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Review article published in MDPI Nanomaterials (Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 1950; http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano10101950). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; The author acknowledges the projects LiNaBioFluid, CellFreeImplant, BioCombs4Nanofibers, and LaserImplant. These projects have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No. 665337 (LiNaBioFluid, No. 800832 (CellFreeImplant), No. 862016 BioCombs4Nanofibers, https://www.jku.at/biocombs4nanofibers), and No. 951730 (LaserImplant).

Abstract. Soil-atmosphere exchange leads to a moisture change in the soil. This can cause major damage to engineering structures due to the soil expansion and shrinkage. The soil-atmosphere exchange is related to several parameters, in particular the soil characteristics and climate conditions. The presence of an engineering structure causes a variation of the hydraulic profile in the soil, which can lead to heterogeneous soil movement and consequently to structural damage. This paper presents a coupled numerical model based on the consideration of both water flow in unsaturated soils and soil-atmosphere exchange. After the validation of the model, the paper presents its use for the analysis of the influence of the presence of structures on moisture change induced under climatic conditions recorded in a semi-arid region. Analysis shows that the presence of the structure leads to important change in the moisture distribution, in particular in the vicinity of the structure.

Although bacterial anaerobic degradation of mono-aromatic compounds has been characterized in depth, the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as naphthalene has only started to be understood in sulfate reducing bacteria, and little is known about the anaerobic degradation of PAHs in nitrate reducing bacteria. Starting from a series of environments which had suffered different degrees of hydrocarbon pollution, we used most probable number (MPN) enumeration to detect and quantify the presence of bacterial communities able to degrade several PAHs using nitrate as electron acceptor. We detected the presence of a substantial nitrate reducing community able to degrade naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene (2MN), and anthracene in some of the sites. With the aim of isolating strains able to degrade PAHs under denitrifying conditions, we set up a series of enrichment cultures with nitrate as terminal electron acceptor and PAHs as the only carbon source and followed the changes in the bacterial communities throughout the process. Results evidenced changes attributable to the imposed nitrate respiration regime, which in several samples were exacerbated in the presence of the PAHs. The presence of naphthalene or 2MN enriched the community in groups of uncultured and poorly characterized organisms, and notably in the Acidobacteria uncultured group iii1-8, which in some cases was only a minor component of the initial samples. Other phylotypes selected by PAHs in these conditions included Bacilli, which were enriched in naphthalene enrichments. Several nitrate reducing strains showing the capacity to grow on PAHs could be isolated on solid media, although the phenotype could not be reproduced in liquid cultures. Analysis of known PAH anaerobic degradation genes in the original samples and enrichment cultures did not reveal the presence of PAH-related nmsA-like sequences but confirmed the presence of bssA-like genes related to anaerobic toluene degradation. Altogether, our results suggest that PAH degradation by nitrate reducing bacteria may require the contribution of different strains, under culture conditions that still need to be defined. ; This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund FEDER and grants from the Junta de Andalucía (P08-CVI03591), from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIO2014-54361-R) and European Union's 7th Framework Program under Grant Agreement 312139. SMM was the recipient of a fellowship within the CSIC JAE PREDOC program. DP was the recipient of a Junta de Andalucía Predoctoral Fellowship. ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed

Galls formed by root-knot nematodes have been studied in several cultivated species focusing on understanding the intimate relationship between parasite and the host plant. Species of Meloidogyne induce the development of a feeding site in the cortex or vascular cylinder of the host plant and are totally dependent on this site formation to complete their life cycle. Therefore, we focused on anatomical, cytological and histochemical changes during the establishment and development of galls and giant cells induced by Meloidogyne javanica in the roots of Glycine max. Seeds of soybean (susceptible cultivar M8372 IPRO) were sown in trays with coconut fibre substrate and the seedlings were removed ten days after the seeds emerged for nematode inoculation. The roots from inoculated and non-inoculated (control) were sampled at different stages of development until 55 days after inoculation. Histological, cytological, histochemical analysis were performed in light and electron microscopy in non-galled tissue and galls induced by M. javanica. The galls showed different shapes and abundance in the roots inoculated by M. javanica. The induction of galls occurs by hypertrophy of the root cortex shortly after the initial infection process. Giant cells were formed 18 days after nematode inoculation. These giant or nourishing cells are multinucleated, and have a dense cytoplasm, a thick wall with invaginations, many mitochondria and small vacuoles. The anatomical sections indicated a disorganisation of the cells of the cortex and vascular cylinder in relation to the control root.

AbstractThis paper presents the extent to which kitchen structures influence household exposure to firewood-induced volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The sample consisted of 69 firewood users who were conveniently sampled from Senwabarwana Villages. An Integrated Environmental Health Risk Assessment framework (IEHRA) was adopted as the research methods of the current study. The VOC samples were collected from selected priority firewood species used in the study area, namely mushu (Umbrella thorn), mohwelere (red bushwillow), moretshe (Sickle bush), motswiri (Leadwood) and mokgwa (Black monkey thorn). Four VOCs, namely benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene were analysed from each of the selected plant species. Available literature shows that these VOCs are associated with the kind of common firewood used in the study area. The outcomes of this study reveal that mushu emits the highest concentration of the four selected VOCs, followed by moretshe, mohwelere, mokgwa and motswiri, respectively. The influence of kitchen structural factors such as number and positioning of windows, fireplace or stove type, roofing material and designs, among others on the concentration and indoor dispersion of VOCs was also investigated. Behavioural practices of households during fire making such as opening or closing of doors and windows during cooking, water heating and space heating were also found to influence exposure levels. Consequently, low VOCs emitting firewood species and kitchen structural designs have been confirmed as the key drivers of firewood-induced VOC exposure.

AbstractThe analysis of complex networks has so far revolved mainly around the role of nodes and communities of nodes. However, the dynamics of interconnected systems is often focalized on edge processes, and a dual edge-centric perspective can often prove more natural. Here we present graph-theoretical measures to quantify edge-to-edge relations inspired by the notion of flow redistribution induced by edge failures. Our measures, which are related to the pseudo-inverse of the Laplacian of the network, are global and reveal the dynamical interplay between the edges of a network, including potentiallynon-localinteractions. Our framework also allows us to define the embeddedness of an edge, a measure of how strongly an edge features in the weighted cuts of the network. We showcase the general applicability of our edge-centric framework through analyses of the Iberian power grid, traffic flow in road networks, and theC. elegansneuronal network.

The granting of publicly subsidized joint projects has become a popular policy instrument in both Germany and the European Union. However, little is known about how the emerging subsidized network affects the allocation process of future project grants. Employing unique databases containing information about government funded R&D projects , this book analyzes the extent to which the funding network becomes shaped by a self-enforced project allocation mechanism . The empirical results show that participation within a collaborative project does not raise, per se, the chance of an organization obtaining another project grant. Rather, it is important to hold central positions within the network in order to increase the likelihood of receiving new subsidies.