Structural revision of shatavarins I and IV, the major components from the roots of Asparagus racemosus

The two major steroidal saponins from the roots of Asparagus racemosus were isolated by RP-HPLC and their structure determined by extensive NMR studies. Their structures did not match those reported previously for shatavarins. I and IV and were found to be 3-O-{[beta-D-glueopyranosy](1 -> 2)][alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1 -> 4)]-beta-D-glucopyranosyl}-26-O-(P-D-glu(opyranosyl)-(25S)5 beta-furostan-3p,22 alpha,26-triol and 3-O-{[beta-D-glueopyranosyl(1 -> 2)][alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1 -> 4)]-beta-D-glucopyrariosyl}-(25S)-5 beta-spirostan-3 beta-ol. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of active venom components between Eastern brown snakes collected from South Australia and Queensland

The abundance and activity of the prothrombin activator (pseutarin C) within the venom of the Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis textilis) is the primary determinant of its coagulation potency. Textilinin-1, also in this venom, is a plasmin inhibitor which is thought to exert its toxic effects through the slowing of fibrinolysis. The aim of this report is to determine if there are differences in the potency of the venom from Eastern brown snakes collected from South Australia (SA) compared to those from Queensland (QLD). A concentration of 0.4 mu g/ml venom protein from six QLD specimens clotted citrated plasma in an average time of 21.4 +/- 3.3 s compared to 68.7 +/- 2.4 s for the same amount of SA venom (averaged for six individuals). The more potent procoagulant activity of the QLD venom was measured between 0.4 and 94 mu g/ml venom protein in plasma. The anti-plasmin activity of textilinin was also greater in the venom of the snakes collected from QLD, causing full inhibition of plasmin at approximately 1.88 mu g/ml of venom protein compared to approximately 7.5 mu g/ml for the SA venoms. It is concluded that geographic differentiation of the Eastern brown snakes results in significant differences venom potency.

Enhancing performance through the introduction of customer orientation into the building components industry

Purpose: This paper aims to describe an investigation into how company performance can be improved by integrating internal and external customers and technology. The approach was developed, implemented and evaluated in the operations of the building components industry. The research was carried out in the precast concrete division of a Singapore company. Design/methodology/ approach: For the purpose of undertaking the investigation an exploratory case study approach was used. This was divided into conceptual and action research stages. The action research was also used to implement the changes in the company. Questionnaire surveys were carried out among company employees and external customers to assess the effect of these changes. Results of the investigation were derived using content and statistical analysis. Triangulation between three sources was used for validating the data. Findings: The exploratory case study strategy resulted in rich research data, which provided evidence of the changes taking place and integration happening, leading to improved performance. The action research approach proved a powerful tool where the uncertainty of outcomes makes it near impossible to make accurate forecasts. Another output of the research was the development of an "integrated customer orientation" (ICO) model. Research limitations/implications: The research in this paper used a single site action research investigation so should be interpreted within the specific company and industry context. There are implications for theory and practice in a number of areas of production and marketing as well as contributions to understanding about productivity improvement and organisational development. The investigation also fulfils the dual objectives of action research by contributing to both knowledge and practice. Originality/value: The paper describes a unique approach towards improving productivity, quality and service through the use of action research to implement changes, as well as providing the research evidence to evaluate both the process of implementation and results achieved. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity mechanisms in regular spiking and intrinsic bursting cells of cortical layer 5

Layer 5 contains the major projection neurons of the neocortex and is composed of two major cell types: regular spiking (RS) cells, which have cortico-cortical projections, and intrinsic bursting cells (IB), which have subcortical projections. Little is known about the plasticity processes and specifically the molecular mechanisms by which these two cell classes develop and maintain their unique integrative properties. In this study, we find that RS and IB cells show fundementally different experience-dependent plasticity processes and integrate Hebbian and homeostatic components of plasticity differently. Both RS and IB cells showed TNFα-dependent homeostatic plasticity in response to sensory deprivation, but IB cells were capable of a much faster synaptic depression and homeostatic rebound than RS cells. Only IB cells showed input-specific potentiation that depended on CaMKII autophosphorylation. Our findings demonstrate that plasticity mechanisms are not uniform within the neocortex, even within a cortical layer, but are specialized within subcircuits.

Asynchrony and the grouping of vowel components:captor tones revisited

Asynchrony is an important grouping cue for separating sound mixtures. A harmonic incremented in level makes a reduced contribution to vowel timbre when it begins before the other components. This contribution can be partly restored by adding a captor tone in synchrony with, and one octave above, the leading portion of the incremented harmonic [Darwin and Sutherland, Q. J. Exp. Psychol. A 36, 193-208 (1984)]. The captor is too remote to evoke adaptation in peripheral channels tuned to the incremented harmonic, and so the restoration effect is usually attributed to the grouping of the leading portion with the captor. However, results are presented that contradict this interpretation. Captor efficacy does not depend on a common onset, or harmonic relations, with the leading component. Rather, captor efficacy is influenced by frequency separation, and extends to about 1.5 oct above the leading component. Below this cutoff, the captor effect is equivalent to attenuating the leading portion of the incremented harmonic by about 6 dB. These results indicate that high-level grouping does not govern the captor effect. Instead, it is proposed that the partial restoration of the contribution of an asynchronous component to vowel timbre depends on broadband inhibition within the central auditory system. © 2006 Acoustical Society of America.

