Search results for "FOSS"
showing 10 items of 556 documents
A Paravermal Trans-Cerebellar Approach to the Posterior Fossa Tumor Causes Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration by Dentate Nucleus Injury
2021
Background: In brain tumor surgery, injury to cerebellar connectivity pathways can induce a neurodegenerative disease called hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD), along with a disabling clinical syndrome. In children, cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) is another consequence of damage to cerebello&ndash
Kretzoiarctos gen. nov., the oldest member of the giant panda clade
2012
The phylogenetic position of the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Carnivora: Ursidae: Ailuropodinae), has been one of the most hotly debated topics by mammalian biologists and paleontologists during the last century. Based on molecular data, it is currently recognized as a true ursid, sister-taxon of the remaining extant bears, from which it would have diverged by the Early Miocene. However, from a paleobiogeographic and chronological perspective, the origin of the giant panda lineage has remained elusive due to the scarcity of the available Miocene fossil record. Until recently, the genus Ailurarctos from the Late Miocene of China (ca. 8–7 mya) was recognized as the oldest undoubted me…
The last of the large-sized tortoises of the Mediterranean islands
2022
Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya Altres ajuts: Operational Programme Research, Development and Education Project (CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008360) Archaeological investigations carried out in the cave Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro, Bagheria, Sicily, revealed the presence of a few skeletal elements of a large-sized tortoise in a funerary area dating to the Copper/Bronze Age. The tortoise has been AMS-dated revealing an age of 12.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP and therefore it pre-dates the funerary activities. The morphology of the retrieved skeletal elements differs from that of the only native tortoise currently living in Sicily, Testudo hermanni. The tortoise's size significantly exc…
The evolutionary history of the rediscovered Austrian population of the giant centipede Scolopendra cingulata Latreille 1829 (Chilopoda, Scolopendrom…
2014
The thermophilous giant centipede Scolopendra cingulata is a voracious terrestrial predator, which uses its modified first leg pair and potent venom to capture prey. The highly variable species is the most common of the genus in Europe, occurring from Portugal in the west to Iran in the east. The northernmost occurrences are in Hungary and Romania, where it abides in small isolated fringe populations. We report the rediscovery of an isolated Austrian population of Scolopendra cingulata with the first explicit specimen records for more than 80 years and provide insights into the evolutionary history of the northernmost populations utilizing fragments of two mitochondrial genes, COI and 16S, …
Deep-Time Phylogenetic Clustering of Extinctions in an Evolutionarily Dynamic Clade (Early Jurassic Ammonites)
2012
7 pages; International audience; Conservation biologists and palaeontologists are increasingly investigating the phylogenetic distribution of extinctions and its evolutionary consequences. However, the dearth of palaeontological studies on that subject and the lack of methodological consensus hamper our understanding of that major evolutionary phenomenon. Here we address this issue by (i) reviewing the approaches used to quantify the phylogenetic selectivity of extinctions and extinction risks; (ii) investigating with a high-resolution dataset whether extinctions and survivals were phylogenetically clustered among early Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) ammonites; (iii) exploring the phylogene…
Trigeneration and Polygeneration Configurations for Desalination and Other Beneficial Processes
2018
Abstract The integration of renewable energy sources (geothermal, biomass, and solar) and desalination systems into novel polygeneration plants is investigated. Two main arrangements are considered: geothermal (GP) and biomass (BP) polygeneration. Both systems include concentrating photovoltaic/thermal solar collectors, a multieffect distillation system for seawater desalination, a single-effect LiBr-H2O absorption chiller, storage tanks, heat exchangers, balance-of-plant devices; a biomass auxiliary heater and geothermal wells are also included, in BP and GP, respectively. The systems can provide electricity and hot water, used for space heating, cooling, domestic hot water production, and…
Exergetic and exergoeconomic analysis of a renewable polygeneration system and viability study for small isolated communities
2015
Abstract A great interest has recently arisen for the sustainable supply of energy and fresh water, due to the growing demand from developing countries. Facing this demand by traditional technologies implies evident risks related with the high cost of fossil fuels and their environmental impact. Then, alternative solutions based on the use of renewable sources and innovative technologies must be considered. In this paper a renewable polygeneration system is examined, which includes a solar field based on parabolic trough photovoltaic/thermal collectors, a biomass heater, an absorption chiller and a Multiple Effect Distillation desalination unit. Plant operation under dynamic conditions has …
Gastropod evidence against the Early Triassic Lilliput effect
2010
4 pages; International audience; Size reduction in the aftermath of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event has repeatedly been described for various marine organisms, including gastropods (the Lilliput effect). A Smithian gastropod assemblage from Utah, USA, reveals numerous large-sized specimens of different genera as high as 70 mm, the largest ever reported from the Early Triassic. Other gastropods reported from Serbia and Italy are also as large as 35 mm. Size frequency distributions of the studied assemblages indicate that they were not unusually small when compared with later Mesozoic and modern faunas. The occurrence of large-sized gastropods less than 2 Ma after the Permian-Trias…
Plant fossil record and survival analyses
2012
Cascales-Minana, B. & Cleal, C.J. 2011: Plant fossil record and survival analyses. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 71–82. Survival analysis is a classic palaeobiological method widely used on the animal fossil record. This study reports the first application of survivorship analyses on the plant fossil record from a global viewpoint and provides a new comparative approach of this methodology. The results reveal three important plant extinction events in the history of plant life at a global scale. The results also clearly suggest that the origination events are more intensive than extinction processes and that the origination moment of several lineages of vascular plants is an important factor that c…
David Malcolm Raup (1933-2015) at the starting point of a new paradigm for Palaeontology
2020
This is a tribute to the late David Malcolm Raup, one of the major palaeontologists of the second half of the 20 th century. In addition, it is a critical review of his outstanding contributions, mainly in the field of theoretical palaeontology: quantitative modelling, the introduction of probabilistic methods in palaeontology, as well as his great imagination to use techniques from other fields, such as insurance actuary. After a general outline of his youth, I present a general depiction of the main topics of his research as a palaeobiologist: morphology, the structure of the fossil record, evolution, and extinction. He covered areas ranging from the theoretical morphology of coiled shell…