Spring Forage Stash Module to Prevent Forage Crisis on Uruguayan Livestock Systems: An Evaluation Based on Model Simulations

In Uruguay, rangeland cattle production systems support national economy by beef exportation chain and economic inputs to the country. Soil hydric stress episodes results to forage crisis on grassland-based production systems, having high impact on its trajectory and leaving sequels at several farm levels mainly on rearing cattle systems in drought sensitive regions of the country. In that context, the proposal is to create a spring forage stash module, with a simple management rules as a mechanism to build stability to farms and to buffering drought impact. The concept is to differ spring forage (season with low variation coefficient on net primary production) to summer (season with high variation and susceptible to drought stress episodes). This forage stash module is actually started to be implemented in some monitored farms nevertheless, the use of simulation models can project some concrete result generating future possible evolutions for the system. A predator-prey model for extensive livestock systems -called PPGL- was set to understand the impact of that spring forage stash module on animal securing parameter, expressed as the proportion of adult rearing cows maintaining liveweight at summer grazing on a drought scenario. Results suggest that the stashing 10% of the farm surface can save approximatively 70% of rearing cows, even for drought episodes on closing time or in the summer grazing period. Additionally, a linear direct effect was observed between stashing surface on proportion of rearing cows secured. The resulting carrying capacity of the stash forage module is about 800 to 850 kg liveweight / ha on the grazing period, supporting high grazing pressure. Considering those results, the inclusion of a spring forage stash module is a promising tool to generate more resilient livestock production systems

Does time constrain affect consumer intention to purchase? A case study with orange/pomegranate juice.

The influence of time pressure on consumer perception may be particularly relevant for the design of food packages. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the influence of time-constraint on results from a rating-based conjoint task, using pomegranate/orange juice as case study. One hundred consumers evaluated the intention to purchase of images of juice bottles, which were designed by manipulating the following variables: bottle design, front-of-pack nutritional information, nutrition claim and processing claim. They were randomly divided into two experimental conditions: control and time-constraint. Consumers with a time-constraint gave significantly higher intention to purchase scores than those in control condition, but time-constraint did not largely modify the way in which consumers evaluated their intention to purchase. In both experimental conditions consumers gave higher intention to purchase scores for bottles with traditional design, which included processing claim and front-of-pack nutritional information. Result suggests that graphic design could help consumers to make healthier food choices.Food: the tree that sustains life. 1648

Morphological Study of Granular-Granular Impact Craters through Time-of-Flight Cameras: from Concept to Automation in Python

Laboratory made granular-granular impact craters have been used as model analogues of planetary impact craters. These kind of craters have been observed and studied using profilometry techniques that allow to retrieve important morphologic features from the impacted surface. In this work, we propose to use a Time-of-Flight camera (Microsoft Kinect One) for the acquisition of depth data. We show comparisons between the typically used technique and the analysis derived from the Time-of-Flight data. We also release craterslab, a Python library developed to automate most of the tasks from the process of studying impact craters produced by granular projectiles hitting on the surface of granular targets. The library is able to acquire, identify, and measure morphological features of impacted surfaces through the reconstruction of 3D topographic maps. Our results show that using a Time-of-Flight camera and automating the data processing with a software library for the systematic study of impact craters can produce very accurate results while reducing the time spent on different stages of the process

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.This study, carried out between October 2004 and November 2005 on the island of Tenerife, covers: (1) characterization of the irrigated crops and quantification of the gross irrigation requirements (GIRs) of each crop using surveys; (2) field evaluation of drip/micro, spray and sprinkle irrigation systems to obtain global distribution uniformity (DU) as indicated by the Cal Poly ITRC (Irrigation Training and Research Centre, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA); (3) analysis of on farm irrigation efficiency using local climatic data; and (4) inclusion of this data into a Geographic Information System (GIS). Crop GIRs show high deviations mainly because of the multiple microclimate conditions on the island, the irrigation methods used, the crop systems (greenhouses, etc) and the irrigation management. Field evaluation provided an average DU of 0.83 in drip/micro and spray irrigated banana crops, 0.69 in sprinkle irrigated ones, 0.58 in sprinkle irrigated horticulture and 0.81 for tomato crops (100% drip). Data showed that approximately 30% of the non-uniformity was due to pressure differences in the irrigation system, 3% due to unequal drainage, 7% due to unequal application rates, and 60% was due to other causes (which include manufacturing variation, plugging, and wear). Irrigation efficiency is around 80% in drip irrigated tomato and banana crops and 75% in sprinkle systems. Data showed that efficiency is slightly lower in greenhouses and mesh greenhouse crops than in non-protected crops basically due to the fact that although protected crops require less water, they receive an equal quantity of water. Inclusion of the data into a GIS makes possible a high level of agronomic water consumption control on the island

