X-ray film holder permits single continuous picture of tubing joint

X ray technique produces a clear continuous picture of a welded brazed tubing joint on a single film with one exposure. A stationary X ray source located in the plane of the joint to be inspected, a means of rotating the tube, and a unique internal film holder and positioning fixture are used

First Canadian Record of \u3ci\u3eHexacola Neoscatellae\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae), A Parasitoid of the Shore Fly, \u3ci\u3eScatella Stagnalis\u3c/i\u3e

This paper documents the first occurrence of Hexacola neoscatellae, a shore fly parasitoid, in Canada. The discovery of H. neoscatellae is significant because currently there are no suitable biological control agents available for shore fly control to the floriculture industry

A single mutation in the envelope protein modulates flavivirus antigenicity, stability, and pathogenesis

The structural flexibility or 'breathing' of the envelope (E) protein of flaviviruses allows virions to sample an ensemble of conformations at equilibrium. The molecular basis and functional consequences of virus conformational dynamics are poorly understood. Here, we identified a single mutation at residue 198 (T198F) of the West Nile virus (WNV) E protein domain I-II hinge that regulates virus breathing. The T198F mutation resulted in a ~70-fold increase in sensitivity to neutralization by a monoclonal antibody targeting a cryptic epitope in the fusion loop. Increased exposure of this otherwise poorly accessible fusion loop epitope was accompanied by reduced virus stability in solution at physiological temperatures. Introduction of a mutation at the analogous residue of dengue virus (DENV), but not Zika virus (ZIKV), E protein also increased accessibility of the cryptic fusion loop epitope and decreased virus stability in solution, suggesting that this residue modulates the structural ensembles sampled by distinct flaviviruses at equilibrium in a context dependent manner. Although the T198F mutation did not substantially impair WNV growth kinetics in vitro, studies in mice revealed attenuation of WNV T198F infection. Overall, our study provides insight into the molecular basis and the in vitro and in vivo consequences of flavivirus breathing

The Most Detailed Picture Yet of an Embedded High-mass YSO

High-mass star formation is not well understood chiefly because examples are deeply embedded, relatively distant, and crowded with sources of emission. Using VLA and VLBA observations of water and SiO maser emission, we have mapped in detail the structure and proper motion of material 20-500 AU from the closest high-mass YSO, radio source-I in the Orion KL region. We observe streams of material driven in a rotating, wide angle, bipolar wind from the surface of an edge-on accretion disk. The example of source-I provides strong evidence that high-mass star formation proceeds via accretionComment: typo corrected and word added to abstract 6 pages including 4 B&W figures. To appear in the Proceeding of IAU Symposium 221, Star Formation at High Angular Resolution, Editors M. Burton, R. Jayawardhana & T. Bourke, Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

The opposites task: Using general rules to test cognitive flexibility in preschoolers

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. Executive functions play an important role in cognitive development, and during the preschool years especially, children's performance is limited in tasks that demand flexibility in their behavior. We asked whether preschoolers would exhibit limitations when they are required to apply a general rule in the context of novel stimuli on every trial (the "opposites" task). Two types of inhibitory processing were measured: response interference (resistance to interference from a competing response) and proactive interference (resistance to interference from a previously relevant rule). Group data show 3-year-olds have difficulty inhibiting prepotent tendencies under these conditions, whereas 5-year-olds' accuracy is near ceiling in the task. (Contains 4 footnotes and 1 table.

Company Taxation in the European Union

This paper investigates different measures of corporate tax burden ranging from the most basic ones such as the statutory tax rate to the effective tax rates. Each of these measures has advantages and disadvantages and they may lead to different rankings of countries. One of the reasons lies the fact that they measure different things. The comparison of the statutory tax rates to the effective ones for the EU-27 during the period of 1998-2009 sometimes reveals very significant differences between these indicators. Taking this into consideration, the paper suggests that corporate tax burden analysis should not be limited to the most basic and readily available measure in the form of the statutory tax rate. Different measures are tailored to answer different research questions. Moreover, the article presents changes of company taxation for the EU-27 within 1998-2009.W artykule dokonano przeglądu miar obciążenia podatkowego przedsiębiorstw. Rozpoczynając od wielkości najprostszych, jak stopa nominalna, a kończąc na miarach efektywnych. Każdy ze wskaźników ma wady i zalety, a jego wykorzystanie może prowadzić do różnego uszeregowania państw ze względu na poziom opodatkowania. Jedną z przyczyn jest fakt, iż wielkości te mierzą inne rzeczy. Porównanie stóp nominalnych i efektywnych w krajach UE-27, w latach 1998-2009, wskazuje na istnienie niekiedy bardzo istotnych różnic pomiędzy analizowanymi wskaźnikami. W związku z tym artykuł sugeruje, iż nie należy ograniczać analiz opodatkowania przedsiębiorstw, do najprostszego i najłatwiej dostępnego wskaźnika w postaci ustawowej stopy podatkowej a rozszerzyć je o miary efektywne. Wielkości te, stanowiące lepszy instrument do porównań międzynarodowych, umożliwiają przeprowadzenie wszechstronnych badań

Tracing the Pathway from Drift-Wave Turbulence with Broken Symmetry to the Generation of Sheared Axial Mean Flow

This study traces the emergence of sheared axial flow from collisional drift wave turbulence with broken symmetry in a linear plasma device---CSDX. As the density profile steepens, the axial Reynolds stress develops and drives a radially sheared axial flow that is parallel to the magnetic field. Results show that the non-diffusive piece of the Reynolds stress is driven by the density gradient and results from the spectral asymmetry of the turbulence and thus is dynamical in origin. Taken together, these findings constitute the first simultaneous demonstration of the causal link between the density gradient, turbulence and stress with broken spectral symmetry, and the mean axial flow

Post-copulatory opportunities for sperm competition and cryptic female choice provide no offspring fitness benefits in externally fertilizing salmon

There is increasing evidence that females can somehow improve their offspring fitness by mating with multiple males, but we understand little about the exact stage(s) at which such benefits are gained. Here, we measure whether offspring fitness is influenced by mechanisms operating solely between sperm and egg. Using externally-fertilising and polyandrous Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), we employed split-clutch and split-ejaculate in vitro fertilisation experiments to generate offspring using designs that either denied or applied opportunities for sperm competition and cryptic female choice. Following fertilisations, we measured 140 days of offspring fitness after hatch, through growth and survival in hatchery and near-natural conditions. Despite an average composite mortality of 61%, offspring fitness at every life stage was near-identical between groups fertilised under the absence versus presence of opportunities for sperm competition and cryptic female choice. Of the 21,551 and 21,771 eggs from 24 females fertilised under monandrous versus polyandrous conditions, 68% versus 67.8% survived to the 100-day juvenile stage; sub-samples showed similar hatching success (73.1% versus 74.3%), had similar survival over 40 days in near-natural streams (57.3% versus 56.2%), and grew at similar rates throughout. We therefore found no evidence that gamete-specific interactions allow offspring fitness benefits when polyandrous fertilisation conditions provide opportunities for sperm competition and cryptic female choice