The Current Status of Weinberg's Differential Rule

AbstractA reanalysis of the data presented in a recent large twin study suggests that opposite-sexed (OS) pairs may be not as exhaustively tested as same-sexed (SS) pairs on genetic markers. This is contrary to an assumption I made in estimating that there are about 8 SS dizygotic pairs to every 7 OS pairs (thus impugning Weinberg's differential rule). If this assumption is false also in regard to the samples I discussed, then that estimate is unsound and Weinberg's rule is unscathed by empirical data. However, regardless of such considerations, there are strong theoretical reasons for questioning the status of Weinberg's rule. It is based on two assumptions, namely that p (the probability that a dizygotic twin zygote is male) is equal and independent for all dizygotic twin zygotes. Data are adduced here to suggest that both assumptions are false. The upshot is that, at present, without testing, we cannot know, of any given population, whether the rule holds or not. Otherwise, though Weinberg's rule may be useful (like Hellin's law) as a rule-of-thumb, it cannot be assumed as a basis for serious scientific argument.

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The current status of aquatic biological resources and their habitat cross-border section in the Dnieper river within the Smolensk region Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus

Rybovodstvo i rybnoe hozjajstvo (Fish Breeding and Fisheries) ◽

10.33920/sel-09-2107-01 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 8-21

Author(s):

Alexey Ivanovich Nikitenko ◽

Dmitry Vladimirovich Goryachev ◽

Vladimir Gennadlevich Kostousov ◽

Georgy Prokofievich Prischepov ◽

Viktor Kazimirovich Rizevsky ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Size Structure ◽

Reproductive Potential ◽

Current Status ◽

Commercial Fishing ◽

Biological Resources ◽

The Status ◽

The Republic ◽

Share Value ◽

Made In ◽

Russian Section

The study presents materials on the status of aquatic biological resources and their habitat in the Dnieper River within the territory of the Russian and the Belarus. In the recent period, there has been hardly any complex fishery research in the upper reach of the river within the boundaries of the Smolensk Region due to the lack of commercial fishing; the same can be applied to the reach of the river within the Vitebsk Region in Belarus. The collection of materials and scientific and research accounting network surveys for monitoring the state of aquatic bioresources were carried out on the Dnieper River as part of the research in 2019 according to a preplanned grid of stations. When fishing for scientific research purposes, 20 net-stops of smooth frame nets were made in the Russian section, and 9 net-stops were made in the Belarusian section. In the Russian section of the Dnieper River, the species composition was 16 species of fish, and in the Belarusian section — 22 species. The main catch in the Russian section is roach 29% and chub 20%, in the Belarusian section bream — from 3 to 46%, roach — from 19 to 63% and gustera — from 1.8 to 33%, in a slightly smaller number of river perch (on average up to 10%). The share value of roach and guster tends to decrease from the upper to the lower areas, bream-on the contrary to increase, the value of perch is approximately equal in all areas. In the size structure of the caught fish species, there is a dynamic with a good reproductive potential.

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Against Permanent Sovereignty

10.1093/oso/9780198702726.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Chris Armstrong

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

International Politics ◽

Local Communities ◽

Status Quo ◽

Nation States ◽

The Status ◽

Made In

The status quo within international politics is that individual nation-states enjoy extensive and for the most part exclusive rights over the resources falling within their borders. Egalitarians have often assumed that such a situation cannot be defended, but perhaps some sophisticated defences of state or national rights over natural resources which have been made in recent years prove otherwise. This chapter critically assesses these various arguments, and shows that they are not sufficient to justify the institution of ‘permanent sovereignty’ over resources. Even insofar as those arguments have some weight, they are compatible with a significant dispersal of resource rights away from individual nation-states, both downwards towards local communities, and upwards towards transnational and global agencies.

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Dental Applications of Carbon Nanotubes

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26154423 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (15) ◽

pp. 4423

Author(s):

Marco A. Castro-Rojas ◽

Yadira I. Vega-Cantu ◽

Geoffrey A. Cordell ◽

Aida Rodriguez-Garcia

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Properties ◽

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Oral Cavity ◽

Current Status ◽

Glass Ionomer ◽

Oral Infections ◽

Functional Behavior ◽

The Status ◽

Comprehensive Survey ◽

Dental Applications

Glass ionomer cements and resin-based composites are promising materials in restorative dentistry. However, their limited mechanical properties and the risk of bulk/marginal fracture compromise their lifespan. Intensive research has been conducted to understand and develop new materials that can mimic the functional behavior of the oral cavity. Nanotechnological approaches have emerged to treat oral infections and become a part of scaffolds for tissue regeneration. Carbon nanotubes are promising materials to create multifunctional platforms for dental applications. This review provides a comprehensive survey of and information on the status of this state-of-the-art technology and describes the development of glass ionomers reinforced with carbon nanotubes possessing improved mechanical properties. The applications of carbon nanotubes in drug delivery and tissue engineering for healing infections and lesions of the oral cavity are also described. The review concludes with a summary of the current status and presents a vision of future applications of carbon nanotubes in the practice of dentistry.

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GDNF Therapy: Can We Make It Work?

Journal of Parkinson s Disease ◽

10.3233/jpd-212706 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Anders Björklund

Keyword(s):

Gene Therapy ◽

Transcription Factor ◽

Signaling Pathway ◽

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Threshold Level ◽

New Findings ◽

The Status ◽

Interesting Discussion ◽

Postmortem Studies ◽

Made In

In two recent postmortem studies, Jeffrey Kordower and colleagues report new findings that open up for an interesting discussion on the status of GDNF/NRTN signaling in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), adding an interesting perspective on the, admittedly very limited, signs of restorative effects previously seen in GDNF/NRTN-treated patients. Their new findings show that the level of the GDNF signaling receptor Ret is overall reduced by about 65% relative to non-PD controls, and most severely, up to 80%, in nigral neurons containing α-synuclein inclusions, accompanied by impaired signaling downstream of the Ret receptor. Notably, however, the vast majority of the remaining nigral neurons retained a low level of Ret expression, and hence a threshold level of signaling. Further observations made in two patients who had received AAV-NRTN gene therapy 8–10 years earlier suggest the intriguing possibility that NRTN is able to restore Ret expression and upregulate its own signaling pathway. This “wind-up” mechanism, which is likely to depend on an interaction with dopaminergic transcription factor Nurr1, has therapeutic potential and should encourage renewed efforts to turn GDNF/NRTN therapy into success, once the recurring problem of under-dosing is resolved.

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Institutional repositories in Africa: Regaining direction

Information Development ◽

10.1177/02666669211015429 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026666692110154

Author(s):

Usman Ahmed Adam ◽

Kiran Kaur

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Research Output ◽

Current Status ◽

African Countries ◽

Institutional Repositories ◽

Widespread Implementation ◽

Typical Performance ◽

The Status ◽

Global Access ◽

And Cluster Analysis

Institutional repositories are powerful tools to facilitate global access to intellectual output by members of the institution, particularly in assisting them to preserve and maximize access to their research output globally. This exploratory study of the status of institutional repositories implementation in African countries using the global Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and Transparent Ranking: All Repositories by Google Scholar, reports on the operational status and the performance of repositories. Factor analysis and cluster analysis are used to analyze the operational level of institutional repositories in African countries. The analysis showed that the typical performance of institutional repositories remains below average. The possibility of global open access to research results through institutional repositories in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, and Egypt appeared to be relatively more feasible than other African countries. This study concludes that many organizations, institutions, and societies spend great efforts in support of open access implementation in Africa, however, the widespread implementation of institutional repositories is still very slow paced, and the performance of the implemented repositories was below expectation. Suggestions for regaining the intended direction of African institutional repositories are given based on the current status.

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Application of lean practices in small and medium-sized food enterprises

British Food Journal ◽

10.1108/bfj-05-2012-0107 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 116 (1) ◽

pp. 125-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Manoj Dora ◽

Dirk Van Goubergen ◽

Maneesh Kumar ◽

Adrienn Molnar ◽

Xavier Gellynck

Keyword(s):

Food Processing ◽

Lean Manufacturing ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Current Status ◽

Food Sector ◽

Statistical Process ◽

Content Type ◽

Lean Practices ◽

The Status ◽

Manufacturing Techniques

Purpose – Recent literature emphasizes the application of lean manufacturing practices to food processing industries in order to improve operational efficiency and productivity. Only a very limited number of studies have focused on the implementation of lean manufacturing practices within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the food sector. The majority of these studies used the case study method and concentrated on individual lean manufacturing techniques geared towards resolving efficiency issues. This paper aims to analyze the status of the lean manufacturing practices and their benefits and barriers among European food processing SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data. A total of 35 SMEs' representatives, mostly CEOs and operations managers, participated in the survey. The study investigated the role of two control variables in lean implementation: size of the company and country of origin. Findings – The findings show that lean manufacturing practice deployment in food processing SMEs is generally low and still evolving. However, some lean manufacturing practices are more prevalent than others; e.g. flow, pull and statistical process control are not widely used by the food processing SMEs, whereas total productive maintenance, employee involvement, and customer association are more widespread. The key barriers encountered by food SMEs in the implementation of lean manufacturing practices result from the special characteristics of the food sector, such as highly perishable products, complicated processing, extremely variable raw materials, recipes and unpredictable demand. In addition, lack of knowledge and resources makes it difficult for food processing SMEs to embark on the lean journey. Originality/value – The gap in the literature regarding the application of lean manufacturing in the food sector is identified and addressed in this study. The originality of this paper lies in analyzing the current status of the use of lean manufacturing practices among food SMEs in Europe and identifying potential barriers.

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The Current Status of Hearing Care: Can We Change the Status Quo?

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.16.7.2 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 16 (07) ◽

pp. 410-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Dennis Van Vliet

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Care Delivery ◽

The United States ◽

Status Quo ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Current Status ◽

High Quality ◽

Scientific Database ◽

The Status

The members of the profession of audiology often express concern that the services and products that have been developed to provide benefit to the hearing impaired are not sought after or delivered to the majority of those diagnosed with hearing loss. A critical look at the status quo of hearing care delivery in the United States is needed to verify this assumption and to develop strategies to improve the situation. A key concern is the lack of a comprehensive high-quality scientific database upon which to build continuous improvements in the effectiveness of the services and products that are provided to the hearing impaired.

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Marketing and delivering information literacy on the web, yesterday and today, from 2009 to 2012

Library Hi Tech News ◽

10.1108/lhtn-03-2014-0019 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 10-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sharon Q. Yang

Keyword(s):

Information Literacy ◽

Web Sites ◽

Academic Libraries ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Status Quo ◽

Content Type ◽

The Status ◽

Practical Implications ◽

The Web ◽

Made In

Purpose – This study aims to ascertain the trends and changes of how academic libraries market and deliver information literacy (IL) on the web. Design/methodology/approach – The author compares the findings from two separate studies that scanned the Web sites for IL-related activities in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Findings – Academic libraries intensified their efforts to promote and deliver IL on the web between 2009 and 2012. There was a significant increase in IL-related activities on the web in the three-year period. Practical implications – The findings describe the status quo and changes in IL-related activities on the libraries’ Web sites. This information may help librarians to know what they have been doing and if there is space for improvement. Originality/value – This is the only study that spans three years in measuring the progress librarians made in marketing and delivering IL on the Web.

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THE STATUS OF TWO-NEUTRINO AND NEUTRINOLESS DOUBLE BETA DECAY SEARCHES

International Journal of Modern Physics E ◽

10.1142/s0218301393000200 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 02 (03) ◽

pp. 507-546 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

M.K. MOE

Keyword(s):

Beta Decay ◽

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay ◽

Double Beta Decay ◽

Experimental Activity ◽

The Past ◽

The Status ◽

Substantial Progress ◽

Direct Counting ◽

Made In

Substantial progress has been made in double beta decay experiments in the past few years, including the beginning of sensitive new searches for neutrinoless double beta decay, and several additional positive detections of the two-neutrino mode by geochemical, radiochemical, and direct-counting techniques. This review discusses the recent experimental activity.

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