Effects of reduced and conventional tillage on weed communities: Results of a long-term experiment in Southwestern Spain [Efeito do cultivo mínimo e plantio convencional em comunidades de plantas daninhas: Resultados de um experimento de longo prazo no sudoeste da espanha]

An important drawback in adopting minimum tillage (MT) and notillage (NT) techniques is the frequently observed weed shift promoting adapted species and achieving poorer weed control. These changes can be detected best with long-term experiments, and results might differ depending on soil characteristics and the local flora. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the effect of reduced tillage on weed seed distribution in the soil profile and to identify possible consequences on weed diversity on a long-term experiment maintained during 24 years in Seville (Spain) with three tillage systems: NT, MT and conventional tillage (CT) including moldboard plow on a vertisol. For this purpose, soil seedbanks at 0-8 cm and 8-16 cm depths were enumerated in autumn 2005 and in-field emerged plants in autumn 2005 and winter 2006. Shannon diversity index (H) and evenness (J’) were calculated for seedbank and aboveground weed communities. Total weed seed density was highest for NT and lowest for CT. Some big-seeded species, such as Chrozophora tinctorea L., showed highest seed density in CT. NT increased the relative density of Amaranthus blitoides S. Watson seeds in the seedbank and the abundance of emerged plants of Malva parviflora L., Anagallis arvensis L. and Picris echioides L. Overall, MT led to a less diverse seedbank in the 0-8 cm depth of soil than CT. The frequent drought-induced deep fractures in the expandable clay soil caused natural tillage, which probably resulted in fewer differences in weed seed and seedling densities among tillage treatments compared to what might be expected in other soil types

Small-scale distributions in an indoor environment at 94GHz

[EN] In this paper, an extensive multiple-input multiple-output measurement campaign in a lab environment has been conducted at the 94GHz band. Using a vector network analyzer, updown converters, and omnidirectional antennas displaced in virtual arrays, we have obtained an estimation of the distribution parameters for the most usual distributions employed in the small-scale fading modeling, i.e., Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami-m and -, by using statistical inference techniques. Moreover, in this scenario the best fit distribution to the experimental data is the Weibull distribution, using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. However, the - distribution provides the best fitting to the experimental results in terms of the lower tails of the distributions.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad MINECO, Spain (TEC2016-78028-C3-2-P) and by the European FEDER funds. Further information regarding the data obtained and included in this paper can be attained by contacting the author, Jose M. Molina ([email protected]).Reig, J.; Martinez-Ingles, M.; Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.; Rubio Arjona, L.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM. (2017). Small-scale distributions in an indoor environment at 94GHz. Radio Science. 52(7):852-861. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017RS006335S852861527Cudak, M., Ghosh, A., Kovarik, T., Ratasuk, R., Thomas, T. A., Vook, F. W., & Moorut, P. (2013). Moving Towards Mmwave-Based Beyond-4G (B-4G) Technology. 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring). doi:10.1109/vtcspring.2013.6692638Everitt, B. S., & Skrondal, A. (2010). The Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511779633Helminger, J., Detlefsen, J., & Groll, H. (s. f.). Propagation properties of an indoor-channel at 94 GHz. ICMMT’98. 1998 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology. Proceedings (Cat. No.98EX106). doi:10.1109/icmmt.1998.768215Moon-Soon Choi, Grosskopf, G., & Rohde, D. (s. f.). Statistical Characteristics of 60 GHz Wideband Indoor Propagation Channel. 2005 IEEE 16th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. doi:10.1109/pimrc.2005.1651506Kajiwara, A. (s. f.). Indoor propagation measurements at 94 GHz. Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. doi:10.1109/pimrc.1995.477099Maccartney, G. R., Rappaport, T. S., Sun, S., & Deng, S. (2015). Indoor Office Wideband Millimeter-Wave Propagation Measurements and Channel Models at 28 and 73 GHz for Ultra-Dense 5G Wireless Networks. IEEE Access, 3, 2388-2424. doi:10.1109/access.2015.2486778Marcum J. I. 1950 Table of Q functionsMartinez-Ingles, M.-T., Gaillot, D. P., Pascual-Garcia, J., Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.-M., Rodríguez, J.-V., Rubio, L., & Juan-Llácer, L. (2016). Channel sounding and indoor radio channel characteristics in the W-band. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2016(1). doi:10.1186/s13638-016-0530-7Rangan, S., Rappaport, T. S., & Erkip, E. (2014). Millimeter-Wave Cellular Wireless Networks: Potentials and Challenges. Proceedings of the IEEE, 102(3), 366-385. doi:10.1109/jproc.2014.2299397Reig, J., Martínez-Inglés, M.-T., Rubio, L., Rodrigo-Peñarrocha, V.-M., & Molina-García-Pardo, J.-M. (2014). Fading Evaluation in the 60 GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2014, 1-12. doi:10.1155/2014/984102Thomas, H. J., Cole, R. S., & Siqueira, G. L. (1994). An experimental study of the propagation of 55 GHz millimeter waves in an urban mobile radio environment. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 43(1), 140-146. doi:10.1109/25.282274Thomas, T. A., Vook, F. W., & Sun, S. (2015). Investigation into the effects of polarization in the indoor mmWave environment. 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC). doi:10.1109/icc.2015.724851

The TELE-DD project on treatment nonadherence in the population with type 2 diabetes and comorbid depression

Diabetic patients have increased depression rates, diminished quality of life, and higher death rates due to depression comorbidity or diabetes complications. Treatment adherence (TA) and the maintenance of an adequate and competent self-care are crucial factors to reach optimal glycaemic control and stable quality of life in these patients. In this report, we present the baseline population analyses in phase I of the TELE-DD project, a three-phased population-based study in 23 Health Centres from the Aragonian Health Service Sector II in Zaragoza, Spain. The objectives of the present report are: (1) to determine the point prevalence of T2D and clinical depression comorbidity and treatment nonadherence; (2) to test if HbA1c and LDL-C, as primary DM outcomes, are related to TA in this population; and (3) to test if these DM primary outcomes are associated with TA independently of shared risk factors for DM and depression, and patients’ health behaviours. A population of 7,271 patients with type-2 diabetes and comorbid clinical depression was investigated for inclusion. Individuals with confirmed diagnoses and drug treatment for both illnesses (n = 3340) were included in the current phase I. A point prevalence of 1.9% was found for the T2D-depression comorbidity. The prevalence of patients nonadherent to treatment for these diseases was 35.4%. Multivariate analyses confirmed that lower diabetes duration, increased yearly PCS visits, HbA1c and LDL-C levels were independently related to treatment nonadherence. These findings informed the development of a telephonic monitoring platform for treatment of nonadherence for people with diabetes and comorbid depression and further trial, cost-effectiveness, and prognostic studies (phases II and III)

Agresiones externas hacia los profesionales del Servicio Aragonés de Salud en los servicios de Atención Primaria y Especializada durante el año 2018

Objetivo: El riesgo que tiene el personal sanitario de sufrir una agresión en el lugar de trabajo no es homogéneo. Factores como la categoría profesional, el nivel asistencial o el servicio modulan su probabilidad. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue analizar las agresiones registradas por los profesionales del Servicio Aragonés de Salud, comparando las características de aquellas que sucedieron en Atención Primaria con las que tuvieron lugar en Atención Especializada durante el año 2018. Metodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal, llevado a cabo a través de la información disponible en la base de datos del registro de agresiones aragonés durante el año 2018. Las variables del estudio incluyeron características sociodemográficas de las personas agredidas, tipo de agresión, nivel de asistencia y baja laboral. Se calcularon frecuencias y porcentajes para las variables cualitativas, y media y desviación típica para las cuantitativas. La relación entre las variables se realizó mediante las pruebas de Mann-Whitney y Chi-Cuadrado. Resultados: Se registraron 236 agresiones, de las que el 75, 4% tuvieron lugar en Atención Especializada. La edad media se situó en 45 años. Los médicos fueron más agredidos en Atención Primaria, mientras que el personal de enfermería lo fue más en especializada. En primaria se produjeron más agresiones verbales, mientras que en especializada se registraron más agresiones físicas. Conclusiones: La violencia laboral que sufren los profesionales sanitarios varía en función del nivel asistencial, donde se observa una mayor incidencia de agresiones en Atención Especializada. Es necesario establecer mejoras en el registro de agresiones de Aragón, para perfeccionar la prevención y seguridad de los trabajadores. Objective: The risk that health personnel have of being assaulted in the workplace is not homogeneous. Factors such as professional category, level of care or service, modulate their probability. The objective of this work was to analyze the aggressions registered by the Servicio Aragonés de Salud professionals, comparing the characteristics of those that occurred in primary care with those that took place in specialized care during 2018. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was made, carried out using the information available in the Aragon aggression registry database, during the year 2018. The study variables included sociodemographic characteristics of the people attacked, type of aggression, level of assistance and sick leave. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for the qualitative variables and mean and standard deviation for the quantitative ones; the relationship between the variables was made using the Mann-Whitney and Chi-Square tests. Results: 236 assaults were registered, of which 75.4% took place in AE. The average age was 45 years. Doctors were more attacked in primary care, while nursing staff was more attacked in specialized care. In primary there were more verbal attacks, while in specialized there were more physical attacks. Conclusions: Occupational violence suffered by health professionals change depending on the level of care, where a higher incidence of assaults is observed in specialized care. It is necessary to establish improvements in the registry of aggressions in Aragón, to improve the prevention and safety of workers

CO2 electroreduction activity and dynamic structural evolution of in situ reduced nickel indium mixed oxides

In the field of CO2 electroreduction CO2ER , tuning the selectivity among diverse products remains a major challenge. Mixed metal catalysts offer possible synergetic effects which can be exploited for tuning product selectivity. We present a simple wet chemical approach to synthesize a range of nickel indium mixed oxide NiAInBOx thin films with homogeneous metal distribution. CO2 electroreduction results indicate that the NiAInBOx mixed oxide thin films can achieve high CO selectivity gt;70 in contrast with the single metal oxides NiO H2 gt;90 and In2O3 formate gt;80 . The relative composition Ni40In60Ox attained the best CO selectivity of 71 at moderate cathodic bias of amp; 8722;0.8 VRHE, while a higher cathodic bias E lt; amp; 8722;0.9 V promoted a decrease of CO in favor of formate. A detailed investigation of the Ni40In60Ox thin films following progressive stages of reduction during CO2ER revealed dynamic structural transformations strongly dependent on applied bias and electrolysis time. For the CO selective catalyst composition, at moderate cathodic bias E lt; amp; 8722;0.8 V and short electrolysis times 1 h , the catalyst is composed of nickel indium alloy grains embedded in amorphous Ni In mixed oxide as observed by electron microscopy. Extending electrolysis time at amp; 8722;0.8 V for 10 h, or increasing the applied reductive bias to amp; 8722;1.0 V, result in a complete reduction of the residual oxide film into an interconnected array of multicomponent In, Ni, Ni3In7 nanoparticles which display significantly lower CO selectivity lt;50 . Our results indicate that the persistent amorphous NiInOx oxide alloy composite material preserved in the early stages of reduction at amp; 8722;0.8 V plays a key role in CO selectivity. The highly dynamic structure observed in this catalytic system demonstrates the importance of conducting detailed structural characterization at various applied potentials to understand the impact of structural changes on the observed CO2ER selectivity trends; and thus be able to distinguish structural effects from mechanistic effects triggered by increasing the reductive bia

Fading Evaluation in the 60GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions

An exhaustive analysis of the small-scale fading amplitude in the 60GHz band is addressed for line-of-sight conditions (LOS). From a measurement campaign carried out in a laboratory, we have estimated the distribution of the small-scale fading amplitude over a bandwidth of 9GHz. From the measured data, we have estimated the parameters of the Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami-m, Weibull, and \alpha-\mu distributions for the small-scale amplitudes. The test of Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) for each frequency bin is used to evaluate the performance of such statistical distributions. Moreover, the distributions of the main estimated parameters for such distributions are calculated and approximated for lognormal statistics in some cases. The matching of the above distributions to the experimental distribution has also been analyzed for the lower tail of the cumulative distribution function (CDF).These parameters offer information about the narrowband channel behavior that is useful for a better knowledge of the propagation characteristics at 60GHz.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion TEC-2010-20841-C04-1 and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, PAID 05-11 ref. 2702. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable remarks and suggestions which have considerably enriched the final paper.Reig, J.; Martínez Inglés, M.; Rubio Arjona, L.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM.; Molina-García-Pardo, J. (2014). Fading Evaluation in the 60GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation. 2014:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/984102S1122014Smulders, P. (2002). Exploiting the 60 GHz band for local wireless multimedia access: prospects and future directions. IEEE Communications Magazine, 40(1), 140-147. doi:10.1109/35.978061Park, C., & Rappaport, T. (2007). Short-Range Wireless Communications for Next-Generation Networks: UWB, 60 GHz Millimeter-Wave WPAN, And ZigBee. IEEE Wireless Communications, 14(4), 70-78. doi:10.1109/mwc.2007.4300986Daniels, R. C., & Heath, R. W. (2007). 60 GHz wireless communications: Emerging requirements and design recommendations. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 2(3), 41-50. doi:10.1109/mvt.2008.915320Zwick, T., Beukema, T. J., & Haewoon Nam. (2005). Wideband channel sounder with measurements and model for the 60 GHz indoor radio channel. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 54(4), 1266-1277. doi:10.1109/tvt.2005.851354Shoji, Y., Sawada, H., Chang-Soon Choi, & Ogawa, H. (2009). A Modified SV-Model Suitable for Line-of-Sight Desktop Usage of Millimeter-Wave WPAN Systems. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 57(10), 2940-2948. doi:10.1109/tap.2009.2029286Hao Xu, Kukshya, V., & Rappaport, T. S. (2002). Spatial and temporal characteristics of 60-GHz indoor channels. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 20(3), 620-630. doi:10.1109/49.995521Anderson, C. R., & Rappaport, T. S. (2004). In-Building Wideband Partition Loss Measurements at 2.5 and 60 GHz. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 3(3), 922-928. doi:10.1109/twc.2004.826328Smulders, P. (2009). Statistical Characterization of 60-GHz Indoor Radio Channels. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 57(10), 2820-2829. doi:10.1109/tap.2009.2030524Thomas, H. J., Cole, R. S., & Siqueira, G. L. (1994). An experimental study of the propagation of 55 GHz millimeter waves in an urban mobile radio environment. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 43(1), 140-146. doi:10.1109/25.282274Kyro, M., Haneda, K., Simola, J., Takizawa, K., Hagiwara, H., & Vainikainen, P. (2012). Statistical Channel Models for 60 GHz Radio Propagation in Hospital Environments. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 60(3), 1569-1577. doi:10.1109/tap.2011.2180349Durgin, G. D., Rappaport, T. S., & de Wolf, D. A. (2002). New analytical models and probability density functions for fading in wireless communications. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 50(6), 1005-1015. doi:10.1109/tcomm.2002.1010620Yacoub, M. D. (2007). The κ-μ distribution and the η-μ distribution. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, 49(1), 68-81. doi:10.1109/map.2007.370983Martinez-Ingles, M.-T., Sanchis-Borras, C., Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.-M., Rodriguez, J.-V., & Juan-Llacer, L. (2013). Experimental Evaluation of an Indoor MIMO-OFDM System at 60 GHz Based on the IEEE802.15.3c Standard. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 12, 1562-1565. doi:10.1109/lawp.2013.2293275Koay, C. G., & Basser, P. J. (2006). Analytically exact correction scheme for signal extraction from noisy magnitude MR signals. Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 179(2), 317-322. doi:10.1016/j.jmr.2006.01.016Charash, U. (1979). Reception Through Nakagami Fading Multipath Channels with Random Delays. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 27(4), 657-670. doi:10.1109/tcom.1979.1094444Hashemi, H. (1993). The indoor radio propagation channel. Proceedings of the IEEE, 81(7), 943-968. doi:10.1109/5.231342Yacoub, M. D. (2007). The $\alpha$-$\mu$ Distribution: A Physical Fading Model for the Stacy Distribution. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 56(1), 27-34. doi:10.1109/tvt.2006.883753Coulson, A. J., Williamson, A. G., & Vaughan, R. G. (1998). Improved fading distribution for mobile radio. IEE Proceedings - Communications, 145(3), 197. doi:10.1049/ip-com:19981991Reig, J., & Rubio, L. (2011). On Simple Estimators of the α-μ Fading Distribution. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 59(12), 3254-3258. doi:10.1109/tcomm.2011.080111.09022

Identificación en aguas recreativas de bacterias patógenas en amebas de vida libre, que actúan como nicho ecológico, mediante técnicas de biología molecular.

Las amebas de vida libre (AVL) son protozoos que se encuentran ampliamente distribuidos en la naturaleza, siendo algunas de ellas patógenos oportunistas. Existe una interacción en el medio ambiente entre AVL y bacterias, siendo estas su sustrato alimenticio, aunque se ha demostrado la capacidad de algunas especies para sobrevivir en el interior de la ameba1. Este hecho supone que bacterias consideradas patógenas para el ser humano, permanezcan protegidas en el interior de las amebas cuya forma quística es altamente resistente y cuando las condiciones que hacían adverso el medio desaparecen, sean liberadas persistiendo en lugares como torres de refrigeración, piscinas, fuentes ornamentales, lo que supone un riesgo para la salud pública1-2. Se estudió la presencia de bacterias patóge

Genetic diversity between mouse strains allows identification of the CC027/GeniUnc strain as an orally reactive model of peanut allergy

Background: Improved animal models are needed to understand the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to food allergy. Objective: We sought to assess food allergy phenotypes in a genetically diverse collection of mice. Methods: We selected 16 Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse strains, as well as the classic inbred C57BL/6J, C3H/HeJ, and BALB/cJ strains, for screening. Female mice were sensitized to peanut intragastrically with or without cholera toxin and then challenged with peanut by means of oral gavage or intraperitoneal injection and assessed for anaphylaxis. Peanut-specific immunoglobulins, T-cell cytokines, regulatory T cells, mast cells, and basophils were quantified. Results: Eleven of the 16 CC strains had allergic reactions to intraperitoneal peanut challenge, whereas only CC027/GeniUnc mice reproducibly experienced severe symptoms after oral food challenge (OFC). CC027/GeniUnc, C3H/HeJ, and C57BL/6J mice all mounted a T H 2 response against peanut, leading to production of IL-4 and IgE, but only the CC027/GeniUnc mice reacted to OFC. Orally induced anaphylaxis in CC027/GeniUnc mice was correlated with serum levels of Ara h 2 in circulation but not with allergen-specific IgE or mucosal mast cell protease 1 levels, indicating systemic allergen absorption is important for anaphylaxis through the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, CC027/GeniUnc, but not C3H/HeJ or BALB/cJ, mice can be sensitized in the absence of cholera toxin and react on OFC to peanut. Conclusions: We have identified and characterized CC027/GeniUnc mice as a strain that is genetically susceptible to peanut allergy and prone to severe reactions after OFC. More broadly, these findings demonstrate the untapped potential of the CC population in developing novel models for allergy research

Measurements of high-energy neutron-induced fission of (nat)Pb and (209)Bi

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License 3.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any noncommercial medium, provided the original work is properly citedThe CERN Neutron Time-Of-Flight (n_TOF) facility is well suited to measure low cross sections as those of neutron-induced fission in subactinides. The cross section ratios of (nat)Pb and (209)Bi relative to (235)U and (238)U were measured using PPAC detectors and a fragment coincidence method that allows us to identify the fission events. The present experiment provides first results for neutron-induced fission up to 1 GeV. Good agreement is found with previous experimental data below 200 MeV. The comparison with proton-induced fission indicates that the limiting regime where neutron-induced and proton-induced fission reach equal cross sections is close to 1 GeV

Towards the high-accuracy determination of the 238U fission cross section at the threshold region at CERN - N-TOF

The 238U fission cross section is an international standard beyond 2 MeV where the fission plateau starts. However, due to its importance in fission reactors, this cross-section should be very accurately known also in the threshold region below 2 MeV. The 238U fission cross section has been measured relative to the 235U fission cross section at CERN - n-TOF with different detection systems. These datasets have been collected and suitably combined to increase the counting statistics in the threshold region from about 300 keV up to 3 MeV. The results are compared with other experimental data, evaluated libraries, and the IAEA standards