Gradients of salinity and plant community richness and diversity in two different Mediterranean coastal ecosystems in NW Sardinia

This study aimed to test if differences in soil salinity, plant richness and diversity were significantly affected by habitat, site and distance from the seashore at three sandy and three rocky coastal sites in north-western Sardinia. Each site has been divided into three belts placed at an equal distance of 50 m from the shoreline. We measured soil salinity using a probe and vascular plants richness and diversity using linear transects at all sites. Average soil salinity varied from 0.115 g/l to 0.180 g/l; it was higher in the rocky habitats than in the sandy ones. A total of 21 species were found per transect/site at the rocky sites and 30 species per transect/site at the sandy sites, with an average of Shannon and Weaver's Diversity Index of 1.8 per each belt at each site. These data confirm that, also in the Mediterranean islands, there are coastal gradients of soil salinity from the seashore to inland areas and that also vascular plant richness and diversity are influenced by the distance from the sea. Soil salinity was strongly affected by the type of habitat, being average at the rocky coasts and negligible at the sandy shores. The site effect was not significant for both soil salinity and plant richness and diversity.

Postface: Brokerage as social practice

This postface argues for a narrow and analytically strong concept of brokerage, which is oriented towards the classical definition by Boissevain. His ideal type emphasises the agency of brokers who actively pursue their own interests and act at an equal distance to the groups between which they mediate. Furthermore, the text argues for thinking of brokerage as a bundle of social practices instead of as brokers in the sense of a social type. While few social actors are fully-fledged brokers, many of them engage in brokerage.

Method of peripheral vein detection using Electrical Impedance Tomography

The aim of the current contribution was to develop a method for locating arm veins in patients by using an electrical impedance tomography. Eight surface electrodes were placed on a simulated arm, separated at a fixed and equal distance from each other. The electrodes fed information about electrical impedance (conductivity) to EIDORS software. The three main phases (veins, muscle, and bone) each have different conductivity, which the device and software convert into a colour-coded tomograph displayed on a screen. The colour for blood on the image is previously set (in this case, red), revealing the location of the veins in the selected section of the arm. A sample run was made, successfully finding the correct location and size of the modelled vein, thus demonstrating the accurate operation of the device.

On β-Plurality Points in Spatial Voting Games

Let V be a set of n points in mathcal R d , called voters . A point p ∈ mathcal R d is a plurality point for V when the following holds: For every q ∈ mathcal R d , the number of voters closer to p than to q is at least the number of voters closer to q than to p . Thus, in a vote where each v ∈ V votes for the nearest proposal (and voters for which the proposals are at equal distance abstain), proposal p will not lose against any alternative proposal q . For most voter sets, a plurality point does not exist. We therefore introduce the concept of β-plurality points , which are defined similarly to regular plurality points, except that the distance of each voter to p (but not to q ) is scaled by a factor β , for some constant 0< β ⩽ 1. We investigate the existence and computation of β -plurality points and obtain the following results. • Define β * d := {β : any finite multiset V in mathcal R d admits a β-plurality point. We prove that β * d = √3/2, and that 1/√ d ⩽ β * d ⩽ √ 3/2 for all d ⩾ 3. • Define β ( p, V ) := sup {β : p is a β -plurality point for V }. Given a voter set V in mathcal R 2 , we provide an algorithm that runs in O ( n log n ) time and computes a point p such that β ( p , V ) ⩾ β * b . Moreover, for d ⩾ 2, we can compute a point p with β ( p , V ) ⩾ 1/√ d in O ( n ) time. • Define β ( V ) := sup { β : V admits a β -plurality point}. We present an algorithm that, given a voter set V in mathcal R d , computes an ((1-ɛ)ċ β ( V ))-plurality point in time O n 2 ɛ 3d-2 ċ log n ɛ d-1 ċ log 2 1ɛ).

Smartphone Operated Multipurpose Agriculture Robot

Many countries in Asia including are agrarian economies and most of their rural populations depend on agriculture to earn their livelihood. Aimed at increasing the productivity and reducing the labour involved, this robot is designed to execute the basic functions required to be carried out in farms. We aim to create a multitasking agriculture robot which will focus on basic work of plantation. To sow the seeds a robotic arm will dig to a precise depth with equal distance between the seeds. At bottom of robot water pump will be placed and as per the requirement water will be sprinkled. This project aims to design an agriculture robot, which helps the people to survive where it performs operations such as digging of soil, sowing of seeds, spraying water and cutting the plants. In previous projects the technique used were complicated as well as expensive.

Attraction and penetration of Musa by the burrowing nematode, Radopholus similis, in an autotrophic bipartite culture system

Summary Our objective was to discover the stages (pre- or post-infection) in which the resistance to burrowing nematode (Radopholus similis) occurs in two resistant banana (Musa spp.) cultivars. An autotrophic in vitro culture system was used to compare R. similis migration towards, and penetration into, the banana roots. A new two-compartment autotrophic in vitro model system was developed using agar-based medium to examine the migration of R. similis to either the susceptible ‘Grande Naine’ or the resistant ‘Yangambi km5’ (‘Ykm5’), when both the Musa genotypes were present at equal distance. The autotrophic in vitro model system was advantageous, because it supported continuous root growth due to the actively photosynthesising shoots growing in the open air, while the in vitro root conditions make it possible to observe and assess the nematode chemotaxis in the transparent medium. Significantly fewer nematodes migrated towards the resistant ‘Ykm5’ plants when compared to both the susceptible ‘Grande Naine’, and another resistant cultivar, ‘Saba’, at 1 h after infection. This signals a possibility of a lower concentration or different composition of nematode attractants in ‘Ykm5’ root exudates. No significant differences were observed in the percentage of R. similis that migrated towards the roots of the susceptible and resistant banana plants at 3, 4 and 6 h after inoculation. No significant differences were observed in the percentages of female penetration in the resistant and susceptible plant roots at 1 and 2 days after inoculation. The results of the two-compartment system confirmed that when a choice is given to migrate towards the resistant and susceptible genotypes, no differences were observed in the percentage of female migration towards both the genotypes.

„Tęczowa zaraza” a niezależność Kościoła i godność człowieka. Uwagi do wyroku Sądu Okręgowego w Krakowie z 8 grudnia 2020 r., sygn. I C 1357/19

In the judgment of 8 December 2020 (file reference number I C 1357/19), the District Court in Kraków dismissed the action for infringement of personal rights and payment against the Archbishop of Kraków. M. Jędraszewski. The reason was his statement during the homily on August 1, 2019 about the threat of a “rainbow plague”. The court found that the statement did not infringe the personal rights of the petitioner. However, it had an objectively insulting and defamatory nature towards LGBT people. It violated their dignity. The court found that the defendant did not act illegally. He referred to the provisions of the Concordat of July 29, 1993. The action of the Archbishop. M. Jędraszewski exceeded the limits of religious freedom. The statement violated the principles of social coexistence. However, the court did not pay heed to his, nor did it keep an equal distance between the parties in the dispute. It expressed the traditional axiology and vision of social life. The only valid argument for dismissing the claim was that the defendant’s statement was not addressed specifically to the claimant.

A mimesis, a floresta de símbolos e o espelho da imitação / Mimesis, Forest of Symbols and Mirror of Imitation

Resumo: Este artigo analisa as condições históricas da construção da teoria da mimesis, de Luiz Costa Lima, em face do clima intelectual brasileiro nos anos 1970/1980. Estabelecendo uma distância tanto em relação ao desconstrucionismo quanto ao sociologismo, a teoria da mimesis se afirma como produção de diferença. A argumentação do artigo se desenvolve através de uma comparação do percurso teórico sobre a mimesis empreendido por Luiz Costa Lima com o de José Guilherme Merquior sobre o mesmo tema.Palavras-chave: Luiz Costa Lima; José Guilherme Merquior; mimesis; sistema intelectual.Abstract: This article aims at analysing the historical conditions in which Luiz Costa Lima built his theory of Mimesis troughout the decades of 1970s and 1980s, taking into account the “Brazilian intellectual system”, as the author himself use to call it. Keeping equal distance from the trends of Desconstructionism as well as from the Sociology of Literature, Costa Lima stresses the concept of mimesis as “production of difference”. The argument evolves by a comparison among Costa Limas’s theory and that of José Guilherme Merquior on the same subject of mimesis.Keywords: Luiz Costa Lima; José Guilherme Merquior; mimesis; intellectual system.