The performance of farm animal assessment

This paper argues that the current drive towards greater use of animal-based measures for welfare assessment raises important issues for how farm visits by welfare assessors are performed. As social scientists, we employ a number of contemporary social science ideas to offer a new approach to examining the practice and performance of farm animal assessment. We identify key findings from a recent study of contemporary farm assessment and speculate upon what some of the challenges of introducing animal-based measures may be. We conclude by arguing for a greater awareness of how sets of knowledge are made, circulated, practiced and become an integral component of the procedures, practices and discourses around farm animal welfare assessment in farm assuranc

Minimal kernels of Dirac operators along maps

Let $M$ be a closed spin manifold and let $N$ be a closed manifold. For maps $f\colon M\to N$ and Riemannian metrics $g$ on $M$ and $h$ on $N$, we consider the Dirac operator $D^f_{g,h}$ of the twisted Dirac bundle $\Sigma M\otimes_{\mathbb{R}} f^*TN$. To this Dirac operator one can associate an index in $KO^{-dim(M)}(pt)$. If $M$ is $2$-dimensional, one gets a lower bound for the dimension of the kernel of $D^f_{g,h}$ out of this index. We investigate the question whether this lower bound is obtained for generic tupels $(f,g,h)$

Crystal structure of the catalytic fragment of murine poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-2.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) has become an important pharmacological target in the treatment of cancer due to its cellular role as a 'DNA-strand break sensor', which leads in part to resistance to some existing chemo- and radiological treatments. Inhibitors have now been developed which prevent PARP-1 from synthesizing poly(ADP-ribose) in response to DNA-breaks and potentiate the cytotoxicity of DNA damaging agents. However, with the recent discoveries of PARP-2, which has a similar DNA-damage dependent catalytic activity, and additional members containing the 'PARP catalytic' signature, the isoform selectivity and resultant pharmacological effects of existing inhibitors are brought into question. We present here the crystal structure of the catalytic fragment of murine PARP-2, at 2.8 A resolution, and compare this to the catalytic fragment of PARP-1, with an emphasis on providing a possible framework for rational drug design in order to develop future isoform-specific inhibitors

Hdo And SO2 Thermal Mapping On Venus: Evidence For Strong SO2 Variability

We have been using the TEXES high-resolution imaging spectrometer at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility to map sulfur dioxide and deuterated water over the disk of Venus. Observations took place on January 10-12, 2012. The diameter of Venus was 13 arcsec, with an illumination factor of 80%. Data were recorded in the 1344-1370 cm(-1) range (around 7.35 mu m) with a spectral resolving power of 80 000 and a spatial resolution of about 1.5 arcsec. In this spectral range, the emission of Venus comes from above the cloud top (z = 60-80 km). Four HDO lines and tens of SO2 lines have been identified in our spectra. Mixing ratios have been estimated from HDO/CO2 and SO2/CO2 line depth ratios, using weak neighboring transitions of comparable depths. The HDO maps, recorded on Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, are globally uniform with no significant variation between the two dates. A slight enhancement of the HDO mixing ratio toward the limb might be interpreted as a possible increase of the D/H ratio with height above the cloud level. The mean H2O mixing ratio is found to be 1.5 +/-0.75 ppm, assuming a D/H ratio of 0.0312 (i.e. 200 times the terrestrial value) over the cloud deck. The SO2 maps, recorded each night from Jan. 10 to Jan. 12, show strong variations over the disk of Venus, by a factor as high as 5 to 10. In addition, the position of the maximum SO2 mixing ratio strongly varies on a timescale of 24 h. The maximum SO2 mixing ratio ranges between 75 +/-25 ppb and 125 +/-50 ppb between Jan. 10 and Jan. 12. The high variability of sulfur dioxide is probably a consequence of its very short photochemical lifetime.NASA NNX-08AE38A, NNX08AW33G S03NSF AST-0607312, AST-0708074Astronom

Correspondence between geometrical and differential definitions of the sine and cosine functions and connection with kinematics

In classical physics, the familiar sine and cosine functions appear in two forms: (1) geometrical, in the treatment of vectors such as forces and velocities, and (2) differential, as solutions of oscillation and wave equations. These two forms correspond to two different definitions of trigonometric functions, one geometrical using right triangles and unit circles, and the other employing differential equations. Although the two definitions must be equivalent, this equivalence is not demonstrated in textbooks. In this manuscript, the equivalence between the geometrical and the differential definition is presented assuming no a priori knowledge of the properties of sine and cosine functions. We start with the usual length projections on the unit circle and use elementary geometry and elementary calculus to arrive to harmonic differential equations. This more general and abstract treatment not only reveals the equivalence of the two definitions but also provides an instructive perspective on circular and harmonic motion as studied in kinematics. This exercise can help develop an appreciation of abstract thinking in physics.Comment: 6 pages including 1 figur

Recovery and serious mental illness: a review of current clinical and research paradigms and future directions

Introduction: Recovery from serious mental illness has historically not been considered a likely or even possible outcome. However, a range of evidence suggests the courses of SMI are heterogeneous with recovery being the most likely outcome. One barrier to studying recovery in SMI is that recovery has been operationalized in divergent and seemingly incompatible ways, as an objective outcome, versus a subjective process. Areas Covered: This paper offers a review of recovery as a subjective process and recovery as an objective outcome; contrasts methodologies utilized by each approach to assess recovery; reports rates and correlates of recovery; and explores the relationship between objective and subjective forms of recovery. Expert Commentary: There are two commonalities of approaching recovery as a subjective process and an objective outcome: (i) the need to make meaning out of one’s experiences to engage in either type of recovery and (ii) there exist many threats to engaging in meaning making that may impact the likelihood of moving toward recovery. We offer four clinical implications that stem from these two commonalities within a divided approach to the concept of recovery from SMI