Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria

Miet Maertens Oyakhilomen Oyinbo Tahirou Abdoulaye Jordan Chamberlin (2023, [Artículo])

There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely scarce. We evaluate a SSNM advisory tool that allows extension agents to generate fertilizer recommendations tailored to the specific situation of an individual farmer’s field, using a three-year randomized controlled trial with 792 smallholder farmers in the maize belt of northern Nigeria. Two treatment arms were implemented: T1 and T2 both provide SSNM information on nutrient use and management, but T2 provides additional information on maize price distributions and the associated variability of expected returns to fertilizer use. We estimate average and heterogenous intent-to-treat effects on agronomic, economic and environmental plot-level outcomes. We find that T1 and T2 lead to substantial increases (up to 116%) in the adoption of good fertilizer management practices and T2 leads to incremental increases (up to 18%) in nutrient application rates, yields and revenues. Both treatments improve low levels of nutrient use efficiency and reduce high levels of greenhouse gas emission intensity, after two years of treatment. Our findings underscore the possibility of a more gradual and sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in SSA, as compared with the Asian Green Revolution, through increased fertilizer use accompanied by improved fertilizer management.

Randomized Controlled Trial CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION GREEN REVOLUTION FERTILIZERS GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

A major yellow rust resistance QTL on chromosome 6A shows increased frequency in recent Norwegian spring wheat cultivars and breeding lines

Min Lin Sebastian Michel Hermann Buerstmayr sridhar bhavani Morten Lillemo (2023, [Artículo])

Wheat Yellow Rust Adult Plant Resistance Genome-Wide Association Study CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA RUSTS QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI SPRING WHEAT BREEDING LINES

Multi-locus genome wide association mapping for yield and its contributing traits in hexaploid wheat under different water regimes

Vijay Gahlaut Vandana Jaiswal Pushpendra Kumar Gupta (2019, [Artículo])

Genome-Wide Association Study Marker-Trait Associations CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA GENETIC LINKAGE GENETICS PROCEDURES QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI WHEAT CHROMOSOME MAPPING

Validation of Novel spot blotch disease resistance alleles identified in unexplored wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm lines through KASP markers

suneel kumar UTTAM KUMAR Guriqbal Singh Dhillon Amit Singh Vinod Mishra Pradeep Kumar Bhati Saikat Das Ramesh Chand Kuldeep Singh Sundeep Kumar (2022, [Artículo])

Spot Blotch Genome-Wide Association Study Marker Trait Association KASP Markers Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA TRITICUM AESTIVUM MATERIAL TRANSFER AGREEMENTS MARKER-ASSISTED SELECTION DISEASE RESISTANCE WHEAT

Búsqueda de un conjunto óptimo de descriptores moleculares para la modelación QSAR

Search for an optimal subset of molecular descriptors for QSAR modeling

Luis Antonio García González (2023, [Tesis de doctorado])

En la actualidad, se estima que más de 10 millones de vertebrados son utilizados cada año en estudios toxicológicos. Dadas estas circunstancias, varias agencias regulatorias están impulsando activamente a la comunidad científica para el desarrollo de una alternativa a la experimentación con animales. Entre las alternativas existentes se pueden encontrar los estudios in-silico, especialmente los métodos de Relación Cuantitativa Estructura-Actividad (QSAR por sus siglas en inglés), los cuales se destacan como uno de los más utilizados. Los estudios QSAR se basan en la hipótesis de que compuestos estructuralmente similares presentan una actividad similar, lo que permite predecir la actividad de nuevos compuestos en función de compuestos estructuralmente similares, para los cuales se definió su actividad de forma experimental. Estudios han demostrado que la selección del subconjunto “óptimo” de las variables (descriptores moleculares) que caracterizan estructuralmente los compuestos tiene mayor importancia para la construcción de un modelo QSAR robusto que la estrategia de modelación utilizada. Actualmente, los descriptores moleculares (DMs) utilizados para la modelación QSAR son calculados con herramientas computacionales que no tienen en cuenta si estos caracterizan bien la actividad que se quiere modelar y los compuestos que se están analizando. En este trabajo se describen las limitaciones del enfoque actual, teniendo en cuenta que, si se sigue este enfoque, se puede pasar por alto información relevante al suponer que el conjunto de DMs calculado caracteriza bien las estructuras químicas que se están analizando, cuando en realidad puede que esto no suceda. Estas limitaciones se deben principalmente a que dichas herramientas limitan el número de DMs que calculan, restringiendo el dominio de los parámetros en los que se definen los algoritmos que calculan los DMs, parámetros que definen el Espacio de Configuración de Descriptores (DCS por sus siglas en inglés). En este trabajo se propone relajar estas restricciones en un enfoque DCS abierto, de manera que se pueda considerar inicialmente un universo más amplio de DMs y que estos caractericen de manera adecuada las estructuras a modelar. La generación de DMs se aborda entonces como un problema de optimización multicriterio, y para darle solución, dos algoritmos evolutivos son propuestos. Estos algoritmos incluyen conceptos de coevolución cooperativa para medir la sinergia entre descriptores moleculares ...

Currently, it is estimated that more than 10 million vertebrates are used per year for toxicological studies. Numerous regulatory agencies are actively advocating for the development of alternative methods to avoid unnecessary experimentation on animals. Among the existing alternatives in silico studies, especially Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSAR) methods, stands out as one ofthe most widely used approaches. QSAR Methods are based on the premise that molecules with similar structures presents similar activities, which makes it possible to predict the activity of new compounds based on structurally similar compounds, for which their activity has been defined experimentally. Studies have demonstrated that the selection of the “optimal” set of molecular descriptors (MDs) is more important to build a robust QSAR models than the choice of the learning algorithm. Nowadays, the molecular descriptors (MD) used for QSAR modeling are calculated using computational tools that do not consider whether they accurately characterize the activity to be modeled and the compounds being analyzed. We demonstrate here that this approach may miss relevant information by assuming that the initial universe of MDs codifies, when it does not, all relevant aspects for the respective learning task. We argue that the limitation is mainly because of the constrained intervals of the parameters used in the algorithms that compute the MDs, parameters that define the Descriptor Configuration Space (DCS). We propose to relax these constraints in an open CDS approach, so that a larger universe of MDs can initially be considered, and these descriptors can adequately characterize the structures to be modeled. We model the MD generation as a multicriteria optimization problem, and two genetic algorithms-based approaches are proposed to solve it. These algorithms include cooperative-coevolutionary concepts to consider the synergism between theoretically different MDs during the evolutionary process. As a novel component, the individual fitness function is computed by aggregating four criteria via the Choquet Integral using a fuzzy non-additive measure. Experimental outcomes on benchmarking chemical datasets show that models created from an “optimized” sets of MDs present greater probability to achieve better performances than models created from sets of MDs obtained without optimizing their DCSs. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed algorithms are more suitable ..

algoritmos genéticos, descriptores moleculares QuBiLS-MAS, QSAR, DILI, cooperación coevolutiva genetics algorithms, QuBiLS-MAS molecular descriptors, QSAR, DILI, cooperativecoevolutionary algorithms INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA DE LOS ORDENADORES DISEÑO CON AYUDA DE ORDENADOR DISEÑO CON AYUDA DE ORDENADOR

Arreglos de antenas para radiación tipo Isoflux en satélites LEO con diferentes alturas orbitales

Antenna arrays for Isoflux radiation in LEO satellites at various orbital altitudes

Paulina Díaz De la Paz (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

En los últimos años, las constelaciones de satélites en órbita baja han ganado popularidad como infraestructura para ofrecer el servicio de Internet satelital, y se espera que su presencia siga en aumento. Para minimizar la latencia en la transmisión de datos, estos satélites suelen situarse en el rango inferior y medio de la órbita baja terrestre. Comúnmente, los satélites de estas constelaciones emiten una radiación que consiste en un único haz que concentra la potencia en una sola dirección. Sin embargo, debido a la curvatura de la Tierra, las ondas electromagnéticas radiadas por el arreglo de antenas abordo del satélite viajan distancias diferentes. Las ondas que se desplazan en dirección del nadir del satélite hacen un recorrido más corto en comparación con las que se propagan en las direcciones más distantes a este. Este fenómeno ocasiona pérdidas de potencia en los bordes del área de cobertura. Para compensar estas pérdidas, se propone el uso de arreglos de antenas de radiación tipo Isoflux. Estos arreglos distribuyen la densidad de potencia de manera uniforme en el área de cobertura, aumentando la ganancia en direcciones donde el trayecto es más largo. Lograr este tipo de radiación para satélites en órbita baja se vuelve más desafiante. Debido a la proximidad del satélite a la Tierra, es necesario que la radiación se extienda sobre una gran parte del plano de elevación, requiriendo un haz Isoflux que sobrepasa los 100 grados. Esta tesis presenta 18 diseños de arreglos de antenas para satélites en las alturas orbitales de 340 km, 550 km y 1150 km. Para el diseño de estos arreglos, se emplean las geometrías lineales, planares y anillos concéntricos, tanto periódicas como aperiódicas. La distribución de excitaciones de amplitud y la separación entre elementos de antena se optimizan utilizando algoritmos genéticos. La presente tesis incluye un análisis comparativo de las prestaciones de radiación y cantidad de elementos de los diseños presentados, categorizados por altura orbital.

In recent years, the utilization of low-Earth orbit satellite constellations as infrastructure for providing satellite Internet services has experienced substantial growth. The rise of this trend is likely to continue. These satellites are typically placed in the lower to mid-range of low-Earth orbit in order to reduce latency in data transmission. It is common for the antenna arrays on these satellites to emit a single radiation beam that concentrates power in a singular direction. Due to the curvature of the Earth, the electromagnetic waves radiated by the antenna array travel different distances. Waves traveling in the satellite’s nadir direction cover a shorter distance compared to those propagating in more distant directions. This phenomenon causes power losses at the edges of the coverage area. To compensate for these losses, the use of Isoflux radiation antenna arrays is proposed. These arrays distribute the power density evenly across the coverage area, increasing gain in directions where the path is longer. Achieving such radiation characteristics becomes more difficult for low-Earth orbit satellites. Due to the satellite’s proximity to Earth, radiation needs to extend over a large portion of the elevation plane, requiring an Isoflux beam that exceeds 100 degrees. This thesis presents 18 antenna array designs for satellites at the orbital altitudes of 340 km, 550 km, and 1150 km. Linear, planar, and concentric ring geometries are employed, with both periodic and aperiodic antenna element distributions. The distribution of amplitude excitations and the spacing between antenna elements are optimized using genetic algorithms. This thesis includes a comparative analysis of the radiation performance and the number of elements of the presented designs, categorized by orbital altitude.

arreglos de antenas, radiación Isoflux, satélites LEO, algoritmos genéticos antenna arrays, Isoflux radiation, LEO satellites, genetic algorithms INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA ELECTRÓNICA ANTENAS ANTENAS

Diseño de redes de conformación de haz para arreglos circulares de antena basadas en estructuras periódicas de radiación coherente

Design of beamforming networks for circular antenna arrays based on periodic coherent radiation structures

Itzel Mota Castañeda (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

La tesis se enfoca en abordar los desafíos en sistemas de comunicación inalámbrica, con el objetivo principal de diseñar redes de conformación de haz eficiente para un arreglo circular de antenas. Esta red debe reducir la dependencia de cambiadores de fase o dispositivos activos y cumplir con patrones de radiación específicos. Para lograr esto, se propone una solución que combina una red de excitación cofasal y una red CORPS cilíndrica. La red de alimentación cofasal, optimizada mediante algoritmos genéticos, demuestra la capacidad de generar un haz de radiación que puede ser escaneado en todo el plano azimutal. Esto se logra aprovechando las propiedades de rotación y simetría del arreglo circular. Además, se alcanza un rendimiento destacado en la supresión de lóbulos laterales, con una reducción significativa de -16 dB en comparación con el caso sin optimizar. Esta mejora en la calidad del haz de radiación es crucial para la transmisión confiable de señales en sistemas de comunicación. La red CORPS cilíndrica presentada en la investigación simplifica la red de alimentación en un 50%. Permite generar una cantidad distribuida de haces en todo el plano azimutal, y la dirección de escaneo de cada haz se ajusta según el número de puertos de entrada. Cada puerto de entrada controla un haz de radiación, lo que simplifica la complejidad del sistema y permite un mayor control sobre los lóbulos laterales. A medida que se aumenta el número de elementos y puertos de entrada en el arreglo, se mejora aún más el rendimiento en la supresión de lóbulos laterales. Esto ofrece la flexibilidad de ajustar el nivel de lóbulos laterales según los requisitos específicos de diseño. La investigación ha demostrado que la combinación de una red de alimentación cofasal optimizada y una red CORPS cilíndrica ofrecen una solución efectiva para la conformación de haz en arreglos circulares de antenas. Esta solución reduce significativamente la dependencia de dispositivos activos, mejora la calidad de la señal y simplifica la operación del sistema. Estos resultados abren oportunidades para futuras investigaciones y prometen mejoras en la industria de las comunicaciones inalámbricas.

This work is focused on the challenges in wireless communication systems, with the main objective of designing efficient beamforming networks for a circular antenna array. This network must reduce the reliance on phase shifters or active devices and meet specific radiation patterns. To achieve this, we propose two possible solutions: a cophasal excitation network and a cylindrical CORPS network. The cophasal feed network, optimized by genetic algorithms, generates a radiation beam that can be scanned in the whole azimuth plane. It is possible by taking advantage of the rotation and symmetry properties of the circular array. Furthermore, we achieve an outstanding performance in sidelobe suppression, with a significant reduction of -16 dB compared to the unoptimized case. This improvement in the quality of the radiation beam is crucial for the reliable transmission of signals in communication systems. The cylindrical CORPS network (presented in this research) simplifies the power network by 50%. It allows the entire azimuth plane to generate a distributed number of beams and adjust the scanning direction of each beam in according to the number of input ports. Each input port controls one radiation beam, simplifying the complexity of the system and allowing greater control over the side lobes. As the number of elements and input ports increases, sidelobe suppression performance is further improved. This proposal offers the flexibility to adjust the level of side lobes based on specific design requirements. Research has shown that the optimization of a cophasal feeder network and a cylindrical CORPS network offers an effective solution for beamforming in circular antenna arrays. This solution significantly reduces dependency on active devices, improves signal quality, and simplifies system operation. These results open up opportunities for future research and promise improvements in the wireless communications industry.

Arreglo circular de antenas, algoritmos genéticos, Red CORPS cilíndrica Circular array of antennas, Genetic algorithms, Cylindrical CORPS network INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA DE LAS TELECOMUNICACIONES ANTENAS ANTENAS

Hyperiid amphipods from the Gulf of Ulloa and offshore region, Baja California: The possible role of the gelatinous zooplankton as a transport vector into the coastal shelf waters

Bertha Lavaniegos (2020, [Artículo])

Hyperiid amphipod species from the Gulf of Ulloa, Baja California, and the adjacent region (from the shelf break to 200 km offshore) were analyzed to evaluate diversity and abundances. This productive area supports small-scale commercial fisheries, including sand bass (Paralabrax nebulifer), California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), abalones, clams, and others. Strong coastal upwelling events were observed during summer seasons of the period 2002-2008 between Punta Eugenia and Punta Abreojos. The upwelling plumes at Punta Abreojos are transported southward in slope waters bordering the coastal shelf of the Gulf of Ulloa, contributing to the separation of coastal and oceanic regions, and explain differences in amphipod diversity and abundances between both regions. In the offshore region, the most abundant species were Vibilia armata, Lestrigonus schizogeneios, Primno brevidens, and Eupronoe minuta, similar to previous findings in northern regions of Baja California and southern California. However, abundances of these species were lower (10-30 individuals/1000 m3), only reaching 20-50% of abundance levels reported off northern Baja California. In the coastal shelf of the Gulf of Ulloa, amphipods were virtually absent during 2002, 2003 and 2006. However, during 2004 and 2005, abundances of P. brevidens increased (54 and 20 ind/1000 m3, respectively). Moreover, during the late summer of 2007, abundances of L. schizogeneios, P. brevidens, Lycaea nasuta, Lycaea pulex, and Simorhynchotus antennarius increased considerably (261, 39, 31, 68, 416 ind/1000 m3, respectively), indicating occasional utilization of the coastal shelf by pelagic amphipods. Changes in gelatinous populations (medusae, siphonophores, ctenophores, doliolids, and salps) paralleled changes in hyperiid populations, with highest abundances in 2005-2008 in the coastal shelf. Significant correlations of 17 amphipod species with gelatinous taxa, which are often used as host organisms by hyperiid amphipods, suggest that gelatinous presence enhanced hyperiid abundance and promoted the progression of hyperiid amphipods onto the coastal shelf during parts of the 2002-2008 period. © 2020 Bertha E. Lavaniegos. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

