Annotated bibliography of α-furildioxime

This annotated bibliography of the preparation and use of alpha-furildioxime has been prepared as a reference for analytical research. The authors of this bibliography hope that it will be of service to those engaged in analytical research and that further work on the uses of the vic-dioximes in analytical chemistry may be stimulated by the availability of this reference

Universal Scaling of Wave Propagation Failure in Arrays of Coupled Nonlinear Cells

We study the onset of the propagation failure of wave fronts in systems of coupled cells. We introduce a new method to analyze the scaling of the critical external field at which fronts cease to propagate, as a function of intercellular coupling. We find the universal scaling of the field throughout the range of couplings, and show that the field becomes exponentially small for large couplings. Our method is generic and applicable to a wide class of cellular dynamics in chemical, biological, and engineering systems. We confirm our results by direct numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Relative habituation and recovery of visual attention to orientation-movement compounds by newborn infants.

Previous research has demonstrated that newborn infants are capable of discriminating stationary objects based on one stimulus dimension. The present study asked the following questions: can newborns process spatial orientation changes?; does stimulus movement influence spatial orientation processing?; can stimulus movement changes be processed?; and can changes to two dimensions of a stimulus be detected? Forty-eight, 2-day-old newborns were administered successive presentations of either stationary or moving, high contrast, black-and-white square wave gratings (stripes) and their level of visual fixation was recorded. The results indicated that newborns are capable of detecting spatial orientation changes in stationary and moving stimuli. Moreover, the findings indicated that newborn infants were capable of detecting direction of movement changes. It was demonstrated that newborn infants could detect changes to two dimensions of a stimulus concurrently. It was concluded that newborns are capable of processing more than one stimulus dimension simultaneously, demonstrating that their information processing capabilities are more sophisticated than previously thought. Finally, it was hypothesized that newborns encode stimulus dimension information separately, but can integrate these memories during object discrimination tasks.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1993 .L375. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 32-02, page: 0725. Adviser: Robert Orr. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1993

Effects of stimulus movement and post-habituation delay on newborn infants\u27 ability to retain visual information.

The present study was designed to determine whether delayed recognition memory for visual stimuli was present at birth. It was hypothesized that: (1) newborns would demonstrate delayed recognition memory for both a rotating and stationary Maltese Cross (MC); (2) stimulus movement would influence retention; and (3) various patterns of habituation (c.f., Bornstein & Benasich, 1986) would be observed. Seventy-eight newborns were divided into five delay conditions (0 s, 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, 120 s). Half were habituated to a stationary MC and half to a rotating MC. Following habituation and the delay period, the habituated MC was re-presented for 3 trials. The MC was then modified (i.e., (i) direction of rotation was reversed; or (ii) from stationary to rotating) and presented for 3 trials. Measures of stimulus-directed looking and negative state were recorded. The results indicated that newborns in the 90 s and 120 s delay conditions displayed significant increases in looking during the first test trial, but not when looking was averaged across the three test trials. Stimulus movement did not influence retention. Newborns in all five delay conditions increased looking to the modified MC. Finally, the majority of newborns exhibited a fluctuating pattern of habituation, but the patterns did not influence retention. The findings indicate that newborns retain visual information for at least 120 s. However, retrieval appears to degrade after 60 s. Following the longer delay intervals, the first test trial appeared to prime the newborns\u27 long-term memory, permitting successful matching of the habituated MC on subsequent trials. Thus, it was concluded that delayed recognition memory for visual stimuli is present at birth. It was argued that the information processing model provides the best explanation for the obtained findings. Behavioural fatigue was ruled out since newborn looking increased to novelty. Furthermore, variable patterns of looking during the habituation phase (i.e., fluctuating) which were present in some newborns was used to argue against a selective receptor model of newborn habituation. The failure to obtain the expected stimulus movement effects was discussed in terms of procedural considerations.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1996 .L36. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-07, Section: B, page: 4747. Adviser: R. Robert Orr. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1996

Evolution of Salmonella excretion by sows during gestation in link with the faecal microbiome

Pork meat is estimated to be responsible of 10 to 20% of human salmonellosis cases. Control strategies at the farm could reduce contamination at the slaughterhouse. One of the targeted sector of the production is the maternity, where sows could be Salmonella reservoirs. The aim of this study was to characterize the faecal microbiome of sows excreting or not Salmonella during gestation phases. A total of 76 sows were selected and fecal matters were analysed at the beginning or the end of gestation period. Salmonella detection was conducted using a method including two selective enrichment media (MSRV and TBG). Nine (9) isolates per positive samples were collected. Among the 76 sows tested, 31 were shedding Salmonella. The sows in the first third of their gestation shed significantly more frequently Salmonella (22/29) than those in the last third (9/47) (χ² P \u3c 0.05). The shedding status of 19 of the sows that were previously sampled in the first third of their gestation was followed, this time in the last third, confirming reduction of the shedding. Association between changes in the intestinal microbiome and this evolution of Salmonella shedding will be explored. MiSeq sequencing is currently being conducted on the feces to identify shifts in the composition or diversity in the microbial community that could be associated to these variations. A large number of Salmonella isolates that were collected were genotyped by a high resolution melt (HRM) technique. These results showed the presence of a major HRM profile (136 isolates / 169) and two minor profiles (24 and 9 /169)

Digestive microbiota changes during application of an effective, feed presentation based, mitigation option against Salmonella shedding in pigs

If some studies have attempted to mitigate the Salmonella spp. excretion in pigs by feed related interventions, none clearly demonstrated the impact of the presentation (mash or pellet and particular size). Thus this study aimed to determine if the modification of the pigs feed presentation alone can lower the Salmonella spp. excretion

Bioaccumulation of inorganic elements in dreissena polymorpha from the Ebro river, Spain: could zebra mussels be used as a bioindicator of the impact of human activities?

Dreissena polymorpha is among the top 100 most harmful invasive species in aquatic habitats. European Directive 2013/39/UE establishes Environmental Quality Standards for biota because it has been demonstrated that pollutants bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms. This study evaluated bioaccumulation of inorganic elements in the soft tissues of D. polymorpha in order to assess the usefulness of zebra mussels as a bioindicator of contaminant presence in super fi cial waters. Concentrations of 66 elements were measured in order to evaluate their relation- ship with nearby anthropogenic activity and to the values recommended by Environmental Quality Standards for biota. Bivalves were col- lected from four sample points along the Ebro River Basin (Spain), where diverse human activities are carried out. Zebra mussels accumulate toxins in soft tissue during their life cycle, including Al, Cr, Fe, Hg, Pb, Th, Cd and U. The highest levels of accumulation corresponded to elements associated with human activity in the area, showing the impact of anthropogenic actions on biota. D. polymorpha not only supplies information about current water quality but also acts as a witness of past water quality by bioconcentrating toxic elements present in the environment and providing relevant results about historical water contamination. In conclusion, D. polymorpha is a harmful and dangerous invasive species, but its pervasiveness means that it can be used as a bioindicator to assess current and past presence of elements in water

Avalanche of Bifurcations and Hysteresis in a Model of Cellular Differentiation

Cellular differentiation in a developping organism is studied via a discrete bistable reaction-diffusion model. A system of undifferentiated cells is allowed to receive an inductive signal emenating from its environment. Depending on the form of the nonlinear reaction kinetics, this signal can trigger a series of bifurcations in the system. Differentiation starts at the surface where the signal is received, and cells change type up to a given distance, or under other conditions, the differentiation process propagates through the whole domain. When the signal diminishes hysteresis is observed

A Lower Bound for Quantum Phase Estimation

We obtain a query lower bound for quantum algorithms solving the phase estimation problem. Our analysis generalizes existing lower bound approaches to the case where the oracle Q is given by controlled powers Q^p of Q, as it is for example in Shor's order finding algorithm. In this setting we will prove a log (1/epsilon) lower bound for the number of applications of Q^p1, Q^p2, ... This bound is tight due to a matching upper bound. We obtain the lower bound using a new technique based on frequency analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Prenatal Maternal Stress Predicts Childhood Asthma in Girls: Project Ice Storm

Little is known about how prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) influences risks of asthma in humans. In this small study, we sought to determine whether disaster-related PNMS would predict asthma risk in children. In June 1998, we assessed severity of objective hardship and subjective distress in women pregnant during the January 1998 Quebec Ice Storm. Lifetime asthma symptoms, diagnoses, and corticosteroid utilization were assessed when the children were 12 years old (N = 68). No effects of objective hardship or timing of the exposure were found. However, we found that, in girls only, higher levels of prenatal maternal subjective distress predicted greater lifetime risk of wheezing (OR = 1.11; 90% CI = 1.01–1.23), doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR = 1.09; 90% CI = 1.00–1.19), and lifetime utilization of corticosteroids (OR = 1.12; 90% CI = 1.01–1.25). Other perinatal and current maternal life events were also associated with asthma outcomes. Findings suggest that stress during pregnancy opens a window for fetal programming of immune functioning. A sex-based approach may be useful to examine how prenatal and postnatal environments combine to program the immune system. This small study needs to be replicated with a larger, more representative sample