Extrapolating base-line trunk shrinkage reference equations across olive orchards

preprintMaximum daily trunk shrinkage is a common measurement in irrigation scheduling of fruit trees. But the strong relationship between these measurements and the environment severely limit field applications. Reference baselines are the solution for understanding the influence of environmental conditions. Nevertheless, the extrapolation out of the original conditions is not clear. The aim of this study was to compare several approaches to estimate a reference baseline in an olive orchard where there were no previous data from other seasons. Two orchards, separated 60. m, with different tree density were used. Orchard 1 had greater tree density than orchard 2, though the age and the cultivar were the same. Trunk diameters of both orchards were similar but the crown volume of orchard 2 was slightly lower than orchard 1. The current reference baselines of maximum daily trunk diameter in both orchards were not significantly different between them (p<0.05). In orchard 1, the previous reference baseline was calculated in a 5-year study (the so called multi-seasons approach). The multi-seasons approach was not significantly different in slope but it was in the y-interception to the current reference baselines in both orchards (p<0.05). This approach over-estimated the values in both orchards. Two additional approaches were tested. These latter approaches used data before massive pit hardening to estimate the current reference baseline. One of them used the early data to estimate a complete reference baseline (the so-called early approach). The other (the so-called y-early approach) used the same data only to estimate the y-interception and assumed that the slope was the same as in the multi-seasons approach. The early approach under-estimated the value of maximum daily trunk shrinkage. The early-y approach provided a satisfactory estimation of the reference baseline and improved those obtained with the multi-seasons approach. The limitations and uses in irrigation scheduling are also discussed.MINECO AGL2010-19201-CO4-03AECID D/030431/1

Scattering of surface plasmon polaritons by one-dimensional inhomogeneities

The scattering of surface plasmons polaritons by a one-dimensional defect of the surface is theoretically studied, by means of both Rayleigh and modal expansions. The considered defects are either relief perturbations or variations in the permittivity of the metal. The dependence of transmission, reflection and out-of-plane scattering on parameters defining the defect is presented. We find that the radiated energy is forwardly directed (with respect to the surface plasmon propagation) in the case of an impedance defect. However, for relief defects, the radiated energy may be directed into backward or forward (or both) directions, depending on the defect width.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, corrected typos, some minor modifications in figures. Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Weak Solutions to a Nonuniformly Elliptic PDE System in the Harmonic Regime

We study the existence of weak solutions to a nonlinear strongly coupled parabolic–elliptic PDEs arising in the heating induction-conduction process of steel hardening. In this setting, our major concern is to consider the case when the electric conductivity is nonuniformly elliptic which, together with a right hand side in L1 in the energy balance equation, yields to a difficult theoretical situation. The existence result gives a weak solution to a similar PDEs system where the energy balance equation has been perturbed by a measure term.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MTM2010-16401Junta de Andalucía FQM-31

The Relative Age Effect on Soccer Players in Formative Stages with Different Sport Expertise Levels

The Relative Age Effect (RAE) in sport has been targeted by many research studies. The objective of this study was to analyze, in amateur clubs, the RAE of soccer players, according to the sport expertise level of the team (e.g., A, B, C and subsequent) that they belong to within the same game category. 1, 098 soccer players in formative stages took part in the study, with ages varying between 6 and 18 years old (U8 to U19 categories). All of them were members of 4 Spanish federated clubs. The birth dates were classified into 4 quartiles (Q1 = Jan-Mar; Q2 = Apr-Jun; Q3 = Jul-Sept; Q4 = Oct-Dec)according to the team they belonged to. The results obtained in the chi-squared test and d value (effect size) revealed the existence of RAE in the teams with the highest expertise level, "A" (X2 = 15.342, p = .002, d = 0.4473) and "B" (X2 = 10.905, p = .012, d = 0.3657). However, in the lower level teams, "C and subsequent", this effect was not observed. Present findings show that players born during the first months of the year tend to be selected to play in teams with a higher sport expertise level of each category, due to their physical maturity. Consequently, this causes differences in terms of the experience they accumulate and the motivation that this creates in these players

Implications of instructional strategies in sport teaching: a nonlinear pedagogy-based approach

In this article, we have tried to establish the practical implications of instructional strategies in sport teaching. Firstly, we have highlighted the importance of the Teaching Game for Understanding as a teaching model that is fundamentally based on the use of modified games, whose purpose is for students to learn the tactical aspects of a certain sport, by way of modified versions of the real game. Later on, we have gone further into depth into a new way of understanding the teaching-learning process in sport, non-Linear Pedagogy, which is based on manipulating the relevant determining factors (task, environment and individual) to increase information sources and thus be able to guide students towards obtaining their objectives. Within non-linear pedagogy, verbal instruction (e.g., questioning) is considered to be a determining factor that attempts to channel the search for tactical solutions within a learning environment. Finally, we end the article with a section that refers to practical applications, where we purport to give a series of guidelines on how to implement questioning as a didactical resource whose aim is to improve students’ tactical action capacity

Utilización de soja integral en la ración de acabado del ternero tradicional de raza rubia gallega: I. Efecto sobre la calidad de la carne

Se utilizaron 16 terneros rubios gallegos para estudiar el efecto del aca- bado con pienso, que contiene soja integral sobre el peso y las característi- cas de la canal y de la carne del ternero tradicional producido en un siste- ma de pastoreo. Se controlo el peso vivo, el peso al sacrificio, el peso canal, la conformación y el estado de engrasamiento de la canal y en la carne a 24 horas postmorten, el pH, el color L* (luminosidad) a* (índice de rojo) y b* (índice de amarillo) (CIE 1978), la composición química por espectroscopia NIRS, las pérdidas de agua por cocción, la textura midiendo la fuerza máxi- ma de corte, resistencia al corte y trabajo total y el contenido en pigmentos hemínicos. Los resultados se analizaron mediante ANOVA con el programa SPSS 8.0. No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre tratamientos en ninguno de los parámetros estudiados de peso vivo y características de la canal y de la carne. Se concluye que la sustitución de la soja desengrasada por soja integral en la ración de acabado no afecta al crecimiento y a las características de la canal y de la carne del ternero tradicional Gallego

From circular paths to elliptic orbits: A geometric approach to Kepler's motion

The hodograph, i.e. the path traced by a body in velocity space, was introduced by Hamilton in 1846 as an alternative for studying certain dynamical problems. The hodograph of the Kepler problem was then investigated and shown to be a circle, it was next used to investigate some other properties of the motion. We here propose a new method for tracing the hodograph and the corresponding configuration space orbit in Kepler's problem starting from the initial conditions given and trying to use no more than the methods of synthetic geometry in a sort of Newtonian approach. All of our geometric constructions require straight edge and compass only.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure