How did the similarity of the Packers and Green Knights team colors (green and gold) come about?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about the college colors and the Packers, archived from the SNC website

Fast quantitative determination of microbial rhamnolipids from cultivation broths by ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vibrational spectroscopic techniques are becoming increasingly important and popular because they have the potential to provide rapid and convenient solutions to routine analytical problems. Using these techniques, a variety of substances can be characterized, identified and also quantified rapidly.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The rapid ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) <it>in time </it>technique has been applied, which is suitable to quantify the concentrations of microbial rhamnolipids in a typical cultivation process. While the usually applied HPLC analysis requires an extensive and time consuming multi step extraction protocol for sample preparation, the ATR-FTIR-method allows the quantification of the rhamnolipids within 20 minutes. Accuracies between 0.5 g/l – 2.1 g/l for the different analytes were determined by cross validation of the calibration set. Even better accuracies between 0.28 g/l – 0.59 g/l were found for independent test samples of an arbitrarily selected cultivation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ATR-FTIR was found to be suitable for the rapid analysis of rhamnolipids in a biotechnological process with good reproducibility in sample determination and sufficient accuracy. An improvement in accuracy through continuous expansion and validation of the reference spectra set seems very likely.</p

Eugene Residents Risk Perceptions of Water Scarcity

Potential water scarcity and drought conditions are predicted in and around Eugene, Oregon due to decreased snowpack and subsequent decreased snowmelt in the Western Cascade Mountains. This phenomenon was triggered by a long-term trend of warmer winters scientifically linked to global climate change patterns (Dalton et al. 2013). Numerous stakeholders, ecological processes, and habitats are dependent on the water flow of Willamette Valley Rivers, in Oregon. Snowmelt is crucial for freshwater flows to feed these rivers during the dry summer months. Hierarchies of interrelatedness or coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) are concepts that can be used to understand human-nature relationships in this region. These intricate linkages may compound impacts leading to more severe drought, increased fire risks, water conflicts, and economic decline. Water managers and residents will need to prepare for risks and uncertainty related to future water availability in the region. This case study addresses the questions: “What are Eugene residents’ perceptions of risk related to severe water scarcity linked to climate change?” and “How does this perception of risk impact public participation and support of local sustainable water management strategies?” Qualitative approaches are employed to understand these and other related questions through content analysis of a “Risk Perceptions Survey” and in-depth literature review. This research project could be used to assist water management organizations and residents in creating sustainable solutions to prevent potential social and ecological ramifications. Natural resource managers in this region should consider increasing public outreach and education about water scarcity and preparedness while also improving collaboration and communication with residents. In addition, adaptive and mitigation management styles should be implemented before possible water scarcity. Water regulation agencies should consider the impact of outdated water laws on water use in order to encourage and improve water conservation and wise use

What’s Preventing Us to Get More Attraction: The Fear of Aesthetic Surgery

BACKGROUND Nowadays, with the help of cosmetic surgery almost every woman and man can achieve a highly attractive appearance. The question is, why so many people do not take advantage of these opportunities? This pilot-study investigates individual attitudes of people towards aesthetic plastic surgery. METHODS A questionnaire was developed which combined self-developed items for a measurement of attitudes towards plastic surgery. In addition, items of the “Freiburger Personality Inventory” (FPI-R) were used. The study was conducted in Hamburg/Germany. 104One hundred and four test persons participated in the survey (81 females, 23 males, age 20-30 years). Eighty six of the participants (82.7%) had an A-level as degree of education, 14.4% achieved the secondary school certificate and 2.9% had completed their bachelor on a high school. RESULTS The data supported the hypothesis that people who are unsatisfied with their body appearance showed more willingness for a surgical intervention. On the other hand, fear of complications and pain as far as anxiety before an unsatisfactory result hinders them from a decision for an intervention. Significant correlations with regard to extraversion-introversion and the education level were not found. Females showed more willingness regarding an intervention than men. Gender-specific differences concerning the cost factor were not found. CONCLUSION Interestingly more than 65% of the total sample felt dissatisfaction with a specific body part and are thus target of aesthetic surgery. The yellow press often reports about failed cosmetic surgery, especially in VIP-persons. Aesthetic surgery should keep working to reduce unwarranted fears of people toward these kinds of operations

Energy storage for frequency regulation on the electric grid

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-280).Ancillary services such as frequency regulation are required for reliable operation of the electric grid. Currently, the same traditional thermal generators that supply bulk power also perform nearly all frequency regulation. Instead, using high power energy storage resources to provide frequency regulation can allow traditional thermal generators to operate more smoothly. However, using energy storage alone for frequency regulation would require an unreasonably large energy storage capacity. Duration curves for energy capacity and instantaneous ramp rate are used to evaluate the requirements and benefits of using energy storage for a component of frequency regulation. Filtering is used to separate the portion of a frequency regulation control signal suitable for provision by an energy storage unit from the portion suitable for provision by traditional thermal generating resources. Not all frequency regulation signals are equally amenable to the filtering approach used here. Data from two U.S. control areas are used to demonstrate the techniques and the results are compared.by Olivia Leitermann.Ph.D

Entwicklung und Optimierung eines biotechnologischen Prozesses zur Herstellung mikrobieller Rhamnolipide auf Basis nachwachsender Rohstoffe

Im Fokus dieser Arbeit steht die Entwicklung und Optimierung eines biotechnologischen Prozesses zur Herstellung von Rhamnolipiden auf Basis von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen. Ein Schwerpunkt lag hierbei auf der Entwicklung und Evaluierung einer Standardprozessführung, sowie eines auf einem Parallelbioreaktor basierenden, effizienten Screening-Systems. Ein Produk­tions­stammvergleich wurde durchgeführt. Zur Produktanalyse sollte FTIR-Spektroskopie als alternative Analysemethode eingesetzt werden

Quorum sensing:Implications on rhamnolipid biosurfactant production

Quorum sensing (QS) has received significant attention in the past few decades. QS describes population density dependent cell to cell communication in bacteria using diffusible signal molecules. These signal molecules produced by bacterial cells, regulate various physiological processes important for social behavior and pathogenesis. One such process regulated by quorum sensing molecules is the production of a biosurfactant, rhamnolipid. Rhamnolipids are important microbially derived surface active agents produced by Pseudomonas spp. under the control of two interrelated quorum sensing systems; namely las and rhl. Rhamnolipids possess antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. They are important in motility, cell to cell interactions, cellular differentiation and formation of water channels that Currently, biosurfactants are unable to compete economically with chemically synthesized compounds in the market due to high production costs. Once the genes required for biosurfactant production have been identified, they can be placed under the regulation of strong promoters in nonpathogenic, heterologous hosts to enhance production. The production of rhamnolipids could be increased by cloning both the rhlAB rhamnosyltransferase genes and the rhlRI quorum sensing system into a suitable bacterium such as E. coli or P. putida and facilitate rhamnolipid production. Biosurfactants can also be genetically engineered for different industrial applications assuming there is a strong understanding of both the genetics and the structure-function relationships of each component of the molecule. Genetic engineering of surfactin has already been reported, with recent papers describing the creation of novel peptide structures from the genetic recombination of several peptide synthetases. Recent application of dynamic metabolic engineering strategies for controlled gene expression could lower the cost of fermentation processes by increasing the product formation. Therefore, by integrating a genetic circuit into applications of metabolic engineering the biochemical production can be optimized. Furthermore, novel strategies could be designed on the basis of information obtained from the studies of quorum sensing and biosurfactants produced suggesting enormous practical applications.</p