Influence of repeated applications of glyphosate on its persistence and soil bioactivity

Pesticide degradation studies are essential to evaluate its impact in the environment and on non-target organisms. The effect of repeated soil applications of the herbicide glyphosate on its dissipation and on soil microorganisms was studied by radiometric and microbial techniques. Results indicated fast dissipation of the [14C]-glyphosate or [14C]metabolites extractable residues (half-life of 0.92±0.29 month), but increasing half-lives of total mineralization ranging from 2.2 to 3.4 months as the number of applications increased from 1 to 4. No significant correlation was found between 14CO2 production and dehydrogenase activity.

Probiotic interventions in infancy: Benefit and Safety Assessment of Extended Applications

Immaturity of the gut barrier system in the newborn has been seen to underlie a number of chronic diseases originating in infancy and manifesting later in life. The gut microbiota and breast milk provide the most important maturing signals for the gut-related immune system and reinforcement of the gut mucosal barrier function. Recently, the composition of the gut microbiota has been proposed to be instrumental in control of host body weight and metabolism as well as the inflammatory state characterizing overweight and obesity. On this basis, inflammatory Western lifestyle diseases, including overweight development, may represent a potential target for probiotic interventions beyond the well documented clinical applications. The purpose of the present undertaking was to study the efficacy and safety of perinatal probiotic intervention. The material comprised two ongoing, prospective, double-blind NAMI (Nutrition, Allergy, Mucosal immunology and Intestinal microbiota) probiotic interventions. In the mother-infant nutrition and probiotic study altogether 256 women were randomized at their first trimester of pregnancy into a dietary intervention and a control group. The intervention group received intensive dietary counselling provided by a nutritionist, and were further randomized at baseline, double-blind, to receive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis) or placebo. The intervention period extended from the first trimester of pregnancy to the end of exclusive breastfeeding. In the allergy prevention study altogether 159 women were randomized, double-blind, to receive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG) or placebo 4 weeks before expected delivery, the intervention extending for 6 months postnatally. Additionally, patient data on all premature infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) treated in the Department of Paediatrics, Turku University Hospital, during the years 1997 - 2008 were utilized. The perinatal probiotic intervention reduced the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the mothers and perinatal dietary counselling reduced that of fetal overgrowth in GDM-affected pregnancies. Early gut microbiota modulation with probiotics modified the growth pattern of the child by restraining excessive weight gain during the first years of life. The colostrum adiponectin concentration was demonstrated to be dependent on maternal diet and nutritional status during pregnancy. It was also higher in the colostrum received by normal-weight compared to overweight children at the age of 10 years. The early perinatal probiotic intervention and the postnatal probiotic intervention in VLBW infants were shown to be safe. To conclude, the findings in this study provided clinical evidence supporting the involvement of the initial microbial and nutritional environment in metabolic programming of the child. The manipulation of early gut microbial communities with probiotics might offer an applicable strategy to impact individual energy homeostasis and thus to prevent excessive body-weight gain. The results add weight to the hypothesis that interventions aiming to prevent obesity and its metabolic consequences later in life should be initiated as early as during the perinatal period.

Managing business risk relating to pending patent applications – A comparison U.S. and European practices

This thesis presents different IPR risk mitigation actions as well as enforcement practices and evaluates their usability in different situations. The focus is on pending patent applications, where the right is not officially recognized or established yet, but some references are made to granted patents as well. The thesis presents the different aspects when assessing the risk level created by patents and pending applications. At all times it compares the patent law of the United States and European Patent Convention. Occasionally some references are made to national law, when the European Patent Convention cannot be applied. The thesis presents two case examples, which bring the risk mitigation actions and enforcement practices closer to practice.

Choosing the number of doses and the cohort size for phase I dose-escalation studies

This paper reviews Bayesian procedures for phase 1 dose-escalation studies and compares different dose schedules and cohort sizes. The methodology described is motivated by the situation of phase 1 dose-escalation studiesin oncology, that is, a single dose administered to each patient, with a single binary response ("toxicity"' or "no toxicity") observed. It is likely that a wider range of applications of the methodology is possible. In this paper, results from 10000-fold simulation runs conducted using the software package Bayesian ADEPT are presented. Four designs were compared under six scenarios. The simulation results indicate that there are slight advantages of having more dose levels and smaller cohort sizes.

Ordering in thin films of block copolymers: fundamentals to potential applications

The ordering of block copolymers in thin films is reviewed, starting, from the fundamental principles and extending to recent promising developments as templates for nanolithography which may find important applications in the semiconductor industry. Ordering in supported thin films of symmetric and asymmetric AB diblock and ABA triblock copolymers is discussed, along with that of more complex materials such as ABC triblocks and liquid crystalline block copolymers Techniques to prepare thin films, and to characterise ordering within them, are summarized. Several methods to align Hock copolymer nanostructures, important in several applications are outlined A number of potential applications in nanolithography, production of porous materials, templating. and patterning of organic and inorganic materials are then presented. The influence of crystallization on the morphology of a block copolymer film is briefly discussed, as are structures in grafted block copolymer films. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Optimal 3D surface reconstruction from a small number of conventional 2D X-ray images

This paper describes a method for reconstructing 3D frontier points, contour generators and surfaces of anatomical objects or smooth surfaces from a small number, e. g. 10, of conventional 2D X-ray images. The X-ray images are taken at different viewing directions with full prior knowledge of the X-ray source and sensor configurations. Unlike previous works, we empirically demonstrate that if the viewing directions are uniformly distributed around the object's viewing sphere, then the reconstructed 3D points automatically cluster closely on a highly curved part of the surface and are widely spread on smooth or flat parts. The advantage of this property is that the reconstructed points along a surface or a contour generator are not under-sampled or under-represented because surfaces or contours should be sampled or represented with more densely points where their curvatures are high. The more complex the contour's shape, the greater is the number of points required, but the greater the number of points is automatically generated by the proposed method. Given that the number of viewing directions is fixed and the viewing directions are uniformly distributed, the number and distribution of the reconstructed points depend on the shape or the curvature of the surface regardless of the size of the surface or the size of the object. The technique may be used not only in medicine but also in industrial applications.

Detecting the number of signals using antenna array: a single threshold solution

A new approach is presented to identify the number of incoming signals in antenna array processing. The new method exploits the inherent properties existing in the noise eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of the array output. A single threshold has been established concerning information about the signal and noise strength, data length, and array size. When the subspace-based algorithms are adopted the computation cost of the signal number detector can almost be neglected. The performance of the threshold is robust against low SNR and short data length.

Using non-homogeneous Poisson models with multiple change-points to estimate the number of ozone exceedances in Mexico City

In this paper, we consider some non-homogeneous Poisson models to estimate the probability that an air quality standard is exceeded a given number of times in a time interval of interest. We assume that the number of exceedances occurs according to a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP). This Poisson process has rate function lambda(t), t >= 0, which depends on some parameters that must be estimated. We take into account two cases of rate functions: the Weibull and the Goel-Okumoto. We consider models with and without change-points. When the presence of change-points is assumed, we may have the presence of either one, two or three change-points, depending of the data set. The parameters of the rate functions are estimated using a Gibbs sampling algorithm. Results are applied to ozone data provided by the Mexico City monitoring network. In a first instance, we assume that there are no change-points present. Depending on the adjustment of the model, we assume the presence of either one, two or three change-points. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Estimating the number of ozone peaks in Mexico City using a non-homogeneous Poisson model

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the number of times an air quality standard is exceeded in a given period of time. A non-homogeneous Poisson model is proposed to analyse this issue. The rate at which the Poisson events occur is given by a rate function lambda(t), t >= 0. This rate function also depends on some parameters that need to be estimated. Two forms of lambda(t), t >= 0 are considered. One of them is of the Weibull form and the other is of the exponentiated-Weibull form. The parameters estimation is made using a Bayesian formulation based on the Gibbs sampling algorithm. The assignation of the prior distributions for the parameters is made in two stages. In the first stage, non-informative prior distributions are considered. Using the information provided by the first stage, more informative prior distributions are used in the second one. The theoretical development is applied to data provided by the monitoring network of Mexico City. The rate function that best fit the data varies according to the region of the city and/or threshold that is considered. In some cases the best fit is the Weibull form and in other cases the best option is the exponentiated-Weibull. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

One-dimensional trapped atoms: critical coupling parameter and critical number of particles

In this paper we consider the case of a Bose gas in low dimension in order to illustrate the applicability of a method that allows us to construct analytical relations, valid for a broad range of coupling parameters, for a function which asymptotic expansions are known. The method is well suitable to investigate the problem of stability of a collection of Bose particles trapped in one- dimensional configuration for the case where the scattering length presents a negative value. The eigenvalues for this interacting quantum one-dimensional many particle system become negative when the interactions overcome the trapping energy and, in this case, the system becomes unstable. Here we calculate the critical coupling parameter and apply for the case of Lithium atoms obtaining the critical number of particles for the limit of stability.

Strategic adoption in a two-sided market : a study of college applications in Brazil

This paper measures the importance of indirect network effects in the adoption by colleges and students of ENEM, a standardized exam for high-school students in Brazil that can be used in college application processes. We estimate network effects and find that they are economically significant. Students are more likely to take ENEM the larger the number of colleges adopting it. Similarly, colleges are more likely to adopt it the larger the number of students taking the exam. Moreover, we find evidence that colleges play strategically and that heterogeneity determines their decisions. A college is less likely to adopt ENEM the larger the number of competitors adopting it. Colleges’ characteristics such as ownership and organization affect adoption decisions. In a counterfactual exercise we compare colleges’ adoption decisions under competition and under joint colleges’ payoffs maximization. Adoption rates are significantly reduced when colleges internalize the competitive effect, i.e., the effect of their decisions on other colleges’ payoffs. On the other hand, they increase when indirect network effects - the effect of students’ response to their decisions on other colleges’ payoffs - are also internalized. Competitive adoption rates are found to exceed joint optimum rates by a small difference. These results suggest that, without considering students’ welfare, adoption rates are excessive, but close to the joint optimum.

Evaluation of fungicide applications to sweet orange at different flowering stages for control of postbloom fruit drop caused by Colletotrichum acutatum

Postbloom fruit drop (PFD), caused by Colletotrichum acutatum, produces blossom blight, fruit abscission and persistent calyces. in groves of Pera-Rio and Natal sweet orange located in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo and Rincao, São Paulo, Brazil, four experiments were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of fungicides sprayed alone or as mixtures, at different flowering stages for the control of PFD of citrus. The number of symptomatic flowers, the percentage of fruit set (FS), and the relationship between persistent calyces and total fruit weight per plant were evaluated. The fungicides carbendazim and folpet were sprayed at 0.50 ml and 1.25 ga.i. l(-1) of water, respectively, were superior by all the criteria to the other treatments. Carbendazim and folpet fungicides performed best when they were applied at the green bud through hollow ball stages. Difenoconazole, independent of application timing, was less effective by all criteria used. Application of mancozeb at 1.60 ga.i. l(-1) at the green bud stage followed by application of mancozeb in a tank mix with carbendazim or folpet at 1.0 ml and 1.25 g a.i. l(-1), respectively, during green bud bloom and hollow ball stages were effective for disease control. Carbendazim combined with 0.25% KNO3, reduced the number of persistent calyces and increased fruit production significantly. Applications must be made between green bud and hollow ball stages for best control. Applications only at hollow ball or open flower stages did not provide effective disease control. (C)2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stochastic stability for Markovian jump linear systems associated with a finite number of jump times

This paper deals with a stochastic stability concept for discrete-time Markovian jump linear systems. The random jump parameter is associated to changes between the system operation modes due to failures or repairs, which can be well described by an underlying finite-state Markov chain. In the model studied, a fixed number of failures or repairs is allowed, after which, the system is brought to a halt for maintenance or for replacement. The usual concepts of stochastic stability are related to pure infinite horizon problems, and are not appropriate in this scenario. A new stability concept is introduced, named stochastic tau-stability that is tailored to the present setting. Necessary and sufficient conditions to ensure the stochastic tau-stability are provided, and the almost sure stability concept associated with this class of processes is also addressed. The paper also develops equivalences among second order concepts that parallels the results for infinite horizon problems. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the Betti number of the union of two generic map images

Let f: M --> N and g: K --> N be generic differentiable maps of compact manifolds without boundary into a manifold such that their intersection satisfies a certain transversality condition. We show, under a certain cohomological condition, that if the images f(M) and g(K) intersect, then the (upsilon + 1)th Betti number of their union is strictly greater than the sum of their (upsilon + 1)th Betti numbers, where upsilon = dim M + dim K - dim N. This result is applied to the study of coincidence sets and fixed point sets. (C) 1999 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

On the number of critical periods for planar polynomial systems

In this paper we get some lower bounds for the number of critical periods of families of centers which are perturbations of the linear one. We give a method which lets us prove that there are planar polynomial centers of degree l with at least 2[(l - 2)/2] critical periods as well as study concrete families of potential, reversible and Lienard centers. This last case is studied in more detail and we prove that the number of critical periods obtained with our approach does not. increases with the order of the perturbation. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.