Measurement of grapevine canopy leaf area by using an ultrasonic-based method.

Aim: Measurement of leaf area in grapevine has always been a critical point in researches focused on irrigation management, training systems, source-sink interrelationships and efficiency of spray application to canopies. In this work, we propose the use of ultrasonic sensors as a fast and accurate tool for the estimation of large portions of leaf canopy area. Methods and results: Through outputs of ultrasonic sensors installed on a tractor moving along vineyard rows, we calculated an ultrasonic-based leaf density index that we correlated with three measurements or estimates of canopy area: I) direct measurement of the area of a canopy portion (LAØ), assessed by summing the areas of all the leaves, where each single-leaf area was assessed by regressing the leaf diameter (the maximum width perpendicular to the main rip) against the related leaf area calculated on the basis of a relation between the leaf diameter and the leaf area, previously assessed through an area meter on a 20-leaf sample; II) the point quadrat output (LApq); and III) the canopy leaf area index (LAI) obtained through LAI-2000 (Li-Cor) technology. The measurements were assessed on six cultivars in three replicate rows (8-12 plants per cultivar per row) in a vineyard trained to a vertical trellis system. Conclusion: When we correlated the three independent control parameters with each other, we obtained highly significant correlations between LApq and LAØ, but less significant correlations between these two and LAI-2000 outputs. Also, the correlations between ultrasonic outputsoutputs and LAØ and LApq were significant, with R2 ranging between 0.84 and 0.85. On the contrary, no significant correlation was found between ultrasonic outputs and LAI-2000 outputs. These results were obtained by averaging all the values belonging to each replicated cultivar (10.5 m along the row, i.e., twelve contiguous vines); on the contrary, when the analysis was done over a shorter distance (3.5 m, i.e., four contiguous vines), the reliability of the ultrasonic-based method decreased. Significance and impact of the study: These results point to the ultrasonic technology as a powerful tool to estimate large-scale leaf canopy area, with potential applications in precision farming. At the moment, however, the limitation of this approach is the requirement of reference values for leaf area (e.g., assessed by point quadrat) to obtain absolute and not only relative outputs. With this application we can quantify, in a few hours, the canopy of a whole vineyard, in order to analyze different vegetation zones or to follow canopy development

The impact of a 14-day altitude training camp on olympic-level open-water swimmers' sleep

Despite the common belief that sleep quality at altitude is poor, the scientific evidence to support this notion is still modest. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate possible changes of actigraphy-based and subjective sleep parameters in a group of elite open-water swimmers during a 14-day altitude training camp (ATC) at 1500 m. The study subjects were five Olympic-level open-water swimmers (mean age: 25.0 ± 3.2 years; 3 females and 2 males). All subjects wore a wrist activity monitor and filled a sleep diary for 18 consecutive nights, 4 nights before and 14 nights during ATC. The data were then analyzed at four different time points: before ATC (PRE), the first two days of ATC (T1), and after one (T2) and two weeks of ATC (T3). Training load, assessed as the covered distance (km), session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE), and heart rate (HR), was monitored during the week before and the first and second week of ATC. No significant differences in objective and subjective scores of sleep quality were detected, whereas the sleep onset time (p = 0.018; η2p = 0.83, large) and sleep offset time (p < 0.001; η2p = 0.95, large) significantly differed among PRE, T1, T2, and T3: elite athletes started to sleep and woke up ≃ 1 h earlier the first two days of ATC compared to PRE (sleep onset time: p = 0.049; sleep offset time: p = 0.016). Further, an increase in the training volume during the two weeks of the ATC was observed, with the most time spent in a low-intensity regime and an increase in time spent in a high-intensity regime compared to PRE. Sleep quality was not negatively influenced by a 14-day altitude training camp at 1500 m in a group of Olympic-level elite swimmers despite an increase in perceived exertion during training sessions. Nonetheless, early sleep onset and sleep offset times were observed for the first two nights of ATC: elite athletes started to sleep and woke up ≃ 1 h earlier compared to the baseline nights

Diplomatura en género y derechos humanos

La Diplomatura de Géneros y Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata busca el desarrollo de competencias para la promoción de derechos para contribuir a la visibilización, prevención y erradicación de violencias de género. La propuesta educativa vincula las producciones teóricas del feminismo y la perspectiva de género con las demandas del movimiento de mujeres y feminista, en relación a las desigualdades y las violencias que sufren las mujeres y disidencias y busca promover el desarrollo de competencias de promoción de derechos y actuación ante situaciones de violencias, para contribuir a su prevención y erradicación.Universidad Nacional de La Plat

On the generation and identification of optical Schr\"odinger cats

We discuss the possibility of generating and detecting, by a tomographic reconstruction of the Wigner function, a macroscopic superposition of two coherent states. The superposition state is created using a conditioned measurement on the polarisation of a probe photon entangled to a coherent state. The entanglement is obtained using a Kerr cell inserted in a Mach-Zender interferometer. Some hint about generation of GHZ states is given as well.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Transcriptome Remodeling Contributes to Epidemic Disease Caused by the Human Pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes

UNLABELLED For over a century, a fundamental objective in infection biology research has been to understand the molecular processes contributing to the origin and perpetuation of epidemics. Divergent hypotheses have emerged concerning the extent to which environmental events or pathogen evolution dominates in these processes. Remarkably few studies bear on this important issue. Based on population pathogenomic analysis of 1,200 Streptococcus pyogenes type emm89 infection isolates, we report that a series of horizontal gene transfer events produced a new pathogenic genotype with increased ability to cause infection, leading to an epidemic wave of disease on at least two continents. In the aggregate, these and other genetic changes substantially remodeled the transcriptomes of the evolved progeny, causing extensive differential expression of virulence genes and altered pathogen-host interaction, including enhanced immune evasion. Our findings delineate the precise molecular genetic changes that occurred and enhance our understanding of the evolutionary processes that contribute to the emergence and persistence of epidemically successful pathogen clones. The data have significant implications for understanding bacterial epidemics and for translational research efforts to blunt their detrimental effects. IMPORTANCE The confluence of studies of molecular events underlying pathogen strain emergence, evolutionary genetic processes mediating altered virulence, and epidemics is in its infancy. Although understanding these events is necessary to develop new or improved strategies to protect health, surprisingly few studies have addressed this issue, in particular, at the comprehensive population genomic level. Herein we establish that substantial remodeling of the transcriptome of the human-specific pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes by horizontal gene flow and other evolutionary genetic changes is a central factor in precipitating and perpetuating epidemic disease. The data unambiguously show that the key outcome of these molecular events is evolution of a new, more virulent pathogenic genotype. Our findings provide new understanding of epidemic disease

MACSUR Project – The case study of vineyards. Eco-physiological and biophysical modeling applied to the growth and productivity of vineyards in northwestern Italy.

Viticulture in Italy is one of the economically most important agricultural sectors. Recent research allows eco-physiological and biophysical models to develop tools able to provide support to the crop management, in terms of optimizing production performance and limiting environmental impacts. The ability to check on a daily basis the activities of vegetative and productive phases of vines is certainly a fundamental tool for the vineyard organization and management, and for linking the trends of growth and productivity with the quality of the final product: the wine. Since some years, some researches are taking place in the vineyards of northwestern Italy, with the aim of modeling the eco-physiological behavior of the vines, using and valorizing all available historical field data related to the vegetative and productive behavior of the vines, as well as laboratory qualitative data. At the same time, our team is evaluating two different modeling approaches: one biophysical, using the land surface scheme UTOPIA (University of TOrino land Process Interaction in Atmosphere), and another one eco-physiological. The case-study vineyards, referred to the northwestern Italian territory, is part of a wider working program involving several integrated teams from Italy, Spain and Germany. The objectives are: to improve the use of the models used by different groups; to compare the results obtained by different modeling tools; to create a common database of field measurements; to study the relationships between vegetative-productive behaviors and quality of productions

A compact Time-Of-Flight detector for space applications: The LIDAL system

Abstract LIDAL (Light Ion Detector for ALTEA system) is a compact detector designed to upgrade ALTEA (Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts) silicon detector apparatus, in order to study in detail the low-Z part of ions spectrum inside the International Space Station (ISS) and to enhance the Particle Identification (PID) capability of the system. The new detector is designed to trigger ALTEA and to perform Time-Of-Flight measurements. It is based on plastic scintillators for fast timing applications read by Photo-Multiplier-Tubes (PMTs). A custom Front End Electronics (FEE) has been designed to reach time resolutions less than 100 ps ( σ ) for protons. A LIDAL prototype has been developed at the University of Rome Tor Vergata to test the timing performance of the scintillators, the PMTs and of the custom FEE using the proton beam line at the TIFPA (Trento Institute for Fundamentals Physics Applications) center in Trento, Italy. The results of these tests are reported and discussed. They have also been used for a preliminary evaluation of the Particle Identification (PID) capability of the final LIDAL-ALTEA detector system in response to the ions spectra expected on-board the ISS