The genome sequence of taurine cattle: a window to ruminant biology and evolution.

To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.

Language extinction and linguistic fronts

Language diversity has become greatly endangered in the past centuries owing to processes of language shift from indigenous languages to other languages that are seen as socially and economically more advantageous, resulting in the death or doom of minority languages. In this paper, we define a new language competition model that can describe the historical decline of minority languages in competition with more advantageous languages. We then implement this non-spatial model as an interaction term in a reactiondiffusion system to model the evolution of the two competing languages. We use the results to estimate the speed at which the more advantageous language spreads geographically, resulting in the shrinkage of the area of dominance of the minority language. We compare the results from our model with the observed retreat in the area of influence of the Welsh language in the UK, obtaining a good agreement between the model and the observed data

St. Petersburg Court Chant and the Tradition of Eastern Slavic Church Singing

The present study examines the repertory of liturgical chant known as St. Petersburg Court Chant which emerged within the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg, Russia, and appeared in print in a number of revisions during the course of the 19th century, eventually to spread throughout the Russian Empire and even abroad. The study seeks answers to questions on the essence and composition of Court Chant, its history and liturgical background, and most importantly, its musical relationship to other repertories of Eastern Slavic chant. The research questions emerge from previous literary accounts of Court Chant (summarized in the Introduction), which have tended to be inaccurate and generally not based on critical research. The study is divided into eight main chapters. Chapter 1 provides a survey of the history of Eastern Slavic chant and the Imperial Court Chapel of St. Petersburg until 1917, with special emphasis on the history of singing traditional chant in polyphony, the status of the Court Chapel as a government authority, and its endeavours in publishing church music. Chapter 2 deals with the liturgical background of Eastern chant, the chant genres, and main repertories of Eastern Slavic chant. Chapter 3 concentrates on chant sources: it introduces the musical notations utilised, after which a typology of chant books is presented. The discussion continues with a survey of the sources of Court Chant and their content, the specimens selected for closer analysis, the comparative materials from other repertories, and ends with a commentary on some chant sources that have been excluded. The comparative sources include a specimen from around the beginning of the 12th century, a few manuscripts from the 17th century, and printed and manuscript chant books from the early 18th to early 20th century, covering the geographical area that delimits to the western Ukraine, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, and the Solovetsky Monastery. Chapter 4 presents the approach and methods used in the subsequent analytical comparisons. After a survey of the pitch organization of Eastern Slavic chant, the customary harmonization strategy of traditional chant polyphony is examined, according to which a method for meaningful analysis of the harmony is proposed. The method is based on the observation that the harmonic framework of chant polyphony derives from the standard pitch collection of monodic chant known as the Church Gamut, specific pitches of which form eight harmonic regions that behave like the usual tonalities of major and harmonic minor. Because of the considerable quantity of comparative chant forms, computer-assisted statistical methods are applied to the analysis of chant melodies. The primary chant forms and their respective comparative forms have been pre-processed into reduced chant prototypes and divided into redactions. The analyses are carried out by measuring the formal dissimilarities of the primary chant forms of the Court Chant repertory against each comparative form, and also by measuring the reciprocal dissimilarities of all chant versions in a redaction, the results of which are subjected to agglomerative hierarchical clustering in order to find out how the chant forms relate to each other. The dissimilarities are determined by applying a metric dissimilarity function that is based on the Levenshtein Distance. Chapter 5 provides the melodic and harmonic analyses of generic chants (chants used for multiple texts of different lengths), i.e., chants for stichera samoglasny and troparia, Chapter 6 of pseudo-generic chants (chants that are used for multiple texts but with certain restrictions), i.e., chants for heirmoi, prokeimena, and three other hymns, and Chapter 7 of non-generic chants, covering nine chants that in the Court repertory are not shared by multiple texts. The results are summarized and evaluated in Chapter 8. Accordingly, it can be established that, contrary to previous conceptions, melodically, Court Chant is in effect a full part of the wider Eastern Slavic chant tradition. Even if it is somewhat detached from the chant versions of the Synodal square-note chant books and the local tradition of Moscow, it is particularly close to chant forms of East Ukraine and some vernacular repertories from Russia. Respectively, the harmonization strategies of Court Chant do not show significant individuality in comparison with those of the available polyphonic comparative sources, the main difference being the part-writing, which generally conforms to western common practice standard, whereas the deviations from this tend to be more significant in other analysed repertories of polyphonic chant. Thus, insofar as the subsequent prevalence of Court Chant is not based on its forceful dissemination by authorities (as suggested in previous literature but for which little tangible evidence could be found in Chapter 1), in the present author’s interpretation, Court Chant attained its dominance principally because musically it was considered sufficiently traditional, and as a chant body supported by the government, was conveniently available in print in serviceable harmonizations.

