Scaling up

In the present work, the current status of the hydrodynamic cavitation reactors has been reviewed discussing the bubble dynamics analysis, optimum design considerations, design correlations for cavitational intensity (in terms of collapse pressure)/cavitational yield and different successful chemical synthesis applications clearly illustrating the utility of these types of reactors. The theoretical discussion based on the modeling of the bubble dynamics equations aims at understanding the design information related to the dependency of the cavitational intensity on the operating parameters and recommendations have been made for the choice of the optimized conditions of operating parameters. The design information based on the theoretical analysis has also been supported with some experimental illustrations concentrating on the chemical synthesis applications. Assessment of the hydrodynamic cavitation reactors and comparison with the sonochemical reactors has been done by citing the different industrially important reactions (oxidation of toluene, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene, mesitylene, o-nitrotoluene, p-nitrotoluene, m-nitrotoluene, o-chlorotoluene and p-chlorotoulene, and trans-esterification reaction i.e., synthesis of bio-diesel). Some recommendations have also been made for the future work to be carried out as well as the choice of the operating conditions for realizing the dream of industrial scale applications of the cavitational reactors.

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has built up credibility in recent years in biotech industries due to its potential applications in the production of biologically active secondary metabolites, apart from feed, fuel, food, industrial chemicals and pharmaceutical products and has emerged as an attractive alternative to submerged fermentation. Bioremediation, bioleaching, biopulping, biobeneficiation, etc. are the major applications of SSF in bioprocesses which have set another milestone. Utilization of agro-industrial residues as substrates in SSF processes provides an alternative avenue and value-addition to these otherwise under-or non-utilized residues. Innovation is the key to success and it is imperative to be up-to-date with the changing demands of the industries and meet their needs for better product and services. Better understanding of biochemical engineering aspects, particularly on mathematical modeling and design of bioreactors (fermenters) has made it possible to scale-up SSF processes and some designs have been developed for commercialization, making the technology economically feasible. In future, SSF technology would be well developed at par with SmF if rationalization and standardization continues in current trend. This review describes the state-of-art scenario in totality on SSF although the focus is on the most recent developments of last 5 years or so on SSF processes and products developments.

Pulsatile action can be used to mix two streams entering a tube from two separate branches of a bifurcation at low Reynolds numbers. The pulsatile action is provided by two pinch valves, which deform flexible tubing immediately upstream of the connection. The pinch valve action is controlled using a master-slave pulse generator setup. The quality of mixing is evaluated directly by measuring the fluorescence that results from the chemical reaction of species transported in the two streams, one containing native biotin and the other, fluorescein biotin bound to streptavidin. The reaction kinetics are accounted for by normalization using fluorescence measurements on well mixed solutions at the same residence time. The results show that the pulsatile micromixer provides almost complete mixing. Furthermore, the present measurements match results obtained in a previous experiment where flow visualization and image analysis were used to measure mixing quality in a scaled-up model.

The preparative chromatographic resolution of racemic mixtures is rapidly becoming a standard approach for the generation of enantiomers in pharmaceutical R&D. This paper will discuss the optical resolution of a pharmaceutical intermediate as the separation is scaled up from the milligram to the kilogram scale. Difficulties encountered and their solutions at each scale will be discussed. In addition, the exploration of Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) for the separation will also be discussed. Finally, a comparison of the productivities and solvent consumption for each method and scale will be presented.

Rehabilitation medicine seeks to maximize the functional and psychosocial abilities of patients with disability and improve their quality of life. It is concerned with the three dimensions of disability-impairment, activity limitation, and restriction in participation-and aims to reduce impairment and prevent or minimize the resulting activity limitation. For this purpose, it requires appropriately staffed and equipped inpatient facilities. To reduce activity limitation that may remain on completion of inpatient care, rehabilitation medicine needs services in the community for the maintenance of achieved improvement and prevention of complications. Minimization of restricted participation needs assistive technology, home adaptation, and psychosocial support for reintegration in society. Teamwork in rehabilitation Disability may relate to several body systems and affect many aspects of life. Therefore, rehabilitation should ad-Need for Rehabilitation Teamwork Training in Europe Teamwork is the cornerstone of rehabilitation medicine. Rehabilitation workers in European countries are well educated in their own disciplines and attain appropriate professional knowledge; however, they lack educational opportunities for acquiring skills and attitudes necessary for effective teamwork, mainly communication, cooperation, and leadership. Consequently, teamwork is compromised and rehabilitation effectiveness reduced. Therefore, training in these components of professional competence needs scaling up in order to increase their impact on rehabilitation care.

Reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) is the final step of a large-scale purification procedure for recombinant human [Ala-125] interleukin 2 (rhIL-2A125). This step was 25-fold scaled up to a 5 x 25 cm C4-bonded reverse phase ...

The metaphor of scaling up is the wrong one to use for describing and prescribing educational change. Many of the strategies being employed to achieve scaling up are counter-productive: they conceive of practitioners as delivery agents or consumers, rather than as co-constructors of change. An approach to educational innovation based on the concept of taking local innovations to scale carries the danger of turning schools into franchises and of reducing the global diversity of educational ideas. Sound educational ideas get scaled up not only (or primarily) through a linear, topdown model that begins with a laboratory test and ends with a road show of workshops and training sessions. They also get scaled up-in the sense of disseminated and then adapted in ways that change practice-through researchers sharing with practitioners thickly described, contextualized examples of innovative practices and then inviting practitioners to decide how best to adapt these innovative practices for their local settings.

Spirulina platensis was cultivated, in comparative studies, using several sources of nitrogen. The standard source used (sodium nitrate) was the same as that used in the synthetic medium Zarrouk, whereas the alternative nitrogen sources consisted of ammonium nitrate, urea, ...

The mandarin (Citrus reticulata) peel oil consists of more than 98 wt.% terpenes and a small fraction of oxygenated components responsible for its distinct smell. The terpene fraction is composed mostly of limonene and the oxygenated aroma fractions are composed mainly of linalool and decanal. The removal of terpenes must be performed in order to increase the storage time of citrus oils. In this work, the deterpenation of two different cold-pressed mandarin peel oils employing countercurrent extraction and ad-/desorption with supercritical CO 2 and a combination of these processes were investigated. Countercurrent experiments were carried out at pressures ranging from 8.5 to 10.0 MPa and at 50 and 60 • C. At 10.0 MPa and 60 • C, a maximum selectivity of 12.8 between terpenes and aromas could be obtained at a folding ratio of 5.0, showing that the fractionation by means of countercurrent gas extraction could be employed. To investigate the complete removal of terpenes, ad-/desorption experiments were also performed and both the raffinate samples obtained through the countercurrent fractionation and the crude cold-pressed peel oils were used as feed material. The components evaluated were desorbed from silica-gel and the best fractionation results were obtained at 40 • C, 25 wt.% oil loading in two sequential pressure steps. Initially, terpenes were completely desorbed at 8.0 MPa. The second desorption step was carried out at 20.0 MPa and a selective fractionation of important aroma components was observed. Additionally, scale-up experiments were performed.

A major challenge for quantum computation in ion trap systems is scalable integration of error correction and fault tolerance. We analyze a distributed architecture with rapid high fidelity local control within nodes and entangled links between nodes alleviating long-distance transport. We demonstrate fault-tolerant operator measurements which are used for error correction and non-local gates. This scheme is readily applied to linear ion traps which cannot be scaled up beyond a few ions per individual trap but which have access to a probabilistic entanglement mechanism. A proof-of-concept system is presented which is within the reach of current experiment.

The history of soluble lead flow batteries is concisely reviewed and recent developments are highlighted. The development of a practical, undivided cell is considered. An in-house, monopolar unit cell (geometrical electrode area 100 cm2) and an FM01-LC bipolar (2 × 64 cm2) flow cell are used. Porous, three-dimensional, reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) and planar, carbon-HDPE composite electrodes have been used in laboratory flow cells.

The terms sustainability, scaling up, and enabling environment are inconsistently used in implementing water supply projects. To clarify these terms we develop a framework based on Normalization Process Theory, and apply the framework to a hypothetical water supply project in schools. The resulting framework provides guidance on how these terms could be implemented and analyzed in water supply projects. We conclude that effective use of the terms sustainability, scaling up, and enabling environment would focus on purpose, process, and perspective. This is the first known attempt to analyze the implementation of the three terms together in the context of water supply services.

