Light stimulated healing of chronic wounds by use of optical waveguides and light management microstructures

Presentation at the EPIC Biophotonics Symposium in Berlin, on 27.11.2015

Tandem communication improves ant foraging success in a highly competitive tropical habitat

Tropical ants experience intense intra- and interspecific competition for food sources, which influences their activity pattern and foraging strategies. Even though different ant species can coexist through spatial and temporal niche partitioning, direct competition for food cannot be avoided. Recruitment communication is assumed to help colonies to monopolize and exploit food sources successfully, but this has rarely been tested under field conditions. We studied if recruitment communication helps colonies of the Neotropical ant Pachycondyla harpax to be more successful in a highly competitive tropical environment. Additionally, we explored if temporal and spatial niche differentiation helps focal colonies to avoid competition. Pachycondyla harpax competed with dozens of ant species for food. Mass-recruiting competitors were often successful in displacing P. harpax from food baits. However, when foragers of P. harpax were able to recruit nestmates they had a 4-times higher probability to keep access to the food baits. Colonies were unlikely to be displaced during our observations after a few ants arrived at the food source. Competition was more intense after sunset, but a disproportionate increase in activity after sunset allowed focal colonies to exploit food sources more successfully after sunset. Our results support the hypothesis that recruitment communication helps colonies to monopolize food sources by helping them to establish a critical mass of nestmates at large resources. This indicates that even species with a small colony size and a slow recruitment method, such as tandem running, benefit from recruitment communication in a competitive environment

Klimavulnerabilität von Unternehmen in der Metropolregion Oberrhein und ihre Visualisierung anhand von Wirkpfaden

Die Unternehmen der Trinationalen Metropolregion Oberrhein (TMO) sind auf sehr unterschiedliche Art und Weise vom Klimawandel betroffen, wobei die relevanten klimatischen Stressoren wie Hitzewellen, Starkregen, Hochwassergefahr, etc. kleinräumig und branchenspezifisch stark differieren. Zudem fehlt es vielen, besonders kleineren und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) an präzisen und anwendungsorientierten Informationen über die konkreten Auswirkungen des Klimawandels an ihrem Standort und auf ihre Branche, sodass sie oft keine genaue Vorstellung von ihrer tatsächlichen Klimavulnerabilität haben. Um diesem Informationsdefizit Rechnung zu tragen wurde im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes Clim’Ability die Klimavulnerabilität einiger Branchen in der TMO analysiert und in Form von Wirkpfaden visualisiert. In diesem Verfahren werden branchenweise die von verschiedenen klimatischen Stressoren ausgehenden Kausalketten und deren Auswirkungen auf einzelne Unternehmensbereiche syntheseartig spezifiziert und um eine Abschätzung möglicher ökonomischer Folgen für das Unternehmen ergänzt. Damit können sie einen Ansatzpunkt für zielgerichtete Anpassungsmaßnahmen bei betroffenen Unternehmen darstellen. Besonders bei KMU ohne eigene Umweltabteilung sind die vorgestellten Wirkpfade somit als Beitrag zur Stärkung der Resilienz gegenüber negativen Klimafolgen denkbar.Les entreprises du Rhin supérieur sont affectées par le changement climatique de différentes manières. Les facteurs de stress climatiques pertinents, tels que les vagues de chaleur, les fortes pluies, les inondations, etc., varient selon la position géographique et la branche d’activité de l’entreprise. De plus, beaucoup d’entre elles, particulièrement les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME), manquent d’informations précises et utilisables sur les impacts du changement climatique sur leur localisation et leur secteur spécifique, de sorte qu’elles ont souvent une connaissance lacunaire de leur propre vulnérabilité climatique. Pour compenser ce déficit d’information, la vulnérabilité au climat de quelques secteurs d’activité abordés dans le cadre du projet de recherche Clim’Ability a été analysée et représentée par des chaînes d’impact. Ces chaînes d’impact décrivent la chaîne complète des causalités déclenchées par un facteur de stress climatique et synthétise son impact sur les domaines exposés dans l’entreprise, ainsi que les conséquences économiques possibles. Elles peuvent être un point de départ pour la mise en place de mesures d’adaptation ciblées pour les entreprises concernées. Les chaînes d’impact apportent des éléments destinés à renforcer la résilience des entreprises aux impacts négatifs du changement climatique, particulièrement pour des PME qui n’ont pas de service dédié aux questions environnementales.The enterprises in the Trinational Metropolitan Region Upper Rhine are affected by climate change in a multitude of ways. The relevant climatic stressors such as heatwaves, heavy rain, flood risk, etc. differ greatly on the local scale and sectorwise. In addition, many enterprises, particularly small and medium sized ones (SME), are often lacking precise and practical information on the impacts of climate change at their specific location and on their specific sector, which causes an often scarce knowledge of their own climate vulnerability. In order to meet this need of information and to highlight the results of climate vulnerability assessment of some sectors carried out within the Clim’Ability research project, impact chains were derived and visualized. The resulting impact chains comprise the whole chain of causalities triggered by a climatic stressor synthesizing its impacts on exposed domains within the enterprise as well as the possible economical consequences. By providing such information to the affected enterprises, the impact chains might be used as a starting point for practice-oriented adaptation measures. Especially for SME without environmental departments they can be discussed as a contribution to enhance their resilience against negative impacts of climate change

