Occurrence of Cylindrocarpon spp. in Nursery Grapevines in California

Cylindrocarpon liriodendri and C. macrodidymum are causal agents of black foot disease of grapevines in California. Together with Phaeoacremonium spp. and Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Cylindrocarpon spp. are also known to be associated with decline of young vines. Infected vineyard soils are one source of the Cylindrocarpon infections, but nurseries have also been shown to contribute to the origin of the inoculum. To study incidence of Cylindrocarpon spp. in nursery grapevines in California, randomly selected, non-symptomatic grapevines from various nurseries were tested in a PCR assay for the presence of Cylindrocarpon spp. Results of this study suggested that Cylindrocarpon spp. are the most common pathogens associated with young nursery vines in California, being detected in 26% of the samples. Phaeoacremonium aleophilum was found in 19% and P. chlamydospora in 4% of the nursery samples

Management factors associated with bovine respiratory disease in preweaned calves on California dairies: The BRD 100 study.

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine how management practices on California dairies may be associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in preweaned calves. A convenience sample of 100 dairies throughout California, providing a study population of 4,636 calves, were visited between May 2014 and April 2016. During each farm visit, in-person interviews with the herd manager or calf caretaker were conducted to collect information about herd demographics, maternity pen, colostrum and calf management, herd vaccinations, and dust abatement. A random sample of preweaned calves was identified and evaluated for the presence of BRD using a standardized tool. A survey-adjusted generalized linear mixed model with a logit link function was fitted with calf as the unit of analysis and dairy as the random effect. Mean study herd size (±SE) was 1,718 (±189.9) cows. Survey-adjusted estimates of breed types in the sample were 81.6% (±0.6) Holstein, 13.1% (±0.4) Jersey, and 5.3% (±0.5) crossbred or other purebred breeds, and calf sex proportions were 73.8% (±1.0) female and 26.2% (±1.0) male. Overall survey-adjusted BRD prevalence in the study herds was 6.91% (±0.69). Housing factors positively associated with BRD were metal hutches compared with wood hutches [odds ratio (OR) = 11.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.80-44.78], calf-to-calf contact in calves >75 d of age (OR = 9.95, 95% CI = 1.50-65.86), feeding Holstein calves <2.84 L of milk or replacer per day (OR = 7.16, 95% CI = 1.23-41.68), and lagoon water used for flushing manure under hutches compared with no flush (OR = 12.06, 95% CI = 1.93-75.47). Providing extra shade over hutches (OR = 0.08; 95% CI = 0.02-0.37), feeding calves at least 90% saleable milk (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.13-0.54) or pasteurized milk (OR = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.03-0.36), and feeding >5.68 L of milk or replacer per day to Jersey calves (OR = 0.04; 95% CI = 0.01-0.28) were negatively associated with BRD. Our study identified management practices on California dairies with variability and that may contribute to differences in BRD prevalence, which will be incorporated into a risk-assessment tool to control and prevent BRD in preweaned dairy calves

Automatic conditioning of the CTF3 RF system

The RF system of CTF3 (CLIC Test Facility 3) includes ten 35 MW to 40 MW 3 GHz klystrons and one 20 MW 1.5 GHz klystron. High power RF conditioning of the waveguide network and cavities connected to each klystron can be extremely time consuming. Because of this, a fully automatic conditioning system has been developed within a CERN JINR (Dubna) collaboration. It involves relatively minor hardware additions, most of the work being in application and front-end software. The system has already been used very successfully

Gauge-invariant description of several (2+1)-dimensional integrable nonlinear evolution equations

We obtain new gauge-invariant forms of two-dimensional integrable systems of nonlinear equations: the Sawada-Kotera and Kaup-Kuperschmidt system, the generalized system of dispersive long waves, and the Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov system. We show how these forms imply both new and well-known two-dimensional integrable nonlinear equations: the Sawada-Kotera equation, Kaup-Kuperschmidt equation, dispersive long-wave system, Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov equation, and modified Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov equation. We consider Miura-type transformations between nonlinear equations in different gauges.Comment: Talk given at the Workshop "Nonlinear Physics: Theory and Experiment. V", Gallipoli (Lecce, Italy), 12-21 June, 200

