Key Pieces Of Evidence Research Articles

Tropical background and wave spectra: contribution of wave-wave interactions in a moderately nonlinear turbulent flow

AbstractVariability in the tropical atmosphere is concentrated at wavenumber-frequency combinations where linear theory indicates wave-modes can freely propagate, but with substantial power in between. This study demonstrates that such a power spectrum can arise from small scale convection triggering large scale waves via wave-wave interactions in a moderately turbulent fluid. Two key pieces of evidence are provided for this interpretation of tropical dynamics using a nonlinear rotating shallow water model: a parameter sweep experiment in which the amplitude of an external forcing is gradually ramped up, and also an external forcing in which only symmetric or only anti-symmetric modes are forced. These experiments do not support a commonly accepted mechanism involving the forcing projecting directly onto the wave-modes with a strong response, yet still simulate a power spectrum resembling that observed, though the linear projection mechanism could still complement the mechanism proposed here in observations. Interpreting the observed tropical power spectrum using turbulence offers a simple explanation as to why power should be concentrated at the theoretical wave-modes, and also provides a solid footing for the common assumption that the back-ground spectrum is red, even as it clarifies why there is no expectation for a turbulent cascade with a specific, theoretically derived slope such as -5/3. However it does explain why the cascade should be towards lower wavenumbers, that is an inverse energy cascade, similar to the midlatitudes even as compressible wave-modes are important for tropical dynamics.

Measurement on Diffusion Coefficients and Isotope Fractionation Factors by a Through-Diffusion Experiment

For radioactive waste disposal, it is important that local groundwater flow is slow as groundwater flow is the main transport medium for radioactive nuclides in geological formations. When the groundwater flow is very slow, diffusion is the dominant transport mechanism (diffusion-dominant domain). Key pieces of evidence indicating a diffusion-dominant domain are the separation of components and the fractionation of isotopes by diffusion. To prove this, it is necessary to investigate the different diffusion coefficients for each component and the related stable isotope fractionation factors. Thus, in this study, through-diffusion and effective-porosity experiments were conducted on selected artificial materials and natural rocks. We also undertook measurements relating to the isotope fractionation factors of Cl and Br isotopes for natural samples. For natural rock samples, the diffusion coefficients of water isotopes (HDO and H218O) were three to four times higher than those of monovalent anions (Cl−, Br- and NO3−), and the isotope fractionation factor of 37Cl (1.0017–1.0021) was slightly higher than that of free water. It was experimentally confirmed that the isotope fractionation factor of 81Br was approximately 1.0007–1.0010, which is equivalent to that of free water. The enrichment factor of 81Br was almost half that of 37Cl. The effective porosity ratios of HDO and Cl were slightly different, but the difference was not significant compared to the ratio of their diffusion coefficients. As a result, component separation was dominated by diffusion. For artificial samples, the diffusion coefficients and effective porosities of HDO and Cl were almost the same; it was thus difficult to assess the component separation by diffusion. However, isotope fractionation of Cl and Br was confirmed using a through-diffusion experiment. The results show that HDO and Cl separation and isotope fractionation of Cl and Br can be expected in diffusion-dominant domains in geological formations.

The Sculptor Qen (ii), His Two Wives, and the Men in his Family

Summary A detailed examination of the individuals mentioned in TT 4, the family tomb of the sculptor Qen (ii) and his two wives, Nefertari (vi) and Henutmehyt (iii), and on other family monuments, demonstrates that Nefertari (vi) was the senior of the two ladies of the house. The male relatives included in the representation of the funerary procession, and the ritual roles allotted to the children of each wife, are also key pieces of evidence leading to this conclusion.

Listing and financial constraints

We confirm, with a twist, that listing to a stock exchange can mitigate financial constraints of firms, using Japanese firm-level data of 20 years, 1995–2014, controlling for the main-bank relationship and majority owner influence. Compared to a similar unlisted firm, a listed firm has a lower marginal product of capital on average and more new borrowings during recessions. Theoretically, we argue that these are the key pieces of evidence that indicate less tight financial constraints for the listed firms than the unlisted firms. However, the listed firms do not borrow more on average over time. They rather maintain a lower leverage so that they can mitigate the borrowing constraints. We also find that the listed firms do not face lower interest rates.

