Positive impacts of important bird and biodiversity areas on wintering waterbirds under changing temperatures throughout Europe and North Africa

Migratory waterbirds require an effectively conserved cohesive network of wetland areas throughout their range and life-cycle. Under rapid climate change, protected area (PA) networks need to be able to accommodate climate-driven range shifts in wildlife if they are to continue to be effective in the future. Thus, we investigated geographical variation in the relationship between local temperature anomaly and the abundance of 61 waterbird species during the wintering season across Europe and North Africa during 1990-2015. We also compared the spatio-temporal effects on abundance of sites designated as PAs, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), both, or neither designation (Unlisted). Waterbird abundance was positively correlated with temperature anomaly, with this pattern being strongest towards north and east Europe. Waterbird abundance was higher inside IBAs, whether they were legally protected or not. Trends in waterbird abundance were also consistently more positive inside both protected and unprotected IBAs across the whole study region, and were positive in Unlisted wetlands in southwestern Europe and North Africa. These results suggest that IBAs are important sites for wintering waterbirds, but also that populations are shifting to unprotected wetlands (some of which are IBAs). Such IBAs may therefore represent robust candidate sites to expand the network of legally protected wetlands under climate change in north-eastern Europe. These results underscore the need for monitoring to understand how the effectiveness of site networks is changing under climate change.Peer reviewe

A System Control Using Simulink PLC Coder Tool

The thesis deals with the introduction to the tool for automatic generation of PLC code in MATLAB environment and the platform for simulation of dynamic systems. The work includes the installation and revival of the platform and then simulation on the platform. It also deals with connecting the simulator to the PLC and creating a regulation loop. The work also includes the design of the controller with subsequent generation of PLC code. The result of the work is the control of the second order system on the PLC using the generated code and PLC library functions

Ethanol fixation method for heart and lung imaging in micro-CT

Purpose The soft tissue imaging in micro-CT remains challenging due to its low intrinsic contrast. The aim of this study was to create a simple staining method omitting the usage of contrast agents for ex vivo soft tissue imaging in micro-CT. Materials and methods Hearts and lungs from 30 mice were used. Twenty-seven organs were either fixed in 97% or 50% ethanol solution or in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations. Images were acquired after 72, 168 and 336h on a custom-built micro-CT machine and compared to scans of three native samples. Results Ethanol provided contrast enhancement in all evaluated fixations. Fixation in 97% ethanol resulted in contrast enhancement after 72 h; however, it caused hardening of the samples. Fixation in 50% ethanol provided contrast enhancement after 336 h, with milder hardening, compared to the 97% ethanol fixation, but the visualization of details was worse. The fixation in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations provided the most satisfactory results; all organs were visualized in great detail without tissue damage. Conclusions Simple ethanol fixation improves the tissue contrast enhancement in micro-CT. The best results can be obtained with fixation of the soft tissue samples in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations

Multilayer design of crN/MoN superhard protective coatings and their characterisation

Multilayer CrN/MoN transition metal nitride coatings were studied in this research. Films were deposited by vacuum arc deposition (Arc-PVD) from Cr and Mo cathodes in nitrogen atmosphere p = 0.4 Pa. Three series of samples with different values of negative bias voltage (−20, −150, and −300 V) applied to the surface were fabricated. Each series has samples with 11, 22, 44, 88, 180 and 354 layers while total thickness was maintained with the same value. Samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on cross-sections and coatings surface, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-indentation. Two main cubic phases of γ-Mo N and cubic CrN were detected. It was observed that the crystal growth orientation changes while the negative bias voltage of the substrate decreases. The maximum values of hardness (38–42 GPa) among the studied samples were obtained for coatings with a minimal individual layer thickness of 20 nm deposited at U = −20 V. N 2 bFCT - Sumy State University(0116U002621). Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) of Portugal [references NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-022096, SFRH/BD/129614/2017], Network of Extreme Conditions Laboratories (NECL) and by Ukrainian state budget programs [No. 0116U006816, 0118U003579 and 0116U002621]. Partial support by COST Action CA15102 is also greatly appreciate