Feasibility of Expandable Polystyrene in the Construction of Housing of Social Interest in the City of Azogues

The lack of decent housing to settle down and have a family is one of the most relevant problems in Ecuador, currently the demographic expansion has made the population look for alternatives that are often limited by the lack of economic resources to acquire a house or apartment, it is thus that housing solutions financed and built by the State are so|ught to reduce the index of homelessness, however the construction costs that arise are high, before which alternatives are sought in terms of the materials of manufacturing, thus, the use of expandable polystyrene (EPS) in civil construction is giving great results in terms of comfort, energy reduction, price and other benefits. That is why the objective of this research work is to analyze the feasibility of the use of EPS in the construction of social housing (VIS) in the city of Azogues - Ecuador, and which are planned by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MIDUVI). For which a bibliographic-documentary research methodology was used with a cross-sectional approach to studies about the use of EPS in construction. The results show that the quality of this material is highly reliable for its use in the construction of houses, so it must be used in the VIS projects executed by MIDUVI, which will generate great benefits for all the actors involved; In conclusion, there are several studies that give credit to the functionality that EPS offers, especially because it offers the possibility of being used with other traditional materials and giving a finished work of high quality in a short time.

Co-inoculation With Rhizobacteria and Mycorrhizae Can Improve Wheat/Faba Bean Intercrop Performance Under Field Conditions

Current challenges of climate changes and demographic expansion have imposed increasing awareness about innovation in sustainable agricultural practices. Farming practices like intercropping have many benefits in terms of nutrient use and yield stability. Improving the performance of intercropping systems by the application of beneficial microorganisms (rhizobacteria and/or mycorrhizae) constitutes a promising strategy. In this regard, this study aimed to assess the effect of inoculation with beneficial microorganisms on wheat as monocrop or intercrop with faba bean, using four inoculation treatments: (i) inoculation with rhizobacteria, (ii) inoculation with mycorrhizae, (iii) inoculation with the rhizobacteria-mycorrhizae consortium, and (iv) a control treatment consisting of uninoculated plants. Results showed that rhizobacteria-mycorrhizae co-inoculation under intercropping system improved plant dry weight and spike weight of wheat by 375 and 162%, respectively, compared with uninoculated intercropped wheat. The thousand-seed weight was improved by 86% in wheat intercropped and inoculated with the rhizobacteria-mycorrhizae consortium. Furthermore, higher P and N concentrations were observed in shoots and spikes of wheat intercropped with faba bean, and this increase was also observed in response to inoculation with the rhizobacteria-mycorrhizae consortium in terms of P in shoots and spikes (by 74 and 18%) of intercropped wheat. In addition, intercropped wheat has significantly accumulated sugar in the seeds for all inoculated treatments (except inoculation with mycorrhizae). Overall, these findings revealed that intercropping and inoculation yielded better, suggesting that intercropping combined with the application of beneficial microorganisms, such as rhizobacteria and mycorrhizae, have the potential to improve overall crop yield.

Threadfin Porgy (Evynnis Cardinalis) Haplotype Pattern and Genetic Structure in Beibu Gulf, South China Sea

Threadfin porgy (Evynnis cardinalis) is one of the important commercial fishing targets of bottom trawl fishery in the northern South China Sea. It is mainly threatened by overexploitation and listed as endangered species in the IUCN Red List. To investigate the demographic history and genetic structure of E. cardinalis population, partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene were obtained from 162 individuals collected from Beibu Gulf, South China Sea. In total, 44 different haplotypes were identified, and the dominant haplotype was found in all sampling sites. Across the dataset, nucleotide diversity was low, whereas haplotype diversity was high. Low pairwise comparisons of ΦST and high gene flow among sampling sites revealed a genetically homogeneous population structure in Beibu Gulf, indicating a single panmictic stock of E. cardinalis in this area. The star-like haplotype network, unimodal mismatch distribution, and significantly negative Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs values indicated recent population demographic expansion of E. cardinalis. The mismatch distribution and Bayesian skyline plot results indicated that E. cardinalis from Beibu Gulf might have experienced colonization and demographic expansion due to sea level fluctuations during the late Pleistocene.

The first quantitative assessment of radiocarbon chronologies for initial pottery in Island Southeast Asia supports multi-directional Neolithic dispersal

Neolithization, or the Holocene demographic expansion of farming populations, accounts for significant changes in human and animal biology, artifacts, languages, and cultures across the earth. For Island Southeast Asia, the orthodox Out of Taiwan hypothesis proposes that Neolithic expansion originated from Taiwan with populations moving south into Island Southeast Asia, while the Western Route Migration hypothesis suggests the earliest farming populations entered from Mainland Southeast Asia in the west. These hypotheses are also linked to competing explanations of the Austronesian expansion, one of the most significant population dispersals in the ancient world that influenced human and environmental diversity from Madagascar to Easter Island and Hawai‘i to New Zealand. The fundamental archaeological test of the Out of Taiwan and Western Route Migration hypotheses is the geographic and chronological distribution of initial pottery assemblages, but these data have never been quantitatively analyzed. Using radiocarbon determinations from 20 archaeological sites, we present a Bayesian chronological analysis of initial pottery deposition in Island Southeast Asia and western Near Oceania. Both site-scale and island-scale Bayesian models were produced in Oxcal using radiocarbon determinations that are most confidently associated with selected target events. Our results indicate multi-directional Neolithic dispersal in Island Southeast Asia, with the earliest pottery contemporaneously deposited in western Borneo and the northern Philippines. This work supports emerging research that identifies separate processes of biological, linguistic, and material culture change in Island Southeast Asia.

Megalithic Period in North Maidan, Karnataka

The megalithic period in Karnataka is significant as it witnessed technological developments like the beginning of use of iron and fast wheel for the making of pottery as well as socio-economic and institutional developments such as the emergence of an agrarian base, demographic expansion, rudimentary craft specialisation, a developing exchange network and a degree of social differentiation. Many features typical of the megalithic phase continue into the early historic period. In fact, the megalithic and the early historical do not essentially represent two distinct chronological entities and are found overlapping at certain sites. So far, there is no literary evidence for the culture, and there is nothing to suggest that the society was literate—if graffiti on the megalithic pottery do not turn out to be symbols of writing

Genetic diversity of marbled goby populations in the Anatolian coasts of the north-eastern Mediterranean

The demographic histories, genetic relationships and population structure of sedentary fish Pomatoschistus marmoratus (Risso, 1810), which was sampled from the north-eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea (including the Turkish coasts of the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Levantine Sea and Sea of Marmara), were investigated by mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (652 bp) and cytochrome b (526 bp) regions. It was found that the population groups had high haplotype diversity while the nucleotide diversity was quite low for both gene regions. Phylogeographic analyses of the haplotypes indicated that the Levantine population (LEV) were genetically different from other populations. Also, the gene flow between LEV and the other populations was very limited. The results of the analyses of neutrality and mismatch distributions that were applied to the population groups were evaluated as a whole. It was determined that the haplogroup that represents the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara populations (BLAMAR) was stable, but the Levantine population (LEV) was under the sudden demographic expansion model following the population bottleneck. The genetic variance indices indicated sudden demographic expansion following population contraction. This was supported by star-shaped haplotype networks. The reason for this limited gene flow and differentiation between the Levantine population (LEV) and the others was linked with wind-driven offshore transport of the larvae and surface currents in these sub-basins. The timing of the differentiation, demographic histories of populations associated with geological and palaeo-climatic events and current ecological conditions were discussed.