Cloud computing provides on-demand access to computational resources which together with pay-peruse business models, enable application providers seamlessly scaling their services. Cloud computing infrastructures allow creating a variable number of virtual machine instances depending on the application demands. An attractive capability for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers is having the potential to scale up or down application resources to only consume and pay for the resources that are really required at some point in time; if done correctly, it will be less expensive than running on regular hardware by traditional hosting. However, even when large-scale applications are deployed over payper-use cloud high-performance infrastructures, cost-effective scalability is not achieved because idle processes and resources (CPU, memory) are unused but charged to application providers. Over and under provisioning of cloud resources are still unsolved issues. Even if peak loads can be successfully predicted, without an effective elasticity model, costly resources are wasted during nonpeak times (underutilization) or revenues from potential customers are lost after experiencing poor service (saturation). This work attempts to establish formal measurements for under and over provisioning of virtualized resources in cloud infrastructures, specifically for SaaS platform deployments and proposes a resource allocation model to deploy SaaS applications over cloud computing platforms by taking into account their multitenancy, thus creating a cost-effective scalable environment.

The distribution of many predators may be limited by interactions with larger predator species. The arctic fox in mainland Europe is endangered, while the red fox is increasing its range in the north. It has been suggested that the southern distribution limit of the arctic fox is determined by interspecific competition with the red fox. This has been criticised, on the basis that the species co-exist on a regional scale. However, if the larger red fox is superior and interspecific competition important, the arctic fox should avoid close contact, especially during the breeding season. Consequently, the distribution of breeding dens for the two species would be segregated on a much smaller spatial and temporal scale, in areas where they are sympatric. We tested this hypothesis by analysing den use of reproducing arctic and red foxes over 9 years in Sweden. High quality dens were inhabited by reproducing arctic foxes more often when no red foxes bred in the vicinity. Furthermore, in two out of three cases when arctic foxes did reproduce near red foxes, juveniles were killed by red foxes. We also found that breeding arctic foxes occupied dens at higher altitudes than red foxes did. In a large-scale field experiment, red foxes were removed, but the results were not conclusive. However, we conclude that on the scale of individual territories, arctic foxes avoid areas with red foxes. Through interspecific interference competition, the red fox might thus be excluding the arctic fox from breeding in low altitude habitat, which is most important in years when food abundance is limited and competition is most fierce. With high altitude refuges being less suitable, even small-scale behavioural effects could scale up to significant effects at the population level.

The escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide demands that on-going prevention efforts be strengthened, disseminated, and scaled-up. System-level interventions refer to programs aiming to improve the functioning of an agency as well as the delivery of its services to the community. System-level interventions are a promising approach to HIV/AIDS prevention because they focus on (a) improving the agency's ability to adopt evidence-based HIV prevention and care programs; (b) develop and establish policies and procedures that maximize the sustainability of on-going prevention and care efforts; and (c) improve decision-making processes such as incorporating the needs of communities into their tailored services. We reviewed studies focusing on system-level interventions by searching multiple electronic abstracting indices, including PsycInfo, PubMed, and ProQuest. Twenty-three studies out of 624 peer-reviewed studies (published from January 1985 to February 2007) met study criteria. Most of the studies focused on strengthening agency infrastructure, while other studies included collaborative partnerships and technical assistance programs. Our findings suggest that system-level interventions are promising in strengthening HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts. Based on our findings, we propose recommendations for future work in developing and evaluating system-level interventions.

The pathogenesis of sepsis begins with the proliferation of microorganisms at a site of infection, followed by invasion of the bloodstream and other organs. Gram-negative bacteria account for a large part of sepsis cases. The structural component of Gram-negative bacteria, endotoxin or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), induces the synthesis and release of endogenous mediators of sepsis. A growing number of investigations of the molecular mechanisms occurring in sepsis, point to endotoxin as a central mediator leading to multi-organ failure and death. In numerous clinical trials, attempts to target molecules downstream of endotoxin have been made, but have not been associated with improved survival. We describe an affinity-based system for the selective removal of endotoxin from plasma. The small-scale device, a 1.5 ml cartridge, contains beads that bind endotoxin with high specificity and efficiency. In addition, evidence is presented that this device does not affect plasma hemostasis, nor does it activate the complement system. Taken together, these results represent a proof of principle for endotoxin removal from plasma, which may be of clinical value to treat sepsis by extracorporeal circulation of the blood through a scaled-up version of this endotoxin-removing device.

