Technical notes on the isolation of Neurospora nuclei

Isolation of Neurospora nucle

Environment simulator for studying automatic crop farming

Agricultural machines capable of utilizing variable rate application technology are tackling spatial variability in agricultural fields.  Agricultural field robots are the next step in technology, robots which are capable of utilizing sensor and actuating technologies without human contact and operate only areas of interest.  However, agricultural field robots are still under research.  Robots are just one part of the next generation of crop farming having more advanced tools to do the work which currently requires humans.  The next generation of crop farming, in the vision of the authors, is based on automation, which incorporates stationary and moving sensors systems, robots, model based decision making, automated operation planning which adapts to spatial variability according to the measurements as well as to weather conditions.  This article presents a top-down approach of automated crop farming using simulation, trying to cover all the component parts on a fully automated farm.  In the article, the developed simulation platform is presented as well as sample simulation results.  The environment simulator is based on crop growth models, weed growth models, soil models, spatial variation generation and weather statistics.  Models for the environment were found in literature and were tailored and tuned to fit the simulation purposes, to form a collection of models.  The collection of models was evaluated by using sensitivity analysis.  Furthermore, a full scale scenario was simulated over one season, incorporating 9000 spatial cells in five fields of a farm.   Keywords: robots, crop growth models, soil water models, decision making, operation plannin

Task-oriented reading efficiency: interplay of general cognitive ability, task demands, strategies and reading fluency

The associations among readers’ cognitive skills (general cognitive ability, reading skills, and attentional functioning), task demands (easy versus difficult questions), and process measures (total fixation time on relevant and irrelevant paragraphs) was investigated to explain task-oriented reading accuracy and efficiency (number of scores in a given time unit). Structural equation modeling was applied to a large dataset collected with sixth-grade students, which included samples of dysfluent readers and those with attention difficulties. The results are in line with previous findings regarding the dominant role of general cognitive ability in the accuracy of task-oriented reading. However, efficiency in task-oriented reading was mostly explained by the shorter viewing times of both paragraph types (i.e., relevant and irrelevant), which were modestly explained by general cognitive ability and reading fluency. These findings suggest that high efficiency in task orientation is obtained by relying on a selective reading strategy when reading both irrelevant and relevant paragraphs. The selective reading strategy seems to be specifically learned, and this potentially applies to most students, even those with low cognitive abilities

Association between Birth Characteristics and Cardiovascular Autonomic Function at Mid-Life

Background Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. As abnormal cardiac autonomic function is a common feature in cardiovascular diseases, we tested the hypothesis that low birth weight may also be associated with poorer cardiac autonomic function in middle-aged subjects. Methods At the age of 46, the subjects of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 were invited to examinations including questionnaires about health status and life style and measurement of vagally-mediated heart rate variability (rMSSD) from R-R intervals (RRi) and spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in both seated and standing positions. Maternal parameters had been collected in 1965–1966 since the 16th gestational week and birth variables immediately after delivery. For rMSSD, 1,799 men and 2,279 women without cardiorespiratory diseases and diabetes were included and 902 men and 1,020 women for BRS. The analyses were adjusted for maternal (age, anthropometry, socioeconomics, parity, gestational smoking) and adult variables (life style, anthropometry, blood pressure, glycemic and lipid status) potentially confounding the relationship between birth weight and autonomic function. Results In men, birth weight correlated negatively with seated (r = -0.058, p = 0.014) and standing rMSSD (r = -0.090, p<0.001), as well as with standing BRS (r = -0.092, p = 0.006). These observations were verified using relevant birth weight categories (<2,500 g; 2,500–3,999 g; ≥4,000 g). In women, birth weight was positively correlated with seated BRS (r = 0.081, p = 0.010), but none of the other measures of cardiovascular autonomic function. These correlations remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (p<0.05 for all). Conclusions In men, higher birth weight was independently associated with poorer cardiac autonomic function at mid-life. Same association was not observed in women. Our findings suggest that higher, not lower, birth weight in males may contribute to less favourable cardiovascular autonomic regulation and potentially to an elevated cardiovascular risk in later life

Empathy, engagement, entrainment: the interaction dynamics of aesthetic experience

A recent version of the view that aesthetic experience is based in empathy as inner imitation explains aesthetic experience as the automatic simulation of actions, emotions, and bodily sensations depicted in an artwork by motor neurons in the brain. Criticizing the simulation theory for committing to an erroneous concept of empathy and failing to distinguish regular from aesthetic experiences of art, I advance an alternative, dynamic approach and claim that aesthetic experience is enacted and skillful, based in the recognition of others’ experiences as distinct from one’s own. In combining insights from mainly psychology, phenomenology, and cognitive science, the dynamic approach aims to explain the emergence of aesthetic experience in terms of the reciprocal interaction between viewer and artwork. I argue that aesthetic experience emerges by participatory sense-making and revolves around movement as a means for creating meaning. While entrainment merely plays a preparatory part in this, aesthetic engagement constitutes the phenomenological side of coupling to an artwork and provides the context for exploration, and eventually for moving, seeing, and feeling with art. I submit that aesthetic experience emerges from bodily and emotional engagement with works of art via the complementary processes of the perception–action and motion–emotion loops. The former involves the embodied visual exploration of an artwork in physical space, and progressively structures and organizes visual experience by way of perceptual feedback from body movements made in response to the artwork. The latter concerns the movement qualities and shapes of implicit and explicit bodily responses to an artwork that cue emotion and thereby modulate over-all affect and attitude. The two processes cause the viewer to bodily and emotionally move with and be moved by individual works of art, and consequently to recognize another psychological orientation than her own, which explains how art can cause feelings of insight or awe and disclose aspects of life that are unfamiliar or novel to the viewer

Walks4work: Rationale and study design to investigate walking at lunchtime in the workplace setting

Background: Following recruitment of a private sector company, an 8week lunchtime walking intervention was implemented to examine the effect of the intervention on modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors, and further to see if walking environment had any further effect on the cardiovascular disease risk factors. Methods. For phase 1 of the study participants were divided into three groups, two lunchtime walking intervention groups to walk around either an urban or natural environment twice a week during their lunch break over an 8week period. The third group was a waiting-list control who would be invited to join the walking groups after phase 1. In phase 2 all participants were encouraged to walk during their lunch break on self-selecting routes. Health checks were completed at baseline, end of phase 1 and end of phase 2 in order to measure the impact of the intervention on cardiovascular disease risk. The primary outcome variables of heart rate and heart rate variability were measured to assess autonomic function associated with cardiovascular disease. Secondary outcome variables (Body mass index, blood pressure, fitness, autonomic response to a stressor) related to cardiovascular disease were also measured. The efficacy of the intervention in increasing physical activity was objectively monitored throughout the 8-weeks using an accelerometer device. Discussion. The results of this study will help in developing interventions with low researcher input with high participant output that may be implemented in the workplace. If effective, this study will highlight the contribution that natural environments can make in the reduction of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors within the workplace. © 2012 Brown et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Cluster-Impact Fusion and Effective Deuteron Temperature

Temperature and kinematic line broadening are the primary contributions to the width of the proton energy spectrum measured in cluster-impact fusion experiments. By ascertaining these two contributions, we have determined an effective temperature for the high-velocity deuteron component that is responsible for the measured fusion yield. The extracted effective temperature is substantially higher than conventional estimates., and implies that cluster-impact fusion is hot fusion on an atomic scale. The proton spectrum rules out contaminants in explaining the high yield.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. PACS numbers: 79.20.RF, 25.45.--z, 47.40.Nm, 52.50. L

The implementation of a nationwide anomaly screening programme improves prenatal detection of major cardiac defects : an 11-year national population-based cohort study

Objective To evaluate whether a nationwide prenatal anomaly screening programme improves detection rates of univentricular heart (UVH) and transposition of great arteries (TGA), and whether maternal risk factors for severe fetal heart disease affect prenatal detection. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting Nationwide data from Finnish registries 2004-14. Population A total of 642 456 parturients and 3449 terminated pregnancies due to severe fetal anomaly. Methods Prenatal detection rates were calculated in three time periods (prescreening, transition and screening phase). The effect of maternal risk factors (obesity, in vitro fertilisation, pregestational diabetes and smoking) was evaluated. Main outcome measures Change in detection rates and impact of maternal risk factors on screening programme efficacy. Results In total, 483 cases of UVH and 184 of TGA were detected. The prenatal detection rate of UVH increased from 50.4% to 82.8% and of TGA from 12.3% to 41.0% (P <0.0001). Maternal risk factors did not affect prenatal detection rate, but detection rate differed substantially by region. Conclusions A nationwide screening programme improved overall UVH and TGA detection rates, but regional differences were observed. Obesity or other maternal risk factors did not affect the screening programme efficacy. The establishment of structured guidelines and recommendations is essential when implementing the screening programme. In addition, a prospective screening register is highly recommended to ensure high quality of screening.Peer reviewe

Mobile Consumer Behavior in Fashion m-Retail: An Eye Tracking Study to Understand Gender Differences

© 2020 ACM. With exponential adoption of mobile devices, consumers increasingly use them for shopping. There is a need to understand the gender differences in mobile consumer behavior. This study used mobile eye tracking technology and mixed-method approach to analyze and compare how male and female mobile fashion consumers browse and shop on smartphones. Mobile eye tracking glasses recorded fashion consumers' shopping experiences using smartphones for browsing and shopping on the actual fashion retailer's website. 14 participants successfully completed this study, half of them were males and half females. Two different data analysis approaches were employed, namely a novel framework of the shopping journey, and semantic gaze mapping with 31 Areas of Interest (AOI) representing the elements of the shopping journey. The results showed that male and female users exhibited significantly different behavior patterns, which have implications for mobile website design and fashion m-retail. The shopping journey map framework proves useful for further application in market research

The organization of the QA gene cluster in neurospora crassa and its expression in escherichia coli : eucaryotic gene regulation, quinic acid catabolic enzymes, recombinant DNA, pBR322 plasmid

PLEASE SEE SUMMARY pg 49NORMAN H. GILES, N. K. ALTON, M. E. CASE, J. A. HAUTALA, J. W. JACOBSON, S. R., KUSHNER, V. B. PATEL, W. R. REINERT, P. STROMAN, D. VAPNEK, Program in Genetics, Departments of Zoology, Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia