Ability of new durum wheat pure lines to meet yield stability and quality requirements in low input and organic systems

Low-input production schemes adopted in organic or conventional farms require crop varieties that combine good product quality and high yield stability under non optimal environmental conditions (Gooding et al., 1999). These traits are not yet found among the durum wheat genotypes available in France. Consequently the cultivation of this crop is hardly successful in stockless organic farms in southern France, which are characterised by very low nitrogen resources. Some hopes emerged with the identification of new durum wheat pure lines with a high grain protein content in breeding experiments conducted near Montpellier in 2001 and 2002. The aim of the present work was to confirm and elucidate the origin of the enhanced protein performance of these new lines through a field experiment with nitrogen resources ranging from very low to sub-optimal levels

An "Ingredients" Approach to Functional Self-Synthesizing Materials: A Metal-Ion-Selective, Multi-Responsive, Self-Assembled Hydrogel

New methodology for making novel materials is highly desirable. Here, an "ingredients" approach to functional self-assembled hydrogels was developed. By designing a building block to contain the right ingredients, a multi-responsive, self-assembled hydrogel was obtained through a process of template-induced self-synthesis in a dynamic combinatorial library. The system can be switched between gel and solution by light, redox reactions, pH, temperature, mechanical energy and sequestration or addition of MgII salt

GHRS and ORFEUS-II Observations of the Highly Ionized Interstellar Medium Toward ESO141-055

We present Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and ORFEUS-II measurements of Si IV, CIV, N V, and O VI absorption in the interstellar medium of the Galactic disk and halo toward the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy ESO141-055. The high ionization absorption is strong, with line strengths consistent with the spectral signature expected for hot (log T = 5-6) collisionally ionized gas in either a ``Galactic fountain'' or an inhomogeneous medium containing a mixture of conductive interfaces and turbulent mixing layers. The total O VI column density of log N ~ 15 suggests that the scale height of O VI is large (>3 kpc) in this direction. Comparison of the high ion column densities with measurements for other sight lines indicates that the highly ionized gas distribution is patchy. The amount of O VI perpendicular to the Galactic plane varies by at least a factor of ~4 among the complete halo sight lines thus far studied. In addition to the high ion absorption, lines of low ionization species are also present in the spectra. With the possible exception of Ar I, which may have a lower than expected abundance resulting from partial photoionization of gas along the sight line, the absorption strengths are typical of those expected for the warm, neutral interstellar medium. The sight line intercepts a cold molecular cloud with log N(H2) ~ 19. The cloud has an identifiable counterpart in IRAS 100-micron emission maps of this region of the sky. We detect a Ly-alpha absorber associated with ESO141-055 at z = 0.03492. This study presents an enticing glimpse into the interstellar and intergalactic absorption patterns that will be observed at high spectral resolution by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.Comment: 24 pages + 8 figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Accepted for publication in Ap

The Object Management Group Ontology Definition Metamodel

Report of a submission being made to a major international software engineering standards group, the Object Management Group which ties together OMG standards with World-Wide Web Consortium and International Standards Organization standards. Major industry bodies including IBM are collaborating, and the submission has the support of 24 companies. OMG, W3C and ISO standards strongly influence the industry, especially in combination. Colomb was a major contributor, responsible for 30% of the submission, and the primary author of the paper

A radio continuum survey of the southern sky at 1420 MHz. Observations and data reduction

We describe the equipment, observational method and reduction procedure of an absolutely calibrated radio continuum survey of the South Celestial Hemisphere at a frequency of 1420 MHz. These observations cover the area 0h < R.A. < 24h for declinations less than -10 degree. The sensitivity is about 50 mK T_B (full beam brightness) and the angular resolution (HPBW) is 35.4', which matches the existing northern sky survey at the same frequency.Comment: 9 pages with 9 figures, A&A, in pres

The Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI: Final data release of the combined LDS and IAR surveys with improved stray-radiation corrections

We present the final data release of observations of lambda 21-cm emission from Galactic neutral hydrogen over the entire sky, merging the Leiden/Dwingeloo Survey (LDS: Hartmann & Burton, 1997) of the sky north of delta = -30 deg with the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia Survey (IAR: Arnal et al., 2000, and Bajaja et al., 2005) of the sky south of delta = -25 deg. The angular resolution of the combined material is HPBW ~ 0.6 deg. The LSR velocity coverage spans the interval -450 km/s to +400 km/s, at a resolution of 1.3 km/s. The data were corrected for stray radiation at the Institute for Radioastronomy of the University of Bonn, refining the original correction applied to the LDS. The rms brightness-temperature noise of the merged database is 0.07 - 0.09 K. Residual errors in the profile wings due to defects in the correction for stray radiation are for most of the data below a level of 20 - 40 mK. It would be necessary to construct a telescope with a main beam efficiency of eta_{MB} > 99% to achieve the same accuracy. The merged and refined material entering the LAB Survey of Galactic HI is intended to be a general resource useful to a wide range of studies of the physical and structural characteristices of the Galactic interstellar environment. The LAB Survey is the most sensitive Milky Way HI survey to date, with the most extensive coverage both spatially and kinematically.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysic

A decision underlies phototaxis in an insecticide

Like a moth into the flame-phototaxis is an iconic example for innate preferences. Such preferences probably reflect evolutionary adaptations to predictable situations and have traditionally been conceptualized as hard-wired stimulus-response links. Perhaps for that reason, the century-old discovery of flexibility in Drosophila phototaxis has received little attention. Here, we report that across several different behavioural tests, light/dark preference tested in walking is dependent on various aspects of flight. If we temporarily compromise flying ability, walking photopreference reverses concomitantly. Neuronal activity in circuits expressing dopamine and octopamine, respectively, plays a differential role in photopreference, suggesting a potential involvement of these biogenic amines in this case of behavioural flexibility. We conclude that flies monitor their ability to fly, and that flying ability exerts a fundamental effect on action selection in Drosophila. This work suggests that even behaviours which appear simple and hard-wired comprise a value-driven decision-making stage, negotiating the external situation with the animal's internal state, before an action is selected

Seasonal variations in aerosol particle composition at the puy-de-Dôme research station in France

Detailed investigations of the chemical and microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles were performed at the puy-de-Dôme (pdD) research station (1465 m) in autumn (September and October 2008), winter (February and March 2009), and summer (June 2010) using a compact Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (cToF-AMS). Over the three campaigns, the average mass concentrations of the non-refractory submicron particles ranged from 10 μg m&lt;sup&gt;&amp;minus;3&lt;/sup&gt; up to 27 μg m&lt;sup&gt;&amp;minus;3&lt;/sup&gt;. Highest nitrate and ammonium mass concentrations were measured during the winter and during periods when marine modified airmasses were arriving at the site, whereas highest concentrations of organic particles were measured during the summer and during periods when continental airmasses arrived at the site. The measurements reported in this paper show that atmospheric particle composition is strongly influenced by both the season and the origin of the airmass. The total organic mass spectra were analysed using positive matrix factorisation to separate individual organic components contributing to the overall organic particle mass concentrations. These organic components include a low volatility oxygenated organic aerosol particle (LV-OOA) and a semi-volatile organic aerosol particle (SV-OOA). Correlations of the LV-OOA components with fragments of &lt;i&gt;m/z&lt;/i&gt; 60 and &lt;i&gt;m/z&lt;/i&gt; 73 (mass spectral markers of wood burning) during the winter campaign suggest that wintertime LV-OOA are related to aged biomass burning emissions, whereas organic aerosol particles measured during the summer are likely linked to biogenic sources. Equivalent potential temperature calculations, gas-phase, and LIDAR measurements define whether the research site is in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) or in the free troposphere (FT)/residual layer (RL). We observe that SV-OOA and nitrate particles are associated with air masses arriving from the PBL where as particle composition measured from RL/FT airmasses contain high mass fractions of sulphate and LV-OOA. This study provides unique insights into the effects of season and airmass variability on regional aerosol particles measured at an elevated site