Breviarium Fratrum Praedicatorum (MS C.IV.10)

Two probably originally distinct but roughly contemporary books (I-II, copied by three scribes, A-C): A psalter and a Dominican breviary. Complete critical and codicological description of the book and its contents available in the Codices Fennici -database.

Contents: I: Psalter: Fols. 7r–76va, Psalter, with additional hymns, concluding with Te Deum; Fols. 76vb–77vb, the Athanasian Creed; Fols. 77vb–80v, litany and other prayers. II: Dominican breviary: Fols. 1r–6v, English Dominican calendar (Jan.–Dec.); Fols. 81r–242v, 276r–312r, proprium de tempore (defect), from the First Advent to the First Sunday after Trinity, and from septuagesima in mensis Augusti to the 25th Sunday after Trinity; Fols. 313ra–318v, Office for the dedication of a church; Fols. 243r–275v, 319r–334v, 353r–v, 335r–352v, 354r–371r, proprium de sanctis (defect), from the beginning up to the office of Mary Magdalene, with a misplaced leaf, fol. 353, at translatio B. Dominici, and, after several missing gatherings, the end of commune sanctorum; Fol. 371v, originally empty, with office for St Ursula added in a saec. XIV hand.

Breviarium ad usum Sancti Martialis Lemovicensis, pars hiemalis.

Temporal et sanctoral mêlés : — ste Valière (13v) ; — Mardi saint (144v). Incomplet de la fin (Ms. Fg de Walpole, Early lat. hymns, 1922). Cf. Sepet, dans Bibl. Éc. Ch., XXIX (1868), 109 (édit. f. 34). F. 10 Fragment de chronique de Saint-Martial (édit. Duplès-Agier, LXI et 196).

The role of a minor party : a comparative study of the British Liberal Party and the Australian Country Party since 1918

and the Australian Country Party since 1918. 2. The thesis examines the proposition that the role of a minor party is determined, not by its total strength expressed as a percentage of the national vote, but by how its strength is concentrated. Australia and Britain were chosen for the comparison because of the many similarities in political culture and in the extent of class voting. Each country has a party - the Country Party in Australia and the Liberal Party in Britain - which has had a distinct impact on the political scene in their respective countries. In the period from 1918 to the present day neither party, at the national level, has ever held the largest number of seats in parliament let alone a majority of seats, and it is in this sense that they are herein defined as minor parties. In the thesis the constitutional background of and differences between Australia and Britain are reviewed, followed by a brief historical picture of each of the two parties being studied. The sources of supporc of the two parties are analysed and it is here that real differences emerge. The Country Party in Australia is a deliberately sectional party with a narrow rural base, whereas the British Liberal Party is more broadly based than either the Labour or Conservative Parties in Britain. 3. Party leadership and organisation are then discussed. Both parties have had outstanding leaders, Earle Page and McEwen for the Country Party; Asquith, Lloyd George and Grimond for the Liberal Party. Both parties have had relatively fewer leaders than their major party opponents. However, whereas the Country Party has been free of serious splits the Liberal Party was shattered on the leadership struggles of Asquith and Lloyd George. Both parties have been identified with decentralisation of state power, the Country Party through its support, albeit sometimes lukewarm of the New States Movement; the Liberal Party through its espousal of a federal system for Britain with separate Welsh, Scottish and regional assemblies. Unfortunately for the British Liberal Party the beneficiaries of their policies in this area have been relatively new nationalist parties in both Wales arid Scotland. The major part of the thesis is devoted to a study of how the electoral systems in the two countries have, in practice, worked to the advantage or disadvantage of the Country Party and the British Liberal Party. The Country Party has been as consistently over-represented in the House of Representatives as the Liberal Party has been under-represented in the British House of Commons. With the even distribution of its support the introduction of the single transferable vote, in itself, would bring little benefit to the British Liberal Party in terms of seats. Multimember urban constituencies combined with some type of list system are the only way the Liberals are likely to obtain House of Commons seats in proportion to their votes. 4. Finally, the relations of the two minor parties with their respective major parties are considered. In the conclusion the future of the two parties is reviewed. In general terms it appears that the Country Party is faced with a slow decline. Although the British Liberal Party made a major breakthrough, in terms of votes, in the February 1974 election, they were unable to maintain this momentum in the October election, even though they lost very little ground. In the long term they must make an inroad into Labour held seats if they are to progress further.

