Sweet sorghum SS; Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is a potential biofuel crop for the Great Plains. Sweet sorghum was compared with corn Zea mays (L.) and grain sorghum for potential ethanol yield, ...energy use efficiency, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at seven dryland site-years in Nebraska. Seasonal rainfall ranged from approximately 340 to 660 mm. Soils were deep with medium texture at all site-years. The effects of seeding rate, N rate, and cultivar on SS performance were evaluated. Sweet sorghum sugar yield was not affected by seeding rate and N application at six of seven site-years, but yield was increased by 19% at one site-year. Calculated ethanol yield and net energy yield were 33 and 21% more, respectively, with the grain crops compared with SS, but mean net energy yield of an earlier-maturing SS cultivar was comparable with the grain crops. The mean ratio of energy produced in ethanol per total energy invested was 23% less for grain crops compared with SS. Mean life cycle GHG emissions were 53% and 66 to 69% less compared with gasoline for SS and grain crops, respectively. Very efficient use of the ethanol coproducts was assumed for the grain crops while SS bagasse was assumed to be returned to the field. At least one SS cultivar is competitive with grain crops for some biofuel criteria, but SS is not competitive with grain crops for total or net liquid transportation fuel produced per hectare.
The introduction of extraneous information into the jury room has been recognized by courts as posing a potential threat to the due process rights of litigants and the Sixth Amendment rights of ...criminal defendants. At the same time, however, courts encourage jurors to use their prior experience and common sense as a means of analyzing the evidence at trial. Expert jurors occupy a space at the intersection of these two poles. By virtue of their own personal expertise, they pose a distinct risk of bringing in the sort of information other jurors are prohibited from seeking out by simply using personal experience to analyze the evidence and theories at trial. Given the modern-day jury, which unlike its historical counterpart is limited to the evidence at trial, how should courts handle the risks expert jurors pose? This Note examines that question. It first situates the jury in its historical context and discusses the problem of extraneous information. It then details the present case law on when a juror's use of personal expertise introduces extraneous information. Finally, it suggests alternative solutions to the problem expert jurors can pose.
The insecticidal effect of prepared insecticide formulations labelled as Natural P, Inert Natural P and Py EC on Sitophilus oryzae, Rhyzopertha dominica and Tribolium castaneum have been evaluated on ...wheat grains. Formulation Natural P contains diatomaceous earth (DE), amorphous silica gel (3%), pyrethrin, flax oil, lavandin essential oil (EO) and un-activated yeast. Formulation Inert Natural P contains DE, amorphous silica gel, lavandin EO and food grade bait whereas formulation Py EC contains pyrethrin, piperonyl butoxide (PBO), flax oil, polysorbate, methyl oleate and amorphous silica gel (5%). Celatom® MN-51 (diatomaceous earth – DE) was used as a standard insecticide. Inert Natural P and Natural P were applied as dust at four different doses and Py EC was applied as emulsions on grain by spraying. All three formulations showed higher insecticidal efficacy and higher progeny inhibition on all three tested insect species and had lower impact on wheat bulk density reduction compared with Celatom® MN-51. The LD50 and LD90 values of Inert Natural P were 48.7 and 163.7 ppm respectively for S. oryzae, 15.2 and 178.0 ppm for R. dominica and 115.2 and 171.3 ppm for T. castaneum. The LD50 and LD90 values of Natural P were 83.6 and 97.9 ppm respectively for S. oryzae, 19.5 and 97.9 ppm for R. dominica and 75.4 and 105.6 ppm for T. castaneum. Applied Py EC at concentration of 2.0 ppm a.i. pyrethrin exhibited 100% mortality after 2 d of S. oryzae and T. castaneum and after 6 d of R. dominica. In addition, all three formulations caused significant reduction of progeny (F1) population compared to control, providing promising approach of integrated pest management strategy.
•Adverse effects of diatomaceous earth (DE) can be reduce by using combinations of DE with botanicals.•Effective doses (LD90) of dust formulations were below 200 ppm against all three tested insect species.•All tested formulations had lower impact on bulk density reduction than DE alone.
Objectives: To ascertain the prevalence of newborn encephalopathy in term live births, and also the underlying diagnoses, timing, and outcome at 2 years of surviving infants. Design: Population based ...observational study. Setting: North Pas-de-Calais area of France, January to December 2000. Patients: All 90 neonates with moderate or severe newborn encephalopathy. Results: The prevalence of moderate or severe newborn encephalopathy was 1.64 per 1000 term live births (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.30 to 1.98). The prevalence of birth asphyxia was 0.86 per 1000 term live births (95% CI 0.61 to 1.10). The main cause of newborn encephalopathy was birth asphyxia, diagnosed in 47 (52%) infants. It was associated with another diagnosis in 11/47 cases (23%). The timing was intrapartum in 56% of cases, antepartum in 13%, ante-intrapartum in 10%, and postpartum in 2%. In 19% of cases, no underlying cause was identified during the neonatal course. Twenty four infants died in the neonatal period, giving a fatality rate of 27% (95% CI 17% to 36%). Three infants died after the neonatal period. At 2 years of age, 38 infants had a poor outcome, defined by death or severe disability, a prevalence of 0.69 per 1000 term live births (95% CI 0.47 to 0.91). In infants with isolated birth asphyxia, this prevalence was 0.36 per 1000 term live births (95% CI 0.20 to 0.52). Conclusions: The causes of newborn encephalopathy were heterogeneous but the main one was birth asphyxia. The prevalence was low, but the outcome was poor, emphasising the need for prevention programmes and new therapeutic approaches.
DISCOVERY OF FIVE NEW PULSARS IN ARCHIVAL DATA MICKALIGER, M. B; LORIMER, D. R; BOYLES, J ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
11/2012, Volume:
759, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Reprocessing of the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey has resulted in the discovery of five previously unknown pulsars and several as-yet-unconfirmed candidates. PSR J0922-52 has a period of 9.68 ms and ...a dispersion measure (DM) of 122.4 pc cm super(-3). PSR J1147-66 has a period of 3.72 ms and a DM of 133.8 pc cm super(-3). PSR J1227-6208 has a period of 34.53 ms, a DM of 362.6 pc cm super(-3), is in a 6.7 day binary orbit, and was independently detected in an ongoing high-resolution Parkes survey by Thornton et al. and also in independent processing by EinsteinatHome volunteers. PSR J1546-59 has a period of 7.80 ms and a DM of 168.3 pc cm super(-3). PSR J1725-3853 is an isolated 4.79 ms pulsar with a DM of 158.2 pc cm super(-3). These pulsars were likely missed in earlier processing efforts due to the fact that they have both high DMs and short periods, and also due to the large number of candidates that needed to be looked through. These discoveries suggest that further pulsars are awaiting discovery in the multibeam survey data.
The characterization of proteomes by mass spectrometry is largely limited to organisms with sequenced genomes. To identify proteins from organisms with unsequenced genomes, database sequences from ...related species must be employed for sequence-similarity protein identifications. Peptide sequence tags (Mann, 1994) have been used successfully for the identification of proteins in sequence databases using partially interpreted tandem mass spectra of tryptic peptides. We have extended the ability of sequence tag searching to the identification of proteins whose sequences are yet unknown but are homologous to known database entries. The MultiTag method presented here assigns statistical significance to matches of multiple error-tolerant sequence tags to a database entry and ranks alignments by their significance. The MultiTag approach has the distinct advantage over other sequence-similarity approaches of being able to perform sequence-similarity identifications using only very short (2−4) amino acid residue stretches of peptide sequences, rather than complete peptide sequences deduced by de novo interpretation of tandem mass spectra. This feature facilitates the identification of low abundance proteins, since noisy and low-intensity tandem mass spectra can be utilized.
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•Native polythiophenes (PT) were prepared by thermal or chemical way from precursors.•Chemically prepared PT shows smooth surface when deposited on ITO/glass substrates.•Band theory ...was used for evaluation of the transport parameters.•Absorption coefficients and exciton diffusion length were determined.•Hole concentration was calculated and energy level diagram constructed.
The electron work function, hole concentration and diffusion length were compared for poly(3-hexylthiophene) polymer (P3HT) that is commonly used for construction of solar cells, and two types of native polythiophene (PT) samples which are prospective candidates for this purpose. The polythiophene samples were prepared from 2 different precursors by thermal or chemical treatment at room temperature. Cyclic voltammetry and work function measurements were used for estimating the concentration of holes. The measured data were evaluated assuming the validity of band theory based on the tight-binding model. Published data on the valence bandwidth were used for calculating the value of the overlap integral which is related to the hole effective mass. Energy band diagrams were constructed for all 3 materials. Finally, the exciton diffusion length, which is a critical parameter for the application of conjugated polymer materials in solar cells, was measured by a modified surface photovoltage method. The approach allowed us to identify the differences in the material properties related to the processing method. Morphology of the samples determined by AFM was another tool showing these differences. It is stated that a native polythiophene prepared by treatment with acids is a prospective material for solar cells and shows a similar quality as that produced by a thermal process.
To assess the safety-efficacy balance of low-dose inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) in hypoxemic premature infants because no sustained beneficial effect has been demonstrated clearly and there are concerns ...about side effects.
Eight hundred and sixty infants <32 weeks were randomized at birth to receive 5 ppm iNO or placebo when they presented with hypoxemic respiratory failure (HRF) defined by a requirement for mechanical ventilation, fraction of inspired oxygen (FIO
2) >40%, and arterio-alveolar ratio in oxygen (aAO
2) <0.22. The primary end point was intact survival at 28 days of age.
Sixty-one of 415 infants presented with HRF and were compared with 84 of 445 controls who presented with HRF. There was no difference in the primary end point (61.4% in infants 23% with HRF who were treated with iNO vs 61.1% in controls 21.4% in controls with HRF;
P
=
.943). For the infants with HRF who were treated with iNO, there was no significant difference from controls for intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) (6% vs 7%), necrotizing enterocolitis (8% vs 6 %), or patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) (34% vs 37%). Compared with nonhypoxemic infants, the risk of bronchopulmonary displasia (BPD) increased significantly in HRF controls (OR
=
3.264 CI 1.461-7.292) but not in infants with HRF who were treated with iNO (OR
=
1.626 CI 0.633-4.178).
iNO appears to be safe in premature infants but did not lead to a significant improvement in intact survival on day 28.
Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) seropositive persons have a 3- to 5-fold higher risk of acquiring HIV, possibly because of HSV-2-induced inflammation and recruitment of susceptible immune cells ...to exposure sites. We hypothesized that cervical HSV-2 activation (ie, viral DNA shedding and/or ulcers) preceded HIV acquisition in the hormonal contraception and HIV cohort.
Zimbabwean women who acquired HIV were matched to HIV-negative women on visit, age, and bacterial sexually transmitted infections. Up to 5 cervical swabs bracketing first polymerase chain reaction detection of HIV DNA (the index visit) were selected (t-6months, t-3months, tindex, t+3months, t+6months). Women with HSV-2 immunoglobulin G+ before tindex were polymerase chain reaction tested for viral shedding. Self-reported and clinician-diagnosed ulcers were documented. Multivariable logistic regression, accounting for matching, estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) at each visit.
Of 387 HSV-2 seropositive women, most had prevalent as compared with incident HSV-2 (91% vs. 9%, respectively). HSV-2 viral shedding was more common among HIV seroconverters than HIV-negative women (26% vs. 14%, P < 0.01). Shedding occurred around HIV acquisition (t-3months aOR, 2.7; 95% CI, 0.8 to 8.8; tindex aOR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.1 to 6.5; t+3months aOR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.0 to 6.6). Genital ulcers were reported more often among HIV seroconverters than HIV-negative women (13% vs. 7%; P = 0.06) and detection was after HIV acquisition (t+6months aOR, 14.5; 95% CI, 1.6 to 133.9).
HSV-2 shedding appeared synergistic with HIV acquisition followed by presentation of ulcers. Evaluating all sexually transmitted infections rather than HSV-2 alone may clarify the relationship between inflammation and HIV acquisition.
The fumigant efficacy of 1,8-cineole and eugenol compounds was tested on the pupal stage of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). Effects of those compounds were determined as mortality ...as well as impact on development of treated male and female pupae. Also differences in sensitivity to the tested compounds between sexes of T. castaneum pupae were assessed. Compounds were tested at 3 doses rate 0.34, 0.86 and 1.71 ml L-1 vol. at 30±1°C and 70±10% r.h. during 48 h. Compounds toxicity was expressed in two action modes: lethal, and as an impediment to normal metamorphosis of pupae into adult stage, forming "adultoids" and deformed adults (at both sexes). Male pupae were generally more sensitive to both tested compounds. Overall, better efficiency was performed with 1,8-cineole, while eugenol had not accomplished promising effect on the tested pupae.
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