1,638 research outputs found
Some problems in using landforms as evidence for climatic change
Main articleLandforms are used as evidence for past climatic conditions on the basis of morphoclimatic
explanation. Problems arise because the relationships from climatic parameters through process
to landforms are not direct. The problems inherent in employing landform evidence are
discussed under the headings: Recognition, Interpretation, Application, Correlation and
Chronology.
It is concluded that certain landforms provide unequivocal evidence for climatic change
even though landform evidence must always be circumstantial. An individual landform alone
does not prove climatic change although an entire assemblage exhibiting similar tendencies
might. Where, however, evidence from other areas and other lines of evidence also point to
the same conditions, then the conclusions may be accepted more securely. Landform evidence
has a place in Quaternary studies, but it must be used with caution.Non
Splitting fields and general differential Galois theory
An algebraic technique is presented that does not use results of model theory
and makes it possible to construct a general Galois theory of arbitrary
nonlinear systems of partial differential equations. The algebraic technique is
based on the search for prime differential ideals of special form in tensor
products of differential rings. The main results demonstrating the work of the
technique obtained are the theorem on the constructedness of the differential
closure and the general theorem on the Galois correspondence for normal
extensions..Comment: 33 pages, this version coincides with the published on
Lysis mediated by T cells and restricted by H-2 antigen of target cells infected with vaccinia virus
VARIOUS virus infections lead to the formation of cytotoxic lymphocytes (CL), which are capable of killing virus-infected target cells1−4. Specific lysis of target cells infected with 51Cr-labelled vaccinia virus could be observed when investigating the cell-mediated cytotoxic reaction to vaccinia virus5; the CL could be characterised as a T cell. The sensitised lymphocytes from C3H mice could only kill syngeneic L929 cells infected with vaccinia virus, whereas lysis by sensitised lymphocytes derived from DBA/2 mice was restricted to the syngeneic infected mastocytoma P815X2 cells. In the lymphocytic choriomeningitis infection the target cell lysis was shown to be restricted by H-2 antigen6. We report here experiments with primary fibroblasts of the mouse strains C3H, DBA/2 and the (C3H DBA/2)F1 generation were designed to affirm that the effector phase of virus-specific lysis of target cells mediated by T cells is restricted by H-2 antigen even in the vaccinia virus infection. Further experiments with H-2 alloantisera were performed to indicate the close local relationship between H-2 antigens and viral surface antigens
Does commitment to rehabilitation influence clinical outcome of total hip resurfacing arthroplasty?
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether compliance and rehabilitative efforts were predictors of early clinical outcome of total hip resurfacing arthroplasty. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was utilized to collect information from 147 resurfacing patients, who were operated on by a single surgeon, regarding their level of commitment to rehabilitation following surgery. Patients were followed for a mean of 52 months (range, 24 to 90 months). Clinical outcomes and functional capabilities were assessed utilizing the Harris hip objective rating system, the SF-12 Health Survey, and an eleven-point satisfaction score. A linear regression analysis was used to determine whether there was any correlation between the rehabilitation commitment scores and any of the outcome measures, and a multivariate regression model was used to control for potentially confounding factors. RESULTS: Overall, an increased level of commitment to rehabilitation was positively correlated with each of the following outcome measures: SF-12 Mental Component Score, SF-12 Physical Component Score, Harris Hip score, and satisfaction scores. These correlations remained statistically significant in the multivariate regression model. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who were more committed to their therapy after hip resurfacing returned to higher levels of functionality and were more satisfied following their surgery
Use of Dogs in the Mediation of Conservation Conflicts
Conflicts between wildlife and humans are of global importance and are increasing. These conflicts may negatively impact wildlife, humans, and other resources, primarily livestock. Human safety and economic well-being can be adversely impacted by depredation of livestock and perpetuation of wildlife-borne diseases in agricultural systems. Conversely, management approaches to mitigate these conflicts may employ primarily lethal control methods that can negatively impact wildlife populations of conservation importance. Dogs, principally livestock protection breeds, have been used for centuries in some cultures to protect livestock from predators. Dogs have also been used for a variety of other conservation-specific practices. Here we provide an overview of a chapter we developed on this topic for a book entitled Free-ranging Dogs and Wildlife Conservation, just released by Oxford University Press (2013). We will review past and current use of dogs for mediating wildlife-human conflict and highlight future areas of research that are needed to more effectively use dogs for mediating conservation conflicts
Exogenous {RNAi} mechanisms contribute to transcriptome adaptation by phased {siRNA} clusters in {Paramecium}
Automatic Generation of Efficient Linear Algebra Programs
The level of abstraction at which application experts reason about linear
algebra computations and the level of abstraction used by developers of
high-performance numerical linear algebra libraries do not match. The former is
conveniently captured by high-level languages and libraries such as Matlab and
Eigen, while the latter expresses the kernels included in the BLAS and LAPACK
libraries. Unfortunately, the translation from a high-level computation to an
efficient sequence of kernels is a task, far from trivial, that requires
extensive knowledge of both linear algebra and high-performance computing.
Internally, almost all high-level languages and libraries use efficient
kernels; however, the translation algorithms are too simplistic and thus lead
to a suboptimal use of said kernels, with significant performance losses. In
order to both achieve the productivity that comes with high-level languages,
and make use of the efficiency of low level kernels, we are developing Linnea,
a code generator for linear algebra problems. As input, Linnea takes a
high-level description of a linear algebra problem and produces as output an
efficient sequence of calls to high-performance kernels. In 25 application
problems, the code generated by Linnea always outperforms Matlab, Julia, Eigen
and Armadillo, with speedups up to and exceeding 10x
An axiomatic approach to the non-linear theory of generalized functions and consistency of Laplace transforms
We offer an axiomatic definition of a differential algebra of generalized
functions over an algebraically closed non-Archimedean field. This algebra is
of Colombeau type in the sense that it contains a copy of the space of Schwartz
distributions. We study the uniqueness of the objects we define and the
consistency of our axioms. Next, we identify an inconsistency in the
conventional Laplace transform theory. As an application we offer a free of
contradictions alternative in the framework of our algebra of generalized
functions. The article is aimed at mathematicians, physicists and engineers who
are interested in the non-linear theory of generalized functions, but who are
not necessarily familiar with the original Colombeau theory. We assume,
however, some basic familiarity with the Schwartz theory of distributions.Comment: 23 page
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