364 research outputs found
Microbial oxidation of arsenite in a subarctic environment: diversity of arsenite oxidase genes and identification of a psychrotolerant arsenite oxidiser
Background: Arsenic is toxic to most living cells. The two soluble inorganic forms of arsenic are arsenite (+3) and arsenate (+5), with arsenite the more toxic. Prokaryotic metabolism of arsenic has been reported in both thermal and moderate environments and has been shown to be involved in the redox cycling of arsenic. No arsenic metabolism (either dissimilatory arsenate reduction or arsenite oxidation) has ever been reported in cold environments (i.e. < 10°C).
Results: Our study site is located 512 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, Canada in an inactive gold mine which contains mine waste water in excess of 50 mM arsenic. Several thousand tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust are stored in underground chambers and microbial biofilms grow on the chamber walls below seepage points rich in arsenite-containing solutions. We compared the arsenite oxidisers in two subsamples (which differed in arsenite concentration) collected from one biofilm. 'Species' (sequence) richness did not differ between subsamples, but the relative importance of the three identifiable clades did. An arsenite-oxidising bacterium (designated GM1) was isolated, and was shown to oxidise arsenite in the early exponential growth phase and to grow at a broad range of temperatures (4-25°C). Its arsenite oxidase was constitutively expressed and functioned over a broad temperature range.
Conclusions: The diversity of arsenite oxidisers does not significantly differ from two subsamples of a microbial biofilm that vary in arsenite concentrations. GM1 is the first psychrotolerant arsenite oxidiser to be isolated with the ability to grow below 10°C. This ability to grow at low temperatures could be harnessed for arsenic bioremediation in moderate to cold climates
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H-mode pedestal characteristics in ITER shape discharges on DIII-D
Characteristics of the H-mode pedestal are studied in Type 1 ELM discharges with ITER cross-sectional shape and aspect ratio. The scaling of the width of the edge step gradient region, {delta}, which is most consistent with the data is with the normalized edge pressure, ({beta}{sub POL}{sup PED}){sup 0.4}. Fits of {delta} to a function of temperature, such as {rho}{sub POL}, are ruled out in divertor pumping experiments. The edge pressure gradient is found to scale as would be expected from infinite n ballooning mode theory; however, the value of the pressure gradient exceeds the calculated first stable limit by more than a factor of 2 in some discharges. This high edge pressure gradient is consistent with access to the second stable regime for ideal ballooning for surfaces near the edge. In lower q discharges, including discharges at the ITER value of q, edge second stability requires significant edge current density. Transport simulations give edge bootstrap current of sufficient magnitude to open second stable access in these discharges. Ideal kink analysis using current density profiles including edge bootstrap current indicate that before the ELM these discharges may be unstable to low n, edge localized modes
Revised Program. New England Intercollegiate Geological Excursion: Montreal, 1931
Program includes visits to St. Helen Island, Mount Royal, Pre-Cambrian of the Laurentians, and the Appalachia front in the vicinity of Phillipsburg, Que
ELM triggering conditions for the integrated modeling of H-mode plasmas
Recent advances in the integrated modeling of ELMy H-mode plasmas are
presented. A model for the H-mode pedestal and for the triggering of ELMs
predicts the height, width, and shape of the H-mode pedestal and the frequency
and width of ELMs. Formation of the pedestal and the L-H transition is the
direct result of ExB flow shear suppression of anomalous transport. The
periodic ELM crashes are triggered by either the ballooning or peeling MHD
instabilities. The BALOO, DCON, and ELITE ideal MHD stability codes are used to
derive a new parametric expression for the peeling-ballooning threshold. The
new dependence for the peeling-ballooning threshold is implemented in the ASTRA
transport code. Results of integrated modeling of DIII-D like discharges are
presented and compared with experimental observations. The results from the
ideal MHD stability codes are compared with results from the resistive MHD
stability code NIMROD.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004,
Nice (France
Shadowing in Inelastic Scattering of Muons on Carbon, Calcium and Lead at Low XBj
Nuclear shadowing is observed in the per-nucleon cross-sections of positive
muons on carbon, calcium and lead as compared to deuterium. The data were taken
by Fermilab experiment E665 using inelastically scattered muons of mean
incident momentum 470 GeV/c. Cross-section ratios are presented in the
kinematic region 0.0001 < XBj <0.56 and 0.1 < Q**2 < 80 GeVc. The data are
consistent with no significant nu or Q**2 dependence at fixed XBj. As XBj
decreases, the size of the shadowing effect, as well as its A dependence, are
found to approach the corresponding measurements in photoproduction.Comment: 22 pages, incl. 6 figures, to be published in Z. Phys.
Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays
Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in , and
light quark () events from decays measured in the SLD experiment.
Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of
and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select
quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities:
,
, from
which we derived the differences between the total average charged
multiplicities of or quark events and light quark events: and . We compared
these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with
perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the
QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent
fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters
Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and
W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and
the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto
the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions
f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV
and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw
> 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour,
are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017
+/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second
include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables,
revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
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