Proper motions of the HH1 jet

We describe a new method for determining proper motions of extended objects, and a pipeline developed for the application of this method. We then apply this method to an analysis of four epochs of [S~II] HST images of the HH~1 jet (covering a period of $\sim 20$~yr). We determine the proper motions of the knots along the jet, and make a reconstruction of the past ejection velocity time-variability (assuming ballistic knot motions). This reconstruction shows an "acceleration" of the ejection velocities of the jet knots, with higher velocities at more recent times. This acceleration will result in an eventual merging of the knots in $\sim 450$~yr and at a distance of $\sim 80"$ from the outflow source, close to the present-day position of HH~1.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Seasonal drought limits tree species across the Neotropics

Within the tropics, the species richness of tree communities is strongly and positively associated with precipitation. Previous research has suggested that this macroecological pattern is driven by the negative effect of water-stress on the physiological processes of most tree species. This process implies that the range limits of taxa are defined by their ability to occur under dry conditions, and thus in terms of species distributions it predicts a nested pattern of taxa distribution from wet to dry areas. However, this ‘dry-tolerance’ hypothesis has yet to be adequately tested at large spatial and taxonomic scales. Here, using a dataset of 531 inventory plots of closed canopy forest distributed across the Western Neotropics we investigated how precipitation, evaluated both as mean annual precipitation and as the maximum climatological water deficit, influences the distribution of tropical tree species, genera and families. We find that the distributions of tree taxa are indeed nested along precipitation gradients in the western Neotropics. Taxa tolerant to seasonal drought are disproportionally widespread across the precipitation gradient, with most reaching even the wettest climates sampled; however, most taxa analysed are restricted to wet areas. Our results suggest that the ‘dry tolerance’ hypothesis has broad applicability in the world's most species-rich forests. In addition, the large number of species restricted to wetter conditions strongly indicates that an increased frequency of drought could severely threaten biodiversity in this region. Overall, this study establishes a baseline for exploring how tropical forest tree composition may change in response to current and future environmental changes in this region

Seasonal drought limits tree species across the Neotropics

AcceptedArticle in Press© 2016 Nordic Society Oikos.Within the tropics, the species richness of tree communities is strongly and positively associated with precipitation. Previous research has suggested that this macroecological pattern is driven by the negative effect of water-stress on the physiological processes of most tree species. This implies that the range limits of taxa are defined by their ability to occur under dry conditions, and thus in terms of species distributions predicts a nested pattern of taxa distribution from wet to dry areas. However, this 'dry-tolerance' hypothesis has yet to be adequately tested at large spatial and taxonomic scales. Here, using a dataset of 531 inventory plots of closed canopy forest distributed across the western Neotropics we investigated how precipitation, evaluated both as mean annual precipitation and as the maximum climatological water deficit, influences the distribution of tropical tree species, genera and families. We find that the distributions of tree taxa are indeed nested along precipitation gradients in the western Neotropics. Taxa tolerant to seasonal drought are disproportionally widespread across the precipitation gradient, with most reaching even the wettest climates sampled; however, most taxa analysed are restricted to wet areas. Our results suggest that the 'dry tolerance' hypothesis has broad applicability in the world's most species-rich forests. In addition, the large number of species restricted to wetter conditions strongly indicates that an increased frequency of drought could severely threaten biodiversity in this region. Overall, this study establishes a baseline for exploring how tropical forest tree composition may change in response to current and future environmental changes in this region.This paper is a product of the RAINFOR and ATDN networks and of ForestPlots.net researchers (http://www.forestplots.net). RAINFOR and ForestPlots have been supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (283080, ‘GEOCARBON’; 282664, ‘AMAZALERT’); European Research Council (ERC) grant ‘Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System’ (T-FORCES), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency Grant and NERC Consortium Grants ‘AMAZONICA’ (NE/F005806/1) and ‘TROBIT’ (NE/D005590/1). Additional funding for fieldwork was provided by Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a collaboration among Conservation International, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. A.E.M. receives a PhD scholarship from the T-FORCES ERC grant. O.L.P. is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. We thank Jon J. Lloyd, Chronis Tzedakis, David Galbraith, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and Dylan Young for helping with the analyses. This study would not be possible without the extensive contributions of numerous field assistants and rural communities in the Neotropical forests. Alfredo Alarcón, Patricia Alvarez Loayza, Plínio Barbosa Camargo, Juan Carlos Licona, Alvaro Cogollo, Massiel Corrales Medina, Jose Daniel Soto, Gloria Gutierrez, Nestor Jaramillo Jarama, Laura Jessica Viscarra, Irina Mendoza Polo, Alexander Parada Gutierrez, Guido Pardo, Lourens Poorter, Adriana Prieto, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Agustín Rudas, Rebeca Sibler and Javier Silva Espejo additionally contributed data to this study though their RAINFOR participations. We further thank those colleagues no longer with us, Jean Pierre Veillon, Samuel Almeida, Sandra Patiño and Raimundo Saraiva. Many data come from Alwyn Gentry, whose example has inspired new generations to investigate the diversity of the Neotropics

