Indigenous and introduced species of the Bemisia tabaci complex in sweet potato crops from Argentina

La batata (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) es uno de los cultivos más importantes en el mundo. Recientemente se observó una severa sintomatología viral en cultivos de la región pampeana argentina, en la que están identificados begomovirus y crinivirus, ambos transmitidos exclusivamente por mosca blanca. El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar las especies de B. tabaci en cultivos de batata en Colonia Caroya, mediante el análisis de secuencias mitocondriales de la citocromo oxidasa subunidad I (mtCOI). Se identificaron dos haplotipos (especies crípticas) ya descriptos en el mundo: New World2 (especie nativa) y MEAM1 (especie introducida). Los resultados indican la presencia de ambas especies, las cuales son potenciales vectores de begomovirus y crinivirus en batata en Argentina.Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) is one of the most important crops worldwide. Recently, the appearance of severe viral symptoms has been observed in sweet potato crops in the pampas region of Argentina and both begomovirus and crinivirus, exclusively transmitted by whiteflies, have been identified. The aim of this study was to identify B. tabaci species from sweet potato crops in Colonia Caroya by analysing mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) sequences. Two previously described haplotypes were identified: New World2 (indigenous species) and MEAM1 (introduced species). The results indicate the presence of both species, which are potential vectors of begomovirus and crinivirus in Argentina.Fil: Alemandri, V.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Martino, Julia Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Di Feo, Liliana del Valle. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Truol, G.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentin

Assessing Metacomprehension and Metacognitive Reading Strategies

The aim of the study was to establish the similarities and differences among existing instruments for measuring metacognition, in particular the awareness of reading comprehension and further to construct an original instrument for measuring features of metacognition, henceforth referred to as the Metacomprehension and Metacognitive Reading Strategies (M&MRS) Inventory. The M&MRS Inventory was distributed to 115 students at University of Palermo. The results revealed a good reliabilit

Effect of sunlight exposure on anthocyanin and non-anthocyanin phenolic levels in pomegranate juices by high resolution mass spectrometry approach

Quali-quantitative analyses of anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin phenolic compounds performed with the use of liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry, were evaluated in juice of pomegranate fruits (‘Dente di Cavallo’), in relation to different light exposures (North, South, West and East). A total of 16 compounds were identified, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, hydrolysable tannins, and anthocyanins, known for their health-promoting effects. Striking differences were observed about the total phenolic content, which was high in juices from fruits with east- and north-facing position, while it was lower in juices facing south. The greatest contents of total flavonoids and anthocyanins were recorded in fruit juices with southern exposure; however, there are no great differences in the content in phenolic acids. Tannins were mainly synthesized in fruit juices with West exposure. The results showed that the position within the tree had no significant effects on color juice, however, it significantly (p < 0.05) affected data on fruit weight, soluble sugars and juice yield. Remarkable synergies existed among polyphenols and phytochemicals in pomegranate juice, but collecting fruits with different solar exposure could enhance different health benefits, i.e., the juices with higher polyphenols content could have more anticancer effect or those with higher tannins content could have more antimicrobial effect

The Logical Intelligence Enhancement Program (LIEP) for the improvement of cognitive abilities. Premilinary findings

The Logical Intelligence Enhancement Program (LIEP) is a program specifically addressed to students aging from 6 to 12. It consists of a series of exercises of different types (verbal inferences, understanding of graphs and tables, series of digits, etc.) and increasing difficulty, properly devised to activate and train the abilities of logical reasoning. Hopefully, such an enhancement should result in an improvement of academic achievements, especially in low proficiency learner students. Here we report on a study carried out on a large cohort of fifth-grade students. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of LIEP in improving students’ cognitive abilities and abstract reasoning

Costruire apprendimento e partecipazione a scuola: da studenti unteachables a comunità di motivated learners

Education of the future is a central theme in many debates nowadays. This paper focuses on the question what knowledge and skills are most relevant to prepare students for a rapidly changing society and if schools are able to respond effectively to costant transformation driven by technological innovation. While the school systemis involved in a modification process that concerns its core contents, new “wired” generations of students from lower secondary education are labelled as difficult to teach or even “unteachables”, students who are losing interest in academic learning, who are not motivated or responsible for their learning processes. The contribution examines the activities of an ongoing Erasmus+ research project - Unteachables. Helping the new generations of school teachers turn increasingly unteachable young students into young Learnables -, which involves school students (aged 12-16), university master students, in-training teachers and university researchers from seven European countries, aimed at experimenting teacher training activities designed to involve students in creating communities of motivated learners. This paper, profiling unteachables students, highlights the need of innovative teaching methods that can enhance motivation and participation of students

Logical Intelligence Enhancement Test: a measure for the evaluation of logical skills in primary school

