Changes in the properties of Bacillus thuringiensis after prolonged culture in a rich medium

AIM: To investigate the effect of repeated culture in a rich medium on certain genetic, metabolic, pathogenic and structural characteristics of fresh isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Four strains of B. thuringiensis, which had been isolated in vegetative form from leaf surfaces, were grown for 500 generations in batch culture in a rich medium. One of the strains, S4g, differed from the parent in the following respects: greater cell width; changed plasmid profile; complete loss of ability to produce delta-endotoxins; loss of ability to produce beta-exotoxin and disruption of vip3 gene; radically different fatty acid composition; and altered metabolic activity. Two of the other evolved strains (S1g and S6g) showed differences in fatty acid profiles compared with the parents. Genetic finger-printing showed that there were also mutations in the cry genes of two of the evolved strains (S1g and S2g). The delta-endotoxins of strain S6g were significantly less toxic to the larvae of Pieris brassica compared with those of the parent and it also differed in the plasmid content. CONCLUSION: Radical and unpredictable changes can occur in fresh isolates of B. thuringiensis when subjected to growth in the laboratory. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This is the first analysis of a Gram positive and biotechnologically significant bacterium after repeated laboratory culture. It is of great relevance to the biotechnological exploitation of B. thuringiensis that prolonged growth of environmental isolates on laboratory culture media can have profound effects on their structure, genome and virulence determinants.

Applications of statistical models in proportioning medium strength self-compacting concrete

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is generally designed with a relatively higher content of finer, which includes cement, and dosage of superplasticizer than the conventional concrete. The design of the current SCC leads to high compressive strength, which is already used in special applications, where the high cost of materials can be tolerated. Using SCC, which eliminates the need for vibration, leads to increased speed of casting and thus reduces labour requirement, energy consumption, construction time, and cost of equipment. In order to obtain and gain maximum benefit from SCC it has to be used for wider applications. The cost of materials will be decreased by reducing the cement content and using a minimum amount of admixtures. This paper reviews statistical models obtained from a factorial design which was carried out to determine the influence of four key parameters on filling ability, passing ability, segregation and compressive strength. These parameters are important for the successful development of medium strength self-compacting concrete (MS-SCC). The parameters considered in the study were the contents of cement and pulverised fuel ash (PFA), water-to-powder ratio (W/P), and dosage of superplasticizer (SP). The responses of the derived statistical models are slump flow, fluidity loss, rheological parameters, Orimet time, V-funnel time, L-box, JRing combined to Orimet, JRing combined to cone, fresh segregation, and compressive strength at 7, 28 and 90 days. The models are valid for mixes made with 0.38 to 0.72 W/P ratio, 60 to 216 kg/m3 of cement content, 183 to 317 kg/m3 of PFA and 0 to 1% of SP, by mass of powder. The utility of such models to optimize concrete mixes to achieve good balance between filling ability, passing ability, segregation, compressive strength, and cost is discussed. Examples highlighting the usefulness of the models are presented using isoresponse surfaces to demonstrate single and coupled effects of mix parameters on slump flow, loss of fluidity, flow resistance, segregation, JRing combined to Orimet, and compressive strength at 7 and 28 days. Cost analysis is carried out to show trade-offs between cost of materials and specified consistency levels and compressive strength at 7 and 28 days that can be used to identify economic mixes. The paper establishes the usefulness of the mathematical models as a tool to facilitate the test protocol required to optimise medium strength SCC.

