Interactive Diffraction from Biological Nanostructures

We describe a technique for interactive rendering of diffraction effects produced by biological nanostructures, such as snake skin surface gratings. Our approach uses imagery from atomic force microscopy that accurately captures the geometry of the nanostructures responsible for structural colouration, that is, colouration due to wave interference, in a variety of animals. We develop a rendering technique that constructs bidirectional reflection distribution functions (BRDFs) directly from the measured data and leverages pre-computation to achieve interactive performance. We demonstrate results of our approach using various shapes of the surface grating nanostructures. Finally, we evaluate the accuracy of our pre-computation-based technique and compare to a reference BRDF construction technique.

Be Careful Where You Smile : Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

We thank all the supporting team-members involved in the translation procedures and data collections. Research was supported by the Polish NCN Grant 2011/03/N/HS6/05112 (K.K.) and Chinese NNSF Grant 31200788 (C.X).

Mutation in bone morphogenetic protein receptor-IB is associated with increased ovulation rate in Booroola Mérino ewes

Ewes from the Booroola strain of Australian Mérino sheep are characterized by high ovulation rate and litter size. This phenotype is due to the action of the FecBB allele of a major gene named FecB, as determined by statistical analysis of phenotypic data. By genetic analysis of 31 informative half-sib families from heterozygous sires, we showed that the FecB locus is situated in the region of ovine chromosome 6 corresponding to the human chromosome 4q22–23 that contains the bone morphogenetic protein receptor IB (BMPR-IB) gene encoding a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor family. A nonconservative substitution (Q249R) in the BMPR-IB coding sequence was found to be associated fully with the hyperprolificacy phenotype of Booroola ewes. In vitro, ovarian granulosa cells from FecBB/FecBB ewes were less responsive than granulosa cells from FecB+/FecB+ ewes to the inhibitory effect on steroidogenesis of GDF-5 and BMP-4, natural ligands of BMPR-IB. It is suggested that in FecBB/FecBB ewes, BMPR-IB would be inactivated partially, leading to an advanced differentiation of granulosa cells and an advanced maturation of ovulatory follicles.

L'Année sucrière, 1909-1910. Revue générale annuelle des progrès de la fabrication du sucre en France et à l'étranger.

Premièr anneé.

Caracterização do sistema vocálico do português culto falado em angola

O presente artigo situa-se nos domínios de especialidade da Fonética e Fonologia. Pretende-se, com efeito, destacar algumas características fonético-fonológicas do português culto falado em Angola, nomeadamente no domínio do vocalismo, identificadas e recolhidas de enunciados orais de cidadãos angolanos e residentes em Angola, estudantes e profissionais com nível de instrução médio-alto. No falar português desses indivíduos constam elementos que se opõem a determinados usos e hábitos linguísticos normativos do Português europeu, recomendados como usos e hábitos oficiais. Procura-se, assim, demonstrar que, pelo menos em relação ao sistema vocálico, o português angolano das camadas cultas da população difere do Português europeu.