Los SIG aplicados a la organización de la información marina. Experiencias en el proyecto MEDINA (Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Indicators for North Africa)

[ES] Los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) juegan un papel primordial en cualquier proyecto que use de algún modo datos georreferenciados. El proyecto FP7 MEDINA (Marine ecosystem dynamics and indicators for north Africa) no es una excepción, donde trabajamos con indicadores provenientes de diferentes países e instituciones. Una de las labores que se ha llevado a cabo es la armonización de dicha información y la puesta en común mediante las posibilidades que ofrecen los SIG y herramientas afines. Hablaremos de la capacidad de los SIG, especialmente en sus soluciones libres, para poder organizar, gestionar y analizar la información geográfica.

Antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings 1996 to 2006: patient characteristics, treatment regimens and monitoring in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America

OBJECTIVES: To describe temporal trends in baseline clinical characteristics, initial treatment regimens and monitoring of patients starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. METHODS: We analysed data from 17 ART programmes in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia. Patients aged 16 years or older with documented date of start of highly active ART (HAART) were included. Data were analysed by calculating medians, interquartile ranges (IQR) and percentages by regions and time periods. Not all centres provided data for 2006 and 2005 and 2006 were therefore combined. RESULTS: A total of 36,715 patients who started ART 1996-2006 were included in the analysis. Patient numbers increased substantially in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, and the number of initial regimens declined, to four and five, respectively, in 2005-2006. In South America 20 regimes were used in 2005-2006. A combination of 3TC/D4T/NVP was used for 56% of African patients and 42% of Asian patients; AZT/3TC/EFV was used in 33% of patients in South America. The median baseline CD4 count increased in recent years, to 122 cells/microl (IQR 53-194) in 2005-2006 in Africa, 134 cells/microl (IQR 72-191) in Asia, and 197 cells/microl (IQR 61-277) in South America, but 77%, 78% and 51%, respectively, started with <200 cells/microl in 2005-2006. In all regions baseline CD4 cell counts were higher in women than men: differences were 22cells/microl in Africa, 65 cells/microl in Asia and 10 cells/microl in South America. In 2005-2006 a viral load at 6 months was available in 21% of patients Africa, 8% of Asian patients and 73% of patients in South America. Corresponding figures for 6-month CD4 cell counts were 74%, 77% and 81%. CONCLUSIONS: The public health approach to providing ART proposed by the World Health Organization has been implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Although CD4 cell counts at the start of ART have increased in recent years, most patients continue to start with counts well below the recommended threshold. Particular attention should be paid to more timely initiation of ART in HIV-infected men.

(Tables 1-2) Heavy mineral composition and median grain size of sediments obtained near 'Rote Kliff' west of Sylt, North Sea

The interpretation of 19 bore cores from the sea floor west of Rote Kliff (Isle of Sylt, North-Frisian Islands) gave information about the thickness of Holocene sand and the sediments below it; especially regarding their resistance to erosion in the area seaward of the beach-barrier. At the Same time, additional knowledge was obtained about the development of Sylt.

Seawater samples along several inshore-offshore transects off NW Africa and SE Africa

For the optimal use in palaeoceanographic studies of the stable oxygen isotopic signal and elemental composition of the calcareous photosynthetic dinoflagellate Thoracosphaera heimii, it is essential to gain detailed information about its calcification depth and spatial distribution. We therefore studied the vertical and horizontal distribution patterns of T. heimii in the upper water column (0-200 m) along three transects: an inshore-offshore gradient off Cape Blanc (CB), a south-north transect from CB to the Portuguese coast and a north-south transect off Tanzania. We compared concentrations of living cysts (cells with cell content) with chlorophyll-a, salinity and temperature measurements at the sampling depth. In order to explore the seasonal variability in cyst production, three transect off CB were sampled at three different times of the year. Living T. heimii cysts were found in the upper 160 m of the water column with highest concentrations in the photic zone indicating that the calcification of T. heimii occurs in the upper part of the water column. Maximal abundances of living cysts were found relatively often in or just above the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), the depth of which varies regionally from about 20-40 m off CB to about 80 m off Tanzania and along the transect from CB to the Portuguese Coast. However, there was no significant correlation at the 95% confidence level between the cyst concentrations and temperature, salinity and chlorophyll-a concentrations at the sampling depths observed. In both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the highest abundances of T. heimii were observed in regions where the upper water masses contained relatively low nutrient concentrations that are influenced only sporadically, or not at all, by enhanced photic zone mixing related to the presence of upwelling cells or river outflow plumes at or close to the sampling sites. The seasonal production of cysts by T. heimii appears to be negatively related to the presence of upwelling filaments across the sampling sites. Our study suggests that turbulence of the upper water masses is a major environmental factor influencing T. heimii production.

Stratigraphic update of the Cenozoic Sub-Numidian formations of the Tunisian Tell (North Africa): Tectonic/sedimentary evolution and correlations along the Maghrebian Chain

The Sub-Numidian Tertiary stratigraphic record of the Tunisian Tell has been updated by means of 11 stratigraphic successions belonging to the Maghrebian Flysch Basin (N-African Margin) reconstructed in the Tunisian Numidian Zone and the Triassic Dome Zone. The Sub-Numidian successions studied range from the Paleocene to the Priabonian, representing a major change in the sedimentation from the latest Cretaceous onwards. The Sub-Numidian succession and the Numidian Formation are separated by an Intermediate interval located between two erosive surfaces (local paraconformities). The stratigraphic analysis has revealed diachronous contacts between distal slope to basinal sedimentary formation, allowing the identification of an Early Eocene Chouabine marker bed. The integrated biostratigraphic analysis made by means of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton updates the ages of the formations studied, proving younger than previously thought. The new definition of the Sub-Numidian stratigraphy enables a better correlation with equivalent successions widely outcropping along the Maghrebian, Betic, and southern Apennine Chains. The study proposes a new evolutionary tectonic/sedimentary model for this Tunisian sector of the Maghrebian Chain during the Paleogene after the Triassic–Cretaceous extensional regime. This paleogeographic reorganization is considered a consequence of the beginning of the tectonic inversion (from extensional to compressional), leading to the end of the preorogenic sedimentation. Our results suggest a non-tabular stratigraphy (marked by lateral changes of lithofacies, variable thicknesses, and the presence of diachronous boundaries) providing significant elements for a re-evaluation of active petroleum systems on the quality, volume, distribution, timing of oil generation, and on the migration and accumulation of the oil.

La Galite Archipelago (Tunisia, North Africa): stratigraphic and petrographic revision and insights for geodynamic evolution of the Maghrebian Chain

The location of the La Galite Archipelago on the Internal/External Zones of the Maghrebian Chain holds strong interest for the reconstruction of the geodynamic evolution of the Mesomediterranean Microplate-Africa Plate Boundary Zone. New stratigraphic and petrographic data on sedimentary successions intruded upon by plutonic rocks enabled a better definition of the palaeogeographic and palaeotectonic evolutionary model of the area during the early-middle Miocene. The lower Miocene sedimentary units (La Galite Flysch and Numidian-like Flysch) belong to the Mauritanian (internal) and Massylian (external) sub-Domains of the Maghrebian Chain, respectively. These deposits are related to a typical syn-orogenic deposition in the Maghrebian Flysch Basin Domain, successively backthrusted above the internal units. The backthrusting age is post-Burdigalian (probably Langhian-Serravallian) and the compressional phase represents the last stage in the building of the accretionary wedge of the Maghrebian orogen. These flysch units may be co-relatable to the similar well-known formations along the Maghrebian and Betic Chains. The emplacement of potassic peraluminous magmatism, caused local metamorphism in the Late Serravallian-Early Tortonian (14–10 Ma), after the last compressional phase (backthrusting), during an extensional tectonic event. This extensional phase is probably due to the opening of a slab break-off in the deep subduction system. La Galite Archipelago represents a portion of the Maghrebian Flysch Basin tectonically emplaced above the southern margin of the “Mesomediterranean Microplate” which separated the Piemontese-Ligurian Ocean from a southern oceanic branch of the Tethys (i.e. the Maghrebian Flysch Basin). The possible presence of an imbricate thrust system between La Galite Archipelago and northern Tunisia may be useful to exclude the petroleum exploration from the deformed sectors of the offshore area considered.

Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History and including all species and subspecies known to occur in North America, Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and islands of the Caribbean Sea, the Galapagos Archipelago, and other islands which may properly be included on account of their faunal affinities.

v.13:pt.1:no.1(1942)

A check list of mammals of the North American continent, the West Indies and the neighboring seas.

v.6(1905)

Coast, North Africa, Tunisia and Algeria, 1829 (Image 1 of 2) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carte comparée des régences d'Alger et de Tunis, dressée par le Chev. Lapie, Géographe du Roi ; les noms anciens ont été revus par ... Hase ; les noms arabes par ... Taubert ; gravé par Flahaut ; écrit par Lallemand. It was published by Chez Ch. Picquet, Quai Conti, no. 17 in 1829. Scale [ca. 1:1,632,653], 16 km=9.8 cm. This layer is image 1 of 2 total images of the two sheet source map, representing the western portion of the map. Covers the coast of North Africa including Tunisia, Algeria, and portions of Morocco and Libya. Map in French. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Coast, North Africa, Tunisia and Algeria, 1829 (Image 2 of 2) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carte comparée des régences d'Alger et de Tunis, dressée par le Chev. Lapie, Géographe du Roi ; les noms anciens ont été revus par ... Hase ; les noms arabes par ... Taubert ; gravé par Flahaut ; écrit par Lallemand. It was published by Chez Ch. Picquet, Quai Conti, no. 17 in 1829. Scale [ca. 1:1,632,653], 16 km=9.8 cm. This layer is image 2 of 2 total images of the two sheet source map, representing the eastern portion of the map. Covers the coast of North Africa including Tunisia, Algeria and portions of Morocco and Libya. Map in French. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Red Sea Region, North Africa, ca. 1730 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carte de l'Egypte, de la Nubie, de l'Abyssinie &c., par Guillaume de l'Isle, de l'Academie Royal a Paris. It was published by Chez Henri de Leth, a l'enseigne du Pecheur ca. 1730. Scale [ca. 1:9,250,000]. Covers the Red Sea region, North Africa including portions of the Middle East and Europe. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Africa Sinusoidal projected coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, major roads, cities and other human settlements, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown pictorially. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.