An artificial nest experiment to unravel the interactions between forestry practices and grouse egg predation

Populations of forest grouse – capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black grouse (Lyurus tetrix) and hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia) - have been declining through all of Europe. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are recognized to be the most important ultimate causes behind this trend. In Fennoscandia, there is a general consensus that forestry practices have a primary role, even though the mechanisms are still not fully understood. Nest predation is generally thought to be an important proximate cause of the declines, but how nest predation relates to habitat changes remains poorly understood. I combined long-term data provided by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) from inventory studies, both for grouses and predators, with an artificial nest experiment. I investigated a) how predation rate varies with forest age and landscape structure; b) what is the possible role of non-native mesopredator species as predators; c) how nest predation rate relates to larger scale reproductive success. In spring 2021, I placed 141 nests with two hen eggs each, in the regions of Kainuu and North Karelia for 14 days with camera traps. The nests were equally divided between mature forests (>80 years), young forests (<40 years) and edges of mature forests (in a mature forest 5m from a clearcut or a field). I found that the overall predation rate was low (~13 %) and similar in the three sites, but predation time was faster in mature forests, suggesting that when these are scarce, they can act as an ecological trap by increasing nest detectability. However, nest predation decreased with the increasing of mature forests in the landscape around the nest, supporting the hypothesis that on a larger scale forestry may increase generalist predator densities. Areas with higher predator densities suffered higher nest losses. The main predators were pine martens, badgers and magpies, followed by bears and ravens. No nests were predated by raccoon dogs or American minks. There was no correlation between areas with higher nest predation and areas where grouse had lower reproductive success which may result from other factors, e.g., chick predation. My results add to the diverse outcomes of several studies of grouse nest predation in Europe, which together indicate large variation in nest predation, no consistency in predatory species, and weak effects of landscape composition on nest predation

Using correspondence to underline changes in a historiographical network. Ideas for an inter-archival analysis starting from the correspondence between Armando Sapori, Gino Luzzatto, Roberto S. Lopez and Angelo Sraffa

The purpose of this study is to analyze some correspondence exchanges to surface links between recurrent entities found in documents, which form a complex network in which correspondents, books, articles and persons cited in the letters, quoted entities linked to academic world and the documents themselves are linked together. The perspective of the multidimensionality of the environment in which sources are, which is composed by the vertical dimension – the correspondence containing the single documents -– and the horizontal dimension – represented by the links between the vertical dimensions – helps to proceed with the analysis of these inter-archival links. This analysis is made of two levels: the focus on correspondence (distant reading) and then on single document that is part of the correspondence (close reading). The correspondence between Armando Sapori and Gino Luzzatto was the starting point for the creation of the dataset, expanded with documents from correspondences between Roberto Sabatino Lopez and Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori and Lopez, Angelo Sraffa and Sapori. The results of network analysis make explicit the connections between the various entities: at the macro level they underline changes over time of correspondence, while at the micro level they highlight links between nodes within individual documents

Using correspondence to underline changes in a historiographical network. Ideas for an inter-archival analysis starting from the correspondence between Armando Sapori, Gino Luzzatto, Roberto S. Lopez and Angelo Sraffa

The purpose of this study is to analyze some correspondence exchanges to surface links between recurrent entities found in documents, which form a complex network in which correspondents, books, articles and persons cited in the letters, quoted entities linked to academic world and the documents themselves are linked together. The perspective of the multidimensionality of the environment in which sources are, which is composed by the vertical dimension – the correspondence containing the single documents -– and the horizontal dimension – represented by the links between the vertical dimensions – helps to proceed with the analysis of these inter-archival links. This analysis is made of two levels: the focus on correspondence (distant reading) and then on single document that is part of the correspondence (close reading). The correspondence between Armando Sapori and Gino Luzzatto was the starting point for the creation of the dataset, expanded with documents from correspondences between Roberto Sabatino Lopez and Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori and Lopez, Angelo Sraffa and Sapori. The results of network analysis make explicit the connections between the various entities: at the macro level they underline changes over time of correspondence, while at the micro level they highlight links between nodes within individual documents

Using correspondence to underline changes in a historiographical network. Ideas for an inter-archival analysis starting from the correspondence between Armando Sapori, Gino Luzzatto, Roberto S. Lopez and Angelo Sraffa

The purpose of this study is to analyze some correspondence exchanges to surface links between recurrent entities found in documents, which form a complex network in which correspondents, books, articles and persons cited in the letters, quoted entities linked to academic world and the documents themselves are linked together. The perspective of the multidimensionality of the environment in which sources are, which is composed by the vertical dimension – the correspondence containing the single documents -– and the horizontal dimension – represented by the links between the vertical dimensions – helps to proceed with the analysis of these inter-archival links. This analysis is made of two levels: the focus on correspondence (distant reading) and then on single document that is part of the correspondence (close reading). The correspondence between Armando Sapori and Gino Luzzatto was the starting point for the creation of the dataset, expanded with documents from correspondences between Roberto Sabatino Lopez and Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori and Lopez, Angelo Sraffa and Sapori. The results of network analysis make explicit the connections between the various entities: at the macro level they underline changes over time of correspondence, while at the micro level they highlight links between nodes within individual documents

Utilizzo dei carteggi per descrivere i cambiamenti di una rete storiografica. Spunti per un’analisi inter-archivistica partendo dagli scambi epistolari fra fra Armando Sapori, Gino Luzzatto, Roberto S. Lopez e Angelo Sraffa

Lo scopo di questo studio è di analizzare alcuni scambi di corrispondenza per esplicitare una serie di legami tra entità ricorrenti trovate nei documenti, entità che formano un network complesso in cui corrispondenti, persone, libri e articoli citate nelle lettere, entità citate legate al mondo accademico e i documenti stessi sono uniti tra loro. La prospettiva della multidimensionalità dell'ambiente in cui si trovano le fonti, che è composta dalla dimensione verticale - i singoli documenti che compongono la corrispondenza - e la dimensione orizzontale - rappresentata dai collegamenti tra le dimensioni verticali - aiuta a procedere con l'analisi di questi collegamenti inter-archivistici. Questa analisi è effettuata due livelli: il focus sulla corrispondenza generale (distant reading) e poi su un singolo documento facente parte della corrispondenza (close reading). La corrispondenza tra Armando Sapori e Gino Luzzatto è stata il punto di partenza per la creazione del dataset, poi ampliato con i documenti delle corrispondenze tra Roberto Sabatino Lopez e Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori e Lopez, Angelo Sraffa e Sapori. I risultati della network analysis rendono esplicite le connessioni tra le varie entità: a livello macro sottolineano i cambiamenti nel tempo della corrispondenza, mentre a livello micro evidenziano link tra nodi all'interno di singoli documenti.The purpose of this study is to analyze some correspondence exchanges to surface links between recurrent entities found in documents, which form a complex network in which correspondents, books, articles and persons cited in the letters, quoted entities linked to academic world and the documents themselves are linked together.The perspective of the multidimensionality of the environment in which sources are, which is composed by the vertical dimension – the correspondence containing the single documents -– and the horizontal dimension – represented by the links between the vertical dimensions – helps to proceed with the analysis of these inter-archival links. This analysis is made of two levels: the focus on correspondence (distant reading) and then on single document that is part of the correspondence (close reading). The correspondence between Armando Sapori and Gino Luzzatto was the starting point for the creation of the dataset, expanded with documents from correspondences between Roberto Sabatino Lopez and Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori and Lopez, Angelo Sraffa and Sapori. The results of network analysis make explicit the connections between the various entities: at the macro level they underline changes over time of correspondence, while at the micro level they highlight links between nodes within individual documents

Onset of valganciclovir resistance in two infants with congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Ganciclovir and its prodrug valganciclovir are elective treatments for cCMV. Neonates with important symptoms undergo 6 months of therapy to ameliorate/prevent symptoms and late sequelae, but evidence of resistance is emerging. Over the last 5 years, we took care of 59 cCMV infants and experienced two cases of resistance among nine cCMV infants receiving long-term valganciclovir therapy. In the first case, valganciclovir therapy was prolonged beyond 6 months due to severity of symptoms, control of viral load, and absence of adverse events. Resistance was detected in the 8th month of therapy. In the second case, after a significant reduction following valganciclovir administration and no adverse events, CMV viral load suddenly increased in the 6th month of therapy due to resistance. Both events were associated with UL97 gene mutation. The cCMV infants, affected by severe symptoms, remained in a steady state during treatment, and their later neurological development was coherent with initial seriousness of diagnosis. Prolonged therapeutic exposure may therefore be a risk for resistance, suggesting that constant dosage/weight adjustments, monthly surveillance of viral load, and therapeutic drug monitoring could be proposed to monitor resistance onset and optimize the therapy regime. The risk–benefit ratio for long-term therapy, including the possibility of resistance onset, alongside SNHL and neurodevelopmental improvement, should also be evaluated

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Combined Sensible/Latent Thermal Energy Storage for High-Temperature Applications

Combined sensible/latent heat storage allows the heat-transfer fluid outflow temperature during discharging to be stabilized. A lab-scale combined storage consisting of a packed bed of rocks and steel-encapsulated AlSi12 was investigated experimentally and numerically. Due to the small tank-to-particle diameter ratio of the lab-scale storage, void-fraction variations were not negligible, leading to channeling effects that cannot be resolved in 1D heat-transfer models. The void-fraction variations and channeling effects can be resolved in 2D models of the flow and heat transfer in the storage. The resulting so-called bypass fraction extracted from the 2D model was used in the 1D model and led to good agreement with experimental measurements

Cytomegalovirus-Specific T Cell Epitope Recognition in Congenital Cytomegalovirus Mother-Infant Pairs

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is the most common infection acquired before birth and from which about 20% of infants develop permanent neurodevelopmental effects regardless of presence or absence of symptoms at birth. Viral escape from host immune control may be a mechanism of CMV transmission and infant disease severity. We sought to identify and compare CMV epitopes recognized by mother-infant pairs. We also hypothesized that if immune escape were occurring, then one pattern of longitudinal CD8 T cell responses restricted by shared HLA alleles would be maternal loss (by viral escape) and infant gain (by viral reversion to wildtype) of CMV epitope recognition. Methods: The study population consisted of 6 women with primary CMV infection during pregnancy and their infants with cCMV infection. CMV UL83 and UL123 peptides with known or predicted restriction by maternal MHC class I alleles were identified, and a subset was selected for testing based on several criteria. Maternal or infant cells were stimulated with CMV peptides in the IFN-gamma ELISpot assay. Results: Overall, 14 of 25 (56%; 8 UL83 and 6 UL123) peptides recognized by mother-infant pairs were not previously reported as CD8 T cell epitopes. Of three pairs with longitudinal samples, one showed maternal loss and infant gain of responses to a CMV epitope restricted by a shared HLA allele. Conclusions: CD8 T cell responses to multiple novel CMV epitopes were identified, particularly in infants. Moreover, the hypothesized pattern of CMV immune escape was observed in one mother-infant pair. These findings emphasize that knowledge of paired CMV epitope recognition allows exploration of viral immune escape that may operate within the maternal-fetal system. Our work provides rationale for future studies of this potential mechanism of CMV transmission during pregnancy or clinical outcomes of infants with cCMV infection

Miscarriage following dengue virus 3 infection in the first six weeks of pregnancy of a dengue virus-naive traveller returning from Bali to Italy, April 2016

We report miscarriage following dengue virus (DENV)-3 infection in a pregnant woman returning from Bali to Italy in April 2016. On her arrival, the woman had fever, rash, asthenia and headache. DENV RNA was detected in plasma and urine samples collected the following day. Six days after symptom onset, she had a miscarriage. DENV RNA was detected in fetal material, but in utero fetal infection cannot be demonstrated due to possible contamination by maternal blood

Software implementation of an Attribute-Based Encryption scheme

A ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption protocol uses bilinear pairings to provide control access mechanisms, where the set of user\u27s attributes is specified by means of a linear secret sharing scheme. In this paper we present the design of a software cryptographic library that achieves record timings for the computation of a 126-bit security level attribute-based encryption scheme. We developed all the required auxiliary building blocks and compared the computational weight that each of them adds to the overall performance of this protocol. In particular, our single pairing and multi-pairing implementations achieve state-of-the-art time performance at the 126-bit security level