Novel frenatins from the skin of the Australasian Giant White-lipped tree frog, Litoria infrafrenata: cloning of precursor cDNAs and identification in defensive skin secretion.

The Australasian anuran amphibian genus Litoria, contains many phenotypically-diverse species as a result of radial evolution of an ancestral species into different biotopes much in the manner of the indigenous marsupial mammals. In common with members of the Central/South American genus Phyllomedusa, their specialized skin granular glands are factories for the production of a plethora of biologically-active peptides. Here we report a more detailed study of those present in the defensive skin secretion of the Australasian giant white-lipped tree frog, Litoria infrafrenata, and, for the first time, we have identified three novel frenatins by deduction of primary structures from cDNAs that were cloned from a library constructed from lyophilized skin secretion using a recently-developed technique. All open-reading frames consisted of a putative signal peptide and an acidic pro-region followed by a single copy of a frenatin peptide. Processed peptides corresponding in molecular mass to the deduced molecular masses of frenatins (named 1.1, 3, 3.1 and 4.1) were identified in the same secretion sample using HPLC and mass spectroscopy. The application of this technique thus permits parallel peptidomic and transcriptomic analyzes on the same lyophilized skin secretion sample circumventing sacrifice of specimens from endangered herpetofauna.

Multivariate prediction of clarified butter composition using Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy has been used to predict the abundance of the FA in clarified butterfat that was obtained from dairy cows fed a range of levels of rapeseed oil in their diet. Partial least squares regression of the Raman spectra against FA compositions obtained by GC showed good prediction for the five major (abundance >5%) FA with R-2=0.74-0.92 and a root mean SE of prediction (RMSEP) that was 5-7% of the mean. In general, the prediction accuracy fell with decreasing abundance in the sample, but the RMSEP was 1.25%. The Raman method has the best prediction ability for unsaturated FA (R-2=0.85-0.92), and in particular trans unsaturated FA (best-predicted FA was 18:1 tDelta9). This enhancement was attributed to the isolation of the unsaturated modes from the saturated modes and the significantly higher spectral response of unsaturated bonds compared with saturated bonds. Raman spectra of the melted butter samples could also be used to predict bulk parameters calculated from standard analyzes, such as iodine value (R-2=0.80) and solid fat content at low temperature (R-2=0.87). For solid fat contents determined at higher temperatures, the prediction ability was significantly reduced (R-2=0.42), and this decrease in performance was attributed to the smaller range of values in solid fat content at the higher temperatures. Finally, although the prediction errors for the abundances of each of the FA in a given sample are much larger with Raman than with full GC analysis, the accuracy is acceptably high for quality control applications. This, combined with the fact that Raman spectra can be obtained with no sample preparation and with 60-s data collection times, means that high-throughput, on-line Raman analysis of butter samples should be possible.

Changing Attitudes of Community Through the Design Charrette Process

The traditional planning process in the UK and elsewhere takes too long to develop, are demanding on resources that are scarce and most times tend to be unrelated to the needs and demands of society. It segregates the plan making from the decision making process with the consultants planning, the politicians deciding and the community receiving without being integrated into the planning and decision making process. The Scottish Planning system is undergoing radical changes as evidenced by the publication of the Planning Advice Note, PAN by the Scottish Executive in July 2006 with the aim of enabling Community Engagement that allow for openness and accountability in the decision making process. The Public Engagement is a process that is driven by the physical, social and economic systems research aimed at improving the process at the level of community through problem solving and of the city region through strategic planning. There are several methods available to engage the community in large scale projects. The two well known ones are the Enquiry be Design and the Charrette approaches used in the UK and US respectively. This paper is an independent and rigorous analysis of the Charrette process as observed in the proposed Tornagrain Settlement in the Highlands area of Scotland. It attempts to gauge and analyse the attitudes, perceptions of the participants the Charrette as well as the mechanics and structure of the Charrette. The study analyzes the Charrette approach as a method future public engagement in and its effectiveness within the Scottish Planning System in view of PAN 2005. The analysis revealed that the Charrette as a method of engagement could be effective in changing attitudes of the community to the design process under certain conditions as discussed in the paper.

Influence of the Graphical Levels of Detail of a Virtual Thrower on the Perception of the Movement

Virtual reality has a number of advantages for analyzing sports interactions such as the standardization of experimental conditions, stereoscopic vision, and complete control of animated humanoid movement. Nevertheless, in order to be useful for sports applications, accurate perception of simulated movement in the virtual sports environment is essential. This perception depends on parameters of the synthetic character such as the number of degrees of freedom of its skeleton or the levels of detail (LOD) of its graphical representation. This study focuses on the influence of this latter parameter on the perception of the movement. In order to evaluate it, this study analyzes the judgments of immersed handball goalkeepers that play against a graphically modified virtual thrower. Five graphical representations of the throwing action were defined: a textured reference level (L0), a nontextured level (L1), a wire-frame level (L2), a moving point light display (MLD) level with a normal-sized ball (L3), and a MLD level where the ball is represented by a point of light (L4). The results show that judgments made by goalkeepers in the L4 condition are significantly less accurate than in all the other conditions (p

Understanding Everyday Homes of Urban Communities: The Case of Local Streets (Hawari) of Old Cairo

This paper aims at investigating architectural and urban heritage from the socio-cultural point of view, which stands on the human asset of traditional sites such as the hawari of old Cairo. It analyzes the social practice of everyday life in one of the oldest Cairene hawari, Haret al-Darb al-Asfar. The focus is on architectural and spatial organization of outdoor and indoor spaces that coordinate the spatial practices of local community. A daily monitoring of people’s activities and interviews was conducted in an investigation of how local people perceive their built environment between the house’s interior and the outdoor shared space. It emerges that people construct their own field of private spheres according to complex patterns of daily activities that are not in line with the classical segregation between private and public in Islamic cities. This paper reports that the harah is basically a construct of social spheres that are organized spatially by the flexible development of individual buildings over time and in response to changes in individuals’ needs and capabilities. In order to achieve sustainability in old urban quarters, the paper concludes, the focus should be directed towards the local organization of activities and a comprehensive upgrading of deteriorating buildings to match the changing needs of current population.

Part-whole relations between food webs and the validity of local food-web descriptions

This work analyzes the relationship between large food webs describing potential feeding relations between species and smaller sub-webs thereof describing relations actually realized in local communities of various sizes. Special attention is given to the relationships between patterns of phylogenetic correlations encountered in large webs and sub-webs. Based on the current theory of food-web topology as implemented in the matching model, it is shown that food webs are scale invariant in the following sense: given a large web described by the model, a smaller, randomly sampled sub-web thereof is described by the model as well. A stochastic analysis of model steady states reveals that such a change in scale goes along with a re-normalization of model parameters. Explicit formulae for the renormalized parameters are derived. Thus, the topology of food webs at all scales follows the same patterns, and these can be revealed by data and models referring to the local scale alone. As a by-product of the theory, a fast algorithm is derived which yields sample food webs from the exact steady state of the matching model for a high-dimensional trophic niche space in finite time. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the way to 'duende' (through Lorca's 'Elogio de Antonia Merce, 'la Argentina', 1930)

This article analyzes how Lorca develops the concept of ‘duende’, finding a crucial missing link in the Elogio de Antonia Mercé, ‘la Argentina’ (1930). ‘Duende’ crystallizes around 1929/1930 when the poet explicitly takes into account the art of the dancer in performance. Three aspects of performance are singled out and systematically traced through Lorca's evolving reflections on popular art and the struggle of the modern artist to create the new – from his first lecture on the cante jondo in 1922 to the Arquitectura del cante jondo (1930) and finally Juego y teoría del duende (1933). The conclusion is drawn that it is in the performance and reception of a text – whether it is heard or read – that the artist's agonistic stand between tradition and modernity, repetition and singularity, is played out, in an invitation to the listener or reader to celebrate his or her mortality.

Discharging not-for-profit accountability: UK charities and public discourse

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the accountability practices of large United Kingdom (UK) charities through public discourse.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on the ethical model of stakeholder theory, the paper develops a framework for classifying not-for-profit (NFP) accountability and analyzes the content of the annual reports and annual reviews of a sample of large UK charities using this framework.
Findings: The results suggest that contrary to the ethical model of stakeholder theory, the sample charities’ accountability practices are motivated by a desire to legitimize their activities and present their organizations’ activities in a positive light. These results contradict the raison d’eˆ tre of NFP organizations (NFPOs) and the values that they espouse. Research limitations/implications: Understanding the nature of accountability reporting in NFPOs has important implications for preparers and policy makers involved in furthering the NFP agenda. New research needs to examine shifts in accountability practices over time and assess the impact of the recent self-regulation developed to enhance sector accountability.
Originality/value: This paper contributes to the NFP accountability literature by: first, developing a framework of NFP accountability through public discourse using the ethical model of stakeholder theory; and second, advancing the understanding of the accountability practices of large UK charities.

Attitudes towards women in politics: Gender, generation and party identification in Ireland

This article analyzes the effects of gender, generation and party support towards a greater inclusion of women in politics in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It explores attitudes on this issue using the same question in the Irish National Election Study (INES) and the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT). The article documents a consistent gender gap in both polities that persists across the generations, despite controls for socio-demographic factors. It also reveals an unexpected generational effect that we explain as the enduring legacy of politicization to women’s rights during the 1970s. Support among party identifiers for more women in politics follows predictable lines, yet gender and generational patterns persist. The gender gap and generational patterns found in the two polities on the island provide reason for concern among those committed to gender equality in representation.

Do conflict management systems matter?

The most influential current idea in the theory of conflict management concerns the design features and supposed superior outcomes of conflict management systems combining interest-based and rights-based practices for resolving conflict in organizations. Yet much of the literature in the area is highly prescriptive and draws heavily either on exemplary case studies or descriptive data. Using focus groups of HR practitioners and experts in conflict resolution to develop a questionnaire covering the main conflict management practices associated with the theory of conflict management systems, the study analyzes data from a survey of firms in the Republic of Ireland to examine quantitatively the effects of conflict management systems on organizational outcomes. While proactive line management and supervisory engagement in conflict resolution as a key dimension of conflict management systems is found to be positively associated with a range of organizational outcomes, no evidence is found for the kind of system effects proposed in the theoretical and prescriptive literature. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fairness Metrics for Multi-Threaded Processors

Multi-threaded processors execute multiple threads concurrently in order to increase overall throughput. It is well documented that multi-threading affects per-thread performance but, more importantly, some threads are affected more than others. This is especially troublesome for multi-programmed workloads. Fairness metrics measure whether all threads are affected equally. However defining equal treatment is not straightforward. Several fairness metrics for multi-threaded processors have been utilized in the literature, although there does not seem to be a consensus on what metric does the best job of measuring fairness. This paper reviews the prevalent fairness metrics and analyzes their main properties. Each metric strikes a different trade-off between fairness in the strict sense and throughput. We categorize the metrics with respect to this property. Based on experimental data for SMT processors, we suggest using the minimum fairness metric in order to balance fairness and throughput.

Corporate Co-evolution: A Political Perspective

Corporate Co–Evolution is one of the first major works in Blackwell’s Organization and Strategy research series of business texts. By tracing the history and growth of Telemig, a major Brazilian telecommunications company, Corporate Co–Evolution develops broader macro–economic principles that can be applied to today’s international corporate environment. After a general introduction to political regulations and other domains of the corporate environment that impact the growth of companies, Corporate Co–Evolution delves deeply into Telemig’s past. The text closely documents and analyzes the dramatic changes over the course of 30 years that transformed Telemig from a “lumbering dinosaur to a soaring eagle” as privatization takes the corporation into the 21st century. The authors skillfully draw out the practical and policy implications of the Telemig experience to develop a broader systematic theory of corporate evolution that is highly relevant to the contemporary business world.

Excluding Coexistence of GMOs? The Impact of the EU Commission's 2010 Recommendation on Coexistence

In the midst of the European Union (EU) genetically modified organisms (GMOs) regime, coexistence of GM and non-GM crops alongside each other remains technically within the competence of the Member States. Post EU authorization of a GM crop, Member States may legally take appropriate measures to limit or prevent the presence of GMOs within non-GM crops. In July 2010, as part of a Cultivation Package, the Commission created a new Coexistence Recommendation that supports a flexible approach to more stringent coexistence measures by the States, while attempting to maintain control over the legitimate objectives justifying the measures. This article analyzes the impact of the 2010 Recommendation upon coexistence in the context of the existing practices and the previous 2003 Recommendation, taking into account its status as a soft law document and the ‘domino effect’. It is argued that the 2010 Recommendation may have greater practical and legal ramifications for coexistence than might first be thought. In attempting to create guidelines that allow a more flexible and inclusive approach towards national measures, the 2010 Recommendation may act as a catalyst to eventually exclude GM cultivation within Member States.

A sequential algorithm for sparse support vector classifiers

Support vector machines (SVMs), though accurate, are not preferred in applications requiring high classification speed or when deployed in systems of limited computational resources, due to the large number of support vectors involved in the model. To overcome this problem we have devised a primal SVM method with the following properties: (1) it solves for the SVM representation without the need to invoke the representer theorem, (2) forward and backward selections are combined to approach the final globally optimal solution, and (3) a criterion is introduced for identification of support vectors leading to a much reduced support vector set. In addition to introducing this method the paper analyzes the complexity of the algorithm and presents test results on three public benchmark problems and a human activity recognition application. These applications demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


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Analysis of Two-Speed Wind Farm Operation From Grid-Side Measurements

This paper analyzes data captured by a phasor measurement unit at a wind farm, employing two-speed induction generators, and investigates aspects of the control system's interaction with the power system. Composite superimposed transient events are proposed as a method to improve the quality of the analysis and reduce errors caused by unknowns, such as wind speed variation. A Mathworks SimPowerSystems model validates the inertia contribution of the wind farm, which is an important parameter in power systems with high wind penetration. Transients caused by turbine speed transitions are identified and explained. The analysis also highlights areas where wind farm control should be improved if useful inertia contribution is to be provided.