Distribution and genetic variability of Staphylinidae across a gradient of anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes

This paper describes the distribution and genetic variability of rove beetles (Coleoptera Staphylinidae) in anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes. The study was conducted in the Azores archipelago, characterized by high anthropogenic influence and landscape fragmentation. Collections were made in five islands, from eight habitats, along a gradient of anthropogenic influence. The species of Staphylinidae from the Azores collected for this study were widely distributed and showed low habitat fidelity. Rove beetle richness was associated with anthropogenic influence and habitat type, increasing from less to more anthropogenic impacted habitats. However, genetic diversity of profiled species (i.e. with three or more specimens per species/habitat) does not seem affected by anthropogenic influence in the different habitat types, isolation or landscape fragmentation. COI haplotypes were, as a rule, not exclusive to a given island or habitat. High level of genetic divergence and nucleotide saturation was found in closely related morphological designated species, demonstrating possible disparities between currently defined taxonomic units based on morphology and molecular phylogenies of Staphylinidae. This study found evidence of cryptic speciation in the Atheta fungi (Gravenhorst) species complex which had thus far remained undetected. Similar trends were found for Oligota parva Kraatz, Oxytelus sculptus Gravenhorst, Oligota pumilio Kiesenwetter. Previous studies with lower taxonomical resolution may have underestimated the biotic diversity reported in the Azores in comparison to other Macaronesian archipelagos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Self-regulation and tobacco use: contributes of the confirmatory factor analysis of the Portuguese version of the short self-regulation questionnaire

Self-regulation has been one of most studied developmental skills, given its close relation with health and lifestyle, adjustment and resilience and in the prevention of risk behaviours as substance use. Given the lack of studies about self-regulation and tobacco use in Portuguese context, this paper aims to present the results of the confirmatory factor analysis of the Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Carey, Neal & Collins, 2004) in our population, exploring the role of self-regulation in tobacco use. To do that, the SSRQ and a socio-demographic questionnaire was administered to a sample of 390 adolescents, mostly females (n= 228, 59.2%), with ages ranging from 15 and 18 years old (M= 16.05, SD=. 865). Results allow us to find a good fit model with good reliability of the SSRQ. Descriptive statistics and differential studies allow us to find differences in impulse control according gender and a negative correlation with age. Results allow us also to verify a negative correlation between self-regulation and onset age of tobacco use and a negative correlation between control impulse and tobacco use. Data is analysed according to the literature and its implications to prevention and further researches are presented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analyzing the Galactic Pulsar Distribution with Machine Learning

We explore the possibility of inferring the properties of the Galactic population of neutron stars through machine learning. In particular, in this paper we focus on their dynamical characteristics and show that an artificial neural network is able to estimate with high accuracy the parameters that control the current positions of a mock population of pulsars. For this purpose, we implement a simplified population-synthesis framework (where selection biases are neglected at this stage) and concentrate on the natal kick-velocity distribution and the distribution of birth distances from the Galactic plane. By varying these and evolving the pulsar trajectories in time, we generate a series of simulations that are used to train and validate a suitably structured convolutional neural network. We demonstrate that our network is able to recover the parameters governing the distribution of kick velocity and Galactic height with a mean relative error of about 10−2. We discuss the limitations of our idealized approach and study a toy problem to introduce selection effects in a phenomenological way by incorporating the observed proper motions of 216 isolated pulsars. Our analysis highlights that by increasing the sample of pulsars with accurate proper-motion measurements by a factor of ∼10, one of the future breakthroughs of the Square Kilometre Array, we might succeed in constraining the birth spatial and kick-velocity distribution of the neutron stars in the Milky Way with high precision through machine learning.M.R., V.G., A.G., and N.R. acknowledge support from the H2020 ERC Consolidator Grant “MAGNESIA”’ under grant agreement No. 817661 (PI: Rea), and grants SGR2017-1383 and PGC2018-095512-B-I00. J.A.P. acknowledges support by the Generalitat Valenciana grant PROMETEO/2019/071 and by AEI grant PGC2018-095984-B-I00. This work has also been partially supported by the PHAROS COST Action (CA16214)

Surface energy balance model

Presented at the fifth international conference on irrigation and drainage, Irrigation and drainage for food, energy and the environment on November 3-6, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.Includes bibliographical references.Remote sensing algorithms are currently being used to estimate regional surface energy fluxes [e.g., latent heat flux (LE) or evapotranspiration (ET)]. Many of these surface energy balance models use information derived from satellite imagery such as Landsat, AVHRR, ASTER, and MODIS to estimate ET. The remote sensing approach to estimating ET provides advantages over traditional methods. One of the most important advantages is that it can provide regional estimates of actual ET at low cost. Most conventional methods are based on point measurements (i.e., soil water sensors, lysimeters, weather station data, etc.), limiting their ability to capture the spatial variability of ET. Another advantage of remote sensing/surface energy balance ET models is that they are able to estimate the actual crop ET as a residual of the energy balance without the need of using reference crop ET and tabulated crop coefficients. This study focuses on the use of the energy balance-based model "Remote Sensing of ET" (ReSET) that uses an enhanced procedure to deal with the spatial and temporal variability of ET. ET was estimated for several years of data for the Arkansas River Basin, South Platte, and Palo Verde Irrigation District along with one day ET estimates for the Southern High Plains. Comparisons between the Remote Sensing ET values and ET values from more conventional ET methods [e.g., 2005 ASCE-EWRI Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration (Penman-Monteith) Equation] also are presented

On the Rate of Crustal Failures in Young Magnetars

The activity of magnetars is powered by their intense and dynamic magnetic fields and has been proposed as the trigger to extragalactic fast radio bursts. Here we estimate the frequency of crustal failures in young magnetars, by computing the magnetic stresses in detailed magnetothermal simulations including Hall drift and ohmic dissipation. The initial internal topology at birth is poorly known but is likely to be much more complex than a dipole. Thus, we explore a wide range of initial configurations, finding that the expected rate of crustal failures varies by orders of magnitude depending on the initial magnetic configuration. Our results show that this rate scales with the crustal magnetic energy, rather than with the often used surface value of the dipolar component related to the spin-down torque. The estimated frequency of crustal failures for a given dipolar component can vary by orders of magnitude for different initial conditions, depending on how much magnetic energy is distributed in the crustal nondipolar components, likely dominant in newborn magnetars. The quantitative reliability of the expected event rate could be improved by a better treatment of the magnetic evolution in the core and the elastic/plastic crustal response, not included here. Regardless of that, our results are useful inputs in modeling the outburst rate of young Galactic magnetars, and their relation with the fast radio bursts in our and other galaxies.C.D., D.V., N.R., and A.G.G. are supported by the ERC Consolidator Grant “MAGNESIA” (No. 817661) and acknowledge funding from grants SGR2017-1383 and PGC2018-095512-BI00. J.A.P. acknowledges support by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2019/071) and by AEI grant PGC2018-095984-BI00. R.P. acknowledges support from NSF award AST-1616157. We acknowledge support from the PHAROS COST Action (CA16214)

Pain overview: classification, conceptual framework, and assessment

The ability to evict noxious stimulus increases the likelihood of surviving. It is the result of interactions between specialized cells, the spinal cord, and the brain. Nociceptive pain is related to direct injury of the body. Other forms of pain may not be linked to visible injury. Being multidimensional in nature, classification attempts are unable to embark the plethora of elements that constitute pain. Pain theories can explain the nociceptive quality of it while failing to explain other qualities. Efforts culminated in the development of gate control theory, which spawned many advances in pain management. Assessment tools are useful to determine the intensity of pain and its impact on quality of life. Judicious use of these scales allows healthcare professionals to proper manage patients pain and are validated instruments widely used in research. This short review aims to expand awareness about the phenomenon of pain, its mechanisms, and its measurement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How complete should be the landslide inventory to generate a reliable landslide susceptibility model?

Historical landslide inventory maps are frequently incomplete and this is usually pointed out as a source of uncertainty affecting the predictive ability of data-driven landslide susceptibility models. Nevertheless, the concept of having a complete landslide inventory seems far from reaching a consensual definition, both from the theoretical and practical point of view. Landslide mapping over time depends on a wide range of factors, some of them as simple as the ambitious capability to regionally map all the landslide features/signatures, detectable by fieldwork or image interpretation, which are often lost in a short period due to erosion or man intervention, which erase the morphological signs of instability. Within this framework, the main goal of the present work is to assess to what extent a presumed complete shallow slides inventory map is necessary to consistently assess the susceptibility to shallow slides in a certain area. The working hypothesis is tested in the Grande da Pipa river (GPR) basin, which extends for 110 square kilometers in the north of Lisbon region, Portugal. To assess susceptibility to shallow slides occurrence, we apply a bivariate statistical method (the Information Value), using an inventory containing more than 500 shallow slides ranging in size from 10 to 8000 square meters; and a dataset of eight terrain predisposing factors (lithology, slope, aspect, plan curvature, slope area ratio, topographic position index, soil type and land use), supported by automated R routines. In a first moment, the modelling strategy encompasses the creation of three independent blocks of landslide cases to be used for training (70 % of the landslides) and validation (30 % of the landslides) based on a random partition of the shallow slides inventory. In a second phase, each training group, for the different blocks, is randomly split in 14 new landslide sample groups, through a progressive increment of 5 % in the number of landslide cases included, from sample group 1 (with only 5 % of the total landslides) to sample group 14 (with 70 % of the total landslides), to obtain the shallow slides susceptibility scores. The validation of each of the 14 susceptibility map, from the different blocks, is done independently with the validation group of shallow slides (30 %) previously set aside and not used for susceptibility modelling. To accomplish that, we graphically compute prediction rate curves and calculate the respective area under the curve.N/

Corneal biomechanical properties in different ocular conditions and new measurement techniques

Several refractive and therapeutic treatments as well as several ocular or systemic diseases might induce changes in the mechanical resistance of the cornea. Furthermore, intraocular pressure measurement, one of the most used clinical tools, is also highly dependent on this characteristic. Corneal biomechanical properties can be measured now in the clinical setting with different instruments. In the present work, we review the potential role of the biomechanical properties of the cornea in different fields of ophthalmology and visual science in light of the definitions of the fundamental properties of matter and the results obtained from the different instruments available. The body of literature published so far provides an insight into how the corneal mechanical properties change in different sight-threatening ocular conditions and after different surgical procedures. The future in this field is very promising with several new technologies being applied to the analysis of the corneal biomechanical properties

Evolución de la relacion banca-industria en España

Definir el papel que juega el sistema financiero en general, y los bancos en particular, a la hora de facilitar las inversiones y crecimiento de las empresas, impulsar la adopción de innovaciones tecnológicas y las mejoras en la productividad, o en la mejor supervisión de la actuación de los directivos ha sido siempre un tema que ha generado encendidos debates y para el que se han elaborado numerosas comparaciones internacionales. Se observan dos soluciones extremas a este problema: por un lado, el modelo anglo-americano, con mercados financieros importantes e instituciones financieras no tan involucradas en la propiedad o financiación de las empresas; y por otro lado el modelo germano-japonés, con un número reducido de bancos, de tamaño importante y que han jugado un papel más activo en la supervisión y control de las entidades no financieras con las que colaboran. El caso español correspondía, tradicionalmente, a una situación intermedia con bancos importantes pero no excesivamente involucrados y con la presencia de mecanismos de mercado de una cierta importancia, especialmente cuando lo comparábamos con la situación presente en otros países europeos. En este trabajo intentamos ver hasta qué punto los bancos siguen siendo importantes en la financiación de las empresas, analizando sus participaciones accionariales y determinando hasta qué punto son accionistas activos y alternativos al mercado. En este sentido, una de las preguntas claves consiste en entender qué ha pasado con la estructura de propiedad de las empresas españolas y, en particular, de aquellas que cotizan en bolsa. Este es un elemento crucial ya que en la mayoría de países europeos es habitual una estructura de propiedad altamente concentrada y donde la caracterización de los grandes accionistas resulta relevante. Otra cuestión que merece nuestra atención es la evolución de las grandes empresas de propiedad estatal, que durante la última década han experimentado importantes procesos de privatización, por otro lado generalizados en todas las economías. Los sectores de la energía, telecomunicaciones y transporte, entre otros, han visto cambios dramáticos en su propiedad. Dado su importante peso específico en la economía y mercados nacionales, analizaremos cómo ha afectado dicha privatización a los diferentes mecanismos de gobierno, la eficiencia y el valor de las empresas