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Background Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a debilitating neuropsychological syndrome that often follows brain injury, in particular a stroke affecting the right hemisphere. In current clinical practice, the assessment of neglect is based on old-fashioned paper-and-pencil and behavioral tasks, and sometimes relies on the examiner’s subjective judgment. Therefore, there is a need for more exhaustive, objective and ecological assessments of USN. Methods In this paper, we present two tasks in immersive virtual reality to assess peripersonal and extrapersonal USN. The tasks are designed with several levels of difficulty to increase sensitivity of the assessment. We then validate the feasibility of both assessments in a group of healthy adult participants. Results We report data from a study with a group of neurologically unimpaired participants (N = 39). The results yield positive feedback on comfort, usability and design of the tasks. We propose new objective scores based on participant’s performance captured by head gaze and hand position information, including, for instance, time of exploration, moving time towards left/right and time-to-reach, which could be used for the evaluation of the attentional spatial bias with neurological patients. Together with the number of omissions, the new proposed parameters can result in lateralized index ratios as a measure of asymmetry in space exploration. Conclusions We presented two innovative assessments for USN based on immersive virtual reality, evaluating the far and the near space, using ecological tasks in multimodal, realistic environments. The proposed protocols and objective scores can help distinguish neurological patients with and without USN.

Multidomain interventions have shown tremendous potential for improving cognition in older adults. It is unclear if multidomain interventions can be delivered remotely and whether remote intervention is beneficial for older adults who are vulnerable or at risk of cognitive decline. In a 26-week multi-site, home-based, double-blind, randomized controlled trial, 120 cognitively healthy older adults (75 robust, 45 pre-frail; age range = 60–94) recruited from Switzerland, Canada, and Belgium were randomized to receive either the StayFitLonger (SFL) computerized multidomain training program or an active control intervention. Delivered on tablets, the SFL intervention combined adapted physical exercises (strength, balance, and mobility), cognitive training (divided attention, problem solving, and memory), opportunities for social and contributive interactions, and psychoeducation. The active control intervention provided basic mobilization exercises and access to video games. Cognitive outcomes were global cognition (Z-scores of attention, verbal fluency, and episodic memory for nondemented older adults; ZAVEN), memory, executive function, and processing speed. Linear mixed model analyses indicated improved performance on the ZAVEN global cognition score in the SFL group but not in the active control group. Stratified analyses by frailty status revealed improved ZAVEN global cognition and processing speed scores following SFL in the pre-frail group but not in the robust group. Overall, the study indicates that a computerized program providing a multidomain intervention at home can improve cognition in older adults. Importantly, pre-frail individuals, who are at higher risk of cognitive decline, seem to benefit more from the intervention. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT037519 Registered on January 22, 2020—Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04237519.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly prescribed medications associated with changes in the gut microbiome and dysbiosis when used long-term. Probiotics, such as Enterogermina® (containing four strains of Bacillus clausii) reduce side effects from triple therapy with PPI+antibiotics. We aim to assess the ability of this probiotic in preventing and/or treating the dysbiosis induced by PPI use. Faecal samples from six healthy donors were used to colonise a Triple-Mucosal-Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem® model with added ileal compartment. Changes in the microbial community composition and metabolite production were measured for PPI alone (control), PPI+Enterogermina (preventative), and Enterogermina treatment after PPI (curative). Differences were assessed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. The model was shown to replicate some of the effects of long-term PPI use. There were significant changes in microbial diversity and an increase in butyrate levels in the preventative and curative arms, indicative of a beneficial effect to gut health. Probiotic use countered some of the effects of PPI use: Streptococcus bovis levels increased in the control arm but reduced following probiotic treatment. These results show that probiotic treatment with B. clausii may have beneficial effects on the gut microbiota following PPI treatment.

In this work, we present mitigation algorithms to protect GNSS receivers against malicious interference. Maritime applications with an antenna array-based receiver are considered as a use case. A two-stage mitigation algorithm, that tackles multipath and radio frequency interference (RFI), caused by personal privacy devices (PPD) or additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) interferers is presented. Our approach consists of a pre-whitening step, followed by a space-time adaptive principle component analysis (PCA) beamformer that uses a dimensionality reduction (i.e. compression) method based on Canonical Components (CC) with a bank of signal-matched correlators. The algorithms are capable of suppressing strong RFI and separating highly correlated and even coherent multipath signals, thus achieving a reliable time delay and, therefore, pseudorange estimation performance. Finally, we evaluate and compare the proposed algorithms not only via numerical simulations but also with real data collected from a measurement campaign performed at DLR’s maritime jamming testbed in the Baltic sea. A complete description of the test platform and the scenarios is provided.

Additional File 4. TCGA matched tumour heatmaps. mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS expression heatmaps for matched tumour samples for 14 cancer types.

Additional File 1: Supplementary figures and tables. Contains Fig S1-S11 and Table S1-S5.

Additional File 3. TCGA mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS heatmaps. mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS expression heatmaps using MRN normalization for 31 TCGA cancer types.

Additional File 2. GTEx mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS heatmaps. mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS expression heatmaps using MRN normalization for 48 GTEx tissues.

Additional File 5. TCGA matched normal heatmaps. mtOXPHOS-nuOXPHOS expression heatmaps for matched normal samples for 14 cancer types.

Two miniaturized antenna arrays for GNSS receivers are presented. The effects of the miniaturization on the performance of an interference mitigation STAP algorithm are analyzed. The performance degradation imposed by the miniaturization on the spatial gain is showed and a potential compensation is proposed.

The paper analyses the current EU and US legislations referred to dual-use GNSS interference mitigation. From the analysis, a compliant system is proposed, tailored for civil aviation use. The results indicate that such system can enable a degree of robustness for the receivers and still meet the requirements to be considered ITAR free.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and virtual reality (VR) are two technologic advances that are changing our way of interacting with the world. BCIs can be used to influence and can serve as a control mechanism in navigation tasks, communication, or other assistive functions. VR can create ad hoc interactive scenarios that involve all our senses, stimulate the brain in a multisensory fashion, and increase the motivation and fun with game-like environments. VR and motion tracking enable natural human–computer interaction at cognitive and physical levels. This includes both brain and body in the design of meaningful VR experiences; these cases in which participants feel naturally present could help augment the benefits of BCIs for assistive and neurorehabilitation applications for the relearning of motor and cognitive skills. VR technology is now available at the consumer level thanks to the proliferation of affordable head-mounted displays (HMDs). Merging both technologies into simplified, practical devices may help democratize these technologies.

The paper focuses on the use of GNSS constellation simulators for the performance evaluation of advanced anti-jamming and anti-spoofing techniques of GNSS receivers using multiple antennas in an antenna array. The use of antenna arrays and array signal processing enables a GNSS receiver to apply extremely efficient countermeasures to counteract radio frequency interference. This enhanced resilience to jamming and spoofing makes the multi-antenna GNSS receivers very attractive in the context of safety-critical applications. The paper highlights the advantages of testing such receivers in a controlled laboratory environment by utilizing the multi-antenna GNSS simulators. A fully scalable architecture of the multi-antenna simulator based on the use of multiple simulator units is presented. The simulator composed of 8 single RF output simulators is used together with a GNSS multi-antenna receiver prototype (GALANT) developed by DLR in order to obtain exemplary results for beamforming, direction of arrival estimation and spoofing detection in the corresponding signal scenarios. The obtained results are also used to highlight the merits of a GNSS array receiver as part of promising anti-jam and anti-spoof solutions.

This contribution presents the design and performance of a dual-band spherical cap adaptive antenna array for safety-critical satellite navigation. The array consists of seven planar elements, flush-mounted in a spherical cap holder. Each element of the array is resonant at dual frequencies with adequate bandwidth to cover the GPS L1/L5 and Galileo E1/E5a/b frequency bands. The interference mitigation and beamforming performance of the array is demonstrated by means of an adaptive beamforming algorithm. The results show a strong potential of the antenna for applications where continuous system availability is essential.

In this paper, we advocate the combination of four key ingredients that we believe are necessary to design long-lasting effective treatments for neurorehabilitation: (i) motor-cognitive training, (ii) evidence-based neuroscience principles, in particular those related to body perception, (iii) motivational games, and (iv) empowerment techniques. Then, we propose virtual reality (VR) as the appropriate medium to encompass all the requirements mentioned above. VR is arguably one of the most suitable technologies for neurorehabilitation able to integrate evidence-based neurorehabilitation techniques and neuroscience principles into motivating training approaches that promote self-management by empowering patients to own their recovery process. We discuss the advantages and challenges of such an approach on several exemplary applications and outline directions for future developments. We strongly believe that the combination of positive psychology and positive technology mediated by VR-based interventions can heavily impact the rehabilitation outcomes of motor-cognitive functions along all the stages of the rehabilitation path.

For unknown reasons, genetically identical animals often differ substantially in their phenotypic traits, even in a controlled environment. Here I investigate the causes of inter-individual physiological variation using a model organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Isogenic nematodes vary in their size at hatching, speed of development, growth rate, starvation resistance and fecundity. I show that much of this variation is due to the age of an individual’s mother, with young mothers producing progeny impaired for many traits. The underlying molecular mechanism for multiple traits is a progressive, age-dependent increase in the maternal provisioning of a lipoprotein complex, yolk/vitellogenin, to embryos. The production of sub-optimal progeny by young mothers likely reflects a trade-off between the competing fitness traits of a short generation time and progeny survival and fecundity. These results identify age-dependent changes in maternal provisioning to embryos as an important source of phenotypic variation throughout the life of an animal. Por causas desconocidas, animales idénticos genéticamente suelen variar sustancialmente en sus rasgos fenotípicos, aunque el ambiente en el que habiten sea el mismo. Aquí investigo las causas de variación fisiológica entre individuos utilizando un organismo modelo, el nematodo Caenorhabditis elegans. Nematodos isogénicos varían en su tamaño al nacer, en su velocidad de crecimiento y desarrollo, en su resistencia a la privación de alimento y en su fecundidad. Muestro que muchas de estas variaciones se deben a la edad de la madre del individuo, con las madres jóvenes engendrando a progenie peor en muchos respetos. Para muchos rasgos fenotípicos, el mecanismo molecular subyacente es un aumento progresivo con la edad de la madre de la provisión de un complejo lipoproteínico, yema/vitellogenin, a los embriones. Ecológicamente, es probable que la producción de progenie inferior por parte de las madres jóvenes esté compensada por la ventaja opuesta de tener un tiempo generacional corto. Los resultados presentados destacan los cambios en la provisión maternal de recursos a los embriones como una fuente significativa de variación fenotípica a lo largo de la vida de un animal.

With disruptive radio interference events on the rise, there is growing concern about the dependence of air-traffic services on satellite navigation. The methods in this paper address some of these concerns by presenting a new positioning method that that is robust to jamming and spoofing. The proposed solution is based on using array antennae, which can be used in estimating the direction of arrival of radio signal. The paper discusses the positioning algorithm and the expected navigation performance. The system is expected to provide sufficient accuracy to support RNP services over Europe.

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a rubber hand is felt as being part of one's body. This illusion is evoked by providing synchronous visuotactile stimulation to the fake and real hands. Asynchronous visuotactile stimulation is known not to produce such an illusion of ownership, being commonly used as the control condition. Here we explored the impact of synchronous and asynchronous visuotactile stimulation on the body image. We combined the induction of the RHI with a quantitative test for the internal representation of body metrics (i.e., the positions of key fiducial points on the body relative to each other). We found a significant recalibration of the upper/lower arm lengths following asynchronous visuotactile stimulation. In particular, we observed a selective elongation of the lower arm, a distortion typical of deafferentation. Conversely, synchronous visuotactile stimulation did not alter the estimation of the arm segments' length. Our findings are consistent with a dynamic internal representation of body image that is continuously updated based on incoming multisensory information. Furthermore, the use of asynchronous multisensory stimulation as a neutral condition should be reconsidered since it introduces changes in the body image.

Background: Appropriate sensorimotor correlations can result in the illusion of ownership of exogenous body parts. Nevertheless, whether and how the illusion of owning a new body part affects human perception, and in particular pain detection, is still poorly investigated. Recent findings have shown that seeing one’s own body is analgesic, but it is not known whether this effect is transferable to newly embodied, but exogenous, body parts. In recent years, results from our laboratory have demonstrated that a virtual body can be felt as one’s own, provided realistic multisensory correlations. Methods: The current work aimed at investigating the impact of virtual body ownership on pain threshold. An immersive virtual environment allowed a first-person perspective of a virtual body that replaced the own. Passive movement of the index finger congruent with the movement of the virtual index finger was used in the ‘synchronous’ condition to induce ownership of the virtual arm. The pain threshold was tested by thermal stimulation under four conditions: (1) synchronous movements of the real and virtual fingers; (2) asynchronous movements; (3) seeing a virtual object instead of an arm; and (4) not seeing any limb in real world. Results: Our results show that, independently of attentional and stimulus adaptation processes, the ownership of a virtual arm per se can significantly increase the thermal pain threshold. Conclusions: This finding may be relevant for the development and improvement of digital solutions for rehabilitation and pain treatment.

Introduction/Background Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a neuropsychological syndrome in which patients fail to pay attention to and represent the contralesional part of the space. Standard assessment of USN is carried out with paper-and-pencil tests, which do not capture the full range of deficits (i.e., not sensitive enough; no evaluation of “far” space) or detect compensatory learning effects in chronic patients. Here we explore interactive and ecological assessments within immersive virtual reality (IVR) to overcome these limitations. Material and method Twelve chronic stroke patients (58 ± 9.4 years; 5 female; time from stroke: 15.8 ± 7.7 months) completed a battery of paper-and-pencil neuropsychological tests (line bisection, cancellation, reading, drawing, functional scales) and a IVR-based assessment for extra-personal USN. In the IVR tasks, participants were presented with a virtual environment representing a forest, via head-mounted display ( Fig. 1 ). The tasks consisted of finding static objects (level 1) or moving rabbits (levels 2–4) in the scene. Difficulty was modulated with the presence of distractors and an additional auditory dual task. Participants used the embedded head tracker in the HMD to control a pointer to select the targets in the scene, and the space bar of the computer to validate the selected item. Results Four patients presented USN in both paper-and-pencil and IVR tasks. Interestingly, two other participants showed signs of neglect in the IVR assessment without being classified as neglect patients in the paper-and-pencil tests. These patients did not show signs of USN in the items of the Catherine Bergego Scale that assesses their ability to explore the extra-personal space. Conclusion This preliminary data suggests that IVR-based assessments represent an easy-to-use and consistent tool to investigate USN, can extend its evaluation to the far space, and can detect USN in chronic patients who do not show sign of neglect in standard assessments.

We present a neurogoggles system that offers truly immersive augmented and virtual reality with unique biofeedback based on brain and bodily signals. The system consists of a wearable head-mounted display that integrates two stereoscopic color cameras for video-through experience, a depth sensor for object tracking, an inertial sensor for head tracking and electrophysiological measurements for brain and bodily signals. The system is designed to ensure low-latency synchronization across all functional modules, which is a key element for multimodal real-time data analysis. We showcase this technology with an immersive experience combining multimodal data and artistic digital content using Kudan augmented reality engine. In this experience, the user is presented with an interactive world behind a brain image wall poster, which reacts to user's brain state.

El objetivo de este trabajo es desarrollar un modelo depredador-presa para dos especies de importancia comercial capturadas por la flota pesquera europea en los caladeros comunitarios de la Unión Europea. En este modelo, la merluza europea (Merluccius merluccius) representa el depredador y el lirio o bacaladilla (Micromesistius poutassou) representa la presa. El lirio es la principal presa de la merluza en el área de estudio, y representa alrededor del 40 % de la dieta de merluza. Las dinámicas poblaciones del depredador y de la presa siguen la formulación de Lotka-Volterra, y se asumen como logísticas. También se supone una interacción lineal entre las poblaciones de depredadores y presas, con dos coeficientes de interacción: α es el efecto de un cambio unitario en la presa sobre la tasa de crecimiento porcentual del depredador, y ß es la tasa de ataque o eficiencia de búsqueda del depredador. Las poblaciones interactúan aleatoriamente en proporción a la densidad de población. El objetivo es maximizar el valor presente de los beneficios de la pesquería mixta, utilizando el principio del máximo de la teoría del control óptimo. Se realiza en primer lugar la construcción matemática del modelo, partiendo de las ecuaciones logísticas predador-presa. Utilizando el principio del máximo de la teoría del control óptimo, se construye la función de beneficios netos de la pesquería, la función objetivo y el hamiltoniano, siendo las biomasas de ambas especies las variables de estado y las capturas las variables de control. Los datos de biomasa y capturas de merluza y lirio a lo largo del periodo estudiado (1988-2013) se sometieron al método de estimación econométrica de Mínimos Cuadrados Ordinarios (MCO) con el fin de determinar la forma que adoptan las funciones de crecimiento neto de ambas especies (cuadrática, exponencial o potencial). Por último, se construyen las expresiones finales de las funciones de crecimiento de la merluza y del lirio y se introducen en la expresión del hamiltoniano, lo que permitirá resolver el modelo determinando los valores óptimos de capturas, biomasas y precios sombra de ambas especies.

Proceedings Of The 6Th International Bci Meeting: Bci Past, Present, And Future

This paper describes a non-invasive human brain-actuated robotic arm experiment, which allows remote writing. In the local environment, the participant decides on an arbitrary word to transmit. A mental speller interface is then used to select the letters. A robot arm placed in the remote environment writes the word on a whiteboard in real time. A multidisciplinary framework such as the one presented here exemplifies a class of interactive applications with possible relevance in a variety of fields, such as entertainment and clinical environments.

The apparently stable brain representation of our bodies is easily challenged. We have recently shown that the illusion of ownership of a three-dimensional virtual hand can be evoked through synchronous tactile stimulation of a person's hidden real hand and that of the virtual hand. This reproduces the well-known rubber-hand illusion, but in virtual reality. Here we show that some aspects of the illusion can also occur through motor imagery used to control movements of a virtual hand. When movements of the virtual hand followed motor imagery, the illusion of ownership of the virtual hand was evoked and muscle activity measured through electromyogram correlated with movements of the virtual arm. Using virtual bodies has a great potential in the fields of physical and neural rehabilitation, making the understanding of ownership of a virtual body highly relevant.

The study of body representation and ownership has been a very active research area in recent years. Synchronous multisensory stimulation has been used for the induction of the illusion of ownership over virtual body parts and even full bodies, and it has provided experimental paradigms for the understanding of the brain processing of body representation. However, the illusion of ownership of a virtual body has rarely been used for patient evaluation and diagnosis. Here we propose a method that exploits ownership of a virtual body in combination with a simple brain computer interface (BCI) and basic physiological measures to complement neurological assessment. A male patient presenting a fixed posture dystonia featuring a permanently closed left fist participated in this case study. The patient saw a virtual body that substituted his own after donning a head-mounted display and thereby entering the virtual reality. The left virtual hand had the same posture as his corresponding real hand. After inducing virtual hand ownership by correlated visuo-tactile stimulation and dynamic reflections in a virtual mirror, the virtual hand would open either automatically or through a cognitive task assessed through a BCI that required him to focus attention on the virtual hand. The results reveal that body ownership induced changes on electromyography and BCI performance in the patient that were different from those in five healthy controls. Overall, the case study shows that the induction of virtual body ownership combined with simple electrophysiological measures could be useful for the diagnosis of patients with neurological conditions.

Se analiza la figura y trascendencia de la maestra de educación infantil. La figura de la maestra de educación infantil utiliza el conocimiento científico para comprender la situación del aula, de los grupos de niños y de cada persona, para diseñar e implementar estrategias flexibles adaptadas a cada momento. La maestra de educación infantil es una profesional que posee conocimientos amplios, solidamente fundamentados y que se cuestiona ante el conocimiento establecido. Desarrolla una sensibilidad especial para detectar los estados psicológicos del alumnado y pone en práctica multitud de conocimientos profesionales. La maestra de educación infantil conoce las características del pensamiento de esta etapa, así como las circunstancias que favorecen la construcción de aprendizajes. Trabajar en la edad más decisiva en la vida de las personas, requiere de sus profesionales mucha responsabilidad. La educación infantil, es la etapa en la que existe una colaboración más estrecha entre las maestras y las familias, sobre quien recae la responsabilidad principal de la educación en esta etapa. Cataluña Biblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; biblioteca@mecd.es ESP

We propose a generalized method of moment (GMM) estimator of the number of latent factors in linear factor models. The method is appropriate for panels a large (small) number of cross-section observations and a small (large) number of time-series observations. It is robust to heteroskedasticity and time series autocorrelation of the idiosyncratic components. All necessary procedures are similar to three stage least squares, so they are computationally easy to use. In addition, the method can be used to determine what observable variables are correlated with the latent factors without estimating them. Our Monte Carlo experiments show that the proposed estimator has good finite-sample properties. As an application of the method, we estimate the number of factors in the US stock market. Our results indicate that the US stock returns are explained by three factors. One of the three latent factors is not captured by the factors proposed by Chen Roll and Ross 1986 and Fama and French 1996.

Electrical brain responses during performance of cognitive tasks contain not only evoked, but also induced activity reflecting different processes. These activities are often partially overlapped in time and frequency, so that they are even more difficult to be separated in single-trial. Therefore, online applications based on induced brain activity require specific online processing methods to separate both activities efficiently. Here we propose a module-based methodology for the online extraction and quantification of induced brain activity during cognitive-related tasks. Further, the role of electrode montages and the minimization of the evoked activity are examined in both simulated and real data as part of the optimization process.

Contents: The objective of this investigation was to establish the optimal extent of dilution for storage of boar spermatozoa at 15°C in Kiev diluent. The dilution titers used for the sperm-rich fraction of ejaculates from 8 boars ranged from 1:2 to 1:50. Seminal doses were stored for 10 days. Motility and acrosome morphology were evaluated after 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 days of storage. The percentages of motile spermatozoa after 24 and 72 hours of storage were significantly higher for dilution rates between 1:7 and 1:11 than for dilution rates lower than 1:7 or higher than 1:11 (p < 0.05). The percentages of spermatozoa with normal acrosomes after 24, 72, and 120 hours of storage were significantly higher for dilution rates between 1:8 and 1:11 than for dilution rates lower than 1:8 or higher than 1:11 (p < 0.01). Inhalt: Einflus der Verdunnungsrate auf Motilitat und Akrosom-Morphologie von Eberspermien nach Lagerungbei 15°C Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit war es festzustellen, wo der otimale Verdunnungsgrad fur mit Kiew-Verdunner behandeltes Ebersperma bei 15°C liegt. Der Verdunnungsgrad, mit dem die spermienreiche Ejakulatphase von 8 Ebern behandelt wurde, lag zwischen 1:2 bis 1:50. Die Samenproben wurden 10 Tage gelagert. Motilitat und Akrosommorphologie wurden nach 1, 3, 5, 7 und 10 Tagen uberpruft. Der Prozentsatz motiler Samenzellen war nach 24 und 72 Stunden signifikant hoher bei Verdunnungsraten zwischen 1:7 bis 1:11 als unter bzw. uber diesen Werten (p ≤ 0,05). Der Prozentsatz akrosomunveranderter Samenzellen war nach 24, 72 und 120 Stunden signifikant hoher bei Verdunnungsverhaltnissen zwischen 1:8 und 1:11 als uber oder unter diesen Werten (p ≤ 0,01).

This thesis will study the changes in the organization of soil pore space (soil architecture) in the transportation of water, solutes and colloids, and as a result of the application of conservation or ecological agriculture techniques, which can modify the properties of the soil together with transport. The soil architecture has great importance in the transport through the soil. Cracks and biopores have the characteristics of continuity and connectivity that modulate transport. This has important implications for soil productivity and ecological functions (transport of water, gases, nutrients, metabolites, agrochemicals ... as well as in the processes of transformation of organic matter). The habitat structure of the biota that regulates many of these cycles is related to soil architecture. In this way, it is of paramount importance to discover relationships between architecture descriptors and soil properties, such as permeability, apparent density or hydraulic functions of the soil. This approach emerges as a response to the EU's agricultural policy of replacing conventional agricultural management with techniques aimed at soil conservation, as this change leads to changes in soil architecture whose scope is unknown. The soils are going to be gaining a structure much more organized and stable in the time, with more macroporos, and connected in a different form than in the system of conventional tillage. In the context of non-tillage, conventional cultivation operations such as burial of amendments and compost, such as the use of fertilizers and mixtures of granular formulations with the soil, may be limited by the use of conventional techniques. The challenge of reconciling the minimum tillage with the rest of the cultivation operations requires efforts in innovation to try to improve the techniques of application of organic fertilizers and minerals. This brings together research and innovation for the substitution or modification of conventional cultivation techniques. Nesta Tese estudaranse os cambios na organización do espazo de poros do solo (arquitectura do solo) no transporte de auga, solutos e coloides, e a consecuencia da aplicación de técnicas da agricultura de conservación ou ecolóxica, que poden modificar as propiedades do solo vencelladas ao transporte. A arquitectura do solo ten gran importancia no transporte a través do solo. Fendas e bioporos teñen as características de continuidade e conectividade que modulan o transporte. Isto ten importantes implicacións na produtividade dos solos e as súas funcións ecolóxicas (transporte de auga, gases, nutrintes, metabolitos, agroquímicos... así como nos procesos de transformación da materia orgánica). A estrutura do hábitat da biota que regula moitos destes ciclos está relacionada coa arquitectura do solo. Neste camiño, é de capital importancia descubrir relacións entre os descritores da arquitectura e as propiedades do solo, tales coma a permeabilidade, densidade aparente ou funcións hidráulicas do solo. Este plantexamento xorde como resposta a política agraria da UE de substitución do manexo agrícola convencional por técnicas dirixidas a conservación do solo, pois este cambio vai conducir a modificacións na arquitectura do solo cuio alcance é descoñecido. Os solos van ir gañando unha estrutura moito máis organizada e estable no tempo, con máis macroporos, e conectados de diferente xeito que no sistema de laboreo convencional. Nun contexto de non laboreo as operacións de cultivo convencionais, tales como o enterramento de emendas e adubo, así coma o uso de fertilizantes e a mestura de formulados granulares có solo poden verse limitadas polo uso de técnicas convencionais. O reto de compatibilizar o mínimo laboreo co resto das operacións de cultivo necesita esforzos en innovación para tratar de mellorar as técnicas de aplicación de adubos orgánicos e minerais. Isto leva aparellada investigación e innovación para substitución ou a modificación da técnicas convencionais de cultivo. En esta tesis se estudiarán los cambios en la organización del espacio de poros del suelo (arquitectura del suelo) en el trasporte de agua, solutos y coloides, y a consecuencia de la aplicación de técnicas de agricultura de conservación o ecológica, que pueden modificar las propiedades del suelo unidas al transporte. La arquitectura del suelo tiene gran importancia en el trasporte a través del suelo. Grietas y bioporos tienen las características de continuidad y conectividad que modulan el transporte. Esto tiene importantes implicaciones en la productividad de los suelos y en sus funciones ecológicas (transporte de agua, gases, nutrientes, metabolitos, agroquímicos... así como en los procesos de transformación de materia orgánica). La estructura del hábitat de la biota que regula muchos de estos ciclos está relacionada con la agricultura del suelo. En este camino, es de capital importancia descubrir relaciones entre los descriptores de la arquitectura y las propiedades del suelo, tales como la permeabilidad, densidad aparente o funciones hidráulicas del suelo. Este planteamiento surge como respuesta a la política agraria de la UE de substitución del manejo agrícola convencional por técnicas dirigidas a la conservación del suelo, pues este cambio va a conduce a modificaciones en la arquitectura del suelo cuyo alcance es desconocido. Los suelos van a ir ganando una estructura mucho más organizada y estable en el tiempo, con más macroporos, y conectados de una forma diferente que en el sistema de laboreo convencional. En un contexto de no laboreo las operaciones de cultivo convencionales, tales como el enterramiento de enmiendas y abono, así como el uso de fertilizantes y mezclas de formulados granulares con el suelo pueden verse limitadas por el suo de técnicas convencionales. El reto de compatibilizar el mínimo laboreo con el resto de las operaciones de cultivo necesita esfuerzos en innovación para tratar de mejorar las técnicas de aplicación de abonos orgánicos y minerales. Esto lleva asociadas investigación e innovación para la substitución o la modificación de técnicas convencionales de cultivo.

El objetivo de este proyecto es identificar los factores que determinan el desprendimiento de los pesticidas de la superficie foliar por efecto de la lluvia y cuantificar su efecto sobre las pérdidas producidas. De este modo se pretenden obtener estimaciones de la cantidad de pesticidas que pueden llegar al suelo arrastradas por pluviolavado foliar en función de las características de la lluvia. El método experimental constará de dos fases: una a escala de laboratorio con lluvia simulada, y otra a escala de parcela experimental con cultivos de vid y patata. En la fase de laboratorio se van a estudiar las variables de energía de impacto de gota y capacidad de arrastre de escurrimiento foliar, que influyen en la pérdida de pesticidas usados en agricultura; se trata de establecer una relación cuantitativa entre la energía cinética del agua que produce el desprendimiento de partículas de pesticidas, así como las pérdidas por disolución de los principios activos. En la fase de experimentos de campo se aplicarán series de dosis controladas de pesticidas en todo el ciclo del cultivo, correspondientes a los tratamientos recomendados; la parcela estará instrumentaliza para recoger muestras de pluviolavado que se analizarán posteriormente para cuantificar las pérdidas. Se trata de determinar las características de la pérdida, la masa absoluta y su variación entre episodios, las concentraciones medias por episodio y la dependencia temporal de las pérdidas entre episodios sucesivos. Se podrán establecer y comparar relaciones entre factores asociados a características físicas de la lluvia: energía de la lluvia, intensidad de la misma y diámetro de gota, energía de la capa de flujo de agua en el escurrimiento sobre la superficie tratada con el pesticida y la pérdida en forma de partículas en disolución. Se analizarán las interacciones de estos factores con la dosis de pesticida. Estos resultados podrán ser transferidos a la industria agroalimentaria para establecer criterios de riesgo para la pérdida de pesticidas por pluviolavado y a la industria de agroquímicos para desarrollar formulados con una mayor efectividad y así reducir la contaminación. O obxectivo deste proxecto é identifica-los factores que determinan o desprendemento dos pesticidas da superficie foliar a consecuencia da choiva e cuantificar o seu efecto sobre as perdas producidas. Deste xeito, preténdense obter estimacións da cantidade de pesticidas que poden chegar ao solo levadas polo pluviolavado foliar en función das características da choiva. O método experimental constará de dúas fases: unha a escala de laboratorio con choiva simulada e outra a escala de parcela experimental con cultivos de vide e pataca. Na fase de laboratorio vanse estuda-las variables de enerxía de impacto de gota e capacidade de arrastre do escoamento foliar, que inflúen na perda de pesticidas usados na agricultura; trátase de establecer unha relación cuantitativa entre a enerxía cinética da auga, que produce o desprendemento de partículas de pesticidas, e tamén as perdas por disolución dos principios activos. Na fase de experimentos de campo aplicaranse series de doses controladas de pesticidas ao longo do ciclo do cultivo, correspondentes aos tratamentos recomendados; a parcela estará instrumentalizada para recoller mostras de pluviolavado que se analizarán posteriormente para cuantifica-las perdas. Trátase de determinar as características das perdas, a masa absoluta e a súa variación entre episodios, as concentracións medias por episodio e a dependencia temporal das perdas entre episodios sucesivos. Poderanse establecer e comparar relacións entre factores asociados ás características físicas da choiva: enerxía cinética da choiva, intensidade da mesma e diámetro de gota, enerxía da capa de fluxo de auga no escoamento sobre a superficie tratada co pesticida e a perda en forma de partículas en disolución. Analizaranse as interacións destes factores ca dose de pesticida. Estes resultados poderán ser transferidos á industria agroalimentaria para establecer criterios de risco de perda de pesticidas por pluviolavado, e á industria de agroquímicos para desenvolver formulados cunha maior efectividade e reduci-la contaminación. Xunta de Galicia Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia | Ref. AGL2006-04231/AGR Consellería de Innovación e Industria | Ref. PGIDIT06RAG38301PR