Surveillance studies of Lymphocystis disease virus in farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) by real-time PCR

Lymphocystis disease (LCD) is the main viral infection reported to affect cultured gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) in Southern Atlantic and Mediterranean aquaculture. Its etiological agent is the Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV), a member of the family Iridoviridae (genus Lymphocystivirus). The only adequate measures for LCD prevention in the aquaculture systems are general prophylactic practices, such as the control of fish to be introduced in the farm facilities in order to detect carrier fish. These animals may pose a risk for the introduction of LCDV in fish farms, as direct contact between fish specimens is considered the main route of LCDV spreading. More recently, asymptomatic carrier breeders, as well as virus contaminated-live food, have been involved in LCDV transmission to fish larvae. The detection of subclinical viral infections in carrier fish requires the use of sensitive diagnostic methods. In this context, the objective of this study was to establish the applicability of a real-time PCR assay for LCDV diagnosis in surveillance studies. In addition, the assay has been evaluated with samples from a gilthead seabream hatchery, in order to prove its utility to trace the origin of LCDV in fish farms. Juvenile fish were collected at four farms with different background regarding to LCD. LCDV was detected in all farms, and 30 to 100% of fish were identified as LCDV-infected. Estimated viral load in caudal fin of asymptomatic fish was two to five orders of magnitude lower than in diseased fish. Carrier fish were also identified in the broodstock from a farm with LCD records by analysing caudal fin samples by qPCR. In this farm, the q-PCR assay developed in this study allowed the quantitative detection of LCDV in all samples collected in the hatchery, including fertilized eggs, larvae and fingerlings, and also rotifer cultures and artemia metanauplii and cysts used for larval rearing.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Course of infection with Lymphocystis disease virus in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) is the etiological agent of lymphocystis disease (LCD), a pathology that affects a wide variety of fish species. Data about LCDV pathogenesis are very short, and mainly limited to histopathological studies of skin lesions. Recent studies on viral genome detection (both by PCR or DNA-DNA in situ hybridization) suggest that LCDV establish a systemic and persistent infection in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), but further studies are necessary to prove if this infection is productive or not. In the present study viral quantification and viral mRNA detection (by qPCR and RT-qPCR) have been used to investigate LCDV multiplication in different organs of juvenile gilthead seabream. In addition, a histopathological study was carried out. Animals were collected from two commercial farms in Southwestern Spain. In one farm, where no LCD outbreaks have been recorded, apparently healthy fish were collected, whereas in the other farm, diseased and recovered (two months after LCD symptoms disappearance) fish were sampled. All the animals were LCDV-infected, and viral gene expression was detected in every organ analysed (caudal fin, intestine, liver, spleen, kidney and brain). In asymptomatic animals, both apparently healthy and recovered, a low-titre infection was observed, with the highest viral copy numbers detected in brain and kidney. In diseased fish, viral loads were significantly higher than in subclinical infected animals, being maximal in caudal fin, where lymphocysts were present in the dermis. Different histological alterations were observed in the internal organs from diseased fish analysed, although no hypertrophied cells were detected in any of them. In recovered fish, most of the organs examined presented similar histological features to those in healthy animals. Thus, pathological changes were only detected in the intestine and liver, although they were less severe than those observed in diseased fish. The results presented showed that LCDV establishes a systemic infection in juvenile gilthead seabream, which can be subclinical. In addition, although the disease is self-limiting, the virus is not removed after disease recovery, but produces a persistent infection.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Graphical design tools to determine the minimum self-cleansing slope in small diameter sanitary sewers

