Comments on the Aharonov-Casher effect

We study the basic requirements for neutron confinement in the framework of some 3-D Aharonov-Casher configurations.Comment: To appear in Physica Scripta (2001

Collaborative Pacific Halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, Bycatch Control by Canada and the United States

ABSTRACT—Bycatch mortality of Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, in nontarget fisheries is composed primarily of immature fish, and substantial reductions in yield to directed halibut fisheries result from this bycatch. Distant-water bottomtrawl fleets operating off the North American coast, beginning in the mid 1960’s, experienced bycatch mortality of over 12,000 t annually. Substantial progress on reducing this bycatch was not achieved until the of extension fisheries jurisdictions by the United States and Canada in 1977. Bycatch began to increase again during the expansion of domestic catching capacity for groundfish, and by the early 1990’s it had returned to levels seen during the period of foreign fishing. Collaborative action by Canada and the United States through the International Pacific Halibut Commission has resulted in substantial reductions in bycatch mortality in some areas. Methods of control have operated at global, fleet, and individual vessel levels. We evaluate the hierarchy of effectiveness for these control measures and identify regulatory needs for optimum effects. New monitoring technologies offer the promise of more cost-effective approaches to bycatch reduction

Biotransformation of explosives by the old yellow enzyme family of flavoproteins

Several independent studies of bacterial degradation of nitrate ester explosives have demonstrated the involvement of flavin-dependent oxidoreductases related to the old yellow enzyme (OYE) of yeast. Some of these enzymes also transform the nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). In this work, catalytic capabilities of five members of the OYE family were compared, with a view to correlating structure and function. The activity profiles of the five enzymes differed substantially; no one compound proved to be a good substrate for all five enzymes. TNT is reduced, albeit slowly, by all five enzymes. The nature of the transformation products differed, with three of the five enzymes yielding products indicative of reduction of the aromatic ring. Our findings suggest two distinct pathways of TNT transformation, with the initial reduction of TNT being the key point of difference between the enzymes. Characterization of an active site mutant of one of the enzymes suggests a structural basis for this difference

I Lost It at the Movies : Parodic Spectatorship in Hector Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman

Le Baiser de la femme araignée, une coproduction internationale représentative du cinéma ayant succédé au cinema novo, remet en question le concept brésilien d'« anthropophagie culturelle », en opérant un retournement des processus d'identification filmique. Élaborée durant les années vingt par Oswald de Andrade, le plus radical des modernistes brésiliens, l'd'« anthropophagie culturelle » suppose l'assimilation de la culture métropolitaine. De son côté, le film de Babenco met en jeu consommation et recyclage d'images. Par le truchement de l'exagération et du camp, on y parodie la lecture classique d'un film de propagande, autorisant une diversité de lectures. Le Baiser de la femme araignée s'inscrit ainsi comme une lecture qui conteste une icône en provenance d'une culture étrangère et qui récupère la propagande pour dénoncer la répression politique en Amérique latine.An international coproduction representative of the post-Cinema novo mainstream, Hector Babenco's Kiss of the Spider Woman reassesses the Brazilian notion of cultural anthropophagy to examine the subversion of spectatorial identification. While anthropophagy, as envisioned by Oswald de Andrade, the most radical of Brazilian Modernists, consumes metropolitan culture, Babenco's film foregrounds the consumption and reprocessing of images. Through exaggeration and camp, the reconfiguration of a propaganda film parodies classical spectatorship and opens doors to negotiated readings of film. Babencos film offers a contestatory reading of another's cultural icon, redeploying propaganda to decry the plight of the disenfranchised and the political repression of the Southern Cone