Coupled abiotic-biotic cycling of nitrous oxide in tropical peatlands

Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas thought to be mainly derived from microbial metabolism as part of the denitrification pathway. Here, we report that in unexplored peat soils of Central and South America, N2O production can be driven by abiotic reactions (> 98 %) highly competitive to their enzymatic counterparts. Extracted soil iron positively correlated with in-situ abiotic N2O production determined by isotopic tracers. Moreover, we found that microbial N2O reduction accompanied abiotic production, essentially closing a coupled abiotic-biotic N2O cycle. Anaerobic N2O consumption occurred ubiquitously (pH 6.4-3.7), with proportions of diverse clade II N2O-reducers increasing with consumption rates. Our findings show denitrification in tropical peat soils is not a purely biological process, but rather a 'mosaic' of abiotic and biotic reduction reactions. We predict hydrological and temperature fluctuations differentially affect abiotic and biotic drivers and further contribute to the high N2O flux variation in the region.

Modeling the Smart Factory Manufacturing Products Characteristics: The Perspective of Energy Consumption

Economic progress is built on the foundation of energy. In the industrial sector, smart factory energy consumption analysis and forecasts are crucial for improving energy consumption rates and also for creating profits. The importance of energy analysis and forecasting in an industrial environment is increasing speedily. It is a great chance to provide a technical boost to smart factories looking to reduce energy usage and produce more profit through the control and optimization modeling. It is tough to analyze energy usage and make accurate estimations of industrial energy consumption. Consequently, this study examines monthly energy consumption to identify the discrepancy between energy usages and energy needs. It depicts the link between energy consumption, demand, and various industrial goods by pattern recognition. The correlation technique is utilized in this study to figure out the link between energy usage and the weight of various materials used in product manufacturing. Next, we use the moving average approach to calculate the monthly and weekly moving averages of energy usages. The use of data-mining techniques to estimate energy consumption rates based on production is increasingly prevalent. This study uses the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) to compare the actual data with forecasting data curves to enhance energy utilization. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) performance evaluation result for ARIMA and SARIMA is 8.70 and 10.90, respectively. Eventually, the Variable Important technique determines the smart factory’s most essential product to enhance the energy utilization rate and obtain profitable items for the smart factory.

The effect of the herbicide Magnum on the yield and quality of flax products

The aim of the research was to study the response of various flax genotypes to the treatment of plants with a sulfonylurea herbicide – Magnum (active ingredient is metsulfuron-methyl) and to identify resistant forms for use in breeding programs for herbicide resistance. In 2018-2020 an assessment of 24 varieties and promising lines of fiber flax of domestic and foreign selection for resistance to this herbicide was carried out, the treatment of crops with the preparation was carried out at the recommended consumption rate of 0.01 kg/ha in the “herringbone” phase. It has been proved that the use of this herbicide leads to uneven plant growth during the “herringbone – flowering” period, which negatively affects the yield and quality of flax fiber. The decrease in the main indicators of the productivity and quality of the fiber in the variant with the use of the herbicide in comparison with the control, depending on the genotype was: in plant height – up to 44.4 %, in the weight of the technical part – 71.1 %, in the fiber mass – 74.8 %, in «myklost» (the ratio of the technical length of stem to its diameter)– 46.3 %, in the length of the elementary fiber – 27.7 %. A high level of resistance (over 80 %) to the herbicide Magnum for all analyzed traits was shown by the varieties Atlant (Russia) and Mogilevsky (Belarus). It was shown that when treating fiber flax plants with the herbicide, as a rule, an increase in inflorescence occurs due to a decrease in the technical length of the stem. It results in rise of the main indicators of seed productivity in most of genotypes under the influence of the Magnum preparation – the number of bolls and seeds per plant (up to 3.2 times). The exception was the variety Vega 2 (Lithuania), which had a decrease in the number of bolls per plant in the variant with herbicide treatment compared with the control by 1.8 times, and in the number of seeds by 5.3 times. This varietywasalso the most sensitive to the effect of Magnum in all parameters of productivity and fiber quality. The results are consistent with the data obtained whentreating various collection samples of fiber flax with a tank mixture Magnum + Herbitox L + Miura at the recommended consumption rates (0.007 + 0.6 + 1.0 kg(l)/ha).

Red Wine Oxidation Characterization by Accelerated Ageing Tests and Cyclic Voltammetry

In order to obtain information on the oxidative behavior of red wines, oxygen consumption rates and electrochemical changes (cyclic voltammetry) were measured for nine red wines subject to three different accelerated ageing tests: chemical (with hydrogen peroxide), enzymatic (with laccase from Trametes versicolor), and temperature (at 60 °C). Oxidative behavior depended both on the wine sample and accelerated ageing test type. A good correlation was observed between electrochemical parameters of charges for reference/non-oxidized wines, in accordance with their antioxidant capacity, and the variation of charges after enzymatic and temperature tests, meaning that cyclic voltammetry could be used in order to predict these two oxidation tests and reflect the wine sensitivity towards respective oxidation targets. However, it was not possible to predict wine chemical oxidation test based on hydrogen peroxide from the electrochemical measurements.

