An Empire for the Faithful, A Colony for the Dispossessed

Tsarist officials proclaimed a “civilizing mission” in Central Asia, but, in ruling this territory, they saw in Islam both a tangible instrument of domestic policing and the essential element of a “forward policy.” Paving the way for the projection of tsarist power from Turkestan into neighboring regions, tolerance would, they hoped, allow Russia to undermine British rule and compete for the loyalties of Muslims throughout Asia.Les fonctionnaires tsaristes ont fait état d’une « mission civilisatrice » pour l’Asie centrale, mais, en gouvernant ce territoire, ils ont vu dans l’islam à la fois un instrument de politique intérieure et un élément essentiel d’une « politique vers l’avant ». Préparant le terrain dans le but d’étendre le pouvoir tsariste depuis le Turkestan vers les régions voisines, les Russes espéraient, par leur tolérance, miner le pouvoir britannique et le concurrencer pour gagner la fidélité des musulmans dans l’ensemble de l’Asie

<i>miniPixD</i>: a compact sample analysis system which combines X-ray imaging and diffraction

This paper introduces miniPixD: a new, compact system that utilises transmission X-ray imaging and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to locate and identify materials of interest within an otherwise opaque volume. The system and the embodied techniques have utility in security screening, medical diagnostics, non-destructive testing (NDT) and quality assurance (QA). This paper outlines the design of the system including discussion on the choice of components and presents some data from relevant samples which are compared to other energy dispersive and angular dispersive XRD techniques

What We Know About Multifamily Mortgage Originations and Why We Care

The three publicly available data sets on multifamily mortgage originations are examined and compared in an attempt to resolve the more than $20 billion discrepancy between the published estimates of the size of the conventional conforming multifamily lending market. The data are from the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, and the 1991 Residential Finance Survey. The analyses show that all three data sets have substantial weaknesses, and that the primary source of the differences in estimates is due to differences in the populations covered. The 1993 multifamily mortgage originations volume is estimated to be about$30 billion

Estimating the Volume of Multifamily Mortgage Originations By Commercial Banks Using the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data

Two public data sets on multifamily mortgage originations are used to resolve the $15 billion discrepancy between the published estimates of the size of the multifamily lending market covered by commercial banks. The data are from the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The analyses show the primary sources of the differences in the estimates are differences in the populations covered, nonreporting biases, and the methods used to expand the reported values to aggregate values. The 1993 multifamily mortgage originations volume by commercial banks is estimated to be about$7-8 billion

Determination of ingredients in packaged pharmaceutical tablets by energy dispersive X‐ray diffraction and maximum likelihood principal component analysis multivariate curve resolution‐alternating least squares with correlation constraint

Energy dispersive X‐ray diffraction (EDXRD) and maximum likelihood principal component analysis multivariate curve resolution‐alternating least squares (MLPCA‐MCR‐ALS) with correlation constraint were used to quantify the composition of packaged pharmaceutical formulations. Recorded EDXRD profiles from unpackaged and packaged samples of ternary mixtures were modelled together in order to recover the concentrations as well as the pure profiles of the constituent compounds. MLPCA was used as a data pretreatment step to MCR‐ALS, accounting for the high noise and nonconstant variance observed in the EDXRD profiles and was shown to improve the resolution accuracy of MCR‐ALS for the data set. Local correlation constraints were applied in the MCR‐ALS procedure in order to model unpackaged and packaged samples simultaneously while accounting for the matrix effect of the packaging materials. The composition of the formulations was estimated with root‐mean‐square error of prediction for each component, including paracetamol, being approximately 2.5 %w/w for unpackaged and packaged samples. Paracetamol concentration was resolved simultaneously for the unpackaged and packaged samples to a greater degree of accuracy than achieved by partial least squares regression (PLSR) when modelling the contexts separately. By modelling the effects of the packaging and incorporating accurate reference information of unpackaged samples into the resolution of packaged samples, the potential of EDXRD and MLPCA‐MCR‐ALS for the identification and quantification of packaged solid‐dosage medicine in nondestructive screening and counterfeit medicine detection has been raised

A genome-wide scan to identify loci for smoking rate in the Framingham Heart Study population

BACKGROUND: Although many years of genetic epidemiological studies have demonstrated that genetics plays a significant role in determining smoking behavior, little information is available on genomic loci or genes affecting nicotine dependence. Several susceptibility chromosomal regions for nicotine dependence have been reported, but few have received independent confirmation. To identify susceptibility loci for nicotine dependence, 313 extended pedigrees selected from the Framingham Heart Study population were analyzed by both the GENEHUNTER and S.A.G.E. programs. RESULTS: After performing linkage analyses on the 313 extended Framingham Heart Study families, the EM Haseman-Elston method implemented in GENEHUNTER provided evidence for significant linkage of smoking rate to chromosome 11 and suggestive linkage to chromosomes 9, 14, and 17. Multipoint sib-pair regression analysis using the SIBPAL program of S.A.G.E. on 1389 sib pairs that were split from the 313 extended families identified suggestive linkage of smoking rate to chromosomes 4, 7, and 17. Of these identified positive regions for nicotine dependence, loci on chromosomes 7, 11, and 17 were identified by both GENEHUNTER and S.A.G.E. programs. CONCLUSION: Our genome-wide scan results on the Framingham Heart Study data provide evidence for significant linkage of smoking rate to chromosome 11 and suggestive linkage to chromosomes 4, 7, 9, 14, and 17. These findings suggest that some of these regions may harbor susceptibility loci for nicotine dependence, and warrant further investigation in this and other populations

Multivariate calibration of energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction data for predicting the composition of pharmaceutical tablets in packaging

A system using energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) has been developed and tested using multivariate calibration for the quantitative analysis of tablet-form mixtures of common pharmaceutical ingredients. A principal advantage of EDXRD over the more traditional and common angular dispersive X-ray diffraction technique (ADXRD) is the potential of EDXRD to analyse tablets within their packaging, due to the higher energy X-rays used. In the experiment, a series of caffeine, paracetamol and microcrystalline cellulose mixtures were prepared and pressed into tablets. EDXRD profiles were recorded on each sample and a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out in both unpackaged and packaged scenarios. In both cases the first two principal components explained >98% of the between-sample variance. The PCA projected the sample profiles into two dimensional principal component space in close accordance to their ternary mixture design, demonstrating the discriminating potential of the EDXRD system. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was built with the samples and was validated using leave-one-out cross-validation. Low prediction errors of between 2% and 4% for both unpackaged and packaged tablets were obtained for all three chemical compounds. The prediction capability through packaging demonstrates a truly non-destructive method for quantifying tablet composition and demonstrates good potential for EDXRD to be applied in the field of counterfeit medicine screening and pharmaceutical quality control

An assessment of population structure in eight breeds of cattle using a whole genome SNP panel

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Analyses of population structure and breed diversity have provided insight into the origin and evolution of cattle. Previously, these studies have used a low density of microsatellite markers, however, with the large number of single nucleotide polymorphism markers that are now available, it is possible to perform genome wide population genetic analyses in cattle. In this study, we used a high-density panel of SNP markers to examine population structure and diversity among eight cattle breeds sampled from <it>Bos indicus </it>and <it>Bos taurus</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two thousand six hundred and forty one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning all of the bovine autosomal genome were genotyped in Angus, Brahman, Charolais, Dutch Black and White Dairy, Holstein, Japanese Black, Limousin and Nelore cattle. Population structure was examined using the linkage model in the program STRUCTURE and Fst estimates were used to construct a neighbor-joining tree to represent the phylogenetic relationship among these breeds.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The whole-genome SNP panel identified several levels of population substructure in the set of examined cattle breeds. The greatest level of genetic differentiation was detected between the <it>Bos taurus </it>and <it>Bos indicus </it>breeds. When the <it>Bos indicus </it>breeds were excluded from the analysis, genetic differences among beef versus dairy and European versus Asian breeds were detected among the <it>Bos taurus </it>breeds. Exploration of the number of SNP loci required to differentiate between breeds showed that for 100 SNP loci, individuals could only be correctly clustered into breeds 50% of the time, thus a large number of SNP markers are required to replace the 30 microsatellite markers that are currently commonly used in genetic diversity studies.</p

Whole genome linkage disequilibrium maps in cattle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine whole genome linkage disequilibrium maps were constructed for eight breeds of cattle. These data provide fundamental information concerning bovine genome organization which will allow the design of studies to associate genetic variation with economically important traits and also provides background information concerning the extent of long range linkage disequilibrium in cattle.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Linkage disequilibrium was assessed using r²among all pairs of syntenic markers within eight breeds of cattle from the <it>Bos taurus </it>and <it>Bos indicus </it>subspecies. <it>Bos taurus </it>breeds included Angus, Charolais, Dutch Black and White Dairy, Holstein, Japanese Black and Limousin while <it>Bos indicus </it>breeds included Brahman and Nelore. Approximately 2670 markers spanning the entire bovine autosomal genome were used to estimate pairwise r²values. We found that the extent of linkage disequilibrium is no more than 0.5 Mb in these eight breeds of cattle.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Linkage disequilibrium in cattle has previously been reported to extend several tens of centimorgans. Our results, based on a much larger sample of marker loci and across eight breeds of cattle indicate that in cattle linkage disequilibrium persists over much more limited distances. Our findings suggest that 30,000–50,000 loci will be needed to conduct whole genome association studies in cattle.</p

A Sex-Specific Metabolite Identified in a Marine Invertebrate Utilizing Phosphorus-31 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Hormone level differences are generally accepted as the primary cause for sexual dimorphism in animal and human development. Levels of low molecular weight metabolites also differ between men and women in circulating amino acids, lipids and carbohydrates and within brain tissue. While investigating the metabolism of blue crab tissues using Phosphorus-31 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, we discovered that only the male blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) contained a phosphorus compound with a chemical shift well separated from the expected phosphate compounds. Spectra obtained from male gills were readily differentiated from female gill spectra. Analysis from six years of data from male and female crabs documented that the sex-specificity of this metabolite was normal for this species. Microscopic analysis of male and female gills found no differences in their gill anatomy or the presence of parasites or bacteria that might produce this phosphorus compound. Analysis of a rare gynandromorph blue crab (laterally, half male and half female) proved that this sex-specificity was an intrinsic biochemical process and was not caused by any variations in the diet or habitat of male versus female crabs. The existence of a sex-specific metabolite is a previously unrecognized, but potentially significant biochemical phenomenon. An entire enzyme system has been synthesized and activated only in one sex. Unless blue crabs are a unique species, sex-specific metabolites are likely to be present in other animals. Would the presence or absence of a sex-specific metabolite affect an animal's development, anatomy and biochemistry