Dinâmica do uso e cobertura da terra do município de Floresta, PE.

Objetivou-se mapear a dinâmica de mudança do uso da terra e da cobertura florestal no período de 21 anos (1987 a 2008), no município de Floresta, PE. Foram utilizadas imagens de satélite LANDSAT 5 nos períodos de 1987, 1997 e 2008. Utilizou-se o aplicativo SPRING para elaboração da base de dados cartográficos e do processamento digital das imagens. As imagens foram segmentadas e classificadas pelo algoritmo de Bhattacharya, com a finalidade de produzir mapas temáticos nos seguintes usos da terra: vegetação densa, vegetação semidensa, solo exposto, agropecuária (cultivos/pecuária), corpos d´água e mata ciliar. Para um período de 21 anos, a cobertura florestal recuou 14,83%. O solo exposto teve um ganho de 8,61%, a classe agropecuária acumulou um ganho de 5,75%, os corpos d?água, ao longo do tempo, demonstraram um aumento de 4,03% e a mata ciliar teve tendência à queda ao longo dos períodos analisados, com uma perda total de 3,57%. Esses dados refletem as transformações por que o município de Floresta vem passando quanto ao uso da terra. A diminuição da cobertura florestal do município entre 1987 e 2008 foi a principal consequência da interação clima e pressão antrópica por recursos florestais, necessidade de expansão urbana e atividades agropecuárias

Small-Scale Fluidized Bed Bioreactor for Long-Term Dynamic Culture of 3D Cell Constructs and in vitro Testing

With the increasing interest in three-dimensional (3D) cell constructs that better represent native tissues, comes the need to also invest in devices, i.e., bioreactors, that provide a controlled dynamic environment similar to the perfusion mechanism observed in vivo. Here a laboratory-scale fluidized bed bioreactor (sFBB) was designed for hydrogel (i.e., alginate) encapsulated cells to generate a dynamic culture system that produced a homogenous milieu and host substantial biomass for long-term evolution of tissue-like structures and “per cell” performance analysis. The bioreactor design, conceptualized through scale-down empirical similarity rules, was initially validated through computational fluid dynamics analysis for the distributor capacity of homogenously dispersing the flow with an average fluid velocity of 4.596 × 10–4 m/s. Experimental tests then demonstrated a consistent fluidization of hydrogel spheres, while maintaining shape and integrity (606.9 ± 99.3 μm diameter and 0.96 shape factor). It also induced mass transfer in and out of the hydrogel at a faster rate than static conditions. Finally, the sFBB sustained culture of alginate encapsulated hepatoblastoma cells for 12 days promoting proliferation into highly viable (>97%) cell spheroids at a high final density of 27.3 ± 0.78 million cells/mL beads. This was reproducible across multiple units set up in parallel and operating simultaneously. The sFBB prototype constitutes a simple and robust tool to generate 3D cell constructs, expandable into a multi-unit setup for simultaneous observations and for future development and biological evaluation of in vitro tissue models and their responses to different agents, increasing the complexity and speed of R&D processes

Tipificação da ovinocultura no Acre.

O Acre vem intensificando a criação de ovinos para produção de carne, seja para o autoconsumo ou como alternativa de diversificação e ampliação da renda nas pequenas e médias propriedades. Diante do exposto esse estudo objetivou tipificar a atividade da ovinocultura no Acre. Para tal, foram realizadas 100 entrevistas com produtores nos municípios de maior expressão, além de uma reunião técnica para identificação e caracterização do sistema modal utilizados pelos produtores. Na pesquisa 79,43% dos entrevistados informaram que seu principal objetivo é a produção de carne. No tocante a infraestrutura, as benfeitorias voltadas para a atividade estão presentes nas maiorias das criações. As pastagens são consorciadas tendo como componentes pelo menos uma gramínea do gênero Brachiaria, que não tem sido recomenda para ovinos devido a problemas de fotossensibilidade. A assistência técnica é pouco efetiva, pois, 78% dos produtores afirmam que não recebem nenhum tipo de orientação técnica. Por fim, de acordo com os índices discutidos na reunião técnica, o sistema avaliado apresentou inviabilidade economicamente. Na análise, o ponto de equilíbrio calculado corresponde um rebanho formado de 150 cabeças. Assim, a ovinocultura acriana necessita de uma estruturação da cadeia e uma mudança conceitual do segmento produtivo

Review: potential biotechnological assets related to plant immunity modulation applicable in engineering disease-resistant crops.

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Monopoles and Holography

We present a holographic theory in AdS_4 whose zero temperature ground state develops a crystal structure, spontaneously breaking translational symmetry. The crystal is induced by a background magnetic field, but requires no chemical potential. This lattice arises from the existence of 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole solitons in the bulk which condense to form a classical object known as a monopole wall. In the infra-red, the magnetic field is screened and there is an emergent SU(2) global symmetry.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures; v2: ref adde

Investigating engineered ribonucleoprotein particles to improve oral RNAi delivery in crop insect pests.

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Emergent Gauge Fields in Holographic Superconductors

Holographic superconductors have been studied so far in the absence of dynamical electromagnetic fields, namely in the limit in which they coincide with holographic superfluids. It is possible, however, to introduce dynamical gauge fields if a Neumann-type boundary condition is imposed on the AdS-boundary. In 3+1 dimensions, the dual theory is a 2+1 dimensional CFT whose spectrum contains a massless gauge field, signaling the emergence of a gauge symmetry. We study the impact of a dynamical gauge field in vortex configurations where it is known to significantly affect the energetics and phase transitions. We calculate the critical magnetic fields H_c1 and H_c2, obtaining that holographic superconductors are of Type II (H_c1 < H_c2). We extend the study to 4+1 dimensions where the gauge field does not appear as an emergent phenomena, but can be introduced, by a proper renormalization, as an external dynamical field. We also compare our predictions with those arising from a Ginzburg-Landau theory and identify the generic properties of Abrikosov vortices in holographic models.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, few comments added, version published in JHE

Coupling in-depth genome annotations with genome editing technology for harnessing genomic variation to promote precision breeding in tropical soybean.

ABSTRACT: Directional selection during crop domestication and advanced breeding has resulted in significant changes in plant genomes. The extent of intraspecific variation in a crop documents domestication and highlights variants underlying complex traits. Studies demonstrate that most naturally occurring variants in crops are low frequency, and only a small fraction of those might have important functions to trait variation. To understand the inheritance of quantitative traits, diversity panels have become available by crossing inbred lines to produce genomic maps that relate phenotypic variation to recombination and ultimately to genome structure. Using these resources, genomics studies have suggested that selection performs poorly in pericentromeric regions because of reduced recombination frequency (RF). Thus, manipulating RF and meiotic crossover location is an appealing issue to advance crop breeding. In our study, we are using genomic analysis to characterize intragenomic diversity of tropical elite soybean lines in terms of heterozygosity, RF, chromatin structure and accessibility. Our results to date include the generation of draft genome assemblies for two soybean advanced lines using PACBIO long-read sequencing, Chromium Linked-Reads sequencing and an approach rooted in polymer physics that determines the most likely genome structure using chromosomal contact data. In-depth genome-wide characterization is ongoing using ATAC-Seq and Parent-Progeny resequencing. We also present our efforts to apply DNA-free editing tools in implementing genetic alterations that are expected to engineer desirable traits in soybeans by modifying meiotic specific expression. These changes are expected to increase genetic and epigenetic variations with favorable outcomes in seed oil and protein pathway regulation. Financial support: Embrapa-Monsanto Fund/Project:03.17.03.002.00.0