BACKGROUND Data from the Compulsory Scrapie Flocks Scheme (CSFS), part of the compulsory eradication measures for the control of scrapie in the EU, have been used to estimate the within-holding prevalence of classical scrapie in Great Britain (GB). Specifically data from one of the testing routes within the CSFS have been used; the initial cull (IC), whereby two options can be applied: the whol...

The elastic response of flexible polymers made of elements which can be either folded or unfolded, having different lengths in these two states, is discussed. These situations are common for biopolymers as a result of folding interactions intrinsic to the monomers, or as a result of binding of other smaller molecules along the polymer length. Using simple flexible-chain models, we show that eve...

The tractive performance justification of an off-road vehicle is so important that it ensures the vehicle mobility over the unprepared peat terrain. Tractive performance of Low Ground Pressure (LGP-30) wheeled vehicle is investigated on the low bearing capacity moderate peat terrain in Malaysia. The simulation results showed that the vehicle sinkage is more than the critical sinkage value of 10...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Understanding the mechanical properties of chromatin is an essential step towards deciphering the physical rules of gene regulation. In the past ten years, many single molecule experiments have been carried out, and high resolution measurements of the chromatin fiber stiffness are now available. Simulations have been used in order to link those measurements with structu...

Globally, echovirus 30 (E30) is one of the most frequently identified enteroviruses and a major cause of meningitis. Despite its wide distribution, little is known about its transmission networks or the dynamics of its recombination and geographical spread. To address this, we have conducted an extensive molecular epidemiology and evolutionary study of E30 isolates collected over 8 years from a...

(version compiled August 25, 2007) John Baez, Aristide Baratin, Laurent Freidel, Derek Wise 1 Department of Mathematics, University of California Riverside, CA 92521, USA 2 Laboratoire de Physique, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon 46 allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France. 3 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics 35 King Street N, Waterloo ON, N2J 2W9, Canada. 4 Department of Mathemat...

On May 11, 2008 the German biophysicist Professor Fritz-Albert Popp will celebrate his 70th birthday. This is a welcome occasion to pay tribute to the scientific achievements and human qualities of a scientist whose merits as one of the founders of biophotonics and as a pioneer of quantum biophysics increasingly find appreciation internationally.