Baker's First-person Perspectives: They Are Not What They Seem

Lynne Baker's concept of a first-person perspective is not as clear and straightforward as it might seem at first glance. There is a discrepancy between her argumentation that we have first-person perspectives and some characteristics she takes first-person perspectives to have, namely, that the instances of this capacity necessarily persist through time and are indivisible and unduplicable. Moreover, these characteristics cause serious problems concerning personal identity

Triviality of the 2D stochastic Allen-Cahn equation

We consider the stochastic Allen-Cahn equation driven by mollified space-time white noise. We show that, as the mollifier is removed, the solutions converge weakly to 0, independently of the initial condition. If the intensity of the noise simultaneously converges to 0 at a sufficiently fast rate, then the solutions converge to those of the deterministic equation. At the critical rate, the limiting solution is still deterministic, but it exhibits an additional damping term

Diplodia seriata, cause of black fruit rot in organically grown apples in Holland, Belgium and Northern Germany

A fruit rot resembling Gloeosporium infections but appearing on fruits prior to harvest was noticed in organic apple orchards in Holland, Belgium and Northern Germany in 2007. Infections were most commonly observed on ‘Elstar’, but other cultivars were also affected. Fruit colonisation progressed in two steps, whereby a latent stage of sunken black lesions in immature fruits gave rise to a rapidly spreading firm brown rot upon fruit ripening. Isolation experiments from both stages consistently yielded a single species of fungus identified as Diplodia seriata, formerly known under the teleomorph name Botryosphaeria obtusa. Lesions of D. seriata were also seen on leaves as necrotic light brown spots surrounded by a purple halo, and occasionally on small twigs as cankers. Fruit mummies on apple twigs were heavily colonised by D. seriata and are thus likely to carry inoculum for fruit infections during late summer or in the following growing season

Timing and Virtual Observability in Ultimatum Bargaining and "Weak Link" Coordination Games

Previous studies have shown that simply knowing one player moves first can affect behavior in games, even when the first-mover's moves are known to be unobservable. This observation violates the game-theoretic principle that timing of unobserved moves is irrelevant, but is consistent with virtual observability, a theory of how timing can matter without the ability to observe actions. However, this previous research only shows that timing matters in games where knowledge that one player moved first can help select that player's preferred equilibrium, presenting an alternative explanation to virtual observability. We extend this work by varying timing of unobservable moves in ultimatum bargaining games and “weak link” coordination games. In the latter, the equilibrium selection explanation does not predict any change in behavior due to timing differences. We find that timing without observability affects behavior in both games, but not substantially

Integration of microsatellite (SSR) markers in Hevea spp. reference genetic map : a powerful tool for genetic analysis of qualitative and quantitative agronomic traits

In 2000, was published (Lespinasse et al. 2000) the 1st genetic map of rubber tree (Hevea spp.). This saturated map encompassed 717 loci, allowing an efficient coverage of the 18 chromosomes of the Hevea genome, and it can be considered as the reference map for the H. brasiliensis species. Nevertheless, the molecular markers used were manly RFLPs and AFLPs. RFLP markers proved to be very efficient in terms of genetic polymorphism and are sparsely distributed on rubber tree genome, but their applications to genotyping of large progenies are time and cost consuming. AFLPs were very useful PCR based markers, allowing rapid identification and mapping of hundreds of markers. But they are less informative than RFLPs as segregating AFLP bands are usually not locus specific and, in consequence, do not allow comparative alignment between independent maps. We thus developed Hevea specific microsatellite (alias SSRs for Simple Sequence Repeat) markers which potentially combine the advantages of RFLPs (polymorphism, abundance in plant genomes and locus specificity) and of AFLPs (high output genotyping thanks to PCR technique). Integration of SSRs in the Hevea reference map confirmed the usefulness of such molecular markers in terms of cost, rapidity, genome coverage and locus specificity. This last property means that selecting a set of SSR markers from the reference map allows obtaining a colinear map, whatever the Hevea clones used as progenitors of the mapping populations. Thus, the creation of a dense SSR map of rubber tree is very useful for genetic mapping and comparison of chromosome locations of Quantitative Traits Loci (QTLs) obtained from different mapping projects. (Résumé d'auteur

Molecular genetic markers and rubber breeding in Thailand : 1- Genetic mapping of the family RRIM600 x PB217by use of microsatellite markers

Rubber breeding has long been based on conventional breeding and quantitative genetics based on phenotypic observations. Since recently, molecular genetic markers have brought new possibilities for characterizing genotypes, with view to identify cultivars, or their parents, to analyse genetic diversity, to establish relationships between agricultural traits and genetic factors (QTLs), and to identify genes of interest. In order to analyse the genetic bases of latex production, the cross RRIM600 x PB217 was created in Thailand for genotyping the progenies and building a genetic linkage map. The two parents were chosen for their contrasted physiological behaviour, as shown by the metabolic typology of cultivated rubber clones. Based on the double pseudo testcross strategy, two parental maps and a consensus map were built, with 334 progenies, 247 microsatellite markers, and 198 AFLP markers. The 18 linkage groups were assigned to the corresponding groups, equivalent to the 18 chromosomes of the Hevea haploid genome, of a Cirad Hevea genetic map used as reference. This new consensus map will be used together with field data for QTLs detection on heritable traits. Efforts will be priorily focussed on studying the physiological parameters of the latex diagnostic, in association with latex production. (Résumé d'auteur