Showing papers on "Energy source published in 1972"

Interspecies Transformation of Acinetobacter: Genetic Evidence for a Ubiquitous Genus

Abstract: The availability of a strain of Acinetobacter competent for transformation has made it possible to demonstrate the genetic relatedness of a large variety of gram-negative, oxidase-negative, nonmotile, and aerobic coccobacilli originally classified into eleven different genera. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) species from 265 such strains are capable of transforming stable auxotrophs of the competent Acinetobacter to prototrophy. The compositions of these DNA species vary from 40 to 46.8% guanine plus cytosine. Strains with widely differing phenotypic properties are also included in this collection of acinetobacters. DNA species from all oxidase-positive strains of Moraxella and from a variety of common bacteria are unable to transform the competent Acinetobacter. Although acinetobacters are usually considered to be unable to reduce nitrate to nitrite, six strains known to carry out this reduction have been shown to be authentic acinetobacters since their DNA species readily transform the competent Acinetobacter auxotrophs to prototrophy. In contrast to previous findings that acinetobacters rarely grow with glucose as a sole carbon source, the results of the present study show that 17 of the 265 strains grow readily in a glucosemineral medium, and 48 other strains can mutate spontaneously to grow in such a medium. A second competent strain of Acinetobacter, originally unable to use glucose, d-xylose, or d-ribose as carbon sources, has been transformed for ability to dissimilate these compounds using DNA species from strains that normally grow on these sugars. Although most of the 265 Acinetobacter strains studied were originally grown on complex media when isolated from human sources, only nine of these strains require growth factors in order to grow in a mineral medium containing a single carbon and energy source. A simple transformation assay has been devised for rapid examination of large numbers of strains to determine whether or not they are acinetobacters. This assay, which is suitable for routine diagnostic work, includes a procedure for preparation of crude transforming DNA from a small quantity of bacterial paste. Samples of DNA prepared from Acinetobacter cultures that had died on slants and plates were still able to effect transformation of the competent auxotrophs to prototrophy.

Stability and Trophic Structure in Deposit-Feeding and Suspension-Feeding Communities

Abstract: Suspension-feeding benthic marine organisms feed by straining particles from the overlying water. Deposit feeders feed by ingesting bottom sediments. These two alternative strategies bring about many differences in food predictability, interspecies interactions, and population dynamics. Because suspension feeders rely principally upon phytoplankton for food, they are subject to a very unpredictable energy source. This results in few permanent sets of species associations due to competitive interactions, great fluctuations in population size, and patchy distributions. Deposit feeders that rely upon great amounts of water-borne detritus are subject to the same lack of predictability. However, where the rate of sedimentation of organic detritus is not so high, the food source for deposit feeders is much more predictable. This is because bacteria provide the rate-controlling step for the generation of food, and organic matter resides in the bottom as a "sink," buffering benthic deposit-feeders against fluctua...

Ion-exchange, coordination, and adsorption chromatographic separation of heavy-end petroleum distillates

Abstract: Information about the composition of heavy-end petroleum distillates is needed because of the increased use of this material as an energy source. The complexity of the heavy ends requires extensive separation to give fractions amenable to compositional studies. A separation scheme is described that separates heavy-end petroleum distillates into acid, base, neutral-nitrogen, saturate, and aromatic fractions. The analytical techniques used include anion- and cation-exchange chromatography, coordination chromatography, and adsorption chromatography. The scheme has been applied to heavy-end distillates from a variety of crude oils having different compositional characteristics. Data from mass spectral analysis of the saturate and aromatic fractions are presented.

Fatty acid composition and physiological properties of some filamentous blue-green algae

Abstract: The fatty acids of 32 axenic strains of filamentous blue-green algae have been analyzed. As an aid to the interpretation of the results, the strains have been assigned to provisional typological groups based upon their morphology and certain physiological characters. The latter are the ability to grow heterotrophically in the dark with glucose as carbon and energy source, the ability to grow in the light at the expense of glucose in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), and the ability to synthesize nitrogenase under anaerobic conditions in the light. Each typological group has been given an appropriate generic name.

