The role of Trichoderma in belowground-aboveground interactions between plants and insects

In recent years, the reduction of use of agrochemicals have received much attention due to environmental pollution and human health problems caused by their overuse. For this purpose, the search for green alternative practices has increased and interest for the genus Trichoderma has considerably increased in the last decade. Fungi of the genus Trichoderma are agronomically important for their beneficial effects on plant growth and development. The use of root symbionts has gaining popularity as an alternative practice for pathogen control, while no product has been marketed specifically for insect control to date. In this thesis, indirect effects of Trichoderma harzianum T-22 has been evaluated in the laboratory and in the field. The laboratory study focused on two aphids that attack tomatoes, Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). In this study, the response of two different clones of the aphid (referring to French and Spanish clones) to plants colonized by the fungus was investigated. Trichoderma harzianum results in a worsening of fitness in the French clone, but not in the Spanish clone. The influence of T. harzianum on the behavior of aphids belonging to the two clones was also investigated, since this is an aspect that may have considerable importance in virus transmission. In dual choice test, aphids of both clones preferred control plants to those colonized by Trichoderma, probably because of the repellent effect of the volatiles produced by the latter. Feeding behavior of M. euphorbiae, monitored using Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) technique, was not affected by treatment with T-22, and both clones were able to reach the phloem and feed. As for M. persicae, previous studies are lacking. In laboratory conditions, M. persicae was attracted to tomato plants colonized by T. harzianum and performed better on them. In field experiments, the indirect effects on interactions between arthropods and Trichoderma will be evaluate on tomato and zucchini plants, among the most important crops in Italian horticultural production. The importance of field studies lie in the fact that Trichoderma-plant-insect interaction occurs under conditions of greater complexity and the result may be different from that recorded in the laboratory. Moreover, plants in the field can be simultaneously attacked by different pest species, activating different resistance pathways, and are also subjected to variable abiotic conditions. In this study, plant inoculation with T. harzianum T-22 significantly altered arthropod community in the field

Early Intervention, Research and Therapy Center for Children with Autism

This book documents a design study and creative project undertaken toward the fulfillment of a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Interior Environments at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. This book documents a year long accumulation of study and research done toward the development of an early intervention, therapy and research center for children with autism. This creative project demonstrates how an environment can be a catalyst for social interaction, way finding, therapy, and intervention. The goal was to design a space that would be multi-functional and also benefit the surrounding community. This design study will explain how colors and materials can affect children with autism and what colors and materials are detrimental to their functional abilities

The Effects of Exercise and Human Relationships on Interpreting

In this action research project, I analyzed the impact exercise and human relationships had on my interpreting work. It is well known that exercise and human relationships and connection do influence our actions and behavior in a manner (see, for example, Humphrey, 2015; Zenizo, 2013). In this current research, I explore exercise and human relationship, each in its own entity and then compare the two to each other, to see their influence towards interpreting. The aim of this study is to contribute to the field of American Sign Language/English interpreting by adding knowledge of what I found through this research about exercise, human relationships and the extent they impact my interpreting. I hope to provide more evidence to show the implications of applying self-care to one’s daily routine, in hopes of promoting improvement in one’s work. The method conducted for this action research project is through the mode of journaling, logs, and a recording of a work sample. I would make note of my day considering what I observed in my work, my workouts, the interactions I had with people, and when and if these two self-care approaches were implemented. I used the qualitative method approach to analyze the data. Through this, I focus on myself and interpreting by making alterations to the amount of exercise and human relationships and/or connections I incorporate into my self-care (before and after work). The results of the study show that human relationships and connections have a bigger impact on my interpreting work than exercise and the two together are stronger and more influential. By exploring exercise and human connection, I get to investigate self-care, its importance, and benefits while interpreting

THE EFFECT OF PATIENT GENDER ON MEDICAL DECISION MAKING: THE INFLUENCE OF DECISIONAL STRESS

This research investigated the influence of patient gender as a nonclinical variable on treatment decisions made in general practice. Responses to exploratory interviews carried out with 34 GPs supported the relevance of decisional stress in general practice. Decisional conflict theory therefore provided a theoretical basis for predicting that gender differences in management would be most likely to occur under conditions of decisional stress. This is because GPs are likely to rely on gender stereotypes to simplify decision tasks as this allows them to selectively search and appraise information. Responses to interview questions regarding the influence of patient gender on decision making were analysed in order to establish a set of collective GP expectations about the characteristics and behaviour of male and female patients. Following the interview study, a subset of 23 GPs supplied information for each patient seen over approximately six surgeries, providing data for 1380 consultations in all. GPs recorded information about presenting complaints, management decisions, a range of patient characteristics, three measures of decisional stress and a measure of feeling towards patients. Log-linear analysis of these data suggested that when not feeling positively towards patients, GPs managed male and female patients presenting with certain complaints differently. Women were more likely to be prescribed drugs while men were more likely to be given advice or referral. This disparity only occurred for patients presenting with psychological and musculo-skeletal complaints. In order to identify whether consultation processes mediated these differences, corresponding audio-taped consultations also collected from the 23 GPs were analysed. Verbal interaction between GP and patient was coded according to the functional style and content of communication. However, no significant differences in either of these aspects of the consultation process emerged to explain differences in management outcome. This may be because treatment differences are mediated by implicit processes rather than by observable consultation behaviour. Research carried out in the thesis furthers the understanding of medical decision making by recognising that non-clinical factors such as patient gender and feeling towards patients, as well as medical factors influence the way that GPs manage their patients

Proyecto de inversión en el mercado de la carne de cerdo en Argentina

Este trabajo es un estudio sobre un proyecto de inversión en el mercado de la carne de cerdo en Argentina. Está compuesto de dos partes. La primera parte es la preparación y evaluación del proyecto siguiendo la metodología propuesta por Nassir y Reinaldo Sapag Chain en su trabajo Preparación y Evaluación de Proyectos. La segunda parte de este trabajo es un estudio econométrico sobre la demanda de la carne de cerdo en Argentina desde 2008 hasta 2015

L'estinzione della società a seguito della cancellazione dal registro delle imprese: evoluzione della disciplina e riflessi processuali.

Il presente elaborato si prefigge l'obiettivo di analizzare la disciplina e i riflessi processuali dell'istituto della estinzione delle società dal registro delle imprese a seguito di cancellazione, a partire dalla normativa del 1882, fino alle sentenze delle Sezioni Unite della Suprema Corte intervenute da ultimo nel 2013. Oggetto di analisi, saranno poi,i problemi irrisolti e le questioni ancora aperte

Analysis and modeling of the behavior of hydrogels-based systems for biomedical and agro-food applications

2015 - 2016Hydrogels are three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks capable of imbibing large amounts of water or biological fluids. Depending on the type of polymer, number of cross-links, presence of ionic species the swelling/shrinking behavior can be greatly modified. This peculiar behavior, which has led to define this soft matter as “smart materials”, makes hydrogels and hydrogel-based systems very attractive by several frontier fields, such as biomedical applications, as well as for sectors that are less demanding technology, i.e. agro-food applications. The general aim of this Ph.D. thesis is to analyze, with ad hoc experiments, and to describe/simulate, through mathematical modeling, the behavior of hydrogels and hydrogel-based systems. A first question to answer when approaching hydrogels is: “are they multiphasic or monophasic systems”? The answer cannot be taken for granted. Despite in most experimental cases the response is simply avoided, it become fundamental when the aim is to develop a mechanistic mathematical model of the system. The most natural approach is to consider hydrogels as single-phase matter, in which several components can coexist, like it would be indisputably done for polymeric solutions (hydrosols). Another vision is to consider hydrogels as made of different phases, i.e. the water phase is separated from the polymeric phase, and these can exchange momentum. During this work a general modeling framework has been proposed to which several models from literature, multiphasic or monophasic, can be traced back or, vice versa, depending on the chosen approach the framework can be particularized to give the multiphasic or the monophasic balance equations. In this thesis, in light of its thermodynamic and numerical robustness, the monophasic approach, which is more consistent, has been chosen. Another important question is related to the need of modeling/analyze the full behavior, mass transport plus mechanics, or just one aspect, mass transport only. The difficulties related to the solution/analysis of the full hydrogels behavior have led many researchers to describe hydrogel-based systems with a “mass transport only” approach. This is, in example, common in drug delivery applications. During this PhD a mechanistic model based on a “mass transport only” approach for drug release from hydrogel-based system has been developed and validated against experimental data. HPMC-based tablets, loaded with Theophylline have been studied. Differently to what is normally done in dissolution tests, in this work besides the evaluation of the drug release via spectrophotometric analysis, the water and polymer residue have been determined by gravimetric analysis. This has been done on the entire tablets, as well as on portion of them, obtaining internal profiles of the components. The partially swollen tablets have been also subjected to indentation tests, which after an opportune calibration have allowed obtaining information on the water distribution inside the system. A 2Daxisymmetric model has been built on the water and drug mass transport equations; the polymer has been obtained from the mass fraction constraint. The deformations have been described with an ALE moving mesh method, whose boundaries move in relation to the amount of water and drug entering or leaving the system. The comparison between the detailed experimental results and the modeling results has shown a good agreement, in terms of masses, shape and components distribution, demonstrating that the main features had been correctly described. Such a formulated model has been applied to describe commercial-like tablets (in which excipients were present), with two type of HPMC with different substitution pattern (i.e. different degree of cross-links) and tested in non-standard apparatus (NMR cell). Despite after a proper tuning the model has been able to describe the drug and polymer release, the shape and the water distribution inside the system (experimentally taken from MRI technique) have not been correctly described. This application demonstrated the limits of a “mass transport only” approach. In the analyzed case the forces acting on the swelling tablet (shear, centrifugal, gravitational) could have a relevant impact, but most of all the different degree of cross-links of the HPMC played the major role. In order to consider the hydrogel mechanics, the pure hydrogel behavior has been studied. Hydrogels normally couple solvent mass transport to system deformation and vice versa. This phenomenon is generally called poroelasticity and it is characteristic also of other materials (i.e. biological tissues, soils etc.). Another peculiarity of hydrogels is that the constituent polymeric network can have viscoelastic characteristics (i.e. like polymeric melts), which eventually translate in an overall hydrogel viscoelastic behavior. Depending on the time interval of interest and on the characteristic times of relaxation and diffusion, hydrogels can behave viscoelastically, poroelastically or poroviscoelastically (when the diffusion time is comparable with the relaxation time). A 3D model describing the poroviscoelastic behavior of hydrogels, still scarcely implemented in literature, has been developed within the field of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and non-linear solid mechanics (large deformations) and implemented in a commercial FEM-based software. The results of such kind of model permit to discriminate between and to study the poroelastic and viscoelastic regime as well as Abstract Diego Caccavo it permits to study the poroviscoelastic behavior. Experimental unconfined stress-relaxation tests have been performed on agarose-gels at different concentrations with radius and height of 1 cm, and imposing a deformation of 10%. In the time range analyzed (1200 s) the agarose-gel has shown a predominant viscoelastic behavior, releasing only little amount of water. The model, after an initial tuning of the parameters, has been able to fairly predict the experimental data. Characteristic of the developed approach is that, once the model parameters are derived, it is possible to describe the hydrogel subjected to different stimuli (mechanicals or chemicals). The proposed poroviscoelastic model is extendable to multicomponent diffusion systems, which could be, in example, controlled release systems based on hydrogels. For the first time, to the author’s knowledge, in the hydrogel-based systems modeling literature, in this thesis it has been shown how to extend the poroviscoelastic model to consider the presence of another diffusing species. The transport and constitutive model equations, opportunely modified, have been implemented in a commercial FEM-based software and, as an example, the drug release from a swelling system has been reported. [edited by author]XV n.

Controlled drug release from hydrogel-based matrices: Experiments and modeling

Controlled release by oral administration is mainly achieved by pharmaceuticals based on hydrogels. Once swallowed, a matrix made of hydrogels experiences water up-take, swelling, drug dissolution and diffusion, polymer erosion. The detailed understanding and quantification of such a complex behavior is a mandatory prerequisite to the design of novel pharmaceuticals for controlled oral delivery. In this work, the behavior of hydrogel-based matrices has been investigated by means of several experimental techniques previously pointed out (gravimetric, and based on texture analysis); and then all the observed features were mathematically described using a physical model, defined and recently improved by our research group (based on balance equations, rate equations and swelling predictions). The agreement between the huge set of experimental data and the detailed calculations by the model is good, confirming the validity of both the experimental and the theoretical approaches

Effects of exposures to repeated heat stress on the survival of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum and its endoparasitoid Aphidius ervi

Organisms could be exposed to several heat waves during their life, and their ability to survive a heat wave strongly depends on the effects of the previous one. Exposure to extreme temperatures can have important effects on the outcome of host-parasitoid interactions, as the ability of the parasitoid to survive depends on the ability of its host to cope successfully with these stresses. In the present study we address the impact of repeated exposure to heat stress on the survival of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera Aphididae) and its endoparasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday Hymenoptera Braconidae). The first treatment consisted of a heat stress of 35 °C for 30 minutes performed on 4 days old aphids, the second and third heat stresses of 39 °C were performed on 5 days old and on adult aphids, espectively. The three treatments were applied alone or in all their ombinations. We found that aphid thermal tolerance is positively influenced by heat hardening if a severe stress occurs a few days after the first event. Adult parasitized aphids show significantly higher survival than unparasitized ones; however, the effects of parasitization and hardening on host survival after heat shock are not additive. We also found that A. ervi has a lower thermotolerance capacity than its host and does not show apparent hardening effects. In addition, parasitoid survival after mummification is not affected by the previously experienced heat shock. The possible explanations of the observed phenomena are discussed

Trabajo doméstico en clave de lucha

El presente trabajo está basado en las condiciones laborales del trabajo doméstico no registrado. La elección del tema está relacionado con la experiencia de haber transitado por las diferentes formas de explotación en la que se lleva a cabo dicho trabajo. Considero relevante tanto los aportes de Marx, como así también, a otros autores de la perspectiva histórica- crítica, pues interpelaron mis pensamientos, generando un abanico de interrogante a lo largo de los años de trabajo. Hoy puedo pensar al trabajo doméstico, en términos de reivindicación, teniendo en cuenta a las mujeres que han desempeñado su labor en pésimas condiciones. Es necesario resaltar que es un trabajo que ha sido históricamente precarizado pero sobre todo completamente invisibilizado, siendo realizado desde tiempos inmemoriales. Por lo expuesto, son fundamentales los aportes de Marx para que a nivel societal podamos transformar el trabajo enajenado en trabajo libre y creativo. Desde el Trabajo Social se puede intervenir de manera comprometida y critica ya que tienen a cargo intervenir en situaciones que dificultan la reproducción de la existencia en el orden social vigente cargado de contradicciones. En cuanto al rol del trabajador social puede constituirse en protagónico, puesto que está dirigido a intervenir sobre las refracciones de la cuestión social, que atraviesan decisivamente la vida de las mujeres que realizamos trabajo doméstico. Es mi intención a lo largo del trabajo, dar cuenta, cómo a pesar de las sucesivas crisis económicas, sociales y políticas, el trabajo doméstico estuvo siempre presente, aunque muchos se nieguen a verlo, pues esté es realizado en la órbita de lo particular, lo privado e íntimo de un hogar. (Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen)Eje temático: Acción Política - Movimientos sociales y sujetos colectivos: articulación con el Trabajo SocialFacultad de Trabajo Socia