The elicitation of phytoalexin accumulation in Phaseolus vulgaris by Rhizoctonia and Fusarium

The phytoalexins kievitone and phaseollin were quantified in hypocotyls of Phaseolus vulgaris infected by either Rhizoctonia solani or fusarium solani f.sp. phaseoli. Infection of intact seedlings produced a pattern of phytoalexin accumulation consistent with earlier reports. In response to R. solani, kievitone accumulated rapidly and may have been instrumental in .the formation of restricted lesions; little kievitone could be detected in hypocotyls bearing spreading lesions produced by f. solani f.sp. phaseoli.These results prompted the development of an artificial inoculation system employing excised, cored hypocotyls to investigate the possibility that the observed disparity in kievitone levels might reflect differential production, by the two fungi, of (an) elicitor(s) of kievitone accumulation. While this system did not exactly reproduce the response of intact plants upon inoculation with mycelium, it did provide a sensitive means for the evaluation of kievitone-eliciting activity in culture filtrates and mycelial fractions.Material capable of eliciting high levels of kievitone in the artificial system was isolated from cell-free mycelial extracts of ft. solani; the same procedures failed to demonstrate similar activity in f. solani f.sp. phaseoli. Kievitone-eliciting activity was also solubilized from cell walls of R. solani. Since the active fractions were only partially-purified, a thorough appraisal of the structure and activity of the elicitor(s) was not achieved.An elicitor preparation from R. solani, introduced into bean hypocotyls prior to inoculation with F. solani f.sp. phaseoli, appeared to delay colonization by this aggressive fungus. This finding raises the possibility of cross-protecting plants through the action of phytoalexins.Hypotheses to explain the observed differences in the resistance of bean hypocotyls to the two fungi are outlined in the context of current ideas on the elicitation of phytoalexin accumulation and disease resistance

Laboratory Studies of Hypervelocity Impacts on Solar System Analogues

Impact cratering and asteroid collisions are major processes throughout the Solar System. Although previous collision-related impact investigations exist (Flynn et al. 2015, Holsapple et al. 2002 and Burchell et al. 1998 are good examples), in the works covering this broad range of investigation, the targets are non-rotating (for the purposes of catastrophic disruption) and different temperature conditions are not considered (for impact cratering). Accordingly, I present experimental processes and data, regarding hypervelocity impact experiments into analogues of (1) rotating asteroids and (2) temperature dependant terrestrial planetary rock. During the course of this work, it was necessary to develop new apparatus and new experimental techniques such as three separate target holders to aid in both catastrophic disruption and heated impact projects, a 3-dimensional model analysis of craters and a completely new, statistically robust, technique to determine a complete crater profile called the KDM method where KDM is Kinnear-Deller-Morris. The main result from this work showed that during an asteroid impact collision where the asteroid is not rotating, the impact energy density for catastrophic disruption is Q*static = 1442 ± 90 J kg-1. However, when the target asteroid was rotating, the condition Q*rotation = 1097 ± 296 J kg-1. The mean value of Q* had thus reduced, but the spread in the data on individual experiments was larger. This leads to two conclusions. The mean value for Q*, based on measurements of many impacts, falls, due to the internal forces acting in the body which are associated with the rotation. This energy term reduction means that the amount of energy to instigate catastrophic disruption is lower and that a rotating asteroid is effectively weaker upon impact than a stationary asteroid. However, the spread in the results indicates that this is not a uniform process, and an individual result for Q* for a rotating or spinning target may be spread over a large range. For the temperature related impacts, as the targets were heated to approximately 1000 K, the target rocks showed an impact dependence more similar to a plastic phase-state than to solidus, due to being held close to temperatures associated with semi-plastic phases. Basalt impact craters displayed this relationship greatest with crater sizes becoming smaller at the higher temperature ranges but larger in the colder brittle solidus temperatures, partly explained in experiments by increased spallation

Use of smart technologies to collect and retain crash information

Task 1.1 of Pendant Work Package 1 has a threefold objective: firstly to develop methods and guidelines for the reconstruction of road traffic accidents, secondly to develop a database of information about public domain crash tests, and thirdly to develop methods for determining the comparability and accuracy of reconstruction methods. As part of the third aim the Description of work (2001) states: "Specific reference will be made to the use of smart technologies to collect and retain information about the crash (‘black boxes’, ‘crash recorders’). The Task will examine current capabilities and identify the main obstacles to their wider implementation." The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the state of the art in recording information about the crash phase, including current capabilities and main obstacles to further implementation

FESTA. D2.4 Data analysis and modelling

The chapter of the handbook and the deliverable on data analysis will provide guidance and general principles for - pre-testing to check the usability of the system and the feasibility of the evaluation process, - controlling the consistency of the chain and the precision with different sampling schemes, - modelling the impact for each indicators and for an integrated evaluation including a systemic and multidisciplinary interpretation of the effects, - integrating and controlling the quality of space-time data from various sources (numerical, video, questionnaires), - selecting the appropriate statistical techniques for data processing, PI estimation and hypothesis testing in accordance to the list of indicators and experimental design, - scaling up from experimental data and identified models to population and network level. Experimentalists stress the role and importance of a preliminary field test in FOT. Three main objectives have been defined to make a preliminary diagnosis of usability of the systems and to check the relevance and feasibility of the evaluation process. These preliminary tests are very important for the practical deployment of the FOT as well as for the overall scientific evaluation process. Recommendations about the monitoring of local and global consistency of the chain of operations from the database extraction to the hypothesis testing are given, especially to ensure the validation of the calculation of the Performance indicators. Integration of the outputs of the different analysis and hypothesis testing requires a kind of meta-model and the competences of a multidisciplinary evaluation team, specially for interpretation of the system impact and secondary effects (behavioural adaptation, learning process, long-term retroaction, …). In cooperation with WP2.2, methods for data quality control have been defined. Four types of checks have been defined to complement the information of the data base in order to prepare the data for the analysis. Statistical methods have been described for three steps of the chain: data processing, PI calculation and hypothesis testing. They belong either to exploratory data analysis or to inferential analysis. Special attention has been given to the precision of the estimates of the effects or impacts of the system on the Performance indicators by stressing the importance of controlled randomisation and application of mixed regression models. Scaling-up relies upon the potential to extrapolate from the PIs to estimates of the impact at an aggregated level. Three approaches have been defined to carry out the scaling up process from direct estimations to simulation models with the related assumptions. Models and methodologies for scaling up results on traffic flow, environmental effects (e.g. PM10, CO2, Noise emissions in db) and traffic safety have been collected

A study investigating the comparative situation awareness of older and younger drivers when driving a route with extended periods of cognitive taxation

This study sought to measure and compare the Situation Awareness (SA) of a younger group of 11 drivers (average age 28.2 years) to that of an older group of 10 drivers (average age 77.2 years), as they traversed a route that included many cognitively taxing elements. This was achieved by recording a participant’s continual commentary of what s/he felt to be of relevance during the drive. These recordings were then transcribed and assessed by computer software capable of abstracting the main concepts from each individual’s or group’s narrative, and calculating scores indicative of Situation Awareness. It was found that the younger drivers scored significantly higher (p < 0.024) than their older counterparts. Furthermore, when the results from the participants who undertook both this and previous studies in the series were compared (see Key, Morris, & Mansfield, 2016), it was found that SA scoring could be importantly influenced by perceptions of a task’s difficulty, rather than its actual difficulty. It was also indicative from the narratives, that the younger driving group had demonstrated a better 360-degree awareness, and enunciated more safety-related concepts

Situation Awareness: its proficiency amongst older and younger drivers, and its usefulness for perceiving hazards.

The two studies reported here sought to measure and compare the Situation Awareness (SA) of younger and older driver groups whilst driving (Study 1), and watching video footage of actual car journeys (Study 2). In both studies this was achieved by recording a participant’s commentary on what s/he felt was of relevance to the driving task. The narratives produced were analysed by computer software that could abstract main concepts and calculate scores indicative of Situation Awareness. In Study 2, these scores were related to others for hazard perception proficiency (also derived from participant commentaries). It was found that the older drivers matched and often exceeded the younger drivers when their SA scores were compared individually, but not when assessed as a group. However, the younger drivers out-performed their older counterparts in hazard perception ability, and this was shown to be related to their Situation Awareness score. When the results from participants who undertook both studies were compared, it was found that Situation Awareness performance was significantly higher when commenting on video footage (Study 2) than whilst actually driving (Study 1)

Structure prediction of stable sodium germanides at 0 and 10 GPa

In this work we used ab-initio random structure searching (AIRSS) to carry out a systematic search for crystalline Na-Ge materials at both 0 and 10 GPa. The high-throughput structural relaxations were accelerated using a machine-learned interatomic potential (MLIP) fit to density-functional theory (DFT) reference data, allowing ∼1.5 million structures to be relaxed. At ambient conditions we predict three new Zintl phases, Na3Ge2, Na2Ge and Na9Ge4, to be stable and a number of Ge-rich layered structures to lie in close proximity to the convex hull. The known NaδGe34 clathrate and Na4Ge13 host-guest structures are found to be relatively stabilized at higher temperature by vibrational contributions to the free energy. Overall, the low energy phases exhibit exceptional structural diversity, with the expected mixture of covalent and ionic bonding confirmed using the electron-localisation function (ELF). The local Ge structural motifs present at each composition were determined using Smooth Overlap of Atomic Positions (SOAP) descriptors and the Ge-K edge was simulated for representatives of each motif, providing a direct link to experimental x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Two Ge-rich phases are predicted to be stable at 10 GPa; NaGe3 and NaGe2 have simple kagome and simple hexagonal Ge lattices respectively with Na contained in the pores. NaGe3 is isostructural with the MgB3 and MgSi3 family of kagome superconductors and remains dynamically stable at 0 GPa. Removing the Na from NaGe2 results in the hexagonal lonsdalite Ge allotrope, which has a direct band gap

Chromospheric Activity of HAT-P-11: an Unusually Active Planet-Hosting K Star

Kepler photometry of the hot Neptune host star HAT-P-11 suggests that its spot latitude distribution is comparable to the Sun's near solar maximum. We search for evidence of an activity cycle in the CaII H & K chromospheric emission $S$-index with archival Keck/HIRES spectra and observations from the echelle spectrograph on the ARC 3.5 m Telescope at APO. The chromospheric emission of HAT-P-11 is consistent with a $\gtrsim 10$ year activity cycle, which plateaued near maximum during the Kepler mission. In the cycle that we observed, the star seemed to spend more time near active maximum than minimum. We compare the $\log R^\prime_{HK}$ normalized chromospheric emission index of HAT-P-11 with other stars. HAT-P-11 has unusually strong chromospheric emission compared to planet-hosting stars of similar effective temperature and rotation period, perhaps due to tides raised by its planet.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Randomized phase II study investigating pazopanib versus weekly paclitaxel in relapsed or progressive urothelial cancer

Purpose: Two previous single-arm trials have drawn conflicting conclusions regarding the activity of pazopanib in urothelial cancers after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: This randomized (1:1) open-label phase II trial compared the efficacy of pazopanib 800 mg orally with paclitaxel (80 mg/m2 days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days) in the second-line setting. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Results: Between August 2012 and October 2014, 131 patients, out of 140 planned, were randomly assigned. The study was terminated early on the recommendation of the independent data monitoring committee because of futility. Final analysis after the preplanned number of deaths (n = 110) occurred after a median follow-up of 18 months. One hundred fifteen deaths had occurred at the final data extract presented here. Median OS was 8.0 months for paclitaxel (80% CI, 6.9 to 9.7 months) and 4.7 months for pazopanib (80% CI, 4.2 to 6.4 months). The hazard ratio (HR) adjusted for baseline stratification factors was 1.28 (80% CI, 0.99 to 1.67; one-sided P = .89). Median progression-free survival was 4.1 months for paclitaxel (80% CI, 3.0 to 5.6 months) and 3.1 months for pazopanib (80% CI, 2.7 to 4.6 months; HR, 1.09; 80% CI, 0.85 to 1.40; one-sided P = .67). Discontinuations for toxicity occurred in 7.8% and 23.1% for paclitaxel and pazopanib, respectively. Conclusion: Pazopanib did not have greater efficacy than paclitaxel in the second-line treatment of urothelial cancers. There was a trend toward superior OS for paclitaxel