NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics

Xenarthrans – anteaters, sloths, and armadillos – have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with 24 domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, ten anteaters, and six sloths. Our dataset includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data-paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the south of the USA, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to its austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n=5,941), and Cyclopes sp. has the fewest (n=240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n=11,588), and the least recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n=33). With regards to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n=962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n=12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other datasets of Neotropical Series which will become available very soon (i.e. Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans dataset

Characterization of dielectric properties of residual ashes obtained from rice husk and annoni grass

Abstract This paper presents a study about the characterization of dielectric properties (dielectric constant $${\varepsilon }_{r}$$ ε r and dielectric-loss constant $$\mathrm{tan}\delta$$ tan δ ) of samples derived from two different biomass types: rice husk ash (RHA) and annoni grass ash (AGA).The procedure is carried out using the resonant cavity method along with a vector network analyzer. For this purpose, four different ashes were produced, by burning rice husk and annoni grass at two different temperatures and burning times: 400 °C/30 min (RHA40030 and AGA40030) and 800 °C/5 h (RHA8005h and AGA8005h). These ashes were combined with Bakelite to produce cylindrical samples with diameter of 30 mm and thickness of 4.5 mm, which were characterized considering the frequency in the test band for 5G technologies ( $${f}_{o}=3.5$$ f o = 3.5 GHz). Experimental results showed that the samples burnt at high temperature showed very high $$\mathrm{tan \delta }$$ tan δ when compared to the samples burnt at low temperature, mainly for AGA8005h. These values are $$\mathrm{tan \delta }=$$ tan δ = 0.1690 and 1.4900 for RHA8005h and AGA8005h, respectively. The resulting dielectric constants are $${\varepsilon }_{r}$$ ε r = 3.87 for RHA8005h and $${\varepsilon }_{r}$$ ε r = 15.14 for AGA8005h). These very high dielectric loss tangent, indicate that these materials exhibit formidable properties for electromagnetic energy absorption, hence allowing the application as radiation-absorbent material (RAM)

Comparative genomics of pathogenic Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola isolated from swine and human in Brazil

Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola is one of the most important pathogenic serovars for the maintenance of urban leptospirosis. Even though it is considered highly adapted to dogs, serovar Canicola infection has already been described in other animals and even a few human cases. Here, we present the genomic characterisation of two Brazilian L. interrogans serovar Canicola strains isolated from slaughtered sows (L0-3 and L0-4) and their comparison with human strain Fiocruz LV133. It was observed that the porcine serovar Canicola strains present the genetic machinery to cause human infection and, therefore, represent a higher risk to public health. Both human and porcine serovar Canicola isolates also presented sequences with high identity to the Chinese serovar Canicola published plasmids pGui1 and pGui2. The plasmids identification in the Brazilian and Chinese serovar Canicola strains suggest that extra-chromosomal elements are one more feature of this serovar that was previously unnoticed