A diagnostic multiplex PCR scheme for identification of plant-associated bacteria of the genus Pantoea.

Unrefereed reprintThe genus Pantoea forms a complex of more than 25 species, among which several cause diseases of several crop plants, including rice. Notably, strains of Pantoea ananatis and Pantoea stewartii have been found to cause bacterial leaf blight of rice in Togo and Benin, while other authors have observed that Pantoea agglomerans can also cause bacterial leaf blight of rice. The contribution of these and perhaps other species of Pantoea to plant diseases and yield losses of crop plants is currently not well documented, partly due to the lack of efficient diagnostic tools

Please Take My Survey: Compliance with smartphone-based EMA/ESM studies

This thesis analyzes the factors that affect compliance in Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) survey systems using smartphones. Current EMA systems have simple parameters in their triggering mechanisms, which results in missed or ignored surveys, creating a loss of subject data. Over the course of three user studies, with slight variations, we analyze the factors that influence the willingness of a survey participant to answer surveys on an Android phone. An understanding of these factors would be valuable for mobile developers in developing advanced EMA trigger systems. After having experienced various unforeseen challenges in the process, we describe the parameters and difficulties in administering a study of this nature, making recommendations for future EMA applications and user studies. We also compare and analyze the pros and cons involved in developing various EMA systems. Psychologists and sociologists who use EMA systems to gather behavioral data might benefit from the experiential and behavioral data collected as part of our user studies

Tomographic inspection system using X-rays

Tomography refers to the cross-sectional imaging of an object from either transmission or reflection data collected by illuminating the object from many different directions. This technique revolutionized diagnostic medicine since it enabled doctors to view the slices of internal organs of the patient using x-rays. For the same reason, the method is being used in industry for applicationa such as inspection of turbine blades, rocket motors, ceramics, electronic components, castings, etc. The mathematical basis of CT was established by J.Radon in 1917 when he showed that it is possible to determine the value of a function over a region of space if the set of line integrals is known for all ray paths through the region. In the case of CT, the line integrals are derived from the x-ray intensities sensed by the detectors, and the function to be determined is the distribution of the x-ray attenuation coefficient over the object. However, the large number of calculations needed to accomplish the reconstruction ruled out any practical application to x-ray data until the availability of relatively rapid computers. Hounsfiled and Cornack first received a nobel prize in 1979 in medicine for their x-ray brain scanner with reconstruction time of 2 days. Since then several advances have been made resulting in fast reconstruction algorithms. Fourier weighted backprojection developed by Ramchandran and Laxminarayan is one of the most commonly used algorithm. This algorithm bring out the splendor and power of mathematical formulation of a problem. With very few assumptions, cross-sectional view of an object can be obtained with unprecedented accuracy. The amount of computation involved is still complex enough to demand considerable computing power

A Finite Element Approach to Conduct Machinability Studies on Age-Hardened AA6061 Matrix Hybrid Composites

AA6061, a popular structural material, has found widespread usage in the automotive and aerospace domains. The current work explored the effect of the improvement of mechanical properties on the machinability of AA6061 through finite element analysis. Three compositions of AA6061 containing 2 wt.% graphite and 0, 2, 4 wt.% granite dust were fabricated by stir casting.  In the current work, a finite element model of a slab milling cutter with eight teeth was designed with high-speed steel (HSS) as the tool material. The LS-DYNA module of ANSYS was used for simulation of the milling operation, selecting two peripheral speeds for the cutter during the machining of the workpiece. Surface milling was carried out on the cast slabs of the three compositions to study chip formation. At higher cutting speeds, there was an increase in the von Mises stress as well as material deformation. An increase in the weight fraction of the ceramic fillers led to a corresponding increase in the von Mises stress and material deformation. The experimental results from face milling of the three compositions showed that the surface roughness increased with an increase in the content of ceramic fillers and a decrease in chip size

A Finite Element Approach to Conduct Machinability Studies on Age-Hardened AA6061 Matrix Hybrid Composites

AA6061, a popular structural material, has found widespread usage in the automotive and aerospace domains. The current work explored the effect of the improvement of mechanical properties on the machinability of AA6061 through finite element analysis. Three compositions of AA6061 containing 2 wt.% graphite and 0, 2, 4 wt.% granite dust were fabricated by stir casting.  In the current work, a finite element model of a slab milling cutter with eight teeth was designed with high-speed steel (HSS) as the tool material. The LS-DYNA module of ANSYS was used for simulation of the milling operation, selecting two peripheral speeds for the cutter during the machining of the workpiece. Surface milling was carried out on the cast slabs of the three compositions to study chip formation. At higher cutting speeds, there was an increase in the von Mises stress as well as material deformation. An increase in the weight fraction of the ceramic fillers led to a corresponding increase in the von Mises stress and material deformation. The experimental results from face milling of the three compositions showed that the surface roughness increased with an increase in the content of ceramic fillers and a decrease in chip size

Compensation for Environmental Damage: Progressively Casting a Wider Net, but What’s the Catch?

In the case Certain Activities Carried Out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua)–-Compensation Owed by The Republic of Nicaragua to The Republic of Costa Rica (the Costa Rica case), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had to ascertain the compensation amount due by Nicaragua for the environmental damage it had caused to Costa Rica. This was the first time the ICJ was asked to weigh in and settle an environmental damage compensation claim between two states. After a concise introduction in Part I, this Article will first review the distinction between state responsibility for wrongful acts (as applicable in the Costa Rica case) and the international liability of states in the absence of wrongfulness in Part II. In Part III a detailed analysis of the Costa Rica case will be undertaken, with as its starting point the explicit acknowledgment by the ICJ that compensation is, indeed, due for damage caused to the environment, in and of itself, even if that damage is caused to non-marketable components of the environment, such as damageto a wetland or damage to an ecosystem. Next, this Article will critique the absence of transparency in the ICJ judgment on the valuation method it applied to calculate the final compensation amount as well as the paltry sum which Nicaragua ultimately owed to Costa Rica in this case. The general reluctance by the ICJ to apply punitive damages, in principle, does open an interesting comparative law debate on how common law and civil law countries differ in applying punitive damages in environmental cases. Where punitive damages may not be uniformly applied in national jurisdictions, most domestic courts do readily appoint experts in environmental matters given the inherent technical and scientific nature of such disputes. Therefore, this Article suggests the view that moving forward the ICJ should more actively appoint its own independent experts in environmental disputes, rather than merely relying on the evidence brought forward by the parties. This would go a long way in arriving at more robust scientific conclusions which in turn would allow the ICJ to contribute in a more meaningful manner to the development of international environmental and climate change law. Part IV seeks to demonstrate how domestic responses by the judiciary or the legislature increasingly tend to go further and be more proactive compared to the approaches of international regimes and adjudicating bodies when addressing environmental damage claims. This is illustrated based on a brief analysis of both the Deepwater Horizon and Erika oil spill cases and contrasted with the cases handled and interpretation given by the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds when interpreting terms such as “environment” and “environmental damage.” Part V offers some concluding thoughts on the overall contribution of the ICJ’s Costa Rica case, including the suggestion that the court could have adopted a more “proactive judicial policy” in such an important transboundary environmental dispute between states

The venom gland transcriptome of the Desert Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus edwardsii): towards an understanding of venom composition among advanced snakes (Superfamily Colubroidea)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Snake venoms are complex mixtures of pharmacologically active proteins and peptides which belong to a small number of superfamilies. Global cataloguing of the venom transcriptome facilitates the identification of new families of toxins as well as helps in understanding the evolution of venom proteomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have constructed a cDNA library of the venom gland of a threatened rattlesnake (a pitviper), <it>Sistrurus catenatus edwardsii </it>(Desert Massasauga), and sequenced 576 ESTs. Our results demonstrate a high abundance of serine proteinase and metalloproteinase transcripts, indicating that the disruption of hemostasis is a principle mechanism of action of the venom. In addition to the transcripts encoding common venom proteins, we detected two varieties of low abundance unique transcripts in the library; these encode for three-finger toxins and a novel toxin possibly generated from the fusion of two genes. We also observed polyadenylated ribosomal RNAs in the venom gland library, an interesting preliminary obsevation of this unusual phenomenon in a reptilian system.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The three-finger toxins are characteristic of most elapid venoms but are rare in viperid venoms. We detected several ESTs encoding this group of toxins in this study. We also observed the presence of a transcript encoding a fused protein of two well-characterized toxins (Kunitz/BPTI and Waprins), and this is the first report of this kind of fusion in a snake toxin transcriptome. We propose that these new venom proteins may have ancillary functions for envenomation. The presence of a fused toxin indicates that in addition to gene duplication and accelerated evolution, exon shuffling or transcriptional splicing may also contribute to generating the diversity of toxins and toxin isoforms observed among snake venoms. The detection of low abundance toxins, as observed in this and other studies, indicates a greater compositional similarity of venoms (though potency will differ) among advanced snakes than has been previously recognized.</p