Breeding biology and incremental benefits of outcrossing for the restoration wildflower, \u3ci\u3eHedysarum boreale\u3c/i\u3e Nutt. (Fabaceae)

Northern sweetvetch (Hedysarum boreale Nutt.) is an herbaceous perennial legume of the Rocky Mountains, USA, whose seed is desired for rehabilitating degraded plant communities. Through experimental pollinations, the necessity of pollinators was shown by the failure of autogamy, despite stigmas first becoming receptive in the bud in close proximity to the dehiscing anthers. Nonetheless, the species proved to be self-fertile, initiating as many fruits through selfing as outcrossing. Incremental benefits of outcrossing only later manifested in superior fruit development, seed maturation and seed germination. Farming of H. boreale can yield abundant viable seed if adequately visited by pollinating bees

Discontinuous symplectic capacities

We show that the spherical capacity is discontinuous on a smooth family of ellipsoidal shells. Moreover, we prove that the shell capacity is discontinuous on a family of open sets with smooth connected boundaries.Comment: We include generalizations to higher dimensions due to the unknown referee and Janko Latschev. We add examples of open sets with connected boundary on which the shell capacity is not continuous. 3rd and 4th version: minor changes, to appear in J. Fixed Point Theory App

BREEDING BIOLOGY AND BEE GUILD OF DOUGLAS’ DUSTYMAIDEN, \u3ci\u3eCHAENACTIS DOUGLASII\u3c/i\u3e (ASTERACEAE, HELENIEAE)

Douglas’ dustymaiden, Chaenactis douglasii (Hook.) Hook. & Arn., is a widespread, inconspicuous, short-lived perennial wildflower that blooms in early summer and is found in basin sagesteppe to upper montane areas throughout the U.S. Intermountain West. The species is proving practical to grow for seed and is expected to be used for western rangeland rehabilitation. Through manual pollination experiments, C. douglasii was found to be only weakly self-fertile; 15% of flowers from geitonogamy and autogamy treatments yielded filled achenes. In contrast, 57% of outcrossed flowers produced achenes filled with endosperm, with every capitulum yielding some fertile seeds. Freely visited flowers from a wild population produced 91% fertile achenes, indicating that seed production was not pollinator limited. Floral visitors to C. douglasii were sparse, consisting entirely of bees, most of them floral generalists. Museum specimens of bees taken at C. douglasii and 3 closely related congenerics comprise 175 species in 39 genera and all 6 North American bee families. A population of the manageable mesolectic cavity-nesting bee, Osmia californica, when released at one sagesteppe site, provisioned its cells primarily with pale, spiny pollen resembling that of the C. douglasii growing at La doncella de Douglas, Chaenactis douglasii (Hook). Hook. & Arn., es una flor silvestre ampliamente distribuida, no conspicua, de corta vida y perenne que florece a principios de verano desde las estepas de salvia hasta las áreas montañosas a lo largo del oeste de los Estados Unidos. Ha resultado práctico cultivarla por sus semillas y se espera que se las utilice para la rehabilitación de las tierras de pastoreo del oeste. Mediante experimentos manuales de polinización, se comprobó que esta especie es apenas auto-fértil; 15% de las flores provenientes de los tratamientos de geitonogamia y autogamia produjeron aquenios cubiertos. En contraste, el 57% de las flores desarrolladas por fecundación cruzada produjeron aquenios cubiertos con endospermo, con cada capítulo produciendo algunas semillas fértiles. Las flores de una población silvestre que fueron visitadas libremente produjeron un 91% de aquenios fértiles, lo que indica que la producción de semillas en ese lugar no estuvo limitada por la polinización. Los visitantes florales de C. douglasii fueron escasos, y consistieron totalmente de abejas, la mayoría de las cuales fueron generalistas. Especímenes de abejas de museo colectadas en C. douglasii y tres congenéricas estrechamente relacionadas comprenden 175 especies en 39 géneros y las seis familias de abejas de América del Norte. Una población de abejas manejables que anidan en cavidades, Osmia californica, cuando fue liberada en un sitio de estepa de salvia, provisionó a sus celdas principalmente con polen pálido y espinoso que se asemejaba al de C. douglasii que crecía en el sitio. Esta abeja y la abeja de miel parecen ser las más propicias para polinizar las plantas doncellas que se cultivan para semillas

LMGP: Lifted Multicut Meets Geometry Projections for Multi-Camera Multi-Object Tracking

Multi-Camera Multi-Object Tracking is currently drawing attention in the computer vision field due to its superior performance in real-world applications such as video surveillance in crowded scenes or in wide spaces. In this work, we propose a mathematically elegant multi-camera multiple object tracking approach based on a spatial-temporal lifted multicut formulation. Our model utilizes state-of-the-art tracklets produced by single-camera trackers as proposals. As these tracklets may contain ID-Switch errors, we refine them through a novel pre-clustering obtained from 3D geometry projections. As a result, we derive a better tracking graph without ID switches and more precise affinity costs for the data association phase. Tracklets are then matched to multi-camera trajectories by solving a global lifted multicut formulation that incorporates short and long-range temporal interactions on tracklets located in the same camera as well as inter-camera ones. Experimental results on the WildTrack dataset yield near-perfect performance, outperforming state-of-the-art trackers on Campus while being on par on the PETS-09 dataset.Comment: Official version for CVPR 202

Chondrogenic differentiation of growth factor-stimulated precursor cells in cartilage repair tissue is associated with increased HIF-1α activity

SummaryObjectiveTo investigate the chondrogenic potential of growth factor-stimulated periosteal cells with respect to the activity of Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1α (HIF-1α).MethodsScaffold-bound autologous periosteal cells, which had been activated by Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) or Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP-2) gene transfer using both adeno-associated virus (AAV) and adenoviral (Ad) vectors, were applied to chondral lesions in the knee joints of miniature pigs. Six weeks after transplantation, the repair tissues were investigated for collagen type I and type II content as well as for HIF-1α expression. The functional role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling on BMP-2/IGF-1-induced HIF-1α expression was assessed in vitro by employing specific inhibitors.ResultsUnstimulated periosteal cells formed a fibrous extracellular matrix in the superficial zone and a fibrocartilaginous matrix in deep zones of the repair tissue. This zonal difference was reflected by the absence of HIF-1α staining in superficial areas, but moderate HIF-1α expression in deep zones. In contrast, Ad/AAVBMP-2-stimulated periosteal cells, and to a lesser degree Ad/AAVIGF-1-infected cells, adopted a chondrocyte-like phenotype with strong intracellular HIF-1α staining throughout all zones of the repair tissue and formed a hyaline-like matrix. In vitro, BMP-2 and IGF-1 supplementation increased HIF-1α protein levels in periosteal cells, which was based on posttranscriptional mechanisms rather than de novo mRNA synthesis, involving predominantly the MEK/ERK pathway.ConclusionThis pilot experimental study on a relatively small number of animals indicated that chondrogenesis by precursor cells is facilitated in deeper hypoxic zones of cartilage repair tissue and is stimulated by growth factors which enhance HIF-1α activity

Survival of motor neurone protein is required for normal postnatal development of the spleen

Funding S.H.P. received an Anatomical Society PhD Studentship award for A.K.T. T.H.G. received an Anatomical Society PhD Studentship award for R.A.P. and funding from the SMA Trust (UK SMA Research Consortium), Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research, and Muscular Dystrophy UK. K.J.S received funding for pathologic studies in human subjects from NICHD grant R01-HD054599.Peer reviewedPostprin