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Declining carbon (C) content in agricultural soils threatens soil fertility and makes soil prone to erosion, which could be rectified with organic soil amendments. In a 4‐yr field trial, we made a single application of three different organic sludges from the pulp and paper industry and studied their effects on cereal yield, soil C content, and fungal and bacterial composition. In laboratory rainfall simulations, we also studied the effects of the soil amendments on susceptibility to erosion and nutrient mobilization of a clay‐textured soil by measuring the quality of percolation water passing through 40‐cm intact soil monoliths during 2‐d rainfall simulations over four consecutive years after application. A nutrient‐poor fiber sludge reduced wheat yield in the first growing season, but there were no other significant effects on cereal yield or grain quality. An input of ∼8 Mg ha−1 C with the soil amendments had only minor effects on soil C content after 4 yr, likely because of fast microbe‐mediated turnover. The amendments clearly changed the fungal and bacterial community composition. All amendments significantly reduced suspended solids (SS) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in percolation water. The effect declined with time, but the reduction in SS and TP was still >25% 4 yr after application. We attributed the lower tendency for particle detachment in rain simulations to direct interactions of soil minerals with the added particulate organic matter and microbe‐derived compounds that stabilize soil aggregates. In soils with low organic matter content, pulp and paper industry by‐products can be a viable measure for erosion mitigation.

Phenotypic diversity within plant species is crucial to shaping evolutionary responses of populations and interactions among species, yet intraspecific genetic variability notably in roots has attracted little attention. Further, evidence for the root–shoot trait synchronisation remains inconclusive, narrowing our understanding of the role that belowground traits play in local adaptation. We applied broad ‘top‐to‐toe’ phenotyping to a model system whose native environmental conditions were simulated in experimental settings. Fifteen maternal families of Norway spruce Picea abies from southern Finland grew in six combinations of two simulated growing seasons and three soil treatments. We scored variation in 25 functional traits, including size, architecture and morphology of intact root systems, and shoot growth and phenology. Careful phenotyping of roots uncovered five trait dimensions, with root size, architecture and morphology forming the three largest axes of variation. Dimensions varied in their treatment responses. We observed among‐family differences in all trait dimensions, marking substantial within‐population genetic diversity. For example, average total root length varied almost twofold among families, but family × soil interactions indicated treatment‐specific estimates of genetic variance. Mirroring root traits, phenotypic plasticity and genetic variation characterised shoot growth and phenology. In all, the complete phenotypic dataset yielded six trait dimensions, with assorted measures of root system and shoot size composing the main axis of variation. Although plastic and genetically variable, root architecture and morphology were not associated with shoot growth in any treatment. Also phenology and root‐to‐shoot ratio were detached from the primary axis of trait variability. Our results demonstrate that complex within‐species patterns of trait covariation can be observed even locally and that phenotypic variation in independent trait dimensions reflecting divergent growth strategies is under genetic control. More accurate predictions of population and species responses to changes in the environment can be achieved when such intraspecific diversity is taken into account.

This paper projects the race between technologically driven increases in crop yields and changing climatic conditions in the central USA, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. Using the highest, average, and lowest decadal rates of technologically driven increases in crop yields over the 1980 to 2017 period, we develop spatially explicit yield scenarios to the end of the twenty-first century under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. We find that with static technological innovation, severe climate change will decrease yields by an average of 22.4% (26.1 bu. ac−1) for maize, 27.9% (8.83 bu. ac−1) for soybeans, and 20% (7.14 bu. ac−1) for winter wheat in the central USA; however, with even the lowest rates of technological yield growth, yields increase by an average of 25.0% (40.5 bu. ac−1) for maize and 30.2% (14.2 bu. ac−1) for soybeans. We conclude that technology has the potential to overcome the negative impacts of climate change on the yields of maize, soybeans, and winter wheat in the central USA, but if these increases are to be environmentally sustainable, technological developments must be information-intensive rather than input-intensive.

Long-term effects of organic and conventional farming systems in parallel on the microbiota of boreal arable soil from forage and cereal crop fields were investigated. Microbial activity was measured as basal respiration and microbial biomass C and N were determined by fumigation extraction. Microbial abundance was determined by gene copy numbers from bacterial and archaeal specific 16S rRNA genes and the fungal ITS2 region with quantitative PCR. Microbial community composition for soil bacteria and fungi, including arbuscular mycorrhiza, were conducted by amplicon sequencing with richness assessed from OTU reads. We detected changes in both bacterial and fungal community composition between the farming systems. Microbial activity and biomass C and N were higher in the organic system for cereal crop rotation compared to the respective conventional system. In the autumn, organic systems had higher microbial richness. As fungi were more abundant in the autumn, they may be responsible for both higher microbial activity and C sequestration in their biomass after harvesting, especially in the organic system for cereal crop rotation. Also, crop type and cow manure explained changes in fungal community composition. The typical bacterial community of the organic system for cereal crop rotation included many soil and plant health promoting bacterial groups. Fungi benefiting from organic farming practices, other than manure, may include endophytic taxa with a variety of functions as well as pathogenic and mycotoxin producing species. Overall, the results suggest that farming practices typical of organic farming, such as use of green manure and continuous plant cover have induced changes in the soil microbiome.

The use of the ligninolytic fungi Trametes versicolor for the degradation of micropollutants has been widely studied. However, few studies have addressed the treatment of real wastewater containing pharmaceutically active compounds (PhAC) under non-sterile conditions. The main drawback of performing such treatments is the difficulty for the inoculated fungus to successfully compete with the other microorganisms growing in the bioreactor. In the present study, several fungal treatments were performed under non-sterile conditions in continuous operational mode with two types of real wastewater effluent, namely, a reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) from a wastewater treatment plant and a veterinary hospital wastewater (VHW). In all cases, the setup consisted of two parallel reactors: one inoculated with T. versicolor and one non-inoculated, which was used as the control. The main objective of this work was to correlate the operational conditions and traditional monitoring parameters, such as laccase activity, with PhAC removal and the composition of the microbial communities developed inside the bioreactors. For that purpose a variety of biochemical and molecular biology analyses were performed: phospholipid fatty acids analysis (PLFA), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) followed by sequencing. The results show that many indigenous fungi (and not only bacteria, which were the focus of the majority of previously published research) can successfully compete with the inoculated fungi (i.e., Trichoderma asperellum overtook T. versicolor in the ROC treatment). We also showed that the wastewater origin and the operational conditions had a stronger impact on the diversity of microbial communities developed in the bioreactors than the inoculation or not with T. versicolor. © 2016 Elsevier B.V., The authors would like to acknowledge the UAB veterinary hospital staff for their kindness permission and assistance with sampling and Michele Stefani, Dr. Quim Comas and Dr. Hèctor Monclús for providing us with the ROC. This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER (projects CTQ2010-21776-C02 and CTM2013-48545-C2) and supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2014-SGR-291 and 2014-SGR-476) and the Academy of Finland Research (grant 292967). The Department of Chemical Engineering of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is member of the Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia de la Generalitat de Catalunya. M. Badia-Fabregat acknowledges the predoctoral grant from UAB and the Generalitat de Catalunya grant for research stays (2012 BE100857). D. Lucas acknowledges the predoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (AP-2010-4926). The authors would also like to acknowledge the dedication of the reviewers who contributed to the improvement of the article with their comments.

Biogeographical and ecological knowledge of aphyllophoroid fungi has increased substantially after the publication of the Finnish aphyllophoroid checklist. In this paper, we describe the occurrence and distributions of both aphyllophoroid and heterobasidioid fungi in Finland. We introduce 13 species new to Finland: Hyphoderma lapponicum (Litsch.) Ryvarden, Mycostilla vermiformis (Berk. & Broome) Spirin & Malysheva, Proterochaete adusta (Burt) Spirin & V. Malysheva, Pseudotomentella alobata Svantesson, Pseudoxenasma verrucisporum K.H. Larss. & Hjortstam, Sistotrema subtrigonospermum D. P. Rogers, Spiculogloea minuta P. Roberts, Tomentella botryoides (Schwein.) Bourd. & Galz., Tomentella neobourdotii M.J. Larsen, Tomentella subtestacea Bourdot & Galzin, Tomentella subpilosa Litsch., Tulasnella anguifera P. Roberts, and Tulasnella interrogans P. Roberts. Proterochaete and Pseudoxenasma are new genera to Finland. We also present the record of Caudicicola gracilis Kotir., Kulju & Miettinen for only the second time globally. Furthermore, we present 115 new records (locations) of 53 rare or seldom collected species. In addition, we report 96 species considered new to a specific subzone of the boreal forest vegetation zone in Finland. The records contain notes on the substrata, and the ecology and distribution of nationally new species and are briefly discussed.

Food irradiation technologies offer benefits in relation to food safety and quality, but consumers hold adverse associations of the irradiation technologies with nuclear energy and radioactivity. Two independent studies (Study 1: N = 600, Study 2: N = 600) were carried out, each involving Finnish, German and Spanish consumers, with the aim of analysing if information on irradiation technologies (Study 1) and the different benefits of low-energy electron beam (LEEB) irradiation technology (Study 2) delivered through a product label affects consumer acceptance of irradiated blueberries. Results from Study 1 show that consumer acceptance is highest with those products which exclude explicit irradiation information on the product label. Results from Study 2 show that the acceptance of products with some benefit of LEEB technology on the product label is higher than those products with no benefit at all. Overall, both studies suggest that consumer acceptance of irradiated foods can be improved through careful introduction of food irradiation information on product labels.

The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a long-term model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome level assembly of the butterfly’s genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses. The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO, indicates that the genome contains 93 - 95% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,830 gene models using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models. The genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome and genetics studies on this species.

This paper describes a general approach for stochastic modeling of assets returns and liability cash-flows of a typical pensions insurer. On the asset side, we model the investment returns on equities and various classes of fixed-income instruments including short- and long-maturity fixed-rate bonds as well as index-linked and corporate bonds. On the liability side, the risks are driven by future mortality developments as well as price and wage inflation. All the risk factors are modeled as a multivariate stochastic process that captures the dynamics and the dependencies across different risk factors. The model is easy to interpret and to calibrate to both historical data and to forecasts or expert views concerning the future. The simple structure of the model allows for efficient computations. The construction of a million scenarios takes only a few minutes on a personal computer. The approach is illustrated with an asset-liability analysis of a defined benefit pension fund.

We tested if root colonisation by ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) could alter the susceptibility of Norway spruce (Picea abies) seedlings to root rot infection or necrotic foliar pathogens. Firstly, spruce seedlings were inoculated by various EMF and challenged with Heterobasidion isolates in triaxenix tubes. The ascomycete EMF Meliniomyces bicolor, that had showed strong antagonistic properties towards root rot causing Heterobasidion in vitro, protected spruce seedlings effectively against root rot. Secondly, spruce seedlings, inoculated with M. bicolor or the forest humus, were subjected to necrotrophic foliar pathogens in conventional forest nursery conditions on peat substrates. Botrytis cinerea infection after winter was mild and the level of needle damage was independent of substrate and EMF colonisation. Needle damage severity caused by Gremminiella abietina was high in seedlings grown in substrates with high nutrient availability as well as in seedlings with well-established EMF communities. These results show that albeit M. bicolor is able to protect spruce seedlings against Heterobasidion root rot in axenic cultures it fails to induce systemic protection against foliar pathogens. We also point out that unsterile inoculum sources, such as the forest humus, should not be considered for use in greenhouse conditions as they might predispose seedlings to unintended needle damages.

The relationship between the growth rate of aboveground parts of trees and fine root development is largely unknown. We investigated the early root development of fast-and slow-growing Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) families at a developmental stage when the difference in size is not yet observed. Seedling root architecture data, describing root branching, were collected with the WinRHIZO (TM) image analysis system, and mixed models were used to determine possible differences between the two growth phenotypes. A new approach was used to investigate the spatial extent of root properties along the whole sample root from the base of 1-year-old seedlings to the most distal part of a root. The root architecture of seedlings representing fastgrowing phenotypes showed similar to 30% higher numbers of root branches and tips, which resulted in larger root extensions and potentially a better ability to acquire nutrients. Seedlings of fast-growing phenotypes oriented and allocated root tips and bio-mass further away from the base of the seedling than those growing slowly, a possible advantage in nutrient-limited and heterogeneous boreal forest soils. We conclude that a higher long-term growth rate of the aboveground parts in Norway spruce may relate to greater allocation of resources to explorative roots that confers a competitive edge during early growth phases in forest ecosystems.

Bacteria of the genus Pectobacterium are economically important plant pathogens that cause soft rot disease on a wide variety of plant species. Here, we report the genome sequence of Pectobacterium carotovorum strain SCC1, a Finnish soft rot model strain isolated from a diseased potato tuber in the early 1980's. The genome of strain SCC1 consists of one circular chromosome of 4,974,798 bp and one circular plasmid of 5524 bp. In total 4451 genes were predicted, of which 4349 are protein coding and 102 are RNA genes.

Background Epidemiological studies have reported positive associations between the amount of green space in the living environment and mental and cardiovascular human health. In a search for effect mechanisms, field studies have found short-term visits to green environments to be associated with psychological stress relief. Less evidence is available on the effect of visits on cardiovascular physiology. Objectives To evaluate whether visits to urban green environments, in comparison to visits to a built-up environment, lead to beneficial short-term changes in indicators of cardiovascular health. Methods Thirty-six adult female volunteers visited three different types of urban environments: an urban forest, an urban park, and a built-up city centre, in Helsinki, Finland. The visits consisted of 15 min of sedentary viewing, and 30 min of walking. During the visits, blood pressure and heart rate were measured, and electrocardiogram recorded for the determination of indicators of heart rate variability. In addition, levels of respirable ambient particles and environmental noise were monitored. Results Visits to the green environments were associated with lower blood pressure (viewing period only), lower heart rate, and higher indices of heart rate variability [standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN), high frequency power] than visits to the city centre. In the green environments, heart rate decreased and SDNN increased during the visit. Associations between environment and indicators of cardiovascular health weakened slightly after inclusion of particulate air pollution and noise in the models. Conclusions Visits to urban green environments are associated with beneficial short-term changes in cardiovascular risk factors. This can be explained by psychological stress relief with contribution from reduced air pollution and noise exposure during the visits. Future research should evaluate the amount of exposure to green environments needed for longer-term benefits for cardiovascular health., published version, peerReviewed

We investigated the interaction between fungal communities of soil and dead wood substrates. For this, we applied molecular species identification and stable isotope tracking to both soil and decaying wood in an unmanaged boreal Norway spruce-dominated stand. Altogether, we recorded 1990 operational taxonomic units, out of which more than 600 were shared by both substrates and 589 were found to exclusively inhabit wood. On average the soil was more species-rich than the decaying wood, but the species richness in dead wood increased monotonically along the decay gradient, reaching the same species richness and community composition as soil in the late stages. Decaying logs at all decay stages locally influenced the fungal communities from soil, some fungal species occurring in soil only under decaying wood. Stable isotope analyses suggest that mycorrhizal species colonising dead wood in the late decay stages actively transfer nitrogen and carbon between soil and host plants. Most importantly, Piloderma sphaerosporum and Tylospora sp. mycorrhizal species were highly abundant in decayed wood. Soil- and wood-inhabiting fungal communities interact at all decay phases of wood that has important implications in fungal community dynamics and thus nutrient transportation.

Strigolactones are a group of phytohormones that control developmental processes including shoot branching and various plant-environment interactions in plants. We previously showed that the strigolactone perception mutant more axillary branches 2 (max2) has increased susceptibility to plant pathogenic bacteria. Here we show that both strigolactone biosynthesis (max3 and max4) and perception mutants (max2 and dwarf14) are significantly more sensitive to Pseudomonas syringae DC3000. Moreover, in response to P. syringae infection, high levels of SA accumulated in max2 and this mutant was ozone sensitive. Further analysis of gene expression revealed no major role for strigolactone in regulation of defense gene expression. In contrast, guard cell function was clearly impaired in max2 and depending on the assay used, also in max3, max4, and d14 mutants. We analyzed stomatal responses to stimuli that cause stomatal closure. While the response to abscisic acid (ABA) was not impaired in any of the mutants, the response to darkness and high CO2 was impaired in max2 and d14-1 mutants, and to CO2 also in strigolactone synthesis (max3, max4) mutants. To position the role of MAX2 in the guard cell signaling network, max2 was crossed with mutants defective in ABA biosynthesis or signaling. This revealed that MAX2 acts in a signaling pathway that functions in parallel to the guard cell ABA signaling pathway. We propose that the impaired defense responses of max2 are related to higher stomatal conductance that allows increased entry of bacteria or air pollutants like ozone. Furthermore, as MAX2 appears to act in a specific branch of guard cell signaling (related to CO2 signaling), this protein could be one of the components that allow guard cells to distinguish between different environmental conditions.

Occurrence patterns of many sessile species in dynamic landscapes are not in equilibrium due to their slow rates of metapopulation colonization and extinction. Colonization-extinction data enable the estimation of colonization rates for such species, but collecting the necessary data may require long waiting times between sampling years. Methods for estimating colonization rates of nonequilibrium metapopulations from single occurrence-pattern data have so far relied on additional data on patch ages and on past patch connectivities. We present an approach where metapopulation colonization rates are estimated from occurrence-pattern data and from disturbance history data that inform of past patch dynamics and that can be collected together with occurrence-pattern data. We estimated parameter values regulating patch and metapopulation dynamics by simulating patch network and metapopulation histories that result in present-like patch network configurations and metapopulation occurrence patterns. We tested our approach using occurrence-pattern data of the epiphytic lichen Lobaria pulmonaria in Fennoscandian forests, and fire-scar data that inform of the 400-yr history of fires and host tree dynamics in the same landscapes. The estimated model parameters were similar to estimates obtained using colonization-extinction data. The projected L. pulmonaria occupancy into the future also agreed with the respective projections that were made using the model estimated from colonization-extinction data. Our approach accelerates the estimation of metapopulation colonization rates for sessile species that are not in metapopulation equilibrium with the current landscape structure.

Particulate matter (PM) from mining operations, engines, and ore processing may have adverse effects on health and well-being of workers and population living nearby. In this study, the characteristics of PM in an underground chrome mine were investigated in Kemi, Northern Finland. The concentrations and chemical composition of PM in size ranges from 2.5 nm to 10 µm were explored in order to identify sources, formation mechanisms, and post-emission processes of particles in the mine air. This was done by using several online instruments with high time-resolution and offline particulate sampling followed by elemental and ionic analyses. A majority of sub-micrometer particles (1) originated from diesel engine emissions that were responsible for a rather stable composition of PM1 in the mine air. Another sub-micrometer particle type originated from the combustion products of explosives (e.g., nitrate and ammonium). On average, PM1 in the mine was composed of 62%, 30%, and 8% of organic matter, black carbon, and major inorganic species, respectively. Regarding the analyzed elements (e.g., Al, Si, Fe, Ca), many of them peaked at >1 µm indicating mineral dust origin. The average particle number concentration in the mine was (2.3 ± 1.4)*104 #/cm3. The maximum of particle number size distribution was between 30 and 200 nm for most of the time but there was frequently a distinct mode

While high-throughput sequencing methods are revolutionizing fungal ecology, recovering accurate estimates of species richness and abundance has proven elusive. We sought to design internal transcribed spacer (ITS) primers and an Illumina protocol that would maximize coverage of the kingdom Fungi while minimizing nontarget eukaryotes. We inspected alignments of the 5.8S and large subunit (LSU) ribosomal genes and evaluated potential primers using PrimerProspector. We tested the resulting primers using tiered-abundance mock communities and five previously characterized soil samples. We recovered operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to all 8 members in both mock communities, despite DNA abundances spanning 3 orders of magnitude. The expected and observed read counts were strongly correlated ( r = 0.94 to 0.97). However, several taxa were consistently over- or underrepresented, likely due to variation in rRNA gene copy numbers. The Illumina data resulted in clustering of soil samples identical to that obtained with Sanger sequence clone library data using different primers. Furthermore, the two methods produced distance matrices with a Mantel correlation of 0.92. Nonfungal sequences comprised less than 0.5% of the soil data set, with most attributable to vascular plants. Our results suggest that high-throughput methods can produce fairly accurate estimates of fungal abundances in complex communities. Further improvements might be achieved through corrections for rRNA copy number and utilization of standardized mock communities. IMPORTANCE Fungi play numerous important roles in the environment. Improvements in sequencing methods are providing revolutionary insights into fungal biodiversity, yet accurate estimates of the number of fungal species (i.e., richness) and their relative abundances in an environmental sample (e.g., soil, roots, water, etc.) remain difficult to obtain. We present improved methods for high-throughput Illumina sequencing of the species-diagnostic fungal ribosomal marker gene that improve the accuracy of richness and abundance estimates. The improvements include new PCR primers and library preparation, validation using a known mock community, and bioinformatic parameter tuning.

We establish the existence of minimizers in a rather general setting of dynamic stochastic optimization in finite discrete time without assuming either convexity or coercivity of the objective function. We apply this to prove the existence of optimal investment strategies for non-concave utility maximization problems in financial market models with frictions, a first result of its kind. The proofs are based on the dynamic programming principle whose validity is established under quite general assumptions.

International audience; Biodiversity of ecosystems is an important driver for the supply of ecosystem services to people. Soils often have a larger biodiversity per unit surface area than what can be observed aboveground. Here, we present what is to our knowledge, the most extensive literature-based key-word assessment of the existing information about the relationships between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services in European forests. The belowground diversity of plant roots, fungi, prokaryota, soil fauna, and protists was evaluated in relation to the supply of Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural, and Supporting Services. The soil biota were divided into 14 subgroups and the ecosystem services into 37 separate services. Out of the 518 possible combinations of biotic groups and ecosystem services, no published study was found for 374 combinations (72%). Of the remaining 144 combinations (28%) where relationships were found, the large majority (87%) showed a positive relationship between biodiversity of a belowground biotic group and an associated ecosystem service. However, for the majority of the combinations (102) there were only three or fewer studies. The percentage of cases for which a relationship was detected varied strongly between ecosystem service categories with 23% for Provisioning, 8% for Regulating, 40% for Cultural, and 48% for Supporting Services. We conclude that (1) soil biodiversity is generally positively related to ecosystem services in European forests; (2) the links between soil biodiversity and Cultural or Supporting services are better documented than those relating to Provisioning and Regulating services; (3) there is a huge knowledge gap for most possible combinations of soil biota and ecosystem services regarding how a more biodiverse soil biota is associated with a given ecosystem service. Given the drastically increasing societal demand for knowledge of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems and the supply of ecosystem services, we strongly encourage the scientific community to conduct well-designed studies incorporating the belowground diversity and the functions and services associated with this diversity.

Strigolactones are a group of phytohormones that control shoot branching inArabidopsis thaliana. However, in recent years they have been shown to affect many other plant processes. We previously showed that the strigolactone perception mutantmore axillary branches 2 (max2)has increased susceptibility to plant pathogenic bacteria as a result of more open stomata as well as alterations in hormonal signalling. Here we show that both, strigolactone biosynthesis- (max3andmax4), and perception mutants (max2anddwarf14) are significantly more sensitive toPseudomonas syringaeDC3000. Moreover, in response toP. syringaeinfection, high levels of SA accumulated inmax2and this mutant was ozone sensitive. To search for the mechanisms that could explain pathogen- and ozone sensitivity we performed gene expression analysis and several different assays that explore the function of guard cells and regulation of guard cell signalling.Treatments with GR24 (a strigolactone analogue) resulted in very modest changes in defence-related gene expression. In contrast, guard cell function was clearly impaired inmax2and depending on the assay used, also inmax3, max4andd14mutants. Moreover, stomatal responses to stimuli that cause stomatal closure in wild-type plants (darkness, high CO2and ABA) were analysed in the strigolactone mutants. In darkness both strigolactone biosynthesis and perception mutants showed reduced stomatal closure, whereas the response to high CO2was impaired only inmax2andd14. The response to ABA was not impaired in any of the mutants. To position the role of MAX2 in the guard cell signalling network,max2was crossed with mutants defective in ABA biosynthesis (aba2), in guard cell ABA signalling (ost1) and a scaffold protein required for proper ion channel activity (ghr1). The stomatal conductance of double mutants was consistently higher than the corresponding single mutants, suggesting that MAX2 acts in a signalling pathway that functions in parallel to the well characterized guard cell ABA signalling pathway. We propose that the impaired defence responses ofmax2is related to more open stomata that allows increased entry of bacteria or air pollutants like ozone. Furthermore, as MAX2 appears to act in a specific branch of guard cell signalling (related to CO2signalling), this protein could be one of the elusive components that allow guard cells to distinguish between different environmental conditions.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T17:06:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-04-01 Norges Forskningsråd Academy of Finland Joint species distribution modeling has enabled researchers to move from species-level to community-level analyses, leading to statistically more efficient and ecologically more informative use of data. Here, we propose joint species movement modeling (JSMM) as an analogous approach that enables inferring both species- and community-level movement parameters from multispecies movement data. The species-level movement parameters are modeled as a function of species traits and phylogenetic relationships, allowing one to ask how species traits influence movements, and whether phylogenetically related species are similar in their movement behavior. We illustrate the modeling framework with two contrasting case studies: a stochastic redistribution model for direct observations of bird movements and a spatially structured diffusion model for capture–recapture data on moth movements. In both cases, the JSMM identified several traits that explain differences in movement behavior among species, such as movement rate increasing with body size in both birds and moths. We show with simulations that the JSMM approach increases precision of species-specific parameter estimates by borrowing information from other species that are closely related or have similar traits. The JSMM framework is applicable for many kinds of data, and it facilitates a mechanistic understanding of the causes and consequences of interspecific variation in movement behavior. Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65 Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Department of Zoology University of Oxford, South Parks Road Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group Biodiversity Research Centre Earth and Life Institute UCLouvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, bte L7.07.04 Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Grupo de Ecología Cuantitativa INIBIOMA-CRUB CONICET, Avenida Pioneros 2350, S.C. de Bariloche Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Norges Forskningsråd: 223257 Academy of Finland: 273253 Academy of Finland: 284601 Academy of Finland: 309581

Two new species of Helicogloea, H. aseptata V. Malysheva & Spirin and H. insularis Spirin & K.H. Larss. (Atractiellomycetes, Basidiomycota), are described based on morphological and molecular data from north-European collections. In addition, morphological flexibility and host specificity of H. dryina, H. sebacea and H. subardosiaca are discussed. A key for teleomorphic Helicogloea spp. found in Europe is provided.

