Biotechnology regulation: rules for freed organisms planned

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to regulate the biotechnology industry, claiming authority under the provisions of the Federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TOSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In the agency's view, the products of recombinant DNA techniques can be compared to new chemicals or pesticides, both of which fall under EPA jurisdiction. Although a legal challenge to EPA's authority in this area is expected from industry, the agency hopes to issue its first set of draft regulations in early 1984.     

Expected change: U.S. recombinant DNA guidelines

Continuing the trend towards relaxing controls on recombinant DNA research, the National Institutes of Health published revised guidelines in the Federal Register of 21 April 1982. Although the existing system of mandatory controls and institutional biosafety committees is retained, no class of experiments will be totally prohibited, and the guidelines dealing with containment levels have been greatly simplified.     

0957 + 561 A, B: twin quasistellar objects or gravitational lens?

0957 + 561 A, B are two QSOs of mag 17 with 5.7 arc s separation at redshift 1.405. Their spectra leave little doubt that they are associated. Difficulties arise in describing them as two distinct objects and the possibility that they are two images of the same object formed by a gravitational lens is discussed.     

An independent microbial flora of the epithelium and its role in the ecomicrobiology of the rumen

IT has been suggested that the bacterial flora of the rumen should be considered as three distinct, interacting populations-the bacteria of rumen fluid (the population which has been studied most extensively), the bacteria associated with food particles, and the bacteria adhering to the epithelial wall of the organ(1). Until now, studies of the 'epithelial' population have been restricted to examination of postmortem samples of wall tissue and its attached bacterial flora(2-5). A recently developed technique(6) for feeding young sheep for long periods solely by infusion of protein and other essential nutrients into the abomasum, and of volatile fatty acids and bicarbonate buffer into the rumen, has provided us with an opportunity to study in isolation the role of the bacterial population of the wall in the ecomicrobiology of the rumen in the living animal. Our studies show that this population can exist independently of the other two populations, that it is primarily responsible for urea digestion in the rumen and that it initiates breakdown of dead epithelial tissue. Furthermore, our results point to an inverse relationship between ammonia concentration and ureolytic activity in rumen fluid, which may account for the control which ammonia exerts over flux of urea across the rumen wall(7-9).     

环路热管启动特性的实验研究

通过大量的实验研究了蒸发器内气液分布、反重力工作高度、启动热载荷的大小、热沉温度等因素对启动的影响, 描述并分析了4种不同蒸发器内气液分布情况下的启动现象, 给出了系统温度变化曲线图, 分析了启动的难易程度. 根据实验数据得出结论: (ⅰ) 对于液体干道内充满液体的启动情况, 储液器温度上升的主要原因并不是漏热, 而是回路压力升高所致. (ⅱ) 热载荷大有利于启动. (ⅲ) 未完全绝热时小热载荷下热沉温度不影响启动. (ⅳ) 环路热管在反重力情况下启动时, 当蒸汽槽道存在蒸汽时, 所需启动时间、启动温升增大; 而蒸汽槽道充满液体时, 所需时间、过热度和启动温升都减少. 实验还观察到了反重力启动时呈现两种启动方式的特别现象.     

如何实现应变传感器的高精度检测

应变传感器的信号非常微弱,其幅度甚至小于干扰信号,因而必须通过精密检测电路抑制干扰。应变传感器信号具有其物理极限,利用载频技术实现了信号最大化。通过作为感应信号源的高精度感应分频器和自动校准的周期数可得到很高的增益稳定性。采用高精度检测单元和通用宽频带放大器系统可以高分辨率、高稳定性、有效地抑制和衰减干扰信号与不期望的动态信号,实现高精度检测。