A prioritised inventory of crop wild relatives and wild harvested plants of Tunisia

An inventory of crop wild relatives (CWR) and wild harvested plants (WHP) occurring in Tunisia, based on the integration of the last available floristic checklists, is presented. The taxa were prioritised according to economic value of the related crop, potential for crop improvement, threat status, endemism, inclusion in the ITPGRFA (Annex I) and average annual contributions to dietary energy (kilocalories) per capita per day by applying a scoring system based on 4 priority levels. Of a total of 2912 taxa belonging to the Tunisian Flora, 2504 CWR and/or WHP (86% of the total), from 143 families and 686 genera, were identified, 2445 of which are CWR and 847 are WHP. In detail, 1654 are solely CWR and 59 are WHP only, whereas 788 are both CWR and WHP. The final priority list for active conservation includes 1036 CWR (43% of the total CWR taxa), with 139 taxa rated as high priority, 660 medium priority and 237 low priority. The final priority list for WHP is composed of 344 taxa and includes eight high priority, 254 medium priority and 82 low priority taxa. Our results confirm Tunisia as a hotspot of CWR and WHP diversity in the Mediterranean area. The inventory here proposed provides the basis for the development and implementation of a more targeted national CWR/WHP conservation strategy for Tunisia

Modelled distributions and conservation priorities of wild sorghums (Sorghum Moench)

Aim: To fill knowledge gaps regarding the distributions, ecogeographic niches and conservation status of sorghum's wild relatives (Sorghum Moench). Location: The study covered the potential native ranges of wild Sorghum taxa worldwide, including Australia, New Guinea, Asia, Africa and Central America. Methods: We modelled the distributions of 23 wild Sorghum taxa, characterized their ecogeographic niches, assessed their conservation status both ex situ and in situ and performed preliminary threat assessments. Results: Three taxa were categorized as “high priority” for further conservation based on their ex situ and in situ assessments, with a further 19 as “medium priority” and only one as “low priority”. The preliminary threat assessment indicated that 12 taxa may be Endangered, four Vulnerable and four Near Threatened. The taxa fill a wide range of climatic niches, both across and within taxa, including temperatures and precipitation. Main conclusions: Taxon richness hotspots, especially in northern Australia, represent hotspots for conservation action, including further seed collection and habitat protection, with Sorghum macrospermum E. D. Garber being the highest priority for increased in situ protection. Outside Australia, Sorghum propinquum (Kunth) Hitchc. stands out for further ex situ conservation, especially given its close relationship to the cro

Representation of Markov chains by random maps: existence and regularity conditions

We systematically investigate the problem of representing Markov chains by families of random maps, and which regularity of these maps can be achieved depending on the properties of the probability measures. Our key idea is to use techniques from optimal transport to select optimal such maps. Optimal transport theory also tells us how convexity properties of the supports of the measures translate into regularity properties of the maps via Legendre transforms. Thus, from this scheme, we cannot only deduce the representation by measurable random maps, but we can also obtain conditions for the representation by continuous random maps. Finally, we present conditions for the representation of Markov chain by random diffeomorphisms.Comment: 22 pages, several changes from the previous version including extended discussion of many detail

Towards understanding the myometrial physiome: approaches for the construction of a virtual physiological uterus

Premature labour (PTL) is the single most significant factor contributing to neonatal morbidity in Europe with enormous attendant healthcare and social costs. Consequently, it remains a major challenge to alleviate the cause and impact of this condition. Our ability to improve the diagnosis and treatment of women most at risk of PTL is, however, actually hampered by an incomplete understanding of the ways in which the functions of the uterine myocyte are integrated to effect an appropriate biological response at the multicellular whole organ system. The level of organization required to co-ordinate labouring uterine contractile effort in time and space can be considered immense. There is a multitude of what might be considered mini-systems involved, each with their own regulatory feedback cycles, yet they each, in turn, will influence the behaviour of a related system. These include, but are not exclusive to, gestational-dependent regulation of transcription, translation, post-translational modifications, intracellular signaling dynamics, cell morphology, intercellular communication and tissue level morphology. We propose that in order to comprehend how these mini-systems integrate to facilitate uterine contraction during labour (preterm or term) we must, in concert with biological experimentation, construct detailed mathematical descriptions of our findings. This serves three purposes: firstly, providing a quantitative description of series of complex observations; secondly, proferring a database platform that informs further testable experimentation; thirdly, advancing towards the establishment of a virtual physiological uterus and in silico clinical diagnosis and treatment of PTL

Multiscale modelling of ceramic nanoparticle interactions and their influence on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids

There is currently a lack of a reliable theory capable of making accurate predictions of the thermal enhancement in nanofluids (with relatively low solid volume fractions). The work described therefore assesses the thermal conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions in fluids using a Lagrangian particle tracking-based computational modelling technique. A 3D, multiphase fluid-solid model is developed which predicts the motion of suspended nanoparticles. The nanofluid is predicted using an Eulerian-Lagrangian hybrid approach with a constant timestep. This technique takes various multiscale forces into consideration in the calculations, whose characteristic scales are quite different, providing for the first time an analysis of all factors affecting the stability and thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The system considered consists of 71 nm diameter Al2O3 ceramic nanoparticles suspended in water, with homogeneous temperature distributions ranging from 25 °C to 85 °C, at various volume fractions between 1% and 5%. The results of the simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented technique, with predictions elucidating the role of Brownian motion, fluid viscous drag, inter-particle collisions and DLVO attraction and repulsion forces on nanofluid stability. Results indicate that aggregated nanoparticles formed in the suspensions, at various particle concentrations, play an important role in the thermal behaviour of the nanofluids. Predictions are in agreement with theoretical and experimental results obtained in related studies. The thermal characteristics of nanofluids are also considered as a function of temperature, system chemistry and time (measured from an initially homogeneously dispersed state). The proven enhancement in the conductivity of fluids affected by the addition of nanoparticles has great potential to assist the development of commercial nanofluid technology aimed at energy efficient and sustainable processes

Hemispheric asymmetry of endogenous neural oscillations in young children: implications for hearing speech in noise

Speech signals contain information in hierarchical time scales, ranging from short-duration (e.g., phonemes) to long-duration cues (e.g., syllables, prosody). A theoretical framework to understand how the brain processes this hierarchy suggests that hemispheric lateralization enables specialized tracking of acoustic cues at different time scales, with the left and right hemispheres sampling at short (25 ms; 40 Hz) and long (200 ms; 5 Hz) periods, respectively. In adults, both speech-evoked and endogenous cortical rhythms are asymmetrical: low-frequency rhythms predominate in right auditory cortex, and high-frequency rhythms in left auditory cortex. It is unknown, however, whether endogenous resting state oscillations are similarly lateralized in children. We investigated cortical oscillations in children (3–5 years; N = 65) at rest and tested our hypotheses that this temporal asymmetry is evident early in life and facilitates recognition of speech in noise. We found a systematic pattern of increasing leftward asymmetry for higher frequency oscillations; this pattern was more pronounced in children who better perceived words in noise. The observed connection between left-biased cortical oscillations in phoneme-relevant frequencies and speech-in-noise perception suggests hemispheric specialization of endogenous oscillatory activity may support speech processing in challenging listening environments, and that this infrastructure is present during early childhood

The presence of bone marrow cytokeratin-immunoreactive cells does not predict outcome in gastric cancer patients

The independent prognostic significance of isolated tumour cells in bone marrow is still a matter of debate. This study evaluated the possible association of bone marrow micrometastases with tumour progression and prognosis in patients affected by gastric cancer. Bone marrow aspirates from both iliac crests were obtained from 114 consecutive patients operated on for gastric cancer. The specimens were stained with monoclonal antibody CAM 5.2 which reacts predominantly with cytokeratin filaments 8 and 19. Among 114 cases analysed, 33 cases (29%) had cytokeratine-positive cells in the bone marrow. There was no significant relationship between the presence of bone marrow micrometastases and site, depth of tumour invasion, lymph node metastases, presence of metastases. Patients with cytokeratine-positive cells had a trend towards a diffuse type histology (P=0.06). Among the 88 curatively resected patients, median survivals were 40 months and 36 months for cytokeratine-negative and cytokeratine-positive subsets respectively (P=0.9). Recurrence of the disease was observed in 39 cases (44.3%); 11 of 24 (45.8%) in the cytokeratine-positive subset and 28 of 64 (43.7%) in the cytokeratine-negative subset. In conclusion in our experience the presence of cytokeratine-positive cells in the bone marrow of curatively resected gastric cancer patients did not affect outcome and its independent prognostic significance remains to be proven before its official acceptance in the TNM classification

The (im)materiality of literacy : the significance of subjectivity to new literacies research.

This article deconstructs the online and offline experience to show its complexities and idiosyncratic nature. It proposes a theoretical framework designed to conceptualise aspects of meaning-making across on- and offline contexts. In arguing for the ‘(im)materiality’ of literacy, it makes four propositions which highlight the complex and diverse relationships between the immaterial and material associated with meaning-making. Complementing existing sociocultural perspectives on literacy, the article draws attention to the significance of relationships between space, mediation, materiality and embodiment to literacy practices. This in turn emphasises the importance of the subjective in understanding how different locations, experiences and so forth inflect literacy practice. The article concludes by drawing on the Deleuzian concept of the ‘baroque’ to suggest that this focus on articulations between the material and immaterial helps us to see literacy as multiply and flexibly situated