The field of quantitative evolutionary design uses evolutionary reasoning (in terms of natural selection and ultimate causation) to understand the magnitudes of biological reserve capacities, i.e. excesses of capacities over natural loads. Ratios of capacities to loads, defined as safety factors, fall in the range 1.2-10 for most engineered and biological components, even though engineered safe...

The reliability and accuracy of spike trains have been shown to depend on the nature of the stimulus that the neuron encodes. Adding ion channel stochasticity to neuronal models results with a macroscopic behavior that replicates the input-dependent reliability and precision of real neurons. We calculate the amount of information that an ion channel based stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) neuron m...

An electroencephalographic (EEG) marker of the limited contents of human visual short-term memory (VSTM) has previously been described. Termed contralateral delay activity, this consists of a sustained, posterior, negative potential that correlates with memory load and is greatest contralateral to the remembered hemifield. The current investigation replicates this finding and uses magnetoenceph...

Music, as language, is a universal human trait. Throughout human history and across all cultures, people have produced and enjoyed music. Despite its ubiquity, the musical capacity is rarely studied as a biological function. Music is typically viewed as a cultural invention. In this paper, the evidence bearing on the biological perspective of the musical capacity is reviewed. Related issues, su...

Mobile telephone systems are undergoing a substantial change from voice based systems which also support data transfer to become systems which truly support packet switched data services to mobile subscribers. This evolution towards the third generation (3G) mobile system will be based on the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) [1] and will begin with the General Packet Radio Service ...

Our investigation of integrated biological control (IBC) started with an assay testing activity of the predacious yeast Saccharomycopsis crataegensis UFMG-DC19.2 against Penicillium digitatum LCP 4354, a very aggressive fungus that causes postharvest decay in oranges. Under unfavourable environmental conditions, the yeast showed a high potential for control (39.9% disease severity reduction) of...

Background—Since the passage of a voter approved state referendum in 1992 to establish a 25 cent increase on the excise tax on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, Massachusetts has received an average of $40 million annually for its tobacco control programme. This funding allowed Massachusetts to expand and develop its tobacco control programme to become one of the most comprehensive in the world...

Interference mitigation has been identified as an important challenge for cellular technologies based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In this context, Intercell Interference Coordination (ICIC) techniques have received much attention by the research community, as they are a ...