Identification and characterization of endophytic fungi associated with the leaves of Moringa oleifera Lam

Fungal endophytes live within host plants and are recently gaining interest as sources of biologically active secondary metabolites. In this research, fungal endophytes associated with leaves of Moringa oleifera Lam. were isolated, characterized and identified. Leaf samples from two moringa trees were collected from Barangay Pandan, which is an urban area and Barangay Sapang Bato considered as a rural area with the highest elevation of all the barangays of Angeles City. All leaf samples were rid of debris by rinsing with tap water. A flame-sterilized one-hole puncher was used to bore 54 explants from leaves collected from each tree of each site (6 mm diameter). Explants were surface-sterilized by washing them with distilled water followed by 70% ethanol for 20 s, and then 0.52% NaOCl solution (commercially available bleach) for 30 s before finally rinsing them with sterile distilled water. The surface sterilized explants were then transferred to plates containing malt extract agar (MEA) amended with streptomycin (250 mg L-1) to prevent bacterial growth. The isolated fungal endophytes were characterized and identified based on their morphocultural characters. Results showed that a total of 24 fungal morphospecies were isolated. These were identified as belonging to the genera Fusarium, Xylaria, Pestalotiopsis, Aspergillus, Nigrospora, Stachybotrys, Rhizoctonia, and Macrophomina. Majority of the fungal endophytes isolated failed to produce spores and therefore were considered to be Mycelia sterilia. Fourteen fungal endophytes were extracted from Barangay Pandan as compared to 10 from barangay Sapang Bato. Of the nine different taxa identified in the two sites, Mycelia sterilia, Pestalotiopsis sp. and Rhizoctonia sp. were found to be common fungal endophytes extracted in both sites

Making fingers and words count in a cognitive robot

Evidence from developmental as well as neuroscientific studies suggest that finger counting activity plays an important role in the acquisition of numerical skills in children. It has been claimed that this skill helps in building motor-based representations of number that continue to influence number processing well into adulthood, facilitating the emergence of number concepts from sensorimotor experience through a bottom-up process. The act of counting also involves the acquisition and use of a verbal number system of which number words are the basic building blocks. Using a Cognitive Developmental Robotics paradigm we present results of a modeling experiment on whether finger counting and the association of number words (or tags) to fingers, could serve to bootstrap the representation of number in a cognitive robot, enabling it to perform basic numerical operations such as addition. The cognitive architecture of the robot is based on artificial neural networks, which enable the robot to learn both sensorimotor skills (finger counting) and linguistic skills (using number words). The results obtained in our experiments show that learning the number words in sequence along with finger configurations helps the fast building of the initial representation of number in the robot. Number knowledge, is instead, not as efficiently developed when number words are learned out of sequence without finger counting. Furthermore, the internal representations of the finger configurations themselves, developed by the robot as a result of the experiments, sustain the execution of basic arithmetic operations, something consistent with evidence coming from developmental research with children. The model and experiments demonstrate the importance of sensorimotor skill learning in robots for the acquisition of abstract knowledge such as numbers

Caso del milagro económico de Corea del Sur: un enfoque agregado y de largo plazo

Este trabajo se enfoca en analizar las variables que explican el "milagro económico" de Corea del Sur. Para ello, se realiza una breve revisión de los antecedentes del crecimiento económico en este país, seguido de un análisis estadístico de las variables más representativas de las últimas décadas, como la producción per cápita, el capital físico por trabajador, la relación capital-producto y el ingreso nacional bruto. Para evaluar el crecimiento económico, se aplican metodologías enfocadas en la productividad total de factores, utilizando la metodología de Solow y la descomposición de crecimiento. Los resultados económicos se analizan en detalle, y se aplican técnicas econométricas, como el modelo de Mínimos Cuadrados Ordinarios, para corroborar los hallazgos.This paper focuses on analyzing the variables that explain the "economic miracle" of South Korea. For this purpose, a brief review of the background of economic growth in this country is made, followed by a statistical analysis of the most representative variables of the last decades, such as output per capita, physical capital per worker, capital-output ratio and gross national income. To evaluate economic growth, methodologies focused on total factor productivity are applied, using the Solow methodology and growth decomposition. The economic results are analyzed in detail, and econometric techniques, such as the Ordinary Least Squares model, are applied to corroborate the findings

Algoritmo de organización de la gestión del conocimiento para la innovación. Caso municipios de Ciego de Ávila, Cuba

Se diseñó un algoritmo de organización de la gestión del conocimiento para la innova- ción en un municipio. El aporte fundamental radica en la secuencia metodológica de pasos que deben seguirse, donde la sistematización, tanto del conocimiento, como de la innovación, permite cubrir las brechas cognoscitivas en correspondencia con las ne- cesidades locales, hasta cubrir las brechas estratégicas del desarrollo. El método pri n- cipal utilizado en el estudio es la investigación-acción. La creación del algoritmo de ges- tión del conocimiento favoreció la articulación entre la universidad, la innovación y el desarrollo local. Además, las bases de datos e información y la participación organizada de los actores locales crecieron de forma sostenida en los municipios

Sistema inmersivo para la tutorización virtual con Oculus Go

Memoria ID-080. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2018-2019

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI