Elemental Analysis of OAK and Hickory Charcoal Using Neutron Activation Analysis

One-cm cubes of heartwood of white oak and shagbark hickory wood and charcoat were analyzed for selected inorganic elements using neutron activation analysis. A multi-element survey procedure with short (30-sec) and long (24-h) irradiation exposures was developed for use with the University of Missouri Research Reactor Facility. Output of this facility is 10 Megawatts, generating a flux of 1 x 1014 neutrons/cm2/sec. Matched wood samples were converted into charcoat utilizing (1) commercial process in a Missouri-type kiln, and (2) laboratory charring using specified time/temperature schedules.Inorganic concentrations of Al, Ba, Br, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, and Zn were found to increase with charring temperature as a result of the reduced charcoal yield. The elements measured accounted for some 60% of the ash content, which was also shown to increase in inverse proportion to the charcoal yield

Rebuilding After Floyd?: CRC Regulations and Redevelopment Options Available to Littoral and Riparian Owners

In the early morning hours of September 15. 1999. Hurricane Floyd ripped into North Carolina, pounding away at fragile beaches and dumping more than a foot of rain. When the skies finally cleared, almost one-third of the state was affected by flooding and heavy rains, more than a million residents were without power, hundreds of beach homes had been damaged or destroyed, and the total property damage for the state was estimated at more than $700 million. In addition. Floyd's fifteen-foot storm surge destroyed sand dunes and vegetation used to determine the setback line for oceanfront development along some beaches, thus relocating the invisible baseline significantly inland. As a result, dozens of homes severely damaged by Floyd's fury may now be designated as nonconforming uses, thereby prohibiting these landowners from rebuilding. This article focuses on several post-hurricane issues regarding development along North Carolina ocean shorelines that have emerged in the wake of Hurricane Floyd

Large genomic differences between Moraxella bovoculi isolates acquired from the eyes of cattle with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis versus the deep nasopharynx of asymptomatic cattle

Citation: Dickey, A. M., Loy, J. D., Bono, J. L., Smith, T. P. L., Apley, M. D., Lubbers, B. V., . . . Clawson, M. L. (2016). Large genomic differences between Moraxella bovoculi isolates acquired from the eyes of cattle with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis versus the deep nasopharynx of asymptomatic cattle. Veterinary Research, 47, 11. doi:10.1186/s13567-016-0316-2Moraxella bovoculi is a recently described bacterium that is associated with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) or "pinkeye" in cattle. In this study, closed circularized genomes were generated for seven M. bovoculi isolates: three that originated from the eyes of clinical IBK bovine cases and four from the deep nasopharynx of asymptomatic cattle. Isolates that originated from the eyes of IBK cases profoundly differed from those that originated from the nasopharynx of asymptomatic cattle in genome structure, gene content and polymorphism diversity and consequently placed into two distinct phylogenetic groups. These results suggest that there are genetically distinct strains of M. bovoculi that may not associate with IBK

Peak fitting applied to low-resolution enrichment measurements

Materials accounting at bulk processing facilities that handle low enriched uranium consists primarily of weight and uranium enrichment measurements. Most low enriched uranium processing facilities draw separate materials balances for each enrichment handled at the facility. The enrichment measurement determines the isotopic abundance of the {sup 235}U, thereby determining the proper strata for the item, while the weight measurement generates the primary accounting value for the item. Enrichment measurements using the passive gamma radiation from uranium were developed for use in US facilities a few decades ago. In the US, the use of low-resolution detectors was favored because they cost less, are lighter and more robust, and don`t require the use of liquid nitrogen. When these techniques were exported to Europe, however, difficulties were encountered. Two of the possible root causes were discovered to be inaccurate knowledge of the container wall thickness and higher levels of minor isotopes of uranium introduced by the use of reactor returns in the enrichment plants. the minor isotopes cause an increase in the Compton continuum under the 185.7 keV assay peak and the observance of interfering 238.6 keV gamma rays. The solution selected to address these problems was to rely on the slower, more costly, high-resolution gamma ray detectors when the low-resolution method failed. Recently, these gamma ray based enrichment measurement techniques have been applied to Russian origin material. The presence of interfering gamma radiation from minor isotopes was confirmed. However, with the advent of fast portable computers, it is now possible to apply more sophisticated analysis techniques to the low-resolution data in the field. Explicit corrections for Compton background, gamma rays from {sup 236}U daughters, and the attenuation caused by thick containers can be part of the least squares fitting routine. Preliminary results from field measurements in Kazakhstan will be discussed

Item level characterization of mm-wave indoor propagation

According to the current prospect of allocating next generation wireless systems in the underutilized millimeter frequency bands, a thorough characterization of mm-wave propagation represents a pressing necessity. In this work, an “item level” characterization of radiowave propagation at 70 GHz is carried out. The scattering properties of several, different objects commonly present in indoor environment are investigated by means of measurements carried out in an anechoic chamber. The measured data have been also exploited to tune some parameters of a 3D ray tracing model

A comprehensive RNA-Seq-based gene expression atlas of the summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) provides insights into fruit morphology and ripening mechanisms

