experiments. The proposed...... is evaluated and finally the utilization of the sag generator in the test of a series active filter based power quality conditioner is demonstrated. The proposed approach provides an effective solution for voltage sag generation....

  6. Strains of Sarcocystis neurona exhibit differences in their surface antigens, including the absence of the major surface antigen SnSAG1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Daniel K; Gaji, Rajshekhar Y; Marsh, Antoinette E; Patil, Bhagyashree A; Saville, William J; Lindsay, David S; Dubey, J P; Granstrom, David E

    2008-05-01

    A gene family of surface antigens is expressed by merozoites of Sarcocystis neurona, the primary cause of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). These surface proteins, designated SnSAGs, are immunodominant and therefore excellent candidates for development of EPM diagnostics or vaccines. Prior work had identified an EPM isolate lacking the major surface antigen SnSAG1, thus suggesting there may be some diversity in the SnSAGs expressed by different S. neurona isolates. Therefore, a bioinformatic, molecular and immunological study was conducted to assess conservation of the SnSAGs. Examination of an expressed sequence tag (EST) database revealed several notable SnSAG polymorphisms. In particular, the EST information implied that the EPM strain SN4 lacked the major surface antigen SnSAG1. The absence of this surface antigen from the SN4 strain was confirmed by both Western blot and Southern blot. To evaluate SnSAG polymorphisms in the S. neurona population, 14 strains were examined by Western blots using monospecific polyclonal antibodies against the four described SnSAGs. The results of these analyses demonstrated that SnSAG2, SnSAG3, and SnSAG4 are present in all 14 S. neurona strains tested, although some variance in SnSAG4 was observed. Importantly, SnSAG1 was not detected in seven of the strains, which included isolates from four cases of EPM and a case of fatal meningoencephalitis in a sea otter. Genetic analyses by PCR using gene-specific primers confirmed the absence of the SnSAG1 locus in six of these seven strains. Collectively, the data indicated that there is heterogeneity in the surface antigen composition of different S. neurona isolates, which is an important consideration for development of serological tests and prospective vaccines for EPM. Furthermore, the diversity reported herein likely extends to other phenotypes, such as strain virulence, and may have implications for the phylogeny of the various Sarcocystis spp. that undergo sexual stages

  7. An Estimation Method of System Voltage Sag Profile using Recorded Sag Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Kazuyuki; Sakashita, Tadashi

    The influence of voltage sag to electric equipment has become big issues because of wider utilization of voltage sensitive devices. In order to reduce the influence of voltage sag appearing at each customer side, it is necessary to recognize the level of receiving voltage drop due to lightning faults for transmission line. However it is hard to measure directly those sag level at every load node. In this report, a new method of efficiently estimating system voltage sag profile is proposed based on symmetrical coordinate. In the proposed method, limited recorded sag data is used as the estimation condition which is recorded at each substation in power systems. From the point of view that the number of the recorded node is generally far less than those of the transmission route, a fast solution method is developed to calculate only recorder faulted voltage by applying reciprocity theorem for Y matrix. Furthermore, effective screening process is incorporated, in which the limited candidate of faulted transmission line can be chosen. Demonstrative results are presented using the IEEJ East10 standard system and actual 1700 bus system. The results show that estimation accuracy is sufficiently acceptable under less computation labor.

  8. Seroprevalence of antibody to NcSAG1 antigen of Neospora caninum in cattle from Western Java, Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ichikawa-Seki, Madoka; Guswanto, Azirwan; Allamanda, Puttik; Mariamah, Euis Siti; Wibowo, Putut Eko; Nishikawa, Yoshifumi

    2016-01-01

    Neospora caninum can cause fetal abortion and neonatal mortality in cattle, and is a cause of economic concern worldwide. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Neospora caninum-specific antibodies in cattle from Western Java, Indonesia. Serum samples from 991 cattle from 21 locations were tested for antibodies to N. caninum by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on the basis of recombinant NcSAG1. The overall seroprevalence was 16.6%, ranging from 0 to 87.5% in the sampled locations. The results of this study indicate latent infection rates of sampled animals were different in each location. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the relationship between N. caninum infection and abortion in cattle, and to identify risk factors for infection in high-prevalence environments.

  9. Antimicrobial Tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms Is Activated during an Early Developmental Stage and Requires the Two-Component Hybrid SagS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Kajal; Marques, Cláudia N. H.; Petrova, Olga E.

    2013-01-01

    A hallmark characteristic of biofilms is their extraordinary tolerance to antimicrobial agents. While multiple factors are thought to contribute to the high level of antimicrobial tolerance of biofilms, little is known about the timing of induction of biofilm tolerance. Here, we asked when over the course of their development do biofilms gain their tolerance to antimicrobial agents? We demonstrate that in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, biofilm tolerance is linked to biofilm development, with transition to the irreversible attachment stage regulated by the two-component hybrid SagS, marking the timing when biofilms switch to the high-level tolerance phenotype. Inactivation of sagS rendered biofilms but not planktonic cells more susceptible to tobramycin, norfloxacin, and hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, inactivation of sagS also eliminated the recalcitrance of biofilms to killing by bactericidal antimicrobial agents, a phenotype comparable to that observed upon inactivation of brlR, which encodes a MerR-like transcriptional regulator required for biofilm tolerance. Multicopy expression of brlR in a ΔsagS mutant restored biofilm resistance and recalcitrance to killing by bactericidal antibiotics to wild-type levels. In contrast, expression of sagS did not restore the susceptibility phenotype of ΔbrlR mutant biofilms to wild-type levels, indicating that BrlR functions downstream of SagS. Inactivation of sagS correlated with reduced BrlR levels in biofilms, with the produced BrlR being impaired in binding to the previously described BrlR-activated promoters of the two multidrug efflux pump operons mexAB-oprM and mexEF-oprN. Our findings demonstrate that biofilm tolerance is linked to early biofilm development and SagS, with SagS contributing indirectly to BrlR activation. PMID:23995639

  10. The SnSAG merozoite surface antigens of Sarcocystis neurona are expressed differentially during the bradyzoite and sporozoite life cycle stages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gautam, A; Dubey, J P; Saville, W J; Howe, D K

    2011-12-29

    Sarcocystis neurona is a two-host coccidian parasite whose complex life cycle progresses through multiple developmental stages differing at morphological and molecular levels. The S. neurona merozoite surface is covered by multiple, related glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked proteins, which are orthologous to the surface antigen (SAG)/SAG1-related sequence (SRS) gene family of Toxoplasma gondii. Expression of the SAG/SRS proteins in T. gondii and another related parasite Neospora caninum is life-cycle stage specific and seems necessary for parasite transmission and persistence of infection. In the present study, the expression of S. neurona merozoite surface antigens (SnSAGs) was evaluated in the sporozoite and bradyzoite stages. Western blot analysis was used to compare SnSAG expression in merozoites versus sporozoites, while immunocytochemistry was performed to examine expression of the SnSAGs in merozoites versus bradyzoites. These analyses revealed that SnSAG2, SnSAG3 and SnSAG4 are expressed in sporozoites, while SnSAG5 was appeared to be downregulated in this life cycle stage. In S. neurona bradyzoites, it was found that SnSAG2, SnSAG3, SnSAG4 and SnSAG5 were either absent or expression was greatly reduced. As shown for T. gondii, stage-specific expression of the SnSAGs may be important for the parasite to progress through its developmental stages and complete its life cycle successfully. Thus, it is possible that the SAG switching mechanism by these parasites could be exploited as a point of intervention. As well, the alterations in surface antigen expression during different life cycle stages may need to be considered when designing prospective approaches for protective vaccination. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Traffic Flow at Sags : Theory, Modeling and Control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goni-Ros, B.

    2016-01-01

    Sag vertical curves (sags) are roadway sections along which the gradient increases gradually in the direction of traffic. Empirical observations show that, on freeways, traffic congestion often occurs at sags; actually, in some countries (e.g., Japan), sags are one of the most common types of

  12. Improved detection of equine antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona using polyvalent ELISAs based on the parasite SnSAG surface antigens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeargan, Michelle R; Howe, Daniel K

    2011-02-28

    Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is a common neurologic disease of horses that is caused by the apicomplexan pathogen Sarcocystis neurona. To help improve serologic diagnosis of S. neurona infection, we have modified existing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on the immunogenic parasite surface antigens SnSAG2, SnSAG3, and SnSAG4 to make the assays polyvalent, thereby circumventing difficulties associated with parasite antigenic variants and diversity in equine immune responses. Two approaches were utilized to achieve polyvalence: (1) mixtures of the individual recombinant SnSAGs (rSnSAGs) were included in single ELISAs; (2) a collection of unique SnSAG chimeras that fused protein domains from different SnSAG surface antigens into a single recombinant protein were generated for use in the ELISAs. These new assays were assessed using a defined sample set of equine sera and cerebrospinal fluids (CSFs) that had been characterized by Western blot and/or were from confirmed EPM horses. While all of the polyvalent ELISAs performed relatively well, the highest sensitivity and specificity (100%/100%) were achieved with assays containing the rSnSAG4/2 chimera (Domain 1 of SnSAG4 fused to SnSAG2) or using a mixture of rSnSAG3 and rSnSAG4. The rSnSAG4 antigen alone and the rSnSAG4/3 chimera (Domain 1 of SnSAG4 fused to Domain 2 of SnSAG3) exhibited the next best accuracy at 95.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Binding ratios and percent positivity (PP) ratios, determined by comparing the mean values for positive versus negative samples, showed that the most advantageous signal to noise ratios were provided by rSnSAG4 and the rSnSAG4/3 chimera. Collectively, our results imply that a polyvalent ELISA based on SnSAG4 and SnSAG3, whether as a cocktail of two proteins or as a single chimeric protein, can give optimal results in serologic testing of serum or CSF for the presence of antibodies against S. neurona. The use of polyvalent SnSAG ELISAs will

  13. Sarcocystis neurona merozoites express a family of immunogenic surface antigens that are orthologues of the Toxoplasma gondii surface antigens (SAGs) and SAG-related sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Daniel K; Gaji, Rajshekhar Y; Mroz-Barrett, Meaghan; Gubbels, Marc-Jan; Striepen, Boris; Stamper, Shelby

    2005-02-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is a member of the Apicomplexa that causes myelitis and encephalitis in horses but normally cycles between the opossum and small mammals. Analysis of an S. neurona expressed sequence tag (EST) database revealed four paralogous proteins that exhibit clear homology to the family of surface antigens (SAGs) and SAG-related sequences of Toxoplasma gondii. The primary peptide sequences of the S. neurona proteins are consistent with the two-domain structure that has been described for the T. gondii SAGs, and each was predicted to have an amino-terminal signal peptide and a carboxyl-terminal glycolipid anchor addition site, suggesting surface localization. All four proteins were confirmed to be membrane associated and displayed on the surface of S. neurona merozoites. Due to their surface localization and homology to T. gondii surface antigens, these S. neurona proteins were designated SnSAG1, SnSAG2, SnSAG3, and SnSAG4. Consistent with their homology, the SnSAGs elicited a robust immune response in infected and immunized animals, and their conserved structure further suggests that the SnSAGs similarly serve as adhesins for attachment to host cells. Whether the S. neurona SAG family is as extensive as the T. gondii SAG family remains unresolved, but it is probable that additional SnSAGs will be revealed as more S. neurona ESTs are generated. The existence of an SnSAG family in S. neurona indicates that expression of multiple related surface antigens is not unique to the ubiquitous organism T. gondii. Instead, the SAG gene family is a common trait that presumably has an essential, conserved function(s).

  14. Sarcocystis neurona Merozoites Express a Family of Immunogenic Surface Antigens That Are Orthologues of the Toxoplasma gondii Surface Antigens (SAGs) and SAG-Related Sequences†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Daniel K.; Gaji, Rajshekhar Y.; Mroz-Barrett, Meaghan; Gubbels, Marc-Jan; Striepen, Boris; Stamper, Shelby

    2005-01-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is a member of the Apicomplexa that causes myelitis and encephalitis in horses but normally cycles between the opossum and small mammals. Analysis of an S. neurona expressed sequence tag (EST) database revealed four paralogous proteins that exhibit clear homology to the family of surface antigens (SAGs) and SAG-related sequences of Toxoplasma gondii. The primary peptide sequences of the S. neurona proteins are consistent with the two-domain structure that has been described for the T. gondii SAGs, and each was predicted to have an amino-terminal signal peptide and a carboxyl-terminal glycolipid anchor addition site, suggesting surface localization. All four proteins were confirmed to be membrane associated and displayed on the surface of S. neurona merozoites. Due to their surface localization and homology to T. gondii surface antigens, these S. neurona proteins were designated SnSAG1, SnSAG2, SnSAG3, and SnSAG4. Consistent with their homology, the SnSAGs elicited a robust immune response in infected and immunized animals, and their conserved structure further suggests that the SnSAGs similarly serve as adhesins for attachment to host cells. Whether the S. neurona SAG family is as extensive as the T. gondii SAG family remains unresolved, but it is probable that additional SnSAGs will be revealed as more S. neurona ESTs are generated. The existence of an SnSAG family in S. neurona indicates that expression of multiple related surface antigens is not unique to the ubiquitous organism T. gondii. Instead, the SAG gene family is a common trait that presumably has an essential, conserved function(s). PMID:15664946

  15. Installation of the sag compensator for HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung Kyoo; Jung, Hoan Sung; Lim, In Cheol; Ahn, Guk Hoon

    2008-01-01

    Electric power is essential for all industrial plants and also for nuclear facilities. HANARO is a research reactor which produces a 30MW thermal power. HANARO is designed to be tripped automatically when interruptions or some extent of sags occur. HANARO has the reactor regulation system(RRs) and reactor protection system(RPS). HANARO is designed so as to be tripped automatically by insertion of control absorber rods(CAR) and shut off rods(SOR). When voltage sag or momentary interruption occurs, the reactor has an unwanted trip by insertion of CARs and SORs even though the process systems are still in operation. HANARO was experienced in a nuisance trip as often as the unexpected voltage sag and/or momentary interruption occurs. We installed the voltage sag compensator voltage sag assessment of the AC coil contactor which is a component of the power supply unit for the SORs. The compensation time is determined to be less than 1 sec in consideration of the reactor safety. This paper is concerned with the impact of the momentary interruption on the reactor and the effect of the voltage sag compensator

  16. Cytokine Gene Expression in Response to SnSAG1 in Horses with Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Jennifer A.; Deinnocentes, Patricia; Moyana, Edith M.; Guarino, Anthony J.; Ellison, Siobhan E.; Bird, R. Curtis; Blagburn, Byron L.

    2005-01-01

    Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is a neurologic syndrome seen in horses from the Americas and is mainly caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Recently, a 29-kDa surface antigen from S. neurona merozoites was identified as being highly immunodominant on a Western blot. This antigen has been sequenced and cloned, and the expressed protein has been named SnSAG1. In a previous study, cell-mediated immune responses to SnSAG1 were shown to be statistically significantly reduced in horses with EPM in comparison to EPM-negative control horses. It therefore appears as though the parasite is able to induce immunosuppression towards parasite-derived antigens as parasite-specific responses are decreased. Isolated peripheral blood lymphocytes from 21 EPM (cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] Western blot)-negative horses with no clinical signs and 21 horses with clinical signs of EPM (CSF Western blot positive) were cocultured with SnSAG1 for 48 and 72 h, and the effect on cytokine production was investigated by means of reverse transcriptase PCR. Cytokines assayed include gamma interferon (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, and IL-6. β-Actin was used as the housekeeping gene. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test of the findings indicated that there was a statistically significant decrease in IFN-γ production after 48 h in culture for samples from horses with clinical disease. There was also a statistically significant increase in IL-4 production after 72 h in culture for samples from horses with EPM. These results further support the notion that this parasite is able to subvert the immune system in horses with clinical disease. PMID:15879026

  17. Installation of the sag compensator for HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyungkyoo; Jung, Hoansung; Lim, Incheol; Ahn, Gukhoon

    2008-01-01

    Electric power is essential for all industrial plants and also for nuclear facilities. HANARO is a research reactor which produces a 30 MW thermal power. HANARO is designed to be tripped automatically when interruptions or some extent of sags occur. HANARO has the reactor regulation system(RRS) and reactor protection system(RPS). HANARO is designed so as to be tripped automatically by insertion of control absorber rods(CAR) and shut-off rods(SOR). When voltage sag or momentary interruption occurs, the reactor has an unwanted trip by insertion of CARs and SORs even though the process systems are still in operation. HANARO was experienced in a nuisance trip as often as the unexpected voltage sag and/or momentary interruption occurs. We installed the voltage sag compensator on the power supply for CARs and SORs so as to prevent an unwanted trip. We undertook voltage sag assessment of the AC coil contactor which is a component of the power supply unit for the SORs. The compensation time is determined to be less than 1 sec in consideration of the reactor safety. This paper is concerned with the impact of the momentary interruption on the reactor and the effect of the voltage sag compensator. (author)

  18. Macroeconomic Assessment of Voltage Sags

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinan Küfeoğlu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The electric power sector has changed dramatically since the 1980s. Electricity customers are now demanding uninterrupted and high quality service from both utilities and authorities. By becoming more and more dependent on the voltage sensitive electronic equipment, the industry sector is the one which is affected the most by voltage disturbances. Voltage sags are one of the most crucial problems for these customers. The utilities, on the other hand, conduct cost-benefit analyses before going through new investment projects. At this point, understanding the costs of voltage sags become imperative for planning purposes. The characteristics of electric power consumption and hence the susceptibility against voltage sags differ considerably among different industry subsectors. Therefore, a model that will address the estimation of worth of electric power reliability for a large number of customer groups is necessary. This paper introduces a macroeconomic model to calculate Customer Voltage Sag Costs (CVSCs for the industry sector customers. The proposed model makes use of analytical data such as value added, annual energy consumption, working hours, and average outage durations and provides a straightforward, credible, and easy to follow methodology for the estimation of CVSCs.

  19. A Simple Sag Generator Using SSRs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Senturk, Osman Selcuk; Hava, Ahmet M.

    2012-01-01

    SSR (solid state relay, a semiconductor power module of triac characteristics) and variable transformer (variac) based sag generator is built for three-phase 10kVA ratings and balanced/imbalanced voltage sags are demonstrated in the laboratory. The performance under resistive and inductive loads...

  20. Model Predictive Control for an Industrial SAG Mill

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ohan, Valeriu; Steinke, Florian; Metzger, Michael

    2012-01-01

    identication. When applied to MIMO systems we call this controller a MIMO-ARX based MPC. We use an industrial Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill to illustrate the performance of this controller. SAG mills are the primary units in a grinding chain and also the most power consuming units. Therefore, improved...... control of SAG mills has the potential to signicantly improve eciency and reduce the specic energy consumption for mineral processes. Grinding circuits involving SAG mills are multivariate processes. Commissioning of a control system based on a classical single-loop controllers with logic is time...

  1. Installation of the sag compensator for HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, H. K.; Jung, H. S.; Ahn, G. H.; Lim, I. C.

    2008-01-01

    Electric power is essential for all industrial plants and also for nuclear facilities. HANARO is a research reactor which produces a 30MW thermal power. HANARO is designed to be tripped automatically when interruptions or some extents of sags occur. HANARO has the reactor regulation system (RRS) and reactor protection system (RPS). HANARO is designed so as to tripped automatically by insertion of control absorber rods (CAR) and shut-off rods (SOR). When voltage or momentary interruption occurs, the reactor has an unwanted trip by insertion of CARs and SORs even though the process systems are still in operation. HANARO was experienced in a nuisance trip as often as the unexpected voltage sag and/or momentary interruption occurs. We installed the voltage sag compensator on the power supply for CARs and SORs so as to prevent an unwanted trip. We undertook voltage sag assessment of the AC coil contactor which is a component of the power supply unit for the SORs. The compensation time is determined to be less than 1 sec in consideration of the reactor safety. This paper is concerned with the impact of the momentary interruption on the reactor and the effect of the voltage sag compensator

  2. Assessing Pearl Quality Using Reflectance UV-Vis Spectroscopy: Does the Same Donor Produce Consistent Pearl Quality?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul C. Southgate

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Two groups of commercial quality (“acceptable” pearls produced using two donors, and a group of “acceptable” pearls from other donors were analyzed using reflectance UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Three pearls with different colors produced by the same donor showed different absorption spectra. Cream and gold colored pearls showed a wide absorption from 320 to about 460 nm, while there was just slight reflectance around 400 nm by the white pearl with a pink overtone. Cream and gold pearls reached a reflectance peak at 560 to 590 nm, while the white pearl with pink overtone showed slightly wider absorption in this region. Both cream and gold pearls showed an absorption peak after the reflectance peak, at about 700 nm for the cream pearl and 750 nm for the gold pearl. Two other pearls produced by the same donor (white with cream overtone and cream with various overtones showed similar spectra, which differed in their intensity. One of these pearls had very high lustre and its spectrum showed a much higher percentage reflectance than the second pearl with inferior lustre. This result may indicate that reflectance is a useful quantitative indicator of pearl lustre. The spectra of two white pearls resulting from different donors with the same color nacre (silver showed a reflectance at 260 nm, followed by absorption at 280 nm and another reflectance peak at 340 nm. After this peak the spectra for these pearls remained flat until a slight absorption peak around 700 nm. Throughout the visible region, all white pearls used in this study showed similar reflectance spectra although there were differences in reflectance intensity. Unlike the spectral results from white pearls, the results from yellow and gold pearls varied according to color saturation of the pearl. The results of this study show that similarities between absorption and reflectance spectra of cultured pearls resulting from the same saibo donor are negligible and could not be detected

  3. A new approach to voltage sag detection based on wavelet transform

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gencer, Oezguer; Oeztuerk, Semra; Erfidan, Tarik [Kocaeli University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Veziroglu Kampuesue, Eski Goelcuek Yolu, Kocaeli (Turkey)

    2010-02-15

    In this work, a new voltage sag detection method based on wavelet transform is developed. Voltage sag detection algorithms, so far have proved their efficiency and computational ability. Using several windowing techniques take long computational times for disturbance detection. Also researchers have been working on separating voltage sags from other voltage disturbances for the last decade. Due to increasing power quality standards new high performance disturbance detection algorithms are necessary to obtain high power quality standards. For this purpose, the wavelet technique is used for detecting voltage sag duration and magnitude. The developed voltage sag detection algorithm is implemented with high speed microcontroller. Test results show that, the new approach provides very accurate and satisfactory voltage sag detection. (author)

  4. Kinds of nucleus for effective pearl cultivation of the pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kanjanachatree, K.

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Seeding is the most important aspect of pearl cultivation, and appropriate nucleus can determine the quality of a pearl : nacre secretion and accumulation around the nucleus. This affects harvest time, nucleus extrusion, survival rate of the pearl oysters and the production cost. In order to provide nuclei to substitute for those imported from China which are made from freshwater pearl oyster-shells, 3 kinds of the local shells of Pinctada fucata, Pteria penguin and Pinctada maxima were selected for seed production. The obtained nuclei have various diameters depend on the shell width at the hinge region. The average diameters are 5.44, 6.78, 7.54 and 6.10 mm, while their production costs are 5, 7.7, 18.5 and 7.5 baht per 1 nucleus, respectively, for Pinctada fucata, Pteria penguin, Pinctada maxima and freshwater pearl oysters (control group. After nucleus implantation into the gonad of culture pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata, and rearing in the sea, the obtained pearls using nuclei made from the shells of Pinctada fucata and Pinctada maxima (both belong to the same genus as the implanted culture pearl oysters have as good nacre formation as that from freshwater pearl oysters. In contrast, the pearl production using nuclei made from Pteria penguin-shells have significantly worse nacre formation. Survival rate of the culture oysters seeded with nuclei made from Pinctada fucata-shells is highest at 47%, nucleus extrusion 8% only, and harvest rate 31%; while with Pinctada maxima-shells, these values are 38%, 17.5% and 14%, respectively. So the nuclei made from local Pinctada fucata-shells are appropriate for pearl cultivation and are comparable to imported nuclei. Although the obtained pearls are small, the nuclei made from Pinctada fucata-shells have low cost, low nucleus extrusion and high productivity.

  5. Voltage sags impact on CAR and SOR of HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung Kyoo; Jung, Hoan Sung; Wu, Jong Sup

    2004-01-01

    The combination of the unstable electric power and sensitive equipment may cause the nuisance of reactor trip. The reactor is tripped by the RRS and RPS during the occurrence of the voltage sags or momentary interruptions. We tested the components of RRS and RPS for the immunity from voltage sags and momentary interruptions. The tested components are DC power supply for CAR (control absorbed rod) of RRS and AC coil contactor for SOR (shut off rod) of RPS. We briefly describe the power quality standard for the voltage sags. This paper summarizes the magnitudes and durations of the voltage sags which impact on the CAR and SOR system

  6. Kinds of nucleus for effective pearl cultivation of the pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata

    OpenAIRE

    Kanjanachatree, K.; Piyathamrongrut, K.; Inthoncharoen, J.

    2007-01-01

    Seeding is the most important aspect of pearl cultivation, and appropriate nucleus can determine the quality of a pearl : nacre secretion and accumulation around the nucleus. This affects harvest time, nucleus extrusion, survival rate of the pearl oysters and the production cost. In order to provide nuclei to substitute for those imported from China which are made from freshwater pearl oyster-shells, 3 kinds of the local shells of Pinctada fucata, Pteria penguin and Pinctada maxima were selec...

  7. Research on uncertainty evaluation measure and method of voltage sag severity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, X. N.; Wei, J.; Ye, S. Y.; Chen, B.; Long, C.

    2018-01-01

    Voltage sag is an inevitable serious problem of power quality in power system. This paper focuses on a general summarization and reviews on the concepts, indices and evaluation methods about voltage sag severity. Considering the complexity and uncertainty of influencing factors, damage degree, the characteristics and requirements of voltage sag severity in the power source-network-load sides, the measure concepts and their existing conditions, evaluation indices and methods of voltage sag severity have been analyzed. Current evaluation techniques, such as stochastic theory, fuzzy logic, as well as their fusion, are reviewed in detail. An index system about voltage sag severity is provided for comprehensive study. The main aim of this paper is to propose thought and method of severity research based on advanced uncertainty theory and uncertainty measure. This study may be considered as a valuable guide for researchers who are interested in the domain of voltage sag severity.

  8. Over-expression of 60s ribosomal L23a is associated with cellular proliferation in SAG resistant clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanchita Das

    Full Text Available Sodium antimony gluconate (SAG unresponsiveness of Leishmania donovani (Ld had effectively compromised the chemotherapeutic potential of SAG. 60s ribosomal L23a (60sRL23a, identified as one of the over-expressed protein in different resistant strains of L.donovani as observed with differential proteomics studies indicates towards its possible involvement in SAG resistance in L.donovani. In the present study 60sRL23a has been characterized for its probable association with SAG resistance mechanism.The expression profile of 60s ribosomal L23a (60sRL23a was checked in different SAG resistant as well as sensitive strains of L.donovani clinical isolates by real-time PCR and western blotting and was found to be up-regulated in resistant strains. Ld60sRL23a was cloned, expressed in E.coli system and purified for raising antibody in swiss mice and was observed to have cytosolic localization in L.donovani. 60sRL23a was further over-expressed in sensitive strain of L.donovani to check its sensitivity profile against SAG (Sb V and III and was found to be altered towards the resistant mode.This study reports for the first time that the over expression of 60sRL23a in SAG sensitive parasite decreases the sensitivity of the parasite towards SAG, miltefosine and paramomycin. Growth curve of the tranfectants further indicated the proliferative potential of 60sRL23a assisting the parasite survival and reaffirming the extra ribosomal role of 60sRL23a. The study thus indicates towards the role of the protein in lowering and redistributing the drug pressure by increased proliferation of parasites and warrants further longitudinal study to understand the underlying mechanism.

  9. Study of southern CHAONAN sag lower continental slope basin deposition character in Northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Y.

    2009-12-01

    Northern South China Sea Margin locates in Eurasian plate,Indian-Australia plate,Pacific Plates.The South China Sea had underwent a complicated tectonic evolution in Cenozoic.During rifting,the continental shelf and slope forms a series of Cenozoic sedimentary basins,including Qiongdongnan basin,Pearl River Mouth basin,Taixinan basin.These basins fill in thick Cenozoic fluviolacustrine facies,transitional facies,marine facies,abyssal facies sediment,recording the evolution history of South China Sea Margin rifting and ocean basin extending.The studies of tectonics and deposition of depression in the Southern Chaonan Sag of lower continental slope in the Norther South China Sea were dealt with,based on the sequence stratigraphy and depositional facies interpretation of seismic profiles acquired by cruises of“China and Germany Joint Study on Marine Geosciences in the South China Sea”and“The formation,evolution and key issues of important resources in China marginal sea",and combining with ODP 1148 cole and LW33-1-1 well.The free-air gravity anomaly of the break up of the continental and ocean appears comparatively low negative anomaly traps which extended in EW,it is the reflection of passive margin gravitational effect.Bouguer gravity anomaly is comparatively low which is gradient zone extended NE-SW.Magnetic anomaly lies in Magnetic Quiet Zone at the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea.The Cenozoic sediments of lower continental slope in Southern Chaonan Sag can be divided into five stratum interface:SB5.5,SB10.5,SB16.5,SB23.8 and Hg,their ages are of Pliocene-Quaternary,late Miocene,middle Miocene,early Miocene,paleogene.The tectonic evolution of low continental slope depressions can be divided into rifting,rifting-depression transitional and depression stages,while their depositional environments change from river to shallow marine and abyssa1,which results in different topography in different stages.The topographic evolvement in the study

  10. Voltage sags: Their impact on the utility and industrial customers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, T.; Beam, G.E.; Melhorn, C.J.

    1995-01-01

    This paper describes the impact of voltage sags on the utility and industrial customers. Several utility measures are presented to minimize the customer's exposure to voltage sags. However, these measures cannot completely eliminate the impact of voltage sags on sensitive equipment. A case study is presented in this paper that includes measurement results that were used to characterize the voltage sags experienced on the utility system and in the industrial facility, simulation results that were used to develop area of vulnerability curves for the industrial facility, mitigation equipment that was employed to improve the sensitive equipment's ride through capability, and the lessons learned from the systems approach analysis

  11. Episodic normal faulting and magmatism during the syn-spreading stage of the Baiyun sag in Pearl River Mouth Basin: response to the multi-phase seafloor spreading of the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Peng; Mei, Lianfu; Liu, Jun; Zheng, Jinyun; Liu, Minghui; Cheng, Zijie; Guo, Fengtai

    2018-03-01

    Considerable post-breakup extensional deformation is recorded in the continental margins of the South China Sea (SCS). To recognize the nature and origin of the significant deformation during the syn-spreading stage (32-15.5 Ma) in the SCS, we comprehensively analyzed the geometry and kinematics of the faults and contemporaneous magmas in the Baiyun sag, northern margin of the SCS, using high-resolution regional three-dimensional seismic data. The kinematic analyses indicate that the faults in the Baiyun sag are recently formed following the onset of seafloor spreading in the SCS. The faults exhibit multiple episodes of growth history, with three active episodes, 32-29, 23.8-21 and 18.5-16.5 Ma, separated by periods of inactivity. Four volcanic groups comprising 98 volcanic mounds have been identified and described, located separately in the northwestern, the central, the southeastern and the northern slope areas. The occurrence of multiple palaeo-seafloors, complemented by the biostratigraphic and K-Ar dating data, reveals multiple extrusive events of the syn-spreading magmas in the Baiyun sag, with three active periods of 23.8-21, 18.5-17.5 and 17.5-16.5 Ma. This study confirms that the normal faulting has a shared genetic origin with the contemporaneous magmatism during the syn-spreading stage in the deep-offshore Baiyun sag, northern margin of the SCS. The episodic fault growth and magmatic extrusive events reveal that the Baiyun sag has undergone at least three episodic tectonic events during the syn-spreading stage, which evolved in response to the multi-stage seafloor spreading of the SCS.

  12. Transmission line sag calculations using interval mathematics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shaalan, H. [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Washington, DC (United States)]|[US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY (United States)

    2007-07-01

    Electric utilities are facing the need for additional generating capacity, new transmission systems and more efficient use of existing resources. As such, there are several uncertainties associated with utility decisions. These uncertainties include future load growth, construction times and costs, and performance of new resources. Regulatory and economic environments also present uncertainties. Uncertainty can be modeled based on a probabilistic approach where probability distributions for all of the uncertainties are assumed. Another approach to modeling uncertainty is referred to as unknown but bounded. In this approach, the upper and lower bounds on the uncertainties are assumed without probability distributions. Interval mathematics is a tool for the practical use and extension of the unknown but bounded concept. In this study, the calculation of transmission line sag was used as an example to demonstrate the use of interval mathematics. The objective was to determine the change in cable length, based on a fixed span and an interval of cable sag values for a range of temperatures. The resulting change in cable length was an interval corresponding to the interval of cable sag values. It was shown that there is a small change in conductor length due to variation in sag based on the temperature ranges used in this study. 8 refs.

  13. Power conditioning using dynamic voltage restorers under different voltage sag types.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saeed, Ahmed M; Abdel Aleem, Shady H E; Ibrahim, Ahmed M; Balci, Murat E; El-Zahab, Essam E A

    2016-01-01

    Voltage sags can be symmetrical or unsymmetrical depending on the causes of the sag. At the present time, one of the most common procedures for mitigating voltage sags is by the use of dynamic voltage restorers (DVRs). By definition, a DVR is a controlled voltage source inserted between the network and a sensitive load through a booster transformer injecting voltage into the network in order to correct any disturbance affecting a sensitive load voltage. In this paper, modelling of DVR for voltage correction using MatLab software is presented. The performance of the device under different voltage sag types is described, where the voltage sag types are introduced using the different types of short-circuit faults included in the environment of the MatLab/Simulink package. The robustness of the proposed device is evaluated using the common voltage sag indices, while taking into account voltage and current unbalance percentages, where maintaining the total harmonic distortion percentage of the load voltage within a specified range is desired. Finally, several simulation results are shown in order to highlight that the DVR is capable of effective correction of the voltage sag while minimizing the grid voltage unbalance and distortion, regardless of the fault type.

  14. Responsive demand to mitigate slow recovery voltage sags

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garcia-Valle, Rodrigo; da Silva, Luiz Carlos Pereira; Xu, Zhao

    2012-01-01

    , and reactive power reserve for peak load management through price responsive methods and also as energy providers through embedded generation technologies. This article introduces a new technology, called demand as voltagecontrolled reserve, which can help mitigation of momentary voltage sags. The technology...... faults. This article presents detailed models, discussion, and simulation tests to demonstrate the technical viability and effectiveness of the demand as voltage-controlled reserve technology for mitigating voltage sags....... can be provided by thermostatically controlled loads as well as other types of load. This technology has proven to be effective in distribution systems with a large composition of induction motors, when voltage sags present slow recovery characteristics because of the deceleration of the motors during...

  15. Voltage Sag due to Pollution Induced Flashover Across Ceramic Insulator Strings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reddy B, Subba; Goswami, Arup Kumar

    2017-11-01

    Voltage sag or voltage dips are significant to industrial reliability. There is a necessity to characterize the feeder level power quality (PQ) and the PQ performance among various utility companies. Contamination/pollution induced flashover is the ultimate consequence of the creeping discharges across the insulator strings which induce voltage sag. These have a severe threat on the safe and reliable operation of power systems. In the present work an attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the occurrence of voltage sag/dips during pollution induced flashovers. Results show significant dip/sag in the voltage magnitude during the flashover process.

  16. Effects of balanced and unbalanced voltage sags on DC adjustable-speed drives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pedra, Joaquin; Sainz, Luis; Corcoles, Felipe; Bergas, Joan [Department of Electrical Engineering, ETSEIB-UPC, Av. Diagonal, 647, 08028 Barcelona (Spain); de Blas, Alfredo [Department of Electrical Engineering, EUETIB-UPC, C. d' Urgell, 187, 08036 Barcelona (Spain)

    2008-06-15

    This paper analyzes the sensitivity of DC adjustable-speed drives to balanced and unbalanced voltage sags. The influence of sag type, depth, duration and phase-angle jump on DC drives is studied. The control of the DC drive has been taken into account to understand drive behavior in the presence of voltage sags. Two working modes of the DC motor are considered in the study: as a consumer load and as a regenerative load. When the DC motor works as a consumer load, the study shows that sag type and depth have a significant influence on drive behavior. However, the voltage sag can be ridden through if the rectifier firing angle is set correctly by the control. When the DC motor works as a regenerative load, the study shows the consequences of the three-phase rectifier commutation failure due to the voltage sag. (author)

  17. Compensation for gravitational sag of bent mirror

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mao, Chengwen; Jiang, Hui; He, Yan; Liang, Dongxu; Lan, Xuying; Yan, Shuai [Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, Shanghai 201800 (China); Shu, De-ming [Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States); Li, Aiguo, E-mail: aiguo.li@sinap.ac.cn [Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, Shanghai 201800 (China)

    2017-05-01

    The gravitational sag of aspheric bent mirrors with face-up or face-down geometry produces a nonnegligible optical error. As an effective compensation, width optimization is used to match the combined effects of the gravitational and bending moments. This method is described by analytical expressions and two calculation algorithms. The results of theoretical simulations and finite element analysis have proved that this method can reduce the slope error resulting from gravitational sag to the level of nano radians.

  18. Compensation for gravitational sag of bent mirror

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mao, Chengwen; Jiang, Hui; He, Yan; Liang, Dongxu; Lan, Xuying; Yan, Shuai; Shu, De-ming; Li, Aiguo

    2017-01-01

    The gravitational sag of aspheric bent mirrors with face-up or face-down geometry produces a nonnegligible optical error. As an effective compensation, width optimization is used to match the combined effects of the gravitational and bending moments. This method is described by analytical expressions and two calculation algorithms. The results of theoretical simulations and finite element analysis have proved that this method can reduce the slope error resulting from gravitational sag to the level of nano radians.

  19. Computation and measurement of calandria tube sag in PHWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae Ryong; Sohn, Seok Man

    2003-01-01

    Calandria tubes and liquid injection shutdown system (LISS) tubes in a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is known to sag due to irradiation creep and growth during plant operation. When the sag of calandria tube becomes bigger, the calandria tube possibly comes in contact with LISS tube crossing beneath and calandria tube. The contact subsequently may cause the damage on the calandria tube resulting in unpredicted outage of the plant. It is therefore necessary to check the gap between the two tubes in order to periodically confirm no contact by using a proper measure during the plant life. An ultrasonic gap measuring probe assembly which can be inserted into two viewing ports of the calandria was developed in Korea and utilized to measure the sags of both tubes in the PHWR. It was found that the centerlines of calandria tubes and liquid injection shutdown system tubes can be precisely detected by ultrasonic wave. The gaps between two tubes were easily obtained from the relative distance of the measured centerline elevations of the tubes. Based on the irradiation creep equation and the measurement data, a computer program to calculate the sags was also developed. With the computer program, the sag at the end of plant life was predicted. (author)

  20. Spatiotemporal Trends of Heavy Metals in Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins (Sousa chinensis) from the Western Pearl River Estuary, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gui, Duan; Yu, Ri-Qing; Karczmarski, Leszek; Ding, Yulong; Zhang, Haifei; Sun, Yong; Zhang, Mei; Wu, Yuping

    2017-02-07

    We assessed the spatiotemporal trends of the concentrations of 11 heavy metals (HMs) in the liver and kidney of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) from western Pearl River Estuary (PRE) during 2004-2015. The hepatic levels of Cr, As, and Cu in these dolphins were among the highest reported for cetaceans globally, and the levels of Zn, Cu, and Hg were sufficiently high to cause toxicological effects in some of the animals. Between same age-sex groups, dolphins from Lingdingyang were significantly more contaminated with Hg, Se, and V than those from the West-four region, while the opposite was true for Cd. Generalized additive mixed models showed that most metals had significant but dissimilar temporal trends over a 10-year period. The concentrations of Cu and Zn increased significantly in recent years, corresponding to the high input of these metals in the region. Body-length-adjusted Cd levels peaked in 2012, accompanied by the highest annual number of dolphin stranding events. In contrast to the significant decrease in HM levels in the dolphins in Hong Kong waters (the eastern reaches of the PRE), the elevated metal exposure in the western PRE raises serious concerns.

  1. Effects of symmetrical voltage sags on squirrel-cage induction motors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pedra, Joaquin; Sainz, Luis; Corcoles, Felipe [Department of Electrical Engineering, ETSEIB-UPC, Av. Diagonal, 647, 08028 Barcelona (Spain)

    2007-10-15

    This paper analyzes the symmetrical voltage sag consequences on the induction motor behavior when single- and double-cage models are considered, namely current and torque peaks, and speed loss. These effects depend on several variables like sag type, duration and depth. Voltage sag effects are studied by using single- and double-cage models for three motors of different rated power. The double-cage model always predicts torque and current peaks higher than those of the single-cage model. The single-cage model predicts that voltage sags can produce motor instability, whereas the double-cage model is always stable. Therefore, the double-cage model must be used for the simulation of the squirrel-cage induction motor, because the single-cage model can give erroneous results in some situations. (author)

  2. Physical simulation of gas reservoir formation in the Liwan 3-1 deep-water gas field in the Baiyun sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gang Gao

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available To figure out the process and controlling factors of gas reservoir formation in deep-waters, based on an analysis of geological features, source of natural gas and process of reservoir formation in the Liwan 3-1 gas field, physical simulation experiment of the gas reservoir formation process has been performed, consequently, pattern and features of gas reservoir formation in the Baiyun sag has been found out. The results of the experiment show that: ① the formation of the Liwan 3-1 faulted anticline gas field is closely related to the longstanding active large faults, where natural gas is composed of a high proportion of hydrocarbons, a small amount of non-hydrocarbons, and the wet gas generated during highly mature stage shows obvious vertical migration signs; ② liquid hydrocarbons associated with natural gas there are derived from source rock of the Enping & Zhuhai Formation, whereas natural gas comes mainly from source rock of the Enping Formation, and source rock of the Wenchang Formation made a little contribution during the early Eocene period as well; ③ although there was gas migration and accumulation, yet most of the natural gas mainly scattered and dispersed due to the stronger activity of faults in the early period; later as fault activity gradually weakened, gas started to accumulate into reservoirs in the Baiyun sag; ④ there is stronger vertical migration of oil and gas than lateral migration, and the places where fault links effective source rocks with reservoirs are most likely for gas accumulation; ⑤ effective temporal-spatial coupling of source-fault-reservoir in late stage is the key to gas reservoir formation in the Baiyun sag; ⑥ the nearer the distance from a trap to a large-scale fault and hydrocarbon source kitchen, the more likely gas may accumulate in the trap in late stage, therefore gas accumulation efficiency is much lower for the traps which are far away from large-scale faults and hydrocarbon source

  3. Water Pearls Optics Challenges for Everybody

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milner-Bolotin, Marina

    2012-01-01

    Water pearls are superabsorbent polyacrylate beads that can expand about 200 times when submerged in water and are often used for decorative purposes in flower vases. A bag of pearls costs about a dollar. The pearls are very useful for teaching science, especially optics. Since water pearls are mainly made of water, their index of refraction…

  4. The fading of irradiated blue-colored pearls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okamoto, Shinichi

    1982-01-01

    The fading of irradiated and natural blue-colored pearls was investigated in this experiment. Thirty natural blue-colored pearls and sixty irradiated blue-colored pearls were used. Some of them were placed at a light position of RT. Another pearls were placed at a dark position of 50 0 C. The irradiated pearls placed at a light position of RT didn't show remarkable fading in their color in 294 days. But the natural blue-colored pearls showed a little recovery from 4% to 8% in reflection factors in 223 days at RT. The irradiated pearls placed at a dark position of 50 0 C showed the recovery from 9% to 14% in 264 days independently of irradiation times. The natural blue-colored pearls also showed the bleaching from 5% to 10% in reflection factor in 86 days at 50 0 C. Both irradiated and natural blue-colored pearls hardly showed their remarkable changes in their chromaticities independently of temperatures. (author)

  5. Quantifying the gantry sag on linear accelerators and introducing an MLC-based compensation strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Du Weiliang; Gao Song; Wang Xiaochun; Kudchadker, Rajat J. [Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States)

    2012-04-15

    Purpose: Gantry sag is one of the well-known sources of mechanical imperfections that compromise the spatial accuracy of radiation dose delivery. The objectives of this study were to quantify the gantry sag on multiple linear accelerators (linacs), to investigate a multileaf collimator (MLC)-based strategy to compensate for gantry sag, and to verify the gantry sag and its compensation with film measurements. Methods: The authors used the Winston-Lutz method to measure gantry sag on three Varian linacs. A ball bearing phantom was imaged with megavolt radiation fields at 10 deg. gantry angle intervals. The images recorded with an electronic portal imaging device were analyzed to derive the radiation isocenter and the gantry sag, that is, the superior-inferior wobble of the radiation field center, as a function of the gantry angle. The authors then attempted to compensate for the gantry sag by applying a gantry angle-specific correction to the MLC leaf positions. The gantry sag and its compensation were independently verified using film measurements. Results: Gantry sag was reproducible over a six-month measurement period. The maximum gantry sag was found to vary from 0.7 to 1.0 mm, depending on the linac and the collimator angle. The radiation field center moved inferiorly (i.e., away from the gantry) when the gantry was rotated from 0 deg. to 180 deg. After the MLC leaf position compensation was applied at 90 deg. collimator angle, the maximum gantry sag was reduced to <0.2 mm. The film measurements at gantry angles of 0 deg. and 180 deg. verified the inferior shift of the radiation fields and the effectiveness of MLC compensation. Conclusions: The results indicate that gantry sag on a linac can be quantitatively measured using a simple phantom and an electronic portal imaging device. Reduction of gantry sag is feasible by applying a gantry angle-specific correction to MLC leaf positions at 90 deg. collimator angle.

  6. An association of external and internal enamel pearls.

    OpenAIRE

    Mahajan S; Charan C

    2005-01-01

    We report a rare case of an association of external enamel pearl with internal enamel pearl on the root of a molar. To the best of our knowledge, association of external and internal enamel pearls has not been previously reported. We discussed the histogenesis of enamel pearls and proposed that internal enamel pearl formation may be a continuation of formation of external enamel pearl.

  7. Dispersal of the Pearl River plume over continental shelf in summer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhaoyun; Gong, Wenping; Cai, Huayang; Chen, Yunzhen; Zhang, Heng

    2017-07-01

    Satellite images of turbidity were used to study the climatological, monthly, and typical snapshot distributions of the Pearl River plume over the shelf in summer from 2003 to 2016. These images show that the plume spreads offshore over the eastern shelf and is trapped near the coast over the western shelf. Eastward extension of the plume retreats from June to August. Monthly spatial variations of the plume are characterized by eastward spreading, westward spreading, or both. Time series of monthly plume area was quantified by applying the K-mean clustering method to identify the turbid plume water. Decomposition of the 14-year monthly turbidity data by the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis isolated the 1st mode in both the eastward and westward spreading pattern as the time series closely related to the Pearl River discharge, and the 2nd mode with out-of-phase turbidity anomalies over the eastern and western shelves that is associated with the prevailing wind direction. Eight typical plume types were detected from the satellite snapshots. They are characterized by coastal jet, eastward offshore spreading, westward spreading, bidirectional spreading, bulge, isolated patch, offshore branch, and offshore filaments, respectively. Their possible mechanisms are discussed.

  8. A rationale for the observed non-linearity in pressure tube creep sag with time in service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sedran, P.J.

    2013-01-01

    In 2012, a paper was presented at the CNS SGC Conference which included an explanation for measured non-linear trends in Pressure Tube (PT) creep sag. The section of the 2012 paper covering this topic was revised and is presented as the main subject of this paper. The practical applications for the prediction of long-term Fuel Channel (FC) creep sag include the analysis of Calandria Tube - Liquid Injection Nozzle (CT-LIN) contact, and fuel passage and PT replacement assessments. The current practice for predicting FC creep sag in life cycle management applications is to use a linear model for creep sag versus time in service. However, PT sag measurements from the Point Lepreau Generating Station (PLGS) and Gentilly-2 (G-2) have displayed a non-linear trend with a creep sag rate that is decreasing with time in service. As an example, for PT F06 in PLGS, a 60% reduction in the nominal creep sag rate was observed for measurements taken 18 years apart. Subsequently, it was found that a 56% reduction in the creep sag rate for F06 over 18 years could be attributed to a fundamental geometric property of the PT creep sag profile. In addition, a further 1.6% decrease in the creep sag rate of the CT over the same period could be attributed to bending stress reductions due to the deformation of the CT. The resultant reduction in the PT creep sag rate for F06 was predicted to be 57.6%, closely matching the observed PT creep sag rate reduction of 60%. Therefore, this paper provides a rationale to explain the observed non-linear trends in PT creep sag, the use of which could benefit stations engaging in asset management as a means of FC life extension. This paper presents a summary of the worked performed to correlate the observed reductions in PT creep sag rate to the geometrical properties of the PT creep sag profile and the predicted bending stress reductions in the CT. (author)

  9. The negative temperature coefficient resistivities of Ag2S-Ag core–shell structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Mingming; Liu, Dongzhi; Li, Wei; Zhou, Xueqin

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the conductivity of silver nanoparticle films protected by 3-mercaptopropionic acid (Ag/MPA) has been investigated. When the nanoparticles were annealed in air at 200 °C, they converted to stable Ag 2 S-Ag core–shell structures. The mechanism for the formation of the Ag 2 S-Ag core–shell structures along with the compositional changes and the microstructural evolution of the Ag/MPA nanoparticles during the annealing process are discussed. It is proposed that the Ag 2 S-Ag core–shell structure was formed through a solid-state reduction reaction, in which the Ag + ions coming from Ag 2 S were reduced by sulfonate species and sulfur ions. The final Ag 2 S-Ag films display an exponentially decreased resistivity with increasing temperature from 25 to 170 °C. The negative temperature coefficient resistivity of Ag 2 S-Ag films can be adjusted by changing the S/Ag molar ratio used for the synthesis of the Ag/MPA nanoparticles, paving the way for the preparation of negative temperature-coefficient thermistors via printing technology for use in the electronics.

  10. Voltage Sag Compensator for CAR and SOR of HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung-Kyoo; Jung, Hoan-Sung; Wu, Jong-Sup

    2007-01-01

    HANARO is designed so as to be tripped automatically by insertion of control absorber rods(CAR) and shut-off rods(SOR) and the process systems, such as primary cooling system, secondary cooling system and reflector cooling system, etc., stop whenever the off-site power failure occurs, the reactor trips automatically. When voltage sag or momentary interruption occurs, the process systems are in operation but the reactor has an unwanted trip by insertion of CARs and SORs. We installed the voltage sag compensator on the power supply for CARs and SORs so as to prevent a nuisance trip. The compensated time is decided not to exceed 1 sec in consideration of reactor safety. This paper is concerned with the impact of the momentary interruption on the reactor and the effect of the voltage sag compensator

  11. Characterization of organic matrix extracted from fresh water pearls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma Yufei; Gao Yonghua; Feng Qingling

    2011-01-01

    Aragonite pearl and vaterite pearl from cultured Hyriopsis cumingii in Zhuji (Zhejiang province, China) were chosen for the study. The matrix proteins were extracted using water and weak acid, and classified as water soluble matrix (WSM), acid soluble matrix (ASM) and acid insoluble matrix (AIM). The proteins from both pearls were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformation infrared spectra (FTIR). The results showed that, AIM of aragonite pearl and vaterite pearl had an ordered structure of α-helix. ASM conformations of these two pearls were different from each other. WSM differed the most between these two pearls. - Research Highlights: → We use a specific method for extracting matrix proteins from aragonite pearl and vaterite pearl respectively. → The matrix proteins are extracted by water and weak acid, and classified as water soluble matrix (WSM), acid soluble matrix (ASM) and acid insoluble matrix (AIM). → AIM of aragonite pearl and vaterite pearl have an ordered structure. ASM conformations of the two pearls are different from each other. WSM differ the most between these two pearls.

  12. Allocation of Load-Loss Cost Caused by Voltage Sag

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, X.

    2017-10-01

    This paper focuses on the allocation of load-loss cost caused by voltage sag in the environment of electricity market. To compensate the loss of loads due to voltage sags, the load-loss cost is allocated to both sources and power consumers. On the basis of Load Drop Cost (LDC), a quantitative evaluation index of load-loss cost caused by voltage sag is identified. The load-loss cost to be allocated to power consumers themselves is calculated according to load classification. Based on the theory of power component the quantitative relation between sources and loads is established, thereby a quantitative calculation method for load-loss cost allocated to each source is deduced and the quantitative compensation from individual source to load is proposed. A simple five-bus system illustrates the main features of the proposed method.

  13. Interview with Dennis Pearl

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossman, Allan; Pearl, Dennis

    2017-01-01

    Dennis Pearl is Professor of Statistics at Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE). He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. This interview took place via email on November 18-29, 2016, and provides Dennis Pearl's background story, which describes…

  14. Immunogenic Eimeria tenella glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored surface antigens (SAGs induce inflammatory responses in avian macrophages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yock-Ping Chow

    Full Text Available At least 19 glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI-anchored surface antigens (SAGs are expressed specifically by second-generation merozoites of Eimeria tenella, but the ability of these proteins to stimulate immune responses in the chicken is unknown.Ten SAGs, belonging to two previously defined multigene families (A and B, were expressed as soluble recombinant (r fusion proteins in E. coli. Chicken macrophages were treated with purified rSAGs and changes in macrophage nitrite production, and in mRNA expression profiles of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS and of a panel of cytokines were measured. Treatment with rSAGs 4, 5, and 12 induced high levels of macrophage nitric oxide production and IL-1β mRNA transcription that may contribute to the inflammatory response observed during E. tenella infection. Concomitantly, treatment with rSAGs 4, 5 and 12 suppressed the expression of IL-12 and IFN-γ and elevated that of IL-10, suggesting that during infection these molecules may specifically impair the development of cellular mediated immunity.In summary, some E. tenella SAGs appear to differentially modulate chicken innate and humoral immune responses and those derived from multigene family A (especially rSAG 12 may be more strongly linked with E. tenella pathogenicity associated with the endogenous second generation stages.

  15. The influence of transformers, induction motors and fault resistance regarding propagation voltage sags

    OpenAIRE

    Jairo Blanco; Ruben Darío Leal; Jonathan Jacome; Johann F. Petit; Gabriel Ordoñez; Víctor Barrera

    2011-01-01

    This article presents an analysis of voltage sag propagation. The ATPDraw tool was selected for simulating the IEEE 34 node test feeder. It takes into account both voltage sags caused by electrical fault network, as well as voltage sag propagation characteristics caused by induction motor starting and transformer energising. The analysis was aimed at assessing the influence of transformer winding connections, the impedance of these transformers, lines and cables, summarising the...

  16. CARACTERIZACIÓN DE LUMINARIAS TIPO HALURO METÁLICO ANTE EVENTOS SAG

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bonie Johana Restrepo Cuestas

    Full Text Available Este artículo plantea una metodología para la caracterización de luminarias de haluro metálico, ante eventos sag. Inicialmente, se diseñó y construyó un generador de eventos sag. Luego, se planteó un esquema de pruebas, que fue utilizado para analizar el comportamiento de un tipo de luminarias de alta densidad de descarga tipo Metal Halide, ante eventos sag. Finalmente, tomando como referente el estándar SEMI F-47, se realizó la construcción de una curva característica que muestra la región de operación de la luminaria.

  17. Gravity sag of sandwich panel assemblies as applied to precision cathode strip chamber structural design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horvath, J.

    1993-01-01

    The relationship between gravity sag of a precision cathode strip chamber and its sandwich panel structural design is explored parametrically. An algorithm for estimating the dominant component of gravity sag is defined. Graphs of normalized gravity sag as a function of gap frame width and material, sandwich core edge filler width and material, panel skin thickness, gap height, and support location are calculated using the gravity sag algorithm. The structural importance of the sandwich-to-sandwich ''gap frame'' connection is explained

  18. Unexpected pattern of pearl millet genetic diversity among ethno-linguistic groups in the Lake Chad Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naino Jika, A K; Dussert, Y; Raimond, C; Garine, E; Luxereau, A; Takvorian, N; Djermakoye, R S; Adam, T; Robert, T

    2017-05-01

    Despite of a growing interest in considering the role of sociological factors in seed exchanges and their consequences on the evolutionary dynamics of agro-biodiversity, very few studies assessed the link between ethno-linguistic diversity and genetic diversity patterns in small-holder farming systems. This is key for optimal improvement and conservation of crop genetic resources. Here, we investigated genetic diversity at 17 SSR markers of pearl millet landraces (varieties named by farmers) in the Lake Chad Basin. 69 pearl millet populations, representing 27 landraces collected in eight ethno-linguistic farmer groups, were analyzed. We found that the farmers' local taxonomy was not a good proxy for population's genetic differentiation as previously shown at smaller scales. Our results show the existence of a genetic structure of pearl millet mainly associated with ethno-linguistic diversity in the western side of the lake Chad. It suggests there is a limit to gene flow between landraces grown by different ethno-linguistic groups. This result was rather unexpected, because of the highly outcrossing mating system of pearl millet, the high density of pearl millet fields all along the green belt of this Sahelian area and the fact that seed exchanges among ethno-linguistic groups are known to occur. In the eastern side of the Lake, the pattern of genetic diversity suggests a larger efficient circulation of pearl millet genes between ethno-linguistic groups that are less numerous, spatially intermixed and, for some of them, more prone to exogamy. Finally, other historical and environmental factors which may contribute to the observed diversity patterns are discussed.

  19. An impact analysis of the fault impedance on voltage sags

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramos, Alessandro Candido Lopes [CELG - Companhia Energetica de Goias, Goiania, GO (Brazil). Generation and Transmission. System' s Operation Center], E-mail: alessandro.clr@celg.com.br; Batista, Adalberto Jose [Federal University of Goias (UFG), Goiania, GO (Brazil)], E-mail: batista@eee.ufg.br; Leborgne, Roberto Chouhy [Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)], E-mail: rcl@ece.ufrgs.br; Emiliano, Pedro Henrique Mota, E-mail: ph@phph.com.br

    2009-07-01

    This paper presents an impact analysis of the fault impedance, in terms of its module and angle, on voltage sags caused by faults. Symmetrical and asymmetrical faults are simulated, at transmission and distribution lines, by using a frequency-domain fault simulation software called ANAFAS. Voltage sags are monitored at buses where sensitive end-users are connected. In order to overcome some intrinsic limitations of this software concerning its automatic execution for several cases, a computational tool was developed in Java programming language. This solution allows the automatic simulation of cases including the effect of the fault position, the fault type, and the proper fault impedance. The main conclusion is that the module and angle of the fault impedance can have a significant influence on voltage sag depending on the fault characteristics. (author)

  20. Precast Pearl-Chain concrete arch bridges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halding, Philip Skov; Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Schmidt, Jacob Wittrup

    2015-01-01

    A Pearl-Chain Bridge is a closed-spandrel arch bridge consisting of a number of straight pre-fabricated so called Super-Light Deck elements put together in an arch shape by post-tensioning cables. Several Pearl-Chain arches can be positioned adjacent to each other by a crane to achieve a bridge...... of a desired width. On top of the arch is a filling material to level out the surface of the above road. The filling only transfers vertical loads to the arch. The geometry and material properties of Super-Light Decks are presented, and we refer to several fullscale tests of Pearl-Chain arches where...... the technology was used. We also study other important components and details in the Pearl-Chain Bridge concept and review the effects of different types of loads. A theoretical case study of a circular 30 m span Pearl-Chain Bridge is presented showing the influence of a number of parameters: The number of post...

  1. DNA fingerprinting of pearls to determine their origins.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joana B Meyer

    Full Text Available We report the first successful extraction of oyster DNA from a pearl and use it to identify the source oyster species for the three major pearl-producing oyster species Pinctada margaritifera, P. maxima and P. radiata. Both mitochondrial and nuclear gene fragments could be PCR-amplified and sequenced. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP assay in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS region was developed and used to identify 18 pearls of unknown origin. A micro-drilling technique was developed to obtain small amounts of DNA while maintaining the commercial value of the pearls. This DNA fingerprinting method could be used to document the source of historic pearls and will provide more transparency for traders and consumers within the pearl industry.

  2. SagE induces highly effective protective immunity against Streptococcus iniae mainly through an immunogenic domain in the extracellular region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yun; Sun, Li; Xing, Ming-qing; Liu, Chun-sheng; Hu, Yong-hua

    2013-11-12

    Streptococcus iniae is a Gram-positive bacterium and a severe pathogen of a wide range of farmed fish. S. iniae possesses a virulence-associated streptolysin S cluster composed of several components, one of which is SagE. SagE a transmembrane protein with one major extracellular region named ECR. This study aimed to develop a SagE-based DNA candidate vaccine against streptococcosis and examine the immunoprotective mechanism of the vaccine. We constructed a DNA vaccine, pSagE, based on the sagE gene and examined its immunological property in a Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) model. The results showed that at 7 days post-vaccination, expression of SagE at transcription and translation levels was detected in the tissues of the vaccinated fish. After challenge with S. iniae at one and two months post-vaccination, pSagE-vaccinated fish exhibited relative percent survival (RPS) of 95% and 88% respectively. Immunological analysis showed that (i) pSagE significantly upregulated the expression of a wide range of immune genes, (ii) pSagE induced the production of specific serum antibodies that bound whole-cell S. iniae, and (iii) treatment of S. iniae with pSagE-induced antibodies blocked bacterial invasion of host cells. To localize the immunoprotective domain of SagE, the ECR-expressing DNA vaccine pSagEECR was constructed. Immunization analysis showed that flounder vaccinated with pSagEECR exhibited a RPS of 68%, and that pSagEECR induced serum antibody production and immune gene expression in a manner similar to, though to lower magnitudes than, those induced by pSagE. We in this study developed a DNA vaccine, pSagE, which induces highly protective immunity against S. iniae. The protective effect of pSagE is probably due to its ability to elicit systemic immune response, in particular that of the humoral branch, which leads to production of specific serum antibodies that impair bacterial infection. These results add insights to the immunoprotective mechanism

  3. Multipurpose Compensation Scheme for Voltage Sag/Swell and Selective Harmonics Elimination in Distribution Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mustafa Inci

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Voltage harmonics, sag, and swell are the most harmful disturbances in distribution systems. This paper introduces a novel effective controller method for simultaneous compensation of both voltage sag/swell and voltage harmonics by using multifunctional dynamic voltage restorer. In proposed controller method called FFT with integrated ISRF, ISRF detects the magnitudes of voltage sag/swell quickly and precisely, and FFT extracts the selective components of voltage harmonics very effectively. The proposed method integrates the superior properties of ISRF and FFT methods. FFT integrated ISRF is applied for the first time to provide the compensation of both sag/swell and selective harmonics together. The proposed system has ability to compensate symmetrical/asymmetrical sag/swell and symmetrical/asymmetrical selective harmonics which are 5th, 7th, 11th and 13th. The controlled system is modelled in PSCAD/EMDTC and compared with conventional methods. The performance results verify that the proposed method compensates voltage disturbances effectively in the system.

  4. Pearl aquaculture-profitable environmental remediation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gifford, S; Dunstan, R H; O'Connor, W; Roberts, T; Toia, R

    2004-02-05

    Bivalve molluscs are filter feeders, with pearl oysters able to filter water at rates up to 25 lh(-1)g(-1) of dry wt. tissue. Since this process leads to rapid bioaccumulation of recalcitrant pollutants such as heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides and hydrocarbons from impacted sites, it has prompted the widespread use of molluscs as biomonitors to quantify levels of marine pollution. This paper proposes pearl oyster deployment as a novel bioremediation technology for impacted sites to remove toxic contaminants, reduce nutrient loads and lower concentrations of microbial pathogens. Estimates extrapolated from the literature suggest that a modest pearl oyster farm of 100 t oyster material per year could remove 300 kg heavy metals plus 24 kg of organic contaminants via deposition into the tissue and shell. Furthermore, it was estimated that up to 19 kg of nitrogen may be removed from the coastal ecosystem per tonne of pearl oyster harvested. Pearl oysters are also likely to filter substantial amounts of sewage associated microbial pathogens from the water column. Method of cultivation and site selection are the key to minimising negative environmental impacts of bivalve cultivation. Deployment of oysters at sites with high nutrient and contaminant loadings would be advantageous, as these compounds would be removed from the ecosystem whilst generating a value-added product. Future potential may exist for harvesting bio-concentrated elements for commercial production.

  5. Antigenic evaluation of a recombinant baculovirus-expressed Sarcocystis neurona SAG1 antigen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, G D; Lakritz, J; Saville, W J; Livingston, R S; Dubey, J P; Middleton, J R; Marsh, A E

    2004-10-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is the primary parasite associated with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). This is a commonly diagnosed neurological disorder in the Americas that infects the central nervous system of horses. Current serologic assays utilize culture-derived parasites as antigen. This method requires large numbers of parasites to be grown in culture, which is labor intensive and time consuming. Also, a culture-derived whole-parasite preparation contains conserved antigens that could cross-react with antibodies against other Sarcocystis species and members of Sarcocystidae such as Neospora spp., Hammondia spp., and Toxoplasma gondii. Therefore, there is a need to develop an improved method for the detection of S. neurona-specific antibodies. The sera of infected horses react strongly to surface antigen 1 (SnSAG1), an approximately 29-kDa protein, in immunoblot analysis, suggesting that it is an immunodominant antigen. The SnSAG1 gene of S. neurona was cloned, and recombinant S. neurona SAG1 protein (rSnSAG1-Bac) was expressed with the use of a baculovirus system. By immunoblot analysis, the rSnSAG1-Bac antigen detected antibodies to S. neurona from naturally infected and experimentally inoculated equids, cats, rabbit, mice, and skunk. This is the first report of a baculovirus-expressed recombinant S. neurona antigen being used to detect anti-S. neurona antibodies in a variety of host species.

  6. Comparative analysis of meteorological and hydrological drought in the Pearl River basin during the period 1960-2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, K.; Wu, C.; Hu, B.; Niu, J.

    2017-12-01

    Drought is one of the major natural hazards that can have devastating impacts on the regional environment, agriculture, and water resources. Previous studies have conducted the assessment of historic changes in meteorological drought over various regional scales but rarely considered hydrological drought due to limited hydrological observations. Here, we use a long-term (1960-2012) gridded hydro-meteorological data to present a comparative analysis of meteorological and hydrological drought in the Pearl River basin in southern China using the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized runoff index (SRI). The variation in SPI and SRI at four different timescales (1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month) is investigated using the Mann-Kendall (M-K) method and continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The results indicate that the correlation between SPI and SRI is strong over the Pearl River basin and tends to be stronger at the longer timescale. Meanwhile, the periodic oscillation pattern of SPI becomes more consistent with that of SRI with the increased timescale. The SPI can be used as a substitute for SRI to represent the hydrological drought at the long-term scale. Overall there is a noticeably wetting trend mainly in the eastern parts and a significant drying trend mainly in the western regions and the downstream area of the Pearl River basin. The variability of meteorological drought is significant mainly in the eastern and western regions, while the variability of hydrological drought tends to be larger mainly in the western region. CWT analysis indicates a period of 0.75-7 years in both meteorological and hydrological droughts during the period 1960-2012 in the study region.

  7. Macrofauna Settlement on Pearl Oyster Collectors in Kenya ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Key words: Pearl oysters, seed collection, macrofauna, bivalves, settlement, monsoon seasons,. Kenya .... have shown that pearl oyster settlement is higher within calm ...... collectors in the Timor Sea, Northern Australia. J. Shellfish ... systems. Aquaculture, 189: 375-388. Urban, H.J. (2000b): Culture potential of the pearl.

  8. Salivary agglutinin/DMBT1SAG expression is up-regulated in the presence of salivary gland tumors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bikker, F J; van der Wal, J E; Ligtenberg, A J M

    2004-01-01

    Salivary agglutinin (SAG) is encoded by the gene Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors 1 (DMBT1) and represents the salivary variant of DMBT1 (DMBT1(SAG)). While SAG is a bona fide anti-caries factor, DMBT1 was proposed as a candidate tumor-suppressor for brain, digestive tract, and lung cancer. Thou...

  9. Computer vision based nacre thickness measurement of Tahitian pearls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loesdau, Martin; Chabrier, Sébastien; Gabillon, Alban

    2017-03-01

    The Tahitian Pearl is the most valuable export product of French Polynesia contributing with over 61 million Euros to more than 50% of the total export income. To maintain its excellent reputation on the international market, an obligatory quality control for every pearl deemed for exportation has been established by the local government. One of the controlled quality parameters is the pearls nacre thickness. The evaluation is currently done manually by experts that are visually analyzing X-ray images of the pearls. In this article, a computer vision based approach to automate this procedure is presented. Even though computer vision based approaches for pearl nacre thickness measurement exist in the literature, the very specific features of the Tahitian pearl, namely the large shape variety and the occurrence of cavities, have so far not been considered. The presented work closes the. Our method consists of segmenting the pearl from X-ray images with a model-based approach, segmenting the pearls nucleus with an own developed heuristic circle detection and segmenting possible cavities with region growing. Out of the obtained boundaries, the 2-dimensional nacre thickness profile can be calculated. A certainty measurement to consider imaging and segmentation imprecisions is included in the procedure. The proposed algorithms are tested on 298 manually evaluated Tahitian pearls, showing that it is generally possible to automatically evaluate the nacre thickness of Tahitian pearls with computer vision. Furthermore the results show that the automatic measurement is more precise and faster than the manual one.

  10. Proceedings of a symposium about PEARL in Augsburg

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-05-01

    Both, the PDV Project Management of the Gesellschaft fuer Kerforschung mbH, Karlsruhe, and the VDI/VDE-Gesellschaft Mess- und Regelungstechnik, were organizing on March 9, 1977, a public symposium about PEARL, the unified realtime programming language in the Federal Republic of Germany. This report contains papers of speeches given at the symposium about the following topics: 1) The sponsoring of PEARL within the Project PDV (history, status, future, standardization); 2) PEARL as compared with other realtime languages; 3) experience with present PEARL subsets (both in laboratory and industrial environment). (orig.) [de

  11. Early Prediction of Transient Voltage Sags caused by Rotor Swings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weckesser, Johannes Tilman Gabriel; Jóhannsson, Hjörtur; Van Cutsem, Thierry

    2014-01-01

    The paper investigates various methods to predict voltage sags at load buses caused by large generator rotor swings and following a transient disturbance. Three different prediction methods are proposed, which all use real-time measurements from PMUs. One of the methods uses a slightly extended v...... version of the E-SIME method. The other two methods use Measurements and process them by recursive least square estimation. It is shown that the prediction method employing E-SIME allows the earliest detection of a critical voltage sag with satisfactory accuracy....

  12. The Early Cambrian Mianyang-Changning Intracratonic Sag and Its Control on Petroleum Accumulation in the Sichuan Basin, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shugen Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The older and deeper hydrocarbon accumulations receive increasing attention across the world, providing more technical and commercial challenges to hydrocarbon exploration. We present a study of an asymmetrical, N-S striking intracratonic sag which developed across the Sichuan basin, south China, from Late Ediacaran to Early Cambrian times. The Mianyang-Changning intracratonic sag is ~50 km wide, with its steepest part in the basin center. In particular the eastern margin shows its greatest steepness. Five episodes in the evolutions of the sag can be recognized. It begins in the Late Ediacaran with an uplift and erosion correlated to Tongwan movement. Initial extension occurred during the Early Cambrian Maidiping period, when more strata of the Maidiping Formation were deposited across the sag. Subsequently, maximum extension occurred during the Early Cambrian Qiongzhusi period that resulted in 450–1700 m thick Maidiping-Canglangpu Formations being deposited in the sag. Then, the sag disappeared at the Longwangmiao period, as it was infilled by the sediments. The intracratonic sag has significant influence on the development of high-quality reservoirs in the Dengying and Longwangmiao Formations and source-rock of the Niutitang Formation. It thus indicates that a high probability for oil/gas accumulation exists along the intracratonic sag, across the central Sichuan basin.

  13. Teaching about Pearl Harbor. Curriculum Enhancement Series #1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Anna Marshall

    These materials consist of sample lesson plans for teaching about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in both U.S. and world history classes. The lesson plans challenge students to examine how current attitudes toward the Japanese may be rooted in World War II and Pearl Harbor. Selected bibliographies on Pearl Harbor, World…

  14. A new trivalent SnSAG surface antigen chimera for efficient detection of antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona and diagnosis of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeargan, Michelle; de Assis Rocha, Izabela; Morrow, Jennifer; Graves, Amy; Reed, Stephen M; Howe, Daniel K

    2015-05-01

    Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on the SnSAG surface antigens of Sarcocystis neurona provide reliable detection of infection by the parasite. Moreover, accurate serodiagnosis of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is achieved with the SnSAG ELISAs by measuring antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to reveal active infection in the central nervous system. Two independent ELISAs based on recombinant (r)SnSAG2 or a chimeric fusion of SnSAG3 and SnSAG4 (rSnSAG4/3) are currently used together for EPM serodiagnosis to overcome varied antibody responses in different horses. To achieve reliable antibody detection with a single ELISA instead of 2 separate ELISAs, rSnSAG2 was fused with rSnSAG4/3 into a single trivalent protein, designated rSnSAG2/4/3. Paired serum and CSF from 163 horses were tested with all 3 ELISAs. When the consensus antibody titers obtained with the rSnSAG2 and rSnSAG4/3 ELISAs were compared to the single SAG2/4/3 ELISA titers, Spearman rank correlation coefficients of ρ = 0.74 and ρ = 0.90 were obtained for serum and CSF, respectively, indicating strong agreement between the tests. When the rSnSAG2 and rSnSAG4/3 consensus serum-to-CSF titer ratio was compared to the rSnSAG2/4/3 serum-to-CSF titer ratio, the Spearman correlation coefficient was ρ = 0.87, again signifying strong agreement. Importantly, comparing the diagnostic interpretation of the serum-to-CSF titer ratios yielded a Cohen kappa value of 0.77. These findings suggest that the single ELISA based on the trivalent rSnSAG2/4/3 will provide serologic and diagnostic results that are highly comparable to the consensus of the 2 independent ELISAs based on rSnSAG2 and rSnSAG4/3. © 2015 The Author(s).

  15. Thermally induced phase transformation of pearl powder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Guoqing; Guo, Yili; Ao, Ju; Yang, Jing; Lv, Guanglie; Shih, Kaimin

    2013-01-01

    The polymorphic phase transformation of thermally treated pearl powder was investigated by X-ray diffraction and thermoanalytical techniques. The phase transformation was based on quantification of the calcite content at various temperatures using Rietveld refinement analysis. The results show that the phase transformation of pearl aragonite occurred within a temperature range of 360–410 °C, which is 50–100 °C lower than the range for non-biomineralized aragonite. These thermoanalytical results suggest that the phase transformation of pearl aragonite may occur immediately after the thermal decomposition of the organic matrix in the pearl powder. An important finding is that decomposition of the organic matrix may greatly facilitate such transformation by releasing additional space for an easier structural reconstruction during the phase transformation process. - Highlights: ► Providing a new method to describe the polymorphic transition of pearl powder ► The phase transition sketch was exhibited by XRD phase quantitative analysis. ► There are dozens of degrees in advance comparing to natural aragonite. ► The phase transition occurs following the thermal decomposition of organism

  16. Provenance evolution in the northern South China Sea and its implication of paleo-drainage systems from Eocene to Miocene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Y.; Shao, L.; Qiao, P.

    2017-12-01

    Geochemistry analysis and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology aim to fully investigate the "source to sink" patterns of northern South China Sea (SCS) from Eocene to Miocene. Evolutional history of the surrounding drainage system has been highly focused on, in comparison to sedimentary characteristics of the SCS basins. Rapid local provenances were prevailed while large-scale fluvial transport remained to evolve during Eocene. Since early Oligocene, sediments from the South China were more abundantly delivered to the northeastern Pearl River Mouth Basin in addition to Dongsha volcanism supplement. Aside from intrabasinal provenances, long-distance transport started to play significant role in Zhu1 Depression, possibly reaching western and southern Baiyun Sag, partially. Western Qiongdongnan Basin might accept sediments from central Vietnam with its eastern area more affected from Hainan Island and Southern Uplift. In the late Oligocene, due to drastic sea-level changes and rapid exhumation, mafic to altramafic sediments were transported in abundance to Central Depression from Kontum Massif, while multiple provenances casted integrated influence on eastern sedimentary sequences. Southern Baiyun Sag was also affected by an increased supplement from the west Shenhu Uplift or even central Vietnam. Overall pattern did not change greatly since early Miocene, but long-distance transport has become dominant in the northern SCS. Under controlled by regional tectonic cycles, Pearl River gradually evolved into the present scale and exerted its influence on basinal provenances by several stages. Zhu1 Depression was partially delivered sediments from its tributaries in early Oligocene while northern Zhu2 Depression has not been provided abundant materials until late Oligocene. Meanwhile, although detailed transportation routine remains uncertain and controversial, an impressive paleo-channel spanning the whole Qiongdongnan Basin was presumed to supply huge amount of mafic to

  17. Crustal structure revealed by a deep seismic sounding profile of Baijing-Gaoming-Jinwan in the Pearl River Delta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiang; Ye, Xiuwei; Lv, Jinshui; Sun, Jinlong; Wang, Xiaona

    2018-02-01

    The Pearl River Estuary area, located in the middle part of the southern China coastal seismic belt, has long been considered a potential source of strong earthquakes above magnitude 7.0. To scientifically assess the potential strong earthquake risk in this area, a three-dimensional artificial seismic sounding experiment, consisting of a receiving array and seabed seismograph, was performed to reveal the deep crustal structure in this region. We used artificial ship-borne air-gun excitation shots as sources, and fixed and mobile stations as receivers to record seismic data from May to August 2015. This paper presents results along a line from the western side of the Pearl River Estuary to the western side of the Baijing-Gaoming-Jinwan profile. A two-dimensional velocity structure was constructed using seismic travel-time tomography. The inversion results show that the Moho depth is 27 km in the coastal area and 30 km in the northwest of the Pearl River Estuary area, indicating that the crust thins from land to sea. Two structural discontinuities and multiple low-velocity anomalies appear in the crustal section. Inside both discontinuity zones, a low-velocity layer, with a minimum velocity of 6.05 km s-1, exists at a depth of about 15 km, and another, with a minimum velocity of 6.37 km s-1, exists at a depth of about 21.5 km between the middle and lower crust. These low velocities suggest that the discontinuities may consist of partly molten material. Earthquakes with magnitudes higher than 5.0 occurred in the low-velocity layer along the profile. The deep Kaiping-Enping fault, rooted in the crust, may be one of the most important channels for deep material upwelling and is related to tectonic movement since the Cretaceous in the Pearl River Delta tectonic rift basin.

  18. The sagging rope sign in achondroplasia - different from Perthes' disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shingade, Viraj U.; Song, Hae-Ryong; Lee, Seok-Hyun; Suh, Seung-Woo; Oh, Chang-Wug; Hong, Jun-Seok

    2006-01-01

    The sagging rope sign is a radio-opaque line, seen on radiographs of the hips, with Perthes' disease. The main purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, cause and importance of this sign in achondroplasia, and to reveal how it differs from in Perthes' disease. Serial radiograms, along with 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional CT images were studied in 42 achondroplasic patients. Forty-two achondroplasic patients, reported at our institute (for routine outpatient consultation, spine surgeries, deformity corrections, limb-lengthening procedures) were included in this study. There were 26 males and 16 females. The sign was observed bilaterally, in all patients. Evaluation of CT images revealed spherical heads, with presence of circumferential overhang in all hips. This circumferential overhang, seen on 3-D CT scan, corresponded to the sagging rope sign on radiographs. Presence of the sagging rope sign in bilateral hips is a characteristic feature of achondroplasia. It usually appears before epiphyseal closure. Its cause, incidence, and nature differ from Perthes' disease, and its presence does not carry a bad prognosis in achondroplasia. (orig.)

  19. Potential profitability of pearl culture in coastal communities in Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ismail Saidi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Artisanal half-pearl culture has been shown to provide livelihood and economic opportunities for coastal communities in Tanzania that depend directly on exploitation of marine resources. However, these pilot research studies have been supported by donor organisations and the economic feasibility of such development has not yet been assessed. Furthermore, there is little understanding of the costs required to establish pearl farms and the relative impacts of farm size on production, running costs, profitability and risks involved in production. The aim of this study was to develop economic models for subsistence level half-pearl culture in Tanzania. Models were generated for various scenarios relating to farm size and products (i.e. half-pearls and juvenile oyster or ‘spat’ collection and they give detail on infrastructure costs, operational costs and income generated for various levels of operation. We concluded that the most profitable model for community-based pearl farming is to culture at least 600 oysters for half-pearl production. However, for communities to be able to run a sustainable and profitable enterprise, development of a sustainable source of oysters is crucial. Farmers can also generate income from collection of juvenile oysters and their subsequent sale to pearl farmers, but this is less profitable than half-pearl farming and requires a longer operational period before profits are made. Like pearl farming, there were major benefits or economies of scale with the largest farms tested providing greatest profit and/or a shorter time required to reach profitability. Our results provide a valuable source of information for prospective pearl farmers, donors, funding bodies and other stakeholders, and valuable extension information supporting further development of pearl culture in Tanzania.

  20. Synthesis, morphological control, and antibacterial properties of hollow/solid Ag2S/Ag heterodimers

    KAUST Repository

    Pang, Maolin; Hu, Jiangyong; Zeng, Huachun

    2010-01-01

    of this highly asymmetric dipolar composite, photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli K-12 in the presence of the as-prepared Ag 2S/Ag heterodimers has been carried out under UV irradiation. The added Ag2S/Ag heterodimers show good chemical stability under

  1. A novel current mode controller for a static compensator utilizing Goertzel algorithm to mitigate voltage sags

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Najafi, E.; Yatim, A.H.M.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → We proposed a new current control method for STATCOM. → The current control method maintains a fixed switching frequency. → It also produces fewer harmonics compared to conventional hysteresis method. → A new voltage dip (sag) detection method was used in STATCOM. → The control method can mitigate voltage sag in each phase separately. -- Abstract: Static compensator (STATCOM) has been widely proposed for power quality and network stability improvement. It is easily connected in parallel to the electric network and has many advantages for electrical grids. It can improve network stability; power factor, power transfer rating and can avoid some disturbances such as sags and swells. Most of STATCOM controllers are based on voltage controllers that are based on balanced d-q transform. However, they are not thorough solutions for network disturbances since in most cases single-phase disturbances occur in electrical networks that cannot be avoided by the conventional controllers. Voltage mode controllers are also not capable of responding fast enough to the changes expected of a network system. This paper proposes a new current mode controller to overcome the mentioned problem. The approach uses a fixed frequency current controller to maintain voltage levels in voltage sags (dips). This approach is also simple and can be easily implemented by digitally. It has superior performance over conventional methods in terms of harmonic reduction in STATCOM output current. Another important factor for STATCOM effectiveness in sag mitigation is its sag detection method. This paper also introduces a new sag detection method based on Goertzel algorithm which is both effective and simple for practical applications. The simulation results presented illustrate the superiority of the proposed controller and sag detection algorithm to be utilized in the STATCOM.

  2. Development of Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Granetto, Paul

    1994-01-01

    The audit was in response to a DoD Hotline complaint regarding the Navy plan to sell 122 acres of Government land located in Pearl City, Hawaii, to finance the construction of a causeway from Pearl...

  3. Measurement and computation for sag of calandria tube due to irradiation creep in PHWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Son, S. M.; Lee, W. R.; Lee, S. K.; Lee, J. S.; Kim, T. R.; Na, B. K.; Namgung I.

    2003-01-01

    Calandria tubes and Liquid Injection Shutdown System(LISS) tubes in a Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor(PHWR) are to sag due to irradiation creep and growth during plant operation. When the sag of calandria tube becomes bigger, the calandria tube possibly comes in contact with LISS tube crossing beneath the calandria tube. The contact subsequently may cause the damage on the calandria tube resulting in unpredicted outage of the plant. It is therefore necessary to check the gap between the two tubes in order to periodically confirm no contact by using a proper measure during the plant life. An ultrasonic gap measuring probe assembly which can be inserted into two viewing ports of the calandria was developed in Korea and utilized to measure the sags of both tubes in the PHWR. It was found that the centerlines of calandria tubes and liquid injection shutdown system tubes can be precisely detected by ultrasonic wave. The gaps between two tubes were easily obtained from the relative distance of the measured centerline elevations of the tubes. Based on the irradiation creep equation and the measurement data, a computer program to calculate the sags was also developed. With the computer program, the sag at the end of plant life was predicted

  4. 32 CFR 765.6 - Regulations for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Regulations for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 765.6... RULES RULES APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLIC § 765.6 Regulations for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Commander, U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is responsible for prescribing and enforcing such rules and...

  5. Pearls and pitfalls in neural CGRP immunohistochemistry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Warfvinge, Karin; Edvinsson, Lars

    2013-01-01

    This review outlines the pearls and pitfalls of calcitonin-gene related protein (CGRP) immunohistochemistry of the brain. PEARLS: In 1985, CGRP was first described in cerebral arteries using immunohistochemistry. Since then, cerebral CGRP (and, using novel antibodies, its receptor components) has...

  6. Cloning and characterisation of the sagA gene of Aspergillus nidulans: a gene which affects sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, G W; Hooley, P; Farrington, S M; Shawcross, S G; Iwanejko, L A; Strike, P

    1999-03-01

    Mutations within the sagA gene of Aspergillus nidulans cause sensitisation to DNA-damaging chemicals but have no effect upon spontaneous or damage-induced mutation frequency. The sagA gene was cloned on a 19-kb cosmid-derived fragment by functional complementation of a sagA1 sagC3 double mutant; subsequently, a fragment of the gene was also isolated on a 3.9-kb genomic subclone. Initial sequencing of a small section of the 19-kb fragment allowed the design of primers that were subsequently used in RTPCR experiments to show that this DNA is transcribed. A 277-bp fragment derived from the transcribed region was used to screen an A. nidulans cDNA library, resulting in the isolation of a 1.4-kb partial cDNA clone which had sequence overlap with the genomic sagA fragment. This partial cDNA was incomplete but appeared to contain the whole coding region of sagA. The sagA1 mutant was shown to possess two mutations; a G-T transversion and a+ 1 frameshift due to insertion of a T. causing disruption to the C-terminal region of the SagA protein. Translation of the sagA cDNA predicts a protein of 378 amino acids, which has homology to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae End3 protein and also to certain mammalian proteins capable of causing cell transformation.

  7. Mitigation of Voltage Sags in CIGRE Low Voltage Distribution Network

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mustafa, Ghullam; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Mahat, Pukar

    2013-01-01

    Any problem in voltage in a power network is undesirable as it aggravates the quality of the power. Power electronic devices such as Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) etc. are commonly used for the mitigation of voltage p....... The compensation of voltage sags in the different parts of CIGRE distribution network is done by using the four STATCOM compensators already existing in the test grid. The simulations are carried out in DIgSILENT power factory software version 15.0.......Any problem in voltage in a power network is undesirable as it aggravates the quality of the power. Power electronic devices such as Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) etc. are commonly used for the mitigation of voltage...... problems in the distribution system. The voltage problems dealt with in this paper are to show how to mitigate voltage sags in the CIGRE Low Voltage (LV) test network and networks like this. The voltage sags, for the tested cases in the CIGRE LV test network are mainly due to three phase faults...

  8. Complete characterization of voltage sags: an alternative to achieve energy quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zuniga Medina, Edgar Andres; Vasco Garcia, Carlos Andres

    1992-01-01

    In this paper, the meaning of the power quality and its negative influence in the automation processes are presented. Voltage sags, the problems they cause and a methodology to characterize the phenomenon are also presented. Once the problems associated with the different sensible loads connected to a power system are identified, the cause of the bad quality of the electrical energy provided those loads is then established; voltage sags are one of the most common phenomenon that requires characterization in order to diminish their negative impact on the industrial processes

  9. Resource potential and status of pearl oyster fishery in India

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Ingole, B.S.; Parulekar, A.H.

    Many cultivable species of pearl oysters are known to occur in the Indo-Australian Archipelago which is an important region in the world distribution of pearl oysters. An account of the development of Indian pearl fisheries that took place over...

  10. Synthesis, morphological control, and antibacterial properties of hollow/solid Ag2S/Ag heterodimers

    KAUST Repository

    Pang, Maolin

    2010-08-11

    Ag2S and Ag are important functional materials that have received considerable research interest in recent years. In this work, we develop a solution-based synthetic method to combine these two materials into hollow/solid Ag2S/Ag heterodimers at room temperature. Starting from monodisperse Cu2O solid spheres, CuS hollow spheres can be converted from Cu2O through a modified Kirkendall process, and the obtained CuS can then be used as a solid precursor for preparation of the Ag2S/Ag heterodimers through ion exchange and photo-assisted reduction. We have found that formation of the Ag2S/Ag heterodimers is instantaneous, and the size of Ag nanocrystals on the hollow spheres of Ag2S can be controlled by changing the concentration and power of reducing agents in the synthesis. The growth of Ag nanoparticles on hollow spheres of Ag2S in the dimers is along the [111] direction of the silver crystal; the light absorption properties have also been investigated. Furthermore, coupling or tripling of Ag2S/Ag heterodimers into dumbbell-like trimers ((Ag 2S)2/Ag, linear) and triangular tetramers ((Ag 2S)3/Ag, coplanar) can also be attained at 60°C by adding the bidentate ligand ethylenediamine as a cross-linking agent. To test the applicability of this highly asymmetric dipolar composite, photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli K-12 in the presence of the as-prepared Ag 2S/Ag heterodimers has been carried out under UV irradiation. The added Ag2S/Ag heterodimers show good chemical stability under prolonged UV irradiation, and no appreciable solid dissolution is found. Possible mechanisms regarding the enhanced antibacterial activity have also been addressed. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

  11. Experimental testing of a SAG digital SILT application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haapanen, P.; Maskuniitty, M.; Heikkinen, J.; Korhonen, J.

    1995-10-01

    A prototype dynamic testing harness for programmable automation systems has been specified and implemented at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). In order to get experience on the methodology and equipment for the testing of systems important to the safety of nuclear power plants, where the safety and reliability requirements often are very high, two different pilot systems have been tested. One system was an ABB Master application, which was loaned for testing from ABB Atom by Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO). Another system, loaned from Siemens AG(SAG) by IVO International Oy (IVO), was an application realized with SAG's digital SILT technology. The report describes the testing of the SAG application. The purpose of the testing was not to assess the pilot system, but to get experience in the testing methodology and find out the further development needs and potentials of the test methodology and equipment. The experience show that dynamic testing is one feasible way to get more confidence about the safety and reliability of a programmable system that would be hard to achieve by other means. It also shows that more development of the test harness is still needed, especially concerning the comparison of the obtained test response to the expected response provided by the logical model of the system. Also the user interface of the on-line part of the test harness needs development. Methods for generation of the test cases also need further development eg. for achieving statistical significance for the reliability estimates. (10 refs., 90 figs., 9 tabs.)

  12. The sagging rope sign in achondroplasia - different from Perthes' disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shingade, Viraj U. [Korea University, Department of Paediatric Orthopaedics, College of Medicine, Guro Hospital, Seoul (Korea); Song, Hae-Ryong [Korea University, Department of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Guro Hospital, Seoul (Korea); Lee, Seok-Hyun; Suh, Seung-Woo [Korea University, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Guro Hospital, Seoul (Korea); Oh, Chang-Wug [Kyungpook National University Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Daegu (Korea); Hong, Jun-Seok [Ansan Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Korea University, Ansan, Gyeonggi do (Korea)

    2006-12-15

    The sagging rope sign is a radio-opaque line, seen on radiographs of the hips, with Perthes' disease. The main purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, cause and importance of this sign in achondroplasia, and to reveal how it differs from in Perthes' disease. Serial radiograms, along with 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional CT images were studied in 42 achondroplasic patients. Forty-two achondroplasic patients, reported at our institute (for routine outpatient consultation, spine surgeries, deformity corrections, limb-lengthening procedures) were included in this study. There were 26 males and 16 females. The sign was observed bilaterally, in all patients. Evaluation of CT images revealed spherical heads, with presence of circumferential overhang in all hips. This circumferential overhang, seen on 3-D CT scan, corresponded to the sagging rope sign on radiographs. Presence of the sagging rope sign in bilateral hips is a characteristic feature of achondroplasia. It usually appears before epiphyseal closure. Its cause, incidence, and nature differ from Perthes' disease, and its presence does not carry a bad prognosis in achondroplasia. (orig.)

  13. Gravity sag view of lateral radiography of the knee

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hidaka, Kuniyuki; Yanagawa, Yasuhiro; Kawamoto, Kiyosumi; Maeda, Daisuke; Komizu, Mitsuru

    2007-01-01

    The gravity sag view (GSV) is a lateral radiograph taken in the same position when the posterior sag sign is observed. The purpose of this study was to standardize the radiography technique for GSV by adjusting lateral rotation. To confirm the benchmark and correction angle (CA) for the GSV position, we assessed three-dimensional (3D) CT of the GSV position of the knee using normal volunteers. The benchmark is established at the 3-point of the leg and adjusting the CA of the knee is established by estimating from Rosenberg technique radiography. This helped not only to correct external rotation in the initial radiography but also to correct rotation for repeat radiography. Our method is quantitative and highly reproducible, and it increases the success rate in adjusting lateral radiography of the knee. (author)

  14. Effect of voltage sags on digitally controlled line connected switched-mode power supplies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Török, Lajos; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2012-01-01

    Different voltage disorders like voltage fluctuations, sags, frequency variations may occur in the power supply networks due to different fault conditions. These deviations from normal operation affects in different ways the line connected devices. Standards were developed to protect and ensure...... of voltage sags is analyzed. Fault tolerant control algorithm was designed, implemented and is discussed. The fault conditions and their effects were investigated at different power levels....

  15. Testing Pearl Model In Three European Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouraoui, F.; Bidoglio, G.

    The Plant Protection Product Directive (91/414/EEC) stresses the need of validated models to calculate predicted environmental concentrations. The use of models has become an unavoidable step before pesticide registration. In this context, European Commission, and in particular DGVI, set up a FOrum for the Co-ordination of pes- ticide fate models and their USe (FOCUS). In a complementary effort, DG research supported the APECOP project, with one of its objective being the validation and im- provement of existing pesticide fate models. The main topic of research presented here is the validation of the PEARL model for different sites in Europe. The PEARL model, actually used in the Dutch pesticide registration procedure, was validated in three well- instrumented sites: Vredepeel (the Netherlands), Brimstone (UK), and Lanna (Swe- den). A step-wise procedure was used for the validation of the PEARL model. First the water transport module was calibrated, and then the solute transport module, using tracer measurements keeping unchanged the water transport parameters. The Vrede- peel site is characterised by a sandy soil. Fourteen months of measurements were used for the calibration. Two pesticides were applied on the site: bentazone and etho- prophos. PEARL predictions were very satisfactory for both soil moisture content, and pesticide concentration in the soil profile. The Brimstone site is characterised by a cracking clay soil. The calibration was conducted on a time series measurement of 7 years. The validation consisted in comparing predictions and measurement of soil moisture at different soil depths, and in comparing the predicted and measured con- centration of isoproturon in the drainage water. The results, even if in good agreement with the measuremens, highlighted the limitation of the model when the preferential flow becomes a dominant process. PEARL did not reproduce well soil moisture pro- file during summer months, and also under-predicted the arrival of

  16. Facile synthesis, structure, and properties of Ag{sub 2}S/Ag heteronanostructure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadovnikov, S. I., E-mail: sadovnikov@ihim.uran.ru; Gusev, A. I. [Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Solid State Chemistry (Russian Federation)

    2016-09-15

    Ag{sub 2}S/Ag heteronanostructure has been produced by a simple one-stage chemical deposition from aqueous solutions of silver nitrate, sodium sulfide, and sodium citrate with the use of monochromatic light irradiation. For simultaneous synthesis of Ag{sub 2}S and Ag nanoparticles, deposition has been performed from reaction mixtures with reduced sodium sulfide concentration. The size of Ag{sub 2}S and Ag nanoparticles is 45–50 and 15–20 nm, respectively. It is established that in the contact layer between silver sulfide and silver, nonconducting α-Ag{sub 2}S acanthite transforms into superionic β-Ag{sub 2}S argentite under the action of external electric field. The scheme of the operation of a resistive switch based on an Ag{sub 2}S/Ag heteronanostructure is proposed. The UV–Vis optical absorption spectra of colloidal solutions of Ag{sub 2}S/Ag heteronanostructures have been studied.Graphical Abstract.

  17. It Could Be a Pearl to You: Exploring Recruitment and Retention of the Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives (PEARLS) With Hard-to-Reach Populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinman, Lesley; Hammerback, Kristen; Snowden, Mark

    2015-08-01

    We partnered with 3 social service organizations to identify hard-to-reach populations, barriers to reach, and strategies for improving recruitment and retention for Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives (PEARLS), a home-based depression-care management program for elders. We conducted semistructured interviews with staff and former PEARLS participants. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Veterans, African Americans, Filipino men, other immigrants and English-language learners, old-older adults, rural communities, and people with limited education were identified as hard to reach. The themes of trust, cultural appropriateness, meet them where they are, and framing and reframing, cut across barriers to participation in PEARLS and approaches for overcoming these barriers. Research findings will be used to inform technical assistance activities with PEARLS providers, changes to PEARLS program and training materials, and future PEARLS research activities. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  18. Doubly-Fed Induction Generator Control Under Voltage Sags

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Teodorescu, Remus; Blaabjerg, Frede; Lima, K.

    2008-01-01

    This paper proposes a new control technique to improve the fault-ride through capability of doubly fed induction generators (DFIG). In such generators the appearance of severe voltage sags at the coupling point make rise to high over currents at the rotor/stator windings, something that makes...

  19. Mestica calappa, the Coconut pearl, trick or true?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veldkamp, J.F.

    2002-01-01

    A bibliographic study is made of Mestica calappa, the Coconut pearl. It is concluded that if pearls do grow in coconuts, they are exceedingly rare, and the ones analyzed on structure and chemical composition were fake ones.

  20. Detection and correction for EPID and gantry sag during arc delivery using cine EPID imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowshanfarzad, Pejman; Sabet, Mahsheed; O'Connor, Daryl J; McCowan, Peter M; McCurdy, Boyd M C; Greer, Peter B

    2012-02-01

    Electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) have been studied and used for pretreatment and in-vivo dosimetry applications for many years. The application of EPIDs for dosimetry in arc treatments requires accurate characterization of the mechanical sag of the EPID and gantry during rotation. Several studies have investigated the effects of gravity on the sag of these systems but each have limitations. In this study, an easy experiment setup and accurate algorithm have been introduced to characterize and correct for the effect of EPID and gantry sag during arc delivery. Three metallic ball bearings were used as markers in the beam: two of them fixed to the gantry head and the third positioned at the isocenter. EPID images were acquired during a 360° gantry rotation in cine imaging mode. The markers were tracked in EPID images and a robust in-house developed MATLAB code was used to analyse the images and find the EPID sag in three directions as well as the EPID + gantry sag by comparison to the reference gantry zero image. The algorithm results were then tested against independent methods. The method was applied to compare the effect in clockwise and counter clockwise gantry rotations and different source-to-detector distances (SDDs). The results were monitored for one linear accelerator over a course of 15 months and six other linear-accelerators from two treatment centers were also investigated using this method. The generalized shift patterns were derived from the data and used in an image registration algorithm to correct for the effect of the mechanical sag in the system. The Gamma evaluation (3%, 3 mm) technique was used to investigate the improvement in alignment of cine EPID images of a fixed field, by comparing both individual images and the sum of images in a series with the reference gantry zero image. The mechanical sag during gantry rotation was dependent on the gantry angle and was larger in the in-plane direction, although the patterns were not

  1. Tech Talk for Social Studies Teachers Lest We Forget: Remembering Pearl Harbor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Tim

    2001-01-01

    Presents an annotated bibliography that provides Web sites about Pearl Harbor (Hawaii). Includes Web sites that cover Pearl Harbor history, a live view of Pearl Harbor, stories from people who remember where they were during the attack, information on the naval station at Pearl Harbor, and a virtual tour of the USS Arizona. (CMK)

  2. [Pearl Harbor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Jennifer, Ed.

    1992-01-01

    This issue of "Loblolly Magazine" was written in observance of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. entrance into World War II. The publication features interviews conducted by East Texas high school students with Clarence Otterman, one of the few survivors of the crew of the USS Arizona, which was bombed during the attack on Pearl Harbor,…

  3. Mitigation of voltage sags in the distribution system with dynamic voltage restorer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Viglas, D.; Belan, A.

    2012-01-01

    Dynamic voltage restorer is a custom power device that is used to improve voltage sags or swells in electrical distribution system. The components of the Dynamic Voltage Restorer consist of injection transformers, voltage source inverter, passive filters and energy storage. The main function of the Dynamic voltage restorer is used to inject three phase voltage in series and in synchronism with the grid voltages in order to compensate voltage disturbances. This article deals with mitigation of voltage sags caused by three-phase short circuit. Dynamic voltage restorer is modelled in MATLAB/Simulink. (Authors)

  4. Modelling voltage sag mitigation using dynamic voltage restorer and analyzing power quality issue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, Nor Laili; Hidzir, Hizrin Dayana Mohd; Thanakodi, Suresh; Nazar, Nazatul Shiema Moh; Ibrahim, Pungut; Ali, Che Ku Muhammad Sabri Che Ku

    2018-02-01

    Power quality problem which are arise due to a fault or a pulsed load can have caused an interruption of critical load. The modern power systems are becoming more sensitive to the quality of the power supplied by the utility company. Voltage sags and swells, flicker, interruptions, harmonic distortion and other distortion to the sinusoidal waveform are the examples of the power quality problems. The most affected due to these problems is industrial customers who use a lot of sensitive equipment. There has suffered a huge loss to these problems. Resulting of broken or damage equipment if voltage sag exceeds the sensitive threshold of the equipment. Thus, device such as Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) and Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) has been created to solve this problem among users. DVR is a custom power device that most effective and efficient. This paper intended to report the DVR operations during voltage sag compensation.

  5. Developing a national spat collection program for pearl oysters in the Fiji Islands supporting pearl industry development and livelihoods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pranesh Kishore

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Cultured pearl farming in Fiji relies on wild spat collection to supply the oysters used for pearl production. This supply can be inconsistent and a research program was implemented to determine recruitment of pearl oysters to spat collectors at sites throughout Fiji as a basis for developing a national spat collection program to improve reliability of oyster supply to the industry. Twenty-nine sites across Fiji were used in this study. Spat collectors consisted of a 100 m longline from which 310 individual spat collectors were suspended. Spat collectors were deployed for a period of 10–15 months when the number of pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera and Pteria penguin spat attached to each collector was counted and shell size recorded. A total of 5478 P. margaritifera juveniles were collected from all sites with the highest number of recruits (693 and the highest number of recruits per collector (2.10 ± 0.17 occurring at Nacobau (Vanua Levu. The largest mean dorso-ventral measurement (DVM of P. margaritifera at any site was 8.61 ± 0.30 cm while the smallest was 4.26 ± 0.13 cm. Some sites did not record any P. margaritifera recruitment during the study and these were generally sites with relatively turbid water. A total of 4224 Pt. penguin were collected from all sites, with the highest number of recruits (495 recorded from Namarai (Viti Levu. The mean DVM of Pt. penguin ranged from 7.53 cm to 13.62 cm across sites. Results indicate that Pt. penguin have greater tolerance of more turbid inshore sites than P. margaritifera based on greater levels of recruitment at these sites. Results identified sites supporting high levels of pearl oyster recruitment as a basis for an ongoing national spat collection program, and support better targeting of spat collection activities that maximise oyster supply to the Fijian pearl industry. The national spat collection program will generate significant livelihood benefits across

  6. Advanced Control of the Dynamic Voltage Restorer for Mitigating Voltage Sags in Power Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dung Vo Tien

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a vector control with two cascaded loops to improve the properties of Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR to minimize Voltage Sags on the grid. Thereby, a vector controlled structure was built on the rotating dq-coordinate system with the combination of voltage control and the current control. The proposed DVR control method is modelled using MATLAB-Simulink. It is tested using balanced/unbalanced voltage sags as well as fluctuant and distorted voltages. As a result, by using this controlling method, the dynamic characteristics of the system have been improved significantly. The system performed with higher accuracy, faster response and lower distortion in the voltage sags compensation. The paper presents real time experimental results to verify the performance of the proposed method in real environments.

  7. Antibiotics in riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta and Pearl River Estuary, China: Concentrations, mass loading and ecological risks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Weihai; Yan, Wen; Li, Xiangdong; Zou, Yongde; Chen, Xiaoxiang; Huang, Weixia; Miao, Li; Zhang, Ruijie; Zhang, Gan; Zou, Shichun

    2013-01-01

    Ten antibiotics belonging to three groups (macrolides, fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides) were investigated in riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Pearl River Estuary (PRE), South China for assessing the importance of riverine runoff in the transportation of contaminants from terrestrial sources to the open ocean. All antibiotics were detected in the eight outlets with concentrations ranging from 0.7 to 127 ng L −1 . The annual mass loadings of antibiotics from the PRD to the PRE and coast were 193 tons with 102 tons from the fluoroquinolone group. It showed that antibiotics decreased from the riverine outlets to the PRE and open ocean. Risk assessment showed that most of these antibiotics showed various ecological risks to the relevant aquatic organisms, in which ofloxacin (OFL), erythromycin (ETM) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) posed high ecological risks to the studied aquatic environments. -- Highlights: •Antibiotics were ubiquitous in the river water and costal water in the Pearl River Delta. •Antibiotics exhibited distinct temporal and spatial trends in the riverine runoff outlets. •Annual outflows of antibiotics were 193 tons from the Pearl River to coastal ocean. •Some antibiotics posed high risks to some organisms in the PRD environments. -- Antibiotics were ubiquitous in the river and coastal water in the Pearl River Delta and posed various ecological risks to the relevant aquatic organisms

  8. Screening and identification of novel B cell epitopes of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Yanhua; Wang, Guangxiang; Zhang, Delin; Yin, Hong; Wang, Meng

    2013-01-01

    Background The identification of protein epitopes is useful for diagnostic purposes and for the development of peptide vaccines. In this study, the epitopes of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 were identified using synthetic peptide techniques with the aid of bioinformatics. Findings Eleven peptides derived from T. gondii SAG1 were assessed by ELISA using pig sera from different time points after infection. Four (PS4, PS6, PS10 and PS11), out of the eleven peptides tested were recognized by all sera. T...

  9. Screening and identification of novel B cell epitopes of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yanhua; Wang, Guangxiang; Zhang, Delin; Yin, Hong; Wang, Meng

    2013-04-30

    The identification of protein epitopes is useful for diagnostic purposes and for the development of peptide vaccines. In this study, the epitopes of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 were identified using synthetic peptide techniques with the aid of bioinformatics. Eleven peptides derived from T. gondii SAG1 were assessed by ELISA using pig sera from different time points after infection. Four (PS4, PS6, PS10 and PS11), out of the eleven peptides tested were recognized by all sera. Then, shorter peptides that were derived from PS4, PS6, PS10 and PS11 were predicted using bioinformatics and tested by experimentation. Four out of nine shorter peptides were identified successfully (amino acids 106-120, 166-180, 289-300 and 313-332). We have precisely located the epitopes of T. gondii SAG1 using pig sera collected at different time points after infection. The identified epitopes may be useful for the further study of epitope-based vaccines and diagnostic reagents.

  10. Accurate antemortem diagnosis of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) based on detecting intrathecal antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona using the SnSAG2 and SnSAG4/3 ELISAs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, S M; Howe, D K; Morrow, J K; Graves, A; Yeargan, M R; Johnson, A L; MacKay, R J; Furr, M; Saville, W J A; Williams, N M

    2013-01-01

    Recent work demonstrated the value of antigen-specific antibody indices (AI and C-value) to detect intrathecal antibody production against Sarcocystis neurona for antemortem diagnosis of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). The study was conducted to assess whether the antigen-specific antibody indices can be reduced to a simple serum : cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) titer ratio to achieve accurate EPM diagnosis. Paired serum and CSF samples from 128 horses diagnosed by postmortem examination. The sample set included 44 EPM cases, 35 cervical-vertebral malformation (CVM) cases, 39 neurologic cases other than EPM or CVM, and 10 non-neurologic cases. Antibodies against S. neurona were measured in serum and CSF pairs using the SnSAG2 and SnSAG4/3 (SnSAG2, 4/3) ELISAs, and the ratio of each respective serum titer to CSF titer was determined. Likelihood ratios and diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were calculated based on serum titers, CSF titers, and serum : CSF titer ratios. Excellent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was obtained from the SnSAG2, 4/3 serum : CSF titer ratio. Sensitivity and specificity of 93.2 and 81.1%, respectively, were achieved using a ratio cutoff of ≤100, whereas sensitivity and specificity were 86.4 and 95.9%, respectively, if a more rigorous cutoff of ≤50 was used. Antibody titers in CSF also provided good diagnostic accuracy. Serum antibody titers alone yielded much lower sensitivity and specificity. The study confirms the value of detecting intrathecal antibody production for antemortem diagnosis of EPM, and they further show that the antigen-specific antibody indices can be reduced in practice to a simple serum : CSF titer ratio. Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  11. Recombinant vaccines against T. gondii: comparison between homologous and heterologous vaccination protocols using two viral vectors expressing SAG1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendes, Érica Araújo; Fonseca, Flavio G; Casério, Bárbara M; Colina, Janaína P; Gazzinelli, Ricardo Tostes; Caetano, Braulia C

    2013-01-01

    The use of recombinant viral vectors expressing T. gondii antigens is a safe and efficient approach to induce immune response against the parasite and a valuable tool for vaccine development. We have previously protected mice from toxoplasmosis by immunizing the animals with an adenovirus expressing the protein SAG1 (AdSAG1) of T. gondii. We are now looking for ways to improve the vaccination strategy and enhance protection. One limitation of homologous vaccinations (sequential doses of the same vector) is induction of anti-vector immune response that blocks cell transduction, restricts transgene expression and, consequently, compromises the overall outcome of vaccination. One way to avert the effects of anti-vector response is to use different viruses in prime and boost (heterologous vaccination). Bearing this in mind, we generated a modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara encoding SAG1 (MVASAG1), to be tested as boost agent after prime with AdSAG1. Although minor differences were observed in the magnitude of the anti-SAG1 immune response induced by each vaccination protocol, the heterologous immunization with AdSAG1 followed by MVASAG1 resulted in improved capacity to control brain cyst formation in a model of chronic toxoplasmosis in C57BL/6 mice.

  12. Recombinant vaccines against T. gondii: comparison between homologous and heterologous vaccination protocols using two viral vectors expressing SAG1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Érica Araújo Mendes

    Full Text Available The use of recombinant viral vectors expressing T. gondii antigens is a safe and efficient approach to induce immune response against the parasite and a valuable tool for vaccine development. We have previously protected mice from toxoplasmosis by immunizing the animals with an adenovirus expressing the protein SAG1 (AdSAG1 of T. gondii. We are now looking for ways to improve the vaccination strategy and enhance protection. One limitation of homologous vaccinations (sequential doses of the same vector is induction of anti-vector immune response that blocks cell transduction, restricts transgene expression and, consequently, compromises the overall outcome of vaccination. One way to avert the effects of anti-vector response is to use different viruses in prime and boost (heterologous vaccination. Bearing this in mind, we generated a modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara encoding SAG1 (MVASAG1, to be tested as boost agent after prime with AdSAG1. Although minor differences were observed in the magnitude of the anti-SAG1 immune response induced by each vaccination protocol, the heterologous immunization with AdSAG1 followed by MVASAG1 resulted in improved capacity to control brain cyst formation in a model of chronic toxoplasmosis in C57BL/6 mice.

  13. Electrospun composites of PHBV/pearl powder for bone repairing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingjing Bai

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Electrospun fiber has highly structural similarity with natural bone extracelluar matrix (ECM. Many researches about fabricating organic–inorganic composite materials have been carried out in order to mimic the natural composition of bone and enhance the biocompatibility of materials. In this work, pearl powder was added to the poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV and the composite nanofiber scaffold was prepared by electrospinning. Mineralization ability of the composite scaffolds can be evaluated by analyzing hydroxyapatite (HA formation on the surface of nanofiber scaffolds. The obtained composite nanofiber scaffolds showed an enhanced mineralization capacity due to incorporation of pearl powder. The HA formed amount of the composite scaffolds was raised as the increase of pearl powder in composite scaffolds. Therefore, the prepared PHBV/pearl composite nanofiber scaffolds would be a promising candidate as an osteoconductive composite material for bone repairing.

  14. The influence of motor re-acceleration on voltage sags

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bollen, M.H.J.

    1995-01-01

    The assumption that a voltage sag is rectangular is not correct in a power system with large induction motor loads. The motors decelerate during the short circuit. After fault-clearing, they will accelerate again, drawing a high reactive current from the supply, causing a prolonged postfault voltage

  15. Experts and novices use the same factors--but differently--to evaluate pearl quality.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuke Tani

    Full Text Available Well-trained experts in pearl grading have been thought to evaluate pearls according to their glossiness, interference color, and shape. However, the characteristics of their evaluations are not fully understood. Using pearl grading experiments, we investigate the consistency of novice (i.e., without knowledge of pearl grading and expert participants' pearl grading skill and then compare the novices' grading with that of experts; furthermore, we discuss the relationship between grading, interference color, and glossiness. We found that novices' grading was significantly less concordant with experts average grading than was experts' grading; more than half of novices graded pearls the opposite of how experts graded those same pearls. However, while experts graded pearls more consistently than novices did, novices' consistency was relatively high. We also found differences between the groups in regression analyses that used interference color and glossiness as explanatory variables and were conducted for each trial. Although the regression coefficient was significant in 60% of novices' trials, there were fewer significant trials for the experts (20%. This indicates that novices can also make use of these two factors, but that their usage is simpler than that of the experts. These results suggest that experts and novices share some values about pearls but that the evaluation method is elaborated for experts.

  16. Molecular analysis of Toxoplasma gondii Surface Antigen 1 (SAG1) gene cloned from Toxoplasma gondii DNA isolated from Javanese acute toxoplasmosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haryati, Sri; Agung Prasetyo, Afiono; Sari, Yulia; Dharmawan, Ruben

    2018-05-01

    Toxoplasma gondii Surface Antigen 1 (SAG1) is often used as a diagnostic tool due to its immunodominant-specific as antigen. However, data of the Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 protein from Indonesian isolate is limited. To study the protein, genomic DNA was isolated from a Javanese acute toxoplasmosis blood samples patient. A complete coding sequence of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 was cloned and inserted into an Escherichia coli expression plasmid and sequenced. The sequencing results were subjected to bioinformatics analysis. The Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 complete coding sequences were successfully cloned. Physicochemical analysis revealed the 336 aa of SAG1 had 34.7 kDa of weight. The isoelectric point and aliphatic index were 8.4 and 78.4, respectively. The N-terminal methionine half-life in Escherichia coli was more than 10 hours. The antigenicity, secondary structure, and identification of the HLA binding motifs also had been discussed. The results of this study would contribute information about Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 and benefits for further works willing to develop diagnostic and therapeutic strategies against the parasite.

  17. The use of UV-visible reflectance spectroscopy as an objective tool to evaluate pearl quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agatonovic-Kustrin, Snezana; Morton, David W

    2012-07-01

    Assessing the quality of pearls involves the use of various tools and methods, which are mainly visual and often quite subjective. Pearls are normally classified by origin and are then graded by luster, nacre thickness, surface quality, size, color and shape. The aim of this study was to investigate the capacity of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to classify and estimate the quality of 27 different pearls from their UV-Visible spectra. Due to the opaque nature of pearls, spectroscopy measurements were performed using the Diffuse Reflectance UV-Visible spectroscopy technique. The spectra were acquired at two different locations on each pearl sample in order to assess surface homogeneity. The spectral data (inputs) were smoothed to reduce the noise, fed into ANNs and correlated to the pearl's quality/grading criteria (outputs). The developed ANNs were successful in predicting pearl type, mollusk growing species, possible luster and color enhancing, donor condition/type, recipient/host color, donor color, pearl luster, pearl color, origin. The results of this study shows that the developed UV-Vis spectroscopy-ANN method could be used as a more objective method of assessing pearl quality (grading) and may become a valuable tool for the pearl grading industry.

  18. A robust and fast generic voltage sag detection technique

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    L. Dantas, Joacillo; Lima, Francisco Kleber A.; Branco, Carlos Gustavo C.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, a fast and robust voltage sag detection algorithm, named VPS2D, is introduced. Using the DSOGI, the algorithm creates a virtual positive sequence voltage and monitories the fundamental voltage component of each phase. After calculating the aggregate value in the o:;3-reference fram...

  19. Partners in Leadership for Pearl River

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    Members of the 2007 class of Partners in Leadership toured NASA Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., on Jan. 11. They visited the center's B Test Stand, part of the center's rocket engine test complex. The Partners in Leadership training program is designed to teach Pearl River County leaders about their county's government, economic development, health and human services, history and arts, environment and education during a 10-month period. The program, sponsored by the Partners for Pearl River County, helps fulfill the mission of the economic and community development agency.

  20. Continentward-dipping detachment fault system and asymmetric rift structure of the Baiyun Sag, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhichao; Mei, Lianfu; Liu, Jun; Zheng, Jinyun; Chen, Liang; Hao, Shihao

    2018-02-01

    The rift architecture and deep crustal structure of the distal margin at the mid-northern margin of the South China Sea have been previously investigated by using deep seismic reflection profiles. However, one fundamental recurring problem in the debate is the extensional fault system and rift structure of the hyperextended rift basins (Baiyun Sag and Liwan Sag) within the distal margin because of the limited amount of seismic data. Based on new 3D seismic survey data and 2D seismic reflection profiles, we observe an array of fault blocks in the Baiyun Sag, which were tilted towards the ocean by extensional faulting. The extensional faults consistently dip towards the continent. Beneath the tilted fault blocks and extensional faults, a low-angle, high-amplitude and continuous reflection has been interpreted as the master detachment surface that controls the extension process. During rifting, the continentward-dipping normal faults evolved in a sequence from south to north, generating the asymmetric rift structure of the Baiyun Sag. The Baiyun Sag is separated from the oceanic domain by a series of structural highs that were uplifted by magmatic activity in response to the continental breakup at 33 Ma and a ridge jump to the south at 26-24 Ma. Therefore, we propose that magmatism played a significant role in the continental extension and final breakup in the South China Sea.

  1. Ground-water status report, Pearl Harbor area, Hawaii, 1978

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soroos, Ronald L.; Ewart, Charles J.

    1979-01-01

    Increasing demand for freshwater in Hawaii has placed heavy stress on many of the State 's basal aquifer systems. The most heavily stressed of these systems is the Pearl Harbor on Oahu. The Pearl Harbor basal aquifer supplies as much as 277 million gallons per day. Since early in this century, spring discharge has been declining while pumpage has been increasing. Total ground-water discharge has remained steady despite short-term fluctuations. Some wells show general increases in chloride concentration while others remain steady. Chloride concentrations throughout the area show no apparent increase since 1970. Basal water head maps of the Pearl Harbor area clearly reflect the natural discharge points, which are the springs located along the shore near the center of Pearl Harbor. Basal-water hydrographs show a general decline of about 0.09 foot per year. This implies depletion of storage at a rate of about 25 million gallons per day. (USGS).

  2. Evidence that antibodies against recombinant SnSAG1 of Sarcocystis neurona merozoites are involved in infection and immunity in equine protozoal myeloencephalitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellison, Siobhan; Witonsky, Sharon

    2009-07-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is the principal etiologic agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). An immunodominant protein of S. neurona, SnSAG-1, is expressed by the majority of S. neurona merozoites isolated from spinal tissues of horses diagnosed with EPM and may be a candidate for diagnostic tests and prophylaxis for EPM. Five horses were vaccinated with adjuvanted recombinant SnSAG1 (rSnSAG1) and 5 control (sham vaccinated) horses were vaccinated with adjuvant only. Serum was evaluated pre- and post-vaccination, prior to challenge, for antibodies against rSnSAG1 and inhibitory effects on the infectivity of S. neurona by an in vitro serum neutralization assay. The effect of vaccination with rSnSAG1 on in vivo infection by S. neurona was evaluated by challenging all the horses with S. neurona merozoites. Blinded daily examinations and 4 blinded neurological examinations were used to evaluate the presence of clinical signs of EPM. The 5 vaccinated horses developed serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) titers of SnSAG1, detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), post-vaccination. Post-vaccination serum from vaccinated horses was found to have an inhibitory effect on merozoites, demonstrated by in vitro bioassay. Following the challenge, the 5 control horses displayed clinical signs of EPM, including ataxia. While 4 of the 5 vaccinated horses did not become ataxic. One rSnSAG-1 vaccinated horse showed paresis in 1 limb with muscle atrophy. All horses showed mild, transient, cranial nerve deficits; however, disease did not progress to ataxia in rSnSAG-1 vaccinated horses. The study showed that vaccination with rSnSAG-1 produced antibodies in horses that neutralized merozoites when tested by in vitro culture and significantly reduced clinical signs demonstrated by in vivo challenge.

  3. Combination of FTIR and SEM for Identifying Freshwater-Cultured Pearls from Different Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satitkune, Somruedee; Monarumit, Natthapong; Boonmee, Chakkrich; Phlayrahan, Aumaparn; Promdee, Kittiphop; Won-in, Krit

    2016-03-01

    The freshwater-cultured pearl ( Chamberlainia hainesiana species) is an organic gemstone mainly composed of calcium carbonate mineral including calcite, aragonite and vaterite phases. Generally, the quality of freshwater-cultured pearl is based on its luster. The high luster pearl is full of the aragonite phase without vaterite phase. On the other hand, the low luster pearl consists of aragonite and vaterite phases. These data could be proved by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As the results, the high luster pearl similarly shows the FTIR spectrum of aragonite phase, and also, it shows the hexagonal shape of aragonite for the SEM image. On the other hand, the FTIR spectrum of low luster pearl has been pointed to the mixture component among aragonite and vaterite phases, and based on the SEM image; the irregular form is also interpreted to the mixture of aragonite and vaterite phases. This research concludes that the quality of freshwater-cultured pearls can be identified by the combination data of FTIR spectra and SEM images. These techniques are suitable for applied gemology.

  4. 32 CFR 705.31 - USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor. 705.31... NAVY REGULATIONS AND OFFICIAL RECORDS PUBLIC AFFAIRS REGULATIONS § 705.31 USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor. (a) Limited space and the desirability of keeping the Memorial simple and dignified require the...

  5. Energy Storage Characteristic Analysis of Voltage Sags Compensation for UPQC Based on MMC for Medium Voltage Distribution System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongchun Yang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The modular multilevel converter (MMC, as a new type of voltage source converter, is increasingly used because it is a distributed storage system. There are many advantages of using the topological structure of the MMC on a unified power quality controller (UPQC, and voltage sag mitigation is an important use of the MMC energy storage system for the power quality compensation process. In this paper, based on the analysis of the topology of the MMC, the essence of energy conversion in a UPQC of voltage sag compensation is analyzed; then, the energy storage characteristics are calculated and analyzed to determine the performance index of voltage sag compensation; in addition, the simulation method is used to verify the voltage sag compensation characteristics of the UPQC; finally, an industrial prototype of the UPQC based on an MMC for 10 kV of medium voltage distribution network has been developed, and the basic functions of UPQC have been tested.

  6. Time-Domain Voltage Sag State Estimation Based on the Unscented Kalman Filter for Power Systems with Nonlinear Components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Cisneros-Magaña

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a time-domain methodology based on the unscented Kalman filter to estimate voltage sags and their characteristics, such as magnitude and duration in power systems represented by nonlinear models. Partial and noisy measurements from the electrical network with nonlinear loads, used as data, are assumed. The characteristics of voltage sags can be calculated in a discrete form with the unscented Kalman filter to estimate all the busbar voltages; being possible to determine the rms voltage magnitude and the voltage sag starting and ending time, respectively. Voltage sag state estimation results can be used to obtain the power quality indices for monitored and unmonitored busbars in the power grid and to design adequate mitigating techniques. The proposed methodology is successfully validated against the results obtained with the time-domain system simulation for the power system with nonlinear components, being the normalized root mean square error less than 3%.

  7. Exposure to Sarcocystis spp. in horses from Spain determined by Western blot analysis using Sarcocystis neurona merozoites as heterologous antigen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias, M; Yeargan, M; Francisco, I; Dangoudoubiyam, S; Becerra, P; Francisco, R; Sánchez-Andrade, R; Paz-Silva, A; Howe, D K

    2012-04-30

    Horses serve as an intermediate host for several species of Sarcocystis, all of which utilize canids as the definitive host. Sarcocystis spp. infection and formation of latent sarcocysts in horses often appears to be subclinical, but morbidity can occur, especially when the parasite burden is large. A serological survey was conducted to determine the presence of antibodies against Sarcocystis spp. in seemingly healthy horses from the Galicia region of Spain. Western blot analyses using Sarcocystis neurona merozoites as heterologous antigen suggested greater than 80% seroprevalance of Sarcocystis spp. in a sample set of 138 horses. The serum samples were further tested with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on recombinant S. neurona-specific surface antigens (rSnSAGs). As expected for horses from the Eastern Hemisphere, less than 4% of the serum samples were positive when analyzed with either the rSnSAG2 or the rSnSAG4/3 ELISAs. An additional 246 horses were tested using the rSnSAG2 ELISA, which revealed that less than 3% of the 384 samples were seropositive. Collectively, the results of this serologic study suggested that a large proportion of horses from this region of Spain are exposed to Sarcocystis spp. Furthermore, the anti-Sarcocystis seroreactivity in these European horses could be clearly distinguished from anti-S. neurona antibodies using the rSnSAG2 and rSnSAG4/3 ELISAs. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Durability of Materials in Pearl-Chain Bridges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Mia Schou Møller

    . The construction of the Pearl-Chain arch is simple. The arch is assembled on its side, next to the road that the bridge will span, by placing a number of plane prefabricated Super-Light Decks that consist of lightweight aggregate concrete and conventional concrete, in the desired arch shape. Mortar joints are cast...... is stabilized by casting a fill material between the spandrel walls of the arch. Finally, the road surface is cast on top of the fill material. New bridges are designed for a service lifetime of at least 100 years. Hence, the specifications of the materials used in Pearl-Chain Bridges are high. This PhD study...... and pervious concrete were also investigated. The most suitable fill material for Pearl-Chain Bridges depends on the particular bridge design; the results obtained and presented in the present PhD study provide guidance on how to decide which fill material is most suitable regarding strength, permeability...

  9. Larval dispersal modeling of pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera following realistic environmental and biological forcing in Ahe atoll lagoon.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoann Thomas

    Full Text Available Studying the larval dispersal of bottom-dwelling species is necessary to understand their population dynamics and optimize their management. The black-lip pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera is cultured extensively to produce black pearls, especially in French Polynesia's atoll lagoons. This aquaculture relies on spat collection, a process that can be optimized by understanding which factors influence larval dispersal. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of P. margaritifera larval dispersal kernel to both physical and biological factors in the lagoon of Ahe atoll. Specifically, using a validated 3D larval dispersal model, the variability of lagoon-scale connectivity is investigated against wind forcing, depth and location of larval release, destination location, vertical swimming behavior and pelagic larval duration (PLD factors. The potential connectivity was spatially weighted according to both the natural and cultivated broodstock densities to provide a realistic view of connectivity. We found that the mean pattern of potential connectivity was driven by the southwest and northeast main barotropic circulation structures, with high retention levels in both. Destination locations, spawning sites and PLD were the main drivers of potential connectivity, explaining respectively 26%, 59% and 5% of the variance. Differences between potential and realistic connectivity showed the significant contribution of the pearl oyster broodstock location to its own dynamics. Realistic connectivity showed larger larval supply in the western destination locations, which are preferentially used by farmers for spat collection. In addition, larval supply in the same sectors was enhanced during summer wind conditions. These results provide new cues to understanding the dynamics of bottom-dwelling populations in atoll lagoons, and show how to take advantage of numerical models for pearl oyster management.

  10. Progressive Pearling of Barley Kernel: Chemical Characterization of Pearling Fractions and Effect of Their Inclusion on the Nutritional and Technological Properties of Wheat Bread.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blandino, Massimo; Locatelli, Monica; Sovrani, Valentina; Coïsson, Jean Daniel; Rolle, Luca; Travaglia, Fabiano; Giacosa, Simone; Bordiga, Matteo; Scarpino, Valentina; Reyneri, Amedeo; Arlorio, Marco

    2015-07-01

    Two hulled barley varieties have been sequentially pearled for one to eight cycles, each with 5% removal. The derived fractions were analyzed for their bioactive compound content. The dietary fiber (DF) decreased from the external to the internal layers, whereas β-glucans showed an inverse trend. Deoxynivalenol contamination was concentrated in the outer layers. The total antioxidant activity (TAA) was higher in the 15-25% fractions, which were used to prepare bread. Five mixtures of refined wheat flour, with an increasing replacement of this pearled barley fraction, were compared with a control for the bioactive compound content, as well as for the rheological and physical bread properties. The inclusion of pearled fractions with up to a 10% substitution leads to a clear enhancement of the DF and TAA, with only minor detrimental effects on the physical parameters. Selected byproducts of barley pearling could be proposed as functional ingredients for bakery products rich in DF and TAA.

  11. Analysis of doubly-fed induction machine operating at motoring mode subjected to voltage sag

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Navneet Kumar

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Variable Speed (VS Pumped Storage Plants (PSP equipped with large asynchronous (Doubly-Fed Induction machines are emerging now in hydropower applications. Motoring mode of operation of Doubly-Fed Induction Machine (DFIM is essential and techno-economical in this application due to: (1 its uniqueness in active power controllability, (2 bulk power handing capability with less rated power converters in rotor circuit, and (3 integrating Renewable Energy Sources (RES. This paper investigates the performance of two DFIMs at different power ratings (2.2 kW and 2 MW under voltage sag with different attribute. The test results are analyzed in terms of the peaks in torque, speed, power taken and transient currents in rotor and stator circuits. During sag, stable region for DFIM operation along with speed and stator side reactive power input control is also illustrated. The negative effects of voltage sag are briefly discussed. MATLAB simulation is validated with experimentation. The various observations during simulation and experimental analysis are also supported by the theoretical explanations.

  12. SVC or VSC for reduction of voltage sags and flicker. Trends in power electronics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haeusler, M; Schnettler, A [ABB Calor Emag Schaltanlagen AG, Mannheim (Germany); Halvarsson, P [ABB Power Systems AB, Vaesteraas (Sweden)

    1997-07-01

    In the past complaints about insufficient power quality were often caused by flicker observed in the neighbourhood of industrial networks. Voltage sags due to faults in the power system pass, however, mostly unnoticed as not-so-common events. Now electronic controls are penetrating more and more in industry. Electronic controllers on factory machines - particularly those for variable speed motors - are vulnerable to voltage sags. A one-tenth second sag can cause a $200.000 downtime incident in a big factory. Therefore the demands on power quality are rising in industry as well. The costly separation in clean networks for residential areas and dirty networks for industrial grids is no perfect solution to avoid such problems. Static VAr Compensators (SVC) are traditionally one means to control the voltage in industrial networks. Because of the recent development of powerful gate turn-off semiconductor devices another type of converter has gained new interest for mitigation of system disturbances, the voltage-source converter (VSC). The characteristics of both types of power electronics in view of their possibilities for this application are presented. (orig.)

  13. Simulation and experiment of a YBCO SMES prototype in voltage sag compensation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu Jiahui; Yuan Weijia; Coombs, T.A.; Ming, Q.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → YBCO conductors are used in SMES. → The SMES is successfully used to compensate voltage sag by both simulation and experiment. → A new control strategy for the power converter in the SMES. - Abstract: This paper gives a introduction of a SMES unit using 2G HTS wires. A complete SMES system including both superconducting coils and control circuit has been designed to operate at 77 K. Three single-phase H-bridge converters have been used in the control circuit. A loop control signal is sent out by using 32 fixed point Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The complete circuit has been both modelled in simulation and built experimentally. The results validate that this SMES successfully compensates a voltage sag in a power system.

  14. Simulation and experiment of a YBCO SMES prototype in voltage sag compensation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu Jiahui, E-mail: zhujiahui@epri.sgcc.com.c [China Electric Power Research Institute, No. 15 Xiaoying Rd(E), Qinghe, Beijing 100192 (China); Yuan Weijia; Coombs, T.A. [Electrical Engineering Division, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, CB3 0FA (United Kingdom); Ming, Q. [China Electric Power Research Institute, No. 15 Xiaoying Rd(E), Qinghe, Beijing 100192 (China)

    2011-03-15

    Research highlights: {yields} YBCO conductors are used in SMES. {yields} The SMES is successfully used to compensate voltage sag by both simulation and experiment. {yields} A new control strategy for the power converter in the SMES. - Abstract: This paper gives a introduction of a SMES unit using 2G HTS wires. A complete SMES system including both superconducting coils and control circuit has been designed to operate at 77 K. Three single-phase H-bridge converters have been used in the control circuit. A loop control signal is sent out by using 32 fixed point Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The complete circuit has been both modelled in simulation and built experimentally. The results validate that this SMES successfully compensates a voltage sag in a power system.

  15. Evaluation of milled pearl millet in the feeding of growing rabbits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Catelan

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Two experiments were carried out in order to estimate the nutritional value and the performance of growing rabbits fed different levels of pearl millet (ADR 7010. In the digestibility trial, nutritional values of pearl millet were determined in 22 45-day-old New Zealand White rabbits, allotted in a completely randomized design, subjected to two treatments - a reference diet and a test diet with 70% of its volume composed of reference diet and 30% of pearl millet - and 11 replications. The apparent digestibility values of dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber and gross energy of the pearl millet were 88.7, 85.4, 24.4 and 75.0%, respectively. In the performance trial, 120 32-day-old New Zealand White rabbits were used. Rabbits were allotted in a completely randomized design and subjected to six treatments, with 10 replications and two animals for each experimental unit. The diets were formulated with increasing levels of pearl millet (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%, substituting the corn in the reference diet, according to the digestible energy. No differences were observed in daily feed intake, daily weight gain, feed conversion, carcass traits and feed cost per kilogram of rabbit. Regardless of the amount of corn substituted, pearl can replace corn in diets for growing rabbits.

  16. Minimal-memory realization of pearl-necklace encoders of general quantum convolutional codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houshmand, Monireh; Hosseini-Khayat, Saied

    2011-01-01

    Quantum convolutional codes, like their classical counterparts, promise to offer higher error correction performance than block codes of equivalent encoding complexity, and are expected to find important applications in reliable quantum communication where a continuous stream of qubits is transmitted. Grassl and Roetteler devised an algorithm to encode a quantum convolutional code with a ''pearl-necklace'' encoder. Despite their algorithm's theoretical significance as a neat way of representing quantum convolutional codes, it is not well suited to practical realization. In fact, there is no straightforward way to implement any given pearl-necklace structure. This paper closes the gap between theoretical representation and practical implementation. In our previous work, we presented an efficient algorithm to find a minimal-memory realization of a pearl-necklace encoder for Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) convolutional codes. This work is an extension of our previous work and presents an algorithm for turning a pearl-necklace encoder for a general (non-CSS) quantum convolutional code into a realizable quantum convolutional encoder. We show that a minimal-memory realization depends on the commutativity relations between the gate strings in the pearl-necklace encoder. We find a realization by means of a weighted graph which details the noncommutative paths through the pearl necklace. The weight of the longest path in this graph is equal to the minimal amount of memory needed to implement the encoder. The algorithm has a polynomial-time complexity in the number of gate strings in the pearl-necklace encoder.

  17. Optimal Cable Tension Distribution of the High-Speed Redundant Driven Camera Robots Considering Cable Sag and Inertia Effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Su

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Camera robots are high-speed redundantly cable-driven parallel manipulators that realize the aerial panoramic photographing. When long-span cables and high maneuverability are involved, the effects of cable sags and inertias on the dynamics must be carefully dealt with. This paper is devoted to the optimal cable tension distribution (OCTD for short of the camera robots. Firstly, each fast varying-length cable is discretized into some nodes for computing the cable inertias. Secondly, the dynamic equation integrated with the cable inertias is set up regarding the large-span cables as catenaries. Thirdly, an iterative optimization algorithm is introduced for the cable tension distribution by using the dynamic equation and sag-to-span ratios as constraint conditions. Finally, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effects of cable sags and inertias on determining tensions. The results justify the convergence and effectiveness of the algorithm. In addition, the results show that it is necessary to take the cable sags and inertias into consideration for the large-span manipulators.

  18. AVALIAÇÃO DO USO DE GRÃOS DE MILHETO (Pennisetum americanum E MILHO (Zea mays NA ALIMENTAÇÃO DE PEIXES NA FASE DE RECRIA, EM SISTEMA DE POLICULTIVO EVALUATION OF PEARL MILLET (Pennisetum americanum AND CORN (Zea mays GRAINS IN FEEDING FOR JUVENILE FISH ON POLYCULTURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joaquim Roberto Maia

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available

    western" align="justify">Avaliou-se a produção de peixes em sistema de policultivo, em tanques de terra com 40m2 de área, contendo cada um 30 tambaquis (Colossoma macropomum e 10 carpas (Cyrinus carpio, fertilizados diariamente com esterco fresco de suínos, sendo os peixes suplementados com grãos de milho e milheto.

    western" align="justify">PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Peixes; recria; policultivo; milheto.

    western" align="justify">Tambaqui (75% was reared in polyculture with common carp (25% from 5.5g and 3.4g mean weight respectively for a period of 505 days. Ponds of 40m2 were stocked at a total density of 10000 ha-1, and daily manured with 150 kg.ha-¹, of swine fresh manure. Fish were supplemented fed with corn or pearl millet grain, offered in submersed trays at a daily rate calculated as 3% of total biomass. The experiment polyculture had a mean net yield of 6.6; 5.2 and 2.1 t.ha-¹.year-¹ of pearl millet, corn and manure respectively. The result of this study indicates that rearing tambaqui in semi-intensive polyculture without supplementary feed had a low growth and the pearl millet fed fish showed a high performance.

    western" align="justify">KEY-WORDS: Fishes; polyculture; pearl millet.

  19. Remembering Pearl Harbor at 75 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liehr, Patricia; Sopcheck, Janet; Milbrath, Gwyneth

    2016-12-01

    : On December 7, 1941, the Sunday-morning quiet of the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was shattered by dive-bombing Japanese fighter planes. The planes came in two waves-and when it was all over, more than 2,400 were killed and more than 1,100 were injured.Nurses were stationed at U.S. Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor, Tripler General Hospital (now Tripler Army Medical Center), Hickam Field Hospital, Schofield Barracks Station Hospital, and aboard the USS Solace, and witnessed the devastation. But they also did what nurses do in emergencies-they responded and provided care to those in need. Here are the stories of a few of those nurses.

  20. Full-scale load tests of Pearl-Chain arches

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halding, Philip Skov; Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Schmidt, Jacob Wittrup

    2017-01-01

    -Decks: First an investigation of the system’s elastic response (maximum load of 648kN), and second a demonstration of its collapse mechanism and ultimate capacity (maximum load of 970kN). The full-scale test showed formation of plastic hinges and clear warning signs are observed at 84% of the failure load......A full-scale load test is made of two Pearl-Chain (PC) concrete arches in order to evaluate the structural response and assess the design safety. Pearl-Chain structures and Pearl-Chain arches are invented and patented at the Technical University of Denmark. PC-Arches consist of specially designed....... The ultimate, experimental load capacity is 14% higher than the calculated mainly due to the assumed static system used for the calculation. In addition to the full-scale test bridge the first ever permanent PC-Bridge is erected in Denmark in 2015....

  1. Optimum distributed generation placement with voltage sag effect minimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biswas, Soma; Goswami, Swapan Kumar; Chatterjee, Amitava

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A new optimal distributed generation placement algorithm is proposed. ► Optimal number, sizes and locations of the DGs are determined. ► Technical factors like loss, voltage sag problem are minimized. ► The percentage savings are optimized. - Abstract: The present paper proposes a new formulation for the optimum distributed generator (DG) placement problem which considers a hybrid combination of technical factors, like minimization of the line loss, reduction in the voltage sag problem, etc., and economical factors, like installation and maintenance cost of the DGs. The new formulation proposed is inspired by the idea that the optimum placement of the DGs can help in reducing and mitigating voltage dips in low voltage distribution networks. The problem is configured as a multi-objective, constrained optimization problem, where the optimal number of DGs, along with their sizes and bus locations, are simultaneously obtained. This problem has been solved using genetic algorithm, a traditionally popular stochastic optimization algorithm. A few benchmark systems radial and networked (like 34-bus radial distribution system, 30 bus loop distribution system and IEEE 14 bus system) are considered as the case study where the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is aptly demonstrated.

  2. Influence of variety and management level on pearl millet production ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.)R. Br.] is generally grown on nutrient-poor soils and low rainfall conditions in Niger. Nitrogen and P accumulation and utilisation are very important factors in pearl millet growth, and are affected by environment and management. An understanding of seasonal N and P accumulation is ...

  3. Application of Boost Converter for Ride-through Capability of Adjustable Speed Drives during Sag and Swell Conditions

    OpenAIRE

    S. S. Deswal; Ratna Dahiya; D. K. Jain

    2008-01-01

    Process control and energy conservation are the two primary reasons for using an adjustable speed drive. However, voltage sags are the most important power quality problems facing many commercial and industrial customers. The development of boost converters has raised much excitement and speculation throughout the electric industry. Now utilities are looking to these devices for performance improvement and reliability in a variety of areas. Examples of these include sags,...

  4. Component Analysis and Identification of Black Tahitian Cultured Pearls From the Oyster Pinctada margaritifera Using Spectroscopic Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, L.; Wang, Y.; Liu, X.; Mao, J.

    2018-03-01

    Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) reflectance spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy were used to characterize black Tahitian cultured pearls and imitations of these saltwater cultured pearls produced by γ-irradiation, and by coloring of cultured pearls with silver nitrate or organic dyes. Raman spectra indicated that aragonite was the major constituent of these four types of pearl. Using Raman spectroscopy at an excitation wavelength of 514 nm, black Tahitian cultured pearls exhibited characteristic 1100-1700 cm-1 bands. These bands were attributed to various organic components, including conchiolin and other black biological pigments. The peaks shown by saltwater cultured pearls colored with organic dyes varied with the type of dye used. Tahitian cultured and organic-dye-treated saltwater cultured pearls were easily identified by Raman spectroscopy. UV-Vis-NIR reflectance spectra showed bands at 408, 497, and 700 nm derived from porphyrin pigment and other black pigments. The spectra of dye-treated black saltwater pearls showed absorption peaks at 216, 261, 300, and 578 nm. The 261-nm absorption band disappeared from the spectra of γ-irradiated saltwater cultured pearls. This suggests the degradation of conchiolin in the γ-irradiated saltwater cultured pearls. XRF analysis revealed the presence of Ag on the surface of silver nitrate-dyed saltwater cultured pearls.

  5. Pearl Harbor: lessons for the dam safety community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, T.E. [AMEC Earth and Environmental Ltd., Burnaby, BC (Canada)

    2001-10-01

    Every good dam safety program must be based on surveillance and emergency response planning. The same principles apply to the gathering of information for military intelligence and the planning of defence tactics. Lessons learned from failure have spurred the advancement of dam engineering. Dam safety experts can benefit from the inadequacies encountered by the military community, with the most famous occurring on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor. Both intelligence gathering and contingency response planning failed miserably. The data was not properly disseminated, interpreted, analysed. The proper response to the situation was not initiated. Human error and failure to communicate are the two main reasons that explain the debacle. The inquiries into the tragedy at Pearl Harbor provided valuable lessons, related to individual and organizational failures, which the authors shared in this presentation. The relevance to dam safety was made. All Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents must read the lessons drawn from Pearl Harbor, as they have responsibility for dam safety. 4 refs.

  6. Deriving Sight Distance on a Compound Sag and Circular Curve in a Three Dimensional Space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiu Liu, PhD, PE, PTOE

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Insufficient roadway sight distance (SD may become a contribution factor to traffic collisions or other unsafe traffic maneuvers. The sight distance (SD for a two-dimensional (2-d sag or circular curve has been addressed in detail in various traffic engineering literatures. Although three-dimensional (3-d compound sag and circular curves are often found along ramps, connectors, and mountain roads, the sight distances for these compound curves are yet to be analyzed on an exact analytic setting. By considering human-vehicle-roadway interaction, the formulas for computing the SD on a 3-d curve are derived the first time on a unified analytic framework. The 2-d sag curve SD can also be deduced from these derived formulas as special limiting cases. Practitioners can easily program these formulas or equations on a user-friendly Microsoft Excel spread sheet to calculate 3-d SD on most roadways with roadside clearance. This framework can be extended to estimate SD on roadways with obstacles partially blocking vehicle headlight beams. 6.

  7. Congress Investigates: Pearl Harbor and 9/11 Congressional Hearing Exhibits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blackerby, Christine

    2011-01-01

    On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers staged a surprise attack on U.S. military forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Sixty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was attacked again. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four commercial airplanes hijacked by 19 terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people when they crashed…

  8. Survey of the rubber tree genome reveals a high number of cysteine protease-encoding genes homologous to Arabidopsis SAG12.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Zhi; Liu, Jianting; Yang, Lifu; Xie, Guishui

    2017-01-01

    Arabidopsis thaliana SAG12, a senescence-specific gene encoding a cysteine protease, is widely used as a molecular marker for the study of leaf senescence. To date, its potential orthologues have been isolated from several plant species such as Brassica napus and Nicotiana tabacum. However, little information is available in rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), a rubber-producing plant of the Euphorbiaceae family. This study presents the identification of SAG12-like genes from the rubber tree genome. Results showed that an unexpected high number of 17 rubber orthologues with a single intron were found, contrasting the single copy with two introns in Arabidopsis. The gene expansion was also observed in another two Euphorbiaceae plants, castor bean (Ricinus communis) and physic nut (Jatropha curcas), both of which contain 8 orthologues. In accordance with no occurrence of recent whole-genome duplication (WGD) events, most duplicates in castor and physic nut were resulted from tandem duplications. In contrast, the duplicated HbSAG12H genes were derived from tandem duplications as well as the recent WGD. Expression analysis showed that most HbSAG12H genes were lowly expressed in examined tissues except for root and male flower. Furthermore, HbSAG12H1 exhibits a strictly senescence-associated expression pattern in rubber tree leaves, and thus can be used as a marker gene for the study of senescence mechanism in Hevea.

  9. Down-regulation of OsSAG12-1 results in enhanced senescence ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2013-07-22

    Jul 22, 2013 ... vides staple food nearly half of the world's population and accounts .... Healthy and fresh onion ... served domain comprising approximate 210 aa belongs to the peptidase ..... Lim PO, Kim HJ and Nam HG 2007 Leaf senescence. Annu. Rev. ... Effects of P(SAG12)-IPT gene expression on development and.

  10. SAG2 locus genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in meat products of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Jane

    2011-10-12

    Oct 12, 2011 ... restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of SAG2 locus revealed that all of the samples belonged to genotype I. The detection of the parasite in uncooked meat and commercial meat products, and the high ratio of seropositive slaughtered animals, emphasis that the risk still exists for.

  11. SAG/ROC-SCFβ-TrCP E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Promotes Pro-Caspase-3 Degradation as a Mechanism of Apoptosis Protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingjia Tan

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Skp1-cullin-F-box protein (SCF is a multicomponent E3 ubiquitin (Ub ligase that ubiquitinates a number of important biologic molecules such as p27, β-catenin, and lκB for proteasomal degradation, thus regulating cell proliferation and survival. One SCF component, SAG/ROC2/Rbx2/Hrt2, a RING finger protein, was first identified as a redox-inducible protein, which, when overexpressed, inhibited apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. We report here that sensitive to apoptosis gene (SAG, as well as its family member ROC1/Rbxi, bound to the proinactive form of caspase-3 (pro-caspase-3. Binding was likely mediated through F-box protein, β-transducin repeat-containing protein (β-TrCP, which binds to the first 38 amino acids of pro-caspase-3. Importantly, β-TrCP1 expression significantly shortened the protein half-life of pro-caspase-3, whereas expression of a dominant-negative β-TrCP1 mutant with the F-box domain deleted extended it. An in vitro ubiquitination assay showed that SAG/ROC-SCF -Trcp promoted ubiquitination of pro-caspase-3. Furthermore, endogenous levels of pro-caspase-3 were decreased by overexpression of SAG/ROC-SCFβ-TrCP E3 Ub ligases, but increased on siRNA silencing of SAG, regulator of cullin-1 (ROC1, or β-TrCPs, leading to increased apoptosis by etoposide and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand through increased activation of caspase-3. Thus, pro-caspase-3 appears to be a substrate of SAG/ROC-SCFβ-TrCP E3 Ub ligase, which protects cells from apoptosis through increased apoptosis threshold by reducing the basal level of pro-caspase-3.

  12. Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectonic transition process in Zhanhua Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, East China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yanjun; Wu, Zhiping; Lu, Shunan; Li, Xu; Lin, Chengyan; Huang, Zheng; Su, Wen; Jiang, Chao; Wang, Shouye

    2018-04-01

    The Zhanhua sag is part of the Bohai Bay intracontinental basin system that has developed since the Mesozoic in East China. The timing of this basin system coincides with the final assembly of East Asia and the development of Western Pacific-type plate margin. Here we use 3-D seismic and core log data to investigate the evolution of this basin and discuss its broad tectonic settings. Our new structural study of Zhanhua sag suggests that there are four major tectonic transitions occurred in the Bohai Bay Basin during Mesozoic and Cenozoic: (1) The first tectonic transition was from stable Craton to thrusting during the Triassic, mainly caused by the South China Block's subduction northward beneath the North China Block, which induced the formation of the NW-striking thrust faults. (2) The second tectonic transition was mainly characterized by a change from compression to extension, which can be further divided into two-stages. At the first stage, two episodes of NW-SE shortening occurred in East Asia during Early-Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous, respectively. At the second stage, the extension and left-lateral shearing took place during Early Cretaceous while compression occurred during Late Cretaceous. The NW-striking thrust faults changed to normal faults and the NNE-striking left-lateral strike-slip faults started to influence the eastern part of the basin. (3) The third transition occurred when the NW-SE extension and NNE-striking right-lateral shearing started to form during Paleogene, and the peak deformation happen around 40 Ma due to the change of the subduction direction of Pacific Plate relative to Eurasia Plate. The NE-striking normal faults are the main structure, and the pre-existing NNE-striking strike-slip faults changed from left-lateral to right-lateral. (4) The fourth transition saw the regional subsidence during Neogene, which was probably caused by the India-Asia "Hard collision" between 25 and 20 Ma.

  13. Interest of retro-anal levator plate myorrhaphy in selected cases of descending perineum syndrome with positive anti-sagging test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beco Jacques

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Levator plate sagging (LPS, usually called descending perineum syndrome, is one of the main defects encountered in perineology. This defect is classically associated with colo-proctologic functional troubles (dyschesia and anal incontinence but can also induce perineodynia, gynaecological and lower urinary tract symptoms. Methods A retrospective case series of nine female patients (mean age: 44.3 underwent an isolated retro-anal levator plate myorrhaphy (RLPM to treat symptomatic LPS confirmed by rectal examination and/or Perineocaliper®. An anti-sagging test (support of the posterior perineum must significantly improve the symptoms that were resistant to conservative treatment. The effect of the procedure on the symptoms of the 3 axes of the perineum (urological, colo-proctologic and gynecological and on perineodynia was evaluated during a follow up consultation more than 9 months after surgery. The effect of RLPM on the position of the anal margin and on the levator plate angle was studied using rectal examination, Perineocaliper® and retro-anal ultrasound. Results Before surgery, anti-sagging tests were positive for dyschesia, urinary urgency and pain. After a mean follow-up of 16.1 months, RLPM resolved or improved 2/2 cases of stress urinary incontinence, 3/5 of urinary urgency, 3/4 of dysuria, 3/3 of anal incontinence, 7/8 of dyschesia, 3/4 of cystocele, 4/5 of rectocele, 5/8 of dyspareunia and 6/7 of perineodynia. Rectal examination showed a complete suppression of sagging in 4 patients and an improvement in the 5 others. The mean reduction of perineal descent was 1.08 cm (extremes: 0–1.5. Using retro-anal ultrasound of the levator plate, the mean reduction of sagging was 12.67 degrees (extremes: 1 – 21. Conclusion Anti-sagging tests can be used before surgery to simulate the effect of RLPM. This surgical procedure seems to improve stress urinary incontinence, frequency, nocturia, urgency, dysuria, anal

  14. Voltage Sag Mitigation and Load Reactive Power Compensation by UPQC

    OpenAIRE

    Ajitha, P; Jananisri, D

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents Unified Power Quality Conditioner(UPQC) that consist of series inverter and shunt inverter in back to back configuration which simultaneously compensate the power quality(PQ) problems of both voltage sag and load reactive power compensation . In this paper ,Neural network is tool which is considered for solving power quality problems. The simulation results from MATLAB/SIMULINK are discussed to validate the proposed method.

  15. The northern slope of South China Sea: an ideal site for studying passive margin extension and breakup

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, D.; Sun, Z.; Pang, X.; Wu, X.; Xu, H.; Qiu, N.

    2011-12-01

    With the advance of hydrocarbon exploration into deep waters of the northern SCS, structural details from continental slope to deepsea basin have been revealed. A striking feature is the dramatic change in Cenozoic extension along and across the strike as well as with the time. Along strike the slope is seperated by lithospheric faults into segments with different amount of Cenozoic extension. The breakup occurred in the no-extension eastern segment (the Chaoshan depression), the most strongly extended central segment (the Baiyun sag) but failed in the western segment of intermediate extension (the Qingdongnan basin). This pattern violates the expectation that breakup occurs at first where the extension reached the maximum. In the central segment, the style of extension varies significantly in dip direction. Differing from the belts of half grabens in the shelf, the extension is expressed as a large downwarp (the Baiyun sag) in the slope, and as irregularly shaped sags (the Liwan sag) near the continental-oceanic boundary (COB). The Baiyun sag (BYS) is the largest and deepest sag in the Pearl River Mouth basin (PRMB). Long-cable MCS revealed that at the center of the BYS the crust thinned to Mexico where thrust belts developed by gravitational sliding. Multi-staged magmatic activities have contributed to but could not fully explain the structural complexities of the LWS. Perhaps basement structures have played an important role as the sag might be developed upon the relict Mesozoic West Pacific subduction system. In addition, two horizons of deep-seated waving reflectors are identified beneath the LWS, which are suspected to be respectively a detachment surface and the intra-crustal shear zones related to lower-crust flow. A good understanding of these features may help answering the fundamental question on what controls the style, magnitude, and segmentation of passive margin extension and breakup, what is the mechanism, and what differences between marginal sea

  16. Draft genome sequence of Sclerospora graminicola, the pearl millet downy mildew pathogen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Chandra Nayaka

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Sclerospora graminicola pathogen is the most important biotic production constraints of pearl millet in India, Africa and other parts of the world. We report a de novo whole genome assembly and analysis of pathotype 1, one of the most virulent pathotypes of S. graminicola from India. The draft genome assembly contained 299,901,251 bp with 65,404 genes. This study may help understand the evolutionary pattern of pathogen and aid elucidation of effector evolution for devising effective durable resistance breeding strategies in pearl millet. Keywords: Sclerospora graminicola, Pathotype 1, Pearl millet, Downy mildew, Whole genome sequence

  17. The rice OsSAG12-2 gene codes for a functional protease that ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-07-11

    Jul 11, 2016 ... Senescence is the final stage of plant development. Although ... Down-regulation of OsSAG12-1 in transgenic rice .... Plants were germinated on soil and grown for 15 days under normal conditions before taking photograph.

  18. Evolution of depositional system and uraniferous characteristics of Damoguaihe formation in Kelulun sag

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Zhijie; Yu Xinghe; Zhang Chuanheng; Chen Zhankun

    2005-01-01

    Damoguaihe Formation, which is mainly of alluvial fan, fan delta and lacustrine depositional systems, is the target horizon for the prospecting of sandstone-type uranium deposit in Kelulun sag, Hailaer basin. According to the depositional environment and sediment characteristics, alluvial fan facies is subdivided into upper fan, middle fan and lower fan subfacies; the fan delta facies is subadivided into upper fan delta plain, lower fan delta plain, fan delta front and fan prodelta subfacies. At the northern edge of the sag occurred one fan delta and one alluvial fan, which can mutually transform one into another. The terrigenous coarse-grained clastic deposits in the study area provide favorable condition for the concentration of uranium and especially the main channels and distributary channels on the fan delta and alluvial fan are the most favorable sites for uranium concentration. (authors)

  19. Growth history of cultured pearl oysters based on stable oxygen isotope analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakashima, R.; Furuta, N.; Suzuki, A.; Kawahata, H.; Shikazono, N.

    2007-12-01

    We investigated the oxygen isotopic ratio in shells of the pearl oyster Pinctada martensii cultivated in embayments in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, to evaluate the biomineralization of shell structures of the species and its pearls in response to environmental change. Microsamples for oxygen isotope analysis were collected from the surfaces of shells (outer, middle, and inner shell layers) and pearls. Water temperature variations were estimated from the oxygen isotope values of the carbonate. Oxygen isotope profiles of the prismatic calcite of the outer shell layer reflected seasonal variations of water temperature, whereas those of nacreous aragonites of the middle and inner shell layers and pearls recorded temperatures from April to November, June to September, and July to September, respectively. Lower temperatures in autumn and winter might slow the growth of nacreous aragonites. The oxygen isotope values are controlled by both variations of water temperature and shell structures; the prismatic calcite of this species is useful for reconstructing seasonal changes of calcification temperature.

  20. 16 CFR 23.19 - Misuse of the word “pearl.”

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Misuse of the word âpearl.â 23.19 Section 23... JEWELRY, PRECIOUS METALS, AND PEWTER INDUSTRIES § 23.19 Misuse of the word “pearl.” (a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the unqualified word “pearl” or any other word or phrase of like meaning to describe...

  1. Rapid identification of pearl powder from Hyriopsis cumingii by Tri-step infrared spectroscopy combined with computer vision technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Siqi; Wei, Wei; Bai, Zhiyi; Wang, Xichang; Li, Xiaohong; Wang, Chuanxian; Liu, Xia; Liu, Yuan; Xu, Changhua

    2018-01-01

    Pearl powder, an important raw material in cosmetics and Chinese patent medicines, is commonly uneven in quality and frequently adulterated with low-cost shell powder in the market. The aim of this study is to establish an adequate approach based on Tri-step infrared spectroscopy with enhancing resolution combined with chemometrics for qualitative identification of pearl powder originated from three different quality grades of pearls and quantitative prediction of the proportions of shell powder adulterated in pearl powder. Additionally, computer vision technology (E-eyes) can investigate the color difference among different pearl powders and make it traceable to the pearl quality trait-visual color categories. Though the different grades of pearl powder or adulterated pearl powder have almost identical IR spectra, SD-IR peak intensity at about 861 cm- 1 (v2 band) exhibited regular enhancement with the increasing quality grade of pearls, while the 1082 cm- 1 (v1 band), 712 cm- 1 and 699 cm- 1 (v4 band) were just the reverse. Contrastly, only the peak intensity at 862 cm- 1 was enhanced regularly with the increasing concentration of shell powder. Thus, the bands in the ranges of (1550-1350 cm- 1, 730-680 cm- 1) and (830-880 cm- 1, 690-725 cm- 1) could be exclusive ranges to discriminate three distinct pearl powders and identify adulteration, respectively. For massive sample analysis, a qualitative classification model and a quantitative prediction model based on IR spectra was established successfully by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS), respectively. The developed method demonstrated great potential for pearl powder quality control and authenticity identification in a direct, holistic manner.

  2. Super-light pearl-chain arch vaults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Halding, Philip Skov

    2014-01-01

    Arch vaults are known as optimal and impressive structures, but due to their curved shapes they are extremely costly to produce in countries, where the cost of labor is high. By means of super-light pearl-chain technology arch vaults can be constructed from equal plane prefabricated elements, which...... that it is also applicable as basic elements for super-light pearl-chain vaults. Machines and software have been developed for automatic mass production of the elements, and the first factory has started production in Denmark in 2014 delivering SL-deck elements for a variety of building projects. This means...... is known from curved voluminous elements. The paper describes the first full-scale test of an arch vault made of SL-deck elements demonstrating the principle, documenting the load-bearing capacity, and solving a number of details needed in order to create vaults in practice. Considerations and plans...

  3. Characterization of Pearl Millet Root Architecture and Anatomy Reveals Three Types of Lateral Roots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passot, Sixtine; Gnacko, Fatoumata; Moukouanga, Daniel; Lucas, Mikaël; Guyomarc’h, Soazig; Ortega, Beatriz Moreno; Atkinson, Jonathan A.; Belko, Marème N.; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Gantet, Pascal; Wells, Darren M.; Guédon, Yann; Vigouroux, Yves; Verdeil, Jean-Luc; Muller, Bertrand; Laplaze, Laurent

    2016-01-01

    Pearl millet plays an important role for food security in arid regions of Africa and India. Nevertheless, it is considered an orphan crop as it lags far behind other cereals in terms of genetic improvement efforts. Breeding pearl millet varieties with improved root traits promises to deliver benefits in water and nutrient acquisition. Here, we characterize early pearl millet root system development using several different root phenotyping approaches that include rhizotrons and microCT. We report that early stage pearl millet root system development is characterized by a fast growing primary root that quickly colonizes deeper soil horizons. We also describe root anatomical studies that revealed three distinct types of lateral roots that form on both primary roots and crown roots. Finally, we detected significant variation for two root architectural traits, primary root lenght and lateral root density, in pearl millet inbred lines. This study provides the basis for subsequent genetic experiments to identify loci associated with interesting early root development traits in this important cereal. PMID:27379124

  4. Optimization of exposure factors for X-ray radiography non-destructive testing of pearl oyster

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susilo; Yulianti, I.; Addawiyah, A.; Setiawan, R.

    2018-03-01

    One of the processes in pearl oyster cultivation is detecting the pearl nucleus to gain information whether the pearl nucleus is still attached in the shell or vomited. The common tool used to detect pearl nucleus is an X-ray machine. However, an X-ray machine has a drawback that is the energy used is higher than that used by digital radiography. The high energy make the resulted image is difficult to be analysed. One of the advantages of digital radiography is the energy used can be adjusted so that the resulted image can be analysed easily. To obtain a high quality of pearl image using digital radiography, the exposure factors should be optimized. In this work, optimization was done by varying the voltage, current, and exposure time. Then, the radiography images were analysed using Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR). From the analysis, it can be determined that the optimum exposure factors are 60 kV of voltage, 16 mA of current, and 0.125 s of exposure time which result in CNR of 5.71.

  5. The programming language 'PEARL' and its implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pelz, K.

    1978-01-01

    This paper describes the real time programming language PEARL, its history and design principles and the portability techniques involved in the implementation of a subset of the language on four computer systems. (Auth.)

  6. In-vitro study on calcium carbonate crystal growth mediated by organic matrix extracted from fresh water pearls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma Yufei; Qiao Li; Feng Qingling

    2012-01-01

    For the purpose of studying the mediation of organic matrix on the crystallization of calcium carbonate, water soluble matrix (WSM), acid soluble matrix (ASM) and acid insoluble matrix (AIM) were extracted from aragonite pearls and vaterite pearls respectively. Then, in-vitro calcium carbonate crystallization experiments under the control of these six organic matrices were carried out in the present study. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to observe the morphology of CaCO 3 and Raman spectroscopy as a powerful technique was used to distinguish the crystal polymorph. Influences of the six kinds of organic matrices on the calcium carbonate crystal growth are proposed. ASM of vaterite pearls can induce vaterite to crystallize and WSM of aragonite pearls mediates to produce aragonite crystals. The single AIM membranes of the two pearls have no pronounced effect on the CaCO 3 crystallization. Additionally, the crystal size obtained with the additive of WSM of the two kinds of pearls is smaller than that with the additive of ASM. Moreover, self-assembly phenomenon in the biomineralization process and the distorted morphology calcite are observed. Current results demonstrate important aspects of matrix protein-controlled crystallization, which is beneficial to the understanding of nacre biomineralization mechanism. Further study of the precise control of these matrix proteins on CaCO 3 crystal growth is being processed. - Highlights: ► WSM, ASM and AIM are extracted from aragonite pearls and vaterite pearls. ► ASM of vaterite pearl induces vaterite. ► WSM of aragonite pearl mediates to produce aragonite. ► WSM can fine control crystal size smaller than that with the additive of ASM. ► Self-assembly and the distorted calcite existed in the mineralization process.

  7. Pearl Harbor bombing attack: a contamination legacy revealed in the sedimentary record

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ashwood, T.L.; Olsen, C.R.

    1988-01-01

    Sediment cores collected from Middle Loch and West Loch of Pearl Harbor were dated using fallout 137 Cs and excess 210 Pb and analysed for several major elements and trace metals. Results indicate that sediment deposited immediately following the 7 December, 1941, bombing attack on Pearl Harbor contained elevated levels of several trace metals. (author)

  8. The Diabetes Pearl: Diabetes biobanking in The Netherlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van’t Riet Esther

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Type 2 diabetes is associated with considerable comorbidity and severe complications, which reduce quality of life of the patients and require high levels of healthcare. The Diabetes Pearl is a large cohort of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, covering different geographical areas in the Netherlands. The aim of the study is to create a research infrastructure that will allow the study of risk factors, including biomarkers and genetic determinants for severe diabetes complications. Methods/design Baseline examinations began November 2009 and will continue through 2012. By the end of 2012, it is expected that 7000 patients with type 2 diabetes will be included in the Diabetes Pearl cohort. To ensure quality of the data collected, standard operation procedures were developed and used in all 8 recruitment centers. From all patients who provide informed consent, the following information is collected: personal information, medication use, physical examination (antropometry, blood pressure, electrocardiography (ECG, retina photographs, ankle-brachial index, peripheral vibration perception, self-report questionnaire (socio-economic status, lifestyle, (family history of disease, and psychosocial well-being, laboratory measurements (glucose, A1c, lipid profile, kidney function, biobank material (storage of urine and blood samples and isolated DNA. All gathered clinical data and biobank information is uploaded to a database for storage on a national level. Biobanks are maintained locally at all recruitment centers. Discussion The Diabetes Pearl is large-scale cohort of type 2 diabetes patients in the Netherlands aiming to study risk factors, including biomarkers and genetic markers, for disease deterioration and the development of severe diabetes complications. As a result of the well-designed research design and the national coverage, the Diabetes Pearl data can be of great value to national and international researchers with

  9. Autoradiographic study on moisture distribution in pearl-barley and in rice grain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakharov, Eh.V.; Koz'mina, E.P.; Troitskaya, E.Ya

    1975-01-01

    The dependence of some structural details of the pearl-barley and rice endosperm on the internal moisture distribution is found. The general scheme of the study is shown. The curves of the local moisture distribution in the pearly-barley and rice kernel are plotted according to the radiography data. Moisture distribution over the whole section of the rice kernel is relatively constant at 85 deg C after ten minutes of moisture. Whereas moisture of pearl-barley kernel is only approaching the center of kernel by the time the moisture content increases to 1.5-2%. The slow moisture transfer in the pearl-barley kernel makes the cooking period three times longer as that of the rice

  10. Pearl Harbor bombing attack: a contamination legacy revealed in the sedimentary record

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ashwood, T.L.; Olsen, C.R.

    1988-02-01

    Sediment cores collected from Middle Loch and West Loch of Pearl Harbor were dated using fallout /sup 137/Cs and excess /sup 210/Pb and analysed for several major elements and trace metals. Results indicate that sediment deposited immediately following the 7 December, 1941, bombing attack on Pearl Harbor contained elevated levels of several trace metals.

  11. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 1 arc-second DEM

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 1/3-second Pearl Harbor Hawaii Elevation Grid provides bathymetric data in ASCII raster format of 1/3-second resolution in geographic coordinates. This grid is...

  12. Control of hybrid fuel cell/energy storage distributed generation system against voltage sag

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hajizadeh, Amin; Golkar, Masoud Aliakbar [Electrical Engineering Department, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Seyedkhandan, Dr. Shariati Ave, P.O. Box 16315-1355, Tehran (Iran)

    2010-06-15

    Fuel cell (FC) and energy storage (ES) based hybrid distributed power generation systems appear to be very promising for satisfying high energy and high power requirements of power quality problems in distributed generation (DG) systems. In this study, design of control strategy for hybrid fuel cell/energy storage distributed power generation system during voltage sag has been presented. The proposed control strategy allows hybrid distributed generation system works properly when a voltage disturbance occurs in distribution system and hybrid system stays connected to the main grid. Hence, modeling, controller design, and simulation study of a hybrid distributed generation system are investigated. The physical model of the fuel cell stack, energy storage and the models of power conditioning units are described. Then the control design methodology for each component of the hybrid system is proposed. Simulation results are given to show the overall system performance including active power control and voltage sag ride-through capability of the hybrid distributed generation system. (author)

  13. Analysis the Transient Process of Wind Power Resources when there are Voltage Sags in Distribution Grid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nhu Y, Do

    2018-03-01

    Vietnam has many advantages of wind power resources. Time by time there are more and more capacity as well as number of wind power project in Vietnam. Corresponding to the increase of wind power emitted into national grid, It is necessary to research and analyze in order to ensure the safety and reliability of win power connection. In national distribution grid, voltage sag occurs regularly, it can strongly influence on the operation of wind power. The most serious consequence is the disconnection. The paper presents the analysis of distribution grid's transient process when voltage is sagged. Base on the analysis, the solutions will be recommended to improve the reliability and effective operation of wind power resources.

  14. Petroleum migration and mixing in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chunming Zhang [Jianghan Petroleum Univ., Geochemistry Research Center, Jingzhou, Hubei (China); China Univ. of Geosciences, Dept. of Energy Resources, Beijing (China); Sitian Li [China Univ. of Geosciences, Dept. of Energy Resources, Beijing (China); Jiaming Yang [China National Offshore Oil Corp., Beijing (China); Shaokun Yang; Jianrong Wang [Nanhai East Oil Co., Research Inst., Guangzhou (China)

    2004-02-01

    Two oil groups have been investigated in the Pearl River Mouth Basin using their geochemical characteristics. In combination with source data, the two oil groups may be extrapolated into two end-member oils: petroleum populations A and B. The oil population A with abundant 4-methylsteranes, derived from the deeper Wenchang source rocks, migrated and accumulated earlier. The oil population B with absent 4-methylsteranes was expelled from the Enping source rocks and is associated with a relatively later phase of migration and accumulation. The two distinctive oil populations migrated updip through the marine blanket-like sandstone carriers within the Zhuhai Formation to accumulate in a series of traps along the main migration pathways at different times. Most of the accumulations are mixtures of the two end-member oils. The variations of 4-methylsterane concentrations in the accumulations can be related to the contributions from the two sources: the oils, which migrated furthest, contain greater contributions from the Wenchang source rocks, whereas those with shorter migration paths have greater contributions from the Enping sources. The later migrated oils closer to the depression areas are highly mature and the former oils in the Liuhua oil fields are of relatively low maturity, which may indicate the main migration direction along the Hui-Liu Structure Ridge (HLSR). Oils with abnormally high maturity in the middle of the HLSR may suggest oil-filling points, from which branch conduits connected the source kitchens to the main migration pathway. Oils with abnormally low maturities may reveal minor contributions from some small sags in the Dongsha Massif in a later phase. (Author)

  15. Correlations between cultured pearl size parameters and PIF-177 biomarker expression in Pinctada margaritifera families reared in two contrasting environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blay, Carole; Parrad, Sophie; Cabral, Philippe; Aiho, Vaite; Ky, Chin-Long

    2016-12-01

    The black-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, produces the largest and most valuable coloured pearls in the world. Cultured pearl size remains one of the most important quality traits. Despite the great geographical area covered by pearl farms in the atolls of French Polynesia, little is known about the influence of grow-out site effects on pearl size attained. To explore the genetic and environmental impact on the size of pearls as well as the genetic × environment interaction, a uniform experimental graft was designed on two contrasting macro-geographical lagoons. Five biparental families of donor oysters were grafted and then reared at both sites. After 18 months of culture, phenotypic parameters corresponding to pearl size, i.e. nacre weight and thickness, were recorded among the harvested pearls. The expression of Pif-177 gene, a biomarker encoding protein in the aragonite nacreous layer, was analysed in the corresponding pearl sac. The results show a family effect for nacre weight and thickness on both sites, with family F058 producing the heaviest and thickest nacre, and F805 the lightest and thinnest. By contrast, inter-site comparison revealed no significant site effects for these two parameters. In addition, grow-out location did not modify the relative gene expression of Pif-177 in the pearl sac between donor families in either culture site. Both nacre weight and thickness were positively correlated with the level gene expression of Pif-177. These results suggest that pearl size parameters were not affected by the environment in the present study and this is supported by the relative gene expression of Pif-177 observed. This knowledge constitutes an initial step in the study of pearl size trait inheritance, which will be helpful in the near future for the diffusion of genetically selected donor oyster lines produced by hatchery systems throughout production sites.

  16. PEARL MILLET AS SUBSTITUTE OF CORN IN FEEDING TO DAIRY GOATS UTILIZAÇÃO DO MILHETO COMO SUBSTITUTO DO MILHO EM RAÇÕES PARA CABRAS LEITEIRAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aldi Fernandes de Souza França

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available

    western" align="justify">Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum is an annual summer forage that grows in India and some African countries, used for human and animal feeding. Due to its high nutritive value it can be used for grain production and forage. Because of its physiologic characteristics, pearl millet is adapted to the soil and climate conditions of Brazilian cerrados region. This trial was conducted with the aim of evaluating the use of pearl millet (grain + ears to dairy goat feeding. Sixteen dairy goat females were alloted in a Latin square design and submitted to four levels of substitution of millet ear corn for pearl millet. The percentual levels of substitution used were 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% that correspond to treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The results, obtained in terms of average of milk production in a period of six days, were: 4.471, 4.621, 4.911 and 4.771 for treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. It was not observed any statistical difference between treatments with the use of Tukey test at the probability level of 5%.

    western" align="justify">KEY-WORDS: Pearl millet; dairy goat; feeding.

    western" align="justify">O milheto (Pennisetum americanum (L Leeke se constitui em uma forrageira anual de verão muito utilizada na Índia e em alguns países da África, tanto para alimentação humana como animal. Apresenta alto valor nutritivo, podendo ser utilizada para a produção de grãos ou de forragens. Por suas características fisiológicas se adapta muito bem às condições edafoclimáticas dos cerrados. O presente trabalho foi desenvolvido com o

  17. Pearl Harbor Biological Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    1974-08-30

    Pearl Harbor also receives Irrigation tailgate waters from the Oahu Sug- ar Company, Industrial waste waters from the Prlmo Brewery , and heated waters...34Observations of the Cell Structure of Salt Fingers", J. Fluid Mech. 41:4, pp 707-719. ~) 3.3-79 ,’:•.-. ^ IV s’V- EFFECTS OF SHIP ACTIVITY Paul L...anticyclonic) death assemblage - in this report, an assemblage (q.v.) of remains (such as shells or bones ) from a naturally occurring association of living

  18. Inrush Transient Current Analysis and Suppression of Photovoltaic Grid-Connected Inverters During Voltage Sag

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Zhongyu; Zhao, Rende; Xin, Zhen

    2016-01-01

    The Inrush Transient Current (ITC) in the output of the photovoltaic grid-connected inverters is usually generated when grid voltage sag occurs, which can trigger the protection of the grid-connected inverters, and even destroy the semiconductor switches. Then, the grid-connected inverters...

  19. Biological Mechanisms Underlying the Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Formation of Skin Wrinkling and Sagging I: Reduced Skin Elasticity, Highly Associated with Enhanced Dermal Elastase Activity, Triggers Wrinkling and Sagging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imokawa, Genji; Ishida, Koichi

    2015-01-01

    The repetitive exposure of skin to ultraviolet B (UVB) preferentially elicits wrinkling while ultraviolet A (UVA) predominantly elicits sagging. In chronically UVB or UVA-exposed rat skin there is a similar tortuous deformation of elastic fibers together with decreased skin elasticity, whose magnitudes are greater in UVB-exposed skin than in UVA-exposed skin. Comparison of skin elasticity with the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the dermis of ovariectomized rats after UVB or UVA irradiation demonstrates that skin elasticity is more significantly decreased in ovariectomized rats than in sham-operated rats, which is accompanied by a reciprocal increase in elastase activity but not in the activities of collagenases I or IV. Clinical studies using animal skin and human facial skin demonstrated that topical treatment with a specific inhibitor or an inhibitory extract of skin fibroblast-derived elastase distinctly attenuates UVB and sunlight-induced formation of wrinkling. Our results strongly indicated that the upregulated activity of skin fibroblast-derived elastase plays a pivotal role in wrinkling and/or sagging of the skin via the impairment of elastic fiber configuration and the subsequent loss of skin elasticity. PMID:25856675

  20. Mitigation of Unbalanced Voltage Sags and Voltage Unbalance in CIGRE Low Voltage Distribution Network

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mustafa, Ghullam; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Mahat, Pukar

    2013-01-01

    Any problem with voltage in a power network is undesirable as it aggravates the quality of the power. Power electronic devices such as Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) etc. can be used to mitigate the voltage problems in the distribution system...... to unbalanced faults. The compensation of unbalanced voltage sags and voltage unbalance in the CIGRE distribution network is done by using the four STATCOM compensators already existing in the test grid. The simulations are carried out in DIgSILENT power factory software version 15.0........ The voltage problems dealt with in this paper are to show how to mitigate unbalanced voltage sags and voltage unbalance in the CIGRE Low Voltage (LV) test network and net-works like this. The voltage unbalances, for the tested cases in the CIGRE LV test network are mainly due to single phase loads and due...

  1. Draft Genome of the Pearl Oyster Pinctada fucata: A Platform for Understanding Bivalve Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, Takeshi; Kawashima, Takeshi; Koyanagi, Ryo; Gyoja, Fuki; Tanaka, Makiko; Ikuta, Tetsuro; Shoguchi, Eiichi; Fujiwara, Mayuki; Shinzato, Chuya; Hisata, Kanako; Fujie, Manabu; Usami, Takeshi; Nagai, Kiyohito; Maeyama, Kaoru; Okamoto, Kikuhiko; Aoki, Hideo; Ishikawa, Takashi; Masaoka, Tetsuji; Fujiwara, Atushi; Endo, Kazuyoshi; Endo, Hirotoshi; Nagasawa, Hiromichi; Kinoshita, Shigeharu; Asakawa, Shuichi; Watabe, Shugo; Satoh, Nori

    2012-01-01

    The study of the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata is key to increasing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in pearl biosynthesis and biology of bivalve molluscs. We sequenced ∼1150-Mb genome at ∼40-fold coverage using the Roche 454 GS-FLX and Illumina GAIIx sequencers. The sequences were assembled into contigs with N50 = 1.6 kb (total contig assembly reached to 1024 Mb) and scaffolds with N50 = 14.5 kb. The pearl oyster genome is AT-rich, with a GC content of 34%. DNA transposons, retrotransposons, and tandem repeat elements occupied 0.4, 1.5, and 7.9% of the genome, respectively (a total of 9.8%). Version 1.0 of the P. fucata draft genome contains 23 257 complete gene models, 70% of which are supported by the corresponding expressed sequence tags. The genes include those reported to have an association with bio-mineralization. Genes encoding transcription factors and signal transduction molecules are present in numbers comparable with genomes of other metazoans. Genome-wide molecular phylogeny suggests that the lophotrochozoan represents a distinct clade from ecdysozoans. Our draft genome of the pearl oyster thus provides a platform for the identification of selection markers and genes for calcification, knowledge of which will be important in the pearl industry. PMID:22315334

  2. A note on the effects of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers on chemical composition of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hago, T. E. M; Eltilib, A. M. A.; Ali, S. A. M.

    2004-01-01

    A filed experiment was conducted for two consecutive seasons (1999/2000 and 2000/2001) at the University of Zalengi, Western Darfur State, Sudan, to study the effects of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers on chemical composition of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) grains. A local pearl millet cultivar (Darmassa) was used as a test crop. The treatments consisted of four nitrogen (0, 30, 60,80 kg N/ha) and four phosphorus (0, 15, 30, 60 kg p 2 O 5 /ha) rates, using urea (46% N) and triple superphosphate (48% P 2 O 5 ) as sources of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. The experimental design was split plot with five replicates, allocating nitrogen to the main and phosphorus to the subplots. The results showed that nitrogen significantly increased grain protein content in both seasons, while phosphorus caused a consistent increase in grain protein and phosphorus contents in both seasons, but the increase was significant in the second season only. As for the other grain constituents (K, Ca, Mg), they were not effected by any of the treatment. Moreover, there were no significant interactions between the treatments.(Author)

  3. Influence of pearling process on phenolic and saponin content in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez-Caravaca, Ana Maria; Iafelice, Giovanna; Verardo, Vito; Marconi, Emanuele; Caboni, Maria Fiorenza

    2014-08-15

    The aim of this work was to obtain sweet quinoa seeds by a pearling process. Thus, two different pearling degrees (20% and 30%) were tested. Moreover, the effect of pearling process on saponins and phenolic content in quinoa were evaluated. To this end, GC-MS methodology was used to identify and quantify the saponins and reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to DAD and mass spectrometer detectors was applied to study the phenolic composition. As expected, whole quinoa had the highest saponins and phenolics contents. An abrasion degree of 30% was necessary to obtain sweet quinoa (with a total saponin content lower than 110 mg/100 g). Obviously, this process caused a decrease of 21.5% and 35.2% of free and bound phenolic compounds, respectively. However, this decrease was lower if compared with other cereals. Thus, pearling process is a promising sustainable method to obtain sweet quinoa with a "green" approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Providing Evidence-Based, Intelligent Support for Flood Resilient Planning and Policy: The PEARL Knowledge Base

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Karavokiros

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available While flood risk is evolving as one of the most imminent natural hazards and the shift from a reactive decision environment to a proactive one sets the basis of the latest thinking in flood management, the need to equip decision makers with necessary tools to think about and intelligently select options and strategies for flood management is becoming ever more pressing. Within this context, the Preparing for Extreme and Rare Events in Coastal Regions (PEARL intelligent knowledge-base (PEARL KB of resilience strategies is presented here as an environment that allows end-users to navigate from their observed problem to a selection of possible options and interventions worth considering within an intuitive visual web interface assisting advanced interactivity. Incorporation of real case studies within the PEARL KB enables the extraction of (evidence-based lessons from all over the word, while the KB’s collection of methods and tools directly supports the optimal selection of suitable interventions. The Knowledge-Base also gives access to the PEARL KB Flood Resilience Index (FRI tool, which is an online tool for resilience assessment at a city level available to authorities and citizens. We argue that the PEARL KB equips authorities with tangible and operational tools that can improve strategic and operational flood risk management by assessing and eventually increasing resilience, while building towards the strengthening of risk governance. The online tools that the PEARL KB gives access to were demonstrated and tested in the city of Rethymno, Greece.

  5. Modelling of V-Hz and vector controlled ASDs in PSCAD/EMTDC for voltage sag studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vegunta, S.C. [TNEI Services Ltd, Manchester M1 2PW (United Kingdom); Milanovic, J.V. [School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD (United Kingdom); Djokic, S.Z. [School of Engineering of The University of Edinburgh, The King' s Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JL (United Kingdom)

    2010-01-15

    This paper deals with modelling and performance of adjustable speed drives (ASDs) subjected to voltage disturbances in electric supply. The aim of this study was to develop appropriate models of typical ASD and investigate their sensitivity to voltage disturbances under various practical modes of operation and control. Accordingly, scalar controlled open and closed loop volts-hertz (V-Hz) and vector controlled closed loop ASDs are modelled in PSCAD/EMTDC environment, and their performance in the presence of voltage disturbances is investigated under typical operating and loading conditions. The drive sensitivity to three-phase, two-phase and single-phase voltage sags and short interruptions was assessed, and the findings are discussed in the paper. Depending on the type of drive control, type of voltage sag, applied load torque and adjusted speed, various sensitivity curves were established and analyzed. (author)

  6. Pearl necklace sign in diabetic macular edema: Evaluation and significance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kshirasagar Ajay

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: (1 The purpose of this study was to describe significance and prevalence of the newly reported pearl necklace spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT sign, in diabetic macular edema (DMO, (2 to track the course of this sign over a period of at least 10 months. Materials and Methods: The pearl necklace SDOCT sign refers to hyperreflective dots in a contiguous ring around the inner wall of cystoid spaces in the retina, recently described for the first time in 21 eyes with chronic exudative maculopathy. A retrospective analysis was performed of SDOCT images of all patients presenting to the DMO referral clinic of a tertiary eye care center, over a period of 24 months. Images of patients displaying this sign were sequentially analyzed for at least 10 months to track the course of the sign. Results: Thirty-five eyes of 267 patients (13.1% were found to display the pearl necklace sign. Twenty-eight eyes responded to intravitreal ranibizumab treatment with resolution of edema. In 21 eyes, the dots coalesced to form a clump, visible in the infrared fundus photograph as hard exudates; in seven eyes, dots disappeared without leaving visible exudates. In three eyes, the sign was seen in subfoveal cystoid spaces, with subsequent development of hard exudates, and drop in visual acuity of 20 letters or more. Conclusion: Pearl necklace SDOCT sign is not infrequent in DMO. This sign is a precursor to hard exudates in the majority of cases. If this sign is seen subfoveally, drop in visual acuity can be expected, despite treatment.

  7. Delayed expression of SAGs correlates with longevity in CMS wheat plants compared to its fertile plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semwal, Vimal Kumar; Singh, Bhupinder; Khanna-Chopra, Renu

    2014-04-01

    Reproductive sinks regulate monocarpic senescence in crop plants. Monocarpic senescence was studied in wheat fertile (cv. HW 2041) and its isonuclear cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) line. CMS plants exhibited slower rate of senescence accompanied by longer green leaf area duration and slower deceleration in chlorophyll, protein content, PN and rubisco content coupled with lower protease activities than fertile (F) plants. CMS plants also exhibited lower ROS levels and less membrane damage than F plants. CMS plants maintained better antioxidant defense, less oxidative damage in chloroplast and higher transcript levels of both rbcL and rbcS genes during senescence than F plants. F plants exhibited early induction and higher expression of SAGs like serine and cysteine proteases, glutamine synthetases GS1 and GS2, WRKY53 transcription factor and decline in transcript levels of CAT1 and CAT2 genes than CMS plants. Hence, using genetically fertile and its CMS line of wheat it is confirmed that delayed senescence in the absence of reproductive sinks is linked with slower protein oxidation, rubisco degradation and delayed activation of SAGs. Better antioxidant defense in chloroplasts at later stages of senescence was able to mitigate the deleterious effects of ROS in CMS plants. We propose that delayed increase in ROS in cytoplasmic male sterile wheat plants resulted in delayed activation of WRKY53, SAGs and the associated biochemical changes than fertile plants.

  8. A Comprehensive Copper Compliance Strategy: Implementing Regulatory Guidance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Earley, P. J; Rosen, G; Rivera-Duarte, I; Gauthier, R. D; Arias-Thode, Y; Thompson, J; Swope, B

    2007-01-01

    Studies were performed to develop a new National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems Permit for the discharge of effluents from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility into Pearl Harbor...

  9. Impact of distributed generation in the probability density of voltage sags; Impacto da geracao distribuida na densidade de probabilidade de afundamentos de tensao

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramos, Alessandro Candido Lopes [CELG - Companhia Energetica de Goias, Goiania, GO (Brazil). Generation and Transmission. System' s Operation Center], E-mail: alessandro.clr@celg.com.br; Batista, Adalberto Jose [Universidade Federal de Goias (UFG), Goiania, GO (Brazil)], E-mail: batista@eee.ufg.br; Leborgne, Roberto Chouhy [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRS), Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)], E-mail: rcl@ece.ufrgs.br; Emiliano, Pedro Henrique Mota, E-mail: ph@phph.com.br

    2009-07-01

    This article presents the impact of distributed generation in studies of voltage sags caused by faults in the electrical system. We simulated short-circuit-to-ground in 62 lines of 230, 138, 69 and 13.8 kV that are part of the electrical system of the city of Goiania, of Goias state . For each fault position was monitored the bus voltage of 380 V in an industrial consumer sensitive to such sags. Were inserted different levels of GD near the consumer. The simulations of a short circuit, with the monitoring bar 380 V, were performed again. A study using stochastic simulation Monte Carlo (SMC) was performed to obtain, at each level of GD, the probability curves and sags of the probability density and its voltage class. With these curves were obtained the average number of sags according to each class, that the consumer bar may be submitted annually. The simulations were performed using the Program Analysis of Simultaneous Faults - ANAFAS. In order to overcome the intrinsic limitations of the methods of simulation of this program and allow data entry via windows, a computational tool was developed in Java language. Data processing was done using the MATLAB software.

  10. 76 FR 71598 - Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Honolulu County, HI; Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-18

    ...] Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Honolulu County, HI; Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan and.../docs/HI-PI/docsjcpearl.htm . Email: [email protected] . Include ``Pearl Harbor final CCP'' in...`iwa, HI 96712. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Ellis, Project Leader, (808) 637-6330...

  11. Mapping ground water vulnerability to pesticide leaching with a process-based metamodel of EuroPEARL

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tiktak, A.; Boesten, J.J.T.I.; Linden, van der A.M.A.; Vanclooster, M.

    2006-01-01

    To support EU policy, indicators of pesticide leaching at the European level are required. For this reason, a metamodel of the spatially distributed European pesticide leaching model EuroPEARL was developed. EuroPEARL considers transient flow and solute transport and assumes Freundlich adsorption,

  12. An Evaluation of the Acquisition Streamlining Methods at the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Pearl Harbor Hawaii

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Henry, Mark

    1999-01-01

    ...) Pearl Harbor's implementation of acquisition streamlining initiatives and recommends viable methods of streamlining the acquisition process at FISC Pearl Harbor and other Naval Supply Systems Command...

  13. Assembly and lifting of Pearl-Chain arches

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halding, Philip Skov; Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Viebæk, N.E.

    2015-01-01

    Pearl-Chain arches were invented at the Technical University of Denmark in cooporation with the company Abeo A/S. The system uses specially designed, pre-fabricated concrete elements that are post-tensioned together into an arch shape, which is then lifted into place. The arches can be used both ...

  14. Pervious concrete fill in Pearl-Chain Bridges: Using small-scale results in full-scale implementation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Mia Schou Møller; Hansen, Kurt Kielsgaard; Truelsen, R.

    2016-01-01

    distribution and strength properties is determined for 800 mm high blocks cast in different numbers of layers, and (2) full-scale implementation in a 26 m long Pearl-Chain Bridge. With a layer thickness of 27 cm, the small-scale tests indicated homogenous results; however, for the full-scale implementation......Pearl-Chain Bridge technology is a new prefabricated arch solution for highway bridges. This study investigates the feasibility of pervious concrete as a filling material in Pearl-Chain Bridges. The study is divided into two steps: (1) small-scale tests where the variation in vertical void...

  15. A lifelong journey of moving beyond wartime trauma for survivors from Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liehr, Patricia; Nishimura, Chie; Ito, Mio; Wands, Lisa Marie; Takahashi, Ryutaro

    2011-01-01

    This study examines 51 stories of health, shared by people who survived the wartime trauma of Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, seeking to identify turning points that moved participants along over their lifetime. The central turning point for Hiroshima survivors was "becoming Hibabusha (A-bomb survivor)" and for Pearl Harbor survivors was "honoring the memory and setting it aside." Wartime trauma was permanently integrated into survivors' histories, surfacing steadily over decades for Hiroshima survivors and intermittently over decades for Pearl Harbor survivors. Regardless of experience or nationality, participants moved through wartime trauma by connecting with others, pursuing personal and global peace.

  16. Availability of pearl producing marine bivalves in south-eastern coast of Bangladesh and culture potentialities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md Ataur Rahman

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study was conducted during September 2014 to July 2015 to identify the pearl bearing bivalves in south-eastern coast of Bangladesh and culture potentialities of marine oyster in captivity based on field investigation. A total of 7 pearl bearing bivalve species were identified in the coast with a salinity of 18-34 ppt, pH 8.1-8.3 and water depth ranged 0.2-2.0 meter in their habitat. From the collected bivalves, most abundant oyster species windowpane oyster, Placuna placenta (Linnaeus, 1758 was reared in fiber glass tanks with seawater for a period of 6 months. During rearing highest survival rate of 88% was observed in T1 with sandy and gravel substratum and lowest survival rate of 78% was found in T2 with muddy substratum. Average temperature and salinity were varied between 24 °C-25 °C and 21-26 ppt respectively. From the reared oyster, highest 54 nos. small pearls in the month of April and lowest 7 pearls in December from a single P. placenta were obtained. The study proved that pearls can be obtained from the marine oysters in captivity in Bangladesh, and this offers large scale culture potentialities in our coast.

  17. 75 FR 76613 - National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-09

    .... The deadly attack on Pearl Harbor did not accomplish its mission of breaking the American spirit..., aiding the war effort by working in manufacturing plants, participating in rationing programs, or...

  18. Army Engineers at Pearl Harbor

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    siblings, he was the grandson of David Belden Lyman—a Christian missionary from New England who settled in the Hilo , Hawaii area—and the descendent of...of Hawaii appeared over Oahu. Some headed for Ameri- can warships at Pearl Harbor and the planes on the ground at nearby Hickam Field; oth- ers...hit Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Field, and Bellows Field. USACE in Hawaii con- sisted of Soldier-engineers in the Army’s Hawaiian Depart- ment and

  19. Semi-Active Control of Three-Dimensional Vibrations of an Inclined Sag Cable with Magnetorheological Dampers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhou, Q.; Nielsen, Søren R.K.; Qu, W. L.

    2006-01-01

    Three-dimensional semi-active vibration control of an inclined sag cable with discrete magnetorheological (MR) dampers is investigated in this paper using the finite difference method (FDM). A modified Dahl model is used to describe the dynamic property of MR damper. The nonlinear equations...

  20. Toward sustainable pearl-oyster culture, in a changing environment: Recent findings and issues from the POLYPERL project (2012-2015)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaertner-Mazouni, Nabila; Le Moullac, Gilles

    2016-12-01

    The pearl industry, using the black-lip oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, is a central economic issue for French Polynesia. Initially developed in the early 1990s, after a brief'golden age', the pearl industry faced a decade of decline. As described in Gueguen et al., several research programs were therefore conducted to better analyze the functioning of this industry and to attempt to identifyissuesrelated to the improving the quality of the pearls as well as the functioning of lagoons. To complete this knowledge, during a 4 year period, the POLYPERL project, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), was a federative initiative that focused, simultaneously and for the first time, on socio-ecological and economic aspects of the pearl industry. The originality of the POLYPERL project consists of successfully implementing an integrated and multidisciplinary research-action approach in close association with both pearl farmers and the Polynesian authority in charge of management of the pearl industry (Direction des Ressources Marines et Minières de Polynésie, DRMM).

  1. Microbiological and biochemical changes in pearl spot (Etroplus suratensis Bloch) stored under modified atmospheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lalitha, K V; Sonaji, E R; Manju, S; Jose, L; Gopal, T K S; Ravisankar, C N

    2005-01-01

    This study aimed to determine the effect of packaging [air, modified atmosphere (MA)] on microbial growth, sensory and chemical parameters and also on shelf life of fresh pearl spot (Etroplus suratensis Bloch) and on the selection of microbial association. Fresh pearl spot (whole, gutted) were packaged under both 100% air and MAs (40%CO(2)/60% O(2), 50%CO(2)/50%O(2), 60% CO(2)/40%O(2), 70% CO(2)/30% O(2) and 40% CO(2)/30% O(2)/30% N(2)) and stored at 0 degrees C. Microbial growth (counts of total aerobic bacteria, H(2)S-producing bacteria, Lactic acid bacteria, Brochothrix thermosphacta, yeast and mould), chemical spoilage indicators (pH, total volatile basic nitrogen) and sensory characteristics were monitored. Microbial changes in Pearl spot packed under 100% air and 40% CO(2)/30%O(2)/30% N(2) were similar. The total volatile basic nitrogen values increased, but the values never exceeded the acceptability limit of 25 mg 100 g(-1). MA 60% CO(2) : 40%O(2) was found to be better with a shelf life of 21 days whereas air stored samples had a shelf-life of 12-14 days only. Storage of pearl spot under MAs 60% CO(2) : 40%O(2) is a promising method to extend shelf-life. Longer shelf life expands the market potential of pearl spot and reduces waste during distribution and retail display.

  2. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Tsunami Forecast Grids for MOST Model

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Forecast Model Grids provides bathymetric data strictly for tsunami inundation modeling with the Method of Splitting Tsunami (MOST) model....

  3. Fabricating a pearl/PLGA composite scaffold by the low-temperature deposition manufacturing technique for bone tissue engineering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Mingen; Li Yanlei; Suo Hairui; Wang Qiujun; Ge Yakun; Xu Ying; Yan Yongnian; Liu Li

    2010-01-01

    Here we developed a composite scaffold of pearl/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (pearl/PLGA) utilizing the low-temperature deposition manufacturing (LDM). LDM makes it possible to fabricate scaffolds with designed microstructure and macrostructure, while keeping the bioactivity of biomaterials by working at a low temperature. Process optimization was carried out to fabricate a mixture of pearl powder, PLGA and 1,4-dioxane with the designed hierarchical structures, and freeze-dried at a temperature of -40 deg. C. Scaffolds with square and designated bone shape were fabricated by following the 3D model. Marrow stem cells (MSCs) were seeded on the pearl/PLGA scaffold and then cultured in a rotating cell culture system. The adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of MSCs into osteoblasts were determined using scanning electronic microscopy, WST-1 assay, alkaline phosphatase activity assay, immunofluorescence staining and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that the composite scaffold had high porosity (81.98 ± 3.75%), proper pore size (micropores: <10 μm; macropore: 495 ± 54 μm) and mechanical property (compressive strength: 0.81 ± 0.04 MPa; elastic modulus: 23.14 ± 0.75 MPa). The pearl/PLGA scaffolds exhibited better biocompatibility and osteoconductivity compared with the tricalcium phosphate/PLGA scaffold. All these results indicate that the pearl/PLGA scaffolds fulfill the basic requirements of bone tissue engineering scaffold.

  4. The Diabetes Pearl: Diabetes biobanking in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. van 't Riet (Esther); M.T. Schram (Miranda); E.J. Abbink (Evertine); W.M. Admiraal (Wanda); M.W. Dijk-Schaap (Marja); F. Holleman (Frits); M.G.A.A.M. Nijpels (Giel); B. Özcan (Behiye); H. Pijl (Hanno); N. Schaper; E.J.G. Sijbrands (Eric); B. Silvius (Bianca); C.J. Tack (Cees); H.W. de Valk (Harold); B.H.R. Wolffenbuttel (Bruce); C.D. Stehouwer (Coen); J.M. Dekker (Jacqueline)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractBackground: Type 2 diabetes is associated with considerable comorbidity and severe complications, which reduce quality of life of the patients and require high levels of healthcare. The Diabetes Pearl is a large cohort of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, covering different

  5. The Diabetes Pearl: Diabetes biobanking in The Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van't Riet, E.; Schram, M.T.; Abbink, E.J.; Admiraal, W.M.; Dijk-Schaap, M.W.; Holleman, F.; Nijpels, G.; Ozcan, B.; Pijl, H.; Schaper, N.C.; Sijbrands, E.J.; Silvius, B.; Tack, C.J.J.; de Valk, H.W.; Wolffenbuttel, B.H.R.; Stehouwer, C.D.A.; Dekker, J.M.

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes is associated with considerable comorbidity and severe complications, which reduce quality of life of the patients and require high levels of healthcare. The Diabetes Pearl is a large cohort of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, covering different

  6. Control Method Stretches Suspensions by Measuring the Sag of Strands in Cable-Stayed Bridges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bętkowski, Piotr

    2017-10-01

    In the article is described the method that allows on evaluation and validation of measurement correctness of dynamometers (strain gauges, tension meters) used in systems of suspensions. Control of monitoring devices such as dynamometers is recommended in inspections of suspension bridges. Control device (dynamometer) works with an anchor, and the degree of this cooperation could have a decisive impact on the correctness of the results. Method, which determines the stress in the strand (cable), depending on the sag of stayed cable, is described. This method can be used to control the accuracy of measuring devices directly on the bridge. By measuring the strand sag, it is possible to obtain information about the strength (force) which occurred in the suspension cable. Digital camera is used for the measurement of cable sag. Control measurement should be made independently from the controlled parameter but should verify this parameter directly (it is the best situation). In many cases in practice the controlled parameter is not designation by direct measurement, but the calculations, i.e. relation measured others parameters, as in the method described in the article. In such cases occurred the problem of overlapping error of measurement of intermediate parameters (data) and the evaluation of the reliability of the results. Method of control calculations made in relation to installed in the bridge measuring devices is doubtful without procedure of uncertainty estimation. Such an assessment of the accuracy can be performed using the interval numbers. With the interval numbers are possible the analysis of parametric relationship accuracy of the designation of individual parameters and uncertainty of results. Method of measurements, relations and analytical formulas, and numerical example can be found in the text of the article.

  7. Improving Energy Efficiency Via Optimized Charge Motion and Slurry Flow in Plant Scale Sag Mills

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raj K. Rajamani

    2006-07-21

    A research team from the University of Utah is working to make inroads into saving energy in these SAG mills. In 2003, Industries of the Future Program of the Department of Energy tasked the University of Utah team to build a partnership between the University and the mining industry for the specific purpose of reducing energy consumption in SAG mills. A partnership was formed with Cortez Gold Mines, Outokumpu Technology, Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, and Process Engineering Resources Inc. At Cortez Gold Operations the shell and pulp lifters of the semiautogenous grinding mill was redesigned. The redesigned shell lifter has been in operation for over three years and the redesigned pulp lifter has been in operation for over nine months now. This report summarizes the dramatic reductions in energy consumption. Even though the energy reductions are very large, it is safe to say that a 20% minimum reduction would be achieved in any future installations of this technology.

  8. Submarine Biofouling Control- Chlorination DATS Study at Pearl Harbor

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Wegand, John

    2001-01-01

    The intent of this document is to sumarize the chlorination studies performed at Naval Station, Pearl Harbor in support of biofouling control initiatives for the submarine community, as requested by NAVSEA 92T...

  9. Hatchery-scale trials using cryopreserved spermatozoa of black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera

    OpenAIRE

    Hui, Belinda; Vonau, Vincent; Moriceau, Jacques; Tetumu, Roger; Vanaa, Vincent; Demoy-schneider, Marina; Suquet, Marc; Le Moullac, Gilles

    2011-01-01

    Cryopreservation is a valuable tool for genetic improvement programs. Several bivalve mollusc species have already been the subject of such programs and the Tahitian black pearl oyster industry is now planning the development of selective breeding for desirable traits in Pinctada margaritifera. The ability to cryopreserve spermatozoa would, therefore, offer significant benefits to the cultured black pearl industry. Spermatozoa were cryopreserved with CPA 0.7 M trehalose in 0.8 M Me2SO and...

  10. Multi-dimensional reflooding experiments: the PEARL program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stenne, N.; Pradier, M.; Olivieri, J.; Eymery, S.; Fichot, F.; March, P.; Fleurot, J.

    2011-01-01

    PEARL is an experimental program to study heat transfer and flow regime during the reflooding of a severely damaged PWR core where a large part of the core has collapsed and formed a debris bed. PEARL device will consist in a water-steam loop where the key component is an autoclave capable of housing a test section containing the particle bed and its instrumentation made of thermocouples, pressure sensors and flow rate meters. An electromagnetic induction heating system will generate a predefined specific power in the debris bed and maintains the power during the water reflooding phase. A preliminary experimental investigation has been launched with the setting of the PRELUDE facility, which is one-dimensional. The main aim was to test the particle bed heating system and instrumentation during the reflooding phase. PRELUDE results obtained so far show that the chosen technology is able to deposit a sufficient power density during the reflooding phase. Moreover a temperature of 1000 Celsius degrees for the debris bed is reached accurately with the induction system

  11. The Diabetes Pearl: Diabetes biobanking in The Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van't Riet, Esther; Schram, Miranda T.; Abbink, Evertine J.; Admiraal, Wanda M.; Dijk-Schaap, Marja W.; Holleman, Frits; Nijpels, Giel; Özcan, Behiye; Pijl, Hanno; Schaper, Nicolaas C.; Sijbrands, Eric J. G.; Silvius, Bianca; Tack, Cees J.; de Valk, Harold W.; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H. R.; Stehouwer, Coen D. A.; Dekker, Jacqueline M.

    2012-01-01

    Background: Type 2 diabetes is associated with considerable comorbidity and severe complications, which reduce quality of life of the patients and require high levels of healthcare. The Diabetes Pearl is a large cohort of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, covering different geographical areas

  12. The Diabetes Pearl : Diabetes biobanking in The Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van't Riet, Esther; Schram, Miranda T.; Abbink, Evertine J.; Admiraal, Wanda M.; Dijk-Schaap, Marja W.; Holleman, Frits; Nijpels, Giel; Ozcan, Behiye; Pijl, Hanno; Schaper, Nicolaas C.; Sijbrands, Eric J. G.; Silvius, Bianca; Tack, Cees J.; de Valk, Harold W.; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H. R.; Stehouwer, Coen D. A.; Dekker, Jacqueline M.

    2012-01-01

    Background: Type 2 diabetes is associated with considerable comorbidity and severe complications, which reduce quality of life of the patients and require high levels of healthcare. The Diabetes Pearl is a large cohort of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, covering different geographical areas

  13. 78 FR 144 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition-Determinations: “Girl With a Pearl Earring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8139] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition-- Determinations: ``Girl With a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings From the Mauritshuis SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given... objects to be included in the exhibition ``Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis...

  14. Investigation about Creation Possibility of Pearl Farming in North Gorontalo, Indonesia for the Solution to Economical Poverty and Environmental Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasamatsu, Hiroki; Jahja, Mohamad; Sakakibara, Masayuki

    2017-06-01

    As a solution to economic poverty, we investigated the possibility of developing pearl farming in Kabupaten Gorontalo Utara region of Indonesia. The approximate income of farmers is 15 - 28 million rupiah/year, and that of fishers is 51 million rupiah/year. As these incomes are low and unreliable, it is important that food processing and other industries are developed and that agriculture and fisheries are promoted. Pearl farming minimize environmental load. The coastal environmental conditions are good for pearl shell growth. From 2001 till 2013, pearl farming was undertaken by a Japanese company in Kabupaten Gorontalo Utara, but the operation caused because of conflict with local people and issues with the actions of manager. To establish successful pearl farming businesses it is more important to address social issues than environmental factors.

  15. IRON STATUS OF WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE LIVING IN PEARL MILLET CONSUMING AREAS OF BANASKANTHA, GUJARAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanisha S Nambiar

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Anemia is a major health problem in India, especially among women and children (NFHS III, 2006.  The Indian Council of medical Research study reported the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women was 84.9% and in adolescent girls was 90.1% based on their study from 16 districts of India (Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 2006.   Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (Bajra, grown extensively in the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of the world, is one of the most important cereals for food security and consumed as a staple food for rural and tribal population dwelling in this area. Pearl millet has high amounts of iron (8mg/100g, NIN 2010 along with several other factors such as phytates, oxalates and polyphones, which may decrease the bio available iron. IFPRI (Pray and Nagarjan, 2009 has identified Banaskantha, district in Gujarat as one of the important pearl millet producing belts of India. The present study aimed to assess the background information, morbidity profile and dietary intake focusing on the pearl millet consumption of women residing in the pearl millet producing belts of Banaskantha and to assess the status and immunity profile from a subsample of this population.

  16. IRON STATUS OF WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE LIVING IN PEARL MILLET CONSUMING AREAS OF BANASKANTHA, GUJARAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanisha S Nambiar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Anemia is a major health problem in India, especially among women and children (NFHS III, 2006.  The Indian Council of medical Research study reported the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women was 84.9% and in adolescent girls was 90.1% based on their study from 16 districts of India (Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 2006. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (Bajra, grown extensively in the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of the world, is one of the most important cereals for food security and consumed as a staple food for rural and tribal population dwelling in this area. Pearl millet has high amounts of iron (8mg/100g, NIN 2010 along with several other factors such as phytates, oxalates and polyphones, which may decrease the bio available iron. IFPRI (Pray and Nagarjan, 2009 has identified Banaskantha, district in Gujarat as one of the important pearl millet producing belts of India. The present study aimed to assess the background information, morbidity profile and dietary intake focusing on the pearl millet consumption of women residing in the pearl millet producing belts of Banaskantha and to assess the status and immunity profile from a subsample of this population.

  17. [Integrated assessment of eco-environmental vulnerability in Pearl River Delta based on RS and GIS].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Qing-Yong; Huang, Mei; Liu, Hong-Sheng; Yan, Hui-Min

    2011-11-01

    Based on the remote sensing data and with the help of geographic information system, an integrated assessment was conducted on the eco-environmental vulnerability of Pearl River Delta in 2004-2008. Spatial principal component analysis was used to generate the evaluation indicators, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to determine the weights of the evaluation factors. The reasons causing the vulnerability of the eco- environment in Pearl River Delta were discussed. In the study area, its middle part was the most vulnerable region, occupying 34.0% of the total, eastern part was the moderately vulnerable region, accounting for 25.5%, and western part was the lightly and slightly vulnerable areas, accounting for 28.7 and 11.8%, respectively. Totally, the moderately and lightly vulnerable areas occupied 54.2%, indicating that a majority of the Delta was under moderate and light vulnerability. The natural factors affecting the eco-environmental vulnerability of the Delta were altitude, heavy rain days, water and soil erosion rate, flooded infield rate, normalized difference vegetation index (ND VI) and landscape diversity index, whereas the human factors were population density, waste discharge per unit area, exhaust emission per unit area, land use change, chemical fertilization intensity, pesticide application intensity, amount of motor vehicles possessed by ten thousands people, and index of environmental protection investment. The main characteristics of the extremely and heavily vulnerable regions were low altitude, high frequency of flood disaster, large flooded infield, serious vegetation degradation, high pollution level and low environment protection investment index.

  18. Genomic tools in pearl millet breeding for drought tolerance: Status and prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desalegn Debelo Serba

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Pearl millet (Penisetum glaucum (L R. Br. is a hardy cereal crop grown in the arid and semiarid tropics where other cereals are likely to fail to produce economic yields due to drought and heat stresses. Adaptive evolution, a form of natural selection shaped the crop to grow and yield satisfactorily with limited moisture supply or under periodic water deficits in the soil. Drought tolerance is a complex polygenic trait that various morphological and physiological responses are controlled by hundreds of genes and significantly influenced by the environment. The development of genomic tools will have enormous potential to improve the efficiency and precision of conventional breeding. The apparent independent domestication events, highly outcrossing nature and traditional cultivation in stressful environments maintained tremendous amount of polymorphism in pearl millet. This high polymorphism of the crop has been revealed by genome mapping that in turn stimulated the mapping and tagging of genomic regions controlling important traits such as drought tolerance. Mapping of a major QTL for terminal drought tolerance in independent populations envisaged the prospect for the development of molecular breeding in pearl millet. To accelerate genetic gains for drought tolerance targeted novel approaches such as establishment of marker-trait associations, genomic selection tools, genome sequence and genotyping-by-sequencing are still limited. Development and application of high throughput genomic tools need to be intensified to improve the breeding efficiency of pearl millet to minimize the impact of climate change on its production.

  19. Distribution and sources of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the sediments of the Pearl River estuary, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jian-Dong; Wang, You-Shao; Cheng, Hao; Jiang, Zhao-Yu; Sun, Cui-Ci; Wu, Mei-Lin

    2015-10-01

    The Pearl River delta, one of the most prosperous economically region in China, has experienced significant contaminant inputs. However, the dynamics of pollutants in the Pearl River estuary and the adjacent coastal areas are still unclear at present. In the paper, distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in the surface sediments of the Pearl River estuary. The total PAHs concentrations ranged from 126.08 to 3828.58 ng/g with a mean value of 563.52 ng/g, whereas the highest PAHs were observed in Guangzhou channel. Among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 16 priority PAHs, PAHs with 3-4 rings exhibited relative higher levels. A positive relationship was found between PAHs and total organic carbon. The source analysis further showed that the major sources of PAHs in the Pearl River estuary were originated from the pyrolytic inputs, reflecting a mixed energy structure such as wood, coal and petroleum combustion. In summary, although PAHs in Lingding Bay and the adjacent coastal areas of the Pearl River estuary exhibited a relatively low pollution level, the relatively high pollution level of PAHs in Guangzhou channel will be attended.

  20. The bacteria binding glycoprotein salivary agglutinin (SAG/gp340) activates complement via the lectin pathway

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leito, Jelani T. D.; Ligtenberg, Antoon J. M.; van Houdt, Michel; van den Berg, Timo K.; Wouters, Diana

    2011-01-01

    Salivary agglutinin (SAG), also known as gp-340 and Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumours 1, is a glycoprotein that is present in tears, lung fluid and mucosal surfaces along the gastrointestinal tract. It is encoded by the Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumours 1 gene, a member of the Scavenger Receptor

  1. Generable PEARL-realtime-database system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Plessmann, K.W.; Duif, V.; Angenendt, F.

    1983-06-01

    This database system has been designed with special consideration of the requirements of process-control-application. For that purpose the attribute ''time'' is treated as the essential dimension for processes, affecting data treatment. According to the multiformed requirements of process-control applications the database system is generable, i.e. its size and collection of functions is applicable to each implementation. The system is not adapted to a single data model, therefore several modes can be implemented. Using PEARL for the implementation allows to put the portability of the system to a high standard. (orig.) [de

  2. An Enhanced LVRT Scheme for DFIG-based WECSs under Both Balanced and Unbalanced Grid Voltage Sags

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mohammadi, Jafar; Afsharnia, Saeed; Ebrahimzadeh, Esmaeil

    2017-01-01

    reactive power into the grid. The passive compensator is based on a three-phase stator damping resistor (SDR) located in series with the stator windings. The proposed scheme decreases the negative effects of grid voltage sags in the DFIG system including the rotor over-currents, electromagnetic torque...

  3. Comparison of the effects of SAG-M and whole-blood transfusions on postoperative suppression of delayed hypersensitivity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Hans Jørgen; Hammer, J H; Moesgaard, F

    1991-01-01

    The influence of perioperative whole-blood transfusion and transfusion with erythrocyte suspension (SAG-M blood) on postoperative depression of cell-mediated immunity (CMI) was investigated in 67 patients who underwent elective resection for colorectal cancer. Cell-mediated immunity was assessed...

  4. Simulated Optimum Sowing Date for Forage Pearl Millet Cultivars in Multilocation Trials in Brazilian Semi-Arid Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Rafael D; Boote, Kenneth J; Sollenberger, Lynn E; Neves, Andre L A; Pereira, Luiz G R; Scherer, Carolina B; Gonçalves, Lucio C

    2017-01-01

    Forage production is primarily limited by weather conditions under dryland production systems in Brazilian semi-arid regions, therefore sowing at the appropriate time is critical. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the CSM-CERES-Pearl Millet model from the DSSAT software suite for its ability to simulate growth, development, and forage accumulation of pearl millet [ Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.] at three Brazilian semi-arid locations, and to use the model to study the impact of different sowing dates on pearl millet performance for forage. Four pearl millet cultivars were grown during the 2011 rainy season in field experiments conducted at three Brazilian semi-arid locations, under rainfed conditions. The genetic coefficients of the four pearl millet cultivars were calibrated for the model, and the model performance was evaluated with experimental data. The model was run for 14 sowing dates using long-term historical weather data from three locations, to determine the optimum sowing window. Results showed that performance of the model was satisfactory as indicated by accurate simulation of crop phenology and forage accumulation against measured data. The optimum sowing window varied among locations depending on rainfall patterns, although showing the same trend for cultivars within the site. The best sowing windows were from 15 April to 15 May for the Bom Conselho location; 12 April to 02 May for Nossa Senhora da Gloria; and 17 April to 25 May for Sao Bento do Una. The model can be used as a tool to evaluate the effect of sowing date on forage pearl millet performance in Brazilian semi-arid conditions.

  5. Acute viral hepatitis in adults. Comparison of the radioimmunoassay and counterimmunoelectrophoresis methods of detecting HB/sub s/Ag

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wenzel, R.P.; Teates, C.D.; Galapon, Q.; Barczak, R.; Ling, C.M.; Overby, L.R.

    1975-01-01

    The radioimmunoassay (RIA) and counterimmunoelectrophoretic (CIE) methods were compared in detecting hepatitis B antigen (HB/sub s/Ag) in 407 acute and 336 convalescent sera of adults with viral hepatitis. The CIE method demonstrated that 41 percent of acute and 28 percent of 14- to 17-day serum specimens were HB/sub s/Ag-positive. The RIA method demonstrated seropositivity in 60 percent of acute and 56 percent of convalescent specimens (P less than .001). Eighty-four percent of coded specimens initially positive for HB/sub s/Ag by RIA were found to have subtype antigenic determinants d or y; 92 percent of the HB/sub s/Ag-negative controls were negative for subtype antigens, confirming the specificity of the RIA test. RIA subtyping data corroborated earlier work with immunodiffusion techniques. (U.S.)

  6. 75 FR 25202 - Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines; Order Renewing...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-07

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines; Order Renewing Order Temporarily Denying Export Privileges Orion... Denying the Export Privileges of Respondents Orion Air, S.L. (``Orion Air'') and Syrian Pearl Airlines...

  7. Seedling characters at different temperatures in pearl millet ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The effect of six temperatures ranging from 20 to 45°C on the germination and seedling length of six grain pearl millet genotypes (KS, AM, HG, EC, ZZ and D) was determined. There was significant variation in germination and seedling length across temperatures and among genotypes. As a result, significant temperature ...

  8. Replacing corn with pearl millet (raw and sprouted) with and without enzyme in chickens' diet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afsharmanesh, M; Ghorbani, N; Mehdipour, Z

    2016-04-01

    An experiment was conducted to compare a commercial corn-soya bean meal diet with a pearl millet (raw and sprouted) diet containing less soya bean meal, alone or in combination with exogenous enzyme, on growth performance and ileal villus development of chicks. Two-hundred-and-forty-one-day-old male broilers (10/pen) were randomly allocated to one of the following dietary treatments: (i) a standard corn-soya bean meal control diet (CTL); (ii) a raw pearl millet-soya bean meal diet (PM); (iii) a sprouted pearl millet-soya bean meal diet (SPM); (iv) CTL + exogenous enzymes (CE); (v) PM + exogenous enzymes (PE); and (vi) SPM + exogenous enzymes (SPE) with four replicate pens/treatment. Body weight of birds at day 21 did not differ between those fed the CTL, and SPM and PE diets. In comparison with feeding broilers the CTL diet, feeding the PE and SPM diets caused significant decrease in feed intake, but with equivalent growth and feed efficiency. However, at day 21, feed conversion ratio did not differ between birds fed the CTL diet and those fed the PM, PE and SPM diets. At day 21, broilers fed the PM and PE diets had longer villi (p diet. At day 21, villi width was reduced (p diet. It is concluded that, in comparison with corn, broiler diets formulated with sprouted pearl millet or pearl millet with enzyme require less soya bean meal and can be used to improve growth performance traits and villus development. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  9. Audio-magnetotelluric surveys to constrain the origin of a network of narrow synclines in Eocene limestone, Western Desert, Egypt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarabees, Elhamy A.; Tewksbury, Barbara J.; Mehrtens, Charlotte J.; Younis, Abdellatif

    2017-12-01

    Recent work with high resolution satellite imagery has revealed a network of narrow synclines developed during the Oligocene or Miocene over tens of thousands of square kilometers in Eocene limestone of the Thebes Group in the Western Desert of Egypt. The synclines are non-tectonic, and their scale and geometry strongly resemble sag synclines in Qatar that were produced by dissolution of subsurface evaporites and resulting sag of overlying layers. Evaporite dissolution cannot explain the Egypt synclines, because subsurface evaporites of any significance have never been reported in this part of Egypt. In this study, we use audio-magnetotelluric surveys to illuminate the subsurface under the synclines in order to constrain possible models for their formation. We suspected karst dissolution at depth, and, given a modern water table depth of over 400 m, we expected that dry fracture networks and void spaces under the synclines might result in higher electrical resistivities than surrounding coherent limestone. We also anticipated a significant change from high to low resistivity at the contact between the Thebes Group and the underlying Esna Shale at depths of 400 m or more. Instead, we found localized low resistivity zones extending from about 50-100 m below the surface to depths of more than 400 m that are strongly correlated with synclines. We suggest that these localized low resistivity zones are filled with artesian groundwater that has insufficient hydraulic head to rise to the modern topographic surface and that is localized in subsurface voids and collapse breccias produced by dissolution. Sag of overlying limestone layers is a reasonable model for syncline formation but, given the Oligocene/Miocene age of the synclines, dissolution and sag would be unrelated to young groundwater processes.

  10. Flavonoids and phenolic acids from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum based foods and their functional implications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanisha S Nambiar

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum, considered a poor man’s cereal, may be a repository of dietary antioxidants, especially flavonoids and phenolic acids, which provide bioactive mechanisms to reduce free radical induced oxidative stress and probably play a role in the prevention of ageing and various diseases associated with oxidative stress, such as cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases.Objective: The present study focused on the identification of individual flavonoids and phenolic acids from seven commercial varieties of pearl millet and five samples of pearl millet-based traditional recipes of Banaskantha, Gujarat, India.Methods: Total phenols were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and individual polyphenol separation included the isolation and identification of (a flavonoids, (b phenolic acids, and (c glycoflavones involving interaction with diagnostic reagents and paper chromatographic separation of compounds and their UV-visible spectroscopic studies including hypsochromic and bathchromic shifts with reagents such as AlCl3, AlCl3/HCl, NaOMe, NaOAc,and NaOAc/H3PO3. Five traditional recipes consumed in the pearl millet producing belt of Banaskantha, Gujarat, India, were standardized in the laboratory and analyzed for phenol and individual flavonoids. Results: Total phenols in raw samples ranged from 268.5 - 420mg/100g of DW and 247.5 -Functional Foods in Health and Disease 2012, 2(7:251-264335mg/100g of DW in cooked recipes. The commonly identified flavonoids were tricin, acacetin, 3, 4 Di-OMe luteolin, and 4-OMe tricin. Five phenolic acids were identified: namely vanilic acid, syringic acid, melilotic acid, para-hydroxyl benzoic acid, and salicylic acid.Conclusion: The presence of flavonoids, such as tricin, acacetin, 3, 4 Di-OMe luteolin, and 4-OMe tricin, indicate the chemopreventive efficacy of pearl millet. They may be inversely related to mortality from coronary heart disease and to the incidence

  11. Optimal location of dry ports in the Pan-Pearl River Delta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Qitao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Dry ports have become a very important part of globalization and a cornerstone in port competitiveness. Based on the analytic hierarchy process, this paper established the dry port index system to evaluate the potential location of dry ports linked to the port system in the Pearl River Delta, in a case study covering 115 cities in the Pan - Pearl River Delta. The results show that it is optimal to locate 21 dry ports in the research region, and each dry port serves different areas. There are 4 optimal transport corridors for the dry port logistic network, including Guangzhou- Kunming transport corridor, Guangzhou-Chengdu transport corridor, Guangzhou-Changsha transport corridor and Shenzhen-Nanchang transport corridor.

  12. A sagging along the eastern Chianti Mts., Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coltorti, M.; Ravani, S.; Cornamusini, G.; Ielpi, A.; Verrazzani, F.

    2009-11-01

    A deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DGSD) affects the eastern side of the Chianti Mts. Ridge. It develops in an N-S to NW-SE direction and is > 10 km wide and 3-4 km long. This area corresponds to the eastern side of a main antiform, characterised by east-verging folds and thrusts involving bedrock of the Mesozoic-Paleogene Tuscan Units, particularly sandstones containing interlayered highly fractured and deformed Ligurian rocks (shales and limestones with olistostromes). The foot of the slope is characterised by tilted Plio-Pleistocene deposits unconformably sealing the bedrock structures as folds, thrusts and faults. The most significant morphological features are a main escarpment, trenches, several secondary and counter-slope escarpments that together indicate large-scale gravitational phenomena. The main escarpment is responsible for the headward retreat of the slope, and is deeply segmented by numerous arcuate niches that reveal differential movements of single blocks. The DGSD is also dissected by SW-NE trending streams that often deepen inside the N-S trenches. Minor landslides due to local instability are also present. At the foot of the slope, the older continental Pliocene deposits of the Upper Valdarno Basin crop out. Although tilted by tectonic movements, the deposits have not been severely affected by gravitational deformations. This indicates that the movement is a typical sagging, a large landslide at an embryonic stage, affecting the upper part of the slope but not reaching the valley bottom. The deformations are absorbed in the rock mass which is also partially drained by stream incision that prevents high pore pressure. The occurrence of down-slope and down-movement facing escarpments and up-slope and up-movement facing counter-slope escarpments indicate a sagging characterised by a listric spoon-shaped geometry. The DGSD has a style similar to crustal extensional tectonics such as Morton and Black's crustal attenuation model. Although

  13. Combining unmalted barley and pearling gives good quality brewing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Donkelaar, van Laura H.G.; Hageman, Jos A.; Oguz, Serhat; Noordman, Tom R.; Boom, Remko M.; Goot, van der Atze Jan

    2016-01-01

    Brewing with unmalted barley can reduce the use of raw materials, thereby increasing the efficiency of the brewing process. However, unmalted barley contains several undesired components for brewing and has a low enzymatic activity. Pearling, an abrasive milling method, has been proposed as a

  14. Effect of malting conditions on pearl millet malt quality

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Pelembe, LAM

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The effect of malting conditions on pearl millet malt quality in two varieties, SDMV 89004 and SDMV 91018, was investigated. Grain was steeped and germinated at four temperatures, 20degrees, 25degrees, 30degrees and 35degreesC, over 5 days...

  15. U.S. Department of Defense - Pearl Harbor Special

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawaii saw that seminal moment in history, and those that were there vividly remember that Sunday morning this noise," he said in an oral history on the Pearl Harbor Survivors' Association Web site. " seeing was an attack. "It didn't mean anything to us until a large group of planes came near the

  16. DefenseLink Special: Attack on Pearl Harbor, 65th Anniversary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor has been called a defining moment in U.S. history. It caught the country by Hawaii-based combat planes, were heavily damaged. By crippling the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Japan hoped to

  17. Uptake, translocation, distribution and persistence of 14C-metalaxyl in pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum [L.] Leeke)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, U.S.; Tripathi, R.K.; Kumar, J.; Dwivedi, T.S.

    1986-01-01

    Time course absorption and desorption of metalaxyl by seeds of pearl millet was analysed by following chemical kinetics equations. Uptake of metalaxyl through roots, leaves and seed, its translocation and distribution in different plant parts and persistence following seed application were studied in pearl millet using 14 C-metalaxyl. Both uptake and efflux of metalaxyl by pearl millet seeds were complex and compartmentalized. Distribution inside the seed was not uniform. A major part of applied fungicide remained within the treated plant part, particularly after seed and foliar applications. Metalaxyl was ambimobile inside the plant and was found to get accumulated at apex and margins of leaf blade. No metalaxyl could be detected in grains harvested from plants grown from metalaxyl treated seeds. (orig.) [de

  18. Analysis of changes in sagging type ST-T segment induced by exercise. Assessment of regional myocardial blood flow using quantitative 13NH3 positron emission tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Takuya; Akutsu, Yasushi; Okazaki, Osamu

    1995-01-01

    Regional myocardial blood flow (RMBF) associated with exercise-induced ST depression was assessed using 13 NH 3 positron emission tomography (PET) to determine the significance of horizontal and sagging type ST segments. The subjects were 25 patients with angina pectoris, 25 patients with myocardial infarction, and 5 healthy male volunteers. Eleven regions of interests (ROI) were prepared to calculate RMBF. ST segments were unchanged in 27 patients (Group A) and were depressed in 23 patients (Group B). A 10% increase in RMBF was significantly observed in Group A (74.1%) than Group B (34.8%). In Group B, ST depression was divided into horizontal type (8 patients) and sagging type (15 patients). According to the type of ST depression, RMBF was increased by 10% or more in 50% (4/8) for horizontal type and in 26.7% (4/15) for sagging type. These findings suggested that unfavorable increase in RMBF in stenosiss-related coronary vessels may contribute to the development of ST depression induced by exercise. A constant increase in RMBF in all ROIs, including those with unfavorable RMBF increase, may be involved in the occurrence of horizontal type ST depression; sagging type ST depression may, however, occur by an increased difference in blood flow between unfavorable and favorable RMBF. (N.K.)

  19. Trends and driving mechanism of land-use change in metropolitan areas of Pearl River Delta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Feng-gui; Zhang, Hong-ou; Wang, Juan; Wu, Qi-tao

    2008-10-01

    Taking Pearl River Delta for an example this study focuses on the trends and the driving mechanism of land-use changes in metropolises, in order to achieve the fundamental objectives of LUCC study increasing the awareness on dynamics of global land-use and land-cover changes, and improving the ability of forecasting LUCC. By analyzing the land-use change in Pearl River Delta from 1996 to 2006, it is found that the differences among internal space are notable. By establishing time-sequence-curve with SPSS software, it is shown that trends of land-use change are very clear. With factor analysis on land-use change, the study summarizes four factors of driving mechanism, including factors of economic development level, regional industrial structure, demographic and agricultural structure adjustment, which impact land change in Pearl River Delta to a different extent.

  20. Spatial and vertical distribution of bacteria in the Pearl River estuary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Yomi

    2012-01-31

    Jan 31, 2012 ... Key words: Bacterial community structure, the Pearl River estuary, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis ... change rapidly in response to the change of environ- ..... Chlorinated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in.

  1. Pearling Instabilities of a Viscoelastic Thread

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deblais, A.; Velikov, K. P.; Bonn, D.

    2018-05-01

    Pearling instabilities of slender viscoelastic threads have received much attention, but remain incompletely understood. We study the instabilities in polymer solutions subject to uniaxial elongational flow. Two distinctly different instabilites are observed: beads on a string and blistering. The beads-on-a-string structure arises from a capillary instability whereas the blistering instability has a different origin: it is due to a coupling between stress and polymer concentration. By varying the temperature to change the solution properties we elucidate the interplay between flow and phase separation.

  2. METODOLOGÍA GENERAL PARA CORRELACIONAR SAGS CON EVENTOS AMBIENTALES U OPERATIVOS DEL SISTEMA DE DISTRIBUCIÓN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandro Castillo Guasca

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Es de gran importancia conocer cuáles son las causas  para que se presenten sags en las barrajes de distribución, debido a que la afectación sobre los clientes industriales es de carácter relevante. Por esta razón se planteó  una metodología para buscar la correlación existente entre sags y los eventos ambientales u operativos del sistema de distribución. A manera de ejemplo, se aplicó en tres subestaciones, las cuales se encuentran ubicadas en diferentes sectores de la ciudad. Para el desarrollo de esta metodología, se realizó la correlación de los datos mediante la implementación de tablas dinámicas y programación en Access, donde se evidenció qué tipo de eventos son los que tienen un mayor impacto sobre los clientes. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos se sugiere algunas recomendaciones para mitigar este tipo de eventos en el sistema de distribución.

  3. Optimization of the formulation and technology of pearl millet based 'ready-to-reconstitute' kheer mix powder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunkar, Durga Shankar; Jha, Alok; Mahajan, Ankur

    2014-10-01

    The objective of this study was to optimize the process of manufacturing instant kheer mix based on pearl millet instead of rice. Dairy whitener, pearl millet and powdered sugar were the responses studied by employing the 3-factor Central Composite Rotatable Design. The formulation with 15 g sugar, 30 g dairy whitener and 20 g pearl millet was found suitable for obtaining dry kheer mix. The analyses were based on scores of consistency, cohesiveness, viscosity and overall acceptability. The reconstituted product from the formulated kheer mix had an overall acceptability score of 7.66 and desirability index of 0.7663. The moisture, fat, protein, carbohydrate and ash contents of the dry mix product were 2.8, 4.38, 5.84, 85.88 and 1.1 %, respectively.

  4. Genetic diversity analysis of pearl millet ( Pennisetum glauccum [L ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    between genotype PT 2835/1 and PT 5552 and lowest similarity index was observed between PT 5554 and PT 2835/1. Analysis of RAPD data appears to be helpful in determining the genetic relationship among 20 pearl millet genotypes. The associations among the 20 genotypes were also examined with Principle ...

  5. Pearl millet utilization in ccommercial laying hen diets formulated on a total or digestible amino acid basis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RS Filardi

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacing corn with pearl millet in commercial layer diets, formulated according to the minimal requirements for total and digestible amino acids. Two hundred and forty Lohmann LSL laying hens with 25 weeks of age were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design according to a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement with 3 replicates of 8 birds. Feed was formulated on two amino acid basis (total or digestible according to Rostagno et al. (2000 and there were five pearl millet inclusion levels (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Performance and egg quality were evaluated during five periods of 21 days.At the end of each period, feed intake, egg production, egg weight and feed conversion were evaluated. In the last three days of each period, the following egg quality parameters were evaluated: Haugh Unit, yolk pigmentation index, egg specific weight, shell percentage and shell thickness. Digestible amino acid requirements resulted in decreased feed intake (p<0.01 and increased production costs per mass of eggs (kg or per dozen eggs (p<0.01 compared to total amino acid requirements. There was a linear reduction in feed intake, egg production, egg weight and yolk pigmentation index with increasing inclusion levels of pearl millet. Therefore, increasing levels of replacement of corn by pearl millet affected bird performance negatively. Besides, production costs were higher with increasing pearl millet levels.

  6. Defense Infrastructure: General and Flag Officer Quarters at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2002-01-01

    .... We reviewed 17 GFOQs at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with budgeted maintenance and repair costs of $1,247,300, to determine whether the Navy had properly classified interior shutter costs as maintenance and repair...

  7. Lifting the curse: Pearl Jam’s "Alive" and "Bushleaguer" and the marketplace of meanings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristine Weglarz

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available In tracing how Pearl Jam consciously and unconsciously create their fans by their actions, I argue that work and fandom of the band are synonymous for fans who wish to become producers in a metaphorical marketplace of fandom. I use theories of fandom to examine and explain two important (and related phenomena: first, the relationship between fans and musicians and the creation, adoption, and promotion of a sphere in which fans themselves can becomes producers as well as consumers; and second, the backlash of fans against musicians endorsing a particular political orientation through their compositions and performances. In particular, I focus on that group of Pearl Jam fans who took issue with the band's public disapproval of George W. Bush during their 2003 tour, but whose opposition to the band's position cannot be explained by ideological differences or a belief that music and politics are spheres that should not overlap. Instead, these fans oppose a shift they perceive in the band's attitude toward a democratic exchange of meanings, an important way for Pearl Jam fans to become producers rather than just consumers. As a result, the backlash from these fans, while sparked by Pearl Jam's anti-Bush live performance of "Bushleaguer," is due more to a disjunction between the band's long-term endorsement of democratic and participatory politics and what the fans saw a shift toward counterdemocratic prescriptive politics.

  8. Mapping ground water vulnerability to pesticide leaching with a process-based metamodel of EuroPEARL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiktak, A; Boesten, J J T I; van der Linden, A M A; Vanclooster, M

    2006-01-01

    To support EU policy, indicators of pesticide leaching at the European level are required. For this reason, a metamodel of the spatially distributed European pesticide leaching model EuroPEARL was developed. EuroPEARL considers transient flow and solute transport and assumes Freundlich adsorption, first-order degradation and passive plant uptake of pesticides. Physical parameters are depth dependent while (bio)-chemical parameters are depth, temperature, and moisture dependent. The metamodel is based on an analytical expression that describes the mass fraction of pesticide leached. The metamodel ignores vertical parameter variations and assumes steady flow. The calibration dataset was generated with EuroPEARL and consisted of approximately 60,000 simulations done for 56 pesticides with different half-lives and partitioning coefficients. The target variable was the 80th percentile of the annual average leaching concentration at 1-m depth from a time series of 20 yr. The metamodel explains over 90% of the variation of the original model with only four independent spatial attributes. These parameters are available in European soil and climate databases, so that the calibrated metamodel could be applied to generate maps of the predicted leaching concentration in the European Union. Maps generated with the metamodel showed a good similarity with the maps obtained with EuroPEARL, which was confirmed by means of quantitative performance indicators.

  9. Monitoring of persistent organic pollutants in seawater of the Pearl River Estuary with rapid on-site active SPME sampling technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Siming; He, Shuming; Xu, Hao; Wu, Peiyan; Jiang, Ruifen; Zhu, Fang; Luan, Tiangang; Ouyang, Gangfeng

    2015-01-01

    An on-site active solid-phase microextraction (SPME) sampling technique coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for sampling and monitoring 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 8 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in seawater was developed. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the sampling-rate calibration method was practical and could be used for the quantification of on-site sampling. The proposed method was employed for field tests which covered large amounts of water samples in the Pearl River Estuary in rainy and dry seasons. The on-site SPME sampling method can avoid the contamination of sample, the losses of analytes during sample transportation, as well as the usage of solvent and time-consuming sample preparation process. Results indicated that the technique with the designed device can address the requirement of modern environment water analysis. In addition, the sources, bioaccumulation and potential risk to human of the PAHs and OCPs in seawater of the Pearl River Estuary were discussed. - Highlights: • SPME on-site active sampling technique was developed and validated. • The technique was employed for field tests in the Pearl River Estuary. • 16 PAHs and 8 OCPs in the seawater of Pearl River Estuary were monitored. • The potential risk of the PAHs and OCPs in Pearl River Estuary were discussed. - An on-site active SPME sampling technique was developed and successfully applied for sampling and monitoring 16 PAHs and 8 OCPs in the Pearl River Estuary

  10. Mutation breeding of pearl millet and sorghum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanna, W W [United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, University of Georgia, College of Agricultural Experiment Stations, Coastal Plain Station, Agronomy Department, Tifton, GA (United States)

    1982-07-01

    Pearl millet and sorghum are important food and feed crops grown mostly in semi-arid regions of the world. Although there exists a large amount of genetic variability in both species, it does not always satisfy the needs of plant breeders in improving varieties with regard to yield, quality, resistance or environmental adaptation. Plant breeders interested in using induced mutations for variety improvement will find in this review information about the techniques used by others. (author)

  11. Mutation breeding of pearl millet and sorghum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanna, W.W.

    1982-01-01

    Pearl millet and sorghum are important food and feed crops grown mostly in semi-arid regions of the world. Although there exists a large amount of genetic variability in both species, it does not always satisfy the needs of plant breeders in improving varieties with regard to yield, quality, resistance or environmental adaptation. Plant breeders interested in using induced mutations for variety improvement will find in this review information about the techniques used by others. (author)

  12. The Effect of Socio-Economic Factors on Pearl Millet ( Pennisetum ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study investigated farmers' socio-economic factor affecting pearl millet production in randomly selected villages in Magumeri Local Government Area of Borno State. A total of 80 farmers were selected through stratified random sampling and were administered with questionnaires. The results revealed that educational ...

  13. More frequent flooding? Changes in flood frequency in the Pearl River basin, China, since 1951 and over the past 1000 years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qiang; Gu, Xihui; Singh, Vijay P.; Shi, Peijun; Sun, Peng

    2018-05-01

    Flood risks across the Pearl River basin, China, were evaluated using a peak flood flow dataset covering a period of 1951-2014 from 78 stations and historical flood records of the past 1000 years. The generalized extreme value (GEV) model and the kernel estimation method were used to evaluate frequencies and risks of hazardous flood events. Results indicated that (1) no abrupt changes or significant trends could be detected in peak flood flow series at most of the stations, and only 16 out of 78 stations exhibited significant peak flood flow changes with change points around 1990. Peak flood flow in the West River basin increased and significant increasing trends were identified during 1981-2010; decreasing peak flood flow was found in coastal regions and significant trends were observed during 1951-2014 and 1966-2014. (2) The largest three flood events were found to cluster in both space and time. Generally, basin-scale flood hazards can be expected in the West and North River basins. (3) The occurrence rate of floods increased in the middle Pearl River basin but decreased in the lower Pearl River basin. However, hazardous flood events were observed in the middle and lower Pearl River basin, and this is particularly true for the past 100 years. However, precipitation extremes were subject to moderate variations and human activities, such as building of levees, channelization of river systems, and rapid urbanization; these were the factors behind the amplification of floods in the middle and lower Pearl River basin, posing serious challenges for developing measures of mitigation of flood hazards in the lower Pearl River basin, particularly the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.

  14. Making Space for Red Tide: Discolored Water and the Early Twentieth Century Bayscape of Japanese Pearl Cultivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ericson, Kjell

    2017-05-01

    "Red tide" has become a familiar shorthand for unusual changes in the color of ocean waters. It is intimately related both to blooms of creatures like dinoflagellates and to the devastating effects they pose to coastal fisheries. This essay tracks the early twentieth century emergence of discolored water as an aquacultural problem, known in Japan as akashio, and its trans-oceanic transformation into the terms and practices of "red tide" in the post-World War II United States. For Japan's "Pearl King" Mikimoto Kōkichi and his contacts in diverse marine scientific communities, the years-long cycle of guarding and cultivating a pearl oyster went together with the ascription of moral qualities to tiny creatures that posed a threat to farmed bayscapes of pearl monoculture. As akashio, discolored water went from curiosity to marine livestock pest, one that at times left dead pearl oysters in its wake. Red tide arose from the sustained study of the mechanisms by which changes in the biological and chemical composition of seawater might become deadly to exclusively-claimed shellfish along Japanese coastlines, but came to be seen as a way to understand aquatic manifestations of harm in other parts of the littoral world.

  15. Mixing behavior of chromophoric dissolved organic matter in the Pearl River Estuary in spring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Xia; Pan, Jiayi; Devlin, Adam T.

    2018-02-01

    Mixing behavior of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and relevant hydrodynamic parameters such as horizontal transport and vertical mixing are identified and discussed based on a set of sampling data obtained during a cruise in May 2014. Using a theoretical conservative mixing model, the surface CDOM in the PRE in spring is classified into two groups by the CDOM absorption-spectral slope relationship (a(300) vs S(275-295)): First, terrigenous CDOM under a non-conservative mixing condition, and removal processes such as photobleaching are suggested to happen; second, marine CDOM behaves conservatively during mixing. The mixing of CDOM at the bottom is shown to be conservative. Controlled by the two-layer gravitational circulation in the PRE, the northern and western estuary shows higher CDOM absorption and lower spectral slope than the southern and eastern estuary, and the surface CDOM presents higher absorption and lower spectral slope than the bottom. Horizontal transport is hypothesized to be the dominant hydrodynamic mechanism affecting CDOM variation and mixing behavior in the PRE, while the vertical mixing has less influence.

  16. 75 FR 66728 - Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines: Orion Air, S.L...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines: Orion Air, S.L., Canada Real de Merinas, 7 Edificio 5, 3'A... Denying the Export Privileges of Respondents Orion Air, S.L. (``Orion Air'') and Syrian Pearl Airlines...

  17. Cereal domestication and evolution of branching: evidence for soft selection in the Tb1 orthologue of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br..

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie-Stanislas Remigereau

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: During the Neolithic revolution, early farmers altered plant development to domesticate crops. Similar traits were often selected independently in different wild species; yet the genetic basis of this parallel phenotypic evolution remains elusive. Plant architecture ranks among these target traits composing the domestication syndrome. We focused on the reduction of branching which occurred in several cereals, an adaptation known to rely on the major gene Teosinte-branched1 (Tb1 in maize. We investigate the role of the Tb1 orthologue (Pgtb1 in the domestication of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum, an African outcrossing cereal. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Gene cloning, expression profiling, QTL mapping and molecular evolution analysis were combined in a comparative approach between pearl millet and maize. Our results in pearl millet support a role for PgTb1 in domestication despite important differences in the genetic basis of branching adaptation in that species compared to maize (e.g. weaker effects of PgTb1. Genetic maps suggest this pattern to be consistent in other cereals with reduced branching (e.g. sorghum, foxtail millet. Moreover, although the adaptive sites underlying domestication were not formerly identified, signatures of selection pointed to putative regulatory regions upstream of both Tb1 orthologues in maize and pearl millet. However, the signature of human selection in the pearl millet Tb1 is much weaker in pearl millet than in maize. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that some level of parallel evolution involved at least regions directly upstream of Tb1 for the domestication of pearl millet and maize. This was unanticipated given the multigenic basis of domestication traits and the divergence of wild progenitor species for over 30 million years prior to human selection. We also hypothesized that regular introgression of domestic pearl millet phenotypes by genes from the wild gene pool could explain

  18. Rheological properties of reduced fat ice cream mix containing octenyl succinylated pearl millet starch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Monika; Singh, Ashish K; Yadav, Deep N

    2017-05-01

    The octenyl succinyl anhydride (OSA) esterified pearl millet ( Pennisetum typhoides ) starch was evaluated as fat replacer in soft serve ice cream in comparison to other fat replacers viz. inulin, whey protein concentrate-70 and commercial starch. During temperature sweep test, the yield stress and flow behaviour index of un-pasteurized ice cream mixes increased as the temperature increased from 40 to 80 °C, while the consistency index decreased. Consistency index of aged ice cream mixes containing 2% fat replacer was higher as compared to mixes with 1% level. The aged ice cream mixes exhibited non-Newtonian behaviour as flow behaviour index values were less than one. Apparent viscosity (at 50 s -1 shear rate) of control as well as ice cream mix containing 1% OSA-esterified pearl millet starch samples was 417 and 415 mPas, respectively and did not differ significantly. The overrun of the ice cream (with 5 and 7.5% fat) containing 1 and 2% of above fat replacers ranged between 29.7 and 34.3% and was significantly lower than control (40.3%). The percent melted ice cream was also low for the ice creams containing 2% of above fat replacers at 5% fat content as compared to control. However, sensory acceptability and rheological characteristics of reduced fat ice creams containing 1.0 and 2.0% OSA-esterified pearl millet starch were at par with other fat replacers under the study. Thus, OSA-esterified pearl millet starch has potential to be used as fat replacer in reduced fat ice cream.

  19. Petrographic and geochemical study on cave pearls from Kanaan Cave (Lebanon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nader Fadi H.

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The Kanaan cave is situated at the coastal zone, north of Beirut City (capital of Lebanon. The cave is located within the upper part of the Jurassic Kesrouane Formation (Liassic to Oxfordian which consists mainly of micritic limestone. Twenty seven cave pearls were subjected to petrographic (conventional and scanning electron microscopy and geochemical analyses (major/trace elements and stable isotopes. The cave pearls were found in an agitated splash-pool with low mud content. They are believed to have formed through chemical precipitation of calcite in water over-saturated with calcium. The nucleus and micritic laminae show δ18OV-PDB values of about -5.0‰ and δ13C V-PDB values of -11.8‰, while the surrounding calcite spar laminae resulted in δ18OV-PDB ranging between -5.3 and -5.2‰, and δ13C V-PDB between -12.3 and -12.1‰. A genesis/diagenesis model for these speleothems is proposed involving recrystallization which has selectively affected the inner layers of the cave pearls. This is chiefly invoked by sparry calcite crystals ‘invading’ the inner micrite cortical laminae and the nuclei (cross-cutting the pre-existing mud-envelopes, and the slight depletion in δ18O values from inner to outer cortical layers. The calculated δ18OV-SMOW of the water (-4.2‰ matches with data on meteoric water signature for the central eastern Mediterranean region.

  20. Super-light and pearl-chain technology for support of ancient structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Schmidt, Jacob Wittrup; Goltermann, Per

    2014-01-01

    optimal and often curved paths of strong concrete assembled from smaller segments by prestressing wires, so that expensive curved moulds and supports can be avoided. Pearl-chains can provide a resistance to impact and earthquake of ancient structures. High-strength concrete and prestressed carbon fibre......The patented super-light technology is inspired by ancient Roman concrete structures with strong concrete placed, where the engineer would like the forces to be, and light concrete fills out the shape stabilizing the strong and protecting it. Pearl-chain technology is invented in order to create...... reinforcement may be applied, because the new technology solves the main problems for that, since the light aggregate concrete provides a fire protection needed for both materials and provides a stabilization of the slender cores in compression. The paper explains more about the new technology...

  1. Pearls of mandibular trauma management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koshy, John C; Feldman, Evan M; Chike-Obi, Chuma J; Bullocks, Jamal M

    2010-11-01

    Mandibular trauma is a common problem seen by plastic surgeons. When fractures occur, they have the ability to affect the patient's occlusion significantly, cause infection, and lead to considerable pain. Interventions to prevent these sequelae require either closed or open forms of reduction and fixation. Physicians determining how to manage these injuries should take into consideration the nature of the injury, background information regarding the patient's health, and the patient's comorbidities. Whereas general principles guide the management of the majority of injuries, special consideration must be paid to the edentulous patient, complex and comminuted fractures, and pediatric patients. These topics are discussed in this article, with a special emphasis on pearls of mandibular trauma management.

  2. Inclusion of brown midrib dwarf pearl millet silage in the diet of lactating dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, M T; Melgar, A; Oh, J; Nedelkov, K; Sanchez, G; Roth, G W; Hristov, A N

    2018-06-01

    Brown midrib brachytic dwarf pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) forage harvested at the flag leaf visible stage and subsequently ensiled was investigated as a partial replacement of corn silage in the diet of high-producing dairy cows. Seventeen lactating Holstein cows were fed 2 diets in a crossover design experiment with 2 periods of 28 d each. Both diets had forage:concentrate ratios of 60:40. The control diet (CSD) was based on corn silage and alfalfa haylage, and in the treatment diet, 20% of the corn silage dry matter (corresponding to 10% of the dietary dry matter) was replaced with pearl millet silage (PMD). The effects of partial substitution of corn silage with pearl millet silage on dry matter intake, milk yield, milk components, fatty acid profile, apparent total-tract digestibility of nutrients, N utilization, and enteric methane emissions were analyzed. The pearl millet silage was higher in crude protein and neutral detergent fiber and lower in lignin and starch than the corn silage. Diet did not affect dry matter intake or energy-corrected milk yield, which averaged 46.7 ± 1.92 kg/d. The PMD treatment tended to increase milk fat concentration, had no effect on milk fat yield, and increased milk urea N. Concentrations and yields of milk protein and lactose were not affected by diet. Apparent total-tract digestibility of dry matter decreased from 66.5% in CSD to 64.5% in PMD. Similarly, organic matter and crude protein digestibility was decreased by PMD, whereas neutral- and acid-detergent fiber digestibility was increased. Total milk trans fatty acid concentration was decreased by PMD, with a particular decrease in trans-10 18:1. Urinary urea and fecal N excretion increased with PMD compared with CSD. Milk N efficiency decreased with PMD. Carbon dioxide emission was not different between the diets, but PMD increased enteric methane emission from 396 to 454 g/d and increased methane yield and intensity. Substituting corn silage with brown midrib dwarf

  3. Meiosis in elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) (Poaceae, Poales) and their interspecific hybrids

    OpenAIRE

    Techio, Vânia Helena; Davide, Lisete Chamma; Pereira, Antônio Vander

    2006-01-01

    The cultivated and sexually compatible species Pennisetum purpureum (elephant grass, 2n = 4x = 28) and Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet, 2n = 2x = 14) can undergo hybridization which favors the amplification of their genetic background and the introgression of favorable alleles into breeding programs. The main problem with interspecific hybrids of these species is infertility due to triploidy (2n = 3x = 21). This study describes meiosis in elephant grass x pearl millet hybrids and their proge...

  4. In vitro transformation of pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum (L). R ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The plasmids pULGU1 and pEmuGN were introduced by biolistics in embryogenic cell suspensions of pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum. The plasmid pULGU1 contained the mutant acetolactate synthase (ALS) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, responsible for resistance to the chlorsulfuron herbicide. The plasmid pEmuGN ...

  5. Performance Improvement of DFIG Wind Turbine Using Series Grid-Side Converter under Unbalanced Grid Voltage and Voltage Sag Conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shokri, Yunes; Ebrahimzadeh, Esmaeil; Lesani, Hamid

    2014-01-01

    under unbalanced grid voltage and small voltage sag conditions without needing additional DC link capacitor or energy storage unlike other methods. The control system includes negative and positive sequence controllers which make the stator voltage balanced and keep it constant at the nominal value...

  6. Source-receptor relationships for PM2.5 during typical pollution episodes in the Pearl River Delta city cluster, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Q.; Liu, Y.; Hong, Y.; Wang, X.; Chan, P.; Chen, X.; Lai, A.; Wang, M.; Chen, X.

    2017-12-01

    Located in the Southern China monsoon region, pollution days in Pearl River Delta (PRD) were classified into "Western type", "Central type" or "Eastern type", with a relative percentage of 67%, 24% and 9%, respectively. Using this classification system, three typical pollution events were selected for numerical simulations using the WRF-Chem model. The source sensitivity method for anthropogenic emissions of PM2.5 and its precursors was applied to identify the source-receptor relationships for PM2.5 among 9 cities in PRD. For "Western type" case, the PRD region was under control of a high-pressure system with easterly prevailing winds. The PM2.5 concentrations in the western PRD region were higher than those in the eastern region, with emissions from cities in the eastern PRD region having higher contributions. Within the PRD's urban cluster, PM2.5 in Huizhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen was mainly derived from local emissions, whereas the PM2.5 in the other cities was primarily derived from external transport. For "Eastern type" case, the PRD was influenced by Typhoon Soulik with westerly prevailing winds. Emissions from cities in the western PRD region had the highest impacts on the overall PM2.5 concentration. PM2.5 in Jiangmen and Foshan was primarily derived from local emissions. Regarding "Central type" case, the PRD region was under control of a uniform pressure field with low wind speed. PM2.5 concentrations of each city were primarily caused by local emissions. Overall, wind flows played a significant role in the transport and spatial distribution of PM2.5 across the PRD region. Ideally, local governments would be wise to establish joint prevention and control measures to reduce regional atmospheric pollution, especially for "Western type" pollution.

  7. Perfect-use and typical-use Pearl Index of a contraceptive mobile app.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berglund Scherwitzl, E; Lundberg, O; Kopp Kallner, H; Gemzell Danielsson, K; Trussell, J; Scherwitzl, R

    2017-12-01

    The Natural Cycles application is a fertility awareness-based contraceptive method that uses dates of menstruation and basal body temperature to inform couples whether protected intercourse is needed to prevent pregnancies. Our purpose with this study is to investigate the contraceptive efficacy of the mobile application by evaluating the perfect- and typical-use Pearl Index. In this prospective observational study, 22,785 users of the application logged a total of 18,548 woman-years of data into the application. We used these data to calculate typical- and perfect-use Pearl Indexes, as well as 13-cycle pregnancy rates using life-table analysis. We found a typical-use Pearl Index of 6.9 pregnancies per 100 woman-years [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.5-7.2], corrected to 6.8 (95% CI: 6.4-7.2) when truncating users after 12months. We estimated a 13-cycle typical-use failure rate of 8.3% (95% CI: 7.8-8.9). We found that the perfect-use Pearl Index was 1.0 pregnancy per 100 woman-years (95% CI: 0.5-1.5). Finally, we estimated that the rate of pregnancies from cycles where the application erroneously flagged a fertile day as infertile was 0.5 (95% CI: 0.4-0.7) per 100 woman-years. We estimated a discontinuation rate over 12months of 54%. This study shows that the efficacy of a contraceptive mobile application is higher than usually reported for traditional fertility awareness-based methods. The application may contribute to reducing the unmet need for contraception. The measured typical- and perfect-use efficacies of the mobile application Natural Cycles are important parameters for women considering their contraceptive options as well as for the clinicians advising them. The large available data set in this paper allows for future studies on acceptability, for example, by studying the efficacy for different cohorts and geographic regions. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Oxidizable carbon and humic substances in rotation systems with brachiaria/livestock and pearl millet/no livestock in the Brazilian Cerrado

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Loss

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The crop-livestock integration system significantly increases the carbon content in chemical fractions of soil organic matter (SOM. This study aimed to evaluate chemical indicators of SOM attributes for sites under brachiaria/livestock and pearl millet/no livestock in Goias, Brazil. A third area covered with natural Cerrado vegetation (Cerradão served as reference. Soil was randomly sampled at 0-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm. Total organic carbon stocks (TOC, oxidizable carbon fractions (OCF (F1>F2>F3>F4, carbon content in the humin (C-HUM, humic acid (C-HAF and fulvic acid (C-FAF fractions were evaluated. F1/F4, F1+F2/F3+F4, C-HAF/C-FAF and (C-HAF+C-FAF/C-HUM indices were calculated, as well as stocks chemical SOM fractions. Brachiaria/livestock produced greater TOC stocks than pearl millet/no livestock (0-5, 5-10 and 10-20 cm. In terms of OCF, brachiaria/livestock generally exhibited higher levels in F1, F2, F4 and F1/F4 than pearl millet/no livestock. C-HUM (0-10 cm and C-HAF (0-20 cm stocks were larger in brachiaria/livestock than pearl millet/no livestock. Compared to the Cerradão, brachiaria/livestock locations displayed higher values for TOC (5-10 and 10-20 cm, C-HAF and C-HAF/C-FAF (5-10 cm stocks. TOC, C-HAF stock and OCF show that land management with brachiaria/livestock was more efficient in increasing SOM than pearl millet/no livestock. Moreover, when compared with pearl millet/no livestock, brachiaria/livestock provided a more balanced distribution of very labile (F1 and recalcitrant (F4 carbon throughout soil layers, greater SOM humification. Brachiaria/livestock leads to higher values of F1 and F4 in depth when compared to pearl millet/livestock and provides a more homogeneous distribution of C-FAF and C-HAF in depth compared to Cerradão.

  9. Isolation and culture of protoplasts of Côte d'Ivoire's pearl millet ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SARAH

    2015-08-31

    . Journal of Biology and Chemical Science 8 (5):. 2222-2231. Timbo de Oliveira AL, Davide LC, Pereira Pinto JEB,. Pereira AV, 2010. Protoplast production from. Napier grass and Pearl millet triploid hybrids.Ciens.Agrotec.

  10. Comparative analysis of the transcriptome in tissues secreting purple and white nacre in the pearl mussel Hyriopsis cumingii.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiyi Bai

    Full Text Available The triangle sail mussel Hyriopsis cumingii (Lea is the most important mussel species used for commercial freshwater pearl production in China. Mussel color is an important indicator of pearl quality. To identify genes involved in the nacre coloring, we conducted RNA-seq and obtained 541,268 sequences (298 bp average size and 440,034 sequences (293 bp average size in secreting purple and white nacre libraries (P- and W-libraries, respectively. The 981,302 Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs were assembled into 47,812 contigs and 289,386 singletons. In BLASTP searches of the deduced protein, 22,495 were proteins with functional annotations. Thirty-three genes involved in pearl or shell formation were identified. Digital expression analysis identified a total of 358 differentially expressed genes, and 137 genes in the P-library and 221 genes in the W-library showed significantly higher expression. Furthermore, a set of SSR motifs and SNPs between the two samples was identified from the ESTs, which provided the markers for genetic linkage, QTL analysis and future breeding. These EST sequences provided valuable information to further understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation, color determination and evolution of the pearl or shell.

  11. Effect of food processing of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) IKMP-5 on the level of phenolics, phytate, iron and zinc

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zanabria Eyzaguirre, R.; Nienaltowska, K.; Jong, de L.E.Q.; Hasenack, B.B.E.; Nout, M.J.R.

    2006-01-01

    Pearl millet is consumed as a staple food in semi-arid tropical regions. With a view to upgrading the micronutrient status of pearl millet-based foods, the effects of single operations and of porridge preparation scenarios on levels and in vitro solubility (IVS) of iron and zinc and mineral

  12. Control of Polychaetes by Dipping Infected Pearl Oyster on Different Salinity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yani Hadiroseyani

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Dip treatment on pearl oysters (Pinctada maxima was conducted in different concentrations of saline water to eliminate boring polychaetes. Results shows that polychaetes leave the osyters which treated on saline water at 0 ppt, 45 ppt, and 60 ppt as long as 15 minutes each. It also shows that the oysters got high survival rate 7 days after the treatment. Key words : Polychaetes, pearl oyster, dipping, salinity   ABSTRAK Pengendalian polikaeta pengebor dengan menggunakan berbagai konsentrasi larutan garam telah dilakukan pada tiram mutiara (Pinctada maxima. Berdasarkan jumlah polikaeta yang keluar, hasil percobaan ini menunjukkan bahwa perendaman dengan konsentrasi garam 0 ppt. 45 ppt, dan 60 ppt selama 15 menit lebih efektif dibandingkan pada konsentrasi 15 dan 30 ppt. Tingkat kelangsungan hidup tiram mutiara yang diamati 7 hari setelah perendaman dalam larutan garam mencapai 100%. Kata kunci : Polikaeta. tiram mutiara, perendaman. salinitas

  13. Engineering safe and secure cyber-physical systems the specification PEARL approach

    CERN Document Server

    Gumzej, Roman

    2016-01-01

    This book introduces the concept of holistic design and development of cyber physical systems to achieve their safe and secure operation. It shows that by following the standards for embedded system’s safety and using appropriate hardware and software components inherently safe system’s architectures can be devised and certified. While the standards already enable testing and certification of inherently safe and sound hardware, this is still not the case with software. The book demonstrates that Specification PEARL(SPEARL) addresses this issue and proposes appropriate solutions from the viewpoints of software engineering as well as concrete program components. By doing so it reduces the complexity of cyber physical systems design in an innovative way. Three ultimate goals are being followed in the course of defining this new PEARL standard, namely: 1. simplicity over complexity, 2. inherent real-time ability, and 3. conformity to safety integrity and security capability levels.

  14. Meiosis in elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (Poaceae, Poales and their interspecific hybrids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vânia Helena Techio

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The cultivated and sexually compatible species Pennisetum purpureum (elephant grass, 2n = 4x = 28 and Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet, 2n = 2x = 14 can undergo hybridization which favors the amplification of their genetic background and the introgression of favorable alleles into breeding programs. The main problem with interspecific hybrids of these species is infertility due to triploidy (2n = 3x = 21. This study describes meiosis in elephant grass x pearl millet hybrids and their progenitors. Panicles were prepared according to the conventional protocol for meiotic studies and Alexander’s stain was used for assessing pollen viability. Pearl millet accessions presented regular meiosis with seven bivalents and high pollen viability. For elephant grass, 14 bivalents in diakinesis and metaphase I were observed. The BAG 63 elephant grass accession, derived from tissue culture, presented a high frequency of meiotic abnormalities. The three hybrid accessions presented a high frequency of abnormalities characterized by irregular chromosomal segregation which resulted in the formation of sterile pollen.

  15. Japan's Monroe Doctrine?: Re-Framing the Story of Pearl Harbor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murnane, John R.

    2007-01-01

    Ever since War Department propaganda films set the mold, historians have pretty much followed: the road to Pearl Harbor began in 1931 with Japanese aggression in Manchuria. Any "revision" regarding the War in the Pacific has its own set of problems--engendering controversy, often running up against patriotic sentiments and the tendency…

  16. Surface deformation during an action potential in pearled cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mussel, Matan; Fillafer, Christian; Ben-Porath, Gal; Schneider, Matthias F.

    2017-11-01

    Electric pulses in biological cells (action potentials) have been reported to be accompanied by a propagating cell-surface deformation with a nanoscale amplitude. Typically, this cell surface is covered by external layers of polymer material (extracellular matrix, cell wall material, etc.). It was recently demonstrated in excitable plant cells (Chara braunii) that the rigid external layer (cell wall) hinders the underlying deformation. When the cell membrane was separated from the cell wall by osmosis, a mechanical deformation, in the micrometer range, was observed upon excitation of the cell. The underlying mechanism of this mechanical pulse has, to date, remained elusive. Herein we report that Chara cells can undergo a pearling instability, and when the pearled fragments were excited even larger and more regular cell shape changes were observed (˜10 -100 μ m in amplitude). These transient cellular deformations were captured by a curvature model that is based on three parameters: surface tension, bending rigidity, and pressure difference across the surface. In this paper these parameters are extracted by curve-fitting to the experimental cellular shapes at rest and during excitation. This is a necessary step to identify the mechanical parameters that change during an action potential.

  17. A high-density SNP genetic linkage map for the silver-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima: a valuable resource for gene localisation and marker-assisted selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, David B; Jerry, Dean R; Khatkar, Mehar S; Raadsma, Herman W; Zenger, Kyall R

    2013-11-20

    The silver-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima, is an important tropical aquaculture species extensively farmed for the highly sought "South Sea" pearls. Traditional breeding programs have been initiated for this species in order to select for improved pearl quality, but many economic traits under selection are complex, polygenic and confounded with environmental factors, limiting the accuracy of selection. The incorporation of a marker-assisted selection (MAS) breeding approach would greatly benefit pearl breeding programs by allowing the direct selection of genes responsible for pearl quality. However, before MAS can be incorporated, substantial genomic resources such as genetic linkage maps need to be generated. The construction of a high-density genetic linkage map for P. maxima is not only essential for unravelling the genomic architecture of complex pearl quality traits, but also provides indispensable information on the genome structure of pearl oysters. A total of 1,189 informative genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were incorporated into linkage map construction. The final linkage map consisted of 887 SNPs in 14 linkage groups, spans a total genetic distance of 831.7 centimorgans (cM), and covers an estimated 96% of the P. maxima genome. Assessment of sex-specific recombination across all linkage groups revealed limited overall heterochiasmy between the sexes (i.e. 1.15:1 F/M map length ratio). However, there were pronounced localised differences throughout the linkage groups, whereby male recombination was suppressed near the centromeres compared to female recombination, but inflated towards telomeric regions. Mean values of LD for adjacent SNP pairs suggest that a higher density of markers will be required for powerful genome-wide association studies. Finally, numerous nacre biomineralization genes were localised providing novel positional information for these genes. This high-density SNP genetic map is the first comprehensive linkage

  18. Sectorial Water Use Trends in the Urbanizing Pearl River Delta, China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yao, M.; Werners, S.E.; Hutjes, R.W.A.; Kabat, P.; Huang, H.Q.

    2015-01-01

    Assessing and managing water use is crucial for supporting sustainable river basin management and regional development. The first consistent and comprehensive assessment of sectorial water use in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is presented by analysing homogenized annual water use data from 2000 to

  19. Investigating the Impacts of Landuse-landcover (LULC Change in the Pearl River Delta Region on Water Quality in the Pearl River Estuary and Hong Kong’s Coast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongyan Xi

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Water quality information in the coastal region of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary (PRE is of great concern to the local community. Due to great landuse-landcover (LULC changes with rapid industrialization and urbanization in the Pearl River Delta (PRD region, water quality in the PRE has worsened during the last 20 years. Frequent red tide and harmful algal blooms have occurred in the estuary and its adjacent coastal waters since the 1980s and have caused important economic losses, also possibly threatening to the coastal environment, fishery, and public health in Hong Kong. In addition, recent literature shows that water nutrients in Victoria Harbor of Hong Kong have been proven to be strongly influenced by both the Pearl River and sewage effluent in the wet season (May to September, but it is still unclear how the PRE diluted water intrudes into Victoria Harbor. Due to the cloudy and rainy conditions in the wet season in Hong Kong, ASAR images will be used to monitor the PRE river plumes and track the intruding routes of PRE water nutrients. In this paper, we first review LULC change in the PRD and then show our preliminary results to analyze water quality spatial and temporal information from remote observations with different sensors in the coastal region and estuary. The study will also emphasizes on time series of analysis of LULC trends related to annual sediment yields and critical source areas of erosion for the PRD region since the 1980s.

  20. Super-light Structures with Pearl-chain Reinforcement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hertz, Kristian Dahl; Bagger, Anne

    2010-01-01

    Steel structures are considered to be light compared to concrete structures. This paper presents a newly invented type of structure which is often light compared to steel structures, and therefore it is called "Super-light Structures", or SLS. The basic idea of SLS is to build a skeleton...... of prefabricated segments of a strong material, assembled by one or more prestressing wires. By means of pearl-chain reinforcement, it becomes affordable to provide structures with a wide variety of shapes. This allows a more resource-economical design, because it removes practical hindrances for application...

  1. On the stability of whistler and 'pearl' type electromagnetic waves in the magnetosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buloshnikov, A.M.; Feodorov, E.E.

    1977-01-01

    Nonlinear evolution of 'whistlers' and pearls in magnetosphere has been considered. The analysis of the possibility of side-band generation in two particular cases (for the train with abrupt boundaries and for the wave train with the amplitude which is increasing gradually) has been studied. The theoretical results have been compared with the known experimental data to solve the problem. The investigation concerns mainly electron-cyclotron waves. The conclusions are the following: the stability of whistler depends on the steepness of wave train increase. It is possible that such effect was observed in the side-bands generation by the pearls. It is a positive argument in the application of nonlinear theory of side-bands with the ion-cyclotron waves propagating in the magnetosphere of the earth

  2. Avaliação do antígeno SAG2a recombinante de Toxoplasma gondii como um potencial marcador diagnóstico para Toxoplasmose humana aguda

    OpenAIRE

    Béla, Samantha Ribeiro

    2007-01-01

    Proteínas recombinantes têm sido utilizadas para o diagnóstico sorológico da infecção por Toxoplasma gondii para diferenciar entre as fases aguda e crônica da toxoplasmose. Neste estudo, foi avaliada a reatividade de anticorpos IgG e IgG1 através de imunoensaios em soros de pacientes com toxoplasmose aguda e crônica dirigidos contra dois antígenos recombinantes clonados e expressos em E. coli, SAG2A (molécula recombinante total) e SAG2A(DELTA) (molécula recombinante deletada do...

  3. Spatial and vertical distribution of bacteria in the Pearl River estuary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In order to investigate the spatial and vertical change of bacteria community structure in the Pearl River estuary sediment, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and multivariate statistical analyses were carried out in this study. Results of multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS) were in good agreement with the ...

  4. Effect of domestic processing on the polyphenol content and bioaccessibility in finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hithamani, Gavirangappa; Srinivasan, Krishnapura

    2014-12-01

    Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) were evaluated for polyphenolic content and their bioaccessibility. Total polyphenols of native finger millet was 10.2mg/g which reduced by 50% after sprouting or pressure-cooking, while 12-19% reduction was seen after open-pan boiling. Total flavonoids of the grain reduced drastically on sprouting, pressure-cooking or open-pan boiling. Concentration of phenolic acids generally increased during sprouting and roasting of finger millet. Pressure cooking, open-pan boiling and microwave-heating reduced the bioaccessible polyphenols by 30-35%, while the same was increased by 67% by sprouting. Significant reduction of total polyphenols was observed in pressure-cooked, open-pan boiled and microwave-heated pearl millet. Concentration of sinapic and salicylic acids were highest phenolic acids of pearl millet. Total polyphenols reduced during sprouting and pressure-cooking. There was a 20% increase in the bioaccessible polyphenols after sprouting of pearl millet. Thus, sprouting and roasting provided more bioaccessible phenolics from these two common millets studied. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Rapid channel incision of the lower Pearl River (China since the 1990s as a consequence of sediment depletion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. X. Lu

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper reported a dramatic channel incision (>10 m in the deepest cut during the past 10 y or so in the lower Pearl River, the second largest river in terms of water discharge in China. The channel incision had caused changes both in the channel geometry as well as in the river hydraulics. Also, the water exchange between the two major tributaries of the Pearl River, the Xijiang and Beijiang, had been significantly changed due to the channel incision. The rapid channel incision was principally the result of extensive sand mining in the lower Pearl River and the delta region due to the booming economy in the Pearl Delta region. Slight increase of water discharge and significant decrease of sediment load since the early 1990s in both the Xijiang and Beijiang also likely contributed to the observed dramatic river bed downcutting to some extent. This has important implications for river management, as the large Chinese rivers have seen a dramatic depletion of sediment fluxes due to the combined effects of declining rainfall, dam constructions, water diversion, reforestation and afforestation, and sediment mining over the recent decades.

  6. Antioxidant Activity in Two Pearl Millet (Pennisetum typhoideum Cultivars as Influenced by Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florence Suma Pushparaj

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Research on the effect of processing on the retention of bioactive components with potential antioxidant activity is gaining importance. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of various processing methods (milling, boiling, pressure cooking, roasting and germination respectively on the antioxidant components as well as the antioxidant activities in the commonly used pearl millet cultivars—Kalukombu (K and Maharashtra Rabi Bajra (MRB. The methanolic extracts of processed pearl millet flours were analyzed for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH free radical scavenging activity, reducing power assay (RPA and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP assays respectively. The samples were also evaluated for tannin, phytic acid and flavonoid content which was then correlated with the antioxidant activity assayed using three methods. The results indicated that the bran rich fraction showed high antioxidant activity (RPA owing to high tannin, phytic acid and flavonoid levels. Heat treatments exhibited significantly (P ≤ 0.05 higher antioxidant activity (DPPH scavenging activity and RPA reflecting the high flavonoid content. Processing did not have any significant effect on the FRAP activity of pearl millet. The data on the correlation coefficient suggests that DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power assay in the K variety was largely due to the presence of flavonoid content, however in MRB, no relationship was found between antioxidant activities and antioxidant components.

  7. Importance of seed-borne fungi of sorghum and pearl millet in Burkina Faso and their control using plant extracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zida, Pawindé Elisabeth; Sérémé, Paco; Leth, Vibeke; Sankara, Philippe; Somda, Irénée; Néya, Adama

    2008-02-01

    Seed-borne fungi of sorghum and pearl millet in Burkina Faso were surveyed. A total of 188 seed samples from various locations, collected in 1989 (42) and 2002 (146), were tested, using the blotter, dry inspection and washing methods. Infection experiments were carried out with the major fungi recorded on each crop by the blotter test. Six essential oils of plants were investigated for their inhibitory activity against eight pathogenic fungi. Thirty four and 27 fungal species were found in seed samples of sorghum and pearl millet, respectively. Phoma sp. and Fusarium moniliforme infected 95 to 100% of the seed samples of both sorghum and pearl millet. Sphacelotheca sorghi and Tolyposporium ehrenbergii were encountered in respectively, 75 and 33% of seed samples of sorghum. T. penicillariae, Sclerospora graminicola and Claviceps fusiformis were present in 88, 41 and 32% of seed samples of pearl millet, respectively. Seeds inoculated with Acremonium strictum, Curvularia oryzae, F. equiseti, F. moniliforme and F. subglutinans and sown in sterilized soil, showed considerable mortality of the seedlings. Three essential oils inhibited in vitro the mycelial growth of all the fungi used by 85 to 100% and reduced significantly sorghum and pearl millet seed infection rates of Phoma sp., Fusarium sp., Curvularia sp., Colletotrichum graminicola and Exserohilum sp. Presence of many pathogenic fungi in considerable number of seed samples indicates the need of field surveys for these and other pathogens. Development of plant extracts for the control of seed-borne pathogens and public awareness on seed-borne diseases management measures for maintaining quality seed should be increased.

  8. Relative contribution of phytates, fibers, and tannins to low iron and zinc in vitro solubility in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) flour and grain fractions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lestienne, Isabelle; Caporiccio, Bertrand; Besançon, Pierre; Rochette, Isabelle; Trèche, Serge

    2005-10-19

    In vitro digestions were performed on pearl millet flours with decreased phytate contents and on two dephytinized or nondephytinized pearl millet grain fractions, a decorticated fraction, and a bran fraction with low and high fiber and tannin contents, respectively. Insoluble residues of these digestions were then incubated with buffer or enzymatic solutions (xylanases and/or phytases), and the quantities of indigestible iron and zinc released by these different treatments were determined. In decorticated pearl millet grain, iron was chelated by phytates and by insoluble fibers, whereas zinc was almost exclusively chelated by phytates. In the bran of pearl millet grain, a high proportion of iron was chelated by iron-binding phenolic compounds, while the rest of iron as well as the majority of zinc were chelated in complexes between phytates and fibers. The low effect of phytase action on iron and zinc solubility of bran of pearl millet grain shows that, in the case of high fiber and tannin contents, the chelating effect of these compounds was higher than that of phytates.

  9. NÍVEIS DE LISINA E ENERGIA DIGESTÍVEL PARA SUÍNOS EM CRESCIMENTO/TERMINAÇÃO RECEBENDO RAÇÕES À BASE DE MILHETO GRÃO (Pennisetum americanum L. LEEKE LEVELS OF LYSINE AND DIGESTIBLE ENERGY TO GROWING/FINISHING SWINE RECEIVING PEARL MILLET GRAIN (Pennisetum americanum L. LEEKE BASED-RATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romão da Cunha Nunes

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available

    western" align="justify">Neste experimento, 20 leitões mestiços Agroceres-PIC receberam rações de crescimento e terminação à base de milheto grão, formuladas com dois níveis de energia digestível (3.300 e 3.500 kcal ED/kg e dois níveis de lisina de acordo com a tabela de Rostagno et al (1994 e 10% acima desta recomendação. Os animais foram distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro tratamentos e cinco repetições em um esquema fatorial 2x2. A suplementação de lisina proporcionou ganhos em termos de desempenho, principalmente para consumo de ração e conversão alimentar, sem alterações estatísticas para ganho de peso, comprimento de carcaça e espessura de toucinho. Para os níveis de energia digestível testados, não foram observadas alterações nos parâmetros estudados. O uso de rações contendo milheto na formulação responde, portanto, positivamente à suplementação com lisina.

    western" align="justify">PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Suínos; lisina; energia digestível; milheto.

    western" align="justify">In this experiment, 20 crossbred Agroceres-PIC swine were fed with growing and finishing rations containing pearl millet grain with two levels of digestible energy (3,300 e 3,500 kcal ED/kg and two levels of lysine (according to Rostagno et al, 1994 and 10% above this recommendation. The pigs were alloted in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replications in a factorial scheme 2x2. The lysine supplementation increased the performance parameters studied, specially feed intake and feed to gain ratio, but no effects were observed in body weight gain, carcass length and backfat thickness. The energy levels tested didn’t affect any of the parameters studied. Then, the use of pearl millet in swine growing/finishing rations with lysine supplementation was positively affected.

  10. Fate of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment of the Pearl River Estuary, South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guan Yufeng; Sojinu, O.S. Samuel; Li Shaomeng; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2009-01-01

    Ninety-six riverine runoff samples collected at eight major outlets in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), South China, during 2005-2006 were analyzed for 17 brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) congeners (defined as Σ 17 PBDE). Fourteen and 15 congeners were detected, respectively, in the dissolved and particulate phases. These data were further used to elucidate the partitioning behavior of BDE congeners in riverine runoff. Several related fate processes, i.e. air-water exchange, dry and wet deposition, degradation, and sedimentation, within the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), were examined to estimate the inputs of Σ 10 PBDE (sum of the target BDE congeners, BDE-28, -47, -66, -85, -99, -100, -138, -153, -154, and -183) and BDE-209 from the PRD to the coastal ocean based on mass balance considerations. The results showed that annual outflows of Σ 10 PBDE and BDE-209 were estimated at 126 and 940 kg/year, respectively from the PRE to coastal ocean. Besides sedimentation and degradation, the majority of Σ 10 PBDE and BDE-209 discharged into the PRE via riverine runoff was transported to the coastal ocean. - Fate of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment the Pearl River Estuary, South China.

  11. Hydrocarbon migration and accumulation in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation, Changling Sag, southern Songliao Basin: Insights from integrated analyses of fluid inclusion, oil source correlation and basin modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Tian; He, Sheng; Wang, Dexi; Hou, Yuguang

    2014-08-01

    accumulation sites have been identified by this work, like Western Slope, Southern uplift, and Eastern Slope, helping reduce the risk on targeting hydrocarbon potential reservoirs in Changling Sag.

  12. Space Threat Warning: Foundation for Space Superiority, Avoiding a Space Pearl Harbor

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Burke, Alan W

    2006-01-01

    ... have stated the US must avoid a space Pearl Harbor. This concern is due to the idea that a decrease in the perceived threat to space assets after the demise of the Soviet Union coupled with a competition for space resources has resulted...

  13. Water Fastness of Screen Printed Pearl Luster Pigments based on Synthetic and Natural Mica on Polyvinyl Chloride Foil and Rich Mineral Paper

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirica Karlovits

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study attempts to examine water fastness of screen printed pearl luster pigments based on synthetic and natural mica on polyvinyl chloride foil and Rich Mineral Paper. Three types of pearl luster pigments were used, each different from the other in composition, interference colour and particle size: one pigment based on synthetic mica (Pigment 1 and two pigments based on natural mica (Pigment 2 and Pigment 3. Pearl luster pigments were applied to the printing base (PVC transparent base in 15wt.% concentration and printed by means of screen printing technique. The test of water fastness was made on prints, where the samples were soaked in distilled water for 6 and 12 days. It was established that this water treatment did not have any significant impact on the durability of screen printed pearl luster pigments. The pigments could demonstrate slightly better water fastness after being printed on Rich Mineral Paper.

  14. Transcriptome analysis of the immune reaction of the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata to xenograft from Pinctada maxima.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Jinfen; Fan, Sigang; Liu, Baosuo; Zhang, Bo; Su, Jiaqi; Yu, Dahui

    2017-08-01

    The pearl oyster Pinctada maxima exhibits great difficulty to culture pearls through nuclear insertion with an allograft, but it is easy for P. fucata to culture pearls after allografting. If P. fucata could be used as a surrogate mother to culture P. maxima pearls, it would benefit the pearl culture industry of P. maxima. However, this is blocked by the immune rejection of P. fucata against P. maxima mantle grafts. In this study, the immune responses of P. fucata hemocyte to allograft and xenograft were investigated after transplantation by transcriptome analysis. In total, 107.93 Gb clean reads were produced and assembled using the reference genome of P. fucata. Gene Ontology Term enrichment and KEGG enrichment analyses indicated that apoptosis, hippo signaling pathway, oxidation-reduction, MAPK signaling pathway, ribosome, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, purine metabolism, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, oxidative phosphorylation, Ras signaling pathway, and ubiquitin mediated proteolysis were involved in response to transplantation. Many genes related to oxidation-reduction reactions, the MAPK signaling pathway, and apoptosis were identified by comparison of the allograft group and the xenograft group at 0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h post-transplantation. Among them, the expression levels of NADH dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase and other dehydrogenases were increased significantly in the xenograft groups compared with allograft groups at 0 h post transplantation, indicating that a respiratory burst of neutrophils occurred immediately after xenograft transplantation. Additionally, HSP70 was highly expressed from 0 h to 96 h in the xenograft groups, indicating an oyster immune response to the xenograft. The genes enriched in the ribosome and hippo-signaling pathways were also identified, and expression patterns of these DEGs were different as compared between transplantation and control groups. Finally, altered

  15. Spatial and temporal variation in selection of genes associated with pearl millet varietal quantitative traits in situ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cedric Mariac

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Ongoing global climate changes imply new challenges for agriculture. Whether plants and crops can adapt to such rapid changes is still a widely debated question. We previously showed adaptation in the form of earlier flowering in pearl millet at the scale of a whole country over three decades. However, this analysis did not deal with variability of year to year selection. To understand and possibly manage plant and crop adaptation, we need more knowledge of how selection acts in situ. Is selection gradual, abrupt, and does it vary in space and over time? In the present study, we tracked the evolution of allele frequency in two genes associated with pearl millet phenotypic variation in situ. We sampled 17 populations of cultivated pearl millet over a period of two years. We tracked changes in allele frequencies in these populations by genotyping more than seven thousand individuals. We demonstrate that several allele frequencies changes are compatible with selection, by correcting allele frequency changes associated with genetic drift. We found marked variation in allele frequencies from year to year, suggesting a variable selection effect in space and over time. We estimated the strength of selection associated with variations in allele frequency. Our results suggest that the polymorphism maintained at the genes we studied is partially explained by the spatial and temporal variability of selection. In response to environmental changes, traditional pearl millet varieties could rapidly adapt thanks to this available functional variability.

  16. Two studies in one: A propensity-score-matched comparison of fingolimod versus interferons and glatiramer acetate using real-world data from the independent German studies, PANGAEA and PEARL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsop, Jonathan; Medin, Jennie; Cornelissen, Christian; Vormfelde, Stefan Viktor; Ziemssen, Tjalf

    2017-01-01

    This study compared outcomes following fingolimod or BRACE treatments (beta-interferons/glatiramer acetate) in patients with active MS (≥ 1 relapse in the previous year) following previous BRACE treatment. Patients with active MS who previously received BRACE were identified from German prospective, observational studies, PANGAEA and PEARL. A novel methodology was developed to compare outcomes between propensity-score-matched cohorts (3:1 ratio) from the independent single-arm studies. Patients in PANGAEA (n = 1287) experienced 48% fewer relapses per year than those in PEARL (n = 429; annualized relapse rate ratio: 0.52; p PANGAEA versus PEARL (3-month: 37% reduction; hazard ratio [HR], 0.63; p PANGAEA (n = 1234) than PEARL (n = 401) were free from relapses and 3-month (65.7% vs 38.7%; p PANGAEA (n = 1163) than PEARL (n = 372; 3-month: 175% increase; HR, 2.75; p PANGAEA (n = 149) were less likely than those in PEARL (n = 307) to have taken sick leave (proportion with 0 days off work: 62.4% vs 44.6%; p = 0.0005). For change in disease severity from baseline (assessed by clinicians using the Clinical Global Impressions scale; PANGAEA, n = 1207; PEARL, n = 427), a larger proportion of patients had subjective improvement and a smaller proportion had worsening status in PANGAEA than PEARL (improvement: 28.2% vs 15.2%; worsening: 16.4% vs 30.4%; p < 0.0001). Fingolimod appears to be more effective than BRACE in improving clinical and physician-/patient-reported outcomes in individuals with active MS.

  17. Feeding behavior and productive performance of steers fed pearl millet grain-based diets containing proportions of babassu mesocarp bran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wanderson Martins Alencar

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the feeding behavior and feedlot productive performance of dairy-origin steers fed for 84 days ground pearl millet grain-based diets with 0, 120, 240, 360, and 480 g kg-1 of babassu mesocarp bran (BMB and a standard diet based on ground corn. Thirty Holstein-Zebu steers with average initial body weight of 371.02±27 kg were used. The experimental design was completely randomized, with five replications. Dry matter intake showed better fit with the quadratic regression equation with the inclusion of BMB, reaching a maximum value in diets with 360 g of this by-product. There was no difference for dry matter intake between pearl millet- and corn-based diets. There was no difference in total digestible nutrients intake between diets. The digestibility coefficient of organic matter decreased linearly with the increase in the dietary level of BMB. The digestibility coefficient of organic matter was not different between corn and millet diets. There was no difference in feeding time between diets. Total requirement of metabolizable energy increased linearly with inclusion of BMB. However, total requirements of metabolizable energy did not differ between the corn- and pearl millet-based diets. Average daily gain decreased linearly with the increase in BMB, with adjustment forced by the sharp decline of this variable in diets with 480 g of BMB. There was no difference in average daily gain between corn- and pearl millet-based diets. The inclusion of levels above 360 g of babassu mesocarp bran in pearl millet-based diets reduces the supply of metabolizable energy and the productive performance of feedlot dairy steers.

  18. Importance of seed-borne fungi of sorghum and pearl millet in Burkina Faso and their control using plant extracts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zida, Elisabeth Pawindé; Sérémé, Paco; Leth, Vibeke

    2008-01-01

    recorded on each crop by the blotter test. Six essential oils of plants were investigated for their inhibitory activity against eight pathogenic fungi. Thirty four and 27 fungal species were found in seed samples of sorghum and pearl millet, respectively. Phoma sp. and Fusarium moniliforme infected 95...... of pearl millet, respectively. Seeds inoculated with Acremonium strictum, Curvularia oryzae, F. equiseti, F. moniliforme and F. subglutinans and sown in sterilized soil, showed considerable mortality of the seedlings. Three essential oils inhibited in vitro the mycelial growth of all the fungi used by 85......Seed-borne fungi of sorghum and pearl millet in Burkina Faso were surveyed. A total of 188 seed samples from various locations, collected in 1989 (42) and 2002 (146), were tested, using the blotter, dry inspection and washing methods. Infection experiments were carried out with the major fungi...

  19. Pearl extract enhances the migratory ability of fibroblasts in a wound healing model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yi-Chen; Chen, Chi-Ruei; Young, Tai-Horng

    2013-03-01

    For 2000 years, traditional Chinese medicine has been used as a remedy for general health improvement, including the fight against aging. Pearl powder has recently been used as a health food that has antioxidant, antiaging, antiradioactive, and tonic activities for cells; it is also applied to cure aphthous ulcer, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer on clinical therapy. In addition, the mother of pearl, nacre, could enhance the cell adhesion and tissue regeneration of skin fibroblasts. Fibroblast is regarded as indispensable in the processes of wound healing. Therefore, the effect of pearl extract (PL) on fibroblasts is investigated in this study. PL is produced by a room temperature super extraction system (Taiwan patent no. I271 220). DMEM medium containing PL (300 μg/mL) was used to examine the effect of migration-promoting potential on human fibroblast cell line or human primary fibroblast cells in a wound healing model in vitro. Medium containing PL (300 μg/mL) demonstrated that the migratory cell numbers of fibroblasts were three times more than that without PL, and mRNA expression of collagen type III was higher than in collagen type I in fibroblasts. It revealed a migration-promoting potential of human fibroblasts in a wound healing model in vitro. The present study found that the migration-promoting effect in PL, which could be a supplement in cell culture. These data suggest PL could be useful for enhancing the wound healing of fibroblasts.

  20. Physical biological coupling in the Pearl River Estuary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Paul J.; Yin, Kedong; Lee, J. H. W.; Gan, Jianping; Liu, Hongbin

    2008-07-01

    The Pearl River Estuary is a subtropical estuary and the second largest in China based on discharge volume from the Pearl River. Processes in the estuary vary spatially and temporally (wet vs dry season). In the dry season at the head of the estuary, hypoxic and nearly anoxic conditions occur and NH 4 reaches >600 μM, NO 3 is ˜300 μM and nitrite is ˜60 μM indicating that nitrification and denitrification may be important dry season processes in the region extending 40 km upstream of the Humen outlet. There are very few biological studies conducted in this upper section of the estuary in either the dry or wet seasons and hence there is a need for further research in this region of the river. In the wet season, the salinity wedge extends to the Hongqimen outlet and oxygen is low (35-80% saturation). Nitrate is ˜100 μM, silicate ˜140 μM; and phosphate is relatively low at ˜0.5 μM, yielding an N:P ratio up to ˜200:1 in summer. Nutrients decrease in the lower estuary and primary productivity may become potentially P-limited. Eutrophication is not as severe as one would expect from the nutrient inputs from the Pearl River and from Hong Kong's sewage discharge. This estuary shows a remarkable capacity to cope with excessive nutrients. Physical processes such as river discharge, tidal flushing, turbulent dispersion, wind-induced mixing, and estuarine circulation play an important role in controlling the production and accumulation of algal blooms and the potential occurrence of hypoxia. Superimposed on the physical processes of the estuary are the chemical and biological processes involved in the production of the bloom. For example, the 100N:1P ratio indicates that P potentially limits the amount of algal biomass (and potential biological oxygen demand) in summer. While extended periods of hypoxia are rare in Hong Kong waters, episodic events have been reported to occur during late summer due to factors such as low wind, high rainfall and river discharge which

  1. response of locally adapted pearl millet populations to s1 progeny

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ACSS

    Izge, U., Kadams, A.M. and Gungula, D.T. 2006. Studies on character association and path analysis of certain quantitative characters among parental lines of pearl millet. (Pennisetum glaucum ) and their F1 hybrids in a diallel cross. African Journal of. Agricultural Research 1:194-198. Kannan, B., Senapathy, S., Raj, A.G.B., ...

  2. THE USE OF PEARL MILLET GRAIN (Pennisetun americanun L., LEEKE IN SWINE GROWING RATIONS UTILIZAÇÃO DO GRÃO DO MILHETO (Pennisetum americanum L., Leeke EM RAÇÕES PARA SUÍNOS NA FASE DE CRESCIMENTO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romão da cunha Nunes

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available

    western" align="justify">A trial was carried out in order to evaluate the inclusion of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum in swine growing rations 20 Agroceres-PIC cross-bred swine weighting about 25.00 kg and fed rations with different levels of millet (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% in substitution of the digestible energy furnished by corn. The experimental design used was the completely randomized with 5 replacing levels. With the results obtained in this experiment, it is concluded that the completely substitution of corn by millet is possible to be used in swine growing rations.

    western" align="justify">KEY-WORDS: Pennisetum americanum; pearl millet; swine growing rations; energetic feed.

    western" align="justify">Foi conduzido um experimento para avaliar a substituição de diferentes níveis de milho pelo milheto na formulação de ração para suínos na fase de crescimento. Utilizaram-se 20 suínos mestiços da linhagem Agroceres-PIC com peso médio inicial de aproximadamente 25,00 kg. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com 5 tratamentos. Com os resultados obtidos neste experimento, concluiu-se que é viável a substituição do milho pelo milheto em rações para suínos na fase de crescimento.

    western" align="justify">PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Milheto; Pennisetum americanum; suínos em crescimento; concentrados energéticos.

  3. Environmental Assessment for Waterfront Facilities Maintenance and Improvements, Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, Oahu, Hawaii

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2005-01-01

    Commander, Navy Region Hawaii (CNRH) proposes to repair, maintain, and improve waterfront berthing and maintenance facilities for ships and submarines on an as-needed basis within the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex (PHNC...

  4. II.1.5 Phenotyping pearl millet for adaptation to drought

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincent eVadez

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Pearl millet is highly resilient to some of the driest areas of the world, like the Sahel area or fringes of the Thar desert in India. Despite this, there is a wealth of variation in pearl millet genotypes for their adaptation to drought, and the object of this paper was to review some related work in the past 25 years to harness these capacities towards the breeding of better adapted cultivars. Work on short duration cultivars has been a major effort. Pearl millet has also some development plasticity thanks to a high tillering ability, which allows compensating for possible drought-related failure of the main culm under intermittent drought. The development of molecular tools for breeding has made great progress in the last 10-15 years and markers, maps, EST libraries, BACs are now available and a number of QTLs for different traits, including drought, have been identified. Most of the work on drought has focused on the drought tolerance index (DTI, an index that reflect the genetic differences in drought adaptation that are independent of flowering time and yield potential. The DTI is closely associated to the panicle harvest index (PNHI, a trait that relates to a better grain setting and grain filling capacity. Initial work on the DTI involved empirical breeding and selection based on PNHI. A QTL for PNHI has then been identified and introgressed by marker-assisted backcrossing. More recently, a thorough dissection of that QTL has been carried out and shows that high PNHI is related to the constitutive ability of tolerant lines to save water (lower leaf conductance and sensitivity of transpiration to high vapor pressure deficit at a vegetative stage and use it for the grain filling period. However, there is no contribution of root traits in this QTL. Current work is taking place to map these water saving traits, understand their genetic interactions, and design ideotypes having specific genetic make up towards adaptation to specific rainfall

  5. Larval connectivity of pearl oyster through biophysical modelling; evidence of food limitation and broodstock effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Yoann; Dumas, Franck; Andréfouët, Serge

    2016-12-01

    The black-lip pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) is cultured extensively to produce black pearls, especially in French Polynesia atoll lagoons. This aquaculture relies on spat collection, a process that experiences spatial and temporal variability and needs to be optimized by understanding which factors influence recruitment. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of P. margaritifera larval dispersal to both physical and biological factors in the lagoon of Ahe atoll. Coupling a validated 3D larval dispersal model, a bioenergetics larval growth model following the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory, and a population dynamics model, the variability of lagoon-scale connectivity patterns and recruitment potential is investigated. The relative contribution of reared and wild broodstock to the lagoon-scale recruitment potential is also investigated. Sensitivity analyses pointed out the major effect of the broodstock population structure as well as the sensitivity to larval mortality rate and inter-individual growth variability to larval supply and to the subsequent settlement potential. The application of the growth model clarifies how trophic conditions determine the larval supply and connectivity patterns. These results provide new cues to understand the dynamics of bottom-dwelling populations in atoll lagoons, their recruitment, and discuss how to take advantage of these findings and numerical models for pearl oyster management.

  6. Natural cleaning of the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera by butterflyfishes (Chaetodon) in French Polynesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertucci, Frédéric; Legraverant, Yohann; Berthe, Cécile; Brooker, Rohan M.; Lo, Cédrik; Lecchini, David

    2016-12-01

    Biofouling increases the operational and economic costs associated with pearl production. As current procedures for reducing oyster biofouling can be detrimental to survival and growth and may pollute the surrounding environment developing alternative, biologically-mediated, methods could potentially increase both production and ecological sustainability. With this in mind, the present study investigated natural cleaning of black-lipped pearl oysters, Pinctada margaritifera, by butterflyfishes (Chaetodon). The feeding behaviour of six butterflyfish species was examined at Rangiroa Atoll, French Polynesia: Chaetodon auriga, Chaetodon citrinellus, Chaetodon ephippium, Chaetodon lunulatus, Chaetodon trifascialis and Chaetodon ulietensis. All species cleaned the surface of pearl oysters by removing epibionts (from 16% to 40% of total biomass), although dietary variation may explain different cleaning efficiencies. Generalist omnivores (C. auriga, C. citrinellus, C. ephippium and C. ulietensis) were the most efficient cleaners (% cleaning range: 26-40% of total biomass). Within this group, C. ephippium removed the most biomass (average of 41%) targeting algae and anemones. However, C. auriga targeted the most diverse range of epibionts, removing significant amounts of algae, sponges, tunicates, and anemones. These results suggest that foraging by butterflyfishes can substantially reduce biofouling on economically-important tropical bivalves.

  7. Response of locally adapted pearl millet populations to s1 progeny ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the semi-arid zones of Uganda, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is mainly grown for food and income; but rust (Puccinia substriata var indica (L.) R. Br.) is the main foliar constraint lowering yield. The objective of the study was to genetically improve grain yield and rust resistance of two locally adapted ...

  8. Subsidence transition during the post-rift stage of the Dongpu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, NE China: A new geodynamic model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Han; Wang, Xin-Wen; Yan, Dan-Ping; Qiu, Liang

    2018-06-01

    The Dongpu Sag, located in the Bohai Bay Basin, NE China, is a Cenozoic continental rift basin. The post-rift evolution of the Dongpu Sag is associated with the development of petroleum reservoirs and has implications for Neogene-Quaternary basin evolution along the eastern margin of Eurasia. To determine the nature and origin of post-rift subsidence in the Dongpu Sag, we apply backstripping, modified strain-rate inversion, and revised finite extension modelling techniques, using data from 14 real and synthetic wells that are intersected by three seismic lines. Our results reveal discrepancies by subsidence based on backstripping of well data (the observed subsidence) minus that predicted by modified strain-rate inversion and revised finite extension modelling (the predicted subsidence). During the Miocene, the observed subsidence was smaller than the predicted subsidence, leaving negative discrepancies referred to here as "insufficient subsidence" ranging from -343 to -96 m. In contrast, during the Pliocene-Quaternary the observed subsidence was greater than the predicted subsidence by +123 to +407 m, which left positive discrepancies referred to as "over-sufficient subsidence". Therefore, we infer a transition from insufficient to over-sufficient subsidence during the post-rift stage. Normal faulting that started at ca. 5.3 Ma is estimated to have produced only ∼20% of the over-sufficient subsidence. Therefore, the remaining over-sufficient subsidence, as well as the preceding insufficient subsidence and the transition between the two, were likely controlled by lithosphere processes. We propose a new tectonic model in which variations in the conditions (e.g. rate, direction, and angle) associated with subduction of the Pacific plate resulted in a change of heat flow decreasing from a linear to a curvilinear pattern, leading to a transition from insufficient to over-sufficient subsidence.

  9. Monitoring Population Evolution in the Pearl River Delta from 2000 TO 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, S.; Liu, F.; Zhang, Z.

    2018-04-01

    On behalf of more populous and developed regions in China, urban agglomerations have become important carries loading active economic activities and generous social benefits, and experienced sharper population increase, which results in great threat on local eco-environment construction. Therefore, exact and detailed population monitoring and analyzing, especially on the long sequence and multi frequency, is of great significance. The nighttime light time-series (NLT) products has been proven to be one of the most useful remotely sensed imagery to acquire persons at 1 km × 1 km scales. However, the existed problems, such as light saturation and blooming, greatly limit the accuracy of estimated results. Furthermore, it's difficult to spatialize population at km2 level due to the lack of basic data in non-census years. In order to solve all problems mentioned above, the populous Pearl River Delta was selected as the study area. A new residential extent extraction index (REEI) was proposed to solve light saturation and blooming problems. Population spatialization methods in census and non-census years were applied to acquire detailed population distribution from 2000 to 2010. Results showed the feasibility of the proposed methods in this work. During the decade, population was denser in the central PRD and sparser in the eastern, western and northern PRD. The speed of population increase was various in nine cities, but faster in 2000-2005 than 2005-2010.

  10. Seasonal variation of iron speciation in a pearl-raising bay sediment by Moessbauer spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuno, Akihito; Matsuo, Motoyuki; Chiba, Satoshi; Yamagata, Yoichi

    2008-01-01

    Ago Bay in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, is world-famous for the site of Mikimoto pearl culture, but recently the production of pearls has considerably declined. Environmental deterioration of the bay is suspected of having caused the decline. The periodic investigation into iron speciation of the bay sediment by 57 Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy revealed its high pyrite (FeS 2 ) content from the surface to the 20-cm depth. The pyrite in the surface sediment decreased only in spring, three months after the dissolved oxygen in the bottom water was at maximum. Such oxygen-consuming material as pyrite accumulated through long-term biotic activity is a most-likely explanation for the prolonged environmental deterioration of the bay, which appears in the high chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the sediment. (author)

  11. The distribution and speciation of trace metals in surface sediments from the Pearl River Estuary and the Daya Bay, Southern China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Xiujuan; Yan Yan; Wang Wenxiong

    2010-01-01

    Surface sediments collected from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and the Daya Bay (DYB) were analyzed for total metal concentrations and chemical phase partitioning. The total concentrations of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the PRE were obviously higher than those in DYB. The maximum concentrations of trace metals in DYB occurred in the four sub-basins, especially in Dapeng Cove, while the concentrations of these metals in the western side of the PRE were higher than those in the east side. Such distribution pattern was primarily due to the different hydraulic conditions and inputs of anthropogenic trace metals. The chemical partitioning of metals analyzed by the BCR sequential extraction method showed that Cr, Ni, and Zn of both areas were present dominantly in the residual fraction, while Pb was found mostly in the non-residual fractions. The partitioning of Cu showed a significant difference between the two areas.

  12. Environmental Assessment for Building 88 Interior Demolition, Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, O'ahu, Hawaii

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2005-01-01

    ...) and ancillary equipment from the interior of Building 88, a former lubricating oil storage facility, and the related exposed piping underneath Mike wharves M3 and M4 at Merry Point, Pearl Harbor Naval Complex...

  13. CRED REA Algal Assessments at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, NW Hawaiian Islands in 2006

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Twelve quadrats were sampled along 2 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines, as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments, conducted at 13 sites at Pearl and Hermes...

  14. The historical significance of anaesthesia events at Pearl Harbor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowhurst, Ja

    2014-07-01

    Up to the end of World War II, less than 10% of the general anaesthetics administered was with intravenous barbiturates. The remaining 90% of anaesthetics given in the USA were with diethyl ether. In the United Kingdom and elsewhere, chloroform was also popular. Diethyl ether administration was a relatively safe and simple procedure, often delegated to nurses or junior doctors with little or no specific training in anaesthesia. During the Japanese attack on the US bases at Pearl Harbor, with reduced stocks of diethyl ether available, intravenous Sodium Pentothal(®), a most 'sophisticated and complex' drug, was used with devastating effects in many of those hypovolaemic, anaemic and septic patients. The hazards of spinal anaesthesia too were realised very quickly. These effects were compounded by the dearth of trained anaesthetists. This paper presents the significance of the anaesthesia tragedies at Pearl Harbor, and the discovery in the next few years of many other superior drugs that caused medical and other health professionals to realise that anaesthesia needed to be a specialist medical discipline in its own right. Specialist recognition, aided by the foundation of the National Health Service in the UK, the establishment of Faculties of Anaesthesia and appropriate training in pharmacology, physiology and other sciences soon followed. Modern anaesthesiology, as we understand it today, was born and a century or more of ether anaesthesia finally ceased.

  15. Antioxidant properties of digestive enzyme-treated fibre-rich fractions from wheat, finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum: A comparative evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aisha Siddiq A.

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Whole grains are rich in antioxidant components (AC, most of which are bound to fibre fraction and released during digestion. The study investigated the effect of digestive enzymes on the antioxidant properties of fibre-rich fractions from wheat (Triticum aestivum, finger millet (Eleusine coracana, pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor. Coarse (CF and fine fractions (FF of milled flour were separated using a standard sieve and analysed for nutritional composition, AC extractable in different solvents and antioxidant activity (AA in untreated and enzyme-treated fractions. The CF had a higher range of insoluble dietary fibre (17.26–20.93% than FF (10.65–17.29%. The highest amount of polyphenols and flavonoids was extractable in different solvents from finger millet and pearl millet, respectively. FF of pearl millet showed higher total AA in all solvents. Enzyme-treated samples had a much higher content of AC as well as higher total AA. Free radical scavenging assay revealed that enzyme-treated millet flours had higher activity in comparison to wheat. Between fractions, wheat exhibited variable results. Among millets, CF of finger millet and FF of pearl millet and sorghum had higher AA. In conclusion, digestive enzyme treatment released more AC from grains, and exhibited a higher AA.

  16. Micronutrient density and stability in West African pearl millet – potential for biofortification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bürger, Anna; Jensen, Henning Høgh; Gondah, Jadah

    2014-01-01

    for Fe and Zn, indicate a high potential for biofortification of WCA pearl millet. However, screening of additional landraces or introgression of favorable alleles from highly nutrient dense Indian germplasm could expedite achievement of higher densities. Genotype-by environment interaction effects were...

  17. New Genetic Insights into Pearl Millet Diversity As Revealed by Characterization of Early- and Late-Flowering Landraces from Senegal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oumar Diack

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L. R. Br. is a staple food and a drought-tolerant cereal well adapted to Sub-Saharan Africa agro-ecosystems. An important diversity of pearl millet landraces has been widely conserved by farmers and therefore could help copping with climate changes and contribute to future food security. Hence, characterizing its genetic diversity and population structure can contribute to better assist breeding programs for a sustainable agricultural productivity enhancement. Toward this goal, a comprehensive panel of 404 accessions were used that correspond to 12 improved varieties, 306 early flowering and 86 late-flowering cultivated landraces from Senegal. Twelve highly polymorphic SSR markers were used to study diversity and population structure. Two genes, PgMADS11 and PgPHYC, were genotyped to assess their association to flowering phenotypic difference in landraces. Results indicate a large diversity and untapped potential of Senegalese pearl millet germplasm as well as a genetic differentiation between early- and late-flowering landraces. Further, a fine-scale genetic difference of PgPHYC and PgMADS11 (SNP and indel, respectively and co-variation of their alleles with flowering time were found among landraces. These findings highlight new genetic insights of pearl millet useful to define heterotic populations for breeding, genomic association panel, or crosses for trait-specific mapping.

  18. Diagnostic value of a Rec-ELISA using Toxoplasma gondii recombinant SporoSAG, BAG1, and GRA1 proteins in murine models infected orally with tissue cysts and oocysts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mert Döşkaya

    Full Text Available Toxoplasma gondii causes congenital toxoplasmosis in newborns resulting with fetal anomalies. Determining the initiation time of infection is very important for pregnant women and current serological assays have drawbacks in distinguishing the recently acute toxoplasmosis. Diagnosis of recently acute infection may be improved by using stage specific antigens in serological assays. In the present study, the diagnostic value of sporozoite specific SporoSAG, bradyzoite specific BAG1 proteins and GRA1 protein expressed by all forms of the parasite have been evaluated ELISA using sera systematically collected from mice administered orally with tissue cyst and oocysts. The anti-SporoSAG IgM antibodies in sera obtained from mice infected with oocysts peaked significantly at days 1, 10, and 15 (P<0.01. The anti-BAG1 IgM antibodies in sera obtained from mice infected with tissue cysts peaked significantly at days 15, 40, and 120 (P<0.05. The anti-GRA1 IgM antibodies in sera obtained from mice infected with oocysts peaked significantly at days 2, 10, and 40 (P<0.01. The anti-GRA1 IgM antibodies in sera obtained from mice infected with tissue cysts peaked significantly only at day 40 (P<0.05. The anti-SporoSAG, anti-BAG1, and anti-GRA1 IgG titers of mice showed significant increases at day 40 (P<0.05 and decrement started for only anti-GRA1 IgG at day 120. The presence of anti-SporoSAG IgM and IgG antibodies can be interpreted as recently acute infection between days 10-40 because IgM decreases at day 40. Similarly, presence of anti-BAG1 IgM and absence of IgG can be evaluated as a recently acute infection that occurred 40 days before because IgG peaks at day 40. A peak in anti-GRA1 antibody level at first testing and reduction in consecutive sample can be considered as an infection approximately around day 40 or prior. Overall, recombinant SporoSAG, BAG1 and GRA1 proteins can be accepted as valuable diagnostic markers of recently acute toxoplasmosis.

  19. Biodegradation and detoxification of melanoidin from distillery effluent using an aerobic bacterial strain SAG{sub 5} of Alcaligenes faecalis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santal, Anita Rani, E-mail: anita.gangotra@gmail.com [Department of Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, Haryana (India); Singh, N.P. [Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, Haryana (India); Saharan, Baljeet Singh [Department of Microbiology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, Haryana (India)

    2011-10-15

    Highlights: {yields} The Alcaligenes faecalis strain SAG{sub 5} decolorizes 72.6 {+-} 0.56% of melanoidins. {yields} The decolorization was achieved at pH 7.5 and temperature 37 {sup o}C on 5th day. {yields} The distillery effluent after biological treatment is environmentally safe. - Abstract: Distillery effluent retains very dark brown color even after anaerobic treatment due to presence of various water soluble, recalcitrant and coloring compounds mainly melanoidins. In laboratory conditions, melanoidin decolorizing bacteria was isolated and optimized the cultural conditions at various incubation temperatures, pH, carbon sources, nitrogen sources and combined effect of both carbon and nitrogen sources. The optimum decolorization (72.6 {+-} 0.56%) of melanoidins was achieved at pH 7.5 and temperature 37 {sup o}C on 5th day of cultivation. The toxicity evaluation with mung bean (Vigna radiata) revealed that the raw distillery effluent was environmentally highly toxic as compared to biologically treated distillery effluent, which indicated that the effluent after bacterial treatment is environmentally safe. This proves to be novel biological treatment technique for biodegradation and detoxification of melanoidin from distillery effluent using the bacterial strain SAG{sub 5}.

  20. Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial. Teaching with Historic Places.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vierra, John, Jr.

