Changes in the carbon balance of tropical forest: evidence from long-term plots

The role of the world’s forests as a “sink” for atmospheric carbon dioxide is the subject of active debate. Long-term monitoring of plots in mature humid tropical forests concentrated in South America revealed that biomass gain by tree growth exceeded losses from tree death in 38 out of 50 neotropical sites. These forest plots have accumulated 0.71 + 0.34 tons of carbon per hectare per year in recent decades. The data suggest that neotropical forests may be a significant carbon sink, reducing the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2

Role of dynamical particle-vibration coupling in reconciliation of the d3/2d_{3/2} puzzle for spherical proton emitters

It has been observed that decay rate for proton emission from $d_{3/2}$ single particle state is systematically quenched compared with the prediction of a one dimensional potential model although the same model successfully accounts for measured decay rates from $s_{1/2}$ and $h_{11/2}$ states. We reconcile this discrepancy by solving coupled-channels equations, taking into account couplings between the proton motion and vibrational excitations of a daughter nucleus. We apply the formalism to proton emitting nuclei $^{160,161}$Re to show that there is a certain range of parameter set of the excitation energy and the dynamical deformation parameter for the quadrupole phonon excitation which reproduces simultaneously the experimental decay rates from the 2$d_{3/2}$, 3$s_{1/2}$ and 1$h_{11/2}$ states in these nuclei.Comment: RevTex, 12 pages, 4 eps figure

Theoretical description of deformed proton emitters: nonadiabatic coupled-channel method

The newly developed nonadiabatic method based on the coupled-channel Schroedinger equation with Gamow states is used to study the phenomenon of proton radioactivity. The new method, adopting the weak coupling regime of the particle-plus-rotor model, allows for the inclusion of excitations in the daughter nucleus. This can lead to rather different predictions for lifetimes and branching ratios as compared to the standard adiabatic approximation corresponding to the strong coupling scheme. Calculations are performed for several experimentally seen, non-spherical nuclei beyond the proton dripline. By comparing theory and experiment, we are able to characterize the angular momentum content of the observed narrow resonance.Comment: 12 pages including 10 figure

A new age for Quercus spp. fruits: review on nutritional and phytochemical composition and related biological activities of acorns

The current global food system must adapt to the expected growth of world population (about 9 billion individuals by 2050). This adaptation will probably include an increased consumption of edible wild foods, due to their richness in micronutrients and bioactive compounds, besides providing a cost-effective and sustainable way of improving caloric food security. A striking example of such natural matrices is the Quercus genus, which has the additional advantage of being widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In a traditional sense, Quercus fruits (acorns) were mainly used in animal feeding, despite their potentially important role on the rural economy. But this preconception is changing. In fact, their nutritional value, high contents in phytochemical compounds, biological activity (such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, and cardioprotective properties) and use in the treatment of specific diseases (such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, or Alzheimer's disease) have raised the interest in integrating acorns into the human diet. Accordingly, this comprehensive overview was designed to provide an evidence-based review of the literature, with the objective to achieve useful conclusions regarding the nutritional properties, methodologies of extraction, identification, and characterization of a wide variety of bioactive compounds and scientifically validated bioactivities in Quercus species worldwide. The industrial by-products from acorn oil extraction or flour production are also included. Data regarding the analytical techniques, individual compounds, and their bioactivities, are organized in tables. The reported data are discussed and directions for further investigations are suggested, highlighting the use of acorns in food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical applications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pre-meal tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) intake can have anti-obesity effects in young women?

The effect of pre-meal tomato intake in the anthropometric indices and blood levels of triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, and uric acid of a young women population (n = 35, 19.6 ± 1.3 years) was evaluated. During 4 weeks, daily, participants ingested a raw ripe tomato (∼90 g) before lunch. Their anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured repeatedly during the follow-up time. At the end of the 4 weeks, significant reductions were observed on body weight (−1.09 ± 0.12 kg on average), % fat (−1.54 ± 0.52%), fasting blood glucose (−5.29 ± 0.80 mg/dl), triglycerides (−8.31 ± 1.34 mg/dl), cholesterol (−10.17 ± 1.21 mg/dl), and uric acid (−0.16 ± 0.04 mg/dl) of the participants. The tomato pre-meal ingestion seemed to interfere positively in body weight, fat percentage, and blood levels of glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, and uric acid of the young adult women that participated in this study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Eficiência de produtos à base de nim aplicados em vagens de amendoim armazenado, sobre Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de avaliar a bioatividade de nim (Azadirachta indica) (A.Juss) sobre Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer), em vagens de amendoim. Para realização do estudo, vagens foram selecionadas, pesadas e colocadas em sacos de ráfia (25 cm de comprimento x 19 cm de largura e acondicionados em recipientes plásticos (10 cm de altura x 20 cm de comprimento x 13 cm de largura) O tratamento das vagens foi realizado utilizando-se concentrado emulsionável de nim (Neemseto, 40%), óleo de nim e pó da folha de nim. cada tratamento foi repetido cinco vezes. Para cada repetição foram utilizados 20 insetos na fase adulta, não sexados e com idade de até 30 dias após a emergência. As avaliações foram feitas aos 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 e 180 dias após instalação do bioensaio. A eficiência dos produtos à base de nim sobre A. diaperinus foi calculada pelo método de Abbott, para a avaliação aos 30 dias e Sun Shepard para as avaliações aos 60, 90, 120, 150 e 180 dias do armazenamento. De acordo com os resultados pode-se concluir que os produtos mais eficientes foram o concentrado emulsionável e óleo de nim. Palavras-chave:Arachis hypogaea, produto armazenados, bioinseticida, cascudinh

Wing geometric morphometrics of workers and drones and single nucleotide polymorphisms provide similar genetic structure in the Iberian honey bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis)

Wing geometric morphometrics has been applied to honey bees (Apis mellifera) in identification of evolutionary lineages or subspecies and, to a lesser extent, in assessing genetic structure within subspecies. Due to bias in the production of sterile females (workers) in a colony, most studies have used workers leaving the males (drones) as a neglected group. However, considering their importance as reproductive individuals, the use of drones should be incorporated in these analyses in order to better understand diversity patterns and underlying evolutionary processes. Here, we assessed the usefulness of drone wings, as well as the power of wing geometric morphometrics, in capturing the signature of complex evolutionary processes by examining wing shape data, integrated with geographical information, from 711 colonies sampled across the entire distributional range of Apis mellifera iberiensis in Iberia. We compared the genetic patterns reconstructed fromspatially-explicit shape variation extracted fromwings of both sexes with that previously reported using 383 genome-wide SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms). Our results indicate that the spatial structure retrieved from wings of drones and workers was similar (r = 0.93) and congruent with that inferred from SNPs (r = 0.90 for drones; r = 0.87 for workers), corroborating the clinal pattern that has been described for A. m. iberiensis using other genetic markers. In addition to showing that drone wings carry valuable genetic information, this study highlights the capability of wing geometric morphometrics in capturing complex genetic patterns, o ering a reliable and low-cost alternative for preliminary estimation of population structure.This research was funded by the program COMPETE 2020—POCI (Programa Operacional para a Competividade e Internacionalização) and by Portuguese funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) in the framework of the project BeeHappy (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029871). FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) provided funds for TMF (2011/07857-9) and JSGT (2011/02434-2).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Does geometric morphometrics provide congruent results with SNP data? The case of Iberian honey bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis)

While molecular markers are usually preferred to infer population structure, geometric morphometrics is a cheap method that has been widely applied to the wings of female honey bees to identify subspecies or lineages and can be used alternatively or complementarily to molecular markers. However, the power of geometric morphometrics to capture the signature of complex evolutionary processes has not been tested in honey bees. In this study, we applied geometric morphometrics, combined with geographical information, to the right forewings of female individuals from 711 colonies distributed along the Iberian Peninsula, which contains a complex population structure. The results were further compared with those obtained using 383 SNPs. Our data showed that geometric morphometrics provided a similar spatial structure of SNPs data (r=0.90). Our findings reinforce the power of spatially explicit wing geometric morphometrics data to capture the signature of complex evolutionary processes. Thus, this method could be used as a low-cost alternative for preliminary estimation of population structure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An autonomous intelligent gateway infrastructure for in-field processing in precision viticulture

Article in PressWireless sensor networks have found multiple applications in precision viticulture. Despite the steady progress in sensing devices and wireless technologies, some of the crucial items needed to improve the usability and scalability of the networks, such as gateway infrastructures and in-field processing, have been comparatively neglected. This paper describes the hardware, communication capabilities and software architecture of an intelligent autonomous gateway, designed to provide the necessary middleware between locally deployed sensor networks and a remote location within the whole-farm concept. This solar-powered infrastructure, denoted by iPAGAT (Intelligent Precision Agriculture Gateway), runs an aggregation engine that fills a local database with environmental data gathered by a locally deployed ZigBee wireless sensor network. Aggregated data are then retrieved by external queries over the built-in data integration system. In addition, embedded communication capabilities, including Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 and GPRS, allow local and remote users to access both gateway and remote data, as well as the Internet, and run site-specific management tools using authenticated smartphones. Field experiments provide convincing evidence that iPAGAT represents an important step forward in the development of distributed service-oriented information systems for precision viticulture applications.The authors would like to acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), and Spanish Seneca Foundation Centre for Research Coordination that partially sponsors this research work through the scholarships references SFRH/BD/38759/2007 and 02998-PI-05, respectively