Brief Note Transmission Experiments with Babesia Microti (Gray Strain) Using Dermacentor Andersoni Stiles as a Vector

Author Institution: Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State Universit

Water Coning Prediction Review and Control: Developing an Integrated Approach

In petroleum industry, oil production strategy to circumvent water coning in reservoirs with strong water drive is quit challenging. To ameliorate this oil production related problem, several water coning prediction models and control approaches have been developed by researchers. The prediction approaches include analytical, empirical and numerical approach. The analytical and empirical prediction approaches are qualitative water coning prediction approach with limited field scale application. However, these approaches model predictions can gain field application if upscale. Numerical approach has provided the fulcrum to study the complexity of water coning phenomenon in bottom-water drive reservoirs, and its prediction and sensitivity results have found wide field application. In addition, the various developed water coning control methods: downhole oil-water separation (DOWS), downhole water sink (DWS), downhole water loop (DWL), among others have proved to be effective, as it reduces the water-cut, produced water and water handling problem at the surface during hydrocarbon production. However, the challenge of producing the bypassed oil in the reservoir remains unattended with these coning control methods. Also, even as effective as these water coning control methods may seems, they have their drawbacks that limit their application in certain reservoirs. Therefore, developing integrated approach that is adaptive to control water coning and produce bypassed oil in bottom-water drive reservoirs is important to the oil and gas industry

Quantum Decoherence of Two Qubits

It is commonly stated that decoherence in open quantum systems is due to growing entanglement with an environment. In practice, however, surprisingly often decoherence may equally well be described by random unitary dynamics without invoking a quantum environment at all. For a single qubit, for instance, pure decoherence (or phase damping) is always of random unitary type. Here, we construct a simple example of true quantum decoherence of two qubits: we present a feasible phase damping channel of which we show that it cannot be understood in terms of random unitary dynamics. We give a very intuitive geometrical measure for the positive distance of our channel to the convex set of random unitary channels and find remarkable agreement with the so-called Birkhoff defect based on the norm of complete boundedness.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

From non equilibrium quantum Brownian motion to impurity dynamics in 1D quantum liquids

Impurity motion in one dimensional ultra cold quantum liquids confined in an optical trap has attracted much interest recently. As a step towards its full understanding, we construct a generating functional from which we derive the position non equilibrium correlation function of a quantum Brownian particle with general Gaussian non-factorizing initial conditions. We investigate the slow dynamics of a particle confined in a harmonic potential after a position measurement; the rapid relaxation of a particle trapped in a harmonic potential after a quantum quench realized as a sudden change in the potential parameters; and the evolution of an impurity in contact with a one dimensional bosonic quantum gas. We argue that such an impurity-Luttinger liquid system, that has been recently realized experimentally, admits a simple modeling as quantum Brownian motion in a super Ohmic bath.Comment: Published version, 23 pages, 2 figure

Biodegradation of crude petroleum by bacterial consortia from oil-contaminated soils in Ota, Ogun State, South-Western, Nigeria

Pollution from petroleum products is of public health concern because of its attendant health and environmental impacts. Biodegradation of Bonny light crude petroleum and other selected hydrocarbons by bacteria isolated from soils of three different mechanic workshops in Ota, Ogun State were studied. Species of bacteria were isolated by the enrichmentofthesoilsamplesinminimalsaltmediumsupplementedwith1%(v/v)crude petroleumasthesolecarbonandenergysource.Thepetroleumutilizingbacteriabelonging to the genera Bacillus sp. SB4, Pseudomonas sp. SC8, Serratia sp. SC11, and Acinetobacter sp. SC12 were screened and subjected for oil degradation using turbidity and total viable count,reductioninpHandresidualoilconcentrationasindices.GasChromatographic(GC) analysis was used to analyze the component and percentage of the petroleum utilized. Plasmidcuringandprofilingweredonetodeterminewhethertheabilitytoutilizecarbon isplasmidorchromosomallyencoded.Resultsrevealedthatfourbacteriastrainswereable to utilize petroleum as energy source. The GC fingerprints showed that both the aliphatic and aromatic components of crude petroleum were reduced to varying degree but the nonadecane C19 could not be reduced. Strain SC11 could not reduce anthracene, pyrene, benzo(a)pyrene and chrysene components. Strain SB4 depleted 24 to 57% aliphatics and 20to42%aromaticsandstrainSC8depleted38to67%aliphaticsand30to79%aromatics while strain SC11 depleted 12 to 46% aliphatics and 13 to 29% aromatics. All organisms harbored plasmid which could suggest that petroleum degradation capabilities could be plasmid encoded. This indicates that the petroleum utilizing bacteria are could be used bioremediationofthepetroleumpollutedenvironment

Endothelial LRP1 transports amyloid-β1-42 across the blood-brain barrier

According to the neurovascular hypothesis, impairment of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 (LRP1) in brain capillaries of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) contributes to neurotoxic amyloid-beta (A beta) brain accumulation and drives Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. However, due to conflicting reports on the involvement of LRP1 in A beta transport and the expression of LRP1 in brain endothelium, the role of LRP1 at the BBB is uncertain. As global Lrp1 deletion in mice is lethal, appropriate models to study the function of LRP1 are lacking. Moreover, the relevance of systemic A beta clearance to AD pathology remains unclear, as no BBB-specific knockout models have been available. Here, we developed transgenic mouse strains that allow for tamoxifen-inducible deletion of Lrp1 specifically within brain endothelial cells (Slo1c1-CreER(Tz) Lrp1(fl/fl) mice) and used these mice to accurately evaluate LRP1-mediated A beta BBB clearance in vivo. Selective deletion of Lrp1 in the brain endothelium of C57BL/6 mice strongly reduced brain efflux of injected [I-125] A beta(1-42). Additionally, in the 5xFAD mouse model of AD, brain endothelial-specific Lrp1 deletion reduced plasma A beta levels and elevated soluble brain A beta, leading to aggravated spatial learning and memory deficits, thus emphasizing the importance of systemic AD elimination via the BBB. Together, our results suggest that receptor-mediated A beta BBB clearance may be a potential target for treatment and prevention of A beta brain accumulation in AD

Strategic responses to global challenges: The case of European banking, 1973–2000

In applying a strategy, structure, ownership and performance (SSOP) framework to three major clearing banks (ABN AMRO, UBS, Barclays), this article debates whether the conclusions generated by Whittington and Mayer about European manufacturing industry can be applied to the financial services sector. While European integration plays a key role in determining strategy, it is clear that global factors were far more important in determining management actions, leading to significant differences in structural adaptation. The article also debates whether this has led to improved performance, given the problems experienced with both geographical dispersion and diversification, bringing into question the quality of decision-making over the long term

Harnessing bacterial power in microscale actuation

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the motion of microscale structures actuated by flagellated bacteria. We perform the study both experimentally and theoretically. We use a blotting procedure to attach flagellated bacteria to a buoyancy-neutral plate called a microbarge. The motion of the plate depends on the distribution of the cells on the plate and the stimuli from the environment. We construct a stochastic mathematical model for the system, based on the assumption that the behavior of each bacterium is random and independent of that of its neighbors. The main finding of the paper is that the motion of the barge plus bacteria system is a function of a very small set of parameters. This reduced-dimensional model can be easily estimated using experimental data. We show that the simulation results obtained from the model show an excellent match with the experimentally-observed motion of the barge