Renormalization Group Flow in a General Gauge Theory

The renormalization group flow in a general renormalizable gauge theory with a simple gauge group in 3+1 dimensions is analyzed. The flow of the ratios of the Yukawa couplings and the gauge coupling is described in terms of a bounded potential, which makes it possible to draw a number of non-trivial conclusions concerning the asymptotic structure of the theory. A classification of possible flow patterns is given.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, ITP--UH--10/9

Estimating County Cost of Living Indexes:The Issue of Urban Versus Rural

This paper summarizes the outcome of a survey of cost of living/price index programs at the county level in the U.S. Additionally, it presents results of econometric analyses of price level data by counties for two states, Florida and Minnesota. Unlike previous studies that use a sample of urban counties and/or metropolitan areas, this analysis uses all units of the defined geographical area. It reviews the differences that occur from applying the same analytical methods to different data groupings, specifically, urban and rural counties. Finally, it points out issues that regional statisticians must consider when developing indexes for counties within their states

Plant adaptation to climate change

Plants are vital to human health and well-being, as well as helping to protect the environment against the negative impacts of climate change. They are an essential part of the 'One Health' strategy that seeks to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. Crucially, plants are central to nature-based solutions to climate mitigation, not least because soil carbon storage is an attractive strategy for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and the associated climate change. Agriculture depends on genetically pure, high-quality seeds that are free from pests and pathogens and contain a required degree of genetic purity. This themed collection addresses key questions in the field encompassing the biochemical mechanisms that underlie plant responses and adaptations to a changing climate. This collection encompasses an analysis of the biochemistry and molecular mechanisms underpinning crop and forest resilience, together with considerations of plant adaptations to climate change-associated stresses, including drought, floods and heatwaves, and the increased threats posed by pathogens and pests.</p

Production of reactive oxygen species in excised, desiccated and cryopreserved explants of Trichilia dregeana Sond

AbstractThe tropical tree Trichilia dregeana Sond. has recalcitrant seeds that cannot be stored by conventional seed banking methods that include drying and storage at low temperatures, or by using cryopreservation protocols that have been successfully applied to recalcitrant-seeded species such as Castanea sativa. We recently showed that in C. sativa both excision of the embryonic axes and subsequent dehydration cause transitory (5min) bursts of extracellular superoxide (O2−) production. Here we show that both excision and partial dehydration of the embryonic axes from seeds of T. dregeana cause large, prolonged extracellular bursts of O2−. Furthermore, during rehydration after cryopreservation, another burst of O2− occurs with slightly different kinetics. Compared with C. sativa, rates of O2− production in T. dregeana are approximately twice as great and decline much more slowly, suggesting that excessive radical formation may be responsible for poor survival of the axes following cryopreservation. Fractionating the cell wall proteins of embryonic axes and cotyledons in conjunction with electrophoretic analyses of the fractions showed that most O2− was produced by two peroxidases with molecular masses of c. 50 and 80kD that were loosely bound to the cell walls of the embryonic axes. Future successful cryopreservation of T. dregeana would appear to depend on manipulations of O2− production, and the discovery of peroxidases as the enzymes responsible described here may help in the development of more effective protocols

Del taller de yoga prenatal a la clínica privada : una etnografía sobre los sentidos de la práctica de yoga durante el embarazo

