ACCOUNTING FOR TEMPERATURE IN PREDATOR FUNCTIONAL RESPONSES

ABSTRACT. A rational mechanism that integrates temperature‐mediated activity cycles into standard predator functional responses is presented. Daily temperature variations strongly influence times that predators can search for prey, and they affect the activity periods of prey, thereby modifying their detection by predators. Thus, key parameters in the functional response, the search time and the detection, become temperature‐dependent. These temperature mediated responses are included in discrete‐time population growth models, and it is shown how environmental temperature variations, such as those that may occur under global climate change, can affect population levels. As an illustration, a logistic growth model with a stochastic, temperature‐dependent predation term is examined, and the response to both average temperature levels and temperature variability is quantified. We infer, through simulations, that predation and prey abundance are strongly affected by mean temperature, temperature amplitudes, and increasing uncertainty in predicting temperature levels and variation, thus confirming many qualitative conclusions in the ecological literature. In particular, we show that increased temperature variability increases oscillations in the system and leads to increased probability of extinction of the prey.     

Properties of Continous Models of Transfer Lines with Unreliable Machines and Finite Buffers

We consider a transfer line consisting of a series of machinesseparated by buffers of finite capacity. The processing of apart on a machine requires a fixed amount of time. In thesesystems, blocking and starvation, which occur as a consequenceof machine failures, are important phenomena. Except for transferlines without buffer storage, no exact models of such systemshave been reported in the literature, even in the case of two-machinelines. Two approximate models have been proposed: the discrete-timemodel and the continuous-flow model. Exact solutions of theemodels have been reported in the case of two-machine Lines,and approximations have been proposed for longer lines. Thepurpose of this paper is to provide properties of the continuous-flowmodel. The main result of the paper is to show that lower andupper bounds on the exact production rate of the transfer linecan be obtained using the continuous flow model. These boundsare obtained by making an appropriate choice of the buffer capacities     

Implicit algorithms and their linearization for the transient incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

Email: na.asmith2{at}na-net.ornl.gov Email: na.silvester{at}na-net.ornl.gov The issue of appropriate time discretization methods for theunsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is consideredfrom a practical perspective. Conventional implicit time-steppingalgorithms are not feasible for long-time simulations sincethey inherit the quadratic nonlinearity of the steady-stateequations. As a result, two new linearized versions of the ‘pure’algorithms are analyzed herein. These have similar stabilityproperties and comparable accuracy to the underlying nonlinearmethods.     

PHOTOSENSITIZATION BY SYNTHETIC DIPORPHYRINS AND DICHLORINS in vivo AND in vitro

A group of polycarboxylic diporphyrins, two dichlorins and a porphyrin-chlorine dimer, with rings linked by methylene groups, were examined to help identify structures which can mediate photodynamic tumor eradication in vivo. Among the features sought were short persistence of normal tissue photosensitization and substantial absorbance at wavelengths longer than 630 nm. Both objectives were achieved, with pertinent structure-activity relationships partly characterized. The relative hydrophobicity of the different sensitizers was an important determinant of their accumulation in cell culture, but not of in vivo effectiveness. These compounds showed affinity for protein and high-density lipoprotein components of serum. Their distribution may be mediated by a different mechanism than that which occurs with more hydrophobic sensitizers like hematoporphyrin derivative which have greater affinity for low-density lipoproteins and less for protein components of serum, as compared with the products examined in this study.     

ANALOGS AND DERIVATIVES OF FIREFLY OXYLUCIFERIN, THE LIGHT EMITTER IN FIREFLY BIOLUMINESCENCE

Abstract— The 5-methyl analog of firefly oxyluciferin, two isomeric O-methyl ether derivatives of it and an O, O Ó-dimethyl ether derivative were synthesized and their UV absorption and fluorescence emission spectra were determined. Comparisons of the emission data with the emission wavelength in bioluminescence indicate that the mono-anions of firefly oxyluciferin are candidates for the light-emitters in bioluminescence. Further, we have found that the chemiluminescence of active esters of firefly luciferin produces (from the keto form of oxyluciferin) only red light emission under a variety of conditions; a yellow-green light emission (from the enolic forms of the oxyluciferin product) could not be elicited.     

THE TIME COURSE OF CUTANEOUS PORPHYRIN PHOTOSENSITIZATION IN THE MURINE EAR

This study was designed to investigate the time course of acute cutaneous photosensitivity following administration of Photofrin II using the murine ear swelling response (ESR) as an in vivo end-point. Ros:(ICR) mice were injected with 5 mg/kg Photofrin II and illuminated 7.5 h to 31 days later with 630-nm laser light; ESR was measured 24 h after illumination. There was a direct correlation between ESR and the concentration of [14C]Photofrin II in blood, while no relationship between ESR and the level of [14C]Photofrin II in the ear tissue of exsanguinated mice was evident. Photosensitivity in the mouse foot can be suppressed by preexposure to low doses of light via a photochemical destruction of tissue-bound sensitizer (Boyle and Potter, 1987, Photochem. Photobiol. 46, 997-1001). However, mouse ears pretreated with 84 J/cm2 of 630-nm light (28 J/cm2/day, given 2, 4 and 6 d after injection), a dose sufficient to reduce porphyrin fluorescence in ear tissue by about 75%, prior to the usual light dose (88.6 J/cm2, 630 nm, day 9 after injection) showed a mean ESR not significantly different (P less than 0.5) from that for ears which received only a single dose of 88.6 J/cm2 on day 9. It is concluded, for this animal model, that circulating porphyrin is the source of photoinduced ear-tissue edema and that photobleaching of tissue-bound sensitizer does not attenuate ear-tissue photosensitivity.     

On a Penalty-Perturbation Theory for Plate Problems

A penalty-perturbation method previously proposed by Westbrook(J. Inst. Maths Applics (1974) 14, 79–82) for the solutionsof static bending problems for elastic plates is analysed here.The method replaces the single fourth-order biharmonic equationby a system of three second-order equations which is "singularly"perturbed with respect to a small penalty parameter . The existenceof solutions of the perturbed problem for each > 0 is establishedand the behaviour of these solutions as 0 0 is studied. Inparticular, the results show that while these solutions arecontinuous in at = 0, analyticity in at = 0 is lost exceptin special cases.     

A Stochastic Model for Population and Well-Being Dynamics

This article presents a stochastic dynamic model to study the demographic evolution per sexes and the corresponding well-being of a general human population. The main model variables are population per sexes and well-being. The considered well-being variable is the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI), a United Nations index. The model's objectives are to improve future well-being and to reach a stable population in a country. The application case consists of adapting, validating, and using the model for Spain in the 2000–2006 period. Some instance strategies have been tested in different scenarios for the 2006–2015 period to meet these objectives by calculating the reliability of the results. The optimal strategy is “government invests more in education and maintains the present health investment tendency.”     

The treatment of the spin coupling in the bonding of NO to the Ni-doped MgO (100) surface

The results are reported of density functional theory (DFT) and explicitly correlated wave-function (CASSCF and CASPT2) calculations on the bonding of NO with the Ni-doped MgO(100) surface. The surface is represented by means of a cluster of ions embedded in point charges. A comparison is made between unrestricted (spin polarized) and spin restricted approaches. While the geometry of the surface complex is described in quite an accurate way by a spin unrestricted DFT approach, e.g., using the B3LYP functional, the spin distribution does not correspond to that of the real physical situation. In fact, the spin polarized DFT treatment shows three unpaired electrons, two with spin up and one with spin down, while EPR experiments show clearly the existence of a single spin localized on an Ni 3d shell. A spin restricted B3LYP treatment, on the other hand, gives a correct spin distribution and geometry but fails in reproducing the adsorption energy. Other exchange-correlation functionals behave in a similar or even worse way. The CASPT2 results, by contrast, are in substantial agreement with the experiment, showing the importance of treating on the same footing the spin and electron correlation as well as the multi-configuration character of the wavefunction.