Ethics and entrapment: Understanding counterterrorism stings

ABSTRACTThis article examines domestic counterterrorism sting operations in the USA. It considers why critics consider these operations unethical and illegitimate. In particular, it looks at claims that counterterrorism sting operations have entrapped innocent people. This article explains why the U.S. courts have rejected claims of entrapment. It discusses different standards of entrapment used by the U.S. courts and sets out how these standards apply to counterterrorism sting operations. The article will show how key pieces of evidence convinced the courts that the targets of sting operations were predisposed towards terrorism. As a result, defendants were not able to mount successful entrapment defenses. By the end of the article, the reader will have a better understanding of the ethical and legal safeguards governing counterterrorism sting operations in the USA.

The Marsupials Strike Back: A Reply to Schapper (2011)

In a recent contribution to this journal, Antoinette Schapper has questioned the validity of two reconstructed marsupial terms that have been used as key pieces of evidence for a Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of Austronesian languages. While she is correct in stating that reflexes of *mans(aə)r have been glossed erroneously as 'bandicoot' rather than 'cuscus' in a number of languages in eastern Indonesia, her corrections leave the subgrouping argument intact. Schapper's dismissal of Central Malayo-Polynesian evidence for *kandoRa is arbitrary, and her gloss of *mans(aə)r as 'cuscus' is no less problematic than the gloss 'bandicoot' proposed by Blust. These cognate sets for marsupials that span much of eastern Indonesia and the western Pacific thus remain as powerful evidence that the Austronesian languages of this region shared a period of common development apart from all other members of this family.

Heartfelt Thanks to Punch for the Picture: Frederick Douglass and the Transnational Jokework of Slave Caricature

Chaney analyzes cartoons representing slaves and slavery from the British satirical periodical Punch, or the London Charivari to argue that African American readers such as Frederick Douglass engaged in an evolving role as readers, interpreters, and users of Punch's iconographic discourse—even when, after the outbreak of the Civil War, the political sensibilities of the British periodical were no longer sympathetic to the cause of abolition. Reading the ekphrastic relation between Punch cartoons of Shakespearean mock-ups of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis and Douglass's citation of these images in various mid-nineteenth-century speeches, Chaney argues that this intertextual and transatlantic dialogue with Punch enabled Douglass to renegotiate inscriptions of racialization, authority, and iconic celebrity. Beyond the cartoons, key pieces of evidence utilized in the essay include humorous asides from Samuel Ringgold Ward during an 1853 address of the Congregational Union in England, Douglass's speech “The Proclamation and a Negro Army” (1863), and several of Douglass's statements about the racial and political value of his hair from various sources.

Access with Evidence Development Schemes

There is an inevitable tension between robust reimbursement processes and providing speedy access to new and novel technologies, given uncertainties about key pieces of evidence and subsequent concerns regarding their overall efficiency. The public perception of these treatments as 'breakthrough', combined with substantial clinical pressure, has led to healthcare payers looking for schemes that allow the new technology to be made available to (some) patients, while (at least partially) protecting the principles of their reimbursement decision-making processes. Current literature on these schemes is almost completely descriptive and provides little help in planning future schemes. We propose a framework for evaluating current schemes and informing the design of future schemes. We examine the value of the framework using the UK Multiple Sclerosis Risk-Sharing Scheme as a case study.

