Photoselective Shade Netting in a Sweet Pepper Crop Accelerates Ripening Period and Enhances the Overall Fruits Quality and Yield

Photoselective nets are used to protect horticultural plants from sunburn and prolong the cropping period in conditions of excess light. In this work, we studied the influence of four photoselective shading nets (Pearl 30, Red 30, Silver 30, Red 40), a standard blackcolored net (Black 35), and a control (no cover) on the evolution of color during the ripening of two types of pepper, namely, Lamuyo and California. For this purpose, the evolution of the colors of the fruit was followed from the beginning of their formation until the harvest, and was correlated with the total radiation and the temperature. The plant material used were peppers of the California type -cultivars Bendigo and Cayetano- and of the Lamuyo type, cultivars Alcudia and Pompeo. The results showed that the rate of change of the pepper coloration depended on the net used in the greenhouse. The speed of the change in color from green to red was more dependent on the cultivar and the total radiation, as conditioned by the different photoselective nets, than on the type of pepper. The greatest differences were between the control (without a net) and the black net, the increase in the red color of the peppers being faster in the former. Radiation values below 75 W m-2 or greater than 110 W m-2 negatively affected the yield. The temperature below the net was not affected significantly by the type of net, and thus its effect on the different cultivars was similar

Quality and fruit colour change in Verna lemon

While most of lemon cultivars in the northern hemisphere are harvested in autumn-winter, Verna, an autochthonous Spanish cultivar, is harvested later (February to August), supplying the European market when lemons are in short supply, a market that is also served by imports from the southern hemisphere, mainly Argentina and South Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the temperature at which degreening begins naturally in Verna lemon, noting the evolution of colorimetric parameter a and comparing the same with the equivalent measurements made in Eureka lemon, the most widely cultivated lemon worldwide. The influence of solar radiation on the colorimetric parameters was studied, and then the influence of the minimum temperatures on the change from green to yellow, using the data collected over five growing seasons, was also assessed. The results confirmed the relation between net solar radiation and degreening in Verna, a process that begins when net solar radiation reaches a value of between 2 and 4 MJ/m2.day and when the mean temperature of the 14 days prior to sampling is8.8 ºC or when the daily mean temperature reaches5.5 ºC on two consecutive days. The information obtained will enable growers to predict the colour changes that will occur in the field and potential growers to ascertain whether a given geographical zone is suitable for the crop in question.

Changes in the content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the rind of Fino 49 lemons during maturation and their relationship with parameters from the CIELAB color space

In the present work, the coordinates L*, a* and b* from the CIELAB color space, as well as the chlorophyll, total carotenoids and the content of the carotenoids Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin were measured in the skin of fruits from the Fino 49 lemon during its development, with the aim of understanding the relationship that exists between the color changes of the fruit’s skin (color coordinates) and the pigment content. Also, the understanding of the relative importance of the contents of lutein and β-cryptoxanthin with respect to the total content of carotenoids was sought. The period of study lasted three years; from September 2015 to January 2016, from September 2016 to January 2017, and from September 2017 to January 2018, the periods that comprised the color changes of the lemon fruit until its harvest. The fruits were measured every two weeks in the experimental plot of the IMIDA (Murcian Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Development) located at La Alberca (Murcia, Spain) and in the experimental orchards from the CEBAS-CSIC, located in Santomera (Murcia). During he experiment, the color and chlorophyll, Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin concentrations were measured. The results showed that there was a good correlation between the color coordinates and the pigments responsible for the lemon’s skin color: all the color pigments were correlated with the a*, b* color coordinates and the Hue angle index. Throughout the fruit’s maturation, a degradation of the chlorophylls was observed, as well as an increase of β-cryptoxanthin, which is responsible for the green and yellow color of the fruits, respectively. Lutein, which was found in high concentrations, decreased with time, but did not contribute to the fruit’s color

The Dark Energy Survey : more than dark energy – an overview

This overview paper describes the legacy prospect and discovery potential of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) beyond cosmological studies, illustrating it with examples from the DES early data. DES is using a wide-field camera (DECam) on the 4 m Blanco Telescope in Chile to image 5000 sq deg of the sky in five filters (grizY). By its completion, the survey is expected to have generated a catalogue of 300 million galaxies with photometric redshifts and 100 million stars. In addition, a time-domain survey search over 27 sq deg is expected to yield a sample of thousands of Type Ia supernovae and other transients. The main goals of DES are to characterize dark energy and dark matter, and to test alternative models of gravity; these goals will be pursued by studying large-scale structure, cluster counts, weak gravitational lensing and Type Ia supernovae. However, DES also provides a rich data set which allows us to study many other aspects of astrophysics. In this paper, we focus on additional science with DES, emphasizing areas where the survey makes a difference with respect to other current surveys. The paper illustrates, using early data (from ‘Science Verification’, and from the first, second and third seasons of observations), what DES can tell us about the Solar system, the Milky Way, galaxy evolution, quasars and other topics. In addition, we show that if the cosmological model is assumed to be +cold dark matter, then important astrophysics can be deduced from the primary DES probes. Highlights from DES early data include the discovery of 34 trans-Neptunian objects, 17 dwarf satellites of the Milky Way, one published z > 6 quasar (and more confirmed) and two published superluminous supernovae (and more confirmed)

Post-intervention Status in Patients With Refractory Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab During REGAIN and Its Open-Label Extension

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether eculizumab helps patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) achieve the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) post-intervention status of minimal manifestations (MM), we assessed patients' status throughout REGAIN (Safety and Efficacy of Eculizumab in AChR+ Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis) and its open-label extension. METHODS: Patients who completed the REGAIN randomized controlled trial and continued into the open-label extension were included in this tertiary endpoint analysis. Patients were assessed for the MGFA post-intervention status of improved, unchanged, worse, MM, and pharmacologic remission at defined time points during REGAIN and through week 130 of the open-label study. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed REGAIN and continued into the open-label study (eculizumab/eculizumab: 56; placebo/eculizumab: 61). At week 26 of REGAIN, more eculizumab-treated patients than placebo-treated patients achieved a status of improved (60.7% vs 41.7%) or MM (25.0% vs 13.3%; common OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). After 130 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 88.0% of patients achieved improved status and 57.3% of patients achieved MM status. The safety profile of eculizumab was consistent with its known profile and no new safety signals were detected. CONCLUSION: Eculizumab led to rapid and sustained achievement of MM in patients with AChR+ refractory gMG. These findings support the use of eculizumab in this previously difficult-to-treat patient population. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: REGAIN, NCT01997229; REGAIN open-label extension, NCT02301624. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that, after 26 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 25.0% of adults with AChR+ refractory gMG achieved MM, compared with 13.3% who received placebo

Minimal Symptom Expression' in Patients With Acetylcholine Receptor Antibody-Positive Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab

The efficacy and tolerability of eculizumab were assessed in REGAIN, a 26-week, phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), and its open-label extension

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages

Resiliència i crisi econòmica: tipologia per comunitats autònomes a partir de la taxa de benefici (1965-2011)

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Modeling Video Activity with Dynamic Phrases and Its Application to Action Recognition in Tennis Videos

We present a novel approach to action recognition in tennis shot sequences. The underlying model considers the per-frame motion to be regarded as a word (within an alphabet of possible motions), and the sequence of frames as a phrase whose meaning is determined by the words given in a specific order. This feature extraction mechanism allows a semantic treatment of the classification stage using Conditional Random Fields. The system was applied on the RGB videos of the THETIS dataset, achieving an accuracy of over 86% in recognizing 12 different tennis shots among several takes produced by 55 different amateur and professional players.Fil: Vainstein, Jonathan Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigación En Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingenieria Electrica y de Computadoras; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Cs.e Ing.de la Computacion; ArgentinaFil: Manera, José Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigación En Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingenieria Electrica y de Computadoras; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computacion; ArgentinaFil: Negri, Pablo Augusto. Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Delrieux, Claudio Augusto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigación En Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingenieria Electrica y de Computadoras; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Cs.e Ing.de la Computacion; ArgentinaFil: Maguitman, Ana Gabriela. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Cs.e Ing.de la Computacion; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin