Automated detection of block falls in the north polar region of Mars

We developed a change detection method for the identification of ice block falls using NASA's HiRISE images of the north polar scarps on Mars. Our method is based on a Support Vector Machine (SVM), trained using Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG), and on blob detection. The SVM detects potential new blocks between a set of images; the blob detection, then, confirms the identification of a block inside the area indicated by the SVM and derives the shape of the block. The results from the automatic analysis were compared with block statistics from visual inspection. We tested our method in 6 areas consisting of 1000x1000 pixels, where several hundreds of blocks were identified. The results for the given test areas produced a true positive rate of ~75% for blocks with sizes larger than 0.7 m (i.e., approx. 3 times the available ground pixel size) and a false discovery rate of ~8.5%. Using blob detection we also recover the size of each block within 3 pixels of their actual size

Una ragazza piuttosto complicata. Paola Pitagora e I pugni in tasca di Marco Bellocchio

«Quanto conta un'attrice in un film d'autore? Gli allori erano tanti per Bellocchio e per Lou Castel [...], ma potevo dirmi ugualmente soddisfatta. Attrice, dunque, finalmente. Già, ma quale attrice?», con queste parole, tra molte altre, Paola Pitagora ricorda la sua esperienza in I pugni in tasca. Il saggio intende mettere in evidenza come nel film di Bellocchio Giulia sia una personaggia di tutto rilievo in rapporto alle dinamiche di genere che, in questa famiglia senza padre, si dispiegano in modo dirompente. Tessitrice di storie, di alleanze, di destini, la sua potenza fatale quale antagonista del mondo della Legge, secondo le parole con cui Maurizio Grande avvicina le figure femminili della tragedia, rimanda all'Elettra dell'Orestea, a quell'oscuro del legame col materno implicato nella scelta del matricidio, alla liminalità e all'incertezza di genere espresse nella sua condotta virile e nel suo amore per il fratello che le studiose femministe hanno cercato con percorsi diversi di interpretare; ma incarna anche i desideri, i comportamenti, le contraddizioni della nuova generazione di donne e di attrici che solo alla fine degli anni Sessanta potranno trovare più compiuta espressione, ponendosi come figura embrionale delle donne a venire bellocchiane.Scholarly understanding of Bellocchio's debut film have given leading importance to his main male protagonist; this essay intends instead to point out that Giulia, the embryonic figure of Bellocchian women, plays a not least important role in relation to gender dynamics that, in this fatherless family, unfold in a disruptive way. A weaver of stories, alliances, destinies, her fatal power as the antagonist of the world of the Law, in the words with which Maurizio Grande approaches the female figures of tragedy, refers to the Orestean Electra, to the darkness of the bond with maternal involved in the choice of matricide, and to the genre uncertainty expressed in her virile conduct and in her love for the brother, as feminist scholars as Irigaray, Jacobs, Scott have sought with different paths to comment; but she also embodies the desires, behaviors, and contradictions of the next generation of women and actresses, among them Pitagora, who only at the end of the sixties will be able to find a more complete expression

CO2-crystal wettability in potassic magmas. Implications for eruptive dynamics in light of experimental evidence for heterogeneous nucleation.

The volatile content in magmas is fundamental for the triggering and style of volcanic eruptions. Carbon dioxide, the second most abundant volatile component in magmas after H2O, is the first to reach saturation upon ascent and depressurization. We investigate experimentally CO2-bubble nucleation in trachybasalt and trachyte melts at high temperature and high pressure (HT and HP) through wetting-angle measurements on different (sialic, mafic or oxide) phenocryst phases. The presence of crystals lowers the supersaturation required for CO2- bubble nucleation up to 37 per cent (heterogeneous nucleation, HeN), with a minor role of mineral chemistry. Different from H2O-rich systems, feldspar crystals are effective in reducing required supersaturation for bubble nucleation. Our data suggest that leucite, the dominant liquidus phase in ultrapotassic systems at shallow depth (i.e. <100 MPa), facilitates late-stage, extensive magma vesiculation through CO2 HeN, which may explain the shifting of CO2-rich eruptive systems towards an apparently anomalous explosive behaviour

Genetic architecture as an analysis tool of the genotype-phenotype map

El estudio de la relación entre el genotipo y el fenotipo es de gran importancia para las investigaciones en genética y en las ciencias de la vida en general. A diferencia de la concepción tradicional de esta relación como un conjunto invariante de parámetros, el enfoque actual utiliza la arquitectura genética, una herramienta realista y dinámica que permite elucidar el mapa genotipo-fenotipo, ahora considerado una estructura en evolución. De las complejas relaciones entre los elementos del mapa genotipo-fenotipo surgen diversas propiedades emergentes que pueden explicar distintos fenómenos evolutivos. Además, algunas de estas propiedades promueven la acumulación de variabilidad genética en poblaciones naturales, la cual constituye el sustrato de procesos evolutivos como la selección natural. La caracterización y análisis de la arquitectura genética de caracteres adaptativos constituye una herramienta eficaz para comprender los procesos genéticos subyacentes al cambio evolutivo.Studying the relationship between genotype and phenotype is of great importance for genetics and life science studies in general. In contrast with the traditional view of this relationship as an invariant set of parameters, the current approach incorporates the concept of genetic architecture, a realistic and dynamic tool that allows to elucidate the genotype-phenotype map, which is now regarded as an evolving structure. From the complex relationships between the elements in the genotype-phenotype map several emergent properties arise that can explain different evolutionary phenomena. Moreover, some of these properties promote the accumulation of genetic variability in natural populations, which constitutes the substrate to evolutionary processes such as natural selection. The characterization and analysis of the genetic architecture of adaptive traits constitutes a powerful tool to understand the genetics underpinnings of evolution.Fil: Petino Zappala, María Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Fanara, Juan Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Second chromosome polymorphism of Drosophila buzzatii in a natural population is not associated with gametic selection and does not affect mating pattern

International audienc

Evoluzione dei composti polifenolici in vini bianchi della sardegna durante la conservazione in bottiglia e caratterizzazione aromatica

Sardinia has a secular tradition in the wine industry and produces high value wines from red and white grapes. In the last two decades social wineries but mostly private producers have strongly been involved in increasing the quality of wines, in order to become competitive on the national and international markets. Thus, the aim of this work was to characterize bottled Muscat of Sorso- Sennori and Malvasia di Bosa wines for polyphenols, colour and aroma compounds and evaluate their evolution during bottle storage. The phenolic compouds are considered the main compounds responsible of browning of white wine during bottle storage (Cheynier et al.,1989), and these compounds underwent a significant decrease. Flavour GC-MS analysis allowed us to identify 59 aromatic compounds in both wines. In both wines we observed a loss of the characteristic aroma of aromatic grapes. We observed also the reduction of neral and geranial compounds (rose aroma). In Malvasia wine, in contrast to Muscat wine, the increase did not occur for diethyl succinate and ethyl lactate, but there is a total decrease of the same compounds present at bottling (loss of floral and fruity notes). It was also noted the formation of β-citronellol (lemon flavor), the increase in linalool (floral aroma) and α-terpineol (Liliaceae aroma of peach). All the data reported are in agreement with previous findings on Muscat wines and Malvasia grapes (Rossis et al., 2005), but these are the first results on Sardinian Muscat and Malvasia wines