Plastome-wide rearrangements and gene losses in carnivorous Droseraceae

The plastid genomes of four related carnivorous plants (Drosera regia, Drosera erythrorhiza, Aldrovanda vesiculosa and Dionaea muscipula) were sequenced to examine changes potentially induced by the transition to carnivory. The plastid genomes of the Droseraceae show multiple rearrangements, gene losses and large expansions or contractions of the inverted repeat. All the ndh genes are lost or non-functional, as well as in some of the species, clpP1, ycf1, ycf2 and some tRNA genes. Uniquely amongst land plants, the trnK gene has no intron. Carnivory in the Droseraceae coincides with changes in plastid gene content similar to those induced by parasitism and mycoheterotrophy, suggesting parallel changes in chloroplast function due to the similar switch from autotrophy to (mixo-) heterotrophy. A molecular phylogeny of the taxa based on all shared plastid genes indicates that the ‘snap-traps’ of Aldrovanda and Dionaea have a common origin

A taxonomic backbone for the global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales

The Caryophyllales constitute a major lineage of flowering plants with approximately 12500 species in 39 families. A taxonomic backbone at the genus level is provided that reflects the current state of knowledge and accepts 749 genera for the order. A detailed review of the literature of the past two decades shows that enormous progress has been made in understanding overall phylogenetic relationships in Caryophyllales. The process of re-circumscribing families in order to be monophyletic appears to be largely complete and has led to the recognition of eight new families (Anacampserotaceae, Kewaceae, Limeaceae, Lophiocarpaceae, Macarthuriaceae, Microteaceae, Montiaceae and Talinaceae), while the phylogenetic evaluation of generic concepts is still well underway. As a result of this, the number of genera has increased by more than ten percent in comparison to the last complete treatments in the Families and genera of vascular plants” series. A checklist with all currently accepted genus names in Caryophyllales, as well as nomenclatural references, type names and synonymy is presented. Notes indicate how extensively the respective genera have been studied in a phylogenetic context. The most diverse families at the generic level are Cactaceae and Aizoaceae, but 28 families comprise only one to six genera. This synopsis represents a first step towards the aim of creating a global synthesis of the species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales integrating the work of numerous specialists around the world

Texture segmentation and its application to road tracking

The Polytechnical University in Madrid is developing a real-time system for analysing driving behaviour. The first step in thi8 project is the construction of a system for determining the lateral position of a vehicle on the road, making use of video images, for real-time as well as posterior analysis. Such a position determination might be a simple task for human beings. But for computing scientists working in the area of computer vision it is still far from obvious how to deal with this. This project tries to take the first steps in developing a system for lateral position determination, by developing a method for detecting and tracking the white restricting lines and the verges of the road throughout image sequences. This method will make use of monocular panoramic video images, taken from the viewpoint of the driver of a car. This report tries to solve the problem situations described in [Mig93], where the presented approach does not function properly in case of low contrast within the image, or absence of the white restricting lines. The problems are tried to be solved by making use of a texture segmentation method. Once the tracking of the white restricting lines and the verges of a road is possible, the corresponding lateral position of the car can easily be computed.

Towards smart notifications - An adaptive approach using smart devices

The use of smart devices is increasing rapidly; this trend is changing the paradigm in which notifications are delivered to users. Smart devices are important to provide user awareness. However, their use must be controlled and human perception should be considered to avoid information overload. In this paper, we present a dynamic mechanism to coordinate the distribution of noti- fication across smart devices. This personalized notification mechanism uses an inference engine and a set of rules to generate notification alternatives and select the “best” one. A continuous refinement approach is also used to improve notification delivery. Our system was evaluated and the baseline rules were established by 11 expert users. The main results show that in some scenarios, the notification mechanism selection converged quickly and results are promising. However, further work is required to provide not only personalized but integrated (i.e., more than one device at the time) notification management.Centro de Investigaciones en Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación/[]/CITIC/Costa RicaEscuela de Ciencias de la Computación e Informática/[]/ECCI/Costa RicaMinisterio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones de Costa Rica/[]/MICITT/Costa RicaConsejo Nacional para Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas/[]/CONICIT/Costa RicaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[834-B6-178]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ingeniería::Facultad de Ingeniería::Escuela de Ciencias de la Computación e Informátic