LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE acts in the final stages of strigolactone biosynthesis inArabidopsis

Strigolactones are a group of plant compounds of diverse but related chemical structures. They have similar bioactivity across a broad range of plant species, act to optimize plant growth and development, and promote soil microbe interactions. Carlactone, a common precursor to strigolactones, is produced by conserved enzymes found in a number of diverse species. Versions of the MORE AXILLARY GROWTH1 (MAX1) cytochrome P450 from rice and Arabidopsis thaliana make specific subsets of strigolactones from carlactone. However, the diversity of natural strigolactones suggests that additional enzymes are involved and remain to be discovered. Here, we use an innovative method that has revealed a missing enzyme involved in strigolactone metabolism. By using a transcriptomics approach involving a range of treatments that modify strigolactone biosynthesis gene expression coupled with reverse genetics, we identified LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE (LBO), a gene encoding an oxidoreductase-like enzyme of the 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenase superfamily. Arabidopsis lbo mutants exhibited increased shoot branching, but the lbo mutation did not enhance the max mutant phenotype. Grafting indicated that LBO is required for a graft-transmissible signal that, in turn, requires a product of MAX1. Mutant lbo backgrounds showed reduced responses to carlactone, the substrate of MAX1, and methyl carlactonoate (MeCLA), a product downstream of MAX1. Furthermore, lbo mutants contained increased amounts of these compounds, and the LBO protein specifically converts MeCLA to an unidentified strigolactone-like compound. Thus, LBO function may be important in the later steps of strigolactone biosynthesis to inhibit shoot branching in Arabidopsis and other seed plants.

Life cycle management of TVO nuclear power plant

Tämä diplomityö tutkii eri elinkaarihallinnan menetelmiä ja vertaa niitä TVO:n menetelmiin. Lisäksi TVO:n prosessin ongelmakohdat tunnistetaan ja niihin esitetään ratkaisuja. Vertailukohteina toimii ydinvoimateollisuuden lisäksi vesivoima, fossiiliset voimalaitokset sekä paperiteollisuus. Sähkön hinnan jatkaessa laskuaan on elinkaariajattelusta tullut ajankohtaista myös ydinvoimayhtiöille. Ydinvoimalaitoksien pitkän suunnitellun käyttöiän ansiosta laitoksen elinkaaren aikana voi tapahtua useita asioita, jotka vaikuttavat laitoksen investointitarpeisiin. Turvallisen sähköntuotannon varmistamiseksi eri laitososia on joko muokattava tai uusittava. Elinkaariajatteluun kuuluu tehokas laitoksen kunnon valvonta, laitoksen ikääntymiseen vaikuttavien ilmiöiden tunnistaminen, sekä ikääntymistä hillitsevien toimenpiteiden pitkän tähtäimen suunnittelu. Hyvällä ennakkosuunnittelulla pyritään varmistamaan se, että laitoksella voidaan tuottaa sähköä koko sen jäljellä olevan käyttöiän aikana. Kun tarpeiden tunnistus ja suunnittelu tehdään hyvissä ajoin mahdollistetaan myös investointien optimointi. Paras hyöty pyritään saamaan ajoittamalla oikeat investoinnit oikeaan aikaan.

Final report of the fisheries catch assessment survey in the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria for the May 2014 survey

This report presents findings of the CAS conducted in the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria in December 2015. The results of the previous thirteen harmonized CASs conducted since July 2005 (July, August, September and November 2005; in March, August and December 2006; in March and August 2007; in February and December 2008; March 2010; May 2011 and May 2014) are included to show the emerging trends. The report also presents annual catch estimates for the Ugandan part of the lake from 2005 to 2015. This information together with other fish stock assessment and socio-economic monitoring survey data can now be utilized in the planning and management of the fisheries resources of Lake Victoria. The 2014 CAS results were very vital in the development of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Management Plan 2014.

Final report of the fisheries catch assessment survey conducted in December 2015 on the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria

This CAS report provides estimates of the quantities of fish landed in the riparian districts sharing the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria; the monetary value of the fish catches; the contribution of different fish species to the catches; and the trends in fish catch rates, and the monthly catches for the sampled month since the beginning of harmonized CAS activities in July 2005 to December 2015. The report also compares the annual catch and gross beach value of catch landings in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2015. A total of 15 CASs have been undertaken in the Uganda sector of the lake with data gaps in 2009, 2012 and 2013 due to financial constraints. The annual catch estimates for the years 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015 were based on one sampling covering the rainy season and may not capture changes that could occur in dry season. There is need to include dry season sampling in future surveys.

Desenvolvimento e validação de metodologia analítica para quantificação de urânio em compostos do ciclo do combustível nuclear por espectroscopia no infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR)

Tese (Doutorado em Tecnologia Nuclear)

Surface Activity and Bulk Defect Chemistry of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes

In the first half of this thesis, a new robotic instrument called a scanning impedance probe is presented that can acquire electrochemical impedance spectra in automated fashion from hundreds of thin film microelectrodes with systematically varied properties. Results from this instrument are presented for three catalyst compositions that are commonly considered for use in state-of-the-art solid oxide fuel cell cathodes. For (La_0.8Sr_0.2)_0.95Mn_O3+δ (LSM), the impedance spectra are well fit by a through-the-film reaction pathway. Transport rates are extracted, and the surface activity towards oxygen reduction is found to be correlated with the number of exposed grain boundary sites, suggesting that grain boundaries are more surface-active than grains. For La_0.5Sr_0.5Co_O3-δ (LSC), the surface activity degrades ~50x initially and then stabilizes at a comparable activity to that of previously measured Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O3-δ films. For Sr_0.06Nb_0.06Bi_1.87O₃ (SNB), an example of a doped bismuth oxide, the activity of the metal-SNB boundary is measured.

In the second half of this thesis, SrCo_0.9Nb_0.1O_3-δ is selected as a case study of perovskites containing Sr and Co, which are the most active oxygen reduction catalysts known. Several bulk properties are measured, and synchrotron data are presented that provide strong evidence of substantial cobalt-oxygen covalency at high temperatures. This covalent bonding may be the underlying source of the high surface activity.

Threshold behaviour and final outcome of an epidemic on a random network with household structure

This paper considers a stochastic SIR (susceptible-infective-removed) epidemic model in which individuals may make infectious contacts in two ways, both within 'households' (which for ease of exposition are assumed to have equal size) and along the edges of a random graph describing additional social contacts. Heuristically-motivated branching process approximations are described, which lead to a threshold parameter for the model and methods for calculating the probability of a major outbreak, given few initial infectives, and the expected proportion of the population who are ultimately infected by such a major outbreak. These approximate results are shown to be exact as the number of households tends to infinity by proving associated limit theorems. Moreover, simulation studies indicate that these asymptotic results provide good approximations for modestly-sized finite populations. The extension to unequal sized households is discussed briefly.

Assessment of the storage and disposal of medicines in some homes in Jos north local government area of Plateau State, Nigeria

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the way medicines are stored and disposed in some households in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 130 households in Jos was carried out using a questionnaire to ascertain practices associated with medicine storage and their disposal. Results: The results showed that 105 (80.8%) households had 635 medicines in their homes, 65.8% of which were unused medicines (3.2 unused medicines per household). Some households stored their medicines in bags/containers (76.2%) while others kept them in cup-boards/cabinets (21.96%), refrigerators (10.5%) or other places (3.3%). Methods for disposal of unused drugs varied among households with some disposing them in trash cans (70.5%) while other disposed them in toilets (19.0%) or burnt them (10.5%). Only 10.5% (n=11) of respondents knew how medicines were properly disposed. Conclusion: While most households store their medicines appropriately, majority of them adopt poor disposal methods for medicines they no longer need in their homes. Public health education on problem disposal of medicines is of the essence.

Development of multicomponent models for the prediction of lubricant oil-fuel dilution in internal combustion engines

The current environmental crisis is forcing the automotive industry to face tough challenges for the Internal Combustion Engines development in order to reduce the emissions of pollutants and Greenhouse gases. In this context, in the last decades, the main technological solutions adopted by the manufacturers have been the direct injection and the engine downsizing, which led to the rising of new concerns related to the fuel-cylinder walls physical interaction. The fuel spray possibly impacts the cylinder liner wall, which is wetted by the lubricant oil thus causing the derating of the lubricant properties, increasing the oil consumption, and contaminating the lubricant oil in the crankcase. Also, concerning hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engines, it is likely that the high near-wall temperature, which is typical of the hydrogen flame, results in the evaporation of a portion of the lubricant oil, increasing its consumption. With regards on the innovative combustion systems and their control strategies, optical accessible engines are fundamental tools for experimental investigations on such combustion systems. Though, due to the optical measurement line, optical engines suffer from a high level of blow-by, which must be accounted for. In light of the above, this thesis work aims to develop numerical methodologies with the aim to build useful tools for supporting the design of modern engines. In particular, a one-dimensional modelling of the lubricant oil-fuel dilution and oil evaporation has been performed and coupled with an optimization algorithm to achieve a lubricant oil surrogate. Then, a quasi-dimensional blow-by model has been developed and validated against experimental data. Such model, has been coupled with CFD 3D simulations and directly implemented in CFD 3D. Finally, CFD 3D simulations coupled with the VOF method have been performed in order to validate a methodology for studying the impact of a liquid droplet on a solid surface.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of a bio-fuel cell fed with waste biomass: potential for scale-up and process optimization

In this Thesis, a life cycle analysis (LCA) of a biofuel cell designed by a team from the University of Bologna was done. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible environmental impacts of the production and use of the cell and a possible optimization for an industrial scale-up. To do so, a first part of the paper was devoted to studying the present literature on biomass, and fuel cell treatments and then LCA studies on them. The experimental part presents the work done to create the Life Cycle Inventory and Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Several alternative scenarios were created to study process optimization. Reagents and energy supply were changed. To examine whether this technology can be competitive, a comparison was made with some biofuel cell use scenarios with traditional biomass treatment technologies. The result of this study is that this technology is promising from an environmental point of view in case it is possible to recover nutrients in output, without excessive energy consumption, and to minimize the use of energy used to prepare the solution.

Produção de óleo essencial e balanço nutricional em Corymbia citriodora adubado com lodo de esgoto em diferentes espaçamentos

The Corymbia citriodora is one of the most cultivated species in Brazil for wood and essential oil production. The oil is obtained by the leaves distillation and the yield is around 2%. For the sustainability of leaves extraction is necessary a good nutritional replacement, because the leaves contain a large quantity of nutrients. The sewage sludge application in Corymbia plantations is a way to apply organic fertilizer and is also a good alternative for the final disposal of this residue. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the sewage sludge use as fertilizer for the essential oil production in two different Spacing. The experiment was constituted by 4 blocks and the treatments were: i) Close spacing (1m x 1m) with sewage sludge + K and B; ii) Close spacing with mineral fertilization: iii) Regular spacing (3m x 1m) with sewage sludge + K and B; and iv) Regular spacing with mineral fertilization. When the C. citriodora plots were 12, 18, 24 and 30 months old, leaves and branches biomass and also essential oil production were quantified. It was observed that the system of close planting totalized a higher biomass, 3.8 times more than the conventional system, providing 3 times more essential oil production (363 l ha(-1) at the close spacing and 116 l ha(-1) at the regular Spacing during 30 months). No difference was found in the leaves or oil production with the use of sewage sludge or mineral fertilizer any of spacing studied The use of sewage sludge as fertilizer for Corymbia citriodora plantations may be an interesting alternative. because it supplies large quantities of nutrients and ensures a positive budget of nutrients in the ecosystem.

Ácidos húmicos extraídos do lodo de esgoto sanitário e seus efeitos em plantas

O lodo de esgoto possui alto teor de matéria orgânica porém, também estão presentes diferentes poluentes e patógenos. Desta forma, neste trabalho foi extraído ácido húmico (AH) o qual é um composto resultante do fracionamento de substâncias húmicas que compreendem um grupo de compostos de carbono gerados na decomposição de resíduos orgânicos que sofrem ressíntese formando o húmus. O ácido húmico promove diversos benefícios nos vegetais, como crescimento, elongação celular, tolerância a estresses e aumento da permeabilidade da membrana plasmática. Com base nestas características, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar os efeitos citogenéticos (ensaio Allium cepa), fisiológicos, anatômicos e bioquímicos do ácido húmico do lodo de esgoto sanitário. Foi realizada caracterização elementar do material para a definição das doses. Após 20 dias de tratamento, foram realizadas coletas do material e, posteriormente, analisadas. A caracterização química do AH indicou-o como bom condicionador para culturas apresentando elevadas taxas de C, H e N. Não foi observado efeito de toxicidade, citotoxicidade, genotoxicidade e mutagenicidade do AH. Foi verificado aumento expressivo de todos os pigmentos fotossintéticos vegetais nas concentrações mais altas (2 mM C L-1 e 4 mM C L-1). Houve aumento da expressão da ATPAse em todos os tratamentos e das enzimas do estresse oxidativo (CAT, SOD, APX, GST) em diferentes concentrações. A integração destas análises permitiu concluir que o ácido húmico do lodo de esgoto pode ser utilizado como adubo orgânico, pois foi observado benefícios no vegetal tais como maior crescimento vegetal e aumento da atividade nas enzimas do estresse oxidativo.

Esporgar: per què, com i quan

Catalan libraries find themselves stretched to their limits due to the conflict between the traditional model of preserving and conserving knowledge and the pressures created by the constant expansion of the collection. A solution can be found in weeding the collection. This article first explains the legal and reglamentary framework in which weeding should take place, followed by a proposed planning method that suggests different criteria to be applied. A description is provided of practical aspects of organising a project and of evaluating results. The article concludes with various alternatives for final disposal of the documents to be withdrawn definitively. A selective, annotated bibliography is included.

Avaliação das técnicas de precipitação química e encapsulamento no tratamento e destinação conjunta de resíduos líquidos contendo cromo e vidrarias de laboratório

In this paper, we present procedures for the treatment and final disposal of residual solutions containing chromium, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of chemical precipitation of the metal and the potential of the glass encapsulation technique, using broken laboratory glassware. The results demonstrated that pH-values convenient for chemical precipitation are between 10 - 11. With regard to Cr(OH)3 encapsulation, the leaching and solubilization tests allowed to classify the waste as non-dangerous and non-inert. Finally, it is pointed out that the adoption of waste management practices in universities should be encouraged, helping to train professionals skilled in good laboratory practices.

Efeito do nitrogênio e do lodo de esgoto nos fatores produtivos do feijoeiro

A disposição final do lodo de esgoto vem se caracterizando como um dos problemas ambientais urbanos mais relevantes da atualidade e que cresce diariamente tanto nos países desenvolvidos quanto nos em desenvolvimento, como reflexo da ampliação das redes de coleta e incremento dos níveis de tratamento. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar o efeito da aplicação de lodo de esgoto e de adubação química de N nos fatores produtivos do feijoeiro. O lodo de esgoto compostado foi aplicado em dezembro de 2007, em feijão-comum cultivado em sistema de semeadura direta. Foi adotado o delineamento experimental em blocos casualizados, constituídos por seis tratamentos e quatro repetições, assim definidos: T0 - sem adubação nitrogenada; T1 - adubação química nitrogenada de acordo com o recomendado para a cultura; T2 - 50% adubação nitrogenada proveniente do lodo de esgoto e 50% em forma mineral; T3 - 100% adubação nitrogenada proveniente do lodo de esgoto; T4 - 150% adubação nitrogenada proveniente do lodo de esgoto e T5 - 200% adubação nitrogenada proveniente do lodo de esgoto. O aumento da dose de lodo de esgoto promoveu o incremento no número de vagens, rendimento de matéria seca, rendimento de grãos e na massa de 1.000 grãos.