scholarly journals Resistance of Aerosolized Bacterial Viruses to Relative Humidity and Temperature

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (20) ◽  
pp. 7305-7311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Verreault ◽  
Mélissa Marcoux-Voiselle ◽  
Nathalie Turgeon ◽  
Sylvain Moineau ◽  
Caroline Duchaine

ABSTRACTThe use of aerosolized bacteriophages as surrogates for hazardous viruses might simplify and accelerate the discovery of links between viral components and their persistence in the airborne state under diverse environmental conditions. In this study, four structurally distinct lytic phages, MS2 (single-stranded RNA [ssRNA]), ϕ6 (double-stranded RNA [dsRNA]), ϕX174 (single-stranded DNA [ssDNA]), and PR772 (double-stranded DNA [dsDNA]), were nebulized into a rotating chamber and exposed to various levels of relative humidity (RH) and temperature as well as to germicidal UV radiation. The aerosolized viral particles were allowed to remain airborne for up to 14 h before being sampled for analysis by plaque assays and quantitative PCRs. Phages ϕ6 and MS2 were the most resistant at low levels of relative humidity, while ϕX174 was more resistant at 80% RH. Phage ϕ6 lost its infectivity immediately after exposure to 30°C and 80% RH. The infectivity of all tested phages rapidly declined as a function of the exposure time to UVC radiation, phage MS2 being the most resistant. Taken altogether, our data indicate that these aerosolized phages behave differently under various environmental conditions and highlight the necessity of carefully selecting viral simulants in bioaerosol studies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 54-55
Author(s):  
Leigh Ruckman ◽  
Stacie Gould ◽  
John Patience

Abstract Mycotoxins may not be an issue every year, but the proper environmental conditions can cause a spike in contaminated grains and cause severe economic impact on pork producers. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of naturally occurring infections of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and fumonisins (DZF) on growth performance and carcass parameters in grow/finish pigs. One hundred pigs (BW 34.0 ± 0.9 kg; L337 × Camborough, PIC, Hendersonville, TN) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments with 10 split-sex pens/treatment. The control diet (CTL) contained low levels of DZF and the CTL+DFZ diet contained high levels of DZF. Diets were fed in 4 phases over the 126-d experiment period. The CTL diet contained 1.6, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.2 mg deoxynivalenol/kg and CTL+DZF contained 9.2, 6.9, 5.8 and 3.8 mg deoxynivalenol/kg in the 4 diet phases, respectively. The CTL contained 0.30, 0.32, 0.51 and 0.32 mg zearalenone/kg and 0.7, 0.8, 0.8 and 0.9 mg total fumonisins/kg; CTL+DFZ contained 0.59, 0.72, 0.86 and 0.57 mg zearalenone/kg and 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 0.9 mg total fumonisins/kg for phases one through four, respectively. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS (9.4) with treatment, sex, and their interaction as fixed effects. Compared to CTL, feeding CTL+DFZ decreased final BW (130.3 vs 120.5 kg; P< 0.001), ADG (0.95 vs 0.79 kg/d; P< 0.001), ADFI (2.73 vs 2.49 kg/d; P=0.016), and G:F (0.35 vs 0.32; P=0.043). Feeding CTL+DFZ decreased HCW (92.3 vs 89.4 kg; P=0.024) and increased dressing percentage (70.9 vs 74.3%; P=0.009) and tended to reduce loin depth (7.0 vs 6.8 cm; P=0.057) compared to CTL. Diet did not affect backfat depth or lean percentage (P >0.10). In conclusion, diets naturally contaminated with multiple mycotoxins reduced growth performance and adversely affected carcass parameters; pigs did not adapt over time to the mycotoxins.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Hun Park ◽  
Jerald A. Caton

The effects of the environmental conditions and the channel depth for an air-breathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell were investigated experimentally. The fuel cell used in this work included a membrane and electrode assembly, which possessed an active area of 25 cm2 with Nafion® 117 membrane. Triple serpentine designs for the flow fields with two different flow depths were used in this research. The experimental results indicated that the relative humidity and temperature play an important role with respect to fuel cell performance. The fuel cell needs to be operated at least 20 min to obtain stable performance. When the shallow flow field was used, the performance increased dramatically for low humidity and slightly for high humidity. The current density was obtained around only 120 mA/cm2 at 30°C with an 80% relative humidity, which was nearly double the performance for the deep flow field. The minimum operating temperature for an air-breathing fuel cell would be 20°C. When it was 10°C at 60% relative humidity, the open circuit voltage dropped to around 0.65 V. The fuel cell performance improved with increasing relative humidity from 80% to 100% at high current density.


1972 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. P. Graham ◽  
T. N. Blumer

Hams were frozen, stored, and thawed before dry-curing to study the profiles of quality as related to environmental conditions. Quality appraisals and sampling were done after thawing, after curing, and after 30 days aging in an atmosphere where temperature and relative humidity were controlled at about 34.5 C and 62.5%, respectively. The pH, water, NaCl, and fat contents were determined. Surface pH of hams increased from the thawed fresh state to the unstored cured state, but decreased generally after the aging period (stored cured ham). The pH was higher on the surface than that of corresponding internal areas. The pH of the internal tissue was lower for thawed product than cured or aged product. The average percent water decreased during curing and aging periods. Water loss after curing and after aging in the prefrozen hams was greater than that reported for unfrozen hams. The quantity of water, NaCl, and fat varied among the several muscle areas and reasons for variation are discussed. All hams were of acceptable quality at each appraisal period. Decreasing moisture levels of hams were reflected by decreases in conformation scores throughout the processing periods. Increased firmness was accompanied by weight loss, moisture loss, and increased NaCl percentage.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Calvo Martín ◽  
Stamatios C. Nicolis ◽  
Isaac Planas-Sitjà ◽  
Jean-Christophe de Biseau ◽  
Jean-Louis Deneubourg

AbstractCockroaches, like most social arthropods, are led to choose collectively among different alternative resting places. These decisions are modulated by different factors, such as environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity) and sociality (groups size, nature of communications). The aim of this study is to establish the interplay between environmental conditions and the modulation of the interactions between individuals within a group leading to an inversion of preferences. We show that the preferences of isolated cockroaches and groups of 16 individuals, on the selection of the relative humidity of a shelter are inversed and shed light on the mechanisms involved. We suggest that the relative humidity has a multi-level influence on cockroaches, manifested as an attractant effect at the individual level and as a negative effect at the group level, modulating the interactions.


2007 ◽  
pp. 55-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slobodan Milanovic

The development of Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L) was monitored in laboratory conditions, on the foliage of the species Quercus cerris L. Quercus petraea (Matt) Liebl. and Quercus robur L. The experiment was established in the controlled environmental conditions, at the temperature of 25?C, photoperiod 14:10 (day: night) and relative humidity 70%. The objective of the research was to determine the suitability of the study host plant species for gypsy moth development. The study results show that Gypsy moth caterpillars cultivated on Q. petraea foliage had a lower survival, higher number of moultings, longer preadult development and lower fecundity, which makes this species less suitable compared to the other two. Gypsy moth caterpillars cultivated on Q. cerris foliage had the highest survival degree the lowest number of moultings, the shortest preadult development and the highest fecundity, which makes this species the most favourable for gypsy moth development. Q. robur was between the former two species in this respect.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fajardo ◽  
D. Barreto ◽  
T. Castro ◽  
I. Baldiris

Abstract It is known that high temperatures adversely affect the performance of gas turbines, but the effect of the combination of atmospheric conditions (temperature and relative humidity -RH-) on the operation of this type of system is unknown. In this work the effects of atmospheric conditions on the energy and exergy indicators of a power plant with gas turbine were studied. The indicators studied were the mass flow, the specific work consumed by the compressor, specific work produced by the turbine, the combustion gas temperature, the NO concentration, the net output power, the thermal efficiency, the heat rate, the specific consumption of fuel, the destruction of exergy and exergy efficiency. Among the results, it is noted that for each degree celsius that reduces the temperature of the air at the compressor inlet at constant relative humidity on average, the mass flow of dry air increases by 0.27 kg/s, the specific work consumed by the compressors decreases by 0.45%, the output power increases by 1.17% and the thermal efficiency increases by 0.8%, the exergy destruction increases by 0.72% and the exergy efficiency increases by 0.81%. In addition, humidity changes relative to high temperatures are detected more significantly than at low temperatures. The power plant studied is installed in Cartagena, Colombia and since it is not operating in the design environmental conditions (15 °C and 60% relative humidity) it experiences a loss of output power of 6140 kW and a drop in thermal efficiency of 5.12 %. These results allow considering the implementation of air cooling technologies at the compressor inlet to compensate for the loss of power at atmospheric air conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-125
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo ◽  
Vicente Soler Javaloyes

TT 209 was built in a wadi, a location that means it has been affected by flash floods since ancient times. The team in charge of its study and conservation has initiated a systematic programme of environmental data collection (temperature and relative humidity) in order to understand the natural conditions of the tomb and any transformations caused by archaeological work in its underground chambers, as well as to inform future conservation. These statistics can also be useful for excavation and conservation programmes in nearby tombs whose architectonic structure is similar and have also suffered from exposure to water damage.


Weed Science ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy M. Sterling ◽  
Norman K. Lownds

Foliar absorption of picloram by broom snakeweed, a rangeland shrub, was investigated. Picloram uptake into leaf, axillary bud, and stem tissues was similar. In addition, picloram uptake by leaf tissue from greenhouse- and field-grown broom snakeweed did not differ. Picloram accumulated rapidly and absorption saturated between 15 min and 1 h of application; no further absorption occurred through 72 h with maximum uptake ca. 15% of applied picloram. Picloram content increased linearly with increasing external picloram concentration, implying that movement of the herbicide across the cuticle is via diffusion. Absorption was dependent on relative humidity and temperature with the greatest uptake at 94% relative humidity and 35 C, respectively. Absorption was pH dependent; picloram absorption was greatest at pH 4 and least at pH 8. In addition, picloram absorption was less at pH 3 compared to pH 4. These results provide evidence that picloram is absorbed across the cuticle via simple diffusion and absorption is dependent on environmental conditions and solution pH at and following application.


2014 ◽  
Vol 941-944 ◽  
pp. 835-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Tao Chen ◽  
Mao Guang Li ◽  
Ying Zi Yang ◽  
Qi Liu

The ring test method is used to evaluate the behavior of concrete under restrained shrinkage. Four kinds of environmental conditions (20±1°C, RH60±5%; 35±1°C, RH60±5%; 50±1°C, RH15±5%; 65±1°C, RH15±5%) were designed to investigate the effect the environmental condition on the shrinkage behavior of concrete prepared with different kinds of mineral admixtures. The results show that higher temperature and lower relative humidity can increase the risk of shrinkage cracking. The addition of different mineral admixtures increases the shrinkage of concrete at room conditions. In the case of higher temperature and lower relative humidity, the addition of mineral admixtures can delay the shrinkage cracking in the test duration.


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