Composition of fungal communities in soil and endophytic in raspberry production systems.

Fungi play important roles as decomposers, plant symbionts and pathogens in soil. While endophytes are microorganisms that dwell within plant tissues and have a symbiotic association with the host. The structures of fungal communities in the soil and in endophytic association are dependent up complex interactions with the environment and the host. These two communities have a great influence on plant health and development. Using culture-independent fungal community profiling, we investigated the effects of fertilizer (composted dairy solids + mustard seed meal) on fungal communities in soil and endophytic in a raspberry production system. During the study we evaluated the impact of primer selection ITS1 vs ITS2. We characterized the communities for both spring and fall time periods. The results show that the soil communities are dominated by Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota in soil, while the endophytes were primarily Ascomycota. The relative abundances of certain taxa, such as Capnodiales, were more predominant in composted soil (8%) than the control (4%). There were no significant differences identified in the endophytic communities between the two treatments. Further research should elucidate the specific roles of these fungal taxa in raspberry soils and endophyte, and on the heath of the plant. To advance the ecological management of crop soils, understanding is needed of how beneficial microbial relationships can be fostered in these production systems

High serum osteopontin levels are associated with prevalent fractures and worse lipid profile in post-menopausal women with type 2 diabetes

Purpose: Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have increased fracture risk. Osteopontin (OPN) is a protein involved in bone remodeling and inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of OPN with fracture prevalence and with metabolic parameters in post-menopausal women with T2DM. Methods: Sixty-four post-menopausal women with T2DM (age 67.0 ± 7.8 years, diabetes duration 8.9 ± 6.7 years), enrolled in a previous study, were followed up (3.6 ± 0.9 years). Previous fragility fractures were recorded. The FRAX score (without BMD) was calculated and biochemical parameters (plasma glucose, HbA1c, lipid profile and renal function) were assessed. Serum 25OH-vitamin D, calcium, PTH and OPN were evaluated at baseline. The association between OPN and fracture prevalence at baseline was evaluated by a logistic model. Results: OPN levels were higher in patients with previous fractures (n.25) than in patients without previous fractures at baseline (n.39) (p = 0.006). The odds of having fractures at baseline increased by 6.7 (1.9–31.4, 95% CI, p = 0.007) for each increase of 1 ng/ml in OPN levels, after adjustment for vitamin D and HbA1c levels. Fracture incidence was 4.7%. Higher OPN associated with a decrease in HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.048), after adjustment for age, basal HDL-cholesterol, basal and follow-up HbA1c and follow-up duration. 25OH-vitamin D associated with an increase in FRAX-estimated probability of hip fracture at follow-up (p = 0.029), after adjustment for age, 25OH-vitamin D and time. Conclusions: In post-menopausal women with T2DM, OPN might be a useful marker of fracture and worse lipid profile

Integrated polarizers based on tapered highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPThis paper proposes and demonstrates the creation of sections with a high polarization dependent loss (PDL) in a commercial highly birefringent (polarization maintaining) photonic crystal fiber (PCF), via tapering with pressure applied to the holes. The tapers had a 1-cm-long uniform section with a 66% scale reduction, in which the original microstructure aspect ratio was kept by the pressure application. The resulting waveguides show polarizing action across the entire tested wavelength range, 1510-1600 nm, with a peak PDL of 35.3 dB/cm (c.f. ∼1 dB/cm for a typical commercial polarizing fiber). The resulting structure, as well as its production, is extremely simple, and enable a small section with a high PDL to be obtained in a polarization maintaining PCF, meaning that the polarization axes in the polarizing and polarization maintaining sections are automatically aligned. © 2014 Optical Society of America.This paper proposes and demonstrates the creation of sections with a high polarization dependent loss (PDL) in a commercial highly birefringent (polarization maintaining) photonic crystal fiber (PCF), via tapering with pressure applied to the holes. The tapers had a 1-cm-long uniform section with a 66% scale reduction, in which the original microstructure aspect ratio was kept by the pressure application. The resulting waveguides show polarizing action across the entire tested wavelength range, 1510-1600 nm, with a peak PDL of 35.3 dB/cm (c.f. similar to 1 dB/cm for a typical commercial polarizing fiber). The resulting structure, as well as its production, is extremely simple, and enable a small section with a high PDL to be obtained in a polarization maintaining PCF, meaning that the polarization axes in the polarizing and polarization maintaining sections are automatically aligned.22151776917775COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPSem informaçãoSem informaçãoSem informação0.1.06.1177.00Chraplyvy, A.R., High-capacity lightwave transmission experiments (1999) Bell Labs Tech. J., 4 (1), pp. 230-245Bock, W.J., Chen, J., Eftimov, T., Urbanczyk, W., A photonic crystal fiber sensor for pressure measurements (2006) IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., 55 (4), pp. 1119-1123Bergh, R.A., Lefevre, H.C., Shaw, H.J., An overview of fiber-optic gyroscopes (1984) J. Lightwave Technol., 2 (2), pp. 91-107Jacobsen, W., Mayfield, J., Fournier, P., Bolte, D., Elmaola, H., Wang, C.H., Drenzek, G., Soufiane, A., (2013) Single-polarization Fiber, , Verrillon Inc., US Patent 8, 369, 672 B2Nolan, D.A., Berkey, G.E., Li, M.J., Chen, X., Wood, W.A., Zenteno, L.A., Single-polarization fiber with a high extinction ratio (2004) Opt. Lett., 29 (16), pp. 1855-1857Russell, P., Photonic crystal fibers (2006) J. Lightwave Technol., 24 (12), pp. 4729-4749Saitoh, K., Koshiba, M., Single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fibers (2003) IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 15 (10), pp. 1384-1386Ju, J., Jin, W., Demokan, M.S., Design of single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber at 1.30 and 1.55 μm (2006) J. Lightwave Technol., 24 (2), pp. 825-830Zhang, F., Zhang, M., Liu, X., Ye, P., Design of wideband single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber (2007) J. Lightwave Technol., 25 (5), pp. 1184-1189Chen, M.Y., Sun, B., Zhang, Y.K., Broadband single-polarization operation in square-lattice photonic crystal fibers (2010) J. Lightwave Technol., 28 (10), pp. 1443-1446Serrão, V.A., Franco, M.A.R., A new approach to obtain single-polarization hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (2013) Proc. SPIE 8794, Fifth European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors, 879428Kubota, H., Kawanishi, S., Koyanagi, S., Tanaka, M., Yamaguchi, S., Absolutely single polarization photonic crystal fiber (2004) IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 16 (1), pp. 182-184Statkiewicz-Barabach, G., Olszewski, J., Napiorkowski, M., Golojuch, G., Martynkien, T., Tarnowski, K., Urbanczyk, W., Thienpont, H., Polarizing photonic crystal fiber with lowindex inclusion in the core (2010) J. Opt., 12 (7), p. 075402Zheng, X., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., Han, T., Tai, B., Tunable single-polarization single mode photonic crystal fiber based on liquid infiltrating (2011) IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 23, pp. 709-711Espinel, A.V.Y., Franco, M.A.R., Cordeiro, C.M.B., Tunable single-polarization single-mode microstructure polymer optical fiber (2011) J. Lightwave Technol., 29 (16), pp. 2372-2378Qian, W., Zhao, C.L., Wang, Y., Chan, C.C., Liu, S., Jin, W., Partially liquid-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber polarizer (2011) Opt. Lett., 36 (16), pp. 3296-3298Sodré Jr., A.C., Nascimento Jr., A.R., Franco, M.A.R., Oliveira, I., Serrão, V.A., Fragnito, H.L., Numerical and experimental analysis of polarization properties from hybrid PCFs across different photonic bandgaps (2012) Opt. Fiber Technol., 18 (6), pp. 462-469Romagnoli, P., Biazoli, C.R., Franco, M.A.R., Cordeiro, C.M.B., De Matos, C.J.S., Generation of polarizing sections in highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers via post-processing (2013) CLEO:2013, , Optical Society of America, paper JTu4A.12Birks, T.A., Li, Y.W., The shape of fiber tapers (1992) J. Lightwave Technol., 10 (4), pp. 432-438Ju, J., Jin, W., Yang, Y., Introduction of birefringence into photonic crystal fibers (2011) Proc. SPIE 7753, 21st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors, 77536JMalitson, I.H., Interspecimen comparison of the refractive index of fused silica (1965) J. Opt. Soc. Am., 55 (10), pp. 1205-1209Gerosa, R.M., Spadoti, D.H., Menezes, L.S., De Matos, C.J.S., In-fiber modal Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on the locally post-processed core of a photonic crystal fiber (2011) Opt. Express, 19 (4), pp. 3124-3129The authors thank CAPES, Mackpesquisa, INCT Fotonicom (CNPq and FAPESP) and FINEP (SIA Project- proc. 0.1.06.1177.00) for financial support

Use of a Raspberry-Pi Video Camera for Coastal Flooding Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Riccione (Italy)

Coastal monitoring is strategic for the correct assessment of nearshore morphodynamics, to verify the effects of anthropogenic interventions for the purpose of coastal protection and for the rapid assessment of flooding vulnerability due to severe events. Remote sensing and field surveys are among the main approaches that have been developed to meet these necessities. Key parameters in the assessment and prevision of coastal flooding extensions, beside meteomarine characteristics, are the topography and slope of beaches, which can be extremely dynamic. The use of continuous monitoring through orthorectified video images allows for the rapid detection of the intertidal bathymetry and flooding threshold during severe events. The aim of this work was to present a comparison of different monitoring strategies and methodologies that have been integrated into repeated surveys in order to evaluate the performance of a new camera system. We used a low-cost camera based on Raspberry Pi called VISTAE (Video monitoring Intelligent STAtion for Environmental applications) for long-term remote observations and GNSS-laser tools for field measurements. The case study was a coastal tract in Riccione, Italy (Northern Adriatic Sea), which is the seat of nourishment interventions and of different types of underwater protection structures to combat coastal erosion. We performed data acquisition and analysis of the emerged beach and of the swash zone in terms of the intertidal bathymetry and shoreline. The results show a generally good agreement between the field and remote measurements through image processing, with a small discrepancy of the order of ≈0.05 m in the vertical and ≈1.5 m in the horizontal in terms of the root mean square error (RMSE). These values are comparable with that of current video monitoring instruments, but the VISTAE has the advantages of its low-cost, programmability and automatized analyses. This result, together with the possibility of continuous monitoring during daylight hours, supports the advantages of a combined approach in coastal flooding vulnerability assessment through integrated and complementary techniques