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The development of advanced air cleaning technologies aims to reduce building energy consumption by reduction of outdoor air flow rates while keeping the indoor air quality at an acceptable level by air cleaning. Photocatalytic oxidation is an emerging technology for gas-phase air cleaning that can be applied in a standalone unit or a subsystem of a building mechanical ventilation system. Quantitative information on photocatalytic reactor performance is required to evaluate the technical and economic viability of the advanced air cleaning by PCO technology as an energy conservation measure in a building air conditioning system. Photocatalytic reactors applying optical fibers as light guide or photocatalyst coating support have been reported as an approach to address the current light utilization problems and thus, improve the overall efficiency. The aim of the paper is to present a preliminary evaluation on continuous flow optical fiber photocatalytic reactors based on performance indicators commonly applied for air cleaners. Based on experimental data, monolith-type optical fiber reactor performance surpasses annular-type optical fiber reactors in single-pass removal efficiency, clean air delivery rate and operating cost efficiency.

Mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), combined with glycine decarboxylase, catalyzes an essential sequence of the photorespiratory C₂ cycle, namely, the conversion of two molecules of glycine into one molecule each of CO₂, NH₄⁺, and serine. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant shm (now designated shm1-1) is defective in mitochondrial SHMT activity and displays a lethal photorespiratory phenotype when grown at ambient CO₂, but is virtually unaffected at elevated CO₂. The Arabidopsis genome harbors seven putative SHM genes, two of which (SHM1 and SHM2) feature predicted mitochondrial targeting signals. We have mapped shm1-1 to the position of the SHM1 gene (At4g37930). The mutation is due to a G [rightwards arrow] A transition at the 5' splice site of intron 6 of SHM1, causing aberrant splicing and a premature termination of translation. A T-DNA insertion allele of SHM1, shm1-2, and the F₁ progeny of a genetic cross between shm1-1 and shm1-2 displayed the same conditional lethal phenotype as shm1-1. Expression of wild-type SHM1 under the control of either the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S or the SHM1 promoter in shm1-1 abrogated the photorespiratory phenotype of the shm mutant, whereas overexpression of SHM2 or expression of SHM1 under the control of the SHM2 promoter did not rescue the mutant phenotype. Promoter-[beta]-glucuronidase analyses revealed that SHM1 is predominantly expressed in leaves, whereas SHM2 is mainly transcribed in the shoot apical meristem and roots. Our findings establish SHM1 as the defective gene in the Arabidopsis shm1-1 mutant.

When we think of extremophiles, organisms adapted to extreme environments, prokaryotes come to mind first. However, the unicellular red micro-alga Galdieria sulphuraria (Cyanidiales) is a eukaryote that can represent up to 90% of the biomass in extreme habitats such as hot sulfur springs with pH values of 0-4 and temperatures of up to 56 degrees C. This red alga thrives autotrophically as well as heterotrophically on more than 50 different carbon sources, including a number of rare sugars and sugar alcohols. This biochemical versatility suggests a large repertoire of metabolic enzymes, rivaled by few organisms and a potentially rich source of thermo-stable enzymes for biotechnology. The temperatures under which this organism carries out photosynthesis are at the high end of the range for this process, making G. sulphuraria a valuable model for-physical studies on the photosynthetic apparatus. In addition, the gene sequences of this living fossil reveal much about the evolution of modern eukaryotes. Finally, the alga tolerates high concentrations of toxic metal ions such as cadmium, mercury, aluminum, and nickel, suggesting potential application in bioremediation. To begin to explore the unique biology of G. sulphuraria, 5270 expressed sequence tags from two different cDNA libraries have been sequenced and annotated. Particular emphasis has been placed on the reconstruction of metabolic pathways present in this organism. For example, we provide evidence for (i) a complete pathway for lipid A biosynthesis; (ii) export of triose-phosphates from rhodoplasts; (iii) and absence of eukaryotic hexokinases. Sequence data and additional information are available at http://genomics.msu.edu/galdieria.

[Dave Ramsey]'s other column compared giving an allowance to kids younger than 10 to putting them on welfare ... which he thought a very bad beginning of their financial education. Our family's experience was different, i.e., one of our sons, age 7, began stealing penny candies, et. al, from a little store by the school. No amount of discussion or discipline ended this behavior, but a wise old pediatrician did: \"If he has no money, give him an allowance,\" said the old doctor, \"and he'll stop.\" We did and he did. From that time on, all 11 of our children got a modest weekly allowance if their weekly chores were done. It was not pay for work; routine daily tasks were not rewarded in dollars, rather the reward was \"Good Kid Points\" which could be exchanged for a special activity with mom and dad or a couple of siblings.

Susan Reimer, a columnist for The Baltimore Sun, wrote this fall, in a column published in The Tribune (\"Pill invention leads to loss of faith\"), that higher rates of cancer among American women probably are traceable to the pill. She also notes that a devout Harvard University professor, co-inventor of the pill, after lengthy efforts to \"reconcile the requirements of his faith and the results of his science,\" gave up his faith. The situation is spelled out in \"Habits of the Heart,\" published in 1985 as the result of a research study sponsored by the University of California. The authors analyze French nobleman Alexis De Tocqueville's \"Democracy in America\" (published 1837), which they term \"the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the relationship between character and society in America that has ever been written.\" They follow Tocqueville's two-year search for the reasons democracy flourished in America after the American Revolution, but did not take root in France after its revolution. Through Tocqueville's eyes, they see a fledging American democracy much more transparent than ours at present. Here is how \"Habits of the Heart\" summarizes his conclusion:

Octogenarian Lt. Col. Larry J. Kluth (retired) writes in his letter to the editor on May 25, \"We need to get faith out of politics. Religious faith has killed and still is killing more people than most serious epidemics -- faith is belief in something for which there is no proof. Faith is a killer.\" Rabbi Jonathon Sacks points out in the book \"The Dignity of Difference\" that the Hebrew Bible in 36 places commands us to \"love the stranger.\" \"Time and time again,\" says Sacks, \"it returns to this theme: You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of the stranger, you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.\"

Some people believe civilization, as a result of the emergence of nuclear and renewable energies, is nearing the end of widespread hunger and want. It is said the future belongs to those who excel in science, engineering and mathematics, and certainly, The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution brought enormous progress to the human family through these disciplines. On the other hand, many believe that humans must soon find a way to come together in harmony or face unprecedented destruction of life and property worldwide. Noted Harvard professor Francis Fukuyama, in an article in Atlanta Monthly (May 1999), said this about progress: \"... in the political and economic sphere history appears to be progressive and directional ... in the social and moral sphere, however, history appears to be cyclical, with social order ebbing and flowing over the course of generations. There is nothing to guarantee upturns in the cycle ...\"

The 21st century appears to be drifting toward worldwide anarchy; those who are persecuted, oppressed, mistreated and disenfranchised, full of anger and despair, applaud and participate in terribly irrational acts. Suicide bombers have become the weapons of choice in a new kind of war which threatens to drag civilization into a new Dark Age. President Bush has organized a coalition of nations to combat those who foster such war. But who will address the anger, pride, greed and despair that lie behind it? For they are in the heart and cannot be shot down, blasted out of a bunker or captured by special forces. Born of revelation and centuries of human interaction, each of these commands is powerful instruction to the faithful to be welcoming and kind to strangers. Taken together, they offer hope for a solution to the world's growing disorder. For example, in its first half century, Israel has felt compelled for survival to oppress the strangers in its midst. It also has provided a platform for the rhetoric of revenge spewing forth from terrorists worldwide. Israel now needs to return to its spiritual roots, to build friendships with Palestinians and to eliminate the terrorist rhetoric. The Arabs, recognizing the Jews' centuries of homelessness and persecution, hopefully will respond in kind. These are enormous challenges for those with influence at the grass roots.

Ten years later and after further area closings, most all who worked on that rebound effort had experienced firsthand how difficult it is to bring new employers with thousands of jobs into a small community, or any community for that matter. After a particularly disappointing committee meeting aimed at finding strategies for stabilizing and rebuilding, a member said to me, \"The most stable thing we've got around here is Notre Dame-Saint Mary's and maybe Bethel and (fledgling) IUSB. How can we help them grow?\" Today, the biggest employer in the county is the University of Notre Dame. Its growth in the last two decades, as seen in the number of buildings on campus (88 in 1983, 136 in 2003), has been breathtaking. To a lesser extent, so too has been the progress of Indiana University South Bend, Saint Mary's, Holy Cross College, Bethel College and Ivy Tech State College. Bill H. Voll is a graduate of Notre Dame and a former president of Sibley Machine & Foundry, a company founded in 1874. He lives in South Bend.

In a letter to the Voice of the People (July 26), Jack McGann castigated President Bush for arrogant diplomacy, devastating the economy with tax cuts, catering to the wealthy and particularly for sending Americans to war based on claims that Iraq was preparing to use weapons of mass destruction. Admittedly, such decisions can arouse suspicions and occasionally go against principles. As an example, a TV panelist said the committee searched 1 million files in developing its report -- and found important memos the agencies didn't even know they had. While that may have seemed sloppy to some anchor person, it was not surprising to me, for at no time in my business years could I remember all that was in the 25 or 30 files in my desk. And I doubt that even the miracle of computer filing would adequately manage the flow of diverse bits of information into and out of 999,975 more files than I had. In response to a growing quality crisis, they undertook a new approach: a \"quality improvement\" program proposed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Edwards Deming. The program consisted of training workers to apply checks and statistical quality techniques to the processing of every component well before the assembly line -- in fact, beginning with the raw material and continuing each step along the way until the car left the assembly plant. Workers were also trained to strive for continuous improvement -- even empowered to shut down the line (formerly a \"sin\" of monstrous proportion) whenever a defect was identified.