Search

The effective utilization of natural variation has become essential in addressing the challenges that climate change and population growth pose to global food security. Currently adopted protracted approaches to introgress exotic alleles into elite cultivars need substantial transformation. Here, through a strategic three-way crossing scheme among diverse exotics and the best historical elites (exotic/elite1//elite2), 2,867 pre-breeding lines were developed, genotyped and screened for multiple agronomic traits in four mega-environments. A meta-genome-wide association study, selective sweeps and haplotype-block-based analyses unveiled selection footprints in the genomes of pre-breeding lines as well as exotic-specific associations with agronomic traits. A simulation with a neutrality assumption demonstrated that many pre-breeding lines had significant exotic contributions despite substantial selection bias towards elite genomes. National breeding programmes worldwide have adopted 95 lines for germplasm enhancement, and 7 additional lines are being advanced in varietal release trials. This study presents a great leap forwards in the mobilization of GenBank variation to the breeding pipelines. Ancestral wheat relatives can enrich the genetic diversity of modern cultivars and contribute to stress adaptation. A meta-genome-wide association study identifies the exotic genome footprints in a wheat pre-breeding population, as well as some exotic-specific agronomic traits.

We apply regular arrays of plasmonic nanodisks to enhance light emission from an organic white light-emitting diode (WOLED). To achieve broadband enhancement, we apply, first, aluminum as a nanodisk material with moderate loss throughout the whole visible spectral range. Second, broadband light coupling is mediated by surface lattice resonances from a multipitch array built from two superimposed gratings with different grating constants formed by elliptic and circular nanodisks. To demonstrate the viability of this concept, the grating structure was embedded in the hole transport layer of a solution-processed phosphorescent WOLED exhibiting a current efficiency of 2.1 cd/A at 1000 cd/m2. The surface lattice resonances in the grating raise the current efficiency of the device by 23% to 2.6 cd/A at 1000 cd/m2, while the device emission changes from a neutral white to a warm white appearance with CIE1931 (x,y) coordinates of (0.361, 0.352) and (0.404, 0.351), respectively. The WOLED was characterized in detail optically by extinction and angle-resolved photoluminescence and as well by electroluminescence measurements for its opto-electronic characteristics. The experimental results agree well with finite-difference time domain simulations that aim at a better understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms. In summary, our work presents a novel versatile approach for achieving broadband enhancement of light emission in WOLEDs over a wide spectral range.

The CGIAR crop improvement (CI) programs, unlike commercial CI programs, which are mainly geared to profit though meeting farmers’ needs, are charged with meeting multiple objectives with target populations that include both farmers and the community at large. We compiled the opinions from >30 experts in the private and public sector on key strategies, methodologies, and activities that could the help CGIAR meet the challenges of providing farmers with improved varieties while simultaneously meeting the goals of: (i) nutrition, health, and food security; (ii) poverty reduction, livelihoods, and jobs; (iii) gender equality, youth, and inclusion; (iv) climate adaptation and mitigation; and (v) environmental health and biodiversity. We review the crop improvement processes starting with crop choice, moving through to breeding objectives, production of potential new varieties, selection, and finally adoption by farmers. The importance of multidisciplinary teams working towards common objectives is stressed as a key factor to success. The role of the distinct disciplines, actors, and their interactions throughout the process from crop choice through to adoption by farmers is discussed and illustrated., This document arose from the urgent need to join forces (across nations and research disciplines) and stand together to improve the prospects for the most vulnerable population on the globe whose well-being depends on agricultural production. Here, we learn from the past, and draft future strategic guidelines that will facilitate efforts of the CGIAR institutions (https://www.cgiar.org/) to enhance the livelihoods of the less privileged through crop improvement.

Crop landraces have unique local agroecological and societal functions and offer important genetic resources for plant breeding. Recognition of the value of landrace diversity and concern about its erosion on farms have led to sustained efforts to establish ex situ collections worldwide. The degree to which these efforts have succeeded in conserving landraces has not been comprehensively assessed. Here we modelled the potential distributions of eco-geographically distinguishable groups of landraces of 25 cereal, pulse and starchy root/tuber/fruit crops within their geographic regions of diversity. We then analysed the extent to which these landrace groups are represented in genebank collections, using geographic and ecological coverage metrics as a proxy for genetic diversity. We find that ex situ conservation of landrace groups is currently moderately comprehensive on average, with substantial variation among crops; a mean of 63% ± 12.6% of distributions is currently represented in genebanks. Breadfruit, bananas and plantains, lentils, common beans, chickpeas, barley and bread wheat landrace groups are among the most fully represented, whereas the largest conservation gaps persist for pearl millet, yams, finger millet, groundnut, potatoes and peas. Geographic regions prioritized for further collection of landrace groups for ex situ conservation include South Asia, the Mediterranean and West Asia, Mesoamerica, sub-Saharan Africa, the Andean mountains of South America and Central to East Asia. With further progress to fill these gaps, a high degree of representation of landrace group diversity in genebanks is feasible globally, thus fulfilling international targets for their ex situ conservation. ispartof: NATURE PLANTS vol:8 issue:5 pages:491-+ ispartof: location:England status: published

Mechanical scarification with a scalpel is the best treatment to break physical dormancy and reach high germination percentages in many legumes. However, it is highly time-consuming. Given the ecological relationship between the presence of physical dormancy and high temperatures in tropical grasslands, dry heat treatment could also promote breaking of physical dormancy in Desmodium and Stylosanthes species. This study assessed seed germination of several accessions of nine species of Desmodium and Stylosanthes. Seeds were treated with dry heat (80°C for 30 minutes) and scarified with a scalpel to determine whether dry heat is a reliable alternative treatment to overcome physical dormancy. Mechanical scarification with a scalpel was effective and resulted in high germination for all species. In S. guianensis, both treatments had an equivalent effect, making dry heat a feasible alternative. Dry heat could also be a reliable alternative in D. heterocarpon, D. velutinum, S. hamata, and S. scabra, but tetrazolium tests may be necessary to confirm viability. For D. barbatum and D. scorpiurus, dry heat could be an alternative but further research is needed to confirm this, while in S. capitata and S. viscosa dry heat is not a reliable alternative.

A report on the tropical forage germplasm collection conserved in the CIAT genebank is presented. Emphasis is firstly on the assembling of the collection during 1972‒1993 through about 70 major and minor collecting missions in tropical America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Along with introductions from existing collections, currently some 1,600 accessions of 134 grass species and 21,000 accessions of 637 legume species are being maintained. Secondly, information on the utilization of the collection, with emphasis on cultivar development based on selection of accessions from the CIAT collection, is presented. Worldwide, a total of 44 grass and 34 legume cultivars derived from germplasm maintained at CIAT are reported. Information on germplasm distribution and knowledge sharing during the last four decades is also presented as well as a brief discussion on future needs.

Undomesticated wild species, crop wild relatives, and landraces represent sources of variation for wheat improvement to address challenges from climate change and the growing human population. Here, we study 56,342 domesticated hexaploid, 18,946 domesticated tetraploid and 3,903 crop wild relatives in a massive-scale genotyping and diversity analysis. Using DArTseqTM technology, we identify more than 300,000 high-quality SNPs and SilicoDArT markers and align them to three reference maps: the IWGSC RefSeq v1.0 genome assembly, the durum wheat genome assembly (cv. Svevo), and the DArT genetic map. On average, 72% of the markers are uniquely placed on these maps and 50% are linked to genes. The analysis reveals landraces with unexplored diversity and genetic footprints defined by regions under selection. This provides fertile ground to develop wheat varieties of the future by exploring specific gene or chromosome regions and identifying germplasm conserving allelic diversity missing in current breeding programs., Genebanks hold comprehensive collections of wild species, wild relatives, and landraces that are useful for genetic improvement. Here, the authors report the genotype of nearly 80,000 wheat accessions using DArTseq technology to show the less explored genetic diversity.

Genebanks play an essential role in a world where agricultural biodiversity has been lost from farming habitats, malnutrition persists as global population continues to rise, and farm productivity is vulnerable to climate change. We demonstrate the importance of the genebank of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to the development of seven iron-biofortified varieties of climbing bean and the impact of their adoption on farm households in Rwanda. First, we link iron-biofortified varieties of climbing beans directly to the genebank through pedigree analysis and key informant interviews with the breeders who developed them. Second, we apply various econometric models to test the impact of adoption on yield, consumption, and purchase of beans by farming households in Rwanda, building upon previous research on bush beans. We based the analysis on a dataset of nearly 1400 households, collected in 2015 by HarvestPlus. We found that the scope of the genetic diversity housed in the bean collection at CIAT was fundamental to developing successful iron-biofortified beans. We found significant positive effects of climbing varieties on yields; however, we did not find significant effects on the amounts of beans consumed by households or bean purchases. Our results suggest that it is possible to trace the journey of an accession from its introduction in the genebank to its final use by farmers and consumers. Positive effects on yield generate incentives for adoption of iron-biofortified bean varieties, potentially boosting micronutrient consumption. Further research is needed to understand the factors affecting the adoption and impacts of climbing bean varieties.

Fingerprinting-based Visible Light Positioning is a promising candidate to perform large-scale indoor positioning tasks. In fingerprinting, signal characteristics are grouped in a fingerprint map together with the respective locations inside the indoor environment. By comparing live signal measurements with the fingerprint map, the closest match is selected as the current position estimate. However, the fingerprint map has to be generated beforehand in the so-called offline phase, which is the time-consuming process of sampling the environment, in which the positioning task is desired, for signal characteristics. Here, we propose a fingerprint-based positioning approach for which we mitigate the need for the offline phase by taking advantage of the VLC data transmission capabilities of the LED luminaires of the obligatory room lighting. Based on the transmitted data on room and luminaire configurations to the receiving device, the illumination characteristics in the room can be calculated by simplified analytical formalisms, substituting the need for an experimentally measured offline phase. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with the help of ray-tracing simulations and under the assumption that the receiving device is equipped with an angular sectored receiver. The results of the ray-tracing simulations mimic real world measurements with the receiver in the online phase. We show that decimeter level accuracies down to centimeter level accuracies are achievable for such an approach.

Genebanks underpin global food security, conserving and distributing agrobiodiversity for use in research and breeding. The CGIAR collections include >700,000 seed accessions, held in trust as global public goods. However, the role of genebanks in contributing to global food security can only be realized if collections are effectively managed. Examination of the historical viability monitoring data from seven CGIAR genebanks confirmed that high seed viability was maintained for many decades for the various crops and forage species. However, departures from optimum management procedures were revealed, and there were insufficient data gathered to derive reliable estimates of longevity needed to better forecast regeneration requirements, estimate the size of seed lots that should be stored, and optimize accession monitoring intervals.

The history of CGIAR and the development and implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“Plant Treaty”) are closely intertwined. In accordance with the agreements that 11 CGIAR centers signed with the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body under Article 15 of the treaty, >730,000 accessions of crop, tree, and forage germplasm conserved in CGIAR genebanks are made available under the terms and conditions of the multilateral system of access and benefit sharing, and the CGIAR centers have transferred almost 4 million samples of plant genetic resources under the system. Many activities of CGIAR centers and their genebanks (e.g., crop enhancement, improved agronomic methods, seed system strengthening, and capacity building) are influenced by, and promote, the Plant Treaty’s objectives. The continued existence and optimal functioning of the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit sharing is critically important to CGIAR in the pursuit of its mission. However, the multilateral system has encountered some challenges since the Plant Treaty came into force. The successful conclusion of the ongoing process for enhancing the functioning of the multilateral system could increase monetary benefit sharing and incentives for exchanging more germplasm. In the meantime, increased efforts are necessary to promote nonmonetary benefit sharing through partnerships, technology transfer, information exchange, and capacity building. These efforts should be integrated into countries’ and organizations’ work to implement the Plant Treaty’s provisions on conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, and farmers’ rights.

The spectral composition of light has a significant influence on human wellbeing, emotion and health. Natural sunlight is often considered as the ideal light source in this regard. Therefore, artificial lighting solutions that mimic natural sunlight are a central research topic in the lighting industry. Another global trend is the monitoring and evaluation of the vital parameters of human beings to improve their health status and their personal lifestyle. Here, we present VitaLight, a laboratory sample for a smart lighting system that aims to interconnect these global trends and consists of VitaWatch, a wristband with functionally integrated sensors that is comfortable to wear on the body, and VitaLUMI, a lighting unit with access to the internet.

The international collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers are important components of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization&rsquo, s global system of conservation and use of PGRFA. They also play an important supportive role in realizing Target 2.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper analyzes CGIAR genebanks&rsquo, trends in acquiring and distributing PGRFA over the last 35 years, with a particular focus on the last decade. The paper highlights a number of factors influencing the Centers&rsquo, acquisition of new PGRFA to include in the international collections, including increased capacity to analyze gaps in those collections and precisely target new collecting missions, availability of financial resources, and the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws and phytosanitary regulations. Factors contributing to Centers&rsquo, distributions of PGRFA included the extent of accession-level information, users&rsquo, capacity to identify the materials they want, and policies. The genebanks&rsquo, rates of both acquisition and distribution increased over the last decade. The paper ends on a cautionary note concerning the potential of unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information to undermine international cooperation to conserve and use PGRFA.

Over the past 70 years, the world has witnessed extraordinary growth in crop productivity, enabled by a suite of technological advances, including higher yielding crop varieties, improved farm management, synthetic agrochemicals, and agricultural mechanization. While this “Green Revolution” intensified crop production, and is credited with reducing famine and malnutrition, its benefits were accompanied by several undesirable collateral effects (Pingali, 2012). These include a narrowing of agricultural biodiversity, stemming from increased monoculture and greater reliance on a smaller number of crops and crop varieties for the majority of our calories. This reduction in diversity has created vulnerabilities to pest and disease epidemics, climate variation, and ultimately to human health (Harlan, 1972). The value of crop diversity has long been recognized (Vavilov, 1992). A global system of genebanks (e.g., www.genebanks.org/genebanks/) was established in the 1970s to conserve the abundant genetic variation found in traditional “landrace” varieties of crops and in crop wild relatives (Harlan, 1972). While preserving crop variation is a critical first step, the time has come to make use of this variation to breed more resilient crops. The DivSeek International Network (https://divseekintl.org/) is a scientific, not-for-profit organization that aims to accelerate such efforts.

Mineral deficiencies represent a global challenge that needs to be urgently addressed. An adequate intake of iron and zinc results in a balanced diet that reduces chances of impairment of many metabolic processes that can lead to clinical consequences. In plants, bioavailability of such nutrients is reduced by presence of compounds such as phytic acid, that can chelate minerals and reduce their absorption. Biofortification of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) represents an important strategy to reduce mineral deficiencies, especially in areas of the world where this crop plays a key role in the diet. In this study, a panel of diversity encompassing 192 homozygous genotypes, was screened for iron, zinc and phytate seed content. Results indicate a broad variation of these traits and allowed the identification of accessions reasonably carrying favourable trait combinations. A significant association between zinc seed content and some molecular SNP markers co-located on the common bean Pv01 chromosome was detected by means of genome-wide association analysis. The gene Phvul001G233500, encoding for an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase, is proposed to explain detected associations. This result represents a preliminary evidence that can foster future research aiming at understanding the genetic mechanisms behind zinc accumulation in beans.

We present a novel approach to perform passive visible light sensing of retroreflective foils mounted on a moving object by utilizing low-cost hardware combined with a self-developed, low complex software algorithm with minimal training effort for successful classification. Therewith, we show the feasibility of utilizing the visible light spectrum not only for illumination, but also to perform sensing tasks, which consequently will lead to less energy consumption, no need for active sensors on the moving object, and finally no necessity of wireless radio frequency communication between the object and the processing device.

Landraces (traditional varieties) of domesticated species preserve useful genetic variation, yet they remain untapped due to the genetic linkage between the few useful alleles and hundreds of undesirable alleles. We integrated two approaches to characterize the diversity of 4,471 maize landraces. First, we mapped genomic regions controlling latitudinal and altitudinal adaptation and identified 1,498 genes. Second, we used F-one association mapping (FOAM) to map the genes that control flowering time, across 22 environments, and identified 1,005 genes. In total, we found that 61.4% of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with altitude were also associated with flowering time. More than half of the SNPs associated with altitude were within large structural variants (inversions, centromeres and pericentromeric regions). The combined mapping results indicate that although floral regulatory network genes contribute substantially to field variation, over 90% of the contributing genes probably have indirect effects. Our dual strategy can be used to harness the landrace diversity of plants and animals.

Technological advances allow us to tap into genetic resources to address food and nutritional security in the face of population growth, urbanization, climate change, and environmental degradation. It is vital, particularly for developing countries, to ensure that the policy framework regulating access and use of genetic resources keeps pace with technological developments.

This study examines genomic prediction within 8416 Mexican landrace accessions and 2403 Iranian landrace accessions stored in gene banks. The Mexican and Iranian collections were evaluated in separate field trials, including an optimum environment for several traits, and in two separate environments (drought, D and heat, H) for the highly heritable traits, days to heading (DTH), and days to maturity (DTM). Analyses accounting and not accounting for population structure were performed. Genomic prediction models include genotype × environment interaction (G × E). Two alternative prediction strategies were studied: (1) random cross-validation of the data in 20% training (TRN) and 80% testing (TST) (TRN20-TST80) sets, and (2) two types of core sets, “diversity” and “prediction”, including 10% and 20%, respectively, of the total collections. Accounting for population structure decreased prediction accuracy by 15–20% as compared to prediction accuracy obtained when not accounting for population structure. Accounting for population structure gave prediction accuracies for traits evaluated in one environment for TRN20-TST80 that ranged from 0.407 to 0.677 for Mexican landraces, and from 0.166 to 0.662 for Iranian landraces. Prediction accuracy of the 20% diversity core set was similar to accuracies obtained for TRN20-TST80, ranging from 0.412 to 0.654 for Mexican landraces, and from 0.182 to 0.647 for Iranian landraces. The predictive core set gave similar prediction accuracy as the diversity core set for Mexican collections, but slightly lower for Iranian collections. Prediction accuracy when incorporating G × E for DTH and DTM for Mexican landraces for TRN20-TST80 was around 0.60, which is greater than without the G × E term. For Iranian landraces, accuracies were 0.55 for the G × E model with TRN20-TST80. Results show promising prediction accuracies for potential use in germplasm enhancement and rapid introgression of exotic germplasm into elite materials.

Nat. Genet.; 10.1038/ng.3784; corrected online 20 February 2017 In the version of this article initially published online, the name of author Martha Willcox was misspelled as Martha Wilcox. The error has been corrected in the print, PDF and HTML versions of this article.

With the invention of phosphorescent emitter material, organic light emitting diodes with internal quantum yields of up to 100% can be realized. Still, the extraction of the light from the OLED stack is a bottleneck, which hampers the availability of OLEDs with large external quantum efficiencies. In this contribution, we highlight the advantages of integrating aluminum nanodisc arrays into the OLED stack. By this, not only the out-coupling of light can be enhanced, but also the emission color can be tailored and controlled. By means of extinction- and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements we are able to show how the sharp features observed in the extinction measurements correlate with a very selective fluorescence enhancement of the organic emitter materials used in these studies. At the same time, localized surface plasmon resonances of the individual nanodiscs further modify the emission spectrum, e.g., by filtering the green emission tail. A combination of these factors leads to a modification of the emission color in between CIE1931 (x,y) chromaticity coordinates of (0.149, 0.225) and (0.152, 0.352). After accounting for the sensitivity of the human eye, we are able to demonstrate that this adjustment of the chromaticity coordinates goes is accompanied by an increase in device efficiency.

A simulation procedure which enables integrated simulation of optical devices including both refractive and diffractive optical elements at different length scales is presented. The approach uses the Poynting vector to interface between a Ray-tracing and a finite-difference-time-domain tool for a step by step simulation of both the light propagation through a laser-written diffractive grating structure and its measurement by an appropriate setup. These simulated results are in great accordance with experimentally determined ones. Furthermore, the impact of parameter variations is analyzed and discussed in detail.

Besides their direct impact on the respective correlated color temperature, the extinction coefficient and the quantum efficiency of the phosphor also have tremendous impact on the thermal load of the color conversion elements of phosphor converted LEDs under operation. Because of the low thermal conductivity of the silicone matrix in which the phosphor particles are typically embedded, the by far highest temperatures within the LED assembly are reached within the color conversion element. Based on a combined optical and thermal simulation procedure we show that in particular a larger value for the extinction coefficient might have a beneficial impact on the resulting thermal load.

Landraces (traditional varieties) of crop species are a reservoir of useful genetic diversity, yet remain untapped due to the genetic linkage between the few useful alleles with hundreds of undesirable alleles1. We integrated two approaches to characterize the genetic diversity of over 3000 maize landraces from across the Americas. First, we mapped the genomic regions controlling latitudinal and altitudinal adaptation, identifying 1498 genes. Second, we developed and used F-One Association Mapping (FOAM) to directly map genes controlling flowering time across 22 environments, identifying 1,005 genes. In total 65% of the SNPs associated with altitude were also associated with flowering time. In particular, we observed many of the significant SNPs were contained in large structural variants (inversions, centromeres, and pericentromeric regions): 29.4% for flowering time, 58.4% for altitude and 13.1% for latitude. The combined mapping results indicate that while floral regulatory network genes contribute substantially to field variation, over 90% of contributing genes likely have indirect effects. Our strategy can be used to harness the diversity of maize and other plant and animal species.

In this contribution we discuss a combined optical and thermal simulation approach which allows us to model the thermal load of the phosphor elements of phosphor converted LED packages with high accuracy. It relies on iterative optical and thermal simulations using ASAP, which is a ray-tracing tool, for the optical simulation parts and the open-source-software gmsh/GetDP for the thermal simulations. The simulation procedure starts with the determination of the absorption intensity of the blue LED light within the phosphor layer. This absorption intensity is the input parameter for the first thermal simulation step. The thermal simulation provides the temperature distribution inside the phosphor layer which again is the input parameter for the next optical simulation step. This iterative combination of optical and thermal simulations allows to consider also the temperature dependency of the optical properties (temperature dependent luminescence loss of the phosphor, thermo-optic coefficients…) of the respective materials. The consideration of temperature induced effects is a prerequisite for an accurate simulation of the optical performance of phosphor converted LEDs, like the CCT values or temperature induced color shifts upon operation. The iteration procedure is continued until the simulated temperature distribution of the phosphor layer becomes stable which is one possible stop criterion. The simulations are verified by experimental characterisation of LED packages fabricated in accordance with the simulation model. We show that using such an iterative simulation approach allows a much more appropriate prediction of the thermal load of phosphor converted LEDs than simple thermal simulations do.

Today, freeform micro-optical structures are desired components in many photonic and optical applications such as lighting and detection systems due to their compactness, ease of system integration and superior optical performance. The high complexity of a freeform structure’s arbitrary surface profile and the need for high throughput upon fabrication require novel approaches for their integration into a manufacturing process. For the fabrication of polymer freeform optics, in this contribution we discuss two principal technologies, mask-less laser direct write lithography (MALA) and replication from the as-fabricated master by imprinting. We show the high flexibility in design and rapid-prototyping of freeform optical microstructures that can be achieved by such an approach. First, the original structures known as masters are fabricated using MALA. Because of the specific requirements on shape and height (>50μm) of the microstructures, laser writing and photoresist processing have to be performed within a narrow range of fabrication parameters. Subsequently, UV-soft lithography based replication is used for serial production of the freeform micro-optical elements within a batch process. Aided by profilometry, optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy, the fidelity of the fabricated freeform microoptical elements to the design is characterised. Finally, the light intensity distribution on a target plane caused by the freeform micro-optical element illuminated with an LED is determined and compared with the predicted one.

In recent years, LED lighting became an indispensable alternative to conventional lighting systems. Sophisticated solutions offer not only comfortable white light with a good color rendering. They also provide the possibility of changing illuminance and color temperature. Some systems even simulate daylight over the entire day, some including natural variations as due to clouds. Such systems are supposed to support the chronobiological needs of human and to have a positive effect on well-being, performance, sleep-quality and health. Lighting can also be used to support specific aims in a situation, like to improve productivity in activation or to support recreation in relaxation. Research regarding suitable light-settings for such situations and superordinate questions like their influence on well-being and health is still incomplete. We investigated the subjective preferences of men and women regarding light-settings for activation and relaxation. We supplied two rooms and four cubes with light sources that provide the possibility of tuning illuminance, color temperature and deviation from Plackian locus. More than 80 individuals – belonging to four groups differing in gender and age – were asked to imagine activating and recovering situations for which they should adjust suitable and pleasant lighting by tuning the above mentioned light properties. It was shown that there are clear differences in the lighting conditions preferred for these two situations. Also some combined gender- and age-specific differences became apparent.

A photovoltaic device comprising of areas which are partly covered by solar cells and a light guiding film is investigated. In particular results on the feasibility of combined daylighting and photovoltaic energy generation are presented. Optical simulations have been conducted for a device-design optimized to redirect most of perpendicular impinging light rays onto photovoltaic areas. Two application cases are investigated for integrating the photovoltaic device into windows and/or glazings in middle (northern) latitudes. The first application case deals with an overhead glazing and the second deals with a window integrated in a roof tilted by 30° towards south. For the latter case encouraging results have been derived. In particular it is calculated that during summer time more than 70% of the direct sunlight is absorbed by photovoltaic areas and less than 10% is transmitted. Consequently, effective shading in summer against direct sunlight can be achieved and most of the shaded solar irradiation can be used for photovoltaic energy conversion. In contrast, in winter time about 40% of the direct sunlight is transmitted through the device and enables decent daylighting.

Genomic and pedigree predictions for grain yield and agronomic traits were carried out using high density molecular data on a set of 803 spring wheat lines that were evaluated in 5 sites characterized by several environmental co-variables. Seven statistical models were tested using two random cross-validations schemes. Two other prediction problems were studied, namely predicting the lines’ performance at one site with another (pairwise-site) and at untested sites (leave-one-site-out). Grain yield ranged from 3.7 to 9.0 t ha−1 across sites. The best predictability was observed when genotypic and pedigree data were included in the models and their interaction with sites and the environmental co-variables. The leave-one-site-out increased average prediction accuracy over pairwise-site for all the traits, specifically from 0.27 to 0.36 for grain yield. Days to anthesis, maturity, and plant height predictions had high heritability and gave the highest accuracy for prediction models. Genomic and pedigree models coupled with environmental co-variables gave high prediction accuracy due to high genetic correlation between sites. This study provides an example of model prediction considering climate data along-with genomic and pedigree information. Such comprehensive models can be used to achieve rapid enhancement of wheat yield enhancement in current and future climate change scenario.

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 23092; published online: 15 March 2016; updated: 20 May 2016. Mark Ellis was omitted from the author list in the original version of this Article. In addition, there was a typographical error in the spelling of the author Kai Sonder which was incorrectly given as Kai Sonders.

Climate change and slow yield gains pose a major threat to global wheat production. Underutilized genetic resources including landraces and wild relatives are key elements for developing high-yielding and climate-resilient wheat varieties. Landraces introduced into Mexico from Europe, also known as Creole wheats, are adapted to a wide range of climatic regimes and represent a unique genetic resource. Eight thousand four hundred and sixteen wheat landraces representing all dimensions of Mexico were characterized through genotyping-by-sequencing technology. Results revealed sub-groups adapted to specific environments of Mexico. Broadly, accessions from north and south of Mexico showed considerable genetic differentiation. However, a large percentage of landrace accessions were genetically very close, although belonged to different regions most likely due to the recent (nearly five centuries before) introduction of wheat in Mexico. Some of the groups adapted to extreme environments and accumulated high number of rare alleles. Core reference sets were assembled simultaneously using multiple variables, capturing 89% of the rare alleles present in the complete set. Genetic information about Mexican wheat landraces and core reference set can be effectively utilized in next generation wheat varietal improvement.

Based on optical ray-tracing simulations we discuss the effect of the extinction coefficient and the quantum efficiency of the phosphors on the angular homogeneity of the white light emitted from phosphor converted light-emitting diodes. In particular variations of the extinction coefficient are prone to affect diverse CIE chromaticity coordinates for different viewing angles. Contrarily, the impact of the quantum efficiency on angle dependent variations of the chromaticity coordinates turns out to be of minor importance.

Segregation distortion can negatively impact on gains expected using selection. In order to increase our understanding of genetic factors that may influence the extent and direction of segregation distortion, segregation distortion analyses were conducted in four different doubled haploid (DH) populations. A high-density composite map of barley was then constructed by integrating information from the four populations. The composite map contained 2,111 unique loci, comprising RFLP, SSR and DArT markers and spanned 1,136 cM. In the four populations investigated, the proportion of markers with segregation distortion ranged from 15 to 38%, depending on the population. The highest distortion was observed in populations derived by the microspore culture technique. Distorted loci tended to be clustered, which allowed definition of segregation distortion regions (SDRs). A total of 14 SDRs were identified in the 4 populations. Using the high-density composite map, several SDRs were shown to have consistent map locations in two or more populations; one SDR on chromosome 1H was present in all four populations. The analysis of haplotypes underlying seven SDRs indicated that in three cases the under-represented haplotypes were common across populations, but for four SDRs the under-represented haplotypes varied across populations. Six of the seven centromeric regions harboured SDRs suggesting that genetic processes related to position near a centromere caused the segregation distortion in these SDRs. Other SDRs were most likely due to the methods used to produce the DH populations. The association of the SDRs identified in this study and some of the genes involved in the process of haploid production described in other studies were compared. The composite map constructed in this study provides an additional resource for the barley community via increased genome coverage and the provision of additional marker options. It has also enabled further insights into mechanisms that underpin segregation distortion.

Wild barley-specific genomic libraries were developed for the purpose of creating a ‘comprehensive’ genomic representation of the primary Hordeum genepool capable of more robust genotyping of barley. In order to enrich for wild barley-specific sequences in the DArT libraries, suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) was performed using cultivated barley as the subtraction driver and wild barley as the tester. Four doubled-haploid populations were genotyped with the comprehensive barley DArT array, including two from wild × cultivated crosses (Damon/Harrington and Shechem/Harrington) and two from cultivated × cultivated crosses (Albacete/Barbarrouse and TX9425/Naso Nijo). Analysis of genotyping data revealed that the SSH process was somewhat ineffective at enriching for unique sequences in this application of DArT marker development. However, the addition of markers derived from wild barley proved to be an effective means for increasing the number of polymorphic markers obtainable from a single DArT assay. Genetic maps of the four component populations were developed and 607 newly developed DArT markers were integrated with a barley consensus map to create a new synthetic map of the barley genome containing 3542 markers. This significantly increased the resolution of the consensus map and improved the power of the map to provide a reference for profiling genetic diversity within the primary Hordeum genepool. The improvement in the genotyping capability of the comprehensive DArT genomic representation and the higher resolution of the synthetic map facilitates an even greater flexibility of DArT markers to be utilized as a fast, high-throughput platform for molecular marker-based barley breeding.

Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) was applied to differentiate between S. enterica serovar Enteritidis and Typhimurium strains, respectively. Ten and eleven, mainly phage and plasmid-related markers were identified for serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium. In combination, these markers can be used for subtyping among and within phage types.