Crystallization and phase transformation behaviour of electroless nickel-phosphorus deposits with low and medium phosphorus contents under continuous heating

Electroless nickel-phosphorus deposits with 5-8 wt% P and 3-5 wt% P were analysed for the effects of continuous heating on the crystallization kinetics and phase transformation behaviour of the deposits. The as-deposited coatings consist of a mixture of amorphous and microcrystalline nickel phases, featuring in their X-ray diffraction patterns. Continuous heating processes to 300C-800C at 20C/min were carried out on the deposits in a differential scanning calorimetric apparatus. The subsequent X-ray diffraction analyses show that the sequence of phase transformation process was: amorphous phase + microcrystalline nickel, f.c.c. nickel + Ni3P stable phases. Preferred orientation of nickel {200} plane developed in the deposits after the heating processes. Differential scanning calorimetry of the deposits indicates that the crystallization temperatures increased with decreasing phosphorus content, and increasing heating rate. Crystallization activation energies of the deposits (230 and 322 kJ/mol, respectively) were calculated using the peak temperatures of crystallization process, from the differential scanning calorimetric curves at the heating rates ranging from 5 to 50C/min. It was found that the deposit with lower phosphorus content has higher activation energy.

Performance analysis of an improved power-saving medium access protocol for IEEE 802.11 point coordination function WLAN

Wireless enabled portable devices must operate with the highest possible energy efficiency while still maintaining a minimum level and quality of service to meet the user's expectations. The authors analyse the performance of a new pointer-based medium access control protocol that was designed to significantly improve the energy efficiency of user terminals in wireless local area networks. The new protocol, pointer controlled slot allocation and resynchronisation protocol (PCSAR), is based on the existing IEEE 802.11 point coordination function (PCF) standard. PCSAR reduces energy consumption by removing the need for power saving stations to remain awake and listen to the channel. Using OPNET, simulations were performed under symmetric channel loading conditions to compare the performance of PCSAR with the infrastructure power saving mode of IEEE 802.11, PCF-PS. The simulation results demonstrate a significant improvement in energy efficiency without significant reduction in performance when using PCSAR. For a wireless network consisting of an access point and 8 stations in power saving mode, the energy saving was up to 31% while using PCSAR instead of PCF-PS, depending upon frame error rate and load. The results also show that PCSAR offers significantly reduced uplink access delay over PCF-PS while modestly improving uplink throughput.

Observations of the interstellar medium in the Magellanic Bridge.

We present ultraviolet and optical spectra of DI 1388, a young star in the Magellanic Bridge, a region of gas between the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. The data have signal-to-noise ratios of 20-45 and a spectral resolution of 6.5 km s-1. Interstellar absorption by the Magellanic Bridge at vLSR~200 km s-1 is visible in the lines of C I, C II, C II*, C IV, N I, O I, Al II, Si II, Si III, Si IV, S II, Ca II, Fe II, and Ni II. The relative gas-phase abundances of C II, N I, O I, Al II, Si II, Fe II, and Ni II with respect to S II are similar to those found in Galactic halo clouds, despite a significantly lower metallicity in the Magellanic Bridge. The higher ionization species in the cloud have a column density ratio N(C+3)/N(Si+3)~1.9, similar to that inferred for collisionally ionized Galactic cloud interfaces at temperatures ~105 K. We identify substructure in the stronger interstellar lines, with a broad component (FWHM~20 km s-1) at ~179 km s-1 and a sharp component (FWHM~11 km s-1) at 198 km s-1. The abundance analysis for these clouds indicates that the feature at 198 km s-1 consists of a low electron density, mainly neutral gas that may be associated with an interface responsible for the highly ionized gas. The 179 km s-1 cloud consists of warmer, lower density gas that is partially ionized.

On the nature of the circumstellar medium of the remarkable Type Ia/IIn supernova SN 2002ic

We present results from the first high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum of SN 2002ic. The resolved Ha line has a P Cygni-type profile, clearly demonstrating the presence of a dense, slow-moving (~100 km s-1) outflow. We have additionally found a huge near-infrared excess, hitherto unseen in Type Ia supernovae. We argue that this is due to an infrared light-echo arising from the pre-existing dusty circumstellar medium. We deduce a circumstellar medium mass probably exceeding 0.3 Msolar produced by a mass-loss rate greater than several times 10-4 Msolar yr-1. For the progenitor, we favour a single-degenerate system where the companion is a post-asymptotic giant branch star. As a by-product of our optical data, we are able to provide a firm identification of the host galaxy of SN 2002ic.