The design of cross-laminated timber slabs with cut-back glulam rib downstands - From research to live project

A research project was undertaken to investigate the behaviour of composite CLT slabs with glulam downstands cut back from the supports. A desk study and Finite Element Modelling (FEM) were used and evaluated on their ability to model and design such a structure, focusing on the cut back location and utilising reinforcement screws. The project included full-scale laboratory testing of a composite slab to failure with innovative data collection techniques such as Particle Image Velocimetry. A similar structural element was also used in a real construction project and the investigation gave insight towards its design. It was concluded that the embedment depth of reinforcement screws in the glulam downstand is key to the performance of the composite slab with full depth penetration advisable. FEM can give useful results for stress concentrations in the timber and a simplified design method was proposed

Integrated mariculture of co-cultured whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) in sequence with red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) in a closed biofloc-based system

A tri-species integration of shrimp and finfishes, using a closed integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) sequential biofloc system, aiming at optimizing the performance of intensive shrimp farming was evaluated by an indoor lab-scale experiment lasting for 50 days. The impact of this integration on production and environmental efficiency was investigated. Furthermore, the optimum initial red tilapia biomass, as a third extractive species, was explored. The IMTA recirculating sequential system consisted of a cultivating tank (800 L) for whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) co-culture, connected to an adjacent red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) cultivating tank (90 L). Shrimp (0.50 +/- 0.17 g), as the main crop, with mullet (1.00 +/- 0.53 g) were stocked at the density of 200 shrimps.m(-3) and 10% of the initial shrimp biomass, respectively. Meanwhile, two different densities of red tilapia were investigated in conjunction with the treatments, each in triplicate, of (i) control: shrimp-mullet without tilapia; (ii) BSM-10T: shrimp-mullet with 10 tilapias; and (iii) BSM-20T: shrimp-mullet with 20 tilapias. No external feed was provided for the finfishes throughout the experiment, enforcing tilapia to grow on bioflocs only. The results demonstrated that the addition of red tilapia at a proper proportion to the tri-species closed integration system resulted in positive effects on the cultured organism's performance. The physicochemical water parameters such as TAN, NO2--N, NO3--N, and PO43--P were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the BSM-10T and BSM-20T than in the control treatment. The statistical optimum (p < 0.05) of shrimp growth rate (0.19 +/- 0.01 g. day(-1)), overall biomass (1521.30 +/- 88.47 g.tank(-1)), and FCR (0.95 +/- 0.05) was achieved in the BSM-10T treatment. Superior microbial loading (p < 0.05) and shrimp digestive enzyme activities were detected in the BSM-10T treatment. The overall nitrogen and phosphorus recovery was statistically higher (p < 0.05) in the tri-species integrated culture groups (N: 38.53 +/- 1.20-46.19 +/- 1.75%; P: 33.09 +/- 2.20-33.63 +/- 3.69%) than in the bi-species polycultured group (N: 31.91 +/- 3.13%; P: 19.30 +/- 2.15%). The present study demonstrated that the tri-species integration of shrimp and mullet with red tilapia, introduced at an optimal initial density of 0.17 kg.m,(-3) employing a closed IMTA sequential biofloc system can be practically and feasibly applied to ameliorate water quality in addition to increasing overall animal production, and improving nutrient utilization efficiency for the intensive shrimp aquaculture

Towards ambient temperature-stable vaccines: the identification of thermally stabilizing liquid formulations for measles virus using an innovative high-throughput infectivity assay.

AbstractAs a result of thermal instability, some live attenuated viral (LAV) vaccines lose substantial potency from the time of manufacture to the point of administration. Developing regions lacking extensive, reliable refrigeration (“cold-chain”) infrastructure are particularly vulnerable to vaccine failure, which in turn increases the burden of disease. Development of a robust, infectivity-based high throughput screening process for identifying thermostable vaccine formulations offers significant promise for vaccine development across a wide variety of LAV products. Here we describe a system that incorporates thermal stability screening into formulation design using heat labile measles virus as a prototype. The screening of >11,000 unique formulations resulted in the identification of liquid formulations with marked improvement over those used in commercial monovalent measles vaccines, with <1.0log loss of activity after incubation for 8h at 40°C. The approach was shown to be transferable to a second unrelated virus, and therefore offers significant promise towards the optimization of formulation for LAV vaccine products