Higher Capture Rates Research Articles

Greenhouse gas emissions of shipping with onboard carbon capture under the FuelEU Maritime regulation: A well-to-wake evaluation of different propulsion scenarios

International shipping has extended its decarbonization strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond onboard CO2 emissions. Onboard carbon capture and storage systems are being investigated as a potential solution for fossil-fueled ships, however there is a lack of knowledge on the reduction of well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions that could be enabled. Considering the ambitious emission reduction targets, this may lead to inaccurate estimations of the future fuel mix in the maritime sector and the market share of marine engines. This study defines nine ship propulsion scenarios based on combinations of fossil fuels and marine engines. To better understand the greenhouse gas emission reduction of onboard carbon capture, this study calculates the well-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity of each scenario with and without onboard carbon capture and storage from the ship’s main engine(s). Deploying onboard carbon capture and storage systems notably reduces the tank-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity (54–68 % depending on the scenario). Contrary to onboard emissions, oil-fueled ships with onboard carbon capture and storage are found to be less greenhouse gas intensive and more cost-effective than LNG-fueled ships. The four-stroke oil-fueled engine achieves the lowest well-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity of 38.31 gCO2eq/MJ, while the four-stroke LNG-fueled engine has the highest intensity of 50.34 gCO2eq/MJ. The greenhouse gas emission levels enabled by onboard carbon capture from the main engine would allow fossil-fueled ships to comply with the FuelEU Maritime greenhouse gas intensity requirement until 2044. To be compliant in subsequent periods, onboard carbon capture and storage systems will need to consider carbon capture from the auxiliary boiler and generator and higher capture rate, as well as measures to reduce upstream emissions from fossil fuel production and transport.

Are phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) really attracted to UV-light sources?

Phlebotomine sand flies are the sole confirmed vector of leishmaniosis, a group of endemic and re-emerging diseases in southern European countries such as Spain. Light traps are the major surveillance method currently being employed. Nevertheless, color light attraction by sand flies remains mostly unknown. Following prior research, the effect of UV-LED light sources, and its synergic effect with different color lights has been evaluated employing a modified Flebocollect (FC) light trap model. Results suggest that female Phlebotomus perniciosus sand flies are more attracted to a FC trap lured with the combination of blue and UV LED light sources than commercial CDC (Center for Disease Control and prevention) traps (Bonferroni post-hoc test; p < 0.08; blue/UV mean = 0.50; CDC mean = 0.13), while the combination of red and UV modified-traps excel in capturing Sergentomyia minuta sand flies (Bonferroni post-hoc test; p < 0.04; blue/UV mean = 1.19; CDC mean = 0.66). However, based on our prior studies, incorporating UV light sources into sand fly traps does not seem to enhance their attractiveness, as it has not resulted in higher capture rates. These findings contribute to understanding how sand flies’ vision and light color detection is. Further research is recommended to standardize trap construction procedures and explore variations in different endemic regions according to different sand fly species.

Single-Molecule Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Double-Stranded Polynucleotides Using Solid-State Nanopore with AI-Assisted Detection and Classification: Implications for Understanding Disease Severity.

This study utilized solid-state nanopores, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), to analyze the double-stranded polynucleotides encoding angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, receptor-binding domain, and N protein, important parts of SARS-CoV-2 infection. By examining ionic current signals during DNA translocation, we revealed the dynamic interactions and structural characteristics of these nucleotide sequences and also quantified their abundance. Nanopores of sizes 3 and 10 nm were efficiently fabricated and characterized, ensuring an optimal experimental approach. Our results showed a clear relationship between DNA capture rates and concentration, proving our method's effectiveness. Notably, longer DNA sequences had higher capture rates, suggesting their importance for potential disease marker analysis. The 3 nm nanopore demonstrated superior performance in our DNA analysis. Using dwell time measurements and excluded currents, we were able to distinguish the longer DNA fragments, paving the way for a DNA length-based analysis. Overall, our research underscores the potential of nanopore technology, enhanced with AI, in analyzing COVID-19-related DNA and its implications for understanding disease severity. This provides insight into innovative diagnostic and treatment strategies.

A calixarene antioxidant C-undecylcalix[4]resorcinarene for endothermic hydrocarbon fuels

The antioxidation performance of small molecule antioxidants in high temperature environments is often limited due to insufficient thermal stability. Thus, macromolecular calixarene compounds were developed as thermal stable antioxidants to overcome the shortcomings of conventional small molecular hindered phenol antioxidants. In this work, C-undecylcalix[4]resorcinarene (C11C[4]R), with hydrocarbon soluble alkyl chain and hindered phenol structure, was used as antioxidants for endothermic hydrocarbon fuels. Thermogravimetric analysis shows C11C[4]R has better thermal stability than 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT), the commercial small molecular antioxidant, which made it suitable for intensively thermal-stressed conditions. Further tests shows that the radical scavenging activity of C11C[4]R is significantly better than BHT with a larger capacity and higher capture rate. C11C[4]R also presents a satisfactory antioxidation inhibition improvement in view of the oxidative stability of the model fuels in accelerated oxidation experiments. In addition, computational works were also conducted, by which the results suggest an improved H atom donation ability also contributes to the excellent antioxidation performance of C11C[4]R.

Composition of Anopheles species and bionomic characteristics over the peak malaria transmission season in Bandarban, Bangladesh

BackgroundJoint efforts by government and non-government organizations have helped to reduce malaria in Bangladesh and set the country on a clear path to eventual malaria elimination. However, achieving that goal would be challenging without a comprehensive understanding of vector bionomics.MethodsTargeted capturing of Anopheles mosquitoes over a rainy season, utilizing specific sampling methods, including human landing catches (HLCs), CDC-light traps (CDC-LTs), and pyrethrum spray catches (PSCs) were aimed to characterize entomological drivers of transmission in four sites of Bandarban, Bangladesh.ResultsMolecular characterization of a subset of 4637 mosquitoes has demonstrated the presence of at least 17 species whose capture rates were representative of the rainy season. Species compositions and bionomic traits did not vary between sites with Anopheles maculatus having the highest landing rate by HLCs and Anopheles vagus having the highest capture rate with CDC-LTs. Interestingly, Anopheles species compositions and capture rates varied significantly (p < 0.05) for An. vagus, between HLCs and its often-used proxy—CDC-LTs- suggesting impacts on downstream analysis. CDC-LTs capture rates demonstrated differing compositions with indoor and outdoor biting rates. For example, Anopheles nigerrimus and Anopheles nivipes were more endophagic by HLCs and more exophagic by CDC-LTs. The use of a cow-baited CDC-LT also demonstrated significantly different results when compared to a human-baited CDC-LT considering the high degree of anthropophily in these species. The exception to both zoophily and indoor resting was An. vagus, which demonstrated both anthropophily and high resting rates indoors—pointing to this species being a possible primary vector at this site.ConclusionA diverse Anopheles fauna in Bandarban has been confirmed through molecular methods, highlighting the potential impact of sampling techniques. Given the complexity of the local ecosystem, a better understanding of mosquito behaviour and ecology is required to achieve the goal of malaria elimination in Bangladesh.

Rates of event capture of home video EEG

ObjectiveRecording electrographic and behavioral information during epileptic and other paroxysmal events is important during video electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring. This study was undertaken to measure the event capture rate of an home service operating across Australia using a shoulder-worn EEG device and telescopic pole-mounted camera. MethodsNeurologist reports were accessed retrospectively. Studies with confirmed events were identified and assessed for event capture by recording modality, whether events were reported or discovered, and physiological state. Results6,265 studies were identified, of which 2,788 (44.50%) had events. A total of 15,691 events were captured, of which 77.89% were reported. The EEG amplifier was active for 99.83% of events. The patient was in view of the camera for 94.90% of events. 84.89% of studies had all events on camera, and 2.65% had zero events on camera (mean = 93.66%, median = 100.00%). 84.42% of events from wakefulness were reported, compared to 54.27% from sleep. ConclusionsEvent capture was similar to previously reported rates from home studies, with higher capture rates on video. Most patients have all events captured on camera. SignificanceHome monitoring is capable of high rates of event capture, and the use of wide-angle cameras allows for all events to be captured in the majority of studies.

Numerical simulation and in vitro experimental study of thrombus capture efficiency of a new retrievable vena cava filter

The vena cava filter is a filtering device to prevent pulmonary embolism caused by thrombosis from lower limbs and pelvis. A new retrievable vena cava filter was evaluated in this paper. To evaluate the hemodynamic performance and thrombus capture efficiency after transplantation, numerical simulation of computational fluid dynamics was performed. In this paper, the two-phase flow model of computational fluid dynamics software was used to analyze the outlet blood flow velocity, inlet-outlet pressure difference, filter wall shear stress, the ratio of area with wall shear stress, and the thrombus capture efficiency with the thrombus diameter of 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and the thrombus content of 10%, 20%, 30%, respectively. Additionally, in vitro experimental test was performed to compare its thrombus capture efficiency with Denali and Aegisy Filters. The Denali Filter showed the least interference with the blood flow, followed by the new filter and the Aegisy Filter. The results indicated that the new filter had a higher capture rate in capturing 5mm small-diameter thrombus. This research certain theoretical significance and reference value for the research and development of the new vena cava filters as well as the evaluation of the thrombus capture efficiency of the filters.

Comparison of Trapping Effects of Different Traps and Monitoring the Occurrence Dynamics of Spodoptera litura in Soybean Fields of Dangtu, Anhui Province, China

In order to clarify the trapping efficiency of different types of sex pheromone traps on populations of Spodoptera litura in soybean fields, three kinds of conventional traps, called YL-VT, YL-HEMT and YL-NMT, and types of traps equipped with a automatic catch monitoring mechanism, called AIM and AIM-lite-A, have been tested. These last two allow monitoring the diurnal and seasonal rhythms of the catches. From 5 August to 5 October 2020, each YL-VT trap caught an average of 84.4 heads of S. litura moths per day, which was significantly higher than the YL-HEMT (11.8 heads), YL-NMT (16.5 heads) and AIM (9.7 heads), which did not show significant differences between them. The half-life of pheromone attraction effect in YL-VT trap is about 17–20 days. Considering the number of trapping and the duration of pheromone attraction effect, YL-VT trap is the best. For efficient monitoring, the validity period is approximately 15 days. Among the causes that could explain its higher capture rate and efficiency, the YL-VT trap has the smallest and largest number of inlet devices, and in it, the lure core is located inside of the insect inlet device. Under different occurrence numbers of S. litura, the accuracy of the automatic count of AIM-lite-A is 90% greater than in the AIM trap. The diurnal rhythms of S. litura observed by AIM-lite-A show that S. litura have two active periods that are from 18:00 to 21:00 and from 23:00 to 4:00 at night and that the first active period may be affected by sunshine and temperature. The annual activity rhythm of S. litura monitored by AIM showed that the activity of S. litura was related to temperature, there were approximately 6 generations of S. litura in a year and that the activity peak was from August to September in Dangtu, China. AIM and AIM-lite-A can be used for the annual monitoring of S. litura population in soybean fields because of their automatic counting function. AIM can simultaneously record a variety of meteorological data, AIM-lite-A has higher accuracy and a lower cost, which can be selected according to different situations. In conventional traps, the trap YL-VT can be used for the population monitoring of S. litura in soybean fields and pest control in the field, especially in greenhouses and net rooms where organic soybeans are grown, due to its low cost and efficient trapping ability.

An Evaluation of Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria) Survey and Capture Protocols

The behaviors and activity season of Deirochelys reticularia miaria (Western Chicken Turtle) are poorly understood in Texas. Though distribution of D. r. miaria in the eastern portion of the state is widespread, turtle assemblage studies conducted within the range of the species in Texas have seldom documented its presence. There is a lack of formal protection for this subspecies and their habitat, and past research suggests that remaining habitat within the state is under threat from increasing urbanization. Therefore, the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 90-day finding that states listing the subspecies as threatened or endangered may be warranted. To provide survey recommendations for the western subspecies, we review species-wide capture techniques from the literature, recommend a survey season for D. r. miaria in Texas, and evaluate the efficacy and potential demographic biases of capture protocols implemented during field studies in the state in 2018 and 2019. We compared road surveys, dipnet surveys, seine surveys, night wading surveys, and two types of unbaited fyke net trap. Fyke nets were effective in every study that deployed them and captured D. r. miaria in this study at a rate of 0.25 captures per trap night. Dipnet surveys had the highest capture rate among active survey methods, but body size biases between methods were apparent. In Texas, road surveys yielded significantly lower capture rates than all other survey types. The best survey method selection will vary depending on research questions, budget, and time constraints. Utilizing proper survey protocols and understanding the activity season are crucial for performing effective studies on this species.

Survey of bats on the south coast and ranges of the Shoalhaven region in New South Wales

ABSTRACT Surveys for echolocating bats were conducted primarily by harp trapping and echolocation detection in the Shoalhaven region on the south coast region of New South Wales from 1989 to 2021. A total of 399 sites were surveyed by harp trapping and 175 sites through echolocation call detection. Mist nets were used to catch bats at one site in 1989. The survey covered a range of vegetation communities at altitudes that ranged from near sea level to 770m asl. One hundred and seventy-four harp trap sites were within conservation reserves/state forests and the rest were on freehold land. Each site was trapped from 1 - 4 nights for a total of 666 harp trap nights. Sites surveyed electronically were sampled between 1- 2 nights for a total of 230 samples of either 30 minutes duration or an entire night. A total of 18 species were captured in harp traps during the survey. The Yellow-bellied Sheath-tailed Bat Saccolaimus flaviventris was observed once during spotlight surveys and detected electronically. The White-striped Free-tailed Bat Austronomus australis was heard echolocating at night and detected electronically. The Little Bent-wing Bat Miniopterus australis was only detected electronically. The highest capture rate was in Jerrawangala National Park where 38 animals consisting of five species were trapped in one trap on a single night. The highest species richness and density was found in tall open forests, especially those along the Illawarra escarpment. Analysis of abundances found that the Little Forest Bat Vespadelus vulturnus was the most common species accounting for 45% of animals trapped. Seven species currently listed under the Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016) were caught and another detected electronically. Those trapped were the Large-eared Pied Bat Chalinolobus dwyeri, Eastern Falsistrelle Falsistrellus tasmaniensis, Golden-tipped Bat Phoniscus papuensis, Eastern Bent-wing Bat Miniopterus orianae oceanensis, Eastern Coastal Free-tailed Bat Micronomus norfolkensis, Large-footed Myotis Myotis macropus and Greater Broad-nosed Bat Scoteanax rueppellii. In addition, the regionally rare Ride’s Free-tailed Bat Ozimops ridei was trapped. The survey provided the first live specimens of Eastern Forest Bat V. pumilus in the south coast region, a range extension of some 260km south of the previous accepted records in the Watagan Mountains. The capture of a Large-eared Pied Bat at Meroo NP represents a southern range extension for this species. Morphometric data are presented plus comments on species habitat preference.

Pan Traps as an efficient and low cost method for sampling Corethrella Coquillet, 1902 (Diptera: Corethrellidae)

The genus Corethrella Coquillet, 1902 are known as a group of nocturnal frog-biting-midges (Diptera: Corethrellidae) which locate their frog-hosts through the sound emitted by their conspicuous calls. The classical method to capture these midges consists in using modified Center Disease Control (CDC) traps in which speakers emitting frog calls replace the light bulb. However, the high cost, volume and weight of CDC traps hampers several studies in remote areas and in countries with low research investments. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to compare the capture rate of the classic modified CDC trap with a new trap recently developed, here referred as PTM. We conducted an experiment at flooded areas in the vicinity of a lake in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil in which we arranged PTM and modified CDC traps emitting frog calls of two species commonly found in the area, Physalaemus nanus (Boulenger, 1888) and P. cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826. In a total of 34,5h sampling hours per trap (one trial per night for five days), the PTM traps captured over 20 times more individuals than modified CDC traps (n= 1594; n=72, respectively) and the same number of species (3). Those results demonstrate that the PTM method had a higher capture rate, are more practical and has a lower cost than modified CDC traps. We suggest further studies to investigate which aspects could explain the differences between capture rates among PTM, BG sentinel, bottle and CDC modified methods.

Using Electronic Health Records to understand the population of local children captured in a large health system in Durham County, NC, USA, and implications for population health research

Although local policies aimed at reducing childhood health inequities can benefit from local data, sample size constraints in population representative health surveys often prevent rigorous evaluations of child health disparities and health care patterns at local levels. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) offer a possible solution as they contain large amounts of information on pediatric patients within a health system. In this paper, we consider the suitability of using EHRs from a large health system to study local children's health by evaluating the extent to which the EHRs capture the county's child population. First, we compare the demographic characteristics of Duke University Health System pediatric patients who live in Durham County, NC (USA) to the child population estimates in the 2015–2019 American Community Survey. We then examine geographic variation in census tract rates of children captured in the EHR data and estimate negative binomial models to assess how tract characteristics are associated with these rates. We also perform these analyses for the subset of pediatric patients who have a well-child encounter. We find that the demographic characteristics of pediatric patients captured by the EHRs are similar to those of the county's child population. Although the county rate of children captured in the EHRs is high, there is variation across census tracts. On average, census tracts with higher concentrations of non-Hispanic Black residents have lower capture rates and tracts with higher concentrations of poverty have higher capture rates, with the poorest tracts showing the largest racial gap in rates of children captured by EHRs. Our findings suggest that EHRs from a large health system can be used to assess children's population health, but that EHR-based evaluations of children's health disparities and health care patterns should account for differences in who is captured by the EHRs based on census tract characteristics.

Wintering Town: Individual Quality of Migratory Warblers Using Green Urban Areas in a Neotropical City

Migratory birds can be familiar winter visitors of Neotropical cities. However, of the regional migrant species bird pool, only a few species are abundant in urban areas. Their presence inside cities has been positively related to green urban areas with high tree cover. However, urban elements like artificial lights can also attract them to cities. Habitat quality that enables energetic refueling for migrant birds is crucial in all their annual migratory stages. While some Nearctic cities offer a high-quality refueling habitat for migrant birds, we lack this information for Neotropical cities where migratory birds winter. In this study, we evaluate whether the urban green areas of a Neotropical city act as high-quality habitats for two abundant species of migratory warblers:Setophaga coronataandLeiothlypis ruficapilla.We assessed this by capturing birds inside three urban green areas and comparing their abundances, population structure, and individual quality (scaled-mass index—SMI) with individuals spending winter in natural vegetation habitats outside the city. We found that both species do not show differences in SMI between urban and non-urban sites. We also found thatSetophaga coronatahad a higher capture rate in urban than non-urban sites, whileLeiothlypis ruficapillahad similar capture rates in both habitats. Our findings indicate that the urban green areas of cities can act as suitable quality habitat during winter for two abundant migrant birds. Our results indicate that cities can have a higher conservation potential for a declining and sensitive group such as the Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds than previously thought. We also point out the need to acknowledge that migratory species can be urban dwellers.

Energy assessments of onboard CO2 capture from ship engines by MEA-based post combustion capture system with flue gas heat integration

An early phase feasibility study was carried out for offshore CO2 capture from ship engines of a CO2 transport ship. A flexible in-house process simulator was applied in the assessments. Parametric studies of the overall onboard process were enabled by a fast data-driven capture plant model derived from supervised machine learning by PLS regression of a large dataset of rigorous simulations. The results show, based on the given models and assumptions, that the thermal energy coming from the ship engine exhaust gas is not sufficient alone to cover the thermal energy demand of an absorption-based CO2 capture unit operating above 50% capture rate using 30 wt% MEA (mono-ethanolamine) as solvent. The thermal energy demand can be met using a fuel afterburner as heat source. The added fuel consumption is estimated to increase the fuel consumption by 6–9% when operating with liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel source, while an increase of 8–12% is expected with diesel as fuel source. The effect of absorber height on energy consumption at a given CO2 capture rate is limited, especially for lower capture rates, and may be an important degree of freedom for optimizing the CAPEX/OPEX trade-offs. Use of state-of-the art solvents with lower specific energy consumptions will shift the results towards higher capture rates before a fuel afterburner is required to meet the thermal energy demands.

Are responders to patient health surveys representative of those invited to participate? An analysis of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Pilot from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are commonly used to evaluate surgical outcome in patients undergoing joint replacement surgery, however routine collection from the target population is often incomplete. Representative samples are required to allow inference from the sample to the population. Although higher capture rates are desired, the extent to which this improves the representativeness of the sample is not known. We aimed to measure the representativeness of data collected using an electronic PROMs capture system with or without telephone call follow up, and any differences in PROMS reporting between electronic and telephone call follow up. Data from a pilot PROMs program within a large national joint replacement registry were examined. Telephone call follow up was used for people that failed to respond electronically. Data were collected pre-operatively and at 6 months post-operatively. Responding groups (either electronic only or electronic plus telephone call follow up) were compared to non-responders based on patient characteristics (joint replaced, bilaterality, age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) score and Body Mass Index (BMI)) using chi squared test or ANOVA, and PROMs for the two responder groups were compared using generalised linear models adjusted for age and sex. The analysis was restricted to those undergoing primary elective hip, knee or shoulder replacement for osteoarthritis. Pre-operatively, 73.2% of patients responded electronically and telephone follow-up of non-responders increased this to 91.4%. Pre-operatively, patients responding electronically, compared to all others, were on average younger, more likely to be female, and healthier (lower ASA score). Similar differences were found when telephone follow up was included in the responding group. There were little (if any) differences in the post-operative comparisons, where electronic responders were on average one year younger and were more likely to have a lower ASA score compared to those not responding electronically, but there was no significant difference in sex or BMI. PROMs were similar between those reporting electronically and those reporting by telephone. Patients undergoing total joint replacement who provide direct electronic PROMs data are younger, healthier and more likely to be female than non-responders, but these differences are small, particularly for post-operative data collection. The addition of telephone call follow up to electronic contact does not provide a more representative sample. Electronic-only follow up of patients undergoing joint replacement provides a satisfactory representation of the population invited to participate.

Occurrence of mammalian small carnivores in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, India

The small mammalian carnivores are important for maintaining healthy ecosystems. The present documentation is based on the camera trap survey in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Paired camera-traps were set in a grid of 1.413 × 1.413 km area of 180km² within an altitudinal range of 80–1,866 m. A total of 11 species were recorded in different habitat types. Brown Palm Civet Paradoxurus jerdoni and Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis had the highest capture rates and the lowest was Rusty Spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus.

Bird Assemblage and Diversity along Different Habitat Types in a Karst Forest Area in Bulacan, Luzon Island, Philippines

Little is known on the effects of degradation and disturbance on bird assemblage in lowland karst forests in the Philippines. In this study, we determined diversity patterns and distribution of birds along the vertical strata in two karst forest fragments adjacent to and one reforestation area within an active limestone quarry area in Bulacan province, Luzon island. Surveys were conducted using mist nets set in the understory (0–3 m) and sub-canopy (4–10 m) from November 2013 to October 2016. A total of 617 individuals belonging to 63 species and 13 feeding guilds were recorded from a mist-netting effort of 654,264.8 mist-net hours (m2∙h); of these, 32 are Philippine endemics and six are threatened species. We recorded the highest number of species in the reforestation area, most of which are generalist and disturbance-tolerant species. Results from permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) indicate differences in bird assemblage between the three habitat types and between the two vertical strata within habitat types. Meanwhile, similarity percentage analyses and Mann-Whitney U tests showed that species and guilds that contributed to the observed dissimilarity in the two strata have higher capture rates in the understory. These observations provide insights into the effect of disturbance and habitat alteration in the vertical movement of birds, as evidenced by the shift of some arboreal species to the understory layer in more disturbed habitats. Understanding the behavior and habitat use of birds will, thus, help in identifying appropriate conservation measures to ensure proper resource partitioning among the different bird assemblages in fragmented habitats.

Onboard CO &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; Capture From Ship Engines

An early phase feasibility study has been carried out for offshore CO2 capture from ship engines of a CO2 transport ship. Capture of CO2 from ship engines is a challenging task, especially considered the limited space and energy available onboard, and the logistics involved in bringing the captured CO2 to permanent storage. In this relation, CO2 transport ships could be a special case that is viable, since the capture plant would be located next to dedicated tanks already heading for a storage site. The aim of the current work was to explore the possibility of capturing CO2 from the exhaust gas emitted by the engines of CO2 transporting ships as part of CO2LOS II (CO2 Logistics by Ship Phase II) project. A flexible in-house process simulator was applied in the assessments. Parametric studies were enabled by a fast data-driven capture plant model derived from a large dataset of rigorous simulations. The results show, based on the given models and assumptions, that the thermal energy coming from the ship engine exhaust gas is not sufficient alone to cover the thermal energy demand of an absorption-based CO2 capture unit operating above 50 % capture rate using 30wt% MEA (monoethanolamine) as solvent. The thermal energy demand can be met using a fuel afterburner as heat source. The added fuel consumption is estimated to increase the fuel consumption by 6-9 % when operating with liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel source, while an increase of 8-12 % is expected with diesel as fuel source. The effect of absorber height on energy consumption at a given CO2 capture rate is limited, especially for lower capture rates, and may be an important degree of freedom for optimizing the CAPEX/OPEX trade-offs. Use of state-of-the art solvents with lower specific energy consumptions will shift the results towards higher capture rates before a fuel afterburner is required to meet the thermal energy demands.

Eficacia de captura de tejones (Meles meles) en el contexto de la investigación de la tuberculosis animal en la España atlántica

Understanding factors affecting the number of badgers (Meles meles) captured around the setts, latrine and passage areas, is of considerable application in a context of animal tuberculosis research. These factors could be used to define and develop strategies to control tuberculosis, to estimate badgers densities and, in the future, to manage vaccination programs. This study analyzes the trappability of 49 badgers from 2015 to 2017 and describes the capture rate in comparison with these variables: season of the year, meteorological temperature and precipitation, number of night traps and different trapping habitats. The highest capture rate (2.76 badgers/100 night traps) was obtained in late winter-early spring, which could be directly related to the availability of food. Among the adult badgers captured, the females were trapped in higher proportion (63%) than males (37%), which could be related to a greater involvement of the females in the search for food. The best capture rate was obtained around of the setts and no statistical significance was found with respect to the meteorological variables studied.

Proper Read Filtering Method to Adequately Analyze Whole-Transcriptome Sequencing and RNA Based Immune Repertoire Sequencing Data for Tumor Milieu Research.

Simple SummaryThe recent advancement in high-throughput sequencing has become indispensable for immune-genomics and profiling the T- and B-cell receptor repertoires. Immune repertoire sequencing (IR-seq) and whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) can be implemented to investigate and quantitatively characterize the complex pattern of the CDR3 region. We conducted T-cell diversity analysis result comparisons of these sequencing methods and suggest an intuitive approach to discriminate reliable TCR sequences and clonotype patterns from capturing errors. Although bulk-RNA sequencing is commonly used for cancer analysis, we confirmed capturing highly enriched TCR transcripts with IR-seq is more reliable for accurate immune repertoire discovery, and singleton read filtering criteria should be applied to capture true clonotypes from error-prone sequencing data. The use of such well-established data and analytical methodologies can broaden understanding of antigen specificity in immunity and enabling efficient therapeutic antibody finding.Analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is essential to characterize the extensive collections of T-cell populations with recognizing antigens in cancer research, and whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) and immune repertoire sequencing (IR-seq) are commonly used for this measure. To date, no standard read filtering method for IR measurement has been presented. We assessed the diversity of the TCR repertoire results from the paired WTS and IR-seq data of 31 multiple myeloma (MM) patients. To invent an adequate read filtering strategy for IR analysis, we conducted comparisons with WTS results. First, our analyses for determining an optimal threshold for selecting clonotypes showed that the clonotypes supported by a single read largely affected the shared clonotypes and manifested distinct patterns of mapping qualities, unlike clonotypes with multiple reads. Second, although IR-seq could reflect a wider TCR region with a higher capture rate than WTS, an adequate comparison with the removal of unwanted bias from potential sequencing errors was possible only after applying our read filtering strategy. As a result, we suggest that TCR repertoire analysis be carried out through IR-seq to produce reliable and accurate results, along with the removal of single-read clonotypes, to conduct immune research in cancer using high-throughput sequencing.