Grain legume-cereal intercropping enhances the use of soil-derived and biologically fixed nitrogen in temperate agroecosystems: a meta-analysis

Grain legumes are known for their benefits to deliver ecosystem services on provisioning of protein-rich food and feed, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the symbiotic nitrogen fixation function and diversification of cropping systems. Intercropping is an agroecological practice in which two or more crop species are grown simultaneously in the same field, thereby maximizing the use of resources to enhance yields in low input systemsand the resilience of cropping systems. We quantified the effect of grain legume-cereal intercropping on the useof N resources in temperate agroecosystems, focusing on dinitrogen (N2) fixation and soil-derived nitrogenacquisition using a meta-analysis of 29 field-scale studies. We estimated and compared effects of different intercrop compositions (proportion of each species in the intercrops), fertilization rates, crop species, soil properties, and other management practices on the symbiotic N2 fixation and the acquisition of soil-derived nitrogenby the cereals and grain legumes. The proportion of N derived from N2 fixation was on average 14 % (95 % CI =[11, 16]) higher in intercropped grain legumes (76 %) compared to legume sole crops (66 %). On the other hand,intercropping reduced the amount of N2 fixed (kg ha−1) by about 15 %, when N2 fixation in inter- and solecropped legumes was expressed at equivalent density by compensating for the sown legume proportion in intercrops relative to their sole crop sowing rate. The results were mainly influenced by the intercrop composition,legumes species and the method used to quantify N2 fixation. Soil-derived nitrogen acquisition in intercroppedgrain legumes was significantly reduced (−47 %, 95 % CI = [−56, −36]) compared to sole crop legumes,expressed at equivalent density, while the soil N acquired by intercropped cereals was much higher (+61 %, 95% CI = [24, 108]) than in sole crop cereals. Total soil N acquisition (legume + cereal) was significantly higherin intercrops than in legume sole crops (+25 %, 95 % CI = [1, 54]), while there was no significant differencebetween intercrops and cereal sole crops. The meta-analysis confirms and highlights that intercropping consistently stimulates complementary N use between legumes and cereals by increasing N2 fixation by grain legumes and increasing soil N acquisition in cereals. Based on the results of this analysis it would be suggested thatcropping systems diversification via intercropping can be used for simultaneous production of both cereals andgrain legumes, while increasing the use of N-sources and reducing external inputs of N fertilizers, thereby enhancing the sustainability of agriculture

Mapping high-altitude peatlands to inform a landscape conservation strategy in the Andes of northern Peru

The wetlands of the jalca ecoregion in the Andes of northern Peru form peat and play a major role in the hydrological ecosystem services of the ecoregion. Although peat is globally valued for carbon sequestration and storage, peatlands have not yet been mapped in the jalca. In this region, the Gocta waterfall, one of the 20 highest waterfalls in the world, depends on the jalca’s wetlands ecosystem. The local population depends on tourism to the waterfall and is concerned about preserving its drainage area. To inform conservation planning, in this study we delimited the drainage area of the Gocta waterfall and identified land tenure by applying Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and participatory mapping techniques. Then, by classifying optical, radar and digital elevation models data, we mapped peatland in the jalca of the Gocta drainage area with an overall accuracy of 97.1%. Our results will inform conservation strategy in this complex area of communal, private and informal land tenure systems. At a regional level, this appears to be the first attempt at mapping peatlands using remote sensing imagery in the jalca ecoregion, and it represents a milestone for future efforts to map and conserve peatlands in other tropical mountain areas of the world

ROLE PLAY: CONSTRUINDO SIGNIFICADOS E REFLEXÕES NO CURSO DE ENFERMAGEM

O objetivo principal desse trabalho foi realizar uma prática pedagógica interdisciplinar envolvendo os componentes curriculares no curso de Enfermagemda Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina- UNOESC-Campus de Joaçaba-SC, de modo a estimulara aprendizagem significativa e contextualizada dos alunos por meio de metodologiasativas, mais especificamente Role play, refletindo os preceitos das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais paraos cursos superiores, bem como os do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). A temática trabalhada versou sobre a necessária reflexão sobre o processo de vida, morte e morrer tão vivenciados por profissionais da saúde.  Essa atividade envolveu as 4 fases do curso e foi gestada em uma reunião com oNDE (Núcleo Docente Estruturante) e deliberada pelo colegiado do curso.As atividades foram registradas nos planos de ensino dos componentes curriculares eculminou na efetivaçãode muitas atividades, como a apresentação de um documentário, elaborado por acadêmicos da 7ª fase, relatos de experiências envolvendo esse processo de morte e morrer pelos acadêmicos da 1ª fase. Os acadêmicos da 3ª fase desenvolveram estações simuladas demonstrando situações vivenciadas por profissionais de saúde no contexto morte e morrer e os acadêmicos da 5ª fase desenvolveram uma atividade cultural sobre a temática.Com uma abordagem interdisciplinar, acadêmicos e convidados desfrutaram, além do role play,a participação da Comissão Intra-hospitalar de Doação de Órgãos e Tecidos para Transplante (CIHDOTT) do Hospital Universitário Santa Terezinha que explanou sobre a temática

Convenient synthesis of C75, an inhibitor of FAS and CPT1

C75 is a synthetic racemic α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone exhibiting anti-tumoral properties in vitro and in vivo as well as inducing hypophagia and weight loss in rodents. These interesting properties are thought to be a consequence of the inhibition of the key enzymes FAS and CPT1 involved in lipid metabolism. The need for larger amounts of this compound for biological evaluation prompted us to develop a convenient and reliable route to multigram quantities of C75 from easily available ethyl penta-3,4-dienoate 6. A recently described protocol for the addition of 6 to a mixture of dicyclohexylborane and nonanal followed by acidic treatment of the crude afforded lactone 8, as a mixture of cis and trans isomers, in good yield. The DBU-catalyzed isomerization of the methyl esters 9 arising from 8 gave a 10:1 trans/cis mixture from which the trans isomer was isolated and easily transformed into C75. The temporary transformation of C75 into a phenylseleno ether derivative makes its purification, manipulation and storage easier

The MNI data-sharing and processing ecosystem

AbstractNeuroimaging has been facing a data deluge characterized by the exponential growth of both raw and processed data. As a result, mining the massive quantities of digital data collected in these studies offers unprecedented opportunities and has become paramount for today's research. As the neuroimaging community enters the world of “Big Data”, there has been a concerted push for enhanced sharing initiatives, whether within a multisite study, across studies, or federated and shared publicly. This article will focus on the database and processing ecosystem developed at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) to support multicenter data acquisition both nationally and internationally, create database repositories, facilitate data-sharing initiatives, and leverage existing software toolkits for large-scale data processing

FEMA: fast and efficient mixed-effects algorithm for large sample whole-brain imaging data

The linear mixed-effects model (LME) is a versatile approach to account for dependence among observations. Many large-scale neuroimaging datasets with complex designs have increased the need for LME; however LME has seldom been used in whole-brain imaging analyses due to its heavy computational requirements. In this paper, we introduce a fast and efficient mixed-effects algorithm (FEMA) that makes whole-brain vertex-wise, voxel-wise, and connectome-wide LME analyses in large samples possible. We validate FEMA with extensive simulations, showing that the estimates of the fixed effects are equivalent to standard maximum likelihood estimates but obtained with orders of magnitude improvement in computational speed. We demonstrate the applicability of FEMA by studying the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of age on region-of-interest level and vertex-wise cortical thickness, as well as connectome-wide functional connectivity values derived from resting state functional MRI, using longitudinal imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study release 4.0. Our analyses reveal distinct spatial patterns for the annualized changes in vertex-wise cortical thickness and connectome-wide connectivity values in early adolescence, highlighting a critical time of brain maturation. The simulations and application to real data show that FEMA enables advanced investigation of the relationships between large numbers of neuroimaging metrics and variables of interest while considering complex study designs, including repeated measures and family structures, in a fast and efficient manner. The source code for FEMA is available via: https://github.com/cmig-research-group/cmig_tools/

Integration of “omics” Data and Phenotypic Data Within a Unified Extensible Multimodal Framework

Analysis of “omics” data is often a long and segmented process, encompassing multiple stages from initial data collection to processing, quality control and visualization. The cross-modal nature of recent genomic analyses renders this process challenging to both automate and standardize; consequently, users often resort to manual interventions that compromise data reliability and reproducibility. This in turn can produce multiple versions of datasets across storage systems. As a result, scientists can lose significant time and resources trying to execute and monitor their analytical workflows and encounter difficulties sharing versioned data. In 2015, the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health at McGill University brought together expertise from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, the Lady Davis Institute and the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) to form a genetics/epigenetics working group. The objectives of this working group are to: (i) design an automated and seamless process for (epi)genetic data that consolidates heterogeneous datasets into the LORIS open-source data platform; (ii) streamline data analysis; (iii) integrate results with provenance information; and (iv) facilitate structured and versioned sharing of pipelines for optimized reproducibility using high-performance computing (HPC) environments via the CBRAIN processing portal. This article outlines the resulting generalizable “omics” framework and its benefits, specifically, the ability to: (i) integrate multiple types of biological and multi-modal datasets (imaging, clinical, demographics and behavioral); (ii) automate the process of launching analysis pipelines on HPC platforms; (iii) remove the bioinformatic barriers that are inherent to this process; (iv) ensure standardization and transparent sharing of processing pipelines to improve computational consistency; (v) store results in a queryable web interface; (vi) offer visualization tools to better view the data; and (vii) provide the mechanisms to ensure usability and reproducibility. This framework for workflows facilitates brain research discovery by reducing human error through automation of analysis pipelines and seamless linking of multimodal data, allowing investigators to focus on research instead of data handling

O final dos reinos: Diálogos entre Tiwanaku e La Aguada

Este escrito pone de nuevo a dialogar las iconografías de Tiwanaku (altiplano del Titicaca, Bolivia) y La Aguada (Noroeste de la Argentina), a más de 40 años de los trabajos de Rex González y de Ponce Sanginés. Lo hace en un contexto enteramente diferente con un énfasis decolonial. Objetos, imágenes, información etnográfica y arqueólogos de ambos lados de una frontera entre "naciones", se ensamblan con la clara intención de cuestionar supuestos subyacentes muy profundos de la arqueología. Metodología: a partir de los caminos que plantean las imágenes y colores, se amarran en estos nudos también los humanos y las cosas, las experiencias chamánicas y los fenómenos meteorológicos, todos enlazados de modo relacional. Conclusiones: tras poner a dialogar a La Aguada y Tiwanaku, con base en nuestras trayectorias investigativas, la discusión desemboca en una reflexión acerca de las consecuencias presentes de naturalizar miradas segmentadas y funcionalistas de los mundos animales y vegetales en el pasado, que se originan en los subyacentes ontológicos de nuestra propia modernidad. Originalidad: el texto apunta a abordar la crítica decolonial a partir del estudio de casos concretos y a aportar a esos debates desde materialidades arqueológicas.This paper once again brings the iconographies of Tiwanaku (Titicaca high plateau, Bolivia) and La Aguada (Northwest of Argentina) into discussion, more than 40 years after the works of Rex González and Ponce Sanginés. It does so in an entirely different context with a decolonial emphasis. Objects, images, ethnographic information and archaeologists from both sides of a border between “nations” are assembled with the clear intention of questioning very deep underlying assumptions of archaeology. Methodology: Beginning with the paths posed by images and colors, these knots also bind humans and things, shamanic experiences and meteorological phenomena. Conclusions: After bringing La Aguada and Tiwanaku into dialogue, based on our research trajectories, the discussion leads to a reflection on the present consequences of naturalizing segmented and functionalist gazes of the animal and plant worlds in the past, which originate in the ontological underpinnings of our own modernity. Originality: The text aims to approach decolonial criticism from the study of concrete cases and to contribute to these debates on the basis of archaeological materiality.Fil: Marconetto, María Bernarda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Villanueva Criales, Juan Eduardo. Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore; Bolivi