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Major Activity (major + activity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	40%

Selected Abstracts

K,Ar ages of the Ohmine Granitic Rocks, south-west Japan

ISLAND ARC, Issue 4 2003
Tomoaki Sumii
Abstract The Ohmine Granitic Rocks are a series of granitic rocks that are distributed in a chain stretching along the central axis of the Kii Peninsula. Their precise ages have not been determined, although precise ages have been reported for other geological units of the early to middle Miocene distributed over the peninsula. In this study, biotite K,Ar ages were obtained for the six major granitic plutons of the Ohmine Granitic Rocks: Dorogawa, Shirakura, Kose, Asahi, Tenguyama and Shiratani. Most are aged from 14.8 to 14.6 Ma. Although one pluton is older (15.4 ± 0.2 Ma) and two are younger (14.0 ± 0.2 Ma and 13.4 ± 0.1 Ma), these ages are excluded from the discussion of the mutual correlation among the plutons because some ambiguities exist in their ages. The age of the southernmost unit, the Katago,Mukuro Dykes, was not determined because of its intense alteration, but stratigraphic constraints suggest that it is younger than 16.1 Ma. The majority of the Ohmine Granitic Rocks concentrate within a narrow age window of approximately 14.8,14.6 Ma, although their geochemical/petrographical characteristics suggest that they were generated by multiple magma batches. The results of this study also reveal the simultaneous occurrence of the major activities of the Ohmine Granitic Rocks and the gigantic felsic igneous activities in the Kii Peninsula, such as the Kumano Acidic Rocks and the Muro Pyroclastic Flow Deposit. [source]

Survival of stocked Atlantic salmon and coarse fish and an evaluation of costs

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 3-4 2004
M. W. Aprahamian
Abstract The stocking of fish represents a major activity in current fisheries management practice. To maximise benefit to the environment in general and to fisheries in particular, optimal stocking strategies need to be developed. Examples from two studies, one involving Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., and the other involving three coarse fish species, are used to illustrate how such strategies might be developed. Atlantic salmon fed fry (age 0+) were stocked into eight streams in the North West of England at densities ranging from 1 to 4 m,2 over a period of up to 3 years to evaluate survival to the end of the first and second growing periods. Survival to the end of the first growing period (mean duration 108 days) varied between 1.2 and 41.3% with a mean of 20.45% and CV of 0.53. Survival from the end of the first growing period to the end of the second growing period (mean duration 384 days) ranged from 19.9 to 34.1% with a mean of 26.3% and a CV of 0.21. Hatchery-reared roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), chub, Leuciscus cephalus (L.) and dace, Leuciscus leuciscus (L.), were stocked into four rivers to determine the optimal age and season which would maximise survival over a 6-month post-stocking period. Post-stocking persistence within the stocked reaches was generally low; the highest level of persistence was estimated at only 33.8%. However, most of the estimates of persistence were considerably lower and (in practical terms) approached zero in several instances. The analysis indicated that river-specific factors are important in determining the success of stocking exercises. The survival estimates derived from these two studies were compared with other published estimates. [source]

Introduction: federalism in an era of globalisation

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 167 2001
Ronald Watts
Under the pressure of globalization we appear to be in the midst of a paradigm shift from a world of nation-states to one in which federalism provides the closest political approximation to the complex diversity of the contemporaryworld. In this context the Forum of Federations, as its first major activity, held an international conference at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, 5-8 October 1999, on ,Federalism in an Era of Globalization'. The articles in this issue of the International Social Science Journal are drawn from among the many presentations and back-ground papers at that conference, and provide an insight into a range of salient issues within contemporary federations. [source]

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of a bifunctional catalase-phenol oxidase from Scytalidium thermophilum

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2009
Didem Sutay Kocabas
Catalase-phenol oxidase from Scytalidium thermophilum is a bifunctional enzyme: its major activity is the catalase-mediated decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, but it also catalyzes phenol oxidation. To understand the structural basis of this dual functionality, the enzyme, which has been shown to be a tetramer in solution, has been purified by anion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography and has been crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique. Streak-seeding was used to obtain larger crystals suitable for X-ray analysis. Diffraction data were collected to 2.8,Å resolution at the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source. The crystals belonged to space group P21 and contained one tetramer per asymmetric unit. [source]

Stimulatory and inhibitory epitopes in the T cell responses of mice to Der p 1

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY, Issue 6 2002
A. G. Jarnicki
Summary Background The responses of mice to the mite allergen Der p 1 have been used to study the mechanisms of allergic sensitization and the development of new types of immunotherapy. Many of the studies require a knowledge of the T cell epitopes, and because Der p 1 is polymorphic, the effect of natural amino acid substitution in the allergen. The intranasal administration of peptides containing T cell epitopes can induce a mucosal tolerance but it is not known if the major activity is limited to stimulatory peptides and if, as found for autoimmunity, some epitopes are not inhibitory. Objective To determine and compare the sequences of Der p 1 which contain stimulatory epitopes for the high responding H-2b and H-2q mice and the sequences which induce tolerance by intranasal administration of peptides. Methods T cell responses of mice immunized with Der p 1 were measured by in vitro T cell stimulation assays so an extensive study of epitope recognition and intranasal tolerance could be made. Synthetic peptides were used to examine the stimulatory and inhibitory ability of all Der p 1 sequences and to map the major H-2b epitope in detail. This included the effect of the common polymorphic amino acid 124 substitution found within this epitope. Results Three and two regions, respectively, were found to contain stimulatory T cell epitopes for H-2b and H-2q mice. The peptides in these regions were also the most active at inducing intranasal tolerance for the responding haplotype. The correspondence between inhibitory and stimulatory peptides was maintained for the fine mapping of the major H-2b epitope. This was found about a core region of 118,126 which was overlapping but separate to a consensus sequence for the binding of endogeneous peptides. Peptides with alanine at the naturally polymorphic residue 124 stimulated and inhibited responses to Der p 1 more effectively, while peptides with the valine 124 variant were immunogenic but poorly cross-reactive. Conclusions The intranasal administration of peptides representing each of five epitopes recognized by two strains of mice were able to induce mucosal tolerance and the major tolerizing activity was limited to these epitopes. The position of the core major epitope for C57 mice, which differs from a previously predicted epitope, and its specificity for the natural alanine 124 variant is described. [source]