Il presente lavoro si inserisce in uno studio pilota condotto nell’anno scolastico 2018-2019per valutare l’efficacia del Logical Intelligence Enhancement Programme (LIEP, Calvani, Peru,& Zanaboni, 2019), un programma composto da tavole di logica verbale e numerica volte asviluppare il ragionamento logico e le capacità metacognitive di studenti di quinta primaria.All’interno di questo studio è stato sviluppato il Logical Intelligence Enhancement test perstimare gli effetti del training sulle abilità logico-verbali. Il contributo presenta la costru-zione del test, le sue caratteristiche psicometriche e la validazione. A tal fine, lo strumentoè stato somministrato a un campione di 173 studenti di classe quinta primaria nell’area diPalermo e Firenze.Il LIEP Test si compone di 22 item e include otto dimensioni di esercizilogici come il completamento di tabelle o serie di numeri, la risoluzione di problemi nu-merici o geometrici e tavole di inferenza logica.This work is part of a pilot study conducted during 2018-2019 to evaluate the effectivenessof the Logical Intelligence Enhancement Programme (LIEP, Calvani, Peru & Zanaboni, 2019),a program which consists of logical-verbal and numeric exercises to enhance logical rea-soning and metacognitive skills of fifth grade students. During this study the Logical Intel-ligence Enhancement test was developed to measure the effects of the training on thelogical-verbal skills. This paper describes the development of the LIEP test, its psychometricfeatures and validation process. For the validation the measure was administered to a sam-ple of 173 fifth grade students in Palermo and Florence. The final version of the test consistsof 18 items and includes eight dimensions of logical exercises, such as tables to be com-pleted, numeric series, problem solving and logical inferences

Three years field trials to assess the effect of kaolin made particles and copper on olive-fruit fly (B.oleae Gmelin) infestations in Sicily

In most countries of Mediterranean Basin, Bactrocera oleae (Gmel), the olive fruit fly, is the key pest insect on olives. In Sicily this pest causes losses of fruits and a poor quality olive oil. Many researchers have recently carried out some field studies which were based on the use of kaolin and copper against the olive-fruit fly. In the last years these products have been effective several times in reducing olive fly infestation. Kaolin had, also, some important effect in reducing heat-stress in fruit crops and olive-trees. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of kaolin and copper treatment on olive infestations in Sicily and to evaluate chemical and sensory parameters of oils extracted. For this reason, within 2003-2005, the IX Servizio of Assessorato Regionale Agricoltura e Foreste, selected some olive groves where to carry out trials with kaolin and copper and to realize information and divulgation activities

Environmental sustainability fruit quality and production in mycorrhizal tomato plants without P fertilizing

The influence of root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Funelliformis mosseae, on fruit quality, production and environmental sustainability were evaluated in field-tomato plants grown exposed to P-limited soil 5 µg g -1 soil (basal-soil) with nitrate fertilization (50 µg g -1 soil), after greenhouse germination and fungus colonization. After 60 days sowing (DAS), when the percentage of mycorrhizal root length (% RLC) raised at about 50%, the plants were transplanted in open field. During the experiment, the mycorrhization has affected a lot of physiological aspects like vegetative and reproductive growth, improving them and ended the fruiting with a major fruit production that was 50% higher than not mycorrhizal (NM) plants. The ripening process of the fruits was also followed by testing sugars content and ß-Amylase activity in fruits of NM and mycorrhizal (M) plants fruits. At 140 DAS, in the harvesting fruits stage, fruits of M plants showed significantly higher mineral nutrient sugars and organic nitrogen compounds as amino acids and protein, compared to fruits from NM plants. In particular, GLU-GLN-ASP and ASN raised about 35% more than fruits from NM plants, improving nutritional aspect and flavor of the product. THR-ILEU-LEU-VAL and LYS, essential amino acids in man nutrition, increased around 25% more than fruits from NM plants, too. In this contest, lycopene, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid and glutathione (GS) and reduced form (GSH) were also tested in ripe fruits. The overall results suggest that tomato roots colonization by mycorrhizal fungus Funelliformis mosseae affects host plant nutritional status, modifying reproductive behavior, fruits production and nutritional quality

Monitoring soil wetness variations by means of satellite passive microwave observations: the HYDROPTIMET study cases

International audienceSoil moisture is an important component of the hydrological cycle. In the framework of modern flood warning systems, the knowledge of soil moisture is crucial, due to the influence on the soil response in terms of infiltration-runoff. Precipitation-runoff processes, in fact, are related to catchment's hydrological conditions before the precipitation. Thus, an estimation of these conditions is of significant importance to improve the reliability of flood warning systems. Combining such information with other weather-related satellite products (i.e. rain rate estimation) might represent a useful exercise in order to improve our capability to handle (and possibly mitigate or prevent) hydro-geological hazards. Remote sensing, in the last few years, has supported several techniques for soil moisture/wetness monitoring. Most of the satellite-based techniques use microwave data, thanks to the all-weather and all-time capability of these data, as well as to their high sensitivity to water content in the soil. On the other hand, microwave data are unfortunately highly affected by the presence of surface roughness or vegetation coverage within the instantaneous satellite field of view (IFOV). Those problems, consequently, strongly limit the efficiency and the reliability of traditional satellite techniques. Recently, using data coming from AMSU (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit), flying aboard NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellites, a new methodology for soil wetness estimation has been proposed. The proposed index, called Soil Wetness Variation Index (SWVI), developed by a multi-temporal analysis of AMSU records, seems able to reduce the problems related to vegetation and/or roughness effects. Such an approach has been tested, with promising results, on the analysis of some flooding events which occurred in Europe in the past. In this study, results achieved for the HYDROPTIMET test cases will be analysed and discussed in detail. This analysis allows us to evaluate the reliability and the efficiency of the proposed technique in identifying different amounts of soil wetness variations in different observational conditions. In particular, the proposed indicator was able to document the actual effects of meteorological events, in terms of space-time evolution of soil wetness changes, for all the analysed HYDROPTIMET test cases. Moreover, in some circumstances, the SWVI was able to identify the presence of a sort of "early" signal in terms of soil wetness variations, which may be regarded as a timely indication of an anomalous value of soil water content. This evidence suggests the opportunity to use such an index in the pre-operational phases of the modern flood warning systems, in order to improve their forecast capabilities and their reliability