Concentración de nutrientes en tres variedades de stevia [Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni] cultivadas en un Ultisol

Las ventajas de la stevia para la salud humana han promovido que las superficies sembradas aumenten en Paraguay, razón por la cual en los últimos años se han implementado mejoras en las prácticas agronómicas, incluyendo el manejo, la utilización de fertirriego, protectores de plásticos así también fertilizaciones más rentables. Por lo mencionado anteriormente, esta investigación tuvo como objetivo evaluar el estado nutrimental de tres variedades de stevia, para poder recomendar prácticas de fertilización más precisas para los productores.CONACYT – Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y TecnologíaPROCIENCI

Diagnóstico de la fertilidad química de suelos (Rhodic Paleudult) en sistemas agrarios y forestal de la región Oriental de Paraguay

Soil management systems affect the quality and sustainability of agricultural production, especially in the tropics. The soils of the Vaquería area of Paraguay present an extreme fragility to overexploitation, due to the high extraction of nutrients from the soil. A frequent practice to reduce its degradation is direct sowing, although this system increases yield in a short term, as time passes since its implementation, a decrease in productivity is observed. This could be due to the overexploitation of the resource and the low replacement of the nutrients extracted by the crop. The objective of this study was to determine the chemical properties of the soil in which direct sowing has been practiced for 15 years and to compare them with those of a soil under pasture established on agricultural soil. The soil chosen was a Rhodic Paleudult, sandy, poor in organic matter and low CEC, representative of the area. Three management systems were compared: (a) the direct sowing of soybeans and corn without removing harvest residues (fifteen consecutive years); with (b) a native pasture; and, with (c) natural forest as witness. The experimental design was randomized blocks with five replications. The samples were taken 3 consecutive years (2017, 2018 and 2019) soil samples were collected from the 0 to 20 cm layer. The samples were analyzed to determine pH, organic matter, Al3+, CEC, macro and micronutrients, to evaluate their dynamics in a short time. The study did not reveal significant variations during the 3 years of follow-up in any of the parameters evaluated. The comparison of the treatments showed that the soil managed with direct sowing presented higher acidity and lower availability of nutrients compared to the pasture and the forest.Los sistemas de manejos de suelos afectan la calidad y sostenibilidad de la producción agrícola, especialmente en los trópicos. Los suelos de la zona Vaquería de Paraguay presentan una extremada fragilidad a la sobreexplotación, por la alta extracción de nutrientes del suelo. Una práctica frecuente para reducir su degradación, es la siembra directa, si bien este sistema aumenta el rendimiento en el corto plazo, al transcurrir el tiempo desde su implementación, se observa descenso en la productividad. Ello podría deberse a la sobreexplotación del recurso y a la baja reposición de los nutrientes extraídos por el cultivo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar las propiedades químicas del suelo en que se ha practicado siembra directa durante 15 años y compararlas con las de un suelo bajo pastura establecida sobre suelo agrícola. El suelo elegido fue un Rhodic Paleudult, arenoso, pobre en materia orgánica y baja CIC, representativo de la zona. Se compararon tres sistemas de manejo: (a) el sistema de manejo siembra directa de soja y maíz sin que se retiren los residuos de cosecha (quince años consecutivos); con (b) una pastura nativa; y, con (c) bosque natural como testigo. El diseño experimental fue de bloques al azar con cinco repeticiones. Las muestras se tomaron 3 años consecutivos (2017, 2018 y 2019) se recolectaron muestras de suelos de la capa de 0 a 20 cm. Las muestras fueron analizadas para determinar pH, materia orgánica, Al3+, CIC, macro y micronutrientes, para evaluar su dinámica en el corto tiempo. El estudio no reveló variaciones significativas durante los 3 años de seguimiento, de ninguno de los parámetros evaluados. La comparación de los tratamientos mostró que, el suelo manejado con siembra directa presentó mayor acidez y menor disponibilidad de nutrientes en comparación con la pastura y el bosque

Using evolution strategies to reduce emergency services arrival time in case of accident

© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works[EN] A critical issue, especially in urban areas, is the occurrence of traffic accidents, since it could generate traffic jams. Additionally, these traffic jams will negatively affect to the rescue process, increasing the emergency services arrival time, which can determine the difference between life or death for injured people involved in the accident. In this paper, we propose four different approaches addressing the traffic congestion problem, comparing them to obtain the best solution. Using V2I communications, we are able to accurately estimate the traffic density in a certain area, which represents a key parameter to perform efficient traffic redirection, thereby reducing the emergency services arrival time, and avoiding traffic jams when an accident occurs. Specifically, we propose two approaches based on the Dijkstra algorithm, and two approaches based on Evolution Strategies. Results indicate that the Density-Based Evolution Strategy system is the best one among all the proposed solutions, since it offers the lowest emergency services travel times.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacióm , Spain, under Grant TIN2011-27543-C03-01, as well as by the Fundación Universitaria Antonio Gargallo, the Obra Social de Ibercaja, the Government of Aragon, and the European Social Fund (T91 Research Group).Barrachina Villalba, J.; Garrido, P.; Fogue, M.; Martínez, FJ.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Manzoni, P. (2013). Using evolution strategies to reduce emergency services arrival time in case of accident. En 2013 IEEE 25th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence. IEEE. 833-840. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTAI.2013.127S83384

Assessing Vehicular Density Estimation Using Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications

©2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Vehicle density is one of the main metrics used for assessing the road traffic conditions. In this paper, we present a solution to estimate the density of vehicles that has been specially designed for Vehicular Networks. Our proposal allows Intelligent Transportation Systems to continuously estimate the vehicular density by accounting for the number of beacons received per Road Side Unit, as well as the roadmap topology. Simulation results indicate that our approach accurately estimates the vehicular density, and therefore automatic traffic controlling systems may use it to predict traffic jams and introduce countermeasures. Index Terms—Vehicular Networks, vehicular density estimation, Road Side Unit, VANETs.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain, under Grant TIN2011-27543-C03-01.Barrachina Villalba, J.; Fogue, M.; Garrido, P.; Martínez, FJ.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Manzoni, P. (2013). Assessing Vehicular Density Estimation Using Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WoWMoM.2013.6583416

V2X-d: a Vehicular Density Estimation System that combines V2V and V2I Communications

© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Road traffic is experiencing a drastic increase, and vehicular traffic congestion is becoming a major problem, especially in metropolitan environments throughout the world. Additionally, in modern Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) communications, the high amount of information that can be generated and processed by vehicles will significantly increase message redundancy, channel contention, and message collisions, thus reducing the efficiency of message dissemination processes. In this work, we present a V2X architecture to estimate traffic density on the road that relies on the advantages of combining V2V and V2I communications. Our proposal uses both the number of beacons received per vehicle (V2V) and per RSU (V2I), as well as the roadmap topology features to estimate the vehicle density. By using our approach, modern Intelligent Transportation Systems will be able to reduce traffic congestion and also to adopt more efficient message dissemination protocols.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain, under Grant TIN2011-27543-C03-01, by the Fundación Universitaria Antonio Gargallo and the Obra Social de Ibercaja, under Grant 2013/B010, as well as the Government of Aragón and the European Social Fund (T91 Research Group).Barrachina Villalba, J.; Sangüesa, JA.; Fogue, M.; Garrido, P.; Martínez, FJ.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.... (2013). V2X-d: a Vehicular Density Estimation System that combines V2V and V2I Communications. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WD.2013.6686518

Der p 1 based immunotoxin as potential tool for the treatment of dust mite respiratory allergy

Immunotoxins appear as promising therapeutic molecules, alternative to allergen-specifcimmunotherapy. In this work, we achieved the development of a protein chimera able to promote specifc cell death on efector cells involved in the allergic reaction. Der p 1 allergen was chosen as cell-targeting domain and the powerful ribotoxin α-sarcin as the toxic moiety. The resultant construction, named proDerp1αS, was produced and purifed from the yeast Pichia pastoris. Der p 1-protease activity and α-sarcin ribonucleolytic action were efectively conserved in proDerp1αS. Immunotoxin impact was assayed by using efector cells sensitized with house dust mite-allergic sera. Cell degranulation and death, triggered by proDerp1αS, was exclusively observed on Der p 1 sera sensitized-humRBL-2H3 cells, but not when treated with non-allergic sera. Most notably, equivalent IgE-binding and degranulation were observed with both proDerp1αS construct and native Der p 1 when using purifed basophils from sensitized patients. However, proDerp1αS did not cause any cytotoxic efect on these cells, apparently due to its lack of internalization after their surface IgEbinding, showing the complex in vivo panorama governing allergic reactions. In conclusion, herein we present proDerp1αS as a proof of concept for a potential and alternative new designs of therapeutic tools for allergies. Development of new, and more specifc, second-generation of immunotoxins following proDerp1αS, is further discussed

Pulmonary vein flow split effects in patient-specific simulations of left atrial flow

Disruptions to left atrial (LA) blood flow, such as those caused by atrial fibrillation (AF), can lead to thrombosis in the left atrial appendage (LAA) and an increased risk of systemic embolism. LA hemodynamics are influenced by various factors, including LA anatomy and function, and pulmonary vein (PV) inflow conditions. In particular, the PV flow split can vary significantly among and within patients depending on multiple factors. In this study, we investigated how changes in PV flow split affect LA flow transport, focusing for the first time on blood stasis in the LAA, using a high-fidelity patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. We use an Immersed Boundary Method, simulating the flow in a fixed, uniform Cartesian mesh and imposing the movement of the LA walls with a moving Lagrangian mesh generated from 4D Computerized Tomography images. We analyzed LA anatomies from eight patients with varying atrial function, including three with AF and either a LAA thrombus or a history of Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs). Using four different flow splits (60/40% and 55/45% through right and left PVs, even flow rate, and same velocity through each PV), we found that flow patterns are sensitive to PV flow split variations, particularly in planes parallel to the mitral valve. Changes in PV flow split also had a significant impact on blood stasis and could contribute to increased risk for thrombosis inside the LAA, particularly in patients with AF and previous LAA thrombus or a history of TIAs. Our study highlights the importance of considering patient-specific PV flow split variations when assessing LA hemodynamics and identifying patients at increased risk for thrombosis and stroke. This knowledge is relevant to planning clinical procedures such as AF ablation or the implementation of LAA occluders.This work was partially supported by Comunidad de Madrid (Synergy Grant Y2018/BIO-4858 PREFI-CM), Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant number PID2019-107279RB-I00), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant numbers PI15/02211-ISBITAMI and DTS/1900063-ISBIFLOW), and by the EU-European Regional Development Fund. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga /CBU

Glucósidos en respuesta a dos fuentes de nutrición en Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

La Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni es una planta nativa de Paraguay conocida por el dulce sabor de sus hojas, en los últimos años la superficie sembrada ha aumentado considerablemente en varios países como alternativa ante el consumo de sacarosa. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la concentración de esteviósido y rebaudiosido A en hojas de Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, var. Eirete y su rendimiento con la aplicación de diferentes dosis de nitrógeno. El ensayo se llevó a cabo durante cuatro meses, como sustrato se utilizó una mezcla de suelo-tezontle (60:40%) y como fuente de nitrógeno gallinaza y lombricomposta en tres dosis: 1, 2, y 4 g N planta-1. Los tratamientos se generaron de un factorial completo 3 × 2, en condiciones de invernadero en un diseño de bloques completamente al azar, con cuatro repeticiones. El riego se aplicó por goteo mediante un cálculo de evapotranspiración diaria y con los datos de temperaturas máximas y mínimas se calculó la temperatura media que se utilizó para calcular grados días desarrollo (GDD). Se realizaron 5 muestreos y se determinó: la concentración nutrimental, glucósidos, altura de la planta, brotes basales y rendimiento de hojas. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos el mayor rendimiento se presentó en el tratamiento donde se aplicó 4 g N planta-1 de lombricomposta, se obtuvieron 9 brotes y 19 g de hoja de stevia por planta con respecto al tratamiento con gallinaza en la misma dosis donde se presentaron 3 brotes y 12 g de hoja seca planta-1. La mayor concentración de esteviósido y rebaudiosido A se dio en los tratamientos con lombricomposta con 1 y 2 g N planta-1 (11.1 y 12.1%, respectivamente). En las propiedades físicas del sustrato se observó una disminución del agua fácilmente disponible del inicio al final en los tratamientos con gallinaza no así en los de lombricomposta. El modelo fenológico mostró que la energía requerida para realizar la cosecha en la aparición de las flores es de 604 grados días desarrollo (GDD), aunque la mayor concentración de glucósidos se dio a los 562 GDD, información que indica que la cosecha debe hacerse en esta etapa fenológica. La utilización de la lombricomposta favorece el crecimiento vegetativo de la stevia, de acuerdo a los datos obtenidos presenta mayor concentración de esteviósido y rebaudiosido A, y es una alternativa para la fertilización orgánica de la stevia

Pulmonary vein flow split effects in patient-specific simulations of left atrial flow

Disruptions to left atrial (LA) blood flow, such as those caused by atrial fibrillation (AF), can lead to thrombosis in the left atrial appendage (LAA) and an increased risk of systemic embolism. LA hemodynamics are influenced by various factors, including LA anatomy and function, and pulmonary vein (PV) inflow conditions. In particular, the PV flow split can vary significantly among and within patients depending on multiple factors. In this study, we investigated how changes in PV flow split affect LA flow transport, focusing for the first time on blood stasis in the LAA, using a high-fidelity patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. We use an Immersed Boundary Method, simulating the flow in a fixed, uniform Cartesian mesh and imposing the movement of the LA walls with a moving Lagrangian mesh generated from 4D Computerized Tomography images. We analyzed LA anatomies from eight patients with varying atrial function, including three with AF and either a LAA thrombus or a history of Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs). Using four different flow splits (60/40% and 55/45% through right and left PVs, even flow rate, and same velocity through each PV), we found that flow patterns are sensitive to PV flow split variations, particularly in planes parallel to the mitral valve. Changes in PV flow split also had a significant impact on blood stasis and could contribute to increased risk for thrombosis inside the LAA, particularly in patients with AF and previous LAA thrombus or a history of TIAs. Our study highlights the importance of considering patient-specific PV flow split variations when assessing LA hemodynamics and identifying patients at increased risk for thrombosis and stroke. This knowledge is relevant to planning clinical procedures such as AF ablation or the implementation of LAA occluders.This work was partially supported by Comunidad de Madrid (Synergy Grant Y2018/BIO-4858 PREFI-CM), Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant number PID2019-107279RB-I00), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant numbers PI15/02211-ISBITAMI and DTS/1900063-ISBIFLOW), and by the EU-European Regional Development Fund . Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA

The miniJPAS & J-NEP surveys: Identification and characterization of the Lyα\alpha Emitter population and the Lyα\alpha Luminosity Function

We present the Lyman-$a$ (Lya) Luminosity Function (LF) at $2.05<z<3.75$, estimated from a sample of 67 Lya-emitter (LAE) candidates in the J-PAS Pathfinder surveys: miniJPAS and J-NEP. These two surveys cover a total effective area of $\sim 1.14$ deg$^2$ with 54 Narrow Band (NB) filters across the optical range, with typical limiting magnitudes of $\sim 23$. This set of NBs allows to probe Lya emission in a wide and continuous range of redshifts. We develop a method for detecting Lya emission for the estimation of the Lya LF using the whole J-PAS filter set. We test this method by applying it to the miniJPAS and J-NEP data. In order to compute the corrections needed to estimate the Lya LF and to test the performance of the candidates selection method, we build mock catalogs. These include representative populations of Lya Emitters at $1.9<z<4.5$ as well as their expected contaminants, namely low-$z$ galaxies and $z<2$ QSOs. We show that our method is able to provide the Lya LF at the intermediate-bright range of luminosity ($\rm 10^{43.5} erg\,s^{-1} \lesssim L_{Lya} \lesssim 10^{44.5} erg\,s^{-1}$). The photometric information provided by these surveys suggests that our samples are dominated by bright, Lya-emitting Active Galactic Nuclei. At $L_{{\rm Ly}a}<10^{44.5}$ erg\,s$^{-1}$, we fit our Lya LF to a power-law with slope $A=0.70\pm0.25$. We also fit a Schechter function to our data, obtaining: Log(\Phi^* / \text{Mpc^{-3}})=-6.30^{+0.48}_{-0.70}, Log$(L^*/ \rm erg\,s^{-1})=44.85^{+0.50}_{-0.32}$, $a=-1.65^{+0.29}_{-0.27}$. Overall, our results confirm the presence of an AGN component at the bright-end of the Lya LF. In particular, we find no significant contribution of star-forming LAEs to the Lya LF at Log$(L_{\rm Lya}$ / erg\,s$^{-1}$)>43.5. This work serves as a proof-of-concept for the results that can be obtained with the upcoming data releases of the J-PAS survey.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, submitted to A&