Natural Selection _In Utero_ Contributes to the Male Longevity Deficit in Contemporary Human Populations

Much literature invokes natural selection to explain the pervasive deficit in the average lifespan of men compared to women.^1^ The explanation assumes that mothers, not fathers, provisioned children over much of human existence, and that women who lived long enough to help their children and grand children survive to reproductive age had more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than did shorter-lived women.^2^ Although this argument implies that natural selection would conserve mutations that conferred longevity on mothers but not fathers,^3,4^ it offers no explanation of the considerable changes over historic time in the male longevity deficit thereby implying that these arise solely from culture.^5^ I show, however, that natural selection _in utero_ empirically predicts variability over time in the deficit. This mechanism spontaneously aborts less fit fetuses during stressful times and reportedly selects more against males than females. My finding suggests that natural selection interacts with culture to predictably affect both the life span and sex ratio of contemporary human populations

The visual representation of dual language education

Despite well documented benefits of dual language (DL) programs which deliver educational content in two languages, there are still few DL programs in the United States. As such, there is a need to understand how to effectively persuade more states/districts to adopt the programs. In addition, more critical research is needed that focuses on how the programs are represented visually, as well as how this visual representation reflects wider discourses about DL education that could impede the programs from reaching those who need them most. In this article, the author explores ideologies behind DL program discourse by looking at photojournalism (or in some cases, stock photos) from 34 local online news reports. She employed multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), including a thematic analysis of images. Findings reveal that many of the discourses (e.g. neoliberalism) seen in analyses of written text were repeated visually but, in some cases, visual data communicated different discourses that were advanced in nuanced ways. The author concludes by urging more critical work in visual communication that focuses on educational issues

Venous obstruction of the thigh

A case of femoral vein thrombosis is described by 3D spiral CT

On random primitive sets, directable NDFAs and the generation of slowly synchronizing DFAs

We tackle the problem of the randomized generation of slowly synchronizing deterministic automata (DFAs) by generating random primitive sets of matrices. We show that when the randomized procedure is too simple the exponent of the generated sets is O(n log n) with high probability, thus the procedure fails to return DFAs with large reset threshold. We extend this result to random nondeterministic automata (NDFAs) by showing, in particular, that a uniformly sampled NDFA has both a 2-directing word and a 3-directing word of length O(n log n) with high probability. We then present a more involved randomized algorithm that manages to generate DFAs with large reset threshold and we finally leverage this finding for exhibiting new families of DFAs with reset threshold of order $\Omega(n^2/4)$.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1805.0672

Pore-scale modeling of fluid-particles interaction and emerging poromechanical effects

A micro-hydromechanical model for granular materials is presented. It combines the discrete element method (DEM) for the modeling of the solid phase and a pore-scale finite volume (PFV) formulation for the flow of an incompressible pore fluid. The coupling equations are derived and contrasted against the equations of conventional poroelasticity. An analogy is found between the DEM-PFV coupling and Biot's theory in the limit case of incompressible phases. The simulation of an oedometer test validates the coupling scheme and demonstrates the ability of the model to capture strong poromechanical effects. A detailed analysis of microscale strain and stress confirms the analogy with poroelasticity. An immersed deposition problem is finally simulated and shows the potential of the method to handle phase transitions.Comment: accepted in Int. Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanic

EFFECTS OF ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL N-FERTILIZATION ON QUALITY TRAITS IN CORIANDER (CORIANDRUM SATIVUM L.)

In organic cropping management of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, the best quality expression is crucial to gain satisfactory incomes. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is an annual herbaceous plant with a commercial value due to the typical scent of its fruits (commonly termed “seeds”), rich in a pale yellow oil (1-2% in small-sized types, 0.2-0.5% in large-sized ones). Several studies have been done for determining the composition of volatile fraction of Coriander, which was found to vary also as a consequence of cropping techniques, including nitrogen fertilization. In order to gain useful information about the effects, if present at all, of organic N fertilization on Coriander quality in terms of volatiles composition pattern, a three-year trial (2004-2006) was carried out using different types and rates of organic and conventional N fertilizers. Volatile composition of fruits was obtained by means of GC-MS and data were evaluated by multivariate statistical analysis. The most representative compound are linalool, followed by camphor, geranyl acetate and geraniol. The group partition was mainly due to different quantitative ratio of compounds; the differences in volatile composition, however, followed a scheme more resembling the cropping year than the fertilization management

N USE AND PARTITIONING IN CORIANDER (CORIANDRUM SATIVUM L.) AFTER ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL N FERTILIZATION

In coriander, a well known spice herb, many studies concerning the effect of N fertilization have been conducted in special areas where the cultivation of such plant has a major importance, such as India. Limited information is available as concerns the response of coriander to N fertilization under Mediterranean climatic conditions, above all when organic N fertilizers (mandatory when organic cropping management is chosen) are used. This work refers about some observations realised from 2004 to 2006 by an experiment on organic and mineral N fertilization techniques in coriander, carried on in the experimental farm “Sparacia” (Cammarata, AG, Sicily). Similarly to what suggested for other species, each year at harvest time, for each fertilizer treatment, seeds yield and plant biomass were weighed and the respective N content was determined in order to compare N plant uptake with total and mineral N measured in the soil before and after cropping cycle. From such data a few indices were calculated in order to get information about the efficiency of use by plants of the tested N forms. Some differences in N partitioning and use efficiency according to treatment were noticed, suggesting an overall higher efficiency of N chemical fertilizers

What lessons to draw from multiple regional case studies: between comparability and specificity

Abstract This paper, presented at the Sixth European Conference on Evaluation of Cohesion Policy (Warsaw, 30 November-1 December 2009), addresses the specific case of regional case studies, i.e., case studies concerned with the effects of a SF programme implemented in a region. In the following, we draw on the concrete experience of the ex post evaluation of ERDF in 2000-06 (in particular Work package 4 Structural Change and Globalisation hereafter WP4) and other evaluations to review a set of principles that could help solve the dilemma between promoting specificity and making possible comparison and generalisation intrinsic to multiple case studies. The paper distinguishes three stages at which specific steps can be taken to ensure the final comparability and generalisation of findings: selection phase, implementation of the cases on the ground, and synthesis and generalisation. The intention is here to be deliberately concrete and useful, providing pragmatic solutions.Case study, Cohesion Policy