Paleo and historical seismicity in Mallorca (Baleares, Spain): a preliminary approach

The island of Mallorca is subject to low seismic activity. The instrumental record shows that current seismicity is surficial (La isla de Mallorca presenta una actividad sísmica baja. El registro instrumental muestra que la sismicidad actual es superficial

In Vitro Propagation of \u3ci\u3ePennisetum purpureum\u3c/i\u3e Schum.

A protocol is described for rapid multiplication of elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) through shoot tip culture. The plant growth medium consisted of basal medium of Murashige and Skoog (MS) and vitamins Wood Plant Medium (WPM). The medium was supplemented with 0.00; 4.44; 8.88; 13.32 and 17.76 μM of benzylaminopurine (BAP). The elephantgrass was micropropagated by axillary shoot proliferations. Maximum propagule proliferation occurred on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium enriched with 4.4 μM benzylaminopurine (BAP), resulting an average of 4.0 shoots per explant from cultivar Mineiro and 2.19 from cultivar Pioneiro. The best height and root plantlets were obtained with medium without growth regulator after 28 days

Substituting conventional steel alloys by carbon fibre composites in structural parts of an existing laser cutting equipment

In the present work, a finite element (FE) analysis was employed to validate the use of advanced carbon fibre composites as replacement of traditional low-alloy steel in the construction of the main runway frame structure of a laser cutting equipment currently available in the market. This new composite solution was adopted to increase the current laser equipment precision and cutting speed. The main objective was to enhance the machine cutting performance by using much stiffer and lighter main structural runway frames to support the machine cutting head and all major laser beam mirrors and lens, which allows decreasing dramatically the inertial and vibration efforts developed in service through the use of carbon fibre composites. The paper presents, compares and discusses the mechanical and dynamical behaviour obtained in the FE simulations made by using both solutions, the current one based on a steel frame and the new innovative composite adopted structure. The processing method to be used in the production of the innovative composite structure is also proposed. Finally, as production costs may also have an important impact on final equipment commercial price and acceptation, an economical study considering both manufacturing situations (currently used and new one) are discussed

Extraction and characterization of collagen from Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic squid and its potential application in hybrid scaffolds for tissue engineering

Collagen is the most abundant protein found in mammals and it exhibits a low immunogenicity, high biocompatibility and biodegradability when compared with others natural polymers. For this reason, it has been explored for the development of biologically instructive biomaterials with applications for tissue substitution and regeneration. Marine origin collagen has been pursued as an alternative to the more common bovine and porcine origins. This study focused on squid (Teuthoidea: Cephalopoda), particularly the Antarctic squid Kondakovia longimana and the Sub-Antarctic squid Illex argentinus as potential collagen sources. In this study, collagen has been isolated fromthe skins of the squids using acid-based and pepsin-based protocols, with the higher yield being obtained from I. argentinus in the presence of pepsin. The produced collagen has been characterized in terms of physicochemical properties, evidencing an amino acid profile similar to the one of calf collagen, but exhibiting a less preserved structure, with hydrolyzed portions and a lower melting temperature. Pepsin-soluble collagen isolated fromI. argentinus was selected for further evaluation of biomedical potential, exploring its incorporation on poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) 3D printed scaffolds for the development of hybrid scaffolds for tissue engineering, exhibiting hierarchical features.This work was partially funded by ERDF through POCTEP Project 0687_NOVOMAR_1_P and by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement on ERC-2012-ADG 20120216-321266 (ComplexiTE). The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is also acknowledged for post-doctoral fellowships of JMS (SFRH/BPD/70230/2010) and RPP (SFRH/BPD/101886/2014), financed by POPH/FSE, and FCT Investigator grant of JX (IF/00616/2013). The authors also want to thank Dr. Julio Maroto (Fundación CETMAR, Spain) for the kind offer of the samples of skins of I. argentinus, to Dr. Dario Fassini for the assistance in SDS-PAGE and to Raphael Canadas for assistance in micro-CT data processing.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Magnetic and transport properties of diluted granular multilayers

The magnetic and transport properties of Co80Fe20t /Al2O34 nm multilayers with low nominal thicknesses t=0.7 and 0.9 nm of Co80Fe20 granular layers are studied. Magnetic studies find a superparamagnetic state above the blocking temperature Tb of field-cooled/zero-field-cooled splitting that grows with t and decreases with H. The low-voltage Ohmic tunnel transport passes to non-Ohmic IV3/2 law for applied fields above 500 V/cm. At fixed V, the temperature dependence of conductance reveals an anomalous dip around 220 K, which can be attributed to the effect of surface contamination by supercooled water. Current-in-plane tunnel magnetoresistance MR ratio tends, at lower t, to higher maximum values 8% at room temperature but to lower field sensitivity. This may indicate growing discorrelation effect e.g., between shrinking areas of correlated moments in this regime and corroborates the deficit of granule magnetization estimated from the Inoue–Maekawa MR fit, compared to that from direct magnetization measurements. MR displays a mean-field-like critical behavior when t approaches the point of superparamagnetic/ superferromagnetic transition tc1.3 nm at room temperature from below, different from the formerly reported percolationlike behavior at approaching it from above.With growing temperature, MR reveals, beyond the common decrease, an anomalous plateau from Tb30–50 K up to some higher value T150–200 K, not seen at higher t

