Fruit Rot of Durian Caused by Phytophthora palmivora

A severe fruit rot of durzan fruits in Bentong and Raub in Pahang; Dengkil in Selangor; Muar and Kluang in Johore was found to be caused by a Phytophthora sp. Besides fruits, isolates of the pathogen were also capable of infecting roots, stem and leaves of durian. The isolates were identified as Phytophthora palmivora, cross-inducing (heterothallic) and of the A 1 mating type, producing spores when paired with a standard A2 mating type of P. palmivora and another A2 isolate from cocoa but not with an A 1 mating type of P.parasitica

A Rust Disease on Gendarussa vulgaris Nees. Caused by Puccinia thwaitesii Berk.

Gendarussa vulgaris Nees., a common medicinal herb, was found to be severely infected by a rust disease. The disease was characterised by well defined, concave or convex, purplish-gray, discoloured lesions surrounded by a wide yellow halo on the adaxial surface and corresponding convex or concave lesions on the opposite abaxial surface. Infected leaves abort prematurely. The causal agent was identified as Puccinia thwaitesii Berk. The fungus produced both uredospores and teliospores on the same pustule and is a micro cyclic (hemijorm), autoecious rust

Effects of Humidity on the Electro-Optical-Thermal Characteristics of High-Power LEDs

LEDs are subjected to environments with high moisture in many applications. In this paper, the experiments reveal photometric and colorimetric degradation at high humidity. Corresponding spectral power analysis and parameter extraction indicate that the flip-chip bonded LED samples show accelerated chip failure compared to the conventionally bonded samples. The chip-related failure induces greater heat accumulation, which correlates with the increase in heating power observed in the package. However, the temperature rise and thermal resistance for the flip-chip bonded LEDs do not increase substantially as compared to the conventionally bonded LEDs. This is because the junction temperature can be reduced with a flip-chip die-bonding configuration where the heat generated in the LED chip is dissipated effectively onto the AlN substrate, thereby reducing the increase in temperature rise and thermal resistance. The experimental results are supported by evaluation of the derivative structure functions. In addition, as the thermal resistance of the LED package varies with different humidity levels, there is a need to specify the conditions of humidity in data sheets as LED manufacturers routinely specify a universal thermal resistance value under a fixed operating condition

Modeling Hedonic Consumption Behaviors in Online Shopping

Increasingly, researchers have acknowledged that consumption activities involve hedonic components. Hedonic consumption relates to affective consumer behaviors in that it deals with the emotive and multi-sensory aspects of the consumption experience. Because the online shopping environment is characterized by the existence of an IT-enabled web interface that acts as the focal point of contact between customers and vendors, its design should also embed hedonic elements to create a holistic consumption experience. Drawing on the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), this study advances a model that not only delineates hedonic consumer expectations into its constituent dimensions for online shopping but also highlights how these expectations can be best served through properties of aesthetic performance. The model is then empirically verified via an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 84 student participants. Theoretical contributions and pragmatic implications to be gleaned from our proposed model and its subsequent empirical validation are discussed

Value Creation in Cryptocurrency Networks: Towards A Taxonomy of Digital Business Models for Bitcoin Companies

Cryptocurrency networks have given birth to a diversity of start-ups and attracted a huge influx of venture capital to invest in these start-ups for creating and capturing value within and between such networks. Synthesizing strategic management and information systems (IS) literature, this study advances a unified theoretical framework for identifying and investigating how cryptocurrency companies configure value through digital business models. This framework is then employed, via multiple case studies, to examine digital business models of companies within the bitcoin network. Findings suggest that companies within the bitcoin network exhibits six generic digital business models. These six digital business models are in turn driven by three modes of value configurations with their own distinct logic for value creation and mechanisms for value capturing. A key finding of this study is that value-chain and value-network driven business models commercialize their products and services for each value unit transfer, whereas commercialization for value-shop driven business models is realized through the subsidization of direct users by revenue generating entities. This study contributes to extant literature on value configurations and digital businesses models within the emerging and increasingly pervasive domain of cryptocurrency networks

Conflicts in Knowledge Management: Vistiting the Hidden Partner

As knowledge gains a reputation for being a critical resource in the information-intensive economy, organizations have doubled their efforts in trying to extract value from knowledge management policies. One particular aspect of knowledge management, which has gone unnoticed in academic research, is the presence of conflicts in knowledge activities. By adopting a conflict perspective of knowledge activities, this study arrives at a two-dimensional framework that defines knowledge conflicts in terms of its type and nature. Central to this paper is the fundamental idea that conflicts form an integral part of knowledge management and depending on how they are managed; conflicts may be formidable partners or dangerous adversaries in the corporate quest for knowledge-derived competitiveness

Liberating Efimov physics from three dimensions

When two particles attract via a resonant short-range interaction, three particles always form an infinite tower of bound states characterized by a discrete scaling symmetry. It has been considered that this Efimov effect exists only in three dimensions. Here we review how the Efimov physics can be liberated from three dimensions by considering two-body and three-body interactions in mixed dimensions and four-body interaction in one dimension. In such new systems, intriguing phenomena appear, such as confinement-induced Efimov effect, Bose-Fermi crossover in Efimov spectrum, and formation of interlayer Efimov trimers. Some of them are observable in ultracold atom experiments and we believe that this study significantly broadens our horizons of universal Efimov physics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, contribution to a special issue of Few-Body Systems devoted to Efimov Physic

Motion Robust Magnetic Susceptibility and Field Inhomogeneity Estimation Using Regularized Image Restoration Techniques for fMRI

In functional MRI, head motion may cause dynamic nonlinear field-inhomogeneity changes, especially with large out-of-plane rotations. This may lead to dynamic geometric distortion or blurring in the time series, which may reduce activation detection accuracy. The use of image registration to estimate dynamic field inhomogeneity maps from a static field map is not sufficient in the presence of such rotations. This paper introduces a retrospective approach to estimate magnetic susceptibility induced field maps of an object in motion, given a static susceptibility induced field map and the associated object motion parameters. It estimates a susceptibility map from a static field map using regularized image restoration techniques, and applies rigid body motion to the former. The dynamic field map is then computed using susceptibility voxel convolution. The method addresses field map changes due to out-of-plane rotations during time series acquisition and does not involve real time field map acquisitions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85944/1/Fessler233.pd

Identification and Functional Validation of Caldesmon as a Potential Gastric Cancer Metastasis-Associated Protein

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH