Plant growth requires the integration of internal and external cues, perceived and transduced into a developmental programme of cell division, elongation and wall thickening. Mechanical forces contribute to this regulation, and thigmomorphogenesis typically includes reducing stem height, increasing stem diameter, and a canonical transcriptomic response. We present data on a bZIP transcription factor involved in this process in grasses. Brachypodium distachyon SECONDARY WALL INTERACTING bZIP (SWIZ) protein translocated into the nucleus following mechanostimulation. Classical touch-responsive genes were upregulated in B. distachyon roots following touch, including significant induction of the glycoside hydrolase 17 family, which may be unique to grass thigmomorphogenesis. SWIZ protein binding to an E-box variant in exons and introns was associated with immediate activation followed by repression of gene expression. SWIZ overexpression resulted in plants with reduced stem and root elongation. These data further define plant touch-responsive transcriptomics and physiology, offering insights into grass mechanotranduction dynamics.

Bulk and size-fractionated kaolinites from seven localities in Australia as well as the Clay Minerals Society Source Clays Georgia KGa-1 and KGa-2 have been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser scattering, and electron microscopy in order to understand the variation of particle characteristics across a range of environments and to correlate specific particle characteristics with intercalation behavior. All kaolinites have been intercalated with N-methyl (NMF) after pretreatment with hydrazine hydrate, and the relative efficiency of intercalation has been determined using XRD. Intercalate yields of kaolinite: NMF are consistently low for bulk samples that have a high proportion of small-sized particles (i.e., <0.5 µm) and for biphased kaolinites with a high percentage (>60%) of low-defect phase. In general, particle size appears to be a more significant controlling factor than defect distribution in determining the relative yield of kaolinite: NMF intercalate.

Kaolinite:NaCl intercalates with basal layer dimensions of 0.95 and 1.25 nm have been prepared by direct reaction of saturated aqueous NaCl solution with well-crystallized source clay KGa-1. The intercalates and their thermal decomposition products have been studied by XRD, solid-state 23Na, 27Al, and 29Si MAS NMR, and FTIR. Intercalate yield is enhanced by dry grinding of kaolinite with NaCl prior to intercalation. The layered structure survives dehydroxylation of the kaolinite at 500°–600°C and persists to above 800°C with a resultant tetrahedral aluminosilicate framework. Excess NaCl can be readily removed by rinsing with water, producing an XRD “amorphous” material. Upon heating at 900°C this material converts to a well-crystallized framework aluminosilicate closely related to low-carnegieite, NaAlSiO4, some 350°C below its stability field. Reaction mechanisms are discussed and structural models proposed for each of these novel materials.

A large number of multispectral and stereo-image data are expected to become available as part of the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space project. We investigate digital elevation model extraction, anisotropic reflectance correction and selected glacier analysis tasks that must be developed to achieve full utility of these new data. Results indicate that glaciers in the Karakoram and Nanga Parbat Himalaya, northern Pakistan, exhibit unique spectral, spatial and geomorphometric patterns that can be exploited by various models and algorithms to produce accurate information regarding glacier extent, supraglacial features and glacier geomorphology The integration of spectral, spatial and geomorphometric features, coupled with approaches for advanced pattern recognition, can help geoscientists study glacier mass balance, glacier erosion, sediment-transfer efficiency and landscape evolution.

In a national surveillance system study, the infection rate following cerebrospinal fluid shunt surgery was 4.1% (95% confidence interval, 3.36%-4.92%). Cases of infection were more common in children than in adults (4.85% vs 3.24%; P = .04) and occurred sooner after surgery in children than in adults. A wide variation in compliance with antimicrobial prophylaxis was observed between 21 participating medical centers.

This study tested an integrative, multipathway model designed to explain bidirectional effectsof the attributions and coercive behaviors of mothers and sons in the context of a longitudinalstudy. Subjects were 246 mothers and sons who were 7–9 years of age. Mothers'and sons' attributions about one another's intent were significantly related to theaggressiveness of the behavior that each of them directed toward the other. Boys' earlieraggression did not significantly predict the mothers' subsequent attributions, whereasmothers' negative behavior indeed predicted subsequent negative attributions on the part ofthe boys. Even after considering children's earlier negative behavior, children'snegative attributions about their mothers helped explain the aggressiveness of their subsequentbehavior. The same was not true for mothers whose earlier attributions indirectly influenced theirsubsequent aggressive behavior.

In May 1992 the discovery of three pairs of horns in the only remaining area of pristine forest in northern Vietnam led to the description of a new species of ox. A total of 20 specimens have now been found, most of them consisting of only the horns and part of the skull. The Ministry of Forestry in Vietnam is enlarging and upgrading protected areas in the suspected 4000-sq-km range of the Vu Quang ox and surveys are under way in two proposed reserves in neighbouring Laos where the ox is also reported to occur. Meanwhile a local campaign is necessary to inform villagers of the valuable nature of this species and to ban further hunting.

5, 11, 17, 23, 29 is an arithmetic progression of prime numbers. It is conjectured that there are such progressions with arbitrarily many terms (there cannot be infinite sequences because a, a + d, a + 2d,… sooner or later contains a + ad). The longest such known to the authors has first term 4943 and common difference 60 060 with 13 prime terms, but longer ones will have been found by now. In general, additive problems about the multiplicatively defined prime numbers are inevitably difficult (e.g. the Goldbach conjecture and twin primes) and may even be candidates for undecidability. We have been trying to prove a much more general conjecture of Erdos, spurred on by his offer of $3000 to the first proof or disproof of it.

The wildlife of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia is a remarkable mixture of Asian and Australasian forms, with many endemic species. But it is being rapidly destroyed as a result of timber logging, hunting and agriculture. However, Dr MacKinnon, who is manager for two World Wildlife Fund projects in North Sulawesi, believes that action now could save most of the larger animals. With Indonesia's new interest in conservation he is optimistic that this will be achieved.

The author spent six weeks in Zaire early in 1975 to get first-hand experience both of mountain gorillas, in the Kahuzi Biega and Virunga national parks, and of bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) in forests south of the Zaire river. As a result he believes that, Tor the mountain gorillas, the enlargement, already planned, of the Kahuzi Biega park is important to ensure that population's viability, and also that thought should be given to introducing new blood into the Virunga population, which may already be suifering from inbreeding. For the bonobos he suggests that, if investigation confirms the view that the Salonga National Park is not a good area for them, the Lomako-Bolombo region should be considered for a bonobo reserve. Dr MacKinnon is a member of the IUCN Survival Service Commission's Primate Group and has made major studies of the orang-utan.

In 1971 John MacKinnon spent seven months in Sumatra studying orang-utans in the wild. This report compares his findings with those of his earlier and much longer study in Sabah, the report of which was published in Oryx September 1971, and also comments on some other mammals in his study area, including the Sumatran rhino.

Anyone who has ever kept orang-utans would agree that they are the most lovable and fascinating of animals. Their sad expressions and reserved ways give them a depth of character rare outside our own species. Man's interest in them has been great for hundreds of years and cave deposits from Sarawak show that our ancestors of thirty thousand years ago shared this interest. Yet the orang-utan or ‘man of the woods’ has now become the rarest, most threatened and least understood of all the apes.