Tesis de LicenciaturaEste trabajo indaga los sentidos de la práctica de yoga prenatal en un grupo de nueve mujeres embarazadas, enmarcándose en el campo de la antropología de la salud. La investigación empírica realizada tuvo un año y medio de duración y se desarrolló entre 2016 y 2018. En una primera etapa se focalizó en la observación participante de las prácticas de yoga prenatal en un estudio de yoga ubicado en la localidad de Villa Ballester, Partido de San Martín. El grupo de practicantes de yoga prenatal estaba constituido por nueve mujeres embarazadas de entre 23 y 40 años, pertenecientes a un estrato socioeconómico medio. Durante este período se buscó indagar sobre las motivaciones y sentidos de la práctica de yoga durante el embarazo desde la perspectiva de estas mujeres, respondiendo a la pregunta ¿qué sentidos asignan este grupo de mujeres a la práctica de yoga durante el embarazo? De esta primera etapa, emergía, fundamentalmente a partir del análisis de sus discursos, una presunta contraposición irremediable con la perspectiva de las instituciones médicas donde realizaban el seguimiento de sus embarazos, respecto a las expectativas del desarrollo del parto y la atención durante el mismo. Durante esta primera fase, la hipótesis que guió la investigación concebía la práctica de yoga prenatal como herramienta de empoderamiento de las mujeres frente a las determinaciones e imposiciones de las prácticas médicas en las instituciones sanitarias. A medida que la investigación avanzó, pude adentrarme más en las lógicas de las prácticas y construir una relación más estrecha con las mujeres, quienes me brindaron la posibilidad de entrevistarlas en profundidad antes y luego de sus partos, así como también acompañarlas a sus consultas médicas y permitirme el contacto con los profesionales que las atendían. En esta segunda etapa, y especialmente a partir de los resultados de una mayor implicación en el campo, las prácticas, los discursos y las perspectivas de las embarazadas se fueron encontrando con la de los profesionales involucrados en la atención y seguimiento del embarazo y el parto. La implicación lograda en el campo posibilitó así extender la investigación más allá del taller de yoga prenatal, dejándonos conducir hacia las instituciones sanitarias y los profesionales por las propias embarazadas. En efecto, todas las mujeres se atendían en instituciones médicas prestigiosas de la ciudad de Buenos Aires y tenían planificado sus partos en el marco de estas instituciones. De esta forma, en esta fase de la investigación se consolidaría una nueva pregunta, a saber ¿cómo se conjugan la práctica de yoga prenatal y el cuestionamiento al modelo médico dominante en las instituciones actuales con la atención del embarazo y el parto que efectivamente reciben las mujeres en las instituciones sanitarias en las que se atienden? La hipótesis que guio esta segunda fase fue que aquella tajante contraposición relevada al inicio de la investigación entre las expectativas y las perspectivas de las embarazadas y las encarnadas por los profesionales y los protocolos de las instituciones sanitarias se disolvía o perdía su contundencia. Desde la perspectiva de las mujeres interpeladas, la medicalización de los partos emerge como momento emblemático del control médico sobre los cuerpos, siendo duramente cuestionada y rechazada desde el discurso durante las prácticas de yoga, pero aceptada durante el seguimiento del embarazo y con mayor contundencia en el momento del parto en las instituciones sanitarias. Esta investigación muestra cómo es construido ese camino desde el cuestionamiento y el rechazo hasta la aceptación de la intervención sobre el propio cuerpo.Fil: Kranner, Catalina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales; Argentin

Geschlechtstypisches Interesse an mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtsfächern

Die Entstehung und Entwicklung von Interesse besonders in Bezug auf den Unterricht ist gut erforscht und zeichnet einen stetigen Rückgang des Interesses im Laufe der Schulzeit eines Schülers ab. Zudem zeigen sich auch deutliche Geschlechtsunterschiede sowohl in Bezug auf die Interessen, als auch auf das Fähigkeitsselbstkonzept der Schüler. Mathematik und naturwissenschaftliche Unterrichtsfächer sind davon besonders betroffen. Aufbauend auf bisherigen Forschungsergebnissen war es das Ziel der Arbeit, die Interessen von Schülern an den Unterrichtsfächern in Bezug auf Geschlechtsunterschiede zu analysieren und Zusammenhänge zur Fähigkeitseinschätzung, zum Geschlechtsrollenbild sowie zum geschlechtsstereotypen Denken aufzudecken. Die Stichprobe hierfür bildeten 178 Schüler der 6. Schulstufe zweier Gymnasien, die zu zwei Erhebungszeitpunkten befragt wurden. Es nahmen insgesamt 57 % weibliche und 43 % männliche Schüler zwischen elf und dreizehn Jahren an der Untersuchung teil. Dabei schätzten die Schüler ihr Interesse und die Wichtigkeit für das weitere Leben der jeweiligen Unterrichtsfächer ein. Darüber hinaus wurden die Teilnehmer zweimal um eine Erstellung eines Stundenplans nach individuellen Interessen gebeten. Dafür standen den Schülern einmal die bekannten Benennungen der Unterrichtsfächer zur Verfügung, ein anderes Mal handelte es sich um Beschreibungen derselben Unterrichtsfächer. Die Fähigkeitseinschätzung in allen Unterrichtsfächern, das Geschlechtsrollenbild, Geschlechtsstereotype im kognitiven Bereich, sowie die Geschlechtsrollenidentität wurden ebenfalls erhoben. Adaptierte Versionen der Neukonstruktion des Bem Sex-Role-Inventory sowie der Skala zur Messung der normativen Geschlechtsrollen-Orientierung und neu konstruierte Instrumente wurden vorgegeben. Während Geschlechtsunterschiede in Bezug auf das Interesse an den bekannten mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtsfächern mit einem höheren Interesse der Jungen evident werden, zeigen sich diese für die Fächerbeschreibungen nicht mehr. Innerhalb der Erstellung des Stundenplans zeigen sich hinsichtlich der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fächer signifikante Geschlechtsunterschiede mit einem höheren Stundenausmaß der Jungen, sowie signifikante Unterschiede zwischen den Erhebungsformen, wobei Mädchen mithilfe der Fächerbeschreibungen mehr mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Unterrichtsfächer wählen. Auch für die Fähigkeitseinschätzung, Geschlechtsstereotype im kognitiven Bereich, die Geschlechtsrollenorientierung und die Geschlechtsrollenidentität zeigen sich signifikante Geschlechtsunterschiede. Signifikante Zusammenhänge dieser Variablen zum Interesse an mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtsfächern, dem Stundenausmaß im Stundenplan, sowie der Fähigkeitseinschätzung für beide Geschlechter konnten nachgewiesen werden. Zukünftige Forschung zum Interesse an den Unterrichtsfächern sollte verstärkt den Einfluss einer unterschiedlichen Darbietung dieser miteinbeziehen.The onset and develoment of interests concerning education is well investigated and shows a constant decrease of interest in the course of the schooldays of a student. In addition research shows clear sex differences regarding both interests and the academic self-concept of the students. Therefrom especially maths and science are concerned. Based on previous research it is the aim of this diploma thesis, to analyse pupil's interests in school subjects concerning sex differences and to investigate additional connections to the academic self-concept, gender roles and gender-stereotyped thinking. 178 pupils of the sixth grade of two secondary schools, who were polled two times of survey, formed the sample. Altogether 57 % female pupils and 43 % male students between eleven and thirteen years participated in the investigation. In this study the pupils estimated their interest in the school subjects and the importance of these subjects for their further life. Besides the pupils were asked to create an individual time table depending on their interests. Therefore they once used the usual naming of the subjects, another time they had to use descriptions of these subjects without the usual naming. Furthermore data concerning the ability rating in all school subjects, gender-roles and gender-stereotyped thinking was collected. Adaptive versions of the newconstruction of the Bem Sex-Role-Inventory plus the scale for measuring the normative sex-role orientation and self-developed survey instruments were used. While there are clear sex-differences concerning the interest in science subjects with the usual naming with a higher interest of boys, there are no sex-differences regarding the description of science subjects. Within the creation of the timetables boys choose more science subjects using the subjects with the usual naming than girls, while girls select more science subjects using the description than using the subjects with the usual naming. Sex-differences also evidence in reference to the ability rating, gender-stereotyped thinking, gender-roles and gender-identity. Significant correlations of these variables could also be found with the interest in science subjects, the number of hours in the timetables and the ability-rating in science subjects for boys and girls. Future research concerning interest in school subjects should increased analyse the impact of the different presentation of school subjects

