A new method to quantify and compare the multiple components of fitness-A study case with kelp niche partition by divergent microstage adaptations to Temperature

Point 1 Management of crops, commercialized or protected species, plagues or life-cycle evolution are subjects requiring comparisons among different demographic strategies. The simpler methods fail in relating changes in vital rates with changes in population viability whereas more complex methods lack accuracy by neglecting interactions among vital rates. Point 2 The difference between the fitness (evaluated by the population growth rate.) of two alternative demographies is decomposed into the contributions of the differences between the pair-wised vital rates and their interactions. This is achieved through a full Taylor expansion (i.e. remainder = 0) of the demographic model. The significance of each term is determined by permutation tests under the null hypothesis that all demographies come from the same pool. Point 3 An example is given with periodic demographic matrices of the microscopic haploid phase of two kelp cryptic species observed to partition their niche occupation along the Chilean coast. The method provided clear and synthetic results showing conditional differentiation of reproduction is an important driver for their differences in fitness along the latitudinal temperature gradient. But it also demonstrated that interactions among vital rates cannot be neglected as they compose a significant part of the differences between demographies. Point 4 This method allows researchers to access the effects of multiple effective changes in a life-cycle from only two experiments. Evolutionists can determine with confidence the effective causes for changes in fitness whereas population managers can determine best strategies from simpler experimental designs.CONICYT-FRENCH EMBASSADY Ph.D. gran

Determination of Region of Influence Obtained by Aircraft Vertical Profiles Using the Density of Trajectories from the HYSPLIT Model

Aircraft atmospheric profiling is a valuable technique for determining greenhouse gas fluxes at regional scales (104–106 km2). Here, we describe a new, simple method for estimating the surface influence of air samples that uses backward trajectories based on the Lagrangian model Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT). We determined “regions of influence” on a quarterly basis between 2010 and 2018 for four aircraft vertical profile sites: SAN and ALF in the eastern Amazon, and RBA and TAB or TEF in the western Amazon. We evaluated regions of influence in terms of their relative sensitivity to areas inside and outside the Amazon and their total area inside the Amazon. Regions of influence varied by quarter and less so by year. In the first and fourth quarters, the contribution of the region of influence inside the Amazon was 83–93% for all sites, while in the second and third quarters, it was 57–75%. The interquarter differences are more evident in the eastern than in the western Amazon. Our analysis indicates that atmospheric profiles from the western sites are sensitive to 42–52.2% of the Amazon. In contrast, eastern Amazon sites are sensitive to only 10.9–25.3%. These results may help to spatially resolve the response of greenhouse gas emissions to climate variability over Amazon

CD74 in kidney disease

CD74 (invariant MHC class II) regulates protein trafficking and is a receptor for macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and d-dopachrome tautomerase (d-DT/MIF-2). CD74 expression is increased in tubular cells and/or glomerular podocytes and parietal cells in human metabolic nephropathies, polycystic kidney disease, graft rejection and kidney cancer and in experimental diabetic nephropathy and glomerulonephritis. Stressors like abnormal metabolite (glucose, lyso-Gb3) levels and inflammatory cytokines increase kidney cell CD74. MIF activates CD74 to increase inflammatory cytokines in podocytes and tubular cells and proliferation in glomerular parietal epithelial cells and cyst cells. MIF overexpression promotes while MIF targeting protects from experimental glomerular injury and kidney cysts, and interference with MIF/CD74 signaling or CD74 deficiency protected from crescentic glomerulonephritis. However, CD74 may protect from interstitial kidney fibrosis. Furthermore, CD74 expression by stressed kidney cells raises questions about the kidney safety of cancer therapy strategies delivering lethal immunoconjugates to CD74-expressing cells. Thus, understanding CD74 biology in kidney cells is relevant for kidney therapeuticsGrant support: ISCIII and FEDER funds CP14/00133, PI13/00047, Sociedad Española de Nefrologia, ISCIII-RETIC REDinREN/RD012/0021, Comunidad de Madrid CIFRA S2010/ BMD-2378. Salary support: FIS to LV-R, Miguel Servet to MS-N. Programa Intensificación Actividad Investigadora (ISCIII/ Agencia Laín-Entralgo/CM) to AO

Performance Analyses and Improvements for the IEEE 802.15.4 CSMA/CA Scheme with Heterogeneous Buffered Conditions

Studies of the IEEE 802.15.4 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme have been received considerable attention recently, with most of these studies focusing on homogeneous or saturated traffic. Two novel transmission schemes—OSTS/BSTS (One Service a Time Scheme/Bulk Service a Time Scheme)—are proposed in this paper to improve the behaviors of time-critical buffered networks with heterogeneous unsaturated traffic. First, we propose a model which contains two modified semi-Markov chains and a macro-Markov chain combined with the theory of M/G/1/K queues to evaluate the characteristics of these two improved CSMA/CA schemes, in which traffic arrivals and accessing packets are bestowed with non-preemptive priority over each other, instead of prioritization. Then, throughput, packet delay and energy consumption of unsaturated, unacknowledged IEEE 802.15.4 beacon-enabled networks are predicted based on the overall point of view which takes the dependent interactions of different types of nodes into account. Moreover, performance comparisons of these two schemes with other non-priority schemes are also proposed. Analysis and simulation results show that delay and fairness of our schemes are superior to those of other schemes, while throughput and energy efficiency are superior to others in more heterogeneous situations. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the analysis results of these models match well with the simulation results