We develop a model for indifference pricing in derivatives markets where price quotes have bid-ask spreads and finite quantities. The model quantifies the dependence of the prices and hedging portfolios on an investor's beliefs, risk preferences and financial position as well as on the price quotes. Computational techniques of convex optimisation allow for fast computation of the hedging portfolios and prices as well as sensitivities with respect to various model parameters. We illustrate the techniques by pricing and hedging of exotic derivatives on S&P index using call and put options, forward contracts and cash as the hedging instruments. The optimized static hedges provide good approximations of the options payouts and the spreads between indifference selling and buying prices are quite narrow as compared with the spread between super- and subhedging prices., 19 pages, 12 figures

We examined differences in fine root morphology, mycorrhizal colonisation and root-inhabiting fungal communities between Picea abies individuals infected by Heterobasidion root-rot compared with healthy individuals in four stands on peat soils in Latvia. We hypothesised that decreased tree vitality and alteration in supply of photosynthates belowground due to root-rot infection might lead to changes in fungal communities of tree roots. Plots were established in places where trees were infected and in places where they were healthy. Within each stand, five replicate soil cores with roots were taken to 20 cm depth in each root-rot infected and uninfected plot. Root morphological parameters, mycorrhizal colonisation and associated fungal communities, and soil chemical properties were analysed. In three stands root morphological parameters and in all stands root mycorrhizal colonisation were similar between root-rot infected and uninfected plots. In one stand, there were significant differences in root morphological parameters between root-rot infected versus uninfected plots, but these were likely due to significant differences in soil chemical properties between the plots. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer of fungal nuclear rDNA from ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root morphotypes of P. abies revealed the presence of 42 fungal species, among which ECM basidiomycetes Tylospora asterophora (24.6 % of fine roots examined), Amphinema byssoides (14.5 %) and Russula sapinea (9.7 %) were most common. Within each stand, the richness of fungal species and the composition of fungal communities in root-rot infected versus uninfected plots were similar. In conclusion, Heterobasidion root-rot had little or no effect on fine root morphology, mycorrhizal colonisation and composition of fungal communities in fine roots of P. abies growing on peat soils.

A total of 13 Pasteurellaceae isolates from healthy freshwater turtles were characterized by genotypic and phenotypic tests. Phylogenetic analysis of partial 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequences showed that the isolates investigated formed a monophyletic group. The closest related species based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing was Chelonobacter oris CCUG 55632T with 94.4 % similarity and the closest related species based on rpoB gene sequence comparison was [Pasteurella] testudinis CCUG 19802T with 91.5 % similarity. All the investigated isolates exhibited phenotypic characteristics of the family Pasteurellaceae. However, they could be separated from existing genera of the Pasteurellaceae by the following test results: indole, ornithine decarboxylase and Voges-Proskauer positive; and methyl red, urease and PNPG (α-glucosidase) negative. No X- or V-factor requirement was observed. A zone of β-haemolysis surrounded the colonies after 24 h of incubation on bovine blood agar at 37 °C. Acid was produced from l-arabinose, dulcitol, d-mannitol, sucrose and trehalose. Representative strain ELNT2xT had a fatty acid profile that was characteristic for members of the Pasteurellaceae. ELNT2xT expressed only one respiratory quinone, ubiquinone-8 (100 %). The DNA G+C content of strain ELNT2xT was 42.8 mol%. On the basis of both phylogenetic and phenotypic evidence, it is proposed that the strains should be classified as representatives of a novel species of a new genus, Testudinibacter aquarius gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain of Testudinibacter aquarius is ELNT2xT ( = CCUG 65146T = DSM 28140T), which was isolated from the oral cavity of a captive eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis) in Denmark in 2012.

A tubular-quartz reactor (TQR) and a multichannel reactor (MCR) made of aluminium were employed for methanol steam reforming to perform the kinetic modelling at atmospheric pressure using two commercial catalysts and one new catalyst, respectively. In TQR, the experiments were performed at oven temperatures from 200 to 300 °C, and with different steam to carbon (S/C) ratios. In MCR, the experiments were performed at reactor temperatures from 170 to 210 °C and with S/C ratio equal to 1.5. The experimental data was successfully modeled for the three catalysts. However, the results with TQR revealed that the temperature gradients were formed in the catalyst bed. Thus, the actual representation of the catalyst behaviour neglecting radial temperature gradients is somewhat uncertain. On the other hand, a multichannel reactor (MCR) provided good temperature control through the wall of the reactor and almost isothermal conditions in the catalyst bed which allowed obtaining a reliable model. This kinetic model was used in simulation and designing of a small scale heat exchanger reactor.

As the Laser Olympic dinghy is one of the highest-level sail racing classes in the world, there is an interest in obtaining physical facts around the experience that already exist. For this reason, a numerical investigation has been carried out to find the best heel and trim angles in upwind sailing. Flat water is assumed. The core of the work is a newly developed Inverse Velocity Prediction Program (IVPP) that computes the required wind speed for a given boat speed. Input to the program is both available towing tank data and CFD results. By keeping speed constant interpolation is avoided in the very non-linear resistance-speed relation, reducing considerably the required number of CFD computations. Another reduction is obtained by a special technique for avoiding interpolation in leeway. Systematic CFD computations are carried out to find the optimum trim versus heel at the speeds 2, 3, 4, 5 knots. Using this relation the required wind speed at the four boat speeds can be expressed as a function of heel only. The heel angle corresponding to the smallest wind speed is the best. Knowing this, and the corresponding optimum trim, the position of the sailor is computed. It turns out that the predicted best positions correspond well with practical experience. However, the results highlight the benefit of a small heel in higher winds, which often is regarded as undesired by sailors.

Article, This article contributes the knowledge of Finnish aphyllophoroid funga with nationally or regionally new species, and records of rare species. Ceriporia bresadolae, Clavaria tenuipes and Renatobasidium notabile are presented as new aphyllophoroid species to Finland. Ceriporia bresadolae and R. notabile are globally rare species. The records of Ceriporia aurantiocarnescens, Crustomyces subabruptus, Sistotrema autumnale, Trechispora elongata, and Trechispora silvae-ryae are the second in Finland. New records (or localities) are provided for 33 species with no more than 10 records in Finland. In addition, 76 records of aphyllophoroid species are reported as new to some subzones of the boreal vegetation zone in Finland. Notes on substrata and habitats of each record are given, and the ecology and distribution of some species are discussed., published version, peerReviewed

Source point treatment of effluents with a high load of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs), such as hospital wastewater, is a matter of discussion among the scientific community. Fungal treatments have been reported to be successful in degrading this type of pollutants and, therefore, the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor was applied for the removal of PhACs from veterinary hospital wastewater. Sixty-six percent removal was achieved in a non-sterile batch bioreactor inoculated with T. versicolor pellets. On the other hand, the study of microbial communities by means of DGGE and phylogenetic analyses led us to identify some microbial interactions and helped us moving to a continuous process. PhAC removal efficiency achieved in the fungal treatment operated in non-sterile continuous mode was 44 % after adjusting the C/N ratio with respect to the previously calculated one for sterile treatments. Fungal and bacterial communities in the continuous bioreactors were monitored as well. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg., Authors want to acknowledge the UAB veterinary hospital staff for their kind permission and help for the samplings. This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER (projects CTM2013-48545-C2 and AIB2010PT-00169) and supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2014-SGR-476 and 2014-SGR-291). The Department of Chemical Engineering of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is a member of the Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia de la Generalitat de Catalunya. M. Badia-Fabregat and D. Lucas acknowledge the predoctoral grants from UAB and from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (AP-2010-4926), respectively. The authors also thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462 co-funded by Operational Competitiveness Programme, FEDER, and Project “BioEnv—Biotechnology and Bioengineering for a sustainable world,” REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000048, co-funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER.

In 2010, dieback of Norway spruce (Picea abies) was observed in Latvia. As mostly stands on seasonally or permanently water-saturated soils were damaged, we hypothesized that the recorded foliar damage might be associated with belowground factors. We established 48 sample plots in stands with damage symptoms for soil parameter evaluation and fine root sampling to determine the number of fine roots in different growth stages and to describe the associated fungal community. Among sample plots on organic soils, there were fewer viable older fine roots and greater number of dead fine roots in more damaged sites than in less damaged. These root parameters were significantly correlated with higher groundwater level and soil pH. The fungal community was dominated by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) species (the most common was Tylospora asterophora), the endophyte Oidiodendron maius and saprotrophic species Cryptococcus magnus. Saprotrophic species had higher abundance in more damaged sites, suggesting a shift in f...

Bose-Einstein correlation between pairs of like-sign charged particles produced in e+e- annihilations near the Z0 peak have been studied using data taken with the DELPHI detector at LEP. An enhancement is found in the production of pairs of identical pions of similar moments, with respect to a reference sample. Under the hypothesis that the pions are emitted by a spherically symmetrical source with gaussian density, the data indicate a radius of the source of r = 0.62±0.04(stat.)±0.20(syst.) fm. The large systematic uncertainty reflects the sensitivity of r to the choice of the reference sample, 0, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

5G system design is a complex process due to a great variety of applications and their diverse requirements. This article describes our experiences in developing a centimeter waves mobile broadband concept satisfying future capacity requirements. The first step in the process was the radio channel measurement campaign and statistical modeling. Then the link level design was performed tightly together with the radio frequency (RF) implementation requirements to allow as large scalability of the air interface as possible. We started the concept development at 10 GHz frequency band and during the project World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 selected somewhat higher frequencies as new candidates for 5G. Thus, the main learning was to gain insight of interdependencies of different phenomena and find feasible combinations of techniques and parameter combinations that might actually work in practice, not only in theory.

We investigated the effects of two recently described dsRNA mycoviruses, HetRV3-ec1 and HetRV6-ab6, on Heterobasidion wood decay fungi. The viruses originally inhabited Heterobasidion ecrustosum and Heterobasidion abietinum, and were transferred in the laboratory into other Heterobasidion species. Isogenic virus-free and virus-infected Heterobasidion isolates were used to test the effects of these viruses on their hosts' growth rate and competitive ability against mycorrhizal and decay fungi (Paxillus involutus, Meliniomyces bicolor and Phlebiopsis gigantea). This study shows that: (i) a single virus strain confers different effects on different Heterobasidion host strains; and (ii) a single virus strain may have contrasting effects on the fitness of a single host isolate (ranging from no effect to harmful or beneficial) depending on environmental and ecological conditions. We also report for the first time on the antagonism of Helotiales belonging to the sub-group Rhizocyphus–Meliniomyces against Heterobasidion species.

Background: In order to curb traffic-related air pollution and its impact on the physical environment, contemporary city commuters are encouraged to shift from private car use to active or public transport modes. However, personal exposures to particulate matter (PM), black carbon and noise during commuting may be substantial. Therefore, studies comparing exposures during recommended modes of transport versus car trips are needed. Methods: We measured personal exposure to various-sized particulates, soot, and noise during commuting by bicycle, bus and car in three European cities: Helsinki in Finland, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Thessaloniki in Greece using portable monitoring devices. We monitored commonly travelled routes in these cities. Results: The total number of one-way trips yielding data on any of the measured parameters were 84, 72, 94 and 69 for bicycle, bus, closed-window car and open-window car modes, respectively. The highest mean PM2.5 (85 μg/m3), PM10 (131 μg/m3), black carbon (10.9 μg/m3) and noise (75 dBA) levels were recorded on the bus, bus (again), open-window car and bicycle modes, respectively, all in Thessaloniki, PM and soot concentrations were generally higher during biking and taking a bus than during a drive in a a car with closed windows. Ratios of bike:car PM10 ranged from 1.1 in Thessaloniki to 2.6 in Helsinki, while bus:car ratios ranged from in 1.0 in Rotterdam to 5.6 in Thessaloniki. Higher noise levels were mostly recorded during bicycle rides. Conclusion: Based on our study, active- and public-transport commuters are often at risk of higher air pollution and noise exposure than private car users. This should be taken into account in urban transportation planning

This article studies problems of optimal transport, by embedding them in a general functional analytic framework of convex optimization. This provides a unified treatment of a large class of related problems in probability theory and allows for generalizations of the classical problem formulations. General results on convex duality yield dual problems and optimality conditions for these problems. When the objective takes the form of a convex integral functional, we obtain more explicit optimality conditions and establish the existence of solutions for a relaxed formulation of the problem. This covers, in particular, the mass transportation problem and its nonlinear generalizations., Comment: 31 pages

Cuticular defects trigger a battery of reactions including enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and resistance to necrotrophic pathogens. However, the source of ROS generated by such impaired cuticles has remained elusive. Here, we report the characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana ohyl mutant, a Peroxidase 57 (PER57) - overexpressing line that demonstrates enhanced defense responses that result both from increased accumulation of ROS and permeability of the leaf cuticle. The ohyl mutant was identified in a screen of A. thaliana seedlings for oligogalacturonides (OGs) insensitive/hypersensitive mutants that exhibit altered growth retardation in response to exogenous OGs. Mutants impaired in OG sensitivity were analyzed for disease resistance/susceptibility to the necrotrophic phytopathogens Botrytis cinerea and Pectobacterium carotovorum. In the ohyl line, the hypersensitivity to OGs was associated with resistance to the tested pathogens. This PER57 overexpressing line exhibited a significantly more permeable leaf cuticle than wild-type plants and this phenotype could be recapitulated by overexpressing other class III peroxidases. Such peroxidase overexpression was accompanied by the suppressed expression of cutin biosynthesis genes and the enhanced expression of genes associated with OG-signaling. Application of ABA completely removed ROS, restored the expression of genes associated with cuticle biosynthesis and led to decreased permeability of the leaf cuticle, and finally, abolished immunity to B. cinerea. Our work demonstrates that increased peroxidase activity increases permeability of the leaf cuticle. The loss of cuticle integrity primes plant defenses to necrotrophic pathogens via the activation of DAMP-responses.

This paper studies optimal investment from the point of view of an investor with longevity-linked liabilities. The relevant optimization problems rarely are analytically tractable, but we are able to show numerically that liability driven investment can significantly outperform common strategies that do not take the liabilities into account. In problems without liabilities the advantage disappears, which suggests that the superiority of the proposed strategies is indeed based on connections between liabilities and asset returns.

From the analysis of a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.63 pb-1 taken during the 1990 run of LEP at centre of mass energies between 88.2 GeV an 94.2 GeV, the tau decays {Mathematical expression} and their charge conjugates have been studied. The following branching ratios have been measured; {Mathematical expression}, {Mathematical expression}, Br(τ- → π- (K-)vτ)=11.9±0.7±0.7%, BR (τ- → ρ- vτ)= 22.4±0.8±1.3%, in good agreement with world averages. The measured electronic and muonic branching ratios lead to a measurement of the strong coupling constant, αs (mτ) = 0.26-0.12 +0.09. Extrapolating the αs value from mτ to mZ yields αs (mZ) = 0.109-0.028 +0.012. The average polarization Pτ of taus produced in Z → τs τs decays has also been measured using the above decay modes. The weighted mean of the polarizations obtained from the four decay modes is Pτ=-0.24±0.07. This value of Pτ gives, in the improved Born approximation, a ratio between the axial and vector coupling constants of the tau of υτ/aτ = 0.12 ± 0.04, and hence a value of the effective electroweak mixing parameter sin2 θW(mZ 2). © 1992 Springer-Verlag., 0, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

When comparing environmental sequences with fully identified reference sequences, a common practice has been to rely on threshold values for sequence similarity. We develop a modelling approach that utilizes the self-consistency of the reference database to transfer sequence similarity to the probability of correct identification to a given taxonomic level. We model separately the probability of the focal species being in the reference database, and the probability that the best BLAST hit is correct, conditional on the species being in the reference database. We illustrate our approach in the context of 454 sequencing data on dead wood-inhabiting fungi, with a reference database containing 2 262 ITS-sequences of 1 145 species. We compare the species communities observed by 454 pyrosequencing, DGGE fingerprinting and fruit-body inventory. High-throughput sequencing calls for automated species identification with adequate assessment of identification error. Our results highlight that this is possible if a high-quality reference database with broad coverage is available.

Knowledge of past forest fire regimes is important for developing management plans for conservation areas and for predicting the probable effects of forest management and climate change on the structure and dynamics of forests. In this study, fire scars on living and dead trees were systematically sampled on 256 study plots in three landscapes in northeastern Finland dominated by Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.). A total of 1030 disks or partial cross sections from different trees, including scars from 98 distinct forest fires, were dendrochronologically dated with an accuracy of 1 year or better. The extraordinarily well-preserved old Pinus snags and stumps allowed us to reconstruct annual tree-ring and fire chronologies beginning from the year AD 653. The fire cycles in the studied landscapes were exceptionally long for a boreal region dominated by Pinus, on average 350 years during the last millennium. This demonstrates that the fire regimes of poorly studied remote regions cannot be extrapolated from fire regimes of sites examined in more detail. Based on statistics on lightning-ignition densities, we suggest that most of the fires detected in this study were ignited by humans. The reconstructed past fire cycles were probably shortened by human influence.

In spatially heterogeneous environments, the processes of gene flow, mutation, and sexual reproduction generate local genetic variation and thus provide material for local adaptation. On the other hand, these processes interchange maladapted for adapted genes and so, in each case, the net influence may be to reduce local adaptation. Previous work has indicated that this is the case in stable populations, yet it is less clear how the factors play out during population growth, and in the face of temporal environmental stochasticity. We address this issue with a spatially explicit, stochastic model. We find that dispersal, mutation, and sexual reproduction can all accelerate local adaptation in growing populations, although their respective roles may depend on the genetic make-up of the founding population. All three processes reduce local adaptation, however, in the long term, that is when population growth becomes balanced by density-dependent competition. These relationships are qualitatively maintained, although quantitatively reduced, if the resources are locally ephemeral. Our results suggest that species with high levels of local adaptation within their ranges may not be the same species that harbor potential for rapid local adaptation during population expansion.

We present the first chemical application of the recent, general theory of the nuclear magnetic resonance shielding and chemical shift in paramagnetic compounds, to a set of nonaxial high-spin metallo-organic complexes. The theory is for the first time rigorous for systems of arbitrary spatial and spin symmetry, and introduces new structure to the isotropic, anisotropic but symmetric, and anisotropic and antisymmetric parts of the shielding tensor. We apply the theory using density functional calculations of the proton chemical shift in a family of nonaxial chromium(III) complexes possessing a quartet ground electronic spin state. We discuss the various contributions to the isotropic chemical shift, and compare the full theory to approximate forms appropriate to the doublet case on the one hand, and to the doublet case at the nonrelativistic limit, on the other hand. The performance of various exchange-correlation functionals in reproducing the recently measured experimental chemical shifts is evaluated.

On a global basis, peatlands are a major reserve of carbon (C). Hydrological changes can affect the decomposition processes in peatlands and in turn can alter their C balance. Since 1959, a groundwater extraction plant has generated a water-level gradient at our study site that has gradually changed part of the wet fen into a dry peatland forest. The average water-level drawdown of the gradient (from a pristine 9 cm to 26 cm in the dry end) is close to an estimate predicted by an increase in mean global temperature of 3 degrees C. We studied the total microbial community of the aerobic surface peat in four locations along the gradient through phospholipid fatty acid and PCR-DGGE methods. Additionally, field measurements of soil respiration showed a threefold increase in the C-emission rate at the driest location compared with the wettest one, indicating enhanced decomposition. Also, both fungal and bacterial biomass increased in the drier locations. At the species level, the fungal community changed due to water-level drawdown whereas actinobacteria were less sensitive to drying. The majority of fungal sequences were similar to ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, which dominated throughout the gradient. Our results indicate that ECM fungi might act as important facultative decomposers in organic-rich environments such as peatlands.

This paper studies convex duality in optimal investment and contingent claim valuation in markets where traded assets may be subject to nonlinear trading costs and portfolio constraints. Under fairly general conditions, the dual expressions decompose into tree terms, corresponding to the agent's risk preferences, trading costs and portfolio constraints, respectively. The dual representations are shown to be valid when the market model satisfies an appropriate generalization of the no-arbitrage condition and the agent's utility function satisfies an appropriate generalization of asymptotic elasticity conditions. When applied to classical liquid market models or models with bid-ask spreads, we recover well-known pricing formulas in terms of martingale measures and consistent price systems. Building on the general theory of convex stochastic optimization, we also derive optimality conditions in terms of an extended notion of a "shadow price"., Comment: 37 pages

The shadow price of information has played a central role in stochastic optimization ever since its introduction by Rockafellar and Wets in the mid-seventies. This article studies the concept in an extended formulation of the problem and gives relaxed sufficient conditions for its existence. We allow for general adapted decision strategies, which enables one to establish the existence of solutions and the absence of a duality gap e.g. in various problems of financial mathematics where the usual boundedness assumptions fail. As applications, we calculate conjugates and subdifferentials of integral functionals and conditional expectations of normal integrands. We also give a dual form of the general dynamic programming recursion that characterizes shadow prices of information., Comment: 17 pages

Motivation: When targeted to a barcoding region, high-throughput sequencing can be used to identify species or operational taxonomical units from environmental samples, and thus to study the diversity and structure of species communities. Although there are many methods which provide confidence scores for assigning taxonomic affiliations, it is not straightforward to translate these values to unbiased probabilities. We present a probabilistic method for taxonomical classification (PROTAX) of DNA sequences. Given a pre-defined taxonomical tree structure that is partially populated by reference sequences, PROTAX decomposes the probability of one to the set of all possible outcomes. PROTAX accounts for species that are present in the taxonomy but that do not have reference sequences, the possibility of unknown taxonomical units, as well as mislabeled reference sequences. PROTAX is based on a statistical multinomial regression model, and it can utilize any kind of sequence similarity measures or the outputs of other classifiers as predictors. Results: We demonstrate the performance of PROTAX by using as predictors the output from BLAST, the phylogenetic classification software TIPP, and the RDP classifier. We show that PROTAX improves the predictions of the baseline implementations of TIPP and RDP classifiers, and that it is able to combine complementary information provided by BLAST and TIPP, resulting in accurate and unbiased classifications even with very challenging cases such as 50% mislabeling of reference sequences. Availability and implementation: Perl/R implementation of PROTAX is available at http://www.helsinki.fi/science/metapop/Software.htm. Contact: panu.somervuo@helsinki.fi Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

This article gives dual representations for convex integral functionals on the linear space of regular processes. This space turns out to be a Banach space containing many more familiar classes of stochastic processes and its dual can be identified with the space of optional Radon measures with essentially bounded variation. Combined with classical Banach space techniques, our results allow for a systematic treatment of stochastic optimization problems over BV processes and, in particular, yields a maximum principle for a general class of singular stochastic control problems., 31 pages

We studied long-term effects of fertilization with wood ash on biomass, vitality and mycorrhizal colonization of fine roots in three conifer forest stands growing in Vacciniosa turf. mel. (V), Myrtillosa turf. mel. (M) and Myrtillosa turf. mel./Caricoso-phragmitosa (MC) forest types on peat soils. Fertilization trials amounting 5 kg/m(2) of wood ash were established 12 years prior to this study. A total of 63 soil samples with roots were collected and analysed. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi in roots were identified by morphotyping and sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. In all forest types, fine root biomass was higher in fertilized plots than in control plots. In M forest type, proportion of living fine roots was greater in fertilized plots than in control plots, while in V and MC, the result was opposite. Fifty ECM species were identified, of which eight were common to both fertilized and control plots. Species richness and Shannon diversity index were generally higher in fertilized plots than in control plots. The most common species in fertilized plots were Amphinema byssoides (17.8%) and Tuber cf. anniae (12.2%), while in control plots, it was Tylospora asterophora (18.5%) and Lactarius tabidus (20.3%). Our results showed that forest fertilization with wood ash has long-lasting effect on diversity and composition of ECM fungal communities.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters are determined theoretically for the oxygen and hydrogen/deuterium nuclei of differently hydrogen-bonded water molecules in liquid water at 300 K. The parameters are the chemical shift, the shielding anisotropy, the asymmetry parameter of shielding, the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant, and the asymmetry parameter of the nuclear quadrupole coupling. We sample instantaneous configurations from a Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulation and feed nuclear coordinates into a quantum chemical program for the calculation of NMR parameters using density-functional theory with the three-parameter hybrid exchange-correlation (B3LYP) functional. In the subsequent analysis, molecules are divided into groups according to the number of hydrogen bonds they possess, and the full average NMR tensors are calculated separately for each group. The classification of the hydrogen-bonding cases is performed using a simple distance-based criterion. The analysis reveals in detail how the NMR tensors evolve as the environment changes gradually from gas to liquid upon increasing the number of hydrogen bonds to the molecule of interest. Liquid-state distributions of the instantaneous values of the NMR properties show a wide range of values for each hydrogen-bonding species with significant overlap between the different cases. Our study shows how local changes in the environment, along with classical thermal averaging, affect the NMR parameters in liquid water. For example, a broken or alternatively extra hydrogen bond induces major changes in the NMR tensors, and the effect is more pronounced for hydrogen or deuterium than for oxygen. The data sheds light on the usefulness of NMR experiments in investigating the local coordination of liquid water.