ALBERT

Notes: Employing various measures for the quality of subjective probabilities of technical success in R & D a detailed analysis of 4 data sets taken from different R & D organizations shows that the probability assessments roughly specify the populations to which R & D projects belong, but are extremely unreliable indicators of the eventual outcome of individual activities. Unintentional errors and conscious biases are identified as accounting for the unsatisfactory quality of subjective probabilities in R & D. Finally, some measures are suggested which might improve the quality of the probability assessments.

Notes: This paper discusses the relationship between uncertainty in a decision making environment and the desired characteristics of information used for decision making. The work is aimed at providing a better understanding of the variables that affect the design of Management Information Systems. An experiment was conducted using an inventory simulator. The subjects could decide on inventory control variables and the amount and type of information to be used in monitoring system performance. The demand for inventory was an external random variable under the control of the experimenter. The experiment investigated how different demand variances affected the decision information used, the decisions made, and the resulting decision effectiveness (cost.)It was found that decision review frequency was not affected by demand variability. However, age and degree of summary of information used were greatly affected. Subjects exposed to high variability used data with a shorter history and a higher level of detail than those exposed to low variability. It was also found that the number of reports used increased from the low to middle variance group, then decreased at very high variance. Subjects tended to “give-up” on their information system at high variance, and they relied on additional safety stock to prevent frequent stockouts. Finally, the correlation between the information used and decision effectiveness as measured by cost was low. This result was contrary to the subjects' beliefs that more and better information produced “better” decisions. It indicates that although variability may strongly affect preferences for different types of information, the information used may not in turn affect decision performance.

Notes: In the past most inventory formulations have utilized cost minimization or profit maximization as an optimizing criterion. When viewed from the standpoint of the owner or investor, maximizing the return on investment (ROI) is an appropriate criterion for many types of inventories. This paper proposes ROI as a criterion for inventory models and derives optimal reorder rules for some common assumptions. An economic order quantity that differs greatly from the traditional formulas is discussed. The paper also enumerates the conditions under which ROI is an appropriate criterion and contrasts it to the traditional cost minimization and profit maximization criteria.

Notes: This classification of aquifers is based upon the properties of rocks which affect ground water. In any region the rocks may be consolidated or unconsolidated. They may be uniform in lithology, or they may consist of alternating layers of different lithologies. They may have been tilted, fractured, or altered in various ways since their formation.Consequently the occurrence of ground water depends not only on the fundamental nature of the rocks but also on their geologic history. The ground water may be found under confined (artesian) or unconfined (water table) conditions. The permeability of an aquifer may be uniform, or it may vary in some regular way, or it may be very irregular because most of the water is in secondary openings.As most geologic situations do not fit well into precise categories, some aquifers may fall into more than one subdivision of this classification.

Notes: Small charges of explosives were used to section cup-shaped reefs that occur on the margins of the Bermuda Platform. Study of these artificial outcrops, up to 10 m high, and the samples collected from them show how the reef-building community is rapidly converted to well-lithified reef rock in the marine development.The reefs, known locally as boilers and breakers, occur along the wave-swept south shore of the Bermuda Islands and around the northeast and northwest margins of the Platform. They are cup-shaped, up to 30 m in long dimensions, and rise up to the sea surface as much as 12 m above the surrounding sea floor. The reefs are built by an intergrowth of encrusting organisms, principally crustose coralline algae, an encrusting hydrozoan, Millepora sp., and an attached gastropod, Dendropoma irregulare.The growth framework of these algal cup reefs has extensive voids: large and intermediate-sized growth framework and shelter pores; borings of bivalves and sponges; and both intra- and inter-particle pores. A variety of vagile and sessile organisms (coelobites) inhabit these pores: an encrusting Foraminifera, Homotrema rubrum, is the most abundant attached coelobite; the tests of a variety of benthic Foraminifera and ostracods are common: branched coralline algae, barnacles, bivalves, ahermatypic corals, bryozoans, and burrowing crustaceans occur in varying abundance.Beginning millimetres below the living surface, internal sediments accumulate in the extensive voids. Coarse-grained skeletal sand derived from the surface of the reefs is characteristic of the larger voids; lime mud with the tests of planktonic Foraminifera and planktonic algae occurs generally in the smaller voids. Most specimens from the interior of the reefs show multiple generations of internal sediment that vary in grain size, composition, and colour. The sand-sized sediments are pumped into the voids by the frequent and intense wave action; the lime mud settles out in the smaller, less agitated pores.Cementation of internal sediments and surrounding growth frame begins centimetres below the living surface; it is so pervasive that marble-hard reef rock is developed within 1/2 m or less. The cement is principally high-magnesium calcite of micrite size, and subordinately acicular aragonite, but there are locally wide variations in crystal size and morphology. The occurrence of the cement within the reefs well below sea level, the isotope ratios of the cement crystals, the mineralogy, and the age inferred from radiocarbon age determinations of the growth frame all indicate that the cement is submarine and deposited from water of oceanic composition.The algal cup reefs of Bermuda demonstrate the reef-building ability of a community of encrusting organisms that form only crusts in the intertidal zone of the Mediterranean and Northern Brazil. The cup reefs of the northern margins of the Bermuda Platform are true reefs, not merely veneers covering eroded blocks of Pleistocene limestone. In their composition, location, and early diagenesis, the cup reefs closely resemble the algal or lithothamnion ridge of Pacific atolls. Synsedimentary cementation of internal sediments and growth frame makes a major contribution to the rigidity of these ocean-facing reefs and atoll rims.The assemblage of features that characterize the submarine fossilization of the cup reefs is widespread elsewhere in the modern seas: the floors of the Persian Gulf and parts of the Mediterranean; the margins of Pacific atolls; and the reefs off the north coast of Jamaica. This fossilization is characterized by reiterated generations of coelobites, internal sediments, and synsedimentary cements that can in time replace a major part of the original growth framework. Major variations in the sequence of these generations from pore to pore is the signature of this kind of fossilization. The same features of fossilization are described from reefs in the Devonian, Permian, and Triassic.

Notes: Zusammenfassung. Es wurde die DNS- und RNS-Biosynthese von Neurospora crassa Wildstamm 3a6A unter Einfluss unterschiedlicher Konzentrationen von 2,4-D, Amitrol, Atrazin, Chlorpropham und Chlorflurenol untersucht. Die Variation der Herbizide erfolgte von 10−3 bis 10−6 M. Der in beliifteten Kulturen gezüchtete Pilz ist gegenuber Chlorpropham am empfindlichsten. Bei 10−3 M ist die Toxizitätsgrenze überschritten und das Wachstum vollständig gehemmt. 2,4-D hat in einer Konzentration von 10−3 M den grössten Einfluss auf die Nucleinsäure-Biosynthese. Die DNS-Werte erhöhen sich gegenüber der Kontrolle aiif 140%. Unter Einfluss von Atrazin (10−3 M) scheint besonders die Protein-Synthese stimuliert zu werden. Die Zunahme beträgt hier fast 140%. Allgemein haben die untersuchten 5 Herbizide einen relativ geringen Einfluss auf die Nucleinsäure-Biosynthese. Ein grösserer Effect ist nur bei der höchsten Herbizid-Konzentration von 10−3 M ZU erkennen. Der Pilz ist gegenüber diesen Herbiziden wenig empfindlich. Effets des herbicides 2,4-D, aminotriazole, atrazine, chlorprophame et chlorflurénol sur la biosynthése de l'acide nucléique chez un ascomycéte; Neurospora crassaRésumé. La biosynthése de l'ADN et de l'ARN fut déterminée chez la race sauvage 3a6A de Neurospara crassa, cultivé sur des milieux contenant du 2, 4-D, de l'aminotriazole, de l'atrazine, du chlorprophame et du chlorflurenol à des concentrations de 10−3 a 10−6 M. En culture aéréc, JV. crassa fut plus sensible au chlorprophame et à 10−3 M. sa croissance fut complétement inhibée. L'effet le ptus marqué sur la biosynthésc de I'acide nucléique fut observé avec lc 2,4-D à 10−3 M. concentration qui porta la teneur en ADN à 140% de celle du téemoin. Avec l'atrazine à 10−3 M. la synthése des proteines en particulier sembla stimulée jusqu’à atteindre environ 140% du témoin. En général, les cinq herbicides etudids n'eurent qu'un effet relativement faibie sur la biosynthése de l'acide nucléique; seule la concentration la plus forte, 10−3 M. cut un effet appreciable. N. crassa ne se montra pas tres sensible à ces herbicides. Effects of the herbicides 2,4-D, aminotriazole, atrazine, chlorpropham and chlorflurenol on nucleic-acid biosynthesis in the ascomycete Neurospora crassaSummary. Biosynthesis of DNA and RNA was determined in Neurospora crassa wild race 3a6A grown in cultures containing 2,4-D, aminotriazole, atrazine, chlorpropham and chlorflurenol in concentrations of 10−3-10−6 M. In aerated culture, N. crassa was most sensitive to chlorpropham and at 10−3 M growth was completely inhibited. The greatest effect on nucleic-acid biosynthesis was given by 2,4-D at 10−3 M which increased the DNA value to 140% of the control. With atrazine at 10−3 M. protein synthesis in particular appeared to be stimulated, to almost 140% of the control. In general, the five herbicides studied had a relatively slight effect on nucleic-acid biosynthesis; only with the highest concentration of 10−3 M was the effect appreciable. N. crassa was not very susceptible to these herbicides.