Environmental Effect Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Groundwater

Total concentrations of formate, acetate, and isobutyrate varied from less than 5 to greater than 9,000 μmol/l over distances of < 3 m in ground water from a shallow hydrocarbon contaminated aquifer. Laboratory incubations of aquifer material indicate that organic acid concentrations were dependent on the amount of hydrocarbon loading in the sediment and the relative rates of microbial organic acid production and consumption. In heavily contaminated sediments, production greatly exceeded consumption and organic acid concentrations increased. In lightly contaminated sediments rates were essentially equal and organic acid concentrations remained low. Concentrations of dissolved calcium, magnesium, and iron generally were one to two orders of magnitude higher in organic acid‐rich ground water than in ground water having low organic acid concentrations. Carbonate and Fe(III)‐oxyhydroxide minerals were the likely sources of these elements. Similarly, concentrations of dissolved silica...

2025, Renewable Hydropower Technologies

Failure analysis of the blades of a horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine of 1 kW is presented. Analysis consisted of the determination of the pressure on the blade surface using Computational Fluid Dynamics, and the calculation of the stress distribution in the blade due to hydrodynamic, inertial and gravitational loads using the finite element methods. The results indicate that the blade undergoes significant vibration and deflection during the operation, and the centrifugal and hydrodynamic loads considerably affect the structural response of the blade; however, the stresses produced in all of the analysed models did not exceed the safe working stresses of the materials used to manufacture the blade. Modal analysis was conducted to calculate first significant natural frequencies. Results were studied in depth against operating frequency of the turbine. After carrying out the modal analysis, harmonic analysis was also done to see the response of the turbine under dynamic loading. It was observed that the turbine is safe in its entire operating range as far as phenomenon of resonance is concerned. Additionally, it was observed that maximum harmonic response of the turbine on the application of dynamic loading is far lesser than its failure limit within the specified operating range.

2025, Archiva Zootechnica

The present work was planned to test the effects of 2 protein-oil rich ingredients which replaced an important part of classical soybean meal, on nitrogen (N) metabolism indicators. Simultaneous we aimed to assess performances, enteric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted through manure. A balance test was conducted with 15 barrows, 36 ± 0.24 Kg initial body weight, assigned in three groups in metabolism cages: 1. SC diet based on a classical diet (soybean meal, 13%); 2. SP diet based on peas Tudor variety 16% that replace 49% of SM; 3. SPF diet containing 8% soybean meal, 12% peas and 4% linseed Lirina variety. Faecal and urine were quantitatively collected in two balance periods. A semiautomatic Kjeldahl method was used for assessing the N. The Spotchem EZ SP-4430 was used for determining plasma protein and urea nitrogen (BUN). The regression equations were used to determine N metabolism indicators, CO2 emitted and enteric CH4. An increase of 1.16 times of feed intake wa...

2025, Congenital Anomalies

2025, Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research

The increasing demand for sustainable construction materials has driven researchers to explore environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional concrete. This study aims to investigate the dual role of fly ash and chemical accelerators in enhancing both the strength and sustainability of concrete. The research focuses on optimizing the compressive strength of concrete by replacing 50% of cement with fly ash and incorporating various dosages of superplasticizers and accelerators. Compressive strength tests were performed after 18 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, and 28 days to assess early and long-term strength performance. Additionally, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to assess the environmental impact of using fly ash in concrete production. The results show that all concrete variants achieved high early strength, with compressive strength values ranging from 32 MPa to 68 MPa within 24 hours, meeting the criteria for high early strength concrete. LCA analysis indicates that fly ash utilization significantly reduces the carbon footprint of concrete by reducing cement consumption. This research recommends the adoption of fly ash-based concrete with appropriate chemical additives as a sustainable solution to reduce environmental impacts in the construction industry while maintaining the required structural performance.

