Disease resistance and spring phenological characteristics of Ribes L. germplasm

North American cultivation of Ribes L. may expand as small fruit growers seek species to diversify horticultural crops. The Ribes industry was suppressed for decades out of fear that cultivated black currants and gooseberries would intensify the fungal disease white pine blister rust (WPBR) on five-needle pine (Pinus L. section Quinquefoliae) species. These pines were historically vital to the timber industry. Today, plant breeders seek to strengthen the Ribes small fruit industry through production of material suitable for North American conditions. Paramount to this effort is the development of resistance against major pests and diseases. Growers must be able to recognize the attributes of available genotypes prior to field establishment. The objectives of this research were to determine disease resistance and phenological characteristics of Ribes selections at the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) in Corvallis, Oregon. Since the early 1930's, plant breeders have used immune black currant (R. nigrum L.) germplasm as a control tactic against the exotic WPBR, caused by the basidiomycete fungus Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fischer. In 1999, a seedling population was generated at the NCGR from a cross involving susceptible pistillate R. nigrum 'Ben Lomond' and immune staminate parent R. ussuriense Jancz. x R. nigrum 'Consort.' To test the inheritance of resistance in the F₁ population, aeciospore and urediniospore treatments were applied in 2008 to single-leaf softwood cuttings under controlled conditions in a greenhouse. Resistant F₁ phenotypes segregated in a 1:1 ratio consistent with the pattern of simple dominant inheritance of a single gene. Artificial inoculations testing aeciospore and urediniospore infectivity produced equivalent disease severity in the experimental Ribes genotypes. Resistance to the native powdery mildew fungus, Podosphaera mors-uvae (Schwein.) U. Brown and S. Takamatsu, was also evaluated in the F₁ population. Individuals segregated for resistance in a 1:3 ratio after exposure to elevated disease pressure in the greenhouse. Fifteen F₁ genotypes were resistant to both fungal pathogens and are candidates for further breeding trials. In a second study, five years of spring phenological survey data were analyzed using a growing degree-day (GDD) model, with the objective to identify cultivars adapted to North American conditions. Ribes section Calobotrya was the earliest group to reach "first bloom," followed sequentially by R. [superscript]xnidigrolaria Bauer hybrid species, section Symphocalyx, section Grossularia, section Ribes, and lastly, section Botrycarpum. Early and late-flowering accessions were identified for each taxon

The Mississippi River System Shallow Draft Barge Market – Perfectly Competitive or Oligopolistic?

Most transportation textbooks and articles on inland waterway navigation assume a perfectly competitive Mississippi River system barge industry. One study found the 1972 and 1977 grain barge industry to be oligopolistic. A second study of the U.S. barge industry found "intra industry competition for the barge industry on a day-to-day basis with easy entry and exit." Using the concentration ratio and the Herfindahl Index, this study found the Mississippi River barge industry to be oligopolistic. These results suggest that Mississippi River navigation infrastructure studies should not use long run marginal barge costs as a proxy for barge rates

Integral window hermetic fiber optic components

In the fabrication of igniters, actuators, detonators, and other pyrotechnic devices to be activated by a laser beam, an integral optical glass window is formed by placing a preform in the structural member of the device and then melting the glass and sealing it in place by heating at a temperature between the ceramming temperature of the glass and the melting point of the metal, followed by rapid furnace cooling to avoid devitrification. No other sealing material is needed to achieve hermeticity. A preferred embodiment of this type of device is fabricated by allowing the molten glass to flow further and form a plano-convex lens integral with and at the bottom of the window. The lens functions to decrease the beam divergence caused by refraction of the laser light passing through the window when the device is fired by means of a laser beam

Novel Technologies and Their Application for Protected Area Management: A Supporting Approach in Biodiversity Monitoring

State-of-the-art tools are revolutionizing protected area (PA) manager approaches to biodiversity monitoring. Effective strategies are available for test site establishment, data collection, archiving, analysis, and presentation. In PAs, use of new technologies will support a shift from primarily expert-based to automated monitoring procedures, allowing increasingly efficient data collection and facilitating adherence to conservation requirements. Selection and application of appropriate tools increasingly improve options for adaptive management. In this chapter, modern biodiversity monitoring techniques are introduced and discussed in relation to previous standard approaches for their applicability in diverse habitats and for different groups of organisms. A review of some of today’s most exciting technologies is presented, including environmental DNA analysis for species identification; automated optical, olfactory, and auditory devices; remote sensing applications relaying site conditions in real-time; and uses of unmanned aerial systems technology for observation and mapping. An overview is given in the context of applicability of monitoring tools in different ecosystems, providing a theoretical basis from conceptualization to implementation of novel tools in a monitoring program. Practical examples from real-world PAs are provided

Characterization and manipulation of fruit susceptibility to \u3ci\u3eDrosophila suzukii\u3c/i\u3e

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is an economic pest of small fruits and cherries that attacks intact ripening fruits. Host susceptibility may be influenced by characteristics such as flesh firmness, penetration force of the skin, total soluble solids (TSS, also known as Brix), and pH. Improved knowledge of factors affecting fruit susceptibility is needed for developing thresholds and risk prediction models for IPM. A combination of laboratory and field studies was conducted to develop prediction and potential management tools. First, a direct bioassay was used to calculate the probability of oviposition in a given fruit based on various characteristics as determined across laboratory and field trials in Oregon and North Carolina, US. When multiple characteristics were evaluated simultaneously, oviposition probability consistently increased as penetration force decreased and pH increased. Oviposition probability sometimes increased as TSS increased. Second, raspberries and blueberries in unsprayed fields had substantially lower infestation in ripening fruit compared to ripe fruit. There was no or minimal infestation in green fruit. Third, given that skin penetration force influences oviposition, practices used to improve fruit quality were examined in laboratory no-choice cages for potential reduction of oviposition. Blueberry fruit sprayed with calcium silicate in the field had greater penetration force and firmness and reduced number of eggs laid by D. suzukii compared to untreated fruit. Other calcium-based treatments increased Ca content and firmness of fruit relative to untreated fruit. Timing of insecticide spray for D. suzukii might be delayed until fruit become susceptible

Pharmacologic activation of estrogen receptor α increases mitochondrial function, energy expenditure, and brown adipose tissue

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154285/1/fsb2fj201600787rr.pd

Microbial sharing between pediatric patients and therapy dogs during hospital animal-assisted intervention programs

Microbial sharing between humans and animals has been demonstrated in a variety of settings. However, the extent of microbial sharing that occurs within the healthcare setting during animal-assisted intervention programs is unknown. Understanding microbial transmission between patients and therapy dogs can provide important insights into potential health benefits for patients, in addition to addressing concerns regarding potential pathogen transmission that limits program utilization. This study evaluated for potential microbial sharing between pediatric patients and therapy dogs and tested whether patient-dog contact level and a dog decolonization protocol modified this sharing. Patients, therapy dogs, and the hospital environment were sampled before and after every group therapy session and samples underwent 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize microbial communities. Both patients and dogs experienced changes in the relative abundance and overall diversity of their nasal microbiome, suggesting that the exchange of microorganisms had occurred. Increased contact was associated with greater sharing between patients and therapy dogs, as well as between patients. A topical chlorhexidine-based dog decolonization was associated with decreased microbial sharing between therapy dogs and patients but did not significantly affect sharing between patients. These data suggest that the therapy dog is both a potential source of and a vehicle for the transfer of microorganisms to patients but not necessarily the only source. The relative contribution of other potential sources (e.g., other patients, the hospital environment) should be further explored to determine their relative importance

Scaling study of the pion electroproduction cross sections and the pion form factor

The $^{1}$H($e,e^\prime \pi^+$)n cross section was measured for a range of four-momentum transfer up to $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$ at values of the invariant mass, $W$, above the resonance region. The $Q^2$-dependence of the longitudinal component is consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction for hard exclusive processes. This suggests that perturbative QCD concepts are applicable at rather low values of $Q^2$. Pion form factor results, while consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction, are inconsistent in magnitude with perturbative QCD calculations. The extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions from hard exclusive processes assumes the dominance of the longitudinal term. However, transverse contributions to the cross section are still significant at $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Nuclear transparency and effective kaon-nucleon cross section from the A(e, e'K+) reaction

We have determined the transparency of the nuclear medium to kaons from $A(e,e^{'} K^{+})$ measurements on $^{12}$C, $^{63}$Cu, and $^{197}$Au targets. The measurements were performed at the Jefferson Laboratory and span a range in four-momentum-transfer squared Q$^2$=1.1 -- 3.0 GeV$^2$. The nuclear transparency was defined as the ratio of measured kaon electroproduction cross sections with respect to deuterium, ($\sigma^{A}/\sigma^{D}$). We further extracted the atomic number ($A$) dependence of the transparency as parametrized by $T= (A/2)^{\alpha-1}$ and, within a simple model assumption, the in-medium effective kaon-nucleon cross sections. The effective cross sections extracted from the electroproduction data are found to be smaller than the free cross sections determined from kaon-nucleon scattering experiments, and the parameter $\alpha$ was found to be significantly larger than those obtained from kaon-nucleus scattering. We have included similar comparisons between pion- and proton-nucleon effective cross sections as determined from electron scattering experiments, and pion-nucleus and proton-nucleus scattering data.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure