Predation risk modifies behaviour by shaping the response of identified brain neurons

Interpopulation comparisons in species that show behavioural variations associated with particular ecological disparities offer good opportunities for assessing how environmental factors may foster specific functional adaptations in the brain. Yet, studies on the neural substrate that can account for interpopulation behavioural adaptations are scarce. Predation is one of the strongest driving forces for behavioural evolvability and, consequently, for shaping structural and functional brain adaptations. We analysed the escape response of crabs Neohelice granulata from two isolated populations exposed to different risks of avian predation. Individuals from the high-risk area proved to be more reactive to visual danger stimuli (VDS) than those from an area where predators are rare. Control experiments indicate that the response difference was specific for impending visual threats. Subsequently, we analysed the response to VDS of a group of giant brain neurons that are thought to play a main role in the visually guided escape response of the crab. Neurons from animals of the population with the stronger escape response were more responsive to VDS than neurons from animals of the less reactive population. Our results suggest a robust linkage between the pressure imposed by the predation risk, the response of identified neurons and the behavioural outcome.Fil: Magani, Fiorella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Luppi, Tomas Atilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencia Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Nuñez, Jesus Dario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencia Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Tomsic, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentin

Robotics in meat processing

Scientists are currently investigating micro-robotics in the medical field with a potential to provide better medical technology in the near future. When it comes to the food industry, the use of robots has been traditionally limited to picking and palletization. Today, however, robots are used in material handling and secondary or tertiary packing. Recent developments with faster computers and sophisticated sensors have made it possible to use robotics in the meat processing sectors, where their application has reduced processing costs, occupational injuries, improved efficiency and hygiene associated with meat products. Compared to other industries, the working environment in the meat industry is not very conducive to robotics due to the noisy, damp and cold conditions. Slaughtering animals and cutting meat into pieces and disposing waste is an intensive physically demanding task. This chapter reviews the application of robotics in the meat industry and the advancements that have been made until now

Mental fatigue and padel:state-of-the-art and beyond

Padel is attracting increased research interest. Although the focus has been on the physical and technical-tactical demands of the game, recently more attention is being paid to its mental demands and, more specifically, the importance of mental fatigue. This literature review provides an overview of mental fatigue in padel. First, we consider the mentally fatiguing nature of padel. Padel players must make complex decisions under high-time pressure, maintain self-confidence, and communicate with their partners in an emotionally charged context. With these cognitive demands, it is not surprising that padel matches and tournaments are mentally fatiguing. Second, we review evidence confirming that mental fatigue is detrimental for padel players’ performance, in agreement with findings observed in other sports. Third, we evaluate strategies to tackle mental fatigue and its effects on padel performance. Until now, the only proven long-term countermeasure is Brain Endurance Training. Finally, we make a series of recommendations for coaches and players to deal with mental fa-tigue, that focus on the quantification and modulation of mental fatigue among padel players. We strongly recommend i. to include subjective ratings of mental fatigue (i.e., VAS scale) before and after training and competitive matches, ii. to reduce the cogni-tive load of training before competitions by, for example, use positive feedback or habitual training exercises, and iii. to use Brain Endurance Training during non-com-petitive moments of the season

Wildfires in the Amazon region 2019

Analysis of wildfire trends in the Amazon regionJRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Impact on reproductive performance and body condition in a small limpet parasitized by a large castrator pea crab