Drug 9AA reactivates p21/Waf1 and Inhibits HIV-1 progeny formation

It has been demonstrated that the p53 pathway plays an important role in HIV-1 infection. Previous work from our lab has established a model demonstrating how p53 could become inactivated in HIV-1 infected cells through binding to Tat. Subsequently, p53 was inactivated and lost its ability to transactivate its downstream target gene p21/waf1. P21/waf1 is a well-known cdk inhibitor (CKI) that can lead to cell cycle arrest upon DNA damage. Most recently, the p21/waf1 function was further investigated as a molecular barrier for HIV-1 infection of stem cells. Therefore, we reason that the restoration of the p53 and p21/waf1 pathways could be a possible theraputical arsenal for combating HIV-1 infection. In this current study, we show that a small chemical molecule, 9-aminoacridine (9AA) at low concentrations, could efficiently reactivate p53 pathway and thereby restoring the p21/waf1 function. Further, we show that the 9AA could significantly inhibit virus replication in activated PBMCs, likely through a mechanism of inhibiting the viral replication machinery. A mechanism study reveals that the phosphorylated p53ser15 may be dissociated from binding to HIV-1 Tat protein, thereby activating the p21/waf1 gene. Finally, we also show that the 9AA-activated p21/waf1 is recruited to HIV-1 preintegration complex, through a mechanism yet to be elucidated

Experimental evaluation of digitally verifiable photonic computing for blockchain and cryptocurrency

As blockchain technology and cryptocurrency become increasingly mainstream, photonic computing has emerged as an efficient hardware platform that reduces ever-increasing energy costs required to verify transactions in decentralized cryptonetworks. To reduce sensitivity of these verifications to photonic hardware error, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a cryptographic scheme, LightHash, that implements robust, low-bit precision matrix multiplication in programmable silicon photonic networks. We demonstrate an error mitigation scheme to reduce error by averaging computation across circuits, and simulate energy-efficiency-error trade-offs for large circuit sizes. We conclude that our error-resistant and efficient hardware solution can potentially generate a new market for decentralized photonic blockchain

Упрочнение полиэтилентерефталата при наполнении коротким стекловолокном и многостенными углеродными нанотрубками

The effect of hybrid filling of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) with short glass fibers (GF) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the static and dynamic mechanical properties of composites, as well as the structural features and rheological behavior of melts were investigated. Compounding materials was carried out by the PET melt blending with the use of the reaction extrusion method. The studied composites contained from 15 to 60 wt. % GF, the concentration of MWCNTs was 0.5 and 1.6 wt. %. It was shown that the PET hybrid filling led to a synergistic increase in the strength, the elastic modulus and the dynamic shear modulus of composites under tension and bending in a wide temperature range. MWCNT additives intensified interfacial adhesion, had a nucleating effect on the crystallization of the binder, and increased its thermal stability.Исследовано влияние гибридного наполнения полиэтилентерефталата (ПЭТ) короткими стеклянными волокнами (СВ) и многостенными углеродными нанотрубками (МУНТ) на статические и динамические механические свойства композитов, а также особенности структуры и текучесть расплавов. Компаундирование материалов осуществляли смешением в расплаве ПЭТ методом реакционной экструзии. Исследуемые композиты содержали от 15 до 60 мас. % СВ, концентрация МУНТ составляла 0,5 и 1,6 мас. %. Показано, что при гибридном наполнении ПЭТ наблюдается синергическое повышение прочности и модулей упругости композитов при растяжении и изгибе, а также динамического модуля сдвига в широком интервале температур. Добавки МУНТ интенсифицируют межфазную адгезию, оказывают нуклеирующее влияние на кристаллизацию связующего, повышают его термостабильность

Gauge-invariant description of some (2+1)-dimensional integrable nonlinear evolution equations

New manifestly gauge-invariant forms of two-dimensional generalized dispersive long-wave and Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov systems of integrable nonlinear equations are presented. It is shown how in different gauges from such forms famous two-dimensional generalization of dispersive long-wave system of equations, Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov and modified Nizhnik-Veselov-Novikov equations and other known and new integrable nonlinear equations arise. Miura-type transformations between nonlinear equations in different gauges are considered.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, no figure

The Role of Auxin Transport in Plant Patterning Mechanisms

In plants, many patterning processes involve the phytohormone auxin, and controlling how it moves around plays a critical role in pattern formation