Cassava bacterial blight : report of an interdisciplinary workshop

Meeting: Interdisciplinary Workshop on Cassava Bacterial Blight, 1-4 Nov. 1976, Ibadan, NGReport of a workshop on the cassava bacterial blight (CBB) plant disease in Africa south of Sahara - discusses the diagnosis and geographic distribution of CBB, influence of shade and intercropping on its incidence; plant breeding for disease resistance; disease control efforts in Nigeria, Zaire and Ghana. Includes country statements from Benin PR, Congo PR, Ghana and Togo

Brief Online Training Enhances Competitive Performance: Findings of the BBC Lab UK Psychological Skills Intervention Study

In conjunction with BBC Lab UK, the present study developed 12 brief psychological skill interventions for online delivery. A protocol was designed that captured data via self-report measures, used video recordings to deliver interventions, involved a competitive concentration task against an individually matched computer opponent, and provided feedback on the effects of the interventions. Three psychological skills were used; imagery, self-talk, and if-then planning, with each skill directed to one of four different foci: outcome goal, process goal, instruction, or arousal-control. This resulted in 12 different intervention participant groups (randomly assigned) with a 13th group acting as a control. Participants (n = 44,742) completed a competitive task four times—practice, baseline, following an intervention, and again after repeating the intervention. Results revealed performance improved following practice with incremental effects for imagery-outcome, imagery-process, and self-talk-outcome and self-talk-process over the control group, with the same interventions increasing the intensity of effort invested, arousal and pleasant emotion. Arousal-control interventions associated with pleasant emotions, low arousal, and low effort invested in performance. Instructional interventions were not effective. Results offer support for the utility of online interventions in teaching psychological skills and suggest brief interventions that focus on increasing motivation, increased arousal, effort invested, and pleasant emotions were the most effective

Modeled Chl:C ratio and derived estimates of phytoplankton carbon biomass and its contribution to total particulate organic carbon in the global surface ocean

Chlorophyll (Chl) is a distinctive component of autotrophic organisms, often used as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass in the ocean. However, assessment of phytoplankton biomass from Chl relies on the accurate estimation of the Chl:carbon(C) ratio. Here we present global patterns of Chl:C ratios in the surface ocean obtained from a phytoplankton growth model that accounts for the optimal acclimation of phytoplankton to ambient nutrient, light, and temperature conditions. The model agrees largely with observed/expected global patterns of Chl:C. Combining our Chl:C estimates with satellite Chl and particulate organic carbon (POC), we infer phytoplankton C concentration in the surface ocean and its contribution to the total POC pool. Our results suggest that the portion of POC corresponding to living phytoplankton is higher in subtropical latitudes and less productive regions (∼30–70%) and decreases to ∼10–30% toward high latitudes and productive regions. An important caveat of our model is the lack of iron limiting effects on phytoplankton physiology. Comparison of our predicted phytoplankton biomass with an independent estimate of total POC reveals a positive correlation between nitrate concentrations and nonphotosynthetic POC in the surface ocean. This correlation disappears when a constant Chl:C is applied. Our analysis is not constrained by assumptions of constant Chl:C or phytoplankton:POC ratio, providing a novel independent analysis of phytoplankton biomass in the surface ocean. These results highlight the importance of accounting for the variability in Chl:C and its application in distinguishing the autotrophic and heterotrophic components in the assemblage of the marine plankton ecosystem

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Use of Colonoscopy in an Insured Population – A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Low-socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a higher colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality. Screening with colonoscopy, the most commonly used test in the US, has been shown to reduce the risk of death from CRC. This study examined if, among insured persons receiving care in integrated healthcare delivery systems, differences exist in colonoscopy use according to neighborhood SES. Methods We assembled a retrospective cohort of 100,566 men and women, 50–74 years old, who had been enrolled in one of three US health plans for $\geq$ 1 year on January 1, 2000. Subjects were followed until the date of first colonoscopy, date of disenrollment from the health plan, or December 31, 2007, whichever occurred first. We obtained data on colonoscopy use from administrative records. We defined screening colonoscopy as an examination that was not preceded by gastrointestinal conditions in the prior 6-month period. Neighborhood SES was measured using the percentage of households in each subject's census-tract with an income below 1999 federal poverty levels based on 2000 US census data. Analyses, adjusted for demographics and comorbidity index, were performed using Weibull regression models. Results: The average age of the cohort was 60 years and 52.7% were female. During 449,738 person-years of follow-up, fewer subjects in the lowest SES quartile (Q1) compared to the highest quartile (Q4) had any colonoscopy (26.7% vs. 37.1%) or a screening colonoscopy (7.6% vs. 13.3%). In regression analyses, compared to Q4, subjects in Q1 were 16% (adjusted HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.80–0.88) less likely to undergo any colonoscopy and 30%(adjusted HR = 0.70, CI: 0.65–0.75) less likely to undergo a screening colonoscopy. Conclusion: People in lower-SES neighborhoods are less likely to undergo a colonoscopy, even among insured subjects receiving care in integrated healthcare systems. Removing health insurance barriers alone is unlikely to eliminate disparities in colonoscopy use

Akenti access to Zetoc

With more services populating the UK's Grid with strict access control policies and users in multi-levelled organisations with multi-lateral collaborations, there is a real need for careful control of access to data and resources. A2Z is an ongoing JISC funded project to investigate the use of Akenti (development authorisation software from Laurence Berkeley Laboratory) to control access to British Library data in the form of an existing service Zetoc, run by MIMAS at the University of Manchester. A2Z uses UK eScience x509 certificates to identify people via the same Zetoc web interface familiar to the user, minus the username password authentication step. Behind the scenes, complex sets of rules exist some of which are issued, signed and maintained by people representing the British Library (stakeholder for the data) and others by people representing JISC (stakeholder for the storage and service delivery mechanism). Users are issued with Attribute Certificates (i.e. certificates which tie an x509 certificate to an attribute e.g. group or rôle) which the stakeholders may wish to require as part of their access policy. This paper highlights how Akenti has been employed to describe and evaluate the complex authorisation rules required to access the library's data via zetoc. It highlights the minimal impact to the user and shows how a resource such as this can be controlled in a highly distributed framework

International exchange and testing of cassava germ plasm in Africa; proceedings

Meeting: Interdisciplinary Workshop on the International Exchange and Testing of Cassava Germ Plasm in Africa, 17-21 Nov. 1975, Ibadan, NGReport on a seminar on agricultural research on cassava germ plasm in Africa - discusses plant disease control; includes bibliography