Dominance of grain size impacts on seasonal snow albedo at deforested sites in New Hampshire

Snow cover serves as a major control on the surface energy budget in temperate regions due to its high reflectivity compared to underlying surfaces. Winter in the northeastern United States has changed over the last several decades, resulting in shallower snowpacks, fewer days of snow cover, and increasing precipitation falling as rain in the winter. As these climatic changes occur, it is imperative that we understand current controls on the evolution of seasonal snow albedo in the region. Over three winter seasons between 2013 and 2015, snow characterization measurements were made at three open sites across New Hampshire. These near-daily measurements include spectral albedo, snow optical grain size determined through contact spectroscopy, snow depth, snow density, black carbon content, local meteorological parameters, and analysis of storm trajectories using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model. Using analysis of variance, we determine that land-based winter storms result in marginally higher albedo than coastal storms or storms from the Atlantic Ocean. Through multiple regression analysis, we determine that snow grain size is significantly more important in albedo reduction than black carbon content or snow density. And finally, we present a parameterization of albedo based on days since snowfall and temperature that accounts for 52% of variance in albedo over all three sites and years. Our improved understanding of current controls on snow albedo in the region will allow for better assessment of potential response of seasonal snow albedo and snow cover to changing climate

Estudio de viabilidad de la reutilización de baños de tintura textil

En este trabajo se hace un estudio de viabilidad técnica y económica de la integración de un tratamiento de decoloración de baños agotados de tintura a un proceso de tintura téxtil convencional con el objetivo de reutilizar el agua tratada y en especial, de aprovechar la sal necesaria para realizar la tintura. El tratamiento de decoloración se lleva a cabo en una celula electroquímica asistida por luz ultravioleta y el agua decolorada es almacenada en un deposito para su posterior reutilización en el proceso de tintura. La implementación de este sistema de tratamiento y reutilización permite ahorrar el 70% de agua y el 60% de la sal necesarios para preparar los banos de tintura. Lo que aparte de reportar una horro económico directo, también supone un ahorro en el cánon de vertido de aguas residuales. Por el contrario, si se quiere hacer un proceso ininterrumpido de sucesivas reutilizaciones, en algunas ocasiones y en función del color requerido, debe aumentarse la cantidad de colorante respecto de la fórmula inicial para evitar una merma en la calidad de las tinturas y precisamente por ello es importante la realización del estudio económico para demostrar su viabilidad

Research information management at ISCTE-IUL: the library’s role

ISCTE-IUL is a Portuguese public university with approximately 9000 students enrolled in undergraduate (46%) and postgraduate (54%) programs. The Repository of ISCTE-IUL is running since 2007 sustained by an Open Access Policy approved in the same year. In 2013, the current research information system – Ciência-IUL – became interoperable with the Repository bringing new challenges to SID, and allowing work collaboratively with other services to collect information, improve processes, and reduce duplication of efforts. SID seeks to support researchers throughout the research life cycle aiming to raise awareness of the academic community for Open Science best practices.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gestión de residuos a lo largo del ciclo de vida de un automóvil

El estudio que se desarrolla a continuación tiene el objetivo de analizar los sectores y procesos de reciclaje de los residuos generados por un vehículo a lo largo desu vida útil. Se pretende detectar posibles lagunas  existentes en la actualidad y proponer mejoras organizativas según las carencias detectadas. Este estudio se realiza en definitiva, analizando el sector automovilístico y el reciclaje que se lleva acabo en el mismo, teniendo en cuenta la aplicación de la Directiva Europea2000/53 en el Estado Español y repasando los procesos de reciclaje de los diferentes componentes de un vehículo.  Mediante las carencias detectadas en dichos procesos se propone la mejora de la gestión de los residuos en los talleres con la creación de un SIG (Sistema Integrado de Gestión)

Vanadium and Melanoma: A systematic review

The application of metals in biological systems has been a rapidly growing branch of science. Vanadium has been investigated and reported as an anticancer agent. Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer, the incidence of which has been increasing annually worldwide. It is of paramount importance to identify novel pharmacological agents for melanoma treatment. Herein, a systematic review of publications including “Melanoma and Vanadium” was performed. Nine vanadium articles in several melanoma cells lines such as human A375, human CN-mel and murine B16F10, as well as in vivo studies, are described. Vanadium-based compounds with anticancer activity against melanoma include: (1) oxidovanadium(IV); (2) XMenes; (3) vanadium pentoxide, (4) oxidovanadium(IV) pyridinonate compounds; (5) vanadate; (6) polysaccharides vanadium(IV/V) complexes; (7) mixed-metal binuclear ruthenium(II)–vanadium(IV) complexes; (8) pyridoxal-based oxidovanadium(IV) complexes and (9) functionalized nanoparticles of yttrium vanadate doped with europium. Vanadium compounds and/or vanadium materials show potential anticancer activities that may be used as a useful approach to treat melanoma.UIDB/04326/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cell clustering mediated by the adhesion protein PVRL4 is necessary for alpha6beta4 integrin-promoted ferroptosis resistance in matrix-detached cells

