A Study of Highways Performance with a Molp-Dea Model and an Interactive Tri-Criteria Linear Programming Package (Trimap)

This paper deals with the evaluation of a few Brazilian privatised highways. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for that. As the number of highways is too small, we need to use an additional method to avoid ties in the evaluation index. The MCDEA model of Li and Reeves (a tri-objective model) is adequate to solve this problem. The authors suggest the extension of the CCR model, considering two extra objective functions, i.e. a min-max function, corresponding to a measure of equity and a min-sum function, favouring some sort of overall evaluation of the DMUs, from the point of view of the DMU under analysis. The graphic decomposition of the weighting space (used in TRIMAP as an operational tool), the possibility of introducing constraints on the objective function values during the search automatically translated into the weighting space make it specially adequate to explore the MCDEA model.

Tracing the String: BMN correspondence at Finite J^2/N

Employing the string bit formalism of hep-th/0209215, we identify the basis transformation that relates BMN operators in N=4 gauge theory to string states in the dual string field theory at finite g_2=J^2/N. In this basis, the supercharge truncates at linear order in g_2, and the mixing amplitude between 1 and 2-string states precisely matches with the (corrected) answer of hep-th/0206073 for the 3-string amplitude in light-cone string field theory. Supersymmetry then predicts the order g_2^2 contact term in the string bit Hamiltonian. The resulting leading order mass renormalization of string states agrees with the recently computed shift in conformal dimension of BMN operators in the gauge theory.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Building The Sugarcane Genome For Biotechnology And Identifying Evolutionary Trends

Background: Sugarcane is the source of sugar in all tropical and subtropical countries and is becoming increasingly important for bio-based fuels. However, its large (10 Gb), polyploid, complex genome has hindered genome based breeding efforts. Here we release the largest and most diverse set of sugarcane genome sequences to date, as part of an on-going initiative to provide a sugarcane genomic information resource, with the ultimate goal of producing a gold standard genome.Results: Three hundred and seventeen chiefly euchromatic BACs were sequenced. A reference set of one thousand four hundred manually-annotated protein-coding genes was generated. A small RNA collection and a RNA-seq library were used to explore expression patterns and the sRNA landscape. In the sucrose and starch metabolism pathway, 16 non-redundant enzyme-encoding genes were identified. One of the sucrose pathway genes, sucrose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase, is duplicated in sugarcane and sorghum, but not in rice and maize. A diversity analysis of the s6pp duplication region revealed haplotype-structured sequence composition. Examination of hom(e)ologous loci indicate both sequence structural and sRNA landscape variation. A synteny analysis shows that the sugarcane genome has expanded relative to the sorghum genome, largely due to the presence of transposable elements and uncharacterized intergenic and intronic sequences.Conclusion: This release of sugarcane genomic sequences will advance our understanding of sugarcane genetics and contribute to the development of molecular tools for breeding purposes and gene discovery. © 2014 de Setta et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.151European Commission: Agriculture and Rural Development: Sugar http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/sugar/index_en.htmKellogg, E.A., Evolutionary history of the grasses (2001) Plant Physiol, 125, pp. 1198-1205Grivet, L., Arruda, P., Sugarcane genomics: depicting the complex genome of an important tropical crop (2001) Curr Opin Plant Biol, 5, pp. 122-127Piperidis, G., Piperidis, N., D'Hont, A., Molecular cytogenetic investigation of chromosome composition and transmission in sugarcane (2010) Mol Genet Genomics, 284, pp. 65-73D'Hont, A., 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Vascular Flora Of The Legado Das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, Municipalities Of Tapiraí, Miracatú And Juquiá, São Paulo, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)We present a list of vascular plants found in Legado das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, a private reserve having an area of approximately 35,000 ha that spans the municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú, and Juquiá, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The reserve is part of a complex of state-protected areas including Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park, Intervales State Park, Carlos Botelho State Park, Jurupará State Park, and Serra do Mar State Park. Together, these form an important and large area of continuous and well-preserved forest. Our study, which involved two main floristic surveys in March/April 2013 and April 2014, recorded 768 species, representing 131 families and 432 genera. The majority of species were angiosperms (619) representing 106 families and 370 genera. There were also two species of gymnosperms belonging to two genera in separate families; 147 species of ferns and lycophytes belonging to 23 families and 60 genera. In demonstrating the presence of almost 800 species of plants, of which 16 are threatened, our study highlights the importance of floristic surveys and the critical role of private protected areas in managing and preserving native flora. © 2016 Check List and Authors.1262011/22923-8, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo2015/9444-4, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São PauloFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Karyotype of the Cricket, Zucchiella atlantica, with an Overview of the Chromosomes of the Subfamily Nemobiinae

Few reports have been published on cytogenetics in crickets of the subfamily Nemobiinae. Within the Neotropical region the karyotypes of only two species are known, both of them belonging to the genus Phoremia. In the present paper, chromosomes of a third Neotropical species, Zucchiella atlanticaMello 1990 (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae), have been studied and a cytological review of other species of that subfamily is presented. Zucchiella atlantica shows 2n ♂ = 22 + XO and 2n ♀ = 22 + XX which suggests an ancestral condition within the subfamily as the diploid number in all the species previously studied ranges from 2n ♂ = 7 to 2n ♀ = 21. In Orthoptera those species with high chromosome numbers tend to show reduction in their chromosomal numbers by means of centric fusions rather than to increase chromosomal numbers, due to difficulties in the availability of new centromeres. A structural polymorphism in one chromosome of pair 5 was observed as an intra-individual variation, suggesting differential activity of the genome from cell to cell

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter