id
stringlengths 6
42
| title
stringlengths 3
499
| abstract
stringlengths 0
6.24k
| label
listlengths 1
6
|
|---|---|---|---|
US 2021/0033127 W | COMPOSITION, METHODS, AND USES FOR PEA PROTEIN ISOLATES HAVING IMPROVED DISSOLUTION CHARACTERISTICS | The technology disclosed in this specification pertains to a deamidated pea protein isolates, processes for making a deamidated pea protein isolate, and use of the deamidated pea protein isolate in food and beverage compositions. The disclose deamidated pea protein isolates have dissolution properties that are significantly improved compared to non-deamidated pea protein isolates. Furthermore, the deamidated protein isolates maintain good dissolution properties throughout storage. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1145/2151171.2151178 | On the query complexity of testing orientations for being Eulerian | We consider testing directed graphs Eulerianity in the orientation model introduced in Halevy et al. [2005]. Despite the local nature of the Eulerian property, it turns out to be significantly harder to test than other properties studied in the orientation model. We show a nonconstant lower bound on the query complexity of 2-sided tests and a linear lower bound on the query complexity of 1-sided tests for this property. On the positive side, we give several 1-sided and 2-sided tests, including a sublinear query complexity 2-sided test, for general graphs. For special classes of graphs, including bounded-degree graphs and expander graphs, we provide improved results. In particular, we give a 2-sided test with constant query complexity for dense graphs, as well as for expander graphs with a constant expansion parameter. | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.5194/essd-8-605-2016 | Global Carbon Budget 2016 | Abstract. Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere – the “global carbon budget” – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics, and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates and consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models. We compare the mean land and ocean fluxes and their variability to estimates from three atmospheric inverse methods for three broad latitude bands. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2006–2015), EFF was 9. 3 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, ELUC 1. 0 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, GATM 4. 5 ± 0. 1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2. 6 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3. 1 ± 0. 9 GtC yr−1. For year 2015 alone, the growth in EFF was approximately zero and emissions remained at 9. 9 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, showing a slowdown in growth of these emissions compared to the average growth of 1. 8 % yr−1 that took place during 2006–2015. Also, for 2015, ELUC was 1. 3 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, GATM was 6. 3 ± 0. 2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 3. 0 ± 0. 5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 1. 9 ± 0. 9 GtC yr−1. GATM was higher in 2015 compared to the past decade (2006–2015), reflecting a smaller SLAND for that year. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 399. 4 ± 0. 1 ppm averaged over 2015. For 2016, preliminary data indicate the continuation of low growth in EFF with +0. 2 % (range of −1. 0 to +1. 8 %) based on national emissions projections for China and USA, and projections of gross domestic product corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy for the rest of the world. In spite of the low growth of EFF in 2016, the growth rate in atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to be relatively high because of the persistence of the smaller residual terrestrial sink (SLAND) in response to El Niño conditions of 2015–2016. From this projection of EFF and assumed constant ELUC for 2016, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach 565 ± 55 GtC (2075 ± 205 GtCO2) for 1870–2016, about 75 % from EFF and 25 % from ELUC. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new carbon budget compared with previous publications of this data set (Le Quéré et al. , 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). All observations presented here can be downloaded from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (doi:10. 3334/CDIAC/GCP_2016). | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1016/j.ijpara.2009.12.006 | Acetate formation in the energy metabolism of parasitic helminths and protists | Formation and excretion of acetate as a metabolic end product of energy metabolism occurs in many protist and helminth parasites, such as the parasitic helminths Fasciola hepatica, Haemonchus contortus and Ascaris suum, and the protist parasites, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Trichomonas vaginalis as well as Trypanosoma and Leishmania spp. In all of these parasites acetate is a main end product of their energy metabolism, whereas acetate formation does not occur in their mammalian hosts. Acetate production might therefore harbour novel targets for the development of new anti-parasitic drugs. In parasites, acetate is produced from acetyl-CoA by two different reactions, both involving substrate level phosphorylation, that are catalysed by either a cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) or an organellar acetate:succinate CoA-transferase (ASCT). The ACS reaction is directly coupled to ATP synthesis, whereas the ASCT reaction yields succinyl-CoA for ATP formation via succinyl-CoA synthetase (SCS). Based on recent work on the ASCTs of F. hepatica, T. vaginalis and Trypanosoma brucei we suggest the existence of three subfamilies of enzymes within the CoA-transferase family I. Enzymes of these three subfamilies catalyse the ASCT reaction in eukaryotes via the same mechanism, but the subfamilies share little sequence homology. The CoA-transferases of the three subfamilies are all present inside ATP-producing organelles of parasites, those of subfamily IA in the mitochondria of trypanosomatids, subfamily IB in the mitochondria of parasitic worms and subfamily IC in hydrogenosome-bearing parasites. Together with the recent characterisation among non-parasitic protists of yet a third route of acetate formation involving acetate kinase (ACK) and phosphotransacetylase (PTA) that was previously unknown among eukaryotes, these recent developments provide a good opportunity to have a closer look at eukaryotic acetate formation. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
2716736 | Trafficking transformations: objects as agents in transnational criminal networks | The Trafficking Transformations Project will use an innovative, multidisciplinary, object-centred framework to investigate the physical and contextual changes that illicit criminogenic collectables undergo during the trafficking process in three transnational criminal markets: antiquities, rare wildlife, and fossils. It will explore the socio-economic effects of the trafficked objects on participants in international criminal networks. It will transform organised crime research by shifting the focus of trafficking research away from criminals and networks of criminals toward following the objects of desire.
Prior approaches to trafficking research cast trafficking as an interface between organised crime (people moving the objects) and white-collar crime (affluent people receiving goods); objects were not considered social agents in these networks. Trafficking Transformations pushes the boundaries of mainstream criminology, proposing an innovative object-centred understanding of trafficking networks, and exploring the ultimate question: How do objects cause crimes?
The project will use object biography, a multi-sited ethnography technique, to investigate the influences and transformations of trafficked criminogenic collectables in international illicit markets. Through data collection at multiple sites along trafficking pathways, the transformations of criminogenic collectables, the networks that they create, and the people they influence will form a narrative, a biography of trafficking. This will reveal the hidden lives of illicit commodities prior to their appearance as objects of conspicuous consumption in public markets, and holds the prospect of destabilising existing assumptions about the formulation, maintenance, and disruption of transnational criminal networks, transforming our understanding of organised crime. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
677756 | Forecasting Surface Weather and Climate at One-Month Leads through Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling | Anomalies in surface temperatures, winds, and precipitation can significantly alter energy supply and demand, cause flooding, and cripple transportation networks. Better management of these impacts can be achieved by extending the duration of reliable predictions of the atmospheric circulation.
Polar stratospheric variability can impact surface weather for well over a month, and this proposed research presents a novel approach towards understanding the fundamentals of how this coupling occurs. Specifically, we are interested in: 1) how predictable are anomalies in the stratospheric circulation? 2) why do only some stratospheric events modify surface weather? and 3) what is the mechanism whereby stratospheric anomalies reach the surface? While this last question may appear academic, several studies indicate that stratosphere-troposphere coupling drives the midlatitude tropospheric response to climate change; therefore, a clearer understanding of the mechanisms will aid in the interpretation of the upcoming changes in the surface climate.
I propose a multi-pronged effort aimed at addressing these questions and improving monthly forecasting. First, carefully designed modelling experiments using a novel modelling framework will be used to clarify how, and under what conditions, stratospheric variability couples to tropospheric variability. Second, novel linkages between variability external to the stratospheric polar vortex and the stratospheric polar vortex will be pursued, thus improving our ability to forecast polar vortex variability itself. To these ends, my group will develop 1) an analytic model for Rossby wave propagation on the sphere, and 2) a simplified general circulation model, which captures the essential processes underlying stratosphere-troposphere coupling. By combining output from the new models, observational data, and output from comprehensive climate models, the connections between the stratosphere and surface climate will be elucidated. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Mathematics"
]
|
US 201415037399 A | LIBIDO-ENHANCING THERAPEUTIC AND USE | A composition for enhancing libido of a pharmaceutically effective amount of a libido-enhancing therapeutic of (5S,10R,13S,17S)-13-methyl-3-oxohexadecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17yl acetate (Formula I), (3S,5S,10R,13S,17S)-3-hydroxy-13-methylhexadecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17yl acetate (Formula II), (5S,10S,13S,17S)-17-hydroxy-13-methyltetradecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3(2H)-one (Formula III), isomers thereof, analogs thereof, or combinations thereof, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. A method of enhancing libido, by administering the composition to an individual in need of an enhanced libido, and enhancing libido in the individual or animal which is male or female. A method of enhancing libido, by administering the composition of the present invention to an individual at an age when libido and sexual desire have naturally decreased, and enhancing libido in the individual. A composition for enhancing libido and arousal, including a pharmaceutically effective amount of a libido-enhancing therapeutic in combination with a sexual dysfunction therapeutic. A method of enhancing libido and arousal. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
IB 2012050908 W | PROCESS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE TOTAL ACIDITY NUMBER (TAN) OF A MINERAL INSULATING OIL | The method comprises the steps of: pouring in a container a sample of oil and a pre-established amount of a solution suitable for extracting the acid fraction of the sample; stirring the content of the container and waiting for the separation from the sample of an extract phase; dosing in the extract phase a titrant solution of KOH until an acid-base indicator present therein changes color; and calculating the TAN on the basis of the volume of dosed titrant solution according to the formula: TAN (mgKOH/goil) = (V x 56, 1 x M)/m wherein V is the volume of dosed titrant solution expressed in ml, 56,1 is the molecular weight of KOH, M is the titre of the KOH solution expressed in moles per litre and m is the mass of the sample expressed in g. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
223253 | Singularities and compactness in nonlinear pdes | The emergence of singularities, such as oscillations and concentrations, is at the heart of some of the most intriguing problems in the theory of nonlinear PDEs. Rich sources of these phenomena can be found for instance in the equations of mathematical material science and hyperbolic conservation laws.
Building on recent pioneering work of the PI, The SINGULARITY project will investigate singularities through innovative strategies and tools that combine geometric measure theory with harmonic analysis. The potential of this approach is far-reaching and has already led to the resolution of several long-standing conjectures as well as opened up new avenues to understand the fine structure of singularities.
The project comprises three inter-connected themes:
Theme I investigates condensated singularities, i.e. singular parts of (vector) measures solving a PDE. A powerful structure theorem was recently established by the PI and De Philippis, which will be developed into a fine structure theory for PDE-constrained measures.
Theme II is concerned with the development of a compensated compactness theory for sequences of solutions to a PDE, which is capable of dealing with concentrations. The central aim is to study in detail the (non-)compactness properties of such sequences in the presence of asymptotic singularities, for instance in relation to the Bouchitt ́e Conjecture in shape optimization.
Theme III investigates higher-order microstructure, i.e. nested periodic oscillations in sequences, such as laminates. The main objective is to understand the effective properties of such microstructures and to make progress on pressing open problems in homogenization theory and on the fundamental Morrey Conjecture. We will employ the promising tool of microlocal compactness forms, recently invented by the PI.
All three themes tackle challenging and important open questions, which will serve as guiding lights towards a robust framework for the effective study of singularities. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1038/mt.2014.62 | Inflammation converts human mesoangioblasts into targets of alloreactive immune responses: Implications for allogeneic cell therapy of DMD | Stem cell therapy is a promising approach to regenerate healthy tissues starting from a limited amount of self-renewing cells. Immunological rejection of cell therapy products might represent a major limitation. In this study, we investigated the immunological functional profile of mesoangioblasts, vessel-associated myogenic stem cells, currently tested in a phase 1-2a trial, active in our Institute, for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We report that in resting conditions, human mesoangioblasts are poorly immunogenic, inefficient in promoting the expansion of alloreactive T cells and intrinsically resistant to T-cell killing. However, upon exposure to interferon-γ or differentiation into myotubes, mesoangioblasts acquire the ability to promote the expansion of alloreactive T cells and acquire sensitivity to T-cell killing. Resistance of mesoangioblasts to T-cell killing is largely due to the expression of the intracellular serine protease inhibitor-9 and represents a relevant mechanism of stem cell immune evasion. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pone.0055172 | Monolayer Stress Microscopy: Limitations, Artifacts, and Accuracy of Recovered Intercellular Stresses | In wound healing, tissue growth, and certain cancers, the epithelial or the endothelial monolayer sheet expands. Within the expanding monolayer sheet, migration of the individual cell is strongly guided by physical forces imposed by adjacent cells. This process is called plithotaxis and was discovered using Monolayer Stress Microscopy (MSM). MSM rests upon certain simplifying assumptions, however, concerning boundary conditions, cell material properties and system dimensionality. To assess the validity of these assumptions and to quantify associated errors, here we report new analytical, numerical, and experimental investigations. For several commonly used experimental monolayer systems, the simplifying assumptions used previously lead to errors that are shown to be quite small. Out-of-plane components of displacement and traction fields can be safely neglected, and characteristic features of intercellular stresses that underlie plithotaxis remain largely unaffected. Taken together, these findings validate Monolayer Stress Microscopy within broad but well-defined limits of applicability. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1016/j.matpur.2011.07.003 | Material voids in elastic solids with anisotropic surface energies | This work discusses the role of highly anisotropic interfacial energy for problems involving a material void in a linearly elastic solid. Using the calculus of variations it is shown that important qualitative features of the equilibrium shape of the void may be deduced from smoothness and convexity properties of the interfacial energy. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1109/TAC.2020.2994020 | Isochronous Partitions For Region Based Self Triggered Control | In this article, we propose a region-based self-triggered control (STC) scheme for nonlinear systems. The state space is partitioned into a finite number of regions, each of which is associated to a uniform interevent time. The controller, at each sampling time instant, checks to which region does the current state belong, and correspondingly decides the next sampling time instant. To derive the regions along with their corresponding interevent times, we use approximations of isochronous manifolds , a notion first introduced in Anta and Tabuada (2012). This article addresses some theoretical issues of Anta and Tabuada (2012) and proposes an effective computational approach that generates approximations of isochronous manifolds, thus enabling the region-based STC scheme. The efficiency of both our theoretical results and the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through simulation examples. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
714122 | Chemical Engineering of Functional Stable Metal-Organic Frameworks: Porous Crystals and Thin Film Devices | Metal-Organic-Frameworks (MOFs) offer appealing advantages over classical solids from combination of high surface areas with the crystallinity of inorganic materials and the synthetic versatility (unlimited combination of metals and linkers for fine tuning of properties) and processability of organic materials. Provided chemical stability, I expect combination of porosity with manipulable electrical and optical properties to open a new world of possibilities, with MOFs playing an emerging role in fields of key environmental value like photovoltaics, photocatalysis or electrocatalysis. The conventional insulating character of MOFs and their poor chemical stability (only a minimum fraction are hydrolytically stable) are arguably the two key limitations hindering further development in this context.
With chem-fs-MOF I expect to deliver:
1. New synthetic routes specifically designed for producing new, hydrolytically stable Fe(III) and Ti(IV)-MOFs (new synthetic platforms for new materials).
2. More advanced crystalline materials to feature tunable function by chemical manipulation of MOF’s optical/electrical properties and pore activity (function-led chemical engineering).
3. High-quality ultrathin films, reliant on the transfer of single-layers, alongside establishing the techniques required for evaluating their electric properties (key to device integration). Recent works on graphene and layered dichalcogenides anticipate the benefits of nanostructuration for more efficient optoelectronic devices. Notwithstanding great potential, this possibility remains still unexplored for MOFs.
Overall, I seek to exploit MOFs’ unparalleled chemical/structural flexibility to produce advanced crystalline materials that combine hydrolytical stability and tunable performance to be used in environmentally relevant applications like visible light photocatalysis. This is an emerging research front that holds great potential for influencing future R&D in Chemistry and Materials Science. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
W2050588729 | Traditional medicinal plants in Nigeria—Remedies or risks | Soil pollution due to increasing industrialization is a reality that is taking its toll on mankind today. Considering the population of people that use herbal remedies especially in developing countries and the discharge of industrial waste on surrounding herbal vegetation, it is imperative to determine the heavy metals contamination in some commonly used medicinal plants.Representative samples of five medicinal plants Ageratum conyzoides, Aspilia africana, Alchornea cordifolia, Amaranthus brasiliensis and Chromolaena odorata were collected from Ikpoba-Okha L.G.A, Edo State Nigeria, around a paint company and another set of same plants were collected from a non-polluted source. Dried leaves and roots of collected plants were digested and analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) for the presence of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni) and Zinc (Zn). Soil samples from polluted and non-polluted areas were also analyzed to ascertain the levels of these heavy metals in the environment.Results show that the concentrations of these heavy metals in the leaves and roots of plants collected from polluted soil were significantly higher than those obtained from unpolluted soil. Correspondingly heavy metal concentrations were significantly higher in polluted than in unpolluted soil samples.As part of continuing effort in the standardization of traditional remedies, environmental contamination control and abatement is evident. The source of medicinal plants/herbs should also be a cause for concern since the toxicity of medicinal plants is sometimes associated with environmental sources of the plants. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
W1861403516 | The protective effect of resveratrol against dentin bonding agents-induced cytotoxicity | This study was designed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of four dentin bonding agents and the effects of an antioxidant addition. Group A: G-aenial Bond, Group B: Optibond All in One, Group C: Gluma Self Etch and Group D: Clearfil S(3) Bond were added to the medium using extract method. The cells were cultured with or without resveratrol (RES) addition. MTT, reactive oxygen species (ROS), DCF, Comet and 8-OHdG measurements were performed. The agents had a dose-dependent (1:1>1:10>1:20) cytotoxic effect. Considering 1:10 concentration; Group D at 1 h (p<0.01) and Group B and D at 24 h had the weakest cytotoxic effect (p<0.05). After RES addition, the highest cell viability was determined in Groups B+RES and D+RES at 1 h and in Groups A+RES and B+RES at 24 h (p<0.01). The dentin bonding agents induced ROS production and DNA damage regarding to their composition. However, RES addition decreased the indicated parameters. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1039/C8CC06759G | Biomimetic Synthesis Of 2 Substituted N Heterocycle Alkaloids By One Pot Hydrolysis Transamination And Decarboxylative Mannich Reaction | Heterocycles based on piperidine and pyrrolidine are key moieties in natural products and pharmaceutically active molecules. A novel multi-enzymatic approach based on the combination of a lipase with an α,ω-diamine transaminase is reported, opening up the synthesis, isolation and characterisation of a broad range of 2-substituted N-heterocycle alkaloids. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1002/pro.3073 | The macro domain as fusion tag for carrier-driven crystallization | Obtaining well-ordered crystals remains a significant challenge in protein X-ray crystallography. Carrier-driven crystallization can facilitate crystal formation and structure solution of difficult target proteins. We obtained crystals of the small and highly flexible SPX domain from the yeast vacuolar transporter chaperone 4 (Vtc4) when fused to a C-terminal, non-cleavable macro tag derived from human histone macroH2A1. 1. Initial crystals diffracted to 3. 3 Å resolution. Reductive protein methylation of the fusion protein yielded a new crystal form diffracting to 2. 1 Å. The structures were solved by molecular replacement, using isolated macro domain structures as search models. Our findings suggest that macro domain tags can be employed in recombinant protein expression in E. coli, and in carrier-driven crystallization. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
223754 | Crystal structures of pin proteins - cryspins | The main goal of the “CrysPINS” project is to derive a model for the structure of PIN1 protein, starting with a loopless version (PIN1loopless), and optionally other PIN proteins, using techniques of molecular biology, biochemistry and crystallography. Members of PIN family are plant-specific auxin transporters, which play crucial role in plant morphogenesis, development and responses to the environment. Although it is well known that PIN proteins drive polar auxin transport, till nowadays the auxin research community is missing detailed functional and mechanistic models of these enigmatic transporters. My considerable experience from studying auxin metabolism and transport on the cellular and plant level, combined with the expertise at the University of Warwick in auxin recognition and the structural biology of mammalian membrane transporter proteins, makes it timely to move the science forward by a project focussed on the structure of PINs. My vision is that we will be able to develop a detailed molecular map of PINs together with associated pharmacophoric map for their substrates and inhibitors, a goal that will offer me an ideal system for further research focused on PINs auxin substrate specificity and transport capacity. On the way I will expect to reveal how the PINs are energized, and create links with the auxin herbicide industries to explore opportunities for collaborations on agro-pharmaceutical compound design. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.5194/acpd-15-32607-2015 | Limitations of passive satellite remote sensing to constrain global cloud condensation nuclei | Abstract. Aerosol–cloud interactions are considered a key uncertainty in our understanding of climate change (Boucher et al. , 2013). Knowledge of the global abundance of aerosols suitable to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) is fundamental to determine the strength of the anthropogenic climate perturbation. Direct measurements are limited and sample only a very small fraction of the globe so that remote sensing from satellites and ground based instruments is widely used as a proxy for cloud condensation nuclei (Nakajima et al. , 2001; Andreae, 2009; Clarke and Kapustin, 2010; Boucher et al. , 2013). However, the underlying assumptions cannot be robustly tested with the small number of measurements available so that no reliable global estimate of cloud condensation nuclei exists. This study overcomes this limitation using a fully self-consistent global model (ECHAM-HAM) of aerosol radiative properties and cloud condensation nuclei. An analysis of the correlation of simulated aerosol radiative properties and cloud condensation nuclei reveals that common assumptions about their relationships are violated for a significant fraction of the globe: 71 % of the area of the globe shows correlation coefficients between CCN0. 2% at cloud base and aerosol optical depth (AOD) below 0. 5, i. e. AOD variability explains only 25 % of the CCN variance. This has significant implications for satellite based studies of aerosol–cloud interactions. The findings also suggest that vertically resolved remote sensing techniques, such as satellite-based high spectral resolution lidars, have a large potential for global monitoring of cloud condensation nuclei. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1039/C9QM00193J | A Versatile Ethanolic Approach To Metal Aerogels Pt Pd Au Ag Cu And Co | We present a universal one-step approach to generate metal aerogels at room and at dry ice cold temperature, abbreviated as DICE. Performing the synthesis completely in an ethanolic phase allows for the formation of pure noble (Pt, Pd, Au and Ag) and less noble metal (Cu and Co) gels in a remarkably short period of time compared to the widespread aqueous synthesis strategies. Furthermore, three-dimensional disordered, porous networks were obtained for each system with high surface areas of 860 m2 mol−1 for Ag up to 5470 m2 mol−1 for Co. Additionally, it is shown that the low reaction temperature of −70 °C enables the control of the gelation time without losing the structural characteristics. Moreover, with respect to industrial applications, this facile, stabilizer-free synthesis yields large amounts of materials using highly concentrated precursor solutions. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
DE 0104808 W | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR COOLING BULK MATERIAL | The invention relates to a method and a device (1) for implementing said method to cool bulk material on a rotating support surface (4). A coolant can be introduced beneath the support surface (4) which is fed to a support layer (21) consisting of cooled bulk material that is permanently located on said support surface through corresponding openings in the support surface (4). Said coolant reaches the hot bulk material located on the support layer (21), a single layer being fed and evenly distributed along the entire width of the support surface (4) with the aid of a tangential guide (3) located at the inlet (2). After an almost complete rotation, the layer of bulk material is let out by a slasher. Due to the regular thickness of the layer (D) and by preventing the bulk material to mix with the following batch of hot bulk material, the effectiveness of the device (1) is substantially increased. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
682939 | Spatial organization of DNA repair within the nucleus | Faithful repair of double stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is essential, as they are at the origin of genome instability, chromosomal translocations and cancer. Cells repair DSBs through different pathways, which can be faithful or mutagenic, and the balance between them at a given locus must be tightly regulated to preserve genome integrity. Although, much is known about DSB repair factors, how the choice between pathways is controlled within the nuclear environment is not understood. We have shown that nuclear architecture and non-random genome organization determine the frequency of chromosomal translocations and that pathway choice is dictated by the spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus. Nevertheless, what determines which pathway is activated in response to DSBs at specific genomic locations is not understood. Furthermore, the impact of 3D-genome folding on the kinetics and efficiency of DSB repair is completely unknown.
Here we aim to understand how nuclear compartmentalization, chromatin structure and genome organization impact on the efficiency of detection, signaling and repair of DSBs. We will unravel what determines the DNA repair specificity within distinct nuclear compartments using protein tethering, promiscuous biotinylation and quantitative proteomics. We will determine how DNA repair is orchestrated at different heterochromatin structures using a CRISPR/Cas9-based system that allows, for the first time robust induction of DSBs at specific heterochromatin compartments. Finally, we will investigate the role of 3D-genome folding in the kinetics of DNA repair and pathway choice using single nucleotide resolution DSB-mapping coupled to 3D-topological maps.
This proposal has significant implications for understanding the mechanisms controlling DNA repair within the nuclear environment and will reveal the regions of the genome that are susceptible to genomic instability and help us understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1016/j.jalgebra.2018.10.043 | Base sizes of primitive groups: Bounds with explicit constants | We show that the minimal base size b(G) of a finite primitive permutation group G of degree n is at most 2(log|G|/logn)+24. This bound is asymptotically best possible since there exists a sequence of primitive permutation groups G of degrees n such that b(G)=⌊2(log|G|/logn)⌉−2 and b(G) is unbounded. As a corollary we show that a primitive permutation group of degree n that does not contain the alternating group Alt(n) has a base of size at most max{n,25}. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
171073 | Metal organic framework mediated synthesis for novel catalysts in the fischer tropsch synthesis. | Hydrocarbons are the most widely used chemicals and fuels, and are quite accurately, the driving force of occidental social well-being. The major part of hydrocarbons on Earth is found in crude oil. The depletion of the latter while demand for it is increasing, and the geopolitical risk related, boost the use of different hydrocarbon sources.
The Fischer Tropsch synthesis (FTS) from ‘syngas’ comprises the exothermic synthesis and WGS reactions to obtain gasoline fraction (C5-C12), hydrocarbons (paraffins and olefins) and oxygenates in a wide range of boiling points, from methane to waxes. Transition metals are typically used in FTS process due to their considerable activity, cobalt being the preferred one due to its higher activity for FTS, selectivity toward linear products, stability, low activity towards water-gas shift (WGS) reaction and low price.
Recently, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising precursors for the synthesis of nanomaterials, due to their unique structure, atomic metal dispersion and textural properties.
The goal of this proposal is to design, to control and to apply the MOF mediated synthesis to obtain outstanding cobalt based catalysts for the Fischer Tropsch synthesis, and to set the ground of this potentially universal method for the synthesis of metal supported catalysts.
The project will be carried out at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) within the Catalysis Engineering (CE) section of the Chemical Engineering department (ChemE) and in close collaboration with industry.
The resulting catalysts are expected to possess unique catalytic properties by virtue of their controlled synthesis, leading to the preparation of paramount catalysts which will be studied for the first time in the FTS. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
695197 | Charge carrier dynamics in metal oxides | Transition metal (TM) oxides (TiO2, ZnO, NiO) are large gap insulators that have emerged as highly attractive materials over the past two decades for applications in photocatalysis, solar energy conversion, etc., all of which rely on the generation of charge carriers, their evolution and their eventual trapping at defects or a self-trapped excitons. Despite the huge interest for such materials, the very nature of the elementary electronic excitations (Frenkel, Wannier or charge transfer exciton) is still not established, nor is the way these excitations evolve after being created: excitonic polaron or charged polaron. Finally, the electron and hole recombine is also not clearly established because of issue of defects and trapping.
In order to tackle these issues, here we implement novel experimental tools that would provide us with hitherto inaccessible information about the charge carrier dynamics in TM oxides. Of importance is the ability to detect both the electrons and the holes. Some of these tools have been developed in the PI’s group: i) Ultrafast X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) will provide information about the final metal d-orbitals and about the structural changes around it; ii) Ultrafast X-ray emission (XES) will provide information about hole states. While these two approaches are ideal element-selective ones, the localization of the electron at metal atoms represents a small proportion of the electron population. Therefore, ultrafast Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) will be used to map out the band structure changes in the system and the evolution of the conduction band electrons. Ultrafast 2-dimensional (2D) UV (<400nm) transient absorption spectroscopy allows the mapping of the time evolution of both the valence and the conduction bands by its ability to pump and probe above the band gap. Last, Fourier Transform visible 2D spectroscopy will allow the probing of gap state dynamics at high time resolution. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W89643880 | [Radiation exposure and thyroid cancer]. | Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the endocrine system. The most frequent type of thyroid malignancy is papillary carcinoma. Thyroid cancer's incidence rates have increased over the last three decades throughout the world. Numerous studies have documented that radiation exposure is a well-established risk factor for the thyroid cancer. It has been reported that exposure to external medical radiation or to external and internal radiation from atomic bomb explosions, nuclear tests or nuclear accidents leads to an increased risk for thyroid cancer. The risk of thyroid cancer is maximal during the first years of life and decreases with increasing age at exposure due to morphologic and functional heterogeneity in the thyroid tissue of children and adults. Also it has been indicated that iodine deficiency increases the risk of the thyroid cancer related to radioactive iodines in case of exposure to radioactive iodines in childhood and the stable iodine supplementation reduces this risk. Ionizing radiation produces a range of mutations in irradiated cells of the thyroid. The prevalence of RET/PTC mutations is significantly higher in papillary carcinomas from childhood patients with the precedent history of radiation. | [
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.3390/v11121085 | Evolution of BACON Domain Tandem Repeats in crAssphage and Novel Gut Bacteriophage Lineages | The human gut contains an expanse of largely unstudied bacteriophages. Among the most common are crAss-like phages, which were predicted to infect Bacteriodetes hosts. CrAssphage, the first crAss-like phage to be discovered, contains a protein encoding a Bacteroides-associated carbohydrate-binding often N-terminal (BACON) domain tandem repeat. Because protein domain tandem repeats are often hotspots of evolution, BACON domains may provide insight into the evolution of crAss-like phages. Here, we studied the biodiversity and evolution of BACON domains in bacteriophages by analysing over 2 million viral contigs. We found a high biodiversity of BACON in seven gut phage lineages, including five known crAss-like phage lineages and two novel gut phage lineages that are distantly related to crAss-like phages. In three BACON-containing phage lineages, we found that BACON domain tandem repeats were associated with phage tail proteins, suggestive of a possible role of these repeats in host binding. In contrast, individual BACON domains that did not occur in tandem were not found in the proximity of tail proteins. In two lineages, tail-associated BACON domain tandem repeats evolved largely through horizontal transfer of separate domains. In the third lineage that includes the prototypical crAssphage, the tandem repeats arose from several sequential domain duplications, resulting in a characteristic tandem array that is distinct from bacterial BACON domains. We conclude that phage tail-associated BACON domain tandem repeats have evolved in at least two independent cases in gut bacteriophages, including in the widespread gut phage crAssphage. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1063/1.4971350 | Heterogeneously Integrated Iii V On Silicon 2 3X Μm Distributed Feedback Lasers Based On A Type Ii Active Region | We report on 2. 3x μm wavelength InP-based type-II distributed feedback (DFB) lasers heterogeneously integrated on a silicon photonics integrated circuit. In the devices, a III–V epitaxial layer stack with a “W”-shaped InGaAs/GaAsSb multi-quantum-well active region is adhesively bonded to the first-order silicon DFB gratings. Single mode laser emission coupled to a single mode silicon waveguide with a side mode suppression ratio of 40 dB is obtained. In continuous-wave regime, the 2. 32 μm laser operates close to room temperature (above 15 °C) and emits more than 1 mW output power with a threshold current density of 1. 8 kA/cm2 at 5 °C. A tunable diode laser absorption measurement of CO is demonstrated using this source. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1111/all.13449 | Oral microbiota maturation during the first 7 years of life in relation to allergy development | Background: Allergic diseases have become a major public health problem in affluent societies. Microbial colonization early in life seems to be critical for instructing regulation on immune system maturation and allergy development in children. Even though the oral cavity is the first site of encounter between a majority of foreign antigens and the immune system, the influence of oral bacteria on allergy development has not yet been reported. Objective: We sought to determine the bacterial composition in longitudinally collected saliva samples during childhood in relation to allergy development. Methods: Illumina sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene was used to characterize the oral bacterial composition in saliva samples collected at 3, 6, 12, 24 months, and 7 years of age from children developing allergic symptoms and sensitization (n = 47) and children staying healthy (n = 33) up to 7 years of age. Results: Children developing allergic disease, particularly asthma, had lower diversity of salivary bacteria together with highly divergent bacterial composition at 7 years of age, showing a clearly altered oral microbiota in these individuals, likely as a consequence of an impaired immune system during infancy. Moreover, the relative amounts of several bacterial species, including increased abundance of Gemella haemolysans in children developing allergies and Lactobacillus gasseri and L. crispatus in healthy children, were distinctive during early infancy, likely influencing early immune maturation. Conclusion: Early changes in oral microbial composition seem to influence immune maturation and allergy development. Future experiments should test the probiotic potential of L. gasseri and L. crispatus isolates. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
884778 | Impulsive Flows - beyond velocity and acceleration | My goal is to investigate impulsive flows that occur both in nature and technological applications, where fluid is accelerated due to sudden motion of an object or boundary, which leads to an additional instationary drag or lift forces. This project will shed new light on the understanding of the fundamental properties and flow physics of these impulsive flows. Theoretical concepts that are used today, do not go much beyond those laid down almost 100 years ago. With today’s level of technology and experimental tools I will be able to break new ground in the understanding of these flow phenomena that are very challenging both experimentally and numerically. First, a novel-concept flow facility will be built, based on a high performance robotic arm; this robot arm can move and rotate various objects in a water-filled tank along prescribed trajectories with known acceleration and rotation. The fluid motion is measured using tomographic particle image velocimetry (PIV), of which the measurement volume can move along with the objects using auxiliary robot arms. New PIV approaches will be developed that measure fluid acceleration varied within the short times of these impulsive motions. Then a systematic investigation is performed on various impulsive flows where the rate of acceleration and rotation rate can be varied, in order to find new
and improved relationships between the measured hydrodynamic force histories and relevant flow quantities, such as velocity, acceleration, and rotation rate, and the time scales at which these phenomena occur. These will represent real-life impulsive flows. Experimental approaches and results will be used to validate numerical methods. The results of this investigation will fill gaps in our knowledge of impulsive flows, and give more accurate estimates of hydrodynamic forces. This will improve the prediction of structural loads and reduce failure and discomfort, with impact on aeronautics, wind energy, maritime and offshore technology. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1007/978-3-319-44667-7_6 | Childlessness in Switzerland and Austria | Childlessness in the central European Alpine countries of Switzerland and Austria is high by western standards: around a fifth of men and women in these countries have no children towards the end of their reproductive life. This chapter looks at variations in childlessness across six spheres: cohort, education, religion, country of birth, language, and place of residence. For Switzerland, the differentials for both men and women are described; for Austria, only data for women are available, but they tell a parallel story. Although many of the attributes are closely interlinked, some over-arching factors clearly increase the likelihood of childlessness. In the case of education, the effect is the opposite for women and men: highly educated women and less educated men face barriers in having a family. Competing with education for the degree of influence on childlessness is having no religious affiliation; unlike education, this factor is associated with a reduced desire to have a child. At the other end of the spectrum, low levels of childlessness are observed among immigrants from southern Europe and the Muslim sub-population. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1051/0004-6361/201525620 | Glace Survey Osiris Gtc Tuneable Filter Hα Imaging Of The Rich Galaxy Cluster Zwcl 0024 0 1652 At Z 0 395 I Survey Presentation Tf Data Reduction Techniques And Catalogue | The cores of clusters at 0 ≲ z ≲ 1 are dominated by quiescent early-type galaxies, whereas the field is dominated by star-forming late-type galaxies. Clusters grow through the accretion of galaxies and groups from the surrounding field, which implies that galaxy properties, notably the star formation ability, are altered as they fall into overdense regions. The critical issues for understanding this evolution are how the truncation of star formation is connected to the morphological transformation and what physical mechanism is responsible for these changes. The GaLAxy Cluster Evolution Survey (GLACE) is conducting a thorough study of the variations in galaxy properties (star formation, AGN activity, and morphology) as a function of environment in a representative and well-studied sample of clusters. To address these questions, the GLACE survey is making a deep panoramic survey of emission line galaxies (ELG), mapping a set of optical lines ([O ii], [O iii], Hβ andHα/[N ii] when possible) in several galaxy clusters at z ~ 0. 40, 0. 63, and 0. 86. Using the tunable filters (TF) of the OSIRIS instrument at the 10. 4 m GTC telescope, the GLACE survey applies the technique of TF tomography: for each line, a set of images are taken through the OSIRIS TF, each image tuned at a different wavelength (equally spaced), to cover a rest frame velocity range of several thousand km s-1 centred on the mean cluster redshift, and scanned for the full TF field of view of an 8 arcmin diameter. Here we present the first results of the GLACE project, targeting the Hα/[N ii] lines in the intermediate-redshift cluster ZwCl 0024. 0+1652 at z = 0. 395. Two pointings have been performed that cover ~2 × rvir. We discuss the specific techniques devised to process the TF tomography observations in order to generate the catalogue of cluster Hα emitters, which contains more than 200 sources down to a star formation rate (SFR) ≲1 M⊙/yr. An ancillary broadband catalogue is constructed, allowing us to discriminate line interlopers by means of colour diagnostics. The final catalogue contains 174 unique cluster sources. The AGN population is distinguished using different diagnostics and found to be ~37% of the ELG population. The median SFR of the star-forming population is 1. 4 M⊙/yr. We studied the spatial distribution of ELG and confirm the existence of two components in the redshift space. Finally, we exploited the outstanding spectral resolution of the TF, attempting to estimate the cluster mass from ELG dynamics, finding M200 = (4. 1 ± 0. 2) × 1014 M⊙ h-1, in agreement with previous weak-lensing estimates. | [
"Universe Sciences"
]
|
2721945 | Strategic planning for water resources and implementation of novel biotechnical treatment solutions and good practices | The overall aim of the SPRING project is to present an integrated water resource management for reliable water supply for all needs that involve; developing innovative simple to operate bio oxidation systems for treatment of polluted water bodies (stagnant and flowing), cost effective real time monitoring tools and finally by implementing good practices in water planning for treatment, supply and usage. SPRING aims at improving and developing technologies for the elimination of pollutants from water using a bioremediation approach.
In particular, SPRING aims at improving and developing bioremediation technologies for the removal of organic micro-pollutants present in groundwater and surface water at low concentrations, and which are currently treated using expensive physicochemical technology. Innovation also revolves around provision of simplified water quality monitoring methods and developing novel microbial technology to monitor pollutants in water. The Project will also develop real time detection systems to highlight different pollutants risks and flooding/water insufficiency scenarios.
Field trials of the developed prototype in urban and rural settings will be carried out with the help of Municipality and an NGO.
In addition, an inclusive decision-making process will contribute to democracy and will lend the decision legitimacy. Acceptance of remediation schemes during implementation will be enhanced by involving stakeholders and the public in the decision-making stage and thus, stakeholders decision making and management framework in the form of an NGO and a local Governing Body (Municipality) will be formed. Successful implementation and demonstration of the developed systems involving all stakeholders will help to achieve wide public acceptance towards reuse and recycling of wastewater through the developed bioremediation technology | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
]
|
885130 | Debate science! european student parliament | Wissenschaft im Dialog will organise a European Student Parliament in conjunction with ESOF 2018 in Toulouse. The attendees are young people from 11 European cities. In a simulated parliament students will investigate ‘The Future of Mobility’ which is a challenge for science and society. Student committees will discuss aspects of this theme with researchers. They will write resolutions, present them in a parliamentary debate and deliver them to European policy makers.
The project represents a process of RRI where school students exchange ideas with researchers and policy makers. These stakeholders will gain new insights into the views of young Europeans. In addition results will be disseminated to experts in the fields of science education and outreach, allowing an exchange of ideas.
Young Europeans attending the parliament will develop their interest in science studies and careers through discussions of science in the context of interesting and relevant societal challenges. Students will enhance their skills in critical thinking through self-directed learning and debating. They will be inspired by meeting role models who use scientific knowledge and methods in their work. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1109/APEC.2014.6803294 | Decoupling Of Fluctuating Power In Single Phase Systems Through A Symmetrical Half Bridge Circuit | Single-phase AC/DC or DC/AC systems inherently subject to harmonic disturbance which is caused by the well-known double line frequency ripple power. This issue can be eased through the installation of bulky electrolytic capacitors in the dc-link, but such passive filtering approach may inevitably lead to low power density and limited system lifetime. An alternative approach is to use active power decoupling so that this ripple power can be diverted into other energy storage devices to gain improved system performance. Nevertheless, all existing active methods have to introduce extra inductors or film capacitors to store the ripple power, and this again leads to increased component costs. In view of this, this paper presents a symmetrical half-bridge circuit which utilizes the dc-link capacitors to absorb the ripple power, and the only additional components are a pair of switches and a small filtering inductor. A design example is presented and the proposed circuit concept is also verified with simulation and experimental results. It shows that at least ten times capacitance reduction can be achieved with the proposed active power decoupling method, which proves its effectiveness. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
W2900539680 | A Novel Technique to Assess Distal Radioulnar Joint Stability Using Increasing Torque | Background Previous studies on computed tomography (CT) in patients with a suspected triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) injury have not been successful in assessing distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) laxity. The aim of this study was to develop a novel servomotor-driven device for the assessment of DRUJ by applying increasing torque to the DRUJ in pronation and supination. Methods A custom-built device was designed to function during four-dimensional (4D) CT of the wrist. A torque meter, positioned between the incoming hand holder, and a direct current (DC) servomotor were used for angular positioning and for applying rotational force to the patient's arm. A total of 110 healthy participants were recruited to gather reference values for the range of motion (ROM), maximum torque in neutral and supinated/pronated position, and the ability to withstand an increasing, device-generated torque in these positions. The device was also used during 4D DRUJ CT in five patients with suspected TFCC injuries. Results A gender- and age-relevant reference chart for ROM and torque was created. Men showed a tendency (ns) toward having a larger ROM and increasing strength with increasing age, whereas women showed the opposite. Also, the dominant hand showed a tendency toward having a larger ROM and being stronger than the nondominant hand (ns). A smaller cohort of patients (n = 5) with suspected TFCC injuries showed a significantly decreased ability to withstand increasing torque in both supination (2.1 ± 0.3 vs. 3.1 ± 0.2 s; p < 0.005) and pronation (2.3 ± 0.5 vs. 3.1 ± 0.4 s; p < 0.0005) and also showed a clear laxity on real-time 4D CT image sequences. Decreased strength at all positions was also found (average 74% decrease compared to noninjured side). Conclusion Reference values for torque strength and ability to withstand increasing torque can be used clinically in the assessment of patients with symptoms that could represent ligamentous injuries to the TFCC. The ability to use the device during CT enables radiographic evaluation of instability during increasing torque. Level of Evidence This is a Level II study. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
249466 | Projections of Jerusalem in Europe: A Monumental Network | This project concerns the monumental, multimedia, interactive re-creations of Jerusalem in Europe. These monuments represent the loca sancta through architectures in spatial and topographical relationships that reproduce the real ones, sculptural groups that re-enact the respective event in a painted décor, with artifacts completing the ambience. The project proposes to document, comprehensively study and conceptualize these sites. Their exact number is not known since a comprehensive study has never yet been attempted, but they can probably be numbered in many hundreds. This project will open up a totally new research area with considerable impact already at the initial documentation and survey stages, by bringing together both fresh data and interpretations. But the project proposes to go beyond and generate many new insights by a comparative study of the sites and a conceptualization of the phenomenon (with the aid of notions such as icon, map, network, interactive multimedia, space and place). The study will lead to the integration of these three-dimensional complexes in the ongoing discourse of image, and to the theoretical discourse pertaining to the relationships between original and copy, narrative and iconic. It will contribute essential new insights to the study of pilgrimage, the definition and process of the formation of sacred spaces, to devotionalism as a special type of piety and to the study of memory and mnemonic practices. Research will include field and textual documentation, cross referencing and grouping of related monuments, leading to crystallization of several clusters of monuments, representative at Pan-European and historical levels. Research will be accompanied by a conclusion-reaching process through discussions in small groups, exchange of working papers, as well as symposia and conferences with external participation. The results will be published throughout the stages of work, as well as in a book at the end of the research period. | [
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"Texts and Concepts"
]
|
629595 | Next generation framework for global glacier forecasting | Worldwide glacier retreat outside the two large ice sheets is increasingly tangible and the associated ice-loss has dominated the cryospheric contribution to sea-level change for many decades. This retreat has also become symbolic for the effects of the generally warming climate. Despite the anticipated importance for future sea-level rise, continuing glacier retreat will affect seasonal freshwater availability and might add to regional water-stress in this century. Here, I envision a novel self-consistent, ice-dynamic forecasting framework for global glacier evolution that will lift the confidence in forward projections for this century to new heights. For the first time, each glacier on Earth will be treated as a three-dimension body within its surrounding topography without using any form of geometric simplification. The heart of the framework is the systematic utilisation of the rapidly growing body of information from satellite remote sensing. For this purpose, I intend to pass on to ensemble assimilation techniques that transiently consider measurements as they become available. This will streamline and increase the total information flow into glacier models. In terms of climatic forcing, global products will be replaced by regional forecasts with high-resolution climate models. Moreover, a more realistic representation of the local energy balance at the glacier surface is pursued that ensures multi-decadal stability in the melt formulation. The envisaged 3D finite-element modelling framework also allows a direct integration of iceberg calving, which is, on global scales, an often-unconsidered dynamic ice-loss term. To this day, a key limitation of glacier projections is the poorly constrained ice volume and its distribution at present. Here, I put forward a promising remedy that builds on multi-temporal satellite information to calibrate a state-of-the-art reconstruction approach for mapping basin-wide ice thickness on virtually any glacier. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1177/1940161215596730 | Enduring Gender Bias in Reporting on Political Elite Positions | In Belgium, like in numerous other democracies, the representation of women in parliament has risen sharply in recent decades, partly because of gender quota legislation. This rapid evolution implies that traditional notions on the presence of gender bias in media reporting need to be re-assessed. Relying on data from more than six thousand full newscasts, we examine the allotted speaking time to members of parliament (MPs) from 2003 until 2011 in the two main television news broadcasts in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to determine which factors influence the probability and volume of television news coverage of MPs. The results indicate that—even controlling for alternative explanations—news media persist in a biased treatment of female MPs: Female MPs are significantly less likely to be allotted speaking time, and they receive less speaking time than their male colleagues. Moreover, results show that this gap in media coverage is present especially for elite and thus newsworthy positions. Apparently, gender bias in the media persists, even when the political system evolves rapidly toward equal representation. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
216065 | Continuous observation of embedded multicore systems | The ability to observe the internals of an execution of a computer-based system is a fundamental requirement for ultimately ensuring correctness and safe behaviour. Within COEMS (Continuous Observation of Embedded Multicore Systems) a novel observer platform with supporting verification methods for software systems is created. COEMS tackles the issues of detection and identification of non-deterministic software failures caused by race conditions and access to inconsistent data. It gives insight to the system’s actual behaviour without affecting it allowing new verification methods.
An efficient real-time access and analysis as a critical element for operating safe systems will be developed and validated by COEMS. Moreover, a cross-layer programming approach supporting failure detection will be proposed. COEMS aims at shortening the development cycle by considerably increased test efficiency and effectivity, by increased debug efficiency (especially for non-deterministically occurring failures) and by supporting performance optimization. COEMS improves the reliability of delivered systems, enabling software developers to identify, understand, and remove software defects before release, as well as improving efficiency of software for multi/many-core computing systems in terms of performance, real-time behaviour, and energy consumption.
The two Global Players Thales Group and Airbus Group, both active in safety-critical domains, will validate the COEMS approach by suitable demonstrators, i.e. testing and debugging of real-world multicore applications. In addition to these two domains, we will address the domains of safety-critical medical applications, automation and automotive industry, as well as the Internet of Things.
Technologically, COEMS will provide the world-wide first comprehensive online observation approach that is non-intrusive allowing improved testing and debugging.
Altogether, COEMS will define a new state-of-the-art for software systems development. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
SE 2006000413 W | DISC HOUSING | A disc housing intended for refiners with refining discs (1,2) rotating in opposed direction relative to each other for mechanically disintegrating and working fibrous material, where the disc housing (3) air-tight surround the refining discs (1,2) and is provided with an outlet (8) for the worked fibrous material. The inside of the disc housing (3) along its periphery is formed with a channel (10), which has, seen in circumferential direction, a continuously increasing radius , which increases all the way to the outlet (8), which is located tangentially in a direct continuation of the channel (10). | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1130/G35071.1 | Earthquakes And Fault Zone Structure | The characterization of fault zone structure and its evolution is essential for understanding earthquake mechanics and rupture evolution. Most of our knowledge about fault structure is derived from field studies of ancient faults. By using earthquake locations, we reconstruct the complex structure of a normal fault at a resolution directly comparable with field geological investigations. At the surface conjugate sets of faults are connected with the main fault plane, which with depth shows bending and dilational jogs. Parallel slipping planes occur at the base of the seismogenic volume, and minor synthetic and antithetic structures are widespread. Fault zone thickness ranges from 0. 5 to 1. 5 km, while the damage density decays exponentially away from the fault plane, with values comparable to those observed on fault outcrops. The strong similarities between seismological and geological images of fault structure indicate that earthquakes have a key role in the evolution of fault architecture. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pone.0020118 | Lack of the long pentraxin PTX3 promotes autoimmune lung disease but not glomerulonephritis in murine systemic lupus erythematosus | The long pentraxin PTX3 has multiple roles in innate immunity. For example, PTX3 regulates C1q binding to pathogens and dead cells and regulates their uptake by phagocytes. It also inhibits P-selectin-mediated recruitment of leukocytes. Both of these mechanisms are known to be involved in autoimmunity and autoimmune tissue injury, e. g. in systemic lupus erythematosus, but a contribution of PTX3 is hypothetical. To evaluate a potential immunoregulatory role of PTX3 in autoimmunity we crossed Ptx3-deficient mice with Fas-deficient (lpr) C57BL/6 (B6) mice with mild lupus-like autoimmunity. PTX3 was found to be increasingly expressed in kidneys and lungs of B6lpr along disease progression. Lack of PTX3 impaired the phagocytic uptake of apoptotic T cells into peritoneal macrophages and selectively expanded CD4/CD8 double negative T cells while other immune cell subsets and lupus autoantibody production remained unaffected. Lack of PTX3 also aggravated autoimmune lung disease, i. e. peribronchial and perivascular CD3+ T cell and macrophage infiltrates of B6lpr mice. In contrast, histomorphological and functional parameters of lupus nephritis remained unaffected by the Ptx3 genotype. Together, PTX3 specifically suppresses autoimmune lung disease that is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. Vice versa, loss-of-function mutations in the Ptx3 gene might represent a genetic risk factor for pulmonary (but not renal) manifestations of systemic lupus or other autoimmune diseases. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.7554/eLife.06738 | Functional topography of the human entorhinal cortex | Despite extensive research on the role of the rodent medial and lateral entorhinal cortex (MEC/LEC) in spatial navigation, memory and related disease, their human homologues remain elusive. Here, we combine high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T with novel data-driven and model-based analyses to identify corresponding subregions in humans based on the well-known global connectivity fingerprints in rodents and sensitivity to spatial and non-spatial information. We provide evidence for a functional division primarily along the anteroposterior axis. Localising the human homologue of the rodent MEC and LEC has important implications for translating studies on the hippocampo-entorhinal memory system from rodents to humans. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1038/nrm.2017.36 | Vascular heterogeneity and specialization in development and disease | Blood and lymphatic vessels pervade almost all body tissues and have numerous essential roles in physiology and disease. The inner lining of these networks is formed by a single layer of endothelial cells, which is specialized according to the needs of the tissue that it supplies. Whereas the general mechanisms of blood and lymphatic vessel development are being defined with increasing molecular precision, studies of the processes of endothelial specialization remain mostly descriptive. Recent insights from genetic animal models illuminate how endothelial cells interact with each other and with their tissue environment, providing paradigms for vessel type- and organ-specific endothelial differentiation. Delineating these governing principles will be crucial for understanding how tissues develop and maintain, and how their function becomes abnormal in disease. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1117/12.2286862 | Sinoi And Algaas On Soi Nonlinear Circuits For Continuum Generation In Si Photonics | In this communication, we report on the design, fabrication, and testing of Silicon Nitride on Insulator (SiNOI) and Aluminum-Gallium-Arsenide (AlGaAs) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nonlinear photonic circuits for continuum generation in Silicon (Si) photonics. As recently demonstrated, the generation of frequency continua and supercontinua can be used to overcome the intrinsic limitations of nowadays silicon photonics notably concerning the heterogeneous integration of III-V on SOI lasers for datacom and telecom applications. By using the Kerr nonlinearity of monolithic silicon nitride and heterointegrated GaAs-based alloys on SOI, the generation of tens or even hundreds of new optical frequencies can be obtained in dispersion tailored waveguides, thus providing an all-optical alternative to the heterointegration of hundreds of standalone III-V on Si lasers. In our work, we present paths to energy-efficient continua generation on silicon photonics circuits. Notably, we demonstrate spectral broadening covering the full C-band via Kerrbased self-phase modulation in SiNOI nanowires featuring full process compatibility with Si photonic devices. Moreover, AlGaAs waveguides are heterointegrated on SOI in order to dramatically reduce (x1/10) thresholds in optical parametric oscillation and in the power required for supercontinuum generation under pulsed pumping. The manufacturing techniques allowing the monolithic co-integration of nonlinear functionalities on existing CMOS-compatible Si photonics for both active and passive components will be shown. Experimental evidence based on self-phase modulation show SiNOI and AlGaAs nanowires capable of generating wide-spanning frequency continua in the C-Band. This will pave the way for low-threshold power-efficient Kerr-based comb- and continuum- sources featuring compatibility with Si photonic integrated circuits (Si-PICs). | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Materials Engineering",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W1985870430 | A revised energy partitioning approach to assess the yields of non-photochemical quenching components | Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a complex and still unclear mechanism essential for higher plants. The intensive research on this subject has highlighted three main components of NPQ: energy-dependent process (qE); state transitions to balance the excitation of PSII and PSI (qT); and photoinhibitory processes (qI). Recently, these components have been resolved as quantum yields according to the energy partitioning approach that takes into account the rate constants of every process involved in the quenching mechanisms of excited chlorophylls. In this study a fully extended quantum yield approach and the introduction of novel equations to assess the yields of each NPQ component are presented. Furthermore, a complete analysis of the yield of NPQ in Beta vulgaris exposed to different irradiances has been carried out. In agreement with experimental results here it is shown that the previous approach may amplify the yield of qE component and flatten the quantitative results of fluorescence analysis. Moreover, the significance of taking into account the physiological variability of NPQ for a correct assessment of energy partitioning is demonstrated. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
US 2008/0079373 W | IMAGING LAYERS, STRUCTURES INCLUDING IMAGING LAYERS, METHODS OF MAKING IMAGING LAYERS, AND IMAGING SYSTEMS | Imaging layers, image recording media, and methods of preparation of each, are disclosed. | [
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1103/PhysRevB.85.205204 | Origin of low-temperature magnetic ordering in Ga <inf>1-x</inf>Mn <inf>x</inf>N | By using highly sensitive millikelvin superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, the magnitude of the Curie temperature as a function of the Mn concentration x is determined for thoroughly characterized Ga 1-xMn xN. The interpretation of the results in the frame of tight-binding theory and of Monte Carlo simulations allows us to assign the spin interaction to ferromagnetic superexchange and to point out the limited accuracy of state-of-the-art ab initio methods in predicting the magnetic characteristics of dilute magnetic insulators. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
3727298 | Relearning perception action in rehabilitation from a systems perspective | Movement disorders related to perception and action, such as stroke, significantly impair functioning in daily living, severely impacting the life of affected individuals and having a huge economic impact. Although rehabilitation practice aims to restore functional ability through re-learning perception-action couplings, it leads to marginal improvements of daily functioning at best. Here it is argued that to improve effectiveness of rehabilitation a systems approach should be adopted to understand processes underlying perception-action disorders. A systems approach takes into account nonlinear interactions between components, enabling to explain for instance why patients do not respond stereotypical to rehabilitation training. REPAIRS (RE-learning Perception-Action In Rehabilitation from a Systems perspective) is a unique and timely training-through-research school, aiming to improve rehabilitation effectiveness. REPAIRS starts from systems-based fundamental knowledge on learning perception-action couplings to build applications to rehabilitation, while exploiting recent technology advancements. This research school provides the required critical mass of top-level researchers connecting European academic, clinical and technology experts to train the next generation of researchers and entrepreneurs in this perspective. REPAIRS studies interaction between four levels of the perception-action cycle: brain, muscles & joints, agent-environment and social, which is integrated with requirements on translation from clinical, technology and philosophical domains. The focus on interactions between levels and domains naturally ensures an interdisciplinary and intersectoral training. Integrating this with a high-level training of transferrable skills, dissemination and communication while exploiting an Experiential Skill Learning Workshop, will boost the employability of the young researchers involved and the innovation potential of Europe through reshaping rehabilitation. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1111/jcom.12229 | Information and Arena: The Dual Function of the News Media for Political Elites | How do individual politicians use the news media to reach their political goals? This study addresses the question by proposing an actor-centered, functional approach. We distinguish 2 essential functions (and subfunctions) the mass media have for political elites. The media are a source of information; politicians depend on it for pure information and they can profit from the momentum generated by media information. The media also are an arena elites need access to in order to promote themselves and their issues. These 2 functions offer certain politicians a structural advantage over others and, hence, are relevant for the power struggle among political elites. A systematic functional account enables comparisons of the role of the media across politicians and political systems. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
10.1101/677799 | Risk Factors For Asthma Among Schoolchildren Who Participated In A Case Control Study In Urban Uganda | Abstract Data on asthma aetiology in Africa are scarce. We investigated the risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren (5-17years) in urban Uganda. We conducted a case-control study, enrolling 561 cases and 1,139 controls. Asthma was diagnosed by study clinicians. The main risk factors for asthma were tertiary education for fathers [adjusted OR (95% CI); 2. 49 (1. 89-3. 29)] and mothers [2. 14 (1. 64-2. 78)]; area of residence at birth, with children born in a small town or in the city having an increased asthma risk compared to schoolchildren born in rural areas [2. 00 (1. 49-2. 68)] and [2. 82 (1. 85-4. 30)], respectively; father’s and mother’s history of asthma; children’s own allergic conditions; atopy; and using gas/electricity for indoor cooking. Asthma was associated with a strong rural-town-city risk gradient, higher parental socio-economic status and urbanicity. This work provides the basis for future studies to identify specific environmental/lifestyle factors responsible for increasing asthma risk among children in urban areas in LMICs. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
]
|
10.1016/j.tibs.2018.02.012 | Probing Ion Channel Structure and Function Using Light-Sensitive Amino Acids | Approaches to remotely control and monitor ion channel operation with light are expanding rapidly in the biophysics and neuroscience fields. A recent development directly introduces light sensitivity into proteins by utilizing photosensitive unnatural amino acids (UAAs) incorporated using the genetic code expansion technique. The introduction of UAAs results in unique molecular level control and, when combined with the maximal spatiotemporal resolution and poor invasiveness of light, enables direct manipulation and interrogation of ion channel functionality. Here, we review the diverse applications of light-sensitive UAAs in two superfamilies of ion channels (voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels; VGICs and LGICs) and summarize existing UAA tools, their mode of action, potential, caveats, and technical considerations to their use in illuminating ion channel structure and function. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
268519 | Colonic Disease Investigation by Robotic Hydro-colonoscopy | CODIR proposes a new configuration of fundamental and applied biomedical and engineering multidisciplinary research to explore and characterise colon behavior necessary for the project and wider objectives. Scope and focus is on novel robotic hydro-colonoscopy (RHC), which stems from two considerations: (i) replacement of the flexible colonosocope with a patient-friendly system for inspection of the mucosal surface colon and (ii) the very recent concept of hydro-colonoscopy whereby water is used instead of traditional air insufflation. RHC can enable a breakthrough in patient-compliant complete endoscopic examination and biopsy of the colon for the further study of life threatening disorders of the colon commonly categorized as inflmmatory bowel disease, all of unknown aetilogy despite intensive research. CODIR will provide new insights for biomedical investigation and research applicable to many biomedical fields: biologic [absorption of water and electrolyte from the colon, characterisation of surface topograpgy of the colon, mechanical properties of colonic wall], imaging, mechatronics robot functionality and a novel colonic irrigation and filling system. The ambition is to develop a one-stop holistic system which cleans the colon of faecal debris and then introduces a tethered swimming/ submerging robot for inspection of the mucosal aspect of colon under the control of a clinician operating the endoluminal mini-robot from a control console. A secondary, very important outcome of CODIR is to increase patient compliance (currently 50%) for screening colonoscopy in early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, the worlds second commonest cancer. RHC can overcome major disadvantages of existing colonoscopy examination: discomfort, sedation, thus increasing compliance and enabling future research. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
223229 | Structural biology of exopolysaccharide secretion in bacterial biofilms | Bacterial biofilm formation is a paramount developmental process in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative species and in many pathogens has been associated with processes of horizontal gene transfer, antibiotic resistance development and pathogen persistence. Bacterial biofilms are collaborative sessile macrocolonies embedded in complex extracellular matrix that secures both mechanical resistance and a medium for intercellular exchange.
Biogenesis platforms for the secretion of biofilm matrix components - many of which controlled directly or indirectly by the intracellular second messenger c-di-GMP - are important determinants for biofilm formation and bacterial disease, and therefore present compelling targets for the development of novel therapeutics. During my Ph.D. and post-doctoral work I studied the structure and function of c-di-GMP-sensing protein factors controling extracellular matrix production by DNA-binding at the transcription initiation level or by inside-out signalling mechanisms at the cell envelope, as well as membrane exporters involved directly in downstream matrix component secretion.
Here, I propose to apply my expertise in microbiology, protein science and structural biology to study the structure and function of exopolysaccharide secretion systems in Gram-negative species. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio spp. and Escherichia coli as model organisms, my team will aim to reveal the global architecture and individual building components of several expolysaccharide-producing protein megacomplexes. We will combine X-ray crystallography, biophysical and biochemical assays, electron microscopy and in cellulo functional studies to provide a comprehensive view of extracellular matrix production that spans the different resolution levels and presents molecular blueprints for the development of novel anti-infectives. Over the last year I have laid the foundation of these studies and have demonstrated the overall feasibility of the project. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
]
|
10.1051/0004-6361/201730685 | The Vla Cosmos 3 Ghz Large Project Cosmic Evolution Of Radio Agn And Implications For Radio Mode Feedback Since Z 5 | Based on a sample of over 1,800 radio AGN at redshifts out to z~5, which have typical stellar masses within ~3x(10^{10}-10^{11}) Msol, and 3 GHz radio data in the COSMOS field, we derived the 1. 4 GHz radio luminosity functions for radio AGN (L_1. 4GHz ~ 10^{22}-10^{27} W/Hz) out to z~5. We constrained the evolution of this population via continuous models of pure density and pure luminosity evolutions, and we found best-fit parametrizations of Phi*~(1+z)^{(2. 00+/-0. 18)-(0. 60+/-0. 14)z}, and L*~(1+z)^{(2. 88+/-0. 82)-(0. 84+/-0. 34)z}, respectively, with a turnover in number and luminosity densities of the population at z~1. 5. We converted 1. 4 GHz luminosity to kinetic luminosity taking uncertainties of the scaling relation used into account. We thereby derived the cosmic evolution of the kinetic luminosity density provided by the AGN and compared this luminosity density to the radio-mode AGN feedback assumed in the Semi-Analytic Galaxy Evolution (SAGE) model, i. e. , to the redshift evolution of the central supermassive black hole accretion luminosity taken in the model as the source of heating that offsets the energy losses of the cooling, hot halo gas, and thereby limits further stellar mass growth of massive galaxies. We find that the kinetic luminosity exerted by our radio AGN may be high enough to balance the radiative cooling of the hot gas at each cosmic epoch since z~5. However, although our findings support the idea of radio-mode AGN feedback as a cosmologically relevant process in massive galaxy formation, many simplifications in both the observational and semi-analytic approaches still remain and need to be resolved before robust conclusions can be reached. | [
"Universe Sciences"
]
|
W1987452353 | Study on Characteristic of Ethanol Production Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis from Woody Floater Wastes in the Dam | Suspended wood waste was being inflow into the dam and the problem of waste disposal has been occurred. In this study, ethanol production using woody floater wastes was performed to estimate value in use for raw material of renewable energy. To achieve the goal, experiments of acid hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation using dam woody floater as raw materials for bioethanol was carried out. In the results of field survey in the chungju dam, kind of woody floater was mainly Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis) and hybrid poplar (Populus tomentiglandulosa). The results of sugar extraction showed that sugar content was higher in Larix leptolepis than Populus tomentiglandulosa. Extracted sugar from wood waste was effective consumed by yeast(P. Stipitis and S cerevisiae). In the experiment consumption of sugar including glucose, galactose and xylose, the consumption rate of S. cerevisiae is faster than that of P. stipitis. and efficiency for ethanol production is higer in S. cerevisiae than P. stipitis. Also it can be confirmed that resource as ethanol production using wood waste was available. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
]
|
W2002175809 | Motion Model of Two-Wheel Differential Drive Mobile Robot under Variable Load | Based on kinematics characteristic of two-wheeled differential drive mobile robot (WMR) and response characteristic of fact motor drive system, this paper presents the analysis method of the equivalent rotation inertia, and the entire vehicle load is assigned to each wheel, and then the wheel load is converted into the corresponding equivalent rotation inertia of the motor shaft of each wheel, and motion model of WMR are obtained for combining with quasi-equivalent (QE) state space model of double-loop direct current motor systems under variable load and kinematics model of WMR under the load changes. By using speed response data of the actual system and combining with genetic algorithm to accurately identify the model parameters. Finally, through experiments results of the WMR motion model and the second order model respectively comparing with the actual system which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposing method and model. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1038/srep16290 | Dense sampling reveals behavioral oscillations in rapid visual categorization | Perceptual systems must create discrete objects and events out of a continuous flow of sensory information. Previous studies have demonstrated oscillatory effects in the behavioral outcome of low-level visual tasks, suggesting a cyclic nature of visual processing as the solution. To investigate whether these effects extend to more complex tasks, a stream of 'neutral' photographic images (not containing targets) was rapidly presented (20 ms/image). Embedded were one or two presentations of a randomly selected target image (vehicles and animals). Subjects reported the perceived target category. On dual-presentation trials, the ISI varied systematically from 0 to 600 ms. At randomized timing before first target presentation, the screen was flashed with the intent of creating a phase reset in the visual system. Sorting trials by temporal distance between flash and first target presentation revealed strong oscillations in behavioral performance, peaking at 5 Hz. On dual-target trials, longer ISIs led to reduced performance, implying a temporal integration window for object category discrimination. The 'animal' trials exhibited a significant oscillatory component around 5 Hz. Our results indicate that oscillatory effects are not mere fringe effects relevant only with simple stimuli, but are resultant from the core mechanisms of visual processing and may well extend into real-life scenarios. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1007/jhep01(2019)162 | All two-loop MHV remainder functions in multi-Regge kinematics | Abstract
We introduce a method to extract the symbol of the coefficient of (2πi)2 of MHV remainder functions in planar
$$ \mathcal{N} $$
N
= 4 Super Yang-Mills in multi-Regge kinematics region directly from the symbol in full kinematics. At two loops this symbol can be uplifted to the full function in a unique way, without any beyond-the-symbol ambiguities. We can therefore determine all two-loop MHV amplitudes at function level in all kinematic regions with different energy signs in multi-Regge kinematics. We analyse our results and we observe that they are consistent with the hypothesis of a contribution from the exchange of a three-Reggeon composite state starting from two loops and eight points in certain kinematic regions. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1007/978-3-319-76578-5_24 | On The Message Complexity Of Secure Multiparty Computation | We study the minimal number of point-to-point messages required for general secure multiparty computation (MPC) in the setting of computational security against semi-honest, static adversaries who may corrupt an arbitrary number of parties. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1002/ijc.29461 | Individual patient risk stratification of high-risk neuroblastomas using a two-gene score suited for clinical use | Several gene expression-based prognostic signatures have been described in neuroblastoma, but none have successfully been applied in the clinic. Here we have developed a clinically applicable prognostic gene signature, both with regards to number of genes and analysis platform. Importantly, it does not require comparison between patients and is applicable amongst high-risk patients. The signature is based on a two-gene score (R-score) with prognostic power in high-stage tumours (stage 4 and/or MYCN-amplified diagnosed after 18 months of age). QPCR-based and array-based analyses of matched cDNAs confirmed cross platform (array-qPCR) transferability. We also defined a fixed cut-off value identifying prognostically differing subsets of high-risk patients on an individual patient basis. This gene expression signature independently contributes to the current neuroblastoma classification system, and if prospectively validated could provide further stratification of high-risk patients, and potential upfront identification of a group of patients that are in need of new/additional treatment regimens. What's new? Children with highly aggressive neuroblastoma respond in different ways to intense, high-risk treatments. For those children whose tumors show little or no response, such treatments can be particularly harmful. With prognostic gene-expression signatures, however, it may be possible to tailor therapeutic strategies to individual patients. The present study describes a gene-expression signature based on two genes, DKC1 and PAFAH1B1, which are associated with poor prognosis and good prognosis, respectively. The two-gene analysis was performed across qPCR and array platforms and was applicable to high-risk patients, potentially enabling early identification of patients who require changes in treatment regimens. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
W4206611033 | Lentiviral haematopoietic stem-cell gene therapy for early-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy: long-term results from a non-randomised, open-label, phase 1/2 trial and expanded access | Effective treatment for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) remains a substantial unmet medical need. In this study we investigated the safety and efficacy of atidarsagene autotemcel (arsa-cel) in patients with MLD.This study is an integrated analysis of results from a prospective, non-randomised, phase 1/2 clinical study and expanded-access frameworks. 29 paediatric patients with pre-symptomatic or early-symptomatic early-onset MLD with biochemical and molecular confirmation of diagnosis were treated with arsa-cel, a gene therapy containing an autologous haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) population transduced ex vivo with a lentiviral vector encoding human arylsulfatase A (ARSA) cDNA, and compared with an untreated natural history (NHx) cohort of 31 patients with early-onset MLD, matched by age and disease subtype. Patients were treated and followed up at Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. The coprimary efficacy endpoints were an improvement of more than 10% in total gross motor function measure score at 2 years after treatment in treated patients compared with controls, and change from baseline of total peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) ARSA activity at 2 years after treatment compared with values before treatment. This phase 1/2 study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01560182.At the time of analyses, 26 patients treated with arsa-cel were alive with median follow-up of 3·16 years (range 0·64-7·51). Two patients died due to disease progression and one due to a sudden event deemed unlikely to be related to treatment. After busulfan conditioning, all arsa-cel treated patients showed sustained multilineage engraftment of genetically modified HSPCs. ARSA activity in PBMCs was significantly increased above baseline 2 years after treatment by a mean 18·7-fold (95% CI 8·3-42·2; p<0·0001) in patients with the late-infantile variant and 5·7-fold (2·6-12·4; p<0·0001) in patients with the early-juvenile variant. Mean differences in total scores for gross motor function measure between treated patients and age-matched and disease subtype-matched NHx patients 2 years after treatment were significant for both patients with late-infantile MLD (66% [95% CI 48·9-82·3]) and early-juvenile MLD (42% [12·3-71·8]). Most treated patients progressively acquired motor skills within the predicted range of healthy children or had stabilised motor performance (maintaining the ability to walk). Further, most displayed normal cognitive development and prevention or delay of central and peripheral demyelination and brain atrophy throughout follow-up; treatment benefits were particularly apparent in patients treated before symptom onset. The infusion was well tolerated and there was no evidence of abnormal clonal proliferation or replication-competent lentivirus. All patients had at least one grade 3 or higher adverse event; most were related to conditioning or to background disease. The only adverse event related to arsa-cel was the transient development of anti-ARSA antibodies in four patients, which did not affect clinical outcomes.Treatment with arsa-cel resulted in sustained, clinically relevant benefits in children with early-onset MLD by preserving cognitive function and motor development in most patients, and slowing demyelination and brain atrophy.Orchard Therapeutics, Fondazione Telethon, and GlaxoSmithKline. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
AU 1983/001010 W | A LOCKING DEVICE | A linear to rotary convertor automatically assumes a locked position when controlling drive forces are terminated, the convertor employs a double acting hydraulic cylinder assembly with hydraulic fluid applied at (16 and 17) on opposite sides of a main piston in the form of a scroll cylinder shaft (18). Once the tapered locking elements are in position, hydraulic fluid to (16 and 17) is irrelevant to the continued operation of the assembly which is essentially and effectively a rigid coupling between the standard quick hitch ears (20) and pin ears (21). A locking spring disk (42) normally overcomes the unlocking spring disks (43 and 44) so that the cones (36, 37, 38 and 39) are in locking register. On application of the first drive means hydraulic fluid is delivered into the annular space illustrated at (19) to assist the springs (43 and 44) to overcome the bias of the locking spring (42) by moving unlocking piston (45) to the right thereby enabling the unlocking springs (43 and 44) to apply separating bias to release the engagement of the cone surfaces (36, 37, 38 and 39) so that application of hydraulic fluid under pressure at (16 or 17) will cause the scroll cylinder shaft (18) to rotate and thereby rotate the ears (20) to a desired position. Upon release of hydraulic pressure to the first drive means, the device will automatically revert to the locked position. A second embodiment uses a first hydraulic pressure to unlock the cones and then a second higher pressures applied to both maintain the unlocking pressure but also as a differential across the main piston to rotate the output. This provides a single joystick control where an operator selects the required angle and the unlocking and rotation actions are initiated under the single manual control. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
834271 | Climatic Controls on Erosion Rates and Relief of Mountain Belts | Quantifying the feedbacks between tectonic processes in the lithosphere and climatic processes in the atmosphere is an overarching goal in Earth-Systems research, as it underpins our ability to differentiate natural from anthropogenic climate forcing. Long-term cooling during the Cenozoic has been linked to the growth of mountain belts, which enhanced erosion, chemical weathering, organic-carbon burial and drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Conversely, it has been proposed that the cooler and more variable climate of the late Cenozoic led to increased topographic relief and erosion. This latter coupling, however, has not been decisively demonstrated and remains highly controversial. Advancing our understanding of these couplings requires the development of tools that record erosion rates and relief changes with higher spatial and temporal resolution than the current state-of-the-art, and integrating the newly obtained data into next-generation numerical models that link observed erosion-rate and relief histories to potential driving mechanisms. The project COOLER shoulders this task. We will: (1) develop new high-resolution thermochronology by setting up a world-leading 4He/3He laboratory; (2) develop numerical modelling tools that incorporate the latest insights in kinetics of thermochronological systems and make sample-specific predictions; (3) couple these tools to glacial landscape-evolution models, enabling modelling of real landscapes with real thermochronology data as constraints; and (4) study potential feedbacks between glacial erosion and tectonic deformation in carefully selected field areas. The new high-resolution data will be integrated and extrapolated to quantitatively assess the impact of late Cenozoic climate change on erosion rates. Integration and analysis of the data will lead to novel insights into the two-way coupling of glacial erosion and tectonics, as well as latitudinal trends in glacial erosion patterns. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
W1596581084 | A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS SELECTED FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS IN CHENNAI CITY | Abstract: The motive of this research work is to study the consumer behavior towards Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in Chennai of Tamilnadu. The data for the study has been collected by performing face-to-face interview with the respondents with the distribution of questionnaire. This study collects data from 400 consumers at various places in Chennai. This study is started with objectives of examining socio-economic background of respondents, analyzing the factors influencing consumer behaviour towards selected FMCG products, checking the level of satisfaction of consumers and knowing expectation of the consumers. This study reveals that consumer behavior is largely affected by place, product, price, promotional, psychological and people influences. The satisfaction level of consumers also depends on product specific and market wide factors. Consumer behavior will improve when their expectations are fulfilled by their distribution channels. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
224392 | Promoting research excellence in nature-based solutions for innovation, sustainable economic growth and human well-being in malta | The RENATURE proposal aims to establish and implement a strategy and research cluster to step-up and stimulate scientific excellence and innovation capacity in the area of nature-based solutions for sustainable development. Nature-based solutions, defined as living solutions that address societal challenges in a resource-efficient and adaptable manner and to provide simultaneously economic, social, and environmental benefits, are a priority for the key priority for the European Union research and innovation agenda.
RENATURE will establish twinning between the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), as a tertiary and research organisation from a Widening country, and internationally leading research institutions from other member states. The proposed activities include various types of training and networking events aimed at building up the research capacity and at promoting research excellence in the field of nature-based solutions.
The research team is composed of three leading research intensive institutions within this rapidly developing field and one private entity; that is the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland); University of Trento (Italy); University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), and Pensoft Publishers (Bulgaria). The project team possesses multidisciplinary skills and complementary knowledge, which is considered as being critical to offer new nature-based solutions for sustainable development. This collaboration is expected to offer the widening institution MCAST an opportunity to increase the research capacity within this sector, link up with existing initiatives and projects led by, or receiving input from, the research-intensive institutions, develop a national research cluster with strong international collaborations, and provide practical solutions based on cutting-edge science and developed through international collaboration. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
]
|
10.1016/j.tig.2013.01.011 | Genetic basis of cell-cell fusion mechanisms | Cell-cell fusion in sexually reproducing organisms is a mechanism to merge gamete genomes and, in multicellular organisms, it is a strategy to sculpt organs, such as muscle, bone, and placenta. Moreover, this mechanism has been implicated in pathological conditions, such as infection and cancer. Studies of genetic model organisms have uncovered a unifying principle: cell fusion is a genetically programmed process. This process can be divided in three stages: competence (cell induction and differentiation); commitment (cell determination, migration, and adhesion); and cell fusion (membrane merging and cytoplasmic mixing). Recent work has led to the discovery of fusogens, which are cell fusion proteins that are necessary and sufficient to fuse cell membranes. Two unrelated families of fusogens have been discovered, one in mouse placenta and one in Caenorhabditis elegans (syncytins and F proteins, respectively). Current research aims to identify new fusogens and determine the mechanisms by which they merge membranes. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.1017/thg.2012.63 | A genome-wide association study of monozygotic twin-pairs suggests a locus related to variability of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol | Genome-wide association analysis on monozygotic twin-pairs offers a route to discovery of gene-environment interactions through testing for variability loci associated with sensitivity to individual environment/lifestyle. We present a genome-wide scan of loci associated with intra-pair differences in serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels. We report data for 1,720 monozygotic female twin-pairs from GenomEUtwin project with 2. 5 million SNPs, imputed or genotyped, and measured serum lipid fractions for both twins. We found one locus associated with intra-pair differences in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, rs2483058 in an intron of SRGAP2, where twins carrying the C allele are more sensitive to environmental factors (P = 3. 98 × 10-8). We followed up the association in further genotyped monozygotic twins (N = 1,261), which showed a moderate association for the variant (P = 0. 200, same direction of an effect). In addition, we report a new association on the level of apolipoprotein A-II (P = 4. 03 × 10-8). | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
617670 | Ionic dynamics and plasticity in developing neuronal networks | Ionic gradients are a fundamental feature of the nervous system and its development. They are established by the actions of ion pumps, transporters and channel proteins that reside in the membrane of cells. And maintaining these gradients is a prerequisite for generating fluxes of ions, which in turn drive cellular processes. Ion regulatory mechanisms often differ between cell types and changes in intracellular ion concentration have been implicated in multiple processes in the developing brain, from proliferation, to process outgrowth and the refinement of synaptic circuits. One of the limitations however, has been the shortage of experimental tools for dissecting intracellular ion dynamics in the developing nervous system. Here I propose to capitalise upon methods we have developed for directly measuring and manipulating ion concentrations in a spatially and temporally controlled manner. The proposal focuses upon two key ions: chloride ions and hydrogen ions, which can exhibit intracellular changes over a range of timescales. Working in the neocortex of developing mice, optical reporters will be used to measure ion dynamics at key stages of mammalian brain development and light-activated proteins will be used to selectively control intracellular ion levels. The first series of experiments will investigate chloride and hydrogen ion dynamics in neuronal progenitor cells and relate this to cellular processes during cortical neurogenesis. We will then compare how developing neurons and astrocytes establish their ion gradients, as our data indicate that these two cell types possess different regulatory mechanisms. We will examine how emerging network activity influences ion dynamics and then selectively manipulate these dynamics to examine their contribution to synaptic development and ongoing network activity. The final series of experiments will examine whether developing neurons show homeostatic responses when their intracellular ion gradients are challenged. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1038/s41562-017-0215-1 | The idiosyncratic nature of confidence | Confidence is the 'feeling of knowing' that accompanies decision-making. Bayesian theory proposes that confidence is a function solely of the perceived probability of being correct. Empirical research has suggested, however, that different individuals may perform different computations to estimate confidence from uncertain evidence. To test this hypothesis, we collected confidence reports in a task in which subjects made categorical decisions about the mean of a sequence. We found that for most individuals, confidence did indeed reflect the perceived probability of being correct. However, in approximately half of them, confidence also reflected a different probabilistic quantity: the perceived uncertainty in the estimated variable. We found that the contribution of both quantities was stable over weeks. We also observed that the influence of the perceived probability of being correct was stable across two tasks, one perceptual and one cognitive. Overall, our findings provide a computational interpretation of individual differences in human confidence. | [
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
]
|
W2163071147 | Notational Analysis of Elite Men's Water Polo Related to Specific Margins of Victory. | The present study aimed to analyze the water polo matches of the men's World Championships, comparing technical and tactical aspects of winning and losing teams, during closed (≤ 3 goals of margin of victory at the end of the 4(th) quarter; winning, W; losing, L) and unbalanced (>3 goals; winning, MW; losing, ML) games. Therefore, 42 of the 48 (6 were draw at end of the 4(th) quarter) matches were considered. According to each game situation (i.e., even, counterattack, power-play, transition), a notational analysis was performed in relation to the following aspects: occurrence of actions, action outcome, execution and origin of shots, and mean duration. In addition, the occurrence of the offensive (and role) and defensive arrangements of even and power-play were analyzed. To show differences (p < 0.05) in terms of margin of victory, an analysis of variance was applied. Although ML (74 ± 11%) performed more even actions than W (68 ± 7%) and MW (69 ± 6%), the latter teams (W = 9 ± 6%; MW = 13 ± 6%) performed more counterattacks than L (3 ± 2%) and ML (5 ± 5%). Power-play is more played during closed (W = 20 ± 3%; L = 22 ± 3%) than unbalanced games (MW = 17 ± 4%; ML = 16 ± 7%). Moreover, differences in terms of margin of victory emerged for mean duration (even, power-play, transition), action outcome (even, power-play), zone origin (even, counterattack, power-play) and technical execution (even, power-play) of shots, and even and power-play offensive (and role) and defensive arrangements. Divergences mainly emerged between closed and unbalanced games, highlighting that the water polo matches of the men's World Championships need to be analyzed either considering the winning and losing outcome of match and specific margins of victory. Thus, coaches can advance their knowledge, considering that closed and unbalanced games are largely characterized by the opponent's exclusion fouls to perform power-play actions, and by a divergent grade of defensive skills regardless of game situation, respectively. Key pointsThe water polo matches of the men's World Championships need to be analyzed considering successful/unsuccessful teams as well as specific margins of victory.Closed matches are mainly characterized by a high occurrence of the opponent's exclusion fouls to perform the power-play actions.For the unbalanced matches, a divergent grade of defensive skills between teams has been highlighted.Coaches can improve their training, considering the opponent's exclusion fouls to perform the power-play actions towards a closed match, and caring the defensive skills of each game situation towards an unbalanced match. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
715021 | Lists in Literature and Culture: Towards a Listology | LISTLIT investigates the cultural practice of lists and list making and its manifestations in narrative texts from antiquity until the twenty-first century. The simple form of the list has been remarkably constant for centuries: as a practical device, lists have been a prime instrument for classifying, organizing, and categorizing the world since the early high civilizations. Lists are tools of the mind: in visualizing human beings’ thinking, they are indicative of cognitive processes. In literary texts, list structures have been employed at least since antiquity. The manifold configurations of lists in literature and their enmeshment with the practical usage of lists in a given period take centre stage in this project. How are lists as a tool for thinking and organizing the world in everyday life and lists in literature intertwined? Embedded in narrative texts, lists challenge the received parameters of how narrative texts work. The study of lists in the trajectory of cognition, narration, and practical usage thus provides a risky and challenging alternative approach to narrative forms and functions, reader engagement, and the aesthetics of literature. Situated at the heart of the intersections between cognitive theory, cultural history, and literary history, LISTLIT significantly advances our understanding of how literature and list making as a cognitive tool and cultural practice are interrelated. By scrutinizing the practices of list writing in and beyond literary texts, LISTLIT establishes a ‘listology’, that is, the systematic and diachronic study of lists and listing structures in cultural productions. | [
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
269627 | The emergence of understanding from the combination of innate mechanisms and visual experience | The goal of this research initiative is to construct large-scale computational modeling of how knowledge of the world emerges from the combination of innate mechanisms and visual experience. The ultimate goal is a ‘digital baby’ model which, through perception and interaction with the world, develops on its own representations of complex concepts that allow it to understand the world around it, in terms of objects, object categories, events, agents, actions, goals, social interactions, etc. A wealth of empirical research in the cognitive sciences have studied how natural concepts in these domains are acquired spontaneously and efficiently from perceptual experience, but a major open challenge is an understating of the processes and computations involved by rigorous testable models.
