The production of algae growing on gravel in a chalk-stream

Epilithic algae, ie that growing on the surface of stones, was studied as part of the work on the energy flow of the chalk-stream ecosystem, by the River Laboratory. The study area was on Bere Stream and 2 neighbouring streams. The algal biomass was estimated from analysis of chlorophyll a. In Bere Stream the peak chlorophyll a cover occurred in April, while in the neighbouring streams, which have considerably lower nutrient levels, there was on peak. Assuming that 2% of a diatoms dry wt is chlorophyll a, then even in mid-April the biomass of epilithic algae amounted to no more than 15 g dry wt m Super(-2) of exposed gravel. Annual production was calculated to be > 15 times greater than biomass. The estimation of net primary production is always difficult for benthic floras and comparisons are especially difficult when different methods are used. But these figures contrast sharply with those for Ranunculus (water crowfoot) which has a ratio of annual production to maximal seasonal biomass of 1:16. The accumulation of algal biomass is apparently being prevented. Some organic matter may be excreted; some algae will be washed off the bed of the stream by current and grazing by herbivorous invertebrates will also tend to prevent algal accumulation.

A mercantilização na saúde e a hegemonia do capital financeiro

A presente dissertação analisa como a lógica do capital penetrou na saúde como resultado da necessidade de expansão das forças produtivas. O que se pretende confirmar é o processo no qual o capital, ao metamorfosear sua necessidade em necessidade universal, amplia suas bases de produção e faz parecer que, para alcançar níveis melhores de saúde, toda área precise depender de injeções cada vez mais vultuosas de capitais. Essa dependência, em suma ideológica, produz e cria os meios para a reprodução de suas contradições em todos os ramos da área de saúde. É nessa esteira que o capital portador de juros passa a determinar os processos de produção e reprodução na área, com o objetivo de alcançar lucros exorbitantes, ao ponto de sentenciar centenas de milhares de vidas a incerteza, a dor e até a morte do corpo e da alma pela falta de assistência das políticas de saúde. Problematiza-se os projetos em disputa na saúde, ressaltando o projeto contra-hegemônico da Reforma Sanitária elaborado nos anos 1970. Aborda-se a saúde por sua relevância e necessidade de transpô-la ao patamar de valor humanitário, a partir de uma inquietação tangencial, aos processos vivenciados no cotidiano entre aqueles que trabalham, para possibilitar o acesso a uma multidão cada vez maior e mais diversificada que requer, enquanto trabalhadores, direitos aos produtos e aos serviços de saúde. Tomando a referência do complexo industrial da saúde, no contexto de hegemonia do capital financeiro, evidencia-se sua consolidação na ampliação da acumulação e concentração frente à histórica necessidade do capital de assentar-se em bases materiais e de articular-se ao capital portador de juros. Na atualidade esse processo sustenta este modo de produção e garante sua produção/reprodução por meio da invenção crescente de capitais fictícios. No Brasil, ao passo que as políticas sociais são privatizadas, a concentração de capitais, os planos de investimento e crescimento das empresas por participação acionária são financiados com recursos públicos comprovados por meio dos programas do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social.

Taxonomic study of brown algae commonly growing on the coast of Karachi, Pakistan

Fourteen commonly occurring species of marine benthic algae, i.e., Colpomenia sinuosa (Mertens ex Roth) Derbes et Solier, Dictyopteris australis (Sonder) Askenasy, Dictyota dichotoma (Hudson) Lamouroux D. dumosa Børgesen, D. hauckiana Nizamuddin, D. indica Sonder, D. maxima Zanardini, Hincksia mitchelliae (Harvey) Silva, Jolyna laminarioides Guimardes in Guimarâes et al., Padina tetrastromatica Hauck, Sargassum tenerrinum J. Agardh, Spatoglossum variabille Figari et De Notaris, Stoechospermum marginatum (C. Agardh) Kültzing and Stokeyia indica Thivy et Doshi, belonging to all three classes of Phaeophyta, were collected from coastal areas near Karachi, Pakistan and their taxonomy determined. Although all are taxonomically known species, Dictyota dichotoma, D. dumosa, D. hauckiana, D. indica, D. maxima, Jolyna laminarioides, Padina tetrastromatica, Sargassum tenerritnum and Stokeyia indica are described for the first time from the coast of Pakistan.

A taxonomic study of some red algae commonly growing on the coast of Karachi

Eighteen commonly occurring species of marine benthic red algae, i.e., Asparagopsis taxiformis (Delile) Trevisan, Bangia atropurpurea (Roth) C. Agardh, Centroceras clavulatum (C. Agardh) Montagne, Calliblepharis fimbriata (Greville) Kiitzing, Coelarthrum muelleri (Sonder) B¢rgesen, Cottoniella filamentosa (Howe) B¢rgesen, Gracilariafoliifera (Forsskai) B¢rgesen, Halymenia porphyraeformis (B¢rgesen) Parkinson, Hypnea muscifor:mis (Wulfen) Lamouroux, Hypnea valentiae (Turner) Montagne, Laurencia obtusa (Hudson) Lamouroux, Me!anothamnus somalensis Bomet et Falkenberg, Porphyra vietnamensis Tanaka et Pham-hoang H6, Sarconema filiforme (Sonder) Kylin, Sebdenia flabellata (J. Agardh) Parkinson, Scinaia fascicularis (B¢rgesen) Huisman, Scinaia hatei B¢rgesen, and Solieria robusta (Greville) Kylin were collected from coastal areas near Karachi (Pakistan) and taxonomically investigated. All the investigated seaweeds are taxonomically known species. During this study, Melanothamnus somalensis is reported for the first time from northern Arabian Sea and Asparagopsis taxiformis, Bangia atropurpurea, Cottoniella filamentosa, Gracilaria foliifera, Halymenia porphyraeformis, Melanothamnus somalensis, Sarconema filiforme, Sebdenia flabellata, Scinaia fascicularis, and Solieria robusta are taxonomically described for the first time from the coast of Pakistan.

Taxonomic study of coenocytic green algae commonly growing on the coast of Karachi

Twelve commonly occurring coenocytic and siphonaceous species of marine benthic algae, i.e., Bryopsis pennatta Lamouroux, Caulerpa chemnitzia (Esper) Lamouroux, Ca. faridii Nizamuddin, Ca. manorensis Nizamuddin, Ca. racemosa (Forsskal) J. Agardh, Ca. taxifolia. (Vahl) C. Agardh, Chaetomorpha antennina (Bory de Saint-Vincent) Kutzing, Cladophora uncinella Harvey, Codium decorticatum (Woodward) Howe, Co. flabellatum Nizamuddin, Co. iyengarii Borgesen, and Valoniopsis pachynema (Martens) Borgesen, belonging to four different orders of the class Bryopsidophyceae, division Chlorophyta, were collected from the intertidal region of different coastal areas near Karachi (Pakistan) and investigated taxonomically. Codium decorticatum is a new report from this region and Co. decorticatum, Co. flabellatum and Co. iyengarii are described for the first time from the coast of Pakistan.

Bacillus solisalsi sp nov., a halotolerant, alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from soil around a salt lake

A novel Gram-positive, motile, rod-shaped bacterium isolated from a saline soil in China was characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The strain, designated YC1(T), was halotolerant [tolerating up to 15 % (w/v) NaCl] and alkaliphilic (growing at

Building the single market with information technology - lessons from a transnational IT implementation

The subject company operates in a vigorously growing sector of the packaging market, with plants in most European countries. But could this disparate business function as a single company in a single (European) market? This article sets out some lessons learned from a pilot transnational implementation of a strategic management information system, designed to counter entrenched national business thinking in one European company and its subsidiaries.

Mercury bioaccumulation in pike (Esox lucius) food chain from Anzali Lagoon, Iran

A number of wide-ranging monitoring studies have been performed in order to estimate the degree of mercury (Hg) contamination in freshwater ecosystems. Knowledge regarding contamination of different levels of the food chain is necessary for estimation of total pollutant input fluxes and subsequent partitioning among different phases in the aquatic system. The growing international concern about this environmental data is closely related to the strongly developing ecological risk assessment activities. In addition,freshwater monitoring outputs hold a key position in the estimation of the Hg dose consumed by the human population as it is highly dependent on fish consumption. So monitoring of Hg in the tissue of edible fish is extremely important because of contaminated fish has caused serious neurological damage to new born babies and adults. Mercury tends to accumulate in fish tissue, particularly, in the form of methyl mercury, which is about 10 times more toxic than inorganic mercury. The Anzali lagoon is one of the biggest wetland of Guilan province, which joins to the Caspian sea. Many Chemical and industrial factories plus agricultural runoffs and urban and rural sewages are major polluting sources of the Anzali wetland. Since many of those polluting sources drain their wastes directly or indirectly into the Anzali wetland and their sewages may be polluted with Hg, this study was conducted to find out the bioaccumulation of Hg bioaccumulation in pike (Esox lucius) food chain from Anzali lagoon, Iran. Sampling were carried out from July 2004 to July 2005, in addition 318 speciments of 9 fish species were collected. T-Hg was measured by LECO AMA 254 Advanced Mercury Analyzer (USA) according to ASTM standard No D-6722. Each sample was analyzed 3 times. Accuracy of T-Hg analysis was checked by running three samples of Standard Reference Materials; SRM 1633b, SRM 2711 & Sra 2709. Detection limit was 0.001 mg/kg in dry weight. The Accuracy degree of analyzor equipment with RSD<%0.05 (N=7) was between %95.5 and %105. In overal eigth fish species were distingushed in the gut content of 87 speciments of pike with age 1-5 year and maximum length 550mm. The max. and min. concentration of T-Hg in dorsal muscle of pjke was 0.2ppm in one year and 1.2ppm in five year class. The mean of T-Hg significantly increased with age and length increased (P<0.05).Mercury accumulation pattern in pike was as well as muscle > liver > spleen (P<0.05). THg content in female was higher than male(P<0.05). In contrast the mean of THg concentration in dorsal muscle of eigth fish species as prey was 0.282, 0.261, 0.328, 0.254, 0.256, 0.286, 0.322 and 0.241 ppm for Carassius auratus gibelio, Hemiculter leucisculus, Blicca bjoerkna transcaucasica, Chalcalburnus mossulensis, Rhodeus sericeus amarus, Gambusia holbrooki, Alburnus charusini hohenackeri & Scardinius Erythrophthalmus respectively.Liner regresion indicated that high degree of relationship between age of pike and Uptak/Intake ratio (R2=%99.12) and indicated that the mercury bioaccumulation in the pike dorsal muscle increased with age increased. BFA was >1 and and indicating the mercury biomagnification in the pike food chain. Trophy level of pike in the Anzali lagoon was estimated as well as 3.5 and 4 . It is generally agreed that Hg concentration in carnivorous fish are higher than in noncarnivorous species.

Growing catfish in the Philippines

The catfish industry in the Philippines is budding and projected to expand in the coming years. This is evident from conversations with active catfish farmers who all hope to be able to expand production, whether backyard or commercial because their present production can hardly supply the demands of buyers. NIFTDC, a fisheries technology and development center in Dagupan City, Philippines, however, says that unless the government has a catfish program, expansion of the industry would be slow. Work on catfish research is only just starting and the culture methods remain to be on a gut feel basis. The farmers are left to survive on their own. Luckily for them, catfish is hardy, easy to grow, and has a growing market. Clearly, if catfish can provide cheap protein for more people, scientific support must be made available for the farmers.

Imaging the femoral cortex: thickness, density and mass from clinical CT.

There is growing evidence that focal thinning of cortical bone in the proximal femur may predispose a hip to fracture. Detecting such defects in clinical CT is challenging, since cortices may be significantly thinner than the imaging system's point spread function. We recently proposed a model-fitting technique to measure sub-millimetre cortices, an ill-posed problem which was regularized by assuming a specific, fixed value for the cortical density. In this paper, we develop the work further by proposing and evaluating a more rigorous method for estimating the constant cortical density, and extend the paradigm to encompass the mapping of cortical mass (mineral mg/cm(2)) in addition to thickness. Density, thickness and mass estimates are evaluated on sixteen cadaveric femurs, with high resolution measurements from a micro-CT scanner providing the gold standard. The results demonstrate robust, accurate measurement of peak cortical density and cortical mass. Cortical thickness errors are confined to regions of thin cortex and are bounded by the extent to which the local density deviates from the peak, averaging 20% for 0.5mm cortex.

Imaging the femoral cortex: Thickness, density and mass from clinical CT

There is growing evidence that focal thinning of cortical bone in the proximal femur may predispose a hip to fracture. Detecting such defects in clinical CT is challenging, since cortices may be significantly thinner than the imaging system's point spread function. We recently proposed a model-fitting technique to measure sub-millimetre cortices, an ill-posed problem which was regularized by assuming a specific, fixed value for the cortical density. In this paper, we develop the work further by proposing and evaluating a more rigorous method for estimating the constant cortical density, and extend the paradigm to encompass the mapping of cortical mass (mineral mg/cm 2) in addition to thickness. Density, thickness and mass estimates are evaluated on sixteen cadaveric femurs, with high resolution measurements from a micro-CT scanner providing the gold standard. The results demonstrate robust, accurate measurement of peak cortical density and cortical mass. Cortical thickness errors are confined to regions of thin cortex and are bounded by the extent to which the local density deviates from the peak, averaging 20% for 0.5mm cortex. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Mapping the global flow of aluminum: from liquid aluminum to end-use goods.

