Comparative analysis of the quality of execution of road surfaces on newly built, reconstructed and renovated roads in the city Plock area (Poland).

Carrying out repair works, reconstruction, and construction of new road surfaces is a permanent element of urban space. The quality of the new pavement for the adopted traffic category directly impacts the road infrastructure's durability. The choice of road surface structure depends on the adopted traffic category. The aim of the article is to assess the works carried out on selected road surfaces within the city of Plock (Poland) in terms of the technical specification requirements and the durability of road infrastructure. The paper presents the tests of three road layers: base layer, binding layer and wearing course. The tests were carried out on 11 streets, and 29 samples were collected.

Detection and attribution of an anomaly in terrestrial photosynthesis in Europe during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake by plant photosynthesis, referred to as gross primary production (GPP) at the ecosystem level, is sensitive to environmental factors, including pollutant exposure, pollutant uptake, and changes in the scattering of solar shortwave irradiance (SWin) - the energy source for photosynthesis. The 2020 spring lockdown due to COVID-19 resulted in improved air quality and atmospheric transparency, providing a unique opportunity to assess the impact of air pollutants on terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, detecting these effects can be challenging as GPP is influenced by other meteorological drivers and management practices. Based on data collected from 44 European ecosystem-scale CO2 flux monitoring stations, we observed significant changes in spring GPP at 34 sites during 2020 compared to 2015-2019. Among these, 14 sites showed an increase in GPP associated with higher SWin, 10 sites had lower GPP linked to atmospheric and soil dryness, and seven sites were subjected to management practices. The remaining three sites exhibited varying dynamics, with one experiencing colder and rainier weather resulting in lower GPP, and two showing higher GPP associated with earlier spring melts. Analysis using the regional atmospheric chemical transport model (LOTOS-EUROS) indicated that the ozone (O3) concentration remained relatively unchanged at the research sites, making it unlikely that O3 exposure was the dominant factor driving the primary production anomaly. In contrast, SWin increased by 9.4 % at 36 sites, suggesting enhanced GPP possibly due to reduced aerosol optical depth and cloudiness. Our findings indicate that air pollution and cloudiness may weaken the terrestrial carbon sink by up to 16 %. Accurate and continuous ground-based observations are crucial for detecting and attributing subtle changes in terrestrial ecosystem functioning in response to environmental and anthropogenic drivers.

Behcet's disease in a patient with primary sclerosing cholangitis: a case report and literature review.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a rare, chronic multisystem disease of unknown aetiology. Clinically, it presents with ulceration located on the oral and genital mucosa, skin, uveitis, arthritis and neurological disorders. Most commonly, the disease affects men in the second and third decades of life and occurs endemically. The vast majority of cases have been reported in Asia and the Mediterranean area. The diagnosis of this disease is difficult, especially because of its rare occurrence in Central Europe. In this report, we present the case of BD in a 56-year-old man with primary sclerosing cholangitis, followed by a literature review covering current insights into BD aetiology, diagnostics and treatment.

Joint optimization of land carbon uptake and albedo can help achieve moderate instantaneous and long-term cooling effects.

Both carbon dioxide uptake and albedo of the land surface affect global climate. However, climate change mitigation by increasing carbon uptake can cause a warming trade-off by decreasing albedo, with most research focusing on afforestation and its interaction with snow. Here, we present carbon uptake and albedo observations from 176 globally distributed flux stations. We demonstrate a gradual decline in maximum achievable annual albedo as carbon uptake increases, even within subgroups of non-forest and snow-free ecosystems. Based on a paired-site permutation approach, we quantify the likely impact of land use on carbon uptake and albedo. Shifting to the maximum attainable carbon uptake at each site would likely cause moderate net global warming for the first approximately 20 years, followed by a strong cooling effect. A balanced policy co-optimizing carbon uptake and albedo is possible that avoids warming on any timescale, but results in a weaker long-term cooling effect.

Hydrophobic Gold Nanoparticles with Intrinsic Chirality for the Efficient Fabrication of Chiral Plasmonic Nanocomposites.

The development of plasmonic nanomaterials with chiral geometry has drawn extensive attention owing to their practical implications in chiral catalysis, chiral metamaterials, or enantioselective biosensing and medicine. However, due to the lack of effective synthesis methods of hydrophobic nanoparticles (NPs) showing intrinsic, plasmonic chirality, their applications are currently limited to aqueous systems. In this work, we resolve the problem of achieving hydrophobic Au NPs with intrinsic chirality by efficient phase transfer of water-soluble NPs using low molecular weight, liquid crystal-like ligands. We confirmed that, after the phase transfer, Au NPs preserve strong, far-field circular dichroism (CD) signals, attesting their chiral geometry. The universality of the method is exemplified by using different types of NPs and ligands. We further highlight the potential of the proposed approach to realize chiral plasmonic, inorganic/organic nanocomposites with block copolymers, liquid crystals, and compounds forming physical gels. All soft matter composites sustain plasmonic CD signals with electron microscopies confirming well-dispersed nanoinclusions. The developed methodology allows us to expand the portfolio of plasmonic NPs with intrinsic structural chirality, thereby broadening the scope of their applications toward soft-matter based systems.

Active Plasmonics with Responsive, Binary Assemblies of Gold Nanorods and Nanospheres.

Self-assembly of metal nanoparticles has applications in the fabrication of optically active materials. Here, we introduce a facile strategy for the fabrication of films of binary nanoparticle assemblies. Dynamic control over the configuration of gold nanorods and nanospheres is achieved via the melting of bound and unbound fractions of liquid-crystal-like nanoparticle ligands. This approach provides a route for the preparation of hierarchical nanoparticle superstructures with applications in reversibly switchable, visible-range plasmonic technologies.

Prevalence and anatomical characteristics of developmental venous anomalies: an MRI study.

PURPOSE: Developmental venous anomalies (DVAs) are extreme anatomical venous variations formed by multiple radiating medullary veins, which converge centripetally into a single collecting vein. Their coexistence with symptomatic cavernous malformations (CMs) has been reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to assess the characteristics of DVAs using MRI. METHODS: A total of 6948 head MRIs of adult Caucasian patients were retrospectively analyzed to determine the number and locations of DVAs. We collected the data on the termination of the collecting vein, the prevalence of DVA-related CMs, and MRI FLAIR signal-hyperintensity corresponding to the location of the DVA. RESULTS: At least one DVA was identified in 7.46% of the patients. The prevalence decreased with age, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of - 0.7328. A total of 599 DVAs were identified. Multiple DVAs were found in 10.92% of the patients with DVAs. The DVAs were identified more often in the supratentorial region (73.12%, p < 0.0001), and the most common location was the frontal lobe (35.23%). The collecting vein usually drained into the superficial cerebral veins (68.78%). CMs were observed in 4.14% of the patients with DVAs, and the prevalence showed a positive correlation with age. Signal-intensity abnormalities were identified in the vicinity of 5.18% DVAs. CONCLUSION: Knowledge about characteristics of DVAs and associated anomalies is essential for neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons. The large number of currently available diagnostic studies enables us to assess anatomical variants on a great number of subjects.

Supramolecular Chirality Synchronization in Thin Films of Plasmonic Nanocomposites.

Mirror symmetry breaking in materials is a fascinating phenomenon that has practical implications for various optoelectronic technologies. Chiral plasmonic materials are particularly appealing due to their strong and specific interactions with light. In this work we broaden the portfolio of available strategies toward the preparation of chiral plasmonic assemblies, by applying the principles of chirality synchronization-a phenomenon known for small molecules, which results in the formation of chiral domains from transiently chiral molecules. We report the controlled cocrystallization of 23 nm gold nanoparticles and liquid crystal molecules yielding domains made of highly ordered, helical nanofibers, preferentially twisted to the right or to the left within each domain. We confirmed that such micrometer sized domains exhibit strong, far-field circular dichroism (CD) signals, even though the bulk material is racemic. We further highlight the potential of the proposed approach to realize chiral plasmonic thin films by using a mechanical chirality discrimination method. Toward this end, we developed a rapid CD imaging technique based on the use of polarized light optical microscopy (POM), which enabled probing the CD signal with micrometer-scale resolution, despite of linear dichroism and birefringence in the sample. The developed methodology allows us to extend intrinsically local effects of chiral synchronization to the macroscopic scale, thereby broadening the available tools for chirality manipulation in chiral plasmonic systems.

Non-stomatal processes reduce gross primary productivity in temperate forest ecosystems during severe edaphic drought.

Severe drought events are known to cause important reductions of gross primary productivity (GPP) in forest ecosystems. However, it is still unclear whether this reduction originates from stomatal closure (Stomatal Origin Limitation) and/or non-stomatal limitations (Non-SOL). In this study, we investigated the impact of edaphic drought in 2018 on GPP and its origin (SOL, NSOL) using a dataset of 10 European forest ecosystem flux towers. In all stations where GPP reductions were observed during the drought, these were largely explained by declines in the maximum apparent canopy scale carboxylation rate VCMAX,APP (NSOL) when the soil relative extractable water content dropped below around 0.4. Concurrently, we found that the stomatal slope parameter (G1, related to SOL) of the Medlyn et al. unified optimization model linking vegetation conductance and GPP remained relatively constant. These results strengthen the increasing evidence that NSOL should be included in stomatal conductance/photosynthesis models to faithfully simulate both GPP and water fluxes in forest ecosystems during severe drought. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.

Analysis of floodplain forest sensitivity to drought.

Floodplain forests are very complex, productive ecosystems, capable of storing huge amounts of soil carbon. With the increasing occurrence of extreme events, they are today among the most threatened ecosystems. Our study's main goal was to assess the productivity of a floodplain forest located at Lanzhot in the Czech Republic from two perspectives: carbon uptake (using an eddy covariance method) and stem radius variations (using dendrometers). We aimed to determine which conditions allow for high ecosystem production and what role drought plays in reducing such production potential. Additionally, we were interested to determine the relative soil water content threshold indicating the onset and duration of this event. We hypothesized that summer drought in 2018 had the most significant negative effects on the overall annual carbon and water budgets. In contrast with our original hypothesis, we found that an exceptionally warm spring in 2018 caused a positive gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) anomaly that consequently led in 2018 to the highest seasonal total GPP and ET from all of the investigated years (2015-2018). The results showed ring-porous species to be the most drought resistant. Relative soil water content threshold of approximately 0.45 was determined as indicating the onset of drought stress. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.

Altered energy partitioning across terrestrial ecosystems in the European drought year 2018.

Drought and heat events, such as the 2018 European drought, interact with the exchange of energy between the land surface and the atmosphere, potentially affecting albedo, sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as CO2 exchange. Each of these quantities may aggravate or mitigate the drought, heat, their side effects on productivity, water scarcity and global warming. We used measurements of 56 eddy covariance sites across Europe to examine the response of fluxes to extreme drought prevailing most of the year 2018 and how the response differed across various ecosystem types (forests, grasslands, croplands and peatlands). Each component of the surface radiation and energy balance observed in 2018 was compared to available data per site during a reference period 2004-2017. Based on anomalies in precipitation and reference evapotranspiration, we classified 46 sites as drought affected. These received on average 9% more solar radiation and released 32% more sensible heat to the atmosphere compared to the mean of the reference period. In general, drought decreased net CO2 uptake by 17.8%, but did not significantly change net evapotranspiration. The response of these fluxes differed characteristically between ecosystems; in particular, the general increase in the evaporative index was strongest in peatlands and weakest in croplands. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.