Seed traits and germination behaviour of kemunting (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa) populations as affected by different temperatures

To examine the variation in seed morphometric traits as well as germination performance at a range of temperatures (10-40°C), Rhodomyrtus tomentosa seeds were collected from four locations across Peninsular Malaysia (designated (C-02), (K-03), (M-01) and (T-01)). Seed source had a significant effect on seed morphometric traits with seeds from K-03 recording the highest values and seeds from C-02 the lowest values for seed length, seed width, seed thickness and 1000 seed weight. These differences in seed traits, which were attributed to maternal or environmental effects, influenced the rate of water uptake leading to variation in germination behaviour such as germination percentage (GP), days to first germination (GD) and time to 50% germination (T50) of the seeds from the four locations. Temperature significantly affected GP, GD and T50 but the effect of location was only significant for GD and T50. There were significant interaction effects of location × temperature for all the parameters tested. Generally, R. tomentosa seeds showed a slow increase in water uptake due to the presence of the operculum and the mesotesta which consists of sclerified cells, and had erratic germination behaviour

Feasibility of a Fiber Reinforced Polymer Retrofit for Non-Ductile Concrete Walls

A significant number of pre-1980’s non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) structures in California have been identified as deficient, many of which utilize RC shear wall systems to resist earthquake lateral forces. These non-ductile wall systems are typically lightly reinforced and lack adequate boundary element detailing. Engineers suspect these walls to susceptible to brittle, compression-controlled failure modes due to damage from concrete crushing and bar buckling. As a result, one approach designers are taking is to seek fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) retrofit solutions that improve the compression capacity of high-stressed wall end zone regions based on effectiveness of these approaches with columns. This paper presents the initial results from a lightly reinforced RC shear wall test without boundary elements intended to be representative of a vintage wall. The experimental test showed that the expected compression-type damage mechanisms were not the primary contributors of wall failure. Rather the failure was attributed to the development of few, large crack planes near the base of the wall and the fracture of most longitudinal bars at the wall-foundation interface. Additionally, the drift capacity was greater than anticipated. Therefore, the original proposed fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) retrofit developed by the authors in collaboration with industry input – wrapping the wall end zones with FRP sheets and thru-wall splay anchors to improve the compression capacity of these regions – may not be a viable approach. The research findings suggest that additional investigations into FRP solutions are necessary for different classes of non-ductile walls and their respective failure types

Saturn's Seasonal Atmosphere at Northern Summer Solstice

The incredible longevity of Cassini's orbital mission at Saturn has provided the most comprehensive exploration of a seasonal giant planet to date. This review explores Saturn's changing global temperatures, composition, and aerosol properties between northern spring and summer solstice (2015-2017), extending our previous review of Cassini's remote sensing investigations (2004-14, Fletcher et al., 2018) to the grand finale. The result is an unprecedented record of Saturn's climate that spans almost half a Saturnian year, which can be used to test the seasonal predictions of radiative climate models, neutral and ion photochemistry models, and atmospheric circulation models. Hemispheric asymmetries in tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures were observed to reverse from northern winter to northern summer; spatial distributions of hydrocarbons and para-hydrogen shifted in response to atmospheric dynamics (e.g., seasonally-reversing Hadley cells, polar stratospheric vortex formation, equatorial stratospheric oscillations, and inter-hemispheric transport); and upper tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols exhibited changes in optical thickness that modulated Saturn's visible colours (from blue hues to a golden appearance in the north near solstice), reflectivity, and near-infrared emission. Numerical simulations of radiative balance and photochemistry do a good job in reproducing the observed seasonal change and phase lags, but discrepancies between models and observations still persist, indicating a crucial role for atmospheric dynamics and the need to couple chemical and radiative schemes to the next generation of circulation models. With Cassini's demise, an extended study of Saturn's seasons, from northern summer to autumn, will require the capabilities of ground- and space-based observatories, as we eagerly await the next orbital explorer at Saturn.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures, submitted for publication by Cambridge University Press as part of a multi-volume work edited by Kevin Baines, Michael Flasar, Norbert Krupp, and Thomas Stallard, entitled "Cassini at Saturn: The Grand Finale." The copy of the Chapter, as displayed on this website, is a draft, pre-publication copy onl

Origins of Chevron Rollovers in Non-Two-State Protein Folding Kinetics

Chevron rollovers of some proteins imply that their logarithmic folding rates are nonlinear in native stability. This is predicted by lattice and continuum G\=o models to arise from diminished accessibilities of the ground state from transiently populated compact conformations under strongly native conditions. Despite these models' native-centric interactions, the slowdown is due partly to kinetic trapping caused by some of the folding intermediates' nonnative topologies. Notably, simple two-state folding kinetics of small single-domain proteins are not reproduced by common G\=o-like schemes.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Postscript figures (will appear on PRL

The calibrated population resistance tool: standardized genotypic estimation of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance

Summary: The calibrated population resistance (CPR) tool is a web-accessible program for performing standardized genotypic estimation of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance. The program is linked to the Stanford HIV drug resistance database and can additionally perform viral genotyping and algorithmic estimation of resistance to specific antiretroviral drugs

Assessing the Criteria for Definition of Perimembranous Ventricular Septal Defects in Light of the Search for Consensus

Background: Discussions continue as to whether ventricular septal defects are best categorized according to their right ventricular geography or their borders. This is especially true when considering the perimembranous defect. Our aim, therefore, was to establish the phenotypic feature of the perimembranous defect, and to establish the ease of distinguishing its geographical variants. Methods and results: We assessed unrepaired isolated perimembranous ventricular defects from six historic archives, subcategorizing them using the ICD-11 coding system. We identified 365 defects, of which 94 (26%) were deemed to open centrally, 168 (46%) to open to the outlet, and 84 (23%) to the inlet of the right ventricle, with 19 (5%) being confluent. In all hearts, the unifying phenotypic feature was fibrous continuity between the leaflets of the mitral and tricuspid valves. This was often directly between the valves, but in all instances incorporated continuity through the atrioventricular portion of the membranous septum. In contrast, we observed fibrous continuity between the leaflets of the tricuspid and aortic valves in only 298 (82%) of the specimens. When found, discontinuity most commonly was seen in the outlet and central defects. There were no discrepancies between evaluators in distinguishing the borders, but there was occasional disagreement in determining the right ventricular geography of the defect. Conclusions: The unifying feature of perimembranous defects, rather than being aortic-to-tricuspid valvar fibrous continuity, is fibrous continuity between the leaflets of the atrioventricular valves. While right ventricular geography is important in classification, it is the borders which are more objectively defined

Energetic Components of Cooperative Protein Folding

A new lattice protein model with a four-helix bundle ground state is analyzed by a parameter-space Monte Carlo histogram technique to evaluate the effects of an extensive variety of model potentials on folding thermodynamics. Cooperative helical formation and contact energies based on a 5-letter alphabet are found to be insufficient to satisfy calorimetric and other experimental criteria for two-state folding. Such proteinlike behaviors are predicted, however, by models with polypeptide-like local conformational restrictions and environment-dependent hydrogen bonding-like interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 4 postscripts figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Laser conditioning methods fo hafnia silica multiplayer mirrors

Large aperture multilayer hafnia silica high reflector coatings at 1064 nm, deposited by reactive electron-beam deposition, were prepared to examine different laser conditioning methods for manufacturing high fluence optics in the National Ignition Facility. Laser conditioning is a process where the damage threshold of the coating is increased or the damage that is created is minimized so that it does not grow upon further irradiation. Two laser conditioning methods were examined for coatings deposited from only oxide starting materials. Off-line laser conditioning consists of raster scanning a mirror past a 1 mm diameter Gaussian beam over the entire clear aperture; a process that takes approximately 24 hours per scan. On-line laser conditioning consisted of a large aperture 300 mm x 300 mm beam from the Beamlet laser that irradiated the entire full clear aperture of a series of mirrors; a process that was limited by a 2-4 hour shot rate. In both cases a six-step process was used with the mirror first irradiated at a low fluence, then successively higher fluences increased in equal increments up to the peak laser operating fluence. Mirrors that were only partially laser conditioned damaged catastrophically while fully conditioned mirrors survived fluences exceeding the safe operating Beamlet fluence. An alternative off-line laser conditioning method was examined for coatings deposited from hafnia or metallic hafnium sources. Single-step laser conditioning consists of off-line raster scanning an optic at the peak operating fluence, thus decreasing the laser conditioning cost by reducing the number of scans and required laser conditioning stations to process all the mirrors for the National Ignition Facility. Between pulses the optic is stepped approximately one fourth of the l/e* Gaussian beam diameter so each area of the coating is irradiated by different segments of the beam starting at a low fluence at the outer edge of the beam diameter and increasing to the peak fluence in the center of the beam. The one-step conditioning results appear positive, but the influence of the coating improvements due to the metallic hafnium process on laser conditioning is undefined

Elements Discrimination in the Study of Super-Heavy Elements using an Ionization Chamber

Dedicated ionization chamber was built and installed to measure the energy loss of very heavy nuclei at 2.7 MeV/u produced in fusion reactions in inverse kinematics (beam of 208Pb). After going through the ionization chamber, products of reactions on 12C, 18O targets are implanted in a Si detector. Their identification through their alpha decay chain is ambiguous when their half-life is short. After calibration with Pb and Th nuclei, the ionization chamber signal allowed us to resolve these ambiguities. In the search for rare super-heavy nuclei produced in fusion reactions in inverse or symmetric kinematics, such a chamber will provide direct information on the nuclear charge of each implanted nucleus.Comment: submitted to NIMA, 10 pages+4 figures, Latex, uses elsart.cls and grahpic