POPULATION STRUCTURE AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong.) Steud. IN TWO FRAGMENTS AT DIFFERENT REGENERATION STAGES IN THE CAATINGA, IN SERGIPE, BRAZIL

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to analyze the vertical and diameter structure and the spatial distribution pattern of Bauhinia cheilantha in two Caatinga fragments in Sergipe, Brazil, at different regeneration stages. Thirty plots were demarcated in area I (Canindé de São Francisco and Poço Redondo), which has vegetation regeneration, and 25 plots in area II (Porto da Folha) with preserved vegetation, both having 400 m2. All B. cheilanthaindividuals had their height and circumference (circumference at breast height > 6 cm) measured. Possible differences in height and diameter at breast height were tested in the two populations by using Student’s T-test. The distribution pattern of species was calculated through Payandeh’s index. We sampled 154 B. cheilantha individuals, equivalent to 33.3% of the plots in area I and in 1,027 individuals in area II, totaling 100% frequency. Height and the diameter of the two populations were statistically different, where AI achieved all values lower than AII. The spatial distribution pattern of B. cheilantha found in both areas was aggregate, with values of 11.85 and 9.00, respectively. Thus, it became clear that the population in AII is at a more advanced successional status than AI, due to its longer conservation time.

Media in the Ubiquitous Era: Ambient, Social and Gaming Media

http://www.igi-global.com/book/media-ubiquitous-era/49581

Terrain forms and spatial variability of soil properties in an area cultivatedwith citrus

The technique of precision agriculture and soil-landscape allows delimiting areas for localized management, allowing a localized application of agricultural inputs and thereby may contribute to preservation of natural resources. Therefore, the objective of this work was to characterize the spatial variability of chemical properties and clay content in the context of soil-landscape relationship in a Latosol (Oxisol) under cultivation of citrus. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0.0-0.2 m in an area of 83.5 ha planted with citrus, as a 50-m intervals grid, with 129 points in concave terrain and 206 points in flat terrain, totaling 335 points. Values for the variables that express the chemical characteristics and clay content of soil properties were analyzed with descriptive statistics and geostatistical modeling of semivariograms for making maps of kriging. The values of range and kriging maps indicated higher variability in the shape of concave topography (top segment) compared with the shape of flat topography (slope and hillside segments below). The identification of different forms of terrain proved to be efficient in understanding the spatial variability of chemical properties and clay content of soil under cultivation of citrus.

Soil sampling intensity and spatial distribution pattern of soils attributes and corn yield in no-tillage system

Taking into account that the sampling intensity of soil attributes is a determining factor for applying of concepts of precision agriculture, this study aims to determine the spatial distribution pattern of soil attributes and corn yield at four soil sampling intensities and verify how sampling intensity affects cause-effect relationship between soil attributes and corn yield. A 100-referenced point sample grid was imposed on the experimental site. Thus, each sampling cell encompassed an area of 45 m² and was composed of five 10-m long crop rows, where referenced points were considered the center of the cell. Samples were taken from at 0 to 0.1 m and 0.1 to 0.2 m depths. Soil chemical attributes and clay content were evaluated. Sampling intensities were established by initial 100-point sampling, resulting data sets of 100; 75; 50 and 25 points. The data were submitted to descriptive statistical and geostatistics analyses. The best sampling intensity to know the spatial distribution pattern was dependent on the soil attribute being studied. The attributes P and K+ content showed higher spatial variability; while the clay content, Ca2+, Mg2+ and base saturation values (V) showed lesser spatial variability. The spatial distribution pattern of clay content and V at the 100-point sampling were the ones which best explained the spatial distribution pattern of corn yield.

JNK, a versatile regulator of kinesin-1 transport and cytoskeleton dynamics

C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is traditionally recognized as a crucial factor in stress response and inducer of apoptosis upon various stimulations. Three isoforms build the JNK subfamily of MAPK; generally expressed JNK1 and JNK2 and brain specific JNK3. Degenerative potency placed JNK in the spotlight as potential pharmacological option for intervention. Unfortunately, adverse effects of potential drugs and observation that expression of only JNK2 and JNK3 are induced upon stress, restrained initial enthusiasm. Notably, JNK1 demonstrated atypical high constitutive activity in neurons that is not responsive to cellular stresses and indicated existence of physiological activity. This thesis aimed at revealing the physiological functions of JNK1 in actin homeostasis through novel effector MARCKS-Like 1 (MARCKSL1) protein, neuronal trafficking mediated by major kinesin-1 motor protein and microtubule (MT) dynamics via STMN2/SCG10. The screen for novel physiological JNK substrates revealed specific phosphorylation of C-terminal end of MARCKSL1 at S120, T148 and T183 both ex vivo and in vitro. By utilizing site-specific mutagenesis, various actin dynamics and migrations assays we were able to demonstrate that JNK1 phosphorylation specifically facilitates F-actin bundling and thus filament stabilisation. Consecutively, this molecular mechanism was proved to enhance formation of filopodia; cell surface projections that allow cell sensing surrounding environment and migrate efficiently. Our results visualize JNK dependent and MARCKSL1 executed induction of filopodia in neurons and fibroblast indicating general mechanism. Subsequently, inactivation of JNK action on MARCKSL1 shifts cellular actin machinery into lamellipodial dynamic arrangement. Tuning of actin cytoskeleton inevitably melds with cell migration. We observed that both active JNK and JNK pseudo-phosphorylated form of MARCKSL1 reduce actin turnover in intact cells leading to overall diminished cell motility. We demonstrate that tumour transformed cells from breast, prostate, lung and muscle-derived cancers upregulate MARCKSL1. We showed on the example of prostate cancer PC-3 cell line that JNK phosphorylation negatively controls MARCKSL1 ability to induce migration, which precedes cancer cell metastasis. The second round of identification of JNK physiological substrates resulted in detection of predominant motor protein kinesin-1 (Kif5). Mass spectrometry detailed analysis showed evident endogenous phosphorylation of kinesin-1 on S176 within motor domain that interacts with MT. In vitro phosphorylation of bacterially expressed kinesin heavy chain by JNK isoforms displayed higher specificity of JNK1 when compared to JNK3. Since, JNK1 is constitutively active in neurons it signified physiological aspect of kinesin-1 regulation. Subsequent biochemical examination revealed that kinesin-1, when not phosphorylated on JNK site, exhibits much higher affinity toward MTs. Expression of the JNK non-phosphorable kinesin-1 mutant in intact cells as well as in vitro single molecule imaging using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy indicated that the mutant loses normal speed and is not able to move processively into proper cellular compartments. We identify novel kinesin-1 cargo protein STMN2/SCG10, which along with known kinesin-1 cargo BDNF is showing impaired trafficking when JNK activity is inhibited. Our data postulates that constitutive JNK activity in neurons is crucial for unperturbed physiologically relevant transport of kinesin-1 dependant cargo. Additionally, my work helps to validate another novel physiological JNK1 effector STMN2/SCG10 as determinant of axodendritic neurites dynamics in the developing brain through regulation of MT turnover. We show successively that this increased MT dynamics is crucial during developmental radial migration when brain layering occurs. Successively, we are able to show that introduction of JNK phosphorylation mimicking STMN2/SCG10 S62/73D mutant rescues completely JNK1 genetic deletion migration phenotype. We prove that STMN2/SCG10 is predominant JNK effector responsible for MT depolymerising activity and neurite length during brain development. Summarizing, this work describes identification of three novel JNK substrates MARCKSL1, kinesin-1 and STMN2/SCG10 and investigation of their roles in cytoskeleton dynamics and cargo transport. This data is of high importance to understand physiological meaning of JNK activity, which might have an adverse effect during pharmaceutical intervention aiming at blocking pathological JNK action.

School-based Drama Program to Enhance Social and Emotional Wellbeing at Elementary School

Julkaisumaa: Hong Kong

Analysis of Regular and Irregular Dynamics of a Non Ideal Gear Rattling Problem

This paper presents a study on the dynamics of the rattling problem in gearboxes under non-ideal excitation. The subject has being analyzed by a number of authors such as Karagiannis and Pfeiffer (1991), for the ideal excitation case. An interesting model of the same problem by Moon (1992) has been recently used by Souza and Caldas (1999) to detect chaotic behavior. We consider two spur gears with different diameters and gaps between the teeth. Suppose the motion of one gear to be given while the motion of the other is governed by its dynamics. In the ideal case, the driving wheel is supposed to undergo a sinusoidal motion with given constant amplitude and frequency. In this paper, we consider the motion to be a function of the system response and a limited energy source is adopted. Thus an extra degree of freedom is introduced in the problem. The equations of motion are obtained via a Lagrangian approach with some assumed characteristic torque curves. Next, extensive numerical integration is used to detect some interesting geometrical aspects of regular and irregular motions of the system response.

Market integration, return and volatility dynamics; empirical evidence from African stock markets

Frontier and Emerging economies have implemented policies with the objective of liberalizing their equity markets. Equity market liberalization opens the domestic equity market to foreign investors and as well paves the way for domestic investors to invest in foreign equity securities. Among other things, equity market liberalization results in diversification benefits. Moreover, equity market liberalization leads to low cost of equity capital resulting from the lower rate of return by investors. Additionally, foreign and local investors share any potential risks. Liberalized equity markets also become liquid considering that there are more investors to trade. Equity market liberalization results in financial integration which explains the movement of two markets. In crisis period, increased volatility and co-movement between two markets may result in what is termed contagion effects. In Africa, major moves toward financial liberalization generally started in the late 1980s with South Africa as the pioneer. Over the years, researchers have studied the impact of financial liberalization on Africa’s economic development with diverse results; some being positive, others negative and still others being mixed. The objective of this study is to establish whether African stock-markets are integrated into the United States (US) and World market. Furthermore, the study helps to see if there are international linkages between the Africa, US and the world markets. A Bivariate- VAR- GARCH- BEKK model is employed in the study. In the study, the effect of thin trading is removed through series of econometric data purification. This is because thin trading, also known as non-trading or inconsistency of trading, is a main feature of African markets and may trigger inconsistency and biased results. The study confirmed the widely established results that the South Africa and Egypt stock markets are highly integrated with the US and World market. Interestingly, the study adds to knowledge in this research area by establishing the fact that Kenya is very integrated with the US and World markets and that it receives and exports past innovations as well as shocks to and from the US and World market.

Infestation maps and spatial stability of main weed species in maize culture

A study on the spatial distribution of the major weeds in maize was carried out in 2007 and 2008 in a field located in Golegã (Ribatejo region, Portugal). The geo-referenced sampling focused on 150 points of a 10 x 10 m mesh covering an area of 1.5 ha, before herbicide application and before harvest. In the first year, 40 species (21 botanical families) were identified at seedling stage and only 22 during the last observation. The difference in species richness can be attributed to maize monoculture favouring reduction in species number. Three of the most representative species were selected for the spatial distribution analysis: Solanum nigrum, Chenopodium album and Echinochloa crus-galli. The three species showed an aggregated spatial pattern and spatial stability over both years, although the herbicide effect is evident in the distribution of some of them in the space. These results could be taken into account when planning site-specific treatments in maize.

EFFECTS OF PLANTING DATE AND SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT ON COMMON BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) YIELD UNDER WEED-FREE AND WEEDY CONDITIONS

ABSTRACTTo evaluate the effect of planting date and spatial pattern on common bean yield under weed-free and weed-infested conditions, an experiment was conducted in Kelachay, Northern Iran, in 2013. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in a factorial arrangement with three replicates. Factors were planting date (10 August and 20 August), spatial pattern (square and rectangular planting pattern, with a planting distance of 30 x 30 cm and 45 x 20 cm, respectively), and weed management regime (weed-free and weedy conditions, weeded and not weeded throughout the growing season, respectively). Results showed that the main effect of planting date was significant only for pod number per plant and seed number per pod. At the same time, pod number per plant, seed number per pod, pod length, and grain yield were influenced significantly by spatial pattern. Results of ANOVA have also indicated that all traits, except pod length, were influenced significantly by weed-management regimes. Moreover, effect of planting date and spatial pattern were nonsignificant for weed dry weight. Mean comparison has expressed a significant increment in seed yield for square planting arrangement (1,055 kg ha-1) over rectangular (971 kg ha-1). Weeding has also presented an overall 12% and 8% improvement in grain and pod yield over control (weedy check), respectively. Based on the results of this study, weed control, as well as square planting pattern, are recommended for obtaining the highest seed yield in common bean.