Core-sheath nanofibers as drug delivery system for thermoresponsive controlled release

In this work, a smart drug delivery system of core–sheath nanofiber is reported. The core-sheath nanofibers were prepared with thermoresponsive poly-(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) (as core) and hydrophobic ethylcellulose (EC) (as sheath) by coaxial electrospinning. Analogous medicated fibers were prepared by loading with a model drug ketoprofen (KET). The fibers were cylindrical without phase separation and have visible core-sheath structure as shown by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated the drug with the amorphous physical form was present in the fiber matrix. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis was conducted, finding that there were significant intermolecular interactions between KET and the polymers. Water contact angle measurements proved that the core-sheath fibers from hydrophobic transformed into hydrophobic when the temperature reached the lower critical solution temperature. In vitro drug-release study of nanofibers with KET displayed that the coaxial nanofibers were able to synergistically combine the characteristics of the two polymers producing a temperature-sensitive drug delivery system with sustained release properties. In addition, they were established to be non-toxic and suitable for cell growth. These findings show that the core–sheath nanofiber is a potential candidate for controlling drug delivery system

Effect of alkyl chain length on the properties of triphenylamine-based hole transport materials and their performance in perovskite solar cells

A new series of diacetylide-triphenylamine (DATPA) derivatives with five different alkyl chains in the para position, MeO, EtO, nPrO, iPrO and BuO, were synthesised, fully characterised and their function as hole-transport materials in perovskite solar cells (PSC) studied. Their thermal, optical and electrochemical properties were investigated along with their molecular packing and charge transport properties to analyse the influence of different alkyl chains in the solar cell parameters. The shorter alkyl chain facilitates more compact packing structures which enhanced the hole mobilities and reduced recombination. This work suggests that the molecule with the methoxy substituent (MeO) exhibits the best semiconductive properties with a power conversion efficiency of up to 5.63%, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.83 V, a photocurrent density (Jsc) of 10.84 mA cm−2 and a fill factor of 62.3% in perovskite solar cells. Upon replacing the methoxy group with longer alkyl chain substituents without changing the energy levels, there is a decrease in the charge mobility as well as PCE (e.g. 3.29% for BuO-DATPA). The alkyl chain length of semiconductive molecules plays an important role in achieving high performance perovskite solar cells

Agroforestry with N2-fixing trees: sustainable development's friend or foe?

Legume tree-based farming systems sit at a crucial nexus of agroecological sustainability. Their capacity to support microbial N2 fixation can increase soil nitrogen (N) availability and therefore improve soil fertility, crop yields, and support long-term stewardship of natural resources. However, increasing N availability oftentimes catalyzes the release of N into the surrounding environment, in particular nitrous oxide (N2O)—a potent greenhouse gas. We summarize current knowledge on the agroecological footprint of legume-based agroforestry and provide a first appraisal of whether the technology represents a pathway toward sustainable development or an environmental hazard

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations at large transverse momenta in p+pp+p and Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}= 200 GeV

Results on high transverse momentum charged particle emission with respect to the reaction plane are presented for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$= 200 GeV. Two- and four-particle correlations results are presented as well as a comparison of azimuthal correlations in Au+Au collisions to those in $p+p$ at the same energy. Elliptic anisotropy, $v_2$, is found to reach its maximum at $p_t \sim 3$ GeV/c, then decrease slowly and remain significant up to $p_t\approx 7$ -- 10 GeV/c. Stronger suppression is found in the back-to-back high-$p_t$ particle correlations for particles emitted out-of-plane compared to those emitted in-plane. The centrality dependence of $v_2$ at intermediate $p_t$ is compared to simple models based on jet quenching.Comment: 4 figures. Published version as PRL 93, 252301 (2004

Azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV

The results from the STAR Collaboration on directed flow (v_1), elliptic flow (v_2), and the fourth harmonic (v_4) in the anisotropic azimuthal distribution of particles from Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV are summarized and compared with results from other experiments and theoretical models. Results for identified particles are presented and fit with a Blast Wave model. Different anisotropic flow analysis methods are compared and nonflow effects are extracted from the data. For v_2, scaling with the number of constituent quarks and parton coalescence is discussed. For v_4, scaling with v_2^2 and quark coalescence is discussed.Comment: 26 pages. As accepted by Phys. Rev. C. Text rearranged, figures modified, but data the same. However, in Fig. 35 the hydro calculations are corrected in this version. The data tables are available at http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications/ by searching for "flow" and then this pape

Search For Heavy Pointlike Dirac Monopoles

We have searched for central production of a pair of photons with high transverse energies in $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV using $70 pb^{-1}$ of data collected with the D\O detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in 1994--1996. If they exist, virtual heavy pointlike Dirac monopoles could rescatter pairs of nearly real photons into this final state via a box diagram. We observe no excess of events above background, and set lower 95% C.L. limits of $610, 870, or 1580 GeV/c^2$ on the mass of a spin 0, 1/2, or 1 Dirac monopole.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure