Optimising peak energy reduction in networks of buildings.

Buildings are amongst the world's largest energy consumers and simultaneous peaks in demand from networks of buildings can decrease electricity system stability. Current mitigation measures either entail wasteful supply-side over-specification or complex centralised demand-side control. Hence, a simple schema is developed for decentralised, self-organising building-to-building load coordination that requires very little information exchange and no top-down management-analogous to other complex systems with short range interactions, such as coordination between flocks of birds or synchronisation in fireflies. Numerical and experimental results reveal that a high degree of peak flattening can be achieved using surprisingly small load-coordination networks. The optimum reductions achieved by the simple schema can outperform existing techniques, giving substantial peak-reductions as well as being remarkably robust to changes in other system parameters such as the interaction network topology. This not only demonstrates that significant reductions in network peaks are achievable using remarkably simple control systems but also reveals interesting theoretical results and new insights which will be of great interest to the complexity and network science communities.

Experimental models of ecological niches for African swine fever virus.

In this study, we investigated the possible biological factors affecting the survival of the African swine fever virus (ASFV) in the environment and their potential to influence the ecology of the ASFV. Specifically, we tested the survival and replication of ASFV in four phylogenetically distinct organisms: Paramecium caudatum, Dendrobaena alpine, Aedes aegypti andXeropicta derbentina using qReal-Time PCR and hemadsorbtion analysis. Levels of ASFV in earthworms (Dendrobaena alpina) and soil declined at similar rates, suggesting that earthworms likely have no influence on the ecology of the ASFV. Ciliates (Paramecium caudatum) significantly increase the rate of ASFV disappearance from the aquatic environment, probably using the virus as a food source. Mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) do not provide significant support for the persistence of ASF virus in the environment, with no evidence for transmission to their offspring or pigs that ingested mosquitoes. ASFV persisted for much longer in air-breathing land snails (Xeropicta derbentina) than in the soil. Moreover, transcription of viral genes was maintained within the snail, although the question of full-fledged viral replication is still open. In addition, the active movements of snails suggests that they could play a role in the spread of the virus. The virus is likely to be localized in the intestines of snails as it is regularly excreted from their feces. These results highlight the importance of investigating invertebrates for understanding ASFV surviving, spreading and transmission in natural populations with zoonotic transmission potential.

First Report of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus Co-infecting Pepper with Tomato chino La Paz virus in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Chile peppers are among the most common and important crops in the State of Baja California Sur, Mexico, where diverse varieties of this crop are annually cultivated. The "chile ancho" (Capsicum annuum L. var. ancho poblano) is one of the most popular hot peppers that is exported fresh to the United States. During a survey in December of 2007 in an experimental field of the CIBNOR in El Carrizal, one of the principal farm districts in the state, a high incidence of yellowing, stunted growth with shortened internodes, foliage discoloration, malformation and crinkle, abortion of flowers, and reduction in size and quantity of fruit were noted in chile ancho. Symptoms and the presence of large populations of whiteflies in the field suggested a possible viral etiology of disease. The symptoms of disease were successfully transmitted by grafting from field plants to tomato and pepper test plants. Samples from both field and test plants were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and molecular techniques. SEM study revealed groups of geminate particles characteristic of begomoviruses (Geminiviridae) in phloem tissue of randomly selected symptomatic plants (four field and two test plants). Total DNA from 12 symptomatic plants (eight naturally infected and four test plants) was obtained by a modified Dellaporta method and analyzed by PCR using the begomovirus universal primers prRepDGR (2) and prC889 (3). Amplicons of ~1.4 kb were obtained from all plant samples and PCR products from four of them were cloned into pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI) and subsequently analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using EcoRI and HinfI. Two distinct restriction fragment patterns were observed among the cloned PCR products, indicating the occurrence of at least two viruses in the infected plant tissues. The four examined samples contained the same two begomoviruses according to the RFLP analysis data. The complete sequence of the genomic component A of those viruses was determined by PCR amplification of viral DNA with universal, degenerate primers previously described (2), the subsequent cloning of overlapped PCR products, and sequencing. The full-length DNA-A sequence was assembled and compared with viral sequences available at the GenBank database using BlastN and the ClustalV alignment method (MegAlign; DNASTAR, Madison, WI). The 2,781-bp complete genome sequence of one co-infecting monopartite begomovirus (Accession No. HM459851) displayed the highest identity (99%) with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), isolate Guasave, Sinaloa (Accession No. FJ609655). The 2,609-bp DNA-A sequence of the second begomovirus exhibited the highest nucleotide identity (96%) with Tomato chino La Paz virus (ToChLPV)-[Baja California Sur] (Accession No. AY339619). The presence of TYLCV in this region of Mexico had not been previously reported nor was ToChLPV detected in pepper until now. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a mixed infection of pepper plants with TYLCV and a bipartite begomovirus in Baja California Peninsula. Since the high frequency of recombination events observed in begomovirus mixed infections involving TYLCV (1), it would be important to monitor the possible emergence of ToChLPV-TYLCV recombinants with higher potential virulence. References: (1) S. García-Andrés et al. Virology 365:210, 2007. (2) A. Mauricio-Castillo et al. Plant Dis. 91:1513, 2007. (3) S. D. Wyatt and J. K. Brown. Phytopathology 86:1288, 1996.