121 research outputs found
Assimilation of SLA along track observations in the Mediterranean with an oceanographic model forced by atmospheric pressure
A large number of SLA observations at a high
along track horizontal resolution are an important ingredient
of the data assimilation in the Mediterranean Forecasting
System (MFS). Recently, new higher-frequency SLA products
have become available, and the atmospheric pressure
forcing has been implemented in the numerical model used
in the MFS data assimilation system. In a set of numerical experiments,
we show that, in order to obtain the most accurate
analyses, the ocean model should include the atmospheric
pressure forcing and the observations should contain the atmospheric
pressure signal. When the model is not forced
by the atmospheric pressure, the high-frequency filtering of
SLA observations, however, improves the quality of the SLA
analyses. It is further shown by comparing the power density
spectra of the model fields and observations that the model
is able to extract the correct information from noisy observations
even without their filtering during the pre-processing
A Biologically Plausible SOM Representation of the Orthographic Form of 50,000 French Words
International audienceRecently, an important aspect of human visual word recognition has been characterized. The letter position is encoded in our brain using an explicit representation of order based on letter pairs: the open-bigram coding [15]. We hypothesize that spelling has evolved in order to minimize reading errors. Therefore, word recognition using bigrams — instead of letters — should be more efficient. First, we study the influence of the size of the neighborhood, which defines the number of bigrams per word, on the performance of the matching between bigrams and word. Our tests are conducted against one of the best recognition solutions used today by the industry, which matches letters to words. Secondly, we build a cortical map representation of the words in the bigram space — which implies numerous experiments in order to achieve a satisfactory projection. Third, we develop an ultra-fast version of the self-organizing map in order to achieve learning in minutes instead of months
Caracterización morfofisiológica y molecular de hongos entomopatógenos asociados a Hypothenemus hampei en áreas cafetaleras de la comarca Ngäbe-Buglè.
La broca del café, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari)(Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) es la principal plaga del cultivo del café (Coffea spp.) y colonizó recientemente este cultivo en la comarca Ngäbe-Buglè.
Una de las alternativas de manejo de esta plaga es a través de sus enemigos naturales, por lo que el objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar morfofisiológica y molecularmente aislados de hongos entomopatógenos nativos, colectados en la comarca Ngäbe-Buglè y seleccionar los más promisorios, para su inclusión en programas de manejo agroecológico de plagas.
La identificación molecular se hizo mediante la secuenciación de la región del espaciador transcrito interno (ITS, del inglés Internal Transcribed Spacer) (ITS 1 y 2 incluyendo 5.8 S).
Se identificaron 13 aislados pertenecientes a Beauveria bassiana (Vullevein), y un aislado de Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom) Luangsa-ard, Hou- braken, Hywel-Jones & Samson.
Adicionalmente, se incluyĂł un aislado (RS-Ij006) de Isaria javanica (= Cordyceps javanica (Frieder. & Bally) Samson & Hywel-Jones) de la colecciĂłn de hongos entomopatĂłgenos del Laboratorio de EntomologĂa del IDIAP, David, para la determinaciĂłn de las caracterĂsticas morfolĂłgicas.
Para la determinaciĂłn de las caracterĂsticas morfolĂłgicas se utilizaron tres medios de cultivo: Papa-Dextrosa-Agar, Malta-Dextrosa Agar y Sabouraud-Dextrosa-Agar.
Se evaluĂł la mortalidad y se obtuvo el tiempo letal medio (TL50)).
Los mayores porcentajes de mortalidad de H. hampei, al dĂa 15 despuĂ©s de la inoculaciĂłn, se observaron con los aislamientos RS-Ij006 y D-Bb1400 con 100 %; seguidos por D-Bb1398 con 98.90 % y D-Bb1350 con 93.3 %.
Los menores registros del TL50 se obtuvieron con los aislados de D-1388 (Purpureocillium lilacinum) con 3.52 dĂas y RS-Ij006 con3.98 dĂas, seguidos por D-Bb1350 con 6.58 dĂas.
Los aislados a los que el insecto presentĂł menor susceptibilidad fueron D-1391,D-1399, D-Bb1397, D-Bb1412 y D-Bb1395, D-Bb1392, estos necesitaron más tiempo para alcanzar el 100 % de mortalidad de adultos de H. hampei y el TL50 fue superior a 11 dĂas
Masked suffix priming and morpheme positional constraints
Although masked stem priming (e.g., dealer\u2013DEAL) is one of the most established effects in visual word identification (e.g., Grainger et al., 1991), it is less clear whether primes and targets sharing a suffix (e.g., kindness\u2013WILDNESS) also yield facilitation (Giraudo & Grainger, 2003; Du\uf1abeitia et al., 2008). In a new take on this issue, we show that prime nonwords facilitate lexical decisions to target words ending with the same suffix (sheeter\uac\u2013TEACHER) compared to a condition where the critical suffix was substituted by another one (sheetal\u2013TEACHER) or by an unrelated non\u2013morphological ending (sheetub\u2013 TEACHER). We also show that this effect is genuinely morphological, as no priming emerged in non\u2013complex items with the same orthographic characteristics (sportel\u2013BROTHEL vs. sportic\u2013BROTHEL vs. sportur\u2013BROTHEL). In a further experiment, we took advantage of these results to assess whether suffixes are recognized in a position\u2013specific fashion. Masked suffix priming did not emerge when the relative order of stems and suffixes was reversed in the prime nonwords\u2014ersheet did not yield any time saving in the identification of teacher as compared to either alsheet or obsheet. We take these results to show that \u2013er was not identified as a morpheme in ersheet, thus indicating that suffix identification is position specific. This conclusion is in line with data on interference effects in nonword rejection (Crepaldi, Rastle, & Davis, 2010), and strongly constrains theoretical proposals on how complex words are identified. In particular, because these findings were reported in a masked priming paradigm, they suggest that positional constraints operate early, most likely at a pre\u2013lexical level of morpho\u2013orthographic analysi
Effect of Sex and Prior Exposure to a Cafeteria Diet on the Distribution of Sex Hormones between Plasma and Blood Cells
It is generally assumed that steroid hormones are carried in the blood free and/or bound to plasma proteins. We investigated whether blood cells were also able to bind/carry sex-related hormones: estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone. Wistar male and female rats were fed a cafeteria diet for 30 days, which induced overweight. The rats were fed the standard rat diet for 15 additional days to minimize the immediate effects of excess ingested energy. Controls were always kept on standard diet. After the rats were killed, their blood was used for 1) measuring plasma hormone levels, 2) determining the binding of labeled hormones to washed red blood cells (RBC), 3) incubating whole blood with labeled hormones and determining the distribution of label between plasma and packed cells, discounting the trapped plasma volume, 4) determining free plasma hormone using labeled hormones, both through membrane ultrafiltration and dextran-charcoal removal. The results were computed individually for each rat. Cells retained up to 32% estrone, and down to 10% of testosterone, with marked differences due to sex and diet (the latter only for estrogens, not for DHEA and testosterone). Sex and diet also affected the concentrations of all hormones, with no significant diet effects for estradiol and DHEA, but with considerable interaction between both factors. Binding to RBC was non-specific for all hormones. Estrogen distribution in plasma compartments was affected by sex and diet. In conclusion: a) there is a large non-specific RBC-carried compartment for estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone deeply affected by sex; b) Prior exposure to a cafeteria (hyperlipidic) diet induced hormone distribution changes, affected by sex, which hint at sex-related structural differences in RBC membranes; c) We postulate that the RBC compartment may contribute to maintain free (i.e., fully active) sex hormone levels in a way similar to plasma proteins non-specific binding
Effect of Sex and Prior Exposure to a Cafeteria Diet on the Distribution of Sex Hormones between Plasma and Blood Cells
It is generally assumed that steroid hormones are carried in the blood free and/or bound to plasma proteins. We investigated whether blood cells were also able to bind/carry sex-related hormones: estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone. Wistar male and female rats were fed a cafeteria diet for 30 days, which induced overweight. The rats were fed the standard rat diet for 15 additional days to minimize the immediate effects of excess ingested energy. Controls were always kept on standard diet. After the rats were killed, their blood was used for 1) measuring plasma hormone levels, 2) determining the binding of labeled hormones to washed red blood cells (RBC), 3) incubating whole blood with labeled hormones and determining the distribution of label between plasma and packed cells, discounting the trapped plasma volume, 4) determining free plasma hormone using labeled hormones, both through membrane ultrafiltration and dextran-charcoal removal. The results were computed individually for each rat. Cells retained up to 32% estrone, and down to 10% of testosterone, with marked differences due to sex and diet (the latter only for estrogens, not for DHEA and testosterone). Sex and diet also affected the concentrations of all hormones, with no significant diet effects for estradiol and DHEA, but with considerable interaction between both factors. Binding to RBC was non-specific for all hormones. Estrogen distribution in plasma compartments was affected by sex and diet. In conclusion: a) there is a large non-specific RBC-carried compartment for estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone deeply affected by sex; b) Prior exposure to a cafeteria (hyperlipidic) diet induced hormone distribution changes, affected by sex, which hint at sex-related structural differences in RBC membranes; c) We postulate that the RBC compartment may contribute to maintain free (i.e., fully active) sex hormone levels in a way similar to plasma proteins non-specific binding
Computational Approaches and Analysis for a Spatio-Structural-Temporal Invasive Carcinoma Model
Spatio-temporal models have long been used to describe biological systems of cancer, but it has not been until very recently that increased attention has been paid to structural dynamics of the interaction between cancer populations and the molecular mechanisms associated with local invasion. One system that is of particular interest is that of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) wherein uPA binds uPA receptors on the cancer cell surface, allowing plasminogen to be cleaved into plasmin, which degrades the extracellular matrix and this way leads to enhanced cancer cell migration. In this paper, we develop a novel numerical approach and associated analysis for spatio-structuro-temporal modelling of the uPA system for up to two-spatial and two-structural dimensions. This is accompanied by analytical exploration of the numerical techniques used in simulating this system, with special consideration being given to the proof of stability within numerical regimes encapsulating a central differences approach to approximating numerical gradients. The stability analysis performed here reveals instabilities induced by the coupling of the structural binding and proliferative processes. The numerical results expound how the uPA system aids the tumour in invading the local stroma, whilst the inhibitor to this system may impede this behaviour and encourage a more sporadic pattern of invasion.PostprintPeer reviewe
Receptor-Mediated Gonadotropin Action in Ovary
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66088/1/j.1432-1033.1981.tb05481.x.pd
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