Identifying Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Rate Irrigation – An Updated Review

Variable rate irrigation (VRI) sprinklers on mechanical move irrigation systems (center pivot or lateral move) have been commercially available since 2004. Although the number of VRI, zone or individual sprinkler, systems adopted to date is lower than expected there is a continued interest to harness this technology, especially when climate variability, regulatory nutrient management, water conservation policies, and declining water for agriculture compound the challenges involved for irrigated crop production. This article reviews the potential advantages and potential disadvantages of VRI technology for moving sprinklers, provides updated examples on such aspects, suggests a protocol for designing and implementing VRI technology and reports on the recent advancements. The advantages of VRI technology are demonstrated in the areas of agronomic improvement, greater economic returns, environmental protection and risk management, while the main drawbacks to VRI technology include the complexity to successfully implement the technology and the lack of evidence that it assures better performance in net profit or water savings. Although advances have been made in VRI technologies, its penetration into the market will continue to depend on tangible and perceived benefits by producers

Using Genetic Algorithms to Improve Support Vector Regression in the Analysis of Atomic Spectra of Lubricant Oils

[Abstract] Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality of commercial lubricant oils. A spectroscopic method was used in combination with multivariate regression techniques (ordinary multivariate multiple regression, principal components analysis, partial least squares, and support vector regression (SVR)). Design/methodology/approach – The rationale behind the use of SVR was the fuzzy characteristics of the signal and its inherent ability to find nonlinear, global solutions in highly complex dimensional input spaces. Thus, SVR allows extracting useful information from calibration samples that makes it possible to characterize physical-chemical properties of the lubricant oils. Findings – A dataset of 42 spectra measured from oil standards was studied to assess the concentration of copper into the oils and, thus, evaluate the wearing of the machinery. It was found that the use of SVR was very advantageous to get a regression model. Originality/value – The use of genetic algorithms coupled to SVR was considered in order to reduce the time needed to find the optimal parameters required to get a suitable prediction model

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of lipids from Eucalyptus globulus wood

7 páginas, 2 tablas, 1 gráfico, 10 referencias.Various typical lipid components of wood extractives have been isolated from Eucalyptus globulus wood by supercritical carbon dioxide modified with methanol. The influence of various extraction parameters on the yield and qualitative composition of the extracts have been studied. The extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and compared with those obtained by Soxhlet extraction with acetone, the standard method for the determination of wood extractives. The qualitative and quantitative results obtained by both methods were in good agreement. The experimental planning to asses the influence of pressure, temperature and percentage of methanol and their interactions on the extraction efficiency was carried out with a factorial design, followed by multiple linear regression algorithm.This research has been supported by the projects PB95-0079 (Spanish CICYT) and FAIR CT95-0560 (UE-Commission).Peer reviewe

Hybrid Model Based on Genetic Algorithms and SVM Applied to Variable Selection Within Fruit Juice Classification

Research article[Abstract] Given the background of the use of Neural Networks in problems of apple juice classification, this paper aim at implementing a newly developed method in the field of machine learning: the Support Vector Machines (SVM). Therefore, a hybrid model that combines genetic algorithms and support vector machines is suggested in such a way that, when using SVM as a fitness function of the Genetic Algorithm (GA), the most representative variables for a specific classification problem can be selected

Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms with higher proportions of dormant bacteria induce a lower activation of murine macrophages

Staphylococcus epidermidis an opportunistic pathogen due to its ability to establish biofilms on indwelling medical devices. The presence of high amounts of dormant bacteria is a hallmark of biofilms, making them more tolerant to antimicrobials and to the host immune response. We observed that S. epidermidis biofilms grown in excess glucose accumulated high amounts of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria, as assessed by their low ratio of culturable bacteria over the number of viable bacteria. This effect, which was a consequence of the accumulation of acidic compounds due to glucose metabolism, was counteracted by high extracellular levels of calcium and magnesium added to the culture medium allowing modulation of the proportions of VBNC bacteria within S. epidermidis biofilms. Using bacterial inocula obtained from biofilms with high and low proportions of VBNC bacteria, their stimulatory effect on murine macrophages was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The inoculum enriched in VBNC bacteria induced in vitro a lower production of TNF-α, interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 by bone-marrow-derived murine macrophages and, in vivo, a lower stimulatory effect on peritoneal macrophages, assessed by increased surface expression of Gr1 and MHC class II molecules. Overall, these results show that environmental conditions, such as pH and extracellular levels of calcium and magnesium, can account to induce dormancy in S. epidermidis biofilms. Moreover, they show that bacterial suspensions enriched in dormant cells are less inflammatory suggesting that dormancy can contribute to the immune evasion of biofilms.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) PTDC/BIAMIC/113450/2009 and FEDER FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014679. FC, AF and EBA were respectively supported by FCT fellowships SFRH/BD/27638/ 2006, SFRH/BD/62359/2009 and SFRH/BD/38380/200

Modelando o BSC para as Universidades do Sistema ACAFE

As Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES), percebendo o acirramento da concorrência, reconhecem a importância de repensar sua forma de gestão, buscando uma visão mais competitiva e continuada. Assim, com o objetivo de contribuir para a gestão estratégica dessas instituições, especificamente as pertencentes ao sistema ACAFE, foi utilizada neste estudo a ferramenta de gestão Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Algumas etapas foram necessárias à sua adequação às universidades fundacionais catarinenses. Apresentaram-se e identificaram-se algumas características existentes no ambiente das universidades fundacionais catarinenses e suas peculiaridades em relação a outras organizações que não integram esse setor; realizaram-se os ajustes necessários à ferramenta Balanced Scorecard às universidades do sistema ACAFE; bem como a proposta da ferramenta auxiliar denominado mapa estratégico. Por último demonstrou-se a possibilidade de se desenvolver e utilizar o BSC acadêmico institucional como forma de integrar mais de um campus a gestão focada na estratégia.Balanced Scorecard, BSC, Universidades, ACAFE

Automatic structures for semigroup constructions

We survey results concerning automatic structures for semigroup constructions, providing references and describing the corresponding automatic structures. The constructions we consider are: free products, direct products, Rees matrix semigroups, Bruck-Reilly extensions and wreath products.Comment: 22 page

Dynamic Scaling in Diluted Systems Phase Transitions: Deactivation trough Thermal Dilution

Activated scaling is confirmed to hold in transverse field induced phase transitions of randomly diluted Ising systems. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations have been made not just at the percolation threshold but well bellow and above it including the Griffiths-McCoy phase. A novel deactivation phenomena in the Griffiths-McCoy phase is observed using a thermal (in contrast to random) dilution of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

Stabilization of apoptotic cells: generation of zombie cells

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Apoptosis is characterized by degradation of cell components but plasma membrane remains intact. Apoptotic microtubule network (AMN) is organized during apoptosis forming a cortical structure beneath plasma membrane that maintains plasma membrane integrity. Apoptotic cells are also characterized by high reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that can be potentially harmful for the cell. The aim of this study was to develop a method that allows stabilizing apoptotic cells for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. By using a cocktail composed of taxol (a microtubule stabilizer), Zn2+ (a caspase inhibitor) and coenzyme Q10 (a lipid antioxidant), we were able to stabilize H460 apoptotic cells in cell cultures for at least 72 h, preventing secondary necrosis. Stabilized apoptotic cells maintain many apoptotic cell characteristics such as the presence of apoptotic microtubules, plasma membrane integrity, low intracellular calcium levels and mitochondrial polarization. Apoptotic cell stabilization may open new avenues in apoptosis detection and therapy.This work was supported by FIS PI10/00543 grant, Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain, and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER-Unión Europea), SAS 111242 grant, Servicio Andaluz de Salud-Junta de Andalucía, Proyecto de Investigación de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía CTS-5725, BFU2012-38208 and by AEPMI (Asociación de Enfermos de Patología Mitocondrial).Peer Reviewe