EVALUATION OF RECLAIMED DRYWALL FOR SOIL AMENDMENT AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Construction and demolition (C&D) activities produce 170 million tons of waste annually (US EPA 2009), 15% of which are drywall. Drywall from construction activities, virgin material too small to be reused and often disposed in landfills, is estimated at 1.7 million tons each year (Sandler 2003). Drywall in landfills leads to hydrogen sulfide emissions that can be lethal (Lee et al. 2006; Flynn 1998). The goal of this research was to evaluate two diversion options for reclaimed drywall: (i) as a soil amendment; and (ii) as a carbon sequestration driver. Canola, sunflower, wheat, and grass plants were amended with different doses of ground drywall. While the drywall did not significantly impact sunflower and grass growth, wheat seed yield increased 20%, and canola yield almost doubled relative to controls with no drywall amendment. Phytotoxicity tests performed on different drywall types revealed the potential inhibition effects of using mold and moisture resistant drywall as soil amendment, suggesting that careful sorting of reclaimed drywall may be necessary before land application. Wheat and corn amended with 3,208 kg S ha-1 as ground drywall in a climate receiving less than 33 in y-1 of rain proved able to sequester atmospheric carbon at a rate of 650 kg ha-1 y-1. Presumably the plants transported atmospheric carbon to the soil via rhizosphere respiration, where the carbon reacted with drywall calcium to form calcium carbonate. This sequestration was confirmed by carbon isotope analysis

On the origin of the invasive olives (Olea europaea L., Oleaceae).

The olive tree (Olea europaea) has successfully invaded several regions in Australia and Pacific islands. Two olive subspecies (subspp. europaea and cuspidata) were first introduced in these areas during the nineteenth century. In the present study, we determine the origin of invasive olives and investigate the importance of historical effects on the genetic diversity of populations. Four invasive populations from Australia and Hawaii were characterized using eight nuclear DNA microsatellites, plastid DNA markers as well as ITS-1 sequences. Based on these data, their genetic similarity with native populations was investigated, and it was determined that East Australian and Hawaiian populations (subsp. cuspidata) have originated from southern Africa while South Australian populations (subsp. europaea) have mostly derived from western or central Mediterranean cultivars. Invasive populations of subsp. cuspidata showed significant loss of genetic diversity in comparison to a putative source population, and a recent bottleneck was evidenced in Hawaii. Conversely, invasive populations of subsp. europaea did not display significant loss of genetic diversity in comparison to a native Mediterranean population. Different histories of invasion were inferred for these two taxa with multiple cultivars introduced restoring gene diversity for europaea and a single successful founder event and sequential introductions to East Australia and then Hawaii for cuspidata. Furthermore, one hybrid (cuspidata x europaea) was identified in East Australia. The importance of hybridizations in the future evolution of the olive invasiveness remains to be investigated

Th1 Disabled Function in Response to TLR4 Stimulation of Monocyte-Derived DC from Patients Chronically-Infected by Hepatitis C Virus

Background: Lack of protective antibodies and inefficient cytotoxic responses are characteristics of chronic hepatitis C infection. A defect in dendritic cell (DC) function has thus been suspected, but this remains a controversial issue. Methods and Findings: Here we show that monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) from chronically-infected patients can mature in response to TLR1/2, TLR2/6 or TLR3 ligands. In contrast, when stimulated with the TLR4 ligand LPS, MoDC from patients show a profound defect in inducing IFNc secretion by allogeneic T cells. This defect is not due to defective phenotypic maturation or to the presence of HCV-RNA in DC or monocytes but is correlated to reduced IL-12 secretion by DC. Restoration of DC ability to stimulate IFNc secretion can be obtained by blocking MEK activation in DC, indicating that MEK/ ERK pathway is involved in the Th1 defect of MoDC. Monocytes from HCV patients present increased spontaneous secretion of cytokines and chemokines, especially MIP-1b. Addition of MIP-1b on healthy monocytes during differentiation results in DC that have Th1 defect characteristic of MoDC from HCV patients, suggesting that MIP-1b secretion by HCV monocytes participates in the Th1 defect of DC. Conclusions: Our data indicate that monocytes from HCV patients are activated in vivo. This interferes with their differentiation into DC, leading to deficient TLR4 signaling in these cells that are enable to induce a Th1 response. Thi

Coordinated inductive learning using argumentation-based communication

This paper focuses on coordinated inductive learning, concerning how agents with inductive learning capabilities can coordinate their learnt hypotheses with other agents. Coordination in this context means that the hypothesis learnt by one agent is consistent with the data known to the other agents. In order to address this problem, we present A-MAIL, an argumentation approach for agents to argue about hypotheses learnt by induction. A-MAIL integrates, in a single framework, the capabilities of learning from experience, communication, hypothesis revision and argumentation. Therefore, the A-MAIL approach is one step further in achieving autonomous agents with learning capabilities which can use, communicate and reason about the knowledge they learn from examples. © 2014, The Author(s).Research partially funded by the projects Next-CBR (TIN2009-13692-C03-01) and Cognitio (TIN2012-38450- C03-03) [both co-funded with FEDER], Agreement Technologies (CONSOLIDER CSD2007-0022), and by the Grants 2009-SGR-1433 and 2009-SGR-1434 of the Generalitat de Catalunya.Peer reviewe

Paraconsistent logics

In practical reasoning, it is common to have “too much ” informationabout some situation. In other words, it is common for there to be classically inconsistent information in a practical reasoning database [Besnard et al., 1995]. The diversity of logics proposed for aspects of practical reasoning indicates the complexit