Chasing Flies: The use of wingbeat frequency as a communication cue in Calyptrate Flies (Diptera: Calyptratae)

The incidental sound produced by the oscillation of insect wings during flight provides an opportunity for species identification. Calyptrate flies include some of the fastest and most agile flying insects, capable of rapid changes in direction and the fast pursuit of conspecifics. This flight pattern makes the continuous and close recording of their wingbeat frequency difficult and limited to confined specimens. Advances in sound editor and analysis software, however, have made it possible to isolate low amplitude sounds using noise reduction and pitch detection algorithms. To explore differences in wingbeat frequency between genera and sex, 40 specimens of three-day old Sarcophaga crassipalpis, Lucilia sericata, Calliphora dubia, and Musca vetustissima were individually recorded in free flight in a temperature-controlled room. Results showed significant differences in wingbeat frequency between the four species and intersexual differences for each species. Discriminant analysis classifying the three carrion flies resulted in 77.5% classified correctly overall, with the correct classification of 82.5% of S. crassipalpis, 60% of C. dubia, and 90% of L. sericata, when both mean wingbeat frequency and sex were included. Intersexual differences were further demonstrated by male flies showing significantly higher variability than females in three of the species. These observed intergeneric and intersexual differences in wingbeat frequency start the discussion on the use of the metric as a communication signal by this taxon. The success of the methodology demonstrated differences at the genus level and encourages the recording of additional species and the use of wingbeat frequency as an identification tool for these flies

Crescimento e produção da cultura de batata primor na região do Oeste. II) Validação de campo do modelo POTATO.2

Parte IIinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Aplicação de um modelo de simulação do desenvolvimento da batateira à cultura da batata primor na região do Oeste

Apresenta-se um modelo de simulação do desenvolvimento da batateira aplicado ao caso particular da batata-primor na região do Oeste. Comparam-se os resultados do modelo com observações de campo efectuadas no concelho da Lourinhã, no ano de 1987, para a variedade Spunta em três densidades de plantação. Finalmente apresentam-se as potencialidades de utilização do modeloinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Crescimento e produção da cultura de batata primor na região Oeste. I) Análise comparativa do crescimento e produção em três densidades de população

Parte Iinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estimation de la surface foliaire principale et secondaire d’un sarment de vigne

Dans ce travail on présente des modèles empiriques pour estimer, de façon directe et non destructive, la surface foliaire principale et secondaire d’un sarment de vigne pour quatre cépages portugaises. La surface d’une feuille a été estimée avec un modèle basé sur la forte corrélation entre la somme des longueurs des deux premières nervures latérales et la surface foliaire. Pour l’estimative de la surface foliaire principale d’un sarment on a développé un modèle a partir d’une régression multiple de quatre variables explicatives: longueur du sarment, nombre de feuilles principales et surface foliaire de la feuille majeure et mineure. Pour la surface foliaire secondaire on propose un modèle similaire mais en considérant chaque entrecoeur comme une feuille composé. Ce modèle utilise comme variables explicatives le nombre de feuilles secondaires, le nombre d’entrecoeurs et la surface foliaire et nombre de feuilles de l‘entrecoeur major et minore. La surface foliaire de chacun de ces deux entrecoeurs est estimé avec un modèle similaire a celui proposé pour les feuilles principales mais sans la longueur du rameau. Ces modèles ont été validés avec des données indépendants d’un échantillon de sarments prélevés périodiquement dans la saison. D’après les bons résultats de la validation on peut dire que, avec ces modèles, on peut estimer rapidement la surface foliaire total d’un sarment, de façon non destructive et avec une bonne précisioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advanced Compton Telescope Designs and SN Science

The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been suggested to be the optimal next-generation instrument to study nuclear gamma-ray lines. In this work, we investigate the potential of three hypothetical designs of the ACT to perform SN science. We provide estimates of 1) the SN detection rate, 2) the SN Ia discrimination rate, and 3) which gamma-ray lines would be detected from specific supernova remnants. We find that the prompt emission from a SN Ia is such that it is unlikely that one would be within the range that an INTERMEDIATE ACT would be able to distinguish between explosion scenarios, although such an instrument would detect a handful of SNRs. We further find that the SUPERIOR ACT design would be a truly breakthrough instrument for SN science. By supplying these estimates, we intend to assist the gamma-ray astrophysics community in deciding the course of the next decade of gamma-ray SN science.Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in New astronomy Reviews (Astronomy with Radioactivities III

Outer Regions of the Milky Way

With the start of the Gaia era, the time has come to address the major challenge of deriving the star formation history and evolution of the disk of our MilkyWay. Here we review our present knowledge of the outer regions of the Milky Way disk population. Its stellar content, its structure and its dynamical and chemical evolution are summarized, focussing on our lack of understanding both from an observational and a theoretical viewpoint. We describe the unprecedented data that Gaia and the upcoming ground-based spectroscopic surveys will provide in the next decade. More in detail, we quantify the expect accuracy in position, velocity and astrophysical parameters of some of the key tracers of the stellar populations in the outer Galactic disk. Some insights on the future capability of these surveys to answer crucial and fundamental issues are discussed, such as the mechanisms driving the spiral arms and the warp formation. Our Galaxy, theMilkyWay, is our cosmological laboratory for understanding the process of formation and evolution of disk galaxies. What we learn in the next decades will be naturally transferred to the extragalactic domain.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, Invited review, Book chapter in "Outskirts of Galaxies", Eds. J. H. Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, in pres

Artemisinin inhibits neutrophil and macrophage chemotaxis, cytokine production and NET release

Immune cell chemotaxis to the sites of pathogen invasion is critical for fighting infection, but in life-threatening conditions such as sepsis and Covid-19, excess activation of the innate immune system is thought to cause a damaging invasion of immune cells into tissues and a consequent excessive release of cytokines, chemokines and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In these circumstances, tempering excessive activation of the innate immune system may, paradoxically, promote recovery. Here we identify the antimalarial compound artemisinin as a potent and selective inhibitor of neutrophil and macrophage chemotaxis induced by a range of chemotactic agents. Artemisinin released calcium from intracellular stores in a similar way to thapsigargin, a known inhibitor of the Sarco/Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium ATPase pump (SERCA), but unlike thapsigargin, artemisinin blocks only the SERCA3 isoform. Inhibition of SERCA3 by artemisinin was irreversible and was inhibited by iron chelation, suggesting iron-catalysed alkylation of a specific cysteine residue in SERCA3 as the mechanism by which artemisinin inhibits neutrophil motility. In murine infection models, artemisinin potently suppressed neutrophil invasion into both peritoneum and lung in vivo and inhibited the release of cytokines/chemokines and NETs. This work suggests that artemisinin may have value as a therapy in conditions such as sepsis and Covid-19 in which over-activation of the innate immune system causes tissue injury that can lead to death

Quantum radiation pressure on a moving mirror at finite temperature

We compute the radiation pressure force on a moving mirror, in the nonrelativistic approximation, assuming the field to be at temperature $T.$ At high temperature, the force has a dissipative component proportional to the mirror velocity, which results from Doppler shift of the reflected thermal photons. In the case of a scalar field, the force has also a dispersive component associated to a mass correction. In the electromagnetic case, the separate contributions to the mass correction from the two polarizations cancel. We also derive explicit results in the low temperature regime, and present numerical results for the general case. As an application, we compute the dissipation and decoherence rates for a mirror in a harmonic potential well.Comment: Figure 3 replaced, changes mainly in Sections IV and V, new appendix introduced. To appear in Physical Review

SIAMVITI – Viticultura portuguesa num cenário de alterações climáticas: Impactos e medidas de adaptação

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio