Amino acids and amino sugars in calcified tissues of portunid crabs

Amino acid and amino sugar in calcified tissues of portunid crab

High-value niche production: What Australian wineries might learn from a Bordeaux first growth

High-value niche production is reserved for the market's peak price-points. At these levels, rules of supply and demand change configuration. Manufacturers no longer compete on price, but instead are gauged against quality, uniqueness, reliability and prestige. As a result, their products are largely immune to economic fluctuations and offer alternative, often lucrative strategies for individuals and industry sectors as a whole. A sector in which the financial/cultural contrast between niche and mass production techniques is stark is the global wine industry. This paper examines the contrast by focusing on the Australian wine industry as a mass producer. The authors explore the current economic malaise of the industry and highlight associations between deteriorating product value and organisational structures. They then draw upon examples from one of the world's iconic wine producers- Chateau Haut-Brion- to provide tangible and symbolic templates of successful niche production. The outcomes are recommendations for reform among Australian wine producers and their governing organisations. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Comparing the yield of Staphylococcus aureus recovery with static versus agitated broth incubation

Given the lack of standardization of methodologies for microbial recovery from built environments, we sought to compare the yield of Staphylococcus aureus with a broth enrichment method when incubated in agitated versus static conditions. Five unique strains of S. aureus at five different concentrations were cultured to compare direct plating, agitated broth enrichment, and static broth enrichment culture methods. All samples were incubated at 35° in ambient air. The lowest concentration recovered across three replicates and five strains did not differ between culture methods (Fisher’s exact test, p=0.50); notably, recovery of S. aureus was equivalent between static and agitated broth incubation. When broth enrichment was used (both static and agitated), the burden of S. aureus growth was higher (by semiquantitative assessment of 4-quadrant streaking) compared to the direct plating culture method. Optimizing strategies for microbial recovery is essential, particularly in areas of lower biomass, given the paucity of research concerning microbial communities of built environments. The results of this study, in conjunction with other experiments investigating microbiomes of built environments, can help inform protocols for standardizing culturing methods within built environments

The MIPSGAL View of Supernova Remnants in the Galactic Plane

We report the detection of Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) in the mid-infrared (at 24 and 70 μm), in the coordinate ranges 10° < l < 65° and 285° < l < 350°, |b| < 1°, using MIPS aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We search for infrared counterparts to SNRs in Green's catalog and identify 39 out of 121, i.e., a detection rate of about 32%. Such a relatively low detection fraction is mainly due to confusion with nearby foreground/background sources and diffuse emission. The SNRs in our sample show a linear trend in [F_8/F_(24)] versus [F_(70)/F_(24)]. We compare their infrared fluxes with their corresponding radio flux at 1.4 GHz and find that most remnants have a ratio of 70 μm to 1.4 GHz which is similar to those found in previous studies of SNRs (with the exception of a few that have ratios closer to those of H II regions). Furthermore, we retrieve a slope close to unity when correlating infrared (24 and 70 μm) with 1.4 GHz emission. Our survey is more successful in detecting remnants with bright X-ray emission, which we find is well correlated with the 24 μm morphology. Moreover, by comparing the power emitted in the X-ray, infrared, and radio, we conclude that the energy released in the infrared is comparable to the cooling in the X-ray range

Spitzer's mid-infrared view on an outer Galaxy Infrared Dark Cloud candidate toward NGC 7538

Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) represent the earliest observed stages of clustered star formation, characterized by large column densities of cold and dense molecular material observed in silhouette against a bright background of mid-IR emission. Up to now, IRDCs were predominantly known toward the inner Galaxy where background infrared emission levels are high. We present Spitzer observations with the Infrared Camera Array toward object G111.80+0.58 (G111) in the outer Galactic Plane, located at a distance of ~3 kpc from us and ~10 kpc from the Galactic center. Earlier results show that G111 is a massive, cold molecular clump very similar to IRDCs. The mid-IR Spitzer observations unambiguously detect object G111 in absorption. We have identified for the first time an IRDC in the outer Galaxy, which confirms the suggestion that cluster-forming clumps are present throughout the Galactic Plane. However, against a low mid-IR back ground such as the outer Galaxy it takes some effort to find them.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL -- 11 pages, 2 figures (1 colour

Allometry and growth of eight tree taxa in United Kingdom woodlands.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0As part of a project to develop predictive ecosystem models of United Kingdom woodlands we have collated data from two United Kingdom woodlands - Wytham Woods and Alice Holt. Here we present data from 582 individual trees of eight taxa in the form of summary variables relating to the allometric relationships between trunk diameter, height, crown height, crown radius and trunk radial growth rate to the tree's light environment and diameter at breast height. In addition the raw data files containing the variables from which the summary data were obtained. Large sample sizes with longitudinal data spanning 22 years make these datasets useful for future studies concerned with the way trees change in size and shape over their life-span

Radar cross calibration investigation TAMU radar polarimeter calibration measurements

A short pulse, 20 MHz bandwidth, three frequency radar polarimeter system (RPS) operates at center frequencies of 10.003 GHz, 4.75 GHz, and 1.6 GHz and utilizes dual polarized transmit and receive antennas for each frequency. The basic lay-out of the RPS is different from other truck mounted systems in that it uses a pulse compression IF section common to all three RF heads. Separate transmit and receive antennas are used to improve the cross-polarization isolation at each particular frequency. The receive is a digitally controlled gain modulated subsystem and is interfaced directly with a microprocesser computer for control and data manipulation. Antenna focusing distance, focusing each antenna pair, rf head stability, and polarization characteristics of RPS antennas are discussed. Platform and data acquisition procedures are described

Who knows who we are? Questioning DNA analysis in disaster victim identification

The use of DNA analysis as a mode of identification of disaster victims has become increasingly predominant to other, traditional, methods of identification in recent years. Scientific advances of the technological processes, high-profile use in identification efforts across the globe (such as after 9/11 or in the Asian Tsunami of 2004), and its inclusion in popular media, have led to its popular adoption as one of the primary modes of identification in disaster scenarios, and to the expectation of its use in all cases by the lay public and media. It is increasingly argued to be integral to post-disaster management. However, depending on the circumstances, location, and type of disaster, this technology may not be appropriate, and its use may instead conflict with socio-political and cultural norms and structures of power. Using examples primarily from Cambodia and Iraq this article will explore what these conflicts may be, and in doing so, question the expanding assumption that DNA analysis is a universally appropriate intervention in disaster victim identification. It will argue instead that its use may be a result of a desire for the political and social capital that this highly prestigious technological intervention offers rather than a solely humanitarian intervention on behalf of survivors and the dead