The genome sequence of E. coli W (ATCC 9637): comparative genome analysis and an improved genome-scale reconstruction of E. coli

Background: Escherichia coli is a model prokaryote, an important pathogen, and a key organism for industrial biotechnology. E. coli W (ATCC 9637), one of four strains designated as safe for laboratory purposes, has not been sequenced. E. coli W is a fast-growing strain and is the only safe strain that can utilize sucrose as a carbon source. Lifecycle analysis has demonstrated that sucrose from sugarcane is a preferred carbon source for industrial bioprocesses

Spatial and temporal evolution of drought conditions at various time scales in the Czech Republic during growing period

This paper analyzes the characteristics of spatial evolution of the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at various time scales during the growing period (April-September) over the Czech Republic. The SPEI was calculated from monthly records of mean temperature and precipitation totals measured at a dense network of 184 climatological stations for the period 1961-2010. Using various lags, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The drought at these time scales is relevant for agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic impacts, respectively. The study refers to the warm season of the year (from April to September). The principal modes of variability of the SPEI calculated at these five time scales were identified by using the empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis. The explained variance of the leading EOF ranges between 71 and 61% as the time scale for calculating the SPEI increases from 1 to 24 months. The explained variance of EOF2 and EOF3 ranges between 5 and 9%, and 4 and 6%, respectively, as the SPEI is calculated for 1-24 months. With a few exceptions at stations at the highest altitudes, the spatial coefficients of the EOF1 for all SPEI time scales have the same sign over the country's territory. Based on the spatial distribution of the spatial coefficients of EOF2 and EOF3, at all SPEI time scales we have identified three climatically homogenous regions, corresponding to the altitudes below 400 m, between 401 and 700 m, and above 700 m. This regionalization corresponds to some extend to that which was previously used in other studies. These three regions reflect different land use types corresponding to: (i) mostly intensive agriculture, (ii) less intensive agriculture, and (iii) limited agricultural production and mostly forested, respect

Observed spatiotemporal characteristics of drought on various time scales over the Czech Republic

10.1007/s00704-013-0908-yThis paper analyses the observed spatiotemporal characteristics of drought in the Czech Republic during the growing season (April to September) as quantified using the Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) on various time scales. The SPEI was calculated for various lags (1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months) from monthly records of mean temperature and precipitation totals using a dense network of 184 climatological stations for the period 1961¿2010. The characteristics of drought were analysed in terms of the temporal evolution of the SPEI, the frequency distribution and duration of drought at the country level, and for three regions delimited by station altitude. The driest and the wettest years during the growing season were identified. The frequency distribution of the SPEI values for seven drought category classes (in per cent) indicates that normal moisture conditions represent approximately 65 % of the total SPEI values for all time scales in all three regions, whereas moderate drought and moderate wet conditions are almost equally distributed around 10.5 %. Differences in extremely dry conditions (5 %) compared with extremely wet conditions (1.5 %) were observed with increasing SPEI time scales. The results of the non-parametric Mann¿Kendall trend test applied to the SPEI series indicate prevailing negative trends (drought) at the majority of the stations. The percentage of stations displaying a significant negative trend for the 90, 95, 99, and 99.9 % confidence levels is approximately 40 %. An Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) analysis was used to identify the principal patterns of variability of the SPEI during the growing season that accounted for the highest amount of statistical variance. The variance explained by the leading EOF range 66 t

Verbal description of organ principal 8' sound

The sound recordings of twelve pipe organs from four European countries (six Baroque, two Romantic and four contemporary) were subjectively evaluated. Two listening tests with sounds of tones C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 of Principal 8' were provided. In the first test (dissimilarity in timbre in pairs of sounds) the spontaneously expressed verbal attributes describing the organ sound were collected. Twelve listeners (nine organ players, three organ builders) took part in the test. In the second listening test only the most contrasting pairs in timbre were selected and judged by the group of eight organ builders. The listeners ranked spontaneously expressed verbal attributes into four prescribed categories according to their meaning describing pipe scaling, pipe voicing, prominent or insufficient partials, and timbre. Common frequency vocabularies from both tests together with the vocabularies of expressions used in individual pitches are created and compared. Category vocabularies are also created and discussed

Cubic to Hexagonal Phase Transition Induced by Electric Field

The possibility of electric field induced phase transitions in soft matter systems was studied by means of small-angle X-ray (SAXS) and neutron (SANS) scattering measurements. By dissolving a diblock copolymer PS-b-PEP (polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-co-propylene)) in a mixture of cyclohexane (CH) and dimethylformamide (DMF), it was possible to create a liquid 3D cubic structure in which spherical microdomains of DMF were embedded into a liquid CH (major component) matrix with the liquid-liquid interfaces covered by PS-b-PEP diblock copolymer chains. When sited under an external electric field, the experimental SAXS and SANS results revealed that the initial self-organized 3D cubic structure is converted into an hexagonal arrangement. The order-to-order transition was reached by the application of a relatively low dc electric field, ∼1.25 kV/mm. The electric field generates dipole moments in DMF-rich spherical microdomains that are deformed and further interconnected, leading to the formation of the hexagonal packed cylinders. The electric field strength Et needed to induce such transition depends on the magnitude of the generated dipole moment in the DMF-rich spherical microdomains and hence depends on their size and dielectric contrast irrespective of the surrounding liquid. The latter must have the lower dielectric constant for the transition to occur. Et also increases with increasing block copolymer concentration. The chain statistics does not change at the transition and always corresponds to that of a polymer in good solvent. The HEXcylinders phase developed under external electric field is unstable, and as soon as the field is switched off, the cylinders undergo an order-to-order transition back to the cubic phase. Finally, another HEX-cylinders phase thermodynamically stable without electric field was created by dissolving a PS-b-PI diblock copolymer (polystyrene-block-polyisoprene) in a CH-DMF mixture. In this last case, the structure essentially does not feel the presence of an electric field of the same magnitude