A New Approach for Bounding Awards in Bankruptcy Problems

The solution for the "Contested Garment Problem" proposed in the BabylonicTalmud, one of the most important sources of inspiration for solving situations where demand overcomes supply of some resources, suggests that each agent should receive at least some part of the available amount when facing these situations. Thisidea has been underlied the theoretical analysis of bankruptcy problems from its beginning (O'Neill, 1982) to present day (Dominguez and Thomsom, 2006). In this context, starting from the fact that a society establishes its own set of "Commonly Accepted Equity Principles", we propose a new award bound by providing each agent her minimum amount according to all the admissible bankruptcy rules for such a society. Moreover, we analyze the recursive application of this new bound, since it will not exhaust the resources, in general.Bankruptcy problems, bankruptcy rules, lower bound, recursive process.

Integrated Management of Fusarium Wilt Diseases

The integrated management concept is one of the fundamental paradigms that have emerged in crop protection in the last 50 yrs and yet a matter for legislation as exemplified by the European Union that recently has establishes the integrated management as the fundamental procedure for the management of crop diseases, pests and weeds. However, the integrated management is not a panacea for the control of plant diseases. It is an ecology-based approach aiming minimizing damage caused by diseases through ‘the combined use of all available disease control measures, either simultaneously or in a sequence, through actions taken prior and after establishing the crop’. In this chapter, we propose and develop a strategy for the integrated management for Fusarium wilts, one of the most devastating and challenging type of diseases impairing agricultural production worldwide,, based on the: (i) use of pathogen-free planting material; (ii) site selection to avoid planting into high risk soils; (iii) reduction or elimination of F. oxysporum inoculum in soil; (iv) use of biocontrol agents for protection of healthy planting material from infection by resident or incoming inoculum subsequent to planting; (v) use of resistant cultivars regardless the level of resistance; and (vi) choice of cropping practices to avoid conditions favouring infection of the plant. The integrated management of Fusarium wilt diseases is difficult because complexities of target pathosystems are overlaid on the inherent complexities of the management strategy itself. Much research is still needed on population biology and genetic diversity in Fusarium wilt pathogens, disease risk prediction, disease-incidence-yield losses relationships, biological control, biotechnological breeding for disease resistance. On top of difficulties pointed out above, the practice of integrated management requires involvement of well-trained professional plant pathologists able to implement the tenets of the concept at the local level, as well as to incorporate into decision-making framework new knowledge and technologies that may be developed from scientific research. As the demand has increased for knowledgeable practitioners capable of integrating multifaceted controls in rigorous IDM programs, institutional support has declined through declining or even vanishing University education in Plant Pathology and the loss of extension-related activities in commercial agriculture. Erosion at the top of the trickle-down structure responsible for knowledge transfer to the field is one of the most serious threats to IDM

High-Throughput System for the Early Quantification of Major Architectural Traits in Olive Breeding Trials Using UAV Images and OBIA Techniques

The need for the olive farm modernization have encouraged the research of more efficient crop management strategies through cross-breeding programs to release new olive cultivars more suitable for mechanization and use in intensive orchards, with high quality production and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The advancement of breeding programs are hampered by the lack of efficient phenotyping methods to quickly and accurately acquire crop traits such as morphological attributes (tree vigor and vegetative growth habits), which are key to identify desirable genotypes as early as possible. In this context, an UAV-based high-throughput system for olive breeding program applications was developed to extract tree traits in large-scale phenotyping studies under field conditions. The system consisted of UAV-flight configurations, in terms of flight altitude and image overlaps, and a novel, automatic, and accurate object-based image analysis (OBIA) algorithm based on point clouds, which was evaluated in two experimental trials in the framework of a table olive breeding program, with the aim to determine the earliest date for suitable quantifying of tree architectural traits. Two training systems (intensive and hedgerow) were evaluated at two very early stages of tree growth: 15 and 27 months after planting. Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) were automatically and accurately generated by the algorithm as well as every olive tree identified, independently of the training system and tree age. The architectural traits, specially tree height and crown area, were estimated with high accuracy in the second flight campaign, i.e. 27 months after planting. Differences in the quality of 3D crown reconstruction were found for the growth patterns derived from each training system. These key phenotyping traits could be used in several olive breeding programs, as well as to address some agronomical goals. In addition, this system is cost and time optimized, so that requested architectural traits could be provided in the same day as UAV flights. This high-throughput system may solve the actual bottleneck of plant phenotyping of "linking genotype and phenotype," considered a major challenge for crop research in the 21st century, and bring forward the crucial time of decision making for breeders

Supported Co catalysts prepared as thin films by magnetron sputtering for sodium borohydride and ammonia borane hydrolysis

Supported Co catalysts were prepared for sodium borohydride and ammonia borane hydrolysis by magnetron sputtering for the first time under different conditions. Ni foam was selected as support. Deposition conditions (time, pressure, and power) were varied to improve catalytic activity. A decrease in deposition power from 200 to 50 W, leads to a decrease in crystallite and column size and a higher activity of catalysts. The increase in deposition pressure from 1.5 × 10−2 to 4.5 × 10−2 mbar produces same effect but in this case the enhancement in activity is higher because amorphous materials were obtained. The highest activity for SB hydrolysis was 2650 ml min−1 gcat−1 for the 50 W Co 4.5 (4 h) sample (Ea = 60 ± 2 kJ mol−1). For AB hydrolysis activity for the 50 W Co 3.2 (4 h) sample was similar. Durability of the thin films was tested for both reactions upon cycling (14 cycles). Diluted acid washing was effective to recover the activity for sodium borohydride reaction but not for ammonia borane hydrolysis. The strong Co–NH3 interactions explain the non-efficiency of the acid washing

Deactivation, reactivation and memoryeffect on Co–B catalyst for sodium borohydride hydrolysis operating in high conversion conditions

9 páginasA system with a continuous reactor to produce hydrogen by sodium borohydride hydrolysis was designed and built. The purpose was to test a supported Co–B catalyst durability upon cycling and long life experiments in high conversion conditions. A Stainless Steel monolith was built and calcined to improve adherence. For comparison a Ru–B catalyst was tested upon cycling. Both Co–B and Ru–B catalysts are durable during 6 cycles and then deactivate. A known reactivation procedure has proven to be more effective for the Co–B than for the Ru–B catalyst. This is related to stronger adsorption of B–O based compounds on the Co–B catalyst which is reversible upon acid washing. For the Ru–B catalyst deactivation may be more related to particle agglomeration than to the adsorption of B–O based species. The continuous system enlarges the catalysts durability because of the continuous borate elimination at elevated temperatures.Financial support from Abengoa Hidrógeno S.A., MICINN (Project CTQ2009-13440), “Junta de Andalucía” (TEP217) and the EC (CT-REGPOT-2011-1-285895, AL-NANOFUNC) is acknowledged. We thank to Dr. Angel Justo for the XRD measurementsPeer reviewe

Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ): psychometric properties of the Portuguese (Portugal) version

The Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ) assesses the strategies to control intrusive thoughts. In the present study we evaluated the factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to analyze its reliability. We also analyzed the convergent and divergent validity. A sample of 558 participants from the Portuguese community replied the TCQ, the Revised Intrusions Inventory, the White Bear Suppression Inventory, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. The CFA showed that the original five-factor model (Wells and Davies, 1994) produced an acceptable fit. However, fifteen items obtained factor loadings less than .40, whereby its reformulation would be advisable. The TCQ provided adequate levels of reliability and validity

Accidental catheter removal in critically ill patients: a prospective and observational study

INTRODUCTION: The importance of accidental catheter removal (ACR) lies in the complications caused by the removal itself and by catheter reinsertion. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have analyzed accidental removal of various types of catheters in the intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of the present study was to analyze the incidence of ACR for all types of catheters in the ICU. METHODS: This was a prospective and observational study, conducted in a 24-bed medical/surgical ICU in a university hospital. We included all consecutive patients admitted to the ICU over 18 months (1 May 2000 to 31 October 2001). The incidences of ACR for all types of catheters (both per 100 catheters and per 100 catheter-days) were determined. RESULTS: A total of 988 patients were included. There were no significant differences in ACR incidence between the four central venous access sites (peripheral, jugular, subclavian and femoral) or between the four arterial access sites (radial, femoral, pedal and humeral). However, the incidence of ACR was higher for arterial than for central venous catheters (1.12/100 catheter-days versus 2.02/100 catheter-days; P < 0.001). The incidences of ACR/100 nonvascular catheter-days were as follows: endotracheal tube 0.79; nasogastric tube 4.48; urinary catheter 0.32; thoracic drain 0.56; abdominal drain 0.67; and intraventricular brain drain 0.66. CONCLUSION: We found ACR incidences for central venous catheter, arterial catheter, endotracheal tube, nasogastric tube and urinary catheter that are similar to those reported in previous studies. We could not find studies that analyzed the ACR for thoracic, abdominal, intraventricular brain and cardiac surgical drains, but we believe that our rates are acceptable. To minimize ACR, it is necessary to monitor its incidence carefully and to implement preventive measures. In our view, according to establish quality standards, findings should be reported as ACR incidence per 100 catheters and per 100 catheter-days, for all types of catheters

Quantitative Analysis of differential phosphorylation in a PKC1 overexpression

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