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The label 'Stop' potentially generates conflict-signifying important corrective action, or a warning not to touch. To examine potential conflict between an incongruent label (i.e. STOP) and an imperative command (i.e. MOVE!), 18 participants used a computer mouse to move a crosshair cursor to targets with superimposed labels. Trials systematically varied Imperative (blank or MOVE!), Label (+GO + or STOP) and movement Distance. Kinematic analyses examined response latency, movement duration and accuracy. Incongruent labels had little impact upon response latencies, but they affected cursor deceleration and the variability of cursor placement. Although reading is assumed to be obligatory, the impact of written labels is not immediate, instead affecting cursor deceleration. Indeed, responses to controls labelled STOP were less accurate than those labelled + GO+. As labelled interfaces can create error versus command confusions, enhancing the discriminability of controls to afford more obvious visible cues as to method of use is recommended.

Architectural lighting has potent biological effects but applied lighting practices that capitalize on this potential have been limited. In this review, we endeavor to consolidate and synthesize ke...

We compared factors mediating motherhood experiences among Black nursing mothers living with HIV in two North American cities to one African city. Motherhood was measured with the Being a Mother Scale, and we compared their predictors between the two continents using difference in difference estimation within hierarchical linear modeling. Cultural beliefs congruent with infant feeding guidelines and social support had significant positive but differing effects on motherhood in the two continents. Perceived stress had significant negative impact on motherhood in the two continents. Due considerations to sociocultural contexts in policy development, HIV interventions and education of health care providers were recommended.

Objective: Irregular sleep-wake patterns are associated with poor health outcomes. However, factors that lead individuals to adopt more regular sleep-wake patterns are not well understood. This stu...

Nigrospora is a monophyletic genus belonging to Apiosporaceae. Species in this genus are phytopathogenic, endophytic, and saprobic on different hosts. In this study, leaf specimens with disease symptoms were collected from host plants from the Shandong Peninsula, China. The fungal taxa associated with these leaf spots were studied using morphology and phylogeny based on ITS, TEF1, and TUB2 gene regions. In this article, we report on the genus Nigrospora with N. gorlenkoana, N. oryzae, N. osmanthi, N. rubi, and N. sphaerica identified with 13 novel host associations including crops with economic importance such as bamboo and Chinese rose.

The welfare of aquatic animals is receiving increasing attention around the world, and this should be reflected in the veterinary curricular. Veterinary students in Australia and New Zealand ranked the importance of five pre-selected topics on aquatic animal welfare and ethical issues for newly qualified veterinarians in an online survey. They ranked aquatic animals’ health and welfare issues, husbandry techniques of farmed fish, and the use of antibiotics as being of high importance for their first day in practice, with pain and distress associated with angling and trawling practices (fishing) and euthanasia ranking moderate to high. Females assigned more importance to fishing, health and welfare issues, and husbandry techniques of farmed fish than did males. Students in the early stages of study assigned more importance to fishing than did senior students. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate what importance veterinary students place on their competence regarding aquatic animal welfare and ethics. Gaining an understanding of how veterinary students prioritize these issues, and if this differs based on gender and stage of study, will help veterinary educators to better prepare graduates to address concerns surrounding the welfare of aquatic animals. This could be achieved by careful consideration of course content and where in the curriculum this material is taught, as well as reiterating key messages in the senior years and addressing changing student attitudes as they progress through the course.

Much research has been conducted to mitigate the impact of conventional production systems on broilers welfare, but nearly all of these studies are based on the development of strategies to improve...

Intentions form the basis of behavioral action to improve animal welfare; however an intention-behavior gap has been previously identified. Livestock stakeholders in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand (n = 1041) involved in slaughter and transport completed a survey in which they were asked their level of intention to improve animal welfare, and their level of confidence in their ability to do this. Chinese respondents had the most confidence in their ability to improve animal welfare, and veterinarians showed more confidence than livestock team leaders. Those with high or low intentions, and either high or low confidences were compared for key influencing factors to identify the circumstances that may be most conducive to behavior change. Respondents with high intentions and low confidence in their ability to improve animal welfare identified extrinsic factors associated with their immediate workplace and different company priorities, and the intrinsic factor of lack of personal knowledge. It is concluded that targeting these areas to improve confidence in stakeholders in livestock transport and slaughter could bring the most improvements in animal welfare initiatives.

Persistent Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence rates remain a challenge, particularly because health care providers (HCP) are not fully prepared to engage in HIV care. This hesitancy to engage creates access to care barriers for people living with HIV (PLWH). We conducted a systematic review to identify educational interventions focused on developing HIV competencies in higher education across health science disciplines. We searched databases for primary studies focused on interventions. Using PRISMA guidelines, we identified 20 articles from 19 distinct studies. While there was an overwhelming body of literature that assessed knowledge, skills, and attitudes in health sciences students on HIV and AIDS, the low number of intervention studies was notable. With the exception of two studies, PLWH were not included in the interventions. This finding stands in sharp contrast to the well-established Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and/or AIDS (GIPA) and Meaningful Engagement of People Living with HIV and/or AIDS (MEPA) principles. The primary means of the educational intervention was focused on delivering lectures to address HIV and AIDS knowledge for HCP. There was a significant lack of focus on historical, cultural, policy and legal contexts of HIV and AIDS care; theoretical justifications for the interventions were absent. No study focused on the impact of an intervention on the care provided to PLWH by HCP after graduation. There is an urgent need to develop long-term sustainable and scalable interventions that address the consistently identified lack of knowledge and skills, and stigmatizing attitudes of HCP and students.

Most cats surrendered to nonhuman animal shelters are identified as unowned, and the surrender reason for these cats is usually simply recorded as "stray." A cross-sectional study was conducted with people surrendering cats to 4 Australian animal shelters. Surrenderers of unowned cats commonly gave surrender reasons relating to concern for the cat and his/her welfare. Seventeen percent of noncaregivers had considered adopting the cat. Barriers to assuming ownership most commonly related to responsible ownership concerns. Unwanted kittens commonly contributed to the decision to surrender for both caregivers and noncaregivers. Nonowners gave more surrender reasons than owners, although many owners also gave multiple surrender reasons. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of the decision-making process leading to surrender and demonstrate that recording only one reason for surrender does not capture the complexity of the surrender decision. Collecting information about multiple reasons for surrender, particularly reasons for surrender of unowned cats and barriers to assuming ownership, could help to develop strategies to reduce the number of cats surrendered.

Unwanted cats surrendered to nonhuman animal shelters are generally categorized as either "owned" or "stray." This classification is misleading because "stray" cats may include many "semiowned" cats, for which people provide care but who are not perceived as being owned. This differentiation is important because effective strategies designed to reduce cat admissions to, and euthanasia rates in, shelters rely on accurate information about cat populations contributing to shelter intake; cat semiowners will likely respond to different strategies than people with no relationship with the cats they surrender. People surrendering cats to four Australian animal shelters were surveyed to identify factors associated with perception of ownership. Many self-classified nonowners had fed the cats they surrendered, often for a considerable period of time. The factor most strongly associated with ownership perception was an increasing association time with the cat. These findings confirm that enduring relationships between surrenderers and cats, consistent with cat semiownership, are common for cats surrendered to Australian animal shelters. This finding should be taken into account when planning education messages and cat population management strategies aimed at reducing cat admissions.

We surveyed the attitudes of people toward captive elephants in australia, where importation into zoos has been controversial recently, compared with India, where elephants are indigenous. Both australian (aR, n = 101) and Indian (IR, n = 101) respondents rated conservation as the most important reason for the role of zoos and sanctuaries. australian respondents were more concerned about the husbandry conditions for keeping wild animals in zoos and sanctuaries than Indian respondents (p = 0.02). this concern for captive animals increased with the higher educational level of the respondents. Female australian respondents were more concerned about the practice of keeping elephants in captivity than australian men. more australian respondents were prepared to pay extra to visit a zoo with elephants (aR 42.6%, IR 7.9%, p < 0.001). Indian respondents believed more than their australian counterparts that it was important for any zoo to display elephants, and wanted to interact with elephants by feeding, touching, and riding on them. While australian respondents’ perceptions of captive elephants acknowledged their scientific value, Indian respondents viewed elephants primarily of religious, cultural, and historical significance. We conclude that australians and Indians have different requirements for keeping elephants in zoos, which should inform zoo directors about the best way to present them to the public.

Gender plays a significant role in influencing people's attitudes toward animals, however, little is known about how it influences their attribution of emotions to animals. To investigate the role that gender plays in public attitudes toward animals' experience of emotions and beliefs about whether animals can grieve, a face-to-face survey of 1,000 members of the general public was carried out in Brisbane, Australia. Potential respondents were asked to complete a 10-min "social attitudinal" survey. Males were significantly less likely than females to believe that animals experience complex emotions, including depression (p < 0.05), anxiety (p < 0.05), love (p < 0.01), and grief (p < 0.05), but did not differ in regard to basic emotions including distress, fear, happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Males were also less likely to believe that animals show some behavioral (eating p < 0.05; vocalizing p < 0.01) changes when they experience grief (p < 0.05) and that animals grieve as a result of separation from a conspecific (p < 0.005). These results demonstrate a greater skepticism in males, compared with females, regarding the attribution of emotions to animals.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease, affecting more than 2.5 million people worldwide with more 400,000 cases in the United States alone. There has been considerable improvement in the treatment of MS, with the introduction of disease-modifying drugs; however, new oral therapies may provide additional benefit by providing an alternative treatment modality and the potential for improved adherence by avoiding the injection-associated side effects and anxiety encountered with some first-line agents. BG-12 (dimethyl fumarate) is an oral agent approved in the United States for the treatment of relapsing forms of MS.We review published literature about what is known about the mechanism of action of BG-12, and key efficacy and safety findings from three clinical studies in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS).Data from preclinical studies have demonstrated that BG-12 may promote anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective activities that are mediated, at least in part, by the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) antioxidant response pathway. Studies in animals have shown a protective effect of BG-12 on neuronal, axonal and myelin integrity. Results from a phase 2 study and two randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase 3 studies, CONFIRM and DEFINE, have shown that BG-12 provides clinical and radiologic efficacy in patients with RRMS. At 2 years, BG-12 240 mg twice and three times daily reduced annualized relapse rate (CONFIRM primary endpoint) by 44% and 51% and the risk of relapse (DEFINE primary endpoint) by 49% and 50%, respectively, compared with placebo (all p 0.001). BG-12 was generally well tolerated and had an acceptable safety profile, with a similar incidence of adverse events across treatment groups.BG-12 may have cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory properties that contribute to its efficacy among patients with RRMS. Findings from phase 2 and 3 studies further support BG-12 as an effective initial therapy. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT00168701; NCT00420212: NCT00451451.

The human-horse bond is powerful and unique and strengthened with years of ownership. Yet, in aged horses, the decision for euthanasia will be faced at some time by most horse owners. We hypothesized that euthanasia is a difficult and distressing decision for most horse owners, and that the decision will be influenced by the owners' personality, difficulty of euthanasia decision, and experiences of euthanasia, as well as external factors. Horse owners were recruited by the use of a postal questionnaire distributed to an equestrian group. A subgroup of surveyed owners was selected based on postcodes for selected regions. One hundred and eleven owners of 350 aged horses in South East Queensland, Australia, completed a personality assessment and were asked to indicate the perceived difficulty in making the decision to euthanize an aged companion horse. Their experience of euthanasia and the perceived distress over the loss of their aged horse, as well as the acceptability of the procedure, were determined. Personality scores were compared with published reference ranges against perceived difficulty to euthanize and experience of euthanasia. The importance of factors that influenced the decision to euthanize an aged horse was also determined. Most owners considered euthanasia of a horse to be a difficult decision, which they based on considerations of the horse's current health, anticipated future quality of life, and veterinary advice. Owners reported the loss of their horse to be a distressing experience rather than providing a sense of relief, although the procedure itself was more acceptable than distressing. Female owners who found it more difficult to make the decision were more likely to have neurotic personalities and they based their decision more on their relationship with the horse and the horse's quality of life. Veterinarians play a central role in the diagnosis of health factors that influence the decision to euthanize but also need to appreciate the distress perceived by owners, in particular as a result of the loss of their horse rather than the act of euthanasia itself. The personality of the owner may influence the extent to which they find this distressing, especially in female horse owners who find the decision to euthanize more difficult.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of stressful life events (SLE) on medication adherence (3 days, 30 days) as mediated by sense of coherence (SOC), self-compassion (SCS), and engagement with the healthcare provider (eHCP) and whether this differed by international site. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 2082 HIV positive adults between September 2009 and January 2011 from sites in Canada, China, Namibia, Puerto Rico, Thailand, and US. Statistical tests to explore the effects of stressful life events on antiretroviral medication adherence included descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance, analysis of variance with Bonferroni post-hoc analysis, and path analysis. An examination by international site of the relationships between SLE, SCS, SOC, and eHCP with adherence (3 days and 30 days) indicated these combined variables were related to adherence whether 3 days or 30 days to different degrees at the various sites. SLE, SCS, SOC, and eHCP were significant predictors of adherence past 3 days for the United States (p = < 0.001), Canada (p = 0.006), and Namibia (p = 0.019). The combined independent variables were significant predictors of adherence past 30 days only in the United States and Canada. Engagement with the provider was a significant correlate for antiretroviral adherence in most, but not all, of these countries. Thus, the importance of eHCP cannot be overstated. Nonetheless, our findings need to be accompanied by the caveat that research on variables of interest, while enriched by a sample obtained from international sites, may not have the same relationships in each country.

Data from one urban school district is analyzed to examine equity-based arguments about school choice as they pertain to intradistrict transfer policies. We specifically examine which factors influence the propensity for parents to participate in choice, and how choice schools differ from the schools that students are zoned to attend. We find that advantaged and disadvantaged parents make similar choices in that they are both likely to choose more affluent schools with better academic records than the schools they are zoned to attend. However, these choices operate in different spheres, as advantaged parents choose the most affluent schools with the best academic records, and disadvantaged parents choose away from the least affluent schools with the worst academic records to schools that are slightly better.

Welfare issues and approaches are compared in the following review, for all major meat chicken producing countries. In certain countries, such as the United States and Australia, the industry comprises a small number of integrated, self-regulated companies, whereas in Europe the industry is more diverse, with greater competition, and more government regulation. There is much more meat chicken welfare research and regulation in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, than in countries with self-regulated industries, such as the United States, even taking into account the level of meat chicken production in the relevant areas. By contrast, welfare regulation in two of the world's major meat chicken producing countries; namely Brazil and China, is negligible. Some welfare issues are regional, such as high temperatures which are particularly problematic for free range birds, breeds selected for rapid growth and when birds are removed from fully-housed systems. However, similar welfare issues affect intensively-housed birds worldwide, which comprise the majority of animals produced. These include rapid growth rates, predisposing birds to heart and leg problems, especially ascites and sudden death syndrome, and high stocking densities, which inhibit locomotion and environmental exploration, predisposing birds to contact dermatitis. Welfare research in Europe has shown that highly stocked birds spend longer sleeping, congregate around feeders and are more fearful, as well as experiencing higher ammonia levels, which irritate their eyes and respiratory systems. The review concludes that intensive systems present similar welfare issues worldwide; however, European research is more directed to the behavioural and cognitive requirements of the birds, than in self-regulated countries. This will enable their industry to respond better to future welfare requirements from consumers.

Fuel storage instability reactions of middle distillate fuel continue to be of great interest to the Department of Defense. Unlike civilian fuel, military fuel typically remains in storage tanks for one or more years. As fuel is removed from these tanks, the tanks are subsequently filled with more recently purchased fuel. In many cases, the mixed fuel is not compatible, resulting in chemical sediment and sludge formation. This fuel incompatibility can result in chemical degradation reactions that form solids that will plug nozzles and filters and render the entire contents of the storage tank unusable. Previous research has shown that polar organic nitrogen functional groups are involved in fuel instability reactions. These organo-nitrogen compounds are difficult and expensive to completely remove during the refining process; hence, this investigation involved the removal of these compounds employing three heterogeneous catalyst systems and combinations of these systems as filtering media. An uns...

We investigated whether cattle exhibit preferences to monitor challenging and novel stimuli. Experiments were conducted on dairy and beef cattle herds and revealed significant left eye preferences in the cattle for viewing an experimenter walking to repeatedly split the herd through its centre. Visual lateralisation was demonstrated in the preference to use the left monocular field to monitor the experimenter, alone or equipped with a range of novel stimuli. This finding is consistent with left eye preferences found in various species of mammals, birds, and amphibians responding to predators and novel stimuli. A cohort of the familiarized cattle herds was then subjected to additional herd-splitting tests with the same stimuli and demonstrated a reversal of viewing preferences, preferring to monitor the experimenter and stimuli within the right and not left monocular field. This directional shift in viewing preferences is consistent with experience-dependent learning found in lateralised visual processing in other, non-mammalian, species, and to our knowledge is the first of such studies to suggest that such lateralised learning processes also exist in mammals. Together the data support a number of key hypotheses concerning the evolution and conservation of lateralised brain function in vertebrates, and also provide important considerations for livestock handling.

School choice survey data from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, a large county‐wide school district, is analysed to examine the characteristics of parents who consider choosing private schools for their children and those who do not. We examine differences in background, including race, educational attainment and socioeconomic status, as well as differences in parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school, parent involvement in school, parents’ priorities in school choice, as well as parents’ social networks. After controlling for background characteristics, we find that parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school was not a predictor of considering a private school. Rather, parent involvement seems to be a more important indicator of whether or not a parent would consider sending their child to a private school. In this case, parents are not ‘pushed’ away from public schools, contrary to much public rhetoric that suggests private schools are somehow inherently ‘better’ than p...

The ability of free range chickens to detect and select feeds with varying heavy metal concentrations is important in relation to their ability to avoid toxic heavy metals in polluted regions and to self-supplement their diet with nutritive metals. An operant test was conducted to determine whether chickens could detect a range of heavy metals mixed with feed pellets, with seven birds rewarded for selecting feeds with added metals and seven birds rewarded for selecting feeds without added metals. The chickens demonstrated an ability to detect very high levels of iron, copper, and zinc in feed, but they could not detect concentrations typical of polluted regions, that is, 1,500-2,000 mg/kg feed. They also Could not detect the potentially toxic elements cadmium, lead, or selenium at concentrations Just below the level likely to induce toxicity. The chickens were successfully trained to discriminate between three different pairs of colored plates (red/green, black/yellow, and blue/white) and to associate the different pairs of colored plates with food contaminated and uncontaminated with copper, zinc, and iron, respectively, at the maximum concentration which they could detect. Their preference for the contaminated or uncontaminated food samples was then investigated ability and the second preferences. The second method could not have been used to determine discrimination ability, or at least it would have been unnecessary and potentially confusing to involve a colour association. The first method could not easily have been used to determine preferences, because the color association allowed the birds to choose one or other arm of the Y maze before they reached the point of no return. Hence, the method allowed a voluntary choice to be made in the easiest way. Colour association has been used to test chickens' nutritional preferences previously (e.g., Kutlu and Forbes, 1993).

Cultural differences in students' attitudes towards animals need to be better understood and respected in order to promote tolerance in multicultural biological education. A cross-cultural study was conducted to investigate the beliefs of 425 students of different nationalities on animal sentience and attitudes towards the uses of animals. European students and, to some extent, those from the USA were less likely to condone cruelty to animals on farms than students from Asian countries. Students from Europe had more concern for suffering during life than students from Asia, but there was no difference in the extent of reverence for animal life. Female students had both more concern for animal suffering during life, and a greater concern for the reverence of animal life than males, but there were no gender differences in sentience attributed to the different animal species. Teacher awareness of these cultural and gender differences should engender tolerance towards different students' attitudes to the use ...

Botryosphaeria viticola sp. nov., isolated from pruned canes of Vitis vinifera in NE Spain, is described and illustrated. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS and EF1-alpha sequences and morphological characters of both anamorph and teleomorph confirmed this taxon to be included within the group of Botryosphaeria species with Dothiorella anamorphs. It is related most closely to B. sarmentorum and B. iberica from which it differs in morphological characters of the teleomorph and DNA sequences.

The Australian brown alga Dictyota furcellata (C. Agardh) Grev. is reported for the first time from New Zealand waters. It was found in a sheltered, shallow, subtidal site on the south-western shores of Manukau Harbour, Auckland. Subsequent herbarium investigation revealed a further single collection made in 1938 from Charteris Bay, Lyttelton Harbour, Banks Peninsula. This species can be distinguished from all species of Dictyota previously reported from New Zealand by its very narrow, parallel-sided axes (≤1 mm wide).

Fourier transform scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ δ (BSCCO) subgap resonances has deciphered an octet of ‘quasiparticle’ states that are consistent with the Fermi surface and energy gap observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), but the origin of the high-intensity k-space octets and the sharply defined r-space chequerboard is unexplained. The filamentary ferroelastic nanodomain model that predicted the r-space chequerboard also explains the k-space octets and the origin of the apparent anisotropic surface d-wave gap by using strong electron–phonon interactions outside the CuO2 planes. The topological model identifies the factors that stabilize high-intensity k-space octets in the presence of a very high level of irregular r-space chequerboard noise.

Filamentary high-temperature superconductor (HTSC) theory differs fundamentally from continuous HTSC theories because it emphasizes self-organized discrete dopant networks and does not make the effective-medium approximation. Analysis of neutron and infrared (especially with c-axis polarization) vibrational spectra, primarily for YBa2Cu3O6+x, within the filamentary framework, shows that the observed vibronic anomalies near 400 cm−1 (50meV) are associated with curvilinear filamentary paths. These paths pass through the cuprate chains and planes, as well as resonant tunnelling centres in the BaO layers. The analysis and the data confirm earlier filamentary structural models containing ferroelastic domains of diameter 3–4 nm in the CuO2 planes; it is these nanodomains that are responsible for the discrete glassy nature of both electronic and vibrational properties. Chemical trends in vibronic energies and oscillator strengths, for both neutron and photon scattering, that were anomalous in continuum ...

What is the microscopic interaction responsible for high temperature superconductivity? Here data on temporal relaxation of T c and the room temperature conductivity in YBa2Cu3O6+x after abrupt alteration by light pulses or pressure changes are analysed. The analysis proves, independently of microscopic details, that only electron-phonon interactions can cause high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates; all other dynamic interactions are excluded by experiment.

The nature of the phase diagrams of high-temperature superconductors is clarified by discussing two kinds of phase diagram: that of the host crystalline lattice, and that of the dopant glass. The latter is associated with changes in the electronic properties, while the former is much more accessible to direct experimental identification, by diffraction, of nanoscale phase separation. Careful examination of electronic properties in both the normal and the superconductive states reveals that there are several electronic miscibility gaps in YBa2Cu3Ox and La2-x SrxCuO4 that have been previously overlooked. Recent experiments on the pseudogap in Bi2Sr1.6La0.4CuOy also reveal an electronic miscibility gap.

With the discovery of Tc s over 100K, continuously biased hole-doped semiconductive C60+y has joined the family of high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) previously dominated by the ceramic cuprates. The phase diagrams of these two quite different materials are remarkably similar, despite the absence from undoped C60+y of magnetic order. This supports percolative models of HTSC based on strong electron-phonon interactions. These models explain observed fine structure in the C60+y phase diagrams, and furthermore suggest novel paths to still higher Tc s., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figs, 28 refs

The causes of high-temperature superconductivity are still mysterious, although more than 50 000 experiments have studied this subject. The most severe test of any microscopic theory is generally c...

In many oxides of the perovskite and pseudoperovskite families there are phase transitions between insulating and normal metallic (Fermi-liquid) phases that are separated by an intermediate phase that is often called a non-Fermi liquid. The dc resistivity of the intermediate or non-Fermi-liquid phase often exhibits a T temperature dependence, in contrast with the T2 dependence expected from a bad normal metal. The same alloys exhibit a non-Drude w2a frequency dependence, with α ≈ 0.5, in contrast with the Drude dependence w2 characteristic of samples with the T2 behaviour. Various attempts have been made to modify the algebra of continuum Fermi-liquid theory to derive the non-Drude exponent α, but these have been based on artifices designed to explain only this one parameter. The discrete filamentary model has been used to calculate many properties of high-temperature superconductors, and to explain the asymmetric nature of the intermediate phase. Here it is used to derive N by the same rules pre...

Scale and sludge deposits formed during oil production can contain elevated levels of Ra, often coprecipitated with barium sulfate (barite). The potential for sulfate-reducing bacteria to release 2...

In order to clarify the taxonomy of species of Phomopsis associated with grapevines, 61 isolates were obtained from 58 different vineyards in the grapevine growing areas of the Western Cape provinc...

Anomalous features (dispersive gaps and pseudogaps) have been observed by inelastic neutron scattering in the longitudinal optical bond-stretching vibrational spectra of superconductive (Ba0.6K0.4BiO3) and ferromagnetic (La1−xSrxMnO3) doped perovskites, as well as in layered superconductive pseudoperovskite cuprates La2−xSrxCuO4 (x = 0.15) and YBa2Cu3O6−x (x = 0.20, 0.35, 0.60 and 0.93). These anomalies are explained by a microscopic theoretical model which is compatible with the only known satisfactory fundamental model of superconductivity, namely the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory. The model assumes that the dopants are self-organized into chains and planes with short-range orders of special symmetries.

The nature of appropriate microscopic models that can successfully describe anomalous transport properties, such as high-temperature superconductivity and giant magnetoresistance, in carefully selected and optimally processed complex inorganic materials such as doped layered multinary pseudoperovskite oxides is still unclear. This may be caused by lack of recognition, especially by theorists, of the consequences of the fundamental dichotomy between continuous and discrete (or network) systems. The simplest way to determine the generically correct choice of models in such systems may be through scaling experiments associated with connectivity transitions. Here I show that the same approach is equally successful in explaining the origins of metabolic biometric (or allometric) scaling. From this one can conclude that the topological differences between conductivity networks in specially selected complex inorganic materials and circulatory systems of living animals and plants may be far smaller than ...

A species of Diaporthe occurring on grape- vines in Portugal was identified as D. perjuncta. The fungus was self-fertile and the teleomorph was pro- duced on sterilized grapevine twigs inoculated with single ascospore cultures. Asci and ascospores in cul- ture were indistinguishable from those found on the host in the field. Apart from its association with Vitis, the anamorph bears little resemblance to Phomopsis viticola but appears to be more closely related to Phomopsis oblonga. The taxonomy of the anamorph is discussed.

EXAFS experiments on La2-x,SrxCuO4 (LSCO) have revealed that the Sr dopants occupy two kinds of sites, a magnetic Cu one with long Sr-apical O bonds, and a metallic Cu one with short Sr-apical O bonds. Very surprisingly, the fraction of metallic bonds decreases as x−0.9 through the insulator-metal transition, which takes place in two stages. Homogeneous high-temperature superconductivity occurs only in the intermediate phase between these two transitions. The author's earlier filamentary theories of the impurity band (Sip) and cuprate (YBCO) metal-insulator transitions are extended to discuss the phase diagrams of pseudogaps and superconductivity in LSCO in the light of the EXAFS data. Differences between LSCO and YBCO are also explained naturally by differences in nanodomain structures. The recent observation of superconductivity in ferromagnetic RuSr2GdCu2O8−δ, with a T c similar to that of LSCO, is explained without additional assumptions by the filamentary theory.

Powerful new/old experimental evidence supports the filamentary model, for the metal-insulator transition in randomly doped, uncompensated impurity-band semiconductors. The resulting phase diagram, which contains an intermediate ‘X’ phase, closely resembles the usual phase diagram for high-temperature superconductors, leading to the identification of the X phase (which is often called a ‘non-Fernii liquid’) as an anisotropic 3d filamentary metal. An important by-product of the new/old evidence is that it leads to a quantitative, parameter-free estimate of the strength of the dopant electron-ion interaction energies, which in the impurity band case are 25 times larger than those of bonding valence electrons, corresponding to a maximum T c ∼ 150 K. A phase diagram is predicted for an ‘ideal’ high-temperature superconductor which is characteristically different from that currently sketched in experimental papers; observation of such a phase diagram would constitute strong evidence in favour of the f...

1. Previous investigations of the effects of light colour on the productivity or behaviour of chickens have not equated the intensity of the different coloured lights. 2. Ten pullets (Warren Studler 128) were used to determine the perceived intensity of two colours at opposite ends of the visible spectrum (blue, peak wavelength 415 nm and red, peak wavelength 635 nm). 3. Initially half of the birds were trained with food rewards to detect the brighter of two white lights and half the dimmer one. 4. Two discrimination tests then investigated the generalisation of this learnt ability (to distinguish white lights of different intensity) to coloured lights. They were rewarded for distinguishing the brightness of red and blue filtered lights when blue intensity was initially high and gradually reduced, and when red intensity was initially low and gradually increased. The birds identified the lights as being of equal intensity when the blue light was 3.6 times as bright as the red. 5. A second test examined the situation in reverse. A bright red light that was reduced was compared to a dim blue light that was increased in intensity. The birds were again successful and identified the lights as of equal intensity when the blue was 3.1 times as bright as the red. A final test confirmed that there was no difference in the perceived intensity of blue and red lights in the ratios 3.6 or 3.1 : 1. 6. The difference in perceived red and blue light intensities was less than predicted from the spectral sensitivity curve for chickens. It was expected that the blue light would be perceived as dimmer than the red because the red filter transmitted more light than the blue and the tungsten filament light illuminating the filter emitted more long than short wavelength light. The observed discrepancy emphasises that perceived intensity is difficult to predict from spectroscopic measurements. 7. The birds then underwent a simple visual test, to discriminate the length of two lines, equally well in red or blue filtered lights that were equiluminescent as determined previously. 8. It is concluded that coloured lights can be equated for intensity by psychophysical testing, and that there was no difference in visual acuity under equiluminescent blue and red filtered lights.

Manganese (Mn) is a critical regulator of many physiological defense reactions of plants to disease; and the severity of take‐all root, crown, and foot rot of cereals has been correlated with such cultural practices as form of nitrogen (N), pH adjustment, and crop rotation which all influence the availability of Mn. This study was initiated to determine if the content of Mn in seed influences the severity of take‐all. Five cultivars of soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown under two widely different ecological conditions (alkaline, low Mn soil and Mn sufficient soil) to modify their Mn seed content Four cultivars (Cardinal, Lincoln, Steele, and Twain) differed by 10 to 18 μg g‐1 in Mn seed content (0.33 to 60 ug seed‐1) while the Mn seed content of one cultivar (Caldwell) was similar from both locations. All cultivars were grown at three field locations in Indiana with natural infestations of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt). Under these moderately‐severe to severe dis...

Four types of vapor stripping processes are designed in an effort to investigate methods to treat industrial wastewater in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency's recently promulgated Benzene National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations. Each vapor stripping technology involves a unit operation producing a benzene‐enriched vapor stream and a wastewater stream containing less than 10 ppmw benzene, per the applicable regulation. Steam stripping, vacuum stripping, air stripping, and natural gas stripping technologies are designed and evaluated. It is concluded that: (1) steam stripping involves high operating costs due to the need to preheat the feed; (2) vacuum stripping requires high capital investment because of the number of equipment items needed; (3) air stripping provides only a partial solution to the problem, as it converts a water pollution problem into an air pollution problem which must be addressed; and (4) natural gas stripping is the solu...

The biflagellate spores of Homoeostrichus olsenii Womersley are the largest motile reproductive cells reported for any macroalga. They are also the first zoospores discovered in the Dictyotales and are considered to represent an intermediate stage in the evolution of the typically large non-flagellatedictyotalean spore from the small zoospores. characteristic of most orders of the Phaeophyceae. Zoospores of H. olsenii have a large, elongate nucleus, basal bodies which are among the longest reported for algal motile cells and a conspicuous, fibrous, nucleus-basal body connector, a feature which is thus clearly demonstrated in the Phaeophyceae. The proximal ends of the basal bodies terminate close to the nucleus and the basal bodies consequently do not show the same orientation as most other phaeophycean motile cells.

We examined DNA double-strand-break-induced mutations in the endogenous adenine phosphoribosyl-transferase (APRT) gene in cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells after exposure to restriction endonucleases. PvuII, EcoRV, and StuI, all of which produce blunt-end DNA double-strand breaks, were electroporated into CHO-AT3-2 cells hemizygous at the APRT locus. Colonies of viable cells containing mutations at APRT were expanded, and the mutations that occurred during break repair were analyzed at the DNA sequence level. Restriction enzyme-induced mutations consisted of small deletions of 1 to 36 bp, insertions, and combinations of insertions and deletions at the cleavage sites. Most of the small deletions involved overlaps of one to four complementary bases at the recombination junctions. Southern blot analysis revealed more complex mutations, suggesting translocation, inversion, or insertion of larger chromosomal fragments. These results indicate that blunt-end DNA double-strand breaks can induce illegitimate (nonhomologous) recombination in mammalian chromosomes and that they play an important role in mutagenesis.