Digging with ‘hands’: observations of food capture in the flying gurnard Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

ABSTRACT

Videofilms of a foraging flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) were collected at Itaipu, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. Analysis revealed details of the use of anterior parts of the pectoral fins which act as digging ‘hands’ to access infaunal prey items that are subsequently captured by oral suction feeding. Each pectoral fin has two distinct sections articulated separately on the pectoral girdle. The digging ‘anterior pectoral fin’ mainly consists of segmented and flexible fin rays but has an anterior robust unsegmented ray that provides an edge to the ‘hand’, allowing penetration of the substratum. The huge ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are supported by unsegmented rays. Most digging episodes involved one ‘hand’ and consisted of 1–7 cycles of movement with frequencies 1.15–3.74 cycles s^?1. During a cycle, the ‘hand’ is moved forwards and medially above the substratum, then is twisted medially and simultaneously depressed so that the anterior unsegmented ray impacts and enters the substratum. The hand is then drawn backwards and laterally to disturb the substratum. To prevent upward pitching of the head during digging, the ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are both moved anteriorly and laterally to shift the centre of gravity forwards while the caudal and ?second dorsal fins continue to provide propulsive force.     

Fibulin-5/DANCE is essential for elastogenesis in vivo.

The elastic fibre system has a principal role in the structure and function of various types of organs that require elasticity, such as large arteries, lung and skin. Although elastic fibres are known to be composed of microfibril proteins (for example, fibrillins and latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-binding proteins) and polymerized elastin, the mechanism of their assembly and development is not well understood. Here we report that fibulin-5 (also known as DANCE), a recently discovered integrin ligand, is an essential determinant of elastic fibre organization. fibulin-5-/- mice generated by gene targeting exhibit a severely disorganized elastic fibre system throughout the body. fibulin-5-/- mice survive to adulthood, but have a tortuous aorta with loss of compliance, severe emphysema, and loose skin (cutis laxa). These tissues contain fragmented elastin without an increase of elastase activity, indicating defective development of elastic fibres. Fibulin-5 interacts directly with elastic fibres in vitro, and serves as a ligand for cell surface integrins alphavbeta3, alphavbeta5 and alpha9beta1 through its amino-terminal domain. Thus, fibulin-5 may provide anchorage of elastic fibres to cells, thereby acting to stabilize and organize elastic fibres in the skin, lung and vasculature.     

西方发达国家反垄断立法有关企业合并对我国的启示

规制企业合并是现代反垄断法的核心.西方主要发达国家对企业合并的反垄断立法已相当地成熟和完善.中国迄今尚未有反垄断法出台,基于入世后的现实情况,制定反垄断法以规范企业的合并行为已势在必行.文章通过主要发达国家反垄断法研究,结合中国实际就对立法体例、企业合并范围界定、不同类型企业合并的立法态度提出一些可行性建议或设想.     

Methodological foundations of systems methodologies

In social systems science generally, and in management science particularly, recent developments in the variety of types of specific problem-solving methodologies (under the rubric of hard and soft systems approaches) have given an impetus to a line of inquiry, as well as debate on the nature of those methodologies. On the one hand, there has been the view that what we are witnessing is a form of Kuhnian crisis. On the other hand, a complementarist view of developments has been argued and a contingency approach proposed. But one thing has been common among the competing views: a belief that the prospects for further advances in the design and application of those methodologies, and in resolving the current controversies, lie in serious attempts to reconsider and clarify the underlying metatheoretical assumptions and concerns. This paper is an attempt to contribute to such an endeavor. A brief exposition of three methodological foundations (namely, empiricism, hermeneutics, and critique) is made, not only with the purpose of highlighting the nature as well as the limits of their epistemological and ethical claims, but also as a basis for illuminating both the nature of contemporary work on systems inquiry, design, and problem solving and the ongoing debate on what constitutes appropriate criteria for choice of specific methodologies.     

Land vehicle positioning using GPS and dead reckoning

To ensure reliable land vehicle positioning, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is one of the best techniques commonly used in present-day positioning systems. However, GPS signals are not available if line of sight with the satellites is lost. In this respect, the addition of the Dead Reckoning (DR) method to complement the GPS unit would enhance the reliability of land vehicle positioning system. For implementing the DR method, the magnetic sensor and accelerometer are used for obtaining heading and velocity or distance information. Calibration of two sensors' dynamic model and DR algorithm are also introduced in this paper. The test result utilizing the GPS and DR methods is analyzed in this paper. It utilize spositioning information from GPS receiver when GPSsignal is available, otherwise DR is started to compensate GPS outage with the GPS output as the original point. The results showed that the error in east and north produced by the DR algorithm for a short time interval can be limitedwithin an acceptable range.     

In-vehicle GPS/DR navigation system development and test results in Singapore

This paper introduces the in-car navigation system prototype development and test results under the context of Singapore. In the system, integrated GPS/DR is used for continuous vehicle positioning. A digital road network map database is built for the whole Singapore. The database is designed to support map matching, route determination, and route guidance functions. The prototype system demonstrates GPS positioning of the vehicle in real-time, tracking the vehicle onto a digital map with fix updates every one or two seconds.With the map matched vehicle location on the map, voice and/or text guidance is provide to the driver. The vehicle position can also be transferred to control centre through communication data link for the purpose of fleet management.     

侦查中强制到案措施的不足与整合

在我国的侦查中强制侦查到案措施包括：拘传、拘留、逮捕，立法的不足在于这样三个方面，第一，没有明确强制到案措施与羁押的分离，混淆了羁押防范措施与强制到案措施之间的关系；第二，拘留所附带的关押期限太长，而使其变成一种准羁押的诉讼防范措施；第三，没有明确公安机关的无证强制到案措施，不能满足侦查实践的需要，从而导致本属警察法所规范的留置盘问措施在侦查中滥用，成为刑事诉讼法规定的强制到案措施体系之外，被最为广泛运用的强制到案措施。要解决这些问题，需要：第一，建立羁押与强制到案措施分离的刑事诉讼强制措施体系；第二，缩短拘留所附带的监禁期限；第三，整合留置盘问与其他强制到案措施之间的关系，在刑事诉讼法中明确将留置盘问作为紧急情形下的侦查强制到案措施。     

略论唐朝治桂政策实施的背景

唐朝以前，桂东地区的封建庄园经济。土地私有制已有所发展，而桂西地区大体上仍停留在前封建制阶段，社会经济相当落后，尤其是农业经济与桂东有着相当大的差距。唐朝统治者审时度势，根据当时广西社会发展的变化，调整了其治桂政策，在桂东地区设立正州正县，而在桂西地区则继续沿袭前代的的羁縻政策。