The Metabolism of One-Carbon Compounds by Micro-Organisms

Abstract: Publisher Summary One-carbon compounds occur abundantly at all oxidation levels between methane and carbon dioxide. Methane occurs in coal and oil deposits and is also evolved on a large scale as an end-product of many fermentations. Carbon dioxide is also abundantly present in the atmosphere, in natural waters, and as carbonates in the earth. A considerable number of micro-organisms have developed the ability to utilize such compounds as carbon or energy sources. This chapter examines these micro-organisms and the biochemical problems, which are posed by energy transduction and biosynthesis of cell constituents from the one-carbon substrate. It explains the description and physiology of one-carbon-utilizing micro-organisms along with their energy metabolism and carbon assimilation. The utilization of one-carbon compounds is largely confined to prokaryotic organisms. Many enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of one-carbon compounds at a variety of oxidation levels are also extensively studied. The chapter also considers mechanisms that offer a solution to the problem of net biosynthesis from one-carbon units at reduction levels ranging from carbon dioxide to methane.

Thermal convection in a horizontal fluid layer with uniform volumetric energy sources

Abstract: Energy transport at Rayleigh numbers up to 675 times the critical (linear stability theory) value is measured in a layer of dilute electrolyte bounded horizontally by two rigid planes of constant and equal temperature; Joule heating by an alternating current passing horizontally through the layer provides the volumetric energy source. Horizontally averaged temperature profiles are determined optically. Mean temperature distributions are asymmetric at elevated Rayleigh numbers, the energy transport at the upper boundary being more than twice that at the lower boundary. Three regimes of flow are identified and discrete transitions in the energy transport appear to exist when the flow is turbulent. Extrapolation of the data to the conduction value of the Nusselt number yields a critical Rayleigh number which is within + 10·7% of linear theory values. No subcritical convection is observed when finite amplitude disturbances are introduced into the fluid at a Rayleigh number between the critical values predicted by the linear stability theory and energy theory respectively.

Implantable indusion pump

Abstract: An implantable pump for infusing drugs or other chemicals or solutions into the body at a uniform slow flow rate. The pump comprises a housing divided into two chambers separated by a bellows, diaphragm or other pressure-communicating interphase. A volatile liquid partially filling one chamber provides 9 constant pressure energy source to act upon the interphase to force liquid infusate from the other chamber through a capillary tube or other flow-regulating resistance element to the infusion site. The infusate chamber is closed as by means of a self puncture sealing refill stopper. The pump is implanted with the refill stopper disposed under the skin and the pump is refilled periodically by injection through the skin.

The role of glucose in the survival and `recovery' of the anoxic isolated perfused rat heart

Abstract: Studies with the isolated perfused working rat heart were carried out to investigate factors that may enable the heart to recover after periods of anoxia. It was found that the presence of glucose in the perfusion fluid during anoxia was essential for complete post-anoxic recovery and the presence of a high concentration of K(+) increased not only the rate of recovery but also the final extent of recovery. In an attempt to clarify the roles played by glucose and K(+) in aiding the survival and recovery of the anoxic myocardium the concentrations of parameters associated with energy liberation and anaerobic glycolysis (ATP, ADP, AMP, P(i), creatine phosphate, glycogen and lactate) were measured in the presence and absence of glucose during the anoxic phase. Determinations of these parameters were carried out during the working aerobic control period, the anoxic period (K(+) arrest) and the recovery period. The results demonstrated that glucose acted as an energy source during anoxia and thus maintained myocardial concentrations of high-energy phosphates, particularly ATP. These studies have also shown a direct relationship between the ability of the heart to recover and the concentration of myocardial ATP at the time of reoxygenation.

A theoretical study of geothermal energy extraction

Abstract: Efficient extraction of geothermal energy from a dry well depends on the ability to establish a closed pressurized circuit of water through a large zone fractured in hot impermeable rock. Long-term perpetuation of significant power extraction depends, in addition, on the ability to extend the initial fracture zone through the effects of thermal stress cracking of the adjacent hot rocks. In support of an experimental program to test the feasibility of using this type of energy source, we have solved numerically the combined equations describing the coupled processes of fluid flow, heat transport, and rock fracture. The results show a strong dependence on the extent to which underground pressure can be maintained and the fracture zone continuously extended. They indicate that under favorable, but perhaps not unreasonably exotic, circumstances the extraction of significant thermal power from each well can be expected to continue for many decades.

Enhancement of hexose entry into chick fibroblasts by starvation: differential effect on galactose and glucose.

Abstract: Glucose entry, as measured by 5-min uptake into the acid-soluble fraction, is enhanced 15-30 times by long-term (12-24 hr) hexose starvation of chick fibroblasts. The rate of galactose accumulation in the cells increases only 5 times under the same conditions of starvation. Several carbon and energy sources that were tested for their effect on this “derepression” can be classified as: (i) those resembling glucose in blocking the “stimulation,” (ii) those permitting full “derepression”; and (iii) those partially preventing the enhanced entry. Inhibitors of protein synthesis block enhancement under conditions otherwise conducive to it. We conclude that the glucose and galactose carrier systems are not identical, based largely on the asymmetric “repression” observed when glucose and galactose are compared as “repressors.”

Microscale pressure fluctuations measured within the lower atmospheric boundary layer

Abstract: Eulerian measurements of microscale fluctuations in static pressure are used, in conjunction with measurements of air velocity, to describe some of the properties of the static pressure fluctuations that occur within the turbulent flow of the lower atmospheric boundary layer. Using an instrument developed to measure the static pressure at a point within the boundary layer, data were collected at heights ranging from the surface up to about 6 m. The results are presented as power spectra, cross-spectra, coherence and phase. For all observations over a flat boundary the root-mean-square pressure produced by the boundary-layer turbulence is about 2.6 times the mean stress. The pressure spectra are found to have a, well-defined shape which does not change with height above the surface; at the higher frequencies the spectra show a power-law behaviour with a mean slope of −1·7. A number of observations with two pressure sensors are used to describe the structure and propagation velocity of individual pressure pulses.A dominant feature of the pressure-velocity relationship is that the large-scale pressure fluctuations are approximately in phase with the downstream velocity fluctuations; at small scales there is a large phase difference (∼−135°). These phase differences are interpreted to be the result of interaction of the large pressure-producing scales with the earth's surface, the small scales being ‘free’ of the surface. Prom the simultaneous measurements of pressure and downstream velocity the effect of pressure forces on the energy flux out of the downstream velocity fluctuations was evaluated. Typical values are about 0-45 of the net energy source to the downstream component. By means of pressure and vertical velocity measurements an estimate of the pressure divergence term in the net energy budget of a boundary layer is made. It was found to be about 1/10 of the energy feeding term.

A rapid and specific enrichment procedure for Hyphomicrobium spp.

Abstract: An enrichment procedure for the isolation of stalked bacteria of the genusHyphomicrobium is described. The method is based on the use of an organic C1 compound as carbon and energy source for growth together with anaerobic incubation in the presence of nitrate as an electron acceptor. Optimal conditions for the growth of a number ofHyphomicrobium isolates have been investigated. Applying these conditions,Hyphomicrobium spp. have been enriched from a wide range of natural habitats within 1–2 weeks.

Energy Conversion and Generation of Reducing Power in Bacterial Photosynthesis

Abstract: Publisher Summary Bacterial and green-plant photosynthesis share a number of basic features, but are distinctly different in respect to one another. The physiological property of the photosynthetic bacteria that makes the bacteria unique in the biological world states the ability of bacteria to grow rapidly under anaerobic conditions, using light as the ultimate energy source. The photosynthetic bacteria display a remarkable metabolic diversity and versatility. Essentially, in the anabolic phase of cell growth, appropriate organic intermediates and monomers are produced from the carbon and nitrogen sources of the external medium and these are utilized for the synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and various other complex cellular substances. Synthesis of the intermediates and monomers requires energy in the form of ATP and reducing power—primarily as reduced nicotinamide nucleotide. The chapter describes photophosphorylation, generation of net reducing power, comparison of energy metabolism and electron-transfer patterns in photosynthetic bacteria and clostridia, and the regulatory mechanisms.

Occurrence and types of thiobacillus-like bacteria in the sea1

Abstract: Offshore waters and sediments of the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea and inshore waters near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, were examined for bacteria resembling ThiobacilZus sp., and 136 isolates were obtained by enrichment culture with thiosulfate or elemental sulfur as the energy source. Enrichments for iron-oxidizing thiobacilli were unsuccessful. Under chemolithotrophic growth conditions, only 19% of the isolates oxidized more than 5% of the thiosulfate supplied in mineral medium, with an increase, moderate decrease, or no change in the pH of the medium., Strains that decreased the pH were proportionately most abundant in inshore water. Thirty-five percent of the isolates could be cultured on sulfide substrate with a greater yield than on thiosulfate. Seventy-four percent of the isolates could grow anoxically in thiosulfate mineral medium containing nitrate as the terminal acceptor; only 3 of these produced gas from nitrate. About 95% of all isolates could be grown on organic media. Heterotrophically grown cultures could easily be grown on thiosulfate mineral medium when transferred from organic medium. Apparently the “typical” obligately chemoautotrophic thiobacilli are rare in the marine environment and biological oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds in open ocean areas is largely carried out by facultatively autotrophic bacteria.

Review of the influences of the Great Lakes on weather

Abstract: The considerable influence of the masses of water in the Great Lakes on the weather over and around the Lakes is reviewed and the average lake-related weather alterations are indicated. Particular emphasis is placed on delineating the known facts and those that are inadequately known. The lack of extensive continuous weather measurements, particularly over the lakes, makes definitive areal assessments of lake influences on the weather around them difficult. Whether the lakes act as the energy sources or sinks on a daily or seasonal basis depends on the relative temperature of the waters and the overlying air. Over the lakes and their downwind shore areas, the lake-caused average changes in cloud and precipitation amounts represent 5–15% reductions in summer and 5–45% increases in winter in comparison with upwind values.

A freezing core method for describing the vertical distribution of sediments in a streambed

Abstract: A new technique is described for obtaining in situ samples of substrate from stony streambeds, using liquid nitrogen to freeze the substrate around a standpipe driven into the bed. Various physical parameters are calculated for the substrate obtained. (10 refs.)

Apparatus for use in deposition of films from a vapor phase

Abstract: Separate platform discs for carrying workpieces or substrates such as slices or wafers of semiconductor material in a deposition environment are moved in a common circular orbit and rotated by the action of two co-axial annular support surfaces upon which each disc rests at opposite areas of the lower periphery of the disc, one of these support surfaces being driven with respect to the other in rotation about the axis common to the two annular supports. The temperature of the discs and/or substrates is maintained by proximity to a heat or other energy source or sink, with deposition occurring on the exposed upper surface of the substrate resting on the disc.

Evaluation and design of a CO/sub 2/ miscible flood project, SACROC Unit-Kelly Snyder field

Abstract: The SACROC Unit, encompassing about 98% of the reservoir, was formed in 1953 and initiated in Sept. 1954 a massive pressure maintenance program consisting of water injection into a centerline row of wells located along the longitudinal axis of the reservoir. This program, together with controlled production under unitized operations, has effectively rebuilt BHP, restored a large portion of the reservoir to liquid-saturated conditions, and stabilized producing GOR's at near solution levels. In 1968, a technical committee, investigating potential alternatives, recommended use of a water-driven slug of carbon dioxide to miscibly displace the oil in the nonwater- invaded portion of the reservoir and development of a pattern injection program in this area to implement the slug process and improve ultimate oil recovery. A summary is presented of the methods used in evaluating alternatives and designing the final program of COD2U injection, which was initiated in early 1972.

