EL RELEVO GENERACIONAL EN EL SECTOR CAFETALERO: LA EXPERIENCIA DE LOS CURSOS DE CAFÉ PARA NIÑOS EN CHOCAMÁN, VERACRUZ, MÉXICO

The coffee sector in Mexico has complex problem, such as low prices,phytosanitary problems, climate change and low productivity, as wellas migration, aging and low level of schooling of producers. Theobjective of this proyect is to contribute to the education and trainingof the new generations of coffee producers in Veracruz, throughthe implementation of comprehensive sustainable coffee coursesaimed at children. During the years 2009 to 2017, eight courses weregiven, with the participation of 415 children from coffee-growingmunicipalities in the center of Veracruz, Puebla and Oaxaca. Theevent takes place in the factory of the organization Catuai AmarilloSSS in the Municipality of Chocamán, Veracruz, in an effort of interinstitutionalcollaboration involving 40 instructors among academics,professionals, companies, consultants, technicians and field staff. Thecourse takes place during 12 days during the summer holidays. Thisexperiential education experience is consolidated as an educationaloption with feasibility for its implementation in other municipalitiesand coffee regions of Veracruz and Mexico.El sector cafetalero en México enfrenta una problemática compleja, como son bajos precios, problemas fitosanitarios,cambio climático y baja productividad, así como migración, envejecimiento y bajo nivel de escolaridad de losproductores. El objetivo de este proyecto es contribuir a la educación y formación de las nuevas generaciones deproductores de café en Veracruz, mediante la implementación de cursos de cafeticultura integral sustentable dirigidoa niñas y niños. Durante los años 2009 a 2017 se impartieron ocho cursos, con la participación de 415 niñas y niñosde municipios cafetaleros del centro de Veracruz, de Puebla y Oaxaca. El evento se desarrolla en las instalacionesde la organización Catuai Amarillo SSS en el Municipio de Chocamán, Veracruz, en un esfuerzo de colaboracióninterinstitucional participan 40 instructores entre académicos, profesionistas, empresas, consultores, técnicos ypersonal de campo. El curso se desarrolla durante 12 días en las vacaciones de verano. Esta experiencia de educaciónvivencial se consolida como una opción educativa con viabilidad para su implementación en otros municipios yregiones cafetaleras de Veracruz y México

INNOVACIONES TECNOLÓGICAS EN LA PRODUCCIÓN DE PLANTA DE CAFÉ (Coffea arabica L.)

Coffee growing in Mexico is of great importance and is considereda strategic activity. However, as of 2012, the national production ofcoffee was devastated by the affectation of rust (Hemileia vastatrix).In view of this situation, it is necessary to propagate coffee trees ina massive way for the renewal of coffee plantations. An innovativeproposal is the establishment of nursery with red shadow mesh,which replaces the traditional black color. This proposal is basedon the fact that red light causes greater efficiency in coffee trees ina range of 400 to 700 nm. However, results are controversial dueto the lack of experimental support in Mexico. For this reason, theobjective of this work was to analyze the production of biomassand its photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in coffee plants ofGeisha variety in nursery under different conditions in shade colors,being these gray, blue, aluminized, black, pearl and red, in Huatusco,Veracruz. The response variables were the weight of fresh anddry base material, as well as PAR. The results indicated significantdifferences for the variables. The pearl and red shades had the highestvalues, with 12.3 g for fresh weight and 3.3 g for dry weight, afterseven months of growth. PAR values for plants geowing under suchshdes were 855.3 ?mol m2 s-1 and 796.24 ?mol m2 s-1, respectively.La cafeticultura en México tiene gran importancia y es considerada una actividad estratégica. Sin embargo, a partirdel 2012 la producción nacional de café fue devastado por la afectación de la roya (Hemileia vastatrix). Ante estasituación se requiere propagar cafetos en forma masiva para la renovación de cafetales. Una propuesta innovadoraes el establecimiento de viveros con malla sombra de color rojo, que sustituye a la tradicional de color negro. Estapropuesta se fundamenta en que la luz roja ocasiona mayor eficiencia en los cafetos en un rango de los 400 a los 700nm. Sin embargo, existen resultados controversiales ante la falta de sustento experimental en México. Por tal razón,el objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la producción de biomasa y su radiación fotosintéticamente activa (PAR) enplantas de café de variedad Geisha en vivero, bajo diferentes condiciones en colores de sombra, siendo éstas gris,azul, aluminizada, negra, perla y roja, en Huatusco, Veracruz. Las variables de respuesta fueron el peso de materia enbase fresca y seca, así como la PAR. Los resultados indicaron diferencias significativas para las variables. Las mallassombra de color perla y roja presentaron los valores más altos, con 12.3 g para peso fresco y 3.3 g en peso seco, trassiete meses de crecimiento. Los valores de PAR fueron de 855.3 ?mol m2 s-1 y 796.24 ?mol m2 s-1, para estos tiposde sombra, respectivamente

Early life child micronutrient status, maternal reasoning, and a nurturing household environment have persistent influences on child cognitive development at age 5 years: Results from MAL-ED

