Factors Affecting Helminth Abundances in Synanthropic Rodents of an Urban Environment

Background:Current levels of urbanization cause changes in the ecology of hosts, the pathogens, or both, promoting the proliferation of zoonotic diseases. Rodents are a good biological model for the development of pathogen transmission models because it presence is often related to a none-adequate environmental management.Objective:The main goal of this paper was to study the changes in the abundance of helminth populations in synanthropic rodents of an urban landscape.Methods:A total of 92 R. norvegicus and 65 M. musculus were captured in the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and were screened for parasites. The variations in helminth abundances were studied at host population scale to determine the factors, such as the type of environment, meteorological conditions and demographic parameters of the hosts, which have an effect on helminth infection rates.Results:Parasites with intermediate hosts or free living larval stages in their life cycle were the most affected. It was found how rodents? use of the habitats in the different urban environments has an effect on the helminth infection levels. Besides, the importance of season on helminth abundance was determined, suggesting that climatic conditions are crucial for parasite survival and transmission.Conclusion:This information is relevant because it not only allows us to deepen the ecological dynamics of parasites in urban rodents, but also shows that environmental conditions are determinants for the persistence of helminth populations in a city.Fil: Hancke, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Olga Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Sustainable development of on-shore wind power : integrated landscape character assessment as a tool to improve assessment of on-shore wind power in southern Sweden

To meet the increasing demand of renewable energy and move from the fossil-fuel economy, Sweden aims to expand the onshore wind power production from 30 TWh today, to 80 TWh by 2040, with a strong expansion in Southern Sweden aiming to complement the infrastructure implemented in Northern Sweden. The implementation in Southern Sweden has created growing conflict as landscapes of cultural, ecological, and social importance try to accommodate this new energy landscape. The citizenry has also been affected, with their role or lack of it being crucial to the development of wind power in the South of Sweden. The aim of my analysis is to estimate the increase in these overlapping goals and how processes that improve decision-making at regional level and citizen participation can be crucial to the successful implementation of wind power in Southern Sweden. This aim will be mainly achieved through the answering of 4 main research questions: 1) estimate land ownership and land cover types in present and proposed onshore wind power developments Southern Sweden 2) How do present and approved wind power developments relate to National Interest areas in the southern counties of Skåne. Halland, Kronoberg and Jönköping? 3)How do present and approved wind power developments relate to National Interest areas in the southern municipalities of Falkenberg and Uppvidinge? 4) Have ILCA and similar assessments had an influence on successful Wind Power development implementation and Landscape Democracy in Falkenberg and Uppvidinge? All spatial analyses were carried out with a Geographical Information System. My results showed an increase up to 50% in impacted Arable Land in nemoral regions of Sweden and 94% in Conifer forests in boreonemoral regions of Sweden, with these land covers being the most relevant in each respective region. Private landowners are also shown to bear the brunt of the impacted areas, with an increase of 124% and 194% in nemoral and boreonemoral regions, respectively. Wind Power sites were found to visually impact up to 50% of National Interest areas in Skåne, Halland, Kronoberg and Jönköping. 68% of National Interest areas impacted are present within 4km of proposed wind power sites in Uppvidinge, and 34% of National Interest areas impacted are present within 4km of proposed sites in Falkenberg. Finally, the existence of a landscape character analysis based on ELC principles prior to wind power implementation in Falkenberg linked with the successful implementation of wind power infrastructure in the municipality, while the opposite in Uppvidinge led to an unsuccessful implementation of wind power infrastructure. By highlighting the dimension of land use and actor conflict linked to wind power infrastructure, as well as the processes that can solve these conflicts and enhance regional planning and landscape democracy, I am confident I can provide with important information that can improve sustainable landscape planning in the multifunctional landscape of the present and the future

Selected Approaches to Urban Watershed Response Modeling

Paper by Elvidio V. Diniz and Diego Suare

The Need for a Better Understanding of the Transmission of Cryptosporidium in Urban Areas

Cryptosporidium is an intracellular protozoan parasite that infects the small intestine causing damage to the intestinal epithelium and disrupts absorption and barrier function, leading to mild-to-severe diarrhea [1]. Cryptosporidium has a worldwide distribution infecting humans and animals but in low and middle income countries, cryptosporidiosis is much more prevalent [2]. However, the burden of this parasitosis is underrated. According to Khalil et al (2018), Cryptosporidium infection was the fifth leading cause of diarrheal mortality in children younger than 5 years in 2016 and the estimation of the burden of Cryptosporidium is 2.5 times higher than previously reported by accounting childhood health beyond acute illness by decreasing growth. In addition, the co-infection of Cryptosporidium with other intestinal pathogens and respiratory cryptosporidiosis are other neglected topics [3]. There is currently no vaccine available, and the only approved treatment, the drug nitazoxanide, is not highly effective in immunocompromised individuals [4].Fil: Hancke, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Olga Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Surrogate modeling for risk-targeted seismic design of isolated structures using friction pendulum systems

Base isolation has been used in the last decades to provide structures with enhanced seismic performance, especially to meet the requirements of risk-critical buildings (e.g., healthcare facilities). This calls for risk-targeted design approaches that consider the explicit computation of various decision variables (e.g., expected annual loss or mean annual frequency of exceeding various damage states). Nonetheless, most of these structures are still designed following implicit risk/reliability considerations derived from building codes. The main hurdle to an explicit risk-based design is the computational effort and time required for seismic performance assessments, given the iterative nature of a typical risk/loss-based design process. This paper proposes using Gaussian-process-regression-based surrogate probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs) of equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems (i.e., the probability distribution of peak horizontal displacements and accelerations on top of the isolation layer conditional on different ground-motion intensity levels) to address these challenges. This enables a risk-targeted methodology for the seismic design of low-rise structures equipped with friction pendulums that virtually requires no design iterations. First, the definition, training, and validation of the surrogate PSDMs are presented. Then, a brief description of a tentative risk-targeted procedure enabled by the proposed surrogate PSDMs is presented. The predictive power of the surrogate PSDMs is verified using a 10-fold cross-validation technique, resulting in normalised root mean square error below 3% for the parameters of the PSDMs and below 7% for their standard deviation

Ovinos y alambres, paisaje cultural. Del pastizal natural a la insustentabilidad de la ganadería ovina en Santa Cruz

Tesis para obtener el grado de Magíster Scientiae en Desarrollo Sustentable, de la Universidad Nacional de Lanús, en 2009El hombre y la ganadería ovina, principal actividad agropecuaria de Santa Cruz desde fines del siglo XIX, han modelado el árido paisaje de la provincia, dándole una característica común a las extensas planicies: miles de ovinos y kilómetros de alambres. Este paisaje puede ser denominado como un Paisaje cultural. Las prácticas productivas inadecuadas combinadas con las inclemencias climáticas, han desencadenado el proceso de desertificación, agente degradatorio que atenta contra la sustentabilidad de las explotaciones ganaderas de gran parte de la provincia. Otro factor importante en el desencadenamiento y agudización del proceso erosivo es la actividad petrolera. Esta situación ha provocado el abandono de cientos de establecimientos en las áreas más afectadas y producción en condiciones de sobrevivencia en otros tantos. Esta investigación se realizó con el fin de abordar la compleja realidad y, desde su conocimiento, favorecer medidas que promuevan el cambio. Se basó en la proyectación ambiental propuesta por FLACAM, la cual plantea una visión sistémica de la realidad donde la percepción juegue un rol fundamental. De aquí surge la propuesta superadora que apunta a promover una producción ovina sustentable en Santa Cruz, tomando como un pilar fundamental la promoción del uso racional de los pastizales a través del ajuste de la carga ovina a la capacidad de los mismos. La esencia del trabajo de tesis fue la revalorización de la ganadería ovina como modelador del paisaje cultural en Santa Cruz y la promoción de la sustentabilidad para garantizar la continuidad en el tiempo.Humans have modelled the arid steppes of the Province of Santa Cruz, Argentina through the sheep raising activity, the main rural activity since the end of the XIX century, creating a common landscape of extense plateus with thousands of sheep and kilometers of fencing. This environment may be seen as a Cultural Landscape. Inadequate productive practices combined with the harsh climate have triggered desertification, a degradation process that conspires against sustainability of the farms in most of the Province. Oil production is another factor that induces erosive processes in the area. This situation has induced abandonment of hundreds of productive farms in the most affected areas and forces subsistence farming in others. The present research addresses this complex situation in order to facilitate through a better understanding, practices that promote a different management. It is based in environmental projectation put forward by FLACAM, that proposes a systemic view of reality, where perception plays a key roll. An improved idea emerges through the promotion of sustainable sheep production in Santa Cruz, with a main topic in the rational use of rangelands through the adjustment of sheep stocking rates in relation to the productive capacity. The essence of this thesis is the revalorization of the sheep raising activity as a Cultural Landscape modeller and the promotion of sustainable practices that ensure its continuity.EEA Santa CruzFil: Suarez, Diego. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz. Agencia de Extensión Rural Río Gallegos; Argentin

Probing SUSY effects in KS0→μ+μ−K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-

We explore supersymmetric contributions to the decay $K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$, in light of current experimental data. The Standard Model (SM) predicts $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)\approx5\times 10^{-12}$. We find that contributions arising from flavour violating Higgs penguins can enhance the branching fraction up to $\approx 35\times 10^{-12}$ within different scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), as well as suppress it down to $\approx 0.78\times 10^{-12}$. Regions with fine-tuned parameters can bring the branching fraction up to the current experimental upper bound, $8\times 10^{-10}$. The mass degeneracy of the heavy Higgs bosons in MSSM induces correlations between $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$ and $\mathcal{B}(K_L^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$. Predictions for the $CP$ asymmetry in $K^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ decays in the context of MSSM are also given, and can be up to eight times bigger than in the SM.Comment: 36 pages, 31 fig

