Determination of genetic Coefficients From Field Experiments For Ceres-Maize and Soygro Crop Growth Models

Lack of genetic coefficients is a reason crop models are not widely used. A project was therefore developed to evaluate a field method to calculate genetic coefficients for crop models. The phenology models fi-om SOYGRO v. 5.42 and CERES-Maize v. 2.1, with the existing genetic coefficients, were tested using data for soybean and maize grown under extreme photoperiods. Identical experiments were performed at two sites on Maui Island, Hawaii, over three years. The treatment design was a factorial of photoperiods (natural, natural + 0.5 h, 14-, 17-, and 20-h) and cultivars ('Bragg', 'Evans', 'Jupiter', and 'Williams' for soybean and Pioneer hybrids X304C, 3165, 3324, 3475, and 3790 for maize). Observations included development stage dates, yield, yield components, aboveground biomass weight, soil chemical analysis, and weather. Comparisons between observed and simulated results showed that soybean and maize development was well simulated. However, soybean yield and maize growth and yield were not well simulated. Further analysis suggested that model bias and parameter uncertainty accounted for nearly equal proportions of variation in soybean grain yield, whereas most maize growth and yield variation was due to model bias. SOYGRO and CERES-Maize genetic coefficients were calculated from the data in the above experiments. One method to recalculate genetic coefficients was to incrementally change the genetic coefficients until simulated matched observed results. Another method was performed according to the maize modeler's suggestion. The fitting method adequately established development genetic coefficients, whereas growth coefficients had similar biases as the original genetic coefficients. The explicit method did not well simulate maize growth. Using the fitted genetic coefficient means ± standard error, a sensitivity analysis was done. The genetic coefficient error that caused the greatest variation in simulated yield and aboveground biomass was identified. The most problematic genetic coefficients and associated model routines for yield and growth was the pod production relationship to nightlength in SOYGRO and juvenile phase duration in CERES-Maize

Exploring chemical compound space with a graph-based recommender system

With the availability of extensive databases of inorganic materials, data-driven approaches leveraging machine learning have gained prominence in materials science research. In this study, we propose an innovative adaptation of data-driven concepts to the mapping and exploration of chemical compound space. Recommender systems, widely utilized for suggesting items to users, employ techniques such as collaborative filtering, which rely on bipartite graphs composed of users, items, and their interactions. Building upon the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD), we constructed a bipartite graph where elements from the periodic table and sites within crystal structures are treated as separate entities. The relationships between them, defined by the presence of ions at specific sites and weighted according to the thermodynamic stability of the respective compounds, allowed us to generate an embedding space that contains vector representations for each ion and each site. Through the correlation of ion-site occupancy with their respective distances within the embedding space, we explored new ion-site occupancies, facilitating the discovery of novel stable compounds. Moreover, the graph's embedding space enabled a comprehensive examination of chemical similarities among elements, and a detailed analysis of local geometries of sites. To demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our method, we conducted a historical evaluation using different versions of the OQMD and recommended new compounds with Kagome lattices, showcasing the applicability of our approach to practical materials design

Haemodynamic, endocrine and renal actions of adrenomedullin 5 in an ovine model of heart failure

AM5 (adrenomedullin 5), a newly described member of the CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) family, is reported to play a role in normal cardiovascular physiology. The effects of AM5 in HF (heart failure), however, have not been investigated. In the present study, we intravenously infused two incremental doses of AM5 (10 and 100 ng/min per kg of body weight each for 90 min) into eight sheep with pacing-induced HF. Compared with time-matched vehicle control infusions, AM5 produced progressive and dose-dependent increases in left ventricular dP/dt(max) [LD (low dose), +56 mmHg/s and HD (high dose), +152 mmHg/s] and cardiac output (+0.83 l/min and +1.81 l/min), together with decrements in calculated total peripheral resistance (−9.4 mmHg/min per litre and −14.7 mmHg/min per litre), mean arterial pressure (−2.8 mmHg and −8.4 mmHg) and LAP (left atrial pressure; −2.6 mmHg and −5.6 mmHg) (all P<0.001). HD AM5 significantly raised PRA (plasma renin activity) (3.5-fold increment, P<0.001), whereas plasma aldosterone levels were unchanged over the intra-infusion period and actually fell in the post-infusion period (70% decrement, P<0.01), resulting in a marked decrease in the aldosterone/PRA ratio (P<0.01). Despite falls in LAP, plasma atrial natriuretic peptide and B-type natriuretic peptide concentrations were maintained relative to controls. AM5 infusion also induced significant increases in urine volume (HD 2-fold increment, P<0.05) and urine sodium (2.7-fold increment, P<0.01), potassium (1.7-fold increment, P<0.05) and creatinine (1.4-fold increment, P<0.05) excretion and creatinine clearance (60% increment, P<0.05). In conclusion, AM5 has significant haemodynamic, endocrine and renal actions in experimental HF likely to be protective and compensatory in this setting. These results suggest that AM5 may have potential as a therapeutic agent in human HF

Brusone no arroz.

