Abstract: A new class of irregularly shaped dielectric lens antennas with a supershaped microstrip antenna feeder is presented and detailed in this work. The surface of the lens antenna and the feeder shape have been modelled by using the three and two-dimensional Gielis formula, respectively. The antenna design has been carried out by integrating an home-made software tool with the CST Microwave Studio®. The radiation properties of the whole antenna system have been evaluated using a dedicated high-frequency technique based on the tube tracing approximation. Moreover, the effects due to the multiple internal reflections have been properly modeled. The proposed model was applied to study unusual and complex lens antenna systems with the aim to design special radiation characteristics.

Abstract: This study presents novel sulfolane based non-aqueous CO2 capture solvents, as an alternative solution for capturing CO2 from industrial processes. In order to select the most promising amine system, five different amines were tested by monitoring CO2 absorption and desorption processes using the time-base Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. During absorption experiments, we observed the formation of Monomethyl Carbonate (MMC) in diisopropylamine (DIPA) and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) systems, while carbamate was observed as the main product for the other three amine systems tested. In regeneration experiments, the MMC could be desorbed relatively easily from the amine solution at a mild temperature.

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of lower temperature on short term and long term (down to 10 degrees C) on a completely anoxic anammox granular sludge process. This is the first time granular sludge Anammox is operated in pure anoxic condition in SBR and at low temperature. Conversion performance, kinetic parameters, sludge characteristics and microbial community were analyzed.

Abstract: Our scientific and technological worldviews are largely dominated by the concepts of entropy and complexity. Originating in 19th-century thermodynamics, the concept of entropy merged with information in the last century, leading to definitions of entropy and complexity by Kolmogorov, Shannon and others. In its simplest form, this worldview is an application of the normal rules of arithmetic. In this worldview, when tossing a coin, a million heads or tails in a row is theoretically possible, but impossible in practice and in real life. On this basis, the impossible (in the binary case, the outermost entries of Pascal's triangle xn and yn for large values of n) can be safely neglected, and one can concentrate fully on what is common and what conforms to the law of large numbers, in fields ranging from physics to sociology and everything in between. However, in recent decades it has been shown that what is most improbable tends to be the rule in nature. Indeed, if one combines the outermost entries xn and yn with the normal rules of arithmetic, either addition or multiplication, one obtains Lamé curves and power laws respectively. In this article, some of these correspondences are highlighted, leading to a double conclusion. First, Gabriel Lamé's geometric footprint in mathematics and the sciences is enormous. Second, conic sections are at the core once more. Whereas mathematics so far has been exclusively the language of patterns in the sciences, the door is opened for mathematics to also become the language of the individual. The probabilistic worldview and Lamé's footprint can be seen as dual methods. In this context, it is to be expected that the notions of information, complexity, simplicity and redundancy benefit from this different viewpoint.

Abstract: Delve into the diverse aspects of plant morphology, their responses to global climate change, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest productivity. Join us on a journey through the intricate web of plant characteristics and their impact on the environment.

Abstract: The molecular genetics of flower development have been studied extensively for more than two decades. Fusion of organs and the tendency to oligomery, important characteristics of flower evolution, so far have remained fairly elusive. We present a geometric model for shape and fusion in the corolla of Asclepiads. Examples demonstrate how fusion of petals creates stable centers, a prerequisite for the formation of complex pollination structures via congenital and postgenital fusion events, with the formation of de novo organs, specific to Asclepiads. The development of the corolla reduces to simple inequalities from the MATHS-BOX. The formation of stable centers and of bell and tubular shapes in flowers are immediate and logical consequences of the shape. Our model shows that any study on flowers, especially in evo-devo perspective should be performed within the wider framework of polymery and oligomery and of fusion and synorganization.