Semi-pelagic Longline and Trammel Net Elasmobranch Catches in Southern Portugal: Catch Composition, Catch Rates and Discards

In Portugal, elasmobranch landings have decreased substantially in recent years. In this work, elasmobranch catches in semi-pelagic longlines (1997 and 1998) were compared with those in trammel nets (2000) in the Algarve, southern Portugal areas. In the semi-pelagic longline fi shery, 7 elasmobranch species represented 33.4% (2 185 specimens) of the total fi sh catches. Among the elasmobranch species, the most abundant were Galeus melastomus (63.3%), Etmopterus pusillus (21.7%) and Scyliorhinus canicula (14.2%). Most of these elasmobranchs were discarded (68.3% in total). In the trammel net fi shery, 16 different elasmobranch species represented 4.3% (597 specimens) of total fi sh catches and the most important species were Raja undulata (43.6%) and S. canicula (10.2%). The majority of the elasmobranchs caught in trammel nets had commercial value, and only 5.4% were discarded. In both fi sheries, intra-specifi c catch rates varied with depth. Length-frequency distributions for the only species with relatively high catches in both fi sheries, S. canicula, showed that, in general, trammel nets catch larger specimens and in a narrower length range than do longlines.

Dynamics of soil microbiolotical attributes under integrated production systems, continuous pasture, and native cerrado.

2016

Hereditary motor and autonomic neuronopathy 1 maps to chromosome 20q13.2-13.3

The spinal muscular atrophies (SMA) or hereditary motor neuronopathies result from the continuous degeneration and death of spinal cord lower motor neurons, leading to progressive muscular weakness and atrophy. We describe a large Brazilian family exhibiting an extremely rare, late-onset, dominant, proximal, and progressive SMA accompanied by very unusual manifestations, such as an abnormal sweating pattern, and gastrointestinal and sexual dysfunctions, suggesting concomitant involvement of the autonomic nervous system. We propose a new disease category for this disorder, `hereditary motor and autonomic neuronopathy', and attribute the term, `survival of motor and autonomic neurons 1' (SMAN1) to the respective locus that was mapped to a 14.5 cM region on chromosome 20q13.2-13.3 by genetic linkage analysis and haplotype studies using microsatellite polymorphic markers. This locus lies between markers D20S120 and D20S173 showing a maximum LOD score of 4.6 at D20S171, defining a region with 33 known genes, including several potential candidates. Identifying the SMAN1 gene should not only improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying lower motor neuron diseases but also help to clarify the relationship between motor and autonomic neurons.

THE IMPLICIT FUNCTION THEOREM FOR CONTINUOUS FUNCTIONS

In the present paper we obtain a new homological version of the implicit function theorem and some versions of the Darboux theorem. Such results are proved for continuous maps on topological manifolds. As a consequence. some versions of these classic theorems are proved when we consider differenciable (not necessarily C-1) maps.

XMapTools: a MATLAB©-based program for electron microprobe X-ray image processing and geothermobarometry

XMapTools is a MATLAB©-based graphical user interface program for electron microprobe X-ray image processing, which can be used to estimate the pressure–temperature conditions of crystallization of minerals in metamorphic rocks. This program (available online at http://www.xmaptools.com) provides a method to standardize raw electron microprobe data and includes functions to calculate the oxide weight percent compositions for various minerals. A set of external functions is provided to calculate structural formulae from the standardized analyses as well as to estimate pressure–temperature conditions of crystallization, using empirical and semi-empirical thermobarometers from the literature. Two graphical user interface modules, Chem2D and Triplot3D, are used to plot mineral compositions into binary and ternary diagrams. As an example, the software is used to study a high-pressure Himalayan eclogite sample from the Stak massif in Pakistan. The high-pressure paragenesis consisting of omphacite and garnet has been retrogressed to a symplectitic assemblage of amphibole, plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Mineral compositions corresponding to ~165,000 analyses yield estimates for the eclogitic pressure–temperature retrograde path from 25 kbar to 9 kbar. Corresponding pressure–temperature maps were plotted and used to interpret the link between the equilibrium conditions of crystallization and the symplectitic microstructures. This example illustrates the usefulness of XMapTools for studying variations of the chemical composition of minerals and for retrieving information on metamorphic conditions on a microscale, towards computation of continuous pressure–temperature-and relative time path in zoned metamorphic minerals not affected by post-crystallization diffusion.

Semi-global techniques in image matching and change detection with applications to civil and environmental engineering.

This work of thesis wants to present a dissertation of the wide range of modern dense matching algorithms, which are spreading in different application and research fields, with a particular attention to the innovative “Semi-Global” matching techniques. The choice of develop a semi-global numerical code was justified by the need of getting insight on the variables and strategies that affect the algorithm performances with the primary objective of maximizing the method accuracy and efficiency, and the results level of completeness. The dissertation will consist in the metrological characterization of the proprietary implementation of the semi-global matching algorithm, evaluating the influence of several matching variables and functions implemented in the process and comparing the accuracy and completeness of different results (digital surface models, disparity maps and 2D displacement fields) obtained using our code and other commercial and open-source matching programs in a wide variety of application fields.

Semi-determinate Growth Habit Adjusts The Vegetative-to-reproductive Balance And Increases Productivity And Water-use Efficiency In Tomato (solanum Lycopersicum).

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) shows three growth habits: determinate, indeterminate and semi-determinate. These are controlled mainly by allelic variation in the SELF-PRUNING (SP) gene family, which also includes the florigen gene SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS (SFT). Determinate cultivars have synchronized flower and fruit production, which allows mechanical harvesting in the tomato processing industry, whereas indeterminate ones have more vegetative growth with continuous flower and fruit formation, being thus preferred for fresh market tomato production. The semi-determinate growth habit is poorly understood, although there are indications that it combines advantages of determinate and indeterminate growth. Here, we used near-isogenic lines (NILs) in the cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) with different growth habit to characterize semi-determinate growth and to determine its impact on developmental and productivity traits. We show that semi-determinate genotypes are equivalent to determinate ones with extended vegetative growth, which in turn impacts shoot height, number of leaves and either stem diameter or internode length. Semi-determinate plants also tend to increase the highly relevant agronomic parameter Brix×ripe yield (BRY). Water-use efficiency (WUE), evaluated either directly as dry mass produced per amount of water transpired or indirectly through C isotope discrimination, was higher in semi-determinate genotypes. We also provide evidence that the increases in BRY in semi-determinate genotypes are a consequence of an improved balance between vegetative and reproductive growth, a mechanism analogous to the conversion of the overly vegetative tall cereal varieties into well-balanced semi-dwarf ones used in the Green Revolution.

Regional scale analysis of landform configuration with base-level (isobase) maps

Base-level maps (or ""isobase maps"", as originally defined by Filosofov, 1960), express a relationship between valley order and topography. The base-level map can be seen as a ""simplified"" version of the original topographic surface, from which the ""noise"" of the low-order stream erosion was removed. This method is able to identify areas with possible tectonic influence even within lithologically uniform domains. Base-level maps have been recently applied in semi-detail scale (e.g., 1:50 000 or larger) morphotectonic analysis. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the method's applicability in regional-scale analysis (e.g., 1:250 000 or smaller). A test area was selected in northern Brazil, at the lower course of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers. The drainage network extracted from SRTM30_PLUS DEMs with spatial resolution of approximately 900 m was visually compared with available topographic maps and considered to be compatible with a 1:1,000 000 scale. Regarding the interpretation of regional-scale morphostructures, the map constructed with 2nd and 3rd-order valleys was considered to present the best results. Some of the interpreted base-level anomalies correspond to important shear zones and geological contacts present in the 1:5 000 000 Geological Map of South America. Others have no correspondence with mapped Precambrian structures and are considered to represent younger, probably neotectonic, features. A strong E-W orientation of the base-level lines over the inflexion of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers, suggest a major drainage capture. A N-S topographic swath profile over the Tocantins and Araguaia rivers reveals a topographic pattern which, allied with seismic data showing a roughly N-S direction of extension in the area, lead us to interpret this lineament as an E-W, southward-dipping normal fault. There is also a good visual correspondence between the base-level lineaments and geophysical anomalies. A NW-SE lineament in the southeast of the study area partially corresponds to the northern border of the Mosquito lava field, of Jurassic age, and a NW-SE lineament traced in the northeastern sector of the study area can be interpreted as the Picos-Santa Ines lineament, identifiable in geophysical maps but with little expression in hypsometric or topographic maps.

Strong and weak Allee effects and chaotic dynamics in Richards' growths

In this paper we define and investigate generalized Richards' growth models with strong and weak Allee effects and no Allee effect. We prove the transition from strong Allee effect to no Allee effect, passing through the weak Allee effect, depending on the implicit conditions, which involve the several parameters considered in the models. New classes of functions describing the existence or not of Allee effect are introduced, a new dynamical approach to Richards' populational growth equation is established. These families of generalized Richards' functions are proportional to the right hand side of the generalized Richards' growth models proposed. Subclasses of strong and weak Allee functions and functions with no Allee effect are characterized. The study of their bifurcation structure is presented in detail, this analysis is done based on the configurations of bifurcation curves and symbolic dynamics techniques. Generically, the dynamics of these functions are classified in the following types: extinction, semi-stability, stability, period doubling, chaos, chaotic semistability and essential extinction. We obtain conditions on the parameter plane for the existence of a weak Allee effect region related to the appearance of cusp points. To support our results, we present fold and flip bifurcations curves and numerical simulations of several bifurcation diagrams.

Water quality in lakes and reservoirs in China

Dissertation elaborated for the partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master Degree in Civil Engineering in the Speciality Area of Hydarulics

Big Bang bifurcations and allee effect in Blumberg’s dynamics

This paper concerns dynamics and bifurcations properties of a class of continuous-defined one-dimensional maps, in a three-dimensional parameter space: Blumberg's functions. This family of functions naturally incorporates a major focus of ecological research: the Allee effect. We provide a necessary condition for the occurrence of this phenomenon, associated with the stability of a fixed point. A central point of our investigation is the study of bifurcations structure for this class of functions. We verified that under some sufficient conditions, Blumberg's functions have a particular bifurcations structure: the big bang bifurcations of the so-called "box-within-a-box" type, but for different kinds of boxes. Moreover, it is verified that these bifurcation cascades converge to different big bang bifurcation curves, where for the corresponding parameter values are associated distinct attractors. This work contributes to clarify the big bang bifurcation analysis for continuous maps. To support our results, we present fold and flip bifurcations curves and surfaces, and numerical simulations of several bifurcation diagrams.

Symbolic dynamics and big bang bifurcation in Weibull-Gompertz-Fréchet's growth models

In this paper, motivated by the interest and relevance of the study of tumor growth models, a central point of our investigation is the study of the chaotic dynamics and the bifurcation structure of Weibull-Gompertz-Fréchet's functions: a class of continuousdefined one-dimensional maps. Using symbolic dynamics techniques and iteration theory, we established that depending on the properties of this class of functions in a neighborhood of a bifurcation point PBB, in a two-dimensional parameter space, there exists an order regarding how the infinite number of periodic orbits are born: the Sharkovsky ordering. Consequently, the corresponding symbolic sequences follow the usual unimodal kneading sequences in the topological ordered tree. We verified that under some sufficient conditions, Weibull-Gompertz-Fréchet's functions have a particular bifurcation structure: a big bang bifurcation point PBB. This fractal bifurcations structure is of the so-called "box-within-a-box" type, associated to a boxe ω1, where an infinite number of bifurcation curves issues from. This analysis is done making use of fold and flip bifurcation curves and symbolic dynamics techniques. The present paper is an original contribution in the framework of the big bang bifurcation analysis for continuous maps.

Hypotensive Response Magnitude and Duration in Hypertensives: Continuous and Interval Exercise

Background: Although exercise training is known to promote post-exercise hypotension, there is currently no consistent argument about the effects of manipulating its various components (intensity, duration, rest periods, types of exercise, training methods) on the magnitude and duration of hypotensive response. Objective: To compare the effect of continuous and interval exercises on hypotensive response magnitude and duration in hypertensive patients by using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Methods: The sample consisted of 20 elderly hypertensives. Each participant underwent three ABPM sessions: one control ABPM, without exercise; one ABPM after continuous exercise; and one ABPM after interval exercise. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR) and double product (DP) were monitored to check post-exercise hypotension and for comparison between each ABPM. Results: ABPM after continuous exercise and after interval exercise showed post-exercise hypotension and a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in SBP, DBP, MAP and DP for 20 hours as compared with control ABPM. Comparing ABPM after continuous and ABPM after interval exercise, a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in SBP, DBP, MAP and DP was observed in the latter. Conclusion: Continuous and interval exercise trainings promote post-exercise hypotension with reduction in SBP, DBP, MAP and DP in the 20 hours following exercise. Interval exercise training causes greater post-exercise hypotension and lower cardiovascular overload as compared with continuous exercise.

