Artificial neural networks in wave predictions at the west coast of Portugal

In coastal and open ocean human activities, there is an increasing demand for accurate estimates of future sea state. In these activities, predictions of wave heights and periods are of particular importance. In this study, two different neural network strategies were employed to forecast significant wave heights and zero-up-crossing wave periods 3, 6, 12 and 24 h in advance. In the first approach, eight simple separate neural nets were implemented to simulate every wave parameter over each prediction interval. In the second approach, only two networks provided simultaneous forecasts of these wave parameters for the four prediction intervals. Two independent sets of measurements from a directional wave buoy moored off the Portuguese west coast were used to train and to validate the artificial neural nets. Saliency analysis of the results permitted an optimization of the networks' architectures. The optimal learning algorithm for each case was also determined. The short-term forecasts of the wave parameters verified by actual observations demonstrate the suitability of the artificial neural technique

Infestación por larvas de Anisakis (Nematoda: Anisakidae) en el sable negro Aphanopus carbo (Osteichthyes: Trichiuridae) en aguas portuguesas

Aphanopus carbo, black scabbardfish, specimens from 3 Portuguese regions (the mainland, Madeira and the Azores) during four (mainland and Madeira) or two (Azores) seasons of the year were examined for the presence of Anisakis. All the fish examined (n=287) were infected with Anisakis L3 larvae (prevalence = 100%). Significant geographical differences in intensity were found: the Azores showed the lowest mean intensity value (53.7) and Madeira the highest one (253.9). The intensity of infection was positively correlated with the host length in specimens of Sesimbra and Madeira. Significant seasonal differences in intensity were found in the studied regions. The very high values in prevalence and intensity strongly suggest that the consumption of raw or undercooked black scabbard fish is a potential risk for human health.Se examinaron ejemplares de Aphanopus carbo de 3 regiones portuguesas (costa continental, Madeira y Azores) para determinar la presencia de Anisákidos durante cuatro (costa continental y Madeira) o dos (Azores) épocas del año. Todos los ejemplares examinados (n=287) estaban infectados por larvas L3 de Anisakis (prevalencia = 100%). Se encontraron diferencias geográficas significativas en la intensidad: Azores mostró el valor de intensidad media más bajo (53.7) y Madeira el más alto (253.9). La intensidad de infección mostró una correlación positiva con la talla del huésped en los casos de la costa continental y Madeira. Se encontraron diferencias estacionales significativas en la intensidad en las regiones estudiadas. Los altos valores encontrados en la prevalencia e intensidad sugieren que el consumo de sable negro crudo o medio crudo constituye un riesgo potencial para la salud humana

Uso de parásitos como marcadores biológicos en la identificación de stocks de sable negro, Aphanopus carbo Lowe, 1839 (Osteichthyes: Trichiuridae) en aguas portuguesas

We studied the use of parasites as biological tags for discriminating fish stocks of Aphanopus carbo (Osteichthyes: Trichiuridae) from Portugal (Sesimbra on the mainland, Madeira and the Azores). Sixteen different metazoan parasites were found (14 from Madeira, 9 from Sesimbra and 7 from the Azores). Some parasites occurred only in fish from Madeira. The prevalence and mean intensity of the infection was recorded for each parasite and locality, and their values were statistically compared between the three sampling localities and related to host length classes. The differences between some of these parameters were statistically significant among the three localities or between two of them. It is suggested that 6 parasites (Tentacularia coryphaenae, Sphyriocephalus tergestinus, Campbelliella heteropoeciloacantha, Anisakis spp., Bolbosoma vasculosum and unidentified Acanthocephala larvae) can be used as biological tags to discriminate Portuguese stocks of Aphanopus carbo.Se estudió el uso de parásitos como marcadores biológicos para discriminar los stocks de Aphanopus carbo (Osteichthyes, Trichiuridae) de Portugal (Sesimbra en el continente, Madeira y Azores Islas). Dieciséis parásitos metazoarios fueron encontrados (14 en Madeira, 9 en Sesimbra y 7 en Azores). Algunos parásitos se presentaron sólo en Madeira. La prevalencia y la intensidad media de las infecciones fueron calculadas para cada parásito y cada región, y sus valores fueron comparados estadísticamente entre los tres lugares de muestreo, y relacionados con la talla del huésped. Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre algunos de estos parámetros de las tres regiones o entre dos de ellas. Se sugiere que 6 parásitos (Tentacularia coryphaenae, Sphyriocephalus tergestinus, Campbelliella heteropoeciloacantha, Anisakis spp., Bolbosoma vasculosum y larvas no identificadas de Acanthocephala) pueden ser usados como marcadores biológicos para discriminación de stocks de Aphanopus carbo de Portugal

Sustainable strategy based on induced precipitation for the purification of phycobiliproteins

Phycobiliproteins are fluorescent proteins mainly produced by red macroalgae and cyanobacteria. These proteins, essential to the survival of these organisms, find application in many fields of interest, from medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic to food and textile industries. The biggest obstacle to their use is the lack of simple environmental and economical sustainable methodologies to obtain these proteins with high purity. In this work, a new purification process is proposed based on the induced precipitation of the target proteins followed by ultrafiltration. Purities of 89.5% of both phycobiliproteins and 87.3% of R-phycoerythrin were achieved using ammonium sulfate and poly(acrylic acid) sodium salts as precipitation agents (followed by an ultrafiltration step), while maintaining high recovery yields and protein structure stability. Environmental analysis performed to evaluate the proposed process shows that the carbon footprint for the proposed process is much lower than that reported for alternative methodology, and the economic analysis reveals the cost-effective character associated to its high performance. This work is a step toward more sustainable and effective methodologies/processes with high industrial potential.publishe

Unbalanced chromosome 1 abnormalities leading to partial trisomy 1q in four infants with Down syndrome and acute megakaryocytic leukemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Children with Down syndrome (DS) have an increased risk of childhood acute leukemia, especially acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) also called acute myeloid leukemia (AML) type M7. Here four yet unreported infants with such malignancies are reported.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An unbalanced translocation involving chromosome 1 was identified by GTG banding in all cases. These were characterized in more detail by molecular cytogenetic approaches. Additional molecular analysis revealed in three of the four cases mutations in exon 2 of the GATA binding protein 1 (globin transcription factor 1), located in Xp11.23.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results corroborate that abnormalities of chromosome 1 are common in DS-associated AMKL. Whether this chromosomal region contains gene(s) involved in hematopoietic malignant transformation remains to be determined.</p

Evaluating amplified rDNA restriction analysis assay for identification of bacterial communities

Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and restriction fragment length polymorphism were originally used for strain typing and for screening clone libraries to identify phylogenetic clusters within a microbial community. Here we used ARDRA as a model to examine the capacity of restriction-based techniques for clone identification, and the possibility of deriving phylogenetic information from ARDRA-based dendrograms. ARDRA was performed in silico on 48,759 sequences from the Ribosomal Database Project, and it was found that the fragmentation profiles were not necessarily unique for each sequence in the database, resulting in different species sharing fragmentation profiles. Although ARDRA-based clusters separated clones into different genera, these phylogenetic clusters did not overlap with trees constructed according to sequence alignment, calling into question the intra-genus ARDRA-based phylogeny. It is thus suggested that the prediction power of ARDRA clusters in identifying clone phylogeny be regarded with caution

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011