Challenges in imaging and predictive modeling of rhizosphere processes

Background Plant-soil interaction is central to human food production and ecosystem function. Thus, it is essential to not only understand, but also to develop predictive mathematical models which can be used to assess how climate and soil management practices will affect these interactions. Scope In this paper we review the current developments in structural and chemical imaging of rhizosphere processes within the context of multiscale mathematical image based modeling. We outline areas that need more research and areas which would benefit from more detailed understanding. Conclusions We conclude that the combination of structural and chemical imaging with modeling is an incredibly powerful tool which is fundamental for understanding how plant roots interact with soil. We emphasize the need for more researchers to be attracted to this area that is so fertile for future discoveries. Finally, model building must go hand in hand with experiments. In particular, there is a real need to integrate rhizosphere structural and chemical imaging with modeling for better understanding of the rhizosphere processes leading to models which explicitly account for pore scale processes

Cross sections for geodesic flows and \alpha-continued fractions

We adjust Arnoux's coding, in terms of regular continued fractions, of the geodesic flow on the modular surface to give a cross section on which the return map is a double cover of the natural extension for the \alpha-continued fractions, for each $\alpha$ in (0,1]. The argument is sufficiently robust to apply to the Rosen continued fractions and their recently introduced \alpha-variants.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

Relationships between various characterisations of wave tails

One can define several properties of wave equations that correspond to the absence of tails in their solutions, the most common one by far being Huygens' principle. Not all of these definitions are equivalent, although they are sometimes assumed to be. We analyse this issue in detail for linear scalar waves, establishing some relationships between the various properties. Huygens' principle is almost always equivalent to the characteristic propagation property, and in two spacetime dimensions the latter is equivalent to the zeroth order progressing wave propagation property. Higher order progressing waves in general do have tails, and do not seem to admit a simple physical characterisation, but they are nevertheless useful because of their close association with exactly solvable two-dimensional equations.Comment: Plain TeX, 26 page

PREDIÇÃO, In Silico, da Regulação Pós-transcricional de Genes Envolvidos no Sistema Ubiquitina-proteassoma Via Micrornas em Carica Papaya na Meleira

A cultura do mamoeiro é bastante susceptível a doenças, sobretudo às viroses, o que causa uma significativa diminuição da produtividade. Uma das doenças que mais afetam a produtividade nacional é a meleira do mamoeiro, uma doença associada à infecção mista por um complexo viral composto pelo papaya meleira virus (PMeV) e papaya meleira virus 2 (PMeV2), que tem como principal sintoma a exsudação espontânea de látex aquoso e fluído em folhas e frutos. Esses sintomas só são observados após a floração, assim plantas infectadas permanecem no campo por um longo tempo, constituindo como uma fonte de inóculo. Estudos em plantas de C. papaya infectadas com o complexo PMeV já revelaram a modulação de proteínas do Sistema Ubiquitina-Proteassoma 26S (UPS), sugerindo o envolvimento desta via neste patossistema. Também já foi observado alteração na expressão de miRNAs de C. papaya durante a meleira, incluindo modulação de microRNAs que almejam genes da UPS. O presente trabalho através de analises in silico teve como objetivo avaliar a modulação do UPS em Carica papaya em resposta ao complexo PMeV através da revisão de bancos de dados de transcriptômica e proteômica obtidos de plantas infectadas em diferentes fases de desenvolvimento. Além disso, foram preditos alvos de microRNAs que fosse genes que codificam para UPS, enfatizando aqueles genes modulados durante a meleira. Identificou-se, in silico, 1.074 transcritos e 80 proteínas em C. papaya similares a proteínas de UPS de outras espécies de plantas. Além disso, relatou-se 42 genes de UPS de C. papaya modulados durante a infecção. Também foram identificados 106 miRNAs que tinham como alvo de genes relacionados com o UPS, dos quais 3 famílias almejam genes responsivos a infecção pelo complexo PMeV

Tectonic control on the petrophysical properties of foredeep sandstone in the Central Apennines, Italy

Petrophysical properties of rocks and their applicability at larger scale are a challenging topic in Earth sciences. Petrophysical properties of rocks are severely affected by boundary conditions, rock fabric/microstructure, and tectonics that require a multiscale approach to be properly defined. Here we (1) report laboratory measurements of density, porosity, permeability, and P wave velocities at increasing confining pressure conducted on Miocene foredeep sandstones (Frosinone Formation); (2) compare the laboratory results with larger-scale geophysical investigations; and (3) discuss the effect of thrusting on the properties of sandstones. At ambient pressure, laboratory porosity varied from 2.2% to 13.8% and P wave velocities (Vp) from 1.5 km/s to 2.7 km/s. The P wave velocity increased with confining pressure, reaching between 3.3 km/s and 4.7 km/s at 100 MPa. In situ Vp profiles, measured using sonic logs, matched the ultrasonic laboratory measurement well. The permeability varied between 1.4 × 10 15m2 and 3.9 × 10 15m2 and was positively correlated with porosity. The porosity and permeability of samples taken at various distances to the Olevano–Antrodoco fault plane progressively decreased with distance while P wave velocity increased. At about 1 km from the fault plane, the relative variations reached 43%, 65%, and 20% for porosity, permeability, and P wave velocity, respectively. This suggests that tectonic loading changed the petrophysical properties inherited from sedimentation and diagenesis. Using field constraints and assuming overburden-related inelastic compaction in the proximity of the fault plane, we conclude that the fault reached the mechanical condition for rupture in compression at differential stress of 64.8 MPa at a depth of 1500 m

Speckle fluctuations resolve the interdistance between incoherent point sources in complex media

We study the fluctuations of the light emitted by two identical incoherent point sources in a disordered environment. The intensity-intensity correlation function and the speckle contrast, obtained after proper temporal and configurational averaging, encode the relative distance between the two sources. This suggests the intriguing possibility that intensity measurements at only one point in a speckle pattern produced by two incoherent sources can provide information about the relative distance between the sources, with a precision that is not limited by diffraction. The theory also suggests an alternative approach to the Green's-function retrieval technique, where the correlations of the isotropic ambient noise detected by two receivers are replaced by a measurement at a single point of the noise due to two fluctuating incoherent sources

Eating Disorders

Anorexia and bulimia are diseases known since ancient times, but in recent years their frequency has been continuously increasing in most industrialized countries. The etiology of these disorders can be traced back to the interaction between genetic predisposition, childhood experiences, and cultural pressures. As regards the course, a certain tendency to chronicity can be observed, and in extreme cases, they can cause death. According to the diagnostic classification of the DSM-5, eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder (which, compared to DSM-IV, becomes a diagnostic category in its own right), and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED). Both anorexia and bulimia cause potentially serious medical complications. To maximize the chances of good outcomes a multidisciplinary intervention is necessary with staff including professionally heterogeneous figures: a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and a nutritionist. Therapeutic success for these patients is limited. Eating disorders require, among psychiatric disorders, the greatest possible collaboration between different professional figures with different specializations

AliEn - EDG Interoperability in ALICE

AliEn (ALICE Environment) is a GRID-like system for large scale job submission and distributed data management developed and used in the context of ALICE, the CERN LHC heavy-ion experiment. With the aim of exploiting upcoming Grid resources to run AliEn-managed jobs and store the produced data, the problem of AliEn-EDG interoperability was addressed and an in-terface was designed. One or more EDG (European Data Grid) User Interface machines run the AliEn software suite (Cluster Monitor, Storage Element and Computing Element), and act as interface nodes between the systems. An EDG Resource Broker is seen by the AliEn server as a single Computing Element, while the EDG storage is seen by AliEn as a single, large Storage Element; files produced in EDG sites are registered in both the EDG Replica Catalogue and in the AliEn Data Catalogue, thus ensuring accessibility from both worlds. In fact, both registrations are required: the AliEn one is used for the data management, the EDG one to guarantee the integrity and access to EDG produced data. A prototype interface has been successfully deployed using the ALICE AliEn Server and the EDG and DataTAG Testbeds.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003,4 pages, PDF, 2 figures. PSN TUCP00