Despite of its evident importance, measuring interactivity as a central parameter for characterizing conversations has not experienced much attention so far. Starting with an axiomatic approach and using thermodynamic concepts, this paper proposes “conversational temperature” as a new interactivity metric. The resulting scalar parameter is easily to be determined from standard measurements with...

Despite of its evident importance, measuring interactivity as a central parameter for characterizing conversations has not experienced much attention so far. Starting with an axiomatic approach and using thermodynamic concepts, this paper proposes “conversational temperature” as a new interactivity metric. The resulting scalar parameter is easily to be determined from standard measurements with...

Frosty pod rot (FPR) of cacao is caused by Moniliophthora roreri (MR). Effective management must include chemical or biological control, in addition to agronomic tactics. Flutolanil has been effective controlling FPR. The objective this research was determine the response flutolanil MR isolates from Amazon and Coast regions Ecuador. Percentage mycelial growth inhibition (PGI), medium inhibitory...

Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy stems and pods of cacao ( Theobroma cacao ) trees in natural forest ecosystems and agroecosystems in Latin America and West Africa. These fungi were collected for screening as a potential source of biocontrol agents for the basidiomycetous pathogens of cacao in South and Central America, Moniliophthora roreri (frosty pod rot) and Moniliophthora pernic...

ABSTRACT Theobroma cacao, cacao, is an ancient, neotropical domesticate. It is now grown throughout the humid, lowland tropics and is the basis of a multibillion dollar confectionary trade. Diverse diseases impact production of the crop. They reduce yields by ca. 20%, but could cause far greater losses if certain highly damaging diseases were to become more widely distributed. Among the most po...

ABSTRACT Production of cacao in tropical America has been severely affected by fungal pathogens causing diseases known as witches' broom (WB, caused by Moniliophthora perniciosa), frosty pod (FP, caused by M. roreri) and black pod (BP, caused by Phytophthora spp.). BP is pan-tropical and causes losses in all producing areas. WB is found in South America and parts of the Caribbean, while FP is f...

Solution- and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy are highly complementary techniques for studying supra-molecular structure. Here they are employed for investigating the molecular chaperone αB-crystallin, a polydisperse ensemble of between 10 and 40 identical subunits with an average molecular mass of approximately 600 kDa. An IxI motif in the C-terminal region of each of...