Substantial oxygen consumption by aerobic nitrite oxidation in oceanic oxygen minimum zones

Oceanic oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are globally significant sites of biogeochemical cycling where microorganisms deplete dissolved oxygen (DO) to concentrations <20 µM. Amid intense competition for DO in these metabolically challenging environments, aerobic nitrite oxidation may consume significant amounts of DO and help maintain low DO concentrations, but this remains unquantified. Using parallel measurements of oxygen consumption rates and 15N-nitrite oxidation rates applied to both water column profiles and oxygen manipulation experiments, we show that the contribution of nitrite oxidation to overall DO consumption systematically increases as DO declines below 2 µM. Nitrite oxidation can account for all DO consumption only under DO concentrations <393 nM found in and below the secondary chlorophyll maximum. These patterns are consistent across sampling stations and experiments, reflecting coupling between nitrate reduction and nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospina with high oxygen affinity (based on isotopic and omic data). Collectively our results demonstrate that nitrite oxidation plays a pivotal role in the maintenance and biogeochemical dynamics of OMZs.

Consumer trait responses track change in resource supply along replicated thermal gradients

Rising temperatures may alter consumer diets through increased metabolic demand and altered resource availability. However, current theories assessing dietary shifts with warming do not account for a change in resource availability. It is unknown whether consumers will increase consumption rates or consume different resources to meet increased energy requirements and whether the dietary change will lead to associated variation in morphology and nutrient utilization. Here, we used populations of Gambusia affinis across parallel thermal gradients in New Zealand (NZ) and California (CA) to understand the influence of temperature on diets, morphology and stoichiometric phenotypes. Our results show that with increasing temperature in NZ, mosquitofish consumed more plant material, whereas in CA mosquitofish shifted towards increased consumption of invertebrate prey. In both regions, populations with plant-based diets had fuller guts, longer relative gut lengths, better-orientated mouths and reduced body elemental %C and N/P. Together, our results show multiple pathways by which consumers may alter their feeding patterns with rising temperatures, and they suggest that warming-induced changes to resource availability may be the principal determinant of which pathway is taken.

Bedside determination of microcirculatory oxygen delivery and uptake: a prospective observational clinical study for proof of principle

Assessment of microcirculatory functional capacity is considered to be of prime importance for therapy guidance and outcome prediction in critically ill intensive care patients. Here, we show determination of skin microcirculatory oxygen delivery and consumption rates to be a feasible approach at the patient’s bedside. Real time laser-doppler flowmetry (LDF) and white light spectrophotometry (WLS) were used for assessment of thenar skin microperfusion, regional Hb and postcapillary venous oxygen saturation before and after forearm ischemia. Adapted Fick’s principle equations allowed for calculation of microcirculatory oxygen delivery and uptake. Patient groups with expected different microcirculatory status were compared [control (n = 20), sepsis-1/2 definition criteria identified SIRS (n = 10) and septic shock patients (n = 20), and the latter group further classified according to sepsis-3 definition criteria in sepsis (n = 10) and septic shock (n = 10)], respectively. In otherwise healthy controls, microcirculatory oxygen delivery and uptake approximately doubled after ischemia with maximum values (mDO2max and mVO2max) significantly lower in SIRS or septic patient groups, respectively. Scatter plots of mVO2max and mDO2max values defined a region of unphysiological low values not observed in control but in critically ill patients with the percentage of dots within this region being highest in septic shock patients. LDF and WLS combined with vasoocclusive testing reveals significant differences in microcirculatory oxygen delivery and uptake capacity between control and critically ill patients. As a clinically feasible technique for bedside determination of microcirculatory oxygen delivery and uptake, LDF and WLS combined with vasoocclusive testing holds promise for monitoring of disease progression and/or guidance of therapy at the microcirculatory level to be tested in further clinical trials.ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01530932.

Impacts of COVID-19 on patterns of meat and seafood consumption: evidence from Australia

PurposeIn 2020, mechanisms to limit the chain of transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Australia led to widespread restrictions on population mobility and business operations. Such conditions provide a natural experiment that may help to provide insights into consumer behaviour and future trends in food consumption. The overall objective of this study is to explore the possible impacts of COVID-19 on meat consumption patterns in Australia, both in the short and medium term, and to explore whether there have been impacts on the underlying drivers for consumption.Design/methodology/approachThe research reported in this paper analyses the impacts of COVID-19 on meat and seafood consumption in Australia, drawing on a national random survey of 1,200 participants in June 2020. Survey data on past and current consumption rates are compared to respondent estimates of their future consumption behaviour, and ordered probit models are used to identify whether consumption changes can be explained by socio-demographic, attitudinal or economic factors.FindingsTwo potential scenarios were evaluated to explore future consumption trends. The first “acceleration” scenario is that the restrictions would encourage people to speed up existing declines in meat consumption, perhaps taking more account of credence factors such as health, animal welfare and environmental issues. The second “transformation” scenario is that people will change consumption patterns, perhaps moving more towards home-cooked meals and increased consumption. Slightly stronger support was found for the transformation scenario, indicating that consumption rates for most meats and seafood will be stable or increase over the next five years.Originality/valueThis study capitalises on changed social and economic settings generated by COVID-19 to test the effects on consumption of meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb) and seafood at a national level. Ordered probit models are applied to evaluate participant data on their future intentions for meat consumption to test two scenarios, finding stronger support for the “transformative” scenario than the “accelerate” scenario.