Construction and economic development in selected LDCs: past,present and future

This paper critically examines the changing relations between construction and economic development in selected less developed countries (LDCs) in the light of new development dynamics. Historically, the relationship was seen in Keynesian terms. By the 1980s, attention turned towards structuralist and political economy explanations amid a neoclassical revival towards structural adjustments and ‘market friendly’ reforms. Current explanations tend to focus on property rights and building institutional capabilities. The strengths and weaknesses of current explanations provide future directions for research.     

Physicochemical properties related to long-term phosphorus retention by drinking-water treatment residuals

Drinking-water treatment residuals (WTRs) are nonhazardous materials that can be obtained free-of-charge from drinking-water treatment plants to reduce soluble phosphorus (P) concentrations in poorly P sorbing soils. Phosphorus sorption capacities of WTRs can vary 1-2 orders of magnitude, on the basis of short-term equilibration times (up to 7 d), but studies dealing with long-term (weeks to months) P retention by WTRs are lacking. Properties that most affect long-term P sorption capacities are pertinent to the efficacy of WTRs as amendments to stabilize P in soils. This research addressed the long-term (up to 80 d) P sorption/desorption characteristics and kinetics for seven WTRs, including the influence of specific surface area (SSA), porosity, and total C content on the overall magnitude of P sorption by seven WTRs. The data confirm a strong but variable affinity for P by WTRs. Aluminum-based WTRs tended to have higher P sorption capacity than Fe-based WTRs. Phosphorus sorption with time was biphasic in nature for most samples and best fit to a second-order rate model. The P sorption rate dependency was strongly correlated with a hysteretic P desorption, consistent with kinetic limitations on P desorption from micropores. Oxalate-extractable Al + Fe concentrations of the WTRs did not effectively explain long-term (80 d) P sorption capacities of the WTRs. Micropore (CO2-based) SSAs were greater than BET-N2 SSAs for most WTRs, except those with the lowest (<80 g kg(-1)) total C content. There was a significant negative linear correlation between the total C content and the CO2/N2 SSA ratio. The data suggest that C in WTRs increases microporosity, but reduces P sorption per unit pore volume or surface area. Hence, variability in C content confounds direct relations among SSA, porosity, and P sorption. Total C, N2-based SSA, and CO2-based SSAs explained 82% of the variability in the long-term P sorption capacities of the WTRs. Prediction of long-term P sorption capacities for different WTRs may be achieved by taking into account the three proposed variables.     

Mercury in Arctic air: The long-term trend

The long-term (1974-2000) time trend of total filterable mercury (TFM) in the air in the Canadian Arctic is reported. The concentration of TFM had declined by (3.0 ± 0.8) % and (3.1 ± 0.9) % per year in the summer and fall, respectively, over the 27 years, which coincided with the calculated reduction rate of world-wide mercury emission (~ 3.3% per year) from human activities between 1983 and 1995. The time trend for winter and early spring was not statistically significant as the variability of TFM was very large, partly due to Arctic Mercury Depletion Events and partly due to Arctic haze.     

Frame synchronisation with errors and erasures

The probability of successful frame synchronisation in the presence of jamming or interference may be increased by using bit erasure information without also increasing the total probability of simulated alignment P/sub t,sim/ in an incorrect position in he overlap region. An expression for P/sub t,sim/ is obtained as a function of the bit error and erasure probability, the specified frame alignment pattern, the amount of overlap and the number of bit errors and erasures which are tolerated in the frame sync word.<>     

The lantibiotic nisin induces transmembrane movement of a fluorescent phospholipid

Nisin is a pore-forming antimicrobial peptide. The capacity of nisin to induce transmembrane movement of a fluorescent phospholipid in lipid vesicles was investigated. Unilamellar phospholipid vesicles that contained a fluorescent phospholipid (1-acyl-2-(6-[(7-nitro-2-1, 3-benzoxadiazol-4-yl)amino]caproyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) in the inner leaflet of the bilayer were used. Nisin-induced movement of the fluorescent phospholipid from the inner leaflet to the outer leaflet of the membrane reached stable levels, which were dependent on the concentration of nisin added. The rate constant k of this nisin-induced transmembrane movement increased with the nisin concentration but was not dependent on temperature within the range of 5 to 30 degrees C. In contrast, the rate constant of movement of fluorescent phospholipid from vesicle to vesicle strongly depended on temperature. The data indicate that nisin transiently disturbs the phospholipid organization of the target membrane.     

A multiple model multiple hypothesis filter for Markovian switching systems

In this paper, a new filtering method for hybrid Markovian switching systems is presented. The method is called the multiple model multiple hypothesis filter (M³H filter). For each hypothesis an (extended) Kalman filter is running. An hypothesis represents a specific model mode sequence history. The proposed method is highly adaptive and flexible. The main feature is that the number of hypotheses that are maintained varies with the ‘difficulty’ of the situation and that it is adaptive in its computational load. In a representative example it is shown that the M³H filter can outperform the widely used interacting multiple model (IMM) filter, both in terms of accuracy and computational load. The newly proposed filter is an excellent alternative for the widely used and celebrated IMM filter.     

Determination of total mercury in biological tissues by flow injection cold vapour generation atomic absorption spectrometry following tetramethylammonium hydroxide digestion

A simple, rapid and reliable method was developed for the determination of total mercury in biological samples. Samples were solubilized using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The organically bound mercury was cleaved and converted to inorganic mercury by on-line addition of KMnO4. The decomposed mercury together with inorganic mercury originally present in samples was determined by flow injection cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry after reduction to elemental mercury vapour using NaBH4. A sample throughput of 100 measurements per hour was achieved after a 30 min dissolution with TMAH. The relative standard deviation for 20 micrograms l-1 Hg was 1.3% (n = 11) and the limit of detection was 0.1 microgram l-1 (3 sigma). The proposed method was validated by the analysis of a suite of certified marine biological reference materials, DORM-2 (dogfish muscle), DOLT-2 (dogfish liver) and TORT-2 (lobster hepatopancreas), with calibration against simple HgII standards.     

The effect of bonded and nonbonded posts on the fracture resistance of dentin]

This in vitro study determined the effect of bonded and non-bonded cast, serrated, tin plated, parallel gold posts on the fracture resistance of surrounding dentine walls. Specimens were divided into two groups. One group's posts were luted with zinc phosphate cement and the other group's posts were tin-plated and adhesively bonded with an adhesive resin cement. Three different dentine wall thicknesses, namely 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm and 1.0 mm were prepared, subdividing the specimens of each main group into three subgroups. Specimens were subjected to a 50 degrees oblique force. The force required to fracture the dentinal walls was registered. There was no statistically significant differences in the fracture resistance of dentine with the two different cements or of the different dentine wall thicknesses.     

Liposome-mediated introduction of proteins into protoplasts of the yeast Hansenula polymorpha as a possible tool to study peroxisome biogenesis

Low pH-induced fusion between liposomes and protoplasts of the yeast Hansenula polymorpha was demonstrated using a fluorescent assay and freeze-etch techniques. By this method foreign proteins could be introduced into the cytosol of the protoplast. For instance, after fusion of glucose oxidase-containing liposomes with protoplasts, activity of this enzyme was demonstrated cytochemically in the cytosol of the resulting protoplasts. Similar results were obtained when ferritin-containing liposomes were used. Incorporation of foreign proteins into liposomes was not a prerequisite for their introduction into the cytosol of protoplasts. In experiments where ferritin was added to protoplast suspensions together with empty liposomes, this protein was also delivered to the protoplast cytosol. However, in the absence of liposomes no uptake of proteins occurred. We tested the potential of this system in our studies on peroxisome biogenesis. Protoplasts of glucose-grown H. polymorpha remained stable for prolonged periods in osmotically stabilized cultivation media. Peroxisomes in such protoplasts were capable of protein import and assembly of matrix proteins as was demonstrated by the 20-fold increase in catalase activity after incubation with methanol or ethanol. However, mature alcohol oxidase purified from H. polymorpha introduced into protoplasts of glucose-grown cells of this organism was not targeted to peroxisomes as demonstrated with (immuno)cytochemical techniques. The enzyme remained present in the cytosol while its activity gradually decreased. Therefore mature alcohol oxidase probably does not expose the right topogenic signal(s) for recognition by its target organelle.