To deal with this challenge we propose a novel methodology based on two components. The first, ‘computational Nativism’, is a computational theory of cognitively and biologically plausible innate structures , which guide the system along specific paths through its acquisition of knowledge, to continuously acquire meaningful concepts, which can be significant to the observer, but statistically inconspicuous in the sensory input. The second, ‘embedded interpretation’ is a new way of acquiring extended learning and interpretation processes. This is obtained by placing perceptual inference mechanisms within a broader perception-action loop, where the actions in the loop are not overt actions, but internal operation over internal representation. The results will provide new modeling and understanding of the age-old problem of how innate mechanisms and perception are combined in human cognition, and may lay foundation for a major research direction dealing with computational cognitive development. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
W2595944748 | Formulación de un marco de referencia para la integración de la convergencia de tecnologías operacionales y de información al modelo de gestión del centro nacional, de control de energía, CENACE | For the development of this work, documentation on Management Models and Convergence of Technologies Operational and Information was analyzed; specifically on issues related to integration processes, impact, advantages and disadvantages. Research conducted and published by CENACE officials were taken as reference as well as the best practices in management and technology. In addition, relevant information about the transition process is included, given that CENACE goes to transform from private company to a public company, as the case study contributes to the generation of a Framework, and it constitutes an input into the formulation of the Management Model required by government institutions. The research was conducted by formulating objectives which justify the methodology of explanatory and descriptive research that develops throughout the document... See attached file | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1073/pnas.1216128109 | Population-scale sequencing reveals genetic differentiation due to local adaptation in Atlantic herring | The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), one of the most abundant marine fishes in the world, has historically been a critical food source in Northern Europe. It is one of the few marine species that can reproduce throughout the brackish salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. Previous studies based on few genetic markers have revealed a conspicuous lack of genetic differentiation between geographic regions, consistent with huge population sizes and minute genetic drift. Here, we present a cost-effective genome-wide study in a species that lacks a genome sequence. We first assembled amuscle transcriptome and then aligned genomic reads to the transcripts, creating an "exome assembly," capturing both exons and flanking sequences. We then resequenced pools of fish from a wide geographic range, including the Northeast Atlantic, as well as different regions in the Baltic Sea, aligned the reads to the exome assembly, and identified 440,817 SNPs. The great majority of SNPs showed no appreciable differences in allele frequency among populations; however, several thousand SNPs showed striking differences, some approaching fixation for different alleles. The contrast between low genetic differentiation at most loci and striking differences at others implies that the latter category primarily reflects natural selection. A simulation study confirmed that the distribution of the fixation index FST deviated significantly from expectation for selectively neutral loci. This study provides insights concerning the population structure of an important marine fish and establishes the Atlantic herring as a model for population genetic studies of adaptation and natural selection. | [
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
W928966052 | Nanotechnology Quantum Detectors for Gravitational Waves: Adelaide to London Correlations Observed | The discovery of the nanotechnology zener diode quantum detector effect for gravitational waves is reported, based upon the quantum to classical transition being induced by dynamical 3-space fluctuations. Gravitational waves were detected by way of waveform correlations between time measurement in two Digital Storage Oscilloscopes, revealing time delays of 13 to 20 seconds over 24 hrs for Adelaide to London travel, varying as the earth rotates. The speed and direction were found, for January 1, 2013, to be 512 km/s, RA = 4.8 hrs, Dec = 83 deg S. This velocity agrees with previous detections using different techniques, such as the NASA spacecraft Earth-flyby Doppler shifts, which found 491 km/s, RA = 5.2 hrs, Dec = 80 deg S, for December 8, 1992. Consequently it was realised that nanotechnology zener diode quantum detectors have been operating, for different reasons, for some 15 years, and are known as RNGs (Random Number Generators) or REGs (Random Event Generators). The discovery herein reveals that they are not random. Correlations between data from a REG in Perth and a REG in London gave the speed and direction, for January 1, 2013, to be 528 km/s, RA = 5.3 hrs, Dec = 81 deg S. We also report highly correlated current fluctuations from collocated zener diode circuits. The GCP REG network constitutes an international gravitational wave detector network, with currently some 60 REGs operating, and with records going back to 1998. These detectors permit the study of dynamical 3-space structure, and also apparent anomalous scattering of the waves when passing deeper into the earth, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, earthquakes, and correlations with fluctuations in various rate processes such as nuclear decays. The quantum to classical transition is shown to be caused by 3-space dynamics, and so challenges the standard interpretation of probabilities in quantum theory. | [
"Universe Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.1088/1742-6596/1001/1/012007 | Wall-based identification of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence | During the last decades, a number of reduced order models based on coherent structures have been proposed to describe wall-bounded turbulence. Many of these models emphasize the importance of coherent wall-normal velocity eddies (ν-eddies), which drive the generation of the very long streamwise velocity structures observed in the logarithmic and outer region. In order to use these models to improve our ability to control wall-bounded turbulence in realistic applications, these ν-eddies need to be identified from the wall in a non-intrusive way. In this paper, the possibility of using the pressure signal at the wall to identify these ν-eddies is explored, analyzing the cross-correlation between the wall-normal velocity component and the pressure fluctuations at the wall in a DNS of a turbulent channel flow at Reτ = 939. The results show that the cross-correlation has a region of negative correlation upstream, and a region of positive correlation backwards. In the spanwise direction the correlation decays monotonously, except very close to the wall where a change of sign of the correlation coefficient is observed. Moreover, filtering the pressure fluctuations at the wall in space results in an increase of the region where the cross-correlation is strong, both for the positively and the negatively correlated regions. The use of a time filter for the pressure fluctuations at the wall yields different results, displacing the regions of strong correlation without changing much their sizes. The results suggest that space-filtering the pressure at the wall is a feasible way to identify ν-eddies of different sizes, which could be used to trigger turbulent control strategies. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1016/j.jempfin.2015.01.002 | ABC of SV: Limited information likelihood inference in stochastic volatility jump-diffusion models | We develop novel methods for estimation and filtering of continuous-time models with stochastic volatility and jumps using so-called Approximate Bayesian Computation which build likelihoods based on limited information. The proposed estimators and filters are computationally attractive relative to standard likelihood-based versions since they rely on low-dimensional auxiliary statistics and so avoid computation of high-dimensional integrals. Despite their computational simplicity, we find that estimators and filters perform well in practice and lead to precise estimates of model parameters and latent variables. We show how the methods can incorporate intra-daily information to improve on the estimation and filtering. In particular, the availability of realized volatility measures help us in learning about parameters and latent states. The method is employed in the estimation of a flexible stochastic volatility model for the dynamics of the S&P 500 equity index. We find evidence of the presence of a dynamic jump rate and in favor of a structural break in parameters at the time of the recent financial crisis. We find evidence that possible measurement error in log price is small and has little effect on parameter estimates. Smoothing shows that, recently, volatility and the jump rate have returned to the low levels of 2004-2006. | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1017/jfm.2019.130 | No net motion for oscillating near-spheres at low Reynolds numbers | We investigate the flow around an oscillating nearly spherical particle at low, yet non-vanishing, Reynolds numbers ($Re$), and the potential resulting locomotion. We analytically demonstrate that no net motion can arise up to order one in $Re$ and order one in the asphericity parameter, regardless of the particle’s shape. Therefore, geometry-induced acoustic streaming propulsion, if any, must arise at higher order. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W2000386205 | Pregnancy in a Woman with Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia Not on Low-Density Lipoprotein Apheresis | Pregnancy in women with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) has been rarely reported and might pose risks on the mother and her fetus. Although most reported cases remained on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis, there are no clear guidelines regarding the management of this entity. We report the first case of an uncomplicated pregnancy in a 24-year-old homozygous FH woman who was not maintained on LDL apheresis. FH expresses a wide variability in the phenotype, and management of homozygous FH cases who desire to become pregnant should be individualized based on preconceptional assessment with frequent antenatal follow-up. Decisions on management should be made after weighing the risks versus benefits of LDL apheresis. | [
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
222286 | A community platform for building peace through information-driven dialogue | In any society that has emerged from civil conflict there is a risk of recurrence unless the underlying divisions are addressed. Peace education has been shown to promote reconciliation by developing empathy, critical thinking and moral responsibility. Various factors for building resistance to conflict have been identified as key: the provision of access to an ‘evidence base’ of balanced information; active engagement with information to familiarise users with concepts of evidence, authenticity and critical thinking; and inclusive spaces for dialogue between communities, in which reconciliation is forged through participation. We take these participatory approaches and map them into the digital sphere. While social media are widely used for participation, their potential for abuse makes them unsuitable for such dialogue. More focused platforms have emerged to support the public’s engagement with information, issues and each other, such as Ushahidi, which focuses on collecting and sharing data about unfolding situations, to involve communities in dealing with them. We will build on this software to develop a participatory platform that supports active engagement with bodies of information, allowing communities to share, organise, enhance, and reuse it, within a digital space for information-driven processes of reflection and informed, constructive dialogue. The platform will be piloted and evaluated in two countries recovering from civil conflict, Rwanda and Kenya, and the reach of the trials will be extended into areas of poor connectivity via BRCK hotspot devices. We will follow a living labs methodology based on social innovation and co-creation, involving close engagement with citizens and communities in participatory design and evaluation events throughout the project. Evaluation will also use quantitative methods from data science to assess the relevance, innovation and impact of the platform, and analyse the behavioural responses of the platform’s users. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1002/anie.201107453 | Magnetic anisotropy in a dysprosium/DOTA single-molecule magnet: Beyond simple magneto-structural correlations | Magnetic moments: The orientation of the title single-molecule magnet was investigated by magnetic single crystal and luminescence characterization, supported by ab initio calculations, and was found to be governed by the position of the hydrogen atoms of the apical water molecules. This finding suggests that simple magneto-structural correlations can give misleading clues for research in molecular magnetism as well as in the design of MRI contrast agents. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
Q87757 | Développement du modèle d’affaires internationalisation du système informatique pour la gestion des projets de construction pour OPTeam S.A. | La portée matérielle de ce projet prévoit l’achat de services de conseil visant à développer un nouveau modèle d’affaires lié à l’internationalisation des opérations d’OPTeam dans le domaine de la vente d’un système informatique spécialisé pour la gestion globale des projets de construction. Le résultat final sera de fournir à l’entreprise une stratégie globale de développement des exportations pour le système de gestion des projets de construction sur les marchés étrangers recommandés. Le résultat des analyses et des recherches sur les marchés étrangers sera, entre autres, une indication de la position concurrentielle de l’entreprise, l’identification des marchés cibles potentiels et leur mise en œuvre, le développement du concept d’entrée sur le marché étranger, l’indication des outils et méthodes de marketing et de promotion les plus efficaces, la recherche des événements internationaux les plus efficaces et la possibilité d’obtenir des sources de financement externe des activités d’exportation. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1101/474437 | Distributed Correlates Of Visually Guided Behavior Across The Mouse Brain | Behavior arises from neuronal activity, but it is not known how the active neurons are distributed across brain regions and how their activity unfolds in time. Here, we used high-density Neuropixels probes to record from ~30,000 neurons in mice performing a visual contrast discrimination task. The task activated 60% of the neurons, involving nearly all 42 recorded brain regions, well beyond the regions activated by passive visual stimulation. However, neurons selective for choice (left vs. right) were rare, and found mostly in midbrain, striatum, and frontal cortex. Those in midbrain were typically activated prior to contralateral choices and suppressed prior to ipsilateral choices, consistent with a competitive midbrain circuit for adjudicating the subject’s choice. A brain-wide state shift distinguished trials in which visual stimuli led to movement. These results reveal concurrent representations of movement and choice in neurons widely distributed across the brain. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
898851 | Microbiome applications for sustainable food systems through technologies and enterprise | Although microorganisms dominate almost every ecological niche in our planet, it has only been during the past 10-15 years that we have begun to gain insights into the composition and function of microbial communities (microbiomes) as a consequence of major advances in High Throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) technologies. These approaches have allowed a comprehensive analysis of microbiomes for the first time. Following initial curiosity-driven investigations of microbiomes using HTS technologies, the field has evolved to harness the insights provided, leading to the development of a new multi-billion euro industry focused on characterisation and modulation of microbiomes. The vast majority of this investment has been in the clinical space. In contrast, far less is known about microbiomes across complex food chains, making it difficult to harness food-chain microbiome data for the development of more sustainable food systems and to yield innovative products and applications. This is despite the evident importance of microbes throughout the food chain. MASTER will take a global approach to the development of concrete microbiome products, foods/feeds, services or processes with high commercial potential, which will benefit society through improving the quantity, quality and safety of food, across multiple food chains, to include marine, plant, soil, rumen, meat, brewing, vegetable waste, and fermented foods. This will be achieved through mining microbiome data relating to the food chain, developing big data management tools to identify inter-relations between microbiomes across food chains, and generating applications which promote sustainability, circularity and contribute to waste management and climate change mitigation. We will harness microbiome knowledge to significantly enhance the health and resilience of fish, plants, soil, animals and humans, improve professional skills and competencies, and support the creation of new jobs in the food sector and bioeconomy. | [
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pgen.1004082 | An ER Complex of ODR-4 and ODR-8/Ufm1 Specific Protease 2 Promotes GPCR Maturation by a Ufm1-Independent Mechanism | Despite the importance of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) their biogenesis is poorly understood. Like vertebrates, C. elegans uses a large family of GPCRs as chemoreceptors. A subset of these receptors, such as ODR-10, requires the odr-4 and odr-8 genes to be appropriately localized to sensory cilia. The odr-4 gene encodes a conserved tail-anchored transmembrane protein; the molecular identity of odr-8 is unknown. Here, we show that odr-8 encodes the C. elegans ortholog of Ufm1-specific protease 2 (UfSP2). UfSPs are cysteine proteases identified biochemically by their ability to liberate the ubiquitin-like modifier Ufm1 from its pro-form and protein conjugates. ODR-8/UfSP2 and ODR-4 are expressed in the same set of twelve chemosensory neurons, and physically interact at the ER membrane. ODR-4 also binds ODR-10, suggesting that an ODR-4/ODR-8 complex promotes GPCR folding, maturation, or export from the ER. The physical interaction between human ODR4 and UfSP2 suggests that this complex's role in GPCR biogenesis may be evolutionarily conserved. Unexpectedly, mutant versions of ODR-8/UfSP2 lacking catalytic residues required for protease activity can rescue all odr-8 mutant phenotypes tested. Moreover, deleting C. elegans ufm-1 does not alter chemoreceptor traffic to cilia, either in wild type or in odr-8 mutants. Thus, UfSP2 proteins have protease- and Ufm1-independent functions in GPCR biogenesis. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1016/j.scriptamat.2015.05.025 | On the nature of the omega tri-layer periodicity in rapidly cooled Ti-15Mo | High angle annular dark field (HAADF) images of the omega phase in metastable beta titanium alloys exhibit tri-layered periodicity. However, it is unclear if this indicates preferential site occupation, or is related to the structural modification of omega formation. Here, the periodicity was studied using a combination of HAADF imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy. The results show that there is no preferential site occupancy or ordering and that the observed intensity variations are related to the imaging conditions. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
172584 | Collective awareness platform for outdoor air pollution | The overall objective of hackAIR is to develop and pilot test an open platform that will enable communities of citizens to easily set up air quality monitoring networks and engage their members in measuring and publishing outdoor air pollution levels, leveraging the power of online social networks, mobile and open hardware technologies, and engagement strategies. The hackAIR platform will enable the collection of data from:
• measurements from existing air quality stations and open data
• user-generated sky-depicting images (either publicly available geo-tagged and time-stamped images posted through social media platforms, or images captured by users
• low-cost open hardware devices easily assembled by citizens using commercial off-the-shelf parts
A data fusion algorithm and reasoning services will be developed for synthesising heterogeneous air quality data into air quality-aware personalised services to citizens.
