Geomicrobiology of meromictic, metal-mine pit lakes in the Iberian Pyrite Belt and biotechnological applications

220 p.

Synthesis, applications and reactivity of 1,2,3-triazolium salts

276 p.

Temperature-and pH-Sensitive Nanohydrogels of Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) for Food Packaging Applications: Modelling the Swelling-Collapse Behaviour

Temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) nanohydrogels were synthesized by nanoemulsion polymerization in water-in-oil systems. Several cross-linking degrees and the incorporation of acrylic acid as comonomer at different concentrations were tested to produce nanohydrogels with a wide range of properties. The physicochemical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels, and their relationship with the swelling-collapse behaviour, were studied to evaluate the suitability of PNIPA nanoparticles as smart delivery systems (for active packaging). The swelling-collapse transition was analyzed by the change in the optical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The thermodynamic parameters associated with the nanohydrogels collapse were calculated using a mathematical approach based on the van't Hoff analysis, assuming a two-state equilibrium (swollen to collapsed). A mathematical model is proposed to predict both the thermally induced collapse, and the collapse induced by the simultaneous action of two factors (temperature and pH, or temperature and organic solvent concentration). Finally, van't Hoff analysis was compared with differential scanning calorimetry. The results obtained allow us to solve the problem of determining the molecular weight of the structural repeating unit in cross-linked NIPA polymers, which, as we show, can be estimated from the ratio of the molar heat capacity (obtained from the van't Hoff analysis) to the specific heat capacity (obtained from calorimetric measurements).

Contributions to Ensemble Classifiers with Image Analysis Applications

134 p.

Lionfish dissection: techniques and applications

Dissection can provide unique information on the physiology, biology and ecology of organisms. This document describes protocols for dissecting lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles). Protocols were developed to provide guidance to trained research personnel. Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific, but have become established in marine habitats within the Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The protocols described within this document were designed to help standardize handling and dissection methodologies for these species, with the goal of improving the coordination of research (e.g., Lionfish Tissue Repository; Appendix V). We focus on dissection methods, which yield data that contribute to our understanding of lionfish biology and ecology. By pairing dissection information with environmental and biotic data, researchers and managers can better understand lionfish population structure and dynamics, age and growth, reproductive biology, and food web ecology on various temporal and spatial scales.

Approximate Solutions by Truncated Taylor Series Expansions of Nonlinear Differential Equations and Related Shadowing Property with Applications

This paper investigates the errors of the solutions as well as the shadowing property of a class of nonlinear differential equations which possess unique solutions on a certain interval for any admissible initial condition. The class of differential equations is assumed to be approximated by well-posed truncated Taylor series expansions up to a certain order obtained about certain, in general nonperiodic, sampling points t(i) is an element of [t(0), t(J)] for i = 0, 1, . . . , J of the solution. Two examples are provided.