Body mass estimates of an exceptionally complete Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora): comparing volumetric and linear bivariate mass estimation methods

© 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. The file attached is the published version of the article

Devon Island Programs, 1967

The Arctic Institute's facilities on Devon Island were again used during the summer of 1967 by field parties studying glaciology, glacio-isostatic geomorphology, periglacial geomorphology, ornithology, and botany. In addition, an expedition photographer recorded the summer's activities with still photographs and on 16 mm. colour film. Field camps were established at various locations and the studies were pursued from these as well as from the Base Camp close to Cape Sparbo. ..

E872 Crop Budgets: Nebraska – 2010

Each budget consists of five sections: 1) The heading, 2) List of representative field operations, 3) List of materials and services used, 4) Operations and interest tabulations, and 5) Overhead costs including real estate taxes and opportunity charges. The budgets are presented in a worksheet format with a \u27\u27Your Estimate\u27\u27 column for recording modifications in costs. The heading consists of the crop name, source, amount, and application method of water, operating system description, and yield goal and yield estimate. The list of representative field operations is organized in a table with columns for the names of the operations, Times or Quantity, Labor, Fuel and Lube, and power source and implement costs for both Repairs and Ownership. Times or Quantity is typically in acres with a decimal denoting where an operation is done on a fraction of acres or where it represents the probability of an operation being done. Those operations that are done multiple times, swathing the several cuttings of hay for example, show the number of times. Other units used are bushels, hundredweight, tons, and acre inches. Labor costs for each operation were calculated from machinery accomplishment rates and adjusted for additional time required for getting machinery ready, adjusting machinery, and handling fertilizer and other supplies. The estimated costs for completing these operations are multiplied times the number in the \u27\u27Times or Qty\u27\u27 column, the product of which is multiplied times the hourly wage ($12 per hour) and labor factor. Fuel costs also use machinery accomplishment rates as well as estimated fuel consumption rates to determine fuel use. This is multiplied by a lube factor and the price of energy which is$2.00 per gallon for diesel and $0.783 per kwh for electricity. Repairs and depreciation costs were estimated using functions and factors from the Agricultural Engineer\u27s Yearbook which is published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. It requires making assumptions about the size and age of the equipment. It was assumed that machinery chosen was fully utilized. The age used for all field machines except irrigation equipment (pivots and pipe) was five years. The age assumed for irrigation equipment was ten years. The age assumed for all power units except diesel pumping engines and a small tractor used for spraying was five years. The age assumed for the diesel pumping engines was three years and the small spraying tractor ten years. Costing functions were based on the current list price of comparable items. For self propelled items, such as combines, the power unit repair and ownership costs estimates cover the principle machine and the implement costs covers the head. Data used for calculating power units’ cost are in Table 1 and machinery operations’ costs are in Table 2. Irrigation costs were calculated using engineering performance standards and typical water application rates which will depend on the rainfall area. Power costs for irrigation refer to the pump and power unit and implement costs are for the delivery system (pipe or pivot). Depreciation and interest for the well are budgeted with land costs

