Risk assessment of non-native fishes in the Balkans Region using FISK, the invasiveness screening tool for non-native freshwater fishes

A high level of freshwater fish endemism in the Balkans Region emphasizes the need for non-native species risk assessments to inform management and control measures, with pre-screening tools, such as the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) providing a useful first step. Applied to 43 non-native and translocated freshwater fishes in four Balkan countries, FISK reliably discriminated between invasive and non-invasive species, with a calibration threshold value of 9.5 distinguishing between species of medium and high risk sensu lato of becoming invasive. Twelve of the 43 species were assessed by scientists from two or more Balkan countries, and the remaining 31 species by a single assessor. Using the 9.5 threshold, three species were classed as low risk, 10 as medium risk, and 30 as high risk, with the latter category comprised of 26 moderately high risk, three high risk, and one very high risk species. Confidence levels in the assessments were relatively constant for all species, indicating concordance amongst assessors

Influence of plasma spraying parameters on properties of thermal barrier coatings

The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of plasma spay deposition parameters on various properties of two standard thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems deposited on the steel substrate. Two TBC systems were investigated: NiCr-Al-Co-Y2O3/ZrO2-Y2O3 and NiCr-Al-Co-Y2O3/ZrO2-CeO2-Y2O3. Powders were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) with two variable parameters. The first variable was substrate temperature (21-23 and 160-180 degrees C), and the second variable was transverse speed of the spraying gun (250 and 500 mm s(-1)), i.e. coating thickness per one pass of the spraying gun. The quality assessments of TBC systems were made on the base of their microstructure, microhardness, tensile bond strength and thermal cyclic behaviour (thermal insulation properties and thermal cycling fatigue). Analysis of the results showed great influence of plasma spray deposition parameters on the quality of obtained TBCs