abalone, Amphipoda, article, Baja California, clam, clinical article, Ctenophora, Eugenia, female, fishery, human, human experiment, male, medusa, nonhuman, Panulirus interruptus, plume, summer, zooplankton, Amphipoda, animal, California, ecosystem, CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

Rapid effects of marine reserves via larval dispersal

Richard Cudney Bueno (2009, [Artículo])

Marine reserves have been advocated worldwide as conservation and fishery management tools. It is argued that they can protect ecosystems and also benefit fisheries via density-dependent spillover of adults and enhanced larval dispersal into fishing areas. However, while evidence has shown that marine reserves can meet conservation targets, their effects on fisheries are less understood. In particular, the basic question of if and over what temporal and spatial scales reserves can benefit fished populations via larval dispersal remains unanswered. We tested predictions of a larval transport model for a marine reserve network in the Gulf of California, Mexico, via field oceanography and repeated density counts of recently settled juvenile commercial mollusks before and after reserve establishment. We show that local retention of larvae within a reserve network can take place with enhanced, but spatially-explicit, recruitment to local fisheries. Enhancement occurred rapidly (2 yrs), with up to a three-fold increase in density of juveniles found in fished areas at the downstream edge of the reserve network, but other fishing areas within the network were unaffected. These findings were consistent with our model predictions. Our findings underscore the potential benefits of protecting larval sources and show that enhancement in recruitment can be manifested rapidly. However, benefits can be markedly variable within a local seascape. Hence, effects of marine reserve networks, positive or negative, may be overlooked when only focusing on overall responses and not considering finer spatially-explicit responses within a reserve network and its adjacent fishing grounds. Our results therefore call for future research on marine reserves that addresses this variability in order to help frame appropriate scenarios for the spatial management scales of interest. © 2009 Cudney-Bueno et al.

article, environmental monitoring, fishery, larva, marine environment, marine species, Mexico, mollusc, nonhuman, oceanography, prediction, animal, biology, environmental protection, food industry, geography, growth, development and aging, larva, met CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

Dual function of EDTA with silver nanoparticles for root canal treatment–A novel modification

JUAN MANUEL MARTINEZ ANDRADE (2018, [Artículo])

The chelating and antimicrobial capacity of a novel modification of 17% EDTA with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (EDTA-AgNPs) was evaluated in-vitro for root canal treatment (RCT). The EDTA-AgNPs solution was characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, ?-potential and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Antimicrobial capacity was evaluated against Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus in planktonic and biofilm cells by broth macrodilution (24 h) and XTT assays, (1, 10 and 30 min) respectively. The chelating capacity of EDTA-AgNPs was assessed indirectly (smear layer removal) and directly (demineralizing effect) in bovine dentin at two silver concentrations, 16 and 512 ?g/ ml at 1 and 10 minutes of exposure time. Smear layer removal was evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The demineralizing effect was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), microhardness test (MH) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Synthesized AgNPs were quasi-spherical in shape with an average size of 13.09 ± 8.05 nm. 17% EDTA-AgNPs was effective to inhibit C. albicans and S. aureus in planktonic and biofilm cultures. The smear layer removal and demineralizing effect were similar between 17% EDTA-AgNPs and 17% EDTA treatments. The 17% EDTA-AgNPs solution proved to be an effective antimicrobial agent, and has a similar chelating capacity to 17% EDTA alone. These in-vitro studies strongly suggest that EDTA-AgNPs could be used for effective smear layer removal, having an antimicrobial effect at the same time during RCT. © 2018 Martinez-Andrade et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

edetic acid, silver nanoparticle, edetic acid, metal nanoparticle, silver, antibacterial activity, antibiotic sensitivity, antifungal activity, antimicrobial activity, Article, atomic absorption spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, biofilm, bovine, BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA MICROBIOLOGÍA MICROBIOLOGÍA