Phytophthora cinnamomi causes a severe root rot in avocado, Persea americana. Breeding tolerant rootstocks is thought to be the most promising method for phytophthora root rot disease control but breeding avocado is challenging. The avocado flowering syndrome (synchronous protogynous dichogamy), combined with high flowering and low fruit set, render controlled pollination exceedingly difficult....

Stochastic optimization algorithms are usually evaluated based on performance on high dimensional benchmark functions and results of these tests determine the direction of development. Benchmark functions however, do not emulate complex engineering problems. In this paper a power plant optimization problem is presented and solved under different constraints with multiple elite dependent and sin...

Statement of the Problem: Understanding about impression materials, their properties, uses and manipulation can guide operators towards having more successful restorations. Purpose: The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the accuracy of a condensation silicone impression material, Optosil, and an addition poly siloxane impression material, Elite-HD. Materials and Method: A laboratory mod...

Popular User-Review Social Networks (URSNs)— such as Dianping, Yelp, and Amazon—are often the targets of reputation attacks in which fake reviews are posted in order to boost or diminish the ratings of listed products and services. These attacks often emanate from a collection of accounts, called Sybils, which are collectively managed by a group of real users. A new advanced scheme, which we te...

PURPOSE This study was to clarify the effect of age and competition level by measuring bone metabolism markers and bone mineral density measurements of junior high school and high school female rhythmic gymnasts, who restrict their diets to maintain a low body weight, while routinely undertaking long hours of high-intensity exercise, comparing the gymnasts based on their elite/non-elite. METH...

BACKGROUND Asthma is frequent in elite athletes and clinical studies in athletes have found increased airway inflammation. OBJECTIVE To investigate asthma-like symptoms, airway inflammation, airway reactivity (AR) to mannitol and use of asthma medication in Danish elite athletes. METHODS The study group consisted of 54 elite athletes (19 with doctor-diagnosed asthma), 22 non-athletes with d...

This study looked at the relationship between athletic identity and three levels of sport participation (elite, recreational, non-participation). Athletic identity was measured using the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) with participants being compared on the total AIMS score and scores on its three factors (social identity, exclusivity, negative affectivity). Results indicated that t...

The ACTN3 gene is one of the genes that have a potential influence on physical performance. Studies have shown that the 577R genotype of ACTN3 is more prevalent in sprint athletes, while the 577X genotype is more prevalent in endurance athletes. In swimming, both power and endurance related phenotypes are equally needed for swimmers to excel at the elite level. Therefore, the ACTN3 R577X polymo...