Real-time multipurpose reservoir operation: a case study / Exploitation en temps reacuteel d'un reservoir agrave buts multiples: eacutetude d'un cas

A real-time operational methodology has been developed for multipurpose reservoir operation for irrigation and hydropower generation with application to the Bhadra reservoir system in the state of Karnataka, India. The methodology consists of three phases of computer modelling. In the first phase, the optimal release policy for a given initial storage and inflow is determined using a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model. Streamflow forecasting using an adaptive AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model constitutes the second phase. A real-time simulation model is developed in the third phase using the forecast inflows of phase 2 and the operating policy of phase 1. A comparison of the optimal monthly real-time operation with the historical operation demonstrates the relevance, applicability and the relative advantage of the proposed methodology.

N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus normaalimaidossa sekä utaretulehdusta sairastavien lypsylehmien maidossa.

N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidaasi (NAGaasi) on glykosidaaseihin kuuluva, solujen lysosomeissa esiintyvä entsyymi, jota vapautuu maitoon utaretulehduksen aikana vaurioituneista utareen epiteelisoluista, neutrofiileistä ja makrofageista. NAGaasientsyymiaktiivisuuden on useissa tutkimuksissa havaittu korreloivan utareen tulehdustilan ja maidon soluluvun (SCC) kanssa ja sitä on ehdotettu käytettäväksi utareen epiteelisolutuhon mittaamiseen yksinään tai yhdistettynä SCC:n määritykseen. Koska saostuminen ei häiritse NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden mittausta maidosta, entsyymiaktiivisuus ei muutu maitoa säilytettäessä ja entsyymin mittaaminen on melko yksinkertaista ja nopeaa, menetelmä vaikuttaisi sopivan hyvin seulontatestiksi piileville utaretulehduksille. NAGaasin käyttö on toistaiseksi rajoittunut tutkimuskäyttöön. Sen hyödyntämistä vaikeuttaa se, että terveille lehmille eri tutkimuksissa määritetyissä NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden viitearvoissa on suurta vaihtelua. NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus maidossa on useiden tutkimusten mukaan korkeampi silloin, kun tulehduksen on aiheuttanut jokin merkittävä patogeeni kuin silloin, kun tulehduksen taustalla on vähäpätöinen patogeeni. Lypsykauden vaiheen on havaittu vaikuttavan maidon NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuteen siten, että aktiivisuudet ovat korkeampia heti poikimisen jälkeen ja lypsykauden lopulla. On myös havaittu, että normaalimaidossa NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus on hieman korkeampi loppumaidossa kuin alkumaidossa. Poikimakerran vaikutuksista NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuteen on ristiriitaisia tutkimustuloksia. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli määrittää NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden viitearvot terveen sekä utaretulehdusta sairastavan lypsylehmän maidossa, sekä selvittää tulehduksen voimakkuuden, aiheuttajapatogeenin, poikimakerran ja lypsykauden vaiheen vaikutusta kyseisen entsyymin aktiivisuuteen maidossa. Tutkimusaineistossa oli mukana kaikkiaan 838 vuosina 2000–2010 otettua maitonäytettä 62 eri lypsykarjatilalta Suomesta ja Virosta. Normaalimaidon NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden viitearvot määritettiin yhdeksältä suomalaiselta lypsykarjatilalta kerätyistä 196 maitonäytteestä, jotka täyttivät asettamamme normaalimaidon kriteerit. Normaalimaidon kriteerit olivat seuraavat: SCC < 100 000, lehmällä ei ole utaretulehduksen oireita, poikimisesta on kulunut aikaa yli 30 vuorokautta ja edellisestä lypsystä yli 6 tuntia. NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus mitattiin modifioidulla Mattilan menetelmällä (Mattila 1985) vakioiduissa olosuhteissa. Aineisto analysoitiin käyttäen Stata Intercooler tilasto-ohjelman versiota 11.0 (Stata Corporation, Texas, USA). Maidon NAGaasientsyymiaktiivisuuteen terveessä neljänneksessä vaikuttavia tekijöitä tutkittiin lineaarisella sekamallilla, jossa sekoittavana tekijänä oli tila. SCC:n ja NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden korrelaatiota arvioitiin terveillä lehmillä, piilevää utaretulehdusta sairastaneilla lehmillä ja koko aineistossa. Korrelaatiot laskettiin Pearsonin korrelaatiokertoimella. Tilastollisesti merkitsevänä raja-arvona kaikissa analyyseissä pidettiin p < 0.05. Normaalimaidon NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden viitearvoiksi lehmillä, joilla poikimisesta oli kulunut yli 30 vrk, saatiin 0,09–1,04 pmol/min/μl maitoa. Verrattuna normaalimaidon NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuksien keskiarvoon (0,56) ja piilevää utaretulehdusta sairastaneiden lehmien NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuksien keskiarvoon (2,49), kliinistä utaretulehdusta sairastavien lehmien maidon NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus oli keskimäärin selvästi korkeampi (16,65). Keskiarvoissa oli selvä ero paikallisoireisten (12,24) ja yleisoireisten (17,74) lehmien välillä. Terveiden neljännesten maitonäytteistä määritetyn NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden ja SCC:n välillä ei havaittu korrelaatiota. Piilevässä utaretulehduksessa havaittiin positiivinen korrelaatio (0,74) maidon NAGaasientsyymiaktiivisuuden ja SCC:n välillä. NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuteen vaikuttivat tilastollisesti merkitsevästi SCC, poikimisesta kulunut aika ja poikimakerta. Eri patogeeniryhmien osalta havaitsimme, että neljänneksissä, joista eristettiin vähäpätöinen patogeeni, NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuus oli selvästi matalampi kuin neljänneksissä, joista eristettiin merkittävä patogeeni. NAGaasi-entsyymiaktiivisuuden keskiarvoksi vähäpätöisille patogeeneille (KNS, koryneformi) saatiin 2,82 ja merkittäville patogeeneille (S. aureus, Str. uberis, Str, agalactiae, Str. dysgalactiae, E.coli) 16,87.

Effect of substrate temperature on the properties of ZrO2 films prepared by d.c. reactive magnetron sputtering

Studies of ZrO2 films prepared by d.c. reactive magnetron sputtering are described. The effects of substrate temperature on the packing density, refractive index, extinction coefficient and crystallinity phase have been investigated in the temperature range 25–450 °C. The refractive index varied from 1.84 to 1.95 and extinction coefficient from 2 × 10−3 to 9.6 × 10−3. This was explained on the basis of an increase in packing density from 0.686 to 0.813. The change in packing density has been attributed to a decrease in the oxygen condensation at higher temperatures. Annealing results in a decrease in refractive index and increase in extinction coefficient. The films deposited at 150 °C showed a monoclinic phase which transforms to a tetragonal phase at higher substrate temperatures.

Structural Polymorphism in d(T).d(A)*d(T) Triple Helices

DNA triple helices containing two thymine strands and one adenine strand have been studied, using model building followed by energy minimisation, for different orientations of the third strand resulting from variation in the hydrogen bonding between the Watson-Crick duplex and the third strand and the glycosidic torsion angle in the third strand. Our results show that the structure with a parallel orientation of the third strand, in which the third strand base forms Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds with the adenine base in the Watson-Crick duplex, is energetically the most favourable. An antiparallel orientation of the third strand is also possible, in which the third strand base hydrogen bonds to both the bases in the Watson-Crick duplex. This structure is energetically comparable to the parallel structure. For the parallel triplex a 200ps molecular dynamics simulation starting from two different starting structures indicates that at 300K significant structural heterogeneity exists in this tripler structure. The results are compared with existing structural data on this class of triplexes derived from theoretical and NMR techniques.

Conformational Polymorphism in Telomeric Structures: Loop Orientation and Interloop Pairing in d(G4TnG4),

Sequence repeats constituting the telomeric regions of chromosomes are known to adopt a variety of unusual structures, consisting of a G tetraplex stem and short stretches of thymines or thymines and adenines forming loops over the stem. Detailed model building and molecular mechanics studies have been carried out for these telomeric sequences to elucidate different types of loop orientations and possible conformations of thymines in the loop. The model building studies indicate that a minimum of two thymines have to be interspersed between guanine stretches to form folded-back structures with loops across adjacent strands in a G tetraplex (both over the small as well as large groove), while the minimum number of thymines required to build a loop across the diagonal strands in a G tetraplex is three. For two repeat sequences, these hairpins, resulting from different types of folding, can dimerize in three distinct ways-i.e., with loops across adjacent strands and on same side, with loops across adjacent strands and on opposite sides, and with loops across diagonal strands and on opposite sides-to form hairpin dimer structures. Energy minimization studies indicate that all possible hairpin dimers have very similar total energy values, though different structures are stabilized by different types of interactions. When the two loops are on the same side, in the hairpin dimer structures of d(G(4)T(n)G(4)), the thymines form favorably stacked tetrads in the loop region and there is interloop hydrogen bonding involving two hydrogen bonds for each thymine-thymine pair. Our molecular mechanics calculations on various folded-back as well as parallel tetraplex structures of these telomeric sequences provide a theoretical rationale for the experimentally observed feature that the presence of intervening thymine stretches stabilizes folded-back structures, while isolated stretches of guanines adopt a parallel tetraplex structure

Activation barriers for d.c. conductivity in ionic glasses: Classical calculations using the small-cluster approximation

A small-cluster approximation has been used to calculate the activation barriers for the d.c. conductivity in ionic glasses. The main emphasis of this approach is on the importance of the hitherto ignored polarization energy contribution to the total activation energy. For the first time it has been demonstrated that the d.c. conductivity activation energy can be calculated by considering ionic migration to a neighbouring vacancy in a smali cluster of ions consisting of face-sharing anion polyhedra. The activation energies from the model calculations have been compared with the experimental values in the case of highly modified lithium thioborate glasses.

A novel phenomenon of burst of oxygen uptake during decavanadate-dependent oxidation of NADH

Oxidation of NADH by decavanadate, a polymeric form vanadate with a cage-like structure, in presence of rat liver microsomes followed a biphasic pattern. An initial slow phase involved a small rate of oxygen uptake and reduction of 3 of the 10 vanadium atoms. This was followed by a second rapid phase in which the rates of NADH oxidation and oxygen uptake increased several-fold with a stoichiometry of NADH: O2 of 1ratio1. The burst of NADH oxidation and oxygen uptake which occurs in phosphate, but not in Tris buffer, was prevented by SOD, catalase, histidine, EDTA, MnCl2 and CuSO4, but not by the hydroxyl radical quenchers, ethanol, methanol, formate and mannitol. The burst reaction is of a novel type that requires the polymeric structure of decavanadate for reduction of vanadium which, in presence of traces of H2O2, provides a reactive intermediate that promotes transfer of electrons from NADH to oxygen.

Vitamin D deficiency in children with chronic illnesses: Predisposing and protecting factors

This thesis assesses clinical differences in patients with low and high vitamin D levels. The factors analyzed included the underlying disease, body size, age, ethnic background, use of vitamin D supplements and the season when the blood sample was taken. Fifty patients with the lowest and 50 patients with the highest vitamin D concentrations were selected from a cohort of 1351 chronically ill children and adolescents who had had their vitamin D status assessed at Children's Hospital. Protective factors appeared to be the usage of vitamin D supplements and young age, especially age <2 years. Predisposing factors included non-Finnish ethnic background and older age, especially age 12-18 years. High vitamin D values were more prevalent in the summer and autumn and low values in the winter and spring. Patients with non-Finnish background were overrepresented in the low value group. No differences regarding the underlying diseases could be detected. Conclusions: In the Northern latitudes UVB-radiation is insufficient for vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D recommendations appear to be inadequate to fulfill the needs of chronically ill patients whose requirements for vitamin D are elevated compared to the general population. New guidelines for vitamin D supplementation are needed particularly for those at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency.

Genetic transformation of Brassica nigra by agrobacterium based vector and direct plasmid uptake

Genetic transformation systems have been established for Brassica nigra (cv. IC 257) by using an Agrobacterium binary vector as well as by direct DNA uptake of a plasmid vector. Both the type of vectors carried nptII gene and gus gene. For Agrobacterium mediated transformation, hypocotyl tissue explants were used, and up to 33% of the explants produced calli on selection medium. All of these expressed B-glucuronidase gene on histochemical staining. Protoplasts isolated from hypocotyl tissues of seedlings could be transformed with a plasmid vector by FEG mediated uptake of vector DNA. A number of fertile kanamycin resistant plants were obtained using both the methods, and their transformed nature was confirmed by Southern blot analysis and histochemical staining for GUS. Backcrossed and selfed progenies of these transformed plants showed the presence of npt and gus genes.

Purification of 3,5-Dichlorocatechol 1,2-Dioxygenase, a Nonheme Iron Dioxygenase and a Key Enzyme in the Biodegradation of a Herbicide, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), from Pseudomonas cepacia CSV90

An enzyme which cleaves the benzene ring of 3,5-dichiorocatechol has been purified to homogeneity from Pseudomonas cepacia CSV90, grown with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) as the sole carbon source. The enzyme was a nonheme ferric dioxygenase and catalyzed the intradiol cleavage of all the examined catechol derivatives, 3,5-dichlorocatechol having the highest specificity constant of 7.3 μM−1 s−1 in an air-saturated buffer. No extradiol-cleaving activity was observed. Thus, the enzyme was designated as 3,5-dichlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase. The molecular weight of the native enzyme was ascertained to be 56,000 by light scattering method, while the Mr value of the enzyme denatured with 6 M guanidine-HCl or sodium dodecyl sulfate was 29,000 or 31,600, respectively, suggesting that the enzyme was a homodimer. The iron content was estimated to be 0.89 mol per mole of enzyme. The enzyme was deep red and exhibited a broad absorption spectrum with a maximum at around 425 nm, which was bleached by sodium dithionite, and shifted to 515 nm upon anaerobic 3,5-dichlorocatechol binding. The catalytic constant and the Km values for 3,5-dichlorocatechol and oxygen were 34.7 s−1 and 4.4 and 652 μM, respectively, at pH 8 and 25°C. Some heavy metal ions, chelating agents and sulfhydryl reagents inhibited the activity. The NH2-terminal sequence was determined up to 44 amino acid residues and compared with those of the other catechol dioxygenases previously reported.

CO2-fertilization and potential future terrestrial carbon uptake in India

There is huge knowledge gap in our understanding of many terrestrial carbon cycle processes. In this paper, we investigate the bounds on terrestrial carbon uptake over India that arises solely due to CO (2) -fertilization. For this purpose, we use a terrestrial carbon cycle model and consider two extreme scenarios: unlimited CO2-fertilization is allowed for the terrestrial vegetation with CO2 concentration level at 735 ppm in one case, and CO2-fertilization is capped at year 1975 levels for another simulation. Our simulations show that, under equilibrium conditions, modeled carbon stocks in natural potential vegetation increase by 17 Gt-C with unlimited fertilization for CO2 levels and climate change corresponding to the end of 21st century but they decline by 5.5 Gt-C if fertilization is limited at 1975 levels of CO2 concentration. The carbon stock changes are dominated by forests. The area covered by natural potential forests increases by about 36% in the unlimited fertilization case but decreases by 15% in the fertilization-capped case. Thus, the assumption regarding CO2-fertilization has the potential to alter the sign of terrestrial carbon uptake over India. Our model simulations also imply that the maximum potential terrestrial sequestration over India, under equilibrium conditions and best case scenario of unlimited CO2-fertilization, is only 18% of the 21st century SRES A2 scenarios emissions from India. The limited uptake potential of the natural potential vegetation suggests that reduction of CO2 emissions and afforestation programs should be top priorities.

FIN-CLARIN: A Framework for Depositing and Disseminating Language Resources for R&D

Researchers and developers in academia and industry would benefit from a facility that enables them to easily locate, licence and use the kind of empirical data they need for testing and refining their hypotheses and to deposit and disseminate their data e.g. to support replication and validation of reported scientific experiments. To answer these needs initially in Finland, there is an ongoing project at University of Helsinki and its collaborators to create a user-friendly web service for researchers and developers in Finland and other countries. In our talk, we describe ongoing work to create a palette of extensive but easily available Finnish language resources and technologies for the research community, including lexical resources, wordnets, morphologically tagged corpora, dependency syntactic treebanks and parsebanks, open-source finite state toolkits and libraries and language models to support text analysis and processing at customer site. Also first publicly available results are presented.

Synthesis of Layered Perovskite Oxides, ACa2-xLaxNb3-xTix010 (A = K, Rb, Cs), and Characterization of New Solid Acids, HCa2-xLaxNb3-xTixOlo (0 < x d 2), Exhibiting Variable Bronsted Acidity?

Layered perovskite oxides of the formula ACa~,La,Nb3-,Ti,010 (A = K, Rb, Cs and 0 < x d 2) have been prepared. The members adopt the structures of the parent ACazNb3010. Interlayer alkali cations in the niobium-titanium oxide series can be ion-exchanged with Li+, Na+, NH4+, or H+ to give new derivatives. Intercalation of the protonated derivatives with organic bases reveals that the Bronsted acidity of the solid solution series, HC~ ~ , L ~ ,N~ ~ , T ~ ,dOep~eOnd, s on the titanium content. While the x = 1 member (HCaLaNbzTiOlo) is nearly as acidic as the parent HCazNb3010, the x = 2 member (HLazNbTizOlo) is a weak acid hardly intercalating organic bases with pKa - 11.3. The variation of acidity is probably due to an ordering of Nb/Ti atoms in the triple octahedral perovskite slabs, [Ca~,La,Nb~,Ti,0~0], such that protons are attached to NbO6 octahedra in the x = 1 member and to Ti06 octahedra in the x = 2 member.