The effects of submerged cultivation parameters on the production of chitinase by Verticillium lecanii in a shaker-flask and bioreactors were investigated. The activity of chitinase was 9.95 mU/ml in an optimal culture medium with culture volume at 200 ml, agitation rate at 150 rpm, and 24 • C in shaker-flask cultivation. Based on this result, the scale-up cultivation with a 5-l stirred-tank bioreactor (STR) and a 30-l airlift bioreactor were conducted. The high chitinase activity 18.2 mU/ml was obtained under the optimal cultivation conditions of aeration rate at 0.6 vvm, pH 4, agitation rate at 150 rpm, and 24 • C, with a 5-l STR. The chitinase went up to 19.9 mU/ml by using 30-l airlift bioreactor with 24-mesh net-draft tube at aeration rate of 0.9 vvm, pH 4, and 24 • C. The study revealed that the pH and agitation rate were the most significant factors for the effects on chitinase production. Nevertheless, agitation rate and aeration rate could affect dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration that in turn affected V. lecanii growth and chitinase production.

Recombinant antibodies and their derivatives are increasingly being used as therapeutic agents. Clinical applications of antibodies often require large amounts of highly purified molecules, sometimes for multiple treatments. The development of very efficient expression systems is essential to the full exploitation of the antibody technology. Production of recombinant protein in the milk of transgenic dairy animals is currently being tested as an alternative to plasma fractionation for the Ž manufacture of a number of blood factors human antithrombin, human alpha-1-antitrypsin, human serum albumin, factor . IX . The ability to routinely yield mgrml levels of antibodies and the scale-up flexibility make transgenic production an attractive alternative to mammalian cell culture as a source of large quantities of biotherapeutics. The following review examines the potential of transgenic expression for the production of recombinant therapeutic antibodies. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The scale-up of a 10 L air pulsed bioreactor for the continuous treatment of textile wastewater by pellets of the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor has been carried out, based on the geometric similitude with lab-scale bioreactors (0.5 and 1.5 L). Decolourisation experiments of 150 mg L À1 Grey Lanaset G dye solution carried out in the pilot-scale bioreactor showed that in both discontinuous and continuous treatment with an HRT of 48 h, the decolourisation levels were higher than 90%. Some operational changes were carried out in the continuous decolourisation treatment of the dye solution in order to adapt the process to industrial conditions such as, non-sterilization of the dye solution, use of tap water instead of distilled water plus macronutrients and micronutrients and the use of industrial quality co-substrate instead of reagent grade. The pilot system was working continuously during 3 months and over 70 days without sterilization of the dye feeding solution, achieving good decolourisation levels (78% average during the treatment). Continuous treatment of real industrial textile wastewater under non-sterile conditions was carried out during 15 days in the pilot-scale bioreactor, with colour reduction levels between 40 and 60%. These dye concentrations are regarded as environmentally acceptable to be discharged into a municipal wastewater treatment plant if necessary according to the local regulation.

In this article, I comment on the seven articles that appeared in the special issues of Educational Technology Research and Development (1998, 46(4); 1999, 47(2)) and an associated American Educational Research Association (AERA) symposium, as well as other selected developments in educational technology as presented in a recent edited volume (Jacobson & Kozma, in press). I address the importance of the research and development (R&D) described in these articles and ident~Cy five interconnected themes that cut across many of them: the centrality of design, the enabling capabilities of technology, collaboration with new partners, scaling up of projects, and the use of alternative research methodologies. Together, the projects described in these articles are defining new directions for educational technology that put it at the forefront of educational R&D. At the same time, I direct a critique and challenge to traditional instructional systems design (ISD) technology programs.

n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) from the marine microalga Isochrysis galbana were concentrated and purified by a two-step process--formation of urea inclusion compounds followed by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. These methods had been developed previously with fatty acids from cod liver oil. By the urea inclusion compounds method, a mixture that contained 94% (w/w) stearidonic (SA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA), plus docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids (4:1 urea/fatty acid ratio and 4°C crystallization final temperature) was obtained from cod liver oil fatty acids. Further purification of SA, EPA, and DHA was achieved with reverse-phase C18 columns. These isolations were scaled up to a semi-preparative column. A PUFA concentrate was isolated from I. galbana with methanol/water (80:20, w/w) or ethanol/water (70:30, w/w). With methanol/water, a 96% EPA fraction with 100% yield was obtained, as well as a 94% pure DHA fraction with a 94% yield. With ethanol/water as the mobile phase, EPA and DHA fractions obtained were 92% pure with yields of 84 and 88%, respectively. JAOCS 72, 575-583 (1995).

Social attachment is vital for human health and welfare. Recent experimental evidence in humans has identified the role of neuroactive hormones, especially the peptide oxytocin, in mediating trusting behaviors. Herein, we test if the endocrinological basis for trust between humans scales up to the country level. Trust pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives, yet survey data on trust show substantial variation across countries. Using 31 measures of biological, social, and environmental factors associated with hormone levels for a sample of 41 countries, we find that two classes of factors are related to trust: consumption of plant-based estrogens (phytoestrogens), and the presence of environmental conditions that include measures of estrogen-like molecules. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that interpersonal trust at the country level may be related to the intake of neuroactive hormones. #

Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, is well known for its psychoactive properties. Its leaves are traditionally chewed by Thai and Malaysian farmers and manual labourers as it causes a numbing, stimulating effect. The present study aims to evaluate alkaloid yield and composition in the leaf extracts. For this purpose we have compared several non-conventional extraction techniques with classic procedures (room temperature or under heating). Dried M. speciosa leaves belonging to three batches of different origin (from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) were extracted using ultrasoundassisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction SFE-CO 2 , using methanol, ethanol, water and binary mixtures. The extracts were compared using an HPLC/ESI-MS analysis of mitragynine and four other related alkaloids which were present in the alkaloid fraction. The extraction technique influences both the raw product yield and the relative alkaloid content of M. speciosa leaves. Of the several methods tested, MAE in a closed vessel at 110°C (60 W, methanol/ water 1:1) gave the highest alkaloid fraction amount, while UAE with an immersion horn at 25°C (21.4 kHz, 50 W, methanol) showed the best yield for mitragynine.

Most microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) contain only a single set of electrodes. In order to examine the scalability of a multiple-electrode design, we constructed a 2.5 L MEC containing 8 separate electrode pairs made of graphite fiber brush anodes pre-acclimated for current generation using acetate, and 304 stainless steel mesh cathodes (64 m2/m3). Under continuous flow conditions and a one day hydraulic

Mémoire proposes a general framework for reasoning from cases in biology and medicine. Part of this project is to propose a memory organization capable of handling large cases and case bases as occur in biomedical domains. This article presents the essential principles for an efficient memory organization based on pertinent work in information retrieval. Information retrieval systems have been able to scale up to terabyte of data taking advantage of large databases research to build Internet search engines. They search for pertinent documents to answer a query using term-based ranking and/or global ranking schemes. Similarly, CBR systems search for pertinent cases using a scoring function for ranking the cases. Mémoire proposes a memory organization based on inverted indexes, which may be powered by databases to search and rank efficiently through large case bases. It can be seen as a first step toward largescale CBR systems, and in addition provides a framework for tight cooperation between CBR and IR.

Efforts to understand cognition will be greatly facilitated by computerized systems that enable the automated analysis of animal behavior. A number of controversies in the invertebrate learning field have resulted from difficulties inherent in manual experiments. Driven by the necessity to overcome these problems during investigation of neural function in planarian flatworms and frog larvae, we designed and developed a prototype for an inexpensive, flexible system that enables automated control and analysis of behavior and learning. Applicable to a variety of small animals such as flatworms and zebrafish, this system allows automated analysis of innate behavior, as well as of learning and memory in a plethora of conditioning paradigms. We present here the schematics of a basic prototype, which overcomes experimenter effects and operator tedium, enabling a large number of animals to be analyzed with transparent on-line access to primary data. A scaled-up version of this technology represents an efficient methodology to screen pharmacological and genetic libraries for novel neuroactive reagents of basic and biomedical relevance. '

