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High Complexity (high + complexity)
Selected AbstractsThe male postabdomen of Stolotermes inopinus: a termite with unusually well-developed external genitalia (Dictyoptera: Isoptera: Stolotermitinae)ACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 2 2000Klaus-Dieter Klass Abstract Klass, K.-D., Thorne, B. L. and Lenz, M. 2000. The male postabdomen of Stolotermes inopinus: a termite with unusually well-developed external genitalia (Dictyoptera: Isoptera: Stolotermitinae). ,Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 81: 121,130 Stolotermes inopinus has large external male genitalia (phallic lobe), which contrast with the small genital papillae or lack of external genitalia of other Isoptera. As in the genital papilla of Mastotermesdarwiniensis, a ventral sclerite pair is present, the gonopore is located ventroterminally on the phallic lobe, and the genital area is entirely symmetrical , suggesting that this may be the groundplan condition of Isoptera. The relations of the phallic lobe to surrounding components like the subgenital plate, paraprocts, and certain muscles and nerves indicate that the lobe of S. inopinus is homologous with the phallomeres of other Dictyoptera. The bilateral symmetry and simple structure, however, are in strong contrast to the asymmetry and high complexity found in male genitalia of Blattaria and Mantodea. The postabdominal nervous system of S. inopinus resembles that of the cockroach Periplaneta americana. Indications are given that the Stolotermitinae are related to the Kalotermitidae, Rhinotermitidae, and Termitidae rather than to the Termopsinae. [source] Analysis of the sinusitis nasal lavage fluid proteome using capillary liquid chromatography interfaced to electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight- tandem mass spectrometryELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 9 2004Begona Casado Abstract The nasal lavage fluids (NLFs) from four subjects with acute sinusitis were analyzed to investigate the amount of proteins expressed in this pathology at the beginning of the event (day 1) and after 6 days of treatment with antibiotics and a nasal steroid spray. The protein identification was performed with capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray-quadrupole time of flight-(LC-ESI-Q-TOF)-mass spectrometry. The samples collected on the first day contained high-abundant plasma proteins, such as albumin and immunoglobulins, glandular serous cell proteins (lysozyme, lactoferrin, and polymeric immunoglobulin receptor), epithelial keratins, and inflammatory cell proteins (myeloperoxidase, IL-16, and IL-17E). After six days of therapy, the complexity of the proteome was reduced to plasma proteins and lysozyme with no inflammatory markers. The presence of hemoglobin, however, suggested that significant squamous metaplasia with breaches in the epithelial barrier, or nasal steroid-related bleeding, had occurred. The proteomic approach presented here allowed us to identify, in the high complexity of acute sinusitis nasal secretions, the proteins that respond to a pharmacological treatment and that could be suitable as markers of this pathology. [source] The Hidden Politics of Administrative Reform: Cutting French Civil Service Wages with a Low-Profile InstrumentGOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2007PHILIPPE BEZES The article addresses internal and hidden politics of changes in bureaucracies by focusing on the introduction and use of policy instruments as institutional change without radical or explicit shifts in administrative systems. Beneath public administrative reforms, it examines the use of "low-profile instruments" characterized by their technical and goal-oriented dimension but also by their low visibility to external actors due to the high complexity of their commensurating purpose and the automaticity of their use. The core case study of the paper offers a historical sociology of a technique for calculating the growth of the French civil service wage bill from the mid-1960s to the 2000s. The origins, uses, and institutionalisation of this method in the French context are explored to emphasize the important way of governing the bureaucracy at times of crisis through automatic, unobtrusive, incremental, and low-profile mechanisms. While insisting on the salience of techniques for calculating, measuring, classifying, and indexing in the contemporary art of government, it also suggests the need for observing and explaining "everyday forms of retrenchment" in bureaucracies. [source] Complex HBV populations with mutations in core promoter, C gene, and pre-S region are associated with development of cirrhosis in long-term renal transplant recipientsHEPATOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Petra Preikschat Long-term immunosuppressed renal transplant recipients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection often develop liver cirrhosis (LC) and end-stage liver disease (ESLD). This study investigated accumulation and persistence of specific HBV mutants in relation to the clinical course in these patients (n = 38; mean follow-up, 3.5 years). HBV was analyzed longitudinally via length polymorphism of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragments (median, 6.5 serum samples per patient) as well as by cloning and partial sequencing of 346 full-length HBV genomes. Fourteen patients (group 1) developed LC or died from ESLD, whereas 24 patients (group 2) showed no evidence of LC during follow-up. Development of LC and ESLD was associated with persistence of HBV mutant populations characterized by deletions/insertions in core promoter plus deletions in the C gene and/or deletions in the pre-S region (86% of group 1 vs. 17% of group 2; P < .0001). HBV without these mutations or with core promoter mutations alone were predominantly found in group 2 (14% of group 1 vs. 75% of group 2). In patients infected with core promoter mutants, the additional appearance and persistence of deletions in the C gene and/or the pre-S region were accompanied or followed by development of LC and ESLD. The mutations were distributed on individual genomes in various combinations, leading to a high complexity of the virus population. In conclusion, these data suggest that accumulation and persistence of specific HBV populations characterized by mutations in 3 subgenomic regions play a role in pathogenesis of LC and ESLD in long-term renal transplant recipients. [source] Using process-oriented holonic (PrOH) modelling to increase understanding of information systemsINFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2008Ben Clegg Abstract., Methodologies for understanding business processes and their information systems (IS) are often criticized, either for being too imprecise and philosophical (a criticism often levied at softer methodologies) or too hierarchical and mechanistic (levied at harder methodologies). The process-oriented holonic modelling methodology combines aspects of softer and harder approaches to aid modellers in designing business processes and associated IS. The methodology uses holistic thinking and a construct known as the holon to build process descriptions into a set of models known as a holarchy. This paper describes the methodology through an action research case study based in a large design and manufacturing organization. The scientific contribution is a methodology for analysing business processes in environments that are characterized by high complexity, low volume and high variety where there are minimal repeated learning opportunities, such as large IS development projects. The practical deliverables from the project gave IS and business process improvements for the case study company. [source] Antiadhesion Surface Treatments of Molds for High-Resolution Unconventional Lithography,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 23 2006J. Lee A new strategy to achieve antiadhesion surface coatings is introduced. The approach, which uses molds coated in a thin film of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS, see figure) to achieve the antiadhesive surfaces, is applicable to virtually any type of mold material due to the use of silane chemistry and the low surface energy of PDMS. This allows simple and rapid replication of high complexity, high-aspect-ratio nanostructures with excellent replication fidelity. [source] The role of suture complexity in diminishing strain and stress in ammonoid phragmoconesLETHAIA, Issue 1 2008FABIO VITTORIO DE BLASIO Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the sinuosity and complexity of suture lines in Ammonoidea. At present, the two principal opponent views maintain either that high complexity was a requisite to reinforce the shell in response to hydrostatic pressure, or that complexity augmented the attachment area for muscles. By using finite element calculations and analytical estimates of simplified ammonoid shell geometries, it is shown that complex suture lines reduced dramatically the strain and the stress in the phragmocone. The calculations lend support to the hypothesis that high sinuosity is an evolutionary response to external pressure. Additionally, it is found that without complex septa, the inward deformation of an ammonoid with thin shell would cause it to shrink in response to pressure and to lose buoyancy by a non-negligible amount. [source] Photobiont Selectivity and Interspecific Interactions in Lichen Communities.PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2003Abstract: Lichen communities are characterised by interspecific interactions that not only include interactions between different lichen species but also between the symbionts within a single lichen species. The community "Bunte Erdflechtengesellschaft", growing on weathered calciferous rocks known as Gravel Alvar on Gotland (Baltic Sea, Sweden), shows a high complexity of inter- and intraspecific interactions, including Fulgensia bracteata, F. fulgens, Toninia sedifolia, Squamarina cartilaginea, Psora decipiens and Lecidea lurida. F. bracteata and F. fulgens are the dominant species of this community, showing a tendency to overgrow the other species involved and even parasitic behaviour. Culture experiments have been performed to investigate the selectivity of the mycobiont of F. bracteata towards a variety of potential photobionts. The results provide evidence for the selectivity of the mycobiont and varying compatibility of the respective symbionts that can be interpreted as a cascade of interdependent processes of specific and non-specific reactions of the symbionts involved. [source] Understory vegetation response to thinning disturbance of varying complexity in coniferous standsAPPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009Adrian Ares Abstract Question: Can augmented forest stand complexity increase understory vegetation richness and cover and accelerate the development of late-successional features? Does within-stand understory vegetation variability increase after imposing treatments that increase stand structural complexity of the overstory? What is the relative contribution of individual stand structural components (i.e. forest matrix, gaps, and leave island reserves) to changes in understory vegetation richness? Location: Seven study sites in the Coastal Range and Cascades regions of Oregon, USA. Methods: We examined the effects of thinning six years after harvest on understory plant vascular richness and cover in 40- to 60-year-old forest stands dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). At each site, one unthinned control was preserved and three thinning treatments were implemented: low complexity (LC, 300 trees ha,1), moderate complexity (MC, 200 trees ha,1), and high complexity (HC, variable densities from 100 to 300 trees ha,1). Gaps openings and leave island reserves were established in MC and HC. Results: Richness of all herbs, forest herbs, early seral herbs and shrubs, and introduced species increased in all thinning treatments, although early seral herbs and introduced species remained a small component. Only cover of early seral herbs and shrubs increased in all thinning treatments whereas forest shrub cover increased in MC and HC. In the understory, we found 284 vascular plant species. After accounting for site-level differences, the richness of understory communities in thinned stands differed from those in control stands. Within-treatment variability of herb and shrub richness was reduced by thinning. Matrix areas and gap openings in thinned treatments appeared to contribute to the recruitment of early seral herbs and shrubs. Conclusions: Understory vegetation richness increased 6 years after imposing treatments, with increasing stand complexity mainly because of the recruitment of early seral and forest herbs, and both low and tall shrubs. Changes in stand density did not likely lead to competitive species exclusion. The abundance of potentially invasive introduced species was much lower compared to other plant groups. Post-thinning reductions in within-treatment variability was caused by greater abundance of early seral herbs and shrubs in thinned stands compared with the control. Gaps and low-density forest matrix areas created as part of spatially variably thinning had greater overall species richness. Increased overstory variability encouraged development of multiple layers of understory vegetation. [source] Lumped dynamic model for a bistable genetic regulatory circuit within a variable-volume whole-cell modelling frameworkASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 6 2009Gheorghe Maria Abstract Genetic regulatory circuits (GRCs) including switches, oscillators, signal amplifiers or filters, and signalling circuits are responsible for the control of cell metabolism. Modelling such complex GRCs is a difficult task due to high complexity of the the process (partly known) and the structural, functional and temporal hierarchical organisation of the cell system. Modular lumped representation, grouping some reactions/components and including different types of variables, is a promising alternative allowing individual module characterisation and elaboration of extended simulation platforms for representing the GRC dynamic properties and designing new cell functions. Such models allow to in-silico design modified micro-organisms with desirable properties for practical applications in bioprocess engineering and biotechnology. In the present work, the analysis of a designed bistable switch formed by two gene expression modules is performed in a variable-volume and whole-cell modelling framework, by mimicking the Escherichia coli cell growth. The advantages but also limitations of such a new approach are investigated, by using a Hill-type kinetics combined with few elementary steps, with the aim of better representing the adjustable levels of key intermediates tuning the GRC regulatory properties in terms of stability strength, species connectivity, responsiveness, and regulatory efficiency under stationary and dynamic perturbations. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optimal Bayesian Design for Patient Selection in a Clinical StudyBIOMETRICS, Issue 3 2009Manuela Buzoianu Summary Bayesian experimental design for a clinical trial involves specifying a utility function that models the purpose of the trial, in this case the selection of patients for a diagnostic test. The best sample of patients is selected by maximizing expected utility. This optimization task poses difficulties due to a high-dimensional discrete design space and, also, to an expected utility formula of high complexity. A simulation-based optimal design method is feasible in this case. In addition, two deterministic algorithms that perform a systematic search over the design space are developed to address the computational issues. [source] | |||||||||||||