Increase In Growth Rate Research Articles

Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) affects the dominant position of three gramineous species by altering defense traits and interspecific competition.

Rodents can cause considerable changes in plant community composition. However, relationships between shifts in species dominance and plant functional traits caused by rodents have seldom been investigated, especially for belowground functional traits. In this study, a set of enclosures was constructed to analyze the effects of 10 years of Brandt's voles' activities on the defense strategies and dominant position changes of three gramineous plants (Leymus chinensis, Stipa krylovii, and Cleistogenes squarrosa) in Inner Mongolia. Here, we measured the dominance, biomass, and fourteen functional traits of three plants. The effects of Brandt's voles on dominance, biomass, and functional traits were analyzed, and then we explored the effect of functional traits on plant dominance by using the structural equation model. Results showed that long-term feeding by Brandt's voles resulted in a significant decrease in the dominance of L. chinensis and S. krylovii, whereas C. squarrosa was positively affected. The belowground biomass of L. chinensis and S. krylovii was higher in the vole treatment, which showed that they were increasing their escape characteristics. The leaf thickness of L. chinensis and the leaf C:N ratio of S. krylovii significantly increased, while the specific leaf area of C. squarrosa significantly decreased. All three gramineous showed increased resistance traits in response to Brandt's voles, which positively affected their dominance. Tolerance-related traits of S. krylovii significantly increased, with the increasing growth rate of root length contributing to enhancing its dominance. We highlight that selective feeding by rodents led to the selection of different defense strategies by three gramineous plants, and that changes in biomass allocation and functional traits in the different species affected plant dominance, driving changes in the plant communities.

Enhancing the performance of Litopenaeus vannamei nursery and grow-out by modifying Mg/Ca ratios in biofloc systems using low-salinity groundwater of Kuwait Desert

Kuwait has one of the most arid climates in the world, with brackish groundwater that has excessively high hardness due to limestone-rich aquifers with suboptimal ionic compositions, high evapotranspiration, and scarce water sources for shrimp farming. The study aimed to assess whether increasing the magnesium to calcium (Mg/Ca) ratio through Mg-supplementation could enhance shrimp performance, despite the absolute magnesium concentration being higher than diluted seawater of the same salinity. The study comprised a 4-week nursery and an 8-week grow-out trial with Pacific White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in low-salinity groundwater in a biofloc system. Experimental groups included a groundwater control (Mg/Ca ratio 0.49) and three different Mg/Ca ratios (about 1, 2 and 3) in three replicates. Postlarvae (0.02 g) and juveniles (0.54 g) were stocked at a density of 1250 and 250 m−3 in the nursery and grow-out trials, respectively, in 1,000 L tanks. In the nursery trial, the control exhibited a final weight of 0.174 g and a survival rate of 58.5%, which was significantly lower in comparison to all Mg+2 treatments, exceeding 0.215 g and 92.5%, with no significant differences between the three treatments. The grow-out trial revealed a proportional increase in growth rate with the Mg/Ca ratio, showing a significantly better performance in treatments with Mg/Ca ratios of 2.12 or higher. The Mg/Ca 2 treatment exhibited the best performance, with a survival rate of 70.8% and a yield of 2.89 kg m−3 of mean weight 16.3 g. The results showed that Mg/Ca ratios have an affect both survival and growth in postlarvae, but only growth in juveniles and larger shrimp. The study suggests that increasing the Mg/Ca ratio above 1.07 and 2.12 through magnesium supplementation can significantly improve shrimp growth in nursery and grow-out phases in low-salinity water. Additionally, the expression of immune-related genes such as prophenoloxidase (proPO), transglutaminase (TGase) and cytosol manganese superoxide dismutase (cMnSOD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity within different Mg/Ca ratios were analyzed. The results revealed significant differences in gene expression and higher SOD activity in the Mg/Ca 2 treatment of the grow-out phase, suggesting that Mg/Ca ratio closer to seawater may enhance the immunity and antioxidant activity of L. vannamei in a low-salinity biofloc system. In conclusion, the study provides valuable insights for shrimp producers using groundwater with high calcium hardness. The findings emphasize the importance of Mg/Ca ratio, rather than the absolute Mg+2 concentration, in improving shrimp growth and suggest potential benefits for shrimp immunity and antioxidant activity in low-salinity environments.

Molecular Modification Enhances Xylose Uptake by the Sugar Transporter KM_SUT5 of Kluyveromyces marxianus.

This research cloned and expressed the sugar transporter gene KM_SUT5 from Kluyveromyces marxianus GX-UN120, which displayed remarkable sugar transportation capabilities, including pentose sugars. To investigate the impact of point mutations on xylose transport capacity, we selected four sites, predicted the suitable amino acid sites by molecular docking, and altered their codons to construct the corresponding mutants, Q74D, Y195K, S460H, and Q464F, respectively. Furthermore, we conducted site-directed truncation on six sites of KM_SUT5p. The molecular modification resulted in significant changes in mutant growth and the D-xylose transport rate. Specifically, the S460H mutant exhibited a higher growth rate and demonstrated excellent performance across 20 g L-1 xylose, achieving the highest xylose accumulation under xylose conditions (49.94 μmol h-1 gDCW-1, DCW mean dry cell weight). Notably, mutant delA554-, in which the transporter protein SUT5 is truncated at position delA554-, significantly increased growth rates in both D-xylose and D-glucose substrates. These findings offer valuable insights into potential modifications of other sugar transporters and contribute to a deeper understanding of the C-terminal function of sugar transporters.

The FDI and Many Economical Sectors Impact (Oil, Non-Oil) on Bahrain GDP: (An Econometrics Study for Period 1990-2021)

Host countries work to attract foreign direct investment by creating an appropriate investment environment that meets the specifications required by multinational companies across continents, through which they seek to compensate for the deficit in local savings, as well as achieving a tangible increase in annual growth rates of the gross domestic product, as When multinational companies with experience and technology operate in host countries, they must train the local workforce in order to contribute to raising economic growth rates. The Kingdom of Bahrain has attracted foreign direct investment as a complement to local investment by transferring expertise and modern technology necessary to train and develop local cadres technically and technologically., Consequently, job opportunities increase, unemployment rates decrease, and production increases for the Kingdom of Bahrain, as Bahrain has entered the competition to attract foreign direct investment worldwide. Not only that, most of the investment is directed to important economic sectors such as the manufacturing and extractive industries sectors, and even part of the foreign trade sector, and therefore Their study of their impact on the gross domestic product and the analysis of economic relations shows the strength of both the effects of investment and economic sectors side by side in developing the Bahraini economy to keep pace with global changes in the field of energy and economic competition, despite the high progress in the field of investment at the international level that preceded it in this context., Since the investment coming into the Kingdom of Bahrain during the study period is low when compared with countries in the world that attract foreign direct investment, the research aims to measure the direct impact of foreign direct investment and some economic sectors on the gross domestic product using the Eviwes 12 program, and important results were obtained from the estimation.

Orange (Citrus sinensis) essential oil inclusion in high-energy diets for feedlot lambs: productivity, eating behavior, carcass characteristics, rumen morphometry, and fatty acid profile of the meat

This study evaluated the effect of different orange essential oil (OEO) inclusion rates on live weight gain, eating behavior, carcass characteristics, morphology of the ruminal epithelium, and fatty acid profile in the meat of feedlot lambs. Forty uncastrated Dorper × Santa Inês ram lambs with an initial average body weight of 21.8 ± 4.7 kg and average age of 86 ± 15 days were allocated to one of five dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. Dietary treatments consisted of a 90:10 concentrate-to-forage ratio total mixed ration supplemented as follows: 1. non-additive supplementation (Control), and 2. additive supplementation with 100, 500, and 1000 mg OEO/kg diet DM (OEO100, OEO500, and OEO1000) or with 25 mg sodium monensin/kg diet DM (MON). The feeding lasted 84 d. Supplementation with OEO increased linearly dry matter intake (DMI), growth rate and feed efficiency (FE). Because of the linear increases in growth rate and the efficiency of energy utilization of the diet, lambs receiving OEO exhibited a greater (increasing linear effect) hot carcass weight (HCW), Longissimus muscle area (LMA), subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), and body wall thickness (BWT) than lambs fed with Control. Lambs fed MON had lower DMI, growth rate and FE than Control and OEO. Compared to Control and OEO supplemented, lambs that received MON showed lower HCW, LMA, SFT, and BWT. Lambs fed with MON had lower oocyst counts than lambs fed with all other treatments. Lambs fed with MON spent more time eating and ruminating, with higher chewing rates than lambs fed all other diets. Rumen morphometry was unaffected by dietary treatment. The OEO supplementation increased the sum of monounsaturated fatty acids, improved the human health promotion index (HP index), and reduced the thrombogenicity index in the meat relative to lambs fed the MON treatment. Under the conditions in which the experiment was conducted, the inclusion of up to 1000 g/kg diet DM in high-energy finishing diets promotes DMI and improved growth performance and FE. Improvements in the carcass (HCW, LMA, and BTF) with OEO supplementation were mainly due to improvements in growth rate rather than effects on gain composition. Based on growth performance and carcass characteristics, OEO was a superior feed additive to sodium monensin. The OEO supplementation has a discreet effect on the fatty acid profile of the meat, but it is sufficient to improve the HP index. These findings highlight its potential as an effective additive for enhancing lamb productivity.

Factors that Influence Growth Rates of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. Analysis of a Mexican Cohort.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) growth remains a process not fully understood. The objective of this study was to analyze risk factors associated with changes in AAA diameter in a Mexican cohort. An observational study in which we analyzed the entirely of patients in which an AAA was reported in a Computed Tomography (CT) study from 2014 to 2021 who had a follow-up CT. We divided them by groups depending on the diagnosis of type 2 diabetic mellitus and pharmacological history (diabetic vs non-diabetic, metformin vs non-metformin intake and statin vs non-statin intake). We compared pre and post follow-up AAA diameters using paired t-tests. A multivariate analysis was performed in order to identify independent variables associated with an increased growth rate. Statistical analysis was performed on Stata 17. During the studied period 72 (39.77%) patients had a follow-up CT. Mean age was 75years (±9.05) and 52 (72.22%) were men. When comparing infra-renal largest diameter through time based on metformin intake, a significant difference was found only in the metformin non-intake group (42.05 ± 12.54 vs45.34 ± 12.06 [P = 0.02]), in contrast the metformin intake group measures were non-significantly different (36.13 ± 7.04 vs 37.00 ± 4.51; P = 0.57) through follow-up. In the multivariate analysis AAA largest diameter at diagnosis correlated with significantly increased growth rate (coeff = 0.06, P < 0.05). AAA diameters appear to change through time in a non-linear pattern influenced by different epidemiological and clinical factors. Metformin intake appears to promote a stability in AAA diameter growth in our studied population.

Growth rate, impact of smoking and management of incidentally found paranasal sinus osteomas

ObjectiveTo build upon existing literature regarding growth rate of asymptomatic, incidentally found paranasal sinus (PNS) osteomas, evaluate potential factors associated with growth rate and present an argument for how to follow up. MethodsAt our institution, EPIC SlicerDicer was used to screen imaging studies using keyword ‘osteoma’ and included patients with at least 2 imaging studies 6 months apart that both demonstrated a PNS osteoma(s). Imaging studies with the largest time interval were selected. Non-PNS osteomas were excluded. Results47 patients that fit this criterion with a median duration of interval imaging of 35.9 months. Growth rate was measured to be 0.39 mm/year in the cephalocaudal direction and 0.45 mm/year in the mediolateral direction, together averaging 0.42 mm/year. Increases in growth rate additionally did not appear to impact the likelihood of developing conditions including nasal polyposis or chronic sinusitis and symptoms such as sinus pressure, headache, postnasal drip, or congestion. Those with interval scans >36 months were found to have a slower growth rate than those with closer interval scans. Furthermore, former smokers and current smokers had significantly greater growth rates than nonsmokers. ConclusionGiven their slow growth rate, we conclude that select lesions likely do not require follow-up. If there is concern that growth could cause an obstructive complication, such as blocking the frontal outflow tract, we argue a single scan at one year is appropriate. If there is additional growth on this scan, surveillance scans up to 3 years could be performed to assess stability. Lastly, while there was a significant growth rate for smokers compared to non-smokers, the slow growth rate is unlikely to influence management.

Comprehensive analysis and implications of Veronica persica germination and growth traits in their invasion ecology

Invasive alien species implications in ecological threats are attributed to their unique characteristics that are linked to their invasion. Veronica persica (Plantaginaceae family) is an alien weed species in Egypt. Regardless of its widespread globally in various regions, the growth traits and behavior of V. persica remain poorly understood. The comprehensive analysis, reveals the optimal germination (Gmax) was detected at 10/20 °C, 15/20 °C, and 20/25 °C at the moderate temperature regimes. The rapid germination rate (G rate) peaked at 10/20 °C regime, with a rate of 0.376 per day. Furthermore, under stress conditions, V. persica has 50% germination inhibition (G50) and 50% of growth inhibition occurred at − 0.91 MPa and 0.75 MPa of osmotic pressure and 3225.81 ppm and 2677.1 ppm of salt stress (NaCl) respectively. The germination ranged from 6 to 9 pH, with the highest germination percentage occurring at a pH of 7 & 8, reaching 88.75% compared to the control group. There is a strong interaction effect between habitats and plant stages, the plant stages and habitats have significant effects (p ≤ 0.00) on V. persica growth. There was high and moderate plasticity in the response of morphological and growth features between stages. During the seedling-juvenile interval and the juvenile-flowering stages, respectively, there was a noticeable increase in both Relative Growth Rate and Net Assimilation Rate. Demographic surveys identified approximately 24 species across 11 families associated with V. persica in invaded areas. The Sorenson indices of qualitative index exhibited high similarity values in the invaded sites by (82.35%) compared to (72.72%) in non-invaded sites. However, interactions with native communities were reflected in lower richness, diversity, and evenness, displaying slightly higher Simpson index 1 (λ) values compared to invaded and non-invaded sites (0.043 and 0.0290) vs. (0.0207 and 0.268), in rangelands and F. carica orchards respectively. These results emphasize the substantially higher adaptability of V. persica to variable environmental conditions and abilities to invade a new community. This knowledge about invasive V. persica weeds germination and growth is itemized as the consistent predictive base for future invasion and informs strategic management priorities.

Towards a circular economy - Repurposing side streams from the potato processing industry by Chlorella vulgaris

Common wastewater treatment strategies in the food industry do not include efficient remediation strategies for nitrogen, phosphorous and organic carbon. Incorporating microalgae in water treatment plants is rising in popularity because of their high nutrient and trace element uptake driven by light. In this study, four different side streams from an Austrian potato processing company have been screened for their applicability of microalgal cultivation. The side streams were assessed for Chlorella vulgaris growth and their requirement of any additional pretreatment or media supplementation. One side stream specifically, called blanching water II, a stream generated by boiling the potatoes for ease of peeling, turned out very useful to cultivate Chlorella vulgaris and concomitantly remedy the wastewater. Compared to a state-of-the-art cultivation in BG11, cultivating Chlorella vulgaris in blanching water II led to a 45 % increase in specific growth rate of 1.29 day−1 and a 48% increase in biomass productivity to 294.6 mg/L/day, while all nitrogen and phosphate present in the side stream were metabolized. Overall, the results demonstrate that the water remediation process for blanching water II shows vast potential in regard to water purification and waste to value approaches.

Robustness of mitochondrial biogenesis and respiration explain aerobic glycolysis.

A long-standing observation is that in fast-growing cells, respiration rate declines with increasing growth rate and is compensated by an increase in fermentation, despite respiration being more efficient than fermentation. This apparent preference for fermentation even in the presence of oxygen is known as aerobic glycolysis, and occurs in bacteria, yeast, and cancer cells. Considerable work has focused on understanding the potential benefits that might justify this seemingly wasteful metabolic strategy, but its mechanistic basis remains unclear. Here we show that aerobic glycolysis results from the saturation of mitochondrial respiration and the decoupling of mitochondrial biogenesis from the production of other cellular components. Respiration rate is insensitive to acute perturbations of cellular energetic demands or nutrient supplies, and is explained simply by the amount of mitochondria per cell. Mitochondria accumulate at a nearly constant rate across different growth conditions, resulting in mitochondrial amount being largely determined by cell division time. In contrast, glucose uptake rate is not saturated, and is accurately predicted by the abundances and affinities of glucose transporters. Combining these models of glucose uptake and respiration provides a quantitative, mechanistic explanation for aerobic glycolysis. The robustness of specific respiration rate and mitochondrial biogenesis, paired with the flexibility of other bioenergetic and biosynthetic fluxes, may play a broad role in shaping eukaryotic cell metabolism.

Effect of Dietary Protein to Energy Ratios on Growth, Digestive Enzyme Activity and Body Composition of Captive Juvenile Spiny Lobsters, Panulirus Ornatus (Fabricius, 1798)

Abstract An evaluation of six dietary protein-to-energy (P/E) ratios was conducted to the early juvenile lobsters (Panulirus ornatus) by investigating the ratio effects on physiology, digestive enzyme activities, body composition, and amino acid profiles. Juvenile lobsters (0.25±0.01 g) were individually kept in aquaria and treated with six isoenergetic formulated diets of P/E ratios of 21.8, 22.5, 23.5, 24.6, 25.3 and 26.6 mg KJ–1. After 8 weeks of feeding experiment, the differentiation on dietary P/E ratios was found to have affected the specific growth rates, but not the survival, moult increment, moulting rate, moult interval and average daily moulting rate of juvenile lobsters. The dietary P/E ratio also influenced the protease, lipase, superoxidase dismutase activities, and body composition of juvenile lobster. The increase in dietary protein levels significantly affected the increase of the specific growth rate, while increased dietary lipid levels only affected the length increments. Both protein and lipid content were found in the whole body of the juveniles which reflected the treated dietary composition. Results indicated that a P/E ratio of 26.6 mg KJ–1 (55% dietary protein and 9% dietary lipids) can yield the maximum growth and digestive enzyme activities from among the studied diets.

Chronic Cadmium Exposure can Alter Energy Allocation to Physiological Functions in the Shrimp Penaeus vannamei.

Environmental stressors in aquatic organisms can be assessed using a bioenergetic approach based on the evaluation of changes in their physiological parameters. We evaluated the chronic effects of cadmium (Cd2+) on the energy balance as well as the survival, growth, metabolism, nitrogen excretion, hepatosomatic index, oxidized energy substrate, and osmoregulation of the shrimp Penaeus vannamei with the hypothesis that the high energy demand related to the homeostatic regulation of Cd2+could disrupt the energy balance and as a consequence, their physiological functions. The shrimp exposed to Cd2+ had higher mortality (30%), directed more energy into growth (33% of energy intake), ingested 10% more energy, and defecated less than control animals. Cd2+ exposure caused a tendency to decrease metabolism and ammonia excretion but did not alter the hepatosomatic index, type of energy substrate oxidized, and the hyperosmorregulatory pattern of the species. The Cd+2 exposure may have induced a trade-off response because there was a growth rate increase accompanied by increased mortality.

Influence of load ratio on fatigue life assessment of AZ31B magnesium alloy under different temperatures

First ever fatigue crack growth experiments were conducted under various load ratios (R = 0.1 to 0.8) at 300 K, and (R = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7) at 327 K and 473 K, respectively, on AZ31B magnesium alloy. The results reveal that temperature-dependent variations in both fatigue crack growth rates and stress intensity factor ranges (ΔK) across different load ratios. It was found that at relatively higher load ratio (R = 0.8) leads to a lower ΔK = 8.0287 MPa√m and a lower load ratio (R = 0.1) result in a higher ΔK = 15.5981 MPa√m, indicating that the material undergoes fatigue crack propagation at a higher level of stress intensity factor range at room temperature. A slower crack propagation was seen at higher load ratio (R = 0.8), whereas lower load ratio (R = 0.1) exhibits faster crack growth at 300 K. Similarly, crack growth generally increases at higher temperatures (i.e., 373 K and 473 K). The fatigue life of the magnesium alloy AZ31B increased from 12,410 to 87,031 cycles at 300 K, 9,620 to 32,667 cycles at 373 K, and 9,140 to 30,143 cycles at 473 K as the load ratio increases. The average fatigue life decreases to 59 % and 63 % as the temperature is varied from 300 K through 373 K to 473 K. The fractographic and surface roughness carried out by field emission scanning electron microscopy and 3D-Profilometer respectively, illustrate that roughness of fracture surfaces correlates with an increase in the fatigue crack growth rate for a specific value of ΔK.

The impact of air transportation, trade openness, and economic growth on CO2 emissions in Saudi Arabia

The global economy has reported an unprecedented increase in growth rates over the last 2 decades, due to rapid evolution in transportation and communications. The rapid growth of international trade has increased the demand for fossil fuel, leading to exacerbated environmental risks. Air transportation is an essential operational practice in trade openness and has many economic benefits. However, its effect on CO2 emissions is not well understood. Studies on the causal relationships between air transportation, trade openness, economic growth, and CO2 emissions are lacking, especially across Middle Eastern countries. This study targets Saudi Arabia, one of the largest countries in the Middle East region in terms of economic capabilities and geographical area, to investigate the impact of air transportation, trade openness, and economic growth on CO2 emissions. To this end, data was derived from the World Development Indicators (WDI) established by the World Bank for the period 1991–2023. An autoregressive, distributed lag autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was used to analyze associations among the study variables; the empirical findings confirm that air transportation, trade openness, and economic growth have positive and statistically significant effects on CO2 emissions in both long- and short-run scenarios. However, the results illustrate that economic growth alone is unable to sufficiently reduce CO2 emissions in Saudi Arabia, indicating a lack of connection between economic policies and environmental goals. Thus, these results indicate that the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is not valid for Saudi Arabia. In addition, this study provides useful insights for policymakers to mitigate CO2 emissions. Suggestions include attracting foreign investment, modifying the structure of trade, mitigating the reliance on imports and enhancing exports, while focusing on green strategies for economic growth, replacing fossil fuels with clean and renewable sources, subsidizing environmentally friendly technologies, and enacting decarbonizing regulations.

Effectiveness of integrated use of non-conventional additives in the feeding of young cattle

It is known that eff ective feed additives include pine fl our, zeolites and mineral salts. The purpose of the work was to investigate the eff ectiveness of the integrated inclusion of local non-conventional feed additives in the rations of young cattle of Simmental breed under the conditions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Scientifi c and production evaluation of the results obtained was carried out under the conditions of the Lonkur peasant farm in the Suntar district of Western Yakutia. The scientifi c and production experiment was carried out in accordance with generally accepted methodological recommendations in the fi eld of feeding of farm animals. It was found during the experiment that the integrated inclusion of non- conventional feed additives in the rations of young cattle of Simmental breed contributed to an increase in the weight growth rate of animals in the experimental group to 610 g/day (versus 560 g/day in the control group). As a result, the live weight of the animals in the experimental group was 386.8 kg, and in the control group it was 375.7 kg or the absolute gain in live weight was 128.1 and 117.6 kg, respectively, for the groups. Due to the additional gain in live weight in the experimental group (525 kg), an economic eff ect was obtained in it, which amounted to 152.25 thousand rubles or 14.5 rubles per day for 1 head. It was found as a result of experiment that in the experimental group the level of profitability was 8.21 %, while in the control group it was only 1.77 %. We note that scientific and production testing confirmed the trend that we had previously established in scientific and economic experiments. Thus, the research base was updated in terms of economic indicators with the use of experimental non-conventional feed additives when rearing of young cattle, which shows the promise and practical feasibility of their use under the conditions of Western Yakutia.

Island restoration to rebuild seabird populations and amplify coral reef functioning.

Mobile organisms like seabirds can provide important nutrient flows between ecosystems, but this connectivity has been interrupted by the degradation of island ecosystems. Island restoration (via invasive species eradications and the restoration of native vegetation) can reestablish seabird populations and their nutrient transfers between their foraging areas, breeding colonies, and adjacent nearshore habitats. Its diverse benefits are making island restoration increasingly common and scalable to larger islands and whole archipelagos. We identified the factors that influence breeding seabird abundances throughout the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean and conducted predictive modeling to estimate the abundances of seabirds that the archipelago could support under invasive predator eradication and native vegetation restoration scenarios. We explored whether the prey base exists to support restored seabird populations across the archipelago, calculated the nitrogen that restored populations of seabirds might produce via their guano, and modeled the cascading conservation gains that island restoration could provide. Restoration was predicted to increase breeding pairs of seabirds to over 280,000, and prey was predicted to be ample to support the revived seabird populations. Restored nutrient fluxes were predicted to result in increases in coral growth rates, reef fish biomasses, and parrotfish grazing and bioerosion rates. Given these potential cross-ecosystem benefits, our results support island restoration as a conservation priority that could enhance resilience to climatic change effects, such as sea-level rise and coral bleaching. We encourage the incorporation of our estimates of cross-ecosystem benefits in prioritization exercises for island restoration.

