Signals of predation-induced directional and disruptive selection in the threespine stickleback

Background: Different predation regimes may exert divergent selection pressure on phenotypes and their associated genotypes. Threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus have a suite of bony structures, which have been shown to be an effective defence against predation and have a well-known genetic basis. Question: Do different predator regimes induce different selective pressures on growth rates and defence phenotypes in threespine stickleback between different habitats across distinct age classes? Hypothesis: In the presence of predation-induced selection, we expect diverging morphological responses between populations experiencing either low or high predation pressure. Study system: Threespine stickleback were sampled from two natural but recently established populations in an invasive range. One site has a high density of fish and insect predators, while at the other site predation pressure is low. Methods: We inferred predator-induced selection on defence traits by comparing the distribution of size classes, defence phenotypes, and an armour-related genotype between different age classes in a high and a low predation regime. Results: Under high predation, there are indications of directional selection for faster growth, whereas lateral plate phenotypes and associated genotypes show indications for disruptive selection. Heterozygotes at the Eda-gene have a lower survival rate than either homozygote. Neither pattern is evident in the low predation regime. Conclusion: Potential evolutionary responses to divergent predation pressures between sites are apparent in a recently established system

Electroweak radiative corrections to deep-inelastic neutrino scattering - implications for NuTeV ?

We calculate the O(alpha) electroweak corrections to charged- and neutral-current deep-inelastic neutrino scattering off an isoscalar target. The full one-loop-corrected cross sections, including hard photonic corrections, are evaluated and compared to an earlier result which was used in the NuTeV analysis. In particular, we compare results that differ in input-parameter scheme, treatment of real photon radiation and factorization scheme. The associated shifts in the theoretical prediction for the ratio of neutral- and charged-current cross sections can be larger than the experimental accuracy of the NuTeV result.Comment: 19 pages late

Property-Based Testing - The ProTest Project

The ProTest project is an FP7 STREP on property based testing. The purpose of the project is to develop software engineering approaches to improve reliability of service-oriented networks; support fault-finding and diagnosis based on specified properties of the system. And to do so we will build automated tools that will generate and run tests, monitor execution at run-time, and log events for analysis. The Erlang / Open Telecom Platform has been chosen as our initial implementation vehicle due to its robustness and reliability within the telecoms sector. It is noted for its success in the ATM telecoms switches by Ericsson, one of the project partners, as well as for multiple other uses such as in facebook, yahoo etc. In this paper we provide an overview of the project goals, as well as detailing initial progress in developing property based testing techniques and tools for the concurrent functional programming language Erlang

Vacancy complexes with oversized impurities in Si and Ge

In this paper we examine the electronic and geometrical structure of impurity-vacancy complexes in Si and Ge. Already Watkins suggested that in Si the pairing of Sn with the vacancy produces a complex with the Sn-atom at the bond center and the vacancy split into two half vacancies on the neighboring sites. Within the framework of density-functional theory we use two complementary ab initio methods, the pseudopotential plane wave (PPW) method and the all-electron Kohn-Korringa-Rostoker (KKR) method, to investigate the structure of vacancy complexes with 11 different sp-impurities. For the case of Sn in Si, we confirm the split configuration and obtain good agreement with EPR data of Watkins. In general we find that all impurities of the 5sp and 6sp series in Si and Ge prefer the split-vacancy configuration, with an energy gain of 0.5 to 1 eV compared to the substitutional complex. On the other hand, impurities of the 3sp and 4sp series form a (slightly distorted) substitutional complex. Al impurities show an exception from this rule, forming a split complex in Si and a strongly distorted substitutional complex in Ge. We find a strong correlation of these data with the size of the isolated impurities, being defined via the lattice relaxations of the nearest neighbors.Comment: 8 pages, 4 bw figure

Systemdynamische Betrachtungen zur Sturzdynamik und -prophylaxe: Entwicklung eines deterministischen Modells

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Stürze älterer Personen ist derzeit eine große Public-Health-Herausforderung. Da Instrumente zur Erkennung sturzgefährdeter Personen wenig genaue Vorhersagen machen, wurde ein deterministisches systemdynamisches Modell der Sturzdynamik entwickelt. Methoden: Unter Verwendung bekannter Sturzrisikofaktoren, quantitativer Forschungsergebnisse und Abschätzungen, Ursachen- und Wirkbeziehungen wurde ein deterministisches Modell simuliert. Ergebnisse: Grundvoraussetzungen für Stürze sind Bewegung oder Bewegungsabsichten ("Mobilität im Alltag"), ein Sturzrisiko und ein Ungleichgewicht zwischen Gehanforderungen und Gehfähigkeit. Kraft, Koordination und Gleichgewicht wurden als Speichergrößen definiert und Ursache-Wirkungs-Zusammenhänge ins Modell integriert. Zahlreiche andere bekannte Sturzrisikofaktoren wurden ins Modell aufgenommen und quantifiziert. Die Simulation einer Fixierung zeigte, dass die Sturzwahrscheinlichkeit unmittelbar nach der Fixierung erhöht ist. Das Modell zeigt in der Simulation systemdynamische Aspekte wie Verzögerung, Rückkoppelung und Nicht-Linearität. Schlussfolgerung: Mit Hilfe der Systemdynamik konnte ein deterministisches systemdynamisches Modell der Sturzdynamik und -prophylaxe für eine Pflegeheimpopulation unter Einbeziehung bekannter Sturzrisikofaktoren entwickelt werden, das von Praktikern als plausibel beurteilt wird und das "richtungssicher" reagier

Effect of organic amendments on herbicide sorption as related to the nature of the dissolved organic matter

It has been assessed the influence of four organic amendments (OA) consisting of two commercial humic amendments (liquid LF and solid SF) from olive-mill wastes, a solid urban waste (SUW), and a sewage sludge (SS) on the sorption properties and leaching potential of simazine and 2,4-D. A sandy soil (TR) and a sandy-clay soil with a relatively high montmorillonite content (A) were treated with the diverse OA. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) was extracted from the amendments, the soils, and the amended soils and studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. A humification index (HIX) was calculated from the fluorescence data. Sorption was determined with the batch technique. Spectroscopical studies revealed that the DOM of the LF differs from the other OA by having a very low ability to absorb and to fluoresce and by its very low HIX values, which indicates that the LF contains large amounts of nonhumified material and consists of small molecules. On the other hand, the SF amendment contains the highest amounts of highly humified material and a large number of carboxylic groups. Amended soils sorbed simazine and 2,4-D to a greater extent than the untreated soils, except in the case of simazine sorption in the LF amended soil A, which had a lower simazine sorption than the original soil. The small molecules of DOM in the LF compete with simazine for montmorillonite sorption sites in soil A. This is not the case for 2,4-D, since this herbicide does not sorb on montmorillonite. In the case of the soil TR, with a lower montmorillonite content, there is no competition between simazine and the LF molecules for sorption sites. Soils amended with the highly humified SF were the best sorbents for simazine but not for 2,4-D, which can be attributed to repulsion between negatively charged 2,4-D molecules and COOgroups, which are more abundant in SF.This project has been supported by Junta de Andalucía through Research group 4092, CICYT through AMB96-0445- CO2-O2, the Deutsher Akademischer Austauschdienst and Ministerio de Educación y Cultura through Acciones Integradas HA98-0072, and by the European Science Foundation within its Groundwater Pollution Program (G-Poll). Municipal treatment plant EMASESA is also acknowledged for providing the sewage sludge.Peer Reviewe

Severe Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis and Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Overlap Syndrome Treated with Benralizumab: A Case Report

TEN/DRESS overlap syndrome can be difficult to diagnose, especially if it is masked by comorbidities in critically ill patients in intensive care units. The existing therapy for the two conditions is also a major challenge for the treating team. A possible alternative, especially for refractory cases, is benralizumab as an IL-5-receptor alpha-chain-specific humanized monoclonal antibody (IgG1k). We are able to show a successful treatment in this case report

THE ACCUSED IS ENTERING THE COURTROOM: THE LIVE-TWEETING OF A MURDER TRIAL.

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThe use of social media is now widely accepted within journalism as an outlet for news information. Live tweeting of unfolding events is standard practice. In March 2014, Oscar Pistorius went on trial in the Gauteng High Court for murder. Hundreds of journalists present began live-tweeting coverage, an unprecedented combination of international interest, permission to use technology and access which resulted in massive streams of consciousness reports of events as they unfolded. Based on a corpus of Twitter feeds of twenty-four journalists covering the trial, this study analyses the content and strategies of these feeds in order to present an understanding of how microblogging is used as a live reporting tool. This study shows the development of standardised language and strategies in reporting on Twitter, concluding that journalists adopt a narrow range of approaches, with no significant variation in terms of gender, location, or medium. This is in contrast to earlier studies in the field (Awad, 2006, Hedman, 2015; Kothari, 2010; Lariscy, Avery, Sweetser, & Howes, 2009 Lasorsa, 2012; Lasorsa, Lewis, & Holton, 2011; Sigal, 1999, Vis, 2013).Peer reviewe

Observation of the onset of strong scattering on high frequency acoustic phonons in densified silica glass

The linewidth of longitudinal acoustic waves in densified silica glass is obtained by inelastic x-ray scattering. It increases with a high power alpha of the frequency up to a crossover where the waves experience strong scattering. We find that \alpha is at least 4, and probably larger. Resonance and hybridization of acoustic waves with the boson-peak modes seems to be a more likely explanation for these findings than Rayleigh scattering from disorder.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter