Spiking buildings to avoid house martin (Delichon urban) nesting: is it a good choice?

Duarte, J., Farfán, M.A.,Vargas, J.M

Landfill habitat restoration can reduce the incidence of vertebrate pest species

Duarte, J., Zurita, F., Farfán, M.A., Vargas, J.M

Distribution modelling of wild rabbit hunting yields in its original area (S Iberian Peninsula)

In this work we used the information of the Annual Hunting Reports (AHRs) to obtain a high-resolution model of the potential favourableness for wild rabbit harvesting in Andalusia (southern Spain), using environmental and land-use variables as predictors. We analysed 32,134 AHRs from the period 1993/2001 reported by 6049 game estates to estimate the average hunting yields of wild rabbit in each Andalusian municipality (n5771). We modelled the favourableness for obtaining good hunting yields using stepwise logistic regression on a set of climatic, orographical, land use, and vegetation variables. The favourability equation was used to create a downscaled image representing the favourableness of obtaining good hunting yields for the wild rabbit in 161 km squares in Andalusia, using the Idrisi Image Calculator. The variables that affected hunting yields of wild rabbit were altitude, dry wood crops (mainly olive groves, almond groves, and vineyards), temperature, pasture, slope, and annual number of frost days. The 161 km squares with high favourableness values are scattered throughout the territory, which seems to be caused mainly by the effect of vegetation. Finally, we obtained quality categories for the territory by combining the probability values given by logistic regression with those of the environmental favourability function

Propagation of Rayleighs waves in cracked media

Este trabajo está enfocado a la obtención de resultados numéricos que permitan la detección y caracterización de grietas sub-superficiales en sólidos mediante la incidencia de ondas elásticas de Rayleigh. Los resultados se obtienen a partir de ecuaciones integrales de frontera, que pertenecen al campo de la elastodinámica. Una vez que se aplican las condiciones de frontera se obtiene un sistema de ecuaciones integrales del tipo Fredholm de segunda especie y orden cero, el cual es resuelto mediante eliminación gaussiana. El método que se emplea para la discretización de dichas ecuaciones es conocido como «método indirecto de elementos frontera», el cual puede ser visto como una derivación del teorema clásico de Somigliana. A partir de los análisis realizados en el dominio de la frecuencia emergen picos de resonancia que permiten inferir la presencia de grietas mediante los cocientes espectrales. Se analizaron varios modelos de medios agrietados donde se pretende evidenciar la gran utilidad que presenta el uso de los cocientes espectrales para identificar grietas. Se estudiaron los efectos de la orientación y la localización de las grietas. Los resultados obtenidos presentan buena concordancia con los publicados previamente.This work is focused on the finding of numerical results for detection and characterization of sub-surface cracks in solids under the incidence of Rayleighs elastic waves. The results are obtained from boundary integral equations, which belong to the field of dynamics of elasticity. Once applied the boundary conditions, a system of Fredholms integral equations of second kind and zero order is obtained, which is solved using Gaussian elimination. The method that is used for the solution of such integral equations is known as the Indirect Boundary Element Method, which can be seen as a derivation of the Somiglianas classic theorem. On the basis of the analysis made in the frequency domain, resonance peaks emerge and allow us to infer the presence of cracks through the spectral ratios. Several models of cracked media were analyzed, where analyses reveal the great utility that displays the use of spectral ratios to identify cracks. We studied the effects of orientation and location of cracks. The results show good agreement with the previously published.Peer Reviewe

Modelado de la eficiencia de inversores para sistemas fotovoltaicos conectados a la red

El objetivo de este trabajo es modelar la eficiencia total de un inversor para conexionado a la red con el fin de utilizar el modelo en simulaciones y estudiar su comportamiento. El modelo utiliza veinte curvas de eficiencia de conversión correspondientes a veinte tensiones diferentes de entrada, estimando la eficiencia estática del seguimiento del punto de máxima potencia para cada punto de las diferentes curvas. Las eficiencias se calcularon en base a los ensayos realizados a un inversor SMA 3800U en LABSOL, en la Universidad Federal de Rio Grande del Sur, Brasil. Con esta información se desarrolló la función eficiencia la cual depende de la tensión y la potencia de entrada, utilizando un sistema de aprendizaje supervisado basado en Lógica Difusa. En el trabajo se realizaron ensayos mediante una fuentes programables que simula la variación de la curvas I-V en la entrada del inversor a lo largo de un día, para estudiar y validar el modelo de la eficiencia total desarrollado.Fil: Farfán, Roberto Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional; ArgentinaFil: Prieb, C. W. M.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Krenzinger, A.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Cadena, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional; Argentin

Los métodos geofísicos en los estudios previos del terreno para la rehabilitación de edificios. La iglesia del Monasterio de Santa María de Moreruela (Zamora)

The article attempts to explain the advantages of some geophysical methods in previous studies for the rehabilitation of buildings, as complementary tools for the traditional use in geotechnical studies identificating terrain features. These studies, non-intrusive, determine, easily, possible changes in the terrain. Finally, we summarize the work, with these techniques, in the Monastery of Saint Mary of Moreruela (Zamora), particularly in the terrain the church sits on.El artículo trata de exponer las ventajas de algunos métodos geofísicos en los estudios previos realizados para la rehabilitación de edificios, como herramientas complementarias a las utilizadas tradicionalmente en los estudios geotécnicos para la determinación de las características del terreno. Estos estudios, no intrusivos, permiten determinar de forma sencilla posibles alteraciones en el terreno. Por último se resumen los trabajos realizados, con estas técnicas, en el Monasterio de Santa María de Moreruela (Zamora), en concreto en el terreno sobre el que se asienta la Iglesia

Characterization of Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) Outer Membrane Proteins Provides Potential Molecular Markers to Screen Putative AIEC Strains

Adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) is a pathotype associated with the etiopathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD), albeit with an as-yet unclear role. The main pathogenic mechanisms described for AIEC are adherence to epithelial cells, invasion of epithelial cells, and survival and replication within macrophages. A few virulence factors have been described as participating directly in these phenotypes, most of which have been evaluated only in AIEC reference strains. To date, no molecular markers have been identified that can differentiate AIEC from other E. coli pathotypes, so these strains are currently identified based on the phenotypic characterization of their pathogenic mechanisms. The identification of putative AIEC molecular markers could be beneficial not only from the diagnostic point of view but could also help in better understanding the determinants of AIEC pathogenicity. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers that contribute to the screening of AIEC strains. For this, we characterized outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles in a group of AIEC strains and compared them with the commensal E. coli HS strain. Notably, we found a set of OMPs that were present in the AIEC strains but absent in the HS strain. Moreover, we developed a PCR assay and performed phylogenomic analyses to determine the frequency and distribution of the genes coding for these OMPs in a larger collection of AIEC and other E. coli strains. As result, it was found that three genes (chuA, eefC, and fitA) are widely distributed and significantly correlated with AIEC strains, whereas they are infrequent in commensal and diarrheagenic E. coli strains (DEC). Additional studies are needed to validate these markers in diverse strain collections from different geographical regions, as well as investigate their possible role in AIEC pathogenicity

SUMOylated SNF2PH promotes variant surface glycoprotein expression in bloodstream trypanosomes

SUMOylation is a post¿translational modification that positively regulates monoallelic expression of the trypanosome variant surface glycoprotein (VSG). The presence of a highly SUMOylated focus associated with the nuclear body, where the VSG gene is transcribed, further suggests an important role of SUMOylation in regulating VSG expression. Here, we show that SNF2PH, a SUMOylated plant homeodomain (PH)¿transcription factor, is upregulated in the bloodstream form of the parasite and enriched at the active VSG telomere. SUMOylation promotes the recruitment of SNF2PH to the VSG promoter, where it is required to maintain RNA polymerase I and thus to regulate VSG transcript levels. Further, ectopic overexpression of SNF2PH in insect forms, but not of a mutant lacking the PH domain, induces the expression of bloodstream stage¿specific surface proteins. These data suggest that SNF2PH SUMOylation positively regulates VSG monoallelic transcription, while the PH domain is required for the expression of bloodstream¿specific surface proteins. Thus, SNF2PH functions as a positive activator, linking expression of infective form surface proteins and VSG regulation, thereby acting as a major regulator of pathogenicity.The authors thank Dr. Alicia Barroso Del Jesus for excellent assistance and input with NSG methodology at the Genomic Unit and Dr. Laura Montosa at the Microscopy Unit (IPBLN-CSIC). This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-098834-B-I00) and the Wellcome Trust (WTI 204697/Z/16/Z to MCF) and thegrant from the Argentinian National Agency for Promotion of Scientific and Technological Research to VEA (PICT/2016/0465)

The National Center for Radioecology (NCoRE): A Network of Excellence for Environmental and Human Radiation Risk Reduction -13365

ABSTRACT Radioecology in the United States can be traced back to the early 1950s when small research programs were established to address the fate and effects of radionuclides released in the environment from activities at nuclear facilities. These programs focused primarily on local environmental effects, but global radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing and the potential for larger scale local releases of radioisotopes resulted in major concerns about the threat, not only to humans, but to other species and to ecosystems that support all life. These concerns were shared by other countries and it was quickly recognized that a multi-disciplinary approach would be required to address and understand the implications of anthropogenic radioactivity in the environment. The management, clean-up and long-term monitoring of legacy wastes at Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-regulated facilities continues to be of concern as long as nuclear operations continue. Research conducted through radioecology programs provides the credible scientific data needed for decision-making purposes. The current status of radioecology programs in the United States are: fragmented with little coordination to identify national strategies and direct programs; suffering from a steadily decreasing funding base; soon to be hampered by closure of key infrastructure; hampered by aging and retiring workforce (loss of technical expertise); and in need of training of young scientists to ensure continuation of the science (no formal graduate education program in radioecology remaining in the U.S.). With these concerns in mind, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) took the lead to establish the National Center for Radioecology (NCoRE) as a network of excellence of the remaining radioecology expertise in the United States. As part of the NCoRE mission, scientists at SRNL are working with six key partner universities to re-establish a graduate education training program for radioecology. Recently, NCoRE hosted a workshop to identify the immediate needs for science-driven discoveries, tool development and the generation of scientific data to support the legislative decision-making process for remediation strategies, long-term monitoring of radiologicallycontaminated sites and protection of human health and the environment. Some of the immediate strategic research needs were identified in the fields of functional genomics for determining lowdose effects, improved low-level dosimetry, and mixed (radiological and chemical) contaminant studies. Longer term strategic research and tool development areas included development of radioecology case study sites, comprehensive decision-making tools, consequence response actions, and optimized scenario based ecosystem modeling. A summary of the NCoRE workshop findings related to waste management needs and priority areas will be presented in this paper

THINK Back: KNowledge-based Interpretation of High Throughput data

Results of high throughput experiments can be challenging to interpret. Current approaches have relied on bulk processing the set of expression levels, in conjunction with easily obtained external evidence, such as co-occurrence. While such techniques can be used to reason probabilistically, they are not designed to shed light on what any individual gene, or a network of genes acting together, may be doing. Our belief is that today we have the information extraction ability and the computational power to perform more sophisticated analyses that consider the individual situation of each gene. The use of such techniques should lead to qualitatively superior results