Sistema de monitoreo remoto versátil para riego por pivote central

Uno de los sistemas de riego que más creció en superficie regada en la última década en Argentina es el pivote central. Este sistema de riego por aspersión está conformado por una pirámide en el centro, y una serie de tramos enlazados que giran alrededor de la misma esparciendo agua y formando un círculo. Los caudales de agua utilizados varían según el cultivo y la configuración del equipo, pero es común que alcancen los 120.000 lt/h o más. Al ser equipos que operan de manera autónoma por varios días, no requieren de personas en el lote. Sin embargo, se realizan rondas de supervisión diarias ya que cualquier desperfecto en el equipo puede resultar en grandes pérdidas. Por ejemplo, si el equipo no avanza porque sus ruedas patinan en el barro y la bomba sigue funcionando con un caudal como el descrito, se estarían desperdiciando miles litros de agua dulce por hora que podrían utilizarse para otros consumos. Existen alternativas a las rondas de supervisión para conocer el estado de los equipos sin tener que viajar al campo, pero tienen dos características que dificultan la adopción por parte de los productores. La primera es que dependen de una infraestructura de comunicación que en muchas zonas de Argentina no está disponible. Estas necesitan de cobertura celular o WiFi en el lote o en las proximidades del mismo, ya sea para enviar alertas SMS, para comunicarse desde el lote a un servidor en Internet, o para comunicarse con un nodo cercano mediante RF y utilizarlo como gateway a Internet. La segunda es que muchos de estos productos son provistos por los mismos fabricantes de equipos de riego y sólo funcionan en algunos modelos. Este trabajo presenta el diseño e implementación de un sistema de Internet de las Cosas que permite monitorear el estado de un pivote central. Se adapta a cualquier modelo, y puede instalarse en cualquier lote de Argentina.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control

Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed

Een archeologisch bureau-onderzoek voor de locatie Wooldstraat 33 te Winterswijk (Gld)

De onderzoekslocatie ligt aan de rand van een plateau-achtige vereffeningsrest op de overgang naar het beekdal van de Slinge, binnen de oude dorpskern van Winterswijk. De locatie heeft een hoge archeologische trefkans op archeologische resten uit de periode Vroege Middeleeuwen – Nieuwe Tijd. Daarnaast kunnen ook bewoningssporen uit eerdere periodes, vanaf het Mesolithicum, worden verwacht

Renewables in Spain threaten biodiversity

Peer reviewe

Bladder cancer index: cross-cultural adaptation into Spanish and psychometric evaluation

Background: The Bladder Cancer Index (BCI) is so far the only instrument applicable across all bladder cancer patients, independent of tumor infiltration or treatment applied. We developed a Spanish version of the BCI, and assessed its acceptability and metric properties. Methods: For the adaptation into Spanish we used the forward and back-translation method, expert panels, and cognitive debriefing patient interviews. For the assessment of metric properties we used data from 197 bladder cancer patients from a multi-center prospective study. The Spanish BCI and the SF-36 Health Survey were self-administered before and 12 months after treatment. Reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha. Construct validity was assessed through the multi-trait multi-method matrix. The magnitude of change was quantified by effect sizes to assess responsiveness./nResults: Reliability coefficients ranged 0.75-0.97. The validity analysis confirmed moderate associations between the BCI function and bother subscales for urinary (r = 0.61) and bowel (r = 0.53) domains; conceptual independence among all BCI domains (r ≤ 0.3); and low correlation coefficients with the SF-36 scores, ranging 0.14-0.48. Among patients reporting global improvement at follow-up, pre-post treatment changes were statistically significant for the urinary domain and urinary bother subscale, with effect sizes of 0.38 and 0.53. Conclusions: The Spanish BCI is well accepted, reliable, valid, responsive, and similar in performance compared to the original instrument. These findings support its use, both in Spanish and international studies, as a valuable and comprehensive tool for assessing quality of life across a wide range of bladder cancer patients.This work was supported by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III FEDER(PS09/02139; PS09/01204; PS09/01619; PS09/02555; PI12/00772) and from AGAUR (2012FI_B1 00177; 2009 SGR 1095)

Detection of Missing Proteins Using the PRIDE Database as a Source of Mass Spectrometry Evidence

The current catalogue of the human proteome is not yet complete, as experimental proteomics evidence is still elusive for a group of proteins known as the missing proteins. The Human Proteome Project (HPP) has been successfully using technology and bioinformatic resources to improve the characterization of such challenging proteins. In this manuscript, we propose a pipeline starting with the mining of the PRIDE database to select a group of data sets potentially enriched in missing proteins that are subsequently analyzed for protein identification with a method based on the statistical analysis of proteotypic peptides. Spermatozoa and the HEK293 cell line were found to be a promising source of missing proteins and clearly merit further attention in future studies. After the analysis of the selected samples, we found 342 PSMs, suggesting the presence of 97 missing proteins in human spermatozoa or the HEK293 cell line, while only 36 missing proteins were potentially detected in the retina, frontal cortex, aorta thoracica, or placenta. The functional analysis of the missing proteins detected confirmed their tissue specificity, and the validation of a selected set of peptides using targeted proteomics (SRM/MRM assays) further supports the utility of the proposed pipeline. As illustrative examples, DNAH3 and TEPP in spermatozoa, and UNCX and ATAD3C in HEK293 cells were some of the more robust and remarkable identifications in this study. We provide evidence indicating the relevance to carefully analyze the ever-increasing MS/MS data available from PRIDE and other repositories as sources for missing proteins detection in specific biological matrices as revealed for HEK293 cells

Risk indicators affecting honeybee colony survival in Europe : one year of surveillance

The first pan-European harmonized active epidemiological surveillance program on honeybee colony mortality (EPILOBEE) was set up across 17 European Member States to estimate honeybee colony mortality over winter and during the beekeeping season. In nine Member States, overwinter losses were higher and statistically different from the empirical level of 10 % under which the level of overwinter mortality was considered as acceptable with usual beekeeping conditions. In four other countries, these losses were lower. Using multivariable Poisson regression models, it was showed that the size of the operation and apiary and the clinically detected varroosis, American foulbrood (AFB), and nosemosis before winter significantly affected 2012-2013 overwinter losses. Clinically detected diseases, the size of the operation and apiary, and the non-participation to a common veterinary treatment significantly affected 2013 summer losses. EPILOBEE was a prerequisite to implement future projects studying risk factors affecting colony health such as multiple and co-exposure to pesticides