Characterisation of solid particles emitted from diesel and petrol engines as a contribution to the determination of the origin of carbonaceous particles in urban aerosol

Solid particles emitted from diesel and petrol engines were studied using a scanning electron microscope fitted with an energy dispersive spectrometer. The soot emitted from different engines under different operating conditions differed in particle size, and the form and size of aggregates. Identification of the soot particles emitted from diesel or petrol engines in urban aerosol based on their size and morphology was found to be impossible

Norine, the knowledgebase dedicated to nonribosomal peptides, is now open to crowdsourcing

International audienceSince its creation in 2006, Norine remains the unique knowledgebase dedicated to non-ribosomal pep-tides (NRPs). These secondary metabolites, produced by bacteria and fungi, harbor diverse interesting biological activities (such as antibiotic, anti-tumor, siderophore or surfactant) directly related to the diversity of their structures. The Norine team goal is to collect the NRPs and provide tools to analyze them efficiently. We have developed a user-friendly interface and dedicated tools to provide a complete bioinformatics platform. The knowledgebase gathers abundant and valuable annotations on more than 1100 NRPs. To increase the quantity of described NRPs and improve the quality of associated annotations , we are now opening Norine to crowdsourc-ing. We believe that contributors from the scientific community are the best experts to annotate the NRPs they work on. We have developed MyNorine to facilitate the submission of new NRPs or modifications of stored ones. This article presents MyNorine and other novelties of Norine interface released since the first publication. Norine is freely accessible from the following URL: http://bioinfo.lifl.fr/NRP

Enhanced exchange and reduced magnetization of Gd in an Fe/Gd/Fe trilayer

5 páginas, 6 figuras.-- PACS number(s): 75.70.−i, 75.47.De, 75.60.EjThe exchange interaction of Gd adjacent to Fe has been characterized by transport measurements on a double spin valve with a Fe/Gd/Fe trilayer as the middle layer. Our measurements show that the ferromagnetism of the Gd is enhanced by the presence of the Fe, and it remains ferromagnetic over its Curie temperature up to a thickness no smaller than 1 nm adjacent to the Fe. This thickness is more than double what has been reported before. Additionally, the saturation magnetization of the thin Gd layer sandwiched in Fe was found to be half of its bulk value. This reduced magnetization does not seem to be related to the proximity of Fe but rather to the incomplete saturation of Gd even for very high fields.This work was partially supported by Project Nos. MAT2008-02770/NAN and MAT2009-08771 from the SpanishMinisterio deCiencia e Innovaci´on. M. Romerawas funded through the FPU Fellowship No. AP2007-00464.Peer reviewe

A Comparative Analysis of the Morphology and Evolution of Permanent Sperm Depletion in Spiders

Once thought to be energetically cheap and easy to produce, empirical work has shown that sperm is a costly and limited resource for males. In some spider species, there is behavioral evidence that sperm are permanently depleted after a single mating. This extreme degree of mating investment appears to co-occur with other reproductive strategies common to spiders, e.g. genital mutilation and sexual cannibalism. Here we corroborate that sperm depletion in the golden orb-web spider Nephila clavipes is permanent by uncovering its mechanistic basis using light and electron microscopy. In addition, we use a phylogeny-based statistical analysis to test the evolutionary relationships between permanent sperm depletion (PSD) and other reproductive strategies in spiders. Male testes do not produce sperm during adulthood, which is unusual in spiders. Instead, spermatogenesis is nearly synchronous and ends before the maturation molt. Testis size decreases as males approach their maturation molt and reaches its lowest point after sperm is transferred into the male copulatory organs (pedipalps). As a consequence, the amount of sperm available to males for mating is limited to the sperm contained in the pedipalps, and once it is used, males lose their ability to fertilize eggs. Our data suggest that PSD has evolved independently at least three times within web-building spiders and is significantly correlated with the evolution of other mating strategies that limit males to monogamy, including genital mutilation and sexual cannibalism. We conclude that PSD may be an energy-saving adaptation in species where males are limited to monogamy. This could be particularly important in web-building spiders where extreme sexual size dimorphism results in large, sedentary females and small, searching males who rarely feed as adults and are vulnerable to starvation. Future work will explore possible energetic benefits and the evolutionary lability of PSD relative to other mate-limiting reproductive behaviors

Selective ammonia oxidation over ZSM-5 zeolite: Impact of catalyst's support porosity and type of deposited iron species

