Emergence of Stripe-Core Mixed Spiral Chimera on a Spherical Surface of Nonlocally Coupled Oscillators

We report on a stripe-core mixed spiral chimera in a system of nonlocally coupled phase oscillators, located on the spherical surface, where the spiral wave consisting of phase-locked oscillators is separated by a stripe-type region of incoherent oscillators into two parts. We analyze the existence and stability of the stripe-core mixed spiral chimera state rigorously, on the basis of the Ott–Antonsen reduction theory. The stability diagram for the stationary states including the spiral chimeras as well as incoherent state is presented. Our stability analysis reveals that the stripe-core mixed spiral chimera state emerges as a unique attractor and loses its stability via the Hopf bifurcation. We verify our theoretical results using direct numerical simulations of the model system.

Life at the continental–marine interface: palaeoenvironments and biota of the Alcobaça Formation (Late Jurassic, Central Portugal), with a formal definition of the unit appended

The Kimmeridgian Alcobaça Formation of the Lusitanian Basin forms a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic unit between basinal deposits of the Abadia Formation, and fluvial–terrestrial strata of the Lourinhã Formation. This study presents >2.5 km of detailed logs of nine outcrop sections of the Alcobaça Formation in its type region. Eight of these sections encircle the Caldas da Rainha Diapir, which was a prominent, emergent, passive salt diapir during the time of deposition. Palaeoenvironments of the unit form a complex mosaic of low- to high-energy, carbonate- or siliciclastic-dominated shallow shelf settings; coastal embayments and lagoons; and coastal plains with rivers, lakes and playas. In the strata, abundant microfauna is often joined by a rich macrofauna, usually dominated by bivalves. Locally, corals, calcareous sponges or oysters form meadows or patch reefs. These autochthonous to parautochthonous remnants of former communities are assigned to 35 benthic macrofaunal associations. The integration of palaeoecological analysis of these associations with microfaunal and sedimentological data provides constraint on their salinity ranges, which range from slightly hypersaline to freshwater. Frequent temporal and spatial salinity fluctuations are attributed to variations in relative sea-level, salt tectonics or climate. The NNE-trending Caldas da Rainha Diapir induced pronounced facies differentiation. Predominantly, non-marine siliciclastic facies in the northwest and carbonate to siliciclastic, marine to brackish facies in the southwest are contrasted by shallow-marine carbonate facies east of the diapir. Comprehensive exposure and well-preserved fossils make the Alcobaça Formation an excellent showcase to demonstrate how biofacies analysis can help to disentangle the interplay of climate changes, sea-level fluctuations and salt tectonics. Based on the improved characterisation of the unit, the Alcobaça Formation is formally defined, and seven members are established.

Declining yet persistent use of traditional contraceptive methods in low- and middle-income countries

Traditional contraceptive methods are used by 55 million women in developing countries. This study analysed over 80 national surveys to compare traditional with modern method users, by type, region, socio-demographic characteristics, strength of family planning programmes and discontinuation rates. The advance of modern methods has greatly reduced the share held by traditional methods, but the actual prevalence of their use has declined little. Young, sexually active unmarried women use traditional contraception much more than their married counterparts. Discontinuation rates are somewhat lower for traditional methods than for the resupply methods of the pill, injectable and condom; among users of all of these methods, more than a quarter stop use in the first year to switch to alternative methods. Traditional method use is firmly entrenched in many countries, as the initial method tried, a bridge method to modern contraception and even the primary method where other methods are not easily available.

ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS OF RESOURCE-TYPE REGIONS BASED ON THE PANEL DATA MODEL

The article studies the influence of the resource status of regions on the formation of the country's budget based on the tools of the panel data model. The article reviews the Russian and foreign literature, systematizes methodological approaches to the concept of "resource-type region", and identifies the most significant factors that affect the socio-economic life of the regions where GRP was selected as a dependent variable. As a result of the work, it was shown how the characteristics of the regions change depending on their affiliation.

Establishment of heterochromatin in domain-size-dependent bursts

Methylation of histone H3K9 is a hallmark of epigenetic silencing in eukaryotes. Nucleosome modifications often rely on positive feedback where enzymes are recruited by modified nucleosomes. A combination of local and global feedbacks has been proposed to account for some dynamic properties of heterochromatin, but the range at which the global feedbacks operate and the exact mode of heterochromatin propagation are not known. We investigated these questions in fission yeast. Guided by mathematical modeling, we incrementally increased the size of the mating-type region and profiled heterochromatin establishment over time. We observed exponential decays in the proportion of cells with active reporters, with rates that decreased with domain size. Establishment periods varied from a few generations in wild type to >200 generations in the longest region examined, and highly correlated silencing of two reporters located outside the nucleation center was observed. On a chromatin level, this indicates that individual regions are silenced in sudden bursts. Mathematical modeling accounts for these bursts if heterochromatic nucleosomes facilitate a deacetylation or methylation reaction at long range, in a distance-independent manner. A likely effector of three-dimensional interactions is the evolutionarily conserved Swi6HP1 H3K9me reader, indicating the bursting behavior might be a general mode of heterochromatin propagation.

Geographical distribution and regional differences in 532 clinical isolates of rapidly growing mycobacterial species in Japan

Infectious diseases caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly becoming a major global problem. Additionally, Mycobacteroides abscessus subsp. abscessus (MAB) infections are refractory to macrolides. This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) species isolated from clinical specimens in Japan and assess differences in the regional distribution of lower respiratory specimens (LRS)- and non-lower respiratory specimens (NLRS)-derived species. 532 strains (427 LRS, 92 NLRS and 15 unknown specimens) were isolated in nine areas of Japan. We collected 418 specimens from Bio Medical Laboratories (BML), Inc., and 114 specimens from 45 hospitals in Japan. Their epidemiological differences were examined according to the specimen type, region, and climate. Fifteen species were identified. The proportion of M. abscessus group (MAG) strains was significantly lower in NLRS than in LRS (35.9% vs. 68.4%). The proportion of MAG strains was higher in northern Japan than in other regions (83.7% vs. 60.5%). Variations in strain abundance among RGM species was evident in regions with a mean annual temperature below 15 °C. We conclude that the proportions of MAG strains differed between NLRS and LRS in Japan. In addition, the mean annual temperature likely influenced the distribution of RGM species.

The Degree of Awareness of Certified Trainers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia about the Importance of Certified Trainer's License the degree to which they benefit from it: درجة وعي المدربين المعتمدين في المملكة العربية السعودية بأهمية رخصة المدرب المعتمد ودرجة استفادتهم منها

The study aimed to identify the degree of awareness of trainers about the importance of license and the degree to which they benefit from it. It used the descriptive approach, and a questionnaire was built, it was distributed to all the study population (trainers who have a certified trainer license in the Kingdom), the number of sample was (330). The results showed that the degree of awareness of the trainers is very high, but the degree of the benefit of it is high. There were no differences in the degree of awareness of the trainers by (type, region, qualification, training experience), there were no differences about the degree to which they benefit from it by (region, training experience), but there were differences by (type, qualification).

Analysis of Non-Uniform Current Distribution in Multi-Fingered and Low-Voltage-Triggered LVTSCR

Laterally Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor Silicon-Controlled Rectifier (LDMOS-SCR) is usually used in Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection. LDMOS-SCR discharges current by parasitic SCR, but the MOS in it cannot work when parasitic SCR is stabilized. To further enhance the Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) discharging capability of LDMOS-SCR, a novel high failure current LDMOS-SCR with 12 V operation voltage is fabricated and verified in a 0.18-um high-voltage Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. Compared with conventional LDMOS-SCR, the novel LDMOS-SCR (LDMOS-SCR-R) introduced a heavily doped p-type region, which is located between the heavily doped n-type and p-type regions of Cathode and is connected with the gate. The adding p-well resistance can drop the voltage on the gate, and the gate with p-well resistance also has resistance and capacitance coupling effect. According to the results of the transmission line pulse test (TLP), the voltage applied to the gate by increasing the p-well resistance plays a major role in the device working mechanism. Under the same device size, LDMOS-SCR-R has higher It2 (8.6 A) than conventional LDMOS (2.21 A) or LDMOS-SCR (6.62 A) in TLP results. Compared with LDMOS-SCR, the failure current of LDMOS-SCR-R increases by 30 %, and the FOM of LDMOS-SCR-R increases by 34 %. The response of LDMOS-SCR-R is also faster than that of LDMOS-SCR under larger current conditions. In addition, the phenomenon in TLP results is consistent with simulation results. The proposed LDMOS-SCR-R can effectively increase failure current without affecting the device’s design window, and the additional p-type region will not increase the layout area.

Geographical Distribution and Regional Differences in 532 Clinical Isolates of Rapidly Growing Mycobacterial Species in Japan

Infectious diseases caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly becoming a major global problem. Additionally, Mycobacteroides abscessus subsp. abscessus (MAB) infections are refractory to macrolides. This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) species isolated from clinical specimens in Japan and assess differences in the regional distribution of lower respiratory specimens (LRS)- and non-lower respiratory specimens (NLRS)-derived species. 532 strains (427 LRS, 92 NLRS and 15 unknown specimens) were isolated in nine areas of Japan. Their epidemiological differences were examined according to the specimen type, region and climate. Fifteen species were identified. The top three RGM species from LRS and NLRS were identical. The proportion of M. abscessus group (MAG) strains was significantly lower in NLRS than in LRS (35.9% vs. 68.4%). The proportion of MAG strains was higher in northern Japan than in other regions (83.7% vs. 60.5%). Variations in strain abundance among RGM species was evident in regions with a mean annual temperature below 15 °C. We conclude that the proportions of MAG strains differed between NLRS and LRS in Japan. In addition, the mean annual temperature likely influenced the distribution of RGM species.

Integrity of a heterochromatic domain ensured by its boundary elements

In fission yeast, the inverted repeatsIR-LandIR-Rfunction as boundary elements at the edges of a 20-kb silent heterochromatic domain where nucleosomes are methylated at histone H3K9. Each repeat contains a series of B-box motifs physically associated with the architectural TFIIIC complex and with other factors including the replication regulator Sap1 and the Rix1 complex (RIXC). We demonstrate here the activity of these repeats in heterochromatin formation and maintenance. Deletion of the entireIR-Rrepeat or, to a lesser degree, deletion of just the B boxes impaired the de novo establishment of the heterochromatic domain. Nucleation proceeded normally at the RNA interference (RNAi)-dependent elementcenHbut subsequent propagation to the rest of the region occurred at reduced rates in the mutants. Once established, heterochromatin was unstable in the mutants. These defects resulted in bistable populations of cells occupying alternate “on” and “off” epigenetic states. DeletingIR-Lin combination withIR-Rsynergistically tipped the balance toward the derepressed state, revealing a concerted action of the two boundaries at a distance. The nuclear rim protein Amo1 has been proposed to tether the mating-type region and its boundaries to the nuclear envelope, where Amo1 mutants displayed milder phenotypes than boundary mutants. Thus, the boundaries might facilitate heterochromatin propagation and maintenance in ways other than just through Amo1, perhaps by constraining a looped domain through pairing.