Beans ( Phaseolus spp.) - model food legumes

Globally, 800 million people are malnourished. Heavily subsidised farmers in rich countries produce sufficient surplus food to feed the hungry, but not at a price the poor can afford. Even donating the rich world's surplus to the poor would not solve the problem. Most poor people earn their living from agriculture, so a deluge of free food would destroy their livelihoods. Thus, the only answer to world hunger is to safeguard and improve the productivity of farmers in poor countries. Diets of subsistence level farmers in Africa and Latin America often contain sufficient carbohydrates (through cassava, corn/maize, rice, wheat, etc.), but are poor in proteins. Dietary proteins can take the form of scarce animal products (eggs, milk, meat, etc.), but are usually derived from legumes (plants of the bean and pea family). Legumes are vital in agriculture as they form associations with bacteria that 'sfix-nitrogen' from the air. Effectively this amounts to internal fertilisation and is the main reason that legumes are richer in proteins than all other plants. Thousands of legume species exist but more common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are eaten than any other. In some countries such as Mexico and Brazil, beans are the primary source of protein in human diets. As half the grain legumes consumed worldwide are common beans, they represent the species of choice for the study of grain legume nutrition. Unfortunately, the yields of common beans are low even by the standards of legumes, and the quality of their seed proteins is sub-optimal. Most probably this results from millennia of selection for stable rather than high yield, and as such, is a problem that can be redressed by modern genetic techniques. We have formed an international consortium called Phaseomics' to establish the necessary framework of knowledge and materials that will result in disease-resistant, stress-tolerant, high-quality protein and high-yielding beans. Phaseomics will be instrumental in improving living conditions in deprived regions of Africa and the Americas. It will contribute to social equity and sustainable development and enhance inter- and intra-cultural understanding, knowledge and relationships. A major goal of Phaseomics is to generate new common bean varieties that are not only suitable for but also desired by the local farmer and consumer communities. Therefore, the socio-economic dimension of improved bean production and the analysis of factors influencing the acceptance of novel varieties will be an integral part of the proposed research (see Figure 1). Here, we give an overview of the economic and nutritional importance of common beans as a food crop. Priorities and targets of current breeding programmes are outlined, along with ongoing efforts in genomics. Recommendations for an international coordinated effort to join knowledge, facilities and expertise in a variety of scientific undertakings that will contribute to the overall goal of better beans are given. To be rapid and effective, plant breeding programmes (i.e., those that involve crossing two different 'sparents') rely heavily on molecular 'smarkers'. These genetic landmarks are used to positio

Symmetries of Accola-MacLachlan and Kulkarni Surfaces

For all g greater than or equal to 2, there is a Riemann surface of genus g whose automorphism group has order 8g+8, establishing a lower bound for the possible orders of automorphism groups of Riemann surfaces. Accola and MacLachlan established the existence of such surfaces; we shall call them Accola-MacLachlan surfaces. In this paper we determine the symmetries of surfaces with genus g = 3(mod 4), computing the number of ovals and the separability of the symmetries. The results are then applied to classify the real forms of these complex algebraic curves

Application of robotics In the clinical laboratory

The basic types of robot are explained, and the performances and costs of some commercial examples are given. The potential advantages and problems of introducing robots into clinical laboratories are identified and the specifcation of a suitable robot is developed. None of the commercially available robots meets all aspects of the specificalion, and currently the purchase of a robot is considered premature for most clinical laboratories

Effect of trainee level on surgical time and postoperative complications of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between trainee level and surgical time and postoperative complications of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent ACLR at an academic orthopaedic ambulatory surgery center collected demographic and clinical information, including the number of trainees present and trainee level. Unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses assessed the association between trainee number and level with surgical time (time from skin incision to closure) and postoperative complications. RESULTS: Of 799 patients in this study operated on by one of five academic sports surgeons, 87% had at least one trainee involved. The average surgical time overall was 93 ± 21 minutes and by trainee level was 99.7 (junior resident), 88.5 (senior residents), 96.6 (fellows), and 95.6 (no trainees). Trainee level was significantly associated with surgical time (P = 0.0008), with increased surgical time in cases involving fellows (0.0011). Fifteen complications (1.9%) were observed within 90 days of surgery. No notable risk factors of postoperative complications were identified. CONCLUSION: Resident trainee level does not have a notable effect on surgical time or postoperative complications for ACLR at an ambulatory surgery center, although cases involving fellows had longer surgical times. Trainee level was not associated with risk of postoperative complications

An Empirical Charge Transfer Potential with Correct Dissociation Limits

The empirical valence bond (EVB) method [J. Chem. Phys. 52, 1262 (1970)] has always embodied charge transfer processes. The mechanism of that behavior is examined here and recast for use as a new empirical potential energy surface for large-scale simulations. A two-state model is explored. The main features of the model are: (1) Explicit decomposition of the total system electron density is invoked; (2) The charge is defined through the density decomposition into constituent contributions; (3) The charge transfer behavior is controlled through the resonance energy matrix elements which cannot be ignored; and (4) A reference-state approach, similar in spirit to the EVB method, is used to define the resonance state energy contributions in terms of "knowable" quantities. With equal validity, the new potential energy can be expressed as a nonthermal ensemble average with a nonlinear but analytical charge dependence in the occupation number. Dissociation to neutral species for a gas-phase process is preserved. A variant of constrained search density functional theory is advocated as the preferred way to define an energy for a given charge.Comment: Submitted to J. Chem. Phys. 11/12/03. 14 pages, 8 figure

Effect of water temperature and induced acoustic pressure on cavitation erosion behaviour of aluminium alloys

Data availability: The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings are available from the corresponding author on request.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Cavitation erosion is a major challenge for marine and fluid machinery systems. This study investigated the erosion performance of two as-cast aluminium alloys exposed to acoustic cavitation in water at temperatures of 10–50 °C and those were then compared with an extruded wrought alloy tested specifically at the temperature of maximum erosion. The results showed that the as-cast A380 alloy displayed exceptional resistance to cavitation erosion, with the lowest mass loss and surface roughness. This finding suggests that the as-cast A380 alloy is a suitable choice for lightweight, high-performance components in applications where cavitation resistance is critical.This work was financially sponsored by the PAAM (grants EP/W006774/1, EP/W00593X/1 and EP/W006154/1), UltraMelt2 (grants EP/R011001/1, EP/R011095/1 and EP/R011044/1) and EcoUltra2D (grants EP/R031401/1, EP/R031665/1, EP/R031819/1, EP/R031975/1) projects funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Core Outcomes and Common Data Elements in Chronic Subdural Hematoma: A Systematic Review of the Literature Focusing on Reported Outcomes.

The plethora of studies in chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) has not resulted in the development of an evidence-based treatment strategy, largely due to heterogeneous outcome measures that preclude cross-study comparisons and guideline development. This study aimed to identify and quantify the heterogeneity of outcome measures reported in the CSDH literature and to build a case for the development of a consensus-based core outcome set. This systematic review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and was registered with the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42014007266). All full-text English language studies with >10 patients (prospective) or >100 patients (retrospective) published after 1990 examining clinical outcomes in CSDH were eligible for inclusion. One hundred two eligible studies were found. There were 14 (13.7%) randomized controlled trials, one single arm trial (1.0%), 25 (24.5%) cohort comparison studies, and 62 (60.8%) prospective or retrospective cohort studies. Outcome domains reported by the studies included mortality (63.8% of included studies), recurrence (94.1%), complications (48.0%), functional outcomes (40.2%), and radiological (38.2%) outcomes. There was significant heterogeneity in the definitions of the outcome measures, as evidenced by the seven different definitions of the term "recurrence," with no definition given in 19 studies. The time-points of assessment for all the outcome domains varied greatly from inpatient/hospital discharge to 18 months. This study establishes and quantifies the heterogeneity of outcome measure reporting in CSDH and builds the case for the development of a robust consensus-based core outcome set for future studies to adhere to as part of the Core Outcomes and Common Data Elements in CSDH (CODE-CSDH) project.PJH is supported by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Professorship and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

Direct calculation of the hard-sphere crystal/melt interfacial free energy

We present a direct calculation by molecular-dynamics computer simulation of the crystal/melt interfacial free energy, $\gamma$, for a system of hard spheres of diameter $\sigma$. The calculation is performed by thermodynamic integration along a reversible path defined by cleaving, using specially constructed movable hard-sphere walls, separate bulk crystal and fluid systems, which are then merged to form an interface. We find the interfacial free energy to be slightly anisotropic with $\gamma$ = 0.62$\pm 0.01$, 0.64$\pm 0.01$ and 0.58$\pm 0.01 k_BT/\sigma^2$ for the (100), (110) and (111) fcc crystal/fluid interfaces, respectively. These values are consistent with earlier density functional calculations and recent experiments measuring the crystal nucleation rates from colloidal fluids of polystyrene spheres that have been interpreted [Marr and Gast, Langmuir {\bf 10}, 1348 (1994)] to give an estimate of $\gamma$ for the hard-sphere system of $0.55 \pm 0.02 k_BT/\sigma^2$, slightly lower than the directly determined value reported here.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Absence of a Finite-Temperature Melting Transition in the Classical Two-Dimensional One-Component Plasma

Vortices in thin-film superconductors are often modelled as a system of particles interacting via a repulsive logarithmic potential. Arguments are presented to show that the hypothetical (Abrikosov) crystalline state for such particles is unstable at any finite temperature against proliferation of screened disclinations. The correlation length of crystalline order is predicted to grow as $\sqrt{1/T}$ as the temperature $T$ is reduced to zero, in excellent agreement with our simulations of this two-dimensional system.Comment: 3 figure