Studies on the photosensitisation of animals in South Africa. VII. The nature of the photosensitising agent in geeldikkop

The pigment responsible for the photosensitivity in geeldikkop and also that developing after operative ligature of the bile duct in sheep (experimental icterus) has been isolated and identified as phylloerythrin, a porphyrin derived form chlorophyll. In the absence of chlorophyll from the diet, experimental animals neither became photosensitive nor could phylloerythrin be isolated from the bile, serum or faeces. The agencies responsible for the biological transformation of chlorophyll into phylloerythrin in the sheep are under investigation. Preliminary results show that the phylloerythrin is formed in the fore-stomachs and is probably a product of protozoal or bacterial activity. The icterogenic factor in geeldikkop is still under investigation.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn2015mn201

Systematical, experimental investigations on LiMgZ (Z= P, As, Sb) wide band gap semiconductors

This work reports on the experimental investigation of the wide band gap compounds LiMgZ (Z = P, As, Sb), which are promising candidates for opto-electronics and anode materials for Lithium batteries. The compounds crystallize in the cubic (C1_b) MgAgAs structure (space group F-43m). The polycrystalline samples were synthesized by solid state reaction methods. X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements show a homogeneous, single-phased samples. The electronic properties were studied using the direct current (DC) method. Additionally UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded in order to investigate the band gap nature. The measurements show that all compounds exhibit semiconducting behavior with direct band gaps of 1.0 eV to 2.3 eV depending on the Z element. A decrease of the peak widths in the static 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra with increasing temperature was observed, which can directly be related to an increase of Li ion mobility.Comment: 8 page

Studies on the photosensitisation of animals in South Africa. II. The presence of a lethal factor in certain members of the plant genus Tribulus

"Geeldikkop" is a disease of South African sheep, associated with photosensitisation and icterus, caused by Tribulus terrestris and certain other plants. It is shown that a lethal factor is present in the fresh juice and aqueous extracts of Tribulus, which can cause death from asphyxia following intracorpuscular conversions of haemoglobin into methaemoglobin. The responsible agent is an inorganic nitrite, not present as such, but formed from pre-existing nitrate under the influence of an oxido-reductase. This, however, does not account for the naturally occurring " Geeldikkop, " since it does not account for the photosensitivity and icterus. Repeated dosing with sodium nitrite, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, hydrazine sulfate and ammonium carbonate failed to photosensitise sheep. Administration of sodium nitrite, nitrobenzol and amyl nitrite produced death from simple methaemoglobinaemia.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Determining seagrassess community structure using the Braun – Blanquet technique in the intertidal zones of Islas de Gigantes, Philippines

The seagrass ecosystem which is considered the most productive ecosystem occurs in tropical and subtropical shallow marine waters where it supports diverse flora and fauna. Seagrasses of Islas de Gigantes, Carles, Iloilo were assessed to  determine species diversity, abundance, canopy height and percentage cover. Braun – Blanquet technique was used where 3 transects were laid in each station in three barangays of Islas de Gigantes, namely: Barangay Asluman, Barangay Granada and Barangay Gabi. A total of 7 species were found, Thalassia hemprichii, Cymodocea rotundata, Cymodocea serrulata, Halodule pinifolia, Halodule uninervis, Enhalus acoroides and Syringodium isoetifolium. Using the Shannon Diversity Index, the seagrass bed in Gabi was the most diverse with a value of 2.8. Sorenson's coefficient (CC) was used to compute the species similarity attributes indicating that the three communities have many similarities to each other in terms of species diversity and environmental parameters that affect seagrass ecosystems. Syringodium isoetifolium had recorded the highest number of shoots (475 shoots/m2) in Granada. The percentage cover of seagrasses varied across the sampling sites ranging from 55% - 67.50%, with a mean value of 62.50%. However, E. acoroides had the tallest canopy height recorded that  ranged from 12.33 – 24.83 cm

Five ways to save Britain’s struggling high streets

The high street, or the main shopping area, has always been the heart of any UK town or city. But over the last ten years, it’s significance has dwindled. Over 28,000 stores have closed, and footfall has been on a “relentless downward trend”. While commentators often blame store closures on online shopping and poor footfall on the weather, our research uncovered a rather different problem

Space Shuttle UHF Communications Performance Evaluation

An extension boom is to be installed on the starboard side of the Space Shuttle Orbiter (SSO) payload bay for thermal tile inspection and repairing. As a result, the Space Shuttle payload bay Ultra High Frequency (UHF) antenna will be under the boom. This study is to evaluate the Space Shuttle UHF communication performance for antenna at a suitable new location. To insure the RF coverage performance at proposed new locations, the link margin between the UHF payload bay antenna and Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Astronauts at a range distance of 160 meters from the payload bay antenna was analyzed. The communication performance between Space Shuttle Orbiter and International Space Station (SSO-ISS) during rendezvous was also investigated. The multipath effects from payload bay structures surrounding the payload bay antenna were analyzed. The computer simulation tool based on the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction method (GTD) was used to compute the signal strengths. The total field strength was obtained by summing the direct fields from the antennas and the reflected and diffracted fields from the surrounding structures. The computed signal strengths were compared to the signal strength corresponding to the 0 dB link margin. Based on the results obtained in this study, RF coverage for SSO-EVA and SSO- ISS communication links was determined for the proposed payload bay antenna UHF locations. The RF radiation to the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) pyros, the payload bay avionics, and the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS) from the new proposed UHF antenna location was also investigated to ensure the EMC/EMI compliances

Towns and Cities as Multifunctional Centres

Whilst omni-channel retailing and the digital high street may be two of the latest talking points in the retail property industry, our towns and city centres have always been shaped by a series of technological, social and political revolutions. The purpose of this report is to examine how, after many years of mono-functionality focused upon retailing, our centres are experiencing something of a renaissance, and remerging as multi-functional ones, supporting leisure and recreation, employment, tourism, heritage, culture, housing, employment, education, health and wellbeing as well as retail. A multi-functional centre means a diverse offer, and, therefore, traditional economic indicators will not, on their own, act as a sensible yardstick of performance or tool for decision-making. For the multi-functional centre, activity levels are the key performance indicators. How much is the centre used, when and for what? Multi-functional centres draw people in for a much wider ‘bundle of benefits’ than just shopping. This requires all stakeholders to work together much more effectively to deliver a better collective experience in locations, to the commuter who may want to choose and collect at different times of the day, depending on their personal transport options and shift patterns, to the carer who may want to combine exercise and top-up shopping near to reliable respite care. Many of the newfound uses for underused or redundant retail space have resulted from structural changes in the retail sector, as well as from a more tightly gripped public purse. This has opened up the possibility for much more community involvement in the redevelopment and reuse of space. Sometimes this influx of creativity is only temporary, but it still demonstrates what an important asset an engaged community can be to a place, and what a difference it can make to vitality and viability. We think the retail property sector should work harder to integrate more local entrepreneurship and civic practice into both the development of new centres and the management of existing ones. The successful multi-functional centre will have both a multitude of users as well as a multitude of caretakers. Most of all, our report argues that all retail developments (both new and existing) have to integrate more effectively into the overall offer of the multi-functional centre. Decision making and management must become less hierarchical and myopic and more place-based and ‘porous’ to allow more intelligence and input from the location

High Street UK 2020 Interim Project Report: Identifying factors that influence vitality and viability

The purpose of this document is to report the progress of the High Street UK2020 (HSUK2020) project. Started in January 2014, HSUK2020 aims to bring evidence to 10 UK High Streets, to improve local decision making that will improve vitality and viability. The 10 partner locations are Alsager, Altrincham, Ballymena, Barnsley, Bristol (St George), Congleton, Holmfirth, Market Rasen, Morley and Wrexham. The report outlines the background to the project, the methods we have employed, the results we have found and a brief overview of how some of our partner towns are using these findings. By undertaking a systematic review of the literature and, through adopting a more ‘engaged’ model of scholarship, the project has identified 201 factors that influence the performance of the UK High Street. This has enabled us to classify the top 25 priorities for action our partner towns should focus on