bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of carbohydrate carbon sources on the production of constitutive and inducible laccases by Botryosphaeria sp.
Authors: Alves da Cunha Mário A. , Barbosa Aneli M. , Giese Ellen C. , Dekker Robert F. H. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe influence of carbohydrates: glucose, fructose, galactose, galacturonic acid, xylose, lactose, sucrose, pectin and inulin, were evaluated as sole carbon source for the production of laccases by the ascomycete, Botryosphaeria sp. Veratryl alcohol, a laccase inducer, was added to culture media to study inducible laccase production on the same carbon sources. Inulinase and pectinase were also produced when Botryosphaeria sp. was grown on inulin, and galacturonic acid and pectin, respectively, and their levels were less in the presence of veratryl alcohol. Botryosphaeria sp. produced constitutive laccases on all carbon sources examined, and veratryl alcohol increased the laccase production on most of carbon sources studied except for inulin and galacturonic acid. Evidence is presented that Botryosphaeria sp. is also pectinolytic.
Beauveria bassiana isolated from engorged females and tested against eggs and larvae of Boophilus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae)
Authors: Fernandes Éverton Kort Kamp , da Costa Gisela Lara , de Souza Edson Jesus , de Moraes Aurea Maria Lage , Bittencourt Vania Rita Elias Pinheiro 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe purpose of this work was to evaluate the in vitro virulence of three isolates of Beauveria bassiana to eggs and larvae of the tick Boophilus microplus. The fungus tested were isolated from engorged females of B. microplus collected on the field, and identified as Bb28, Bb29 and Bb30. These isolates were evaluated by immersion of eggs and larvae in suspensions with different conidial concentrations: 108, 107, 106 and 105 conidia/ml and compared to the control groups. In the treated eggs, there was a percentage much smaller of hatching than that observed in the controls. The egg hatch was inversely proportional to the conidial concentration. In larval bioassays, all isolates resulted in a higher mortality of larvae compared to the control according to the conidial concentrations/ml, 10 days after treatment inoculation.
Evaluation of a new agar medium containing cetrimide, kanamycin and nalidixic acid for isolation and enhancement of pigment production of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in clinical samples
Authors: Kodaka Hidemasa , Iwata Morihiro , Yumoto Shigeo , Kashitani Fusako 
Published: September 2003

AbstractA new selective agar medium (CKNA), containing cetrimide 0.3 g/l, kanamycin sulfate 50 mg/l, and nalidixic acid 5 mg/l, was developed for the isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It was compared to Nalidixic Acid Cetrimide agar (NAC), Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Selective Agar (PASA) and PseudoselTM agar (CET) using 1,148 clinical specimens. The sensitivities rates of P. aeruginosa with CKNA, NAC, PASA, and CET were 88.2%, 81.3%, 79.2%, and 84.0%, respectively. The specificities of CKNA, NAC, PASA, and CET were 99.2%, 98.4%, 99.2%, and 99.7%, respectively.
Enhancing bioremoval of textile dyes by eight fungal strains from media supplemented with gelatine wastes and sucrose
Authors: Abd El‐Rahim Wafaa M. , Moawad Hassan 
Published: September 2003

AbstractEight Aspergillus strains were found to be successful in removing textile dyes from liquid media. These fungal strains were grown on medium containing: gelatine wastes and sucrose, as sources of nitrogen and carbon to test the possible speed up of the dyes removing while fungus biomass is building up in the media. The growth of fungal strains ranged from 10 to 110 mg biomass dry weight/100 ml medium. This growth induced high decolorization percentages, which ranged 33–95% within eight days. Two textile dyes Direct brown and Polar red were included in the study. The growth of the fungal strains as well as decolorization percentage of the dyes increased after 5, 6, and 8 days from incubation time with most tested strains. With Direct brown dye the strains number 2, 5, 31 and 37 recorded the highest percentage of decolorization (91, 92, 93 and 95 respectively) after incubation for 6 days. Fungal strains Aspergillus 5 and 31 gave the highest mycelium dry weight being 110 mg. Most of fungal strains induced 86 to 95 percentage of decolorization after 6 days incubation with Polar red dye. The possible toxicity of the remaining supernatant media after fungal biomass removal was tested by Ames test to assess the residual mutagenic agents remaining after dye removal, using three strains of Salmonella typhimurium (TA 1535, TA 1537, TA 1538). The results showed that the toxicity of the dyes, measured by Ames test could be removed by the dye absorption on the fungal biomass.
Isolation and characterization of an indigenous isolate of Dunaliella sp. for β‐carotene and glycerol production from a hypersaline lake in India
Authors: Phadwal Kanchan , Singh P. K. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractDunaliella, a green alga grows in a wide range of marine and freshwater habitats such as oceans, brine lakes, salt marshes and salt‐water ditches near the sea, predominantly in water bodies containing more than 10% salt. Sambhar salt lake, Rajasthan (India) was found as one of the natural habitat of Dunaliella sp. The species was isolated and screened for accumulation of β‐carotene and glycerol. It was studied for the growth attributes like total protein, optical density, total chlorophyll, total carotenoid, β‐carotene and glycerol. Under unstressed physico‐chemical conditions the maximum β‐carotene and glycerol observed was 1.15 pg/cell and 94.26 pg/cell respectively. The stress (salt stress (NaCl), high light intensities and continuous light) allowed the alga to accumulate high β‐carotene (approximately 4.21 pg/cell under 118.18 μmole m−2 s−1 of light intensity) without massive reduction in biomass content. This opens up new avenues for exploring this strain for future research and its commercial exploitation.
The diversity of yeasts in the agricultural soil
Authors: Sláviková Elena , Vadkertiová Renata 
Published: September 2003

AbstractOne hundred and eleven yeast strains were isolated from 60 agricultural soil samples. The samples were taken from four various fields located in the southwest of Slovakia. Cryptococcus laurentii, Candida maltosa, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, and Sporobolomyces salmonicolor were the predominant species in the samples collected from all four types of fields. These species represented 78.4–86.6% of the total yeast counts.The results obtained enabled comparisons to be made between forest and agricultural soil yeast population. We have found out that the yeast population in tilled soils was significantly reduced. The number of yeasts in the tilled soils ranged from 40 to 6.8 × 103 CFU/g soil and the average number reached approximately 1.12 × 103. This number is more than ten times lower in comparison with the forest soils.
Drought indices and their application to East Africa
Authors: Ntale Henry K. , Gan Thian Yew 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis study analysed and modified (where necessary) the properties of three drought indices: the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), the Bhalme–Mooley index (BMI) and the standardized precipitation index (SPI). We modified the original PDSI's recursive formula, potential runoff, and Z index, which produced more realistic results than the original PDSI (designed for the USA) for East Africa. We improved the SPI by first using a plotting position formula designed for the Pearson type III (P3) distribution to transform the ‘smoothed’ precipitation data into non‐exceedance probabilities, which we then transformed into standard P3 variates by the regional flood index method. The modified SPI depicted East Africa's drought conditions more accurately than the original SPI. Using the three indices and East Africa as a case example, we identified eight assessment criteria to determine the most appropriate index for detecting drought events on a regional basis. BMI produced results that are highly correlated to those of the modified PDSI, which suggested that precipitation alone could explain most of the variability of East African droughts. Furthermore, among the three indices, SPI is more appropriate for monitoring East African droughts because it is more easily adapted to the local climate, has modest data requirements, can be computed at almost any time scale, provides relatively consistent power spectra spatially, has no theoretical upper or lower bounds, and is easy to interpret. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Mapping the climate of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra
Authors: Daly Christopher , Helmer E. H. , Quiñones Maya 
Published: September 2003

AbstractSpatially explicit climate data contribute to watershed resource management, mapping vegetation type with satellite imagery, mapping present and hypothetical future ecological zones, and predicting species distributions. The regression‐based parameter–elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM) uses spatial data sets, a knowledge base and expert interaction to generate grids of climate variables that are compatible with geographical information systems. This study applied PRISM to generate maps of mean monthly and annual precipitation and minimum and maximum temperature for the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra over the 1963–95 averaging period. PRISM was run under alternative parameterizations that simulated simpler interpolation methods as well as the full PRISM model. For temperature, the standard PRISM parameterization was compared with a hypsometric method (HYPS), in which the temperature–elevation slope was assumed to be −6.5 °C/km. For precipitation, the standard PRISM parameterization was compared with an inverse‐distance weighting interpolation (IDW). Spatial temperature patterns were linked closely to elevation, topographic position, and coastal proximity. Both PRISM and HYPS performed well for July maximum temperature, but HYPS performed relatively poorly for January minimum temperature, due primarily to lack of a spatially varying temperature–elevation slope, vertical atmospheric layer definition, and coastal proximity guidance. Mean monthly precipitation varied significantly throughout the year, reflecting seasonally differing moisture trajectories. Spatial precipitation patterns were associated most strongly with elevation, upslope exposure to predominant moisture‐bearing winds, and proximity to the ocean. IDW performed poorly compared with PRISM, due largely to the lack of elevation and moisture‐availability information. Overall, the full PRISM approach resulted in greatly improved performance over simpler methods for precipitation and January minimum temperature, but only a small improvement for July maximum temperature. Comparisons of PRISM mean annual temperature and precipitation maps with previously published hand‐drawn maps showed similar overall patterns and magnitudes, but the PRISM maps provided much more spatial detail. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
A human thermal climatology of subtropical Sydney
Authors: Spagnolo J. C. , de Dear R. J. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractUsing a physiologically relevant thermal comfort index (OUT_SET*), an analysis of the week‐by‐week human thermal climate of Sydney was carried out for three levels of metabolic activity. The OUT_SET* index is an outdoor version of the widely used indoor comfort index called the standard effective temperature (SET*) incorporating air and mean radiant temperatures, relative humidity, air velocity, clothing insulation and activity level. The ‘outdoor comfort zone’ for Sydney in terms of OUT_SET* was found from earlier subjective field studies to be in the range 23.8–28.5°C. The analysis indicated that the mid‐summer period (weeks 43 through to 12 in the Southern Hemisphere) was most suitable for sedentary outdoor activities (e.g. watching spectator sport), whereas the mid‐winter period was more suitable for light activities such as walking. Sydney's winter was found to be a very suitable season for tourism in many respects because of (a) low rainfall months, like August, and (b) the ability to undertake light activities while remaining within the outdoor comfort zone. For high metabolic activities during the day, for example the mass participation Sydney City‐to‐Surf fun run, it was found that the threshold limit value for increased risk of heat stress (as defined by ISO 7243, 1989) is exceeded up to 50% of the time during the summer (weeks 50 through to 9 at 3 p.m.) at the 90th percentile probability level. The methods and results of this study should be relevant to end‐users such as architects, engineers, outdoor‐event planners and the tourism industry in general. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Identification and characterization of sea breeze days in northern France using singular value decomposition
Authors: Bigot S. , Planchon O. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractDays subject to the development of sea breeze circulations are shown for the months of June and July 2000 in the north of France using an algebraic analysis, the singular value decomposition (SVD). The analysis is performed upon the NOAA‐AVHRR radiometric data (with the surface temperature data from the 22 available stations located in the study area). The geostatistical results show the characteristics of a sea breeze blowing from the English Channel and the North Sea. Meteorological situations with a sea breeze are not the prevailing mode in summer over the northern coast of France, but the sea breeze effect can be shown more than 40 km inland. In addition, the results of the SVD allow one to discriminate different weather systems associated with the thermo‐topographic winds. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Precipitation characteristics of the Eurasian Arctic drainage system
Authors: Serreze Mark C. , Etringer Andrew J. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis study examines characteristics of precipitation over the major watersheds of the Eurasian Arctic drainage system over the period 1960–92. In addition to the Ob, Yenisey and Lena (the three largest drainage systems), we examine the combined Kolyma–Indigirka in eastern Eurasia. Each basin exhibits approximately symmetric mean annual cycles of monthly total precipitation and daily event size, with winter minima and July maxima. These are strikingly similar to the annual cycles of total column water vapour (precipitable water), which fundamentally reflects the control on saturation vapour pressure by temperature. Effective precipitation mechanisms exist in all seasons. However, because of the long distance from strong moisture sources (continentality), precipitation tends to follow the seasonality in column water vapour. An effective contrast is presented for the Iceland sector. Here, the annual cycle of precipitation is tied not to the seasonality in column water vapour, but to the stronger precipitation‐generating mechanisms in winter. Hence, the annual cycles of precipitation and column water vapour in this region oppose each other.Mean winter precipitation over the Eurasian watersheds is primarily driven by a modest convergence of water vapour. Whereas precipitation peaks in summer, the mean flux convergence exhibits a general minimum (negative in the Ob). Summer precipitation is hence primarily associated with surface evaporation. A strong role of convection is supported from consideration of static stability, the fairly weak spatial organization of precipitation totals and results from prior studies. On daily time scales, the largest basin‐averaged precipitation events, for both summer and winter, are allied with synoptic‐scale forcing. This is seen in relationships with cyclone frequency, and patterns of 500 hPa height, vertical motion and the 700 hPa vapour flux. The relative frequency of four 500 hPa synoptic types captures the basic time series structures of precipitation. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
A regional frequency analysis of United Kingdom extreme rainfall from 1961 to 2000
Authors: Fowler H. J. , Kilsby C. G. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractMulti‐day rainfall events are an important cause of recent severe flooding in the UK, and any change in the magnitude of such events may have severe impacts upon urban structures such as dams, urban drainage systems and flood defences and cause failures to occur. Regional pooling of 1‐, 2‐, 5‐ and 10‐day annual maxima for 1961 to 2000 from 204 sites across the UK is used in a standard regional frequency analysis to produce generalized extreme value growth curves for long return‐period rainfall events for each of nine defined climatological regions. Temporal changes in 1‐, 2‐, 5‐ and 10‐day annual maxima are examined with L‐moments using both a 10 year moving window and the fixed decades of 1961–70, 1971–80, 1981–90 and 1991–2000. A bootstrap technique is then used to assess uncertainty in the fitted decadal growth curves and to identify significant trends in both distribution parameters and quantile estimates.There has been a two‐part change in extreme rainfall event occurrence across the UK from 1961 to 2000. Little change is observed at 1 and 2 days duration, but significant decadal‐level changes are seen in 5‐ and 10‐day events in many regions. In the south of the UK, growth curves have flattened and 5‐ and 10‐day annual maxima have decreased during the 1990s. However, in the north, the 10‐day growth curve has steepened and annual maxima have risen during the 1990s. This is particularly evident in Scotland. The 50 year event in Scotland during 1961–90 has become an 8‐year, 11‐year and 25‐year event in the East, South and North Scotland pooling regions respectively during the 1990s. In northern England the average recurrence interval has also halved. This may have severe implications for design and planning practices in flood control. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Decadal changes in the link between El Niño and springtime North Atlantic oscillation and European–North African rainfall
Authors: Knippertz Peter , Ulbrich Uwe , Marques Filipa , Corte‐Real João 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe link between El Niño–southern oscillation (ENSO) variability in boreal winter (represented by the NIÑO3 index, i.e. East Pacific sea‐surface temperature anomalies) and the large‐scale circulation and weather conditions over Europe–northwest Africa in spring is explored, considering station reports of precipitation, sea‐level pressure (SLP) anomalies and two North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) indices. It is found that these relations have undergone consistent and simultaneous changes in the 20th century. Three characteristic periods can be identified. During 1900–25 and 1962–87, positive NIÑO3 index values are associated with enhanced precipitation over central Europe and reduced rainfall in southern Europe and northern Africa. The ENSO influence on precipitation over Scotland and Norway is small. The rainfall anomalies can be explained from the advective and dynamical implications of a north–south dipole in SLP correlations (warm ENSO events followed by low pressure in northern Europe and high pressure over the Mediterranean Sea–North Africa). This dipole hardly projects on the commonly used NAO centres (Iceland and Azores/Gibraltar) and thus ENSO–NAO correlations are insignificant. During 1931–56 the NIÑO3 index reveals little influence on precipitation over the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, but there are large negative correlations with precipitation over Scotland and Norway. This is related to an alteration of the NIÑO3–SLP correlation pattern, which implies high pressure over northern Europe and low pressure over central Europe after warm events, and thus a virtually inverted dipole with respect to the other two periods. The large westward extension of the dipole leads to a significant NAO–NIÑO3 correlation of r = −0.5. These alterations were accompanied by substantial large‐scale circulation changes during the period 1931–56, as revealed by anomalously high pressure and dry conditions over central–western Europe, a change in precipitation‐producing SLP patterns for Morocco and an anomalously low number of positive NAO and NIÑO3 index values. It is left for discussion as to whether the decadal variations described are due to a change in the physics of the teleconnection or to stochastic fluctuations. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Realignment in the National Football League: Did they do it right?
Authors: Mitchell John E. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe National Football League (NFL) in the United States expanded to 32 teams in 2002 with the addition of a team in Houston. At that point, the league was realigned into eight divisions, each containing four teams. We describe a branch‐and‐cut algorithm for minimizing the sum of intradivisional travel distances. We consider first the case where any team can be assigned to any division. We also consider imposing restrictions, such as aligning the AFC (American Football Conference) and the NFC (National Football Conference) separately or maintaining traditional rivalries. We show that the alignment chosen by the NFL does not minimize the sum of intradivisional travel distances, but that it is close to optimal for an alignment that aligns the NFC and AFC separately and imposes some additional restrictions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 683–701, 2003.
Decentralized admission control of a queueing system: A game‐theoretic model
Authors: Lin Kyle Y. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractConsider a distributed system where many gatekeepers share a single server. Customers arrive at each gatekeeper according to independent Poisson processes with different rates. Upon arrival of a new customer, the gatekeeper has to decide whether to admit the customer by sending it to the server, or to block it. Blocking costs nothing. The gatekeeper receives a reward after a customer completes the service, and incurs a cost if an admitted customer finds a busy server and therefore has to leave the system. Assuming an exponential service distribution, we formulate the problem as an n‐person non‐zero‐sum game in which each gatekeeper is interested in maximizing its own long‐run average reward. The key result is that each gatekeeper's optimal policy is that of a threshold type regardless what other gatekeepers do. We then derive Nash equilibria and discuss interesting insights. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 702–718, 2003.
Mean sojourn times in multiclass feedback queues with gated disciplines
Authors: Hirayama Tetsuji 
Published: September 2003

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate multiclass feedback queues with gated disciplines. The server selects the stations by a nonpreemptive priority scheduling algorithm and serves customers in the selected station by either a gated FCFS discipline or a gated priority discipline. We take a rather systematic approach to their mean sojourn times. We define conditional expected sojourn times for all customers and derive their expressions from an analysis of busy periods. Since they are shown to be linear in some components of the system states, their steady state mean values can be derived from simple limiting procedures. These mean values can be obtained from a set of linear equations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 719–741, 2003.