Among body measurements, body weight (BW) is one of the most important within the buffalo production system, due to its association with economic characteristics. In previous research, we have shown that body volume (BV) is an effective predictor of BW in lactating adult water buffalo. As there are no equations to predict BW through BV for growing dairy buffaloes (young animals), we hypothesized that equations should be developed to meet this need. BW, body length (BL) and heart girth (HG) data were collected in 160 growing dairy buffaloes raised in commercial farms in southern Mexico, with body volume (BV) then estimated from BL and HG. The ratio between BV and BW was determined by linear, quadratic and allometric equations. The goodness-of-fit of the regression models was evaluated using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), the coefficient of determination (R2), the mean square error (MSE) and the root MSE (RMSE). After this, the k-folds cross-validation was performed to indicate a better fit. Our results showed that the growing dairy buffaloes presented a BW of 256.6 ± 96.82 kg and a BV of 155.3 ± 74.87 dm3. High and positive correlation were observed among all variables studied. All parameters (R2, MSE, RMSE, AIC and BIC) used to evaluate the regression equations showed that the quadratic regression model was more effective than the linear and allometric models for estimating BW using BV. The criteria for evaluating and validating models showed that the quadratic model presented a better predictive performance. Based on these findings, we conclude that body volume data to estimate body weight of growing dairy buffaloes were best fitted using the quadratic regression model.

New agronomic practices are emerging in the green cane system to utilize sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) straw for energy cogeneration, which necessitates its removal from the soil surface. This study has three main objectives: (1) evaluate the population dynamics and composition of Jamaican crabgrass (Digitaria horizontalis Willd.) and large crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.] under different sugarcane straw amounts, with and without herbicide treatment; (2) assess the development of sugarcane under different straw amounts; and (3) determine the amount of sugarcane straw that should be kept on the soil surface after harvest to ensure that it does not compromise the chemical control for Digitaria spp. in ratoon cane in a green cane system. We conducted this research at two experimental sites, one at the beginning and the other during the middle of the harvest season, over a span of 2 yr. Our primary treatments consisted of different amounts of sugarcane straw after harvest on the soil surface (0, 5, 10, and 15 Mg ha−1), while secondary treatments included the herbicide application (sulfentrazone + tebuthiuron for the beginning of harvest season and isoxaflutole + tebuthiuron for the middle of harvest season). The Digitaria spp. exhibited higher density (four times more) and dry matter (two times more) in scenarios with a lower sugarcane straw amount (5 Mg ha−1) on the soil surface and no herbicide application. However, a higher straw amount (15 Mg ha−1) contributed to reduced Digitaria spp. infestation and to improved sugarcane yield. According to this research, it is essential to maintain at least 10 Mg ha−1 of sugarcane straw on the soil surface and remove only 5 Mg ha−1 for energy cogeneration.

It is known that the dispersion of colloidal particles in porous media is determined by medium structure, pore-scale flow variability and diffusion. However, much less is known about how diffusiophoresis, that is, the motion of colloidal particles along salt gradients, impacts large-scale particle dispersion in porous media. To shed light on this question, we perform detailed pore-scale simulations of fluid flow, solute transport and diffusiophoretic particle transport in a two-dimensional hyper-uniform porous medium. Particles and solute are initially uniformly distributed throughout the medium. The medium is flushed at constant flow rate, and particle breakthrough curves are recorded at the outlet to assess the macroscopic effects of diffusiophoresis. Particle breakthrough curves show non-Fickian behaviour manifested by strong tailing that is controlled by the diffusiophoretic mobility. Although diffusiophoresis is a short-time, microscopic phenomenon owing to the fast attenuation of salt gradients, it governs macroscopic colloid dispersion through the partitioning of particles into transmitting and dead-end pores. We quantify these behaviours by an upscaled analytical model that describes both the retention and release of colloids in dead-end pores and the observed long-time tailings. Our results suggest that diffusiophoresis is an efficient tool to control particle dispersion and filtration through porous media.

Fertility control strategies became widespread in rural Spain through the twentieth century: a significant number of parents decided to reduce their marital fertility once the advantages of control strategies became widely known. This paper explores the impact of those practices on children through a comparative study of the heights and occupations of grandparents, parents, and children. We analyze more than 1,200 individuals from three different generations born between 1835 and 1959 in 14 rural Spanish villages, studying whether the advantages associated with fertility control were maintained over time favoring a better family status or whether they were diluted in the next generation. The largest increases in height were among children whose parents controlled their fertility by stopping having children before the mother's 36th birthday. However, it does not seem that this increase in biological well-being was accompanied by major episodes of upward social mobility.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between body weight (BW) and hip width (HW) in dairy buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis). HW was measured in 215 Murrah buffaloes with a BW of 341 ± 161.6 kg, aged between three months and five years, and raised in southeastern Mexico. Linear and non-linear regressions were used to construct the prediction models. The goodness of fit of the models was evaluated using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), coefficient of determination (R2), mean squared error (MSE), and root MSE (RMSE). Additionally, the developed models were evaluated through internal and external cross-validation (k-folds) using independent data. The ability of the fitted models to predict the observed values was assessed based on the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), R2, and mean absolute error (MAE). The relationship between BW and HW showed a high correlation coefficient (r = 0.96, P < 0.001). The chosen fitted model to predict BW was: −176.33 (± 40.83***) + 8.74 (± 1.79***) × HW + 0.04 (± 0.01*) × HW2, because it presented the lowest MSE, RMSE, and AIC values, which were 1228.64, 35.05 and 1532.41, respectively. Therefore, with reasonable accuracy, the quadratic model using hip width may be suitable for predicting body weight in buffaloes.

In this study, we address interpersonal violence during the transition between the Middle and the Late Formative periods in the Central Andes, a critical period of political disintegration, hypothesized population pressure, and reorganization of the belief systems that is poorly known from a bioarchaeological viewpoint. Our objective is to understand the nature of the violence and associated factors in this context based on a detailed description of skeletal trauma in 67 well-preserved individuals (20 adolescents and adults and 47 subadults) recovered from Quebrada Chupacigarro cemetery (500–400 BC); this site is located in the middle valley of Supe on the Peruvian north-central coast. To detect patterns and potential causes, we registered the prevalence of traumatic injury according to age, sex, anatomic location, mechanisms (blunt, sharp, mixed, etc.), timing (antemortem or perimortem), and manner (inflicted or accidental). The results show a high prevalence of fractures in the whole population, but especially in adolescents and adults. Eighty percent of the adolescents and adults perished due to the intentional trauma and show patterns that suggest repetitive episodes of interpersonal violence. Perimortem injuries in the skull, face, and thorax are compatible with lethal interpersonal violence. The findings support a probable scenario of intercommunity violence in the middle valley of Supe around 500–400 BC.

Image-processing pipelines require the design of complex workflows combining many different steps that bring the raw acquired data to a final result with biological meaning. In the image-processing domain of cryo-electron microscopy single-particle analysis (cryo-EM SPA), hundreds of steps must be performed to obtain the three-dimensional structure of a biological macromolecule by integrating data spread over thousands of micrographs containing millions of copies of allegedly the same macromolecule. The execution of such complicated workflows demands a specific tool to keep track of all these steps performed. Additionally, due to the extremely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the estimation of any image parameter is heavily affected by noise resulting in a significant fraction of incorrect estimates. Although low SNR and processing millions of images by hundreds of sequential steps requiring substantial computational resources are specific to cryo-EM, these characteristics may be shared by other biological imaging domains. Here, we present Scipion, a Python generic open-source workflow engine specifically adapted for image processing. Its main characteristics are: (a) interoperability, (b) smart object model, (c) gluing operations, (d) comparison operations, (e) wide set of domain-specific operations, (f) execution in streaming, (g) smooth integration in high-performance computing environments, (h) execution with and without graphical capabilities, (i) flexible visualization, (j) user authentication and private access to private data, (k) scripting capabilities, (l) high performance, (m) traceability, (n) reproducibility, (o) self-reporting, (p) reusability, (q) extensibility, (r) software updates, and (s) non-restrictive software licensing.

