Genetic analysis of kernel oil content in tropical maize with design III and QTL mapping

Oil content and grain yield in maize are negatively correlated, and so far the development of high-oil high-yielding hybrids has not been accomplished. Then a fully understand of the inheritance of the kernel oil content is necessary to implement a breeding program to improve both traits simultaneously. Conventional and molecular marker analyses of the design III were carried out from a reference population developed from two tropical inbred lines divergent for kernel oil content. The results showed that additive variance was quite larger than the dominance variance, and the heritability coefficient was very high. Sixteen QTL were mapped, they were not evenly distributed along the chromosomes, and accounted for 30.91% of the genetic variance. The average level of dominance computed from both conventional and QTL analysis was partial dominance. The overall results indicated that the additive effects were more important than the dominance effects, the latter were not unidirectional and then heterosis could not be exploited in crosses. Most of the favorable alleles of the QTL were in the high-oil parental inbred, which could be transferred to other inbreds via marker-assisted backcross selection. Our results coupled with reported information indicated that the development of high-oil hybrids with acceptable yields could be accomplished by using marker-assisted selection involving oil content, grain yield and its components. Finally, to exploit the xenia effect to increase even more the oil content, these hybrids should be used in the Top Cross((TM)) procedure.

The role of epistasis in the manifestation of heterosis: a systems-oriented approach

Heterosis is widely used in breeding, but the genetic basis of this biological phenomenon has not been elucidated. We postulate that additive and dominance genetic effects as well as two-locus interactions estimated in classical QTL analyses are not sufficient for quantifying the contributions of QTL to heterosis. A general theoretical framework for determining the contributions of different types of genetic effects to heterosis was developed. Additive x additive epistatic interactions of individual loci with the entire genetic background were identified as a major component of midparent heterosis. On the basis of these findings we defined a new type of heterotic effect denoted as augmented dominance effect di* that comprises the dominance effect at each QTL minus half the sum of additive x additive interactions with all other QTL. We demonstrate that genotypic expectations of QTL effects obtained from analyses with the design III using testcrosses of recombinant inbred lines and composite-interval mapping precisely equal genotypic expectations of midparent heterosis, thus identifying genomic regions relevant for expression of heterosis. The theory for QTL mapping of multiple traits is extended to the simultaneous mapping of newly defined genetic effects to improve the power of QTL detection and distinguish between dominance and overdominance.

Use of Costas arrays in subpixel metrology

Subpixel methods increase the accuracy and efficiency of image detectors, processing units, and algorithms and provide very cost-effective systems for object tracking. A recently proposed method permits micropixel and submicropixel accuracies providing certain design constraints on the target are met. In this paper, we explore the use of Costas arrays - permutation matrices with ideal auto-ambiguity properties - for the design of such targets.

Modelo gerador de questões no reforço da aprendizagem das radiações e conteúdos de física moderna no ensino secundário

Os avanços e a disseminação do uso das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) descortinam novas perspetivas para a educação com suporte em ambientes digitais de aprendizagem usados via internet (Fiolhais & Trindade, 2003). A plataforma usada no Projeto Matemática Ensino (PmatE) da Universidade de Aveiro (UA) é uma das ferramentas informáticas que suporta esses ambientes através da avaliação baseada no Modelo Gerador de Questões (MGQ), possibilitando a obtenção da imagem do progresso feito pelos alunos (Vieira, Carvalho & Oliveira, 2004). Reconhecendo a importância didática desta ferramenta, já demonstrada noutras investigações (por exemplo, Carvalho, 2011; Pais de Aquino, 2013; Peixoto, 2009), o presente estudo tem como objetivo geral desenvolver material didático digital de Física, no contexto do programa moçambicano de Física da 12ª classe, para alunos e professores sobre radiações e conteúdos da Física Moderna. Pretendeu-se, ainda, propor estratégias de trabalho com recurso às TIC para a melhoria da qualidade das aprendizagens nesta disciplina. O estudo assentou nas três seguintes questões de investigação: (a) Como conceber instrumentos de avaliação das aprendizagens baseadas no modelo gerador de questões para o estudo das radiações e conteúdos da Física Moderna, no contexto do programa moçambicano de Física da 12ª classe? (b) Que potencialidades e constrangimentos apresentam esses instrumentos quando implementados com alunos e professores? (c) De que forma o conhecimento construído pode ser mobilizado para outros temas da Física e para o ensino das ciências em geral? O estudo seguiu uma metodologia de Estudos de Desenvolvimento, de natureza mista, que compreendeu as fases da Análise, Design, Desenvolvimento e Avaliação, seguindo como paradigma um estudo de cariz exploratório, com uma vertente de estudo de caso. Assim, na Análise, foi discutido o contexto da educação em Moçambique e a problemática da abordagem das radiações e conteúdos de Física Moderna no ensino secundário no quadro desafiante que se coloca atualmente à educação científica. No Design foram avaliadas as abordagens dasTIC no ensino e aprendizagem da Física e das ciências em geral e construída a árvore de objetivos nos conteúdos referidos na fase anterior. Na fase do Desenvolvimento foram construídos os instrumentos de recolha de dados, elaborados os protótipos de MGQ e sua posterior programação, validação e testagem em formato impresso no estudo exploratório. Na Avaliação, foi conduzido o estudo principal com a aplicação dos modelos no formato digital e feita sua avaliação, o que incluiu a administração de inquéritos por questionário a alunos e professores. Os resultados indicam que na conceção de MGQ, a definição dos objetivos de aprendizagem em termos comportamentais é fundamental na formulação de questões e na análise dos resultados da avaliação com o objetivo de reajustar as estratégias didáticas. Apontam também que a plataforma do PmatE que suporta os MGQ, embora possua constrangimentos devido a sua dependência da internet e limitações de ordem didática, contribui positivamente na aprendizagem e na identificação das dificuldades e principais erros dos alunos, por um lado. Por outro, estimula através da avaliação os processos de assimilação e acomodação do conhecimento. O estudo recomenda a necessidade de mudanças nas práticas de ensino e de aprendizagem para que seja possível a utilização de conteúdos digitais como complemento à abordagem didática de conteúdos.

Characterization of the effect of nitrogen deficiency on above-ground plant phenotypes in relation to root complexity in maize

Nitrogen (N) is an essential plant nutrient in maize production, and if considering only natural sources, is often the limiting factor world-wide in terms of a plant’s grain yield. For this reason, many farmers around the world supplement available soil N with synthetic man-made forms. Years of over-application of N fertilizer have led to increased N in groundwater and streams due to leaching and run-off from agricultural sites. In the Midwest Corn Belt much of this excess N eventually makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico leading to eutrophication (increase of phytoplankton) and a hypoxic (reduced oxygen) dead zone. Growing concerns about these types of problems and desire for greater input use efficiency have led to demand for crops with improved N use efficiency (NUE) to allow reduced N fertilizer application rates and subsequently lower N pollution. It is well known that roots are responsible for N uptake by plants, but it is relatively unknown how root architecture affects this ability. This research was conducted to better understand the influence of root complexity (RC) in maize on a plant’s response to N stress as well as the influence of RC on other above-ground plant traits. Thirty-one above-ground plant traits were measured for 64 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from the intermated B73 & Mo17 (IBM) population and their backcrosses (BCs) to either parent, B73 and Mo17, under normal (182 kg N ha-1) and N deficient (0 kg N ha-1) conditions. The RILs were selected based on results from an earlier experiment by Novais et al. (2011) which screened 232 RILs from the IBM to obtain their root complexity measurements. The 64 selected RILs were comprised of 31 of the lowest complexity RILs (RC1) and 33 of the highest complexity RILs (RC2) in terms of root architecture (characterized as fractal dimensions). The use of the parental BCs classifies the experiment as Design III, an experimental design developed by Comstock and Robinson (1952) which allows for estimation of dominance significance and level. Of the 31 traits measured, 12 were whole plant traits chosen due to their documented response to N stress. The other 19 traits were ear traits commonly measured for their influence on yield. Results showed that genotypes from RC1 and RC2 significantly differ for several above-ground phenotypes. We also observed a difference in the number and magnitude of N treatment responses between the two RC classes. Differences in phenotypic trait correlations and their change in response to N were also observed between the RC classes. RC did not seem to have a strong correlation with calculated NUE (ΔYield/ΔN). Quantitative genetic analysis utilizing the Design III experimental design revealed significant dominance effects acting on several traits as well as changes in significance and dominance level between N treatments. Several QTL were mapped for 26 of the 31 traits and significant N effects were observed across the majority of the genome for some N stress indicative traits (e.g. stay-green). This research and related projects are essential to a better understanding of plant N uptake and metabolism. Understanding these processes is a necessary step in the progress towards the goal of breeding for better NUE crops.

Mobile marketing process of an international event – Case: Falun2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

Any other technology has never affected daily life at this level and witnessed as speedy adaptation as the mobile phone. At the same time, mobile media has developed to be a serious marketing tool for all kinds of businesses, and the industry has grown explosively in recent years. The objective of this thesis is to inspect the mobile marketing process of an international event. This thesis is a qualitative case study. The chosen case for this thesis is the mobile marketing process of Falun2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships due to researcher’s interest on the topic and contacts to the people around the event. The empirical findings were acquired by conducting two interviews with three experts from the case organisation and its partner organisation. The interviews were performed as semi-structured interviews utilising the themes arising from the chosen theoretical framework. The framework distinguished six phases in the process: (i) campaign initiation, (ii) campaign design, (iii) campaign creation, (iv) permission management, (v) delivery, and (vi) evaluation and analysis. Phases one and five were not examined in this thesis because campaign initiation was not purely seen as part of the campaign implementation, and investigating phase five would have required a very technical viewpoint to the study. In addition to the interviews, some pre-established documents were exploited as a supporting data. The empirical findings of this thesis mainly follow the theoretical framework utilised. However, some modifications to the model could be made mainly related to the order of different phases. In the revised model, the actions are categorised depending on the time they should be conducted, i.e. before, during or after the event. Regardless of the categorisation, the phases can be in different order and overlapping. In addition, the business network was highly emphasised by the empirical findings and is thus added to the modified model. Five managerial recommendations can be concluded from the empirical findings of this thesis: (i) the importance of a business network should be highly valued in a mobile marketing process; (ii) clear goals should be defined for mobile marketing actions in order to make sure that everyone involved is aware them; (iii) interactivity should be perceived as part of a mobile marketing communication; (iv) enough time should be allowed for the development of a mobile marketing process in order to exploit all the potential it can offer; and (v) attention should be paid to measuring and analysing matters that are of relevance

Treatment rationale study design for the MetLung trial : a randomized, double-blind phase III study of onartuzumab (MetMAb) in combination with erlotinib versus erlotinib alone in patients who have received standard chemotherapy for stage IIIB or IV met-positive non-small-cell lung cancer

We present the treatment rationale and study design of the MetLung phase III study. This study will investigate onartuzumab (MetMAb) in combination with erlotinib compared with erlotinib alone, as second- or third-line treatment, in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are Met-positive by immunohistochemistry. Approximately 490 patients (245 per treatment arm) will receive erlotinib (150 mg oral daily) plus onartuzumab or placebo (15 mg/kg intravenous every 3 weeks) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, patient or physician decision to discontinue, or death. The efficacy objectives of this study are to compare overall survival (OS) (primary endpoint), progression-free survival, and response rates between the 2 treatment arms. In addition, safety, quality of life, pharmacokinetics, and translational research will be investigated across treatment arms. If the primary objective (OS) is achieved, this study will provide robust results toward an alternative treatment option for patients with Met-positive second- or third-line NSCLC. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I. Fundamental limitations in microelectronics. II. Power Schottky diode design and comparison with the junction diode. III. Permittivity of strontium titanate

Part I

The physical phenomena which will ultimately limit the packing density of planar bipolar and MOS integrated circuits are examined. The maximum packing density is obtained by minimizing the supply voltage and the size of the devices. The minimum size of a bipolar transistor is determined by junction breakdown, punch-through and doping fluctuations. The minimum size of a MOS transistor is determined by gate oxide breakdown and drain-source punch-through. The packing density of fully active bipolar or static non-complementary MOS circuits becomes limited by power dissipation. The packing density of circuits which are not fully active such as read-only memories, becomes limited by the area occupied by the devices, and the frequency is limited by the circuit time constants and by metal migration. The packing density of fully active dynamic or complementary MOS circuits is limited by the area occupied by the devices, and the frequency is limited by power dissipation and metal migration. It is concluded that read-only memories will reach approximately the same performance and packing density with MOS and bipolar technologies, while fully active circuits will reach the highest levels of integration with dynamic MOS or complementary MOS technologies.

Part II

Because the Schottky diode is a one-carrier device, it has both advantages and disadvantages with respect to the junction diode which is a two-carrier device. The advantage is that there are practically no excess minority carriers which must be swept out before the diode blocks current in the reverse direction, i.e. a much faster recovery time. The disadvantage of the Schottky diode is that for a high voltage device it is not possible to use conductivity modulation as in the p i n diode; since charge carriers are of one sign, no charge cancellation can occur and current becomes space charge limited. The Schottky diode design is developed in Section 2 and the characteristics of an optimally designed silicon Schottky diode are summarized in Fig. 9. Design criteria and quantitative comparison of junction and Schottky diodes is given in Table 1 and Fig. 10. Although somewhat approximate, the treatment allows a systematic quantitative comparison of the devices for any given application.

Part III

We interpret measurements of permittivity of perovskite strontium titanate as a function of orientation, temperature, electric field and frequency performed by Dr. Richard Neville. The free energy of the crystal is calculated as a function of polarization. The Curie-Weiss law and the LST relation are verified. A generalized LST relation is used to calculate the permittivity of strontium titanate from zero to optic frequencies. Two active optic modes are important. The lower frequency mode is attributed mainly to motion of the strontium ions with respect to the rest of the lattice, while the higher frequency active mode is attributed to motion of the titanium ions with respect to the oxygen lattice. An anomalous resonance which multi-domain strontium titanate crystals exhibit below 65°K is described and a plausible mechanism which explains the phenomenon is presented.

An approach to functional synthesis of solutions in mechanical conceptual design. Part III: Spatial configuration

These three papers describe an approach to the synthesis of solutions to a class of mechanical design problems; these involve transmission and transformation of mechanical forces and motion, and can be described by a set of inputs and outputs. The approach involves (1) identifying a set of primary functional elements and rules of combining them, and (2) developing appropriate representations and reasoning procedures for synthesising solution concepts using these elements and their combination rules; these synthesis procedures can produce an exhaustive set of solution concepts, in terms of their topological as well as spatial configurations, to a given design problem. This paper (Part III) describes a constraint propagation procedure which, using a knowledge base of spatial information about a set of primary functional elements, can produce possible spatial configurations of solution concepts generated in Part II.

Design and synthesis of near-IR luminescent mesoporous materials covalently linked with tris(8-hydroxyquinolinate) lanthanide(III) complexes

By using the bifunctional ligand, 8-hydroxyquinoline-functionalized organosilane (Q-Si), the new mesoporous material Q-MCM-41 covalently bonded with 8-hydroxyquinoline was synthesized. Through the ligand exchange reaction, the new near-infrared (NIR) luminescent mesoporous LnQ(3)-MCM-41 (Ln = Er, Nd, Yb) materials were prepared by linking the lanthanide quinolinate complexes to the ordered mesoporous Q-MCM-41 material. The LnQ(3)-MCM-41 materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and N-2 adsorption/desorption, and they all show the characteristic mesoporous structure of MCM-41 with highly uniform pore size distributions.

An adaptive group sequential design for phase II/III clinical trials that select a single treatment from several

There is increasing interest in combining Phases II and III of clinical development into a single trial in which one of a small number of competing experimental treatments is ultimately selected and where a valid comparison is made between this treatment and the control treatment. Such a trial usually proceeds in stages, with the least promising experimental treatments dropped as soon as possible. In this paper we present a highly flexible design that uses adaptive group sequential methodology to monitor an order statistic. By using this approach, it is possible to design a trial which can have any number of stages, begins with any number of experimental treatments, and permits any number of these to continue at any stage. The test statistic used is based upon efficient scores, so the method can be easily applied to binary, ordinal, failure time, or normally distributed outcomes. The method is illustrated with an example, and simulations are conducted to investigate its type I error rate and power under a range of scenarios.

Design of Gaussian basis sets to the theoretical interpretation of IR-spectrum of hexaaquachromium (III) ion, tetraoxochromium (IV) ion, and tetraoxochromium (VI) ion

The Generator Coordinate Hartree-Fock (GCHF) method is employed to design 16s, 16s10p, 24s17p13d, 25s17p13d, and 26s17p Gaussian basis sets for the H ((2)S), O ((3)P), O(2-) ((1)S), Cr(3+) ((4)F), Cr(4+) ((3)F), and Cr(6+) ((1)S) atomic species. These basis sets are then contracted to (4s) for H ((2)S), (6s4p) for O ((3)P), and O(2-) ((1)S), (986p3d) for Cr(3+) ((4)F), (10s8p3d) for Cr(4+) ((3)F), and (13s7p) for Cr(6+) (1S) by a standard procedure. For evaluation of the quality of those basis sets in molecular calculations, we have accomplished studies of total and orbital (HOMO and HOMO-1) energies at the HF-Roothaan level for the molecular species of our interest. The results obtained with the contracted basis sets are compared to the values obtained with our extended basis sets and to the standard 6-311G basis set from literature. Finally, the contracted basis sets are enriched with polarization function and then utilized in the theoretical interpretation of IR-spectrum of hexaaquachromium (III) ion, [Cr(H(2)O)(6)](3+), tetraoxochromium (IV) ion, [CrO(4)](4-), and tetraoxochromium (VI) ion, [CrO(4)](2-). The respective theoretical harmonic frequencies and IR-intensities were computed at the density functional theory (DFT) level. In the DFT calculations we employed the Becke's 1988 functional using the LYP correlation functional. The comparison between the results obtained and the corresponding experimental values indicates a very good description of the IR-spectra of the molecular ions studied, and that the GCHF method is still a legitimate alternative for selection of Gaussian basis sets. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highway geometric design consistency related to driver expectancy. Volume III: procedures for determining geometric design consistency. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Environmental Division, Washington, D.C.