An Integrated Assessment of the Impacts of Changing Climate Variability on Agricultural Productivity and Profitability in an Irrigated Mediterranean Catchment

Climate change is likely to have a profound effect on many agricultural variables, although the extent of its influence will vary over the course of the annual farm management cycle. Consequently, the effect of different and interconnected physical, technical and economic factors must be modeled in order to estimate the effects of climate change on agricultural productivity. Such modeling commonly makes use of indicators that summarize the among environmental factors that are considered when farmers plan their activities. This study uses net evapotranspiration (ET_N), estimated using EPIC, as a proxy index for the physical factors considered by farmers when managing irrigation. Recent trends suggest that the probability distribution function of ET_N may continue to change in the near future due to changes in the irrigation needs of crops. Also, water availability may continue to vary due to changes in the rainfall regime. The impacts of the uncertainties related to these changes on costs are evaluated using a Discrete Stochastic Programming model representing an irrigable Mediterranean area where limited water is supplied from a reservoir. In this context, adaptation to climate change can be best supported by improvements to the collective irrigation systems, rather than by measures aimed at individual farms such as those contained within the rural development policy.     

High‐quality pagination for publishing

The problem of line breaking consists of finding the best way to split paragraphs into lines. It has been cleverly addressed by the total‐fit algorithm exposed by Knuth and Plass in a well‐known paper. Similarly, page‐breaking algorithms break the content flow of a document into page units. Formatting languages—such as the World Wide Web Consortium standard Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL‐FO)—allow users to set which content should be kept in the same page and how many isolated lines are acceptable at the beginning/end of each page. The strategies most formatters adopt to meet these requirements, however, are not satisfactory for many publishing contexts as they very often generate unpleasant empty areas. In that case, typographers are required to manually craft the results in order to completely fill pages. This paper presents a page‐breaking algorithm that extends the original Knuth and Plass line‐breaking approach and produces high‐quality documents without unwanted empty areas. The basic idea consists of delaying the definitive choice of breaks in the line‐breaking process in order to provide a larger set of alternatives to the actual pagination step. The algorithm also allows users to decide the set of properties to be adjusted for pagination and their variation ranges. An application of the algorithm to XSL‐FO is also presented, with an extension of the language that allows users to drive the pagination process. The tool, named FOP+, is a customized version of the open‐source Apache Formatting Objects Processor formatter. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Succinct Representation of Labeled Graphs

In many applications, the properties of an object being modeled are stored as labels on vertices or edges of a graph. In this paper, we consider succinct representation of labeled graphs. Our main results are the succinct representations of labeled and multi-labeled graphs (we consider planar triangulations, planar graphs and k-page graphs) to support various label queries efficiently. The additional space cost to store the labels is essentially the information-theoretic minimum. As far as we know, our representations are the first succinct representations of labeled graphs. We also have two preliminary results to achieve the main contribution. First, we design a succinct representation of unlabeled planar triangulations to support the rank/select of edges in ccw (counter clockwise) order in addition to the other operations supported in previous work. Second, we design a succinct representation for a k-page graph when k is large to support various navigational operations more efficiently. In particular, we can test the adjacency of two vertices in O(lg?k) time, while previous work uses O(k) time.     

Synthesis and characterization of ET(P)S-4 and ET(P)S-10

Phosphorus containing ET(P)S-4 and ET(P)S-10 were synthesized from gels of composition xNa₂O–0.6KF–0.2TiO₂–(1.28 − 4y)xHCl–yP₂O₅–1.49SiO₂–39.5H₂O at 190 °C for 3 days. The XRD patterns are almost identical to the corresponding ETS samples. The presence of phosphorus in the initial gel influences the kinetic parameters of the crystallization process, the morphology and the size of the crystals. The ³¹P-NMR of the samples show that part of the phosphorus is attached at the siliceous surface as dihydrogenophosphate SiOPO(OH)₂ groups and cannot be introduced in a tetrahedral or octahedral framework position.     

A spatial logic for concurrency (part I)

We present a logic that can express properties of freshness, secrecy, structure, and behavior of concurrent systems. In addition to standard logical and temporal operators, our logic includes spatial operations corresponding to composition, local name restriction, and a primitive fresh name quantifier. Properties can also be defined by recursion; a central aim of this paper is then the combination of a logical notion of freshness with inductive and coinductive definitions of properties.     

Structural insights into Alzheimer filament assembly pathways based on site-directed mutagenesis and S-glutathionylation of three-repeat neuronal Tau protein

Although Tau and MAP2 readily assemble into straight filaments (SFs), Tau's unique ability to form paired-helical filaments (PHFs) may offer clues as to why Tau's microtubule-binding region (MTBR) is the exclusive building block of the neurofibrillary tangles that accumulate during Alzheimer's disease. To learn more about the factors permitting Tau to form both SFs and PHFs, we investigated the microtubule binding, thiol oxidation, and polymerization reactions of the monomer and dimer forms of Tau and MAP2 MTBRs. This review focuses on electron microscopic evidence (1) that facilitated the identification of amino acid residues within 3-repeat Tau that promote PHF formation; and (2) provided experimental evidence for the polymerization of S-glutathionylated three-repeat Tau, a reaction that unambiguously demonstrates that disulfide-linked Tau-S-S-Tau dimer formation is not a compulsory step in filament assembly. We also consider these findings within the context of current views on the genetic and biochemical basis of Tau fibrillogenesis.     

On the Modeling of the Diffraction Pattern from Metal Nanocrystals

The powder diffraction patterns of spherical nanocrystals made of five different fcc metals were generated using atomistic models within a Molecular Dynamics simulation. Static and dynamic effects are interpreted and discussed within the framework of two different approaches, respectively, based on (1) a Reciprocal Space and (2) a Direct Space representation of diffraction. Chosen elements display a wide range of properties, especially related to material stiffness and elastic anisotropy, so to deeply challenge interpretation paradigms. The effect of the shape on static and dynamic features is also addressed.     

On the onset of fracture as a silicon-based polymer converts into the ceramic phase

Silicon-based polymers evolve into refractory ceramics when heated gradually up to ~1000°C. The conversion is accompanied by the loss of gaseous species, and by a two-fold increase in density. The shrinkage can produce microcracks if the heating rate is too high, or if the specimen is too thick. This communication builds on earlier work whereby the measurement of gas evolution, and its relationship with viscous flow, are related to the onset of fracture in disk-shaped green (polymer) samples. The onset is determined as a function of the thickness of the disks, and of the heating rate. The results are presented in the form of a processing map. The overlay with gas evolution, and strain-rate measurements, suggest that fracture initiates with the release of hydrogen and methane, starting at temperatures near 750°C.