Background: Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo: Cucurbitaceae) are a popular horticultural crop for which there is insufficient genomic and transcriptomic information. Gene expression atlases are crucial for the identification of genes expressed in different tissues at various plant developmental stages. Here, we present the first comprehensive gene expression atlas for a summer squash cultivar, including transcripts obtained from seeds, shoots, leaf stem, young and developed leaves, male and female flowers, fruits of seven developmental stages, as well as primary and lateral roots. Results: In total, 27,868 genes and 2352 novel transcripts were annotated from these 16 tissues, with over 18,000 genes common to all tissue groups. Of these, 3812 were identified as housekeeping genes, half of which assigned to known gene ontologies. Flowers, seeds, and young fruits had the largest number of specific genes, whilst intermediate-age fruits the fewest. There also were genes that were differentially expressed in the various tissues, the male flower being the tissue with the most differentially expressed genes in pair-wise comparisons with the remaining tissues, and the leaf stem the least. The largest expression change during fruit development was early on, from female flower to fruit two days after pollination. A weighted correlation network analysis performed on the global gene expression dataset assigned 25,413 genes to 24 coexpression groups, and some of these groups exhibited strong tissue specificity. Conclusions: These findings enrich our understanding about the transcriptomic events associated with summer squash development and ripening. This comprehensive gene expression atlas is expected not only to provide a global view of gene expression patterns in all major tissues in C. pepo but to also serve as a valuable resource for functional genomics and gene discovery in Cucurbitaceae

Mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V selectively laser melted parts with body-centred-cubic lattices of varying cell size

Significant weight savings in parts can be made through the use of additive manufacture (AM), a process which enables the construction of more complex geometries, such as functionally graded lattices, than can be achieved conventionally. The existing framework describing the mechanical properties of lattices places strong emphasis on one property, the relative density of the repeating cells, but there are other properties to consider if lattices are to be used effectively. In this work, we explore the effects of cell size and number of cells, attempting to construct more complete models for the mechanical performance of lattices. This was achieved by examining the modulus and ultimate tensile strength of latticed tensile specimens with a range of unit cell sizes and fixed relative density. Understanding how these mechanical properties depend upon the lattice design variables is crucial for the development of design tools, such as finite element methods, that deliver the best performance from AM latticed parts. We observed significant reductions in modulus and strength with increasing cell size, and these reductions cannot be explained by increasing strut porosity as has previously been suggested. We obtained power law relationships for the mechanical properties of the latticed specimens as a function of cell size, which are similar in form to the existing laws for the relative density dependence. These can be used to predict the properties of latticed column structures comprised of body-centred-cubic (BCC) cells, and may also be adapted for other part geometries. In addition, we propose a novel way to analyse the tensile modulus data, which considers a relative lattice cell size rather than an absolute size. This may lead to more general models for the mechanical properties of lattice structures, applicable to parts of varying size

Selenium toxicity but not deficient or super-nutritional selenium status vastly alters the transcriptome in rodents

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein and mRNA levels for several selenoproteins, such as glutathione peroxidase-1 (Gpx1), are down-regulated dramatically by selenium (Se) deficiency. These levels in rats increase sigmoidally with increasing dietary Se and reach defined plateaus at the Se requirement, making them sensitive biomarkers for Se deficiency. These levels, however, do not further increase with super-nutritional or toxic Se status, making them ineffective for detection of high Se status. Biomarkers for high Se status are needed as super-nutritional Se intakes are associated with beneficial as well as adverse health outcomes. To characterize Se regulation of the transcriptome, we conducted 3 microarray experiments in weanling mice and rats fed Se-deficient diets supplemented with up to 5 μg Se/g diet.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no effect of Se status on growth of mice fed 0 to 0.2 μg Se/g diet or rats fed 0 to 2 μg Se/g diet, but rats fed 5 μg Se/g diet showed a 23% decrease in growth and elevated plasma alanine aminotransferase activity, indicating Se toxicity. Rats fed 5 μg Se/g diet had significantly altered expression of 1193 liver transcripts, whereas mice or rats fed ≤ 2 μg Se/g diet had < 10 transcripts significantly altered relative to Se-adequate animals within an experiment. Functional analysis of genes altered by Se toxicity showed enrichment in cell movement/morphogenesis, extracellular matrix, and development/angiogenesis processes. Genes up-regulated by Se deficiency were targets of the stress response transcription factor, Nrf2. Multiple regression analysis of transcripts significantly altered by 2 μg Se/g and Se-deficient diets identified an 11-transcript biomarker panel that accounted for 99% of the variation in liver Se concentration over the full range from 0 to 5 μg Se/g diet.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows that Se toxicity (5 μg Se/g diet) in rats vastly alters the liver transcriptome whereas Se-deficiency or high but non-toxic Se intake elicits relatively few changes. This is the first evidence that a vastly expanded number of transcriptional changes itself can be a biomarker of Se toxicity, and that identified transcripts can be used to develop molecular biomarker panels that accurately predict super-nutritional and toxic Se status.</p