Recovery of lubricant base oils using ionic liquid processes

Two novel low-temperature ionic liquid processes are developed for the recovery of base oils from waste lubricant oils. One uses 3-(triethoxysilyl)-propylammonium-3-(triethoxysilyl)-propyl carbamate (TESAC), in which the waste lubricant base oil is insoluble, and the other uses trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride (P6,6,6,14Cl) in which the base oil is soluble. In the 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (TESA)/TESAC process, waste oil components, including the base oil, are dissolved in the solvent TESA which is converted, in situ, with carbon dioxide to TESAC, recovering the base oil as an insoluble layer. In the P6,6,6,14Cl process, the base oil is separated from most additives as a solution in the ionic liquid from which it can be extracted with methanol. The recovered oils from both processes have properties consistent with lubricant oils in commercial use and the ionic liquids can be recovered for recycle minimising reagent use and providing a route to closed-loop base oil recovery and recycle

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging traits as endophenotypes for genetic mapping in epilepsy.

Over the last decade, the field of imaging genomics has combined high-throughput genotype data with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (QMRI) measures to identify genes associated with brain structure, cognition, and several brain-related disorders. Despite its successful application in different psychiatric and neurological disorders, the field has yet to be advanced in epilepsy. In this article we examine the relevance of imaging genomics for future genetic studies in epilepsy from three perspectives. First, we discuss prior genome-wide genetic mapping efforts in epilepsy, considering the possibility that some studies may have been constrained by inherent theoretical and methodological limitations of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) method. Second, we offer a brief overview of the imaging genomics paradigm, from its original inception, to its role in the discovery of important risk genes in a number of brain-related disorders, and its successful application in large-scale multinational research networks. Third, we provide a comprehensive review of past studies that have explored the eligibility of brain QMRI traits as endophenotypes for epilepsy. While the breadth of studies exploring QMRI-derived endophenotypes in epilepsy remains narrow, robust syndrome-specific neuroanatomical QMRI traits have the potential to serve as accessible and relevant intermediate phenotypes for future genetic mapping efforts in epilepsy

Global WEIRDing: Transitions in Wild Plant Knowledge and Treatment Preferences in Congo Hunter-Gatherers

Cultures around the world are converging as populations become more connected. On the one hand this increased connectedness can promote the recombination of existing cultural practices to generate new ones, but on the other it may lead to the replacement of traditional practices and global WEIRDing. Here we examine the process and causes of changes in cultural traits concerning wild plant knowledge in Mbendjele BaYaka hunter–gatherers from Congo. Our results show that the BaYaka who were born in town reported knowing and using fewer plants than the BaYaka who were born in forest camps. Plant uses lost in the town-born BaYaka related to medicine. Unlike the forest-born participants, the town-born BaYaka preferred Western medicine over traditional practices, suggesting that the observed decline of plant knowledge and use is the result of replacement of cultural practices with the new products of cumulative culture

Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies

Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters, provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the distorted spirals in clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.Comment: Submitted to Nature. Latex file, 7 pages, 10 photographs in gif and jpeg format included. 10 compressed postscript figures and text available using anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/pub/hpcc/moore/ (mget *) Also available at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/papers

Holocene lake sediment core sequences from Lochnagar, Cairngorm Mts., Scotland - UK final report for CHILL-10,000

The CHILL 10,000 research objective at Lochnagar is to examine proxy data for temperature and climate conditions. Changes in lake sediment stratigraphical data can be used to reconstruct past conditions. These proxies include organic and minerogenic matter as a bulk proxy for catchment and within-lake productivity, chironomids as a proxy for air temperature, diatoms as an indicator for lake water pH, pollen as an indicator of catchment vegetation and finally biomarkers to help determine changes in proportions of organic source material within the lake mud

Chemotaxis When Bacteria Remember: Drift versus Diffusion

{\sl Escherichia coli} ({\sl E. coli}) bacteria govern their trajectories by switching between running and tumbling modes as a function of the nutrient concentration they experienced in the past. At short time one observes a drift of the bacterial population, while at long time one observes accumulation in high-nutrient regions. Recent work has viewed chemotaxis as a compromise between drift toward favorable regions and accumulation in favorable regions. A number of earlier studies assume that a bacterium resets its memory at tumbles -- a fact not borne out by experiment -- and make use of approximate coarse-grained descriptions. Here, we revisit the problem of chemotaxis without resorting to any memory resets. We find that when bacteria respond to the environment in a non-adaptive manner, chemotaxis is generally dominated by diffusion, whereas when bacteria respond in an adaptive manner, chemotaxis is dominated by a bias in the motion. In the adaptive case, favorable drift occurs together with favorable accumulation. We derive our results from detailed simulations and a variety of analytical arguments. In particular, we introduce a new coarse-grained description of chemotaxis as biased diffusion, and we discuss the way it departs from older coarse-grained descriptions.Comment: Revised version, journal reference adde