Effects of insecticidal ketones present in mint plants on GABA A receptor from mammalian neurons

The genus Mentha, an important member of the Lamiaceae family, is represented by many species commonly known as mint. The insecticidal activity of Mentha oil and its main components has been tested and established against various insects/pests. Among these, the ketone monoterpenes that are most common in different Mentha species demonstrated insect toxicity, with pulegone being the most active, followed by carvone and menthone. Considering that the GABAA receptor (GABAA-R) is one of the main insecticide targets on neurons, and that pulegone would modulate the insect GABA system, it may be expected that the insecticidal properties of Mentha ketones are mediated by their interaction with this receptor.Fil: Sánchez, Mariela Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Delgado Marín, Leticia Ester. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, Daniel Asmed. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentin

Analysis of the space debris problem: tracking, control and removal

The amount of space debris currently orbiting the Earth poses a risk to all spacecraft, and is a particular concern for vehicles with humans on board suchas the International Space Station, space shuttles and other manned spacecraft. ESA estimates that there are currently more than 26000 objects in space, of which only 2800 have any function. However, despite technological evolutions and scientific advances, there is still no definitive method to solve the space debris problem by capturing end-of-life satellites still in orbit around the Earth. The activities that have been carried out so far and will be analysed in this project are divided into monitoring, mitigation and disposal. The intention of this work is to expose the importance of knowing and analysing our space past and then to move on to the understanding of why it is so important to eradicate space debris by studying some possible theoretical solutions proposed during the last decades that focus on reduction and eliminatio

Human explainability through an auxiliary Neural Network

Treballs finals del Màster de Fonaments de Ciència de Dades, Facultat de matemàtiques, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2020, Tutor: Santi Seguí Mesquida[en] Explainability in Deep Learning has become a hot topic in recent years due to the necessity of insights and justifications for predictions. Although this field has an extensive range of different approaches, this thesis explores the feasibility of a new methodology that seeks to provide human-interpretable explanations for each sample being processed by a Neural Network. The term black box is often used in the Explainability field, meaning that there is a lack in transparency within the model when processing data. The explored approach tries to deal with the black box by using the outputs of the hidden layers of a Neural Network as inputs for the model responsible for the explanations. This model is another Neural Network that can be seen as an auxiliary Neural Network to the main task. The predicted explanations are formed by a subset of a list of human-designed justifications for the possible outcomes of the main task. Using the predictions from both networks a cross comparison process is also performed in order to build confidence on the main predictions. Results successfully show how a significant proportion of incorrect outputs are questioned thanks to the predicted explanations

A new Eliomys from the Upper Miocene of Spain and its implications for the phylogeny of genus

In this paper, we describe a previously unknown species of the glirid Eliomys from the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene Cabriel, Alcoy and Granada basins of southeastern Spain. Eliomys yevesi sp. nov. is characterized by its relative small size, narrow lingual wall and common presence of two centrolophs in the upper molars, and well-developed centrolophids in the lower molars. The new species is the probable ancestor of E. intermedius, which in turn represents the ancestor of the extant E. quercinus. According to its morphologic and biometric features, the origin of E. yevesi sp. nov. is likely to be found in some population of E. truci from the Late Miocene. Based on these affinities, we propose the lineage E. truci–E. yevesi sp. nov.–E. intermedius–E. quercinus, in which there is a trend towards the development of centrolophs, as well as the reduction of accessory crests

Seasonal decline in breeding performance of the Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus

The effects of timing of breeding on reproductive parameters of Kelp Gulls Larus dominicanus were studied in Patagonia, Argentina, during 1998 and 1999. Yearly and spatial variation in the study were assessed by sampling nests during two field seasons and in different areas within the colony, and accounted for variation with respect to breeding synchrony and breeding density. In both years and in three study areas, individuals laying earlier had higher hatching success, a larger number of chicks fledged, heavier chicks at one month and higher breeding success. Significant variation between study areas within the colony and between years was observed only for breeding success and number of chicks fledged. No effects of breeding synchrony on breeding parameters were detected. Timing of breeding, independent of study year and area, had no effect on either clutch size or egg size. Our results document for the first time the seasonal decline in breeding performance in the Kelp Gull, a species widely distributed in the southern hemisphere.Fil: Garcia Borboroglu, Jorge Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Yorio, Pablo Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Moreno, Juan. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Potti Sánchez, Jaime. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Españ

Impacts of fuel consumption taxes on mobility patterns and CO2 emissions using a system dynamic approach

Current transport behaviour leads to increasing congestion of the infrastructure, growing dependence on fossil fuels, increasing energy demand, and growing CO2 emissions. Policies based principally on increasing system speed and in particular car speeds will lead to greater urban sprawl with increases in average trip lengths. Time saved by speed increases are traded for more distance. This trend is not sustainable in the longer term. Transport policies based just on time savings for citizens may not be the basis for our city planning strategy. The same happens with transport cost. With underpriced transport, the market undervalues land use location, which again may lead city to sprawl and could induce greater trip lengths. In this study, the efficiency of a fuel consumption or CO2 tax policy is analysed as a policy to internalise externalities of transport in a fair travel cost. Based on system dynamics theory, an integrated land use and transport model is proposed in order to assess the effects and impacts of such policy in the short, medium and long term. Different scenarios related to clean vehicles are incorporated. This model is applied to three cities Madrid, Vienna and Leeds and compares their results

Naturaleza de ciertas manchas que aparecen en tejidos de lana

La presencia de ciertas manchas que aparecen en determinados artículos de lana, es motivada por la existencia de fibras coloreadas en el vellón del cordero, las cuales no se encuentran localizadas en determinadas zonas del vellón. La coloración de las fibras se produce tanto por causas de tipo exógeno como por causas endógenas. Al proceder a la identificación del origen de la coloración según las reacciones propuestas por Seddon, se ha encontrado la presencia de cobre en las fibras verdes y ligeras trazas de hierro en las rojas, no habiéndose podido determinar el origen de las fibras azules. La coloración de las fibras, sólo ha podido ser eliminada de forma permanente, mediante tratamiento con soluciones oxidantes de composición similar a las empleadas en el blanqueo de la lana.Peer Reviewe