BACK TO THE BASICS: WHAT DOES THE MARKET TELL US ABOUT BASIS?

This study explores market forces that affect harvest grain basis for corn, soybeans, and wheat in a grain deficit market. The findings indicate that implied basis (cash forward bid less harvest futures), nearby HHO price, and log of open interest on the harvest futures contract can be used to predict 33 to 99 percent of the variation in harvest basis at selected South Carolina locations.Marketing,

Academic Librarians Examination of University Students’ and Faculty’s Perceptions of Open Educational Resources

A survey of 2,574 students and 1,157 faculty members across ten institutions of postsecondary education in the state of Utah was conducted by the Utah Academic Libraries Consortium. Survey items were created to understand the influence of textbook costs on student academic behavior and the viability of faculty adopting open educational resources (OER) as a solution to the cost of textbooks and the possible need for librarian support of OER. Two-year and four-year institutions were compared to identify differences that might exist between them. Most students felt that their academic success was negatively impacted by textbook cost, particularly at two-year institutions where students registered for fewer courses because of associated textbook costs. Faculty survey findings showed that adjunct professors were more likely to require a traditionally copyright-restricted textbook. Approximately 90% of participants indicated they would be willing to use suitable OER for their course, and almost half of survey participants expressed a desire for help finding these resources

Efecto del riego y de la fertilización sobre la incidencia del rajado

En un huerto de San Raimundo (Cundinamarca)fueron evaluadas tres láminas de riego: L1 (sinriego), L2 (80% de la evaporación, E.V.), L3 (100% E.V.)y L4 (120% E.V.) y cinco tratamientos de fertilización:T1 (testigo sin fertilización), T2 (fertilización técnica),T3 (fertilización técnica con bajo nivel de potasio), T4(fertilización técnica sin boro), T5 (fertilización técnicacon calcio adicional) y T6 (fertilización tradicional delagricultor), con el fin de determinar su influencia sobreel porcentaje de rajado que aqueja los frutos de uchuva( Physalis peruviana L.), en los estados de maduración delfruto (3, 4, 5 y 6 según la norma NTC 4580 del ICONTEC).Después de cinco meses de estudio (julio a noviembre de2002), los resultados indicaron que en los tres primerosmeses de evaluación, tanto el riego como la interacciónriego por fertilización no tuvieron efecto significativo sobreel porcentaje de rajado, pero sí lo obtuvo la fertilización,por cuanto la carencia de boro, el bajo nivel depotasio y la fertilización del agricultor, incrementaron elfenómeno significativamente. En el cuarto mes del estudio,el riego, la fertilización y la interacción riego porfertilización, causaron efectos significativos, así: (a) el menorporcentaje de rajado se presentó en el tratamientosin riego en comparación con los tratamientos con riego;(b) la fertilización del agricultor y la fertilización técnicasin boro presentaron el mayor porcentaje de rajado, conrespecto a los tratamientos sin fertilización, fertilizacióntécnica y fertilización técnica con calcio adicional; (c) lalámina de riego afectó los porcentajes de rajado en lostratamientos de agricultor y en el tratamiento técnicosin boro, incrementando de esta manera su respuesta.En el quinto mes de estudio los tratamientos de fertilizacióncorrespondientes al agricultor, técnico sin boro ytécnico con baja dosis de potasio, mostraron los mayores tempeporcentajesde rajado, comparados con los tratamientosde fertilización técnica, técnica con calcio adicional y sinfertilización. En este mismo muestreo, cuando aumentóla lámina de riego aplicada, tanto en la fertilización técnicacomo en la técnica con baja dosis de potasio, tambiénse incrementó el porcentaje de rajado en los frutosde uchuva. El porcentaje de rajado promedio para todoslos tratamientos se presentó en relación directa con elestado de maduración del fruto y el mayor porcentaje sepresentó en los estados 5 y 6 de maduración, con 39, 25y 35,81%, respectivamente, mientras que en los estados3 y 4 fue de 4,79 y 20,17%, respectivamente

Wavelet-Based Linear-Response Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory

Linear-response time-dependent (TD) density-functional theory (DFT) has been implemented in the pseudopotential wavelet-based electronic structure program BigDFT and results are compared against those obtained with the all-electron Gaussian-type orbital program deMon2k for the calculation of electronic absorption spectra of N2 using the TD local density approximation (LDA). The two programs give comparable excitation energies and absorption spectra once suitably extensive basis sets are used. Convergence of LDA density orbitals and orbital energies to the basis-set limit is significantly faster for BigDFT than for deMon2k. However the number of virtual orbitals used in TD-DFT calculations is a parameter in BigDFT, while all virtual orbitals are included in TD-DFT calculations in deMon2k. As a reality check, we report the x-ray crystal structure and the measured and calculated absorption spectrum (excitation energies and oscillator strengths) of the small organic molecule N-cyclohexyl-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-amine

Synthetic prions generated in vitro are similar to a newly identified subpopulation of PrPSc from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

In recent studies, the amyloid form of recombinant prion protein (PrP) encompassing residues 89–230 (rPrP 89-230) produced in vitro induced transmissible prion disease in mice. These studies showed that unlike “classical” PrPSc produced in vivo, the amyloid fibrils generated in vitro were more proteinase-K sensitive. Here we demonstrate that the amyloid form contains a proteinase K-resistant core composed only of residues 152/153–230 and 162–230. The PK-resistant fragments of the amyloid form are similar to those observed upon PK digestion of a minor subpopulation of PrPSc recently identified in patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Remarkably, this core is sufficient for self-propagating activity in vitro and preserves a β-sheet-rich fibrillar structure. Full-length recombinant PrP 23-230, however, generates two subpopulations of amyloid in vitro: One is similar to the minor subpopulation of PrPSc, and the other to classical PrPSc. Since no cellular factors or templates were used for generation of the amyloid fibrils in vitro, we speculate that formation of the subpopulation of PrPSc with a short PK-resistant C-terminal region reflects an intrinsic property of PrP rather than the influence of cellular environments and/or cofactors. Our work significantly increases our understanding of the biochemical nature of prion infectious agents and provides a fundamental insight into the mechanisms of prions biogenesis

Spacial and temporal dynamics of the volume fraction of the colloidal particles inside a drying sessile drop

Using lubrication theory, drying processes of sessile colloidal droplets on a solid substrate are studied. A simple model is proposed to describe temporal dynamics both the shape of the drop and the volume fraction of the colloidal particles inside the drop. The concentration dependence of the viscosity is taken into account. It is shown that the final shapes of the drops depend on both the initial volume fraction of the colloidal particles and the capillary number. The results of our simulations are in a reasonable agreement with the published experimental data. The computations for the drops of aqueous solution of human serum albumin (HSA) are presented.Comment: Submitted to EPJE, 7 pages, 8 figure

Circulating cell free DNA during definitive chemo-radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer patients - initial observations.

BACKGROUND: The overall aim was to investigate the change over time in circulating cell free DNA (cfDNA) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing concurrent chemo-radiotherapy. Furthermore, to assess the possibility of detecting circulating cell free tumor DNA (ctDNA) using shallow whole genome sequencing (sWGS) and size selection. METHODS: Ten patients were included in a two-phase study. The first four patients had blood samples taken prior to a radiation therapy (RT) dose fraction and at 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours after RT to estimate the short-term dynamics of cfDNA concentration after irradiation. The remaining six patients had one blood sample taken on six treatment days 30 minutes post treatment to measure cfDNA levels. Presence of ctDNA as indicated by chromosomal aberrations was investigated using sWGS. The sensitivity of this method was further enhanced using in silico size selection. RESULTS: cfDNA concentration from baseline to 120 min after therapy was stable within 95% tolerance limits of +/- 2 ng/ml cfDNA. Changes in cfDNA were observed during therapy with an apparent qualitative difference between adenocarcinoma (average increase of 0.69 ng/ml) and squamous cell carcinoma (average increase of 4.0 ng/ml). Tumor shrinkage on daily cone beam computer tomography scans during radiotherapy did not correlate with changes in concentration of cfDNA. CONCLUSION: Concentrations of cfDNA remain stable during the first 2 hours after an RT fraction. However, based on the sWGS profiles, ctDNA represented only a minor fraction of cfDNA in this group of patients. The detection sensitivity of genomic alterations in ctDNA strongly increases by applying size selection