On the origin of the ultradeep East Barents Sea basin

Very large subsidence, with up to 20 km thick sediment layers, is observed in the East Barents Sea basin. Subsidence started in early Paleozoic, accelerated in Permo-Triassic times, finished during the middle Cretaceous, and was followed by moderate uplift in Cenozoic times. The observed gravity signal suggests that the East Barents Sea is at present in isostatic balance and indicates that a mass excess is required in the lithosphere to produce the observed large subsidence. Several origins have been proposed for the mass excess. We use 1-D thermokinematic modeling and 2-D isostatic density models of continental lithosphere to evaluate these competing hypotheses. The crustal density in 2-D thermokinematic models resulting from pressure-, temperature-, and composition-dependent phase change models is computed along transects crossing the East Barents Sea. The results indicate the following. (1) Extension can only explain the observed subsidence provided that a 10 km thick serpentinized mantle lens beneath the basin center is present. We conclude that this is unlikely given that this highly serpentinized layer should be formed below a sedimentary basin with more than 10 km of sediments and crust at least 10 km thick. (2) Phase changes in a compositionally homogeneous crust do not provide enough mass excess to explain the present-day basin geometry. (3) Phase change induced densification of a preexisting lower crustal gabbroic body, interpreted as a mafic magmatic underplate, can explain the basin geometry and observed gravity anomalies. The following model is proposed for the formation of the East Barents Sea basin: (1) Devonian rifting and extension related magmatism resulted in moderate thinning of the crust and a mafic underplate below the central basin area explaining initial late Paleozoic subsidence. (2) East-west shortening during the Permian and Triassic resulted in densification of the previously emplaced mafic underplated body and enhanced subsidence dramatically, explaining the present-day deep basin geometry.

Subcellular localization of an intracellular serine protease of 68 kDa in Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis promastigotes

Here we report the subcellular localization of an intracellular serine protease of 68 kDa in axenic promastigotes of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, using subcellular fractionation, enzymatic assays, immunoblotting, and immunocytochemistry. All fractions were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy and the serine protease activity was measured during the cell fractionation procedure using a-N-r-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester (L-TAME) as substrate, phenylmethylsulphone fluoride (PMSF) and L-1-tosylamino-2-phenylethylchloromethylketone (TPCK) as specific inhibitors. The enzymatic activity was detected mainly in a membranous vesicular fraction (6.5-fold enrichment relative to the whole homogenate), but also in a crude plasma membrane fraction (2.0-fold). Analysis by SDS-PAGE gelatin under reducing conditions demonstrated that the major proteolytic activity was found in a 68 kDa protein in all fractions studied. A protein with identical molecular weight was also recognized in immunoblots by a polyclonal antibody against serine protease (anti-SP), with higher immunoreactivity in the vesicular fraction. Electron microscopic immunolocalization using the same polyclonal antibody showed the enzyme present at the cell surface, as well as in cytoplasmic membranous compartments of the parasite. Our findings indicate that the internal location of this serine protease in L. amazonensis is mainly restricted to the membranes of intracellular compartments resembling endocytic/exocytic elements.

Usabilitat dels llocs web orientats alservei dels ciutadans

En aquest projecte ens centrarem en la interacció entre els ciutadans i els llocs webs que serveixen als seus interessos, parant atenció als factors susceptibles de millora i tenint en compte les apreciacions dels mateixos usuaris- segons enquestes i qüestionaris- amb lafinalitat de proposar un model alternatiu de recerca de serveis basat en la senzillesa ieconomia de temps.

Implementación de un generador de contenido web semántico con posiciones didácticas de ajedrez

Análisis, diseño y desarrollo de un aplicativo que a partir de un fichero con formato "PGN" genere dos tipos distintos de fichero, el primero será una página HTML con contenido gráfico que represente las posiciones, soluciones y datos complementarios de cada posición, y el segundo fichero contendrá una base de conocimiento en formato OWL, ontología compuesta de clases y propiedades, previamente definidas con Protégé, y de individuos que serán creados dinámicamente a partir de la información contenida en el fichero PGN de entrada.

Usabilidad de sitios web para personas de la tercera edad

En el present treball es definirà el cicle de vida i la metodologia que s'ha de seguir, segons el disseny centrat en l'usuari, per a un projecte web orientat a continguts específics per a persones de la tercera edat, per a això, es determinarà i justificarà quins mètodes i tècniques d'avaluació de la usabilitat són els més adequats per poder dissenyar un lloc web d'aquest tipus.

Comparación de analizadores estáticos para código java

El objetivo principal de este artículo es la selección y comparación de dos herramientas de análisis estático para java, esta tarea necesita de estudiar previamente el estado del arte de estos analizadores, ver qué características son deseables para este tipo de analizadores y finalmente compararlas en ejecución sobre los dos proyectos de software libre elegidos argoUML y openProj. Se compara FindBugs con PMD, dos analizadores que pueden utilizarse con la versión 1.6. de JDK. Los resultados de la comparación nos permiten deducir que los analizadores se complementan en cuanto a bugs detectados, hay pocos solapamientos. Como conclusiones podemos decir que la búsqueda de bugs necesita de más de una herramienta de análisis estático.

Heat capacity measurements by differential scanning calorimetry in the Pd-Pb, Pd-Sn and Pd-ln systems

Molar heat capacities at constant pressure of six solid solutions and 11 intermediate phases in the Pd-Pb, Pd-Sn and Pd-In systems were determined each 10 K by differential scanning calorimetry from 310 to 1000 K, The experimental values have been fitted by polynomials C-p = a + bT + cT(2) + d/T-2. Results are given, discussed and compared with available literature data. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, AII rights reserved.

Identification of biologic markers of the premature rupture of fetal membranes: proteomic approach.

In obstetrics, premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) is a frequent observation which is responsible for many premature deliveries. PROM is also associated with an increased risk of fetal and maternal infections. Early diagnosis is mandatory in order to decrease such complications. Despite that current biological tests allowing the diagnosis of PROM are both sensitive and specific, contamination of the samples by maternal blood can induce false positive results. Therefore, in order to identify new potential markers of PROM (present only in amniotic blood, and absent in maternal blood), proteomic studies were undertaken on samples collected from six women at terms (pairs of maternal plasma and amniotic fluid) as well as on four samples of amniotic fluid collected from other women at the 17(th) week of gestation. All samples (N = 16) were analyzed by two-dimensional (2-D) high-resolution electrophoresis, followed by sensitive silver staining. The gel images were studied using bioinformatic tools. Analyses were focused on regions corresponding to pI between 4.5 and 7 and to molecular masses between 20 and 50 kDa. In this area, 646 +/- 113 spots were detected, and 27 spots appeared to be present on the gels of amniotic fluid, but were absent on those of maternal plasma. Nine out of these 27 spots were also observed on the gels of the four samples of amniotic fluids collected at the 17(th) week of pregnancy. Five of these 9 spots were unambiguously detected on preparative 2-D gels stained by Coomassie blue, and were identified by mass spectrometry analyses. Three spots corresponded to fragments of plasma proteins, and 2 appeared to be fragments of proteins not known to be present in plasma. These 2 proteins were agrin (SWISS-PROT: O00468) and perlecan (SWISS-PROT: P98160). Our results show that proteomics is a valuable approach to identify new potential biological markers for future PROM diagnosis.

The cover basement contact beneath the Rawil axial depression (Western Alps) - True amplitude seismic processing, petrophysical properties, and modeling

Since 1986, several near-vertical seismic reflection profiles have been recorded in Switzerland in order to map the deep geologic structure of the Alps. One objective of this endeavour has been to determine the geometries of the autochthonous basement and of the external crystalline massifs, important elements for understanding the geodynamics of the Alpine orogeny. The PNR-20 seismic line W1, located in the Rawil depression of the western Swiss Alps, provides important information on this subject. It extends northward from the `'Penninic front'' across the Helvetic nappes to the Prealps. The crystalline massifs do not outcrop along this profile. Thus, the interpretation of `'near-basement'' reflections has to be constrained by down-dip projections of surface geology, `'true amplitude'' processing, rock physical property studies and modelling. 3-D seismic modelling has been used to evaluate the seismic response of two alternative down-dip projection models. To constrain the interpretation in the southern part of the profile, `'true amplitude'' processing has provided information on the strength of the reflections. Density and velocity measurements on core samples collected up-dip from the region of the seismic line have been used to evaluate reflection coefficients of typical lithologic boundaries in the region. The cover-basement contact itself is not a source of strong reflections, but strong reflections arise from within the overlaying metasedimentary cover sequence, allowing the geometry of the top of the basement to be determined on the basis of `'near-basement'' reflections. The front of the external crystalline massifs is shown to extend beneath the Prealps, about 6 km north of the expected position. A 2-D model whose seismic response shows reflection patterns very similar to the observed is proposed.

Estimation of the lateral correlation structure of subsurface water content from surface-based ground-penetrating radar reflection images

Over the past decade, significant interest has been expressed in relating the spatial statistics of surface-based reflection ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data to those of the imaged subsurface volume. A primary motivation for this work is that changes in the radar wave velocity, which largely control the character of the observed data, are expected to be related to corresponding changes in subsurface water content. Although previous work has indeed indicated that the spatial statistics of GPR images are linked to those of the water content distribution of the probed region, a viable method for quantitatively analyzing the GPR data and solving the corresponding inverse problem has not yet been presented. Here we address this issue by first deriving a relationship between the 2-D autocorrelation of a water content distribution and that of the corresponding GPR reflection image. We then show how a Bayesian inversion strategy based on Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling can be used to estimate the posterior distribution of subsurface correlation model parameters that are consistent with the GPR data. Our results indicate that if the underlying assumptions are valid and we possess adequate prior knowledge regarding the water content distribution, in particular its vertical variability, this methodology allows not only for the reliable recovery of lateral correlation model parameters but also for estimates of parameter uncertainties. In the case where prior knowledge regarding the vertical variability of water content is not available, the results show that the methodology still reliably recovers the aspect ratio of the heterogeneity.

