To be or not to be better pollinated: Differences between sex morphs in marginal gynodioecious populations

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Changes in the pollinator communities of marginal plant populations can affect their pollination quantity or quality. Geographic variation in pollination success can alter the reproductive advantage that female plants require to persist within gynodioecious populations. Particularly valuable is determining the pollination success at the prezygotic stage in self-compatible gynodioecious species whose females do not exhibit enhanced seed production. METHODS: In core and marginal populations of Daphne laureola, we analyzed the differences between hermaphrodites and females in the proportion of flowers visited, the stigma pollen loads, and the quantity of pollen tubes in styles. We also examined the relationship between the number of pollen tubes in styles vs. the number of pollen grains on stigmas using piecewise regression and binomial generalized linear mixed models. KEY RESULTS: Pollinators deposited larger pollen loads on flowers in marginal populations. In marginal populations, female flowers received more pollinator visits and more pollen grains on their stigmas, and they had more pollen tubes in their styles than did female flowers in core populations. Both piecewise regression and binomial GLMM analyses showed that females in marginal populations had a lower proportion of grains that developed tubes than females in the core populations, which suggests decreased pollination quality. CONCLUSIONS: More efficient pollination services in marginal populations decreased the overall differences in the prezygotic pollination success between the sex morphs. Our results also suggest that pollination quality is lower in females of marginal populations, which could be counteracting the increased pollination in females in marginal populations.Peer Reviewe

Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies. III. Co-evolution of Black Hole Growth and Star Formation Activity?

Local luminous infrared (IR) galaxies (LIRGs) have both high star formation rates (SFR) and a high AGN (Seyfert and AGN/starburst composite) incidence. Therefore, they are ideal candidates to explore the co-evolution of black hole (BH) growth and star formation (SF) activity, not necessarily associated with major mergers. Here, we use Spitzer/IRS spectroscopy of a complete volume-limited sample of local LIRGs (distances of <78Mpc). We estimate typical BH masses of 3x10^7 M_sun using [NeIII]15.56micron and optical [OIII]5007A gas velocity dispersions and literature stellar velocity dispersions. We find that in a large fraction of local LIRGs the current SFR is taking place not only in the inner nuclear ~1.5kpc region, as estimated from the nuclear 11.3micron PAH luminosities, but also in the host galaxy. We next use the ratios between the SFRs and BH accretion rates (BHAR) to study whether the SF activity and BH growth are contemporaneous in local LIRGs. On average, local LIRGs have SFR to BHAR ratios higher than those of optically selected Seyferts of similar AGN luminosities. However, the majority of the IR-bright galaxies in the RSA Seyfert sample behave like local LIRGs. Moreover, the AGN incidence tends to be higher in local LIRGs with the lowest SFRs. All this suggests that in local LIRGs there is a distinct IR-bright star forming phase taking place prior to the bulk of the current BH growth (i.e., AGN phase). The latter is reflected first as a composite and then as a Seyfert, and later as a non-LIRG optically identified Seyfert nucleus with moderate SF in its host galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Rete Algorithm Applied to Robotic Soccer

This article is a first approach to the use of Rete algorithm to design a team of robotic soccer playing agents for Robocup Soccer Server. Rete algorithm is widely used to design rule-based expert systems. Robocup Soccer Server is a system that simulates 2D robotic soccer matches. The paper presents an architecture based on CM United team architecture for Robocup Soccer Server simulation system. It generalizes the low-level information received by the agent as high-level soccer concepts. This way it can take advantage of expert system design techniques

A full-scale in situ heating test for high-level nuclear waste disposal: observations, analysis and interpretation

The paper describes the performance, observations and interpretation of a large-scale in situ heating test that simulates a disposal concept for heat-emitting, high-level nuclear waste. In the experiment, heaters are emplaced in the axis of a tunnel excavated in granite to simulate the heat production of radioactive waste. The test is fully instrumented, and attention is focused on the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behaviour of the near-field region constituted by the compacted bentonite barrier surrounding the heater and the immediately adjacent rock. Interpretation of the test is assisted by the performance of a coupled numerical analysis based on a formulation that incorporates the relevant THM phenomena. Initial and boundary conditions for the analysis as well as material parameters are determined from an extensive programme of field and laboratory experiments. The paper presents and discusses the thermal, hydraulic and mechanical observations in the bentonite barrier and in the host rock. Special attention is paid to the progress of hydration in the barrier, to the effects of heating and vapour transport, and to the development of swelling pressures in the barrier. After five years of heating, one of the heaters was switched off and the experiment was partially dismantled, allowing the final state of the barrier to be observed directly. The numerical analysis performed has proved able to represent the progress of the experiment very satisfactorily. In addition, predictions concerning the final state of the clay barrier are very close to the observations obtained during dismantling. The performance and analysis of the in situ test have significantly enhanced the understanding of a complex THM problem and have proved the capability of the numerical formulation to provide adequate predictive capacit

Thermo-hydro-mechanical model of the Canister Retrieval Test

The paper presents a 2-D axisymmetric numerical simulation of the Canister Retrieval Test (CRT). The main objectives of this analysis are the study of the canister&ndash;buffer and buffer&ndash;host rock interfaces; and the evaluation of the mathematical models used to predict the THM behaviour of the buffer and interface. The THM simulation was performed using the finite element program Code-Bright. The constitutive law adopted to represent the mechanical behaviour of bentonite and pellets is the Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) with a non-linear elastic component accounting for swelling. A joint element with a non-linear elastic mechanical law was implemented in the code for the simulation of the opening&ndash;closure of the interface canister&ndash;buffer. The formulation of this element also incorporates appropriate thermal and hydraulic laws. The evolution of temperatures, relative humidities and stresses recorded during the test were compared with the simulation results. Comparing the results measured in situ with the results of numerical analysis shows that the formulation used is able to reproduce satisfactorily the phenomena involved in the test as well as their interactions. In addition, the final dry density and degree of saturation measured in samples of bentonite and pellets extracted during the test dismantling were also in agreement with the calculated values

A review of expansive phenomena in Wagenburg North Tunnel

The paper deals on tunnelling and swelling in anhydritic-gypsiferous claystones. The geology of the Gipskeuper in Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg (Germany) and the phenomenology of expansions in Wagenburg North tunnel are described. Consistent swelling triggering events, mechanisms and exhaustion causes were identified using a thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical theoretical analysis. It is suggested that long-term swelling in tunnels excavated through anhydritic-gypsiferous claystones is a result of solvent-way gypsum crystal growth due to ventilation induced groundwater evaporation and rock drying; an opposite concept to the usual consequences of drying in argillaceous materials, which causes shrinkage strains

Local generic behavior of a planar Filippov system with non-smooth switching curve

The version of record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40863-021-00270-zThis paper discusses the generic local classification of typical singularities of 2D piecewise smooth vector fields when the switching set is an non smooth curve. The main goal is to obtain classification results concerning structural stability and generic codimension one local bifurcations.Tere M. Seara the Catalan Grant 2014SGR504. Tere M-Seara is also supported by the Russian Scientic Foundation grant 14-41-00044 and the European Marie Curie Action FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES: BREUDS. J. Larrosa has been supported by FAPESP grants 2011/22529-8 and 2014/13970-0 and the European Marie Curie Action FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES: BREUDS.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft