Tremátodos Lecithodendriidae y Anenterotrematidae de Argentina, México y Brasil

En este trabajo se describen un género y una especie nuevos de Lecithodendriidae parásitos de Myotis levis (Geof.) (Vespertilionidae) y Tadarida brasiliensis (Geof.) (Molossidae) de Isla Talavera, Buenos Aires, Argentina. A partir del estudio de digéneos parásitos de Histiotus velatus Geof. (Vespertilionidae) depositados en la Colección Helmintológica del Instituto Oswaldo Cruz y asignados a Prosthodendrium cordiforme (Braun 1900), se les reubica en el género Anenterotrema Stunkard 1938 como A. eduardocaballeroi (Freitas 1960) Caballero 1960. Con Histiotus velatus se amplía el registro de hospedadores de A. eduardocaballeroi (Freitas 1960) Caballero 1960. Asimismo, material de la Colección Nacional de Helmintos, Instituto de Biología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México proveniente de Eptesicus propinquus (Peters) (Vespertilionidae) de Costa Rica y asignado por Caballero&Brenes (1957) a P. cordiforme, se reubica en el género Ochoterenatrema Caballero 1943 como O. diminutum (Chandler 1938) Dubois 1960.A new genus and new species of Lecithodendriidae from Myotis levis (Geof.) (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) and Tadarida brasiliensis (Geof.) (Chiroptera, Molossidae) from Isla Talavera, Buenos Aires, Argentina, are here described. Specimens reported as Prosthodendrium cordiforme (Braun 1900) from Histiotus velatus (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) (Helmintological Collection of Oswaldo Cruz Institute), are transferred to the genus Anenterotrema Stunkard 1938 as A. eduardocaballeroi (Freitas 1960) Caballero 1960. Histriotus velatus is a new hostrecord for this species. The specimen reported as P. cordiforme by Caballero and Brenes (1957) from Eptesicus propinquus (Peters) (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from Costa Rica (Colección Nacional de Helmintos, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) are transferred to the genus Ochoterenatrema Caballero 1943, and considered as belonging to O. diminutum (Chandler 1938) Dubois 1960

Municipal expected annual loss as an indicator to develop seismic risk maps in Italy

This work presents a risk-targeted indicator called Municipal Expected Annual Loss (MEAL) for a quantitative estimation of the seismic risk at territorial level. With MEAL, it is possible to calculate the impact of earthquakes in terms of direct losses, taking account of a wide set of earthquake scenarios on the built environment at municipal level. MEAL is, therefore, able to summarize scenario loss values of each municipality, and define in such a way a risk-targeted metric that can clearly be understood also by different stakeholders dealing with seismic risk management, mitigation, and transfer. The use of MEAL to map seismic risk for the Italian residential building stock is herein presented as a case-study, leading to the development of several maps able to depict seismic risk at different territorial scale levels

2D approach for modelling self-potential anomalies. Application to synthetic and real data

The aim of this work is to present a 2-D Matlab code based on the finite element method for providing numerical modelling of both groundwater flow and self-potential signals. The distribution of the self-potential is obtained by starting with the solution of the groundwater flow, then computing the source current density, and finally calculating the electrical potential. The reliability of the algorithm is tested with synthetic case studies in order to simulate both the electric field resulting from the existence of a leak in the dam and SP signals associated with a pumping test in an unconfined aquifer. In addition, the algorithm was applied to field data for the localization of piping sinkholes. The results show that the outputs of the algorithm yielded satisfactory solutions, which are in good agreement with those of previous studies and field investigations. In details, the synthetic data and SP anomalies calculated by using the code are very close in terms of sign and magnitude, while real data tests clearly indicated that the computed SP signals were found to be consistent with the measured values

Exploring disability

Book review of: Exploring disability, Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer (2010) Polity Press, Cambridge, UK; ISBN: 978-0-7456-3486-9, 342 pages, $28.9

Tackling obesity : the big challenge

Obesity has risen rapidly in parts of Europe, following the USA. Now classified as a disease by the World Health Organisation, this article argues that the problem has roots in profound societal transitions in the sphere of diet, the physical environment and culture. It was once considered that the countries of the Mediterranean basin had the best diet in Europe and were therefore more protected against diet-related chronic diseases. In fact child obesity is higher in Mediterranean countries, including Malta, than most other European countries and very much higher than the Baltic states, which have always been considered to have a poor diet. It is argued that the consequences for society are profound and that an equally profound policy strategy is called for.peer-reviewe

Light-Matter Quantum Interface

We propose a quantum interface which applies multiple passes of a pulse of light through an atomic sample with phase/polarization rotations in between the passes. Our proposal does not require nonclassical light input or measurements on the system, and it predicts rapidly growing unconditional entanglement of light and atoms from just coherent inputs. The proposed interface makes it possible to achieve a number of tasks within quantum information processing including teleportation between light and atoms, quantum memory for light and squeezing of atomic and light variables.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Magnetometry with entangled atomic samples

We present a theory for the estimation of a scalar or a vector magnetic field by its influence on an ensemble of trapped spin polarized atoms. The atoms interact off-resonantly with a continuous laser field, and the measurement of the polarization rotation of the probe light, induced by the dispersive atom-light coupling, leads to spin-squeezing of the atomic sample which enables an estimate of the magnetic field which is more precise than that expected from standard counting statistics. For polarized light and polarized atoms, a description of the non-classical components of the collective spin angular momentum for the atoms and the collective Stokes vectors of the light-field in terms of effective gaussian position and momentum variables is practically exact. The gaussian formalism describes the dynamics of the system very effectively and accounts explicitly for the back-action on the atoms due to measurement and for the estimate of the magnetic field. Multi-component magnetic fields are estimated by the measurement of suitably chosen atomic observables and precision and efficiency is gained by dividing the atomic gas in two or more samples which are entangled by the dispersive atom-light interaction.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure