Recognition characters and new records of two species of Phylloscyrtini (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Trigonidiinae) from southern Brazil

The Phylloscyrtini occurs from eastern United States to Argentina and includes 21 valid species. It is a highly neglected group of crickets and little is known about its biology and distribution. Cranistus colliurides Stål, 1861 and Phylloscyrtus amoenus (Burmeister, 1880) were recorded for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, and information on calling song, stridulatory file and recognition characters were provided.

A note on parallelizing the parameterized expectations algorithm

The parameterized expectations algorithm (PEA) involves a long simulation and a nonlinear least squares (NLS) fit, both embedded in a loop. Both steps are natural candidates for parallelization. This note shows that parallelization can lead to important speedups for the PEA. I provide example code for a simple model that can serve as a template for parallelization of more interesting models, as well as a download link for an image of a bootable CD that allows creation of a cluster and execution of the example code in minutes, with no need to install any software.

Inbreeding avoidance through kin recognition: choosy females boost male dispersal.

Inbreeding avoidance is predicted to induce sex biases in dispersal. But which sex should disperse? In polygynous species, females pay higher costs to inbreeding and thus might be expected to disperse more, but empirical evidence consistently reveals male biases. Here, we show that theoretical expectations change drastically if females are allowed to avoid inbreeding via kin recognition. At high inbreeding loads, females should prefer immigrants over residents, thereby boosting male dispersal. At lower inbreeding loads, by contrast, inclusive fitness benefits should induce females to prefer relatives, thereby promoting male philopatry. This result points to disruptive effects of sexual selection. The inbreeding load that females are ready to accept is surprisingly high. In absence of search costs, females should prefer related partners as long as delta<r/(1+r) where r is relatedness and delta is the fecundity loss relative to an outbred mating. This amounts to fitness losses up to one-fifth for a half-sib mating and one-third for a full-sib mating, which lie in the upper range of inbreeding depression values currently reported in natural populations. The observation of active inbreeding avoidance in a polygynous species thus suggests that inbreeding depression exceeds this threshold in the species under scrutiny or that inbred matings at least partly forfeit other mating opportunities for males. Our model also shows that female choosiness should decline rapidly with search costs, stemming from, for example, reproductive delays. Species under strong time constraints on reproduction should thus be tolerant of inbreeding.

PIM place & ghost application

Actualment, el Servei d'Informàtica de l'Escola d'Enginyeries (SIEE) s'enfronta a dos problemes: l'augment del nombre d'alumnes, mantenint el mateix número d'ordinadors per fer les pràctiques i, d'altra banda, el també creixent nombre d'aplicacions que s'han desenvolupat i es desenvolupen per resoldre les necessitats generades pels mateixos alumnes. Aquest projecte neix amb la voluntat de solucionar aquests problemes, creant per un costat un aula de màquines virtuals i per altra banda crear un aplicatiu web, que servirà de framework i contenidor de futures aplicacions, on es pugui connectar de manera senzilla amb les màquines virtuals.

The evolution of purinergic receptors involved in recognition of a blood meal by hematophagous insects

Many blood feeders use adenine nucleotides as cues for locating blood meal. Structure-activity relationship of adenine nucleotides as phagostimulants varies between closely-related species of blood feeders. It is suggested that a preexisting diverse pool of nucleotide-binding proteins present in all living cells, serves as a source of receptor proteins for the gustatory receptors involved in blood detection. It is proposed that the selection of any such nucleotide-binding protein is random.

Mise en place d'un programme de prévention et de prise en charge du diabète en Suisse: le point de vue des patients et des professionnels de la santé [Implementation of a diabetes disease management program in Switzerland: patients' and healthcare professionals' point of view].

BACKGROUND: A reorganization of healthcare systems is required to meet the challenge of the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, e.g. diabetes. In North-America and Europe, several countries have thus developed national or regional chronic disease management programs. In Switzerland, such initiatives have only emerged recently. In 2010, the canton of Vaud set up the "Diabetes Cantonal Program", within the framework of which we conducted a study designed to ascertain the opinions of both diabetic patients and healthcare professionals on the elements that could be integrated into this program, the barriers and facilitators to its development, and the incentives that could motivate these actors to participate. METHODS: We organized eight focus-groups: one with diabetic patients and one with healthcare professionals in the four sanitary areas of the canton of Vaud. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and submitted to a thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Patients and healthcare professionals were rather in favour of the implementation of a cantonal program, although patients were more cautious concerning its necessity. All participants envisioned a set of elements that could be integrated to this program. They also considered that the program could be developed more easily if it were adapted to patients' and professionals' needs and if it used existing structures and professionals. The difficulty to motivate both patients and professionals to participate was mentioned as a barrier to the development of this program however. Quality or financial incentives could therefore be created to overcome this potential problem. CONCLUSION: The identification of the elements to consider, barriers, facilitators and incentives to participate to a chronic disease management program, obtained by exploring the opinions of patients and healthcare professionals, should favour its further development and implementation.

Traitement des problèmes de dos et place de travail

Das Ziel des vorliegenden Forschungsprojekts besteht darin, die Arbeitsfähigkeit von Arbeitnehmern zu verbessern, die wegen unspezifischer Nacken- und/oder Kreuzschmerzen bei der Arbeit fehlen. Zu diesem Zweck haben wir ein Interventionsmodell entwickelt, das die modernen Ansätze der Rehabilitation bei Rückenerkrankungen mit den Erkenntnissen und Vorgehensweisen der Arbeitswissenschaften erweitert [Autoren S. 939] Le but du présent projet de recherche est d'améliorer la capacité de travail d'employés en arrêt à la suite de lombalgies et/ou de cervicalgies non spécifiques. C'est dans cette perspective que nous avons développé un modèle d'intervention fondé sur les principes de la réhabilitation des affections rachidiennes et les mesures professionnelles en relation avec l'ergonomie à la place de travail [auteurs p. 939]

Influence of local environmental olfactory cues on place learning in rats

The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of local environmental olfactory cues on place learning in rats. We developed a new experimental design allowing the comparison of the use of local olfactory and visual cues in spatial and discrimination learning. We compared the effect of both types of cues on the discrimination of a single food source in an open-field arena. The goal was either in a fixed or in a variable location, and could be indicated by local olfactory and/or visual cues. The local cues enhanced the discrimination of the goal dish, whether it was in a fixed or in a variable location. However, we did not observe any overshadowing of the spatial information by the local olfactory or visual cue. Rats relied primarily on distant visuospatial information to locate the goal, neglecting local information when it was in conflict with the spatial information.