The uncontrolled introduction into the environment of plastic polymers have caused the dispersion of plastic fragments, known as Microplastics (MPs), that represent an important topic for public ...health. This study was the first to investigate the cause of the release of MPs in mineral waters and to estimate the concentration of MPs smaller than 10 μm both in number of particles and in mass unit. This study was carried out using a patent method regarding the extraction and analysis of MPs in more kind of matrix. Therefore, aims of this study were a) to assess the number of MPs with diameters of between 0.5 and 10 μm in mineral waters contained in plastic bottles, b) to evaluate if the physical-chemical properties of mineral waters and bottle quality could influence the release of MPs and, finally, c) to estimate the human daily exposure to MPs due to mineral water consumption.
The Mps were found in every sample. The main concentration of MPs was 656.8 μg/L ± 632.9 or 5.42E+07 p/L ± 1.95E+07. The main diameter of detected MPs was 2.44 μm ± 0.66 (where p/L, where p was the number of MPs). The Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) for adults and children were 1,531,524 p/kg/body-weight/day corresponding to 40.1 μg/kg/body-weight/day and 3,350,208 p/kg/body-weight/day corresponding to 87.8 μg/kg/body-weight/day, respectively.
The number of MPs contamination in bottled mineral waters was strongly correlated to the pH of waters and to plastic density of bottle. Otherwise, micrograms of MPs per liter and the MPs diameters were strongly affected by plastic thickness. The most mineral water brand contaminated by MPs was the one whose bottles were made from poor quality plastic.
In absence of reference values, it was no possible carried out a risk assessment for MPs exposure. It is fundamental to establish the reference method of analysis to monitoring every source of human intake.
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•New patent method of extraction and analysis of Microplastics.•Estimation of the concentration of Microplastics smaller than 10 μm both in number of particles and in mass unit.•Influence of physical-chemical properties of mineral waters and bottle quality on release of Microplastics.•Estimated Daily Intake of Microplastics for adults and children.
This brief presents a novel charge pump suitable to work under very-low-voltage supply. The circuit exploits a novel charge transfer switch made up by the combination of a NMOS and a PMOS transistor ...whose gates are connected to internal nodes of the charge pump to enhance overdrive voltage. This solution allows working with supply voltage values lower that the MOS threshold voltage. Post layout simulation results using a 65-nm CMOS standard technology show the effectiveness of the proposed solution and its advantage as compared to a traditional latched charge pump in terms of high current driving range, power efficiency and speed.
In this work, we identified the trail pheromone of the ant Crematogaster scutellaris. We combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of extracts from the hind tibia, the location of the ...respective glands, with automated trail following assays. The study found tridecan-2-ol to be the strongest discriminator between hind tibia and other body part extracts. Tridecan-2-ol elicited trail-following behaviour at concentrations of 1 ng/µL. A separation of the enantiomers showed responses to (R)-tridecan-2-ol already at 0.001 ng/µL and only at a 1000-fold higher concentration for (S)-tridecan-2-ol, suggesting that only the R enantiomer is used by C. scutellaris in its natural environment. We also found strong behavioural responses to 2-dodecanol, a substance that was not detectable in the hind tibia extract of C. scutellaris, but which has been reported to be the trail pheromone of the related species C. castanea. We discuss the contribution of these results to the 'dissection and reconstruction' of strategies and mechanisms underlying the social organization of ants.
In this brief an improved Dickson charge pump (DCP) topology exploiting a clock boosting is presented. An accurate while simple theoretical model for the dynamic behavior of the charge pump is ...carried out. Analytical comparison with the traditional DCP reveals that the proposed solution can achieve a rise time or area reduction between 10% and 60% at the cost of a slight circuit complexity. Finally, simulation results using a 65-nm CMOS technology show the accuracy of the analytical model as well as the advantages of the proposed solution.
Much research has revealed the human visual system is capable to estimate numerical quantities, rapidly and reliably, in both the spatial and the temporal domain. This ability is highly susceptible ...to short-term plastic phenomena related to previous exposure to visual numerical information (i.e., adaptation). However, while determinants of spatial numerosity adaptation have been widely investigated, little is known about the neural underpinnings of short-term plastic phenomena related to the encoding of temporal numerical information. In the present study we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of temporal numerosity adaptation.
Participants were asked to estimate the numerosity of a test sequence of flashes after being exposed to either a high or low numerous adapting sequence. Behavioral results confirmed the expected underestimation of test stimulus when this was preceded by a high numerous sequence as compared to when preceded by a low numerous sequence.
Electrophysiological data revealed that this behavior was tightly linked to the amplitude of the steady-state visual evoked (ssVEP) response elicited by the test stimulus. When preceded by a high numerous sequence, the test stimulus elicited larger ssVEP responses as compared to when preceded by a low numerous sequence with this pattern being robustly correlated with behavior. Finally, topographical maps showed that this difference was mostly evident across two antero-posterior distributed clusters of electrodes and correlated with changes in functional connectivity.
Taken together, our results suggest that visual plastic phenomena related to the encoding of temporal numerosity information reflect changes in rhythmic evoked activity that are likely related to long range communications between distinct brain regions.
Numerosity perception is a key ability for human and non-human species, probably mediated by dedicated brain mechanisms. Electrophysiological studies revealed the existence of both early and ...mid-latency components of the Electrophysiological (EEG) signal sensitive to numerosity changes. However, it is still unknown whether these components respond to physical or perceived variation in numerical attributes. We here tackled this point by recording electrophysiological signal while participants performed a numerosity adaptation task, a robust psychophysical method yielding changes in perceived numerosity judgments despite physical numerosity invariance. Behavioral measures confirmed that the test stimulus was consistently underestimated when presented after a high numerous adaptor while perceived as veridical when presented after a neutral adaptor. Congruently, EEG results revealed a potential at around 200 ms (P2p) which was reduced when the test stimulus was presented after the high numerous adaptor. This result was much prominent over the left posterior cluster of electrodes and correlated significantly with the amount of adaptation. No earlier modulations were retrievable when changes in numerosity were illusory while both early and mid-latency modulations occurred for physical changes. Taken together, our results reveal that mid-latency P2p mainly reflects perceived changes in numerical attributes, while earlier components are likely to be bounded to the physical characteristics of the stimuli. These results suggest that short-term plastic mechanisms induced by numerosity adaptation may involve a relatively late processing stage of the visual hierarchy likely engaging cortical areas beyond the primary visual cortex. Furthermore, these results also indicate mid-latency electrophysiological correlates as a signature of the internal representation of numerical information.
This brief presents the experimental validation of a low-power, large output swing, class-AB buffer amplifier for column drivers of active-matrix flat-panel displays. By exploiting two complementary ...input amplifiers and a dual-path push-pull output stage, the proposed circuit achieves high-drive performance and rail-to-rail operation. In addition, two current boosters allow area optimization of the output diving transistors by dynamically lowering their threshold voltage. Implemented in a standard triple-well CMOS 0.35-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mu }{\text{m}} </tex-math></inline-formula> technology and supplied from a 3-V supply, the proposed buffer amplifier can drive a 1-nF column line load within a 1.11-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mu }\text{s} </tex-math></inline-formula> settling time under a full voltage swing, while drawing only 1.6 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mu }\text{A} </tex-math></inline-formula> quiescent current and occupying 5562 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mu }{\text{m}}^{{2}} </tex-math></inline-formula> of silicon area. As compared to the state of the art, the best figure of merit (pF/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mu }\text{s}{\cdot } {\mu }\text{A} </tex-math></inline-formula>) is found.
The predatory ability of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) against insect pests can offer an important service to agricultural activities and may sometimes be directly exploited in biological control ...strategies. The codling moth
(Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is a major agricultural pest of fruit orchards, whose biological control is complicated by the fact that the larvae spend most of their life protected within the fruits they damage. In a recent experiment in Europe, pear trees in which ant activity was artificially increased by the addition of sugary liquid dispensers (artificial nectaries) suffered less damage caused by the larvae to their fruits. While some ants were already known to prey upon the mature larvae or pupae of
in the soil, prevention of fruit damage would require predation upon eggs or newly hatched larvae, which have not yet excavated into the fruits. We verified whether two different Mediterranean ants frequently observed in fruit orchards,
and
, were able to prey upon
eggs and larvae in laboratory conditions. Our experiments demonstrated that both species similarly attacked and killed young
larvae. On the other hand, the eggs mostly attracted the attention of
but were never damaged. Further field assessments are required to understand whether ants may also interfere with oviposition by adults or whether larger ant species, although generally rarer in orchards, may also prey upon eggs.
This study investigates the reliability of a pilot hybrid constructed wetland (H-CW), located in Eastern Sicily (Italy). To address the uncertainty associated with implementing representative ...monitoring during highly variable storm events, unique to Mediterranean conditions, a recipe for semi-synthetic stormwater was used to evaluate the removal efficiency of the system. This was characterised by metals (Cd, Cr, Fe, Pb, Cu, Zn) and relative concentrations typically found in urban stormwater runoff (SR). Approximately one month of intensive monitoring activities were carried out and quality analyses were conducted on three matrices comprising the pilot H-CW: water, biomass (Canna indica, Typha latifolia), and volcanic gravel substrate. Metal retention in early clogging matter (SS) was also examined. The results showed a significantly high H-CW efficiency for the removal of all metals (70–98%) already at the horizontal flow unit outflow, confirming its strategic role. A metal mass balance analysis was also conducted to describe the retention capacity and influence of each system component on the overall efficiency (ranging from 87.8% for Cr to 99.2% for Pb). Metal removal was mostly related to sediment and substrate processes, while plants exhibited root bioaccumulation and phytostabilisation capacity even with a limited impact on overall system retention. The pilot H-CW exhibits characteristics suitable for the treatment of metal-enriched stormwater runoff and validates the useful application of decentralised natural systems for water resource management.
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•Metal removal was mostly related to sediment and substrate processes.•Plants exhibited limited impact in retention paths and through root system stabilisation.•Assessment of metals removal processes in CWs can help management and maintenance operations.
Abstract
In the framework of the activities carried out for a research project aimed at the structural monitoring of public and historic buildings in the Savuto valley (Cosenza, Italy), the survey of ...the
S. Angelo
Roman bridge along the
Via ab Regio ad Capuam
was carried out with integrated geomatic techniques. The result of the geometric survey is a realistic 3D model with a dual utility: (a) to allow the identification of elements that can provide indications on the structural health of the artifact (crack pattern, deformations, settlements) and (b) to extract a simplified 3D model to be used for structural calculation with the Finite Element Method (FEM). In the paper, the survey of the
S. Angelo
bridge is described, carried out with integrated geomatics techniques. The 3D structural model of this artifact is shown and the comparison with previous research results is presented.
