Automatización del modelo de simulación de cultivos DSSAT para evaluar el desempeño productivo bajo distintas estrategias de manejo y escenarios ambientales

La adaptación de sistemas agrícolas a los crecientes cambios ambientales requiere evaluar distintos manejos cuyos resultados brinden el máximo beneficio productivo o ambiental. Los modelos de simulación de cultivos han demostrado ser una herramienta efectiva para llevar a cabo esta tarea. Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) es un software que permite simular el crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento de cultivos en base a dinámicas suelo-planta-atmósfera. El objetivo de este trabajo es generar una herramienta de software para explorar rangos de parametrizaciones respecto de las decisiones de manejo (i.e. cantidad y tipo de fertilizante aplicado y secuencias de cultivos), y automatizar la generación de información requerida por DSSAT para simular los modelos. A partir de una lista de cultivos y sus fechas de siembra, se genera una matriz de restricciones para determinar secuencias agronómicamente factibles. Luego, se generan especificaciones estructuradas detallando el clima, suelo, condiciones iniciales, estructura del cultivo y fertilización para cada cultivo. El resultado principal es la exploración de todo el conjunto decisiones de manejo posibles bajo las mismas condiciones ambientales, permitiendo el análisis y búsqueda de aquellas decisiones que optimicen los beneficios buscados (i.e. rendimiento, rentabilidad económica o conservación de suelo, entre otros).Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Alfv\'en Reflection and Reverberation in the Solar Atmosphere

Magneto-atmospheres with Alfv\'en speed [a] that increases monotonically with height are often used to model the solar atmosphere, at least out to several solar radii. A common example involves uniform vertical or inclined magnetic field in an isothermal atmosphere, for which the Alfv\'en speed is exponential. We address the issue of internal reflection in such atmospheres, both for time-harmonic and for transient waves. It is found that a mathematical boundary condition may be devised that corresponds to perfect absorption at infinity, and, using this, that many atmospheres where a(x) is analytic and unbounded present no internal reflection of harmonic Alfv\'en waves. However, except for certain special cases, such solutions are accompanied by a wake, which may be thought of as a kind of reflection. For the initial-value problem where a harmonic source is suddenly switched on (and optionally off), there is also an associated transient that normally decays with time as O(t-1) or O(t-1 ln t), depending on the phase of the driver. Unlike the steady-state harmonic solutions, the transient does reflect weakly. Alfv\'en waves in the solar corona driven by a finite-duration train of p-modes are expected to leave such transients.Comment: Accepted by Solar Physic

Quantum Correlation in One-dimensional Extend Quantum Compass Model

We study the correlations in the one-dimensional extended quantum compass model in a transverse magnetic field. By exactly solving the Hamiltonian, we find that the quantum correlation of the ground state of one-dimensional quantum compass model is vanishing. We show that quantum discord can not only locate the quantum critical points, but also discern the orders of phase transitions. Furthermore, entanglement quantified by concurrence is also compared.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

The coming together of allosteric and phosphorylation mechanisms in the molecular integration of A2A heteroreceptor complexes in the dorsal and ventral striatal-pallidal GABA neurons

The role of adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) and striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase (STEP) interactions in the striatal-pallidal GABA neurons was recently discussed in relation to A2AR overexpression and cocaine-induced increases of brain adenosine levels. As to phosphorylation, combined activation of A2AR and metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) in the striatal-pallidal GABA neurons appears necessary for phosphorylation of the GluA1 unit of the AMPA receptor to take place. Robert Yasuda (J Neurochem 152: 270–272, 2020) focused on finding a general mechanism by which STEP activation is enhanced by increased A2AR transmission in striatal-pallidal GABA neurons expressing A2AR and dopamine D2 receptor. In his Editorial, he summarized in a clear way the significant effects of A2AR activation on STEP in the dorsal striatal-pallidal GABA neurons which involves a rise of intracellular levels of calcium causing STEP activation through its dephosphorylation. However, the presence of the A2AR in an A2AR-fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) heteroreceptor complex can be required in the dorsal striatal-pallidal GABA neurons for the STEP activation. Furthermore, Won et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 116: 8028–8037, 2019) found in mass spectrometry experiments that the STEP splice variant STEP(61) can bind to mGluR5 and inactivate it. In addition, A2AR overexpression can lead to increased formation of A2AR-mGluR5 heterocomplexes in ventral striatal-pallidal GABA neurons. It involves enhanced facilitatory allosteric interactions leading to increased Gq-mediated mGluR5 signaling activating STEP. The involvement of both A2AR and STEP in the actions of cocaine on synaptic downregulation was also demonstrated. The enhancement of mGluR5 protomer activity by the A2AR protomer in A2AR-mGluR5 heterocomplexes in the nucleus accumbens shell appears to have a novel significant role in STEP mechanisms by both enhancing the activation of STEP and being a target for STEP(61)

Diversity and Bias through Receptor-Receptor Interactions in GPCR Heteroreceptor Complexes. Focus on Examples from Dopamine D2 Receptor Heteromerization.

Allosteric receptor-receptor interactions in GPCR heteromers appeared to introduce an intermolecular allosteric mechanism contributing to the diversity and bias in the protomers. Examples of dopamine D2R heteromerization are given to show how such allosteric mechanisms significantly change the receptor protomer repertoire leading to diversity and biased recognition and signaling. In 1980s and 1990s, it was shown that neurotensin (NT) through selective antagonistic NTR-D2 like receptor interactions increased the diversity of DA signaling by reducing D2R-mediated dopamine signaling over D1R-mediated dopamine signaling. Furthermore, D2R protomer appeared to bias the specificity of the NTR orthosteric binding site toward neuromedin N vs. NT in the heteroreceptor complex. Complex CCK2R-D1R-D2R interactions in possible heteroreceptor complexes were also demonstrated further increasing receptor diversity. In D2R-5-HT2AR heteroreceptor complexes, the hallucinogenic 5-HT2AR agonists LSD and DOI were recently found to exert a biased agonist action on the orthosteric site of the 5-HT2AR protomer leading to the development of an active conformational state different from the one produced by 5-HT. Furthermore, as recently demonstrated allosteric A2A-D2R receptor-receptor interaction brought about not only a reduced affinity of the D2R agonist binding site but also a biased modulation of the D2R protomer signaling in A2A-D2R heteroreceptor complexes. A conformational state of the D2R was induced, which moved away from Gi/o signaling and instead favored β-arrestin2-mediated signaling. These examples on allosteric receptor-receptor interactions obtained over several decades serve to illustrate the significant increase in diversity and biased recognition and signaling that develop through such mechanisms