NADH oxidase system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Evidence for the presence and possible participation of a flavoprotein, coenzyme Q, and a cytochrome in the oxidation of NADH in the cell-free extracts of Agrobacterium tumefaciens was presented. Coenzyme Q10 was established as the homologue by several criteria. The characteristics of the cytochrome showed that it was different from the b and c groups of cytochromes. Amytal, antimycin A, and cyanide inhibited the oxidation of NADH, and from their effects on the electron transport components the following sequence has been proposed: NADH → flavoprotein → coenzyme Q10 → cytochrome oxygen.

Anthranilic acid oxidase system of Tecoma stans—II. : Studies on the properties of a purified anthranilic acid oxidase system and its separation into different enzymic components

An enzyme system which catalysed the conversion of anthranilic acid to catechol has been purified 20-fold from a cell-free leaf extract of Tecoma stans. The optimum substrate concentration was 10−3 M and optimum temperature for the reaction was 45°. The presence of a multi-enzyme system was inferred from inhibition studies. The formation of catechol was inhibited by Mg2+, Zn2+, and Co2+ ions, whereas anthranilic acid disappearance was not affected to the same extent. The effect of metal chelating agents like EDTA, cyanide and pyrophosphate showed a similar trend. PCMB inhibited catechol formation but had no effect on anthranilic acid disappearance. The reaction was not inhibited by catalase, nor was it activated by peroxide-donating systems. This ruled out the possibility of peroxidative type of reaction. The overall reaction is markedly activated by NADPH and THFA. This multi-enzyme was separated into three different components, by fractionation with Alumina Cγ and calcium phosphate gels. The overall reaction catalysed by these components can be represented as anthranilic acid→3-hydroxy anthranilic acid→o-aminophenol→catechol.

Vibrational analysis of the (B2P{cyrillic}→X2P{cyrillic}) system of NS

A few red degraded bands attributable to NS have been reported earlier by Fowler and Barker, Dressler and Barrow et al, and they occur in the same region (2300 to 2700 Å) as the bands of the known systems (C2∑+-X2P{cyrillic}) and (A2Δ-X2P{cyrillic}). Measurements made on the heads of some of these weak bands led Barrow et al. to believe that these bands may form a system analogous to the β-system of NO and be due to a2P{cyrillic}-2P{cyrillic} transition. The spectrum of NS has now been studied in a little more detail by means of an uncondensed discharge through dry nitrogen and sulphur vapour in the presence of argon and thirty three bands belonging to this system have been recorded in the region 2280 to 2760 Å. It has been found possible to represent the band heads by means of the equation {Mathematical expression}. Taking the lower state doublet interval as 223 cm-1, it is shown that the separation in the upper state is 94 cm-1. The ratio of the force constants in the upper and the ground states is found to be 0·39 and is nearly the same as that in the β-system of NO (0·30). The present vibrational analysis therefore supports the view that these new red degraded bands of NS arise from a (B2P{cyrillic}→X2P{cyrillic}) transition and the observed intensity distribution in the form of a wide parabola is also in qualitative agreement with what is expected from the moderately large Δ re (∼0·12Å) value.

Adnominal Person in the Morphological System of Erzya : Adnominaalinen persoona ersän kielen morfologisessa järjestelmässä

This dissertation is a synchronic description of adnominal person in the highly synthetic morphological system of Erzya as attested in extensive Erzya-language written-text corpora consisting of nearly 140 publications with over 4.5 million words and over 285,000 unique lexical items. Insight for this description have been obtained from several source grammars in German, Russian, Erzya, Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, as well as bounteous discussions in the understanding of the language with native speakers and grammarians 1993 2010. Introductory information includes the discussion of the status of Erzya as a lan- guage, the enumeration of phonemes generally used in the transliteration of texts and an in-depth description of adnominal morphology. The reader is then made aware of typological and Erzya-specifc work in the study of adnominal-type person. Methods of description draw upon the prerequisite information required in the development of a two-level morphological analyzer, as can be obtained in the typological description of allomorphic variation in the target language. Indication of original author or dialect background is considered important in the attestation of linguistic phenomena, such that variation might be plotted for a synchronic description of the language. The phonological description includes the establishment of a 6-vowel, 29-consonant phoneme system for use in the transliteration of annotated texts, i.e. two phonemes more than are generally recognized, and numerous rules governing allophonic variation in the language. Erzya adnominal morphology is demonstrated to have a three-way split in stem types and a three-layer system of non-derivative affixation. The adnominal-affixation layers are broken into (a) declension (the categories of case, number and deictic marking); (b) nominal conjugation (non-verb grammatical and oblique-case items can be conjugated), and (c) clitic marking. Each layer is given statistical detail with regard to concatenability. Finally, individual subsections are dedicated to the matters of: possessive declension compatibility in the distinction of sublexica; genitive and dative-case paradigmatic defectivity in the possessive declension, where it is demonstrated to be parametrically diverse, and secondary declension, a proposed typology modifiers without nouns , as compatible with adnominal person.

Pulp and Paper Fiction: On the Discursive Legitimation of Global Industrial Restructuring

Despite the central role of legitimacy in social and organizational life, we know little of the subtle meaning-making processes through which organizational phenomena, such as industrial restructuring, are legitimated in contemporary society. Therefore, this paper examines the discursive legitimation strategies used when making sense of global industrial restructuring in the media. Based on a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger, we distinguish and analyze five legitimation strategies: (1) normalization, (2) authorization, (3) rationalization, (4) moralization, and (5) narrativization. We argue that while these specific legitimation strategies appear in individual texts, their recurring use in the intertextual totality of the public discussion establishes the core elements of the emerging legitimating discourse.

The Y3?xBa3+xCu6O14+? system of superconductors

Members of the Y3?xBa3+xCu6O14+? system prepared at relatively low temperatures by nitrate decomposition have a tetragonal structure and show superconducting transitions (zero-resistance) around 50K.

An Enantiospecific Approach to the 5-8-5 Tricyclic System of Basmanes

An enantiospecific synthesis of the 5-8-5 tricyclic ring system present in the basmane diterpenes has been accomplished, starting from ethyl 3-isopropyl-2-methylene-1-methylcyclopentane-acetate readily available in five steps from (R)-limonene] employing an RCM reaction for the annulation of cyclooctane and an intramolecular rhodium carbenoid CH insertion reaction for the construction of the cyclopentane ring.

Enantiospecific approach to AB-ring system of the diterpenes fusicoccanes

Enantiospecific synthesis of the AB ring system of 5-8-5 tricyclic diterpenes fusicoccanes has been accomplished, starting from the readily available monoterpene (R)-limonene employing an reaction as the key step.

The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture

Despite a significant growth in food production over the past half-century, one of the most important challenges facing society today is how to feed an expected population of some nine billion by the middle of the 20th century. To meet the expected demand for food without significant increases in prices, it has been estimated that we need to produce 70-100 per cent more food, in light of the growing impacts of climate change, concerns over energy security, regional dietary shifts and the Millennium Development target of halving world poverty and hunger by 2015. The goal for the agricultural sector is no longer simply to maximize productivity, but to optimize across a far more complex landscape of production, rural development, environmental, social justice and food consumption outcomes. However, there remain significant challenges to developing national and international policies that support the wide emergence of more sustainable forms of land use and efficient agricultural production. The lack of information flow between scientists, practitioners and policy makers is known to exacerbate the difficulties, despite increased emphasis upon evidence-based policy. In this paper, we seek to improve dialogue and understanding between agricultural research and policy by identifying the 100 most important questions for global agriculture. These have been compiled using a horizon-scanning approach with leading experts and representatives of major agricultural organizations worldwide. The aim is to use sound scientific evidence to inform decision making and guide policy makers in the future direction of agricultural research priorities and policy support. If addressed, we anticipate that these questions will have a significant impact on global agricultural practices worldwide, while improving the synergy between agricultural policy, practice and research. This research forms part of the UK Government's Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures project.

Points-to Analysis as a System of Linear Equations

We propose a novel formulation of the points-to analysis as a system of linear equations. With this, the efficiency of the points-to analysis can be significantly improved by leveraging the advances in solution procedures for solving the systems of linear equations. However, such a formulation is non-trivial and becomes challenging due to various facts, namely, multiple pointer indirections, address-of operators and multiple assignments to the same variable. Further, the problem is exacerbated by the need to keep the transformed equations linear. Despite this, we successfully model all the pointer operations. We propose a novel inclusion-based context-sensitive points-to analysis algorithm based on prime factorization, which can model all the pointer operations. Experimental evaluation on SPEC 2000 benchmarks and two large open source programs reveals that our approach is competitive to the state-of-the-art algorithms. With an average memory requirement of mere 21MB, our context-sensitive points-to analysis algorithm analyzes each benchmark in 55 seconds on an average.

The onset of oscillatory Marangoni convection in a two-layer system of conducting fluid in the presence of a uniform magnetic field

A combination of numerical and analytical techniques is used to analyse the effect of magnetic field and encapsulated layer on the onset of oscillatory Marangoni instability in a two layer system. Oscillatory Marangoni instability is possible for a deformed free surface only when the system is heated from above. It is observed that the existence of a second layer has a positive effect on Marangoni overstability with magnetic field whereas it has an opposite effect without magnetic field.

An adaptive system of vigilance in spotted deer (Axis axis) herds in response to predation

Spotted deer or chital (Axis axis), a major prey species in southern India, lives in large groups. To understand the benefits of group living, we carried out observations on chital herds under natural conditions. Individual and group vigilance showed a negative correlation with herd size, whereas the latter had a positive correlation with proportion of vigilant individuals. Furthermore, individual vigilance was negatively correlated with proportion of individuals vigilant and positively correlated with group vigilance. These results are explained in the context of a three-phase vigilance system, probably operative in the chital herd, under specified ecological conditions. We surmise that this system allows for adaptation to predation risk and has possibly co-evolved with the optimal hunting strategy of the predator.

Free energy barriers for homogeneous crystal nucleation in a eutectic system of binary hard spheres

In this study, the free energy barriers for homogeneous crystal nucleation in a system that exhibits a eutectic point are computed using Monte Carlo simulations. The system studied is a binary hard sphere mixture with a diameter ratio of 0.85 between the smaller and larger hard spheres. The simulations of crystal nucleation are performed for the entire range of fluid compositions. The free energy barrier is found to be the highest near the eutectic point and is nearly five times that for the pure fluid, which slows down the nucleation rate by a factor of 10(-31). These free energy barriers are some of highest ever computed using simulations. For most of the conditions studied, the composition of the critical nucleus corresponds to either one of the two thermodynamically stable solid phases. However, near the eutectic point, the nucleation barrier is lowest for the formation of the metastable random hexagonal closed packed (rhcp) solid phase with composition lying in the two-phase region of the phase diagram. The fluid to solid phase transition is hypothesized to proceed via formation of a metastable rhcp phase followed by a phase separation into respective stable fcc solid phases.

Wet and dry spell characteristics of global tropical rainfall

In this study, we analyze satellite-based daily rainfall observations to compare and contrast the wet and dry spell characteristics of tropical rainfall. Defining a wet (dry) spell as the number of consecutive rainy (nonrainy) days, we find that the distributions of wet spells appear to exhibit universality in the following sense. While both ocean and land regions with high seasonal rainfall accumulation (humid regions; e. g., India, Amazon, Pacific Ocean) show a predominance of 2-4 day wet spells, those regions with low seasonal rainfall accumulation (arid regions; e. g., South Atlantic, South Australia) exhibit a wet spell duration distribution that is essentially exponential in nature, with a peak at 1 day. The behavior that we observed for wet spells is reversed for the dry spell characteristics. In other words, the main contribution to the dry part of the season, in terms of the number of nonrainy days, appears to come from 3-4 day dry spells in the arid regions, as opposed to 1 day dry spells in the humid regions. The total rainfall accumulated in each wet spell has also been analyzed, and we find that the major contribution to seasonal rainfall for arid regions comes from 1-5 day wet spells; however, for humid regions, this contribution comes from wet spells of duration as long as 30 days. We also explore the role of chance as well as the influence of organized convection in determining some of the observed features.