Tool-Path Problem in Direct Energy Deposition Metal-Additive Manufacturing: Sequence Strategy Generation

The tool-path problem has been extensively studied in manufacturing technologies, as it has a considerable impact on production time. Additive manufacturing is one of these technologies; it takes time to fabricate parts, so the selection of optimal tool-paths is critical. This research analyzes the tool-path problem in the direct energy deposition technology; it introduces the main processes, and analyzes the characteristics of tool-path problem. It explains the approaches applied in the literature to solve the problem; as these are mainly geometric approximations, they are far from optimal. Based on this analysis, this paper introduces a mathematical framework for direct energy deposition and a novel problem called sequence strategy generation. Finally, it solves the problem using a benchmark for several different parts. The results reveal that the approach can be applied to parts with different characteristics, and the solution to the sequence strategy problem can be used to generate tool-paths.This work was supported in part by the Project HARITIVE under Grant HAZITEK 2017 and in part by the Project ADDISEND under Grant ELKARTEK 2018 through Basque Government, and in part by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant 822064. The work of Roberto Santana was supported in part by IT-1244-19, in part by the ELKARTEK Programmes through Basque Government, and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under Grant TIN2016-78365-R

Estudio de prefactibilidad para la instalación de un disco-show en la ciudad de Cusco

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad determinar si es conveniente realizar el proyecto de Bersuá Disco-Show en la ciudad del Cusco. Para lograr dicho fin, se analizaron diversos factores. En primer lugar, tras determinar la problemática, se vio que el turismo ha crecido durante los últimos años, sin considerar el año 2020 por la pandemia, por ejemplo, del año 2018 al año 2019 hubo un incremento del 3,66% del movimiento general de pasajeros en el Aeropuerto Internacional Alejandro Velasco Astete de Cusco. En segundo lugar, el estudio de mercado determinó la prefactibilidad del proyecto, ya que se tendrá una demanda igual a 148 318 personas para el año 2025, considerando como base a turistas nacionales y extranjeros. Por otro lado, se estableció la micro localización del servicio, mediante el método de ranking de factores, donde se tiene como resultado la provincia de Cusco. Por otra parte, el estudio realizado para el tamaño del servicio, concluyó que el dimensionamiento óptimo es el tamaño del mercado y el punto de equilibrio es igual a 26 055 personas al año. En tercer lugar, con respecto a la ingeniería del proyecto, se precisó que el área total es de 1 847,09 m2 y el local cuenta con cuatro plantas para las diversas zonas. Finalmente, se realizó la evaluación de los flujos de fondos netos en donde se obtuvo un van económico igual a 15 847 243,61 soles y un van financiero igual a 17 231 024,85 soles, lo que demuestra que el proyecto es rentable, puesto que genera ganancias. Asimismo, al evaluar el primer año de operación se obtuvo un margen bruto de 73,10% y un margen neto de 35,20%.The purpose of this research is to determine if it is convenient to carry out the Bersuá Disco-Show project in the city of Cusco. To achieve this goal, plenty of factors were analyzed. In the first place, after determining the problem, it was seen that tourism has grown in recent years, without considering the year 2020 due to the pandemic, for example, from 2018 to 2019 there was an increase of 3,66% of the general movement of passengers at the Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco. Second, the market study determined the pre-feasibility of the project, since there will be a demand equal to 148 318 people by the year 2025, considering national and foreign tourists as a base. On the other hand, the micro location of the service was established, through the factor ranking method, where the result is the province of Cusco. On the other hand, the study carried out for the size of the service concluded that the optimal dimensioning is the size of the market and the balance point is equal to 26 055 people per year. Thirdly, regarding the engineering of the project, it was specified that the total area is 1 847,09 m2 and the premises have four floors for the various areas. Finally, the evaluation of the net fund flows was carried out, where an economic van equal to 15 847 243,61 soles and a financial van equal to 17 231 024,85 soles were obtained, which shows that the project is profitable, since it generates profit. Likewise, when evaluating the first year of operation, a gross margin of 73,10% and a net margin of 35,20% were obtained

EL QHAPAQ ÑAN: UN CAMINO TRANSVERSAL ENTRE LAS LAGUNAS DE LLAVIUCO Y MAMAMAG EN EL PARQUE NACIONAL CAJA

Son escasas las investigaciones arqueológicas efectuadas en el Ecuador sobre los caminos prehispánicos. Esta particularidad ha producido un vacío importante en el conocimiento histórico de nuestra región. En este contexto, con la finalidad de aportar con nuevos conocimientos, en el año 2008 se realizó una investigación denominada: “El camino del inka entre las lagunas de LLaviuco y Mamamag en el Parque Nacional Cajas y propuesta de un sistema georeferencial” como tesis de grado de la maestría de Arqueología e Identidad Nacional, realizada en la Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito. En este artículo presento una parte del estudio arqueológico