Habitat Suitability and Landscape Structure: A Maximum Entropy Approach in a Mediterranean Area

Species distribution models have recently become important tools in ecological research. Prediction of suitable habitats for threatened and endangered species is essential for the conservation and management of their native habitats. A landscape scale approach is relevant for biodiversity conservation since landscape planning and management are generally conducted at wide spatial scales, focusing on areas with complex landscape configuration as a consequence of human activities. The aims of this study were to test a maximum entropy approach (Maxent) to the development of a niche-based model for species of conservation interest and to relate this model to landscape structure metrics. The results obtained here showed a good predictive power of Maxent for the three target species and highlighted the importance of landscape structure analysis for the detection of patterns of habitat suitability. Moreover, this work stressed that combining classical environmental information with landscape structure in analysing habitat suitability for species of conservation interest may be used to guide conservation efforts and landscape management practices.     

Applications of Plasma-Activated Water in Dentistry: A Review

The activation of water by non-thermal plasma creates a liquid with active constituents referred to as plasma-activated water (PAW). Due to its active constituents, PAW may play an important role in different fields, such as agriculture, the food industry and healthcare. Plasma liquid technology has received attention in recent years due to its versatility and good potential, mainly focused on different health care purposes. This interest has extended to dentistry, since the use of a plasma–liquid technology could bring clinical advantages, compared to direct application of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas (NTAPPs). The aim of this paper is to discuss the applicability of PAW in different areas of dentistry, according to the published literature about NTAPPs and plasma–liquid technology. The direct and indirect application of NTAPPs are presented in the introduction. Posteriorly, the main reactors for generating PAW and its active constituents with a role in biomedical applications are specified, followed by a section that discusses, in detail, the use of PAW as a tool for different oral diseases.     

Metallization and Ar‐O plasma effects on dental enamel roughness evaluated with SEM and MeX™ for 3D reconstruction

The MeX? software is a useful tool for tridimensional data collection for surface evaluation and could be relevant to evaluate the same specimen in different phases of the study, assuming repeated measures of dental enamel roughness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of sample metallization for dental enamel roughness analysis with 3D images reconstructed using MeX? software from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. The influence of 74.98% (%mol/mol) argon?oxygen plasma for carbon layer removal on surface roughness of the metallized specimen was also evaluated. Dental enamel specimens were prepared for SEM analysis with and without carbon metallization using conventional or environmental modes. Argon?oxygen plasma for carbon layer removal was used and surface roughness was re‐evaluated. Roughness obtained by SEM and MeX? reconstructed images, with or without metallization, did not differ. No significant alteration on surface roughness after carbon layer removal using plasma was found. SEM baseline evaluation using conventional mode without sample preparation and in environmental mode were not comparable. Roughness of enamel 3D images reconstructed with MeX? software from SEM images, with or without metallization was similar. The 74.98% (%mol/mol) argon?oxygen plasma removed the carbon layer with no effect on enamel roughness.     

Recyclable,Flexible, Low‐Power Oxide Electronics

The ability to process and dimensionally scale field‐effect transistors with and on paper and to integrate them as a core component for low‐power‐consumption analog and digital circuits is demonstrated. Low‐temperature‐processed p‐ and n‐channel integrated oxide thin‐film transistors in the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter architecture are seamlessly layered on mechanically flexible, low‐cost, recyclable paper substrates. The possibility of building these circuits using low‐temperature processes opens the door to new applications ranging from smart labels and sensors on clothing and packaging to electronic displays printed on paper pages for use in newspapers, magazines, books, signs, and advertising billboards. Because the CMOS circuits reported constitute fundamental building blocks for analog and digital electronics, this development creates the potential to have flexible form factor computers seamlessly layered onto paper. The holistic approach of merging low‐power circuitry with a recyclable substrate is an important step towards greener electronics.     

Permeation of naproxen from saturated solutions and commercial formulations through synthetic membranes

The release of naproxen through synthetic membranes, mounted in modified Franz-type diffusion cells, was evaluated, either from saturated solutions or from commercially available topical formulations containing 10% naproxen. The results obtained showed that the porous type synthetic membranes chosen (cellulose acetate and polyethersulphone) can be used for assessing product performance in quality control procedures. The formulations interacted with the solid membranes (silicone and EVA) to change their diffusional characteristics. However, transfer in the membrane, and not the formulation was rate controlling. These membranes could not therefore be used in assessing product release performance for quality control.     

Study of polypropylene/polybutene blends modified by gamma irradiation and (high melt strength polypropylene)/polybutene blends

It is well-known that polypropylene (PP) is difficult to process as a consequence of its linear structure. It is also known that grafting of long-chain branches on PP backbone using ionizing radiation is an effective approach to achieve high melt strength polypropylene (HMS PP). Chain-scission and, in minor extend, crosslinking and grafting are the predominant reaction in order to branch PP backbone. However, if multifunctional monomers are used to promote the grafting reaction, crosslinking can surpass chain scission and grafting, reducing drawability. Therefore, in an effort to enhance the processability and so the drawability, it has been found helpful to add a small amount of polybutene-1. Gamma irradiation technique was used to induce chemical changes in blends of PP and polybutene in acetylene atmosphere (crosslinker promoter) and in HMSPP/polybutene blends. The samples were irradiated with a ⁶⁰Co source with doses of 12.5 and 20 kGy in the presence of acetylene. In this work, two different methods of blends processing were compared regarding rheological and mechanical properties. Effects on the strength and elongation at the yield point and at rupture were observed by mechanical tests and showed decrease of tensile strength and increase of elongation at rupture for samples obtained by irradiation of blends. The results from rheology demonstrated an increase in melt strength and drawability of blends.     

In vitro digestibility of phenolic compounds from edible fruits: could it be explained by chemometrics?

The health benefits of phenolic compounds depend on the ingested amount, molecular diversity and gastrointestinal digestibility. The phenolic profile of eight fruits (blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, mulberry, pomegranate, green and red globe grapes) was chemometrically associated with their in vitro digestibility (oral, gastric, intestinal). Extractable phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins strongly correlated with each other (r ≥ 0.84), proanthocyanidins with anthocyanins (r = 0.62) and hydrolysable phenols with both extractable phenols (r = 0.45) and proanthocyanidins (r = ?0.54). Two principal components explained 93% of the variance [61% (free‐phenols), 32% (bounded‐phenols)], and four clusters were confirmed by hierarchical analysis, based in their phenolic richness (CLT 1‐4: low to high) and molecular diversity. In vitro digestibility of extractable phenols and flavonoids was blackberry (CLT‐4)> raspberry (CLT‐2)> red grape (CLT‐1) related to their phenolic richness (r ≥ 0.96; P < 0.001), but anthocyanins’ digestibility was pH‐dependent. Chemometrics is useful to predict the in vitro digestibility of phenolic compounds in the assayed fruits.     

Plant oil bioconversion into increase biological activity through lipases derived from wastes

The aim of this study was to show that abundant and inexpensive plant oils can be biotransformed to increase biological activity (antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity) through hydrolysis reaction catalysed by lipases. We tested homemade and commercial lipases through the biotransformation of nine different plant oils in forty different combinations. First, the chemical composition of the samples was investigated. Thereafter, biological tests were conducted to assess the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the sampled biotransformation products, as well as analyzed their influence on the viability of healthy and cancer cells. Summarising, sunflower, corn and olive oils modified by orange waste-obtained lipases presented the most promising results, reaching up to 90% of antioxidant activity increase and significant growth inhibition of bacteria colonies belonging to genera Escherichia, Listeria, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and Salmonella. In addition, those compounds affected human oral squamous carcinoma cells. The bioconversion of plant oils through lipases improves their biological properties and might be an option for biotechnological application.     

Limnological features of Funil Reservoir (R.J., Brazil) and indicator properties of rotifers and cladocerans of the zooplankton community

Funil Reservoir receives inflow from a highly industrialized region and acts as a natural sink to pollutants. Among the consequences of the uncontrolled nutrient loading is the constant presence and periodic heavy blooms of Microcystis aeruginosa . This study verified limnological features and zooplankton assemblage of the Funil Reservoir focusing on the environmental-indicator properties of rotifers and cladocerans. The summer bloom of M. aeruginosa caused reductions in water transparency, nitrate and orthophosphate concentrations and raises in chlorophyll a , pH, dissolved oxygen and chemical oxygen demand values. All zooplankton species presented spatial and temporal variations with the exception of the copepods, which were present in all samples. According to canonical correspondence analysis, ammonium was the variable most related to zooplankton variability and different Rotifera and Cladocera assemblages indicated distinct environment conditions. Rotifer taxa associated with increases of water temperature and chlorophyll a concentration were found with high densities during M. aeruginosa blooms. Species of rotifer and cladocerans are suggested as indicators that can be used to identify different physical and chemical gradients or eutrophic increases in Funil Reservoir.     

A Multi-user Receiver for Inter-Cell Interference Reduction in LTE PUCCH Signaling

In 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) systems, when no resources has been assigned in the uplink to a given user equipment (UE), the control information associated with layers 1 and 2 in the protocol stack is conveyed back to the base station through the so-called physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In PUCCH, the data streams transmitted by multiple UEs are multiplexed in the time-domain and in the frequency-domain with the aid of spreading codes. Although the spreading codes associated with UEs within the same cell can be assumed to be orthogonal, the presence of inter-cell interference (ICI) in multi-cell scenarios severely limits receiver performance. In particular, the Format 1 of PUCCH, which is associated with the transmission of hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgements (ACK/NACK) and scheduling requests, has a major impact on system performance, since an incorrectly decoded ACK/NACK message may introduce significant delay in data transmission. In this contribution, we propose a new multi-user receiver for ICI reduction in PUCCH LTE that operates both in cooperative and non-cooperative multi-cell architectures. The proposed receiver relies on a constrained tensor modeling of the received signal in PUCCH signaling, and affords an iterative joint channel estimation and symbol detection by simultaneously exploiting the energy of the data symbols and the pilot tones present in PUCCH. The formulation of the proposed algebraic receiver model incorporates symbol-basis hopping and slot-basis hopping signaling schemes, which are interference randomization techniques existing in the 3GPP specifications of LTE system. Computer simulation results show the remarkable performance gains of the proposed receiver compared to the conventional time-frequency decorrelator based receiver.