Understanding and Gathering Decision-Making Challenges in EU Agri-Food Systems with Uncertain Regulations. A MCDM-AHP analysis

The development of the Agri-Food sector in both the UK and EU is a government priority, especially in building more resilient and sustainable Agri-Food Supply Chains, which are also subject to a variety of local and global regulations, determined the Common Agricultural Policy or the World Trade Organisation. Understanding Agri-Food Supply Chains requires a detailed understanding of upstream and downstream relationships amongst suppliers and customers. However, considering the current regulation changes in EU, UK/EU Agri-Food decision-makers, are facing several market challenges, especially in adapting to the externalities they cannot control (technological innovation, new nutritional market demands, economy, political markets, food security and climate change). Based on the N8 SIMULAGRIT project, this research aims at identifying factors, both opportunities, and constraints, that currently influence Agri-Food Supply Chains performance once uncertainties in regulations are identified. Thus, and based on case studies from the UK, Spain, Italy, ​and Chile, a compressive AHP study of alternatives Agri-Food strategies to deal with such uncertainties has been carried out. From this, it is depicted that key criteria are in the context of Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics, Human Resources and National/International trade. Thus, the research work has helped to identify and evaluate a set of strategies which may be used to support further policy-making processes and scenarios

IL-27 supports germinal center function by enhancing IL-21 production and the function of T follicular helper cells

IL-27 signaling directly into T cells is needed for follicular T helper cell survival, germinal center formation, and the production of T cell–dependent high-affinity antibodies in mice

Epitaxial Composition-Graded Perovskite Films Grown by a Dual-Beam Pulsed Laser Deposition Method

International audienceWe prepared SrTiO3 (STO) to Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST06) out-of-plane composition-graded films on STO (100) substrates by means of a dual-beam dual-target pulsed laser deposition technique. In the deposition system, a sliding mirror divides one KrF excimer laser beam into two, realizing the dual-beam of controlled intensity ratio. X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping has revealed that the graded films deposited under oxygen pressure at or lower than 1 Â 10-3 mbar were coherently strained with the same in-plane lattice parameter as the substrate. Their composition gradient along the growth direction was confirmed by Rutherford backscattering analysis to be uniform. We deposited BST06 top layers of various thickness on epitaxial composition-graded (ECG) buffer layers and examined their coherency and crystallinity. In comparison with the cases of STO homoepitaxial buffer layers, ECG buffer layers achieved better crystallinity of top BST06 layers, suggesting that the crystallinity of a heteroepitaxially-grown film is affected not only by the in-plane lattice matching but also by the out-of-plane lattice continuity with the substrate. ECG films that bridge compositions of substrate and top layer materials can be useful buffer layers for epitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched oxide films

Variation in tomato fruit ascorbate levels and consequences of manipulation of ascorbate metabolism on drought stress tolerance

Tomato is an important crop worldwide and one of the major sources of vitamin C (ascorbate) in the human diet. Ascorbate contributes both to tomato nutritional quality and has roles in stress tolerance and adaptation to the environment. In this study we show the variability that exists in tomato germplasm in terms of ascorbate content (10 to 90 mg/100 g fwt) which could be starting point for evaluating correlations with physiological traits potentially linked to ascorbate. We have then manipulated genes involved in ascorbate metabolism, using RNA interference, to investigate their influence on fruit ascorbate levels, fruit physiology and yield under both normal and drought stress conditions. There is some evidence that one of the genes chosen affects fruit size and yield under different conditions, but clear effects on the fruit ascorbate pool are not seen. We conclude that ascorbate metabolism is complex and can also have wider effects on fruit physiology and growth