The role of bacteria in pine wilt disease: insights from microbiome analysis.

Pine Wilt Disease (PWD) has a significant impact on Eurasia pine forests. The microbiome of the nematode (the primary cause of the disease), its insect vector, and the host tree may be relevant for the disease mechanism. The aim of this study was to characterize these microbiomes, from three PWD-affected areas in Portugal, using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, and a functional inference-based approach (PICRUSt). The bacterial community structure of the nematode was significantly different from the infected trees but closely related to the insect vector, supporting the hypothesis that the nematode microbiome might be in part inherited from the insect. Sampling location influenced mostly the tree microbiome (P < 0.05). Genes related both with plant growth promotion and phytopathogenicity were predicted for the tree microbiome. Xenobiotic degradation functions were predicted in the nematode and insect microbiomes. Phytotoxin biosynthesis was also predicted for the nematode microbiome, supporting the theory of a direct contribution of the microbiome to tree-wilting. This is the first study that simultaneously characterized the nematode, tree and insect-vector microbiomes from the same affected areas, and overall the results support the hypothesis that the PWD microbiome plays an important role in the disease's development

Torque Ripple Minimization in a Switched Reluctance Drive by Neuro-Fuzzy Compensation

Simple power electronic drive circuit and fault tolerance of converter are specific advantages of SRM drives, but excessive torque ripple has limited its use to special applications. It is well known that controlling the current shape adequately can minimize the torque ripple. This paper presents a new method for shaping the motor currents to minimize the torque ripple, using a neuro-fuzzy compensator. In the proposed method, a compensating signal is added to the output of a PI controller, in a current-regulated speed control loop. Numerical results are presented in this paper, with an analysis of the effects of changing the form of the membership function of the neuro-fuzzy compensator.Comment: To be published in IEEE Trans. on Magnetics, 200

Chromospheric Inversions of a Micro-flaring Region

We use spectropolarimetric observations of the Ca II 8542~\AA\ line, taken from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST), in an attempt to recover dynamic activity in a micro-flaring region near a sunspot via inversions. These inversions show localized mean temperature enhancements of $\sim$1000~K in the chromosphere and upper photosphere, along with co-spatial bi-directional Doppler shifting of 5 - 10 km s$^{-1}$. This heating also extends along a nearby chromospheric fibril, co-spatial to 10 - 15 km s$^{-1}$ down-flows. Strong magnetic flux cancellation is also apparent in one of the footpoints, concentrated in the chromosphere. This event more closely resembles that of an Ellerman Bomb (EB), though placed slightly higher in the atmosphere than is typically observed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted in ApJ. Movies are stored here: https://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/webdav/public/areid/Microflare

Measurement of miniband parameters of a doped superlattice by photoluminescence in high magnetic fields

We have studied a 50/50\AA superlattice of GaAs/Al$_{0.21}$Ga$_{0.79}$As composition, modulation-doped with Si, to produce $n=1.4\times 10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$ electrons per superlattice period. The modulation-doping was tailored to avoid the formation of Tamm states, and photoluminescence due to interband transitions from extended superlattice states was detected. By studying the effects of a quantizing magnetic field on the superlattice photoluminescence, the miniband energy width, the reduced effective mass of the electron-hole pair, and the band gap renormalization could be deduced.Comment: minor typing errors (minus sign in eq. (5)

Beyond Correlation Filters: Learning Continuous Convolution Operators for Visual Tracking

Discriminative Correlation Filters (DCF) have demonstrated excellent performance for visual object tracking. The key to their success is the ability to efficiently exploit available negative data by including all shifted versions of a training sample. However, the underlying DCF formulation is restricted to single-resolution feature maps, significantly limiting its potential. In this paper, we go beyond the conventional DCF framework and introduce a novel formulation for training continuous convolution filters. We employ an implicit interpolation model to pose the learning problem in the continuous spatial domain. Our proposed formulation enables efficient integration of multi-resolution deep feature maps, leading to superior results on three object tracking benchmarks: OTB-2015 (+5.1% in mean OP), Temple-Color (+4.6% in mean OP), and VOT2015 (20% relative reduction in failure rate). Additionally, our approach is capable of sub-pixel localization, crucial for the task of accurate feature point tracking. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of our learning formulation in extensive feature point tracking experiments. Code and supplementary material are available at http://www.cvl.isy.liu.se/research/objrec/visualtracking/conttrack/index.html.Comment: Accepted at ECCV 201

Crossed Module Bundle Gerbes; Classification, String Group and Differential Geometry

We discuss nonabelian bundle gerbes and their differential geometry using simplicial methods. Associated to any crossed module there is a simplicial group NC, the nerve of the 1-category defined by the crossed module and its geometric realization |NC|. Equivalence classes of principal bundles with structure group |NC| are shown to be one-to-one with stable equivalence classes of what we call crossed module gerbes bundle gerbes. We can also associate to a crossed module a 2-category C'. Then there are two equivalent ways how to view classifying spaces of NC-bundles and hence of |NC|-bundles and crossed module bundle gerbes. We can either apply the W-construction to NC or take the nerve of the 2-category C'. We discuss the string group and string structures from this point of view. Also a simplicial principal bundle can be equipped with a simplicial connection and a B-field. It is shown how in the case of a simplicial principal NC-bundle these simplicial objects give the bundle gerbe connection and the bundle gerbe B-field

Adaptive RBFNN versus conventional self-tuning: comparison of two parametric model approaches for non-linear control

In this work a practical study evaluates two parametric modelling approaches -- linear and non-linear (neural) -- for automatic adaptive control. The neural adaptive control is based on a developed hybrid learning technique using an adaptive (on-line) learning rate for a Gaussian radial basis function neural network. The linear approach is used for a self-tuning pole-placement controller. A selective forgetting factor method is applied to both control schemes: in the neural case to estimate on-line the second-layer weights and in the linear case to estimate the parameters of the linear process model. These two techniques are applied to a laboratory-scaled bench plant with the possibility of dynamic changes and different types of disturbances. Experimental results show the superior performance of the neural approach particularly when there are dynamic changes in the process.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V2H-3Y51H01-2/1/50fbcda6652e0853352a54ab0d31ca2

Effect of the Injection moulding processing conditions on biopolymers final properties

This research work intended to study the effect of the main injection moulding parameters in the final properties of biopolymers mouldings. An experimental procedure was carried out in which four biopolymers containing different composition percentages of poly-lactic acid (PLA) and plasticized starch (PLS) were compared with polypropylene (PP). For each material the effect of the processing conditions (mould temperature, injection temperature and holding pressure) on the final properties was discussed and the possibility of using biopolymers as a substitute of PP in household utility products was evaluated

O sistema dois-híbridos de Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Variações e potencial para a análise funcional e montagem de redes de interações proteína-proteína