How can we demonstrate the economic value of Precision Agriculture (PA) practices to New Zealand Agriculture service providers and arable farmers?

The amount of data collected has become a major challenge to the uptake of PA practices in New Zealand. There is a lack of clear value propositions around some PA practices, e.g. variable rate seeding (VRS). The importance of calibrating yield monitors, collecting yield data and mapping results has not been realised by farmers. The goal of the study is to provide economic evidence through yield data mining to encourage the adoption of PA

Denatonium benzoate decreases the effect of histamine in vitro and in rats

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of denatonium benzoate (DB) in histamine-induced model of inflammation and the effect of the selective H1 receptor agonist (2-(2-Pyridyl) ethylamine) on rat gastric smooth muscle strips pretreated with DB.Methods: The anti-inflammatory effect of DB was evaluated in vivo on histamine-induced rat paw edema. In vitro studies on spontaneous muscle contraction were performed on smooth muscle strips isolated from rat gastric corpus.Results: The results showed a well-defined anti-inflammatory effect of DB (15 mg/kg) during the early stage of rat paw edema at the 15th (p < 0.001), 30th (p < 0.01) and 60th min (p < 0.001) compared to control. In vitro experiments indicated reduced spontaneous contractile activity of smooth muscle strips to H1 receptor agonist in the presence of DB (0.5 μM). The vascular effects of histamine are mediated by H1 receptors. Substances, which reduce the effect of histamine on the H1 receptors could influence the early stage of histamine-induced inflammation.Conclusion: The results show that the anti-inflammatory activity of DB probably is related to its antagonistic activity on histamine H1 receptors. The results would contribute to the search for new antiinflammatory drugs. Keywords: Denatonium benzoate, Inflammation, Histamine, Muscle contractio

Perceptual organization of auditory streaming-task relies on neural entrainment of the stimulus-presentation rate: MEG evidence

Background: Humans are able to extract regularities from complex auditory scenes in order to form perceptually meaningful elements. It has been shown previously that this process depends critically on both the temporal integration of the sensory input over time and the degree of frequency separation between concurrent sound sources. Our goal was to examine the relationship between these two aspects by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG). To achieve this aim, we combined time-frequency analysis on a sensor space level with source analysis. Our paradigm consisted of asymmetric ABA-tone triplets wherein the B-tones were presented temporally closer to the first A-tones, providing different tempi within the same sequence. Participants attended to the slowest B-rhythm whilst the frequency separation between tones was manipulated (0-, 2-, 4- and 10-semitones). Results: The results revealed that the asymmetric ABA-triplets spontaneously elicited periodic-sustained responses corresponding to the temporal distribution of the A-B and B-A tone intervals in all conditions. Moreover, when attending to the B-tones, the neural representations of the A- and B-streams were both detectable in the scenarios which allow perceptual streaming (2-, 4- and 10-semitones). Alongside this, the steady-state responses tuned to the presentation of the B-tones enhanced significantly with increase of the frequency separation between tones. However, the strength of the B-tones related steady-state responses dominated the strength of the A-tones responses in the 10-semitones condition. Conversely, the representation of the A-tones dominated the B-tones in the cases of 2- and 4-semitones conditions, in which a greater effort was required for completing the task. Additionally, the P1 evoked fields’ component following the B-tones increased in magnitude with the increase of inter-tonal frequency difference. Conclusions: The enhancement of the evoked fields in the source space, along with the B-tones related activity of the time-frequency results, likely reflect the selective enhancement of the attended B-stream. The results also suggested a dissimilar efficiency of the temporal integration of separate streams depending on the degree of frequency separation between the sounds. Overall, the present findings suggest that the neural effects of auditory streaming could be directly captured in the time-frequency spectrum at the sensor-space level.<br

Modulations of neural activity in auditory streaming caused by spectral and temporal alternation in subsequent stimuli: a magnetoencephalographic study

Background: The aim of the present study was to identify a specific neuronal correlate underlying the preattentive auditory stream segregation of subsequent sound patterns alternating in spectral or temporal cues. Fifteen participants with normal hearing were presented with series’ of two consecutive ABA auditory tone-triplet sequences, the initial triplets being the Adaptation sequence and the subsequent triplets being the Test sequence. In the first experiment, the frequency separation (delta-f) between A and B tones in the sequences was varied by 2, 4 and 10 semitones. In the second experiment, a constant delta-f of 6 semitones was maintained but the Inter-Stimulus Intervals (ISIs) between A and B tones were varied. Auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) were recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Participants watched a muted video of their choice and ignored the auditory stimuli. In a subsequent behavioral study both MEG experiments were replicated to provide information about the participants’ perceptual state. Results: MEG measurements showed a significant increase in the amplitude of the B-tone related P1 component of the AEFs as delta-f increased. This effect was seen predominantly in the left hemisphere. A significant increase in the amplitude of the N1 component was only obtained for a Test sequence delta-f of 10 semitones with a prior Adaptation sequence of 2 semitones. This effect was more pronounced in the right hemisphere. The additional behavioral data indicated an increased probability of two-stream perception for delta-f = 4 and delta-f = 10 semitones with a preceding Adaptation sequence of 2 semitones. However, neither the neural activity nor the perception of the successive streaming sequences were modulated when the ISIs were alternated. Conclusions: Our MEG experiment demonstrated differences in the behavior of P1 and N1 components during the automatic segregation of sounds when induced by an initial Adaptation sequence. The P1 component appeared enhanced in all Test-conditions and thus demonstrates the preceding context effect, whereas N1 was specifically modulated only by large delta-f Test sequences induced by a preceding small delta-f Adaptation sequence. These results suggest that P1 and N1 components represent at least partially-different systems that underlie the neural representation of auditory streaming

Spatial distribution of beef cattle on a New Zealand hill country farm: monitoring the use of streams and wet areas

Grazing livestock are an important source of contamination of freshwater, particularly when they have direct access to streams. Cattle in particular contribute to riparian habitat deterioration through stream bank destruction and direct defecation and urination in streams. Exclusion of stock or planting of riparian areas, are the most common catchment management methods used to protect waterways. Given the relatively low returns from beef and sheep farming, both of these strategies are very expensive and often logistically prohibitive in steep hill county landscapes. Despite this, policy trends indicate that fencing of streams in agricultural catchments may become mandatory in the future. It is important that we understand how much time cattle spend in and around hill country streams and wet areas (wetlands and hill side seeps), in order to quantify the likely environmental benefits from such policies. The current study examined cattle movement data obtained using Global Positioning System (GPS) collars from experiments undertaken at Massey University’s hill country research farm, Tuapaka, near Palmerston North, to investigate the amount of time cattle spent in and around streams and wet areas. Animal movement data were collected over seven grazing events, in three winter periods (2012, 2013 and 2015). Permanent streams and wet areas were identified using a digital elevation model derived from 1m LiDAR data, aerial RGB images and RTK measurements. Cattle spent 3.3 – 6% (48 – 86 min/day) of their day in streams and wet areas consistently across the 7 data collections. Cattle spent more time in streams and wet areas during the afternoon. There are differences in the median amount of time individual animals spend in non-risk areas. Further research is necessary to evaluate how we can influence the amount of time cattle spend in riparian areas on hill country and how stream bank behaviour varies at different times of the year

Good vibrations, bad vibrations: Oscillatory brain activity in the attentional blink

The attentional blink (AB) is a deficit in reporting the second (T2) of two targets (T1, T2) when presented in close temporal succession and within a stream of distractor stimuli. The AB has received a great deal of attention in the past two decades because it allows to study the mechanisms that influence the rate and depth of information processing in various setups and therefore provides an elegant way to study correlates of conscious perception in supra-threshold stimuli. Recently evidence has accumulated suggesting that oscillatory signals play a significant role in temporally coordinating information between brain areas. This review focuses on studies looking into oscillatory brain activity in the AB. The results of these studies indicate that the AB is related to modulations in oscillatory brain activity in the theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. These modulations are sometimes restricted to a circumscribed brain area but more frequently include several brain regions. They occur before targets are presented as well as after the presentation of the targets. We will argue that the complexity of the findings supports the idea that the AB is not the result of a processing impairment in one particular process or brain area, but the consequence of a dynamic interplay between several processes and/or parts of a neural network

Electrical Brain Responses to an Auditory Illusion and the Impact of Musical Expertise

The presentation of two sinusoidal tones, one to each ear, with a slight frequency mismatch yields an auditory illusion of a beating frequency equal to the frequency difference between the two tones; this is known as binaural beat (BB). The effect of brief BB stimulation on scalp EEG is not conclusively demonstrated. Further, no studies have examined the impact of musical training associated with BB stimulation, yet musicians' brains are often associated with enhanced auditory processing. In this study, we analysed EEG brain responses from two groups, musicians and non-musicians, when stimulated by short presentation (1 min) of binaural beats with beat frequency varying from 1 Hz to 48 Hz. We focused our analysis on alpha and gamma band EEG signals, and they were analysed in terms of spectral power, and functional connectivity as measured by two phase synchrony based measures, phase locking value and phase lag index. Finally, these measures were used to characterize the degree of centrality, segregation and integration of the functional brain network. We found that beat frequencies belonging to alpha band produced the most significant steady-state responses across groups. Further, processing of low frequency (delta, theta, alpha) binaural beats had significant impact on cortical network patterns in the alpha band oscillations. Altogether these results provide a neurophysiological account of cortical responses to BB stimulation at varying frequencies, and demonstrate a modulation of cortico-cortical connectivity in musicians' brains, and further suggest a kind of neuronal entrainment of a linear and nonlinear relationship to the beating frequencies

Auditory event-related potentials

Auditory event related potentials are electric potentials (AERP, AEP) and magnetic fields (AEF) generated by the synchronous activity of large neural populations in the brain, which are time-locked to some actual or expected sound event

Influence of organic nitrogen amendment, containing amino acids on the cellulase and xylanase, produced by Trichoderma spp. isolates

Abstract. Cellulases and hemicellulases are amount the main hydrolytic enzymes, involved in the bioconversion of lignocellulose material by microorganisms. Filamentous fungi of the genus Trichoderma are one of the most studied and good producer of cellulases and hemicellulases. The nutrients balance, especially carbon to nitrogen ratio, is one of the main factors of the biodegradation. The ability of 37 local isolates of Trichoderma sp. to produce cellulases and xylanase were tested in solid state cultivation on wheat straw as a substrate whit two variants: 1. the straw was only moistured with destilated water (CN 80:1); 2. the C:N ratio of the straw was adjusted to 30:1 using organic nitrogen amendment. There is a significant difference in the enzymatic activity of the isolates in their cultivation on straw with CN 80 and CN 30. The highest carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) activity at CN 80 showed T1T (110.19U/ml), and in the variant at CN 30 - TD (369.07U/ml). The highest β-glucosidase activity on both variants CN 80 and CN 30 was established for TG (2743.1U/ml - 12679.9U/ml). The highest xylanase activity at CN 80 and CN 30 was measured on T4I (21311.5U/ml – 47937.5U/ml). After ONA addition, all enzymes activities have increased several times, indicating the enhancing effect of the additive. The average activity of CMCase increased 6.1 times, the average β - glucosidase activity increased 5.1 times, while the xylanase activity increased 4.9 times for all tested isolates. The increase in activity of the investigated enzymes showed different patterns

Effect of wheat straw and cellulose degrading fungi of genus Trichoderma on soil respiration and cellulase, betaglucosidase and soil carbon content

Abstract. Due to the intensive soil exploitation and increased mineral fertilization, the degradation of plant residues in the soil is becoming more difficult and slower over the years. This disturbs the structure of the soil and the nutritional balance and leads to a reduction in soil fertility. To solve the problem, microorganisms capable of degrading plant residues in the soil can be used. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fungi of genus Trichoderma on the biodegradation of wheat straw in the soil by observation of the change in cellulase enzyme activity in the soil and the increase in soil biological activity. The highest basal soil respiration was noted at T2TUR (65.76 µgCO ) and T6 (53.69 µgCO ). During the entire straw degradation period, the 2 2 highest endoglucanase activity was observed at T4 (285.0 μgGlu) and T6 (275.56 μgGlu), whereas the highest β-glucosidase was noted at T6 (5220.3 μgPNP/g/h) and T1UKR (5020.0 μgPNP/g/h). The presence of cellulose-degrading fungi positively affected the increase in the total amount of microbial biomass at the end of the study period, whereas the amount of Corg was increased in all straw amended variants. At the beginning of the process, CMCase correlated with the microbial carbon (r=0.896 for Cmic) and β-glucosidase activity was closely connected with both soil organic carbon and microbial carbon (r=0.819 for Corg and r=0.866 for Cmic). At the end of the investigated period a stronger correlation with Corg was observe