From daily movements to population distributions: weather affects competitive ability in a guild of soaring birds

The ability of many animals to access and exploit food is dependent on the ability to move. In the case of scavenging birds, which use soaring flight to locate and exploit ephemeral resources, the cost and speed of movement vary with meteorological factors. These factors are likely to modify the nature of interspecific interactions, as well as individual movement capacity, although the former are less well understood. We used aeronautical models to examine how soaring performance varies with weather within a guild of scavenging birds and the consequences this has for access to a common resource. Birds could be divided broadly into those with low wing loading that are more competitive in conditions with weak updraughts and low winds (black vultures and caracaras), and those with high wing loading that are well adapted for soaring in strong updraughts and moderate to high winds (Andean condors). Spatial trends in meteorological factors seem to confine scavengers with high wing loading to the mountains where they out-compete other birds; a trend that is borne out in worldwide distributions of the largest species. However, model predictions and carcass observations suggest that the competitive ability of these and other birds varies with meteorological conditions in areas where distributions overlap. This challenges the view that scavenging guilds are structured by fixed patterns of dominance and suggests that competitive ability varies across spatial and temporal scales, which may ultimately be a mechanism promoting diversity among aerial scavengers.     

Numerical determination for optimal location of sub-track asphalt layer in high-speed rails

Railway Engineering Science - Well-graded asphalt mix with the merits of high sound absorption, low water permeability, excellent strength, and easy construction is an important option for...     

Polyphenolic contents in Citrus fruit juices: authenticity assessment

The contents of 49 polyphenols in sweet orange, tangerine, lemon and grapefruit juices from 18 cultivars grown in Spain were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. Citrus polyphenolic profiles consist of 81–97 % of flavanones, 0.3–13.6 % of flavones, 0.1–6.0 % of flavonols, 0.6–9.6 % of hydroxycinnamic acids and 0.2–0.4 % of coumarins (only found in grapefruit juices). Several markers that allow to distinguish with practical certainty grapefruit and lemon juices between them and from the other Citrus species are reported. Each of these markers is a reliable and useful tool to detect juice adulteration. Grapefruit juice markers were naringenin-7-O-neohesperidoside, naringenin-7-O-neohesperidoside-4′-O-glucose, naringenin-O-hexosylhexoside, hesperetin-7-O-neohesperidoside, naringenin-O-rhamnosylmalonylhexoside, isosakuranetin-7-O-neohesperidoside, hesperetin-7-O-rutinoside, apigenin-6-C-hexoside-O-hexoside, apigenin-7-O-neohesperidoside and scopoletin-O-hexoside. Lemon juice markers were eriodictyol-7-O-rutinoside-4′-O-glucoside, eriodictyol-7-O-rutinoside, diosmetin-6,8-di-C-glucoside, diosmetin-8-C-glucoside, luteolin-7-O-rutinoside, diosmetin-6-C-glucoside and diosmetin-6,8-di-C-hexosideacylhexoside. The markers naringenin-O-hexosylhexoside, apigenin-6-C-hexoside-O-hexoside, scopoletin-O-hexoside, diosmetin-8-C-glucoside and diosmetin-6,8-di-C-hexosideacylhexoside were detected, characterized and quantitatively determined in grapefruit and lemon juices for the first time by our research group, as far as the authors know. Classification models provided by LDA and PLS-DA correctly identify all sweet orange and tangerine juices. Moreover, PLS regression model determines the percentage (10–70 %) of tangerine juice used to adulterate sweet orange juice with a suitable confidence interval (RMSEP = 7 %).     

Glass foam of macroporosity using glass waste and sodium hydroxide as the foaming agent

Glass foams using float glass waste and sodium hydroxide were produced. The influence of the sodium hydroxide amount in the foam formulation was studied. Titanium dioxide was used as a strengthening agent. The variations of temperature, heating rate and sintering time were investigated during the synthesis process. Open porosity was estimated using mercury porosimetry. The morphology of the glass foams was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, phase formation was studied using X-ray diffraction, and chemical composition was estimated using X-ray fluorescence. As a result, glass foams with macroporosity were obtained. Since the glass foams used glass waste as reactant, the results suggest the development of an alternative route for glass recycling.     

Colour features and pigment composition of Italian carbonic macerated red wines

Thirty commercially available Italian carbonic macerated young red wines, have been analysed by HPLC–DAD–MS with the aim to characterise their pigment composition and find possible correlations with the colour features evaluated by means of spectrophotometric measurements. The composition in anthocyanin monoglucosides, acetates, p-coumarates as well as that in pyranoanthocyanins and direct and ethyl-bridged adducts with flavanols, was studied. Because of the peculiar maceration process, carbonic macerated wines demonstrated to be qualitatively rich in pyranoanthocyanins and pigment adducts. A number of ethyl-bridged anthocyanin isomers was found, together with significant contents of vitisin A and vitisin B (up to 15.5 mg/L as a sum). Malvidin-3-glc-4-vinylphenol was the main pyranoanthocyanin-vinylphenol adduct (up to 1.10 mg/L). The colour features of the wines were broadly distributed as a consequence of the percentage of carbonic macerated wine present in the marketed product. The statistical treatment of the entire data set revealed that pyranoanthocyanins are positively correlated with colour density (while no correlation was found for monoglucosides) and that direct adducts and/or ethyl-bridged compounds can play a role for what concerns the hue of carbonic macerated wines.     

汽车功率密度推动封装技术创新

随着市场对大功率应用的需求增长，功率电子产品封装技术的发展呈现出新的发展趋势，而汽车市场正是这一趋势的强大推动力量。 汽车内部各种功能不断地电气化（electrification），比如电动助力转向系统（Electric Power Steering）、起动机和发电机、空调、水泵乃至牵引电机驱动等     

Effect of decortication and protease treatment on the kinetics of liquefaction,saccharification, and ethanol production from sorghum

BACKGROUND: This study analyzes the effect of decortication and protease treatment on the kinetics of liquefaction, saccharification and ethanol production from sorghum kernels. In general, bioethanol yields from sorghum are lower than those from maize. This has been attributed to reduced access of starch‐degrading enzymes due to the crosslinked protein net in the sorghum kernels. RESULTS: Liquefaction is described as a zero order kinetics process, with reaction rates enhanced by protease treatment. The use of protease almost doubled the liquefaction rate in both whole and decorticated sorghum, compared with untreated kernels. During saccharification of decorticated sorghum, protease treatment significantly affected the glucose/starch yield and the glucose concentration profile over time. When compared with maize, protease treatment of decorticated sorghum resulted in superior ethanol production rates. Specific ethanol yields during fermentation were statistically comparable with those for maize. CONCLUSION: Protease treatment of decorticated sorghum kernels can impart substantial economic benefits in terms of improvement of bioethanol yield (13% over whole sorghum) and in reduced fermentation time (approximately 50% with respect to maize). Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry