The distinctive population structure of Colletotrichum species associated with olive anthracnose in the Algarve region of Portugal reflects a host–pathogen diversity hot spot

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.) is an important disease of olive fruits. Diversity and biogeographic relationships of the olive anthracnose pathogens in the Algarve (Portugal) were investigated, along with host association patterns and disease levels during 2004–2007, to test the hypothesis that this region is a host–pathogen diversity hot spot. Diverse Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides populations were identified based on rRNA-internal transcribed spacer and partial β-tubulin 2 gene sequences of 95 isolates. Spatial and temporal variations in the occurrence of the eight genetic entities of the pathogens were linked to olive biogeography. Disease occurrence patterns suggest that C. acutatum populations are more stable pathogens, while C. gloeosporioides populations appear to be more influenced by favourable conditions. Three unique C. acutatum populations were identified, but none of the eight populations were dominant, with the most frequent type representing only 27%. Thus, the population structure of olive anthracnose pathogens in the Algarve is distinct from other parts of Portugal and other world locations, where only one or two genetic entities are dominant. This pattern and level of genetic diversity in a restricted area, where oleaster (wild olive tree), ancient landraces and modern cultivars of olive occur in close proximity, suggests the Algarve as a centre of diversity of the anthracnose pathogens and corroborates recent work suggesting western Mediterranean as an important centre of olive diversity and domestication

Why we can't help working when ill: the perverse causes of presenteeism in the UK, with a focus on prison officers and academics

The term ‘presenteeism’ refers to situations where employees continue to attend work while they are sick. In this report we look at why absenteeism policies can encourage presenteeism and how presenteeism presents in two working populations: UK prison officers and UK academics

'Increasing student engagement and retention using social technologies: Facebook, e-portolios and other social networking services' by Laura A. Wankel and Patrick Blessinger : review

Review of 'Increasing student engagement and retention using social technologies: Facebook, e-portolios and other social networking services' by Laura A. Wankel and Patrick Blessinger. Emerald Group Publishing, 2012

Social capital and deceased organ donation

This chapter examines the link between deceased organ donation and social capital from a theoretical standpoint.In this chapter, the theoretical links between deceased organ donation and social capital theory are examined and evaluated

Multi-facet classification of e-mails in a helpdesk scenario

Helpdesks have to manage a huge amount of support requests which are usually submitted via e-mail. In order to be assigned to experts e ciently, incoming e-mails have to be classi- ed w. r. t. several facets, in particular topic, support type and priority. It is desirable to perform these classi cations automatically. We report on experiments using Support Vector Machines and k-Nearest-Neighbours, respectively, for the given multi-facet classi - cation task. The challenge is to de ne suitable features for each facet. Our results suggest that improvements can be gained for all facets, and they also reveal which features are promising for a particular facet

Computer-aided segmentation and estimation of indices in brain CT scans

The importance of neuro-imaging as one of the biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of pathologies and traumatic cases is well established. Doctors routinely perform linear measurements on neuro-images to ascertain severity and extent of the pathology or trauma from significant anatomical changes. However, it is a tedious and time consuming process and manually assessing and reporting on large volume of data is fraught with errors and variation. In this paper we present a novel technique for segmentation of significant anatomical landmarks using artificial neural networks and estimation of various ratios and indices performed on brain CT scans. The proposed method is efficient and robust in detecting and measuring sizes of anatomical structures on non-contrast CT scans and has been evaluated on images from subjects with ages between 5 to 85 years. Results show that our method has average ICC of ≥0.97 and, hence, can be used in processing data for further use in research and clinical environment

A traffic classification method using machine learning algorithm

Applying concepts of attack investigation in IT industry, this idea has been developed to design a Traffic Classification Method using Data Mining techniques at the intersection of Machine Learning Algorithm, Which will classify the normal and malicious traffic. This classification will help to learn about the unknown attacks faced by IT industry. The notion of traffic classification is not a new concept; plenty of work has been done to classify the network traffic for heterogeneous application nowadays. Existing techniques such as (payload based, port based and statistical based) have their own pros and cons which will be discussed in this literature later, but classification using Machine Learning techniques is still an open field to explore and has provided very promising results up till now

Suffering in silence: children and unreported crime

This report presents the findings of a Scoping Inquiry into the hidden victimisation of children and young people, undertaken on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Victims and Witnesses of Crime. The Inquiry was commissioned in response to findings from the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales which indicates that less than one-fifth of children and young people who experience theft or violent crime report this to the police. The charity Victim Support, who provides the secretariat to the APPG, undertook research for the Inquiry in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire. Evidence was gathered in four ways: • a short review of existing literature; • an analysis of relevant data sources including the Crime Survey for England and Wales; • a rapid call for evidence from charities, service providers, statutory bodies and campaigners; and • three focus groups with children and young people

Performance analysis of a novel decentralised MAC protocol for cognitive radio networks

Due to the demand of emerging Cognitive Radio (CR) technology to permits using the unused licensed spectrum parts by cognitive users (CUs) to provide opportunistic and efficient utilisation of the white spaces. This requires deploying a CR MAC with the required characteristics to coordinate the spectrum access among CUs. Therefore, this paper presents the design and implementation of a novel Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for decentralised CRNs (MCRN). The protocol provides efficient utilisations of the unused licensed channels and enables CUs to exchange data successfully over licensed channels. This is based on the observation procedure of sensing the status of the Licensed Users (LUs) are ON or OFF over the licensed channels. The protocol is validated with the comparison procedure against two different benchmark protocols in terms of the network performance; communication time and throughput. Therefore, performance analysis demonstrated that the proposed MCRN perform better and achieve higher throughput and time benefits than the benchmarks protocols

Functional language & literacy in practice: a higher education music context

Currently most Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses do not specifically address functional literacy skills. A student could potentially pass the course, yet still be functionally illiterate. This paper is an attempt to consider what language and literacy issues might mean in practice in the context of Australian music higher education through investigating the role of reflective practice in music performance. A graduating music performance class at the Australian Institute of Music is employed as a case study to unpack the role of functional literacy in this context. Here, aligning cognitive processes with course development may avail opportunities for literacy skills to develop, but it still remains a question as to where such opportunities could exist within the broader education field. Regardless, the aim is to support content understanding by focusing on the nature and practices of academic reading and writing in all education environments