Isolation and characterisation of Plasmodium falciparum (Welch, 1897) soluble antigens from infected patient plasma, Western blotting, thermal stability and ELISA assays using hyperimmune IgG-antimalaria antibodies was the main objective of this work. A circulating antigen of approximately Mr 33-35 kDa with good specificity and antigenicity, in the plasma of malarial patients was shown. Heating at 100°C did not destroy its antigenicity. When fractions highly enriched in the 33-35 kDa proteins were used in ELISAs, a seroreactivity in plasma obtained from primary-infected individuals was found. Controls from normal patients were always negative. The antigenic characteristics suggest that it may be included within the group of new described Plasmodium soluble antigens.
We present here a bibliometric analysis of publications on photosynthesis research from 1992 to 2009 in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded) Web of Science. This has allowed us to examine the growing trends and the key topics on this subject. We have assessed the document type, language of the publications, publication output, subject category, journal distribution, countries and territories of these publications, institutions involved, hot topics and highly cited papers. The top 30 countries/territories were ranked according to their total number of articles (TA), single country articles (SCA), internationally collaborative articles (ICA), first author articles (FAA) and corresponding author articles (CAA). Research directions on the subject of photosynthesis were also investigated and evaluated by statistically analyzing the distribution of author keywords in the database. Our analysis indicates that “water”, “stress”, “carbon dioxide”, “nitrogen” and “climate change” are hot topics of research on photosynthesis during this period., J. J. Yu ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Monthly evapotranspiration (ET) rates over Hungary for 2000-2008 are mapped at a spatial scale of about 1 km with the help of MODIS daytime land surface temperature as well as sunshine duration, air temperature and humidity data. Mapping is achieved by a linear transformation of MODIS daytime land surface temperature values employing the complementary relationship of evaporation. Validation of the ET rates has been performed at spatial scales spanning almost three magnitudes from a few hundred meters to about a hundred kilometers employing eddy-covariance (EC) measurements and catchment water balance closures. Typically the unbiased ET estimates are within 15 % of EC values at a monthly basis, within 7 % at an annual, and within only a few percent at a multi-year basis. The ET estimates yield an especially remarkable match (relative error of 0.2 %, R2 = 0.95) with high-tower EC measurements at a monthly basis. The spatial distribution of the ET estimates confirm earlier, complex regional hydrologic model results and observations as well as yields a perfect estimate of the country’s precipitation recycling index (the ratio of the multi-year mean ET and precipitation rates spatially aggregated for the whole country) of 89.2 % vs an observed value of 89.6 %. The CREMAP method is very simple, easy to implement, requires minimal data, calibration-free, and works accurately when conditions for the complementary relationship are met. and Pomocou údajov ročlenených podľa MODIS (moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer), s využitím dennej povrchovej teploty, trvania slnečného svitu, teploty vzduchu a jeho vlhkosti boli zostrojené mapy mesačnej evapotranspirácie (ET) Maďarska pre roky 2000-2008 s priestorovým rozlíšením približne 1 km. Mapovanie bolo zrealizované lineárnou transformáciou MODIS dennej teploty povrchu s uvážením doplňujúceho vzťahu pre evapotranspiráciu CR, navrhnutou Bouchetom (1963). Výsledky dosiahnuté touto metódou boli verifikované v priestorovej mierke pokrývajúcej tri rády od niekoľkých stoviek metrov po stovky kilometrov, použijúc merania metódou pulzácií (eddy covariance, EC), a bilanciou vody v koncovom profile povodí. Typicky, hodnoty ET sú v medziach 15 % mesačných hodnôt EC a 7 % ročných hodnôt a len v medziach niekoľkých percent viacročných hodnôt evapotranspirácie, ktoré boli určené inými metódami. Hodnoty ET sú v dobrej zhode s výsledkami meraní ET na vysokej veži metódou EC (relatívna chyba 0.2 %, R2 = 0,95). Priestorové rozdelenia vypočítaných hodnôt ET potvrdzujú predchádzajúce výsledky modelovania regionálnymi modelmi, ako aj hodnoty indexu recyklácie zrážok krajiny (precipitation recycling index), čo je pomer mnohoročnej priemernej ET a zrážok agregovaných v krajine, s hodnotou 89,2 % vs pozorovaná hodnota 89,6 %. Metóda CREMAP je jednoduchá, ľahko implementovateľná, vyžaduje minimum vstupných hodnôt, nie je ju potrebné kalibrovať a keď sú splnené podmienky jej použiteľnosti, je aj dostatočne presná.
Twenty eight species of winter-active Heleomyzidae were collected during a long-term study in Poland. More than 130 samples of insects, including Heleomyzidae, were collected from the surface of snow in lowland and mountain areas using a semi-quantitative method. Lowland and mountain assemblages of Heleomyzidae recorded on snow were quite different. Heleomyza modesta (Meigen, 1835) and Scoliocentra (Leriola) brachypterna (Loew, 1873) dominated in the mountains, Tephrochlamys rufiventris (Meigen, 1830) mainly in the lowlands and Heteromyza rotundicornis (Zetterstedt, 1846) was common in both habitats. Heleomyzidae were found on snow during the whole period of snow cover, but the catches peaked from late November to the beginning of February. In late winter and early spring the occurrence of heleomyzids on snow decreased. Most individuals were active on snow at air temperatures between -2 and +2.5°C. A checklist of 78 winter active European Heleomyzidae is presented. Helomyza nivalis Wahlgren, 1918 is herein considered as a new junior synonym of Helomyza caesia Meigen, 1830, syn. n., Agnieszka Soszyńska-Maj, Andrzej J. Woźnica., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In order to fulfil their essential roles as the bearers of truth and the relata of logical relations, propositions must be public and shareable. That requirement has favoured Platonist and other non-mental views of them, despite the well-known problems of Platonism in general. Views that propositions are mental entities have correspondingly fallen out of favour, as they have difficulty in explaining how propositions could have shareable, objective properties. We revive a mentalist view of propositions, inspired by Artificial Intelligence work on perceptual algorithms, which shows how perception causes persistent mental entities with shareable properties that allow them to fulfil the traditional roles of (one core kind of) propositions. The clustering algorithms implemented in perception produce outputs which are (implicit) atomic propositions in different minds. Coordination of them across minds proceeds by game-theoretic processes of communication. The account does not rely on any unexplained notions such as mental content, representation, or correspondence (although those notions are applicable in philosophical analysis of the result).
A cheap chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence imaging system was developed for measuring leaf areas of 30×45 cm. Uniform saturating irradiances were created using CuSO4 filtered radiation from stroboscopes. The system was tested using maize leaves treated with diuron. Comparison was made with a small-area-measuring pulse amplified modulation Chl fluorometer. and P. Lootens, P. Vandecasteele.
When dark-acclimated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Coker 312) leaves, pre-treated with lincomycin to inhibit chloroplast protein repair processes, were exposed to 10 °C and a PPFD of 500 μmol m-2 s-1, the proportion of excitation energy entering photochemistry (P) increased, but only to 5 % of the total energy absorbed at steady state levels of P, which were reached at 40 min of irradiation. Thermal dissipation (D) of absorbed energy increased throughout the 360 min irradiation period and accounted for the greatest portion of absorbed energy at 10 °C. When D was partitioned into constitutive (DCON), regulated (DREG), and photoinhibitory (DPI) components, it was primarily composed of DREG, the readily reversible portion of D. However, the induction of D was slow at 10 °C. Sixty minutes were required for D to reach 70 % of the energy absorbed. Considerable absorption of energy in excess of that utilized in photochemistry or dissipated thermally (designated as E) occurred, especially during induction of P and D. Over the irradiation period, the time-dependent averaged E exhibited an inverse, linear relationship with the ratio of variable (Fv) to maximum (Fm) fluorescence (PS2 efficiency) and a linear relationship with DPI. We propose that time-dependent averaged E may be useful for estimating the potential for damage to PS2 under stressful environmental conditions. and D. Kornyeyev, B. A. Logan, A. S. Holaday.
Numerous coccidian stages were found in the kidney tubules of the golden carp (Carassius auratus gibelio). The merogonial and gamogonial stages were localized extracytoplasmally in the microvillous region of the epithelial cells. The host-parasite interface consisted of i) a large area where the parasite was separated from the host cytoplasm by the parasitophorous vacuole membrane only, and ii) a zone of multiple fusions of the host cell membrane investing the parasite to the neighbouring microvilli. The taxonomic status of the extracytoplasmic stages is not clear, however, their possible appurtenance to Eimeria scardimi, which was frequently found in the kidneys of golden carps in the same population, is discussed.
Serious damage may occur to concrete hydraulic structures, such as water galleries, spillways, and stilling basins, due to the abrasive erosion caused by the presence of solid particles in the flow. This underlines the importance of being capable in providing characterization of the concrete from the point of view of its vulnerability to abrasive erosion, in order to improve the design of the structure and the material selection. Nevertheless, the existing apparatus for concrete abrasive erosion testing are either far from allowing realistic simulation of the actual environment in which this phenomenon occurs, or show a large degree of complexity and cost. An alternative method has been developed with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD was first employed to verify the effectiveness of a new laboratory equipment. Afterwards, a parameter has been introduced which, by successful comparison against preliminary experiments, proved suitable to quantify the effect of the fluid dynamic conditions on the concrete abrasive erosion, thereby opening the way to CFD-based customization of the apparatus. In the future, the synergy of numerical and physical modelling will allow developing predictive models for concrete erosion, making it possible to reliably simulate real structures.