Analysis of an Experimental Cortical Network: i) Architectonics of Visual Areas 17 and 18 After Neonatal Injections of Ibotenic Acid; Similarities with Human Microgyria

Lesions of cortical areas 17 and 18 have been produced in newborn kittens by local injections of the excitotoxin ibotenic acid (ibo). Twenty-four hours after an injection on postnatal days 2 or 3, the gray matter of areas 17 and 18 near the center of the injection appears completely destroyed, with the exception of a one-to-two cell-thick layer at the bottom of layer I. Intact migrating neurons and radial glia can be found light- and electron-microscopically in the region affected. During the following weeks a several hundred micron thick cortex reforms. In the adult, this cortex consists of superficial layers I, II and III as proven by cytoarchitectonics, continuity with the corresponding layers of the normal cortex and cellular composition. We believe that the recovery is due to completion of migration by neurons spared by the ibo injection. More severe destruction of cerebral cortex, i.e. complete loss of the neuronal layers or their reduction to a few cell-thick mantles can be obtained with ibo injections at the end of the second or, respectively, first postnatal week. Severity of lesion also depends on the dose of ibo injected. There are interesting similarities between the ibo-injured cortex and two human neocortical displasias: microgyria and ulegyria

Analysis of an Experimental Cortical Network: ii) Connections of Visual Areas 17 and 18 After Neonatal Injections of Ibotenic Acid

Lesions of cortical areas 17 and 18 were produced in newborn kittens by local injections of the excitotoxin ibotenic acid. In the adult this results in a microcortex which consists of superficial layers I, II and III, in the absence of granular and infragranular layers. Horseradish peroxidase, alone or wheat germ agglutinin conjugated, was injected in the microcortex or in the contralateral, intact areas 17 and 18. The microcortex maintains several connections characteristic of normal areas 17 and 18 of the cat. It receives afferents from the dLGN, and several visual areas of the ipsilateral and contralateral hemisphere. However, it has lost its projections to dLGN, superior colliculus, and, at least in part, those to contralateral visual areas. Thus some parts of the microcortex receive from, but do not project into, the corpus callosum. In addition, the microcortex maintains afferents from ipsilateral and contralateral auditory areas AI and AII which are normally eliminated in development

Institutions and Economics of Water Scarcity and Droughts

Integrated water resources management seeks an efficient blend of all water resources (e.g., fresh surface water, groundwater, reused water, desalinated water) to meet the demands of the full range of water users (e.g., agriculture, municipalities, industry, and e-flows). Water scarcity and droughts already affect many regions of the world and are expected to increase due to climate change and economic growth. In this Special Issue, 10 peer-reviewed articles have been published that address the questions regarding the economic effects of water scarcity and droughts, management instruments, such as water pricing, water markets, technologies and user-based reallocation, and the strategies to enhance resiliency, adaptation to scarcity and droughts. There is a need to improve the operation of institutions in charge of the allocation and re-allocation of resources when temporal (drought) or structural over-allocation arises. Water scarcity, droughts and pollution have increased notably in recent decades. A drought is a temporary climatic effect or natural disaster that can occur anywhere and can be short or prolonged. Water scarcity involves a lack of supply relative to potential or current demand that generates conflict between alternative uses of water, especially regarding the requirements of societies, economic sectors, territories and ecosystems. Traditionally, users in water-scarce regions have adapted to dealing with water shortages; however, droughts can greatly increase problems since they are uncertain events and also affect water-abundant regions, with climate change increasing their frequency and severity [1]. Supply-side mechanisms have traditionally been employed to cope with drought by building infrastructure (wells, dams, channels, inter-basin transfers), and recently by including desalinised, brackish, and reclaimed wastewater into the resource mix. Berbel and Esteban [2] study the influence of drought as a catalyst for water policy reform in three developed economies with a Mediterranean climate (Spain, California and Australia), and find that solutions and institutions are trajectory-dependant and grounded in social institutions. Nevertheless, there is a convergence of the type of instruments employed to manage water scarcity and droughts. In this Special Issue, the reported case studies recount experiences from USA, China, and the European Union (southern Member States). A variety of proposals aimed at tackling droughts and scarcity have been discussed, ranging from economic tools (pricing and insurance) and the increased use of reclaimed wastewater, to reforming the institutional setting (water markets and priority rights). Most of these papers analyses economic instruments and agriculture, but other economic sectors as well as non-market values are also addressed

Elastic scattering measurements for the 10C + 208Pb system at Elab = 66 MeV

Background: The influence of halo structure of 6 He, 8 B, 11Be, and 11Li nuclei in several mechanisms such as direct reactions and fusion is already established, although not completely understood. The influence of the 10C Brunnian structure is less known. Purpose: To investigate the influence of the cluster configuration of 10C on the elastic scattering at an energy close to the Coulomb barrier. Methods: We present experimental data for the elastic scattering of the 10C + 208Pb system at Elab = 66 MeV. The data are compared to the three- and the four-body continuum-discretized coupled-channels calculations assuming 9 B +p, 6 Be +α, and 8 Be +p + p configurations. Results: The experimental angular distribution of the cross sections shows the suppression of the Fresnel peak that is reasonably well reproduced by the continuum-discretized coupled-channels calculations. However, the calculations underestimate the cross sections at backward angles. Couplings to continuum states represent a small effect. Conclusions: The cluster configurations of 10C assumed in the present work are able to describe some of the features of the data. To explain the data at backward angles, experimental data for the breakup and an extension of theoretical formalism towards a four-body cluster seem to be in need to reproduce the measured angular distribution.Ministerio de España de Economía y Competitividad, el Foro Regional Europeo Fondo de Desarrollo (FEDER) FIS2017- 88410-PPrograma Horizonte 2020 de la Unión Europea Subvención No. 654002Fondos SID 2019 (Università degli Studi di Padova, Italia) CASA_SID19_01