    This lesson describes and discusses the submerged remains of the battleship USS Arizona which rests on the silt of Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), just as it had settled on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked the U.S. fleet and began the Pacific battles of World War II. The lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file,…

  1. A pre-Paleogene unconformity surface of the Sikeshu Sag, Junggar Basin: Lithological, geophysical and geochemical implications for the transportation of hydrocarbons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoyue Gao

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The unconformity surface at the bottom of the Paleogene is one of the most important migration pathways in the Sikeshu Sag of the Junggar Basin, which consists of three layers: upper coarse clastic rock, lower weathering crust and leached zone. The upper coarse clastic rock is characterized by higher density and lower SDT and gamma-ray logging parameters, while the lower weathering crust displays opposite features. The transport coefficient of the unconformity surface is controlled by its position in respect to the basal sandstone; it is higher in the ramp region but lower in the adjacent uplifted and sag areas. The content of saturated hydrocarbons increases with the decrease of the content of non-hydrocarbons and asphaltenes. The content of benzo[c] carbazole decreases as the content of benzo[a] carbazole and [alkyl carbazole]/[alkyl + benzo carbazole] increases. This suggests that the unconformity surface is an efficient medium for the transportation of hydrocarbons.

  2. Simulation of pesticide leaching in a cracking clay soil with the PEARL model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scorza, R.P.; Boesten, J.J.T.I.

    2005-01-01

    Testing of pesticide leaching models is important to increase confidence in their use in pesticide registration procedures world-wide. The chromatographic PEARL model was tested against the results of a field leaching study on a cracking clay soil with a tracer (bromide), a mobile pesticide

  3. DEPOT MAINTENANCE: Key Financial Issues for Consolidations at Pearl Harbor and Elsewhere Are Still Unresolved

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2001-01-01

    .... In September 1999, we reported that the preliminary results of the ongoing Pearl Harbor pilot were mixed and recommended that the Departments of Defense and the Navy address unresolved issues related...

  4. The impacts of voltage sags in industrial electric systems; Os impactos dos afundamentos de tensao em sistemas eletricos industriais

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maia, Reinaldo Moreira [Moinhos Vera Cruz, Santa Luzia, MG (Brazil); Silva, Selenio Rocha [Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil)

    2010-10-15

    The sensitiveness increasing of industrial equipment related to the perturbation of electric grid, resulting in losses to the productive chain, turns the energy quality in the subject more discussed by the electrical community. In this study case on the problems caused by voltage sags to equipment of an industrial plant from the food sector, it is presented the identification process and the adopted solutions. (author)

  5. Synchrotron FT-IR analyses of microstructured biomineral domains: Hints to the biomineralization processes in freshwater cultured pearls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soldati, A. L.; Vicente-Vilas, V.; Gasharova, B.; Jacob, D. E.

    2009-04-01

    Recent investigations in freshwater cultured pearls (bio-carbonate) by micro-Raman spectroscopy (Wehrmeister et al., 2008; Soldati et al., 2008), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging (Jacob et al., 2008) show that the pearl biomineralisation starts with a self assembling process in which an existing gel matrix of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and organic substances reorganizes and conglomerates in small domains; these conglomerates then form prisms and mature nacreous tablets of aragonite or vaterite. Raman spectroscopy shows that the calcium carbonate polymorphs have decreasing luminescence in the order ACC>Vaterite>Aragonite, coinciding with decreasing quantities of S and P (related to the organic matrix) measured by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) and Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA). Although little is known about the process of transformation of the ACC gel into vaterite and aragonite, it is speculated that this probably involves dehydration and change of the accompanying organic matrix. This is also supported by our laboratory FT-IR analysis. However, due to the small size of the areas of ACC (about 10 ?m) and the biogenic crystals an in-situ high spatially resolved IR-method is needed to record how the water content and organic matrix change in the biomineralisation sequence, to understand which processes take place in the self-organization. The beamline IR-1 at the ANKA synchrotron source (Karlsruhe, Germany) was used for this experiment. Freshwater cultured pearls from China cultured in Hyriopsis cumingii mussels by tissue nucleation methods (so-called beadless pearls) as well as by bead implantation methods (aragonite nucleus) were studied. The pearls were cut in half with a diamond-plated saw and polished with diamond paste on a copper plate. Micro-Raman spectroscopy maps (Department of Geosciences, at the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz) were generated

  6. A homeodomain transcription factor gene, PfMSX, activates expression of Pif gene in the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mi Zhao

    Full Text Available We reported pearl oyster Pinctada fucata cDNA and genomic characterization of a new homeobox-containing protein, PfMSX. The PfMSX gene encodes a transcription factor that was localized to the nucleus. Analyses of PfMSX mRNA in tissues and developmental stages showed high expressions in mantle or D-shaped larvae. In electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs PfMSX binded to MSX consensus binding sites in the 5' flanking region of the Pif promoter. In co-transfection experiment PfMSX transactivated reporter constructs containing Pif promoter sequences, and mutation of the MSX-binding sites attenuated transactivation. A knockdown experiment using PfMSX dsRNA showed decreased Pif mRNA and unregular crystallization of the nacreous layer using scanning electron microscopy. Our results suggested that PfMSX was a conserved homeodomain transcription factor gene, which can activate Pif gene expression through MSX binding site, and was then involved in the mineralization process in pearl oyster Pinctada fucata. Our data provided important clues about mechanisms regulating biomineralization in pearl oyster.

  7. A Homeodomain Transcription Factor Gene, PfMSX, Activates Expression of Pif Gene in the Pearl Oyster Pinctada fucata

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Mi; He, Maoxian; Huang, Xiande; Wang, Qi

    2014-01-01

    We reported pearl oyster Pinctada fucata cDNA and genomic characterization of a new homeobox-containing protein, PfMSX. The PfMSX gene encodes a transcription factor that was localized to the nucleus. Analyses of PfMSX mRNA in tissues and developmental stages showed high expressions in mantle or D-shaped larvae. In electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) PfMSX binded to MSX consensus binding sites in the 5′ flanking region of the Pif promoter. In co-transfection experiment PfMSX transactivated reporter constructs containing Pif promoter sequences, and mutation of the MSX-binding sites attenuated transactivation. A knockdown experiment using PfMSX dsRNA showed decreased Pif mRNA and unregular crystallization of the nacreous layer using scanning electron microscopy. Our results suggested that PfMSX was a conserved homeodomain transcription factor gene, which can activate Pif gene expression through MSX binding site, and was then involved in the mineralization process in pearl oyster Pinctada fucata. Our data provided important clues about mechanisms regulating biomineralization in pearl oyster. PMID:25099698

  8. A homeodomain transcription factor gene, PfMSX, activates expression of Pif gene in the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Mi; He, Maoxian; Huang, Xiande; Wang, Qi

    2014-01-01

    We reported pearl oyster Pinctada fucata cDNA and genomic characterization of a new homeobox-containing protein, PfMSX. The PfMSX gene encodes a transcription factor that was localized to the nucleus. Analyses of PfMSX mRNA in tissues and developmental stages showed high expressions in mantle or D-shaped larvae. In electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) PfMSX binded to MSX consensus binding sites in the 5' flanking region of the Pif promoter. In co-transfection experiment PfMSX transactivated reporter constructs containing Pif promoter sequences, and mutation of the MSX-binding sites attenuated transactivation. A knockdown experiment using PfMSX dsRNA showed decreased Pif mRNA and unregular crystallization of the nacreous layer using scanning electron microscopy. Our results suggested that PfMSX was a conserved homeodomain transcription factor gene, which can activate Pif gene expression through MSX binding site, and was then involved in the mineralization process in pearl oyster Pinctada fucata. Our data provided important clues about mechanisms regulating biomineralization in pearl oyster.

  9. Fingerprinting analysis and characterization of hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Delta in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, C.; Wang, Z.; Hollebone, B.; Yang, Z.; Brown, C.; Landriault, M.; Peng, X.

    2009-01-01

    This paper reported on a study that used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID) to investigate and characterize the contamination in southern China's Pearl River Delta, with particular reference to contamination from petroleum,n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), biomarkers and diamondoid compounds. Forensic analysis of sediments was necessary in order to decode the contamination history and evaluate the contamination level of the aquatic ecosystem. The contamination of the Pearl River Delta sediment was derived from various inputs, including petrogenic, biogenic and pyrogenic sources. However, in addition to identifying PAHs and biomarker terpanes and steranes, the detection of trace diamondoid compounds in the sediments demonstrated that the pollution in the river was derived partially from petroleum sources. Diamondoids are a class of saturated hydrocarbons that consist of three-dimensionally fused cyclohexane rings. They occur naturally in source rocks, crude oils, intermediate petroleum distillates, and finished petroleum products. They are more resistant to biodegradation than most other petroleum compounds such as n-alkanes. As such, they can play an important role in identifying and characterizing petroleum contamination in the environment. It was concluded that the petroleum contamination in the Pearl River Delta is attributed to the mixture of medium to heavy petroleum residues. 31 refs., 6 tabs., 4 figs

  10. One surgeon's Army experience with "wound shock" from Pearl Harbor to the present.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardaway, Robert M

    2009-09-01

    The Army has had extensive experience in the study and treatment of shock, beginning with the American Civil War and continuing to the present. This is the story of one Army surgeon's experience, both in research and treatment of shock, from Pearl Harbor to the present.

  11. Distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments of the Pearl River Delta and adjacent South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mai, Bixian; Chen, Shejun; Luo, Xiaojun; Chen, Laiguo; Yang, Qingshu; Sheng, Guoying; Peng, Pingan; Fu, Jiamo; Zeng, Eddy Y

    2005-05-15

    Spatial and temporal distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediments of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and adjacent South China Sea (SCS) of southern China were examined. A total of 66 surface sediment samples were collected and analyzed to determine the concentrations of 10 PBDE congeners (BDE-28, -47, -66, -100, -99, -154, -153, -138, -183, and -209). The concentrations of BDE-209 and SigmaPBDEs (defined as the sum of all targeted PBDE congeners except for BDE-209) ranged from 0.4 to 7340 and from 0.04 to 94.7 ng/g, respectively. The SigmaPBDEs concentrations were mostly transportation. The PBDE patterns in the SCS and Pearl River Estuary sediments were similar to those in sediments of the Zhujiang and Dongjiang Rivers, reflecting the widespread influence from local inputs. Analyses of two short sediment cores collected from the Pearl River Estuary showed that concentrations of BDE-209 rapidly increased in the upper layers of both cores, coincident with the growth of the electronics manufacturing capacities in the PRD region. The major sources of PBDEs were probably waste discharges from the cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen, the three fastest growing urban centers in the PRD.

  12. Crustal structure of an exhumed IntraCONtinental Sag (ICONS): the Mekele Basin in Northern Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alemu, T. B.; Abdelsalam, M. G.

    2017-12-01

    The Mekele Sedimentary Basin (MSB) in Ethiopia is a Paleozoic-Mesozoic IntraCONtinental Sag (ICONS) exposed due to Cenozoic domal and rift flank uplift associated with the Afar mantle plume and Afar Depression (AD). ICONS are formed over stable lithosphere, and in contrast to rift and foreland basins, show circular-elliptical shape in map view, saucer shaped in cross section, and concentric gravity minima. Surface geological features of the MSB have been shown to exhibit geologic characteristics similar to those of other ICONS. We used the World Gravity Map (WGM 2012) data to investigate subsurface-crustal structure of the MSB. We also used 2D power spectrum analysis and inversion of the gravity field to estimate the Moho depth. Our results show the Bouguer anomalies of the WGM 2012 ranges between 130 mGal and - 110 mGal with the highest values within the AD. Despite the effect of the AD on the gravity anomalies, the MSB is characterized by the presence of gravity low anomaly that reaches in places -110 mGal, especially in its western part. The Moho depth estimates, from both spectral analysis and inversion of the gravity data, is between 36 and 40 km depth over most of the western and southern margins of the MSB. However, as the AD is approached, in the eastern margins of the MSB, crustal thickness estimates are highly affected by the anomalously thin and magmatic segment of the AD, and the Moho depth range between 30 and 25 km. Our results are consistent with that of seismic studies in areas far from the MSB, but within the Northwestern Ethiopian Plateau where the MSB is located. Those studies have reported an abrupt decrease in Moho depth from 40 km beneath the Northwestern plateau, to 20 km in the adjacent AD. Though the MSB is small (100 kmX100 km) compared to other ICONS, and affected by the neighboring AD, it is characterized by elliptical gravity minima and a relatively thicker crust that gradually thickens away from the rift. In addition, seismic imaging

  13. The Mendelian inheritance of rare flesh and shell colour variants in the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ky, Chin-Long; Nakasai, Seiji; Pommier, Steve; Sham Koua, Manaarii; Devaux, Dominique

    2016-10-01

    Pinctada margaritifera is French Polynesia's most economically important aquaculture species. This pearl oyster has the specific ability to produce cultured pearls with a very wide range of colours, depending on the colour phenotypes of donor oysters used. Its aquaculture is still based on natural spat collection from wild stocks. We investigated three rare colour variants of P. margaritifera - orange flesh, and red and white shell colour phenotypes - in comparison with the wild-type black flesh and shell commonly found in this species. The study aimed to assess the geographic distribution and genetic basis of these colour variants. Colour frequencies were evaluated during transfer and graft processes of pearl oyster seed captured at collector stations. Among the collection locations studied, Mangareva Island showed the highest rate of the orange flesh phenotype, whereas Takaroa and Takume atolls had relatively high rates of red and white shell phenotypes respectively. Broodstocks were made of these rare colour variants, and crosses were performed to produce first- and second-generation progenies to investigate segregation. The results were consistent with Mendelian ratios and suggest a distinct model with no co-dominance: (i) a two-allele model for flesh trait, whereby the orange allele is recessive to the black fleshed type, and (ii) a three-allele model for shell trait, whereby the black wild-type allele is dominant to the red coloration, which is dominant to the white shell. Furthermore, the proposed model provides the basis for producing selected donor pearl oyster lines through hatchery propagation. © 2016 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

  14. The effect of tectonic evolution on lacustrine syn-rift sediment patters in Qikou Sag, Bohaiwan Basin, eastern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Y.; Wang, H.; Xu, W.

    2013-12-01

    Normal fault arrays and associated relay ramps between two overlapping en-echelon normal faults are well known to control the deposition and distribution of sediments in alluvial, fluvial and deltaic systems in rift settings. The influence of transfer zones or relay ramps on sediment routes and dispersal patterns in subaqueous (deeper marine/lacustrine), however, is barely studied and hence less clear. Previous experimental studies indicate that subaqueous relay ramps may act as sediment transportation pathways if certain conditions are available. In this study, we integrate detailed structural and stratigraphic analysis with three-dimensional seismic data and limited well log data from the Qikou Sag to examine the tectonic evolution and the syn-rift sediment patterns response to fault growth and linkage in an active rift setting. Qikou Sag is located at the center of Huanghua Depression, Bohaiwan Basin of eastern China. Structurally, it is a typical continental rift basin characterized by a linked system of two NEE-SWW-striking half-grabens and one E-W-striking graben. Qikou sag is filled with Eocene-Oligocene syn-rift sediments and Miocene to Quaternary post-rift sediments. The Eocene-Oligocene rifting stage can be divided into early rifting period (43-36.5 Ma, the third member and second member of Shahejie Formation, Es3 and Es2), stable rifting period (36.5-29Ma, the first member of Shaehejie Formation, Es1) and fault-depressed diversionary period (29-24.6Ma, the Dongying Formation, Ed). This study focus on the early syn-rift, the third and second member of Shehejie Formation, which is mostly dark-grey mudstone interbedded with fine to coarse-grained sandstone deposited by large-scale turbidity currents in deep-lake. In particular, we use a combination of thickness variability and facies distributions, onlap patterns within a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework, integrated with structural geometry, fault activity and subsidence history analysis to

  15. Sag compensation system for assembly of MDT-chambers for the ATLAS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barashkov, A.V.; Glonti, G.L.; Gongadze, A.L.; Evtukhovich, P.G.; Il'yushenko, E.N.; Kotov, S.A.; Kruchonok, V.G.; Tskhadadze, Eh.G.; Chepurnov, V.F.; Shelkov, G.A.

    2005-01-01

    The description of a system of the devices created for compensation of the gravitational deflection of the drift chamber during its assembly is presented. By means of this system during stage-by-stage gluing of layers of tube drift detectors to the chamber the transversal deflection considerably decreases and by that high accuracy of mutual position of separate tubes is provided. The devices were applied at assembly of 74 MDT-chambers of the ATLAS experiment. Design values of deformation of the chambers as well as the results of measurement of transversal deflections obtained during the assembly with the use of the system of sag compensation are given. Testing of chambers on the X-ray tomograph at CERN has shown that the accuracy of the positions of separate signal wires inside the assembled chambers is within the limits of the required 20 μm

  16. A Photobook of the Shimmer: Pearl Fisheries, Photography, and British Colonialism in South Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natasha

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This article examines Lionel Wendt’s photographs of the Sri Lankan shoreline and its pearling economy during the British occupation in the 1930s and 1940s. It considers the light they shed on labour, as well as the tangled relationships between wealth and waste, in an environment where the detritus (cultch generated by harvesting luxury pearls also formed the most common building materials. The ambivalences of Wendt’s aesthetic are connected to the qualities of pearlescence and the shimmer, which themselves were freighted with both metaphorical meaning and technical possibility, for theorists of modernity like Walter Benjamin and early scientists of photography alike. Considering what was, and was not depicted in Wendt’s photographs, the article describes the materiality of the coercive labour that existed in the Gulf of Manaar, as well as its connected imaginaries, both local and colonial.

  17. CRED REA Algal Assessments, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 2002 (NODC Accession 0010352)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Twelve quadrats were sampled along 2 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 14 sites at Pearl and Hermes Atoll...

  18. CRED REA Algal Assessments, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 2003 (NODC Accession 0010352)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Twelve quadrats were sampled along 2 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 15 sites at Pearl and Hermes Atoll...

  19. CRED REA Coral Population Parameters at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, NW Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), 2006

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Belt transects along 2 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 13 sites at Pearl and Hermes Atoll...

  20. Transfer factors of radionuclides 137Cs and 65Zn from soil to pearl millet and sorghum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sachdev, P.; Sachdev, M.S.; Deb, D.L.

    1996-01-01

    The soil to plant transfer factors (TF) of 137 Cs and 65 Zn were determined for two crops, sorghum and pearl millet, under irrigated conditions in greenhouse and under rain fed conditions in field. In the greenhouse experiment, the accumulation of 137 Cs was almost doubled when the soil contamination level was doubled. Under field conditions, 137 Cs concentration in both pearl millet and sorghum grains as well as straw was nearly four times more at 148 kBq Kg -1 level of soil contamination as compared to lower level of 74 kBq kg -1 soil. The TF values for 65 Zn determined under greenhouse conditions for both the crops were nearly a hundred-fold higher as compared to 137 Cs. (author). 7 refs., 2 tabs

  1. Stationarity of annual flood peaks during 1951-2010 in the Pearl River basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qiang; Gu, Xihui; Singh, Vijay P.; Xiao, Mingzhong; Xu, Chong-Yu

    2014-11-01

    The assumption of stationarity of annual peak flood (APF) records at 28 hydrological stations across the Pearl River basin, China, is tested. Abrupt changes in mean and variance are tested using the Pettitt technique and the Loess method. Trends of APFs are analyzed using the Mann-Kendall method and the Spearman technique. And then the stationarity of the APF series is further investigated by GAMLSS models and long-term persistence. Results indicate that: (1) abrupt changes in mean and variance have similar influences on the changing properties of APFs, such as stationarity. Abrupt changes in mean and variance are only field significant in the East River basin; (2) the change points have a considerable impact on the detection of trends, and these may be attributed to the fact that a abrupt increase or decrease in mean values will affect the trend variations. Besides, for the APF series being free of change points and trend, the GAMLSS models also corroborate stationarity of the APF series; (3) the nonstationarity in the Pearl River basin is mainly due to the existence of the change point. However, the APF series with change points in mean and/or variance are also characterized by long-term persistence, and thus it is infeasible to assert that the abrupt behaviors and/or trends of the APF series are the result of human activities or long-term persistence, especially in the East River basin. Results of this study will provide information for management of water resources and design of hydraulic facilities in the Pearl River basin in a changing environment.

  2. Super-light concrete with pearl-chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hertz, Kristian Dahl

    2009-01-01

    with large spans for bridges, factories, warehouses, shopping centres, car parks, assembly and sports halls and so on. The new structures are new applications for well-understood components, so it is not necessary to prove that they are possible. However, the paper presents tests that were made to illustrate...... half that of similar structures in concrete and steel. They are heat-insulating, fire-resistant and they open up the possibility for large spans and the creation of advanced shapes. Fields of application include roofs, shells, beams, columns, walls, façades, offshore structures, tunnels and structures...... the applicability and to reveal any potential hidden problems. Continuing research will aim to reduce the weight and thereby the resource consumption further. In addition, the paper introduces pearl-chain reinforcement, which is a new principle for creating compression and tension zones. A small number of simple...

  3. A new analysis of Mars "Special Regions": findings of the second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rummel, John D; Beaty, David W; Jones, Melissa A; Bakermans, Corien; Barlow, Nadine G; Boston, Penelope J; Chevrier, Vincent F; Clark, Benton C; de Vera, Jean-Pierre P; Gough, Raina V; Hallsworth, John E; Head, James W; Hipkin, Victoria J; Kieft, Thomas L; McEwen, Alfred S; Mellon, Michael T; Mikucki, Jill A; Nicholson, Wayne L; Omelon, Christopher R; Peterson, Ronald; Roden, Eric E; Sherwood Lollar, Barbara; Tanaka, Kenneth L; Viola, Donna; Wray, James J

    2014-11-01

    A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). Results have also been gleaned from the Mars Science Laboratory (launched in 2011). In addition to Mars data, there is a considerable body of new data regarding the known environmental limits to life on Earth-including the potential for terrestrial microbial life to survive and replicate under martian environmental conditions. The SR-SAG2 analysis has included an examination of new Mars models relevant to natural environmental variation in water activity and temperature; a review and reconsideration of the current parameters used to define Special Regions; and updated maps and descriptions of the martian environments recommended for treatment as "Uncertain" or "Special" as natural features or those potentially formed by the influence of future landed spacecraft. Significant changes in our knowledge of the capabilities of terrestrial organisms and the existence of possibly habitable martian environments have led to a new appreciation of where Mars Special Regions may be identified and protected. The SR-SAG also considered the impact of Special Regions on potential future human missions to Mars, both as locations of

  4. Grace Under Fire: The Army Nurses of Pearl Harbor, 1941.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milbrath, Gwyneth R

    2016-01-01

    Much has been written about the military events of December 7, 1941; however, little has been documented about the nurses' work and experience at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The aerial assault on Pearl Harbor was the first time in US history that Army nurses had been on the front line of battle. Nurses quickly triaged and stabilized those who could be saved, and provided compassion and comfort to those who were dying, in an environment where the nurses were unsure of their own survival. Traditional historical methods and a social history framework were used in this investigation. Primary sources included oral histories from the US Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage and the State of Hawaii's website, Hawaii Aviation. Secondary sources included published books, newspaper articles, military websites, and history texts. Due to the limited bed capacity, Hickam Field Hospital converted to an evacuation hospital. Nurses, physicians, and medical corpsman triaged, stabilized, and transported those likely to survive, while staging the dead behind the building. The emergency room at Tripler Hospital was quickly flooded with patients from the battlefield, but the staff was able to sort patients appropriately to the wards, to the operating room, or provide comfort care as they died. At Schofield Hospital, collaboration between tireless doctors, nurses, and corpsmen was key to providing life-saving surgery and care.

  5. Volatilization of Parathion and Chlorothalonil from a Potato Crop Simulated by the PEARL Model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leistra, M.; Berg, van den F.

    2007-01-01

    The volatilization of pesticides from crop canopies in the field should be modeled within the context of evaluating environmental exposure. A model concept based on diffusion through a laminar air-boundary layer was incorporated into the PEARL model (pesticide emission assessment at regional and

  6. Radiological survey of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Environs, Honolulu, Hawaii. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callis, R.S.

    1987-06-01

    This report presents results of the survey conducted by the Eastern Environmental Radiation Facility personnel to assess levels of environmental radioactivity resulting from maintenance and operation of nuclear-powered warships at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Environs on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu

  7. Lipid nanocarriers (GeluPearl) containing amphiphilic lipid Gelucire 50/13 as a novel stabilizer: fabrication, characterization and evaluation for oral drug delivery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Date, Abhijit A; Nagarsenker, Mangal S; Vador, Nimish; Jagtap, Aarti

    2011-01-01

    Purpose. To evaluate the ability of Gelucire 50/13 (an amphiphilic lipid excipient) to act as a stabilizer for lipid nanocarriers such as solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) and to establish the ability of Gelucire 50/13 based lipid nanocarriers to improve oral delivery of hydrophobic drugs using repaglinide (RPG) as a model drug. Methods. The ability of Gelucire 50/13 to nanosize various solid lipids was evaluated. The ability of Gelucire 50/13 to yield NLC was evaluated by using Precirol ATO 5 as a model solid lipid and various liquid lipids (oils). Gelucire 50/13 based NLC (GeluPearl) were evaluated for their ability to improve the efficacy of RPG on oral administration in comparison to RPG tablets. The short term stability of RPG-GeluPearl was evaluated at 25 deg. C/60% RH. Results. Gelucire 50/13 could successfully yield SLN and NLC of various solid lipids, demonstrating its potential to act as a novel stabilizer. DSC studies indicated that Gelucire 50/13 interacts with Precirol ATO 5 and this interaction suppresses polymorphic transitions of both the components. RPG-GeluPearl exhibited significantly higher anti-diabetic activity compared to marketed RPG tablets. RPG-GeluPearl demonstrated good colloidal and chemical stability at the end of 1 month.

  8. Detection of antibiotic resistance and tetracycline resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae isolated from the Pearl rivers in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tao Ran; Ying Guangguo; Su Haochang; Zhou Hongwei; Sidhu, Jatinder P.S.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated antibiotic resistance profiles and tetracycline resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae family isolates from the Pearl rivers. The Enterobacteriaceae isolates were tested for susceptibility to seven antibiotics ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim, tetracycline and trimethoprim. In Liuxi reservoir, with an exception to ampicillin resistant strains (11%) no other antibiotic resistance bacterial strains were detected. However, multiple drug resistance in bacterial isolates from the other sites of Pearl rivers was observed which is possibly due to sewage discharge and input from other anthropogenic sources along the rivers. Four tetracycline resistance genes tet A, tet B, tet C and tet D were detected in the isolates from the rivers. The genes tet A and tet B were widely detected with the detection frequencies of 43% and 40% respectively. Ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin resistant enteric bacteria were also isolated from the pig and duck manures which suggest a wider distribution of human specific drugs in the environment. This investigation provided a baseline data on antibiotic resistance profiles and tetracycline resistance genes in the Pearl rivers delta. - High rates of antibiotic resistance in Enterobacteriaceae from river water are attributed to wastewater contamination.

  9. Detection of antibiotic resistance and tetracycline resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae isolated from the Pearl rivers in South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tao Ran [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Ying Guangguo, E-mail: guangguo.ying@gmail.co [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Su Haochang [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Zhou Hongwei [Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, 1838 North Guangzhou Street, Baiyun District, Guangzhou 510515 (China); Sidhu, Jatinder P.S. [CSIRO Land and Water, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia QLD 4067 (Australia)

    2010-06-15

    This study investigated antibiotic resistance profiles and tetracycline resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae family isolates from the Pearl rivers. The Enterobacteriaceae isolates were tested for susceptibility to seven antibiotics ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim, tetracycline and trimethoprim. In Liuxi reservoir, with an exception to ampicillin resistant strains (11%) no other antibiotic resistance bacterial strains were detected. However, multiple drug resistance in bacterial isolates from the other sites of Pearl rivers was observed which is possibly due to sewage discharge and input from other anthropogenic sources along the rivers. Four tetracycline resistance genes tet A, tet B, tet C and tet D were detected in the isolates from the rivers. The genes tet A and tet B were widely detected with the detection frequencies of 43% and 40% respectively. Ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin resistant enteric bacteria were also isolated from the pig and duck manures which suggest a wider distribution of human specific drugs in the environment. This investigation provided a baseline data on antibiotic resistance profiles and tetracycline resistance genes in the Pearl rivers delta. - High rates of antibiotic resistance in Enterobacteriaceae from river water are attributed to wastewater contamination.

  10. Distributed Low Voltage Ride-Through Operation of Power Converters in Grid-Connected Microgrids under Voltage Sags

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhao, Xin; Meng, Lexuan; Dragicevic, Tomislav

    2015-01-01

    it can make the MG a contributor in smooth ride through the faults. In this paper, a reactive power support strategy using droop controlled converters is proposed to aid MG riding through three phase symmetrical voltage sags. In such a case, the MGs should inject reactive power to the grid to boost...... the voltage in all phases at AC common bus. However, since the line admittances from each converter to point of common coupling (PCC) are not identical, the injected reactive power may not be equally shared. In order to achieve low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability along with a good power sharing...

  11. Potential need for re-definition of the highest priority recovery action in the Krsko SAG-1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bilic Zabric, T.; Basic, I.

    2005-01-01

    Replacement of old SG (Steam Generators) [7] and the characteristic of new ones throws the question of proper accident management strategy, which leans on philosophy that repair and recovery actions have first priority. In the current NPP Krsko SAMGs (Severe Accident Management Guidelines), water supply to the SG has priority over re-injection water into the core. NPP Krsko reconsidered the highest priority of SAG-1 (inject water to the SG), against the WOG (Westinghouse Owners Group) generic approach (inject water into the core) and potential revision of Severe Accident Phenomenology Evaluations using MAAP (Modular accident Analysis Program) 4.0.5 code. (author)

  12. Preliminary investigation into the pressing process of sweet pearl millet and sweet sorghum biomass for ethanol production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crepeau, M.; Khelifi, M.; Vanasse, A. [Laval Univ., Quebec City, PQ (Canada). Dept. of Soil Science and Agri-Food Engineering

    2010-07-01

    Corn is the main source for biofuel production in North America. However, both sweet pearl millet and sweet sorghum crops represent an interesting alternative to corn for ethanol production because of their high biomass yield under a wide range of environmental conditions and high concentration of readily fermentable sugars. Coproducts such as pressing residues can be also be utilized so that nothing is lost in the process. However, in order to improve the extraction of juice for ethanol production, the pressing process of this biomass must be optimized. Preliminary experiments were therefore conducted to optimize the juice extraction from sweet pearl millet and sweet sorghum using 2 different presses, notably a screw press and a manually operated hydraulic press. Both types of biomass were either chopped finely or coarsely and were exposed to various pressures with the hydraulic press. The volume of juice extracted from both crops increased linearly with increasing pressure. Sweet sorghum appeared to be a better feedstock for ethanol production because it produced about 0.03 to 0.06 litre of juice per kg of biomass more than sweet pearl millet. Juice extraction was more effective with the screw press, but only a small difference was noted between the 2 chopping modes.

  13. Bio indication of water quality in the Bogota Sabane using fuzzy logic sagging and aquatic micro invertebrates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gutierrez, Juan David; Riss Wolfgang; Ospina Rodolfo

    2002-01-01

    An application of the Sagging-type fuzzy logic to calculate biological water quality in Bogota, Colombia is presented 28 sites corresponding to 9 watersheds in the Bogota area were used. The organisms selected were: Leptoceridae and Hidrobiosidae as indicators of clean waters, Planariidae and Amphipoda as indicators of polluted waters and Psychodida and Syrphidae as indicators of highly polluted waters Chironomids were also included. In order to prove the degree of reliability of Sugeno-type fuzzy logic, the results obtained were compared with values for the Cfq index, and a highly significant correlation was obtained

  14. Quantitative analysis and simulation of land use changes in the Pearl River Delta, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Honghui; Zeng, Yongnian; Zou, Bin; Xiao, Pengfeng; Hu, Deyong; Peng, Jianchao

    2007-06-01

    This paper analyzes and simulates the land use changes in the Pearl River Delta, China, using Longgang City as a case study. The region has pioneered the nation in economic development and urbanization process. Tremendous land use changes have been witnessed since the economic reform in 1978. Land use changes are analyzed and simulated by using stochastic cellular automata model, land use trajectories analysis, spatial indices and multi-temporal TM images of Longgang City (TM1987, TM1991, TM1995, TM1999, TM2003, TM2005) in order to understand how urbanization has transformed the non-urban land to urban land and estimate the consequent environment and ecological impacts in this region. The analysis and simulation results show that urban land continues to sprawl along road and fringe of towns, and concomitant to this development is the loss of agricultural land, orchards and fish ponds. This study provides new evidence with spatial details about the uneven land development in the Pearl River Delta.

  15. Optimization of PIXE quantitative system to assist the traceability of pearl and other gemstones

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murao, S., E-mail: s.murao@aist.go.jp [National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, (Japan); Sera, K. [Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Takizawa, Iwate (Japan); Goto, S.; Takahashi, C. [Takizawa Laboratory, Japan Radioisotope Association, Takizawa, Iwate (Japan); Cartier, L. [Department of Environmental Science, University of Basel (Switzerland); Nakashima, K. [Yamagata University, Yamagata, (Japan)

    2013-07-01

    Full text: A recent rise of social attention towards ethical consumerism, ethical jewellery, blood diamonds and the traceability of gemstones has challenged scientists to construct analytical systems to deliver in line with such expectations by offering traceability solutions. It is important to develop traceability protocols for gemstones and pearls that are ethically traded, as this will further encourage members of the trade to engage in ethical and fair trade practices. Of various kinds of available methods, Proton/particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) seems to be robust and promising in this context because of its trace element analysis capabilities without destruction. The authors conducted both vacuum and in-air experiments to optimize conditions to identify important peaks and to quantify the signals that correspond to gemstone materials from specific geographic origins. PIXE results for cultured pearls from Micronesia and commercial-quality crystals from Pakistan, both sources of fair trade gemstone materials, will be presented. (author)

  16. Optimization of PIXE quantitative system to assist the traceability of pearl and other gemstones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murao, S.; Sera, K.; Goto, S.; Takahashi, C.; Cartier, L.; Nakashima, K.

    2013-01-01

    Full text: A recent rise of social attention towards ethical consumerism, ethical jewellery, blood diamonds and the traceability of gemstones has challenged scientists to construct analytical systems to deliver in line with such expectations by offering traceability solutions. It is important to develop traceability protocols for gemstones and pearls that are ethically traded, as this will further encourage members of the trade to engage in ethical and fair trade practices. Of various kinds of available methods, Proton/particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) seems to be robust and promising in this context because of its trace element analysis capabilities without destruction. The authors conducted both vacuum and in-air experiments to optimize conditions to identify important peaks and to quantify the signals that correspond to gemstone materials from specific geographic origins. PIXE results for cultured pearls from Micronesia and commercial-quality crystals from Pakistan, both sources of fair trade gemstone materials, will be presented. (author)

  17. Expression of a ß-1,3-glucanase from a biocontrol fungus in transgenic pearl millet

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    O'Kennedy, MM

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available by the rice Act1 intron sequences, were subjected to pathogenicity trials. Apart from one isolated event reducing incidence of S. graminicola infection by 58%, transgenic pearl millet showed no resistance to this phytopathogen. The event conferring decreased...

  18. Potential use of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) in Brazil: Food security, processing, health benefits and nutritional products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias-Martins, Amanda M; Pessanha, Kênia Letícia F; Pacheco, Sidney; Rodrigues, José Avelino S; Carvalho, Carlos Wanderlei Piler

    2018-07-01

    Climate change can cause an increase in arid soils, warmer weather, and reduce water availability, which in turn can directly affect food security. This increases food prices and reduces the availability of food. Therefore, knowledge concerning the nutritional and technological potential of non-traditional crops and their resistance to heat and drought is very interesting. Pearl millet is known to produce small nutritious cereal grains, which can endure both heat and dry conditions, and is one of the basic cereals of several African and Asian countries. Although this species has been cultivated in Brazil for at least 50 years it is only used as a cover crop and animal feed, but not for human consumption. Nonetheless, pearl millet grains have a high potential as food for humans because they are gluten-free, higher in dietary fiber content than rice, similar in lipid content to maize and higher content of essential amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and lysine) than other traditional cereals, such as wheat and rye. In addition, the crop is low cost and less susceptible to contamination by aflatoxins compared to corn, for example. Most grains, including pearl millet, can be milled, decorticated, germinated, fermented, cooked and extruded to obtain products such as flours, biscuits, snacks, pasta and non-dairy probiotic beverages. Pearl millet also has functional properties; it has a low glycemic index and therefore it can be used as an alternative food for weight control and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Thus, this review intends to show the potential of pearl millet as an alternative food security crop, particularly in countries, like Brazil, where it is not commonly consumed. Also this review presents different processes and products that have been already reported in the literature in order to introduce the great potential of this important small grain to producers and consumers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. [Microbial community in nitrogen cycle of aquaculture water of the Pearl River Delta].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Xiaolong; Luo, Jianfei; Lin, Weitie; Tian, Guoliang

    2012-05-04

    In order to study the characteristic of nitrogen transport, the community structure and diversity of related microorganisms in aquaculture water of the Pearl River Delta. We established an artificial aquaculture ecosystem to study the microbial community of 15N-stable isotope probing (15N-SIP) labeled nitrogen transport microorganisms. The 15N-labeled DNA was separated by CsCl-ethidium bromide density gradient centrifugation, and was used to construct 16S rRNA gene clone libraries of bacteria and archaea. Phylogenetic analysis shows that 19 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) from bacterial library were clustered in Proteobacteria and Planctomycetes. Proteobacteria (99.2%) was the dominant group, mainly consisted of Comamonas (15.7%), Nitrosomonas (12.4%), Enterobacteriaceae (11.5%) and Nitrobacter (11.5%). From archaeal library 9 OTUs were divided into 3 phyla: Thaumarchaeota, Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. We successfully elucidated the microbial community of nitrogen transport microorganisms in aquaculture water of Pearl River Delta by using 15N-SIP. The data of the community will provide essential information for isolating nitrogen degrading microorganism, and provide scientific basis for creating a healthy aquaculture environment.

  20. Mitigation of voltage sag, swell and power factor correction using solid-state transformer b

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.R. Banaei

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel topology of solid-state transformer (SST. In the design process, the AC/DC, DC/AC and AC/AC converters have been integrated to achieve higher efficiency. To obtain higher efficiency from other SST with DC-link topologies, the AC/DC and DC/AC converters have been integrated in one matrix converter. The proposed SST performs typical functions and has advantages such as power factor correction, voltage sag and swell elimination, voltage flicker reduction and protection capability in fault situations. In addition, it has other benefits such as light weight, low volume and elimination of hazardous liquid dielectrics because it uses medium frequency transformer. The operation and some performances of the proposed SST have been verified by the simulation results.

  1. Frost susceptibility of sub-base gravel used in Pearl-Chain Bridges: an experimental investigation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Mia Schou Møller; Hansen, Kurt Kielsgaard; Andersen, Iben Brøndum

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates frost susceptibility of sub-base gravel determined by the ASTM D5918-13 standard as a conservative estimate of the frost heave risk of fill in overfilled arch bridges, particularly in Pearl-Chain Bridges. Frost heave of granular materials has been of great research interes...

  2. Multivariate statistical study of heavy metal enrichment in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, W.X.; Li, X.D.; Shen, Z.G.; Wang, D.C.; Wai, O.W.H.; Li, Y.S.

    2003-01-01

    Multivariate statistical analysis identified the heavy metal accumulation layers of sediment profiles and showed the various sources of metals in the estuary. - The concentrations and chemical partitioning of heavy metals in the sediment cores of the Pearl River Estuary were studied. Based on Pearson correlation coefficients and principal component analysis results, Al was selected as the concentration normalizer for Pb, while Fe was used as the normalizing element for Co, Cu, Ni and Zn. In each profile, sections with metal concentrations exceeding the upper 95% prediction interval of the linear regression model were regarded as metal enrichment layers. The heavy metal accumulation mainly occurred at sites in the western shallow water areas and east channel, which reflected the hydraulic conditions and influence from riparian anthropogenic activities. Heavy metals in the enrichment sections were evaluated by a sequential extraction method for possible chemical forms in sediments. Since the residual, Fe/Mn oxides and organic/sulfide fractions were dominant geochemical phases in the enriched sections, the bioavailability of heavy metals in sediments was generally low. The 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratios in the metal-enriched sediment sections also revealed the influence of anthropogenic sources. The spatial distribution of cumulative heavy metals in the sediments suggested that the Zn and Cu mainly originated from point sources, while the Pb probably came from non-point sources in the estuary

  3. Origin of an extensive network of non-tectonic synclines in Eocene limestones of the Western Desert, Egypt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tewksbury, Barbara J.; Tarabees, Elhamy A.; Mehrtens, Charlotte J.

    2017-12-01

    Satellite images of the Western Desert of Egypt display conspicuous sinuous color patterning that previous workers have interpreted as erosional flutes formed by catastrophic flooding. Our work with high resolution satellite imagery shows that the patterning is not erosional but, rather, the result of a network of thousands of narrow synclines in the Eocene bedrock capping the Limestone Plateau. Synclines form as isolated, 200-400 meter-wide downwarps in otherwise flat-lying strata. Limb dips are shallow, and doubly plunging hinges form multiple basin closures along syncline lengths. Anticlines form ;accidentally; in inter-syncline areas where two adjacent synclines lie close together. Synclines have two dominant orientations, WNW-ESE and NNW-SSE, parallel to two prominent joint and fault sets, and synclines branch, merge, and change orientation along their lengths. Synclines are all at the same scale with neither larger structures nor parasitic structures and are best described as non-tectonic sag synclines. An Egypt-wide inventory reveals that these synclines are both confined to Eocene limestones and developed, albeit it sporadically, over nearly 100,000 km2. The syncline network predates plateau gravels of the Katkut Formation, which have been interpreted as Oligocene or early Miocene in age, and the network is cut by faults related to Western Desert extension associated with Red Sea rifting. The mechanism that caused sag of overlying layers is not clear. Modern karst collapse, subsurface dissolution of evaporites, and collapse of paleokarst are all unlikely mechanisms given the timing of formation and the underlying stratigraphy. Silica diagenesis and downslope mobilization of underlying shales are possibilities, although uncertainty about the origin of silica in the limestones, plus the consistency of syncline orientations over large areas, make these models problematic. Hypogene karst, perhaps related to aggressive fluids associated with basaltic intrusions

  4. Rolling the "Black Pearl" over: Analyzing the Physics of a Movie Clip

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mungan, Carl E.; Emery, John D.

    2011-01-01

    In the third movie ("At World's End") in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, Jack Sparrow and his crew need to roll their ship (the "Black Pearl") over in order to bring it back to the living world during a green flash at sunset. They do so by running back and forth from one side railing to the other on the top deck. In addition, Captain…

  5. Cultural Diversity in Nursing Education: Perils, Pitfalls, and Pearls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bednarz, Hedi; Schim, Stephanie; Doorenbos, Ardith

    2010-01-01

    Increasing diversity in the classroom challenges nursing educators to identify issues that complicate teaching (perils), analyze barriers for themselves and their students (pitfalls), and select new strategies for working with nontraditional students (pearls). This article identifies concerns arising from attitudes and values within nursing and common approaches to diversity education, and then discusses key issues in nursing education that relate to human nature, culture, faculty workload, and student demographics. Finally, some strategies are proposed for increasing the effectiveness of professional preparation with diverse students through a focus on culturally congruent education and development of faculty cultural competence. PMID:20143759

  6. Mapping QTLs Controlling Flowering Time and Important Agronomic Traits in Pearl Millet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sushil; Hash, C Tom; Nepolean, T; Satyavathi, C Tara; Singh, Govind; Mahendrakar, Mahesh D; Yadav, Rattan S; Srivastava, Rakesh K

    2017-01-01

    Pearl millet [ Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a staple crop for the people of arid and semi-arid regions of the world. It is fast gaining importance as a climate resilient nutricereal. Exploiting the bold seeded, semi-dwarf, and early flowering genotypes in pearl millet is a key breeding strategy to enhance yield, adaptability, and for adequate food in resource-poor zones. Genetic variation for agronomic traits of pearl millet inbreds can be used to dissect complex traits through quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping. This study was undertaken to map a set of agronomically important traits like flowering time (FT), plant height (PH), panicle length (PL), and grain weight (self and open-pollinated seeds) in the recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of ICMB 841-P3 × 863B-P2 cross. Excluding grain weight (open pollinated), heritabilities for FT, PH, PL, grain weight (selfed) were in high to medium range. A total of six QTLs for FT were detected on five chromosomes, 13 QTLs for PH on six chromosomes, 11 QTLs for PL on five chromosomes, and 14 QTLs for 1,000-grain weight (TGW) spanning five chromosomes. One major QTL on LG3 was common for FT and PH. Three major QTLs for PL, one each on LG1, LG2, and LG6B were detected. The large effect QTL for TGW (self) on LG6B had a phenotypic variance ( R 2 ) of 62.1%. The R 2 for FT, TGW (self), and PL ranged from 22.3 to 59.4%. A total of 21 digenic interactions were discovered for FT ( R 2 = 18-40%) and PL ( R 2 = 13-19%). The epistatic effects did not reveal any significant QTL × QTL × environment (QQE) interactions. The mapped QTLs for flowering time and other agronomic traits in present experiment can be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) and genomic selection (GS) breeding programs.

  7. Constitutive water-conserving mechanisms are correlated with the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kholová, Jana; Hash, C Tom; Kakkera, Aparna; Kocová, Marie; Vadez, Vincent

    2010-01-01

    Pearl millet, a key staple crop of the semi-arid tropics, is mostly grown in water-limited conditions, and improving its performance depends on how genotypes manage limited water resources. This study investigates whether the control of water loss under non-limiting water conditions is involved in the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet. Two pairs of tolerant x sensitive pearl millet genotypes, PRLT 2/89-33-H77/833-2 and 863B-P2-ICMB 841-P3, and near-isogenic lines (NILs), introgressed with a terminal drought tolerance quantitative trait locus (QTL) from the donor parent PRLT 2/89-33 into H77/833-2 (NILs-QTL), were tested. Upon exposure to water deficit, transpiration began to decline at lower fractions of transpirable soil water (FTSW) in tolerant than in sensitive genotypes, and NILs-QTL followed the pattern of the tolerant parents. The transpiration rate (Tr, in g water loss cm(-2) d(-1)) under well-watered conditions was lower in tolerant than in sensitive parental genotypes, and the Tr of NILs-QTL followed the pattern of the tolerant parents. In addition, Tr measured in detached leaves (g water loss cm(-2) h(-1)) from field-grown plants of the parental lines showed lower Tr values in tolerant parents. Defoliation led to an increase in Tr that was higher in sensitive than in tolerant genotypes. The differences in Tr between genotypes was not related to the stomatal density. These results demonstrate that constitutive traits controlling leaf water loss under well-watered conditions correlate with the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet. Such traits may lead to more water being available for grain filling under terminal drought.

  8. 2008 USGS/NPS/NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL): Pearl River Delta, LA and MS

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A bare earth elevation map (also known as a Digital Elevation Model or DEM) of the Pearl River Delta in Louisiana and Mississippi was produced from remotely sensed,...

  9. Response of Pearl Millet to nitrogen as affected by water deficit

    OpenAIRE

    Diouf , O.; Brou , Yao Télesphore; Diouf , M.; Sarr , B.; Eyletters , M.; Roy-Macauley , H.; Delhaye , J.

    2004-01-01

    International audience; In the Sahelian zone, low soil N could be as limiting as drought in pearl millet production. Although growth and crop productivity depend on several biochemical reactions in which the nitrogen metabolism plays a great role, there is little information available on how N uptake and key enzymes, nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase, are affected by nitrogen and water interaction in millet. For this purpose, the millet variety cv. Souna III was grown in the field du...

  10. Revisiting "Pearl Harbor": Resistance to Reel and Real Events in an English Language Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackie, Ardiss; Norton, Bonny

    2006-01-01

    In this article, we draw on disruptive scenes in a postsecondary classroom to examine a critical incident concerning conflicting readings of the film "Pearl Harbor" (2001). We raise crucial questions for pedagogical work with popular film: Who speaks for whom about the meaning of a given film? Under what conditions do students resist…

  11. Aerosol size and chemical composition measurements at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, P. L.; Tremblay, S.; Chang, R. Y. W.; Leaitch, R.; Kolonjari, F.; O'Neill, N. T.; Chaubey, J. P.; AboEl Fetouh, Y.; Fogal, P.; Drummond, J. R.

    2016-12-01

    This study presents observations of aerosol chemical composition and particle number size distribution at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in the Canadian High Arctic (80N, 86W). The current aerosol measurement program at PEARL has been ongoing for more than a year providing long-term observations of Arctic aerosol size distributions for both coarse and fine modes. Particle nucleation events were frequently observed during the summers of 2015 and 2016. The size distribution data are also compared against similar measurements taken at the Alert Global Atmospheric Watch Observatory (82N, 62W) for July and August 2015. The nucleation events are correlated at the two sites, despite a distance of approximately 500 km, suggesting regional conditions favorable for particle nucleation and growth during this period. Size resolved chemical composition measurements were also carried out using an aerosol mass spectrometer. The smallest measured particles between 40 and 60 nm are almost entirely organic aerosol (OA) indicating that the condensation of organic vapors is responsible for particle growth events and possibly particle nucleation. This conclusion is further supported by the relatively high oxygen content of the OA, which is consistent with secondary formation of OA via atmospheric oxidation.Lastly, surface measurements of the aerosol scattering coefficient are compared against the coefficient values calculated using Mie theory and the measured aerosol size distribution. Both the actual and the calculated scattering coefficients are then compared to sun photometer measurements to understand the relationship between surface and columnar aerosol optical properties. The measurements at PEARL provide a unique combination of surface and columnar data sets on aerosols in the High Arctic, a region where such measurements are scarce despite the important impact of aerosols on Arctic climate.PEARL research is supported by the Natural Sciences and

  12. Usefulness of Toxoplasma gondii recombinant antigens (GRA1, GRA7 and SAG1) in an immunoglobulin G avidity test for the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pietkiewicz, H; Hiszczyńska-Sawicka, E; Kur, J

    2007-01-01

    The precise diagnosis of an acute and recent Toxoplasma infection in pregnant women and the newborn child is important before treatment. This study describes a new Toxoplasma gondii IgG avidity test based on a combination of recombinant GRA1, GRA7 and SAG1 antigens and shows that this test is use...

  13. The role of fluid migration system in hydrocarbon accumulation in Maichen Sag, Beibuwan Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hongyu; Yang, Jinxiu; Wu, Feng; Chen, Wei; Liu, Qianqian

    2018-02-01

    Fluid migration system is of great significance for hydrocarbon accumulation, including the primary migration and secondary migration. In this paper, the fluid migration system is analysed in Maichen Sag using seismic, well logging and core data. Results show that many factors control the hydrocarbon migration process, including hydrocarbon generation and expulsion period from source rocks, microfractures developed in the source rocks, the connected permeable sand bodies, the vertical faults cutting into/through the source rocks and related fault activity period. The spatial and temporal combination of these factors formed an effective network for hydrocarbon expulsion and accumulation, leading to the hydrocarbon reservoir distribution at present. Generally, a better understanding of the hydrocarbon migration system can explain the present status of hydrocarbon distribution, and help select future target zones for oil and gas exploration.

  14. Voltage sag influence on fatigue life of the drivetrain of fixed speed wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Veluri, Badrinath; Santos-Martin, David; Jensen, Henrik Myhre

    2011-01-01

    Occurrence of voltage sags due to electrical grid faults and other network disturbances generate transients of the generator electromagnetic torque which result in significant high stresses and noticeable vibrations for the wind turbine mechanical system and may also have a detrimental effect...... on the fatigue life of important drivetrain components. The high penetration of wind energy in the electrical grids demands new requirements for the operation of wind energy conversion systems. Although fixed speed wind turbine technology is nowadays replaced by variable speed wind turbines. In some countries...... by the stator flux oscillations which cause high transients of the generator electromagnetic torque. This paper focuses in estimating the resulting significant stresses transients due to the electromagnetic torque transients, which transmits to the wind turbine mechanical system that may have a detrimental...

  15. Experimental investigation of different fill materials in arch bridges with particular focus on Pearl-Chain Bridges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Mia Schou Møller; Hansen, Kurt Kielsgaard; Hertz, Kristian Dahl

    2016-01-01

    Pearl-Chain Bridge technology is a recently developed prefabricated arch solution for road and railway bridges allowing faster, more environmentally friendly, and cheaper bridge construction. This study compared the strength and durability properties of three different types of fill material...

  16. Research on supplying potential of uranium source from rocks in western provenance area of Hailaer basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xia Yuliang; Liu Hanbin; Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing

    2006-01-01

    Using U-Pb isotope composition evolution, this paper expounds the initial uranium content in volcanic rocks of provenance area of Xihulitu basin and in granites of provenance area of Kelulun sag, western Hailaer basin. The initial uranium content (U 0 ) in volcanic rocks of provenance area is higher, the average initial uranium content of volcanic rocks is 10.061 x 10 -6 , the average uranium variation coefficient (ΔU) is -49.57%; the average initial uranium content of granites is 18.381 x 10 -6 , the average uranium variation coefficient (ΔU) is -80%. The results indicate that rocks in provenance area could provide the pre-enrichment of uranium in deposited sandstone. U-Ra equilibrium coefficients of rocks indicate that there is obvious U-Ra disequilibrium phenomenon in volcanic rocks, and the time when granites provided uranium source occurred 16000 a ago. (authors)

  17. Milheto na alimentação de poedeiras = Pearl millet in the diet of laying hens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Flávia Quiles Marques Garcia

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar os efeitos da utilização de milheto como alimento energético, nas rações de poedeiras sobre o desempenho e qualidade de ovos, bem como realizar uma avaliação econômica a fim de verificar a viabilidade da utilização de milheto. Foram utilizadas 336 poedeiras comerciais, distribuídas em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com seis tratamentos, sete repetições e oito aves por unidade experimental. Os tratamentos consistiram em uma ração-testemunha à base de milho e farelo de soja e as demais com 20, 40, 60, 80 e 100% de substituição ao milho. A inclusão do milheto não influenciou o consumo de ração, porcentagem de postura, conversão alimentar e a qualidade interna e externa dos ovos. Para o índice de coloração de gema, houve redução linear à medida que o nível de milheto foi crescente nas rações. Comrelação à variável econômica, o nível de 20% de substituição por milheto mostrou menor viabilidade, quando comparado ao milho. Assim, o milheto pode substituir o milho em níveis superiores a 20% sem prejuízos para o desempenho e qualidade dos ovos, sendo economicamente viável. Porém, deve-se considerar a necessidade da inclusão de pigmentantes.The present study examined the effects of the use of pearl millet, as energetic source, in the diets of laying hens on the performance and eggs quality, as well as to accomplish an economic evaluation in order to verify the viability of using the pearl millet. Three hundred thirty-six commercial laying hens were used, distributed in a completely randomized experimental design, with six treatments, seven replicates and eight birds for experimental unit. The treatments consisted in a control diet based on corn and soybean meal and the others with different levels of pearl millet (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%. The pearl millet inclusion did not influence the feed intake, egg production (%, feed conversion and internal and

  18. Observational evidence for turbulent effects on total suspended matter within the Pearl River plume

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chunhua, Qiu; Danyi, Su; Huabin, Mao; Jiaxue, Wu; Yongsheng, Cui; Dongxiao, Wang

    2017-12-01

    We observed the structure of the Pearl River plume and its turbulent characteristics, and investigated the turbulent effect on total suspended matter (TSM) within its ;far-field; region, based on in situ and satellite data collected in June 2015. A significant northeastward plume was created under southern monsoonal conditions. The in situ data provided the width, depth, and velocity of the plume, as inferred by salinity. Weaker turbulence occurred at the front surface position than in the plume zone. Stronger turbulence induced greater turbidity in the bottom boundary layer; however, the surface mixed layer differed. By estimating the turbidity budget, we found the lateral fluxes term was the largest term in the plume, turbulent fluxes comprised the second largest term, and the settling terms comprised the smallest term. We quantified the turbulent mechanisms and found that stronger river discharge induced greater TSM turbidity. Tidal and buoyancy fluxes had minor regulatory effects on TSM. Our observations suggest that TSM in the ;far field; region originated from the Pearl River and the coastal region.

  19. Van der Waals interactions between planar substrate and tubular lipid membranes undergoing pearling instability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valchev, G. S.; Djondjorov, P. A.; Vassilev, V. M.; Dantchev, D. M.

    2017-10-01

    In the current article we study the behavior of the van der Waals force between a planar substrate and an axisymmetric bilayer lipid membrane undergoing pearling instability, caused by uniform hydrostatic pressure difference. To do so, the recently suggested "surface integration approach" is used, which can be considered a generalization of the well known and widely used Derjaguin approximation. The static equilibrium shape after the occurrence of the instability is described in the framework of Helfrich's spontaneous curvature model. Some specific classes of exact analytical solutions to the corresponding shape equation are considered, and the components of the respective position vectors given in terms of elliptic integrals and Jacobi elliptic functions. The mutual orientation between the interacting objects is chosen such that the axis of revolution of the distorted cylinder be parallel to the plane bounding the substrate. Based on the discussed models and approaches we made some estimations for the studied force in real experimentally realizable systems, thus showing the possibility of pearling as an useful technique for reduction of the adhesion in variety of industrial processes using lipid membranes as carriers.

  20. 14C as a tool for evaluating riverine POC sources and erosion of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) drainage basin, South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei Xiuguo; Yi Weixi; Shen Chengde; Yechieli, Yoseph; Li Ningli; Ding Ping; Wang Ning; Liu Kexin

    2010-01-01

    Radiocarbon can serve as a powerful tool for identifying sources of organic carbon and evaluating the erosion intensity in river drainage basins. In this paper we present 14 C-AMS measurements of particulate organic carbon (POC) collected from the three major tributaries of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) system: the Xijiang (Western River), Beijiang (Northern River) and Dongjiang (Eastern River) rivers. Furthermore, we discuss the distribution of POC 14 C apparent ages and the related watersheds erosion of these rivers. Results yield Δ 14 C values of -425 per mille to -65 per mille which indicate that the 14 C apparent ages of suspended POC in the entire area are in the range of 540-4445 years. The POC apparent ages from Xijiang are mostly between 2000 and 4000 years, while in Dongjiang they mostly range from 540 to 1010 years. These 14 C apparent ages indicate that the watershed erosion of the Xijiang is more severe than that of the Dongjiang. This is in agreement with other data showing deeper erosion in Xijiang due to human activities.

  1. A Sperm Spawn-Inducing Pheromone in the Silver Lip Pearl Oyster (Pinctada maxima).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, A; Mills, D; Wang, T; Ntalamagka, N; Cummins, S F; Elizur, A

    2018-04-28

    Pheromones are considered to play an important role in broadcast spawning in aquatic animals, facilitating synchronous release of gametes. In oysters, the sperm has been implicated as a carrier for the spawn-inducing pheromone (SIP). In hatchery conditions, male pearl oysters (Pinctata maxima) can be stimulated to spawn through a variety of approaches (e.g. rapid temperature change), while females can only be induced to spawn through exposure to conspecific sperm, thus limiting development of targeted pairing, required for genetic research and management. The capacity for commercial production and improvement of genetic lines of pearl oysters could be greatly improved with access to a SIP. In this study, we prepared and sequenced crude and semi-purified P. maxima sperm extracts that were used in bioassays to localise the female SIP. We report that the P. maxima SIP is proteinaceous and extrinsically associated with the sperm membrane. Bioactivity from pooled RP-HPLC fractions, but not individual fractions, suggests that the SIP is multi-component. We conclude that crude sperm preparations, as described in this study, can be used as a sperm-free inducer of female P. maxima spawning, which enables for a more efficient approach to genetic breeding.

  2. The Impacts of Climate Change in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tracy, A.; Trumbull, K.; Loh, C.

    2006-11-01

    Civic Exchange added climate change to their research agenda some time ago, recognising that it is a cross-cutting issue that will have substantial impact, not only on Hong Kong but on the entire Pearl River Delta. The Hong Kong region is the wealthiest part of China. Along with growing material wealth, Hong Kong's ecological footprint and particularly it's greenhouse gas emissions - have increased exponentially. Therefore, there exists a special responsibility to contribute to finding effective mitigation measures that can help to slow the process; as well as a pressing need to find ways to adapt to those effects of climate change that cannot be forestalled. This paper represents a first attempt to pull together the relevant materials, with the aim of providing a broad-brush view of how climate change may affect Hong Kong, Macao and the Pearl River Delta. The key recommendation is that more region-specific research must be carried out. Civic Exchange has also taken note of the recently published Stern Review, which was commissioned by the United Kingdom government, to assess the economics of climate change. The report calls for urgent action. In this respect, this report therefore doubles as a funding proposal

  3. In situ observations of Pc1 pearl pulsations by the Van Allen Probes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulson, K. W.; Smith, C. W.; Lessard, M. R.; Engebretson, M. J.; Torbert, R. B.; Kletzing, C. A.

    2014-03-01

    We present in situ observations of Pc1 pearl pulsations using the Van Allen Probes. These waves are often observed using ground-based magnetometers, but are rarely observed by orbiting satellites. With the Van Allen Probes, we have seen at least 14 different pearl pulsation events during the first year of operations. These new in situ measurements allow us to identify the wave classification based on local magnetic field conditions. Additionally, by using two spacecraft, we are able to observe temporal changes in the region of observation. The waves appear to be generated at an overall central frequency, as often observed on the ground, and change polarization from left- to right-handedness as they propagate into a region where they are resonant with the crossover frequency (where R- and L-mode waves have the same phase velocity). By combining both in situ and ground-based data, we have found that the region satisfying electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave generation conditions is azimuthally large while radially narrow. The observation of a similar modulation period on the ground as in the magnetosphere contradicts the bouncing wave packet mechanism of generation.

  4. Detection of antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona, Neospora spp., and Toxoplasma gondii in horses from Costa Rica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dangoudoubiyam, S; Oliveira, J B; Víquez, C; Gómez-García, A; González, O; Romero, J J; Kwok, O C H; Dubey, J P; Howe, D K

    2011-06-01

    Serum samples from 315 horses from Costa Rica, Central America, were examined for the presence of antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona, Neospora spp., and Toxoplasma gondii by using the surface antigen (SAG) SnSAG2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the NhSAG1 ELISA, and the modified agglutination test, respectively. Anti- S. neurona antibodies were found in 42.2% of the horses by using the SnSAG2 ELISA. Anti- Neospora spp. antibodies were found in only 3.5% of the horses by using the NhSAG1 ELISA, and only 1 of these horses was confirmed seropositive by Western blot. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 34.0% of the horses tested, which is higher than in previous reports from North and South America. The finding of anti- S. neurona antibodies in horses from geographical areas where Didelphis marsupialis has wide distribution suggests that D. marsupialis is a potential definitive host for this parasite and a source of infection for these horses.