Manejo integrado da brusone. O que é a brusone?. Quais os sintomas da brusone?. A brusone ocorre também nos colmos. Quando a planta fica mais vulnerável à doença?. Como a brusone nas folhas entra na lavoura? Quais as fontes de inóculo?. Quais são as fontes de inóculo para a brusone nas panículas?. Fique em alerta para evitar as seguintes situações. Como a brusone entra e se desenvolve na planta?. Quais as condições climáticas que favorecem o desenvolvimento da brusone?. O que favorece o desenvolvimento da brusone?. Quais são os danos causados pela brusone?. Como reduzir os danos causados pela brusone?. Quais as práticas culturais que podem ajudar a controlar a brusone?. Como a escolha de diferentes cultivares pode diminuir a severidade da doença?. Controle químico: tão importante quanto o fungicida é o momento da aplicação. Como escolher um fungicida?. Algumas recomendações que podem ser seguidas. Em curto prazo. Em médio prazo. Em longo prazo.bitstream/item/134931/1/CNPAF-2015-brusone.pdfE-book

Characterization and quantification of postharvest losses of apple fruit stored under commercial conditions.

The objectives of this study were to characterize and quantify postharvest losses of apples under commercial conditions in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Two experiments were conducted using ?Gala? and ?Fuji? apples. The first experiment was to characterize and quantify the most important causes of loss of fruit treated or not treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) then held in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage. This experiment was conducted in commercial storage facilities from 2007 to 2010. In each year, 10 samples of &#8776;380 kg each for ?Gala? and 400 kg each for ?Fuji? were collected from bins of commercially harvested fruit from each of 15 ?Gala? and 17 ?Fuji? orchards. Half of the samples from each orchard were treated with 1-MCP at harvest. Fruit were stored in CA, at 0.7 °C, for 150 to 300 days. After storage, one subsample of 100 disorder-free apples were selected from each sample and held at 22 °C for 7 days to simulate shelf-life conditions. The fruit were analyzed after CA storage and shelf life for the incidence of disorders. The second experiment was conducted in 2011 to identify the main fungi causing decay during storage. In this study, apples were stored in 10 commercial CA storage rooms at 0.7 °C for 180 to 240 days. After storage, fruit with decay symptoms were collected at the commercial sorting line. A total of 10 samples of 100 decayed apples were taken throughout the sorting period for each cultivar and storage room. The fungal decays were identified by visual symptoms on each fruit. Total apple losses during storage varied from 3.9% to 12.1% for ?Gala? and 6.6% to 8.4% for ?Fuji?, depending on the year and 1-MCP treatment. During storage, deterioration caused by fungal decay was &#8776;60% and 80% of total losses for ?Gala? and ?Fuji?, respectively. During shelf life, additional losses caused by fungal decay ranged from 8.4% to 17.6% for ?Gala? and 12.4% to 27.2% for ?Fuji?, depending on the year. Senescent breakdown and superficial scald were the major physiological disorders. 1-MCP treatment had no effect on losses due to decay. Bull?s-eye rot, blue mold, gray mold, and alternaria rot were the most prevalent fungal decay symptoms, accounting for 52%, 27%, 9% and 10% of ?Gala? losses and 42%, 25%, 18% and 5% of ?Fuji? losses, respectively. Sources of variability for losses among years and orchards is discussed

Scope and Mechanistic Study of the Coupling Reaction of α,β-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds with Alkenes: Uncovering Electronic Effects on Alkene Insertion vs Oxidative Coupling Pathways

The cationic ruthenium-hydride complex [(C6H6)(PCy3)(CO)RuH]+BF4– (1) was found to be a highly effective catalyst for the intermolecular conjugate addition of simple alkenes to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to give (Z)-selective tetrasubstituted olefin products. The analogous coupling reaction of cinnamides with electron-deficient olefins led to the oxidative coupling of two olefinic C–H bonds in forming (E)-selective diene products. The intramolecular version of the coupling reaction efficiently produced indene and bicyclic fulvene derivatives. The empirical rate law for the coupling reaction of ethyl cinnamate with propene was determined as follows: rate = k[1]1[propene]0[cinnamate]−1. A negligible deuterium kinetic isotope effect (kH/kD = 1.1 ± 0.1) was measured from both (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 and (E)-C6H5CD═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene. In contrast, a significant normal isotope effect (kH/kD = 1.7 ± 0.1) was observed from the reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene and styrene-d8. A pronounced carbon isotope effect was measured from the coupling reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═CHCO2Et with propene (13C(recovered)/13C(virgin) at Cβ = 1.019(6)), while a negligible carbon isotope effect (13C(recovered)/13C(virgin) at Cβ = 0.999(4)) was obtained from the reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene. Hammett plots from the correlation of para-substituted p-X-C6H4CH═CHCO2Et (X = OCH3, CH3, H, F, Cl, CO2Me, CF3) with propene and from the treatment of (E)-C6H5CH═CHCO2Et with a series of para-substituted styrenes p-Y-C6H4CH═CH2 (Y = OCH3, CH3, H, F, Cl, CF3) gave the positive slopes for both cases (ρ = +1.1 ± 0.1 and +1.5 ± 0.1, respectively). Eyring analysis of the coupling reaction led to the thermodynamic parameters, ΔH⧧ = 20 ± 2 kcal mol–1 and ΔS⧧ = −42 ± 5 eu. Two separate mechanistic pathways for the coupling reaction have been proposed on the basis of these kinetic and spectroscopic studies

Storability of 'SCS417 Monalisa' apple as affected by harvest maturity, 1-methylcyclopropene treatment, and storage atmosphere.

The objective of this work was to determine the storability of 'SCS417 Monalisa' apple fruit in response to harvest maturity, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment, and storage atmospheres. Fruit quality was evaluated after two, four, six, and eight months plus one day or seven days in shelf life at 22°C. The controlled atmosphere (CA) and 1-MCP (1.0 ?L L-1) treatments reduce fruit ethylene production and respiration, prevent rapid softening, and inhibit the incidence of scald-like symptoms, flesh browning, cracking, and fungal decay, in comparison with air storage . The combination of 1-MCP and CA provides additive benefits in firmness retention and in the reduction of the incidence of physiological disorders. CA and/or 1-MCP increase the risk of fruit developing wrinkly skin disorder. The loss of flesh firmness and acidity and the development of all physiological disorders and decay are higher in late-harvested fruit. The storage life of 'SCS417 Monalisa' apple is about two months in cold air and from six to eight months in cold CA, considering the time necessary to reach a flesh firmness of 53 N. The limiting factor for the long-term storage of 'SCS417 Monalisa' apple fruit under CA without 1-MCP is the development of physiological disorders and fungal decay

Developing a Measure Image and Applying It to Deep Learning

The use of intelligent systems linked to musical tasks such as automatic composition, classification, and Music Information Retrieval has increasingly shown itself to be a promising field of study, not only from a computational, but also from a musical point of view. This paper aims to develop an innovative method capable of producing a coded image that contains all the information of a musical measure, generating a structure that can be used in several computational applications involving machine learning, especially deep learning and convolutional neural networks (CNNs). To illustrate the usefulness of this method, the measure image is applied to a CNN to solve the problem of automatic musical harmonization. This brief application achieves better results than those known in the literature, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness

Prevalence of Trachoma in Kano State, Nigeria: Results of 44 Local Government Area-Level Surveys.

PURPOSE: We sought to determine the prevalence of trachoma in 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kano State, Nigeria. METHODS: A population-based prevalence survey was conducted in each Kano LGA. We used a two-stage systematic and quasi-random sampling strategy to select 25 households from each of 25 clusters in each LGA. All consenting household residents aged 1 year and above were examined for trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF), trachomatous inflammation-intense (TI) and trichiasis. RESULTS: State-wide crude prevalence of TF in persons aged 1-9 years was 3.4% (95% CI 3.3-3.5%), and of trichiasis in those aged ≥15 years was 2.3% (95% CI 2.1-2.4%). LGA-level age- and sex-adjusted trichiasis prevalence in those aged ≥15 years ranged from 0.1% to 2.9%. All but 4 (9%) of 44 LGAs had trichiasis prevalences in adults above the elimination threshold of 0.2%. State-wide prevalence of trichiasis in adult women was significantly higher than in adult men (2.6% vs 1.8%; OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.7; p = 0.001). Four of 44 LGAs had TF prevalences in 1-9-year-olds between 10 and 15%, while another six LGAs had TF prevalences between 5 and 9.9%. In 37 LGAs, >80% of households had access to water within 30 minutes round-trip, but household latrine access was >80% in only 19 LGAs. CONCLUSION: Trichiasis is a public health problem in most LGAs in Kano. Surgeons need to be trained and deployed to provide community-based trichiasis surgery, with emphasis on delivery of such services to women. Antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement are needed in 10 LGAs