Palaeontological Virtual Congress: A new way to make science

On the first month of 2018, one of the authors (VDC) of this preface had an interesting idea: to hold a virtual congress. At first, he did not know of the existence of this kind of congress, but a quick internet search showed him that there were some examples in the fields of medicine and veterinary medicine; however, it had never been done in palaeontology. For that reason, with the help of other co-workers from the Universitat de València, Museo Paleontológico de Alpuente and Museu Valencià d’Historia Natural, we decided to undertake this adventure.Fil: Crespo Roures, Vicente Daniel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico de Alpuente; España. Museu Valencia d'Història Natural; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Manzanares, Esther. Universidad de Valencia; España. Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva; Españ

Old-timers and newcomers: The shrews and heterosoricids from the ribesalbes-alcora basin (east of spain)

The zone of Araia d’Alcora in the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain, early Miocene, biozone C, MN 4) yielded a relatively rich assemblage of shrews for an Iberian site, composed by Oligosorex thauensis, cf. Soricella discrepans, Paenelimnoecus micromorphus and Heterosorex neumayrianus. The fossils of O. thauensis, the most abundant taxon, significantly increase our knowledge regarding the morphology of the species. It signals the last known occurrence of this shrew and extending its record to a MN4 site. This species is competing with other shrews in the studied sites. Paenelimnoecus micromorphus is recorded for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula. Soricella discrepans is a typical species from Central Europe; if its occurrence is confirmed in Ribesalbes-Alcora, it would represent the only record of this species in MN4 from the Iberian Peninsula. The material of Heterosorex neumayrianus, a species relatively common in the Iberian Peninsula but always poorly represented, constitutes the best Spanish collection described. When dimylids are present Heterosorex is uncommon.© October 2019 Paleontological Society.Fil: Crespo Roures, Vicente Daniel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Museu Valencia d'Història Natural; España. Museo Paleontológico de Alpuente; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fagoaga, Ana. Universidad de Valencia; España. Museu Valencia d'Història Natural; EspañaFil: Montoya, Plini. Universidad de Valencia; EspañaFil: Ruiz Sánchez, Francisco Javier. Museu Valencia d'Història Natural; Españ

† Estelestes ensis (Mammalia, Metatheria) from the early Eocene of Baja California (Mexico) as a generalized polydolopimorphian

Estelestes ensis Novaceck et al., 1991 is a curious Paleogene metatherian mammal recognized on the basis of a single specimen from Baja California (Mexico) in southern North America. It comes from early Eocene (Wasatchian age) levels of the Las Tetas de Cabra Formation at “Marsupial Hill” in the Lomas Las Tetas de Cabra site (also known as Punta Prieta; see Novaceck et al., 1991). The specimen consists of a fragmentary left mandible with the last premolar, the roots of the first two molars, and almost complete last two molars (Fig. 1). It was referred to the Didelphini (Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae, Didelphinae) even though Novaceck et al. (1991) stated that the overall morphology of the type specimen poses intriguing problems regarding its relationships. For example, the very deep, robust jaw of Estelestes distinguishes it from any other Holarctic “didelphine” (at the time Novaceck et al., 1991 published their work, both the concept and extent of Didelphidae and Didelphinae were much broader than today). Interestingly, they concluded that Estelestes had close affinities with “Mirandotherium” (lapsus calami for Mirandatherium), from the early Eocene of Itaboraí, in southeastern Brazil. “Resemblance between the two taxa is nevertheless striking, once again raising the possibility of close relationships among certain early members of the Northern Hemisphere and South American Didelphinae” (Novaceck et al., 1991, p. 16). The affinities of Mirandatherium are contested, having been regarded as part of the Didelphimorphia (e.g., de Paula Couto, 1952a) or Microbiotheria (e.g., Marshall, 1987; McKenna and Bell, 1997; Oliveira and Goin, 2011), or even as an alphadontian (Carneiro, 2019).Fil: Goin, Francisco Javier. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Vieytes, Emma Carolina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Crespo Roures, Vicente Daniel. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Portugal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Oliveira, Édison V.. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; Brasi

Left braces of size 8 p

We describe all left braces aof size 8 p for an odd p diferent from 3 and 7.Postprint (author's final draft

Amphibians and reptiles as palaeonvironmental proxies during the Late Pleistocene (MIS3): The case of Stratigraphic Unit V of El Salt, Alcoi, Spain

The locality of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the extirpation of Neanderthals in the eastern part of Iberia. In this paper, we analyse an assemblage of amphibians and reptiles from Stratigraphic Unit V (45.2 ± 3.4 ka to 44.7 ± 3.4 ka), which corresponds to one of the last regional records of Neanderthals, to improve knowledge of the palaeoecology and palaeoclimate of this event. The assemblage comprises three anurans (Pelodytes sp., Alytes obstetricans, and Epidalea calamita), two lizards (Lacertidae indet. and Chalcides bedriagai), and five snakes (Colubridae indet., Coronella sp., Coronella sp./Zamenis sp., Natrix maura, and Vipera latastei). Palaeoclimatic reconstruction, based on the Mutual Ecogeographic Range method, indicates that climate was cooler and slightly wetter climate than the present day climate of the Alcoi area. Applying the Habitat Weighting Method, we infer that the area surrounding El Salt was dominated by open dry regions, alternating with rocky areas with scarce scrubs and forest patches that would have developed under mesomediterranean conditions. These results are not entirely consistent with those obtained with other proxies (charcoal and small mammal assemblages) from the same site, which suggest slightly warmer and drier conditions. We hypothesise that these divergences may be partly related to the current wide distribution of reptiles and amphibians across Iberia. A key finding is that the extirpation of the Neanderthals in Iberia coincided with aridification.Fil: Marquina Blasco, Rafael. Universidad de Valencia; España. Museu Valencià D’història Natural; EspañaFil: Fagoaga, Ana. Universidad de Valencia; España. Museu Valencià D’història Natural; EspañaFil: Crespo Roures, Vicente Daniel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico de Alpuente; EspañaFil: Bailon, Salvador. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Histoire naturelle de l’Homme prehistorique; FranciaFil: Mallol, Carolina. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Hernández, Cristo M.. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Galván, Bertila. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Ruiz Sánchez, Francisco Javier. Universidad de Valencia; España. Museu Valencià D’història Natural; España. Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena; Ecuado

Applying the UDA‑ODA discrimination technique to a herpetological association: the case of the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain)

El Salt (Middle Palaeolithic; Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the disappearance of Neanderthals in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, a process that is observed along its stratigraphic sequence. To improve our understanding of the palaeoclimatic context in which this process took place, we applied the UDA-ODA discrimination technique to the fossil herpetological assemblages from Stratigraphic Units (SU) Xb (52.3 ± 4.6 ka) and V (45.2 ± 3.4/44.7 ± 3.4 ka). This method is based in the application of an ecological criterion, the maximum altitude of each species on each Iberian range, to discern and remove those areas that do not meet their ecological requirements (UDA) from those that do (ODA), which are included in its distribution from Atlases from which the common distribution species is going to be extracted. Results indicate the existence of an alternation between 'cold and wet' moments with 'warm and dry' ones, all of them in a more humid context than nowadays. Climate was slightly warmer than nowadays in SU Xb, whereas was cooler in SU V. Regarding MAP, our results show less variation between SUs than it has been provided by previous studies. These results do not fully agree with those provided by small mammals from the same SUs, which indicate an increase of the temperatures whereas rainfall experienced the contrary. These differences could be related with the wider distribution of the Iberian herpetofauna, and some differences in the applied ecological criterion. Furthermore, herpetofaunal palaeoclimatic reconstruction shows that the abandonment of the site by Neanderthals seems to have occurred during an arid phase

Erratum to “Palaeoecological context for the extinction of the Neanderthals: A small mammal study of Stratigraphic Unit V of the El Salt site, Alcoi, eastern Spain” [Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 530 (2019) 163–175]

El Salt is an important reference site for understanding the extinction of Neanderthal populations in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during MIS 3. In this paper, we describe the small mammal assemblage from Stratigraphic Unit V, the youngest unit with evidence of human presence, based on nearly 1300 specimens. A total of seven rodents (Microtus arvalis, Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus cabrerae, Sciurus vulgaris, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus and Apodemus sylvaticus), three insectivores (Talpa occidentalis, Crocidura sp., Sorex sp.) and one lagomorph (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus) were identified. Palaeocological analyses point to drier conditions in this part of the stratigraphic sequence, supporting the hypothesis that an aridification scenario may have played a role in the extinction of the Neanderthal groups inhabiting this region of the Iberian Peninsula.Fil: Fagoaga, Ana. Universidad de Valencia; EspañaFil: Laplana, César. Museo Arqueológico Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid; EspañaFil: Marquina Blasco, Rafael. Universidad de Valencia; EspañaFil: Machado, Jorge. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Marin Monfort, María Dolores. Universidad de Valencia; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Crespo Roures, Vicente Daniel. Universidad de Valencia; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico de Alpuente; EspañaFil: Hernández, Cristo M.. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Mallol, Carolina. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Galván, Bertila. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Ruiz Sánchez, Francisco Javier. Universidad de Valencia; España. Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena; Ecuado

Experiences in the use of multimedia resources to facilitate the understanding of basic physical concepts in the field of electrical engineering

[EN] Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become indispensable in the new hybrid educational model, which combines face-to-face teaching with online teaching. Both teachers and students must adapt and actively participate in the learning process to make the most of these technologies, which enable for greater accessibility and flexibility in education, improving personalization and collaborative learning. Specifically, this paper exposes experiences in the use of interactive multimedia materials to help students in the courses of "Circuit Theory" and "Electromagnetic experiments and their theoretical foundations" at the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers of the Universitat Politècnica de València, who have difficulty in understanding the basic concepts of those courses, which is reflected in poor performance in the evaluations. With the implementation of these new multimedia resources, the aim is to improve student motivation and facilitate the learning of each concept or methods explained in the courses. After implementation, it is shown that these activities significantly improve student performance, achieving positive results in terms of usefulness and ease of use for students.[ES] Las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) se han vuelto indispensables en el nuevo modelo educativo híbrido, donde se combina la enseñanza presencial con la enseñanza online. Profesores y estudiantes deben adaptarse y participar activamente en el proceso de aprendizaje para aprovechar el máximo estas tecnologías, las cuales permiten una mayor accesibilidad y flexibilidad en la educación, mejorando la personalización y la colaboración del aprendizaje . En concreto, en este trabajo expone diferentes experiencias en el uso de material multimedia interactivo para ayudar a los estudiantes de las asignaturas de “Teoría de Circuitos” y “Electromagnetic experiments and their theoretical foundations” de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales de la Universitat Politècnica de València, los cuales tienen dificultades para comprender los conceptos básicos de las asignaturas, lo que se refleja en los malos resultados que obtienen en las evaluaciones. Con la implementación de estos nuevos recursos multimedia se pretende mejorar la motivación del alumno y facilitar el aprendizaje de cada concepto o método explicado en las asignaturas. Tras su implementación, se muestra que dichas actividades mejoran significativamente el rendimiento de los estudiantes, obteniendo resultados positivos tanto en utilidad como en facilidad de uso por parte de los estudiantes.Escrivá-Escrivá, G.; Roldán-Blay, C.; Dasí-Crespo, D.; Roldán-Porta, C.; Segura-Heras, I.; Fuster-Roig, V.; García-Sánchez, T. (2023). Experiencias en la utilización de materiales multimedia para facilitar la comprensión de los conceptos físicos básicos del área de la ingeniería eléctrica. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1277-1290. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2023.2023.165491277129

Advancing manufacture of hiPSC-derived hepatocytes with improved functionality: A nature-inspired protocol

Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Zoonotic "Enterocytozoon bieneusi" genotypes in free-ranging and farmed wild ungulates in Spain

Microsporidia comprises a diverse group of obligate, intracellular, and spore-forming parasites that infect a wide range of animals. Among them, Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most frequently reported species in humans and other mammals and birds. Data on the epidemiology of E. bieneusi in wildlife are limited. Hence, E. bieneusi was investigated in eight wild ungulate species present in Spain (genera Ammotragus, Capra, Capreolus, Cervus, Dama, Ovis, Rupicapra, and Sus) by molecular methods. Faecal samples were collected from free-ranging (n = 1058) and farmed (n = 324) wild ungulates from five Spanish bioregions. The parasite was detected only in red deer (10.4%, 68/653) and wild boar (0.8%, 3/359). Enterocytozoon bieneusi infections were more common in farmed (19.4%, 63/324) than in wild (1.5%, 5/329) red deer. A total of 11 genotypes were identified in red deer, eight known (BEB6, BEB17, EbCar2, HLJD-V, MWC_d1, S5, Type IV, and Wildboar3) and three novel (DeerSpEb1, DeerSpEb2, and DeerSpEb3) genotypes. Mixed genotype infections were detected in 15.9% of farmed red deer. Two genotypes were identified in wild boar, a known (Wildboar3) and a novel (WildboarSpEb1) genotypes. All genotypes identified belonged to E. bieneusi zoonotic Groups 1 and 2. This study provides the most comprehensive epidemiological study of E. bieneusi in Spanish ungulates to date, representing the first evidence of the parasite in wild red deer populations worldwide. Spanish wild boars and red deer are reservoir of zoonotic genotypes of E. bieneusi and might play an underestimated role in the transmission of this microsporidian species to humans and other animal