Dynamics of photosynthetic pigments in an Andean lake in Colombia

Guatavita Lake is a small, sheltered tropical high mountain lake located in the Colombian Andes, with a closed watershed and a maximum depth of 25 m. It is the freshwater source for human consumption in nearby small towns, as well as being a site of cultural value for the country, as it was a sacred place to indigenous peoples until about five centuries ago. As the structure and function of this aquatic ecosystem is poorly understood, this study provides initial knowledge on its phytoplankton biomass dynamics, which should be useful in designing efficient management plans with environmental baseline information for similar lakes elsewhere. Physical and chemical data, and photosynthetic pigment concentrations, were measured for the period November 1999–November 2000 at the central vertical axis of Guatavita Lake. The vertical profile of the chlorophyll‐a concentration was closely related to the dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations and the thermal stratification characteristics. The maximum chlorophyll‐a concentration in the metalimnion was recorded for the thermal stratification period (November 1999–June 2000). Deepening of the maximum chlorophyll‐a concentration began in February, continuing to June, when it reached its lowest value at the 15 m depth. The phytoplankton biomass values showed an increment within the entire water column at the beginning of the mixing period (July). The relation between the metalimnetic peak of chlorophyll‐a and the dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration suggests the growth of the phytoplankton community is limited mainly by the availability of nitrogen.     

Analytical results for the plectonemic response of supercoiled DNA

The DNA molecule is modeled as an elastic rod with bending and twisting rigidities, subjected to external tension and twist applied at one end, the other end being clamped. We study the plectonemic equilibrium of such a rod, taking into account the impenetrability constraint. Numerical solutions of this boundary value problem have previously shown that purely elastic models can reproduce the supercoiling response of the DNA molecule. Using a variational approach, we derive analytical formulae for the elastic response of the filament, and extend former numerical results.     

Bioavailability and Toxicity of Metal Nutrients during Anaerobic Digestion

This paper investigates the effect of chelating agents on the bioavailability of Fe and Cu during anaerobic digestion. The results on metal speciation and methane production in anaerobic serum bottles showed that biomass was able to grow in the presence of citrate 1?mM and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) 1?mM, suggesting that the binding sites at the cell surface competed efficiently for the metals with the chelating agents added. The presence of free ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid 1?mM inhibited methanogenesis, and this seemed to be related to a loss in metal uptake capacity. Although the addition of soluble microbial products (SMP) did not change metal distribution in anaerobic systems, it caused an increase in the rate of methane production, and it is believed that direct uptake of Cu-SMP complexes was responsible for this increase. The best protection against Cu toxicity occurred when stoichiometric amounts of NTA, which should complex and solubilize most of the Cu, was added, and it is likely that NTA prevented lethal concentrations of Cu from being adsorbed onto the cell and hence internalized.     

Structural Response of Nuclear Containment Shield Buildings with Construction Openings

Steam generator replacement at nuclear power plants requires large construction openings in nuclear containment structures. This study examines the effects of such openings placed in a 61?cm (2?ft) thick dome of a shield building. The dome is cast in two layers, and the limiting cases of the two layers acting as one and the lower layer carrying the entire load are considered. Without openings, the stresses due to dead load in the structure are very low when compared to the material strength. With openings, the loads are easily redistributed around the opening, and the maximum stresses for the conservative case are between three and four and one-half times larger than in the original structure with no openings. The extent of the affected area around the holes is relatively small. Smooth corners in the openings are necessary to avoid high local stress concentrations.     

Real-time control of video surveillance systems with program supervision techniques

In this article, we describe a knowledge-based controlled platform using program supervision techniques. This platform eases the creation and the configuration of video surveillance systems. Several issues need to be addressed to provide a correct system configuration: (1) to choose, among a library of programs, those which are best satisfying a given user request, (2) to assign a correct value for each program parameter, (3) to evaluate performances and to guarantee a performance rate which is satisfactory regarding end-user requirements. This platform is composed of three main components: the library of programs, the knowledge base and the control component. The knowledge is either given by experts or learnt by the system. The control is generic in the sense that it is independent of any application. To validate this platform, we have built and evaluated six video surveillance systems which are featured with three properties: adaptability, reliability and real-time processing.     

Mining data from intensive care patients

In this paper we describe the application of data mining methods for predicting the evolution of patients in an intensive care unit. We discuss the importance of such methods for health care and other application domains of engineering. We argue that this problem is an important but challenging one for the current state of the art data mining methods and explain what improvements on current methods would be useful. We present a promising study on a preliminary data set that demonstrates some of the possibilities in this area.     

Variation de la plombemie en fonction de la contamination par le plomb de l'eau livree a la consommation: Variation of the blood lead level as a result of lead contamination of the subjects drinking water

The combination of the chemical aggressivity of water and lead piping, as is well known, can cause severe cases of lead poisoning in those who consume such water. After a great number of observations and epidemiological studies which have strongly incriminated this metal in a wide range of pathologic conditions, other materials have been gradually substituted for lead; however, the problem remains.In compliance with a European Directive to survey the risk of lead poisoning (Council Directive, 1977), a random sample of 321 residents was selected from the Vosgian Mountains of France. This region is noted for its high incidence of cases of lead poisoning: 150 reported during 8 months in 1983 (Barbier et al., 1983).During the course of a health evaluation, a blood sample was taken from each subject for lead analysis. At the same time, a sample of tap-water (after running for 5 s) was taken from each subject home. Both lead analyses (blood and water) were performed by electrothermal atomization-atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Because of the log-normality of the distributions of the blood lead levels and the concentrations of lead in the drinking water, a logarithmic transformation was performed so that the results are expressed as the geometric mean, which for the amount of lead in the drinking water of our sample was found to be 0.16 mg l^?1.Among the subjects of this study, 28% are served by water containing more than 0.10 mg l^?1 of lead (the standard for France) and 48% by water containing more than 0.05 mg l^?1 (the European and WHO standard). In concurrence with numerous authors, our study indicates that, among our subjects, the blood lead level is much higher in men than in women (geometric means 22.9 and 15.0 μg dl^?1 respectively); this difference is highly significant (t-test:P < 0.001). Table 1 summarizes the results, by sex, obtained in this region compared with those from a study (Huel, 1982) concerning an urban French population whose geometric mean blood lead levels were 15.9 μg dl^?1 for men and 11.4 μg dl^?1 for women. The irrespective of sex, is highly significant (P < 0.001). Table 2 shows the significance of the relation between these subjects, high blood lead levels and the concentration of lead in their drinking water, while Fig. 1 shows that for contamination levels up to 0.02 mg l^?1 of lead in water, the blood lead level remains relatively stable, while above this apparent “threshold” value, the blood lead level begins to increase finally reaching quite high values in response to high contamination levels, suggesting a direct translation of increases in the water above the 0.02 mg l^?1 level to increases in the blood.     

Synthesis,characterization and properties of functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers

New functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers were prepared by free radical copolymerization of styrene (St) and N‐4‐carboxybutylmaleimide (NBMI) in chloroform, using 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. Monomer and copolymer characterization was carried out by ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR. Copolymer composition was determined by elemental analysis and Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The glass transition temperature (from DSC) and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the copolymers were consistent with the thermal behavior and stability observed for alternating St–maleimide copolymers. St–NBMI copolymers crosslinked with divinylbenzene (DVB) were also synthesized and their cation exchange properties evaluated in order to assess the capacity of the new copolymers to bind metallic ions. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry