Single Soybean Seed NMR Calibration for Oil Measurement Using Commercial Cooking Oils

Development of high oil soybeans would reduce the cost of soybean oil production for biodiesel or edible oil applications. An accurate determination of soybean seed oil concentration is essential especially when developing superior cultivars with increased seed oil content. The objective of this study was to develop an oil measurement method for single seeds using NMR spectrometry. An NMR spectrometer was calibrated using commercial cooking oil. Fifteen cultivars of known mean oil content were used to evaluate the calibration curves. The calibration curves developed had a correlation coefficient of 0.99. It was found that soybean and corn oil gave identical results over the calibrated interval.     

The effect of three chemical oxidants on subsequent biodegradation of 2,4‐dinitrotoluene (DNT) in batch slurry reactors

BACKGROUND: Recent studies indicate that chemical oxidation may be compatible with subsequent biodegradation in contaminated soils. To test this, soil contaminated with 2,4‐dinintrotoluene (2,4‐DNT) was treated in batch slurry reactors with (1) ozone, (2) modified Fenton chemistry (MFC), and (3) iron‐activated sodium persulfate (SPS). Chemical and subsequent biological oxidation were monitored, and compared with biodegradation alone. Release of nitrite and nitrate distinguished biological from chemical oxidation of 2,4‐DNT, respectively. DNT‐degrading microorganisms were enumerated. The disappearance of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulated during chemical oxidation was also monitored. RESULTS: In the biological reactor 66% of the 2,4‐DNT was degraded, but further biodegradation was inhibited by nitrite concentrations approaching 18 mmol L^?1. At the doses tested, all oxidants achieved chemical oxidation followed by biodegradation, resulting in 98% DNT removal overall. Ozone achieved the greatest DNT removal (70%), but also caused the greatest reduction in DNT degraders and the longest rebound time (60 days) before biodegradation of the remaining DNT and VFAs. SPS resulted in the least DNT removal by chemical oxidation (37%), but showed no obvious rebound period for DNT degraders, and even signs of co‐existing chemical and biological oxidation. By releasing nitrate, which is less toxic than nitrite, the oxidants kept nitrite levels below 18 mmol L^?1, enabling the follow‐on biodegradation step to attain lower concentrations of 2,4‐DNT than biodegradation alone. CONCLUSIONS: All three chemical oxidants were compatible with biodegradation of residual 2,4‐DNT. Post‐oxidation bioremediation should be included in remedial designs. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Exploring spatial and temporal variation in middle infrared reflectance (at 3.75 @m) measured from the tropical forests of west Africa

In the effort to acquire information about tropical forests across regional scales via remote sensing, recent research notes the potential of the reflected component of middle infrared (MIR) radiation acquired by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) channel 3 (at 3.75     

Times to breakage versus times for shock wave reflectance in decoupled explosive rock fracturing

Abstract

One result of this research showed the relationship of the crack propagation into the burden as decoupling increased from 1 to 3. The resulting data indicated that the explosive generated gas pressure was the dominate parameter for breaking rock in confined boreholes. The shock energy did not have time to play an effective role in burden breakage, for by the time the stress wave returned to the face, the burden had broken under pressure.     

A comparison of the WAIS and the WAIS—R for ages 61–91 years.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) were administered in a counterbalanced design to 72 subjects between the ages of 61 and 91 years, to determine their comparability by testing the equality of means and variances based on the scaled scores and IQs. Results indicated that the 2 scales were not equivalent (either with respect to subtest scaled scores or IQs) because they did not satisfy one or more of the criteria. Mean differences between tests showed the WAIS Verbal, Performance, and Full-Scale IQs to be higher than the corresponding WAIS—R estimates by 12, 13, and 13 points, respectively. Probable causes of these differences and their implications for clinical assessment are indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electronic and Ionic Trapping at Domain Walls in BaTiO3

We have coupled electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and polarization–voltage measurements to understand the effects of reducing ambients on the remanent polarization and density of paramagnetic centers in BaTiO₃, single crystals. Two types of reducing ambients were explored; one was done under vacuum (slightly reducing) and the second was performed in forming gas (very reducing). It is found that the vacuum anneal caused a reduction in the remanent polarization and a concomitant decrease in the isolated Fe³⁺ EPR resonance. The Fe³⁺–V_o complex EPR signal was relatively unaffected by this vacuum anneal. By injecting charge using an ultraviolet (UV) light and an applied bias combination, the polarization and the isolated Fe³⁺ signal intensity were restored, thereby suggesting that the suppression of the remanent polarization is due to trapping of electronic charge at the domain walls. For the forming gas anneal, we observe a much larger decrease in remanent polarization with an accompanying decrease in both the isolated Fe³⁺ and Fe³⁺–V_o complex EPR signals. For this anneal, charge injection by the UV light/bias combination did not restore the polarization nor the EPR densities. The remanent polarization, the isolated Fe³⁺, and the Fe³⁺–V_oV_o complex could be restored only by a reoxidizing anneal, suggesting that ionic defects {oxygen vacancies) are now responsible for pinning the domain walls. Collectively, these results suggest reducing anneals can suppress the amount of switchable polarization in BaTiO₃ by either electronic or ionic trapping mechanisms.     

Safety Evaluation for Campus Parking Garage Performance Using Fuzzy Logic

Crime has been plaguing parking garages in the United States. At The Ohio State University, (OSU) crime on campus, in general, has decreased in recent years; however, crime in OSU parking garages has remained stable in spite of campus-wide efforts to reduce crime. When assessing and evaluating parking garages, occupants employ experience-based judgment that is subjective and imprecise, yet extremely useful. When designers employ the principles of crime prevention through environmental design, they also use subjective variables. An approach that captures the imprecise information in noncrisp expressions reflecting subjective and experience-based variables is the fuzzy logic concept. This concept allows the use of mathematical operations to manipulate and operate on imprecise information or knowledge. Variables such as garage illumination and wall height were collected, fuzzified, and treated as the knowledge base of a model presented in this paper. In addition, numerous experience-based implication rules were developed and employed to evaluate subjective variables. A computer program was developed to illustrate implementation of the model.     

A psychometric study of the McMaster Family Assessment Device in psychiatric, medical, and nonclinical samples.

Investigated the psychometric properties of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD [N. Epstein et al; see PA, Vol 71:2891]), a multidimensional measure of family functioning, using data from psychiatric (n?=?1,138), nonclinical (n?=?627), and medical (n?=?298) samples. Internal scale reliabilities and factorial validity were assessed for each group, and results were compared across groups. In general, scale reliabilities were favorable and the hypothesized factor structure of the FAD was supported. Results also support the use of the 60-item version over the original 53-item version. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Breakthrough paper indicator 2.0: can geographical diversity and interdisciplinarity improve the accuracy of outstanding papers prediction?

We report progress on new developments in the breakthrough paper indicator, which allows early selection of a small group of publications which may become potential breakthrough candidates based on dynamics of publication citations and certain qualitative characteristics of citations. We used a quantitative approach to identify typical citation patterns of highly cited papers. Based on these analyses, we propose two forecasting models to select groups of breakthrough paper candidates that exceed high citation thresholds five years post-publication. Here we study whether interdisciplinarity in the subject categories or geographical diversity serve as possible measures to improve ranking of breakthrough paper candidates. We found that ranked geographical diversities of known breakthrough papers have equal or better ranks than corresponding citations ranks. This allows us to apply additional filtering for better identifications of breakthrough candidates. We studied several interdisciplinarity indices, including richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Rao-Stirling-Porter index. We did not find any correlations between citation ranks and ranked interdisciplinarity indices.