Contrasting human perceptions of and attitudes towards two threatened small carnivores, Lycalopex fulvipes and Leopardus guigna, in rural communities adjacent to protected areas in Chile

Indexación: Scopus.The interaction between humans and small carnivores is a phenomenon especially frequent in rural fringes, as is the case of communities surrounding natural areas. In Chile, two species of threatened carnivores, the Darwin's Fox and the Guigna, have increased their contact with humans due to human-induced changes in their habitat. The objective of this study was to characterize the interactions of these species with humans by assessing human perceptions and attitudes toward them, and to assess livestock and poultry ownership and management practices in local communities to evaluate their possible roles in the phenomenon. We conducted semi-structured interviews in rural communities adjacent to natural protected areas of two different regions in southern Chile. We found that people have a more positive perception of Darwin's Foxes than Guignas, but both species are considered damaging due to poultry attacks. Livestock and poultry management was generally deficient. Improvements in animal management and education programs could lead to a significant decrease in negative interactions. © Sacristan et al. 2018.https://www.threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/4030/442

Construcción refleja como procedimiento semiatributivo

El interés del trabajo es doble: por un lado, trata de poner de relieve, en el conjunto de las oraciones reflejas, un modelo construccional específico, la secuencia “sujeto-SE-verbo-predicado” (sujeto, verbo reflejo, predicativo); por otro lado, se ejemplifica lo que es una función general de la partícula refleja cuando ocupa el lugar correspondiente a un segundo actante oracional. The interest of this work is double: on one hand, it tries to highlight, in the compound of reflexive sentences in Spanish, a specific constructional model, the “subject-SE-verb-predicate” sequence; on the other hand, it exemplifies what a general function of the reflexive particle is when it occupies the place corresponding to a second actor in the sentence

High seroprevalence of feline morbilliviruses in free-roaming domestic cats in Chile

Feline morbillivirus infections have gained increased attention due to repeated reports of their association with urinary tract disease in cats. In the present study, 112 serum samples from free-roaming domestic cats in Chile were tested for antibodies against feline morbillivirus genotypes 1 and 2 (FeMV-1 and FeMV-2) using an indirect immunofluorescence assay. In total, 63% of the animals showed antibodies against one or both FeMV genotypes. Antibodies directed exclusively against FeMV-2 were significantly more prevalent in male cats. The correlation of sex and FeMV-2 infection might give insight into potential routes of transmission. We provide, for the first time, serological data on FeMV in Chile

Raman Study of Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers Produced by the RST Process

Producción CientíficaIn the silicon ribbon on a sacrificial template process silicon is deposited on both sides of a carbon ribbon, thus forming a Si/carbon/Si trilayer. The fast cooling of the ribbon in large temperature gradients generates stresses that are detrimental to both the electrical performance and the mechanical behaviour of the wafers. The assessment of the stresses is crucial for the setting-up of thermal treatments allowing for the stress relaxation of the wafers, prior to the cell fabrication. We present an analysis of the stress in the as-grown trilayer by a simulation of the thermomechanical behaviour of the cooling ribbon. Experimental measurements of the stress in as-grown and annealed trilayers are also presented. The results permit to establish the conditions for optimized growth and annealing.Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Defects Recognition, Imaging and Physics in Semiconductors-Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación – Ref. VA166A11-2)Ministerio de Ciencia e innovación (IPT-420000-2010- -022 INNPACTO program

On natural metalinguistic abilities in aphasia: a preliminary study

Natural metalinguistic abilities, which are put into play without explicit instructions, constitute the cognitive basis for a 'reflexive' use of language, a particular manifestation of the executive function when applied to language and verbal behaviour. This reflexive use entails a specific attentional activity by speakers and hearers with regard to linguistic outputs, and an intentional experience-based control over the language use. Putting into play natural metalinguistic abilities can be considered a significant factor for explaining different kinds of adaptive processes. Our results permit us to conclude that an impairment of metalinguistic abilities is involved in aphasia to different degrees. Moreover, the examination of preserved metalinguistic abilities provides an alternative way for assessing the degree of severity of impaired communicative behaviour by people with aphasia. Our procedure, presumably, will also be useful for suggesting new factors when designing therapeutic programmes

D2.1 Integrated Roadmap

Deliverable 2.1 – The Integrated Roadmap – summarises the first 18 months of requirements gathering and analysis in the TENCompetence project. The document consists of a summary description and a number of annexes with detailed results. The methodology chosen by the project is the Unified Process, supplemented with scenario-based software development techniques. On the basis of initial scenario’s and specific use cases, six high-level use cases were identified that summarise the future functionality of the TENCompetence integrated system. These high-level use cases build on the domain model that is also included. The four main components of the TENCompetence project, i.e. (a) the high-level use cases, (b) the domain model, (c) the project objectives and (d) the experimental setup of the pilots were then critically analysed in order to identify possible gaps between them. On the basis of this gap analysis, some recommendations were formulated for the next development cycles. On the basis of all the work in the four components and the gap analysis, detailed extended use cases with activity diagrams and a data model were developed and formulated, which again serve as the basis for the first version of the integrated system, the Personal Competence Manager. Finally, the document describes the future of the requirements process in the form of a research roadmap, and a detailed procedure for handling change requests to the integrated system.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

Scalability and cost-effectiveness analysis of whole genome-wide association studies on Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services

Objective Advancements in human genomics have generated a surge of available data, fueling the growth and accessibility of databases for more comprehensive, in-depth genetic studies. Methods We provide a straightforward and innovative methodology to optimize cloud configuration in order to conduct genome-wide association studies. We utilized Spark clusters on both Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services, as well as Hail (http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2646680) for analysis and exploration of genomic variants dataset. Results Comparative evaluation of numerous cloud-based cluster configurations demonstrate a successful and unprecedented compromise between speed and cost for performing genome-wide association studies on 4 distinct whole-genome sequencing datasets. Results are consistent across the 2 cloud providers and could be highly useful for accelerating research in genetics. Conclusions We present a timely piece for one of the most frequently asked questions when moving to the cloud: what is the trade-off between speed and cost