Thermal history of the moon.

Abstract: The thermal history of the lunar interior has been investigated for many sets of parameters and initial conditions by the construction of mathematical models. These models have been extended to include the effects of melting and redistribution of radioactive heat sources with time. The models considered include the possibility of heat transfer by lattice conduction, radiative transfer, removal of radioactive heat sources and, in a molten zone, fluid convection. The energy sources are divided into initial temperature sources that operate during the formation of the moon or shortly thereafter, and long-lived radioactive heat sources.

Microbial metabolism of the pyridine ring. Formation of pyridinediols (dihydroxypyridines) as intermediates in the degradation of pyridine compounds by micro-organisms

Abstract: 1. Several species of micro-organisms that were capable of utilizing pyridine compounds as carbon and energy source were isolated from soil and sewage. Compounds degraded included pyridine and the three isomeric hydroxypyridines. 2. Suitable modifications of the cultural conditions led to the accumulation of pyridinediols (dihydroxypyridines), which were isolated and characterized. 3. Three species of Achromobacter produced pyridine-2,5-diol from 2- or 3-hydroxypyridine whereas an uncommon Agrobacterium sp. (N.C.I.B. 10413) produced pyridine-3,4-diol from 4-hydroxypyridine. 4. On the basis of chemical isolation, induction of the necessary enzymes in washed suspensions and the substrate specificity exhibited by the isolated bacteria, the initial transformations proposed are: 2-hydroxypyridine → pyridine-2,5-diol; 3-hydroxypyridine → pyridine-2,5-diol and 4-hydroxypyridine → pyridine-3,4-diol. 5. A selected pyridine-utilizer, Nocardia Z1, did not produce any detectable hydroxy derivative from pyridine, but carried out a slow oxidation of 3-hydroxypyridine to pyridine-2,3-diol and pyridine-3,4-diol. These diols were not further metabolized. 6. Addition of the isomeric hydroxypyridines to a model hydroxylating system resulted in the formation of those diols predicted by theory.

Method of fabricating a precontoured unitized electrical wiring harness

Abstract: A wiring harness comprised of a plurality of conductive wires each encased in a tubular nonconductive thermoplastic sheath and placed in side-by-side alignment, the plurality of conductive wires being precontoured and restrained in such condition by a plurality of transverse hinges formed from said thermoplastic sheathing and interconnecting adjacent wires of said harness. The unitized harness is employed in a wiring system particularly useful in an automotive vehicle; the system has connective blocks for joining the extremeties of said wires with an energy source or for switching purposes, each of said blocks being characterized by contacts effective to penetrate the wire sheathing and make contact with the conductive element, each of said contacts having a portion for receiving remote conductors by simple insertion.

Geology and Petroleum Prospects in Eastern Red Sea

Abstract: The Red Sea region was covered by marine embayments from time to time in the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene, but the present tectonic pattern began to evolve in the Oligocene and Miocene sediments were deposited, including the highly organic lower Miocene Globigerina group and a thick sequence of middle Miocene salt and anhydrite. In late Pliocene and Pleistocene times there was renewed block faulting accompanied by igneous intrusion. The Red Sea depression is characterized by rectilinear faults bordering blocks which were rising or sinking concurrent with Neogene deposition. Oil seeps are known in widely separated localities in the Red Sea depression. Seeps in the Farasan and Dahlac Islands led to drilling of several wells on these islands. Exploration in recent years ed to the discovery of the Barqan gas-condensate field in the northern Red Sea and a well that had a gas blowout off the Eritrean coast. Many of the wells drilled in the Red Sea region have encountered high pressures and high temperatures. The chief source and reservoir rocks will be found in the lower Miocene Globigerina group, with the overlying evaporites sealing the accumulations. The prospects for further discoveries in the Red Sea depression are considered good.