Characterisation of Aeromonas strains and species by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and principal components analysis

Aeromonas genomes were investigated by restriction digesting chromosomal DNA with the endonuclease XbaI, separation of restriction fragments by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and principal components analysis (PCA) of resulting separation patterns. A. salmonicida salmonicida were unique amongst the isolates investigated. Separation profiles of these isolates were similar and all characterised by a distinct absence of bands in the 250kb region. Principal components analysis represented these strains as a clearly defined homogeneous group separated by insignificant Euclidian distances. However, A. salmonicida achromogenes isolates in common with those of A. hydrophila and A. sobria were shown by principal components analysis to be more heterogeneous in nature. Fragments from these isolates were more uniform in size distribution but as demonstrated by the Euclidian distances attained through PCA potentially characteristic of each strain. Furthermore passaging of Aeromonas isolates through an appropriate host did not greatly modify fragment separation profiles, indicative of the genomic stability of test aeromonads and the potential of restriction digesting/PFGE/PCA in Aeromonas typing.

Simultaneous grouping in cochlear implant listeners:can abrupt changes in level be used to segregate components from a complex tone?

A sudden increase in the amplitude of a component often causes its segregation from a complex tone, and shorter rise times enhance this effect. We explored whether this also occurs in implant listeners (n?=?8). Condition 1 used a 3.5-s “complex tone” comprising concurrent stimulation on five electrodes distributed across the array of the Nucleus CI24 implant. For each listener, the baseline stimulus level on each electrode was set at 50% of the dynamic range (DR). Two 1-s increments of 12.5%, 25%, or 50% DR were introduced in succession on adjacent electrodes within the “inner” three of those activated. Both increments had rise and fall times of 30 and 970 ms or vice versa. Listeners reported which increment was higher in pitch. Some listeners performed above chance for all increment sizes, but only for 50% increments did all listeners perform above chance. No significant effect of rise time was found. Condition 2 replaced amplitude increments with decrements. Only three listeners performed above chance even for 50% decrements. One exceptional listener performed well for 50% decrements with fall and rise times of 970 and 30 ms but around chance for fall and rise times of 30 and 970 ms, indicating successful discrimination based on a sudden rise back to baseline stimulation. Overall, the results suggest that implant listeners can use amplitude changes against a constant background to pick out components from a complex, but generally these must be large compared with those required in normal hearing. For increments, performance depended mainly on above-baseline stimulation of the target electrodes, not rise time. With one exception, performance for decrements was typically very poor.

Sequential grouping of pure-tone percepts evoked by the segregation of components from a complex tone

A sudden change applied to a single component can cause its segregation from an ongoing complex tone as a pure-tone-like percept. Three experiments examined whether such pure-tone-like percepts are organized into streams by extending the research of Bregman and Rudnicky (1975). Those authors found that listeners struggled to identify the presentation order of 2 pure-tone targets of different frequency when they were flanked by 2 lower frequency “distractors.” Adding a series of matched-frequency “captor” tones, however, improved performance by pulling the distractors into a separate stream from the targets. In the current study, sequences of discrete pure tones were substituted by sequences of brief changes applied to an otherwise constant 1.2-s complex tone. Pure-tone-like percepts were evoked by applying 6-dB increments to individual components of a complex comprising harmonics 1–7 of 300 Hz (Experiment 1) or 0.5-ms changes in interaural time difference to individual components of a log-spaced complex (range 160–905 Hz; Experiment 2). Results were consistent with the earlier study, providing clear evidence that pure-tone-like percepts are organized into streams. Experiment 3 adapted Experiment 1 by presenting a global amplitude increment either synchronous with, or just after, the last captor prior to the 1st distractor. In the former case, for which there was no pure-tone-like percept corresponding to that captor, the captor sequence did not aid performance to the same extent as previously. It is concluded that this change to the captor-tone stream partially resets the stream-formation process, and so the distractors and targets became likely to integrate once more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)

Which physiological components are more suitable for visual ERP based brain-computer interface?:A preliminary MEG/EEG study

We investigated which evoked response component occurring in the first 800 ms after stimulus presentation was most suitable to be used in a classical P300-based brain-computer interface speller protocol. Data was acquired from 275 Magnetoencephalographic sensors in two subjects and from 61 Electroencephalographic sensors in four. To better characterize the evoked physiological responses and minimize the effect of response overlap, a 1000 ms Inter Stimulus Interval was preferred to the short (

Experiments in time:exploring the components of motor timing behaviour in dyslexia

This investigation aimed to pinpoint the elements of motor timing control that are responsible for the increased variability commonly found in children with developmental dyslexia on paced or unpaced motor timing tasks (Chapter 3). Such temporal processing abilities are thought to be important for developing the appropriate phonological representations required for the development of literacy skills. Similar temporal processing difficulties arise in other developmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Motor timing behaviour in developmental populations was examined in the context of models of typical human timing behaviour, in particular the Wing-Kristofferson model, allowing estimation of the contribution of different timing control systems, namely timekeeper and implementation systems (Chapter 2 and Methods Chapters 4 and 5). Research examining timing in populations with dyslexia and ADHD has been inconsistent in the application of stimulus parameters and so the first investigation compared motor timing behaviour across different stimulus conditions (Chapter 6). The results question the suitability of visual timing tasks which produced greater performance variability than auditory or bimodal tasks. Following an examination of the validity of the Wing-Kristofferson model (Chapter 7) the model was applied to time series data from an auditory timing task completed by children with reading difficulties and matched control groups (Chapter 8). Expected group differences in timing performance were not found, however, associations between performance and measures of literacy and attention were present. Results also indicated that measures of attention and literacy dissociated in their relationships with components of timing, with literacy ability being correlated with timekeeper variance and attentional control with implementation variance. It is proposed that these timing deficits associated with reading difficulties are attributable to central timekeeping processes and so the contribution of error correction to timing performance was also investigated (Chapter 9). Children with lower scores on measures of literacy and attention were found to have a slower or failed correction response to phase errors in timing behaviour. Results from the series of studies suggest that the motor timing difficulty in poor reading children may stem from failures in the judgement of synchrony due to greater tolerance of uncertainty in the temporal processing system.

InP-based active and passive components for communication systems at 2 μm

Progress on advanced active and passive photonic components that are required for high-speed optical communications over hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber at wavelengths around 2 μm is described in this paper. Single-frequency lasers capable of operating at 10 Gb/s and covering a wide spectral range are realized. A comparison is made between waveguide and surface normal photodiodes with the latter showing good sensitivity up to 15 Gb/s. Passive waveguides, 90° optical hybrids, and arrayed waveguide grating with 100-GHz channel spacing are demonstrated on a large spot-size waveguide platform. Finally, a strong electro-optic effect using the quantum confined Stark effect in strain-balanced multiple quantum wells is demonstrated and used in a Mach-Zehnder modulator capable of operating at 10 Gb/s.

A szervezeti identitás meghatározása, elemei és menedzselése (Defining of organizational identity and its components and management)

Jelen cikk a szervezeti identitás különböző tudományos értelmezéseit, elemeit mutatja be és kapcsolja össze a gyakorlattal. A szerzők értelmezése szerint a szervezeti identitás nem azonos a köznyelvben elterjedt arculattal (sem image-zsal), hanem egy holisztikus, menedzsment-szakirodalmakon átívelő fogalomként értelmezhető, mely a külső tényezők hatására a szervezeti kultúra és a szervezeti stratégia alapján alakítható ki. A szervezeti identitás három alkotóelem-csoportból áll (nevezhetjük ezt identitásmixnek is): a munkáltatói márkázásból, az integrált marketingkommunikációból és a vizuális identitásból. Mivel a változó környezet szükségessé teszi, a szervezeti identitás menedzselése egy véget nem érő „spirálfolyamat”, mely a felmérés, a meghatározás, a bevezetés és értékelés szakaszok ismétléséből áll addig, amíg az ideális identitás ki nem alakul. Melyet talán soha nem ér el a vállalat. _____ In this article the different scientific interpretations and elements of organizational identity are presented and combined with practice. According to the authors’ interpretation the organizational identity is not the same as the corporate image, but it can be interpreted as a holistic management literatures panning notion which can be formed by the effect of external factors on basis of the organizational culture and organizational strategy. The organizational identity consists of three component-groups (also called this identity mix) the employer branding, integrated marketingcommunications and visual identity. Due to the changing environment makes it necessary the management of organizational identity is a never-ending ”spiral process”, which consists of repetitions of the survey, the definition, the introduction and the assessment phases until the ideal identity will be formed. Which may be never achieved by the corporate.

Hourly values of X, Y and Z geomagnetic components recorded at Coimbra Station (IAGA code: COI) and local geomagnetic K indices for 2007 to 2014

This study examines the performance of series of two geomagnetic indices and series synthesized from a semi-empirical model of magnetospheric currents, in explaining the geomagnetic activity observed at Northern Hemipshere's mid-latitude ground-based stations. We analyse data, for the 2007 to 2014 period, from four magnetic observatories (Coimbra, Portugal; Panagyurishte, Bulgary; Novosibirsk, Russia and Boulder, USA), at geomagnetic latitudes between 40° and 50° N. The quiet daily (QD) variation is firstly removed from the time series of the geomagnetic horizontal component (H) using natural orthogonal components (NOC) tools. We compare the resulting series with series of storm-time disturbance (Dst) and ring current (RC) indices and with H series synthesized from the Tsyganenko and Sitnov (2005, doi:10.1029/2004JA010798) (TS05) semi-empirical model of storm-time geomagnetic field. In the analysis, we separate days with low and high local K-index values. Our results show that NOC models are as efficient as standard models of QD variation in preparing raw data to be compared with proxies, but with much less complexity. For the two stations in Europe, we obtain indication that NOC models could be able to separate ionospheric and magnetospheric contributions. Dst and RC series explain the four observatory H-series successfully, with values for the mean of significant correlation coefficients, from 0.5 to 0.6 during low geomagnetic activity (K less than 4) and from 0.6 to 0.7 for geomagnetic active days (K greater than or equal to 4). With regard to the performance of TS05, our results show that the four observatories separate into two groups: Coimbra and Panagyurishte, in one group, for which the magnetospheric/ionospheric ratio in QD variation is smaller, a dominantly QD ionospheric contribution can be removed and TS05 simulations are the best proxy; Boulder and Novosibirsk,in the other group, for which the ionospheric and magnetospheric contributions in QD variation can not be differentiated and correlations with TS05 series can not be made to improve. The main contributor to magnetospheric QD signal are Birkeland currents. The relatively good success of TS05 model in explaining ground-based irregular geomagnetic activity at mid-latitudes makes it an effective tool to classify storms according to their main sources. For Coimbra and Panagyurishte in particular, where ionospheric and magnetospheric daily contributions seem easier to separate, we can aspire to use the TS05 model for ensemble generation in space weather (SW) forecasting and interpretation of past SW events.

Mineralogy of northern Indian Ocean surface sediments and of suspended sediments of Indian rivers (Table 2 and 5)

The solid phases from surface sediments, atmospheric dusts, and rivers of the Indian Ocean environment have been analyzed for their clay minerals and quartz. Such data have been used to delimit the transport paths and sources of the detrital minerals in the oceanic deposits. Diagnostic in distinguishing fluvial and eolian inputs to the northern Indian Ocean is a combination of the clay mineral assemblages and of their geographic distributions. River borne solids are the primary components of the Bay of Bengal deposits. The eastern part receives its continental input through the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system, while drainage of the Indian Peninsula by rivers introduces solids to the western part. The former materials are characterized by high illite and chlorite in the clay mineral assemblages; the latter by montmorillonite. The winds over the Bay bear distinctive dust burdens based upon their directions. However, their contributions to the sediments are insignificant. The eastern sector of the Arabian Sea receives major contributions of continental debris from the rivers and the high montmorillonite levels clearly indicate a source in the Indian Peninsula. The rest of the Sea appears to receive most of its land-derived materials from the north, perhaps the desert regions of northern India and West Pakistan, and they are wind-borne. These materials are also transported to the equatorial regions of the Indian Ocean. A gradient in attapulgite, just north of the equator, may indicate an eolian contribution to the Arabian Sea from the African continent. The halogenated hydrocarbon pesticides were assayed in the southwest monsoon winds and enter the Bay of Bengal at levels of a half ton per month, an amount comparable to those introduced by other wind and river systems to the marine environment.

Distribution of planktonic and benthic foraminifers in bottom sediments from Core LV28-42-5, Sea of Okhotsk

Distribution of diatoms and planktonic and benthic foraminifers, as well as correlation of components of sandy grain size fraction were studied in the Quaternary sediment core LV28-42-5 (720 cm long) col¬lected on the southeastern slope (1045 m depth) of the Institute of Oceanology Rise, Sea of Okhotsk. This study allowed to reconstruct principle features of paleoceanographic evolution. In the course of penultimate and last continental glaciations (isotope stages 6 and 4-2) and during the later period of the last interglacial (substages 5.d-5.a) the following conditions were characteristic of this area: low temperatures of surface water, terrigenous sediment accumulation including coarse grained ice-rafted material, minimum bioproductivity and microfossil content in sediments, low sea level, reduced water exchange with the ocean, low position of old deep Pacific water. During the interglacial optimum (substage 5.e), as well as in the last deglaciation and Holocene (stage 1) water temperature and bioproductivity increased, sea level rose, and active surface water exchange between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan took place. This resulted in intensive inflow of the old deep Pacific water into the Sea of Okhotsk and elevation of its upper boundary by few hundred meters. During the later intervals of these warm periods a dichothermal structure of the upper water layer formed and diatom oozes accumulated.