Helminth species of Neotropical bats are poorly known. In Mexico, few studies have been conducted on helminths of bats, especially in regions such as the Yucatan Peninsula where Chiroptera is the mammalian order with the greatest number of species. In this study, we characterized morphologically and molecularly the helminth species of bats and explored their infection levels and parasite–host interactions in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. One hundred and sixty-three bats (representing 21 species) were captured between 2017 and 2022 in 15 sites throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. Conventional morphological techniques and molecular tools were used with the 28S gene to identify the collected helminths. Host–parasite network analyses were carried out to explore interactions by focusing on the level of host species. Helminths were found in 44 (26.9%) bats of 12 species. Twenty helminth taxa were recorded (7 trematodes, 3 cestodes and 10 nematodes), including 4 new host records for the Americas. Prevalence and mean intensity of infection values ranged from 7.1 to 100% and from 1 to 56, respectively. Molecular analyses confirmed the identity of some helminths at species and genus levels; however, some sequences did not correspond to any of the species available on GenBank. The parasite–host network suggests that most of the helminths recorded in bats were host-specific. The highest helminth richness was found in insectivorous bats. This study increases our knowledge of helminths parasitizing Neotropical bats, adding new records and nucleotide sequences.

The digital twin concept has developed as a method for extracting value from data, and is being developed as a new technique for the design and asset management of high-value engineering systems such as aircraft, energy generating plant, and wind turbines. In terms of implementation, many proprietary digital twin software solutions have been marketed in this domain. In contrast, this paper describes a recently released open-source software framework for digital twins, which provides a browser-based operational platform using Python and Flask. The new platform is intended to maximize connectivity between users and data obtained from the physical twin. This paper describes how this type of digital twin operational platform (DTOP) can be used to connect the physical twin and other Internet-of-Things devices to both users and cloud computing services. The current release of the software—DTOP-Cristallo—uses the example of a three-storey structure as the engineering asset to be managed. Within DTOP-Cristallo, specific engineering software tools have been developed for use in the digital twin, and these are used to demonstrate the concept. At this stage, the framework presented is a prototype. However, the potential for open-source digital twin software using network connectivity is a very large area for future research and development.

Congenital transmission of Chagas disease plays an important role in endemic countries because it is not a diagnosis that is encountered frequently in prenatal care. Due to limited information regarding congenital transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in Mexico, the present study aimed to investigate protozoan infectivity and modulation of immune responses in human placental explants infected with T. cruzi Ia Mexican strains. The Inc-5 strain showed increased infectivity and modulated IL-1β, IL-10 and TLR-4, decreasing their expression after 24 h of infection. Both strains (Inc-5 and Ninoa) stimulated the production of TNF-α and decreased IL-6 levels 96 h after infection. An important detachment of the syncytiotrophoblast caused by infection with T. cruzi was observed after 24 h of infection. In this study, ex vivo infection of human placental villi was performed to better understand interactions involving parasitic T. cruzi and human placental tissue. It was concluded that the strains of TcIa present parasitism in placental tissue, modulation of the innate immune system of the placenta, and cause intense detachment of the syncytiotrophoblast, a fact that may be more associated with abortion and premature birth events than the congenital transmission itself, justifying the low rate of this transmission mechanism by this genotype.

This paper presents the design and simulation of a Parallel Kinematic (PK) testbed for head impacts. The proposed design is presented as a novel head impact testbed using a parallel platform as main motion simulation mechanism. The testbed is used to give a motion to a head mannequin to impact against a steel plate. In addition, the platform in the testbed allows to modify the orientation of the head mannequin model to evaluate different types of impacts. The testbed has been modeled with software MS ADAMS® to evaluate its performance with a dynamic simulation and to characterize the testbed design during top and lateral impact events. Results show that PK testbed gives a significant force and acceleration to the head mannequin at the moment of the impact.

In this paper, we present a method to estimate the risk of reopening of schools illustrated with the case of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The model showed that, although no death of children would result from the reopening of the schools in the three cities analysed, the risk of asymptomatic and symptomatic cases and secondary cases among teachers, school staff and relatives of the children is not negligible. Although the epidemic hit different regions with different intensities, our model shows that, for regions where the incidence profile is similar to the cities analysed, the risk of reopening of schools is still too high. This in spite of the fact that incidences in these cities were declining in the period of the time considered. Therefore, although we cannot extend the result to the entire country, the overall conclusion is valid for regions with a declining incidence and it is even more valid for regions where incidence is increasing. We assumed a very conservative level of infection transmissibility of children of just 10% as that of adults. In spite of the very low level of transmissibility is assumed, the number of secondary cases caused by infected children among teachers, school staff and relatives varied from 2 to 85. It is, therefore, too soon to have any degree of confidence that reopening of schools before the advent of a vaccine is the right decision to take. The purpose of our model and simulations is to provide a method to estimate the risk of school reopening, although we are sure it could be applied as a guide to public health strategies.