IMPLEMENTATION OF 12-HOUR SHIFTS IN A BRAZILIAN PETROCHEMICAL PLANT: IMPACT ON SLEEP AND ALERTNESS

A recent worldwide trend in chemical and petrochemical industries is to extend the duration of shifts. Optimization of the labor force to reduce costs is one reason to increase the length of working time in a shift. Implementation of 12h shifts is a controversial decision for managers and scientists. Literature reviews show alertness is lower during the nighttime hours, and sleep duration is reduced and worse during the daytime. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of 12h shifts on alertness and sleep. To evaluate the duration and quality of sleep and alertness during work, 22 male shift workers on a continuous rotating schedule at a petrochemical plant completed activity logs and estimated alertness using analog 10-cm scales for 30 consecutive days, three times (at 2h, 6h, and 10h of the shift) every work shift. Statistical tests (analysis of variance [ANOVA] and Tukey) were performed to detect differences between workdays and off days. The shift schedule was 2 days/3 nights/4 off days, followed by 3 days/2 nights/5 off days, followed by 2 days/2 nights/5 off days. Sleep duration varied significantly (p <. 001) among the work shifts and off days. Comparing work nights, the shortest mean sleep occurred after the second night (mean = 311.4 minutes, SD = 101.7 minutes), followed by the third night (mean = 335.3 minutes, SD = 151.2 minutes). All but one shift (sleep after the first work night) were significantly different from sleep after the first 2 workdays (p <. 002). Tukey tests showed no significant differences in sleep quality between workdays and nights, with the exception of sleep after the third day compared to sleep after night shifts. However, significant differences were detected between off days and work nights (p <. 01). ANOVA analysis showed borderline differences among perceived alertness during day shifts (p =. 073) and significant differences among the hours of theshifts(p =. 0005), especially when comparing the 2nd hour of the first day with the 10th hour of all the day shifts. There were no significant differences in perceived alertness during night work among the first, second, and third nights (p =. 573), but there were significant differences comparing the times (2nd, 6th, 10th hour) of the night shifts (p ≤. 001). The evaluation of sleep (duration and quality) and level of alertness have been extensively used in the literature as indicators of possible performance decrements at work. The results of this study show poorer sleep after and significantly decreased alertness during night work. Shifts of 12h are usually implemented for technical and economic reasons. These results point out the necessity of a careful trade-off between the financial and technical gains longer shifts might bring and the possible losses due to incidents or accidents from performance decrements during work. (Chronobiology International, 17(4), 521–537, 2000)     

Egg predation within the nests of social wasps: a new genus and species of Phlaeothripidae,and evolutionary consequences of Thysanoptera invasive behaviour

The insects known as thrips are commonly thought of as flower‐living and pestiferous organisms, but we report here a novel interaction between a phlaeothripine thrips species, Mirothrips arbiter gen. et sp. nov. and three species of social paper wasps in Brazil. This thrips species breeds inside the wasp colonies, and larval and adult thrips feed on wasp eggs, which become severely damaged. Infested nests can contain up to 300 M. arbiter gen. et sp. nov. individuals. The closest relatives of M. arbiter are two presumably predaceous species: Mirothrips bicolor sp. nov. , which inhabits abandoned Cecidomyiidae galls, and Mirothrips analis comb. nov. , described from individuals collected in the silken bags of the caterpillars of Psychidae moths. The behaviour exhibited by M. arbiter represents one of the most evolutionarily advanced lifestyles known among Thysanoptera, and we predict that other polistine species serve as hosts for this thrips in Brazil. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109 , 332–341.     

一类人禽间传染病模型的动力学分析

讨论了一类人禽传染病模型,其中禽类被病毒感染后人们采取措施治疗病禽．治疗有助于禽类的存活,但人们可能通过接触病禽而被感染．禽间的疾病传播服从饱和接触率函数,人与禽的接触服从线性接触率．完成了稳定性和持久性研究,且进行了数值模拟以评估治疗的效果和风险．     

食用菌加工产业研究现状与前景

食用菌加工是利用物理、化学和生物方法处理食用菌子实体或菌丝体,生产食用菌制品。它可以解决食用菌从生产到商品出售所存在的时间矛盾,提高食用菌的商品价值。详细介绍了食用菌的干制加工、盐渍加工及罐藏加工技术,概括了食用菌深加工产业的发展现状及研究进展,提出了对食用菌加工的展望。     

Molecular identification of the prey range of the invasive Asian paper wasp

The prey range of the invasive Asian paper wasp, Polistes chinensis antennalis, was studied using molecular diagnostics. Nests of paper wasps were collected from urban residential and salt marsh habitats, larvae were removed and dissected, and DNA in the gut of the paper wasp larvae was amplified and sequenced with cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI). Seventy percent of samples (211/299) yielded medium‐to high‐quality sequences, and prey identification was achieved using BLAST searches in BOLD. A total of 42 taxa were identified from 211 samples. Lepidoptera were the majority of prey, with 39 taxa from 91% of samples. Diptera was a relatively small component of prey (three taxa, 19 samples). Conclusive species‐level identification of prey was possible for 67% of samples, and genus‐level identification, for another 12% of samples. The composition of prey taken was different between the two habitats, with 2.5× more native prey species being taken in salt marsh compared with urban habitats. The results greatly extend the prey range of this invasive species. The technique is a more effective and efficient approach than relying on the collection of “prey balls”, or morphological identification of prey, for the study of paper wasps.     

序言Ⅱ 冬虫夏草:从科学到产业

作为名贵传统药材,冬虫夏草的研究方兴未艾。无性型的确定、学名的变更和"一种真菌一个名称"确定了冬虫夏草菌为Ophiocordyceps sinensis;独特的分布、悠久的历史、公众的认可及地方经济的重要作用等被推荐为"国菌";"虫草产业发展金湖宣言"从产、学、研倡议"尊重科学、利好产业"的发展思路。随着科学研究深入和产业技术发展,冬虫夏草培植获得成功。本专刊对冬虫夏草培植相关基础研究和关键技术进行了总结,对寄主昆虫选育及规模化饲养关键技术到冬虫夏草菌菌种筛选、侵染途径和培植以及培植产品与野生冬虫夏草化学成分和蛋白质谱比较等进行了论述。冬虫夏草培植的成功,不论从科学还是产业的角度,都具有里程碑式的意义。     

Toward a Low‐Cost Artificial Leaf: Driving Carbon‐Based and Bifunctional Catalyst Electrodes with Solution‐Processed Perovskite Photovoltaics

Molecular hydrogen can be generated renewably by water splitting with an “artificial‐leaf device”, which essentially comprises two electrocatalyst electrodes immersed in water and powered by photovoltaics. Ideally, this device should operate efficiently and be fabricated with cost‐efficient means using earth‐abundant materials. Here, a lightweight electrocatalyst electrode, comprising large surface‐area NiCo₂O₄ nanorods that are firmly anchored onto a carbon–paper current collector via a dense network of nitrogen‐doped carbon nanotubes is presented. This electrocatalyst electrode is bifunctional in that it can efficiently operate as both anode and cathode in the same alkaline solution, as quantified by a delivered current density of 10 mA cm^?2 at an overpotential of 400 mV for each of the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions. By driving two such identical electrodes with a solution‐processed thin‐film perovskite photovoltaic assembly, a wired artificial‐leaf device is obtained that features a Faradaic H₂ evolution efficiency of 100%, and a solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency of 6.2%. A detailed cost analysis is presented, which implies that the material‐payback time of this device is of the order of 100 days.     

Menez-Dregan 1 (Plouhinec,Finistère,France) : un site d’habitat du Paléolithique inférieur en grotte marine. Stratigraphie,structures de combustion,industries riches en galets aménagés

The Lower Palaeolithic site of Menez-Dregan I is currently the subject of an important excavation and has been part of a multidisciplinary project since 1991. It is an ancient marine cave whose roof has gradually collapsed and thus partly protected the site from erosion. In Menez-Dregan 1, the sedimentological evidence has been significantly reduced due to multiple episodes of marine erosion in the cave (low sedimentary preservation in terms of sedimentation and erosion process). However, the proximity of a section with a longer sedimentary record (Gwendrez cliff) has allowed for an attempt at correlation between the different deposits by way of a sedimentologic study applied to sandy marker beds (dunes). The resulting new data permitted a more precise chronostratigraphy of this site to be drawn up and contributed to further validation of dating. Three main stratigraphic units show distinct levels of human occupation at the site, separated by coastal deposits. The ESR dates tend to place the first human occupation in MIS 12 or at the end of MIS 13 (around 465,000 years). The ESR dating obtained at the base of layer 5 gave an age of 380,000 years. The geological analysis (sedimentology, stratigraphical correlations at short distance) tends to confirm these dates. The fauna has not preserved due to the acidic environment, leaving only the lithic industry to show how the human groups who settled at the site lived and, it is worth noting, mastered fire lighting, and or control, at a very early date (late MIS 13 or early MIS 12). The lithic industry from the upper levels (layer 5) is likely Colombanian and is composed of numerous flakes and cores alongside a great quantity of cobble tools (mostly choppers), fractured cobbles, and cobbles with isolated removals on various types of rocks, some cleavers and very rare bifaces. Additionally denticulates and notches form the main part of the light duty tools, together with scrapers. These retouched light duty tools are mainly made on flint, but quartz and glossy sandstone were also used. The last level of occupation (layer 4) probably shows the transition between Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. This may represent a regional cobble tool industry of the south armorican shoreline, however, it is still difficult to separate it totally from the classic European Acheulean from Northern France. These armorican lithic industries could indeed correspond with areas of specialised activities, as demonstrated for some Middle Palaeolithic groups with a cobble tools lithic industry. The notion of culture that could be chosen to explain this variability must be treated with caution, because it would only be based on the presence or absence of only one type of tool (the handaxe).