Means and variances of some characters in base populations, with emphasis on grain yield in soybean.

The aim of this study was to evaluate in early generations of self-fertilization the potential of single, double and multiple crosses, as producers of base population for soybean breeding programs. The crosses were made involving eight parents with low coefficient of parentage between them. The experiment with the segregating populations was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The results were subjected to analysis based on plot means and individual plants. For the characters number of days to flowering and to maturity, and plant height at flowering and at maturity, the means obtained with the F3 populations of single crosses, the F3 populations of double crosses and the F2 populations of multiple crosses were similar. The best results for grain yield per plant were obtained with the F3 populations of double crosses. ln general, no change was detected in the values of genetic variance of the segregating populations because of the number of parents used in the crosses

Mobile Cloud Support for Semantic-Enriched Speech Recognition in Social Care

Nowadays, most users carry high computing power mobile devices where speech recognition is certainly one of the main technologies available in every modern smartphone, although battery draining and application performance (resource shortage) have a big impact on the experienced quality. Shifting applications and services to the cloud may help to improve mobile user satisfaction as demonstrated by several ongoing efforts in the mobile cloud area. However, the quality of speech recognition is still not sufficient in many complex cases to replace the common hand written text, especially when prompt reaction to short-term provisioning requests is required. To address the new scenario, this paper proposes a mobile cloud infrastructure to support the extraction of semantics information from speech recognition in the Social Care domain, where carers have to speak about their patients conditions in order to have reliable notes used afterward to plan the best support. We present not only an architecture proposal, but also a real prototype that we have deployed and thoroughly assessed with different queries, accents, and in presence of load peaks, in our experimental mobile cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) testbed based on Cloud Foundry

Structural and Thermal Behaviour of a Timber-concrete Prefabricated Composite Wall System

Abstract Wood is the oldest building materials and still now it plays an important role in the construction sector. There are many general advantages in using timber for building purposes. First of all, it is an environmentally friendly, easily recyclable material; it has a low weight in relation to strength, which is advantageous for transport, handling and production; moreover wood has aesthetic qualities, which give great possibilities in architectural design. Lastly wooden structures have an excellent performance in case of earthquake if compared to traditional structures. In Europe the development of the timber-concrete composite structures (TCC) began during a shortage of steel for reinforcement in concrete in the beginning of XX century. TCC application was primarily a refurbishment technique for old historical buildings, during the last 50 years interest in TCC systems has increased, resulting in the construction also of new buildings. This paper presents the analysis of the structural and thermal behaviour of an timber-concrete prefabricated composite wall system, the Concrete Glulam Framed Panel (CGFP) which is a panel made of a concrete slab and a structural glulam frame. The research analyses the structural performance with quasi-static in-plane tests, focused on the in-plane strength and stiffness of individual panels, and the thermal behaviour of the system with steady state tests using an hot box apparatus. The results validate the efficacy of proposed system ensuring the resistance and the dissipative structural behaviour through the hierarchy response characterized by the wood frame, the braced reinforced concrete panel of the singular module and by the rocking effects of global system. On the other side hot-box measures demonstrated a high level of thermal resistance of the system reaching U-values around 0,20 W m -2 K -1 . Moreover experimental data permitted to calibrate a FEM model with which will be possible to study and analyse the panels in different conditions and configuration in both mechanical and thermal field

Photoperiodism and genetic control of the long juvenile period in soybean: a review.

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)is a short day plant that flowers when days are shorter than the maximum critical value, and this period is specific for each genotype. Soybean sensitivity to photoperiodism determines the limits of the sowing period for a latitude and hinders adaptation to wider ranges of latitude. The long juvenile period (LJP), which delays flowering under short day condictions, has been identified in soybean cultivars. The introduction of the LJP characteristic in soybean has made its cultivation possible in regions with latitudes lower than 15 o . Knowledge of the controlling genetic mechanisms of this characteristic can help in the development of soybean genotypes for lower latitudes with greater adaptation to sowing periods within the same latitude. Some conclusions about the genetic LJP control in soybean were reached from the present review: a) plants with LJP have a lower development rate for flowering, resulting in the lengthening of the vegetative period; b) the LJP characteristic has a direct influence on plant photoreceptivity and flowering induction; c) the genetic control of flowering time in short days is determined by a different and independent genetic system from that which determines long day flowering time; d) late flowering under short day conditions is a quantitative characteristic controlled by recessive genes, and it is believed that one to five main genes control flowering. Genotypes with a single pair of recessive alleles did not have LJP

Millennials, Equity, and the Rule of Law: 2014 National Lawyers Convention, \u3ci\u3eHow First Amendment Procedures Protect First Amendment Substance\u3c/i\u3e

A panel, at the National Lawyers Convention, discussed procedure as it relates to First Amendment rights. The panel set forth how First Amendment procedures have historically protected First Amendment substance and discussed modern applications of the issue. For example, the prior restraint doctrine, overbreadth doctrine, the allocation of the burden of proof and relaxation of ripeness rules have important implications for challenging restrictions on speech and defending against libel and defamation. The interaction of free speech and due process is often seen in litigation involving civil harassment orders, or civil protection orders. In many jurisidictions the definition of harassment permits the finding that harassment can be based solely on speech, meaning speech itself can provide a basis for liabilty. In addition, speech may be restricted as a remedy in litigation addressing harassment. Investigations of wrongdoing in the realm of campaign finance law and political speech cases can also have serious implications for speech, both reputational and legal. Further cases involving political speech and campaign finance once exclusively litigated in the civil arena, are now the subject of criminal investigations and prosecutions. This is particularly problematic where many issues in this area remain unsettled. Good lawyering is particularly important in First Amendment cases. Ineffective assistance of counsel can be considered as great an evil in First Amendment cases as in criminal cases. Unfortunately, practicing lawyers often do not understand the process by which constitutional facts are pleaded and proved in First Amendment cases and this problem begins with the way Constitutional Law 101 is taught in law schools. In proving facts in First Amendment litigation the question becomes how does the government prove its justification of a restriction on speech or how does one opposing the government’s restriction on speech respond when the government asserts certain interests as being their justification. In First Amendment litigation the government often relies on legislative facts – newspaper reports, television stories, and criminal cases discussed in the media, arguably the government should be obligated to present more than rumors and speculation

Agronomic and chemical characterization of soybean genotypes for human consumption.

Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merrill) presents a high level of good quality protein and lipids that consist mainly of unsaturated fatty acids. It also has considerable amounts of B complex vitamins and minerals such as iron, potassium and magnesium (Carrão-Panizzi, 1987). In addition to these good nutritional characteristics, soybean for human consumption should have a sweet, nut-like flavor, pale colored seeds (tegument, hilum and cotyledon) and suitable seed size for use as food (Destro, 1991; Vello, 1992). This research was carried out to describe the agronomic and chemical characteristics of food-type soybean genotypes for later use as cultivars or in crosses. Seventy-two soybean genotypes were used in the study, and the agronomic quantitative, qualitative and chemical traits of the grains were assessed, including mineral composition, oil, protein, carbohydrates and ash contents. The results showed that there was great genetic diversity among the genotypes studied for all the agronomic characteristics assessed. The F 82-5782 genotype was outstanding, presenting yield compatible with commercial exploitation as well as large seeds. The Mikawashima genotype presented the highest carbohydrate contents, while the Toffumame II genotype showed the greatest P contents and was also among the six genotypes that presented the greatest K, Ca, Mg, S, Zn, Mn and protein values. These genotypes can be used as cultivars or in breeding programs to solve specific problems of nutrient shortage due to genetic traits

An electrochemical compatibility investigation of RTIL-based electrolytes with Si-based anodes for advanced Li-ion batteries

Silicon is amongst the most attractive anode materials for Li-ion batteries because of its high gravimetric and volumetric capacity; importantly, it is also abundant and cheap, thus sustainable. For a widespread practical deployment of Si-based electrodes, research efforts must focus on significant breakthroughs to addressing the major challenges related to their poor cycling stability. In this work, we focus on the electrolyte-electrode relationships to support the scientific community with a systematic overview of Si-based cell design strategies reporting a thorough electrochemical study of different room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL)-based electrolytes, which contain either lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) or lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI). Their galvanostatic cycling performance with mixed silicon/graphite/few-layer graphene electrodes are evaluated, with first cycle coulombic efficiency approaching 90% and areal capacity ≈2 mAh/cm2 in the limited cut-off range of 0.1–2 V vs. Li+/Li0. The investigation evidences the superior characteristics of the FSI-based RTILs with respect to the TFSI-based one, which is mostly associated with the superior SEI forming ability of FSI-based systems, even without the use of specific additives. In particular, the LiFSI-EMIFSI electrolyte composition shows the best performance in both Li-half cells and Li-ion cells in which the Si-based electrodes are coupled with 4V-class composite NMC-based cathodes

9,9-Dimethyl-9,10-dihydroanthracene

In the title compound, C16H16, the central benzene ring adopts a boat conformation, with a dihedral angle of 34.7 (9)° between the mean planes of the two fused benzene rings. The two methyl groups at the apex of the central benzene ring are in axial and equatorial conformations. The crystal packing is stabilized by weak C—H⋯π inter­molecular inter­actions

The analog signal processor of the Auger fluorescence detector prototype

The Auger Fluorescence Detector will allow to determine the longitudinal development of atmospheric showers in the range 10 19 –10 21 eV. A detector module comprises an array of 20 � 22 PMTs at the focal surface of a large-aperture telescope. Thirty such modules will be used. The PMTs pixel signal is variable in shape depending on the shower-eye geometry. The sky background light (BL) is also variable. We have developed an analog signal processor to obtain best energy and timing resolution despite those constrains. The Head Electronics (HE) bias the PMTs and keeps its pulsegain constant even for large BL. This is measured using a current-monitor of novel design. Both the signal pulse and the BL DC level are sent via a single twisted pair to the Analog Board (AB). The AB performs the compression of the 15–16 bit signal dynamic range into 12 bits of the FADC which follows the AB. A three-pole Bessel filter was adopted for antialiasing. The AB includes 16 bit sigma-delta chips to readout the BL DC level, and a test-pulse distribution system. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 29.4