Experimental studies on macroinvertebrate predator–prey impact of pesticides. The reactions of Rhyacophila and Hydropsyche (Trichoptera) larvae to Simulium larvicides

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 2264-2270 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Muirhead-Thomson

Acute toxicity tests with the predaceous trichopteran larvae of Rhyacophila dorsalis and Hydropsyche pellucidula in a laboratory-simulated stream have shown that both species have a high survival rate after short exposures, 15 min to 1 h, to concentrations of temephos(Abate) and chlorpyrifos methyl that produce a mortality of 90% or more in late-instar Simulium larvae. A similar differential reaction to the synthetic pyrethroid permethrin was demonstrated in the case of Hydropsyche but not Rhyacophila.The implication of these findings is discussed firstly in relation to the environmental impact of Simulium control programmes based on application of larvicides to rivers and streams, and secondly to the wider problem of evaluating the impact of pesticides and allied toxic chemicals on stream ecosystems.It is concluded that although significant differences in tolerance level to some insecticides between prey (Simulium) and predator (trichopteran larvae) can be demonstrated in the laboratory, the margin of safety is not sufficiently wide to assure selective control of Simulium larvae by these chemicals under the less precise conditions of larvicide application in the field.


Author(s):  
P. Vikulin ◽  
K. Khlopov ◽  
M. Cherkashin

Enhancing water purification processes is provided by various methods including physical ones, in particular, exposure to ultrasonic vibrations. The change in the dynamic viscosity of water affects the rate of deposition of particles in the aquatic environment which can be used in natural and wastewater treatment. At the Department Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal of the National Research Moscow State University of Civil Engineering experimental studies were conducted under laboratory conditions to study the effect of ultrasound on the change in the dynamic viscosity of water. A laboratory setup has been designed consisting of an ultrasonic frequency generator of the relative intensity, a transducer (concentrator) that transmits ultrasonic vibrations to the source water, and sonic treatment tanks. Experimental studies on the impact of the ultrasonic field in the cavitation mode on the dynamic viscosity of the aqueous medium were carried out the exposure time was obtained to achieve the maximum effect.Интенсификация процессов очистки воды осуществляется с помощью различных методов, в том числе и физических, в частности воздействием ультразвуковых колебаний. Изменение динамической вязкости воды влияет на скорость осаждения частиц в водной среде, что может быть использовано в процессах очистки природных и сточных вод. На кафедре Водоснабжение и водоотведение Национального исследовательского Московского государственного строительного университета в лабораторных условиях проведены экспериментальные исследования по изучению влияния ультразвука на изменение динамической вязкости воды. Разработана схема лабораторной установки, состоящая из генератора ультразвуковых частот с соответствующей интенсивностью, преобразователя (концентратора), передающего ультразвуковые колебания в исходную воду, и емкости для озвучивания. Выполнены экспериментальные исследования по влиянию ультразвукового поля в режиме кавитации на динамическую вязкость водной среды, получено время экспозиции для достижения максимального эффекта.



Author(s):  
Abigail A. Fagan ◽  
Kristen M. Benedini

This chapter reviews the degree to which empirical evidence demonstrates that families influence youth delinquency. Because they are most likely to be emphasized in life-course theories, this chapter focuses on parenting practices such as parental warmth and involvement, supervision and discipline of children, and child maltreatment. It also summarizes literature examining the role of children's exposure to parental violence, family criminality, and young (teenage) parents in affecting delinquency. Because life-course theories are ideally tested using longitudinal data, which allow examination of, in this case, the impact of parenting practices on children's subsequent behaviors, this chapter focuses on evidence generated from prospective studies conducted in the United States and other countries. It also discusses findings from experimental studies designed to reduce youth substance use and delinquency by improving the family environment.



Author(s):  
Dan Yue ◽  
Zepeng Tong ◽  
Jianchi Tian ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Linxiu Zhang ◽  
...  

The global illegal wildlife trade directly threatens biodiversity and leads to disease outbreaks and epidemics. In order to avoid the loss of endangered species and ensure public health security, it is necessary to intervene in illegal wildlife trade and promote public awareness of the need for wildlife conservation. Anthropomorphism is a basic and common psychological process in humans that plays a crucial role in determining how a person interacts with other non-human agents. Previous research indicates that anthropomorphizing nature entities through metaphors could increase individual behavioral intention of wildlife conservation. However, relatively little is known about the mechanism by which anthropomorphism influences behavioral intention and whether social context affects the effect of anthropomorphism. This research investigated the impact of negative emotions associated with a pandemic situation on the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies for wildlife conservation across two experimental studies. Experiment 1 recruited 245 college students online and asked them to read a combination of texts and pictures as anthropomorphic materials. The results indicated that anthropomorphic materials could increase participants’ empathy and decrease their wildlife product consumption intention. Experiment 2 recruited 140 college students online and they were required to read the same materials as experiment 1 after watching a video related to epidemics. The results showed that the effect of wildlife anthropomorphization vanished if participants’ negative emotion was aroused by the video. The present research provides experimental evidence that anthropomorphic strategies would be useful for boosting public support for wildlife conservation. However, policymakers and conservation organizations must be careful about the negative effects of the pandemic context, as the negative emotions produced by it seems to weaken the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies.



Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Dariusz Puchala ◽  
Kamil Stokfiszewski ◽  
Mykhaylo Yatsymirskyy

In this paper, the authors analyze in more details an image encryption scheme, proposed by the authors in their earlier work, which preserves input image statistics and can be used in connection with the JPEG compression standard. The image encryption process takes advantage of fast linear transforms parametrized with private keys and is carried out prior to the compression stage in a way that does not alter those statistical characteristics of the input image that are crucial from the point of view of the subsequent compression. This feature makes the encryption process transparent to the compression stage and enables the JPEG algorithm to maintain its full compression capabilities even though it operates on the encrypted image data. The main advantage of the considered approach is the fact that the JPEG algorithm can be used without any modifications as a part of the encrypt-then-compress image processing framework. The paper includes a detailed mathematical model of the examined scheme allowing for theoretical analysis of the impact of the image encryption step on the effectiveness of the compression process. The combinatorial and statistical analysis of the encryption process is also included and it allows to evaluate its cryptographic strength. In addition, the paper considers several practical use-case scenarios with different characteristics of the compression and encryption stages. The final part of the paper contains the additional results of the experimental studies regarding general effectiveness of the presented scheme. The results show that for a wide range of compression ratios the considered scheme performs comparably to the JPEG algorithm alone, that is, without the encryption stage, in terms of the quality measures of reconstructed images. Moreover, the results of statistical analysis as well as those obtained with generally approved quality measures of image cryptographic systems, prove high strength and efficiency of the scheme’s encryption stage.



Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 4034
Author(s):  
Paolo Iodice ◽  
Massimo Cardone

Among the alternative fuels existing for spark-ignition engines, ethanol is considered worldwide as an important renewable fuel when mixed with pure gasoline because of its favorable physicochemical properties. An in-depth and updated investigation on the issue of CO and HC engine out emissions related to use of ethanol/gasoline fuels in spark-ignition engines is therefore necessary. Starting from our experimental studies on engine out emissions of a last generation spark-ignition engine fueled with ethanol/gasoline fuels, the aim of this new investigation is to offer a complete literature review on the present state of ethanol combustion in last generation spark-ignition engines under real working conditions to clarify the possible change in CO and HC emissions. In the first section of this paper, a comparison between physicochemical properties of ethanol and gasoline is examined to assess the practicability of using ethanol as an alternative fuel for spark-ignition engines and to investigate the effect on engine out emissions and combustion efficiency. In the next section, this article focuses on the impact of ethanol/gasoline fuels on CO and HC formation. Many studies related to combustion characteristics and exhaust emissions in spark-ignition engines fueled with ethanol/gasoline fuels are thus discussed in detail. Most of these experimental investigations conclude that the addition of ethanol with gasoline fuel mixtures can really decrease the CO and HC exhaust emissions of last generation spark-ignition engines in several operating conditions.



2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Manzano-León ◽  
Pablo Camacho-Lazarraga ◽  
Miguel A. Guerrero ◽  
Laura Guerrero-Puerta ◽  
José M. Aguilar-Parra ◽  
...  

Educational gamification consists of the use of game elements and game design techniques in the educational context. The objective of this study is to examine the existing evidence on the impact of educational gamification on student motivation and academic performance in the last five years in order to analyze its distribution over time, educational level, variables, and most used game elements, and know the advantages of its implementation in the classroom. For this, a systematic review is proposed through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology in three multidisciplinary databases, through an exhaustive search with inclusion and exclusion criteria on quantitative experimental studies that explore gamification in educational centers, which provide information about the most current lines of research. Fourteen studies were included in this review. These used experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Most of them report gamification as a valid learning strategy. The results support the conclusion that educational gamification has a potential impact on the academic performance, commitment, and motivation of students. Therefore, this study implies the need to expand research on the needs and challenges of students when learning with gamified techniques.



BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043844
Author(s):  
Natalia Araujo ◽  
Samantha Morais ◽  
Ana Rute Costa ◽  
Raquel Braga ◽  
Ana Filipa Carneiro ◽  
...  

IntroductionProstate cancer is the most prevalent oncological disease among men in industrialised countries. Despite the high survival rates, treatments are often associated with adverse effects, including metabolic and cardiovascular complications, sexual dysfunction and, to a lesser extent, cognitive decline. This study was primarily designed to evaluate the trajectories of cognitive performance in patients with prostate cancer, and to quantify the impact of the disease and its treatments on the occurrence of cognitive decline.MethodsParticipants will be recruited from two main hospitals providing care to approximately half of the patients with prostate cancer in Northern Portugal (Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto and São João Hospital Centre), and will comprise a cohort of recently diagnosed patients with prostate cancer proposed for different treatment plans, including: (1) radical prostatectomy; (2) brachytherapy and/or radiotherapy; (3) radiotherapy in combination with androgen deprivation therapy and (4) androgen deprivation therapy (with or without chemotherapy). Recruitment began in February 2018 and is expected to continue until the first semester of 2021. Follow-up evaluations will be conducted at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years. Sociodemographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics, anxiety and depression, health literacy, health status, quality of life, and sleep quality will be assessed. Blood pressure and anthropometrics will be measured, and a fasting blood sample will be collected. Participants’ cognitive performance will be evaluated before treatments and throughout follow-up (Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Cube Test as well as Brain on Track for remote monitoring). All participants suspected of cognitive impairment will undergo neuropsychological tests and clinical observation by a neurologist.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the hospitals involved. All participants will provide written informed consent, and study procedures will be developed to ensure data protection and confidentiality. Results will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentation in scientific meetings.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnelle Löbbert ◽  
Sonja Schanzer ◽  
Henrik Krehenwinkel ◽  
Franz Bracher ◽  
Christoph Müller

A novel, validated QuEChERS-based GC-MS/MS method was developed, which will allow the assessment of the impact of pesticides on forest ecosystems.



2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 674-680
Author(s):  
Piotr Sęk

AbstractThe purpose of the experiment was to study the influence of the laser beam in pulse mode on metallic foils in order to obtain a spot weld. The welding process was carried out using the overlap weld method, using spot welds in various quantities. The Nd - YAG BLS 720 pulsed laser was used to conduct the experiment. The impact of the number of spot welds on the value of force needed to break the sample was examined. A number of measurements were carried out to determine the best process parameters. Butt welding and overlap welding were also performed using a continuous weld consisting of spot welds. Weld strength tests were performed to select the most appropriate parameters for the process under consideration.



2021 ◽  
pp. 003151252110059
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Lamotte ◽  
Aziz Essadek ◽  
Gérard Shadili ◽  
Jean-Michel Perez ◽  
Julien Raft

Communication through discussion and conversations is fundamental to human life; but when such discourse escapes the control of a teacher in the classroom, it becomes little more than chatter. This noise challenges teaching methods and the teaching stance with students. Yet, its impact on comprehension has rarely been studied. The aim of this literature review was to examine the research on the impact of classroom noise generated by chatter on students’ comprehension performance. We adopted the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Metanalysis) guidelines to examine this literature. This review covered a 10-year period (papers written between 2009 and 2019), with nine experimental studies selected from the 2,954 papers screened. In 89% of these nine studies, there were significant comprehension differences on all tests, revealed when comprehension took place in a noisy environment due to chatter. This review indicated an essential need for a field survey to better understand the impact of chatter on comprehension. Other studies are recommended to highlight any correlation between measured chatter and student comprehension in a real classroom environment.



Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document