Contact tracing-induced Allee effect in disease dynamics.

Contact tracing, case isolation, quarantine, social distancing, and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been a cornerstone in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their effects on disease dynamics are not fully understood. Saturation of contact tracing caused by the increase of infected individuals has been recognized as a crucial variable by healthcare systems worldwide.

Development and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Olive Pomace: Experimental Design, Kinetic and Equilibrium Studies in Nimesulide Adsorption.

The lack of adequate treatment for the removal of pollutants from domestic, hospital and industrial effluents has caused great environmental concern. Therefore, there is a need to develop materials that have the capacity to treat these effluents. This work aims to develop and characterize an activated charcoal from olive pomace, which is an agro-industrial residue, for adsorption of Nimesulide in liquid effluent and to evaluate the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium using experimental design.

Recovery of phosphate from aqueous solutions using calcined eggshell as an eco-friendly adsorbent.

Phosphorus scarcity has become a significant issue in the European Union (EU) during 21st Century, due to its relevance as an irreplaceable macronutrient for life, and because of the total dependency of EU regarding imports. This work aims to evaluate the phosphorus recovery by adsorption in batch and fixed-bed column, using a thermally modified eggshell as an adsorbent. The screening phase revealed that calcined eggshell at 700 °C (CES700) is the most suitable material compared with the other thermally modified eggshells tested.

Single and binary sorption of Cr(III) and Ni(II) onto modified pine bark.

This study aims to investigate the single and binary biosorption of Cr(III) and Ni(II) by pine bark chemically treated with NaOH solution (MPB). The studies involved the effect of initial pH in the equilibrium, as well as kinetic uptake using synthetic solutions. Equilibrium tests were also conducted with an industrial effluent.

Exceptional body sizes but typical trophic structure in a Pleistocene food web.

In this study, we focused on the exceptionally large mammals inhabiting the Americas during the Quaternary period and the paramount role of body size in species ecology. We evaluated two main features of Pleistocene food webs: the relationship between body size and (i) trophic position and (ii) vulnerability to predation. Despite the large range of species sizes, we found a hump-shaped relationship between trophic position and body size.

Impact of stated barriers on proposed warfarin prescription for atrial fibrillation: a survey of Canadian physicians.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, and leading cause of ischemic stroke. Despite proven effectiveness, warfarin remains an under-used treatment in atrial fibrillation patients. We sought to study, across three physician specialties, a range of factors that have been argued to have a disproportionate effect on treatment decisions.

Cross-taxon congruence and environmental conditions.

Background: Diversity patterns of different taxa typically covary in space, a phenomenon called cross-taxon congruence. This pattern has been explained by the effect of one taxon diversity on taxon diversity, shared biogeographic histories of different taxa, and/or common responses to environmental conditions. A meta-analysis of the association between environment and diversity patterns found that in 83 out of 85 studies, more than 60% of the spatial variability in species richness was related to variables representing energy, water or their interaction.