Indirect detection of superoxide in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells using microchip electrophoresis coupled to laser-induced fluorescence

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8865-1Superoxide is a naturally produced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the human body and is involved in many pathological and physiological signaling processes. However, if superoxide formation is left unregulated, overproduction can lead to oxidative damage to important biomolecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. Superoxide can also lead to the formation of peroxynitrite, an extremely hazardous substance, through its reaction with endogenously produced nitric oxide. Despite its importance, quantitative information regarding superoxide production is difficult to obtain due to its high reactivity and low concentrations in vivo. MitoHE, a fluorescent probe that specifically reacts with superoxide, was used in conjunction with microchip electrophoresis (ME) and laser-induced fluorescence detection to investigate changes in superoxide production by RAW 264.7 macrophage cells following stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Stimulation was performed in the presence and absence of the superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibitors, diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) and 2-metoxyestradiol (2-ME). The addition of these inhibitors resulted in an increase in the amount of superoxide specific product (2-OH-MitoE+) from 0.08 ± 0.01 fmol (0.17 ± 0.03 mM) in native cells to 1.26 ± 0.06 fmol (2.5 ± 0.1 mM) after PMA treatment. This corresponds to an approximately 15-fold increase in intracellular concentration per cell. Furthermore, the addition of 3-morpholino-sydnonimine (SIN-1) to the cells during incubation resulted in 0.061 ± 0.006 fmol (0.12 ± 0.01 mM) of 2-OH-MitoE+ per cell on average. These results demonstrate that indirect superoxide detection coupled with the use of SOD inhibitors and a separation method is a viable method to discriminate the 2-OH-MitoE+ signal from possible interferences

Can foliar pulverization with CaCl2 and Ca(NO3)2 trigger Ca enrichment in solanum tuberosum L. tubers?

project PDR2020-101-030719 IDB/00239/2020 UIDP/04035/2020This study aimed to assess the efficiency of Ca enrichment in tubers of three genotypes of Solanum tuberosum L., through foliar spraying with CaCl2 and Ca(NO3)2 solutions. In this context, soil heterogeneity of three potato-growing fields, as well as the implications of Ca accumulation among tissues and some quality parameters were assessed. Three potato varieties (Agria, Picasso and Rossi) were grown in three production fields and during the life cycle, four pulverizations with calcium chloride (3 and 6 kg ha−1) or calcium nitrate (0.5, 2 and 4 kg ha−1) were applied. For screening the potential phytotoxicity, using Agria as a test system, the potential synthesis of photoassimilates was determined, and it was found that after the 3rd Ca application, leaf gas exchanges were moderately (net photosynthesis), to strongly (stomatal conductance) affected, although without impact on Ca accumulation in tubers. At harvest, the average Ca biofortification index varied between 5–40%, 40–35% and 4.3–13% in Agria, Picasso and Rossi, respectively. Moreover, the equatorial region of the tubers in general showed that Ca accumulation prevailed in the epidermis and, in some cases, in inner areas of the potato tubers. Biofortified tubers with Ca also showed some significant changes in total soluble solids and colorimetric parameters. It is concluded that Ca enrichment of potato tubers through foliar spraying complemented the xylem mass flow of Ca from roots, through phloem redistribution. Both fertilizers showed similar efficiency, but Rossi revealed a lower index of Ca accumulation, eventually due to different metabolic characteristics. Although affected by Ca enrichment, potato tubers maintained a high quality for industrial processing.publishersversionpublishe

Integrated feature selection and classification algorithm in the prediction of work-related accidents in the retail sector: a comparative study

Assessing the different factors that contribute to accidents in the workplace is essential to ensure the safety and well-being of employees. Given the importance of risk identification in hazard prediction, this work proposes a comparative study between different feature selection techniques (χ2 test and Forward Feature Selection) combined with learning algorithms (Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, and Naive Bayes), both applied to a database of a leading company in the retail sector, in Portugal. The goal is to conclude which factors of each database have the most significant impact on the occurrence of accidents. Initial databases include accident records, ergonomic workplace analysis, hazard intervention and risk assessment, climate databases, and holiday records. Each method was evaluated based on its accuracy in the forecast of the occurrence of the accident. The results showed that the Forward Feature Selection-Random Forest pair performed better among the assessed combinations, considering the case study database. In addition, data from accident records and ergonomic workplace analysis have the largest number of features with the most significant predictive impact on accident prediction. Future studies will be carried out to evaluate factors from other databases that may have meaningful information for predicting accidents.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CeDRI (UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDP/05757/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). This work has been supported by NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-072598 iSafety: Intelligent system for occupational safety and well-being in the retail sector. Inˆes Sena was supported by FCT PhD grant UI/BD/153348/2022.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio