The diet of Cape clawless otters at two sites along the Bloukrans River, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

The diet of Cape clawless otters was assessed at two sites along the Bloukrans River using faecal analysis. Spraints (n = 78) were collected during 2000 and 2001 and analysed using the relative frequency of occurrence and the reconstituted wet weight methods. Both methods found crab (Potamonautes perlatus) to be the most important component (>50%) of the diet. Frog, Xenopus and Rana spp., (11–42%) was the second most important component while fish (Micropteris salmoides) was relatively unimportant (<14%). Although the diet of Cape clawless otters in the Eastern Cape Province was similar to that reported elsewhere, the fact that they were preying on an alien invasive fish and not the indigenous endemic Sandelia bainsii is significant. The validity of faecal analysis methods is also discussed

Studies on the clinical significance of nonesterified and total cholesterol in urine

Gas-liquid chromatographic determinations of nonesterified and total urinary cholesterol were performed in 137 normals, 264 patients with various internal diseases without evidence of neoplasias or diseases of the kidney or urinary tract, 497 patients with malignancies and 236 patients with diseases of the kidney, urinary tract infections or prostatic adenoma with residual urine. A normal range (mean±2 SD) of 0.2–2.2 mg/24 hours nonesterified cholesterol (NEC) and of 0.3–3.0 mg/24 hours total cholesterol (TC) was calculated. Values of urinary cholesterol excretion were independent of age and sex and did not correlate with cholesterol levels in plasma. Patients with various internal diseases, without evidence of neoplasias nor diseases of the kidney or obstruction of the urinary tract, showed normal urinary cholesterol excretions, as did patients with infections of the urinary tract. However, elevated urinary cholesterol was found in patients with diseases of the kidney or urinary tract obstruction (prostatic adenoma with residual urine), malignant diseases of the urogenital tract and metastasing carcinoma of the breast. In patients with other malignant diseases urinary cholesterol was usually normal. Lesions of the urothelial cell membranes are considered to be the most likely cause of urinary cholesterol hyperexcretion. The clinical value of urinary cholesterol determinations as a possible screening test for urogenital carcinomas in unselected populations is limited by lacking specificity, expensive methodology and low prevalence of the mentioned carcinomas, although elevated urinary cholesterol excretions have been observed in early clinical stages of urogenital cancers

City form and well-being: what makes London neighborhoods good places to live?

What is the relationship between urban form and citizens’ well-being? In this paper, we propose a quantitative approach to help answer this question, inspired by theories developed within the fields of architecture and population health. The method extracts a rich set of metrics of urban form and well-being from openly accessible datasets. Using linear regression analysis, we identify a model which can explain 30% of the variance of well-being when applied to Greater London, UK. Outcomes of this research can inform the discussion on how to design cities which foster the wellbeing of their residents

Foundation and empire : a critique of Hardt and Negri

In this article, Thompson complements recent critiques of Hardt and Negri's Empire (see Finn Bowring in Capital and Class, no. 83) using the tools of labour process theory to critique the political economy of Empire, and to note its unfortunate similarities to conventional theories of the knowledge economy

Microcraters in aluminum foils exposed by Stardust

We will present preliminary results on the nature and size frequency distribution of microcraters that formed in aluminum foils during the flyby of comet Wild 2 by the Stardust spacecraft

Modelling polarization properties of comet 1P/Halley using a mixture of compact and aggregate particles

Recently, the result obtained from `Stardust' mission suggests that the overall ratio of compact to aggregate particles is 65:35 (or 13:7) for Comet 81P/Wild 2 (Burchell et al. 2008). In the present work, we propose a model which considers cometary dust as a mixture of compact and aggregate particles, with composition of silicate and organic. We consider compact particles as spheroidal particles and aggregates as BCCA and BAM2 aggregate with some size distribution. For modeling Comet 1P/ Halley, the power-law size distribution n(a)= a^{-2.6}, for both compact and aggregate particles is taken. We take a mixture of BAM2 and BCCA aggregates with a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.20$\mu m$ and 1$\mu m$. We also take a mixture of prolate, spherical and oblate compact particles with axial ratio (E) from 0.8 to 1.2 where a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.1$\mu m$ and 10$\mu m$ are taken. Using T-matrix code, the average simulated polarization curves are generated which can best fit the observed polarization data at the four wavelengths $\lambda$ = 0.365$\mu m$, 0.485$\mu m$, 0.670$\mu m$ and 0.684$\mu m$. The suitable mixing percentage of aggregates emerging out from the present modeling corresponds to 50% BAM2 and 50% BCCA particles and silicate to organic mixing percentage corresponds to 78% silicate and 22% organic in terms of volume. The present model successfully reproduces the observed polarization data, especially the negative branch, more effectively as compared to other work done in the past. It is found that among the aggregates, the BAM2 aggregate plays a major role, in deciding the cross-over angle and depth of negative polarization branch.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures (accepted for publication in MNRAS on May 4, 2011

1,4-Diazo­niabicyclo­[2.2.2]octane bis­(2-chloro­benzoate)

The title compound, C6H14N2 2+·2C7H4ClO2 −, contains trimeric units linked by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The carboxyl­ate groups of the 2-chloro­benzoate anions form dihedral angles of 66.1 (1) and 76.1 (1)° with the respective chloro­benzene rings to which they are bound. The hydrogen-bonded trimers are arranged in layers in the (200) planes and the chloro­benzoate anions form edge-to-face inter­actions between layers, with dihedral angles of 61.9 (1) and 49.8 (1)° and centroid–centroid distances of 4.85 (1) and 4.65 (1) Å, respectively, for two crystallographically distinct inter­actions