The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has caused the most prominent loss of vertebrate diversity ever recorded, which peaked in the 1980s. Recent incursion by its sister species B. salamandrivorans in Europe raised the alarm for a new wave of declines and extinctions in western Palearctic urodeles. The European Commission has responded by restricting amphibian trade. However, private amphibian collections, the main end consumers, were exempted from the European legislation. Here, we report how invasion by a released, exotic newt coincided with B. salamandrivorans invasion at over 1000 km from the nearest natural outbreak site, causing mass mortality in indigenous marbled newts (Triturus marmoratus), and posing an acute threat to the survival of nearby populations of the most critically endangered European newt species (Montseny brook newt, Calotriton arnoldi). Disease management was initiated shortly after detection in a close collaboration between policy and science and included drastic on site measures and intensive disease surveillance. Despite these efforts, the disease is considered temporarily contained but not eradicated and continued efforts will be necessary to minimize the probability of further pathogen dispersal. This precedent demonstrates the importance of tackling wildlife diseases This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

No abstract

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) have been prepared with three different capping systems: a tetralkylammonium salt, an alkanethiol, and a thiol-derivatized neoglycoconjugate. Also gold NPs supported on a porous TiO(2) substrate have been investigated. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has been used to determine the electronic behavior of the different capped/supported systems regarding the electron/hole density of d states. Surface and size effects, as well as the role of the microstructure, have been also studied through an exhaustive analysis of the EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) data. Very small gold NPs functionalized with thiol-derivatized molecules show an increase in d-hole density at the gold site due to Au-S charge transfer. This effect is overcoming size effects (which lead to a slightly increase of the d-electron density) for high S:Au atomic ratios and core-shell microstructures where an atomically abrupt Au-S interface likely does not exist. It has been also shown that thiol functionalization of very small gold NPs is introducing a strong distortion as compared to fcc order. To the contrary, electron transfer from reduced support oxides to gold NPs can produce a higher increase in d-electron density at the gold site, as compared to naked gold clusters.

No abstract

This paper tries to assess the factors governing the tribological behaviour of different nanocomposites films composed by metallic carbides (MeC) mixed with amorphous carbon (a-C). Different series of MeC/a-C coatings (with Me: Ti(B) and W) were prepared by magnetron sputtering technique varying the power applied to the graphite target in order to tailor the carbon content into the films. A deep investigation of the chemical and structural features at the nano-scale is carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and Raman spectroscopy techniques in order to establish correlations with the tribological properties measured by a pin-on-disk tribometer in ambient air. The analysis of the counterfaces by Raman confocal microscopy after the friction tests is used to follow the chemical phenomena occurring at the contact area responsible of the observed friction behaviour. The importance of determining the nanocrystalline/amorphous ratio is highlighted as a key-parameter to control the tribological properties. A comparative analysis of the mechanical and tribological performance of the three systems (TiC/a-C, WC/a-C, TiBC/a-C) is done and conclusions are obtained concerning the friction and wear mechanism involved.

By in situ energy-dispersive X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EDXAS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), we analyzed the evolution of niobium in a MgH2/Nb2O5 system based on high-energy ball milling during hydrogen cycling. The high time resolution of the EDXAS method allowed us to monitor fast sample changes during this process. Thereby, we demonstrated that the Nb2O5 is already partially reduced during the milling process with the MgH2. Further reduction occurs during the heating and cycling processes, in which a lower limit of oxidation state is reached. Hereby, a reaction between the niobium oxide and the Mg/MgH2 leads to a decrease of crystalline Nb2O5 and the formation of a ternary oxide phase Mg x Nb y O. During the cycling processes a repetitive Nb oxidation−reduction process was observed, which may indicate hydrogen diffusion along the ternary oxide by the formation of metastable niobium hydrides. This points to a mechanism of kinetic sorption improvement by diffusion of hydrogen through pathways of ternary Mg−Nb oxides, which may also reduce the activation energy of the Mg−MgH2 transition.

No abstract

Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. In this paper we concentrate on the microstructure of diamond-like carbon films prepared by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition on acrylic rubber. The temperature variation produced by the ion impingement during plasma cleaning and subsequent film deposition was monitored and controlled as a function of bias voltage and treatment time. Its influence during film growth on the appearance of patterns of cracks and wrinkles, caused by the thermal stresses is evaluated. Different growth modes are proposed in order to explain the smaller patch sizes observed at negative variations of temperature. The coefficient of friction (CoF) of the samples is measured using a pin-on-disk tribometer in non-lubricated conditions. Much lower CoF values than unprotected rubber are seen, which can be correlated with the observed patch size.