287 research outputs found
Effect of Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron Treatment on Biological Reductive Dechlorination: A Review of Current Understanding and Research Needs
No full textabstract: Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is a strong nonspecific reducing agent that is used for in situ degradation of chlorinated solvents and other oxidized pollutants. However, there are significant concerns regarding the risks posed by the deliberate release of engineered nanomaterials into the environment, which have triggered moratoria, for example, in the United Kingdom. This critical review focuses on the effect of nZVI injection on subsurface microbial communities, which are of interest due to their important role in contaminant attenuation processes. Corrosion of ZVI stimulates dehalorespiring bacteria, due to the production of H[subscript 2] that can serve as an electron donor for reduction of chlorinated contaminants. Conversely, laboratory studies show that nZVI can be inhibitory to pure bacterial cultures, although toxicity is reduced when nZVI is coated with polyelectrolytes or natural organic matter. The emerging toolkit of molecular biological analyses should enable a more sophisticated assessment of combined nZVI/biostimulation or bioaugmentation approaches. While further research on the consequences of its application for subsurface microbial communities is needed, nZVI continues to hold promise as an innovative technology for in situ remediation of pollutants It is particularly attractive. for the remediation of subsurface environments containing chlorinated ethenes because of its ability to potentially elicit and sustain both physical–chemical and biological removal despite its documented antimicrobial properties.This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published as Bruton, Thomas A., Pycke, Benny F. G., & Halden, Rolf U. (2015). Effect of Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron Treatment on Biological Reductive Dechlorination: A Review of Current Understanding and Research Needs. CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 45(11), 1148-1175. DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2014.924185. Copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10643389.2014.92418
A Conversation about Aliens, AIs and Jack Benny
No full textPresented on March 14, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in the Crosland Tower, 7th floor reading room.Jack McDevitt is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer and motivational trainer. His work has been on the final ballot for the Nebula Awards for 12 of the past 13 years, and he holds 16 nominations in total. His first novel, The Hercules Text, was published in the celebrated Ace Specials series and won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. In 1991, McDevitt won the first $10,000 UPC International Prize for his novella, "Ships in the Night." The Engines of God was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and his novella, "Time Travelers Never Die," was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.Runtime: 60:59 minutesThe Georgia Tech Library is proud to host Nebula Award-winning author Jack McDevitt in the Seventh Floor Reading Room Thursday, March 14 for “A Conversation about Aliens, AIs and Jack Benny with Sci-Fi Author Jack McDevitt
Benny to Mr. H. B. Smith, 30 September 1962
No full textBenny states we are okay and says things in Oxford are a mess. Asks recipients to call Bob\u27s mother.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/west_union_tel/1134/thumbnail.jp
Henri Temianka Correspondence; (benny)
No full textThis collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/1144/thumbnail.jp
[Letter to "Bo" Mildred, "Benny" Connie and "Bill"]
No full textLetter from unknown author to "Bo" Mildred, "Benny" Connie and "Bill" telling them of the new occurrences in his life and work
Weight Annotation in Information Extraction
No full textThe framework of document spanners abstracts the task of information extraction from text as a function that maps every document (a string) into a relation over the document's spans (intervals identified by their start and end indices). For instance, the regular spanners are the closure under the Relational Algebra (RA) of the regular expressions with capture variables, and the expressive power of the regular spanners is precisely captured by the class of vset-automata-a restricted class of transducers that mark the endpoints of selected spans. In this work, we embark on the investigation of document spanners that can annotate extractions with auxiliary information such as confidence, support, and confidentiality measures. To this end, we adopt the abstraction of provenance semirings by Green et al., where tuples of a relation are annotated with the elements of a commutative semiring, and where the annotation propagates through the (positive) RA operators via the semiring operators. Hence, the proposed spanner extension, referred to as an annotator, maps every string into an annotated relation over the spans. As a specific instantiation, we explore weighted vset-automata that, similarly to weighted automata and transducers, attach semiring elements to transitions. We investigate key aspects of expressiveness, such as the closure under the positive RA, and key aspects of computational complexity, such as the enumeration of annotated answers and their ranked enumeration in the case of numeric semirings. For a number of these problems, fundamental properties of the underlying semiring, such as positivity, are crucial for establishing tractability.Funding
This work was supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and
Development (GIF), grant I-1502-407.6/2019. The work of Johannes Doleschal and Wim Martens
was also supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), grant MA 4938/4-1. The work
of Benny Kimelfeld and Liat Peterfreund was also supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF),
grants 1295/15 and 768/19, and the DFG project 412400621 (DIP program).
Liat Peterfreund: A part of the work was donewhile the author was affiliated with the Technion.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Matthias Niewerth for many useful discussions and his help
regarding Theorem 7.1 and Shaull Almagor for many helpful comments regarding weighted automata.
Furthermore, we thank the anonymous reviewers for ICDT 2020 for many helpful remarks
A time-course analysis of four full-scale anaerobic digesters in relation to the dynamics of change of their microbial communities
No full textThis study describes the microbial community richness, -dynamics, and -organization of four full-scale anaerobic digesters during a time-course study of 45 days. The microbial community was analyzed using a Bacteria- and Archaea-targeting 16S rRNA gene-based Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism approach. Clustering analysis separated meso- and thermophilic reactors for both archaeal and bacterial communities. Regardless of the operating temperature, each installation possessed a distinct community profile. For both microbial domains, about 8 dominant terminal-restriction fragments could be observed, with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 14. The bacterial community organization (a coefficient which describes the specific degree of evenness) showed a factor 2 more variation in the mesophilic reactors, compared with the thermophilic ones. The archaeal community structure of the mesophilic UASB reactor was found to be more stable. The community composition was highly dynamic for Bacteria and Archaea, with a rate of change between 20-50% per 15 days. This study illustrated that microbial communities in full-scale anaerobic digesters are unique to the installation and that community properties are dynamic. Converging complex microbial processes such as anaerobic digestion which rely on a multitude of microbial teams apparently can be highly dynamic
Phylogeography of Influenza in the Southwest United States
No full textabstract: Influenza remains a constant concern for public health agencies across the nation and worldwide. Current methods of surveillance suffice but they fall short of their true potential. Incorporation of evolutionary data and analysis through studies such as phylogeography could reveal geographic sources of variation. Identification and targeting of such sources for public health initiatives could yield increased effectiveness of influenza treatments. As it stands there is a lack of evolutionary data available for such use, particularly in the southwest. Our study focused on the sequencing and phylogeography of southwestern Influenza A samples from the Mayo Clinic. We fully sequenced two neuraminidase genes and combined them with archived sequence data from the Influenza Research Database. Using RAxML we identified the clade containing our sequences and performed a phylogeographic analysis using ZooPhy. The resultant data were analyzed using programs such as SPREAD and Tracer. Our results show that the southwest sequences emerged from California and the ancestral root of the clade came from New York. Our Bayesian maximum clade credibility (MCC) tree data and SPREAD analysis implicates California as a source of influenza variation in the United States. This study demonstrates that phylogeography is a viable tool to incorporate evolutionary data into existing forms of influenza surveillance
Pesquisa contemporânea da consciência: modelo dos parâmetros e valores de Benny Shanon
No full textThe theoretical study aimed to critically reflect on the foundations of the theoretical model of Parameters and Values of Consciousness by Benny Shanon. Since they came to light, studies about consciousness in Psychology are not seen as a simple investigation. Bifurcated into two controversial domains, phenomenal and psychological consciousness, his studies try to find valid and elaborate methods for a real understanding of mental and behavioral phenomena. Psychologist and cognitive researcher Benny Shanon proposes a general theory of consciousness based on the exploration of unusual states arising from experiences with the entheogenic drink ayahuasca. Thus, he delimits parameters, capable of assuming varied values, which he claims to constitute the phenomenal field of consciousness, hence the individual's perception of himself and the world. However, research based on Shanon's model of consciousness is still scarce in the academic world, both internationally and nationally, and only three Brazilian productions were found for the construction of this work, one of them by the author himself. Thus, Shanon's contribution to the study of cognitive sciences and his understanding of consciousness is not denied, re-signifying classic theories in the area, but the critical examination of his theory indicates that his protocols and methods have some limitations, highlighting the fragility of the empirical basis, research methods and adoption of open science protocols, especially regarding the disclosure of raw data for peer validation. It concludes by the incipient corroboration of Shanon's theoretical perspective for consciousness research, requiring further studies based on the proposed model, mainly in contexts outside of ayahuasca induction, with the aim of legitimizing the theory and bringing the necessary contributions to investigations. of consciousness in contemporary times.O estudo teórico objetivou refletir criticamente sobre os fundamentos do modelo teórico de Parâmetros e Valores de Consciência de Benny Shanon. Desde que vieram à tona, os estudos acerca da consciência na Psicologia não são vistos como uma investigação simples. Bifurcada em dois domínios controversos, a consciência fenomenal e a psicológica, seus estudos tentam encontrar métodos válidos e elaborados para um real entendimento dos fenômenos mentais e comportamentais. O psicólogo e pesquisador cognitivo Benny Shanon faz a proposição de uma teoria geral da consciência a partir da exploração dos estados incomuns advindos das experiências com a bebida enteógena ayahuasca. Assim, delimita parâmetros, capazes de assumir valores variados, os quais alega constituir o campo fenomenal da consciência, logo a percepção do indivíduo acerca de si e do mundo. Contudo, as pesquisas baseadas no modelo de consciência de Shanon ainda se encontram escassas no meio acadêmico tanto internacional, quanto nacional, tendo sido encontradas para a construção do presente trabalho, apenas três produções brasileiras, uma delas do próprio autor. Desse modo, não se nega a contribuição de Shanon aos estudos das ciências cognitivas e sua compreensão acerca da consciência ressignificando teorias clássicas da área, porém o exame crítico de sua teoria indicia que seus protocolos e métodos se encontram com algumas limitações, destacando-se a fragilidade da base empírica, dos métodos de pesquisa e de adoção de protocolos de ciência aberta, principalmente quanto à divulgação de dados brutos para uma validação entre pares. Conclui-se pela insipiente corroboração da perspectiva teórica de Shanon para a pesquisa de consciência, sendo necessários mais estudos com fundamento no modelo proposto, principalmente em contextos fora da indução por ayahuasca, com o intuito de legitimar a teoria e trazer as devidas contribuições às investigações da consciência na contemporaneidade
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