Early Stages of Diversification of the Mellinger Farm

Farms that achieve economies of scale by specializing and growing in size are common in US agriculture. Small and mid-sized farms, however, need a different kind of economy. Economies of scope rely on managing diverse enterprises, to access more profitable markets and reduced cost of off-farm inputs. Research, much of it from developing countries, has demonstrated that diversified production systems have ecological and economic benefits, but research on the process of diversification in US agriculture is needed. In the Agroecosystems Management Program (AMP), The Ohio State University, we are investigating the effects of the early stages of diversification on a model farm (Mellinger Farm) that has been producing primarily corn and soybeans for the past few decades. We are examining the costs and returns, particularly in the form of ecosystem services that accrue during the first three years of the diversification process. The diversification scenario includes a small grain, an oilseed crop, 3 years of a diverse pasture mix, with and without pastured broiler chicken during the first two years, and mixed vegetables. Improved yield and increased arthropod species diversity suggest that ecosystem services are beginning to accrue in the first year after diversification. Vegetable production was profitable in 2017 without the use of any off-farm inputs other than tillage and fencing. Increased arthropod diversity on 2nd year pasture plots demonstrates the importance of longer term pasture in a diversified rotation. We expect the impact of ecosystem services to increase over time in terms of measurable parameters such as yield, soil health, and biodiversity. As a result, we expect the reduction of off-farm inputs like fertilizer and pesticides to increase profitability over time

Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils

During the summer months, wet (hyporheic) soils associated with ephemeral streams and lake edges in the Antarctic Dry Valleys (DVs) become hotspots of biological activity and are hypothesized to be an important source of carbon and nitrogen for arid DV soils. Recent research in the DV has focused on the geochemistry and microbial ecology of lakes and arid soils, with substantially less information being available on hyporheic soils. Here, we determined the unique properties of hyporheic microbial communities, resolved their relationship to environmental parameters and compared them to archetypal arid DV soils. Generally, pH increased and chlorophyll a concentrations decreased along transects from wet to arid soils (9.0 to ~7.0 for pH and ~0.8 to ~5 μg/cm3 for chlorophyll a, respectively). Soil water content decreased to below ~3% in the arid soils. Community fingerprinting-based principle component analyses revealed that bacterial communities formed distinct clusters specific to arid and wet soils; however, eukaryotic communities that clustered together did not have similar soil moisture content nor did they group together based on sampling location. Collectively, rRNA pyrosequencing indicated a considerably higher abundance of Cyanobacteria in wet soils and a higher abundance of Acidobacterial, Actinobacterial, Deinococcus/Thermus, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospira, and Planctomycetes in arid soils. The two most significant differences at the genus level were Gillisia signatures present in arid soils and chloroplast signatures related to Streptophyta that were common in wet soils. Fungal dominance was observed in arid soils and Viridiplantae were more common in wet soils. This research represents an in-depth characterization of microbial communities inhabiting wet DV soils. Results indicate that the repeated wetting of hyporheic zones has a profound impact on the bacterial and eukaryotic communities inhabiting in these areas

Selection of diazotrophic bacterial communities in biological sand filter mesocosms used for the treatment of phenolic-laden wastewater

Agri effluents such as winery or olive mill waste-waters are characterized by high phenolic concentrations. These compounds are highly toxic and generally refractory to biodegradation. Biological sand filters (BSFs) represent inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and sustainable wastewater treatment systems which rely vastly on microbial catabolic processes. Using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism, this study aimed to assess the impact of increasing concentrations of synthetic phenolic-rich wastewater, ranging from 96 mg L−1 gallic acid and138 mg L−1 vanillin (i.e., a total chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 234 mg L−1) to 2,400mg L−1 gallic acid and 3,442 mg L−1 vanillin (5,842 mg COD L−1), on bacterialcommunities and the specific functional diazotrophic community from BSF mesocosms. This amendment procedure instigated efficient BSF phenolic removal, significant modifications of the bacterial communities, and notably led to the selection of a phenolic-resistant and less diverse diazotrophic community. This suggests that bioavailable N is crucial in the functioning of biological treatment processes involving microbial communities, and thus that functional alterations in the bacterial communities in BSFs ensure provision of sufficient bioavailable nitrogen for the degradation of wastewater with a high C/N ratio.Web of Scienc

Assessment of temporal and spatial evolution of bacterial communities in a biological sand filter mesocosm treating winery wastewater

AIMS: To assess the impact of winery wastewater (WW) on biological sand filter (BSF) bacterial community structures, and to evaluate whether BSFs can constitute alternative and valuable treatment-processes to remediate WW. METHODS AND RESULTS: During 112 days, WW was used to contaminate a BSF mesocosm (length 173 cm/width 106 cm/depth 30 cm). The effect of WW on bacterial communities of four BSF microenvironments (surface/deep, inlet/ outlet) was investigated using terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). BSF achieved high Na (95·1%), complete Cl and almost complete chemical oxygen demand (COD) (98·0%) and phenolic (99·2%) removals. T-RFLP analysis combined with ANOSIM revealed that WW significantly modified the surface and deep BSF bacterial communities. CONCLUSIONS: BSF provided high COD, phenolic and salt removals throughout the experiment. WW-selected bacterial communities were thus able to tolerate and/or degrade WW, suggesting that community composition does not alter BSF performances. However, biomass increased significantly in the WW- impacted surface sediments, which could later lead to system clogging and should thus be monitored. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: BSFs constitute alternatives to constructed wetlands to treat agri effluents such as WW. To our knowledge, this study is the first unravelling the responses of BSF bacterial communities to contamination and suggests that WW-selected BSF communities maintained high removal performances.Web of Scienc

La afinación y regulación de pianos como una competencia del pianista: hacia una sensibilización del oficio y su influencia en la concepción sonora del intérprete

El siguiente artículo reflexiona sobre la pertinencia de desarrollar las habilidades de afinación de pianos como complemento de la carrera del pianista. Se hará un breve recorrido de la evolución del piano para comprender la razón de la aparición de la figura del afinador. Se mostrarán las relaciones que tienen los músicos en el proceso de creación y re-creación musical y el lugar que tiene la afinación en el proceso. Se continuará con la interdisciplinariedad como recurso para formar nuevo conocimiento, se expondrán los beneficios que aportarían los conocimientos de afinación de pianos en la construcción de una propuesta interpretativa y, por último, se mostrarán algunas percepciones de pianistas sobre el presente tema. Con esto, se propone destacar la afinación de los pianos con el fin de que sea tenida en cuenta como parte de la formación en los programas académicos de este instrumento en las distintas instituciones de educación superior del país.The following article reflects upon the relevance of developing piano tuning skills as a complement to the pianist career. There will be a brief survey about the evolution of the piano in order to understand the cause for the appearance of the figure of the piano tuner. The involvement that musicians have in the process of musical creation and recreation will be shown alongside the role that tuning has in the process. Hereafter the interdisciplinarity as a resource to develop new knowledge will take place, followed by the benefits that piano tuning skills will bring to the construction of an interpretation approach and finally some pianists’ perceptions on this subject will be shared. Therewith, it is proposed to highlight piano tuning with the purpose of taking it into account as part of the development of academic piano programs of the higher education institutions in the country

Selection of Clostridium spp. in biological sand filters neutralizing synthetic acid mine drainage

In this study, three biological sand filter (BSF) were contaminated with a synthetic iron- [1500 mg L-1 Fe(II), 500 mg L-1 Fe(III)] and sulphate-rich (6000 mg L-1 SO2/4-) acid mine drainage (AMD) (pH = 2), for 24 days, to assess the remediation capacity and the evolution of autochthonous bacterial communities (monitored by T-RFLP and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries). To stimulate BSF bioremediation involving sulphate-reducing bacteria, a readily degradable carbon source (glucose, 8000 mg L-1) was incorporated into the influent AMD. Complete neutralization and average removal efficiencies of 81.5 (±5.6)%, 95.8 (±1.2)% and 32.8 (±14.0)% for Fe(II), Fe(III) and sulphate were observed, respectively. Our results suggest that microbial iron reduction and sulphate reduction associated with iron precipitation were the main processes contributing to AMD neutralization. The effect of AMD on BSF sediment bacterial communities was highly reproducible. There was a decrease in diversity, and notably a single dominant operational taxonomic unit (OTU), closely related to Clostridium beijerinckii, which represented up to 65% of the total community at the end of the study period.Web of Scienc

Problemáticas y potencialidades de las iniciativas productivas juveniles en el horizonte crítico del "estado social de derecho"

This work seeks to identify some problems and potentialities of youth productive initiatives. In the author’s opinion the youth is facing an ambiguous situation: on one hand, the recognition and political opening and, on the other hand, inconsistency between the rights discourse and the youth reality, impregnated with unemployment and lack of opportunities. Frequently, the projects implemented for youth are initiatives short of breath and focused on issues identified from institutions that do not reflect the youth sentiments. Meanwhile, productions of young people exceed the institutional expectations and they print vital energy to their communities. However, institutions have been able for canalizing that energy to their own interests, the reason why young people would rather work outside the State. Este trabajo busca identificar las problemáticas y potencialidades de las iniciativas productivas de los jóvenes. Los campos de análisis del autor son los jóvenes como sujetos de derecho desde la Constitución de 1991 y algunas políticas públicas de juventud, los jóvenes en las dinámicas del desarrollo y organización y productividad. Para el autor los jóvenes se enfrentan a un panorama ambiguo: de un lado el reconocimiento y la apertura política y de otro la incoherencia entre el discurso de derechos y la realidad juvenil, impregnada de desempleo y falta de oportunidades. Generalmente los proyectos que se implementan para la juventud son iniciativas de corto aliento, asistenciales y centradas en problemáticas que han sido identificadas desde las instituciones que no recogen el sentir de los jóvenes. Entretanto, las producciones de los jóvenes exceden las expectativas institucionales e imprimen energía vital a sus comunidades. Sin embargo, las instituciones han sabido canalizar esa energía a sus propios intereses, razón por la cual los jóvenes prefieren obrar al margen del Estado

Peptidylarginine deiminases as drug targets in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Oxygen deprivation and infection are major causes of perinatal brain injury leading to cerebral palsy and other neurological disabilities. The identification of novel key factors mediating white and grey matter damage are crucial to allow better understanding of the specific contribution of different cell types to the injury processes and pathways for clinical intervention. Recent studies in the Rice-Vannucci mouse model of neonatal hypoxic ischaemia (HI) have highlighted novel roles for calcium-regulated peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) and demonstrated neuro-protective effects of pharmacological PAD inhibition following HI and synergistic infection mimicked by LPS stimulation

T-REX: software for the processing and analysis of T-RFLP data

Softwar

Comparative analysis and prediction of cation exchange capacity via summation: influence of biochar type and nutrient ratios

IntroductionEnhancing soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem health. This study investigated the pivotal role of biochar in altering soil CEC and challenges conventional assumptions about universal effects of biochar application.MethodsContrasting biochar types, one with a low ash content of 4.4% (switchgrass-derived biochar, SGB) and the other with a high ash content of 45.9% (poultry litter-derived biochar, PLB) were used. Two experiments treated with increasing biochar application rates were conducted: one without plants and the other grown with ryegrass. Effective CEC (summation method) was determined by two extraction methods: Mehlich-3 (M3) and ammonium acetate (AA).Results and discussionThe SGB decreased CEC by 27% on average (from both experiments) from the lowest to the highest rate of biochar application, while the PLB significantly increased CEC by 91%. This highlights the critical role of biochar properties in influencing CEC dynamics. In the second experiment, ryegrass cultivation revealed the greater importance of the calcium and magnesium/potassium ratio ([Ca+Mg]/K) in the soil CEC than CEC only for plant growth in biochar-amended soils. The ratios for optimum ryegrass production ranged from 82‒86 (M3) and 69‒74 (AA), which was translated to 88:11:1 Ca:Mg:K percent base saturation ratios. Moreover, predictive models for estimation of soil CEC after biochar application were successfully developed based on initial soil and biochar CEC. However, M3 was more reliable than AA for such predictions mainly because it was more successful in predicting nutrient availability from biochar. These models offer a promising tool for informed soil management decisions.ConclusionThis research emphasizes the importance of biochar feedstock, elucidates nutrient ratio effects on plant growth, and provides a practical means to anticipate soil CEC changes post-biochar application