2025, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

The biostratigraphically constrained Permo-Triassic Emeishan Volcanic Province (EVP), extending over wide areas in southwest China, has been recently considered as a Large Igneous Province contemporaneous with the Siberian Traps and the siliceous tuffs at the P±T boundary in South China. We report the ®rst 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages on this igneous province. Minimum ages have been obtained on phenocrystic plagioclase of the Emeishan basalt, which has undergone a pervasive metamorphism, most likely during subsequent tectonization as a consequence of terrane amalgamation. Comparison between the Ar-release spectra obtained on clear vs. cloudy plagioclase indicates a 40± 30 Ma sericite resetting time. A minimum apparent age of 246 ^4 Ma for plagioclase from a plagiogranite, a late-differentiate of the Panzhihua Layered Complex, and an age of 254 ^5 Ma for phlogopite from a pyroxenite near Lake Erhai, provide the ®rst absolute age constraint on this igneous province. Additional Ar±Ar age measurements on post-Emeishan alkaline and ma®c magmatism yielded 104 ^2 and 100 ^2 Ma for an alkaline complex near Panzhihua, and 42 ^1 Ma for a gabbro sill emplaced near the Ertan Dam. Further study is still needed to determine the age of the Emeishan volcanic emission accurately, and to test the validity of the assumed short duration of the eruption.

2025, Proceedings of the 2nd Annual International Conference on Material, Machines and Methods for Sustainable Development (MMMS2020)

2025, OCEANS 2018 MTS/IEEE Charleston

The US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) MacroAlgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Research (MARINER) program is encouraging technologies for the sustainable harvest of large funding research of macroalgae for biofuels at less than $80 per dry metric ton (DMT). The Ocean Forests team, led by the University of Southern Mississippi, is developing a complete managed ecosystem where nutrients are transformed and recycled. The team's designs address major bottlenecks in profitability of offshore aquaculture systems including economical moored structures that can withstand storms, efficient planting, managing and harvesting systems, and sustainable nutrient supply. The work is inspired by Lapointe [1] who reported yields of Gracilaria tikvahiae equivalent to 127 DMT per hectare per year (compared with standard aquaculture systems in the range of 20 to 40 DMT/ha/yr). This approach offers the potential for breakthrough yields for many macroalgae s...

2025, RePEc: Research Papers in Economics

Public voluntary programs" (PVPs) involve government offers of positive publicity and technical assistance to firms that reach certain environmental goals. A growing body of empirical evidence suggests these programs often have little impact on the behavior of their participants. A natural policy conclusion would be to eliminate these programs, but this paper offers several reasons not to jump to such a conclusion. We first present a political-economic framework in which PVPs are viewed as modest subsidies used when political opposition makes stronger environmental regulation infeasible. We then explore the design of PVPs in detail, showing how PVPs can potentially enhance the diffusion of cost-effective techniques for pollution abatement, so long as the information involved is not competitively sensitive. Identifying the effects of PVPs econometrically is difficult because information is likely to diffuse to non-participants. Thus, after the early phases of even a successful PVP, it may well be impossible to detect a difference in performance between participants and non-participants.

2025, Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research, Volume 44 Issue 3 (June 2025)

Background: Oats provide a tough challenge to miller, consists of rigid outer covering called hull that comprises 30-35% of the weight of the oat grain. Hull composed of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin which are inedible and not digested by humans and should be separated from oats. The study would enhance the utilization of this nutritional cereal to daily diets, as the processing of oats has not yet been exploited much at rural level in India. Methods: The present investigation was aimed at optimizing the dehulling process to enhance recovery of oat groats. The best combination of dehulling parameters was obtained with response surface methodology (RSM) using Box-Behnken design. The independent process variables for dehulling of oats were moisture content (8-14%), feed rate (6-12 kg/h) and number of passes (2-4). Result: Seventeen experimental runs in triplicate were conducted to obtain optimal condition moisture content: 10.62% (wb), feed rate: 7.57 kg/h and repetitive passes: 4 with dehulling efficiency of 65.79%, groat recovery 47.16% and broken percent 14.42% respectively. An analysis of variance (ANNOVA) revealed that the process variables, dehulling efficiency, groat recovery and broken percent decreased significantly (p<0.05) with the increase in moisture content, feed rate and number of passes respectively.

2025, Livestock Production Science

Growth and feed efficiency traits in broilers were analysed to detect QTLs. Data was from 10 families of a cross between two broiler lines in a three generation design. The first two generations consisted of full sib animals, which were genotyped. The third generation consisted of half sibs, which were used to obtain observations. These observations were used to calculate trait values for animals in the second generation. Difference in variance of observations on both sexes was taken into account by standardising. A whole genome scan was performed using a linkage map consisting of 368 microsatellite markers on 24 autosomal linkage groups. QTL detection was done with an across family weighted regression interval mapping approach. The most likely position for a QTL affecting feed consumption and body weight at 48 days was found on chromosome I at 234-240 cM. A permutation test indicated a genomewise significance level of this QTL for feed consumption of 4 % .

2025, Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia Psychologica

U dzieci narażonych na szkodliwe działanie alkoholu w okresie prenatalnym często po urodzeniu występują różnego rodzaju zaburzenia. W wyniku teratogennego wpływu alkoholu wypijanego przez matkę w czasie ciąży przebieg rozwoju różnych kompetencji u dziecka jest zaburzony. Jedną z bardzo istotnych dla prawidłowego funkcjonowania społecznego jest teoria umysłu. Niniejszy artykuł prezentuje przegląd aktualnych wyników badań naukowych poświęconych występującym u dzieci z FASD deficytom w rozwoju teorii umysłu. Opracowany przegląd nie pozwala na wyprowadzenie spójnego modelu istniejącego związku, gdyż opublikowane w literaturze badania są nieliczne i mają pewne ograniczenia. Zatem postuluje się dalsze badania nad deficytami w rozwoju teorii umysłu występującymi u dzieci z FASD w kontekście modelu opracowanego przez Barona-Cohena, których wstępny projekt został zarysowany.

2025, Italian Journal of Animal Science

The buffalo population in Brazil increased about 12.9% between 1998 and 2003, to 2.8 million head, evidencing the importance of this species for the country. The objective this work was evaluation of animal growth using multivariate analysis. The data were from 2,944 water buffalo from 10 herds raised in pasture conditions in Brazil. Principal components and genetic distances were estimated using proc PRINCOMP and proc CANDISC in SAS (SAS Inst. Inc. Cary, NC, USA). Variables analyzed were birth weight (BW), age at weaning (AW), weaning weight (WT), weight adjusted to 205 d (W205), total gain between BW and WT (TG), daily gain between BW and WT (DG), weight adjusted to 365 d (W365), total gain between WT and W365 (TG3), daily gain between WT and W365 (TGD3), weight adjusted to 550 d (W550) and weight adjusted to 730 d (W730). Means and standard deviations for each variable were 39.

2025

2-D-resistivity modeling of the data from the latest MT survey undertaken in 2007 was used to map a shallow resistivity anomaly located east of Pad E and west of the young lava domes of the Post-caldera Kasra Volcanic Formation. The anomaly is postulated to represent the possible upflow region of the NW Sabalan geothermal field. The interface between the conductive layer and the underlying higher resistivity body lies beneath Moil Valley at an elevation of ~2000 m asl and shoals toward the southeast. It is shallowest east of Pad E at an elevation of ~2500 m asl. This interface coincides with the base of the smectite zone in Wells NWS-1 and NWS-4, where temperatures exceeding 180oC were measured. It is inferred that elevated temperatures most likely exceeding 240oC could be encountered beneath the shallowest part of the interface of the conductive and the high resistivity layers. The general NW trend of the resistivity anomaly at a depth of 800 m and elevations of 2300 m asl and 260...

2025, Science

ratio but lnajor changes in the relative intensities of the (loo), ( ), and (300) reflections, which suggests a different space group (1 1). The observed unit cell parametersoat 7.9 GPa are a = 5.30; (2), c = 8.

2025, unige.ch

PLEA2006 - The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006 ... FAUUSP, São Paulo, Brazil: an icon of Brazilian ... Joana Carla Gonçalves, Patrícia Sanches and Rodrigo Cavalcante ...... more

2025, Precision Agriculture

When insect population density varies within the same cotton field, estimation of abundance is difficult. Multiple population densities of the same species occur because cotton fields (due to edaphic and environmental effects) are apportioned into various habitats that are colonized at different rates. These various habitats differ temporally in their spatial distributions, exhibiting varying patterns of interspersion, shape and size. Therefore, when sampling multiple population densities without considering the influence of habitat structure, the estimated population mean represents a summary of diverse population distributions having different means and variances. This single estimate of mean abundance can lead to pest management decisions that are incorrect because it may over-or under-estimate pest density in different areas of the field. Delineation of habitat classes is essential in order to make local control decisions. Within large commercial cotton fields, it is too laborious for observers on the ground to map habitat boundaries, but remote sensing can efficiently create geo-referenced, stratified maps of cotton field habitats. By employing these maps, a simple random sampling design and larger sample unit sizes, it is possible to estimate pest abundance in each habitat without large numbers of samples. Estimates of pest abundance by habitat, when supplemented with ecological precepts and consultant/producer experience, provide the basis for spatial approaches to pest control. Using small sample sizes, the integrated sampling methodology maps the spatial abundance of a cotton insect pest across several large cotton fields.

2025, Journal of Dairy Science

Test-day milk yields of first-lactation Black and White cows were used to select the model for routine genetic evaluation of dairy cattle in Poland. The population of Polish Black and White cows is characterized by small herd size, low level of production, and relatively early peak of lactation. Several random regression models for first-lactation milk yield were initially compared using the "percentage of squared bias" criterion and the correlations between true and predicted breeding values. Models with random herd-test-date effects, fixed age-season and herd-year curves, and random additive genetic and permanent environmental curves (Legendre polynomials of different orders were used for all regressions) were chosen for further studies. Additional comparisons included analyses of the residuals and shapes of variance curves in days in milk. The low production level and early peak of lactation of the breed required the use of Legendre polynomials of order 5 to describe age-season lactation curves. For the other curves, Legendre polynomials of order 3 satisfactorily described daily milk yield variation. Fitting third-order polynomials for the permanent environmental effect made it possible to adequately account for heterogeneous residual variance at different stages of lactation.

2025

Polymeric materials are more and more solicited for industrial applications than metals essentially for acceptable strength, durability, maintenance techniques and cost reasons. However, both resistance to degradation and maintenance issues, forced to establish high performance polyethylene (PE) resins to be used in many aggressive environments. The environmental stress cracking (ESC) phenomenon occurs when PE is subjected to stresses in the presence of unavoidable adverse chemical conditions. Parameters such as time-to-failure and long-term brittle-like failure of PE pipes present several similarities in relation to ESC and slow crack growth (SCG) phenomenon. This study presents some results of the interaction between crude oil (CO) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe surfaces (outer and inner layers). It is found that more liquid is absorbed by the outer pipe surface than the inner one. After 7 days exposure to CO, the elasticity modulus is reduced by more than 76%. While mo...

2025

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

2025

Globally, railway is experiencing a major technology transformation (or paradigm shift), triggered by the enhanced utilisation of digital technology. This technological transformation affects not o ...

2025, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering

2025, PubMed

Background: The seminal plasma is an excellent source for noninvasive detection of spermatogenesis. The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed for detection of spermatogenesis. Methods: Optical spectroscopy (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) has been used to analyze the seminal plasma and the metabolome of seminal plasma for detection of spermatogenesis. Results: The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed by ATR-IR. The results show that there is a pattern variation in the azoospermic men compared to normospermic men. However, the seminal plasma is too complex to show significant pattern variation. Therefore, the metabolome which is a subcomponent of the seminal plasma was analyzed. The seminal plasma metabolome of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed by FT-IR. A significant pattern change was observed. The data combined with chemometrics analysis showed that significant changes are observed at metabolome level. Conclusion: We suggest that FT-IR has the potential as a diagnostic tool instead of testicular biopsy.

2025, Avicenna journal of medical biotechnology

The seminal plasma is an excellent source for noninvasive detection of spermatogenesis. The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed for detection of spermatogenesis. Optical spectroscopy (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) has been used to analyze the seminal plasma and the metabolome of seminal plasma for detection of spermatogenesis. The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed by ATR-IR. The results show that there is a pattern variation in the azoospermic men compared to normospermic men. However, the seminal plasma is too complex to show significant pattern variation. Therefore, the metabolome which is a subcomponent of the seminal plasma was analyzed. The seminal plasma metabolome of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed by FT-IR. A significant pattern change was observed. The data combined with chemometrics analysis showed that sig...

2025, Trends in Plant Science

2025

An evidence-based review of the potential impact that the introduction of genetically-modified (GM) cereal and oilseed crops could have for the UK was carried out. The inter-disciplinary research project addressed the key research questions using scenarios for the uptake, or not, of GM technologies. This was followed by an extensive literature review, stakeholder consultation and financial modelling. The world area of canola, oilseed rape (OSR) low in both erucic acid in the oil and glucosinolates in the meal, was 34M ha in 2012 of which 27% was GM; Canada is the lead producer but it is also grown in the USA, Australia and Chile. Farm level effects of adopting GM OSR include: lower production costs; higher yields and profits; and ease of farm management. Growing GM OSR instead of conventional OSR reduces both herbicide usage and environmental impact. Some 170M ha of maize was grown in the world in 2011 of which 28% was GM; the main producers are the USA, China and Brazil. Spain is t...

2025, Journal of emerging technologies and innovative research

The river water in India is the most essential source of water supply to all the society and also for wild life. The river water have extreme role in the lives of community and wild life. The interlinking of tubewell involving water transfer through the one to another tubewells. The core objective of the paper is to study” UNDERGROUND INTERLINKING OF TUBEWELL’S in India. So as to avoid the scarcity of water,avoid the water losses through the evaporation and reducing salination of water .The interlinking of tubewell is the project aims to join the different villages ,citys to under the aim to fulfill the requirement of water. Interlinking of tubewell is the way to solve the problem of scarcity of water. IndexTerms – Interlinking, Tubewells, Soil erosion

2025

ix 11. Results: Net Value of Investment and Rates of Investment Return 11.1 Whole-industry benefit 11.2 Benefits to producers and consumers 11.3 Attribution of benefits by type and source of investment 11.4 Relationship to previous research 12. Limitations of the Analysis 12.1 Definition of genetics investments by agencies 12.2 Potential for other areas of benefit 12.3 Attributing benefits to sources of investment 12.4 Retrospective nature of the analysis 13. Future R&D Investment 14. Summary and Conclusion v References Appendix 1 Acronyms and Abbreviations Used in the Report ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics ABRI Agricultural Business Research Institute ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics AGBU Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit ARCBA Australian Registered Cattle Breeds Association Benefit Cost Analysis. An economic approach to assessing the expected returns from an R&D investment where discounted benefits are compared with discounted costs. This can be either ex ante (looking forward at proposed investments) or ex post (looking backward at past investments). Benefit Cost Ratio. The sum of discounted benefits divided by the sum of discounted costs. A value greater than 1.0 suggests a profitable investment. A decision support system developed by NSW Agriculture for southern beef production systems which combines herd dynamics, pasture availability and gross margin budgets. Cooperative Research Centre for the Cattle and Beef Industry The proportional change in the quantity demanded for a given change in the relevant price. Usually negative. Eg, "an own-price beef demand elasticity" of -1.0 means that a 1% increase in the price of beef induces a 1% decrease in the demand for beef over the relevant period of adjustment. Values greater than -1 in absolute value are called "elastic" and imply high responsiveness to price; values less than -1 in absolute value are called "inelastic" and imply low responsiveness to price. The process of adjusting expected future costs and benefits to values at a common point in time (typically the present). The opposite is compounding, which is the process of adjusting past costs and benefits to values at a common point in time. These processes recognise that dollars at different points in time are not of the same value. Dry matter viii DSE Dry Sheep Equivalent EBV Estimated Breeding Value EDM Equilibrium Displacement Model. A synthetic approach to modelling changes in prices and quantities of beef, say from an R&D investment, where the model parameters are chosen from published results and theoretical considerations rather than being directly estimated from actual data.

2025, International Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology

We established the minimum number of cattle for commercializing electricity from the cattle waste-to-energy technology. By optimizing the cattle waste-to-energy technology for the various number of cattle, the minimum number of cattle was discovered. The number of cattle for commercializing electricity from cattle waste-to-energy technology is 60 dairy cows subject to co-digestion of manure and food waste, and the inclusion of a screw press. When digesting manure only, the minimum number of cattle is 130 cows

2025, CORROSION 2000

The US Department of Energy has been charged with assessing the suitability of a geologic nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain (YM), NV. Microorganisms, both those endogenous to the repository site and those introduced as a result... more

2025, Papua Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations

This article aims to examine the impact of plastic waste and the expansion of Jayapura city on the people of Enggros village from a green theory perspective. This perspective, which is often considered one of the counter standpoints in international relations, puts forward an environmentally-grounded perspective from the traditional focus on humans. This study adopted descriptive-qualitative analysis as well as library research methods to collect data.

2025, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

The introduction of anthropogenic sounds into the marine environment can impact some marine mammals. Impacts can be greatly reduced if appropriate mitigation measures and monitoring are implemented. This paper concerns such measures undertaken by Exxon Neftegas Limited, as operator of the Sakhalin-1 Consortium, during the Odoptu 3-D seismic survey conducted during 17 August-9 Sep-tember 2001. The key environmental issue was protection of the critically endangered western gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), which feeds in summer and fall primarily in the Piltun feeding area off northeast Sakhalin Island. Existing mitigation and monitoring practices for seismic surveys in other jurisdictions were evaluated to identify best practices for reducing impacts on feeding activity by western

2025, Theoretical Chemistry Accounts: Theory, Computation, and Modeling (Theoretica Chimica Acta)

A recently developed implicit solvation model is applied to Monte Carlo simulations of peptides in bilayer-mimetic and polar environments. The model employs the formalism of atomic solvation parameters and reproduces experimental data. Solvent eects on the structure of the following peptides were studied: 20-residue poly-Leu and poly-Val, transmembrane helix A of bacteriorhodopsin, magainin2. It was shown that a membrane-like environment considerably promotes a-helix formation (all the peptides were found to be ahelical), while simulations in water reveal helix distortion. Consistency of the results with experimental data and further implications of the model are discussed.

2025, FAO eBooks

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

2025, Health Care Management Science

This paper describes the efficiency of Dutch hospitals using the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In particular the analysis focuses on explaining cost inefficiency measures due to each hospital's operating environment. In previous works, the resulting DEA score is regressed on environmental factors via a Tobit approach. Previously, these approaches have been used (Simar and Wilson, J Prod Anal 7(1):63-80, 2000) but later these authors (Simar and Wilson 2007) demonstrated that bias is incurred since the efficiency score is a point estimate without a probability distribution around it that is required by the Tobit methodology. In this paper we use the Simar and Wilson bootstrapping techniques in order to obtain more efficient estimates of the environmental effects. It is shown that differences in estimated effects exist between the non-bootstrapped and bootstrapped models.

2025, Translational Psychiatry

Childhood maltreatment, through epigenetic modification of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1), influences the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis). We investigated whether childhood maltreatment and its severity were associated with increased methylation of the exon 1 F NR3C1 promoter, in 101 borderline personality disorder (BPD) and 99 major depressive disorder (MDD) subjects with, respectively, a high and low rate of childhood maltreatment, and 15 MDD subjects with comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Childhood sexual abuse, its severity and the number of type of maltreatments positively correlated with NR3C1 methylation (P ¼ 6.16 Â 10 À8 , 5.18 Â 10 À7 and 1.25 Â 10 À9 , respectively). In BPD, repetition of abuses and sexual abuse with penetration correlated with a higher methylation percentage. Peripheral blood might therefore serve as a proxy for environmental effects on epigenetic processes. These findings suggest that early life events may permanently impact on the HPA axis though epigenetic modifications of the NR3C1. This is a mechanism by which childhood maltreatment may lead to adulthood psychopathology.

2025

In this study, ASPIC (A Stock-Production Model Incorporating Covariates) was applied to assess the stock status of yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean (1972-2012). Using ASPIC results, we compared those of MFCL and ASPM which were conducted in 2012. Results (Kobe plot I; stock tracjectory) suggested that ASPIC and ASPM showed the similar pattern. (NB) ASPIC results for this time should not be used for any management advices as it is conducted just to compare results among MFCL, ASPM and ASPIC.

2025

The Taiwanese Indian longline (LL) fishery usually catches albacore tuna (ALB), swordfish (SWO), and yellowfin tuna (YFT) using the regular or shallow lines, on the contrary, bigeye tuna (BET) using the deep lines. It is important separating the different gear's LL data to respond the precise fishing behavior. Based on the daily set-by-set Taiwanese LL catch and effort data including the number of hooks per basket (HPB) information from 1995-99 in the Indian Ocean, this study develops a simple and robust method to separate the Taiwanese regular and deep LL data in 1979-99. Firstly, we defined the regular LL if HPB <=10, while the deep LL if HPB => 11. Then we create four Bet ratios: BET ratio (1) = BET / (BET+YFT); BET ratio (2) = BET / (BET+YFT+SWO); BET ratio (3) = BET / (BET+ALB); and BET ratio (4) = BET / (BET+ALB+SWO). The yearly average of BET ratios (1) and (2) did not concentrate. That is it was difficult to separate the Taiwanese regular and deep LL using these tw...

2025, Evelyn Daisy

In today's highly interconnected and performance-sensitive engineering ecosystems, ensuring optimal availability and reliability in Distributed Repairable Systems (DRSs) has emerged as a fundamental challenge. These systems, characterized by their geographically dispersed structure, multi-state components, and constrained repair capacities, often operate under highly variable conditions. Downtime or degraded performance in one subsystem can lead to ripple effects across the entire system, emphasizing the need for robust design and maintenance strategies. Redundancy allocation-strategically adding backup components-is a proven method to improve system reliability. However, conventional redundancy allocation models often address a single objective, such as maximizing availability or minimizing cost, overlooking the complexity of real-world constraints and the need to balance multiple performance criteria simultaneously.

2025, Naturwissenschaften

In species with widespread distribution, populations found in markedly different environments can show differences in developmental traits. This, in time, can have an effect on reproductive success. Sources of variation in developmental traits can be genetic or environmentally induced. I examined the relationship between environmental and genetic influences on juvenile development in populations of the colonial spider, Parawixia bistriata, located at sites with different moisture regimes and associated environmental variables (e.g., prey availability). It was expected that individuals from different populations would show differences in developmental traits and that those differences will be associated with lower reproductive success at dry sites. I recorded the phenology and developmental traits of native and transplanted individuals in the field and estimated reproductive success based on clutch size. Colonies from wet versus dry sites showed different phenologies, with individuals at dry sites maturing later. Transplant results suggest plasticity in instar duration caused by environmental effects. Despite differences in resources and spider phenology, clutch sizes of native dry and wet populations were similar. Transplanted individuals, however, were differentially affected. Transplants from wet to dry sites (WD) showed lower growth rates and smaller clutches, whereas transplants from dry to wet sites had larger clutch sizes than in native habitat. Delayed maturation and failure to reproduce in WD individuals is associated with a lower tendency to capture prey in groups and less aggressive interactions during prey capture. Thus, despite negative environmental effects on development, dry native individuals have evolved non-developmental traits that allow successful reproduction.

2025, Naturwissenschaften

2025

This study aims to gain insight into the psychological factors which influence willingness- to-pay for public health policies. By replicating Savage (1993) with a few key changes, this paper studies the impact of perceived risk characteristics on valuations of health policies mitigating risks with varying qualities, focusing on perceptions of controllability and voluntariness of risks. The study follows a detailed pre-registered plan for data collection and analysis, conducting a survey of 746 individuals on perceived risk characteristics of 4 different hazards and willingness-to-pay for health policies to mitigate them. The results of the pre-registered analysis confirm the hy- pothesis that individuals have a lower willingness-to-pay to mitigate risks considered to be more controllable. The results of an exploratory analysis show that self-interest is the largest single factor in determining willingness-to-pay and find that, of the risk characteristics included in the survey, perceptions of voluntariness and controllability exhibit the lowest level of consensus among the surveyed population. These results have implications for how to craft politically vi- able environmental policy and public health programs addressing substance dependency, namely the opioid epidemic in the United States. Results highlight the importance of informational campaigns informing individuals within a population about the characteristics of health risks the population faces as well as individuals’ personal exposure to these risks, in order to enable efficient policy.