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of programmed cell death characterized by the accumulation of lipid-targeting reactive oxygen species that kill cells by damaging their plasma membrane. The lipid-repair enzyme glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) protects against this oxidative damage and enables cells to resist ferroptosis. Recent work has revealed that matrix-detached carcinoma cells can be susceptible to ferroptosis and that they can evade this fate through the signaling properties of the alpha6beta4 integrin, which sustains GPX4 expression. Although these findings on ferroptosis are provocative, they differ from those in previous studies indicating that matrix-detached cells are prone to apoptosis, via a process referred to as anoikis. In an effort to reconcile these discrepant findings, here we observed that matrix-detached epithelial and carcinoma cells cluster spontaneously via a mechanism that involves the cell adhesion protein PVRL4 (also known as Nectin-4). We found that this clustering process allows these cells to survive by stimulating a PVRL4/alpha6beta4/Src signaling axis that sustains GPX4 expression and buffers against lipid peroxidation. In the absence of alpha6beta4, PVRL4-mediated clustering induced an increase in lipid peroxidation that was sufficient for triggering ferroptosis. When the clustering was inhibited, single cells did not exhibit a significant increase in lipid peroxidation in the absence of alpha6beta4, and they were more susceptible to apoptosis than to ferroptosis. These results indicate that ferroptosis induction depends on cell clustering in matrix-detached cells that lack alpha6beta4 and imply that the fate of matrix-detached cells can be determined by the state of their cell-cell interactions

Protocol for the separation of extracellular vesicles by ultracentrifugation from in vitro cell culture models

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play key roles in transporting key molecular constituents as cargo for extracellular trafficking. While several approaches have been developed to extract EVs from mammalian cells, the specific method of EV isolation can have a profound effect on membrane integrity and yield. Here, we describe a step-by-step procedure to separate EVs from adherent epithelial cells using differential ultracentrifugation. Separated EVs can be further analyzed by immunoblotting, mass spectrometry, and transmission electron microscopy to derive EV yield and morphology. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Brown et al. (2019)

CONTRIBUTO DA CLIMATOLOGIA PARA A RECUPERAÇÃO DA RIBEIRA DA PARDIELA

Todos os afluentes do rio Guadiana em território português são rios temporários de características sazonais que apresentam caudal superficial apenas durante os meses com precipitação. Este tipo de sistemas ocorre naturalmente em regiões de clima Mediterrânico e de clima semi-árido, estando também presentes noutras regiões da Europa, normalmente associadas à geologia de características calcárias extremamente permeável. Para preservar e reabilitar estes sistemas é necessário uma abordagem multidisciplinar que permita conhecer o seu funcionamento assim como a evolução das suas características ao longo do tempo

The EU and US : friends or rivals

As boas relações entre a União Europeia e os EUA são essenciais para a estabilidade global. Mas as actuais relações transatlânticas permanecem constrangidas sobretudo como resultado da guerra no Iraque e da abordagem unilateral da primeira administração George W. Bush. As divergências entre UE-EUA têm aumentado nas áreas políticas e estratégicas bem como nas áreas económicas e sociais. Uma das maiores divergências incide sobre a governação global e sobre o papel atribuído à ONU e a outras instituições multilaterais. Também existe um elevado grau de anti-americanismo (ou de oposição às políticas da administração Bush) na Europa, e de ressentimento para com a Europa (ou melhor, para com a França e Alemanha) nos EUA. A UE não tem ideia de como lidar com a única superpotência mundial. Normalmente prefere- se o bilateral aos canais europeus. Mas as actuais estruturas UE-EUA não permitem uma discussão séria sobre muitas destas diferenças. Nem a OTAN é uma estrutura adequada para um diálogo estratégico transatlântico, como o chanceler Schroeder referiu na Conferencia Wehrkunde, em Munique, em Janeiro de 2005

Untargeted metabolomic profile for the detection of prostate carcinoma-preliminary results from PARAFAC2 and PLS-DA Models

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the main biomarker for the screening of prostate cancer (PCa), which has a high sensibility (higher than 80%) that is negatively offset by its poor specificity (only 30%, with the European cut-off of 4 ng/mL). This generates a large number of useless biopsies, involving both risks for the patients and costs for the national healthcare systems. Consequently, efforts were recently made to discover new biomarkers useful for PCa screening, including our proposal of interpreting a multi-parametric urinary steroidal profile with multivariate statistics. This approach has been expanded to investigate new alleged biomarkers by the application of untargeted urinary metabolomics. Urine samples from 91 patients (43 affected by PCa; 48 by benign hyperplasia) were deconjugated, extracted in both basic and acidic conditions, derivatized with different reagents, and analyzed with different gas chromatographic columns. Three-dimensional data were obtained from full-scan electron impact mass spectra. The PARADISe software, coupled with NIST libraries, was employed for the computation of PARAFAC2 models, the extraction of the significative components (alleged biomarkers), and the generation of a semiquantitative dataset. After variables selection, a partial least squares–discriminant analysis classification model was built, yielding promising performances. The selected biomarkers need further validation, possibly involving, yet again, a targeted approach