Influence of cultivation conditions on the production of cellulolytic enzymes withTrichoderma reesei Rutgers C30 in aqueous two-phase systems

Cellulolytic enzyme production in aqueous two-phase systems withTrichoderma reesei Rutgers C30 has been investigated. The influ ence of different phase systems, as well as addition of media compo nents and substrate on enzyme production have been studied. Extractive enzyme production in fed-batch cultivations was per formed in a phase system composed of PEG 8000 5%-Dextran T500 7% with 1% Solka-Floc BW 200 as substrate. The cellulolytic enzyme system was intermittently withdrawn with the top phase. Addition of media components every 24 h and cellulose every 72 h gave an aver age enzyme activity in the withdrawn top phase of 2.2 FPU/mL dur ing 170 h cultivation. The corresponding productivity was 18 FPU/lh. The productivity was increased to 24 FPU/l.h when media compo nents and cellulose were added every 72 h. The average enzyme con centration was then 1.6 FPU/mL. The results are discussed in relation to methods for cellulolytic enzyme production involving immobiliza tion and cell recycling.     

Optical spectra and laser-induced dissociation of supported Na particles

This paper reports new results on the optical spectra of Na particles and on laser-induced photodissociation of Na atoms from the surface of these particles. In continuation of our earlier studies we have performed experiments to elucidate the mechanism of thenonthermal dissociation process. Furthermore, theoretical calculations have been carried out with the goal to correlate the wavelength dependence of the photodissociation yield with the optical absorption spectra of the metal particles. In addition, manipulation of the size distribution of metal particles on supports is outlined as an application of the effect. This allows for the preparation of very special surfaces with novel physical and chemical properties.     

On Nodal Sets for Dirac and Laplace Operators

We prove that the nodal set (zero set) of a solution of a generalized Dirac equation on a Riemannian manifold has codimension 2 at least. If the underlying manifold is a surface, then the nodal set is discrete. We obtain a quick proof of the fact that the nodal set of an eigenfunction for the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a Riemannian manifold consists of a smooth hypersurface and a singular set of lower dimension. We also see that the nodal set of a Δ-harmonic differential form on a closed manifold has codimension 2 at least; a fact which is not true if the manifold is not closed. Examples show that all bounds are optimal. Received: 28 October 1996 / Accepted: 3 March 1997     

Intra-cavity spectroscopy with diode lasers

A multi-mode diode laser with an external cavity is studied experimentally and theoretically for its application to intra-cavity spectroscopy. One facet of a typical Ga_0.89Al_0.11As laser diode was antireflection-coated by deposition of HfO₂ such that 10^–3 residual reflectivity was left over. This diode was placed in an external optical cavity. The emission spectrum of this diode laser is highly sensitive to any frequency-dependent loss in the cavity, and the detectivity of such a loss grows with the pump rate. Even close to threshold, the absorption at 780 nm of Rb atoms with a density of 5×10¹⁰ cm^–3 has been detected. An adequate model for diode lasers based on rate equations and including frequency-dependent gain saturation is developed and applied to the calculations of output spectra. The sensitivity of these spectra to intra-cavity absorption is determined by the overall cavity loss — which is rather high — and the fraction of spontaneous emission in the total emission, in contrast with dye lasers where it is limited by nonlinear mode coupling. Various criteria for the sensitivity are suggested. The smallest detectable absorption with a perfectly antireflection-coated laser is 10^–6 cm^–1. Improvement of the characteristics of the laser diode would increase the sensitivity.     

Bivariate Free Knot Splines

We consider the least squares approximation of gridded 2D data by tensor product splines with free knots. The smoothing functional to be minimized—a generalization of the univariate Schoenberg functional—is chosen in such a way that the solution of the bivariate problem separates into the solution of a sequence of univariate problems in case of fixed knots. The resulting optimization problem is a constrained separable least squares problem with tensor product structure. Based on some ideas developed by the authors for the univariate case, an efficient method for solving the specially structured 2D problem is proposed, analyzed and tested on hand of some examples from the literature.     

Dielectronic Recombination of Very Heavy Lithiumlike Ions

Hyperfine Interactions - An overview of measurements of dielectronic recombination (DR) with the heaviest lithiumlike ions is presented. The experiments have been carried out at the heavy ion...     

Decision support tools for ambulance dispatch and relocation

In this paper, the development of decision support tools for dynamic ambulance relocation and automatic ambulance dispatching is described. The ambulance dispatch problem is to choose which ambulance to send to a patient. The dynamic ambulance relocation problem occurs in the operational control of ambulances. The objective is to find new locations for some of the ambulances, to increase the preparedness in the area of responsibility. Preparedness is a way of evaluating the ability to serve potential patients with ambulances now and in the future. Computational tests using a simulation model show that the tools are beneficial in reducing the waiting periods for the patients.     

Realisation and metrological characterisation of thickness standards below 100 nm

High-accuracy film thickness measurements in the range below 100 nm can be made by various complex methods like spectral ellipsometry (SE), scanning force microscopy (SFM), grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GIXR), or X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). The measurement results achieved with these methods are based on different interactions between the film and the probe. A key question in nanotechnology is how to achieve consistent results on a level of uncertainty below one nanometre with different techniques.Two different types of thickness standards are realised. Metal film standards for X-ray techniques in the thickness range 10 to 50 nm are calibrated by GIXR with monochromatised synchrotron radiation of 8048 eV. The results obtained at four different facilities show excellent agreement. SiO₂ on Si standards for SE and SFM in the thickness range 6 to 1000 nm are calibrated by GIXR with monochromatised synchrotron radiation of 1841 eV and with a metrological SFM. Consistent results within the combined uncertainties are obtained with the two methods. Surfaces and interfaces of both types of standards are additionally investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). PACS 61.10.Kw; 68.55.Jk; 06.20.Fn; 06.60.Mr; 07.79.Lh     

Effective-field theory and the nuclear many-body problem

We review many-body calculations of the equation of state of dilute neutron matter in the context of effective-field theories of the nucleon-nucleon interaction.