Opportunities and limitations of crop phenotyping in southern european countries

ReviewThe Mediterranean climate is characterized by hot dry summers and frequent droughts. Mediterranean crops are frequently subjected to high evapotranspiration demands, soil water deficits, high temperatures, and photo-oxidative stress. These conditions will become more severe due to global warming which poses major challenges to the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Mediterranean countries. Selection of crop varieties adapted to future climatic conditions and more tolerant to extreme climatic events is urgently required. Plant phenotyping is a crucial approach to address these challenges. High-throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) helps to monitor the performance of improved genotypes and is one of the most effective strategies to improve the sustainability of agricultural production. In spite of the remarkable progress in basic knowledge and technology of plant phenotyping, there are still several practical, financial, and political constraints to implement HTPP approaches in field and controlled conditions across the Mediterranean. The European panorama of phenotyping is heterogeneous and integration of phenotyping data across different scales and translation of “phytotron research” to the field, and from model species to crops, remain major challenges. Moreover, solutions specifically tailored to Mediterranean agriculture (e.g., crops and environmental stresses) are in high demand, as the region is vulnerable to climate change and to desertification processes. The specific phenotyping requirements of Mediterranean crops have not yet been fully identified. The high cost of HTPP infrastructures is a major limiting factor, though the limited availability of skilled personnel may also impair its implementation in Mediterranean countries. We propose that the lack of suitable phenotyping infrastructures is hindering the development of new Mediterranean agricultural varieties and will negatively affect future competitiveness of the agricultural sector. We provide an overview of the heterogeneous panorama of phenotyping within Mediterranean countries, describing the state of the art of agricultural production, breeding initiatives, and phenotyping capabilities in five countries: Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. We characterize some of the main impediments for development of plant phenotyping in those countries and identify strategies to overcome barriers and maximize the benefits of phenotyping and modeling approaches to Mediterranean agriculture and related sustainabilityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Action and behavior: a free-energy formulation

We have previously tried to explain perceptual inference and learning under a free-energy principle that pursues Helmholtz’s agenda to understand the brain in terms of energy minimization. It is fairly easy to show that making inferences about the causes of sensory data can be cast as the minimization of a free-energy bound on the likelihood of sensory inputs, given an internal model of how they were caused. In this article, we consider what would happen if the data themselves were sampled to minimize this bound. It transpires that the ensuing active sampling or inference is mandated by ergodic arguments based on the very existence of adaptive agents. Furthermore, it accounts for many aspects of motor behavior; from retinal stabilization to goal-seeking. In particular, it suggests that motor control can be understood as fulfilling prior expectations about proprioceptive sensations. This formulation can explain why adaptive behavior emerges in biological agents and suggests a simple alternative to optimal control theory. We illustrate these points using simulations of oculomotor control and then apply to same principles to cued and goal-directed movements. In short, the free-energy formulation may provide an alternative perspective on the motor control that places it in an intimate relationship with perception

A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service

This paper presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. We illustrate this integration using two services; Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS) in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Advanced techniques are used to demonstrate statistical services and 3D Visualisation services under the remit of RMaaS and Monte Carlo Simulation as a Service behind the design of RAaaS. Computational results are presented with their implications discussed. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly and accurately with the use of BIaaS. This case study confirms the benefits of BIaaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management and stakeholders of University of Southampton