Simultaneous fixation using glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide or potassium ferricyanide-reduced osmium for the preservation of monogenean flatworms: An assessment for Merizocotyle icopae

Simultaneous fixation was investigated for a marine organism: the monogenean flatworm ectoparasite Merizocotyle icopae. Four protocols for primary fixation were compared: 3% glutaraldehyde alone in OAM cacodylate buffer for a minimum of 2 hours; 1% glutaraldehyde in combination with 1% osmium tetroxide, both in 0.1M cacodylate buffer, until tissues darkened (5-20 minutes); 1% glutaraldehyde in OAM cacodylate buffer in combination with 0.5% potassium ferricyanide-reduced osmium until tissues darkened (5-20 minutes); 1% glutaraldehyde in combination with 1% osmium tetroxide, both in 0.1M cacodylate buffer, for 30 minutes. The study confirms that the standard method for transmission electron microscopic fixation (first listed protocol) routinely applied to platyhelminths is optimal for ultrastructural preservation, but some simultaneous fixation methods (second and third listed protocols) are acceptable when rapid immobilization is needed. Scanning electron microscopic preparations may be improved using simultaneous primary fixation. (C) 2004 Wilcy-Liss, Inc.

The NASCAR phenomenon: Auto racing sponsorships and shareholder wealth

This study presents the first analysis of the impact of NASCAR sponsorship announcements on the stock prices of sponsoring firms. The primary finding of the study-that NASCAR sponsorship announcements were accompanied by the largest increases in shareholder wealth ever recorded in the marketing literature in response to a voluntary marketing program-represents a striking and unambiguous stock market endorsement of the sponsorships. Indeed, the 24 sponsors analyzed in this study experienced mean increases in shareholder wealth of over $300 million dollars, net of all of the costs associated with the sponsorships. A multiple regression analysis of firm-specific stock price changes and select corporate and sponsorship attributes indicates that NASCAR sponsorships with more successful racing teams, corporate (as opposed to product or divisional) sponsorships, and sponsorships with direct ties to the consumer automotive industry are all positively correlated with perceived sponsorship success, while corporate cash flow per share (a well-known proxy for agency conflicts within the firm) is negatively related with shareholder approval.

On measuring wealth: A case study on the state of Queensland

In order for policy makers to plan effectively for sustainable development, there is a need for measures of welfare that consider changes in the natural capital stock. Current measures based on conventional national accounting are flawed because they are based solely on flow measures and do not account for environmental effects. In this paper, we use an expanded measure of wealth to estimate the value of natural capital for Queensland. The state's stock of natural capital is valued at A$355.6 billion, of which non-timber forest resources account for 45.3%, ecosystem services 20.0%, and mineral resources 17.6%. This figure is a conservative estimate of the true value since some significant components such as the ecological and life-support functions of the environment are excluded. The estimates highlight the relative importance of different forms of natural capital and can be used to draw the attention of policymakers to the need to give adequate weight to the value of such services in decision-making processes. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Remembrance of things past: Amnesic syndrome with partial preservation of professional skills

J.L., then a 25-year-old physiotherapist, became densely amnesic following herpes simplex encephalitis. She displayed severe retrograde amnesia, category-specific semantic memory loss, and a profound anterograde amnesia affecting both verbal and visual memory. Her working memory systems were relatively spared as were most of her cognitive problem-solving abilities, but her social functioning was grossly impaired. She was able to demonstrate several previously learned physiotherapy skills, but was unable to modify her application of these procedures in accordance with patient response. She showed no memory of theoretical or propositional knowledge, and could neither plan treatment or reason clinically. Three years later, J.L. had profound impairment of anterograde and retrograde declarative memory, with relative sparing of working memory for problem solving and long-term memory of procedural skills. The theoretical and practical implications of her amnesic syndrome are discussed.

Evaluation of NHMRC funded research completed in 1992, 1997 and 2003: gains in knowledge, health and wealth

Objective: To report on strategies for, and outcomes of, evaluation of knowledge (publications), health and wealth (commercial) gains from medical research funded by the Australian Government through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Design and methods: End-of-grant reports submitted by researchers within 6 months of completion of NHMRC funded project grants which terminated in 2003 were used to capture self-reported publication number, health and wealth gains. Self-reported gains were also examined in retrospective surveys of grants completed in 1992 and 1997 and awards primarily supporting people (“people awards”) held between 1992 and 2002. Results: The response rate for the 1992 sample was too low for meaningful analysis. The mean number of publications per grant in the basic biomedical, clinical and health services research areas was very similar in 1997 and 2003. The publication output for population health was somewhat higher in the 2003 than in the 1997 analysis. For grants completed in 1997, 24% (31/131) affected clinical practice; 14% (18/131) public health practice; 9% (12/131) health policy; and 41% (54/131) had commercial potential with 20% (26/131) resulting in patents. Most respondents (89%) agreed that NHMRC people awards improved their career prospects. Interpretation is limited by the relatively low response rates (50% or less). Conclusions: A mechanism has been developed for ongoing assessment of NHMRC funded research. This process will improve accountability to the community and to government, and refine current funding mechanisms to most efficiently deliver health and economic returns for Australia.

Knowledge about a Species' Conservation Status and Funding for its Preservation: Analysis

Using a species' population to measure its conservation status, this paper explores how increased knowledge about a species' status changes the public's willingness to donate funds for its conservation. This is based on the behavioral relationship between the level of donations and a species' conservation status satisfying general mathematical properties. This level of donation increases, on average, with greater knowledge of a species' conservation status if it is endangered, but falls if it is secure. Modelling enables individuals' demand for extra information about the conservation status of species to be specified. While this model may suggest that conservation bodies could boost funds for conservation of species by exaggerating species' endangerment, such a strategy is shown to be potentially counterproductive. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The wealth effect of housing on aggregate consumption

This study Measures the effect of changes in net housing and financial wealth oil household consumption using Australian data over the period Q2:1988-Q1:2003. It is found a permanent one dollar rise in housing wealth leads to a six cent increase in consumption, three times the effect of financial wealth. The result speaks strongly against the notion of assets fungibility.. and Suggests that a sharp movement in house prices is potentially more disruptive than a corresponding movement ill financial asset prices.

A diffusion approach to approximating preservation probabilities for gene duplicates

Consider a haploid population and, within its genome, a gene whose presence is vital for the survival of any individual. Each copy of this gene is subject to mutations which destroy its function. Suppose one member of the population somehow acquires a duplicate copy of the gene, where the duplicate is fully linked to the original gene's locus. Preservation is said to occur if eventually the entire population consists of individuals descended from this one which initially carried the duplicate. The system is modelled by a finite state-space Markov process which in turn is approximated by a diffusion process, whence an explicit expression for the probability of preservation is derived. The event of preservation can be compared to the fixation of a selectively neutral gene variant initially present in a single individual, the probability of which is the reciprocal of the population size. For very weak mutation, this and the probability of preservation are equal, while as mutation becomes stronger, the preservation probability tends to double this reciprocal. This is in excellent agreement with simulation studies.

Development of a web-service-agents-based family wealth management system

The roiling financial markets, constantly changing tax law and increasing complexity of planning transaction increase the demand of aggregated family wealth management (FWM) services. However, current trend of developing such advisory systems is mainly focusing on financial or investment side. In addition, these existing systems lack of flexibility and are hard to be integrated with other organizational information systems, such as CRM systems. In this paper, a novel architecture of Web-service-agents-based FWM systems has been proposed. Multiple intelligent agents are wrapped as Web services and can communicate with each other via Web service protocols. On the one hand, these agents can collaborate with each other and provide comprehensive FWM advices. On the other hand, each service can work independently to achieve its own tasks. A prototype system for supporting financial advice is also presented to demonstrate the advances of the proposed Webservice- agents-based FWM system architecture.