Fairview School class photograph, ca. 1930

Individuals in the photograph are identified as follows: Front Row, L to R: Stuart McDonald, Pete Burtch, Carl Schwenker, Bill Davey, Jim Barnes, ? McDonald, Marie Youngblutt, Lorraine Havens, Margaret Sinclair, Carla Prince, Verna Sinclair, Helen Welsh, Margaret Welsh, Elsie Backshall, Smith girl, Amy McDonald. 2nd Row, L to R: Nelson Sinclair, Gordon Wilson, Ivan Burtch, ? Smith, George Corman, Roy Burtch, Mort Corman, Bob Bell, ?Wilson, Jim Combe, Murray Combe, Jack High, George Welsh, Larry Downes, Gordon Schwenker, Albert Davey, Harvey Davey. Back Row, L to R: Bert Sinclair, Jim Mason, Len Corman, Johnny Corman, David Hallett, Lloyd Graham, Paul Harndon?, Gordon Dormes, George Bell, Doug Garriock, ?McDonald, Mary? Honsberger, Mary Backus, Hilda Wilson. The teacher may be Beatrice Armstrong. Fairview School was built in 1919 in Louth Township, Lincoln County, Ont. It may have been built around the time the county constructed other schools, namely, Grapeview and Glenridge. Nicholson and Macbeth may have been the architects of this school, as some features on the building, ie. the carved stone children’s faces below the lintel of the front door , appear in another known and proven Nicholson and Macbeth building, the former YMCA on Queen Street in St. Catharines. The school remained in operation until 1979 when it was purchased for a church, the Fairview-Louth Community church, which later became Southridge Community church, now located on Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, Ont. Today the building is occupied by the Niagara Korean Presbyterian Church.

Letter to Mr. Walsh, Registrar Office, 1836

The man to whom the letter is addressed is Francis Leigh Walsh who was a land surveyor and registrar. Mr. Walsh was born on March 12, 1789 in Harford County, Maryland to Thomas Welsh, a United Empire Loyalist. In 1793, his family moved to Norfolk County and in 1810, Francis succeeded his father as registrar for Norfolk County. During the War of 1812 he served in the local militia and became a captain in 1824. He was the representative for Norfolk in the legislative assembly of Upper Canada from 1820 to 1828 and 1834 to 1836. He became justice of the peace in the London district in 1821 and 1838 in the Talbot district. He died in Simcoe on Oct. 14th, 1884. His son, Aquila Walsh served in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and in the Canadian House of Commons. Benjamin Hardison was born in Berwick in the Thirteen Colonies (British colonies on the Atlantic Coast of North America) on April 2, 1757 to Thomas Hardison and Mary Chadbourne. He was a farmer, miller and political figure. He was the representative for 4th Lincoln and Norfolk in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada from 1797-1800. On January 21, 1800 he married Jane Warren. He served with the American forces during the American Revolution at which time he was taken prisoner and sent to Canada. Later, he settled in Fort Erie where he was a captain in the militia and a justice of the peace for the Niagara district. He operated mills and a distillery in Fort Erie and died there on July 26, 1823. Source: http://en.vionto.com/show/me/Francis+Leigh+Walsh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Hardison

Fairview School class photograph, ca. 1930.

Fairview School (9th Street Louth, St. Catharines, Ontario) photograph, ca. 1933 Individuals in the photograph are identified as follows: Front Row, L to R: Stuart McDonald, Pete Burtch, Carl Schwenker, Bill Davey, Jim Barnes, ? McDonald, Marie Youngblutt, Lorraine Havens, Margaret Sinclair, Carla Prince, Verna Sinclair, Helen Welsh, Margaret Welsh, Elsie Backshall, Smith girl, Amy McDonald. 2nd Row, L to R: Nelson Sinclair, Gordon Wilson, Ivan Burtch, ? Smith, George Corman, Roy Burtch, Mort Corman, Bob Bell, ?Wilson, Jim Combe, Murray Combe, Jack High, George Welsh, Larry Downes, Gordon Schwenker, Albert Davey, Harvey Davey. Back Row, L to R: Bert Sinclair, Jim Mason, Len Corman, Johnny Corman, David Hallett, Lloyd Graham, Paul Harndon?, Gordon Dormes, George Bell, Doug Garriock, ?McDonald, Mary? Honsberger, Mary Backus, Hilda Wilson. The teacher may be Beatrice Armstrong.

Slide - Celebrity Ice Wine Event

A slide from the Inniskillin Celebrity Ice Wine event featuring: Michael Burgess, Ron Barbaro; Jonathan Welsh.

Amikacina-trimetoprim-sulfametoxazol en el tratamiento de micetomasactinomicósicos

Tesis (Doctorado en Medicina) UANL

La mobilisation linguistique au Pays de Galles, en Ontario et au Nouveau-Brunswick (1962-2012) : cycles de mobilisation et rémanence dans une perspective comparée

Les minorités linguistiques francophones au Nouveau-Brunswick et en Ontario et la minorité galloisante au Pays de Galles ont plusieurs éléments en commun. D’abord, elles se sont dotées d’un réseau associatif dense qui a mené de front plusieurs luttes, souvent avec succès, et qui a eu pour résultats l’amélioration de la situation sociopolitique et la reconnaissance symbolique de la communauté minoritaire. Ensuite, le statut légal et social de la langue minoritaire a relativement progressé dans les trois cas, grâce à l’adoption de lois et de politiques linguistiques. Ajoutons qu’elles ont tous accès à des institutions qui leur permettent de faire entendre leurs voix ou encore de se gouverner, que ce soit à travers leurs gouvernements locaux ou les assemblées législatives, et peuvent compter sur un ombudsman linguistique. Toutefois, la principale différence entre ces trois cas réside dans le niveau de mobilisation linguistique que l’on y observe à l’heure actuelle. On pourrait le qualifier d’élevé au Pays de Galles, de modéré en Ontario et de faible au Nouveau-Brunswick. Comment expliquer cette différence malgré un contexte similaire dans chacun des cas ? En nous inspirant des travaux sur la mobilisation linguistique, sur la rémanence et sur les régimes linguistiques, nous proposons une hypothèse qui établit un lien causal entre la satisfaction des groupes représentant les minorités linguistiques à l’égard des régimes linguistiques et le niveau de mobilisation. Le niveau de mobilisation d’une minorité linguistique varie en fonction de sa satisfaction à l’égard du régime linguistique, et cette satisfaction est liée à la perception qu’ont les groupes quant aux succès ou aux échecs de leurs mobilisations linguistiques. Autrement dit, quand une minorité linguistique considère que sa mobilisation linguistique n’a pas obtenu le succès escompté et que le régime linguistique ne répond pas à ses principales attentes, les organisations qui la représentent maintiennent un niveau de mobilisation élevé. À l’inverse, quand une minorité linguistique perçoit que sa mobilisation linguistique a connu du succès et que le régime linguistique répond à ses principales attentes, les organisations se réorganisent et entrent en rémanence. De façon plus précise, cette hypothèse propose donc une explication pour chacun des cas. Au Pays de Galles, le niveau de mobilisation des Galloisants demeure élevé parce que les modifications apportées au régime linguistique gallois ne répondent toujours pas aux attentes formulées par les acteurs de la société civile et ces acteurs ne considèrent pas que leur mobilisation a connu les succès escomptés. En Ontario, le niveau de mobilisation est modéré, parce qu’après une période de rémanence suivant un succès de la mobilisation linguistique, elle a repris une certaine vigueur alors que certains acquis étaient menacés. Au Nouveau-Brunswick, la mobilisation linguistique est en rémanence après que la mobilisation ait atteint sa finalité, c’est-à-dire qu’elle a connu le succès qu’elle recherchait, mais les acteurs de la société civile ne sont pas pour autant absents de l’espace public.

Development of mechanical methods for cell-tray propagation and field transplanting of dwarf napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.)

Since dwarf napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) must be propagated vegetatively due to lack of viable seeds, root splitting and stem cuttings are generally used to obtain true-to-type plant populations. These ordinary methods are laborious and costly, and are the greatest barriers for expanding the cultivation area of this crop. The objectives of this research were to develop nursery production of dwarf napiergrass in cell trays and to compare the efficiency of mechanical versus manual methods for cell-tray propagation and field transplanting. After defoliation of herbage either by a sickle (manually) or hand-mowing machine, every potential aerial tiller bud was cut to a single one for transplanting into cell trays as stem cuttings and placed in a glasshouse over winter. The following June, nursery plants were trimmed to a 25–cm length and transplanted in an experimental field (sandy soil) with 20,000 plants ha^(−1) either by shovel (manually) or Welsh onion planter. Labour time was recorded for each process. The manual defoliation of plants required 44% more labour time for preparing the stem cuttings (0.73 person-min. stemcutting^(−1)) compared to using hand-mowing machinery (0.51 person-min. stem-cutting^(−1)). In contrast, labour time for transplanting required an extra 0.30 person-min. m^(−2) (14%) using the machinery compared to manual transplanting, possibly due to the limited plot size for machinery operation. The transplanting method had no significant effect on plant establishment or plant growth, except for herbage yield 110 days after planting. Defoliation of herbage by machinery, production using a cell-tray nursery and mechanical transplanting reduced the labour intensity of dwarf napiergrass propagation.