Crystallization of the β-Form of Polypropylene from the Melt with Reduced Entanglement of Macromolecules.

The influence of decreasing the entanglement density of macromolecules on the crystallization of the β-form of polypropylene was investigated. Polypropylene with seven times less entanglement was obtained from a solution in xylene, and its properties were compared with those of fully entangled polypropylene. To obtain a high β-phase content, the polymer was nucleated using calcium pimelate. In non-isothermal crystallization studies, accelerated growth of β-crystals was found, increasing the crystallization temperature. Also, the isothermal crystallization was fastest in the nucleated, partially disentangled polypropylene. Increased growth rate of spherulites and enhanced nucleation activity in the presence of more mobile macromolecules were responsible for the high rate of melt conversion to crystals in the disentangled polypropylene. It was also observed that the equilibrium melting temperature of β-crystals is lower after disentangling macromolecules. Better conditions for crystal building after reduction of entanglements resulted in enhanced crystallization according to regime II.

Aggregation-Growth and Densification Behavior of Titanium Particles in Molten Mg-MgCl2 System.

In this work, the preparation of titanium sponge by magnesium thermal method is regarded as the liquid-phase sintering process of titanium, and powder-metallurgy sintering technology is utilized to simulate the aggregation-growth and densification behavior of titanium particles in a high-temperature liquid medium (the molten Mg-MgCl2 system). It was found that compared with MgCl2, Mg has better high-temperature wettability and reduction effect, which promotes titanium particles to form a sponge titanium skeleton at lower temperature. The aggregation degree of titanium particles and the densification degree of a sponge titanium skeleton can be improved by increasing the temperature and the relative content of Mg in the melting medium. The kinetics study shows that with the increase in temperature, the porosity of the titanium particle aggregates and the sponge titanium skeleton decreases, and their density growth rate increases. With the extension of time, the aggregation degree of titanium particles and the densification degree of sponge titanium gradually increase. This work provides a theoretical reference for controlling the density of titanium sponge in industry.

Road Traffic Emissions Lead to Much Enhanced New Particle Formation through Increased Growth Rates.

New particle formation (NPF) is a major source of atmospheric aerosol particles, including cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), by number globally. Previous research has highlighted that NPF is less frequent but more intense at roadsides compared to urban background. Here, we closely examine NPF at both background and roadside sites in urban Central Europe. We show that the concentration of oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) is greater at the roadside, and the condensation of OOMs along with sulfuric acid onto new particles is sufficient to explain the growth at both sites. We identify a hitherto unreported traffic-related OOM source contributing 29% and 16% to total OOMs at the roadside and background, respectively. Critically, this hitherto undiscovered OOM source is an essential component of urban NPF. Without their contribution to growth rates and the subsequent enhancements to particle survival, the number of >50 nm particles produced by NPF would be reduced by a factor of 21 at the roadside site. Reductions to hydrocarbon emissions from road traffic may thereby reduce particle numbers and CCN counts.

Central transcriptional regulator controls photosynthetic growth and carbon storage in response to high light

Carbon capture and biochemical storage are some of the primary drivers of photosynthetic yield and productivity. To elucidate the mechanisms governing carbon allocation, we designed a photosynthetic light response test system for genetic and metabolic carbon assimilation tracking, using microalgae as simplified plant models. The systems biology mapping of high light-responsive photophysiology and carbon utilization dynamics between two variants of the same Picochlorum celeri species, TG1 and TG2 elucidated metabolic bottlenecks and transport rates of intermediates using instationary 13C-fluxomics. Simultaneous global gene expression dynamics showed 73% of the annotated genes responding within one hour, elucidating a singular, diel-responsive transcription factor, closely related to the CCA1/LHY clock genes in plants, with significantly altered expression in TG2. Transgenic P. celeri TG1 cells expressing the TG2 CCA1/LHY gene, showed 15% increase in growth rates and 25% increase in storage carbohydrate content, supporting a coordinating regulatory function for a single transcription factor.