A robot swarm assisting a human fire-fighter

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire-fighters. The large dimensions, together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The GUARDIANS robot swarm is designed to assist fire-fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting fire-fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms that provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus, the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire-fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire-fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm-based information to human beings

Selective catalytic oxidation (SCO) of ammonia to nitrogen over hydrotalcite originated Mg-Cu-Fe mixed metal oxides

Mg-Cu-Fe oxide systems, obtained from hydrotalcite-like precursors, were tested as catalysts for the selective catalytic oxidation (SCO) of ammonia. Copper containing catalysts were active in low-temperature SCO processes; however, their selectivity to nitrogen significantly decreased at higher temperatures. The optimum composition of the catalyst to guarantee high activity and selectivity to N2 was proposed. Temperature-programmed experiments, SCO catalytic tests performed with various contact times and additional tests on the samples in the selective catalytic reduction of NO with ammonia showed that the SCO process over the studied calcined hydrotalcites proceeds according to the internal SCR mechanism and oxidation of ammonia to NO is a rate-determining step in the low-temperature range

Робоча програма навчальної дисципліни «Управління інноваційними проектами місцевого та регіонального розвитку» для магістрів спеціальності 281 Публічне управління та адміністрування

Робоча програма призначена для реалізації компетентнісного підходу під час планування освітнього процесу, викладання дисципліни, підготовки студентів до контрольних заходів, контролю провадження освітньої діяльності, внутрішнього та зовнішнього контролю забезпечення якості вищої освіти, акредитації освітніх програм у межах спеціальност

Thermal transformations of Cu–Mg (Zn)–Al(Fe) hydrotalcite-like materials into metal oxide systems and their catalytic activity in selective oxidation of ammonia to dinitrogen

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing Mg^{2+}, Cu^{2+} or Zn^{2+} cations in the Me^{II} positions and Al^{3+} and Fe^{3+} in the Me^{III} positions were synthesized by co- precipitation method. Detailed studies of thermal trans- formation of obtained LDHs into metal oxide systems were performed using high temperature X-ray diffraction in oxidising and reducing atmosphere, thermogravimetry coupled with mass spectrometry and temperature-pro- grammed reduction. The LDH samples calcined at 600 and 900 °C were tested in the role of catalysts for selective oxidation of ammonia into nitrogen and water vapour. It was shown that all copper congaing samples presented high catalytic activity and additionally, for the Cu–Mg–Al and Cu–Mg–Fe hydrotalcite samples calcined at 600 °C rela- tively high stability and selectivity to dinitrogen was obtained. An increase in calcination temperature to 900 °C resulted in a decrease of their catalytic activity, possibly due to formation of well-crystallised metal oxide phase which are less catalytically active in the process of selective oxidation of ammonia

Hydrotalcite derived (Cu, Mn)-Mg-Al metal oxide systems doped with palladium as catalysts for low-temperature methanol incineration

Hydrotalcite derived (Cu, Mn)–Mg–Al mixed metal oxides, synthesized by coprecipitation method, were found to be effective catalysts for methanol incineration. Copper and/or manganese oxides deposited on commercial γ-Al2O3 and MgO were used as the reference catalysts. Cu–Mg–Al–O mixed oxide system was found to be the most active catalysts in a series of the hydrotalcite originated metal oxides and supported samples. On the other hand, copper deposited on Al2O3 and MgO supports were significantly less active than the hydrotalcite derived catalysts. Activity of the catalysts was improved by deposition of small amount of palladium (0.5 wt.%). Temperature-programmed surface reaction method (CH3OH-TPSR) and in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to study the species formed on the catalyst surface during the process of methanol oxidation

Novel hydrocarbon-utilizing soil mycobacteria synthesize unique mycocerosic acids at a Sicilian everlasting fire

Soil bacteria rank among the most diverse groups of organisms on Earth and actively impact global processes of carbon cycling, especially in the emission of greenhouse gases like methane, CO2 and higher gaseous hydrocarbons. An abundant group of soil bacteria are the mycobacteria, which colonize various terrestrial, marine and anthropogenic environments due to their impermeable cell envelope that contains remarkable lipids. These bacteria have been found to be highly abundant at petroleum and gas seep areas, where they might utilize the released hydrocarbons. However, the function and the lipid biomarker inventory of these soil mycobacteria are poorly studied. Here, soils from the Fuoco di Censo seep, an everlasting fire (gas seep) in Sicily, Italy, were investigated for the presence of mycobacteria via 16S rRNA gene sequencing and fatty acid profiling. The soils contained high relative abundances (up to 34% of reads assigned) of mycobacteria, phylogenetically close to the Mycobacterium simiae complex and more distant from the wellstudied M. tuberculosis and hydrocarbon-utilizing M. paraffinicum. The soils showed decreasing abundances of mycocerosic acids (MAs), fatty acids unique for mycobacteria, with increasing distance from the seep. The major MAs at this seep were tentatively identified as 2,4,6,8-tetramethyl tetracosanoic acid and 2,4,6,8,10-pentamethyl hexacosanoic acid. Unusual MAs with mid-chain methyl branches at positions C-12 and C-16 (i.e., 2,12-dimethyl eicosanoic acid and 2,4,6,8,16-pentamethyl tetracosanoic acid) were also present. The molecular structures of the Fuoco di Censo MAs are different from those of the well-studied mycobacteria like M. tuberculosis or M. bovis and have relatively 13C-depleted values (38a to48), suggesting a direct or indirect utilization of the released seep gases like methane or ethane. The structurally unique MAs in combination with their depleted-13C values identified at the Fuoco di Censo seep offer a new tool to study the role of soil mycobacteria as hydrocarbon gas consumers in the carbon cycle

Algal biomarkers as a proxy for pCO2: Constraints from late Quaternary sapropels in the eastern Mediterranean

Records of carbon dioxide concentrations (partial pressure expressed as pCO2) over Earth’s history provide trends that are critical to understand our changing world. To better constrain pCO2 estimations, here we test organic pCO2 proxies against the direct measurements of pCO2 recorded in ice cores. Based on the concept of stable carbon isotopic fractionation due to photosynthetic CO2 fixation (Ɛp), we use the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of the recently proposed biomarker phytol (from all photoautotrophs), as well as the conventionally used alkenone biomarkers (from specific species) for comparison, to reconstruct pCO2 over several Quaternary sapropel formation periods (S1, S3, S4, and S5) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The reconstructed pCO2 values are within error of the ice core values but consistently exceed the ice core values by ca. 100 µatm. This offset corresponds with atmospheric disequilibrium of present day CO2[aq] concentrations in the Mediterranean Sea from global pCO2, equivalent to ca. 100 µatm, although pCO2 estimates derived from individual horizons within each sapropel do not covary with the ice core values. This may possibly be due to greater variability in local CO2[aq] concentration changes in the Mediterranean, as compared with the global average pCO2, or possibly due to biases in the proxy, such as variable growth rate or carbon-concentrating mechanisms. Thus, the offset is likely a combination of physiological or environmental factors. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate that alkenone- and phytol-based pCO2 proxies yield statistically similar estimations (P-value = 0.02, Pearson’s r-value = 0.56), and yield reasonable absolute estimations although with relatively large uncertainties (± 100 µatm)

Age and Muscle Function Are More Closely Associated With Intracellular Magnesium, as Assessed by 31P Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Than With Serum Magnesium

Total serum magnesium is a common clinical measurement for assessing magnesium status; however, magnesium in blood represents less than 1% of the body’s total magnesium content. We measured intramuscular ionized magnesium by phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) and tested the hypothesis that this measure better correlates with skeletal muscle function and captures more closely the effect of aging than the traditional measure of total serum magnesium. Data were collected from 441 participants (age 24–98 years) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a study of normative aging that encompasses a broad age range. Results showed that intramuscular ionized magnesium was negatively associated with age (β = −0.29, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.08) and positively associated with knee-extension strength (β = 0.31, p < 0.001, and R2 = 0.1 in women; and β = 0.2, p = 0.003, and R2 = 0.04 in men), while total serum magnesium showed no association with age or strength (p = 0.27 and 0.1, respectively). Intramuscular ionized magnesium was significantly lower in women that in men (p < 0.001), perhaps due to chronic latent Mg deficiency in women that is not otherwise detected by serum magnesium levels. Based on these findings, we suggest that intramuscular ionized magnesium from 31P-MRS is a better clinical measure of magnesium status than total serum magnesium, and could be measured when muscle weakness of unidentified etiology is detected. It may also be used to monitor the effectiveness of oral magnesium interventions, including supplementation