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Unusual Pattern (unusual + pattern)
Selected AbstractsAustralian ant research: fabulous fauna, functional groups, pharmaceuticals, and the FatherhoodAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Jonathan D Majer Abstract Apart from flies, ants are Australia's most noticeable and studied insects. In addition to their sheer abundance and ubiquity in most terrestrial ecosystems, they are also exceptionally diverse. Here, we outline the history of describing the Australian ant fauna and document the resources that are available for identifying and researching them. Unusual patterns in chromosome numbers in individual species are discussed, and the rediscovery of an ancient ant is described. A framework for understanding the dynamics of Australian ant communities is outlined, and the functional groups that fall within this framework are documented. The predictability of responses of ant communities to stress and disturbance has enabled a protocol for using ants as bioindicators of environmental health and integrity to be developed. This has been exported and adapted to other regions of the world. Australian ant research has also lead to promising sources of biopharmaceuticals. As well as describing these two practical applications of Australian ant research, this review looks at some of the future directions that studies on Australian ants might take. [source] Developmental profiles for multiple object tracking and spatial memory: typically developing preschoolers and people with Williams syndromeDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010Kirsten O'Hearn The ability to track moving objects, a crucial skill for mature performance on everyday spatial tasks, has been hypothesized to require a specialized mechanism that may be available in infancy (i.e. indexes). Consistent with the idea of specialization, our previous work showed that object tracking was more impaired than a matched spatial memory task in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder characterized by severe visuo-spatial impairment. We now ask whether this unusual pattern of performance is a reflection of general immaturity or of true abnormality, possibly reflecting the atypical brain development in WS. To examine these two possibilities, we tested typically developing 3- and 4-year-olds and people with WS on multiple object tracking (MOT) and memory for static spatial location. The maximum number of objects that could be correctly tracked or remembered (estimated from the k -statistic) showed similar developmental profiles in typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children, but the WS profile differed from either age group. People with WS could track more objects than 3-year-olds, and the same number as 4-year-olds, but they could remember the locations of more static objects than both 3- and 4-year-olds. Combining these data with those from our previous studies, we found that typically developing children show increases in the number of objects they can track or remember between the ages of 3 and 6, and these increases grow in parallel across the two tasks. In contrast, object tracking in older children and adults with WS remains at the level of 4-year-olds, whereas the ability to remember multiple locations of static objects develops further. As a whole, the evidence suggests that MOT and memory for static location develop in tandem typically, but not in WS. Atypical development of the parietal lobe in people with WS could play a causal role in the abnormal, uneven pattern of performance in WS. This interpretation is consistent with the idea that multiple object tracking engages different mechanisms from those involved in memory for static object location, and that the former can be particularly disrupted by atypical development. [source] Comparative folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis of four teleost fish from a Reservoir in south-eastern BrazilACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 4 2010Yuri Simões Martins Abstract Martins, Y.S., Moura, D.F., Santos, G.B., Rizzo, E. and Bazzoli, N. 2009. Comparative folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis of four teleost fish from a Reservoir in south-eastern Brazil. ,Acta Zoologica (Stockholm). 91: 466,473. This study provides a comparative analysis of gametogenesis of neotropical teleosts Metynnis maculatus, Megalancistrus parananus, Cichla kelberi and Satanoperca pappaterra, through histological, histochemical and histometric techniques. In the ooplasm of C. kelberi and S. pappaterra conspicuous lipid vesicles were observed, which are characteristic of pelagic eggs produced by marine fishes. Perinucleolar oocytes were identified in the testis of S. pappaterra suggesting that this species is protogynous without functional hermaphroditism, an unusual pattern for neotropical fresh-water fishes. The spermatozoa of the studied species have rounded heads, a characteristic of fish that externally fertilise their eggs. The follicular (granulosa) cells of the vitellogenic oocytes from the studied species were cuboidal or columnar, however, in C. kelberi there were columnar follicular cells at the vegetal pole and cuboidal cells at the animal pole. Variations of the histochemical content were detected in the cortical alveoli and follicular cells of vitellogenic oocytes showing differences in the mechanisms to block polyspermy and egg adhesiveness. Larger oocytes were recorded in species which demonstrated parental care behaviour and smaller oocytes were noted in those species with fractioned spawning. [source] Impact of common European tree species on the chemical and physicochemical properties of fine earth: an unusual patternEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010L. Mareschal Case studies are necessary to assess the effects of changes to tree species on the physicochemical and chemical properties of soils. To