31 research outputs found

    An Evolutionary No Man’s Land and Reply from L. G. Harshman and A. A. Hoffmann

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    The gap between evolutionary studies in laboratory versus natural populations is a persistent problem

    Evaluating hydrological and socio-economic impacts of green/blue space projects for storm water management = Evaluation des effets hydrologiques et socioéconomiques des espaces verts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie

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    FR: Les régions et villes européennes doivent faire face à des nombreuses questions liées à l'eau :gestion des eaux pluviales, qualité de l'eau, impact des sécheresses sur les milieux aquatiques. Pourrépondre durablement à ces questions, il est évident que l'eau doit être intégrée dans ledéveloppement urbain et dans les politiques d'aménagement du territoire. L'objectif général du projetpour la coopération interrégionale Aqua-Add (Mieux intégrer l'eau dans les projets urbains) est dedéployer le potentiel de l'eau dans les paysages urbains (potentiel économique, social etenvironnemental). Dans ce contexte, l'approche hydrologique et un modèle hédonique des prix sontintégrés et appliqués afin de vérifier les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des différentessolutions pour la gestion des eaux de pluie, et de faciliter le débat avec les acteurs de l'aménagement.L'objectif de cette étude est d'évaluer les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des espacesverts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie dans les villes moyennes. Nous présentons et étudionsici plus particulièrement l'étude de cas de Imperia (Italie)European regions and cities face important challenges related to water management, includingstorage, discharge, quality and periodic stress. To address these challenges, it is evident that watermust become an integral part of urban planning policies and their implementation. The internationalco-operation project Aqua-Add (Deploying the added value of water in local and regionaldevelopment) aims to deploy the potential of 'water' (economically, socially and environmentally) inurbanized landscapes and to improve the implementation of water measures in local and regionalurban planning. In this framework, hydrologic and hedonic-pricing simulation modelling approachesare integrated and applied in order to demonstrate the potential environmental, social and economicimpacts of different water management scenarios as well as to facilitate more informed decisionmaking across stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to assess the hydrological as well as socioeconomic implications of green/blue space projects for storm water management in medium-sizedcities. In particular, the case study of Imperia (Italy) is here presented and discussed

    Acesso a Tratamento Endovascular para Acidente Vascular Cerebral Isquémico em Portugal

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    Introduction: Since the publication of endovascular treatment trials and European Stroke Guidelines, Portugal has re-organized stroke healthcare. The nine centers performing endovascular treatment are not equally distributed within the country, which may lead to differential access to endovascular treatment. Our main aim was to perform a descriptive analysis of the main treatment metrics regarding endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal and its administrative districts. Material and methods: A retrospective national multicentric cohort study was conducted, including all ischemic stroke patients treated with endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal over two years (July 2015 to June 2017). All endovascular treatment centers contributed to an anonymized database. Demographic, stroke-related and procedure-related variables were collected. Crude endovascular treatment rates were calculated per 100 000 inhabitants for mainland Portugal, and each district and endovascular treatment standardized ratios (indirect age-sex standardization) were also calculated. Patient time metrics were computed as the median time between stroke onset, first-door, and puncture. Results: A total of 1625 endovascular treatment procedures were registered. The endovascular treatment rate was 8.27/100 000 inhabitants/year. We found regional heterogeneity in endovascular treatment rates (1.58 to 16.53/100 000/year), with higher rates in districts closer to endovascular treatment centers. When analyzed by district, the median time from stroke onset to puncture ranged from 212 to 432 minutes, reflecting regional heterogeneity. Discussion: Overall endovascular treatment rates and procedural times in Portugal are comparable to other international registries. We found geographic heterogeneity, with lower endovascular treatment rates and longer onset-to-puncture time in southern and inner regions. Conclusion: The overall national rate of EVT in the first two years after the organization of EVT-capable centers is one of the highest among European countries, however, significant regional disparities were documented. Moreover, stroke-onset-to-first-door times and in-hospital procedural times in the EVT centers were comparable to those reported in the randomized controlled trials performed in high-volume tertiary hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Role of Pleiotropy in the Evolution of a Cryptic Developmental Variation in Caenorhabditis elegans

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    Using vulval phenotypes in Caenorhabditis elegans, the authors show that cryptic genetic variation can evolve through selection for pleiotropic effects that alter fitness, and identify a cryptic variant that has conferred enhanced fitness on domesticated worms under laboratory conditions

    Learning, evolvability and exploratory behaviour: extending the evolutionary reach of learning

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    Traditional accounts of the role of learning in evolution have concentrated upon its capacity as a source of fitness to individuals. In this paper I use a case study from invasive species biology—the role of conditioned taste aversion in mitigating the impact of cane toads on the native species of Northern Australia—to highlight a role for learning beyond this—as a source of evolvability to populations. This has two benefits. First, it highlights an otherwise under-appreciated role for learning in evolution that does not rely on social learning as an inheritance channel nor “special” evolutionary processes such as genetic accommodation (both of which many are skeptical about). Second, and more significantly, it makes clear important and interesting parallels between learning and exploratory behaviour in development. These parallels motivate the applicability of results from existing research into learning and learning evolution to our understanding the evolution of evolvability more generally.23 page(s

    Assessing the socio-economic impacts of green/blue space, urban residential and road infrastructure projects in the Confluence (Lyon): a hedonic pricing simulation approach

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    Urban green/blue spaces are put under pressure as urban areas grow, develop and evolve. It is increasingly recognized, however, that green/blue spaces provide important ecosystem services, stimulate higher real estate prices and prevent flooding problems. This paper aims to assess and compare the socio-economic impacts of potential green/blue space, urban residential and road infrastructure development scenarios in the Lyon Confluence project area (France), using the Sustainable Urbanizing Landscape Development (SULD) hedonic pricing simulation model. Results show four major tendencies regarding the value-added of green/blue spaces in urban landscapes: (1) cities become more compact; (2) population densities increase; (3) real estate values rise; and (4) demographic distribution patterns change. The magnitude of these impacts depends, however, on the quality and size of the intervention, the social classes attracted to the intervention area and on the location of the intervention relative to existing residential areas, urban centres, road infrastructure and environmental amenities

    Quantitative genetics of functional characters in Drosophila melanogaster populations subjected to laboratory selection

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    What are the genetics of phenotypes other than fitness, in outbred populations? To answer this question. the quantitative-genetic basis of divergence was characterized for outbred Drosophila melanogaster populations that had previously undergone selection to enhance characters related to fitness. Line-cross analysis using first-generation and second-generation hybrids from reciprocal crosses was conducted for two types of cross, each replicated fivefold. One type of cross was between representatives of the ancestral population, a set of five populations maintained for several hundred generations on a two-week discrete-generation life cycle and a set of five populations adapted to starvation stress. The other type of cross was between the same set of ancestral-representative populations and another set of five populations selected for accelerated development from egg to egg. Developmental time from coo to eclosion. starvation resistance, dry body weight and fecundity at day 14 from ego were fit to regression models estimating single-locus additive and dominant effects, maternal and paternal effects. and digenic additive and dominance epistatic effects. Additive genetic variation explained most of the differences between populations, with additive maternal and cytoplasmic effects also commonly found. Both within-locus and between-locus dominance effects were inferred in some cases, as well as one instance of additive epistasis. Some of these effects may have been caused by linkage disequilibrium. We conclude with a brief discussion concerning the relationship of the genetics of population differentiation to adaptation
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