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The abiotic oxidation of pyrite requires the supply of oxygen and water only. In abiotic systems, pyrite oxidation may proceed via several paths, with multiple steps in each of the paths. Defect sites (S-deficient, Fe3+ bearing sites) on the pyrite surface have been shown reported to be the initial reaction sites on pristine pyrite surfaces. In neutral to slightly acidic solutions (3.5<pH<7), ferric iron hydroxide patches will form on the surface. These patches have been shown to be the predominant sites for electron exchange. Efforts were undertaken to suppress the electron transfer at these sites to inhibit pyrite oxidation. It has been shown that pyrite oxidation can be controlled by exposing the pyrite to phosphate under relatively high pH values (pH above 5.0). However, phosphate ceases to function as an inhibitor under lower pHs. The use of two-tail phospholipids instead of phosphate to inhibit the pyrite oxidation proved to be very effective under abiotic conditions. The purpose of the present study is to determine if the use of two-tail phospholipids can be extended to systems that have bacteria present. Batch experiments were conducted in which pyrite slurries were treated with two-tailed lipid either before or after exposure to bacteria. Iron release into the solution was used as a reaction progress variable and Atomic Force Microscopy was used to study the distribution of lipids and bacteria on the pyrite surface. AFM images showed that the formation of 7nm lipid bilayers contributes to the majority of lipid structures on pyrite surface. The bilayers render the pyrite surface hydrophobic and inhibit the reaction of water with the surface, which is known to be a critical reactant. AFM images also showed that phospholipids are capable of displacing a large fraction of bacteria attached to pyrite, reducing the oxidation rate of the mineral. However, addition of heterotrophic bacterial (Acidiphilum acidophilum) to the system resulted in the increase in pyrite oxidation rate again. Cross-linking of the 23:2 dyne phospholipids by exposing the lipid to UV light greatly enhanced the stability of the lipid in the presence of the heterotrophic bacteria. UV pretreated lipid layers reduced pyrite oxidation in the presence of heterotrophic bacteria for up to 30 days. / Chemistry

This dissertation proposes the Weaves runtime framework for the execution of large scale parallel programs over lightweight intra-process threads. The goal of the Weaves framework is to help process-based legacy parallel programs exploit the scalability of threads without any modifications. The framework separates global variables used by identical, but independent, threads of legacy parallel programs without resorting to thread-based re-programming. At the same time, it also facilitates low-overhead collaboration among threads of a legacy parallel program through multi-granular selective sharing of global variables. Applications that follow the tenets of the Weaves framework can load multiple identical, but independent, copies of arbitrary object files within a single process. They can compose the runtime images of these object files in graph-like ways and run intra-process threads through them to realize various degrees of multi-granular selective sharing or separation of global variables among the threads. Using direct runtime control over the resolution of individual references to functions and variables, they can also manipulate program composition at fine granularities. Most importantly, the Weaves framework does not entail any modifications to either the source codes or the native codes of the object files. The framework is completely transparent. Results from experiments with a real-world process-based parallel application show that the framework can correctly execute a thousand parallel threads containing non-threadsafe global variables on a single machine - nearly twice as many as the traditional process-based approach can - without any code modifications. On increasing the number of machines, the application experiences super-linear speedup, which illustrates scalability. Results from another similar application, chosen from a different software area to emphasize the breadth of this research, show that the framework's facilities for low-overhead collaboration among parallel threads allows for significantly greater scales of achievable parallelism than technologies for inter-process collaboration allow. Ultimately, larger scales of parallelism enable more accurate software modeling of real-world parallel systems, such as computer networks and multi-physics natural phenomena. / Ph. D.

The demand for biodegradable packaging materials as an alternative to synthetic ones to reduce environmental cost has seen an increase in recent years. In addition, functionalizing the packaging film to provide specific advantages like antimicrobial properties has yet to be explored thoroughly. This study considers adding antimicrobial agents to improve the quality and safety of actively packaged fresh produce using an antimicrobial enzyme (lysozyme) immobilized on a biopolymer based packaging film (corn-zein). The developed packaging material is aimed as an active biodegradable packaging to reduce bacterial contamination on the surface of fresh organic produce, specifically tomatoes. The study uses glutaraldehyde and glyoxal as binding agents to immobilize the enzyme on the packaging film. The effect of concentration of glutaraldehyde and glyoxal on the controlled release of the enzyme was studied. Concentrations of 0.1 and 0.2 g/g lysozyme: cross linking agent had controlled release properties. However, concentrations of 0 or 0.05 are about 20-30% more effective at inactivating bacteria. Antimicrobial activity in the constructed zein films are also tested against selected pathogens (Salmonella Newport and Listeria monocytogenes). Developed zein based film is tested against inoculated tomatoes to determine the efficacy of the films in reducing the pathogen population. The inoculated tomatoes are stored at room temperature over a storage period of one week. The film was able to reduce Listeria monocytogenes population by three logs but was unable to reduce the population of Salmonella Newport. / Master of Science

TARTAKOVSKAYA, A. Conjunctions in spoken and written Czech Faculty of arts Charles University in Prague, 2011 Supervisor: Václav Cvrček, Ph.D. Number of pages: 66 + 6 attachments Key words: Conjunctions, written Czech language, spoken Czech language, word link, Czech National Corpus, secondary linking conjunctions, co-coordinating linking conjunctions Conjunctions in the Czech language are still relatively small chapter described in manuals and grammar books. The aim is to investigate connecting words in spoken and written language, their use in text and links with other words, compare the use of the coupling term in written and spoken Czech language. Theoretical basis for master's thesis is based on several works which are devoted to this issue, either in whole or in dealing with some of its parts. But the major outline of work is driven by the Czech National Corpus (hereafter CNC), namely the corpora SYN2005 and ORAL2008. First chapter deals with CNC and coupling expressions in general, second deals with secondary linking conjunctions, their use in text types and surrounding words. The content of the third chapter incorporates the connecting conjunctions.

Neste trabalho, consideramos o problema autônomo {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ em que N≥3, a função V é não periódica, radialmente simétrica e muda de sinal e a não linearidade f é assintoticamente linear. Além disso, impomos que V possui um limite positivo no infinito e que o espectro do operador L≔-∆+V tem ínfimo negativo. Sob essas condições, baseando-se em interações entre soluções transladadas do problema no infinito associado, é possível mostrar que tal problema satisfaz a geometria do teorema de linking clássico e garantir a existência de uma solução fraca não trivial. Em seguida, estabelecemos a existência de uma solução não trivial para o problema não autônomo {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(x,u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ sob hipóteses similares ao problema anterior, admitindo também que f(x,u)=f(|x|,u) dentre outras condições. Aplicamos novamente o teorema de linking para garantir que tal problema possui uma solução não trivial. Por fim, provamos que o problema quasilinear {(-∆u+V(x)u-u∆(u^2)=g(x,u) em R^3,@u∈H^1 (R^3)\\{0},)┤ em que o potencial V muda de sinal, podendo ser não limitado inferiormente, e a não linearidade g(x,u), quando |x|→∞, possui um certo tipo de monotonicidade, possui uma solução não trivial. A existência de tal solução é provada por meio de uma mudança de variável que transforma o problema num problema semilinear, nos permitindo, assim, empregar o teorema do passo da montanha combinado com o lema splitting. / In this work, we consider the autonomous problem {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ where N≥3, V is a non-periodic radially symmetric function that changes sign and the nonlinearity f is asymptotically linear. Furthermore, we impose that V has a positive limit at infinity and the spectrum of the operator L≔-∆+V has negative infimum. Under these conditions, employing interaction between translated solutions of the problem at infinity, it is possible to show that such problem satisfies the geometry of the classical linking theorem and garantee the existence of a nontrivial weak solution. After that, we establish the existence of a nontrivial weak solution for the nonautonomous problem {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(x,u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ under similar hyphoteses to the previous problem, assuming also that f(x,u)=f(|x|,u) among others conditions. We apply again the classical linking theorem to ensure that such problem possesses a nontrivial weak solution. Finally, we prove that the quasilinear problem {(-∆u+V(x)u-u∆(u^2)=g(x,u) em R^3,@u∈H^1 (R^3)\\{0},)┤ where the potential V changes sign and may be unbounded from below and the nonlinearity g(x,u), as|x|→∞, has a kind of monotonicity, has a nontrivial weak solution. The existence of such solution is proved by means of a change of variables that makes the problem become a semilinear problem and hence allow us apply the mountain pass theorem combined with splitting lemma.