1,731 research outputs found
Inter-specific variation in entomopathogenic nematode foraging strategy : dichotomy or variation along a continuum ?
L'aptitude de six espĂšces de nĂ©matodes entomopathogĂšnes ayant des comportements diffĂ©rents dans la recherche d'hĂŽtes ayant eux-mĂȘmes des taux de mobilitĂ© variables (#Galleria mellonella avec ou sans restriction de mouvement) a Ă©tĂ© Ă©valuĂ©e. #Steinernema carpocapsae et #S. scapterisci ont tendance Ă se tenir droit sur leur queue sans se dĂ©placer pendant des pĂ©riodes de temps assez prolongĂ©es mais avec des mouvements de pendulation. Ces espĂšces utilisent une stratĂ©gie d'embuscade et sont les plus efficaces pour trouver les larves se dĂ©plaçant sans restriction de mouvement. #Heterorhabditis bacteriophora et #S. glaseri ne montrent pas de mouvement de pendulation et ont Ă©tĂ© les plus efficaces pour trouver les larves Ă dĂ©placement restreint, ce qui est typique d'espĂšces cherchant leur hĂŽte en se dĂ©plaçant. Une autre espĂšce sans mouvement de pendulation, #S. feltiae, et une espĂšce Ă pendulation peu frĂ©quente, #S. riobravis, peuvent atteindre les deux types d'hĂŽtes, ce qui suggĂšre qu'elles ont un comportement intermĂ©diaire de recherche d'hĂŽtes. La stratĂ©gie intermĂ©diaire de #S. feltiae pourrait ĂȘtre due Ă sa capacitĂ© Ă Ă©lever de plus de 30% son corps au-dessus du support (mouvement de pendulation), et ce, plus frĂ©quemment que les autres espĂšces sans mouvement pendulaire. (RĂ©sumĂ© d'auteur
Estimation of entomopathogenic nematode population density in soil by correlation between bait insect mortality and nematode penetration
Il est décrit une méthode d'estimation des larves infestantes de nématodes entomopathogÚnes présentes dans des échantillons de sol, méthode basée sur des échantillonnages répétés des larves de #Galleria mellonella$ jouant le rÎle d'appùt. L'efficacité d'extraction de cette méthode est trÚs élevée et elle apparaßt beaucoup plus rapide que les autres méthodes en usage. Dix larves sont placées dans chaque échantillon et sont réguliÚrement remplacées par de nouveaux insectes jusqu'à ce que l'infestation par les nématodes cesse. L'estimation de la densité des nématodes est basée sur une relation linéaire forte entre le log10 du nombre de larves infestées par les nématodes et le log10 du nombre de nématodes retrouvés dans ces larves. Cette relation a été calculée pour deux espÚces de nématodes dans des échantillons provenant du champ (populations naturelles) et en laboratoire pour trois espÚces de nématodes et trois types de sol. La pente de la courbe de régression linéaire ne présente qu'une faible variation entre essais, espÚces et types de sol. (Résumé d'auteur
Generating expressive speech for storytelling applications
Work on expressive speech synthesis has long focused on the expression of basic emotions. In recent years, however, interest in other expressive styles has been increasing. The research presented in this paper aims at the generation of a storytelling speaking style, which is suitable for storytelling applications and more in general, for applications aimed at children. Based on an analysis of human storytellers' speech, we designed and implemented a set of prosodic rules for converting "neutral" speech, as produced by a text-to-speech system, into storytelling speech. An evaluation of our storytelling speech generation system showed encouraging results
Defining and investigating difficult asthma: Developing quality indicators
SummaryBackgroundThere is no agreed definition of âdifficult asthmaâ or what investigations should be available to investigate these patients. Patients with difficult asthma remain symptomatic on high levels of treatment and are high users of medical resources.AimTo develop a set of quality indicators for the definition and investigation of difficult asthma.MethodModified RAND Appropriateness Method was used. An expert panel composed of nine hospital asthma specialists who run âdifficultâ asthma clinics and were identified from a shortlist of key workers in the field. Indicators were rated as necessary to define and investigate difficult asthma.ResultsDifficult asthma was defined as âsymptoms persisting beyond therapy consistent with step 4 of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelinesâ (high dose inhaled corticosteroids and long acting ÎČ2-agonists). Eighty-three indicators were identified (40 relating to definition and 43 relating to investigations). Of these 32 (39%) were rated as necessary: 7 out of 40 (18%) for defining difficult asthma and 23 out of 43 (53%) for investigations. Indicators of high medical resource usage were characteristic of the âdifficultâ nature of the management of patient with difficult asthma. A framework for the investigation of these patients was created.ConclusionThe listed performance indicators identify a range of requirements that are necessary to define difficult asthma. Targeting of real needs in this group of patients will lead to better patient care and reduction of âwasteâ in provision of healthcare
Gluino Pair Production at Linear e^+e^- Colliders
We study the potential of high-energy linear colliders for the
production of gluino pairs within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
(MSSM). In this model, the process is mediated by
quark/squark loops, dominantly of the third generation, where the mixing of
left- and right-handed states can become large. Taking into account realistic
beam polarization effects, photon and -boson exchange, and current mass
exclusion limits, we scan the MSSM parameter space for various
center-of-mass energies to determine the regions, where gluino production
should be visible.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
SUSY-QCD Effect on Top-Charm Associated Production at Linear Collider
We evaluate the contribution of SUSY-QCD to top-charm associated production
at next generation linear colliders. Our results show that the production cross
section of the process could be as large as 0.1
fb, which is larger than the prediction of the SM by a factor of .Comment: version to appear in PR
Towards a New Standard Model for Black Hole Accretion
We briefly review recent developments in black hole accretion disk theory,
emphasizing the vital role played by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stresses in
transporting angular momentum. The apparent universality of accretion-related
outflow phenomena is a strong indicator that large-scale MHD torques facilitate
vertical transport of angular momentum. This leads to an enhanced overall rate
of angular momentum transport and allows accretion of matter to proceed at an
interesting rate. Furthermore, we argue that when vertical transport is
important, the radial structure of the accretion disk is modified at small
radii and this affects the disk emission spectrum. We present a simple model
demonstrating how energetic, magnetically-driven outflows modify the emergent
disk emission spectrum with respect to that predicted by standard accretion
disk theory. A comparison of the predicted spectra against observations of
quasar spectral energy distributions suggests that mass accretion rates
inferred using the standard disk model may severely underestimate their true
values.Comment: To appear in the Fifth Stromlo Symposium Proceedings special issue of
ApS
The Symptoms of Varicose Veins: Difficult to Determine and Difficult to Study
ObjectivesTo investigate the activities which may exacerbate symptoms in patients with varicose veins.MethodsQuestionnaires sent to patients before clinics and at least six months later.ResultsBoth questionnaires were returned by 149 of 203 patients (74%) but only 124 contained adequate data for comparison â 55 from patients who had surgical treatment and 69 who had no surgery. At initial presentation, worsening of discomfort attributed to varicose veins was common during (58%) or after (48%) standing and in hot weather (44%), but less when sitting with the feet down (31%), and after (31%) or when walking (19%). Surgery significantly reduced the total number of symptoms reported by patients at follow-up (p<0.02). However, none of the symptoms reported during specific activities was significantly lessened by surgery compared with no treatment â possibly because the attrition of patients during the study resulted in small numbers for analysis.ConclusionsSymptoms are a common indication for treating varicose veins and it is therefore important to be sure that they are due to the veins, rather than other causes. This report highlights traditional and logical questions which may help to identify symptoms caused by varicose veins but illustrates the difficulty of validating them
Spatial Analysis of Single Allocation Hub Location Problems
Hubs are special facilities that serve as switching, transshipment and sorting nodes in many-to-many distribution systems. Flow is consolidated at hubs to exploit economies of scale and to reduce transportation costs between hubs. In this article, we first identify general features of optimal hub locations for single allocation hub location problems based on only the fundamental problem data (demand for travel and spatial locations). We then exploit this knowledge to develop a straightforward heuristic methodology based on spatial proximity of nodes, dispersion and measures of node importance to delineate subsets of nodes likely to contain optimal hubs. We then develop constraints for these subsets for use in mathematical programming formulations to solve hub location problems. Our methodology can also help narrow an organizationâs focus to concentrate on more detailed and qualitative analyses of promising potential hub locations. Results document the value of including both demand magnitude and centrality in measuring node importance and the relevant tradeoffs in solution quality and time. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York
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