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

Evaluation of intravarietal genetic variability of agronomic traits and stress tolerance in the Portuguese grapevine variety Arinto

Mestrado em Engenharia de Viticultura e Enologia (Double degree) / Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa / Faculdade de Ciências. Universidade do PortoThe valorization of genetic variability through the identification of the most suitable genotypes seems to be an effective strategy for tackling ongoing climate change. Heat and drought affect grapevine physiology in numerous aspects but still little information is available on intravarietal variability regarding responses to these stress. The objective of this work is to study the intravarietal genetic variability of the Portuguese variety Vitis vinifera L. CV Arinto in terms of yield and tolerance to abiotic stress, through indirect, rapid and non-destructive measurements carried out in the field. The experiment took place in PORVID’s experimental vineyard in Pegões (Setubal, Portugal). The traits analyzed were Surface Leaf Temperature (SLT), yield, pruning wood weight, NDVI (Normalized Differences Vegetation Index), PRI (Photochemical Reflectance Index) and chlorophyll content through SPAD index. Linear mixed models were fitted to the data of the several traits evaluated, and the empirical best linear unbiased predictors (EBLUPs) of genotypic effects were obtained as well as the coefficient of genotypic variation (CVG) and broad sense heritability. The trait with the highest CVG was found to be yield, followed by those based on PRI and SPAD indices. Some hypotheses for polyclonal selection were explored: the highest predicted genetic gains were obtained with the selection based on the yield and on PRI and SPAD indices. In general, weak correlations between predicted genotypic values were found between the evaluated traits. The results obtained confirmed the effectiveness of the phenotyping methods and the experimental design usedN/

Improvisatory home heating: the gap between intended and actual use of radiators and TRVs

Ongoing modification and change is core to how domestic and built environments function. Thus occupants domestication and development of home heating practices around low-carbon technologies is likely to exceed what building engineering sciences have the ability to plan ahead for. Yet, environmental policies and low -carbon industry approaches to sustainable energy consumption are characterised by a high degree of technological determinism. Disciplinary approaches to sustainable energy consumption tend to separate home heating into stable, routine interaction with control points, environmental factors and socio-demographic drivers. Framing low-carbon technical change in isolation from domestic environments often leads to a gap between intended and actual use of technologies. By focusing on TRVs (thermostatic radiators valve) and radiators, this thesis takes an interdisciplinary turn to jointly examine the social and environmental elements of households energy use. A turn to sensory ethnography and practice-place relationships offers a way to better understand how people use energy for space heating in relation to the buildings they live in and how improvisatory uses of technologies emerge from flows of material, domestic, sensory and physical contingencies of the home. Combining home video tours with building energy monitoring in eight homes, the thesis demonstrates that home heating is a place-event of the home because heating systems and energy consumption are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Environmental elements show that the social and technical are inseparable in energy used for space heating and individual elements imply that the domestication of technologies is highly unpredictable. The thesis synthesises findings into a taxonomy table of irregular radiator and TRV use. On the one hand, irregularities indicate that improvisatory uses of technologies are productive sources of sustainable change because they can be potential sites for co-design. On the other hand, the interwoven character of the social and technical in households energy use critically challenges how environmental policy, low-carbon industry and disciplinary approaches frame intervention into sustainable energy consumption. The thesis argues for the value of logic of intervention and sustainable change that is collaborative, system-focused and gradually uncovers interrelationships

Predictive method for correct identification of archaeological charred grape seeds: Support for advances in knowledge of grape domestication process

The identification of archaeological charred grape seeds is a difficult task due to the alteration of the morphological seeds shape. In archaeobotanical studies, for the correct discrimination between Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris and Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera grape seeds it is very important to understand the history and origin of the domesticated grapevine. In this work, different carbonisation experiments were carried out using a hearth to reproduce the same burning conditions that occurred in archaeological contexts. In addition, several carbonisation trials on modern wild and cultivated grape seeds were performed using a muffle furnace. For comparison with archaeological materials, modern grape seed samples were obtained using seven different temperatures of carbonisation ranging between 180 and 340°C for 120 min. Analysing the grape seed size and shape by computer vision techniques, and applying the stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA) method, discrimination of the wild from the cultivated charred grape seeds was possible. An overall correct classification of 93.3% was achieved. Applying the same statistical procedure to compare modern charred with archaeological grape seeds, found in Sardinia and dating back to the Early Bronze Age (2017-1751 2σ cal. BC), allowed 75.0% of the cases to be identified as wild grape. The proposed method proved to be a useful and effective procedure in identifying, with high accuracy, the charred grape seeds found in archaeological sites. Moreover, it may be considered valid support for advances in the knowledge and comprehension of viticulture adoption and the grape domestication process. The same methodology may also be successful when applied to other plant remains, and provide important information about the history of domesticated plant

Perceiving with the eyes and with the hands

This article revolves around two experimental examples involving students with and without visual impairment in learning mathematics. The goal is to shed some light on the manner in which learning occurs and how concept formation is achieved within the students’ available sensorial modalities. The examples are analyzed through a theoretical cultural-historical approach to teaching and learning—the theory of knowledge objectification. A key feature of the theory, which is sketched in the first part of the article, is the idea of sensuous cognition. Within this theory, human cognition is not considered as a simple natural or biological feature of living beings. Human cognition is rather considered as a culturally and historically constituted sentient form of creatively responding, acting, feeling, imaging, ransforming, and making sense of the world. The classroom data illustrates the interplay of the various sensuous modalities in mathematical cognition in children with and without visual impairment and makes room for reenvisioning pedagogical actions in special mathematics education

브라질 카슈아나 국립공원에서의 인공적 생물군계 형성이 토양과 식생 구조에 미친 영향에 대한 연구

학위논문(석사)--서울대학교 대학원 :인문대학 고고미술사학과(고고학전공),2019. 8. David K. Wright.Amazonia has drawn the interest of researchers over the last few decades as a region where people modified their surrounding environment to sustain themselves. The process of modification is now known as landscape domestication, and historical ecology was developed based on this idea. Among the several major issues surrounding the landscape domestication of pre-Columbian Amazonians, the scale of landscape domestication is an important issue that is connected with other major problems in the history of Amazonia. To explore the scale of the pre-Columbian landscape domestication, several researchers focused on developing methods to calibrate landscape domestication by interpreting the modern landscape of Amazonia. This thesis presents regional research in the Caxiuanã National Forest (FNC) to provide a method to trace and calibrate pre-Columbian landscape domestication and understand how landscape domestication activities resulted in the creation of an anthropogenic biome (anthrome). With the data collected from the FNC and satellite images, the relationship between landscape domestication and soil, the link between soils and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and the correlation between landscape domestication and EVI are explored. The data are interpreted as indicating that (1) pedogenesis and pedoturbation are affected by landscape domestication; (2) soil properties affect the EVI values; (3) pre-Columbian landscape domestication has a positive correlation with the EVI values. The data also exhibit that the mutual and persistent interaction between humans and their surrounding environment ultimately led to the creation of anthromes, which significantly contributed to the formation of the modern landscape of Amazonia.아마조니아는 과거 사람들이 생존을 위해 환경을 변화시킨 지역의 대표적인 사례로서 지난 수십년간 연구자들의 주목을 받았다. 인간에 의한 환경 변화의 과정은 오늘날 경관 개변이라는 개념으로 정리되었으며, 이 경관 개변의 개념에 바탕을 두고 역사생태학이 정립되었다. 유럽인들의 도래 이전에 아마조니아에 거주하던 사람들의 경관 개변 활동과 관련된 여러 문제들 중 경관 개변의 규모에 대한 문제는 아마조니아의 역사에 대한 여러 문제들과 연결된 중요한 주제다. 경관 개변의 규모를 연구하기 위해서 여러 연구자들은 현대의 경관을 해석하는 것을 통해 경관 개변의 규모를 측정할 수 있는 방법론을 개발하는 것에 주목하였다. 이 논문은 유럽인들의 도래 이전의 아마조니아에 거주하던 사람들의 경관 개변 활동을 추적하고 측정하며, 경관 개변 활동이 어떻게 인공적 생태군계(앤스롬)의 형성으로 이어졌는지 이해할 수 있는 연구방법론을 제시하기 위해 카슈아나 국립공원에서 진행된 지역적 연구의 결과를 제시한다. 카슈아나 국립공원과 위성사진을 통해서 얻은 자료를 바탕으로 하여 경관 개변과 토양의 관계, 토양과 개량식생지수(EVI) 사이의 관계, 그리고 경관 개변과 개량식생지수 사이의 관계가 제시될 것이다. 연구의 결과 (1) 토양 형성과 토양의 교란 활동은 경관 개변에 의해 영향을 받는다는 것, (2) 개량식생지수가 토양의 속성에 영향을 받는다는 것, 그리고 (3) 경관 개변 활동의 여부가 개량식생지수와 상관관계를 가진다는 것이 밝혀졌다. 또한 과거 인간들과 환경 사이의 상호적이고 지속적인 상호작용이 앤스롬이 형성되도록 하였고, 이러한 앤스롬의 형성은 현대의 아마조니아의 경관을 형성하는데 중요한 역할을 했다는 것이 제시될 것이다.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. Background 7 2.1. Historical Ecology, Landscape Domestication and Anthrome Formation 7 2.2. Anthrome Construction in Pre-Columbian Amazonia 11 2.3. Exploring Past Human Activities through Soil in Amazonia 19 2.4. Utilizing Vegetation Indices to Trace and Calibrate Pre-Columbian Landscape Domestication 21 Chapter 3. Materials and Methods 24 3.1. Selecting the Research Area 24 3.2. Testing the Effect of Landscape Domestication on Soils Using OSL 33 3.3. Testing the Effect of Soil on EVI 39 3.4. Examining the Relationship between Landscape Domestication and EVI 43 3.5. Assessing the Contribution of Landscape Domestication to the Creation of Anthrome 48 Chapter 4. Results 51 4.1. Results of OSL 51 4.2. Results of ANOVA using Soil Class and EVI 54 4.3. The Models and Comparisons with Previously Reported Sites 55 4.4. Assessment of the Effects of Modern Human Activities on EVI 60 4.5. Results of Pedestrian Surveys and Soil Profiling 62 4.6. Archaeological Excavations in Ibama and Forte 70 4.7. Results of the Radiocarbon Dating 75 Chapter 5. Discussion 76 Chapter 6. Conclusion 85 Bibliography 89 국문초록 106Maste

Stitching, Healing and Empowering: Interrogating the Garden as a Space of Reclamation, Occupied Palestine

This folio sets out recent projects by Sharif and Golzari for the Palestine Regeneration Team (PART) which explores how architecture can ‘stitch, heal and empower’ communities in Occupied Palestine, combining built and speculative design. Founded with Murray Fraser in 2008, PART’s recent work explores how garden, landscape and green space can be used in reinforcing their identity and relationship to the land. Sharif and Golzari’s approach brings forward ‘absent’ narratives through spatial means. Using techniques of ‘social mapping’ and analysis of everyday life and traditional cultural practices, the projects promote low-cost, sustainable responses, forming part of an ongoing group of interlinked projects which offer architectural interventions to heal rural communities in Palestine. Projects can be seen as models, working and tested prototypes for other villages across the West Bank and Gaza. PART works with local NGOs, UN-Habitat and municipalities through the repair of landscapes and the regeneration of historic village centres across the West Bank and in the reconstruction of destroyed neighbourhoods in Gaza. This folio features case studies reflecting how PART’s pragmatic built interventions are complemented by more speculative and experimental design work. The former is represented here by the Beit Iksa project near Jerusalem, a part-ruined village regenerated through design participation into a stable and productive landscape where vegetable gardens and eco-playgrounds become spaces of reclamation. The more speculative work includes the Digital Garden project, part of both broader international dissemination of the built work and a method to develop and promote a positive, Palestinian-based creative response to a threatened identity that explores the potential for stealth interventions within the fissures created by Israeli occupation. PART’s work was shortlisted for the RIBA research awards 2016, and The Digital Garden was exhibited at the 2019 AWAN Festival UK, the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the 2020 Berlinale