Parameters for composting tannery hair waste

Solid hair waste is generated by the leather industry as a by-product of the leather manufacturing process. Keratin, the main structural constituent of hair proteins, is highly resistant to degradation and their disposal is of environmental concern. The aim of this study was to develop conditions favorable for the degradation of bovine hair in a composting environment as an environmentally friendly option for the management of solid tannery hair waste. The thermophilic optimum temperature, 40 – 50C, moisture content 55%, pH 7.0 and a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 35:1 were found to be favorable to sustain metabolic functions of thermophilic microbial flora, responsible for degrading keratins. The biodegradation and structural transformation of the substrate was assessed using scanning electron microscopy. The results show that under these conditions the bovine hair lost most of its integral structural stability and that the cuticular components were more resistant to degradation. The compost stability as evaluated by monitoring the degree of humification and carbon to nitrogen ratio indicated that the final product achieved reasonable stability by attaining 73% degree of humification, 26% humification rate and carbon to nitrogen ratio of 29:1. Hence the composting technology used in this study has potential application in the leather industry for the production of an economically viable produc

Changes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness

Ponderosa pine forests in the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness on the Arizona Strip have become dense with young trees and highly susceptible to catastrophic wildfire due to exclusion of the natural frequent-fire regime. As part of a broader regional ecological restoration study, the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness was sampled for fire scarred trees, vegetation, and fuels in 1997 and 1999. Reconstructed fire histories show that fires recurred about every 4.4 years prior to settlement, with larger fires burning every 9.5 years. Frequent fires ceased after 1863 in the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness, coincident with the time of Euro-American settlement around 1870, beginning a fire-free period that has lasted up to the present except for a few small fires and a larger 1989 wildfire. Current forests are dense, averaging approximately 1,200 trees/ha, and dominated by small trees. Throughout the wilderness, tree canopy cover averages over 65(percent) and tree basal area is high, 35- 36 m2/ha. Understory plant cover is about 20(percent) and understory species diversity averages 11.4 species/sample plot. Living and dead fuels, including plants, woody debris, and the forest floor, will easily support high-intensity wildfires. In contrast, the presettlement forest was relatively open, with tree density of approximately 62 trees/ha and basal area averaging 8.9 m2/ha, dominated by large ponderosa pine trees. In ecological terms, prospects are good for restoring the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness to emulate the ecological structure and fire disturbance regime of the presettlement reference condition. The current forest condition is perhaps least affected by recent degradation of any site in the Uinkaret Mountains. However, ecological information is only one component contributing to the debate over appropriate management values and practices in wilderness areas on public lands

Coccidioidomycosis Transmission Through Organ Transplantation: A Report of the OPTN Ad Hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134822/1/ajt13950.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134822/2/ajt13950_am.pd

Individual Taxation Report

Recent developments affecting taxation of individuals, including legislation, regulations, and IRS guidance, are presented in Code section order

Isotopic Dependence of the Casimir Force

We calculate the dependence of the Casimir force on the isotopic composition of the interacting objects. This dependence arises from the subtle influence of the nuclear masses on the electronic properties of the bodies. We discuss the relevance of these results to current experiments utilizing the iso-electronic effect to search at very short separations for new weak forces suggested by various unification theories.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex (to appear in Physical Review Letters

Tunneling into Current-Carrying Surface States of High Tc_c Superconductors

Theoretical results for the ab-plane tunneling conductance in the d-wave model for high Tc superconductors are presented. The d-wave model predicts surface bound states below the maximum gap. A sub-dominant order parameter, stabilized by the surface, leads to a splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in zero external field and to spontaneous surface currents. In a magnetic field screening currents shift the quasiparticle bound state spectrum and lead to a voltage splitting of the ZBCP that is linear in H at low fields, and saturates at a pairbreaking critical field of order 3 Tesla. Comparisons with recent experimental results on Cu/YBCO junctions are presented.Comment: 4 pages in a RevTex (3.0) file plus 3 Figures in PostScript. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Anomalous proximity effect in d-wave superconductors

The anomalous proximity effect between a d-wave superconductor and a surface layer with small electronic mean free path is studied theoretically in the framework of the Eilenberger equations. The angular and spatial structure of the pair potential and the quasiclassical propagators in the interface region is calculated selfconsistently. The variation of the spatially-resolved quasiparticle density of states from the bulk to the surface is studied. It is shown that the isotropic gapless superconducting state is induced in the disordered layer.Comment: 6 pages, 5 postscript figures. Submitted to Phys.Rev.

Communicating Josephson Qubits

We propose a scheme to implement a quantum information transfer protocol with a superconducting circuit and Josephson charge qubits. The information exchange is mediated by an L-C resonator used as a data bus. The main decoherence sources are analyzed in detail.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure