The application of gibberellic acid increases berry size of ‘Emperatriz’ seedless grape

Gibberellic acid (GA3) increases berry size of "Emperatriz" seedless grape, the response depending on the phenological stage of vine at treatment date and on the concentration applied. From berry fruit set to 21 days later, 80 mg/L GA3 increased commercial berry weight by 50%-90%, depending on the year, reaching similar size to that of "Aledo" seeded grape, used as comparison. This effect takes place through: a) a larger berry growth rate; b) an early glucose, fructose and sucrose uptake; c) an increase of absolute glucose and fructose content (mg/berry) of seedless berries up to similar values to those of seeded berries; and d) an increase of absolute berry water content but not of relative content to fresh weight, thus water potential and osmotic potential are not significantly modified by treatments. GA3 does not affect berry pericarp cell number but increases pericarp cell diameter

The impact of EU enlargement on migration flows

This document is a report commissioned by the Home Office in order to assess the magnitude of potential migration flows to the UK after the enlargement of the European Union (EU). The countries which are expected to join the EU on 1 May 2004 are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The aim of the report is to provide extensive information that will be helpful in evaluating the migration potential from these countries to the UK. This is done by (i) describing the socio-economic situation of the accession countries nowadays and since the early 1990s and comparing it to that of the UK and Germany, (ii) critically reviewing the existing literature that attempts to predict the effects of the current EU enlargement on migration flows, (iii) analysing the so-called Southern enlargement (the accessions of Greece, Portugal and Spain) and comparing it to the current one, and (iv) presenting a quantitative analysis of the effect of the current enlargement on migration to the UK

Factors affecting continued use of ceramic water purifiers distributed to Tsunami-affected Communities in Sri Lanka

Objectives  There is little information about continued use of point-of-use technologies after disaster relief efforts. After the 2004 tsunami, the Red Cross distributed ceramic water filters in Sri Lanka. This study determined factors associated with filter disuse and evaluate the quality of household drinking water. Methods  A cross-sectional survey of water sources and treatment, filter use and household characteristics was administered by in-person oral interview, and household water quality was tested. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model probability of filter non-use. Results  At the time of survey, 24% of households (107/452) did not use filters; the most common reason given was breakage (42%). The most common household water sources were taps and wells. Wells were used by 45% of filter users and 28% of non-users. Of households with taps, 75% had source water Escherichia coli in the lowest World Health Organisation risk category (<1/100 ml), vs. only 30% of households reporting wells did. Tap households were approximately four times more likely to discontinue filter use than well households. Conclusion  After 2 years, 24% of households were non-users. The main factors were breakage and household water source; households with taps were more likely to stop use than households with wells. Tap water users also had higher-quality source water, suggesting that disuse is not necessarily negative and monitoring of water quality can aid decision-making about continued use. To promote continued use, disaster recovery filter distribution efforts must be joined with capacity building for long-term water monitoring, supply chains and local production

HESS J1641-463, a very hard spectrum TeV gamma-ray source in the Galactic plane

HESS J1641-463 is a unique source discovered by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescope array in the multi-TeV domain. The source had been previously hidden in the extended tail of emission from the bright nearby source HESS J1640-465. However, the analysis of the very-high-energy (VHE) data from the region at energies above 4 TeV revealed this new source at a significance level of 8.5$\sigma$. HESS J1641-463 showed a moderate flux level F(E > 1 TeV) = (3.64 +/- 0.44_stat +/- 0.73_sys) 10^-13 cm^-2s^-1, corresponding to 1.8% of the Crab Nebula flux above the same energy, and a hard spectrum with a photon index Gamma = 2.07 +/- 0.1_stat +/- 0.20_sys. The light curve was investigated for evidence of variability, but none was found on both short (28-min observation) and long (yearly) timescales. HESS J1641-463 is positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant (SNR) G338.5+0.1. There is no clear X-ray counterpart of the SNR, although Chandra and XMM-Newton data reveal some weak emission that may be associated. If the emission from HESS J1641-463 is produced by cosmic ray protons colliding with the ambient gas, then the proton spectrum extends up to 0.1 PeV (99% confidence level) and likely to higher energies, > 0.27 PeV (90% confidence level). If this is the case, then HESS J1641-463 may be a member of a larger source population contributing to the Galactic cosmic-ray flux around the knee.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherland

The Off-forward Quark-Quark Correlation Function

The properties of the non-forward quark-quark correlation function are examined. We derive constraints on the correlation function from the transformation properties of the fundamental fields of QCD occurring in its definition. We further develop a method to construct an ansatz for this correlator. We present the complete leading order set of generalized parton distributions in terms of the amplitudes of the ansatz. Finally we conclude that the number of independent generalized parton helicity changing distributions is four.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Algorithmic quantum simulation of memory effects

We propose a method for the algorithmic quantum simulation of memory effects described by integrodifferential evolution equations. It consists in the systematic use of perturbation theory techniques and a Markovian quantum simulator. Our method aims to efficiently simulate both completely positive and nonpositive dynamics without the requirement of engineering non-Markovian environments. Finally, we find that small error bounds can be reached with polynomially scaling resources, evaluated as the time required for the simulation