aims: Among different causes, operating room traffic is known to be a factor in surgical site infection and surgical team distraction. Therefore, it is essential to reduce door openings during operation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the A3 method on operating room human traffic. methods: The present study with a quasi-experimental, two-group and three-stage intervention design was conducted for three months in the operating rooms of Ayatollah Kashani Hospital of Isfahan in Iran. The study samples were selected by census method. The door openings were counted in the first and third phases and the intervention with the A3 method was carried out in the second phase for one month. Data collection tools include a digital counter and a time attendance machine mounted on the operating room door, as well as a researcher-made checklist to record the specifics of each operation and the factors causing the traffic. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 22 software using descriptive statistics. Results: The use of the A3 intervention resulted in a 46% reduction in traffic. On average, door openings per operation decreased from 54.9 times to 31.09 times. Conclusions: The A3 method as one of the processes of Lean management can be effective in reducing the operating room traffic

The stock-specific distribution of maturing and adult salmon in the Northeast (NE) Pacific has been a persistent information gap that has prevented us from determining the ocean conditions experienced by individual stocks. This continues to impede understanding of the role of ocean conditions in stock-specific population dynamics. We assessed scale archives for 17 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stocks covering the entire North Pacific, from the Columbia River to Kamchatka Peninsula, to define salmon locations during their last growing season before returning to their spawning grounds. We used the relationship between δ13C in salmon scales and sea water temperature to estimate salmon distribution based on correlation strength. Significant correlations were found for 13 of the stocks allowing us to define feeding grounds with confidence. Complementary information from δ15N, historical tagging studies, and connectivity analysis were used to further refine distribution estimates. Based on the estimated distributions of the NE Pacific stocks, we suggest a sequence of steps that could result in salmon marine distributions. This study is a first step toward determining stock-specific distributions of salmon in the NE Pacific, and provides a basis for the application of the approach to other salmon scale archives. This information will improve our ability to relate stock dynamics to ocean conditions, ultimately enabling improved stock management. For example, our estimated distributions of Bristol Bay and NE Pacific stocks demonstrated that they occupy different areas with a number of the former being distributed in the high productivity shelf waters of the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. This may explain while these stocks seem to have responded differently to changes in ocean conditions, and the long term trend of increased productivity of Bristol Bay sockeye.

We, the students of MICI5029/5049, a Graduate Level Molecular Pathogenesis Journal Club at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS, Canada, hereby submit a review of the following BioRxiv preprint:Keir M. Balla, Marlen C. Rice, James A. Gagnon, Nels C. Elde. Discovery of a prevalent picornavirus by visualizing zebrafish immune responses. BioRxiv 823989; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/823989We will adhere to the Universal Principled (UP) Review guidelines proposed in:Krummel M, Blish C, Kuhns M, Cadwell K, Oberst A, Goldrath A, Ansel KM, Chi H, O’Connell R, Wherry EJ, Pepper M; Future Immunology Consortium. (2019) Universal Principled Review: A Community-Driven Method to Improve Peer Review. Cell . 2019 Dec 12;179(7):1441-1445. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.029SUMMARY: The revolution in metagenomics has revealed the ubiquity of viruses in the environment. Viruses outnumber hosts, and only a small fraction cause disease. One way to identify potentially pathogenic viruses specifically associated with a host is to select for engagement of antiviral immune responses. Here, Balla KM, et al ., report on the development of a transgenic zebrafish line that produces green fluorescent protein (GFP) in response to the antiviral zebrafish type I interferon (IFN) protein, IFNφ. They observed spontaneous GFP expression in a minority of zebrafish only days after hatching. They employed RNA sequencing and 5’-RACE to identify the complete genome of a new picornavirus, ZfPV, in the GFP-expressing fish that was distantly related to known viruses. By conducting bioinformatic analyses on publicly available sequence data they identified ZfPV in seemingly asymptomatic fish in labs worldwide. They observed higher viral load in clonal CG2 zebrafish that have a single core MHC haplotype. They documented infection of the GI tract, as well as other tissues, but the natural history of infection remains to be determined. They confirmed authentic IFN responses in the GFP+ zebrafish by identifying increased expression of numerous interferon stimulated genes (ISGs).OVERALL ASSESSMENT:STRENGTHS: In general, the data presented adequately supports the authors’ conclusions. The manuscript is well written and the data is clearly presented. Attention is paid to controls and appropriate statistical tests are applied to demonstrate significance. The authors make good use of pre-existing datasets to add strength to their findings. Obviously, there is a strong element of discovery in the manuscript with the serendipitous discovery of a new zebrafish picornavirus. The discovery methods described in this manuscript may be employed in other model organisms.WEAKNESSES: The primary weakness of the study was that the authors did not clearly establish causality. The conclusion could be strengthened by isolating the candidate picornavirus (using well-established methods for human picornaviruses) and transmission to a naïve zebrafish, and demonstration of replication and ISG production, which could be accomplished using RT-qPCR. To be clear, further characterization of the natural history of infection and host determinants is not required, but some demonstration of an infectious agent is necessary to support the authors’ conclusions. Other minor weaknesses are detailed below.DETAILED U.P. ASSESSMENT:OBJECTIVE CRITERIA (QUALITY)Quality: Experiments (1–3 scale) SCORE = 1Figure by figure, do experiments, as performed, have the proper controls?The experiments are properly controlled throughout.Are specific analyses performed using methods that are consistent with answering the specific question?The bioinformatic analysis methods are largely consistent with standards in the field. Generating phylogenies with different methods (Fig. 2 – supplement 2) was considered a strength of the study.One minor point is that the sequencing depth of non-zebrafish reads is relatively low. There were 175 million starting reads, but only 8% of these were non-zebrafish, with 14 million remaining. Most of these remaining reads mapped to bacteria or were unknown so in terms of truly discovering novel viruses they really only had the power to detect abundant viruses in these experiments. This clearly was sufficient to identify ZfPv, but it would have been nice to get at the whole virome with higher sequencing depth. In this regard, it would be helpful if the authors could address potential limitations of their analysis in more detail.Is there the appropriate technical expertise in the collection and analysis of data presented?The experimentation and collection of data was generally of high quality throughout.In the Methods section, it would be helpful if the authors could clarify their reasoning behind pooling 30 GFP positive fish to harvest RNA for sequencing.Do analyses use the best-possible (most unambiguous) available methods quantified via appropriate statistical comparisons?For the most part, appropriate statistical comparisons are made throughout.In Figure 4, RT-qPCR data was displayed as relative ZfPV levels on a log scale y-axis by normalizing to lowest non-zero amount of ZfPV RNA. This is common practice in the field. However, the unpaired t-test assumes equal variances which may not be the case. The analysis could be strengthened by determining whether the data is normally distributed (e.g. Shapiro-Wilk test). If the data is not normally distributed, then a non-parametric test (e.g. Wilcoxon test) could be performed.Are controls or experimental foundations consistent with established findings in the field? A review that raises concerns regarding inconsistency with widely reproduced observations should list at least two examples in the literature of such results. Addressing this question may occasionally require a supplemental figure that, for example, re-graphs multi-axis data from the primary figure using established axes or gating strategies to demonstrate how results in this paper line up with established understandings. It should not be necessary to defend exactly why these may be different from established truths, although doing so may increase the impact of the study and discussion of discrepancies is an important aspect of scholarship.The experimental foundations of the study are generally solid.FIG 1: As a minor point, there was discussion in the group about the merits of the dual promoter construct driving eGFP from the cmlc2 (cardiac) promoter or the IFN-inducible ISG15 promoter. There was concern that using the same fluorescent protein for both promoters made it impossible to determine IFN-inducible gene expression in cardiac tissue. However, the counterargument was that the levels of eGFP in the cardiac tissue could provide a useful reference for IFN-inducible eGFP expression throughout the fish, acting as a normalization control for fluorescence images. Some additional rationale describing the merits of the expression construct would clarify this point.FIG 5: There was also discussion about the strength of the evidence for a virus-specific response to ZfPV infection, by comparison toM. marinum infection. Does the fact that 12 or 13 genes are induced in response to ZfPV infection, but not M. marinuminfection, truly represent a specific signature? The authors may choose to soften this description until more data becomes available in support of a ZfPV-specific host response signature.Quality: Completeness (1–3 scale) SCORE = 2.5Does the collection of experiments and associated analysis of data support the proposed title- and abstract-level conclusions? Typically, the major (title- or abstract-level) conclusions are expected to be supported by at least two experimental systems.Overall, the data generally supports the conclusions as stated in the title and abstract, but there was significant discussion in this room full of microbiologists-in-training of the merits of in silico discovery of a new virus vs. discovery methods that adhere to Koch’s postulates or Falkow’s molecular Koch’s postulates. There was consensus that isolation of the virus and experimental inoculation of naïve zebrafish and characterization of responses would add great value to the study. RT-qPCR could be performed to detect viral transcripts and ISGs in the same infected fish. Such experiments would provide greater confidence that ZfPV is truly the etiologic agent. Subsequent experiments to fully characterize immune responses in the fish and host genetic determinants are beyond the scope of this first report, but establishing causality is essential.For Figure 3, there was some discussion about the extent to which the findings of ZfPV RNA in different tissues could be influenced by dissection technique.In the absence of these experiments, the authors should acknowledge these limitations and mention future research directions in the Discussion.Are there experiments or analyses that have not been performed but if “true” would disprove the conclusion (sometimes considered a fatal flaw in the study)? In some cases, a reviewer may propose an alternative conclusion and abstract that is clearly defensible with the experiments as presented, and one solution to “completeness” here should always be to temper an abstract or remove a conclusion and to discuss this alternative in the discussion section.See above re: virus isolation and infection of naïve animals.Furthermore, there was some concern about independent validation of the RNA-seq experiments. Can ZfPV RNA be recovered from GFP-negative animals? The RNA-seq data could be validated on samples of RNA from individual fish using RT-qPCR and virus gene-specific primers. What does it mean if ZfPV can be recovered from GFP-negative animals?Quality: Reproducibility (1–3 scale) SCORE = 2Figure by figure, were experiments repeated per a standard of 3 repeats or 5 mice per cohort, etc.?There was considerable discussion about whether the sample sizes in Figure 4 were sufficient to support the conclusions, but the group was not able to come to consensus on this point.Is there sufficient raw data presented to assess rigor of the analysis?Yes, although the uploading of raw data is still in progress at this time. The dataset could be strengthened by making the video publicly available.Are methods for experimentation and analysis adequately outlined to permit reproducibility?The bioinformatics methods are clearly described, but the scripts should be made available on GitHub.There should be a description of how the genome viewer analysis was performed - did they do this for a representative set of samples as sanity checks or was this done systematically?If a “discovery” dataset is used, has a “validation” cohort been assessed and/or has the issue of false discovery been addressed?Independent confirmation of RNA-seq data in individual fish by RT-qPCR is lacking.Quality: Scholarship (1–4 scale but generally not the basis for acceptance or rejection) SCORE = 1Has the author cited and discussed the merits of the relevant data that would argue against their conclusion?Yes.Has the author cited and/or discussed the important works that are consistent with their conclusion and that a reader should be especially familiar when considering the work?In general, the work of others was appropriately cited in the manuscript, although there was consensus that the Discussion could be strengthened by more clearly describing how this study differs from the findings of the Altan E, et al ., paper.Altan E, Kubiski SV, Boros A, Reuter G, Sadeghi M, Deng X, Creighton EK, Crim MJ, Delwart E. 2019. A Highly Divergent Picornavirus Infecting the Gut Epithelia of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) in Research Institutions Worldwide. Zebrafish16 :291– 299. doi:10.1089/zeb.2018.1710Specific (helpful) comments on grammar, diction, paper structure, or data presentation (e.g., change a graph style or color scheme) go in this section, but scores in this area should not to be significant bases for decisions.Overall, the writing was lean and straightforward, and written in a way to engage broad audience.MORE SUBJECTIVE CRITERIA (IMPACT)Impact: Novelty/Fundamental and Broad Interest (1–4 scale) SCORE = 1A score here should be accompanied by a statement delineating the most interesting and/or important conceptual finding(s), as they stand right now with the current scope of the paper. A “1” would be expected to be understood for the importance by a layperson but would also be of top interest (have lasting impact) on the field.Most important finding, easily understandable by a layperson, was the actual discovery of ZfPV.Likely to improve integrity of future zebrafish infection/innate immunity studies.Highlights method to discover new viruses in existing datasets. This would be further strengthened by a candid analysis of the limits ofin silico discovery methods.How big of an advance would you consider the findings to be if fully supported but not extended? It would be appropriate to cite literature to provide context for evaluating the advance. However, great care must be taken to avoid exaggerating what is known comparing these findings to the current dogma (see Box 2). Citations (figure by figure) are essential here.Yes, there was broad agreement that the current manuscript is a significant advance without further extension.Impact: Extensibility (1–4 or N/A scale) SCORE = N/AHas an initial result (e.g., of a paradigm in a cell line) been extended to be shown (or implicated) to be important in a bigger scheme (e.g., in animals or in a human cohort)?This criterion is only valuable as a scoring parameter if it is present, indicated by the N/A option if it simply doesn’t apply. The extent to which this is necessary for a result to be considered of value is important. It should be explicitly discussed by a reviewer why it would be required. What work (scope and expected time) and/or discussion would improve this score, and what would this improvement add to the conclusions of the study? Care should be taken to avoid casually suggesting experiments of great cost (e.g., “repeat a mouse-based experiment in humans”) and difficulty that merely confirm but do not extend (see Bad Behaviors, Box 2).N/A

Nell'ambito del trattamento delle acque reflue, di grande utilizzo per la degradazione della sostanza organica è il Bioreattore a Membrana (MBR),problematica di questo reattore è la formazione di fouling sulla membrana. La capacità di fouling della biomassa di un MBR è fortemente influenzata dalla presenza di colloidi e macromolecole (EPS) e altre sostanze organiche non biodegradate o inorganiche in concentrazioni tali da permettere la precipitazione dei relativi Sali sulla superficie delle membrane. L’ EPS, Extracellular Polymere Sub-Stances, si compone di polisaccaridi, proteine, acidi nucleici e lipidi.  È stato mediato un confronto tra un semplice MBR ed un MBR sottoposto ad un campo elettrico, e-MBR. La presenza del campo elettrico influisce in maniera significativa sulla rimozione del biofilm, patina gelatinosa che viene a formarsi sulla membrana del reattore. Lo sviluppo del biofilm avviene a seguito del Quorum Sensing, canale di comunicazione tra i batteri. Inoltre, i risultati ottenuti dall'applicazione di un campo elettrico al bioreattore a membrana mostrano, in concomitanza del processo, anche la rimozione di quelli che sono i contaminanti emergenti. 

The two-phase flow in an axial gas-liquid separator is critical for the gas separation in the thorium molten salt reactor. Although the two-phase flow pattern is visualized and the velocity field is obtained in our previous studies, the turbulence field is still unknown. To clarify the statistics of the turbulence field, we used the stereo PIV technique to explore the instantaneous fluctuations of three velocity components. The turbulence information including the turbulent kinetic energy and three typical Reynolds shear stresses were extracted from five typical planar positions covering the whole swirl chamber. The results indicate that the distribution of turbulence statistics presents a very different tendency of distribution, as compared to conventional cyclones. The difference is distinguished by the varying anisotropic stress field and the double peak distribution of turbulent kinetic energy. The turbulence data provides a complete and reliable foundation for two-phase turbulence modeling.

We investigated the flow characteristics in a tank of H/T=1.5 stirred by a novel multi-blade combined agitator (MBC) by using time-resolved PIV and LES approach. The predictions were assessed by Y+ values and power spectrum analysis, as well as experimental validation of velocity distributions. Results demonstrate that the MBC agitator can load the energy into the system effectively with a power number of 12.5 in a turbulent regime, resulting in improved axial and radial mass exchange. The upper and lower short blades produce an axial down-flow in the top half and an axial up-flow in the bottom half, respectively. Part of axial flows change to radial flows by the radial pumping of the long blades, meanwhile, the impingement of two axial flows improves the axial mass exchange. These flow characteristics leads to an obvious improvement in the turbulent kinetic energy distribution uniformity.

Multiple breakdown phenomena may take place when operating dielectric elastomers. Thermal breakdown, which occurs due to Joule heating, becomes of special importance when using multilayered stacks of dielectric elastomers, due to the large volume-to-surface-area-ratio. In this article, a 2D axisymmetric finite-element model of a multilayered stack of dielectric elastomers is set up in \comsol. Both the electro-thermal and electro-mechanical couplings are considered, allowing for determination of the onset of thermal breakdown. Simulation results show that an entrapped particle in the dielectric elastomer drastically reduces the possible number of layers in the stack. Furthermore, the possible number of layers is greatly affected by the ambient temperature and the applied voltage. The performance of three hyperelastic material models for modelling the elastomer deformation are compared, and it is established that the Gent model yields the most restrictive prediction of breakdown point, while the Ogden model yields the least restrictive estimation.

The flow characteristics of the blade unit of a tridimensional rotational flow sieve tray was investigated experimentally in this study. First, the flow patterns are defined under different liquid arrangement methods. They are bilateral film flow, continuous perforated flow, and dispersion-mixing flow in overflow distribution and film and jet flow and jet and mixed flow in spray distribution. Second, the time and frequency domain analysis of the differential pressure pulsation signal in the blade unit is carried out. The influence of perforation and mixing intensity on the flow pattern transition is clarified. Third, the rotational flow ratio of the gas-liquid phase is measured. The influence of the operating conditions on the distribution of the rotational and perforated flow for the gas-liquid phase is investigated. Finally, a prediction model for the rotational flow ratio is proposed. The prediction results agree well with the experimental data.

Il riutilizzo delle acque assume al giorno d’oggi una rilevanza sempre maggiore a causa della crescente domanda e della scarsità di acqua potabile. Sono stati effettuati diversi studi ed implementanti diversi sistemi al fine di ridurre i contaminanti dai reflui. Ai processi tradizionali si aggiungono processi innovativi ed avanzati che permettono di raggiungere risultati sempre più performanti. Il processo che verrà illustrato in questo studio è uno dei trattamenti di ossidazione avanzata UV-basati, anche detti (UV/AOPs), in particolare l’UV/perossido di idrogeno. Sarà valutato l’impatto delle monoclorammine e delle diclorammine durante il processo UV/perossido di idrogeno per la rimozione del diossano. Le monoclorammine e le diclorammine sono dei composti del cloro che vengono aggiunti per prevenire il fouling delle membrane. Le membrane sono utilizzate come pre-trattamento all'UV/perossido di idrogeno in quanto permettono di effettuare microfiltrazione e osmosi inversa, ovvero di separare fisicamente il refluo dalle sostanza di scarto, ed è per questo motivo che sono spesso soggette a fouling ovvero si sporcano e si intasano. Il diossano D-1,4 è un contaminante che si trova nelle acque reflue poiché presente in alcuni prodotti per la cura personale ed utilizzato in alcuni processi industriali. In questo studio si vedrà come l’introduzione delle cloroammine influisca sulla performance del processo di ossidazione avanzata per rimuovere il diossano.

In the cross-flow moving bed, the gas-solid cross-flow pattern facilitates its high gas process capacity under relatively low pressure drop. In this paper, a structural optimization of gas-solid baffles, is proposed to enhance the bed operating flexibility by controlling the abnormal phenomena of cavity, pinning and air lock. According to experimental data, the relevant equations for predicting the occurrence of the abnormal phenomena are derived to explain the effects of the gas-solid baffles. It turns out that, with this proposed optimization, the cavity and pinning are weakened in both rectangular and radial beds; the air lock can be easily controlled by increasing the height and diameter of feed tube. The preferred gas-solid baffles is in the middle position (x/L=0.5) of the rectangular bed and/or (r-r1)/(r2-r1)<0.5 of the radial bed under different gas superficial velocities, particle diameters and bed voidages.

The nucleation mechanism of the hydrate is still not fully understood and is a challenge to the hydrate evaluation. We synthesized the low consolidated hydrate bearing sediments by the tetrahydrofuran (THF) and water, and monitored the nucleation process of THF hydrate using the two dimensional longitudinal relaxation-transversal relaxation (T1-T2) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method. It is observed that the nucleation rate of the right peak is higher than the left peak at low THF hydrate concentration, while is opposite when the THF hydrate concentration is high, revealing that the hydrate forms preferentially in larger pores and then forms gradually in smaller pores. In addition, ratio of longitudinal relaxation time to transversal relaxation time (T1/T2) of the left peak is increased with the increase of hydrate concentration, while the right peak remains unchanged, indicating that hydrate saturation can be estimated by T1/T2.

Background and Objective Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) provide evidence-based recommendations to healthcare professionals, policy makers, patients and other stakeholders. Mexico is the biggest producer of CPGs in Latin America and Caribbean countries. The National Healthcare Technology Excellence Center (acronym in Spanish: CENETEC) is responsible for the CPG development, adaptation and update. The aim of this study was to assess the Mexican CPG quality and adherence to the GRADE framework. Study design We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of 86 CPGs representing all the CPGs produced by CENETEC between 2015 and 2017 and published in an online database called “Catalogo Maestro”. We performed quality assessment with the online AGREE II tool and assessed the reporting on the GRADE framework. Results Of the 86 CPGs, 34 were published in 2015, 21 in 2016 and 31 in 2017. The overall quality by AGREE II proved a median of 16.6% (Min 16.6%, Max 50%). Of the 86 CPGs, 25 (29%) used the GRADE framework; adherence to GRADE standards was, however, inconsistent and generally poor. Conclusion CPGs produced by CENETEC during this period had a low score by AGREE II standards and low adherence to the GRADE framework. A concerted initiative could rapidly improve CENETEC guidelines.

Climate-change-induced habitat loss will be the largest global threat to biodiversity. Here, we projected species turnover and loss for Chinese tree species under four climate change scenarios. The results show that many trees will be seriously threatened. On average across climate scenarios, about 57% or 23% of the trees would be vulnerable or threatened under no migration assumption or universal migration by 2070, respectively. Projection of species loss and turnover in grid cells indicates considerable variation across climate change scenarios (20%–30% and 40%–65%, respectively) and across geographical regions (25.4%–58.1% and 40.6%–78.8%, respectively). Notably, local extinction risks for Chinese trees species may be high; even under the most conservative situation (lowest emission scenario with universal migration), 18% trees will still be vulnerable or threatened. We suggest that a further studying trees adaptation strategy to climate change is required to ensure the sustainable development of China’s forests.

Proponente: Michel KobelinskiInstituição: Universidade Estadual do Paraná - UNESPARCNPJ: 05012896/0001-42 Área de Estudo - Grandes Áreas do Conhecimento (CNPq)Grande Área 7. Ciências humanas - 7.05.00.00-2 - História  Desenho: História Pública e História Oral (métodos) KOBELINSKI, Michel. Museus, Monumentos e Comunidades: Lugares de Memória  Pública.  Projeto de pesquisa. UNESPAR – Campus União da Vitória, União da Vitória, 2019.Aprovação em Comitê de Ética - Plataforma Brasil (Figura 1)

This research paper presents an analysis of the corrosion properties of steel-reinforced concrete samples during immersion in 3.5wt.% NaCl aqueous solution by measuring their response both cathodic and anodic polarization in order to determine the corrosion rates in the function of their calcium nitrate inhibitor content. This cheap inorganic inhibitor was added to the concrete mix in concentrations of 1% and 3% by weight of cement in addition to two different superplasticizers (MapeiDynamon SR 31 and Oxydtron). The compressive strengths of the so prepared samples were also checked according to the relevant European standard and were within the acceptable limits, so this inhibitor does not weaken this important property of the concrete samples. The test results on steel reinforced samples immersed in 3.5wt.% NaCl aqueous solutions at room temperature showed promising corrosion mitigating effects just after 6 months testing period. After 6 months the lower corrosion currents (i.e. better corrosion resistance) for both types of superplasticizers were observed with those samples which contained 3% calcium nitrate inhibitor. The best result was observed with sample C4 (in this case 3% calcium nitrate was added to the mixture of cement+Oxydtron superplasticizer). The advantageous inhibition mechanism of nitrate anions is also discussed and interpreted.

In this work, ultra-refined bainitic structures are obtained in medium carbon steel through control of alloy design (Si and Al content) and low temperature isothermal bainitic transformation heat treatment. The chemical design of the steel was modified by using varying Al ratios and the steel was heat treated by isothermal transformation. The tensile strength and ductility were found to improve significantly, and this was owed to modification of the cementite morphology from plate-like to spheroidal morphology. In addition, grain refinement was achieved by fine bainitic structures generated through the heat treatment process. This new technology will have promising results to the steel industry in terms of saving time and energy, enhancing the mechanical properties and reducing the total production cost.

Le tecniche per la caratterizzazione degli odori possono essere di diverso tipo, ciascuna delle quali gode di punti di forza e di debolezza. All'interno di tale scenario, la realizzazione di un vero e proprio naso elettronico in grado di percepire l’emissione odorigena così come la percepirebbe l’olfatto umano, segna l'inizio di una svolta. Chiaramente questo strumento è oggetto di continui studi e migliorie, che possono essere implementate grazie alla ricerca e al progresso tecnologico. Tale dispositivo potrà offrire una caratterizzazione oggettiva e continua degli odori, con un mercato che interesserà i settori sanitari, medici, alimentari, e non solo.

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is critically endangered throughout its distribution range. Knowledge about age distribution of future spawners (silver eels) is essential to monitor the status and contribute to the recovery of this species. Determination of age in anguillid eels is challenging, especially in eels from the northern part of the distribution area where growth is slow and age at maturation can be up to 30 years or more. Eels from the river Imsa in Norway have been monitored since 1975 and this reference time-series has been used to assess the stock at the European level. Population dynamics in this catchment were analyzed during the late 1980s by estimating ages on whole cleared otoliths. However, techniques for revealing annual increments on otoliths have evolved over the years sometimes yielding significant differences in age estimates. In this study, the historical otolith data were reanalyzed using a grinding and polishing method rather than reading the whole otolith. The new age estimates were considerably higher than the previous ones, sometimes by up to 29 years. Since the 1980s, mean age of silver eels only slightly increased (from 19 to 21 years in the 2010s). This was mainly due to the disappearance of younger silver eels (less than 15 years) in the 2010s. The new age estimates agreed with the steep decline in recruitment which occurred in the late 1980s in the Imsa catchment. Growth (30 mm y-1) has not changed since the 1980s, although density in the catchment has decreased. Revealing and reading age of slow growing eels remain a challenge but adding a measure of otolith reading uncertainty may improve age data collection and contribute to recovery measures for this species.

Turtles have been prominent subjects of analyses of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) owing to their mating system and habitat diversity. In prior studies, marine turtles were grouped with non-marine aquatic turtles (NMAT). This is odd because it is well-established that the marine environment imposes a distinct selective milieu on body form of vagile vertebrates, driven by convergent adaptations for energy-efficient propulsion and drag reduction. We generated a comprehensive database of adult marine turtle body size (38,569 observations across all species), which we then used to evaluate both the magnitude of SSD in marine turtles and how it compares to SSD in NMAT. We find that marine turtles are not sexually size dimorphic, whereas NMAT typically exhibit female-biased SSD. We argue that the reason for this difference is the sustained long-distance swimming that characterises marine turtle ecology, which entails significant energetic costs incurred by both sexes. Hence, the ability of either sex to allocate proportionately more to growth than the other is likely constrained, meaning that sexual differences in growth and resultant body size are not possible. Consequently, lumping marine turtles with NMAT dilutes the statistical signature of different kinds of selection on SSD and should be avoided in future studies.

Da qualche decennio la comunità scientifica è impegnata nella ricerca delle tecnologie più adatte alla rimozione dei cosiddetti contaminanti emergenti dagli effluenti degli impianti di trattamento delle acque reflue esistenti. Tali impianti, infatti, non sono stati progettati per la rimozione di questi microinquinanti di recente scoperta e non si rivelano quindi efficienti in tal senso. Sono numerose le tecnologie che si stanno studiando a scala di laboratorio e tra queste vi è quella che prevede la combinazione di processi elettrochimici e filtrazione su membrana: la tecnologia eMBR, la quale sembra inserirsi bene nel contesto del trattamento delle acque reflue nei prossimi anni considerando i notevoli risultati ottenuti in termini di rimozione di specifici inquinanti e di upgrade di tecnologie sperimentate.   

