Morphological and physiological responses induced by protein hydrolysate-based biostimulant and nitrogen rates in greenhouse spinach

Plant-derived protein hydrolysates (PHs) are gaining prominence as biostimulants due to their potential to improve yield and nutritional quality even under suboptimal nutrient regimens. In this study, we investigated the effects of foliar application of a legume-derived PH (0 or 4 ml L−1) on greenhouse baby spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) under four nitrogen (N) fertilization levels (0, 15, 30, or 45 kg ha−1) by evaluating morphological and colorimetric parameters, mineral composition, carbohydrates, proteins, and amino acids. The fresh yield in untreated and biostimulant-treated spinach plants increased in response to an increase in N fertilization from 1 up to 30 kg ha−1, reaching a plateau thereafter indicating the luxury consumption of N at 45 kg ha−1. Increasing N fertilization rate, independently of PH, lead to a significant increase of all amino acids with the exception of alanine, GABA, leucine, lysine, methionine, and ornithine but decreased the polyphenols content. Interestingly, the fresh yield at 0 and 15 kg ha−1 was clearly greater in PH-treated plants compared to untreated plants by 33.3% and 24.9%, respectively. This was associated with the presence in of amino acids and small peptides PH ‘Trainer®’, which act as signaling molecules eliciting auxin- and/or gibberellin-like activities on both leaves and roots and thus inducing a “nutrient acquisition response” that enhances nutrients acquisition and assimilation (high P, Ca, and Mg accumulation) as well as an increase in the photochemical efficiency and activity of photosystem II (higher SPAD index). Foliar applications of the commercial PH decreased the polyphenols content, but on the other hand strongly increased total amino acid content (+45%, +82%, and +59% at 0, 15, and 30 kg ha−1, respectively) but not at a 45-kg ha−1-rate. Overall, the use of PH could represent a sustainable tool for boosting yield and nitrogen use efficiency and coping with soil fertility problems under low input regimens

L’utilizzo del lembo di SMAS per ricostruzioni della loggia parotidea

Lo scopo dello studio è stato quello di valutare i benefici della ricostruzione con lembo di SMAS nei pazienti affetti da neoplasie benigne della parotide e sottoposti a parotidectomia superficiale. Abbiamo condotto uno studio retrospettivo su 123 pazienti affetti da neoplasie benigne della ghiandola parotide ricoverati presso il Nostro istituto tra il Marzo 1997 e Marzo 2010. Tutti i pazienti arruolati sono stati sottoposti a parotidectomia superficiale. Il Nostro campione è stato diviso in due gruppi in base alla esecuzione (Gruppo 2) o no (Gruppo 1) di ricostruzione con lembo di SMAS dopo la parotidectomia superficiale. La ricostruzione con lembo di SMAS è stata eseguita in 64 pazienti. Un test chi quadro è stato utilizzato per valutare le differenze statistiche tra i due gruppi. Il livello di significatività statistica scelto è stato di p 0,05] , 8,47% vs 4,68% [P > 0,05, 5,08% vs 0,00%). La paralisi transitoria del facciale, la fistola, la depressione della cute e la sindrome di Frey sono significativamente più frequenti nei pazienti non ricostruiti con lembo di SMAS (10,16% vs 3,125% [P < 0,05], 13,55% vs 3,125% [P < 0,05] , 13,55% vs 3,125% [P < 0,05], 20,33% vs 0% [P < 0,05], rispettivamente). Il lembo di SMAS è capace di ridurre le complicanze funzionali ed estetiche che si verificano dopo la rimozione di un tumore benigno della parotide mediante parotidectomia superficiale, tra queste, riduce il verificarsi della sindrome di Frey

Gas-cushioned droplet impacts with a thin layer of porous media

The authors are grateful to Dr. Manish Tiwari for introducing them to experiments involving droplet impacts with textured substrates. PDH is grateful for the use of the Maxwell High-Performance Computing Cluster of the University of Aberdeen IT Service. RP is grateful for the use of the High-Performance Computing Cluster supported by the Research and Specialist Computing Support service at the University of East Anglia.Peer reviewedPostprin

Estimation of rock properties from seismic, EM and gravity well-log measurements

Geophysical methods are used to obtain physical properties of the subsurface, by inverting the constitutive equations. If there exists a common set of rock properties (cross-properties) that influence different measurements, their joint utilization can reduce the ambiguities of the interpretation. We select a real test case in a reservoir scenario, and we explore how to determine rock porosity and fluids saturation from P-velocity, conductivity and density of the equivalent compound medium

Joint inversion of rock properties from sonic, resistivity and densitywell-log measurements

Well-log data are processed in order to derive subsurface physical parameters, namely rock porosity, fluid saturations and permeability. This step involves the selection and inversion of experimental constitutive equations, which are the link between the rock parameters and geophysical measurements. In this paper we investigate the rock parameter observability and the reliability of well-log data processing. We present a visual analysis of the constitutive equations and of the inverse problem conditioning, when using independently, or jointly, log data from different domains. The existence of a common set of rock properties (cross-properties) that influence different measurements, makes it possible to reduce the ambiguities of the interpretation. We select a test case in a reservoir scenario and we explore how to determine rock porosity and fluid saturation from sonic, conductivity and density logs. We propose a Bayesian joint inversion procedure, which is able to control the conditioning problems, to efficiently take into account input data and model uncertainty and to provide a confidence interval for the solution. The inversion procedure is validated on a real well-log data set