The hackAIR platform will be co-created with the users, and offered through:
• a web application that communities of citizens will be able to install and customize
• a mobile app that citizens can use to get convenient access to easy-to-understand air quality information, contribute to measurements by an open sensor, or by taking and uploading sky-depicting photos, and receive personalised air quality-aware information on their everyday activities
The hackAIR platform will be tested in two pilot locations, with the direct participation of a grassroots NGO with >400.000 members and a health association with >19.000 members. Appropriate strategies and tools will be developed and deployed for increasing user engagement and encouraging behavioural change. The usability and effectiveness of the hackAIR platform, and its social and environmental impact will be assessed. A sustainability and exploitation strategy will pave the way for the future availability of the hackAIR toolkit, community and website, and explore opportunities for commercial exploitation. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
W1919959555 | Future house automation | In this paper, we propose the future house automation, a PLC-based embedded system that aims reducing the house energy consumption by optimizing the entire hardware assembly and software algorithms. The project started from the idea of designing a self-controlled house, to increase user's comfort in his daily environment, reducing the cost and optimizing the energy consumption. Our embedded application represents a green solution into a growing number of environmentally aware consumers, very suitable for the market of energy-efficient control systems. We provide a cheap solution for developing by everyone its own automation system control house. Therefore, our project contributes for helping the elderly, which represents another social challenge with global character. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.3389/fmicb.2016.01330 | Comparative analysis of carbon monoxide tolerance among Thermoanaerobacter species | An anaerobic thermophilic strain (strain PCO) was isolated from a syngas-converting enrichment culture. Syngas components cannot be used by strain PCO, but the new strain is very tolerant to carbon monoxide (pCO = 1. 7 × 105 Pa, 100% CO). 16S rRNA gene analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization revealed that strain PCO is a strain of Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus. The physiology of strain PCO and other Thermoanaerobacter species was compared, focusing on their tolerance to carbon monoxide. T. thermohydrosulfuricus, T. brockii subsp. finnii, T. pseudethanolicus, and T. wiegelii were exposed to increased CO concentrations in the headspace, while growth, glucose consumption and product formation were monitored. Remarkably, glucose conversion rates by Thermoanaerobacter species were not affected by CO. All the tested strains fermented glucose to mainly lactate, ethanol, acetate, and hydrogen, but final product concentrations differed. In the presence of CO, ethanol production was generally less affected, but H2 production decreased with increasing CO partial pressure. This study highlights the CO resistance of Thermoanaerobacter species. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
US 2015/0030967 W | BIODIESEL GLYCEROL EMULSION FUEL MIXTURES | The invention provides fuel mixtures containing biodiesel oil, glycerol, glycerol soluble compounds, surfactants and additives. The fuel mixtures are uniform, remain suspended in solution, and are resistant to phase separation. Upon combustion, the mixtures generate reduced CO, CO2, SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions compared to petroleum fuels and offer improved engine performance over petroleum and water mixtures. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
615142 | Developing sequence controlled polymers for organization, templation and recognition | Nature‘s toolbox for replication uses DNA and RNA which are nucleic acids capable of templating new copies of themselves. Nature‘s ability to replicate has led to the evolution of a wide variety of forms and functions for biological materials which cannot be achieved using current synthetic approaches. It seems likely that if we were able to teach plastics or other polymers how to template new copies of themselves that we would similarly be able to make new, impossible materials and hence further expand the potential function and properties of these materials. These new materials would provide enhanced properties and function (such as replication and evolution) that are not currently available to material chemists. This would allow for a best-of-both-worlds scenario with the development of robust synthetic materials, with tuneable properties including crystallinity, thermal properties, shape memory, and self-healing. Most importantly, by developing an empirical and perhaps even model-based connection between polymer sequence / composition and polymer properties it would be possible to begin to design new materials in a rational and knowledge-based way. Indeed, it could be argued that this advance would ultimately solve one of the major problems in materials science, multiscale modelling of polymer properties. It seems certain that achieving even a portion of these goals would open up a completely new area of material science. Hence, following the model of DNA, we propose developing a number of new routes for the preparation of sequence controlled polymers (SCPs) and specifically a new class of SCPs which are capable of replication and ultimately evolution. This will produce polymers and self-assembled structures with unprecedented physical properties and the ability to functionally interact and communicate with biological materials. Realizing this goal will allow us to bring new function to chemistry, through expanding chemical space to access new precision polymers | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1186/1471-2334-14-166 | Interferon Gamma As Adjunctive Immunotherapy For Invasive Fungal Infections A Case Series | Background: Invasive fungal infections are very severe infections associated with high mortality rates, despite the availability of new classes of antifungal agents. Based on pathophysiological mechanisms and limited pre-clinical and clinical data, adjunctive immune-stimulatory therapy with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) may represent a promising candidate to improve outcome of invasive fungal infections by enhancing host defence mechanisms. Methods: In this open-label, prospective case series, we describe eight patients with invasive Candida and/or Aspergillus infections who were treated with recombinant IFN-γ (rIFN-γ, 100 μg s. c. , thrice a week) for 2 weeks in addition to standard antifungal therapy. Results: Recombinant IFN-γ treatment in patients with invasive Candida and/or Aspergillus infections partially restored immune function, as characterized by an increased HLA-DR expression in those patients with a baseline expression below 50%, and an enhanced capacity of leukocytes from treated patients to produce proinflammatory cytokines involved in antifungal defence. Conclusions: The present study provides evidence that adjunctive immunotherapy with IFN-γ can restore immune function in fungal sepsis patients, warranting future clinical studies to assess its potential clinical benefit. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1016/j.neuron.2018.01.027 | Axon-Axon Interactions Regulate Topographic Optic Tract Sorting via CYFIP2-Dependent WAVE Complex Function | The axons of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are topographically sorted before they arrive at the optic tectum. This pre-target sorting, typical of axon tracts throughout the brain, is poorly understood. Here, we show that cytoplasmic FMR1-interacting proteins (CYFIPs) fulfill non-redundant functions in RGCs, with CYFIP1 mediating axon growth and CYFIP2 specifically involved in axon sorting. We find that CYFIP2 mediates homotypic and heterotypic contact-triggered fasciculation and repulsion responses between dorsal and ventral axons. CYFIP2 associates with transporting ribonucleoprotein particles in axons and regulates translation. Axon-axon contact stimulates CYFIP2 to move into growth cones where it joins the actin nucleating WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) in the periphery and regulates actin remodeling and filopodial dynamics. CYFIP2’s function in axon sorting is mediated by its binding to the WRC but not its translational regulation. Together, these findings uncover CYFIP2 as a key regulatory link between axon-axon interactions, filopodial dynamics, and optic tract sorting. Axon sorting within nerve tracts is important for the establishment of neural connectivity in the vertebrate nervous system. In this paper, Cioni et al. reveal new insights on how retinal axons segregate in the optic tract through CYFIP2-mediated axon-axon signaling. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1007/978-3-319-33326-7_2 | Core Concepts And Heuristics | This chapter outlines the basics of our socioecological theory. It starts with the question of why entities such as ‘culture’ have been so successful that an evolving species like humankind could become the dominant power on the planet. It explains social systems as ‘hybrids’, a structural coupling between a (cultural) communication system and interconnected biophysical elements. In what sense are humans, domestic animals and artifacts hybrids? In what sense do these elements ‘belong’ to a certain cultural (communication) system? The constitutive operation is ‘colonization’. Human beings are culturally ‘colonized’, as are their livestock and their artifacts. These hybrid elements and the metabolic flows required to maintain them determine the social system’s impact upon the ‘rest of nature’. This influence happens through the metabolic exchange of energy and materials (which in part occurs unintentionally, such as breathing or evaporation) and through ‘labor’, or culturally guided human action. The sociometabolic model is described in the following section as an interrelation of stocks (human population, territory, livestock and artifacts) and flows (energy and materials). It has systematic similarities with national accounting and is thus useful for addressing many research questions, such as the resource productivity of a national economy or its energy intensity. To some extent, it is the description of an economy, at any time in history, using biophysical instead monetary parameters. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
RU 2009135711 A | DEVICE TO TRANSMIT OFDM SIGNAL AND DEVICE TO RECEIVE OFDM SIGNAL | FIELD: information technologies. ^ SUBSTANCE: device to receive an OFDM signal comprises: a reception module (31), arranged as capable to handle an operation of input processing of a received OFDM signal for each period of OFDM symbol duration; a row of alternation modules (341Ç34n), every of which is arranged as capable of handling an operation of pulling alternation with data received as a result of handling the input processing operation, in a structural element, which is an alternation unit; and a row of decoding modules (361Ç36n), every of which is arranged as capable of handling a data decoding operation sent from the appropriate module, included into the row of alternation modules (341Ç34n), at the same time the alternation unit is a part of a time transfer interval unit containing data intended for transfer in the time transfer interval. ^ EFFECT: reduced delays of input processing of a signal when using alternation. ^ 6 cl, 6 dwg | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1063/1.5064786 | Thermophotonic Cooling In Gaas Based Light Emitters | Fundamental thermodynamic considerations reveal that efficient emission from an electrically injected light emitting diode (LED) can lead to the cooling of the device. This effect, known as electroluminescent (EL) cooling, has been identified decades ago, but it has not been experimentally demonstrated in semiconductors at practical operating conditions due to the extreme requirements set for the efficiency of the light emission. To probe the conditions of EL cooling in GaAs based light emitters, we have designed and fabricated LED structures with integrated photodiodes (PDs), where the optically mediated thermal energy transport between the LED and the PD can be easily monitored. This allows characterization of the fundamental properties of the LED and a path for eliminating selected issues encountered in conventional approaches for EL cooling, such as the challenging light extraction. Despite several remaining nonidealities, our setup demonstrates a very high directly measured quantum efficiency of 70%. To characterize the bulk part of the LED, we also employ a model for estimating the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the LED, without the contribution of non-fundamental nonidealities such as photodetection losses. Our results suggest that the PCE of the LED peaks at around 105–115%, exceeding the 100% barrier required to reach the EL cooling regime by a clear margin. This implies that the LED component in our device is in fact cooling down by transporting thermal energy carried by the emitted photons to the PD. This provides a compelling incentive for further study to confirm the result and to find ways to extend it for practically useful EL cooling. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1007/s00221-017-5018-0 | Electrophysiological evidence for a self-processing advantage during audiovisual speech integration | Previous electrophysiological studies have provided strong evidence for early multisensory integrative mechanisms during audiovisual speech perception. From these studies, one unanswered issue is whether hearing our own voice and seeing our own articulatory gestures facilitate speech perception, possibly through a better processing and integration of sensory inputs with our own sensory-motor knowledge. The present EEG study examined the impact of self-knowledge during the perception of auditory (A), visual (V) and audiovisual (AV) speech stimuli that were previously recorded from the participant or from a speaker he/she had never met. Audiovisual interactions were estimated by comparing N1 and P2 auditory evoked potentials during the bimodal condition (AV) with the sum of those observed in the unimodal conditions (A + V). In line with previous EEG studies, our results revealed an amplitude decrease of P2 auditory evoked potentials in AV compared to A + V conditions. Crucially, a temporal facilitation of N1 responses was observed during the visual perception of self speech movements compared to those of another speaker. This facilitation was negatively correlated with the saliency of visual stimuli. These results provide evidence for a temporal facilitation of the integration of auditory and visual speech signals when the visual situation involves our own speech gestures. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.