Integrated Nitrogen CAtchment model (INCA) applied to a tropical catchment in the Atlantic Forest, São Paulo, Brazil

International audienceStream-water flows and in-stream nitrate and ammonium concentrations in a small (36.7 ha) Atlantic Forest catchment were simulated using the Integrated Nitrogen in CAtchments (INCA) model version 1.9.4. The catchment, at Cunha, is in the Serra do Mar State Park, SE Brazil and is nearly pristine because the nearest major conurbations, São Paulo and Rio, are some 450 km distant. However, intensive farming may increase nitrogen (N) deposition and there are growing pressures for urbanisation. The mean-monthly discharges and NO3-N concentration dynamics were simulated adequately for the calibration and validation periods with (simulated) loss rates of 6.55 kg.ha?1 yr?1 for NO3-N and 3.85 kg.ha?1 yr?1 for NH4-N. To investigate the effects of elevated levels of N deposition in the future, various scenarios for atmospheric deposition were simulated; the highest value corresponded to that in a highly polluted area of Atlantic Forest in Sao Paulo City. It was found that doubling the atmospheric deposition generated a 25% increase in the N leaching rate, while at levels approaching the highly polluted São Paulo deposition rate, five times higher than the current rate, leaching increased by 240%, which would create highly eutrophic conditions, detrimental to downstream water quality. The results indicate that the INCA model can be useful for estimating N concentration and fluxes for different atmospheric deposition rates and hydrological conditions

Accuracy, precision and robustness of in vivo dry matter digestibility estimates by different markers in ovine

O objetivo foi avaliar a acurácia, precisão e robustez das estimativas da digestibilidade aparente da matéria seca obtidas utilizando-se como indicadores fibra em detergente ácido indigestível (FDAi), fibra em detergente neutro (FDNi) indigestível, lignina em detergente ácido (LDA), LDA indigestível (LDAi) e óxido crômico em comparação ao método de coleta total de fezes. Dezoito ovinos (56,5 ± 4,6 kg PV) foram designados aleatoriamente a dietas compostas de 25, 50 ou 75% de concentrado e feno de Coast cross por 25 dias. As fezes foram coletadas por cinco dias para determinação da digestibilidade aparente da MS. As amostras de alimentos e fezes foram incubadas no rúmen de três bovinos por 144 horas, para obtenção das frações indigestíveis. Óxido crômico foi administrado a 4,0 g/animal/dia. A acurácia foi avaliada pela comparação do viés médio (DAMS predito - DAMS observado) entre os indicadores; a precisão, por meio da raiz quadrada do erro de predição e do erro residual; e a robustez, pelo estudo da regressão entre o viés e o consumo de matéria seca, o nível de concentrado e o peso vivo. A recuperação fecal e a acurácia das estimativas da digestibilidade aparente da MS foram maiores para FDAi, seguida pela FDNi, LDAi, pelo óxido crômico e depois pela lignina em detergente ácido. O viés linear foi significativo apenas para FDAi, FDNi e LDAi. O uso de óxido crômico permitiu estimativas mais precisas da digestibilidade aparente da MS. Todos os indicadores foram robustos quanto à variação no consumo de matéria seca e apenas LDAi e óxido crômico foram robustos quanto aos níveis de concentrado na dieta. O óxido crômico não foi robusto quando houve variação no peso vivo animal. Assim, a FDAi é o indicador mais recomendado na estimativa da digestibilidade aparente da MS em ovinos quando o objetivo é comparar aos dados da literatura, enquanto o óxido crômico é mais recomendado quando o objetivo é comparar tratamentos dentro de um mesmo experimento.This study aimed at evaluating the accuracy, precision and robustness of in vivo dry matter apparent digestibility estimates (DMAD), using as markers indigestible acid detergent fiber, indigestible neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent lignin, indigestible acid detergent lignin and chromic oxide in comparison to the fecal total collection. Eighteen wethers (56.5 ± 4.6 kg BW) were randomly assigned to diets containing 25, 50 or 75% of concentrate and Coast cross hay for 25 days. Feces were collected during the five days to determine apparent digestibility of dry matter and samples of feed and feces were incubated for 144 hours in bovine rumen to obtain the indigestible fractions. Chromic oxide (4.0 g/animal) was offered daily. Accuracy was evaluated by comparing mean bias of estimates (predicted dry matter apparent digestibility - observed dry matter apparent digestibility) among markers. Precision was assessed by the root mean square prediction error and the residual error; robustness was studied by the regression between bias and dry matter intake, diet concentrate level and animal body weight. Fecal recovery and accuracy of dry matter apparent digestibility estimates were higher for indigestible acid detergent fiber, followed by indigestible neutral detergent fiber, indigestible acid detergent lignin and chromic oxide, and at last for acid detergent lignin. Linear bias was significant only for indigestible acid detergent fiber, indigestible neutral detergent fiber and indigestible acid detergent lignin. By using chromic oxide it was possible to estimate dry matter apparent digestibility more precisely. All markers were robust regarding to variation of dry matter intake while only indigestible acid detergent lignin and chromic oxide were robust regarding to concentrate levels in the diet. Chromic oxide was not robust when animal body weight varied. In this experimental condition, indigestible acid detergent fiber is the most recommended marker to estimate dry matter apparent digestibility in ovine when the objective is to compare the results with the ones found in literature. On the other hand, chromic oxide is the most recommended marker when the objective is to compare treatments within the same experiment

Are men intimidated by highly educated women? Undercover on Tinder

In this study, we examine the impact of an individual's education level on her/his mating success on the mobile dating app Tinder. To do so, we conducted a field experiment on Tinder in which we collected data on 3,600 profile evaluations. In line with previous research on mating preferences from multiple fields, our results indicate a heterogeneous effect of education level by gender: while women strongly prefer a highly educated potential partner, this hypothesis is rejected for men. In contrast with recent influential studies from the field of economics, we do not find any evidence that men would have an aversion to a highly educated potential partner. Additionally, in contrast with most previous research - again from multiple fields we do not find any evidence for preferences for educational assortative mating, i.e. preferring a partner with a similar education level

Has social distancing increased our relationships and sense of being connected? Results from a study conducted in Italy, France and Spain during the first COVID-19 lockdown

Connecting with others is a basic human need, often associated with health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and the related distancing measures have been challenging the way we connect and interact, by raising psychological and social issues. During the first lockdown, we designed a questionnaire to investigate people’s social relationships and sense of connectedness. We distributed it online in Italy, France, and Spain (N=672). The survey asked people to rate how much they perceived to be connected to personal (family, friends), local (city), European, or global communities; we related connectedness to other factors, such as quality of social relations, fear of contagion, loneliness, worries for the future. Our results show that the majority of responders reported being moderately to consistently in touch with other people. Yet, to be in contact does not mean to be connected. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, responders reported to be particularly connected with their families/friends, less connected with their town and Europe, while they perceived no variation in the degree of connection with the entire world. Among the predictors we analysed, the fear of being infected and the perception of loneliness revealed significant effects on the connectedness to family and friends. Furthermore, perceiving to be connected to personal and larger groups was associated with fewer worries for the future. Our findings are in line with other psychological studies developed during the pandemic which demonstrate that relationships and the sense of being connected improve the quality of life of people and their expectations for the future

Automating the multimodal analysis of musculoskeletal imaging in the presence of hip implants

In patients treated with hip arthroplasty, the muscular condition and presence of inflammatory reactions are assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). As MRI lacks contrast for bony structures, computed tomography (CT) is preferred for clinical evaluation of bone tissue and orthopaedic surgical planning. Combining the complementary information of MRI and CT could improve current clinical practice for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment planning. In particular, the different contrast of these modalities could help better quantify the presence of fatty infiltration to characterise muscular condition after hip replacement. In this thesis, I developed automated processing tools for the joint analysis of CT and MR images of patients with hip implants. In order to combine the multimodal information, a novel nonlinear registration algorithm was introduced, which imposes rigidity constraints on bony structures to ensure realistic deformation. I implemented and thoroughly validated a fully automated framework for the multimodal segmentation of healthy and pathological musculoskeletal structures, as well as implants. This framework combines the proposed registration algorithm with tailored image quality enhancement techniques and a multi-atlas-based segmentation approach, providing robustness against the large population anatomical variability and the presence of noise and artefacts in the images. The automation of muscle segmentation enabled the derivation of a measure of fatty infiltration, the Intramuscular Fat Fraction, useful to characterise the presence of muscle atrophy. The proposed imaging biomarker was shown to strongly correlate with the atrophy radiological score currently used in clinical practice. Finally, a preliminary work on multimodal metal artefact reduction, using an unsupervised deep learning strategy, showed promise for improving the postprocessing of CT and MR images heavily corrupted by metal artefact. This work represents a step forward towards the automation of image analysis in hip arthroplasty, supporting and quantitatively informing the decision-making process about patient’s management

My home on the platform: Exploring the physical privacy concerns of home-sharing providers

The success of home-sharing platforms like Airbnb has introduced the role of sharing providers, i.e. those users who list their properties on the website and share them in exchange for an income. Different from micro-entrepreneurs within other types of peer-to-peer platforms such as e-marketplaces, the experience of home-sharing often presumes face-to-face interactions and physical sharing of private spaces and goods. For providers, this can give rise to concerns about the integrity of the personal possessions they share (“physical privacy”; Lutz, Hoffmann, Bucher, &amp; Fieseler, 2018). Employing Belk's theory of the Extended Self, which postulates that individuals’ owned objects and spaces become part of their identity (1988), and based on a sample of European home-sharing providers, we investigate strategic self-presentation, reputational concerns, and attachment to shared properties as predictors of their physical privacy concerns.</p

Effects of observing hand motor action on number processing: an online study

In this online study we hypothesized that hand pointing might specifically contribute to the processing of number ordinality, since we learn to list, order, and count series of items through pointing. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to observe hand pointing or grasping prior to executing number comparison. In experiment 1, participants (N=77) indicated whether a number was larger/smaller than a reference number (magnitude task), therefore processing number cardinality. In Experiment 2, participants (N=75) processed number ordinality, judging whether a number came before/after a reference number in a mental number line (order task). The results showed that response times in the magnitude task (Exp. 1) were faster after grasping as compared to pointing. In the order task (Exp. 2), response times did not differ between grasping and pointing conditions. These results suggest that hand action contribute to specific aspects of numerical processing, in line with embodied accounts of cognition

European Perspectives on Privacy in the Sharing Economy

Report from the EU H2020 Research Project Ps2Share: Participation, Privacy, and Power in the Sharing EconomyThis report ‘European Perspectives on Privacy in the Sharing Economy’ forms one element of a European Union Horizon 2020 Research Project on the sharing economy: Ps2Share ‘Participation, Privacy, and Power in the Sharing Economy’. The study is undertaken within the scope of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, funded under grant agreement No. 732117 and with the objective (ICT-35) of “Enabling responsible ICT-related research and innovation”. This project aims to foster better awareness of the consequences which the sharing economy has on the way people behave, think, interact, and socialize across Europe. Our overarching objective is to identify key challenges of the sharing economy and improve Europe’s digital services through providing recommendations to Europe’s institutions. We focus on topics of participation, privacy, and power in the sharing economy

Off Campus San Siro. Ricerca ‘a bassa soglia’ nei margini della città

The article reflects on the challenges of conducting co-research in fragile and marginalized contexts, where many potential interlocutors are usually excluded from knowledge production processes and are not recognized as legitimate bearers of knowledge. The case of Off Campus San Siro, a pioneering initiative in Italy of academic public engagement within a marginalized working-class neighborhood, offers an insightful perspective on how universities can become more accessible by experimenting with “low-threshold research” as a tool for encounters and knowledge exchange with vulnerable subjects who are typically excluded from participation. By exploring the link between urban deprivation and visibility, the article examines the role of research in creating spaces for self-representation among culturally marginalized social groups through relational, non-substitutive, and empowering modes of inquiry