Vapour–Liquid Equilibria in the Poly(methyl methacrylate) + 2-Butanone System Containing Lower Concentrations of Solute at Normal or Reduced Pressures

Vapour–liquid equilibria (VLE) were determined in the poly(methyl methacrylate) + 2-butanone system under isothermal conditions at 333.15, 343.15, and 353.15 K using an improved all-glass micro-ebulliometer with circulation of the liquid phase for the dynamic measurement of total pressure over liquid mixtures. The experimental data were correlated using the UNIQUAC-FV model and the applicability of three known predictive models was tested. It was found that only the UNIFAC-vdw-FV model gives excellent prediction of VLE for the studied system

Azeotropic Behavior of the 2-Methylpropan-2-ol + water + 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide System

Vapor-liquid equilibrium data were measured isothermally in the near-azeotropic region of the 2-methylpropan-2-ol + water + 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide system at 333.15, 343.15, and 353.15 K. The data were processed using a recently developed method based on a small number of experiments that provides a complete thermodynamic description of the azeotropic behavior. The parameters of the third-order Redlich-Kister equation were correlated with the ionic liquid concentration to determine an analytical dependence of both the azeotropic composition and the pressure

Growth and Asymmetry of Soil Microfungal Colonies from “Evolution Canyon,” Lower Nahal Oren, Mount Carmel, Israel

Fluctuating asymmetry is a contentious indicator of stress in populations of animals and plants. Nevertheless, it is a measure of developmental noise, typically obtained by measuring asymmetry across an individual organism's left-right axis of symmetry. These individual, signed asymmetries are symmetrically distributed around a mean of zero. Fluctuating asymmetry, however, has rarely been studied in microorganisms, and never in fungi.We examined colony growth and random phenotypic variation of five soil microfungal species isolated from the opposing slopes of “Evolution Canyon,” Mount Carmel, Israel. This canyon provides an opportunity to study diverse taxa inhabiting a single microsite, under different kinds and intensities of abiotic and biotic stress. The south-facing “African” slope of “Evolution Canyon” is xeric, warm, and tropical. It is only 200 m, on average, from the north-facing “European” slope, which is mesic, cool, and temperate. Five fungal species inhabiting both the south-facing “African” slope, and the north-facing “European” slope of the canyon were grown under controlled laboratory conditions, where we measured the fluctuating radial asymmetry and sizes of their colonies. from the “African” slope were more asymmetric than those from the “European” slope.Our study suggests that fluctuating radial asymmetry has potential as an indicator of random phenotypic variation and stress in soil microfungi. Interaction of slope and species for both growth rate and asymmetry of microfungi in a common environment is evidence of genetic differences between the “African” and “European” slopes of “Evolution Canyon.

The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle

High affinity ligands for human lymphocyte receptor CD69

CD69 is one of very important activating receptors expressed on the surface of human lymphocytes

Isothermal Vapor-liquid Equilibria in the 2-Propanol + Water and 2-Methylpropan-2-ol + Water Systems

Vapor-liquid equilibria were measured isothermally in the two title systems at 333.15, 343.15, and 353.15 K. A dynamic equilibrium still, allowing for the recirculation of both liquid and vapor phases was used. The data were correlated by means of the standard NRTL equation while considering the real behavior of the vapor phase, and with the use of the maximum likelihood procedure. Both the systems exhibited azeotropic behavior. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Automated Wildlife Recognition

The estimation of wildlife populations is an issue currently being solved at workplaces on many levels. Knowledge of wildlife population and localization is not only very important for reducing damage to agricultural and forest growth, which arises from the local overgrowth of certain animal species, but also for the protection of endangered species of animals and plants. The article presents the results of a research carried out during 2017 as the first partial objective of a complex automated wildlife estimation project, namely the recognition of game in a free landscape without vegetation cover from an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). The paper describes a method of finding game animals in a selected area and identifies problems with the recognition of the animals hiding in the vegetation. These results play an important role in solving the overall complex p roblem of automated game recognition