September 2022 - news - Mailman @ IFISC

IFISC News - Researcher’s Night 2022: La Resistència Científica

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

Researcher’s Night 2022: La Resistència Científica La Resistencia Científica is a late night science show that will bring together the centres of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in the Balearic archipelago to talk about the science being done in these islands with a touch of humour.Organised on the occasion of Researchers' Night 2022, IFISC together with the CSIC Representation in the Balearic Islands and with the support of the Dirección General de Política Universitaria e Investigación Research and the "la Caixa" Foundation.The event will consist of 4 free shows from 26th to 29th September in the Lluís Domènech i Montaner auditorium of Caixaforum in Palma from 19:00.There will also be live music by the group REFRACTAL. The stage will be decorated by the associations Noctiluca and Mar Inquieto and the artists Nivola Uyà and África Juan with materials they have collected from rubbish collection in the different coastal areas of Mallorca. ProgrammeMonday 26 September: A complex worldAt the Institute of Interdisciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC, CSIC-UIB) research is being carried out into the intersections between different disciplines such as quantum technologies, information and communications technologies, Earth sciences, life sciences and social sciences, all from an interdisciplinary and strategic perspective in the field of Complex Systems.The interviewee for this first show will be David Sánchez, researcher at IFISC. We will learn about the breadth of research in complex systems thanks to his multidisciplinary profile as a scientist, as he works in areas ranging from nanophysics to language variation and quantum thermodynamics. Tuesday 27 September: The marine environmentThis session will focus on oceanographic culture, as we will be visited by the Balearic Islands Oceanographic Centre (COB, CSIC-IEO). We will learn about the tasks and research carried out by COB staff in the multidisciplinary study of the marine environment, its ecosystems and living resources.Wednesday 28 September: Ocean, coastline and geology; between two worlds.Double session, where we will have two interviews:Pedro Robledo, the director of the Territorial Unit in the Balearic Islands of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME, CSIC), will tell us all about the research they carry out in the Balearic archipelago, such as geoscientific mapping, groundwater, geological risks, underground world and global change.Emma Reyes and Benjamín Casas, from the Coastal Observation and Forecasting System of the Balearic Islands (ICTS SOCIB), will explain the network of facilities and equipment dedicated to marine observation and the acquisition, processing and analysis of data for predictive modelling. Thursday 29 September: Plankton: from micro to macro in the oceanThe mission of the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB) is to contribute to the advancement of knowledge of marine, coastal and island ecosystems in order to preserve and restore them. We will be visited by the director of IMEDEA, Gotzon Basterretxea and the pre-doctoral fellow, Medea Zanoli, who will tell us how a heterogeneous research team of the Institute works to contribute to the understanding of these microscopic and elusive organisms called "plankton". Book free tickets http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/researchers-night-2022-la-resistencia-cien…

8 months, 2 weeks

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IFISC News - IFISC People: Michael Moskalets

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

IFISC People: Michael Moskalets We are glad to introduce Michael Moskalets to the other IFISC members. Moskalets graduated from the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute", where he is a Leading research fellow. At IFISC he will be working for the next two years on the project entitled “Floquet quantum information processing devices” with IFISC researchers Sungguen Ryu, Rosa López, Llorenç Serra, and David Sánchez. This project is devoted to the development of a theoretical approach based on the Floquet scattering matrix to describe the generation and propagation of single- to few-electron current pulses in phase-coherent, including superconducting, nanostructures that are promising for the next generation of quantum information processing devices. Such studies are desirable and timely with large potential for applications in European quantum technologies (FET-Flagship). The systems under consideration (quantum emitters, chiral conductors) will maintain strong connections with today’s experiments. http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/ifisc-people-michael-moskalets/

8 months, 2 weeks

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IFISC News - Modelling the deadly noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) epidemic

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

Modelling the deadly noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) epidemic A model designed by researchers from IFISC (UIB-CSIC), in collaboration with IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), LIMIA (IRFAP) and INAGEA, develops an epidemiological model to comprehend marine epizooticsIn a new article written by IFISC and the University of Buenos Aires, the researchers analyse the spatial effects of this type of epidemic affecting immobile hosts. Their findings include that the more mobile the parasites transmitting the pathogen, the more severe the epidemiological outbreaks. A joint IFISC (UIB-CSIC) and University of Buenos Aires project analyses how spatial distribution affects underwater epidemics involving immobile hosts. Published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, the study builds on a previous epidemiological model developed by an interdisciplinary collaboration between IFISC (UIB-CSIC), IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), LIMIA (IRFAP) and INAGEA, as published in Ecological Modelling. This new model reproduces epizootics: epidemics that simultaneously attack a large number of individuals of one or several animal species, factoring in the state of the parasites acting as infectious agents. The authors validate the model with data from the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) epidemic, transmitted between individuals by the parasite Haplosporidium pinnae, which has decimated this particular mollusc population in the Mediterranean Sea. The new article explores the model’s properties in a more realistic scenario where pathogen transmission is conditioned by host spatial distribution and parasite mobility, as well as the stochastic effects that occur in small systems. When studying transmission in epidemics (such as Covid-19), the so-called SIR model is the most widely used. In this approach, all individuals in the population are divided into three categories that give the model its name: S- Susceptible to infection, I- Infected and R- Removed (those who cannot be reinfected either because they have acquired immunity or died). These three elements suffice to describe many epidemics of contact diseases, where infected individuals cannot be reinfected (such as chickenpox). Marine epidemics, however, involve subtler processes, especially when the host is unable to move because it is a sessile organism and the disease needs the assistance of another organism or mechanism to infect new individuals. The authors of the study propose an evolution of the classical SIR model by adding a new state—P— to represent parasitic concentration in marine environments. The SIRP model, alongside similar recently published models, is a new development since previous models only considered the host state. Infection in sessile hosts (such as noble pen shells) does not occur by direct contact but, rather, by production and excretion of parasites by infected individuals that healthy (Susceptible) hosts absorb through filtration. Parasites are produced and excreted into the marine environment, where they remain infectious until they die or are absorbed by hosts. In other words, in parasite-borne marine diseases, parasites have a dual role: not only are they agents that induce infection but also act as vectors that transmit the disease from an infected immobile host to a susceptible one. Including an additional parameter makes the model more complex in terms of analytical processing, although the authors demonstrate that the SIRP model can be simplified to an SIR model under certain conditions, representing an original contribution of the study. The model was validated with available experimental data for the recent noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) epidemic caused by the Haplosporidium pinnae parasite, and demonstrated that the reduced SIR model is able to fit the data. Thus, even if species suffering epidemics cannot move (such as the noble pen shell) and contagion is due to parasites, under certain conditions it is possible to study transmission as if by direct contact. Once the model was validated with experimental data, the researchers analysed the impact of spatial transmission. They found that parasite mobility affects epidemiological conditions: greater mobility facilitates transmission between specimens and leads to more severe epidemics with more rapid extinctions. A future goal will be to analyse the actual spatial distributions of noble pen shells. The authors conclude that this novel approach may be useful for understanding emerging diseases in shellfish species with a high economic and ecological value. Parasite-borne pathogens are responsible for some of the most significant and consistent marine disease epizootics on record, and are considered to be the main epidemics of concern for the global seafood industry. Photo: Arnaud Abadie Àlex Giménez-Romero, Amalia Grau, Iris E. Hendriks, Manuel A. Matías (2021). Modelling parasite-produced marine diseases: The case of the mass mortality event of Pinna nobilis, Ecological Modelling, 459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2021.109705 Àlex Giménez-Romero, Federico Vázquez, Cristóbal López, Manuel A. Matías (2022). Spatial effects in parasite-induced marine diseases of immobile hosts. R. Soc. Open Sci., 9, 212023. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.212023Photo: Arnaud AbadieUIBÚltima Hora http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/modelling-deadly-noble-pen-shell-pinna-nob…

8 months, 2 weeks

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IFISC News - Identifying the acidification trend of the Balearic Sea using artificial intelligence

by ifisc＠ifisc.uib-csic.es

Identifying the acidification trend of the Balearic Sea using artificial intelligence An interdisciplinary team from CSIC centers in the Balearic Islands has presented the first acidification rate in the coastal area of the Balearic Sea to elucidate the consequences of climate change in coastal areas of the archipelago. The aim of the study has focused on reconstructing incomplete time series of relevant pH through the use of artificial intelligence techniques. The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, indicate that these coastal areas show a trend of pH decrease (acidification) of 0.0020±0.00054 pH units per year. This trend is similar to the one observed in other basins of the global ocean and is mainly due to the incorporation of atmospheric carbon dioxide into the seawater and the increase in temperature. "This work is a valuable contribution to understanding the role of coastal zones and the effects of climate change on the ecosystems present here," says Dr. Hendriks, the project's lead researcher, "The decrease in seawater pH is due to the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and results in major alterations that have a major impact on marine ecosystems. For example, ocean acidification leads to reduced saturation levels of carbonate minerals, which increases difficulties in shell formation for calcifying marine organisms (plankton, molluscs, echinoderms and corals). So measuring how pH is changing in these areas is key to characterizing the problem," Hendriks explains. The Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), the Andalusian Institute of Marine Sciences (ICMAN, CSIC), the Institute of Interdisciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC, CSIC-UIB), the Balearic Islands Coastal Observation and Forecasting System (ICTS SOCIB), and the Institute of Marine Sciences (IIM, CSIC) have participated in the study. The management team of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park and the Regional Ministry of the Environment and Territory have collaborated in the project. It has also been funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Govern de les Illes Balears and the BBVA Foundation. The study has constituted a major operational effort that began in 2018 with the collection of pH data, along with other variables (water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen levels), at the monitoring stations of the Balearic Ocean Acidification Time Series (BOATS) network in the Bay of Palma and in the Maritime-Terrestrial National Park of the Cabrera archipelago, within the CSIC Water:iOS Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform. However, the maintenance of this type of stations involves several difficulties - financial costs, meteorological risks, deployment in areas with high shipping traffic, instrumental failures, etc. - which implies the appearance of gaps in the data and, therefore, a loss of quality when it comes to preparing global studies. In order to fill these gaps and estimate the pH series over a wide time interval prior to monitoring, the team applied Deep Learning techniques, an emerging area of Machine Learning that has recently made substantial advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, several models of recurrent neural networks were developed which, when trained, allowed the pH series to be related to the set of environmental variables obtained, predicting the pH value when it is not available. Thanks, therefore, to the work of obtaining a large amount of data and the subsequent application of these techniques, it has been possible to reconstruct the decadal trend of acidification of the Balearic Sea, which is the main result of the work. Flecha, S., Giménez-Romero, À., Tintoré, J., Pérez, F. F., Alou-Font, E., Matías, M. A., & Hendriks, I. E. (2022). pH trends and seasonal cycle in the coastal Balearic Sea reconstructed through machine learning. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17253-5CSIC http://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/news/identifying-acidification-trend-balearic-s…

8 months, 3 weeks

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