[ES] Este artículo presenta herramientas gráficas para diseño de tuberías de alcantarillado sanitario con autolimpieza por tensión de corte, para diámetros entre 100 y 400 mm, usando dos diferentes criterios: primero, considerando la suposición que con el caudal mínimo se desarrollará un esfuerzo cortante igual al generado por la tubería llena a una velocidad de 0.6, 0.7 y 0.8 m/s, y segundo, usando tensiones de corte mínimas de 0.867, 1.4 y 2 N/m2. Estas herramientas consisten en curvas para determinar la pendiente de autolimpieza, la profundidad relativa, el caudal máximo que puede ser transportado con una profundidad relativa de 0.8D, y las velocidades para flujo lleno y parcialmente lleno para un caudal mínimo dado. También se incluyen ecuaciones para determinar tanto un valor aproximado de la pendiente de autolimpieza, como la pendiente exacta. Se consideró un coeficiente de rugosidad de Manning constante de 0.009 s/m1/3, correspondiente a tuberías nuevas de PVC.[EN] This paper presents graphical tools for the design of sanitary sewers with self-cleansing by shear stress, for diameters between 100 mm and 400 mm, using two different criteria: first, using the assumption that under minimum flow the liquid will develop a shear stress equal to that generated by the sewer when running full at a velocity of 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8 m/s, and second, using self-cleansing shear stress of 0.867, 1.4, and 2 N/m2. These tools consist of curves to determine the self-cleansing slope, the depth-to-diameter ratio, the maximum flow rate that can be transported with a relative depth of 0.8D, and the velocity under part-full and full-pipe conditions for a given minimum flow rate. Also, equations are provided to determine both an approximate value of the self-cleansing slope, as well as the exact slope. A constant Manning’s roughness coefficient of 0.009 s/m1/3 was used, corresponding to new PVC pipes.Castro Carrera, F.; La Motta, E. (2020). Herramientas gráficas de diseño para determinar la pendiente mínima de autolimpieza en tuberías de alcantarillado sanitario de pequeño diámetro. Ingeniería del agua. 24(1):49-63. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.2020.12260OJS4963241Anta, J., Suárez, J., Jácome, A., Regueiro-Picallo, M., Puertas, J., Naves, J., Recarey, M. (2018). SEDUNIT Project: Study of the accumulation, erosion and sediment transport of cohesive solids in combined sewer systems, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 228, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2495/WP180011Arthur, S., Ashley, R., Tait, S., Nalluri, C. (1999). Sediment Transport in Sewers - A Step Towards the Design of Sewers to Control Sediment Problems. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water, Maritime and Energy, 9-19. https://doi.org/10.1680/iwtme.1999.31264ASCE - WEF. (2007). Gravity Sanitary Sewer Design and Construction. ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice NO. 60. WEF Manual of Practice No. FD-5. (Segunda). ASCE, Reston, Virginia, USA.ASCE - WPCF. (1969). Design and construction of sanitary and storm sewers. Manual Rep. No. 9.ASCE - WPCF. (1982). Gravity Sanitary Sewer Design and Construction. ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice NO. 60. WPCF Manual of Practice No. FD-5. ASCE, New York, USA.Bakalian, A., Wright, A., Otis, R., de Azevedo Netto, J. (1994). Simplified Sewerage: Design Guidelines. Water and Sanitation Report, 7. Washington, DC 20433 USA.Banasiak, R., Tait, S. (2008). The reliability of sediment transport predictions in sewers: influence of hydraulic and morphological uncertainties, Water Science & Technology, 57(9), 1317-1327, https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2008.297Bishop, R. R. (1978). Hydraulic Characteristics of PVC Pipe in Sanitary Sewers (A Report of Field Measurements). Reports. Paper 598. Recuperado de https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_rep/598/Bong, C. H. J. (2014). A Review on the Self-Cleansing Design Criteria for Sewer System. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak UNIMAS E-Journal of Civil Engineering, 5(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.33736/jcest.132.2014British Standards Institution. (2017). BS EN 16933-2:2017. Drain and sewer systems outside buildings - Design. Part 2: Hydraulic design. BSI.Butler, D., Davies, J. W. (2011). Urban Drainage. 3rd Ed. Taylor & Francis, Ed. Oxon.Butler, D., Digman, C., Makropoulos, C., Davies, J. W. (2018). Urban Drainage, 4th Ed. Boca Raton, EUA: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group.Butler, D., May, R., Ackers, J. (1996a). Sediment Transport in Sewers, Part 2: Design. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water, Maritime and Energy. https://doi.org/10.1680/iwtme.1996.28432Butler, D., May, R., Ackers, J. (2003). Self-Cleansing Sewer Design Based on Sediment Transport Principles. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 129(4), 276-282. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2003)129:4(276)Butler, D., May, R. W. P., Ackers, J. C. (1996b). Sediment transport in sewers, Part 1: Background. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water, Maritime and Energy, 118(2), 103-112. https://doi.org/10.1680/iwtme.1996.28431Camp, T. R. (1946). Sewage Works. Sewage Works Journal, 18(1), 3-16.Ebtehaj, I., Bonakdari, H., Sharifi, A. (2014). Design criteria for sediment transport in sewers based on self-cleansing concept. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Applied Physics & Engineering), 15(11), 914-924, https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A1300135Enfinger, K., Mitchell, P. (2010). Scattergraph Principles and Practice: Evaluating Self-Cleansing in Existing Sewers Using the Tractive Force Method. ADS Environmental Services. https://doi.org/10.1061/41114(371)453Fair, G. M., Geyer, J. C., Okun, D. A. (1966). Water and Wastewater Engineering. Volume 1 Water Supply and Wastewater Removal. New York, USA: I. John Wiley and Sons, Ed.Ghani, A. (1993). Sediment Transport in Sewers. PhD Thesis. University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. England. Recuperado de https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271452785_Sediment_transport_in_SewersGLUMRB. (2014). Recommended Standards for Wastewater Facilities, A Report of the Wastewater Committee of the Great Lakes - Upper Mississippi River, Board of State and Provincial Public Health and Environmental Managers. Albany, N.Y., USA.Guzmán, K., La Motta, E. J., McCorquodale, J. A., Rojas, S., Ermogenous, M. (2007). Effect of Biofilm Formation on Roughness Coefficient and Solids Deposition in Small-Diameter PVC Sewer Pipes. Journal of Environmental Engineering, ASCE, 133(4), 364-371. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2007)133:4(364)Haestad Methods, Walski, T. M., Barnard, T. E., Harold, E., Merritt, L. B., Walker, N., Whitman, B. E. (2004). Wastewater collection system modeling and design. Waterbury, CT, USA: Haestad Press.Hager, W. H. (2010). Wastewater Hydraulics. Theory and Practice, 2nd Ed. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11383-3Houghtalen, R. J., Akan, A. O., Hwang, N. H. C. (2017). Fundamentals of Hydraulic Engineering Systems. 5th Ed. Pearson.Mara, D., Sleight, A., Tayler, K. (2001). PC-based Simplified Sewer Design 1st Ed. School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, LEEDS LS2 9JT, England. Recuperado de https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d4ee5274a31e00017aa/R7535-simplified_sewerage_manual_full.pdfMelo, J. C. (2005). The Experience of Condominial Water and Sewerage Systems in Brazil: Case Studies from Brasilia, Salvador and Parauapebas. Lima, Perú.Merritt, L. B. (2009). Tractive Force Design for Sanitary Sewer Self-Cleansing. Journal Of Environmental Engineering, ASCE, 135(12). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0000105Metcalf y Eddy, I. (1981). Wastewater Engineering: Collection and Pumping of Wastewater. (G. Tchobanoglous, Ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill.Ministerio de Vivienda Ciudad y Territorio. (2012). Reglamento Técnico del Sector de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico - RAS, Título D Sistemas de Recolección y Evacuación de Aguas Residuales Domésticas y Aguas Lluvias. 2ª Ed. Bogotá, Colombia.Nalluri, C., Ghani, A. (1996). Design options for self-cleansing storm sewers. Water Science and Technology, 33(9), 215-220. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1996.0214PVC Pipe Association. (2012). Handbook of PVC Pipe Design and Construction, 5th Ed. Industrial Press, Inc.Seco I., Gómez-Valentín M., Schellart A. y Tait S. (2014). Erosion resistance and behaviour of highly organic in-sewer sediment, Water Science and Techonology, 69(3), 672-679. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2013.761Shammas, N., Wang, L. K. (2011). Water and wastewater engineering: water supply and wastewater removal, 3rd Ed. USA: John Wiley and Sons Inc.Sturm, T. W. (2001). Open Channel Hydraulics. Boston, EUA: McGraw Hill, Ed. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1421122Trapote-Jaume, A. (2013). Infraestructuras Hidráulico-Sanitarias II. Saneamiento y drenaje urbano. 2ª Ed. Universidad de Alicante.Vongvisessomjai, N., Tingsanchali, T., Babel M. (2010). Non-deposition design criteria for sewers with part-full flow, Urban Water Journal, 7(1), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15730620903242824Yao, K. M. (1974). Sewer line design based on critical shear stress. Journal of the Environmental Engineering Division, 100(2), 507-520.Yao, K. M. (1976). Functional Design of Sanitary Sewers. Water Pollution Control Federation, 48(7), 1772-1778. Recuperado de http://www.jstor.org/stable/25039066?seq=1#references_tab_contents

Frequency response of Valencia oranges to selective harvesting by vibration

Citrus mechanical harvesting has been investigated since the 1960’s. Even though mechanical harvesting could significantly lower production costs, the implementation by the private sector has been slow. The current harvesting technologies detach the fruits with trunk, canopy or branch vibration. For late-season sweet orange varieties which simultaneously bear mature fruit, immature fruitlets and flowers shaker harvesting decreases the subsequent year’s yield. This study, investigated the frequency response of mature fruits and immature fruitlets to determine the optimum frequency range for an efficient and selective harvest. Laboratory vibration transmission tests were conducted with 14 branches bearing 76 mature fruits and 151 immature ‘Valencia’ fruitlets. The fruit and branch response to the forced vibration was measured by several sets of five triaxial accelerometers with a dynamic signal analyser. Three frequency ranges with the highest vibration transmission values were identified for mechanical harvesting lower than 10 Hz. The first frequency range (1.5-2.5 Hz) corresponded best with the most efficient vibration transmission, involving more than 90% of fruit. The second frequency range (4.5-5 Hz) successfully discriminated between mature fruit and immature fruitlets. In this frequency range, 53.4% of mature fruit amplified the acceleration a mean value of 2.2 times, while only 7.3% of immature fruitlets amplified the acceleration with a mean value of 4.4 times. The lowest third frequency range had a vibration transmission value of 7-8 Hz. The frequency response of mature citrus fruits, and their markedly higher fruit mass, were significant factors in efficient selective mechanical harvesting

Sacha inchi oil (Plukenetia volubilis) stabilized with antioxidants for addition in fresh cheese

Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia volubilis) is a nut that has been grown in the Amazon Rainforest and the high Andes Mountains of Peru for countless centuries. The oil of this nut, natural source of omega 3, 6 and 9, has been recognized by its high antioxidant capacity in humans. In this work, oil from Sacha Inchi was fortified with two commercial antioxidants (Ecoprol 2020 and tocopherol) in order to prepare a fresh cheese from cow's milk. The antioxidant capacities of Sacha Inchi and commercial antioxidants were used as preservatives with the purpose to increase the shelf-life of fresh cheese besides nutritional content. The factorial method was necessary to prepare seven formulations in order to find the optimal concentration of the antioxidants added to Sacha Inchi oil andthe addition of this oil to the fresh cheese. A sensory analysis was performed to choose the best formulation. The results showed that an oil formulation (F4) with tocopherol (150 mg/kg of oil) and Ecoprol 2020 (1000 mg/kg of oil) displayed the lowest peroxide values (PI: 2.6 ± 0.1 meq O2/kg of oil, p < 0.001) and it was able to reduce approximately 50% of fatty acid oxidation in Sacha Inchi oil in relation to the PI control. Then, F4 was used to elaborate further nine formulations (F’1 – F’9), enriched with Sacha Inchi oil (1 to 4%) to prepare the fresh cheese. Microbiological analysis for all formulations were performed (limits of mold, yeasts, coliforms, salmonella, and  bacteria) in order to meet the legal requirements of health and safety in Peru. The cheese taste acceptability was determined through the sensorial evaluation, which reached 7.2 according to the 9- hedonic scale for F'5. Thus, an optimum fresh cheese was obtained from the formulation (F’5) with 22.5g/L of salt and 2.5% of Sacha Inchi oil enriched with 150 mg/kg of tocopherol and 1000 mg/kg of Ecoprol 2020. The cheese shelf-life was also evaluated, increasing it up from 7 days to 16 days in refrigeration. Key words: cheese, antioxidant, Sacha Inchi, shelf-life, Ecoprol 2020, tocophero

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain. Our findings show that 37% of British adults report at least one paranormal experience and that women, those who are middle-aged or individuals resident in the South West are more likely to report such experiences. These results establish incidence levels of reported paranormal experiences in contemporary Britain. We argue also that they merit a more sustained sociological consideration of the paranormal. In this respect we renew and update the robust justification and call for serious research positioning the paranormal as a social phenomenon, originally proposed well over thirty years ago by Greeley (1975)

Low Complexity Regularization of Linear Inverse Problems

Inverse problems and regularization theory is a central theme in contemporary signal processing, where the goal is to reconstruct an unknown signal from partial indirect, and possibly noisy, measurements of it. A now standard method for recovering the unknown signal is to solve a convex optimization problem that enforces some prior knowledge about its structure. This has proved efficient in many problems routinely encountered in imaging sciences, statistics and machine learning. This chapter delivers a review of recent advances in the field where the regularization prior promotes solutions conforming to some notion of simplicity/low-complexity. These priors encompass as popular examples sparsity and group sparsity (to capture the compressibility of natural signals and images), total variation and analysis sparsity (to promote piecewise regularity), and low-rank (as natural extension of sparsity to matrix-valued data). Our aim is to provide a unified treatment of all these regularizations under a single umbrella, namely the theory of partial smoothness. This framework is very general and accommodates all low-complexity regularizers just mentioned, as well as many others. Partial smoothness turns out to be the canonical way to encode low-dimensional models that can be linear spaces or more general smooth manifolds. This review is intended to serve as a one stop shop toward the understanding of the theoretical properties of the so-regularized solutions. It covers a large spectrum including: (i) recovery guarantees and stability to noise, both in terms of $\ell^2$-stability and model (manifold) identification; (ii) sensitivity analysis to perturbations of the parameters involved (in particular the observations), with applications to unbiased risk estimation ; (iii) convergence properties of the forward-backward proximal splitting scheme, that is particularly well suited to solve the corresponding large-scale regularized optimization problem

How much time does a measurement take?

We consider the problem of measurement using the Lindblad equation, which allows the introduction of time in the interaction between the measured system and the measurement apparatus. We use analytic results, valid for weak system-environment coupling, obtained for a two-level system in contact with a measurer (Markovian interaction) and a thermal bath (non-Markovian interaction), where the measured observable may or may not commute with the system-environment interaction. Analysing the behavior of the coherence, which tends to a value asymptotically close to zero, we obtain an expression for the time of measurement which depends only on the system-measurer coupling, and which does not depend on whether the observable commutes with the system-bath interaction. The behavior of the coherences in the case of strong system-environment coupling, found numerically, indicates that an increase in this coupling decreases the measurement time, thus allowing our expression to be considered the upper limit for the duration of the process.Comment: REVISED VERSION: 17 pages, 2 figure

Noncritical M-Theory in 2+1 Dimensions as a Nonrelativistic Fermi Liquid

We claim that the dynamics of noncritical string theories in two dimensions is related to an underlying noncritical version of M-theory, which we define in terms of a double-scaled nonrelativistic Fermi liquid in 2+1 dimensions. After reproducing Type 0A and 0B string theories as solutions, we study the natural M-theory vacuum. The vacuum energy of this solution can be evaluated exactly, its form suggesting a duality to the Debye model of phonons in a melting solid, and a possible topological nature of the theory. The physical spacetime is emergent in this theory, only for states that admit a hydrodynamic description. Among the solutions of the hydrodynamic equations of motion for the Fermi surface, we find families describing the decay of one two-dimensional string theory into another via an intermediate M-theory phase.Comment: 47 pages, 1 figure; v2: typos corrected, references adde

Optical Hall conductivity of systems with gapped spectral nodes

We calculate the optical Hall conductivity within the Kubo formalism for systems with gapped spectral nodes, where the latter have a power-law dispersion with exponent n. The optical conductivity is proportional to n and there is a characteristic logarithmic singularity as the frequency approaches the gap energy. The optical Hall conductivity is almost unaffected by thermal fluctuations and disorder for n=1, whereas disorder has a stronger effect on transport properties if n=2