Evolution of ferroelastic domain walls during phase transitions in barium titanate nanoparticles

In this work, ferroelastic domain walls inside BaTiO3 (BTO) tetragonal nanocrystals are distinguished by Bragg peak position and studied with Bragg coherent x-ray diffraction imaging (BCDI). Convergence-related features of the BCDI method for strongly phased objects are reported. A ferroelastic domain wall inside a BTO crystal has been tracked and imaged across the tetragonal-cubic phase transition and proves to be reversible. The linear relationship of relative displacement between two twin domains with temperature is measured and shows a different slope for heating and cooling, while the tetragonality reproduces well over temperature changes in both directions. An edge dislocation is also observed and found to annihilate when heating the crystal close to the phase transition temperature

Introduction to personalisation in cyber-physical-social systems

peer reviewedIn this paper we introduce the notion of personalisation in Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS). A CPSS is an extension of Cyber-Physical systems involving cyberspace and physical space, in which humans, machines and objects interact adding to the complexity of the system, especially due to the dynamics of human behaviour that is not yet fully understood. We propose Personalisation to address this complexity. Since the development of CPSS is still at its infancy, we first cover a brief overview on the existing conceptualizations of CPSS and present the perspective we take for our work. Then we discuss the benefits of introducing Personalisation in CPSS and formalize the notion. The discussion further illustrates research challenges for Personalisation in CPSS with examples on possible use cases, taken from preceding works as well as future ones

Comparative study of Selva and Camarosa strawberries for the commercial market

Selva and Camarosa strawberry varieties were characterized chemically and physically. The importance of keeping the stem until processing, the influence of different transport periods under refrigerated conditions, the effects of freezing and exposure to air of damaged surfaces were evaluated. During freezing, losses of ascorbic acid, sucrose, fructose and glucose were reported for both varieties. However, keeping the stem intact minimizes the losses of ascorbic acid in frozen fruits. The exposure to air of cut surfaces affects ascorbic acid content of fresh fruits, with the highest losses reported in Camarosa. Selva showed properties important for commercial use, as compared to Camarosa, with regard to a higher resistance to thawing and higher contents of total phenolics, total protein, and ascorbic acid

Evaluation of qPCR-Based Assays for Leprosy Diagnosis Directly in Clinical Specimens

The increased reliability and efficiency of the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) makes it a promising tool for performing large-scale screening for infectious disease among high-risk individuals. To date, no study has evaluated the specificity and sensitivity of different qPCR assays for leprosy diagnosis using a range of clinical samples that could bias molecular results such as difficult-to-diagnose cases. In this study, qPCR assays amplifying different M. leprae gene targets, sodA, 16S rRNA, RLEP and Ag 85B were compared for leprosy differential diagnosis. qPCR assays were performed on frozen skin biopsy samples from a total of 62 patients: 21 untreated multibacillary (MB), 26 untreated paucibacillary (PB) leprosy patients, as well as 10 patients suffering from other dermatological diseases and 5 healthy donors. To develop standardized protocols and to overcome the bias resulted from using chromosome count cutoffs arbitrarily defined for different assays, decision tree classifiers were used to estimate optimum cutoffs and to evaluate the assays. As a result, we found a decreasing sensitivity for Ag 85B (66.1%), 16S rRNA (62.9%), and sodA (59.7%) optimized assay classifiers, but with similar maximum specificity for leprosy diagnosis. Conversely, the RLEP assay showed to be the most sensitive (87.1%). Moreover, RLEP assay was positive for 3 samples of patients originally not diagnosed as having leprosy, but these patients developed leprosy 5–10 years after the collection of the biopsy. In addition, 4 other samples of patients clinically classified as non-leprosy presented detectable chromosome counts in their samples by the RLEP assay suggesting that those patients either had leprosy that was misdiagnosed or a subclinical state of leprosy. Overall, these results are encouraging and suggest that RLEP assay could be useful as a sensitive diagnostic test to detect M. leprae infection before major clinical manifestations

Ichthyofauna of the Mata de Itamacaoca, an urban protected area from the upper Munim River basin, Northern Brazilian Cerrado

The Munim River basin is one of the main river drainages of the Hydrological unit Maranhão, but there are few published studies which focus on ichthyological surveys and taxonomic work within this basin. The present study aims to provide a fish species inventory of the Mata da Itamacaoca, one of the few urban protected areas from the upper Munim River basin, comparing the ichthyofauna with other lists by conducted at the upper Munim River basin. A total of 42 collection expeditions were conducted, the sampling was conducted at five collecting sites distributed within the boundaries of Mata de Itamacaoca, upper Munim River basin. Diversity indices were calculated and generalised linear models (GLMs) were employed to assess differences in species richness, diversity and evenness depending on season and location in relation to the reservoir dam wall. In order to visualize fish community differences, non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and a one-way PERMANOVA was used to understand whether factors of site, season and location to the dam wall had an effect on fish community compositions. A total of six orders, 13 families, and 23 fish species were found, and the order with the highest species richness, considering all reaches, was Characiformes followed by Cichliformes. The most abundant species was Nannostomus beckfordi, while Pimelodella parnahybae and Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus were the rarer species sampled. There were no alien invasive species collected within the study area. Species richness was significantly higher below the dam wall, but there were no other significant differences in diversity indices with regards to season or location. Fish community composition was significantly different above and below the dam wall and was significantly affected by sampling site. Season did not have an effect on fish community. This study corroborates other studies conducted in the Unidade Hidrológica Maranhão sensu Hubbert and Renno (2006), that the ichthyofaunal composition and taxonomy of species within this region face major data deficits, anthropogenic impacts, this study may be a baseline for comparing similar environments throughout the region

The complex interplay between antibiotic resistance and pharmaceutical and personal care products in the environment.

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are important environmental contaminants. Nonetheless, what drives the evolution, spread, and transmission of antibiotic resistance dissemination is still poorly understood. The abundance of ARB and ARGs is often elevated in human-impacted areas, especially in environments receiving fecal wastes, or in the presence of complex mixtures of chemical contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Self-replication, mutation, horizontal gene transfer, and adaptation to different environmental conditions contribute to the persistence and proliferation of ARB in habitats under strong anthropogenic influence. Our review discusses the interplay between chemical contaminants and ARB and their respective genes, specifically in reference to co-occurrence, potential biostimulation, and selective pressure effects, and gives an overview of mitigation by existing man-made and natural barriers. Evidence and strategies to improve the assessment of human health risks due to environmental antibiotic resistance are also discussed.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)European Union's Horizon 202Australian Research CouncilAustralian Research CouncilNatural Environment Research CouncilFCT/Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher EducationFCT/Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher EducationFCT/Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Educatio

Brane-World Gravity

The observable universe could be a 1+3-surface (the "brane") embedded in a 1+3+\textit{d}-dimensional spacetime (the "bulk"), with Standard Model particles and fields trapped on the brane while gravity is free to access the bulk. At least one of the \textit{d} extra spatial dimensions could be very large relative to the Planck scale, which lowers the fundamental gravity scale, possibly even down to the electroweak ($\sim$ TeV) level. This revolutionary picture arises in the framework of recent developments in M theory. The 1+10-dimensional M theory encompasses the known 1+9-dimensional superstring theories, and is widely considered to be a promising potential route to quantum gravity. At low energies, gravity is localized at the brane and general relativity is recovered, but at high energies gravity "leaks" into the bulk, behaving in a truly higher-dimensional way. This introduces significant changes to gravitational dynamics and perturbations, with interesting and potentially testable implications for high-energy astrophysics, black holes, and cosmology. Brane-world models offer a phenomenological way to test some of the novel predictions and corrections to general relativity that are implied by M theory. This review analyzes the geometry, dynamics and perturbations of simple brane-world models for cosmology and astrophysics, mainly focusing on warped 5-dimensional brane-worlds based on the Randall--Sundrum models. We also cover the simplest brane-world models in which 4-dimensional gravity on the brane is modified at \emph{low} energies -- the 5-dimensional Dvali--Gabadadze--Porrati models. Then we discuss co-dimension two branes in 6-dimensional models.Comment: A major update of Living Reviews in Relativity 7:7 (2004) "Brane-World Gravity", 119 pages, 28 figures, the update contains new material on RS perturbations, including full numerical solutions of gravitational waves and scalar perturbations, on DGP models, and also on 6D models. A published version in Living Reviews in Relativit