Hydric Effects Research Articles

Hydric effects on thermal tolerances influence climate vulnerability in a high-latitude beetle.

Species' thermal tolerances are used to estimate climate vulnerability, but few studies consider the role of the hydric environment in shaping thermal tolerances. As environments become hotter and drier, organisms often respond by limiting water loss to lower the risk of desiccation; however, reducing water loss may produce trade-offs that lower thermal tolerances if respiration becomes inhibited. Here, we measured the sensitivity of water loss rate and critical thermal maximum (CTmax ) to precipitation in nature and laboratory experiments that exposed click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) to acute- and long-term humidity treatments. We also took advantage of their unique clicking behavior to characterize subcritical thermal tolerances. We found higher water loss rates in the dry acclimation treatment compared to the humid, and water loss rates were 3.2-fold higher for individuals that had experienced a recent precipitation event compared to individuals that had not. Acute humidity treatments did not affect CTmax , but precipitation indirectly affected CTmax through its effect on water loss rates. Contrary to our prediction, we found that CTmax was negatively associated with water loss rate, such that individuals with high water loss rate exhibited a lower CTmax . We then incorporated the observed variation of CTmax into a mechanistic niche model that coupled leaf and click beetle temperatures to predict climate vulnerability. The simulations indicated that indices of climate vulnerability can be sensitive to the effects of water loss physiology on thermal tolerances; moreover, exposure to temperatures above subcritical thermal thresholds is expected to increase by as much as 3.3-fold under future warming scenarios. The correlation between water loss rate and CTmax identifies the need to study thermal tolerances from a "whole-organism" perspective that considers relationships between physiological traits, and the population-level variation in CTmax driven by water loss rate complicates using this metric as a straightforward proxy of climate vulnerability.

Hydric effects on thermal tolerance influence climate vulnerability in a high-latitude beetle

Hydric effects on thermal tolerance influence climate vulnerability in a high-latitude beetle

Hydric effects on thermal tolerance influence climate vulnerability in a high-latitude beetle

Hydric effects on thermal tolerance influence climate vulnerability in a high-latitude beetle

Effect of transient drying on mechanical properties of concrete specimens

Initially saturated, cementitious materials are subject to water movements that are responsible for multiple phenomena. Among them, there are drying shrinkage, creep, fluid transport, swelling reactions and cracking-induced changes in mechanical properties. The main objective of this study is therefore to investigate the impact of drying on the behaviour of cementitious materials. For this we carried out two 70-day studies on the material EDF’s VeRCoRs project. The studies consist of storing (after almost complete hydration) a batch of specimen under saturated conditions while the second batch is stored in controlled environments of 30% and 45% hr , respectively. After the drying phase, specimens are tested by the mean of standard mechanical tests. The conclusions are heterogeneous. For instance, on different specimens that are not in water balance, the compressive strength is increased by a maximum of 12% while the tensile strength determined by bending is more dependent on the type of tests. The elastic modulus decreases with desaturation. Finally, the energy dissipated by the cracking increases sharply with drying. These results show that the hygro-mechanical behaviour is complex, depending on the ambient conditions and its duration, the geometry of the specimens and the type of tests. Thus, to take into account the hydric effects on mechanical behaviour, it is necessary to have a numerical modelling approach to take into account the different mechanisms involved. In this perspective, this work provides a significant database that offers the opportunity to test hygro-mechanical models. A necessary step in order to model structures.

Hydrogen Treatment for Superparamagnetic VO2 Nanowires with Large Room‐Temperature Magnetoresistance

AbstractOne‐dimensional (1D) transition metal oxide (TMO) nanostructures are actively pursued in spintronic devices owing to their nontrivial d electron magnetism and confined electron transport pathways. However, for TMOs, the realization of 1D structures with long‐range magnetic order to achieve a sensitive magnetoelectric response near room temperature has been a longstanding challenge. Herein, we exploit a chemical hydric effect to regulate the spin structure of 1D V–V atomic chains in monoclinic VO2 nanowires. Hydrogen treatment introduced V3+ (3d2) ions into the 1D zigzag V–V chains, triggering the formation of ferromagnetically coupled V3+–V4+ dimers to produce 1D superparamagnetic chains and achieve large room‐temperature negative magnetoresistance (−23.9 %, 300 K, 0.5 T). This approach offers new opportunities to regulate the spin structure of 1D nanostructures to control the intrinsic magnetoelectric properties of spintronic materials.

Hydrogen Treatment for Superparamagnetic VO2 Nanowires with Large Room-Temperature Magnetoresistance.

One-dimensional (1D) transition metal oxide (TMO) nanostructures are actively pursued in spintronic devices owing to their nontrivial d electron magnetism and confined electron transport pathways. However, for TMOs, the realization of 1D structures with long-range magnetic order to achieve a sensitive magnetoelectric response near room temperature has been a longstanding challenge. Herein, we exploit a chemical hydric effect to regulate the spin structure of 1D V-V atomic chains in monoclinic VO2 nanowires. Hydrogen treatment introduced V(3+) (3d(2) ) ions into the 1D zigzag V-V chains, triggering the formation of ferromagnetically coupled V(3+) -V(4+) dimers to produce 1D superparamagnetic chains and achieve large room-temperature negative magnetoresistance (-23.9 %, 300 K, 0.5 T). This approach offers new opportunities to regulate the spin structure of 1D nanostructures to control the intrinsic magnetoelectric properties of spintronic materials.

ChemInform Abstract: The Hydric Effect in Inorganic Nanomaterials for Nanoelectronics and Energy Applications

AbstractReview: 139 refs.

The Hydric Effect in Inorganic Nanomaterials for Nanoelectronics and Energy Applications.

Protons, as one of the world's smallest ions, are able to trigger the charge effect without obvious lattice expansion inside inorganic materials, offering a unique and important test-bed for controlling their diverse functionalities. Arising from the high chemical reactivity of hydrogen (easily losing an electron) with various main group anions (easily accepting a proton), the hydric effect provides a convenient and environmentally benign route to bring about fascinating new physicochemical properties, as well as to create new inorganic structures based on the "old lattice" without dramatically destroying the pristine structure, covering most inorganic materials. Moreover, hydrogen atoms tend to bond with anions or to produce intrinsic defects, both of which are expected to inject extra electrons into lattice framework, promising advances in control of bandgap, spin behavior, and carrier concentration, which determine functionality for wide applications. In this review article, recently developed effective hydric strategies are highlighted, which include the conventional hydric reaction under high temperature or room temperature, proton irradiation or hydrogen plasma treatment, and gate-electrolyte-driven adsorption or doping. The diverse physicochemical properties brought by the hydric effect via modulation of the intrinsic electronic structure are also summarized, finding wide applications in nanoelectronics, energy applications, and catalysis.

Climate change, extinction risks, and reproduction of terrestrial vertebrates.

This review includes a broad, but superficial, summary of our understanding about current and future climate changes, the predictions about how these changes will likely affect the risks of extinction of organisms, and how current climate changes are already affecting reproduction in terrestrial vertebrates. Many organisms have become extinct in the last century, but habitat destruction, disease and man-made factors other than climate change have been implicated as the causal factor in almost all of these. Reproduction is certain to be negatively impacted in all vertebrate groups for a variety of reasons, such as direct thermal and hydric effects on mortality of embryos, mismatches between optimal availability of food supplies, frequently determined by temperature, and reproductive capacities, sometimes determined by rigid factors such as photoperiod, and disappearance of appropriate foraging opportunities, such as melting sea ice. The numbers of studies documenting correlations between climate changes and biological phenomena are rapidly increasing, but more direct information about the consequences of these changes for species survival and ecosystem health is needed than is currently available.

Thermo-hydric transfer within timber connections under fire exposure: Experimental and numerical investigations

Connections within timber structures are highly vulnerable areas when exposed to fire, especially when made of fasteners with different thermal and mechanical properties. This mechanical cohabitation can generate, because of material permeability differences, additional physico-chemical phenomena. These phenomena are affected by the coupling of heat and moisture transfers, which can alter the mechanical behaviour of timber structures. In order to improve our knowledge of the thermo-hydric timber connection, a series of experimental tests has been carried out and numerical models have been developed by taking the experimental observations into account. The experimental campaign concerns timber-to-timber and timber–steel–timber connections exposed to an “ISO 834” fire. The connections studied are real joints made of timber members, with and without a median metal plate, and maintained using bolts or dowels. The present study was conducted to examine heat transfer while taking the hydric effects at the interface between timber and steel fasteners into account. To analyse the experimental results and adjust the thermo-physical parameters for numerical modelling, numerical thermal fields, finite differences “FDM” and finite elements “FEM”, models are developed. Numerical and experimental results are in good agreement. Nevertheless, some observations are made and discussed by comparing numerical results with experimental ones.

Phenotypic variation in an oviparous montane lizard (Bassiana duperreyi): the effects of thermal and hydric incubation environments

Recent studies have shown that incubation temperatures can profoundly affect the phenotypes of hatchling lizards, but the effects of hydric incubation environments remain controversial. We examined incubation-induced phenotypic variation in Bassiana duperreyi (Gray, 1938; Sauria: Scincidae), an oviparous montane lizard from south-eastern Australia. We incubated eggs from this species in four laboratory treatments, mimicking cool and moist, cool and dry, warm and moist, and warm and dry natural nest-sites, and assessed several morphological and behavioural traits of lizards after hatching. Incubation temperature influenced a lizard's hatching success, incubation period, tail length and antipredator behaviour, whereas variation in hydric conditions did not engender significant phenotypic variation for most traits. However, moisture affected incubation period slightly differently in males and females, and for a given snout-vent length moisture interacted weakly with temperature to affect lizard body mass. Although incubation conditions can substantially affect phenotypic variation among hatchling lizards, the absence of strong hydric effects suggests that hatchling lizards react less plastically to variation in moisture levels than they do to thermal conditions. Thus, our data do not support the generalization that water availability during embryogenesis is more important than temperature in determining the phenotypes of hatchling reptiles.

Phenotypic variation in an oviparous montane lizard (Bassiana duperreyi): the effects of thermal and hydric incubation environments

Recent studies have shown that incubation temperatures can profoundly affect the phenotypes of hatchling lizards, but the effects of hydric incubation environments remain controversial. We examined incubation-induced phenotypic variation in Bassiana duperreyi (Gray, 1938; Sauria: Scincidae), an oviparous montane lizard from south-eastern Australia. We incubated eggs from this species in four laboratory treatments, mimicking cool and moist, cool and dry, warm and moist, and warm and dry natural nest-sites, and assessed several morphological and behavioural traits of lizards after hatching. Incubation temperature influenced a lizard's hatching success, incubation period, tail length and antipredator behaviour, whereas variation in hydric conditions did not engender significant phenotypic variation for most traits. However, moisture affected incubation period slightly differently in males and females, and for a given snout–vent length moisture interacted weakly with temperature to affect lizard body mass. Although incubation conditions can substantially affect phenotypic variation among hatchling lizards, the absence of strong hydric effects suggests that hatchling lizards react less plastically to variation in moisture levels than they do to thermal conditions. Thus, our data do not support the generalization that water availability during embryogenesis is more important than temperature in determining the phenotypes of hatchling reptiles.