748 research outputs found
ClimaWin : an intelligent window for optimal ventilation and minimum thermal loss
In this paper the ClimaWin concept is introduced. The ClimaWin project's main goals are to improve both indoor air quality and the energy efficiency of new and refurbished buildings, through the use of novel green smart windows. Generally, in order to improve windows' energy efficiency better insulation materials are used in windows frames and glasses. However, this approach leads to a severe deterioration of indoor air quality (IAQ) especially in buildings that are not equipped with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAQ) systems. The Climawin windows do not require wires neither for power nor for communications. The window is powered through a battery (for blind operation) and a solar panel, which makes it an ideal solution for retrofitting. In order to achieve the energy efficiency requirements, the Climawin system hardware, the microcontroller software architecture and the radio communication strategy were designed for low power consumption. Furthermore, all the information about the system status can be monitored and actuated using intuitive graphical applications developed for PCs and Android OS smartphones. A remote database keeps all the relevant information about the system, making it easy to detect any anomaly or even to adjust the control algorithm parameters from a remote location. A full-set of web services are also provided in order to simplify the communication with home automation systems.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT
Screening analysis of biodiesel feedstock using UV-vis, NIR and synchronous fluorescence spectrometries and the successive projections algorithm
This paper investigates the use of UV-vis, near infrared (NIR) and synchronous fluorescence (SF) spectrometries coupled with multivariate classification methods to discriminate biodiesel samples with respect to the base oil employed in their production. More specifically, the present work extends previous studies by investigating the discrimination of corn-based biodiesel from two other biodiesel types (sunflower and soybean). Two classification methods are compared, namely full-spectrum SIMCA (soft independent modelling of class analogies) and SPA-LDA (linear discriminant analysis with variables selected by the successive projections algorithm). Regardless of the spectrometric technique employed, full-spectrum SIMCA did not provide an appropriate discrimination of the three biodiesel types. In contrast, all samples were correctly classified on the basis of a reduced number of wavelengths selected by SPA-LDA. It can be concluded that UV-vis, NIR and SF spectrometries can be successfully employed to discriminate corn-based biodiesel from the two other biodiesel types, but wavelength selection by SPA-LDA is key to the proper separation of the classes.Fil: Insausti, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Gomes, Adriano A.. Universidade Federal da Paraíba; BrasilFil: Cruz, Fernanda V.. Universidade Federal da Paraíba; BrasilFil: Pistonesi, Marcelo Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Ugulino de Araújo, Mário C.. Universidade Federal Da Paraíba; BrasilFil: Galvão, Roberto K.H.. Universidade Federal da Paraíba; BrasilFil: Pereira, Claudete F.. Universidade Federal da Paraíba; BrasilFil: Fernández Band, Beatriz Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; Argentin
Performance and modeling of Ni(II) adsorption from low concentrated wastewater on carbon microspheres prepared from tangerine peels by FeCl3-assisted hydrothermal carbonization
The presence of heavy metals in the environment as a consequence of human activity is an issue that has caught
the attention of researchers to find wastewater treatment solutions, such as adsorption. In this work, hydrochars
and activated carbon microspheres are prepared from tangerine peels as carbon precursor and FeCl3 as activating
and structure-directing agent in the hydrothermal carbonization, allowing to obtain hydrochar microspheres
ranging from 50 to 3615 nm. In addition, a pyrochar was prepared by pyrolysis of the same precursor. The
activated carbon shows the highest surface area (SBET up to 287 m2 g–1), but the basicity of the pyrochar (1.83
mmol g 1, SBET = 104 m2 g–1) was determinant in the adsorption of Ni, being considered the carbon-based
material with the highest uptake capacity of Ni. Isotherm and kinetic adsorption of Ni on the most representative
activated carbon microsphere, pyrochar and hydrochar microsphere are assessed by 10 and 7 models,
respectively.The authors are grateful to the FCT (Foundation for Science and
Technology, Portugal) and FEDER (European Regional Development
Fund) under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). We would also like to thank the scientific collaboration
under Base- UIDB/50020/2020 and Programmatic- UIDP/50020/2020
funding of LSRE-LCM, and LA/P/0045/2020 funding of ALiCE, funded
by national funds through FCT and MCTES (Ministério da Ciência,
Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, Portugal) by PIDDAC (Programa de
Investimentos e Despesas de Desenvolvimento da Administraç˜ao Central,
Portugal). Fernanda F. Roman and Adriano dos Santos Silva
acknowledge the national funding by FCT and MIT (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA), and the ESF (European Social Fund) for
individual research grants with reference numbers of SFRH/BD/143224/2019 and SFRH/BD/151346/2021, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Extending the ecological distribution of Desmonostoc genus: proposal of Desmonostoc salinum sp. nov., a novel Cyanobacteria from a saline–alkaline lake
Cyanobacteria is an ancient phylum of oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms found in almost all environments of Earth. In
recent years, the taxonomic placement of some cyanobacterial strains, including those belonging to the genus Nostoc sensu
lato, have been reevaluated by means of a polyphasic approach. Thus, 16S rRNA gene phylogeny and 16S–23S internal
transcribed spacer (ITS) secondary structures coupled with morphological, ecological and physiological data are considered
powerful tools for a better taxonomic and systematics resolution, leading to the description of novel genera and species.
Additionally, underexplored and harsh environments, such as saline–alkaline lakes, have received special attention given
they can be a source of novel cyanobacterial taxa. Here, a filamentous heterocytous strain, Nostocaceae CCM-UFV059,
isolated from Laguna Amarga, Chile, was characterized applying the polyphasic approach; its fatty acid profile and
physiological responses to salt (NaCl) were also determined. Morphologically, this strain was related to morphotypes of the
Nostoc sensu lato group, being phylogenetically placed into the typical cluster of the genus Desmonostoc. CCM-UFV059
showed identity of the 16S rRNA gene as well as 16S–23S secondary structures that did not match those from known
described species of the genus Desmonostoc, as well as distinct ecological and physiological traits. Taken together, these
data allowed the description of the first strain of a member of the genus Desmonostoc from a saline–alkaline lake, named
Desmonostoc salinum sp. nov., under the provisions of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants.
This finding extends the ecological coverage of the genus Desmonostoc, contributing to a better understanding of
cyanobacterial diversity and systematics
AVALIAÇÃO MOLECULAR DAS VIAS IMUNOLÓGICAS DE SINALIZAÇÃO CELULAR EM Aedes aegypti INFECTADO COM Metarhizium anisopliae
Recentes trabalhos mostraram que fêmeas de Aedes aegypti alimentadas com sangue foram menos suscetíveis ao fungo Metarhizum anisopliae, comparado com fêmeas alimentadas com sacarose. Desde então estudos tem sido feitos investigando o porquê desses resultados. No presente trabalho foi avaliado a expressão dos genes relacionados às vias Toll, Immune Deficiency (IMD) e Janus Quinase (JAK-STAT) de A. aegypti alimentadas com sangue ou sacarose. As fêmeas de A. aegypti foram infectadas com M. anisopliae e 48 horas depois foram dissecadas para obtenção do corpo gorduroso (CG) e epitélio intestinal (EI). Realizou-se extração de RNA total, obtenção de cDNA e análise por PCR em tempo real. Nossos resultados mostraram que ocorreu uma modulação positiva na expressão dos genes Relish 1A, Cactus e STAT no epitélio intestinal e corpo gorduroso em fêmeas alimentadas com sacarose e infectadas com fungo.
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Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.
Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors
Neurodegeneration and Glial Response after Acute Striatal Stroke: Histological Basis for Neuroprotective Studies
Stroke is a leading cause of death and neurological disability worldwide and striatal ischemic stroke is frequent in humans due to obstruction of middle cerebral artery. Several pathological events underlie damage progression and a comprehensive description of the pathological features following experimental stroke in both acute and chronic survival times is a necessary step for further functional studies. Here, we explored the patterns of microglial activation, astrocytosis, oligodendrocyte damage, myelin impairment, and Nogo-A immunoreactivity between 3 and 30 postlesion days (PLDs) after experimental striatal stroke in adult rats induced by microinjections of endothelin-1 (ET-1). The focal ischemia induced tissue loss concomitant with intense microglia activation between 3 and 14 PLDs (maximum at 7 PLDs), decreasing afterward. Astrocytosis was maximum around 7 PLDs. Oligodendrocyte damage and Nogo-A upregulation were higher at 3 PLDs. Myelin impairment was maximum between 7 and 14 PLDs. Nogo-A expression was higher in the first week in comparison to control. The results add important histopathological features of ET-1 induced stroke in subacute and chronic survival times. In addition, the establishment of the temporal evolution of these neuropathological events is an important step for future studies seeking suitable neuroprotective drugs targeting neuroinflammation and white matter damage
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