264,652 research outputs found
Biology and management of freesia flower specking caused by Botrytis cinerea
No full textThere is no published research regarding postharvest infection of freesia flowers
by Botrytis cinerea. Although, infection problems have concerned freesia growers and
wholesalers in recent years. The overall objectives of this study were firstly to evaluate
the factors affecting B. cinerea postharvest disease establishment and secondly to
evaluate a range of novel potential treatments to reduce postharvest freesia infection.
These treatment options include plant activators such as acibenzolar-S-methyl and methyl
jasmonate and biotic (Aureobasidium pullulans) and abiotic (UV-C irradiation)
biological/elicitors agents.
Research was undertaken in an attempt to explain the variation in B. cinerea
incidence on cut freesia flowers as noted by the UK importer Zwetsloots & Sons Ltd. in
2000. Higher monthly rejections of freesia flower stems throughout 2000 due to B.
cinerea infection were recorded during spring (April-May), early summer (June) and
autumn (October). Comparatively higher proportions of rejected freesia stems were
associated with glasshouse temperatures ranging from 13-17°C.
In the presence of B. cinerea inoculum on freesia petal surface, temperature was
not a limiting factor for disease establishment. Incubation of artificially inoculated
freesia flowers at 12°C resulted in overall higher disease severity and lesion numbers
compared to flowers incubated at 5 or 20°C. In contrast, relative humidity was the most
important factor for postharvest infection by B. cinerea.
Elicitor based strategies for IPM using the potent activator acibenzolar provided
limited protection of freesia flowers against B. cinerea when applied postharvest.
Acibenzolar significantly reduced disease severity, lesion numbers and lesion diameters
compared to the untreated control when applied at 0.15 g A. 1. U1.
Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) applied as gas, pulse and spray generally suppressed B.
cinerea disease on cut freesia flowers. Disease severity, lesion numbers and lesion
diameters of flowers gassed with 0.1 μL MeJA L"' were reduced by 56,43 and 37%,
respectively compared to untreated control flowers. Gaseous MeJA treated freesia
flowers at 0.1 μL L"1 increased PPO activity by 57% compared to untreated controls 24h
after MeJA treatment. After 36h of incubation at 20°C, disease severity, lesion numbers and lesion diameters of gaseous MeJA treated flowers were reduced by 68,56 and 50%,
respectively, compared to the untreated controls. However, PAL activity in MeJA treated
freesia flowers did not decrease significantly over time compared to untreated control 12h
post-inoculation and thereafter. These findings suggest that MeJA treatment might
suppress the action of PAL in the phenylpropanoid pathway and consequently block SA
production.
UV-C irradiation might be used in an integrated postharvest disease management
program for freesia flowers. UV-C irradiation after artificial inoculation resulted in
markedly reduced B. cinerea disease severity scores and lesion numbers. In detail, UV-C
irradiation of cut freesia flowers with 0.5,1,2.5 and 5 kJ m''` reduced disease severity by
up to 44,70,74 and 59% and lesion numbers by up to 37,62,68 and 60%, respectively.
UV-C irradiation at 1 kJ M-2 before artificial inoculation slightly reduced disease severity
and lesion numbers possibly by inducing defence responses. However, the limited
disease suppression suggested that apparently B. cinerea could overcome the UV-C
induced effect.
The effect of preharvest treatments on freesia crops with acibenzolar was
investigated in glasshouse trials in view to suppress postharvest B. cinerea infection via
SAR induction. Acibenzolar was effective in selected treatments and conditions.
Disease pressure varied over the 3 years and over varieties tested. However, it was
unclear whether acibenzolar induced systemic and/or local defence responses. The latter
was supported by biochemical investigations in 2001 which suggested that acibenzolar
did not induce PAL activity.
