First order transitions by conduction calorimetry: Application to deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate ferroelastic crystal under uniaxial pressure

The specific heat c and the heat power W exchanged by a Deuterated Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate ferroelectric-ferroelastic crystal have been measured simultaneously for both decreasing and increasing temperature at a low constant rate (0.06 K/h) between 175 and 240 K. The measurements were carried out under controlled uniaxial stresses of 0.3 and 4.5±0.1 bar applied to face (110). At Tt=207.9 K, a first order transition is produced with anomalous specific heat behavior in the interval where the transition heat appears. This anomalous behavior is explained in terms of the temperature variation of the heat power during the transition. During cooling, the transition occurs with coexistence of phases, while during heating it seems that metastable states are reached. Excluding data affected by the transition heat, the specific heat behavior agrees with the predictions of a 2-4-6 Landau potential in the range of 4–15 K below Tt while logarithmic behavior is obtained in the range from Tt to 1 K below Tt. Data obtained under 0.3 and 4.5 bar uniaxial stresses exhibit the same behavior.Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica. Gobierno de España-PB91-60

Historia natural del águila <i>Geranoaetus melanoleucus</i>: una revisión

Realizamos una revisión de la literatura y condensamos la informacion de diferentes autores acerca de la historia natural del águila Geranoaetus melanoleucus. Complementamos esta información con nuestras propias observaciones de campo entre localidades a lo largo de Chile. Ellas provienen de la Reserva Nacional Las Chinchillas (300 km al norte de Santiago), de San Carlos de Apoquindo (20 km al este de Santiago) y del Parque Nacional Torres del Paine (350 km al norte de Punta Arenas). Tratamos detalladamente los siguientes tópicos: distribución y taxonomía, color del plumaje e identificación, morfometría y peso, historia de vida y reproducción, uso del hábitat, dieta, ritmos de actividad, tipos de vuelo y conductas de caza, agresión, vocalizaciones, abundancia, mortalidad y otros hábitos.Con este trabajo se actualiza el estado del conocimiento de la biología del águila y se hace accesible la información que se ha documentado en revistas de circulación local y documentos de dificil acceso a la comunidad científica interesada.Natural history of the Grey Eagle-buzzard, Geranoaetus melanolucus: a review. We reviewed and summarized the literature concerning the natural history of the Grey Eagle-buzzard Geranoaetus melanoleucus. We suplement this information with our own field records from three sites along Chile. They are the Chinchilla National Reserve (300 km north of Santiago), San Carlos de Apoquindo (20km east of Santiago), and Torres del Paine National Park (350 km north of Punta Arenas).We covered in detail the following topics: distribution and taxonomy, color and field identification, morphometry and weigth, life history and reproduction, habitat use, diet, activity, flight modes and hunting behavior, aggression, vocalizations, abundance, mortality, and other topics. With this review we update the current knowledge of the biology of the Grey Eagly-buzzard, and render more accessible the information documented in journals and books of local circulation to the interested scientific community

Coordinating heterogeneous IoT devices by means of the centralized vision of the SDN controller

The IoT (Internet of Things) has become a reality during recent years. The desire of having everything connected to the Internet results in clearly identified benefits that will impact on socio economic development. However, the exponential growth in the number of IoT devices and their heterogeneity open new challenges that must be carefully studied. Coordination among devices to adapt them to their users' context usually requires high volumes of data to be exchanged with the cloud. In order to reduce unnecessary communications and network overhead, this paper proposes a novel network architecture based on the Software-Defined Networking paradigm that allows IoT devices coordinate and adapt them within the scope of a particular context.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Arabic gum plus colistin coated moxifloxacin-loaded nanoparticles for the treatment of bone infection caused by Escherichia coli

Osteomyelitis is an inflammatory process of bone and bone marrow that may even lead to patient death. Even though this disease is mainly caused by Gram-positive organisms, the proportion of bone infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, has significantly increased in recent years. In this work, mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been employed as platform to engineer a nanomedicine able to eradicate E. coli- related bone infections. For that purpose, the nanoparticles have been loaded with moxifloxacin and further functionalized with Arabic gum and colistin (AG+CO-coated MX-loaded MSNs). The nanosystem demonstrated high affinity toward E. coli biofilm matrix, thanks to AG coating, and marked antibacterial effect because of the bactericidal effect of moxifloxacin and the disaggregating effect of colistin. AG+CO-coated MX-loaded MSNs were able to eradicate the infection developed on a trabecular bone in vitro and showed pronounced antibacterial efficacy in vivo against an osteomyelitis provoked by E. coli. Furthermore, AG+CO-coated MX-loaded MSNs were shown to be essentially non-cytotoxic with only slight effect on cell proliferation and mild hepatotoxicity, which might be attributed to the nature of both antibiotics. In view of these results, these nanoparticles may be considered as a promising treatment for bone infections caused by enterobacteria, such as E. coli, and introduce a general strategy against bone infections based on the implementation of antibiotics with different but complementary activity into a single nanocarrier. Statement of significance: In this work, we propose a methodology to address E.coli bone infections by using moxifloxacin-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles coated with Arabic gum containing colistin (AG+CO-coated MX-loaded MSNs). The in vitro evaluation of this nanosystem demonstrated high affinity toward E. coli biofilm matrix thanks to the Arabic gum coating, a disaggregating and antibacterial effect of colistin, and a remarkable antibiofilm action because of the bactericidal ability of moxifloxacin and colistin. This anti-E. coli capacity of AG+CO-coated MX-loaded MSNs was brought out in an in vivo rabbit model of osteomyelitis where the nanosystem was able to eradicate more than 90% of the bacterial load within the infected boneFinancial support from the Eu-ropean Research Council through ERC-2015-AdG-694160 (VERDI) grant. AM is funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the “Miguel Servet” program (CP15/00053