Detrital sources and sediment delivery to the early post-rift (Albian-Cenomanian) Newfoundland Basin east of the Grand Banks: results from ODP Leg 210

Abstract The young narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separated Newfoundland from Iberia in the Albian–Cenomanian accumulated a thick succession of muddy gravity flow deposits that were recovered by drilling at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1276 off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The sediment thickness and sand content are somewhat surprising given the number of contemporaneous shelf and slope basins that would have acted as traps for detritus shed from the Newfoundland margin. A set of individual studies was undertaken to trace the source of this detritus and to test hypotheses that the material might have been derived, in part, from the east (Iberia), the north (Flemish Cap and northern rift extensions), and/or from various sources to the west (Grand Banks, Interior Newfoundland, Avalon Uplift). By synthesizing seismic data, paleocurrent data from gravity flow deposits, sediment composition (sand detrital modes, clay mineralogy) and detrital mica ages we conclude that the likely source of the Albian–Cenomanian sediment was the Avalon Uplift, situated in the southern Grand Banks. Key pieces of evidence that lead us to this result are: thinning of the sediment package towards the north and thickening towards the southwest, the paleocurrent directions apparently suggesting a southwesterly source, the low proportion of potassium feldspar in the sandstones, and the lack of palygorskite in the shales as compared to Iberian-sourced successions. The apparent inconsistency of detrital mica ages from these deposits, suggesting an Iberian (Hercynian) source with age 270–340 Ma, is attributed to the localization of rifting along a Paleozoic continental suture zone, the Hercynian Front. This tectonic front separates distinctly different geologic units (domains) on the conjugate margins. Such a suture would have generated a significant peripheral foreland basin across the now-submerged shelf regions of Newfoundland allowing transfer of sediment from the Iberian to the Newfoundland domains. Upon Mesozoic rifting and uplift, these mica-bearing sediments from the foreland basin succession could have been reworked and shed eastward into the nascent Atlantic Ocean basin at ODP Site 1276. Alternatively, Hercynian metamorphism and deformation might have extended onto what is now the southeastern Grand Banks, so that young detrital micas could have been derived directly from the Avalon Uplift. Results from this work are relevant to an assessment of sandstone distribution in parts of the Salar Basin and the expected diagenetic overprint for sandy reservoir facies.

Zpochybnění deskriptivnosti teorie očekávaného užitku

This paper summarizes the major events in the recent history of modelling human decisions under risk. After presenting the basics of expected utility theory, the key pieces of evidence are described which showed that under certain circumstances, this theory is not descriptively valid. The most promising alternative, cumulative prospect theory, is then presented in some detail, including a brief discussion of how it avoids violations of stochastic dominance and how it explains the above evidence. It is pointed out that there are other empirical observations which cannot be explained by cumulative prospect theory either, so that a model which would explain all evidence on decisions under risk is still to be found.

Investor Irrationality and the Nasdaq Bubble

We exploit the information in the options market to study the risk and risk premium variations around the Nasdaq bubble period. In particular, we investigate whether the dramatic rise and fall of the Nasdaq can be justified by changes in return risk, or there were corresponding unusual shifts in how investors price risks. We specify a model that accommodates fluctuations in both risk levels and market prices of different sources of risks, and we estimate the model using time-series returns and option prices on the Nasdaq 100 index. Our analysis reveals three key pieces of evidence that foretell the arrival and burst of a bubble. First, during the Nasdaq bubble period, return volatility increased together with the rising index level, even though the two tend to move in opposite directions in general. Second, while the market price of volatility risk is strongly negative historically as investors dislike high volatility levels and volatility risk, the market price of volatility risk declined in absolute magnitude and approached zero at the end of 1999. In contrast to the average risk premium at normal market conditions, aversion to volatility risk completely disappeared during the height of the bubble period. Third, the options market showed an increasing market price of downside jump risk that peaked three month prior to the bursting of the bubble, highlighting the increasing demand for hedging against the potential crash of the Nasdaq market valuation. On the other hand, the market price of the downside jump risk dropped suddenly three months prior to the burst, pointing to capital flight from the Nasdaq market and the unwinding of the associated option hedging positions. Our approach suggests that having options on the bubble asset provides a window into investor behavior unavailable from earlier bubbles.

