Mollusk freaks: New teratological cases on marine mollusks from the south pacific ocean

Indexación: Scopus.The present study provides new documented cases of abnormalities on chitons (hypomerism and coalescence of shell plates), in addition to four new cases on keyhole limpets (closed apical opening), and one new teratologic case on internal organs in octopuses (missing gill). We assess the frequency of these abnormalities and discuss about its possible environmental, mechanic and genetic causes. Several of these findings represent the first of these cases reported in South Pacific Ocean. © 2018, Escuela de Ciencias del Mar. All rights reserved.http://lajar.ucv.cl/index.php/rlajar/article/view/vol46-issue4-fulltext-

A grammar of Tagdal: a Northern Songhay language

This book comprises a synchronic description of Tagdal a Songhay-Berber mixed language spoken in the southeastern and central regions of the Republic of Niger. It begins with a summary of the historic and general sociolinguistic situation in Niger and how it affects speakers of Tagdal, followed by a description of the sound system, beginning with the consonant and vowel inventories, as well as some phonological processes. The largest sections include a description of the grammar, starting with the morphology. The intricate interactions between stress placement, vowel and consonant length, and certain aspects of the morphology are described in detail. Special attention is given to the idea that Tagdal contains two prosodic sub-systems, one for vocabulary of Songhay origin and another for vocabulary of Berber-Tuareg origin. This leads to processes such as suppletion of Songhay cognates, with suppletive stems of Tuareg origin. The syntax of Tagdal is also described, including descriptions of how clauses are combined to form both simple and complex sentences. Attention is also paid to how Tagdal combines sentences into higher-level units such as paragraphs, sections and discourses. Descriptive and Comparative Linguistic

Electron beam induced electronic transport in alkyl amine-intercalated VOx nanotubes

The electron beam induced electronic transport in primary alkyl amine-intercalated V2O5 nanotubes is investigated where the organic amine molecules are employed as molecular conductive wires to an aminosilanized substrate surface and contacted to Au interdigitated electrode contacts. The results demonstrate that the high conductivity of the nanotubes is related to the non-resonant tunnelling through the amine molecules and a reduced polaron hopping conduction through the vanadium oxide itself. Both nanotube networks and individual nanotubes exhibit similarly high conductivities where the minority carrier transport is bias dependent and nanotube diameter invariant

Evaluation of two 99mTc-DTPA radioaerosols with different characteristics in lung ventilation studies

Two radioaerosol preparations, TechneScan®-DTPA (99mTc-DTPA, 40 mCi/3 ml; IPEN-CNEN, São Paulo, SP, Brazil) and TechneScan®-DTPA/AEROSOL (99mTc-DTPA/A, 15 mCi/1.5 ml with 0.5 ml ethanol; Mallinckrodt Medical, St. Louis, MO, USA), were compared in pulmonary ventilation studies in terms of total radiocounts and clearance after inhalation. An aerosol with ethanol is supposed to better distribute the radioparticles in the lungs. Twenty normal nonsmoking volunteers (10 men and 10 women), mean age of 23.2 years (range: 20 to 35 years), were studied. Images were obtained immediately and 30, 60 and 90 min after inhalation. Total and regional counts were obtained and the clearance half-lives of both lungs were determined. There was no difference in total counts between the two types of radioaerosol at any time (mean of ~188,000 cpm for male and female subjects at time zero in both aerosols). The highest count was obtained in the middle region of both lungs (P<0.001) with both preparations. The clearance half-life did not differ between aerosols (mean of ~80-88 min for male and female subjects for both aerosols). Small nonsignificant regional differences were observed. No differences between genders or between right and left lung were observed. 99mTc-DTPA/A generated the highest output of radioaerosol. 99mTc-DTPA with alcohol costs approximately five times more than the aerosol without alcohol. The present results show that either kind of aerosol may be adopted routinely for use in pulmonary examinations without affecting diagnosis. We suggest that the amount of 740 mBq (20 mCi) of 99mTc-DTPA in 1.5 ml saline can be used for routine examinations resulting in reduction of costs in pulmonary ventilation studies without diagnostic impairment.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Centro de Reabilitação PulmonarUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de Diagnóstico por ImagemUNIFESP, Centro de Reabilitação PulmonarUNIFESP, Depto. de Diagnóstico por ImagemSciEL

Recovery of different waste vegetable oils for biodiesel production: a pilot experience in Bahia State, Brazil

