Amino Acid composition of planktonic foraminifera: a paleobiochemical approach to evolution

A unique, species-specific amino acid composition is identified with each of 16 species of planktonic Foraminifera isolated from the tops of deep-sea sediment cores. This amino acid pattern appears to directly reflect the genotype. The total amino acid content ranges from 2.0 to 4.2 micromoles per gram of calcified tissue or 0.02 to 0.04 percent by weight. Analyses of two Early Miocene species indicate that characteristic compositional differences are sufficiently well preserved over geologic time to determine phylogenetic affinities among extinct species living at least 18 million years ago.     

Nanomaterials: a membrane-based synthetic approach

Materials with nanoscopic dimensions not only have potential technological applications in areas such as device technology and drug delivery but also are of fundamental interest in that the properties of a material can change in this regime of transition between the bulk and molecular scales. In this article, a relatively new method for preparing nanomaterials, membrane-based synthesis, is reviewed. This method entails synthesis of the desired material within the pores of a nanoporous membrane. Because the membranes used contain cylindrical pores of uniform diameter, monodisperse nanocylinders of the desired material, whose dimensions can be carefully controlled, are obtained. This "template" method has been used to prepare polymers, metals, semiconductors, and other materials on a nanoscopic scale.     

Nuclear power: a balanced approach

A proposed technological approach to meeting recognized nuclear power needs is a symbiotic combination of breeders and advanced converter reactors. Breeders, situated in secured areas, would be fueled with and self-sufficient in plutonium. The excess fuel produced in the breeder would be uranium-233, sufficient in quantity to supply several advanced converters located near load centers. This approach is suggested as a balanced way to meet important criteria applicable to the continued development of nuclear power.     

Population modeling: a systems approach

A single species population dynamics model based on the functional representations of birth, growth, and death has been constructed. Laboratory parameter estimates were used in a computer implementation of the model to simulate field populations. Preliminary results of replicate runs with parametric sampling indicated reasonable statistical agreement. Further development with the systems analysis technique is planned.     

Solar constant: first direct measurements

The solar constant was directly measured from an altitude of about 82 kilometers-apparently the first such determination. The total solar intensity was 136.1 milliwatts per square centimeter, or 1.952 calories per square centimeter, per minute-about 2.5 percent less than Johnson's derived value. Energy in the ultraviolet and visible regions (for lambda less than 607 nanometers) was 7.0 percent less than that obtained by integration over Johnson'Scurve; for integral flux of lambda greater than 607 nanometers there was almost perfect agreement. Seven supporting series of measurements from lower altitudes agreed extremely well with these results after correction for atmospheric extinction.     

Clonal adaptive radiation in a constant environment

The evolution of new combinations of bacterial properties contributes to biodiversity and the emergence of new diseases. We investigated the capacity for bacterial divergence with a chemostat culture of Escherichia coli. A clonal population radiated into more than five phenotypic clusters within 26 days, with multiple variations in global regulation, metabolic strategies, surface properties, and nutrient permeability pathways. Most isolates belonged to a single ecotype, and neither periodic selection events nor ecological competition for a single niche prevented an adaptive radiation with a single resource. The multidirectional exploration of fitness space is an underestimated ingredient to bacterial success even in unstructured environments.     

任务教学法在英语写作教学中的应用

首先分析了现行的外语写作教学法如“结果教学法“和“过程教学法“的优、缺点，然后介绍了“任务教学法“。它是兼容交际法和传统教学理念的折中主义教学，是结果教学法和过程教学法的结合体，认为外语教学是解决交际任务的过程，并在Skehan 和Willis理论的基础上，总结出一个具体的、可操作的“任务教学法“写作教学步骤。     

DGT法原位测量水体中金属有效态组分及动力学研究

根据不同厚度扩散膜DGT(梯度扩散薄膜)对金属络合易解离态解离能力差异性这一原理,提出了一套计算金属解离动力学及有效态组分方法,并将其应用于水体Zn、Ni、Cu、Fe、Mn、Cd、Pb等金属形态及运移动力学特征差异性计算中。结果表明,研究提出的计算方法,克服了原有方法过拟合的缺点,可以不借助第三方金属形态分析软件一次性计算出金属有效态含量、组分构成及K-1值,且计算结果更好地体现出有效态中络合易解离部分的贡献,计算公式假设参数少,避免了金属价态、有机质组分构成差异性等因素对有效态含量计算的影响。     

Kinetics of delignification: a molecular approach

A treelike model has been proposed for the structure of lignin. Kinetics of delignification are formulated to account for the cleavage of linkages along the linear primary chains and at the cross-links. Experimental data obtained from isothermal delignification are used to verify this theory. Good agreement has been obtained in calculating the delignification curves. Activation energies are found to be 172 kilojoules per mole of cross-links and 132 kilojoules per mole of aryl ether bonds.     

Cancer therapy: a possible new approach

Two substances, one promoting growth (promine) of ascites tumors in mice and the other inhibiting it (retine) have both been found in several tissues, namely, thymus, aorta, muscle, and tendon. In spite of similar solubilities in the solvents used for their extraction, the substances could be roughly separated. The value of the ratio between these substances in the same tissue may be significant.     

Catalase: kinetics of photooxidation

The kinetics of photooxidation of catalase is a four-step consecutive reaction, if each of the four porphyrin moieties acts independently. The rate of enzyme inactivation is a first-order reaction resulting from destruction of a single porphyrin. The kinetics of absorbancy is more complex, depending upon the absorption probabilities of each of the microspecies. With equal probabilities. the log of the sum of the normalized absorptivities is a linear function of time.     

Saline culture of crops: a genetic approach

Increasing salinity of soil and water threatens agriculture in arid and semiarid regions. By itself, the traditional engineering approach to the problem is no longer adequate. Genetic science offers the possibility of developing salt-tolerant crops, which, in conjunction with environmental manipulation, could improve agricultural production in saline regions and extend agriculture to previously unsuited regions.     

Thermal evolution of plutons: a parameterized approach

A conservation-of-energy equation has been derived for the spatially averaged magma temperature in a spherical pluton undergoing simultaneous crystallization and both internal (magma) and external (hydrothermal fluid) thermal convection. The model accounts for the dependence of magma viscosity on crystallinity, temperature, and bulk composition; it includes latent heat effects and the effects of different initial water concentrations in the melt and quantitatively considers the role that large volumes of circulatory hydrothermal fluids play in dissipating heat. The nonlinear ordinary differential equation describing these processes has been solved for a variety of magma compositions, initial termperatures, initial crystallinities, volume ratios of hydrothermal fluid to magma, and pluton sizes. These calculations are graphically summarized in plots of the average magma temperature versus time after emplacement. Solidification times, defined as the time necessary for magma to cool from the initial emplacement temperature to the solidus temperature vary as R(1,3), where R is the pluton radius. The solidification time of a pluton with a radius of 1 kilometer is 5 x 10(4) years; for an otherwise identical pluton with a radius of 10 kilometers, the solidification time is approximately 10(6) years. The water content has a marked effect on the solidification time. A granodiorite pluton with a radius of 5 kilometers and either 0.5 or 4 percent (by weight) water cools in 3.3 x 10(5) or 5 x 10(4) years, respectively. Convection solidification times are usually but not always less than conduction cooling times.