Detection of Oropouche virus segment S in patients and inCulex quinquefasciatus in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

This study aimed to investigate the circulation of Orthobunyavirus species in the state of Mato Grosso (MT) Brazil. During a dengue outbreak in 2011/2012, 529 serum samples were collected from patients with acute febrile illness with symptoms for up to five days and 387 pools of female Culex quinquefasciatuscaptured in 2013 were subjected to nested-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for segment S of the Simbu serogroup followed by nucleotide sequencing and virus isolation in Vero cells. Patients (5/529; 0.9%) from Cuiabá (n = 3), Várzea Grande (n = 1) and Nova Mutum (n = 1) municipalities were positive for the S segment of Oropouche virus (OROV). Additionally, eight/387 Cx. quinquefasciatuspools were positive for the segment, with a minimum infection rate of 2.3. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that all the samples belong to the subgenotype Ia, presenting high homology with OROV strains obtained from humans and animals in the Brazilian Amazon. The present paper reports the first detection of an Orthobunyavirus, possibly OROV, in patients and in Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in MT. This finding reinforces the notion that arboviruses frequently reported in the Amazon Region circulate sporadically in MT during dengue outbreaks.

Harmonic active contours.

We propose a segmentation method based on the geometric representation of images as 2-D manifolds embedded in a higher dimensional space. The segmentation is formulated as a minimization problem, where the contours are described by a level set function and the objective functional corresponds to the surface of the image manifold. In this geometric framework, both data-fidelity and regularity terms of the segmentation are represented by a single functional that intrinsically aligns the gradients of the level set function with the gradients of the image and results in a segmentation criterion that exploits the directional information of image gradients to overcome image inhomogeneities and fragmented contours. The proposed formulation combines this robust alignment of gradients with attractive properties of previous methods developed in the same geometric framework: 1) the natural coupling of image channels proposed for anisotropic diffusion and 2) the ability of subjective surfaces to detect weak edges and close fragmented boundaries. The potential of such a geometric approach lies in the general definition of Riemannian manifolds, which naturally generalizes existing segmentation methods (the geodesic active contours, the active contours without edges, and the robust edge integrator) to higher dimensional spaces, non-flat images, and feature spaces. Our experiments show that the proposed technique improves the segmentation of multi-channel images, images subject to inhomogeneities, and images characterized by geometric structures like ridges or valleys.

Importance of the right ventricle in valvular heart disease.

The importance of the right ventricle as a determinant of clinical symptoms, exercise capacity, peri-operative survival and postoperative outcome has been underestimated for a long time. Right ventricular ejection fraction has been used as a measure of right ventricular function but has been found to be dependent on loading conditions, ventricular interaction as well as on myocardial structure. Altered left ventricular function in patients with valvular disease influences right ventricular performance mainly by changes in afterload but also by ventricular interaction. Right ventricular function and regional wall motion can be determined with right ventricular angiography, radionuclide ventriculography, two-dimensional echocardiography or magnetic resonance imaging. However, the complex structure of the right ventricle and its pronounced translational movements render quantification difficult. True regional wall motion analysis is, however, possible with myocardial tagging based on magnetic resonance techniques. With this technique a baso-apical shear motion of the right ventricle was observed which was enhanced in patients with aortic stenosis.

Inversion of crosshole seismic data in heterogenous environments : Comparison of waveform and ray-based approaches

High-resolution tomographic imaging of the shallow subsurface is becoming increasingly important for a wide range of environmental, hydrological and engineering applications. Because of their superior resolution power, their sensitivity to pertinent petrophysical parameters, and their far reaching complementarities, both seismic and georadar crosshole imaging are of particular importance. To date, corresponding approaches have largely relied on asymptotic, ray-based approaches, which only account for a very small part of the observed wavefields, inherently suffer from a limited resolution, and in complex environments may prove to be inadequate. These problems can potentially be alleviated through waveform inversion. We have developed an acoustic waveform inversion approach for crosshole seismic data whose kernel is based on a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solution of the 2-D acoustic wave equations. This algorithm is tested on and applied to synthetic data from seismic velocity models of increasing complexity and realism and the results are compared to those obtained using state-of-the-art ray-based traveltime tomography. Regardless of the heterogeneity of the underlying models, the waveform inversion approach has the potential of reliably resolving both the geometry and the acoustic properties of features of the size of less than half a dominant wavelength. Our results do, however, also indicate that, within their inherent resolution limits, ray-based approaches provide an effective and efficient means to obtain satisfactory tomographic reconstructions of the seismic velocity structure in the presence of mild to moderate heterogeneity and in absence of strong scattering. Conversely, the excess effort of waveform inversion provides the greatest benefits for the most heterogeneous, and arguably most realistic, environments where multiple scattering effects tend to be prevalent and ray-based methods lose most of their effectiveness.