Interactions in improvised music: people at play

Interactions in improvised music: people at play This project began as an open exploration of musical interactions in a trio in which I have played bass for many years. We gave three concerts for the project and I explored our interactions by talking with the pianist/bandleader and drummer after each concert. They described a broad range of interactions and explored a number of different conceptions of what entails a musical interaction. The musicians were keen to talk about the factors that motivate them to perform together, mainly the desire to play. Play, for them, is its own reward. They aim to collaborate in the moment of performance to create something fresh, rather than display their instrumental technique or present music that has been preconceived. An appreciation of this motivation is needed to understand their interactions in concert. Audience members were also interviewed after every performance. They each experienced the concerts differently, in a way that reflects their preoccupations and interests as much as it reflects the concert event. The research thus provides a view of individuals and their differences that contrasts with the body of music research focused on common experiences within particular musical cultures and the acquisition of the skills required to participate in those cultures. This practice-led research project was allowed to develop and find focus gradually in cycles of performances, interviews and analysis of interview transcripts, concurrent with an ongoing exploration of texts about doing research. Various interactions – during the performances and interviews, between the researcher and the interview transcripts and between the researcher and research texts – contributed to the project’s development. These interactions can be thought of as play between foreknowledge and the unknown. Accordingly, play as described by the musicians and as defined in hermeneutics, was actively pursued as a way of developing an appropriate methodology for the project

Microsatellite Typing of Clinical and Environmental Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii Isolates from Cuba Shows Multiple Genetic Lineages

Background: Human cryptococcal infections have been associated with bird droppings as a likely source of infection. Studies toward the local and global epidemiology of Cryptococcus spp. have been hampered by the lack of rapid, discriminatory, and exchangeable molecular typing methods. Methodology/Principal Findings: We selected nine microsatellite markers for high-resolution fingerprinting from the genome of C. neoformans var. grubii. This panel of markers was applied to a collection of clinical (n = 122) and environmental (n = 68; from pigeon guano) C. neoformans var. grubii isolates from Cuba. All markers proved to be polymorphic. The average number of alleles per marker was 9 (range 5-51). A total of 104 genotypes could be distinguished. The discriminatory power of this panel of markers was 0.993. Multiple clusters of related genotypes could be discriminated that differed in only one or two microsatellite markers. These clusters were assigned as microsatellite complexes. The majority of environmental isolates (> 70%) fell into 1 microsatellite complex containing only few clinical isolates (49 environmental versus 2 clinical). Clinical isolates were segregated over multiple microsatellite complexes. Conclusions/Significance: A large genotypic variation exists in C. neoformans var. grubii. The genotypic segregation between clinical and environmental isolates from pigeon guano suggests additional source(s) of human cryptococcal infections. The selected panel of microsatellite markers is an excellent tool to study the epidemiology of C. neoformans var. grubii

Additiones ad praedicta pro parte reuerendissimi patris Ambrosij Machin

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Recent Trends in SST, Chl-a, Productivity and Wind Stress in Upwelling and Open Ocean Areas in the Upper Eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre

The global upper ocean has been warming during the last decades accompanied with a chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and productivity decrease. Whereas subtropical gyres show similar trends, Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems are thought to increase in productivity due to increased trade winds. This study analyzes recent trends in sea surface temperature (SST), Chl-a, net primary production (NPP) and meridional wind stress in the Eastern North Atlantic subtropical gyre (NASE) in order to examine if the global trends can be detected in open ocean and upwelling areas and how the ocean biota responds. Satellite data of such variables of the last 15–40 years were analyzed to calculate mean trends in upwelling areas in the Canary upwelling system and open ocean areas around the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. Our results show significant warming in the area with a maximum of 2.7°C per century for the Azores. Moreover, a general decreasing trend for Chl-a and NPP seems to be more evident in the permanent upwelling areas, which will be responsible for a loss of 0.13% of the global NPP per century. Our results also highlight a significant expansion of the oceanic desert area of 10% with an increase in unproductive days of up to 84 days in the last 20 years. The competitive relationship of stratification and wind stress in the Canary upwelling system might be a more plausible explanation for the decrease in Chl-a and NPP in upwelling areas linked to the increase in upwelling favorable wind stress and the surface warming.En prens

Functional Heterogeneity of Mouse and Human Brain OPCs: Relevance for Preclinical Studies in Multiple Sclerosis.

Besides giving rise to oligodendrocytes (the only myelin-forming cell in the Central Nervous System (CNS) in physiological conditions), Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells (OPCs) are responsible for spontaneous remyelination after a demyelinating lesion. They are present along the mouse and human CNS, both during development and in adulthood, yet how OPC physiological behavior is modified throughout life is not fully understood. The activity of adult human OPCs is still particularly unexplored. Significantly, most of the molecules involved in OPC-mediated remyelination are also involved in their development, a phenomenon that may be clinically relevant. In the present article, we have compared the intrinsic properties of OPCs isolated from the cerebral cortex of neonatal, postnatal and adult mice, as well as those recovered from neurosurgical adult human cerebral cortex tissue. By analyzing intact OPCs for the first time with 1H High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy, we show that these cells behave distinctly and that they have different metabolic patterns in function for their stage of maturity. Moreover, their response to Fibroblast Growth Gactor-2 (FGF-2) and anosmin-1 (two molecules that have known effects on OPC biology during development and that are overexpressed in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)) differs in relation to their developmental stage and in the function of the species. Our data reveal that the behavior of adult human and mouse OPCs differs in a very dynamic way that should be very relevant when testing drugs and for the proper design of effective pharmacological and/or cell therapies for MS.post-print753 K