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The current article elucidates a study centered on the development of an anemometer leveraging an inertial sensor for wind speed measurement in the northeast region of Brazil, focusing on renewable energy generation. The study encompassed a series of experiments aimed at calibrating the anemometer, analyzing the noise generated by the inertial sensor, and scrutinizing the data acquired during wind speed measurement. The calibration process unfolded in three stages: initial noise analysis, subsequent inertial data analysis, and the derivation of calibration curves. The first two stages involved experiments conducted at an average sampling rate of 10 Hz. Simultaneously, the third stage incorporated data collected over a 1 h duration while maintaining the same sampling rate. The outcomes underscore the suitability of the anemometer based on an inertial sensor for wind energy systems and diverse applications. While the wind readings from the prototype exhibit considerable fluctuations, a three-length moving average filter is applied to the prototype's output to mitigate these fluctuations. The calibration surface was established using observational data, and the resultant surface is detailed. Data analysis assumes paramount significance in wind speed measurement, and the K-NN algorithm demonstrated superior efficacy in estimating the correspondence between measured and control data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the worldwide moratorium on whaling, humpback whale populations began to recover, reoccupying former areas of use, as also observed on the Brazilian coast. Abrolhos Bank represents the area of greatest humpback whale concentration but the number of individuals to the north has increased, as has happened in the region of Serra Grande. To compare relative abundance, habitat use, and movement patterns between a well‐established breeding and a reoccupation area, visual monitoring from land‐based stations was performed: 160 days in the Abrolhos Archipelago located on the Abrolhos Bank and 133 days in Serra Grande in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019. While relative abundance varied annually in the Abrolhos Archipelago, it gradually increased in Serra Grande, surpassing the number registered in Abrolhos in 2019. Group composition frequency was similar between areas except for mother and calf accompanied by one or more escorts, which were more frequent in Abrolhos. Despite similar movement speed and linearity values, whales in Serra Grande had a higher reorientation rate. Monitoring different areas occupied by this population supports decisions about spatial management of the Brazilian coast in relation to the implementation of anthropogenic activities, especially in areas where whales have recently returned to occupy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This work studies the partition of phenolic compounds, namely caffeic acid, syringic acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, and vanillin, in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) formed by acetonitrile and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on choline chloride ([Ch]Cl) and carbohydrates (sucrose, d-glucose, d-mannose, arabinose, and d-xylose). The binodal curves built at 25 °C and 0.1 MPa using DES were compared with ATPS composed of [Ch]Cl and the same carbohydrates. The ability to form ATPS depends on the number and kind of hydroxyl groups in DES's hydrogen-bond donor compound (carbohydrates). ATPS based on DES showed biphasic regions larger than the systems based on [Ch]Cl and carbohydrates alone due to the larger hydrophilicity of DES. The ATPS were used to study the partition of the phenolic compounds. For all the systems, the biomolecules preferentially partitioned to the acetonitrile-rich phase (K > 1), and the best recovery in the top phase ranged between 53.36% (caffeic acid) and 90.09% (vanillin). According to the remarkable results, DES-based ATPS can selectively separate ferulic acid and vanillin for the top phase and syringic, caffeic, and vanillic acids for the bottom phase, achieving a selectivity higher than two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how plants survive drought and cold is increasingly important as plants worldwide experience dieback with drought in moist places and grow taller with warming in cold ones. Crucial in plant climate adaptation are the diameters of water-transporting conduits. Sampling 537 species across climate zones dominated by angiosperms, we find that plant size is unambiguously the main driver of conduit diameter variation. And because taller plants have wider conduits, and wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms, taller conspecifics should be more vulnerable than shorter ones, a prediction we confirm with a plantation experiment. As a result, maximum plant size should be short under drought and cold, which cause embolism, or increase if these pressures relax. That conduit diameter and embolism vulnerability are inseparably related to plant size helps explain why factors that interact with conduit diameter, such as drought or warming, are altering plant heights worldwide.

Neutrophils are a major player in host immunity to infection; however, the mechanisms by which human neutrophils respond to the intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are still poorly understood. In the current study, we found that, whereas primary human monocytes produced interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) in response to T. gondii infection, human neutrophils from the same blood donors did not. Moreover, T. gondii inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-1β synthesis in human peripheral blood neutrophils. IL-1β suppression required active parasite invasion, since heat-killed or mycalolide B-treated parasites did not inhibit IL-1β release. By investigating the mechanisms involved in this process, we found that T. gondii infection of neutrophils treated with LPS resulted in reduced transcript levels of IL-1β and NLRP3 and reduced protein levels of pro-IL-1β, mature IL-1β, and the inflammasome sensor NLRP3. In T. gondii-infected neutrophils stimulated with LPS, the levels of MyD88, TRAF6, IKKα, IKKβ, and phosphorylated IKKα/β were not affected. However, LPS-induced IκBα degradation and p65 phosphorylation were reduced in T. gondii-infected neutrophils, and degradation of IκBα was reversed by treatment with the proteasome inhibitor MG-132. Finally, we observed that T. gondii inhibited the cleavage and activity of caspase-1 in human neutrophils. These results indicate that T. gondii suppression of IL-1β involves a two-pronged strategy whereby T. gondii inhibits both NF-κB signaling and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. These findings represent a novel mechanism of T. gondii evasion of human neutrophil-mediated host defense by targeting the production of IL-1β.IMPORTANCEToxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that infects approximately one-third of humans worldwide and can invade virtually any nucleated cell in the human body. Although it is well documented that neutrophils infiltrate the site of acute T. gondii infection, there is limited understanding of how human neutrophils respond to T. gondii Neutrophils control infectious pathogens by a variety of mechanisms, including the release of the cytokine IL-1β, a major driver of inflammation during infection. This study reveals that T. gondii is able to inhibit IL-1β production in human neutrophils by impairing the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway and by inhibiting the inflammasome, the protein complex responsible for IL-1β maturation. This two-pronged strategy of targeting the IL-1β pathway may facilitate the survival and spread of T. gondii during acute infection.