Compact stellar systems in the Fornax Cluster: Super-massive star clusters or extremely compact dwarf galaxies?

We describe a population of compact objects in the centre of the Fornax Cluster which were discovered as part of our 2dF Fornax Spectroscopic Survey. These objects have spectra typical of old stellar systems, but are unresolved on photographic sky survey plates. They have absolute magnitudes - 13 < M-B

Small area population disease burden

Small area health statistics has assumed increasing importance as the focus of population and public health moves to a more individualised approach of smaller area populations. Small populations and low event occurrence produce difficulties in interpretation and require appropriate statistical methods, including for age adjustment. There are also statistical questions related to multiple comparisons. Privacy and confidentiality issues include the possibility of revealing information on individuals or health care providers by fine cross-tabulations. Interpretation of small area population differences in health status requires consideration of migrant and Indigenous composition, socio-economic status and rural-urban geography before assessment of the effects of physical environmental exposure and services and interventions. Burden of disease studies produce a single measure for morbidity and mortality - disability adjusted life year (DALY) - which is the sum of the years of life lost (YLL) from premature mortality and the years lived with disability (YLD) for particular diseases (or all conditions). Calculation of YLD requires estimates of disease incidence (and complications) and duration, and weighting by severity. These procedures often mean problematic assumptions, as does future discounting and age weighting of both YLL and YLD. Evaluation of the Victorian small area population disease burden study presents important cross-disciplinary challenges as it relies heavily on synthetic approaches of demography and economics rather than on the empirical methods of epidemiology. Both empirical and synthetic methods are used to compute small area mortality and morbidity, disease burden, and then attribution to risk factors. Readers need to examine the methodology and assumptions carefully before accepting the results.

Adolescent depressive symptomatology: Improve schools or help students?

Despite the increasing interest in programs designed to improve the social ecology of schools, surprisingly little is known about whether differences between schools influence student mental health. This 3-year prospective, naturalistic study examines the school effect on adolescent depressive symptomatology (measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D) among 2,489 students from 25 Australian high schools. Multilevel modelling techniques (HLM) formed the basis of the statistical analyses, There were statistically significant school effects on students' depressive symptomatology; however, these were much smaller than expected. Nearly all of the variation in CES-D depression scores was found to be at the student level, indicating that the potential mental health gains from reducing risk factors in school social environments may be extremely limited and have little effect on student depressive symptomatology.

The VITATOPS (vitamins to prevent stroke) Trial: Rationale and design of an international, large, simple, randomised trial of homocysteine-lowering multivitamin therapy in patients with recent transient ischaemic attack or stroke

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that raised plasma concentrations of total homocysteine (tHcy) may be a common, causal and treatable risk factor for atherothromboembolic ischaemic stroke. Although tHcy can be lowered effectively with small doses of folic acid, vitamin B-12 and vitamin B-6, it is not known whether lowering tHcy, by means of multivitamin therapy, can prevent stroke and other major atherothromboembolic vascular events. Purpose: To determine whether vitamin supplements (folic acid 2 mg, B-6 25 Mg, B-12 500 mug) reduce the risk of stroke, and other serious vascular events, in patients with recent stroke or transient ischaemic attacks of the brain or eye (TIA). Methods: An international, multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Results: As of November 2001, more than 1,400 patients have been randomised from 10 countries in four continents. Conclusion: VITATOPS aims to recruit and follow up 8,000 patients between 2000 and 2004, and provide a reliable estimate of the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplementation with folic acid, vitamin B-12, and vitamin B-6 in reducing recurrent serious vascular events among a wide range of patients with TIA and stroke. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Scope for further analytical solutions for constant flux infiltration into a semi-infinite soil profile or redistribution in a finite soil profile

[1] We attempt to generate new solutions for the moisture content form of the one-dimensional Richards' [1931] equation using the Lisle [1992] equivalence mapping. This mapping is used as no more general set of transformations exists for mapping the one-dimensional Richards' equation into itself. Starting from a given solution, the mapping has the potential to generate an infinite number of new solutions for a series of nonlinear diffusivity and hydraulic conductivity functions. We first seek new analytical solutions satisfying Richards' equation subject to a constant flux surface boundary condition for a semi-infinite dry soil, starting with the Burgers model. The first iteration produces an existing solution, while subsequent iterations are shown to endlessly reproduce this same solution. Next, we briefly consider the problem of redistribution in a finite-length soil. In this case, Lisle's equivalence mapping is generalized to account for arbitrary initial conditions. As was the case for infiltration, however, it is found that new analytical solutions are not generated using the equivalence mapping, although existing solutions are recovered.

