LA CONDUCCIÓN DEL AGUA EN EL SUR DE SIRIA DURANTE LOS PERIODOS ROMANO Y BIZANTINO (SIGLOS II-VII)

In the area of Hauran (Southern Syria), where the control and management of the water supply is a condition to settlement, proto-historic societies developed water-supply systems which were technically simple but very effective at collecting rainwater. In the year 106 AD,the Roman Empire annexed Hauran and a long period of prosperity began, which enabled agriculture to be developed in the area and the population to increase. At the beginning of the second century AD, some important water-supply systems were built in order to organize military control of the territory and to ensure a water supply to the forts, military outposts and the travelling army. During the second century AD, the construction of several cities in the place of Hellenistic and Nabataean Tells and the development of a Roman way of life lead to the construction of aqueducts, thermal baths and sewage networks. This work studies these hydraulic plants in accordance with Hauran’s geography and climate.En la región del Hauran (Sur de Siria), donde el control y la gestión del agua son uno de los condicionamientos del poblamiento, las sociedades protohistóricas han desarrollaron sistemas hidráulicos técnicamente simples pero eficaces para recoger el agua de lluvia. La anexión del Hauran al Imperio Romano el 106 d.C. abre un largo periodo de prosperidad favorable a la puesta en valor agrícola de la región y a un crecimiento demográfico. Desde el principio del siglo II, el control militar del territorio necesitó de la realización de grandes sistemas hidráulicos para asegurar el abastecimiento al ejército romano, ya fuesen estacionamientos (fuertes, torres de guardia) ya para sus desplazamientos (vías). En el ámbito urbano, la creación de ciudades sobre grandes Tells helenísticos y nabateos así como la introducción del estilo de vida romano condujo a la construcción de acueductos, termas y redes de cloacas alo largo del siglo II. Son estas instalaciones hidráulicas las que se estudian en este trabajo,en relación con las características geográficas y climáticas propias del Hauran

Les Tamouls de La Chapelle

Le quartier de La Chapelle est un élément clé de la dynamique commerciale et des réseaux sociaux des migrants tamouls vivant en France. Situées en haut du Xe arrondissement de Paris, ces quelques rues où foisonnent restaurants et entreprises “ethniques” sont au cœur des échanges “communautaires”. La fréquentation de ce lieu de socialisation et de partage d’informations est stratégique pour les migrants en quête d’emploi ou de soutien. Néanmoins, ce “territoire tamoul à Paris” est un monde plus complexe que l’on pourrait croire. C’est un microcosme qui en comporte d’autres

Foraging Strategies of Invasive Macaca fascicularis may Promote Plant Invasion in Mauritius

peer reviewedThe effectiveness of seed dispersal by frugivorous primates may vary between seasons and plant species, depending on foraging strategies. We investigated how foraging strategies of an invasive frugivorous primate (the long-tailed macaque, Macaca fascicularis) affect seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) between native and invasive plants in Mauritius’ native remnant forests. By collecting behavioural data on a group of partially habituated macaques via scan sampling from December 2019 until December 2020 (mean 19.2 ± SD 7.3 hours per month), we investigated seasonal patterns in diet, home range, and fruit availability to identify foraging strategies and determine fruit preference. We simultaneously assessed SDE for invasive vs native plants by quantifying native and invasive fruits consumed or dropped intact by macaques during feeding bouts (n = 114). Macaques fed increasingly on ripe invasive fruits and less on other food items as fruit availability increased, due to preference for invasive fruits and disproportionate availability of invasive vs native fruits. When fruit became scarcer, macaques had larger home ranges, increasingly fed on scarce unripe native and invasive fruits, and expanded their diet by eating orchard crops, indicating use of energy-maximizing strategies. Macaques consumed more native than invasive fruits when unripe and commonly destroyed seeds of native fruits, indicating higher SDE for invasive vs native plants. Higher discard rates of unripe compared to ripe fruits further reinforced these differences in SDE. Our results highlight potential facilitation of plant invasion by an invasive primate, due to foraging strategies shaped by the availability of invasive fruits

Laser welding of titanium alloys with an Yb: YAG sisk source

International audienceIn this paper, the laser welding of thin titanium sheet in a butt joint configuration are investigated using a continuous Yb: YAG disk source, with high beam quality and a particular fiber configuration, enable to provide a broad range of beam diameters with different intensity distribution. The thermal efficiency of the laser process is discussed as a function of the fiber type. The weldability results for the CP Ti grade 2 and the Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy are expressed in terms of full penetration, and correct bead geometry (NF L06-395-2000). Full penetration welds are easily achieved with the core fiber, but the outer fiber produces welds with limited geometric defects. Butt joints microstructure consists of an acicular α phase in the fusion zone for CP Ti, and a martensitic α’ phase for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Tensile test results confirm a similar or slightly higher joint strength for the full penetration welds, compared with the parent metal

Feasibility assessment of commercially available Unmanned Aerial Vehicle sensor and payload functions for crocodile population surveys

peer reviewedIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring crocodile populations. We therefore assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of using commercially available UAV features for monitoring the population of critically endangered Siamese crocodiles (Crocodylus siamensis) in Crocodile Lake (Bàu Sấu), Nam Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. The study deployed a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced drone with a Smart Controller, a Thermal Infrared (TIR) sensor, a RGB visual camera, and a spotlight payload. The study conducted manual and pre-programmed systematic mission flights above Crocodile Lake to include heterogenous portions of the landscape and to assess variable crocodile detectability over areas of open land, vegetation, and open water. The results of our study show that systematic night flights at 20 m altitude using a DJI dual spotlight at a 45° downward angle, coupled with RGB and co-registered TIR sensors (with continuous gradient palettes on the flight controller) also set to 45° angle, are effective for crocodile population monitoring. Although brief, our study shows that conducting UAV flights in both day- and night-time conditions using TIR, RGB, and spotlight payloads can provide a comprehensive understanding of crocodile population given various strengths and limitations of each. Finally, our experience allows us to provide feasibility recommendations for the use of UAVs to monitoring of crocodile populations in a global context

Primates census with thermal drones: A New Horizon?

peer reviewedMethods of monitoring threatened primate species with minimal disturbance and reduced human-primate interfaces are becoming outstanding requirements in the post-Covid era. Thermal Infrared imaging (TIR) with Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or “drones” are a promising tool to detect and count primate species, but systematic validation is still needed to explore their full potential. We aim to evaluate the feasibility of using drones fitted with thermal sensors to conduct primate census and to test reliable methods to monitor diurnal primate communities in Cát Tiên National Park, located in southern Vietnam. From January to February 2023, we combined diurnal ground-based surveys and thermal drone surveys at night over N=29 1km line-transects (covering an area of 100km²). So far, We conducted N= 80 ground-based surveys and N=61 thermal drone surveys and between both surveys detected six species including Pygathrix nigripes, Trachypithecus margarita, Nomascus gabriellae, Macaca fascicularis, Macaca leonina, and Macaca arctoides. During this time, new sub-population locations were identified of several species. By analyzing their thermal and physical signature (including temperature, body size, and shape) and sleeping behavior, we were able to differentiate between various species. Our preliminary results suggest that thermal imagery with drone can accurately identify and count the critically endangered Pygathrix nigripes without the need for ground-truthing. This method could be particularly useful for long-term monitoring of large-bodied and highly arboreal species such as douc langurs. To estimate the abundance and distribution of other primate species, complementary methods such as camera traps and passive acoustic monitoring are recommended.Non-invasive method for monitoring threatened primate communities and their ecological functions using thermal imaging with unmanned aerial vehicle

CoFee-L: A Model of Animal Displacement in Large Groups Combining Cohesion Maintenance, Feeding Area Search and Transient Leadership

peer reviewe

Cultural flies:Conformist social learning in fruitflies predicts long-lasting mate-choice traditions

Despite theoretical justification for the evolution of animal culture, empirical evidence for it beyond mammals and birds remains scant, and we still know little about the process of cultural inheritance. In this study, we propose a mechanism-driven definition of animal culture and test it in the fruitfly. We found that fruitflies have five cognitive capacities that enable them to transmit mating preferences culturally across generations, potentially fostering persistent traditions (the main marker of culture) in mating preference. A transmission chain experiment validates a model of the emergence of local traditions, indicating that such social transmission may lead initially neutral traits to become adaptive, hence strongly selecting for copying and conformity. Although this situation was suggested decades ago, it previously had little empirical support.</p

Vers une meilleure compréhension du processus d'habituation à l'observateur humain: Une approche statistique chez Macaca leonina (Primates: Cercopithecidea)

peer reviewedHabituation allows an observer to closely approach and follow free-ranging animals, as they no longer respond to the observer presence (e.g., through flight, avoidance, display, curiosity). While habituation is implicitly acknowledged as a necessary step before any direct observational studies of primates, there is very little published data on the subject. The aim of this study is to analyse the habituation process over time (17 months) in a wildfeeding troop of northern pigtailed macaques (Macaca leonina) inhabiting a degraded forest fragment of the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Thailand. Based on the number of encounters, contact duration with the studied troop, and behavioural responses to the observer recorded ad libitum and via scan sampling, we found statistical evidence of habituation progress over five stages: early, minimal, partial, advanced, and full. The complete habituation process took nearly 13 months. Factors such as the macaques’ limited experience of human contact, semi-terrestriality, large ranging patterns, fission-fusion dynamics, unpredictable resource use, as well as reduced native fruit availability in this degraded forest fragment may explain the length of the process. It was only possible to collect ranging and behavioural data from the partial habituation stage, although these data were biased toward adult males and sub-adults, while overestimating movement behaviour over inactivity and social behaviours. Our results highlight the importance of analysing behavioural data of fully habituated groups of primates to limit biases of observer presence, and also of not underestimating the habituation process length. This study provides novel information on the habituation process in macaques and proposes an effective methodology to analyse the habituation process across a wide range of primate species.Northern Pigtailed Macaque Projec

Multidimensional analysis of the frequencies and rates of cytokine secretion from single cells by quantitative microengraving

The large diversity of cells that comprise the human immune system requires methods that can resolve the individual contributions of specific subsets to an immunological response. Microengraving is process that uses a dense, elastomeric array of microwells to generate microarrays of proteins secreted from large numbers of individual live cells ([similar]10⁴–10⁵ cells/assay). In this paper, we describe an approach based on this technology to quantify the rates of secretion from single immune cells. Numerical simulations of the microengraving process indicated an operating regime between 30 min–4 h that permits quantitative analysis of the rates of secretion. Through experimental validation, we demonstrate that microengraving can provide quantitative measurements of both the frequencies and the distribution in rates of secretion for up to four cytokines simultaneously released from individual viable primary immune cells. The experimental limits of detection ranged from 0.5 to 4 molecules/s for IL-6, IL-17, IFNγ, IL-2, and TNFα. These multidimensional measures resolve the number and intensities of responses by cells exposed to stimuli with greater sensitivity than single-parameter assays for cytokine release. We show that cells from different donors exhibit distinct responses based on both the frequency and magnitude of cytokine secretion when stimulated under different activating conditions. Primary T cells with specific profiles of secretion can also be recovered after microengraving for subsequent expansion in vitro. These examples demonstrate the utility of quantitative, multidimensional profiles of single cells for analyzing the diversity and dynamics of immune responses in vitro and for identifying rare cells from clinical samples.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (Award no. 5U19AI050864-07)National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (Award no. F32AI651003)National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (Award no. U19AI070352)National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (Award no. U19AI046130)National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (Award no. P01AI045757)National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U.S.) (Jacob Javits Merit Award (NS2427))Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Texaco- Mangelsdorf Career Development Professor