VisGenome: visualization of single and comparative genome representations

VisGenome visualizes single and comparative representations for the rat, the mouse and the human chromosomes at different levels of detail. The tool offers smooth zooming and panning which is more flexible than seen in other browsers. It presents information available in Ensembl for single chromosomes, as well as homologies (orthologue predictions including ortholog one2one, apparent ortholog one2one, ortholog many2many) for any two chromosomes from different species. The application can query supporting data from Ensembl by invoking a link in a browser

Evaluation of the volumetric erosion of spherical electrical contacts using the defect removal method

Volumetric erosion is regarded as a significant index for studying the erosion process of electrical switching contacts. Three-dimensional (3-D) surface measurement techniques provide an approach to investigate the geometric characteristics and volumetric erosion of electrical contacts. This paper presents a concrete data-processing procedure for evaluating volumetric erosion of spherical electrical contacts from 3-D surface measurement data using the defect removal method (DRM). The DRM outlined by McBride is an algorithm for evaluating the underlying form (prior to erosion) parameters of the surfaces with localized erosion and allowing the erosion characteristics themselves to be isolated. In this paper, a number of spherical electrical contacts that had undergone various electrical operations were measured using a 3-D surface profiler, the underlying form parameters of the eroded contacts were evaluated using the DRM, and then the volumetric erosions were isolated and calculated. The analysis of the correlations between the volumetric erosion and the number of switching cycles of electrical operation that the contacts had undergone showed a more accurate and reliable volumetric erosion evaluation using the DRM than that without using the DRM

Global boundary conditions for a Dirac operator on the solid torus

We study a Dirac operator subject to Atiayh-Patodi-Singer like boundary conditions on the solid torus and show that the corresponding boundary value problem is elliptic, in the sense that the Dirac operator has a compact parametrix

SXP 323 - an unusual X-ray binary system in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Spectroscopic observations taken with the VLT/UVES telescope/instrument are presented of the unusual Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) X-ray binary system SXP 323 = AX J0051-733. This system shows a clear modulation at 0.71d in long term optical photometry which has been proposed as the binary period of this system. The high resolution optical spectra, taken at a range of phases during the 0.71d cycle, rule out this possibility. Instead it is suggested that this long-term effect is due to Non Radial Pulsations (NRP) in the Be star companion to SXP 323. In addition, the spectra show clear evidence for major changes in the (V/R) ratio of the double peaks of the Balmer lines indicative of asymmetries in the circumstellar disk. The complex structure of the interstellar lines are also discussed in the context of the SMC structure.Comment: Accepted in MNRA

The Transformation of U.S. Livestock Agriculture: Scale, Efficiency, and Risks

U.S. livestock production has shifted to much larger and more specialized farms, and the various stages of input provision, farm production, and processing are now much more tightly coordinated through formal contracts and shared ownership of assets. Important financial advantages have driven these structural changes, which in turn have boosted productivity growth in the livestock sector. But structural changes can also generate environmental and health risks for society, as industrialization concentrates animals and animal wastes in localized areas. This report relies on farm-level data to detail the nature, causes, and effects of structural changes in livestock production.Livestock, dairy, broilers, hogs, fed cattle, farm structure, scale economies, contract agriculture, CAFOs, growth-promoting antibiotics, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,

Decreasing Opportunities for Low-Wage Workers: The Role of the Nondiscrimination Law for Employer-Provided Health Insurance

As of 1978, the favorable tax treatment of fringe benefits, including health insurance, has been regulated via a nondiscrimination clause such that low-wage, full-time workers must be offered health insurance (and other benefits) that are offered to higher-wage workers by the firm. Part-time workers may be excluded from coverage, however, creating incentives for firms to hire some types of workers part time to deny them coverage. We hypothesize that firms will hire fewer workers whose relative costs have increased, that is, low-wage workers. These workers will be less likely to work for firms that offer coverage, and those that do will be more likely to work part time without being eligible for the firm’s health insurance benefits. We use the 1988 and 1993 Employee Benefits Supplements to the Current Population Surveys and an employer premium imputation to examine these hypotheses. Both the descriptive and multivariate analysis are consistent with our hypotheses. We predict the probability of working for a firm that offers health insurance to decrease as premiums increase for both high- and low-wage workers. An increase in the premium is also associated with a decrease in the probability of part-time work, but an even greater decrease in the joint probability of part-time work with eligibility for health insurance.

Running a Production Grid Site at the London e-Science Centre

This paper describes how the London e-Science Centre cluster MARS, a production 400+ Opteron CPU cluster, was integrated into the production Large Hadron Collider Compute Grid. It describes the practical issues that we encountered when deploying and maintaining this system, and details the techniques that were applied to resolve them. Finally, we provide a set of recommendations based on our experiences for grid software development in general that we believe would make the technology more accessible. © 2006 IEEE

Critical soft landing technology issues for future US space missions

A programmatic need for research and development to support parachute-based landing systems has not existed since the end of the Apollo missions in the mid-1970s. Now, a number of planned space programs require advanced landing capabilities for which the experience and technology base does not currently exist. New requirements for landing on land with controllable, gliding decelerators and for more effective impact attenuation devices justify a renewal of the landing technology development effort that existed during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. A study was performed to evaluate the current and projected national capability in landing systems and to identify critical deficiencies in the technology base required to support the Assured Crew Return Vehicle and the Two-Way Manned Transportation System. A technology development program covering eight landing system performance issues is recommended

Blazing a Trail: A Public Health Research Agenda in Genomics and Chronic Disease

Whether and when genomics will lead to public health benefit via reductions in chronic disease burden has provided fodder for debate (1,2). A point of agreement among both proponents and skeptics is that directing genomics research to achieve this end will require integration of knowledge across multiple disciplines and levels of analysis (i.e., biological, behavioral, social, and environmental) (3). Getting started on building these collaborations while the territory is new could temper the disciplinary hegemony that so often presents formidable barriers to transdisciplinary research (4). That said, when it comes to genomics, which has been the bastion of bench scientists and most recently epidemiologists, it may be especially challenging to attract the array of chronic disease researchers with expertise in health education, health psychology, health services delivery, and community-based intervention that will be critical to further this research agenda