Issues in the Design of a Pilot Concept-Based Query Interface for the Neuroinformatics Information Framework

This paper describes a pilot query interface that has been constructed to help us explore a "concept-based" approach for searching the Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF). The query interface is concept-based in the sense that the search terms submitted through the interface are selected from a standardized vocabulary of terms (concepts) that are structured in the form of an ontology. The NIF contains three primary resources: the NIF Resource Registry, the NIF Document Archive, and the NIF Database Mediator. These NIF resources are very different in their nature and therefore pose challenges when designing a single interface from which searches can be automatically launched against all three resources simultaneously. The paper first discusses briefly several background issues involving the use of standardized biomedical vocabularies in biomedical information retrieval, and then presents a detailed example that illustrates how the pilot concept-based query interface operates. The paper concludes by discussing certain lessons learned in the development of the current version of the interface

Fermi Surface-Brillouin Zone Interactions in 2/1-2/1-2/1 Bergman-Type Approximant Na27Au27Ga31

The X-ray diffraction studies on a newly synthesized Na26Au25Ga29 single crystal revealed the formation of a single phase 2/1-2/1-2/1 Bergman-type approximant and the presence of Au/Ga mixed occupancies in its unit cell containing 680 atoms. The structure model of the 2/1-2/1-2/1 approximant with composition Na27Au27Ga31 was constructed by eliminating the chemical disorder with a minimum sacrifice of composition displacement. The full potential linearized augmented plane wave electronic structure calculations with subsequent full potential linearized augmented plane wave-Fourier analysis were performed for the 2/1-2/1-2/1 approximant Na27Au27Ga31 with space group P a¯3. The square of the Fermi diameter (2kF)2, electrons per atom ratio e/a and the critical reciprocal lattice vector |G|2 are determined. A shallow pseudogap at the Fermi level was interpreted as originating from interference of electrons having (2kF)2 = 109.2 ± 1.0 with sets of lattice planes with |G|2\u27s centered at 108. The effective e/a value for the compound is found to be 1.76 in good agreement with 1.73 derived from a composition average of (e/a)Na = 1.0, (e/a)Au = 1.0 and (e/a)Ga = 3.0

Application of Electron Spin Resonance Techniques to Model Starch Systems

Starch model systems were examined by electron spin resonance (ESR) techniques with either 16-DOXYL-stearic acid or TEMPO spin probes in water or hexane. Room temperature starchwater- 16-DOXYL-stearic acid spectra showed strong adsorption occurred between the starch and probe. Starch-water-TEMPO spectra at room temperature did not show strong adsorption between starch and probe, but did show some slowed motion of the probe as a result of different local environments experienced by the probe within the starch granule. Starch-water-probe spectra from systems heated from 45-95° C showed no major differences from unheated samples. Also, no major spectral differences existed for each starch system combination studied: wheat starch, hexane extracted wheat starch, waxy cornstarch, or high amylose cornstarch. Spectra from unheated wheat starchhexane- probe systems did not show that starchprobe interactions occurred

Distribution of Coleophora laricella (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae) and its major parasites in the crowns of western larch in British Columbia

The distribution of Coleophora laricella (Hbn.) and its parasites Dicladocerus spp. (D nearcticus Yosh. and D. pacificus Yosh. (Yoshimoto 1976)) and Spilochalcis albifrons (Walsh) in the crowns of western larch were determined for five classes of trees. In open-grown trees more than 7.6 m high, C. laricella densities were greater at 1.5-3.1 m than at 6.1-7.6 m above the ground, on the sunny side of a tree than on the shaded side, and on the outer half than on the inner half of a branch. In open-grown trees 3.0-4.6 m high and in trees forming a closed canopy, only the outer branch halves had significantly greater densities. The only significant variation in parasitism by Dicladocerus spp. occurred between branch halves in open-grown, non- roadside trees more than 7.6 m high, with more parasitism on the inner halves than the outer. Parasitism by S. albifrons was significantly greater at the lower crown level than at the higher in open-grown, closed-canopy, non-roadside trees that were more than 7.6 m high, and on the outer branch half than on the inner half in the same category of tree

Parasites of the larch casebearer, Coleophora laricella (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae), in the West Kootenay area, British Columbia

The parasite complex of the larch casebearer, Coleophora laricella (Hbn.), was investigated in the Kootenay area of British Columbia in 1973 and 1974. Forty-one species of hymenopterous parasites were obtained from rearings of almost 153,000 final-instar host larvae and pupae. In 1973 and 1974, 31 and 24 species, respectively, were reared, with 14 common to both years. Twenty-nine of these, in 24 genera, were confirmed as larch casebearer parasites by individual rearings and by reports in the literature. No parasites were obtained from eggs, needle-mining larvae, or third-instar case-bearing larvae. The highest total percentage parasitism was 17.7% in 1973 and 24.5% in 1974, both at Rossland. In Collection II the Dicladocerus spp. complex comprised 46.0% of the total parasitism in 1973. and 63.8% of the total in 1974: it was the most abundant at four of the eight collecting sites in 1973 and 13 of the 14 sites in 1974. Spilochalcis albifroms (Walsh) comprised 32.8% and 23.5% of the total parasitism in the years 1973 and 1974 respectively; it was most abundant at three collection sites in 1973 and at two in 1974. Mesopolobus sp. constituted 4.9% of the total in 1973 and 9.9% in 1974. Larch case bearer densities in the first collection in 1973 were highest at Fruitvale and Shoreacres with 150 and 130 cases per 100 fascicles respectively; in 1974, the highest host densities in the first collection were at Kootenay Bay and Fruitvale with 48 and 41 cases per 100 fascicles respectively