Comment on "Elasticity Model of a Supercoiled DNA Molecule"

We perform simulations to numerically study the writhe distribution of a stiff polymer. We compare with analytic results of Bouchiat and Mezard (PRL 80 1556- (1998); cond-mat/9706050).Comment: 1 page, 1 figure revtex

Redução da viabilidade de esporângios de Plasmopara viticola por bactérias nativas do filoplano da videira.

Resumo: O míldio é uma das principais doenças da videira, capaz de causar danos significativos à cultura e aumentar os custos de produção. Seu controle demanda o uso intensivo de agrotóxicos, cujos resíduos são indesejáveis. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar o potencial uso de bactérias do filoplano em reduzir a viabilidade de esporângios de Plasmopara viticola. Foram testados trinta e cinco isolados bacterianos obtidos do filoplano de videira. Os testes de antagonismo foram feitos em lâminas de microscopia e em discos de folha, adicionando-se 50 microL de uma suspensão bacteriana e 50 microL de uma suspensão de esporângios. Nos testes em lâmina de microscopia, vinte e nove isolados inibiram a germinação dos esporângios de Plasmopara viticola. Destes, os isolados 1, 37 e 12 se destacaram, por serem capazes de inibir também a liberação de zoósporos. Em discos de folha, o isolado 1 foi o único capaz de inibir a liberação dos zoósporos, significativamente em relação à testemunha. Nesta condição, não houve a germinação dos esporângios, apenas a liberação de zoósporos. Abstract: The downy mildew is one of the main grapevine diseases, able to cause significant damage to the crop and increase production costs. It?s control demand intensive use of pesticides, which residues are undesirable. This study aimed to investigate the potential of phylloplane bacteria in reducing the viability of sporangia of Plasmopara viticola. Thirty-five bacterial isolates from phylloplane of grapevine were tested. The antagonism tests were conducted on microscopy glass blades and on leaf discs, adding microL of a bacterial suspension and 50 microL of a suspension of sporangia. Twenty-nine isolates inhibited the germination of the sporangia of Plasmopara viticola in tests conducted on glass blades. Of these, isolates 1, 37 and 12 were able to inhibit the release of zoospores. In the leaf discs test, the isolate 1 was the single able to inhibit the release of zoospores, significant compared to the control. In this condition, there wasn?t germination of sporangia, only zoospores release

The impact of distance and a shifting temperature gradient on genetic connectivity across a heterogeneous landscape

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inter-population distance and differences in breeding times are barriers to reproduction that can contribute to genotypic differentiation between populations. Temporal changes in environmental conditions and local selective processes can further contribute to the establishment of reproductive barriers. <it>Telopea speciosissima </it>(Proteaceae) is an excellent subject for studying the effect of geographic, edaphic and phenological heterogeneity on genotypic differentiation because previous studies show that these factors are correlated with morphological variation. Molecular, morphological and environmental datasets were combined to characterise the relative influence of these factors on inter-population differentiation, and Bayesian analyses were used to investigate current levels of admixture between differentiated genomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A landscape genetic approach involving molecular and morphological analyses identified three endpoints of differentiated population groups: coastal, upland and southern. The southern populations, isolated from the other populations by an edaphic barrier, show low migration and no evidence of admixture with other populations. Amongst the northern populations, coastal and upland populations are connected along a skewed altitudinal gradient by genetically intermediate populations. The strong association between temperature and flowering time in <it>Telopea speciosissima </it>was shown to maintain a temporally unstable reproductive barrier between coastal and upland populations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Substrate-mediated allopatry appears to be responsible for long-term genetic isolation of the southern populations. However, the temperature-dependent reproductive barrier between upland and coastal populations bears the genetic signature of temporal adjustments. The extreme climatic events of the last glacial maximum are likely to have caused more complete allochronic isolation between upland and coastal populations, as well as exerting increased selective pressure upon local genomes. However, at intermediate altitudes, current climatic conditions allow for the incorporation of alleles from previously distinct genomes, generating new, intermediate genomic assemblages and possibly increasing overall adaptive potential.</p

Tops and Writhing DNA

The torsional elasticity of semiflexible polymers like DNA is of biological significance. A mathematical treatment of this problem was begun by Fuller using the relation between link, twist and writhe, but progress has been hindered by the non-local nature of the writhe. This stands in the way of an analytic statistical mechanical treatment, which takes into account thermal fluctuations, in computing the partition function. In this paper we use the well known analogy with the dynamics of tops to show that when subjected to stretch and twist, the polymer configurations which dominate the partition function admit a local writhe formulation in the spirit of Fuller and thus provide an underlying justification for the use of Fuller's "local writhe expression" which leads to considerable mathematical simplification in solving theoretical models of DNA and elucidating their predictions. Our result facilitates comparison of the theoretical models with single molecule micromanipulation experiments and computer simulations.Comment: 17 pages two figure

A resolução de problemas no ensino de Matemática: visões de três professoras do ensino médio

Considerando as potencialidades do uso de resolução de problemas no processo de ensino- aprendizagem de Matemática e o papel do professor no desenvolvimento deste processo, buscamos compreender qual é a visão dos professores que lecionam Matemática no ensino médio, sobre o uso da resolução de problemas no ensino de Matemática. Para isso, foram realizadas entrevistas com professoras que lecionam Matemática no ensino médio em uma escola estadual do interior do Estado de São Paulo/Brasil e que utilizam o material Caderno do Aluno, fornecido pela Secretaria de Educação do Estado de São Paulo, como principal material didático curricular. Para a análise das entrevistas, foi utilizada a metodologia de Análise do Discurso. Foi possível constatar que duas das professoras entrevistadas interpretam a resolução de problemas como o uso de problemas contextualizados e essa visão está relacionada a ênfase dada a contextualização no currículo e no Caderno do Aluno

A proposed methodology for deriving tsunami fragility functions for buildings using optimum intensity measures

Tsunami fragility curves are statistical models which form a key component of tsunami risk models, as they provide a probabilistic link between a tsunami intensity measure (TIM) and building damage. Existing studies apply different TIMs (e.g. depth, velocity, force etc.) with conflicting recommendations of which to use. This paper presents a rigorous methodology using advanced statistical methods for the selection of the optimal TIM for fragility function derivation for any given dataset. This methodology is demonstrated using a unique, detailed, disaggregated damage dataset from the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami (total 67,125 buildings), identifying the optimum TIM for describing observed damage for the case study locations. This paper first presents the proposed methodology, which is broken into three steps: (1) exploratory analysis, (2) statistical model selection and trend analysis and (3) comparison and selection of TIMs. The case study dataset is then presented, and the methodology is then applied to this dataset. In Step 1, exploratory analysis on the case study dataset suggests that fragility curves should be constructed for the sub-categories of engineered (RC and steel) and non-engineered (wood and masonry) construction materials. It is shown that the exclusion of buildings of unknown construction material (common practice in existing studies) may introduce bias in the results; hence, these buildings are estimated as engineered or non-engineered through use of multiple imputation (MI) techniques. In Step 2, a sensitivity analysis of several statistical methods for fragility curve derivation is conducted in order to select multiple statistical models with which to conduct further exploratory analysis and the TIM comparison (to draw conclusions which are non-model-specific). Methods of data aggregation and ordinary least squares parameter estimation (both used in existing studies) are rejected as they are quantitatively shown to reduce fragility curve accuracy and increase uncertainty. Partially ordered probit models and generalised additive models (GAMs) are selected for the TIM comparison of Step 3. In Step 3, fragility curves are then constructed for a number of TIMs, obtained from numerical simulation of the tsunami inundation of the 2011 GEJE. These fragility curves are compared using K-fold cross-validation (KFCV), and it is found that for the case study dataset a force-based measure that considers different flow regimes (indicated by Froude number) proves the most efficient TIM. It is recommended that the methodology proposed in this paper be applied for defining future fragility functions based on optimum TIMs. With the introduction of several concepts novel to the field of fragility assessment (MI, GAMs, KFCV for model optimisation and comparison), this study has significant implications for the future generation of empirical and analytical fragility functions

Mineralização de C e de N na palhada de cana-de-açúcar.

Resumo: A biomassa vegetal que permanece em cima do solo após a colheita pode representar, em longo prazo incremento de matéria orgânica no solo e redução da necessidade de reposição de nutrientes via fertilizantes minerais. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar a mineralização de C e de N em diferentes quantidades de palhada da cana-de-açúcar ao longo de um ciclo de cultivo. Os tratamentos avaliados correspondem aos níveis 25% - 50% - 75% e 100% (respectivamente 2,8 - 5,7 - 8,5 -11,3 t ha-1) de palhada remanescentes da colheita da cana-de-açúcar (variedade RB-845210), distribuídos em delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições. A avaliação da liberação de carbono e de nitrogênio foi realizada utilizando-se o método do "saco de serrapilheira" ("Litter bag"). Por meio dos resultados foi possível concluir que a dinâmica da mineralização do carbono na palha de cana-de-açúcar é influenciada pelo nível desta biomassa, embora ao final do ciclo as taxas de mineralização do C (70%) se tornem semelhantes para todos os níveis de palhada estudados. O nitrogênio inicialmente fica imobilizado na biomassa. Ao final do ciclo, em função da redução da relação C/N, este elemento começa a ser disponibilizado

Cosmic Ray Physics with the LOFAR Radio Telescope

The LOFAR radio telescope is able to measure the radio emission from cosmic ray induced air showers with hundreds of individual antennas. This allows for precision testing of the emission mechanisms for the radio signal as well as determination of the depth of shower maximum $X_{\max}$, the shower observable most sensitive to the mass of the primary cosmic ray, to better than 20 g/cm$^2$. With a densely instrumented circular area of roughly 320 m$^2$, LOFAR is targeting for cosmic ray astrophysics in the energy range $10^{16}$ - $10^{18}$ eV. In this contribution we give an overview of the status, recent results, and future plans of cosmic ray detection with the LOFAR radio telescope.Comment: Proceedings of the 26th Extended European Cosmic Ray Symposium (ECRS), Barnaul/Belokurikha, 201