In contrast, preharvest MeJA treatment resulted in markedly systemic protection
of treated flowers compared to untreated ones. MeJA efficacy was dependent on variety
and on postharvest incubation temperatures. Disease severity, lesion numbers and lesion
diameters on MeJA treated freesia var. `Dukaat' flowers incubated at 20°C were reduced
by 56,61, and 49% compared to controls, respectively. Also, disease severity, lesion
numbers and lesion diameters on MeJA treated `Cote d'Azur' flowers incubated at 20°C
were reduced by 36,26, and 49% compared to controls, respectively
Commentary on Anastasios Brenner's 'Epistemology Historicized'
No full textBy starting from a reflection on the article by Anastasios Brenner which precedes mine in this edited book, I discuss the 'difficult' relation of history and philosophy, and draw examples from the tradition of historical epistemology. On this basis, I evaluate the current status of history of philosophy of science, and I conclude with the defence of a truly historical approach to philosophy of science and of the philosopher's reflexivity
Overconfidence, subjective perception and pricing behavior
No full textWe study the implications of overconfidence for price setting in a monopolistic competition setup with incomplete information. Our price-setters overestimate their abilities to infer aggregate shocks from private signals. The fraction of uninformed firms is endogenous; firms can obtain information by paying a fixed cost. We find two results: i) overconfident firms are less inclined to acquire information relative to the rational benchmark; ii) prices might exhibit excess volatility driven by non-fundamental noise. We explore the empirical predictions of our model for idiosyncratic price volatility
"Etymological atlas" of human body in Hodegos of Anastasios of Sinai
No full text`Oδηγόζ (The Guide) is the most famous work of Anastasios of Sinai, the
theological writer from the 7th-8th century. It is some sort of a handbook
for fighting the heresies, in the first place Monophysitism and
Monotheletism. Anastasios is discussing the terms, i.e. the categories, which
the believer should use if he wants to be orthodox. In the second chapter
Anastasios brings the definitions of theological technical terms which he
will be using in his polemics. To strengthen his argumentation he quotes more
than 120 etymologies of different words. Among them are 17 etzmologies of the
names of the parts of human body. We are talking about some of them in this
work. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije,
br. 1777032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Role of exosomal micrornas in regulating the immune response to lung cancer
No full textLung cancer is one of the most frequent malignant neoplasms and the main cause of cancer death. Despite medical advances, survival remains low in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the commonest type. Macrophages play a substantial role in tumour progression because of their plasticity during activation and tumour infiltration. M1 polarised macrophages are associated with increase survival in lung cancer but tumour-associated macrophages (TAM) are distinct in their potential to promote or hinder tumour development. There has been increasing recognition of molecular drivers of cancer and amongst them, exosomes are thought to modulate the wider tumour micro-environment. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles secreted by all cell types and facilitate remodelling, immune escape promotion and tumour development in the tumour microenvironment. Exosomes can transport a diverse cargo of RNA, DNA, and protein. MicroRNAs form a potentially important exosomal cargo which may affect entire cellular pathways of recipient cells, such as macrophages. Identifying, which miRNAs are associated with these processes may be essential in management of lung cancer patients. I propose that TAMs are affected by exosomes generated by tumours, and this affects their ability to respond to the tumour. The hypothesis is that differentially expressed specific exosomal miRNAs derived from NSCLC tumour alters the phenotype of macrophages resulting in immune regulation of macrophages in the tumour microenvironment. In this project, I characterised tumour derived exosomes (TDE) and their paired normal lung tissue derived exosomes (NDE) and shown that I can sequence their microRNA cargo. The differential expression testing with DESeq2 of TDE and NDE identified 465 differentially expressed miRNAs. Eight miRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-100-5p, miR-101-3p, miR-126a-5p, miR-133a-3p, miR-149-5p, miR193a-3p, and miR-205-5p) were statistically significantly differentially expressed and involved in signaling pathways related to polarisation of macrophages towards the anti-inflammatory phenotype M2. Those pathways were PI3K/Akt/mTOR, TLRs/NF-κB, JAK/STAT and JNK/MAPK. I subsequently compared and correlated the targeted mRNA of the TDE versus NDE differentially expressed miRNAs with the differentially expressed mRNA from tumour associated macrophages (TAM) and non-tumour associated macrophages (NTAM). Eleven miRNAs (miR-1-3p, miR-105-5p, miR-126a-3p, miR-16-5p, miR-193a-3p, miR-21-5p, miR2682-5p, miR-30a-3p, miR-34a-5p, miR-503-5p, miR-9-5p) were identified. The dysregulated mRNA and their signaling pathways were like the affected pathways from differentially expressed miRNAs in the TDE and NDE comparison group. These were PI3K/Akt/mTOR, TLRs/NF-κB and JAKSTAT signaling pathway. I subsequently exposed in vitro derived macrophages to TDE and their paired NDE. My results indicated that macrophages exposed to TDE had a milder inflammatory profile (dysregulation of IL6, SOCS-1, Serpin-B1 and CCL18) than those exposed to paired NDE. These macrophages were subsequently subjected to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)/RNA to evaluate their transcriptome (mRNA and microRNA) expression. The aim was to establish if miRNA cargo can affect macrophage’s phenotype. The miRNA signature of those macrophages showed one significant differentially expressed miRNA (miR-451a) which is known to be dysregulated in cancer and has anti-inflammatory effect. My work has potential impact in identifying the effects of tumour derived exosomes and particularly their miRNAs in macrophage’s polarisation in the tumour microenvironment
Protecting Animals 36: Author Witi Ihimaera
No full textIn this very special episode of Knowing Animals I am joined by beloved New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera. Witi has written many books featuring nonhuman animals. He offers us a non-colonial lens through which to think about the human/nonhuman relationship
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Multiple sets of solutions for harmonic elimination PWM bipolar waveforms: Analysis and experimental verification
No full textMultiple sets of solutions for the selective harmonic elimination pulse-width modulation method for inverter control exist. These sets present an independent solution to the same problem but further investigation reveals that certain sets may offer an improved overall harmonic performance. In this paper, a minimization method is discussed as a way to obtain these multiple sets of switching angles. A simple distortion harmonic factor that takes into account the first two most significant harmonics present in the generated waveform is considered in order to evaluate the performance of each set. The bipolar waveform is thoroughly analyzed and two cases are considered; single-phase patterns which eliminate all odd harmonics and three-phase counterparts which eliminate only the nontriplen odd harmonics from the line-to-neutral pattern but such harmonics are naturally eliminated from the line-to-line waveform. Experimental results support the theoretical considerations reported in the paper
Enhancement of mode I fracture toughness of adhesively bonded secondary joints using different layup patterning of CFRP
No full textDelamination growth in fibre reinforced polymer composites is generally evaluated with experiments that have been standardized for quasi-static load conditions. These tests characterize unidirectional delamination growth in mode I (DCB), mode II (ELS or ENF) of mixed mode conditions (MMB). However, little attention is paid in literature to the applicability of these tests to in-service delamination problems that are generally characterized by planar delamination growth. In this study, the relation between planar delamination growth, induced by transverse quasi-static indentation loading, and these unidirectional delamination tests was investigated. To that aim, prior planar delamination growth tests reported in literature, performed at EPFL, were analysed to identify up to what extent this planar growth could be correlated to the concepts of strain energy release and strain energy density. Once this appeared to successful, an experimental setup was designed to measure the delamination boundary during the transverse indentation loading of planar delamination specimens made of nontransparent carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites. With that set-up, quasi-static and fatigue planar delamination growth experiments were performed, and delamination contours could be successfully captured. While the quasi-static tests revealed limited growth, evaluation with numerical simulations revealed that the indentation force required to extend the delamination quasi-statically would cause damage to the specimen. This is attributed to the increasing length of the delamination contour when delaminations expand, which is not the case with standard unidirectional specimen. With the fatigue tests, however, delamination growth was achieved, but interestingly enough two phases were observed; first the delamination propagated in a planar fashion, while at some point in time work did not exceed an apparent threshold. Instead of no growth, however, the delamination still increased but then in a transverse manner. What makes this study of particular interest, is that the strain energy density as criterion could capture the strain energy offered (work) along the entire delamination contour, while the strain energy release rate described the resistance to delamination growth. This latter observation is in agreement with the original concept employed by Griffith when he formulated the basis of linear elastic fracture mechanics. This presentation present the experiments performed, the analysis of results, and will conclude with a proposal how to relate standard unidirectional tests to planar growth, considering that these standard tests contain little to no information on transverse phenomena with respect to strain energy density (work) and strain energy release (dissipation).Structural Integrity & Composite
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