Researchers in physical, chemical, and biological sciences are studying and developing methods that could reduce the false alarm rate and maintain or increase the probability of detection for mine clearance. New detection concepts involve searching for characteristics other than mine metal content. A variety of techniques that exploit properties of the electromagnetic spectrum are being explore...

Phytoremediation is a sustainable process in which green plants are used for the removal or elimination of contaminants in soils. Both organic and inorganic contaminants can be removed or degraded by growing plants by several mechanisms, namely phytoaccumulation, phytostabilization, phytodegradation, rhizofiltration and rhizodegradation. Phytoremediation has several advantages: it can be applie...

We review some of the models of chemical evolution of ellipticals and bulges of spirals. In particular, we focuse on the star formationn histories of ellipticals and their influence on chemical properties such as the [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H], galactic mass and visual magnitudes. By comparing models with observational properties, we can constrain the timescales for the formation of these galaxies. T...

Plants are the essential factors shaping soil microbial community (SMC) structure. When most studies focus on the difference in the SMC structure associated different plant species, the variation in the SMC structure associated with phylogenetically close species is less investigated. Legume (Fabaceae) and grass (Poaceae) are functionally important plant groups; however, their influences on the...

This report presents some strategies to predict metal mobility at mining sites. These strategies are based on chemical, physical, and geochemical information about metals and their interactions with the environment. An overview of conceptual models, metal sources, and relative mobility of metals under different geochemical conditions is presented, followed by a discussion of some important phys...

The metabolism is the motor behind the biological complexity of an organism. One problem of characterizing its large-scale structure is that it is hard to know what to compare it to. All chemical reaction systems are shaped by the same physics that gives molecules their stability and affinity to react. These fundamental factors cannot be captured by standard null-models based on randomization. ...

R. R. PORTER I953 This method could therefore be used as a simple and rapid method of insulin assay, measurement of the area under the peak giving the insulin content ofthe sample used. In addition to speed and simplicity this method has an advantage over biological assay in that it appears to be as satisfactory for crude as for pure insulin. It would be equally possible to use this technique f...

Most of evolutionary theory has abstracted away from how information is coded in the genome and how this information is transformed into traits on which selection takes place. While in the earliest stages of biological evolution, in the RNA world, the mapping from the genotype into function was largely predefined by the physical-chemical properties of the evolving entities (RNA replicators, e.g...

Structurally similar short peptides often serve as signals in diverse signaling systems. Similar peptides affect diverse physiological pathways in different species or even within the same organism. Assuming that signals provide information, and that this information is tested by the structure of the signal, it is curious that highly similar signaling peptides appear to provide information rele...

We review some of the models of chemical evolution of ellipticals and bulges of spirals. In particular, we focuse on the star formationn histories of ellipticals and their influence on chemical properties such as the [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H], galactic mass and visual magnitudes. By comparing models with observational properties, we can constrain the timescales for the formation of these galaxies. T...