External and internal diffusion in heterogeneous enzymes systems

The intrusion of diffusion in heterogeneous enzyme reactions, which follow. Michaelis-Menten kinetics, is quantitatively characterized by dimensionless parameters that are independent of the substrate concentration. The effects of these parameters on the overall rate of reaction is illustrated on plots commonly employed in enzyme kinetics. The departure from Michaelis-Menten kinetics due to diffusion limitations can be best assessed by using Hofstee plots which are also suitable to distinguish between internal and external transport effects. A graphical method is described for the evaluation of the reaction rate as a function of the surface concentration of the substrate from measured data.     

Effect of interstage mixing in multistage culture systems on continuous biomass production

The significance of the interstage mixing on important process parameters of biomass production was studied. The experiments were performed in a multistage tower fermentor and in fermentors in series. The interstage mixing effect can be evaluated under conditions of geometrical similarity, identity of oxygen transfer rate, and identity of dilution rate per stage in the individual stages of both culture systems. Candida utilis was cultivated on a synthetic medium with ethanol as the sole carbon and energy source in the concentration range 10–100 g/liter. Dilution rate, temperature, and pH in each stage of both culture systems were kept constant. It was demonstrated that in the multistage tower fermentor the definite backflow which ensures the permanent reinoculation by adapted cells significantly decreases the inhibitory effect of higher ethanol concentrations on the cell growth and on the rate of ethanol utilization.     

Effects of failure of aeration during continuous biomass production on sulfite liquor

The effect of the length of the failure in stoppage aeration on the changes in the growth and physiological characteristics of aCandida utilis population grown in the chemostat was observed. During the interruption of air supply, the temporary surface aeration was used. The transient change to the oxygen-limited growth conditions induced different values and courses of the growth and physiological paramenters in the transition states.     

Organizations in reaction-diffusion systems: Effects of diffusion and boundary conditions

Chemical Organization Theory (COT) has been successfully applied to analyze complex reaction networks where species interact and new species can emerge. The COT has been well studied, but is yet to analyze high dimensional systems dynamics over time equivalent to ordinary differential equations. Moreover, spatial effects, such as diffusion and boundary conditions have also not been considered yet. Here, we extend the COT to cope with reaction-diffusion systems. Thereby we focus on the effects of diffusion and various boundary conditions. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we analyze two models based on partial differential equations, one of which is on HIV virus dynamics.The analysis shows interesting organizational structures when using different ranges of diffusion rates, as well as for Dirichlet and positive Neumann boundary conditions. The advantage of this novel approach is that it is based solely on the model structure (reaction rules) but is independent of kinetic details, such as rate constants. Hence, it copes with high-dimensional systems without the need of numerical simulations, and it can be applied without detailed mathematical knowledge. Our tool is available, without restriction at https://github.com/stephanpeter/orgs-rds.     

Effect of internal diffusion in heterogeneous enzyme systems: Evaluation of true kinetic parameters and substrate diffusivity

The effect of internal diffusion on the overall reaction rate in spherical particles and membranes containing immobilized enzymes has been investigated theoretically. Since they represent open systems, the MichaelisMenten kinetics is obeyed in the absence of diffusional effects at steady state even at high enzyme concentrations. When internal diffusion perturbs the reaction, the system can not be described any more by K_M and V_max? alone, but is conveniently characterized by the modulus. Assuming that only internal diffusion interferes with the enzyme reaction, the effect of the modulus on the overall rate of reaction is illustrated by the results of computer calculations. Plots of the overall reaction rate against the substrate concentration are hyperbolas at various moduli for both membranes and spherical particles and no sigmoidal curves are obtained with immobilized enzyme systems. Since the conventional plots of enzyme kinetics do not yield straight lines under such conditions, a graphical method is proposed to determine K_M and V_max? as well as the substrate diffusivity in the enzymic medium.     

Effects of algal diversity on the production of biomass in homogeneous and heterogeneous nutrient environments: a microcosm experiment

Background

One of the most common questions addressed by ecologists over the past decade has been-how does species richness impact the production of community biomass? Recent summaries of experiments have shown that species richness tends to enhance the production of biomass across a wide range of trophic groups and ecosystems; however, the biomass of diverse polycultures only rarely exceeds that of the single most productive species in a community (a phenomenon called ‘transgressive overyielding’). Some have hypothesized that the lack of transgressive overyielding is because experiments have generally been performed in overly-simplified, homogeneous environments where species have little opportunity to express the niche differences that lead to ‘complementary’ use of resources that can enhance biomass production. We tested this hypothesis in a laboratory experiment where we manipulated the richness of freshwater algae in homogeneous and heterogeneous nutrient environments.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Experimental units were comprised of patches containing either homogeneous nutrient ratios (16∶1 nitrogen to phosphorus (N∶P) in all patches) or heterogeneous nutrient ratios (ranging from 4∶1 to 64∶1 N∶P across patches). After allowing 6–10 generations of algal growth, we found that algal species richness had similar impacts on biomass production in both homo- and heterogeneous environments. Although four of the five algal species showed a strong response to nutrient heterogeneity, a single species dominated algal communities in both types of environments. As a result, a ‘selection effect’–where diversity maximizes the chance that a competitively superior species will be included in, and dominate the biomass of a community–was the primary mechanism by which richness influenced biomass in both homo- and heterogeneous environments.

