SYNTHESIS AND EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PHENYL AND FURAN-2-YL[1,2,4] TRIAZOLO[4,3-a]QUINOXALIN-4(5H)-ONE AND THEIR HYDRAZONE PRECURSORS

A variety of 1-(s-phenyl)-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-4(5H)-one (3a-3h) and 1-(s-furan-2-yl)-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3- a]quinoxalin-4(5H)-one (5a-d) were synthesized from thermal annelation of corresponding hydrazones (2a-h) and (4a-d) respectively in the presence of ethylene glycol which is a high boiling solvent. The structures of the compounds prepared were confirmed by analytical and spectral data. Also, the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for possible antimicrobial activity. 3-(2-(4-hydroxylbenzylidene)hydrazinyl)quinoxalin-2(1H)-one (2e) was the most active antibacterial agent while 1-(5-Chlorofuran-2-yl)-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-4(5H)-one (5c) stood out as the most potent antifungal agent

Proceedings of the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer Data Analysis Workshop

The Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) Data Analysis Workshop was held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 8 to 10, 1985. It was attended by 92 people who heard reports on 30 investigations currently under way using AIS data that have been collected over the past two years. Written summaries of 27 of the presentations are in these Proceedings. Many of the results presented at the Workshop are preliminary because most investigators have been working with this fundamentally new type of data for only a relatively short time. Nevertheless, several conclusions can be drawn from the Workshop presentations concerning the value of imaging spectrometry to Earth remote sensing. First, work with AIS has shown that direct identification of minerals through high spectral resolution imaging is a reality for a wide range of materials and geological settings. Second, there are strong indications that high spectral resolution remote sensing will enhance the ability to map vegetation species. There are also good indications that imaging spectrometry will be useful for biochemical studies of vegetation. Finally, there are a number of new data analysis techniques under development which should lead to more efficient and complete information extraction from imaging spectrometer data. The results of the Workshop indicate that as experience is gained with this new class of data, and as new analysis methodologies are developed and applied, the value of imaging spectrometry should increase

The comparative evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery for resource inventory in land use planning

The author has identified the following significant results. Multidiscipline team interpretation and mapping of resources for Crook County is complete on 1:250,000 scale enlargements of ERTS imagery and 1:120,000 hi-flight photography. Maps of geology, soils, vegetation-land use and land resources units were interpreted to show limitations, suitabilities, and geologic hazards for land use planning. Mapping of lineaments and structures from ERTS imagery has shown a number of features not previously mapped in Oregon. A multistage timber inventory of Ochoco National Forest was made, using ERTS images as the first stage. Inventory of forest clear-cutting practices was successfully demonstrated with color composites. Soil tonal differences in fallow fields correspond with major soil boundaries in loess-mantled terrain. A digital classification system used for discriminating natural vegetation and geologic material classes was successful in separating most major classes around Newberry Caldera, Mt. Washington, and Big Summit Prairie

Research reports: 1991 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

The basic objectives of the programs, which are in the 28th year of operation nationally, are: (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of the participants' institutions; and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA Centers. The faculty fellows spent 10 weeks at MSFC engaged in a research project compatible with their interests and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague. This is a compilation of their research reports for summer 1991

Spatializing the Soil-Ecological Factorial: Data Driven Integrated Land Management Tools

Soils form the dynamic interface of many processes key to the function of terrestrial ecosystems. Many soil properties both influence and are influenced by activity of flora and fauna. Interactions between soils, biota, and climate determine the potential ecosystem services that a given unique ecological site (ES) can support, and how resilient a site is to various pressures and disturbances. Soil data are needed to fully understand how these factors interact, but because this data is difficult to obtain, existing soil maps are sometimes not detailed enough to fully explore relationships. Environmental raster GIS data layers were used to increase the detail of maps by representing soil forming factors and associated ecological pedomemory legacies important to understanding ecological potential. This dissertation presents methods and tools to help create these new soil maps at appropriate resolution and theme for field scale assessment of ecological sites that enable land managers to plan and implement appropriate management decisions.;USDA-NRCS soil surveys were disaggregated to higher resolution maps using a semi-automated expert training routine to implement a random forest classification model. This transformed soil map polygons of variable thematic and spatial resolution (soil map unit concepts) to a consistent 30-meter raster grid of unified theme (soil taxa). Disaggregated maps (DM) showed highly variable accuracy (25--75% overall validation accuracy) that mirrored that of the original soil surveys evaluated in Arizona (AZ) and West Virginia (WV). However, disaggregated maps expressed the soil data at a much more detailed spatial scale with a more interpretable legend. The WV surveys exhibited much lower accuracy than the AZ survey evaluated. This lower accuracy in WV is likely due to the forested setting and highly dissected landscape, two factors that create more intrinsic soil variability that is harder to explain with spatial covariates.;Ecological site descriptions (ESD) document soil-ecosystem groups that produce unique amounts and types of biological constituents and respond similarly to disturbance and environmental variation. ESD are linked to soil map unit components in USDA-NRCS soil surveys and are used as the basis for land management planning on rangelands and forestlands. The component level connection makes DM a good way to spatialize ESD because both are spatially represented at the same thematic level, whereas conventional soil maps have polygons that often have multiple components linked to a delineation.;However, in the evaluation of mapping ESD via DM, the DM turned out not to document the key difference in spodic soil properties that distinguished the important ecotone between northern hardwood and alpine red spruce conifer ESDs in Pocahontas and Randolph counties, WV. So, to adjust, spodic soil properties were mapped directly using digital soil mapping approaches. A strong spatial model of spodic soil morphology presence was developed from a random forest probability model and showed correspondence to red spruce and hemlock occurrences in local historic land deed witness trees from records between 1752 and 1899. From this result, areas with spodic soil properties were assumed to be associated with historic red spruce communities, although 68% of those areas in the WV study area are currently under hardwood cover. This would seem to indicate that hardwoods have encroached on the historic extent of spruce, which is consistent with other recent studies. O-horizon thickness was also observed to be one cm thicker for every 10% greater importance value of red spruce or hemlock versus that of hardwood species at field sites. From these observations, it was calculated conservatively that at least 3.74-6.62 Tg of C have likely been lost from red spruce influenced ecological sites in WV due to historic disturbance related conversions of forest to hardwood composition. These results highlight the value of working within a soil-ecological factorial framework (e.g. an ESD) to contextualize land management options and potential derived services or negative consequences of each available action

Limits of growth of some simple aquatic plants

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering. Johannesburg, 2016The process of photosynthesis is of great importance as it is the reaction of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water with the help of light, ’free’ energy from the sun, to form useful carbohydrates and oxygen. Photosynthesis is therefore useful both in carbon dioxide mitigation and growing bio-feedstocks towards making biofuel. This thesis aims to address two areas for analysing the photosynthesis process: 1. Looking at the physical limits of the growth; and 2. Improving the production rate of some aquatic plants, such as duckweed and microalgae. To address the first aim, the fundamental concepts of thermodynamics were used to analyse the photosynthetic process. It was found that the theoretical minimum number of moles of photons (NP) required (9–17) is less than the values reported by other researchers, suggesting that the photosynthesis process is highly irreversible and inefficient (operating at 35% efficiency or less). This is because the number of moles of photons will increase with greater process irreversibility (when the entropy generated is greater than zero). If the photosynthesis process is indeed that irreversible then the removal of heat (the heat not used by other cellular processes) by the plant becomes a major problem. It is suggested that transpiration, and other cellular processes, are the processes by which that is done, and it is shown that the water needs of the plant for transpiration would dwarf those needed for photosynthesis. Knowing the fundamental limits to growth could also be of use because if an organism was growing at a rate close to this value there would be no advantage to try to do genetic modification to improve its rate. Following the ideas presented above a spectrophotometer was used not only to obtain the absorption spectrum of algae, but it was also used to grow small samples at specific light wavelengths. The algae species researched was Desmodesmus spp., which, for example, is used to remediate waste water or as a source of feedstock for biofuel production. It also tolerates high CO2 concentrations. This simple experimental method demonstrated that a specific light wavelength (in particular the Secomam Prim spectrophotometer) 440 nm was preferred for the algae growth. It was recommended that this specific light wavelength would be best for growth. It might also be useful to know this fact particularly when designing photobioreactors, as this could reduce the amount of heat released into the surroundings and thus make the process more energy efficient. Interestingly, the wavelength for maximum growth corresponded to one of the peaks in the absorption spectra but there was no increase in growth rate corresponding to any of the other peaks. To address the second aim, the author determined how well predictions on improving the growth of algae (Desmodesmus spp. for example), based on a theoretical model, would work when tested experimentally. What the researcher found was that the method improved algae production, using the same set of equipment. The production was improved by a factor of 1.28 and 1.26 (at product concentrations 1000 mg/L and 600 mg/L respectively) when retaining 40% of the algae suspension. The method may be particularly useful when large amounts of biomass are required as there is no extra cost of purchasing additional equipment. The same model was applied to a growth profile of duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza 8483, which is convertible into biofuel or a source of food), and the author showed that the model could work if the duckweed was provided with an added carbon source. In order to find an economical and reliable alternative to bridge the scale gap between laboratory and industrial production, the author checked if duckweed species (Spirodela polyrhiza 8483, Spirodela polyrhiza 9509, Lemna gibba 8428, Lemna minor DWC 112, Wolffia cylindracea 7340 and Wolffia globosa 9527) could be cultivated in media less expensive than the basal laboratory medium (Schenk and Hildebrandt). The author found that duckweed can be cultivated more efficiently, and in a more cost-effective manner, in the alternative media types, while maintaining growth rates, RGR 0.09 day-1, and starch contents, 5– 17%(w/w), comparable with that obtained with the conventional laboratory media. Thus, by looking at the photosynthesis process thermodynamically and experimentally, it is shown to be possible to improve the process by using concepts presented in this thesis.MT201

Cirrus cloud shape detection by tomographic extinction retrievals from infrared limb emission sounder measurements

An improved cloud-index-based method for the detection of clouds in limb sounder data is presented that exploits the spatial overlap of measurements to more precisely detect the location of (optically thin) clouds. A second method based on a tomographic extinction retrieval is also presented. Using CALIPSO data and a generic advanced infrared limb imaging instrument as examples for a synthetic study, the new cloud index method has a better horizontal resolution in comparison to the traditional cloud index and has a reduction of false positive cloud detection events by about 30 %. The results for the extinction retrieval even show an improvement of 60 %. In a second step, the extinction retrieval is applied to real 3-D measurements of the airborne Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging in the Atmosphere (GLORIA) taken during the Wave-driven ISentropic Exchange (WISE) campaign to retrieve small-scale cirrus clouds with high spatial accuracy

Emerging technologies for reef fisheries research and management [held during the 56th annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, November 2003]

This publication of the NOAA Professional Paper NMFS Series is the product of a special symposium on “Emerging Technologies for Reef Fisheries Research and Management” held during the 56th annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, November 2003. The purpose of this collection is to highlight the diversity of questions and issues in reef fisheries management that are benefiting from applications of technology. Topics cover a wide variety of questions and issues from the study of individual behavior, distribution and abundance of groups and populations, and associations between habitats and fish and shellfish species.(PDF files contains 124 pages.

Investigation into the post-mortem transport of benthic foraminifera

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using foraminifera relies on the assumption that assemblages reflect the ecological conditions at the time of deposition. However, the distribution of taxa can be greatly affected by transport and reworking of tests. This is particularly important in high energy environments such as submarine canyon and fan systems, which are major pathways for sediment transported from the continental shelf to the abyssal plain. Traditionally, these assemblages have been abandoned as hopelessly taphonomically corrupted, but it is possible that these assemblages contain useful hydraulic information. This project aims to develop the fundamental concepts needed to extract this information, via a series of classical particle hydraulics experiments on empty tests in static water and unidirectional currents. Hyaline foraminifera have been selected for these experiments, as they are the most abundant tests found in shelf and upper-slope environments and consequently are most likely taxa to be entrained into gravity flows.Static water experiments have shown that settling velocities are significantly different between taxa, meaning that assemblages are likely to fractionate according to species during transportation. Settling velocities range from 0.01 to 0.06 ms-1 with larger specimens falling faster than smaller ones. Elphidium crispum exhibited the fastest average settling velocity of 0.03 ms-1 while Planorbulina mediterranensis fell with the lowest average settling velocity of 0.01 ms-1. The occurrence of spatial separation of taxa within a single flow is directly tested using a flume where a spatially waning turbidity current is simulated by a saline density flow. Results show that the slowly settling tests such as P. mediterranensis and Cibicides lobatulus remain suspended in the current for longer, and are thus transported further than more rapidly settling taxa such as E. cripsum and Ammonia beccarii.The experiments have shown that there are significant statistical differences in settling velocity of foraminiferal species and this does result in significantly distinct travelling distances between species in a turbidite. This information is related to the oceanic environment in the Gulf of Cadiz. The signal of fractionation is then identified in core data from Trinidad supplied by Ichron showing that useful assemblage data can be extracted to interpret the depositional environment

Investigation into the post-mortem transport of benthic foraminifera

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using foraminifera relies on the assumption that assemblages reflect the ecological conditions at the time of deposition. However, the distribution of taxa can be greatly affected by transport and reworking of tests. This is particularly important in high energy environments such as submarine canyon and fan systems, which are major pathways for sediment transported from the continental shelf to the abyssal plain. Traditionally, these assemblages have been abandoned as hopelessly taphonomically corrupted, but it is possible that these assemblages contain useful hydraulic information. This project aims to develop the fundamental concepts needed to extract this information, via a series of classical particle hydraulics experiments on empty tests in static water and unidirectional currents. Hyaline foraminifera have been selected for these experiments, as they are the most abundant tests found in shelf and upper-slope environments and consequently are most likely taxa to be entrained into gravity flows. Static water experiments have shown that settling velocities are significantly different between taxa, meaning that assemblages are likely to fractionate according to species during transportation. Settling velocities range from 0.01 to 0.06 ms-1 with larger specimens falling faster than smaller ones. Elphidium crispum exhibited the fastest average settling velocity of 0.03 ms-1 while Planorbulina mediterranensis fell with the lowest average settling velocity of 0.01 ms-1. The occurrence of spatial separation of taxa within a single flow is directly tested using a flume where a spatially waning turbidity current is simulated by a saline density flow. Results show that the slowly settling tests such as P. mediterranensis and Cibicides lobatulus remain suspended in the current for longer, and are thus transported further than more rapidly settling taxa such as E. cripsum and Ammonia beccarii. The experiments have shown that there are significant statistical differences in settling velocity of foraminiferal species and this does result in significantly distinct travelling distances between species in a turbidite. This information is related to the oceanic environment in the Gulf of Cadiz. The signal of fractionation is then identified in core data from Trinidad supplied by Ichron showing that useful assemblage data can be extracted to interpret the depositional environment