A sharp incisor tool for predator house mice back to the wild

The house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus), as a successful invasive species worldwide, has to forage a variety of resources. Subantarctic mice display among the most notable diet shift from the usual omnivorous–granivorous diet, relying on a larger proportion of terrestrial animal prey. In agreement, a recent study of their mandible morphology evidenced an evolution of their mandible shape to optimize incisor biting and hence seize preys. Here, the incisors themselves are the focus of a morphometric analysis combined with a 3D study of their internal structure, aiming at a comparison between subantarctic populations (Guillou island, Kerguelen archipelago) with a range of western European continental, commensal mice. The predatory foraging behavior of Guillou mice was indeed associated with a sharper bevel of the lower incisor, which appears as an efficient morphology for piercing prey. The incisor of these mice also displays a reduced pulp cavity, suggesting slower eruption counterbalancing a reduced abrasion on such soft food material. The dynamics of the ever‐growing incisor may thus allow adaptive incisor sculpting and participate to the success of mice in foraging diverse resources

Electrowetting of liquid marbles

Electrowetting of water drops on structured superhydrophobic surfaces are known to cause an irreversible change from a slippy (Cassie-Baxter) to a sticky (Wenzel) regime. An alternative approach to using a water drop on a superhydrophobic surface to obtain a non-wetting system is to use a liquid marble on a smooth solid substrate. A liquid marble is a droplet coated in hydrophobic grains, which therefore carries its own solid surface structure as a conformal coating. Such droplets can be considered as perfect non-wetting systems having contact angles to smooth solid substrates of close to 180 degrees. In this work we report the electrowetting of liquid marbles made of water coated with hydrophobic lycopodium grains and show that the electrowetting is completely reversible. Marbles are shown to return to their initial contact angle for both ac and dc electrowetting and without requiring a threshold voltage to be exceeded. Furthermore, we provide a proof-of-principle demonstration that controlled motion of marbles on a finger electrode structure is possible

An index method of estimating relative population densities of the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) at landscape scale

Many issues in fundamental and applied ecology require the use of sampling protocols at the sectoral or even regional scales at which many important ecological mechanisms occur. The lack of workable sampling methods at these scales is a major obstacle to the analysis and understanding of these mechanisms. We test the validity of an index method of estimating relative population densities, applicable along transects of several kilometers in length, for a population of Common Voles (Microtus arvalis). The results show that the index method of estimating relative density is weil adapted for monitoring variations in the abundance and spatial distribution of Common Vole populations and authorizes studies for a wide range of objectives and spatial scalesDe nombreuses questions d'écologie fondamentale ou appliquée imposent l'application de protocoles d'échantillonnage à des échelles sectorielles, voire régionales, auxquelles se réalisent de nombreux mécanismes écologiques mportants. L'absence de méthodes d'échantillonnage utilisables à ces échelles représente un obstacle majeur à l'analyse et à la compréhension de ces mécanismes, Pour une population de Campagnols des champs (Microlus aryalis) nous avons testé la validite d'une méthode d'estimation indiciaire en densité relative applicable le long de transect, plurikilométriques. Les résultats obtenus montrent que cette méthode d'estimation indiciaire en densité relative est bien adaptée au suivi des variations d'abondance et de distribution des populations du Campagnol des champs et autorise des études pour une grande diversité d'objectifs et d'échelles spatiales

LIMPRINT - health-related quality of life in adult patients with chronic edema

Background: Chronic edema is a condition posing a high burden on patients. The primary aim of the study was to assess the health-related quality of life (QoL) of adult patients living with chronic edema. Methods and Results: As part of an international, multicenter, prospective study, we prospectively assessed the health-related QoL of adult patients living with a chronic edema using a disease-specific tool and a generic one. In total, 1094 patients were included, aged 57 years on average. The average EQ-5D and LYMQOL visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were equal to 63.6 (SD = 20.2) and 6.3 (SD = 2.0), respectively. After adjustment, the EQ-5D VAS was explained by LYMQOL VAS (β = 7.85; p < 0.001), age (β = −0.08; p = 0.02), obesity (β = −1.89; p = 0.001), and male gender (β = 3.32; p = 0.002). As for the LYMQOL VAS, it was independently associated with EQ-5D VAS (β = 0.07; p < 0.001), LYMQOL function (β = −0.21; p < 0.001), and LYMQOL mood (β = −0.49; p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study confirms that patients living with a chronic edema experience a poor disease-specific and generic health-related QoL

Capillary filling with wall corrugations] Capillary filling in microchannels with wall corrugations: A comparative study of the Concus-Finn criterion by continuum, kinetic and atomistic approaches

We study the impact of wall corrugations in microchannels on the process of capillary filling by means of three broadly used methods - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Lattice-Boltzmann Equations (LBE) and Molecular Dynamics (MD). The numerical results of these approaches are compared and tested against the Concus-Finn (CF) criterion, which predicts pinning of the contact line at rectangular ridges perpendicular to flow for contact angles theta > 45. While for theta = 30, theta = 40 (no flow) and theta = 60 (flow) all methods are found to produce data consistent with the CF criterion, at theta = 50 the numerical experiments provide different results. Whilst pinning of the liquid front is observed both in the LB and CFD simulations, MD simulations show that molecular fluctuations allow front propagation even above the critical value predicted by the deterministic CF criterion, thereby introducing a sensitivity to the obstacle heigth.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, Langmuir in pres

Landscape effects on the population dynamics of small mammal communities: A preliminary analysis of prey-resource variations

This study aims at estimating the effect of landscape composition on the availability of small mammal preys (in terms of biomass) to predators on a sectorial scale (n x 1 km2). Four study sites, representative of different stages of agriculture intensification, were selected in eastern France according to landscape composition. The population dynarnics of Microtus arvalis, Arvicola terrestris, Clethrionomys glareolus and Apodemus sp. were monitored from 1992 to 1996 by using index methods and trapping. M. arvalis and A. terrestris population biomasses were stable in landscapes with low percentage of permanent grassland. M. arvalis populations displayed greater biomass variations with sharp declines in the sites where the proportion of permanent grassland to farmland was greater than 50 %. A. terrestris populations were very unstable in one study site where the proportion of permanent grassland to farmland was greater than 85 %. Synchronic patterns between M. arvalis populations and the populations of hedgerow rodents were suspected at sites with large fluctuations of M. arvalis: every decline of the populations of hedgerow rodents was concomitant with the M. arvalis decline. These results suggest that two kinds of ecological systems in terms of prey-resource variations for mammalian predators can be distinguished: (i) stable in landscapes with lower proportion of permanent grassland, and (ii) unstable, with grassland species crashes and synchronous declines of the rodent community, in landscapes with higher proportion of permanent grassland. Moreover, the population dynamics of small mammals were asynchronous between the four sites situated at relatively short distance (some tens kilometres)L'objectif de cette étude est d'estimer l'effet de la composition du paysage sur les variations de disponibilité en biomasse de micro-mammifères pour les prédateurs, à l'échelle sectorielle (n × 1 km2), Quatre sites d'étude représentatifs d'un gradient d'intensification agricole ont été choisis dans l'est de la France en fonction de la composition du paysage. Les fluctuations de biomasses de Microtus arvalis et Arvicola terrestris (espèces prairiales), de Clethrionomys glareolus et Apodemus sp. (espèces de milieux fermés) ont été suivies de 1992 à 1996 par méthodes indiciaires et piégeage. Les synchronies entre les populations de M. arvalis et celles de rongeurs de milieux fermés ont été recherchées. Les fluctuations de biomasse de M. arvalis et A. terrestris sont stables dans les sites où la proportion de prairie permanente est la plus faible. Les populations de M. arvalis présentent les plus larges amplitudes de variation de biomasse et les déclins les plus prononcés dans les sites où la proportion de prairie permanente sur la surface agricole est supérieure à 50 %. Les populations d'A. terrestris ne sont instables que dans un site, là où la proportion de prairie permanente sur surface agricole est supérieure à 85 %. Les déclins de populations de rongeurs de milieux fermés (Clethrionomys glareolus et Apodemus sp.) sont concomitants de ceux de M. arvalis dans les sites à fortes variations de biomasse de cette dernière espèce. Ces résultats suggèrent deux types de fonctionnement, en terme de variation de disponibilité en proies pour les prédateurs: (i) stable dans les paysages à faible proportion de prairie permanente, et (ii) instable, avec des déclins prononcés et rapides des populations d'espèces prairiales, entraînant des déclins synchrones du peuplement de micro-mammifères étudié, dans les paysages à forte proportion de prairie permanente. Aucune synchronie dans les dynamiques de population de ces micro-mammifères n'est observée entre les sites d'étude, éloignés de quelques dizaines de kilomètres seulement

The global carbon budget 1959-2011

Accurate assessments of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the climate policy process, and project future climate change. Present-day analysis requires the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. Here we describe datasets and a methodology developed by the global carbon cycle science community to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates, consistency within and among components, and methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production (EFF) are based on energy statistics, while emissions from Land-Use Change (ELUC), including deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land cover change data, fire activity in regions undergoing deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. Finally, the global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms. For the last decade available (2002–2011), EFF was 8.3 &pm; 0.4 PgC yr−1, ELUC 1.0 &pm; 0.5 PgC yr−1, GATM 4.3 &pm; 0.1PgC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.5 &pm; 0.5 PgC yr−1, and SLAND 2.6 &pm; 0.8 PgC yr−1. For year 2011 alone, EFF was 9.5 &pm; 0.5 PgC yr−1, 3.0 percent above 2010, reflecting a continued trend in these emissions; ELUC was 0.9 &pm; 0.5 PgC yr−1, approximately constant throughout the decade; GATM was 3.6 &pm; 0.2 PgC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.7 &pm; 0.5 PgC yr−1, and SLAND was 4.1 &pm; 0.9 PgC yr−1. GATM was low in 2011 compared to the 2002–2011 average because of a high uptake by the land probably in response to natural climate variability associated to La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 391.31 &pm; 0.13 ppm at the end of year 2011. We estimate that EFF will have increased by 2.6% (1.9–3.5%) in 2012 based on projections of gross world product and recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy. All uncertainties are reported as &pm;1 sigma (68% confidence assuming Gaussian error distributions that the real value lies within the given interval), reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. This paper is intended to provide a baseline to keep track of annual carbon budgets in the future

Математична залежність точності верстатних пристроїв від їх ступеня гнучкості

Підвищення конкурентоспроможності продукції, що виробляється невеликими підприємствами, забезпечується шляхом скорочення витрат на проектування та виготовлення технологічної оснастки для свердлильно- фрезерно-розточувальних операцій. Це стає можливим за рахунок використання гнучких верстатних пристроїв (ВП), що мають можливість переналагодження у заданому діапазоні розмірів заготовки шляхом регулювання установлювально-затискних елементів

Extensive dissolution of live pteropods in the Southern Ocean

The carbonate chemistry of the surface ocean is rapidly changing with ocean acidification, a result of human activities. In the upper layers of the Southern Ocean, aragonite—a metastable form of calcium carbonate with rapid dissolution kinetics—may become undersaturated by 2050 (ref. 2). Aragonite undersaturation is likely to affect aragonite-shelled organisms, which can dominate surface water communities in polar regions. Here we present analyses of specimens of the pteropod Limacina helicina antarctica that were extracted live from the Southern Ocean early in 2008. We sampled from the top 200m of the water column, where aragonite saturation levels were around 1, as upwelled deep water is mixed with surface water containing anthropogenic CO2. Comparing the shell structure with samples from aragonite-supersaturated regions elsewhere under a scanning electron microscope, we found severe levels of shell dissolution in the undersaturated region alone. According to laboratory incubations of intact samples with a range of aragonite saturation levels, eight days of incubation in aragonite saturation levels of 0.94– 1.12 produces equivalent levels of dissolution. As deep-water upwelling and CO2 absorption by surface waters is likely to increase as a result of human activities2,4, we conclude that upper ocean regions where aragonite-shelled organisms are affected by dissolution are likely to expand

Spallative ablation of dielectrics by X-ray laser

Short laser pulse in wide range of wavelengths, from infrared to X-ray, disturbs electron-ion equilibrium and rises pressure in a heated layer. The case where pulse duration $\tau_L$ is shorter than acoustic relaxation time $t_s$ is considered in the paper. It is shown that this short pulse may cause thermomechanical phenomena such as spallative ablation regardless to wavelength. While the physics of electron-ion relaxation on wavelength and various electron spectra of substances: there are spectra with an energy gap in semiconductors and dielectrics opposed to gapless continuous spectra in metals. The paper describes entire sequence of thermomechanical processes from expansion, nucleation, foaming, and nanostructuring to spallation with particular attention to spallation by X-ray pulse