A note on Hamiltonian cycles in bipartite plane cubic maps having connectivity 2

It is shown that every bipartite plane cubic map of connectivity 2 has at least eight quadrilaterals, and those with exactly eight quadrilaterals are Hamiltonian. Also, the smallest non-Hamiltonian bipartite plane cubic map is determined

Effects of Crop Diversification Upon the Variability of Income for Eastern- Southeastern South Dakota

Dryland farming in eastern and south-eastern South Dakota is characterized by diversified crop production. A major reason farmers in this area diversify is for income stability. Diversification evens out the high variability in income associated with specializing in one crop. It is the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of crop diversification upon income level and variability

Novel MCM Interconnection Analysis Using Capacitive Charge Generation (CCG)

A new SEM technique, Capacitive Charge Generation (CCG), has been developed to rapidly image MCM interconnection continuity. The new technique uses low primary electron beam energies (< 2.0 keV), very high beam currents (>100 nA), and fast electron beam scan rates (>5 frames/second) to probe buried conductors in MCMS. For these conditions, new surface charging effects have been observed that enable examination of conductors under thick insulating layers. CCG has been applied to conductors covered by over 90 {mu}m of polymer dielectric. The physics of CCG signal generation and applications for MCM failure analysis are described

Resting vs. active: a meta-analysis of the intra- and inter-specific associations between minimum, sustained, and maximum metabolic rates in vertebrates

Variation in aerobic capacity has far reaching consequences for the physiology, ecology, and evolution of vertebrates. Whether at rest or active, animals are constrained to operate within the energetic bounds determined by their minimum (minMR) and sustained or maximum metabolic rates (upperMR). MinMR and upperMR can differ considerably among individuals and species but are often presumed to be mechanistically linked to one another. Specifically, minMR is thought to reflect the idling cost of the machinery needed to support upperMR. However, previous analyses based on limited datasets have come to conflicting conclusions regarding the generality and strength of their association. Here we conduct the first comprehensive assessment of their relationship, based on a large number of published estimates of both the intra-specific (n = 176) and inter-specific (n = 41) phenotypic correlations between minMR and upperMR, estimated as either exercise-induced maximum metabolic rate (VO2max), cold-induced summit metabolic rate (Msum), or daily energy expenditure (DEE). Our meta-analysis shows that there is a general positive association between minMR and upperMR that is shared among vertebrate taxonomic classes. However, there was stronger evidence for intra-specific correlations between minMR and Msum and between minMR and DEE than there was for a correlation between minMR and VO2max across different taxa. As expected, inter-specific correlation estimates were consistently higher than intra-specific estimates across all traits and vertebrate classes. An interesting exception to this general trend was observed in mammals, which contrast with birds and exhibit no correlation between minMR and Msum. We speculate that this is due to the evolution and recruitment of brown fat as a thermogenic tissue, which illustrates how some species and lineages might circumvent this seemingly general association. We conclude that, in spite of some variability across taxa and traits, the contention that minMR and upperMR are positively correlated generally holds true both within and across vertebrate species. Ecological and comparative studies should therefore take into consideration the possibility that variation in any one of these traits might partly reflect correlated responses to selection on other metabolic parameters

Utilizing volatile organic compounds for early detection of Fusarium circinatum

Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by The Swedish Research Council Formas, Grant #2018-00966, Crafoordska stiftelsen Grant #20200631, Carl Tryggers Stiftelse för Vetenskaplig Forskning Grant 18:67, The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, Stiftelsen fonden för skogsvetenskaplig forskning, Erasmus+ Staff mobility grant, Anna-Britta & Vadim Söderströms resestipendium and NordGen Forest SNS scholarships. J.N.S. was supported by The European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the MSCA agreement No 101068728. Thanks to dr. R.R. Vetukuri for providing F. graminearum, to the staff of Laboratorio de Técnicas Instrumentales, Universidad de Valladolid, for providing access to lab facilities and to J-E. Englund for assistance in making the experimental design. Funding Open access funding provided by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Alpha decay self-damage in cubic and monoclinic zirconolite

