141 research outputs found
Análisis de la contribución de los sistemas silvopastoriles a la conservación de la flora y fauna en tres comunidades de la reserva de biósfera Bosawás
El estudio
se realizó en tres comunidades del Territorio Miskitu Indian Tasbaika Kum,
Reserva de Biósfera BOSAWAS (Shiminka, Boca de Plis y Esperanza), para describir la
interacción entre especies de flora y avifauna y su influencia en la conservación de estas
especies en las áreas de pastoreo, a partir de tres criterios: 1) cuantificar flora y avifauna, 2)
prácticas de manejo tradicional, 3) estimar beneficios económico generado por sistemas de
pastoreo. Se establecieron tres puntos de conteo dentro de transeptos para avifauna, se
estableció parcelas para muestreo de la vegetación en cada comunidad, se seleccionó una
comunidad beneficiada por
subproyectos del Proyecto Corazón (MARENA) y dos áreas
clasificadas como bosque secundario. Para evaluar el beneficio económi
co se aplicó
entrevistas abiertas y estructuradas dirigida a propietarios de ganado, para documentar los
principales beneficios tangibles e intangibles que la población obtiene de estos
agrosistemas. El análisis de resultados se determinó en base a índices
de diversidad,
dominancia, equidad y similitud; tomando en cuenta la riqueza, abundancia y densidad de
especies.
Se encontró que para flora Shiminka obtuvo los mayores valores de dominancia lo
que indica que se encuentran especies de mayor importancia, Esperanza tiene mayor
equidad y diversidad, en Shiminka y Esperanza se necesitan mayores estudios, el análisis
de Clúster arrojó que aunque existe alguna concordancia entre Boca de Plis y Shiminka, las
tres difieren entre sí y el mismo resultado
se encontró
para la avifauna;
y para fauna mayor
equidad en Shiminka y Esperanza, mientras la más diversa resultó Esperanza. La similitud
establece que Boca de Plis y Esperanza necesitan mayor intensidad de muestreo
Nagy-Soper subtraction scheme for multiparton final states
In this work, we present the extension of an alternative subtraction scheme
for next-to-leading order QCD calculations to the case of an arbitrary number
of massless final-state partons. The scheme is based on the splitting kernels
of an improved parton shower and comes with a reduced number of final state
momentum mappings. While a previous publication including the setup of the
scheme has been restricted to cases with maximally two massless partons in the
final state, we here provide the final state real emission and integrated
subtraction terms for processes with any number of massless partons. We apply
our scheme to three jet production at lepton colliders at next-to-leading order
and present results for the differential C parameter distribution.Comment: 45 pages, 5 figures v2: several references added; v3: title changed,
references and a discussion of further scaling improvement added. Corresponds
to published journal versio
Automated detection of lameness in sheep using machine learning approaches: novel insights into behavioural differences among lame and non-lame sheep
Lameness in sheep is the biggest cause of concern regarding poor health and welfare among sheep producing countries. Best practice for lameness relies on rapid treatment, yet there are no objective measures of lameness detection. Use of accelerometers and gyroscopes have been widely used in human activity studies and their use is becoming increasingly common in livestock. In this study, we used 23 datasets (10 non-lame and 13 lame sheep) from an accelerometer and gyroscope-based ear sensor with a sampling frequency of 16 Hz to develop and compare algorithms that can differentiate lameness within three different activities (walking, standing and lying). We show for the first time that features extracted from accelerometer and gyroscope signals can differentiate between lame and non-lame sheep while standing, walking and lying. The random forest algorithm performed best for classifying lameness with accuracy of 84.91% within lying, 81.15% within standing and 76.83% within walking and overall correctly classified over 80% sheep within activities. Both accelerometer and gyroscope-based features ranked among the top 10 features for classification. Our results suggest that novel behavioural differences between lame and non-lame sheep across all three activities could be used to develop an automated system for lameness detection
Active Surveillance of Candidemia, Australia
This infection has a high death rate and is predominantly associated with healthcare
Rapid detection of ERG11 gene mutations in clinical Candida albicans isolates with reduced susceptibility to fluconazole by rolling circle amplification and DNA sequencing
BACKGROUND Amino acid substitutions in the target enzyme Erg11p of azole antifungals contribute to clinically-relevant azole resistance in Candida albicans. A simple molecular method for rapid detection of ERG11 gene mutations would be an advantage as a screening tool to identify potentially-resistant strains and to track their movement. To complement DNA sequencing, we developed a padlock probe and rolling circle amplification (RCA)-based method to detect a series of mutations in the C. albicans ERG11 gene using "reference" azole-resistant isolates with known mutations. The method was then used to estimate the frequency of ERG11 mutations and their type in 25 Australian clinical C. albicans isolates with reduced susceptibility to fluconazole and in 23 fluconazole-susceptible isolates. RCA results were compared DNA sequencing. RESULTS The RCA assay correctly identified all ERG11 mutations in eight "reference" C. albicans isolates. When applied to 48 test strains, the RCA method showed 100% agreement with DNA sequencing where an ERG11 mutation-specific probe was used. Of 20 different missense mutations detected by sequencing in 24 of 25 (96%) isolates with reduced fluconazole susceptibility, 16 were detected by RCA. Five missense mutations were detected by both methods in 18 of 23 (78%) fluconazole-susceptible strains. DNA sequencing revealed that mutations in non-susceptible isolates were all due to homozygous nucleotide changes. With the exception of the mutations leading to amino acid substitution E266D, those in fluconazole-susceptible strains were heterozygous. Amino acid substitutions common to both sets of isolates were D116E, E266D, K128T, V437I and V488I. Substitutions unique to isolates with reduced fluconazole susceptibility were G464 S (n = 4 isolates), G448E (n = 3), G307S (n = 3), K143R (n = 3) and Y123H, S405F and R467K (each n = 1). DNA sequencing revealed a novel substitution, G450V, in one isolate. CONCLUSION The sensitive RCA assay described here is a simple, robust and rapid (2 h) method for the detection of ERG11 polymorphisms. It showed excellent concordance with ERG11 sequencing and is a potentially valuable tool to track the emergence and spread of azole-resistant C. albicans and to study the epidemiology of ERG11 mutations. The RCA method is applicable to the study of azole resistance in other fungi.Huiping Wang, Fanrong Kong, Tania C Sorrell, Bin Wang, Paul McNicholas, Namfon Pantarat, David Ellis, Meng Xiao, Fred Widmer and Sharon CA Che
Resolved velocity profiles of galactic winds at Cosmic Noon
We study the kinematics of the interstellar medium (ISM) viewed "down the
barrel" in 20 gravitationally lensed galaxies during Cosmic Noon (). We use moderate-resolution spectra () from Keck/ESI and
Magellan/MagE to spectrally resolve the ISM absorption in these galaxies into
10 independent elements and use double Gaussian fits to quantify the
velocity structure of the gas. We find that the bulk motion of gas in this
galaxy sample is outflowing, with average velocity centroid
\left=-141 kms ( kms scatter)
measured with respect to the systemic redshift. 16 out of the 20 galaxies
exhibit a clear positive skewness, with a blueshifted tail extending to kms. We examine scaling relations in outflow velocities with
galaxy stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR), finding correlations
consistent with a momentum-driven wind scenario. Our measured outflow
velocities are also comparable to those reported for FIRE-2 and TNG50
cosmological simulations at similar redshift and galaxy properties. We also
consider implications for interpreting results from lower-resolution spectra.
We demonstrate that while velocity centroids are accurately recovered, the
skewness, velocity width, and probes of high velocity gas (e.g., ) are
subject to large scatter and biases at lower resolution. We find that
is required for accurate results for the gas kinematics of our
sample. This work represents the largest available sample of well-resolved
outflow velocity structure at , and highlights the need for good spectral
resolution to recover accurate properties.Comment: 42 pages, 37 figures (including appendix), Accepted for publication,
Ap
The Hsp70-Hsp90 co-chaperone Hop/Stip1 shifts the proteostatic balance from folding towards degradation.
Hop/Stip1/Sti1 is thought to be essential as a co-chaperone to facilitate substrate transfer between the Hsp70 and Hsp90 molecular chaperones. Despite this proposed key function for protein folding and maturation, it is not essential in a number of eukaryotes and bacteria lack an ortholog. We set out to identify and to characterize its eukaryote-specific function. Human cell lines and the budding yeast with deletions of the Hop/Sti1 gene display reduced proteasome activity due to inefficient capping of the core particle with regulatory particles. Unexpectedly, knock-out cells are more proficient at preventing protein aggregation and at promoting protein refolding. Without the restraint by Hop, a more efficient folding activity of the prokaryote-like Hsp70-Hsp90 complex, which can also be demonstrated in vitro, compensates for the proteasomal defect and ensures the proteostatic equilibrium. Thus, cells may act on the level and/or activity of Hop to shift the proteostatic balance between folding and degradation
Evaluation of sampling frequency, window size and sensor position for classification of sheep behaviour
Automated behavioural classification and identification through sensors has the potential to improve health and welfare of the animals. Position of a sensor, sampling frequency and window size of segmented signal data has a major impact on classification accuracy in activity recognition and energy needs for the sensor, yet, there are no studies in precision livestock farming that have evaluated the effect of all these factors simultaneously. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of position (ear and collar), sampling frequency (8, 16 and 32 Hz) of a triaxial accelerometer and gyroscope sensor and window size (3, 5 and 7 s) on the classification of important behaviours in sheep such as lying, standing and walking. Behaviours were classified using a random forest approach with 44 feature characteristics. The best performance for walking, standing and lying classification in sheep (accuracy 95%, F-score 91%–97%) was obtained using combination of 32 Hz, 7 s and 32 Hz, 5 s for both ear and collar sensors, although, results obtained with 16 Hz and 7 s window were comparable with accuracy of 91%–93% and F-score 88%–95%. Energy efficiency was best at a 7 s window. This suggests that sampling at 16 Hz with 7 s window will offer benefits in a real-time behavioural monitoring system for sheep due to reduced energy needs
Prime Focus Spectrograph - Subaru's future -
The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) of the Subaru Measurement of Images and
Redshifts (SuMIRe) project has been endorsed by Japanese community as one of
the main future instruments of the Subaru 8.2-meter telescope at Mauna Kea,
Hawaii. This optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph targets cosmology
with galaxy surveys, Galactic archaeology, and studies of galaxy/AGN evolution.
Taking advantage of Subaru's wide field of view, which is further extended with
the recently completed Wide Field Corrector, PFS will enable us to carry out
multi-fiber spectroscopy of 2400 targets within 1.3 degree diameter. A
microlens is attached at each fiber entrance for F-ratio transformation into a
larger one so that difficulties of spectrograph design are eased. Fibers are
accurately placed onto target positions by positioners, each of which consists
of two stages of piezo-electric rotary motors, through iterations by using
back-illuminated fiber position measurements with a wide-field metrology
camera. Fibers then carry light to a set of four identical fast-Schmidt
spectrographs with three color arms each: the wavelength ranges from 0.38
{\mu}m to 1.3 {\mu}m will be simultaneously observed with an average resolving
power of 3000. Before and during the era of extremely large telescopes, PFS
will provide the unique capability of obtaining spectra of 2400
cosmological/astrophysical targets simultaneously with an 8-10 meter class
telescope. The PFS collaboration, led by IPMU, consists of USP/LNA in Brazil,
Caltech/JPL, Princeton, & JHU in USA, LAM in France, ASIAA in Taiwan, and
NAOJ/Subaru.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to "Ground-based and Airborne
Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, Ian S. McLean, Suzanne K. Ramsay, Hideki
Takami, Editors, Proc. SPIE 8446 (2012)
Spoken word recognition of novel words, either produced or only heard during learning
This document is the Accepted Manuscript Version of the following article: Tania S. Zamuner, Elizabeth Morin-Lessard, Stephanie Strahm, and Michael P. A. Page, 'Soke word recognition of novel words, either produced or only heard during learning', Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 89, August 2016, pp. 55-67, doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2015.10.003. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 1 December 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Psycholinguistic models of spoken word production differ in how they conceptualize the relationship between lexical, phonological and output representations, making different predictions for the role of production in language acquisition and language processing. This work examines the impact of production on spoken word recognition of newly learned non-words. In Experiment 1, adults were trained on non-words with visual referents; during training, they produced half of the non-words, with the other half being heard-only. Using a visual world paradigm at test, eye tracking results indicated faster recognition of non-words that were produced compared with heard-only during training. In Experiment 2, non-words were correctly pronounced or mispronounced at test. Participants showed a different pattern of recognition for mispronunciation on non-words that were produced compared with heard-only during training. Together these results indicate that production affects the representations of newly learned words.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
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