Satisfiability of constraint specifications on XML documents

Jose Meseguer is one of the earliest contributors in the area of Algebraic Specification. In this paper, which we are happy to dedicate to him on the occasion of his 65th birthday, we use ideas and methods coming from that area with the aim of presenting an approach for the specification of the structure of classes of XML documents and for reasoning about them. More precisely, we specify the structure of documents using sets of constraints that are based on XPath and we present inference rules that are shown to define a sound and complete refutation procedure for checking satisfiability of a given specification using tableaux.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Pre–release training of juvenile little owls Athene noctua to avoid predation

Entrenamiento antes de la liberación en mochuelos europeos Athene noctua para evitar su depredación Un entrenamiento sobre mochuelos juveniles para evitar la depredación, se ha testado en una muestra de ejemplares recuperados y criados en el Centro de Recuperación de Rapaces Nocturnas Brinzal (Madrid, España). Previamente se ha descrito una alta mortalidad en ejemplares liberados, causada por los depredadores. Se condicionaron nueve ejemplares durante su desarrollo, frente a un azor naturalizado y a una rata viva de gran tamaño, cuya presencia se había asociado a una llamada de alarma del mochuelo. Estos nueve ejemplares, junto a siete más no entrenados, se liberaron durante la última parte del verano y el otoño y fueron radiomonitorizados durante seis semanas con objeto de comprobar su supervivencia. En total sobrevivió el 71,4% de los mochuelos entrenados, mientras que sólo el 33,3% de los no entrenados sobrevivía a las seis semanas. No se registró ninguna otra causa de mortalidad que no fuera la depredación. El entrenamiento antidepredación parece ser beneficioso para la liberación de juveniles de ochuelo, de cara a maximizar su supervivencia. Palabras clave: Mochuelo europeo, Athene noctua, Reintroducción, Liberación, Supervivencia, Entrenamiento antidepredación.Anti–predator training of juvenile little owls was tested in a sample of recovered owls raised in captivity in Brinzal Owl Rescue Center (Madrid, Spain). Mortality caused by predators has been described previously in released individuals. Nine little owls were conditioned during their development to a naturalized goshawk and a large live rat, whose presence was paired to the owl’s alarm call. All nine owls and seven non–trained individuals were then released during the late summer and autumn and radio–tracked for six weeks to test their survival. In total 71.4% of the trained owls survived while only the 33.3% of the untrained group were alive at the end of week six. The only cause of death that was detected was predation. Antipredator training, therefore, seems to be beneficial in maximizing survival after the release of juvenile little owls. Key words: Little owl, Athene noctua, Reintroduction, Release, Survival, Antipredator training.Entrenamiento antes de la liberación en mochuelos europeos Athene noctua para evitar su depredación Un entrenamiento sobre mochuelos juveniles para evitar la depredación, se ha testado en una muestra de ejemplares recuperados y criados en el Centro de Recuperación de Rapaces Nocturnas Brinzal (Madrid, España). Previamente se ha descrito una alta mortalidad en ejemplares liberados, causada por los depredadores. Se condicionaron nueve ejemplares durante su desarrollo, frente a un azor naturalizado y a una rata viva de gran tamaño, cuya presencia se había asociado a una llamada de alarma del mochuelo. Estos nueve ejemplares, junto a siete más no entrenados, se liberaron durante la última parte del verano y el otoño y fueron radiomonitorizados durante seis semanas con objeto de comprobar su supervivencia. En total sobrevivió el 71,4% de los mochuelos entrenados, mientras que sólo el 33,3% de los no entrenados sobrevivía a las seis semanas. No se registró ninguna otra causa de mortalidad que no fuera la depredación. El entrenamiento antidepredación parece ser beneficioso para la liberación de juveniles de ochuelo, de cara a maximizar su supervivencia. Palabras clave: Mochuelo europeo, Athene noctua, Reintroducción, Liberación, Supervivencia, Entrenamiento antidepredación

Embryo and larval biology of the deepsea octocoral Dentomuricea aff. meteor under different temperature regimes

Deep-sea octocorals are common habitat-formers in deep-sea ecosystems, however, our knowledge on their early life history stages is extremely limited. The present study focuses on the early life history of the species Dentomuricea aff. meteor, a common deep-sea octocoral in the Azores. The objective was to describe the embryo and larval biology of the target species under two temperature regimes, corresponding to the minimum and maximum temperatures in its natural environment during the spawning season. At temperature of 13 ±0.5 °C, embryos of the species reached the planula stage after 96h and displayed a median survival of 11 days. Planulae displayed swimming only after stimulation, swimming speed was 0.24 ±0.16 mm s−1 and increased slightly but significantly with time. Under a higher temperature (15 °C ±0.5 °C) embryos reached the planula stage 24 h earlier (after 72 h), displayed a median survival of 16 days and had significantly higher swimming speed (0.3 ±0.27 mm s−1). Although the differences in survival were not statistically significant, our results highlight how small changes in temperature can affect embryo and larval characteristics with potential cascading effects in larval dispersal and success. In both temperatures, settlement rates were low and metamorphosis occurred even without settlement. Such information is rarely available for deep-sea corals, although essential to achieve a better understanding of dispersal, connectivity and biogeographical patterns of benthic species.Versión del edito

Candida albicans pathogenicity mechanisms

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