Liquid marbles can be used as micro-bioreactors, thanks to their unique properties. On the one hand, the highly porous, non-adhesive, and hydrophobic shell of liquid marbles efficiently inhibits any direct contact between the liquid core of the marble and the surface that supports it, while allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass through. On the other hand, the finite volume of liquid in liq...

The influence of mineral substrate composition and structure on bacterial calcium carbonate productivity and polymorph selection was studied. Bacterial calcium carbonate precipitation occurred on calcitic (Iceland spar single crystals, marble, and porous limestone) and silicate (glass coverslips, porous sintered glass, and quartz sandstone) substrates following culturing in liquid medium (M-3P)...

In this study, we present for the first time the observations of a freezing liquid marble. In the experiment, liquid marbles are gently placed on the cold side of a thermo-electric cooler (TEC), and the morphological changes are recorded and characterized thereafter. These liquid marbles are noticed to undergo a shape transition from a spherical to a flying-saucer-shaped morphology. The freezin...

4 Actor-Critic Marble Control 4 4.1 R-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.2 The critic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.3 Unstable actors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.4 Trading off stability against...

The white marble domes of the Taj Mahal are iconic images of India that attract millions of visitors every year. Over the past several decades the outer marble surfaces of the Taj Mahal have begun to discolor with time and must be painstakingly cleaned every several years. Although it has been generally believed that the discoloration is in some way linked with poor air quality in the Agra regi...

Beginning computer science students often have great difficulty with the analysis and design of solutions to programming related problems. Using the Shuttle Puzzle problem as a vehicle the process of analyzing a problem and synthesizing observations into an algorithm is presented in a detailed, step-by-step manner. Introduction When I was child and went to visit my grandparents, I would often e...

In their recent paper, Sato &Harada (2008) pointed out that for isolated salmonid populations with low effective population size Ne it would be necessary to retain gene flow artificially. Using as a case study small and isolated populations of the freshwater salmonid Kirikuchi charr, Sato & Harada (2008) proposed artificial translocation of individuals within or among populations as a measure t...