Moss and liverwort epiphytes on trunks of Cyathea delgadii in a fragment of tropical rain forest, São Paulo State, Brazil

This study is a survey of the bryophyte species that occur on the trunks of Cyathea delgadii Sternb. (Cyatheaceae), a native tree fern, encountered in a fragment of Atlantic forest located in the area of the „Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga (PEFI)“, São Paulo State, Brazil. Specimens of bryophytes were collected from March 2001 to October 2003. We found 35 bryophyte species (12 spp. of mosses and 23 of liverworts). Ceratolejeuenea dentacornuta Steph. is presented as a new record for Brazil. A brief discussion about previous records of bryophyte species growing on trunks of tree ferns in Brazil is also presented

The Relationship Among Nasality Ratings of Single Words, Phrases, and Running Speech Samples Obtained from Cleft Palate Children

The Problem and Definition of Terms Used: This study is concerned with the relationships between rating of nasality of cleft palate children while speaking structured words and structured phrases and the nasality ratings of the children speaking unstructured running speech

On modeling quantities for insurer solvency against catastrophe under some Markovian assumptions

Insurance companies sometimes face catastrophic losses, yet they must remain solvent enough to meet the legal obligation of covering all claims. Catastrophes can result in large damages to the policyholders, causing the arrival of numerous claims to insurance companies at once. Furthermore, the severity of an event could impact the time until the next occurrence. An insurer needs certain levels of startup capital to meet all claims, and then must have adequate reserves on a continual basis, even more so when catastrophes occur. This work examines two facets of these matters: for an infinite time horizon, we extend and develop models for insurer bankruptcy-related quantities accounting for the reality of large claims occurring. Meanwhile, for finite time horizons, we model the present value of claims that have been incurred but not yet reported, so-called \u27IBNR\u27 claims. In the former, we show how our method for \u27Gerber-Shiu\u27 functions works in a recently proposed dependency structure allowing insurers to charge clients different premiums depending on their riskiness. In the latter, we build upon a recent method which allowed claims to arrive in batches; besides permitting discounting to be time-dependent, we allow the insurer to adjust the assumed distribution of the time until the next event by comparing the number of claims from the current event to any number of random intervals. We provide numerical studies for both scenarios --Abstract, page iii

Automatización y control de forma remota del observatorio astronómico de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira

El desarrollo de aplicaciones web ha tenido un gran crecimiento a lo largo de la última década, llevando un sin número de servicios a los diferentes usuarios que en todo el mundo tienen acceso a esta red, este crecimiento no ha sido ajeno al estudio de la astronomía, logrando desarrollar incluso importantes aplicativos web para el estudio interactivo y simulado de los astros descubiertos hasta la fecha. Gracias a esta evolución y a la creación y mejoramiento de herramientas para el desarrollo web, se puede lograr construir un importante sistema de control vía web para el observatorio astronómico de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira. Este sistema, que básicamente está compuesto de dos componentes que se desarrollaron de forma paralela; un componente de software que contiene un aplicativo web donde los diferentes usuarios con los permisos y privilegios adecuados pueden ejercer de forma segura, un adecuado control vía web sobre los dispositivos que se encuentran en el observatorio, dando control a la apertura y cierre de las compuertas, al giro del domo, al encendido de una luminaria y por supuesto al movimiento del telescopio, sin dejar atrás la obtención de video en streaming del observatorio, el uso de un servidor de correo que permite enviar la información de forma automática desde la web y al acceso a la información entregada por una estación meteorológica instalada en el observatorio. El segundo componente está integrado por todos los dispositivos de hardware utilizados para el logro de este objetivo, incluyendo los sensores adecuados para cada necesidad en particular, los sistemas o módulos de comunicación inalámbrica como los XBee y los módulos de radio frecuencia, además del uso de un microcontrolador como cerebro fundamental para la interacción entre los diferentes componentes del sistema, sin dejar de lado el desarrollo de la etapa de potencia y control, con el uso de diferentes dispositivos electrónicos. Finalmente se pretende mediante el uso de tecnología de fácil acceso, lograr un control vía web suficientemente adecuado sobre el observatorio astronómico de la universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, logrando así que diferentes estudiantes, profesores e investigadores, puedan tener acceso a esta importante herramienta desde lugares remotos, potencializando así el estudio de los diferentes fenómenos astronómicos

Untargeted Lipidomic Analysis to Broadly Characterize the Effects of Pathogenic and Non-Pathogenic Staphylococci on Mammalian Lipids

Modification of the host lipidome via secreted enzymes is an integral, but often overlooked aspect of bacterial pathogenesis. In the current era of prevalent antibiotic resistance, knowledge regarding critical host pathogen lipid interactions has the potential for use in developing novel antibacterial agents. While most studies to date on this matter have focused on specific lipids, or select lipid classes, this provides an incomplete picture. Modern methods of untargeted lipidomics have the capacity to overcome these gaps in knowledge and provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of infections. In an attempt to determine the role of lipid modifying enzymes produced by staphylococci, we exposed bovine heart lipids, a standardized model for the mammalian lipidome, to spent medium from staphylococcal cultures, and analyzed lipid molecular changes by MS/MSALLshotgun lipidomics. We elucidate distinct effects of different staphylococcal isolates, including 4 clinical isolates of the pathogenic species Staphylococcus aureus, a clinical isolate of the normally commensal species S. epidermidis, and the non-pathogenic species S. carnosus. Two highly virulent strains of S. aureus had a more profound effect on mammalian lipids and modified more lipid classes than the other staphylococcal strains. Our studies demonstrate the utility of the applied untargeted lipidomics methodology to profile lipid changes induced by different bacterial secretomes. Finally, we demonstrate the promise of this lipidomics approach in assessing the specificity of bacterial enzymes for mammalian lipid classes. Our data suggests that there may be a correlation between the bacterial expression of lipid-modifying enzymes and virulence, and could facilitate the guided discovery of lipid pathways required for bacterial infections caused by S. aureus and thereby provide insights into the generation of novel antibacterial agents

Green Breakthrough Using Design Thinking - Student Services Center

Describe the product/service. What are the major functions it performs? We propose creating a student services center on campus that will assist in used material sharing, buying and selling, and offer services to inform students of their options beyond the bookstore. One of the center’s major function would include creating a knowledge base for where to buy, rent or sell back textbooks for the best prices. The center would also assist students in attaining used binders, calculators, and other supplies to share or sell. The center would keep copies on hand of current required books for students to use instead of purchasing their own or struggling to use the library’s copies. The most essential function of the center would be to compare old editions of books to current editions and put together electronic update packets to be offered to students free of charge. Electronic update packets would allow students to purchase older editions and still have the current material, which would keep editions in circulation much longer. Who is the customer? The customers are all Boise State University students who wish to save money attaining their required materials for classes. Some students receive funding for their books, which requires them to purchase the edition requested by the instructor. These students would find it difficult to use the student services center, while all other students would be the target demographic. What is/are major the benefit(s) to the customer? The major benefits to the customer are less expensive materials for classes and a place where they can sell the materials they no longer need. Students will have the ability to buy, sell and trade items. Students will have the opportunity to conduct transactions peer-to-peer or from the student services center directly. What is/are the major environmental benefit(s)? The major environmental benefits will be the reduction of air pollution from reduced production, transportation and waste. The net impact of each textbook would be cut in half for each additional edition that does not have to be produced for students in Boise. Less new editions would need to be produced as more students would make use of previous editions that are already produced. Transportation would decrease as less new editions would need to be shipped to Boise, and less previous editions would need to be shipped out of Boise. Waste would be reduced as previous editions would stay in circulation longer before being recycled

Revision of the genus Megalastrum (Dryopteridaceae) for Argentina

So far the information about the genus Megalastrum (Dryopteridaceae) for Argentina is fragmented and incomplete. A revision of Megalastrum in Argentina is here presented; it is represented by six species: M. adenopteris, M. ciliatum, M. connexum, M. crenulans, M. fugaceum, and M. spectabile. A key to the species is provided, plus descriptions, notes on distribution and habitat, as well as illustrations of diagnostic characters for each taxon. Megalastrum crenulans and M. spectabile are lectotypified. The species occur primarily in the Argentinean forests, with a disjunct distribution, three species grow in the north-western Yungas, two species grow in the Parana forest, and one species grows in the Valdivian temperate rain forest. Megalastrum pulverulentum and M. subincisum are excluded from the Argentinean flora.La información referente al género Megalastrum (Dryopteridaceae) para la Argentina es hasta ahora fragmentaria e incompleta. Se presenta aquí una revisión de Megalastrum en Argentina, el cual está representado por seis especies: M. adenopteris, M. ciliatum, M. connexum, M. crenulans, M. fugaceum y M. spectabile. Se provee una clave para las especies, junto con descripciones, notas sobre la distribución y el hábitat, y se incluyen ilustraciones de los caracteres diagnósticos para cada taxón. Se lectotipifican Megalastrum crenulans y M. spectabile. Las especies habitan primariamente en las selvas de Argentina, con una distribución disyunta, tres especies crecen en las Yungas del noroeste, dos especies crecen en la selva Paranaense y una especie crece en la selva Valdiviana templada. Megalastrum pulverulentum y M. subincisum son excluidas de la flora Argentina.Fil: Arana, Marcelo Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Prado, Jefferson. Jardim Botânico de São Paulo. Instituto de Botânica; BrasilFil: Ponce, Marta Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

Communications Training Needs in Arkansas\u27 Agritourism Industry

Agritourism has emerged globally as a tool to diversify farm income, and the need for non-formal educational programming in this area has become obvious. In Arkansas, Cooperative Extension educators have lacked empirical data to guide program development. One clear need, according to literature, is for operators to improve marketing communications skills. Researchers surveyed agritourism operators in Arkansas to describe demographics, educational needs (especially related to marketing communications), and educational delivery preferences. Results indicated that operators were typically older than 50 and that 60% had been in operation for longer than 10 years. Key issues and educational needs related to marketing communications included promotion and marketing, advertising, media relations, and signage. Communications tactics commonly used by the respondents included word-of-mouth (WOM); websites; print, radio, and television advertising; and local media relations. Preferred delivery methods for educational programming related to agritourism included periodic newsletters, regional workshops, and news releases