Comparative assessment of reproductive impairment in the gastropod mollusc Littorina littorea along the Belgian North Sea coast

In this study we present the results of an intersex survey of Littorina littorea along the Belgian coast. Levels of female intersex and sterility were determined to assess TBT related adverse effects. In addition, we determined the levels of male penis shedding and trematode infestation and investigated the morphology of the shell. Significant differences were found for all these variables which clearly differentiated periwinkles from Zeebrugge (B2) from those at other locations. Intersex index (ISI) values were relatively low (i.e. 0.00-0.39), except at B2 where they ranged up to 3.52, the highest value ever reported in literature. Consequently, female reproductive impairment at B2 was severe. Indeed, up to 95% of female periwinkles were sterile at B2. In addition, 61% of the male periwinkles had shed their penis. Furthermore, no trematode infestation could be detected at B2 and specimens from this location had the largest and heaviest shells, which may be related to population demography and/or a different use of energy budgets.     

Chemical Synthesis and Enzymatic Testing of CMP‐Sialic Acid Derivatives

The cycloSal approach has been used in the past for the synthesis of a range of phosphorylated bioconjugates. In those reports, cycloSal nucleotides were allowed to react with different phosphate nucleophiles. With glycopyranosyl phosphates as nucleophiles, diphosphate‐linked sugar nucleotides were formed. Here, cycloSal‐nucleotides were used to prepare monophosphate‐linked sugar nucleotides successfully in high anomeric purity and high chemical yield. The method was successfully used for the synthesis of three nucleotide glycopyranoses as model compounds. The method was then applied to the syntheses of CMP‐N‐acetyl‐neuraminic acids (CMP‐Neu5NAc) and of four derivatives with different modifications at their amino functions (N‐propanoyl, N‐butanoyl, N‐pentanoyl and N‐cyclopropylcarbonyl). The compounds were used for initial enzymatic studies with a bacterial polysialyltransferase (polyST). Surprisingly, the enzyme showed marked differences in terms of utilisation of the four derivatives. The N‐propanoyl, N‐butanoyl, and N‐pentanoyl derivatives were efficiently used in a first transfer with a fluorescently labelled trisialo‐acceptor. However, elongation of the resulting tetrasialo‐acceptors worsened progressively with the size of the N‐acyl chain. The N‐pentanoyl derivative allowed a single transfer, leading to a capped tetramer. The N‐cyclopropylcarbonyl derivative was not transferred.     

A simple analytical model to study and control azimuthal instabilities in annular combustion chambers

This study describes a simple analytical method to compute the azimuthal modes appearing in annular combustion chambers and help analyzing experimental, acoustic and large eddy simulation (LES) data obtained in these combustion chambers. It is based on a one-dimensional zero Mach number formulation where N burners are connected to a single annular chamber. A manipulation of the corresponding acoustic equations in this configuration leads to a simple dispersion relation which can be solved by hand when the interaction indices of the flame transfer function are small and numerically when they are not. This simple tool is applied to multiple cases: (1) a single burner connected to an annular chamber (N = 1), (2) two burners connected to the chamber (N = 2), and (3) four burners (N = 4). In this case, the tool also allows to study passive control methods where two different types of burners are mixed to control the azimuthal mode. Finally, a complete helicopter chamber (N = 15) is studied. For all cases, the analytical results are compared to the predictions of a full three-dimensional Helmholtz solver and a very good agreement is found. These results show that building very simple analytical tools to study azimuthal modes in annular chambers is an interesting path to control them.     

The perception of temporal order along the mental number line.

R. Sekuler, P. Tynan, and E. Levinson (1973) found that when 2 characters are presented side-by-side with a short onset asynchrony, subjectively they often appear in a “first-left, then-right” order. The authors of this article conducted 6 experiments in which observers judged the temporal order (TOJs) in which 2 digits were presented. They found a consistent TOJ benefit (larger d`) when the numerically smaller digit was presented first, even though this semantic information was irrelevant to the task and unrelated to the correct response. They concluded that digits located to the left of the mental number line are transmitted faster to a central comparison stage, which represents an “internal counterpart” to the Sekuler et al. (1973) finding regarding external locations. A corresponding benefit is found for letters pairs (e.g., A–Z) and also for mixed digit–letter pairs (e.g., 1–Z). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimisation of a continuous flash fermentation for butanol production using the response surface methodology

Factorial design and response surface techniques were used in combination with mathematical modelling and computational simulation to optimise an innovative industrial bioprocess, the production of biobutanol employing the flash fermentation technology. A parametric analysis performed by means of a full factorial design at two levels determined the influence of operating variables on butanol yield and productivity. A second set of simulations were carried out based on the central composite rotatable design. This procedure generated simplified statistical models that describe butanol yield and productivity as functions of the significant operating variables. From these models, response surfaces were obtained and used to optimise the process. For a range of substrate concentration from 130 to 180 g/l, the optimum operating ranges ensure butanol productivity between 7.0 and 8.0 g/l h, butanol yield between 19 and 22%, substrate conversion above 90% and final butanol concentration around 25 g/l.     

Does ownership matter? The performance and efficiency of State Oil vs. Private Oil (1987–2006)

This paper investigates the existence of ownership effects in the global oil and gas industry, i.e. whether there are systematic performance and efficiency differentials between National Oil Companies (NOCs) and privately owned International Oil Companies (IOCs). After discussing key issues of comparing ‘State Oil’ and ‘Private Oil’, I summarise important trends emerging from the dataset, which covers 1001 firm observation years over the period 1987–2006. Using panel-data regression analysis it is shown that NOCs significantly underperform the private sector in terms of output efficiency and profitability. They also produce a significantly lower annual percentage of upstream reserves, although this may not be an indication of firm efficiency. Overall, this paper suggests that a political preference for State Oil usually comes at an economic cost.