[EN] In the presented studies an influence of different parameters, such as zeolite sample porosity, form of used iron source ([Fe-3(OAc)(6)O(H2O)(3)](+)oligocations or FeSO4 solutions) and method of iron species deposition (ion-exchange, impregnation), on the catalytic activity in the process of the selective catalytic oxidation of ammonia (NH3-SCO) was studied. Conventional and mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites, obtained by desilication and modified with iron species, were analysed with respect to their textural, surface and crystalline properties (N-2-sorption, HRTEM, SEM, XRD) as well as the form of introduced Fe species (UV-vis-DRS). Ion-exchange with [Fe-3(OAc)(6)O (H2O)(3)](+) oligocations and impregnation with these oligocations and FeSO4 solutions were found as the most effective methods of the zeolite samples activation for NH3-SCO.This work was carried out in the frame of project No. 0670/IP3/2016/74 from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the years 2016-2019. Part of the work was performed in the frame of project No. 2012/05/B/ST5/00269from the National Science Centre (Poland). U. D. acknowledges to the Spanish Government by the funding (MAT2017-82288-C2-1-P). The authors would like to acknowledge to Clariant Company for the providing of the HMFI zeolite material for the presented research.Borcuch, A.; Rutkowska, M.; Marzec, A.; Kowalczyk, A.; Michalik, M.; Moreno, J.; Díaz Morales, UM.... (2020). Selective ammonia oxidation over ZSM-5 zeolite: Impact of catalyst's support porosity and type of deposited iron species. Catalysis Today. 348:223-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2019.08.054S223229348Weckhuysen, B. M., & Yu, J. (2015). Recent advances in zeolite chemistry and catalysis. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(20), 7022-7024. doi:10.1039/c5cs90100fVerboekend, D., & Pérez-Ramírez, J. (2011). Design of hierarchical zeolite catalysts by desilication. Catalysis Science & Technology, 1(6), 879. doi:10.1039/c1cy00150gRutkowska, M., Pacia, I., Basąg, S., Kowalczyk, A., Piwowarska, Z., Duda, M., … Chmielarz, L. (2017). Catalytic performance of commercial Cu-ZSM-5 zeolite modified by desilication in NH 3 -SCR and NH 3 -SCO processes. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 246, 193-206. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2017.03.017Góra-Marek, K., Brylewska, K., Tarach, K. A., Rutkowska, M., Jabłońska, M., Choi, M., & Chmielarz, L. (2015). IR studies of Fe modified ZSM-5 zeolites of diverse mesopore topologies in the terms of their catalytic performance in NH3-SCR and NH3-SCO processes. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 179, 589-598. doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2015.05.053Macina, D., Piwowarska, Z., Góra-Marek, K., Tarach, K., Rutkowska, M., Girman, V., … Chmielarz, L. (2016). SBA-15 loaded with iron by various methods as catalyst for DeNOx process. Materials Research Bulletin, 78, 72-82. doi:10.1016/j.materresbull.2016.02.026Rutkowska, M., Duda, M., Macina, D., Górecka, S., Dębek, R., Moreno, J. M., … Chmielarz, L. (2019). Mesoporous Beta zeolite functionalisation with FexCry oligocations; catalytic activity in the NH3SCO process. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 278, 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2018.11.003Miller, J. T., Glusker, E., Peddi, R., Zheng, T., & Regalbuto, J. R. (1998). Catalysis Letters, 51(1/2), 15-22. doi:10.1023/a:1019072631175Kowalczyk, A., Borcuch, A., Michalik, M., Rutkowska, M., Gil, B., Sojka, Z., … Chmielarz, L. (2017). MCM-41 modified with transition metals by template ion-exchange method as catalysts for selective catalytic oxidation of ammonia to dinitrogen. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 240, 9-21. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2016.11.002Chmielarz, L., & Jabłońska, M. (2015). Advances in selective catalytic oxidation of ammonia to dinitrogen: a review. RSC Advances, 5(54), 43408-43431. doi:10.1039/c5ra03218kThommes, M., Kaneko, K., Neimark, A. V., Olivier, J. P., Rodriguez-Reinoso, F., Rouquerol, J., & Sing, K. S. W. (2015). Physisorption of gases, with special reference to the evaluation of surface area and pore size distribution (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure and Applied Chemistry, 87(9-10), 1051-1069. doi:10.1515/pac-2014-1117Qi, G., & Yang, R. T. (2005). Selective catalytic oxidation (SCO) of ammonia to nitrogen over Fe/ZSM-5 catalysts. Applied Catalysis A: General, 287(1), 25-33. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2005.03.00

Biological Effects of Stellar Collapse Neutrinos

Massive stars in their final stages of collapse radiate most of their binding energy in the form of MeV neutrinos. The recoil atoms that they produce in elastic scattering off nuclei in organic tissue create radiation damage which is highly effective in the production of irreparable DNA harm, leading to cellular mutation, neoplasia and oncogenesis. Using a conventional model of the galaxy and of the collapse mechanism, the periodicity of nearby stellar collapses and the radiation dose are calculated. The possible contribution of this process to the paleontological record of mass extinctions is examined.Comment: gzipped PostScript (filename.ps.Z), 12 pages. Final version, Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres

Functions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) in skin homeostasis.

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) are ligand-activated transcription factors that belong to the nuclear hormone receptor family. Three isotypes (PPAR alpha, PPAR beta or delta, and PPAR gamma) with distinct tissue distributions and cellular functions have been found in vertebrates. All three PPAR isotypes are expressed in rodent and human skin. They were initially investigated for a possible function in the establishment of the permeability barrier in skin because of their known function in lipid metabolism in other cell types. In vitro studies using specific PPAR agonists and in vivo gene disruption approaches in mice indeed suggest an important contribution of PPAR alpha in the formation of the epidermal barrier and in sebocyte differentiation. The PPAR gamma isotype plays a role in stimulating sebocyte development and lipogenesis, but does not appear to contribute to epidermal tissue differentiation. The third isotype, PPAR beta, regulates the late stages of sebaceous cell differentiation, and is the most effective isotype in stimulating lipid production in these cells, both in rodents and in humans. In addition, PPAR beta activation has pro-differentiating effects in keratinocytes under normal and inflammatory conditions. Finally, preliminary studies also point to a potential role of PPAR in hair follicle growth and in melanocyte differentiation. By their diverse biological effects on cell proliferation and differentiation in the skin, PPAR agonists or antagonists may offer interesting opportunities for the treatment of various skin disorders characterized by inflammation, cell hyperproliferation, and aberrant differentiation

Detailed plan for the COMET WP3 initial research activity - list of research projects and goals, participants and timing

Detailed plan for the COMET Work Package (WP) 3