Meat yield of Bolinus brandaris (Gastropoda: Muricidae): comparative assessment of the influence of sex, size and reproductive status

The present study assessed the influence of sex, size and reproductive status on the meat yield (soft tissues proportion) of the purple dye murex (Bolinus brandaris) from the Ria Formosa lagoon (southern Portugal). During one year of monthly sampling (October 2008-September 2009), average meat yield of B. brandaris was 40.5 +/- 6.1% (range: 25.8-56.1% wet weight), with no significant differences between sexes. Relationships established between specimen size and soft parts weight indicated that both shell length and total weight are excellent indicators of meat yield. Significant differences in meat yield between size classes further reinforced the trend of increasing meat yield during ontogeny. Meat yield exhibited significant monthly variation and a similar temporal trend in both sexes, which were directly related to the reproductive status. Meat yield of B. brandaris was compared with that of other muricid species and the marked influence of the reproductive status on meat yield prompted a comparative assessment of the spawning season and peak of three sympatric muricids (B. brandaris, Hexaplex trunculus and Stramonita haemastoma). Overall, these findings have implications at diverse levels, including the management, regulation and inspection of this fishing/ harvesting activity and the commercialization and consumption of this seafood product.postdoctoral grant [SFRH/BPD/26348/2006]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT - Portugal); Fisheries Operational Programme (PROMAR); European Fisheries Fund [EFF 2007-2013]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Homophily, Cultural Drift and the Co-Evolution of Cultural Groups

In studies of cultural differentiation, the joint mechanisms of homophily and influence have been able to explain how distinct cultural groups can form. While these mechanisms normally lead to cultural convergence, increased levels of heterogeneity can allow them to produce global diversity. However, this emergent cultural diversity has proven to be unstable in the face of "cultural drift"- small errors or innovations that allow cultures to change from within. We develop a model of cultural differentiation that combines the traditional mechanisms of homophily and influence with a third mechanism of 2network homophily", in which network structure co-evolves with cultural interaction. We show that if social ties are allowed to change with cultural influence, a complex relationship between heterogeneity and cultural diversity is revealed, in which increased heterogeneity can reduce cultural group formation while simultaneously increasing social connectedness. Our results show that in certain regions of the parameter space these co-evolutionary dynamics can lead to patterns of cultural diversity that are stable in the presence of cultural drift.Comment: (8 pages, 8 figures

Solving Sudoku with Membrane Computing

Sudoku is a very popular puzzle which consists on placing several numbers in a squared grid according to some simple rules. In this paper we present an efficient family of P systems which solve sudokus of any order verifying a specific property. The solution is searched by using a simple human-style method. If the sudoku cannot be solved by using this strategy, the P system detects this drawback and then the computations stops and returns No. Otherwise, the P system encodes the solution and returns Yes in the last computation step.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2008-04487-EMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009–13192Junta de Andalucía P08-TIC-0420

Four Wheelchair-User Architects

It certainly seems like a fortuitous accident that four wheelchair users have ended up studying at the same school of architecture, at almost the same time. Maybe it is even the same kind of twisted fate that has confined us to a wheelchair in the first place, as none of us was born in it. With different ages, backgrounds, interests and sets of difficulties to master, we committed ourselves to initiate careers in architecture several years ago. Accessibility issues, especially in terms of mobility, have (always) been an intrinsic and fundamental part of our approach to academic projects, and they will most certainly continue to maintain a strong presence in our professional lives. This book reflects a set of principles and motivations that fuel our daily concerns. First and foremost, it is our desire to introduce people to a wide range of viewpoints, other ways of perceiving the environment in general, and architecture in particular. Furthermore, we aspire to break nonsensical stereotypes, particularly those that claim everything dealing with accessibility and universal design is ugly or sad, or that it only exists to assist a ridiculously small chunk of the population that is (un)fortunately affected by some kind of affliction. In terms of academic training, we’d like to voice our concern that very little is being done to approach architecture through anything other than a pure ocularcentric bias that precludes other basic concepts. If anything, architecture is created by means of and for the entire human body. Finally, it is also our wish to present our final theses projects, not because they are particularly extraordinary or look especially nice, but because they were conceived in a unique way: they were created with a view to fostering the closest possible relationship between user and designer

Numerical validation of the Complex Swift-Hohenberg equation for lasers

Order parameter equations, such as the complex Swift-Hohenberg (CSH) equation, offer a simplified and universal description that hold close to an instability threshold. The universality of the description refers to the fact that the same kind of instability produces the same order parameter equation. In the case of lasers, the instability usually corresponds to the emitting threshold, and the CSH equation can be obtained from the Maxwell-Bloch (MB) equations for a class C laser with small detuning. In this paper we numerically check the validity of the CSH equation as an approximation of the MB equations, taking into account that its terms are of different asymptotic order, and that, despite of having been systematically overlooked in the literature, this fact is essential in order to correctly capture the weakly nonlinear dynamics of the MB. The approximate distance to threshold range for which the CSH equation holds is also estimated.Comment: submitted to European Journal of Physic

Un Maar en las cercanías de Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz.

No abstract availabl

Use of radio base stations to provide ancillary services to the DSO through local flexibility markets

The changes in the energy sector require an appropriate coordination between transmission systems operators (TSOs), distribution systems operators (DSOs) and aggregators. The project SmartNet aims at defining and comparing different TSO-DSO coordination schemes, by implementing dedicated analyses in Italy, Denmark and Spain. This paper describes the pilot project implemented in Spain and presents its main outcomes.The research leading to this article has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 691405

Head-on collisions of unequal mass black holes in D=5 dimensions

We study head-on collisions of unequal mass black hole binaries in D=5 space-time dimensions, with mass ratios between 1:1 and 1:4. Information about gravitational radiation is extracted by using the Kodama-Ishibashi gauge-invariant formalism and details of the apparent horizon of the final black hole. For the first time, we present waveforms, total integrated energy and momentum for this process. Our results show surprisingly good agreement, within 5% or less, with those extrapolated from linearized, point-particle calculations. Our results also show that consistency with the area theorem bound requires that the same process in a large number of spacetime dimensions must display new features.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, RevTex4. v2: Published versio

Collective excitations in liquid D2 confined within the mesoscopic pores of a MCM-41 molecular sieve

We present a comparative study of the excitations in bulk and liquid D2 confined within the pores of MCM-41. The material (Mobile Crystalline Material-41) is a silicate obtained by means of a template that yields a partially crystalline structure composed by arrays of nonintersecting hexagonal channels of controlled width having walls made of amorphous SiO2. Its porosity was characterized by means of adsorption isotherms and found to be composed by a regular array of pores having a narrow distribution of sizes with a most probable value of 2.45 nm. The assessment of the precise location of the sample within the pores is carried out by means of pressure isotherms. The study was conducted at two pressures which correspond to pore fillings above the capillary condensation regime. Within the range of wave vectors where collective excitations can be followed up (0.3<Q<3.0 $\AA$&#8722;1), we found confinement brings forward a large shortening of the excitation lifetimes that shifts the characteristic frequencies to higher energies. In addition, the coherent quasielastic scattering shows signatures of reduced diffusivity.Comment: 6 page

Searching for compact radio sources associated to UCHII regions

Ultra-Compact (UC)HII regions represent a very early stage of massive star formation whose structure and evolution are not yet fully understood. Interferometric observations in recent years show that some UCHII regions have associated compact sources of uncertain nature. Based on this, we carried out VLA 1.3 cm observations in the A configuration of selected UCHII regions in order to report additional cases of compact sources embedded in UCHII regions. From the observations, we find 13 compact sources associated to 9 UCHII regions. Although we cannot establish an unambiguous nature for the newly detected sources, we assess some of their observational properties. According to the results, we can distinguish between two types of compact sources. One type corresponds to sources that probably are deeply embedded in the dense ionized gas of the UCHII region. These sources are being photo-evaporated by the exciting star of the region and will last for 10$^4-10^5$ yr. They may play a crucial role in the evolution of the UCHII region as the photo-evaporated material could replenish the expanding plasma and might provide a solution to the so-called lifetime problem for these regions. The second type of compact sources is not associated with the densest ionized gas of the region. A few of these sources appear resolved and may be photo-evaporating objects such as those of the first type but with significantly lower mass depletion rates. The rest of sources of this second type appear unresolved and their properties are varied. We speculate on the similarity between the sources of the second type and those of the Orion population of radio sources.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap