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Pollution contributes to the degraded state of continental aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. Some species appear to be tolerant to aquatic pollution, yet little is known about the effects of such pollution on population structure and dynamics. Here, we investigated how wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents of the Cabestany City, in southern France, contribute to the pollution levels of the Fosseille River, and we tested how they could affect population structure and medium-term dynamics of the native freshwater turtle, the Mediterranean Pond Turtle Mauremys leprosa (Schweigger, 1812). Amongst the 68 pesticides surveyed from water samples collected along the river in 2018 and 2021, a total of 16 pesticides were detected, among which eight were found in the upstream section of the river, 15 in the river section located downstream of the WWTP, and 14 in the outfall of the WWTP, exhibiting the contribution of effluents to the river pollution. From 2013 to 2018 and in 2021, capture-mark-recapture protocols were carried out on the freshwater turtle population living in the river. Using robust design and multi-state models, we showed a stable population throughout the study period, with high year-dependent seniority, and a bidirectional transition occurring primarily from the upstream to the downstream river sections of the WWTP. The freshwater turtle population consisted mostly of adults, with a male biased sex ratio detected downstream of the WWTP neither related to sex-dependent survival, recruitment, nor transition, suggesting a male bias in the hatchlings or primary sex ratio. Also, the largest immatures and females were captured downstream of the WWTP, with females having the highest body condition, whereas no such differences were observed in males. This study highlights that population functioning of M. leprosa is driven primarily by effluents induced resources, at least over the medium-term. [Display omitted] • Monitoring of the Mediterranean Pond Turtle between 2013 and 2021 in a polluted river. • Investigation of population dynamics using robust design and multi-state models. • Detection of a male biased adult sex ratio downstream, but not upstream, of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). • Detection of bi-directional transitions, mainly directed towards downstream of the WWTP. • Positive covariation of immatures and adult females' body size with habitat pollution level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to understand how the public's beliefs in five countries may change as more families have direct experience with Alzheimer's disease. The data are derived from a questionnaire survey conducted by telephone (landline and cell) with 2678 randomly selected adults in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and the United States. The paper analyzes the beliefs and anticipated behavior of those in each country who report having had a family member with Alzheimer's disease versus those who do not. In one or more countries, differences were found between the two groups in their concern about getting Alzheimer's disease, knowledge that the disease is fatal, awareness of certain symptoms, and support for increased public spending. The results suggest that as more people have experience with a family member who has Alzheimer's disease, the public will generally become more concerned about Alzheimer's disease and more likely to recognize that Alzheimer's disease is a fatal disease. The findings suggest that other beliefs may only be affected if there are future major educational campaigns about the disease. The publics in individual countries, with differing cultures and health systems, are likely to respond in different ways as more families have experience with Alzheimer's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data centers are estimated to have the fastest growing carbon footprint from across the whole information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Evaluating the performance of data centers in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability is becoming an increasingly important matter for organizations and governments (e.g., for regulation or reputation purposes). It nonetheless remains difficult to achieve such evaluation, as data centers imply to take into consideration a wide range of dimensions and stakeholders. Even though a wide range of sustainability performance indicators exist in the literature, there is still a lack of frameworks to help data center stakeholders (spanning from data center owners, governmental regulators to engineers/field operators) to evaluate and understand how a data center performs in terms of sustainable development/behavior. Our research work proposes such a framework, whose originality lies in the combination of state-of-the-art sustainability metrics with the biomimicry commandments of eco-mature system, which enables holistic sustainability assessment of data centres. From a theoretical perspective, the proposed model is designed based on a benefit-cost analysis using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. This approach allows data center stakeholders for specifying their own preferences and/or expertise in the comparison process, whose practicability is demonstrated in this paper considering three data center candidates, which are respectively located in France, Germany and Sweden. • A new model for comparing data center sustainability performance is proposed. • The model makes use of state-of-the-art sustainability metrics together with biomimicry lessons. • The model is designed based on a benefit-cost approach using the AHP technique. • A comparison study is carried out with three distinct data center candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity produced and used in the residential sector is responsible for approximately 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Insulating houses and integrating renewable energy and storage resources are key for reducing such emissions. However, it is not only a matter of installing renewable energy technologies but also of optimizing the charging/discharging of the storage units. A number of optimization models have been proposed lately to address this problem. However, they are often limited in several respects: (i) they often focus only on electricity bill reduction, placing GHGE reduction on the backburner; (ii) they rarely propose hybrid-energy storage optimization strategies considering thermal and storage heater units; (iii) they are often designed using Linear Programming (LP) or metaheuristic techniques that are computational intensive, hampering their deployment on edge devices; and (iv) they rarely evaluate how the model impacts on the battery lifespan. Given this state-of-affairs, the present article compares two approaches, the first one proposing an innovative sliding grid carbon intensity threshold algorithm developed as part of a European project named RED WoLF, the second one proposing an algorithm designed based on LP. The comparison analysis is carried out based on two distinct real-life scenarios in France and UK. Results show that both algorithms contribute to reduce GHGE compared to a solution without optimization logic (between 10 to 25%), with a slight advantage for the LP algorithm. However, RED WoLF makes it possible to reduce significantly the computational time (≈ 25 min for LP against ≈ 1 ms for RED WoLF) and to extend the battery lifespan (4 years for LP against 12 years for RED WoLF). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities affect terrestrial and aquatic habitats leading to changes at both individual and population levels in wild animal species. In this study, we investigated the phenotype and demographics of the Mediterranean pond turtle Mauremys leprosa (Schweigger, 1812) in contrasted environments of Southern France: two peri-urban rivers receiving effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), and another one without sewage treatment plant. Our findings revealed the presence of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in the three rivers of investigation, the highest diversities and concentrations of pollutants being found in the river subsections impacted by WWTP effluents. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering identified three levels of habitat quality, with different pollutant concentrations, thermal conditions, nutrient, and organic matter levels. The highest turtle densities, growth rates, and body sizes were estimated in the most disturbed habitats, suggesting potential adult benefits derived from harsh environmental conditions induced by pollution and eutrophication. Conversely, juveniles were the most abundant in the least polluted habitats, suggesting adverse effects of pollution on juvenile survival or adult reproduction. This study suggests that turtles living in polluted habitats may benefit from enhanced growth and body size, at the expense of reproductive success., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

For ectotherms, behaviour and associated energetic costs are directly related to thermal conditions. In the present context of global change, estimating time-budget for these species is relevant to assess and predict their capacity to adapt to near future. We tested the hypothesis that in ectotherms where reproduction is highly energy consuming, energy expenditure should vary throughout the breeding season with a maximum around nesting events. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the fine-scale behaviour, time-budget and estimated energetic costs in eight adult female European pond turtles Emys orbicularis equipped with data-loggers recording ambient temperature, pressure, light and the animals' 3-axis acceleration. Deployments occurred over four months throughout the nesting season 2017 in semi-natural captive conditions in Alsace, France. All study turtles showed a clear daily pattern over the 24h cycle, with four distinct phases (referred to as Night, Morning, Midday and Evening), associated with different behaviours and activity levels. Before oviposition, turtles were mostly active during Morning, and activity was positively driven by ambient temperature. Activity levels doubled during the nesting period, mostly due to the increased activity in the Evening, when nesting events occurred. Throughout the active season, basking occurrence at Midday was related to air temperature but cloud coverage was an even more important factor. Our results are a first step in predicting the seasonal time and energy budgets of the European pond turtle, and demonstrate the usefulness of animal-borne accelerometers to study free living freshwater turtles over extended periods of time., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Growing use of fractional flow reserve (FFR) and intracoronary imaging techniques by optical coherence tomography or intravascular ultrasound has raised concerns about additional exposure during coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). Using data from the prospective CRAC-France PCI Prospective Multicentre registry, we sought to evaluate the effect of these new techniques on the radiation dose to patients undergoing coronary procedures. Data on Kerma Area Product (PKA), total air kerma (KAr) and fluoroscopy time from 42 182 coronary procedures were retrospectively compared, using multivariable linear regression, according to whether they included FFR and intracoronary imaging. In coronary angiography, FFR was associated with longer fluoroscopy time and higher PKA (21.0 vs. 18.9 Gy.cm2) and KAr (372 vs. 299 mGy) (all p < 0.001). Intracoronary imaging was associated with longer fluoroscopy time, higher contrast volume (both p < 0.001), lower PKA (18.3 vs. 19.0 Gy.cm2, p = 0.02) and similar KAr. In PCI, FFR was associated with a moderate increase in KAr (682 vs. 626 mGy, p < 0.01) but not PKA (35.9 vs. 33.7 Gy.cm2, p = 0.34). For intracoronary imaging, there were no differences between groups, except for contrast volume. Increased patient exposure associated with FFR and intracoronary imaging is moderate in diagnostic coronary angiography and minimal or none in PCI, provided optimization techniques are used. It should not be a limitation on the use of these techniques given the important additional information they provide., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)