Qualitative behaviour assessment in intensively and extensively reared lambs

Qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA, from the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for sheep) relies on the ability of humans to integrate perceived details of behaviour into descriptors with emotional connotation that can be scaled and added to other quantitative indicators. The complete AWIN protocol was performed in 14 groups (6 extensive, 2 semi-intensve and 6 intensive rearing system) of 15 young lambs (2 months of age) participating in the EcoLamb project (ERA-Net SusAn funded), which aims to holistically evaluate lamb production sustainability (meat quality, ecological footprint and animal welfare). Data on QBA (items were being scaled from 0 –absence- to 10 -all the animals fully expressed the evaluated item-), familiar approach and fleece quality tests were subjected to descriptive statistics analyses and showed herein. Extensively reared lambs scored higher in descriptors such as aggressive, defensive, physically uncomfortable or apathetic, whereas intensively reared lambs showed higher values in descriptors such as agitated and fearful but also in other as active, sociable, vigorous, subdued, calm, inquisitive and assertive. Semi-intensively reared lambs scored in between. All the animals ruminated to some extent (when observed), the quality of the fleece was always acceptable and no stereotypes were recorded. Minor lameness problems were observed in one extensive farm. Regarding familiar approach, all animals (except in one farm) voluntarily approached to human, despite a flight distance of 2 to 4 m was observed at the beginning. Although animal welfare is a real complex matter to be assessed, do animals from different rearing systems express different degree of positive emotional state?info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Validation of Immunoassay-Based Tools for the Comprehensive Quantification of Aß40 and Aß42 Peptides in Plasma

Recent advances in neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker assays have provided evidence of a long preclinical stage of Alzheimer''s disease (AD). This period is being increasingly targeted for secondary prevention trials of new therapies. In this context, the interest of a noninvasive, cost-effective amyloid-ß (Aß) blood-based test does not need to be overstated. Nevertheless, a thorough validation of these bioanalytical methods should be performed as a prerequisite for confident interpretation of clinical results. The aim of this study was to validate ELISA sandwich colorimetric ABtest40 and ABtest42 for the quantification of Aß40 and Aß42 in human plasma. The validation parameters assessed included precision, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, recovery, and dilution linearity. ABtest40 and ABtest42 proved to be specific for their target peptide using Aß peptides with sequence similar to the target. Mean relative error in the quantification was found to be below 7.5 for both assays, with high intra-assay, inter-assay, and inter-batch precision (CV <9.0 on average). Sensitivity was assessed by determination of the limit of quantification fulfilling precision and accuracy criteria; it was established at 7.60 pg/ml and 3.60 pg/ml for ABtest40 and ABtest42, respectively. Plasma dilution linearity was demonstrated in PBS; however, dilution in a proprietary formulated buffer significantly increased the recovery of both Aß40 and Aß42 masked by matrix interactions, allowing a more comprehensive assessment of the free and total peptide levels in the plasma. In conclusion, both assays were successfully validated as tools for the quantification Aß40 and Aß42 in plasma

Flipped classroom aplicado a prácticas de laboratorio de la asignatura “Ampliación de Ciencia de Materiales”

[ES] El cambio de metodología de enseñanza que se realizó en las prácticas de laboratorio de la asignatura “Ampliación de ciencia de materiales” fue con el propósito de sacar ventaja de las peculiaridades que presenta el grupo, es decir un número reducido de estudiantes y tiempo de dedicación tanto dentro de clase como fuera de ella, factores que permitieron un mejor control del proceso de enseñanza. El proceso de aprendizaje al que fue expuesto este grupo de estudiante retó la capacidad innata que tiene el ser humano al autoaprendizaje y a descubrir cómo superar sus puntos débiles, sacando el mayor provecho al tiempo disponible de estudio, es decir, asimilando la mayoría cantidad de información con una mínima inversión de tiempo. La evaluación realizada durante todo el proceso fue satisfactoria no solo para el estudiante reflejadas en las calificaciones obtenidas, sino también para el tutor que pudo observar cómo evolucionó el interés de los estudiantes al envolverse cada vez más en el contenido de las prácticas, siendo notable en las prácticas finales.[EN] The new teaching methodology carried out in the laboratory class of the subject “Ampliación de ciencia de materiales” was used to take advantage of the peculiarities of the student group, that is in fact, it is a reduced number of students and great dedication time both in-class and out-class, factors that allowed better overall control of the process. The learning process to which the group of students was exposed challenged the innate capacity of the human being to self learn and to discover how to overcome their weak points, making the most of the available study time, that is, assimilating most of the information in less time. The evaluation carried out throughout the process was satisfactory not only for the student showed in the grades obtained, but also for the teacher in charge who could observe how the interest of the students evolved as they became increasingly involved in the content of the practice, being remarkable in the final class.Lascano, D.; Sánchez-Nacher, L.; Fombuena, V.; Rojas-Lema, S.; Montañés, N. (2021). Flipped classroom aplicado a prácticas de laboratorio de la asignatura “Ampliación de Ciencia de Materiales”. En IN-RED 2020: VI Congreso de Innovación Educativa y Docencia en Red. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 218-223. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2020.2020.11976OCS21822

The K2-ESPRINT Project. I. Discovery of the Disintegrating Rocky Planet K2-22b with a Cometary Head and Leading Tail

We present the discovery of a transiting exoplanet candidate in the K2 Field-1 with an orbital period of 9.1457 hr: K2-22b. The highly variable transit depths, ranging from $\sim$0\% to 1.3\%, are suggestive of a planet that is disintegrating via the emission of dusty effluents. We characterize the host star as an M-dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} \simeq 3800$ K. We have obtained ground-based transit measurements with several 1-m class telescopes and with the GTC. These observations (1) improve the transit ephemeris; (2) confirm the variable nature of the transit depths; (3) indicate variations in the transit shapes; and (4) demonstrate clearly that at least on one occasion the transit depths were significantly wavelength dependent. The latter three effects tend to indicate extinction of starlight by dust rather than by any combination of solid bodies. The K2 observations yield a folded light curve with lower time resolution but with substantially better statistical precision compared with the ground-based observations. We detect a significant "bump" just after the transit egress, and a less significant bump just prior to transit ingress. We interpret these bumps in the context of a planet that is not only likely streaming a dust tail behind it, but also has a more prominent leading dust trail that precedes it. This effect is modeled in terms of dust grains that can escape to beyond the planet's Hill sphere and effectively undergo `Roche lobe overflow,' even though the planet's surface is likely underfilling its Roche lobe by a factor of 2.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Final version accepted to Ap

Bubble size distribution resulting from the breakup of an air cavity injected into a turbulent water jet

We investigated experimentally the shape of the final size PDF(D) resulting from the breakup of an air bubble injected into the fully developed region of a high Reynolds number turbulent water jet. It is shown that the PDF(Dcirc) of the normalized bubble size Dcirc=D/D32, where D32 is the Sauter mean diameter of the distribution, has a universal single shape independent of the value of the turbulent kinetic energy of the water jet at the bubble injection point and of the air void fraction, α. The shape of the exponential tails characterizing each PDF(D) is shown to be only a function of the initial bubble size D0 and the critical bubble size Dc, defined as Dc=(1.46σ/ρ)3/5ɛ-2/5, where ɛ is the value of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass at the air injection point

Obliquity measurement and atmospheric characterization of the WASP-74 planetary system

We present new transit observations of the hot Jupiter WASP-74 b ($T_\mathrm{eq} \sim$ 1860 K) using the high-resolution spectrograph HARPS-N and the multi-colour simultaneous imager MuSCAT2. We refine the orbital properties of the planet and its host star, and measure its obliquity for the first time. The measured sky-projected angle between the stellar spin-axis and the planet's orbital axis is compatible with an orbit well-aligned with the equator of the host star ($\lambda = 0.77\pm0.99 \mathrm{deg}$). We are not able to detect any absorption feature of H$\alpha$, or any other atomic spectral features, in its high-resolution transmission spectra due to low S/N at the line cores. Despite previous claims regarding the presence of strong optical absorbers such TiO and VO gases in the atmosphere of WASP-74 b, the new ground-based photometry combined with a reanalysis of previously reported observations from the literature shows a slope in the low-resolution transmission spectrum steeper than expected from Rayleigh scattering alone.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 12 pages, 8 figures, 5 table

A framework for the local information dynamics of distributed computation in complex systems

The nature of distributed computation has often been described in terms of the component operations of universal computation: information storage, transfer and modification. We review the first complete framework that quantifies each of these individual information dynamics on a local scale within a system, and describes the manner in which they interact to create non-trivial computation where "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". We describe the application of the framework to cellular automata, a simple yet powerful model of distributed computation. This is an important application, because the framework is the first to provide quantitative evidence for several important conjectures about distributed computation in cellular automata: that blinkers embody information storage, particles are information transfer agents, and particle collisions are information modification events. The framework is also shown to contrast the computations conducted by several well-known cellular automata, highlighting the importance of information coherence in complex computation. The results reviewed here provide important quantitative insights into the fundamental nature of distributed computation and the dynamics of complex systems, as well as impetus for the framework to be applied to the analysis and design of other systems.Comment: 44 pages, 8 figure

The K2-ESPRINT Project II: Spectroscopic follow-up of three exoplanet systems from Campaign 1 of K2

We report on Doppler observations of three transiting planet candidates that were detected during Campaign 1 of the K2 mission. The Doppler observations were conducted with FIES, HARPS-N, and HARPS. We measure the mass of EPIC 201546283b, and provide constraints and upper limits for EPIC 201295312b and EPIC 201577035b. EPIC 201546283b is a warm Neptune orbiting its host star in 6.77 days and has a radius of 4.45_(-0.33)^(+0.33)R_⊕ and a mass of 29.1_(-7.4)^(+7.5)M_⊕, which leads to a mean density of 1.80_(-0.55)^(+0.70) cm^(-3). EPIC 201295312b is smaller than Neptune with an orbital period of 5.66 days, a radius of 2.75_(-0.22^)(0.24)R_⊕, and we constrain the mass to be below 12 M_⊕ at 95% confidence. We also find a long-term trend indicative of another body in the system. EPIC 201577035b, which was previously confirmed as the planet K2-10b, is smaller than Neptune, orbiting its host star in 19.3 days, with a radius of 3.84_(-0.34)^(+0.35)R_⊕. We determine its mass to be 27_(-16)^(+17)M_⊕, with a 95% confidence upper limit at 57M_⊕, and a mean density of 2.6_(-1.6)^(+2.1)g cm^(-3). These measurements join the relatively small collection of planets smaller than Neptune with measurements or constraints of the mean density. Our code for performing K2 photometry and detecting planetary transits is now publicly available

The effects of ocular magnification on Spectralis spectral domain optical coherence tomography scan length

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of incorporating individual ocular biometry measures of corneal curvature, refractive error, and axial length on scan length obtained using Spectralis spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods Two SD-OCT scans were acquired for 50 eyes of 50 healthy participants, first using the Spectralis default keratometry (K) setting followed by incorporating individual mean-K values. Resulting scan lengths were compared to predicted scan lengths produced by image simulation software, based on individual ocular biometry measures including axial length. Results Axial length varied from 21.41 to 29.04 mm. Spectralis SD-OCT scan lengths obtained with default-K ranged from 5.7 to 7.3 mm, and with mean-K from 5.6 to 7.6 mm. We report a stronger correlation of simulated scan lengths incorporating the subject’s mean-K value (ρ = 0.926, P < 0.0005) compared to Spectralis default settings (ρ = 0.663, P < 0.0005). Conclusions Ocular magnification appears to be better accounted for when individual mean-K values are incorporated into Spectralis SD-OCT scan acquisition versus using the device’s default-K setting. This must be considered when taking area measurements and lateral measurements parallel to the retinal surface