Abstract: The invention relates to chemical-based methods and products for mitigating the impact of an oil spill, that act via mechanisms which include reducing adhesiveness, herding, thickening and gelling. N-fatty acid amino acid (FA-AA) conjugates display oil-herding behavior when formulated as a salt, or the free acid in water-miscible organic solvents. Various salts of FA-AA conjugates are water soluble and can herd oils and increase the thickness of the oil layer. Replacement of the acid group of fatty acid ?-amino acid conjugates with other groups that act as hydrogen bond donors and acceptors results in potent phase selective organo gellants. The oil thickeners or gellants include can be prepared from biobased feedstocks, have low toxicity, high capacity for oil and reduction of the need to use an organic solvent to apply the thickener or gellant to an oil and water mixture in order to gel the oil phase.

Abstract: A process of increasing plant growth and yield comprises introducing into the plant a DNA sequence encoding a product which modifies, in the plant, the level of cellulose precursors.

Abstract: A process of increasing plant growth and yield comprises introducing into the plant a DNA sequence encoding a product which modifies, in the plant, the level of cellulose precursors.

Abstract: A control system for a hybrid vehicle ensures the best possible utilization of onboard energy resources for different operating conditions of the vehicle. The control system utilizes a strategy modified in real time depending on the input from sensors measuring vehicle speed, the current and voltage levels at different locations in the system. The vehicle has an auxiliary power unit, at least one energy storage device and at least one electric drive motor for traction. The vehicle has a high load driving condition, a low load driving condition and a regenerative braking condition. A voltage control sets system voltage to a charging voltage in the low load condition and regenerative braking condition, and sets system voltage to an output voltage from the energy storage device for the high load condition.

Abstract: A computer-controlled fluid manipulation and analysis apparatus for chemical, biochemical and clinical analysis, sample preparation, and microscale chemical and biochemical synthesis, having one or more stream selection hubs with multiple ports through which microliter volumes of multiple fluid streams may be accessed, stacked, mixed and otherwise transferred by two or more cooperant pumping systems in a highly repeatable and fully software programmable manner. The inherent or resulting properties of said fluids may be automatically recorded via one or more appropriate electronic detectors and data recording systems. Systems comprised of two or more hubs exhibit higher properties of a flow network, and allow more than one fluid segment to be processed simultaneously. Bi-directional flow may occur in each inter-hub connection, and a plurality of possible transport routes can exist between hubs. This leads to enhanced flexibility in sequential processing of each fluid segment.