A community based land trust (CBLT) model for Saskatchewan agriculture

Non-Peer Reviewe

Spent Fuel Dissolution Rates as a Function of Burnup and Water Chemistry

Several months ago, a report called PNNL-11895, ''Spent Fuel Dissolution Rates as a Function of Burnup and Water Chemistry'', by W. J. Gray dated June 1998 was mailed out. Unfortunately, an error was discovered in this document. The technetium (Tc) data in Figures 5 to 8, pages 21 to 24, are incorrect. Replacement figures, which show the corrected Tc data, are presented. No other data in the report was affected by this error

Degassing rates of as-received and previously degassed graphite

Degassing rates have been measured on cylindrical samples 19 mm dia. x 25 mm long of a nuclear grade of graphite. A pressure-rise method was used together with a capacitance manometer vacuum gauge. Pressures were typically in the range 1 to 10/sup -3/ Pa (7.5 x 10/sup -3/ to 7.5 x 10/sup -6/ torr) except for degassing rates less than about 4 x 10/sup -11/ Pa.m/sup 3//s.g (3 x 10/sup -10/ torr.1/s.g) where the pressure never rose above 10/sup -3/ Pa

Antibody validation of immunohistochemistry for biomarker discovery: Recommendations of a consortium of academic and pharmaceutical based histopathology researchers

As biomarker discovery takes centre-stage, the role of immunohistochemistry within that process is increasing. At the same time, the number of antibodies being produced for ‘‘research use’’ continues to rise and it is important that antibodies to be used as biomarkers are validated for specificity and sensitivity before use. This guideline seeks to provide a stepwise approach for the validation of an antibody for immunohistochemical assays, reflecting the views of a consortium of academic and pharmaceutical based histopathology researchers. We propose that antibodies are placed into a tier system, level 1–3, based on evidence of their usage in immunohistochemistry, and that the degree of validation required is proportionate to their place on that tier

Applications of a new fluorimetric enzyme assay for the diagnosis of aspartylglucosaminuria

L-Aspartic acid-β-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin is a sensitive and specific fluorogenic substrate for lysosomal glycoasparaginase (aspartylgluco-saminidase). Fibroblasts and leukocytes from 8 patients with aspartylglucosaminuria, showed 1-7% of the mean normal glycoasparaginase activity. Heterozygotes showed intermediate activities. Glycoasparaginase activity in chorionic villi, cultured trophoblasts, cultured amniotic fluid cells and amniotic fluid was readily detectable, indicating that prenatal analysis of aspartylglucosaminuria should be possible with this assay. β-Aspartyl-4-methylumbelliferone was synthesized but this potential substrate can not be used to assay glycoasparaginase since it hydrolyses spontaneously

Disposal of fluidized bed combustion ash in an underground mine to control acid mine drainage and subsidence - phase II - small scale field demonstration. Topical report, December 1, 1996--February 28, 1997

It has been proposed that a mix made from fly and bottom ash from atmospheric pressure fluidized bed coal combusters (FBC ash), water, and stabilizers be injected from the surface into abandoned room and pillar coal mines through boreholes. Besides ash disposal, this process would prevent subsidence and acid mine drainage. Such a mix (called `grout`) needs to be an adequately stable and flowable suspension for it to spread and cover large areas in the mine. This is necessary as the drilling of the boreholes will be an expensive operation and the number such holes should be minimized. Addition of bentonite was found to be needed for this purpose. A suitable grout mix was tested rheologically to determine its fluid flow properties. Finding little published information on such materials, tests were performed using a commercial rotational viscometer with a T-bar rotor and a stand which produced a helical rotor path. Existing mixer viscometer test methods were modified and adapted to convert the measurements of torque vs. angular speed to the material properties appearing in several non-Newtonian constitutive equations. Yield stress was measured by an independent test called the vane method. The rheological behavior was a close fit to the Bingham fluid model. Bleed tests were conducted to ascertain the stability of the mixtures. Spread tests were conducted to compare the flowability of various mixes. Using the flow parameters determined in the laboratory, numerical simulations of grout flow were performed and compared with the results of scale model and field tests. A field injection of this grout was performed at the Fairfax mines in Preston county, W.V.. The observations there proved that this FBC ash grout flows as desired, is a very economical way of disposing the environmentally menacing ash, while also preventing the subsidence and acid mine drainage of the mines

Neuropsychological constraints to human data production on a global scale

Which are the factors underlying human information production on a global level? In order to gain an insight into this question we study a corpus of 252-633 Million publicly available data files on the Internet corresponding to an overall storage volume of 284-675 Terabytes. Analyzing the file size distribution for several distinct data types we find indications that the neuropsychological capacity of the human brain to process and record information may constitute the dominant limiting factor for the overall growth of globally stored information, with real-world economic constraints having only a negligible influence. This supposition draws support from the observation that the files size distributions follow a power law for data without a time component, like images, and a log-normal distribution for multimedia files, for which time is a defining qualia.Comment: to be published in: European Physical Journal

Novel Approach to Confront Electroweak Data and Theory

A novel approach to study electroweak physics at one-loop level in generic ${\rm SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y}$ theories is introduced. It separates the 1-loop corrections into two pieces: process specific ones from vertex and box contributions, and universal ones from contributions to the gauge boson propagators. The latter are parametrized in terms of four effective form factors $\bar{e}^2(q^2)$, $\bar{s}^2(q^2)$, $\bar{g}_Z^2(q^2)$ and $\bar{g}_W^2 (q^2)$ corresponding to the $\gamma\gamma$, $\gamma Z$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ propagators. Under the assumption that only the Standard Model contributes to the process specific corrections, the magnitudes of the four form factors are determined at $q^2=0$ and at q^2=\mmz by fitting to all available precision experiments. These values are then compared systematically with predictions of ${\rm SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y}$ theories. In all fits \alpha_s(\mz) and \bar{\alpha}(\mmz) are treated as external parameters in order to keep the interpretation as flexible as possible. The treatment of the electroweak data is presented in detail together with the relevant theoretical formulae used to interpret the data. No deviation from the Standard Model has been identified. Ranges of the top quark and Higgs boson masses are derived as functions of \alpha_s(\mz) and \bar{\alpha}(\mmz). Also discussed are consequences of the recent precision measurement of the left-right asymmetry at SLC as well as the impact of a top quark mass and an improved $W$ mass measurement.Comment: 123 pages, LaTeX (33 figures available via anonymous ftp), KEK-TH-375, KEK preprint 93-159, KANAZAWA-94-19, DESY 94-002, YUMS 94-22, SNUTP 94-82, to be published in Z.Phys.

Two-Loop O(αsGFmt2){\cal O}(\alpha_sG_Fm_t^2) Corrections to the Fermionic Decay Rates of the Standard-Model Higgs Boson

Low- and intermediate mass Higgs bosons decay preferably into fermion pairs. The one-loop electroweak corrections to the respective decay rates are dominated by a flavour-independent term of ${\cal O}(G_Fm_t^2)$. We calculate the two-loop gluon correction to this term. It turns out that this correction screens the leading high-$m_t$ behaviour of the one-loop result by roughly 10\%. We also present the two-loop QCD correction to the contribution induced by a pair of fourth-generation quarks with arbitrary masses. As expected, the inclusion of the QCD correction considerably reduces the renormalization-scheme dependence of the prediction.Comment: 14 pages, latex, figures 2-5 appended, DESY 94-08