Plant functioning and survival in drylands are affected by the combination of high solar radiation, high temperatures, low relative humidity, and the scarcity of available water. Many ...ecophysiological studies have dealt with the adaptation of plants to cope with these stresses in hot deserts, which are the territories that have better evoked the idea of a dryland. Nevertheless, drylands can also be found in some other areas of the Earth that are under the Mediterranean-type climates, which imposes a strong aridity during summer. In this review, plant species from hot deserts and Mediterranean-type climates serve as examples for describing and analyzing the different responses of trees and shrubs to aridity in drylands, with special emphasis on the structural and functional adaptations of plants to avoid the negative effects of high temperatures under drought conditions. First, we analyze the adaptations of plants to reduce the input of energy by diminishing the absorbed solar radiation through (i) modifications of leaf angle and (ii) changes in leaf optical properties. Afterwards, we analyze several strategies that enhance the ability for heat dissipation through (i) leaf size reduction and changes in leaf shape (e.g., through lobed leaves), and (ii) increased transpiration rates (i.e., water-spender strategy), with negative consequences in terms of photosynthetic capacity and water consumption, respectively. Finally, we also discuss the alternative strategy showed by water-saver plants, a common drought resistance strategy in hot and dry environments that reduces water consumption at the expense of diminishing the ability for leaf cooling. In conclusion, trees and shrubs living in drylands have developed effective functional adaptations to cope with the combination of high temperature and water scarcity, all of them with clear benefits for plant functioning and survival, but also with different costs concerning water use, carbon gain, and/or leaf cooling.
Ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) bore into tree xylem to complete their life cycle, feeding on symbiotic fungi. Ambrosia beetles are a threat to avocado where ...they have been found to vector a symbiotic fungus, Raffaelea lauricola, the causal agent of the laurel wilt disease. We assessed the repellency of methyl salicylate and verbenone to two putative laurel wilt vectors in avocado, Xyleborus volvulus (Fabricius) and Xyleborus bispinatus (Eichhoff), under laboratory conditions. Then, we tested the same two chemicals released from SPLAT flowable matrix with and without low-dose ethanol dispensers for manipulation of ambrosia beetle populations occurring in commercial avocado. The potential active space of repellents was assessed by quantifying beetle catch on traps placed 'close' (~5-10 cm) and 'far' (~1-1.5 m) away from repellent dispensers. Ambrosia beetles collected on traps associated with all in-field treatments were identified to species to assess beetle diversity and community variation. Xyleborus volvulus was not repelled by methyl salicylate (MeSA) or verbenone in laboratory assays, while X. bispinatus was repelled by MeSA but not verbenone. Ambrosia beetle trap catches were reduced in the field more when plots were treated with verbenone dispensers (SPLAT) co-deployed with low-dose ethanol dispensers than when treated with verbenone alone. Beetle diversity was highest on traps deployed with low-dose ethanol lures. The repellent treatments and ethanol lures significantly altered the species composition of beetles captured in experiment plots. Our results indicate that verbenone co-deployed with ethanol lures holds potential for manipulating ambrosia beetle vectors via push-pull management in avocado. This tactic could discourage immigration and/or population establishment of ambrosia beetles in commercial avocado and function as an additional tool for management programs of laurel wilt.
Bioprinting technology is expected to be applied in the fields of regenerative medicine and drug discovery. There are several types of bioprinters, especially inkjet-based bioprinter, which can be ...used not only as a printer for arranging cells but also as a precision cell-dispensing device with controlled cell numbers similar to a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS). Precise cell dispensers are expected to be useful in the fields of drug discovery and single-cell analysis. However, there are enduring concerns about the impacts of cell dispensers on cell integrity, particularly on sensitive cells, such as stem cells. In response to the concerns stated above, we developed a stress-free and media-direct-dispensing inkjet bioprinter. In the present study, in addition to conventional viability assessments, we evaluated the gene expression using RNA-seq to investigate whether the developed bioprinter influenced cell integrity in mouse embryonic stem cells. We evaluated the developed bioprinter based on three dispensing methods: manual operation using a micropipette, FACS and the developed inkjet bioprinter. According to the results, the developed inkjet bioprinter exhibited cell-friendly dispensing performance, which was similar to the manual dispensing operation, based not only on cell viability but also on gene expression levels.
