New or Noteworthy Species of Flowering Plants from the Sierra Madre de Sur of Guerrero and Michoacán, Mexico

The Sierra Madre del Sur of Pacific coastal Mexico has been of limited accessibility and therefore not well explored botanically. Only G. B. Hinton and E. Langlasse have made significant collections from the area. More recent collections by the authors have resulted in the recognition of nine new species, described herein as follows: Acanthaceae—Elytraria rnexieana; Malvaceae—Bastardiastrurn batesii, Gossypiurn schwendirnanii, Hibiscus zygornorphus, Kosteletzkya flavicentrum, Periptera lobelioides, Sida fastuosa, and Sida prolifiea; and Tumeraceae—Piriquetia mexieana. Other species meriting specific comment include Dioseorea insignis (Dioscoreaceae), Anotea flavida (Malvaceae), and Helieteres rekoi (Sterculiaceae). Illustrations of the new species and a key to the described Mexican species of Elytraria are included

Anatomía comparada de la lámina foliar del género Distichlis (Poaceae)

Six species and 11 varieties of the genus Distichlis Raf. were compared anatomically. The taxa studied were: Distichlis australis (Speg.) Villamil; D. humilis Phil.; D. palmeri (Vasey) Fassett ex I.M. Johnst.; D. scoparia (Nees ex Kunth) Arechav. var. erinacea (Beetle) Nicora and var. scoparia; and D. spicata (L.) Greene, represented by the following eight varieties: var. borealis (J. Presl) Beetle, var. divaricata Beetle, var. mendocina (J. Presl) Hack., var. mexicana Beetle, var. nana Beetle, var. spicata, var. stolonifera Beetle and var. stricta (Torr.) Scribn. Also included were two taxa for which the anatomical information was taken from the literature: Distichlis laxiflora Hack. and Distichlis spicata var. distichophylla (Michx.) Beetle. Fourteen anatomical characters of taxonomic value were found, seven in cross section and seven in the epidermis as seen in surface view. Distichlis australis and D. palmeri were found to differ from all of the other species. Distichlis humilis, D. scoparia and D. spicata form an anatomically homogeneous group, but with characteristics that distinguish each of them. Within Distichlis spicata, no anatomical character or combination of characters was found that would justify the recognition of infraspecific taxa and/or segregate species. For this reason, these taxa are considered to be synonyms of D. spicata.Se hizo un estudio anatómico-sistemático de seis especies y 11 variedades del género Distichlis Raf. Los taxa incluidos fueron: D. australis (Speg.) Villamil; D. humilis Phil.; D. palmeri (Vasey) Fassett ex I. M. Johnst.; D. scoparia (Nees ex Kunth) Arechav. var. erinacea (Beetle) Nicora, y var. scoparia; y D. spicata (L.) Greene, esta última representada por las siguientes ocho variedades: var. borealis (J. Presl) Beetle, var. divaricata Beetle, var. mendocina (Phil.) Hack., var. mexicana Beetle, var. nana Beetle, var. spicata, var. stolonifera Beetle y var. stricta (Torr.) Scribn. Se incluyeron dos taxa cuya información anatómica fue extraída de la literatura: Distichlis laxiflora Hack. y Distichlis spicata var. distichophylla (Michx.) Beetle. Se encontraron 14 caracteres anatómicos considerados de valor taxonómico, siete en corte transversal y siete en vista superficial de la epidermis abaxial. Distichlis australis y D. palmeri difieren claramente del resto de las especies. Distichlis humilis, D. scoparia y D. spicata forman un grupo anatómicamente homogéneo pero con características que las hacen distintivas a cada una. Para Distichlis spicata, no se encontró ningún carácter o combinación de caracteres anatómicos con los cuales pueda separarse en distintos grupos. Por esta razón, las especies, subespecies y/o variedades propuestas por algunos autores para esta entidad se consideran sinónimos de D. spicata

Non-functional properties in the model-driven development of service-oriented systems

Systems based on the service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles have become an important cornerstone of the development of enterprise-scale software applications. They are characterized by separating functions into distinct software units, called services, which can be published, requested and dynamically combined in the production of business applications. Service-oriented systems (SOSs) promise high flexibility, improved maintainability, and simple re-use of functionality. Achieving these properties requires an understanding not only of the individual artifacts of the system but also their integration. In this context, non-functional aspects play an important role and should be analyzed and modeled as early as possible in the development cycle. In this paper, we discuss modeling of non-functional aspects of service-oriented systems, and the use of these models for analysis and deployment. Our contribution in this paper is threefold. First, we show how services and service compositions may be modeled in UML by using a profile for SOA (UML4SOA) and how non-functional properties of service-oriented systems can be represented using the non-functional extension of UML4SOA (UML4SOA-NFP) and the MARTE profile. This enables modeling of performance, security and reliable messaging. Second, we discuss formal analysis of models which respect this design, in particular we consider performance estimates and reliability analysis using the stochastically timed process algebra PEPA as the underlying analytical engine. Last but not least, our models are the source for the application of deployment mechanisms which comprise model-to-model and model-to-text transformations implemented in the framework VIATRA. All techniques presented in this work are illustrated by a running example from an eUniversity case study

Descripción de dos nuevas especies de Trialeurodes (Cockerell) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) y clave para las especies de México

Two new species of the whitefly genus Trialeurodes are described based on pupal case characteristics of specimens that were mounted on slides for microscopic examination. Trialeurodes amealcensis sp. nov. wascollected on Quercus in the states of Querétaro and Tlaxcala, the other species, Trialeurodes ipomoeae sp. nov. was found on Ipomoea arborescens (Humb. & Bonpl.) G. Don in the states of Morelos and Puebla. A key to the Mexican species of Trialeurodes and figures of described species are included.En el presente estudio se describen dos especies de mosca blanca del género Trialeurodes, con base en las características de sus cubiertas pupales en preparaciones en portaobjetos para microscopia óptica. Una de las especies corresponde a Trialeurodes amealcensis sp. nov., colectada en Quercus en los estados de Querétaro y Tlaxcala. La especie de Trialeurodes ipomoeae sp. nov. se encontró en Ipomoea arborescens (Humb. & Bonpl.) G. Don. en los estados de Morelos y Puebla. Se incluye una clave para la identificación de especies del género Trialeurodes de México y se proporcionan figuras de las especies descritas

Overview of the Kepler Science Processing Pipeline

The Kepler Mission Science Operations Center (SOC) performs several critical functions including managing the ~156,000 target stars, associated target tables, science data compression tables and parameters, as well as processing the raw photometric data downlinked from the spacecraft each month. The raw data are first calibrated at the pixel level to correct for bias, smear induced by a shutterless readout, and other detector and electronic effects. A background sky flux is estimated from ~4500 pixels on each of the 84 CCD readout channels, and simple aperture photometry is performed on an optimal aperture for each star. Ancillary engineering data and diagnostic information extracted from the science data are used to remove systematic errors in the flux time series that are correlated with these data prior to searching for signatures of transiting planets with a wavelet-based, adaptive matched filter. Stars with signatures exceeding 7.1 sigma are subjected to a suite of statistical tests including an examination of each star's centroid motion to reject false positives caused by background eclipsing binaries. Physical parameters for each planetary candidate are fitted to the transit signature, and signatures of additional transiting planets are sought in the residual light curve. The pipeline is operational, finding planetary signatures and providing robust eliminations of false positives.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Anti-Hyperon Enhancement through Baryon Junction Loops

The baryon junction exchange mechanism recently proposed to explain valence baryon number transport in nuclear collisions is extended to study midrapidity anti-hyperon production. Baryon junction-anti-junction (J anti-J) loops are shown to enhance anti-Lambda, anti-Xi, anti-Omega yields as well as lead to long range rapidity correlations. Results are compared to recent WA97 Pb + Pb -> Y + anti-Y + X data.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Modeling Kepler transit light curves as false positives: Rejection of blend scenarios for Kepler-9, and validation of Kepler-9d, a super-Earth-size planet in a multiple system

