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The filling process of nanoconduits is an active research topic. In this study, we use molecular dynamics simulations to identify the filling process of water molecules in a multiply connected carbon nanotube (MCCNT). For water permeation, a local change in the channel cross-section affects the water filling of MCCNTs because it may lead to irregularities in the permeation profile. A decrease in hydrogen bonds at the junctions of the structure characterizes the permeability of MCCNTs. In contrast to pristine CNTs, the complex nanochannel exhibits a different imbibition profile due to the energy changes at the junction. Next, we examine the local water density and velocity patterns in MCCNT channels to understand how junction regions affect steady-state water transport. We find that there is congestion and irregularities in steady water flow density and velocity profiles. Through this study, we expect to develop effective channels with more complex geometries for water purification and drug delivery. ISSN:1567-1739 ISSN:1878-1675

Oxygen isotopic composition (Δ18OLW) of leaf water can help improve our understanding of how anatomy interacts with physiology to influence leaf water transport. Leaf water isotope models of Δ18OLW such as the Péclet effect model have been developed to predict Δ18OLW, and it incorporates transpiration rate (E) and the mixing length between unenriched xylem water and enriched mesophyll water, which can occur in the mesophyll (Lm) or veins (Lv). Here we used two cell wall composition mutants grown under two light intensities and RH to evaluate the effect of cell wall composition on Δ18OLW. In maize (Zea mays), the compromised ultrastructure of the suberin lamellae in the bundle sheath of the ALIPHATIC SUBERIN FERULOYL TRANSFERASE mutant (Zmasft) reduced barriers to apoplastic water movement, resulting in higher E and Lv and, consequently, lower Δ18OLW. In cellulose synthase-like F6 (Cslf6) mutants and wildtype of rice (Oryza sativa), the difference in Δ18OLW in plants grown under high and low growth light intensity co-varied with their differences in stomatal density. These results show that cell wall composition and stomatal density influence Δ18OLW by altering the Péclet effect and that stable isotopes can facilitate the development of a physiologically and anatomically explicit water transport model.

Interfacial solar-driven evaporators have presented great potential for water purification owing to their low energy consumption and high steam generation efficiency. However, their further applications are hindered by the high costs and complicated fabrication processes. Here, a scalable bilayer interfacial evaporator was constructed via an affordable technique, in which carbon black deposited nonwoven fabric (CB@NF) was employed as the upper photothermal layer, as well as PVA/starch hybrid hydrogel for self-floating and water transport. Under simulated one sun irradiation, CB@NF layer displayed excellent photothermal conversion performance, whose temperature could increase 30.4 °C within 15 min. Moreover, the introduction of starch into PVA endowed the hybrid hydrogels with considerable water-absorption capability on the premise of ensuring mechanical properties. The resultant CB@NF/PVA/starch composites achieved superior interfacial adhesion performance with interfacial toughness at about 200 J m−2. Combining with good evaporation performance, salt-rejection property and high purification efficiency on pollutants, this evaporation system would become a promising candidate to alleviate water shortage.

Ralstonia causes wilt diseases by colonizing xylem vessels and disrupting water transport. The dogma is that bacterial biomass clogs vessels and reduces the flow of xylem sap due to Ralstonia abundance. However, the physiological mechanism of xylem disruption during bacterial wilt is untested. Using a tomato and Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum GMI1000 model, we visualized and quantified spatiotemporal dynamics of xylem disruption during bacterial wilt. First, we measured stomatal conductance of leaflets on mock-inoculated and wilt-symptomatic plants. Wilted leaflets had reduced stomatal conductance, as did turgid leaflets on the same petiole as wilted leaflets. Next, we used X-ray microcomputed tomography (X-ray microCT) and light microscopy to differentiate between mechanisms of xylem disruption: blockage by bacterial biomass, blockage by vascular tyloses, or sap displacement by gas embolisms. We imaged intact plant stems to quantify embolized vessels. Embolized vessels were rare, but infected plants with low bacterial populations had a nonsignificant trend of more vessel embolisms. To test whether vessels are clogged during bacterial wilt, we imaged excised stems after brief dehydration. Most vessels in mock-infected plants emptied their contents after excision, but nonconductive clogged vessels were abundant in infected plants by 2 days post infection. At wilt onset, when bacterial populations exceeded 5 × 108CFU/g stem tissue, approximately half of the vessels were clogged with electron-dense bacterial biomass. We found no evidence of tyloses in X-ray microCT reconstructions or from light microscopy of preserved stems. Therefore, bacterial blockage of vessels appears to be the principal cause of xylem disruption during Ralstonia wilt.[Formula: see text] The author(s) have dedicated the work to the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 “No Rights Reserved” license by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law, 2022.

The use of functional biodegradable wastes to treat environmental problems would create minimal extra burden to our environment. In this paper, we propose a sustainable and practical strategy to turn spent coffee ground (SCG) into a multifunctional palladium-loaded catalyst for water treatment instead of going into landfill as solid waste. Bleached delignified coffee ground (D-SCG) has a porous structure and a good capability to reduce Pd (II) to Pd (0). A large amount of nanocellulose is formed on the surface of SCG after bleaching by H2O2, which anchors and disperses the palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs). The D-SCG loaded with Pd NPs (Pd-D-SCG) is superhydrophilic, which facilitates water transport and thus promotes efficient removal of organic pollutants dissolved in water. Pd-D-SCG exhibits excellent room temperature catalytic activity for the removal of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and methylene blue (MB) in water and shows good chemical stability and recyclability in water, with no obvious decrease even after five repeated cycles.

Solar water evaporation membranes are considered as one of the most sustainable and cost-effective strategies to realize seawater desalination, sewage treatment and distillation. However, low-cost preparation of photo-thermal conversion membranes with both high light absorbance and efficient water transport remains a longstanding challenge. Herein, versatile and simple phase inversion strategy combined with surface corrosion is applied to fabricate flexible MCNTs cross-linked polyimide membranes (MCNTs/PIMs) with hierarchical pore distribution. The surface corrosion is used to dissolve the surface dense layer formed during the phase inversion process and obtain the adjustable surface pore structure with high sunlight absorption performance. Besides, the microchannel structure is prepared to realize multiple reflection of incident light and optimize water transport by controlling the coagulating bath. The results demonstrate that the MCNTs/CPIMs exhibit high light absorption performance of 94% in the long wavelength range of 200–2500 nm. The MCNTs/CPIMs possess rapid water evaporation rate of 1.26 kg m−2 h−1 and high solar thermal conversion efficiency of 72.7%. The flexible and scalable MCNTs/CPIMs exhibit efficient light/thermal management and rapid water transport performance, which enables them promising application in sustainable, low-cost and high efficient solar water evaporation.

There is an increasing shift from dissolution testing to dissolution-permeation testing of formulations during formulation development and this has led increasing application of permeability measurements using parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA) membranes. However, there is a lack of thorough analysis of the impact of variabilities in the PAMPA setup on the mass flow rate outcomes, particularly for complex solubility-enabling formulations. In this study, we investigated the impact of amorphous drug-rich nanodroplets, formed in supersaturated solutions by liquid-liquid phase separation, on membrane transport by measuring mass flow rate across PAMPA membranes. In addition, we explored the impact of PAMPA variants such as lipid composition, hydrophobicity and pore size of the filter support, as well as receiver sink properties on membrane mass flow rates of solutions containing amorphous nanodroplets. Filter properties and lipid composition did not show a notable influence on the mass flow rates for lipophilic molecules, while a marked impact was observed for hydrophilic molecules. High sink conditions in the receiver compartment, arising from addition of micellar surfactant, altered the membrane integrity for lipid-impregnated hydrophilic membranes. In contrast, no such effect was observed for a hydrophobic filter support. Membrane integrity tests also suggested that monitoring water transport may be an improved approach over using Lucifer yellow. Furthermore, high sink conditions in the receiver compartment resulted in an increase in the overall mass flow rate. This was due to the effect of asymmetric conditions, generated across the membrane, on mass transport kinetics. Linearity between mass flow rate and donor concentration was observed until the donor concentration reached the amorphous solubility. Above the amorphous solubility, a gradual increase in mass flow rate was observed i.e., with an increasing number of nanodroplets in the solution. This was attributed to decrease in the permeability barrier across unstirred water layer due to reduction of the concentration gradient as nanodroplets dissolved to replenish absorbed drug. Observations made in this study provide insights into the mechanisms associated with mass transport of supersaturated solutions across PAMPA membranes, which are critical for improved evaluation of enabling formulations.

This paper reports on experiments carried out to highlight the effect of thermal aging on the microstructure of (u-PVC) tube used for freshwater transportation in sub-Saharan region. Two thermal aging protocols the both of 90 days were performed on the (u-PVC) specimens, at respectively 50 and 60 °C. The structural changes undergone by the (u-PVC) were monitored by FTIR-spectroscopy. It has been found that dehydrochlorination is the major event of the aging process. However, the stabilizer system played a key role in HCl-scavenging and chlorine atoms substitution. The aging temperature increased the kinetic of the oxidation reactions but also the stabilizer consumption. Chain scission reactions and structural changes were revealed by DSC-analysis.

Water management by gas diffusion electrodes is a fundamental aspect of the performance of electrochemical cells. Herein, we introduce the characteristic constrictions size as a descriptor for microporous layers (MPL). This parameter is calculated by volumetric analysis of focused ion beam nanotomography and compared to mercury intrusion porosimetry measurements.

The article is devoted to water transport and its role in the tourism sector. Water transport is one of the oldest forms of transport and remained the most important until the advent of transcontinental railways in the second half of the 19th century. It plays a huge role in the tourism sector and is used quite actively. The most significant advantages are a high level of comfort, a large volume of one-time loading of ships, the possibility of implementing various types and purposes of tourism (educational, business tourism, educational, shop tourism). The main type of sea and river transportation in tourism is cruises - travel in a vicious circle with radial trips from ports to the interior regions of countries. The main activity of water transport is to meet the needs of people in passenger transportation, as well as the demand for recreation during a sea trip. More than 25 years ago from Odessa it was easy to quickly and inexpensively get to anywhere in the Black Sea; a powerful fleet of passenger hydrofoils successfully competed with trains and aircraft throughout the Northern Black Sea region. By the beginning of the 1980s, hydrofoils "Kometa" and "Kolkhida" sailed from Odessa to Kherson, Kakhovka, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, and also towards Crimea – to Skadovsk, Evpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Novorossiysk and Sochi. "Comets" and "Colchis" covered the distance along the Odessa – Kherson line in 2 hours and 40 minutes, in contrast to automobile transport – 4 hours, which was much more comfortable and faster. And boats and sea trams running along the coast of the Odessa Gulf, from Kryzhanovka to Chernomorka, were one of Odessa's calling cards from the post-war times until the 1990s, when the history of Odessa sea trams and hydrofoils ended. Sea transport and water travel play a huge role in the tourism sector all over the world, therefore their revival is an integral part in the development and modernization of the tourism sector of the Northern Black Sea region. In the 2000s and 2010s, there were attempts to revive coastal passenger shipping in the Black Sea, but not as successful. The main obstacle to the return of high-speed coastal passenger shipping to Odessa is the seasonality and dependence on the weather, which makes water transport not as stable as the railway. Despite this, "Rockets" and "Komets" do not have competition in speed with any bus and railway on such river and sea directions as Nikolaev, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Izmail, etc. Moreover, it will serve the development of domestic and foreign tourism., Стаття присвячена водному транспорту і його ролі в туристичній сфері. Водний транспорт відноситься до найдавніших видів транспорту і залишався найважливішим до появи трансконтинентальних залізниць у другій половині XIX століття. Величезну роль грає в туристичній сфері та використовується досить активно. Найбільш значущими перевагами є високий рівень комфорту, великий обсяг одноразового завантаження суден, можливості реалізації різних видів і цілей туризму (пізнавальний, бізнес-туризм, навчальний, шоп-туризм). Основним видом морських і річкових перевезень в туризмі є круїзи – подорожі по замкнутому колу з радіальними поїздками з портів у внутрішні райони країн. Основна діяльність водного транспорту – задоволення потреб людей в пасажирських перевезеннях, а також попиту на відпочинок протягом морської подорожі. Більш ніж 25 років тому з Одеси можна було легко швидко і недорого дістатися в будь-яку точку Чорного моря; потужний флот пасажирських суден на підводних крилах успішно конкурував з поїздами і літаками по всьому Північному Причорномор'ї. До початку 1980-х судна на підводних крилах «Комети» і «Колхіди» ходили з Одеси до Херсона, Каховки, Запоріжжя, Миколаєва, а також в сторону Криму – до Скадовська, Євпаторії, Севастополя, Ялти, Керчі, Новоросійська і Сочі. «Комети» і «Колхіди» проходили відстань по лінії Одеса – Херсон за 2 години 40 хвилин, на відміну від автомобільного виду транспорту – 4 години, що було набагато комфортабельніше і швидше. А катери і морські трамвайчики, що курсують уздовж узбережжя Одеської затоки, від Крижанівки до Чорноморки були однією з візитних карток Одеси з повоєнних часів і аж до 1990-х років, коли і завершилася історія одеських морських трамваїв і судів на підводних крилах. Морський транспорт і водні подорожі грають величезну роль в туристичній сфері в усьому світі, тому їх відродження невід'ємна частина в розвитку і модернізації туристичної сфери Північного Причорномор'я. У 2000-х і 2010-х роках були спроби відродити каботажне пасажирське судноплавство по Чорному морю, але не настільки успішними. Головною перешкодою повернення в Одесу швидкісного каботажного пасажирського судноплавства служить сезонність і залежність від погоди, що робить водний транспорт не настільки стабільним, як залізниця. Незважаючи на це «Ракети» і «Комети» не мають конкуренції за швидкістю з будь-яким автобусом і залізницею за такими річковими і морськими напрямками як Миколаїв, Херсон, Запоріжжя, Дніпропетровськ, Ізмаїл тощо. Більш того це послужить розвитку внутрішнього і закордонного туризму.

Previous studies have explored interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) for photothermal conversion and seawater purification via biobased solar-driven devices. Nevertheless, as the water transport and solar absorption were inadequate, the seawater purification of current devices is limited. Herein, we report an efficient bamboo-based evaporator that demonstrates the torrefaction bamboo and avoids fabrication defects, achieving an excellent evaporation performance of 1.522 kg/m2 h with 94.4% conversion efficiency and sharp response time 80 s under one sun irradiance. This evaporator provides a stable self-floating state with continuous micro-nano channels, which were significantly parallel with the air–water surface, generating more photothermal energy and sharper water molecule movement than current devices. Simultaneously, this bamboo-based evaporator leads effective seawater purification towards the insoluble matter, soluble humus, and organic or inorganic matter, removing 99.58% of dissolved solids with self-clean capacity. Theoretical simulations deepen the synergy between water transport and photothermal location, promising prospects for the future development of high-performance biobased evaporators to ensure clean fuel and freshwater challenges.

Balige is the capital of Toba Samosir Regency. Balige District continues to develop dynamically, marked by the development and changes of the physical city structure Balige. It is about the real implications of a city’s physical growth and development that move dynamically, which can be seen from urban, suburban, and rural land-use patterns. The aim is to determine the ecological aspects of urban structures in the Balige District. The method used in selection is done through secondary data that does not directly provide data to researchers or analyzed documents and concluded. Initially, Balige City was centered on the pier up to Sisingamangaraja’s field, evidenced by water transportation still used today. However, the result of the study showed changes in the pattern of land use due to economic growth and social transformation.

Solar vapor generation (SVG) typically uses a solar absorbing material at the water-air interface to convert solar energy into heat for evaporation. However, the intrinsic solar absorption of the material determines the upper limit of the solar energy capture. By designing a light-trapping surface structure with open pores and channels, we can break this limit and further improve the absorption by enabling multiple reflections within the surface. Polypyrrole (PPy) is emerging as a promising solar thermal material. In this work, we propose an ultrasonic spray coating method to obtain a nanofiber light-trapping coating by copolymerization with dopamine (DA), which can be directly synthesized at room temperature rapidly (30 min). Due to its excellent wettability, this coating can transport water and can be directly coated on the thermal insulating layer, not requiring an additional water transport layer. This nanoscale coating significantly improves solar absorption at different incident angles across the full solar spectrum, achieving the highest solar-to-thermal conversion efficiency of 95.8% at 1.385 kg·m-2·h-1 under 1 sun. When applied on salt water, this solar evaporator achieves self-cleaning in the absence of solar irradiation. Moreover, the surface structure can be further tuned into granular/plane-fibrous/plane-granular structures by using different oxidants or surfactants, and their formation mechanisms are also proposed. This PPy-DA nanofiber coating shows great potential for SVG and other applications based on a PPy material, especially for those requiring a certain surface morphology.

Passenger transport of the country has a significant impact on the level of its economic development, providing the connection of the population with objects of industrial, social, cultural and household purposes.In Russia, intercity passenger transportation by public transport is mainly represented by bus, rail, aviation (aircraft) and water (domestic). The article analyzes the dynamics of passenger transportation and passenger turnover of public transport for the period from 2015 to 2020, presents a calculation of the number of flights performed by bus, rail, air (aircraft) and water (domestic) transport, identifies the reasons for the lack of development of passenger transportation and suggests solutions.It is established that inland water transport is currently undergoing decline and state intervention is necessary for their development. Also, during the period under review, there is a decrease in the popularity of buses and a preference for private transport to public, it is necessary to improve the quality of transportation. The indicators of air and rail transport have positive dynamics, but they also require growth. The development of air transport in Russia can be carried out by the introduction of new services, for example, air taxi, rail-transport in the field of urban and suburban communications, the construction of new high - speed highways. In 2020, due to the announcement of restrictions on movement and quarantine measures, there is a sharp decline in indicators for all types of transport.The materials can be used to analyze and improve the work of the country's passenger complex.

Reproductive success largely defines the fitness of plant species. Understanding how heat and drought affect plant reproduction is thus key to predicting future plant fitness under rising global temperatures. Recent work suggests reproductive tissues are highly vulnerable to water stress in perennial plants where reproductive sacrifice could preserve plant survival. However, most crop species are annuals where such a strategy would theoretically reduce fitness. We examined the reproductive strategy of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. Rheinlands Ruhm) to determine whether water supply to fruits is prioritized above vegetative tissues during drought. Using optical methods, we map xylem cavitation and tissue shrinkage in vegetative and reproductive organs during dehydration to determine the priority of water flow under acute water stress. Stems and peduncles of tomato showed significantly greater xylem cavitation resistance than leaves. This maintenance of intact water supply enabled tomato fruit to continue expanding during acute water stress, utilising xylem water made available by tissue collapse and early cavitation of leaves. Here, tomato plants prioritize water supply to reproductive tissues, maintaining fruit development under drought conditions. These results emphasize the critical role of water transport in shaping life history and suggest a broad relevance of hydraulic prioritization in plant ecology. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Soil physical-chemical characteristics are key factors to intraspecific variability in plant functional traits. However, little is known about how wood and leaf traits can interact to ensure similar tree growth and wood quality in sites with different edaphoclimatic conditions. Here, we investigated the effect of soil on the wood features, leaf traits, and plant growth in Eucalyptus urophylla and E. urophylla x grandis trees. We evaluated the wood features, leaf traits and tree growth in 20 six-year-old trees from the same clone of each species. We applied linear models to verify the variability in these characteristics for both clones in two trial sites. Wood with larger vessels in a lower density, higher potential hydraulic conductivity, taller and wider rays, a higher fraction of vessels and parenchyma cells and a lower fraction of fibers were observed in trees from the trial site with higher availability of water and nutrients. Moreover, the trees had lower specific leaf area and higher leaf dry matter content in this trial site. Our results show that trees studied have similar wood features that ensure safety and relative efficiency in water transport. In addition, we found different leaf traits strategies to optimize carbon uptake, thus maintaining similar productivity and wood quality in sites with different soil conditions.

A 3D compressed gas diffusion layer (GDL) microstructure is developed based on the finite volume method (FVM) and used to evaluate water transport behavior. The compressed GDL microstructure and tw...

Self-pumping wound dressings with directional water transport ability have been widely studied for their function of directional extraction of excessive biofluid from wounds while keeping the wound in a moderately humid environment to realize rapid wound healing. However, the existing solutions have not paid close attention to the fabrication of a nonirritating hydrophobic layer facing the wounds, which may cause irritation to wounds and thereby further worsen inflammation. Herein, a flexible and elastic thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) hydrophobic microfiber mesh (TPU-HMM) produced by melt electrospinning (MES) is reported. The TPU-HMM was compounded to a hydrophilic nanofiber membrane, which was fabricated by blending with polyamide 6 and poly(ethylene glycol) (PA6-PEG) to form a composite self-pumping dressing, for which the breakthrough pressure in a reverse direction was 12.8 times than that in a positive direction and the forward water transmission rate was increased by 700%. It shows good directional water transport ability and is expected to absorb excessive biofluid of the wounds. This solvent-free and easy-process TPU-HMM provides a new strategy for the development of functional self-pumping textiles, and the solvent-free fabrication method for fibers, which eliminates the potential toxicity brought by solvent residues, offers more possibilities for its applications in biomedicine.

This study assessed the effect of stable soil water content on root growth and water use efficiency in maize under a negative pressure irrigation system. A two-year pot experiment for maize was carried out under negative pressure irrigation and drip irrigation. The root growth characteristics and water use efficiency by the maize was evaluated. In addition, transcriptome sequencing was conducted to explore the pathways and genes that respond to variations in soil water content. Negative pressure irrigation more effectively increased the accumulation of above-ground dry matter and root vitality compared to drip irrigation but it reduced the accumulation of root dry matter, and root-shoot ratio. Negative pressure irrigation also reduced levels of superoxide anion, malondialdehyde, proline, soluble protein, and soluble sugar contents, and the activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase and polyphenol oxidase. It was also observed that genes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways, were downregulated under negative pressure irrigation which suppressed root growth. Three GO terms, channel activity, water transport, and water channel activity, were highly enriched under negative pressure irrigation. Thirteen genes related to water absorption and transport such as ZM00001D003006 and ZM00001D014285 were significantly up-regulated. Negative pressure irrigation improved the water use efficiency by maize crops and inhibited root growth. Zm00001d024891 and Zm00001d003190 were found to be associated with root growth, whereas ZM00001D003006 and ZM00001D014285 participated in the control of water absorption and water use efficiency.

The choice of condenser cooling option for concentrating solar power (CSP) plants is likely to affect their techno-economic feasibility. In view of this, an attempt has been made to assess relative techno-economics and net life cycle CO2-eq emissions mitigation (LCCM) potential for 50 MW nominal capacity wet-cooled and dry-cooled parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) and dry-cooled solar power tower (SPT) based CSP plants with 6.0 h of thermal energy storage for two potential locations in India. It was observed that though dry cooling is likely to save significant amount of water (∼92%) in PTSC based plants, the same shall result in higher capital cost, higher performance penalty and higher parasitic power requirements leading to around 20% higher levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) as compared to wet-cooled PTSC based plants. It was also observed that the dry-cooled SPT based plants shall be able to deliver up to 4.5% higher annual electricity output and LCOE is also likely to be lowered by 13% than wet-cooled PTSC based plants. Considering emissions embodied and emissions associated with water transport/extraction from the source and water treatment, the estimation of LCCM from the PTSC and SPT based CSP plants have also been undertaken.

Uppermost-internode diameter (UID) is a key morphological trait associated with spike development and yield potential in wheat. Our understanding of its genetic basis remains largely unknown. Here, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for UID with high-density genetic maps were identified in five wheat recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations. In total, 25 QTLs for UID were detected in five RIL populations, and they were located on chromosomes 1A, 1D (3 QTL), 2B (2), 2D (3), 3B, 3D, 4A, 4B (3), 4D, 5A (5), 5B (2), 6B, and 7D. Of them, five major and stable QTLs (QUid.sau-2CN-1D.1, QUid.sau-2SY-1D, QUid.sau-QZ-2D, QUid.sau-SC-3D, and QUid.sau-AS-4B) were identified from each of the five RIL populations in multiple environments. QUid.sau-2CN-1D.1, QUid.sau-2SY-1D and QUid.sau-SC-3D are novel QTLs. Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers tightly linked to them were further investigated for developing near-isogenic lines (NILs) carrying the major loci. Furthermore, candidate genes at these intervals harboring major and stable QTLs were predicted, and they were associated with plant development and water transportation in most cases. Comparison of physical locations of the identified QTL on the ‘Chinese Spring’ reference genome showed that several QTLs including two major ones, QUid.sau-2CN-1D.1 and QUid.sau-2SY-1D, are likely allelic confirming their validity and effectiveness. The significant relationships detected between UID and other agronomic traits and a proper UID were discussed. Collectively, our results dissected the underlying genetic basis for UID in wheat and laid a foundation for further fine mapping and map-based cloning of these QTLs.

The development of nanoporous membrane structure provides a potential opportunity for the advanced ultra-thin liquid film evaporation process, for which the ability of effectively and continuously maintaining the nano-thin liquid film is crucial to realize its superior performance. In this work, we elucidated the nanopore-based ultra-thin water film evaporation characteristics with non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. A self-pumping water transport through the nanopore was observed, which is attributed to the driving force induced by the evaporation meniscus of thin liquid film. The dry-out crisis will occur with the increasing membrane thickness. We demonstrated that the hydrophobic carbon nanotube (CNT) can be utilized as the coating inside the hydrophilic silicon nitride (Si3N4) nanopore, which reduces the flow resistance and presents an excellent capability to replenish the evaporated water. Based on the above findings, the internal coating of CNT is an advisable strategy for nanopore-based ultra-thin liquid film evaporation, possessing a stable high evaporation flux as well as a good mechanical strength.

Damage to the plant water transport system through xylem cavitation is known to be a driver of plant death in drought conditions. However, a lack of techniques to continuously monitor xylem embolism in whole plants in vivo has hampered our ability to investigate both how this damage propagates and the possible mechanistic link between xylem damage and tissue death. Using optical and fluorescence sensors, we monitored drought-induced xylem embolism accumulation and photosynthetic damage in vivo throughout the canopy of a drought-resistant conifer, Callitris rhomboidea, during drought treatments of c. 1 month duration. We show that drought-induced damage to the xylem can be monitored in vivo in whole trees during extended periods of water stress. Under these conditions, vulnerability of the xylem to cavitation varied widely among branchlets, with photosynthetic damage only recorded once > 90% of the xylem was cavitated. The variation in branchlet vulnerability has important implications for understanding how trees like C. rhomboidea survive drought, and the high resistance of branchlets to tissue damage points to runaway cavitation as a likely driver of tissue death in C. rhomboidea branch tips.

Interfacial evaporation has emerged as a promising approach to produce freshwater. However, an urgent concern is that, due to the illegal discharge of industrial wastewater, most water bodies are polluted by trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are easily volatilized and enriched in the collected water during the interfacial evaporation process. Herein, a bilayer photothermal evaporator was reasonably designed for contaminated water purification. The bottom hydrophilic rGO-sodium alginate (SA) sheets purposefully disintegrate water transport channels, thus quickly removing VOCs through physical adsorption. The rGO-SA-TiO2 upper layer sufficiently absorbs incident light and therefore persistently generates reactive oxidizing species to degrade upward VOCs. Notably, the oriented microchannels inside the evaporator allow sustained light reflections to improve the utilization of solar energy. The evaporation rate can reach 1.63 kg m-2 h-1 with a considerably high VOC removal efficiency of up to 96 %. Such an integrated bilayer evaporator provides an effective strategy to obtain clean water via solar distillation.

Based on historical development, the article identifies prospects for updating the modern organizational and legal support of inland waterway management in Ukraine. The relevance of the research topic is due to the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Inland Water Transport” and the absence of certain public institutions that carry out state regulation in the field of transport. According to the author, this slows down the effectiveness of the new Law implementation and worsens the state of updated industrial legislation development. It is noted that the creation of the regulation effective system and management of activities on inland waterways is the significant aspect of further development of the industry. The task of the article is to develop suggestions for improving the legal regulation of inland waterway management in Ukraine for the transition period. The author identifies the genesis of legal standards of inland waterway management based on the use of methods of historicism, formal-legal analysis and synthesis, as well as scientific forecasting. Their predominant focus on the vectors of public (state) influence formulation, the spread of coastal states’ power to activities on rivers and the lack of attention to the self-governing functions of private maritime traffic entities. The importance of forces and means of regulation/management balance maintaining for the formation of the effective impact on the relationship that develops during transportation by inland waterways is underlined. Emphasis is given to the fact that the development of river transport is impossible without the important role of the state and its bodies and the secondary, auxiliary role of associations of economic entities and public entities to ensure the operational impact on crisis situations. It is suggested to form self-governing institutions that are directly involved in maritime traffic and other uses of inland river connections, and to ensure their stable cooperation with government agencies for the best possible regulation of the industry.

Directional water transport that occurs in natural insects and plants is important to both organisms and advanced science and technology. Despite the many studies conducted to facilitate directional liquid transport by constructing double-layered hydrophilic/hydrophobic materials, it remains difficult to achieve continuous water transport and reduce liquid wastage due to the hydrophilic regions. Herein, a directional water transport fabric (DWTF) was fabricated using a simple single-side coating method based on entirely hydrophobic materials. With coating thicknesses of 13-29 μm, the fabric could guide the continuous water motion from the coated to the uncoated side and can be utilized as a "liquid diode". In addition, the DWTF exhibited a water wastage reduction during the transport process, benefiting from the intrinsic hydrophobic properties of the material. Moreover, a plausible mechanism of water transport is proposed to explain the water droplet transfer in the bilayered hydrophobic materials. Consequently, the resulting DWTF exhibited an excellent accumulative one-way transport capability (AOTC) of 965.7% and a desirable overall moisture management capability (OMMC) of 0.92. This work provides an avenue for fabricating smart fluid delivery materials to various applications such as flexible microfluidics, wound dressing, oil-water separation processes, and engineered desiccant materials.

Context. The article proposes an approach for automated identification of the navigators motivational model in the control of water transport. Algorithms for data extraction as a result of the man-machine interaction of navigator with the electronic control systems of the vessel during performing navigation operations of increased complexity are proposed. Objective. The purpose of research is to apply formal and algorithmic approaches to extracting data on the motivational model of navigator to prevent accidents in water transport. Method. The identification of manifestation determination of navigators’ mental activity by means of the visual concept of the geometric group theory is proposed. This approach delivered the visual systematic-logical combining of diagnostic methods aimed at determining navigators motivational centers and the processes of professional activity like maneuver performing. The key indicator of identification is said to be the parameter of the navigator’s activity as “rpm_port” having an impact on the vessel speed being a marker of intensification of the navigator’s physiological activity. Such an approach is beneficial in time phase identification while maneuvering indicating explicitly at the stepping up of the navigator’s physiological motivational state. It was proven to be correct based on the results due to Ward’s dendrogram, several statistical methods and applied software. The obtained research results encourage the prediction of the navigator’ motivational states in critical situations. Results. In order to confirm the proposed formal-algorithmic approach, an experiment was carried out using the navigation simulator Navi Trainer 5000. Automated analysis of experimental ones made it possible to form a motivational map of the navigator and determine the decision-making model affecting in the processes of control vessel in difficult situations. Conclusions. The proposed research approaches made it possible to automate the processes of extracting data indicating the principles of decision-making by navigator. The effectiveness of proposed approach was substantiated by the results of experimental data automated processing and the constructed tree-like decision-making spaces.

In this study, we introduce a superfast biomimetic water channel mimicking the hydrophobicity scales of the Aquaporin (AQP) pore lining. Molecular dynamics simulation is used to scrutinize the impact of hydrophilic doping level in the nanotube and the water-wall interaction strength on water permeability. In the designed biomimetic channel, the constructive interplay of Lennard-Jones (LJ) e parameters and hydrophilic doping levels increased the possibility of ultrafast water transport. Moreover, a unique set of LJ parameters is discovered for each biomimetic channel with different hydrophilic doping levels, enhancing water permeation. Inside high-performance biomimetic channels, water distribution surprisingly implies a varying pore geometry that narrows down in the middle, mimicking the pattern obtained from GplF pore analysis, evoking the narrow pore induced by the aromatic/arginine selectivity filter. This exciting accordance occurred as a result of tailoring specific hydrophilic arrays within the hydrophobic channel backbone by mimicking the AQP pore interior. The main takeaway of hydrophilic doping arrays implanted within the hydrophobic nanotube is to break the large barrier in the water-wall vdW energy profile into multiple reduced ones to increase water conduction. Consequently, the "water jumping" phenomenon in the middle of the biomimetic channel occurs under specific circumstances. The biomimetic channel with the highest value of water permeability of about 13.67 ± 0.66 × 10-13 cm3·s-1 exhibits the best mechanism for artificial water channels (AWCs), serving superfast water transport considering the low entrance barrier and weak water-wall interaction.

The influence of the aggressive environments of river water, seawater, oil petrol and sodium hydroxide on the impact strength of epoxy-polyester composite was investigated. Testing was conducted by two different methods. It was determined that the impact strength of specimens that were kept at air was W' = 4.2 kJ/m2 (by the second method - W'' = 7.0 kJ/m2). The energy spent on destruction of the control specimen was E = 0.92 J. The main regularities of the crack propagation process in the studied material were found and qualitatively described. The time of a crack propagation (τ = 0.16 μs) was determined. The maximum load, which leads to destruction of the specimen was P max = 2.47 kN. The comparative analysis of investigated specimens was conducted by the IR-spectroscopy method. It was found, that the biggest decrease in material properties was observed for the specimen that was kept in the petrol environment.

Here we report on gas and vapor transport properties of ultra-thin graphene oxide (GO) membranes, with various C:O ratios. Graphene oxide nanosheets with an average lateral size of 800 nm and C:O ratio ranging from 2.11 to 1.81 have been obtained using improved Hummers’ method by variation of graphite:KMnO4 ratio. Thin-film selective layers based on the obtained graphene oxide have been spin-coated onto porous substrates. To extend the C:O range to 2.60, thermal reduction of GO membranes was applied. A decrease in C:O ratio leads to significant water vapor permeance growth to over 60 m3(STP)·m−2·bar−1·h−1 while the permeance towards permanent gases reduces slightly. According to the permeation and sorption measurements, a decisive role of H2O diffusivity has been established, while the water sorption capacity of the graphene oxide stays nearly independent of C:O ratio in GO. The result is supported by semi-empirical modeling which reveals diminution of H2O jump activation barriers with both increasing GO interlayer spacing and its oxidation degree. The height of the activation barriers was found to vary up to an order of magnitude within the entire range of relative humidity (0–100% RH), lowering significantly for strongly oxidized GO. Our results evidence the necessity of attaining maximum GO oxidation degree for improving water transport in GO, especially at low partial pressures.

Herein, we have successfully demonstrated a nanofiller (such as multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)) dispersed in a polymer matrix (such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN)) as an effective pore filling agent to a microporous Daramic membrane for inhibiting bromine diffusion in zinc bromine redox flow batteries. A simple protocol of the MWCNT/PAN-Daramic membrane renders a major benefit for inhibiting bromine diffusion relative to the conventional microporous membrane. As a result, the MWCNT/PAN composite Daramic membrane exhibits remarkable electrochemical performance in zinc bromine redox flow batteries at various current densities. More impressively, the MWCNT/PAN composite Daramic membrane shows a 90% Coulombic efficiency compared to the pristine Daramic membrane and the PAN composite Daramic membrane with only 68.53 and 71.20% efficiencies at 160 mA cm-2, respectively. Moreover, the MWCNT/PAN composite Daramic membrane displays an extraordinary long cycling performance with a >97% Coulombic efficiency, whereas the Daramic membrane withstands only 200 cycles due to severe water transport from the catholyte to the anolyte. The zinc bromine redox flow battery assembled with the MWCNT/PAN composite Daramic membrane significantly reduces the self-discharge rate and retains an open circuit voltage of 1.69 V for 13.40 h in comparison to the Daramic membrane (10.83 h) and the PAN composite membrane (11.13 h). Thus, the extraordinary flow cell performance and stability of the MWCNT/PAN composite Daramic membrane lead to the development of an alternative to the microporous Daramic membrane in zinc bromine redox flow batteries.

In this study we tested the hypotheses that root classes would exhibit distinctive anatomical and architectural responses to drought stress, and that those responses would vary along the root axes. The root systems of four maize (Zea mays L.) sweet corn genotypes designated SC1, SC2, SC3 and SC4 were phenotyped under well-watered and drought treatments in greenhouse mesocosms, permitting increasing stratification of moisture availability as the drought progressed. Anatomical and architectural responses to drought were evaluated for each root class. Lignin distribution was assessed by image processing of UV-illuminated root cross-sections acquired by laser ablation tomography. The two cultivars with less biomass reduction under drought, SC3 and SC4, substantially enhanced lateral root development along the apical segments of axial roots when plants were grown with drought stress. These segments grew into the deeper part of the mesocosm where more moisture was available. Apical segments of the axial and large lateral roots from drought-stressed plants were thicker and had greater theoretical axial water conductance than basal segments, especially in SC3 and SC4. Basal segments of crown roots of SC3 and SC4 showed increased lignification of the stele under drought. Root anatomical and architectural responses to drought are complex and vary among cultivars and root classes, and along root axes. Drought-induced proliferation of lateral roots on apical segments of axial roots would be expected to enhance deep water acquisition, while lignification of axial roots could help preserve axial water transport.

In 2010-2018 Northern Patagonia featured the longest severe drought of the last millennium. This extreme dry spell triggered widespread growth decline and forest dieback. Nonetheless, the roles played by the two major mechanisms driving dieback, hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are still not clear and understudied in this seasonally dry region. Here, for the 1800-2017 period, we apply a retrospective analysis of radial growth, wood anatomical traits (lumen area, cell-wall thickness) and δ13 C and δ18 O stable isotopes to assess dieback causes of the iconic conifer Araucaria araucana. We selected three stands where declining (defoliated) and non-declining (not defoliated) trees coexisted along a precipitation gradient from the warm-dry Coastal Range to the cool-wet Andes. At all sites declining trees showed lower radial growth and lower theoretical hydraulic conductivity, suggesting a long-lasting process of hydraulic deterioration in their water transport system compared to non-declining, coexisting trees. Wood anatomical traits evidenced that this divergence between declining and non-declining trees started at least seven decades before canopy dieback. In the drier stands, declining trees showed higher water-use efficiency throughout the whole period, which we attributed to early stomatal closure, suggesting a greater carbon starvation risk consistent with thinner cell walls. In the wettest stand, we found the opposite pattern. Here, a reduction in water-use efficiency coupled with thicker cell walls suggested increased carbon assimilation rates and exposure to drought-induced hydraulic failure. The δ18 O values indicated different strategies of gas-exchange between sites which are likely a consequence of microsite conditions and water sources. Multi-proxy, retrospective quantifications of xylem anatomical traits and tree-ring isotopes provide a robust tool to identify and forecast which stands or trees will show dieback or, on the contrary, which will likely withstand and be more resilient to future hotter droughts.

The internal electrical conductivity in plant stem (ECps) reflects its physiological activity including ion and water transport. Thus, monitoring the ECps can be used to predict physiological changes in plants due to environmental stresses that affect water and ion transport in them. The purpose of this study was to determine if ECps monitoring data could be used to indicate environmental stress induced by low temperature and salt by comparing ECps with chlorophyll and proline contents. Capsicum annuum was progressively exposed to day/night temperature of 21/16 °C and 14/9 °C as low-temperature stress. Salt stress was incrementally applied at 20 and 40 mmol/kg NaCl. The ECps of C. annuum was monitored over the experimental period. The ECps was lower under low-temperature stress, although visible changes were not observed. Both chlorophyll a and b contents were lower, and the proline content was higher in leaves under low-temperature stress compared to the control. The initial salt treatment increased the ECps and the subsequent salt treatment at 40 mmol/kg NaCl resulted in a sudden increase of the ECps. The decreased chlorophyll a and b, and the increased proline content of the leaves under salt stress were stress-induced responses. Sodium and chloride accumulation increased, and the potassium/sodium ratio decreased in salt-treated plants. The ECps reflected reduced ion and water transport under low-temperature stress and increased salt transport in stems under salt stress. Therefore, ECps monitoring can be used to diagnose physiological changes in plants caused by environmental stress conditions before symptoms appear.

The membrane-associated water transport proteins called aquaporins are quite significant in water reabsorption from renal tubular fluid. The present study was performed to analyze the expression level of AQP isoforms in normal renal tissue, their alteration in the development of chronic kidney disease in rat induced by the administration of 0.75% adenine accompanied by their treatment with the ethanolic extract of Boerhavia diffusa. The qPCR analysis demonstrated an upregulation of certain aquaporin genes like aqp3 and aqp4 and a downregulation of other genes like aqp1 and aqp7. Furthermore, the treatment with the ethanolic extract of B. diffusa was pivotal in restoring the expression levels of these aquaporins to normal, i.e., upregulating the downregulated aquaporins and vice versa, thereby exemplifying its renoprotective nature. The serum urea and creatinine concentration were found to elevate in the infected group of rats accompanied by their lowering in the treated group. The analysis involving the determination of body weight and the urinary ACR manifested elevated values in the diseased group followed by their decline in the treated group. Histopathological study revealed clear signs of acute necrosis with tubular distention caused by the administration of adenine, while the treatment of rats with B. diffusa extract brought improvement in histologic appearance with decreased necrotic areas. Our findings implicate the probable involvement of certain aquaporins in adenine-induced chronic kidney disease and also the curative property of B. diffusa in reversing the condition back to normal as reflected by the functional, biochemical and histopathological parameters.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation for clean water generation has drawn significant attention as a promising and environmentally friendly avenue to tackle the global issue of water scarcity. The collected condensate can be free from most pollutants and impurities of diverse undrinkable water sources, such as heavy metals, organic dyes, minerals, and salts. However, when water is contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs), this approach is ineffective because VOCs also evaporate and even can be enriched in the condensate. Here, we demonstrate TiO2-loaded CuO nanowire-covered Cu foam (TiO2-CuO-Cufoam) for efficient solar-driven interfacial evaporation and synchronous removal of VOCs via photocatalytic degradation. The TiO2-CuO-Cufoam nanoarchitecture possesses high solar absorption, quasi-one-dimensional water pathway, super-hydrophilicity for ultrafast water transport, long-term stability, and potential for cost-effective and scalable production for both VOC removal and desalination, meeting World Health Organization potable water standards. Our TiO2-CuO-Cufoam evaporator simultaneously demonstrates high solar evaporation efficiency of 86.6% and efficiency of 80.0% for the removal of VOCs under one sun (i.e., 1 kW m−2). This result may open new opportunities for energy-efficient, clean water generation from real-world water sources using solar energy. Novelty Statement: TiO2-loaded CuO nanowire-covered Cu foam (TiO2-CuO-Cufoam) was obtained through the facile and green synthesis process. The TiO2-CuO-Cufoam nanoarchitecture possesses high solar absorption due to surface nanostructuring, quasi-one-dimensional water pathway for localized thermal management, super-hydrophilicity for ultrafast water transport, TiO2-CuO heterojunction for enhanced photodegradation of VOCs without consumption of chemical reagents, long-term stability, and potential for cost-effective and scalable production. The nanoarchitecture is employed for clean water generation from real-world water sources.

Drought in the forest is not only a prolonged state of water shortage, but also an occasion where interactions between plants and fungi are affected. Water efficiency accelerates a range of pathologies in interactions between organisms, influencing the ecosystems and their interacting biological components. This study focuses on the role of mycorrhizal and endophyte fungi in alleviating the effects of soil water shortage, and on the impact of their altered activity during drought on the health of trees. The issues presented here show the fundamental role of the mycorrhizal mycelium and the mechanism of water transport to the plant in the course of other phenomena (withering, pathogenesis, endophytes biology) that occur in trees under influence of drought, with particular attention on managed coniferous stands. Conclusions resulting from published information on this topic emphasize the negative impact of soil moisture deficiency on the ectomycorrhizal fungi functioning and, in contrast, on the promotion of the growth of some endophytes, pathogens and hemi-parasitic mistletoes (Viscum spp.).

The article deals with the problem of designing a joint control of the movement of a water transport object — the ergatic system " ship-to-ship" . Joint motion control is presented in mathematical form on the basis of the model of actions and responses of the human operator and the machine, adopted in engineering psychology for the " human-machine" systems. The model is formalized by composing mathematical models of the plane motion of the ship and the movements of the controls of the propellers (propellers) and rudders of the ship. For the ship’s human-machine interface, it is proposed to use a new type of apparatus, with the help of which the control actions on the control body from the boatmaster and the control automaton of the ergatic system are combined.For the mathematical description of virtual signals of discrete control in solving problems of target designation and planning, a method for constructing a set of incomplete representations of elementary movements in the state space of the " skipper-ship" system is proposed. The numerical estimates of pairwise different representations of elementary movements and discrete control signals that implement transitions from one elementary movement to another by influencing the propellers and rudders of the ship using the ship’s human-machine interface controls are obtained.In order to unify the anthropomorphic control of ship movement at the target designation and planning levels, it is proposed to use templates from several discrete control signals, based on the experience of navigation and solving mathematical programming problems. The solution of the practical problem of optimal anthropomorphic control of the vessel movement from the mooring wall to the lock chamber is obtained, which provides for the implementation of a sequence of ten discrete control signals and two control templates. A method is proposed for estimating the influence of signal, parametric, and coordinate uncertainties on the position of the image point in the state space of the " su-driver-ship" system relative to the nominal trajectory of the program motion. The regions of interval representations of uncertainties in the subspace of the ship’s " time-position-speed" states are obtained. The procedure for correcting the a priori description of nominal anthropomorphic control is considered on the basis of control patterns and analysis of rectangles of uncertainty in the subspace of states of the " skipper-ship" system.

Design of rational photoabsorbers is a promising approach to produce drinking water. Herein, a highly efficient and scalable wood-based photoabsorber device composed of poplar wood as a substrate coated with FeNi with mole ratio of Fe/Ni = 85% and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) as top and bottom layers, respectively was designed for the interfacial solar desalination of seawater and heavy metal removal as a sorbent. Benefiting from high sunlight utilization and rapid water transport, high photothermal conversion fluxes of 1.50 and 4.77 kg m−2h−1 were achieved by the most efficient double-layer photoabsorber of W / F e N i 4 ∙ 5 R G O 4 ∙ 5 (wood coated with 4.5 g L−1 of FeNi as a top layer and 4.5 g L−1 of RGO as a bottom layer) under 1 and 3 sun, respectively (1 sun = 1 kW m−2). Also, a significant reduction in the salinity (four orders of magnitude), the electrical conductivity (3000 times) and the pH (1.35 times) of the seawater was achieved after 40 min solar desalination. The ratio of produced steam rate per cost was calculated as 9 cm3 h−1 $−1 which is compared with other double-layer devices reported in the literature. In addition, W / F e N i 4 ∙ 5 R G O 4 ∙ 5 acted as an excellent sorbent for Pb (II).

In recent years, major large ports in China have realized the business informatization of rail-water intermodal transportation. However, the overall development level of intermodal transportation informatization has been restricted to a great extent due to the unbalanced development of intermodal transportation informatization in different regions, the rigid system architecture, the low degree of information sharing, and the lack of data management and analysis methods. Combined with the structure and business characteristics of intermodal transportation information systems, adopting cloud computing and Big Data technology, we propose an intermodal transportation information process with waybill as the information carrier and FPMS as the service fulcrum in this paper. Illustrated by the example of China’s container export process, this paper explores a series of key technical issues in the cloud environment, such as application management, business information sharing, and Big Data processing, at different levels of the construction of the rail water transport cloud platform, combined with its business characteristics, and makes experimental analysis on the relevant models to verify the feasibility of the reconstruction of the rail water transport cloud platform. It can provide theoretical and practical support for the development of rail water intermodal informatization in China.

Water transport in the brain is tightly controlled by blood-brain-barrier (BBB) composed of capillary endothelial cells expressing AQP1/AQP11 and glial foot processes expressing AQP4. Here we examined each AQP mRNA expression in acute hyponatremic and hypernatremic mouse models of wild type (WT) and AQP11 KO mice (KO). The expressions of AQP1, AQP4 and AQP11 mRNAs were quantified by real-time qRT-PCR analysis of whole brain RNA. Acute hyponatremia enhanced AQP4 expression without changing AQP1 expression in KO, whereas it did not change the expression of all AQPs in WT. On the other hand, acute hypernatremia increased AQP4 but decreased AQP1 expression by half in KO, whereas it decreased AQP1 and AQP11 by half without changing AQP4 expression in WT. Enhanced AQP4 expression by osmotic challenges with sodium in KO seems to be a compensation for the loss of AQP11. A stronger hypertonic stimulation with mannitol decreased all AQPs by 30-80% in WT. Since AQP4 plays an important role in the regulation of brain edema at BBB, the results suggest that AQP11 may also be involved in the osmotic regulation of the brain.

The possibilities of the precise control of wetting properties of a series of laser-induced graphene (LIG) films consisting of microscale air pockets on top of nano-scale surface roughness using electrowetting are demonstrated. By application of a marginal DC bias (∼2 V), water can efficiently wet as well as can be pumped through the superhydrophobic LIG substrates. Interestingly, the electrowetting phenomenon is strongly dependent on the applied voltage polarity and it causes an abrupt wetting transition from superhydrophobic (contact angle ∼152°) Cassie state to superhydrophilic (contact angle ∼7°) Wenzel state on the LIG films. By analyzing the voltage polarity dependent electrowetting results with an equivalent electrical circuit model at the solid-liquid interface, and considering the hierarchical dual surface roughness (micro-nano scale), the transition between the “slippy” Cassie state and the “sticky” Wenzel states is explained. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the unique structural characteristics of the custom-designed micropatterned LIGs, with precisely tailored surface energy by simple post-annealing treatment, enable easy preparation of superhydrophobic LIG films. The approach to prepare stable superhydrophobic LIG with voltage polarity dependent wetting mode transition is used here to controllably transport of water through 3D porous LIG surfaces.

Reliable protection is the key requirement for modern multi-megawatt‐capacity marine power systems with multiple synchronous generators of various capacities operated in parallel. Outage of the mains or unavailability of the other generators results in momentary overload to the healthy generator(s). Conventional load surge protection relays based on a zero-crossing detection algorithm require a minimum of 10 ms to detect a momentary overload, which could be detrimental for lower inertia/capacity generators. This article presents a novel supervised machine-learning‐based Kalman predictor algorithm that could detect momentary overloads in

Ballast water is a vector for the transfer of microorganisms between ecospheres that can subsequently have a negative impact on native species of aquatic fauna. In this study, we determined the microbiota and selected physicochemical properties of ballast water from long- and short-range ships entering a southern Baltic port within a large estuary in autumn and winter (Police, Poland). Microbiological tests of the ballast water samples were carried out according to ISO 6887-1, and physicochemical tests were performed according to standard methods. Low amounts of oxygen (1.6–3.10 mg/dm3 in autumn and 0.60–2.10 mg/dm3 in winter) were recorded in all ship ballast water samples, with pH (above 7.90) and PSU (above 1.20) were higher than in the port waters. Yeast, mold, Pseudomonas bacteria (including Pseudomonas fluorescens), and halophilic bacteria as well as lipolytic, amylolytic, and proteolytic bacteria were found in the ballast water samples. Heterotrophic bacteria and mold fungi (log. 2.45–3.26) dominated in the autumn period, while Pseudomonas bacteria (log. 3.32–4.40) dominated in the winter period. In addition, the ballast water samples taken during the autumn period were characterized by a statistically significantly higher (p < 0.1) abundance of microorganisms (log 1.97–2.55) than in the winter period (log 1.39–2.27).

In the present work, the effects on water transport due to the orientation of the layer in the multilayered porous graphene and the different patterns formed when the layer is oriented to some degrees are studied for both circular and non-circular pore configurations. Interestingly, the five-layered graphene membrane with a layer separation of 3.5 Å used in this study shows that the water transport through multilayered porous graphene can be augmented by introducing an angle to certain layers of the multilayered membrane system.

International audience; The kinetics of spontaneous emulsification is investigated on aqueous pendant drops in paraffin oil. Optical microscopy in transmission mode is used for high-spatial-resolution image recording. The influence of a lipophilic surfactant (Span 80) and two water-soluble surfactants (CTAB and SDS) is investigated. As time runs, the drops interface turns opaque due to the formation of microstructures associated with spontaneous emulsification. The time evolution of this phenomenon is shown to depend upon temperature and surfactant concentration which leads to an overall shrinkage due to gradual water uptake and transport into paraffin oil. Spontaneous emulsification kinetics depends upon the chemical composition. Higher concentration of Span 80 and CTAB (resp. SDS) are shown to promote (resp. hinder) water transport. This work provides new insights into the understanding of spontaneous emulsification when combining the properties of non-ionic and ionic surfactants.