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Synopsis Climate change can directly and indirectly affect species distribution. Warming may allow for invasive species, such as apple snails, to migrate to higher latitudes where temperatures are more conducive to their survival and invasion success. Higher temperatures and lower pH ranges have been previously documented to affect the form and function of calcium carbonate shells, which serve many functions, including protection from predators and thermoregulation. This study aimed to quantify differences in the morphology and mechanical properties of invasive apple snail, Pomacea maculata, shells after altering temperature and pH. We mechanically tested shells among three five-week treatments: control, higher temperature, and lower pH. Ultimate Strength increased in shells that were exposed to higher temperatures, but Young’s Modulus and Peak Load did not differ among control, temperature, and pH treatments. Apple snails in higher temperature tanks increased their shell length over the five-week trials. Although snail morphometrics did not differ between sexes, male shells exhibited a higher Peak Load, Young’s Modulus, and Ultimate Strength compared to female shells. Our findings are consistent with previous gastropod studies, in that a lower pH is associated with a decrease in shell size, and higher temperatures yield larger snail shells with a higher ultimate strength. Peak Load did not significantly differ among treatments, which suggests that the cross-sectional area is relatively important when considering this species mechanical performance today and in future climates. Due to the intense nutritional and calcium demands of egg production, female snails may be more susceptible to weakened shells due to low pH environments caused by climate change.

Ostrava in the Moravian-Silesian region (Czech Republic) is a European air pollution hot spot for airborne particulate matter (PM), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and ultrafine particles (UFPs). Air pollution source apportionment is essential for implementation of successful abatement strategies. UFPs or nanoparticles of diameter <100 nm exhibit the highest deposition efficiency in human lungs. To permit apportionment of PM sources at the hot-spot including nanoparticles, Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) was applied to highly time resolved particle number size distributions (NSD, 14 nm-10 μm) and PM0.09-1.15 chemical composition. Diurnal patterns, meteorological variables, gaseous pollutants, organic markers, and associations between the NSD factors and chemical composition factors were used to identify the pollution sources. The PMF on the NSD reveals two factors in the ultrafine size range: industrial UFPs (28%, number mode diameter - NMD 45 nm), industrial/fresh road traffic nanoparticles (26%, NMD 26 nm); three factors in the accumulation size range: urban background (24%, NMD 93 nm), coal burning (14%, volume mode diameter - VMD 0.5 μm), regional pollution (3%, VMD 0.8 μm) and one factor in the coarse size range: industrial coarse particles/road dust (2%, VMD 5 μm). The PMF analysis of PM0.09-1.15 revealed four factors: SIA/CC/BB (52%), road dust (18%), sinter/steel (16%), iron production (16%). The factors in the ultrafine size range resolved with NSD have a positive correlation with sinter/steel production and iron production factors resolved with chemical composition. Coal combustion factor resolved with NSD has moderate correlation with SIA/CC/BB factor. The organic markers homohopanes correlate with coal combustion and the levoglucosan correlates with urban background. The PMF applications to NSD and chemical composition datasets are complementary. PAHs in PM1 were found to be associated with coal combustion factor.

The paper presents a method of analysis and design of urban landscapes called PlaceMaker. The method is intended as a key resource for assessing the identity of places and measures for its enhancement, reconstruction and design. By using different tools for analysis and interpretation of places and questionnaires administered to their users, PlaceMaker finds the identity material that the city has available and how to de-compose and re-compose it for its sustainable project transformation. Pedestrian-intensive areas, in particular urban, cultural and historical poles of attraction, increasingly bear the imprint of globalization, conveying messages which have developed in an uncontrolled manner and are aimed at conveying their users' patterns of thought and action. The presence of a dense mixture of contrasting elements and perceptions can detract from the image of a city. As regards, the paper is completed with a synopsis of the experiment carried out in an historic axe in London - Oxford Street - where globalization is in danger of levelling out the beauty of the area in favour of widespread genericity

Artículos en revistas Advanced Metering Infrastructures (AMI) represent one of the first steps in the Smart Grid process, where Power Line Communication (PLC) is emerging as the most costeffective solution since it allows reusing electric infrastructures as communication channel. However, the performance of this technology is highly affected by the characteristics of the existing distribution network. This article presents a thorough sensitivity analysis to assess the operating limits of smart metering applications for multiple representative configurations of low voltage (LV) networks based on a PLC simulation framework that integrates DLMS/COSEM and PRIME standards. The number of registered nodes and the time to read all meters have been defined as Key Performance Indicators to assess the communication performance. The conclusions drawn from this study provide useful information for the integration of smart meter applications that take advantage of AMI under different local conditions. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The paper presents a computer simulation of the operation of three independent electric drives with a periodic load, connected to a common power supply network. Two cases are considered - operation of electric drives in one phase and in different phases. An analysis of their impact on the electrical supply network is carried out, the results are compared with the permissible Russian standards. An analytical optimization method based on the analysis of power graphs of electric drives with periodic load was considered. The article contains an overview of possible methods for regulating the working phase of the mechanism.

Changes in the composition, structure, and altitudinal distribution of low forests at the upper limit of their growth over the past 50 years have been studied in the Tylaisko-Konzhakovsko-Serebryanskii Massif (the Northern Urals). The qualitative and quantitative assessment of these changes has been made on the basis of descriptions, photographs, and maps made in 1956 and 2005. The results show that the upper boundary of low forests on the majority of slopes has ascended. Considerable changes have occurred in the composition, density, and height of the tree layer in the communities that formed the upper low-forest boundary in 1956. Among a fairly large number of tree species growing in the subgoltzy belt (Picea obovata, Larix sibirica, Pinus sibirica, and Abies sibirica), the birch Betula tortuosa has expanded most actively, whereas the proportions of P. obovata and especially L. sibirica in low forests have decreased. These changes are explained by climate warming and increasing humidity.

Bioenergy crops are well known for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the soil carbon stock. Although such crops are often held to be in competition with food crops and thus raise the question of current and future food security, at the same time mitigation measures are required to tackle climate change and sustain local farming communities and crop production. However, in some cases the actions envisaged for specific pedo-climatic conditions are not always economically sustainable by farmers. In this frame, energy crops with high environmental adaptability and yields, such as giant reed (Arundo donax L.), may represent an opportunity to improve farm incomes, making marginal areas not suitable for food production once again productive. In so doing, three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations would be met, namely SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, SDG 7 on reliable, sustainable and modern energy, and SDG 13 on action to combat climate change and its impacts. In this work, the response of giant reed in the marginal areas of an agricultural district of southern Italy (Destra Sele) and expected farm incomes under climate change (2021-2050) are evaluated. The normalized water productivity index of giant reed was determined (WP; 30.1gm-2) by means of a SWAP agro-hydrological model, calibrated and validated on two years of a long-term field experiment. The model was used to estimate giant reed response (biomass yield) in marginal areas under climate change, and economic evaluation was performed to determine expected farm incomes (woodchips and chopped forage). The results show that woodchip production represents the most profitable option for farmers, yielding a gross margin 50% lower than ordinary high-input maize cultivation across the study area.

Results of the innovative development of an efficiently controlled, new-generation, energy-saving, industrial AC electric drive are presented. The drive is based on a two-link cycloconverter without a filter in the intermediate link. The improved energy and electromagnetic compatibility with the supply mains are important advantages of new-generation converters.