IEA joint trials: New lessons from old plantations

Two international trials of potential biomass species families and clones planted in 1985 have been analyzed to determine changing patterns in growth, diseases, and insects. In the Swedish trial, with close spacing and short rotations, Salix viminalis clones gave the best average yield of 17.4 Mg/Ha/yr on the first coppice rotation. In the Minnesota, USA trial, with wider spacings and a longer rotation Populus alba hybrid clones gave the best average yields of 5.5 Mg/Ha/yr. The most important disease and insect problems encountered were Septoria musiva stem cankers on some Populus clones; frost die back in some Salix clones; and the leaf blotch miner, Fenusa dohrnii, on most Alnus families. Recommendations for future international cooperation in field trials are presented.     

The science-industry interface in the petroleum industry: Correlation of time series of indicators and their spectra,and growth modelling

Petroleum production and exploration, used as petroleum industry indicators, and accumulation of petroleum-related geoscience literature, used as a science indicator, were compared by several means to gauge the degree of interaction between science and the industry in the period 1934–1990. Methods of comparison employed were: time domain correlations and crosscorrelation; correlations of spectra using coherence and crosspower spectra, and growth-modelling of the indicators. A fifty-year exploration cycle was found, beginning about 1945. Principal features of this cycle seem to coincide with prominent features in the time series for geoscience literature, and both of these variables are correlated with petroleum production. All three variables appear to have been determined ultimately by economic and political events which affected the petroleum industry. All of them show long-period cycles which coincide with the fourth Kondratiev cycle and the beginning of the fifth Kondratiev. The longest time series used (petroleum production in the United States, 1860–1990) shows long-period cycles matching the third, fourth and fifth Kondratiev cycles.     

Transient thermal performance of line traps

This paper develops a transient thermal model for line traps. The model was incorporated into a computer program that numerically integrates the governing nonlinear differential equation in time to predict critical temperatures and component short and long term ratings for a wide range of operating conditions. The model accounts for many factors including: variable air properties, variable material properties, environmental conditions, and a wide variety of component geometries and orientations. To verify the temperatures predicted by the thermal model, The Georgia Power Research Center carried out an extensive series of indoor laboratory tests to experimentally measure temperatures of energized line traps under transient loading conditions. Model predictions were within 8°C for 75 percent of the data. This paper presents the development of the governing equations and describes in detail the calculation of the convective and radiative components of heat transfer. Comparisons of the model predictions for two different line trap designs in different orientations to experimental data are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and flexibility of the thermal model     

A direct plate count method for detecting E. coli in frozen food by detecting indole in colonies

A medium giving maximum indole production colonies of Escherichia coli has been defined and includes diethylaminoethylcellulose which restricts the spread of indole through the agar medium. A reagent based on p-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde has been developed to give optimum indication of indole production. A simple method which will identify E. coli in cultures obtained from selective media is described and an extension, including a resuscitation stage, devised for rapid and direct quantitation of E. coli from frozen foods.     

An expert decision support system for network routing: a case study

The paper presents a case study of the development of an expert decision support system which uses simple heuristic methods for fast determination of routes for simultaneous signals in a transmission network of limited capacity. It illustrates how heuristic solutions can be embodied in a model-based DSS and how the standard decision support literature, although intuitively appealing, provides little practical assistance in system construction or classification     

Phlebotomus papatasi sand fly salivary gland lysate down-regulates a Th1, but up-regulates a Th2, response in mice infected with Leishmania major

A vertebrate host becomes infected with Leishmania major when the sand fly vector injects parasites into skin along with saliva. Previous studies showed that salivary gland lysate of the New World sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis markedly enhanced L. major infection in CBA mice. However, L. major is an Old World parasite transmitted in nature by the Old World sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi. Here we examine the ability of P. papatasi salivary gland lysate to enhance infection (lesion size and parasite burden) by L. major. In addition, we examine the effects of salivary gland lysate on the immune response to L. major by monitoring the levels of cytokine mRNA from the lymph nodes draining cutaneous lesions. We found that P. papatasi salivary gland lysate dramatically exacerbated lesion development in disease-resistant CBA mice. This exacerbation of disease correlated with inhibition of the production of Thl cytokines and associated factors (IFN-gamma, IL-12, and inducible nitric oxide synthase), but with enhancement of the Th2 cytokine IL-4, whereas no changes in the levels of IL-10 and TGF-beta were noted. Importantly, salivary gland lysate directly up-regulated expression of IL-4 mRNA in mice in the absence of infection with L. major.     

On the preparation and properties of CuZSM-5 catalysts for NO decomposition

Equilibrium exchange isotherms were determined for the exchange of Cu²⁺ with NaZSM-5 at varying Cu(Ac)₂ concentrations in solutions of constant volume and zeolite weight. At low Cu²⁺ levels the solid scavenged all the copper ions. When copper could be detected in the equilibrated solutions, overexchange was observed. The extent of overexchange was higher at pH 6 than at pH 4. These results were analyzed in relation to catalytic activity.On leave from the Central Institute for Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H1525 Budapest, Hungary.