Morphometric differences between two sympatric species of anolis (Reptilia: Squamata: Polychrotidae)

There has been a recent surge of interest in the study of evolutionary relationships between morphology and microhabitat use in lizards in general. Lizards of the genus Anolis, most notably the Caribbean species, have become a model system in this respect. Although the mechanisms of Anolis locomotion have received considerable attention, however, little is known regarding locomotor performance of species of mainland Anolis in nature, and their morphological diversity. The goal of this study was to investigate the differences in morphology between Anolis humlis and Anolis limifrons, sympatric species that exploit different structural microhabitats (arboreal vs. ground-dwelling) with different locomotion challenges. A principal components analysis was performed on morphometric data for the two species that illustrates differences between the species. A multivariate analysis of variance on selected variables suggested only three variables: manus length, tail length and forelimbs length showed significant differences with respect to microhabitat use. Lizards that occupy vertical habitats (arboreal) tend to have longer tails and longer hind limbs (included the longer fourth toe) whereas lizards in terrestrial habitats have wider and flatter bodies and head and longer forelimbs. These morphological characteristics may allow climbing lizards to keep their centre of mass close to the substrate, while in terrestrial lizards they would enhance maneuverability and support weight during level running.Fil: Tulli, María José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Dirección de Zoología. Instituto de Herpetología; Argentin

Proposta di un protocollo pratico per la valutazione dell'indice di condizione nei mitili (M. galloprovincialis)

The indices for the yields evaluation, as well as condition index (CI), that relate the amount of the meat with shell weight are widely used both for scientific research both for shellfish farming management, representing the main tools for the evaluation of merchantable traits in bivalve mollusks. CI values changes are due to a variety of factors, including mainly food availability and physiological status but also animal health and water temperature and salinity. Different methods are used to calculate IC value. in the mussels. The present study is intended to present a simple protocol for the CI mussels (M. galloprovincialis) evaluation able to mediate scientific rigor needs with the management needs in order to adopt an uniform procedure

Effects of feed restriction and re-feeding on body condition, plasma metabolites and intestinal brush border enzyme activity in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

Recovery of body weight and condition as a consequence of liberal feeding after periods of fasting or feed shortage, is a well-known phenomenon in salmonid fish species. To what extent the adoption of culture protocols, alternating liberal feeding to severe feed restriction to exploit compensatory growth, could be a challenge in terms of metabolic adaptation and welfare, still remains questionable. In this context, the present study was aimed at evaluating some physiological responses of rainbow trout subjected to 3 weeks fasting or restricted feed ration and re-feeding over the following 2 weeks. Ninety-nine trout (body weight 109.1 \ub1 3.5 g) were randomly distributed among 3 tanks (0.5 m3) each supplied with 8 L min-1 of well water at a temperature of 12.7\ub10.1\ub0C. Fish groups were subjected to one of the following treatments: C, continuous feeding with a commercial trout diet at 1% body weight over 5 weeks; R, restricted ration (30% of C ration) over 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks feeding to visual satiety; F, fasting over 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks feeding to visual satiety. Three fish per group were euthanized at time 0 and after 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14 days during the re-feeding period and sampled for viscera, liver and mesenteric fat to calculate carcass yield, visceral organ or tissue weight and somatic indices. Blood and gut samples were also collected and analysed for plasma metabolites (glucose, lipid and protein levels) and the activity of intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) enzymes (disaccarases, alkaline phosphatase, \u3b3-glutamil transaminase) in different sections (pyloric caeca, foregut, hindgut). In comparison to the control group, i.e. continuously fed fish, a feed restriction or fasting over 3 weeks resulted in significantly reduced body and visceral to body weight ratio and in diminished activity of the intestinal BBM enzymes. Among plasma metabolites, only cholesterol was reduced. During the re-feeding period, liver and viscera weight increased more rapidly in groups R and F than in group C, resulting in significantly higher organ to body scores. The pattern of the activity of the intestinal BBM enzymes varied among the different tracts in a specific manner, but no differences were observed among treatments after 2 weeks of re-feeding. In conclusion, a period of 14 days of liberal feeding seems to be able to restore the metabolic status in rainbow trout previously subjected to fasting or restricted feed ration over 3 weeks

A development and implementation of a tinnitus treatment method

Tinnitus is a physiological phenomenon where a person listens sounds which have not been generated by any external source. Today, many people suffer this condition. Although, in very few cases therapeutic methods completely eliminate tinnitus, it is possible to apply a variety of techniques to improve the quality of life of people with this condition. One of the most used methods to treat tinnitus consists of masking the tinnitus using an external sound. The main goal of this work is to present the development of a tinnitus treatment method, which optimizes the synthesized sounds in order to improve the life's quality of the user. Subjective tests and experimental results are used to analyze the performance of the method.Fil: Uriz, Alejandro José. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Agüero, Pablo Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: Tulli, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: Castiñeira Moreira, Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: González, Esteban Lucio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: Moscardi, Graciela. Universidad FASTA "Santo Tomas de Aquino"; ArgentinaFil: Sajama, Elber Emanuel. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electrónica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; Argentin

Processing fresh mussels (M. galloprovincialis) by sous vide technology: effect on the microbiological characteristics

Sous-vide cook-chilled (SVCC) is used to describe food that has been vacuum-packed and given mild heat treatment under controlled conditions of time and temperature and subsequently rapidly cooled and stored at chilled conditions until heated before serving (Rhodehamel, 1992; Hansen et al., 1995). Limited studies reported the application of this process in aquacultural products (Espinosa et al., 2016; Shakila et al., 2009), such as trout fillets (Gonzalez-Fandos et al., 2004), 2009) and carp (Can, 2011) and there are no reports on the opportunities to apply such process to molluscs. The aim of the present research was to test the effect of the application of the SVCC technique on fresh mussel microbiological characteristics. Commercial Mediterranean mussels (M. galloprovincialis) were individually inoculated with 100 \ub5l suspension of Pseudomonas spp.(107 UFC/mL), packaged in a Oriented Polyamide/Polypropylene (OPA/PP, Orved S.p.A., Musile di Piave, VE, Italy) pouch and heat-sealed before being submitted to heat treatment in a steam oven (Lanoix Ali S.p.A., Treviso, Italy). After treatment, mussel pouches were immediately chilled at 3\ub0C. Six different time temperature combinations (75/85/95 \ub0C for 10 and 30 min), were tested in triplicate (3 specimens/group) and compared to raw and inoculated mussels. Total aerobic bacterial count (TBC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), anaerobic sulphite-reducing clostridia, Pseudomonas spp. and pH were determined. All time/temperature combinations resulted in a substantial reduction of the Pseudomonas spp. population (<1 log CFU/g) both in raw (4.9 log CFU/g) and experimentally inoculated (5.7 log CFU/g) mussels. The homogenate pH values (6.22) resulted not affected by the heat treatment. Such results were confirmed on natural bacterial load of mussel. A TBC reduction (2.4 log and 3,5 log, respectively) was registered after treatment at 85 \ub0C both for 10 and 30 min, while the highest reduction (4.8 log) was observed at 95 \ub0C for 10 min confirming the efficacy of sous vide cook treatments even for fresh mussels. The technological and sensorial traits, as well the stability of these products both under refrigeration and thermal abuse conditions during storage need to be evaluated

Fibrillar organization in tendons: a pattern revealed by percolation characteristics of the respective geometric network

Since the tendon is composed by collagen fibrils of various sizes connected between them through molecular cross-links, it sounds logical to model it via a heterogeneous network of fibrils. Using cross sectional images, that network is operatively inferred from the respective Gabriel graph of the fibril mass centers. We focus on network percolation characteristics under an ordered activation of fibrils (progressive recruitment going from the smallest to the largest fibril). Analyses of percolation were carried out on a repository of images of digital flexor tendons obtained from samples of lizards and frogs. Observed percolation thresholds were compared against values derived from hypothetical scenarios of random activation of nodes. Strikingly, we found a significant delay for the occurrence of percolation in actual data. We interpret this finding as the consequence of some non-random packing of fibrillar units into a size-constrained geometric pattern. We erect an ideal geometric model of balanced interspersion of polymorphic units that accounts for the delayed percolating instance. We also address the circumstance of being percolation curves mirrored by the empirical curves of stress-strain obtained from the same studied tendons. By virtue of this isomorphism, we hypothesize that the inflection points of both curves are different quantitative manifestations of a common transitional process during mechanical load transference.Fil: Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Tucuman. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Ponssa, María Laura. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Dirección de Zoología. Instituto de Herpetología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tulli, María José. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Dirección de Zoología. Instituto de Herpetología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Abdala, Virginia Sara Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Tucuman. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; Argentina. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Dirección de Zoología. Instituto de Herpetología; Argentin

Compensatory growth following long term multi-phase cyclic feeding in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Compensatory growth (CG) during recovery from feed deprivation is a well-known phenomenon in fish, making the practice of cyclic feed restriction-refeeding a possible tool for aquaculturists to optimize growth performance. While earlier studies in this direction focused on relatively short single feed restriction-refeeding protocols, the present trial was designed to evaluate the impact of different repeated cyclic feeding schemes on the zootechnical response of rainbow trout (O. mykiss) over a complete growing phase up to the commercial size. Three hundred trout (body weight 72\ub16 g) were randomly distributed among 12 tanks, each of 0.5 m3 capacity and supplied with 8 L min-1 of well water at a temperature of 12.7\ub10.8\ub0C. Triplicated groups of fish were subjected over 27 weeks to one of the following treatments: C, control, continuous feeding to visual satiety 6 days a week; T1, cyclic feeding regularly alternating 1 week starvation (S) and 3 weeks refeeding (F) (1S+3F); T2, cyclic feeding consisting in 3 consecutive phases: 1S+3F, 2S+6F, and 3S+12F; T3, where a feed restriction (70% of the satiety level observed in the previous week) was applied instead of starvation with the same schedule as T2. The same trout feed (45% crude protein, 28% crude lipid) was used throughout the trial. At the end of the trial the different cyclic feeding protocols resulted in the same zootechnical outcome (P>0.05). A nearly complete convergence of body mass was evident as no significant differences were found among treatments in individual weight (543\ub128g), specific growth rate (1.06\ub10.03%), feed conversion ratio (0.84\ub10.03) and protein efficiency ratio (2.64\ub10.12) despite a lower feed consumption in treatments T1, T2 and T3 relative to controls (357 vs. 390 g fish-1, P<0.05). All protocols imposing fasting or feed restriction resulted in CG at the end of each re-feeding phase. Hyperphagia was a major cause of CG. Both phenomena were emphasized with treatment T3 after recovering from the last 3-week fasting period, when they were associated to a marked improvement of feed conversion ratio relative to controls (0.75 vs. 0.85, P<0.05). The results obtained so far suggest repeated cyclic feeding as a reliable practice in trout farming, provided fasting or feed restriction periods are followed by refeeding phases of suitable length to allow recovery of body mass. This could result in improved profitability and environmental sustainability

Voice Conversion Using K-Histograms and Residual Averaging

The main goal of a voice conversion system is to modify the voice of a source speaker, in order to be perceived as if it had been uttered by another specific speaker.   Many approaches found in the literature convert only the features related to the vocal tract of the speaker. Our proposal is to convert those characteristics of the vocal tract, and also to process the signal passing through the vocal chords. Thus, the goal of this work is to obtain better scores in the voice conversion results.Fil: Uriz, Alejandro José. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Electronica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: Pablo D. Agüero. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Mar del Plata;Fil: Castiñeira Moreira; Jorge. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Electronica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones;Fil: Tulli, J. C.. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Electronica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; ArgentinaFil: González, Esteban Lucio. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Bonafonte, A.. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Electronica. Laboratorio de Comunicaciones; Argentin

The Atlantis Poem in the Timaeus-Critias

Plato, in the Timaeus, links the story about Atlantis with a noble tradition that Solon discovered near the Nile Delta. In the Critias, Plato refers to the idea that Solon was planning to write a poem about Atlantis and also suggests that the poem was to be based on a written record. But l’existence of a poem about Atlantis is not plausible. Plato brings out, so, the relationship between the Atlantis story and the facts of the past, between his family and the enquiry of Socrates and between the story about Atlantis and the literary production