Search results for "Variability"
showing 10 items of 904 documents
The effect of mechanical defects on the strength distribution of elementary flax fibres
2009
Flax fibres are finding non-traditional applications as reinforcement of composite materials. The mechanical properties of fibres are affected by the natural variability in plant as well as the damage accumulated during processing, and thus have considerable variability that necessitates statistical treatment of fibre characteristics. The strength distribution of elementary flax fibres has been determined at several fibre lengths by standard tensile tests, and the amount of kink bands in the fibres evaluated by optical microscopy. Strength distribution function, based on the assumption that the presence of kink bands limits fibre strength, is derived and found to provide reasonable agreemen…
An improved perspective in the representation of soil moisture: potential added value of SMOS disaggregated 1 km resolution product
2018
Abstract. This study uses the synergy of multiresolution soil moisture (SM) satellite estimates from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, a dense network of ground-based SM measurements, and a Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) model, SURFEX (Externalized Surface) – module ISBA (Interactions between Soil-Biosphere-Atmosphere), to examine, i) the comparison and suitability of different operational SMOS SM products to provide realistic information on the water content of the soil as well as the added value of the newly released SMOS Level 4 3.0 all weather disaggregated ~ 1 km SM (SMOS_L4 3.0 ), and ii) its potential impact for improving uncertainty associated to SM initia…
Genetic diversity in Cytisus aeolicus Guss. (Leguminosae), a rare endemite of the Italian flora
1998
ABSTRACT Cytisus aeolicus Guss, is an endemic plant restricted to the isles of Vulcano, Stromboli and Alicudi in the Aeolian archipelago. All known populations were assayed for genetic variability using enzyme polymorphism. Allozyme variation at 16 loci coding for 10 enzyme systems was examined. The great majority of loci turned out to be monomorphic or fixed heterozygous. The observed genetic depauperation is indicative of historical factors, such as the bottleneck effect associated with migration, and the founder effect in population re-establishment. The low genetic diversity is largely partitioned within rather than among populations, indicating that extant populations have not been est…
Exploring the spatial relationship between airborne-derived red and far-red sun-induced fluorescence and process-based GPP estimates in a forest ecos…
2019
International audience; Terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) plays an essential role in the global carbon cycle, but the quantification of the spatial and temporal variations in photosynthesis is still largely uncertain. Our work aimed to investigate the potential of remote sensing to provide new insights into plant photosynthesis at a fine spatial resolution. This goal was achieved by exploiting high-resolution images acquired with the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) airborne demonstrator HyPlant. The sensor was flown over a mixed forest, and the images collected were elaborated to obtain two independent indicators of plant photosynthesis. First, maps of sun-induced chlorophyll fluore…
Comparing air quality indices aggregated by pollutant
2011
In this paper a new aggregate Air Quality Index (AQI) useful for describing the global air pollution situation for a given area is proposed. The index, unlike most of currently used AQIs, takes into account the combined effects of all the considered pollutants to human health. Its good performance, tested by means of a simulation plan, is confirmed by a comparison with two other indices proposed in the literature, one of which is based on the Relative Risk of daily mortality, considering an application to real data.
Allozyme electrophoresis: its application to rotifers
1998
Allozyme electrophoresis is a well established technique for revealing genetic variation that has given useful results in a wide range of organisms. However, in rotifers it has been applied scarcely and only in a few species. In this paper the methods of acetate allozyme electrophoresis are introduced, including laboratory setup, equipment and staining recipes that have been successfully applied to brachionid rotifers. In addition, the literature published on allozyme electrophoresis in rotifers is reviewed and the main results and future prospects of the technique are discussed. We conclude that, despite the onset of DNA techniques, allozyme electrophoresis is promising and can yield impor…
Human Heart-Related Indexes Behavior Study for Aircraft Pilots Allowable Workload Level Assessment
2022
This study aimed to evaluate workload by detecting Heart Rate Variability (HRV) indexes in a sample of 34 pilots (with a mean age of 33 years) while performing simulated flight exercises. A one-way ANOVA with repeated measures was performed to assess the changes of the physiological measures in five standard maneuvers associated with different workload levels. The results show that all the indexes, but the Low Frequency to High Frequency ratio index (LF/HF), have a well-defined trend between the baseline and the en-route phase and with the three phases takeoff, steady turn, and landing. This study, as main findings, provides evidence of a differentiation among low, medium, and high workload…
Extending the spectral decomposition of Granger causality to include instantaneous influences: application to the control mechanisms of heart rate va…
2021
Assessing Granger causality (GC) intended as the influence, in terms of reduction of variance of surprise, that a driver variable exerts on a given target, requires a suitable treatment of ‘instantaneous’ effects, i.e. influences due to interactions whose time scale is much faster than the time resolution of the measurements, due to unobserved confounders or insufficient sampling rate that cannot be increased because the mechanism of generation of the variable is inherently slow (e.g. the heartbeat). We exploit a recently proposed framework for the estimation of causal influences in the spectral domain and include instantaneous interactions in the modelling, thus obtaining (i) a novel index…
Molecular characterization can quantify and partition variation among genebank holdings: a case study with phenotypically similar accessions of Brass…
1997
To better characterize and conserve crop genetic resources, the assessment of genetic identity, relatedness, and structure among entries and collections becomes a priority. In the present study, a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay was applied as a quick, cost-effective, and preliminary screen to quantify and partition the molecular variation among accessions. Fourteen phenotypically uniform accessions of Brassica oleracea var. capitata L. (cabbage) similarly designated as `Golden Acre' were tested with nine decamer oligonucleotide primers. These amplifications generated 110 fragments, of which 80 were polymorphic ranging in size from 370 to 1720 bp. The 80 polymorphic fragments …
Genetic variability at neutral markers, quantitative trait loci and trait in a subdivided population under selection
2003
Abstract Genetic variability in a subdivided population under stabilizing and diversifying selection was investigated at three levels: neutral markers, QTL coding for a trait, and the trait itself. A quantitative model with additive effects was used to link genotypes to phenotypes. No physical linkage was introduced. Using an analytical approach, we compared the diversity within deme (HS) and the differentiation (FST) at the QTL with the genetic variance within deme (VW) and the differentiation (QST) for the trait. The difference between FST and QST was shown to depend on the relative amounts of covariance between QTL within and between demes. Simulations were used to study the effect of se…