Diferencias microbiológicas en pacientes con exacerbación severa de EPOC con o sin consolidación neumónica

La EPOC es una causa importante de morbilidad y mortalidad en el mundo y su prevalencia en Bogotá alcanza hasta 8,5%. Las exacerbaciones están asociadas a deterioro funcional y de la calidad de vida por lo que se consideran un factor cardinal de la enfermedad. En la literatura se ha descrito que las infecciones por bacterias y/o virus son las responsables del 78% de las exacerbaciones. Estos datos han sido descritos en poblaciones diferentes y no hay datos en la literatura que muestren cual es la epidemiología local de las exacerbaciones de EPOC y menos aún de aquellas que se asocian a consolidaciones neumónicas. Objetivo: Comparar la microbiología de las exacerbaciones severas de la EPOC que requieren ingreso a UCI con y sin infiltrados alveolares. Materiales y métodos: Estudio de corte transversal en el que se estudiaron pacientes con EPOC que ingresaron a la UCI Médica de la FCI-IC por exacerbación severa, asociada o no a infiltrados alveolares. Se tomaron muestras de microbiología, serológicas y radiografía de tórax para evaluar la etiología de la exacerbación, si se asocia a coinfección viral y a consolidación neumónica o no. Resultados: No se encontró una diferencia estadísticamente significativa en la microbiología de los diferentes grupos evaluados. Se encontró un resistencia global del 24% y llama la atención que hay una alta prevalencia de Serratia Marcescens AMPc entre los 2 grupos, germen que no está descrito como patógeno común en la literatura. Se encontraron diferencias en cuanto a factores de riesgo para presentar neumonía asociada como lo son un mayor índice de paquetes/año (55.1.6 vs. 36.3 paq/año, sig.=0.021). Así mismo se demostró que los pacientes con neumonía asociada presentan mayor necesidad de IOT (48.9 vs. 23.9, sig.=0.013). No hay diferencia significativa en desenlaces como mortalidad (20.5 vs. 13.0, sig.=0.346). Conclusiones: A pesar de no haber diferencia microbiológica entre los 2 grupos se encontraron variables como factores de riesgo y variables clínicas que pueden ayudar a proponer planes de manejo en los dos escenarios. El hecho de encontrar un paciente con neumonía asociada al cuadro de exacerbación no debe afectar en la toma de decisiones en relación al tratamiento antibiótico.

Asociación entre relaciones románticas y la calidad de sueño percibida por jóvenes universitarios

Introducción: Uno de los aspectos con mayor variación durante la adolescencia es el sueño, el cual se ve afectado por factores biológicos así como por los estados afectivos y emocionales. En esta etapa, los individuos establecen sus primeras relaciones sentimentales románticas, vínculos esenciales para la maduración de las relaciones sociales y psicosexuales. Este trabajo busca determinar la asociación existente entre las relaciones sentimentales románticas y sus características, con la calidad sueño percibida por los jóvenes. Metodología: Estudio realizado en una población de 1794 estudiantes de ciencias de la salud entre los 18 y 25 años de edad en Bogotá, Colombia, entre 2012 y 2013. Se obtuvo una muestra probabilística con asignación proporcional de 443 sujetos, estratificada por programa académico y sexo. Utilizando dos cuestionarios de auto reporte se exploraron las características de las relaciones sentimentales y la calidad de sueño percibida. Resultados: El 64% (IC 95%: 59,4-68,9%) de la población estudiada se encontró en una relación sentimental romántica. Estos sujetos tuvieron latencias de sueño prolongadas con menor frecuencia que quienes no tenían en una relación (p <0,05). La calidad de sueño percibida se asoció al nivel de satisfacción que tuvieron los sujetos en su relación, así como la atracción por su pareja. Rasgos obsesivos, ansiosos, temerosos y evitativos en la relación disminuyeron la calidad de sueño percibida. Conclusión: Las relaciones sentimentales románticas y sus características se asocian con la calidad de sueño percibida por los individuos. Se requieren estudios que determinen causalidad en esta asociación y definan potenciales estrategias de intervención al respecto.