Cluster-Zone Leaf Removal and GA3 Application at Early Flowering Reduce Bunch Compactness and Yield per Vine in Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot Gris

Compact bunches have been often associated with higher susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and therefore reduction in berry quality in grapevine. The objective of this study was to evaluate three management methods (early leaf removal, gibberellic acid, and their combination) for reducing bunch compactness in Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot gris trained in two different training systems with contrasting vigor (Guyot and pergola). Treatments were applied at BBCH 62 or BBCH 65 and yield components, total soluble solids, fruit set, and bunch compactness parameters were evaluated. Both treatments individually reduced berry number, mean bunches weight and bunches compactness as well as yield per vine when compared to control-untreated vines. However, no major differences were observed when both the treatments were applied in combination for Guyot or pergola although a higher reduction in yield was detected for Guyot and a significant increase in total soluble solids was observed in pergola. Our study suggests that intense leaf removal and gibberellic acid applied at early flowering can help reducing bunch compactness in Pinot gris and showing it in two training systems. In particular, leaf removal represents a valuable alternative to plant growth regulators (i.e., gibberellic acid) as applicable in organic viticulture.

Spatial and Seasonal Structure of Bacterial Communities Within Alpine Vineyards: Trentino as a Case Study

Bacteria have a fundamental role in determining the fitness of grapevine, the composition of grapes and the features of wines but at present, little information is available. In this work, the bacteria colonizing the different portions of grapevine (bark, leaves and grapes) were explored in the vineyards of the Alpine region of Trentino, considering the impact of different environmental and agronomical variables. The vineyards included in the work were selected based on their different geographical positions (altitude) and grapevine training systems in order to explore the whole variability of the grapevine ecosystem. Moreover, the surface amount of copper was measured on grapes and leaves during the vegetative growth. Bacterial analysis, performed using plate counts and Illumina MiSeq, revealed an increase in the concentration of grape bacteria proportional to the progress of the ripening stage. Conversely, the peak of bacterial concentration onto leaf and bark samples occurred in August, probably due to the more favourable environmental conditions. In bark samples, the bacterial microbiota reached the 7 log CFU/cm2, while 6 log UFC/g were measured in grape samples. A remarkable biodiversity was observed, with 13 phyla, 35 classes, 55 orders, 78 families and 95 genera of bacteria present. The presence of some taxa (Alphaproteobacteria, Desulfovibrionaceae, Clostriadiales, Oscillospira, Lachnospiraceae and Bacteroidales) was ubiquitous in all vineyards, but differences in terms of relative abundance were observed according to the vegetative stage, altitude of the vineyard and training system. Bacteria having oenological implication (Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and Oenococcus) were detected in grape samples collected in August, in low abundance. The data revealed a complex bacterial ecosystem inside the vineyard that, while maintaining common traits, evolves according to environmental and agronomical inputs. This study contributes to define the role of bacteria in the complex balance established in each vineyard between human actions and agricultural environment, known as terroir.

Orchestrators of coordination: Towards a new role of the state in coordinated capitalism?

Liberalization poses significant challenges for the continued provision of collective goods within coordinated market economies (CME). Extant scholarship suggests two dominant sets of responses. Either CMEs continue to rely on employer coordination, but only for a privileged core, leading to dualization. Or, in cases where the state enjoys high capacity, the state instead compensates for liberalization but ends up crowding out employer coordination. In both cases, the result is decreasing employer coordination. We argue that in CMEs, the state may also play the role of “orchestrator” by supporting the revitalization of employer coordination. It does so through the deployment of ideational and institutional resources that mobilize employers’ associations on a voluntary basis. Applying our framework to a core area of coordinated capitalism, vocational education and training, we show that in both Germany and Switzerland, this indirect and soft form of state intervention was instrumental for turning around their crisis-stricken vocational training systems.

Application of vibration to the soles reduces minimum toe clearance variability during walking

Minimum toe clearance (MTC) is an important indicator of the risk of tripping. Aging and neuromuscular diseases often decrease MTC height and increase its variability, leading to a higher risk of tripping. Previous studies have developed visual feedback-based gait training systems to modify MTC. However, these systems are bulky and expensive, and the effects of the training continue only for a short time. We paid attention to the efficacy of vibration in decreasing the variability of gait parameters, and hypothesized that proper vibration applied to soles can reduce the MTC variability. Using shoes embedded with active vibrating insoles, we assessed the efficacy of both sub- and supra-threshold vibration in affecting MTC distribution. Experiment results with 17 young and healthy adults showed that vibration applied throughout the walking task with constant intensity of 130% of sensory threshold significantly decreased MTC variability, whereas sub-threshold vibration yielded no significant effect. These results demonstrate that a properly designed tactile sensory input which is controlled and delivered by a simple wearable device, the active insole, can reduce the MTC variability during walking.

Investigation for utilization of training resources in technical education: A comparative study

This research study presents a comparative study between the quarter and the semester systems in the technical institutes, in terms of scheduling, training, and utilizing the training resources such as classrooms/halls capacity and employing the instructors. The size of the study sample was represented by the total number of students in classrooms/halls for the study courses in the quarter system by 8836 students distributed over 363 sections. While in the semester system 10360 students distributed over 358 sections. Thus, a comparison was made based on one training year between the two training systems for basic skills courses. The samples were used to know the effect of class capacity and teaching loads on the training system by making initial comparisons, and statistical tools were used where averages of class capacity and teaching loads were calculated to know the status and trends of the data using the plot box. In addition to descriptive statistics (Two samples F-test for variance) and finally, (t-test: Two samples assuming unequal variance) were selected. The p-value less than 0.05 of single-tailed confirmed that classroom capacity and instructors’ load were higher in the semester system compared to the quarter system.

Instrumental and executive system of training and testing

One of the ways to increase the efficiency of computer support of the educational process is to provide the subject teacher with a simple and easy-to-use interactive instrumental and executive system with a set of educational materials and test tasks for testing knowledge. The presence of two subsystems - the subsystem of learning and the subsystem of testing and performance accounting allows the teacher to solve the problem of simultaneous questioning in the classroom. The student, in turn, gets the opportunity to re-test independently to correct his unsatisfactory grades on certain topics already covered. Pedagogical experience shows that there were many such systems; most of them were focused on learning programming. Today, almost all training systems created in the 1960s, except PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations), have no practical significance. In their didactic capabilities, they differed little from the systems that used the simplest technical learning tools and provided a rigid, virtually excluding dialogue determination of student activity. However, it was the first developments that stimulated interest in computer learning, and the development of hardware and software for personal computers led to greater opportunities for their use in learning.

Promote Assistive and AAC technologies during Covid-19

The Covid-19 health emergency has produced a rethinking of education and training systems based on open and flexible physical spaces and remote communication channels; however, socialization processes and virtual relational exchanges are still possible and at the same time authentic. Moreover, the use of telecommunication technologies augment efforts to find a new way to organize educational spaces when it is not possible to share physical space and virtual spaces must be used. Starting from the role of assistive technologies in European policies, this work presents a case study about the inclusive perspective of corporeality and action in teaching-learning process and described an experience done in a third grade class of a primary school in Rome where a teacher used an eye communicator with GRID3 software and tools of Augmentative Alternative Communication with a student with complex communication needs, main goal of this activity was to create an inclusive and sharing path for each scholar done in distance education. Promuovere le tecnologie assistive e la CAA al tempo del Covid-19. L’emergenza sanitaria da Covid-19 ha sollecitato un ripensamento dei sistemi educativi e formativi quali dimensioni aperte e flessibili in cui formarsi, spazi nei quali i canali di comunicazione a distanza hanno reso possibile processi di socializzazione e scambi relazionali virtuali ma non per questo meno autentici, luoghi della didattica in cui favorire gli apprendimenti mediante l’uso di tecnologie che hanno consentito di raggiungere risultati anche in assenza di condivisione di uno spazio fisico. Il lavoro presenta una riflessione sul ruolo delle tecnologie assistive nelle politiche europee, sul potenziale inclusivo della corporeità e dell’azione nei percorsi di insegnamento-apprendimento e propone la descrizione di un’esperienza svoltasi nella classe terza di una scuola primaria romana dove, in presenza di un’alunna con gravi difficoltà comunicative, la didattica ha previsto l’uso del comunicatore oculare con software GRID3 coniugato alle pratiche e agli strumenti propri della Comunicazione Aumentativa Alternativa, con l’obiettivo di creare un percorso inclusivo e partecipativo per ciascun alunno, seppure a distanza.

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN ORGANIZATION OF THE LESSON "BASICS OF LIFE SAFETY" HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Innovation - an innovation in the field of technology, technology, labor organization or management, based on the use of scientific achievements and best practices, providing a qualitative increase in the efficiency of the production system or product quality [3]. Pedagogical innovation is changes aimed at improving the development, education and training of students of a higher educational institution. At the present stage of development of pedagogical education, innovative processes have affected various areas. The search for new approaches is carried out in different directions - in the content, technologies, forms of organizing the activities of the subjects of the educational process, in assessing the results. Each pedagogical era gave birth to its own generation of technologies: - the first generation of educational technologies represented traditional methods; - Technologies of the second and third generations were modular-block and all-block training systems; - Integral technology belongs to the fourth generation of educational technologies.