The morphology dependent electrocatalytic activity of Ir nanostructures towards oxygen reduction

Iridium nanostructures with different morphologies are synthesized by a simple, environmentally friendly approach in aqueous media under mild conditions. The morphology dependent electrocatalytic activity of Ir nanochains and nanoparticles towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been demonstrated in both acidic and alkaline media. Comparative electrochemical studies reveal that nanochains exhibit significantly enhanced ORR activities in both acidic and alkaline media as compared with nanoparticles, as a result of the continuous structure of interconnected particles. The mechanism of oxygen reduction on Ir nanostructures predominantly follows a four-electron pathway in alkaline and acidic solutions. Excellent stability and good selectivity towards methanol tolerance are reported.

Path Following Using Trajectory Shaping Guidance

Unmanned vehicle path following by pursuing a virtual target moving along the path is considered. Limitations for pure pursuit guidance are analyzed while following the virtual target on curved paths. Trajectory shaping guidance is proposed as an alternate guidance scheme for a general curvature path. It is proven that under certain tenable assumptions trajectory shaping guidance yields an identical path as that of the virtual target. By linear analysis it is shown that the convergence to the path for trajectory shaping guidance is twice as fast as pure pursuit. Simulations highlight significant improvement in position errors by using trajectory shaping guidance. Comparative simulation studies comply with analytic findings and present better performance as compared with pure pursuit and a nonlinear guidance methodology from the literature. Experimental validation supports the analytic and simulations studies as the guidance laws are implemented on a radio-controlled car in a laboratory environment.

Methods for Measuring Aggregate Costs of Conflict

This paper reviews the methods for measuring the economic cost of conflict. Estimating the economic costs of conflict requires a counterfactual calculation, which makes this a very difficult task. Social researchers have resorted to different estimation methods depending on the particular effect in question. The method used in each case depends on the units being analyzed (firms, sectors, regions or countries), the outcome variable under study (aggregate output, market valuation of firms, market shares, etc.) and data availability (a single cross-section, time series or panel data). This paper reviews existing methods used in the literature to assess the economic impact of conflict: cost accounting, cross-section methods, time series methods, panel data methods, gravity models, event studies, natural experiments and comparative case studies. The paper ends with a discussion of cost estimates and directions for further research.

Discurso e ensino: o curso de Letras e a formação docente

Esta tese tem por objetivo discutir a política científico-educacional do curso de Letras, por meio da análise do projeto político-pedagógico (PPP) que norteia a formação do acadêmico e do futuro professor de Língua Portuguesa. A compreensão de que toda esfera da atividade humana elabora os seus gêneros mais ou menos estáveis, segundo os quais os sujeitos se relacionam e interagem socialmente (BAKHTIN, 1997) é significativa, pois permite afirmar que o PPP é um documento norteador de uma política científico-educacional, podendo se manifestar nas práticas discursivas próprias da vida universitária de um curso. No PPP se delineiam, entre outros princípios, concepções filosófico-educacionais e abordagens teóricas e metodológicas que fundamentam o discurso científico-educacional e os saberes instituídos do curso de Letras. Em virtude disso, procurou-se traçar um percurso histórico das referências locais e globais, a partir de concepções sobre ser, tempo, acontecimento e alteridade, advindas do saber literário (BARTHES, 1992 e BAKHTIN, 2010) e da trajetória universitária em foco, articuladas à conjuntura que vem marcando o movimento por mudanças nas ciências e na educação. Investigou-se, em seguida, o PPP do curso de Letras, analisando esse gênero do discurso acadêmico-universitário, consoante a forma e tipo de interação em relação com a situação concreta de enunciação e com o horizonte histórico e social mais amplo (BAKHTIN/VOLOCHINOV, 1992), em que se configuram novos sentidos que convergem e/ou confrontam com discursos e saberes historicamente instituídos do curso. Refletiu-se, pois, se a introdução de novas disciplinas em estudos da linguagem resulta de uma transição consensual de uma Linguística do enunciado para uma Linguística da enunciação ou marca uma crise de paradigma(s) no âmbito da Linguística. Procedeu-se, por fim, a uma análise dos discursos dos acadêmicos de Letras da UFPA-Marabá, a fim de compreender os sentidos que constroem sobre o curso, sobre o projeto político-pedagógico, a imagem que constroem da instituição, de si mesmos, como acadêmicos e futuros professores de Língua Portuguesa. Objetivou-se, com isso, confrontar a política científico-educacional proposta pelo PPP com o discurso desses sujeitos, a fim de compreender seus posicionamentos diante da formação que permeia o projeto, bem como sua avaliação a respeito do discurso de integração curricular. Procurou-se, por fim, focalizar outras referências de cursos de Letras, com o objetivo de cotejar os posicionamentos de diferentes PPP em relação ao perfil que pretendem construir de professor de Língua Portuguesa, consoante o quadro curricular proposto em estudos da linguagem. Toma-se como córpus os PPPs dos Cursos de Letras do Câmpus Universitário de Marabá e de Belém, da Universidade Federal do Pará e, da Universidade Federal de Goiás (Câmpus de Catalão e Câmpus de Goiânia), para então compará-los com depoimentos escritos dos acadêmicos de Letras da UFPA-Marabá

O verbo no livro dos Salmos: a semântica dos aspectos

Neste trabalho é feito um estudo dos aspectos do verbo no livro dos Salmos, considerando seus valores semântico-sintáticos. Para este fim, considera-se a evolução dos estudos da linguagem, fundamentado em Hermann Paul (1970); o desenvolvimento da ciência das significações através do trabalho de Bréal (1925) e enriquecido pela perspectiva de Marques (2001); a evolução da Linguística por meio do estruturalismo fundamentado em Ferdinand de Saussure e Leonor de Bloomfield, e do gerativismo de Noam Chomsky. Focaliza-se a dimensão textual discursiva com a função de realizar formulações sobre o verbo e articular relação entre teoria do texto e do discurso segundo a perspectiva de Travaglia (1991). Retrata-se a relação de significação que os verbos assumem no texto, embasado no estudo do aspecto segundo os pressupostos de Castilho (1968), Travaglia (1986, 1991) e Azeredo (2010). Para se estabelecer relações entre o aspecto verbal e a mensagem bíblica dos Salmos, fundamenta-se na visão semântica de Ilari (2001) e nos comentários semânticos e teológicos de Champlin (2000)

Construction, characterization and chromosomal mapping of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti)

We constructed a high redundancy bacterial artificial chromosome library of a seriously endangered Old World Monkey, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) from China. This library contains a total of 136 320 BAC clones. The average insert size of BAC clones was estimated to be 148 kb. The percentage of small inserts (50-100 kb) is 2.74%, and only 2.67% non-recombinant clones were observed. Assuming a similar genome size with closely related primate species, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey BAC library has at least six times the genome coverage. By end sequencing of randomly selected BAC clones, we generated 201 sequence tags for the library. A total of 139 end-sequenced BAC clones were mapped onto the chromosomes of Yunnan snub-nosed monkey by fluorescence in-situ hybridization, demonstrating a high degree of synteny conservation between humans and Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys. Blast search against human genome showed a good correlation between the number of hit clones and the size of the chromosomes, an indication of unbiased chromosomal distribution of the BAC library. This library and the mapped BAC clones will serve as a valuable resource in comparative genomics studies and large-scale genome sequencing of nonhuman primates. The DNA sequence data reported in this paper were deposited in GenBank and assigned the accession number CG891489-CG891703.

A new one-boat mid-water trawl for Indian waters

Even though the rich and variegated pelagic fishery resources of our west coast are well known much has to be done for a judicial and systematic exploitation on a commercial scale. To fill up this lacuna the present paper describes in detail a new design of 10.5 m four-equal panel mid-water trawl, its rigging and operation from a medium size vessel. Comprehensive comparative efficiency studies of this gear with a 10.5m unequal panel mid-water trawl established the superiority of the new gear. From the results based on the mouth opening, resistance and the catch it is opined that this new gear can not only be used on a commercial scale in harvesting the seasonal pelagic fishery, but also as a secondary supporting gear in shrimp fishery in places like Veraval, where there is a commercially exploitable yield of quality fishes like hilsa, pomfret, seer etc., without much modification from conventional stern trawlers.

One-boat midwater trawling with unequal panelled trawl

Results of the comparative efficiency studies with 10.5 m equal panelled and 10.3 m unequal panelled midwater trawls operated from 10.9 m wooden trawler are presented. Out of the two nets, the latter proved to be relatively good for the capture of off bottom and column fishes like pomfrets, seer, lactarius, catfish, silver bar, ribbon fish and an increase of 84.4% in total catch was observed.

Molecular characterization of three Rana grylio virus (RGV) isolates and Paralichthys olivaceus lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV-C) in iridoviruses

Three Rana grylio virus (RGV) isolates and lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV-C) were molecularly characterized by antigenicity comparison, Western blot detection of viral polypeptides, restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of viral genomes, and MCP sequence analysis. Significant antigenicity differences existed among the three RGV isolates and LCDV-C. Western blot detection indicated that the viral polypeptides of three RGV isolates could be recognized by the anti-RGV9807 serum, whereas no bands were observed in the LCDV-C, and significant differences exist among the band patterns of three RGV isolates. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was performed by digesting genomic DNA of the four iridovirus isolates with restriction endonucleases HindIII, KpnI, XbaI and BamHI. On the whole, obvious discrepancies existed between LCDV-C and RGV isolates, and some significant band pattern differences were also revealed between RGV9808 and RGV9506 (or RGV9807) in the profiles of restriction endonucleases Xbal, Kpn I and BamHI. PCR amplification and sequence analysis of MCP gene sequence further revealed their phylogenetic relationship among the three RGV isolates, LCDV-C and other iridoviruses. RGV9506, RGV9807 and RGV9808 are clustered together with other ranaviruses, such as FV3, BIV, TFV and ENHV, although the RGV9808 is more close to EHNV than to other ranaviruses. Additionally, LCDV-C is clustered with LCDV-1, the type species of genus Lymphocystisvirus. The current study provides clear evidence that significant genetic difference exists among the three RGV isolates. Therefore, further work on comparative genomic studies will contribute significantly to understanding of their taxonomic position and pathological mechanism. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Karyotypic diversity in polyploid gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio Bloch

Polyploid gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio, is an excellent model system for evolutionary genetics owing to its specific genetic background and reproductive modes. Comparative karyotype studies were performed in three cultured clones, one artificially manipulated group, and one mated group between two clones. Both the clones A and P had 156 chromosomes in their karyotypes, with 36 metacentric, 54 submetacentric, 36 subtelocentric, 24 acrocentric, and six small chromosomes. The karyotype of clone D contained 162 chromosomes, with 42 metacentric, 54 submetacentric, 36 subtelocentric, 24 acrocentric, and six small chromosomes. All the three clones had six small chromosomes in common. Group G, being originated from the clone D by artificial manipulation, showed supernumerary microchromosomes or chromosomal fragments, in addition to the normal chromosome complement that was identical to the clone D. The offspring from mating between clones D and A had 159 chromosomes. Comparing with the clone A, the DA offspring showed three extra metacentric chromosomes. In addition, variable RAPD fingerprint patterns and unusual SCAR marker inheritance were, respectively, detected among individuals of artificial group G and in the mated DA offspring. Both the chromosome and molecular findings suggest that genome reshuffling might have occurred by manipulation or mating of the clones.

Construction and characterization of a fosmid library for pathogenic bacterium Vibrio anguillarum

Vibrio anguillarum is a common bacterial pathogen in fish. However, little is known about its pathogenic mechanism, in part, because the entire genome has not been completely sequenced. We constructed a fosmid library for V. anguillarum containing 960 clones with an average insert size of 37.7 kb and 8.6-fold genome coverage. We characterized the library by end-sequencing 50 randomly selected clones. This generated 93 sequences with a total length of 57 485 by covering 1.4% of the whole genome. Of these sequences, 58 (62.4%) were homologous to known genes, 30 (32.3%) were genes with hypothetical functions, and the remaining 5 (5.3%) were unknown genes. We demonstrated the utility of this library by PCR screening of 10 genes. This resulted in an average of 6.2 fosmid clones per screening. This fosmid library offers a new tool for gene screening and cloning of V. anguillarum, and for comparative genomic studies among Vibrio species.

Fuzzy interpolative reasoning via scale and move transformation

Z. Huang and Q. Shen. Fuzzy interpolative reasoning via scale and move transformation. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 14(2):340-359.

O interdyscyplinarności komparatystyki

For the past fifty years, the interest in issues beyond pure philology has been a watchword in comparative literary studies. Comparative studies, which by default employ a variety of methods, run the major risk – as the experience of American comparative literature shows – of descending into dangerous ‘everythingism’ or losing its identity. However, it performs well when literature remains one of the segments of comparison. In such instances, it proves efficacious in exploring the ‘correspondences of arts’, the problems of identity and multiculturalism as well as contributes to the research into the transfer of ideas. Hence, it delves into phenomena which exist on the borderlines of literature, fine arts and other fields of humanities, employing strategies of interpretation which are typical for each of those fields. This means that in the process there emerges a “borderline methodology”, whose distinctive feature is heterogeneity of conducting research. This, in turn, requires the scholar to be both ingenious and creative while selecting topics as well as to possess competence in literary studies and the related field.

Conservation, duplication, and loss of the Tor signaling pathway in the fungal kingdom.

BACKGROUND: The nutrient-sensing Tor pathway governs cell growth and is conserved in nearly all eukaryotic organisms from unicellular yeasts to multicellular organisms, including humans. Tor is the target of the immunosuppressive drug rapamycin, which in complex with the prolyl isomerase FKBP12 inhibits Tor functions. Rapamycin is a gold standard drug for organ transplant recipients that was approved by the FDA in 1999 and is finding additional clinical indications as a chemotherapeutic and antiproliferative agent. Capitalizing on the plethora of recently sequenced genomes we have conducted comparative genomic studies to annotate the Tor pathway throughout the fungal kingdom and related unicellular opisthokonts, including Monosiga brevicollis, Salpingoeca rosetta, and Capsaspora owczarzaki. RESULTS: Interestingly, the Tor signaling cascade is absent in three microsporidian species with available genome sequences, the only known instance of a eukaryotic group lacking this conserved pathway. The microsporidia are obligate intracellular pathogens with highly reduced genomes, and we hypothesize that they lost the Tor pathway as they adapted and streamlined their genomes for intracellular growth in a nutrient-rich environment. Two TOR paralogs are present in several fungal species as a result of either a whole genome duplication or independent gene/segmental duplication events. One such event was identified in the amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a chytrid responsible for worldwide global amphibian declines and extinctions. CONCLUSIONS: The repeated independent duplications of the TOR gene in the fungal kingdom might reflect selective pressure acting upon this kinase that populates two proteinaceous complexes with different cellular roles. These comparative genomic analyses illustrate the evolutionary trajectory of a central nutrient-sensing cascade that enables diverse eukaryotic organisms to respond to their natural environments.

Chimpanzees and bonobos exhibit divergent spatial memory development.

Spatial cognition and memory are critical cognitive skills underlying foraging behaviors for all primates. While the emergence of these skills has been the focus of much research on human children, little is known about ontogenetic patterns shaping spatial cognition in other species. Comparative developmental studies of nonhuman apes can illuminate which aspects of human spatial development are shared with other primates, versus which aspects are unique to our lineage. Here we present three studies examining spatial memory development in our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus). We first compared memory in a naturalistic foraging task where apes had to recall the location of resources hidden in a large outdoor enclosure with a variety of landmarks (Studies 1 and 2). We then compared older apes using a matched memory choice paradigm (Study 3). We found that chimpanzees exhibited more accurate spatial memory than bonobos across contexts, supporting predictions from these species' different feeding ecologies. Furthermore, chimpanzees - but not bonobos - showed developmental improvements in spatial memory, indicating that bonobos exhibit cognitive paedomorphism (delays in developmental timing) in their spatial abilities relative to chimpanzees. Together, these results indicate that the development of spatial memory may differ even between closely related species. Moreover, changes in the spatial domain can emerge during nonhuman ape ontogeny, much like some changes seen in human children.