High water availability increases the negative impact of a native hemiparasite on its non-native host

Environmental factors alter the impacts of parasitic plants on their hosts. However, there have been no controlled studies on how water availability modulates stem hemiparasites' effects on hosts. A glasshouse experiment was conducted to investigate the association between the Australian native stem hemiparasite Cassytha pubescens and the introduced host Ulex europaeus under high (HW) and low (LW) water supply. Cassytha pubescens had a significant, negative effect on the total biomass of U. europaeus, which was more severe in HW than LW. Regardless of watering treatment, infection significantly decreased shoot and root biomass, nodule biomass, nodule biomass per unit root biomass, F-v/F-m, and nitrogen concentration of U. europaeus. Host spine sodium concentration significantly increased in response to infection in LW but not HW conditions. Host water potential was significantly higher in HW than in LW, which may have allowed the parasite to maintain higher stomatal conductances in HW. In support of this, the delta C-13 of the parasite was significantly lower in HW than in LW (and significantly higher than the host). C. pubescens also had significantly higher F-v/F-m and 66% higher biomass per unit host in the HW compared with the LW treatment. The data suggest that the enhanced performance of C. pubescens in HW resulted in higher parasite growth rates and thus a larger demand for resources from the host, leading to poorer host performance in HW compared with LW. C. pubescens should more negatively affect U. europaeus growth under wet conditions rather than under dry conditions in the field

Transverse Mercator with an accuracy of a few nanometers

Implementations of two algorithms for the transverse Mercator projection are described; these achieve accuracies close to machine precision. One is based on the exact equations of Thompson and Lee and the other uses an extension of Krueger's series for the projection to higher order. The exact method provides an accuracy of 9 nm over the entire ellipsoid, while the errors in the series method are less than 5 nm within 3900 km of the central meridian. In each case, the meridian convergence and scale are also computed with similar accuracy. The speed of the series method is competitive with other less accurate algorithms and the exact method is about 5 times slower.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 3 figures. Includes some revisions. Supplementary material is available at http://geographiclib.sourceforge.net/tm.htm

Unique Appearance of Lamellar Cleavage Patterns on Fracture Surfaces of Ti-Based Amorphous Matrix Composite

In order to improve mechanical properties of Ti-based amorphous matrix composites basically composed of ductile beta-Ti dendrites and brittle amorphous matrix by overcoming their inherent brittle nature, their fracture mechanisms should be verified in relation with microstructure, stress intensity factor level, and crack growth rate. In this study, thus, detailed fractographic observations including the unique appearance of lamellar cleavage patterns, which has not been reported in previous studies on conventional metals and alloys, were conducted. According to fractographic results, lamellar cleavage patterns were formed by repeated interruptions of crack propagation on {100} cleavage planes by difference between dendrite orientation and loading direction. Ductile-to-brittle transition phenomenon (ductile dimpled fracture -> lamellar cleavage fracture -> ordinary cleavage fracture in dendrite areas, and vein pattern -> smooth pattern in amorphous matrix areas) occurred with increasing crack growth rate was also plausibly explained by the concept of time required for crack growth as well as dendrite orientation.open1122sciescopu

Resonances in an external field: the 1+1 dimensional case

Using non-relativistic effective field theory in 1+1 dimensions, we generalize Luescher's approach for resonances in the presence of an external field. This generalized approach provides a framework to study the infinite-volume limit of the form factor of a resonance determined in lattice simulations.Comment: 13 pages, 2 postscript figure

Psychological ownership: linking employee past and future in an organization to employee outcomes

Modern day management has placed increasing importance on creating organic and substantive relationships between employees and employers as in knowledge based economies, organizational efficiency and effectiveness depends much on employees’ initiatives and extra-ordinary efforts. In the present study, we focus on psychological ownership, described by Pierce (2003) as a cognitive-affective state that reflects employees’ awareness, thoughts, and beliefs that the target of ownership (e.g. the organization) is theirs, as a form of such relationships. We adopt a temporal perspective in conceptualizing how psychological ownership may be cultivated and how psychological ownership, in turn, would lead to ...postprin

Integrated regional vulnerability assessment of government services to climate change

