Impact of nitrogen uptake on field water balance in fertirrigated melon.

Agronomic management in Ciudad Real, a province in central Spain, is characteristic of semi-arid cropped areas whose water supplies have high nitrate (NO3?) content due to environmental degradation. This situation is aggravated by the existence of a restrictive subsurface layer of ?caliche? or hardpan at a depth of 0.60 m. Under these circumstances, fertirrigation rates, including nitrogen (N) fertilizer schedules, must be carefully calibrated to optimize melon yields while minimizing the N pollution and water supply. Such optimization was sought by fertilizing with different doses of N and irrigating at 100% of the ETc (crop evapotranspiration), adjusted for this crop and area. The N content in the four fertilizer doses used was: 0, 55, 82 and 109 kg N ha?1. Due to the NO3? content in the irrigation water, however, the actual N content was 30 kg ha?1 higher in all four treatments repeated in two different years. The results showed correlation between melon plant N uptake and drainage (Dr), which in turn affects the amount of N leached, as well as correlation between Dr and LAI (leaf area index) for each treatment. A fertilizer factor (?) was estimated through two methods, from difference in Dr and in LAI ratio with respect to the maximum N dose, to correct ETc based on N doses. The difference was found in the adjusted evapotranspiration in both years using the corresponding ? achieved 42?49 mm at vegetative period, depending on the method, and it was not significant at senescent period. Finally, a growth curve between N uptake and plant dry weight (DW) for each treatment was defined to confirm that the observed higher plant vigour, showing higher LAI and reduced Dr, was due mainly to higher N doses.

In-field assessment of batteries and PV modules in a large photovoltaic rural electrification programme

Assuring the sustainability of quality in photovoltaic rural electrification programmes involves enhancing the reliability of the components of solar home systems as well as the characterization of the overall programme cost structure. Batteries and photovoltaic modules have a great impact on both the reliability and the cost assessment, the battery being the weakest component of the solar home system and consequently the most expensive element of the programme. The photovoltaic module, despite being the most reliable component, has a significant impact cost-wise on the initial investment, even at current market prices. This paper focuses on the in-field testing of both batteries and photovoltaic modules working under real operating conditions within a sample of 41 solar home systems belonging to a large photovoltaic rural electrification programme with more than 13,000 installed photovoltaic systems. Different reliability parameters such as lifetime have been evaluated, taking into account different factors, for example energy consumption rates, or the manufacturing quality of batteries. A degradation model has been proposed relating both loss of capacity and time of operation. The user e solar home system binomial is also analysed in order to understand the meaning of battery lifetime in rural electrification.

Asymptotic analysis of vertical geothermal boreholes in the limit of slowly varyng heat injection rates

Theoretical models for the thermal response of vertical geothermal boreholes often assume that the characteristic time of variation of the heat injection rate is much larger than the characteristic diffusion time across the borehole. In this case, heat transfer inside the borehole and in its immediate surroundings is quasi-steady in the first approximation, while unsteady effects enter only in the far field. Previous studies have exploited this disparity of time scales, incorporating approximate matching conditions to couple the near-borehole region with the outer unsteady temperatura field. In the present work matched asymptotic expansion techniques are used to analyze the heat transfer problem, delivering a rigorous derivation of the true matching condition between the two regions and of the correct definition of the network of thermal resistances that represents the quasi-steady solution near the borehole. Additionally, an apparent temperature due to the unsteady far field is identified that needs to be taken into account by the near-borehole region for the correct computation of the heat injection rate. This temperature differs from the usual mean borehole temperature employed in the literatura.

Neutron field characteristics of Ciemat's Neutron Standards Laboratory Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo

Monte Carlo calculations were carried out to characterize the neutron field produced by the calibration neutron sources of the Neutron Standards Laboratory at the Research Center for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT) in Spain. For 241AmBe and 252Cf neutron sources, the neutron spectra, the ambient dose equivalent rates and the total neutron fluence rates were estimated. In the calibration hall, there are several items that modify the neutron field. To evaluate their effects different cases were used, from point-like source in vacuum up to the full model. Additionally, using the full model, the neutron spectra were estimated to different distances along the bench; with these spectra, the total neutron fluence and the ambient dose equivalent rates were calculated. The hall walls induce the largest changes in the neutron spectra and the respective integral quantities. The free-field neutron spectrum is modified due the room return effect.

Temporal variation, dormancy, and coexistence: A field test of the storage effect

Theoretical models suggest that overlapping generations, in combination with a temporally fluctuating environment, may allow the persistence of competitors that otherwise would not coexist. Despite extensive theoretical development, this “storage effect” hypothesis has received little empirical attention. Herein I present the first explicit mathematical analysis of the contribution of the storage effect to the dynamics of competing natural populations. In Oneida Lake, NY, data collected over the past 30 years show a striking negative correlation between the water-column densities of two species of suspension-feeding zooplankton, Daphnia galeata mendotae and Daphnia pulicaria. I have demonstrated competition between these two species and have shown that both possess long-lived eggs that establish overlapping generations. Moreover, recruitment to this long-lived stage varies annually, so that both daphnids have years in which they are favored (for recruitment) relative to their competitor. When the long-term population growth rates are calculated both with and without the effects of a variable environment, I show that D. galeata mendotae clearly cannot persist without the environmental variation and prolonged dormancy (i.e., storage effect) whereas D. pulicaria persists through consistently high per capita recruitment to the long-lived stage.

Blood glutathione synthesis rates in healthy adults receiving a sulfur amino acid-free diet

The availability of cysteine is thought to be the rate limiting factor for synthesis of the tripeptide glutathione (GSH), based on studies in rodents. GSH status is compromised in various disease states and by certain medications leading to increased morbidity and poor survival. To determine the possible importance of dietary cyst(e)ine availability for whole blood glutathione synthesis in humans, we developed a convenient mass spectrometric method for measurement of the isotopic enrichment of intact GSH and then applied it in a controlled metabolic study. Seven healthy male subjects received during two separate 10-day periods an l-amino acid based diet supplying an adequate amino acid intake or a sulfur amino acid (SAA) (methionine and cysteine) free mixture (SAA-free). On day 10, l-[1-13C]cysteine was given as a primed, constant i.v. infusion (3μmol⋅kg−1⋅h−1) for 6 h, and incorporation of label into whole blood GSH determined by GC/MS selected ion monitoring. The fractional synthesis rate (mean ± SD; day-1) of whole blood GSH was 0.65 ± 0.13 for the adequate diet and 0.49 ± 0.13 for the SAA-free diet (P < 0.01). Whole blood GSH was 1,142 ± 243 and 1,216 ± 162 μM for the adequate and SAA-free periods (P > 0.05), and the absolute rate of GSH synthesis was 747 ± 216 and 579 ± 135 μmol⋅liter−1⋅day−1, respectively (P < 0.05). Thus, a restricted dietary supply of SAA slows the rate of whole blood GSH synthesis and diminishes turnover, with maintenance of the GSH concentration in healthy subjects.

The metabolic implications of intracellular circulation

Two views currently dominate research into cell function and regulation. Model I assumes that cell behavior is quite similar to that expected for a watery bag of enzymes and ligands. Model II assumes that three-dimensional order and structure constrain and determine metabolite behavior. A major problem in cell metabolism is determining why essentially all metabolite concentrations are remarkably stable (are homeostatic) over large changes in pathway fluxes—for convenience, this is termed the [s] stability paradox. For muscle cells, ATP and O2 are the most perfectly homeostatic, even though O2 delivery and metabolic rate correlate in a 1:1 fashion. In total, more than 60 metabolites are known to be remarkably homeostatic in differing metabolic states. Several explanations of [s] stability are usually given by traditional model I studies—none of which apply to all enzymes in a pathway, and all of which require diffusion as the means for changing enzyme–substrate encounter rates. In contrast, recent developments in our understanding of intracellular myosin, kinesin, and dyenin motors running on actin and tubulin tracks or cables supply a mechanistic basis for regulated intracellular circulation systems with cytoplasmic streaming rates varying over an approximately 80-fold range (from 1 to >80 μm × sec−1). These new studies raise a model II hypothesis of intracellular perfusion or convection as a primary means for bringing enzymes and substrates together under variable metabolic conditions. In this view, change in intracellular perfusion rates cause change in enzyme–substrate encounter rates and thus change in pathway fluxes with no requirement for large simultaneous changes in substrate concentrations. The ease with which this hypothesis explains the [s] stability paradox is one of its most compelling features.

