Pelagic metabolism of the Scheldt estuary measured by the oxygen method on an annual scale

Pelagic gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (CR) and nitrification were measured in the turbid Scheldt Estuary by the oxygen Winkler method from January to December 2003 at monthly intervals (EUROTROPH EU project). Five stations along the estuary were investigated, corresponding to a salinity (S) range of 0-25. Water was sampled and incubated until sunset in 60 ml glass bottles stored in a 5 compartment incubator kept at in situ temperature by flowing water. Irradiance was controlled in each compartment by filters having a shading capacity ranging from 0 to 100%. In order to estimate the oxygen consumption due to the respiration and nitrification processes, samples were incubated, in the dark compartment, with and without addition of nitrification inhibitors. Net community production (NCP) was most of the time negative in the estuary with values ranging from -275 to +31mmol O2.m-2.d-1 and the lowest values were found near Antwerp (S = 2). Strong pelagic GPP and positive NCP rates were observed in the freshwater part during summer with a maximal value in June (+373mmol O2.m-2.d-1), corresponding to an increase of the O2 concentration and a decrease of the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in the water column during this period. Nitrification contributes 5 to 60% of the oxygen consumption in the water column with highest values measured in the inner part of the estuary due to high ammonium and suspended matter concentrations. Assuming a C/O2 molar ratio of 0.07, we estimated that nitrification represents on an annual scale 35% of organic matter production at salinity 2 which is consistent with previous estimates. NCP rates measured in 2003 are among the lowest reported in the literature and confirm the strong heterotrophic status of the Scheldt Estuary

Lahar risk assessment from source identification to potential impact analysis: the case of Vulcano Island, Italy

Lahars are rapid flows composed of water and volcaniclastic sediments, which have the potential to impact residential buildings and critical infrastructure as well as to disrupt critical services, especially in the absence of hazard-based land-use planning. Their destructive power is mostly associated with their velocity (related to internal flow properties and topographic interactions) and to their ability to bury buildings and structures (due to deposit thickness). The distance reached by lahars depends on their volume, on sediments/water ratio, as well as on the geometrical properties of the topography where they propagate. Here we present the assessment of risk associated with lahar using Vulcano island (Italy) as a case study. First, we estimated an initial lahar source volume considering the remobilisation by intense rain events of the tephra fallout on the slopes of the La Fossa cone (the active system on the island), where the tephra fallout is associated with the most likely scenario (e.g. long-lasting Vulcanian cycle). Second, we modelled and identified the potential syn-eruptive lahar impact areas on the northern sector of Vulcano, where residential and touristic facilities are located. We tested a range of parameters (e.g., entrainment capability, consolidation of tephra fallout deposit, friction angle) that can influence lahar propagation output both in terms of intensity of the event and extent of the inundation area. Finally, exposure and vulnerability surveys were carried out in order to compile exposure and risk maps for lahar-flow front velocity (semi-quantitative indicator-based risk assessment) and final lahar-deposit thickness (qualitative exposure-based risk assessment). Main outcomes show that the syn-eruptive lahar scenario with medium entrainment capability produces the highest impact associated with building burial by the final lahar deposit. Nonetheless, the syn-eruptive lahar scenario with low entrainment capacity is associated with higher runout and results in the highest impact associated with lahar-flow velocities. Based on our simulations, two critical infrastructures (telecommunication and power plant), as well as the main road crossing the island are exposed to potential lahar impacts (either due to lahar-flow velocity or lahar-deposit thickness or both). These results show that a risk-based spatial planning of the island could represent a valuable strategy to reduce the volcanic risk in the long term

First macrobiota biomineralisation was environmentally triggered

Why large and diverse skeletons first appeared ca 550 Ma is not well understood. Many Ediacaran skeletal biota show evidence of flexibility, and bear notably thin skeletal walls with simple, non-hierarchical microstructures of either aragonite or high-Mg calcite. We present evidence that the earliest skeletal macrobiota, found only in carbonate rocks, had close soft-bodied counterparts hosted in contemporary clastic rocks. This includes the calcareous discoidal fossil Suvorovella, similar to holdfasts of Ediacaran biota taxa previously known only as casts and moulds, as well as tubular and vase-shaped fossils. In sum, these probably represent taxa of diverse affinity including unicellular eukaryotes, total group cnidarians and problematica. Our findings support the assertion that the calcification was an independent and derived feature that appeared in diverse groups where an organic scaffold was the primitive character, which provided the framework for interactions between the extracellular matrix and mineral ions. We conclude that such skeletons may have been acquired with relative ease in the highly saturated, high alkalinity carbonate settings of the Ediacaran, where carbonate polymorph was further controlled by seawater chemistry. The trigger for Ediacaran biomineralization may have been either changing seawater Mg/Ca and/or increasing oxygen levels. By the Early Cambrian, however, biomineralization styles and the range of biominerals had significantly diversified, perhaps as an escalating defensive response to increasing predation pressure. Indeed skeletal hardparts had appeared in clastic settings by Cambrian Stage 1, suggesting independence from ambient seawater chemistry where genetic and molecular mechanisms controlled biomineralization and mineralogy had become evolutionarily constrained

Botanical sources, chemistry, analysis, and biological activity of furanocoumarins of pharmaceutical interest