achieve this, the fine earth under five tree species was investigated. This study was performed in the Breuil-Chenue experimental forest site located in the Morvan Mountains (France). This site contains two adjacent blocks with replicated stands. The native forest (old beech and oak coppice with standards) was partially clear-felled and replaced in 1976 with mono-specific plantations of European beech, Norway spruce, Laricio pine and Douglas fir. The same changes in soil properties were revealed in both blocks, thus confirming the tree species effect. The percentage of exchangeable acidity on the cation exchange capacity (CEC) was greater under spruce, Douglas fir and pine than under the other species. Spruce stands, and to a lesser extent those of Douglas fir and pine, had a less acidic soil pH than hardwood stands (which was unusual in view of the data in the literature) and smaller CEC values. The small quantities of carbon added to the soil under these tree species provide an explanation for these effects through a partial control of both CEC and pH. This case study thus demonstrated that the tree species effect was not unequivocal and different criteria are necessary for its interpretation. Tree species significantly influenced certain aspects of the chemical properties of topsoil and have the potential to have an impact on current soil fertility. [source] PARENTAL EFFECTS AND GENDER SPECIALIZATION IN A TROPICAL HETEROSTYLOUS SHRUBEVOLUTION, Issue 3 2000Germá;n Avila-Sakar Abstract., Male sterility in hermaphroditic species may represent the first step in the evolution toward dioecy. However, gender specialization will not proceed unless the male-sterile individuals compensate for fitness lost through the male function with an increase in fitness through the female function. In the distylous shrub Erythroxylum havanense, thrum plants are partially male-sterile. Using data collected throughout eight years, we investigated whether thrum individuals have an increased performance as female parents, thereby compensating for their loss of male fitness. We found that thrum plants outperformed pins in the probabilities of seed maturation and germination and long-term growth of the seedlings. In turn, pollen from pin plants achieved greater pollen tube growth rates. Our results suggest that the superior performance of the progeny of thrum maternal plants is a consequence of better seed provisioning via effects of the maternal environment, cytotype or nuclear genes. Overall, our results suggest that E. havanense is evolving toward a dioecious state through a gynodioecious intermediate stage. This evolutionary pathway is characterized by an unusual pattern of gender dimorphism with thrums becoming females and pins becoming males. We propose that this pattern may be better explained by the interaction between male-sterility cytoplasmic genes and the heterostyly supergene. [source] Age and size compositions, growth and reproductive biology of the breaksea cod Epinephelides armatus, a gonochoristic serranidJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007S. E Moore Details of the reproductive biology, size and age compositions and growth of the breaksea cod Epinephelides armatus, the sole representative of Epinephelides, were obtained by collecting monthly samples of a wide total length (LT) range of individuals from coastal marine waters at 31,32° S on the lower west coast of Australia. Although the modal LT class of females (250,299 mm) was markedly less than that of males (400,449 mm), the modal ages of the two sexes were similar, i.e. 4 v. 5 years, respectively. The similarity in the age compositions and the histological demonstration that the gonads of all E. armatus consist solely of either ovarian or testicular tissues demonstrate that this species is gonochoristic, which is highly unusual for an anthiinine serranid. The absence of a central, membrane-lined ,ovarian' lumen in the testes of juveniles would account for adult testes containing neither this ovarian remnant nor the peripherally located sperm sinuses that are found in the mature testes of almost all other serranids. The results demonstrate that E. armatus exhibits a very unusual pattern of sexual development for a serranid. The spawning period of E. armatus lasts for c. 9 months, which is long for a species in temperate Western Australian waters, but comparable with that of many other relatively small serranids elsewhere. Females grow slower than males, attaining LT at 3, 5 and 10 years of c. 200, 285 and 420 mm, respectively, compared with c. 215, 315 and 450 mm, respectively. Females, however, attain maturity at a greater LT and older age than males. [source] Mutational analysis of HOXD13 and HOXA13 genes in the triphalangeal thumb,brachyectrodactyly syndromeJOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH, Issue 5 2002A. Pérez-Cabrera Abstract The triphalangeal thumb-brachyectrodactyly syndrome is a very rare autosomal dominant disorder of unknown etiology characterized by an unusual pattern of limb malformations: triphalangeal thumbs and brachyectrodactyly in the hands, and ectrodactyly in the feet. In a previous report, we described the clinical and radiographical features of three related subjects with the disease and suggest that due to the unusual combination of limb defects and to its phenotypic similarity with the limb malformative pattern induced by disrupting the Hoxd13 gene in mouse, the triphalangeal thumb-brachyectrodactyly syndrome might be caused by mutations in a HOX gene. After sequencing the entire coding region of HOXD13 and the highly conserved homeodomain encoding region of HOXA13, we do not detect any deleterious mutation in any of the patients excluding that alterations at these sequences are responsible for the disease. Mutations in regulatory regions of these genes or in other genes involved in limb development might be responsible for the disease. © 2002 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [source] Safety of anthrax vaccine: a review by the Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee (AVEC) of adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 3 2002John L. Sever Abstract Purpose To assess the safety of a licensed anthrax vaccine given to nearly 400,000 US military personnel, reports of adverse events (AEs) submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) were reviewed and evaluated medically. Methods The Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee (AVEC), a civilian panel of private-sector physicians and other scientists, reviewed 602 VAERS reports using a Delphic approach (structured expert consensus) to assess the causal relationship between vaccination and the reported AEs and sought to identify unexpected patterns in the occurrence of medically important events. Reports were entered into a database and used to profile AEs with respect to person, type/location, relative frequency, severity/impact, concomitant illness or receipt of other drugs or vaccines, and vaccine lot. Results Nearly half the reports noted a local injection-site AE, with more than one-third of these involving a moderate to large degree of inflammation. Six events qualified as serious AEs (SAEs), and all were judged to be certain consequences of vaccination. Three-quarters of the reports cited a systemic AE (most common: flu-like symptoms, malaise, rash, arthralgia, headache), but only six individual medically important events were judged possibly or probably due to vaccine (aggravation of spondyloarthropathy (2), anaphylactoid reaction, arthritis (2), bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia) Conclusions Since some cases of local inflammation involved distal paresthesia, AVEC recommends giving subcutaneous injections of AVA over the inferior deltoid instead of the triceps to avoid compression injury to the ulnar nerve. At this time, ongoing evaluation of VAERS reports does not suggest a high frequency or unusual pattern of serious or other medically important AEs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] States' Senior Residential Property Tax Abatements: Uncontroversial Benefit or Looming but Unrecognized Problem?POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 4 2010CHARLES LOCKHART All the U.S. states create residential property tax abatement policies that provide important benefits for a rapidly growing older population. These policies vary sharply, and we seek to explain variation in their generosity. We employ regression in conjunction with a cross-sectional data set of the 50 states focused early in the current decade. Several variables prominent in explaining cross-state variation in other public policies exert only modest effects on these programs. Rather, the primary influence is a positive one for a cultural orientation toward government helping a broad swath of the citizenry. We attribute this unusual pattern of explanatory factors to (1) abatement programs' older target populations; (2) their tax expenditure status; and (3) their tendency to be categorized as economic development rather than social programs. This explanatory pattern holds theoretical importance inasmuch as it provides few constraints on the growth of at least some programs serving older citizens. Todos los estados de la Unión Americana establecen políticas de reducción de impuestos para las propiedades residenciales que dan beneficios importantes para la población, en rápido crecimiento, de adultos mayores. Estas políticas varían bruscamente y buscamos explicar la variación en su generosidad. Empleamos una regresión conjuntamente con datos transversales de 50 estados y enfocados en el principio de la década actual. Diversas variables que explican la variación entre estados en otras políticas públicas sólo ejercen efectos modestos en estos programas de reducción de impuestos. En cambio, la influencia más importante es una positiva para la orientación cultural relacionada con la ayuda del gobierno para una amplia porción de la ciudadanía. Atribuimos este diseño inusual de factores explicativos a: (1) la población objetivo de adultos mayores de estos programas de reducciones; (2) al estatus de los adultos mayores en los programas de reducciones y (3) a la tendencia de que la reducción de impuestos para las propiedades residenciales sea categorizada como desarrollo económico en lugar de programas sociales. Este patrón explicativo mantiene una importancia teórica dado que provee pocas restricciones para el desarrollo en el futuro de al menos algunos programas de ayuda a la ciudadanía de adultos mayores. [source] A dominant nuclear mutation in Chlamydomonas identifies a factor controlling chloroplast mRNA stability by acting on the coding region of the atpA transcriptTHE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 6 2002Dominique Drapier Summary We have characterized a nuclear mutation, mda1 -ncc1, that affects mRNA stability for the atpA gene cluster in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas. Unlike all nuclear mutations altering chloroplast gene expression described to date, mda1 -ncc1 is a dominant mutation that still allows accumulation of detectable amounts of atpA mRNAs. At variance with the subset of these mutations that affect mRNA stability through the 5, UTR of a single chloroplast transcript, the mutated version of MDA1 acts on the coding region of the atpA message. We discuss the action of MDA1 in relation to the unusual pattern of expression of atpA that associates particularly short lived-transcripts with a very high translational efficiency. [source] Hydrated metal complexes of N -(6-amino-3,4-dihydro-3-methyl-5-nitroso-4-oxopyrimidin-2-yl)glycinate: interplay of molecular, molecular,electronic and supramolecular structuresACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 3 2001John N. Low The title anion, (C7H8N5O4),, L,, forms hydrated metal complexes with a range of metal ions M+ and M2+. Lithium and manganese(II) form finite molecular aggregates [Li(L)(H2O)3] (1) and [Mn(L)2(H2O)4].6H2O (4) in which the molecular aggregates are linked into three-dimensional frameworks by extensive hydrogen bonding. The sodium and potassium derivatives, [Na2(L)2(H2O)3] (2) and [K(L)(H2O)] (3) both form organic,inorganic hybrid sheets in which metal,oxygen ribbons are linked by strips containing only organic ligands: these sheets are linked by hydrogen bonds into three-dimensional frameworks. In (2) the metal,oxygen ribbon is built from pairs of edge-shared trigonal bipyramids linked by water molecules, while in (3) it consists of a continuous chain of vertex-sharing octahedra. The nitroso group in the anion acts as an ,1 ligand towards Na+ and as an ,2 ligand towards K+. In all cases the anion L, shows the same unusual pattern of interatomic distances as the neutral parent LH. [source] Formation of Hierarchically Structured Thin FilmsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 14 2009Ming Wang Abstract Here, we report the preparation of hierarchically structured polymer brushes with well-defined geometries via multiple step microcontact printing (MS-µCP) of inks containing different ratios of initiator-terminated thiols and non-reactive alkylthiols. Thick (and dense), polymer brushes grew from self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with high concentration of initiator-terminated thiols, and these brushes exhibited high chemical etch-resistance, compared to thin (and less dense), brushes grown from more dilute initiator-terminated SAMs. Upon etching, patterned crosslinking polymer brush films decorated with thin layers of Au, could be lifted off the surface to form geometrically well-defined free-standing hierarchical films. These polymer brush films showed interesting buckling instabilities when compressed. Areas with different brush thicknesses and Au backing showed markedly different buckling behavior, leading to unusual patterns of wrinkles with different wavelengths and orientations toward the force field. [source] The development of dentist practice profiles and managementJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Chinho Lin PhD Abstract Rationale and objectives, With the current large computerized payment systems and increase in the number of claims, unusual dental practice patterns to cover up fraud are becoming widespread and sophisticated. Clustering the characteristic of dental practice patterns is an essential task for improving the quality of care and cost containment. This study aims at providing an easy, efficient and practical alternative approach to developing patterns of dental practice profiles. This will help the third-party payer to recognize and describe novel or unusual patterns of dental practice and thus adopt various strategies in order to prevent fraudulent claims and overcharges. Methodology, Knowledge discovery (or data mining) was used to cluster the dentists' profiles by carrying out clustering techniques based on the features of service rates. It is a hybrid of the knowledge discovery, statistical and artificial neural network methodologies that extracts knowledge from the dental claim database. Results, The results of clustering highlight characteristics related to dentists' practice patterns, and the detailed managerial guidance is illustrated to support the third-party payer in the management of various patterns of dentist practice. Conclusion, This study integrates the development of dentists' practice patterns with the knowledge discovery process. These findings will help the third-party payer to discriminate the patterns of practice, and also shed more light on the suspicious claims and practice patterns among dentists. [source] Diagnostics for multivariate imputationsJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES C (APPLIED STATISTICS), Issue 3 2008Kobi Abayomi Summary., We consider three sorts of diagnostics for random imputations: displays of the completed data, which are intended to reveal unusual patterns that might suggest problems with the imputations, comparisons of the distributions of observed and imputed data values and checks of the fit of observed data to the model that is used to create the imputations. We formulate these methods in terms of sequential regression multivariate imputation, which is an iterative procedure in which the missing values of each variable are randomly imputed conditionally on all the other variables in the completed data matrix. We also consider a recalibration procedure for sequential regression imputations. We apply these methods to the 2002 environmental sustainability index, which is a linear aggregation of 64 environmental variables on 142 countries. [source] Using statistical techniques to detect fraud: a test casePHARMACEUTICAL STATISTICS: THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED STATISTICS IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY, Issue 4 2004Michael O'Kelly Abstract In an experiment to test the effectiveness of statistical measures in detecting fraud, three physicians fabricated scores on the Montgomery,Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) for a number of subjects in three sites. The fabricated data were then planted among MADRS data from 18 genuine sites. A statistician blinded as to the identity and quantity of the fabricated data attempted to detect the ,fraudulent' data by searching for unusual means and correlations. One of the three fabricated sites was correctly identified, and one genuine site was incorrectly identified as a potential fabrication. In addition, inlying and/or outlying means and correlations found in the genuine data suggested the possibility of using statistical checks for unusual data early in a study so that sites with unusual patterns could be prioritized for monitoring, training and, if necessary, auditing. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||