Early selection of novel triploid hybrids of shrub willow with improved biomass yield relative to diploids

BACKGROUND: Genetic improvement of shrub willow (Salix), a perennial energy crop common to temperate climates, has led to the development of new cultivars with improved biomass yield, pest and disease resistance, and biomass composition suitable for bioenergy applications. These improvements have largely been associated with species hybridization, yet little is known about the genetic mechanisms responsible for improved yield and performance of certain willow species hybrids. RESULTS: The top performing genotypes in this study, representing advanced pedigrees compared with those in previous studies, were mostly triploid in nature and outperformed current commercial cultivars. Of the genotypes studied, the diploids had the lowest mean yield of 8.29 oven dry Mg ha(−1) yr(−1), while triploids yielded 12.65 Mg ha(−1) yr(−1), with the top five producing over 16 Mg ha(−1) yr(−1). Triploids had high stem area and height across all three years of growth in addition to greatest specific gravity. The lowest specific gravity was observed among the tetraploid genotypes. Height was the early trait most correlated with and the best predictor of third-year yield. CONCLUSIONS: These results establish a paradigm for future breeding and improvement of Salix bioenergy crops based on the development of triploid species hybrids. Stem height and total stem area are effective traits for early prediction of relative yield performance

‘RE/TRS’ is a Girl’s Subject: Talking about Gender and the Discourse of ‘Religion’ in UK Educational Spaces

This article addresses what appears to be a retrenchment into narrower forms of identification and an increased suspicion of difference in the context of educational policy in the UK – especially in relation to ‘Religious Education’. The adoption of standardized management protocols – ‘managerialism’ – across most if not all policy contexts including public educational spaces reduces spaces for encountering or addressing genuine difference and for discovering something new and different. A theory of the ‘feminization of religion’ associated historically with Barbara Welter, provides some useful insights as to why this might be, suggesting that those in British society who would prefer to see greater separation from ‘religion’ in ‘secular’ schools may well also be caught up in forms of gender stereotyping

Anonymous attestation with user-controlled linkability

This paper is motivated by the observation that existing security models for direct anonymous attestation (DAA) have problems to the extent that insecure protocols may be deemed secure when analysed under these models. This is particularly disturbing as DAA is one of the few complex cryptographic protocols resulting from recent theoretical advances actually deployed in real life. Moreover, standardization bodies are currently looking into designing the next generation of such protocols. Our first contribution is to identify issues in existing models for DAA and explain how these errors allow for proving security of insecure protocols. These issues are exhibited in all deployed and proposed DAA protocols (although they can often be easily fixed). Our second contribution is a new security model for a class of "pre-DAA scheme", that is, DAA schemes where the computation on the user side takes place entirely on the trusted platform. Our model captures more accurately than any previous model the security properties demanded from DAA by the trusted computing group (TCG), the group that maintains the DAA standard. Extending the model from pre-DAA to full DAA is only a matter of refining the trust models on the parties involved. Finally, we present a generic construction of a DAA protocol from new building blocks tailored for anonymous attestation. Some of them are new variations on established ideas and may be of independent interest. We give instantiations for these building blocks that yield a DAA scheme more efficient than the one currently deployed, and as efficient as the one about to be standardized by the TCG which has no valid security proof. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Canopy microclimate modification for the cultivar Shiraz I. Definition of canopy microclimate

Three treatments providing different canopy microclimates were applied to mature Shiraz grapevines at Gawler River 30 d before veraison. Constraining foliage into a smaller volume increased shading over control vines, and GDC training and slashing reduced it. Measurements demonstrated significant differences in terms of fruit exposure to solar radiation. Effects on microclimate due to vine vigour were also noted. A K balance made on vine shoots demonstrated that shade was associated with increased K concentrations in the leaves, petioles and stems at veraison. A visual scoring system of microclimate and growth characteristics was evaluated, and results correlated weil with microclimate measurements. A conceptual model is proposed to: explairi how soil and climatic factors and cultural decision can affect canopy microclimate

Canopy microclimate modification for the cultivar Shiraz II. Effects on must and wine composition

The degree of shade in Shiraz grapevine canopies was varied by four treatments and a naturally occurring vigour gradient. A shaded canopy microclimate produced must compositions of reduced sugar content and higher malic acid and K concentrations, and pH. Wines from these musts also showed higher pH, K and reduced proportions of ionised anthocyanins. Correlation studies showed that high must and wine pH and K content were positively correlated with shading in the canopy, and that colour density, total and ionised anthocyanins and phenol concentrations were negatively correlated with shading.An eight-character visual scorecard of grapevine canopies was used to describe the canopies, and the results correlated with must sugar, pH and K, and wine pH, acidity, K, colour density, total and ionised anthocyanins and phenol content. Vines of high vigour produced similar must and wine composition as shaded canopy treatments

Hunting for brown dwarf binaries and testing atmospheric models with X-Shooter

The determination of the brown dwarf binary fraction may contribute to the understanding of the substellar formation mechanisms. Unresolved brown dwarf binaries may be revealed through their peculiar spectra or the discrepancy between optical and near-infrared spectral type classification. We obtained medium-resolution spectra of 22 brown dwarfs with these characteristics using the X-Shooter spectrograph at the VLT. We aimed to identify brown dwarf binary candidates, and to test if the BT-Settl 2014 atmospheric models reproduce their observed spectra. To find binaries spanning the L-T boundary, we used spectral indices and compared the spectra of the selected candidates to single spectra and synthetic binary spectra. We used synthetic binary spectra with components of same spectral type to determine as well the sensitivity of the method to this class of binaries. We identified three candidates to be combination of L plus T brown dwarfs. We are not able to identify binaries with components of similar spectral type. In our sample, we measured minimum binary fraction of $9.1^{+9.9}_{-3.0}$. From the best fit of the BT-Settl models 2014 to the observed spectra, we derived the atmospheric parameters for the single objects. The BT-Settl models were able to reproduce the majority of the SEDs from our objects, and the variation of the equivalent width of the RbI (794.8 nm) and CsI (852.0 nm) lines with the spectral type. Nonetheless, these models did not reproduce the evolution of the equivalent widths of the NaI (818.3 nm and 819.5 nm) and KI (1253 nm) lines with the spectral type.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Search for the hero: an investigation into the sports heroes of British sports fans

This is an initial study into British sports fans’ heroes. A questionnaire was sent to 95 students (average age ¼ 19.75) to identify their sporting hero, the hero’s sport and nationality and the reasons for this choice. Football was the most common source of sports heroes, identified by 49% of participants with a sporting hero. The majority (60%, N ¼ 48) of heroes chosen by participants were British, with David Beckham the most popular choice. Differences were observed between the gender of participants, gender of hero chosen and the reasons for choosing the hero. The most common reason for selecting a hero was a personal trait rather than skill, while in the questionnaire a category of Local Affiliation was added to those suggested by previous work. It was concluded that to become a hero athletes should combine skill with devotion to family, charity work and a place in popular culture

Re-evaluation of cosmic ray cutoff terminology

The study of cosmic ray access to locations inside the geomagnetic field has evolved in a manner that has led to some misunderstanding and misapplication of the terminology originally developed to describe particle access. This paper presents what is believed to be a useful set of definitions for cosmic ray cutoff terminology for use in theoretical and experimental cosmic ray studies

905-58 Multivessel Disease by Dobutamine Echocardiography is as Predictive as Angiographic Multivessel Disease for Adverse Outcome After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Multivessel coronary artery disease is a powerful predictor of adverse outcome after acute myocardial infarction. To determine whether multiple wall motion abnormalities during dobutamine echocardiography are as predictive as multivessel disease for adverse outcome, 72 medically treated patients (age 58 ± 13 yrs, 57 men, 15 women) underwent dobutamine echocardiography and coronary angiography at 5 ± 2 days after acute myocardial infarction and were followed for > 1 year. Forty-one patients had anterior myocardial infarction and 38 Q-wave infarction. Forty-six were treated with thrombolytic therapy. According to the criterion of >50% luminal diameter stenosis, 43 patients had single vessel disease (1 V), 20 two vessel disease (2V) and 9 three vessel disease (3V). According to the standard 16 segment model and vascular distribution, dobutamine echocardiography (peak dose 24 ± 11μg/kg/min, peak HR 111 ± 20 bpm) identified one wall motion abnormality (1V) in 43 patients, two (2V) in 22 patients and three (3V) in 7 patients. Adverse outcomes occurred in 31 patients (cardiac death 5, nonfatal myocardial infarction 4, heart failure 5 and unstable angina requiring revascularization 17). Event rates were:1V2V3VAngiography30% (13/43)*50% (10/20)89% (8/9)Dobutamine Echo26% (11/43)*64% (14/22)86% (6/7)*p < 0.05 versus multivessel diseaseIn conclusion, single vessel disease is predictive of good outcome. Multiple wall motion abnormalities by dobutamine echocardiography are as predictive as angiographic multivessel disease for adverse outcome after acute myocardial infarction

Jahn-Teller distortions and phase separation in doped manganites

A "minimal model" of the Kondo-lattice type is used to describe a competition between the localization and metallicity in doped manganites and related magnetic oxides with Jahn-Teller ions. It is shown that the number of itinerant charge carriers can be significantly lower than that implied by the doping level x. A strong tendency to the phase separation is demonstrated for a wide range of intermediate doping concentrations vanishing at low and high doping. The phase diagram of the model in the x-T plane is constructed. At low temperatures, the system is in a state with a long-range magnetic order: antiferromagnetic (AF), ferromagnetic (FM), or AF-FM phase separated (PS) state. At high temperatures, there can exist two types of the paramagnetic (PM) state with zero and nonzero density of the itinerant electrons. In the intermediate temperature range, the phase diagram includes different kinds of the PS states: AF-FM, FM-PM, and PM with different content of itinerant electrons. The applied magnetic field changes the phase diagram favoring the FM ordering. It is shown that the variation of temperature or magnetic field can induce the metal-insulator transition in a certain range of doping levels.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B.; v.2 contains the changes introduced according to comments of the PRB Referees; in v. 3, some misprints are correcte