Optical Activities as Computing Resources for Space-time Symmetries

It is known that optical activities can perform rotations. It is shown that the rotation, if modulated by attenuations, can perform symmetry operations of Wigner's little group which dictates the internal space-time symmetries of elementary particles.Comment: 13 pages, to be published in J. Mod. Optic

Comparative effects of nitrogen fertigation and granular

Comparative effects of nitrogen fertigation and granular fertilizer application on growth and availability of soil nitrogen during establishment of highbush blueberry David R. Bryla1* and Rui M. A. Machado2 1 Horticultural Crops Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Corvallis, OR, USA 2 Departamento de Fitotecnia, Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal A 2-year study was done to compare the effects of nitrogen (N) fertigation and granular fertilizer application on growth and availability of soil N during establishment of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L. “Bluecrop”). Treatments included four methods of N application (weekly fertigation, split fertigation, and two non-fertigated controls) and four levels of N fertilizer (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg·ha−1 N). Fertigation treatments were irrigated by drip and injected with a liquid urea solution; weekly fertigation was applied once a week from leaf emergence to 60 d prior to the end of the season while split fertigation was applied as a triple-split from April to June. Non-fertigated controls were fertilized with granular ammonium sulfate, also applied as a triple-split, and irrigated by drip or microsprinklers. Weekly fertigation produced the smallest plants among the four fertilizer application methods at 50 kg·ha−1 N during the first year after planting but the largest plants at 150 kg·ha−1 N in both the first and second year. The other application methods required less N to maximize growth but were less responsive than weekly fertigation to additional N fertilizer applications. In fact, 44–50% of the plants died when granular fertilizer was applied at 150 kg·ha−1 N. By comparison, none of the plants died with weekly fertigation. Plant death with granular fertilizer was associated with high ammonium ion concentrations (up to 650 mg·L−1) and electrical conductivity (>3 dS·m−1) in the soil solution. Early results indicate that fertigation may be less efficient (i.e., less plant growth per unit of N applied) at lower N rates than granular fertilizer application but is also safer (i.e., less plant death) and promotes more growth when high amounts of N fertilizer is applied

EFEITO DA FERTILIZAÇÃO AZOTADA NA DINÂMICA DE

RESUMO Este trabalho teve como objectivo estudar a influência da aplicação de diferentes quantidades de azoto, repartidas por quatro aplicações, na disponibilidade de azoto nítrico no solo, no comprimento radical, na concentração de azoto nas folhas e na produção comercial de cebola de dias médios (cv. Gilmar) no Alentejo. O ensaio decorreu na Centro de estudos e experimentação da Mitra da Universidade de Évora e foi delineado em blocos casualizados com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram em 4 níveis de adubação azotada (0, 37, 74 e 111 kg N ha-1), repartidos por quatro aplicações. A disponibilidade de azoto nítrico no solo, o comprimento radical e a concentração de azoto nas folhas foram avaliados aos 33, 57, 96 e 127 dias após a plantação. A densidade radical (cm cm-3) sob o bolbo e a 4 cm da linha de cultura, nas diferentes datas e profundidades de amostragem, não foi afectada pelos níveis de azoto. Ao longo ciclo, 65 a 100 % das raízes, em termos de comprimento radical, concentraram-se sob o bolbo e a densidade radical máxima alcançada foi de 1,88 cm cm-3. A profundidade máxima de enraizamento situou-se entre os 20 e 30 cm, não ultrapassando os 10 cm de profundidade até aos 32 dias após a plantação. Nas condições do ensaio, os resultados indicam como recomendável uma aplicação de 30 kg ha– 1 de azoto à plantação e um aumento da quantidade de azoto aplicado (16,2% do total de N aplicado), no início da formação do bolbo. A produção comercial aumentou com o nível de azoto, mas as produções obtidas com a aplicação de 74 kg ha-1 (5,12 kg m-2) e de 111 Kg N ha-1 (6,59 kg m-2) não diferiram significativamente. Palavras-chave: Allium cepa L, azoto nítr

Moving from information and collaboration to action: report from the 3rd International Dog Health Workshop, Paris in April 2017

Abstract Background Breed-related health problems in dogs have received increased focus over the last decade. Responsibility for causing and/or solving these problems has been variously directed towards dog breeders and kennel clubs, the veterinary profession, welfare scientists, owners, regulators, insurance companies and the media. In reality, all these stakeholders are likely to share some responsibility and optimal progress on resolving these challenges requires all key stakeholders to work together. The International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD), together with an alternating host organization, holds biennial meetings called the International Dog Health Workshops (IDHW). The Société Centrale Canine (French Kennel Club) hosted the 3rd IDHW, in Paris, in April, 2017. These meetings bring together a wide range of stakeholders in dog health, science and welfare to improve international sharing of information and resources, to provide a forum for ongoing collaboration, and to identify specific needs and actions to improve health, well-being and welfare in dogs. Results The workshop included 140 participants from 23 countries and was structured around six important issues facing those who work to improve dog health. These included individualized breed-specific strategies for health and breeding, extreme conformations, education and communication in relation to antimicrobial resistance, behavior and welfare, genetic testing and population-based evidence. A number of exciting actions were agreed during the meeting. These included setting up working groups to create tools to help breed clubs accelerate the implementation of breed-health strategies, review aspects of extreme conformation and share useful information on behavior. The meeting also heralded the development of an online resource of relevant information describing quality measures for DNA testing. A demand for more and better data and evidence was a recurring message stressed across all themes. Conclusions The meeting confirmed the benefits from inclusion of a diverse range of stakeholders who all play relevant and collaborative parts to improve future canine health. Firm actions were set for progress towards improving breed-related welfare. The next international workshop will be in the UK in 2019 and will be organized by the UK Kennel Club

Demography and disorders of the French Bulldog population under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2013

Abstract Background Despite its Gallic name, the French Bulldog is a breed of both British and French origin that was first recognised by The Kennel Club in 1906. The French Bulldog has demonstrated recent rapid rises in Kennel Club registrations and is now (2017) the second most commonly registered pedigree breed in the UK. However, the breed has been reported to be predisposed to several disorders including ocular, respiratory, neurological and dermatological problems. The VetCompass™ Programme collates de-identified clinical data from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for epidemiological research. Using VetCompass™ clinical data, this study aimed to characterise the demography and common disorders of the general population of French Bulldogs under veterinary care in the UK. Results French Bulldogs comprised 2228 (0.49%) of 445,557 study dogs under veterinary care during 2013. Annual proportional birth rates showed that the proportional ownership of French Bulldog puppies rose steeply from 0.02% of the annual birth cohort attending VetCompass™ practices in 2003 to 1.46% in 2013. The median age of the French Bulldogs overall was 1.3 years (IQR 0.6–2.5, range 0.0–13.0). The most common colours of French Bulldogs were brindle (solid or main) (32.36%) and fawn (solid or main) (29.9%). Of the 2228 French Bulldogs under veterinary care during 2013, 1612 (72.4%) had at least one disorder recorded. The most prevalent fine-level precision disorders recorded were otitis externa (14.0%, 95% CI: 12.6–15.5), diarrhoea (7.5%, 95% CI: 6.4–8.7), conjunctivitis (3.2%, 95% CI: 2.5–4.0), nails overlong (3.1%, 95% CI% 2.4–3.9) and skin fold dermatitis (3.0%, 95% CI% 2.3–3.8). The most prevalent disorder groups were cutaneous (17.9%, 95% CI: 16.3–19.6), enteropathy (16.7%, 95% CI: 15.2–18.3), aural (16.3%, 95% CI: 14.8–17.9), upper respiratory tract (12.7%, 95% CI: 11.3–14.1) and ophthalmological (10.5%, 95% CI: 9.3–11.9). Conclusions Ownership of French Bulldogs in the UK is rising steeply. This means that the disorder profiles reported in this study reflect a current young UK population and are likely to shift as this cohort ages. Otitis externa, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis were the most common disorders in French Bulldogs. Identification of health priorities based on VetCompass™ data can support evidence–based reforms to improve health and welfare within the breed

The Influence of Nitrogen Fertilization on Growth, Yield and Nitrate and Oxalic Acid Concentration in Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Abstract Culinary use of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is appreciated across the whole of the Mediterranean, and the interest in this plant has been increasing due to be a source of bio-protectives compounds, such as fatty acids and antioxidants. However, their use may be difficult due to the accumulation of high contents of compounds harmful to human health, such as nitrate and oxalic acid. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of nitrogen fertilization on growth and yield parameters, and on nitrate and oxalic acid concentration in leaves and stems. Plants of golden-leafed purslane of sativa subspecies were grown in styrofoam boxes with substrate and fertigated 2 times per week along 4 weeks with ammonium-nitrate solution (16.9% NO3--N and 17.6% NH4+-N), for testing 4 nitrogen levels (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha-1). Plant growth, yield, nitrate and oxalic acid concentrations were significantly affected by nitrogen application. The best quantity/quality ratio was achieved in fertilization level of 60 kg N ha-1, in which the yield was 5.1 kg m-2 FW and nitrate concentration was 48.98 and 43.90 mg g-1 DW in leaf and stem, respectively, and oxalic acid concentration was 1.27 and 0.55 mg g-1 DW, in leaf and stem, respectively, values not harmful to consumer health

Place Field Repetition and Purely Local Remapping in a Multicompartment Environment

Hippocampal place cells support spatial memory using sensory information from the environment and self-motion information to localize their firing fields. Currently, there is disagreement about whether CA1 place cells can use pure self-motion information to disambiguate different compartments in environments containing multiple visually identical compartments. Some studies report that place cells can disambiguate different compartments, while others report that they do not. Furthermore, while numerous studies have examined remapping, there has been little examination of remapping in different subregions of a single environment. Is remapping purely local or do place fields in neighboring, unaffected, regions detect the change? We recorded place cells as rats foraged across a 4-compartment environment and report 3 new findings. First, we find that, unlike studies in which rats foraged in 2 compartments, place fields showed a high degree of spatial repetition with a slight degree of rate-based discrimination. Second, this repetition does not diminish with extended experience. Third, remapping was found to be purely local for both geometric change and contextual change. Our results reveal the limited capacity of the path integrator to drive pattern separation in hippocampal representations, and suggest that doorways may play a privileged role in segmenting the neural representation of space

Psychosocial interventions to improve mental health in adults with vision impairment: systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose To systematically assess the literature on psychosocial interventions to improve mental health (i.e. depression, anxiety, mental fatigue, loneliness, psychological stress and psychological well-being) in visually impaired adults (≥18 years). Methods The databases Medline, Embase and Psychinfo were searched for relevant studies, which were categorised into randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCTs and before and after comparisons (BA). The Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess study quality. Standardised mean differences (SMD) were calculated to quantitatively summarise the outcomes of the RCTs and non-RCTs in a meta-analysis. Meta-regression was used to explore sources of heterogeneity in the data. Results The search identified 27 papers (published between 1981 and 2015), describing the outcomes of 22 different studies (14 RCTs, four non-RCTs, and four BAs). Pooled analyses showed that interventions significantly reduced depressive symptoms (SMD −0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.60 to −0.01), while effects on anxiety symptoms, mental fatigue, psychological stress and psychological well-being were non-significant. Meta-regression analyses showed homogeneity in effect sizes across a range of intervention, population, and study characteristics. Only a higher age of participants was associated with less effective results on depressive symptoms (b = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.05), psychological stress (b = 0.07, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.13) and psychological well-being (b = −0.03, 95% CI −0.05 to 0.01). However, after removing a clear outlier the overall effect on depressive symptoms and the influence of age on depressive symptoms and psychological stress were no longer significant, while the influence of age on psychological well-being remained. Conclusions There is currently only limited evidence for the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in the field of low vision. More well-designed trials are needed with specific attention for interventions tailored to the needs of elderly patients

In the eye of the beholder: owner preferences for variations in cats' appearances with specific focus on skull morphology

Changes in the popularity of cat breeds are largely driven by human perceptions of, and selection for, phenotypic traits including skull morphology. The popularity of breeds with altered skull shapes appears to be increasing, and owner preferences are an important part of this dynamic. This study sought to establish how and why a range of phenotypic attributes, including skull shape, affect preferences shown by cat owners. Two questionnaires were distributed on-line to cat owners who were asked to rate preferences for pictures of cats on a 0–10 scale. Veterinarian consensus established the skull types of the cats pictured (i.e., level of brachycephaly (BC) or dolichocephaly (DC)). Preferences were then explored relative to cat skull type, coat and eye color, and coat length. Generalized estimating equations identified relationships between physical characteristics and respondent ratings. Further sub-analyses explored effects of respondents' occupation, location and previous cat ownership on rating scores. Overall, cats with extreme changes in skull morphology (both BC and DC) were significantly less preferred than mesocephalic cats. Green eyes, ginger coat color and medium length coat were most preferred. Current owners of a BC or DC pure bred cat showed significantly greater preference for cats with similar features and significantly lower preference for the opposite extreme. Respondents from Asia were significantly more likely to prefer both BC and DC cats as compared to respondents from other locations. Finally, those in an animal care profession, as compared to other professions, provided a significantly lower preference rating for BC cats but not for DC cats. This work, despite the acknowledged limitations, provides preliminary evidence that preferences for cat breeds, and their associated skull morphologies, are driven by both cultural and experiential parameters. This information may allow for better targeting of educational materials concerning cat breeds

Impact of facial conformation on canine health: Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome

The domestic dog may be the most morphologically diverse terrestrial mammalian species known to man; pedigree dogs are artificially selected for extreme aesthetics dictated by formal Breed Standards, and breed-related disorders linked to conformation are ubiquitous and diverse. Brachycephaly–foreshortening of the facial skeleton–is a discrete mutation that has been selected for in many popular dog breeds e.g. the Bulldog, Pug, and French Bulldog. A chronic, debilitating respiratory syndrome, whereby soft tissue blocks the airways, predominantly affects dogs with this conformation, and thus is labelled Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS). Despite the name of the syndrome, scientific evidence quantitatively linking brachycephaly with BOAS is lacking, but it could aid efforts to select for healthier conformations. Here we show, in (1) an exploratory study of 700 dogs of diverse breeds and conformations, and (2) a confirmatory study of 154 brachycephalic dogs, that BOAS risk increases sharply in a non-linear manner as relative muzzle length shortens. BOAS only occurred in dogs whose muzzles comprised less than half their cranial lengths. Thicker neck girths also increased BOAS risk in both populations: a risk factor for human sleep apnoea and not previously realised in dogs; and obesity was found to further increase BOAS risk. This study provides evidence that breeding for brachycephaly leads to an increased risk of BOAS in dogs, with risk increasing as the morphology becomes more exaggerated. As such, dog breeders and buyers should be aware of this risk when selecting dogs, and breeding organisations should actively discourage exaggeration of this high-risk conformation in breed standards and the show ring