Extending a result of Ryan on weakly compact operators

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cracking the Conundrum

From 2004 to 2006, the FOMC raised the target federal funds rate by 4.25%, yet long-maturity yields and forward rates fell. We consider several possible explanations for this "conundrum." The most likely, in our view, is a fall in the term premium, probably associated with some combination of diminished macroeconomic and financial market volatility, more predictable monetary policy, and the state of the business cycle.

Randomized Polypill Crossover Trial in People Aged 50 and Over

PMCID: PMC3399742This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

The effect of within-crop habitat manipulations on the conservation biological control of aphids in field-grown lettuce

Within-crop habitat manipulations have the potential to increase the biological control of pests in horticultural field crops. Wildflower strips have been shown to increase the abundance of natural enemies, but there is little evidence to date of an impact on pest populations. The aim of this study was to determine whether withincrop wildflower strips can increase the natural regulation of pests in horticultural field crops. Aphid numbers in plots of lettuce grown adjacent to wildflower strips were compared with those in plots grown in the absence of wildflowers. The presence of wildflower strips led to a decrease in aphid numbers on adjacent lettuce plants during June and July, but had less impact in August and September. The decrease in aphid numbers was greatest close to the wildflower strips and, the decrease in aphid numbers declined with increasing distance from the wildflower strips, with little effect at a distance of ten metres. The main natural enemies found in the crop were those that dispersed aerially, which is consistent with data from previous studies on cereal crops. Analysis and interpretation of natural enemy numbers was difficult due to low recovery of natural enemies, and the numbers appeared to follow changes in aphid abundance rather than being directly linked to the presence of wildflower strips. Cutting the wildflower strips, to remove floral resources, had no impact on the reduction in aphid numbers achieved during June and July, but decreased the effect of the wildflower strips during August and September. The results suggest that wildflower strips can lead to increased natural regulation of pest aphids in outdoor lettuce crops, but more research is required to determine how this is mediated by natural enemies and how the impact of wildflower strips on natural pest regulation changes during the growing season

Cracking the Conundrum

From 2004 to 2006, the FOMC raised the target federal funds rate by 4.25%, yet long-maturity yields and forward rates fell. We consider several possible explanations for this \conundrum." The most likely, in our view, is a fall in the term premium, probably associated with some combination of diminished macroeconomic and financial market volatility, more predictable monetary policy, and the state of the business cycle

Caspase-3 and inhibitor of apoptosis protein(s) interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mammalian cells

AbstractUsing a heterologous yeast expression assay, we show that inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) suppress caspase-3-mediated cytotoxicity in the order of XIAP>c-IAP2>c-IAP1>survivin. The same ordering of IAP activities was demonstrated in mammalian cells expressing an auto-activating caspase-3. The relative anti-apoptotic activities of each IAP depended on the particular death stimulus. For IAP-expressing cells treated with camptothecin, survival correlated with their intrinsic anti-caspase-3 activity. However, c-IAP1-transfected cells were disproportionately resistant to tumor necrosis factor-α, suggesting that its anti-apoptotic activities extend beyond caspase-3 or -7 inhibition. Yeast-based caspase assays provide rapid, reliable information on specificity and activity of the IAPs and aid in identifying critical targets in mammalian apoptotic pathways

Signal-to-noise ratios in recorded patterned media

publication-status: Publishedtypes: Proceedings PaperThe replay flux from isolated and sequences of recorded patterned elements was analysed and analytical expressions for the replay spectra were derived. The noise arising from bit size variations and bit position jitter has been modelled analytically allowing expressions for the signal-to-noise ratio for patterned media to be presented

Directional emittance surface measurement system and process

Apparatus and process for measuring the variation of directional emittance of surfaces at various temperatures using a radiometric infrared imaging system. A surface test sample is coated onto a copper target plate provided with selective heating within the desired incremental temperature range to be tested and positioned onto a precision rotator to present selected inclination angles of the sample relative to the fixed positioned and optically aligned infrared imager. A thermal insulator holder maintains the target plate on the precision rotator. A screen display of the temperature obtained by the infrared imager, and inclination readings are provided with computer calculations of directional emittance being performed automatically according to equations provided to convert selected incremental target temperatures and inclination angles to relative target directional emittance values. The directional emittance of flat black lacquer and an epoxy resin measurements obtained are in agreement with the predictions of the electromagnetic theory and with directional emittance data inferred from directional reflectance measurements made on a spectrophotometer