In this study, a polystyrene-block-polyisoprene-block-polystyrene (SIS) based dielectric paste was fabricated using barium titanate (BT) as dielectric filler in order to produce organic-inorganic ...composites for 3D dispenser printing applications. Since a high loading of inorganic filler is generally required to obtain high dielectric properties, the surface of BT was modified with two different phosphonic acids having functional groups resembling the groups contained in the block copolymer, in order to achieve a high compatibility between the filler and the polymer matrix. Upon incorporation of 80 wt% of BT in SIS, the dielectric constant was found to be approximately 3 times higher than that of bare SIS. The surface modification of the filler enhanced its dispersion within the polymer matrix, as confirmed by the surface morphology of the composite film at a high filler content. The desired viscoelasticity was achieved through the fine-tuning of the total solid content, and consequently, the potential application of the composite as 3D printable paste was demonstrated through the formation of a layer-by-layer printed structure on a flexible substrate.
A novel target preparation method based on Drop-on-Demand (DoD) inkjet printing has been developed. Conventional preparation methods like the electrochemical method “Molecular Plating” or the ...“Polymer-Assisted Deposition Method” are often limited, e.g., concerning the dimensions and geometries of depositions or by the requirement for electrically conducting substrates. Here, we report on the development of a new technique, which overcomes such limits by using a commercially available DoD dispenser. A variety of solutions with volumes down to 5 nL can be dispensed onto every manageable substrate. The dispensed volumes were determined with a radioactive tracer and the deposits of evaporated salt solutions were investigated on titanium and graphene foils. Additionally, the high precision of the printing system with which individual drops can be positioned was used to determine the spatial resolution of storage phosphor imaging plates with three tracers of different β-decay energies. The new technique is able to produce new kinds of targets with improved spatial geometries and thin layer deposits.
In order to optimize the synthesis process of barium-calcium-aluminate (BCA) for the application of impregnated dispenser cathodes, the influence of two precipitants, ammonium carbonate (AC) and ...ammonium hydrogen carbonate (AHC), on the chemical composition, phase transformation, thermal behaviors and morphology of the precursors was systematically investigated by means of XRD, TG-DSC, FESEM, and EDS mapping analysis. The results revealed that AC precipitant facilities to form NH4Al (OH)2CO3 (AACH) phase and barium calcium carbonate in the precursor, while the product precipitated by AHC comprises amorphous γ-AlOOH phase and the carbonate. Both precursors precipitated by the AC and AHC undergo various stages of phase transformations and finally converted to an emission-active material Ba3CaAl2O7 phase after sintering at 1200 °C. DC emission current values have been measured and the maximum space charge limited current densities are 8.0 ± 0.3 and 6.5 ± 0.4 A/cm2 at 1130 °Cb for the testing cathodes impregnated with the AC and AHC precursor aluminates, respectively. The difference in the emission capacity originates from the barium content in the aluminates prepared with different precipitants.
•Knowledge is discovered from mining prescriptions’ database.•Association rule mining is used to capture the associations among drugs.•Patterns in drug dispensing are analyzed.•Improved planogram ...designs for pharmacy automation systems are provided.
Automation in pharmacies has achieved innovative levels of effectiveness and savings. In the present day, automated pharmacies are facing extremely large demands of prescription orders specifically at the central fill pharmacies that distribute drugs to retail pharmacies. As a result, improvements are necessary to the Robotic Prescription Dispensing System (RPDS) and RPDS planogram to increase the throughput of prescriptions. RPDS planogram defines where to allocate the dispensers inside the robotic unit and how to distribute them among the multiple robotic units. This research utilizes the pharmacy prescriptions database to extract useful knowledge to improve different strategies in pharmacy automation by using a data mining approach. In this study, a data mining tool is proposed to enhance pharmacy automation. Frequent Pattern Growth (FP-growth) approach, which is one of the algorithms of Association Rule Mining (ARM), is applied to an actual prescriptions database of a central fill pharmacy to study the associations within the prescribed drug regime. The FP-growth application in a prescriptions database is novel; thus, FP-growth is tested on both sequential mode, and parallel mode by using a distributed platform Hadoop and MapReduce paradigm. Two types of association rules are extracted: 1) associations among different drugs that involve their different dosage strengths and manufacturers; and 2) associations that include only information about different drug generic and brand names. The importance of the extracted association rules is evaluated by the use of different measures, including the support, confidence, lift and conviction. The discovered rules disclose strong associations among the purchased drugs that improve the allocation and distribution of dispensers among the robotic units, in addition to enhancements in other pharmacy managerial strategies.
By 2020, the EU aims to have 10% of the transport fuel of every EU countries come from renewable sources such as biofuels. Fuel suppliers are also required to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of ...the EU fuel mix by 6% in comparison to 2010. The thermophysical properties of biofuels are, therefore, required for the efficient design of every step in their production, distribution, and utilization. Despite of these needs, high pressure thermodynamical characterization of biofuels is not still exhaustive. Next generation injection systems work with pressure up to 300 MPa, but available measurements are limited to 200 MPa. Measurements extrapolation generally are not recommended at these pressure because it can hide freezing phenomena here documented at temperature of (20 and 30) °C. In this work, density and viscosity of pure and blended FAME (SME and RME) biofuels have been measured up to 300 MPa. Since the scope of the work is both to investigate cold start conditions found in engines and the thermal behaviour of fuels in tanks of cars, petrol station and dispenser, the temperature interval is limited to (0–60) °C. In particular, it has been observed a partial freezing even for temperature up to 30 °C. Density and viscosity values were obtained by direct experimental measurements, while heat capacities have been calculated using density and speed of sound results previously obtained. At ambient pressure conditions, the uncertainty in density measurements was between 0.005% and 0.01% (k=2) and for viscosity measurements the uncertainty was between 0.2% and 1.3% (k=2). At elevated pressures the uncertainty in density measurements was 0.08% (k=2), while for viscosity and heat capacity it was 2% (k=2).
•Measured samples: diesel, rapeseed and soybean oil methyl esters (pure and blends).•Density and viscosity of biofuels have been measured up to 300 MPa.•Results are obtained for temperature up to 60 °C to study cold start conditions.•Heat capacity has been calculated by literature density and speed of sound results.•Freezing phenomena were observed for temperature up to 30 °C from 135 MPa.
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•The two species respond differently to UV radiation and/or water shortage treatments.•UV-A radiation decreases the sensitivity threshold of plants to water shortage.•UV-B radiation ...masks the UV-A response of plants to water shortage in natural conditions.•Seasonality do not influence UV radiation and water shortage responses of the two studied shrubs.