Soil organic matter (SOM) is formed through partial decomposition and transformation of plant litter inputs. Thus, litter chemistry is generally regarded as the primary control over the formation efficiency of litter-derived SOM through selective preservation of recalcitrant litter fractions. Here we used model soils and showed that the SOM formation efficiency was, instead, controlled by discriminative protection of litter- and microbially-derived residues by different clay minerals. The SOM formation efficiency was higher for vermiculite than for kaolinite and illite because vermiculite protected more labile litter- and fungal residues through surface adsorption than did kaolinite or illite through pore entrapment. We developed a novel model to quantify mineral-protection strength following litter decomposition, and demonstrated that the mineral-protection strength explained well the variation in the SOM formation efficiency among the model soils, and could be predicted for a natural soil material from those of its compositional clay mineral types and their relative abundances in the soil. Our results provide solid evidence that soil clay mineralogy plays a critical role in SOM formation as known in long-term SOM stabilization, with important implications for model improvement to predict SOM dynamics for different soil types.

Introduction of a heterocyclic ring and an amino-ethyl-amino group to D-A type photosensitive dyes can modulate the lifetime of the charge separation generated in the D-A dyes as well as their electronic and UV-Vis absorption properties. Here we performed DFT and TDDFT calculations to study eleven derivatives of a triphenylamine-pyrimidine, MTPA-Pyc, in order to improve the performance of MTPA-Pyc as solar cell sensitizers. Five heterocyclic rings and an amino-ethyl-amino group were introduced on the styryl moiety of MTPA-Pyc. The results show that introduction of heterocyclic rings generally causes an absorption red-shift, but absorption intensity is reduced due to the increase of dihedral angle between the donor and acceptor. Further introduction of an amino-ethyl-amino group to these dyes with a heterocyclic ring modification disrupts the conjugation between donor and acceptor, which does not benefit the absorption but may have potential to increase the lifetime of charge separation of the dyes. This work identified two out of eleven dyes that have the best potential for solar cell applications.

Sickness behaviour is a taxonomically-widespread coordinated set of behavioural changes that in- creases shelter-seeking while reducing levels of general activity, as well as food (anorexia) and water (adipsia) consumption, when fighting infection by pathogens and disease. The leading hypothesis ex- plaining such sickness-related shifts in behaviour is the energy conservation hypothesis. This hypothe- sis argues that sick (i.e. immune-challenged) animals reduce energetic expenditure in order have more energy to fuel an immune response, which in some vertebrates, also includes producing an energetically- expensive physiological fever. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that an immune-challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) will cause Gryllus firmus field crickets to reduce their activity, increase shelter- use and avoid foods that interfere with an immune response (i.e. fat) while preferring a diet thats fuel an immune response (i.e. protein). We found little evidence of sickness behaviour in Gryllus firmus as immune-challenged individuals did not reduce their activity or increase their shelter-seeking. Neither did we observe changes in feeding or drinking behaviour nor a preference for protein or avoidance of lipids. Males tended to use shelters less than females but no other behaviours differed between the sexes. The lack of sickness behaviour in our study might reflect the fact that invertebrates do not possess energetically-expensive physiological fever as part of their immune response. Therefore, there is little reason to conserve energy via reduced activity or increased shelter use when immune-challenged.

We present a new family of fast and robust methods for the calculation of the vapor-liquid equilibrium at isobaric-isothermal (PT-flash), isochoric-isothermal (VT-flash), isenthalpic-isobaric (HP-flash), and isoenergetic-isochoric (UV-flash) conditions. The framework is provided by formulating phase-equilibrium conditions for multi-component mixtures in an effectively reduced space based on the molar specific value of the recently introduced volume function derived from the Helmholtz free energy. The proposed algorithmic implementation can fully exploit the optimum quadratic convergence of a Newton method with the analytical Jacobian matrix. This paper provides all required exact analytic expressions for the general cubic equation of state. Computational results demonstrate the effectivity and efficiency of the new methods. Compared to conventional methods, the proposed reduced-space iteration leads to a considerable speed-up as well as to improved robustness and better convergence behavior near the spinodal and coexistence curves of multi-component mixtures, where the preconditioning by the reduction method is most effective.