Crop models are used to estimate crop productivity under future climate projections, and modellers manage uncertainty by considering different scenarios and GCMs, using a range of crop simulators. ...Five crop models and 20 users were arranged in a randomized block design with four replicates. Parameters for maize (well studied by modellers) and rapeseed (almost ignored) were calibrated. While all models were accurate for maize (RRMSE from 16.5% to 25.9%), they were, to some extent, unsuitable for rapeseed. Although differences between biomass simulated by the models were generally significant for rapeseed, they were significant only in 30% of the cases for maize. This could suggest that in case of models well suited to a crop, user subjectivity (which explained 14% of total variance in maize outputs) can hide differences in model algorithms and, consequently, the uncertainty due to parameterization should be better investigated.
•Five crop models and 20 users were arranged in four randomized blocks.•The significance of model factor for maize and rapeseed was evaluated.•All models achieved good performance for maize and poor for rapeseed.•Differences between models were significant only in 30% of the cases for maize.•Parameterization uncertainty should be explicitly managed also in model ensembles.
A novel method is reported for screening for point mutations in genomic DNA: free‐zone capillary electrophoresis in very acidic buffers. This method exploits the charge difference among the four ...different bases (C, T, A, G) in a pH window between 2.5 and 3.5, where the four titration curves fan out. The method is applied to the detection of the β‐39 missense mutation in the β‐globin gene in thalassemias. A 60‐mer fragment straddling the mutation site has been amplified. In an isoelectric buffer (iminodiacetic acid) of pH 3.3, partial resolution between the wild type and mutated strands is obtained. In a pH 3.0 phosphate buffer, baseline resolution is achieved between the two strands in a heterozygous individual. Due to the short size of the amplified fragment, this method can only be applied to routine screening for known mutations because resolution was lost in a fragment 100 bases long.
