2,116 research outputs found
An association between lifespan and variation in insulin-like growth factor I receptor in sheep
Longevity in livestock is a valuable trait. When productive animals live longer, fewer replacement animals need to be raised. However, selection for longevity is not commonly the focus of breeding programs as direct selection for long-lived breeding stock is virtually impossible until late in the reproductive life of the animal. Additionally the underlying genetic factors or genes associated with longevity are either not known,
or not well understood. In humans, there is evidence that IGF 1 receptor (IGF1R) is involved in longevity. Polymorphism in the IGF1R gene has been associated with longevity in a number of species. Recently, 3 alleles
of ovine IGF1R were identified, but no analysis of the effect of IGF1R variation on sheep longevity has been reported. In this study, associations between ovine IGF1R variation, longevity and fertility were investigated.
Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) was used to type IGF1R variation in 1,716 New Zealand sheep belonging to 6 breeds and 36 flocks. Ovine IGF1R C was associated with age when adjusting for flock (present 5.5 ± 0.2 yr, absent
5.0 ± 0.1 yr, P = 0.02). A general linear mixed effects model suggested an association (P = 0.06) between age and genotype, when correcting for flock. Pairwise comparison (least significant difference) of specific
genotypes revealed the difference to be between AA (5.0± 0.1 yr) and AC (5.6 ± 0.2 yr, P = 0.02). A weak negative Pearson correlation between fertility and longevity traits was observed (r = -0.25, P < 0.01). The finding of an association between variation in IGF1R and lifespan in sheep may be useful in prolonging the lifespan of sheep
On the L_p-solvability of higher order parabolic and elliptic systems with BMO coefficients
We prove the solvability in Sobolev spaces for both divergence and
non-divergence form higher order parabolic and elliptic systems in the whole
space, on a half space, and on a bounded domain. The leading coefficients are
assumed to be merely measurable in the time variable and have small mean
oscillations with respect to the spatial variables in small balls or cylinders.
For the proof, we develop a set of new techniques to produce mean oscillation
estimates for systems on a half space.Comment: 44 pages, introduction revised, references expanded. To appear in
Arch. Rational Mech. Ana
On the new concept of the available water climatology and its application
We propose a new concept of climatology called the Available Water Climate (AWC). Available water is 'the remained water usable in every moment' that is calculated regardless of any time intervals or the amounts of precipitation. With this concept, the Available Water Resources Index (AWRI) has been digitized following the earlier work of Byun and Lee (2002). The applicability of AWRI not only to the assessment and prediction of water related disasters but also to the academic researches has been tested. Resulted merits are as follows. Firstly, the threshold value of AWRI for the occurrence of all water related disasters like flood, drought, inundation landslide, and drought each region became clear, therefore the assessment and the prediction of them became much more precise than before. It became clear that the more extreme the AWRI value is, the severer the related disasters become. As example, all disasters caused by heavy rains, even though a small inundation, became predictable at the time step of heavy rain warning with the help of the Long-term remained water index(LWI). As another example, the drought intensity and its dates on start and end are defined with more reasonably and precisely than any other drought indexes with help of the Effective drought index (EDI) using sliding time scale. Secondly, the spatiotemporal distribution of water environment were digitized clearly and objectively using AWRI and new concepts of the Water Abundant Season (WAS) and the Little Water Season (LIWAS), their dates on start and end, and their strength were defined, which is very beneficial for agriculture, forestry, and all other water controls. Also, the differences of water environments among regions were clearly digitized and the improvement of the climate classification by Köppen etc. became possible. Thirdly, other merits will be found continuously afterwards
The Mechanical Behavior of a 25Cr Super Duplex Stainless Steel at Elevated Temperature
Peer reviewedPostprin
Large-Amplitude Ultraviolet Variations in the RR Lyrae Star ROTSE-I J143753.84+345924.8
The NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satellite has obtained
simultaneous near and far ultraviolet light curves of the ROTSE-I Catalog RR
Lyrae ab-type variable star J143753.84+345924.8. A series of 38 GALEX Deep
Imaging Survey observations well distributed in phase within the star's
0.56432d period shows an AB=4.9mag variation in the far UV (1350-1750A) band
and an AB=1.8mag variation in the near UV (1750-2750A) band, compared with only
a 0.8mag variation in the broad, unfiltered ROTSE-I (4500-10000A) band. These
GALEX UV observations are the first to reveal a large RR Lyrae amplitude
variation at wavelengths below 1800A. We compare the GALEX and ROTSE-I
observations to predictions made by recent Kurucz stellar atmosphere models. We
use published physical parameters for the comparable period (0.57433d),
well-observed RR Lyrae star WY Antliae to compute predicted FUV, NUV, and
ROTSE-I light curves for J143753.84+345924.8. The observed light curves agree
with the Kurucz predictions for [Fe/H]=-1.25 to within AB=0.2mag in the GALEX
NUV and ROTSE-I bands, and within 0.5mag in the FUV. At all metallicities
between solar and one hundredth solar, the Kurucz models predict 6-8mag of
variation at wavelengths between 1000-1700A. Other variable stars with similar
temperature variations, such as Cepheids, should also have large-amplitude FUV
light curves, observable during the ongoing GALEX imaging surveys.Comment: This paper will be published as part of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer
(GALEX) Astrophysical Journal Letters Special Issue. Links to the full set of
papers will be available at http:/www.galex.caltech.edu/PUBLICATIONS after
November 22, 200
Soft X-Ray Sources at the Centers of the Elliptical Galaxies NGC 4472 and NGC 4649
Analysis of recent Chandra observations of the elliptical galaxies NGC 4472
and NGC 4649 has revealed faint soft X-ray sources at their centers. The
sources are located to within 1'' of the optical centers of the galaxies. They
are most likely associated with the central supermassive black holes. Interest
in these and several other similar objects stems from the unusually low
luminosity of the supermassive black holes embedded in dense interstellar
medium. Our Chandra sources have very soft spectra. They are detectable only
below ~0.6 keV and have luminosities in the 0.2-2.5 keV energy band of ~ 6 *
10^{37} erg/s and ~1.7 * 10^{38} erg/s in NGC 4649 and NGC 4472, respectively.Comment: Shortened version of the paper published in Astronomy Letter
UV emission and Star Formation in Stephan's Quintet
we present the first GALEX UV images of the well known interacting group of
galaxies, Stephan's Quintet (SQ). We detect widespread UV emission throughout
the group. However, there is no consistent coincidence between UV structure and
emission in the optical, H\alpha, or HI. Excluding the foreground galaxy
NGC7320 (Sd), most of the UV emission is found in regions associated with the
two spiral members of the group, NGC7319 and NGC7318b, and the intragroup
medium starburst SQ-A. The extinction corrected UV data are analyzed to
investigate the overall star formation activity in SQ. It is found that the
total star formation rate (SFR) of SQ is 6.69+-0.65 M_\sun/yr. Among this,
1.34+-0.16 M_sun/yr is due to SQ-A. This is in excellent agreement with that
derived from extinction corrected H\alpha luminosity of SQ-A. The SFR in
regions related to NGC 7319 is 1.98+-0.58 M_\sun/yr, most of which(68%) is
contributed by the disk. The contribution from the 'young tail' is only 15%. In
the UV, the 'young tail' is more extended (~100 kpc) and shows a loop-like
structure, including the optical tail, the extragalactic HII regions recently
discovered in H\alpha, and other UV emission regions discovered for the first
time. The UV and optical colors of the 'old tail' are consistent with a single
stellar population of age t ~10^{8.5+-0.4} yrs. The UV emission associated with
NGC 7318b is found in a very large (~80 kpc) disk, with a net SFR of 3.37+-0.25
M_sun/yr. Several large UV emission regions are 30 -- 40 kpc away from the
nucleus of NGC7318b. Although both NGC7319 and NGC7318b show peculiar UV
morphology, their SFR is consistent with that of normal Sbc galaxies,
indicating that the strength of star formation activity is not enhenced by
interactions.Comment: This paper will be published as part of the Galaxy Evolution
Explorer(GALEX) Astrophysical Journal Letters Special Issue. Links to the
full set of papers will be available at
http:/www.galex.caltech.edu/PUBLICATIONS/ after November 22, 200
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