To fix or not to fix: The role of 2-phenoxyethanol in rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, chin gland secretion

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) uses the secretion of the chin gland to maintain dominance hierarchies in the wild. Recent work has investigated changes in the secretion when social status is manipulated in the rabbit. When a rabbit becomes dominant, a new compound appears in his secretion, 2-phenoxyethanol. This compound is used as a fixative in the perfume industry. This study investigates whether the compound performs a similar function in the secretion of the rabbit. 2-Phenoxyethanol is not detected olfactorially by rabbits, and slows the release rate of some of the compounds that occur naturally in rabbit chin gland secretion. We suggest that when a rabbit becomes dominant, he adds a fixative to his secretion so that his scent will persist in the environment and not dissipate. He will thus come to dominate the olfactory environment, in much the same way as he does the physical environment.

Virus or not? Phylogenetics of polydnaviruses and their wasp carriers

Our current, still limited, understanding of the comparative biology and evolution of polydnaviruses (PDVs) is reviewed, especially in the context of the possible origins of these parasitoid viruses and of their coevolution with carrier wasps. A hypothetical scenario of evolution of PDVs from ascovirus (or ascovirus-like) ancestors is presented, with examples of apparent extant transitional forms. PDVs appear, in the case of bracoviruses, to show phylogenetic relationships that mirror those of their wasp carriers: with ichno-viruses, the picture is less clear. Ongoing sequencing studies of entire PDV genomes from diverse wasp species are likely to greatly contribute to our understanding of PDV evolution. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Causes and consequences of long-term climatic variability on the Australian continent

1. Ice-volume forced glacial-interglacial cyclicity is the major cause of global climate variation within the late Quaternary period. Within the Australian region, this variation is expressed predominantly as oscillations in moisture availability. Glacial periods were substantially drier than today with restricted distribution of mesic plant communities, shallow or ephemeral water bodies and extensive aeolian dune activity. 2. Superimposed on this cyclicity in Australia is a trend towards drier and/or more variable climates within the last 350 000 years. This trend may have been initiated by changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation resulting from Australia's continued movement into the Southeast Asian region and involving the onset or intensification of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation system and a reduction in summer monsoon activity. 3. Increased biomass burning, stemming originally from increased climatic variability and later enhanced by activities of indigenous people, resulted in a more open and sclerophyllous vegetation, increased salinity and a further reduction in water availability. 4. Past records combined with recent observations suggest that the degree of environmental variability will increase and the drying trend will be enhanced in the foreseeable future, regardless of the extent or nature of human intervention.

Late Quaternary Milankovitch-scale climatic change and variability and its impact on monsoonal Australasia

Four pollen and charcoal records derived from marine cores around the northern perimeter of Australia are examined to provide a regional picture of patterns, causes and impacts of climate change over the last 100-300 ka. The availability of radiocarbon dates and oxygen isotope records for the cores provides primary chronological control. Spectral analysis of components of these records demonstrates an overall importance of Milankovitch frequencies with clear glacial-interglacial cyclicity dominated by variation in precipitation. In addition, a number of pollen taxa, as well as charcoal particles, exhibit a 30 ka frequency that is considered, from its relationship with biomass burning and with results of past modelling, to reflect changes in the intensity of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. Pollen components of all records show a decline, frequently stepwise, in more fire-sensitive vegetation and its replacement with more fire-tolerant vegetation. There is some evidence that this trend is linked to an onset or general increase in ENSO activity and perhaps also to variation in monsoon activity dating from about 300 ka BP that was caused by changes to oceanic circulation within the Indonesian region. The trend may have accelerated within the last 45 ka due to burning by indigenous people. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Choices associated with automobiles for Men and Women: convergence or divergence?

The increase of the women purchase power has led some companies to adopt strategies of products differentiation as well as to produce specific products to the female public. The auto industry is not immune to this phenomenon, once the women represent, approximately half of the automobile sales in the country. Considering the consumption and the behavior differences between women and men, it has set the following question: are there differences between the choices associated to the automobile by men and the choices associated to the automobile by women? It has been presented to the participants items found in the people`s day-by-day, which are valorized by them, and the participants have been asked to choose and associate these items to the automobile. The results analysis revealed there are more similarities than differences between choices associated to the automobile by men ad choices associated to the automobile by women. The similarity between the choices suggests that the representations, the meanings and values assigned. to the car by men ana women are similar and thus the strategy of product differentiation does not apply to the automotive industry

The Controllership Relevance or Risk Management in non-Financial Companies: a study of risk managers` and controllers` perceptions

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Controllership relevance as support risk management in non-financial companies. Risk management is a widely discussed and disseminated subject amongst financial institutions. It is obvious that economic uncertainties and, consequently, prevention and. control must also exist in non-financial companies. To enable managers to take safe-decisions, it is essential for them to be able to count on instrumental support that provides timely and adequate information, to ensure lower levels of mistakes and risk exposure. However, discussion concerning risk management in non-financial companies is still in its early stages in Brazil. Considering this gap, this study aims at assessing how Controllership has been acting in? companies under the insight of risk and how it can contribute to risk management in non-financial companies. To achieve the proposed goal, a field research was. carried-out with non-financial companies that are located in the city Sao Paulo and listed in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa). The research was carried out using questionnaires, which were sent do Risk Officers and Controllers of those companies with the purpose of evaluating their perception on the subject. The results,of the research allow us to conclude that Controllership offers support to risk management, through information that contributes to the mitigation of the risks in non-financial companies.

Hippolyte obliquimanus (Decapoda : Caridea : Hippolytidae): a gonochoric or hermaphroditic shrimp species?

Several studies have reported the occurrence of hermaphroditism in caridean shrimps of the family Hippolytidae. Here we provide the first observations of population traits from the small Western Atlantic shrimp, Hippolyte obliquimanus, to determine its sexual system using descriptive and experimental approaches. Specimens were collected at 2-month intervals from March 2005 to May 2006 in Ubatuba Bay on the northern coast of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The sex of individuals was checked and morphometric dimensions (carapace length, maximum pleura of second abdominal segment width, appendix masculina length, maximum propodus width, and dactyl length of the third pereopod) were also analyzed. The gonads were dissected and examined for signs of abnormalities. The possibility of sex change was experimentally evaluated under laboratory conditions. A total of 674 specimens were collected: 211 males, 339 non-ovigerous females, and 124 ovigerous females. The carapace length ranged from 0.55 to 3.20 mm, with females being significantly larger than males. Hippolyte obliquimanus showed sexual dimorphism in the third pereopod, absence of cincinnuli in the first pleopod, and no reduction of the appendix masculina in the largest males. All males examined had only testes, and all females had only ovaries. There was no sex change observed in the experiments. Together, these data indicate a population with females reaching larger sizes than males, males with a well-developed appendix masculina, and no transitional individuals. The results presented allow characterizing H. obliquimanus as a gonochoric species.

Slant or occlusion: global factors resolve stereoscopic ambiguity in sets of horizontal lines

Perceived slant was measured for horizontal lines aligned on one side and of varying lengths whose length disparity was either a constant linear amount for all lines (consistent with uniocular occlusion) or proportional to line length (consistent with global slant). Although the disparity of any line was ambiguous with respect to these two possibilities, slant of individual lines did not occur in the former case, but a subjective contour in depth was reported along the alignment. For proportional disparity of the set, global slant was seen. Adding a constant length to each line on the invalid eye for occlusion resulted in multiple slants. Smooth uniocular variations in alignment shape elicited subjective contours slanting or curving in depth. Global context can disambiguate the depth status of individual disparate lines. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.