A prototype printer for laser driven micro-transfer printing

This paper demonstrates a new mode of automated micro transfer printing called laser micro transfer printing (LμTP). As a process, micro-transfer printing provides a unique and critical manufacturing route to extracting active microstructures from growth substrates and deterministically assembling them into a variety of functional substrates ranging from polymers to glasses and ceramics and to metallic foils to support applications such as flexible, large-area electronics, concentrating photovoltaics and displays. Laser transfer printing extends micro-transfer printing technology by providing a non-contact approach that is insensitive to the preparation and properties of the receiving substrate. It does so by exploiting the difference in the thermo-mechanical responses of the microstructure and transfer printing stamp materials to drive the release of the microstructure or ‘ink’ from the stamp and its transfer to substrate. This paper describes the process and the physical phenomena that drive it. It focuses on the use of this knowledge to design and test a print head for the process. The print head is used to demonstrate the new printing capabilities that LμTP enables.     

Virological Characterization of Roof-Harvested Rainwater of Densely Urbanized Low-Income Region

Food and Environmental Virology - Roof-harvested rainwater (RHRW) is considered relatively clean water, even though the possible presence of pathogens in the water may pose human health risks. In...     

A participatory decision making framework for artisanal fisheries collaborative governance: Insights from management committees in Chile

Fisheries management is increasingly transitioning towards collaborative governance. Collaborative systems depend on stakeholders’ capacity to design and implement legitimate and scientifically robust management plans within collective action arenas. Here we propose that collaborative governance outcomes, in fisheries management, will benefit from using structured participatory decision making frameworks that enhance deliberative thinking among stakeholders. We tested our approach in the artisanal fishery of Chile, an important producer of marine resources. Recently in 2013, Chile made important changes to fisheries policies by creating multi-sectorial management committees to manage de facto open access fishing areas. We applied a structured decision making framework to inform the restructuring of a management plan within a committee. As a result, we identified goals,objectives and indicators, including social, economic, biological and ecological dimensions; we explored tradeoffs, assessing the relative importance of the objectives; finally, we created scenarios and prioritized alternatives, reflecting on the interplay between self-regulation and government control. Members of the management committee were able to rationalize the different steps of the framework and identify ways forward which highlighted the importance of self-regulation in comparison to central authorities’ control. We concluded that structured decision making promotes spaces for rational analysis of alternatives costs and benefits. Promoting deliberative thinking in fisheries management can improve equity, legitimacy and sustainability of collaborative governance.     

Using the WTO/TBT enquiry point to monitor tendencies in the regulation of environment, health, and safety issues affecting the chemical industry

The growing importance of technical regulation affecting the use and sale of chemical products is a topic of interest not only for the chemical industry, but also for governments, nongovernmental organizations, consumers, and interested communities. The results of such regulation on behalf of the environment, health and safety of individuals, as well as its economic effects on industrial activity, are well understood in the United States and recently in the European Union. In less developed countries, however, the general level of public understanding of these issues is still minimal. It is common knowledge that the so-called "regulatory asymmetry" between countries at different levels of development contributes to the establishment of technical barriers to trade. Such asymmetries, however, also have other impacts: the displacement of polluting industrial sectors to countries which have less demanding regulations, the concentration of unsafe and harmful environmental conditions in certain parts of the globe, and the competitive disadvantage for industries located in countries where control is more rigid. This study analyses information on a wide range of technical regulations issued by World Trade Organization (WTO) members, and focuses on those regulations that affect the chemical industry. This information is available through the WTO Enquiry Points, organizations created in each country to administrate the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT). This article consists of an analysis of 4,301 notifications of technical regulations by WTO member states in the 7-year period following the establishment of the WTO in 1995. Starting from this mass of information, 585 notifications that affect the circulation or use of chemical products were isolated. Of this group, 71% refer to only 15 countries. This group of notifications was further classified according to their motivation (the environment, health, safety), by the type of product affected (medications, fuels, hazardous products, etc.), by the type of country where it was established (developed, emerging or developing) and the existing conformity assessment mechanism (prohibition, licenses, certification, labeling, etc.). Beyond identifying tendencies in specific industrial sectors, the notifications studied here reach more than 100 chemical products, substances, preparations and other materials, which are subject to various levels of restrictions in different parts of the globe because of their composition or adverse reactions during their life cycles.     

Trisomy 10: ultrasound features and natural history after first trimester diagnosis

We report on the ultrasound features and natural history of trisomy 10. At 12 weeks' gestation in a routine scan examination, the fetus presented with increased nuchal translucency thickness, mild skin oedema, bilateral pleural effusion, marked micrognathia, cardiomegaly, unilateral talipes and reversed A-wave in the ductus venosus blood flow. Karyotyping on chorionic villus sampling (CVS) led to the diagnosis of trisomy 10, which was confirmed by fetal blood sampling at 22 weeks' gestation. As the parents opted to continue with the pregnancy, the natural history and following ultrasound features are described. This is the third case of trisomy 10 in the literature reporting on the physical features. The most frequent ultrasound findings presented in trisomy 10 are increased nuchal translucency, micrognathia, renal agenesis, facial cleft, limbabnormalities, cardiac defects and early severe growth retardation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sorption interactions between imazaquin and a humic acid extracted from a typical Brazilian oxisol

Soil sorption of most hydrophobic organic compounds (e.g., nonpolar pesticides) is directly related to soil organic matter (SOM) content. Humic substances are the major SOM components, containing carboxylic, phenolic, amine, quinone, and other functional groups, and specific structural configurations. In this paper, sorption interactions between imazaquin (2-[4,5-dydro-4-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1H- imidazol-2-yl]-3-quinoline-carboxylic acid) herbicide (IM) and a humic acid (HA) extracted from a typical Brazilian Oxisol were studied with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques. A polarographic technique was used to quantify sorption. The IM amount sorbed on the HA was much higher than that on the whole soil within the pH range studied, emphasizing the prominent role played by SOM on IM sorption. Moreover, IM sorption increased as the soil-solution pH decreased. This enhancement in sorption was attributed to the hydrophobic affinity of the herbicide by the HA and to the electrostatic interaction between the protonated quinoline group of IM and the negative sites of the HA. Hydrophobic regions in the HA's interior at low pH (< 5.0) were recently demonstrated by an EPR detectable spin-label molecule. The FTIR and EPR spectroscopy and polarography data indicated weak interaction between IM and the soil and its HA, involving hydrogen bonding, proton transfer, and cation exchange (at low pH), and mainly hydrophobic interactions. However, no strong reaction mechanism, such as charge transfer, was involved. In addition, this research suggested that soil amendment with organic material might increase magnitude of IM sorption, consequently avoiding leaching and carryover problems usually found for mobile and persistent herbicides such as imazaquin.     

Ecological success of the cladoceran <Emphasis Type="Italic">Penilia avirostris</Emphasis> in the marine environment: feeding performance,gross growth efficiencies and life history

Marine cladocerans are important contributors to the zooplankton community of tropical and temperate coastal ecosystems during the warmer months, when they show explosive population growth. Despite this fact, little information is available on their ecology compared with the extensive studies on their freshwater relatives. The main objective of this study was to determine the in situ feeding and growth rates, and life history parameters of Penilia avirostris in São Sebastião Bay (Brazil) during austral summer 2004, as a premise to understand the advantages of this cladoceran in oligotrophic waters. Culture development experiments, monitored for a period of 12 days, showed that maximum juvenile release occurred after 2 days, and that the development duration of a complete cohort was around 9 days. From bottle incubation grazing experiments, significant ingestion rates upon flagellates, ciliates, dinoflagellates and diatoms were detected. Flagellates were the most important contributors to P. avirostris diet (ca. 80%). P. avirostris ingested between 28 and 97% of its own carbon biomass per day (daily ration) and individual growth rates of this marine cladoceran (0.10–0.24 d^?1) increased with prey availability. The combination of ingestion rates of natural prey and growth rates provided gross growth efficiencies (GGE) of 15–53%, on a carbon basis. Our results suggest that P. avirostris has similar GGE to copepods, although at low food conditions the values for the marine cladocerans seems slightly higher. However, this characteristic alone does not explain the explosive growth and community dominance shown by P. avirostris. Therefore, other traits related to the reproductive biology of the species, such as short generation time, parthenogenetic reproduction, and continuous somatic growth, seems to be mostly responsible for the success of P. avirostris in many marine ecosystems during their seasonal occurrence.     

Clarifying values,risk perceptions,and attitudes to resolve or avoid social conflicts in invasive species management

Decision makers and researchers recognize the need to effectively confront the social dimensions and conflicts inherent to invasive species research and management. Yet, despite numerous contentious situations that have arisen, no systematic evaluation of the literature has examined the commonalities in the patterns and types of these emergent social issues. Using social and ecological keywords, we reviewed trends in the social dimensions of invasive species research and management and the sources and potential solutions to problems and conflicts that arise around invasive species. We integrated components of cognitive hierarchy theory and risk perceptions theory to provide a conceptual framework to identify, distinguish, and provide understanding of the driving factors underlying disputes associated with invasive species. In the ISI Web of Science database, we found 15,915 peer‐reviewed publications on biological invasions, 124 of which included social dimensions of this phenomenon. Of these 124, 28 studies described specific contentious situations. Social approaches to biological invasions have emerged largely in the last decade and have focused on both environmental social sciences and resource management. Despite being distributed in a range of journals, these 124 articles were concentrated mostly in ecology and conservation‐oriented outlets. We found that conflicts surrounding invasive species arose based largely on differences in value systems and to a lesser extent stakeholder and decision maker's risk perceptions. To confront or avoid such situations, we suggest integrating the plurality of environmental values into invasive species research and management via structured decision making techniques, which enhance effective risk communication that promotes trust and confidence between stakeholders and decision makers. Clarificar los Valores, Percepciones de Riesgo y Actitudes para Resolver o Evitar Conflictos Sociales en el Manejo de Especies Invasoras