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – This paper aims to describe the conduct and outcomes of an integrated assessment (IA) of the vulnerability to climate change of government service provision at regional scale in New South Wales, Australia. The assessment was co-designed with regional public sector managers to address their needs for an improved understanding of regional vulnerabilities to climate change and variability. Design/methodology/approach – The study used IA of climate change impacts through a complex adaptive systems approach incorporating social learning and stakeholder-led research processes. Workshops were conducted with stakeholders from NSW government agencies, state-owned corporations and local governments representing the tourism, water, primary industries, human settlements, emergency management, human health, infrastructure and natural landscapes sectors. Participants used regional socioeconomic profiling and climate projections to consider the impacts on and the need to adapt community service provision to future climate. Findings – Many sectors are currently experiencing difficulty coping with changes in regional demographics and structural adjustment in the economy. Climate change will result in further impacts on already vulnerable systems in the forms of resource conflicts between expanded human settlements, the infrastructure that supports them and the environment (particularly for water); increased energy costs; and declining agricultural production and food security. Originality/value – This paper describes the application of meta-analysis in climate change policy research and frames climate change as a problem of environmental pollution and an issue of development and social equity

Pharmacopuncture in Korea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

© 2016 Jimin Park et al. Background. Pharmacopuncture is a new form of acupuncture combining acupuncture with herbal medicine, and it has been used under various conditions in Korea. The aim of this study is to establish clinical evidence for the safety and efficacy of pharmacopuncture in Korea. Methods. We searched 9 databases and two relevant journals up to December 2014 using keywords, such as pharmacopuncture. All randomized, controlled trials evaluating pharmacopuncture under any conditions in Korea were considered. Results. Twenty-nine studies involving 1,211 participants were included. A meta-analysis of two studies on obesity showed that 5 to 8 weeks of pharmacopuncture reduced weight, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI) more than normal saline injections. In the 5 studies of musculoskeletal conditions, 7 to 30 days of pharmacopuncture had additional effects on the reduction of pain intensity, and this benefit was maintained by limiting analyses to studies with a low risk of bias for randomization and/or allocation concealment. Conclusions. This systematic review suggests the potential of pharmacopuncture for obesity and musculoskeletal diseases. However, it is difficult to recommend pharmacopuncture as an evidence-based treatment because of methodological flaws and small sample sizes of the included studies. Further well-designed trials are needed to draw a definitive conclusion

Surface Oxide Formation during Rapid Heating of Zn-coated Press Hardening Steel

During the conventional die-quenching processing of a galvanized PHS steel, a thick ZnO layer is formed at the surface. When the heating rate is increased, the oxide at the surface is a thin Al2O3 layer. This remarkable change in surface oxide during rapid heating is due to the partial melting of the coating instead of the solidification of the coating and the formation of Fe-Zn intermetallics. In the present study, the characterization of the surface oxide formation at different heating rates is presented.X1184Ysciescopu

Characterization of the Primo-Vascular System in the Abdominal Cavity of Lung Cancer Mouse Model and Its Differences from the Lymphatic System

Cancer growth and dissemination have been extensively studied for a long time. Nevertheless, many new observations on anatomy and histopathology of cancer events are still reported such as formation of a vasculogenic-like network inside aggressive tumors. In this research, new kinds of micro-conduits, named primo-vessels, were found inside the abdominal cavity of NCI-H460 lung cancer murine xenograft models. These vascular threads were largely distributed on the surfaces of various organs and were often connected to peritoneal tumor nodules. Histological and immunofluorescent investigations showed that the primo-vessels had characteristic features that were distinctively different from those of similar-looking lymphatic vessels. They had multiple channels surrounded with loose collageneous matrices, which is in contrast to the single-channel structure of other vascular systems. The rod-shaped nuclei aligned longitudinally along the channels were assumed to be the endothelial cells of the primo-vessels, but LYVE-1, a specific marker of lymphatics, was not expressed, which indicates a clear difference from lymphatic endothelial cells. Taken together these findings on and characterization of the novel threadlike vascular structures in cancer models may have important implications for cancer prognosis and for therapy

Regulation of pancreatic cancer aggressiveness by stromal stiffening

No abstract available