Fructooligosaccharides production by solid-state fermentation with Aspergillus niger PSH

Fructoligosacharides (FOS) belong to prebiotics group that are non- digestible oligosacharides but fermentable by the bacteria in the gut microbiota1 . FOS can be produced by inulin degradation, which results in products with long fructoligomer chains2 . Alternatively, FOS can be obtained by conversion of the sucrose using fructosyltransferase (FTase) or β- fructofuranosidase (FFase) enzymes from bacterial and fungal sources2 . The curent proces for industrial production of FOS uses FTase produced by Aspergilus niger, and reaches an yield value of aprox. 60%3 . The present study evaluated the FOS production by solid-state fermentation (SSF) with the objective of finding a technology able to produce FOS with higher yield

Sintesis de LiF por fluoración de β-espodumeno con NaF

Resentera, A. C. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Metalurgia Extractiva y Síntesis de Materiales (MESiMat); Argentina.Rosales, Gustavo D. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Metalurgia Extractiva y Síntesis de Materiales (MESiMat); Argentina.Rosales, Gustavo D. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Química Analítica para Investigación y Desarrollo (QUIANID); Argentina.Wuilloud, R. G. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Química Analítica para Investigación y Desarrollo (QUIANID); Argentina.Gonzalez, J. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química (INTEQUI); Argentina.Esquivel, M. R. Centro Atómico Bariloche (CNEA); Argentina.Rodriguez, Mario H. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Metalurgia Extractiva y Síntesis de Materiales (MESiMat); Argentina.El aumento continuo en la producción y demanda de litio a nivel mundial reflejan su gran importancia económica. Este metal, debido a sus amplias aplicaciones en tecnologías de última generación, se ha ubicado entre los elementos estratégicos para el almacenamiento y distribución de energía. Por ello, resulta necesario desarrollar nuevos procesos que permitan su extracción desde diversas fuentes y minimicen el impacto ambiental. Este trabajo presenta el desarrollo de un nuevo proceso para la producción de LiF, a partir de β-espodumeno mediante intercambio iónico por calcinación con NaF. Las variables operativas estudiadas fueron: temperatura de calcinación, tiempo de reacción y relación molar β-espodumeno:NaF. Los reactivos y productos fueron caracterizados por fluorescencia de rayos X (FRX), difracción de rayos X (DRX), microscopía electrónica de barrido (MEB) y espectrofotometría de absorción atómica (EAA). El comportamiento térmico de la mezcla (β-espodumeno/NaF) se estudió mediante termogravimetría y análisis térmico diferencial simultáneo (TG-DTA). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las condiciones óptimas de conversión, del 90%, fueron: 700ºC, 60 min de calcinación y relación molar β-espodumeno:NaF de 1:2, respectivamente. Además, en este proceso se obtienen los subproductos NaAlSiO4 y NaAlSi3O8 con aplicación industrial

Review and assessment of smartphone apps for forest restoration monitoring

With increased interest in forest restoration comes an urgent need to provide accurate, scalable, and cost‐effective monitoring tools. The ubiquity of smartphones has led to a surge in monitoring apps. We reviewed and assessed monitoring apps found through web searches and conversations with practitioners. We identified 42 apps that (1) automatically monitor indicators or (2) facilitate data entry. We selected the five most promising from the first category, based on their relevance, availability, stability, and user support. We compared them to traditional field techniques in a well‐studied restoration project in Costa Rica. We received further feedback from 15 collaborator organizations that evaluated these in their corresponding field restoration sites. Diameter measurements correlated well with traditional tape‐based measurements (R2 = 0.86–0.89). Canopy openness and ground cover showed weaker correlations to densiometer and quadrat cover measurements (R2 = 0.42–0.51). Apps did not improve labor efficiency but do preclude the purchase of specialized field equipment. The apps reviewed here need further development and validation to support monitoring adequately, especially in the tropics. Estimates of development and maintenance costs, as well as statistics on user uptake, are required for cost‐effective development. We recommend a coordinated effort to develop dedicated restoration monitoring apps that can speed up and standardize the collection of indicators and provide evidence on restoration outcomes alongside a centralized repository of this information

Exploitation of Mexican agro industrial wastes as raw material for solid-state fermentation processes

Annually, large volumes of wastes are produced by food, agricultural and forestry industries, which if disposed cause serious environmental problems. Therefore, it is of great importance to find alternative ways to reuse them. Due to the composition rich in sugars, which due to their organic nature are easily assimilated by the microorganisms; such wastes could be appropriate for use as raw materials in the production of industrially-relevant compounds under solid-state fermentation (SSF) conditions. However, the physical-chemical and microbiological characteristics of the solid substrate affect the efficiency of the SSF process. In the present study, ten different agro industrial wastes derived from Mexican local regions were evaluated for use as raw material in SSF. The wastes included creosote bush leaves (Larrea tridentata), variegated Caribbean agave (Agave lechuguilla), lemon peel (Citrus aurantifolia), orange peel (Citrus sinensis), apple pomace (Malus domestica), pistachio shell (Pistacia vera), wheat bran (Triticum spp.), coconut husk (Cocos nucífera), pecan nutshell (Carya illinoinensis), and bean residues (Phaseolus vulgaris). All of them were physical-chemically and microbiologically characterized. Physical-chemical tests consisted in the determination of the critical humidity point (CHP) and the water absorption index (WAI), while the microbiological tests were based on the evaluation of Aspergillus niger Aa-20 growth rate in such materials. The study pointed out that coconut husk, apple pomace, lemon and orange peels have great potential to be successfully used as raw material in SSF, since they have low water content linked to the structure (that is ideal to easily adjust the water content according to the process to be used), and allowed good and fast microorganism growth. Their use in SSF would be an interesting alternative to add value to these residues besides to be of great economical advantage and an environmental-friendly way for waste management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microvascular cutaneous coverage in wounds that expose the Achilles tendon: case report

Achilles tendon rupture, being one of the main tendon ruptures present, surgery being the most favourable option even taking into account complications such as infections and skin necrosis, it is necessary to develop techniques which help to reduce complications and increase benefits. The methods follow-up of 2 cases of patients with skin defects in the region of the Achilles tendon in patients who were treated at the "Luis Guillermo lbarra lbarra" national rehabilitation institute during the period 2020-2021 in the Traumatology service, treated with radial free flap forearm, using the description of the most used flaps in the literature. Results in both cases integrity of the free radial forearm flap in its entirety, functional recovery for walking, ability to put shoes back on, and without the need for reoperation, as well as a high level of satisfaction by patients. Conclusions if we are talking about an Achilles tendon rupture with a significant skin defect, the free radial forearm flap is an adequate option, if we are talking about a complete defect, the composite flap is the best option, remember that the decision on what type of flap will be used will depend on of the size of the lesion