Sequence-based differentiation of strains in the Mycobacterium avium complex

The complete 16S-23S rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) was sequenced in 35 reference strains of the Mycobacterium avium complex. Twelve distinct ITS sequences were obtained, each of which defined a "sequevar"; a sequevar consists of the strain or strains which have a particular sequence. ITS sequences were identified which corresponded to M. avium (16 strains, four ITS sequevars) and Mycobacterium intracellulare (12 strains, one ITS sequevars). The other seven M. avium complex strains had ITS sequences which varied greatly from those of M. avium and M. intracellulare and from each other. The 16S-23S rDNA ITS was much more variable than 16S rDNA, which is widely used for genus and species identification. Phylogenetic trees based on the ITS were compatible with those based on 16S rDNA but were more detailed and had longer branches. The results of ITS sequencing were consistent with the results of hybridization with M. avium and M. intracellulare probes (Gen-Probe) for 30 of 31 strains tested. Serologic testing correlated poorly with ITS sequencing. Strains with the same sequence were different serovars, and those of the same serovar had different sequences. Sequencing of the 16S-23S rDNA ITS should be useful for species and strain differentiation for a wide variety of bacteria and should be applicable to studies of epidemiology, diagnosis, virulence, and taxonomy.     

Pressures and procedures for the design of safe consumer products

An assessment is provided of the current position regarding changes in UK or EEC civil law under which injured parties can obtain redress in respect of injuries caused by defective products. One effect of proposed systems of strict liability in tort will be to shift some of the burden of proof from the injured party on to the producer of the product claimed to have caused injury. It is argued that this is a just and logical change, given the unfairness and anomalies in present systems and the relative abilities of consumers and producers to avoid such incidents and to bear or to offset the cost of the consequences. Cases of apparent misuse of a product by a consumer may frequently be induced by the design of that product and could thus be prevented by more thoughtful design. In order that producers can ensure their own viability and satisfy the consumer market, their products must be safe, efficient, comfortable and satisfying to use, as well as durable, serviceable and realistically priced. One requirement for achieving this has been said to be the input of accident and ergonomics data early in the product development process; the present paper examines this proposition. Evidence is provided by research into the design and manufacture of consumer products for the UK market, carried out at Birmingham University. Examined in particular are the extent to which formal development processes and design safety review procedures are used, and the degree of utilisation of accident, ergonomics, user testing and market feedback data, identifying barriers to the widespread use of these. Safe and ergonomic design of products must aim to be seen as a positive business activity, rather than as a cost-centre. The benefits to a company of a comprehensive design safety programme will more than outweigh the costs given the pressures identified earlier.     

Double-pass oblique-incidence interferometer for the inspection of nonoptical surfaces

Interferometric testing of the flatness or straightness of ground surfaces of metals, granite, ceramics, and glasses has always proved difficult because of the extremely low specular reflection from these optically rough surfaces. At oblique angles of incidence the specular reflection coefficient of nonoptical surfaces increases rapidly, typically from near 0.01 at 75 degrees up to, say, 0.50 at 85 degrees and near 1.00 at 90 degrees angle of incidence. By taking advantage of this enhanced reflection at oblique incidence and the brightness and spatial coherence of visible gas lasers, it becomes practical to use interferometric inspection of nonoptical surfaces. A novel double-pass oblique-incidence interferometer is described which enables testing of large pieces having a specular reflection as low as 1%.     

An isomorphism theorem between the 7-adic integers and a ring associated with a hexagonal lattice

The primary goal of this paper is to prove that a ring defined by L. Gibson and D. Lucas is isomorphic to the ring of 7-adic integers. The ring, denoted byR ₂, arises naturally as an algebraic structure associated with a hexagonal lattice. The elements ofR ₂ consist of all infinite sequences in /(7). The addition and multiplication operations are given in terms of remainder and carries tables. The Generalized Balanced Ternary, denoted byG, is the subring ofR ₂ consisting of all the finite sequences ofR ₂. IfI _k is the ideal ofG consisting of all those sequences whose firstk digits are zero, then the second goal of the paper is to show that the inverse limit ofG/I _k is also isomorphic to the 7-adic integers.     

Classical and superposed learning for quantum weightless neural networks

A supervised learning algorithm for quantum neural networks (QNN) based on a novel quantum neuron node implemented as a very simple quantum circuit is proposed and investigated. In contrast to the QNN published in the literature, the proposed model can perform both quantum learning and simulate the classical models. This is partly due to the neural model used elsewhere which has weights and non-linear activations functions. Here a quantum weightless neural network model is proposed as a quantisation of the classical weightless neural networks (WNN). The theoretical and practical results on WNN can be inherited by these quantum weightless neural networks (qWNN). In the quantum learning algorithm proposed here patterns of the training set are presented concurrently in superposition. This superposition-based learning algorithm (SLA) has computational cost polynomial on the number of patterns in the training set.     

Analysing quadratic effects of formative constructs by means of variance-based structural equation modelling

Together with the development of information systems research, there has also been increased interest in non-linear relationships between focal constructs. This article presents six Partial Least Squares-based approaches for estimating formative constructs’ quadratic effects. In addition, these approaches’ performance is tested by means of a complex Monte Carlo experiment. The experiment reveals significant and substantial differences between the approaches. In general, the performance of the hybrid approach as suggested by Wold (1982) is most convincing in terms of point estimate accuracy, statistical power, and prediction accuracy. The two-stage approach suggested by Chin et al (1996) showed almost the same performance; differences between it and the hybrid approach – although statistically significant – were unsubstantial. Based on these results, the article provides guidelines for the analysis of non-linear effects by means of variance-based structural equation modelling.     

Further evidence for four mechanisms mediating vision at threshold: sensitivities to complex gratings and aperiodic stimuli

It is now generally accepted that several mechanisms mediate contrast detection at threshold. Many attempts to measure the bandwidths of these mechanisms using subthreshold summation have yielded estimates suggesting very narrow frequency tuning. We have measured thresholds for three classes of stimuli: gratings containing two sinusoidal components, sums of "difference of Gaussian" (DOG) patterns, and square waves. The results of the subthreshold summation experiments with gratings are consistent with those of other studies. All of these thresholds can be predicted by a model requiring only four center-surround-type mechanisms at each retinal locus. These mechanisms have a full bandwidth at a half-height of about 1.75 octaves. Quantitative prediction of sensitivities depends critically upon spatial probability summation. It is this spatial nonlinearity that yields these somewhat conterintuitive results. The much narrower bandwidths inferred by others are due to the assumption of linearity used in their analyses.     

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam) de Wit) prunings as nitrogen source for maize (Zea mays L.)

The effectiveness ofLeucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, prunings as N source for maize (Zea mays L.) was evaluated in field and pot trials at Ibadan, southern Nigeria. An N deficient, sandy Apomu soil (Psammentic Usthorthent) was used. The prunings significantly increased N uptake of seedlings and N percentage in ear leaves of maize. High maize gain yield was obtained with application of 10 tons fresh prunings or a combination of 5 tons fresh prunings and N at 50 kg ha^–1. The prunings as N source, appeared to be more effective when incorporated in the soil than when applied as mulch. In the pot trial, prunings applied two weeks before planting was more effective than when applied at time of planting maize. Under screen house conditions, the apparent N recovery from prunings with early incorporation about equals that of fertilizer N.