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Litterfall dynamics in tropical forests are a good indicator of overall tropical forest function, indicative of carbon invested in both photosynthesising tissues and reproductive organs such as flowers and fruits. These dynamics are sensitive to changes in climate, such as drought, but little is known about the long-term responses of tropical forest litterfall dynamics to extended drought stress.

In this paper we consider random distance graphs motivated by applications in neurobiology. These models can be viewed as examples of inhomogeneous random graphs, notably outside of the so-called rank-1 case. Treating these models in the context of the general theory of inhomogeneous graphs helps us to derive the asymptotics for the size of the largest connected component. In particular, we show t

Knowing the ohmic resistance in the materials allow to know in advance its electrical behavior when a potential difference is applied, and therefore the prediction of the electrical performance can be achieved in a most certain manner. Although the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been applied to solve several physical phenomena in complex geometries, it has only been used to describe the fluid

The multifaceted complement regulator vitronectin (Vn) can be found in almost all tissues of the human body. It is primarily produced by the liver and is thus detected at high concentrations in plasma. Upon inflammation, Vn is upregulated revealing its importance for the innate immune defence against danger signals. It consists of 459 amino acids and has several key sequences linked to its functio

Factor I (FI) is a serine protease with narrow specificity restricted to activated complement components C3b and C4b. Supported by appropriate cofactors such as factor H or C4b-binding protein, FI cleaves peptide bonds in C3b/C4b after arginyl residues. By doing so it inhibits further propagation of the complement cascade thus contributing to protection from misguided or excessive complement attac

C4b-binding protein (C4BP) is the main fluid-phase inhibitor of the classical complement pathway. It serves as cofactor in factor I-mediated cleavage of C4b and C3b and it accelerates the decay of complement convertases. The main role of C4BP is to prevent overt complement-mediated inflammation both in solution and on self-molecules recognised by C1q, such as amyloid. Furthermore, C4BP is frequent

This article investigates whether regime-based asset allocation can effectively respond to changes in financial regimes at the portfolio level in an effort to provide better long-term results when compared to a static 60/40 benchmark. The potential benefit from taking large positions in a few assets at a time comes at the cost of reduced diversification. The authors analyze this trade-off in a mul

Background: KIT mutations are the predominant driver mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), and targeted therapy against KIT has improved treatment outcome dramatically. However, gaining secondary mutation of KIT confers drug resistance of GISTs leading to treatment failure. Results: In this study, we found that secondary mutation of KIT dramatically increases the ligand-independent