Diverging functional strategies but high sensitivity to an extreme drought in tropical dry forests.

Extreme drought events have negative effects on forest diversity and functioning. At the species level, however, these effects are still unclear, as species vary in their response to drought through specific functional trait combinations. We used long-term demographic records of 21,821 trees and extensive databases of traits to understand the responses of 338 tropical dry forests tree species to ENSO2015 , the driest event in decades in Northern South America. Functional differences between species were related to the hydraulic safety-efficiency trade-off, but unexpectedly, dominant species were characterised by high investment in leaf and wood tissues regardless of their leaf phenological habit. Despite broad functional trait combinations, tree mortality was more widespread in the functional space than tree growth, where less adapted species showed more negative net biomass balances. Our results suggest that if dry conditions increase in this ecosystem, ecological functionality and biomass gain would be reduced.

Statistical analysis of corn consumption for improved mycotoxin exposure estimates for the population of Veracruz City, Mexico.

Corn consumption was evaluated in the population of Veracruz City, Mexico, through two different dietary intake questionnaires. The selection of 300 sampling locations was completely random. The population was segregated into gender and age categories. A daily consumption questionnaire was used to determine the consumption of corn tortillas and a frequency questionnaire to determine the consumption of other corn products. A book of photographs was used to adjust criteria on the size of the portions of corn products and a probability distribution was built of the weight and content of corn for tortillas. Probability density functions (PDFs) were used to describe the consumption of each corn product. Men and those between 14 and 65 years old have the highest consumption of tortillas. Tortillas, antojitos, tacos and chilaquiles are the products that provide the largest amount of corn to the Veracruz people's diet. Even though these products are nixtamalisated, there is evidence that after a thermo-alkaline process some contaminants such as mycotoxins (like aflatoxin, which is a mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic toxin) could be present in high concentrations. These results highlight the need to characterise the consumption of one of the main foods included in dietary staple in Mexico as a first step for a probabilistic risk assessment.

SU-E-T-397: Interplay Effect of Gated Lung Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy with RapidArc Delivery.

PURPOSE: To investigate the dosimetric effect of intrafraction tumor motion during gated RapidArc Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) delivery. METHOD: The realtime tumor motion data were retrieved from 6 lung patients. Each of them received 3 fractions of stereotactic radiotherapy treatments with Cyberknife Synchrony. Phase gating through an external surrogate was simulated with a gating window of 5 mm. The resulting residual tumor motion curves during gating (beam-on) were retrieved. RapidArc SBRT was planned on the platform of Varian Truebeam at 6 MV with 1400 MU/min. Planning target volume (PTV) was defined as physician-contoured clinical target volume (CTV) surrounded by an isotropic 5 mm margin. Each patient was prescribed with 60Gy/3 fractions. The RA plan typically consists of 2 arcs; each contains 90-120 control points. An algorithm was developed to reconstruct the delivered dose with tumor motion. The MLC segment is assumed to move relatively to a static tumor. Each MLC control point, mainly the leaf position were modified according to the probability density function of tumor motion. The newly created MLC control points were written back to the treatment file in the dicom format which was subsequently imported to treatment planning system (Varian Eclipse) for dose recalculation. RESULTS: The magnitude of dose deviation with motion is consistent with the excursion of the residual tumor movement. Overall CTV coverage of the study group is barely affected owing to the 5 mm margin. The fractional PTV dose coverage dropped by 4% at most and that from all fractions by 3%. An examination in the point dose shows an increase of 4% in the maximum dose and decrease of 10% for the minimum dose. CONCLUSION: With effective gating, interplay effect does not change the target coverage much during gated RapidArc SBRT. However it increases the dose nonuniformity inside target.

Análise da produção de embriões na fertilização in vitro e transferência de embriões para doadoras nelore / Analysis of embrio production in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer to nellore donors

Ajustou-se uma função de densidade probabilidade para o número de embriões viáveis produzidos após fertilização in vitro em doadoras da raça Nelore, a partir de dados fornecidos pela Associação Brasileira de Criadores de Zebu (ABCZ), referente à análise de 20.619 doadoras, 71.602 aspirações e um total de 509.643 embriões. Modelou-se a densidade probabilidade do número de embriões viáveis mediante a função exponencial, executando-se a determinação dos parâmetros por meio da máxima verossimilhança, em um método de gradiente não linear. O nível de precisão obtido foi de RMSE = 0,040 e R2 = 0,98, para a representação da probabilidade do número de embriões viáveis produzidos por doadoras Nelore na técnica de fertilização in vitro(FIV). Para comparar os modelos (curvas de probabilidade de transferência de embriões ajustada por Beltrame,em 2006, e de FIV, neste trabalho), aplicou-se a técnica de comparação de curvas com o teste F (Silva e Azevedo, 2002). Não foram encontradas diferenças entre as curvas do número de embriões viáveis obtidos após coleta e produzidos após aspiração de doadoras na raça Nelore. Ainda, sugere-se a existência de um fator único limitante que afete biologicamente a produção de embriões nas técnicas de transferência de embriões e fertilização in vitro.(AU)

A probability density function for the number of viable embryos produced after an in vitro fertilization program in Nellore donors was adjusted through data provided by the Brazilian Association of Zebu breeders. Results were based on 20,619 donors, 71,602 aspirations and the total of 509,643 embryos. The probability density function of the number of viable embryos was modeled using exponential distribution. Parameters fitting were carried out for the maximum likelihood using a non-linear gradient method. The precision level was RMSE = 0.040 and R2 = 0.98 for the representation of probability of number of viable embryos produced by Nellore donors by in vitro fertilization technique. To analyze probability density of embryo recovery (Beltrame, 2006) with in vitro fertilization adjust was used the curve comparison test through F test (Silva and Azevedo, 2002). There were no differences between the curves. These results suggest that there may be a unique and restricting factor that affects biologically the embryo production on the embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization techniques.(AU)

Análise da produção de embriões na fertilização in vitro e transferência de embriões para doadoras nelore / Analysis of embrio production in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer to nellore donors

Ajustou-se uma função de densidade probabilidade para o número de embriões viáveis produzidos após fertilização in vitro em doadoras da raça Nelore, a partir de dados fornecidos pela Associação Brasileira de Criadores de Zebu (ABCZ), referente à análise de 20.619 doadoras, 71.602 aspirações e um total de 509.643 embriões. Modelou-se a densidade probabilidade do número de embriões viáveis mediante a função exponencial, executando-se a determinação dos parâmetros por meio da máxima verossimilhança, em um método de gradiente não linear. O nível de precisão obtido foi de RMSE = 0,040 e R2 = 0,98, para a representação da probabilidade do número de embriões viáveis produzidos por doadoras Nelore na técnica de fertilização in vitro(FIV). Para comparar os modelos (curvas de probabilidade de transferência de embriões ajustada por Beltrame,em 2006, e de FIV, neste trabalho), aplicou-se a técnica de comparação de curvas com o teste F (Silva e Azevedo, 2002). Não foram encontradas diferenças entre as curvas do número de embriões viáveis obtidos após coleta e produzidos após aspiração de doadoras na raça Nelore. Ainda, sugere-se a existência de um fator único limitante que afete biologicamente a produção de embriões nas técnicas de transferência de embriões e fertilização in vitro.

A probability density function for the number of viable embryos produced after an in vitro fertilization program in Nellore donors was adjusted through data provided by the Brazilian Association of Zebu breeders. Results were based on 20,619 donors, 71,602 aspirations and the total of 509,643 embryos. The probability density function of the number of viable embryos was modeled using exponential distribution. Parameters fitting were carried out for the maximum likelihood using a non-linear gradient method. The precision level was RMSE = 0.040 and R2 = 0.98 for the representation of probability of number of viable embryos produced by Nellore donors by in vitro fertilization technique. To analyze probability density of embryo recovery (Beltrame, 2006) with in vitro fertilization adjust was used the curve comparison test through F test (Silva and Azevedo, 2002). There were no differences between the curves. These results suggest that there may be a unique and restricting factor that affects biologically the embryo production on the embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization techniques.

Alternativa para caracterização da condutividade hidráulica saturada do solo utilizando probabilidade de ocorrência / Alternative of characterization to the soil hydraulic conductivity utilizing probability of occurrence

A Condutividade Hidráulica Saturada (Ksat) devido à sua importância em informar sobre a capacidade de transporte de água, solutos e substâncias químicas no solo deve ser bem caracterizada, pois de um modo geral, seu valor é utilizado nos cálculos de fluxos no solo. Com o objetivo de propor uma alternativa para caracterizá-la, a partir de uma série de dados, utilizou-se a função densidade de probabilidade lognormal para obter os valores da propriedade correspondentes aos níveis de 5 a 95 por cento de probabilidade de ocorrência, visando descrever e indicar melhores valores a serem adotados como Ksat para a área considerada. Como resultado obteve-se uma análise da variável em termos de probabilidade de ocorrência. Essa representação, na medida em que associa o nível de probabilidade ao valor adotado para a propriedade, permite ao pesquisador avaliar o risco na estimativa de medidas dependentes de Ksat, visto que esta propriedade no solo apresenta alta variabilidade.

The Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of the soil (Ksat) due to its importance in inform about the capacity of transport of water, solutes and chemical substances in the soil should be well characterized, since in general, this value is used in calculations of flows in the soil. Aiming at proposing an alternative to characterize the Ksat, starting from a series of data, the function density of probability lognormal was used to obtain the values of the property which corresponde to the levels of occurrence probability from 5 to 95 percent, in order to describe and to indicate better values to be adopted as Ksat for the considered area. As a result, it was obtained an analysis of the values of the variable in terms of occurrence probability. This representation, associating each value to a probability level, allows to the researcher to evaluate the error on estimation of measurements that depend on Ksat, due to the fact that, this property in the soil presents high variability.