2025, Zoodiversity

The shell
coloration was studied in more than three thousand adults of the grove snail, Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus,
1758), from 15 colonies discovered in 2019–2020 in Lviv City and in the immediate vicinity of its southern
administrative border (Zubra village). In most colonies, relatively light phenotypes prevailed: most
oft en P00000, less oft en Y00000 or Y00300. In total, more than a third of the collected specimens had the
phenotype P00000. Great variability of the phenotypic and genetic structure of this introduced species in
the study area was demonstrated, which usually does not have a clear connection with the locations of
colonies or with the shading of habitats. Th is may be due to both random factors (founder eff ect, gene drift
in recently formed colonies), and the relative youth of the colonies. In the future, the obtained data can be
used to monitor possible long-term changes in the phenotypic composition of the investigated colonies
to assess the potential eff ect of selective factors on this composition, fi rst of all, climatic selection outside
the natural range of C. nemoralis.

2025

The focus of research effort described here is to develop novel simulation tools to address design and optimization needs in the general class of problems that involve species and fluid (liquid and gas phases) transport through sieving media. This was primarily motivated by the heightened attention on Chem/Bio early detection systems, which among other needs, have a need for high efficiency filtration, collection and sample preparation systems. Hence, the said goal was to develop the computational analysis tools necessary to optimize these critical operations. This new capability is designed to characterize system efficiencies based on the details of the microstructure and environmental effects. To accomplish this, new lattice Boltzmann simulation capabilities where developed to include detailed microstructure descriptions, the relevant surface forces that mediate species capture and release, and temperature effects for both liquid and gas phase systems. While developing the capability, actual demonstration and model systems (and subsystems) of national and programmatic interest were targeted to demonstrate the capability. As a result, where possible, experimental verification of the computational capability was performed either directly using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry or published results.

2025, Ecological Economics

A systematic framework of indicators for sustainability is presented. In our approach there is an emphasis on societal activities that affect nature and on the internal societal resource use, as opposed to environmental quality indicators. In this way the indicators may give a warning signal to an unsustainable use of resources early in the chain from causes in societal activities to environmental effects. The aim is that these socio-ecological indicators shall serve as a tool in planning and decision-making processes at various administrative levels in society. The formulation of the indicators is made with respect to four principles of sustainability, which lead to four complementary sets of indicators. The first deals with the societal use of lithospheric material. The second deals with emissions of compounds produced in society. The third set of indicators concerns societal manipulation of nature and the long-term productivity of ecosystems. Finally, the fourth set deals with the efficiency of the internal societal resource use, which includes indicators for a just distribution of resources.

2025

Serious degradation is experienced by the external surfaces of spacecraft that operate in low earth orbits for extended periods of time, as a result of the ablative effects of atmospheric atomic oxygen, possibly catalyzed by solar ultraviolet radiation. Improved base materials and surface coatings are being developed by government, university and industry teams to combat the effects of this degradation. A small spacecraft and a suite of associated instruments, designed to measure the performance of improved, atomic-oxygen-resistant materials and coatings in orbit and to telemeter the resulting data and video images to earth at intervals during a one-year mission, have been described in a definition study sponsored by the Langley Research Center under NASA's In-Space Technology Experiments Program. Instruments selected for use in this miniature orbiting laboratory include a radio frequency mass spectrometer, a set of quartz crystal microbalances, a set of osmium-based atomic oxygen sensors, a scatterometer, a set of osmium actinometers and a scanning optical microscope. The design of these instruments and their use in the overall experiment are summarized in this paper.