Quantitative trait loci associated with kernel weight and test weight in durum wheat

Tese de doutoramento em História, em Altos Estudos, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de CoimbraEntre 1943 e 1986, as relações diplomáticas luso-italianas caracterizaram-se por uma progressiva aproximação. Finda a II Guerra Mundial, a Itália, membro do Eixo até 1943, assinava, em 1947, o Tratado de Paz como país vencido. Em Portugal, os governantes portugueses temiam que a vitória dos Aliados levasse ao fim do Estado Novo, um regime antidemocrático e autoritário com características fascizantes. As incertezas e as expectativas internas e externas eram, pois, vividas em Lisboa e em Roma com nervosismo até ao final dos anos 40, quando os instrumentos principais das relações internacionais no Ocidente – como a ONU, a OECE, a NATO e a CECA – ficam delineados, permitindo aos dois países integrarem-se numa esfera de interacção comum e no âmbito da qual as relações luso-italianas ficavam reforçadas. Contudo, se a Itália garantia o seu lugar nos projectos de cooperação europeia, Portugal direccionava-se para o Ultramar. Também aqui as relações luso-italianas poderiam encontrar um ponto de reforço se ao anticolonialismo professado pelo Governo de Roma não se opusesse o acérrimo colonialismo do Governo de Lisboa, com a desconfiança do Governo português a acentuar-se com o início das guerras coloniais, a partir de 1961. Condenado na ONU, pressionado na NATO, Portugal buscava o apoio da Itália, cedido apenas dentro dos limites da solidariedade devida a um aliado no quadro da Aliança Atlântica. Caído o Estado Novo em Abril de 1974, Roma e Lisboa encetavam um período de maior identificação em termos de princípios políticos e de objectivos, com a primeira a ceder os seus préstimos para garantir o sucesso da transição democrática e para acelerar o processo da negociação da independência das colónias. Ao fazê-lo, pretendia não só solidificar as relações diplomáticas com Lisboa, mas também com os novos países surgidos do Ultramar, considerados altamente rentáveis para investir e alargar a presença da Itália na África. A Democracia de Abril veio também permitir o estreitamento das relações luso-italianas no campo multilateral, com a Itália a ter um papel de destaque no processo de adesão de Portugal à CEE não só ao impor um número de reformas a executar a nível comunitário para optimizar o funcionamento institucional e salvaguardar a economia italiana, produtora de produtos similares à portuguesa e com necessidades símiles em termos de financiamentos europeus, mas também ao acelerar a conclusão das negociações, em 1985.Between 1943 and 1986, a growing closeness characterizes the Portuguese – Italian diplomatic relations. After the World War II, while the Portuguese leaders feared the ruin of the Estado Novo, an antidemocratic and authoritarian regime with fascist characteristics, the Italian Government signed, in 1947, the Peace Treaty as a defeated ally of the Nazi Germany. The uncertainties and the expectations were, therefore, nervously felt in Lisbon and Rome till the end of the 40´s, when the two countries join the OEEC and the OTAN and assure their acceptance by the western partners. At the same time, the diplomatic relations between them were strengthened. However, while the Italians focused on the development of the European communities, the Portuguese focused on their Colonial Empire. By this time, the anti-colonialism of the Italian government, as opposed to the colonialism of the Portuguese government, created some difficulties in the relations between the two. The situation got worse with the beginning of the Portuguese colonial wars, in 1961. Condemned by the UN and pressured by the NATO, Portugal searched for Italy's support, which was given only sparingly. Simultaneously, the African nationalists and the political opposition to the Estado Novo enlarged their support base in Italy, mainly in the political sectors of the left, which had negative consequences in the relations between Lisbon and Rome. With the revolution of April 25th 1974, the Estado Novo disappeared without resistance. With the new democratic and anti-colonialist regime, the relations between Rome and Lisbon entered a new phase of greater cooperation. The Italian Government helped the new government with the democratic transition, the decolonization and the negotiation of the Portuguese entrance into the European Economic Community. By doing so, Italy attempted not only to strengthen the diplomatic relations with Portugal and with the new African countries, very appealing to the Italian capital, but also to fortify the role and influence of her own and that of the southern Europe in the European communities

