scholarly journals The Effects of the Nonnative Brittle Star Ophiothela Mirabilis Verrill, 1867 on the Feeding Performance of an Octocoral Host in a Southwestern Atlantic Rocky Shore

Author(s):  
Patrick Derviche ◽  
Paulo da Cunha Lana

Abstract The Pacific epizoic brittle star Ophiothela mirabilis Verrill, 1867 has widely spread and colonized hosts at high densities along the Western Atlantic. We assessed the impacts of O. mirabilis on the feeding performance of the preferred host Leptogorgia punicea (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857) through in situ experiments using incubation chambers and estimated its putative effects on the benthic-pelagic coupling processes of a rocky shore system. The feeding rates and heterotrophic carbon inputs of L. punicea treatments with high colonization by O. mirabilis (5.4 ± 0.6 individuals cm− 2 of host area) were compared to host controls naturally without brittle stars. No significant differences in host feeding performance were observed between the control and treatments. Overall, L. punicea ingested 2,688,569 ± 1,627,948 particles g DW (dry weight)−1 hour− 1 (mean ± standard deviation), corresponding to 156.8 ± 207.5 µg of carbon (C) g DW− 1 hour− 1. Therefore, although octocorals hosting O. mirabilis may have impaired polyp opening and extension, their feeding performance remains similar. In this sense, the impact of O. mirabilis on the carbon flux of the rocky shore system driven by octocoral ingestion is minimal. The grazing rate of 67.4 ± 89.2 mg C m− 2 day− 1 highlights the significant role of L. punicea in such benthic-pelagic coupling processes. Notwithstanding, further laboratory and field experimental studies assessing the effects on host taxa with distinct morphological and functional features are needed to better understand the responses of the recipient hard-bottom systems along the Western Atlantic to increasing densities of O. mirabilis.

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.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Leonardo Vieira Nunes ◽  
Marco Thúlio Saviatto Duarte ◽  
Luiz Fernando Romanholo Ferreira ◽  
Renato Nery Soriano ◽  
...  

Naturally occurring biological entities with extractable and tunable structural and functional characteristics, along with therapeutic attributes, are of supreme interest for strengthening the twenty-first-century biomedical settings. Irrespective of ongoing technological and clinical advancement, traditional medicinal practices to address and manage inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are inefficient and the effect of the administered therapeutic cues is limited. The reasonable immune response or invasion should also be circumvented for successful clinical translation of engineered cues as highly efficient and robust bioactive entities. In this context, research is underway worldwide, and researchers have redirected or regained their interests in valorizing the naturally occurring biological entities/resources, for example, algal biome so-called “treasure of untouched or underexploited sources”. Algal biome from the marine environment is an immense source of excellence that has also been demonstrated as a source of bioactive compounds with unique chemical, structural, and functional features. Moreover, the molecular modeling and synthesis of new drugs based on marine-derived therapeutic and biological cues can show greater efficacy and specificity for the therapeutics. Herein, an effort has been made to cover the existing literature gap on the exploitation of naturally occurring biological entities/resources to address and efficiently manage IBD. Following a brief background study, a focus was given to design characteristics, performance evaluation of engineered cues, and point-of-care IBD therapeutics of diverse bioactive compounds from the algal biome. Noteworthy potentialities of marine-derived biologically active compounds have also been spotlighted to underlying the impact role of bio-active elements with the related pathways. The current review is also focused on the applied standpoint and clinical translation of marine-derived bioactive compounds. Furthermore, a detailed overview of clinical applications and future perspectives are also given in this review.


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.


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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Krug ◽  
Peter Busse ◽  
Konrad Vogeler

An important aspect of the aerodynamic flow field in the tip region of axial compressor rotors is the unsteady interaction between the tip clearance vortex (TCV) and the incoming stator wakes. In order to gain an improved understanding of the mechanics involved, systematic studies need to be performed. As a first step toward the characterization of the dynamic effects caused by the relative movement of the blade rows, the impact of a stationary wake-induced inlet disturbance on a linear compressor cascade with tip clearance will be analyzed. The wakes were generated by a fixed grid of cylindrical bars with variable pitch being placed at discrete pitchwise positions. This paper focuses on experimental studies conducted at the newly designed low-speed cascade wind tunnel in Dresden. The general tunnel configuration and details on the specific cascade setup will be presented. Steady state flow field measurements were carried out using five-hole probe traverses up- and downstream of the cascade and accompanied by static wall pressure readings. 2D-particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements complemented these results by visualizing the blade-to-blade flow field. Hence, the structure of the evolving secondary flow system is evaluated and compared for all tested configurations.


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