Preliminary Results of the Use of Sowing Time and Variety Choice as Techniques of Adaptability of Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) to Temperature Increases

In the 21st century, global climate change is a key concern for countries all over the world as, in the future, crops will face several extreme events, including an increase of 2–4◦C in the mean temperature with a possible consequent reduction in yield. Wheat (Triticum durum Desf) is one of the most important foods as it provides 20% of the protein for the world population. Since temperature is one of the most limiting factors of crop development, the aim of this trial was to verify the agronomic response of durum wheat to a temperature increase of about 1.5–2.0◦C through the use of short-time adjustment techniques, such as sowing time and variety choice. The experiment foresaw the comparison between two different temperature conditions (ordinary, OT—in the open field, and high, HT—under a polyethylene tunnel), two sowing times (ordinary—OS, and delayed—DS), and three varieties (Ofanto, modern variety; Cappelli, traditional variety; and a mix of the two). HT conditions caused a decline in the wheat yield (−52.5%), but without differences between the two sowing times. The grain quality resulted positively when affected by late sowing times with an increase in 1000 seeds weight and protein percentages and a decrease in shrunken grains. Therefore, it seems that in areas characterized by high temperatures, delayed sowing can improve grain quality without reducing yield quantity compared to ordinary sowing times

Yield performance and physiological response of a maize early hybrid grown in tunnel and open air under different water regimes

Climate change is one of the most important and studied phenomena of our age and it can have a deep impact on agriculture. Mediterranean countries are and will continue to be strongly affected by changing environmental factors, including lack of precipitation and prolonged heatwaves. The current study aimed to assess the adaptability of an early maize hybrid grown in two temperature conditions and subjected to different irrigation water regimes. The experimen-tal design was a randomized complete-block design with two different temperature conditions: (i) ordinary temperature in open field (OF) and (ii) high temperature (about 3◦ C higher than the current condition) under a poly-ethylene tunnel (PE). In both environments, five irrigation level treatments were applied: 100% (DI100), 75% (DI75), 50% (DI50), 25% (DI25), and 0% restoration of water lost by evapotranspiration (DI0). The responses of maize plants were assessed in terms of yield, nitrogen content determination, nitrogen use efficiency, leaf gas exchanges, and leaf water potential measurements. In both conditions, yield and its components linearly decreased as the irrigation water amount reduced, and even the DI0 plants did not produce. Notably, the PE-DI100 treatment had a significantly higher yield than the corresponding treatment in the open air (9.9 vs. 8.5 t ha−1 ), due mainly to the increased number of ears per square meter (13 vs. 11 m2, respectively). Though, as far as it concerns physiological parameters, a significant effect of environmental conditions was found, with values significantly lower under the protected environment, compared to the plants in the open field. Considering our results, it can be assumed that correct management of amount and time intervals of irrigation could adapt the maize to future climate change

Case Based Reasoning Untuk Mendiagnosa Penyakit Kehamilan Menggunakan Cosine Similarity

The application of case-based reasoning in diagnosing pregnancy deseases is motivated by the lack of number of obstetricians. The use of CBR aims to solve new problems by adapting the solutions contained in the previous case, by calculating the level of similarity. Calculation of similarity value using cosine similarity method, with threshold equal to 100%. This system can diagnose 6 diseases, 28 existing symptoms. System outbreaks of illness experienced by patients based on symptoms induced by non-specialist medical personnel, as well as handling solutions accompanied by a presentation of similarities with previous cases to indicate the degree of truth of possible diagnosis. Based on the results of case testing, the results obtained: the system can retrieve the exact old case and have used the cosine similarity methodology correctly, shown with 100% accuracy results, and using 104 cases is optimal enough to diagnose 6 illnesses shown with average results Similarity to 20 cases is 90%

Doppler ultrasound - a valid and reliable tool to assess spondyloarthritis

Enthesitis is the hallmark of spondyloarthritis and is observed in all subtypes. Namely, a wide information on spondyloarthritis abnormalities, including synovitis, bursitis, tendinitis, enthesitis and cortical bone abnormalities (erosions and enthesophytes), can be efficiently perceived by ultrasound power Doppler. Furthermore, several studies on imaging of enthesis showed that imaging techniques are better than clinical examination to detect pathology at asymptomatic enthesis. Vascularized enthesitis detected by ultrasound power Doppler appears to be a valuable diagnostic tool to confirm spondyloarthritis diagnosis. This article focuses on the validity and reliability of ultrasound enthesitis assessment in the management of spondyloarthritis patients

Implementasi Penetapan Pajak Kendaraan Bermotor Ubah Bentuk pada Samsat Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan

The problem in doing the majoring in SAMSAT of sub-province of Timor Tengah Selatan can be solved by using information system. In a month SAMSAT of sub-province of Timor Tengah have served 3.131 taxpayer, that means for a day SAMSAT of sub-province of Timor Tengah served approximately reach 150 taxpayer and total vehicles in registration is 39.492 vehicles. The system that is developed to maintain vehicles data, types of vehicle data, vehicles brands data, dumps data, vehicles price data, registration data, and to count vehicles tax determining rightly dan quickly and can gain the report of all registration data, specific report of the vehicles, specific report of vehicles tax determining and receipt tax payments of vehicles transform. This system capable to answered the hypothesis H0 about contentment of service with satisfaction level more than 70% viz 78%.     &nbsp

Interference Effects of Salinity on Growth and Some Metabolic Activities of Two Chlorella Species

The unicellular green algae Chlorella minutissima and Chlorella oocystoides were isolated from different regions in Upper Egypt. The effect of different concentrations of salinity (100, 250 and 500 mM NaCl) on growth parameters (optical density, dry weight, and total photosynthetic pigments) and primary products (total carbohydrates, total proteins, and lipids contents) were measured after 7 days. The growth parameters, and the primary products of Chlorella minutissima and Chlorella oocystoides were significantly increased at lower and moderate concentrations (100 and 250 mM NaCl). Under higher concentration 500 mM of NaCl, the growth parameters, and the primary products (total carbohydrates, and total proteins) were significantly decreased. However, the lipid contents were markedly increased.Keywords: Chlorella minutissima, Chlorella oocystoides, cell growth, total carbohydrates, total proteins and lipid contents

Assessing Yield and Quality of Melon (Cucumis melo L.) Improved by Biodegradable Mulching Film

: Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic mulching films have an important function, but at the end of their lifetime pose an economic and environmental problem in terms of their removal and disposal. Biodegradable mulching films represent an alternative to LDPE with the potential to avoid these environmental issues. In this preliminary study, we employed a biodegradable film based on Mater-Bi® (MB) in comparison with low-density polyethylene to assess their effect on the yield and particular quality traits (organoleptic and nutraceutical composition of the fruits) of muskmelon (cv Pregiato) grown on soils with different textures (clay-loam-CL and sandy loam-SL) in two private farms in South Italy. Soil temperature under the mulch was also measured. During the monitored periods, mean soil temperature under LDPE was higher (about 1.3 °C) than that under the biodegradable film and was higher in SL soil than in CL soil, at 25.5° and 24.2 °C, respectively. However, the biodegradable film was able to limit the daily temperature fluctuation, which was 1.7 °C in both soils compared with 2.3 °C recorded for LDPE. Fruit yields were higher with MB film than LDPE (+9.5%), irrespective of soil texture. MaterBi® also elicited increases in total soluble solids, polyphenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity compared with LDPE films: 13.3%, 22.4%, 27.2%, and 24.6%, respectively. Color parameters of flesh, namely brightness, chroma, and hue angle were better in fruits grown on LDPE. Our findings suggest that Mater-Bi® based biodegradable mulching film is a potentially valid alternative to traditional LDPE, particularly for obtaining the agronomical benefits outlined above and for promoting environmental sustainability due to its favourable biodegradable properties

Infrared Multispectral Monitoring of Cereal Crops

Plants are subjected to a wide range of stresses which reduces the productivity of agricultural crops. In the case of cereal cultivations, climate change impacts on their production mainly through abiotic and biotic stress due for example to heat and water stress but also to pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, nematodes and others. The area under cereal cultivation is increasing worldwide, but, due to these problems, the current rates of yield growth and overall production are not enough to satisfy future demand. For this motivation, there is the needs to monitor and to control the cultivations, also developing new technological solutions useful to better optimize the management strategies, increasing both the quality of products and the quantity of the annual cereal harvest. Infrared imaging is a well-known non-invasive and non-contact technique that represents an outstanding approach of analysis applied in many fields: engineering, medicine, veterinary, cultural heritage and others. In recent years it has been gaining great interest in agriculture as it is well suited to the emerging needs of the precision agriculture management strategies. In this work, we performed an in-field multispectral infrared monitoring of different cereal crops (durum wheat and common wheat) through the use of both LWIR and MWIR cameras. The monitoring carried out made it possible to identify, among the crops analyzed, those subject to higher stress levels and their response to the different spectral ranges used. The results obtained open to the possibility of identifying new figures of merit useful for an effective monitoring of cereal crops and measurable through remote instrumentation