Demand for aluminum in final products has increased 30-fold since 1950 to 45 million tonnes per year, with forecasts predicting this exceptional growth to continue so that demand will reach 2-3 times today's levels by 2050. Aluminum production uses 3.5% of global electricity and causes 1% of global CO2 emissions, while meeting a 50% cut in emissions by 2050 against growing demand would require at least a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of aluminum produced--a challenging prospect. In this paper we trace the global flows of aluminum from liquid metal to final products, revealing for the first time a complete map of the aluminum system and providing a basis for future study of the emissions abatement potential of material efficiency. The resulting Sankey diagram also draws attention to two key issues. First, around half of all liquid aluminum (~39 Mt) produced each year never reaches a final product, and a detailed discussion of these high yield losses shows significant opportunities for improvement. Second, aluminum recycling, which avoids the high energy costs and emissions of electrolysis, requires signification "dilution" (~ 8 Mt) and "cascade" (~ 6 Mt) flows of higher aluminum grades to make up for the shortfall in scrap supply and to obtain the desired alloy mix, increasing the energy required for recycling.

Carbon nanotube forests growth using catalysts from atomic layer deposition

We have grown carbon nanotubes using Fe and Ni catalyst films deposited by atomic layer deposition. Both metals lead to catalytically active nanoparticles for growing vertically aligned nanotube forests or carbon fibres, depending on the growth conditions and whether the substrate is alumina or silica. The resulting nanotubes have narrow diameter and wall number distributions that are as narrow as those grown from sputtered catalysts. The state of the catalyst is studied by in-situ and ex-situ X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. We demonstrate multi-directional nanotube growth on a porous alumina foam coated with Fe prepared by atomic layer deposition. This deposition technique can be useful for nanotube applications in microelectronics, filter technology, and energy storage. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Studies of polysaccharides from three edible species of Nostoc (cyanobacteria) with different colony morphologies: Structural characterization and effect on the complement system of polysaccharides from Nostoc commune

The cyanobacterium Nostoc commune Vaucher produces quite complex extracellular polysaccharides. The cyanobacterium is nitrogen fixing, and on growing the cyanobacterium in media with and without nitrogen, different types of extracellular polysaccharides were obtained. These were also different from the polysaccharides present in N. commune collected in the field. High pH anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC) of weak acid hydrolysates of the culture-grown material demonstrated that, in this case, HPAEC was useful for comparison of the different polymers. The main differences between the polymers from the field group and the culture-grown samples were the presence of substantial amounts of arabinose, 2-O-methylglucose, and glucuronic acid in the latter. Methylation studies also revealed a difference in the branching points on the glucose units between the field and cultured samples, being 1,4,6 for the first and 1,3,6 for the latter. The field acidic fraction gave, on weak acid hydrolysis and separation on BioGel P2 and HPAEC, 12 oligosaccharide fractions that were isolated and studied by different mass spectroscopy techniques. The structures of the oligosaccharides were determined, and two different series that can originate from two repeating pentamers were identified: GlcAl-4/6GlcM1-4Ga11-4Glc1-4Xyl and GlcAl-4/6Glc1-4Ga11-4Glc1-4Xyl. The difference between these oligosaccharides lies in the methyl substituent on carbon 2 of the glucose unit next to the nonreducing glucuronic acid unit. The polysaccharides from field material were shown to have a strong effect on the complement system.

Fluxes of CO2,CH4 and N2O from alpine grassland in the Tibetan Plateau

Using static chamber technique,fluxes of CO2,CH4 and N2O were measured in the alpine grassland area from July 2000 to July 2001,determinations of mean fluxes showed that CO2 and N2O were generally released from the soil,while the alpine grassland accounted for a weak CH4 sink.Fluxes of CO2,CH4 and N2O ranged widely.The highest CO2 emission occurred in August,whereas almost 90?of the whole year emission occurred in the growing season.But the variations of CH4 and N2O fluxes did not show any clear patterns over the one-year-experiment.During a daily variation,the maximum CO2 emission occurred at 16:00,and then decreased to the minimum emission in the early morning.Daily pattern analyses indicated that the variation in CO2 fluxes was positively related to air temperatures(R^2=0.73)and soil temperatures at a depth of 5 cm(R^2=0.86),whereas daily variations in CH4 and N2O fluxes were poorly explained by soil temperatures and climatic variables.CO2 emissions in this area were much lower than other grasslands in plain areas.