How to build a lichen: from metabolite release to symbiotic interplay

Exposing their vegetative bodies to the light, lichens are outstanding amongst other fungal symbioses. Not requiring a pre-established host, 'lichenized fungi' build an entirely new structure together with microbial photosynthetic partners that neither can form alone. The signals involved in the transition of a fungus and a compatible photosynthetic partner from a free-living to a symbiotic state culminating in thallus formation, termed 'lichenization', and in the maintenance of the symbiosis, are poorly understood. Here, we synthesise the puzzle pieces of the scarce knowledge available into an updated concept of signalling involved in lichenization, comprising five main stages: (1) the 'pre-contact stage', (2) the 'contact stage', (3) 'envelopment' of algal cells by the fungus, (4) their 'incorporation' into a pre-thallus and (5) 'differentiation' into a complex thallus. Considering the involvement of extracellularly released metabolites in each phase, we propose that compounds such as fungal lectins and algal cyclic peptides elicit early contact between the symbionts-to-be, whereas phytohormone signalling, antioxidant protection and carbon exchange through sugars and sugar alcohols are of continued importance throughout all stages. In the fully formed lichen thallus, secondary lichen metabolites and mineral nutrition are suggested to stabilize the functionalities of the thallus, including the associated microbiota

Stereoscopic motion analysis in densely packed clusters: 3D analysis of the shimmering behaviour in Giant honey bees

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The detailed interpretation of mass phenomena such as human escape panic or swarm behaviour in birds, fish and insects requires detailed analysis of the 3D movements of individual participants. Here, we describe the adaptation of a 3D stereoscopic imaging method to measure the positional coordinates of individual agents in densely packed clusters. The method was applied to study behavioural aspects of shimmering in Giant honeybees, a collective defence behaviour that deters predatory wasps by visual cues, whereby individual bees flip their abdomen upwards in a split second, producing Mexican wave-like patterns.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Stereoscopic imaging provided non-invasive, automated, simultaneous, <it>in-situ </it>3D measurements of hundreds of bees on the nest surface regarding their thoracic position and orientation of the body length axis. <it>Segmentation </it>was the basis for the <it>stereo matching</it>, which defined correspondences of individual bees in pairs of stereo images. Stereo-matched "agent bees" were re-identified in subsequent frames by the <it>tracking </it>procedure and <it>triangulated </it>into real-world coordinates. These algorithms were required to calculate the three spatial motion components (dx: horizontal, dy: vertical and dz: towards and from the comb) of individual bees over time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The method enables the assessment of the 3D positions of individual Giant honeybees, which is not possible with single-view cameras. The method can be applied to distinguish at the individual bee level active movements of the thoraces produced by abdominal flipping from passive motions generated by the moving bee curtain. The data provide evidence that the z-deflections of thoraces are potential cues for colony-intrinsic communication. The method helps to understand the phenomenon of collective decision-making through mechanoceptive synchronization and to associate shimmering with the principles of wave propagation. With further, minor modifications, the method could be used to study aspects of other mass phenomena that involve active and passive movements of individual agents in densely packed clusters.</p

Parto respetado y buena muerte: Análisis estructural de dos propuestas de humanización del cuidado de la salud

El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer un análisis estructural de dos propuestas de humanización del cuidado de la salud que surgen como parte de las críticas realizadas al sistema biomédico a partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XX: el parto respetado y la buena muerte. Para esto haremos un breve recorrido histórico sobre la forma en la que la biomedicina se constituyó en la modernidad occidental como el único saber legítimo sobre el funcionamiento orgánico de los seres humanos, para mostrar cuáles han sido las condiciones de posibilidad en las que han surgido las propuestas analizadas. A partir de esto describiremos las características estructurales de ambas, mostrando sus similitudes y diferencias, dando cuenta de cómo este tipo de conceptualizaciones se inscribe en un proceso de humanización de la salud que se gesta en las sociedades occidentales a partir de un conjunto de críticas dirigidas al sistema biomédico. Para esto nos enfocaremos fundamentalmente en las consignas que diversos movimientos sociales y políticos vehiculizaron en contra del uso excesivo y fútil de tecnología en la labor clínica y la expropiación, por parte del servicio de salud, del conjunto de prácticas y saberes asociados al parto y a la muerte (entre otras esferas de la vida social). Finalmente abordaremos este tipo constructos en dos contextos de cuidado de la salud, como lo son un taller de yoga prenatal (para el caso del parto respetado) y una institución hospice (para el caso de la buena muerte), como forma de entender cómo estos adquieren sentido en las tensiones específicas que se dan en la interacción social.The purpose of this article is to build a structural analysis of two proposals for the humanization of healthcare that emerge as part of the criticisms made to the biomedical system starting the second half of the 20th century: respected childbirth and good death. Therefore, we make a brief historical review of the way in which biomedicine was constituted in western modernity as the only legitimate knowledge about the organic functioning of human beings, to show what the conditions of possibility of the analyzed proposals were emerged. Based on this, we will describe the structural characteristics of both, showing their similarities and differences, accounting how this type of conceptualizations are part of a process of humanization of health that is brewing in western societies from a set of directed criticisms to the biomedical system. For this, we will focus mainly on the slogans that various social and political movements conveyed against the excessive and futile use of technology in clinical work and the expropriation, by the health service, of the conjunct of practices and knowledge associated with childbirth and death (among other spheres of social life). Finally, we will approach these types of constructs in two health care contexts, such as a prenatal yoga workshop (in the case of respected childbirth) and a hospice institution (in the case of good death), as a way of understanding how these they make sense in the specific tensions that occur in social interaction.Fil: Kranner, Catalina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Radosta Rosas, Darío Iván. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales; Argentin

Transcriptome-Wide Mapping of Pea Seed Ageing Reveals a Pivotal Role for Genes Related to Oxidative Stress and Programmed Cell Death

Understanding of seed ageing, which leads to viability loss during storage, is vital for ex situ plant conservation and agriculture alike. Yet the potential for regulation at the transcriptional level has not been fully investigated. Here, we studied the relationship between seed viability, gene expression and glutathione redox status during artificial ageing of pea (Pisum sativum) seeds. Transcriptome-wide analysis using microarrays was complemented with qRT-PCR analysis of selected genes and a multilevel analysis of the antioxidant glutathione. Partial degradation of DNA and RNA occurred from the onset of artificial ageing at 60% RH and 50 degrees C, and transcriptome profiling showed that the expression of genes associated with programmed cell death, oxidative stress and protein ubiquitination were altered prior to any sign of viability loss. After 25 days of ageing viability started to decline in conjunction with progressively oxidising cellular conditions, as indicated by a shift of the glutathione redox state towards more positive values (>-190 mV). The unravelling of the molecular basis of seed ageing revealed that transcriptome reprogramming is a key component of the ageing process, which influences the progression of programmed cell death and decline in antioxidant capacity that ultimately lead to seed viability loss.Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y CienciaJunta de Castilla y Leon/BIO2011-26940Junta de Castilla y Leon/CSD2007-00057Junta de Castilla y Leon/SA048A10-2DFG/Le720/7Chinese Academy of Sciences/KSCX2-EW-J-24Chinese Academy of Sciences/Y3221411W1Millenium CommissionWellcome TrustOrange PlcDefr