Decem

This paper presents a description of a new Tunable Filter Instrument for the SOAR telescope. The Brazilian Tunable Filter Imager (BTFI) is a highly versatile, new technology, tunable optical imager to be used both in seeing-limited mode and at higher spatial fidelity using the SAM Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics facility (SOAR Adaptive Module) which is being deployed at the SOAR telescope. Such an instrument opens important new science capabilities for the SOAR astronomical community, from studies of the centers of nearby galaxies and the insterstellar medium to statistical cosmological investigations.

Since Hewlett and Hibbert's publication in 1967, there has been a slow recognition that saturated excess runoff is the main runoff mechanism in vegetated watersheds. Yet, most pedotransfer functions for predicting runoff are based on infiltration excess runoff. We, therefore, developed a simple pedotransfer function to predict saturation excess runoff, using data from eight watersheds on three continents. The runoff response was very similar for all watersheds, despite differences in climate, size, topography, and land use. Direct storm runoff occurred after a threshold amount of rainfall was exceeded. Runoff was linearly related to rainfall depth, indicating that a nearly constant proportion of the watershed was the source area. Size of source areas decreased with increasing depths of soils. The rainfall threshold was strongly dependent on the initial moisture conditions. The developed pedotransfer function for saturation excess runoff was used to predict water level fluctuation of two terminal lakes on the Caribbean Islands over a 25-to 30-yr period with the rainfall threshold computed following Thornthwaite-Mather and baseflow from the remaining part of the watershed employing a linear reservoir model. Taking the simplicity of the prediction technique with only four calibrated parameters into account, lake levels were predicted reasonably well to very good, including the rise in the lake level in the last 10 yr when the climate in the region became wetter. It is expected that the linear relationship of rainfall and runoff holds for storms lasting several days and can simplify flood predictions.

Experimental research in the Ethiopian highlands found that saturation excess induced runoff and erosion are common in the subhumid conditions. Because most erosion simulation models applied in the highlands are based on infiltration excess, we, as an alternative, developed the Parameter Efficient Distributed (PED) model, which can simulate water and sediment fluxes in landscapes with saturation excess runoff. The PED model has previously only been tested at the outlet of a watershed and not for distributed runoff and sediment concentration within the watershed. In this study, we compare the distributed storm runoff and sediment concentration of the PED model against collected data in the 95-ha Debre Mawi watershed and three of its nested subwatersheds for the 2010 and 2011 rainy seasons. In the PED model framework, the hydrology of the watershed is divided between infiltrating and runoff zones, with erosion only taking place from two surface runoff zones. Daily storm runoff and sediment concentration values, ranging from 0.5 to over 30 mm and from 0.1 to 35 g l À1 , respectively, were well simulated. The Nash Sutcliffe efficiency values for the daily storm runoff for outlet and sub-watersheds ranged from 0.66 to 0.82, and the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency for daily sediment concentrations were greater than 0.78. Furthermore, the model uses realistic fractional areas for surface and subsurface flow contributions, for example between saturated areas (15%), degraded areas (30%) and permeable areas (55%) at the main outlet, while close similarity was found for the remaining hydrology and erosion parameter values. One exception occurred for the distinctly greater transport limited parameter at the actively gullying lower part of the watershed. The results suggest that the model based on saturation excess provides a good representation of the observed spatially distributed runoff and sediment concentrations within a watershed by modelling the bottom lands (as opposed to the uplands) as the dominant contributor of the runoff and sediment load.

Scaling-up sediment transport has been problematic because most sediment loss models (e.g., the Universal Soil Loss Equation) are developed using data from small plots where runoff is generated by infiltration excess. However, in most watersheds, runoff is produced by saturation excess processes. In this article, we improve an earlier saturation excess erosion model that was only tested on a limited basis, in which runoff and erosion originated from periodically saturated and severely degraded areas, and apply it to five watersheds over a wider geographical area. The erosion model is based on a semi-distributed hydrology model that calculates saturation excess runoff, interflow, and baseflow. In the development of the erosion model, a linear relationship between sediment concentration and velocity in surface runoff is assumed. Baseflow and interflow are sediment free. Initially during the rainy season in Ethiopia, when the fields are being plowed, the sediment concentration in the river is limited by the ability of the surface runoff to move sediment. Later in the season, the sediment concentration becomes limited by the availability of sediment. To show the general applicability of the Saturation Excess Erosion Model (SEEModel), the model was tested for watersheds located 10,000 km apart, in the U.S. and in Ethiopia. In the Ethiopian highlands, we simulated the 1.1 km 2 Anjeni watershed, the 4.8 km 2 Andit Tid watershed, the 4.0 km 2 Enkulal watershed, and the 174,000 km 2 Blue Nile basin. In the Catskill Mountains in New York State, the sediment concentrations were simulated in the 493 km 2 upper Esopus Creek watershed. Discharge and sediment concentration averaged over 1 to 10 days were well simulated over the range of scales with comparable parameter sets. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) values for the validation runs for the stream discharge were between 0.77 and 0.92. Sediment concentrations had NSE values ranging from 0.56 to 0.86 using only four calibrated sediment parameters together with the subsurface and surface runoff discharges calculated by the hydrology model. The model results suggest that correctly predicting both surface runoff and subsurface flow is an important step in simulating sediment concentrations.

The effectiveness of water management interventions is hampered by the lack of knowledge about the spatial distribution of runoff and associated soil loss. A study was conducted in the 95-ha Debre Mawi watershed in the Upper Blue Nile basin to understand where and when runoff and erosion takes place on the landscape. During the rainy phase of the 2010 and 2011 monsoons, storm runoff and sediment concentrations were measured from five sub-watersheds. In addition, perched groundwater tables, infiltration rates, and rill erosion from agricultural fields were measured. The results show that saturation excess runoff was the main runoff mechanism because the median infiltration rate was only exceeded 3 % of the time. Early during the rainy period, runoff produced from upslope shallow soils infiltrated

Recent advances in whole genome sequencing (WGS) have allowed identiWcation of genes for disease susceptibility in humans. The objective of our research was to exploit whole genome sequences of 13 rice (Oryza sativa L.) inbred lines to identify non-synonymous SNPs (nsS-NPs) and candidate genes for resistance to sheath blight, a disease of worldwide signiWcance. WGS by the Illumina GA IIx platform produced an average 5£ coverage with »700 K variants detected per line when compared to the Nipponbare reference genome. Two Wltering strategies were developed to identify nsSNPs between two groups of known resistant and susceptible lines. A total of 333 nsS-NPs detected in the resistant lines were absent in the susceptible group. Selected variants associated with resistance were found in 11 of 12 chromosomes. More than 200 genes with selected nsSNPs were assigned to 42 categories based on gene family/gene ontology. Several candidate genes belonged to families reported in previous studies, and three new regions with novel candidates were also identiWed. A subset of 24 nsSNPs detected in 23 genes was selected for further study. Individual alleles of the 24 nsSNPs were evaluated by PCR whose presence or absence corresponded to known resistant or susceptible phenotypes of nine additional lines. Sanger sequencing conWrmed presence of 12 selected nsSNPs in two lines. "Resistant" nsSNP alleles were detected in two accessions of O. nivara that suggests sources for resistance occur in additional Oryza sp. Results from this study provide a foundation for future basic research and marker-assisted breeding of rice for sheath blight resistance.

Se refiere a la relación entre los recursos utilizados en un proceso productivo y la producción obtenida, denota la eficiencia con la cual los factores productivos son utilizados para producir bienes y servicios. Existen tres tipos de empresas o sectores, esto es, Empresas Industriales de producto final (que generan los productos de consumo), Empresas Comerciales (que distribuyen o venden a consumidor final), y Empresas de Servicios y Proveedoras de las anteriores (que prestan servicios y suministran materia prima y componentes a empresas industriales y comerciales). En general, los principales factores productivos considerados para los cálculos de productividad son el factor de trabajo y el factor capital, usualmente se dispone de información respecto a la cantidad de personal ocupado y las horas trabajadas, muchas veces resulta difícil cuantificar la evolución de la calidad de la mano de obra, aspecto que incide en la productividad. b.-MANTENIMIENTO