Cirsium palustre: an evasive invasive.

In Michigan, the European swamp thistle, Cirsium palustre (L.) Scop., a member of the Asteraceae family, is an introduced species that was transported from western Europe in the early twentieth century, and has since established itself as an aggressive weed. It colonized primarily alkaline wetland habitats, like cedar swamps which are exposed by frequent breaks in cover, and to regions of great disturbance, like roadsides. This introductioin and subsequent invasion has established Cirsium palustre on both sides of the Atlantic ocean in the northern latitudes, a circumpolar species, Figure 1. It was first recognized earlier this century in North America and collected in Newfoundland and New Hampshire. Locally, this invader has spread voraciously from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where it was first collected in Marquette County in 1934, to the Lower Peninsula where it was assimilated by 1959. It migrates vigorously along roadside ditches and by human transport, and continues to travel south.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/54814/4/3254.pd

Platyptilia carduidactyla seed predation on Cirsium palustre and Cirsium muticum: invasive and management implications.

The invasive thistle Cirsium palustre invades the region of the native thistle Cirsium muticum. These two species share a common seed predator, the larvae of Platyptilia carduidactyla. I have conducted three experiments to determine the seed preference, flower head preference and infestation of these two thistles in a common site. The results of these experiments demonstrate the preferred host of the larvae and the level of infestation of each species. The conclusions drawn from these results are suggestive of the degree of Cirsium palustre's invasiveness and management measures that can be applied to the invader's population to keep in check.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/54813/4/3255.pd

Gesture Ads for Mobile Applications

Tänapäeval on reklaamid lahutamatu osa mobiilirakenduste arendusest. Paljudel juhtudel lasevad reklaamid arendajal oma rakendust kasutajatele tasuta pakkuda. Siiski, reklaamid mobiilirakendustes segavad sageli kasutajat ning sageli muudavad rakenduse kasutamise nii ebamugavaks, et kasutaja otsustab rakenduse kasutamise sootuks lõpetada. Lisaks baseerub reklaamide sisu ebausaldusväärsete algoritmide tulemustel ning ei pruugi kajastada kasutaja tegelikke huve. Väljapakutud lahendus sellele probleemile on näidata rekandusesisest reklaami kasutajale dünaamilisemal kujul; sellisel moel, et reklaam tunduks nagu osa rakendusest, mitte selle ebameeldiv lisa; ning lasta kasutajatel endil anda tagasisidet selle kohta, millised reklaamid neile huvi pakuvad ning millised mitte. Hüpoteesi kontrollimiseks arendatakse selline mehhanism Androidi teegi, ning kaasaskäiva serverirakenduse, kujul. Kasutusloona lisatakse see ühele mobiilirakendusele, et demonstreerida sellise lähenemise kasulikkust. 64% rakendust proovinud kasutajatest arvas, et see mehhanism on vähem häiriv kui klassikalised meetodid reklaami näitamiseks. 52% kasutajatest väitis end olevat reklaami sisust rohkem huvitatud. Need tulemust näitavad, kui ebaefektiivsed on klassikalised reklaamid mobiili-rakendustes ning julgustavad uurima uusi suundi mobiilse reklaami näitamiseks. Võtmesõnad: Mobiilne, Android, Reklaam, KäeliigutusedMobile advertising is an inseparable part in today's mobile application development. However, more often than not, in-application advertisements prove to be distracting to the user and, in extreme cases, even degrade the user experience to a point where the user decides to stop using the application. In addition, the content of the advertisements is based on unreliable profiling algorithms and might not reflect the user's actual interests. A proposed solution to this problem is to display in-application advertisements to the user in a more dynamic way, in a way that would feel like the advertisement is part of the application rather than an unwelcome addition, and allowing users themselves to provide feedback on the topics of advertisements they like and dislike. To validate the hypothesis, a mechanism is developed in the form of an Android library and an accompanying server application. As a use case it is integrated into an Android application to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. According to the results, 64% of the users that tried out the application found this mechanism to be less intrusive than conventional advertising methods. 52% of the users reported being more interested in the advertised product. These results show the ineffectiveness of conventional mobile advertisements and encourage exploring new directions for displaying advertisements in mobile applications. Keywords: Mobile, Android, Advertising, Gesture

Blame Recovery: Modeling the Effects Of Personality, Religious-spiritual Belief, and Gender On Blame Attributions and Psychological Wellbeing After A Failed Romantic Relationship

Blame attribution (BA) is the complex cognitive-affective process through which individuals feel negative feelings of internalized self-blame/guilt or externalized other-blame by varying degrees. High BA is accompanied by distress, anxiety, depression and reduced health outcomes, while low BA indicates healthful release from negative affect and direction of attention toward past transgressions or negative events. Previous research has demonstrated a multitude of personality and individual difference associations with BA and psychological wellbeing (PWB) in cross-sectional samples, but little focus has been directed at determining if such traits affect changes in (i.e. recovery from) BA and PWB over time. The present study seeks to address this knowledge gap using a widespread blame context: romantic breakup. It was hypothesised that the personality traits of neuroticism (N) and extraversion (E), as well as the individual difference characteristics of trait emotional intelligence (EI), religious-spiritual belief (RSB), and gender would affect blame recovery and PWB change over time. A sample of 302 undergraduates completed measures of BA, PWB, E, EI, N, and RSB in two online sessions approximately 28 days apart. Hierarchical regression results indicate that only EI was influential, leading to increased PWB growth over time and greater reduction in self-blame/guilt. Modelled together, the traits did not explain BA or PWB change, despite various significant correlations with the three outcome variables at the single time point level

Colloidal stability for concentrated zirconia aqueous suspensions

This work started as part of an investigation into the mechanisms by which fine zirconia aqueous dispersions can be processed for ceramic materials engineering. Aqueous dispersions of TZ3Y fine zirconia particles obtained by dispersion of dry powder in acidic solutions (pH 3) have been subjected to compression through osmotic experiments. The results show a behavior that is unusual when compared with the classical behavior of colloidal dispersions. Indeed, the 50 nm particles are well dispersed and protected from aggregation by electrical double layers, with a high zeta potential (60–80 mV). Yet, during osmotic compression, the dispersion goes from a liquid state to a gel state at a rather low volume fraction, φ=0.2, whereas the liquid–solid transition for repelling particles is expected to occur only at φ=0.5. This early transition to a state in which the dispersion does not flow may be a severe drawback in some uses of these dispersions, and thus it is important to understand its causes. A possible cause of this early aggregation is the presence of a population of very small particles, which are seen in osmotic stress experiments and in light scattering. We propose that aggregation could result from the compression of this population, through either of the following mechanisms: (a) An increase in pressure causes the small particles to aggregate with each other and with the larger ones or (b) An increase in pressure induces a depletion flocculation phenomenon, in which the large particles are pushed together by the smaller ones

Evaluation of suitable reference genes for gene expression studies in bronchoalveolar lavage cells from horses with inflammatory airway disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The stability of reference genes has a tremendous effect on the results of relative quantification of genes expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Equine Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD) is a common condition often treated with corticosteroids. The diagnosis of IAD is based on clinical signs and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cytology. The aim of this study was to identify reference genes with the most stable mRNA expression in the BAL cells of horses with IAD irrespective of corticosteroids treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The expression stability of seven candidate reference genes (B2M, HPRT, GAPDH, ACTB, UBB, RPL32, SDHA) was determined by qRT-PCR in BAL samples taken pre- and post- treatment with dexamethasone and fluticasone propionate for two weeks in 7 horses with IAD. Primers' efficiencies were calculated using LinRegPCR. NormFinder, GeNorm and qBasePlus softwares were used to rank the genes according to their stability. GeNorm was also used to determine both the ideal number and the best combination of reference genes. GAPDH was found to be the most stably expressed gene with the three softwares. GeNorm ranked B2M as the least stable gene. Based on the pair-wise variation cut-off value determined with GeNorm, the number of genes required for optimal normalization was four and included GAPDH, SDHA, HPRT and RPL32.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The geometric mean of GAPDH, HPRT, SDHA and RPL32 is recommended for accurate normalization of quantitative PCR data in BAL cells of horses with IAD treated with corticosteroids. If only one reference gene can be used, then GAPDH is recommended.</p

Tööstusmikrobioloogia

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