The influence of the gas environment on morphology and chemical composition of surfaces micro-machined with a femtosecond laser

We investigated the influence of different gas environments on the fabrication of surfaces, homogeneously covered with equally sized and spaced micro-structures. Two types of structures have been successfully micro-machined with a femtosecond laser on titanium surfaces in various atmospheres. The surface chemistry of samples machined in oxygen and helium shows TiO2, while machining in nitrogen leads to an additional share of TiN. The actual surface structure was found to vary significantly as a function of the gas environment. We found that the ablated particles and their surface triggered two consecutive events: The optical properties of the gas environment became non-isotropic which then led to the pulse intensity being redistributed throughout the cross section of the laser beam. Additionally, the effective intensity was further reduced for TiN surfaces due to TiN's high reflectivity. Thus, the settings for the applied raster-scanning machining method had to be adjusted for each gas environment to produce comparable structures. In contrast to previous studies, where only noble gases were found suitable to produce homogeneous patches, we obtained them in an oxygen environment.

Dracocephalum moldavica L. and Melissa officinalis L. : Chemistry and Bioactivities Relevant in Alzheimer’s Disease Therapy

Oksidatiivisen stressin eli liiallisen reaktiivisten happiyhdisteiden määrän soluissa on jo pitkään arveltu olevan tärkeä Alzheimerin taudin kehittymiseen ja etenemiseen vaikuttava tekijä. Tämän vuoksi kiinnostus erilaisten antioksidanttien (yhdisteitä, jotka neutraloivat näitä happiradikaaleja soluissa) mahdollisia terapeuttisia ominaisuuksia Alzheimerin taudin hoidossa on tutkittu laajalti. Tähän mennessä ei kuitenkaan ole vielä onnistuttu löytämään antioksidanttia, joka olisi hyödyksi Alzheimerin taudin hoidossa. Tämän vuoksi on tärkeää pyrkiä löytämään uusia antioksidanttien lähteitä sekä tutkia niistä löytyviä aktiivisia yhdisteitä. Kiinnostus luonnon antioksidantteja kohtaan on kasvanut voimakkaasti viime aikoina. Huomio on kiinnittynyt erityisesti aromaattisista sekä lääkekasveista löytyviin antioksidantteihin. Lamiaceae- perheeseen kuuluvia tuoksuampiaisyrttiä (Dracocephalum moldavica L.) ja sitruunamelissaa (Melissa officinalis L.) on käytetty Iranissa pitkään sekä ruoanlaitossa että lääkinnässä, minkä vuoksi näiden kasvien uutteiden antioksidanttisisältöä päätettiin analysoida käyttäen useaa erilaista in vitro- menetelmää. Näissä kokeissa ilmeni, että uutteilla oli useita antioksidanttisia vaikutuksia. Näistä antioksidanttisista vaikutuksista vastaavia yhdisteitä pyrittiin tunnistamaan käyttäen HPLC-PDA- tekniikkaa, minkä seurauksena niiden havaittiin sisältävän erilaisia polyfenoleita, kuten hydroksyloituneita bentsoeeni- ja cinnamamidihapon johdannaisia sekä flavonoideja. Kummankin kasvin uutteissa runsaimmin esiintynyt yhdiste oli rosmariinihappo. Sitruunamelissaa (M. officinalis) on käytetty antiikin ajoista alkaen kognitiivisten toimintojen häiriöiden hoidossa. Perustuen tietoon kasvin käytöstä perinteisessä lääkinnässä, sen tehoa Alzheimerin taudin hoidossa on tutkittu viime aikoina kliinisin kokein. Sitruunamelissan todettiinkin olevan hyödyksi lievää ja keskivaikeaa Alzheimeimerin tautia sairastavien potilaiden hoidossa. Väitöskirjan osanan olevasta kooste-artikkelista käy ilmi, että tutkimalla lääkekasvien ominaisuuksia voidaan saada arvokkaita suuntaa-antavia vihjeitä Alzheimerin taudin lääkehoidon kehittämiseen. Tämän perusteella päätettiinkin testatata myös sitruunamelissauutteen kykyä estää asetyylikoliiniesteraasin (AChE) toimintaa, koska tämän entsyymin toiminna estämisen tiedetään olevan hyödyksi Alzheimerin taudin hoidossa. Uute kykeni estämään AChE:n toimintaa, minkä vuoksi uutteen sisältämiä komponentteja päätettiin tutkia terkemmin. Uute jaettiin erilaisiin fraktioihin käyttäen HPLC-menetelmää, minkä jälkeen testattiin jokaisen fraktion kykyä inhiboida AchE. Suurin osa fraktioista kykeni inhiboimaan AChE:n toimintaa selkeästi tehokkaammin, kuin raakauute. Kaikista tehokkainta fraktiota analysoitiin tarkemmin sen aktiivisten yhdisteiden tunnistamiseksi, minkä seurauksena sen sisältämät yhdisteet tunnistettiin cis ja trans-rosmariinihapoiksi. Tässä tutkimuksessa tunnistettujen yhdisteiden hyödyllisyyttä Alzheimerin taudin hoidossa tulisi seuraavaksi tutkia erilaisissa in vivo-malleissa. Lisäksi jäljellä olevien fraktioiden kemiallinen koostumus tulisi selvittää sekä antioksidanttiaktiivisuuden ja AChE:n toiminnan inhiboinnin välistä mahdollista yhteyttä tulisi tutkia tarkemmin. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa tuoksuampiasyrtin (D. moldavica) sekä sitruunamelissan (M. officinalis) sisältävän monenlaisia aktiivisia antioksidantteja. Lisäksi sitruunamelissan sisältämät yhdisteet kykenivät estämään asetyylikoliiniesteraasin (AchE) toimintaa. Nämä tulokset tukevat osaltaan väitöskirjan osana olevan kooste-artikkelin johtopäätöksiä, joiden mukaan etnofarmakologinen kasvitutkimus voi osoittautua erittäin hyödylliseksi kehitettäessä uutta lääkehoitoa Alzheimerin tautiin. Lisäksi tässä väitöskirjassa kuvattu tutkimus osoittaakin, että perinteisesti lääkekasvina käytettyä sitruunamelissaa voidaan mahdollisesti hyödyntää uusien Alzheimerin taudin hoitoon käytettävien lääkkeiden kehityksessä.

Das Übersetzen von Texten der Musikgattung Lied : am Beispiel von zehn Liedern aus dem Zyklus Winterreise von Franz Schubert und deren Übersetzungen

Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on edistää ja kehittää saksalaisen liedmusiikin suomennosten tutkimusta. Tutkimusaineistona on käytetty kymmentä laulua Franz Schubertin säveltämästä laulusarjasta Winterreise (1827), joka pohjautuu Wilhelm Müllerin runoihin, ja Kyllikki Solanterän suomennoksia (1960) kyseisistä lauluista. Lähtökohtana oli lähtökielinen teksti, johon suomennosta verrattiin. Hypoteesina oli, että tavulukujen merkitys liedmusiikin kääntämisessä on suurempi kuin muiden lingvististen tai semanttisten ominaisuuksien, koska musiikki ja nuotit asettavat tiukat rajat käännökselle, eikä kääntäjä voi muuttaa kappaleen musiikillista rakennetta. Sanatarkan käännöksen sijaan kääntäjän tulee pyrkiä säilyttämään kappaleen semanttinen sisältö ja tunnelma riimejä unohtamatta. Aluksi kerrotaan taustatietoja säveltäjästä, sanoittajasta, teoksesta, liedmusiikista ja kääntäjästä. Teoriaosiossa kartoitetaan, mihin kategorioihin liedtekstien kääntäminen voidaan luokitella kuuluvaksi. Analyysi pohjautuu Wittbrodtin luokitteluun (1995). Teoriaosiossa käsitellään myös ekvivalenssia, adekvaattisuutta, näennäiskäännöksiä, tyyliä, uskollisuutta alkuperäisteokselle, vapaan kääntämisen rajoja ja käännösvirheitä tutkittavasta materiaalista valikoitujen esimerkkien pohjalta. Esimerkkejä edeltää aina teoriaosuus. Varsinainen vertailuosio, jossa vertaillaan lähtö- ja kohdetekstejä, on jaettu kuuteen osioon: säe- ja säkeistöluvut, sanaluvut, tavuluvut, kirjaimien poisjättö, suorat ja epäsuorat kysymykset sekä kappaleiden nimet. Sana- ja tavulukujen eroavaisuuksista esitetään myös taulukot. Sana- ja tavulukujen kohdalla pohditaan, mistä erot johtuvat. Kaiken kaikkiaan pohditaan myös, ovatko käännösratkaisut onnistuneita, ja miten kääntäjä on niihin päätynyt. Laulettavuutta käsittelevässä osiossa esitetään ensin aikaisempia pohdintoja ja tutkimustuloksia kyseisestä aiheesta. Lopuksi teen Mannilan Blueprint-metodin (2005) mukaiset testit. Metriikkatestin teen esimerkinomaisesti yhdelle säkeistölle ja musikaalisen testin teen kaikille kymmenelle laululle. Musikaalisessa testissä analysoidaan tarkemmin lähtökielisiä säkeitä ja niiden suomenkielisiä vastineita, joiden tavuluvut eroavat toisistaan. Loppupäätelmiä edeltävässä luvussa esitetään vielä suomalaisen lauluntekijän ajatuksia sanoittamisesta. Hypoteesi tavuluvuista osoittautui oikeaksi. 146 säkeestä vain viidessä eivät lähtö- ja kohdetekstin tavuluvut olleet identtiset, mikä todistaa sen, että kääntäjä pyrkii säilyttämään kappaleen rytmin. Kääntäjä on myös säilyttänyt kappaleiden riimit, mikä vaikuttaa osaltaan rytmin säilymiseen. Sanalukujen kohdalla taas vain 16 säkeellä oli identtiset sanaluvut, mikä kertoo siitä, että niitä tärkeämpää on säilyttää kappaleen semanttinen sisältö ja tunnelma. Käännösten voidaan katsoa kuuluvan useaan kategoriaan. Kappaleiden käännökset ovat suurimmalta osin ekvivalentteja, mutta osittain ne voidaan luokitella näennäiskäännöksiksi. Tyyli ei ole säilynyt virheettömänä aivan jokaisessa käännöksessä, mutta yhtään kääntäjän puutteellisesta kieli- tai kääntämistaidosta johtuvaa käännösvirhettä kappaleissa ei ole. Suomentaja ei ole tuottanut yhtään täydellisen sanatarkkaa käännöstä, vaikka leksikaalinen ero on osittain vain hiuksenhieno. Tämä osoittaa sen, että vapaan kääntämisen aste on liedmusiikin suomennoksissa suhteellisen korkea. Kaiken kaikkiaan Solanterän käännöksiä voi pitää suhteellisen onnistuneina.

Genetic variability of Tomato spotted wilt virus in Australia and validation of real time RT-PCR for its detection in single and bulked leaf samples

The potential for large-scale use of a sensitive real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was evaluated for the detection of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in single and bulked leaf samples by comparing its sensitivity with that of DAS-ELISA. Using total RNA extracted with RNeasy® or leaf soak methods, real time RT-PCR detected TSWV in all infected samples collected from 16 horticultural crop species (including flowers, herbs and vegetables), two arable crop species, and four weed species by both assays. In samples in which DAS-ELISA had previously detected TSWV, real time RT-PCR was effective at detecting it in leaf tissues of all 22 plant species tested at a wide range of concentrations. Bulk samples required more robust and extensive extraction methods with real time RT-PCR, but it generally detected one infected sample in 1000 uninfected ones. By contrast, ELISA was less sensitive when used to test bulked samples, once detecting up to 1 infected in 800 samples with pepper but never detecting more than 1 infected in 200 samples in tomato and lettuce. It was also less reliable than real time RT-PCR when used to test samples from parts of the leaf where the virus concentration was low. The genetic variability among Australian isolates of TSWV was small. Direct sequencing of a 587 bp region of the nucleoprotein gene (S RNA) of 29 isolates from diverse crops and geographical locations yielded a maximum of only 4.3% nucleotide sequence difference. Phylogenetic analysis revealed no obvious groupings of isolates according to geographic origin or host species. TSWV isolates, that break TSWV resistance genes in tomato or pepper did not differ significantly in the N gene region studied, indicating that a different region of the virus genome is responsible for this trait.

Leaf chlorophyll concentration relates to transpiration efficiency in peanut

Two pot experiments were conducted in two different seasons at the University of Agricultural Science, Bangalore, India, to study (a) the relationship between chlorophyll concentration (by measuring the leaf light-transmittance characteristics using a SPAD metre) and transpiration efficiency (TE) and (b) the effect of leaf N on chlorophyll and TE relationship in peanut. In Experiment (Expt) I, six peanut genotypes with wide genetic variation for the specific leaf area (SLA) were used. In Expt II, three non-nodulating isogenic lines were used to study the effect of N levels on leaf chlorophyll concentration–TE relationship without potential confounding effects in biological nitrogen fixation. Leaf N was manipulated by applying N fertiliser in Expt II. Chlorophyll concentration, TE (g dry matter kg−1 of H2O transpired, measured using gravimetric method), specific leaf nitrogen (g N m−2, SLN), SLA (cm2 g−1), carbon isotope composition (Δ13C) were determined in the leaves sampled during the treatment period (35–55 days after sowing) in the two experiments. Results showed that the leaf chlorophyll concentration expressed as soil plant analytical development (SPAD) chlorophyll metre reading (SCMR) varied significantly among genotypes in Expt I and as a result of N application in Expt II. Changes in leaf N levels were strongly associated with changes in SCMR, TE and Δ13C. In both the experiments, a significant positive relationship between SCMR and TE with similar slopes but differing intercepts was noticed. However, correction of TE for seasonal differences in vapour pressure deficit (VPD) between the two experiments resulted in a single and stronger relationship between SCMR and TE. There was a significant inverse relationship between SCMR and Δ13C, suggesting a close linkage between chlorophyll concentration and Δ13C in peanut. This study provides the first evidence for a significant positive relationship between TE and leaf chlorophyll concentration in peanut. The study also describes the effect of growing environment on the relationships among SLA, SLN and SCMR.

A near Optimal Cane Rail Scheduler under Limited and Unlimited Capacity Constraints

Australia is the world’s third largest exporter of raw sugar after Brazil and Thailand, with around $2.0 billion in export earnings. Transport systems play a vital role in the raw sugar production process by transporting the sugarcane crop between farms and mills. In 2013, 87 per cent of sugarcane was transported to mills by cane railway. The total cost of sugarcane transport operations is very high. Over 35% of the total cost of sugarcane production in Australia is incurred in cane transport. A cane railway network mainly involves single track sections and multiple track sections used as passing loops or sidings. The cane railway system performs two main tasks: delivering empty bins from the mill to the sidings for filling by harvesters; and collecting the full bins of cane from the sidings and transporting them to the mill. A typical locomotive run involves an empty train (locomotive and empty bins) departing from the mill, traversing some track sections and delivering bins at specified sidings. The locomotive then, returns to the mill, traversing the same track sections in reverse order, collecting full bins along the way. In practice, a single track section can be occupied by only one train at a time, while more than one train can use a passing loop (parallel sections) at a time. The sugarcane transport system is a complex system that includes a large number of variables and elements. These elements work together to achieve the main system objectives of satisfying both mill and harvester requirements and improving the efficiency of the system in terms of low overall costs. These costs include delay, congestion, operating and maintenance costs. An effective cane rail scheduler will assist the traffic officers at the mill to keep a continuous supply of empty bins to harvesters and full bins to the mill with a minimum cost. This paper addresses the cane rail scheduling problem under rail siding capacity constraints where limited and unlimited siding capacities were investigated with different numbers of trains and different train speeds. The total operating time as a function of the number of trains, train shifts and a limited number of cane bins have been calculated for the different siding capacity constraints. A mathematical programming approach has been used to develop a new scheduler for the cane rail transport system under limited and unlimited constraints. The new scheduler aims to reduce the total costs associated with the cane rail transport system that are a function of the number of bins and total operating costs. The proposed metaheuristic techniques have been used to find near optimal solutions of the cane rail scheduling problem and provide different possible solutions to avoid being stuck in local optima. A numerical investigation and sensitivity analysis study is presented to demonstrate that high quality solutions for large scale cane rail scheduling problems are obtainable in a reasonable time. Keywords: Cane railway, mathematical programming, capacity, metaheuristics

Business process performance mining with staged process flows

Existing process mining techniques provide summary views of the overall process performance over a period of time, allowing analysts to identify bottlenecks and associated performance issues. However, these tools are not de- signed to help analysts understand how bottlenecks form and dissolve over time nor how the formation and dissolution of bottlenecks – and associated fluctua- tions in demand and capacity – affect the overall process performance. This paper presents an approach to analyze the evolution of process performance via a notion of Staged Process Flow (SPF). An SPF abstracts a business process as a series of queues corresponding to stages. The paper defines a number of stage character- istics and visualizations that collectively allow process performance evolution to be analyzed from multiple perspectives. The approach has been implemented in the ProM process mining framework. The paper demonstrates the advantages of the SPF approach over state-of-the-art process performance mining tools using two real-life event logs publicly available.

Minimizing overprocessing waste in business processes via predictive activity ordering

Overprocessing waste occurs in a business process when effort is spent in a way that does not add value to the customer nor to the business. Previous studies have identied a recurrent overprocessing pattern in business processes with so-called "knockout checks", meaning activities that classify a case into "accepted" or "rejected", such that if the case is accepted it proceeds forward, while if rejected, it is cancelled and all work performed in the case is considered unnecessary. Thus, when a knockout check rejects a case, the effort spent in other (previous) checks becomes overprocessing waste. Traditional process redesign methods propose to order knockout checks according to their mean effort and rejection rate. This paper presents a more fine-grained approach where knockout checks are ordered at runtime based on predictive machine learning models. Experiments on two real-life processes show that this predictive approach outperforms traditional methods while incurring minimal runtime overhead.

Complex symbolic sequence clustering and multiple classifiers for predictive process monitoring

This paper addresses the following predictive business process monitoring problem: Given the execution trace of an ongoing case,and given a set of traces of historical (completed) cases, predict the most likely outcome of the ongoing case. In this context, a trace refers to a sequence of events with corresponding payloads, where a payload consists of a set of attribute-value pairs. Meanwhile, an outcome refers to a label associated to completed cases, like, for example, a label indicating that a given case completed “on time” (with respect to a given desired duration) or “late”, or a label indicating that a given case led to a customer complaint or not. The paper tackles this problem via a two-phased approach. In the first phase, prefixes of historical cases are encoded using complex symbolic sequences and clustered. In the second phase, a classifier is built for each of the clusters. To predict the outcome of an ongoing case at runtime given its (uncompleted) trace, we select the closest cluster(s) to the trace in question and apply the respective classifier(s), taking into account the Euclidean distance of the trace from the center of the clusters. We consider two families of clustering algorithms – hierarchical clustering and k-medoids – and use random forests for classification. The approach was evaluated on four real-life datasets.

Prioritising potential guilds of specialist herbivores as biological control agents for prickly acacia through simulated herbivory

Understanding plant response to herbivory facilitates the prioritisation of guilds of specialist herbivores as biological control agents based on their potential impacts. Prickly acacia (Acacia nilotica ssp. indica) is a weed of national significance in Australia and is a target for biological control. Information on the susceptibility of prickly acacia to herbivory is limited, and there is no information available on the plant organ (i.e. leaf, shoot and root in isolation or in combination) most susceptible to herbivory. We evaluated the ability of prickly acacia seedlings, to respond to different types of simulated herbivory (defoliation, shoot damage, root damage and combinations), at varying frequencies (no herbivory, single, two and three events of herbivory) to identify the type and frequency of herbivory that will be required to reduce the growth and vigour. Defoliation and shoot damage, individually, had a significant negative impact on prickly acacia seedlings. For the defoliation to be effective, more than two defoliation events were required, whereas a single bout of shoot damage was enough to cause a significant reduction in plant vigour. A combination of defoliation + shoot damage had the greatest negative impact. The study highlights the need to prioritise specialist leaf and shoot herbivores as potential biological control agents for prickly acacia.

Sap properties and alk(en)ylresorcinol concentrations in Australian-grown mangoes.

