Transformations and losses of fertilizer nitrogen on no-till and conventional till soils

A field study was conducted in 1982 to measure the effect of no-till (NT) and conventional till (CT) systems on N transformation after surface and subsurface applications of N fertilizers. Urea, urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution, (NH₄)₂SO₄ (AS), and CA(NO₃)₂ were applied to NT and CT plots (5.95 m²) at a rate of 448 kg N ha^–1. A comparison of fertilizer N recovered in soils receiving incorporated or surface applied N was used to estimate NH₃ volatilization while denitrification was estimated from fertilizer N recovered in the presence and absence of nitrapyrin with incorporated N. Immobilization was assessed in microplots (0.37 m²) after surface application of (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄ to NT and CT systems at a rate of 220 kg N ha^–1.The results indicate little difference between NT and CT systems on urea hydrolysis rates and immobilization of surface applied fertilizer N. Approximately 50% and 10% of the surface applied N was recovered in the inorganic and organic fractions, respectively, on both tillage systems. The N not recovered was likely lost from plot areas through soil runoff. Incorporation of UAN, urea and AS resulted in 20 to 40% greater inorganic N recovery than from surface application. Nitrification rates were greater under the NT than the CT system. The similarities in concentration in the various N pools observed between the two tillage systems may be partially due to the short length of time that NT was imposed in this field study (<1 year) since other researchers using established tillage systems (>5 y) indicate that NT tends to promote decreased efficiency of fertilizer N.     

Evaluation of the coupled multielectrode array sensor as a real-time corrosion monitor

Coupled multielectrode array sensors made of carbon steel and stainless steels were evaluated and compared with electrochemical noise (EN) sensors. Good correlations between sensor signals and solution corrosivity were observed for all multielectrode array sensors. Some correlation between the average pit index and solution corrosivity was observed for the carbon steel EN sensors, but not for the stainless steel EN sensors. The time-average noise resistances from the stainless steel EN sensors correlate well with solution corrosivity. There were, however, large random fluctuations and drifting for all EN signals, which make the EN sensors unreliable as real-time monitors.     

Development of a high pressure automated lag time apparatus for experimental studies and statistical analyses of nucleation and growth of gas hydrates

Nucleation in a supercooled or a supersaturated medium is a stochastic event, and hence statistical analyses are required for the understanding and prediction of such events. The development of reliable statistical methods for quantifying nucleation probability is highly desirable for applications where control of nucleation is required. The nucleation of gas hydrates in supercooled conditions is one such application. We describe the design and development of a high pressure automated lag time apparatus (HP-ALTA) for the statistical study of gas hydrate nucleation and growth at elevated gas pressures. The apparatus allows a small volume (≈150 μl) of water to be cooled at a controlled rate in a pressurized gas atmosphere, and the temperature of gas hydrate nucleation, T(f), to be detected. The instrument then raises the sample temperature under controlled conditions to facilitate dissociation of the gas hydrate before repeating the cooling-nucleation cycle again. This process of forming and dissociating gas hydrates can be automatically repeated for a statistically significant (>100) number of nucleation events. The HP-ALTA can be operated in two modes, one for the detection of hydrate in the bulk of the sample, under a stirring action, and the other for the detection of the formation of hydrate films across the water-gas interface of a quiescent sample. The technique can be applied to the study of several parameters, such as gas pressure, cooling rate and gas composition, on the gas hydrate nucleation probability distribution for supercooled water samples.     

Co-capping studies reveal CD8/TCR interactions after capping CD8 beta polypeptides and intracellular associations of CD8 with p56(lck)

A reaction-diffusion model was developed to predict the fate of nitric oxide (NO) released by cells of the immune system. The model was used to analyze data obtained previously using macrophages attached to microcarrier beads suspended in a stirred vessel. Activated macrophages synthesize NO, which is oxidized in the culture medium by molecular oxygen and superoxide (O2-, also released by the cells), yielding mainly nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-) as the respective end products. In the analysis the reactor was divided into a "stagnant film" with position-dependent concentrations adjacent to a representative carrier bead and a well-mixed bulk solution. It was found that the concentration of NO was relatively uniform in the film. In contrast, essentially all of the O2- was calculated to be consumed within approximately 2 microm of the cell surfaces, due to its reaction with NO to yield peroxynitrite. The decomposition of peroxynitrite caused its concentration to fall to nearly zero over a distance of approximately 30 microm from the cells. Although the film regions (which had an effective thickness of 63 microm) comprised just 2% of the reactor volume and were predicted to account for only 6% of the NO2- formation under control conditions, they were calculated to be responsible for 99% of the NO3- formation. Superoxide dismutase in the medium (at 3.2 microM) was predicted to lower the ratio of NO3- to NO2- formation rates from near unity to <0.5, in reasonable agreement with the data. The NO3-/NO2- ratio was predicted to vary exponentially with the ratio of O2- to NO release rates from the cells. Recently reported reactions involving CO2 and bicarbonate were found to have important effects on the concentrations of peroxynitrite and nitrous anhydride, two of the compounds that have been implicated in NO cytotoxicity and mutagenesis.     

A Unified Variational Volume Registration Method Based on Automatically Learned Brain Structures

We introduce a new volumetric registration technique that effectively combines active surfaces with the finite element method. The method simultaneously aligns multi-label automatic structural segmentation results, which can be obtained by the application of existing segmentation software, to produce an anatomically accurate 3D registration. This registration is obtained by the minimization of a single energy functional. Just like registering raw images, obtaining a 3D registration this way still requires solving a fundamentally ill-posed problem. We explain through academic examples as well as an MRI dataset with manual anatomical labels, which are hidden from the registration method, how the quality of a registration method can be measured and the advantages our approach offers.     

Approximation Algorithms for <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-hurdle Problems

The polynomial-time solvable k-hurdle problem is a natural generalization of the classical s-t minimum cut problem where we must select a minimum-cost subset S of the edges of a graph such that |p∩S|≥k for every s-t path p. In this paper, we describe a set of approximation algorithms for “k-hurdle” variants of the NP-hard multiway cut and multicut problems. For the k-hurdle multiway cut problem with r terminals, we give two results, the first being a pseudo-approximation algorithm that outputs a (k−1)-hurdle solution whose cost is at most that of an optimal solution for k hurdles. Secondly, we provide a 2(1-\frac1r)2(1-\frac{1}{r})-approximation algorithm based on rounding the solution of a linear program, for which we give a simple randomized half-integrality proof that works for both edge and vertex k-hurdle multiway cuts that generalizes the half-integrality results of Garg et al. for the vertex multiway cut problem. We also describe an approximation-preserving reduction from vertex cover as evidence that it may be difficult to achieve a better approximation ratio than 2(1-\frac1r)2(1-\frac{1}{r}). For the k-hurdle multicut problem in an n-vertex graph, we provide an algorithm that, for any constant ε>0, outputs a ⌈(1−ε)k⌉-hurdle solution of cost at most O(log n) times that of an optimal k-hurdle solution, and we obtain a 2-approximation algorithm for trees.     

Learning to transform time series with a few examples

We describe a semi-supervised regression algorithm that learns to transform one time series into another time series given examples of the transformation. This algorithm is applied to tracking, where a time series of observations from sensors is transformed to a time series describing the pose of a target. Instead of defining and implementing such transformations for each tracking task separately, our algorithm learns a memoryless transformation of time series from a few example input-output mappings. The algorithm searches for a smooth function that fits the training examples and, when applied to the input time series, produces a time series that evolves according to assumed dynamics. The learning procedure is fast and lends itself to a closed-form solution. It is closely related to nonlinear system identification and manifold learning techniques. We demonstrate our algorithm on the tasks of tracking RFID tags from signal strength measurements, recovering the pose of rigid objects, deformable bodies, and articulated bodies from video sequences. For these tasks, this algorithm requires significantly fewer examples compared to fully-supervised regression algorithms or semi-supervised learning algorithms that do not take the dynamics of the output time series into account.     

Cognitive Factors in Programming with Diagrams

Visual programming languages aim to broaden the use ofdiagrams within the software industry, to the extentthat they are integrated into the programming languageitself. As a result, they provide an ideal opportunityto study the benefits of diagrams as an externalrepresentation during problem solving: not only isprogramming a challenging problem-solving activity,but the effect of diagram usage can be directlyassessed by comparing performance while using a visualprogramming language to performance with a standardtextual language. There have been severalmisconceptions amongst visual language researchersregarding the role of diagrams in software design, butthese are being addressed by empirical studies and bynew theories of notation design derived from studiesof visual programming. Based on this research, theauthors are able to recommend several new directionsfor research into thinking with diagrams.     

Information Technology in Civil Engineering Curriculum

The fast-moving world of information technology confronts the civil engineer with constant change. This creates challenges for educators and students because rapid change requires curricula to be flexible and educators to gain competency and access to new equipment and software. Whereas a decade ago, civil engineering educators debated how to teach “programming,” the picture is now much more complex. The paper reports on how information technologies are changing the practice of civil engineering and offers a new framework for integrating next-generation information technology into the civil engineering curriculum at the department level.     

The impracticalities of R. B. Stuart's practical multicultural competencies.

Comment in response to Stuart's recent article (see record 2004-10365-001) on multicultural competence. This comment includes three distinct voices. One voice is of a Brazilian woman, living in the United States, who experienced a visceral reaction to the article. The second voice is from a European American man who appreciates Stuart's efforts but is troubled by a disguised ideology that possibly objectifies culture and ignores sociopolitical realities. The third voice is from an Italian-Catholic-Austrian-Jewish man who can see himself and his clinical psychology training in what he considers Stuart's Western/White-male scientific multicultural metatheory. To the three of us, the practical suggestions Stuart offered seem useful, on the surface. However, we fear that when put into practice, these suggestions could not only be culturally insensitive, but in extreme cases might undermine some of the important progress made in the field of multicultural psychology over the past 2 decades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)