Search results for " Planetary"
showing 10 items of 5408 documents
An energy efficiency analysis of Single Point Incremental Forming as an Approach for Sheet Metal Based Component Reuse
2020
Abstract Producing materials causes about 25% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Metals play a significant role, steel and aluminum account for 24% and 3% of worldwide material related emissions respectively. Fostering resources efficiency strategies in the field of sheet components could lead to a significant environmental impact reduction. Reshaping could be one of the most efficient strategy to foster material reuse and lower the environmental impact due to material production. Specifically, for aluminum recycling, the overall energy efficiency of conventional route is very low and, more importantly, permanent material losses occur during re-melting because of oxidation. The present pap…
Exploring relationships between grid cell size and accuracy for debris-flow susceptibility models: a test in the Giampilieri catchment (Sicily, Italy)
2016
Debris flows are among the most hazardous phenomena in nature, requiring the preparation of suscep- tibility models in order to cope with this severe threat. The aim of this research was to verify whether a grid cell-based susceptibility model was capable of predicting the debris- flow initiation sites in the Giampilieri catchment (10 km2), which was hit by a storm on the 1st October 2009, resulting in more than one thousand landslides. This kind of event is to be considered as recurrent in the area as attested by historical data. Therefore, predictive models have been prepared by using forward stepwise binary logistic regression (BLR), a landslide inventory and a set of geo- environmental …
Participación sindical y salud laboral: una relación positiva
2018
espanolDespues de casi diez anos de reduccion progresiva de los registros estadisticos de accidentes de trabajo,la confluencia entre crisis economica y reforma laboral ha provocado, desde 2013, un repunte de lasiniestralidad, paralelo al incremento de la precariedad contractual, la contraccion de las politicaspublicas y empresariales en materia de salud laboral, asi como de la reduccion de la cobertura yfunciones de la representatividad sindical. El articulo revisa la regulacion normativa y evolucionreciente del modelo espanol de prevencion de riesgos laborales, tanto fisicos como psico-sociales,indagando sobre las causas y efectos de la correlacion detectada entre sus principales indicador…
Food, health and society: the town meets the countryside
2017
It is not long time that food culture has undertaken a process of renewal started when severe food safety problems did reveal through the “food scandals”: the so called mad cow disease (BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) or the swine flu and bird flu, and other various contaminations occurred in the late 20th century. The first development in food culture, so long, was due to safety needs but was the beginning of a new consciousness about the importance of food and diet on human health. Quickly, the demand for quality food oriented itself towards qualitative – local, traditional, organic – food features. This was a great challenge and a new opportunity for agriculture: to supply valuabl…
Reconstruction of Past Dynamics of Methane-Oxidizing Bacteria in Lake Sediments Using a Quantitative PCR Method: Connecting Past Environmental Change…
2019
AbstractIn this study, a quantitative PCR (qPCR) method was applied to amplify ancient DNA (aDNA) of different methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) types in lake sediments and to reconstruct microbial community dynamics over the last 1200 years. We also used reconstructions of in-lake nutrients concentrations, air temperature fluctuations, and sedimentary organic matter dynamics to study impacts of past environmental and climatic changes on MOB community composition. DNA preservation in lake sediments is sufficient, and qPCR amplification was successfully applied to the analysis of MOB aDNA. Temporal changes in MOB community showed different patterns between lakes, and drivers of past MOB dynam…
Unity Makes Strength: A Review on Mutualistic Symbiosis in Representative Insect Clades
2019
Settled on the foundations laid by zoologists and embryologists more than a century ago, the study of symbiosis between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is an expanding field. In this review, we present several models of insect–bacteria symbioses that allow for the detangling of most known features of this distinctive way of living, using a combination of very diverse screening approaches, including molecular, microscopic, and genomic techniques. With the increasing the amount of endosymbiotic bacteria genomes available, it has been possible to develop evolutionary models explaining the changes undergone by these bacteria in their adaptation to the intracellular host environment. The establishmen…
Are Mitochondrial Fusion and Fission Impaired in Leukocytes of Type 2 Diabetic Patients?
2016
Mitochondrial fusion/fission alterations have been evaluated in different tissues of type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients. However, it is not known whether mitochondrial dynamics is disturbed in the leukocytes of T2D patients and whether glycemic control affects its regulation. Anthropometric and metabolic parameters in 91 T2D patients (48 with glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c]6.5% and 43 with HbA1c6.5%) were characteristic of the disease when compared with 78 control subjects. We observed increased reactive oxygen species production in leukocytes from diabetic patients, together with a reduced mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate, especially in poorly controlled patients. Mitochondrial fusion was red…
Modulating Oxidant Levels to Promote Healthy Aging
2020
Significance: Free radicals although originally thought of as damaging molecules, inevitable side effects of the utilization of oxygen by cells, are now considered as signals that by modifying, among others, the thiol-disulfide balance regulate many cell processes from metabolism to cell cycle. Recent Advances: This review discusses the importance of the modulation of the oxidant levels through physiological strategies such as physical exercise or genetic manipulations such as the overexpression of antioxidant enzymes, in the promotion of healthy aging. Critical Issues: We have divided the review into five different sections. In the first two sections of the article "Oxidants are signals" a…
Abundance and δ13C values of fatty acids in lacustrine surface sediments: Relationships with in-lake methane concentrations
2018
Proxy-indicators in lake sediments provide the only approach by which the dynamics of in-lake methane cycling can be examined on multi-decadal to centennial time scales. This information is necessary to constrain how lacustrine methane production, oxidation and emissions are expected to respond to global change drivers. Several of the available proxies for reconstructing methane cycle changes of lakes rely on interpreting past changes in the abundance or relevance of methane oxidizing bacteria (MOB), either directly (e.g. via analysis of bacterial lipids) or indirectly (e.g. via reconstructions of the past relevance of MOB in invertebrate diet). However, only limited information is availabl…
The Hidden Charm of Life
2019
Synthetic biology is an engineering view on biotechnology, which has revolutionized genetic engineering. The field has seen a constant development of metaphors that tend to highlight the similarities of cells with machines. I argue here that living organisms, particularly bacterial cells, are not machine-like, engineerable entities, but, instead, factory-like complex systems shaped by evolution. A change of the comparative paradigm in synthetic biology from machines to factories, from hardware to software, and from informatics to economy is discussed.