The syntax of polarity emphasis

A crosslinguistic survey of the expression of polarity emphasis reveals that some such expressions are subject to the distributional constraints typical of main clause phenomena, while others are not. The former have received a fairly homogeneous syntactic analysis, implicating specific left peripheral projections. The non-restricted variety, however, is not analysed uniformly with some phenomena receiving a fully syntactic account and others being accounted for in terms of semantics and pragmatics. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Metabolite profiling characterises chemotypes of Musa diploids and triploids at juvenile and preflowering growth stages

Open Access Journal; Published online: 15 March 2019Bananas (Musa spp.) are consumed worldwide as dessert and cooking types. Edible banana varieties are for the most part seedless and sterile and therefore vegetatively propagated. This confers difficulties for breeding approaches against pressing biotic and abiotic threats and for the nutritional enhancement of banana pulp. A panel of banana accessions, representative of the diversity of wild and cultivated bananas, was analysed to assess the range of chemotypes available globally. The focus of this assessment was banana leaves at two growth stages (juvenile and pre-flowering), to see when during the plant growth metabolic differences can be established. The metabolic data corresponded to genomic trends reported in previous studies and demonstrated a link between metabolites/pathways and the genomes of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana. Furthermore, the vigour and resistance traits of M. balbisiana was connected to the phenolic composition and showed differences with the number of B genes in the hybrid accessions. Differences in the juvenile and pre-flowering data led to low correlation between the growth stages for prediction purposes

Deterministic diffraction loss modelling for novel broadband communication in rural environments

This paper presents a deterministic modelling approach to predict diffraction loss for an innovative Multi-User-Single-Antenna (MUSA) MIMO technology, proposed for rural Australian environments. In order to calculate diffraction loss, six receivers have been considered around an access point in a selected rural environment. Generated terrain profiles for six receivers are presented in this paper. Simulation results using classical diffraction models and diffraction theory are also presented by accounting the rural Australian terrain data. Results show that in an area of 900 m by 900 m surrounding the receivers, path loss due to diffraction can range between 5 dB and 35 dB. Diffraction loss maps can contribute to determine the optimal location for receivers of MUSA-MIMO systems in rural areas

Phenalenone-type phytoalexins mediate resistance of banana plants (Musa spp.) to the burrowing nematode Radopholus similis

The global yield of bananas, one of the most important food crops is severely hampered by parasites, such as nematodes, which cause yield losses up to 75%. Plant nematode interactions of two banana cultivars differing in susceptibility to Radopholus similis were investigated by combining the conventional and spatially resolved analytical techniques 1H NMR spectroscopy, matrix-free UV-laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric imaging, and Raman microspectroscopy. This innovative combination of analytical techniques was applied to isolate, identify, and locate the banana-specific type of phytoalexins, phenylphenalenones, in the R. similis-caused lesions of the plants. The striking antinematode activity of the phenylphenalenone anigorufone, its ingestion by the nematode, and its subsequent localization in lipid droplets within the nematode is reported. The importance of varying local concentrations of these specialized metabolites in infected plant tissues, their involvement in the plant's defense system, and derived strategies for improving banana resistance are highlighted

Risk Factors for Colorectal Cancer in Patients with Multiple Serrated Polyps: A Cross-Sectional Case Series from Genetics Clinics

Patients with multiple serrated polyps are at an increased risk for developing colorectal cancer (CRC). Recent reports have linked cigarette smoking with the subset of CRC that develops from serrated polyps. The aim of this work therefore was to investigate the association between smoking and the risk of CRC in high-risk genetics clinic patients presenting with multiple serrated polyps. Methods and Findings We identified 151 Caucasian individuals with multiple serrated polyps including at least 5 outside the rectum, and classified patients into non-smokers, current or former smokers at the time of initial diagnosis of polyposis. Cases were individuals with multiple serrated polyps who presented with CRC. Controls were individuals with multiple serrated polyps and no CRC. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate associations between smoking and CRC with adjustment for age at first presentation, sex and co-existing traditional adenomas, a feature that has been consistently linked with CRC risk in patients with multiple serrated polyps. CRC was present in 56 (37%) individuals at presentation. Patients with at least one adenoma were 4 times more likely to present with CRC compared with patients without adenomas (OR = 4.09; 95%CI 1.27 to 13.14; P = 0.02). For females, the odds of CRC decreased by 90% in current smokers as compared to never smokers (OR = 0.10; 95%CI 0.02 to 0.47; P = 0.004) after adjusting for age and adenomas. For males, there was no relationship between current smoking and CRC. There was no statistical evidence of an association between former smoking and CRC for both sexes. Conclusion A decreased odds for CRC was identified in females with multiple serrated polyps who currently smoke, independent of age and the presence of a traditional adenoma. Investigations into the biological basis for these observations could lead to non-smoking-related therapies being developed to decrease the risk of CRC and colectomy in these patients.Daniel D. Buchanan, Kevin Sweet, Musa Drini, Mark A. Jenkins, Aung Ko Win, Dallas R. English, Michael D. Walsh, Mark Clendenning, Diane M. McKeone, Rhiannon J. Walters, Aedan Roberts, Sally-Ann Pearson, Erika Pavluk, John L. Hopper, Michael R. Gattas, Jack Goldblatt, Jill George, Graeme K. Suthers, Kerry D. Phillips, Sonja Woodal, Julie Arnold, Kathy Tucker, Amanda Muir, Michael Field, Sian Greening, Steven Gallinger, Renee Perrier, John A. Baron, John D. Potter, Robert Haile, Wendy Franke, Albert de la Chapelle, Finlay Macrae, Christophe Rosty, Neal I. Walker, Susan Parry and Joanne P. Youn

On a method for mending time to failure distributions

Many software reliability growth models assume that the time to next failure may be infinite; i.e., there is a chance that no failure will occur at all. For most software products this is too good to be true even after the testing phase. Moreover, if a non-zero probability is assigned to an infinite time to failure, metrics like the mean time to failure do not exist. In this paper, we try to answer several questions: Under what condition does a model permit an infinite time to next failure? Why do all finite failures non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models share this property? And is there any transformation mending the time to failure distributions? Indeed, such a transformation exists; it leads to a new family of NHPP models. We also show how the distribution function of the time to first failure can be used for unifying finite failures and infinite failures NHPP models. --software reliability growth model,non-homogeneous Poisson process,defective distribution,(mean) time to failure,model unification