Unifying theory of hypoxia tolerance: molecular/metabolic defense and rescue mechanisms for surviving oxygen lack.

We develop a unifying theory of hypoxia tolerance based on information from two cell level models (brain cortical cells and isolated hepatocytes) from the highly anoxia tolerant aquatic turtle and from other more hypoxia sensitive systems. We propose that the response of hypoxia tolerant systems to oxygen lack occurs in two phases (defense and rescue). The first lines of defense against hypoxia include a balanced suppression of ATP-demand and ATP-supply pathways; this regulation stabilizes (adenylates) at new steady-state levels even while ATP turnover rates greatly decline. The ATP demands of ion pumping are down-regulated by generalized "channel" arrest in hepatocytes and by "spike" arrest in neurons. Hypoxic ATP demands of protein synthesis are down-regulated probably by translational arrest. In hypoxia sensitive cells this translational arrest seems irreversible, but hypoxia-tolerant systems activate "rescue" mechanisms if the period of oxygen lack is extended by preferentially regulating the expression of several proteins. In these cells, a cascade of processes underpinning hypoxia rescue and defense begins with an oxygen sensor (a heme protein) and a signal-transduction pathway, which leads to significant gene-based metabolic reprogramming-the rescue process-with maintained down-regulation of energy-demand and energy-supply pathways in metabolism throughout the hypoxic period. This recent work begins to clarify how normoxic maintenance ATP turnover rates can be drastically (10-fold) down-regulated to a new hypometabolic steady state, which is prerequisite for surviving prolonged hypoxia or anoxia. The implications of these developments are extensive in biology and medicine.

Genomic cloning of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase: a purine metabolic enzyme deficient in multiple different cancers.

5'-Deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (methylthioadeno-sine: ortho-phosphate methylthioribosyltransferase, EC 24.2.28; MTAP) plays a role in purine and polyamine metabolism and in the regulation of transmethylation reactions. MTAP is abundant in normal cells but is deficient in many cancers. Recently, the genes for the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p16 and p15 have been localized to the short arm of human chromosome 9 at band p21, where MTAP and interferon alpha genes (IFNA) also map. Homozygous deletions of p16 and p15 are frequent malignant cell lines. However, the order of the MTAP, p16, p15, and IFNA genes on chromosome 9p is uncertain, and the molecular basis for MTAP deficiency in cancer is unknown. We have cloned the MTAP gene, and have constructed a topologic map of the 9p21 region using yeast artificial chromosome clones, pulse-field gel electrophoresis, and sequence-tagged-site PCR. The MTAP gene consists of eight exons and seven introns. Of 23 malignant cell lines deficient in MTAP protein, all but one had complete or partial deletions. Partial or total deletions of the MTAP gene were found in primary T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL). A deletion breakpoint of partial deletions found in cell lines and primary T-ALL was in intron 4. Starting from the centromeric end, the gene order on chromosome 9p2l is p15, p16, MTAP, IFNA, and interferon beta gene (IFNB). These results indicate that MTAP deficiency in cancer is primarily due to codeletion of the MTAP and p16 genes.

Bioenergetic scaling: metabolic design and body-size constraints in mammals.

The cytosolic phosphorylation ratio ([ATP]/[ADP][P(i)]) in the mammalian heart was found to be inversely related to body mass with an exponent of -0.30 (r = 0.999). This exponent is similar to -0.25 calculated for the mass-specific O2 consumption. The inverse of cytosolic free [ADP], the Gibbs energy of ATP hydrolysis (delta G'ATP), and the efficiency of ATP production (energy captured in forming 3 mol of ATP per cycle along the mitochondrial respiratory chain from NADH to 1/2 O2) were all found to scale with body mass with a negative exponent. On the basis of scaling of the phosphorylation ratio and free cytosolic [ADP], we propose that the myocardium and other tissues of small mammals represent a metabolic system with a higher driving potential (a higher delta G'ATP from the higher [ATP]/[ADP][P(i)]) and a higher kinetic gain [(delta V/Vmax)/delta [ADP]] where small changes in free [ADP] produce large changes in steady-state rates of O2 consumption. From the inverse relationship between mitochondrial efficiency and body size we calculate that tissues of small mammals are more efficient than those of large mammals in converting energy from the oxidation of foodstuffs to the bond energy of ATP. A higher efficiency also indicates that mitochondrial electron transport is not the major site for higher heat production in small mammals. We further propose that the lower limit of about 2 g for adult endotherm body size (bumblebee-bat, Estrucan shrew, and hummingbird) may be set by the thermodynamics of the electron transport chain. The upper limit for body size (100,000-kg adult blue whale) may relate to a minimum delta G'ATP of approximately 55 kJ/mol for a cytoplasmic phosphorylation ratio of 12,000 M-1.

