Efficiency of single seed descent and early selection in the breeding of self-fertilizing crops

Two selection procedures are examined and compared in the breeding for quantitative traits in self -fertilizing crops. They represent two more or less extreme breeding schemes: a) Early Selection (ES), with early generation cross selection, followed by line selection. The cross selection is based on F 3 estimates of the relevant genetic parameters predicting the distribution of F∞inbred lines; b) Single Seed Descent (SSD), where a quick advancement towards the F 5 is combined with line selection only in the F 6 . Both field trials and computer simulation studies show that the early cross selection is not an efficient way of breeding. Cross prediction will often be erroneous due to severe bias on estimates of the genetic parameters. This bias is caused by non-additive genetic effects, environmental errors and, especially, intergenotypic competition. The procedure of single seed descent can produce superior inbred lines in a more consistent, cheaper and faster way. It appears though that, with maximum input, ES may produce better lines than SSD. Which procedure is more preferable therefore depends on the effort the plant breeder is willing to spend on a relatively small genetic gain

Optimal stride frequencies in running at different speeds

During running at a constant speed, the optimal stride frequency (SF) can be derived from the u-shaped relationship between SF and heart rate (HR). Changing SF towards the optimum of this relationship is beneficial for energy expenditure and may positively change biomechanics of running. In the current study, the effects of speed on the optimal SF and the nature of the u-shaped relation were empirically tested using Generalized Estimating Equations. To this end, HR was recorded from twelve healthy (4 males, 8 females) inexperienced runners, who completed runs at three speeds. The three speeds were 90%, 100% and 110% of self-selected speed. A self-selected SF (SFself) was determined for each of the speeds prior to the speed series. The speed series started with a free-chosen SF condition, followed by five imposed SF conditions (SFself, 70, 80, 90, 100 strides·min-1) assigned in random order. The conditions lasted 3 minutes with 2.5 minutes of walking in between. SFself increased significantly (p<0.05) with speed with averages of 77, 79, 80 strides·min-1 at 2.4, 2.6, 2.9 m·s-1, respectively). As expected, the relation between SF and HR could be described by a parabolic curve for all speeds. Speed did not significantly affect the curvature, nor did it affect optimal SF. We conclude that over the speed range tested, inexperienced runners may not need to adapt their SF to running speed. However, since SFself were lower than the SFopt of 83 strides·min-1, the runners could reduce HR by increasing their SFself

Does Intraoperative Cell Salvage Reduce Postoperative Infection Rates in Cardiac Surgery?

Objective: Primary outcome was the risk for infections after cell salvage in cardiac surgery. Design: Data of a randomized controlled trial on cell salvage and filter use (ISRCTN58333401). Setting: Six cardiac surgery centers in the Netherlands. Participants: All 716 patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting, valve surgery, or combined procedures over a 4-year period who completed the trial. Interventions: Postoperative infection data were assessed according to Centre of Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network surveillance definitions. Measurements and Main Results: Fifty-eight (15.9%) patients with cell salvage had infections, compared with 46 (13.1%) control patients. Mediation analysis was performed to estimate the direct effect of cell salvage on infections (OR 2.291 [1.177;4.460], p = 0.015) and the indirect effects of allogeneic transfusion and processed cell salvage blood on infections. Correction for confounders, including age, seks and body mass index was performed. Allogeneic transfusion had a direct effect on infections (OR = 2.082 [1.133;3.828], p = 0.018), but processed cell salvage blood did not (OR = 0.999 [0.999; 1.001], p = 0.089). There was a positive direct effect of cell salvage on allogeneic transfusion (OR = 0.275 [0.176;0.432], p < 0.001), but a negative direct effect of processed cell salvage blood (1.001 [1.001;1.002], p < 0.001) on allogeneic transfusion. Finally, there was a positive direct effect of cell salvage on the amount of processed blood. Conclusions: Cell salvage was directly associated with higher infection rates, but this direct effect was almost completely eliminated by its indirect protective effect through reduced allogeneic blood transfusion

An adaptive, real-time cadence algorithm for unconstrained sensor placement

This paper evaluates a new and adaptive real-time cadence detection algorithm (CDA) for unconstrained sensor placement during walking and running. Conventional correlation procedures, dependent on sensor position and orientation, may alternately detect either steps or strides and consequently suffer from false negatives or positives. To overcome this limitation, the CDA validates correlation peaks as strides using the Sylvester's criterion (SC). This paper compares the CDA with conventional correlation methods.22 volunteers completed 7 different circuits (approx. 140 m) at three gaits-speeds: walking (1.5 m s- 1), running (3.4 m s- 1), and sprinting (5.2 and 5.7 m s- 1), disturbed by various gait-related activities. The algorithm was simultaneously evaluated for 10 different sensor positions. Reference strides were obtained from a foot sensor using a dedicated offline algorithm.The described algorithm resulted in consistent numbers of true positives (85.6-100.0%) and false positives (0.0-2.9%) and showed to be consistently accurate for cadence feedback across all circuits, subjects and sensors (mean ± SD: 98.9 ± 0.2%), compared to conventional cross-correlation (87.3 ± 13.5%), biased (73.0 ± 16.2) and unbiased (82.2 ± 20.6) autocorrelation procedures.This study shows that the SC significantly improves cadence detection, resulting in robust results for various gaits, subjects and sensor positions

Complexity Reduction of Polymorphic Sequences (CRoPS™): A Novel Approach for Large-Scale Polymorphism Discovery in Complex Genomes

Application of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is revolutionizing human bio-medical research. However, discovery of polymorphisms in low polymorphic species is still a challenging and costly endeavor, despite widespread availability of Sanger sequencing technology. We present CRoPS™ as a novel approach for polymorphism discovery by combining the power of reproducible genome complexity reduction of AFLP® with Genome Sequencer (GS) 20/GS FLX next-generation sequencing technology. With CRoPS, hundreds-of-thousands of sequence reads derived from complexity-reduced genome sequences of two or more samples are processed and mined for SNPs using a fully-automated bioinformatics pipeline. We show that over 75% of putative maize SNPs discovered using CRoPS are successfully converted to SNPWave® assays, confirming them to be true SNPs derived from unique (single-copy) genome sequences. By using CRoPS, polymorphism discovery will become affordable in organisms with high levels of repetitive DNA in the genome and/or low levels of polymorphism in the (breeding) germplasm without the need for prior sequence information

Технология извлечения структур знаний с использованием аппарата расширенных семантических сетей

В статье рассматривается задача извлечения из текстов естественного языка структур знаний: информационных объектов («именованных сущностей»), их свойств, связей и фактов участия в действиях. Для этих целей разработан инструментарий: язык представления знаний (расширенные семантические сети – РСС) и их обработки (язык преобразования структур – ДЕКЛ). На этой основе созданы технологии, которые обладают следующими особенностями. Из текстов извлекаются не отдельные объекты (именованные сущности), а структуры знаний, представляющие связи объектов и их участие в действиях и событиях. Для извлечения структур знаний разработан уникальный семантико-ориентированный лингвистический процессор (ЛП), осуществляющий глубинный анализ текстов ЕЯ и выявляющий десятки типов объектов вместе с их структурами. Процессор ЛП управляется лингвистическими знаниями, представляющими собой декларативные структуры и обеспечивающие быструю настройку ЛП на предметную область и язык. Основой лингвистических знаний являются правила, обладающие высокой степенью избирательности при выявлении объектов («сущностей»), средствами устранения коллизий при их применении. Это позволяет минимизировать шумы и потери.У статті розглядається задача знайдення у текстах природної мови структур знань: інформаційних об’єктів («іменованих сутностей»), їх якостей зв’язків і фактів участі у діях. Для цих цілей розроблений інструментарій: мова представлення знань (розширені семантичні мережі – РСМ) та їх обробки (мова перетворення структур – ДЕКЛ). На цій основі створені технології, що мають наступні особливості. З тестів виділяються не окремі об’єкти (іменовані сутності), а структури знань, що представляють зв’язки об’єктів та їх участь у діях та подіях. З метою виділення структур знань розроблений винятковий семантико-орієнтований лінгвістичний процесор (ЛП), що здійснює глибинний аналіз текстів ЕЯ та виявляє десятки типів об’єктів разом з їх структурами. Процесор ЛП керується лінгвістичними знаннями, які представляють собою декларативні структури та забезпечують швидке настроювання ЛП на предметну сферу та мову. Основою лінгвістичних знань є правила, що мають високий ступінь вибірковості при виявленні об’єктів («сутностей»), засобами усунення колізій при їхньому використанні. Це дозволяє мінімізувати шуми та втрати.The paper is devoted to the extracting of knowledge structures from the natural language texts, i.e. information objects (“Named Entities”), their features, relationships, and participation in the actions and events. For this purpose, the language used for knowledge representation (extended semantic networks/ESN) and tools for processing (language for structure conversion LSC) are considered. On this base, the new technologies are proposed. These technologies have the following features: extraction from the texts of knowledge structures that represent the links of named entities and their participation in actions and events. For the knowledge extraction the unique semantic-oriented language processor (LP) are designed. Processor LP provides the deep analysis of NL-texts and revealing set of objects together with their structures. Processor LP is controlled by the linguistic knowledge, which are declarative structures (on ESN) and which provides the quick tuning of LP on subject area and language, both Russian and English

Monitoringplan Deltaprogramma Waddengebied : advies voor het toekostbestendig maken van het monitoringsysteem voor waterveilidheid in het Waddengebied

Het Waddengebied krijgt de komende eeuw te maken met klimaatverandering. Naarmate de zeespiegel verder stijgt, vraagt het intergetijdengebied van de Waddenzee meer zand en onttrekt dat naar verwachting aan de buitendelta’s en de eilandkusten. Het is dan de vraag of het meegroeivermogen van het gebied voldoende is om de zeespiegelstijging bij te houden