Conclusions/Significance

Our study suggests that spatial heterogeneity, by itself, is not sufficient to generate strong effects of biodiversity on productivity. Rather, heterogeneity must be coupled with variation in the relative fitness of species across patches in order for spatial niche differentiation to generate complementary resource use.     

Failure simulation in continuous biomass production

Responses in biomass concentration, that of reducing substances and levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the effluent gas resulting from various failures of the fermentation plant, cooling and electric power supply have been simulated using a chemostat system with yeast cells cultured on magnesium bisulphite liquors.     

Effects of diffusion on the stability of the equilibrium in multi-species ecological systems

Continuous population distributions that undergo self-diffusion, migrational cross-diffusion and interaction in a region of (1-, 2- or 3-dimensional) space are described dynamically by a governing system of nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations. It is shown that the constants associated with migrational cross-diffusion are ordinarily nonnegative or nonpositive, contingent on the type of species interaction. A simple sign relationship obtains between the latter diffusivity constants and the rate constants for species interaction in the neighborhood of a spatially uniform equilibrium state, and this relationship of signs serves to simplify the general stability theory for the growth or decay of arbitrary perturbations on a spatially uniform equilibrium state. The stability of the equilibrium state is analyzed and discussed in detail for the case of a generic two-species model, where the self-diffusion and migrational cross-diffusion of species act to either stabilize or destabilize the equilibrium, depending essentially on the character of the species interaction and also on the magnitude of the Helmholtz eigenvalues associated with the region and boundary conditions. In particular, for a prey-predator or host-parasite model, self-diffusion usually helps to stabilize the equilibrium state and migrational cross-diffusion can only act as an additional stabilizing influence, as evidenced generally by the experiments on such two-species systems. Sufficient conditions are derived for stability of the equilibrium state in the general case for an arbitrarily large number of interacting species. It is shown that the equilibrium state is always stable if all species undergo significant self-diffusion and the Helmholtz eigenvalues are suitably large.     

套作糯玉米对西兰花连作田土壤微生物量及酶活性的影响

本文研究了套作糯玉米(Zea mays L.sinensis Kulesh)及其秸秆还田的种植模式下土壤生物活性的变化,以明确套作模式和秸秆还田减缓西兰花连作田连作障碍的效果。以西兰花单作为对照,设置西兰花套作糯玉米且糯玉米秸秆还田-西兰花(B/MR-B)、西兰花套作糯玉米且糯玉米秸秆不还田-西兰花(B/M-B)、西兰花-西兰花(B-B),共3个处理,分别测定土壤微生物生物量碳(MBC)、氮(MBN)以及脲酶、蔗糖酶、中性磷酸酶、过氧化氢酶活性。结果表明:套作并秸秆还田有效提升MBC和MBN,玉米和西兰花共生阶段后期MBC和MBN较高;套作并秸秆还田可有效提高土壤脲酶、中性磷酸酶和蔗糖酶活性,促进有机养分的转化和有效化;秸秆还田前期胁迫作物分泌过氧化氢,导致土壤过氧化氢酶活性升高,套作处理可有效减缓土壤中过氧化氢的累积。相关分析表明,MBC与脲酶、蔗糖酶、中性磷酸酶、过氧化氢酶显著相关或极显著正相关,MBN与脲酶、蔗糖酶、中性磷酸酶极显著正相关。套作并秸秆还田可改善西兰花连作田土壤生态环境,在一定程度上有效缓解西兰花连作障碍。     

Effects of earthworms on biomass production,nitrogen allocation and nitrogen transfer in wheat-clover intercropping model systems