Light curves from the Kepler Mission contain valuable information on the nature of the phenomena producing the transit-like signals. To assist in exploring the possibility that they are due to an astrophysical false positive, we describe a procedure (BLENDER) to model the photometry in terms of a "blend" rather than a planet orbiting a star. A blend may consist of a background or foreground eclipsing binary (or star-planet pair) whose eclipses are attenuated by the light of the candidate and possibly other stars within the photometric aperture. We apply BLENDER to the case of Kepler-9, a target harboring two previously confirmed Saturn-size planets (Kepler-9b and Kepler-9c) showing transit timing variations, and an additional shallower signal with a 1.59-day period suggesting the presence of a super-Earth-size planet. Using BLENDER together with constraints from other follow-up observations we are able to rule out all blends for the two deeper signals, and provide independent validation of their planetary nature. For the shallower signal we rule out a large fraction of the false positives that might mimic the transits. The false alarm rate for remaining blends depends in part (and inversely) on the unknown frequency of small-size planets. Based on several realistic estimates of this frequency we conclude with very high confidence that this small signal is due to a super-Earth-size planet (Kepler-9d) in a multiple system, rather than a false positive. The radius is determined to be 1.64 (+0.19/-0.14) R(Earth), and current spectroscopic observations are as yet insufficient to establish its mass.Comment: 20 pages in emulateapj format, including 8 tables and 16 figures. To appear in ApJ, 1 January 2010. Accepted versio

Two Earth-sized planets orbiting Kepler-20

Since the discovery of the first extrasolar giant planets around Sun-like stars, evolving observational capabilities have brought us closer to the detection of true Earth analogues. The size of an exoplanet can be determined when it periodically passes in front of (transits) its parent star, causing a decrease in starlight proportional to its radius. The smallest exoplanet hitherto discovered has a radius 1.42 times that of the Earth's radius (R Earth), and hence has 2.9 times its volume. Here we report the discovery of two planets, one Earth-sized (1.03R Earth) and the other smaller than the Earth (0.87R Earth), orbiting the star Kepler-20, which is already known to host three other, larger, transiting planets. The gravitational pull of the new planets on the parent star is too small to measure with current instrumentation. We apply a statistical method to show that the likelihood of the planetary interpretation of the transit signals is more than three orders of magnitude larger than that of the alternative hypothesis that the signals result from an eclipsing binary star. Theoretical considerations imply that these planets are rocky, with a composition of iron and silicate. The outer planet could have developed a thick water vapour atmosphere.Comment: Letter to Nature; Received 8 November; accepted 13 December 2011; Published online 20 December 201

Alterations of immune response of non-small lung cancer with azacytidine

Innovative therapies are needed for advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). We have undertaken a genomics based, hypothesis driving, approach to query an emerging potential that epigenetic therapy may sensitize to immune checkpoint therapy targeting PD-L1/PD-1 interaction. NSCLC cell lines were treated with the DNA hypomethylating agent azacytidine (AZA - Vidaza) and genes and pathways altered were mapped by genome-wide expression and DNA methylation analyses. AZA-induced pathways were analyzed in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project by mapping the derived gene signatures in hundreds of lung adeno (LUAD) and squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) samples. AZA up-regulates genes and pathways related to both innate and adaptive immunity and genes related to immune evasion in a several NSCLC lines. DNA hypermethylation and low expression of IRF7, an interferon transcription factor, tracks with this signature particularly in LUSC. In concert with these events, AZA up-regulates PD-L1 transcripts and protein, a key ligand-mediator of immune tolerance. Analysis of TCGA samples demonstrates that a significant proportion of primary NSCLC have low expression of AZA-induced immune genes, including PD-L1. We hypothesize that epigenetic therapy combined with blockade of immune checkpoints - in particular the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway - may augment response of NSCLC by shifting the balance between immune activation and immune inhibition, particularly in a subset of NSCLC with low expression of these pathways. Our studies define a biomarker strategy for response in a recently initiated trial to examine the potential of epigenetic therapy to sensitize patients with NSCLC to PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade