Collection Volume Research Articles

A Companion to the Early Modern Cardinal ed. by Hollingsworth, Mary, Miles Pattenden, and Arnold Witte

Reviewed by: A Companion to the Early Modern Cardinal ed. by Hollingsworth, Mary, Miles Pattenden, and Arnold Witte Wolfgang Reinhard A Companion to the Early Modern Cardinal. Edited by Hollingsworth, Mary, Miles Pattenden, and Arnold Witte. [Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, vol. 91] (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020, Pp. xviii, 705, 43 figures and 7 tables. € 252,52. ISBN: 9789004310964). Obviously, recent Anglophone publishers successfully continue to produce expensive collective volumes on many different subjects. Most outstanding is Brill’s extensive series of Companions which includes the present impressive volume on early modern cardinals. The several thousand cardinals of the Roman church have always fascinated historians because of their many different activities and social roles. This big handbook presents some thirty different important aspects of the cardinals’ typology. But does it integrate these details successfully? [End Page 195] (1) The first of the eight parts of the book concerns the concept and functions of the cardinal. It starts with a chapter on medieval legal history. In the early modern period the College of Cardinals lost much of its collective power, but often this loss was compensated by an increase of power of individual cardinals. The popes simply needed cooperators. Next, after the rites of promotion and the activities in conclave the formal and informal roles of the hybrid quasi-institution of the cardinal-nephew are analyzed. (2) The significance of cardinals’ ecclesiastic and ecclesiologic activities in the Church can certainly not be covered exhaustively. The handbook selects chapters on ecumenical councils and theology, on the Inquisition and the Penitentiary, and on the protectorate of religious institutions. (3) In continuation, one reads on the secular power which the cardinals wielded as legates, as protectors of nations, as political leaders of the Richelieu type, and in their specific role as prince-bishops of the Empire. (4) The chapters on property and wealth besides an analysis of the income of cardinals include additional contributions on their social background and education, on their household and on the strategic consequences of their testaments. (5) The city of Rome is concerned when cardinals act as administrators of the Papal States or as governors of the vacant see. They also left their mark on their titular churches and on their sumptuous palaces. (6) “Mission” starts with an overview of cardinals in global history concerning in particular the Islam, the religions of Asia, the Jews, and the primal religions. Special chapters concern Eastern Churches, the church of Spanish-America, and, in contrast, the activities of the Propaganda Fide. (7) “Cardinals and literature” presents early modern historiography on early modern cardinals, which first of all consisted in collections of biographies, but also includes treatises on the ideal cardinal and some biographies of saintly cardinals, in addition, cardinals profiled as book collectors and even as founders of libraries. (8) On the other hand, they profiled as patrons of the visual arts and music. After an analysis of their wardrobe, the book demonstrates how their portraits and their tombs left an extensive impact on the scenery of early modern Rome. With equal balance of gender 31 authors produced 35 chapters. The three editors wrote more than one. According to their institutional affiliation eight contributors originate from Italy, seven from England, five from Germany, four from the USA, two from Scotland and France respectively, and one each from Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland. Considering their names, however, we may assume that at least four of them were no natives of the countries of their universities—an additional demonstration of the international character of this endeavor. Nevertheless, I could discover only one or two theologians on the list, but several historians of art—another remarkable fact. A selection from the long list of contributors is an impossible task and unjust, because they are all equally proven experts, who have already published in the field of their special competence. Extensive notes demonstrate the high level of their learnedness. When for example sometimes evidence might be missing as in the case of Markus Völkel’s book in chapters 16 and 22, then this defect is compensated in the brilliant general bibliography of 70 pages. Nevertheless, the book’s strength is also its...

Performance evaluation of a typical sewage system remediation project in Yangtze River protection

The Yangtze River protection is an important environmental protection strategy for China, and the quality and efficiency of the sewage system is also one of the environmental protection actions that China is working hard to implement in recent years. As the first batch of pilot cities for the protection of the Yangtze River, Wuhu City has significantly improved its sewage system through a series of comprehensive sewage system improvement engineering measures. This paper briefly described the general situation and measures of the sewage system renovation project in the CD area of Wuhu City, and based on the systematic thinking of “source-network-plant-river”, the performance of improving the quality and efficiency of the sewage system was evaluated. With the implementation of the sewage system remediation project, the water quality at the source and discharge outlet as well as the water quantity of sewage collected had been greatly improved. The sewage collection volume had been increased from 10,000 m3/d to 42,000 m3/d and the COD concentration of the influent has increased significantly. The introduction and analysis of this project may provide some reference for other similar sewage system remediation projects in China and other countries and regions.

К изучению ресурсов лекарственных растений Атырауской области

The study of medicinal plant resources is important for the organization of a system of rational environmental management and environmental monitoring. Resource surveys of the natural territories of the Atyrau region were carried out to determine the potential for procurement of medicinal raw materials. Thickets suitable for harvesting were identified for 10 species of medicinal plants. The localization sites of thickets, the yield of plant raw materials (for air-dry weight), abundance and operational reserves were determined. The following areas of thickets and volumes of potential collection of raw materials were established: Peganum harmala — 22.5 hectares and 116.95 tons; Alhagi pseudoalhagi — 228.0 hectares and 196.05 tons; Alhagi persarum — 12.3 hectares and 13.21 tons; Scabiosa isetensis — 12.3 hectares and 4.2 tons; Artemisia terrae-albae — 40.2 hectares and 13.43 tons; Tanacetum santolina — 2.3 hectares and 0.9 tons; Helichrysum arenarium — 15.4 hectares and 2.1 tons; Anabasis aphylla — 126.0 hectares and 24.89 tons; Glycyrrhiza glabra — 36.2 hectares and 20.48 tons; Althaea officinalis — 88.0 hectares and 14.24 tons. The obtained information on plant resources can be used in planning and organizing raw materials for the needs of the pharmaceutical industry of Kazakhstan.

Колекції котових (Felidae) у природничих музеях України та їх значення у поширенні природничих знань

The study is devoted to the analysis of collections of the felid family, which are housed in natural history museums of Ukraine, two academic and eight university. The basics of the modern taxonomy of felids are considered with the vernacular names of tribes, genera and their type species, which is important for the unification of exhibition and catalogue information. For each of the considered museums, four blocks of data are presented: a general summary for the collection, presentation of particularly valuable or unique specimens, and description of the exhibition and scientific collections. The most complete felid collections (in terms of the number of specimens) are housed in the Museum of Nature of Kharkiv University (109 specimens), in the National Museum of Natural History (152 specimens), and in the Zoological Museum of Odesa University (66 specimens); in other collections the amount of material is much smaller (7–36 specimens). The total volume of collections of this family reaches 460 specimens of 21 species of 12 genera (out of 14 living). The examples of materials important for the dissemination of knowledge about this group are given, from folklore to important and interesting scientific facts for the general public. For all species, there is an organised catalogue, classified by tribe, genus, and species (all alphabetically), in which key information about the available specimens is given for each museum. Such information for each species is arranged according to the scheme ‘museum, location, number of samples, collection numbers and types of specimens, date, and collector or preparator.’ The present study is the first such generalisation of zoological collections of Ukraine, the experience of which can be extended to other groups of animals. The development of this study showed a high interest of colleagues in such generalisations, which clearly activate the attention of museum workers, researchers of variability and diversity, potential museum visitors and society to the topic of the selected focus groups and activation of exhibiting and research work in relation to those groups.

THE LEVEL OF SUPPLYING UKRAINE WITH DONOR BLOOD AND BLOOD COMPONENTS: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The work aims to analyze the level of providing Ukraine with blood and blood components under stable conditions. During 2012–2020, the number of donors decreased twice; the plasma collection decreased by 30%, whole blood - by 56.8%; the number of blood transfusion centers decreased by 42.6%, transfusion departments of medical facilities - by 43.7%, hospitals collecting blood - by 15.1%. According to national reports, in 2020, the needs of Ukraine's healthcare institutions were met by 91.1% of donor blood, 94.6% of plasma, 88.9% of erythrocyte mass, and 124.1% of platelets. According to indicators recommended by WHO, the number of donations per 1,000 population in 2020 in Ukraine is three times less than necessary. Only the Sumy region has provided more than 33 donations per 1.000 population since 2015 (40.46–61.68), Crimea and Luhansk region in 2012–2013. In all other regions, the indicator is below the norm. According to this indicator, blood shortage was 952,546 donations or 66.2% of the recommended by WHO. Another recommended WHO indicator, the amount of collected blood per inhabitant during 2012–2020, was almost twice less as needed - 5.3 ml (WHO recommends 12-15 ml). The blood shortage in 2020 amounted to 276,990.5 liters or 55.7% of the WHO recommended amount. There are significant differences in approaches to the formation of needs for blood and blood components at the state level and the world. The study results show a need to create and implement a system of indicators that would reflect the country's and region's objective needs. In order to improve the provision of Ukraine with blood and blood components during stable conditions, it is necessary to implement marketing programs at the national level. For a significant increase in blood collection volume and its components, it is advisable to analyze the existing experience of leading blood centers in Ukraine and the experience of countries that fully satisfy their country's needs and implement them in their work. The organization of marketing activities and the marketing management system in blood centers should also be analyzed. It can be the subject of further research in this direction. The results of this study can be helpful to marketing specialists involved in blood service promotion.

CAUSAL ANALYSES OF PALLIATIVE CARE OUTCOMES USING OBSERVATIONAL DATA: A REVIEW OF CURRENT LITERATURE

Abstract People with serious medical illnesses disproportionately account for health care spending, and the last year of life is typically the most costly. Economic evidence to inform improvement efforts in care for this population is long recognized as thin relative to policy importance. Palliative care studies rely heavily on routinely collected data since conducting randomized controlled trials with subjects nearing the end of life is particularly challenging; however, observational studies face high risk of bias. We conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify quasi-experimental studies evaluating palliative care’s effect on costs and health care utilization. Eligible study designs were those that controlled for unobserved confounding using causal inference methods (e.g. difference-in-differences). Eligible outcomes were costs, health care use, and quality-of-life. Among 806 search results, we included 17 studies: seven used difference-in-differences methods, five used interrupted time series analysis, and five used instrumental variables. Reporting quality was variable. Studies reported a general pattern of improved outcomes associated with palliative care. However, the incidence of studies finding a significant difference was lower than cohort studies that don’t attempt to control for unobserved confounding. Studies that don’t control for unobserved confounding may be overestimating true effects due to bias. Given the large volume of routine data collection in end-of-life care, there exists clear potential to increase the application of the causal inference methods to palliative care research. Such studies would strengthen the evidence base on an understudied topic and potentially inform other types of economic analysis in palliative care.

Monitoring glucose levels in urine using FTIR spectroscopy combined with univariate and multivariate statistical methods

The development of novel platforms for non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring applied in the screening and monitoring of diabetes is crucial to improve diabetes surveillance systems. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy of urine can be an alternative as a sustainable, label-free, fast, non-invasive, and highly sensitive analysis to detect changes in urine promoted by diabetes and insulin treatment. In this study, we used ATR-FTIR to evaluate the urinary components of non-diabetic (ND), diabetic (D), and diabetic insulin-treated (D + I) rats. As expected, insulin treatment was capable to revert changes in glycemia, 24-h urine collection volume, urine creatinine, urea, and glucose excretion promoted by diabetes. Several differences in the urine spectra of ND, D, and D + I were observed, with urea, creatinine, and glucose analytes being related to these changes. Principal components analysis (PCA) scores plots allowed for the discrimination of ND and D + I from D with an accuracy of ∼ 99 %. The PCA loadings associated with PC1 confirmed the importance of urea and glucose vibrational modes for this discrimination. Univariate analysis of second derivative spectra showed a high correlation (r: 0.865, p < 0.0001) between the height of 1074 cm-1 vibrational mode with urinary glucose concentration. In order to estimate the amount of glucose present in the infrared spectra from urine, multivariate curve resolution-alternating least square (MCR-ALS) was applied and a higher predicted concentration of glucose in the urine was observed with a correlation of 78.9 % compared to urinary glucose concentration assessed using enzyme assays. In summary, ATR-FTIR combined with univariate and multivariate chemometric analyses provides an innovative, non-invasive, and sustainable approach to diabetes surveillance.

Use of a Compliant Tether to Decouple Observation Buoy Motion for Auxiliary Wave Power

Abstract With the growth of the Blue Economy, the volume of data collection within the ocean environment has been rapidly increasing. Larger numbers of oceanographic, meteorological, and floating Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) buoys have been collecting high fidelity measurements while pushing against power budget limits. Power limitations lead to infrequent transmission of reduced data sets or recording data to local storage that must be physically collected when the buoy is serviced. Triton Systems, Inc. and its partners are developing a retrofittable wave energy converter (WEC) to provide auxiliary power to these observation buoys to increase mission duration and power budget, improve reliability, and reduce the need for service trips. One of the greatest challenges has been developing a method to interface Triton's WEC with these buoys without impacting measurement fidelity. This is especially critical for inertial wave and LiDAR wind measurements collected with sensors that could be adversely affected by additional buoy dynamics introduced by an integrated WEC. To address this, Triton and EOM Offshore developed a compliant tether to pair an observation buoy with a floating WEC while decoupling relative motion. Based on EOM's proven stretch hose technology, this compliant tether transmits power and data between the buoy-WEC system. Modeling shows that the system has the potential to minimally adversely affect oceanographic, meteorological, wind resource characterization, and other measurements, with future testing scheduled to validate modeling efforts.

1916. Evaluation of nasal swab collection methods on a university campus during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Abstract Background Characterizing SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks on university campuses is critical for informed public health measures and understanding transmission dynamics. Figure 1.Dropbox and Kiosk Samples Collected September 10, 2021 to April 23, 2022. Methods Faculty, staff, and students at a major public university in Seattle, WA, USA were enrolled in a COVID-19 testing study. Individuals could test using observed self-swabs at on-campus kiosks or unobserved self-swabs using a kit and returning it to a dropbox on campus. Sample collection volume for observed self-swabs was limited by staffing and space. All samples were returned to the laboratory and tested for SARS-CoV-2 by qRT-PCR. Results From September 10, 2021 to April 23, 2022, 38,400 individuals were enrolled in the study. Of these individuals, 5,089 used dropboxes only, 14,421 used kiosks only, and 5,820 used both. A total of 21,653 dropbox swabs and 75,493 observed self-swabs were collected. Median age was similar between individuals using dropboxes and observed self-swabs (20 vs. 22 years). A greater proportion of dropbox users were students compared to faculty and staff (students made up 83% of dropbox only population, 75% of kiosk only, and 86% of both, χ² p-value&amp;lt; 0.0001). Symptom data was reported for 65,349 swabs. Dropbox users were less likely to have symptoms compared to observed self-swab users (24% of swabs vs. 54%, χ² p-value&amp;lt; 0.0001). SARS-CoV-2 positivity was slightly lower for dropboxes compared to kiosks (4% vs. 5%; p=0.001). Dropboxes were highly utilized during periods of increased testing demand, including after academic breaks and variant emergence (Figure 1). Of the total tests distributed for use, a greater proportion of dropbox kits were unable to be resulted (6%) compared to observed self-swab kits (0.02%). Conclusion Dropboxes provided a flexible, high-volume collection method at times of increased testing demand. Individuals who used dropboxes were less likely to report symptoms and slightly less likely to test positive, suggesting a role for dropbox utilization in high-risk asymptomatic individuals during periods of high community transmission on a university campus. Disclosures Geoffrey S. Gottlieb, MD, PhD, Abbott Molecular Diagnostics: Grant/Research Support|Alere Technologies: Grant/Research Support|BMGF: Grant/Research Support|BMS: Grant/Research Support|Cerus Corp.: Grant/Research Support|Gilead Sciences: Grant/Research Support|Janssen Pharmaceutica: Grant/Research Support|Merck &amp; Co: Grant/Research Support|Roche Molecular Systems: Grant/Research Support|THERA Technologies/TaiMed Biologics: Grant/Research Support|ViiV Healthcare: Grant/Research Support Helen Y. Chu, MD, MPH, Cepheid: Reagents|Ellume: Advisor/Consultant|Gates Ventures: Grant/Research Support|Merck: Advisor/Consultant|Pfizer: Advisor/Consultant.

A retrospective overview of amphibian declines in Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Amphibians are facing population declines and extinctions across the globe, and megadiverse Brazil is no exception. One of the global hotspots of amphibian declines is Brazil's Atlantic Forest (AF), an ecoregion that in the past covered over 1,300,000 km2 of luxuriant coastal rainforests. Reports of historical declines were concentrated in the southern and southeastern sections of AF, however we now propose that these reports did not capture the whole extent and complexity of historical amphibian declines. Here, we conducted a refined review of historical amphibian declines that have been linked to environmental factors, climatic anomalies, and the emergence of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). We reviewed data on 169 populations of 106 species that have undergone population declines in the southern and southeastern Atlantic Forest, more than doubling the number of population declines reported in previous studies. These numbers place the Atlantic Forest among the ecoregions with the highest rates of amphibian declines and extinctions globally. We provide novel spatiotemporal information of amphibian declines, underscoring that the peak of declines happened in 1979, and that population recoveries, when they occurred, often took over 30 years. Our analyses indicate that the volume of field collections accessioned in museums over time matched temporal patterns of declines and extinctions, which indicates that historical declines might have impacted a far larger number of amphibian populations and species. Our review helps guide targeted management programs for amphibian surveys and Bd surveillance with practical implications for conservation.

Montero-Sieburth, M., Mas Giralt, R., García-Arjona, N. and Eguren, J. (eds.). Family practices in migration. Everyday lives and relationships. New York: Routledge, 2021

This collective volume is a result of the activities implemented by the former IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion Network) Standing Committee on Migrant Families, Children and Youth, between 2014 and 2019. The publication starts with the idea that “migration is fundamentally a family affair”, although specific research did not emerge until the 1980s. The authors are aware of the urgent need for migration literature on the topic. In the introduction dedicated to “Family practices in migration: everyday lives and relationships”, Montero-Sieburth and Mas Giralt explain the premises for this book. The authors have made some basic theoretical choices to establish a common ground for their work. First, they decided to work on “migrant family” instead of “transnational family” to articulate local and transnational family practices in different receiving and sending contexts. Second, they focused on child- and youth-centred perspectives, to avoid a traditional adult-centred perspective on family structures. They also considered the social dynamics between family and non-family members. The aim of this publication is to highlight the influence of “doing family” on the migration trajectories and im/mobilities of family members.

Bułgarystyka w zwierciadle nowo pojawiających się studiów czarnomorskich: apel o relokację

The paper argues that Bulgarian studies should be divorced from the paradigms of Slavic, Balkan and European studies and be relocated, in order to let the discipline articulate suppressed historical perspectives and achieve better standing within a global distribution of academic labour. The author analyses a recent collective volume in Black Sea studies (‘The Black Sea as a Literary and Cultural Space’, 2019) and discerns some research perspectives that are worth adopting for the mentioned relocation. The article’s overall intention is to juxtapose and partly merge the research agendas of Bulgarian studies and Black Sea studies, or at least to provoke a relevant interest in the academia. Such an intention can be primarily grounded in a macrohistorical generalisation: three, out of altogether only four, centres of worldling for Bulgarians from the 9th century onwards were located in, or at least gravitated to, the Black Sea basin (Constantinople, Istanbul, and Imperial Petersburg / Soviet Moscow), and were for the most time Black Sea (co)hegemons.

Improving the sustainability and safety of ursodeoxycholic acid synthesis in continuous flow process with water

A clog-free sustainable method for the synthesis of ursodeoxycholic acid through selective hydrogenation was developed using Raney nickel in a continuous flow process. To increase the sustainability and safety of the continuous flow system, water as a green solvent was used to remove the salt compound causing serious clogging problems and to generate hydrogen gas by electrolysis. Furthermore, a real-time monitoring system was installed in the flow system to check the system pressure and collective volume of the reaction solution, allowing immediate confirmation of blockages. Eventually, the continuous flow system was successfully developed with a short residence time of 4 min, almost full conversion, and high selectivity of 94.0% dr. This continuous flow system lasts 10 consecutive days with lower catalyst loading (the ratio of Raney nickel to 7-oxo-LCA = 4.44 w/w) without clogging problems.

Globale Musikgeschichte – der lange Weg

Abstract The paper is an overview of the musicological research project „Towards a global history of music“, which was carried out between 2013 and 2017 on the basis of a Balzan Prize for Musicology (2012), with the assistance of international music research institutes and their specialists. A main outcome of the project are three collective volumes of papers, published in 2018, 2019 and 2021, respectively. The project has viewed the variety of musical experiences around the world as a historical unfolding, to be explored via a „long path“ through both geography and history. It has queried the enlightenment idea of a fundamental unity of all music (universalism), and the often fragile status of musical-cultural identities on the regional or national levels. It has sought to join methodologies of ethnomusicology and historical research, and has observed that the concepts of music and historiography themselves are less than universal. To the discourses of globalisation and modernisation, the project has added the alternative of transculturality, allowing for more neutral or participatory interpretations of cultural encounter. Summarising this research, tensions between nation and migration, regionalism and adaptation, ‚radial‘ and ‚imposed‘ globality are shown. The paper proposes to expand such studies into non-scientific practice and to find new institutional bases, which would benefit further global understanding and sharing.

Spectroscopy of individual Brownian nanoparticles in real-time using holographic localization.

Individual nanoparticle spectroscopic characterization is fundamental, but challenging in liquids. While confocal selectivity is necessary to isolate a particle in a crowd, Brownian motion constantly offsets the particle from the light collection volume. Here, we present a system able to acquire holograms and reconstruct them to precisely determine the 3D position of a particle in real time. These coordinates drive an adaptive system comprising two galvanometric mirrors (x,y, transverse directions) and a tunable lens (z, longitudinal) which redirect light scattered from the corresponding region of space towards the confocal entrance of a spectrometer, thus allowing long spectral investigations on individual, freely-moving particles. A study of the movements and spectra of individual 100 nm Au nanoparticles undergoing two types of aggregations illustrates the possibilities of the method.

Hydrogen peroxide production of underwater nanosecond-pulsed streamer discharges with respect to pulse parameters and associated discharge characteristics

Pulsed streamer discharges submerged in water have demonstrated potential in a number of applications. Especially the generation of discharges by short high-voltage pulses in the nanosecond range has been found to offer advantages with respect to efficacies and efficiencies. The exploited plasma chemistry generally relies on the initial production of short-lived species, e.g. hydroxyl radicals. Since the diagnostic of these transient species is not readily possible, a quantification of hydrogen peroxide provides an adequate assessment of underlying reactions. These conceivably depend on the characteristics of the high-voltage pulses, such as pulse duration, pulse amplitude, as well as pulse steepness.A novel electrochemical flow-injection system was used to relate these parameters to hydrogen peroxide concentrations. Accordingly, the accumulated hydrogen peroxide production for streamer discharges ignited in deionized water was investigated for pulse durations of 100 ns and 300 ns, pulse amplitudes between 54 kV and 64 kV, and pulse rise times from 16 ns to 31 ns. An independent control of the individual pulse parameters was enabled by providing the high-voltage pulses with a Blumlein line. Applied voltage, discharge current, optical light emission and time-integrated images were recorded for each individual discharge to determine dissipated energy, inception statistic, discharge expansion and the lifetime of a discharge.Pulse steepness did not affect the hydrogen peroxide production rate, but an increase in amplitude of 10 kV for 100 ns pulses nearly doubled the rate to (0.19 ± 0.01) mol l−1 s−1, which was overall the highest determined rate. The energy efficiency did not change with pulse amplitude, but was sensitive to pulse duration. Notably, production rate and efficiency doubled when the pulse duration decreased from 300 ns to 100 ns, resulting in the best peroxide production efficiency of (9.2 ± 0.9) g kWh−1. The detailed analysis revealed that the hydrogen peroxide production rate could be described by the energy dissipation in a representative single streamer. The production efficiency was affected by the corresponding discharge volume, which was comprised by the collective volume of all filaments. Hence, dissipating more energy in a filament resulted in an increased production rate, while increasing the relative volume of the discharge compared to its propagation time increased the energy efficiency.

Pretrained Configuration of Power-Quality Grayscale-Image Dataset for Sensor Improvement in Smart-Grid Transmission

The primary source of the various power-quality-disruption (PQD) concerns in smart grids is the large number of sensors, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), remote terminal units, smart meters, measurement units, and computers that are linked by a large network. Because real-time data exchange via a network of various sensors demands a small file size without an adverse effect on the information quality, one measure of the power-quality monitoring in a smart grid is restricted by the vast volume of the data collection. In order to provide dependable and bandwidth-friendly data transfer, the data-processing techniques’ effectiveness was evaluated for precise power-quality monitoring in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) using grayscale PQD image data and employing pretrained PQD data with deep-learning techniques, such as ResNet50, MobileNet, and EfficientNetB0. The suggested layers, added between the pretrained base model and the classifier, modify the pretrained approaches. The result shows that advanced MobileNet is a fairly good-fitting model. This model outperforms the other pretraining methods, with 99.32% accuracy, the smallest file size, and the fastest computation time. The preprocessed data’s output is anticipated to allow for reliable and bandwidth-friendly data-packet transmission in WSNs.

Sensitive and simultaneous quantification of 16 neurotransmitters and metabolites in murine microdialysate by fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The sensitive and simultaneous measurement of multiple neurotransmitters in microdialysate (MD) of freely moving mice is a prerequisite to study neurochemical imbalances in specific brain regions.The quantitative analysis of 16 neurotransmitters and metabolites, including serotonin (5-HT), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), melatonin (ME), dopamine (DA), levodopa (l-DOPA), 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EP), homovanillinic acid (HVA), acetylcholine (ACh), deoxy carnitine (iso-ACh), choline (Ch), and ɣ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), adenosine (ADE), glutamine (Gln), and glutamic acid (Glu) was achieved within a chromatographic separation time of 6.5 min by the application of a biphenyl column coupled to an API-QTrap 5500 (AB SCIEX) mass spectrometer.Optimized chromatographic separation as well as high sensitivity allow the simultaneous analysis and precise quantification of 16 neurotransmitters and metabolites in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Sample preparation procedure consisted of simply adding isotopically labeled internal standard solution to the microdialysis sample. The limits of detection in aCSF ranged from 0.025 pg (Ch) to 9.75 pg (Gln) and 85.5 pg (HVA) on column. Recoveries were between 83 and 111% for neurotransmitter concentrations from 0.6 to 45 ng/ml or 200 ng/ml with a mean intra-day and inter-day coefficient of variation of 7.6% and 11.2%, respectively. Basal extracellular concentrations of the following analytes: 5-HT, 5-HIAA, ME, DA, 3-MT, HVA, ACh, iso-ACh, Ch, GABA, ADE, Gln, and Glu were determined in the striatum of mice with a MD flow rate of 0.5 μl/min.This LC-MS/MS method leads to an accurate quantification of ACh and its isobaric structure iso-ACh, which were detected in the MD samples at ratios of 1:8.6. The main advantage of the high sensitivity is the miniaturization of the MD protocol with short sample collection times and volumes down to 5 μl, which makes this method suitable for pharmacological intervention and optogenetic studies to detect neurochemical changes in vivo.

3D Spectroscopic Tracking of Individual Brownian Nanoparticles during Galvanic Exchange.

Monitoring chemical reactions in solutions at the scale of individual entities is challenging: single-particle detection requires small confocal volumes, which are hardly compatible with Brownian motion, particularly when long integration times are necessary. Here, we propose a real-time (10 Hz) holography-based nm-precision 3D tracking of single moving nanoparticles. Using this localization, the confocal collection volume is dynamically adjusted to follow the moving nanoparticle and allow continuous spectroscopic monitoring. This concept is applied to study galvanic exchange in freely moving colloidal silver nanoparticles with gold ions generated in situ. While the Brownian trajectory reveals particle size, spectral shifts dynamically reveal composition changes and transformation kinetics at the single-object level, pointing at different transformation kinetics for free and tethered particles.

Ultra-trace determination of mercury by platinum-coated tungsten coil trapping cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry

ABSTRACT Within the scope of this study, a simple, highly sensitive and rapid trapping method for the determination of mercury (Hg) was developed. In this method, the surface of the tungsten coil (W-coil) was coated with platinum using the electrolytic deposition technique. Scanning electron microscopy–energy-dispersive X-ray analyses were performed to examine the surface morphology of Pt-coated W-coil. During the experiment, firstly, Hg vapour generated by tetrahydroborate, used as a reducing agent, was efficiently trapped on the Pt-coated W-coil at collection temperature in hydrochloric acid medium. Subsequently, Hg trapped on the surface of the Pt-coated W-coil was revolatilised by the effect of releasing-stage gases at the optimised releasing temperatures and transported to quartz T-tube atomiser. The experimental conditions have been optimised. Under the optimised conditions, a limit of detection (LOD) of 8.8 ng L−1 was obtained using three times the standard deviation of blank values using Pt-coated W-coil trap cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) system. The precision of the measurements was evaluated by relative standard deviation of 4.4%, which is obtained by 11 consecutive measurements of reagent blanks for a collection volume of 6.83 mL corresponding to 90 s collection. The enhancement factors for both LOD (3 s) and characteristic concentration (Co) were found to be 5.09 and 5.02 when compared with the regular CVAAS system without trap. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated by analysing BCR 146 R (Sewage sludge), RTC (Sandy Loam 7), ERM-BD151 (skimmed milk powder) and NIST 1641e (mercury in water) certified reference materials (CRMs). There was a good agreement between certified and found values for all CRMs. The results of the application of the developed method in seawater showed the spike recovery ranges from 94.2% to 102.4%.