Advisory speed for Intelligent Speed Adaptation in adverse conditions

In this paper, a novel approach to compute advisory speeds to be used in an adaptive Intelligent Speed Adaptation system (ISA) is proposed. This method is designed to be embedded in the vehicles. It estimates an appropriate speed by fusing in real-time the outputs of ego sensors which detect adverse conditions with roadway characteristics transmitted by distant servers. The method presents two major novelties. First, the 85 th percentile of observed speeds (V 85 ) is estimated along a road, this speed profile is considered as a reference speed practised and practicable in ideal conditions for a lonely vehicle. In adverse conditions, this reference speed is modulated in order to account for lowered friction and lowered visibility distance (top-down approach). Second, this method allows us taking into account the potential seriousness of crashes using a generic scenario of accident. Within this scenario, the difference in speed that should be applied in adverse conditions is estimated so that global injury risk is the same as in ideal conditions

Human and livestock faecal biomarkers at the prehistorical encampment site of Ullafelsen in the Fotsch Valley, Stubai Alps, Austria – potential and limitations

The Ullafelsen at 1869 m above sea level (a.s.l.) in the Tyrolean Stubai Alps next to Innsbruck is an important (geo)archeological reference site for the Mesolithic period. Buried fireplaces on the Ullafelsen plateau were dated at 10.9 to 9.5 ka cal BP and demonstrate together with thousands of flint stone artifacts the presence of hunter-gatherers during the Early Holocene. Grazing livestock has been a predominant anthropozoological impact in the Fotsch Valley presumably since the Bronze Age (4.2–2.8 ka). In order to study the human and/or livestock faeces input on the Ullafelsen, we carried out steroid analyses on 2 modern ruminant faeces samples from cattle and sheep, 37 soil samples from seven archeological soil profiles, and 9 soil samples from five non-archeological soil profiles from the Fotsch Valley used as reference sites. The dominance of 5β-stigmastanol and deoxycholic acid in modern cattle and sheep faeces can be used as markers for the input of ruminant faeces in soils. The OAh horizons, which have accumulated and developed since the Mesolithic, revealed high contents of steroids (sterols, stanols, stanones and bile acids); the eluvial light layer (E (LL)) horizon coinciding with the Mesolithic living floor is characterized by medium contents of steroids. By contrast, the subsoil horizons Bh, Bs and BvCv contain low contents of faecal biomarkers, indicating that leaching of steroids into the podsolic subsoils is not an important factor. High content of 5β-stigmastanol and deoxycholic acid in all soil samples gives evidence for faeces input of ruminants. The steroid patterns and ratios indicate a negligible input of human faeces on the Ullafelsen. In conclusion, our results reflect a strong faeces input by livestock, rather than by humans as found for other Anthrosols such as Amazonian dark earths. Further studies need to focus on the question of the exact timing of faeces deposition

A comparison of the olfactory gene repertoires of adults and larvae in the noctuid moth Spodoptera littoralis

International audienceTo better understand the olfactory mechanisms in a lepidopteran pest model species, the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis, we have recently established a partial transcriptome from adult antennae. Here, we completed this transcriptome using next generation sequencing technologies, namely 454 and Illumina, on both adult antennae and larval tissues, including caterpillar antennae and maxillary palps. All sequences were assembled in 77,643 contigs. Their analysis greatly enriched the repertoire of chemosensory genes in this species, with a total of 57 candidate odorant-binding and chemosensory proteins, 47 olfactory receptors, 6 gustatory receptors and 17 ionotropic receptors. Using RT-PCR, we conducted the first exhaustive comparison of olfactory gene expression between larvae and adults in a lepidopteran species. All the 127 candidate olfactory genes were profiled for expression in male and female adult antennae and in caterpillar antennae and maxillary palps. We found that caterpillars expressed a smaller set of olfactory genes than adults, with a large overlap between these two developmental stages. Two binding proteins appeared to be larvae-specific and two others were adult-specific. Interestingly, comparison between caterpillar antennae and maxillary palps revealed numerous organ-specific transcripts, suggesting the complementary involvement of these two organs in larval chemosensory detection. Adult males and females shared the same set of olfactory transcripts, except two male-specific candidate pheromone receptors, two male-specific and two female-specific odorant-binding proteins. This study identified transcripts that may be important for sex-specific or developmental stage-specific chemosensory behaviors

Опыт лечения врожденных кист яичников у девочек на первом году жизни

В статті представлено три випадки оперативного лікування методом лапароскопії вроджених кист яєчника. Найчастіше перекрут вродженої кисти яєчника відбувається внутрішньоутробно, що може привести до самоампутації додатків матки з боку ураження. Показанням до оперативного лікування можуть слугувати відсутність регресу утворення, характерні ехоскопічні та доплерометричні ознаки.Three cases of laparoscopic treatment of congenital ovarian cysts are presented in the article. More often twisting of congenital ovarian cyst could happen intrauterously, what could cause autoamputation of adnexa. Indications to surgery could be an absence of regression of cyst and/or certain ultrasound and Doppler signs

La géohistoire des inondations au service de l’évaluation critique du zonage du Plan de Prévention des Risques d’Inondation : l’exemple de Thann (Haut-Rhin, France)

Thann, entre Massif Vosgien et plaine d’Alsace, est une des premières villes du Haut-Rhin à avoir fait l’objet d’un Plan de Prévention des Risques d’Inondation (PPRI). La commune est en effet traversée par la Thur, caractérisée par des crues violentes. Pour autant, le zonage du PPRI de la Thur ne mentionne qu’une zone à risque assez réduite. Or la ville a été victime par le passé d’inondations destructrices, telles que le révèle la base de données TRANSRISK. Parmi ces événements, la crue de décembre 1947, très bien documentée, permet, à travers une approche géohistorique (contextualisation, transposition), la confrontation spatiale des zones inondées en 1947 et des zones classées inondables par le PPRI. Les résultats soulèvent de nombreuses questions quant à la qualité du zonage du PPRI qui semble pécher par erreur et par omission. Et en cas de crue centennale, les dégâts seraient catastrophiques. Si la reconstitution de 1947 offre un scénario du pire, cela peut aussi constituer une base de préparation de gestion de crise.Thann, between the Vosges Mountains and the Alsace plain, is one of the first cities of Haut-Rhin to have been concerned by a Flood Risks Prevention Plan (PPRI). The town is indeed crossed by the Thur river, characterized by violent floods. However, the zoning of the PPRI mentions only a relatively small risk area. But the city has suffered in the past from destructive floods, as it is revealed by the TRANSRISK database. Among these events, the flood of December 1947, very well documented, allows, through a geo-historical approach (contextualization, transposition), the spatial confrontation of areas flooded in 1947 and flood areas designated by the PPRI. The results raise many questions about the quality of PPRI zoning that appears to present errors and omissions. And in the case of a 100-year flood, the damage would be catastrophic. If the re-enactment of the 1947 flood features a worst case scenario, this can also be the basis for a preparation for crisis management

Holocene landscape evolution, palaeoclimate and human impact in the Fotsch Valley, Stubai Alps, Austria: Interrogating biomarkers, stable isotopes, macrofossils and palynological indicators from a subalpine mire archive

Peatlands are receiving increasing attention in palaeoenvironmental research and represent very useful terrestrial archives for reconstructing vegetation, climate and human history. Previous palaeoenvironmental studies in the Fotsch Valley, Stubai Alps, Austria, focused on geoarchaeological investigations on the Ullafelsen representing a very important prehistorical encampment site used by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (10.9–9.5 cal. kyr BP). In order to contribute to a better understanding of the landscape evolution of the Fotsch Valley, we here studied the close-by subalpine ‘Potsdamer Hütte Mire’ by applying radiocarbon dating as well as elemental, biomarker, compound-specific stable isotope, palynological and macrofossil analyses on bulk peat samples. The calculated age-depth model using R Bacon indicates the beginning of peat formation during the Early Holocene and shows a strongly reduced peat accumulation rate (PAR) from 170 to 121 cm depth (8.5–2.1 cal. kyr BP) and/or a striking hiatus. Results of leaf wax-derived n-alkane biomarkers as well as macrofossils and palynological indicators reflect the local presence of coniferous trees and the synchronous expansion of deciduous trees during the Early Holocene. The above-mentioned strongly reduced PAR and/or hiatus coincides with the Neolithic, the Bronze and the Iron Age, and goes hand in hand with strong changes in vegetation and an increase of micro-charcoal and black carbon. Despite age uncertainties, these changes can be explained with strongly increasing human and livestock activities in form of deforestation, domestic fires and the beginning of Alpine pastoralism. The latter is confirmed by the finding of pasture and cultural indicator pollen (Cerealia-type, Rumex, Plantago lanceolata, Poaceae) occurring since the Middle to Late Bronze Age. The oxygen isotope composition of sugar biomarkers (δ18Osugars) likely reflects the dry versus humid climatic variability associated with the Holocene climatic optimum during the Mesolithic, the Roman Age, the Late Antique Little Ice Age, the Middle Ages and the Little Ice Age