3-D SURVEY APPLIED TO INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY BY TLS METHODOLOGY

This work describes the three-dimensional survey of "Ex Stazione Frigorifera Specializzata": initially used for agricultural storage, during the years it was allocated to different uses until the complete neglect. The historical relevance and the architectural heritage that this building represents has brought the start of a recent renovation project and functional restoration. In this regard it was necessary a global 3-D survey that was based on the application and integration of different geomatic methodologies (mainly terrestrial laser scanner, classical topography, and GNSS). The acquisitions of point clouds was performed using different laser scanners: with time of flight (TOF) and phase shift technologies for the distance measurements. The topographic reference network, needed for scans alignment in the same system, was measured with a total station. For the complete survey of the building, 122 scans were acquired and 346 targets were measured from 79 vertices of the reference network. Moreover, 3 vertices were measured with GNSS methodology in order to georeference the network. For the detail survey of machine room were executed 14 scans with 23 targets. The 3-D global model of the building have less than one centimeter of error in the alignment (for the machine room the error in alignment is not greater than 6 mm) and was used to extract products such as longitudinal and transversal sections, plans, architectural perspectives, virtual scans. A complete spatial knowledge of the building is obtained from the processed data, providing basic information for restoration project, structural analysis, industrial and architectural heritage valorization

Notes on the diet of seven terrestrial frogs in three agroecosystems and forest remnants in Northwestern São Paulo State, Brazil.

Anurans are predators of a great diversity of invertebrates, but studies on agroecosystems are very scarce. Herein we described the diet composition of seven species of terrestrial anurans captured in three different agroecosystems (corn, soybean and rubber tree) and in forest remnants of the Northwestern region of São Paulo state, Brazil. Ten prey categories were identified in the stomachs of 80 specimens belonging to the families Bufonidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae. Hymenoptera (Formicidae) was consumed by all species. Coleoptera was the most frequent item, consumed by six of the even species followed by Araneae and Isoptera. Isoptera was the most abundant item followed by Formicidae, Coleoptera and Araneae. Adults and juveniles of Physalaemus nattereri, the most abundant species in our study, consumed Formicidae and Isoptera more than other food items and there is not a significant difference in the abundance of consumed prey items between the age categories. In summary, the majority of the studied species can be considered generalists predators and, probably, consumed the prey items available in the environment. The most abundant species found in our study can be considered here as having a specialized diet, by consuming social insects in great frequency.Published online on 12 August 2015

Management of Vesicouterine fistulae during fistulae surgical caravan in Cote d'Ivoire

Background: The urogenital fistula (UGF) which designate a solution of continuity between the urinary and genital tracts in women, are divided into several entities of variable gravity. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of patients treated for vesicouterine fistula during ‘fistulas surgical caravans’.Methods: This was a prospective and descriptive study on a cohort of 34 patients treated for Vesico-uterine fistulae during ‘‘fistulas surgical caravans '' from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2016.Results: Vesico uterine fistulae represented 2.1% of all urogenital fistulae treated. At the time of occurrence of fistulas, the average age of the patients stay was 33.3 years, and the majority was not educated (88.2%), lived in rural areas without occupations (73.5%). All the fistulae were secondary to childbirth, the majority of which took place on a scarred uterus (67.6%). And this childbirth responsible for the fistula was done by caesarean section in 97.7% of cases. Then the average duration of the fistula before management was 6 years. Finally, all the patients were operated by the same surgical technique, made by abdominal extra peritoneal transvesical way. The cure rate after this surgical technique was 97.1% (33 patients). The only case of failure required a second operation by another technique which permitted the healing of the patient.Conclusions: The vesicouterine fistulae were rare and the satisfactory results of their management invite us to sustain these surgical caravans and ensure their widespread

THE 3D SURVEY OF THE ROMAN BRIDGE OF SAN LORENZO IN PADOVA (ITALY): A COMPARISON BETWEEN SFM AND TLS METHODOLOGIES APPLIED TO THE ARCH STRUCTURE

Abstract. 3D survey methodologies are widely applied to the Cultural Heritage, employing both TLS and close-range photogrammetry with SfM techniques. Laser scanning produces models with high metric reliability and accuracy, whereas the main quality of the 3D photogrammetry is the result in term of photorealistic representation. Many studies have been conducted about the comparison and the integration of these different approaches and the aim of this paper is to contribute with a peculiar case study: the underground Roman bridge of San Lorenzo in Padova (Italy). The investigation regards the resulting point clouds of the intrados (or inner curve) of the central arch, comparing them and providing graphical and analytical outputs. The proposed workflow has the purpose to be a simple but valid tool to detect and evaluate geometrical differences, their significativity and the reliability of the 3D models.</p

Maternal allocation of carotenoids increases tolerance to bacterial infection in brown trout.