Background: Child cognitive development is influenced by early-life insults and protective factors. To what extent these factors have a long-term legacy on child development and hence fulfillment of cognitive potential is unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relation between early-life factors (birth to 2 y) and cognitive development at 5 y. Methods: Observational follow-up visits were made of children at 5 y, previously enrolled in the community-based MAL-ED longitudinal cohort. The burden of enteropathogens, prevalence of illness, complementary diet intake, micronutrient status, and household and maternal factors from birth to 2 y were extensively measured and their relation with the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence at 5 y was examined through use of linear regression. Results: Cognitive T-scores from 813 of 1198 (68%) children were examined and 5 variables had significant associations in multivariable models: mean child plasma transferrin receptor concentration (β: −1.81, 95% CI: −2.75, −0.86), number of years of maternal education (β: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.45), maternal cognitive reasoning score (β: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.15), household assets score (β: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.04), and HOME child cleanliness factor (β: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.15). In multivariable models, the mean rate of enteropathogen detections, burden of illness, and complementary food intakes between birth and 2 y were not significantly related to 5-y cognition. Conclusions: A nurturing home context in terms of a healthy/clean environment and household wealth, provision of adequate micronutrients, maternal education, and cognitive reasoning have a strong and persistent influence on child cognitive development. Efforts addressing aspects of poverty around micronutrient status, nurturing caregiving, and enabling home environments are likely to have lasting positive impacts on child cognitive development.publishedVersio

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre

We provide an updated assessment of the power of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to search for thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale, via the associated gamma-ray signal from pair-annihilating dark matter particles in the region around the Galactic centre. We find that CTA will open a new window of discovery potential, significantly extending the range of robustly testable models given a standard cuspy profile of the dark matter density distribution. Importantly, even for a cored profile, the projected sensitivity of CTA will be sufficient to probe various well-motivated models of thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale. This is due to CTA's unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolutions, and the planned observational strategy. The survey of the inner Galaxy will cover a much larger region than corresponding previous observational campaigns with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. CTA will map with unprecedented precision the large-scale diffuse emission in high-energy gamma rays, constituting a background for dark matter searches for which we adopt state-of-the-art models based on current data. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date event reconstruction Monte Carlo tools developed by the CTA consortium, and pay special attention to quantifying the level of instrumental systematic uncertainties, as well as background template systematic errors, required to probe thermally produced dark matter at these energies.</p

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the new-generation ground-based observatory for $\gamma$-ray astronomy, provides unique capabilities to address significant open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. We study some of the salient areas of $\gamma$-ray cosmology that can be explored as part of the Key Science Projects of CTA, through simulated observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and of their relativistic jets. Observations of AGN with CTA will enable a measurement of $\gamma$-ray absorption on the extragalactic background light with a statistical uncertainty below 15% up to a redshift $z=2$ and to constrain or detect $\gamma$-ray halos up to intergalactic-magnetic-field strengths of at least 0.3pG. Extragalactic observations with CTA also show promising potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. The best limits on Lorentz invariance violation from $\gamma$-ray astronomy will be improved by a factor of at least two to three. CTA will also probe the parameter space in which axion-like particles could constitute a significant fraction, if not all, of dark matter. We conclude on the synergies between CTA and other upcoming facilities that will foster the growth of $\gamma$-ray cosmology

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the new-generation ground-based observatory for γ astronomy, provides unique capabilities to address significant open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. We study some of the salient areas of γ cosmology that can be explored as part of the Key Science Projects of CTA, through simulated observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and of their relativistic jets. Observations of AGN with CTA will enable a measurement of γ absorption on the extragalactic background light with a statistical uncertainty below 15% up to a redshift z=2 and to constrain or detect γ halos up to intergalactic-magnetic-field strengths of at least 0.3 pG . Extragalactic observations with CTA also show promising potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. The best limits on Lorentz invariance violation from γ astronomy will be improved by a factor of at least two to three. CTA will also probe the parameter space in which axion-like particles could constitute a significant fraction, if not all, of dark matter. We conclude on the synergies between CTA and other upcoming facilities that will foster the growth of γ cosmology.</p

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre

We provide an updated assessment of the power of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to search for thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale, via the associated gamma-ray signal from pair-annihilating dark matter particles in the region around the Galactic centre. We find that CTA will open a new window of discovery potential, significantly extending the range of robustly testable models given a standard cuspy profile of the dark matter density distribution. Importantly, even for a cored profile, the projected sensitivity of CTA will be sufficient to probe various well-motivated models of thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale. This is due to CTA's unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolutions, and the planned observational strategy. The survey of the inner Galaxy will cover a much larger region than corresponding previous observational campaigns with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. CTA will map with unprecedented precision the large-scale diffuse emission in high-energy gamma rays, constituting a background for dark matter searches for which we adopt state-of-the-art models based on current data. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date event reconstruction Monte Carlo tools developed by the CTA consortium, and pay special attention to quantifying the level of instrumental systematic uncertainties, as well as background template systematic errors, required to probe thermally produced dark matter at these energies