Abstract Background and aims The characterisation of plant-available phosphorus (P) pools the assessment microbial community in rhizosheath cover crops can improve our understanding plant–microbe interactions P availability. Methods Mustard ( Sinapis alba ), phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia ) buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum were grown as before soybean Glycine max an on-farm experiment on a soil ...

Nuclear decommissioning involves the characterisation of hazardous and contaminated environments. Robot characterisation systems have been developed to reduce the risk to human operatives, however their efficiency is limited. Coming decades will see a substantial increase in decommissioning globally as a large number of nuclear facilities are due to reach the end of their useful life. It is des...

Characterisation of complex mixtures is a common tool especially in oil processing industry. Characterisation procedures result in experimentally gained characterisation curves, but for the simulation of industrial processes the definition of a substitute mixture is required. Traditionally, a system of pseudocomponents is derived from the TBP (True Boiling Point) characterisation curve, but the...

A microbial bioremediation product (MBP) used for large-scale oil degradation was investigated for microbial constituents and possible pathogenicity. Aerobic growth on various media yielded >108 colonies mL-1. Full-length 16S rDNA sequencing and fatty acid profiling from morphologically distinct colonies revealed ≥13 distinct genera. Full-length 16S rDNA library sequencing, by either Sanger or ...

In modelling risk management strategies (i.e., within-lot batch testing, statistical process control), two basic assumptions have been normally made: that the true concentration of microorganisms are log-normally distributed within a batch, and that the variance of the samples is the same for a little or highly contaminated lot. These assumptions were evaluated by characterising the between-bat...

Surface characterisation system needs to be updated constantly with the emergence of new algorithms and methods in the field of surface metrology. As function modules in current surface characterisation system are tightly coupled together, it is not conducive to the reuse of function modules and innovation of overall system. A lot of redundant and duplicate works have been done in present chara...

Our understanding of the mammalian inwardly-rectifying (Kir) family of potassium channels has recently been advanced by X-ray crystal structures of two homologous prokaryotic orthologs (KirBac1.1 and KirBac3.1). However, the functional properties of these KirBac channels are still poorly understood. To address this problem we have cloned and characterised genes encoding KirBac orthologs from a ...