Samples of primarily-monoclinic /sup 238/Pu-doped zirconolite were stored at ambient temperature to allow accumulation of alpha decay self-damage to a dose of 1 x 10/sup 24/ ..cap alpha../m/sup 3/ (equivalent to a SYNROC age of approx. 10/sup 3/y). Bulk swelling reached 2.3 vol% with no tendency toward saturation, a damage response similar to that observed for cubic Pu-doped zirconolite. X-ray volumetric swelling at 4 x 10/sup 24/ ..cap alpha../m/sup 3/ was 1 vol%, considerably less than that for the cubic material. Changes in cell dimensions differed significantly from those reported by others for a monoclinic natural mineral. Extensive microcracking was observed, and is attributed at least partially to swelling differences between the matrix and minor phases

The Distributional Impact of Statewide Property Tax Relief: the Michigan Case

This study uses data from a random survey of 2001 Michigan households to analyze the extent to which the Michigan ctreuit-breaker has been successful in reducing the income regressivity of the property tax and in changing relative property tax burdens. Because of its relatively extensive coverage, including renters as well as homeowners and the nonaged as well as the aged, the circuit-breaker has yielded a more equal distribution of income within Michigan. Its potential to change the distribution of income depends on the particular formula utilized, but redistributional effects have thus far been lamited because program participation has been positively correlated with income. To the extent that reductions in the price ofpublic services created by the circuit-breaker are perceived by households, the biggest stimulus appears to be in high property tax/high-income countiesPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68848/2/10.1177_109114218301100201.pd

The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory

We describe the second telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.46-m Centurion 18 (C18) installed in 2005, which enhances significantly the observing possibilities. The telescope operates from a small dome and is equipped with a large-format CCD camera. In the last two years this telescope was intensively used in a variety of monitoring projects. The operation of the C18 is now automatic, requiring only start-up at the beginning of a night and close-down at dawn. The observations are mostly performed remotely from the Tel Aviv campus or even from the observer's home. The entire facility was erected for a component cost of about 70k$ and a labor investment of a total of one man-year. We describe three types of projects undertaken with this new facility: the measurement of asteroid light variability with the purpose of determining physical parameters and binarity, the following-up of transiting extrasolar planets, and the study of AGN variability. The successful implementation of the C18 demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge light-collectors, provided the operation of such facilities is very efficient.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, some figures quality was degraded, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Designing a therapeutic hepatitis B vaccine to circumvent immune tolerance

An effective prophylactic hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine has long been available but is ineffective for chronic infection. The primary cause of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and greatest impediment for a therapeutic vaccine is the direct and indirect effects of immune tolerance to HBV antigens. The resulting defective CD4+/CD8+ T cell response, poor cytokine production, insufficient neutralizing anti-body (nAb) and poor response to HBsAg vaccination characterize CHB infection. The objective of this study was to develop virus-like-particles (VLPs) that elicit nAb to prevent viral spread and prime CD4+/CD8+ T cells to eradicate intracellular HBV. Eight neutralizing B cell epitopes from the envelope PreS1 region were consolidated onto a species-variant of the HBV core protein, the woodchuck hepatitis core antigen (WHcAg). PreS1-specific B cell epitopes were chosen because of preferential expression on HBV virions. Because WHcAg and HBcAg are not crossreactive at the B cell level and only partially cross-reactive at the CD4+/CD8+ T cell level, CD4+ T cells specific for WHcAg-unique T cell sites can provide cognate T-B cell help for anti-PreS1 Ab production that is not curtailed by immune tolerance. Immunization of immune tolerant HBV transgenic (Tg) mice with PreS1-WHc VLPs elicited levels of high titer anti-PreS1 nAbs equivalent to wildtype mice. Passive transfer of PreS1 nAbs into human-liver chimeric mice prevented acute infection and cleared serum HBV from mice previously infected with HBV in a model of CHB. At the T cell level, PreS1-WHc VLPs and hybrid WHcAg/HBcAg DNA immunogens elicited HBcAg-specific CD4+ Th and CD8+ CTL responses