Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture

Under the banner: The Future of Farming – Profitable and Sustainable Farming with Conservation Agriculture, the 8WCCA highlighted the global contribution of Conservation Agriculture towards achieving these outcomes. It also explored how CA land use can help to address humankind’s major global challenges of climate change, environmental degradation and food security while safeguarding the livelihoods of small and large-scale farmers. The proven benefits of CA in terms of erosion control, carbon sequestration, biodiversity regeneration, and improved water and nutrient cycling are all contributing to the achievement of the manifold objectives of the international conventions and agreements including the Sustainable Development Goals, European Green Deal and F2F Strategy

Efectos de distintos niveles de materia seca y tratamiento sobre la calidad de ensilado de alfalfa

Los autores analizan la calidad de 250 ensilados de alfalfa sometidos a cinco tratamientos (control, evacuación AIV, ácido fórmico y metabisulfito sódico), con forraje entero o picado. y cinco niveles de materia seca inicial (20. 23. 36, 38 y 42%).La elevación de la tasa de materia seca inicial, mejora la capacidad organoléptica hasta el 36-38% de materia seca. El efecto beneficioso del oreo se registra en todos los tratamientos ensayados, salvo en los silos con metabisulfito sódico, que presentan su máxima calidad en los más bajos niveles de materia seca

Integrating a gait analysis test in hospital rehabilitation: A service design approach

Background Gait analysis with motion capture (MoCap) during rehabilitation can provide objective information to facilitate treatment decision making. However, designing a test to be integrated into healthcare services requires considering multiple design factors. The difficulty of integrating a ''micro-service'' (gait test) within a ''macro-service'' (healthcare service) has received little attention in the gait analysis literature. It is a challenge that goes beyond the gait analysis case study because service design methods commonly focus on the entire service design (macro-level). Objective This study aims to extract design considerations and generate guidelines to integrate MoCap technology for gait analysis in the hospital rehabilitation setting. Specifically, the aim is to design a gait test to assess the response of the applied treatments through pre- and post-measurement sessions. Methods We focused on patients with spasticity who received botulinum toxin treatment. A qualitative research design was used to investigate the integration of a gait analysis system based on inertial measurement units in a rehabilitation service at a reference hospital. The methodological approach was based on contrasted methodologies from the service design field, which materialise through observation techniques (during system use), semi-structured interviews, and workshops with healthcare professionals (13 patients, 10 ''proxies'', and 6 doctors). Results The analysis resulted in six themes: (1) patients'' understanding, (2) guiding the gait tests, (3) which professionals guide the gait tests, (4) gait test reports, (5) requesting gait tests (doctors and test guide communication), and the (6) conceptual design of the service with the gait test. Conclusions The extracted design considerations and guidelines increase the applicability and usefulness of the gait analysis technology, improving the link between technologists and healthcare professionals. The proposed methodological approach can also be useful for service design teams that deal with the integration of one service into another

Job resources and recovery experiences to face difficulties in emotion regulation at work: a diary study among nurses

The present study examines the role of daily difficulties in emotion regulation at work in nurse’s daily well-being and how certain job resources and recovery experiences influence this relationship. We hypothesized that daily difficulties to regulate emotions at work would be significantly and positively related to emotional exhaustion at work in the afternoon, and to fatigue and negative affect at home at night. Moreover, we hypothesized that co-worker and supervisor support, as well as psychological detachment and relaxation, would buffer the negative impact of these difficulties on the outcomes. Seventy-four nurses from various Spanish hospitals and primary health care centres completed a general questionnaire and a diary booklet over 5 consecutive workdays at two different moments, after work and at night (N = 74 participants and N = 370 observations). The results of multilevel analyses showed that nurses’ daily difficulties in emotion regulation have a direct effect on daily emotional exhaustion at work, and on fatigue and negative affect at home at night. We also found that co-worker support, psychological detachment and relaxation minimize the unfavourable effects on well-being of difficulties in emotion regulation. Limitations and implications for nursing and other health occupations are mentionedThis research was supported by a grant Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) from the Spanish Ministry of Education and by a project from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2012-34692

Treatment with removable prosthesis in hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia : a clinical case

Ectodermal dysplasias form part of a wide range of syndromes presenting abnormal development of two or more tissues derived from the ectoderm. Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is a congenital syndrome, characterized by hypotrichosis (hair is sparse, fine and weak; anomalies in the skin and nails), hypohidrosis (due to the paucity of sweat glands which in turn gives rise to sweat disorders) and hypodontia (partial, and occasionally total, absence of primary and/or permanent dentition). A case of a child with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia with oligodontia and marked resorption of the maxillary and mandibular alveolar ridges is presented. A prosthetic rehabilitation in the form of a removable acrylic prosthesis was made, achieving excellent esthetics, functionality and adaptation, thanks to which a considerable improvement in self-esteem has been obtained

Novel bioactive hydrophobic gentamicin carriers for the treatment of intracellular bacterial infections.

Gentamicin (GEN) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic with a potent antibacterial activity against a wide variety of bacteria. However, its poor cellular penetration limits its use in the treatment of infections caused by intracellular pathogens. One potential strategy to overcome this problem is the use of particulate carriers that can target the intracellular sites of infection. In this study GEN was ion paired with the anionic AOT surfactant to obtain a hydrophobic complex (GEN-AOT) that was formulated as a particulated material either by the Precipitation with a Compressed Antisolvent (PCA) method, or by encapsulation into poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs). The micronization of GEN-AOT by PCA yielded a particulated material with a higher surface area than the non-precipitated complex, while PLGA NPs within a size range of 250-330 nm and a sustained release of the drug over 70 days were obtained by preparing the NPs using the emulsion solvent evaporation method. For the first time, GEN encapsulation efficiency values around 100% were achieved for the different NP formulations with no signs of interaction between the drug and the polymer. Finally, in vitro studies against the intracellular bacteria Brucella melitensis, used as a model of intracellular pathogen, demonstrated that the bactericidal activity of GEN was unmodified after ion-pairing, precipitation or encapsulation into NPs. These results, encourage their use for treatment for infections caused by GEN sensitive intracellular bacteria

Energy loss after daily role stress and work incivility: caring for oneself with emotional wellness

The present study seeks to build on burnout research by examining daily fuctuations of role stress and work incivility, and their impact on employees’ energy loss. Optimism and recovery (i.e., psychological detachment and relaxation), two mechanisms that allow workers’ self-care and self-defence from these toxic conditions when faced by these job stressors, were included. In a daily study, 117 service sector workers completed surveys three times a day, over a period of one working week. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed work incivility as predictor of daily emotional exhaustion. Optimism and recovery play diferent roles in protecting workers from daily energy loss. Daily optimism increased employees’energy and decreased emotional exhaustion and negative afect at night. It also moderated the relationship between work incivility and positive afect at night. The results on psychological detachment supported the stressor-detachment model (Sonnentag, 2010), in which psychological detachment from work during nonworking time is not only a direct predictor of increased energy, but could similarly bufer the negative impact of role stress and work incivility. Relaxation basically showed main efects in predicting emotional exhaustion (inversely) and positive afect (directly). Our fndings suggest two main implications: (1) the necessity for implemention of workplace policies to prevent role stress and work incivility in reducing daily loss of energy. (2) Training workers in self-care programmes focusing on optimism and recovery can provide early steps toward organizational change and employee daily well-beingThis research was supported by a project from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2015-68011-R). Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Natur

Passionate healthcare workers in demanding intensive care units: its relationship with daily exhaustion, secondary traumatic stress, empathy, and self‑compassion.

This study focuses on Intensive Care Units (ICU) and aims to test whether daily job demands are related to daily emotional exhaustion and secondary traumatic stress (STS) after work through the experience of passion at work and whether personal resources in ICU, such as empathy and self-compassion, moderate these relationships. A diary study was designed to assess day-level job demands, passion, empathy, self-compassion at work; and day-level emotional exhaustion and STS after work. The sample was 97 healthcare workers from ICU from different Spanish hospitals being selected by the snowball technique. This sample was assessed 5 days x two moments per day through a diary questionnaire. The multilevel analysis showed a negative mediational effect of harmonious passion between daily job demands and both emotional exhaustion and STS. Also, in predicting emotional exhaustion, a moderator effect of empathy on harmonious passion was found, as well as a moderator effect of self-compassion on obsessive passion. In predicting STS, a direct positive effect was found in empathy. Our findings highlight the vocational work of these healthcare workers, considering job demands as challenging and enhancing their harmonious passion to overcome the drawbacks. Moreover, empathy revealed to have a negative effect whereas self-compassion the contrary. Thus, increase the awareness on these personal resources and how to train them could be considered as valuable preventative measures.post-print838 K

Cross-Comparison of Climate Change adaptation Strategies Across Large River Basins in Europe, Africa and Asia

A cross-comparison of climate change adaptation strategies across regions was performed, considering six large river basins as case study areas. Three of the basins, namely the Elbe, Guadiana, and Rhine, are located in Europe, the Nile Equatorial Lakes region and the Orange basin are in Africa, and the Amudarya basin is in Central Asia. The evaluation was based mainly on the opinions of policy makers and water management experts in the river basins. The adaptation strategies were evaluated considering the following issues: expected climate change, expected climate change impacts, drivers for development of adaptation strategy, barriers for adaptation, state of the implementation of a range of water management measures, and status of adaptation strategy implementation. The analysis of responses and cross-comparison were performed with rating the responses where possible. According to the expert opinions, there is an understanding in all six regions that climate change is happening. Different climate change impacts are expected in the basins, whereas decreasing annual water availability, and increasing frequency and intensity of droughts (and to a lesser extent floods) are expected in all of them. According to the responses, the two most important drivers for development of adaptation strategy are: climate-related disasters, and national and international policies. The following most important barriers for adaptation to climate change were identified by responders: spatial and temporal uncertainties in climate projections, lack of adequate financial resources, and lack of horizontal cooperation. The evaluated water resources management measures are on a relatively high level in the Elbe and Rhine basins, followed by the Orange and Guadiana. It is lower in the Amudarya basin, and the lowest in the NEL region, where many measures are only at the planning stage. Regarding the level of adaptation strategy implementation, it can be concluded that the adaptation to climate change has started in all basins, but progresses rather slowl

GCIMS: An R package for untargeted gas chromatography - Ion mobility spectrometry data processing

Gas-Chromatography coupled to Ion Mobility Spectrometry (GC-IMS) based metabolomics is an emerging technique for obtaining fast, reliable untargeted metabolic fingerprints of biofluids. The generated raw data is highly dimensional and complex, suffers from baseline problems, misalignments, long peak tails and strong non-linearities that must be corrected to extract chemically relevant features from samples. In this work, we present our GCIMS R package, which includes spectra loading, metadata handling, denoising, baseline correction, spectral and chromatographic alignment, peak detection, integration, and peak clustering to produce a peak table ready for multivariate data analysis. We discuss package design decisions, and, for illustration purposes, we show a case study of sex discrimination on the basis of the volatile compounds in urine samples. The GCIMS package provides a user-friendly workflow for non-code developers to process their raw data samples