A soil-carrying lacewing larva in Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber

Diverse organisms protect and camouflage themselves using varied materials from their environment. This adaptation and associated behaviours (debris-carrying) are well known in modern green lacewing larvae (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), mostly due to the widespread use of these immature insects in pest control. However, the evolutionary history of this successful strategy and related morphological adaptations in the lineage are still far from being understood. Here we describe a novel green lacewing larva, Tyruschrysa melqart gen. et sp. nov., from Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber, carrying a preserved debris packet composed by soil particles entangled among specialised setae of extremely elongate tubular tubercles. The new morphotype has features related to the debris-carrying habit that are unknown from extant or extinct green lacewings, namely a high number of tubular tubercle pairs on the abdomen and tubular tubercle setae with mushroom-shaped endings that acted as anchoring points for debris. The current finding expands the diversity of exogenous materials used by green lacewing larvae in deep time, and represents the earliest direct evidence of debris-carrying in the lineage described to date. The debris-carrying larval habit likely played a significant role during the initial phases of diversification of green lacewings.funded by the Spanish AEI/FEDER, UE Grant CGL2017-84419.R.P.F. is funded by a Research Fellowship from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.M.S.E. was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant DEB- 1144162

Síndromes liquóricas em pacientes com comprometimento agudo da consciência

We reviewed the laboratorycards of 200 analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) performed to evaluate acute alterations of consciousness in adult patients attended in a neurological emergency room. 61% were men; the mean age was 46 years. The most common clinical data were infective and neurologic. The CSF was abnormal in 149 (74.5%) patients and the most common syndromes were: compressive (21%), hemorrhagic (11.5%), viral (8.5%), septic (7.5%), moderate hyperglycorrachia (6.5%), hydroelectrolytic disturbances (5.5%). There were some statistically significant correlations between CSF syndromes and clinical data: septic syndrome and fever and meningeal signs, hemorrhagic syndrome and headache and meningeal signs, CSF hydroelectrolytic disturbance syndrome and seizures, severe hyperproteinorrachia and headache, fever, meningeal signs and vomiting, moderate hyperproteinorrachia and age over 65 and male sex. We classified the abnormal results in two groups: 1 - sufficient for an immediate clinical decision; 2 - nonspecific. The former group was found in 27.5% of the patients and in 36.9% of the abnormal CSF results. In patients attending to neurologic emergency rooms with acute alterations of consciousness, the examination of the CSF frequently could contribute to an etiologic diagnosis. It must be performed after a rigorous clinical evaluation of the patient.Nós revisamos os registros de 200 exames de líquido cefalorraquidiano (LCR) realizados para avaliar alterações agudas da consciência em pacientes adultos atendidos em um pronto-socorro neurológico. 61% eram homens e a idade média era 46 anos. Os dados clínicos mais comuns foram infecciosos e neurológicos. O LCR foi anormal em 149 (74,5%) pacientes e as síndromes mais comuns foram: compressiva (21%), hemorrágica (11,5%), viral (8,5%), séptica (7,5%), hiperglicorraquia moderada (6,5%), distúrbio hidro-eletrolítico (5,5%). Nós classificamos os resultados anormais em dois grupos: 1 - suficientes para uma decisão clínica imediata; 2 - inespecíficos. O primeiro grupo foi encontrado em 27,5% dos pacientes e em 36,9% dos resultados anormais. Houve algumas correlações estatisticamente significantes entre dados clínicos e síndromes liquóricas: síndrome séptica e febre e sinais meníngeos, síndrome hemorrágica e cefaléia e sinais meníngeos, distúrbio hidro-eletrolítico no LCR e convulsões, hiperproteinorraquia acentuada e cefaléia, febre, sinais meníngeos e vômitos, hiperproteinorraquia moderada e idade acima de 65 anos e sexo masculino. Em pacientes atendidos em pronto-socorro neurológico com alterações agudas da consciência, o exame do LCR frequentemente pode contribuir para um diagnóstico etiológico. Deve ser solicitado após rigorosa avaliação clínica do paciente.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM) Department of NeurologyUNIFESP, EPM, Department of NeurologySciEL

Software de apoyo a la accesibilidad de la información referencial para un desplazamiento independiente

Este trabajo expone un aporte de la tecnología para ayudar a las personas no videntes o con baja visión, a desplazarse en edificios no preparados debidamente para atender sus limitaciones. En base a la creación de una aplicación software, que suministra información referencial, que luego es transformada en audio utilizando la función de accesibilidad de cualquier dispositivo móvil con capacidad de conectarse a una red WiFi. En primera instancia se resumen las investigaciones realizadas sobre accesibilidad, leyes y normativas, y el estudio de un grupo de edificaciones comerciales y públicas con el fin de obtener una mayor comprensión de las dificultades que una persona con discapacidad visual enfrenta al transitarlas; y las habilidades que adquieren para suplantar el sentido de la vista. La etapa siguiente muestra el desarrollo, siguiendo una metodología ágil, de una aplicación que permite gestionar la información referencial, procesarla con algoritmos, y proveerla al celular del usuario en un formato de indicaciones paso a paso. Factible de ser implementada en diversas edificaciones, mediante minicomputadoras Raspberry Pi, que funcionarán como servidores web. Finalmente, para complementarla se desarrolla un módulo de carta (menú) accesible a estos usuarios, para su uso en confiterías pertenecientes al edificio modelo propuesto.Trabajos Finales de Carrera de Grado.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Software de apoyo a la accesibilidad de la información referencial para un desplazamiento independiente

Este trabajo expone un aporte de la tecnología para ayudar a las personas no videntes o con baja visión, a desplazarse en edificios no preparados debidamente para atender sus limitaciones. En base a la creación de una aplicación software, que suministra información referencial, que luego es transformada en audio utilizando la función de accesibilidad de cualquier dispositivo móvil con capacidad de conectarse a una red WiFi. En primera instancia se resumen las investigaciones realizadas sobre accesibilidad, leyes y normativas, y el estudio de un grupo de edificaciones comerciales y públicas con el fin de obtener una mayor comprensión de las dificultades que una persona con discapacidad visual enfrenta al transitarlas; y las habilidades que adquieren para suplantar el sentido de la vista. La etapa siguiente muestra el desarrollo, siguiendo una metodología ágil, de una aplicación que permite gestionar la información referencial, procesarla con algoritmos, y proveerla al celular del usuario en un formato de indicaciones paso a paso. Factible de ser implementada en diversas edificaciones, mediante minicomputadoras Raspberry Pi, que funcionarán como servidores web. Finalmente, para complementarla se desarrolla un módulo de carta (menú) accesible a estos usuarios, para su uso en confiterías pertenecientes al edificio modelo propuesto.Trabajos Finales de Carrera de Grado.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Amber and the Cretaceous Resinous Interval

Amber is fossilized resin that preserves biological remains in exceptional detail, study of which has revolutionized understanding of past terrestrial organisms and habitats from the Early Cretaceous to the present day. Cretaceous amber outcrops are more abundant in the Northern Hemisphere and during an interval of about 54 million years, from the Barremian to the Campanian. The extensive resin production that generated this remarkable amber record may be attributed to the biology of coniferous resin producers, the growth of resiniferous forests in proximity to transitional sedimentary environments, and the dynamics of climate during the Cretaceous. Here we discuss the set of interrelated abiotic and biotic factors potentially involved in resin production during that time. We name this period of mass resin production by conifers during the late Mesozoic, fundamental as an archive of terrestrial life, the `Cretaceous Resinous Interval (CREI).This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [research agreement CRE CGL2017-84419 AEI/FEDER, UE] and by the Consejería de Industria, Turismo, Innovación, Transporte y Comercio of the Gobierno de Cantabria through the public enterprise EL SOPLAO S.L. [research agreement #20963 with University of Barcelona and research contract Ref. VAPC 20225428 to CN-IGME CSIC, both 2022–2025]; the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (Brazil) [research grand PQ 304529/19–2]; National Geographic Global Exploration Fund Northern Europa [research agreement GEFNE 127-14]; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [research agreement SO 894/6-1]; VolkswagenStiftung [research agreement 90946]; the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) and by the Horizon 2020 program of research and innovation of the European Union under the Marie-Curie [research contract no. 801370, Beatriu de Pinós]; the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) and the European Social Fund [research contract 2021FI_B2 00003]; this work is a contribution to the grant RYC2021-032907-I, funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union «NextGenerationEU»/PRTR; and the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) Scholarship Program [BECAS CHILE 2020-Folio 72210321].Abstract Keywords 1. Introduction 2. Definition of the Cretaceous Resinous Interval 3. Conditional factors on resin production and preservation 3.1. Abiotic factors 3.1.1. Atmospheric gas composition, temperature, and wildfires 3.1.2. Volcanism and changes in sea level 3.1.3. Oceanic physicochemical properties and hurricanes 3.1.4. Climatic overview throughout the CREI 3.2. Biotic factors 4. Present limitations and future directions 5. Conclusions Funding Author contributions Declaration of Competing Interest Acknowledgements Appendix A. Supplementary data Data availability Reference

A Global Building Occupant Behavior Database

This paper introduces a database of 34 field-measured building occupant behavior datasets collected from 15 countries and 39 institutions across 10 climatic zones covering various building types in both commercial and residential sectors. This is a comprehensive global database about building occupant behavior. The database includes occupancy patterns (i.e., presence and people count) and occupant behaviors (i.e., interactions with devices, equipment, and technical systems in buildings). Brick schema models were developed to represent sensor and room metadata information. The database is publicly available, and a website was created for the public to access, query, and download specific datasets or the whole database interactively. The database can help to advance the knowledge and understanding of realistic occupancy patterns and human-building interactions with building systems (e.g., light switching, set-point changes on thermostats, fans on/off, etc.) and envelopes (e.g., window opening/closing). With these more realistic inputs of occupants’ schedules and their interactions with buildings and systems, building designers, energy modelers, and consultants can improve the accuracy of building energy simulation and building load forecasting

Family first: Evidence of consistency and variation in the value of family versus personal happiness across 49 different cultures

People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49), We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20 with country levels varying from -.02 to almost .48), but ubiquitous, i.e., direction presented in 98% of the studied countries, 73-75% with statistical significance and .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country level individualism-collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers, and by progressive movements too