Catalogue of construction products containing secondary raw materials from different industries and municipal waste

The building industry consumes a large amount of primary raw materials and also contributes significantly to the production of waste. Applying circular principles in this field to reduce resource consumption and waste production has been investigated in several projects considering the reuse or recycling of construction and demolition waste. However, consumption of primary raw materials can also be reduced by re-targetting waste from different industries and municipal waste to produce new construction products. Thus, opportunities for the recycling of industrial and municipal waste were investigated in this project. The main output is the catalogue, which provides an overview of products with recycled content and secondary materials with the potential to be used in the construction industry such as blast furnace slag, ash, and energy by-products. Also, it contains a list of valid requirements for the use of recycled materials under specific conditions of the Czech Republic. In addition, examples of good practice are presented to break the existing behavioral barriers to the use of secondary raw materials in the Czech construction industry. This contribution summarizes the findings in the field of industrial and municipal waste recycling and its further use as secondary raw materials in the construction industry

Nanoporous monolithic microsphere arrays have anti-adhesive properties independent of humidity

Bioinspired artificial surfaces with tailored adhesive properties have attracted significant interest. While fibrillar adhesive pads mimicking gecko feet are optimized for strong reversible adhesion, monolithic microsphere arrays mimicking the slippery zone of the pitchers of carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes show anti-adhesive properties even against tacky counterpart surfaces. In contrast to the influence of topography, the influence of relative humidity (RH) on adhesion has been widely neglected. Some previous works deal with the influence of RH on the adhesive performance of fibrillar adhesive pads. Commonly, humidity-induced softening of the fibrils enhances adhesion. However, little is known on the influence of RH on solid anti-adhesive surfaces. We prepared polymeric nanoporous monolithic microsphere arrays (NMMAs) with microsphere diameters of a few 10 {\mu}m to test their anti-adhesive properties at RHs of 2 % and 90 %. Despite the presence of continuous nanopore systems through which the inner nanopore walls were accessible to humid air, the topography-induced anti-adhesive properties of NMMAs on tacky counterpart surfaces were retained even at RH = 90 %. This RH-independent robustness of the anti-adhesive properties of NMMAs significantly contrasts the adhesion enhancement by humidity-induced softening on nanoporous fibrillar adhesive pads made of the same material

SPI-1-encoded type III secretion system of Salmonella enterica is required for the suppression of porcine alveolar macrophage cytokine expression

Genes localized at Salmonella pathogenicity island-1 (SPI-1) are involved in Salmonella enterica invasion of host non-professional phagocytes. Interestingly, in macrophages, SPI-1-encoded proteins, in addition to invasion, induce cell death via activation of caspase-1 which also cleaves proIL-1β and proIL-18, precursors of 2 proinflammatory cytokines. In this study we were therefore interested in whether SPI-1-encoded type III secretion system (T3SS) may influence proinflammatory response of macrophages. To test this hypothesis, we infected primary porcine alveolar macrophages with wild-type S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis and their isogenic SPI-1 deletion mutants. ΔSPI1 mutants of both serovars invaded approx. 5 times less efficiently than the wild-type strains and despite this, macrophages responded to the infection with ΔSPI1 mutants by increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-8, TNFα, IL-23α and GM-CSF. Identical macrophage responses to that induced by the ΔSPI1 mutants were also observed to the infection with sipB but not the sipA mutant. The hilA mutant exhibited an intermediate phenotype between the ΔSPI1 mutant and the wild-type S. Enteritidis. Our results showed that the SPI-1-encoded T3SS is required not only for cell invasion but in macrophages also for the suppression of early proinflammatory cytokine expression

Metodika hodnocení významu regionálních terminálů vysokorychlostních tratí.

Metodika stanoví inovativní postup k analýze a zhodnocení potenciálu zamýšlených regionálních terminálů vysokorychlostních tratí. Oproti standardním dopravním modelům vychází i z dalších faktorů ovlivňujících ochotu nabízenou novou mobilitu na vysokorychlostní trati využít ze strany obyvatelstva, jako je rozsah spádového regionu terminálu, jeho napojení na veřejnou dopravu, ekonomická síla regionu, (ekonomická) přitažlivost na vysokorychlostní trať napojených center, či cena za nabízenou přepravní službu.The guidelines set out an innovative approach to analyzing and evaluating the potential of the intended high-speed rail regional terminals. Compared to standard transport models, other factors influencing the willingness to offer new mobility on high-speed lines, such as the extent of the catchment area of the terminal, its connection to public transport, the economic level of the region, (economic) attraction to the high-speed line of the connected centers, or the price for the offered transport service

A mosaic of induced and non-induced branches promotes variation in leaf traits, predation and insect herbivore assemblages in canopy trees

Forest canopies are complex and highly diverse environments. Their diversity is affected by pronounced gradients in abiotic and biotic conditions, including variation in leaf chemistry. We hypothesised that branch-localised defence induction and vertical stratification in mature oaks constitute sources of chemical variation that extend across trophic levels. To test this, we combined manipulation of plant defences, predation monitoring, food-choice trials with herbivores and sampling of herbivore assemblages. Both induction and vertical stratification affected branch chemistry, but the effect of induction was stronger. Induction increased predation in the canopy and reduced herbivory in bioassays. The effects of increased predation affected herbivore assemblages by decreasing their abundance, and indirectly, their richness. In turn, we show that there are multiple factors contributing to variation across canopies. Branch-localised induction, variation between tree individuals and predation may be the ones with particularly strong effects on diverse assemblages of insects in temperate forests

Brilliance of a fire: innocence, experience and the theory of childhood

This essay offers an extensive rehabilitation and reappraisal of the concept of childhood innocence as a means of testing the boundaries of some prevailing constructions of childhood. It excavates in detail some of the lost histories of innocence in order to show that these are more diverse and more complex than established and pejorative assessments of them conventionally suggest. Recovering, in particular, the forgotten pedigree of the Romantic account of the innocence of childhood underlines its depth and furnishes an enriched understanding of its critical role in the coming of mass education - both as a catalyst of social change and as an alternative measure of the child-centeredness of the institutions of public education. Now largely and residually confined to the inheritance of nursery education, the concept of childhood innocence, and the wider Romantic project of which it is an element, can help question the assumptions underpinning modern, competence-centred philosophies of childhood

Assessing the Long Term Impact of Phosphorus Fertilization on Phosphorus Loadings Using AnnAGNPS

High phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural fields has been an environmental concern because of potential water quality problems in streams and lakes. To better understand the process of P loss and evaluate the effects of different phosphorus fertilization rates on phosphorus losses, the USDA Annualized AGricultural Non-Point Source (AnnAGNPS) pollutant loading model was applied to the Ohio Upper Auglaize watershed, located in the southern portion of the Maumee River Basin. In this study, the AnnAGNPS model was calibrated using USGS monitored data; and then the effects of different phosphorus fertilization rates on phosphorus loadings were assessed. It was found that P loadings increase as fertilization rate increases, and long term higher P application would lead to much higher P loadings to the watershed outlet. The P loadings to the watershed outlet have a dramatic change after some time with higher P application rate. This dramatic change of P loading to the watershed outlet indicates that a “critical point” may exist in the soil at which soil P loss to water changes dramatically. Simulations with different initial soil P contents showed that the higher the initial soil P content is, the less time it takes to reach the “critical point” where P loadings to the watershed outlet increases dramatically. More research needs to be done to understand the processes involved in the transfer of P between the various stable, active and labile states in the soil to ensure that the model simulations are accurate. This finding may be useful in setting up future P application and management guidelines

Demographic patterns of human antibody levels to Simulium damnosum s.l. saliva in onchocerciasis-endemic areas : an indicator of exposure to vector bites

Background In onchocerciasis endemic areas in Africa, heterogenous biting rates by blackfly vectors on humans are assumed to partially explain age- and sex-dependent infection patterns with Onchocerca volvulus. To underpin these assumptions and further improve predictions made by onchocerciasis transmission models, demographic patterns in antibody responses to salivary antigens of Simulium damnosum s.l. are evaluated as a measure of blackfly exposure. Methodology/Principal findings Recently developed IgG and IgM anti-saliva immunoassays for S. damnosum s.l. were applied to blood samples collected from residents in four onchocerciasis endemic villages in Ghana. Demographic patterns in antibody levels according to village, sex and age were explored by fitting generalized linear models. Antibody levels varied between villages but showed consistent patterns with age and sex. Both IgG and IgM responses declined with increasing age. IgG responses were generally lower in males than in females and exhibited a steeper decline in adult males than in adult females. No sex-specific difference was observed in IgM responses. Conclusions/Significance The decline in age-specific antibody patterns suggested development of immunotolerance or desensitization to blackfly saliva antigen in response to persistent exposure. The variation between sexes, and between adults and youngsters may reflect differences in behaviour influencing cumulative exposure. These measures of antibody acquisition and decay could be incorporated into onchocerciasis transmission models towards informing onchocerciasis control, elimination, and surveillance

Spatial covariance of herbivorous and predatory guilds of forest canopy arthropods along a latitudinal gradient

In arthropod community ecology, species richness studies tend to be prioritised over those investigating patterns of abundance. Consequently, the biotic and abiotic drivers of arboreal arthropod abundance are still relatively poorly known. In this cross-continental study, we employ a theoretical framework in order to examine patterns of covariance among herbivorous and predatory arthropod guilds. Leaf-chewing and leaf-mining herbivores, and predatory ants and spiders, were censused on > 1000 trees in nine 0.1 ha forest plots. After controlling for tree size and season, we found no negative pairwise correlations between guild abundances per plot, suggestive of weak signals of both inter-guild competition and top-down regulation of herbivores by predators. Inter-guild interaction strengths did not vary with mean annual temperature, thus opposing the hypothesis that biotic interactions intensify towards the equator. We find evidence for the bottom-up limitation of arthropod abundances via resources and abiotic factors, rather than for competition and predation.publishedVersio