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Nine in one: integrative taxonomic evidence of hidden species diversity in the widespread Zambezi grunter, <i>Parauchenoglanis ngamensis </i>(Siluriformes: Auchenoglanididae), from southern and south-central Africa.
No full textTo go or not to go when the lava flow is coming? Understanding evacuation decisions of Goma inhabitants during the 2021 Nyiragongo eruption cris
No full textEcosystem links: Anthropogenic activities, environmental variables, and macrophytes structure snail preferences in man-made waterbodies
No full textFreshwater snails act as obligate intermediate hosts for trematode parasites that cause trematodiases threatening public and veterinary health, and biodiversity conservation. While interest in snail control for trematodiases has re-emerged, their ecology remains poorly understood. We examined the relationship between ecosystem indicators such as environmental variables, macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and land use and their correlation with snail abundance, diversity, and infection prevalence in 19 man-made ponds in eastern Zimbabwe. In total, 926 freshwater snails from 10 species were collected, with 547 individuals belonging to five schistosome-competent species: Bulinus tropicus, Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus globosus, Bulinus forskalii, and Biomphalaria pfeifferi. The remaining 379 snails comprised Radix natalensis, Gyraulus sp., and the exotic invasive species Melanoides tuberculata, Pseudosuccinea columella, and Physella acuta. Six cercarial types mammalian schistosomes, avian schistosomes, longifurcate pharyngeates, echinostomes, amphistomes, and xiphidiocercariae were isolated from 104 out of 926 snails (11.2 %). PCR revealed a significantly higher infection rate, with 70.2 % of snails testing positive for trematodes. Snail taxon diversity and infection rate significantly varied across land use types, with the lowest values observed in the commercial tobacco farm section, highlighting the potential adverse effects of agriculture on biodiversity. Ponds with extensive Lagarosiphon major (oxygen weed) coverage appeared to facilitate the presence and abundance of P. acuta and P. columella. Schistosome-competent snails such as B. truncatus and B. tropicus seemed to favor shallow water depths and more eutrophic sites characterized by high levels of nitrates, phytoplankton biomass, turbidity, and phycocyanin. These ponds were predominantly associated with the emergent macrophyte Cladium mariscus, revealing a potential association with important intermediate snail hosts. In conclusion, our study emphasizes the complex interplay among environmental factors, macrophyte composition, land use, and the abundance, diversity, and infection prevalence of freshwater snails, offering insights into potential strategies for targeted snail control and disease management in man-made waterbodies
What do brain endocasts tell us? A comparative analysis of the accuracy of sulcal identification by experts and perspectives in palaeoanthropology
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Les musées face aux sciences participatives. Le projet Citizen Rescuers for Collections (Cresco)
No full textAvec l objectif d accroître l implication du public dans la numérisation des collections du Musée royal de l Afrique centrale de Tervuren et de l Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, le projet Citizen Rescuers for Collections (Cresco) présente une approche innovante des sciences participatives. Cette initiative, qui a renforcé les communautés de citoyens actifs au sein des deux musées, a eu un impact social certain et a fourni des données scientifiques de haute qualité
Holaspis guentheri Gray, 1863, Western Blue-tailed Gliding Lizard & Holaspis laevis Werner, 1896, Smooth Blue-tailed Gliding Lizard. Ultraviolet (UV) biofluorescence
No full textIn this paper we document for the first time UV fluorescence in the Lacertid lizard genus Holaspis. It is remarkable that the UV fluorescence is skin based and still detectable in Ethanol preserved specimens
Une odyssée baroque : les du Quesnoy et la sculpture à Bruxelles au XVIIe siècle
No full textLa dynastie du Quesnoy est constituée de Jérôme le Vieux (Béthune, ca 1570-Bruxelles, 1650), arrivé à Bruxelles en 1594, et de ses deux fils : François (Bruxelles, 1597-Livourne, 1643) et Jérôme le Jeune (Bruxelles, 1602-Gand, 1654). Néanmoins, seuls la vie et l’œuvre de François du Quesnoy, qui avait connu à Rome une brillante carrière, avaient fait l’objet d’études approfondies. La condamnation au bûcher de Jérôme le Jeune en 1654 avait entraîné dans son sillage la considération que la critique aurait pu porter à son œuvre. Ce dernier avait pourtant lui aussi connu une importante ascension sociale et artistique, en devenant le sculpteur, statuaire et architecte de la cour de Léopold Guillaume (1647-1656), alors gouverneur des anciens Pays-Bas.
Cet ouvrage étudie sous un angle neuf la biographie et la production de Jérôme le Vieux et de Jérôme le Jeune. Les questionnements qui accompagnent cette recherche portent autant sur le dynamisme et le contexte de la sculpture bruxelloise durant la première moitié du XVIIe siècle, que sur l’existence d’une transmission intergénérationnelle au sein de l’atelier. L’analyse des sculptures du catalogue tend, une fois dégagée des présupposés largement diffusés à travers l’histoire de la sculpture flamande, à présenter de manière inédite les apports et l’originalité de cet atelier. Ces apports avaient en effet été occultés d’une part, par l’importante contribution de François du Quesnoy et, d’autre part, par celle, non moins importante, de Rubens, envisagé par beaucoup comme l’unique fondateur de l’art baroque flamand. Ce travail fournit également le premier catalogue raisonné des deux artistes.Avec contributions de Camille De Clercq, Judy De Roy et Laurent Fontaine.Collection Scientia Artis, 20
New particle pusher with hadronic interactions for modeling multimessenger emission from compact objects
Full text linkWe propose novel numerical schemes based on the Boris method in curved spacetime, incorporating both hadronic and radiative interactions for the first time. Once the proton has lost significant energy due to radiative and hadronic losses, and its gyroradius has decreased below typical scales on which the electromagnetic field varies, we apply a guiding center approximation (GCA). We fundamentally simulate collision processes either with a Monte-Carlo method or, where applicable, as a continuous energy loss, contingent on the local optical depth. To test our algorithm for the first time combining the effects of electromagnetic, gravitational, and radiation fields including hadronic interactions, we simulate highly relativistic protons traveling through various electromagnetic fields and proton backgrounds. We provide unit tests in various spatially dependent electromagnetic and gravitational fields and background photon and proton distributions, comparing the trajectory against analytic results. We propose that our method can be used to analyze hadronic interactions in black hole accretion disks, jets, and coronae to study the neutrino abundance from active galactic nuclei
The Potential of Deep Learning Object Detection in Citizen-Driven Snail Host Monitoring to Map Putative Disease Transmission Sites
No full textSchistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic flukes transmitted by freshwater snails. Despite increasing efforts of mass drug administration, schistosomiasis remains a public health concern and the World Health Organization recommends complementary snail control. To address the need for broad-scale and actual snail distribution data to guide snail control, we adopted a citizen science approach and recruited citizen scientists (CSs) to perform weekly snail sampling in an endemic setting in Uganda. Snails were identified, sorted and counted according to genus, and photographed; and the photos were uploaded for expert-led validation and feedback. However, expert validation is time-consuming and introduces a delay in verified data output. Thus, artificial intelligence could provide a solution by means of automated detection and counting of multiple snails collected from the field. Trained on approximately 2,500 citizen-collected images, the resulting model can simultaneously detect and count Biomphalaria and Radix snails with average precision of 98.1% and 98.8%, respectively. The object detection model also agreed with the expert s decision, on average, for 98.8% of the test images and can be run in real time (24.6 images per second). We conclude that the automatic and instant detection can rapidly and reliably validate data submitted by CSs in the field, ultimately minimizing expert validation efforts and thereby facilitating the mapping of putative schistosomiasis transmission sites. An extension to a mobile application could equip CSs in remote areas with instant learning opportunities and expert-like identification skills, overcoming the need for on-site training and extensive expert intervention