Emotions and reading: When reading is the best way to improve skills in adolescents.

In recent years much research on reading competence in different languages has been published in parallel with the interest generated by the results of the PISA and PIRLS reports which were disseminated in the media and which have subsequently garnered the attention of public authorities. Studies that relate reading competence with emotional intelligence, however, are less frequent. This study aims to deepen the relationship between both constructs, using a quasi-experimental longitudinal approach that observes the evolution of 389 high school students in Spain from 16 to 18 years old. Evidence of a direct relationship between reading competence and emotional intelligence was obtained, particularly in the experimental group in which reading habits were stimulated.

Influence of fruit bagging technique on the morphometric and biochemical characteristics of two pomegranate varieties (Punica granatum L.).

The pomegranate tree is cultivated and its fruits consumed since ancient times. This tree is typical of the Mediterranean climate, with high thermal demands to mature properly. The main objective of this work was to study the influence of the fruit bagging technique on the morphometric and biochemical characteristics of the pomegranate fruits of two new varieties that are currently cultivated in the Southeast of Spain. The results indicated that the fruit bagging presented a significant effect on the weight, equatorial diameter, height and shape of the fruit, however, it did not show any influence on the peel thickness. No significant differences have been observed in the number of healthy fruits with and without bagging, however, the number of cracked fruits with Cryptoblabes gnidiella damage was higher for the non-bagged fruits. The fruit bagging presented a significant effect on the total soluble solids, maturity index, glucose, α-punicalagin, α + ß-punicalagin and ellagic acid, but it did not show influence on pH, acidity, ABTS, DPPH, FRAP, total phenols, fructose, citric, malic, and quinic acid, ß-punicalagin and anthocyanins. The internal fruit color was not affected by the bagging, although it did affect the external color of the fruit, and unevenly depending on the variety. Based on the results, it can be said that bagging can improve the quality of the fruit by reducing damage from pests and pathophysiology, and this benefit compensates or even exceeds the negative effects of bagging on peel color.

Aphicidal activity of farnesol against the green peach aphid - Myzus persicae.

BACKGROUND: Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is considered one of most important agricultural pests in the world. It is one of the main pests in protected pepper crops under glasshouse conditions in Southeastern Spain, but its control is limited as a consequence of the few available authorized insecticides and their incompatibility with the natural enemies. Some essential oils and pure compounds such as anise (Pimpinella anisum) or farnesol are repellent and/or toxic to aphids. Their use as a botanical insecticides can be an alternative for aphid control in pepper. RESULTS: The effect of farnesol was evaluated against M. persicae in a new bioassay developed to test the contact effect (aqueous formulation of the products) on aphids in laboratory conditions. Aniseed essential oil, geraniol and (Z)-jasmone at 0.6% causes an aphid mortality of >50%; and farnesol was the most effective (93.67% mortality). Farnesol nanoemulsions between 0.2% and 0.6% were formulated with an IKA-Labor Pilot dispersing machine (7940 rpm for 10 min) using Tween 80 as a surfactant. These formulations were tested on field experiments (glasshouse conditions) on pepper crops for 2 years. Foliar applications of farnesol at a concentration of 0.4% in field conditions causes a high reduction in aphid populations, with efficacies of ≈70-80% with respect to the control, similar to or even higher than the efficacy of the reference pyrethrin insecticide. CONCLUSION: Farnesol showed a great aphicidal effect against M. persicae. The use of this molecule in integrated pest management programs combined with natural enemies is a good option for future control of M. persicae. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

A Survey of Main Pepper Crop Viruses in Different Cultivation Systems for the Selection of the Most Appropriate Resistance Genes in Sensitive Local Cultivars in Northern Spain.

Viral diseases have become one of the main phytosanitary problems for pepper growers in the Basque Country (northern Spain). In 2014, a survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of the most common viruses found in Gernika pepper and Ibarra chili pepper landraces. A total of 97 plots were surveyed and classified according to the crop system. Within these plots, 1107 plants were sampled and tested for tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV), pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), paprika mild mottle virus (PaMMV), potato virus Y (PVY) and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) applying a DAS-ELISA test. PaMMV was verified by the non-radioactive molecular hybridization technique and it was found to be negative. All viruses were detected, but the most prevalent viruses were PVY and TMGMV (19.8% and 10.6% of tested plants, respectively). Differences among cultivation systems were found for most of the tested viruses. PVY had a higher level of infection under open field conditions (27.3%) than under greenhouse conditions (12.3%). Inversely, the viruses belonging to the Tobamovirus genus and TSWV prevailed under greenhouse conditions (28.9% and 5.2%) when compared to open field (11.2% and 1.1%), respectively. Single (28%) and multiple infections (8.9%) were found. All PMMoV isolates were classified as pathotype P1.2. Survey results indicated that tobamovirus and PVY resistance genes would be the most appropriate to be included in breeding programs with these sensitive pepper landraces.

Fumigant Toxicity in Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae): Controlled Release of (E)-anethole from Microspheres.

(E)-anethole is a phenylpropanoid that is the main compound found in the essential oils (EOs) of anise and fennel seeds, and either fumigant or direct contact activity of this compound has been demonstrated against aphids and stored product pests. In this work, solid microspheres were prepared by three methods-oil emulsion entrapment, spray-drying, and complexed with ß-cyclodextrin. Fumigation activity of each microsphere preparation was tested against the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae), on pepper leaves. The best insecticidal activity was with (E)-anethole encapsulated in oil emulsion beads and introduced to aphids as a vapour over 24 h, with an LC50 of 0.415 µL/L compared to 0.336 µL/L of vapors from free (E)-anethole. Scanning electron microscopy of the beads revealed a compact surface with low porosity that produced a controlled release of the bioactive for more than 21 d, whilst most of the volatile was evaporated within two days if applied unformulated. Spray drying gave spherical particles with the greatest encapsulated yield (73%) of 6.15 g of (E)-anethole incorporated per 100 g of powder. Further work will be done on improving the formulation methods and testing the solid microspheres in all aphid stages scaling up the experimental assay. It is foreseen that nanotechnology will play a role in future developments of low risk plant protection products.

Inferring the population structure of Myzus persicae in diverse agroecosystems using microsatellite markers.

Diverse agroecosystems offer phytophagous insects a wide choice of host plants. Myzus persicae is a polyphagous aphid common in moderate climates. During its life cycle it alternates between primary and secondary hosts. A spatial genetic population structure may arise due to environmental factors and reproduction modes. The aim of this work was to determine the spatial and temporal genetic population structure of M. persicae in relation to host plants and climatic conditions. For this, 923 individuals of M. persicae collected from six plant families between 2005 and 2008 in south-eastern Spain were genotyped for eight microsatellite loci. The population structure was inferred by neighbour-joining, analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and Bayesian analyses. Moderate polymorphism was observed for the eight loci in almost all the samples. No differences in the number of alleles were observed between primary and secondary hosts or between geographical areas. The proportion of unique genotypes found in the primary host was similar in the north (0.961 ± 0.036) and the south (0.987 ± 0.013), while in the secondary host it was higher in the north (0.801 ± 0.159) than in the south (0.318 ± 0.063). Heterozygosity excess and linkage disequilibrium suggest a high representation of obligate parthenogens in areas with warmer climate and in the secondary hosts. The F ST-values pointed to no genetic differentiation of M. persicae on the different plant families. F ST-values, AMOVA and Bayesian model-based cluster analyses pointed to a significant population structure that was related to primary and secondary hosts. Differences between primary and secondary hosts could be due to the overrepresentation of parthenogens on herbaceous plants.

Ambient intelligence systems for personalized sport training.

Several research programs are tackling the use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) at specific fields, such as e-Health, e-Inclusion or e-Sport. This is the case of the project "Ambient Intelligence Systems Support for Athletes with Specific Profiles", which intends to assist athletes in their training. In this paper, the main developments and outcomes from this project are described. The architecture of the system comprises a WSN deployed in the training area which provides communication with athletes' mobile equipments, performs location tasks, and harvests environmental data (wind speed, temperature, etc.). Athletes are equipped with a monitoring unit which obtains data from their training (pulse, speed, etc.). Besides, a decision engine combines these real-time data together with static information about the training field, and from the athlete, to direct athletes' training to fulfill some specific goal. A prototype is presented in this work for a cross country running scenario, where the objective is to maintain the heart rate (HR) of the runner in a target range. For each track, the environmental conditions (temperature of the next track), the current athlete condition (HR), and the intrinsic difficulty of the track (slopes) influence the performance of the athlete. The decision engine, implemented by means of (m, s)-splines interpolation, estimates the future HR and selects the best track in each fork of the circuit. This method achieves a success ratio in the order of 80%. Indeed, results demonstrate that if environmental information is not take into account to derive training orders, the success ratio is reduced notably.