Fast differential scanning calorimetry: new solutions in data treatment and applications to molecular glass-formers

Fast scanning calorimetry is an experimental technique very appreciated for its capability of suppressing reorganization processes, thanks to its wide interval of scanning rates, several orders higher than that of conventional calorimeters; nevertheless, drawbacks still exist. In this paper we propose a novel way to estimate the dynamical thermal lag by using the temperatures of maximum slope of the heat flow through the glass transition when we are not in the optimal conditions to apply the existing methods based on a reference material added on both cells of the chip or on the fictive temperature. Moreover, a novel interpretation of the heat flow losses due to the sample depending on the scanning rate sign is provided, in order to rescale the measured specific heat capacity to that from conventional calorimetry. Finally, the use of the glass to liquid transition measured on heating is shown as a new manner to reveal static thermal gradients

Going Further with Point Pair Features

Point Pair Features is a widely used method to detect 3D objects in point clouds, however they are prone to fail in presence of sensor noise and background clutter. We introduce novel sampling and voting schemes that significantly reduces the influence of clutter and sensor noise. Our experiments show that with our improvements, PPFs become competitive against state-of-the-art methods as it outperforms them on several objects from challenging benchmarks, at a low computational cost.Comment: Corrected post-print of manuscript accepted to the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 2016; https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46487-9_5

Joint Detection and Tracking in Videos with Identification Features

Recent works have shown that combining object detection and tracking tasks, in the case of video data, results in higher performance for both tasks, but they require a high frame-rate as a strict requirement for performance. This is assumption is often violated in real-world applications, when models run on embedded devices, often at only a few frames per second. Videos at low frame-rate suffer from large object displacements. Here re-identification features may support to match large-displaced object detections, but current joint detection and re-identification formulations degrade the detector performance, as these two are contrasting tasks. In the real-world application having separate detector and re-id models is often not feasible, as both the memory and runtime effectively double. Towards robust long-term tracking applicable to reduced-computational-power devices, we propose the first joint optimization of detection, tracking and re-identification features for videos. Notably, our joint optimization maintains the detector performance, a typical multi-task challenge. At inference time, we leverage detections for tracking (tracking-by-detection) when the objects are visible, detectable and slowly moving in the image. We leverage instead re-identification features to match objects which disappeared (e.g. due to occlusion) for several frames or were not tracked due to fast motion (or low-frame-rate videos). Our proposed method reaches the state-of-the-art on MOT, it ranks 1st in the UA-DETRAC'18 tracking challenge among online trackers, and 3rd overall.Comment: Accepted at Image and Vision Computing Journa

Variaciones espacio-temporales e intraespecíficas en la morfología y morfometría de otolitos de Odontesthes bonariensis (Atheriniformes, Atherinopsidae)

The morphological and morphometric features of fish otoliths are species–specific. Moreover, some species are known to show intraspecific variations. These could be due to different environmental conditions, but this possibility has scarcely been explored. For the first time, spatio–temporal and intraspecific variations in the shape and size of the otolith of the South American silverside Odontesthes bonariensis (Valenciennes, 1835) are reported. For commercial purposes, this species was introduced from the Chascomús Shallow Lake (Argentina) into other environments with different characteristics. The otoliths used in this study belong to silversides sampled in 2006 from the Chascomús Shallow Lake (Argentina), and in 2006 from the Titicaca Lake (Bolivia) and the Kasumigaura Lake (Japan). Otoliths collected in 1980 from the Chascomús Shallow Lake were also included in the analysis. The species identity of some specimens was subsequently confirmed by molecular techniques. Results of multivariate analyses indicated that there were significant differences in otolith morphology and morphometry among the silverside populations studied, probably related to the environmental conditions where silversides developed.Las características morfológicas y morfométricas de los otolitos de los peces son especies–específicas. Por otra parte, algunas especies son conocidas por presentar variaciones intraespecíficas. Esto podría ser debido a diferentes condiciones ambientales, pero esta posibilidad ha sido poco explorada. Por primera vez, se reportan variaciones espacio– temporales e intraespecíficas en la forma y el tamaño del otolito del pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis (Valenciennes, 1835) de América del Sur. Para fines comerciales, esta especie fue introducida desde la laguna de Chascomús (Argentina) en otros ambientes con características diferentes. Los otolitos utilizados en este estudio provienen de pejerreyes muestreados en 1999 en la laguna de Chascomús (Argentina), y en 2006 en el lago Titicaca (Bolivia) y el Lago Kasumigaura (Japón). Otolitos colectados en 1980 en la laguna de Chascomús también se incluyeron en el análisis. La identidad de las especies de algunos ejemplares fue confirmada posteriormente por técnicas moleculares. Los resultados de los análisis multivariados indicaron que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la morfología y la morfometría del otolito entre las poblaciones de pejerrey estudiadas, probablemente relacionada con las condiciones ambientales donde pejerreyes se desarrollaron.Fil: Tombari, Andrea D.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Velez, David. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Volpedo, Alejandra. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Centro de Estudios Transdisciplinarios del Agua; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Glass transition of an epoxy resin induced by temperature, pressure and chemical conversion: a configurational entropy rationale

A comparative study is reported on the dynamics of a glass-forming epoxy resin when the glass transition is approached through different paths: cooling, compression, and polymerization. In particular, the influence of temperature, pressure and chemical conversion on the dynamics has been investigated by dielectric spectroscopy. Deep similarities are found in dynamic properties. A unified reading of our experimental results for the structural relaxation time is given in the framework of the Adam-Gibbs theory. The quantitative agreement with the experimental data is remarkable, joined with physical values of the fitting parameters. In particular, the fitting function of the isothermal tau(P) data gives a well reasonable prediction for the molar thermal expansion of the neat system, and the fitting function of the isobaric-isothermal tau(C) data under step- polymerization conforms to the prediction of diverging tau at complete conversion of the system.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, from the talk given at the 4th International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems (IDMRCS), Hersonissos, Helaklion, Crete (Greece), 17-23 June 200

Morfología de los otolitos sagitta, lapillus y asteriscus de Genidens barbus de distribución patagónica

Otoliths are calcium carbonate structures, deposited as aragonite, located in the inner ear of bony fish. In recent years, they have become a useful tool for the determination of fish species, trophic content, age studies, and the identification of fish stocks. The objective of this work was to describe the morphology of the three pairs of otoliths of the marine catfish Genidens barbus of Patagonian distribution. Otoliths of specimens obtained at four sampling points in the Negro River were analyzed. It was observed that otoliths presented the general morphological pattern proposed for Siluriformes, where lapilli are the largest and most robust of the three. Lapillus presented a rounded shape, a pronounced elevation in the central position, a delimited sulcus, but not very evident, without evidence of a minor sulcus. The sagitta is claviform, with an elongated conical posterior region, dorsal wings that continue as lateral expansions called basal wings, and the presence of a fissure. The asteriscus has an ear shape, a median opening, a short pointed rostrum, a poorly developed anti-rostrum and a slightly curved acoustic fossa. In this work, sagitta and asteriscus otoliths were described for the first time for the species G. barbus, thus completing the description of the three pairs.Los otolitos son estructuras de carbonato de calcio, depositado en forma de aragonita, ubicados en el oído interno de peces óseos. En los últimos años se han convertido en una herramienta útil para la determinación de especies ícticas, estudios de edad, contenidos tróficos, identificación de stocks pesqueros. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue describir la morfología de los tres pares de otolitos del bagre marino Genidens barbus de distribución patagónica. Se analizaron los otolitos de ejemplares obtenidos en cuatro puntos de muestreo en el Río Negro. Se observó que los otolitos presentan el patrón morfológico general propuesto para Siluriformes, donde los lapilli son los más grandes y robustos de los tres. El lapillus presentó forma redondeada, elevación pronunciada en posición central, sulcus delimitado, pero poco evidente, sin evidencia de sulcus menor. La sagitta es claviforme, con región posterior cónica alargada, alas dorsales que se continúan como expansiones laterales denominadas alas basales y presencia de fisura. El asteriscus tiene forma auricular, abertura mediana, rostro corto aguzado, antirrostro poco desarrollado y fosa acústica poco curva. En este trabajo se describen por primera vez los otolitos sagitta y asteriscus para la especie G. barbus, completando así la descripción de los tres pares

Diversidad de vertebrados acuáticos de tres humedales urbanos de la ciudad de Buenos Aires

The urban wetlands are sites of high biodiversity that are under a great anthropogenic pressure. In the city of Buenos Aires, one of the more important areas of recreation is constituted by Parque Tres de Febrero (well-known as like “Bosques de Palermo”), that conforms a green zone of 25 ha. In this area there are artificial wetlands of diverse physical characteristics. In the present work, the goal is to determine vertebrate’s diversity in these urban aquatic enviroments in order to evaluate the degree of impact of the recreational activity on the conservation of the vertebrates associated to the water bodies. The study was carried out in three artificial lagoons included in the park: Regatas, Rosedal and Planetario. Altogether, seventeen species of fish (Prochilodus lineatus, Oligosarcus jenynsii, Cheirodon interruptus, Bryconamericus iheringii, Hoplias malabaricus, Hypostomus commersoni, Rhamdia quelen, Pimelodus albicans, Pimelodus maculatus, Cyprinus carpio, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, Gambusia affinis, Jenynsia multidentata, Synbranchus marmoratus, Australoheros facetus, Gymnogeophagus meridionalis and Crenicichla scottii), eighteen species of birds (Podiceps rolland, Podilymbus podiceps, Podiceps major, Phalacrocorax olivaceus, Ardea alba, Egretta thula, Butorides striatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Anas georgica, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser, Cairina moschata, Netta peposaca, Aramus guarauna, Fulica armillata, Fulica leucoptera and Chloroceyle amazona), three species of turtles (Phrynops hilarii, Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and one species of mammal were registered (Myocastor coipo). Among these species, eight are introduced: two fishes (Cyprinus  carpio and Gambusia affinis), two turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and four birds (Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser and Cairina moschata). Regatas was the site with greater diversity of fishes (n=17) that represents a 10.43% of Río de la Plata’s ichthyofauna (n=163). This site lodges a 13% of the bird species associated to registered water bodies in the City of Buenos Aires (n=107). When comparing the specific richness among lagoons, we found high similarity between Regatas and Planetarium. Also, both sites presented the greatest specific richness of fish during the months of January and February. From this preliminary study it was possible to describe and to differentiate each lagoon by its fauna and physical characteristics, and also it constitutes the base to continue with further studies of communities which allow the development of the necessary guidelines of handling for the protection of Lagos Tres de Febrero.Los humedales urbanos son sitios de alta biodiversidad que se encuentran bajo una gran presión antropogénica. En la ciudad de Buenos Aires, una de las áreas de recreación más importantes está constituida por el Parque Tres de Febrero (conocido como "Bosques de Palermo"), que conforma una zona verde de 25 hectáreas. En esta zona existen humedales artificiales de diversas características físicas. En el presente trabajo, el objetivo es determinar la diversidad de los vertebrados en estos entornos acuáticos urbanos para evaluar el grado de impacto de la actividad recreativa en la conservación de los vertebrados asociados a los cuerpos de agua. El estudio se realizó en tres lagunas artificiales incluidas en el parque: Regatas, Rosedal y Planetario. En total, diecisiete especies de peces (Prochilodus lineatus, Oligosarcus jenynsii, Cheirodon interruptus, Bryconamericus iheringii, Hoplias malabaricus, Hypostomus commersoni, Rhamdia quelen, Pimelodus albicans, Pimelodus maculatus, Cyprinus carpio, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, Gambusia affinis, Jenynsia multidentata, Synbranchus marmoratus, Australoheros facetus, Gymnogeophagus meridionalis and Crenicichla scottii), dieciocho especies de aves (Podiceps rolland, Podilymbus podiceps, Podiceps major, Phalacrocorax olivacius, Ardea alba, Egretta thula, Butorides striatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Anas georgica, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser, Cairina moschata, Netta peposaca, Aramus guarauna, Fulica armillata, Fulica leucoptera and Chloroceyle amazona), tres especies de tortugas (Phrynops hilarii, Trachemys scripta elegans y Trachemys venusta) y una especie de mamífero (Myocastor coipo). Entre estas especies, se presentan ocho introducidas: dos peces (Cyprinus carpio y Gambusia affinis), dos tortugas (Trachemys scripta elegans y Trachemys venusta) y cuatro aves (Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser y Cairina moschata). Regatas fue el sitio con mayor diversidad de peces (n = 17) que representa un 10.43% de la ictiofauna del Río de la Plata (n = 163). Este sitio alberga un 13% de las especies de aves asociadas a cuerpos de agua registrados en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (n = 107). Al comparar la riqueza específica entre las lagunas, encontramos una gran similitud entre Regatas y Planetario. Además, ambos sitios presentaron la mayor riqueza específica de peces durante los meses de enero y febrero. A partir de este estudio preliminar, fue posible describir y diferenciar cada laguna por su fauna y características físicas, y también constituye la base para continuar con estudios adicionales de las comunidades que permitan el desarrollo de las pautas de manejo necesarias para la protección de Lago Tres de febrero

Diversidad de vertebrados acuáticos de tres humedales urbanos de la ciudad de Buenos Aires

The urban wetlands are sites of high biodiversity that are under a great anthropogenic pressure. In the city of Buenos Aires, one of the more important areas of recreation is constituted by Parque Tres de Febrero (well-known as like “Bosques de Palermo”), that conforms a green zone of 25 ha. In this area there are artificial wetlands of diverse physical characteristics. In the present work, the goal is to determine vertebrate’s diversity in these urban aquatic enviroments in order to evaluate the degree of impact of the recreational activity on the conservation of the vertebrates associated to the water bodies. The study was carried out in three artificial lagoons included in the park: Regatas, Rosedal and Planetario. Altogether, seventeen species of fish (Prochilodus lineatus, Oligosarcus jenynsii, Cheirodon interruptus, Bryconamericus iheringii, Hoplias malabaricus, Hypostomus commersoni, Rhamdia quelen, Pimelodus albicans, Pimelodus maculatus, Cyprinus carpio carpio, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, Gambusia affinis, Jenynsia multidentata, Synbranchus marmoratus, Australoheros facetus, Gymnogeophagus meridionalis and Crenicichla scottii), eighteen species of birds (Podiceps rolland, Podilymbus podiceps, Podiceps major, Phalacrocorax olivaceus, Ardea alba, Egretta thula, Butorides striatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Anas georgica, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser, Cairina moschata, Netta peposaca, Aramus guarauna, Fulica armillata, Fulica leucoptera and Chloroceyle amazona), three species of turtles (Phrynops hilarii, Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and one species of mammal were registered (Myocastor coipo). Among these species, eight are introduced: two fishes (Cyprinus carpio carpio and Gambusia affinis), two turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and four birds (Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser and Cairina moschata). Regatas was the site with greater diversity of fishes (n=17) that represents a 10.43% of Río de la Plata’s ichthyofauna (n=163). This site lodges a 13% of the bird species associated to registered water bodies in the City of Buenos Aires (n=107). When comparing the specific richness among lagoons, we found high similarity between Regatas and Planetarium. Also, both sites presented the greatest specific richness of fish during the months of January and February. From this preliminary study it was possible to describe and to differentiate each lagoon by its fauna and physical characteristics, and also it constitutes the base to continue with further studies of communities which allow the development of the necessary guidelines of handling for the protection of Lagos Tres de Febrero.Instituto de Limnología "Raúl A. Ringuelet

Diversidad de vertebrados acuáticos de tres humedales urbanos de la ciudad de Buenos Aires

The urban wetlands are sites of high biodiversity that are under a great anthropogenic pressure. In the city of Buenos Aires, one of the more important areas of recreation is constituted by Parque Tres de Febrero (well-known as like “Bosques de Palermo”), that conforms a green zone of 25 ha. In this area there are artificial wetlands of diverse physical characteristics. In the present work, the goal is to determine vertebrate’s diversity in these urban aquatic enviroments in order to evaluate the degree of impact of the recreational activity on the conservation of the vertebrates associated to the water bodies. The study was carried out in three artificial lagoons included in the park: Regatas, Rosedal and Planetario. Altogether, seventeen species of fish (Prochilodus lineatus, Oligosarcus jenynsii, Cheirodon interruptus, Bryconamericus iheringii, Hoplias malabaricus, Hypostomus commersoni, Rhamdia quelen, Pimelodus albicans, Pimelodus maculatus, Cyprinus carpio carpio, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, Gambusia affinis, Jenynsia multidentata, Synbranchus marmoratus, Australoheros facetus, Gymnogeophagus meridionalis and Crenicichla scottii), eighteen species of birds (Podiceps rolland, Podilymbus podiceps, Podiceps major, Phalacrocorax olivaceus, Ardea alba, Egretta thula, Butorides striatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Anas georgica, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser, Cairina moschata, Netta peposaca, Aramus guarauna, Fulica armillata, Fulica leucoptera and Chloroceyle amazona), three species of turtles (Phrynops hilarii, Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and one species of mammal were registered (Myocastor coipo). Among these species, eight are introduced: two fishes (Cyprinus carpio carpio and Gambusia affinis), two turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and four birds (Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser and Cairina moschata). Regatas was the site with greater diversity of fishes (n=17) that represents a 10.43% of Río de la Plata’s ichthyofauna (n=163). This site lodges a 13% of the bird species associated to registered water bodies in the City of Buenos Aires (n=107). When comparing the specific richness among lagoons, we found high similarity between Regatas and Planetarium. Also, both sites presented the greatest specific richness of fish during the months of January and February. From this preliminary study it was possible to describe and to differentiate each lagoon by its fauna and physical characteristics, and also it constitutes the base to continue with further studies of communities which allow the development of the necessary guidelines of handling for the protection of Lagos Tres de Febrero.Instituto de Limnología "Raúl A. Ringuelet