  5. 76 FR 22865 - Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-25

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines In the Matter of: Orion Air, S.L., Canada Real de Merinas, 7... days the Order Temporarily Denying the Export Privileges of Respondents Orion Air, S.L. (``Orion Air...

  6. Evaluation of a real-time PCR assay based on the single-copy SAG1 gene for the detection of Toxoplasma gondii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Haijie; Huang, Bin; Zhuo, Xunhui; Chen, Xueqiu; Du, Aifang

    2013-11-08

    Real-time PCR-based detection of Toxoplasma gondii is very sensitive and convenient for diagnosing toxoplasmosis. However, the performance of the PCR assays could be influenced by the target gene chosen. Here we evaluate a real-time PCR assay using double-stranded DNA dyes (SYBR(®) Green I assay) with a new set of primers targeting the SAG1 gene for the fast and specific detection of T. gondii. The assay showed higher sensitivity than conventional PCR protocols using T. gondii DNA as template. The detection limit of the developed real-time PCR assay was in the order of 1 tachyzoite. The assay was also assessed by experimentally infected mice and showed positive results for blood (25%), spleen (50%) and lung (50%) as early as 1 dpi. The specificity of the assay was confirmed by using DNA from Neospora caninum, Escherichia coli, Babesia bovis, Trypanosoma brucei, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Toxocara canis. Assay applicability was successfully tested in blood samples collected from slaughtered pigs. These results indicate that, based on SYBR(®) green I, the quantitative SAG1 assay may also be useful in the study of the pathogenicity, immunoprophylaxis, and treatment of T. gondii. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Investigation on the Performance of UPQC-Q for Voltage Sag Mitigation and PQ Improvement at a Critical Load Point

    OpenAIRE

    Basu, Malabika; Das, S. P.; Dubey, Gopal

    2008-01-01

    The unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) is one of the major custom power solutions, which is capable of mitigating the effect of supply voltage sag at the load end or at the point of common coupling (PCC) in a distributed network. It also prevents the propagation of the load current harmonics to the utility and improves the input power factor of the load. The control of series compensator (SERC) of the UPQC is such that it injects voltage in quadrature advance to the supply current. Thus...

  8. Measuring consumers' interest in instant fortified pearl millet products: a field experiment in Touba, Senegal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Groote, Hugo; Kariuki, Sarah W; Traore, Djibril; Taylor, John Rn; Ferruzzi, Mario G; Hamaker, Bruce R

    2018-04-01

    In Africa, food-processing industries are emerging fast, especially for cereals. New low-cost extrusion cookers give small enterprises an opportunity to enter the market for processed cereal products, in particular instant, fortified and flavoured mixes. Before engaging in the marketing of these products, consumers' interest needs to be assessed. This study used a combination of affective tests and experimental auctions with 200 consumers in Touba, Senegal, to evaluate four new products with conventional pearl millet flour as the control: instant pearl millet flour, instant pearl millet flour with added dry mango and carrot powder (naturally fortified), and the previous products with added conventional chemical micronutrient fortificants. During affective tests, consumers made little distinction between the five products in appearance, aroma, taste and overall appreciation. The experimental auctions showed that, without providing additional information on the products, there was no difference in 'willingness to pay' (WTP) between them. However, after that information is provided, consumers were willing to pay a modest premium for instant flour, and a large premium for added mango and carrot extract and for added micronutrients, but were not willing to pay a premium if those micronutrients came from natural sources. Income increased overall WTP, while education increased WTP for instant flour. There is a potential market in low-income African countries for instant and fortified cereal food products, but likely in the higher income and education groups. The increased cost needs to be compared to the premiums consumers are willing to pay. In the next step, the new and promising products could be tested in pilot markets, with target consumers. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  9. Effect of periodic environmental fluctuations on the Pearl-Verhulst model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogovchenko, Svitlana P.; Rogovchenko, Yuri V.

    2009-01-01

    We address the effect of periodic environmental fluctuations on the Pearl-Verhulst model in population dynamics and clarify several important issues very actively discussed in the recent papers by Lakshmi [Lakshmi BS. Oscillating population models. Chaos Solitons and Fractals 2003;16:183-6; Lakshmi BS. Population models with time dependent parameters. Chaos Solitons and Fractals 2005;26:719-21], Leach and Andriopoulos [Leach PGL, Andriopoulos K. An oscillatory population model. Chaos Solitons and Fractals 2004;22:1183-8], Swart and Murrell [Swart JH, Murrell HC. An oscillatory model revisited. Chaos Solitons and Fractals 2007;32:1325-7]. Firstly, we review general results regarding existence and properties of periodic solutions and examine existence of a unique positive asymptotically stable periodic solution of a non-autonomous logistic differential equation when r(t)>0. Proceeding to the case where r(t) is allowed to take on negative values, we consider a modified Pearl-Verhulst equation because, as emphasized by Hallam and Clark [Hallam TG, Clark CE. Non-autonomous logistic equations as models of populations in deteriorating environment. J Theor Biol 1981;93:303-11], use of the classic one leads to paradoxical biological conclusions. For a modified logistic equation with ω-periodic coefficients, we establish existence of a unique asymptotically stable positive periodic solution with the same period. Special attention is paid to important cases where time average of the intrinsic growth rate is non-positive. Results of computer simulation demonstrating advantages of a modified equation for modeling periodic environmental fluctuations are presented.

  10. Current source converter based D-STATCOM for voltage sag mitigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Singh Moirangthem Deben

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel method of realizing one of the custom power controllers, the distribution static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM using current source converter (CSC topology. Almost all the custom power controllers such as dynamic voltage restorer (DVR, unified power quality conditioner (UPQC including D-STATCOM are generally designed and implemented by using voltage source converters (VSC and not much research publications with CSC based approach has been reported over the last one decade. Since the D-STATCOM is a current injection device, its performance can be improved when realized by a current-source converter which can generate a controllable current directly at its output terminals and offers many advantageous features. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the performance of a CSC based D-STATCOM suitable for use in the power distribution system in order to mitigate voltage sag and improve power quality. The proposed model uses a three leg CSC whose switching strategy is based on sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM. The model has been simulated in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The results of the simulation runs under steady state and dynamic load perturbation provide excellent voltage and current waveforms that support the justification of the proposed model.

  11. 75 FR 56130 - Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Honolulu County, HI; Comprehensive Conservation Plan and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS-R1-R-2010-N160; 1265-0000-10137-S3] Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Honolulu County, HI; Comprehensive Conservation Plan and... Kamehameha Highway, Room 2C, Hale`iwa, HI 96712. Alternatively, you may fax comments to the refuge at (808...

  12. High performance parallelism pearls 2 multicore and many-core programming approaches

    CERN Document Server

    Jeffers, Jim

    2015-01-01

    High Performance Parallelism Pearls Volume 2 offers another set of examples that demonstrate how to leverage parallelism. Similar to Volume 1, the techniques included here explain how to use processors and coprocessors with the same programming - illustrating the most effective ways to combine Xeon Phi coprocessors with Xeon and other multicore processors. The book includes examples of successful programming efforts, drawn from across industries and domains such as biomed, genetics, finance, manufacturing, imaging, and more. Each chapter in this edited work includes detailed explanations of t

  13. Harnessing the Power of Education Research Databases with the Pearl-Harvesting Methodological Framework for Information Retrieval

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandieson, Robert W.; Kirkpatrick, Lori C.; Sandieson, Rachel M.; Zimmerman, Walter

    2010-01-01

    Digital technologies enable the storage of vast amounts of information, accessible with remarkable ease. However, along with this facility comes the challenge to find pertinent information from the volumes of nonrelevant information. The present article describes the pearl-harvesting methodological framework for information retrieval. Pearl…

  14. In-situ partitioning and bioconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons among water, suspended particulate matter, and fish in the Dongjiang and Pearl Rivers and the Pearl River Estuary, China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Haiyan; Lu, Lei; Huang, Wen; Yang, Juan; Ran, Yong

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • PAHs are relatively higher in marine fish than in freshwater fish. • PAHs respectively show significant correlations with DOC, POC, and Chl a. • The log K oc for PAHs is one order magnitude higher than the predicted. • The log BCF values in fish and their tissues are nonlinear in respect to log K ow . • Lipid is related to PAHs in freshwater fish, but not in marine fishes. - Abstract: The partitioning and bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and fish samples from the Dongjiang River (DR), Pearl River (PR), and the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) were examined. Although PAHs are much lower in PRE than in DR or PR, PAHs in some fish species are significantly higher in PRE than in DR or PR. Aqueous or particulate PAHs respectively show significant correlations with dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic matter, and chlorophyll a, suggesting that biological pumping effect regulates their distribution. The in situ partitioning coefficients (log K oc ) for PAHs are one order magnitude higher than the empirical log K oc –log K ow correlation. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) is slightly higher for the marine fish than for the freshwater fish. The above phenomena indicate that BCF may vary due to the diversity of fish species, feeding habits, and metabolism of PAHs in fish

  15. [Residues and potential ecological risk assessment of metal in sediments from lower reaches and estuary of Pearl River].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Wen-Ping; Wang, Shao-Bing; Zhu, Xin-Ping; Chen, Kun-Ci; Pan, De-Bo; Hong, Xiao-You; Yin, Yi

    2012-06-01

    In order to investigate the heavy metal concentrations and their potential ecological risks in surface sediments of lower reaches and estuary of Pearl River, 21 bottom sediment samples were collected from lower reaches and estuary of Pearl River. Total contents of Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sb, Pb and Hg in these samples were measured by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) and using the index of geoaccumulation and the potential ecological risk index to evaluate the pollution degree of heavy metals in the sediments. Results indicated that the concentration of total Fe and total Mn were 41658.73 and 1104.73 mg x kg(-1) respectively and toxic trace metals, such as Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sb, Pb and Hg were 86.62, 18.18, 54.10, 80.20, 543.60, 119.55, 4.28, 10.60, 20.26, 104.58 and 0.520 mg x kg(-1). The descending order of pollution degree of various metals is: Cd > As approximately Zn > Hg > Pb approximately Cu approximately Cr, while the single potential ecological risk followed the order: Cd > Hg > As > Cu > Pb > Zn > Cr. The pollution extent and potential ecological risk of Cd were the most serious among all heavy metals. The distribution pattern of Cd individual potential ecological risk indices is exactly the same as that of general potential ecological risk indices for all heavy metals. Clustering analysis indicates that the sampling stations may be classified into five groups which basically reflected the characteristics of the heavy metal contamination and sedimentation environments along the different river reaches in lower reaches and estuary of Pearl Rive. In general, the serious heavy metal pollution and the high potential ecological risk existed in three river reaches: Chengcun-Shawan, Chengcun-Shundegang and Waihai-Hutiaomen. The pollution degree and potential ecological risk are higher in related river reaches of Beijiang than that in other lower reaches and

  16. 3 CFR 8463 - Proclamation 8463 of December 4, 2009. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... who selflessly served our Nation at home and abroad during World War II. On a tranquil Sunday morning, as war raged around the globe, the attack on Pearl Harbor effectively ended American isolation... have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and...

  17. Design of a MEMS Capacitive Comb-drive Micro-accelerometer with Sag Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. D. PANT

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available The current paper presents an optimization study for the designing of a highly sensitive inertial grade capacitive accelerometer based on comb-drive actuation and sensing. The proof mass, suspension system (beams or tethers, stators and rotors have to be realized through an HAR (high aspect ratio DRIE (deep reactive ion etching process for which process optimization has already been done at our laboratory. As the proof mass is a bulk micro-machined structure having a mass in milligram range, the optimum positioning of the tethers on the proof mass is important to have minimum sag, necessary to reduce the off-axis sensitivity. The optimization for the positioning of the tethers has been carried out using a commercial software tool ANSYSTM Multiphysics. The accelerometer has been modeled analytically to predict its characteristics. The dependency of sensitivity on the dimensions of the suspension beams (tethers has also been verified using the above FEM software tool. The present device has been designed to deliver a high sensitivity of 13.6 mV/g/V for low-g applications.

  18. "Tugboat Annie:" nursing's hero of Pearl Harbor--Grace Lally (1897-1983).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkins, J W; Matthews, I

    1991-01-01

    In 1991 we will mark the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Few nurses know that the Chief Nurse aboard the USS Solace, the only hospital ship in port on that fateful day, played a critical role in caring for the survivors. Grace Lally's calm, professional manner, along with her sensitivity to the needs of her patients, her 12 nurses, and the crew of the Solace made her a hero. This study is an investigation of her role on December 7, 1941, and her contributions as a career military nurse.

  19. Exploring potential of pearl millet germplasm association panel for association mapping of drought tolerance traits.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deepmala Sehgal

    Full Text Available A pearl millet inbred germplasm association panel (PMiGAP comprising 250 inbred lines, representative of cultivated germplasm from Africa and Asia, elite improved open-pollinated cultivars, hybrid parental inbreds and inbred mapping population parents, was recently established. This study presents the first report of genetic diversity in PMiGAP and its exploitation for association mapping of drought tolerance traits. For diversity and genetic structure analysis, PMiGAP was genotyped with 37 SSR and CISP markers representing all seven linkage groups. For association analysis, it was phenotyped for yield and yield components and morpho-physiological traits under both well-watered and drought conditions, and genotyped with SNPs and InDels from seventeen genes underlying a major validated drought tolerance (DT QTL. The average gene diversity in PMiGAP was 0.54. The STRUCTURE analysis revealed six subpopulations within PMiGAP. Significant associations were obtained for 22 SNPs and 3 InDels from 13 genes under different treatments. Seven SNPs associations from 5 genes were common under irrigated and one of the drought stress treatments. Most significantly, an important SNP in putative acetyl CoA carboxylase gene showed constitutive association with grain yield, grain harvest index and panicle yield under all treatments. An InDel in putative chlorophyll a/b binding protein gene was significantly associated with both stay-green and grain yield traits under drought stress. This can be used as a functional marker for selecting high yielding genotypes with 'stay green' phenotype under drought stress. The present study identified useful marker-trait associations of important agronomics traits under irrigated and drought stress conditions with genes underlying a major validated DT-QTL in pearl millet. Results suggest that PMiGAP is a useful panel for association mapping. Expression patterns of genes also shed light on some physiological mechanisms underlying

  20. Rapid growth in nitrogen dioxide pollution over Western China, 2005-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Yuanzheng; Lin, Jintai; Song, Chunqiao; Liu, Mengyao; Yan, Yingying; Xu, Yuan; Huang, Bo

    2016-05-01

    Western China has experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization since the implementation of the National Western Development Strategies (the "Go West" movement) in 1999. This transition has affected the spatial and temporal characteristics of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution. In this study, we analyze the trends and variability of tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) from 2005 to 2013 over Western China, based on a wavelet analysis on monthly mean NO2 data derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements. We focus on the anthropogenic NO2 by subtracting region-specific "background" values dominated by natural sources. After removing the background influences, we find significant anthropogenic NO2 growth over Western China between 2005 and 2013 (8.6 ± 0.9 % yr-1 on average, relative to 2005), with the largest increments (15 % yr-1 or more) over parts of several city clusters. The NO2 pollution in most provincial-level regions rose rapidly from 2005 to 2011 but stabilized or declined afterwards. The NO2 trends were driven mainly by changes in anthropogenic emissions, as confirmed by a nested GEOS-Chem model simulation and a comparison with Chinese official emission statistics. The rate of NO2 growth during 2005-2013 reaches 11.3 ± 1.0 % yr-1 over Northwestern China, exceeding the rates over Southwestern China (5.9 ± 0.6 % yr-1) and the three well-known polluted regions in the east (5.3 ± 0.8 % yr-1 over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, 4.0 ± 0.6 % yr-1 over the Yangtze River Delta, and -3.3 ± 0.3 % yr-1 over the Pearl River Delta). Subsequent socioeconomic analyses suggest that the rapid NO2 growth over Northwestern China is likely related to the fast developing resource- and pollution-intensive industries along with the "Go West" movement as well as relatively weak emission controls. Further efforts should be made to alleviate NOx pollution to achieve sustainable development in Western China.

  1. Rapid growth in nitrogen dioxide pollution over Western China, 2005-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Y.-Z.; Lin, J.-T.; Song, C.; Liu, M.-Y.; Yan, Y.-Y.; Xu, Y.; Huang, B.

    2015-12-01

    Western China has experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization since the implementation of the National Western Development Strategies (the "Go West" movement) in 1999. This transition has affected the spatial and temporal characteristics of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution. In this study, we analyze the trends and variability of tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) from 2005 to 2013 over Western China, based on a wavelet analysis on monthly mean NO2 data derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements. We focus on the anthropogenic NO2 by subtracting region-specific "background" values dominated by natural sources. We find significant NO2 growth over Western China between 2005 and 2013 (8.6 ± 0.9 % yr-1 on average, relative to 2005), with the largest increments (15 % yr-1 or more) over parts of several city clusters. The NO2 pollution in most provincial regions rose rapidly from 2005 to 2011 but stabilized or declined afterwards. The NO2 trends were driven mainly by changes in anthropogenic emissions, as confirmed by a nested GEOS-Chem model simulation and a comparison with Chinese official emission statistics. The rate of NO2 growth during 2005-2013 reaches 11.3 ± 1.0 % yr-1 over Northwestern China, exceeding the rates over Southwestern China (5.9 ± 0.6 % yr-1) and the three well-known polluted regions in the east (5.3 ± 0.8 % yr-1 over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, 4.0 ± 0.6 % yr-1} over the Yangtze River Delta, and -3.3 ± 0.3 % yr-1 over the Pearl River Delta). Additional socioeconomic analyses suggest that the rapid NO2 growth in Northwestern China is likely related to the fast developing resource- and pollution-intensive industries along with the "Go West" movement as well as relatively weak emission controls. Further efforts should be made to alleviate NOx pollution to achieve sustainable development in Western China.

  2. Alpha particle analysis using PEARLS spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKlveen, J.W.; Klingler, G.W.; McDowell, W.J.; Case, G.N.

    1984-01-01

    Alpha particle assay by conventional plate-counting methods is difficult because chemical separation, tracer techniques, and/or self-absorption losses in the final sample may cause either non-reproducible results or create unacceptable errors. PEARLS (Photon-Electron Rejecting Alpha Liquid Scintillation) Spectrometry is an attractive alternative since radionuclides may be extracted into a scintillator in which there would be no self-absorption or geometry problems and in which up to 100% chemical recovery and counting efficiency is possible. Sample preparation may include extraction of the alpha emitter of interest by a specific organic-phase-soluble compound directly into the liquid scintillator. Detection electronics use energy and pulse-shape discrimination to provide discrete alpha spectra and virtual absence of beta and gamma backgrounds. Backgrounds on the order of 0.01 cpm are readily achievable. Accuracy and reproducibility are typically in the 100 +-1% range. Specific procedures have been developed for gross alpha, uranium, plutonium, thorium, and polonium assay. This paper will review liquid scintillation alpha counting methods and reference some of the specific applications. 8 refs., 1 fig

  3. Corporate social capital, market orientation, organizational learning and service innovation performance: An empirical survey in the Pearl river delta of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhaoquan Jian

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Service innovation performance (SIP is an important driver of growth and wealth of service firms in wide range of industries. Yet, few research studies have been done to explore the influencing factors. The purpose of this study intends to identify the impacts of corporate social capital, market orientation and organizational learning on service innovation in the Pearl River Delta of China.Design/methodology/approach: The paper mainly adopted the empirical research. A Structure Equation Model containing an intermediary variable was established to explore the relationships of SIP.Findings and Originality/value: The main findings of the research support some of the propositions: (1 Both corporate social capital, market orientation and organizational learning have distinct positive impact on service innovation performance; (2 Corporate social capital, market orientation has a positive effect on organizational learning respectively, and (3 organizational learning plays a mediating role between the corporate social capital, market orientation and service innovation performance.Research limitations/implications: The research object of this paper has been restricted to the enterprises in Pearl River Delta of China. By contrast, variables and theories all come from western research, which was not adequate in explaining some results in the context of China. Given the limited theoretical and empirical research to service innovation, future research studies might widen their examinations to include other potential factors.Practical implications: This study has significant implications to enterprises. The results of this study suggest that enterprises should establish the social networks accommodated by the development of organization. In addition, more attention should be paid to focus on market orientation to enhance the ability to respond to changes in the market environment. It’s particularly necessary to strengthen organizational learning to

  4. Assessing reference genes for accurate transcript normalization using quantitative real-time PCR in pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L. R. Br].

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prasenjit Saha

    Full Text Available Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L. R.Br.], a close relative of Panicoideae food crops and bioenergy grasses, offers an ideal system to perform functional genomics studies related to C4 photosynthesis and abiotic stress tolerance. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR provides a sensitive platform to conduct such gene expression analyses. However, the lack of suitable internal control reference genes for accurate transcript normalization during qRT-PCR analysis in pearl millet is the major limitation. Here, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of 18 reference genes on 234 samples which included an array of different developmental tissues, hormone treatments and abiotic stress conditions from three genotypes to determine appropriate reference genes for accurate normalization of qRT-PCR data. Analyses of Ct values using Stability Index, BestKeeper, ΔCt, Normfinder, geNorm and RefFinder programs ranked PP2A, TIP41, UBC2, UBQ5 and ACT as the most reliable reference genes for accurate transcript normalization under different experimental conditions. Furthermore, we validated the specificity of these genes for precise quantification of relative gene expression and provided evidence that a combination of the best reference genes are required to obtain optimal expression patterns for both endogeneous genes as well as transgenes in pearl millet.

  5. Diseases and parasites of laboratory reared and wild population of banded pearl spot Etroplus suratensis (Cichlidae) in Goa

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Rattan, P.; Parulekar, A.H.

    Banded Pearl spot Etroplus suratensis, the inhabitant of coastal backwaters and lagoons is one among the few finfish species identified for brackishwater farming. Common diseases and parasites from the wild population of Goa and from the laboratory...

  6. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in upstream riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta, China: An assessment of regional input sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Kai; Liang Bo; Wang Jizhong; Guan Yufeng; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2012-01-01

    Water samples collected from upstream tributaries of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and from locations within the PRD (South China) were analyzed for 27 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Average concentrations (aqueous plus particulate) of total 27 PAHs (Σ 27 PAH), 16 priority PAHs designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) except naphthalene (Σ 15 PAH), and the seven carcinogenic PAHs (Σ 7 PAH) classified by the USEPA were 260 ± 410, 130 ± 310, and 15 ± 12 ng/L, respectively. Riverine PAHs were predominantly generated from coal and vegetation combustion, coke production, vehicle exhausts, and petroleum residues, accounting for 28%, 25%, 22% and 21%, respectively, on average. Upstream riverine fluxes of Σ 27 PAH and Σ 15 PAH amounted to 38.9 and 12.9 tons/year, respectively. The net contributions of Σ 27 PAH and Σ 15 PAH from sources within the PRD were estimated at 21.4 and 21.0 tons/year, respectively. - Highlights: ► Upstream PAH levels were lower than downstream PAHs and pose low ecological risk. ► Riverine PAHs are predominantly pyrogenic. ► Parent PAHs in Pearl River are mainly derived from within the PRD. ► The 15 priority PAHs were mainly generated within the Pearl River Delta. - The 15 priority PAHs are mainly generated within the PRD while the other 12 PAHs from upstream areas.

  7. Extension of the Accurate Voltage-Sag Fault Location Method in Electrical Power Distribution Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Youssef Menchafou

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Accurate Fault location in an Electric Power Distribution System (EPDS is important in maintaining system reliability. Several methods have been proposed in the past. However, the performances of these methods either show to be inefficient or are a function of the fault type (Fault Classification, because they require the use of an appropriate algorithm for each fault type. In contrast to traditional approaches, an accurate impedance-based Fault Location (FL method is presented in this paper. It is based on the voltage-sag calculation between two measurement points chosen carefully from the available strategic measurement points of the line, network topology and current measurements at substation. The effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed technique are demonstrated for different fault types using a radial power flow system. The test results are achieved from the numerical simulation using the data of a distribution line recognized in the literature.

  8. CRED 20m Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA (Arc ASCII format)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of the shelf and slope environments of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths...

  9. CRED 5 m Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA (Arc ASCII format)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of the shelf and slope environments of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths...

  10. CRED 20 m Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA (NetCDF format)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of the shelf and slope environments of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths...

  11. CRED 5 m Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA (NetCDF format)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry and IKONOS estimated depths of the shelf and slope environments of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, USA. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths...

  12. Integration of gene-based markers in a pearl millet genetic map for identification of candidate genes underlying drought tolerance quantitative trait loci

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sehgal Deepmala

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Identification of genes underlying drought tolerance (DT quantitative trait loci (QTLs will facilitate understanding of molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance, and also will accelerate genetic improvement of pearl millet through marker-assisted selection. We report a map based on genes with assigned functional roles in plant adaptation to drought and other abiotic stresses and demonstrate its use in identifying candidate genes underlying a major DT-QTL. Results Seventy five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP and conserved intron spanning primer (CISP markers were developed from available expressed sequence tags (ESTs using four genotypes, H 77/833-2, PRLT 2/89-33, ICMR 01029 and ICMR 01004, representing parents of two mapping populations. A total of 228 SNPs were obtained from 30.5 kb sequenced region resulting in a SNP frequency of 1/134 bp. The positions of major pearl millet linkage group (LG 2 DT-QTLs (reported from crosses H 77/833-2 × PRLT 2/89-33 and 841B × 863B were added to the present consensus function map which identified 18 genes, coding for PSI reaction center subunit III, PHYC, actin, alanine glyoxylate aminotransferase, uridylate kinase, acyl-CoA oxidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, MADS-box, serine/threonine protein kinase, ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, zinc finger C- × 8-C × 5-C × 3-H type, Hd3, acetyl CoA carboxylase, chlorophyll a/b binding protein, photolyase, protein phosphatase1 regulatory subunit SDS22 and two hypothetical proteins, co-mapping in this DT-QTL interval. Many of these candidate genes were found to have significant association with QTLs of grain yield, flowering time and leaf rolling under drought stress conditions. Conclusions We have exploited available pearl millet EST sequences to generate a mapped resource of seventy five new gene-based markers for pearl millet and demonstrated its use in identifying candidate genes underlying a major DT-QTL in this species. The reported gene

  13. Emergy and Economic Evaluations of Four Fruit Production Systems on Reclaimed Wetlands Surrounding the Pearl River Estuary, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emergy and economic methods were used to evaluate and compare a traditional tropical fruit cultivation system, for bananas, and three newly introduced fruit cultivation systems, for papaya, guava and wampee, on reclaimed wetlands of the Pearl River Estuary, China. The evaluations...

  14. Mercury profiles in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary and the surrounding coastal area of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi Jianbo; Ip, Carman C.M.; Zhang Gan; Jiang Guibin; Li Xiangdong

    2010-01-01

    The spatial and temporal variations of mercury (Hg) in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and the surrounding coastal area (South China Sea) were studied. In surface sediments, the concentrations of Hg ranged from 1.5 to 201 ng/g, with an average of 54.4 ng/g, displaying a decreasing trend with the distance from the estuary to the open sea. This pattern indicates that the anthropogenic emissions from the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region are probably the main sources of Hg in this coastal region. Using the 210 Pb dating technique, the historical changes in the concentrations and influxes of Hg in the last 100 years were also investigated. The variations in Hg influxes in sediment cores obviously correlate with the economic development and urbanization that has occurred the PRD region, especially in the last three decades. - The spatial and historical changes of Hg in sediment reflect the industrial development and urbanization of the region in south China.

  15. Regional dynamics of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Pearl River Delta, China: Implications and perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Kai; Zhang Baozhong; Li Shaomeng; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2011-01-01

    The mass transport budgets of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(chlorophenyl)ethane (p,p'-DDT) and decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) in the Pearl River Delta, South China were calculated based on previously collected data. Residual p,p'-DDT, mostly related to historical use, has largely settled into soil (780,000 kg), while the soil BDE-209 inventory (44,000 kg) is considerably smaller. Conversely, large amounts of BDE-209 currently used in numerous commercial products have resulted in a much higher atmospheric depositional flux of BDE-209 (28,100 kg/yr) relative to p,p'-DDT (310 kg/yr). The soil inventory of p,p'-DDT is predicted to decrease to half of its current value after 22 years, and the percent area containing soil p,p'-DDT at levels exceeding the effects range-medium (27 ng/g) will decrease from 40% to 20%. Finally, soil BDE-209 inventory will reach an equilibrium value of 940 tons in ∼60 years, when BDE-209 levels in 50% of soil will be above an equivalent risk guideline value (125 ng/g). - Highlights: → Transport budgets of p,p'-DDT and BDE-209 in the Pearl River Delta were built. → Dry aerial deposition is the dominant route to transport p,p'-DDT and BDE-209. → Soil inventory of p,p'-DDT is much larger than that of BDE-209. → Soil inventory of p,p'-DDT would decline to half of its current value in 22 years. → Soil BDE-209 inventory is expected to reach an equilibrium value in ∼60 years. - Regional dynamics of p,p'-DDT and BDE-209 in the Pearl River Delta (South China) are examined and used to predict temporal variances.

  16. 77 FR 67563 - Regulated Navigation Area-New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-13

    ... 1625-AA11 Regulated Navigation Area--New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT... Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River and Mill River. The current RNA pertains only to the operation of tugs...) entitled Regulated Navigation Area--New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl...

  17. The distribution and partitioning of common antibiotics in water and sediment of the Pearl River Estuary, South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Ximei; Chen, Baowei; Nie, Xiangping; Shi, Zhen; Huang, Xiaoping; Li, Xiangdong

    2013-09-01

    Antibiotics released into the aquatic environment play an important role in the spread of antibiotic resistance. In the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and the coastal zone, the concentrations of antibiotics decreased from the Pearl River to the estuary, suggesting that antibiotics primarily originated from river tributaries and terrigenous sources. Within the PRE area, the concentrations of antibiotics in water were higher in the west coast than the east side, reflecting the high density of anthropogenic activities and hydraulic conditions along the west riverbank. Seasonal variations were also observed for most of detected antibiotics in water. The pseudo-partitioning coefficient of norfloxacin had a good correlation with the TOC content of sediments, as did erythromycin-H2O with the pH of water. The results suggest that environmental conditions can significantly affect the distribution of antibiotics between water and sediment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Effect of varying concentrations of dietary crude protein and metabolizable energy on laying performance of Pearl Grey guinea fowl hens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nahashon, S N; Adefope, N A; Amenyenu, A; Wright, D

    2007-08-01

    This study was conducted to evaluate optimum dietary concentrations of ME and CP for egg production performance of the Pearl Gray guinea fowl laying hens. In a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement, 360 Pearl Gray guinea fowl replacement pullets (22 wk of age) were randomly assigned to experimental diets with 2,800 and 2,900 kcal of ME/kg of diet, each containing 14, 16, and 18% CP, respectively. Each dietary treatment was replicated 4 times, and feed and water were provided ad libitum. Experimental birds were raised in laying cages and received 16 h of light throughout the study period. The birds were observed for feed consumption, hen-day egg production (HDEP), egg weight (EW), egg mass (EM), feed conversion ratio, internal egg quality, shell thickness (ST), and BW at the end of each 28-d lay period at 26 to 50 wk of age and at 62 to 86 wk of age. Mortality was recorded as it occurred. Mean HDEP, EW, EM, and ST were higher (P treatments. Differences in feed consumption, EW, internal egg quality, BW, and mortality among dietary ME and CP concentrations were not significant (P > 0.05). Overall, diets composed of 2,800 kcal of ME/kg of diet and 14% CP were utilized more efficiently by the Pearl Gray guinea fowl laying hens at 26 to 50 and 62 to 86 wk of age.

  19. 广西珍珠品牌塑造策略研究%Research on the Brand Strategies of Guangxi Pearl

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    邬镇宁

    2013-01-01

    Guangxi enjoys rich pearl resources,but provides the market only with low-end products. The study holds that the branding of Guangxi pearl should take the local history resources,geographical advan-tages and annual China-ASEAN Exposition into account,and consider the ways that help it stand out from the fierce competition. With analysis and discussion of the problems in the branding of Guangxi Pearl and the related reasons,the article points out some brand strategies on the basis of targeting consumers,product experience,advertising strategy and integrated marketing communication.%针对广西珍珠资源丰富,但是只能提供低端产品的现状,思考与强势对手在竞争中如何脱颖而出,充分考虑广西本土的历史资源、地理优势和东盟博览会等现实凭借,在对广西珍珠品牌的问题以及原因思考的基础上,围绕明确消费者、产品体验、广告策略、整合营销传播等提出了广西珍珠品牌的塑造策略。

  20. Biodiversity of marine communities in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii with observations in 1996 on introduced exotic species (NODC Accession 0000330)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The marine and estuarine invertebrate and fish communities in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii were surveyed between January and October, 1996. Samples were taken and...

  1. Investigations of introduced species in Pearl Harbor; Oahu, Hawaii, from 1996-01-11 to 1996-09-18 (NODC Accession 0000330)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The marine and estuarine invertebrate and fish communities in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii were surveyed between January and October, 1996. Samples were taken and...

  2. A Force Method Model for Dynamic Analysis of Flat-Sag Cable Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xing Ma

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A new force method is proposed for analysing the dynamic behaviour of oscillating cables with small sags. The accepted dynamic model of such cables reduces to a partial differential equation (the equation of motion and an integral equation (the compatibility equation. In the paper, D’Alembert’s travelling wave solution is applied to the partial differential equation (PDE. Substituting the solution into the compatibility and boundary conditions, the governing equation is obtained in terms of the dynamic tension increment. This equation has been named the force method dynamic equation (FMDE. In this way the infinite-degree-of-freedom dynamic system is effectively simplified to a system with only one unknown. Explicit solutions for both single-span and multi-span cable systems are derived. The natural frequencies obtained from the FMDE are shown to be identical to those deduced using the conventional displacement method (DM. Nonlinear governing equations are developed by considering the effect of quadratic and cubic displacement terms. Finally, two examples are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the proposed force method for single and multi-span cable systems subjected to harmonic forces.

  3. Spatial and seasonal distribution of selected antibiotics in surface waters of the Pearl Rivers, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ji-Feng; Ying, Guang-Guo; Zhao, Jian-Liang; Tao, Ran; Su, Hao-Chang; Liu, You-Sheng

    2011-01-01

    The distribution and occurrence of 15 antibiotics in surface water of the Pearl River System (Liuxi River, Shijing River and Zhujiang River) and effluents of four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were investigated in two sampling events representing wet season and dry season by using rapid resolution liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (RRLC-MS/MS) in positive ionization mode. Only eight antibiotics (sulfadiazine, sulfapyridine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, roxithromycin, erythromycin-H₂O and norfloxacin) were detected in the water samples of the three rivers and the effluents. The detection frequencies and levels of antibiotics in the dry season were higher than those in the wet season. This could be attributed to the dilution effects in the wet season and relatively lower temperature in the dry season under which antibiotics could persist for a longer period. The levels of the detected antibiotics in different sites are generally in a decreasing order as follows: Shijing River ≥WWTP effluent ≥Zhujiang River ≥ Liuxi River. Risk assessment based on the calculated risk quotients showed that only erythromycin-H₂O and roxithromycin detected in the Pearl Rivers might have adverse effects on aquatic organisms.

  4. Pearls and pitfalls in clinical interpretation of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted PET imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Solnes, Lilja B.; Javadi, Mehrbod S.; Pomper, Martin G.; Rowe, Steven P. [Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Baltimore, MD (United States); Afshar-Oromieh, Ali; Haberkorn, Uwe [Heidelberg University Hospital, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg (Germany); Eiber, Matthias [David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Technical University of Munich, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich (Germany); Ross, Ashley E.; Pienta, Kenneth J.; Allaf, Mohamad E.; Gorin, Michael A. [Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute and Department of Urology, Baltimore, MD (United States)

    2017-11-15

    The rapidly expanding clinical adaptation of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted PET imaging in the evaluation of patients with prostate cancer has placed an increasing onus on understanding both the potential pearls of interpretation as well as limitations of this new technique. As with any new molecular imaging modality, accurate characterization of abnormalities on PSMA-targeted PET imaging can be accomplished only if one is aware of the normal distribution pattern, physiological variants of radiotracer uptake, and potential sources of false-positive and false-negative imaging findings. In recent years, a growing number of reports have come to light describing incidental non-prostatic benign or malignant pathologies with high uptake on PSMA-targeted PET imaging. In this review, we have summarized the published literature regarding the potential pearls and technical and interpretive pitfalls of this imaging modality. Knowledge of these limitations can increase the confidence of interpreting physicians and thus improve patient care. As PSMA-targeted PET is expected to be evaluated in larger prospective trials, the dissemination of potential diagnostic pitfalls and the biologic underpinning of those findings will be of increased importance. (orig.)

  5. Pearls and pitfalls in clinical interpretation of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted PET imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Solnes, Lilja B.; Javadi, Mehrbod S.; Pomper, Martin G.; Rowe, Steven P.; Afshar-Oromieh, Ali; Haberkorn, Uwe; Eiber, Matthias; Ross, Ashley E.; Pienta, Kenneth J.; Allaf, Mohamad E.; Gorin, Michael A.

    2017-01-01

    The rapidly expanding clinical adaptation of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted PET imaging in the evaluation of patients with prostate cancer has placed an increasing onus on understanding both the potential pearls of interpretation as well as limitations of this new technique. As with any new molecular imaging modality, accurate characterization of abnormalities on PSMA-targeted PET imaging can be accomplished only if one is aware of the normal distribution pattern, physiological variants of radiotracer uptake, and potential sources of false-positive and false-negative imaging findings. In recent years, a growing number of reports have come to light describing incidental non-prostatic benign or malignant pathologies with high uptake on PSMA-targeted PET imaging. In this review, we have summarized the published literature regarding the potential pearls and technical and interpretive pitfalls of this imaging modality. Knowledge of these limitations can increase the confidence of interpreting physicians and thus improve patient care. As PSMA-targeted PET is expected to be evaluated in larger prospective trials, the dissemination of potential diagnostic pitfalls and the biologic underpinning of those findings will be of increased importance. (orig.)

  6. Variation of phytoplankton community structure from the Pearl River estuary to South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Zhao-Yu; Wang, You-Shao; Cheng, Hao; Sun, Cui-Ci; Wu, Mei-Lin

    2015-10-01

    The Pearl River is located in the northern part of South China Sea. The environment of the Pearl River estuary (PRE) is significantly impacted by nutrients from anthropogenic activities. Along the anthropogenic pollution gradient from the PRE to South China Sea, the phylogenetic diversity and biomass of phytoplankton was examined in relation to physic-chemical variables. The richness of rbcL gene was higher in the open sea than the estuary, while the concentration of chlorophyll a (Chl a) was higher in the estuary than in the open sea. The cluster analysis of the sequences data resulted in seven phytoplankton community types and the dominant species of phytoplankton changed from Cryptophytes and Diatoms to Prymnesiophytes and Diatoms along the gradient. The community structure of phytoplankton was shaped by nutrients and salinity. The phytoplankton biomass was significantly positively affected by phosphorus, nitrite and ammonium (P < 0.01) but negatively by salinity (P < 0.05); the phytoplankton diversity was highly positively affected by salinity (P < 0.05) but negatively by silicate and nitrate (P < 0.01; P < 0.05, respectively). Anthropogenic activities played a critical role in the phytoplankton distribution and biomass of the study area. Further research is necessary to reveal the influence mechanism of environmental factors on the phytoplankton.

  7. Numerical Simulation of Borehole Flow in Deep Monitor Wells, Pearl Harbor Aquifer, Oahu, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rotzoll, K.; Oki, D. S.; El-Kadi, A. I.

    2010-12-01

    Salinity profiles collected from uncased deep monitor wells are commonly used to monitor freshwater-lens thickness in coastal aquifers. However, vertical flow in these wells can cause the measured salinity to differ from salinity in the adjacent aquifer. Substantial borehole flow has been observed in uncased wells in the Pearl Harbor aquifer, Oahu, Hawaii. A numerical modeling approach, incorporating aquifer hydraulic characteristics and recharge rates representative of the Pearl Harbor aquifer, was used to evaluate the effects of borehole flow on measured salinity profiles from deep monitor wells. Borehole flow caused by vertical hydraulic gradients associated with the natural regional groundwater-flow system and local groundwater withdrawals was simulated. Model results were used to estimate differences between vertical salinity profiles in deep monitor wells and the adjacent aquifer in areas of downward, horizontal, and upward flow within the regional flow system—for cases with and without nearby pumped wells. Aquifer heterogeneity, represented in the model as layers of contrasting permeability, was incorporated in model scenarios. Results from this study provide insight into the magnitude of the differences between vertical salinity profiles from deep monitor wells and the salinity distributions in the aquifers. These insights are relevant and are critically needed for management and predictive modeling purposes.

  8. Overcoming Phosphorus Deficiency in West African Pearl Millet and Sorghum Production Systems: Promising Options for Crop Improvement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorcus C. GEMENET

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available West Africa (WA is among the most food insecure regions. Rapid human population growth and stagnating crop yields greatly contribute to this fact. Poor soil fertility, especially low plant available phosphorus (P is constraining food production in the region. P-fertilizer use in WA is among the lowest in the world due to inaccessibility and high prices, unaffordable to resource-poor farmers. This article provides an overview of soil P-deficiency in WA and opportunities to overcome it by exploiting sorghum and pearl millet genetic diversity. The topic is examined from the perspectives of plant breeding, soil science, plant physiology, plant nutrition, and agronomy, thereby referring to recent results obtained in a joint interdisciplinary research project, and reported literature. Specific objectives are to summarize: (1 The global problem of P scarcity and how it will affect WA farmers; (2 Soil P dynamics in WA soils; (3 Plant responses to P deficiency; (4 Opportunities to breed for improved crop adaptation to P-limited conditions; (5 Challenges and trade-offs for improving sorghum and pearl millet adaptation to low-P conditions in WA; and (6 Systems approaches to addressing soil P-deficiency in WA.Sorghum and pearl millet in WA exhibit highly significant genetic variation for P-uptake efficiency, P-utilization efficiency, and grain yield under P-limited conditions indicating the possibility of breeding P-efficient varieties. Direct selection under P-limited conditions was more efficient than indirect selection under high-P conditions. Combining P-uptake and P-utilization efficiency is recommendable for WA to avoid further soil mining. Genomic regions responsible for P-uptake, P-utilization efficiency, and grain yield under low-P have been identified in WA sorghum and pearl millet, and marker-assisted selection could be possible once these genomic regions are validated. Developing P-efficient genotypes may not however be a sustainable solution in

  9. Overcoming Phosphorus Deficiency in West African Pearl Millet and Sorghum Production Systems: Promising Options for Crop Improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gemenet, Dorcus C; Leiser, Willmar L; Beggi, Francesca; Herrmann, Ludger H; Vadez, Vincent; Rattunde, Henry F W; Weltzien, Eva; Hash, Charles T; Buerkert, Andreas; Haussmann, Bettina I G

    2016-01-01

    West Africa (WA) is among the most food insecure regions. Rapid human population growth and stagnating crop yields greatly contribute to this fact. Poor soil fertility, especially low plant available phosphorus (P) is constraining food production in the region. P-fertilizer use in WA is among the lowest in the world due to inaccessibility and high prices, often unaffordable to resource-poor subsistence farmers. This article provides an overview of soil P-deficiency in WA and opportunities to overcome it by exploiting sorghum and pearl millet genetic diversity. The topic is examined from the perspectives of plant breeding, soil science, plant physiology, plant nutrition, and agronomy, thereby referring to recent results obtained in a joint interdisciplinary research project, and reported literature. Specific objectives are to summarize: (1) The global problem of P scarcity and how it will affect WA farmers; (2) Soil P dynamics in WA soils; (3) Plant responses to P deficiency; (4) Opportunities to breed for improved crop adaptation to P-limited conditions; (5) Challenges and trade-offs for improving sorghum and pearl millet adaptation to low-P conditions in WA; and (6) Systems approaches to address soil P-deficiency in WA. Sorghum and pearl millet in WA exhibit highly significant genetic variation for P-uptake efficiency, P-utilization efficiency, and grain yield under P-limited conditions indicating the possibility of breeding P-efficient varieties. Direct selection under P-limited conditions was more efficient than indirect selection under high-P conditions. Combining P-uptake and P-utilization efficiency is recommendable for WA to avoid further soil mining. Genomic regions responsible for P-uptake, P-utilization efficiency, and grain yield under low-P have been identified in WA sorghum and pearl millet, and marker-assisted selection could be possible once these genomic regions are validated. Developing P-efficient genotypes may not, however, be a sustainable

  10. Drowning unconformity of lacustrine rift basins: A case study from the Dongying Sag in Bohai Bay Basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, R.; Fan, J.

    2015-12-01

    The concept of drowning unconformity of lacustrine rift basins was proposed in this paper. This paper utilized 3D seismic data, well-log and the principles methods associated with structural geology, sedimentology and geochemistry, to analyze the drowning unconformity and discuss the origins of drowning unconformity in Dongying Sag in Bohai Bay Basin.Researching on it is not only important for a better understanding of tectonic evolution, palaeogeography and sedimentation of hydrocarbon source rocks, but also a vital guiding significance for the exploration of beach-bar sandstone reservoirs and shale oil.1. The concept of drowning unconformity of lacustrine rift basins is defined. With the consequences of rapid tectonic subsidence in basin, the sharp rise of lake-level and the increased rate of accommodation(A) in basin exceeded the rate of sediment supply(S),namely A>>S, the basin suddenly transformed into deep-water settings from shallow-water settings with sudden change of sediment transport and sediment dispersal patterns. 2.The sequence surface between Sha4 and Sha3 Member of Shahejie Formation is the drowning unconformity(43.5Ma). There are the sedimentary association of the reefs in shallow lacustrine, beach-bar sandstones and glutenite fan bodies under the surface. By contrast, there are the sedimentary association of deep-lake oil shales and shales over the surface. The drowning unconformity in Dongying Sag is a tectonic revolution surface which is changed from extensional tectonics to transtensional tectonics and it is also the surface of discontinuity from shallow lacustrine to deep lacustrine. The responses to sudden changes appeared in the parameters of geophysics, geochemistry and paleontology. 3. With the penetration of India into Asia plate in NNE trending,the subduction zones of Pacific Plate retreated. It caused the rapid downwelling of asthenospheric mantle, followed by the extensive drowning unconformity.

  11. Supply Chain Management for Sustainable Development: Perspective from the Greater Pearl River Delta (China)

    OpenAIRE

    Tsoi, Joyce

    2006-01-01

    This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by the University of Hong Kong. This thesis investigates the application and implications of supply chain management as a modern management model in regulating corporate outsourcing activities within the Greater Pearl River Delta. Globalisation has accelerated the application of supply chain management as a mechanism to enhance corporate performance. At the same time this rapid economic development has also accele...

  12. Carbonate system and nutrients in the Pearl River estuary, China: Seasonal and inter-annual variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, X.

    2017-12-01

    Located in southern China and surrounded by several metropolis, the Pearl River estuary is a large subtropical estuary under significant human perturbation. We examined the impact of sewage treatment rate on the water environmental factors. Carbonate system parameters (Dissolved inorganic carbon or DIC, Total alkalinity or TA, and pH), and nutrients were surveyed in the Pearl River estuary from 2000 to 2015. Spatially, concentrations of nutrients were high at low salinity and decreased with salinity in both wet and dry seasons although seasonal variation occurred. However, distribution patterns of DIC and TA differed in wet and dry seasons. In wet season, both DIC and TA were low at low salinity (600-1500 umol kg-1) and increased with salinity, but in dry season they were high at low salinity (3000-3500 umol kg-1) and decreased with salinity. Compared with the years before 2010, both values and distribution patterns of DIC, TA and pH were similar among the years in wet season, but they were conspicuously different in the upper estuary in dry season. Both DIC and TA were more than 1000 umol kg-1 lower than those in the years before 2010. For nutrients at low salinity, the ammonia concentration was much lower in the years after 2010 (200 vs. 400 umol kg-1 in wet season and 400 vs. 800 umol kg-1 in dry season), but nitrate concentration was slightly higher (180 vs 120 mmol kg-1 in wet season and 200 vs 180 mmol kg-1 in dry season). As a reference, carbonate system parameters and nutrients were stable among the 16 years in the adjacent northern South China Sea. The variations in biogeochemical processes induced by nutrients concentration and structure as a result of sewage discharge will be discussed in detail. The decrease in DIC, TA and nutrients in the upper Pearl River estuary after 2010 was due mainly to the improvement of sewage treatment rate and capacity.

  13. Precipitation formation in recrystallized nickel-plated non-sag tungsten wire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lai, Z.H.

    1994-01-01

    It is well established that some metals, such as palladium and nickel, can easily penetrate into tungsten by fast diffusion via crystal defects such as grain boundaries and dislocations. As a result of the fast penetration of these so called activators the recrystallization temperature of heavily drawn non-sag tungsten wire can be lower from about 2,000 C to about 1,000 C, thus the application of the tungsten wire, serving as reinforcement material in metal matrix composites used at high temperatures, is limited. An interesting question is in which form these activators exist in the recrystallized tungsten wire. It is generally believed that W-Ni intermediate compounds could form in the recrystallized material, presumably at grain boundaries. The free energy difference between the pure tungsten fibbers and the precipitating W(Ni) solid solution was suggested as the chemical driving force which governed the recrystallization process. The presence of nickel in small particles had also been observed in recrystallized grains of nickel plated tungsten wires using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. These particles were considered to be nickel rich precipitates. However, a detailed investigation of the precipitation process has not been reported. In the present work an investigation of the structure, composition and distribution of nickel rich particles precipitated in recrystallized grains of nickel plated heavily drawn non-sage tungsten wires was carried out using analytical electron microscopy (AEM)

  14. Molecular phylogeny of pearl oysters and their relatives (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Pterioidea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tëmkin Ilya

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The superfamily Pterioidea is a morphologically and ecologically diverse lineage of epifaunal marine bivalves distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical continental shelf regions. This group includes commercially important pearl culture species and model organisms used for medical studies of biomineralization. Recent morphological treatment of selected pterioideans and molecular phylogenetic analyses of higher-level relationships in Bivalvia have challenged the traditional view that pterioidean families are monophyletic. This issue is examined here in light of molecular data sets composed of DNA sequences for nuclear and mitochondrial loci, and a published character data set of anatomical and shell morphological characters. Results The present study is the first comprehensive species-level analysis of the Pterioidea to produce a well-resolved, robust phylogenetic hypothesis for nearly all extant taxa. The data were analyzed for potential biases due to taxon and character sampling, and idiosyncracies of different molecular evolutionary processes. The congruence and contribution of different partitions were quantified, and the sensitivity of clade stability to alignment parameters was explored. Conclusions Four primary conclusions were reached: (1 the results strongly supported the monophyly of the Pterioidea; (2 none of the previously defined families (except for the monotypic Pulvinitidae were monophyletic; (3 the arrangement of the genera was novel and unanticipated, however strongly supported and robust to changes in alignment parameters; and (4 optimizing key morphological characters onto topologies derived from the analysis of molecular data revealed many instances of homoplasy and uncovered synapomorphies for major nodes. Additionally, a complete species-level sampling of the genus Pinctada provided further insights into the on-going controversy regarding the taxonomic identity of major pearl culture species.

  15. Molecular phylogeny of pearl oysters and their relatives (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Pterioidea)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background The superfamily Pterioidea is a morphologically and ecologically diverse lineage of epifaunal marine bivalves distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical continental shelf regions. This group includes commercially important pearl culture species and model organisms used for medical studies of biomineralization. Recent morphological treatment of selected pterioideans and molecular phylogenetic analyses of higher-level relationships in Bivalvia have challenged the traditional view that pterioidean families are monophyletic. This issue is examined here in light of molecular data sets composed of DNA sequences for nuclear and mitochondrial loci, and a published character data set of anatomical and shell morphological characters. Results The present study is the first comprehensive species-level analysis of the Pterioidea to produce a well-resolved, robust phylogenetic hypothesis for nearly all extant taxa. The data were analyzed for potential biases due to taxon and character sampling, and idiosyncracies of different molecular evolutionary processes. The congruence and contribution of different partitions were quantified, and the sensitivity of clade stability to alignment parameters was explored. Conclusions Four primary conclusions were reached: (1) the results strongly supported the monophyly of the Pterioidea; (2) none of the previously defined families (except for the monotypic Pulvinitidae) were monophyletic; (3) the arrangement of the genera was novel and unanticipated, however strongly supported and robust to changes in alignment parameters; and (4) optimizing key morphological characters onto topologies derived from the analysis of molecular data revealed many instances of homoplasy and uncovered synapomorphies for major nodes. Additionally, a complete species-level sampling of the genus Pinctada provided further insights into the on-going controversy regarding the taxonomic identity of major pearl culture species. PMID:21059254

  16. Biolistic-mediated transformation protocols for maize and pearl millet using pre-cultured immature zygotic embryos and embryogenic tissue

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    O'Kennedy, MM

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal food crop in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and a key feed crop in Asia, whereas pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a staple food that supplies a major proportion of calories...

  17. Natural gas geological characteristics and great discovery of large gas fields in deep-water area of the western South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenfeng Wang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available To accelerate the petroleum exploration in deep sea of China, since the period of “the 11th Five-Year Plan”, the sedimentary process, source rock formation and hydrocarbon generation and expulsion process in deep-water area of the Qiongdongnan Basin in the western South China Sea have been studied systematically using the data like large-area 3D seismic survey, logging, drill core (cuttings and geochemical analysis, providing three innovative understandings, i.e. excellent hydrocarbon source conditions, good accumulation conditions, and grouping and zonal distribution of large exploration targets. From the study, the following conclusions are drawn. First, the deep-water area located in the southern and central parts of the Qiongdongnan Basin was formed under the control of such tectonic events as Indosinian–Eurasian Plate collision, Himalayan uplifting and South China Sea expansion, and experienced Paleogene lift and Neogene depression stages. Second, accompanied by lacustrine deposition, faulting activity was violent in Eocene; whereas in Early Oligocene, rift continued to develop under a sedimentary environment of marine–terrestrial transitional facies and littoral-neritic facies. Third, oil generation predominated Eocene lacustrine mudstone and gas generation predominated Lower Oligocene marine–terrestrial transitional facies coal-measure strata compose two sets of major source rocks. Fourth, analysis in respect of thermal evolution level, hydrocarbon generation volume and hydrocarbon generation intensity shows that Ledong, Lingshui, Baodao and Changchang sags belong to potential hydrocarbon-rich kitchens, among which Ledong and Lingshui sags have been proved to have great hydrocarbon generation potential by drilling. Fifth, researches of deep-water sedimentology and hydrocarbon accumulation dynamics reveal that Paleogene and Neogene plays are developed vertically, and favorable hydrocarbon accumulation zones like the Central

  18. Chemical elements in pearl oysters (Paxyodon ponderosus), phytoplankton and estuarine sediments from eastern Amazon (Northern Brazil): Bioaccumulation factors and trophic transfer factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilhena, Maria P. S. P.; Costa, Marcondes L.; Berrêdo, José F.; Paiva, Rosildo S.; Souza, Crisvaldo C. S.

    2016-04-01

    The current study was conducted near Barcarena County, which is a mid-sized urban center where aluminum ore processing industries (bauxite) and Vila do Conde cargo terminal are located. It aims to discuss the bioaccumulation factors as well as factors related to the trophic transfer of chemical elements in water, oyster, phytoplankton and bottom sediments from an estuary in the Brazilian Northern coast. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF), trophic transfer factor (TTF) and biota-sediment-water were used to correlate the contents of chemical elements found in organisms. The sediment, surface water, phytoplankton and pearl oysters chemical composition was analyzed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Pearl oysters showed K, Ca, Mg, P, Mn, Fe, Zn, Al, Ba and Pb accumulation, which concentration increase is associated with their diet (phytoplankton). Al concentrations are 14 times higher in pearl oysters (Paxyodon ponderosus), assuming that they are associated with wastewater emissions and with industrialization processes in the area. BAF and BSAF values are 1000 times higher than the metal concentrations in water and bioavailable fraction concentrations. The oyster-phytoplankton trophic transfer factor indicates that P, Ba, Ca, Na, Cd and Zn showed the largest transfers (from 5 to 19). These trophic transfers may be sufficient to cause significant ecotoxicological effects on the region biota.

  19. 77 FR 47331 - Regulated Navigation Area-New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-08

    ...-AA11 Regulated Navigation Area--New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl... navigable waters of New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River and Mill River. The current RNA pertains only to the..., Quinnipiac River, and Mill River RNA. The proposed amendment would give the Captain of the Port Sector Long...

  20. The account of sagging of wires at definition of specific potential factors of air High-Voltage Power Transmission Lines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suslov V.M.

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The opportunity approached is shown, but more exact as it is usually accepted, the account of sagging of wires at definition of specific potential factors air High-Voltage Power Transmission Lines. The technique of reception of analytical expressions is resulted. For an opportunity of comparison traditional expressions for specific potential factors are resulted also. Communication of the offered and traditional analytical expressions is shown. Offered analytical expressions are not difficult for programming on a personal computer of any class and besides they allow to make an estimation of an error of traditional expressions by means of parallel definition of specific potential factors by both ways.

  1. The culture of pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata (Gould, 1850 in Phuket with temperature shock method and survival rates on various feeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rativat, V.

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Marine pearl farming at Phuket Island has exploited natural pearl oysters. In order to obtain sufficient pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata (Gould, 1850, the oyster cultivation was carried out to determine appropriate kinds of food and types of spat collectors. The male and female oysters were stimulated to spawn with this temperature shock method (treated with 32ºC and then with 26ºC. The fertilized eggs developed into the stages of polar body, cleavage, blastula, gastrula, trochophore and then D-shape larvae. At the ageof 19-26 hrs. the larvae were fed with three kinds of food: Isochrysis galbana, Chaetoceros calcitrans and the mixture of 1:1 I. galbana and C. calcitrans. Upon the first 30 days, shell lengths of the spats fed with I. Galbana, C. calcitrans and the mixture were 422.00±59.32, 221.33±12.46 and 347.33±67.98 μg, respectively. The 26-29th day spat stage settled to the collectors: saran net, plastic plates and wavy tile. Number of spats settling to saran net was the highest. But after being moved into the sea for 30 days, the survival rate was89.06% which was lower than for those settling to plastic plates (93.29% and wavy tile (93.99%.

  2. PErineal Assessment and Repair Longitudinal Study (PEARLS: protocol for a matched pair cluster trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Peter W

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Perineal Assessment and Repair Longitudinal Study (PEARLS is a national clinical quality improvement initiative designed to improve the assessment and management of perineal trauma. Perineal trauma affects around 85% of women who have a vaginal birth in the UK each year and millions more world-wide. Continuous suturing techniques compared with traditional interrupted methods are more effective in reducing pain and postnatal morbidity, however they are not widely used by clinicians despite recommendations of evidence based national clinical guidelines. Perineal suturing skills and postnatal management of trauma remain highly variable within and between maternity units in the UK as well as worldwide. Implementation of a standardised training package to support effective perineal management practices could reduce perineal pain and other related postnatal morbidity for a substantial number of women. Methods/Design PEARLS is a matched pair cluster trial, which is being conducted in maternity units across the UK. Units within a matched pair will be randomised to implement the study intervention either early or late in the study period. The intervention will include the cascading of a multi-professional training package to enhance midwifery and obstetric skills in the assessment, repair and postnatal management of perineal trauma. Women who have had an episiotomy or second degree perineal tear will be eligible for recruitment. Prior to developing the intervention and deciding on study outcomes, a Delphi survey and a consensus conference were held to identify what women, who previously suffered perineal trauma during childbirth, considered to be important outcomes for them. Findings from this preliminary work (which will be reported elsewhere and other outcomes including women's experiences of perineal pain and pain on activity, breastfeeding uptake and duration and psychological well-being as assessed using the Edinburgh

  3. Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine Services in Community Health Centers: Insights into Utilization Patterns in the Pearl River Region of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincent C. H. Chung

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In China's healthcare reform, community health centers (CHCs are designed to take a pivotal role in providing primary care. Whilst about 20% of all outpatient care in China is delivered by the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM sector, hospitals, instead of CHCs, are major providers. Using current patterns of patient utilization this study aims to inform CHCs on how they may strengthen access to TCM services. Three thousand three hundred and sixty CHC patients from six cities within the urban Pearl Delta Region were enumerated using multistage cluster sampling. Fifty-two percent had visited herbalists within three months with a mean visit frequency of 1.50 times. Herbal treatments, which are cheaper than western medicines, were more popular amongst those who needed to pay out of pocket including the uninsured. Herbal medicines appeared to be an alternative for those who are underinsured. Acupuncturists and massage therapists were visited by smaller proportions, 6.58% and 5.98%, respectively, with a mean three-month visit of 0.27 and 0.26 times. Access was restricted by lack of social insurance coverage. Whilst increasing provision of TCM in CHCs might respond to patient demand, increasing insurance coverage for TCM needs to be evaluated using current evidence on safety and effectiveness.

