Influence of environmental parameters on bacterial lipids in soils from the French Alps: implications for paleo-reconstructions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Véquaud ◽  
Sylvie Derenne ◽  
Sylvie Collin ◽  
Christelle Anquetil ◽  
Jérôme Poulenard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Membrane ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Soil Types ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
French Alps ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

<p>Microorganisms can modify the composition of their lipid membrane in response to variations in environmental parameters. This is the case for bacterial lipids such as glycerol dialkyl tetraethers (GDGT) and 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH FAs), both used for temperature and pH reconstructions in terrestrial paleoenvironmental studies. However, a major concern with these proxies is that their structure may be influenced by other environmental parameters than temperature or pH. The present study aimed at identifying and quantifying the influence of environmental parameters such as soil moisture, vegetation types and soil types on bacterial GDGTs and 3-OH FAs. These lipids were analyzed in 49 soil samples collected between 200 m and 3,000 m altitude in the French Alps. The soils cover a wide range of temperature (0 °C to 15 °C) and pH (3 to 8) and are representative of the diversity of soils and vegetation encountered along the investigated altitudinal transects. Using this new well-documented and unique dataset, the GDGT-pH correlation was confirmed, but the one between 3-OH FAs and pH was lower than in previous studies. For the temperature, correlations were lower than in previous studies for the GDGTs and absent for the 3-OH FAs. These observations could be explained thanks to different statistical analyses. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that pH is the main driver of the variability of 3-OH FAs and GDGTs, explaining 20.5 % and 56 % of the distribution of these bacterial lipids, respectively, followed by the altitude (8 % influence on the distribution of 3-OH FAs, and 11 % on GDGTs) and granulometry (5 % impact on 3-OH FAs and 7.5 % on GDGTs). Taken together, these results highlight the major influence of the vegetation cover and soil types on the distribution of bacterial lipids. Indeed, we quantified and explained for the first time the impact of the different environmental factors (temperature, vegetation, soil type…) on the distribution of bacterial lipids. This novel comprehension of the impacts of environmental parameters will allow to refine the use of proxies based on these compounds. These results pave the way for new types of applications of GDGTs and 3-OH FAs as environmental proxies in paleosoils, peat or lacustrine sediments.</p>

Design relations for predicting surface-ice clearing capacity of open channels

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1230-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Morin ◽  
R D Townsend ◽  
B Morse
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Water Current ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Navigation Channel ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ice Concentration ◽  
Wind Characteristics ◽  
Surface Ice ◽  
The Impact

Numerical simulations are performed to evaluate the impact of various hydraulic and environmental parameters on the ice clearing capacity of a Lac St-Pierre navigation channel. The Lagrangian particle-dynamics (Pdyn) model is used to simulate a wide range of "operating" conditions that are representative of conditions observed on Lac St-Pierre. Simple relationships are developed that express both ice velocity and flux as functions of the geometry of the channel (width and plan-form shape) and ambient conditions (ice concentration, thickness, water current, wind magnitude and direction). These relationships reflect the importance of wind characteristics and areal ice concentration in regard to predicting both surface ice velocities and flux.Key words: ice clearing, channel geometry, ambient conditions.

scholarly journals Thoughts Unlocked by Technology—a Survey in Germany About Brain-Computer Interfaces

NanoEthics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Schmid ◽  
O. Friedrich ◽  
S. Kessner ◽  
R. J. Jox
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Human Machine Interaction ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Classic Form ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

AbstractA brain-computer interface (BCI) is a rapidly evolving neurotechnology connecting the human brain with a computer. In its classic form, brain activity is recorded and used to control external devices like protheses or wheelchairs. Thus, BCI users act with the power of their thoughts. While the initial development has focused on medical uses of BCIs, non-medical applications have recently been gaining more attention, for example in automobiles, airplanes, and the entertainment context. However, the attitudes of the general public towards BCIs have hardly been explored. Among the general population in Germany aged 18–65 years, a representative online survey with 20 items was conducted in summer 2018 (n = 1000) and analysed by descriptive statistics. The survey assessed: affinity for technology; previous knowledge and experience concerning BCIs; the attitude towards ethical, social and legal implications of BCI use and demographic information. Our results indicate that BCIs are a unique and puzzling way of human–machine interaction. The findings reveal a positive view and high level of trust in BCIs on the one hand but on the other hand a wide range of ethical and anthropological concerns. Agency and responsibility were clearly attributed to the BCI user. The participants’ opinions were divided regarding the impact BCIs have on humankind. In summary, a high level of ambivalence regarding BCIs was found. We suggest better information of the public and the promotion of public deliberation about BCIs in order to ensure responsible development and application of this potentially disruptive technology.

scholarly journals Regional health inequalities explained: empirical evidence from Czechia

Geografie ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-383
Author(s):  
Aleš Bělohradský ◽  
Daniela Glocker
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Geographic Scale ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Environmental Causes ◽  
The Impact

Health outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe have been generally improving over the last two decades. However, in Czechia, similar to other countries, the outcomes vary significantly across the regional dimension. In 2016, life expectancy at birth ranged from between 75.5 to 80 years – across 77 districts. This article empirically analyses the determinants of these differences using a wide range of explanatory variables that are available on a district level. Applying factor analysis, our findings indicate that the socio-economic situation within a district is the main driver – explaining a difference of up to four years in life expectancy at birth. Further, controlling for gender specific variables, the results suggest that for men alcohol consumption significantly reduces life expectancy. Both factors capturing the socio-economic situation and alcohol consumption exceed the impact of health care accessibility or environmental causes on life expectancy. The results remain robust when using more disaggregated information on 206 administrative districts – per geographic scale.

scholarly journals One-loop corrections to the two-body decays of the charged Higgs bosons in the real and complex NMSSM

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thi Nhung Dao ◽  
Margarete Mühlleitner ◽  
Shruti Patel ◽  
Kodai Sakurai
Keyword(s):  
Cp Violation ◽  
Higgs Bosons ◽  
Supersymmetric Extension ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Charged Higgs ◽  
Charged Higgs Bosons ◽  
The One ◽  
Higher Order Corrections ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe evaluate the full next-to-leading order supersymmetric (SUSY) electroweak and SUSY-QCD corrections to the on-shell two-body decays of the charged Higgs bosons in the framework of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (NMSSM) allowing also for CP violation. We furthermore provide the possibility to choose between different renormalization schemes in the electroweakino and the squark and slepton sectors. Our corrections are implemented in the code and thus complete the one-loop corrections of the charged Higgs boson decays which so far only included the state-of-the-art QCD corrections and the resummed SUSY-electroweak and SUSY-QCD corrections. We investigate the impact of the NLO corrections including the newly computed higher-order corrections for each decay mode in a wide range of the parameter space that is allowed by the theoretical and experimental constraints as well as the effect of CP violation and the dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme. The new version of is made publicly available.

scholarly journals Joining two worlds - When academia meets real life and vice versa

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Ese ◽  
C Ihlebak
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
The One ◽  
Innovation Clusters ◽  
Holding Back ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Partnerships between academic institutions and actors outside of academia have for some time been considered a universal remedy for solving complex issues in a wide range of fields; ranging from themes as different as commercial developments in innovation clusters to reducing social inequalities or working against climate change. Such partnerships are strongly encouraged by governing bodies, and are sometimes prerequisites for being eligible as applicants for funding schemes like H2020. A proof of the impact this model of cooperation has had, is the fact that partnership is the only organisational structure that has been elevated to be part of the UN17 goals for sustainable development. Throughout history, academia has had a complex relationship with the society to which it belongs. On the one hand, academia depends on being seen as valuable, often through visible and concrete impact on society. On the other hand, within academia there is a strong norm of academic freedom stating that such freedom is best accommodated for through a certain degree of insulation between academia and society. This way of understanding academic freedom is an important cornerstone of the Humboltian university ideals as well as in the Mertonian CUDOS norms. Practice and policy actors may also find partnerships with academia complex to navigate. However, such partnerships can be valuable through ensuring that policies and developments are based on research findings and best practices. Furthermore, academics may educate and train practitioners, and evaluate and do research on their initiatives. However, partnerships can also be challenging for practitioners, as academics have to follow strict principles for research design and have little room for holding back results that may put the practitioners in a bad light. In this presentation the complex relationships between academia and practice are presented, both by examining advantages and by taking a critical stance.

scholarly journals Chlorine As a Disinfectant in Water Treatment

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 172-178
Author(s):  
Rifahat Muntaha
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Treatment ◽  
Sodium Hypochlorite ◽  
Sodium Hypochlorite Solution ◽  
Calcium Hypochlorite ◽  
Elemental Chlorine ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Water Chlorination ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Abstract: Disinfection of treated water is a necessary process. For this, chlorine and its products are widely used. During the treatment process, chlorine is added to drinking water as elemental chlorine, sodium hypochlorite solution or dry calcium hypochlorite. When applied to water, each of these forms “free chlorine”, which destroys pathogenic organisms. If adequate water treatment is not readily available, the impact on public health can be devastating. Worldwide, about 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and about 2.4 billion people lack sanitation. As per WHO, 3.4 million people die from waterrelated diseases. Drinking water chlorination will remain a cornerstone of disinfection. This is because of the wide range of benefits provided by chlorine. However, alternative disinfectants including ozone and UV radiation are available, all disinfection methods have unique benefits, limitations and costs. So, an engineer has to consider all the pros and cons of a disinfectant method properly before deciding the one to adopt. Keywords: Disinfection, Gaseous Chlorination, Sodium Hypochlorite, Calcium Hypochlorite, Ultraviolet, Ozone, Chlorine dioxide

scholarly journals Weak Influence of Paleoenvironmental Conditions on the Subsurface Biosphere of Lake Ohrid over the Last 515 ka

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1736
Author(s):  
Camille Thomas ◽  
Alexander Francke ◽  
Hendrik Vogel ◽  
Bernd Wagner ◽  
Daniel Ariztegui
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
Lake Ohrid ◽  
Metabolic Versatility ◽  
The Impact

Lacustrine sediments are widely used to investigate the impact of climatic change on biogeochemical cycling. In these sediments, subsurface microbial communities are major actors of this cycling but can also affect the sedimentary record and overprint the original paleoenvironmental signal. We therefore investigated the subsurface microbial communities of the oldest lake in Europe, Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia, Albania), to assess the potential connection between microbial diversity and past environmental change using 16S rRNA gene sequences. Along the upper ca. 200 m of the DEEP site sediment record spanning ca. 515 thousand years (ka), our results show that Atribacteria, Bathyarchaeia and Gammaproteobacteria structured the community independently from each other. Except for the latter, these taxa are common in deep lacustrine and marine sediments due to their metabolic versatility adapted to low energy environments. Gammaproteobacteria were often co-occurring with cyanobacterial sequences or soil-related OTUs suggesting preservation of ancient DNA from the water column or catchment back to at least 340 ka, particularly in dry glacial intervals. We found significant environmental parameters influencing the overall microbial community distribution, but no strong relationship with given phylotypes and paleoclimatic signals or sediment age. Our results support a weak recording of early diagenetic processes and their actors by bulk prokaryotic sedimentary DNA in Lake Ohrid, replaced by specialized low-energy clades of the deep biosphere and a marked imprint of erosional processes on the subsurface DNA pool of Lake Ohrid.

scholarly journals Stress Resistance in an Extreme Environment: Lessons Learnt from a Temperate Symbiotic Sea Anemone

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Milena Sylwia Palka
Keyword(s):  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Extreme Environment ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Tide Pool ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Symbiotic Dinoflagellates ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
The Impact

<p>Coral bleaching, the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) or their photosynthetic pigments in response to environmental stress, is of huge global concern. In contrast to tropical corals, which are highly sensitive to fluctuations in environmental parameters such as temperature, light and salinity, zooxanthellate invertebrates in temperate waters rarely bleach despite highly variable conditions. In this study, we tested the effects of salinity with combined effects of light and temperature stress on the photophysiology and stability of the temperate symbiotic sea anemone, Anthopleura aureoradiata, through chlorophyll fluorescence. In the field it was demonstrated that A. aureoradiata was resilient to abiotic fluctuations of considerable magnitude in the intertidal zone. Salinity was revealed to range naturally between a winter low of 30 and summer high of 40 ppt in an elevated tide pool with no measurable effects on the photophysiology of A. aureoradiata residing within. In a controlled environment, only extreme high and low salinities had an effect on the zooxanthellar photosystem, with a wide range of tolerance between 15-50 ppt dependent on the levels of temperature and light. Both high and low light, and temperature, also impacted upon photophysiology. Moreover, each of these variables independently, as well as combined, exacerbated the impact of salinity stress. In addition, the duration of exposure played an important role in the survival of this symbiosis, with only 48-96 h exposure to the extreme salinities of 5, 10, 55 and 60 ppt inducing irreversible photosynthetic failure, bleaching and death. Thus, the data supports the idea that this anemone-zooxanthellar symbiosis is highly resilient to considerable amounts of abiotic stress, a likely a function of the robust photophysiology of its zooxanthellae. This resilience to bleaching suggests that A. aureoradiata and its zooxanthallae have evolved a combination of powerful defensive mechanisms to help aid against the heterogenous environment from which they come. I will present an overview of these osmoregulatory mechanisms, photoacclimatory strategies and behaviours that this symbiosis likely deploys in order to combat environmentally realistic ranges in abiotic factors. Further studies would be necessary to deduce whether it is the host or zooxanthellae which are responsible for the breakdown of this symbiosis.</p>

scholarly journals DProj: A toolbox for local 2D projection and accurate morphometrics of large 3D microscopy images

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Herbert ◽  
Léo Valon ◽  
Laure Mancini ◽  
Nicolas Dray ◽  
Paolo Caldarelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Quantitative Imaging ◽  
Cell Segmentation ◽  
Processing Step ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Image Volume ◽  
The One ◽  
3D Volume ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundQuantitative imaging of epithelial tissues prompts for bioimage analysis tools that are widely applicable and accurate. In the case of imaging 3D tissues, a common post-processing step consists in projecting the acquired 3D volume on a 2D plane mapping the tissue surface. Indeed, while segmenting the tissue cells is amenable on 2D projections, it is still very difficult and cumbersome in 3D. However, for many specimen and models used in Developmental and Cell Biology, the complex content of the image volume surrounding the epithelium in a tissue often reduces the visibility of the biological object in the projection, compromising its subsequent analysis. In addition, the projection will distort the geometry of the tissue and can lead to strong artifacts in the morphology measurement.ResultsHere we introduce DProj a user-friendly tool-box built to robustly project epithelia on their 2D surface from 3D volumes, and to produce accurate morphology measurement corrected for the projection distortion, even for very curved tissues. DProj is built upon two components. LocalZProjector is a user-friendly and configurable Fiji plugin that generates 2D projections and height-maps from potentially large 3D stacks (larger than 40 GB per time-point) by only incorporating the signal of interest, despite a possibly complex image content. DeProj is a MATLAB tool that generates correct morphology measurements by combining the height-map output (such as the one offered by LocalZProjector) and the results of the cell segmentation on the 2D projection. In this paper we demonstrate DProj effectiveness over a wide range of different biological samples. We then compare its performance and accuracy against similar existing tools.ConclusionsWe find that LocalZProjector performs well even in situations where the volume to project contains spurious structures. We show that it can process large images without a pre-processing step. We study the impact of geometrical distortions on morphological measurements induced by the projection. We measured very large distortions which are then corrected by DeProj, providing accurate outputs.

scholarly journals The Impact of Environmental Factors on the Efficacy of Chemical Communication in the Burying Beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Chemnitz ◽  
Christian von Hoermann ◽  
Manfred Ayasse ◽  
Sandra Steiger
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Nicrophorus Vespilloides ◽  
Insect Sex Pheromones ◽  
Animal Communities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract There is growing evidence that a wide range of insect sex pheromones are condition dependent and play a fundamental role in mate choice. However, the effectiveness of pheromonal communication might not only depend on internal factors of the sender, but also on attributes of the microhabitat, in which the signaler chooses to emit its chemical signal. For example, the degree of anthropogenic land use might affect how successful the signal is transmitted, as land use has been shown to affect animal communities and the complexity of biotic interactions. To test the hypothesis that parameters of the microenvironment determine males’ ability to attract females via their sex pheromone, we used the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst (Coleoptera: Silphidae) as our model system. We exposed 144 males across differently managed forest stands and analyzed the impact of 29 environmental parameters. Our data revealed that human land use intensity had no effect on a male’s attractiveness. However, the harvested tree biomass positively affected the proportion of competitors attracted. Furthermore, we found that soil characteristics were important factors determining the amount and body size of females a male was able to attract. Consequently, we present evidence that the environmental context of a signaling male influences the effectiveness of chemical signaling either because it affects the transmission process or the prevailing abundance of potential signal receivers. Thus, our results demonstrate that males need to make careful decisions about the location where they emit their pheromone, as this choice of microhabitat has an impact on their fitness.

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