scholarly journals Compounds without borders: a novel paradigm for quantifying complex odors and responses to scent-pollution in bumblebees

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordanna D. H. Sprayberry
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behavior ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Angular Distance ◽  
Multidimensional Space ◽  
Published Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Floral Odor ◽  
Olfactory Systems ◽  
Odor Pollution ◽  
Negative Impacts

AbstractBumblebees are critical pollinators whose populations have been experiencing troubling declines over the past several decades. Successful foraging improves colony fitness, thus understanding how anthropogenic influences modulate foraging behavior may aid conservation efforts. Odor pollution can have negative impacts on bumble- and honey-bees foraging behavior. However, given the vast array of potential scent contaminants, individually testing pollutants is an ineffective approach. The ability to quantitatively measure how much scent-pollution of a floral-odor bumblebees can tolerate would represent a paradigm shift in odor-pollution studies. Current statistical methods for analyzing complex odors have poor predictive power because statistically-derived odor-spaces are rewritten when new odors are added. This study presents an alternative method of analyzing complex odor blends based on the encoding properties of insect olfactory systems. This “Compounds Without Borders” (CWB) method vectorizes odors in a multidimensional space representing relevant functional group and carbon characteristics of their component odorants. A single vector can be built for any scent, which allows the angular distance between any two odors to be calculated – including a learned odor and its polluted counterpart. Data presented here indicate that CWB-angles are capable of both describing and predicting bumblebee odor-discrimination behavior: odor pairs with angular distances in the 20-29° range are generalized, while odor pairs over 30 degrees are differentiated. The neurophysiological properties underlying CWB-vectorization of odors are not unique to bumblebees; CWB-angle analysis of published data on a hawkmoth supports the idea that this method may have broader applications.

scholarly journals Impact of Coronavirus Outbreaks on Science and Society: Insights from Temporal Bibliometry of SARS and COVID-19

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 626
Author(s):  
Ramya Gupta ◽  
Abhishek Prasad ◽  
Suresh Babu ◽  
Gitanjali Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Published Data ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Global Events ◽  
One Year ◽  
Personal Devices ◽  
Share Information

A global event such as the COVID-19 crisis presents new, often unexpected responses that are fascinating to investigate from both scientific and social standpoints. Despite several documented similarities, the coronavirus pandemic is clearly distinct from the 1918 flu pandemic in terms of our exponentially increased, almost instantaneous ability to access/share information, offering an unprecedented opportunity to visualise rippling effects of global events across space and time. Personal devices provide “big data” on people’s movement, the environment and economic trends, while access to the unprecedented flurry in scientific publications and media posts provides a measure of the response of the educated world to the crisis. Most bibliometric (co-authorship, co-citation, or bibliographic coupling) analyses ignore the time dimension, but COVID-19 has made it possible to perform a detailed temporal investigation into the pandemic. Here, we report a comprehensive network analysis based on more than 20,000 published documents on viral epidemics, authored by over 75,000 individuals from 140 nations in the past one year of the crisis. Unlike the 1918 flu pandemic, access to published data over the past two decades enabled a comparison of publishing trends between the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and those of the 2003 SARS epidemic to study changes in thematic foci and societal pressures dictating research over the course of a crisis.

scholarly journals A Review of the Applications and Biodegradation of Polyhy-droxyalkanoates and Poly(lactic acid) and Its Composites

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1544
Author(s):  
Jet Yin Boey ◽  
Lydia Mohamad ◽  
Yong Sen Khok ◽  
Guan Seng Tay ◽  
Siti Baidurah
Keyword(s):  
Food Packaging ◽  
Synthesis Process ◽  
Poly Lactic Acid ◽  
Packaging Materials ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food Packaging Materials ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Potential Food

Overconsumption of plastic goods and improper handling of petroleum-derived plastic waste have brought a plethora of negative impacts to the environment, ecosystem and human health due to its recalcitrance to degradation. These drawbacks become the main driving force behind finding biopolymers with the degradable properties. With the advancement in biopolymer research, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and poly(lacyic acid) (PLA) and its composites have been alluded to as a potential alternative to replace the petrochemical counterpart. This review highlights the current synthesis process and application of PHAs and PLA and its composites for food packaging materials and coatings. These biopolymers can be further ameliorated to enhance their applicability and are discussed by including the current commercially available packaging products. Factors influencing biodegradation are outlined in the latter part of this review. The main aim of this review article is to organize the scattered available information on various aspects of PHAs and PLA, and its composites for packaging application purposes. It is evident from a literature survey of about 140 recently published papers from the past 15 years that PLA and PHA show excellent physical properties as potential food packaging materials.

scholarly journals Didymo and Its Polysaccharide Stalks: Beneficial to the Environment or Not?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Hurmat Ejaz ◽  
Esther Somanader ◽  
Uday Dave ◽  
Hermann Ehrlich ◽  
M. Azizur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Structural Component ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Adhesive Properties ◽  
The Past ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Bodies Of Water ◽  
Agricultural Setting

Didymosphenia geminata diatoms, or Didymo, was first found to be an invasive species that could have negative impacts on the environment due to the aggressive growth of its polysaccharide-based stalks. The stalks’ adhesive properties have prompted park officials to alert the general public to limit further spread and contamination of this algae to other bodies of water. Although the negative effects of Didymo have been studied in the past, recent studies have demonstrated a potential positive side to this alga. One of the potential benefits includes the structural component of the polysaccharide stalks. The origin of the polysaccharides within stalks remains unknown; however, they can be useful in a waste management and agricultural setting. The primary purpose of this study was to describe both the harmful and beneficial nature of Didymo. Important outcomes include findings related to its application in various fields such as medicine and technology. These polysaccharides can be isolated and studied closely to produce efficient solar power cells and batteries. Though they may be harmful while uncontained in nature, they appear to be very useful in the technological and medical advancement of our society.

A review on tribological performance of ionic liquids as additives to bio lubricants

2020 ◽  
pp. 135065012097380
Author(s):  
Tehreem Naveed ◽  
Rehan Zahid ◽  
Riaz Ahmad Mufti ◽  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Muhammad Talha Hanif
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Liquids ◽  
Friction And Wear ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Tribological Performance ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Mineral Oils ◽  
The Past ◽  
Interacting Surfaces

All the moving components in an internal combustion engine require a lubricant that allows smooth sliding and/or rolling of interacting surfaces. Lubricant not only minimizes the friction and wear but also dissipates the heat generated due to friction and removes debris from the area of contact. Environmental concerns, decreasing mineral oil reserves and difficult disposal of nonbiodegradable conventional lubricants have urged the researchers to shift towards environmental-friendly lubricants. Number of tribological studies carried out in the past have proved that ionic liquid-based bio-lubricants are sustainable and biodegradable alternative to mineral oils. This paper presents a brief review of properties of ionic liquids and their ability to reduce friction and wear between the interacting surfaces. Tribological performance and compatibility of ionic liquids with various base-oils have been compared under boundary lubrication. The results reveal that phosphonium-based ionic liquids namely tetra-decyl tri-hexyl phosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate (P66614)i(C8)2PO2 and tri-hexyl tetra-decyl phosphonium bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (P-DEHP) are more suitable for tribological applications. Since, ionic liquids can be tailored according to the application and millions of combinations are possible therefore, there is a need to summarize the published data in a more systematic and logical way.

Application of Polyhedral Mesh for Vortex Formation Study for Simple Single Pump Sump

CFD letters ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 13-27
Author(s):  
Mohamad Lutfi Samsudin ◽  
Hasril Hasini
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Complex Geometry ◽  
Vortex Formation ◽  
Tetrahedral Mesh ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Hexahedral Mesh ◽  
The Past ◽  
Polyhedral Mesh ◽  
Pump Sump ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

Meshing of domain in CFD is an important step to ensure accuracy of the solution. In the past, hexahedral or tetrahedral mesh systems were commonly used, and both have their merits and demerits. For large and complex geometry, polyhedral is another option but its accuracy is claimed to be lacking. In this paper, the use of polyhedral mesh system by past researchers are reviewed. Evaluation on the application of polyhedral mesh system for the study of the vortex formation with a simple single pump sump model is made. Validation was made through the comparison of the results from hexahedral, tetrahedral and polyhedral mesh sizes and the experimental data from published data. The polyhedral mesh system was found to perform satisfactorily and was able to match the results from the hexahedral mesh system as well as the experimental data.

FC 113UTILITY OF A SINGLE ITCH-RELATED QUESTION AND THE SKINDEX-10 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ASSESSING PRURITUS AND PREDICTING HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Lopes ◽  
Angelo Karaboyas ◽  
Kazuhiko Tsuruya ◽  
Issa Al Salmi ◽  
Nidhi Sukul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Related Question ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
The Past ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Single Question

Abstract Background and Aims Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) has been linked with comorbid conditions, and poorer mental and physical health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The Skindex-10 questionnaire and a single itch-related question from the KDQOL-36 have been used to evaluate the impact of pruritus in HD patients. In this analysis, we investigated the performance of the single question and the Skindex-10 as predictors of HR-QOL in HD patients. Method We analyzed data from 4940 HD patients from 17 countries enrolled during year 2 of phase 5 of the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS, 2013): Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the US. The Skindex-10 scores were calculated as per Mathur et al. (2010): responses to each of the 10 questions (0-6 scale), pertaining to how often patients were bothered by itchy skin in the past week, were summed to create a total summary score (range 0-60, with 0 indicating not at all bothered) and 3 subdomain scores [i.e., itching (disease) and its impact on mood/emotional and social functioning]. The itch-related single question from the KDQOL-36 asked: “During the past 4 weeks, to what extent were you bothered by itchy skin?” with response options including “not at all, somewhat, moderately, very much, extremely”. Itch-related measures were collected concurrently with HR-QOL measures: Physical (PCS) and Mental (MCS) Component Summary scores, derived from the SF-12. We calculated the Spearman correlation coefficient between the Skindex-10 (total score and for each of its 3 domains) and the single question. We used separate linear regression models to evaluate the predictive power of 1) the Skindex-10 score, 2) the single itch question, and 3) both, on PCS and MCS outcomes, based on R-squared values. Results Skindex-10 scores varied across countries; the proportion of patients with a very high Skindex-10 score (≥50) ranged from 12% in the GCC to only 2% in Italy, Russia and Sweden. Across all countries, 55% had a Skindex-10 score=0. For the single pruritus question, 37% answered that they were not at all bothered while 16% were very much or extremely bothered by itchy skin. The correlation between the single question and Skindex-10 was 0.71 overall, 0.72 for the disease domain, 0.62 for the social domain, and 0.70 for the emotional domain. Patient characteristics were similar across categories of both pruritus measures. Regression analyses showed that every 10 points higher in the Skindex-10 score was associated with 1.2 point lower PCS (95% CI: -1.4, -0.9) and 1.5 point lower MCS (95% CI: -1.7, -1.3) scores. Similarly, the single question showed increasingly poorer PCS and MCS scores with a greater degree of being bothered by pruritus: compared with patients not at all bothered by itchy skin, patients who were moderately bothered had 4.8 point lower PCS (-5.7, -3.9) and 4.3 point lower MCS (-5.3, -3.3) scores. The R-squared for PCS was 0.065 when using the single question and only 0.033 when using the Skindex-10 as the predictor. R-squared was also higher for MCS when using the single question (0.056) vs. Skindex-10 (0.052). When including both pruritus measures, the predictive power for PCS did not improve compared to the single question (R2=0.065), while increasing only slightly (R2=0.063) for MCS. Conclusion The single KDQOL-36 question about the extent bothered by itchy skin over the past 4 weeks was highly correlated with the Skindex-10 score and at least as predictive – if not more – of key HR-QOL measures as the Skindex-10. In daily clinical practice, utilizing 1 simple question about the extent patients are bothered by itchy skin can be a feasible and efficient way for routine assessment of pruritus to better identify HD patients with not only CKD-aP but also poorer HR-QoL.

Pipeline Dent Management Program

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Ironside ◽  
L. Blair Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
The Past

Enbridge Pipelines Inc. operates the world’s longest and most complex liquids pipeline network. As part of Enbridge’s Integrity Management Program In-Line Inspections have been and will continue to be conducted on more than 15,000 km of pipeline. The Inspection Programs have included using the most technologically advanced geometry tools in the world to detect geometrical discontinuities such as ovality, dents, and buckles. During the past number of years, Enbridge Pipelines Inc. has been involved in developing a method of evaluating the suitability of dents in pipelines for continued service. The majority of the work involved the development of a method of modeling the stresses within a dent using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The development and validation of this model was completed by Fleet Technology Limited (FTL) through several projects sponsored by Enbridge, which included field trials and comparisons to previously published data. This model combined with proven fracture mechanics theory provides a method of determining a predicted life of a dent based on either the past or future operating conditions of the pipeline. CSA Standard Z662 – Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems provides criteria for the acceptability of dents for continued service. There have been occurrences, however, where dents that meet the CSA acceptability criteria have experienced failure. The dent model is being used to help define shape characteristics in addition to dent depth, the only shape factor considered by CSA, which contribute to dent failure. The dent model has also been utilized to validate the accuracy of current In-Line Inspection techniques. Typically a dent will lose some of its shape as the overburden is lifted from the pipeline and after the indentor is removed. Often there can be a dramatic “re-rounding” that will occur. The work included comparing the re-rounded dent shapes from a Finite Element model simulating the removal of the constraint on the pipe to the measured dent profile from a mold of the dent taken in the field after it has been excavated. This provided a measure of the accuracy of the tool. This paper will provide an overview of Enbridge’s dent management program, a description of the dent selection process for the excavation program, and a detailed review of the ILI validation work.

scholarly journals (GTG)5-PCR Mediated Molecular Typing of Zoonotic Bacteria

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-283
Author(s):  
Daryoush Babazadeh ◽  
Reza Ranjbar
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Typing ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Present Review ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Bacterial Isolates ◽  
The Past ◽  
Virulent Strains ◽  
Pcr Method ◽  
Zoonotic Bacteria

The present review aimed to reveal the role of (GTG)5-PCR microbial typing in indicating the routes and source of infections, investigate the outbreaks and genotypes of clinical strains, as well as finding virulent strains and epidemiology of bacterial isolates. All available and published data in Google scholar, PubMed, ResearchGate, and Science Direct during the past two decades that used the (GTG)5-PCR method for genotyping the bacterial isolates were included in the current study. The findings have indicated that (GTG)5-PCR can be recommended as a possible, cost-effective, fast, and easy tool for molecular typing of bacterial isolates.

scholarly journals The Impact of Past Pandemics on Economic and Gender Inequalities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Brzezinski
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The Other ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes – H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) – on cross-country inequalities in a sample of up to 180 countries observed over 1950-2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic’s start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries, as well as of growing gender gaps in unemployment within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.

scholarly journals Shaping our Taxonomic Legacy through Openly Sharing Primary Biodiversity Data in Taxonomic Revisions

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Dikow
Keyword(s):  
Data Dissemination ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Data Standards ◽  
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
The Past ◽  
Text Document ◽  
Digital Format

Taxonomy has a long tradition of describing earth’s biodiversity. For the past 20 years or so, taxonomic revisions have become available in PDF format, which is regarded by most practicing taxonomists to be a good means of digital dissemination. However, a PDF document is nothing more than a text document that can be transferred easily for viewing among researchers and computer platforms. In today’s world, traditional taxonomic techniques need to be met with novel tools to make data dissemination a reality, make species hypotheses more robust, and open the field up to rigorous scientific testing. Here, I argue that high-quality taxonomic output is not just the publication of detailed species descriptions and re-descriptions, precise taxon delimitations, easy-to-use identification keys, and comprehensively undertaken and illustrated revisions. Rather, in addition high-quality taxonomic output embraces digital workflows and data standards to disseminate captured and published data in structured, machine-readable formats to data repositories so as to make all data openly accessible. Imagine that a taxonomist today has every original description and every subsequent re-description of a species at her/his fingertips online, has every specimen photograph produced by a previous reviser digitally available in the original resolution, and can take advantage of existing, openly accessible data and resources produced by peers in digital format in the past. When we as taxonomists provide such findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data, the future of biodiversity discovery will accelerate and our own taxonomic legacy will be enhanced. Cybertaxonomic tools provide methods to accomplish this goal and their use and implementation is here summarized in the context of revisionary taxonomy from the standpoint of a publishing taxonomist. While many of the tools have been around for some time now, very few taxonomists embrace and utilize these tools in their publications. This presentation will provide information on what kind of data can and should be openly shared (e.g., specimen occurrence data, digital images, names, descriptions, authors) and outline best practices utilizing globally unique identifiers for specimens and data. Data standards and the best-suited data repositories such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Zenodo, with its Biodiversity Literature Repository, and the Plazi TreatmentBank, an emerging species portal, are discussed to illustrate retrospective and prospective data capture of taxonomic revisions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document