Life-history theory predicts that iteroparous females allocate their resources differently among different breeding seasons depending on their residual reproductive value. In iteroparous salmonids there is typically much variation in egg size, egg number, and in the compounds that females allocate to their clutch. These compounds include various carotenoids whose functions are not sufficiently understood yet. We sampled 37 female and 35 male brown trout from natural streams, collected their gametes for in vitro fertilizations, experimentally produced 185 families in 7 full-factorial breeding blocks, raised the developing embryos singly (n = 2960), and either sham-treated or infected them with Pseudomonas fluorescens. We used female redness (as a measure of carotenoids stored in the skin) and their allocation of carotenoids to clutches to infer maternal strategies. Astaxanthin contents largely determined egg colour. Neither egg weight nor female size was correlated with the content of this carotenoid. However, astaxanthin content was positively correlated with larval growth and with tolerance against P. fluorescens. There was a negative correlation between female skin redness and the carotenoid content of their eggs. Although higher astaxanthin contents in the eggs were associated with an improvement of early fitness-related traits, some females appeared not to maximally support their current offspring as revealed by the negative correlation between female red skin colouration and egg carotenoid content. This correlation was not explained by female size and supports the prediction of a maternal trade-off between current and future reproduction

Epidemiological and diagnostic aspects of spontaneous miscarriage in the department of gynecology-obstetric of the university hospital of Treichville in Abidjan

Background: Describe the epidemiological and diagnostic of spontaneous aspects of early miscarriage in the department of the Gynecology Obsteric of Treichville University Teaching Hospital of   Treichville in Abidjan.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from January 2016 to March 2017 on patients received for an early miscarriage (gestational age less than 14 weeks of amenorrhea).Results: We recorded 337 cases of miscarriage and it shows that miscarriage was frequently estimated at 58 percent. Our patients had a average age of 32.9 years, 60.4 percent of them with primary education and 48 percent are housewives. The patients were paucigestes in 46 percent and the majority of them were nulliparous (62 percent). 6 percent with history of high blood pressure; diabetes (3 percent) and 31 percent of patients were HIV positive. Patients had pelvic pain at the admission in (55 percent). A miscarriage appears before 10 weeks of amenorrhea (76.1 percent) of cases. Ultrasound showed ovular debris (47 percent) of patients and (55.4 percent) were chromosomal abnormalities on anatomy-pathological examination.Conclusions: Spontaneous abortions are common and pathological examination is essential for diagnosis

Monitoring of Land Subsidence in Ravenna Municipality Using Integrated SAR - GPS Techniques: Description and First Results

The Emilia Romagna Region (N-E Italy) and in particular the Adriatic Sea coastline of Ravenna, is affected by a noticeable subsidence that started in the 1950s, when the exploitation of on and off-shore methane reservoirs began, along with the pumping of groundwater for industrial uses. In such area the current subsidence rate, even if lower than in the past, reaches the -2 cm/y. Over the years, local Authorities have monitored this phenomenon with different techniques: spirit levelling, GPS surveys and, more recently, Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques, confirming the critical situation of land subsidence risk. In this work, we present the comparison between the results obtained with DInSAR and GPS techniques applied to the study of the land subsidence in the Ravenna territory. With regard to the DInSAR, the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and the Coherent Pixel Technique (CPT) techniques have been used. Different SAR datasets have been exploited: ERS-1/2, ENVISAT, TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. Some GPS campaigns have been also carried out in a subsidence prone area. 3D vertices have been selected very close to existing persistent scatterers in order to link the GPS measurement results to the SAR ones. GPS data were processed into the International reference system and the comparisons between the coordinates, for the first 6 months of the monitoring, provided results with the same trend of the DInSAR data, even if inside the precision of the method

Drosophila melanogaster cloak their eggs with pheromones, which prevents cannibalism

This is the final version. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordData Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files: S1 Data and S2 Data.Oviparous animals across many taxa have evolved diverse strategies that deter egg predation, providing valuable tests of how natural selection mitigates direct fitness loss. Communal egg laying in nonsocial species minimizes egg predation. However, in cannibalistic species, this very behavior facilitates egg predation by conspecifics (cannibalism). Similarly, toxins and aposematic signaling that deter egg predators are often inefficient against resistant conspecifics. Egg cannibalism can be adaptive, wherein cannibals may benefit through reduced competition and added nutrition, but since it reduces Darwinian fitness, the evolution of anticannibalistic strategies is rife. However, such strategies are likely to be nontoxic because deploying toxins against related individuals would reduce inclusive fitness. Here, we report how D. melanogaster use specific hydrocarbons to chemically mask their eggs from cannibal larvae. Using an integrative approach combining behavioral, sensory, and mass spectrometry methods, we demonstrate that maternally provisioned pheromone 7,11-heptacosadiene (7,11-HD) in the eggshell’s wax layer deters egg cannibalism. Furthermore, we show that 7,11-HD is nontoxic, can mask underlying substrates (for example, yeast) when coated upon them, and its detection requires pickpocket 23 (ppk23) gene function. Finally, using light and electron microscopy, we demonstrate how maternal pheromones leak-proof the egg, consequently concealing it from conspecific larvae. Our data suggest that semiochemicals possibly subserve in deceptive functions across taxa, especially when predators rely on chemical cues to forage, and stimulate further research on deceptive strategies mediated through nonvisual sensory modules. This study thus highlights how integrative approaches can illuminate our understanding on the adaptive significance of deceptive defenses and the mechanisms through which they operate.Swiss National Science FoundationEuropean Research CouncilDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftBaden Württemberg Stiftung and Zukunftskolleg of the University of Konstan