E872 Crop Budgets: Nebraska – 2010

Each budget consists of five sections: 1) The heading, 2) List of representative field operations, 3) List of materials and services used, 4) Operations and interest tabulations, and 5) Overhead costs including real estate taxes and opportunity charges. The budgets are presented in a worksheet format with a \u27\u27Your Estimate\u27\u27 column for recording modifications in costs. The heading consists of the crop name, source, amount, and application method of water, operating system description, and yield goal and yield estimate. The list of representative field operations is organized in a table with columns for the names of the operations, Times or Quantity, Labor, Fuel and Lube, and power source and implement costs for both Repairs and Ownership. Times or Quantity is typically in acres with a decimal denoting where an operation is done on a fraction of acres or where it represents the probability of an operation being done. Those operations that are done multiple times, swathing the several cuttings of hay for example, show the number of times. Other units used are bushels, hundredweight, tons, and acre inches. Labor costs for each operation were calculated from machinery accomplishment rates and adjusted for additional time required for getting machinery ready, adjusting machinery, and handling fertilizer and other supplies. The estimated costs for completing these operations are multiplied times the number in the \u27\u27Times or Qty\u27\u27 column, the product of which is multiplied times the hourly wage ($12 per hour) and labor factor. Fuel costs also use machinery accomplishment rates as well as estimated fuel consumption rates to determine fuel use. This is multiplied by a lube factor and the price of energy which is$2.00 per gallon for diesel and $0.783 per kwh for electricity. Repairs and depreciation costs were estimated using functions and factors from the Agricultural Engineer\u27s Yearbook which is published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. It requires making assumptions about the size and age of the equipment. It was assumed that machinery chosen was fully utilized. The age used for all field machines except irrigation equipment (pivots and pipe) was five years. The age assumed for irrigation equipment was ten years. The age assumed for all power units except diesel pumping engines and a small tractor used for spraying was five years. The age assumed for the diesel pumping engines was three years and the small spraying tractor ten years. Costing functions were based on the current list price of comparable items. For self propelled items, such as combines, the power unit repair and ownership costs estimates cover the principle machine and the implement costs covers the head. Data used for calculating power units’ cost are in Table 1 and machinery operations’ costs are in Table 2. Irrigation costs were calculated using engineering performance standards and typical water application rates which will depend on the rainfall area. Power costs for irrigation refer to the pump and power unit and implement costs are for the delivery system (pipe or pivot). Depreciation and interest for the well are budgeted with land costs

DNA repair gene XRCC1 polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking and chemical occupational exposure are the main known risk factors for bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Oxidative DNA damage induced by carcinogens present in these exposures requires accurate base excision repair (BER). The XRCC1 protein plays a crucial role in BER by acting as a scaffold for other BER enzymes. Variants in the XRCC1 gene might alter protein structure or function or create alternatively spliced proteins which may influence BER efficiency and hence affect individual susceptibility to bladder cancer. Recent epidemiological studies have shown inconsistent associations between these polymorphisms and bladder cancer. To clarify the situation, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 14 XRCC1 polymorphisms in a case-control study involving more than 1100 subjects. RESULTS: We found no evidence of an association between any of the 14 XRCC1 polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk. However, we found carriage of the variant Arg280His allele to be marginally associated with increased bladder cancer risk compared to the wild-type genotype (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.50 [0.98–2.28], p = 0.06). The association was stronger for current smokers such that individuals carrying the variant 280His allele had a two to three-fold increased risk of bladder cancer compared to those carrying the wildtype genotype (p = 0.09). However, the evidence for gene-environment interaction was not statistically significant (p = 0.45). CONCLUSION: We provide no evidence of an association between polymorphisms in XRCC1 and bladder cancer risk, although our study had only limited power to detect the association for low frequency variants, such as Arg280His

Visual Distraction: An Altered Aiming Spatial Response in Dementia

Background/Aims: Healthy individuals demonstrate leftward bias on visuospatial tasks such as line bisection, which has been attributed to right brain dominance. We investigated whether this asymmetry occurred in patients with probable dementia of the Alzheimer type (pAD) which is associated with neurodegenerative changes affecting temporoparietal regions. Methods: Subjects with pAD and matched controls performed a line bisection task in near and far space under conditions of no distraction, left-sided visual distraction and right-sided visual distraction. Results: Participants with pAD manifested different motor-preparatory ‘aiming’ spatial bias than matched controls. There were significantly greater rightward ‘aiming’ motor-intentional errors both without distraction and with right-sided distraction. Conclusion: ‘Aiming’ motor-preparatory brain activity may be induced by distraction in pAD subjects as compared to typical visual-motor function in controls

Analysis of Fcγ receptor haplotypes in rheumatoid arthritis: FCGR3A remains a major susceptibility gene at this locus, with an additional contribution from FCGR3B

The Fcγ receptors play important roles in the initiation and regulation of many immunological and inflammatory processes, and genetic variants (FCGR) have been associated with numerous autoimmune and infectious diseases. The data in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are conflicting and we previously demonstrated an association between FCGR3A and RA. In view of the close molecular proximity with FCGR2A, FCGR2B and FCGR3B, additional polymorphisms within these genes and FCGR haplotypes were examined to refine the extent of association with RA. Biallelic polymorphisms in FCGR2A, FCGR2B and FCGR3B were examined for association with RA in two well characterized UK Caucasian and North Indian/Pakistani cohorts, in which FCGR3A genotyping had previously been undertaken. Haplotype frequencies and linkage disequilibrium were estimated across the FCGR locus and a model-free analysis was performed to determine association with RA. This was followed by regression analysis, allowing for phase uncertainty, to identify the particular haplotype(s) that influences disease risk. Our results reveal that FCGR2A, FCGR2B and FCGR3B were not associated with RA. The haplotype with the strongest association with RA susceptibility was the FCGR3A–FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype (odds ratio 3.18, 95% confidence interval 1.13–8.92 [P = 0.03] for homozygotes compared with all genotypes). The association was stronger in the presence of nodules (odds ratio 5.03, 95% confidence interval 1.44–17.56; P = 0.01). This haplotype was also more common in North Indian/Pakistani RA patients than in control individuals, but not significantly so. Logistic regression analyses suggested that FCGR3A remained the most significant gene at this locus. The increased association with an FCGR3A–FCGR3B haplotype suggests that other polymorphic variants within FCGR3A or FCGR3B, or in linkage disequilibrium with this haplotype, may additionally contribute to disease pathogenesis

Pseudospectral Calculation of the Wavefunction of Helium and the Negative Hydrogen Ion

We study the numerical solution of the non-relativistic Schr\"{o}dinger equation for two-electron atoms in ground and excited S-states using pseudospectral (PS) methods of calculation. The calculation achieves convergence rates for the energy, Cauchy error in the wavefunction, and variance in local energy that are exponentially fast for all practical purposes. The method requires three separate subdomains to handle the wavefunction's cusp-like behavior near the two-particle coalescences. The use of three subdomains is essential to maintaining exponential convergence. A comparison of several different treatments of the cusps and the semi-infinite domain suggest that the simplest prescription is sufficient. For many purposes it proves unnecessary to handle the logarithmic behavior near the three-particle coalescence in a special way. The PS method has many virtues: no explicit assumptions need be made about the asymptotic behavior of the wavefunction near cusps or at large distances, the local energy is exactly equal to the calculated global energy at all collocation points, local errors go down everywhere with increasing resolution, the effective basis using Chebyshev polynomials is complete and simple, and the method is easily extensible to other bound states. This study serves as a proof-of-principle of the method for more general two- and possibly three-electron applications.Comment: 23 pages, 20 figures, 2 tables, Final refereed version - Some references added, some stylistic changes, added paragraph to matrix methods section, added last sentence to abstract

The promoter polymorphism -232C/G of the PCK1 gene is associated with type 2 diabetes in a UK-resident South Asian population

Background: The PCK1 gene, encoding cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK-C), has previously been implicated as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility. Rodent models demonstrate that over-expression of Pck1 can result in T2D development and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of human PCK1 (-232C/G) has exhibited significant association with the disease in several cohorts. Within the UK-resident South Asian population, T2D is 4 to 6 times more common than in indigenous white Caucasians. Despite this, few studies have reported on the genetic susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group and none of these has investigated the possible effect of PCK1 variants. We therefore aimed to investigate the association between common variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in a UK-resident South Asian population of Punjabi ancestry, originating predominantly from the Mirpur area of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. \ud \ud Methods: We used TaqMan assays to genotype five tagSNPs covering the PCK1 gene, including the -232C/G variant, in 903 subjects with T2D and 471 normoglycaemic controls. \ud \ud Results: Of the variants studied, only the minor allele (G) of the -232C/G SNP demonstrated a significant association with T2D, displaying an OR of 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03 - 1.42, p = 0.019). \ud \ud Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the association between variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in South Asians. Our results suggest that the -232C/G promoter polymorphism confers susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group. \ud \ud Trial registration: UKADS Trial Registration: ISRCTN38297969