Non-Photochemical Quenching: From Light Perception to Photoprotective Gene Expression

Light is essential for photosynthesis but light levels that exceed an organism’s assimilation capacity can cause serious damage or even cell death. Plants and microalgae have developed photoprotective mechanisms collectively referred to as non-photochemical quenching to minimize such potential damage. One such mechanism is energy-dependent quenching (qE), which dissipates excess light energy as heat. Over the last 30 years, much has been learned about the molecular mechanism of qE in green algae and plants. However, the steps between light perception and qE represented a gap in our knowledge until the recent identification of light-signaling pathways that function in these processes in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In this review, we summarize the high light and UV-mediated signaling pathways for qE in Chlamydomonas. We discuss key questions remaining about the pathway from light perception to photoprotective gene expression in Chlamydomonas. We detail possible differences between green algae and plants in light-signaling mechanisms for qE and emphasize the importance of research on light-signaling mechanisms for qE in plants.

Infomapa da mineração: Cartografias e convergências temáticas

O Infomapa da Mineração: Cartografias e convergências temáticas é um esforço de sistematização de temas relevantes que compõem a questão mineral brasileira. O objetivo deste material é popularizar alguns ele­mentos que constituem a geografia da mineração no país e ampliar o debate público a partir de uma linguagem acessível que possibilite uma visão de conjunto sobre as dinâmicas da atividade mineral no Brasil. O material está dividido em quatro seções. A primeira seção apresenta a evolução dos processos minerários em todo território nacional em quatro recortes temporais. A segunda seção mostra a distri­buição das barragens de mineração segundo o dano potencial associado. A terceira seção traz a distribui­ção das minas ativas a céu aberto e as localidades com garimpo ilegal. E a quarta seção representa a densidade de conflitos no campo envolvendo a mineração. Palavras-chave: Mineração; cartografia; Brasil; conflitos. Abstract The Mining Infomap: cartographies and thematic convergences is an effort to systematize relevant subjects that make up the Brazilian mineral issue. The aim of this material is to popularize some elements that constitute the geography of mining in the country, and to broaden the public debate based on an accessible language that allows an overall view of the dynamics of mineral activity in Brazil. The material is divided into four sections. The first section presents the evolution of mining processes throughout the country in four time periods. The second section shows the distribution of mining dams according to their associated potential damage. The third section shows the distribution of active open-pit mines and the locations of illegal mining. And the fourth section represents the density of conflicts in the countryside involving mining. Keywords: Mining; cartography; Brazil; conflicts. Infomapa de la minería: Cartografías y convergencias temáticas Resumen El Infomapa de la Minería: cartografías y convergencias temáticas es un esfuerzo por sistematizar temas relevantes que componen el tema mineral brasileño. El objetivo de este material es popularizar algunos elementos que constituyen la geografía de la minería en el país y ampliar el debate público a partir de un lenguaje accesible que permita una visión global de la dinámica de la actividad minera en Brasil. El material se divide en cuatro secciones. La primera sección presenta la evolución de los procesos mineros en todo el territorio nacional en cuatro períodos de tiempo. La segunda sección muestra la distribución de las presas mineras según el daño potencial asociado. La tercera sección presenta la distribución de minas a cielo abierto activas y los lugares con minería ilegal. Y la cuarta sección representa la densidad de los conflictos rurales relacionados con la minería. Palabras clave: Minería; cartografía; Brasil; conflictos.

Endometriosis Does not Seem to Be an Influencing Factor of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in IVF / ICSI Cycles

IntroductionTo evaluate whether the incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) in pregnant women was related to endometriosis (EM), ovulation and embryo vitrification technology. MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted on the clinical data of 3674 women who were treated with IVF / ICSI in the Reproductive Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and maintained clinical pregnancy for more than 20 weeks. All pregnancies were followed up until the end of pregnancy. The follow-up consisted of recording the course of pregnancy, pregnancy complications, and basic situation of newborns.ResultsCompared with NC-FET without EM, HRT-FET without EM was found to have a higher incidence of HDP during pregnancy (2.7% V.S. 6.1%, P<0.001); however, no significant difference was found in the incidence of HDP between NC-FET and HRT-FET combined with EM (4.0% V.S. 5.7%, P>0.05). In total frozen-thawed embryo transfer (total-FET), the incidence of HDP in the HRT cycle without ovulation (HRT-FET) was observed to be higher than that in the NC cycle with ovulation (NC-FET) (2.8% V.S. 6.1%, P<0.001). In patients with EM, no significant difference was found in the incidence of HDP between fresh ET and NC-FET (1.2% V.S. 4.0%, P>0.05). ConclusionEM does not seem to have an effect on the occurrence of HDP in assisted reproductive technology. During the FET cycle, the formation of the corpus luteum may play a protective role in the occurrence and development of HDP. Potential damage to the embryo caused by cryopreservation seems to have no effect on the occurrence of HDP.

COVID-19 Impact on Media Education in Technical University

The article considers raising students' media literacy as the response to the pandemic challenges highlighting the problem of deficiency of information verifiability and the importance of raising students' critical thinking as a crucial tool in decreasing the COVID-19 pandemic potential damage. The focus of the study lies in the research what sources/genres students of technical universities resort to in getting the information concerning the pandemic, what is their ability to distinguish facts from opinions, trustworthy information from misinformation as well as what are possible differences among students of technical and humanitarian specialities in terms of media literacy. The findings of the survey of 511 students majoring in different specialities at the National Technical University of Ukraine' Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute' (after this, the official abbreviated name – Igor Sikorsky KPI) revealed a need in raising students' media literacy in terms of critically assessing information concerning the coronavirus.

Maintenance and Inspection of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Bridges: A Review of Methods

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) are materials that comprise high-strength continuous fibers and resin polymer, and the resins comprise a matrix in which the fibers are embedded. As the technique of FRP production has advanced, FRPs have attained many incomparable advantages over traditional building materials such as concrete and steel, and thus they play a significant role in the strengthening and retrofitting of concrete structures. Bridges that are built out of FRPs have been widely used in overpasses of highways, railways and streets. However, damages in FRP bridges are inevitable due to long-term static and dynamic loads. The health of these bridges is important. Here, we review the maintenance and inspection methods for FRP structures of bridges and analyze the advantages, shortcomings and costs of these methods. The results show that two categories of methods should be used sequentially. First, simple methods such as visual inspection, knock and dragging-chain methods are used to determine the potential damage, and then radiation, modal analysis and load experiments are used to determine the damage mode and degree. The application of FRP is far beyond the refurbishment, consolidation and construction of bridges, and these methods should be effective to maintain and inspect the other FRP structures.

Severity assessment of aircraft engine fan blades under airborne collision of unmanned aerial vehicles comparable to bird strike certification standards

Airborne drone collision on commercial manned aircraft has received extensive awareness due to the increasing drone operations in the restricted airspace. In addition, the bird strike certification for aircraft engines is likely to be inadequate for a drone collision with identical kinetic energy due to the difference in damage levels. Thus, it is important to understand and compare the risk between drones and bird strikes. This study aims to understand the damage severity from bird and drone strikes on the manned commercial aircraft engine. The finite element method (FEM) simulation is adopted to obtain the damage of engine fan blades under the drone collision and bird strikes at different collision positions. The Lagrangian and smoothed-particle hydrodynamics approaches are employed for the drone and bird simulations, respectively. In addition, three different drone and bird weight categories were considered in this study, namely, small, medium, and large, to investigate the effect of kinetic energy on the damage of fan blades. Results from the FEM simulation demonstrated that the damage of the engine fan blades due to drone collisions were more severe when comparing bird strikes of the same weight category. The damage severity level was proposed based on the damage of engine fan blades. In the event of a drone ingestion, the damage severity level assists in the identification of potential damage to engine fan blades and its performance.