Parasitic castrators utilize the energy reserves that the host allocates on reproduction resulting in sterilization of the host. However, whether other processes (e.g., growth) are also impaired depends on the balance between the castrator's energy requirements and the available resources that the castrated host does not use in reproduction. We investigated whether the castrator pea crab Calytraeotheres garthi alters body condition, reproductive performance, and occurrence of copulation in its limpet host Bostrycapulus odites. For this purpose, we examined the anatomy of the ovary, the seminal receptacles, and the body condition of parasitized and unparasitized limpets. The histology of the female gonad of parasitized limpets revealed the ovarian tubules are smaller and characterized by a greater proportion of intertubular and intratubular free space compared with non-parasitized individuals. The body condition of female limpets from all sizes (during summer) and those larger than ~16 mm (during spring and autumn) were impacted by the pea crab. These results are in contrast to that previously reported in the comparatively larger limpet species Crepidula cachimilla, in which the same pea crab species does not alter or even increase the host body weight. We concluded this pea crab species could drastically impair its host's reproduction and body condition although deleterious effects are species-specific and likely depend on limpet body size. The histology of seminal receptacles revealed an uncommon disposition of spermatozoa (i.e., excessive debris and acrosomes detached from epithelium) in seminal receptacles of some parasitized limpets. However, this analysis failed to determine whether sperm derived from present matings or previous pea crab infection. Further studies are needed to address whether pea crabs interfere with the mating behavior of limpets and if the alterations in sperm disposition are a consequence of castration.Fil: Ocampo, Emiliano Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Pérez García, Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Nuñez, Jesus Dario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Luppi, Tomas Atilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentin

Competitividad en Pymes bajo un esquema de trabajo en red y diferenciación del producto. Caso comedores urbanos de Food Trucks en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México

A pesquisa, mostra o modelo de negócio de venda de comida feita na hora de um veículo que pode ser mobilizada para si ou motor também conhecido como Food Truks (FT), sob a tendência das instalações ou estacionamento de vários destes, na mesma praça comercial a oferta de alimentação gourmet. O trabalho demonstra a importância da cooperação e relação entre estas pequenas e médias empresas (PME) em Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (CJS) e sua tendência para a rede abrigo de um regime de colaboração. Depois de se referir a alguma base teórica para a competitividade e redes, os resultados preliminares em que destaca as relações que surgem entre empresas e partes interessadas, mostrando as principais considerações para o trabalho sob este modelo de rede são apresentados, bem como os aspectos da apresentação, qualidade e produtos de imagem, tais como factores de diferenciação para a obtenção de melhorias competitivas. Além disso, uma série de recomendações a considerar a região como uma unidade de análise são desenvolvidas

Forest fire danger extremes in Europe under climate change: variability and uncertainty

Forests cover over a third of the total land area of Europe. In recent years, large forest fires have repeatedly affected Europe, in particular the Mediterranean countries. Fire danger is influenced by weather in the short term, and by climate when considering longer time intervals. In this work, the emphasis is on the direct influence on fire danger of weather and climate. For climate analysis at the continental scale, a daily high-emission scenario (RCP 8.5) was considered up to the end of the century, and a mitigation scenario that limits global warming to 2 °C was also assessed. To estimate fire danger, the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) system was used. FWI provides a uniform numerical rating of relative fire potential, by combining the information from daily local temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and precipitation values. The FWI is standardised to consider a reference fuel behaviour irrespective of other factors. It is thus well suited to support harmonised comparisons, to highlight the role of the varying climate in the component of fire danger that is driven by weather. RESULTS. Around the Mediterranean region, climate change will reduce fuel moisture levels from present values, increasing the weather-driven danger of forest fires. Furthermore, areas exhibiting low moisture will extend further northwards from the Mediterranean, and the current area of high fuel moisture surrounding the Alps will decrease in size. Projected declines in moisture for Mediterranean countries are smaller with mitigation that limits global warming to 2 °C, but a worsening is still predicted compared with present. There is a clear north-south pattern of deep fuel moisture variability across Europe in both climate change scenarios. Areas at moderate danger from forest fires are pushed north to central Europe by climate change. Relatively little change is expected in weather-driven fire danger across northern Europe. However, mountain systems show a fast pace of change. ADAPTATION OPTIONS. Key strategies to be considered may include vegetation management to reduce the likelihood of severe fires, as well as fuel treatments to mitigate fire hazard in dry forests. These measures should be adapted to the different forest ecosystems and conditions. Limited, preliminary knowledge covers specific but essential aspects. Evidence suggests that some areas protected for biodiversity conservation may be affected less by forest fires than unprotected areas, despite containing more combustible material. Specific typologies of old-growth forests may be associated with lower fire severity than densely stocked even-aged young stands, and some tree plantations might be more subject to severe fire compared with multi-aged forests. Particular ecosystems and vegetation associations may be better adapted for post-fire recovery, as long as the interval between fires is not too short. Therefore, deepening the understanding of resistance, resilience and habitat suitability of mixtures of forest tree species is recommended. Human activity (accidental, negligent or deliberate) is one of the most common causes of fire. For this reason, the main causes of fire should be minimized, which includes analysing the social and economic factors that lead people to start fires, increasing awareness of the danger, encouraging good behaviour and sanctioning offenders. LIMITATIONS. Bias correction of climate projections is known to be a potential noticeable source of uncertainty in the predicted bioclimatic anomalies to which vegetation is sensitive. In particular, the analysis of fire danger under climate change scenarios may be critically affected by climatic modelling uncertainty. This work did not explicitly model adaptation scenarios for forest fire danger because ecosystem resilience to fire is uneven and its assessment relies on factors that are difficult to model numerically. Furthermore, a component of the proposed climate-based characterization of future wildfire potential impacts may be linked to the current distribution of population, land cover and use in Europe. The future distribution of these factors is likely to be different from now.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

A general vertical decomposition of Euler equations: Multilayer-moment models

In this work, we present a general framework for vertical discretizations of Euler equations. It generalizes the usual moment and multilayer models and allows to obtain a family of multilayer-moment models. It considers a multilayer-type discretization where the layerwise velocity is a polynomial of arbitrary degree N on the vertical variable. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we compare the multilayer and moment models in their usual formulation, pointing out some advantages/disadvantages of each approach. Second, a family of multilayer-moment models is proposed. As particular interesting case we shall consider a multilayer-moment model with layerwise linear horizontal velocity. Several numerical tests are presented, devoted to the comparison of multilayer and moment methods, and also showing that the proposed method with layerwise linear velocity allows us to obtain second order accuracy in the vertical direction. We show as well that the proposed approach allows to correctly represent the vertical structure of the solutions of the hydrostatic Euler equations. Moreover, the measured efficiency shows that in many situations, the proposed multilayer-moment model needs just a few layers to improve the results of the usual multilayer model with a high number of vertical layers.This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Government and FEDER through the research projects RTI2018-096064-B-C2(1/2) and PID2020-114688RB-I00, the Junta de Andalucía research project P18-RT-3163, the Junta de Andalucia-FEDER-University of Málaga research project UMA18-FEDERJA-16. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA

Dosis de materia organica en la reducción de hidrocarburos fraccion F2 en suelo residencial utilizando girasol como indicador

En los años recientes la contaminación por vertimiento y/o derrame de hidrocarburos totales de petróleo (HTP) en nuestro país ha ido en aumento, generado por el inadecuado manejo, almacenamiento y control operacional, perjudicando los componentes ambientales y la afectación a la salud de las personas. Por lo tanto, se procedió a estudiar una alternativa para reducir los niveles de HTP mediante las técnicas de biorremediación por presentar bajos costos de operación y mantenimiento. La investigación experimental consistió en analizar la eficiencia de compuestos orgánicos (estiércol de vacuno) para reducir los niveles de hidrocarburos de fracción media F2 en una matriz suelo. La muestra extraída fue de un suelo residencial contaminado con derivados de petróleo perteneciente a los talleres mecánica, ubicado en la Av. antigua panamericana norte, en la ciudad de Huacho; siendo la concentración inicial de 2 519,77 mg/kg de fracción F2. El experimento fue desarrollado durante 18 semanas, la dosis que se aplicaron fueron T1: 0%, T2: 10%, T3: 20%, T4: 30% y T5: 40% de estiércol, cada uno con tres repeticiones para un total de 15 unidades experimentales de 2 kg de suelo residencial c/u y la cantidad de 3 semillas de girasol como planta indicadora. Según los resultados de la investigación, se determinó que la aplicación del estiércol de vacuno tuvo efecto en reducir los niveles de concentración de la fracción F2 de T1 6.16% a T5 53.61%, además de una mejor germinación y desarrollo de la altura de la planta (girasol) en comparación con los tratamientos T1 (testigo), T2, T3 y T4. Finalmente, se concluye que el tratamiento que presenta el mayor porcentaje de materia orgánica permitió lograr mayor eficiencia de remoción de fracción F2 en relación al mejor crecimiento de la planta girasol por un periodo de 6 semanas