The Species Richness of Vascular Plants and Amphibia in Major Plant Communities in Temperate to Tropical Australia: Relationship with Annual Biomass Production

Aerodynamic fluxes (frictional, thermal, evaporative) in the atmosphere as it flows over and through a plant community determine the Foliage Projective Covers and eco-morphological attributes of new leaves developed annually in overstorey and understorey strata. The number of leaves produced on vertical foliage shoots depends on available soil water and nutrients, also ambient temperature, during this short growth season. Stem density (number of stems per hectare) and species richness (number of species per hectare) in the overstorey of major Floristic Groups are correlated with annual shoot growth (ASG, t ha −1 ) in that stratum. Species richness in the overstorey increases in the climatic gradient from the arid to the humid zone as well as with increasing air temperatures (about 10 o C) from temperate to tropical Australia. Species richness in the understorey is highest in plant communities in temperate Australia, decreasing in the temperature gradient towards the tropics. As with other major plant and animal groups within an ecosystem, the species richness of Amphibia is correlated with the amount of solar energy fixed (per annum) by the major plant formation in the region-a photosynthetic potential determined by the foliage shoots (ASG, t ha −1 ) produced annually in the overstorey

Lepidópteros ocorrentes na safra e entressafra da soja no sudoeste do Mato Grosso.

Esta pesquisa verificou a ocorrência de lepidópteros desfolhadores durante a safra e entressafra da soja na região sudoeste do estado de Mato Grosso. O estudo foi conduzido na fazenda Aparecida da Serra (14°18'59"S, 57°45'16"W) (14°20'23"S, 57°42'39"W), localizada entre os municípios de Tangará da Serra e Nova Marilândia. No cultivo da soja (TMG 132RR), as coletas foram na safra 2012/13, em um talhão de 50 ha. Foram avaliados quatro transectos contendo 10 estacas cada, distantes 50 metros entre si, totalizando 40 pontos de coleta. Durante a entressafra, as avaliações ocorreram em um talhão de 145 ha contendo milheto (ADR 7010) e próximo ao cultivo de soja anterior. Nesse, foram estabelecidos 12 pontos de coleta, distribuídos em um transecto, cuja distância foi de 67 metros entre cada ponto, e de 134 m a cada quatro pontos. Na soja, 10 coletas foram feitas semanalmente (dezembro a fevereiro) com pano-de-batida, e no milheto, oito coletas quinzenalmente (maio a julho) por metro linear, além de coleta manual, por procura ativa, em ambos. O manejo utilizado pelo produtor na soja foi com defensivos químicos e, no milheto, não houve aplicação de produtos. Os lepidópteros coletados na soja foram Chrysodeixis includens Walker), Spodoptera sp., Heliothis virescens (Fabricius) e Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner. No milheto ocorreram os noctuídeos Mocis latipes (Guenée), Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith), Helicoverpa sp., Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Mythimna sequax Franclemont, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), Leucania latiuscula Herrich-Schäffer, o hesperíideo Urbanus proteus (Linnaeus), e um espécime de Geometridae. Conclui-se que o número de lepidópteros foi maior no milheto do que na soja, e, que exemplares da sub-família Heliothiinae e do gênero Spodoptera estiveram presentes durante os dois cultivos avaliados. Estes resultados contribuem para o conhecimento do complexo de insetos ocorrentes na safra e entressafra da soja e, potencialmente, para o manejo integrado de pragas

A hybrid MLP-PNN architecture for fast image superresolution

Proceedings of Joint International Conference ICANN/ICONIP 2003 Istanbul, Turkey, June 26–29, 2003The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44989-2_50Image superresolution methods process an input image sequence of a scene to obtain a still image with increased resolution. Classical approaches to this problem involve complex iterative minimization procedures, typically with high computational costs. In this paper is proposed a novel algorithm for superresolution that enables a substantial decrease in computer load. First, a probabilistic neural network architecture is used to perform a scattered-point interpolation of the image sequence data. The network kernel function is optimally determined for this problem by a multi-layer perceptron trained on synthetic data. Network parameters dependence on sequence noise level is quantitatively analyzed. This super-sampled image is spatially filtered to correct finite pixel size effects, to yield the final high-resolution estimate. Results on a real outdoor sequence are presented, showing the quality of the proposed method.This work has been partially supported by TIC2001-0572-C02-02 gran

Combined fMRI Region- and Network-Analysis Reveal New Insights of Top-Down Modulation of Bottom-Up Processes in Auditory Laterality

Dichotic listening along with the right-ear advantage (REA) has been a standard method of investigating auditory laterality ever since it was first introduced into neuropsychology in the early 1960s. Beginning in the 1980s, authors reported that it was possible to modulate the bottom-up driven perceptual REA by instructing subjects to selectively attend to and report only from the right or left ear. In the present study, we investigated neuronal correlates of both the bottom-up and top-down modulation of the REA through two fMRI analysis approaches: a traditional region approach and a network connectivity approach. Blood-Oxygenation-Level-Dependent (BOLD) fMRI data were acquired while subjects performed the standard forced-attention paradigm. We asked two questions, could the behavioral REA be replicated in unique brain markers, and second if the profound instruction-induced modulation of the REA found in behavioral data would correspond to a similar modulation of brain activation, both region- and network-specific modulations. The subjects were 70 healthy adult right-handers, about half men and half women. fMRI data were acquired in a 3T MR scanner, and the behavioral results replicated previous findings with a REA in the non-forced (NF) and forced-right (FR) conditions, and a tendency for a left-ear advantage (LEA) in the FL-condition. The fMRI data showed unique activations in the speech perception areas of the left temporal lobe when directly contrasted with activations in the homologous right side. However, there were no remaining unique activations when the FR- and FL-conditions were contrasted against each other, and with the NF-condition, using a conservative significance thresholding. The fMRI results are conceptualized within a network connectivity frame of reference, especially with reference to the extrinsic mode network (EMN). The EMN is a generalized task-positive network that is upregulated whenever the task demands exceed a certain threshold irrespective of the specifics and demands of the task. This could explain the similarity of activations for the FR- and FL-conditions, despite the clear differences in behavior.publishedVersio

Generalized Involution Models for Wreath Products

We prove that if a finite group $H$ has a generalized involution model, as defined by Bump and Ginzburg, then the wreath product $H \wr S_n$ also has a generalized involution model. This extends the work of Baddeley concerning involution models for wreath products. As an application, we construct a Gelfand model for wreath products of the form $A \wr S_n$ with $A$ abelian, and give an alternate proof of a recent result due to Adin, Postnikov, and Roichman describing a particularly elegant Gelfand model for the wreath product \ZZ_r \wr S_n. We conclude by discussing some notable properties of this representation and its decomposition into irreducible constituents, proving a conjecture of Adin, Roichman, and Postnikov's.Comment: 29 page

Lagartas desfolhadoras associadas à cultura da canola.

A canola, Brassica napus L. var. oleifera, destaca-se dentre as oleaginosas, uma vez que apresenta teor de óleo elevado em seus grãos (36%-42%) e concentração de proteína alta no farelo (36%-39%) (Canola..., 2020). No Brasil, a canola tem sido utilizada como fonte de óleo para alimentação humana, industrial e produção de biocombustível, bem como para produção de farelo para alimentação animal (De Mori et al., 2014). (...) Diversos fatores podem afetar o rendimento da canola, destacando-se as infestações por pragas, que podem ocorrer durante todos os estádios de desenvolvimento da cultura (Marsaro Júnior et al., 2019). Dentre as principais pragas destacam-se as lagartas que podem atacar todas as fases de desenvolvimento da cultura, porém são mais frequentemente encontradas entre as folhas, nos períodos vegetativo e reprodutivo. (...) Um dos passos mais importantes para o estabelecimento de um programa de Manejo Integrado de Pragas (MIP) e para o manejo eficiente de uma praga é a sua correta identificação. (...) Com base na detecção dessa dificuldade foi elaborado este trabalho com vistas ao auxílio na correta identificação de lagartas desfolhadoras, pelos produtores dessa oleaginosa, a partir de imagens contendo descrições morfológicas dessas pragas. As espécies estão agrupadas em três superfamílias, constando uma de borboleta (superfamília Papilionoidea) e oito de mariposas (superfamílias Yponomeutoidea e Noctuoidea). Para cada espécie são apresentados os nomes de família e subfamília a que pertencem, com nome científico, autor e data da descrição original. Além disso, apresentam-se uma breve descrição da morfologia dos adultos e lagartas, imagens ilustrativas e alguns aspectos comparativos quando as espécies são similares. Palavras-chaves: canola, Brassica napus L. var. oleífera, lagartas, manejo integrado de pragas, Sul do Brasilbitstream/item/221454/1/CircTec-57-Online.pd

NA60 results on thermal dimuons

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has measured muon pairs with unprecedented precision in 158A GeV In-In collisions. A strong excess of pairs above the known sources is observed in the whole mass region 0.2<M<2.6 GeV. The mass spectrum for M<1 GeV is consistent with a dominant contribution from pi+pi- -> rho -> mu+mu- annihilation. The associated rho spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. For M>1 GeV, the excess is found to be prompt, not due to enhanced charm production, with pronounced differences to Drell-Yan pairs. The slope parameter Teff associated with the transverse momentum spectra rises with mass up to the rho, followed by a sudden decline above. The rise for M<1 GeV is consistent with radial flow of a hadronic emission source. The seeming absence of significant flow for M>1 GeV and its relation to parton-hadron duality is discussed in detail, suggesting a dominantly partonic emission source in this region. A comparison of the data to the present status of theoretical modeling is also contained. The accumulated empirical evidence, including also a Planck-like shape of the mass spectra at low pT and the lack of polarization, is consistent with a global interpretation of the excess dimuons as thermal radiation. We conclude with first results on omega in-medium effects.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.