The LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES Domain gene family in grapevine: Genome-wide characterization and expression analyses during developmental processes and stress responses

LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) DOMAIN (LBD) constitute a family of plant-specific transcription factors with key roles in the regulation of plant organ development, pollen development, plant regeneration, pathogen response, and anthocyanin and nitrogen metabolisms. However, the role of LBDs in fruit ripening and in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) development and stress responses is poorly documented. By performing a model curation of LBDs in the latest genome annotation 50 genes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that LBD genes can be grouped into two classes mapping on 16 out of the 19 V. vinifera chromosomes. New gene subclasses were identified that have not been characterized in other species. Segmental and tandem duplications contributed significantly to the expansion and evolution of the LBD gene family in grapevine as noticed for other species. The analysis of cis-regulatory elements and transcription factor binding sites in the VviLBD promoter regions suggests the involvement of several hormones in the regulation of LBDs expression. Expression profiling suggest the involvement of LBD transcription factors in grapevine development, berry ripening and stress responses. Altogether this study provides valuable information and robust candidate genes for future functional analysis aiming to clarify mechanisms responsible for the onset of fruit ripening and fruit defense strategies. © 2017 The Author(s)

Reliability and validity of the Colombian version of the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory

Sociosexuality refers to an individual’s disposition to have casual sex without establishing affective bonds and has been widely studied worldwide using the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008). Despite its many validations in different cultural contexts, no psychometric analyses of this instrument have been conducted in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the psychometric properties of the SOI-R in Colombia. In a cross-sectional study with a large sample of participants (N = 812; 64% women), we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to identify different factor structures and determine which had the best fit for our sample and examined the reliability of the scale. Results showed that a three-factor structure, with sociosexual behaviors, attitudes, and desire as first-order factors, and global sociosexuality as a second-order factor, had the best fit indexes. Each factor presented good reliability indexes. Replicating already established gender differences, we also found that men scored higher on each factor when compared to women. These findings show that the SOI-R is a reliable and valid instrument to assess sociosexuality in countries where sociosexuality research is underrepresented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Relativistic quantum mechanics of a Dirac oscillator

The Dirac oscillator is an exactly soluble model recently introduced in the context of many particle models in relativistic quantum mechanics. The model has been also considered as an interaction term for modelling quark confinement in quantum chromodynamics. These considerations should be enough for demonstrating that the Dirac oscillator can be an excellent example in relativistic quantum mechanics. In this paper we offer a solution to the problem and discuss some of its properties. We also discuss a physical picture for the Dirac oscillator's non-standard interaction, showing how it arises on describing the behaviour of a neutral particle carrying an anomalous magnetic moment and moving inside an uniformly charged sphere.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Influence of the Aliphatic Chain Length on the Crosslinking Properties of Aldehydes on Sustainable Bioplastics Obtained from Pea Protein

Conventional plastics can be substituted for protein-based bioplastics due to their natural origin and their biodegradability. Nevertheless, their properties are inferior to those obtained for synthetic plastics. The chemical crosslinking of these bioplastics with aldehydes could improve their properties to compete in the actual market. Thus, the main goal of this article was to assess the influence of the incorporation of aldehydes with different aliphatic chain length on the physicochemical (crosslinking degree, colour and transparency), mechanical (flexural and tensile behaviour) and functional (water uptake capacity and biodegradability) properties of protein-based bioplastics. In this sense, pea protein, a by-product of food industry, was used as raw material, processing it by injection moulding to obtain the bioplastics. Formaldehyde, glyoxal and glutaraldehyde were the aldehydes used as crosslinking agents. The results show the rise of the mechanical properties with the incorporation of the aldehydes, depending on the degree of crosslinking they generate. All this also causes a consequent loss of the water uptake capacity and an increase in biodegradability time. In conclusion, this work opens a new alternative to develop sustainable bioplastics that can be used in the market.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación- Agencia Estatal de Investigación (MCI/AEI/FEDER, EU) from the Spanish Government (Ref. PID2021-124294OB-C21). Junta de Andalucía and European Social Fund (Ref. PAIDI DOCTOR – Convocatoria 2019/2020, DOC_00586). Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (Ref. FPU17/01718)

Scaling-up climate services with users in Latin America

Latin America farmers are highly vulnerable to climate variability, with crop losses observed throughout the region on a virtually annual basis. For instance, as indicated by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP), the 2014–2017 drought conditions in Central America affected over 3.5 million people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. At the same time, local stakeholders and farmers generally have limited access to existing climate and forecast information, do not have sufficient capacities to understand the climate information and/or mechanisms to relate this information to the impact that climate variations can generate at a local level. This precludes the translation of information into actionable knowledge, and therefore into action. In this study, we describe a process through which scientists and strategic partners have co-developed, tested and scaled out an approach to assess, co-produce, translate and transfer climate information to enable agricultural decision making –the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (LTAC). LTACs allow open and clear dialogues about climate variations at multiple timescales, how these can affect crops, and the design of measures to reduce crop loss, particularly providing agronomic recommendations to farmers. We systematically describe the process of evidence generation, creation, partner engagement, scaling up, and monitoring of the approach throughout Latin America. Currently, 35 LTACs exist in 9 Latin American countries, engaging more than 250 public and private institutions, increasing the resilience and food security of an estimated 330,000 farmers, and potentially transforming how Latin American farmers manage climate risk. The study illustrates changes in institutional and farmers' capacities to co-produce, translate and use climate information and explores how better climate and crop prediction models can effectively underpin this process. We show how strategic alliances with farmer organizations, national public, and private and regional climate outlook forums help deliver improved and accurate climate information to users. Finally, we document how LTACs and their integration with other local-scale processes have led to changes in farmers’ management practices to take better advantage of good climatic conditions or avoid losses

IoT aplicado a sistemas de riego en agricultura: Un análisis de usabilidad

The Internet of Things favors using technological tools in rural environments thanks to the ability to connect to the Internet between devices that facilitate daily tasks. The research aims to evaluate the usability of the decision support system for irrigation in agriculture, AgroRIEGO, through the development of an IoT-based device. The sponsors of this project were the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies and the Center of Excellence in the Internet of Things Appropriation (CEA-IoT) in Colombia. Among the methods used is the use of the heuristic evaluation technique, structured into 15 categories and 62 subcategories of assessment. This analysis was complemented by the contribution of a group of experts in the design and development of IoT applications and devices and agriculture to assess the system's attributes.El Internet de las Cosas favorece el aprovechamiento de las herramientas tecnológicas en ambientes rurales, gracias a la capacidad de conexión a Internet entre dispositivos que facilita el quehacer diario. El objetivo de la investigación es evaluar la usabilidad del sistema de soporte para la toma de decisiones de riego en el agro, AgroRIEGO, que se tiene desde el desarrollo de una aplicación de un dispositivo basado en IoT. El patrocinador de este proyecto fue el Ministerio de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación y el Centro de Excelencia de Apropiación en Internet de las Cosas (CEA-IoT) en Colombia. Dentro de los métodos usados se encuentra el uso de la técnica de evaluación heurística, estructurada en 15 categorías y 62 subcategorías de valoración. Este análisis se complementa con el aporte de un grupo de expertos en el diseño y desarrollo de aplicaciones y dispositivos IoT y el agro para valorar los atributos del sistema

Modifications of the BTZ black hole by a dilaton/scalar

We investigate some modifications of the static BTZ black hole solution due to a chosen asymptotically constant dilaton/scalar. New classes of static black hole solutions are obtained. One of the solutions contains the Martinez-Zanelli conformal black hole solution as a special case. Using quasilocal formalism, we calculate their mass for a finite spatial region that contains the black hole. Their temperatures are also computed. Finally, using some of the curvature singularities as examples, we investigate whether a quantum particle behaves singularly or not.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, in press in Phys. Rev.