ALBERT

Notes: Four fungal enumeration media, including potato dextrose agar (PDA) with antibiotics (APDA), acidified PDA (PDA-A), Cooke rose bengal agar (CRBA), and APDA containing the mold colony spreading inhibitor dichloran (APDA-D-5), were compared by seven laboratories for recovery of yeasts and molds from inoculated and naturally contaminated dairy products. Although some variability was observed in counts obtained for individual products between laboratories, no significant overall differences were observed among the four media. Mold colony diameters but not numbers were reduced with APDA-D-5 and CRBA, thus aiding in the counting of plates heavily contaminated with molds.

Notes: Increasing concern over ground-water pollution from hydrocarbons is being expressed by governments and industries in western Canada. The Manitoba government has recently held public hearings on the subject and is now working with the petroleum industry to develop new legislation concerning the handling of refined petroleum products. The petroleum industry has developed a series of “oil spill manuals” which describe procedures for controlling leaks and spills of petroleum products. Emphasis is now being placed on education and prevention, and hydro-geologists are involved in developing training manuals and films.

Notes: Abstract Pore water and solid phase distributions of C, N, P and Si in sediments of the Arctic Ocean (Svalbard area) have been investigated. Concentrations of organic carbon (Corg) in the solid phase of the sediment varied from 1.3 to 2.8% (mean 1.9%), with highest concentrations found at shallow stations south/southwest of Svalbard. Relatively low concentrations were obtained at the deeper stations north/northeast of Svalbard. Atomic carbon to nitrogen ratios in the surface sediment ranged from below 8 to above 10. For some stations, high C/N ratios together with high concentrations of Corg suggest that sedimentary organic matter is mainly of terrigenous origin and not from overall biological activity in the water column. Organic matter reactivity (defined as the total sediment oxygen consumption rate normalized to the organic carbon content of the surface sediment) correlated with water depth at all investigated stations. However, the stations could be divided into two separate groups with different reactivity characteristics, representing the two most dominant hydrographic regimes: the region west of Svalbard mainly influenced by the West Spitsbergen Current, and the area east of Svalbard where Arctic polar water set the environmental conditions. Decreasing sediment reactivity with water depth was confirmed by the partitioning between organic and inorganic carbon of the surface sediment. The ratio between organic and inorganic carbon at the sediment-water interface decreased exponentially with water depth: from indefinite values at shallow stations in the central Barents Sea, to approximately 1 at deep stations north of Svalbard. At stations east of Svalbard there was an inverse linear correlation between the organic matter reactivity (as defined above) and concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the pore water. The more reactive the sediment, the less DOC existed in the pore water and the more total carbonate (Ct or ΣCO2) was present. This observation suggests that DOC produced in reactive sediments is easily metabolizable to CO2. Sediment accumulation rates of opaline silica ranged from 0.35 to 5.7 µmol SiO2 m−2d−1 (mean 1.3 µmol SiO2 m−2d−1), i.e. almost 300 times lower than rates previously reported for the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Concentrations of ammonium and nitrate in the pore water at the sediment-water interface were related to organic matter input and water depth. In shallow regions with highly reactive organic matter, a pool of ammonium was present in the pore water, while nitrate conoentrations were low. In areas where less reactive organic matter was deposited at the sediment surface, the deeper zone of nitrification caused a build-up of nitrate in the pore water while ammonium was almost depleted. Nitrate penetrated from 1.8 to ≥ 5.8 cm into the investigated sediments. Significantly higher concentrations of “total” dissolved nitrogen (defined as the sum of NO3, NO2, NH4 and urea) in sediment pore water were found west compared to east of Svalbard. The differences in organic matter reactivity, as well as in pore water distribution patterns of “total” dissolved nitrogen between the two areas, probably reflect hydrographic factors (such as ice coverage and production/import of particulate organic material) related to the dominant water mass (Atlantic or Arctic Polar) in each of the two areas.

Notes: Abstract The generation and evolution of small amplitude long wavelength traveling disturbances in rotating-disk flow is the subject of this paper. The steady rotational speed of the disk is perturbed so as to introduce high-frequency oscillations in the flow field. Secondly, we introduce surface imperfections on the disk such as roughness elements. The interaction of these two disturbances will generate the instability waves whose evolution is governed by parabolic partial differential equations which are solved numerically. It is found that, for the class of disturbances considered here (wavelength on the order of Reynolds number), eigensolutions exist which decay or grow algebraically in the radial direction. However, these solutions grow only for frequencies larger than 4.58 times the steady rotational speed of the disk. The computed receptivity coefficient shows that there is an optimum size of roughness for which these modes are preferentially excited. The width of these roughness elements in the radial direction is about 0.1r 0 * where r 0 * is the radial location of the roughness. It is also found that the receptivity coefficient is larger for a negative spanwise wave number than for a positive one. The cumulative wave pattern produced from the roughness site shows that the typical wave angles for these disturbances are about −26° with about seven waves around the circumference. This is in contrast with the wave angles of 10°–14° found for the 30 or so inviscid cross-flow vortices.

Notes: Summary Continued incubation of Y-1 mouse adrenal tumor cells with adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) or with dibutyryl-3′,5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dbcAMP) resulted in an initial increase and a subsequent decrease in steroidogenesis. ACTH-or dbcAMP-stimulated steroidogenesis was inhibited by cytochalasin B (CB) to approximately the same extent during the entire period of incubation; CB inhibition of the ACTH response was reversible.

Notes: Zusammenfassung Die Farbreaktion nach Zimmermann von Steroiden mit 3-, 6- oder 20-Oxogruppen wurde spektrophotometrisch untersucht. Während 6- und 20-Oxogruppen sich gegenseitig nicht störten, war eine Beeinflussung zwischen den 3- und 6-Oxogruppen zu beobachten.

Notes: Abstract It is shown that fractal dimensions along line transects of a stationary, stochastic surface are all identical to one another, save that in one special direction the dimension may be less than in all others. We discuss the implications of this result for practical measurement of surface roughness and for interpretation of fractal dimension. It is argued that the result provides significant new motivation for employing fractal dimension as a canonical measure of surface roughness. Nevertheless, in view of the virtual direction-invariance of fractal dimension, measurement of scale assumes new significance. This matter is addressed.