  4. Determination of selected antibiotics in the Victoria Harbour and the Pearl River, South China using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Weihai; Zhang Gan; Zou Shichun; Li Xiangdong; Liu Yuchun

    2007-01-01

    Nine selected antibiotics in the Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong and the Pearl River at Guangzhou, South China, were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that the concentrations of antibiotics were mainly below the limit of quantification (LOQ) in the marine water of Victoria Harbour. However, except for amoxicillin, all of the antibiotics were detected in the Pearl River during high and low water seasons with the median concentrations ranging from 11 to 67 ng/L, and from 66 to 460 ng/L, respectively; and the concentrations in early spring were about 2-15 times higher than that in summer with clearer diurnal variations. It was suggested that the concentrations of antibiotics in the high water season were more affected by wastewater production cycles due to quick refreshing rate, while those in the low water season may be more sensitive to the water column dynamics controlled by tidal processes in the river. - Antibiotics were found at high concentrations in an urban reach of Pearl River in southern China with contrast diurnal variations between the high and low water seasons

  5. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for detection of equine antibodies specific to Sarcocystis neurona surface antigens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoane, Jessica S; Morrow, Jennifer K; Saville, William J; Dubey, J P; Granstrom, David E; Howe, Daniel K

    2005-09-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is the primary causative agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a common neurologic disease of horses in the Americas. We have developed a set of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on the four major surface antigens of S. neurona (SnSAGs) to analyze the equine antibody response to S. neurona. The SnSAG ELISAs were optimized and standardized with a sample set of 36 equine sera that had been characterized by Western blotting against total S. neurona parasite antigen, the current gold standard for S. neurona serology. The recombinant SnSAG2 (rSnSAG2) ELISA showed the highest sensitivity and specificity at 95.5% and 92.9%, respectively. In contrast, only 68.2% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity were achieved with the rSnSAG1 ELISA, indicating that this antigen may not be a reliable serological marker for analyzing antibodies against S. neurona in horses. Importantly, the ELISA antigens did not show cross-reactivity with antisera to Sarcocystis fayeri or Neospora hughesi, two other equine parasites. The accuracy and reliability exhibited by the SnSAG ELISAs suggest that these assays will be valuable tools for examining the equine immune response against S. neurona infection, which may help in understanding the pathobiology of this accidental parasite-host interaction. Moreover, with modification and further investigation, the SnSAG ELISAs have potential for use as immunodiagnostic tests to aid in the identification of horses affected by EPM.

  6. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays for Detection of Equine Antibodies Specific to Sarcocystis neurona Surface Antigens†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoane, Jessica S.; Morrow, Jennifer K.; Saville, William J.; Dubey, J. P.; Granstrom, David E.; Howe, Daniel K.

    2005-01-01

    Sarcocystis neurona is the primary causative agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a common neurologic disease of horses in the Americas. We have developed a set of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on the four major surface antigens of S. neurona (SnSAGs) to analyze the equine antibody response to S. neurona. The SnSAG ELISAs were optimized and standardized with a sample set of 36 equine sera that had been characterized by Western blotting against total S. neurona parasite antigen, the current gold standard for S. neurona serology. The recombinant SnSAG2 (rSnSAG2) ELISA showed the highest sensitivity and specificity at 95.5% and 92.9%, respectively. In contrast, only 68.2% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity were achieved with the rSnSAG1 ELISA, indicating that this antigen may not be a reliable serological marker for analyzing antibodies against S. neurona in horses. Importantly, the ELISA antigens did not show cross-reactivity with antisera to Sarcocystis fayeri or Neospora hughesi, two other equine parasites. The accuracy and reliability exhibited by the SnSAG ELISAs suggest that these assays will be valuable tools for examining the equine immune response against S. neurona infection, which may help in understanding the pathobiology of this accidental parasite-host interaction. Moreover, with modification and further investigation, the SnSAG ELISAs have potential for use as immunodiagnostic tests to aid in the identification of horses affected by EPM. PMID:16148170

  7. Genesis and distribution pattern of carbonate cements in lacustrine deep-water gravity-flow sandstone reservoirs in the third member of the Shahejie Formation in the Dongying Sag, Jiyang Depression, Eastern China

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Tian; Cao, Yingchang; Friis, Henrik

    2018-01-01

    The lacustrine deep-water gravity-flow sandstone reservoirs in the third member of the Shahejie Formation are the main exploration target for hydrocarbons in the Dongying Sag, Eastern China. Carbonate cementation is responsible for much of the porosity and permeability reduction in the lacustrine...

  8. Biological Mechanisms Underlying the Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Formation of Skin Wrinkling and Sagging II: Over-Expression of Neprilysin Plays an Essential Role

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genji Imokawa

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Our previous studies strongly indicated that the up-regulated activity of skin fibroblast-derived elastase plays a pivotal role in wrinkling and/or sagging of the skin via the impairment of elastic fiber configuration and the subsequent loss of skin elasticity. Fortunately, we succeeded in identifying human skin fibroblast-derived elastase as a previously known enzyme, neprilysin or neutral endopeptidase (NEP. We have also characterized epithelial-mesenchymal paracrine cytokine interactions between UVB-exposed-keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts and found that interleukin-1α and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulatory factor (GM-CSF are intrinsic cytokines secreted by UVB-exposed keratinocytes that stimulate the expression of neprilysin by fibroblasts. On the other hand, direct UVA exposure of human fibroblasts significantly stimulates the secretion of IL-6 and also elicits a significant increase in the gene expression of matrix metallo-protease(MMP-1 as well as neprilysin (to a lesser extent, which is followed by distinct increases in their protein and enzymatic activity levels. Direct UVA exposure of human keratinocytes also stimulates the secretion of IL-6, IL-8 and GM-CSF but not of IL-1 and endothelin-1. These findings suggest that GM-CSF secreted by UVA-exposed keratinocytes as well as IL-6 secreted by UVA-exposed dermal fibroblasts play important and additional roles in UVA-induced sagging and wrinkling by up-regulation of neprilysin and MMP-1, respectively, in dermal fibroblasts.

  9. Late Holocene (~ 2 ka) East Asian Monsoon variations inferred from river discharge and climate interrelationships in the Pearl River Estuary

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Nan, Q.; Li, T.; Chen, J.; Nigam, R.

    A sediment core from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) was analyzed for grain size and organic geochemistry parameters (TOC and δ13Corg). The results showed that high mean grain-size value and increased sand content were correlated...

  10. Construction area expansion in relation to economic-demographic development and land resource in the Pearl River Delta of China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Liu, Zhijia; Huang, Heqing; Werners, Saskia E.; Yan, Dan

    2016-01-01

    Since 1979, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China has experienced rapid socioeconomic development along with a fast expansion of construction area. Affected by both natural and human factors, a complex interdependency is found among the regional changes in construction area, GDP and population. A

  11. Role of photoexcited nitrogen dioxide chemistry on ozone formation and emission control strategy over the Pearl River Delta, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    A new hydroxyl radical formation pathway via photo-excited nitrogen dioxide chemistry is incorporated into a chemistry-only box model as well as a 3D air quality model to examine its potential role on ozone formation and emission control strategy over the Pearl River Delta region...

  12. Amount and type of derelict gear from the declining black pearl oyster aquaculture in Ahe atoll lagoon, French Polynesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andréfouët, Serge; Thomas, Yoann; Lo, Cedrik

    2014-06-15

    Pearl oyster aquaculture is a major activity in French Polynesia atoll lagoons. After the economic decline that characterized the last decade, concerns recently rose about discarded installations and materials that supported aquaculture practices and by facilities abandoned after they had to close their activities. In May 2013, a first inventory of the type and amount of pearl farms derelict gear (PFDG) was achieved on 47 sites in Ahe lagoon. Surveys were conducted within and outside the boundaries of aquaculture concessions. Twenty types of PFDG littered the lagoon floor and the water column. The most impacted areas were near abandoned grafting houses with up to nine types of PFDG. Forty-five percent of the sites were impacted, including outside concessions. While management authorities are fully aware of the problem, this first assessment is a wake-up call to stimulate the cleaning of lagoons, enhance awareness among farmers, and identify potential ecological consequences on lagoon ecosystems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. DG Allocation Based on Reliability, Losses and Voltage Sag Considerations: an expert system approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sahar Abdel Moneim Moussa

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Expert System (ES as a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI methodology can potentially help in solving complicated power system problems. This may be more appropriate methodology than conventional optimization techniques when contradiction between objectives appears in reaching the optimum solution. When this contradiction is the hindrance in reaching the required system operation through the application of traditional methods ES can give a hand in such case. In this paper, the  knowledge- based ES technique is proposed to reach near-optimum solution which is further directed to the optimum solution through particle swarm optimization (PSO technique. This idea is known as Hybrid-Expert-System (HES. The proposed idea is used in getting the optimum allocation of a number of distributed generation (DG units on Distribution System (DS busbars taking into consideration three issues; reliability, voltage sag, and line losses. Optimality is assessed on the economic basis by calculating money benefits (or losses resulting from DG addition considering the three aforementioned issues. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is ascertained through example.

  14. 2006 Reson 8101ER Multibeam Sonar Data from Cruise AHI-06-09 - Kure Atoll, Pearl and Hermes Atoll and Kauai Island

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Reson 8101ER multibeam Data were collected from 23 June to 19 July 2006 aboard NOAA Survey Launch Acoustic Habitat Investigator (AHI) at Kure Atoll, Pearl and Hermes...

  15. Association Analysis of SSR Markers with Phenology, Grain, and Stover-Yield Related Traits in Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L. R. Br.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baskaran Kannan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Pearl millet is a staple food crop for millions of people living in the arid and semi-arid tropics. Molecular markers have been used to identify genomic regions linked to traits of interest by conventional QTL mapping and association analysis. Phenotypic recurrent selection is known to increase frequencies of favorable alleles and decrease those unfavorable for the traits under selection. This study was undertaken (i to quantify the response to recurrent selection for phenotypic traits during breeding of the pearl millet open-pollinated cultivar “CO (Cu 9” and its four immediate progenitor populations and (ii to assess the ability of simple sequence repeat (SSR marker alleles to identify genomic regions linked to grain and stover yield-related traits in these populations by association analysis. A total of 159 SSR alleles were detected across 34 selected single-copy SSR loci. SSR marker data revealed presence of subpopulations. Association analysis identified genomic regions associated with flowering time located on linkage group (LG 6 and plant height on LG4, LG6, and LG7. Marker alleles on LG6 were associated with stover yield, and those on LG7 were associated with grain yield. Findings of this study would give an opportunity to develop marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS or marker-assisted population improvement (MAPI strategies to increase the rate of gain for pearl millet populations undergoing recurrent selection.

  16. Acceptability of Iron- and Zinc-Biofortified Pearl Millet (ICTP-8203)-Based Complementary Foods among Children in an Urban Slum of Mumbai, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huey, Samantha Lee; Venkatramanan, Sudha; Udipi, Shobha A; Finkelstein, Julia Leigh; Ghugre, Padmini; Haas, Jere Douglas; Thakker, Varsha; Thorat, Aparna; Salvi, Ashwini; Kurpad, Anura V; Mehta, Saurabh

    2017-01-01

    Biofortification, a method for increasing micronutrient content of staple crops, is a promising strategy for combating major global health problems, such as iron and zinc deficiency. We examined the acceptability of recipes prepared using iron- and zinc-biofortified pearl millet (FeZnPM) (~80 ppm Fe, ~34 ppm Zn, varietal ICTP-8203), compared to conventional pearl millet (CPM) (~20 ppm Fe, ~19 ppm Zn) in preparation for an efficacy trial. Our objective was to examine the acceptability of FeZnPM compared to CPM among young children and mothers living in the urban slums of Mumbai. Standardized traditional feeding program recipes ( n  = 18) were prepared with either FeZnPM or CPM flour. The weight (g) of each food product was measured before and after consumption by children ( n  = 125) and the average grams consumed over a 3-day period were recorded. Mothers ( n  = 60) rated recipes using a 9-point hedonic scale. Mean intakes and hedonic scores of each food product were compared using t -tests across the two types of pearl millet. There were no statistically significant differences in consumption by children (FeZnPM: 25.27 ± 13.0 g; CPM: 21.72 ± 6.90 g) across the food products ( P  = 0.28). Overall mean hedonic scores for all recipes were between 7 to 9 points. CPM products were rated higher overall (8.22 ± 0.28) compared to FeZnPM products (7.95 ± 0.35) ( P  = 0.01). FeZnPM and CPM were similarly consumed and had high hedonic scores, demonstrating high acceptability in this population. These results support using these varieties of pearl millet in a proposed trial [http://Clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT02233764; Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI), reference number REF/2014/10/007731, CTRI number CTRI/2015/11/006376] testing the efficacy of FeZnPM for improving iron status and growth.

  17. Performance of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) intercropped under Parkia biglobosa in an agroforestry system in Burkina Faso

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Osman, Ahmed Nur; Ræbild, Anders; Christiansen, Jørgen Lindskrog

    2011-01-01

    In agroforestry systems, crop yields under trees are often low compared to outside. This study explored crop management under trees for improved production and income for farmers. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) sole and intercrops were grown under and outside...... the trees and intercrops flowered earlier than sole crops. Cowpea sole crops had significant grain yield losses of up to 21% under trees compared to outside, and pearl millet yield was reduced up to 67% under trees. Intercrop yields were less affected by growth under trees. LER was significantly higher...... under the trees than outside, and were always larger than unity indicating benefits of intercropping over sole cropping. Intercropping with two rows of cowpea and one row of millet gave significantly higher economic benefit than mixture with one row of each of the crops. Results indicate...

  18. Fenomenologia del riutilizzo: Dante in M. Pearl e S. Meredith

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Gelmi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Partendo da alcune riflessioni di Ceserani, il saggio propone l’analisi di due recenti rielaborazioni americane del capolavoro dantesco: il romanzo The Dante club di M. Pearl e il film indipendente Dante’s inferno, di S. Meredith. In entrambe le opere si mettono in luce l’efficacia del dispositivo del contrappasso in termini diegetici e il discorso politico implicito nelle due narrazioni. Starting with some brief remarks by Cesarani, the essay focuses on two recent American re-adaptations of Dante’s masterpiece, i.e. M. Pearl’s novel The Dante club and Dante’s inferno, an independent movie by S. Meredith. In each work, the author traces the effectiveness of the pattern of contrappasso in diegetic terms, along with their implicit political narratives. 

  19. A Comprehensive Copper Compliance Strategy: Implementing Regulatory Guidance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    species was not listed in the PHLP database (Bishop Museum, 1998). Personal observations by John Zardus (Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Honolulu, Hawaii...Ringwood, 1992). Specimens collected from an open coastal site by the University of Hawaii ( John Zardus ), did not survive the shipment (less than 24... John Ornellas, Randy Kido, and Rich Anderson from Code 106.3. The Shipyard Pearl Harbor Regional Dive Locker, Code 760, provided professional, high

  20. Análisis multirresolución del motor trifásico de inducción sometido a huecos de tensión Triphasic induction motor multiresolution analysis on voltage sags

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.G Macri

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Este documento presenta los resultados del estudio realizado de la descomposición wavelet multinivel 1D de las señales perturbadas del par electromagnético y de la velocidad del eje del motor trifásico de inducción, cuando este es sometido a diferentes tipologías de huecos de tensión según la caracterización ABC, Bollen (2000. Los huecos de tensión trifásicos (3 variables son analizados indirectamente en el efecto producido en una variable perturbada (el par electromagnético o la velocidad del eje que contiene indirectamente información del tipo de hueco de tensión trifásico producido en el estator. El estudio analiza el efecto de los siete diferentes tipos de huecos de tensión, considerando también la influencia de la duración y tensión retenida. Para cada caso se obtiene un vector cuyos elementos son los niveles de energía wavelet en los distintos niveles de descomposición de la variable analizada, mostrando que la forma en que se distribuye la energía de la señal 1D en los distintos niveles de descomposición establece una firma única para cada caso. Esta forma de descripción de los huecos de tensión producidos en el estator, basada en la descomposición multinivel de una variable perturbada, reduce la cantidad de variables a analizar y permite posteriormente la clasificación de las perturbaciones empleando técnicas de inteligencia artificial; es ventajosa pues el almacenamiento de los vectores de niveles de energía de aproximación en las bases de datos emplea menor cantidad de espacio que la necesaria para una señal temporal, y empleando una DWT reversible es posible, además, reconstruir la variable de estado temporal.This document presents the study results of the wavelet 1D multi-level decomposition of perturbed electromagnetic torque and shaft speed signals, of the three-phase induction motor, when it is subjected to different types of voltage sags, as characterization ABC, Bollen (2000. The three

  1. Development of upwelling on pathway and freshwater transport of Pearl River plume in northeastern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhaoyun; Jiang, Yuwu; Liu, James T.; Gong, Wenping

    2017-08-01

    In situ observations, satellite images, and numerical modeling results have shown that the Pearl River plume axis extends alongshore and passes through two separate upwelling regions—one off the Guangdong and Fujian coasts (the Yuedong upwelling) and the other in the Taiwan Bank during the initial and medium stages of the Yuedong upwelling, while it is directed offshore when the Yuedong upwelling is strong. Model experiments are conducted to examine the effects of wind strength and baroclinicity on the upwelling and the corresponding pathway and freshwater transport of the Pearl River plume. The baroclinic effect is important to intensifying the horizontal velocity at the upwelling front and freshwater transport in the northeastern South China Sea. The freshwater transport flux is further decomposed into advection, vertical shear, and tidal pumping components, and advection is the dominant contributor. As the Yuedong upwelling develops, the zone with a relatively high-pressure gradient moves offshore due to offshore Ekman transport and the shift in the upwelling front, which is responsible for the offshore transport of the river plume. When the river plume is transported to the outer-shelf, sometimes it can be further entrained into eddies, allowing its export to the open sea.

  2. Meiotic anomalies induced by γ-rays and ethyl methanesulphonate treatments in pearl millet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laxmi, V.; Singh, R.B.; Singh, B.D.; Singh, R.M.

    1975-01-01

    Seven inbreds, viz. Tif-23A, 23D 2 A, Tif-238, 23D 2 B, K560, Bil3B and J104 and 3 commercial hybrids, viz. HB1, HB3 and HB5, of pearl millet were treated with γ-rays (10,20, 30kr) and/or ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS; 0.2, 0.4, 0.6%). PMC's of plants from mutagen treated populations showed chromatin bridges, laggards, fragments, cytomixis, tripolar division, inversion, micronuclei and unequal chromosome distributions were more fragment than other anomalies. γ-Rays were more effective than EMS or the combination treatments in inducing cytological anomalies. (author)

  3. Use of Reflectance Ratios as a Proxy for Coastal Water Constituent Monitoring in the Pearl River Estuary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong-Li Li

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Spectra, salinity, total suspended solids (TSS, in mg/L and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM, ag(400 at 400 nm sampled in stations in 44 different locations on December 18, 19 and 21, in 2006 were measured and analyzed. The studied field covered a large variety of optically different waters, the absorption coefficient of CDOM ([ag(400] in m-1 varied between 0.488 and 1.41 m-1, and the TSS concentrations (mg/L varied between 7.0 and 241.1 mg/L. In order to detect salinity of the Pearl River Estuary, we analyzed the spectral properties of TSS and CDOM, and the relationships between field water reflectance spectra and water constituents’ concentrations based on the synchronous in-situ and satellite hyper-spectral image analysis. A good correlation was discovered (the positive correlation by linear fit, between in-situ reflectance ratio R680/R527 and TSS concentrations (R2 = 0.65 for the salinity range of 1.74-22.12. However, the result also showed that the absorption coefficient of CDOM was not tightly correlated with reflectance. In addition, we also observed two significant relationships (R2 > 0.77, one between TSS concentrations and surface salinity and the other between the absorption coefficient of CDOM and surface salinity. Finally, we develop a novel method to understand surface salinity distribution of estuarine waters from the calibrated EO-1 Hyperion reflectance data in the Pearl River Estuary, i.e. channels with high salinity and shoals with low salinity. The EO-1 Hyperion derived surface salinity and TSSconcentrations were validated using in-situ data that were collected on December 21, 2006, synchronous with EO-1 Hyperion satellite imagery acquisition. The results showed that the semi-empirical relationships are capable of predicting salinity from EO-1 Hyperion imagery in the Pearl River Estuary (RMSE < 2‰.

  4. Cold pearl surfactant-based blends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crombie, R L

    1997-10-01

    Pearlizing agents have been used for many years in cosmetic formulations to add a pearlescent effect. Cold pearl surfactant-based blends are mixtures of glycol stearates and surfactants which can be blended in the cold into a wide range of personal-care formulations to create a pearlescent lustre effect. Under controlled manufacturing conditions constant viscosities and crystalline characteristics can be obtained. The development of these blends has been driven by efforts to improve the economics of adding solid pearlizing agents directly into a hot mix formulation. This paper summarizes the history of pearlizers, describes their advantages and physical chemistry of the manufacturing process. Finally some suggestions for applications are given. Les agents nacrants sont utilises depuis de nombreuses annees dans les formulations cosmetiques pour ajouter un effet nacre. Les melanges a froid a base de tensioactif nacre sont des melanges de stearates de glycol et de tensioactifs qui peuvent etre melanges a froid dans une large gamme de formulations d'hygiene personnelle pour creer un effet de lustre nacre. On peut obtenir des viscosites et des proprietes cristallines constantes avec des conditions de fabrication maitrisees. Le developpement de ces melanges a ete porte par les efforts pour ameliorer les couts de l'ajout d'agents nacrants solides directement dans une formulation melangee de l'ajout d'agents nacrants solides directement dans une formulation melangee a chaud. Cet article resume l'histoire des agents nacrants, decrit leurs avantages et al physico-chimie du procede de fabrication. On emet a la fin cetaines suggestions d'applications.

  5. The Secant Rate of Corrosion: Correlating Observations of the USS Arizona Submerged in Pearl Harbor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Donald L.; DeAngelis, Robert J.; Medlin, Dana J.; Johnson, Jon E.; Carr, James D.; Conlin, David L.

    2018-03-01

    Contrary to previous linear projections of steel corrosion in seawater, analysis of an inert marker embedded in USS Arizona concretion since the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor reveals evidence that the effective corrosion rate decreases with time. The secant rate of corrosion, or SRC correlation, derived from this discovery could have a significant impact on failure analysis investigations for concreted shipwrecks or underwater structures. The correlation yields a lower rate of metal thinning than predicted. Development of the correlation is described.

  6. Growth and survival of the pearl oyster Pteria hirundo (L.,1758) in an intermediate stage of culture in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albuquerque, M C P; Alves, R; Zanandrea, A C V; Ferreira, J F; Melo, C M R; Magalhães, A R M

    2012-02-01

    There are no records in Brazil for the culture of Pteridae family oysters, genus Pteria and Pinctada. The intermediate culture can be considered one of the critical stages during the oyster farming. The changes in life conditions from a semi-closed environment provided by the collector to the structures utilized for the growth represents a considerable stress factor to which the animals are subjected. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the growth and survival of the pearl oyster Pteria hirundo (Linnaeus, 1758) kept in intermediate lanterns. Seeds of P. hirundo, obtained through larviculture carried out at the Marine Molluscs Laboratory (UFSC), southern Brazil were detached from the collectors, transferred and kept in an intermediate culture system (oyster lantern). During 6 months, growth (dorso-ventral height - DVH in mm) and survival (%) were evaluated. Two size classes were tested: medium (M), between 3.4 and 4.4 mm, and large (L), bigger than 4.5 mm. The density of occupation in each floor of the lantern was 50%. At the end of the experiment, the survivals observed were 90 and 94% for the sizes M and L, respectively. Medium juveniles of Pteria hirundo had an average (Std) increase of 16.1 (±4.38) mm in the dorso-ventral height, and large juveniles an average increase of 11.4 (±3.77) mm after six months of experiment. The results observed during the intermediate stage of cultivation indicate that Pteria hirundo presents survival and growth similar to other species of pearl oysters traditionally used in the pearl industry in several countries.

  7. Padrões de comportamento ingestivo de cordeiras recebendo ou não suplemento em pastagem de milheto Ingestive behavior patterns of ewe lambs receiving or not supplement on Pearl millet pasture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Carolina Cerato Confortin

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available O comportamento ingestivo e os padrões de deslocamento e procura de forragem de cordeiras em pastagem de milheto (Pennisetum glaucum (L. foram avaliados quando estas foram mantidas exclusivamente em pastagem ou em pastagem recebendo suplemento (ração comercial fornecida diariamente às 17h. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, com duas repetições de área. Os animais que receberam suplemento reduziram o tempo de pastejo e aumentaram o tempo destinado às outras atividades. Os padrões de ingestão, deslocamento e procura de forragem foram alterados pelas mudanças na estrutura do pasto ao longo dos estádios de desenvolvimento do milheto e não foram modificados pelo recebimento de suplemento.The ingestive behavior and displacement and forage searching patterns of female lambs in Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L. were evaluated when lambs were kept exclusively on Pearl millet pasture and on pearl millet pasture receiving supplement. The supplement used was a commercial ration given daily at 17h. The experimental design was completely randomized, with two area replicates. The animals that received supplement reduced the grazing time and increased the idling time. The intake, displacement and forage searching patterns were influenced by changing on pasture structure along the Pearl millet stage of development and were not modified by supplement supply.

  8. Distribution and speciation of metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) in agricultural and non-agricultural soils near a stream upriver from the Pearl River, China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Silin; Zhou, Dequn; Yu, Huayong; Wei, Rong; Pan, Bo

    2013-01-01

    The distribution and chemical speciation of typical metals (Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) in agricultural and non-agricultural soils were investigated in the area of Nanpan River, upstream of the Pearl River. The investigated four metals showed higher concentrations in agricultural soils than in non-agricultural soils, and the site located in factory district contained metals much higher than the other sampling sites. These observations suggested that human activities, such as water irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide applications might have a major impact on the distribution of metals. Metal speciation analysis presented that Cu, Zn and Cd were dominated by the residual fraction, while Pb was dominated by the reducible fraction. Because of the low mobility of the metals in the investigated area, no remarkable difference could be observed between upstream and downstream separated by the factory site. -- Highlights: ► Agricultural soils contain higher metal concentrations than non-agricultural soils. ► The site located in the factory district has the highest metal concentration. ► Cu, Zn and Cd are dominated by residual fraction, and Pb by reducible fraction. ► Cd pollution should not be overlooked in soils upstream of Pearl River. -- The mobility of four investigated metals is low but Cd pollution should not be overlooked in soils upstream of Pearl River

  9. Effect of Nitrogen Rate on Quantitative and Qualitative Forage Yield of Maize, Pearl Millet and Sorghum in Double Cropping System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    sh Khalesro

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In order to compare three summer forage grasses including sorghum (Sorghum bicolor cv. Speedfeed, corn (Zea mayz S.C. 704 and pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum cv. Nutrifeed for green chop forage production in double cropping system, a field experiment was conducted at research field of Tarbiat Modares University on 2006 growing season. Treatments were arranged in a split- plot design based on randomized complete blocks with four replications. In this research three forage crops as main factor and nitrogen rates (100, 200 and 300 kg N. ha-1 from the urea source as the sub- plot were studied. Results showed the positive response of crops to nitrogen increment, in such a manner that millet with 300 kg N ha-1 produced 85.8 t ha-1 fresh forage (%20.3 more than sorghum and %30.9 more than corn. Regarding to the sustainable agriculture objects, millet and sorghum with 200 kg N ha-1could be suggested. Forage yield advantages of millet and sorghum to corn was %10 and %12 respectively. They produce 72.4 and 73.5 t ha-1 fresh forage under this treatment. Finally regarding to general advantages of sorghum and millet to corn, especially in unsuitable condition like as drought and poor soil fertility, it seems that changing the corn with sorghum or pearl millet could be an appropriate option. Also decision making for recommending one of sorghum and millet need to more information like qualitative attributes in details and determining animal feeding indices (voluntary intake using in vivo methods. Keywords: Sorghum, Pearl millet, Corn, Nitrogen, Forage, Organic matter, Crud protein

  10. Effects of aged sorption on pesticide leaching to groundwater simulated with PEARL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boesten, Jos J T I

    2017-01-15

    Leaching to groundwater is an important element of the regulatory risk assessment of pesticides in western countries. Including aged sorption in this assessment is relevant because there is ample evidence of this process and because it leads to a decrease in simulated leaching. This work assesses the likely magnitude of this decrease for four groundwater scenarios used for regulatory purpose in the EU (from the UK, Portugal, Austria and Greece) and for ranges of aged-sorption parameters and substance properties using the PEARL model. Three aged-sorption parameters sets were derived from literature, representing approximately 5th, 50th and 95th percentile cases for the magnitude of the effect of aged sorption on leaching concentrations (called S, M and L, respectively). The selection of these percentile cases was based only on the f NE parameter (i.e. the ratio of the aged sorption and the equilibrium sorption coefficients) because leaching was much more affected by the uncertainty in this parameter than by the uncertainty in the desorption rate coefficient of these sites (k d ). For the UK scenario, the annual flux concentration of pesticide leaching at 1m depth decreased by typically a factor of 5, 30 and >1000 for the S, M and L parameter sets, respectively. This decrease by a factor of 30 for the M parameter set appeared to be approximately valid also for the other three scenarios. Decreasing the Freundlich exponent N from 0.9 into 0.7 for the M parameter set, increased this factor of 30 into a factor of typically 1000, considering all four scenarios. The aged-sorption sites were close to their equilibrium conditions during the leaching simulations for two of the four scenarios (for all substances considered and the M parameter set), but this was not the case for the other two scenarios. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Water quality in Pearl Harbor and feeder streams during 1971 - 2001 collected primarily by oceanography students from Leeward Community College (NODC Accession 0000590)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Water quality data were collected in Pearl Harbor and surrounding feeder streams from 30 December 1971 to 24 August 2001. Data were collected by Leeward Community...

  12. A randomized controlled trial of peeling and aspiration of Elschnig pearls and neodymium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet laser capsulotomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahul Bhargava

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available AIM:To compare surgical peeling and aspiration and neodymium yttrium garnet laser capsulotomy for pearl form of posterior capsule opacification (PCO.METHODS:A prospective, randomized, double blind, study was done at Rotary Eye Hospital, Maranda, Palampur, India, Santosh Medical College Hospital, Ghaziabad, India and Laser Eye Clinic, Noida India. Consecutive patients with pearl form of PCO following surgery, phacoemulsification, manual small incision cataract surgery and conventional extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE for age related cataract, were randomized to have peeling and aspiration or neodymium yttrium garnet laser capsulotomy. Corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA, intra-operative and post-operative complications were compared.RESULTS:A total of 634 patients participated in the study, and 314 (49.5% patients were randomized to surgical peeling and aspiration group and 320 (50.5% to the Nd:YAG laser group. The mean pre-procedural logMAR CDVA in peeling and neodymium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Nd:YAG laser group was 0.80±0.25 and 0.86±0.22, respectively. The mean final CDVA in peeling group (0.22±0.23 was comparable to Nd:YAG group (0.24±0.28; t test, P=0.240. There was a significant improvement in vision after both the procedures (P<0.001. A slightly higher percentage of patients in Nd:YAG laser group (283/88.3% than in peeling group (262/83.4% had a CDVA of 0.5 (20/63 or better at 9mo (P<0.001. On the contrary, patients having CDVA worse than 1.00 (20/200 was also significantly higher in Nd:YAG laser group as compared to peeling group (25/7.7% vs 15/4.7%, respectively. On application of ANCOVA, there was less than 0.001% risk that PCO thickness and total laser energy had no effect on rate of complications in Nd:YAG laser group and less than 0.001 % risk that PCO thickness had no effect on complications in peeling group respectively. Sum of square analysis suggests that in the Nd:YAG laser group, thick PCO had a stronger impact

  13. Ground-level ozone in the Pearl River Delta and the roles of VOC and NO(x) in its production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Min; Zhang, Yuanhang; Zeng, Limin; Tang, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Jing; Zhong, Liuju; Wang, Boguang

    2009-01-01

    In many regions of China, very rapid economic growth has been accompanied by air pollution caused by vehicle emissions. In one of these regions, the Pearl River Delta, the variations of ground-level ozone and its precursors were investigated. Overall, the ambient concentrations of NO(2) increased quickly between 1995 and 1996, but then slightly decreased due to stringent nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emission controls. Nonetheless, ambient NO(2) levels in the Pearl River Delta remained high. The regional average concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were 290 ppbC in summer and 190 ppbC in autumn. Local emissions and long-distance transportation of pollutants play important roles in the regional distribution of VOCs. Ambient O(3) production is significant in urban areas and also downwind of cities. The relative incremental reactivities (RIRs), determined by an observation-based model, showed that ground-level ozone formation in the Guangzhou urban area is generally limited by the concentrations of VOCs, but there are also measurable impacts of NO(x).

  14. Influence of the Pearl River estuary and vertical mixing in Victoria Harbor on water quality in relation to eutrophication impacts in Hong Kong waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Kedong; Harrison, Paul J

    2007-06-01

    This study presents water quality parameters such as nutrients, phytoplankton biomass and dissolved oxygen based on 11 years of water quality data in Victoria Harbor and examined how the Pearl River estuary discharge in summer and year round sewage discharge influenced these parameters. Nutrients in Victoria Harbor were strongly influenced by both the Pearl River and sewage effluent, as indicated by the high NO(3) inputs from the Pearl River in summer and higher NH(4) and PO(4) in Victoria Harbor than both its sides. N:P ratios were low in the dry season, but increased to >16:1 in the wet season, suggesting that P is potentially the most limiting nutrient in this area during the critical period in the summer. Although there were generally high nutrients, the phytoplankton biomass was not as high as one would expect in Victoria Harbor. In fact, there were high concentrations of chl near the bottom well below the photic zone. Salinity near the bottom was lower in Victoria Harbor than at the two entrances to Victoria Harbor, suggesting strong vertical mixing within Victoria Harbor. Therefore, strong vertical mixing and horizontal advection appear to play an important role in significantly reducing eutrophication impacts in Victoria Harbor. Consequently, dissolved oxygen near the bottom was low in summer, but only occasionally dipped to 2 mgL(-1) despite the high organic loading from sewage effluent.

  15. Determinación de la relación entre descargas atmosféricas y perturbaciones de corta duración (sags y sobretensiones)

    OpenAIRE

    Murillo Sánchez, Oscar Javier

    2012-01-01

    Se muestra el desarrollo y los resultados de una metodología propuesta para la determinación de la correlación entre descargas eléctricas atmosféricas detectadas y registradas en una zona y los hundimientos de tensión (sags) registrados en el sistema de distribución asociado. Como ejemplo de aplicación se usa información del sistema de localización de rayos WWLLN (wwlln.net), el Sistema de información de Descarga SID (propiedad de ISA. S.A. E.S.P.) y las mediciones de calidad de potencia de C...

  16. Meiosis in radiation induced triploid and tetraploid plants of pearl millet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, R.B.; Singh, B.D.; Singh, R.M.; Laxmi, V.

    1977-01-01

    A triploid and a tetraploid plant were isolated from mutagen treated populations of HB3 (Tif23AxJ104) and HBI (Tif23AxBi13B) hybrid pearl millet, respectively. The triploid plant regularly showed univalents (1 to 9 per cell) and trivalents (1 to 6 per cell) at MI. In the case of the tetraploid, only bivalents were observed which showed loose or tight secondary associations at MI; at AI bivalents separated as units (instead of chromosomes) while at AII chromosomes (instead of chromatids) moved to the opposite poles. Although the chromosome behaviour was quite regular, the plant was highly sterile (98%). It is suggested that gamma-rays had induced mutations in a number of genes, including those affecting pairing, concomitant to the induction of tetraploidy. (auth.)

  17. Lethal effects of ichthyotoxic raphidophytes, Chattonella marina, C. antiqua, and Heterosigma akashiwo, on post-embryonic stages of the Japanese pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata martensii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basti, Leila; Nagai, Kiyohito; Go, Jiyoji; Okano, Sho; Oda, Tatsuya; Tanaka, Yuji; Nagai, Satoshi

    2016-11-01

    The inimical effects of the ichthyotoxic harmful algal bloom (HAB)-forming raphidophytes Heterosigma akashiwo, Chattonella marina, and Chattonella antiqua on the early-life stages of the Japanese pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii were studied. Fertilized eggs and developing embryos were not affected following exposure to the harmful raphidophytes; however, all three algal species severely affected trochophores and D-larvae, early-stage D-larvae, and late-stage pre-settling larvae. Exposure to C. marina (5×10 2 cellsml -1 ), C. antiqua (10 3 cellsml -1 ), and H. akashiwo (5×10 3 cellsml -1 ) resulted in decreased success of metamorphosis to the trochophore stage. A complete inhibition of trochophore metamorphosis was observed following exposure to C. antiqua at 5×10 3 cellsml -1 and C. marina at 8×10 3 cellsml -1 . In all experiments, more than 80% of newly formed trochophores were anomalous, and in the case of exposure to H. akashiwo at 10 5 cellsml -1 more than 70% of D-larvae were anomalous. The activity rates of D-larvae (1-day-old) were significantly reduced following exposure to C. antiqua (8×10 3 cellsml -1 , 24h), C. marina (8×10 3 cellsml -1 , 24h), and H. akashiwo (10 4 cellsml -1 , 24h). The activity rates of pre-settling larvae (21-day-old) were also significantly reduced following exposure to C. antiqua (10 3 cellsml -1 , 24h),C. marina (8×10 3 cellsml -1 , 24h), and H. akashiwo (5×10 4 cellsml -1 , 24h). Significant mortalities of both larval stages were induced by all three raphidophytes, with higher mortality rates registered for pre-settling larvae than D-larvae, especially following exposure to C. marina (5×10 2 -8×10 3 cellsml -1 , 48-86h) and C. antiqua (10 3 -8×10 3 cellsml -1 , 72-86h). Contact between raphidophyte cells and newly metamorphosed trochophores and D-larvae, 1-day-old D-larvae, and 21-day-old larvae resulted in microscopic changes in the raphidophytes, and then, in the motile early-life stages of pearl oysters. Upon

  18. Heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sedimentation in the Lianhua Mountain Reservoir, Pearl River Delta, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jingyu; Amuzu-Sefordzi, Basil; Li, Ming

    2015-05-01

    The Pearl River Delta is one of the biggest electronics manufacturing regions in the world. Due to the presence of abandoned industrial sites and the proliferation of large-scale electronics companies in the past four decades, it is therefore imperative to investigate the extent of heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination in the region. Spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and PCBs (PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB118, PCB138, PCB153, and PCB180) in the Lianhua Mountain reservoir in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan City, China were examined based on a sedimentary profile analysis. Higher concentrations of the heavy metals detected were recorded in bottom sediments whereas 70% of the detected PCBs recorded maximum concentrations in top sediments. The geo-accumulation indices (Igeo) indicate that the study area is uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. Also, the integrated pollution indices (IPI) were above 1, except Pb, which shows that the study area is contaminated with heavy metals from anthropogenic sources. The concentrations of individual heavy metals and PCBs over a period of 60 years were also analyzed in order to establish a historical trend of pollution in the study area. This study provides baseline information on the level and historical trend of heavy metals and PCBs pollution in the study area.

  19. Growth and survival of the pearl oyster Pteria hirundo (L.,1758 in an intermediate stage of culture in Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MCP Albuquerque

    Full Text Available There are no records in Brazil for the culture of Pteridae family oysters, genus Pteria and Pinctada. The intermediate culture can be considered one of the critical stages during the oyster farming. The changes in life conditions from a semi-closed environment provided by the collector to the structures utilized for the growth represents a considerable stress factor to which the animals are subjected. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the growth and survival of the pearl oyster Pteria hirundo (Linnaeus, 1758 kept in intermediate lanterns. Seeds of P. hirundo, obtained through larviculture carried out at the Marine Molluscs Laboratory (UFSC, southern Brazil were detached from the collectors, transferred and kept in an intermediate culture system (oyster lantern. During 6 months, growth (dorso-ventral height - DVH in mm and survival (% were evaluated. Two size classes were tested: medium (M, between 3.4 and 4.4 mm, and large (L, bigger than 4.5 mm. The density of occupation in each floor of the lantern was 50%. At the end of the experiment, the survivals observed were 90 and 94% for the sizes M and L, respectively. Medium juveniles of Pteria hirundo had an average (Std increase of 16.1 (±4.38 mm in the dorso-ventral height, and large juveniles an average increase of 11.4 (±3.77 mm after six months of experiment. The results observed during the intermediate stage of cultivation indicate that Pteria hirundo presents survival and growth similar to other species of pearl oysters traditionally used in the pearl industry in several countries.

  20. Enhancement of downy mildew disease resistance in pearl millet by the G_app7 bioactive compound produced by Ganoderma applanatum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jogaiah, Sudisha; Shetty, Hunthrike Shekar; Ito, Shin-Ichi; Tran, Lam-Son Phan

    2016-08-01

    Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) stands sixth among the most important cereal crops grown in the semi-arid and arid regions of the world. The downy mildew disease caused by Sclerospora graminicola, an oomycete pathogen, has been recognized as a major biotic constraint in pearl millet production. On the other hand, basidiomycetes are known to produce a large number of antimicrobial metabolites, providing a good source of anti-oomycete agrochemicals. Here, we report the discovery and efficacy of a compound, named G_app7, purified from Ganoderma applanatum on inhibition of growth and development of S. graminicola, as well as the effects of seed treatment with G_app7 on protection of pearl millet from downy mildew. G_app7 consistently demonstrated remarkable effects against S. graminicola by recording significant inhibition of sporangium formation (41.4%), zoospore release (77.5%) and zoospore motility (91%). Analyses of G_app7 compound using two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed its close resemblance to metominostrobin, a derivative of strobilurin group of fungicides. Furthermore, the G_app7 was shown to stably maintain the inhibitory effects at different temperatures between 25 and 80 °C. In addition, the anti-oomycete activity of G_app7 was fairly stable for a period of at least 12 months at 4 °C and was only completely lost after being autoclaved. Seed treatment with G_app7 resulted in a significant increase in disease protection (63%) under greenhouse conditions compared with water control. The identification and isolation of this novel and functional anti-oomycete compound from G. applanatum provide a considerable agrochemical importance for plant protection against downy mildew in an environmentally safe and economical manner. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  1. Settlement of the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carkin, Brad A.; Kayen, Robert E.

    2013-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center, undertook investigations at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 2002, 2003, and 2005 to characterize geological factors affecting the deterioration and movement of the hull of the USS Arizona. Since sinking on the morning of December 7, 1941, the hull of the USS Arizona has been slowly but steadily disappearing below the surface of Pearl Harbor. Continuous sediment coring at three of four locations around the hull of the Arizona was only partially successful, but it was sufficient to identify a varied sedimentary substrate beneath the hull. A boring near the stern reveals a thick, continuous sequence of soft, gray clay to the bottom of the boring. In contrast, borings near the bow and starboard side, below about 5 meters subbottom depth, indicate the presence of very stiff, brown clay and coral debris and an absence of soft clay. Multisensor core logger scanning of the recovered cores distinguishes the lower density of the soft, gray clay at the stern from the higher density of the stiff, brown clays and coral debris at the bow and starboard side. Uniaxial consolidation testing of the soft gray clay indicates a normally consolidated sequence, whereas the stiff, brown clay and coral debris are overconsolidated. Profiles of shear wave velocity vs. depth obtained through spectral analysis of interface wave testing around the perimeter of the hull in 2005 identified areas of higher velocity, stiffer sediment at the bow and starboard side, which correspond to the dense, stiff clay recovered near the bow and starboard borings. Low shear-wave velocities at the port midship and quarter of the hull correlate with the lower density, softer sediment recovered from the boring at the stern. Cross sections of the subbottom of the Memorial combine results from the sediment borings and geophysical surveys and depict a wedge of soft clay unconformably overlying

  2. Top-down estimates of benzene and toluene emissions in Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong, China

    OpenAIRE

    X. Fang; M. Shao; A. Stohl; Q. Zhang; J. Zheng; H. Guo; C. Wang; M. Wang; J. Ou; R. L. Thompson; R. G. Prinn

    2015-01-01

    Benzene (C6H6) and toluene (C7H8) are toxic to humans and the environment. They are also important precursors of ground-level ozone and secondary organic aerosols and contribute substantially to severe air pollution in urban areas in China. Discrepancies exist between different bottom-up inventories for benzene and toluene emissions in Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Hong Kong (HK), which are emission hot spots in China. This study provides top-down estimates of benzene and tolu...

  3. The Way Women's Fight Against Patriarchal System: a Feminist Analysis Towards Pearl S. Buck's Imperial Woman

    OpenAIRE

    Wennyta

    2015-01-01

    This research is conducted to show that woman not always passive, weak or inferior side, but she can use her inferiority (from patriarchal point of view) as a tricky strategy to get the equality between men and women. It is described in Imperial Woman, where Yehonala succeeds in arranging many strategies inside the oppression from patriarchal system. In collecting the data, the writer conducts a library research. A novel by Pearl S. Buck, entitled Imperial Woman and also the biography of Buck...

  4. Deep sequencing of ESTs from nacreous and prismatic layer producing tissues and a screen for novel shell formation-related genes in the pearl oyster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigeharu Kinoshita

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Despite its economic importance, we have a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying shell formation in pearl oysters, wherein the calcium carbonate crystals, nacre and prism, are formed in a highly controlled manner. We constructed comprehensive expressed gene profiles in the shell-forming tissues of the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata and identified novel shell formation-related genes candidates. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We employed the GS FLX 454 system and constructed transcriptome data sets from pallial mantle and pearl sac, which form the nacreous layer, and from the mantle edge, which forms the prismatic layer in P. fucata. We sequenced 260477 reads and obtained 29682 unique sequences. We also screened novel nacreous and prismatic gene candidates by a combined analysis of sequence and expression data sets, and identified various genes encoding lectin, protease, protease inhibitors, lysine-rich matrix protein, and secreting calcium-binding proteins. We also examined the expression of known nacreous and prismatic genes in our EST library and identified novel isoforms with tissue-specific expressions. CONCLUSIONS: We constructed EST data sets from the nacre- and prism-producing tissues in P. fucata and found 29682 unique sequences containing novel gene candidates for nacreous and prismatic layer formation. This is the first report of deep sequencing of ESTs in the shell-forming tissues of P. fucata and our data provide a powerful tool for a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms of molluscan biomineralization.

  5. Source areas and chemical composition of fine particulate matter in the Pearl River Delta region of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagler, G. S. W.; Bergin, M. H.; Salmon, L. G.; Yu, J. Z.; Wan, E. C. H.; Zheng, M.; Zeng, L. M.; Kiang, C. S.; Zhang, Y. H.; Lau, A. K. H.; Schauer, J. J.

    Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) was measured for 4 months during 2002-2003 at seven sites located in the rapidly developing Pearl River Delta region of China, an area encompassing the major cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The 4-month average fine particulate matter concentration ranged from 37 to 71 μg m -3 in Guangdong province and from 29 to 34 μg m -3 in Hong Kong. Main constituents of fine particulate mass were organic compounds (24-35% by mass) and sulfate (21-32%). With sampling sites strategically located to monitor the regional air shed patterns and urban areas, specific source-related fine particulate species (sulfate, organic mass, elemental carbon, potassium and lead) and daily surface winds were analyzed to estimate influential source locations. The impact of transport was investigated by categorizing 13 (of 20 total) sampling days by prevailing wind direction (southerly, northerly or low wind-speed mixed flow). The vicinity of Guangzhou is determined to be a major source area influencing regional concentrations of PM 2.5, with levels observed to increase by 18-34 μg m -3 (accounting for 46-56% of resulting particulate levels) at sites immediately downwind of Guangzhou. The area near Guangzhou is also observed to heavily impact downwind concentrations of lead. Potassium levels, related to biomass burning, appear to be controlled by sources in the northern part of the Pearl River Delta, near rural Conghua and urban Guangzhou. Guangzhou appears to contribute 5-6 μg m -3 of sulfate to downwind locations. Guangzhou also stands out as a significant regional source of organic mass (OM), adding 8.5-14.5 μg m -3 to downwind concentrations. Elemental carbon is observed to be strongly influenced by local sources, with highest levels found in urban regions. In addition, it appears that sources outside of the Pearl River Delta contribute a significant fraction of overall fine particulate matter in Hong Kong and Guangdong province. This is evident

  6. Symbiotic relationship between the carapid fish Onuxodon fowleri (Ophidiiformes: Carapidae and the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pteriidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orphal Colleye

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available At Makemo Atoll (French Polynesia, the carapid fish Onuxodon fowleri lives in symbiosis with the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera. Although the symbiont seems to live inside its host bivalve by using it as a shelter, additional data are still needed to better understand the exact nature of this association. For this purpose, we implemented an approach using stable isotope ratios of carbon (13C/12C and nitrogen (15N/14N. The δ13C and δ15N values were measured in tissues of the pearl oyster (gonads, gills, mantle and muscles, white muscle tissue from the fish and other food sources. This stable isotope approach was also complemented by the analysis of stomach contents in the carapid fish. Overall, the isotopic compositions measured in the present study support a commensal relationship between O. fowleri and P. margaritifera. In addition, our isotopic data bring new information about another guest living inside P. margaritifera, namely the palaemonid shrimp Conchodytes meleagrinae. Based on the δ13C and δ15N values, it appears that the shrimp might feed on the bivalve gonads.

  7. PEARLs, Problems and Politics: Exploring Findings from Two Teaching and Learning Projects in Indigenous Australian Studies at the University of Queensland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackinlay, Elizabeth; Barney, Katelyn

    2014-01-01

    This article explores the implementation of PEARL (Political, Embodied, Active, and Reflective Learning) in two courses at The University of Queensland: a first-year introductory Indigenous Studies course and a second year Indigenous Education course. We draw on findings from a 2-year (2010-2011) Office for Learning and Teaching (then ALTC) funded…

  8. Hydrocarbon potential of a new Jurassic play, central Tunisia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beall, A.O.; Law, C.W.

    1996-01-01

    A largely unrecognized Jurassic Sag Basin has been identified in central Tunisia, proximal to the Permo-Carboniferous flexure delineating the northern boundary of the Saharan platform of north Africa. The northwestern margin of the Sag is delineated by an extensive region of salt-cored anticlines and localized salt diapirs extending north and west. Due to lack of deep drilling, delineation of the Sag is largely based on regional gravity data. Subsidence of the Jurassic Sag Basin is characterized by rapid expansion of Jurassic sediments from 400 m. of tidal flat and shelf carbonate at the western outcrop to over 2000 meters of tidal flat and basinal carbonate and shale within the basin center, a five-fold expansion. Rapid loading of the basin continued into Lower Cretaceous time, marked by lateral flowage of Triassic salt into pronounced structural trends. Published source rock data and interpreted subsurface well data provided the basis for GENEX 1-D hydrocarbon generation and expulsion modeling of the Sag. Middle Jurassic black source shales typically contain Type II and Type III kerogens with T.O.C.'s ranging up to 4 percent. Modeling results indicate that middle Jurassic shales are presently mature for liquid generation within portions of the Sag, with maximum generation taking place during the Tertiary. Potential hydrocarbon generation yields, based on 60 meters of mature source shale, are 20,000 BOE/acre for gas and 75,000 BOE/acre for liquids. Prospects within the region could contain an estimated potential reserve of several T.C.F. or over 1 billion barrels of oil

  9. Diffusion-weighted MRI of the liver—Interpretative pearls and pitfalls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Culverwell, A.D.; Sheridan, M.B.; Guthrie, J.A.; Scarsbrook, A.F.

    2013-01-01

    Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW MRI) is an established technique in neuroradiology and more recently has emerged as a useful adjunct to various oncological applications of MRI. It has an expanding role in the evaluation of liver lesions, offers higher detection rates for small lesions, and can increase confidence in differentiating between benign and malignant lesions. Other applications include assessment of tumour response to therapy, differentiating tumour from bland thrombus, and assessment of liver fibrosis. DW sequences can be performed on most modern MRI machines with relative ease, in a short time period and without the need for contrast medium. DW MRI can be of value in the detection and characterization of hepatic lesions but there are pitfalls, which can potentially cause interpretative difficulty. This article will review the rationale for DW MRI in liver imaging, demonstrate the clinical utility of the technique in a spectrum of hepatic diseases, and illustrate key interpretative pearls and pitfalls

  10. Long-Term Management Strategy for Dredged Material Disposal for Naval Facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Phase III - Analysis of Alternatives and Development of an LTMS

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Palermo, Michael

    2000-01-01

    This report documents Phase III of a three-phase study to develop a Long-Term Management Study for disposal of dredged material unsuitable for ocean disposal from Pearl Harbor Naval Complex for the next 30 years...

  11. Terminal drought-tolerant pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] have high leaf ABA and limit transpiration at high vapour pressure deficit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kholová, Jana; Hash, C T; Kumar, P Lava; Yadav, Rattan S; Kocová, Marie; Vadez, Vincent

    2010-03-01

    It was previously shown that pearl millet genotypes carrying a terminal drought tolerance quantitative trait locus (QTL) had a lower transpiration rate (Tr; g cm(-2) d(-1)) under well-watered conditions than sensitive lines. Here experiments were carried out to test whether this relates to leaf abscisic acid (ABA) and Tr concentration at high vapour pressure deficit (VPD), and whether that leads to transpiration efficiency (TE) differences. These traits were measured in tolerant/sensitive pearl millet genotypes, including near-isogenic lines introgressed with a terminal drought tolerance QTL (NIL-QTLs). Most genotypic differences were found under well-watered conditions. ABA levels under well-watered conditions were higher in tolerant genotypes, including NIL-QTLs, than in sensitive genotypes, and ABA did not increase under water stress. Well-watered Tr was lower in tolerant than in sensitive genotypes at all VPD levels. Except for one line, Tr slowed down in tolerant lines above a breakpoint at 1.40-1.90 kPa, with the slope decreasing >50%, whereas sensitive lines showed no change in that Tr response across the whole VPD range. It is concluded that two water-saving (avoidance) mechanisms may operate under well-watered conditions in tolerant pearl millet: (i) a low Tr even at low VPD conditions, which may relate to leaf ABA; and (ii) a sensitivity to higher VPD that further restricts Tr, which suggests the involvement of hydraulic signals. Both traits, which did not lead to TE differences, could contribute to absolute water saving seen in part due to dry weight increase differences. This water saved would become critical for grain filling and deserves consideration in the breeding of terminal drought-tolerant lines.

  12. Geologic-seismic models, prediction of shallow-water lacustrine delta sandbody and hydrocarbon potential in the Late Miocene, Huanghekou Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, northern China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Liu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The Huanghekou Sag is located at the southeast part of the Bohai Bay Basin, northern China. Large-scale shallow lake delta developed in the Neogene provided suitable geological conditions for the formation of a subtle oil-gas reservoir in this area. The key for analyzing sandstone reservoir and sedimentary facies is by using seismic attributes (amplitude to establish the relationship between lithology combination and seismic attributes. The lower unit of Late Miocene Minghuazhen Formation at the BZ34 block in the Huanghekou Sag was subdivided into 10 parasequence sets (PSS. Thicker sandstones mainly occurred in PSS1 and PSS10, whereas thin sandstones are mostly observed within other parasequence sets. This study presents statistics and analyses of lithology, i.e., statistics of root-mean-square (RMS amplitude and lithology of well locations in different parasequence sets of the study area, as well as 1-D forward seismic models of 7 types of lithology combinations, the establishment of a spatial distribution of 2-D sandbody, forward seismic models etc. Our study indicates that high amplitude peaks correspond to thicker sandbodies, while low amplitude indicates non-development of sandbodies (generally less than 2 m, and medium amplitude agrees well with large sets of mudstones interbedded with medium and thinner sandstones. Different sand–mudstone combinations genetically reflect a combination of multiple micro-facies, therefore, amplitude features can predict sandbodies as well as facies characteristics.

  13. Radionuclides, Trace Metals, and Organic Compounds in Shells of Native Freshwater Mussels Along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River: 6000 Years Before Present to Current Times

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    B. L. Tiller; T. E. Marceau

    2006-01-25

    This report documents concentrations of radionuclides, trace metals, and semivolatile organic compounds measured in shell samples of the western pearl shell mussel collected along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.

  14. Sensibility analysis of the pearl model for pesticide leaching in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil Análise de sensibilidade do simulador pearl para lixiviação de pesticidas no estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rômulo P. Scorza Júnior

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available For an accurate use of pesticide leaching models it is necessary to assess the sensitivity of input parameters. The aim of this work was to carry out sensitivity analysis of the pesticide leaching model PEARL for contrasting soil types of Dourados river watershed in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Sensitivity analysis was done by carrying out many simulations with different input parameters and calculating their influence on the output values. The approach used was called one-at-a-time sensitivity analysis, which consists in varying independently input parameters one at a time and keeping all others constant with the standard scenario. Sensitivity analysis was automated using SESAN tool that was linked to the PEARL model. Results have shown that only soil characteristics influenced the simulated water flux resulting in none variation of this variable for scenarios with different pesticides and same soil. All input parameters that showed the greatest sensitivity with regard to leached pesticide are related to soil and pesticide properties. Sensitivity of all input parameters was scenario dependent, confirming the need of using more than one standard scenario for sensitivity analysis of pesticide leaching models.Para o uso confiável de simuladores da lixiviação de pesticidas, é necessária a avaliação da sensibilidade dos dados de entrada. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar a análise de sensibilidade do simulador da lixiviação de pesticidas PEARL para tipos de solos contrastantes da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Dourados, no Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. A análise de sensibilidade foi feita através da execução de várias simulações com dados de entrada diferentes e calculando suas influências nos resultados obtidos. O método usado foi o denominado de análise de sensibilidade "individual", onde se varia cada dado de entrada de forma independente enquanto se mantêm constantes, os outros dados de entrada, conforme

  15. Investigation of the mechanical performance of Siemens linacs components during arc: gantry, MLC, and electronic portal imaging device

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rowshanfarzad P

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Pejman Rowshanfarzad,1 Peter Häring,2 Hans L Riis,3 Sune J Zimmermann,3 Martin A Ebert1,4 1School of Physics, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia; 2German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany; 3Radiofysisk Laboratorium, Odense University Hospital, Odense C, Denmark; 4Department of Radiation Oncology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia Background: In radiotherapy treatments, it is crucial to monitor the performance of linac components including gantry, collimation system, and electronic portal imaging device (EPID during arc deliveries. In this study, a simple EPID-based measurement method is suggested in conjunction with an algorithm to investigate the stability of these systems at various gantry angles with the aim of evaluating machine-related errors in treatments. Methods: The EPID sag, gantry sag, changes in source-to-detector distance (SDD, EPID and collimator skewness, EPID tilt, and the sag in leaf bank assembly due to linac rotation were separately investigated by acquisition of 37 EPID images of a simple phantom with five ball bearings at various gantry angles. A fast and robust software package was developed for automated analysis of image data. Three Siemens linacs were investigated. Results: The average EPID sag was within 1 mm for all tested linacs. Two machines showed >1 mm gantry sag. Changes in the SDD values were within 7.5 mm. EPID skewness and tilt values were <1° in all machines. The maximum sag in leaf bank assembly was <1 mm. Conclusion: The method and software developed in this study provide a simple tool for effective investigation of the behavior of Siemens linac components with gantry rotation. Such a comprehensive study has been performed for the first time on Siemens machines. Keywords: linac, Siemens, arc, sag, EPID, gantry

  16. Linear alkylbenzenes in riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta (China) and their application as anthropogenic molecular markers in coastal environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni Honggang; Lu Fenghui; Wang Jizhong; Guan Yufeng; Luo Xianlin; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2008-01-01

    The average concentrations of ΣLABs (sum of C 10 -C 13 -LABs) in runoff samples collected from the eight major riverine outlets of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China ranged from 1.4 to 6124 ng/L in the dissolved phase and from 0.01 to 11.4 μg/g dry weight in the particulate phase during March 2005-February 2006. The annual riverine flux of ΣLABs from the PRD to the coastal ocean was estimated at approximately 14 tons/yr. The inventories of ΣLABs in agricultural lands of Guangdong Province ranged from 313 to 1825 kg/yr. The early and late rice fields were the major sink of LABs, accounting for approximately 68% of total LABs inventory in agricultural lands. The social-economically estimated annual discharge of LABs from household detergents in the PRD was ∼696 tons/yr, more than an order of magnitude higher than that estimated from field measurements (about 14 tons/yr), which was attributed to several factors. - Occurrence of LABs in riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta (China) was examined

  17. Tissue distribution of organochlorine pesticides in fish collected from the Pearl River Delta, China: Implications for fishery input source and bioaccumulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Ying; Meng Xiangzhou; Tang Honglei; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2008-01-01

    Fish tissues from different fishery types (freshwater farmed, seawater farmed and seawater wild) were analyzed for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), with the aim to further our understanding of bioaccumulation, and reflect the state of different fishery environments. Significantly higher ΣOCP levels were found in seawater farmed fish than others, and among three freshwater farmed species, the lowest levels occurred in filter-feeding fish (bighead carp). Liver contained the highest ΣOCP levels, while no significant differences were found among other tissues. Among DDT components, p,p'-DDT was abundant in seawater fish, while for freshwater fish, p,p'-DDE was the predominant congeners, except for northern snakehead (34% for p,p'-DDE and 30% for p,p'-DDT). The new source of DDTs to freshwater fish ponds was partly attributed to dicofol, whereas sewage discharged from the Pearl River Delta and anti-fouling paint were likely the DDTs sources to seawater farmed fish. - Occurrence of organochlorine pesticides in fish tissues was examined to assess input sources and modes of bioaccumulation in the Pearl River Delta, China

  18. Use of induced chlorophyll deficient mutants to identify 'heterotic blocks' in pearl millet chromosomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burton, G.W.

    1989-01-01

    Full text: Chlorophyll deficient mutant stocks induced in 'Tift 23' of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum L. Leeke) were crossed with 'Tift 23' and 5 other normal inbreds to study the effect of these deleterious recessive genes on yield. The difference between near-isogenic S 1 (F 2 ) populations homozygous or heterozygous for the chlorophyll deficiency was not significant. However among 69 S 1 progenies from crosses with other inbreds the heterozygotes were higher yielding than the homozygotes in 53 cases, 15 of which were significant. A mutant like 'M5' identified a high yield 'heterotic block' in 'Inbred 104' and a very low yield 'heterotic block' in 'Inbred 186'. (author)

  19. Women Apprentices in Hawaii: Characteristics of Females Registered with Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Barbara

    A study examined the characteristics, educational training, and background experiences of women who entered apprenticeship in Hawaii during the period from July 1, 1974, through June 30, 1982. Survey instruments were completed by 118 of 243 female apprentices originally contacted--58 women registered with Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and 60 women…

  20. Top-down estimates of benzene and toluene emissions in the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong, China

    OpenAIRE

    Fang, Xuekun; Shao, Min; Stohl, Andreas; Zhang, Qiang; Zheng, Junyu; Guo, Hai; Wang, Chen; Wang, Ming; Ou, Jiamin; Thompson, Rona L.; Prinn, Ronald G.

    2016-01-01

    Benzene (C6H6) and toluene (C7H8) are toxic to humans and the environment. They are also important precursors of ground-level ozone and secondary organic aerosols and contribute substantially to severe air pollution in urban areas in China. Discrepancies exist between different bottom-up inventories for benzene and toluene emissions in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Hong Kong (HK), which are emission hot spots in China. This study provides top-down estimates of benzene and ...