Woodland Wildlife Habitat Improvement Guide, February 4, 2010

Most non-grazed Iowa woodlands and surrounding openings are excellent habitat for a variety of birds and animals if there is a diversity of over story tree species and understory vegetation. As vegetative structures of woodlands change over time, the diversity of the woodland will change, and some species of birds and animals will benefit more then others. To optimize habitat development for the wildest range of bird and animal species, concentrate on maintaining as much vegetative diversity in the woodland as possible. To make improvement for individual species, the special needs of those species will have to be met by targeting precise woodland activities in specific areas.

Continuous determination of optimal cerebral perfusion pressure in traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVES: We have sought to develop an automated methodology for the continuous updating of optimal cerebral perfusion pressure (CPPopt) for patients after severe traumatic head injury, using continuous monitoring of cerebrovascular pressure reactivity. We then validated the CPPopt algorithm by determining the association between outcome and the deviation of actual CPP from CPPopt. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. SETTING: Neurosciences critical care unit of a university hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 327 traumatic head-injury patients admitted between 2003 and 2009 with continuous monitoring of arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Arterial blood pressure, intracranial pressure, and CPP were continuously recorded, and pressure reactivity index was calculated online. Outcome was assessed at 6 months. An automated curve fitting method was applied to determine CPP at the minimum value for pressure reactivity index (CPPopt). A time trend of CPPopt was created using a moving 4-hr window, updated every minute. Identification of CPPopt was, on average, feasible during 55% of the whole recording period. Patient outcome correlated with the continuously updated difference between median CPP and CPPopt (chi-square=45, p<.001; outcome dichotomized into fatal and nonfatal). Mortality was associated with relative "hypoperfusion" (CPP<CPPopt), severe disability with "hyperperfusion" (CPP>CPPopt), and favorable outcome was associated with smaller deviations of CPP from the individualized CPPopt. While deviations from global target CPP values of 60 mm Hg and 70 mm Hg were also related to outcome, these relationships were less robust. CONCLUSIONS: Real-time CPPopt could be identified during the recording time of majority of the patients. Patients with a median CPP close to CPPopt were more likely to have a favorable outcome than those in whom median CPP was widely different from CPPopt. Deviations from individualized CPPopt were more predictive of outcome than deviations from a common target CPP. CPP management to optimize cerebrovascular pressure reactivity should be the subject of future clinical trial in severe traumatic head-injury patients.

Large-scale clustering through functional embedding

We present a new framework for large-scale data clustering. The main idea is to modify functional dimensionality reduction techniques to directly optimize over discrete labels using stochastic gradient descent. Compared to methods like spectral clustering our approach solves a single optimization problem, rather than an ad-hoc two-stage optimization approach, does not require a matrix inversion, can easily encode prior knowledge in the set of implementable functions, and does not have an ?out-of-sample? problem. Experimental results on both artificial and real-world datasets show the usefulness of our approach.

On the success of generalized food deception in orchids : the role of sympatric rewarding species and pollinators

Résumé : La production de nectar assure aux plantes entomophiles un important succès reproducteur. Malgré cela, de nombreuses espèces d'orchidées ne produisent pas de nectar. La majorité de ces orchidées dites trompeuses exploitent simplement l'instinct des pollinisateurs généralistes, qui les pousse à chercher du nectar dans les fleurs. Afin d'optimiser la récolte de nectar, les pollinisateurs apprennent à différencier les fleurs trompeuses des nectarifères, et à concentrer leurs visites sur ces dernières, au détriment des plantes trompeuses. Chez les orchidées non autogames, la reproduction est assurée uniquement par les pollinisateurs. L'apprentissage des pollinisateurs a donc un impact négatif sur la reproduction des orchidées trompeuses. Cependant, les caractéristiques d'une espèce trompeuse et des espèces nectarifères au sein d'une communauté végétale peuvent affecter l'apprentissage et le taux de visite des pollinisateurs aux plantes trompeuses. J'ai réalisé des expériences en milieu naturel et en milieu contrôlé, pour déterminer si les caractéristiques florales, spatiales et temporelles des communautés affectent le taux de visite et le succès reproducteur de plantes trompeuses. Une agrégation spatiale élevée des plantes trompeuses et des plantes nectarifères diminue le succès reproducteur des plantes trompeuses. De plus, les pollinisateurs visitent plus souvent l'espèce trompeuse Iorsque ses fleurs sont de couleur similaire à celles de l'espèce nectarifère. Cet effet bénéfique de la similarité pour la couleur des fleurs s'accentue si les deux espèces sont mélangées et proches spatialement, ou si l'espèce trompeuse fleurit après l'espèce nectarifère. Enfin, le comportement des pollinisateurs n'est pas tout de suite affecté lorsque les caractéristiques de la communauté changent. Les caractéristiques des communautés végétales affectent donc la reproduction des espèces trompeuses. Bien que L'absence de coûts associés à la production de nectar, l'exportation efficace de pollen et la production de graines de qualité dont bénéficient les orchidées trompeuses favorisent Ieur maintien, les caractéristiques de la communauté peuvent aussi y contribuer. Mon étude fournit donc une explication alternative et complémentaire au maintien des orchidées trompeuses. Je conclus par une discussion des implications possibles de ces résultats sur le maintien et l'évolution des orchidées trompeuses, en tenant compte de la dynamique des caractéristiques des communautés végétales naturelles. Abstract : Despite the importance of producing food to ensure a high reproductive success, many orchid species lack such rewards. The majority of deceptive orchids simply exploit the instinctive food-foraging behaviour of generalist pollinators. This strategy is termed generalized food deception. To optimize their foraging efficiency, pollinators can learn to discriminate deceptive from rewarding flowers and to focus their visits to the rewarding plants, to the disadvantage of the deceptive plants. Because the reproductive success of non-autogamous orchids entirely relies on pollinator visitation rate, pollinator learning decreases the reproductive success of deceptive orchids. However, the characteristics of deceptive and rewarding plants within a community may affect pollinator learning and visitation rate to a deceptive orchid. Therefore, the biological characteristics of natural plant communities may be crucial to the maintenance of generalized food deceptive orchids. My study focused on the floral, spatial and temporal characteristics of plant communities. I used both in and ex sitar experiments to investigate whether these characteristics influence pollinator visitation rates and the reproductive success of deceptive orchids. A high spatial aggregation of both deceptive and rewarding species decreased the reproductive success of the deceptive species. Also, being of similar flower colour to rewarding sympatric species increased pollinator visitation rates to a deceptive species. The beneficial effect of flower colour similarity was even more pronounced when both species were spatially closely mingled or when the deceptive species flowered after the rewarding species. Finally, pollinator behaviour was unaffected in the short term by a change in the characteristics of plant communities, indicating that pollinators need time to learn under new conditions. Thus, the characteristics of plant communities may crucially affect the reproductive success of deceptive orchids. Although the absence of costs associated with nectar production, the efficient pollen export and the high seed quality of deceptive orchids may favour their maintenance, the characteristics of plant communities may also contribute to it. Therefore, my study provides an alternative yet complementary explanation to the maintenance of generalized food deceptive orchids in natural populations. I discuss the possible implications for the maintenance and the evolution of generalized food deceptive orchids with regards to the floral and temporal dynamics of natural plant communities.

Hémorragie digestive haute: utilité des scores pronostiques [Upper gastrointestinal bleeding: usefulness of prognostic scores].

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a potentially serious event, usually requiring urgent endoscopic treatment. Better stratification of the risk of complication or death could optimize management and improve patient outcomes, while ensuring adequate resource allocation. Several prognostic scores have been developed, in order to identify high risk patients, who require immediate treatment, and patients at low risk for whom endoscopy may be delayed. An ideal prognostic score should be accurate, simple, reproducible, and prospectively validated in different populations. Published scores meet these requirements only partially, and thus can only be used as part of an integrative diagnostic and therapeutic process.

Predicting the mating system from phenotypic correlations between life-history and sperm quality traits in the Alpine whitefish Coregonus zugensis

The mating behavior and reproductive strategies of Alpine whitefish like Coregonus zugensis (Nusslin) are poorly understood, probably because they spawn in deep water where direct observations are difficult. In this study, we interpret life-history and sperm quality traits of fish that we caught from their spawning place. We found that males invest heavily into gonadal tissue (up to 5.6% of their body weight), which is, in comparison to other fish, consistent with external fertilization, distinct pairing and moderate to high communal spawning, or no pairing and low to moderate communal spawning. Sperm competition theory and recent experimental studies on other salmonids predict that males optimize ejaculate characteristics in relation to the costs of sperm and the level of competition they have to expect: dominant males are predicted to invest less into ejaculate quality and to have slower spermatozoa than subdominant males. We found that spermatozoa of older males are slower than those of younger males. Moreover, older males have larger breeding tubercles, a secondary sexual trait that has, in some previous studies, been found to be linked to good condition and to good genetic quality. Our results suggest that C. zugensis has age-linked reproductive strategies, that multimale spawning is common, i.e., that sperm competition plays a significant role, and that older males are on average dominant over younger males at the spawning place.

Psychopathologie chez les enfants de patients souffrant de troubles liés à une substance ou de troubles de l'humeur

L'objectif principal de cette thèse est d'exposer les résultats des premières évaluations psychopathologiques menées, dans le cadre d'une étude familiale, sur une cohorte d'enfants de patients souffrant de troubles liés à des substances ou de troubles de l'humeur. Plus précisément, nous avons examiné des enfants de patients souffrant de dépendance à l'alcool et à l'héroïne, de troubles bipolaires et unipolaires, ainsi qu'un groupe d'enfants témoins, dont les parents étaient des patients contrôles recrutés dans des départements d'orthopédie. Nous nous sommes ainsi proposé d'étudier de façon précise le risque de psychopathologie chez des enfants de parents malades en menant une étude longitudinale prospective au moyen d'évaluations standardisées. Ces enfants ainsi que leurs parents-patients (probands) sont actuellement évalués chaque trois ans. Nous avons aussi effectué une évaluation des co-parents biologiques de ces enfants afin de tenir compte également de l'impact de leurs éventuels troubles psychiatriques sur les manifestations psychopathologiques de leurs enfants. Le volet longitudinal-prospectif de ces familles est actuellement en cours, et les deux articles contenus dans cette thèse, publiés dans des revues à politique éditoriale, exposent les résultats obtenus lors de l'évaluation initiale de ces enfants et de leurs deux parents. Nous résultats montrent que les enfants de patients, pourtant encore très jeunes (moyenne d'âge d'environ 11 ans), présentent déjà de plus hauts taux de manifestations psychopathologiques que les enfants de parents contrôles. Nous avons également pu démontrer le rôle joué par le co-parent, en plus de celui du parent-patient, dans le développement de psychopathologie chez ces enfants. Ces résultats soulignent la nécessité d'une identification et d'une prise en charge très précoce de ces enfants, et indiquent également l'importance de porter un intérêt clinique non seulement au parent-patient, mais également au co-parent de ces enfants. - This thesis presents the baseline results of psychopathological assessments conducted in a prospective longitudinal cohort study of children whose parents have substance use disorders or mood disorders. More specifically, we examined children of alcohol- and heroin- dependent patients, children of patients with bipolar or unipolar disorders, and, as a control group, children whose parents were recruited in orthopedics departments. Using standardized assessments, we conducted this study to accurately assess the risk of psychopathology in children of parents with these substance use or mood disorders. The prospective longitudinal study of these families is currently ongoing, with the children and their parent-patients (probands) being followed up every three years. We also assessed the biological co-parent in order to determine the impact of their possible psychiatric disorders on the risk of mental disorders in offspring. The two articles of this thesis, which have been published in peer-reviewed journals, present the results of baseline assessments of the children and their two parents. Our results show that the children of patients who are still very young at baseline assessment (mean age about 11 years) already have higher rates of psychopathological manifestations compared with children of control parents. We also demonstrate the effect of the co-parents, in addition to that of the parent-patients, on the development of early psychiatric manifestations in these children. These results emphasize the importance of prompt identification and treatment of these children and highlight the need for clinical care not only of the patient, but also of the co- parent, in order to optimize the prevention of mental disorders in their offspring.

Phytochrome Kinase Substrate 4 is phosphorylated by the phototropin 1 photoreceptor.

Phototropism allows plants to redirect their growth towards the light to optimize photosynthesis under reduced light conditions. Phototropin 1 (phot1) is the primary low blue light-sensing receptor triggering phototropism in Arabidopsis. Light-induced autophosphorylation of phot1, an AGC-class protein kinase, constitutes an essential step for phototropism. However, apart from the receptor itself, substrates of phot1 kinase activity are less clearly established. Phototropism is also influenced by the cryptochromes and phytochromes photoreceptors that do not provide directional information but influence the process through incompletely characterized mechanisms. Here, we show that Phytochrome Kinase Substrate 4 (PKS4), a known element of phot1 signalling, is a substrate of phot1 kinase activity in vitro that is phosphorylated in a phot1-dependent manner in vivo. PKS4 phosphorylation is transient and regulated by a type 2-protein phosphatase. Moreover, phytochromes repress the accumulation of the light-induced phosphorylated form of PKS4 showing a convergence of photoreceptor activity on this signalling element. Our physiological analyses suggest that PKS4 phosphorylation is not essential for phototropism but is part of a negative feedback mechanism.

Guidance for Improving Foundation Layers to Increase Pavement Performance on Local Roads, TR-640, 2014

This document is the second of two deliverables for the project Optimizing Pavement Base, Subbase, and Subgrade Layers for Cost and Performance on Local Roads (TR-640). The first deliverable is the 454-page Final Field Data Report. The field data report describes test results and comparative analysis from 16 different portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement sites on local city and county roads in Iowa. At each site the surface conditions of the pavement (i.e., crack survey) and foundation layer strength, stiffness, and hydraulic conductivity properties were documented. The field test results were used to calculate in situ parameters used in pavement design methodologies for AASHTO (1993) and Iowa’s Statewide Urban Design and Specifications (SUDAS). Overall, the results of the study demonstrate how in situ and lab testing can be used to assess the support conditions and design values for pavement foundation layers and how the measurements compare to the assumed design values. This guide summarizes the study results and outlines general guidelines for applying them to optimize pavement bases, subbases, and subgrade layers of local roads with PCC pavements and thus their performance.

Mentoría para fomentar el éxito socioeducativo de jóvenes peruanos residentes en Barcelona

El programa de mentoría propuesto, toma como punto de partida la actual situación académica y social de jóvenes peruanos residentes en Barcelona y cercanías. Diversos estudios señalan la existencia de un alto índice de abandono escolar en Catalunya, así como un bajo rendimiento escolar que afecta principalmente a estudiantes extranjeros. El objetivo general es fomentar y optimizar la adecuada escolarización de jóvenes peruanos de entre 12 y 20 años. A través de procesos de mentoría y voluntariado se pretenden mejorar sus competencias escolares y sociales favoreciendo la creación de modelos de referencia positivos para los jóvenes en riesgo, así como espacios de aprendizaje, intercambio y acercamiento que fomenten la integración y la cohesión social entre las comunidades extranjera y autóctona. Para la realización del programa se prevé optimizar los recursos ya existentes, como los puntos de información juvenil y los centros de Asesoramiento Académica para jóvenes (CAAJ) y por otro lado se cuenta con la colaboración del Consulado General del Perú en Barcelona y de la escuela Virolai de Barcelona

Maladies vasculaires rares [Rare vascular diseases].

Scarce knowledge of vascular rare diseases, defined by prevalence lower than 1/2000, is accompanied by increased patients mis-management and impaired quality of life. Recent advances in clinical knowledge, molecular biology, and genetic evaluation of certain vascular rare diseases allows designing new management strategies. A tight coordinated collaboration between angiologists and other specialists is therefore necessary to optimize patient's care.

Isozymic variability in a Brazilian collection of annatto (Bixa orellana L.)

The objectives of this work were to optimize the isozyme electrophoresis technique for Bixa orellana, and use isozyme markers for a preliminary survey on the genetic variability in Brazilian annatto germplasm accessions. Collection consisted of seed samples from sixty open pollinated trees, representing two Northern and four Southern geographic provenances. The extraction, electrophoresis, and interpretation of annatto isozymes are described. Three out of the twenty-one identified isozyme loci were polymorphic in the collection. The percentage of polymorphic loci (P = 21.05) and the expected heterozygosity in annatto (H T = 0.064) were low, compared to other tropical woody species. A UPGMA phenogram, constructed with Nei's genetic distances, clearly separated the germplasm provenant from North and Central Brazil. Variability was significantly higher among the accessions from Maranhão. A sharp genetic differentiation was detected between accessions from Maranhão and Pará States, despite their geographical proximity. The distinctive isozyme polymorphism, observed in the accessions from Maranhão, together with reports on local morphological heterogeneity in annatto fruit shape, color, and pubescence, calls for more detailed genetic and taxonomic investigation.

Multiway Array Decomposition Analysis of EEGs in Alzheimer’s Disease

Methods for the extraction of features from physiological datasets are growing needs as clinical investigations of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in large and heterogeneous population increase. General tools allowing diagnostic regardless of recording sites, such as different hospitals, are essential and if combined to inexpensive non-invasive methods could critically improve mass screening of subjects with AD. In this study, we applied three state of the art multiway array decomposition (MAD) methods to extract features from electroencephalograms (EEGs) of AD patients obtained from multiple sites. In comparison to MAD, spectral-spatial average filter (SSFs) of control and AD subjects were used as well as a common blind source separation method, algorithm for multiple unknown signal extraction (AMUSE). We trained a feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP) to validate and optimize AD classification from two independent databases. Using a third EEG dataset, we demonstrated that features extracted from MAD outperformed features obtained from SSFs AMUSE in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE) and reaching up to 100% of accuracy in test condition. We propose that MAD maybe a useful tool to extract features for AD diagnosis offering great generalization across multi-site databases and opening doors to the discovery of new characterization of the disease.

La consultation génétique en dermatologie: une approche pratique [Genetic dermatology clinics: a practical approach]

There are numerous genodermatoses and different types of transmission. Recent technological progress of molecular genetics allows to confirm or specify increasingly the clinical diagnosis and to better define the risk of recurrency. A close collaboration of dermatologists and geneticists has been established at CHUV since several years. By means of clinical examples we illustrate the organisation and procedures of this pluridisciplinary consultation which aims to optimize the clinical management of rare genetic diseases.

Disseny d'un sistema de control del consum d'aigua automàtic

Avui en dia s’ha convertit en una necessitat tenir cura del medi ambient i optimitzar els recursos naturals. En el camp per estalviar energia s’han fet grans progressos i disposem d’un gran ventall de dispositius que ens ajuden i ens faciliten l’optimització del consum d’energia. Però és una realitat que en l’estalvi del consum d’aigua el progrés ha estat molt menor i es limita molt a donar consells i repartir dosificadors d’aigua. Qui no ha vist carrers o jardins o cases inundades amb milers de litres d’aigua? Aquesta realitat m’ha portat a dissenyar i desenvolupar un prototip que em permeti tenir un millor control del consum d’aigua. El prototip, a trets principals, consta d’un sensor, una electrovàlvula i una placa Arduino Atmega. El sensor ens permet mesurar els litres consumits durant un cert període de temps. Passat aquest temps de mostreig es compara els litres consumits amb el consum habitual, en aquell període de temps. En cas de sobrepassar el volum programat es tancarà l’electrovàlvula de forma automàtica i rebrem un SMS al telèfon. L’activació de l’alarma es pot ajustar que sigui al igualar-se els dos valors, litres programats i litres consumits. També es pot programar el percentatge que cal sobrepassar de litres consumits per activar l’alarma, com el temps de mostreig. El fet de poder programar tots aquests valors ens permet fer un ajust ideal per a la instal·lació que es vol tenir controlada. A més, el prototip es pot utilitzar per enviar a la companyia d’aigua el valor del comptador de forma automàtica. D’aquesta forma la companyia d’aigua també optimitza recursos estalviant-se el desplaçament de personal a la instal·lació per fer la lectura corresponent. El prototip està basat amb un Arduino Atmega que ens permet el processament de les dades programades i capturades pel sensor. També s’ha incorporat una pantalla TFT Touch 2’8”, que permet visualitzar i programar els valors d’una forma molt més intuïtiva. Per enviar els SMS s’utilitza una placa d’Arduino Cel·lular Shield - SM5100B, a la qual només cal afegir una targeta SIM. A priori, el prototip té un elevat cost al fabricar una sola unitat i pot semblar poc útil. Però ens pot estalviar alguna sorpresa en les factures d’aigua si tenim una fuita i no ens n’adonem fins a veure el rebut de la companyia. Si es fabriqués a grans quantitats es podria abaratir el preu i fer-lo encara més engrescador.