Reduction of blocking artifacts in both spatial domain and transformed domain

In this paper, we propose a bi-domain technique to reduce the blocking artifacts commonly incurred in image processing. Some pixels are sampled in the shifted image block and some high frequency components of the corresponding transformed block are discarded. By solving for the remaining unknown pixel values and the transformed coefficients, a less blocky image is obtained. Simulation results using the Discrete Cosine Transform and the Slant Transform show that the proposed algorithm gives a better quantitative result and image quality than that of the existing methods

Role of Dehydrodiferulates in Maize Resistance to Pests and Diseases

Phenolic esters have attracted considerable interest due to the potential they offer for peroxidase catalysed cross-linking of cell wall polysaccharides. Particularly, feruloyl residues undergo radical coupling reactions that result in cross-linking (intra-/intermolecular) between polysaccharides, between polysaccharides and lignin and, between polysaccharides and proteins. This review addresses for the first time different studies in which it is established that cross-linking by dehydrodiferulates contributes to maize’s defences to pests and diseases. Dehydrodiferulate cross-links are involved in maize defence mechanisms against insects such as the European, Mediterranean, and tropical corn borers and, storage pest as the maize weevil. In addition, cross-links are also discussed to be involved in genetic resistance of maize to fungus diseases as Gibberella ear and stalk rot. Resistance against insects and fungus attending dehydrodiferulates could go hand in hand. Quantitative trait loci mapping for these cell wall components could be a useful tool for enhancing resistance to pest and diseases in future breeding programs

Defensive changes in maize leaves induced by feeding of Mediterranean corn borer larvae

Bioassays raw data. (XLSX 33 kb

Can a Growth Mindset Intervention Increase Individuals’ Intentions to Engage in Intergroup Dialogue?

Dialogue initiatives between different status groups foster meaningful conversations about inequality. Low and high status groups, however, frequently avoid discussions on difficult topics and do not participate in these initiatives. To address this, the current research tested an intervention model that aims to increase dialogue intentions using the growth mindset framework. The model proposes that inducing a malleable mindset toward one’s dialogue skills would boost group members’ intentions to engage with the outgroup. The intervention was hypothesized to be especially effective for high status groups, who have higher anxiety relative to lower status groups when anticipating intergroup dialogue. The intervention was predicted to work through two mediating processes: the reduction of anxiety and the increase in self-efficacy. The model was tested by conducting three studies with White Americans (high status; Studies 1-3) and two lower status groups: Black Americans (Studies 1 and 2) and Latinx Americans (Study 3). Across all studies, participants read a (fictional) scientific article about individual’s ability to develop effective dialogue skills, and then self-reported their intentions to participate in various dialogue-related activities. Studies 2 and 3 included measures of anxiety and self-efficacy. Analyses of variance revealed mixed support for the model. In Study 1, participants who received the growth mindset intervention had slightly higher intentions to engage in dialogue compared to those in the control condition. In Study 2, the intervention engendered lower intergroup anxiety for White Americans relative to Black Americans, though this reduction in anxiety did not lead to intentions to join a communication skills workshop or a dialogue initiative. Participants in the growth mindset condition in Study 3 had significantly less intentions to participate in a real-time intergroup discussion or to sign up for a pilot dialogue program on race, with this effect being more pronounced for Latinx compared to White Americans. Interestingly, self-efficacy across status groups and conditions were above average at baseline and remained unchanged. The discussion summarizes the findings in the context of the intervention model and proposes implications for previous research on dialogue between status groups. Finally, the significance of the results with regard to policy and practical applications are discussed

Hydrologic and erosion responses to compaction and added surface cover in post-fire logged areas: isolating splash, interrill and rill erosion

Soil compaction during post-fire logging can increase runoff and erosion. Increasing surface cover is an effective way to reduce erosion, but this has not been tested on soils impacted by both fire and compaction. We measured the effects of compaction (bulk density of 0.9 or 1.1 g cm−3) and surface cover (0% or 60%) using bark mulch or logging slash (compacted only) on runoff, leaching and erosion. Four 0.5 m2 plots per treatment were filled with burned soil and inclined to 18°. Two 30-min simulated rainfall events with 72 mm h−1 intensity and one concentrated flow event were applied to each plot. The runoff from the dry and wet runs totaled 32 mm in the uncompacted bare plots and the value was not significantly different for the compacted bare plots, any of the mulch plots, or the compacted slash plots. Leaching was higher for the uncompacted bare plots (7 mm) than for the compacted bare plots (1 mm), and mulch or slash did not affect leaching. The uncompacted bare plots produced 38 g of rainsplash and 497 g m−2 of sheetwash, and these were about half the values for the compacted bare plots. Mulching strongly reduced the rainsplash and sheetwash for both the uncompacted (10 g and 184 g m−2, respectively) and compacted conditions (19 g and 431 g m−2, respectively), although the difference in sheetwash was only significant for the uncompacted plots. Slash also reduced rainsplash (19 g) relative to the compacted bare plots (74 g) but did not affect sheetwash. Concentrated flow produced 858 g m−2 of rilling from the uncompacted bare plots, which was greater than the compacted plots (237 g m−2). Mulching reduced rilling by 95% in the uncompacted plots and 78% in the compacted plots, but slash did not reduce rilling. The reductions in rainsplash erosion caused by the mulch and slash were attributed to the increase in surface cover, which reduced the energy imparted to the soil by the rainfall. The mulch, with its high degree of contact with the soil, also reduced particle detachment and transport by overland flow. In contrast, the slash did not have complete contact with the soil surface and did not affect sheetwash or rilling. Compaction and the type of material used to increase surface cover are important factors to consider when assessing potential impacts of logging on runoff and sediment delivery from burned soils.publishe

QTL mapping for Mediterranean corn borer resistance in European flint germplasm using recombinant inbred lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Ostrinia nubilalis </it>(ECB) and <it>Sesamia nonagrioides </it>(MCB) are two maize stem borers which cause important losses in temperate maize production, but QTL analyses for corn borer resistance were mostly restricted to ECB resistance and maize materials genetically related (mapping populations derived from B73). Therefore, the objective of this work was to identify and characterize QTLs for MCB resistance and agronomic traits in a RILs population derived from European flint inbreds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three QTLs were detected for stalk tunnel length at bins 1.02, 3.05 and 8.05 which explained 7.5% of the RILs genotypic variance. The QTL at bin 3.05 was co-located to a QTL related to plant height and grain humidity and the QTL at bin 8.05 was located near a QTL related to yield.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results, when compared with results from other authors, suggest the presence of genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis or fortification with effects on resistance to different corn borer species and digestibility for dairy cattle. Particularly, we proposed five candidate genes related to cell wall characteristics which could explain the QTL for stalk tunnelling in the region 3.05. However, the small proportion of genotypic variance explained by the QTLs suggest that there are also many other genes of small effect regulating MCB resistance and we conclude that MAS seems not promising for this trait. Two QTLs detected for stalk tunnelling overlap with QTLs for agronomic traits, indicating the presence of pleitropism or linkage between genes affecting resistance and agronomic traits.</p

Genetic variation and quantitative trait loci associated with developmental stability and the environmental correlation between traits in maize

11 páginas, 4 figuras, 5 tablas.There is limited experimental information about the genetic basis of micro-environmental variance (VE) (developmental stability) and environmental correlations. This study, by using a population of maize recombinant inbred lines (RIL) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) polymorphic markers, aims at the following: firstly, to quantify the genetic component of the VE or developmental stability for four traits in maize and the environmental correlation between these traits, and secondly, to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that influence these quantities. We found that, when estimating variances and correlations and testing their homogeneity, estimates and tests are needed that are not highly dependent on normality assumptions. There was significant variation among the RILs in VE and in the environmental correlation for some of the traits, implying genetic heterogeneity in the VE and environmental correlations. The genetic coefficient of variation of the environmental variance (GCVVE) was estimated to be 20%, which is lower than estimates obtained for other species. A few genomic regions involved in the stability of one trait or two traits were detected, and these did not have an important influence on the mean of the trait. One region that could be associated with the environmental correlations between traits was also detected.The National Plan for Research and Development of Spain (project code AGL2006-13140) is acknowledged for financial support. B. Ordas acknowledges a contract from the Spanish National Research Council (I3P Program).Peer reviewe

Los términos "bonum ordinis" y la "bonum moris" y la noción de moralidad estudio en Santo Tomás

This study constitutes a contribution to the metaphysical fundamentation of the moral order. The chapter dealing with «The Notion of Creation and the Metaphysical Situation of Created Beingo lays down the metaphysical basis for the study of the terms bonum ordinis -good of order- and bonum moris -moral good. The chapter on «The Causeof the Order in the Universeo offers the point of departure for passing away from the object of Metaphysics towards that of Morals. It is interesting to find out what constitutes the cause of the order found in the Universe and which can be captured in a first appreciation of reality as being multiple and ordained: a unit of order which calls for an investigation of its cause and a reduction of its real multiplicity to the unit level. From this, there derives the necessity of distinguishing between the predicamental and transcendental levels, and al so the introduction of the concept of participation and of its logical vision, the analogia entis. In this manner, we reach the problem of Being and of beings, of transcendental causality and of the presence of Being in the nature of beings -« The Founding Presence of Godo. From the fullness of perfection found in God as Pure Act of Being, we can deduce explicit notions of the being and manner of operating of God which are present in all posterior developments of the present work, for example, good of order, divine government, etc. By this way only is it possible for us to give the notion of morality a sound and sol id metaphysical basis. The chapter devoted to .God and the Created Universe» permits us to affirm that the formal constitutive element of morality is to be found in the ordaining or relating of human acts towards man's ultimate end. Now, morality is to be found to be metaphysical because of its formal object, insofar as it studies an aspect of the being as such, the good, which entails an ordination towards that end -«Being and Perfection»- which constitutes the bonum ordinis. For this reason, the passing from being as such to being as good, and of the ordo rerum to ordo ad bonum, has a real metaphysical basis. The ordo ad bonum is, as a consequence, ordinatio in Deum as a result of creation. The ordinatio in finem is a necessary relation found in creatures and in the divine creative action -given the free wll of God to create. It is based upon the esse and has for its subject the supposed subsistent. It is an esse a Deo and ad Deum, since the Final Cause is the very first of all causes. The Final Cause -the ultimate end- is the principie of all order, including the moral order. This is so because God gave their being to all creatures with order, according to the plan sketched out in His Divine Providence -eternal law- and conducts them towards their end through the execution of His plan -divine government- and wanted to count with the rational creature, making him partial to the eternal law and to the divine government in a different manner than that of irrational creatures. The moral natural law is that participation of the eternal law in man which can be known by way of natural reason and which can be wished by free will. In this manner, man participates in the divine government and is capable of governing himself as well as others, of carrying out the divine order wished by God, wanting what God Himself wants and in the same manner in which He wants it. He can give to the good of order a new dimension: the moral dimensiono The first basis, therefore, of the moral order is Godo The objective basis of morality is the ordaining of everything to Godo But its subjective basis is created freedom: thanks to it, man is capable of ordaining himself, on his own, to Godo The ordaining to God is a good, a participation in the eternal law which in man acquires a moral dimension, the moral goodo The moral order is the divine order found in the rational creatureo The moral law is universal, objective, immutable and inherent to man: it has been given to him in agreement with his own nature, with his proper mode of being -rational being- and his own mode of being ordained to Godo And, as a consequence, man's freedom is not the cause of his ordaining to God, nor its measure, but rather is created according to the eternal law of Godo To say that the constitutive element of morality is to be found in the good of order is to refer to to good of order in man, because the constitutive element or essence of morality is rather to be found in that relation, ordinance, or proportion of human acts with regard to the endo This relation towards the end -that is, towards God- is a necessary accident, consequent to the divine creative actiono In human acts, however, that accident is put forth as a determination of the operation, as an intention of the end, or as an identification with the plan of Godo In order for that to happen -for man to attain through his own acts the fullness of goodness to which he is ordained- integrity is necessary in the three principies which are present in the mora lit y of all human acts: the object, the end, and the circumstances

Causal Modeling of Soil Processes for Improved Generalization

Measuring and monitoring soil organic carbon is critical for agricultural productivity and for addressing critical environmental problems. Soil organic carbon not only enriches nutrition in soil, but also has a gamut of co-benefits such as improving water storage and limiting physical erosion. Despite a litany of work in soil organic carbon estimation, current approaches do not generalize well across soil conditions and management practices. We empirically show that explicit modeling of cause and-effect relationships among the soil processes improves the out-of-distribution generalizability of prediction models. We provide a comparative analysis of soil organic carbon estimation models where the skeleton is estimated using causal discovery methods. Our framework provide an average improvement of 81% in test mean squared error and 52% in test mean absolute error

Key factors controlling the post-fire hydrological and erosive response at micro-plot scale in a recently burned Mediterranean forest

The impacts of wildfires on the hydrological and erosive response of forest ecosystems have been extensively studied worldwide. Nevertheless, few studies have measured post-fire runoff and erosion over large time scales in Mediterranean-climate type environments and even fewer studies considered the effects of pre-fire land management practices on post-fire hydrological and erosive processes. In a previous study in the Colmeal study area, Vieira et al. (2016) revealed that post-fire runoff and erosion may not follow the classic window of disturbance model, since the peak of post-fire response occurred in the second and third years after fire. This previous study also showed that pre-fire land management can substantially influence the post-fire response, since annual runoff and erosion were lower in pre-fire unplowed than plowed sites. In this follow-up work, a multiple regression model (MRM) analysis was performed to understand how several key factors influence the hydrological and erosive response of a burned Mediterranean forest, taking into account the wildfire; pre-fire land management practices (unplowed, downslope plowed, and contour plowed) and soil moisture conditions. Based on the results of the present study, post-fire runoff was largely explained by rainfall amounts and soil water repellency (SWR)-related variables, whereas erosion processes were better explained by rainfall intensity and ground cover variables. Fewer factors were found to control the hydrological response of plowed sites when compared to the unplowed site. Aside from rainfall intensity, which was the major factor controlling sediment losses, bare soil cover also seems to have been important for erosion processes at the unplowed site, whereas at the plowed sites stone cover was the second most relevant factor. Rainfall-related variables (rainfall and maximum 30-min rainfall intensity) were more important for explaining runoff and erosion under dry conditions than under wet conditions. The results of the MRM analysis are an important contribution to understand the dynamics of burned forest areas and should be considered when adapting hydrological and erosion models to post-fire environments.publishe