Intra and interspecific variation assessment in Psocoptera using near spectoscopy

Several species of Psocoptera are associated with and damage grains and other stored products, books, historical documents, and insect collections. Their small size and lack of expressive morphological variation make it a difficult group for species identification. The spectra of adult males and females of 10 psocid species from the genus Liposcelis were obtained by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and analyzed. Each specimen was placed on a diffuse reflectance accessory of a NIR spectrometer to obtain the respective spectrum, using ten replicates for each species or sex. All spectra were analyzed by combined methods of multivariate analysis using the technique of crossed validation for the multivariate models. The analysis discriminated the species without significant overlapping among the species spectral patterns. The NIRS also revealed variation in the metabolomic profile of males and females; however, it is still possible to distinguish the species using only males or females or even from mixed sex samples. NIRS technique proved to be a powerful tool to discriminate species both at intra and interspecific levels based on dispersion spectral patterns of individual specimens. Keywords: Biological systems, Liposcelididae, stored product pests, Vibrational spectroscopy

A model for assessing economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain and a case study

Due to the recent attention gained by sustainability issues in the context of supply chains, the aim of this study is to present a model developed under Microsoft Excel™ for the assessment of the economic and environmental dimensions of a fashion supply chain, sector that deserves particular attention being one of the most polluting in the world. The assessment of the economic dimension is made through the evaluation of the total cost incurred in each process of the supply chain, while the environmental aspect is evaluated in terms of the carbon dioxide emissions generated. Specifically, in this paper the modelling of the warehouse function is detailed. To test the effectiveness of the model a case study is carried out on a fashion company based in the North of Italy; the key results are reported in the manuscript, showing where the majority of costs and emissions are generated. Information obtained from this tool can support the company's management in their operational decisions and show where to focus their attention to enhance the economic and environmental sustainability

Economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain: A quantitative model

Paper aim: The paper presents a model to assess the economic and the environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain and tests it on a company. Originality: The gap intended to fill is the lack of models in this context having this purpose, and, in general, the necessity to develop models and metrics allowing to quantitatively assess the economic and environmental dimensions of supply chains. Research method: The fashion supply chain has been divided into five processes. Hence, an analytic model was developed by considering the total costs incurring in each process (economic evaluation), and the annual kilograms of CO2 emitted (environmental perspective). The model was then applied to a case study. Data was obtained from interviews with the management. Main findings: Results show that from the economic perspective supply impacts the most, while from the environmental one the most polluting activity is production. Implications for theory and practice: The model is easy to apply and to understand and allows to identify the activities in the supply chain where the majority of costs/emissions are generated. It is therefore expected to be useful for undertaking operational decisions aimed at decreasing the economic or environmental impact of a fashion supply chain

Investigation on the Performance of a Compact Three-Fluid Combined Membrane Contactor for Dehumidification in Electric Vehicles

In this paper, the performance of a compact Three-Fluid Combined Membrane Contactor (3F-CMC) is investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), supported and validated with a good agreement by an experimental campaign made on a fully working prototype. This internally-cooled membrane contactor is the core component of a hybrid air conditioning system for electric vehicles (EVs) developed in a successful H2020 project called XERIC. In the adopted numerical approach, the conjugate heat and mass transfer inside the 3F-CMC is described by non-isothermal incompressible flows and vapor transport through a PTFE hydrophobic membrane. The sensitivity of the 3F-CMC performance to air/desiccant flow rates, temperature, humidity, and desiccant concentration is analyzed numerically through the validated CFD codes. According to this study, the moisture removal increases by the inlet humidity ratio, nearly linearly. Under the considered conditions (where the inlet air temperature is 26.2C), when the inlet relative humidity (RH) is 75% the moisture removal is about 450% higher than the case RH = 37%, while the absorption effectiveness declines about 45%. Furthermore, this study shows that the amount of absorbed vapor flux rises by increasing the airflow rate; on the other hand, the higher the airflow rate, the lower is the overall absorption efficiency of the 3F-CMC. This investigation gives important suggestions on how to properly operate a 3F-CMC in order to achieve the requested performance, especially in hot and humid climates

GoSh: a goat and sheep ESTs database.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-07T01:03:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ID29151124.pdf: 69304 bytes, checksum: 128ac67dd2da790fae9cf4d1ab49e9df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-16bitstream/item/178254/1/ID-29151-1-2-4.pd

Técnicas alternativas para la selección de recursos humanos en el ámbito del deporte

The activity of the organizations is a complex phenomenon. Competitive factors are linked to human resources, which makes it necessary for organizations to have specialists in this area. In an uncertain scenario it is desirable to have tools to help make decisions, such as choosing the right candidate for a job. In this article we show three models of human resource selection based on fuzzy set theory and apply them to sports.La actividad de las organizaciones es un fenómeno complejo. Los factores de competitividad están vinculados a los recursos humanos, por lo cual resulta necesario que las organizaciones cuenten con especialistas en esta área. En un escenario incierto es conveniente disponer de herramientas que ayuden a tomar decisiones tales como elegir el candidato adecuado para un puesto de trabajo. En este artículo se presentan tres modelos de selección de recursos humanos, basados en la teoría de los conjuntos borrosos y se los aplica al ámbito deportivo

Análisis de preferencias turísticas: un enfoque innovador

Most of the decisions concerning tourism are made in a context of uncertainty, and on several occasions the consequences of the choice are not known with certainty, or even there is missing information on this matter. For these reasons, the fuzzy set theory is an appropriate tool for their treatments.In this paper we show, through a case study, an alternative model for the analysis of tourist preferences of a segment of individuals based on the concept of fuzzy consideration set.La mayor parte de las decisiones referidas a turismo se toman en un contexto de incertidumbre, y en muchas oportunidades no se conocen con certeza las consecuencias de la elección, ni se posee toda la información. Por estas razones la teoría de conjuntos borrosos resulta una herramienta apropiada para su tratamiento.En este trabajo se presenta, a través del estudio de un caso, un modelo alternativo para el análisis de las preferencias turísticas, de un segmento de individuos, basado en el concepto de conjunto de consideración borroso

Small RNA sequencing of cryopreserved semen from single bull revealed altered miRNAs and piRNAs expression between High- and Low-motile sperm populations

Putative piRNA clusters that were assigned by proTRAC to the High Motile (HM) and Low Motile (LM) sperm fractions. (XLSX 21 kb