Suchergebnisse

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Low concentrating photovoltaic (LCPV) systems offer viable solution for generating higher energy output per unit cell area compared to a typical flat PV panel, making them potential candidates for building retrofit. However, the best LCPV geometry for a given location is yet to be identified. The current study investigates the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of three geometrically equivalent LCPV designs installed at a building within Brunel University London (UK). The studied LCPV systems comprised of Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Concentrating (ACPC), Compound Parabolic Concentrating (CPC) and V-Trough optical concentrators with the post-truncation geometric concentration ratios of 1.53, 1.46, 1.40 respectively. The performances of the prototypes have been monitored every 15 min over 10 months and analyzed on hourly, daily, and monthly basis. Performance parameters such as reference yield, array yield, performance ratio, electrical conversion efficiency and the generated energy output per unit area have been derived and presented. Payback periods have been estimated in two separate scenarios. Measurements have showed that the ACPC integrated LCPV achieved the highest annual optical efficiency generating the highest amount of electrical energy per unit cell area of 246.2 kWh/m2 compared to CPC-LCPV, V-Trough-LCPV and conventional flat modules which produced 224.6 kWh/m2, 196.1 kWh/m2 and 185.4 kWh/m2 respectively. One particular conclusion of the study is that the ACPC based LCPVs perform better in locations where diffuse component of solar radiation is predominant as in the case of the UK. Consequently, ACPC based LCPV modules are recommended for the building retrofit in such locations. ; European Union's H2020 research and innovation programme

Hematogenous dissemination followed by tissue tropism is a characteristic of the infectious process of many pathogens including those transmitted by blood-feeding vectors. After entering into the blood circulation, these pathogens must arrest in the target organ before they infect a specific tissue. Here, we describe a non-invasive method to visualize and quantify the homing of pathogens to the host tissues. By using in vivo bioluminescence imaging we quantify the accumulation of luciferase-expressing parasites in the host organs during the first minutes following their intravascular inoculation in mice. Using this technique we show that in the malarial infection, once in the blood circulation, most of bioluminescent Plasmodium berghei sporozoites, the parasite stage transmitted to the host skin by a mosquito bite, rapidly home to the liver where they invade and develop inside hepatocytes. This homing is specific to this developmental stage since blood stage parasites do not accumulate in the liver, as well as extracellular Trypanosoma brucei bloodstream forms and liver-infecting Leishmania infantum amastigotes. Finally, this method can be used to study the dynamics of tissue tropism of parasites, dissect the molecular and cellular basis of their increased arrest in organs and to evaluate immune interventions designed to block this targeted interaction. ; This work was supported by funds from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT)/Ministerio da Educacao e Ciencia (MEC) co-funded by FEDER (EXPL/JTAVARES-IF/00881/2012/C P0158/CT0005, EXPL/IMI-MIC/1331/2013) under the Partnership agreement PT2020, through the Research Unit No.4293, the Institut Paris - Paris, the French National Research Agency (Grant No. ANR-0-JCJC-1302-PlasmoPEP), the French Government's Investissement d'Avenir program, Laboratoire d'Excellence "Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases" (Grant No. ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID). JT is an Investigator FCT funded by National funds through FCT and co-funded through European Social Fund within the Human Potential Operating Programme. DC is funded by FCT (SFRH/BD/123734/2016).

The occurrence of protein synthesis errors (mistranslation) above the typical mean mistranslation level of 10−4 is mostly deleterious to yeast, zebrafish and mammal cells. Previous yeast studies have shown that mistranslation affects fitness and deregulates genes related to lipid metabolism, but there is no experimental proof that such errors alter yeast lipid profiles. We engineered yeast strains to misincorporate serine at alanine and glycine sites on a global scale and evaluated the putative effects on the lipidome. Lipids from whole cells were extracted and analysed by thin layer chromatography (TLC), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS) and gas chromatography (GC). Oxidative damage, fatty acid desaturation and membrane fluidity changes were screened to identify putative alterations in lipid profiles in both logarithmic (fermentative) and post-diauxic shift (respiratory) phases. There were alterations in several lipid classes, namely lyso-phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylserine, and triglyceride, and in the fatty acid profiles, namely C16:1, C16:0, C18:1 and C18:0. Overall, the relative content of lipid species with saturated FA increased in detriment of those with unsaturated fatty acids. The expression of the OLE1 mRNA was deregulated, but phospholipid fluidity changes were not observed. These data expand current knowledge of mistranslation biology and highlight its putative roles in human diseases. ; This work was supported by FCT(Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), the European Union, QREN, POPH, FEDER and COMPETE [FCT-ANR/IMI-MIC/0041/2012; PTDC/IMI-MIC/5350/2014; PTDC/BEX-BCM/2121/2014] through the iBiMED (UID/BIM/04501/2013) and QOPNA research units [PTDC/QUI-BIQ/104968/2008; UID QUI/UI0062/2013, FCOMP-01-0124- FEDER-037296], and RNEM [LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-402-022125 that concerns the Portuguese Mass Spectrometry Network), REDE/1504/REM/2005]. This work was also financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme under project CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000008: BrainHealth 2020, and through the COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation and Portuguese national funds via FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016390:CANCEL STEM and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440. Ana R. D. Araújo [SFRH/BD/78835/2011], Catarina Morais [SFRH/BD/79077/2011], Elisabete Maciel [SFRH/BPD/104165/2014], Helena Oliveira [SFRH/BPD/111736/2015], and Tânia Melo [BPD/UI51/5388/2017] were supported by FCT grants. Clara Pereira was supported by Fundo Social Europeu and Programa Operacional Potencial Humano through FCT investigator grant IF/00889/2015.

Cape Verde, located off the coast of Senegal in western Africa, is a volcanic archipelago where a combination of human, climatic, geomorphologic and pedologic factors has led to extensive degradation of the soils. Like other Sahelian countries, Cape Verde has suffered the effects of desertification through the years, threatening the livelihood of the islands population and its fragile environment. In fact, the steep slopes in the ore agricultural islands, together with semi-arid and arid environments, characterized by an irregular and poorly distributed rainy season, with high intensity rainfall events, make dryland production a challenge. To survive in these fragile conditions, the stabilization of the farming systems and the maintenance of sustainable yields have become absolute priorities, making the islands an erosion control laboratory. Soil and water conservation strategies have been a centerpiece of the government0s agricultural policies for the last half century. Aiming to maintain the soil in place and the water inside the soil, the successive governments of Cape Verde have implemented a number of soil and water conservation techniques, the most common ones being terraces, half moons, live barriers, contour rock walls, contour furrows and microcatchments, check dams and reforestation with drought resistant species. The soil and water conservation techniques implemented have contributed to the improvement of the economical and environmental conditions of the treated landscape, making crop production possible, consequently, improving the livelihood of the people living on the islands. In this paper, we survey the existing soil and water conservation techniques, analyze their impact on the livelihood condition of the population through a thorough literature review and field monitoring using a semi-quantitative methodology and evaluate their effectiveness and impact on crop yield in the Ribeira Seca watershed. A brief discussion is given on the cost and effectiveness of the techniques to reduce soil erosion and to promote rainfall infiltration. Finally, we discuss the critical governance factors that lead to the successful implementation of such strategy in a country with scarce natural resources.