Genetic and QTL Analysis for Hilum-Eye Types in Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata L. Walp)

Cowpea is an important food legume widely grown in the semi-arid tropics and serves as a main source of dietary protein, minerals, and vitamins. However, varieties differ from region to region based on the consumer’s preference for seed types determined by seed size, seed coat texture, seed color, and hilum-eye types. The genetics of seed size, seed color, and seed coat texture have been well documented, but the hilum-eye types have not been studied well because they represent seven different types with complex interactions. We studied the genetic segregation for hilum-eye types and determined the number of genes involved in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between a small eye parent ‘GEC’ and a Watson eye parent ‘IT98K-476-8’. The results demonstrated a three-gene model, W (Watson), S (small), and R (large), for cowpea seed hilum-eye type pattern and the interaction of these three genes, W, S, and R, resulted in five phenotypes, viz. self, Watson, small, large, and ring hilum-eye types. Moreover, we also mapped the RILs for hilum-eye types, identified three quantitative trait loci (QTLs), and aligned to the cowpea reference genome as QTL qHilum7.1, qHilum9.1, and qHilum10.1, corresponding to these three genes, Ring type (R), Watson type (W), and Small type (S) hilum-eye type patterns, respectively. Therefore, there was a complete agreement between the genetic analysis and QTL mapping for the number of genes controlling the hilum types in cowpea.

Rayleigh-Type Waves in a Rotating Fiber-Reinforced Half Space under the Action of Magnetic Field, Gravity and Surface Stress

The aim of the present article is to analyze the propagation of Rayleigh waves in a rotating fiber-reinforced electrically conducting elastic solid medium under the influence of surface stress, magnetic field and gravity. The magnetic field is applied in such a direction that the problem can be considered as a two dimensional one. The wave velocity equation for Rayleigh waves has been obtained. In the absence of gravity field, surface stress, rotation and fiberreinforcement, the frequency equation is in complete agreement with the corresponding classical results. The effects on various subjects of interest are discussed and shown graphically. Comparisons are made with the corresponding results in absence of surface stress

Characterization of a Geopolymer Foam by X-ray Tomography

Metakaolin based geopolymer foams were synthesized at room temperature by direct foaming using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a blowing agent and two types of surfactants such as AER5 and CTAB allowing to tune the connection between two adjacent cells. In the field of decontamination process of liquid wastes, the knowledge of the topology of the generated macroporous network is a primary of interest. Due to the complex structure of porous material, 2D conventional techniques as optical or scanning electron microscopy are often not able to provide all the necessary informations. The 3D networks were therefore characterized by X-ray tomography to determine the morphological structure parameters that is useful to manufacture geopolymer material for filtration applications. The porosity, the pore size distribution and constriction between adjacent cells, as well as the connection rates between pores were analyzed by the iMorph program. The results show that the total porosity increases from 26 to 74% when the initial concentration of H2O2 increases, which is in complete agreement with the tomography results. Materials synthetized from CTAB surfactant are poorly connected whereas those generated from AER5 surfactant have a higher mean cell size (at equivalent initial H2O2 concentration) and are fully connected, which will facilitate the transport of fluid through the material. These features have a strong impact on the value of permeability coefficients of the geopolymer foams. Indeed, permeabilities calculated from a Pore Network Modeling (PNM) approach or Kozeny-Carman equation, are ranged in between 10−14 to 10−10 m2 depending on the cell connectivity, the throat size and the total porosity.

Feasibility of an Assessment Tool as a Data-Driven Approach to Reducing Racial Bias in Biomedical Publications

The editorial independence of biomedical journals allows flexibility to meet a wide range of research interests. However, it also is a barrier for coordination between journals to solve challenging issues such as racial bias in the scientific literature. A standardized tool to screen for racial bias could prevent the publication of racially biased papers. Biomedical journals would maintain editorial autonomy while still allowing comparable data to be collected and analyzed across journals. A racially diverse research team carried out a three-phase study to generate and test a racial bias assessment tool for biomedical research. Phase 1, an in-depth, structured literature search to identify recommendations, found near complete agreement in the literature on addressing race in biomedical research. Phase 2, construction of a framework from those recommendations, provides the major innovation of this paper. The framework includes three dimensions of race: 1) context, 2) tone and terminology, and 3) analysis, which are the basis for the Race Equity Vetting Instrument for Editorial Workflow (REVIEW) tool. Phase 3, pilot testing the assessment tool, showed that the REVIEW tool was effective at flagging multiple concerns in widely criticized articles. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed REVIEW tool to reduce racial bias in research. Next steps include testing this tool on a broader sample of biomedical research to determine how the tool performs on more subtle examples of racial bias.

Healing From a Distance: A Cross-sectional Study on the Diagnostic Reliability of Store-and-Forward Teledermatology (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Telemedicine delivers health care services between two distant locations through the use of information and communication technology. Several medical specializations, such as dermatology, have incorporated telemedicine into their practice. Since dermatologists are trained to diagnose skin, hair, and nail conditions with a clinical eye, teledermatology may be an alternative when a traditional face-to-face clinic visit is not feasible. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic reliability of teledermatology. A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients from 2 government hospitals. A total of 39 patients were seen in a face-to-face setting and diagnosed by a consultant dermatologist. A written history of their present illness and accompanying photographs were taken and were shown to 3 consultant teledermatologists, who then diagnosed their condition. Two senior dermatology residents then rated the face-to-face and teledermatology diagnoses as either complete agreement, partial agreement, or no agreement. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the general and clinical characteristics of the participants. The Cohen kappa was used to assess agreement in the evaluations between the teledermatology and face-to-face diagnoses by senior resident raters #1 and #2. Over 70% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater #1. Similarly, over 80% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater #2. The agreement between the ratings of senior residents #1 and #2 ranged from fair to substantial. The findings of the study showed that the diagnostic concordance of in-person clinicians and teledermatologists ranges from fair to substantial, with over 70% of the diagnoses in partial or complete agreement. Although face-to-face consultations remain the gold standard, teledermatology is an important alternative where dermatologic care is not accessible.

Healing From a Distance: A Cross-sectional Study on the Diagnostic Reliability of Store-and-Forward Teledermatology

Background Telemedicine delivers health care services between two distant locations through the use of information and communication technology. Several medical specializations, such as dermatology, have incorporated telemedicine into their practice. Since dermatologists are trained to diagnose skin, hair, and nail conditions with a clinical eye, teledermatology may be an alternative when a traditional face-to-face clinic visit is not feasible. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic reliability of teledermatology. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients from 2 government hospitals. A total of 39 patients were seen in a face-to-face setting and diagnosed by a consultant dermatologist. A written history of their present illness and accompanying photographs were taken and were shown to 3 consultant teledermatologists, who then diagnosed their condition. Two senior dermatology residents then rated the face-to-face and teledermatology diagnoses as either complete agreement, partial agreement, or no agreement. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the general and clinical characteristics of the participants. The Cohen kappa was used to assess agreement in the evaluations between the teledermatology and face-to-face diagnoses by senior resident raters #1 and #2. Results Over 70% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater #1. Similarly, over 80% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater #2. The agreement between the ratings of senior residents #1 and #2 ranged from fair to substantial. Conclusions The findings of the study showed that the diagnostic concordance of in-person clinicians and teledermatologists ranges from fair to substantial, with over 70% of the diagnoses in partial or complete agreement. Although face-to-face consultations remain the gold standard, teledermatology is an important alternative where dermatologic care is not accessible. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

Vortex Filament Equation for a Regular Polygon in the Hyperbolic Plane

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we show the evolution of the vortex filament equation (VFE) for a regular planar polygon in the hyperbolic space. Unlike in the Euclidean space, the planar polygon is open and both of its ends grow up exponentially, which makes the problem more challenging from a numerical point of view. However, using a finite difference scheme in space combined with a fourth-order Runge–Kutta method in time and fixed boundary conditions, we show that the numerical solution is in complete agreement with the one obtained by means of algebraic techniques. Second, as in the Euclidean case, we claim that, at infinitesimal times, the evolution of VFE for a planar polygon as the initial datum can be described as a superposition of several one-corner initial data. As a consequence, not only can we compute the speed of the center of mass of the planar polygon, but the relationship also allows us to compare the time evolution of any of its corners with the evolution in the Euclidean case.

Mathematical Modelling of the Elliptical Vortex Ring in a Viscous Fluid with the Vortex Filament Method

The article deals with modelling an elliptical vortex ring in a viscous fluid using the Lagrangian vortex filament method. The novelty is that earlier only inviscid flows restricted vortex filament method application. The proposed viscosity model uses an analogue of the diffusion rate method, which is widely applied to simulate plane-parallel and axisymmetric flows of viscous fluid. A transfer of the formula of a diffusion rate from two-dimensional flows to the model of spatial vortex filament is due to assumption that swirling of vortex lines (helicity of vorticity) is unavailable. Despite the laxity of the diffusion rate model for general spatial flows, its application enables taking into account the effect of viscous diffusion of vorticity, which provides expansion of vortex tubes in space. The paper formulates the vortex filament method in which the filaments are broken into the vortex segments. Such discretization enables turning from the equation of vorticity evolution in partial derivatives to a system of ordinary differential equations with respect to the parameters of the segments. Formulas to calculate a filament system-induced flow rate as well as formulas to perform approximate calculation of an analogue of the diffusion rate are given.The objective is to propose the viscosity model as an application to the vortex filament method by the example of modelling the evolution of an elliptical vortex ring in viscous fluid. The calculation results obtained by the vortex method are compared with the existing experiment and with the calculation performed by the grid method in the OpenFOAM package. A feature of the problem is that there are zones of nonzero helicity of vorticity where the proposed model of viscosity, strictly speaking, is not correct. It is shown that the results of calculations are in good agreement with each other and are in complete agreement with experiment. This allows saying that the effects of swirling vortex lines do not significantly affect the results of modelling a specific example of the spatial flow of viscous fluid by the proposed modification of the vortex filament method.

Saturation and Sigma Measurements in Carbonate Formations with Multiple Pulsed Neutron Technologies: Case Study from Southeast Turkey

This paper describes the petrophysical analysis resulting from operation of two independent pulsed neutron logging tools in the same cased hole well. The well was primarily carbonate and included many different subsurface formations located in the Southeast Anatolia Region of Turkey that included the Derdere, Karababa A, B, and C, Karaboğaz, Bozova, and Germav. Computing the mineralogy and saturation in these environments is challenging due to the complexity and low porosity of the formations that included mixed lithologies and organic shale. One of the objectives of this work was to demonstrate how the spectral data from the two tools was not only consistent, but that they could be combined to create an optimal petrophysical interpretation of the lithology, detailed mineralogy, porosity, and saturation of the formations within the well. Both tools employed a pulsed neutron generator capable of emitting 2 x 108 neutrons/second into the ambient formation. One was a 4-detector, 1-11/16-inch diameter reservoir evaluation tool, and the other was a single detector, 3-1/4-inch geochemical spectroscopy tool. In order to obtain the best possible results, a sound logging program was created that involved running the reservoir evaluation tool in 3 different modes of operation. This included the carbon/oxygen (C/O) mode, the sigma mode, and the gas mode. Stationary measurements were also obtained. The geochemical logging tool has only a single mode of operation. The resulting sigma measurements were in complete agreement. The sigma from the geochemical logging tool was corrected for the effects of diffusion. The advantage of the slim-hole reservoir evaluation tool is that the measurements from the 4th detector are diffusion-free. Data from the 1-11/16-inch reservoir evaluation tool from the gas mode did not reveal any bypassed gas zones in the well. Oil saturation was computed with the reservoir evaluation tool based upon three logging passes in the C/O mode. An important component of the interpretation was that it was supported by MCNP modeling that predicted the tool's response for hydrocarbon saturation. Although data from the geochemical spectroscopy tool was not used to determine saturation in this well, the resulting carbon concentration, that included kerogen as well as hydrocarbons, was completely consistent with the saturation computed from the reservoir evaluation tool.

Healing from a distance: A cross-sectional study on the diagnostic reliability of store-and-forward Teledermatology (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Telemedicine delivers health care services between two distant locations through the use of information and communication technology. Several medical specializations, such as dermatology, have incorporated telemedicine into their practice. Since dermatologists are trained to diagnose skin, hair and nail conditions with a clinical eye, teledermatology may be an alternative when a traditional face-to-face clinic visit is not feasible. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic reliability of teledermatology. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients from Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital and Rizal Medical Center. Thirty-nine patients were seen face-to-face and diagnosed by a consultant dermatologist. A written history of their present illness and accompanying photographs were taken, and were shown to three consultant teledermatologists who then diagnosed their condition. Two senior dermatology residents then rated the face-to-face and teledermatology diagnoses as either complete agreement, partial agreement, or no agreement. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the general and clinical characteristics of the participants. Cohen’s Kappa was used to determine the agreement of the evaluations between the teledermatology and face to face diagnoses by senior residents 1 and 2. RESULTS Over 70% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater 1. Similarly, over 80% of the diagnoses were deemed as either partial or in complete agreement with the face-to-face diagnosis for senior resident rater 2. The agreement between the agreement ratings of senior residents 1 and 2 were fair to substantial. CONCLUSIONS The findings of the study show that the diagnostic concordance of in-person clinicians and teledermatologists are fair to substantial, with over 70% of the diagnoses in partial or complete agreement. Though face-to-face consultations remain the gold standard, teledermatology is an important alternative where dermatologic care is not accessible.