406 research outputs found
Development of single pass drilling technology through investigations in drilling burr elimination
Issued as final reportLockheed Marti
Kaitiakitanga - Active guardianship, responsibilities and relationships with the world: Towards a bio-cultural future In early childhood education
The world is a vast family, and humans are children of the earth and sky, and cousins to all living things. Such unity means that nature is the ultimate teacher about life (Royal 2010, p. 9).
For MÄori (indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) the term kaitiakitanga (pronounced, kye-tee-ah-key-tar-ngah) is often used to refer to the active guardianship and management of natural organisms and their environments. MÄtauranga MÄori or MÄori knowledge positions humans within nature and focuses on ways in which cultural understandings and intergenerational connections between people and their biophysical contexts assist in the retention and protection of biodiversity and ecologically sustainable ecosystems. This entry critically reflects notions of kaitiakitanga and bio-cultural connectivity as important and meaningful contributors for young children and their relationships with and for the world
Uprobe 2008: an online resource for universal overgo hybridization-based probe retrieval and designâ
Cross-species sequence comparisons are a prominent method for analyzing genomic DNA and an ever increasing number of species are being selected for whole-genome sequencing. Targeted comparative genomic sequencing is a complementary approach to whole-genome shotgun sequencing and can produce high-quality sequence assemblies of orthologous chromosomal regions of interest from multiple species. Genomic libraries necessary to support targeted mapping and sequencing projects are available for more than 90 vertebrates. An essential step for utilizing these and other genomic libraries for targeted mapping and sequencing is the development of the hybridization-based probes, which are necessary to screen a genomic library of interest. The Uprobe website (http://uprobe.genetics.emory.edu) provides a public online resource for identifying or designing âuniversalâ overgo-hybridization probes from conserved sequences that can be used to efficiently screen one or more genomic libraries from a designated group of species. Currently, Uprobe provides the ability to search or design probes for use in broad groups of species, including mammals and reptiles, as well as more specific clades, including marsupials, carnivores, rodents and nonhuman primates. In addition, Uprobe has the capability to design custom probes from multiple-species sequence alignments provided by the user, thus providing a general tool for targeted comparative physical mapping
The parafermionic observable in SLE
The parafermionic observable has recently been used by number of authors to
study discrete models, believed to be conformally invariant and to prove
convergence results for these processes to SLE. We provide a definition for a
one parameter family of continuum versions of the paraferminonic observable for
SLE, which takes the form of a normalized limit of expressions identical to the
discrete definition. We then show the limit defining the observable exists,
compute the value of the observable up to a finite multiplicative constant, and
prove this constant is non-zero for a wide range of kappa. Finally, we show our
observable for SLE becomes a holomorphic function for a particular choice of
the parameter, which helps illuminate a fundamental property of the discrete
observable.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure
Far field scattering pattern of differently structured butterfly scales
The angular and spectral reflectance of single scales of five different butterfly species was measured and related to the scale anatomy. The scales of the pierids Pieris rapae and Delias nigrina scatter white light randomly, in close agreement with Lambertâs cosine law, which can be well understood from the randomly organized beads on the scale crossribs. The reflectance of the iridescent blue scales of Morpho aega is determined by multilayer structures in the scale ridges, causing diffraction in approximately a plane. The purple scales in the dorsal wing tips of the male Colotis regina act similarly as the Morpho scale in the blue, due to multilayers in the ridges, but the scattering in the red occurs as in the Pieris scale, because the scales contain beads with pigment that does not absorb in the red wavelength range. The greenâyellow scales of Urania fulgens backscatter light in a narrow spatial angle, because of a multilayer structure in the scale body
Primary Teachersâ Recommendations for the Development of a Teacher-Oriented Movement Assessment Tool for 4â7Â Years Children
To inform the development of a teacher-oriented movement assessment tool, this study aimed to explore primary school teachersâ perceptions of assessing fundamental movement skills (FMS) within Physical Education (PE) lessons. Thirty-nine primary school teachers of PE, located in the United Kingdom, participated in an individual or group in-depth interview. Findings signify that teachers perceive a need for a movement assessment tool that is simple for them to use, quick to administer and provides valuable feedback to guide future teaching and learning. This is vital as teachers indicated a lack of appropriate resources and a shortage of curriculum time restricts their use of assessment within PE. A movement assessment tool that was integrated on a digital technology platform could increase teachersâ understanding of assessing FMS and enhance childrenâs learning of FMS
Interrupting peptidoglycan deacetylation during Bdellovibrio predator-prey interaction prevents ultimate destruction of prey wall, liberating bacterial-ghosts
The peptidoglycan wall, located in the periplasm between the inner and outer membranes of the cell envelope in Gram-negative bacteria, maintains cell shape and endows osmotic robustness. Predatory Bdellovibrio bacteria invade the periplasm of other bacterial prey cells, usually crossing the peptidoglycan layer, forming transient structures called bdelloplasts within which the predators replicate. Prey peptidoglycan remains intact for several hours, but is modified and then degraded by predators escaping. Here we show predation is altered by deleting two Bdellovibrio N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) deacetylases, one of which we show to have a unique two domain structure with a novel regulatory-âplugâ. Deleting the deacetylases limits peptidoglycan degradation and rounded prey cell âghostsâ persist after mutant-predator exit. Mutant predators can replicate unusually in the periplasmic region between the peptidoglycan wall and the outer membrane rather than between wall and inner-membrane, yet still obtain nutrients from the prey cytoplasm. Deleting two further genes encoding DacB/PBP4 family proteins, known to decrosslink and round prey peptidoglycan, results in a quadruple mutant Bdellovibrio which leaves prey-shaped ghosts upon predation. The resultant bacterial ghosts contain cytoplasmic membrane within bacteria-shaped peptidoglycan surrounded by outer membrane material which could have promise as âbacterial skeletonsâ for housing artificial chromosomes
The positive impact of conservation action
Governments recently adopted new global targets to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity. It is therefore crucial to understand the outcomes of conservation actions. We conducted a global meta-analysis of 186 studies (including 665 trials) that measured biodiversity over time and compared outcomes under conservation action with a suitable counterfactual of no action. We find that in two-thirds of cases, conservation either improved the state of biodiversity or at least slowed declines. Specifically, we find that interventions targeted at species and ecosystems, such as invasive species control, habitat loss reduction and restoration, protected areas, and sustainable management, are highly effective and have large effect sizes. This provides the strongest evidence to date that conservation actions are successful but require transformational scaling up to meet global targets
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