Naturally growing Arbutus unedo L. and Phillyrea angustifolia L. mature shrubs with similar leaf sclerophyllous index were studied. The aim was to evaluate whether: 1) ultraviolet radiation (UV) effects on plant development differ depending on the type of UV radiation (UV-A or UV-B), 2) rainfall amount modulates plant responses to UV and 3) seasonal climatic conditions influence the response of plants to the UV and/or rainfall treatments applied. To achieve these goals, A. unedo and P. angustifolia plants were subjected to UV-B exclusion (UVA), UV-B + UV-A exclusion (UV0) or near-ambient UV (UVBA) levels, in combination with two rainfall conditions (natural rainfall or rainfall reduction). Leaf morphological (leaf mass per area, leaf density, thickness and area), physiological (leaf relative water content, gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence) and biochemical (leaf C and N content, and leaf concentration of photosynthetic pigments and phenols) parameters were analysed seasonally for a year. Effects of UV and rainfall treatments on most of the parameters analysed in both species did not depend on the season. In any of the two species, morphological parameters responded to the treatments, likely because of the high leaf mass per area of the sampled fully-developed leaves. In A. unedo, neither physiological nor biochemical leaf traits varied significantly among UV conditions, probably due to their intrinsic high leaf concentration of phenols, which could also explain the lack of correlation between leaf traits and leaf carbon content. Conversely, leaf nitrogen content was highly correlated with leaf features when A. unedo plants were grown exposed only to UV-A radiation. Overall, A. unedo would be less responsive to UV, but not to a decrease in water availability, with plants displaying a water-spender strategy under reduced rainfall. In contrast, P. angustifolia responded at physiological level to the combination of both treatments. Indeed, plants subjected to low rainfall and only UV-A showed lower leaf transpiration rates and stomatal conductance than UV0 plants, higher leaf electron transport rates than UVBA plants, and the highest leaf water use efficiency. These results suggest that, under reduced rainfall, plant exposure only to UV-A would trigger the water-saving response typical of P. angustifolia, despite the mild reduction (20%) in soil water content applied. Under natural conditions, this UV-A-induced response of plants to mild water deficit seems to be masked by the presence of UV-B radiation.
The cultivar-dependent differences in Brassica napus L. seed yield are significantly affected by drought stress. Here, the response of leaf proteome to long-term drought (28days) was studied in ...cultivars (cvs): Californium (C), Cadeli (D), Navajo (N), and Viking (V). Analysis of twenty-four 2-D DIGE gels revealed 134 spots quantitatively changed at least 2-fold; from these, 79 proteins were significantly identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF. According to the differences in water use, the cultivars may be assigned to two categories: water-savers or water-spenders. In the water-savers group (cvs C+D), proteins related to nitrogen assimilation, ATP and redox homeostasis were increased under stress, while in the water-spenders category (cvs N+V), carbohydrate/energy, photosynthesis, stress related and rRNA processing proteins were increased upon stress. Taking all data together, we indicated cv C as a drought-adaptable water-saver, cv D as a medium-adaptable water-saver, cv N as a drought-adaptable water-spender, and cv V as a low-adaptable drought sensitive water-spender rapeseed. Proteomic data help to evaluate the impact of drought and the extent of genotype-based adaptability and contribute to the understanding of their plasticity. These results provide new insights into the provenience-based drought acclimation/adaptation strategy of contrasting winter rapeseeds and link data at gasometric, biochemical, and proteome level.
Soil moisture deficit is a real problem for every crop. The data in this study demonstrates for the first time that in stem-prolongation phase cultivars respond to progressive drought in different ways and at different levels. Analysis of physiological and proteomic data showed two different water regime-related strategies: water-savers and spenders. However, not only water uptake rate itself, but also individual protein abundances, gasometric and biochemical parameters together with final biomass accumulation after stress explained genotype-based responses. Interestingly, under a mixed climate profile, both water-use patterns (savers or spenders) can be appropriate for drought adaptation. These data suggest, than complete “acclimation image” of rapeseeds in stem-prolongation phase under drought could be reached only if these characteristics are taken, explained and understood together.
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•Two water-uptake strategies were found in stem-prolongation stage of rapeseeds.•Tolerant genotypes are included in both groups – water-savers and water-spenders.•In the water-savers group, accumulation of fewer proteins was changed in contrast to water-spenders.•Savers show higher: nitrogen metabolism, ATP conversion proteins, ROS, signalling, and stress-related proteins.•Spenders down-accumulate proteins in carbohydrate/energy metabolism and photosynthesis.
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