The effects of earthworms (Lumbricidae) on plant biomass production and N allocation in model intercropping systems of winter wheat and white clover were evaluated in two pot experiments. Wheat and wheat-clover mixtures were grown in a low-organic loam soil, earthworms were added at densities comparable to field population densities and the experiments were terminated 48 and 17 d after earthworm introductions. In both experiments, earthworms significantly increased the biomass and N uptake of wheat while they had generally no effects on clover. As a result, earthworm activity increased the proportion of wheat biomass in the total plant biomass of the mixture. Nitrogen budgets of the experiment lasting 48 d indicated that additional N in the system made available by earthworm activity was primarily taken up by the wheat. Earthworms also affected intra-plant N allocation in wheat which had significantly higher shoot:root N ratios when earthworms were present. When clover was labelled with ¹⁵N in the experiment which lasted 17 d, endogeic earthworms significantly reduced the amounts of ¹⁵N excess transferred from living or decomposing clover roots to accompanying wheat plants. Earthworms assimilated small quantities of ¹⁵N tracer from decomposing clover roots but not from living clover roots. The results of these model experiments suggest that earthworms can affect the balance between intercropped cereals and legumes by altering intra- and inter-plant N allocation. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

不同浓度石灰氮对黄瓜连作土壤微生物生物量及酶活性的影响

为分析比较不同浓度石灰氮对连作黄瓜田土壤环境的作用效果,通过2年温室定位试验,在黄瓜秸秆还田的基础上以不施石灰氮为对照(CK),研究施用\[高浓度石灰氮1350 kg·hm^-2(CaCN₂ 90)、中浓度石灰氮900 kg·hm^-2(CaCN₂ 60)、低浓度石灰氮450 kg·hm^-2(CaCN₂ 30)\]对连作黄瓜土壤微生物生物量碳(SMBC)、微生物生物量氮(SMBN)及酶活性的影响.结果表明：与其他处理相比,CaCN₂ 90显著降低苗期0～10 cm 土层SMBC,但增加了初瓜期后0～20 cm土层SMBC.施用石灰氮处理均显著提高了末瓜期0～20 cm土层SMBC及盛瓜期至末瓜期0～10 cm土层SMBN,但第1年（2012年）不同石灰氮用量间无明显规律,第2年(2013年)盛瓜期后SMBN随着石灰氮施用浓度的增加而升高.施用石灰氮有利于秸秆的腐熟,提高土壤有机质含量,且石灰氮浓度越高越有利于秸秆的腐熟.相比对照,施用石灰氮能有效提升土壤脲酶、过氧化氢酶和多酚氧化酶活性,其中脲酶活性随石灰氮浓度的增加升高,而多酚氧化酶活性随石灰氮浓度的增加而降低,CaCN₂ 60可有效提高过氧化氢酶活性.相关分析表明：土壤有机质、脲酶及过氧化氢酶活性与SMBC、SMBN呈极显著正相关,多酚氧化酶活性与SMBC、SMBN呈显著负相关.表明黄瓜秸秆还田后施用石灰氮900 kg·hm^-2能够改善温室黄瓜连作田土壤环境,有效减缓温室黄瓜连作障碍.     

Effects of dilution rate on biomass and extracellular enzyme production by three species of cutaneous propionibacteria grown in continuous culture

Propionibacterium acnes, P. avidum and P. granulosum were grown in continuous culture at a range of dilution rates on a semi-synthetic medium. Dilution rates were chosen to allow the bacteria to grow at the same relative growth rates as compared to their respective mumax values. The steady-state levels and production rates of biomass and extracellular enzymes were determined. The lipase and hyaluronate lyase of P. granulosum and the proteolytic activity of P. acnes and P. avidum were growth linked enzymes (i.e. they were produced at constant amounts per unit of biomass). In contrast, the lipase, hyaluronate lyase and acid phosphatase of P. acnes and the lipase of P. avidum were shown to be non-growth linked enzymes.     

Oxygen diffusion and consumption in active aerobic granules of heterogeneous structure

The interior structure of aerobic granules is highly heterogeneous, hence, affecting the transport and reaction processes in the granules. The granule structure and the dissolved oxygen profiles were probed at the same granule in the current work for possible estimation of transport and kinetic parameters in the granule. With the tested granules fed by phenol or acetate as carbon source, most inflow oxygen was consumed by an active layer thickness of less than 125 μm on the granule surface. The confocal laser scanning microscopy scans also revealed a surface layer thickness of approximately 100 μm consisting of cells. The diffusivities of oxygen transport and the kinetic constant of oxygen consumption in the active layers only were evaluated. The theoretical models adopted in literature that ignored the contributions of the layered structure of aerobic granule could have overlooked the possible limitations on oxygen transport.     

石灰碳铵熏蒸与施用生物有机肥对连作黄瓜和西瓜枯萎病及生物量的影响

采用稀释涂布平板计数法,研究了石灰碳铵及碳铵熏蒸对黄瓜和西瓜连作土壤尖孢镰刀菌数量的影响,以及熏蒸后施用生物有机肥对黄瓜和西瓜枯萎病的防控效果及植株生长的影响.结果表明:与对照相比,石灰碳铵及碳铵熏蒸后,连作土壤中黄瓜尖孢镰刀菌的数量分别下降95.4%及71.4%,西瓜尖孢镰刀菌的数量分别下降87.2%及64.2%;多因素方差分析表明,熏蒸、施用有机肥及作物种类均对土壤中尖孢菌数量、枯萎病发病率、防控率及生物量有显著影响;与未熏蒸施用普通有机肥对照相比,石灰碳铵熏蒸后施用生物有机肥能显著减少后茬黄瓜或西瓜土壤中尖孢镰刀菌的数量并显著降低枯萎病发病率,防控率高达91.9%及92.5%,同时显著增加了植株的株高、茎粗、SPAD值及干质量.表明石灰碳铵熏蒸及施用生物有机肥能够降低土壤中尖孢镰刀菌数量,有效防控黄瓜和西瓜枯萎病的发生并促进其植株生长.     

Energy aware DAG scheduling on heterogeneous systems

We address the problem of scheduling directed a-cyclic task graph (DAG) on a heterogeneous distributed processor system with the twin objectives of minimizing finish time and energy consumption. Previous scheduling heuristics have assigned DAGs to processors to minimize overall run-time of the application. But applications on embedded systems, such as high performance DSP in image processing, multimedia, and wireless security, need schedules which use low energy too.     

Nonlinear adaptive optimization of biomass productivity in continuous bioreactors

A novel on-line adaptive optimization algorithm is developed and applied to continuous biological reactors. The algorithm makes use of a simple nonlinear estimation model that relates either the cell-mass productivity or the cell-mass concentration to the dilution rate. On-line estimation is used to recursively identify the parameters in the nonlinear process model and to periodically calculate and steer the bioreactor to the dilution rate that yields optimum cell-mass productivity. Thus, the algorithm does not require an accurate process model, locates the optimum dilution rate online, and maintains the bioreactors at this optimum condition at all times. The features of the proposed new algorithm are compared with those of other adaptive optimization techniques presented in the literature [1–5]. A detailed simulation study using three different microbial system models [3, 6–7] was conducted to illustrate the performance of the optimization algorithm.List of Symbols A(q ^–1) polynomial in q ^–1 - b bias term - c _F nutrient cost term - B(q ^–1) polynomial in q ^–1 - C(q ^–1) polynomial in q ^–1 - CMPR kg/(m³ · h) cell mass productivity - D 1/h dilution rate - D _opt 1/h optimum dilution rate - E(q ^–1) polynomial in q ^–1 - h exponential filter constant - J objective function - k time index - K _m Monod's constant - n optimization interval - P covariance matrix - q ^–1 backward shift operator - r defined by equation (28) - S kg/m³ substrate concentration - S _F kg/m³ feed substrate concentration - T _s h sampling period - u vector containing previous input values - V dm³ fermenter volume - X kg/dm³ cell mass concentration - Y output variable - Y vector containing previous output values - Y _x/s g/g yield coefficient - optimization tuning constant - vector linear or nonlinear combination of u and Y - denominator covariance matrix update equation - forgetting factor - parameter vector - 1/h specific growth rate - _m 1/h maximum specific grow rate     

Adaptive steady-state optimization of biomass productivity in continuous fermentors

An adaptive steady-state optimization algorithm is presented and applied to the problem of optimizing the production of biomass in continuous fermentation processes. The algorithm requires no modeling information but is based on an on-line identified linear model, locates the optimum dilution rate, and maintains the chemostat at its optimum operating condition at all times. The behavior of the algorithm is tested against a dynamic model of a chemostat that incorporates metabolic time delay, and it is shown that large disturbances in the subtrate feed concentration and the specific growth rate, causing a shift in the optimum, are handled well. The developed algorithm is also used to drive a methylotroph single-cell production process to its optimum.     

Monitoring biomass in root culture systems

This paper presents a technique for accurate estimation of growth in root culture systems. Biomass correlations, were used to estimate fresh weight time course data in shake flasks and reactors based on a model of liquid nutrient uptake and osmolality, to account for changing specific water content of roots. This mass balance technique has been developed to permit accurate aseptic on-line estimation of dry weight (DW), fresh weight (FW), and liquid volume (V) in root cultures utilizing either refractive index or electrical conductivity of the liquid medium along with liquid medium osmolality. The ability to predict fresh weight is particularly important since this is proportional to the biomass volume fraction which determines mass transfer and other culture transport characteristics. The proposed model has been validated with time course information (DW, FW, and V) from 125 mL shake flasks and corroborated with data obtained from 2 L reactors. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.