1,006 research outputs found
Molecular diversity at QTLs for pre-harvest sprouting resistance in spring wheat using microsatellite markers
Brief communication: On direct impact probability of landslides on vehicles
When calculating the risk of railway or road users of being killed by a natural
hazard, one has to calculate a temporal spatial probability, i.e. the
probability of a vehicle being in the path of the falling mass when the mass
falls, or the expected number of affected vehicles in case such of an event. To
calculate this, different methods are used in the literature, and, most of
the time, they consider only the dimensions of the falling mass or the
dimensions of the vehicles. Some authors do however consider both dimensions
at the same time, and the use of their approach is recommended. Finally, a
method considering an impact on the front of the vehicle is
discussed
Extrapolating non-target risk of Bt crops from laboratory to field
The tiered approach to assessing ecological risk of insect-resistant transgenic crops assumes that lower tier laboratory studies, which expose surrogate non-target organisms to high doses of insecticidal proteins, can detect harmful effects that might be manifested in the field. To test this assumption, we performed meta-analyses comparing results for non-target invertebrates exposed to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry proteins in laboratory studies with results derived from independent field studies examining effects on the abundance of non-target invertebrates. For Lepidopteran-active Cry proteins, laboratory studies correctly predicted the reduced field abundance of non-target Lepidoptera. However, laboratory studies incorporating tri-trophic interactions of Bt plants, herbivores and parasitoids were better correlated with the decreased field abundance of parasitoids than were direct-exposure assays. For predators, laboratory tri-trophic studies predicted reduced abundances that were not realized in field studies and thus overestimated ecological risk. Exposure to Coleopteran-active Cry proteins did not significantly reduce the laboratory survival or field abundance of any functional group examined. Our findings support the assumption that laboratory studies of transgenic insecticidal crops show effects that are either consistent with, or more conservative than, those found in field studies, with the important caveat that laboratory studies should explore all ecologically relevant routes of exposure
GJ 1252 b: A 1.2 R\u3csub\u3eâ\u3c/sub\u3e Planet Transiting An M3 Dwarf At 20.4 pc
We report the discovery of GJ 1252 b, a planet with a radius of 1.193 ± 0.074 Râ and an orbital period of 0.52 days around an M3-type star (0.381 ± 0.019 Mâ, 0.391 ± 0.020 Râ) located 20.385 ± 0.019 pc away. We use Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data, ground-based photometry and spectroscopy, Gaia astrometry, and high angular resolution imaging to show that the transit signal seen in the TESS data must originate from a transiting planet. We do so by ruling out all false-positive scenarios that attempt to explain the transit signal as originating from an eclipsing stellar binary. Precise Doppler monitoring also leads to a tentative mass measurement of 2.09 ± 0.56 Mâ. The host star proximity, brightness (V = 12.19 mag, K = 7.92 mag), low stellar activity, and the system\u27s short orbital period make this planet an attractive target for detailed characterization, including precise mass measurement, looking for other objects in the system, and planet atmosphere characterization
Mouse allergen, lung function, and atopy in Puerto Rican children
Objective: To examine the relation between mouse allergen exposure and asthma in Puerto Rican children. Methods: Mus m 1, Der p 1, Bla g 2, and Fel d 1 allergens were measured in dust samples from homes of Puerto Rican children with (cases) and without (controls) asthma in Hartford, CT (n = 449) and San Juan (SJ), Puerto Rico (n = 678). Linear or logistic regression was used for the multivariate analysis of mouse allergen (Mus m 1) and lung function (FEV1 and FEV1/FVC) and allergy (total IgE and skin test reactivity (STR) to â„1 allergen) measures. Results: Homes in SJ had lower mouse allergen levels than those in Hartford. In multivariate analyses, mouse allergen was associated with higher FEV1 in cases in Hartford (+70.6 ml, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.6-132.7 ml, P = 0.03) and SJ (+45.1 ml, 95% CI = -0.5 to 90.6 ml, P = 0.05). In multivariate analyses of controls, mouse allergen was inversely associated with STR to â„1 allergen in non-sensitized children (odds ratio [OR] for each log-unit increment in Mus m 1 = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.5-0.9, P<0.01). In a multivariate analysis including all children at both study sites, each log-increment in mouse allergen was positively associated with FEV1 (+28.3 ml, 95% CI = 1.4-55.2 ml, P = 0.04) and inversely associated with STR to â„1 allergen (OR for each log-unit increment in Mus m 1 = 0.8, 95% CI = 0.6-0.9, P<0.01). Conclusions: Mouse allergen is associated with a higher FEV1 and lower odds of STR to â„1 allergen in Puerto Rican children. This may be explained by the allergen itself or correlated microbial exposures. © 2012 Forno et al
The role of GRIP1 and ephrin B3 in blood pressure control and vascular smooth muscle cell contractility
This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to J.W. (MOP57697,
MOP69089 and MOP 123389), H.L. (MOP97829), and G.C. (CMI72323). It was also financed by grants from
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (203906-2012), and the J.-Louis Levesque
Foundation to J.W. This study was also made possible by a group grant from the National Sciences Foundation of
China (#81361120264) to J.S., S.H. T.W. and J.W. The funders provided support in the form of salaries for authors
[Y.W.; Z.W.; H.L.; J.P.; J.R.], and experimental costs, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data
collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors
are articulated in the âauthor contributionsâ. The authors thank Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for generously
providing Efnb3 KO mice. The authors thank all the authors of the International Consortium for Blood Pressure
Genome-Wide Association Studies for allow us to mine the study dataset
Capturing the essence of folding and functions of biomolecules using Coarse-Grained Models
The distances over which biological molecules and their complexes can
function range from a few nanometres, in the case of folded structures, to
millimetres, for example during chromosome organization. Describing phenomena
that cover such diverse length, and also time scales, requires models that
capture the underlying physics for the particular length scale of interest.
Theoretical ideas, in particular, concepts from polymer physics, have guided
the development of coarse-grained models to study folding of DNA, RNA, and
proteins. More recently, such models and their variants have been applied to
the functions of biological nanomachines. Simulations using coarse-grained
models are now poised to address a wide range of problems in biology.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figure
Signaling in Secret: Pay-for-Performance and the Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay Secrecy
Key Findings: Pay secrecy adversely impacts individual task performance because it weakens the perception that an increase in performance will be accompanied by increase in pay; Pay secrecy is associated with a decrease in employee performance and retention in pay-for-performance systems, which measure performance using relative (i.e., peer-ranked) criteria rather than an absolute scale (see Figure 2 on page 5); High performing employees tend to be most sensitive to negative pay-for- performance perceptions; There are many signals embedded within HR policies and practices, which can influence employeesâ perception of workplace uncertainty/inequity and impact their performance and turnover intentions; and When pay transparency is impractical, organizations may benefit from introducing partial pay openness to mitigate these effects on employee performance and retention
Monitoring the large-scale magnetic field of AD~Leo with SPIRou, ESPaDOnS and Narval. Toward a magnetic polarity reversal?
One manifestation of dynamo action on the Sun is the 22-yr magnetic cycle,
exhibiting a polarity reversal and a periodic conversion between poloidal and
toroidal fields. For M dwarfs, several authors claim evidence of activity
cycles from photometry and analyses of spectroscopic indices, but no clear
polarity reversal has been identified from spectropolarimetric observations.
Our aim is to monitor the evolution of the large-scale field of AD Leo, which
has shown hints of a secular evolution from past dedicated spectropolarimetric
campaigns. We analysed near-infrared spectropolarimetric observations of the
active M dwarf AD Leo taken with SPIRou between 2019 and 2020 and archival
optical data collected with ESPaDOnS and Narval between 2006 and 2019. We
searched for long-term variability in the longitudinal field, the width of
unpolarised Stokes profiles, the unsigned magnetic flux derived from Zeeman
broadening, and the geometry of the large-scale magnetic field using both
Zeeman-Doppler Imaging and Principal Component Analysis. We found evidence of a
long-term evolution of the magnetic field, featuring a decrease in axisymmetry
(from 99% to 60%). This is accompanied by a weakening of the longitudinal field
(-300 to -50 G) and a correlated increase in the unsigned magnetic flux (2.8 to
3.6 kG). Likewise, the width of the mean profile computed with selected
near-infrared lines manifests a long-term evolution corresponding to field
strength changes over the full time series, but does not exhibit modulation
with the stellar rotation of AD Leo in individual epochs. The large-scale
magnetic field of AD Leo manifested first hints of a polarity reversal in late
2020 in the form of a substantially increased dipole obliquity, while the
topology remained predominantly poloidal and dipolar. This suggests that
low-mass M dwarfs with a dipole-dominated magnetic field can undergo magnetic
cycles.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, 8 table
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