Hydroponic Systems for Arabidopsis Extended to Crop Plants

When using Arabidopsis grown hydroponically for gene and drug discovery, a method for translating this approach to crop (and weed) species needs articulation and investigation. In this review, we describe existing inexpensive, frequently aseptic, hydroponic systems for Arabidopsis and compare them to other hydroponic methods for gene and drug discovery in crop plants. Besides gene and drug discovery, an important use of hydroponic analysis is for understanding growth in controlled, enclosed systems, such as during spaceflight and in simulated extra-terrestrial environments. When done initially with Arabidopsis, will these results apply to the growth of other species? We highlight the strengths and weaknesses of existing translational hydroponic approaches whereby results with Arabidopsis extend to other plant species. We find that the existing or slightly modified hydroponic approaches used in Arabidopsis research extend well to crop plants that grow upright about 40 cm in height, e.g., monocots, such as rice, and dicots, such as soybean. However, other, taller species such as maize, or vining species such as tomato, require extensive modification to provide larger enclosures and root stabilization

Managing interactions between household food security and preschooler health:

Food security does not assure good nutrition. The nutritional status of an individual is influenced not only by food but also by nonfood factors, such as clean water, sanitation, and health care. The effect of all of these factors must be considered in efforts to rid the world of malnutrition. Food security will result in good nutrition only if nonfood factors are effectively dealt with. In this paper, Lawrence Haddad, Saroj Bhattarai, Maarten Immink, and Shubh Kumar show how malnutrition among preschool children is determined by a complex interaction of illness and lack of food. The authors look at three countries —Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Philippines — to study how food availability and diarrhea interact and what this interaction means for preschooler malnutrition. Their results show that the links between food consumption, diarrhea, and malnutrition are stronger than most economic studies have assumed. When diarrhea is prevalent, the effects of food shortages on child malnutrition are worse, and when food is scarce, the effects of diarrhea on child malnutrition are worse.Food security Ethiopia., Malnutrition in children Ethiopia., Food security Pakistan., Malnutrition in children Pakistan., Food security Philippines., Malnutrition in children Philippines.,

Issues in federally supported research on advanced automotive power systems

Based on research supported by Division of Policy Research and Analysis, National Science Foundation, under grant no. PRA-768101

Accuracy of binary black hole waveform models for aligned-spin binaries

Coalescing binary black holes are among the primary science targets for second generation ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors. Reliable GW models are central to detection of such systems and subsequent parameter estimation. This paper performs a comprehensive analysis of the accuracy of recent waveform models for binary black holes with aligned spins, utilizing a new set of $84$ high-accuracy numerical relativity simulations. Our analysis covers comparable mass binaries ($1\le m_1/m_2\le 3$), and samples independently both black hole spins up to dimensionless spin-magnitude of $0.9$ for equal-mass binaries and $0.85$ for unequal mass binaries. Furthermore, we focus on the high-mass regime (total mass $\gtrsim 50M_\odot$). The two most recent waveform models considered (PhenomD and SEOBNRv2) both perform very well for signal detection, losing less than 0.5\% of the recoverable signal-to-noise ratio $\rho$, except that SEOBNRv2's efficiency drops mildly for both black hole spins aligned with large magnitude. For parameter estimation, modeling inaccuracies of SEOBNRv2 are found to be smaller than systematic uncertainties for moderately strong GW events up to roughly $\rho\lesssim 15$. PhenomD's modeling errors are found to be smaller than SEOBNRv2's, and are generally irrelevant for $\rho\lesssim 20$. Both models' accuracy deteriorates with increased mass-ratio, and when at least one black hole spin is large and aligned. The SEOBNRv2 model shows a pronounced disagreement with the numerical relativity simulation in the merger phase, for unequal masses and simultaneously both black hole spins very large and aligned. Two older waveform models (PhenomC and SEOBNRv1) are found to be distinctly less accurate than the more recent PhenomD and SEOBNRv2 models. Finally, we quantify the bias expected from all GW models during parameter estimation for recovery of binary's masses and spins.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, minor change

Effect Of Transformational Leadership And Creativity And Innovation On Organizational Performance: A Conceptual Model

This study aims to understand the effect of transformational leadership and creativity and innovation on organizational performance of the Malaysia Telecommunication Mobile Operators. The targeted population of this study will be the executives working in the four major mobile operators with more than 5 years of working experience in the industry. The problem to be addressed in this study will be the rapid technological changes that needs telecommunication service providers to be adapt and address the performance gap to achieve competitive advantage. Transformational leadership style of the CEO is seen as the catalyst towards building a creative and innovative work force to drive organizational performance. The main objectives if this study is to determine the relationships that constitute transformational leadership (covering intellectual stimulation, individual consideration, idealized influence and inspirational motivation) creativity and innovation (organizational factor of structure, strategy, support mechanism and behavior) and organizational performance. The study attempts to offer significant theoretical and practical contribution