An unexpected actor in ammonium assimilation in conifer trees

Conifers are tree species with enormous environmental and economic interests but with several characteristics that complicate their investigation (big size, secondary compounds, large long-life cycles, megagenomes…). However, they are well adapted to ammonium-rich soils being a good model to study ammonium assimilation in plants. Although they have a special feature, only two glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) genes, GS1a and GS1b, coding for cytosolic proteins, have been identified. In angiosperms and in the gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba there are two types of this enzyme responsible of the ammonium assimilation: GS1 expressed in the cytosol and GS2 in the plastids. Until the date, the searches of new GS1 and GS2 genes in conifers have been made with classical biochemical and molecular biology techniques without satisfactory results. In the present context, the emergence of the next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has open new opportunities in the resolution of old problems. They have allowed the whole sequencing of the massive conifer genomes and the analysis of their transcriptomes. Thus, in the framework of the European project ProCoGen, a gene expression atlas of the tissues of one-month seedlings was carried out using laser capture microdissection (LCM) and massive sequencing in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), which is a conifer tree from the Southwestern Mediterranean region1. From the analysis of this work, a new gene coding for a new putative cytosolic GS has been identified, PpGS1c. 1Cañas, RA et al. (2017). Plant J, 91. 1064-1087Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Project funding by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-69285-R and MicroNUpE (BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE

Redes agrometeorológicas: histórico e estudos de casos em agrometeorologia.

RESUMO: Este trabalho objetiva identificar as origens de ações em rede na meteorologia, relatada a partir do século XIX, considerando os aspectos tecnológicos e institucionais que contribuíram para viabilizar sua formação. O artigo contempla também a análise de duas experiências envolvendo redes no campo da Meteorologia Agrícola que visam contribuir para a redução de riscos agrícolas associados às condições do tempo e clima em território brasileiro. Os casos analisados foram: a implementação do Zoneamento Agrícola de Riscos Climáticos e o desenvolvimento do sistema Agritempo

THE CALCIUM LOOPING CYCLE STUDY FOR CAPTURING CARBON DIOXIDE APPLIED TO THE ENERGY GENERATION

The calcium looping process (Ca-L) is a promising technology to reduce of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when applied in energy generation systems. Ca-based materials (usually limestone) are used in this process as CO2 sorbents. Thus, the CO2 capture occurs by the reversible reaction between calcium oxide (CaO) and CO2, resulting in the calcium carbonate form (CaCO3). Compared to other technologies applied to carbon sequestration process, the Ca-L offers additional advantages such: the use of fluidized bed technology that is already well established; this process occurs at high temperature, and the excess of heat generated can be recovered; the cost of limestone sorbents is low because of its wide availability. However, in the applying the Ca-L process is essential to understand the mechanism and the effect of partial pressure of CO2 in both, calcination and carbonation processes; to investigate the effect of sintering and to evaluate the sorbent activity decay. In this paper, empirical technique such as thermogravimetry is applied to investigate the reactivity of dolomite as CO2 sorbent. The effect of CO2 high concentrations in both calcination/carbonation processes is also investigated

Creation of blenders in the conservative setting

In this work we prove that each C^r conservative diffeomorphism with a pair of hyperbolic periodic points of co-index one can be C^1-approximated by C^r conservative diffeomorphisms having a blender.Comment: 4 figures, 16 figure

A fuzzy logic model for the analysis of social corporate responsibility

Introduction: Critical public opinion, based on information that is made available to the public through different systems, has led companies that operate in the environment to continually improve their social, environmental, and ethical performance. Objectives: This paper aims to propose a fuzzy-logic-based model for the analysis of social corporate responsibility in cases of environmental accidents. Methods: Our study employs techniques derived from social network analysis. The data was collected from the online database of The New York Times for the timespan from March 24, 1989, to September 1, 2017. Results: The results show that the proposed model can be replicated, after some adjustments. Conclusion: We conclude that, despite the complexity of an analysis of this kind in which the model is applied considering isolated words in the text and not the semantic aspects, the proposed model based on fuzzy logic is adequate for the analysis of social corporate responsibility.We would like to thank professors Mariana Claudia Broens, Jose Arthur Quilici Gonzalez and Maria Eunice Quilici Gonzalez for the helpful supervision and indications during the fundamental stages of this research. This paper was supported by the "Understanding opinion and language dynamics using massive data", funded by The São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP (reference: 2016/50256-0) (Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities, Digging into Data Challenges). We would like to thank the whole team of this project for their discussion and feedback. Ana Claudia Golzio also received support by FAPESP (process number: 2019/08442-9) during the development of this paper, and Mirelys Puerta-Díaz received funding from Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) - Financial Code 001

Novel memory-based sensory approach to assess large-scale typicality: the case of mainland Portugal red wines

Twenty professional wine experts were asked to describe their prototypical construct of a representative young red wine from each of the 12 Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) of mainland Portugal. No samples were assessed; the experiment was based on memory alone by completion of 12 extended self-reported sensory questionnaires. Four large-scale areas were differentiated, the typicality being statistically validated and described from a sensory standpoint. Alcohol, acidity, bitterness, and astringency were cross-linked; the respective variations were correlated with published literature and expressed as key factors for the regional macroscale area differentiation. Bitterness and astringency were found to be sensory different and related on a geographical scale, as bitterness was primarily affected by inland/coastal influence; while astringency confirmed its customary north/south dependence that finding is to be considered a new understanding. Moreover, with the proposed methodology, it was possible to achieve a novel nationwide sensory characterization of PGIs, overcoming present day limitations on macroscale sensory research and sample representativeness. Results by uncalibrated prototypical memory assessment of single PGI Beira Atlântico were compared with the outcome of calibrated wine sampling assessment by local experts, using the same sensory questionnaire, and were found significantly correlated. The need for a calibration stage was found uneven regarding the overall group of scrutinized wine descriptors