Ecological basis of coevolutionary history

Journal ArticleMacroevolutionary patterns are difficult to interpret because they are the product of a time scale so vast that deterministic and chance events are hard to distinguish. Although the macroevolutionary history of a group can be reconstructed from extant species, determining the ecological context in which that group evolved is a tall order. Ecology involves interactions between organisms and both the living and nonliving components of their environments

Impact of an Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer Intervention on the Spread of Viruses in Homes

The objectives of this study were to determine the movement of a virus throughout a household and the impact of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) on reducing the movement and exposure of the virus to household members. Bacterial virus MS-2 was used as the surrogate for human enteric and respiratory viruses. Seven households with families having at least two children in the age range of 2–18 living in the home were used in this study. The hands of one adult family member were contaminated with 1 × 10(8). MS-2 bacteriophage in each home. After 8 h, the hands of each family member (10 fingers) and 20 frequently touched fomites were sampled to determine baseline contamination without intervention. Within 8 h, MS-2 was detected on all of the family member’s hands and most of the fomites. The intervention consisted of providing the families in all selected homes with bottles of an ABHS, which were placed in the kitchen, bathrooms, and nurseries. Smaller individual bottles were provided for each family member greater than 12 years old to place in purses, pockets, backpacks, etc. The families were instructed to use the ABHS one time or three times during the day. For one and three uses, a statistically significant reduction of virus on un-inoculated and inoculated hands of ~99 % occurred within 8 h. Similar reductions occurred on fomites throughout the households (97–99 %). These results demonstrate that the use of an ABHS can significantly reduce transfer of a virus to the hands, and to the commonly touched surfaces within the household

Muhammad Saw dan Peletakan Dasar Peradaban Islam

. Sejarah pra-Islam dan pasca datangnya nabi Muhammad di tengah peradaban bangsa Arab tentunya merupakan suatu kondisi yang sangat bipolar. Di satu sisi, peradaban pra-Islam banyak terjadi perilaku buruk seperti permusuhan, perselisihan, ketidakadilan, penindasan bahkan pembunuhan merupakan suatu tradisi dekonstruktif dalam tatanan bangsa Arab. Tentunya, hal ini sangat berbeda ketika Muhammad saw. (keturunan Arab) lahir, terjadi Perubahan tatanan yang sangat signifikan mulai dari konsteks keilmuan, sosial, ekonomi, dan aspek-aspek lainnya. Secara kompeherensif, aspek tersebut di atas direkonstruksi dari mukjizat nabi, yakni Alquran sebagai pedoman dasar dan berupa dari tata cara berperilaku nabi, ucapan dan way of life nabi yang terakumulasi dalam hadits mampu menggeser peradaban yang terbelakang menjadi perabadan yang sangat maju di berbagai lini. Penelitian ini mencoba untuk mengkonstelasikan dan mengkomparasikan peradaban bangsa Arab pra Nabi hingga Nabi dilahirkan dan membawa misi revolusioner dengan munculnya peradaban baru, peradaban Islam

Pengaruh Citra Merek dan Kualitas Produk terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Laptop Merek Dell di Kota Semarang (Studi Kasus pada Konsumen Laptop Merek Dell di Kecamatan Banyumanik Kota Semarang)

Current condition of the laptop competition is very tight, so the company should make a strategy to achieve a higher market share. Laptops are one of the tool to meeting the needs of consumers in the field of technology and information. Dell is a company engaged in the information technology industry. The purpose of this study was to know the effect of brand image and product quality to the brand laptop Dell purchase decision. This type of research is explanatory research, the number of respondents are 100 peoples with purposive sampling technique. Data collection techniques in this study using questionnaires, interviews, and literature. The analytical method used is the validity, reliability, correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination, simple linear regression, t test, regression multiple linear, and F testBased on the analysis of the study variables of brand image and product quality has a positive influence on purchasing decisions. Quality variable of the products have the most impact which 56.3%. While the brand image variables have an effect of 46.7%. Taken together (simultaneously) variables brand image and product quality has a contribution of 59% of the purchase decision. In conclusion there is positive between the brand image and product quality to the Dell brand laptop purchase decision. Suggestions for improvement of purchasing decisions by improving product quality and pay more attention to deficiencies which can be obtained through consumer complaints. Besides maintaining a good brand image that is by keep in constant communication with consumers and provide a clearer information to attract the attention of consumers better

Study of deformation texture in an AZ31 magnesium alloy rolled at wide range of rolling speed and reductions

Having the lowest density among all structural metals, magnesium has opened new horizons for developing commercial alloys with successful use in a wide variety of applications [1-2]. However, the plasticity of Mg is restricted at low temperatures because: (a) only a small number of deformation mechanisms can be activated [3-4], and (b) a preferred crystallographic orientation (texture) develops in wrought alloys, especially in flat-rolled sheets [5-7]. Therefore, manufacturing processes such as rolling and stamping should be performed at elevated temperatures [1, 8]. These barriers to the manufacturing process increase the price of magnesium wrought alloy products and limits the use of Mg to castings [9-10]. As a result, many studies have been conducted to improve formability by investigating the effect of manufacturing process. Therefore the current sheet production techniques, based on DC casting and hot rolling, are basically slow because the demand is easily met [11]. Twin roll casting followed by hot rolling appears to be processing route which can fulfil high volumes and reduced costs. The present authors succeeded in single-pass large draught rolling of various magnesium alloy sheets at low temperature (<473K) by high speed rolling [12]. Based on the data available in those works [13- 17], the sheet obtained by high-speed rolling exhibited a fine-grained microstructure (mean grain size of 2-3 μm), with good mechanical properties. For these advantages, the high speed rolling is a promising process to produce high-quality rolled magnesium alloy sheets at a low cost. For these advantages, the HSR is a promising process to produce high-quality rolled magnesium alloy sheets at a low cost. The goal of this research is thus to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the much higher rollability and the grain refinement after HSR. To do that, in this study, different rolling speeds from 15 to 1000 m/min were employed to twin rolled cast AZ31B magnesium alloy and different reductions

Fluorescence-detected Fourier transform electronic spectroscopy by phase-tagged photon counting

Fluorescence-detected Fourier transform (FT) spectroscopy is a technique in which the relative paths of an optical interferometer are controlled to excite a material sample, and the ensuing fluorescence is detected as a function of the interferometer path delay and relative phase. A common approach to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in these experiments is to apply a continuous phase sweep to the relative optical path, and to detect the resulting modulated fluorescence using a phase-sensitive lock-in amplifier. In many important situations, the fluorescence signal is too weak to be measured using a lock-in amplifier, so that photon counting techniques are preferred. Here we introduce an approach to low-signal fluorescence-detected FT spectroscopy, in which individual photon counts are assigned to a modulated interferometer phase ('phase-tagged photon counting,' or PTPC), and the resulting data are processed to construct optical spectra. We studied the fluorescence signals of a molecular sample excited resonantly by a pulsed coherent laser over a range of photon flux and visibility levels. We compare the performance of PTPC to standard lock-in detection methods and establish the range of signal parameters over which meaningful measurements can be carried out. We find that PTPC generally outperforms the lock-in detection method, with the dominant source of measurement uncertainty being associated with the statistics of the finite number of samples of the photon detection rate.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figure

A retrospective study of high mobility group protein I(Y) as progression marker for prostate cancer determined by in situ hybridization.

In a previous study using RNA in situ hybridisation (RISH), we found a significant correlation between high mobility group protein I/Y, [HMG-I(Y)] mRNA expression and tumour stage and grade in prostate cancer patients, suggesting that HMG-I(Y) might be a potential prognostic marker in prostate cancer. However, our clinical follow-up was limited because cryopreserved material was used. Assessing the potential prognostic value of this molecule is of importance because the clinical course of prostate cancer patients remains unpredictable. Here we describe our results on paraffin-embedded archival material from a group of 102 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. These were evaluated for the presence of HMG-I(Y) using RISH, and a follow-up of 12-92 months (average 53 months) was available. In 2 of 14 prostate cancers in which the predominant histological pattern was of Gleason grade 1-2, a high HMG-I(Y) expression was observed, whereas in 19 of 23 Gleason grade 3, and 34 of 35 Gleason grade 4-5 tumours, high HMG-I(Y) mRNA levels were detected (chi-square = 38.78, P < 0.0001). Moreover, of tumours that expressed high HMG-I(Y) levels, 25% were organ confined (T1-2), in contrast to 74.5% of the invading tumours (T3, chi-square = 15.8, P < 0.001). Furthermore, 87% of recurrent tumours showed high HMG-I(Y) expression. However, a multivariate regression analysis including Gleason grade, clinical tumour stage, HMG-I(Y) expression and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels showed Gleason grade as the most accurate predictor of progression. High HMG-I(Y) levels measured by RISH were indicative of a worse prognosis, albeit that additional value over the more subjective grading methods was not evident