963 research outputs found
Closing the Loopholes: 1988 Trade Act Amendments to the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws
This article will address the changes aimed at rendering the AD and CVD laws more effective. 16 The article first outlines briefly the antidumping and countervailing duty laws. It then discusses the amendments designed to prevent evasion of the antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Next, the article discusses the repeal of duty drawback for antidumping and countervailing duties, and amendments to the determination of injury. Finally, the article assesses the significance of the 1988 Act amendments to the AD and CVD laws
Last Bite: No Fish Oil No Footnotes
The exponential growth of off-shore mariculture that has occurred worldwide over the last 10 years has raised concern about the impact of the waste produced by this industry on the ecological integrity of the sea bottom. Investigations into this potential source of impact on the biochemistry of the sea floor have provided contrasting results, and no compelling explanations for these discrepancies have been provided to date. To quantify the impact of fish-farm activities on the biochemistry of sediments, we have investigated the quantity and biochemical composition of sediment organic matter in four different regions in the temperate-warm Mediterranean Sea: Akrotiri Bay (Cyprus), Sounion Bay (Greece), Pachino Bay (Italy), and the Gulf of Alicante (Spain). In these four study regions, the concentrations of phytopigments, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids in the sediments were measured, comparing locations receiving wastes from fish farms to control locations in two different habitats: seagrass beds and soft nonvegetated substrates. Downward fluxes were also measured in all of the regions, up to 200 m from the fish farms, to assess the potential spatial extent of the impact. In all four regions, with the exception of seagrass sediments in Spain, the biochemistry of the sediments showed significant differences between the control and fish-farm locations. However, the variables explaining the differences observed varied among the regions and between habitats, suggesting idiosyncratic effects of fish-farm waste on the biochemistry of sediments. These are possibly related to differences in the local physicochemical variables that could explain a significant proportion of the differences seen between the control and fish-farm locations. Biodeposition derived from the fish farms decreased with increasing distance from the fish-farm cages, but with different patterns in the four regions. Our results indicate that quantitative and qualitative changes in the organic loads of the sediments that arise from intensive aquaculture are dependent upon the ecological context and are not predictable only on the basis of fish-farm attributes and hydrodynamic regimes. Therefore, the siting of fish farms should only be allowed after a case-by-case assessment of the ecological context of the region, especially in terms of the organic matter load and its biochemical composition
Fast soliton scattering by delta impurities
We study the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (nonlinear Schroedinger equation) with
a repulsive delta function potential. We show that a high velocity incoming
soliton is split into a transmitted component and a reflected component. The
transmitted mass (L^2 norm squared) is shown to be in good agreement with the
quantum transmission rate of the delta function potential. We further show that
the transmitted and reflected components resolve into solitons plus dispersive
radiation, and quantify the mass and phase of these solitons.Comment: 32 pages, 3 figure
Conflict of Interest Policies for Organizations Producing a Large Number of Clinical Practice Guidelines
Conflict of interest (COI) of clinical practice guideline (CPG) sponsors and authors is an important potential source of bias in CPG development. The objectives of this study were to describe the COI policies for organizations currently producing a significant number of CPGs, and to determine if these policies meet 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) standards.We identified organizations with five or more guidelines listed in the National Guideline Clearinghouse between January 1, 2009 and November 5, 2010. We obtained the COI policy for each organization from publicly accessible sources, most often the organization's website, and compared those polices to IOM standards related to COI. 37 organizations fulfilled our inclusion criteria, of which 17 (46%) had a COI policy directly related to CPGs. These COI policies varied widely with respect to types of COI addressed, from whom disclosures were collected, monetary thresholds for disclosure, approaches to management, and updating requirements. Not one organization's policy adhered to all seven of the IOM standards that were examined, and nine organizations did not meet a single one of the standards.COI policies among organizations producing a large number of CPGs currently do not measure up to IOM standards related to COI disclosure and management. CPG developers need to make significant improvements in these policies and their implementation in order to optimize the quality and credibility of their guidelines
An early Cambrian agglutinated tubular lophophorate with brachiopod characters.
The morphological disparity of lophotrochozoan phyla makes it difficult to predict the morphology of the last common ancestor. Only fossils of stem groups can help discover the morphological transitions that occurred along the roots of these phyla. Here, we describe a tubular fossil Yuganotheca elegans gen. et sp. nov. from the Cambrian (Stage 3) Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Yunnan, China) that exhibits an unusual combination of phoronid, brachiopod and tommotiid (Cambrian problematica) characters, notably a pair of agglutinated valves, enclosing a horseshoe-shaped lophophore, supported by a lower bipartite tubular attachment structure with a long pedicle with coelomic space. The terminal bulb of the pedicle provided anchorage in soft sediment. The discovery has important implications for the early evolution of lophotrochozoans, suggesting rooting of brachiopods into the sessile lophotrochozoans and the origination of their bivalved bauplan preceding the biomineralization of shell valves in crown brachiopods
On the nonlinear stability of mKdV breathers
A mathematical proof for the stability of mKdV breathers is announced. This
proof involves the existence of a nonlinear equation satisfied by all breather
profiles, and a new Lyapunov functional which controls the dynamics of small
perturbations and instability modes. In order to construct such a functional,
we work in a subspace of the energy one. However, our proof introduces new
ideas in order to attack the corresponding stability problem in the energy
space. Some remarks about the sine-Gordon case are also considered.Comment: 7 p
729-1 Modulation of Cardiac Hypertrophy by Blockade of the Renin Angiotensin System: Effects on LVH Regression, Gene Expression, and Survival
The aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of the renin angiotensin system to maintenance of pressure overload left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Rats with fixed ascending aortic stenosis were treated with either vehicle (VEH, n=36), hydralazine (HYD, 20mg/kg/d, n=35). ramipril (RAM, 10mg/kg/d, n=35), or losartan (LOS, 40mg/kg/d, n=16) during weeks 6–12 after banding. We have previously demonstrated that compared to sham (n=36), VEH and HYD rats were characterized by a 1.8–1.9-fold increase of left ventricular to body weight ratios (LV/BW). whereas those aortic stenosis rats treated with RAM or LOS displayed a blunted increase of LV/BW (14-fold; p<0.05, each vs. HYD). We now extend these observations demonstrating that myocyte cross sectional widths were increased by 150% in VEH and HYD rats (p<0.001, vs. sham), whereas ramipril and losartan treatment resulted in myocyte widths that were only mildly elevated (53% and 28%, respectively). Furthermore, VEH and HYD displayed a 14–15 fold increase of LV atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) mRNA as well as a 44% decrease of sarcoplasmatic reticulum (SR) Ca2+-ATPase (p<0.001, vs. sham). In contrast, alterations of ANP and SR-Ca2+-ATPase mRNA levels were significantly blunted by both RAM and LOS. The attenuation of LVH by RAM or LOS was not explained by blood pressure reduction that was similar in the HYD group. Finally, RAM and LOS decreased mortality (6 out of 51 animals; 11%)as compared to 20% in HYD and 31% in VEH groups (p<0.05).In summary, blockade of the renin angiotensin system may promote regression of pressure overload LVH on the macro-, and microscopical, as well as the molecular level by mechanisms that are, in part, independent of hemodynamic drug effects. LVH regression may improve survival despite persisting pressure overload
El Laboratorio de VirtualizaciĂłn 3D de Idaho
[EN] Three dimensional (3D) virtualization and visualization is an important component of industry, art, museum curation and cultural heritage, yet the step by step process of 3D virtualization has been little discussed. Here we review the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory’s (IVL) process of virtualizing a cultural heritage item (artifact) from start to finish. Each step is thoroughly explained and illustrated including how the object and its metadata are digitally preserved and ultimately distributed to the world.[ES] La virtualización y visualización tridimensional (3D) es un componente importante de la industria, el arte, los museos y el patrimonio cultural, sin embargo, el proceso paso a paso de virtualización 3D se ha discutido muy poco. Aquà repasamos de principio a fin el proceso de virtualizacion de un elemento del patrimonio cultural (artefacto) llevado a cabo por el Laboratorio de Virtualización de Idaho (IVL). Cada paso es explicado e ilustrado completamente incluyendo cómo el objeto y sus metadatos son preservados digitalmente y en última instancia, distribuidos en el mundo.The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation (awards ARC- 0808933, 102332,
1237452 and 1321411), the Hitz Foundation, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Idaho State
University, the ISU Informatics Research Institute, and the Idaho Museum of Natural History for
supporting this research. The National Science Foundation, nor any other funding source, is
responsible for the advancements, conclusions, or implications of this work.Holmer, NA.; Clement, N.; Dehart, K.; Maschner, H.; Pruitt, J.; Schlader, R.; Van Walsum, M. (2014). The Idaho Virtualization Laboratory 3D Pipeline. Virtual Archaeology Review. 5(10):21-31. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2014.4208OJS2131510BETTS, M. W., MASCHNER, H. D. G., SCHOU, C. D., SCHLADER, R., HOLMES, J., CLEMENT, N., SMUIN, M. (2011): "Virtual zooarchaeology: building a web-based reference collection of northern vertebrates for archaeofaunal research and education", in Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume: 38, Issue: 4, pp. 755-762.MASCHNER, H. (2013): "Democracy in 3D", in Museum, pp. 26-31.MASCHNER, H., SCHOU, C., HOLMES, J. (2013): "Virtualization and the democratization of science: 3D technologies revolutionize museum research and Access", in Proceedings of the 2013 World Digital Heritage Conference. -1-4799-3169-9/13©2013 IEEE. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2013.6744763TAPANILA, L., PRUITT, J., PRADEL, A., WILGA, C. D., RAMSAY, J. B., SCHLADER, R., DIDIER, D. A. (2013): "Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion", in Biology Letters, 9, 20130057 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.005
Initial-boundary value problems for a reaction-diffusion equation
This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in J. Math. Phys. 60, 081509 (2019); doi: 10.1063/1.5118767 and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5118767.A novel approach that utilizes Fokas’s unified transform is employed for studying a reaction-diffusion equation with power nonlinearity formulated either on the half-line or on a finite interval with data in Sobolev spaces. This approach was recently introduced for initial-boundary value problems involving dispersive nonlinear equations such as the nonlinear Schrödinger and the Korteweg-de Vries equations. Thus, the present work extends the new approach from dispersive equations to diffusive ones, demonstrating the universality of the unified transform in the analysis of nonlinear evolution equations on domains with a boundary
Present and projected future mean radiant temperature for three European cities
Present-day and projected future changes in mean radiant temperature, T mrt in one northern, one mid-, and one southern European city (represented by Gothenburg, Frankfurt, and Porto), are presented, and the concept of hot spots is adopted. Air temperature, T a , increased in all cities by 2100, but changes in solar radiation due to changes in cloudiness counterbalanced or exacerbated the effects on T mrt. The number of days with high T mrt in Gothenburg was relatively unchanged at the end of the century (+1 day), whereas it more than doubled in Frankfurt and tripled in Porto. The use of street trees to reduce daytime radiant heat load was analyzed using hot spots to identify where trees could be most beneficial. Hot spots, although varying in intensity and frequency, were generally confined to near sunlit southeast-southwest facing walls, in northeast corner of courtyards, and in open spaces in all three cities. By adding trees in these spaces, the radiant heat load can be reduced, especially in spaces with no or few trees. A set of design principles for reducing the radiant heat load is outlined based on these findings and existing literature
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