HARMONIZATION AND CONVERGENCE OF CANADIAN AND U.S. GRAINS AND OILSEEDS POLICIES: 1985-1996

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Method of forming thin window drifted silicon charged particle detector Patent

Method of forming thin window drifted silicon charged particle detecto

Data publication: towards a database of everything

The fabric of science is changing, driven by a revolution in digital technologies that facilitate the acquisition and communication of massive amounts of data. This is changing the nature of collaboration and expanding opportunities to participate in science. If digital technologies are the engine of this revolution, digital data are its fuel. But for many scientific disciplines, this fuel is in short supply. The publication of primary data is not a universal or mandatory part of science, and despite policies and proclamations to the contrary, calls to make data publicly available have largely gone unheeded. In this short essay I consider why, and explore some of the challenges that lie ahead, as we work toward a database of everything

Single Maximal versus Combination Punch Kinematics

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of punch type (Jab, Cross, Lead Hook and Reverse Hook) and punch modality (Single maximal, ‘In-synch’ and ‘Out of synch’ combination) on punch speed and delivery time. Ten competition-standard volunteers performed punches with markers placed on their anatomical landmarks for 3D motion capture with an eight-camera optoelectronic system. Speed and duration between key moments were computed. There were significant differences in contact speed between punch types (F 2,18,84.87 = 105.76, p = 0.001) with Lead and Reverse Hooks developing greater speed than Jab and Cross. There were significant differences in contact speed between punch modalities (F 2,64,102.87 = 23.52, p = 0.001) with the Single maximal (M ± SD: 9.26 ± 2.09 m/s) higher than ‘Out of synch’ (7.49 ± 2.32 m/s), ‘In-synch’ left (8.01 ± 2.35 m/s) or right lead (7.97 ± 2.53 m/s). Delivery times were significantly lower for Jab and Cross than Hook. Times were significantly lower ‘In-synch’ than a Single maximal or ‘Out of synch’ combination mode. It is concluded that a defender may have more evasion-time than previously reported. This research could be of use to performers and coaches when considering training preparations

Location of Solution Channels and Sinkholes at Dam Sites and Backwater Areas by Seismic Methods: Part I

The basic concepts associated with the sledge hammer seismic refraction survey are reviewed and a modified version called down hole shooting is discussed. The latter method has distinct advantages for rock surface profiling. These include: calibration at the end points of the survey, measurement of vertical wave propagation velocities directly, and having a refracted wave ray path for almost the entire survey length. The down hole shooting seismic refraction survey has been simulated with the digital computer. The method can handle any shaped rock surface profile and generates corresponding travel time curves for the forward and reverse profile surveys. This program was used to systematically study the effects of anomalies on the travel time curves. A method of data reduction was developed that enables an estimate of the rock surface profile to be made from the travel time data. The procedure involves the use of a reference depth line which connects the end points of a survey and the travel time curves for this reference depth line. Field tests were performed at four sites having soil and rock characteristics different from each other. Typical results are given. Rock surface profiles are estimated from the travel time curves using the procedure developed and these are compared with the depth to rock by proof drilling. Finally, the sources of error are discussed and some limitations of use are presented. For the sledge hammer method to be used for rock surface profiling, the rock surface should be within 25 to 30 ft of the soil surface and the minimum width of solution channel that can be sensed with this method is on the order of two feet. Recommendations for additional research are also given

Scotts Bluff County Test Hole Logs

Michel Seymour a choisi la philosophie analytique comme champ de recherche. La philosophie analytique est un courant de pensée dominé par les intellectuels vivant dans les pays anglo-saxons. Les résultats des recherches effectuées dans ce domaine sont publiés généralement en anglais, et les auteurs qui contribuent à ce courant de pensée se servent du modèle de la science pour donner un sens à leur propre activité philosophique. Le courant dominant y est en outre d’inspiration individualiste. Michel Seymour décrit ici comment se vit l’expérience de la philosophie analytique pour un Québécois francophone anti-individualiste et nationaliste qui croit à la valeur de la diversité des cultures et à l’autodétermination du Québec

Substitutions near the hemagglutinin receptor-binding site determine the antigenic evolution of influenza A H3N2 viruses in U.S. swine

Swine influenza A virus is an endemic and economically important pathogen in pigs, with the potential to infect other host species. The hemagglutinin (HA) protein is the primary target of protective immune responses and the major component in swine influenza A vaccines. However, as a result of antigenic drift, vaccine strains must be regularly updated to reflect currently circulating strains. Characterizing the cross-reactivity between strains in pigs and seasonal influenza virus strains in humans is also important in assessing the relative risk of interspecies transmission of viruses from one host population to the other. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay data for swine and human H3N2 viruses were used with antigenic cartography to quantify the antigenic differences among H3N2 viruses isolated from pigs in the United States from 1998 to 2013 and the relative cross-reactivity between these viruses and current human seasonal influenza A virus strains. Two primary antigenic clusters were found circulating in the pig population, but with enough diversity within and between the clusters to suggest updates in vaccine strains are needed. We identified single amino acid substitutions that are likely responsible for antigenic differences between the two primary antigenic clusters and between each antigenic cluster and outliers. The antigenic distance between current seasonal influenza virus H3 strains in humans and those endemic in swine suggests that population immunity may not prevent the introduction of human viruses into pigs, and possibly vice versa, reinforcing the need to monitor and prepare for potential incursions

A hitchhikers guide to the Galápagos: co-phylogeography of Galápagos mockingbirds and their parasites

Background: Parasites are evolutionary hitchhikers whose phylogenies often track the evolutionary history of their hosts. Incongruence in the evolutionary history of closely associated lineages can be explained through a variety of possible events including host switching and host independent speciation. However, in recently diverged lineages stochastic population processes, such as retention of ancestral polymorphism or secondary contact, can also explain discordant genealogies, even in fully co-speciating taxa. The relatively simple biogeographic arrangement of the Galapagos archipelago, compared with mainland biomes, provides a framework to identify stochastic and evolutionary informative components of genealogic data in these recently diverged organisms. Results: Mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained for four species of Galapagos mockingbirds and three sympatric species of ectoparasites - two louse and one mite species. These data were complemented with nuclear EF1 alpha sequences in selected samples of parasites and with information from microsatellite loci in the mockingbirds. Mitochondrial sequence data revealed differences in population genetic diversity between all taxa and varying degrees of topological congruence between host and parasite lineages. A very low level of genetic variability and lack of congruence was found in one of the louse parasites, which was excluded from subsequent joint analysis of mitochondrial data. The reconciled multi-species tree obtained from the analysis is congruent with both the nuclear data and the geological history of the islands. Conclusions: The gene genealogies of Galapagos mockingbirds and two of their ectoparasites show strong phylogeographic correlations, with instances of incongruence mostly explained by ancestral genetic polymorphism. A third parasite genealogy shows low levels of genetic diversity and little evidence of co-phylogeny with their hosts. These differences can mostly be explained by variation in life-history characteristics, primarily host specificity and dispersal capabilities. We show that pooling genetic data from organisms living in close ecological association reveals a more accurate phylogeographic history for these taxa. Our results have implications for the conservation and taxonomy of Galapagos mockingbirds and their parasites

BioAcoustica : a free and open repository and analysis platform for bioacoustics

We describe an online open repository and analysis platform, BioAcoustica (http://bio. acousti.ca), for recordings of wildlife sounds. Recordings can be annotated using a crowdsourced approach, allowing voice introductions and sections with extraneous noise to be removed from analyses. This system is based on the Scratchpads virtual research environment, the BioVeL portal and the Taverna workflow management tool, which allows for analysis of recordings using a grid computing service. At present the analyses include spectrograms, oscillograms and dominant frequency analysis. Further analyses can be integrated to meet the needs of specific researchers or projects. Researchers can upload and annotate their recordings to supplement traditional publication