Sinking rates of particles measured from deployments in the Atlantic Ocean based on seasonal data

The flux of materials to the deep sea is dominated by larger, organic-rich particles with sinking rates varying between a few meters and several hundred meters per day. Mineral ballast may regulate the transfer of organic matter and other components by determining the sinking rates, e.g. via particle density. We calculated particle sinking rates from mass flux patterns and alkenone measurements applying the results of sediment trap experiments from the Atlantic Ocean. We have indication for higher particle sinking rates in carbonate-dominated production systems when considering both regional and seasonal data. During a summer coccolithophorid bloom in the Cape Blanc coastal upwelling off Mauritania, particle sinking rates reached almost 570 m per day, most probably due the fast sedimentation of densely packed zooplankton fecal pellets, which transport high amounts of organic carbon associated with coccoliths to the deep ocean despite rather low production. During the recurring winter-spring blooms off NW Africa and in opal-rich production systems of the Southern Ocean, sinking rates of larger particles, most probably diatom aggregates, showed a tendency to lower values. However, there is no straightforward relationship between carbonate content and particle sinking rates. This could be due to the unknown composition of carbonate and/or the influence of particle size and shape on sinking rates. It also remains noticeable that the highest sinking rates occurred in dust-rich ocean regions off NW Africa, but this issue deserves further detailed field and laboratory investigations. We obtained increasing sinking rates with depth. By using a seven-compartment biogeochemical model, it was shown that the deep ocean organic carbon flux at a mesotrophic sediment trap site off Cape Blanc can be captured fairly well using seasonal variable particle sinking rates. Our model provides a total organic carbon flux of 0.29 Tg per year down to 3000 m off the NW African upwelling region between 5 and 35° N. Simple parameterisations of remineralisation and sinking rates in such models, however, limit their capability in reproducing the flux variation in the water column.

Polarity chron boundaries and interval sedimentation rates of ODP Leg 162 sites

Magnetic polarity stratigraphies for Sites 980-984 are based on shipboard measurements from the pass-through magnetometer after alternating field (AF) demagnetization at a peak field of 25 mT and shore-based stepwise AF demagnetization of discrete samples. The characteristic magnetization component was determined after AF demagnetization removed the steep downward drill-string-related magnetic overprint. Peak AF fields in the 20-30 mT range were required to resolve the component, carried by magnetite, that was used to produce unambiguous Pliocene-Pleistocene magnetic stratigraphies at all five sites. At Sites 980 and 983, magnetic stratigraphies were resolved to the base of the recovered advanced hydraulic piston corer (APC) section, which lies in the Matuyama Chron (1r.2r) and Olduvai Subchron (2n), respectively. At Sites 981 and 982, magnetization intensities decrease sharply in the normal polarity zone corresponding to the Gauss Chron (2An), and magnetic stratigraphies below this level could not be resolved. At Site 984, the resolution of magnetic stratigraphy was curtailed at ~250 meters below seafloor (Olduvai Subchron) by core deformation at the base of the APC section and in the underlying extended core barrel section. As the magnetic stratigraphies at all four sites are unequivocal, polarity chron interpretations can be made without aid from the biostratigraphy. Mean sedimentation rates within polarity chrons have been calculated and Pliocene-Pleistocene biomagnetostratigraphic correlations tested.

Field test evaluation of rear lighting systems. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Site report: Lexington, Kentucky - field test of combined speed, alcohol, and safety belt enforcement strategies. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.