A Macroeconomic Analysis Of Inventory/Sales Ratios

Metzlers (1941) research on the relationship between inventory and business cycles initiated serious interest in inventory behavior and its effect on the behavior of firms. A flurry of related research took place in the following two decades. Research of the time clearly demonstrated that, at a macro level, the inventory behaviors are significant features in business cycles. One measure of inventory behavior introduced and analyzed was the inventory-to-sales ratio. We continue to believe that understanding of inventory behavior at both the macro and microeconomic levels is a prerequisite to understanding factors that determine a firms success, and that analysis of the inventory-to-sales ratio is important component of inventory behavior. The U.S. Department of Commerce and other government and private institutions track this ratio and report regularly. Financial analysts use both a company's trend and its comparative value within a sector to make investment decisions

Endocrine disrupting chemicals removal in an aerobic granular sludge reactor treating simulated saline wastewater

The occurrence of Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment is a topic of concern. It is commonly accepted that the major source of EDCs to the environment is wastewater treatment plants effluents. Salinity is an additional common stress factor in wastewater treatment. Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) has a number of properties that make it more attractive than conventional biological systems for treatment of wastewater containing EDCs. In the present study, an AGS sequencing batch reactor adapted to salinity was operated for 140 days for treating synthetic saline wastewater containing 17β–estradiol (E2), 17α–ethinylestradiol (EE2) and bisphenol-A (BPA). E2 was removed by biodegradation. EE2 adsorption/desorption to the aerobic granules was observed. The increasing of BPA removal efficiency after bioaugmentation with a degrading bacterial strain shows that biodegradation was the removal mechanism. COD removal was not significantly affected by EDCs shock loads. Activity of ammonia oxidizing bacteria and nitrite oxidizing bacteria did not seem to be inhibited by the presence of EDCs. The activity of phosphate accumulating organisms was affected.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bacterial strain rhodococcus sp. ED55 degrades endocrine disrupring chemicals in wastewater

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rhodococcus sp. ED55: a bacterial strain with ability to degrade endocrine disrupting chemicals and potential for bioaugmentation

The occurrence of Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment is a topic of concern. It is commonly accepted that the major source of EDCs to the environment is wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs’) effluents, due to the inefficiency of WWTPs to remove this kind of pollutants. A bacterial strain – Rhodococcus sp. ED55 was isolated from the sediments of a discharge point of a WWTP in Coloane, Macau, for its ability to degrade EDCs. The bacterium was able to biodegrade 17β–estradiol (E2), 17α–ethinylestradiol (EE2), bisphenol-A (BPA) and bisphenol-S (BPS) at different extents. Strain ED55 was able to completely degrade the supplied amount of E2 in few hours, both in synthetic medium and in real wastewater from a municipal WWTP (Parada, Maia – Portugal). Estrone (E1), 4OH-E1 and 4OH-E2 were identified as intermediate degradation metabolites and the metabolic pathway is under elucidation. Bioaugmentation with Rhodococcus sp. ED 55 significantly improved the natural attenuation of the compound in municipal wastewater in batch assays. The acute test with luminescent marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri revealed elimination of the toxicity of the treated effluent and the standardized yeast estrogenic (S-YES) assay with the recombinant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed decrease of estrogenic activity of samples. Rhodococcus sp. ED55 was applied in a strategy of an AGS sequencing batch reactor adapted to salinity, which was operated for treating a synthetic saline wastewater containing E2, EE2 and BPA. E2 was no longer detected in the bulk liquid after 10 min of aerobic reaction throughout reactor operation, suggesting that this compound was quickly removed by biodegradation. EE2 adsorption/desorption to the aerobic granules was observed. Removal of BPA significantly increased after bioaugmentation with Rhodococcus sp. ED55, showing that biodegradation was the governing removal mechanism. COD removal was not significantly affected by EDCs shock loads. Rhodococcus sp. ED55 can potentially be applied in bioaugmentation strategies for ameliorating treatment of wastewater contaminated with EDCs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of different salt adaptation strategies on the microbial diversity, activity, and settling of nitrifying sludge in sequencing batch reactors

The effect of salinity on the activity of nitrifying bacteria, floc characteristics, and microbial community structure accessed by fluorescent in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis techniques was investigated. Two sequencing batch reactors (SRB1 and SBR2) treating synthetic wastewater were subjected to increasing salt concentrations. In SBR1, four salt concentrations (5, 10, 15, and 20 g NaCl/L) were tested, while in SBR2, only two salt concentrations (10 and 20 g NaCl/L) were applied in a more shock-wise manner. The two different salt adaptation strategies caused different changes in microbial community structure, but did not change the nitrification performance, suggesting that regardless of the different nitrifying bacterial community present in the reactor, the nitrification process can be maintained stable within the salt range tested. Specific ammonium oxidation rates were more affected when salt increase was performed more rapidly and dropped 50% and 60% at 20 g NaCl/L for SBR1 and SBR2, respectively. A gradual increase in NaCl concentration had a positive effect on the settling properties (i.e., reduction of sludge volume index), although it caused a higher amount of suspended solids in the effluent. Higher organisms (e.g., protozoa, nematodes, and rotifers) as well as filamentous bacteria could not withstand the high salt concentrations

FISHing for ciliates: Catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization for the detection of planktonic freshwater ciliates

Planktonic ciliate species form multiple trophic guilds and are central components of freshwater food webs. Progress in molecular analytical tools has opened new insight into ciliate assemblages. However, high and variable 18S rDNA copy numbers, typical for ciliates, make reliable quantification by amplicon sequencing extremely difficult. For an exact determination of abundances, the classical morphology-based quantitative protargol staining is still the method of choice. Morphotype analyses, however, are time consuming and need specific taxonomic expertise. Catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) may represent a promising tool for the analysis of planktonic ciliates by combining molecular identification with microscopic quantification. We tested the applicability of CARD-FISH using nine cultured ciliate species. Eight species- and three genus-specific oligonucleotide probes were designed based on their 18S rRNA genes. The CARD-FISH protocol was adapted and the specificity of probes was established. We subsequently examined the precision of quantitation by CARD-FISH on single cultures and mock assemblages. Successful tests on lake water samples proved that planktonic ciliates could be identified and quantified in field samples by CARD-FISH. Double hybridizations allowed studying interspecific predator prey interactions between two ciliate species. In summary, we demonstrate that CARD-FISH with species-specific probes can facilitate studies on the population dynamics of closely related, small sized or cryptic species at high sampling frequencies

Rhodococcus sp. ED55: a bacterial strain with potential for application in wastewater treatment for effective removal of endocrine disruptors

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antineutrinos from Earth: A reference model and its uncertainties

We predict geoneutrino fluxes in a reference model based on a detailed description of Earth's crust and mantle and using the best available information on the abundances of uranium, thorium, and potassium inside Earth's layers. We estimate the uncertainties of fluxes corresponding to the uncertainties of the element abundances. In addition to distance integrated fluxes, we also provide the differential fluxes as a function of distance from several sites of experimental interest. Event yields at several locations are estimated and their dependence on the neutrino oscillation parameters is discussed. At Kamioka we predict N(U+Th)=35 +- 6 events for 10^{32} proton yr and 100% efficiency assuming sin^2(2theta)=0.863 and delta m^2 = 7.3 X 10^{-5} eV^2. The maximal prediction is 55 events, obtained in a model with fully radiogenic production of the terrestrial heat flow.Comment: 24 pages, ReVTeX4, plus 7 postscript figures; minor formal changes to match version to be published in PR

Geo-neutrinos: A systematic approach to uncertainties and correlations

Geo-neutrinos emitted by heat-producing elements (U, Th and K) represent a unique probe of the Earth interior. The characterization of their fluxes is subject, however, to rather large and highly correlated uncertainties. The geochemical covariance of the U, Th and K abundances in various Earth reservoirs induces positive correlations among the associated geo-neutrino fluxes, and between these and the radiogenic heat. Mass-balance constraints in the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) tend instead to anti-correlate the radiogenic element abundances in complementary reservoirs. Experimental geo-neutrino observables may be further (anti)correlated by instrumental effects. In this context, we propose a systematic approach to covariance matrices, based on the fact that all the relevant geo-neutrino observables and constraints can be expressed as linear functions of the U, Th and K abundances in the Earth's reservoirs (with relatively well-known coefficients). We briefly discuss here the construction of a tentative "geo-neutrino source model" (GNSM) for the U, Th, and K abundances in the main Earth reservoirs, based on selected geophysical and geochemical data and models (when available), on plausible hypotheses (when possible), and admittedly on arbitrary assumptions (when unavoidable). We use then the GNSM to make predictions about several experiments ("forward approach"), and to show how future data can constrain - a posteriori - the error matrix of the model itself ("backward approach"). The method may provide a useful statistical framework for evaluating the impact and the global consistency of prospective geo-neutrino measurements and Earth models.Comment: 17 pages, including 4 figures. To appear on "Earth, Moon, and Planets," Special Issue on "Neutrino Geophysics," Proceedings of Neutrino Science 2005 (Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 2005