210 research outputs found
Characterization of unplanned water reuse in the EU. Final Report
In order to assess policy options regarding requirements for water reuse via agricultural irrigation and groundwater recharge, the European Commission requested an additional source of information. Thus, the aim of this study was to benchmark the current degree of unplanned water reuse in Europe, in particular in areas that are practicing agriculture irrigation and artificial groundwater recharge using surface water. This assessment included a characterization of qualities of water sources currently used in agricultural irrigation in the EU, including direct and indirect reuse of treated wastewater. In addition, the extent of unplanned reuse and the impact of the development of planned (and direct) water reuse has been assessed for case studies in selected EU river basins in Spain, Italy, France and GermanyCon el fin de evaluar las opciones políticas relativas a los requisitos de reutilización del agua a través del riego agrícola y la recarga de aguas subterráneas, la Comisión Europea solicitó una fuente adicional de información. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio era comparar el grado actual de reutilización no planificada del agua en Europa, en particular en las zonas que practican el riego agrícola y la recarga artificial de aguas subterráneas con aguas superficiales. Esta evaluación incluyó una caracterización de la calidad de las fuentes de agua utilizadas actualmente en el riego agrícola en la UE, incluida la reutilización directa e indirecta de las aguas residuales tratadas. Además, se ha evaluado el alcance de la reutilización no planificada y el impacto del desarrollo de la reutilización planificada (y directa) del agua para estudios de caso en cuencas hidrográficas seleccionadas de la UE en España, Italia, Francia y Alemania
Dephasing of Electrons on Helium by Collisions with Gas Atoms
The damping of quantum effects in the transport properties of electrons
deposited on a surface of liquid helium is studied. It is found that due to
vertical motion of the helium vapour atoms the interference of paths of
duration is damped by a factor . An expression is
derived for the weak-localization lineshape in the case that damping occurs by
a combination of processes with this type of cubic exponential damping and
processes with a simple exponential damping factor.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, Revte
Glucose Transport and Transporters in the Endomembranes
Glucose is a basic nutrient in most of the creatures; its transport through biological membranes is an absolute requirement of life. This role is fulfilled by glucose transporters, mediating the transport of glucose by facilitated diffusion or by secondary active transport. GLUT (glucose transporter) or SLC2A (Solute carrier 2A) families represent the main glucose transporters in mammalian cells, originally described as plasma membrane transporters. Glucose transport through intracellular membranes has not been elucidated yet; however, glucose is formed in the lumen of various organelles. The glucose-6-phosphatase system catalyzing the last common step of gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis generates glucose within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Posttranslational processing of the oligosaccharide moiety of glycoproteins also results in intraluminal glucose formation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. Autophagic degradation of polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycolipids leads to glucose accumulation in lysosomes. Despite the obvious necessity, the mechanism of glucose transport and the molecular nature of mediating proteins in the endomembranes have been hardly elucidated for the last few years. However, recent studies revealed the intracellular localization and functional features of some glucose transporters; the aim of the present paper was to summarize the collected knowledge
Cross-cultural Adaptation and Validation of Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire on Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients
OBJECTIVES: Inadequate adaptation to long-term treatment of chronic illnesses is the most common reason for the inability to obtain the benefits medications can provide. Treatment compliance is influenced by several factors. Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) developed by Horne et al. in 1999 to evaluate the cognitive representation of medicines have many validation studies, which resulted in good psychometric properties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the BMQ Turkish translation in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty asthma and 50 COPD patients participated in this methodological study. The scale was adapted to Turkish through translation, comparison with other language versions, back translation, and a pre-test. The structural validity was assessed using factor analysis. RESULTS: Similar to the original scale, factor analysis confirmed that BMQ had a four-factor structure that accounts for 58.23% of the total variance. The BMQ showed an acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient: specific-necessity, 0.832: specific-concerns, 0.722; general-harm, 0.792; and general-overuse, 0.682). The factor analysis revealed the same patterns for all questions between the Turkish and original scales. CONCLUSION: The psychometric properties of the BMQ were consistent with those reported in the original study. We found that the Turkish translation of BMQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing medicine-related beliefs in patients with asthma and COPD
Magnetoresistance of nondegenerate quantum electron channels formed on the surface of superfluid helium
Transport properties of quasi-one-dimensional nondegenerate quantum wires
formed on the surface of liquid helium in the presence of a normal magnetic
field are studied using the momentum balance equation method and the memory
function formalism. The interaction with both kinds of scatterers available
(vapor atoms and capillary wave quanta) is considered. We show that unlike
classical wires, quantum nondegenerate channels exhibit strong
magnetoresistance which increases with lowering the temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Atmospheric Pressure Mass Spectrometry of Single Viruses and Nanoparticles by Nanoelectromechanical Systems
Mass spectrometry of intact nanoparticles and viruses can serve as a potent
characterization tool for material science and biophysics. Inaccessible by
widespread commercial techniques, the mass of single nanoparticles and viruses
(>10MDa) can be readily measured by NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical Systems) based
Mass Spectrometry, where charged and isolated analyte particles are generated
by Electrospray Ionization (ESI) in air and transported onto the NEMS resonator
for capture and detection. However, the applicability of NEMS as a practical
solution is hindered by their miniscule surface area, which results in poor
limit-of-detection and low capture efficiency values. Another hindrance is the
necessity to house the NEMS inside complex vacuum systems, which is required in
part to focus analytes towards the miniscule detection surface of the NEMS.
Here, we overcome both limitations by integrating an ion lens onto the NEMS
chip. The ion lens is composed of a polymer layer, which charges up by
receiving part of the ions incoming from the ESI tip and consequently starts to
focus the analytes towards an open window aligned with the active area of the
NEMS electrostatically. With this integrated system, we have detected the mass
of gold and polystyrene nanoparticles under ambient conditions and with two
orders-of-magnitude improvement in capture efficiency compared to the
state-of-the-art. We then applied this technology to obtain the mass spectrum
of SARS-CoV-2 and BoHV-1 virions. With the increase in analytical throughput,
the simplicity of the overall setup and the operation capability under ambient
conditions, the technique demonstrates that NEMS Mass Spectrometry can be
deployed for mass detection of engineered nanoparticles and biological samples
efficiently.Comment: 38 pages, 6 figure
Resistance fluctuations and Aharonov-Bohm-type oscillations in antidot arrays in the quantum Hall regime
Resistance fluctuation phenomenon in antidot lattices in the quantum Hall
regime are studied. Magnetoresistance of finite antidot array systems in the
quantum Hall plateau transition regime exhibits two types of oscillatory
effect. One is the aperiodic resistance fluctuations (RFs) and the other is the
Aharonov-Bohm (AB)-type oscillations. Their dependences on the magnetic field
and the gate voltage are quite distinct. While the aperiodic RFs are attributed
to the complex evolution of the conducting network of compressible channels,
the AB-type oscillations are interpreted in terms of edge states formed around
individual antidots. The self-consistent screening effect is important for the
both phenomenon, whereas, the single electron charging effect plays a minor
role in the present case.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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