Proposals for Innovation and Improvement of the Quality of Life in Caprine Pastoralist Communities of Subsistence in the Monte Desert, Argentina

In a satisfactory alliance between the main environmental policy organizations and the academy, the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification (ONDTyT) is created. The ONDTyD provides information regarding status and trends of land degradation/desertification in order to promote prevention and mitigation measures used for advising public and private decision-makers in Argentina. It is based in the development of 17 Pilot Sites that constitutes the local level network, providing bio-physical and socio-economic indicators of land degradation. In this network the pilot site of the Monte, the largest dry region of Argentina (Lavalle desert, Mendoza), aims to improve the living conditions of native communities dedicated to subsistence goat farming, located below the poverty line. Precipitation ranges from 80-100 mm/year, strongly affecting productive activities. The proposal includes innovative traits in an area whose natural resources have been devastated. It is framed within a conception of rural territory development generating sustainable development strategies of rural indigenous communities, improve the status of the ecosystem through an integral management of natural and cultural resources, and improve socioeconomic conditions of inhabitants, compatibilizing ecosystem regeneration with investment in infrastructure and services, diversification of productive activities and generation of employment. An interdisciplinary group designed the proposal and the integrated desertification assessment in the fields with active community participation through their knowledge, land and livestock. The pilot case can be replicated throughout the territory. The work combines participatory and integrated methodologies, showing that the Observatory is a successful example of partnership building between the political and scientific-technological sectors in Argentina

Optical Writing of Magnetic Properties by Remanent Photostriction.

We present an optically induced remanent photostriction in BiFeO_{3}, resulting from the photovoltaic effect, which is used to modify the ferromagnetism of Ni film in a hybrid BiFeO_{3}/Ni structure. The 75% change in coercivity in the Ni film is achieved via optical and nonvolatile control. This photoferromagnetic effect can be reversed by static or ac electric depolarization of BiFeO_{3}. Hence, the strain dependent changes in magnetic properties are written optically, and erased electrically. Light-mediated straintronics is therefore a possible approach for low-power multistate control of magnetic elements relevant for memory and spintronic applications

Biotic and Abiotic Drivers of Topsoil Organic Carbon Concentration in Drylands Have Similar Effects at Regional and Global Scales

Drylands contain 25% of the world’s soil organic carbon (SOC), which is controlled by many factors, both abiotic and biotic. Thus, understanding how these factors control SOC concentration can help to design more sustainable land-use practices in drylands aiming to foster and preserve SOC storage, something particularly important to fight ongoing global warming. We use two independent, largescale databases with contrasting geographic coverage (236 sites in global drylands and 185 sites in Patagonia, Argentina) to evaluate the relative importance of abiotic (precipitation, temperature and soil texture) and biotic (primary productivity) factors as drivers of SOC concentration in drylands at global and regional scales. We found that biotic and abiotic factors had similar effects on SOC concentration across regional and global scales: Maximum temperature and sand content had negative effects, while precipitation and plant productivity exerted positive effects. Our findings provide empirical evidence that increases in temperature and reductions in rainfall, as forecasted by climatic models in many drylands worldwide, promote declines in SOC both directly and indirectly via the reduction in plant productivity. This has important implications for the conservation of drylands under climate change; land management should seek to enhance plant productivity as a tool to offset the negative impact of climate change on SOC storage and on associated ecosystem services.Estación Experimental Agropecuaria BarilocheFil: Gaitan, Juan Jose. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Suelos; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Luján. Departamento de Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Maestre, Fernando T. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología. Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica; EspañaFil: Bran, Donaldo Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Buono, Gustavo Gabriel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Chubut; ArgentinaFil: Dougill, Andrew J. University of Leeds. School of Earth and Environment; Reino UnidoFil: Garcia Martinez, Guillermo Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Esquel; ArgentinaFil: Ferrante, Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; ArgentinaFil: Guuroh, Reginald Tang. CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana; GhanaFil: Linstadter, Anja. University of Cologne. Botanical Institute; AlemaniaFil: Massara Paletto, Virginia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Chubut; ArgentinaFil: Thomas, Andrew David. Aberystwyth University. Department of Geography and Earth Sciences; Reino UnidoFil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentin

Radial Star Formation Histories in 32 Nearby Galaxies

The spatially resolved star formation histories are studied for 32 normal star-forming galaxies drawn from the the Spitzer Extended Disk Galaxy Exploration Science survey. At surface brightness sensitivities fainter than 28 mag arcsec$^{-2}$, the new optical photometry is deep enough to complement archival ultraviolet and infrared imaging and to explore the properties of the emission well beyond the traditional optical extents of these nearby galaxies. Fits to the spectral energy distributions using a delayed star formation history model indicate a subtle but interesting average radial trend for the spiral galaxies: the inner stellar systems decrease in age with increasing radius, consistent with inside-out disk formation, but the trend reverses in the outermost regions with the stellar age nearly as old as the innermost stars. These results suggest an old stellar outer disk population formed through radial migration and/or the cumulative history of minor mergers and accretions of satellite dwarf galaxies. The subset of S0 galaxies studied here show the opposite trend compared to what is inferred for spirals: characteristic stellar ages that are increasingly older with radius for the inner portions of the galaxies, and increasingly younger stellar ages for the outer portions. This result suggests that either S0 galaxies are not well modeled by a delayed-$\tau$ model, and/or that S0 galaxies have a more complicated formation history than spiral galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1511.0328

Toward Rare-Earth-Free Permanent Magnets: A Combinatorial Approach Exploiting the Possibilities of Modeling, Shape Anisotropy in Elongated Nanoparticles, and Combinatorial Thin-Film Approach

The objective of the rare-earth free permanent magnets (REFREEPM) project is to develop a new generation of high-performance permanent magnets (PMs) without rare earths. Our approach is based on modeling using a combinatorial approach together with micromagnetic modeling and the realization of the modeled systems (I) by using a novel production of high-aspect-ratio (>5) nanostructrures (nanowires, nanorods, and nanoflakes) by exploiting the magnetic shape anisotropy of the constituents that can be produced via chemical nanosynthesis polyol process or electrodeposition, which can be consolidated with novel processes for a new generation of rare-earth free PMs with energy product in the range of 60 kJ/m3 < (BH)max < 160 kJ/m3 at room temperature, and (II) by using a high-throughput thin-film synthesis and high-throughput characterization approach to identify promising candidate materials that can be stabilized in a tetragonal or hexagonal structure by epitaxial growth on selected substrates, under various conditions of pressure, stoichiometry, and temperature. In this article, we report the progress so far in selected phases.This work is supported by European Commission (REFREEPERMAG project) grant number GA-NMP3-SL-2012-280670

Síntesis de proteína mediante la fermentación de la caña de azúcar adicionada con urea y un cultivo ácido láctico

The aim of this study was to evaluate the crude protein (CP) and true protein (TP) content of sugarcane after the solid-state fermentation process (SSF) with and without addition of urea or an inoculum of Pediococcus acidilactici, Lindner. Nine aerobic silos were used where three treatments were evaluated: ground whole cane (GWC), GWC plus 2% urea (GWCu) and GWC inoculated with 108 CFU of P. acidilactici (GWClab). pH, CP and TP levels were measured, as well as changes in the microbial populations. The pH was higher than 6.1, except for GWCu where it was lower (5.6; p&lt;0.05). The amounts of CP and TP were low, without differences between treatments until the end of the incubation period (72 h). Low amounts of lactic acid bacteria (lab) were observed in GWCu, with no significant differences in GWC and GWClab (p&gt;0.05). In the periods of 48 and 72 h, the number of cellulolytic and total bacteria were similar (p&gt;0.05) between treatments. The FES of sugarcane allows to conserve forage, but in the short term it does not improve the content of CP and TP in the dry matter (DM), even with the addition of probiotics or urea.El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el contenido de proteína cruda (PC) y proteína verdadera (PV) de la caña de azúcar después del proceso de fermentación en estado sólido (FES) con y sin adición de urea o un inóculo de Pediococcus acidilactici, Lindner. Se utilizaron nueve silos aerobios donde se evaluaron tres tratamientos: caña integral molida (CIM), CIM más 2% de urea (CIMu) y CIM inoculada con 108 UFC de P. acidilactici (CIMbal). Se midió el pH, niveles de PC y PV, así como cambios en las poblaciones microbianas. El pH fue superior a 6.1, con excepción de CIMu donde fue menor (5.6; p&lt;0.05). Las cantidades de PC y PV fueron bajas, sin diferencia entre tratamientos hasta el final del periodo de incubación (72 h). Se observaron bajas cantidades de bacterias ácido-lácticas (BAL) en CIMu, sin diferencias en CIM y CIMbal (p&gt;0.05). En los periodos de 48 y 72 h la cantidad de bacterias celulolíticas y totales fueron similares (p&gt;0.05) entre tratamientos. La FES de la caña de azúcar permite conservar forraje, pero en el corto plazo no mejora el contenido de PC y PV en la materia seca (MS), incluso con la adición de probiótico o urea

14 Examples of How LLMs Can Transform Materials Science and Chemistry: A Reflection on a Large Language Model Hackathon

Chemistry and materials science are complex. Recently, there have been great successes in addressing this complexity using data-driven or computational techniques. Yet, the necessity of input structured in very specific forms and the fact that there is an ever-growing number of tools creates usability and accessibility challenges. Coupled with the reality that much data in these disciplines is unstructured, the effectiveness of these tools is limited. Motivated by recent works that indicated that large language models (LLMs) might help address some of these issues, we organized a hackathon event on the applications of LLMs in chemistry, materials science, and beyond. This article chronicles the projects built as part of this hackathon. Participants employed LLMs for various applications, including predicting properties of molecules and materials, designing novel interfaces for tools, extracting knowledge from unstructured data, and developing new educational applications. The diverse topics and the fact that working prototypes could be generated in less than two days highlight that LLMs will profoundly impact the future of our fields. The rich collection of ideas and projects also indicates that the applications of LLMs are not limited to materials science and chemistry but offer potential benefits to a wide range of scientific disciplines