An Essential Function of the C. elegans Ortholog of TPX2 Is to Localize Activated Aurora A Kinase to Mitotic Spindles

In vertebrates, the microtubule binding protein TPX2 is required for meiotic and mitotic spindle assembly. TPX2 is also known to bind to and activate Aurora A kinase and target it to the spindle. However, the relationship between the TPX2-Aurora A interaction and the role of TPX2 in spindle assembly is unclear. Here, we identify TPXL-1, a C. elegans protein that is the first characterized invertebrate ortholog of TPX2. We demonstrate that an essential role of TPXL-1 during mitosis is to activate and target Aurora A to microtubules. Our data suggest that this targeting stabilizes microtubules connecting kinetochores to the spindle poles. Thus, activation and targeting of Aurora A appears to be an ancient and conserved function of TPX2 that plays a central role in mitotic spindle assembly.

Keeping cancer guidelines current: results of a comprehensive prospective literature monitoring strategy for twenty clinical practice guidelines.

To describe a methodology used to keep practice guidelines up to date and to summarize data collected during the first year of implementing this plan with a cancer practice guidelines program. The updating strategy includes regular searches of peer-reviewed literature and meeting proceedings, review and interpretation of new evidence, review and revision of clinical recommendations, and notification to practitioners and policy makers about new evidence and its impact on recommendations. Eighty pieces of new evidence were found relating to seventeen of the twenty guidelines included in this study. On average, four pieces of new evidence were found per guideline, but there was considerable variation across the guidelines. Of the eighty pieces, nineteen contributed to modifications of clinical recommendations in six practice guidelines, whereas the remaining evidence served to support the original recommendations. None of the modifications led to changes that advised against original recommendations. MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, and meeting proceedings yielded many pieces of evidence, whereas CancerLit and HealthStar did not contribute significantly to the overall yield. Furthermore, key pieces of evidence that led to modifications to the recommendations were often identified by members of the disease site groups before appearing in electronic databases. The updating process is resource intensive but yields important findings. In response to this evaluation, the updating protocol has been revised such that literature searches are conducted quarterly and the scope of sources searched routinely is restricted to MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, and meeting proceedings.

Differential roles for extracellularly regulated kinase-mitogen-activated protein kinase in B cell antigen receptor-induced apoptosis and CD40-mediated rescue of WEHI-231 immature B cells.

One of the major unresolved questions in B cell biology is how the B cell Ag receptor (BCR) differentially signals to transduce anergy, apoptosis, proliferation, or differentiation during B cell maturation. We now report that extracellularly regulated kinase-mitogen-activated protein kinase (Erk-MAP kinase) can play dual roles in the regulation of the cell fate of the immature B cell lymphoma, WEHI-231, depending on the kinetics and context of Erk-MAP kinase activation. First, we show that the BCR couples to an early (< or =2 h) Erk-MAP kinase signal which activates a phospholipase A(2) pathway that we have previously shown to mediate collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, resulting in depletion of cellular ATP and cathepsin B execution of apoptosis. Rescue of BCR-driven apoptosis by CD40 signaling desensitizes such early extracellularly regulated kinase (Erk) signaling and hence uncouples the BCR from the apoptotic mitochondrial phospholipase A(2) pathway. A second role for Erk-MAP kinase in promoting the growth and proliferation of WEHI-231 immature B cells is evidenced by data showing that proliferating and CD40-stimulated WEHI-231 B cells exhibit a sustained cycling pattern (8-48 h) of Erk activation that correlates with cell growth and proliferation. This growth-promoting role for Erk signaling is supported by three key pieces of evidence: 1) signaling via the BCR, under conditions that induce growth arrest, completely abrogates sustained Erk activation; 2) CD40-mediated rescue from growth arrest correlates with restoration of cycling Erk activation; and 3) sustained inhibition of Erk prevents CD40-mediated rescue of BCR-driven growth arrest of WEHI-231 immature B cells. Erk-MAP kinase can therefore induce diverse biological responses in WEHI-231 cells depending on the context and kinetics of activation.

The 1990 Florida Dental Investigation: Is the Case Really Closed?

In 1994, a magazine article, a newspaper article, and a segment of the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes presented information that cast doubt on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's conclusion that a dentist in Florida had infected six of his patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These reports were based on previously unavailable documentary evidence, which suggested that the infected patients had unreported or undetected risk factors for HIV infection and that the molecular analyses used to determine that the dentist and his patients had the same strains of HIV had potentially serious flaws. A recent article in this journal sought to dismiss the relevance of this information in the eyes of the scientific community. That report, however, failed to respond directly to many key pieces of evidence, and it offered no rebuttal beyond personal invective and a reassertion of previously published material. Although scientists and clinicians should not rely solely on media reports when drawing conclusions about this complex and controversial case, they deserve a chance to consider and reflect on this material in a meaningful way.

Demand and Supply Factors in the Determination of Nie Exports: A Reply

In their comment on Muscatelli, Srinivasan and Vines (MSV) (I992), Athukorala and Riedel challenge our conclusions regarding the estimated longrun elasticities of export demand for Hong Kong, and our suggestion that estimating a system of export demand and supply could provide a solution to the 'normalisation problem'. Unfortunately, by focusing only on a subset of the issues raised by MSV, Athukorala and Riedel tend to ignore some of the key econometric evidence against their preferred 'small country assumption', and their chosen normalisation (price-dependent export demand). There are three key pieces of evidence which tend to point against the small country assumption.' First, let us turn to the normalisation issue. As Athukorala and Riedel note, least-squares methods such as the Phillips-Hansen procedure will not yield estimates of cointegrating vectors which are independent of normalisation, and that is why MSV point out that the Phillips-Hansen procedure may only alleviate not 'solve' the 'normalisation' problem. Ideally, when estimating a simultaneous cointegrated model (SCM) one should attempt to test and impose identifying restrictions on the H matrix in a Johansen-type multi-variate VAR framework:

Ploidy and Pronuclear Interaction in Northeastern Pacific Lasaea Clones (Mollusca: Bivalvia).

A natural population of the bivalve genus Lasaea from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada was karyologically characterized, and pronuclear interaction was studied in newly spawned eggs. Mitotic metaphases from 95 cells were enumerated, and chromosome numbers ranged from 58 to 108, with 90 to 100 being most frequent. Ten well-spread metaphases were karyotyped, and the chromosomes were classified into 32 triplet subgroupings on the basis of shared morphology and size, together with a variable number of supernumerary chromosomes. Northeastern Pacific Lasaea clones share broad karyological features with direct developing congeners, but detailed comparisons reveal that they have experienced different evolutionary mechanisms of polyploidy. The pronuclear interaction study generated two key pieces of evidence that establish that northeastern Pacific Lasaea clones do not reproduce by self-fertilization, but that parthenogenetic development is triggered by autosperm. The incorporated sperm nucleus disintegrates in the egg cortex and does not fuse with the egg "pronucleus," i.e., syngamy does not occur. Both polar bodies have a diploid chromosome number, a result inconsistent with meiosis, implying that they are products of mitotic divisions. Nonhybridizing lineages of northeastern Pacific Lasaea therefore represent true asexual clones, not inbred lines. Lasaea is the first bivalve genus in which asexual reproduction has been confirmed and is also the first molluscan genus in which pseudogamy (gynogenesis) has been detected.

Grafting to Vinylpyrrolidone Polymers and Copolymers by the Ceric lon Method

Abstract Polymers and copolymers of vinylpyrrolidone were investigated as grafting substrates for methyl methacrylate using the ceric ion method. Ceric ion readily initiates methyl methacrylate grafting to commercial poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) of 360,000 nominal molecular weight. The resulting graft copolymer was surprisingly found to be an ABA triblock system with PVP in the center block. This conclusion is supported by three key pieces of evidence: first, selective degradation of the PVP/MMA graft copolymer showed two PMMA grafts per PVP chain: second, blocking of what are apparently hydroxylic or glycolic PVP end groups by reaction with phenyl isocyanate rendered the PVP unreactive to ceric ion grafting; third, if the PVP is prepared by methods which preclude formation of hydroxylic end groups, the PVP is unreactive to ceric ion grafting. Vinylpyrrolidone polymers can be made graftable via ceric ion if N-methacryloyl-D-glucosamine (NMAG) is incorporated as a comonomer in the PVP backbone. Regardless...