Non-living Matter Research Articles

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONNECTIVITY OF STREAMS AND RIPARIAN WETLANDS TO DOWNSTREAM WATERS: A SYNTHESIS.

Streams, riparian areas, floodplains, alluvial aquifers and downstream waters (e.g., large rivers, lakes, oceans) are interconnected by longitudinal, lateral, and vertical fluxes of water, other materials and energy. Collectively, these interconnected waters are called fluvial hydrosystems. Physical and chemical connectivity within fluvial hydrosystems is created by the transport of nonliving materials (e.g., water, sediment, nutrients, contaminants) which either do or do not chemically change (chemical and physical connections, respectively). A substantial body of evidence unequivocally demonstrates physical and chemical connectivity between streams and riparian wetlands and downstream waters. Streams and riparian wetlands are structurally connected to downstream waters through the network of continuous channels and floodplain form that make these systems physically contiguous, and the very existence of these structures provides strong geomorphologic evidence for connectivity. Functional connections between streams and riparian wetlands and their downstream waters vary geographically and over time, based on proximity, relative size, environmental setting, material disparity, and intervening units. Because of the complexity and dynamic nature of connections among fluvial hydrosystem units, a complete accounting of the physical and chemical connections and their consequences to downstream waters should aggregate over multiple years to decades.

Nanotechnology Phenomena in the Light of the Solar Energy

Nowadays, nanotechnology is one of the most conducting research-based areas because it merges understanding from many disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Engineering, and Environmental Sciences among others. There are no limits to the potential applications of nanotechnology. It is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technology and industry sectors. New nano- and bio-materials, and nano-devices, are produced and monitored through nanotechnology instruments and manners, which explore and transform the features, responses, and functions of living and non-living matter, at sizes below 100 nm. This review focuses on nanotechnology, its definition and applications, and sunlight as a driving tool for developing nanotechnology. Sunlight as a free source of energy and clean agent for several physical and chemical reactions constitutes an increasing interest for both science and technology. Nanotechnology should focus on more using sunlight as a free energy source and an environmentally-friendly agent for its advancing for the human kind best future.

The comparison of fulvic acids extracted from the primary and secondary effluent

As is well known without organic matter, there would be no life. Organic compounds perform very important functions in the whole ecosystem as: structural, storage, transport, catalyse reactions, immune and regulatory functions. One of the most important for both living and non-living organic matter is their role in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen and others elements. The major form of organic matter are humic substances (HS) which are a mixture of high molecular weight organic compounds with variable composition. Humic substances can be divided into: humic acids (HA), fulvic acids (FA) and humins (Hu). In the presented research FA were studied. They were extracted from the effluent in the process of ion exchange in a hydrophobic ion exchanger and then they were examined by qualitative analysis to determine the elemental composition of acids and the degree of contamination with heavy metals and other substances. The main aim was to balance and assess the amount of FA in the primary and secondary effluent. The studies have shown that concentration of FA in raw wastewater (primary effluent) was bigger than in the treated wastewater (secondary effluent). Based on the research, it can be stated that selected WWTP discharges less FA compared to the input pollution load.

Implantable systems – Retrospective tutorial review

In this tutorial review, I present a retrospective view of a relationship between the human body and implantable technology that over last more than 40 years has became an important topic, not only in pop–culture but also in mainstream research and biomedical engineering. This relationship has been closely following the development in IC microelectronic technologies that enabled the system miniaturization and the interface between the living to nonliving matter. Naturally, with the progressively more accessible and smaller IC devices, the implantable systems were among the first to benefit due to their two principal requirements: small size and ultra–low energy consumption. Here, I review some of the main aspects of state-of-the-art implantable systems that are either entering or already entered clinical applications. In addition, I also delve into discussion related to some of the “side effects” within somewhat futuristic thoughts about this relationship that may be influencing our evolutionary path.

A probabilistic framework for identifying biosignatures using Pathway Complexity.

One thing that discriminates living things from inanimate matter is their ability to generate similarly complex or non-random structures in a large abundance. From DNA sequences to folded protein structures, living cells, microbial communities and multicellular structures, the material configurations in biology can easily be distinguished from non-living material assemblies. Many complex artefacts, from ordinary bioproducts to human tools, though they are not living things, are ultimately produced by biological processes—whether those processes occur at the scale of cells or societies, they are the consequences of living systems. While these objects are not living, they cannot randomly form, as they are the product of a biological organism and hence are either technological or cultural biosignatures. A generalized approach that aims to evaluate complex objects as possible biosignatures could be useful to explore the cosmos for new life forms. However, it is not obvious how it might be possible to create such a self-contained approach. This would require us to prove rigorously that a given artefact is too complex to have formed by chance. In this paper, we present a new type of complexity measure, which we call ‘Pathway Complexity’, that allows us not only to threshold the abiotic–biotic divide, but also to demonstrate a probabilistic approach based on object abundance and complexity which can be used to unambiguously assign complex objects as biosignatures. We hope that this approach will not only open up the search for biosignatures beyond the Earth, but also allow us to explore the Earth for new types of biology, and to determine when a complex chemical system discovered in the laboratory could be considered alive.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Reconceptualizing the origins of life’.

Advances in bioprinted cell-laden hydrogels for skin tissue engineering

Bioprinting technologies are powerful additive biofabrication techniques to produce cellular constructs for skin tissue engineering owing to their unique ability to precisely pattern living and non-living materials in pre-defined spatial locations. This unique feature, combined with the computer controlled printing and medical imaging techniques, enable researchers and clinicians to generate patient specific constructs partly replicating the intricate compositional and architectural organization of the skin. Bioprinting has been used to automatically dispense hydrogels with skin cells located in prescribed sites that promote skin formation in vitro and in vivo. Current skin bioprinting approaches mostly rely on the sequential printing of fibroblasts and keratinocytes embedded within a homogeneous hydrogel. Although such approaches have already been translated to pre-clinical scenarios, they still present limitations in terms of fully replicating the cellular and extracellular matrix (ECM) heterogeneity in native skin. The success of bioprinting for skin repair strongly depends on the design of printable bioinks capable of supporting the function of printed cells and stimulating the production of new ECM components. To better mimic the human skin, novel developments in dedicated bioprinting technologies, in the design of bioinks, as well as in the printing of vascularised constructs are necessary. This paper presents an overview regarding the use of bioprinting for skin tissue engineering applications. The operating principles of bioprinting technologies are outlined along with requirements of printed skin constructs. Finally, pre-clinical results are summarized and future perspectives for the field are highlighted.

Biosorption of Heavy Metals Using Organic Waste from Tequila Processing

In Mexico and in the world, the metallurgical, petroleum and chemical industries, among others, generate large amounts of pollutants, which when deposited in dams or discharged into rivers, ponds or directly into aquifers generate serious problems for the environment. Biosorption is the phenomenon of passive uptake of metal ions with non-living organic materials, known as biomass, which are generally industrial waste. Active uptake with live biomass is called bioaccumulation. Biosorption is based on the property of some types of inactive or dead biomass to uptake and accumulate these elements by different mechanisms. There are several mechanisms that explain the fixation and retention of metals by the biosorbent used: physical adsorption, ion exchange, complexation, chelation etc. In this work the behavior of three organic residues from the tequila production process at Tarimoro plant, the fiber or bagasse obtained from the must from tequila processing, agave leaves and solid tequila vinasse were evaluated. The tests were carried out by contacting the biomass with a solution containing metal cations such as Cu, Fe and Mn. The maximum adsorption capacity was obtained at a pH of 8 (98% copper adsorption) with agave fiber biomass at temperature of 25°C. The samples studied at temperatures of 25°C showed the lowest concentration values ​​of Cu2+ in residual solution. The adsorption process was found dependent on pH and time. The results obtained allow to affirm that organic wastes from the elaboration of tequila are a viable alternative as biomass in the bioremediation process of toxic heavy metals by a biosorption technique.

Microfluidic guillotine for single-cell wound repair studies

Wound repair is a key feature distinguishing living from nonliving matter. Single cells are increasingly recognized to be capable of healing wounds. The lack of reproducible, high-throughput wounding methods has hindered single-cell wound repair studies. This work describes a microfluidic guillotine for bisecting single Stentor coeruleus cells in a continuous-flow manner. Stentor is used as a model due to its robust repair capacity and the ability to perform gene knockdown in a high-throughput manner. Local cutting dynamics reveals two regimes under which cells are bisected, one at low viscous stress where cells are cut with small membrane ruptures and high viability and one at high viscous stress where cells are cut with extended membrane ruptures and decreased viability. A cutting throughput up to 64 cells per minute-more than 200 times faster than current methods-is achieved. The method allows the generation of more than 100 cells in a synchronized stage of their repair process. This capacity, combined with high-throughput gene knockdown in Stentor, enables time-course mechanistic studies impossible with current wounding methods.

Shape and Dynamics of Adhesive Cells: Mechanical Response of Open Systems.

Cell adhesion is an essential biological process. However, previous theoretical and experimental studies ignore a key variable, the changes of cellular volume and pressure, during the dynamic adhesion process. Here, we treat cells as open systems and propose a theoretical framework to investigate how the exchange of water and ions with the environment affects the shape and dynamics of cells adhered between two adhesive surfaces. We show that adherent cells can be either stable (convex or concave) or unstable (spontaneous rupture or collapse) depending on the adhesion energy density, the cell size, the separation of two adhesive surfaces, and the stiffness of the flexible surface. Strikingly, we find that the unstable states vanish when cellular volume and pressure are constant. We further show that the detachments of convex and concave cells are very different. The mechanical response of adherent cells is mainly determined by the competition between the loading rate and the regulation of the cellular volume and pressure. Finally, we show that as an open system the detachment of adherent cells is also significantly influenced by the loading history. Thus, our findings reveal a major difference between living cells and nonliving materials.

Synthesis and materialization of a reaction-diffusion French flag pattern.

During embryo development, patterns of protein concentration appear in response to morphogen gradients. These patterns provide spatial and chemical information that directs the fate of the underlying cells. Here, we emulate this process within non-living matter and demonstrate the autonomous structuration of a synthetic material. First, we use DNA-based reaction networks to synthesize a French flag, an archetypal pattern composed of three chemically distinct zones with sharp borders whose synthetic analogue has remained elusive. A bistable network within a shallow concentration gradient creates an immobile, sharp and long-lasting concentration front through a reaction-diffusion mechanism. The combination of two bistable circuits generates a French flag pattern whose 'phenotype' can be reprogrammed by network mutation. Second, these concentration patterns control the macroscopic organization of DNA-decorated particles, inducing a French flag pattern of colloidal aggregation. This experimental framework could be used to test reaction-diffusion models and fabricate soft materials following an autonomous developmental programme.

Characterizing rare fluctuations in soft particulate flows

Soft particulate media include a wide range of systems involving athermal dissipative particles both in non-living and biological materials. Characterization of flows of particulate media is of great practical and theoretical importance. A fascinating feature of these systems is the existence of a critical rigidity transition in the dense regime dominated by highly intermittent fluctuations that severely affects the flow properties. Here, we unveil the underlying mechanisms of rare fluctuations in soft particulate flows. We find that rare fluctuations have different origins above and below the critical jamming density and become suppressed near the jamming transition. We then conjecture a time-independent local fluctuation relation, which we verify numerically, and that gives rise to an effective temperature. We discuss similarities and differences between our proposed effective temperature with the conventional kinetic temperature in the system by means of a universal scaling collapse.

Unpacking brown food-webs: Animal trophic identity reflects rampant microbivory.

Detritivory is the dominant trophic paradigm in most terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems, yet accurate measurement of consumer trophic position within detrital (=“brown”) food webs has remained unresolved. Measurement of detritivore trophic position is complicated by the fact that detritus is suffused with microbes, creating a detrital complex of living and nonliving biomass. Given that microbes and metazoans are trophic analogues of each other, animals feeding on detrital complexes are ingesting other detritivores (microbes), which should elevate metazoan trophic position and should be rampant within brown food webs. We tested these hypotheses using isotopic (15N) analyses of amino acids extracted from wild and laboratory‐cultured consumers. Vertebrate (fish) and invertebrate detritivores (beetles and moths) were reared on detritus, with and without microbial colonization. In the field, detritivorous animal specimens were collected and analyzed to compare trophic identities among laboratory‐reared and free‐roaming detritivores. When colonized by bacteria or fungi, the trophic positions of detrital complexes increased significantly over time. The magnitude of trophic inflation was mediated by the extent of microbial consumption of detrital substrates. When detrital complexes were fed to vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the consumers registered similar degrees of trophic inflation, albeit one trophic level higher than their diets. The wild‐collected detritivore fauna in our study exhibited significantly elevated trophic positions. Our findings suggest that the trophic positions of detrital complexes rise predictably as microbes convert nonliving organic matter into living microbial biomass. Animals consuming such detrital complexes exhibit similar trophic inflation, directly attributable to the assimilation of microbe‐derived amino acids. Our data demonstrate that detritivorous microbes elevate metazoan trophic position, suggesting that detritivory among animals is, functionally, omnivory. By quantifying the impacts of microbivory on the trophic positions of detritivorous animals and then tracking how these effects propagate “up” food chains, we reveal the degree to which microbes influence consumer groups within trophic hierarchies. The trophic inflation observed among our field‐collected fauna further suggests that microbial proteins represent an immense contribution to metazoan biomass. Collectively, these findings provide an empirical basis to interpret detritivore trophic identity, and further illuminate the magnitude of microbial contributions to food webs.

Current Causes of Girls’ Low Performance in Physical Sciences from Hard-to-reach Secondary Schools in Eastern Uganda

Physical science, a branch of science is concerned with nonliving matter and energy such as physics, chemistry, and astronomy. Ideally, everyone would excel in this area of science, because it is a basic science. In Uganda, hard-to-reach areas exhibit high rates of poor performance at secondary level and it is quite alarming on the side of girls offering science subjects. In this paper, we present the current causes of high failure rates. 130 Students, teachers and head teachers from ten schools in two districts of Manafwa and Bududa in the Eastern part of Uganda participated in the study. The major cause on the side of students is lack of role models and mentors whereas for the teachers, it is attributed to background knowledge of science. On the contrary H/teachers assert that high failures rates are due to economic factor which keeps students’ minds absent. We suggest that counseling and guidance by senior female scientists can change this situation.

Ecological status of surface water of the river Stokhid basin

Purpose. The analysis of the surface water quality of the Stokhid river, the definition of the class and the category of water quality. Methods. Comparative geographic, analytical, generalization and systematization. Results. Inner annual dynamics of the components of the hydro chemical conditions of surface water composition is closely linked with river runoff, the formation of which occurs due to loss of precipitation and nutrition of groundwater. Based on the analysis of monitoring observations, carried out by the State Environmental Inspectorate in the Volyn region for the period from 2007 to 2017, it has been determined the multi-year time and spatial dynamics of the average annual values of integrated environmental indices by the average values. They are following: in the village Malinovka IEaver. = 2,2 and in Lyubeshiv village IE aver. = 2,4. The water of river Stokhid belongs to the second class of quality ("good", "pure"), to the second category ("very good", "very pure") and subcategories 2 (3) ("very good", " clean" water with a tendency to approach the category of "good", "fairly clean") respectively. Dynamics of average annual values of integral ecological indexes for the worst values in village Malinovka IEworst = 2,6 and in the village Lyubeshiv IEworst = 2,8 was characterized by water of the second class ("good", "pure"), third category ("good", "fairly clean"), subcategory 2-3 (water transitions in quality from "very good", "pure" to "good", "fairly clean") and subcategory 3 (2) ("good", "fairly clean" water with a bias to "very good", "clean"). Conclusions. In general, it should be noticed, that when calculating the values of integral ecological indexes, the value of the indexes of trophic and sapro-biological indicators are the worst. Compounds of Nitrogen was among the substances that determined the water quality as "very poor" and "very dirty". Increased levels of Nitrogen compounds in the Stokhid river is mainly due to the intake of insufficiently treated wastewater, surface runoff from agricultural land and the decomposition of non-living organic matter in the spring.

Adapting War Horse: Cognition, the Spectator, and a Sense of Play by Toby Malone and Christopher J. Jackman

Reviewed by: Adapting War Horse: Cognition, the Spectator, and a Sense of Play by Toby Malone and Christopher J. Jackman Drew Chappell Adapting War Horse: Cognition, the Spectator, and a Sense of Play. By Toby Malone and Christopher J. Jackman. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016; pp. 114. In Adapting War Horse authors Toby Malone and Christopher Jackman explore from multiple angles the phenomenon that is War Horse: novel, radio play, stage production, filmed stage production, and feature film. With a particular focus on the puppetry of the National Theatre's stage production, the authors use this narrative as a case study for understanding the relationship among audience, text, and image. The case study highlights some key pieces of performance that many spectators take for granted: the imagination essential to create a living thing and environment out of nonliving materials; the process of adapting a piece of literature (which was itself a free adaption of historical events) twice over; and the emotional dimensions of a story centered on an animal in the midst of human tragedy. As the world approaches the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day commemorating the end of World War I, the War Horse project as a whole strikes a nostalgic chord for me. Pairing a talking animal's narrative journey with serious commentary brings me back to stories of my youth, such as Watership Down and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. In these tales the animals were used as metaphors for humans at the mercy of larger forces. It was easy for children to identify with anthropomorphized animals, perhaps because they were smaller then children and thus nonthreatening or because they resembled stuffed animals with which children often sleep at night. As an adult, horses share that childlike fantastical quality. Horses are a collection of contradictions: strong and vulnerable, tame and wild, independent and bound to service. "Remembering" the Great War (of which most readers/audience members have no direct communal knowledge) seems to me of a piece with these animal stories from so long ago—stories viewed through a lens of nostalgia and safe distance. The book is structured as a series of interrelated chapters, each examining one aspect of the War Horse narrative (which focuses on the thoroughbred Joey) in its various incarnations. First, the authors circumscribe the specific Handspring Puppet Company/National Theatre production, with a focus on the playfulness of the puppet artistry. In this section they define and describe the puppet construction and manipulation strategies, focusing on the process of bringing life to the character of Joey. I appreciated the detail in this section and the way in which the authors wove in various approaches to the understanding of "horse" (down to the micro-level of the puppets' eyes and the effect of lighting design on their sheen). Next, they branch out to the other incarnations of the story—book, film, radio play—exploring the unique ways that each of these forms conceptualizes both the emotional center of the story and the audience's experience. The authors then dig deeper into the theory behind the process of imagination and the end goal of emotional connection, bolstering their arguments with theory from (among others) Peter Brook and Bruce McConachie. In this section they ask compelling questions about how we form emotional attachments with characters—both human and nonhuman—and how play functions within this intellectual/emotional exercise. There is much to appreciate in this section, especially as it explores the role of fantasy and imagination on audience understanding and investment. Finally, the authors explore other fine points of the National's production, including marketing and translation into multiple languages. This section contextualizes the work done within the production and tackles the question of how did a book for young people become a worldwide phenomenon? Where did the multiple adaptations "go right"? What can we learn as scholars and practitioners from the long journeys of War Horse? As a study, War Horse hits several high notes: it articulates the grand experiment that the National and Handspring undertook, with its reliance upon audience buy-in for its central character/characterization; and it situates this production within a frame of contemporary work, as well as...

Light-Driven Liquid Crystalline Materials: From Photo-Induced Phase Transitions and Property Modulations to Applications.

Light-driven phenomena both in living systems and nonliving materials have enabled truly fascinating and incredible dynamic architectures with terrific forms and functions. Recently, liquid crystalline materials endowed with photoresponsive capability have emerged as enticing systems. In this Review, we focus on the developments of light-driven liquid crystalline materials containing photochromic components over the past decade. Design and synthesis of photochromic liquid crystals (LCs), photoinduced phase transitions in LC, and photoalignment and photoorientation of LCs have been covered. Photomodulation of pitch, polarization, lattice constant and handedness inversion of chiral LCs is discussed. Light-driven phenomena and properties of liquid crystalline polymers, elastomers, and networks have also been analyzed. The applications of photoinduced phase transitions, photoalignment, photomodulation of chiral LCs, and photomobile polymers have been highlighted wherever appropriate. The combination of photochromism, liquid crystallinity, and fabrication techniques has enabled some fascinating functional materials which can be driven by ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light irradiation. Nanoscale particles have been incorporated to widen and diversify the scope of the light-driven liquid crystalline materials. The developed materials possess huge potential for applications in optics, photonics, adaptive materials, nanotechnology, etc. The challenges and opportunities in this area are discussed at the end of the Review.

Design and Printing Strategies in 3D Bioprinting of Cell-Hydrogels: A Review.

Bioprinting is an emerging technology that allows the assembling of both living and non-living biological materials into an ideal complex layout for further tissue maturation. Bioprinting aims to produce engineered tissue or organ in a mechanized, organized, and optimized manner. Various biomaterials and techniques have been utilized to bioprint biological constructs in different shapes, sizes and resolutions. There is a need to systematically discuss and analyze the reported strategies employed to fabricate these constructs. We identified and discussed important design factors in bioprinting, namely shape and resolution, material heterogeneity, and cellular-material remodeling dynamism. Each design factors are represented by the corresponding process capabilities and printing parameters. The process-design map will inspire future biomaterials research in these aspects. Design considerations such as data processing, bio-ink formulation and process selection are discussed. Various printing and crosslinking strategies, with relevant applications, are also systematically reviewed. We categorized them into 5 general bioprinting strategies, including direct bioprinting, in-process crosslinking, post-process crosslinking, indirect bioprinting and hybrid bioprinting. The opportunities and outlook in 3D bioprinting are highlighted. This review article will serve as a framework to advance computer-aided design in bioprinting technologies.

Quantum-Assisted Process of Disembody Under Near-Death Conditions: An Informational-Field Support Model

Following the evolution of the concept of information as one of the fundamental components of the universe and analysing the last discoveries of the quantum physics, it is defined the informational (mass free) field of the matter. On this basis and taking into account the informational nature of the mind activity, it is defined an info-creational based model monitoring the human body, associated/connected to matter/antimatter binary system of the universe, allowing to show that the near-death experiences like disembody of information from the non-living matter (brain), time retrovision back to the infancy, peace, detachment and absorbing tube, could be deduced as consequences of such a system, explaining them in its specific terms.

Special Issue “Biomaterials and Bioprinting”

The emergence of bioprinting in recent years represents a marvellous advancement in 3D printing technology. It expands the range of 3D printable materials from the world of non-living materials into the world of living materials. Biomaterials play an important role in this paradigm shift. This Special Issue focuses on biomaterials and bioprinting and contains eight articles covering a number of recent topics in this emerging area.

Nano-Se as a novel candidate in the management of oxidative stress related disorders and cancer

Oxidative stress occurs when the antioxidant defense of the cellular system is unable to counteract the formation of reactive oxygen species and/or oxidants, as a result, reactive oxygen species prevails in the system. Oxidative stress leads to damages at macromolecular level and hence is involved in various forms of diseases and disorders. Nanotechnology is a booming field with tremendous potential in biology, biotechnology, medicines and medical technology. Novel nanomaterials and nanodevices are designed and controlled by nanotechnological tools and systems, which inspect and tune the properties, and functions of both living- and non-living materials, at sizes below 100 nm. Selenium (Se) is of fundamental importance to human health. As a potential chemoprotectant, its administration necessitates consumption for a long term, thus the toxicity of selenium is always a crucial concern. Recently, nanotechnology based new form of selenium, i.e., selenium nanoparticle (Nano-Se) has attracted attention of researchers owing to its low toxicity and high bioavailability, because at nano range selenium particles exhibit excellent characteristics, for example great surface area, effective surface activity, lots of surface active centers, high catalytic efficiency, strong adsorbing ability and minor toxicity. This review presents an overview on the novel use of Nano-Se in the management and therapy of oxidative stress related disorders.