Physical and chemical properties of sap and sap concentrations of constitutive alk(en)ylresorcinols were determined in several varieties of mango grown in different locations in Queensland, Australia, over two consecutive cropping seasons. Sap weight from individual fruit, sap pH, percentage of non-aqueous sap and concentrations of constitutive alk(en)ylresorcinols (5-n-heptadecenylresorcinol and 5-n-pentadecylresorcinol) in sap varied significantly among the varieties. 'Calypso', 'Keitt', 'Kensington Pride' and 'Celebration' had the greatest proportion of non-aqueous sap, whereas 'Nam Doc Mai' had the least. The highest concentrations of 5-n-heptadecenylresorcinol were found in the sap of 'Kensington Pride', and the lowest in 'Honey Gold' and 'Nam Doc Mai'. Highest concentrations of 5-n-pentadecylresorcinol were found in sap of 'Calypso' and 'Celebration', and the lowest levels were in 'Honey Gold' and 'Nam Doc Mai'. There was a direct relationship between the percentage of non-aqueous sap and the concentrations of alk(en)ylresorcinols (r(2) = 0.77 for 5-n-heptadecenylresorcinol, and r(2) = 0.87 for 5-n-pentadecylresorcinol). The alk(en)ylresorcinols were distributed mainly in the upper non-aqueous phase of 'Kensington Pride' sap. Growing location also had significant effects on the composition of mango sap but the effects appeared to be related to differences in maturity. Sap removal is necessary to prevent sapburn, but considerable quantities of alk(en)ylresorcinols that assist in protecting the harvested fruit from anthracnose disease are also removed.

Prospects for the biological control of Lantana camara (Verbenaceae) in New Zealand

Lantana camara is an environmental weed in the northern North Island of New Zealand. It is an increasingly observed problem in forest margins, coastal scrublands, dunes, plantations and island habitats, and its rapid, uncontrolled growth can create dense impenetrable thickets, suppressing vegetation and bush regeneration. Biological control options are being considered for its management. A strain of the Brazilian rust Prospodium tuberculatum was released against lantana in Australia in 2001. This rust was screened against invasive forms of the weed that occur in New Zealand and was found to be pathogenic under glasshouse conditions. A survey found no evidence that the rust occurs in New Zealand. It is concluded that P. tuberculatum is potentially a suitable agent for the biocontrol of lantana in New Zealand and further research should be carried out prior to importation of the organism.

Agronomy looking forward, thinking broadly.

Global trends in human population and agriculture dictate that future calls made on the resources (physical, human, financial) and systems involved in producing food will be increasingly more demanding and complex. Both plant breeding and improved agronomy lift the potential yield of crops, a key component in progressing farm yield, so society can reasonably expect both agronomy as a science and agronomists as practitioners to contribute to the successful delivery of necessary change. By reflecting on current trends in agricultural production (diversification, intensification, integration, industrialisation, automation) and deconstructing a futuristic scenario of attempting agricultural production on Mars, it seems the skills agronomists will require involve not only the mandatory elements of their discipline but also additional skills that enable engagement with, even leadership of, teams who integrate (in sum or part) engineering, (agri-)business, economics and operational management, and build the social capital required to create and maintain a diverse array of enhanced and new ethical production systems and achieve increasing efficiencies within them.

Cultivar-specific effects of pathogen testing on storage root yield of sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas.

The accumulation and perpetuation of viral pathogens over generations of clonal propagation in crop species such as sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas, inevitably result in a reduction in crop yield and quality. This study was conducted at Bundaberg, Australia to compare the productivity of field-derived and pathogen-tested (PT) clones of 14 sweetpotato cultivars and the yield benefits of using healthy planting materials. The field-derived clonal materials were exposed to the endemic viruses, while the PT clones were subjected to thermotherapy and meristem-tip culture to eliminate viral pathogens. The plants were indexed for viruses using nitrocellulose membrane-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and graft-inoculations onto Ipomoea setosa. A net benefit of 38% in storage root yield was realised from using PT materials in this study. Conversely, in a similar study previously conducted at Kerevat, Papua New Guinea (PNG), a net deficit of 36% was realised. This reinforced our finding that the response to pathogen testing was cultivar dependent and that the PNG cultivars in these studies generally exhibited increased tolerance to the endemic viruses present at the respective trial sites as manifested in their lack of response from the use of PT clones. They may be useful sources for future resistance breeding efforts. Nonetheless, the potential economic gain from using PT stocks necessitates the use of pathogen testing on virus-susceptible commercial cultivars. .