Black holes with topological charges in Chern-Simons AdS5 supergravity Andrianopoli, Laura; Giribet, Gaston Enrique; López Díaz, Darío; Miskovic, Olivera We study static black hole solutions with locally spherical horizons coupled to non-Abelian field in N = 4 Chern-Simons AdS5 supergravity. They are governed by three parameters associated to the mass, axial torsion and amplitude of the internal soliton, and two ones to the gravitational hair. They describe geometries that can be a global AdS space, naked singularity or a (non-)extremal black hole. We analyze physical properties of two inequivalent asymptotically AdS solutions when the spatial section at radial infinity is either a 3-sphere or a projective 3-space. An important feature of these 3-parametric solutions is that they possess a topological structure including two SU(2) solitons that wind nontrivially around the black hole horizon, as characterized by the Pontryagin index. In the extremal black hole limit, the solitons’ strengths match and a soliton-antisoliton system unwinds. That limit admits both non-BPS and BPS configurations. For the latter, the pure gauge and non-pure gauge solutions preserve 1/2 and 1/16 of the original supersymmetries, respectively. In a general case, we compute conserved charges in Hamiltonian formalism, finding many similarities with standard supergravity black holes.

Palynology of a short sequence of the Lower Devonian Beartooth Butte Formation at Cottonwood Canyon (Wyoming): age, depositional environments and plant diversity Noetinger, Maria Sol; Bippus, Alexander C.; Tomescu, Alexander M. F. The Beartooth Butte Formation hosts the most extensive Early Devonian macroflora of western North America. The age of the flora at Cottonwood Canyon (Wyoming) has been constrained to the Lochkovian–Pragian interval, based on fish biostratigraphy and unpublished palynological data. We present a detailed palynological analysis of the plant-bearing layers at Cottonwood Canyon. The palynomorphs consist of 32 spore, five cryptospore, two prasinophycean algae and an acritarch species. The stratigraphic ranges of these palynomorphs indicate a late Lochkovian or Pragian age, confirming previous age assignments. Analysis of samples from three different depositional environments of the plant-bearing sequence (layers with in situ lycophyte populations, flood layers that buried those populations and an organic matter accumulation zone within a flood layer) demonstrate distinct palynofacies. Comparisons between palynomorph and plant macrofossil diversity reveal some discrepancies. Whereas zosterophylls and lycophytes, most diverse and abundant among the macrofossils, have only one known corresponding spore type (assignable to zosterophylls) in the palynomorph assemblage, the trimerophytes, rare in the macrofossil assemblage, are represented by three spore types. Some of these discrepancies reflect taphonomic differences between the macrofossils and palynomorphs, while others could be due to the fact that the parent plants of most palynomorph types in the Cottonwood Canyon assemblage are unknown. These observations emphasize the need for concerted efforts to bring together the knowledge of macro- and microfloras within Early Devonian localities. Nevertheless, given the palaeophytogeographic significance of the Beartooth Butte Formation flora, its palynofossil and macrofossil assemblages, taken together, provide new data relevant to future discussions of Early Devonian biogeography.

Elemental speciation analysis in environmental studies: Latest trends and ecological impact Llaver, Mauricio; Fiorentini Chirino, Emiliano Franco; Oviedo, Maria Natalia; Quintas, Pamela Yanina; Wuilloud, Rodolfo German Speciation analysis is a key aspect of modern analytical chemistry, as the toxicity, environmental mobility, and bioavailability of elemental analytes are known to depend strongly on an element’s chemical species. Henceforth, great efforts have been made in recent years to develop methods that allow not only the determination of elements as a whole, but also each of its separate species. Environmental analytical chemistry has not ignored this trend, and this review aims to summarize the latest methods and techniques developed with this purpose. From the perspective of each relevant element and highlighting the importance of their speciation analysis, different sample treatment methods are introduced and described, with the spotlight on the use of modern nanomaterials and novel solvents in solid phase and liquid-liquid microextractions. In addition, an in-depth discussion of instrumental techniques aimed both at the separation and quantification of metal and metalloid species is presented, ranging from chromatographic separations to electrochemical speciation analysis. Special emphasis is made throughout this work on the greenness of these developments, considering their alignment with the precepts of the Green Chemistry concept and critically reviewing their environmental impact.

La muerte acecha en mares grises: experiencias del cruce marítimo entre Argentina y Europa durante la primera guerra mundial; Death lurks in grey seas: Experiences of the maritime crossing between Argentina and Europe during the First World War Desiderato, Agustín Daniel In recent years, the repercussions of the First World War in Latin America have received increasing attention in the academic literature. However, the impact of the war at sea on the continent has not been exhaustively investigated. With the belligerents fighting for control of overseas communication and trade routes, passengers and sailors embarked on ocean liners and cargo ships to travel between South America and Europe. This article explores and analyses the experiences of those who crossed the Atlantic to and from the Argentine Republic. In so doing, it adds a Latin American dimension to the knowledge and understanding of the 1914-18 naval war.; En los últimos años, las repercusiones de la Primera Guerra Mundial en América Latina han recibió una atención creciente en la literatura académica. Sin embargo, el impacto de la guerra en el mar en el continente no ha sido investigada exhaustivamente. Con los beligerantes luchando por el control de las rutas comerciales y de comunicación en el exterior, los pasajeros y marineros se embarcaron en transatlánticos y buques de carga para viajar entre Sudamérica y Europa. Este artículo explora y analiza las experiencias de los que cruzaron el Atlántico hacia y desde la República Argentina. Al hacerlo, añade una dimensión latinoamericana al conocimiento y comprensión de la 1914-18 guerra naval.

La literatura, el arte y el saber médico en Almas y cerebros de Enrique Gómez Carrillo; Literature, art and medical knowledge in Almas y cerebros by Enrique Gómez Carrillo Iriarte, Luis Ignacio Las relaciones entre literatura y medicina constituyen uno de los temas centrales en la literatura de fines del siglo XIX. En este artículo me refiero a la cuestión a través de dos textos de Enrique Gómez Carrillo, publicados en Almas y cerebros: el cuento Psicopatía y el tratado. Notas sobre las enfermedades de la sensación desde el punto de vista de la literatura?. En la primera parte, describo la importancia de la psiquiatría y el modo en que la literatura se sitúa en el campo de la enfermedad. En las partes segunda y tercera, comparo el tratado de Gómez Carrillo con Psycopathia sexualis, libro de Richard von Krafft-Ebing en el que se basa el escritor. En la última, extraigo algunas conclusiones referidas a las relaciones entre la literatura y la inven-ción del psicoanálisis.; The relations between literature and medicine constitute one of the central themes in the literature of the late nineteenth century. In this paper I present the issue through two texts by Enrique Gómez Carrillo, published in Almas y cerebros: the story “Psicopatía” and the treatise “Notas sobre las enfermedades de la sensación desde el punto de vista de la literatura”. In the first part I describe the importance of psychiatry and the placement of literature in the field of disease. In the second and third parts, I compare Gómez Carrillo’s treatise with Psycopathia sexualis, a book by Richard von Krafft-Ebing on which the writer is based. In the last part, I draw some conclusions regarding the relationship between literature and the invention of psychoanalysis.

A selective colorimetric chemosensor for detection of Cu(II) ions in aqueous samples Ferretti, Cristián Alejandro; Gutierrez, Leandro Gabriel; Guntero, Vanina Alejandra; Noriega, Pablo Javier; Kneeteman, Maria Nelida In this work we report a selective colorimetric chemosensor (S) for Cu2+ ion detection in aqueous media. It has been synthesized by a condensation reaction between 1-hydrazinophtalazine and 6,60-dihydroxy-5,50dimethoxy-(1,10-biphenyl)-3,30-dicarbaldehyde. The interaction between S and Cu2+ was studied and the results showed a bathochromic shift at 420 nm in UV–Vis spectra. The absorbance enhancement of S was attributed to complex formation with Cu2+ by 2:1 stoichiometry. The proposed analytical method can be applied to Cu2+ quantification with a linear range covering from 5.0 to 315.8 µM, and can be used to routinely analyze Cu2+ in environmental aqueous samples with satisfactory results.

Physical changes recorded by a deep diving seal on the Patagonian slope drive large ecological changes Aubone Videla, Nicolás; Saraceno, Martin; Torres Alberto, María Luz; Campagna, Julieta; Ster, L. Le; Picard, B.; Hindell, M.; Campagna, Claudio; Guinet, C. R. The Patagonian slope is the region where Subantarctic waters and bathymetry give raise to physical and ecological processes that support a rich biodiversity and a large-scale industrial fisheries. Unique among the species that depend on this region is the deep diving southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina. We report here on changes in the foraging behavior of a female seal explained by the combined effect of a cold and high salinity water mass and a decrease in surface chlorophyll-a concentration. Behavioral and oceanographic data from about 5000 profiles of temperature, conductivity, pressure, light and prey encounters were collected within an area ranging 59.5–61°W and 46–47.5°S, at depths of 300–700 m, on the Patagonian slope, during November–December 2018. A decrease in temperature (0.15 °C) and an increase in salinity (0.03) was found below the mixed layer, during December. Light data revealed a significant increase of irradiance in December (almost reaching the ocean bottom) associated with a decrease of chlorophyll-a in the upper levels. Concomitantly, the seal had a different diving behavior in December, foraging near the surface at night and close to the bottom during daylight hours. Also, the seal doubled the prey capture attempts in December compared to November. This study reveals the importance of ocean physical properties on seal's diving and foraging behavior, and how this changes, although small, can impact on seals diet and body composition during their post-breeding trips.

Edaphoclimatic descriptors of wild tomato species (Solanum Sect. Lycopersicon) and closely related species (Solanum Sect. Juglandifolia and Sect. Lycopersicoides) in South America Ramírez Ojeda, Gabriela; Peralta, Iris Edith; Rodríguez Guzmán, Eduardo; Sahagún Castellanos, Jaime; Chávez Servia, José Luis; Medina Hinostroza, Tulio Cecilio; Rijalba Vela, Jorge Rodrigo; Vásquez Núñez, Leopoldo Pompeyo; Rodríguez Pérez, Juan Enrique Wild species related to cultivated tomato are essential genetic resources in breeding programs focused on food security to face future challenges. The ecogeographic analysis allows identifying the species adaptive ranges and most relevant environmental variables explaining their patterns of actual distribution. The objective of this research was to identify the diversity, ecological descriptors, and statistical relationship of 35 edaphoclimatic variables (20 climatic, 1 geographic and 14 edaphic variables) from 4,649 accessions of 12 wild tomato species and 4 closely related species classified in Solanum sect. Lycopersicon and clustered into four phylogenetic groups, namely “Lycopersicon group” (S. pimpinellifolium, S. cheesmaniae, and S. galapagense), “Arcanum group” (S. arcanum, S. chmielewskii, and S. neorickii), “Eriopersicon group” (S. habrochaites, S. huaylasense, S. corneliomulleri, S. peruvianum, and S. chilense), “Neolycopersicon group” (S. pennellii); and two phylogenetically related groups in Solanum sect. Juglandifolia (S. juglandifolium and S. ochranthum), and section Lycopersicoides (S. lycopersicoides and S. sitiens). The relationship between the climate and edaphic variables were determined by the canonical correlation analysis, reaching 89.2% of variation with the first three canonical correlations. The most significant climatic variables were related to humidity (annual evapotranspiration, annual precipitation, and precipitation of driest month) and physicochemical soil characteristics (bulk density, pH, and base saturation percentage). In all groups, ecological descriptors and diversity patterns were consistent with previous reports. Regarding edaphoclimatic diversity, 12 climate types and 17 soil units were identified among all species. This approach has promissory applications for biodiversity conservation and uses valuable genetic resources related to a leading crop.

Early detection of marine invasive species following the deployment of an artificial reef: Integrating tools to assist the decision-making process Castro, Karen Lidia; Battini, Nicolás; Giachetti, Clara Belen; Trovant, Berenice; Abelando, Mariana Inés; Basso, Nestor Guillermo; Schwindt, Evangelina Early detection and rapid response plans are a set of principles to reduce the establishment, spread and impact of invasive species and it is a critical step in management in marine ecosystems. Two potentially invasive ascidians attached to the hull of a recently sunk fishing vessel were early detected in Patagonia. With the aim of assisting in the management decision-making process during the early steps of a rapid response, we conducted several analyses through different approaches. First, we identified the species through classic taxonomical and genetic analyses. Then, we evaluated the regional and international shipping connectivity to study potential donor regions and finally, we used species distribution models (SDMs) to predict the potential distribution of these species. The potentially invasive ascidians were identified as Styela clava and Styela plicata, and this is the first record for both species in the Nuevo gulf, Patagonia Argentina. Both species have a widespread distribution around the world with strong ecological and economic impacts documented. Shipping traffic analysis suggested that S. plicata could have arrived by secondary spread from regional ports, while the arrival of S. clava was likely to be associated with international shipping traffic. Furthermore, the SDM predicted that S. clava has suitable coastal areas along the entire Southwestern Atlantic shoreline, where it is currently absent. On the contrary, the SDM predicted that further southward spread of S. plicata is unlikely, being limited by the minimum annual temperature. We discussed the different approaches, tools, and expertise integrated in this work in the light of the decision-making process for the early detection of marine invasive species in the Southwestern Atlantic. Moreover, we call attention to the increased creation of artificial habitats through the intentional sinking of ships and the potential consequences of these actions in the conservation of marine ecosystems.

La semántica formal: un panorama desde la perspectiva de la gramática generativa; Formal semantics: a panoramic view from the perspective of generative grammar Carranza, Fernando Martín Este trabajo se propone trazar un estado del arte de la semántica formal o semántica composicional, disciplina que usa herramientas de la lógica y la matemática para estudiar sistemáticamente el modo en que se compone el significado lingüístico de las expresiones complejas. En primer lugar, se esboza una breve historización de la disciplina. En segundo lugar, se presenta el aparato lógico que permite construir un modelo semántico para el significado veritativo-condicional. En tercer y cuarto lugar se introducen algunos conceptos que permiten extender este sistema para modelizar los significados no proposicional y temático respectivamente. Finalmente, se resumen algunas de las propuestas y discusiones respecto de cómo utilizar este aparato para dar cuenta del significado de una selección de clases de palabras y categorías gramaticales disponibles en las lenguas naturales.; The aim of this paper is to provide a state of the art in the field of formal semantics, a branch of linguistics which relies on logic and mathematics to study systematically how the meaning of complex linguistic expressions is derived. First, I offer an overview of the history of the discipline. Second, I present the logical apparatus that allows us to build a semantic model for truth-value meaning. In the third and fourth place, I introduce some concepts that make it possible to extend the formal system in order to deal with not-at-issue and information-structure meanings, respectively. Finally, I review some of the proposals and discussions on how to use this system to account for a selection of parts of speech and grammatical categories available in natural languages.

Emerging Hantaviruses in Central Argentina: first case of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome caused by Alto Paraguay Virus and a novel orthohantavirus in Scapteromys aquaticus rodent Bellomo, Carla María; Alonso, Daniel Oscar; Ricardo, Tamara; Coelho, Rocío María; Kehl, Sebastian Dario; Periolo, Natalia; Azogaray, Viviana; Casas, Natalia; Ottonelli, Mariano; Bergero, Laura; Cudós, María Carolina; Previtali, Maria Andrea; Martínez, Valeria P. Orthohantaviruses are emerging rodent-borne pathogens that cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in humans. They have a wide range of rodent reservoir hosts and are transmitted to humans through aerosolized viral particles generated by the excretions of infected individuals. Since the first description of HPS in Argentina, new hantaviruses have been reported throughout the country, most of which are pathogenic to humans. We present here the first HPS case infected with Alto Paraguay virus reported in Argentina. Until now, Alto Paraguay virus was considered a non-pathogenic orthohantavirus since it was identified in a rodent, Holochilus chacarius. In addition to this, with the goal of identifying potential hantavirus host species in the province of Santa Fe, we finally describe a novel orthohantavirus found in the native rodent Scapteromys aquaticus, which differed from other hantaviruses described in the country so far. Our findings implicate an epidemiological warning regarding these new orthohantaviruses circulating in Central Argentina as well as new rodent species that must be considered as hosts from now on.

Complot y paranoia en La maestra rural y Distancia de rescate; Plot and paranoia in La maestra rural and Distancia de rescate Feuillet, Lucía Abordamos aquí dos novelas argentinas contemporáneas que cruzan estrategias narrativas paranoicas con figuraciones del complot. La maestra rural (2016), de Luciano Lamberti, narra una conspiración extraterrestre que atraviesa varios regímenes políticos, a partir de una red de voces alucinadas. Distancia de rescate (2015), escrita por Samanta Schweblin, asume la forma de un interrogatorio guiado por un personaje transmigrado que evidencia la amenaza del modelo económico agroexportador. Estas ficciones reestructuran la temporalidad histórica y desnudan las alianzas secretas entre las clases dominantes y el Estado. Nuestra perspectiva hermenéutica sigue la propuesta de Fredric Jameson para interpretar los significados histórico-políticos a partir de dos ideologemas. El complot y la paranoia son estos dispositivos mediadores que nos permiten articular el cruce entre elementos del fantasy, el policial, la ciencia ficción y el terror en el corpus, e integrar estos sentidos a una reescritura de la totalidad fracturada de lo social.; This article explores paranoid narrative strategies and figurations of the conspiracy in two contemporary Argentine novels. La maestra rural (2017), by Luciano Lamberti, narrates a conspiracy with aliens through various historical periods, a network of hallucinated voices builds this fiction. Distancia de rescate (2015), written by Samanta Schweblin, is a story outlined as an interrogation where a transmigrated character –that shows the consequences of the agro-export business– guides the plot. These fictions restructure historical temporality and show alliances between the ruling classes and the State. Our hermeneutical perspective follows Fredric Jameson’s proposal to read the historical-political meanings throughout two ideologemes. In this case, conspiracy and paranoia are the devices that allow us to articulate the intersection between fantasy, police genre, science fiction, and horror, and to integrate these meanings into a rewriting of the fractured social totality.

Freshwater protists: unveiling the unexplored in a large floodplain system Metz, Sebastián Darío; Huber, Maria Paula; Accattatis, Victoria; Santos, Adriana Lopes dos; Bigeard, Estelle; Unrein, Fernando; Chambouvet, Aurélie; Not, Fabrice; Lara, Enrique; Devercelli, Melina Protists play a fundamental role in all ecosystems, but we are still far from estimating the total diversity of many lineages, in particular in highly diverse environments, such as freshwater. Here, we survey the protist diversity of the Paraná River using metabarcoding, and we applied an approach that includes sequence similarity and phylogeny to evaluate the degree of genetic novelty of the protists´ communities against the sequences described in the reference database PR2. We observed that ~28% of the amplicon sequence variants were classified as novel according to their similarity with sequences from the reference database; most of them were related to heterotrophic groups traditionally overlooked in freshwater systems. This lack of knowledge extended to those groups within the green algae (Archaeplastida) that are well documented such as Mamiellophyceae, and also to the less studied Pedinophyceae, for which we found sequences representing novel deep-branching clusters. Among the groups with potential novel protists, Bicosoecida (Stramenopiles) were the best represented, followed by Codosiga (Opisthokonta), and the Perkinsea (Alveolata). This illustrates the lack of knowledge on freshwater planktonic protists and also the need for isolation and/or cultivation of new organisms to better understand their role in ecosystem functioning.

Human impacted shallow lakes in the Pampean plain are ideal hosts for cyanobacterial harmful blooms O'farrell, Ines; Sánchez, María Laura; Schiaffino, María Romina; Izaguirre, Irina; Huber, Maria Paula; Lagomarsino, Leonardo; Yema, Lilen The ecological status of Pampean shallow lakes is evidenced by Cyanobacteria Harmful Blooms impairing these nutrient enriched, turbid and polymictic water bodies spread along the Central Plains of Argentina. Under the premise that shallow lakes are sentinels of global climate and eutrophication, a 3-year research in ten lakes located across a climatic gradient explored which factors drove the dynamics of cyanobacterial assemblages frequently driving to bloom prevalence. Contrarily to what is expected, the effect of seasonal temperature on cyanobacteria was subordinated to both the light environment of the water column, which was on turn highly affected by water level conditions, and to nutrient concentrations. Monthly samplings evidenced that cyanobacterial assemblages presented a broad-scale temporal dynamics mostly reflecting inter-annual growth patterns driven by water level fluctuations. Both species composition and biovolume gradually changed across a gradient of resources and conditions and hence, the scenario in each individual lake was unique with patterns at different temporal and spatial scales. More than 35 filamentous and colonial morphospecies constituted the assemblages of Pampean lakes: nostocaleans and chroococcaleans were inversely correlated in the prevailing interannual 3- cycled patterns.

Migration of red grape extract components and glycerol from soybean protein concentrate active films into food simulants Agustinelli, Silvina Paola; Ciannamea, Emiliano Manuel; Ruseckaite, Roxana Alejandra; Martucci, Josefa Fabiana Migration of glycerol and red grape extract (RGE) components from bioactive soybean protein concentrate (SPC) films into aqueous and fatty food simulants was performed as a function of temperature. GC-MS and HPLC methods were applied to quantify the amount of glycerol and RGE individual components migrated into the simulants. Overall migration (OM) in fatty simulant was below the limit imposed by the legislation of 10 mg/dm2. RGE components migrated preferentially to the fatty simulant due to the structural complexity and solubility of the migrant. Contrarily, glycerol was released at higher extent and rate into aqueous medium, due to its inherent hydrophilic nature. Migration process was described by Fick's diffusion second law, and the apparent diffusion coefficient (Dapp) was derived from an analytical solution. Dapp values ranged from 1.5 10−14 to 1.6 10−13 cm2 s−1 under different conditions. The efficiency of SPC films was tested on steam cooked mackerel chunks during storage 4 ± 1 °C for 21 days. Antioxidant activity of films decayed upon storage but both kept more that 50% of their initial radical scavenging activity after 21 d. SPC-RGE film delayed the maximum oxidation by 3 d compared to the control and samples packed in SPC film, more likely due to the lower oxygen permeability and higher radical scavenging activity of SPC- RGE film. Findings suggested that films based on SPC containing RGE can be considered as potential sustainable active food packaging material.

Una aproximación al estudio de las políticas públicas de vivienda rural en Tucumán; An approach to the study of rural housing public policies in Tucumán Garay, Ana; Gómez López, Claudia Fernanda En Argentina, el modelo de política habitacional concebido y aplicado durante los ´50 y ´60, profundizado luego desde el Fondo Nacional de Vivienda (FONAVI) en 1972, se fundó en la idea de que la producción masiva favorecería al desarrollo sostenido de la industria de la construcción, permitiendo superar el déficit y beneficiando a la economía en su conjunto.Este modelo se implementó de igual manera en los ámbitos rurales y las políticas públicas habitacionales no han tendido a abordar lo rural con una identidad propia, ni se han tenido en cuenta los modos de vida y habitar de esta población. En este sentido, este trabajo se plantea realizar un recorrido histórico por las políticas públicas de vivienda rural llevadas a cabo en Tucumán desde 1860 a 2018, analizando las lógicas y procesos que promueven.Entre los resultados se observa que, a partir de la creación del Instituto Provincial de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (IPVDU) en 1969, la producción de vivienda estatal continúa focalizada en realizar obras con características urbanas, sin diferenciarse hacia el interior rural de la provincia. Esto excluye los modos de vida y de habitar de las poblaciones destinatarias.; In Argentina, the housing policy model conceived and applied during the 1950s, 1960s and later, deepened by the National Housing Fund (FONAVI) in 1972, was based on the idea that mass production would favor the sustained development of the construction industry, making it possible to overcome the deficit and benefiting the economy as a whole. This model was implemented in the same way in rural areas, and public housing policies have not tended to address rural areas with their own identity, nor have they taken into account the ways of life and habitation of this population. In this sense, this paper sets out to carry out a historical review of the public rural housing policies carried out in Tucumán from 1860 to 2018, analyzing the logics and processes that they promote. The results show that, since the creation of the Provincial Institute of Housing and Urban Development (IPVDU) in 1969, the production of state housing continues to focus on works with urban characteristics, without differentiating towards the rural interior of the province. This excludes the lifestyles and ways of life of the target populations.

An Incursion Into the Reality of Money Transfer Programs in Brazil and Argentina: 2016-2021 Da Silva E Silva, Maria Ozanira; Fernandez Soto, Silvia; Ferreira Santos De Almada Lima, Valéria The article referenced in results of several empirical, documental and bibliographical research studies about money transfer programs developed under the coordination and with the participation of the authors, discusses the reality of these programs under implementation in Brazil and Argentina, situating them in the 2016-2021 period. It begins with the socioeconomic and political context of both countries, highlighting the prevalence of ultraliberalism with negative repercussions on the labor market and on poverty, a situation which is rendered worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. It also discusses the debate, reality and implementation of more significant money transfer programs in Brazil and Argentina, to conclude by highlighting the significant contribution of the latter in forming social protection systems in Latin America, focusing on Brazil and Argentina.

A full-atom multiscale modelling for sodium chloride diffusion in anion exchange membranes Luque Di Salvo, Javier Esteban; De Luca, Giorgio; Cipollina, Andrea; Micale, Giorgio A novel full-atom multiscale method, combining different computational approaches and aimed to describe diffusion of multiple ions in anion exchange membranes (AEM), is presented. The method is used to evaluate diffusion of chloride and sodium ions in polysulfone tetramethylammonium (PSU-TMA) membranes, with particular attention to the co-ion diffusion. The hydration of the PSU-TMA is computed as a function of the membrane ionic exchange capacity via Density Functional Theory (DFT) and used for carrying out molecular dynamics simulations (MD). An upgraded DFT-based approach is proposed to obtain the atoms’ charges used in the force field for the MD simulations. Three approaches have been adopted to evaluate the chloride self-diffusion coefficients, the first based on the Mean Square Displacement, while the others use two analytical models: Mackie-Meares and Yasuda-Lamaze-Ikenberry. For membranes with ideal selectivity, the computed chloride diffusion coefficients result in good agreement with literature values, highlighting the critical role of the water content on the diffusion of ions as the water uptake decreases. The full-atom modelling allows to reproduce the transition from normal to anomalous diffusion when decreasing the water volume fraction as expected experimentally. Moreover, to simulate real conditions, counter-ion and co-ion concentrations inside the AEM have been determined using the Donnan-Manning model. In this case, four approaches have been tested to balance the excess of charge obtained from the DFT calculations, finding, for one of them, a good agreement between theoretical and experimental diffusion coefficients. Finally, the calculation of fundamental quantities, necessary for the modelling of the sodium chloride diffusion, without resorting to adjustable parameters represents the guideline of the proposed methodology.

Decoding information in multilayer ecological networks: The keystone species case Huaylla, Claudia Alejandra; Nacif, Marcos Ezequiel; Coulin, Carolina; Kuperman, Marcelo Nestor; Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro The construction of a network capturing the topological structure linked to the interactions among species and the analysis of its properties constitutes a clarifying way to understand the functioning of an ecosystem at different scales of analysis. Here, we present a novel systematic procedure to profit from the enhanced information derived from considering its multiple levels and apply it to analyse the presence of keystone species. The proposed method presents a way to unveil the information stored in a network by comparing it to some randomised modification of itself. The randomising of the original network is done by swapping a controlled number of links while preserving the degree of the nodes. Then, we compare the modularity value of the original network with the randomised counterparts, which gives us a measure of the amount of relevant information stored in the first one. Once we have verified that the modularity value is meaningful, we use it to perform a community analysis and a characterisation of other topological properties in order to identify keystone species. We applied this method to a pollinator–plant–herbivore trophic network as a case study and we found that (a) the comparison between the modularity of the original and the randomised networks is a suitable tool to detect relevant information; and (b) identifying keystone species yields different results in bipartite networks from the ones obtained in networks of more than two trophic levels. We also analysed the effect of eliminating selected species from the system on the cohesion of the network. The selection of these species was made according to the centralities values, such as degree and betweenness, of the corresponding nodes. Our findings show that our analysis, mainly based on the measure of modularity is a reliable tool to characterise ecological networks. Additionally, we argue that since degree and betweenness are not always correlated, it is more reliable to measure both in an attempt to detect keystone species. The methodology proposed here to identify keystone species can be applied to other ecological networks currently available in the literature.

Scope and limitations of a multiplex conventional PCR for the diagnosis of S. stercoralis and hookworms Fleitas, Pedro Emanuel; Vargas Flores, Paola Andrea; Caro, Nicolas; Almazán, María Cristina; Echazú, Adriana; Juarez, Marisa del Valle; Cajal, Silvana Pamela; Krolewiecki, Alejandro Javier; Nasser, Julio Rubén; Cimino, Rubén Oscar Objectives: Describe the diagnostic characteristics of a conventional multiplex PCR for the diagnosis of S. stercoralis, N. americanus and Ancylostomas spp. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from a cross-sectional study in Oran department, Salta province, Argentina. The stool samples were analyzed using concentration-sedimentation, Harada Mori, McMaster, and Baermann techniques. DNA was extracted from 50 mg fecal sample using the FastPrepSpin Kit for Soil. Three pairs of primers were used for the amplification of three products of 101, 330, and 577 base pairs (bp) for S. stercoralis, N. americanus and Ancylostoma spp, respectively. The sensitivity and analytical specificity of multiplex PCR were evaluated, as well as the sensitivity and diagnostic specificity, using a composite standard and Bayesian approach. Results and Conclusions: Multiplex PCR did not present cross-reaction with other intestinal parasites, and the detection limit for multiplex PCR was between 2 and 20 pg of genomic DNA. In addition it presented a diagnostic sensitivity of 97.4% for S. stercoralis and 90.3% for hookworms with a specificity of 100% and 87.6%, respectively. PCR identified a higher proportion (p <0.01) of coinfections (15.3%) than microscopic techniques (3.5%). Also, multiplex PCR showed that there was a positive association between S. stercoralis and hookworms (odds ratio = 2.12). However, this association was due to N. americanus (odds ratio= 3.22), since no association was observed between S. stercoralis and Ancylostoma spp. Neither was an association observed between the two species of hookworms.