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  • Molecular Diversity Preservation International  (221,634)
  • Wiley  (39,325)
  • Frontiers Media  (31,722)
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Nature Publishing Group
  • 2020-2022  (292,685)
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  • 1
  • 2
    Publication Date: 2022-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 2096-3955
    Topics: Geosciences , Physics
    Published by Wiley
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  • 3
  • 4
    Publication Date: 2022-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 2096-3955
    Topics: Geosciences , Physics
    Published by Wiley
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2022-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 2096-3955
    Topics: Geosciences , Physics
    Published by Wiley
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2021-01-20
    Description: Multivariate analysis of the elemental composition of hemipelagic sedimentary successions has provided invaluable information about palaeoenvironmental evolution, including records of short-lived Eocene hyperthermal events. However, few studies have analyzed the sedimentary record of these climatic events in turbidite-rich continental margin successions. In order to test the usefulness of multivariate statistical techniques (factor and cluster analysis) in palaeonvironmental and palaeoclimatic research on turbiditic successions, the lowermost Eocene Solondota section, which accumulated on the North Iberian continental margin, was studied. A prominent negative carbon isotope excursion from Solondota was correlated with the Ypresian (early Eocene) hyperthermal event J, also known as C24n.2rH1. High-resolution sedimentological, geochemical (stable isotopes, major and trace elements) and mineralogical (bulk and clay mineralogy) data show that multivariate statistical analysis helps to manage large-sized quantitative datasets objectively, avoiding arbitrary choice of representative elements and identifying environmental factors (virtual variables) that may not be evident otherwise. Variations in major and minor elements from hemipelagic carbonates across the Solondota carbon isotope excursion suggest a temporarily more humid continental climate, which caused increased terrigenous material input into the marine environment. The finer grained fraction boosted hemipelagic carbonate dilution, whereas the coarser grained sediment was transported by temporarily more frequent and voluminous turbidity currents. Thus, the results from the Solondota carbon isotope excursion revealed similarities with deep marine records of other early Eocene minor hyperthermal events. This demonstrates the validity of deep-marine turbiditic successions for providing reliable sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical records of global palaeoclimatic significance, complementing the information obtained from other sedimentary environments. Furthermore, the generally expanded nature of turbiditic successions can potentially provide palaeoclimatic information at very high resolution, enriching, and perhaps improving, the commonly condensed and sometimes discontinuous record of hemipelagic- only successions.
    Description: Published
    Description: 881-904
    Description: 1A. Geomagnetismo e Paleomagnetismo
    Description: JCR Journal
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
    Type: article
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2021-05-12
    Description: We introduce a mathematical model for the composting process in biocells. The model includes several phenomena, like the aerobic biodegradation of the soluble substrate by means of a bacterial population, the hydrolysis of insoluble substrate, and the biomass decay. We investigate the best strategies to reduce substrate components in minimal time by controlling the effects of cell oxygen concentration on the degradation phenomenon. It is shown that singular controls are not optimal for this model and the optimal control time profiles are of bang or bang-bang type. The occurrence of switching curves is discussed. In the case of a bang-bang control we prove that optimal control profiles have a unique switching time and the corresponding switching curve is determined.
    Description: Published
    Description: 1251-1266
    Description: 7A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientale
    Description: JCR Journal
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2021-06-14
    Description: Southwestern Sicily is an area of infrequent seismic activity; however, some studies carried out in the archaeological Selinunte site suggest that, between the fourth century BC and the early Middle Ages, probably at least two earthquakes strucked this area with enough energy to damage and cause the collapse and kinematics of much of the architecture of Selinunte. Take into account that, in 2008, a noninvasive archaeological prospection and traditional data gathering methods along the Acropolis north fortifications were carried out. Following these first studies, after about 10 years, a new geophysical campaign was carried out. This second campaign benefited from the application of modern technologies for the acquisition and processing of the point cloud data on the northern part of the Acropolis, like terrestrial laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry. In this paper, we present the application of these techniques and a strategy for their integration for the 3D modelling of buildings and cultural heritages. We show how the integration of data acquired independently by these two techniques is an added value able to overcome the intrinsic limits of the individual techniques. The application to Selinunte's Acropolis allowed it to highlight and measure with high accuracy fractures, dislocation, inclinations of walls, depressions of some areas and other interesting observations, which may be important starting points for future investigations.
    Description: Published
    Description: 153-165
    Description: 2IT. Laboratori analitici e sperimentali
    Description: JCR Journal
    Keywords: 3D reconstruction ; archaeological survey ; digital elevation model ; Selinunte Archaeological Park ; terrestrial laser scanning ; unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry ; 05.04. Instrumentation and techniques of general interest ; 04.02. Exploration geophysics ; 05.02. Data dissemination ; 05.06. Methods
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2021-01-18
    Description: This paper provides a new methodological framework to generate empirical ground shaking scenarios, designed for engineering applications and civil protection planning. The methodology is useful both to reconstruct the ground motion pattern of past events and to generate future shaking scenarios, in regions where strong-motion datasets from multiple events and multiple stations are available. The proposed methodology combines (1) an ad-hoc nonergodic ground motion model (GMM) with (2) a spatial correlation model for the source region-, site-, and path-systematic residual terms, and (3) a model of the remaining aleatory error to take into account for directivity effects. The associated variability is a function of the type of scenario generated (bedrock or site, past or future event) and it is minimal for source areas where several events have occurred and for sites where recordings are available. In order to develop the region-specific fully nonergodic GMM and to compute robust estimation of the residual terms, the approach is calibrated on a highly dense dataset compiled for the area of central Italy. Example tests demonstrate the validity of the approach, which allows to simulate acceleration response spectra at unsampled sites, as well as to capture peculiar physical features of ground motion patterns in the region. The proposed approach could be usefully adopted for data-driven simulations of ground shaking maps, as alternative or complementary tool to physic-based and stochastic-based approaches.
    Description: Published
    Description: 60-80
    Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica
    Description: JCR Journal
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2021-03-03
    Description: The present work aims to study the main chemical and physical water parameters in the upper and middle Volturno river catchment (southern Italy), between the Capo Volturno springs and the confluence with the Calore river. This study makes use of morphology, geolithology, tectonic, land use, and physico‐chemical (pH, electrical conductivity, redox potential, temperature, major ions, and 222Rn) data for the identification of the main sources of surface and groundwaters in the Volturno catchment and of their evolution and mixing both in base flow and peak flow conditions. The study was also performed to assess whether the alteration due to potential anthropogenic contamination may hamper the identification of natural “primitive” sources of surface waters, especially in the populated and farmed plains far from the river headwaters. Our data suggest that water chemistry of this stretch of the Volturno river is dominated mainly by lithology and, only marginally, by the intense exogenous activities and that this trend is appreciable in both base flow and peak flow conditions. The proposed simple geochemical approach based on easy‐to‐sample matrices and on cost‐effective standard methods is a valuable tool to address catchment functionality especially in upland areas, where complex geologic and structural settings, heterogeneous groundwater flow, and logistical issues are the rule rather than the exception. Because the upper and middle Volturno catchment is comparable with numerous valleys of the Mediterranean area, this study could be a reference for analogous applications.
    Description: Published
    Description: 627–638
    Description: 6A. Geochimica per l'ambiente e geologia medica
    Description: JCR Journal
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 11
    Publication Date: 2021-03-02
    Description: El Chichon is an active volcano located in the north-western Chiapas, southern Mexico. The crater hosts a lake, a spring, named Soap Pool, emerging from the underlying volcanic aquifer and several mud pools/hot springs on the internal flanks of the crater which strongly interact with the current fumarolic system (steam-heated pools). Some of these pools, the crater lake and a cold spring emerging from the 1982 pumice deposits, have been sampled and analysed. Water–volcanic gas interactions determine the heating (43–99°C) and acidification (pH 2–4) of the springs, mainly by H2S oxidation. Significantly, in the study area, a significant NH3 partial pressure has been also detected. Such a geochemically aggressive environment enhances alteration of the rock in situ and strongly increases the mineralization of the waters (and therefore their electrical conductivity). Two different mineralization systems were detected for the crater waters: the soap pool-lake (Na+/Cl = 0.4, Na/Mg〉10) and the crater mud pools (Na+/Cl 〉 10, Na/Mg 〈 4). A deep boiling, Na+-K+-Cl -rich water reservoir generally influences the Soap Pool-lake, while the mud pool is mainly dominated by water-gas–rock interactions. In the latter case, conductivity of sampled water is directly proportional to the presence of reactive gases in solution. Therefore, chemical evolution proceeds through neutralization due to both rock alteration and bacterial oxidation of ammonium to nitrate. The chemical compositions show that El Chichon aqueous fluids, within the crater, interact with gases fed by a geothermal reservoir, without clear additions of deep magmatic fluids. This new geochemical dataset, together with previously published data, can be used as a base line with which to follow-up the activity of this deadly volcano.
    Description: Published
    Description: 331–343
    Description: 6A. Geochimica per l'ambiente e geologia medica
    Description: JCR Journal
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 12
    Publication Date: 2021-02-03
    Description: Gases present in the Earth crust are important in various branches of human activities. Hydrocarbons are a significant energy resource, helium is applied in many high-tech instruments, and studies of crustal gas dynamics provide insight in the geodynamic processes and help monitor seismic and volcanic hazards. Quantitative analysis of methane and CO2 migration is important for climate change studies. Some of them are toxic (H2S, CO2, CO); radon is responsible for the major part of human radiation dose. The development of analytical techniques in gas geochemistry creates opportunities of applying this science in numerous fields. Noble gases, hydrocarbons, CO2, N2, H2, CO, and Hg vapor are measured by advanced methods in various environments and matrices including fluid inclusions. Following the “Geochemical Applications of Noble Gases”(2009), “Frontiers in Gas Geochemistry” (2013), and “Progress in the Application of Gas Geochemistry to Geothermal, Tectonic and Magmatic Studies” (2017) published as special issues of Chemical Geology and “Gas geochemistry: From conventional to unconventional domains” (2018) published as a special issue of Marine and Petroleum Geology, this volume continues the tradition of publishing papers reflecting the diversity in scope and application of gas geochemistry.
    Description: Published
    Description: 976190
    Description: 6A. Geochimica per l'ambiente e geologia medica
    Description: JCR Journal
    Keywords: geochemistry ; Atmosphere ; 03. Hydrosphere ; 04. Solid Earth
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  • 13
    Publication Date: 2021-05-10
    Description: In this work we describe the compilation and homogenization of an extensive dataset of aerosol iodine field observations in the period between 1963 and 2018 and we discuss the spatial and temporal dependences of total iodine in bulk aerosol by comparing the observations with CAM-Chem model imulations. Total iodine in aerosol shows a distinct latitudinal dependence, with an enhancement towards the northern hemisphere (NH) tropics and lower values towards the poles. This behavior, which has been predicted by atmospheric models to depend on the global distribution of the main ceanic iodine source (which in turn depends on the reaction of surface ozone with aqueous iodide on he sea water-air interface, generating gas-phase I2 and HOI), is confirmed here by field observations for the first time. Longitudinally, there is some indication of a wave-one profile in the Tropics, which peaks in the Atlantic and shows a minimum in the Pacific, following the wave-one longitudinal variation of tropical tropospheric ozone. New data from Antarctica show that the south polar seasonal variation of iodine in aerosol mirrors that observed previously in the Arctic, with two equinoctial maxima and the dominant maximum occurring in spring. While no clear seasonal variability is observed in NH middle latitudes, there is an indication of different seasonal cycles in the NH tropical Atlantic and Pacific. A weak positive long-term trend is observed in the tropical annual averages, which is consistent with an enhancement of the anthropogenic ozone-driven global oceanic source of iodine over the last 50 years.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 14
    Publication Date: 2021-02-03
    Description: The dominant feature of large-scale mass transfer in the modern ocean is the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The geometry and vigour of this circulation influences global climate on various timescales. Palaeoceanographic evidence suggests that during glacial periods of the past 1.5 million years the AMOC had markedly different features from today; in the Atlantic basin, deep waters of Southern Ocean origin increased in volume while above them the core of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) shoaled. An absence of evidence on the origin of this phenomenon means that the sequence of events leading to global glacial conditions remains unclear. Here we present multi-proxy evidence showing that northward shifts in Antarctic iceberg melt in the Indian–Atlantic Southern Ocean (0–50°E) systematically preceded deep-water mass reorganizations by one to two thousand years during Pleistocene-era glaciations. With the aid of iceberg-trajectory model experiments, we demonstrate that such a shift in iceberg trajectories during glacial periods can result in a considerable redistribution of freshwater in the Southern Ocean. We suggest that this, in concert with increased sea-ice cover, enabled positive buoyancy anomalies to ‘escape’ into the upper limb of the AMOC, providing a teleconnection between surface Southern Ocean conditions and the formation of NADW. The magnitude and pacing of this mechanism evolved substantially across the mid-Pleistocene transition, and the coeval increase in magnitude of the ‘southern escape’ and deep circulation perturbations implicate this mechanism as a key feedback in the transition to the ‘100-kyr world’, in which glacial–interglacial cycles occur at roughly 100,000-year periods.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 15
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Geophysical Research Letters, Wiley, 48(10), pp. e2020GL090951, ISSN: 0094-8276
    Publication Date: 2021-07-01
    Description: Freshwater in the Arctic Ocean is one of the key climate components. It is not well understood how the capability of the Arctic Ocean to store freshwater will develop when freshwater supplies increase in a warming climate. By using numerical experiments, we find that this capability varies with the Arctic sea ice decline nonmonotonically, with the largest capability at intermediate strength of sea ice decline. Through enhancing the ocean surface stress, sea ice decline not only accumulates freshwater toward the Amerasian Basin but also tends to reduce the amount of freshwater in both the Eurasian and Amerasian basins by increasing the occupation of Atlantic-origin water in the upper ocean. An increase in river runoff modulates the counterbalance of the two competing effects, leading to the nonmonotonic changes of the Arctic freshwater storage capability in a warming climate.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 16
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Reviews of Geophysics, Wiley, 59(2), pp. e2020RG000727, ISSN: 8755-1209
    Publication Date: 2021-06-17
    Description: The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), where the Pleistocene glacial cycles changed from 41 to ∼100 kyr periodicity, is one of the most intriguing unsolved issues in the field of paleoclimatology. Over the course of over four decades of research, several different physical mechanisms have been proposed to explain the MPT, involving non-linear feedbacks between ice sheets and the global climate, the solid Earth, ocean circulation, and the carbon cycle. Here, we review these different mechanisms, comparing how each of them relates to the others, and to the currently available observational evidence. Based on this discussion, we identify the most important gaps in our current understanding of the MPT. We discuss how new model experiments, which focus on the quantitative differences between the different physical mechanisms, could help fill these gaps. The results of those experiments could help interpret available proxy evidence, as well as new evidence that is expected to become available.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 17
    Publication Date: 2021-07-26
    Description: Plate reconstruction studies show that the Neotethys Ocean was closing due to the convergence of Africa and Eurasia toward the end of the Cretaceous. The period around 75 Ma reflects the onset of continental collision between the two plates as convergence continued to be taken up mostly by subduction of the Neotethys slab beneath Eurasia. The Owen transform plate boundary in the northeast accommodated the fast northward motion of the Indian plate relative to the African plate. The rest of the plate was surrounded by mid-ocean ridges. Africa was experiencing continent-wide rifting related to northeast-southwest extension. We aim to quantify the forces and paleostresses that may have driven this continental extension. We use the latest plate kinematic reconstructions in a grid search to estimate horizontal gravitational stresses (HGSs), plate boundary forces, and the plate's interaction with the asthenosphere. The contribution of dynamic topography to HGSs is based on recent mantle convection studies. We model intraplate stresses and compare them with the strain observations. The fit to observations favors models where dynamic topography amplitudes are smaller than 300 m. The results also indicate that the net pull transmitted from slab to the surface African plate was low. To put this into context, we notice that available tectonic reconstructions show fragmented subduction zones and various colliding micro-continents along the northern margin of the African plate around this time. We therefore interpret a low net pull as resulting from either a small average slab length or from the micro-continents' resistance to subduction.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 18
    Publication Date: 2021-03-11
    Description: 129I measurements on samples collected during GEOTRACES oceanographic missions in the Arctic Ocean in 2015 have provided the first detailed, synoptic 129I sections across the Eurasian, Canada and Makarov Basins. During the 1990s, increased discharges of 129I from European nuclear fuel reprocessing plants produced a large, tracer spike whose passage through the Arctic Ocean has been followed by 129I time series measurements over the past 25 years. Elevated 129I levels measured over the Lomonosov and Alpha-Mendeleyev Ridges in 2015 were associated with tracer labeled, Atlantic-origin water bathymetrically steered by the ridge systems through the central Arctic while lower 129I levels were evident in the more poorly ventilated basin interiors. 129I levels of 200-400 x 107 at/l measured in intermediate waters in 2015 had increased by a factor of 10 compared to results from the same locations in 1994-1996 owing to the circulation of the 1990s, 129I input spike mainly associated with enhanced discharges from the La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. Comparisons of the patterns of 129I distributions between the mid-1990s and 2015 delineate large scale circulation changes that occurred during the shift from a positive Arctic Oscillation and a cyclonic circulation regime in the mid-1990s to anticyclonic circulation in 2015. The latter is characterized by a broadened Beaufort Gyre in the upper ocean, a weakened boundary current and partial mid-depth, AW flow reversal in the southern Canada Basin. Tracer 129I simulations using the applied circulation model, NAOSIM agree with both historical 129I results and recent GEOTRACES data sets, thereby lending context and credibility to the interpretation of large scale changes in arctic circulation and their relationship to shifts in climate indices revealed by tracer 129I distributions. This paper reports measurements and simulation results for 129I for the 1990s and 2015, and interprets them in the context of ocean circulation responses to changing atmospheric forcing regimes.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 19
    Publication Date: 2021-02-25
    Description: International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382 in the Scotia Sea’s Iceberg Alley recovered among the most continuous and highest resolution stratigraphic records in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica spanning the last 3.3 Myr. Sites drilled in Dove Basin (U1536/U1537) have well‐resolved magnetostratigraphy and a strong imprint of orbital forcing in their lithostratigraphy. All magnetic reversals of the last 3.3 Myr are identified, providing a robust age model independent of orbital tuning. During the Pleistocene, alternation of terrigenous versus diatomaceous facies shows power in the eccentricity and obliquity frequencies comparable to the amplitude modulation of benthic δ18O records. This suggests that variations in Dove Basin lithostratigraphy during the Pleistocene reflect a similar history as globally integrated ice volume at these frequencies. However, power in the precession frequencies over the entire ∼3.3 Myr record does not match the amplitude modulation of benthic δ18O records, suggesting Dove Basin contains a unique record at these frequencies. Comparing the position of magnetic reversals relative to local facies changes in Dove Basin and the same magnetic reversals relative to benthic δ18O at North Atlantic IODP Site U1308, we demonstrate Dove Basin facies change at different times than benthic δ18O during intervals between ∼3 and 1 Ma. These differences are consistent with precession phase shifts and suggest climate signals with a Southern Hemisphere summer insolation phase were recorded around Antarctica. If Dove Basin lithology reflects local Antarctic ice volume changes, these signals could represent ice sheet precession‐paced variations not captured in benthic δ18O during the 41‐kyr world.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 20
    Publication Date: 2021-04-01
    Description: Eolian mineral dust is an active agent in the global climate system. It affects planetary albedo and can influence marine biological productivity and ocean‐atmosphere carbon dynamics. This makes understanding of the global dust cycle crucial for constraining the dust/climate relationship, which requires long‐term dust emission records for all major dust sources. Despite their importance, the sources of atmospheric dust deposited in the Southern Ocean remain poorly constrained. Eolian dust in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean is generally assumed to originate from Australia, with minor contributions from New Zealand. Here we present a high‐resolution elemental record of terrestrial inputs for the past ∼410 kyr from marine sediment core PS75/100‐4 recovered from east of South Island, New Zealand. Sediment grain size is slightly finer than that of loess deposits from South Island, New Zealand, and is coarser than that of marine sediments in the Tasman Sea to the west of New Zealand, which indicates that the dust originated mainly from New Zealand and not only from Australia. Core PS75/100‐4 records lithogenic mass accumulation rates ranging from ∼0.01 to 0.69 g/cm2/kyr (∼0.20 g/cm2/kyr average), with variations over a factor of ∼3‐4 over glacial versus interglacial timescales for the past 410 kyr. Our geochemical data correlate well with Southern Ocean and Antarctic eolian dust records and suggest a westerly wind‐supplied dust signal from New Zealand. Our findings, therefore, suggest that New Zealand should be considered an important long‐term regional dust source in global dust cycle models.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 21
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    Frontiers Media
    In:  EPIC3Frontiers in Climate, Frontiers Media, 3, pp. 58, ISSN: 2624-9553
    Publication Date: 2021-07-01
    Description: An important aspect of inevitable surprises, for the climate system, is the potential of occurrence of compound extreme events. These can be events that occur at the same time over the same geographic location or at multiple locations within a given country or around the world. In this study, we investigate the spatio-temporal variability of summer compound hot and dry (CHD) events at European level and we quantify the relationship between the occurrence of CHDs and the large-scale atmospheric circulation. Here we show that summer 1955 stands out as the year with the largest spatial extent characterized by hot and dry conditions (~21.2 at European level), followed by 2015 (~20.3), 1959 (~19.4), and 1950 (~16.9). By employing an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis we show that there are three preferred centers of action of CHDs over Europe: Fennoscandia, the central part of Europe, and the south-eastern part of Europe. Overall, hot and dry summers are, in general, associated with persistent high-pressure systems over the regions affected by CHDs, which in turn reduces the zonal flow and diverts the storm tracks southward. The high-pressure systems associated with each mode of variability largely suppresses ascending motions, reduces water vapor condensation and precipitation formation, leading to drought conditions below this atmospheric system. This study may help improve our understanding of the spatio-temporal variability of hot and dry summers, at European level, as well as their driving mechanisms.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 22
    Publication Date: 2021-07-20
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 23
    Publication Date: 2021-03-04
    Description: Throughout spring and summer 2020, ozone stations in the northern extratropics recorded unusually low ozone in the free troposphere. From April to August, and from 1 to 8 kilometers altitude, ozone was on average 7% (≈4 nmol/mol) below the 2000 to 2020 climatological mean. Such low ozone, over several months, and at so many stations, has not been observed in any previous year since at least 2000. Atmospheric composition analyses from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and simulations from the NASA GMI model indicate that the large 2020 springtime ozone depletion in the Arctic stratosphere contributed less than one quarter of the observed tropospheric anomaly. The observed anomaly is consistent with recent chemistry-climate model simulations, which assume emissions reductions similar to those caused by the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 related emissions reductions appear to be the major cause for the observed reduced free tropospheric ozone in 2020.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 24
    Publication Date: 2021-06-30
    Description: Biogeochemical processes in subseafloor sediments are closely coupled to global element cycles. To improve the understanding of changes in biogeochemical conditions on geological timescales, we investigate sediment cores from a 1180 m deep hole in the Nankai Trough offshore Japan (Site C0023) drilled during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 370. During its tectonic migration from the Shikoku Basin to the Nankai Trough over the past 15 Ma, Site C0023 has experienced significant changes in depositional, thermal, and geochemical conditions. By combining pore-water, solid-phase, and rock magnetic data, we demonstrate that a transition from organic carbon-starved conditions with predominantly aerobic respiration to an elevated carbon burial environment with increased sedimentation occurred at ∼2.5 Ma. Higher rates of organic carbon burial in consequence of increased nutrient supply and productivity likely stimulated the onset of anaerobic electron-accepting processes during organic carbon degradation. A significant temperature increase by ∼50°C across the sediment column associated with trench-style sedimentation since ∼0.5 Ma could increase the bioavailability of organic matter and enhance biogenic methanogenesis. The resulting shifts in reaction fronts led to diagenetic transformation of iron (oxyhydr)oxides into pyrite in the organic carbon-starved sediments several millions of years after burial. We also show that high amounts of reducible iron(III) which can serve as electron acceptor for microbial iron(III) reduction are preserved and still available as phyllosilicate-bound Fe. This is the first study that shows the evolution of long-term variations of (bio-)geochemical processes along tectonic migration of ocean floor, thereby altering the primary sediment composition long after deposition.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 25
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Geophysical Research Letters, Wiley, 48, pp. e2021GL092826, ISSN: 0094-8276
    Publication Date: 2021-06-14
    Description: Year-round records of the ionic composition of Antarctic aerosol were obtained at the inland Dome C (DC) and coastal Neumayer (NM) sites, with additional observations of black carbon at NM. Discussions focus on the origin of ammonium in Antarctica. This first Antarctic atmospheric study of several species emitted by biomass burning indicates that black carbon, oxalate, and fine potassium reach a maximum in October in relation to biomass burning activity in the southern hemisphere. Ammonium reaches a maximum two months later, suggesting that biomass burning remains a minor ammonium source there. The ammonium maximum in December coincides with the occurrence of diatom blooms in the austral ocean, suggesting that oceanic ammonia emissions are the main source of ammonium in Antarctica. The ammonium to sulfur-derived biogenic species molar ratio of 0.15 in summer suggests far lower ammonia emissions from the Antarctic oceans than mid-latitude southern oceans.
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  • 26
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, Wiley, 126, ISSN: 0148-0227
    Publication Date: 2021-06-25
    Description: Saharan dust is transported in great quantities from the North African continent every year, most of which is deposited across the North Atlantic Ocean. This dust impacts regional and global climate by affecting the atmospheric radiation balance and altering ocean carbon budgets. However, little research has been carried out on time series of Saharan dust collected in situ across the open Atlantic. Here, we present a unique three-year time series of Saharan dust along a trans-Atlantic transect, sampled by moored surface buoys and subsurface sediment traps. Results show a good correlation between the particle-size distributions of atmospheric dust and the lithogenic particles settling to the deep ocean floor, confirming the aeolian origin of the lithogenic particles intercepted by the subsurface sediment traps, even in the distal western part of the Atlantic Ocean. Dust from both dry and wet deposition as collected by the sediment traps, shows increased deposition fluxes and coarser grain size in summer and/or autumn that coincides with increased precipitation at the sampling sites as derived from satellite data. In contrast, both buoys that sampled dust during transport at sea level show little seasonal variation in both concentration and particle size, as the large amounts of dust transported in summer and early autumn at high altitudes are far above their sampling range. This implies that wet deposition in summer and autumn defines the typical seasonal trends of both the dust deposition flux and its particle-size distribution observed in the sediment traps.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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    Publication Date: 2021-11-02
    Description: The Bransfield Basin is a young (∼4 Ma) back-arc basin related to the remnant subduction of the Phoenix Plate that once existed along the entire Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. Based on a recently deployed amphibious seismic network, we use ambient noise tomography to obtain the S-wave velocity structure in the Central Bransfield Basin (CBB). Combining with the stress field inverted from focal mechanisms, our images reveal that the CBB suffers a significant extension in the northwest-southeast direction. The extension is strongest in the northeastern CBB with associated mantle exhumation and weakens to the southwest with decoupled deformations between the upper crust and lithospheric mantle. Such an along-strike variation of extension can be explained by slab window formation and forearc rotation, which are associated with the Phoenix Plate detachment during the ridge–trench collisions at the southwest of the Hero Fracture Zone.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 28
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Geophysical Research Letters, Wiley, 48, pp. e2021GL092773, ISSN: 0094-8276
    Publication Date: 2021-08-23
    Description: A quantitative analysis of any environment older than the instrumental record relies on proxies. Uncertainties associated with proxy reconstructions are often underestimated, which can lead to artificial conflict between different proxies, and between data and models. In this paper, using ordinary least squares linear regression as a common example, we describe a simple, robust and generalizable method for quantifying uncertainty in proxy reconstructions. We highlight the primary controls on the magnitude of uncertainty, and compare this simple estimate to equivalent estimates from Bayesian, nonparametric and fiducial statistical frameworks. We discuss when it may be possible to reduce uncertainties, and conclude that the unexplained variance in the calibration must always feature in the uncertainty in the reconstruction. This directs future research toward explaining as much of the variance in the calibration data as possible. We also advocate for a “data-forward” approach, that clearly decouples the presentation of proxy data from plausible environmental inferences.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 29
    Publication Date: 2021-08-26
    Description: Traditional bulk isotopic analysis is a pivotal tool for mapping consumer–resource interactions in food webs but has largely failed to adequately describe parasite–host relationships. Thus, parasite–host interactions remain undescribed in food web frameworks despite these relationships increasing linkage density, connectance and ecosystem biomass. Compound-specific stable isotopes from amino acids provides a promising novel approach that may aid in mapping parasite–host relationships in food webs. Here we apply a combination of traditional bulk stable isotope analyses and compound-specific isotopic analysis of nitrogen in amino acids to examine resource use and trophic interactions of five parasites from three hosts from a marine coastal food web (Wadden Sea, European Atlantic). By comparing isotopic compositions of bulk and amino acid nitrogen, we aimed to characterize isotopic fractionation occurring between parasites and their hosts and to clarify parasite trophic positions. Our results indicate that parasitic trophic interactions were more accurately identified using compound-specific stable isotope analysis due to removal of underlying source isotopic variation for both parasites and hosts. The compound-specific method provided clearer trophic discrimination factors in comparison to bulk isotope methods. Amino acid compound specific isotope analysis has widely been applied to examine trophic position within food webs, but our analyses suggest that the method is particularly useful for clarifying the feeding strategies for parasitic species. Baseline isotopic information provided by source amino acids allows clear identification of the fractionation from parasite metabolism by integrating underlying isotopic variations from the host tissues. However, like for bulk isotope analysis, the application of a universal trophic discrimination factor to parasite–host relationships remains inappropriate for compound-specific stable isotope analysis. Despite this limitation, compound-specific stable isotope analysis is and will continue to be a valuable tool to increase our understanding of parasitic interactions in marine food webs.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 30
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Wiley, 126(10), ISSN: 2169-9275
    Publication Date: 2021-12-08
    Description: Globally, mesoscale processes create a rich and filamented pattern in biological productivity. Despite of remoteness and a harsh environment, observations likewise show an impact of mesoscale processes on phytoplankton growth in the Arctic. Observations of sufficiently high resolution are, however, difficult to carry out. Large-scale models are another way to gain knowledge about the system. In the current study, we use a global sea ice-ocean biogeochemical model, which is eddy resolving in Fram Strait, to show that the mesoscale dynamics has a strong effect on shaping phytoplankton growth. For the year 2009, we demonstrate that the growth season in the West Spitzbergen Current can be divided into two regimes; during Regime I, which takes place in May and June before and during the spring bloom, high chlorophyll concentrations are associated with areas of positive vorticity and a shallow mixed layer, pointing toward light limitation controlling growth. During Regime II, which occurs after the bloom from mid-July to late August, the highest chlorophyll concentration is found in areas of negative vorticity. Here, upwelling of nutrient-rich water occurs, through doming isopycnals, acting to raise the nutricline, may also play a role in alleviating nutrient limitation in the surface water. The study suggests that the mesoscale eddy environment locally modulates the seasonal cycle of light and nutrient limitation. Knowledge of the eddy field should be taken into consideration for making conclusions from point-wise measurements in Fram Strait.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 31
    Publication Date: 2021-12-16
    Description: The modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer over sea ice is still challenging because of the complex interaction between clouds, radiation and turbulence over the often inhomogeneous sea ice cover. There is still much uncertainty concerning sea ice roughness, near-surface thermal stability and related processes, and their accurate parameterization. Here, a regional Arctic climate model forced by ERA-interim data was used to test the sensitivity of climate simulations to a modified surface flux parameterization for wintertime conditions over the Arctic. The reference parameterization as well as the modified one is based on Monin–Obukhov similarity theory, but different roughness lengths were prescribed and the stability dependence of the transfer coefficients for momentum, heat and moisture differed from each other. The modified parameterization accounts for the most compre- hensive observations that are presently available over sea ice in the inner Arctic. Independent of the parameterization used, the model was able to reproduce the two observed dominant winter states with respect to cloud cover and longwave radiation. A stepwise use of the different parameterization assumptions showed that modifications of both surface roughness and stability dependence had a considerable impact on quantities such as air pressure, wind and near-surface turbulent fluxes. However, the reduction of surface roughness to values agreeing with those observed during t he Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean campaign led to an improvement in the western Arctic, while the modified stability parameteri- zation had only a minor impact. The latter could be traced back to the model's underestimation of the strength of stability over sea ice. Future work should concentrate on possible reasons for this underestimation and on the question of generality of the results for other climate models
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 32
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, Wiley, 126(10), ISSN: 0148-0227
    Publication Date: 2021-10-18
    Description: The stability of ice shelves and drainage of ice sheets they buttress is largely determined by melting at their atmospheric and oceanic interfaces. Subglacial bathymetry can impact ice shelf stability because it influences the onset and the pattern of warm ocean water incursions into the cavities between them and the seafloor. Bathymetry is further important at pinning points, which significantly retard the flow of ice shelves. This effect can be lost instantaneously if basal and surface melting cause an ice sheet to thin and lift off its pinning points. With all this in mind, we have developed a model of bathymetry beneath the western Roi Baudouin and central and eastern Borchgrevink ice shelves in Dronning Maud Land based on inversion from gravity data and tied to available depth references offshore and subglacial topography inland of the grounding line. The model shows deep glacial troughs beneath the ice shelves and bathymetric sills close to the continental shelf. The central Borchgrevink Ice Shelf overhangs the continental slope by around 50km, exposing its northern parts to the open ocean and higher ocean temperatures. Continuous troughs traverse the central Borchgrevink and western Roi Baudouin ice shelves at depths greater than the offshore thermocline and thus present a risk of Warm Deep Water intrusions into their cavities under the current and future oceanographic regimes. Differing bathymetric characteristics might explain the ice shelves' contrasting dominant mass loss processes.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 33
    Publication Date: 2021-10-20
    Description: Coastal sands are biocatalytic filters for dissolved and particulate organic matter of marine and terrestrial origin, thus, acting as centers of organic matter transformation. At high temporal resolution, we accessed the variability of benthic bacterial communities over two annual cycles at Helgoland (North Sea), and compared it with seasonality of communities in Isfjorden (Svalbard, 78°N) sediments, where primary production does not occur during winter. Benthic community structure remained stable in both, temperate and polar sediments on the level of cell counts and 16S rRNA-based taxonomy. Actinobacteriota of uncultured Actinomarinales and Microtrichales were a major group, with 8 ± 1% of total reads (Helgoland) and 31 ± 6% (Svalbard). Their high activity (frequency of dividing cells 28%) and in situ cell numbers of 〉10% of total microbes in Svalbard sediments, suggest Actinomarinales and Microtrichales as key heterotrophs for carbon mineralization. Even though Helgoland and Svalbard sampling sites showed no phytodetritus-driven changes of the benthic bacterial community structure, they harbored significantly different communities (p 〈 0.0001, r = 0.963). The temporal stability of benthic bacterial communities is in stark contrast to the dynamic succession typical of coastal waters, suggesting that pelagic and benthic bacterial communities respond to phytoplankton productivity very differently.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 34
    Publication Date: 2021-10-22
    Description: Migration of subglacial water underneath thick Antarctic ice is difficult to observe directly but is known to influence ice flow dynamics. Here, we analyze a 6-year time series of displacement maps from differential Sentinel-1 SAR interferometry (DInSAR) in the upstream region of Jutulstraumen Glacier. Our results reveal short-term (between 12 days and 1 year) interconnected subsidence- and uplift events of the ice surface, which we interpret as a pressure response to the drainage and filling of subglacial lakes. This indicates an episodic cascade-like water transport with longer quiescent phases in a dynamically stable glacial setting. Abrupt events appear in the DInSAR time series and are confirmed by ICESat-2 altimetry. The events can be traced for a 1-year period along a urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63164:grl63164-math-0001175 km flow path. We are able to observe the migration of subglacial water with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution, providing a new observational baseline to further develop subglacial hydrological models.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 35
    Publication Date: 2021-10-21
    Description: Diagenesis can have a major impact on sedimentary mineralogy. Primary magnetic mineral assemblages can be modified significantly by dissolution or by formation of new magnetic minerals during early or late diagenesis. At International Ocean Discovery Program Site C0023, which was drilled in the protothrust zone of the Nankai Trough during Expedition 370, offshore of Shikoku Island, Japan, non-steady state conditions have produced a complex sequence of magnetic overprints. Detailed rock magnetic measurements, which characterize magnetic mineral assemblages in terms of abundance, grain size, and composition, were conducted to assess magnetic mineral alteration and diagenetic overprinting. Four magnetic zones (MZs) are identified down-core from ∼200 to 1100 meters below sea floor based on rock magnetic variations. MZ 1 is a high magnetic intensity zone that contains ferrimagnetic greigite, which formed at shallow depths and is preserved because of rapid sedimentation. MZs 2 and 4 are low magnetic intensity zones with fewer magnetic minerals, mainly coarse-grained (titano-)magnetite and hematite. This magnetic mineral assemblage is a remnant of a more complex assemblage that was altered diagenetically a few million years after deposition when the site entered the Nankai Trough. MZ 3 is a high magnetic intensity zone between MZs 2 and 4. It contains authigenic single-domain magnetic particles that probably formed from fluids that circulated through faults in the accretionary prism. Varying sediment supply and organic matter input through time, burial temperature, and tectonic fluid circulation are the primary drivers of magnetic mineral assemblage variations.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 36
    Publication Date: 2021-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 2096-3955
    Topics: Geosciences , Physics
    Published by Wiley
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    Publication Date: 2021-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 2096-3955
    Topics: Geosciences , Physics
    Published by Wiley
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    Publication Date: 2021-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 0718-1876
    Topics: Economics
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    Publication Date: 2021-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 0718-1876
    Topics: Economics
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    Publication Date: 2021-01-01
    Electronic ISSN: 0718-1876
    Topics: Economics
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  • 44
  • 45
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation is known to be the leading term of a semi-infinite hierarchy of integrable equations with evolutions given by times with positive numbers. Here, we introduce new hierarchy directed to negative numbers of times. The derivation of such systems, as well as the corresponding hierarchy, is based on the commutator identities. This approach enables introduction of linear differential equations that admit lifts up to nonlinear integrable ones by means of the special dressing procedure. Thus, one can construct not only nonlinear equations, but corresponding Lax pairs as well. The Lax operator of this evolution coincides with the Lax operator of the “positive” hierarchy. We also derive (1 + 1)-dimensional reductions of equations of this hierarchy.
    Electronic ISSN: 2227-7390
    Topics: Mathematics
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  • 46
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Among industrially important pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP)-dependent transaminases of fold type IV D-amino acid transaminases are the least studied. However, the development of cascade enzymatic processes, including the synthesis of D-amino acids, renewed interest in their study. Here, we describe the identification, biochemical and structural characterization of a new D-amino acid transaminase from Haliscomenobacter hydrossis (Halhy). The new enzyme is strictly specific towards D-amino acids and their keto analogs; it demonstrates one of the highest rates of transamination between D-glutamate and pyruvate. We obtained the crystal structure of the Halhy in the holo form with the protonated Schiff base formed by the K143 and the PLP. Structural analysis revealed a novel set of the active site residues that differ from the key residues forming the active sites of the previously studied D-amino acids transaminases. The active site of Halhy includes three arginine residues, one of which is unique among studied transaminases. We identified critical residues for the Halhy catalytic activity and suggested functions of the arginine residues based on the comparative structural analysis, mutagenesis, and molecular modeling simulations. We suggested a strong positive charge in the O-pocket and the unshaped P-pocket as a structural code for the D-amino acid specificity among transaminases of PLP fold type IV. Characteristics of Halhy complement our knowledge of the structural basis of substrate specificity of D-amino acid transaminases and the sequence-structure-function relationships in these enzymes.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 47
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Non-persistent viruses classically cause transient, acute infections triggering immune responses aimed at the elimination of the pathogen. Successful viruses evolved strategies to manipulate and evade these anti-viral defenses. Symptoms during the acute phase are often linked to dysregulated immune responses that disappear once the patient recovers. In some patients, however, symptoms persist or new symptoms emerge beyond the acute phase. Conditions resulting from previous transient infection are termed post-acute sequelae (PAS) and were reported for a wide range of non-persistent viruses such as rota-, influenza- or polioviruses. Here we provide an overview of non-persistent viral pathogens reported to be associated with diverse PAS, among them chronic fatigue, auto-immune disorders, or neurological complications and highlight known mechanistic details. Recently, the emergence of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) or long COVID highlighted the impact of PAS. Notably, PAS of non-persistent infections often resemble symptoms of persistent viral infections, defined by chronic inflammation. Inflammation maintained after the acute phase may be a key driver of PAS of non-persistent viruses. Therefore, we explore current insights into aberrant activation of innate immune signaling pathways in the post-acute phase of non-persistent viruses. Finally, conclusions are drawn and future perspectives for treatment and prevention of PAS are discussed.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4409
    Topics: Biology
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  • 48
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Dispersion of lead (Pb) in mine wastes was simulated for reproducing Pb contamination of soil in Kabwe District, Zambia. Local weather data of year 2019 were monitored in situ and used for the simulations. The plume model, weak puff model, and no puff model were adopted for calculation of Pb dispersion under different wind conditions. The results showed that Pb dispersion from the Kabwe mine was directly affected by wind directions and speeds in the dry season, although it was not appreciably affected in the rainy season. This may be because the source strength is lower in the rainy season due to higher water content of the surface. This indicates that Pb dispersion patterns depend on the season. In addition, the distribution of the amount of deposited Pb-bearing soils around the mine corresponded to the distribution of Pb contents in soils. These results suggest that Pb contamination in soils primarily results from dispersion of fine mine wastes.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-163X
    Topics: Geosciences
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  • 49
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: In recent years, the rapid increase in CO2 concentration has accelerated global warming. As a result, sea levels rise, glaciers melt, extreme weather occurs, and species become extinct. As the world’s largest CO2 emission rights trading market, EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) has reached 1.855 billion tons of quotas by 2019, influencing the development of the global carbon emission market. Crude oil, as one of the major fossil energy sources in the world, its price fluctuation is bound to affect the price of carbon emission rights. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the correlation between crude oil futures prices and carbon emission rights futures prices by studying the price fluctuation. In this paper, the linkage between West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures prices and European carbon futures prices was investigated. In addition, this paper selects continuous data of WTI crude oil futures prices and spot prices with European carbon futures prices from January 8, 2018 to November 27, 2020, and builds a smooth transformation regression (STR) model. The relationship between crude oil futures and carbon futures prices is studied in both forward and reversal linkage through empirical analysis. The results show that crude oil futures prices and carbon futures prices have a mutual effect on each other, and both linear and nonlinear correlations between the two prices exist. Based on the results of this research, some suggestions are provided.
    Electronic ISSN: 2296-598X
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 50
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: This paper proposes an equivalent circuit model to obtain the transient electrical stress quantitatively in medium voltage medium frequency transformers in modern power electronics. To verify this model, transient simulation is performed on a 1.5 kV/1 kHz transformer, revealing voltage overshoot quantitatively between turns and layers of the transformer’s HV winding. Effects of rise time of the input pulse voltage, stray capacitance of the winding insulation, and their interactions on the voltage overshot magnitude are presented. With these results, we propose limiting the voltage overshoot and, thereafter, enhancing medium voltage medium frequency transformer’s insulation capability, which throws light on the transformer’s insulation design. Additionally, guidance on the future studies on aging and endurance lifetime of the medium voltage medium frequency transformer’s insulation could be given.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 51
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Since reinforced concrete (RC) buildings have long service life, cutout openings are generally needed in their load-bearing walls as a sustainable solution in order to meet new requirements of their users. However, the cutout openings decrease the load-bearing capacity of the walls, which may result in the failure of the buildings. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of making a door opening in a load-bearing RC wall of an existing building in Gävle in Sweden. The wall studied in the current paper rests on two individual supports at its two ends; thus, it is considered as a deep beam. However, it is called an examined wall (EW) here. The StruSoft FEM-Design software is used in this study to model, analyze, and design the building based on the Eurocodes and Swedish national annex. The potential need for the EW to be strengthened when the cutout opening is made is also evaluated. It is concluded that strengthening the EW with cutout opening is needed. Different strengthening solutions are proposed for the EW. Moreover, the situation of the EW with the solutions is assessed with regard to the utilization ratio, deflection, and weight. Consequently, it is demonstrated that the proposed strengthening solutions function well for the EW.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-5309
    Topics: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Surveying
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  • 52
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: In the current era of a strongly competitive business environment, it is more difficult for companies to attract customers. Consumer neuroscience has growing potential here, as it reveals internal consumer preferences by using innovative methods and tools, which can effectively examine consumer behavior and attract new customers. In particular, smell has a great ability to subconsciously influence customers and, thus, support profitability. This paper examines the importance of consumer neuroscience and its modern technologies used for exploring human perceptions to influence customers and benefit from the aromatization of business spaces. We focused our analysis on various service sectors. Despite the potential of the examined issue, there are a limited number of studies in the field of service providers that use neuroscience tools to examine the effect of aromas on human emotions. Most studies took place in laboratory conditions, and the used methodological procedures varied widely. Our analysis showed that, in spite of the positive impact of aromatization in the majority of aromatized spaces, service companies still do not use the potential of consumer neuroscience and aroma marketing to a sufficient degree. Innovative methods and tools, in particular, are still very underused.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 53
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The Kuroshio is the strongest warm current in the western North Pacific, which plays a crucial role in climate and human activities. In terms of this, the accurate acquisition of ocean surface current velocity and direction in the Kuroshio region is of great research value. Gaofen-3 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provides data support for the study of ocean surface current measurements in the Kuroshio region, but no relevant experimental result has been published yet. In this paper, four available stripmap mode SARs’ data acquired by Gaofen-3 in the Kuroshio region are used for measuring the ocean surface current field. In general, the Doppler centroid anomaly (DCA) estimation is a common method to infer ocean surface currents from single-antenna stripmap data, but only the radial velocity component can be retrieved. In order to measure current vectors, a novel method combining the sub-aperture processing and the least squares (LS) technology is suggested and demonstrated by applying to the Gaofen-3 SAR data processing. The experiment’s results agree well with model-derived ocean current data, indicating that the Gaofen-3 SAR has the capability to accurately retrieve the ocean surface current field in the Kuroshio region and motivate further research by providing more data.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 54
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The C1q/TNF-related protein 3 (CTRP3) represents a pleiotropic adipokine reciprocally associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus and exhibits anti-inflammatory properties in relation to lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-mediated effects in adipocytes, as well as monocytes/macrophages. Here, we focused on the influence of CTRP3 on LPS-mediated effects in endothelial cells in order to expand the understanding of a possible anti-inflammatory function of CTRP3 in a setting of endotoxemia. An organ- and tissue-specific expression analysis by real-time PCR revealed a considerable Ctrp3 expression in various adipose tissue compartments; however, higher levels were detected in the aorta and in abundantly perfused tissues (bone marrow and the thyroid gland). We observed a robust Ctrp3 expression in primary endothelial cells and a transient upregulation in murine endothelial (MyEND) cells by LPS (50 ng/mL). In MyEND cells, CTRP3 inhibited the LPS-induced expression of interleukin (Il)-6 and the tumor necrosis factor (Tnf)-α, and suppressed the LPS-dependent expression of the major endothelial adhesion molecules Vcam-1 and Icam-1. The LPS-induced adhesion of monocytic cells to an endothelial monolayer was antagonized by CTRP3. In C57BL/6J mice with an LPS-induced systemic inflammation, exogenous CTRP3 did not affect circulating levels of TNF-α, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1. In conclusion, we characterized CTRP3 beyond its function as an adipokine in a setting of vascular inflammation. CTRP3 inhibited LPS-induced endothelial expression of adhesion molecules and monocyte cell adhesion, indicating an important vascular anti-inflammatory role for CTRP3 in endotoxemia.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4409
    Topics: Biology
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  • 55
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The development of an efficient pretreatment, prior to enzymatic hydrolysis, is a good strategy for the sustainable use of refractory fish byproducts. This study compared hydrothermal pretreatments at 159 °C for 2 min, followed by water extraction (steam explosion-assisted extraction, SE) and 121 °C for 70 min (hot-pressure extraction, HPE), for the recovery of proteins from fish backbones. The effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on the properties of the obtained fish bone protein (FBP) was also evaluated. The results demonstrated that FBP had high contents of protein (81.09–84.88 g/100 g) and hydroxyproline (70–82 residues/1000 residues). After hydrolysis with Flavourzyme, for 3 h, the FBP hydrolysates that were pretreated with SE (SFBP-H) exhibited a better degree of hydrolysis (DH) and nitrogen recovery (NR), and a higher level of umami taste free amino acids (151.50 mg/100 mL), compared with the HPE-treated samples. The obtained SFBP-H mainly distributed below 3000 Da and had strong scavenging effects on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazy (DPPH) (IC50 = 4.24 mg/mL) and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) (IC50 = 1.93 mg/mL) radicals. Steam explosion-assisted extraction is a promising route for recovering proteins from native fish bone materials, and improving the flavor and antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates.
    Electronic ISSN: 2304-8158
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 56
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Since mineral supplements for horses commonly contain macro minerals, although the requirement for such is usually covered by roughage-based diets, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different dietary calcium levels on mineral serum concentrations and bone metabolism. The trial was conducted in 30 young warmblood stallions (2–3 years) that were divided into two groups for a five-month feeding trial. The groups were fed a hay- and oat-based diet and were either supplied with high (Ca-High) or moderate (Ca-Moderate) calcium excess. While in Ca-High calcium supply was about 2–2.5-fold of the requirement, in Ca-Moderate calcium requirements were slightly surpassed (1.5–1.6-fold). In order to monitor the effects of the different calcium supply, blood samples were taken during the trial and analysed for levels of macro and trace elements as well as concentrations of two bone markers. In Ca-Moderate a trend towards higher phosphorus serum levels compared to Ca-High was observed which was significant at the end of the trial (p = 0.0002). Furthermore, results showed no influence of the diet on bone markers. Results support the idea that forage-based rations for horses do not necessarily have to be supplemented with macro minerals but with trace elements.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-2615
    Topics: Biology , Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 57
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: COVID-19 might have long-term mental health impacts. We aim to investigate the longitudinal changes in mental problems from initial COVID-19 peak to its aftermath among general public in China. Depression, anxiety and insomnia were assessed among a large-sample nationwide cohort of 10,492 adults during the initial COVID-19 peak (28 February 2020 to 11 March 2020) and its aftermath (8 July 2020 to 8 August 2020) using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Insomnia Severity Index. We used generalized estimating equations and linear mixed models to explore factors associated with long-term mental health symptoms during COVID-19. During the five months, mental health symptoms remained consistently elevated (baseline 46.4%; follow-up 45.1%). Long-term depression, anxiety and insomnia were associated with several personal and work-related factors including quarantine (adjusted OR for any mental health symptoms 1.31, 95%CI 1.22–1.41, p 〈 0.001), increases in work burden after resuming work (1.77, 1.65–1.90, p 〈 0.001), occupational exposure risk to COVID-19 (1.26, 1.14–1.40, p 〈 0.001) and living in places severely affected by initial COVID-19 peak (1.21, 1.04–1.41, p = 0.01) or by a COVID-19 resurgence (1.38, 1.26–1.50, p 〈 0.001). Compliance with self-protection measures, such as wearing face masks (0.74, 0.61–0.90, p = 0.003), was associated with lower long-term risk of mental problems. The findings reveal a pronounced and prolonged mental health burden from the initial COVID-19 peak through to its aftermath in China. We should regularly monitor the mental health status of vulnerable populations throughout COVID-19.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 58
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation plays an important role in many plant developmental processes. We previously identified a class of SINA RING-type E3 ligases of Arabidopsis thaliana (SINATs), whose protein levels decrease in the dark and increase in red and blue light, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. In this study, we created transgenic lines carrying point mutations in SINAT genes and photoreceptors-NLS or -NES transgenic plants to investigate the regulatory mechanism of SINAT protein stability. We demonstrated that the degradation of SINATs is self-regulated, and SINATs interact with photoreceptors phytochrome B (phyB) and cryptochrome 1 (CRY1) in the cytoplasm, which leads to the degradation of SINATs in the dark. Furthermore, we observed that the red light-induced subcellular localization change of phyB and blue light-induced the dissociation of CRY1 from SINATs and was the major determinant for the light-promoted SINATs accumulation. Our findings provide a novel mechanism of how the stability and degradation of the E3 ligase SINATs are regulated by an association and dissociation mechanism through the red light-induced subcellular movement of phyB and the blue light-induced dissociation of CRY1 from SINATs.
    Electronic ISSN: 1664-462X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 59
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Low-cost air quality stations can provide useful data that can offer a complete picture of urban air quality dynamics, especially when integrated with daily measurements from reference air quality stations. However, the success of such deployment depends on the measurement accuracy and the capability of resolving spatial and temporal gradients within a spatial domain. In this work, an ensemble of three low-cost stations named “AirQino” was deployed to monitor particulate matter (PM) concentrations over three different sites in an area affected by poor air quality conditions. Data of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were collected for about two years following a protocol based on field calibration and validation with a reference station. Results indicated that: (i) AirQino station measurements were accurate and stable during co-location periods over time (R2 = 0.5–0.83 and RMSE = 6.4–11.2 μg m−3; valid data: 87.7–95.7%), resolving current spatial and temporal gradients; (ii) spatial variability of anthropogenic emissions was mainly due to extensive use of wood for household heating; (iii) the high temporal resolution made it possible to detect time occurrence and strength of PM10 concentration peaks; (iv) the number of episodes above the 1-h threshold of 90 μg m−3 and their persistence were higher under urban and industrial sites compared to the rural area.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4433
    Topics: Geosciences
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  • 60
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Retinal dystrophies (RD) are clinically and genetically heterogenous disorders showing mutations in over 270 disease-associated genes. Several millions of people worldwide are affected with different types of RD. Studying the relevance of disease-associated sequence alterations will assist in understanding disorders and may lead to the development of therapeutic approaches. Here, we established a whole exome sequencing (WES) pipeline to rapidly identify disease-associated mutations in patients. Sanger sequencing was applied to identify deep-intronic variants and to verify the co-segregation of WES results within families. We analyzed 26 unrelated patients with different syndromic and non-syndromic clinical manifestations of RD. All patients underwent ophthalmic examinations. We identified nine novel disease-associated sequence variants among 37 variants identified in total. The sequence variants located to 17 different genes. Interestingly, two cases presenting with Stargardt disease carried deep-intronic variants in ABCA4. We have classified 21 variants as pathogenic variants, 4 as benign/likely benign variants, and 12 as variants of uncertain significance. This study highlights the importance of WES-based mutation analyses in RD patients supporting clinical decisions, broadly based genetic diagnosis and support genetic counselling. It is essential for any genetic therapy to expand the mutation spectrum, understand the genes’ function, and correlate phenotypes with genotypes.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4425
    Topics: Biology
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  • 61
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Developments in the design of wind turbines with augmentation are advancing around the globe with the goal of generating electricity close to the user in built-up areas. This is certain to help lessen the power generation load as well as distribution and transmission network costs by reducing the distance between the user and the power source. The main objectives driving the development and advancement of vertical-axis wind turbines are increasing the power coefficient and the torque coefficient by optimizing the upstream wind striking on the rotor blades. Unlike horizontal-axis wind turbines, vertical axis turbines generate not only positive torque but also negative torque during operation. The negative torque generated by the returning blade is a key issue for vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) that is counterproductive. Installation of wind deflectors for flow augmentation helps to reduce the negative torque generated by the returning blades as well as enhance the positive torque by creating a diversion in the upstream wind towards the forwarding blade during operation. This paper reviews various designs, experiments, and CFD simulations of wind deflectors reported to date. Optimization techniques for VAWTs incorporating wind deflectors are discussed in detail. The main focus of the review was on the installation position and orientation of the deflectors and their potential contribution to increasing the power coefficient. Topics for future study are suggested in the conclusion section of the paper.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 62
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Exploring differences in clinical outcomes based on race and origin among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 is a controversial issue. The ALC COVID-19 Registry includes all confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital from 3 March 2020 to 17 December 2020. The data were obtained from electronic health records in order to evaluate the differences in the clinical features and outcomes among European and Latin American patients. The follow-ups occurred after 156 days. A propensity score weighting (PSW) logistic regression model was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR, 95% CI) for Latin American origin and outcome associations. Of the 696 patients included, 46.7% were women, with a median age of 65 (IQR 53–67) years, 614 (88.2%) were European, and 82 (11.8%) were Latin American. Latin American patients were younger, with fewer comorbidities, and a higher incidence of extensive pneumonia. After adjusting for residual confounders, Latin American origin was not associated with an increased risk of death (PSW OR 0.85 (0.23–3.14)) or with the need for invasive mechanical ventilation (PSW OR 0.35 (0.12–1.03)). Latin American origin was associated with a shorter hospital stay, but without differences in how long the patient remained on mechanical ventilation. In a public healthcare system, the rates of death or mechanical ventilation in severe COVID-19 cases were found to be comparable between patients of European and Latin American origins.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-2607
    Topics: Biology
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  • 63
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: The huge energy potential of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) makes them perspective sources of non-intermittent renewable energy for the future. This paper focuses on potential scenarios of EGS development in a locally and in regard to geothermal exploration, poorly known geological setting—the Variscan fold-and-thrust belt —for district heating and cooling of the Göttingen University campus. On average, the considered single EGS doublet might cover about 20% of the heat demand and 6% of the cooling demand of the campus. The levelized cost of heat (LCOH), net present value (NPV) and CO2 abatement cost were evaluated with the help of a spreadsheet-based model. As a result, the majority of scenarios of the reference case are currently not profitable. Based on the analysis, EGS heat output should be at least 11 MWth (with the brine flow rate being 40 l/s and wellhead temperature being 140 °C) for a potentially profitable project. These parameters can be a target for subsurface investigation, reservoir modeling and hydraulic stimulation at a later stage. However, sensitivity analysis presented some conditions that yield better results. Among the most influential parameters on the outcome are subsidies for research wells, proximity to the campus, temperature drawdown and drilling costs. If realized, the EGS project in Göttingen might save up to 18,100 t CO2 (34%) annually.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3263
    Topics: Geosciences
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  • 64
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Transport infrastructure (TI) plays a crucial role in socioeconomic development. The increase of TI inequality, an all-pervading phenomenon in both developed and developing countries, has been an obstacle to sustainable economic growth. The relationship between TI inequality and economic growth has attracted considerable interest over the past three decades. However, the relationship remains obscure, and people find it impossible to utilize to develop economies. This study collected a panel of empirical data from 1982 to 2015 from China to calculate the Gini coefficient and conduct the Granger causality test. The data analysis results show that TI inequality is not always conducive to economic growth. A softening TI inequality helps address the issues of uneven economic growth across regions in the long term. The short-term effects of improving TI inequality at the national level are reflected in the network effect. In addition, the “social filters” facilitate the region to absorb the economic benefits brought by the improvement of TI inequality. These findings offer a way to address the increase of TI inequality and shed light on the ways to improve transport investment from the perspective of economic growth.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-445X
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 65
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) are a promising, sustainable source of nutrients, however, there is limited knowledge regarding the food safety of consuming BSFL. This study determined the safety of consuming BSFL for direct human consumption in terms of microbial, heavy metal and allergen content. Microbial counts were determined using ISO (International Organization for Standardization) methods, heavy metals were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and allergens were determined via Orbitrap mass spectrometry and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) kits. Feed and killing method influenced the presence of Bacillus cereus (p = 0.011), and only the killing method influenced Escherichia coli (p 〈 0.00) and total viable count (TVC) (p 〈 0.00). Blanching resulted in a 3-log reduction in E. coli and a 3.4 log reduction in the TVC counts. Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. were not detected in the BSFL samples. Heavy metals were detected although they were below maximum legal limits. Cross-reactive allergens, tropomyosin and arginine kinase, were detected in the BSFL samples, although the clinical significance requires research. The feed fed to the BSFL and blanching were found to influence the safety of consuming BSFL, highlighting the importance of incorporating sufficient decontamination steps, such as blanching, to ensure food safety.
    Electronic ISSN: 2304-8158
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 66
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Malaysia implemented its first Movement Control Order (MCO) during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to slow the transmission of the virus. This study aimed to explore the public perception of the MCO implementation and people’s experiences during this period. The study employed qualitative explorative in-depth interviews conducted with 23 Malaysian adults from various demographic backgrounds. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo 12. Three main themes were identified: a period of information surge, heterogeneous emotional response, and attempts to adapt. During the MCO, the participants obtained information from multiple platforms. They suggested the need for clear and repeated instructions to avoid confusion and misinformation. They also acknowledged the importance of the MCO in breaking the chain of transmission and safeguarding high-risk groups; however, they also expressed that stricter enforcement from the authorities was warranted. The changes in the participants’ work–life routines, lack of physical interaction, and uncertainty about their health and the economy due to the MCO negatively impacted their psychological states. Despite these challenges, the participants attempted to adapt to life under the MCO in different ways. The findings imply that during a crisis, the public tends to seek clear and reliable information, experience emotional turmoil, and adapt to changes. The MCO implementation can be improved through an effective communication strategy and efforts to battle misinformation.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 67
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: This case series study aimed to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and positive outcome of the neurorehabilitation multimodal protocol (NRMP) in 16 chronic post-surgical IVDD Hansen type I dogs, with OFS 0/DPP− (n = 9) and OFS 1/DPP+ (n = 7). All were enrolled in the NRMP for a maximum of 90 days and were clinically discharged after achieving ambulation. The NRMP was based on locomotor training, functional electrical stimulation, transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation, and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) pharmacological management. In the Deep Pain Perception (DPP)+ dogs, 100% recovered ambulation within a mean period of 47 days, reaching OFS ≥11, which suggests that a longer period of time is needed for recovery. At follow-up, all dogs presented a positive evolution with voluntary micturition. Of the DPP− dogs admitted, all achieved a flexion/extension locomotor pattern within 30 days, and after starting the 4-AP, two dogs were discharged at outcome day 45, with 78% obtaining Spinal Reflex Locomotion (SRL) and automatic micturition within a mean period of 62 days. At follow-up, all dogs maintained their neurological status. After the NRMP, ambulatory status was achieved in 88% (14/16) of dogs, without concurrent events. Thus, an NRMP may be an important therapeutic option to reduce the need for euthanasia in the clinical setting.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-2615
    Topics: Biology , Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 68
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) is characterized by extensional tectonics and volcanism, associated with active hydrothermal systems, hydrothermal alteration and fumarolic deposits. The spatial distribution of these hydrothermal products and their link with faults and rock types provides important clues to what controls fluid flow in the subsurface. However, little is known about this in the East African Rift. We address this issue with a multidisciplinary approach in the Fentale-Dofan magmatic segment of the MER, an area characterized by intense volcanic and tectonic activity and a geothermal prospect. Primarily we conduct mapping of hydrothermal alteration and fumarolic deposits, and rock lithologies using a surface feature classification technique of multispectral satellite images. Then we interpret the map using a new database of faults and active hydrothermal manifestations such as hot-springs and fumaroles. We find that the surface hydrothermal alteration and deposits are mainly focused near Fentale and the Dofan Volcanic Complex (DVC). At DVC the hydrothermal products are focused on rhyolites on the western side of the volcano, in an area of intense NNE striking, rift parallel faults. At Fentale volcano the hydrothermal products are mainly associated with ignimbrite and show a circular pattern around the volcanic edifice, but also in places follow the NNE striking faults. At Fentale, the more complex association of hydrothermal products and active manifestations around the edge of the ignimbrite suggests formation contacts may also localize fluid flow in places. At both volcanoes the association between hydrothermal products with either the rhyolites and ignimbrites is likely due to them being relatively easily altered (in comparison to basalt), and also their brittle nature allows for fracturing through which localized fluid flow can occur (as opposed to the sediments). The general pattern of hydrothermal products suggests a stronger structural influence at the DVC with respect to Fentale. The presence of hydrothermal products and active hydrothermal manifestations, along with other lines of evidence such as locus of subsurface dike intrusion at the volcanic centres, suggest that discrete and localized magma reservoirs beneath Fentale and the DVC are the heat source for hydrothermal circulation. Our study also demonstrates that geology, including hydrothermal deposits, can be successfully mapped using automated remote sensing based classification.
    Electronic ISSN: 2296-6463
    Topics: Geosciences
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 69
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Increasing the bearing capacity of reinforced concrete structures, reducing material consumption, and ensuring quality are critical in modern construction. The article presents an experimental study of the ultimate compressive strains of short fiber basalt reinforced concrete columns and provides recommendations for increasing the bearing capacity using steel reinforcement bars with greater strength. The columns were tested in an upright position using a hydraulic press. Strains were measured with dial indicators and a strain gauge station. It was shown that the addition of 10% coarse basalt fiber increased the ultimate compressibility of concrete on ordinary crushed stone by 19.8%, and expanded clay concrete by 26.1%, which led to the strain hardening of concrete under compression by 9.0% and 12%, respectively. Ultimate compressive strains in fiber-reinforced concrete short columns with combined reinforcement increased 1.42 times in columns on a lightweight aggregate and 1.19 times on heavy aggregate. An increase in the ultimate compressibility of concrete makes it possible to use steel reinforcement with greater strength in compressed elements as the concrete crushing during compression occurs primarily due to the reaching of critical values by tensile stresses in the transverse direction. This makes it possible to manufacture structures with a higher load-bearing capacity and less material consumption. A practical example of the application of the proposed approach is given.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 70
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: The threshing of frozen corn is accompanied by breakage and adherence, which influence the cleaning performance when the corn-cleaning mixture is separated and cleaned. In order to reduce the impurity ratio and loss ratio during frozen corn cleaning and provide theoretical support for frozen corn combine harvesting, this study employed a self-made air-screen cleaning system with adjustable parameters. The optimal process parameters of frozen corn cleaning were determined by using the response surface method (RSM). The influences of the fan speed (FS), vibrational frequency (VF), and screen opening (SO) on the cleaning performance were explored. The results showed that all three process parameters had significant effects on the impurity ratio (IR) and loss ratio (LR). The fan speed had the most significant impact. The cleaning performance was optimal when the fan speed was 102.7 rad/s, the vibration frequency was 6.42 Hz, and the screen opening was 21.9 mm, corresponding to a 0.80% impurity ratio and a 0.61% loss ratio. The predicted values of the regression models were consistent with the experimental results with a relative error of less than 5%. The reliability and accuracy of regression models were established and confirmed.
    Electronic ISSN: 2077-0472
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 71
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Prophylactic antibiotic usage during delivery is a common practice worldwide, especially in low- to middle-income countries. Guidelines have been published to reduce antibiotic overuse; however, data describing the use of prophylactic antibiotics and clinician adherence to guidelines in low- to middle-income countries remain limited. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of prophylactic antibiotic use, factors associated with its use, and clinician adherence to guidelines. A retrospective review was conducted for all deliveries from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018 at a tertiary level hospital in Indonesia. The prevalence of prophylactic antibiotic use during delivery was 47.1%. Maternal education level, Ob/Gyn specialist-led delivery, a history of multiple abortions, C-section, premature membrane rupture, and antepartum hemorrhage were independently associated with prophylactic antibiotic use. Clinician adherence to the guidelines was 68.9%. Adherence to guidelines was the lowest in conditions where the patient had only one indication for prophylactic antibiotics (aOR 0.36, 95% CI 0.24–0.54). The findings showed that the prevalence of prophylactic antibiotic use during delivery was moderate to high. Adherence to local guidelines was moderate. Updating the local prescribing guidelines may improve clinician adherence.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-6382
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Medicine
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  • 72
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Phenolic compounds have long been of great importance in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. Unfortunately, conventional extraction procedures have a high cost and are time consuming, and the solvents used can represent a safety risk for operators, consumers, and the environment. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are green alternatives for extraction processes, given their low or non-toxicity, biodegradability, and reusability. This review discusses the latest research (in the last two years) employing DESs for phenolic extraction, solvent components, extraction yields, extraction method characteristics, and reviewing the phenolic sources (natural products, by-products, wastes, etc.). This work also analyzes and discusses the most relevant DES-based studies for phenolic extraction from natural sources, their extraction strategies using DESs, their molecular mechanisms, and potential applications.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 73
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Fungi from the Candida genus are widespread commensals and, at the same time, are the leading cause of fungal infections worldwide. For instance, vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) affects approximately 75% of women at least once in their lifetime, remaining the second most common gynecological infection. On the contrary, hospital-acquired fungal bloodstream infections (BSIs), although less frequent, are characterized by a high mortality rate. Undoubtedly, the main reason for this situation are virulence factors that these yeast-like fungi can produce, and the ability to form a biofilm is one of the most important of them.. Due to the low effectiveness of classic antimycotics against Candida biofilms, an intense search for new drugs capable of eradicating this structure is highly demanded. One of the most promising groups of compounds exhibiting such properties are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). This study focuses on a comparison of the efficacy of Omiganan and fluconazole alone and in combination against Candida strains isolated from BSIs. The obtained results are consistent with our previous reports on the effectiveness of Omiganan against clinical strains isolated from VVC. This is also the first report on the combinatory application of Omiganan in the context of fungal BSI. The majority of combinations with fluconazole showed an additive effect, as well as a synergistic effect in the range of certain concentrations. Importantly, such effects are visible at concentrations much lower than for those compounds used individually. Potentially, this entails the possibility of limiting the adverse effects (e.g., toxicity) of Omiganan and fluconazole applied in vivo, thus improving the safety profile of this particular antifungal therapy.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-6382
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Medicine
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  • 74
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: This empirical study assesses the effect of CO2 emissions, urbanization, energy consumption, and agriculture on Thailand’s economic growth using a dataset between 1970 and 2018. The ARDL and the frequency domain causality (FDC) approaches were applied to assess these interconnections. The outcome of the bounds test suggested a long-term association among the variables of investigation. The ARDL outcomes reveal that urbanization, agriculture, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions positively trigger Thailand’s economic growth. Additionally, the frequency domain causality test was used to detect a causal connection between the series. The main benefit of this technique is that it can detect a causal connection between series at different frequencies. To the understanding of the authors, this is the first study in the case of Thailand that will apply the FDC approach to capture the causal linkage between GDP and the regressors. The outcomes of the causality test suggested that CO2 emissions, urbanization, energy consumption, and agriculture can predict Thailand’s economic growth in the long term. These outcomes have far-reaching implications for economic performance and Thailand’s macroeconomic indicators.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 75
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: In response to the environmental damage caused by urbanization, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are being implemented to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem processes with mutual benefits for society and nature. Although the field of NbS is flourishing, experiments in different geographic locations and environmental contexts have produced variable results, with knowledge particularly lacking for the subtidal zone. This study tested the effects of physical complexity on colonizing communities in subtidal habitats in two urban locations: (1) Plymouth, United Kingdom (northeast Atlantic) and (2) Tel Aviv, Israel (eastern Mediterranean) for 15- and 12-months, respectively. At each location, physical complexity was manipulated using experimental tiles that were either flat or had 2.5 or 5.0 cm ridges. In Plymouth, biological complexity was also manipulated through seeding tiles with habitat-forming mussels. The effects of the manipulations on taxon and functional richness, and community composition were assessed at both locations, and in Plymouth the survival and size of seeded mussels and abundance and size of recruited mussels were also assessed. Effects of physical complexity differed between locations. Physical complexity did not influence richness or community composition in Plymouth, while in Tel Aviv, there were effects of complexity on community composition. In Plymouth, effects of biological complexity were found with mussel seeding reducing taxon richness, supporting larger recruited mussels, and influencing community composition. Our results suggest that outcomes of NbS experiments are context-dependent and highlight the risk of extrapolating the findings outside of the context in which they were tested.
    Electronic ISSN: 2296-701X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 76
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The muskrat is a neozoon species that has occupied many countries of continental North Europe after its introduction from north America as fur animals. Due to its burrowing activity it damages river and canal banks and structures of flood control. For this reason, the eradication of this alien species is recommended. Muskrats are also of parasitological interest since they can act as suitable intermediate hosts for Echinococcus multilocularis. On the other hand, little is known on the other helminths that infect muskrats. A total of 130 muskrats of different age groups trapped in different habitats in the Barnim district of the Brandenburg state by a professional hunter were examined for parasites and seven trematodes (Echinostoma sp., Notocotylus noyeri, Plagiorchis elegans, Plagiorchis arvicolae, Psilosostoma simillimum, P. spiculigerum, Opisthorchis felineus and four larval cestode species (Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Taenia martis, Taenia polyacantha, Taenia crassiceps) were detected. Larval stages of E. multilocularis were not found. O. felineus was found for the first time in muskrats in Germany. All the named parasites were present in Europe prior to the introduction of muskrats. With a prevalence of 48.9%, Strobilocercus fasciolaris, the larval stage of the cat tapeworm, H. taeniaeformis, was the most frequent parasite found in adult muskrats.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-2615
    Topics: Biology , Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 77
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is an important vascular regulator that is present in the brain. Our previous study demonstrated the innate neuroprotectant role of CNP in the neonatal brain after hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insults. In this study, we further explored the role of CNP in cerebrovascular pathology using both in vivo and in vitro models. In a neonatal mouse HI brain injury model, we found that intracerebroventricular administration of recombinant CNP dose-dependently reduces brain infarct size. CNP significantly decreases brain edema and immunoglobulin G (IgG) extravasation into the brain tissue, suggesting a vasculoprotective effect of CNP. Moreover, in primary brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), CNP dose-dependently protects BMEC survival and monolayer integrity against oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). The vasculoprotective effect of CNP is mediated by its innate receptors NPR2 and NPR3, in that inhibition of either NPR2 or NPR3 counteracts the protective effect of CNP on IgG leakage after HI insult and BMEC survival under OGD. Of importance, CNP significantly ameliorates brain atrophy and improves neurological deficits after HI insults. Altogether, the present study indicates that recombinant CNP exerts vascular protection in neonatal HI brain injury via its innate receptors, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of neonatal HI brain injury.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 78
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The number of medically compromised dental patients is increasing every year with the increase in the super-aged population. Many of these patients have underlying psychiatric problems and diseases, which need to be recognized by dental professionals for better treatment outcomes. The aim of this narrative review article is to summarize the psychological and psychiatric backgrounds of medically compromised patients who are frequently visited and taken care of by dentists using findings from recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Anxiety and symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, panic disorders, poor cognitive functions, and poor quality of life were some of the common psychological backgrounds in medically compromised patients. Additionally, the consequences of these psychological problems and the considerations that need to be taken by the dentist while treating these patients have been discussed. Dental professionals should be aware of and recognize the different psychological backgrounds of medically compromised dental patients in order to provide appropriate dental treatment and to prevent oral conditions from worsening.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 79
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Water uptake is a seminal process in seed germination. Salt and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are known to retard seed germination rates and percentages, which is often attributed to osmotic effects. Here, we quantified water uptake in wheat seeds killed with a hot needle, finding evidence of three distinct water uptake pools. The fast pool was unaffected by salt, and likely represents cell walls and other apoplastic material. Water uptake into the medium and slow pools was slowed by salt addition, with the medium pool thought to be cellular, while the slow pool is presumably related to endosperm hydration. Salt caused a minor decrease in the water uptake rates and maximum seed water content, while PEG strongly suppressed both parameters. Seeds transferred between water and salt solutions followed the water uptake trajectories of the solution into which they were transferred. Seeds transferred from PEG to water achieved final seed water contents similar to water control seeds, while seeds transferred from water to PEG achieved significantly higher final water contents than PEG controls. This work confirms that salt and PEG have distinct effects on water uptake by wheat seeds.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 80
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Power Factor Correction (PFC) single-phase AC/DC converters are used in several power electronics applications as full wave control rectifiers improving power quality and providing high standards of efficiency. Many papers dealing with the description or use of such topologies have been published in recent years; however, a review that describes and organizes their specific details has not been reported in the technical literature. Therefore, this paper presents an extensive review of PFC single-phase AC/DC converters operating with the Boost converter topology for low and medium voltage as well as and power appliances. A categorization of bridge, semi-bridgeless, and bridgeless, in accordance with the construction characteristics, was carried out in order to unify the technical terminology. Benefits and disadvantages are described and analyzed in detail. Furthermore, a comparison performance in terms of PFC, Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), power capacity, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), number of elements, and efficiency is included.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 81
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Evaluation and monitoring of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and the parameters defining their operations and design, such as energy consumption, latency, and stability, is a complex task due to interaction with real devices. For greater control of these variables, the use of simulators arises as an alternative. Cooja is a WSN simulator/emulator which handles the devices’ controllers and multiple communication protocol implementations, such as RPL (RPL is one of the most used protocol in IoT). However, Cooja does not consider either the implementation of an energy model (it has infinite energy consumption) nor the visual behavior of the topology construction, although these aspects are crucial for effective network analysis and decision taking. This paper presents the design and the implementation of ViTool-BC, a software built on top of Cooja, which allows the creation of different energy estimation models and also to visualize in real time the behavior of WSN topology construction. In addition, ViTool-BC offers a heat map of energy consumption traces. Therefore, this tool helps researchers to monitor in real time the topology construction, node disconnection, and battery depletion, aspects to be considered in the analysis of the available routing protocols in Cooja.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 82
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) were one of our earliest recognised classes of non-coding RNA, but were largely ignored by cancer investigators due to an assumption that their activities were confined to the nucleolus. However, as full genome sequences have become available, many new snoRNA genes have been identified, and multiple studies have shown their functions to be diverse. The consensus now is that many snoRNA are dysregulated in cancers, are differentially expressed between cancer types, stages and metastases, and they can actively modify disease progression. In addition, the regulation of the snoRNA class is dominated by the cancer-supporting mTOR signalling pathway, and they may have particular significance to immune cell function and anti-tumour immune responses. Given the recent advent of therapeutics that can target RNA molecules, snoRNA have robust potential as drug targets, either solely or in the context of immunotherapies.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-7737
    Topics: Biology
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  • 83
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The south of Portugal is one of the regions that will be most affected by the impacts of climate change (CC), with an expected increase in water scarcity. Irrigated super-intensive olive orchards occupy a large area of the used agricultural surface in the Alentejo region, south of Portugal, making it necessary to adapt this crop to the effects of CC. This study assessed the impacts of CC and defined adaptation measures concerning irrigation management of the super-intensive olive orchard. To compute the crop irrigation requirement (CIR), the soil water balance model ISAREG was combined with climate data relative to the reference period 1971–2000 and to the representative concentration pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for the periods 2011–2040, 2041–2070, and 2071–2100. The growing degree-days (GDD) approach was used to estimate olive phenology for these CC scenarios. Unchanged irrigation management with an average CIR increase up to 16% in RCP4.5 and 31% in RCP8.5 is expected. By adopting higher levels of water deficit, water savings of up to 22% can be realized. The results showed that the anticipated CIR increase for the CC scenarios can be mitigated through regulated deficit irrigation strategies.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 84
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a key precursor in the biosynthesis of porphyrins, can improve plant tolerance to various environmental stresses. However, it is unclear whether ALA can improve tolerance in poplar. Here, we investigated the effects of ALA on poplars under drought and salt stresses. ALA pretreatment exhibited less morphological damage, reduced leaf malonaldehyde content (MDA) and electrolyte leakage (EL), and increased leaf relative water content (RWC), proline (PRO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) content under stresses. Furthermore, exogenous ALA mitigated the decrease in photosynthetic capacity, and restored the chlorophyll content (Chl), net CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance (Gs), transpiration rate (Tr), maximal photochemical quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm), actual quantum yield of photosynthesis (YII), and electron transfer rate (ETR) of poplar under various stresses. qRT-PCR showed that ALA up-regulated the expression of antiporters and aquaporins genes, which are associated with Na+ exclusion in the leaf cells and the transport activity of aquaporins. In summary, ALA pretreatment significantly improved the stress tolerance of poplar, decreasing the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation and promoting the photosynthesis and antioxidant capacity of leaves. In addition, our results showed that ALA might mediate Na+ transporter and aquaporins activity, thereby increasing the salt tolerance of poplar.
    Electronic ISSN: 1999-4907
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 85
    Publication Date: 2021-08-24
    Description: Two known azaphilone derivatives, 4,6-dimethylcurvulinic acid (1) and austdiol (2), and their novel heterotrimer, muyophilone A (3), were isolated and identified from an endophytic fungus, Muyocopron laterale 0307-2. Their structures and stereochemistry were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses including HRMS, NMR spectroscopy, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopic methods, as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction. In the structure of 3, two compound 2-derived azaphilone units were connected through an unprecedented five-membered carbon bridge which was proposed to be originated from compound 1. Compound 3 represents the first example of azaphilone heterotrimers.
    Electronic ISSN: 2296-2646
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 86
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: This paper presents the design of NaviPBx, an ultrasound-navigated prostate cancer biopsy system. NaviPBx is designed to support an affordable and sustainable national healthcare program in Senegal. It uses spatiotemporal navigation and multiparametric transrectal ultrasound to guide biopsies. NaviPBx integrates concepts and methods that have been independently validated previously in clinical feasibility studies and deploys them together in a practical prostate cancer biopsy system. NaviPBx is based entirely on free open-source software and will be shared as a free open-source program with no restriction on its use. NaviPBx is set to be deployed and sustained nationwide through the Senegalese Military Health Service. This paper reports on the results of the design process of NaviPBx. Our approach concentrates on “frugal technology”, intended to be affordable for low–middle income (LMIC) countries. Our project promises the wide-scale application of prostate biopsy and will foster time-efficient development and programmatic implementation of ultrasound-guided diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in Senegal and beyond.
    Electronic ISSN: 2313-433X
    Topics: Computer Science
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  • 87
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: High interstitial level of ATP and its lysate adenosine in the cancer microenvironment are considered a halo mark of cancer. Adenosine acts as a strong immune suppressor. However, the source of ATP release is unclear. We clarified the release of ATP via volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) in breast cell lines using an ATP luminescence imaging system. We detected a slowly rising diffuse pattern of ATP release that was only observed in undifferentiated cells, not in differentiated primary cultured cells. This was confirmed by suppression with DCPIB, a blocker of VRACs, and shRNA for LRRC8A, an indispensable subunit of VRACs. We herein demonstrated that the inflammatory mediator sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), which exists abundantly in the cancer microenvironment, induced a diffuse pattern of ATP release isovolumetrically. The response was dose-dependent and suppressed by the knock-down of LRRC8A. It was also suppressed by blockers of S1P receptor 1 and 2 (W146 and JTE013, respectively). RTqPCR demonstrated the prominent presence of S1PR1 and S1PR2 mRNAs. We discussed the roles of S1P-induced ATP release in the cancer microenvironment.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-1729
    Topics: Biology
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  • 88
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Seaweeds are an important ingredient of functional foods recommended for daily food, due to their unique compositions and nutritional value. Padina tetrastromatica is a brown edible seaweed that is commonly found along the coastal regions of Peninsular Malaysia and consumed as food by some coastal communities. This study investigates the nutritional and antihyperglycaemic potential of P. tetrastromatica extracts, which is generally accepted as an important functional food. In our methodology, we induced diabetes intraperitoneally in experimental animals with a dose of 65 mg kg−1 body weight of streptozotocin. Oral treatment with 200 and 400 mg kg−1 of P. tetrastromatica ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts were initiated, respectively, to experimental rats once daily for 18 days. Metformin was used as the positive control. Biochemical estimations and histopathological analysis were included in this study. Treatment with P. tetrastromatica extracts significantly lowered the plasma glucose levels in Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. In addition, P. tetrastromatica extract treatment also showed a significant reduction in serum alanine transaminase levels. However, no significant changes were observed in serum aspartate transaminase levels. The ethyl acetate extract of P. tetrastromatica at 400 mg kg−1 dose shows some nephroprotective effect, which is observed from the significant increase in the plasma albumin levels. Histopathological evaluation revealed no marked morphological changes in tissues of the isolated organs of the ethyl acetate extract-treated group, revealing the safe nature of P. tetrastromatica.
    Electronic ISSN: 2304-8158
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 89
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The number of fatalities in the construction industry is highest among all industries; thus, various losses in the form of fatalities in construction represent a significant factor for safety management. If a fatality occurs, it is important to estimate the overall loss, as a significant financial loss occurs for each project participant. However, in studies of the cost of accidents involving a fatality conducted abroad, the framework cannot be applied as it is because insurance types, systems, and legal cost systems differ by country. Therefore, we developed a framework for calculating the fatality loss considering various aspects of labor, industry, and regulations in Korea. This was done in four steps: (i) data collection and criteria selection; (ii) proposed framework development; (iii) conduct of questionnaire surveys for the case study; and (iv) analysis and evaluation of the case study. As a result of the data analysis after the case study of general construction companies, the total fatality loss was estimated to be 2,198,260 USD/person. The contributions of this study are the development of a framework composed of newly discovered items that can acquire reliable data in consideration of the properties of the construction industry.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 90
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Traditional research methods in software defect prediction use part of the data in the same project to train the defect prediction model and predict the defect label of the remaining part of the data. However, in the practical realm of software development, the software project that needs to be predicted is generally a brand new software project, and there is not enough labeled data to build a defect prediction model; therefore, traditional methods are no longer applicable. Cross-project defect prediction uses the labeled data of the same type of project similar to the target project to build the defect prediction model, so as to solve the problem of data loss in traditional methods. However, the difference in data distribution between the same type of project and the target project reduces the performance of defect prediction. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a cross-project defect prediction method based on manifold feature transformation. This method transforms the original feature space of the project into a manifold space, then reduces the difference in data distribution of the transformed source project and the transformed target project in the manifold space, and finally uses the transformed source project to train a naive Bayes prediction model with better performance. A comparative experiment was carried out using the Relink dataset and the AEEEM dataset. The experimental results show that compared with the benchmark method and several cross-project defect prediction methods, the proposed method effectively reduces the difference in data distribution between the source project and the target project, and obtains a higher F1 value, which is an indicator commonly used to measure the performance of the two-class model.
    Electronic ISSN: 1999-5903
    Topics: Computer Science
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  • 91
    Publication Date: 2021-08-12
    Description: In this study, the sequential extraction method was applied to extract selected potentially toxic elements (PTEs) (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn) in river sediments collected from the Blood River situated in Seshego area, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study aimed to assess a possible trend of mobilisation of these elements from sediment to water. The accuracy of the sequential extraction method was confirmed by analysing sediment-certified reference material, and quantitative percentage recoveries ranging from 86 to 119%, 81 to 111% and 77 to 119% were achieved for exchangeable, reducible and oxidisable fractions, respectively. The potential risk of the PTEs in sediments was evaluated. The calculated values of contamination factor (CF) as well as risk assessment code (RAC) for Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb revealed the mobility of these elements. The PTEs in river sediments are at a high toxicity-risk level and could therefore cause a threat to organisms dwelling in sediments and humans via consumption of crops irrigated with the polluted river water.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-163X
    Topics: Geosciences
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  • 92
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: This paper discusses the performance of the short pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced mortar (CFRM) composite considering its key properties and cost-effectiveness. Five different types of mortar composite were produced using 0–4% volume contents of short pitch-based carbon fibers. The mortar composites were tested for inverted slump cone flow (flow time and volume flow), unit weight, air content, compressive strength, flexural strength, impact resistance, and water absorption. The cost-effectiveness of CFRM was assessed based on the performance to cost ratio (PCR), which was calculated for each mortar composite, considering its workability, mechanical properties, and durability. The inverted slump cone volume flow was counted as a measure of workability, whereas the compressive strength, flexural strength, and impact resistance were considered as the major attributes of the mechanical behavior. In addition, the water absorption was used as a measure of durability. The test results revealed that the mortar composite made with 3% carbon fibers provided adequate workability, a relatively high unit weight and low air content, the highest compressive strength, excellent flexural strength, good impact resistance, and the lowest water absorption. It was also found that the PCR increased up to 3% carbon fibers. Beyond a 3% fiber content, the PCR significantly decreased. The overall research findings revealed that the mortar with 3% carbon fibers was the optimum and most cost-effective mortar composite.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1944
    Topics: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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  • 93
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: The large production of non-degradable petrol-based plastics has become a major global issue due to its environmental pollution. Biopolymers produced by microorganisms such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are gaining potential as a sustainable alternative, but the high cost associated with their industrial production has been a limiting factor. Post-transcriptional regulation is a key step to control gene expression in changing environments and has been reported to play a major role in numerous cellular processes. However, limited reports are available concerning the regulation of PHA accumulation in bacteria, and many essential regulatory factors still need to be identified. Here, we review studies where the synthesis of PHA has been reported to be regulated at the post-transcriptional level, and we analyze the RNA-mediated networks involved. Finally, we discuss the forthcoming research on riboregulation, synthetic, and metabolic engineering which could lead to improved strategies for PHAs synthesis in industrial production, thereby reducing the costs currently associated with this procedure.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-1729
    Topics: Biology
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  • 94
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Black garlic (BG) is a form of aged garlic obtained from raw garlic (Allium sativum) via Millard reaction under high temperature (60–90 °C) and humidity (70–90%) for a period of time. Several studies reported higher contents of water-soluble antioxidants compounds (S-allyl cysteine, S-allyl-mercapto cysteine), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, organosulfur compounds, polyphenol, volatile compounds, and products of other Millard reactions compared to fresh garlic after the thermal processing. Recent studies have demonstrated that BG and its bioactive compounds possess a wide range of biological activities and pharmacological properties that preserve and show better efficacy in preventing different types of diseases. Most of these benefits can be attributed to its anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-obesity, hepatoprotection, hypolipidemia, anti-cancer, anti-allergy, immunomodulation, nephroprotection, cardiovascular protection, and neuroprotection. Substantial studies have been conducted on BG and its components against different common human diseases in the last few decades. Still, a lot of research is ongoing to find out the therapeutic effects of BG. Thus, in this review, we summarized the pre-clinical and clinical studies of BG and its bioactive compounds on human health along with diverse bioactivity, a related mode of action, and also future challenges.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 95
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Micafungin is an important echinocandin antifungal agent for the treatment of invasive fungal infections. In industry, micafungin is derived from the natural product FR901379, which is a non-ribosomal cyclic hexapeptide produced by the filamentous fungus Coleophoma empetri. The difficulty of genetic manipulation in C. empetri restricts the clarification of FR901379 biosynthetic mechanism. In this work, we developed an efficient genetic manipulation system in the industrial FR901379-producing strain C. empetri MEFC009. Firstly, a convenient protoplast-mediated transformation (PMT) method was developed. Secondly, with this transformation method, the essential genetic elements were verified. Selectable markers hph, neo, and nat can be used for the transformation, and promotors Ppgk, PgpdA, and PgpdAt are functional in C. empetri MEFC009. Thirdly, the frequency of homologous recombination was improved from 4 to 100% by deleting the ku80 gene, resulting in an excellent chassis cell for gene-targeting. Additionally, the advantage of this genetic manipulation system was demonstrated in the identification of the polyketide synthase (PKS) responsible for the biosynthesis of dihydroxynapthalene (DHN)-melanin. This genetic manipulation system will be a useful platform for the research of FR901379 and further genome mining of secondary metabolites in C. empetri.
    Electronic ISSN: 1664-302X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Frontiers Media
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  • 96
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Objective. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between poverty, religion, and suicidal thoughts among U.S. youth. The disparities regarding gender, race, and ethnicity with regard to suicidal thoughts were also assessed. Methods. A cross-sectional correlational research design was used for this study and a national representative sample of 1945 young adults aged 18 to 25 was selected from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Logistic regression analysis with interaction effects was utilized to determine if poverty and religion were associated with suicidal thoughts. Results. About 43 percent of the sample reported having suicidal thoughts when things got worse and this prevalence rate varied by gender and race/ethnicity with white males self-disclosing the highest rate of suicidal thoughts. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, black males who lived up to two times the poverty line had a higher likelihood of suicidal thoughts (p = 0.011), and religion protected against suicidal thoughts (p = 0.012). Youth with lower education and poor health were more inclined to have suicidal thoughts than their peers. Conclusions. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for American young adults aged 18 to 25. Understanding these differences between social determinants of suicide can help public health researchers strategize how to make evidence-based recommendations for suicide prevention efforts.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 97
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: In mammalian cells, two cellular organelles, mitochondria and peroxisomes, share the ability to degrade fatty acid chains. Although each organelle harbors its own fatty acid β-oxidation pathway, a distinct mitochondrial system feeds the oxidative phosphorylation pathway for ATP synthesis. At the same time, the peroxisomal β-oxidation pathway participates in cellular thermogenesis. A scientific milestone in 1965 helped discover the hepatomegaly effect in rat liver by clofibrate, subsequently identified as a peroxisome proliferator in rodents and an activator of the peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation pathway. These peroxisome proliferators were later identified as activating ligands of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α (PPARα), cloned in 1990. The ligand-activated heterodimer PPARα/RXRα recognizes a DNA sequence, called PPRE (Peroxisome Proliferator Response Element), corresponding to two half-consensus hexanucleotide motifs, AGGTCA, separated by one nucleotide. Accordingly, the assembled complex containing PPRE/PPARα/RXRα/ligands/Coregulators controls the expression of the genes involved in liver peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation. This review mobilizes a considerable number of findings that discuss miscellaneous axes, covering the detailed expression pattern of PPARα in species and tissues, the lessons from several PPARα KO mouse models and the modulation of PPARα function by dietary micronutrients.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 98
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Print ISSN: 0008-543X
    Electronic ISSN: 1097-0142
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Published by Wiley on behalf of American Cancer Society.
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  • 99
    Publication Date: 2021-08-20
    Description: Euphorbia species have a rich history of ethnomedicinal use and ethnopharmacological applications in drug discovery. This is due to the presence of a wide range of diterpenes exhibiting great structural diversity and pharmacological activities. As a result, Euphorbia diterpenes have remained the focus of drug discovery investigations from natural products. The current review documents over 350 diterpenes, isolated from Euphorbia species, their structures, classification, biosynthetic pathways, and their structure–activity relationships for the period covering 2013–2020. Among the isolated diterpenes, over 20 skeletal structures were identified. Lathyrane, jatrophane, ingenane, ingenol, and ingol were identified as the major diterpenes in most Euphorbia species. Most of the isolated diterpenes were evaluated for their cytotoxicity activities, multidrug resistance abilities, and inhibitory activities in vitro, and reported good activities with significant half-inhibitory concentration (IC50) values ranging from 10–50 µM. The lathyranes, isopimaranes, and jatrophanes diterpenes were further found to show potent inhibition of P-glycoprotein, which is known to confer drug resistance abilities in cells leading to decreased cytotoxic effects. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies revealed the significance of a free hydroxyl group at position C-3 in enhancing the anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities and the negative effect it has in position C-2. Esterification of this functionality, in selected diterpenes, was found to enhance these activities. Thus, Euphorbia diterpenes offer a valuable source of lead compounds that could be investigated further as potential candidates for drug discovery.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 100
    Publication Date: 2021-08-19
    Description: Rotifers are the most diverse group in freshwater zooplankton and play an important role in food webs and ecosystems. DNA barcoding has become a useful approach to investigate species diversity at local and regional scales, but its application is still limited by efficient primers for the group. To test a pair of primers 30F/885R recently designed for rotifers, we applied them to investigating regional species diversity in the freshwater of South China. We sequenced the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of rotifers collected from the investigated 23 reservoirs in a large river basin and obtained 145 COI sequences from 33 species in 14 genera. The mean PCR success rate for all tested species was 50%. The 145 sequenced mtCOI in this study covered 33 of 64 identified morphological taxa, including most of the common species in the basin. The intraspecific genetic distance was calculated with a K2P model for 24 rotifer species occurring in the quantitative samples, in which 15 rotifers, such as Keratella cochlearis and Brachionus calyciflorus, had a genetic distance higher than 5%. The high intraspecific genetic differentiation indicates that cryptic species are probably common in (sub)tropical China.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-2818
    Topics: Biology
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