First detection of kobuvirus in farm animals in Brazil and the Netherlands.

Animal kobuviruses have been described in pigs, cattle, sheep and bats in countries in Asia and Europe. The virus can be detected in fecal and serum samples of infected animals with or without diarrhea, but most of the clinical as well as epidemiological features of kobuvirus infection are still unknown. This study reports the first detection of kobuvirus in farm animals from Brazil and the Netherlands and the molecular analysis of the detected strains. In Brazil, 53% (61/115) of the pigs (suckling, weaned and sows) were shedding porcine kobuvirus in feces, while in the Netherlands 16.7% (3/18) of the tested weaned pigs were infected. Kobuviruses detected in fecal samples of pigs in Brazil showed association (p = 0.0002) with diarrhea. In pig serum, kobuvirus was detected at different ages (3, 21, 36, 60, 75, and 180 days), with an overall rate of 76.7% (23/30). The sequencing of amplicons detected in serum of pigs of different ages suggested reinfection and no persistent infection. Kobuvirus was also detected in sheep and cattle feces from Brazil and the Netherlands, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses of Brazilian and Dutch kobuviruses from pig, cattle and sheep revealed genetic variability, particularly in one strain detected in sheep feces, which was more closely related to human Aichi virus. The molecular and phylogenetic analyses performed with other published kobuvirus strains and the strains presented in this study, showed that, in most of the cases, kobuvirus seems to group according to host species, but not to geographical region of origin. The data presented in this study contribute to the comprehension of kobuvirus epidemiology and also to the molecular identification of kobuvirus strains circulating worldwide

A high order qq-difference equation for qq-Hahn multiple orthogonal polynomials

A high order linear $q$-difference equation with polynomial coefficients having $q$-Hahn multiple orthogonal polynomials as eigenfunctions is given. The order of the equation is related to the number of orthogonality conditions that these polynomials satisfy. Some limiting situations when $q\to1$ are studied. Indeed, the difference equation for Hahn multiple orthogonal polynomials given in \cite{Lee} is corrected and obtained as a limiting case

Global nitrogen and phosphate in urban wastewater for the period 1970 to 2050

This paper presents estimates for global N and P emissions from sewage for the period 1970-2050 for the four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios. Using country-specific projections for population and economic growth, urbanization, development of sewage systems, and wastewater treatment installations, a rapid increase in global sewage emissions is predicted, from 6.4 Tg of N and 1.3 Tg of P per year in 2000 to 12.0-15.5 Tg of N and 2.4-3.1 Tg of P per year in 2050. While North America (strong increase), Oceania (moderate increase), Europe (decrease), and North Asia (decrease) show contrasting developments, in the developing countries, sewage N and P discharge will likely increase by a factor of 2.5 to 3.5 between 2000 and 2050. This is a combined effect of increasing population, urbanization, and development of sewage systems. Even in optimistic scenarios for the development of wastewater treatment systems, global N and P flows are not likely to declin

Fine-grained timing using genetic programming

In previous work, we have demonstrated that it is possible to use Genetic Programming to minimise the resource consumption of software, such as its power consumption or execution time. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which Genetic Programming can be used to gain fine-grained control over software timing. We introduce the ideas behind our work, and carry out experimentation to find that Genetic Programming is indeed able to produce software with unusual and desirable timing properties, where it is not obvious how a manual approach could replicate such results. In general, we discover that Genetic Programming is most effective in controlling statistical properties of software rather than precise control over its timing for individual inputs. This control may find useful application in cryptography and embedded systems

Genetic Improvement of Livestock for Organic Farming Systems

Organic farming which experienced a constant rise over the last two decades is a system based on sustainability and on a concept tending towards functional integrity. Legislation as well as the wish to produce separately from conventional farming raise the question whether organic farming should be conducted completely apart from conventional farming or not. This paper discusses the aspects that affect animal breeding under these circumstances, e.g., maintaining genetic diversity by using local breeds and possible G×E interactions which might occur when breeds adapted to conventional farming systems are used in organic farming. Ways of modelling G×E are presented, moreover examples of G×E in dairy cattle, swine, and poultry are given. Trends in selection index theory–designing multi-trait breeding goals including functional traits on one hand, and developing methods for using customised selection indices on the other hand–support breeding work for organic farming systems. It is concluded that before the technical issues can be addressed, all parties involved, farmers, consumers as well as legislators, have to agree on the socio-cultural conditions under which organic farming should be conducted

N:P:Si nutrient export ratios and ecological consequences in coastal seas evaluated by the ICEP approach

The Indicator for Coastal Eutrophication Potential (ICEP) for river nutrient export of nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica at the global scale was first calculated from available measurement data. Positive values of ICEP indicate an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus over silica and generally coincide with eutrophication. The sign of ICEP based on measured nutrient fluxes was in good agreement with the corresponding one calculated from the Global-NEWS models for more than 5000 watersheds in the world. Calculated ICEP for the year 2050 based on Global NEWS data for the four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios show increasing values particularly in developing countries. For further evaluation of the ICEP at the outlet of the rivers of the world based on measurements, there is a need for additional determination silica fluxes and concentrations, which are scarcely documented

Suppression and enhancement of the critical current in multiterminal S/N/S mesoscopic structures

We analyse the measured critical current $I_{m\text{}}$ in a mesoscopic 4-terminal S/N/S structure. The current through the S/N interface is shown to consist not only of the Josephson component $I_{c}\sin \phi ,$ but also a phase-coherent part $I_{sg}\cos \phi$ of the subgap current. The current $I_{m}$ is determined by the both components $I_{c}$ and $I_{sg},$ and depends in a nonmonotonic way on the voltage $V$ between superconductors and normal reservoirs reaching a maximum at $V\cong \Delta /e$. The obtained theoretical resultas are in qualitative agreement with recent experimental data.Comment: 4 page, 3 figures. To be puplished in PRB Rapid co

High Temperature Electron Localization in dense He Gas

We report new accurate mesasurements of the mobility of excess electrons in high density Helium gas in extended ranges of temperature $[(26\leq T\leq 77) K ]$ and density $[ (0.05\leq N\leq 12.0) {atoms} \cdot {nm}^{-3}]$ to ascertain the effect of temperature on the formation and dynamics of localized electron states. The main result of the experiment is that the formation of localized states essentially depends on the relative balance of fluid dilation energy, repulsive electron-atom interaction energy, and thermal energy. As a consequence, the onset of localization depends on the medium disorder through gas temperature and density. It appears that the transition from delocalized to localized states shifts to larger densities as the temperature is increased. This behavior can be understood in terms of a simple model of electron self-trapping in a spherically symmetric square well.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure

Low creep and hysteresis silicon load cell based on a force-to-liquid pressure transformation

Important problems in load cells are creep and hysteresis. Expensive high grade steels are used in order to reduce these effects. In this paper a silicon load cell design is presented which is based on a force-to-liquid-pressure transformation. The design is insensitive to hysteresis and creep, can be made at very low costs and is able to measure loads up to 1000 kg with an accuracy of 0.03 %. Analytical, numerical and experimental results on a macroscopic steel load cell are in very close agreement with each other