Background: The dung beetle genus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae, Scarabaeini), predominantly found in the arid regions of the Old World, includes three endemic species inhabiting the dry ecosystems of western and southern Madagascar. These species are presumed to form a monophyletic clade nested within the African .Semantic modelling of phenotypes using ontologies represents a transformative approach to species description in biology, making phenotypic data FAIR and computable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial biofilms present one of the most widespread forms of life on Earth. The formation of microbial communities on various surfaces presents a major challenge in a variety of fields, including medicine, the food industry, shipping, etc. At the same time, this process can also be used for the benefit of humans-in bioremediation, wastewater treatment, and various biotechnological processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Taxonomy has long struggled with analysing vast amounts of phenotypic data due to computational and accessibility challenges. Ontology-based technologies provide a framework for modelling semantic phenotypes that are understandable by computers and compliant with FAIR principles. In this paper, we explore the use of Phenoscript, an emerging language designed for creating semantic phenotypes, to produce computable species descriptions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Numerous taxonomic studies have focused on the dung beetle genus d'Orbigny, 1915, endemic to Madagascar. However, this genus stilll needs a thorough revision. Semantic technologies, such as nanopublications, hold the potential to enhance taxonomy by transforming how data are published and analysed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDefect-free thin-walled samples were built using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) combined with the "coldArc" deposition technique by feeding a Ti-6Al-4V welding wire and using two deposition strategies, namely with and without the welding torch weaving. The microstructures formed in these samples were examined in relation to mechanical characteristics. The arc torch weaving at 1 Hz allowed us to interfere with the epitaxial growth of the β-Ti columnar grains and, thus, obtain them a lower aspect ratio.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel conductive composite based on PEDOT:PSS, BSA, and Nafion for effective immobilization of acetic acid bacteria on graphite electrodes as part of biosensors and microbial fuel cells has been proposed. It is shown that individual components in the composite do not have a significant negative effect on the catalytic activity of microorganisms during prolonged contact. The values of heterogeneous electron transport constants in the presence of two types of water-soluble mediators were calculated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDung beetles (Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) are among the most cost-effective and informative biodiversity indicator groups, conveying rich information about the status of habitats and faunas of an area. Yet their use for monitoring the mammal species, that are the main providers of the food for the dung beetles, has only recently been recognized. In the present work, we studied the diet of four endemic Madagascan dung beetles ( (Fairmaire), (Harold), (Boucomont), and Fairmaire) using high-throughput sequencing and amplicon metagenomics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConductive polymers and their composites are excellent materials for coupling biological materials and electrodes in bioelectrochemical systems. It is assumed that their relevance and introduction to the field of bioelectrochemical devices will only grow due to their tunable conductivity, easy modification, and biocompatibility. This review analyzes the main trends and trends in the development of the methodology for the application of conductive polymers and their use in biosensors and biofuel elements, as well as describes their future prospects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectron beam additive manufacturing from dissimilar metal wires was used to intermix 5, 10 and 15 vol.% of Ti-Al-Mo-Z-V titanium alloy with CuAl9Mn2 bronze on a stainless steel substrate. The resulting alloys were subjected to investigations into their microstructural, phase and mechanical characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe spectacular radiation of insects has produced a stunning diversity of phenotypes. During the past 250 years, research on insect systematics has generated hundreds of terms for naming and comparing them. In its current form, this terminological diversity is presented in natural language and lacks formalization, which prohibits computer-assisted comparison using semantic web technologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article proposes new Markov models for phylogenetic inference with anatomically dependent (inapplicable) morphological characters. The proposed models can explicitly model an anatomical dependency in which one or several characters are allowed to evolve only within a specific state of the hierarchically upstream character. The new models come up in two main types depending on the type of character hierarchy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper is devoted to using multi-pass friction stir processing (FSP) for admixing 1.5 to 30 vol.% copper powders into an AA5056 matrix for the in situ fabrication of a composite alloy reinforced by Al-Cu intermetallic compounds (IMC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaterials (Basel)
January 2023
In the present work, the tribological experiments on sliding the electron beam composite M2+WC coating have been carried out with characterization of the sample microstructures and phases both before and after the testing using metallography, SEM, EDS, and XRD. The sliding in the speed range 0.8-3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel approach to electric explosion of intertwined wires to obtain homogeneous powder mixtures intended for preparing feedstock for extrusion 3D printing has been applied. The powder were composed of spherical micron- and nano-sized W/Cu particles in-situ alloyed by Zn and Ni during electric explosion of intertwined dissimilar metal wires is offered. The mean particle size measured by micron-sized particles was not more than 20 μm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the presented work, the effect of friction stir processing admixing the zirconium tungstate ZrWO powder on the microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of the AA5056 Al-Mg alloy stir zone has been studied. The FSP resulted in obtaining dense composite stir zones where α-ZrWO underwent the following changes: (i) high-temperature transformation into metastable β'-ZrWO and (ii) decomposition into WO and ZrO oxides followed by the formation of intermetallic compounds WAl and ZrA. These precipitates served as reinforcing phases to improve mechanical and tribological characteristics of the obtained fine-grained composites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNovel composite CuA19Mn2/Udimet-500 alloy walls with different content of the Udimet 500 were built using electron-beam double-wire-feed additive manufacturing. Intermixing both metals within the melted pool resulted in dissolving nickel and forcing out the aluminum from bronze. The resulting phases were NiAl particles and grains, MC/NiAl core/shell particles and Cu-Ni-Al solid solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial fuel cells (MFCs) are a variety of bioelectrocatalytic devices that utilize the metabolism of microorganisms to generate electric energy from organic matter. This study investigates the possibility of using a novel PEDOT:PSS/graphene/Nafion composite in combination with acetic acid bacteria to create a pure culture MFC capable of effective municipal wastewater treatment. The developed MFC was shown to maintain its activity for at least three weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectron beam additive wire-feed manufacturing of Cu-3wt.%S-0.8wt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMulti-pass friction stir processing (FSP) was used to obtain a titanium alloy/copper hybrid composite layer by intermixing copper powder with a Ti6Al4V alloy. A macrostructurally inhomogeneous stir zone was obtained with both its top and middle parts composed of fine dynamically recrystallized α- and β-Ti grains, as well as coarse intermetallic compounds (IMCs) of TiCu and TiCu, respectively. Some β grains experienced β → α decomposition with the formation of acicular α-Ti microstructures either inside the former β-Ti grains or at their grain boundaries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe work considered the properties of a biosensor based on a novel nanomaterial-modified thermally expanded graphite (TEG). The main focus was on whether the procedure of additional graphite thermal expansion would affect the electrochemical properties of biosensors based on membrane fractions of acetic acid bacteria . Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical analysis were used for the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectron beam additive wire-feed deposition of Cu-7.5wt.%Al bronze on a stainless-steel substrate has been carried out at heat input levels 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA gradient transition zone was obtained using electron beam deposition from AA4047 wire on AA7075 substrate and characterized for microstructures, tensile strength and corrosion resistance. The microstructure of the transition zone was composed of aluminum alloy grains, Al/Si eutectics and Fe-rich and Si-rich particles. Such a microstructure provided strength comparable to that of AA7075-T42 substrate but more intense corrosion due to the higher amount of anodic MgSi particles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a new species of dung beetle, , from a single female specimen allegedly collected in the 19 century on Réunion island and recently found at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. This species differs from other species of by larger size and a set of other distinctive morphological characters. is the first native dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) of Réunion, and its discovery expands the known area of distribution of the genus , which was hitherto believed to be endemic to Madagascar.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDissimilar friction stir processing on CuZn37/AA5056 was performed to study structural and phase evolution of a friction stir zone. Formation of 5-10 μm intermetallic compounds (IMCs) such as AlCu was the main type of diffusion reaction between copper and aluminum. Other alloying elements such as Mg and Zn were forced out of the forming AlCu grains and dissolved in the melt formed due to exothermic effect of the AlCu formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiosensors (Basel)
September 2021
Immobilization of the biocomponent is one of the most important stages in the development of microbial biosensors. In this study, we examined the electrochemical properties of a novel PEDOT:PSS/graphene/Nafion composite used to immobilize bacterial cells on the surface of a graphite screen-printed electrode. Bioelectrode responses to glucose in the presence of a redox mediator 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol were studied.
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