The aim of this work is to provide a critical review of plant furanocoumarins from different points of view, including their chemistry and biosynthetic pathways to their extraction, analysis, and synthesis, to the main biological activities found for these active compounds, in order to highlight their potential within pharmaceutical science. The limits and the possible improvements needed for research involving these molecules are also highlighted and discussed

Crustal uplift rates implied by synchronously investigating Late Quaternary marine terraces in the Milazzo Peninsula, Northeast Sicily, Italy

Late Quaternary crustal uplift is well recognized in northeast Sicily, southern Italy, a region also prone to damaging earthquakes such as the 1908 "Messina" earthquake (Mw 7.1), the deadliest seismic event reported within the Italian Earthquake Catalogue. Yet it is still understudied if, within the Milazzo Peninsula, crustal uplift rates are varying spatially and temporally and whether they may be either influenced by (i) local upper-plate faulting activity or (ii) deep geodynamic processes. To investigate the long-term crustal vertical movements in northeast Sicily, we have mapped a flight of Middle-Late Pleistocene marine terraces within the Milazzo Peninsula and in its southern area and refined their chronology, using a synchronous correlation approach driven by published age controls. This has allowed a new calculation of the associated crustal uplift rates, along a north-south oriented coastal-parallel transect within the investigated area. Our results show a decreasing uplift rate from south to north across the Milazzo Peninsula and beyond, and that the associated rates of uplift have been constant through the Late Quaternary. This spatially varying yet temporally constant vertical deformation helps to constrain the amount of uplift, allowing us to explore which is the driving mechanism(s), proposing a few related scenarios. We discuss our results in terms of tectonic implications and emphasize the importance of using appropriate approaches, as such applying a synchronous correlation method, to refine chronologies of undated palaeoshorelines when used for tectonic investigations

ANATOMICAL DISSECTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURES OF THE UPPER LIMB

In 2015, a whole body dissection course was proposed by the University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy, thanks to the cooperation with the University of Malta, Msida, Malta. The purpose of this study was to show the the difference between the studyof anatomy on books and on corpses. The article focuses its attention on the dissection method of the upper limb. The astudy was performed on two corpses, a male and a female, by using a basic surgeon kit. Blunt dissection method was used for fasciae, innards and to isolate vascular-nervous structures from the fat; we used scalped for cutis, sub cutis, muscles, fasciae, veins, arteries and nerves of the upper limb from the shoulder to the hand. The upper limb dissection shows the difference between how a real body appears and shows the difference between how a real body appears and how books represent it

Whole-system metabolism and CO₂ fluxes in a Mediterranean Bay dominated by seagrass beds (Palma Bay, NW Mediterranean)

The relationship between whole-system metabolism estimates based on planktonic and benthic incubations (bare sediments and seagrass, Posidonia oceanica meadows), and CO2 fluxes across the air-sea interface were examined in the Bay of Palma (Mallorca, Spain) during two cruises in March and June 2002. Moreover, planktonic and benthic incubations were performed at monthly intervals from March 2001 to October 2002 in a seagrass vegetated area of the bay. From the annual study, results showed a contrast between the planktonic compartment, which was heterotrophic during most of the year, except for occasional bloom episodes, and the benthic compartment, which was slightly autotrophic. Whereas the seagrass community was autotrophic, the excess organic carbon production therein could only balance the excess respiration of the planktonic compartment in shallow waters (<10 m) relative to the maximum depth of the bay (55 m). This generated a horizontal gradient from autotrophic or balanced communities in the shallow, seagrass-covered areas of the bay, to strongly heterotrophic communities in deeper areas, consistent with the patterns of CO2 fields and fluxes across the bay observed during the two extensive cruises in 2002. Finally, dissolved inorganic carbon and oxygen budgets provided NEP estimates in fair agreement with those derived from direct metabolic estimates based on incubated samples over the Posidonia oceanica meadow

Whole Transcriptome Analysis of the Coral Acropora millepora Reveals Complex Responses to CO2-driven Acidification during the Initiation of Calcification

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Room-Temperature Inter-Dot Coherent Dynamics in Multilayer Quantum Dot Materials

The full blossoming of quantum technologies requires the availability of easy-to-prepare materials where quantum coherences can be effectively initiated, controlled, and exploited, preferably at ambient conditions. Solid-state multilayers of colloidally grown quantum dots (QDs) are highly promising for this task because of the possibility of assembling networks of electronically coupled QDs through the modulation of sizes, inter-dot linkers, and distances. To usefully probe coherence in these materials, the dynamical characterization of their collective quantum mechanically coupled states is needed. Here, we explore by two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy the coherent dynamics of solid-state multilayers of electronically coupled colloidally grown CdSe QDs and complement it by detailed computations. The time evolution of a coherent superposition of states delocalized over more than one QD was captured at ambient conditions. We thus provide important evidence for inter-dot coherences in such solid-state materials, opening up new avenues for the effective application of these materials in quantum technologies

Status of high energy electron cooling in FNAL's Recycler Ring

Electron cooling of 8 GeV antiprotons at Fermilab's Recycler storage ring is now routinely used in the collider operation. It requires a 0.1-0.5 A, 4.3 MeV DC electron beam to increase the longitudinal phase-space density of the circulating antiproton beam. This paper discusses the latest status of the electron cooler and its mode of operation within the context of Fermilab's accelerator complex. In addition, we will show preliminary results that demonstrate electron cooling of the transverse phase-space of the antiproton beam