International print and digital repositories initiatives in the United States: CRL, Portico, LOCKSS, Internet Archive : 6th scientific symposium Frankfurt - 6. wissenschaftliches Symposium Frankfurt ; October 5 - 7, 2006

This panel will explore the broad horizon of print and digital repository efforts underway in the United States

Developing DNA profiling strategies for lithops.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of ScienceThere are a number of recorded difficulties in classing lithop species according to their phenotype alone. DNA profiling, which can provide a quantitative measure of the degree of sequence similarity between any two genomic DNA's, is the method of choice for establishing phylogenetic relationships between species. (Abbreviation abstract}Andrew Chakane 201

The Gospel of the Savior: an analysis of P.Oxy.840 and its place in the Gospel traditions of early Christianity

In December 1905 an archaeological dig at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt uncovered a small fragment of a non-canonical story of Jesus which recorded a conversation between Jesus and his disciples and a confrontation with a Pharisaic chief priest in the temple. The initial discovery of this fragment, designated P.Oxy. 840, sparked a debate concerning the date of the fragment, the origins of the story contained therein, and the historicity of its references to first-century Judaism. After nearly 100 years, the fragment has received no substantial scholarly investment, leaving many of these questions unresolved, and leaving many other important issues unexplored. Thus, this study will offer the first full-scale evaluation of this text— from palaeographical, historical, and exegetical perspectives—in hopes of discovering its rightful place in the scope of early gospel traditions.Chapter one examines the codicology and palaeography of P.Oxy. 840, with special attention to its date, punctuation, scribal features, and possible function within early Christian communities. It is determined that P.Oxy. 840 is best understood as a miniature codex, not an amulet, and is plausibly dated 300-350 A.D.Chapter two offers a new reconstruction of the Greek text, along with a new English translation. In addition, there is a running commentary on the Greek text explaining key reconstructive choices, exegetical decisions, and interpretive conclusions.usions. Chapter three provides a thorough re-examination of the historical problems that have plagued P.Oxy. 840 since its initial discovery. Such problems include the combination of Pharisee and chief priest, the viewing of the holy vessels in the tabernacle, bathing in a pool filled with dogs and pigs, and changing into white garments before entering the temple. Upon closer examination—particularly in light of new archaeological discoveries in the last century—it seems that P.Oxy. 840 has substantial and accurate knowledge of first-century temple practices.Chapter four explores the relationship between P.Oxy. 840 and the canonical gospels. Prior scholarship has only scratched the surface of this issue, with various suggestions here and there amounting to no more than a few paragraphs. A detailed textual comparison shows the author ofP.Oxy. 840 demonstrates awareness of (and is influenced by) five canonical passages: Luke 11:37-52; Matt 23:1-39; John 7:1- 52; John 13:10; and Mark 7:1-23.hn 13:10; and Mark 7:1-23. Chapter five attempts to reconstruct the probable community and religious milieu that would have given rise to P.Oxy. 840. The theological interests and polemical thrust of our fragment suggest that it arose from within Jewish-Christian circles engaged in dispute over ritual purity practices. One possibility is that P.Oxy. 840 arose from within the Jewish-Christian sect called the Nazarenes. Such a scenario would plausibly place the production of P.Oxy. 840 in Syria between 125 and 150 A.D

Edge effects at an induced forest-grassland boundary: forest birds in the Ongoye Forest Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal

Bird species diversity and guild composition between the edge (5-10 m from the margin) of primary forest abutting grassland and the deep interior (> 500 m from the margin) in the Dngoye Forest Reserve were compared. Edge and interior sites were chosen that were homogeneous with respect to habitat physiognomy i.e. influences of habitat structure and complexity were insignificant. There were no statistical differences in bird species diverstty between the forest edge and interior. However, there was significantly greater species turnover at the edge. The difference in bird species composition between the forest edge and interior was due to various edge-effects: removal of dead wood for firewood, soil compaction by cattle, and generally greater levels of disturbance. We question the wisdom of the generally applied edge-effect principle in the conservation of forest biodiversity. We suggest that the principle be applied only once there has been critical appraisal of the extent, nature, and effect of an edge and a clear conservation objective with regard to forest birds.S. Afr. J. Zool. 1997,32(3

The ORGAN Experiment: An axion haloscope above 15 GHz

We present first results and future plans for the Oscillating Resonant Group AxioN (ORGAN) experiment, a microwave cavity axion haloscope situated in Perth, Western Australia designed to probe for high mass axions motivated by several theoretical models. The first stage focuses around 26.6 GHz in order to directly test a claimed result, which suggests axions exist at the corresponding mass of $110~\mu$eV. Later stages will move to a wider scan range of 15-50 GHz ($60-210~\mu$eV). We present the results of the pathfinding run, which sets a limit on $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ of $2.02\times 10^{-12}$eV$^{-1}$ at 26.531 GHz, or 110~$\mu$eV, in a span of 2.5 neV (shaped by the Lorentzian resonance) with $90 \%$ confidence. Furthermore, we outline the current design and future strategies to eventually attain the sensitivity to search for well known axion models over the wider mass range.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. V2: As published in Physics of Dark Univers

Mutation at the folate receptor 4 locus modulates gene expression profiles in the mouse uterus in response to periconceptional folate supplementation

AbstractPericonceptional supplementation of folic acid to the diet of women is considered a great success for a public health intervention. Higher folate status, either by supplementation, or via the mandatory fortification of grain products in the United States, has led to significant reduction in the incidence of neural tube defects. Besides birth defects, folate deficiency has been linked to a variety of morbidities, most notably to increased risk for cancer. However, recent evidence suggests that excess folate may be detrimental — for birth defect incidence or in the progression of cancer. How folate mediates beneficial or detrimental effects is not well understood. It is also unknown what molecular responses are elicited in women taking folate supplements, and thus experience a bolus of folate on top of the status achieved by fortification. To characterize the response to a periconceptional regimen of supplementation with folinic acid, we performed gene expression profiling experiments on uterus tissue of pregnant mice with either wildtype alleles or targeted disruption at the folate receptor 4 locus. We observed that, depending on the genetic background, folinic acid supplementation affects expression of genes that contribute to lipid metabolism, protein synthesis, mitochondrial function, cell cycle, and cell activation. The extent of the response is strongly modulated by the genetic background. Finally, we provide evidence that folinic acid supplementation in the mutant paradigm affects histone methylation status, a potential mechanism of gene regulation in this model

The Impact of New, Renewal and Termination Sponsorship Announcements on Share Price Returns

What impact do sport sponsorship announcements have on the share price returns of the sponsoring firms? The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of new, renewal and termination sponsorship announcements on share price returns. The research employed the widely acceptable event study methodology to analyse 118 announcements made by 19 firms over a period of more than 11 years. The mixed findings across all three announcement types point to the lack of consideration given to the sponsorship investment by investors. The findings suggest that, although some firms may position their sponsorships as a contributor towards competitive advantage, the announcements of sport sponsorships are not always taken into account by the market. The discussion of findings also highlights two alternate explanations for our findings, including that investors evaluated sponsorship contracts as achieving market clearing prices, and that the size or importance of sponsorship contracts relative to other investments made by the sponsoring firms was not significant enough to result in investors buying or selling shares. The study concludes with recommendations for managers, as well as suggestions for further research

Capturing tactile properties of real surfaces for haptic reproduction

Tactile feedback of an object’s surface enables us to discern its material properties and affordances. This understanding is used in digital fabrication processes by creating objects with high-resolution surface variations to influence a user’s tactile perception. As the design of such surface haptics commonly relies on knowledge from real-life experiences, it is unclear how to adapt this information for digital design methods. In this work, we investigate replicating the haptics of real materials. Using an existing process for capturing an object’s microgeometry, we digitize and reproduce the stable surface information of a set of 15 fabric samples. In a psychophysical experiment, we evaluate the tactile qualities of our set of original samples and their replicas. From our results, we see that direct reproduction of surface variations is able to influence different psychophysical dimensions of the tactile perception of surface textures. While the fabrication process did not preserve all properties, our approach underlines that replication of surface microgeometries benefits fabrication methods in terms of haptic perception by covering a large range of tactile variations. Moreover, by changing the surface structure of a single fabricated material, its material perception can be influenced. We conclude by proposing strategies for capturing and reproducing digitized textures to better resemble the perceived haptics of the originals

The Performance Of Linear Versus Non-Linear Models In Forecasting Returns On The Johannesburg Stock Exchange

In this paper we provide a comprehensive comparison of the predictive accuracy of linear and non-linear models when forecasting financial returns, using a number of macroeconomic variables, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. We implement a range of linear specifications, Markov switching ARMA and Dynamic Regression models, and univariate models in which the conditional heteroskedasticity is captured by GARCH or EGARCH innovations. Our results indicate that Markov switching models provide the most significant in-sample fit. However, results for the stable portion of the out-of-sample period and the recent recovery period are mixed with both EGARCH-based linear models and 2-state Dynamic Regression models outperforming the alternatives. Over the market crisis period we find that the forecast performance of the nonlinear models is worse than that of the linear models, which suggests that the benefit of the nonlinear treatment of conditional volatility diminishes over this period