In Brazil, and mainly in the State of Bahia, crude vegetable oils are widely used in the preparation of food. Street stalls, restaurants and canteens make a great use of palm oil and soybean oil. There is also some use of castor oil, which is widely cultivated in the Sert\ue3o Region (within the State of Bahia), and widely applied in industry. This massive use in food preparation leads to a huge amount of waste oil of different types, which needs either to be properly disposed of, or recovered. At the Laboratorio Energia e Gas-LEN (Energy & Gas lab.) of the Universidade Federal da Bahia, a cycle of experiments were carried out to evaluate the recovery of waste oils for biodiesel production. The experiences were carried out on a laboratory scale and, in a semi-industrial pilot plant using waste oils of different qualities. In the transesterification process, applied waste vegetable oils were reacted with methanol with the support of a basic catalyst, such as NaOH or KOH. The conversion rate settled at between 81-85% (in weight). The most suitable molar ratio of waste oils to alcohol was 1:6, and the amount of catalyst required was 0.5% (of the weight of the incoming oil), in the case of NaOH, and 1%, in case of KOH. The quality of the biodiesel produced was tested to determine the final product quality. The parameters analyzed were the acid value, kinematic viscosity, monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, free glycerine, total glycerine, clearness; the conversion yield of the process was also evaluated

Myeloid TBK1 signaling contributes to the immune response to influenza

Macrophages provide key elements of the host response to influenza A virus (IAV) infection, including expression of type I IFN and inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. TBK1 (TNF receptor–associated factor family member–associated NF-kB activator–binding kinase 1) contributes to IFN expression and antivira responses in some cell types, but its role in the innate response to IA in vivo is unknown. We hypothesized that macrophage TBK1 contributes to both IFN and non-IFN components of host defense and IAV pathology. We generated myeloid-conditional TBK1 knockout mice and assessed the in vitro and in vivo consequences of IAV infection. Myeloid-specific loss of TBK1 in vivo resulted in less sever host response to IAV, as assessed by decreased mortality, weight loss and hypoxia and less inflammatory changes in BAL fluid relative to wild-type mice despite no differences in viral load. Mice lacking myeloid TBK1 showed less recruitment of CD64 1 SiglecF 2 Ly6C hi inflammatory macrophages, less expression of inflammatory cytokines in the BAL fluid, and less expression of both IFN regulatory factor and NF-kB target genes in the lung. Analysis of sorted alveolar macrophages, inflammatory macrophages, and lung interstitial macrophages revealed that each subpopulation requires TBK1 for distinct components of the response to IAV infection. Our findings define roles for myeloid TBK1 in IAV-induced lung inflammation apart from IFN type I expression and point to myeloid TBK1 as a central and cell type–specific regulator of virus-induced lung damage

Water wave propagation and scattering over topographical bottoms

Here I present a general formulation of water wave propagation and scattering over topographical bottoms. A simple equation is found and is compared with existing theories. As an application, the theory is extended to the case of water waves in a column with many cylindrical steps

Utilisation d'un robot terrestre pour estimer les caracteristiques de la canopee et le rendement au vignoble

This paper aims to present some results of the EU VINBOT (Autonomous cloud-computing vineyard robot to optimize yield management and wine quality) project focused on vineyard yield estimation. A ground truth evaluation trial was set up in an experimental vineyard with two plots of the white varieties ‘Alvarinho’ and ‘Arinto’, trained on a vertical shoot positioning system and spur pruned. For each varietal plot, six smart points were selected with 10 contiguous vines each. During the ripening period of the 2016 season the vines were manually assessed for canopy dimensions and yield and then scanned by the VINBOT sensor head composed with a 2D laser rangefinder, a Kinect v2 camera and a set of robot navigation sensors. Ground truth data was used to compare with the canopy data estimated by the rangefinder and with the output of the image analysis algorithms. Regarding canopy features (height, volume and exposed leaf area), in general an acceptable fit between actual and estimated values was observed with canopy height showing the best agreement. The regression analysis between actual and estimated values of canopy features showed a significant linear relationship for all the features however the lower values of the R2 indicate a weak relationship. Regarding the yield, despite the significant R2 (0.31) showed by the regression analysis between actual and estimated values, the equation of the fitted line indicate that the VINBOT algorithms underestimated the yield by an additive factor. Our results showed that canopy features can be estimated by the VINBOT platform with an acceptable accuracy. However, the underestimation of actual yield, caused mainly by bunch occlusion, deserves further research to improve the algorithms accuracyN/

Semiquantitative theory of electronic Raman scattering from medium-size quantum dots

A consistent semiquantitative theoretical analysis of electronic Raman scattering from many-electron quantum dots under resonance excitation conditions has been performed. The theory is based on random-phase-approximation-like wave functions, with the Coulomb interactions treated exactly, and hole valence-band mixing accounted for within the Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian framework. The widths of intermediate and final states in the scattering process, although treated phenomenologically, play a significant role in the calculations, particularly for well above band gap excitation. The calculated polarized and unpolarized Raman spectra reveal a great complexity of features and details when the incident light energy is swept from below, through, and above the quantum dot band gap. Incoming and outgoing resonances dramatically modify the Raman intensities of the single particle, charge density, and spin density excitations. The theoretical results are presented in detail and discussed with regard to experimental observations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.