Spatio-Temporal Vegetation Pixel Classification by Using Convolutional Networks

Plant phenology studies rely on long-term monitoring of life cycles of plants. High-resolution unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and near-surface technologies have been used for plant monitoring, demanding the creation of methods capable of locating, and identifying plant species through time and space. However, this is a challenging task given the high volume of data, the constant data missing from temporal dataset, the heterogeneity of temporal profiles, the variety of plant visual patterns, and the unclear definition of individuals' boundaries in plant communities. In this letter, we propose a novel method, suitable for phenological monitoring, based on convolutional networks (ConvNets) to perform spatio-temporal vegetation pixel classification on high-resolution images. We conducted a systematic evaluation using high-resolution vegetation image datasets associated with the Brazilian Cerrado biome. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is effective, overcoming other spatio-temporal pixel-classification strategies

Leafing patterns and drivers across seasonally dry tropical communities

Investigating the timing of key phenological events across environments with variable seasonality is crucial to understand the drivers of ecosystem dynamics. Leaf production in the tropics is mainly constrained by water and light availability. Identifying the factors regulating leaf phenology patterns allows efficiently forecasting of climate change impacts. We conducted a novel phenological monitoring study across four Neotropical vegetation sites using leaf phenology time series obtained from digital repeated photographs (phenocameras). Seasonality differed among sites, from very seasonally dry climate in the caatinga dry scrubland with an eight-month long dry season to the less restrictive Cerrado vegetation with a six-month dry season. To unravel the main drivers of leaf phenology and understand how they influence seasonal dynamics (represented by the green color channel (Gcc) vegetation index), we applied Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to estimate the growing seasons, using water deficit and day length as covariates. Our results indicated that plant-water relationships are more important in the caatinga, while light (measured as day-length) was more relevant in explaining leafing patterns in Cerrado communities. Leafing behaviors and predictor-response relationships (distinct smooth functions) were more variable at the less seasonal Cerrado sites, suggesting that different life-forms (grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees) are capable of overcoming drought through specific phenological strategies and associated functional traits, such as deep root systems in trees

A Change-Driven Image Foveation Approach for Tracking Plant Phenology

One of the challenges in remote phenology studies lies in how to efficiently manage large volumes of data obtained as long-term sequences of high-resolution images. A promising approach is known as image foveation, which is able to reduce the computational resources used (i.e., memory storage) in several applications. In this paper, we propose an image foveation approach towards plant phenology tracking where relevant changes within an image time series guide the creation of foveal models used to resample unseen images. By doing so, images are taken to a space-variant domain where regions vary in resolution according to their contextual relevance for the application. We performed our validation on a dataset of vegetation image sequences previously used in plant phenology studies

Dose única de zinco como fator moderador do estresse metabólico na desmama de bovinos de corte.

Nos registros de fazendas de gado de corte, é notório que as maiores perdas no rebanho ocorrem no terço inicial da vida do animal. Este fato possivelmente está associado com o manejo de matrizes em pastos de baixo valor nutricional, que somado a uma suplementação mineral inadequada, predispõem os bezerros a uma deficiência subclínica de zinco (Zn). O resultado é que os bezerros produzidos nessa situação normalmente são fracos e portadores de distúrbios nutricionais que, além de influenciar os demais estados mórbidos, os tornam mais susceptíveis a doenças resultantes de um estresse prolongado. O estresse acelera o consumo de Zn e a principal conseqüência da alteração metabólica é a falta de apetite e depressão da resposta imune aos agentes agressores. A aplicação oral de 300 mg de zinco/10 ml de água em bezerros nelores, desmamados aos 90 dias, em comparação ao grupo sem Zn, resultou em um aumento altamente significativo (P<0,001) 13,7% aos 120 e 11,8% aos 150 dias no peso vivo pós-desmama.bitstream/item/105013/1/COT71.pdfCNPGC

Exploratory structural assessment in craniocervical dystonia: global and differential analyses

FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOOur goal was to investigate the cortical thickness and subcortical volume in subjects with craniocervical dystonia and its subgroups. We studied 49 subjects, 17 with cervical dystonia, 18 with blepharospasm or oromandibular dystonia, and 79 healthy cont128FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO2013/13270-62010/11085-92013/07559-

Association between nitrogen and seed inoculation with bacteria diazotrópica in Maize

O Brasil é o terceiro maior produtor mundial de milho e mais de 50% desta produção está concentrada no Cerrado. Esta produção está relacionada ao fornecimento adequado de nutrientes, especialmente o nitrogênio (N), que é fornecido via adubação mineral, contudo a inoculação das sementes com bactérias diazotrópicas tem complementado as necessidades da cultura. Neste estudo avaliou-se o desenvolvimento e a produção da cultura do milho cultivado com diferentes doses de N, na presença e ausência de Azospirillum. Com delineamento de blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial (5 x 2), sendo cinco doses de N (0, 50, 100, 150 e 200 kg ha-1), duas formas de inoculação da bactéria (1 – Com, 2 – Sem), com seis repetições. Mediu-se a altura da planta, inserção, comprimento e diâmetro da espiga, massa de mil grãos, percentual de grãos ardidos e produtividade. A inoculação das sementes de milho com a bactéria Azospirillum brasilense melhora a eficiência da planta na absorção do nitrogênio disponível. O diâmetro de espiga e a produtividade aumentaram linearmente com as doses de nitrogênio na presença da bactéria. A inoculação da semente com a bactéria não substitui o uso de fertilizantes nitrogenados, mas melhora a resposta da planta à adubação, especialmente em doses elevadas.Brazil is the world's third largest producer of corn and over 50% of this production is concentrated in the Cerrado. This production is related to adequate supply of nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), which is provided via mineral fertilization, however the inoculation of seeds with bacteria has complemented the needs of culture. This study evaluated the development and production of cultivated maize with different doses of N in the presence and absence of Azospirillum. With a randomized block design in a factorial scheme (5 x 2), with five N rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1), two forms of inoculation of bacteria (1 - with, 2 - Without) with six replications. Measured the height of the plant, insertion length and diameter of the ear, thousand grain weight, percentage of crop burned and productivity. The inoculation of corn seeds with the bacterium Azospirillum brasilense improves the efficiency of the plant in the uptake of nitrogen available. The diameter of the cob and productivity increased linearly with the dose of nitrogen in the presence of the bacteria. The inoculation of seed with the bacterium does not replace the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, but improves the response of the plant to nitrogen, especially in high doses.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Diffuse decreased gray matter in patients with idiopathic craniocervical dystonia: a voxel-based morphometry study

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Background: Recent studies have addressed the role of structures other than the basal ganglia in the pathophysiology of craniocervical dystonia (CCD). Neuroimaging studies have attempted to identify structural abnormalities in CCD but a clear pattern of alteration has not been established. We performed whole-brain evaluation using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify patterns of gray matter (GM) changes in CCD. Methods: We compared 27 patients with CCD matched in age and gender to 54 healthy controls. VBM was used to compare GM volumes. We created a two-sample t-test corrected for subjects' age, and we tested with a level of significance of p < 0.001 and false discovery rate (FDR) correction (p < 0.05). Results: Voxel-based morphometry demonstrated significant reductions of GM using p < 0.001 in the cerebellar vermis IV/V, bilaterally in the superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, anterior cingulate and paracingulate, insular cortex, lingual gyrus, and calcarine fissure; in the left hemisphere in the supplementary motor area, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, temporal pole, supramarginal gyrus, rolandic operculum, hippocampus, middle occipital gyrus, cerebellar lobules IV/V, superior, and middle temporal gyri; in the right hemisphere, the middle cingulate and precentral gyrus. Our study did not report any significant result using the FDR correction. We also detected correlations between GM volume and age, disease duration, duration of botulinum toxin treatment, and the Marsden-Fahn dystonia scale scores. Conclusion: We detected large clusters of GM changes chiefly in structures primarily involved in sensorimotor integration, motor planning, visuospatial function, and emotional processing.Recent studies have addressed the role of structures other than the basal ganglia in the pathophysiology of craniocervical dystonia (CCD). Neuroimaging studies have attempted to identify structural abnormalities in CCD but a clear pattern of alteration ha5FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [2010/11085-9]2010/11085-

Association between nitrogen and seed inoculation with bacteria diazotrópica in Maize

Brazil is the world's third largest producer of corn and over 50% of this production is concentrated in the Cerrado. This production is related to adequate supply of nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), which is provided via mineral fertilization, however the inoculation of seeds with bacteria has complemented the needs of culture. This study evaluated the development and production of cultivated maize with different doses of N in the presence and absence of Azospirillum. With a randomized block design in a factorial scheme (5 x 2), with five N rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1), two forms of inoculation of bacteria (1 - with, 2 - Without) with six replications. Measured the height of the plant, insertion length and diameter of the ear, thousand grain weight, percentage of crop burned and productivity. The inoculation of corn seeds with the bacterium Azospirillum brasilense improves the efficiency of the plant in the uptake of nitrogen available. The diameter of the cob and productivity increased linearly with the dose of nitrogen in the presence of the bacteria. The inoculation of seed with the bacterium does not replace the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, but improves the response of the plant to nitrogen, especially in high doses.O Brasil é o terceiro maior produtor mundial de milho e mais de 50% desta produção está concentrada no Cerrado. Esta produção está relacionada ao fornecimento adequado de nutrientes, especialmente o nitrogênio (N), que é fornecido via adubação mineral, contudo a inoculação das sementes com bactérias diazotrópicas tem complementado as necessidades da cultura. Neste estudo avaliou-se o desenvolvimento e a produção da cultura do milho cultivado com diferentes doses de N, na presença e ausência de Azospirillum. Com delineamento de blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial (5 x 2), sendo cinco doses de N (0, 50, 100, 150 e 200 kg ha-1), duas formas de inoculação da bactéria (1 – Com, 2 – Sem), com seis repetições. Mediu-se a altura da planta, inserção, comprimento e diâmetro da espiga, massa de mil grãos, percentual de grãos ardidos e produtividade. A inoculação das sementes de milho com a bactéria Azospirillum brasilense melhora a eficiência da planta na absorção do nitrogênio disponível. O diâmetro de espiga e a produtividade aumentaram linearmente com as doses de nitrogênio na presença da bactéria. A inoculação da semente com a bactéria não substitui o uso de fertilizantes nitrogenados, mas melhora a resposta da planta à adubação, especialmente em doses elevadas

Nest Architecture, Colony Productivity, and Duration of Immature Stages in a Social Wasp, Mischocyttarus consimilis

This study examined the nest architecture, colony productivity, and duration of the immature stages of the social wasp Mischocyttarus consimilis Zikáán (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). The study was carried out under field conditions. Nests of M. consimilis consist of a single uncovered comb, which is attached to the substratum by a single petiole. The data for the nest architecture showed a positive and significant correlation between the size of the comb and the diameter of the petiole, and also between the height and diameter of the cells. The nests were constructed on horizontal, vertical, and sloping substrata with no apparent preference for a specific orientation. The colonies produced 72.9 cells and 40.7 adults on average. The mean frequency of productive cells was 33.3%, and 19.4% of the cells were reused. The mean duration of the immature stages combined was 69.7 days and the egg, larval, and pupal stages had mean durations of 14.9, 36.0, and 18.8 days, respectively. The duration of each immature stage was significantly shorter in the warmhumid season, and the larval and pupal stages were shorter during the colony pre-emergence stage