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has built up credibility in recent years in biotech industries due to its potential applications in the production of biologically active secondary metabolites, apart from feed, fuel, food, industrial chemicals and pharmaceutical products and has emerged as an attractive alternative to submerged fermentation. Bioremediation, bioleaching, biopulping, biobeneficiation, etc. are the major applications of SSF in bioprocesses which have set another milestone. Utilization of agro-industrial residues as substrates in SSF processes provides an alternative avenue and value-addition to these otherwise under-or non-utilized residues. Innovation is the key to success and it is imperative to be up-to-date with the changing demands of the industries and meet their needs for better product and services. Better understanding of biochemical engineering aspects, particularly on mathematical modeling and design of bioreactors (fermenters) has made it possible to scale-up SSF processes and some designs have been developed for commercialization, making the technology economically feasible. In future, SSF technology would be well developed at par with SmF if rationalization and standardization continues in current trend. This review describes the state-of-art scenario in totality on SSF although the focus is on the most recent developments of last 5 years or so on SSF processes and products developments.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (FPA, 20:5n-3) and arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-3) were obtained from the microalga Porphyridium cruentum by a three-step process: fatty acid extraction by direct saponification of biomass, polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) concentration by urea inclusion complexing and EPA isolation by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Two solvents were tested for direct saponification of lipids in biomass. The most efficient solvent, ethanol (96% v/v), extracted 75% of the fatty acids. PUFAs concentration by urea inclusion employed a urea/fatty acid ratio of 4:1 wt/wt at the crystallization temperatures of 4 • C and 28 • C. Concentration factors were similar at both temperatures, but the EPA and AA recoveries were higher at 28 • C (67.7% and 61.8% for the two acids, respectively). EPA and AA were purified from this PUFA concentrate using analytical scale HPLC and the best results of this separation were scaled up to preparative level (4.7 i. d. × 30 cm compression radial cartridge). A 94.3% pure EPA fraction and a 81.4% pure AA fraction were obtained. Suitability of several microalgae (Porphyridium cruentum, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Isochrysis galbana) and cod liver oil as sources of highly pure PUFAs, mainly EPA, was compared.

Rabies virus is an important causative agent of disease resulting in an acute infection of the nervous system and death. Although curable if treated in a timely manner, rabies remains a serious public health issue in developing countries, and the indigenous threat of rabies continues in developed countries because of wildlife reservoirs. Control of rabies in wildlife is still an important challenge for governmental authorities.

This work describes a novel bioreactor system for the cultivation of animal, insect, and plant cells using wave agitation induced by a rocking motion. This agitation system provides good nutrient distribution, off-bottom suspension, and excellent oxygen transfer without damaging fluid shear or gas bubbles. Unlike other cell culture systems, such as spinners, hollow-fiber bioreactors, and roller bottles, scale-up is simple, and has been demonstrated up to 100 L of culture volume. The bioreactor is disposable, and therefore requires no cleaning or sterilization. Additions and sampling are possible without the need for a laminar flow cabinet. The unit can be placed in an incubator requiring minimal instrumentation. These features dramatically lower the purchase cost, and operating expenses of this laboratory/pilot scale cell cultivation system. Results are presented for various model systems: 1) recombinant NS0 cells in suspension; 2) adenovirus production using human 293 cells in suspension; 3) Sf9 insect cell/baculovirus system; and 4) human 293 cells on microcarrier. These examples show the general suitability of the system for cells in suspension, anchorage-dependent culture, and virus production in research and GMP applications.

There is a great need for robust, defect-free, highly selective molecular sieve (zeolite) thin film membranes for light gas molecule separations in hydrogen fuel production from CH or HO sources. In particular, we are interested in (1) separating and isolating H from HO and CH, CO, CO, O, N gases; (2) water management in PEMs and (3) as a replacement

Over the last 21 years, we’ve spent almost a person-millenium producing Cyc, an axiomatization of general human knowledge. Though still far from complete, Cyc contains over three million axioms. The need to express the range of things a person knows has led us to ever more expressive representation languages – currently we use an nth order predicate calculus with an overlay of contexts which are themselves first class objects. These pressures and others (e.g., elaboration tolerance) have driven us against numerous sorts of ”scaling up” problems. In this talk I will briefly describe Cyc, the processes by which new axioms are added and deleted, applications of it, etc., but I will focus on some of these scaling up issues and approaches we have taken – and plan to take – to keep inference fast enough and to keep contradictions from being more than a nuisance.

Domains like text classification can easily supply large amounts of unlabeled data, but labeling itself is expensive. Semi-supervised learning tries to exploit this abundance of unlabeled training data to improve classification. Unfortunately most of the theoretically well-founded algorithms that have been described in recent years are cubic or worse in the total number of both labeled and unlabeled training examples. In this paper we apply modifications to the standard LLGC algorithm to improve efficiency to a point where we can handle datasets with hundreds of thousands of training data. The modifications are priming of the unlabeled data, and most importantly, sparsification of the similarity matrix. We report promising results on large text classification problems.

This article proposes some clear definitions and taxonomies of scaling up, i.e., the processes by which grassroots organizations expand their impact. It then goes on to apply this taxonomy of scaling up to 25 Third World organizations that were nominated for the Alan Shawn Feinstein Hunger Awards, a yearly set of three awards given by Brown University to organizations that have been especially meritorious in combating or preventing hunger. This case study describes a number of paths for scaling up that might have general relevance.

This paper reports on the results of a planning grant that studied the effects of a highly rated curriculum unit on a diverse student population. The treatment was introduced to 1500 8 th grade students in five middle schools selected for their ethnic, linguistic, and socio-economic diversity. Students were given pre-, post-and delayed posttests on a Conservation of Matter Assessment and measures of motivation and engagement. This quasi-experiment found statistically significant posttest results for achievement, basic learning engagement, and goal orientation. Analysis of disaggregated data showed that subgroups of students in the treatment condition outscored their comparison group peers (n =1500) in achievement in all cases, except for students currently enrolled in ESOL.

While semantic search technologies have been proven to work well in specific domains, they still have to confront two main challenges to scale up to the Web in its entirety. In this work we address this issue with a novel semantic search system that a) provides the user with the capability to query Semantic Web information using natural language, by means of an ontology-based Question Answering (QA) system and b) complements the specific answers retrieved during the QA process with a ranked list of documents from the Web . Our results show that ontology-based semantic search capabilities can be used to complement and enhance keyword search technologies.

The potential for thermal denaturation to cause enzyme losses during solid-state fermentation processes for the production of enzymes was examined, using the protease of Penicillium fellutanum as a model system. The frequency factor and activation energies for the first-order denaturation of this enzyme were determined as 3.447 · 10 59 h À1 and 364,070 J mol À1 , respectively. These values were incorporated into a mathematical model of enzyme deactivation, which was used to investigate the consequences of subjecting this protease to temporal temperature profiles reported in the literature for mid-height in a 34 cm high packed-bed bioreactor of 150 mm diameter. In this literature source, temperature profiles were measured for 5, 15 and 25 liters per minute of air and enzyme activities were measured as a function of time. The enzyme activity profiles predicted by the model were distributed similarly, one relative to the other, as had been found in the experimental study, with substantial amounts of denaturation being predicted when the substrate temperature exceeded 40°C, which occurred at the lower two airflow rates. A mathematical model of a well-mixed bioreactor was used to explore the difficulties that would be faced at large scale. It suggests that even with airflows as high as one volume per volume per minute, up to 85% of the enzyme produced by the microorganism can be denatured by the end of the fermentation. This work highlights the extra care that must be taken in scaling up solid-state fermentation processes for the production of thermolabile products.

Estimating catchment scale soil loss based on rainfall simulators is often hampered by the difficulty to scale up simulator results. Our objective was to develop and test a method for estimating catchment scale soil loss based on observed rainfall using a variable intensity rainfall simulator in an erosion-sensitive catchment in semiarid Tunisia. A 7-year period, 1992 -1999, with observed sedimentation amounts in a downstream reservoir was chosen to test a methodology. The methodology was based on (1) energy adjustment for the used simulator due to the difference in kinetic energy of simulated and natural rainfall at equal intensities and upscaling of simulated erosion in which rill erosion was estimated by adjusting the difference between slope lengths for the plots versus the catchment after onset of runoff. The comparison between calculated soil loss from rainfall simulator experiments and observed sedimentation in the downstream reservoir displayed good overall results. Calculated soil loss was found to be about 96%, 36%, and 80% for different observed subperiods, respectively. The observed low value for the second period was probably due an exceptionally intense rainfall event during this period, which appears to have led to gully erosion, soil slide, and riverbank collapse. Therefore, during this event, siltation in the reservoir may essentially be due to unaccounted erosion 0341-8162/02/$ -see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 4 1 -8 1 6 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 8 9 -9 * Corresponding author. Fax: +46-46-222-4435. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Hamed). www.elsevier.com/locate/catena Catena 50 (2002) 1 -16

Gracilaria dura occurring in Indian waters has been reported to be potential sources of agarose (US Patent 2005/0267296A1). The scanty biomass and restricted occurrence at the bottom of deep tide pools along few locations of the northwestern coast of India limited its exploitation for industrial utilization. The paper describes carpospore output, their viability and early stages of development in the laboratory as well as outplanting and field cultivation of tetrasporophytic plants of G. dura. The maximum spore liberation took place on day four with output of 808 (± 22) per cystocarp. The percentage spore viability ranged from 22 to 36% (r 2 = 0.1008, n = 30) at the end of first week and 17-27% (r 2 = 0.0011, n = 30) at the second week of carpospores culture. The spores underwent germination immediately without any resting period and followed the Dumontia type developmental pattern. The erect thallus developed from the multicellular basal disc. After 6 months under laboratory culture, the erect cylindrical thallus attained the minimum size of field transplantation with about 3-4 cm frond length. The out-planting of laboratory-grown tetrasporophytes showed fast adaptation to the sea with satisfactory average growth rate of 4.67% d − 1 . The present investigation has demonstrated the possibility of field cultivation of this species using carpospores under the realistic culture conditions. The scaling up of this method could result into commercial farming of this industrially important red alga.

Agroecology as a transformative movement has gained momentum in many countries worldwide. In several cases, the implementation of agroecological practices has grown beyond isolated, local experiences to be employed by ever-greater numbers of families and communities over ever-larger territories and to engage more people in the processing, distribution, and consumption of agroecologically produced food. To understand the nonlinear, multidimensional processes that have enabled and impelled the bringing to scale of agroecology, we review and analyze emblematic cases that include the farmer-to-farmer movement in Central America; the national peasant agroecology movement in Cuba; the organic coffee boom in Chiapas, Mexico; the spread of Zero Budget Natural Farming in Karnataka, India; and the agroecological farmer-consumer marketing network "Rede Ecovida," in Brazil. On the basis of our analysis, we identify eight key drivers of the process of taking agroecology to scale: (1) recognition of a crisis that motivates the search for alternatives, (2) social organization, (3) constructivist learning processes, (4) effective agroecological practices, (5) mobilizing discourses, (6) external allies, (7) favorable markets, and (8) favorable policies. This initial analysis shows that organization and social fabric are the growth media on which agroecology advances, with the help of the other drivers. A more detailed understanding is needed on how these multiple dimensions interact with, reinforce, and generate positive feedback with each other to make agroecology's territorial expansion possible.

Old forests are important carbon pools, but are thought to be insigni®cant as current atmospheric carbon sinks. This perception is based on the assumption that changes in productivity with age in complex, multiaged, multispecies natural forests can be modelled simply as scaled-up versions of individual trees or even-aged stands. This assumption was tested by measuring the net primary productivity (NPP) of natural subalpine forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains, where NPP is from 50% to 100% higher than predicted by a model of an even-age forest composed of a single species. If process-based terrestrial carbon models underestimate NPP by 50% in just one quarter of the temperate coniferous forests throughout the world, then global NPP is being underestimated by 145 Tg of carbon annually. This is equivalent to 4.3±7.6% of the missing atmospheric carbon sink. These results emphasize the need to account for multiple-aged, species-diverse, mature forests in models of terrestrial carbon dynamics to approximate the global carbon budget.