THE EFFECT OF APPLYING WITH IMMUNOCYTOPHYTE ON THE CONTENT AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL FROM COMMON BASIL OF ‘TRAKIA’ CULTIVAR

The aim of the study was to establish the effect of the leaf treatments with Immunocytophyte on the content, yield and chemical composition of the essential oil distilled from dry leaf and stems biomass and flower spikes of common basil, ‘Trakia’ cultivar. The experiment was carried out in the period 2007-2009 on the Training-and-Experimental fields of the Agricultural University – Plovdiv, set by the block plot design in four replications, the plot size being 20 m2. The following variants were studied: 1) Control; 2) 0.5 tablet per 50 m2, 3) 1 tablet per 50 m2, 4) 1.5 tablet per 50 m2, applied three times during the vegetation period before flowering of the second-order branches after basic fertilization with 16 kg/da of nitrogen (applied three times) and irrigation to 80-100% of water holding capacity. The results showed that the application of Immunocytophyte had a negative effect on the essential oil content. Nevertheless, higher essential oil yields were obtained in the treated variants thanks to the higher yield of dry matter. The major components of the essential oil distilled from dry leaf and stem biomass and flower spikes are linalool, limonene, methyl chavicol and methyl cinnamate

Detection of SUSY Signals in Stau Neutralino Co-annihilation Region at the LHC

We study the prospects of detecting the signal in the stau neutralino co-annihilation region at the LHC using tau leptons. The co-annihilation signal is characterized by the stau and neutralino mass difference (dM) to be 5-15 GeV to be consistent with the WMAP measurement of the cold dark matter relic density as well as all other experimental bounds within the minimal supergravity model. Focusing on tau's from neutralino_2 --> tau stau --> tau tau neutralino_1 decays in gluino and squark production, we consider inclusive MET+jet+3tau production, with two tau's above a high E_T threshold and a third tau above a lower threshold. Two observables, the number of opposite-signed tau pairs minus the number of like-signed tau pairs and the peak position of the di-tau invariant mass distribution, allow for the simultaneous determination of dM and M_gluino. For dM = 9 GeV and M_gluino = 850 GeV with 30 fb^-1 of data, we can measure dM to 15% and M_gluino to 6%.Comment: 4 pages LaTex, 3 figures. To appear in Proceedings of SUSY06, the 14th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions, UC Irvine, California, 12-17 June 2006. A typo in a reference is correcte

On geodesic exponential maps of the Virasoro group

We study the geodesic exponential maps corresponding to Sobolev type right-invariant (weak) Riemannian metricsμ(k) (k≥ 0) on the Virasoro group Vir and show that for k≥ 2, but not for k=0,1, each of them defines a smooth Fréchet chart of the unital element e ∈Vir. In particular, the geodesic exponential map corresponding to the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation (k=0) is not a local diffeomorphism near the origi

Secretary and Online Matching Problems with Machine Learned Advice

The classical analysis of online algorithms, due to its worst-case nature, can be quite pessimistic when the input instance at hand is far from worst-case. Often this is not an issue with machine learning approaches, which shine in exploiting patterns in past inputs in order to predict the future. However, such predictions, although usually accurate, can be arbitrarily poor. Inspired by a recent line of work, we augment three well-known online settings with machine learned predictions about the future, and develop algorithms that take them into account. In particular, we study the following online selection problems: (i) the classical secretary problem, (ii) online bipartite matching and (iii) the graphic matroid secretary problem. Our algorithms still come with a worst-case performance guarantee in the case that predictions are subpar while obtaining an improved competitive ratio (over the best-known classical online algorithm for each problem) when the predictions are sufficiently accurate. For each algorithm, we establish a trade-off between the competitive ratios obtained in the two respective cases

A Scalable Preconditioner for a Primal DPG Method

We show how a scalable preconditioner for the primal discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) method can be developed using existing algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioning techniques. The stability of the DPG method gives a norm equivalence which allows us to exploit existing AMG algorithms and software. We show how these algebraic preconditioners can be applied directly to a Schur complement system arising from the DPG method. One of our intermediate results shows that a generic stable decomposition implies a stable decomposition for the Schur complement. This justifies the application of algebraic solvers directly to the interface degrees of freedom. Combining such results, we obtain the first massively scalable algebraic preconditioner for the DPG system

The role of optical and virt ual colonoscopy in colorectal neoplasms

Purpose: High prevalence of colon carcinoma explains the continued high mortality rate of this disease.Utilizing a strategy of virtual colonoscopy (VC) in patients aged over 50 years with optical colonoscopy (OC) following-up for removal of detected adenomatous polyps may result in lowering the colon cancer death rate. However, VC diagnostic potential has not been widely recognized yet.Material and methods: This article reviews the currently available in diagnostic options in colorectal neoplasms and discusses their advantages and drawbacks.Results: VC has many advantages over the existing options and its several drawbacks can be mitigated so that it would become a valuable diagnostic modality. A strategy that utilizes VC for screening of patients over the age of 50 years and OC for screening high-risk individuals and those with positive VC findings would result in a significantly reduced colon cancer mortality rate.Conclusion: Both OC and VC (i.e., CTC and MRC) progress toward the clinical needs as new technologies are developed and applied to overcome the drawbacks of these diagnostic methods. Each of them plays a unique role for colon cancer prevention

Our experience in laparoscopic adrenalectomy

Purpose: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) has become the procedure of choice to treat functioning and non-functioning adrenal tumours. With improving experience, large adrenal tumours (> 5 cm) are being successfully tackled by laparoscopy.Material and methods: Thirty-five laparoscopic adrenalectomies performed in 32 patients for adrenal lesions during the period from 2006 to 2012 were analyzed.Results: Mean tumour size was 5,03 cm (range, 2-11 cm). Tumour size was larger than 8 cm in four patients. The lesions were localized on the right side in 17 patients and on the left one in 15 patients while bilateral tumours were established in three patients. Functioning tumours were present in 22 out of 32 patients. Average blood loss was 112 mL (range, 20-400 mL) with the mean operating time being 144 min (range, 45-270 min). Three patients underwent conversion to open procedure. Final histology revealed malignant tumours in three of 32 patients (9,52%).Conclusion: LA is safe and feasible for large adrenal lesions. Mere size should not be considered as a contraindication to laparoscopic approach in large adrenal masses. Graded approach, perfect preoperative assessment and planning, team work and adherence to anatomical and surgical principles are the key to success