Проект модернизации оборотного водоснабжения ТЭЦ ООО "Юргинский машзавод"

ТЭЦ являются одним из основных загрязнителей атмосферы твёрдыми частицами золы, окислами серы азота, другими веществами, оказывая вредное воздействие на здоровье людей, а также углекислым газом, способствующим возникновению «парникового эффекта». Поэтому предлагается сократить вредные выбросы путем оптимизации водно-химического режима ТЭЦ. Thermoelectric plant is one of the major polluters of the atmosphere solid particles of ash, nitrogen oxides, sulfur, and other substances, exerting harmful effects on human health, as well as carbon dioxide, contributing to the emergence of the "greenhouse effect." It is therefore proposed to reduce emissions through the optimization of water chemistry thermoelectric plant

Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 cooperate in the control of the emerging pathogen Brucella microti

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-derived molecules and play a critical role during the host innate and adaptive immune response. Brucella spp. are intracellular gram-negative bacteria including several virulent species, which cause a chronic zoonotic infection in a wide range of mammalian hosts known as brucellosis. A new Brucella species, Brucella microti, was recently isolated from wild rodents and found to be highly pathogenic in mice. Using this species-specific model, it was previously found that CD8+ T cells are required to control this infection. In order to find out the role of TLR-mediated responses in the control of this pathogen, the course of infection of B. microti was analyzed over 3 weeks in wild-type (WT) and TLR knock out (KO) mice including TLR2-/-, TLR4-/-, TLR9-/-, TLR2×4-/- and TLR2×4×9-/-. WT and single TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 KO mice similarly control infection in liver and spleen. In contrast, bacterial clearance was delayed in TLR2×4-/- and TLR2×4×9-/- mice at 7 and 14 days post-infection. This defect correlated with impaired maturation and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in B. microti-infected dendritic cells from TLR2×4-/- and TLR2×4×9-/- mice. Finally, it was found that Tc cells from TLR2×4-/- and TLR2×4×9-/- mice showed reduced ability to inhibit growth of B. microti in macrophages, suggesting the involvement of TLR2 and 4 in the generation of specific Tc cells. Our findings indicate that TLR2 and TLR4 are required to control B. microti infection in mice and that this effect could be related to its participation in the maturation of dendritic cells and the generation of specific CD8+ Tc cells

Precision and practical usefulness of intraoral scanners in implant dentistry : a systematic literature review

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of digital impression techniques for implant-supported restorations, and to assess their economic feasibility. Two independent electronic database searches were conducted in the Pubmed/MedLine, Cochrane Library, and Lilacs databases complimented by a manual search, selecting relevant clinical and in vitro studies published between 1st January 2009 and 28st February 2019. All type of studies (in vivo and in vitro) were included in this systematic review. Twenty-seven studies (8 in vivo and 19 in vitro studies) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. No meta-analysis was performed due to a large heterogeneity of the study protocols. The passive fit of superstructures on dental implants presented similar results between digital and conventional impression techniques. The studies considered that several factors influence the accuracy of implant impression taking: distance and angulation between implants, depth of placement, type of scanner, scanning strategy, characteristics of scanbody, and operator experience. Regarding the economic viability of intraoral scanning systems, only one study reported any benefit in comparison with conventional techniques. Digital impressions of dental implants can be considered a viable alternative in cases of one or two contiguous dental implants. However, more studies are needed to evaluate the accuracy of digital techniques in full-arch implant-supported restorations

TOWARDS COHERENT MARINE SPATIAL PLANNING ACROSS THE EUROPEAN MACARONESIA

The biogeographic region known as European Macaronesia comprises the archipelagos of the Azores, Canary Islands and Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean. The collective exclusive economic zones surrounding the archipelagos is a vast area of approximately two million km2. The Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Union (EU) obliged EU Member States, including their archipelagos, to pursue sustainable use of their waters through Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Planning the large marine areas of the Macaronesia is not an easy endeavour, particularly when establishing the domestic frameworks for MSP implies sharing of competences among national and subnational authorities and is dependent on inter-departmental collaboration. Furthermore, the complexity of MSP arrangements, including legislation, governance, planning processes and documentation, is a barrier to coherent regional MSP and the application of the ecosystem approach, due to a lack of understanding across borders. This paper reviews and synthetises the national and subnational frameworks for MSP in the Macaronesian archipelagos. It also compares the principles guiding MSP in each archipelago to determine the coherence across the region, with the aim of outlining the basis for transboundary cooperation in the European Macaronesia.En prens