The fractal dimension of agricultural parcels considering maize yield

Before making any decisions, all farm managers would like to have some indication about the effectiveness of a particular investment, especially when investing in precision agriculture technologies. Usually, the best indicator should be associated with the yield geometric complexity and its spatial and temporal dynamics. The fractal dimension of corn yield in a given year was calculated for six studied parcels, considering the fractal dimension of yield buffer zones above and below average yield. The less complex geometries usually have a fractal dimension close to the unit which can reach a value close to 2 in more complex geometries. This study shows that the number of yield buffer zones, above or below average yield, changes over time, with a different pattern, from parcel to parcel, and that there is a greater change in the smaller yield buffer zones compared to the larger ones. Fractal dimension can be a very strong indicator when the spatial complexity of a particular parcel is considered, and it is therefore a strong indicator of the greater or lesser need for precision agriculture technologies. The higher the fractal dimension of a given parcel, the higher will be the economic and environmental return of that parcel, when using precision agriculture technologies

Dysproteinemia-Associated Kidney Diseases: Clinicopathological Correlations

Introduction: Dysproteinemia-associated kidney diseases can have diverse clinical and histological presentation but not all patients with monoclonal gammopathy have Monoclonal Gammopathy of Renal Significance (MGRS) and some have other causes for kidney lesions. Therefore, kidney biopsy is essential to make this diagnosis. We made a retrospective study, which aimed to: 1. Identify dysproteinemiaassociated kidney lesions; 2. Establish clinicopathological correlations of patients with those lesions and 3. Identify kidney and patient survival predictors. Methods: A retrospective, observational chart review of kidney biopsies performed, between January 2015 and February 2020, in three Portuguese Hospitals, to a total of 39 patients, with kidney lesions associated with monoclonal gammopathy, was undertaken. Results: The three main dysproteinemic kidney diseases identified were cast nephropathy, AL amyloidosis and Monoclonal Immunoglobulin Deposition Disease (MIDD), with different features among them. Only three patients fulfilled the criteria to Monoclonal Gammopathy of Renal Significance (MGRS). In regard to treatment, we verified that most of our patients were treated with chemotherapy. Unfortunately, only four recovered, either partially or completely. The mean kidney survival since kidney biopsy was 29,23 months and the mean patient survival since diagnosis was 24,46 months. Some clinical and pathologic features correlated to lowerkidney survival: acute tubular necrosis, cast nephropathy, Thrombotic Microangiopathy (TMA), haemoglobin and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Previous Nephrology follow-up correlated with higher kidney survival. Only eGFR was associated with lowerpatient survival.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Energia, ambiente, economia e olival no Alentejo. Estudo preliminar

Prevê-se que o consumo de energia na agricultura irá aumentar significativamente nos próximos anos com a intensificação dos sistemas de produção. As melhorias na eficiência energética dos sistemas de produção estão relacionadas com a redução do uso de energia para um determinado serviço ou nível de actividade, ou a um aumento de produtividade para a mesma energia consumida. Os sistemas de produção agrícola estão muito dependentes de um consumo directo de energia (combustíveis), mas também de um consumo indirecto devido à energia gasta na produção de diversos factores de produção. Uma correcta avaliação de consumos energéticos deve considerar estas duas componentes. Neste trabalho analisaram-se 3 sistemas de produção do Olival (tradicional, intensivo e super-intensivo), uma das culturas mais importantes em Portugal. Para cada sistema de produção, calcularam-se os custos de capital e de operação das diferentes actividades, assim como os consumos energéticos (directos e indirectos) e o nível de emissões de gás com efeito estufa (GHG) traduzido em CO2eq. Verificou-se um acréscimo significativo de energia consumida, de produção de GHG e custos totais com a intensificação da produção. Mas também um aumento significativo da produção o que conduziu a um maior lucro para o agricultor. O sucesso da actividade agrícola está dependente do lucro, pelo que nesta cultura a tendência será caminhar para a intensificação. Deste modo será difícil diminuir o consumo de energia associado à produção do olival, mas será necessário aumentar a sua eficiência de utilização. Dado o elevado grau de mecanização dos sistemas intensivos, o aumento da eficiência energética na produção de azeitona no Alentejo terá de passar pela melhoria nas práticas de gestão culturais, no sentido de optimizar o uso das máquinas que lhes estão associadas. Ou ainda pela utilização de técnicas de agricultura de precisão numa tentativa de reduzir e optimizar a utilização de diferentes factores de produção, entre outras potenciais alternativas

Genetic divergence among African and American cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. race latifolium H.) cultivars and inbred lines through random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is an important cash crop and the second largest source of textile fiber and edible oil throughout the world. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic divergence through random amplified polymorphism (RAPD) molecular markers among the introduced African and American cultivars and inbred lines of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. raça latifolium H.) in Mozambique. We used 24 RAPD primers that amplified a total of 166 bands, identifying 90.96% ofpolymorphism. The intra and inter group genetic variability quantification evidenced significant variability of 16.30% between the African and American groups. The highest genetic similarity was observed among the African commercial cotton cultivars, whereas American cultivars and inbred lines were considered the most dissimilar ones. The arithmetic complement of Jaccard, obtained with 151 RAPD molecular markers showed that African cultivars Albar BC853 and STAM 42 were the most similar, while the most dissimilar combinations were TAMCOT Sphinx and ISA 205 followed by TAMCOT Sphinx vs ALBAR BC853 and TAMCOT Sphinx vs REMU 40 combinations.Keywords: Molecular variance analysis, decamer primers, dissimilarity, Gossypium hirsutum, molecular markers

Environmental influence on the seasonal movements of satellite-tracked ocean sunfish Mola mola in the north-east Atlantic

Determining the habitat use of mobile marine species is important for understanding responses to climate change and aids the implementation of management and conservation measures. Inference of preferred habitat use has been greatly improved by combining satellite-based oceanographic data with animal tracking techniques. Although there have been several satellite-tracking studies on ocean sunfish Mola mola, limited information is available about either horizontal or vertical environmental preferences. In this study, both geographical movements and diving behaviour of ocean sunfish were explored together with the environmental factors influencing this species’ space use in the north-east Atlantic

Vinhos que pensam - parte ii|iii: utilização da condutividade elétrica aparente do solo na instalação e gestão das culturas: exemplificação na vinha

Vinhos que pensam - parte ii|iii: utilização da condutividade elétrica aparente do solo na instalação e gestão das culturas: exemplificação na vinh

Vinhos que pensam - parte i|iii: gestão do vigor vegetativo da vinha a partir de sensores ativos multiespectrais próximos

Vinhos que pensam - parte i|iii: gestão do vigor vegetativo da vinha a partir de sensores ativos multiespectrais próximo

Anesthesia of Epinephelus marginatus with essential oil of Aloysia polystachya: an approach on blood parameters

This study investigated the anesthetic potential of the essential oil (EO) of Aloysia polystachya in juveniles of dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus). Fish were exposed to different concentrations of EO of A. polystachya to evaluate time of induction and recovery from anesthesia. In the second experiment, fish were divided into four groups: control, ethanol and 50 or 300 mu L L-1 EO of A. polystachya, and each group was submitted to induction for 3.5 min and recovery for 5 or 10 min. The blood gases and glucose levels showed alterations as a function of the recovery times, but Na+ and K+ levels did not show any alteration. In conclusion, the EO from leaves of A. polystachya is an effective anesthetic for dusky grouper, because anesthesia was reached within the recommended time at EO concentrations of 300 and 400 mu L L-1. However, most evaluated blood parameters showed compensatory responses due to EO exposure.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul/Programa de Apoio a Nucleos de Excelencia (FAPERGS/PRONEX) [10/0016-8]; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [470964/2009-0]; Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior, Brazil (CAPES)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Big data and other challenges in the quest for orthologs.

Given the rapid increase of species with a sequenced genome, the need to identify orthologous genes between them has emerged as a central bioinformatics task. Many different methods exist for orthology detection, which makes it difficult to decide which one to choose for a particular application. Here, we review the latest developments and issues in the orthology field, and summarize the most recent results reported at the third 'Quest for Orthologs' meeting. We focus on community efforts such as the adoption of reference proteomes, standard file formats and benchmarking. Progress in these areas is good, and they are already beneficial to both orthology consumers and providers. However, a major current issue is that the massive increase in complete proteomes poses computational challenges to many of the ortholog database providers, as most orthology inference algorithms scale at least quadratically with the number of proteomes. The Quest for Orthologs consortium is an open community with a number of working groups that join efforts to enhance various aspects of orthology analysis, such as defining standard formats and datasets, documenting community resources and benchmarking. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: All such materials are available at http://questfororthologs.org. CONTACT: [email protected] or [email protected]