Impact of sensory marketing on food tourism decisions in restaurants

[Resumen] El objetivo principal de este trabajo es conocer los efectos del marketing sensorial sobre las decisiones de los clientes de restaurantes al hacer turismo gastronómico. La metodología utilizada es de tipo cuantitativo, a partir de los resultados de una encuesta, a los que se ha aplicado análisis estadístico descriptivo y bivariado. Los principales resultados indican que el 32,30% de los participantes señala al turismo gastronómico como uno de sus motivos preferentes para viajar a un destino y que el 35,2% estaría dispuesto a pagar más por una experiencia multisensorial en un restaurante. Se concluye que las empresas e instituciones involucradas en un sector tan competitivo deben apostar firmemente por la utilización de las técnicas propias del marketing sensorial, pues los turistas gastronómicos muestran preferencias sensoriales muy concretas sobre determinados aspectos relacionados con la vista (luz), olfato (olores más o menos fuertes), gusto (platos), oído (música ambiental) o tacto (materiales).[Abstract] The main aim of this article is to examine the effect of sensory marketing on the decisions of restaurant customers when travelling as food tourists. The study is based on a quantitative descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis of the results of a survey. The results show that 32.30% of the participants identify food tourism as one of their main reasons for travelling to a specific destination and that 35.2% would be willing to pay more to enjoy a multisensory experience in a restaurant. The study concludes that the companies and institutions involved in this competitive sector must move to adopt the techniques of sensory marketing, since food tourists show very specific sensory preferences in relation to sight (light), smell (more or less strong smells), taste (dishes), hearing (ambient music) and touch (materials)

A study on corrosion resistance of ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless steel used as orthopedic implant

The ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless steel used as biomaterial is largely applied in the area of orthopedics, especially in the manufacture of implants, such as temporary or permanent replacement of bone structures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the localized corrosion resistance of the ISO 5832-1 stainless steel used in orthopedic implants by electrochemical tests in two different solutions. The results of this study are of great interest to evaluate the corrosion of metallic implants that can result in the release of corrosion products into bodily fluids causing possible adverse biological reactions. The determination of the chemical elements in the composition of the ISO 5832-1 stainless steel was performed by neutron activation analysis (NAA). The samples for electrochemical tests were grinded with silicon carbide paper up to #4000 finishing, followed by mechanical polishing with diamond paste. The open circuit potential measurements and anodic polarization curves were obtained in solution of 0.90 wt. % of NaCl and of simulated body fluid (SBF). The results indicated that the ISO 5832-1 stainless steel presented a high resistance to crevice corrosion in simulated body fluid solution but high susceptibility to this form of corrosion in the chloride solution. &nbsp

Study of ph effect on AZ31 magnesium alloy corrosion for using in temporary implants

Currently, magnesium alloys are gaining great interest for medical applications due to their degrading properties in the human body ensuring a great biocompatibility. These alloys also provide profitable mechanical properties due similarities with human bone.  However, a difficulty in applying these materials in the biomaterials industries is the corrosion prior to cell healing. The effect of the chemical composition of Mg alloys on their corrosion behavior is well known. In this study, samples of AZ31 magnesium alloy were cut into chips for elemental chemical analysis by neutron activation analysis (NAA). Concentrations of the elements As, La, Mg, Mn, Na, Sb and Zn were determined in the AZ31 alloy. Visualization tests of agar corrosion development in various media, of 0.90% sodium chloride solution (mass), phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and simulated body fluid (SBF) were performed. Visualizations of the effect of agar gel corrosion revealed pH variation during the corrosion process due to the released into the cathode. The highest released of hydroxyl ions occurred in NaCl solution compared to PBS and SBF solutions indicating that NaCl solution was much more aggressive to the alloy compared to the others

Diagenetic Fate of Biogenic Soft and Hard Magnetite in Chemically Stratified Sedimentary Environments of Mamanguá Ría, Brazil

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) synthesize magnetite and greigite crystals under low oxygen conditions in the water column or uppermost sediment (greigite‐producing bacteria are found below the oxic‐anoxic transition). Dissolved iron and oxygen contents in local environments are known to be limiting factors for the production and preservation of biogenic magnetite. Understanding the processes that link MTB to their living environments is fundamental to reconstructing past chemical variations in the water column and sediment, and for using the magnetic properties of biogenic magnetite as environmental proxy indicators. Previous studies have suggested that the frequently identified biogenic soft (BS) and biogenic hard (BH) magnetite types are associated with equant and more elongated morphologies, respectively, and that their abundance varies in accordance with sedimentary oxygen content, where MTB that produce the BH component live in less oxygenated environments. We test this hypothesis in a high‐resolution integrated environmental magnetic and geochemical study of surface sediments from Mamanguá Ría, SE Brazil. Based on magnetic and pore water profiles, we demonstrate that both the BS and BH components occur within microaerobic environments and that as sediment oxygen content decreases with depth, the BS component disappears before the BH component. With continued burial into the sulfidic diagenetic zone, both components undergo progressive dissolution, but the BH component is more resistant to dissolution than the BS component. Our observations confirm previous inferences about the relative stability of these phases and provide a firmer basis for use of these two types of biogenic magnetite as paleoenvironmental proxies.D. R. and L. J. acknowledge funding from FAPESP grants 2012/212123 and 2011/22018‐3, respectively. F. A. acknowledges funding from FAPERJ, CNPq, and CAPES. A. P. R. acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council (grants DP140104544 and DP160100805)