A discrete forest in a continuous landscape : investigating interactions between natural resource management and sustainable development

Summary Forests are key ecosystems of the earth and associated with a large range of functions. Many of these functions are beneficial to humans and are referred to as ecosystem services. Sustainable development requires that all relevant ecosystem services are quantified, managed and monitored equally. Natural resource management therefore targets the services associated with ecosystems. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that the spatial and temporal domains of relevant services do not correspond to a discrete forest ecosystem. As a consequence, the services are not quantified, managed and monitored in an equal and sustainable manner. The thesis aims were therefore to test this hypothesis, establish an improved conceptual approach and provide spatial applications for the relevant land cover and structure variables. The study was carried out in western Switzerland and based primarily on data from a countrywide landscape inventory. This inventory is part of the third Swiss national forest inventory and assesses continuous landscape variables based on a regular sampling of true colour aerial imagery. In addition, land cover variables were derived from Landsat 5 TM passive sensor data and land structure variables from active sensor data from a small footprint laserscanning system. The results confirmed the main hypothesis, as relevant services did not scale well with the forest ecosystem. Instead, a new conceptual approach for sustainable management of natural resources was described. This concept quantifies the services as a continuous function of the landscape, rather than a discrete function of the forest ecosystem. The explanatory landscape variables are therefore called continuous fields and the forest becomes a dependent and function-driven management unit. Continuous field mapping methods were established for land cover and structure variables. In conclusion, the discrete forest ecosystem is an adequate planning and management unit. However, monitoring the state of and trends in sustainability of services requires them to be quantified as a continuous function of the landscape. Sustainable natural resource management iteratively combines the ecosystem and gradient approaches. Résumé Les forêts sont des écosystèmes-clés de la terre et on leur attribue un grand nombre de fonctions. Beaucoup de ces fonctions sont bénéfiques pour l'homme et sont nommées services écosystémiques. Le développement durable exige que ces services écosystémiques soient tous quantifiés, gérés et surveillés de façon égale. La gestion des ressources naturelles a donc pour cible les services attribués aux écosystèmes. L'hypothèse principale de cette thèse est que les domaines spatiaux et temporels des services attribués à la forêt ne correspondent pas à un écosystème discret. Par conséquent, les services ne sont pas quantifiés, aménagés et surveillés d'une manière équivalente et durable. Les buts de la thèse étaient de tester cette hypothèse, d'établir une nouvelle approche conceptuelle de la gestion des ressources naturelles et de préparer des applications spatiales pour les variables paysagères et structurelles appropriées. L'étude a été menée en Suisse occidentale principalement sur la base d'un inventaire de paysage à l'échelon national. Cet inventaire fait partie du troisième inventaire forestier national suisse et mesure de façon continue des variables paysagères sur la base d'un échantillonnage régulier sur des photos aériennes couleur. En outre, des variables de couverture ? terrestre ont été dérivées des données d'un senseur passif Landsat 5 TM, ainsi que des variables structurelles, dérivées du laserscanning, un senseur actif. Les résultats confirment l'hypothèse principale, car l'échelle des services ne correspond pas à celle de l'écosystème forestier. Au lieu de cela, une nouvelle approche a été élaborée pour la gestion durable des ressources naturelles. Ce concept représente les services comme une fonction continue du paysage, plutôt qu'une fonction discrète de l'écosystème forestier. En conséquence, les variables explicatives de paysage sont dénommées continuous fields et la forêt devient une entité dépendante, définie par la fonction principale du paysage. Des méthodes correspondantes pour la couverture terrestre et la structure ont été élaborées. En conclusion, l'écosystème forestier discret est une unité adéquate pour la planification et la gestion. En revanche, la surveillance de la durabilité de l'état et de son évolution exige que les services soient quantifiés comme fonction continue du paysage. La gestion durable des ressources naturelles joint donc l'approche écosystémique avec celle du gradient de manière itérative.

Pedotransfer functions to estimate retention and availability of water in soils of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Studies on water retention and availability are scarce for subtropical or humid temperate climate regions of the southern hemisphere. The aims of this study were to evaluate the relations of the soil physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties with water retention and availability for the generation and validation of continuous point pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for soils of the State of Santa Catarina (SC) in the South of Brazil. Horizons of 44 profiles were sampled in areas under different cover crops and regions of SC, to determine: field capacity (FC, 10 kPa), permanent wilting point (PWP, 1,500 kPa), available water content (AW, by difference), saturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, aggregate stability, particle size distribution (seven classes), organic matter content, and particle density. Chemical and mineralogical properties were obtained from the literature. Spearman's rank correlation analysis and path analysis were used in the statistical analyses. The point PTFs for estimation of FC, PWP and AW were generated for the soil surface and subsurface through multiple regression analysis, followed by robust regression analysis, using two sets of predictive variables. Soils with finer texture and/or greater organic matter content retain more moisture, and organic matter is the property that mainly controls the water availability to plants in soil surface horizons. Path analysis was useful in understanding the relationships between soil properties for FC, PWP and AW. The predictive power of the generated PTFs to estimate FC and PWP was good for all horizons, while AW was best estimated by more complex models with better prediction for the surface horizons of soils in Santa Catarina.