Electron transport lifetimes in InSb/Al1-xInxSb quantum well 2DEGs

We report magnetotransport measurements of InSb/Al1-xInxSb modulation doped quantum well (QW) structures and the extracted transport ( ) tt and quantum (tq) lifetime of carriers at low temperature (<2K.) We consider conventional transport lifetimes over a range of samples with different doping levels and carrier densities, and deduce different transport regimes dependent on QW state filling calculated from self-consistent Schrödinger–Poisson modelling. For samples where only the lowest QW subband is occupied at electron densities of 2.13 10 ´ 11 cm−2 and 2.54 10 ´ 11 cm−2 quantum lifetimes of tq » 0.107 ps, and tq » 0.103 ps are extracted from Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations below a magnetic field of 0.8 T. The extracted ratios of transport to quantum lifetimes, t t t q » 17 and t t t q » 20 are similar to values reported in other binary QW two-dimensional electron gas systems, but are inconsistent with predictions from transport modelling which assumes that remote ionized donors are the dominant scattering mechanism. We find the low t t t q ratio and the variation in transport mobility with carrier density cannot be explained by reasonable levels of background impurities or well width fluctuations. Thus, there is at least one additional scattering mechanism unaccounted for, most likely arising from structural defects

A Radical Approach to Ebola: Saving Humans and Other Animals

As the usual regulatory framework did not fit well during the last Ebola outbreak, innovative thinking still needed. In the absence of an outbreak, randomised controlled trials of clinical efficacy in humans cannot be done, while during an outbreak such trials will continue to face significant practical, philosophical, and ethical challenges. This article argues that researchers should also test the safety and effectiveness of novel vaccines in wild apes by employing a pluralistic approach to evidence. There are three reasons to test vaccines in wild populations of apes: i) protect apes; ii) reduce Ebola transmission from wild animals to humans; and iii) accelerate vaccine development and licensing for humans. Data obtained from studies of vaccines among wild apes and chimpanzees may even be considered sufficient for licensing new vaccines for humans. This strategy will serve to benefit both wild apes and humans

SFG Study of the Potential-Dependent Adsorption of the p-Toluenesulfonate Anion at an Activated Carbon/Propylene Carbonate Interface

Sum frequency generation spectroscopy has been used to characterize the potential-dependent adsorption of the p-toluenesulfonate anion at the activated carbon/propylene carbonate interface of the commercial carbon YP50F. Spectra recorded from the interface between YP50F and a 1 M tetraethylammonium p-toluenesulfonate in propylene carbonate solution showed no ordered anion adsorption without an applied potential. In contrast, there is clear evidence of increasingly ordered anion adsorption with applied potential. Furthermore, there is evidence of hysteresis such that the anion remains adsorbed when the applied potential was decreased back to 0 V. Significant reversal of polarity was required before the anion signal was lost. Changes to the propylene carbonate solvent peaks during the electrochemical cycle were also observed. The data indicate that the positive electrode charges either via a counterion adsorption mechanism or via an ion-exchange mechanism.E.K.H. acknowledges the European Research Council ERC Grant ERC-2009-AdG-247411 for funding

Exploring the components, asymmetry and distribution of relationship quality in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

Social relationships between group members are a key feature of many animal societies. The quality of social relationships has been described by three main components: value, compatibility and security, based on the benefits, tenure and stability of social exchanges. We aimed to analyse whether this three component structure could be used to describe the quality of social relationships in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Moreover, we examined whether relationship quality was affected by the sex, age and rank differences between social partners, and investigated the asymmetric nature of social relationships. We collected over 1,900 hours of focal data on seven behavioural variables measuring relationship quality, and used principal component analysis to investigate how these variables clustered together. We found that relationship quality in wild Barbary macaques can be described by a three component structure that represents the value, compatibility and security of a relationship. Female-female dyads had more valuable relationships and same-age dyads more compatible relationships than any other dyad. Rank difference had no effect on the quality of a social relationship. Finally, we found a high degree of asymmetry in how members of a dyad exchange social behaviour. We argue that the asymmetry of social relationships should be taken into account when exploring the pattern and function of social behaviour in animal societies

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiac procedure activity in England and associated 30-day mortality

BACKGROUND: Limited data exists on the impact of COVID-19 on national changes in cardiac procedure activity, including patient characteristics and clinical outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS AND RESULTS: All major cardiac procedures (n = 374,899) performed between 1st January and 31st May for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 were analysed, stratified by procedure type and time-period (pre-COVID: January-May 2018 and 2019 and January-February 2020 and COVID: March-May 2020). Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine the odds ratio (OR) of 30-day mortality for procedures performed in the COVID period.Overall, there was a deficit of 45,501 procedures during the COVID period compared to the monthly averages (March-May) in 2018-2019. Cardiac catheterisation and device implantations were the most affected in terms of numbers (n = 19,637 and n = 10,453) whereas surgical procedures such as MVR, other valve replacement/repair, ASD/VSD repair and CABG were the most affected as a relative percentage difference (Δ) to previous years' averages. TAVR was the least affected (Δ-10.6%). No difference in 30-day mortality was observed between pre-COVID and COVID time-periods for all cardiac procedures except cardiac catheterisation (OR 1.25 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-1.47, p = 0.006) and cardiac device implantation (OR 1.35 95% CI 1.15-1.58, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Cardiac procedural activity has significantly declined across England during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a deficit in excess of 45000 procedures, without an increase in risk of mortality for most cardiac procedures performed during the pandemic. Major restructuring of cardiac services is necessary to deal with this deficit, which would inevitably impact long-term morbidity and mortality

A Single Basis for Developmental Buffering of Drosophila Wing Shape

The nature of developmental buffering processes has been debated extensively, based on both theoretical reasoning and empirical studies. In particular, controversy has focused on the question of whether distinct processes are responsible for canalization, the buffering against environmental or genetic variation, and for developmental stability, the buffering against random variation intrinsic in developmental processes. Here, we address this question for the size and shape of Drosophila melanogaster wings in an experimental design with extensively replicated and fully controlled genotypes. The amounts of variation among individuals and of fluctuating asymmetry differ markedly among genotypes, demonstrating a clear genetic basis for size and shape variability. For wing shape, there is a high correlation between the amounts of variation among individuals and fluctuating asymmetry, which indicates a correspondence between the two types of buffering. Likewise, the multivariate patterns of shape variation among individuals and of fluctuating asymmetry show a close association. For wing size, however, the amounts of individual variation and fluctuating asymmetry are not correlated. There was a significant link between the amounts of variation between wing size and shape, more so for fluctuating asymmetry than for variation among individuals. Overall, these experiments indicate a considerable degree of shared control of individual variation and fluctuating asymmetry, although it appears to differ between traits

Anion redox as a means to ferive layered manganese oxychalcogenides with exotic intergrowth structures

Topochemistry enables step-by-step conversions of solid-state materials often leading to metastable structures that retain initial structural motifs. Recent advances in this field revealed many examples where relatively bulky anionic constituents were actively involved in redox reactions during (de)intercalation processes. Such reactions are often accompanied by anion-anion bond formation, which heralds possibilities to design novel structure types disparate from known precursors, in a controlled manner. Here we present the multistep conversion of layered oxychalcogenides Sr2MnO2Cu1.5Ch2 (Ch = S, Se) into Cu-deintercalated phases where antifluorite type [Cu1.5Ch2]2.5- slabs collapsed into two-dimensional arrays of chalcogen dimers. The collapse of the chalcogenide layers on deintercalation led to various stacking types of Sr2MnO2Ch2 slabs, which formed polychalcogenide structures unattainable by conventional high-temperature syntheses. Anion-redox topochemistry is demonstrated to be of interest not only for electrochemical applications but also as a means to design complex layered architectures