Stay-green wheat for Australia's changing; dry environment

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação, apresentada ao Departamento de Engenharia Informática da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de CoimbraThis doctoral thesis investigates user provided networks. Such networks have become important research subjects in the field of informatics engineering due to the recent popularity of smart phones. User provided networks are independent from traditional Internet service providers. Communication and information exchange between users occurs opportunistically, i.e., when the smart phones are close enough to exchange information. Most user provided networks are based on the radio standard IEEE 802.11, popularly known as 'wi-fi'. However, some networks are based on other low range radio standards, such as Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4. User provided networks are important to the society in general when the traditional Internet service providers become unavailable. For example, this may occur in terrorist attacks, earthquakes, or even cyber attacks. In these emergency situations, when users have a greater interest in common, an efficient system for non-presencial information exchange is necessary. Such networks are also interesting in a social context, when users must be incentivized to share their resources (storage capacity, wireless connectivity and battery) to enable the exchange of information. This doctoral thesis addresses both situations: i) networks whose users have a common interest and ii) networks whose users need to be encouraged to share resources. Among the various contributions of this doctoral thesis are the Delay Tolerant Reinforcement-Based routing solution and the Messages on oFfer incentive mechanism. The first is a routing solution for users-provided networks when the users have a prior interest in common. The second is an incentive mechanism to encourage users to exchange information. Both solutions showed excellent results in the simulation environment.Esta tese de doutoramento investiga as redes providas pelos usuários. Com a popularização do telemóvel esperto (smart phone) tais redes se tornaram objeto de pesquisa na área de engenharia informática. Uma característica básica das redes providas pelo usuário é a sua independência em relação aos provedores de serviço tradicionais. A comunicação e troca de informação entre usuários ocorre de forma oportuna, isto é, quando os telemóveis estão próximos o suficiente para se comunicarem. A maioria das redes providas por usuários é baseada no padrão de rádio IEEE 802.11, popularmente conhecido como 'wi-fi'. No entanto, algumas redes se baseiam em outros padrões de baixo alcance, por exemplo Bluetooth e IEEE 802.15.4. As redes providas por usuários são importantes para a sociedade no advento dos provedores de serviço tradicionais ficarem indisponíveis. Por exemplo, isso pode ocorrer em ataques terroristas, terremotos, ou mesmo em ataques virtuais. Nessas situações de emergência, quando os usuários têm um interesse maior em comum, é necessário um sistema de troca de mensagens não presencial eficiente. Tais redes também são importantes em um contexto social, quando os usuários precisam ser incentivados a compartilhar os seus recursos (capacidade de armazenamento, conectividade sem-fio e bateria) para que ocorra troca de informação. Essa tese de doutoramento aborda ambas as situações: i) redes cujos usuários têm um interesse em comum e ii) redes cujos usuários precisam ser incentivados a compartilhar recursos. Dentro das diversas contribuições que esta tese de doutoramento apresenta estão a solução de roteamento Delay Tolerant Reinforcement-Based e o mecanismo de incentivo Messages on oFfer. A primeira é uma solução de encaminhamento para redes providas por usuários que tenham um interesse em comum prévio. A segunda é um mecanismo de incentivo para estimular que os usuários troquem informação quando não houver o interesse em comum. Ambas as soluções apresentaram excelentes resultados no ambiente de simulação desenvolvido nesta tese.FCT - PTDC/EEA-TEL/103637/200

Molecular footprints of the Holocene retreat of dwarf birch in Britain

© 2014 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

A new estimation of the recent tropospheric molecular hydrogen budget using atmospheric observations and variational inversion

This paper presents an analysis of the recent tropospheric molecular hydrogen (H2) budget with a particular focus on soil uptake and European surface emissions. A variational inversion scheme is combined with observations from the RAMCES and EUROHYDROS atmospheric networks, which include continuous measurements performed between mid-2006 and mid-2009. Net H2 surface flux, then deposition velocity and surface emissions and finally, deposition velocity, biomass burning, anthropogenic and N2 fixation-related emissions were simultaneously inverted in several scenarios. These scenarios have focused on the sensibility of the soil uptake value to different spatio-temporal distributions. The range of variations of these diverse inversion sets generate an estimate of the uncertainty for each term of the H2 budget. The net H2 flux per region (High Northern Hemisphere, Tropics and High Southern Hemisphere) varies between −8 and +8 Tg yr−1. The best inversion in terms of fit to the observations combines updated prior surface emissions and a soil deposition velocity map that is based on bottom-up and top-down estimations. Our estimate of global H2 soil uptake is −59±9 Tg yr−1. Forty per cent of this uptake is located in the High Northern Hemisphere and 55% is located in the Tropics. In terms of surface emissions, seasonality is mainly driven by biomass burning emissions. The inferred European anthropogenic emissions are consistent with independent H2 emissions estimated using a H2/CO mass ratio of 0.034 and CO emissions within the range of their respective uncertainties. Additional constraints, such as isotopic measurements would be needed to infer a more robust partition of H2 sources and sinks

Role of biomarkers in early infectious complications after lung transplantation

Background Infections and primary graft dysfunction are devastating complications in the immediate postoperative period following lung transplantation. Nowadays, reliable diagnostic tools are not available. Biomarkers could improve early infection diagnosis. Methods Multicentre prospective observational study that included all centres authorized to perform lung transplantation in Spain. Lung infection and/or primary graft dysfunction presentation during study period (first postoperative week) was determined. Biomarkers were measured on ICU admission and daily till ICU discharge or for the following 6 consecutive postoperative days. Results We included 233 patients. Median PCT levels were significantly lower in patients with no infection than in patients with Infection on all follow up days. PCT levels were similar for PGD grades 1 and 2 and increased significantly in grade 3. CRP levels were similar in all groups, and no significant differences were observed at any study time point. In the absence of PGD grade 3, PCT levels above median (0.50 ng/ml on admission or 1.17 ng/ml on day 1) were significantly associated with more than two- and three-fold increase in the risk of infection (adjusted Odds Ratio 2.37, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 5.30 and 3.44, 95% confidence interval 1.52 to 7.78, respectively). Conclusions In the absence of severe primary graft dysfunction, procalcitonin can be useful in detecting infections during the first postoperative week. PGD grade 3 significantly increases PCT levels and interferes with the capacity of PCT as a marker of infection. PCT was superior to CRP in the diagnosis of infection during the study period

Perinatal mortality in rural Burkina Faso: a prospective community-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: There is a scarcity of reliable data on perinatal mortality (PNM) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The PROMISE-EBF trial, during which we promoted exclusive breastfeeding, gave us the opportunity to describe the epidemiology of PNM in Banfora Health District, South-West in Burkina Faso. STUDY OBJECTIVES: To measure the perinatal mortality rate (PNMR) in the PROMISE-EBF cohort in Banfora Health District and to identify potential risk factors for perinatal death. METHODS: We used data collected prospectively during the PROMISE-EBF-trial to estimate the stillbirth rate (SBR) and early neonatal mortality rate (ENMR). We used binomial regression with generalized estimating equations to identify potential risk factors for perinatal death. RESULTS: 895 pregnant women were enrolled for data collection in the EBF trial and followed-up to 7 days after birth. The PNMR, the SBR and the ENMR, were 79 per 1000 (95% CI: 59-99), 54 per 1000 (95% CI: 38-69) and 27 per 1000 (95% CI: 9-44), respectively. In a multivariable analysis, nulliparous women (RR = 2.90, 95% CI: 1.6-5.0), primiparae mothers (RR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.2-3.9), twins (RR = 4.0, 95% CI: 2.3-6.9) and giving birth during the dry season (RR = 2.1 95% CI: 1.3-3.3) were factors associated with increased risk of perinatal death. There was no evidence that risk of perinatal death differed between deliveries at home and at a health centre CONCLUSION: Our study observed the highest PNMR ever reported in Burkina. There is an urgent need for sustainable interventions to improve maternal and newborn health in the country

A genetic approach for building different alphabets for peptide and protein classification

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this paper, it is proposed an optimization approach for producing reduced alphabets for peptide classification, using a Genetic Algorithm. The classification task is performed by a multi-classifier system where each classifier (Linear or Radial Basis function Support Vector Machines) is trained using features extracted by different reduced alphabets. Each alphabet is constructed by a Genetic Algorithm whose objective function is the maximization of the area under the ROC-curve obtained in several classification problems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The new approach has been tested in three peptide classification problems: HIV-protease, recognition of T-cell epitopes and prediction of peptides that bind human leukocyte antigens. The tests demonstrate that the idea of training a pool classifiers by reduced alphabets, created using a Genetic Algorithm, allows an improvement over other state-of-the-art feature extraction methods.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The validity of the novel strategy for creating reduced alphabets is demonstrated by the performance improvement obtained by the proposed approach with respect to other reduced alphabets-based methods in the tested problems.</p

Modified f(R) gravity from scalar-tensor theory and inhomogeneous EoS dark energy

The reconstruction of f(R)-gravity is showed by using an auxiliary scalar field in the context of cosmological evolution, this development provide a way of reconstruct the form of the function f (R) for a given evolution of the Hubble parameter. In analogy, f(R)-gravity may be expressed by a perfect fluid with an inhomogeneous equation of state that depends on the Hubble parameter and its derivatives. This mathematical equivalence that may confuse about the origin of the mechanism that produces the current acceleration, and possibly the whole evolution of the Hubble parameter, is shown here.Comment: 8 page

miR-210: fine-tuning the hypoxic response

Hypoxia is a central component of the tumor microenvironment and represents a major source of therapeutic failure in cancer therapy. Recent work has provided a wealth of evidence that noncoding RNAs and, in particular, microRNAs, are significant members of the adaptive response to low oxygen in tumors. All published studies agree that miR-210 specifically is a robust target of hypoxia-inducible factors, and the induction of miR-210 is a consistent characteristic of the hypoxic response in normal and transformed cells. Overexpression of miR-210 is detected in most solid tumors and has been linked to adverse prognosis in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma, breast, head and neck, and pancreatic cancer. A wide variety of miR-210 targets have been identified, pointing to roles in the cell cycle, mitochondrial oxidative metabolism, angiogenesis, DNA damage response, and cell survival. Additional microRNAs seem to be modulated by low oxygen in a more tissue-specific fashion, adding another layer of complexity to the vast array of protein-coding genes regulated by hypoxia