Wing morphology, flight type and migration distance predict accumulated fuel load in birds

Birds often accumulate large fat and protein reserves to fuel longdistance flights. While it is well known that species that fly the longest accumulate the largest amounts of fuel, considerable cross-species variation in fuel load is seen after controlling for overall migration distance. It remains unclear whether this variation can be explained by aerodynamic attributes of different species, despite obvious ecological and conservation implications. Here, we collected data on wing morphology, flight type, migration distance and fuel load from 213 European bird species and explored three questions: (1) does maximum fuel load relate to migration distance across species?; (2) does wing morphology, as described by wing aspect ratio and wing loading, influence maximum fuel load?; and (3) does flight type influence maximum fuel load? Our results indicate that maximum fuel load increases with migration across species, but residual variance is high. The latter variance is explained by aspect ratio and flight type, while wing loading and body mass explain little variance. Birds with slender wings accumulate less fuel than species with low wing aspect ratio when covering a similar migration distance. Continuously flapping species accumulate the largest amounts of fuel, followed by flapping and soaring species and flapping and gliding species, while the smallest fuel loads were observed in birds with passerine-type flight. These results highlight complex eco-evolutionary adaptations to migratory behaviour, pointing toward the importance of energy minimisation

Stationary and mobile particulate matter concentration measurement in Miskolc

A stationary and mobile device based on a low-cost dust sensor (Plantower PMS7003) was used to study particulate matter (PM) concentration in Miskolc. The stationary device was placed at the automatic monitoring station of the National Air Quality Measurement Network (OLM) in Martintelep, Miskolc. The mobile device was used to walk 4 streets along a square route with a total length of 800 m. Measurements were made on two days (September 9 and 11) between 7am and 9am, which according to preliminary experience coincided with the morning rush hour. The access route includes the OLM monitoring station, a busy road, two bypasses, a parking lot, and a smaller roadway blocked by traffic. The measured PM1, PM2.5, PM10 concentrations of the mobile device were interpolated on a circuit-by-circuit basis in ArcGIS, and conclusions were drawn for the area. The concentration of stationary and mobile devices was compared

Bacterial Memetic Algorithm Trained Fuzzy System-Based Model of Single Weld Bead Geometry

This article presents a fuzzy system-based modeling approach to estimate the weld bead geometry (WBG) from the welding process variables (WPVs) and to achieve a specific weld bead shape. The bacterial memetic algorithm (BMA) is applied to solve these problems in two different roles, as a supervised trainer, and as an optimizer. As a supervised trainer, the BMA is applied to tune two different WBG models. The bead geometry properties (BGP) model follows a traditional approach providing the WBG properties as outputs. The direct profile measurement (DPM) model describes the bead profiles points by a non-linear function realized in the form of fuzzy rules. As an optimizer, the BMA utilizes the developed fuzzy systems to find the solution sets of WPVs to acquire the desired WBG. The best performance is achieved by applying six rules in the BGP model and eleven rules in the DPM model. The results indicate that the normalized root means square error for the validation data set lies in the range of 0:40 - 1:56% for the BGP model and 4:49 - 7:52% for the DPM model. The comparative analysis suggests that the BGP model estimates the BWG in a superior manner when several WPVs are altered. The developed fuzzy systems provide a tool for interpreting the effects of the WPVs. The developed optimizer provides multiple valid set of WPVs to produce the desired WBG, thus supporting the selection of those process variables in applications

Sejt- és molekuláris biológiai tulajdonságok vizsgálata gyermekkori akut lymphoblastos leukaemiában. A minimális reziduális betegség nyomonkövetése, új kezelés stratégia kialakítása = Cellular and molecular biological properties of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Assessment of minimal residual disease and development of novel therepautic strategies

A gyermekkor leggyakoribb neoplasztikus elváltozásai a rosszindulatú vérképzőszervi betegségek. Fő célunk a gyermekkori akut lymphoblastos leukaemia (ALL), az akut myeliod leukaemia (AML), valamint a myelodysplasiás szindróma (MDS) kezelési eredményeinek és a tartós életminőség javítása volt új sejt- és molekuláris biológiai diagnosztikai és terápiás eljárások bevezetésével. Elemeztük a kombinált citosztatikus ALL-BFM-95 protokollal elért kezelési eredményeket gyermekkori ALL-ben. Tanulmányoztunk új leukaemia-asszociált marker (FXIII-A) kifejeződését AML és ALL blasztokban és négyszínű immunfluoreszcens jelölés alkalmazási lehetőségeit. Ezen módszerek alkalmasak a leukaemiás sejtpopuláció megbízható azonosítására és a minimális maradék betegség (MRD) meghatározására, ezért szerepet játszhatnak a rizikóbecslésben. Elemeztük serkentő és gátló hatású citokinek szabályozó hatásait gyermekkori ALL-ben, MDS-ben, essentiális thrombocythemiában és összehasonlításként lobos folyamatokban. Vizsgáltuk a hagyományos citosztatikus kezelés kiegészítésére lehetőséget teremtő innovatív terápiás eljárásokat, rituximab, interferon-alfa, cisz-retinsav és bcl-2 antisense oligonukleotid preparatum in vitro és in vivo terápiás effektusait. A sejtterápiás eljárások fejlesztése céljából modellként tanulmányoztuk Glanzmann thrombasthaeniás beteg rendellenességét komplex molekuláris módszerekkel, valamint a kóros és a vad típusú gének transzfektálásának hatékonyságát emlős sejtekben. | Hematopietic malignancies represent the most frequent form of cancer in children. The major aim of the present project was to improve treatment results and quality of life in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) by introducing novel cellular and molecular biological diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Nationwide results in children with ALL treated with the conventional combined cytostatic ALL-BFM-95 protocol were analyzed retrospectively. Expression of a novel leukemia-associated marker (FXIII-A) was studied in AML és ALL blasts and four color flow cytometric immunophenotyping was introduced. These methods allow the exact identification of the leukemic cell population rendering them powerful tools for assessing minimal residual disease and risk estimation. Regulatory effects of stimulatory and inhibitory cytokines were analyzed in childhood ALL, MDS and essential thrombocythemia as compared to inflammatory lesions. Innovative adjuvant treatment approaches, such as in vitro and in vivo therapeutic effects of rituximab, interferon-alpha, cis-retinoic acid and bcl-2 antisense oligonuleotide preparation were studied. As a molecular model for developing cell therapeutical methods, aberration of a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia was assessed by applying complex molecular methods and transfecting the mutant and wild-type genes into mammalian cells

An Opto-electronic sensor for detecting soil microarthropods and estimating their size in field conditions

Methods to estimate density of soil-dwelling arthropods efficiently, accurately and continuously are critical for investigating soil biological activity and evaluating soil management practices. Soil-dwelling arthropods are currently monitored manually. This method is invasive, and time- and labor-consuming. Here we describe an infrared opto-electronic sensor for detection of soil microarthropods in the size range of 0.4–10 mm. The sensor is built in a novel microarthropod trap designed for field conditions. It allows automated, on-line, in situ detection and body length estimation of soil microarthropods. In the opto-electronic sensor the light source is an infrared LED. Two plano-convex optical lenses are placed along the virtual optical axis. One lens on the receiver side is placed between the observation space at 0.5–1 times its focal length from the sensor, and another emitter side lens is placed between the observation space and the light source in the same way. This paper describes the setup and operating mechanism of the sensor and the control unit, and through basic tests it demonstrates its potential in automated detection of soil microarthropods. The sensor may be used for monitoring activities, especially for remote observation activities in soil and insect ecology or pest control

Bead geometry modeling on uneven base metal surface by fuzzy systems for multi-pass welding

This paper presents a modeling method of weld bead profiles deposited on uneven base metal surfaces and its application in multi-pass welding. The robotized multi-pass tungsten inert gas welding requires precise positioning of the weld beads to avoid welding defects and achieve the desirable welding join since the weld bead shapes depend on the surface of the previously deposited beads. The proposed model consists of fuzzy systems to estimate the coefficients of the profile function. The characteristic points of the trapezoidal membership functions in the rule bases are tuned by the Bacterial Memetic Algorithm during supervised training. The fuzzy systems are structured as multiple-input-single-output systems, where the inputs are the welding process variables and the coefficients of the shape functions of the segments underlying the modeled bead; the outputs are the coefficients of the bead shape function. Each segment surface is approximated by a second-order polynomial function defined in the weld bead’s local coordinate system. The model is developed from empirical data collected from single and multi-pass welding. The performance of the proposed model is compared with a multiple linear regression model. During the experimental validation, first, the individual beads are evaluated by comparing the estimated coefficients of the profile function and other bead characteristics (bead area, width, contact angles, and position of the toe points) with the measurements, and the estimations of a multiple linear regression model. Second, the sequential placement of the weld beads is evaluated while filling a straight Vgroove by comparing the estimated bead characteristics with the measurements and calculating the accumulated error of the filled groove cross-section. The results show that the proposed model provides a good estimation of the bead shapes during deposition on uneven base metal surfaces and outperforms the regression model with low error in both validation cases. Furthermore, it is experimentally validated that the derived bead characteristics provide a suitable measure to identify locations sensitive to welding defects

Short Proof of a Theorem of Brylawski on the Coefficients of the Tutte Polynomial

In this short note we show that a system $M=(E,r)$ with a ground set $E$ of size $m$ and (rank) function $r: 2^E\to \mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}$ satisfying $r(S)\leq \min(r(E),|S|)$ for every set $S\subseteq E$, the Tutte polynomial $$T_M(x,y):=\sum_{S\subseteq E}(x-1)^{r(E)-r(S)}(y-1)^{|S|-r(S)},$$ written as $T_M(x,y)=\sum_{i,j}t_{ij}x^iy^j$, satisfies that for any integer $h \geq 0$, we have $$\sum_{i=0}^h\sum_{j=0}^{h-i}\binom{h-i}{j}(-1)^jt_{ij}=(-1)^{m-r}\binom{h-r}{h-m},$$ where $r=r(E)$, and we use the convention that when $h<m$, the binomial coefficient $\binom{h-r}{h-m}$ is interpreted as $0$. This generalizes a theorem of Brylawski on matroid rank functions and $h<m$, and a theorem of Gordon for $h\leq m$ with the same assumptions on the rank function. The proof presented here is significantly shorter than the previous ones. We only use the fact that the Tutte polynomial $T_M(x,y)$ simplifies to $(x-1)^{r(E)}y^{|E|}$ along the hyperbola $(x-1)(y-1)=1$.Comment: 4 page