Multilingual Lexical Semantic Resources for Ontology Translation

We describe the integration of some multilingual language resources in ontological descriptions, with the purpose of providing ontologies, which are normally using concept labels in just one (natural) language, with multilingual facility in their design and use in the context of Semantic Web applications, supporting both the semantic annotation of textual documents with multilingual ontology labels and ontology extraction from multilingual text sources

Continuous Centrifuge Decelerator for Polar Molecules

Producing large samples of slow molecules from thermal-velocity ensembles is a formidable challenge. Here we employ a centrifugal force to produce a continuous molecular beam with a high flux at near-zero velocities. We demonstrate deceleration of three electrically guided molecular species, CH$_3$F, CF$_3$H, and CF$_3$CCH, with input velocities of up to $200\,\rm{m\,s^{-1}}$ to obtain beams with velocities below $15\,\rm{m\,s^{-1}}$ and intensities of several $10^9\,\rm{mm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$. The centrifuge decelerator is easy to operate and can, in principle, slow down any guidable particle. It has the potential to become a standard technique for continuous deceleration of molecules.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; version accepted for publication in PR

Electrophysiology Measurements of Metal Transport by MntH2 from Enterococcus faecalis

Transition metals are essential trace elements and their high-affinity uptake is required for many organisms. Metal transporters are often characterised using metal-sensitive fluorescent dyes, limiting the metals and experimental conditions that can be studied. Here, we have tested whether metal transport by Enterococcus faecalis MntH2 can be measured with an electrophysiology method that is based on the solid-supported membrane technology. E. faecalis MntH2 belongs to the Natural Resistance-Associated Macrophage Protein (Nramp) family of proton-coupled transporters, which transport divalent transition metals and do not transport the earth metals. Electrophysiology confirms transport of Mn(II), Co(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) by MntH2. However, no uptake responses for Cu(II), Fe(II) and Ni(II) were observed, while the presence of these metals abolishes the uptake signals for Mn(II). Fluorescence assays confirm that Ni(II) is transported. The data are discussed with respect to properties and structures of Nramp-type family members and the ability of electrophysiology to measure charge transport and not directly substrate transport

Buffer-gas cooling of molecules in the low-density regime: comparison between simulation and experiment

Cryogenic buffer gas cells have been a workhorse for the cooling of molecules in the last decades. The straightforward sympathetic cooling principle makes them applicable to a huge variety of different species. Notwithstanding this success, detailed simulations of buffer gas cells are rare, and have never been compared to experimental data in the regime of low to intermediate buffer gas densities. Here, we present a numerical approach based on a trajectory analysis, with molecules performing a random walk in the cell due to collisions with a homogeneous buffer gas. This method can reproduce experimental flux and velocity distributions of molecules emerging from the buffer gas cell for varying buffer gas densities. This includes the strong decrease in molecule output from the cell for increasing buffer gas density and the so-called boosting effect, when molecules are accelerated by buffer-gas atoms after leaving the cell. The simulations provide various insights which could substantially improve buffer-gas cell design

Influence of Microclimate in a Barn on Dairy Cows’ Welfare and Production

Microclimate in a barn has a major influence on cows’ health and welfare, as well as on milk production of dairy cows. Extreme values of air temperature and humidity can negatively influence barn conditions, having thus negative effect on cows kept in barns. The research aimed to investigate influence of basic microclimate parameters on a modern dairy farm located in Eastern Croatia. Research period referred to summer season, from 01 June – 31 August 2013. Measurements were carried out in three time intervals (00:00-08:00; 08:00-16:00; 16:00-00:00) for the following parameters: temperature (T), humidity (H) and temperature-humidity index (THI). The results showed that the values of T and THI were higher than optimal values recommended by the scientific literature. Differences between the daily interval for T, H and THI were statistically highly significant (p<0.0001). Furthermore, significant difference (p<0.0001; p<0.05) was determined for all investigated parameters between June and July, and June and August. However, between July and August there was no significant difference. Although measurements were performed on a modern dairy farm equipped with additional cooling by fans, it was not sufficient to create an optimal microclimate environment for dairy cows. Because of that, additional measures need to be undertaken during summer months (for example, installation of water sprinklers) to reduce the air temperature and temperature-humidity index, all with the purpose to increase comfort of dairy cows and to prevent decrease in milk production

Why Do Only Some Galaxy Clusters Have Cool Cores?

Flux-limited X-ray samples indicate that about half of rich galaxy clusters have cool cores. Why do only some clusters have cool cores while others do not? In this paper, cosmological N-body + Eulerian hydrodynamic simulations, including radiative cooling and heating, are used to address this question as we examine the formation and evolution of cool core (CC) and non-cool core (NCC) clusters. These adaptive mesh refinement simulations produce both CC and NCC clusters in the same volume. They have a peak resolution of 15.6 h^{-1} kpc within a (256 h^{-1} Mpc)^3 box. Our simulations suggest that there are important evolutionary differences between CC clusters and their NCC counterparts. Many of the numerical CC clusters accreted mass more slowly over time and grew enhanced cool cores via hierarchical mergers; when late major mergers occurred, the CC's survived the collisions. By contrast, NCC clusters experienced major mergers early in their evolution that destroyed embryonic cool cores and produced conditions that prevented CC re-formation. As a result, our simulations predict observationally testable distinctions in the properties of CC and NCC beyond the core regions in clusters. In particular, we find differences between CC versus NCC clusters in the shapes of X-ray surface brightness profiles, between the temperatures and hardness ratios beyond the cores, between the distribution of masses, and between their supercluster environs. It also appears that CC clusters are no closer to hydrostatic equilibrium than NCC clusters, an issue important for precision cosmology measurements.Comment: 17 emulateapj pages, 17 figures, replaced with version accepted to Ap

Evidence of the Generation of Isosaccharinic Acids and Their Subsequent Degradation by Local Microbial Consortia within Hyper-Alkaline Contaminated Soils, with Relevance to Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal

The contamination of surface environments with hydroxide rich wastes leads to the formation of high pH (>11.0) soil profiles. One such site is a legacy lime works at Harpur Hill, Derbyshire where soil profile indicated in-situ pH values up to pH 12. Soil and porewater profiles around the site indicated clear evidence of the presence of the α and β stereoisomers of isosaccharinic acid (ISA) resulting from the anoxic, alkaline degradation of cellulosic material. ISAs are of particular interest with regards to the disposal of cellulosic materials contained within the intermediate level waste (ILW) inventory of the United Kingdom, where they may influence radionuclide mobility via complexation events occurring within a geological disposal facility (GDF) concept. The mixing of uncontaminated soils with the alkaline leachate of the site resulted in ISA generation, where the rate of generation in-situ is likely to be dependent upon the prevailing temperature of the soil. Microbial consortia present in the uncontaminated soil were capable of surviving conditions imposed by the alkaline leachate and demonstrated the ability to utilise ISAs as a carbon source. Leachate-contaminated soil was sub-cultured in a cellulose degradation product driven microcosm operating at pH 11, the consortia present were capable of the degradation of ISAs and the generation of methane from the resultant H2/CO2 produced from fermentation processes. Following microbial community analysis, fermentation processes appear to be predominated by Clostridia from the genus Alkaliphilus sp, with methanogenesis being attributed to Methanobacterium and Methanomassiliicoccus sp. The study is the first to identify the generation of ISA within an anthropogenic environment and advocates the notion that microbial activity within an ILW-GDF is likely to influence the impact of ISAs upon radionuclide migration