Habitat and abundance of the Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis annectens) in Pueblo Nuevo, Durango, Mexico

La nutria neotropical es un depredador ubicado en el nivel trófico superior, su distribución geográfica abarca desde el norte de México hasta la zona central de Argentin

Crystalline morphology of thermoplastic starch/talc nanocomposites induced by thermal processing

A structural study about the changes induced by plasticization of native corn starch was carried out in this work. The influence of talc nanoparticles presence during starch thermal processing was also evaluated. Macroscopic observation of the granules appearance evolution during melt-mixing and thermo-compression was supported by a theoretical description related to these processing methods. Melt-mixing induced a polymorphic transformation from A- to Vh-type and a reduction in the degree of crystallinity. Homogenous appearance of the plasticized starch was in accordance to the disruption of granules integrity, evidenced by SEM. This observation agreed to the distinctive XRD pattern of plasticized starch from unprocessed granules. Talc incorporation did not require the adjustment of processing parameters in order to obtain a homogenous thermoplastic material, with an adequate particles distribution within the matrix. Regardless talc presence, plasticized starch presented a Vh-type crystalline structure. Thermo-compression led to particles alignment promoted by talc laminar morphology.Fil: Castillo, Luciana Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Olivia Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: García, María Alejandra. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Barbosa, Silvia Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Villar, Marcelo Armando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería; Argentin

Concepción metodológica del proceso de enseñanza práctica de la Soldadura en las condiciones del taller de la entidad productiva

El fortalecimiento del proceso de enseñanza práctica de la Soldadura en la entidad productiva, constituye una necesidad actual en la Educación Técnica y Profesional (ETP) para la formación de un Obrero Calificado, capaz de resolver las disímiles problemáticas que emana el contexto social y laboral en la contemporaneidad. Se ofrece una concepción metodológica que potencia dicho proceso y que contribuye a elevar los niveles de desempeño de los especialistas - instructores, docentes y obreros calificados que se forman en esta actividad. La propuesta está estructurada sobre una base dialéctico - materialista y fundamentada en la Pedagogía de la ETP, así como en el enfoque histórico - cultural de Vigotsky y sus seguidores, la relación hombre - sociedad, la Didáctica General y la situación actual del proceso en Pinar del Río, Cuba.Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógicas para la Educación Técnica y Profesional "Héctor Alfredo Pineda Zaldivar

Talc nanoparticles influence on thermoplastic corn starch film properties

Nanocomposite films of TPS with talc particles were obtained by thermo-compression in order to study the effect of this filler on structure, optical, and thermal properties. TPS-talc films showed good appearance and homogeneous thickness. Talc addition increased the amount of rigid phase of nanocomposite films, thus their cross-sections resulted more irregular than those of TPS ones. Talc preferential orientation within matrix and good compatibility between particles and TPS were evidenced. TEM observation showed scattered randomly dispersed individual talc platelets. Matrix crystallinity degree was not significantly affected by particles presence. Nanocomposite films were optically transparent due to the laminar morphology and nanosized particles. Materials microstructure presented glycerol- and starch-rich domains. Talc incorporation higher than 3 % w/w increased softening resistance of nanocomposites as stated by DMA assays. TPS relaxation temperature of glycerol-rich phase was shifted to higher values since talc nanoparticles reduce starch chains mobility.Facultad de Ciencias ExactasCentro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimento

Crecimiento poblacional y cambio del uso del suelo en la Comarca San José de la Cañada, distrito III del municipio de Managua, período 2005-2015

En el distrito III del municipio de Managua se encuentra ubicada la Comarca San José de la Cañada, donde se realizó la investigación titulada ¨Crecimiento poblacional y cambio del uso del suelo en la Comarca San José de la Cañada, distrito III del municipio de Managua, período 2005-2015. La comarca se ha destacado por poseer un suelo de vocación agropecuario lo que es de gran beneficio a la población ahí residente, sin embargo, con el pasar del tiempo se ha ido sustituyendo la actividad agrícola y ganadera por uso habitacional debido a la necesidad de dar respuesta al problema del aumento poblacional que ha sufrido y sufre la comarca. La investigación es de enfoque mixto ya que a través de los datos cualitativos y cuantitativos como resultado de encuestas, entrevistas, pirámide poblacional, base de datos, entre otros, se analizó y explicó como el aumento de la población afecta directamente al cambio del uso del suelo de la Comarca en estudio. Realizando pruebas de perfil de suelo y PH de suelo se caracteriza y afirma la vocación o potencial del suelo de la Comarca

Equilibrium and kinetics studies on bibrachial lariat aza-crown/Cu(II) systems reveal different behavior associated with small changes in the structure

The high-yield synthesis of a new bibrachial lariat azacrown constituted by two tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) units functionalized in one of its arms with a 4-methylquinoline group linked by dimethylene pyridine spacers (L2) is reported for the first time. The speciation studies show formation of mono- and binuclear Cu2+ complexes of similar stability. Comparisons are established with the complexes formed by the precursor tren-quinoline derivative (L4) and with the previously reported ligands containing naphthalene instead of quinoline as the fluorophore (L1, L3). The kinetics of formation and decomposition of Cu2+ complexes with L1 and L2 has been studied. For L1, the acid-promoted decomposition of mono and dinuclear complexes occurs in all cases with a rapid step within the stopped-flow mixing time that leads to the formation of an intermediate that decomposes in two additional steps. In the dinuclear complexes, both metal ions dissociate from the ligand with statistically-controlled kinetics. Complex formation with L1 occurs through the same intermediate observed during the decomposition. For L2, only the formation and decomposition of binuclear complexes could be studied, and the kinetic data show that the metal ion can coordinate both in square pyramidal sp and trigonal bipyramidal (tbp) geometries, coordination being faster in the sp environment and dissociation being faster from tbp. DFT and TD-DFT have been also carried out to determine the geometries with both coordination environments as well as their electronic spectra. The results of calculations indicate that the appearance or not of a mixture of coordination geometries does not necessarily require the participation of the quinoline ring

MECANISMOS DE PROTECCIÓN PARA LAS EMPRESAS MEXICANAS ANTE RIESGOS CAMBIARIOS, TASA DE INTERÉS E INFLACIÓN

El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar los mecanismos que las empresas mexicanas importadoras de insumos pueden utilizar para disminuir los riesgos financieros a los que están expuestas tales como tasas de interés, tipo de cambio e inflación. Se analizaron varios instrumentos financieros, sus ventajas y desventajas, cuáles son los mejores en cuanto a la disminución de riesgos. La investigación realizada fue de carácter exploratorio y documental analizando información durante el periodo 2008 a 2016. El mayor riesgo en México es el tipo de cambio, el mecanismo de protección más utilizado es el de tasas de interés. El comportamiento de los tres riesgos financieros analizados se encontró que: Respecto al tipo de cambio, ha habido una gran volatilidad, para el periodo dic 2012 a septiembre 2016, la depreciación de la moneda mexicana ha sido de 49.05%. La inflación en México ha tocado mínimos históricos en el año 2015 con 2.13% anualizada y se estima para el 2016 terminar en 3.5%. El comportamiento de la tasa de interés del Banco de México ha presentado una variación desde mediados del 2014 a octubre 2016 pasando de 3% a 4.75%. El 68% de 25 empresas mexicanas optaron por cubrir sus riesgos mediante contratos Swaps y Forwards en el mercado extrabursátil OTC y el resto de las empresas utilizaron Opciones y Futuros dentro del mercado bursátil

Detection, counting, and classification of visual ganglia columns of drosophila pupae

Many neurobiologists use the fruit fly (Drosophila) as a model to study neuron interaction and neuron organization and then extrapolate this knowledge to the nature of human neurological disorders. Recently, the fluorescence microscopy images of fruit-fly neurons are commonly used, because of the high contrast. However, the detection of the neurons or cells is compromised by background signals, generating fuzzy boundaries. As a result, it is still common that in many laboratories, the detection, counting, and analysis of this microscope imagery is still a manual task. An automated detection, counting, and morphological analysis of these images can provide faster data processing and easier access to new information. The main objective of this work is to present a semi-automatic detection-counting system and give the main characteristics of images of the visual ganglia columns in Drosophila. We present the semi-automatic detection, count, segmentation and we concluded that it is possible to obtain an accuracy of 75% (with a Kappa statistic of 0.50) in the shape classification. Additionally, we develop python GUI CC Analyzer which can be used by neurobiology laboratories whose research interests are focused on this topic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The value of integrating information from multiple hazards for flood risk analysis and management

This article presents a methodology for estimating flood risk in urban areas integrating pluvial flooding, river flooding and failure of both small and large dams. The first part includes a review of basic concepts on flood risk analysis, evaluation and management. Flood risk analyses may be developed at local, regional and national level, however a general methodology to perform a quantitative flood risk analysis including different flood hazards is still required. The second part describes the proposed methodology, which presents an integrated approach - combining pluvial, river flooding and flooding from dam failure, as applied to a case study: an urban area located downstream of a dam under construction. The methodology enhances the approach developed within the SUFRI project ("Sustainable Strategies of Urban Flood Risk Management to cope with the residual risk", 2009-2011). This article also shows how outcomes from flood risk analysis provide better and more complete information to inform authorities, local entities and the stakeholders involved in decision-making with regard to flood risk management.The work presented in this paper has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) through the grant to the budget of the SUFRI project (EUI 2008-03933) and of the iPRESARA project (BIA 2010-17852).Castillo Rodríguez, JT.; Escuder Bueno, I.; Altarejos García, L.; Serrano Lombillo, AJ. (2014). The value of integrating information from multiple hazards for flood risk analysis and management. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 14(2):379-400. doi:10.5194/nhess-14-379-2014S379400142ANCOLD: Guidelines on Risk Assessment, Australian National Committee on Large Dams Inc., Australia, 2003.Bowles, D. 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H., and Viavattene, C.: Review article: Assessing the costs of natural hazards – state of the art and knowledge gaps, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 1351–1373, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-1351-2013, 2013.Munger, D. F., Bowles, D. S., Boyer, D. D., Davis, D. W., Margo, D. A., Moser, D. A., and Regan, P. J.: Interim tolerable risk guidelines for US Army Corps of Engineers Dams, USSD Conference, 20–24 April 2009, Nashville, Tennessee, 2009.Pappenberger, F., Beven, K. J., Ratto, M., and Matgen, P.: Multi-method global sensitivity analysis of flood inundation models, Adv. Water Resour., 31, 1–14, 2008.Parker, D., Tunstall, S., and Wilson, T.: Socio-economic benefits of flood forecasting and warning, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University, Queensway, Enfield, London, UK, 2005.Pelling, M.: The vulnerability of cities – Natural disasters and social resilience, Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, UK, 2003.Penning-Rowsell, E., Chatterton, J. 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