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10.1103/PhysRevB.99.201102
|
Band inversion driven by electronic correlations at the (111) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
|
Quantum confinement at complex oxide interfaces establishes an intricate hierarchy of the strongly correlated d orbitals which is widely recognized as a source of emergent physics. The most prominent example is the (001) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface, which features a dome-shaped phase diagram of superconducting critical temperature and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) as a function of electrostatic doping, arising from a selective occupancy of t2g orbitals of different character. Here we study (111)-oriented LAO/STO interfaces, where the three t2g orbitals contribute equally to the subband states caused by confinement, and investigate the impact of this unique feature on electronic transport. We show that transport occurs through two sets of electronlike subbands, and the carrier density of one of the sets shows a nonmonotonic dependence on the sample conductance. Using tight-binding modeling, we demonstrate that this behavior stems from a band inversion driven by on-site Coulomb interactions. The balanced contribution of all t2g orbitals to electronic transport is shown to result in strong SOC with reduced electrostatic modulation.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
637825
|
Crafting emotion: the late antique panegyris as embodied experience (ca. 330-ca. 500)
|
EmbPatristics seeks to develop an interdisciplinary model for the study of emotion manipulation in ritual contexts. To this end, it applies analytical instruments developed across the Historical, Social, and Cognitive Sciences to a particularly well-documented case study, namely the annual celebration of a martyr’s death or ‘martyr panegyris’, as celebrated in Asia Minor (Anatolia) in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. The experience gained from the analysis is used to develop an adaptable model, with implications for the history of emotion, the history of religion, ritual studies, and the Cognitive Sciences. In terms of content, EmbPatristics opens the discussion and provides the instruments for further research on the role emotion played in the spread of Christianity among Romans. Finally, by showing in a comprehensible manner how external stimuli elicit emotional responses, the initiative contributes to contemporary society, where emotion manipulation through media outlets has become increasingly popular in the past years Keeping with the goals of the MSCA, EmbPatristics involves a bidirectional knowledge transfer and the strengthening of European research networks. The researcher will enrich his expertise in the staging of religious experiences with competences in Patristic text analysis and in the Cognitive Sciences—area of study in which the University of Vienna is the leading European centre—while also improving his scientific networking, communication, and project management skills. The University of Vienna will have its Cognitive Science research enriched with a new focus—i.e. the study of Patristics from an embodied perspective—housed within the Department of Christian History, Art and Archaeology.
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
678901
|
Transformations of Food in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age
|
Mediterranean cuisine has long been perceived as a timeless constant, already linking the different societies around the sea by the 2nd mill. BC. The geographic frame was considered to be essential, whereas intercultural entanglements as transformative factors were neglected. By integrating archaeological, textual and scientific research, we will shed new light on the transformative power of cultural encounters arising from the intense connectivity between local communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age and the simultaneous introduction of food of South and East Asian origin (e.g. pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon). We intend to achieve this goal by analysing human remains and pottery vessels from selected sites between the Aegean and Egypt from the 15th to the 12th cent. BC to trace spatial and temporal dynamics. Organic residue analyses of the pottery will shed light on the preparation and consumption of food (e.g. oils, wine, spices). We will include vessels with their contents labelled on them and then link so-far hardly understood Egyptian textual evidence to the contents, which enables a new understanding of these texts for the study of food. We combine the results from residue analyses with a cutting-edge approach to the study of human dental calculus, the potential of which has just been recognized for the understanding of human nutrition: we will analyse DNA from food traces and bacteria as well as proteins, lipids and microremains in dental calculus. This will give unique insight into individual consumption of different oils (olive, sesame etc.), kinds of milk (cow, sheep, goat) and related products (cheese, kefir) and of plants (spices, cereals), which goes far beyond what has been achieved to date. The linkage of food residues in vessels and calculus will allow us to trace processes of homogenization and diversification as consequences of early globalization and better understand food circulation in present and future globalization processes.
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
W2183503797
|
Using semantic workflows to disseminate best practices and accelerate discoveries in multi-omic data analysis
|
The goal of our work is to enable omics analysis to be easily contextualized and interpreted for development of clinical decision aids and integration with Electronic Health Records (EHRs). We are developing a framework where common omics analysis methods are easy to reuse, analytic results are reproducible, and validation is enforced by the system based on characteristics of the data at hand. Our approach uses semantic workflows to capture multi-step omic analysis methods and annotate them with constraints that express appropriate use for algorithms and types of data. This paper describes our initial work to use semantic workflows to disseminate best practices, ensure valid use of analytic methods, and enable reproducibility of omics analyses. Key elements of this framework are that it is knowledge-rich with regard to parameters and constraints that impact the analyses, proactive in the use of this knowledge to guide users to validate and correct their analyses and dynamic/adaptive as data sets evolve and change, all features that are critical for successful integration of omics analyses in a clinical setting.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
222261
|
Nanotextured surfaces for membranes, protective textiles, friction pads and abrasive materials
|
Cellulose, the most abundant polymer on Earth, is a classic example of a high reinforcement materials produced from renewable resources. Cellulose nanomaterials produced either with chemical and/or mechanical means from cellulose fibres are safe, biodegradable, ultra-strong, durable and suitable for novel functional applications. Cellulose nanomaterials strengthen the production of lean added value products. They enable novel functional products and improve the competitiveness of European industry. However, it is necessary to further develop application processes for cellulose nanomaterials.
NanoTextSurf aims to upgrade existing pilot lines for manufacturing and demonstrating nanotextured surfaces with mechanically enhanced properties. The focal approach of the surface manufacturing concept is to construct nanostructured surfaces based on nanoscale biomaterials. Formation of surfaces will be realised by utilising these building blocks with on-line application techniques (cast and foam coating and screen-printing), which enable the formation of the true nanotextured architecture. This approach will guarantee that robust, efficient and easily up-scalable processes with in-line controlling methods will be available as open access services with reasonable costs.
The nanotextured products and their mechanically enhanced performance will be demonstrated as value added products of the existing and novel bio-based membranes at liquid purification, functional textiles for fire retardant fabrics and linings, novel friction materials for transport applications and abrasive materials for surface finishing. Their economic feasibility, safety and environmental acceptability will be evaluated with life cycle sustainability assessment. The results can be exploited in the existing manufacturing lines. Besides these products, NanoTextSurf partners have recognised additional markets such as hospital textiles, industrial wipes, air purification filters and food packaging materials.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
670406
|
Exploring the Terascale at LHC with Novel Highly Granular Calorimeters
|
The recent discovery of a Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, has undoubtedly opened a portal to widely expected new physics, anticipated to manifest itself in the Tera-electron-Volt range: the Terascale. New physics is needed to understand some of the deepest mysteries of our universe, that include its composition, where dark matter and dark energy seem to comprise 95% of its energy/matter density, and its evolution from the Big Bang to today, where we see much structure and where matter dominates over antimatter, and whether we live in more dimensions than the familiar four. Substantial improvements to the current experiments at the LHC are planned, and new experiments are being proposed or discussed at future new energy frontier accelerators to tackle these scientific issues. A key element of the improved and newer generation detectors is the use of very high performance calorimeters for the measurement of the energies of particles produced in the high-energy collisions at colliders. At the upgraded LHC these must operate in an unprecedentedly challenging experimental environment. This proposal deals with a novel, yet untested, high-risk approach to calorimetry that combines state of the art techniques so far only used independently either in charged particle tracking or conventional calorimeters. New technologies will have to be developed for such a ground-breaking calorimeter. These include very fine feature size, powerful, radiation hard electronics in emerging technologies using feature sizes of 130 nm or 65 nm; low-cost silicon sensors in the emerging technology using 8” silicon wafers, also in Europe; environmentally-friendly cooling technologies using liquid carbondioxide; high performance and fast decision making logic using new more powerful FPGA, all to be produced at an industrial scale.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
683300
|
Output-Sensitive Algorithms for Reactive Synthesis
|
Reactive synthesis has the potential to revolutionize the development of distributed embedded systems. From a given logical specification, the synthesis algorithm automatically constructs an implementation that is correct-by-design. The vision is that a designer analyzes the design objectives with a synthesis tool, automatically identifies competing or contradictory requirements and obtains an error-free prototype implementation. Coding and testing, the most expensive stages of development, are eliminated from the development process. Recent case studies from robotic control and from hardware design, such as the automatic synthesis of the AMBA AHB bus controller, demonstrate that this vision is in principle feasible. So far, however, synthesis does not scale to large systems. Even if successful, it produces code that is much larger and much more complicated than the code produced by human programmers for the same specification. Our goal is to address both of these fundamental shortcomings at the same time. We will develop output-sensitive synthesis algorithms, i.e. algorithms that, in addition to optimal performance in the size of the specification, also perform optimally in the size and structural complexity of the implementation. Target applications for our algorithms come from both the classic areas of reactive synthesis, such as hardware circuits, and from new and much more challenging application areas such as the distributed control and coordination of autonomous vehicles and manufacturing robots, which are far beyond the reach of the currently available synthesis algorithms.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
US 0236918 W
|
A POLISHING ARTICLE CONTAINING POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE
|
A wiping article for polishing hard painted surfaces, particularly automotive finishes, comprising a fabric substrate impregnated with a solution of fluorine compounds or a solution of fluorine and silicone compounds.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1088/0004-6256/150/5/147
|
A Cgps Look At The Spiral Structure Of The Outer Milky Way I Distances And Velocities To Star Forming Regions
|
We thank the referees for their careful reading of and
thoughtful comments on our manuscript. The Dominion Radio
Astrophysical Observatory is operated as a national facility by
the National Research Council of Canada. The Canadian
Galactic Plane Survey has been a Canadian project with
international partners, and was supported by grants from the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
(NSERC). The Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory
was supported by NSF grant AST 0540852. T. F. has been
supported by an NSERC Discovery grant and a Brandon
University Research Committee Grant. C. B. is funded in part
by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council grant
ST/J001627/1 (“From Molecular Clouds to Exoplanets”) and
the ERC grant ERC-2011-StG_20101014 (“LOCALSTAR”),
both held at the University of Exeter.
|
[
"Universe Sciences"
] |
W2039216889
|
Awareness and Knowledge of Osteoporosis in Vietnamese Women
|
Purpose. Vietnamese women are at particular risk of osteoporosis and its complications. This study examined osteoporosis knowledge and awareness among Vietnamese women who have accessed health care. Methods. A sample of 217 women, 13 to 76 years of age, who were attending 1 of 2 health care facilities in Da Nang, Vietnam, between November and December 2009 completed a questionnaire assessing their awareness of osteoporosis and measuring their knowledge using a 30-item instrument reflecting 9 knowledge domains (eg, risk factors, diagnosis, prognosis). Results. A majority (81.6%) of the women had heard of osteoporosis. Awareness was associated with education, working in health care, and having a family member with osteoporosis. On average, Vietnamese women answered 49% of the knowledge questions correctly; scores ranged from 0 to 26 questions correct out of 30 (mean = 14.71 ± 5.2, median = 15). Mean knowledge scores were higher among those reporting a family member with osteoporosis, nurses (vs other vocations), and women with a high school education or greater (relative to those who had not completed high school). More than 90% of the women expressed interest in a prevention and treatment program. Conclusions. Vietnamese women may have heard of osteoporosis, yet they would benefit from education targeting prevention and treatment of the disease.
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.012
|
The Chaperonin TRiC/CCT Associates with Prefoldin through a Conserved Electrostatic Interface Essential for Cellular Proteostasis
|
Maintaining proteostasis in eukaryotic protein folding involves cooperation of distinct chaperone systems. To understand how the essential ring-shaped chaperonin TRiC/CCT cooperates with the chaperone prefoldin/GIMc (PFD), we integrate cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), crosslinking-mass-spectrometry and biochemical and cellular approaches to elucidate the structural and functional interplay between TRiC/CCT and PFD. We find these hetero-oligomeric chaperones associate in a defined architecture, through a conserved interface of electrostatic contacts that serves as a pivot point for a TRiC-PFD conformational cycle. PFD alternates between an open “latched” conformation and a closed “engaged” conformation that aligns the PFD-TRiC substrate binding chambers. PFD can act after TRiC bound its substrates to enhance the rate and yield of the folding reaction, suppressing non-productive reaction cycles. Disrupting the TRiC-PFD interaction in vivo is strongly deleterious, leading to accumulation of amyloid aggregates. The supra-chaperone assembly formed by PFD and TRiC is essential to prevent toxic conformations and ensure effective cellular proteostasis.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1007/JHEP11(2014)034
|
Uplifting The Baryonic Branch A Test For Backreacting Anti D3 Branes
|
Placing D3 or anti-D3-branes at the tip of the Klebanov-Strassler background results in uplifting the baryonic branch of the moduli space of the dual field theory. In this paper we derive a mass formula for the scalar particle associated with the motion along the baryonic branch, from both open and closed string points of view. We show that both methods give the same mass at linear order in number of (anti)D3-branes, thus providing a comprehensive check for the recently found linearized supergravity solution describing backreacting anti-D3-branes at the tip.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.3389/fmicb.2016.01740
|
Ultrastructure and viral metagenome of bacteriophages from an anaerobic methane oxidizing methylomirabilis bioreactor enrichment culture
|
With its capacity for anaerobic methane oxidation and denitrification, the bacterium Methylomirabilis oxyfera plays an important role in natural ecosystems. Its unique physiology can be exploited for more sustainable wastewater treatment technologies. However, operational stability of full-scale bioreactors can experience setbacks due to, for example, bacteriophage blooms. By shaping microbial communities through mortality, horizontal gene transfer, and metabolic reprogramming, bacteriophages are important players in most ecosystems. Here, we analyzed an infected Methylomirabilis sp. bioreactor enrichment culture using (advanced) electron microscopy, viral metagenomics and bioinformatics. Electron micrographs revealed four different viral morphotypes, one of which was observed to infect Methylomirabilis cells. The infected cells contained densely packed ~55 nm icosahedral bacteriophage particles with a putative internal membrane. Various stages of virion assembly were observed. Moreover, during the bacteriophage replication, the host cytoplasmic membrane appeared extremely patchy, which suggests that the bacteriophages may use host bacterial lipids to build their own putative internal membrane. The viral metagenome contained 1. 87 million base pairs of assembled viral sequences, from which five putative complete viral genomes were assembled and manually annotated. Using bioinformatics analyses, we could not identify which viral genome belonged to the Methylomirabilis- infecting bacteriophage, in part because the obtained viral genome sequences were novel and unique to this reactor system. Taken together these results show that new bacteriophages can be detected in anaerobic cultivation systems and that the effect of bacteriophages on the microbial community in these systems is a topic for further study.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1111/opo.12375
|
Scattering contribution to the double-pass PSF using Monte Carlo simulations
|
Purpose: Scattering in the eye occurs mainly at two sites: the eye's optical media and the deeper retinal layers. Although the two phenomena are often treated collectively, their spatial domain of contribution to the double-pass Point Spread Function (PSF) is different: the fundus effect is limited to the narrow and middle part of the PSF whereas scattering in the eye's optics extends also to wide angles. The objective of this work was to determine the domain of contribution at the double-pass PSF of light scattered in the ocular media and the ocular fundus, using simulated and experimental data for two different wavelengths and for two different pigmentations. Methods: Diffuse reflection was simulated using Monte Carlo simulations for a four-layer retinal fundus model. Four situations were simulated in total for two different choroidal absorptions at two different wavelengths. Light diffusion in the fundus was the only phenomenon considered in the model. The simulations were compared against experimental fundus reflection data obtained in a previous study. Results: The simulations showed that at 560 nm, diffusion in the fundus causes light to extend to a radius of 2°, independently of the choroidal pigmentation, whereas at 650 nm it extends to radii of 4. 5° and 4° for low and high choroidal pigmentation respectively. Experimental data showed a similar behaviour at low angles where light diffusion in the fundus is dominant, but different at higher angles due to scattering in the ocular media. Conclusion: The spatial contribution of light diffused in the ocular fundus to the PSF was found to be limited to narrower angles compared to that of scattering at the ocular media. The comparison of simulated and optical data showed that beyond 2° at 560 nm and 4–4. 5° at 650 nm the only phenomenon contributing to the PSF is scattering in the ocular media, whereas the fundus contribution can be assumed as negligible.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1016/j.neuron.2016.11.046
|
Motor Learning Requires Purkinje Cell Synaptic Potentiation through Activation of AMPA-Receptor Subunit GluA3
|
Accumulating evidence indicates that cerebellar long-term potentiation (LTP) is necessary for procedural learning. However, little is known about its underlying molecular mechanisms. Whereas AMPA receptor (AMPAR) subunit rules for synaptic plasticity have been extensively studied in relation to declarative learning, it is unclear whether these rules apply to cerebellum-dependent motor learning. Here we show that LTP at the parallel-fiber-to-Purkinje-cell synapse and adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex depend not on GluA1- but on GluA3-containing AMPARs. In contrast to the classic form of LTP implicated in declarative memory formation, this form of LTP does not require GluA1-AMPAR trafficking but rather requires changes in open-channel probability of GluA3-AMPARs mediated by cAMP signaling and activation of the protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac). We conclude that vestibulo-cerebellar motor learning is the first form of memory acquisition shown to depend on GluA3-dependent synaptic potentiation by increasing single-channel conductance.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
W121824404
|
[Analysis on opioid compounds in the hair of heroin addicts with LC-MS/MS]
|
Objective To evaluate the effects of washing process on hair samples from heroin addicts, and compare the extracting method of enzymatic digestion with homogenization of hair samples. Methods After washing samples for 3.15 h, a mild enzymatic digestion procedure at pH 6.6 and a buffer incubating procedure in water bath at 48 degrees C during 18h was used. The samples were pre-treated by solid phase extraction using mixed mode sorbent columns (MCX Oasis). Quantitative analysis of morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine, heroin, acetylcodeine by chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed. Results Heroin accounted for 21.82% of the total equivalents of morphine. The ratio of morphine to 6-MAM in enzymatic digestion hair samples was 0.9875 and that in homogenized hair samples was 0.3948. Conclusion The results suggested that the procedures were not sufficient to remove the contaminants penetrating into hair from external sources.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1021/es305199h
|
Characterizing an extractive electrospray ionization (EESI) source for the online mass spectrometry analysis of organic aerosols
|
Organic compounds comprise a major fraction of tropospheric aerosol and understanding their chemical complexity is a key factor for determining their climate and health effects. We present and characterize here a new online technique for measuring the detailed chemical composition of organic aerosols, namely extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS). Aerosol particles composed of soluble organic compounds were extracted into and ionized by a solvent electrospray, producing molecular ions from the aerosol with minimal fragmentation. We demonstrate here that the technique has a time resolution of seconds and is capable of making stable measurements over several hours. The ion signal in the MS was linearly correlated with the mass of aerosol delivered to the EESI source over the range tested (3-600 μg/m3) and was independent of particle size and liquid water content, suggesting that the entire particle bulk is extracted for analysis. Tandem MS measurements enabled detection of known analytes in the sub-μg/m3 range. Proof-of-principle measurements of the ozonolysis of oleic acid aerosol (20 μg/m3) revealed the formation of a variety of oxidation products in good agreement with previous offline studies. This demonstrates the technique's potential for studying the product-resolved kinetics of aerosol-phase chemistry at a molecular level with high sensitivity and time resolution.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Earth System Science"
] |
645432
|
Rotational mechanical effects of sound
|
The exploratory studies on sound-matter interaction are to date one of the most promising directions as fundamental
research which can be used practically in rheology, medical imaging and other contactless manipulations. So far only
acoustic radiation force is used in applications. The study of rotational mechanical effects of sound actually remains in its
infancy and expected application potential invites a better understanding of acoustic radiation torques and further
fundamental experimental investigations. With the aim at going beyond the state-of-the art, the research project proposes to
explore experimentally new facets of the rotational mechanical effects of sound based on the use of acoustic vortex beams,
which are characterized by a helical wavefront bearing on-axis phase singularity. Indeed, depending on the specific wavematter
interaction, acoustic vortex beams can induce various rotational mechanical effects, such as angular displacements,
spinning or orbiting motions. Our approach will first consist to study acoustic radiation torque effects that do not rely on
sound-absorption, which corresponds to a sound-matter interaction regime barely explored experimentally. Also, we will
unveil experimentally the existence of recently predicted a spin contribution to the total angular momentum of acoustic vortex
beams. For these purposes, we will firstly develop a toolbox allowing versatile acoustic vortex beam shaping in the ultrasonic
regime owing to 3D printing technologies. Then, by using obtained vortex beams and appropriately designed sound-matter
interaction schemes, we will detect and monitor quantitatively the sought-after rotational mechanical effects. By addressing
original and timely scientific challenges on experimental grounds, the project will bring new knowledge in the field of acoustic
angular momenta and set a new state-of-the-art for acoustic contactless manipulations.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
W262097461
|
A Medieval Planetary Diagram in Graz University Library
|
IntroductionThe manuscript MS 38 in the manuscript collection of the University Library in Graz, Austria, has as its main component a Biblia sacra Veteris Testamenti cum prologis Hieronymi. The codex is part of a series that includes two volumes catalogued as MS 37 in the same library and CVP 1 1 80 in the Austrian National Library. The series was in the possession of Stift Neuberg an der Miirz, Austria, until its suppression by Emperor Joseph ? in 1786. This monastery had been founded in 1327. For palaeographic reasons1 the writing can be dated to the twelfth or early thirteenth century. The text therefore is older than the monastery and hence must have been brought there from another location.The binding of the codices was carried out in the fifteenth century in Neuberg.2 For MS 38 a single folio of parchment was used as a flyleaf. It is inscribed on both sides, but the text has no relationship to the rest of the volume. Obviously the bookbinder chose this folio only for its suitable size, which is rather large (c. 45cm high, 31cm wide). From traces on the now exterior margin it can be concluded that the folio was at one time glued to others inversely compared to the present state, i.e. what is now the recto side was once verso. The present recto (the meat side) at that time was clearly empty of text or drawings, suggesting that the folio was the last in a codex (or at least in a major section). It carries several notes regarding coins, measures, and weights, and a verse to commemorate the names of the books of the Bible. All these texts are ascribed to the fifteenth century, i.e. the time of the binding.On verso (hair side) there is a text from Beda Venerabilis's De natura rerum, surrounding a circular diagram (Figure 1). It is followed by an explanation of the various forms and meanings of the word 'vesper' and an account of the Greek numerals taken from Beda's De temporum ratione. These texts and the diagram have been ascribed to the twelfth century.The diagram shows a peculiar drawing of the universe. It combines the Macrobiantype3 display with an Isidore-type TO-map,4 a presentation of the geographical directions, and a sketch of a lunar eclipse. From a detailed microscopic study of the folio it can be concluded that the drawing sequence was as follows. First the circles were drawn. Next the vertical line (north-south) was inscribed. Then the text was written (probably starting from the outer rim and proceeding inwards) and the central map drawn. Finally the horizontal (east-west) line was drawn. Thus it seems obvious that the drawing was made in a single action, and that the rather disparate elements were drawn at one time and not added later on. The quite unusual combination of elements opens an interesting view on the astronomical practice in monasteries of the twelfth century.The Accompanying TextThe text surrounding the planetary diagram reads:Inter terram celumque VII sidera pendent & certis discrepatus quae vocantur errantia. contrarium mundo agentia cursum. id est. levum. ilio semper in dextera praecipiti. & quamvis assidua conversione: inmense celeritatis. attollantur ab eo rapiuntur in occasus adverso tarnen ire motu per suos queque passus advertuntur.nunc inferius nec superius propter obliquitatem signiferi vagantia. Rathis autem solis praepedita anomala, vel retrograda, vel stationaria fiunt.Between Earth and Heaven 7 stars are suspended at certain distances and these are called wanderers. They are running their course contrary to the world that is to the left of it, always to the right of the precipice. And although by a perpetual revolution of immense celerity they are raised and carried to the setting, they nevertheless are perceived to go in adverse motion, everyone by its pace,straying once higher, once lower because of the obliquity of the sign-bearer. But hindered by the rays of the Sun they become abnormal, or retrograde, or stationary. …
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Texts and Concepts"
] |
CA 0001200 W
|
FORMING FABRIC WOVEN WITH WARP TRIPLETS
|
A forming fabric having a paper side layer and a machine side layer comprises at least two systems of weft yarns and a single set of warp yarn triplets. In the fabric weave pattern, each member of each triplet set of warp yarns interweaves with the paper side weft yarns to occupy in sequence segments of an unroken warp path in the paper side surface, and the members of each triplet interlace in pairs with single machine side layer weft yarns. Each segment in the unbroken warp path is separated by at least one paper side layer weft yarn. The machine side layer interlacing points can be regularly or irregularly spaced. After heat setting, the fabrics typically have a warp fill from boutt 105 % to about 140 %, an open area of at least 35 % in the paper side surface, and an air permeability typically from about 3,500 to about 8,200 m<3>/m<2>/hr. Paper products made using these fabrics have enhanced printability.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
10.1109/ICRA.2017.7989598
|
Random Forests Versus Neural Networks What S Best For Camera Localization
|
This work addresses the task of camera localization in a known 3D scene given a single input RGB image. State-of-the-art approaches accomplish this in two steps: firstly, regressing for every pixel in the image its 3D scene coordinate and subsequently, using these coordinates to estimate the final 6D camera pose via RANSAC. To solve the first step. Random Forests (RFs) are typically used. On the other hand. Neural Networks (NNs) reign in many dense regression tasks, but are not test-time efficient. We ask the question: which of the two is best for camera localization? To address this, we make two method contributions: (1) a test-time efficient NN architecture which we term a ForestNet that is derived and initialized from a RF, and (2) a new fully-differentiable robust averaging technique for regression ensembles which can be trained end-to-end with a NN. Our experimental findings show that for scene coordinate regression, traditional NN architectures are superior to test-time efficient RFs and ForestNets, however, this does not translate to final 6D camera pose accuracy where RFs and ForestNets perform slightly better. To summarize, our best method, a ForestNet with a robust average, which has an equivalent fast and lightweight RF, improves over the state-of-the-art for camera localization on the 7-Scenes dataset [1]. While this work focuses on scene coordinate regression for camera localization, our innovations may also be applied to other continuous regression tasks.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
US 2020/0052398 W
|
PURSE-STRING SUTURES
|
A method of suturing a tissue opening can comprise placing a tissue-facing surface of a first pad (374), a second pad (372) and a third pad (370) over respective tissue areas adjacent to the tissue opening. The second pad (372) can be positioned on a first side of the first pad (374) and the third pad (370) can be positioned on a second side of the first pad. The first and second pads can be coupled to a suture (310), the suture forming a stitch (316, 320) over the upper surface of each of the respective pads. The suture can be stitched through an area of tissue between the first pad and the second pad, between the second pad and the third pad, and between the third pad and the first pad. A first distal portion (312) and a second distal portion (324) of the suture can be coupled to the third pad (370) for forming the purse-string suture.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1007/978-3-662-46447-2_15
|
Public Key Encryption Indistinguishable Under Plaintext Checkable Attacks
|
Indistinguishability under adaptive chosen-ciphertext attack (IND-CCA) is now considered the de facto security notion for public-key encryption. However, the security guarantee that it offers is sometimes stronger than what is needed by certain applications. In this paper, we consider a weaker notion of security for public-key encryption, termed indistinguishability under plaintext-checking attacks (IND-PCA), in which the adversary is only given access to an oracle which says whether or not a given ciphertext encrypts a given message. After formaliz- ing the IND-PCA notion, we then design a new public-key encryption scheme satisfying it. The new scheme is a more efficient variant of the Cramer-Shoup encryption scheme with shorter ciphertexts and its secu- rity is also based on the plain Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assump- tion. Additionally, the algebraic properties of the new scheme also allow for proving plaintext knowledge using Groth-Sahai non-interactive zero- knowledge proofs or smooth projective hash functions. Finally, in order to illustrate the usefulness of the new scheme, we further show that, for many password-based authenticated key exchange (PAKE) schemes in the Bellare-Pointcheval-Rogaway security model, one can safely replace the underlying IND-CCA encryption schemes with our new IND-PCA one. By doing so, we were able to reduce the overall communication complex- ity of these protocols and obtain the most efficient PAKE schemes to date based on the plain DDH assumption.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1117/1.OE.53.6.061704
|
Intraocular Lens Alignment From An En Face Optical Coherence Tomography Image Purkinje Like Method
|
Measurement of intraocular lens (IOL) alignment implanted in patients in cataract surgery is important to understand their optical performance. We present a method to estimate tilt and decentration of IOLs based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. En face OCT images show Purkinje-like images that correspond to the specular reflections from the corneal and IOL surfaces. Unlike in standard Purkinje-imaging, the tomographic nature of OCT allows unequivocal association of the reflection with the corresponding surface. The locations of the Purkinje-like images are linear combinations of IOL tilt, IOL decentration, and eye rotation. The weighting coefficients depend on the individual anterior segment geometry, obtained from the same OCT datasets. The methodology was demonstrated on an artificial model eye with set amounts of lens tilt and decentration and five pseudophakic eyes. Measured tilt and decentration in the artificial eye differed by 3. 7% and 0. 9%, respectively, from nominal values. In patients, average IOL tilt and decentration from Purkinje were 3. 30±4. 68 deg and 0. 16±0. 16 mm , respectively, and differed on average by 0. 5 deg and 0. 09 mm, respectively, from direct measurements on distortion-corrected OCT images. Purkinje-based methodology from anterior segment en face OCT imaging provided, therefore, reliable measurements of IOL tilt and decentration.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1002/path.3962
|
β-Catenin determines upper airway progenitor cell fate and preinvasive squamous lung cancer progression by modulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition
|
Human lung cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are a leading cause of death and, whilst evidence suggests that basal stem cells drive SCC initiation and progression, the mechanisms regulating these processes remain unknown. In this study we show that β-catenin signalling regulates basal progenitor cell fate and subsequent SCC progression. In a cohort of preinvasive SCCs we established that elevated basal cell β-catenin signalling is positively associated with increased disease severity, epithelial proliferation and reduced intercellular adhesiveness. We demonstrate that transgene-mediated β-catenin inhibition within keratin 14-expressing basal cells delayed normal airway repair while basal cell-specific β-catenin activation increased cell proliferation, directed differentiation and promoted elements of early epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), including increased Snail transcription and reduced E-cadherin expression. These observations are recapitulated in normal human bronchial epithelial cells in vitro following both pharmacological β-catenin activation and E-cadherin inhibition, and mirrored our findings in preinvasive SCCs. Overall, the data show that airway basal cell β-catenin determines cell fate and its mis-expression is associated with the development of human lung cancer.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
W4281884782
|
Participation in a food assistance program and excessive weight gain: an evaluation of the Brazilian Worker’s Food Program in male and female manufacturing workers
|
Several published studies have reported an association between participation in a food assistance program and greater prevalence of overweight/obesity. Our aim was to compare nutritional status and nutrient consumption between workers from manufacturing companies participant and non-participant in the Brazilian Workers' Food Program (WFP).Cross-sectional survey, based on a probability sample of manufacturing workers in Brazil obtained by stratified two-stage sampling, comparative between WFP and non-WFP participating companies. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and nutrient consumption (24-hour recall) were collected by trained nutritionists. Statistical analysis was done separately in each sex with mixed effects multilevel linear regression model including sampling weights and covariate adjustment.Thirty-three companies were randomly selected from all companies in three different economic activity sectors (food and beverages, non-metallic minerals, and textiles) in North-eastern Brazil, with stratification by company size, and a random sample of 929 workers (484 from non-WFP and 445 from WFP companies) was obtained from those companies. In males, the WFP group had higher BMI (+ 1.08 kg/m2, p < 0.001), greater WC (+ 3.27 cm, p < 0.001) and greater prevalence of obesity (OR 1.67, p < 0.001). In females, no statistical significant differences were observed in anthropometric parameters, but the WFP group had lower prevalence of obesity (OR 0.49, p = 0.05). Among workers in companies that provide lunch, males from WFP companies have greater consumption of carbohydrates (+ 39.5 kcal, p = 0.02) and protein (+ 11.1 kcal, p = 0.08), while females have lower protein consumption (- 14.2 kcal, p = 0.04) and also lower total daily consumption of carbohydrates (- 59.3 Kcal, p = 0.05) and total lipids (- 14.2 Kcal, p = 0.04).Participation in the WFP is associated with increased BMI and WC among male workers; however, this association was not found in females. Compared to the non-WFP group, in the WFP group, males have greater consumption of carbohydrates and protein at lunch, while women have lower protein intake. These results indicate the need that proposals for public policies aimed to the improvement of the nutritional status of populations take into consideration the different effects of food assistance programs in males and females.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1038/ijo.2017.302
|
Associations of adult genetic risk scores for adiposity with childhood abdominal, liver and pericardial fat assessed by magnetic resonance imaging
|
Background:Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) involved in adult fat distribution. Whether these SNPs also affect abdominal and organ-specific fat accumulation in children is unknown. Methods:In a population-based prospective cohort study among 1995 children (median age: 9. 8 years, 95% range 9. 4-10. 8), we tested the associations of six genetic risk scores based on previously identified SNPs for childhood body mass index (BMI), adult BMI, liver fat, waist-hip ratio, pericardial fat mass, visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio (VAT/SAT ratio) and four individual SAT-and VAT-Associated SNPs for association with SAT (N=1746), VAT (N=1742), VAT/SAT ratio (N=1738), liver fat fraction (N=1950) and pericardial fat mass (N=1803) measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Results:Per additional risk allele in the childhood BMI genetic risk score, SAT increased 0. 020 s. d. scores (SDS) (95% confidence interval (CI): 0. 009 to 0. 031, P-value: 3. 28 × 10-4) and VAT increased 0. 021 SDS (95% CI: 0. 009 to 0. 032, P-value: 4. 68 × 10-4). The adult BMI risk score was positively associated with SAT (0. 022 SDS increase, CI: 0. 015 to 0. 029, P-value: 1. 33 × 10-9) and VAT (0. 017 SDS increase, CI: 0. 010 to 0. 025, P-value: 7. 00 × 10-6) and negatively with VAT/SAT ratio (-0. 012 SDS decrease, CI:-0. 019 to-0. 006, P-value: 2. 88 × 10-4). The liver fat risk score was associated with liver fat fraction (0. 121 SDS, CI: 0. 086 to 0. 157, P-value: 2. 65 × 10-11). Rs7185735 (SAT) was associated with SAT (0. 151 SDS, CI: 0. 087 to 0. 214, P-value: 3. 00 × 10-6) and VAT/SAT ratio (-0. 126 SDS, CI:-0. 186 to-0. 065, P-value: 4. 70 × 10-5). After stratification by sex the associations of the adult BMI risk score with SAT and VAT and of the liver fat risk score with liver fat fraction remained in both sexes. Associations of the childhood BMI risk score with SAT, and the adult BMI risk score with VAT/SAT ratio, were present among boys only, whereas the association of the pericardial fat risk score with pericardial fat was present among girls only. Conclusion:Genetic variants associated with BMI, body fat distribution, liver and pericardial fat already affect body fat distribution in childhood.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1051/0004-6361/201935137
|
Vis 3Cos Ii Nature And Nurture In Galaxy Structure And Morphology
|
We study the impact of local density and stellar mass on the structure and morphology of approximately 500 quiescent and star-forming galaxies from the VIMOS Spectroscopic Survey of a Superstructure in COSMOS ((VISCOS)-C-3). We perform bulge-to-disc decomposition of the surface brightness profiles and find similar to 41 +/- 3% of >10(10) M-circle dot galaxies to be best fitted with two components. We complement our analysis with non-parametric morphological measurements and qualitative visual classifications. We find that both galaxy structure and morphology depend on stellar mass and environment for our sample as a whole. We only find an impact of the environment on galaxy size for galaxies more massive than 10(11 )M(circle dot). We find higher Sersic indices (n) and bulge-to-total ratios (B/T) in high-density regions when compared to low-density counterparts at similar stellar masses. We also find that galaxies with higher stellar mass have steeper light profiles (high n, B/T) compared to galaxies with lower stellar mass. Using visual classifications, we find a morphology-density relation at z similar to 0. 84 for galaxies more massive than 10(10) M-circle dot, with elliptical galaxies being dominant at high-density regions and disc galaxies more common in low-density regions. However, when splitting the sample into colour-colour-selected star-forming and quiescent sub-populations, there are no statistically significant differences between low- and high-density regions. We find that quiescent galaxies are smaller, have higher Sersic indices (for single profiles, around n similar to 4), and higher bulgeto-total light ratios (for decomposed profiles, around B/T similar to 0. 5) when compared to star-forming counterparts (n similar to 1 and B/T similar to 0. 3, for single and double profiles, respectively). We confirm these trends with non-parametric quantities, finding quiescent galaxies to be smoother (lower asymmetry, lower M-20) and to have most of their light over smaller areas (higher concentration and Gini coefficient) than star-forming galaxies. Overall, we find a stronger dependence of structure and morphology on stellar mass than on local density and these relations are strongly correlated with the quenching fraction. The change in average structure or morphology corresponds to a change in the relative fractions of blue disc-like galaxies and red elliptical galaxies with stellar mass and environment. We hypothesise that the processes responsible for the quenching of star formation must also affect the galaxy morphology on similar timescales.
|
[
"Universe Sciences"
] |
647003
|
Metabolic Networks that Link Longevity to Reproduction in Response to Nutrition
|
In most western countries, life expectancy is increasing by 3 months a year. As the average age of
the population increases, so too does the prevalence of age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular
and metabolic diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. An essential component of ageing research is to
understand the biological mechanisms that contribute to the ageing process at the cellular and molecular
levels. This has major implications not only for the treatment of age-associated diseases but also for the
promotion of healthy ageing.
Studies of experimental animals and observations in humans have identified an array of genes and
nutritional conditions that increase lifespan. However, these manipulations (genetic or nutritional) often
have detrimental effects on other biological processes; for example, reproduction, metabolism, immunity
or growth. This is an area of ageing research that has largely been ignored but that is critical to the
success of strategies intended to slow ageing and thus the onset of disease.
The primary goal of this research proposal is to understand how lifespan extension is linked to
reproduction. We will use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to identify novel
conserved genes, molecules, and metabolic networks that link reproduction and longevity through
nutrition. The proposed study is based on a unique set of preliminary data that identifies the first
clear molecular links between these traits: a steroid hormone receptor and a reproduction-responsive
lipase, both of which modulate lifespan extension achieved through changes in nutrition.
Understanding the regulation and function of these genes and pathways will clarify at the molecular
level how reproduction is linked to longevity. This may ultimately lead to interventions that optimise
metabolic activity to promote healthy ageing.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1038/ncomms10237
|
A generic strategy for CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene tagging
|
Genome engineering has been greatly enhanced by the availability of Cas9 endonuclease that can be targeted to almost any genomic locus using so called guide RNAs (gRNAs). However, the introduction of foreign DNA sequences to tag an endogenous gene is still cumbersome as it requires the synthesis or cloning of homology templates. Here we present a strategy that enables the tagging of endogenous loci using one generic donor plasmid. It contains the tag of interest flanked by two gRNA recognition sites that allow excision of the tag from the plasmid. Co-transfection of cells with Cas9, a gRNA specifying the genomic locus of interest, the donor plasmid and a cassette-specific gRNA triggers the insertion of the tag by a homology-independent mechanism. The strategy is efficient and delivers clones that display a predictable integration pattern. As showcases we generated NanoLuc luciferase- and TurboGFP-tagged reporter cell lines.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
] |
10.1016/j.compfluid.2013.07.031
|
Time accurate partitioned algorithms for the solution of fluid-structure interaction problems in haemodynamics
|
In this work we deal with the numerical solution of the fluid-structure interaction problem arising in the haemodynamic environment. In particular, we consider BDF and Newmark time discretization schemes, and we study different methods for the treatment of the fluid-structure interface position, focusing on partitioned algorithms for the prescription of the physical continuity conditions at the fluid-structure interface. We consider semi-implicit and implicit algorithms, and a new family of hybrid methods. We study numerically the performance and the accuracy of these schemes, highlighting the best solutions for haemodynamic applications. We also study numerically their convergence properties with respect to time discretization, by introducing an analytical test case.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1109/IROS.2016.7759437
|
Reverberant Sound Localization With A Robot Head Based On Direct Path Relative Transfer Function
|
This paper addresses the problem of sound-source localization (SSL) with a robot head, which remains a challenge in real-world environments. In particular we are interested in locating speech sources, as they are of high interest for human-robot interaction. The microphone-pair response corresponding to the direct-path sound propagation is a function of the source direction. In practice, this response is contaminated by noise and reverberations. The direct-path relative transfer function (DP-RTF) is defined as the ratio between the direct-path acoustic transfer function (ATF) of the two microphones, and it is an important feature for SSL. We propose a method to estimate the DP-RTF from noisy and reverberant signals in the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) domain. First, the convolutive transfer function (CTF) approximation is adopted to accurately represent the impulse response of the microphone array, and the first coefficient of the CTF is mainly composed of the direct-path ATF. At each frequency, the frame-wise speech auto- and cross-power spectral density (PSD) are obtained by spectral subtraction. Then a set of linear equations is constructed by the speech auto- and cross-PSD of multiple frames, in which the DP-RTF is an unknown variable, and is estimated by solving the equations. Finally, the estimated DP-RTFs are concatenated across frequencies and used as a feature vector for SSL. Experiments with a robot, placed in various reverberant environments, show that the proposed method outperforms two state-of-the-art methods.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
US 34023808 A
|
Method for sensing gas composition and pressure
|
A method for sensing gas composition and gas pressure, based on the thermal constants of a variable electrical resistor, is presented. The method for sensing gas composition and pressure includes monitoring a variable electrical resistor whose dynamic thermal response is determined by the thermal conductivity and thermal capacity of the surrounding gas of a given atmospheric environment. In the thermal domain, the sensor has a low-pass characteristic, whose phase delay is determined by the thermodynamic characteristics of the surrounding gas such as composition and pressure. The method can be used for sensing gas composition and can also be used for sensing gas pressure.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.15252/embj.201488698
|
Negative control of BAK1 by protein phosphatase 2A during plant innate immunity
|
Recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by surface-localized pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) activates plant innate immunity, mainly through activation of numerous protein kinases. Appropriate induction of immune responses must be tightly regulated, as many of the kinases involved have an intrinsic high activity and are also regulated by other external and endogenous stimuli. Previous evidences suggest that PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) is under constant negative regulation by protein phosphatases but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we show that protein Ser/Thr phosphatase type 2A (PP2A) controls the activation of PRR complexes by modulating the phosphostatus of the co-receptor and positive regulator BAK1. A potential PP2A holoenzyme composed of the subunits A1, C4, and B'η/ζ inhibits immune responses triggered by several PAMPs and anti-bacterial immunity. PP2A constitutively associates with BAK1 in planta. Impairment in this PP2A-based regulation leads to increased steady-state BAK1 phosphorylation, which can poise enhanced immune responses. This work identifies PP2A as an important negative regulator of plant innate immunity that controls BAK1 activation in surface-localized immune receptor complexes. Synopsis Protein phosphatase PP2A negatively regulates the kinase BAK1 to fine tune innate immunity signaling in plants via pathogen recognition receptors FLS2 and EFR. PP2A inhibits plant immunity. PP2A associates with the immune co-receptor BAK1. Specific PP2A subunits negatively regulate PAMP-triggered immunity. Specific PP2A subunits are part of a constitutive BAK1 complex. PP2A negatively controls BAK1 phosphorylation status. Protein phosphatase PP2A negatively regulates the kinase BAK1 to fine tune innate immunity signaling in plants via pathogen recognition receptors FLS2 and EFR.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1073/pnas.2001305117
|
Impact of α-synuclein pathology on transplanted hESC-derived dopaminergic neurons in a humanized α-synuclein rat model of PD
|
Preclinical assessment of the therapeutic potential of dopamine (DA) neuron replacement in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has primarily been performed in the 6-hydroxydopamine toxin model. While this is a good model to assess graft function, it does not reflect the pathological features or progressive nature of the disease. In this study, we establish a humanized transplantation model of PD that better recapitulates the main disease features, obtained by coinjection of preformed human α-synuclein (α-syn) fibrils and adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing human wild-type α-syn unilaterally into the rat substantia nigra (SN). This model gives rise to DA neuron dysfunction and progressive loss of DA neurons from the SN and terminals in the striatum, accompanied by extensive α-syn pathology and a prominent inflammatory response, making it an interesting and relevant model in which to examine long-term function and integrity of transplanted neurons in a PD-like brain. We transplanted DA neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into the striatum and assessed their survival, growth, and function over 6 to 18 wk. We show that the transplanted cells, even in the presence of ongoing pathology, are capable of innervating the DA-depleted striatum. However, on closer examination of the grafts, we found evidence of α-syn pathology in the form of inclusions of phosphorylated α-syn in a small fraction of the grafted DA neurons, indicating host-to-graft transfer of α-syn pathology, a phenomenon that has previously been observed in PD patients receiving fetal tissue grafts but has not been possible to demonstrate and study in toxin-based animal models.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2087967570
|
Chronology, petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the Neoproterozoic Tongchang dioritic pluton at the northwestern margin of the Yangtze Block: Constraints from geochemistry and zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopic systematics
|
Abstract The Neoproterozoic Tongchang dioritic pluton is situated at the northwestern margin of the Yangtze Block and dominated by quartz diorite and granodiorite. Laser Ablation–ICPMS zircon U–Pb isotopic dating shows that the Tongchang dioritic pluton was emplaced at three Neoproterozoic magmatic episodes of ~ 879 Ma, ~ 840 Ma and ~ 824 Ma, and the copper deposits formed following the second magmatic episode, revealing important magmatic episodes during the rarely reported “magmatic gap” between older arc magmatism (950–895 Ma) and younger plume-related magmatism (740–825 Ma) along the western margin of the Yangtze Block. The Tongchang dioritic pluton is characterized by high alkali (Na2O + K2O = 6.26–8.75 wt.%), Cr (186–561 ppm) and Ni (76–292 ppm), medium to high Mg# (44.71–64.21), and possesses metaluminous to weakly peraluminous features with ASI (aluminous saturation index) of 0.70 to 1.06. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns display the moderately enriched LREE ((La/Sm)N = 2.41–4.55) and weakly differentiated HREE ((Gd/Yb)N = 0.91–1.40) and negative to positive Eu anomalies (EuN/EuN⁎ = 0.68–1.86). The primitive mantle-normalized multi-element diagrams show enrichment in Ba, Th and K but depletion in Nb, Ta and Ti. The in situ zircon Lu–Hf isotopic data show that the Tongchang dioritic pluton has significantly variable Hf isotopic compositions with the eHf(t) values ranging from − 12.1 to + 3.3 and the Hf-depleted mantle model ages of 1.36 to 1.86 Ga. Accounting the previous whole-rock Rb–Sr and Sm–Nd isotopic data, we conclude that the Tongchang dioritic pluton was produced by magma mixing, and the end-members of mixing magmas were derived from the depleted mantle, which was metasomatized by fluids fluxed from the subducted oceanic slabs and the lower continental crust, respectively. The above whole-rock geochemical data and petrogenetic studies suggest that the Tongchang dioritic pluton formed in a subduction-related arc setting.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1007/s00526-019-1651-8
|
Non-renormalized solutions to the continuity equation
|
We show that there are continuous, W1,p (p< d- 1), incompressible vector fields for which uniqueness of solutions to the continuity equation fails.
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
W2415414635
|
[The clinical research of aviatic nasal diseases with medical evaluation prevention and control intervention].
|
Exploring the clinical features of aviatic nasal diseases to provide references for medical evaluation, prevention and control measures in aircrew.To analysis and summary 605 cases with 503 pilots of nasal diseases in aircrew during 1966 to 2013.(1) There were 605 cases of aviatic nasal diseases, including 550 cases of general diseases and 55 cases of specific diseases. The general nasal diseases included 140 cases of anatomical abnormalities in nasal cavity type, 290 cases of inflammation in nasal cavity, 73 cases of allergy type, 47 cases of cyst and tumor type, and the specific nasal diseases were 55 cases of sinus barotrauma (SB). (2) The, constituent ratio of SB, which was happened in frontal sinus and /or maxillary sinus, was 95.55%. (3) The constituent ratio of cyst and tumor type in nasal cavity was easier causing to SB than anatomical abnormalities, inflammation, allergy disease in nasal cavity (P < 0.05). (4) The grounded constituent ratio of secondary SB was higher than anatomical abnormalities, inflammation, allergy, cyst and tumor disease in nasal cavity (P < 0.05). (5) The ways of hypobaric chamber tests were different for the kinds of aircrew. The qualified adjustment function of sinuses for barometric pressure was an essential condition for aircrew to continue flying. (6) The key point for the treatment of aviatic nasal diseases was to remove pathological change in nasal cavity and sinus and restore sinus ostium patency. The key point for the medical evaluation was to restore normal sinus pressure balance function.The key point of medical evaluation about aviatic nasal diseases is to assess the sinus pressure balance function in hypobaric chamber tests. Normative treatment and medical evaluation can effectively avoid flight accidents and improve the attendance rate for aircrew.
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
648268
|
Towards solving myopia: from genes to pathways using an integrated approach
|
Background:
Myopia (near-sightedness) is a growing public health issue due to its rapidly rising prevalence. In particular high myopia carries a significant risk of blindness for which there are no treatment options. The disease etiology of this trait is complex and largely unknown. We recently identified a large number of disease loci and genes, which provide significant clues for pathogenic pathways. However, they explain only a limited proportion of myopia’s heritability, and the direct functional effects of risk variants, their interaction with environmental factors, and their potential for intervention are unknown.
Aim:
To identify disease mechanisms that underlie myopia and create starting points for therapy.
Approach:
1. Decipher the genetic background of myopia, identify gene effects and influence of environment in humans.
In very large consortia (~250,000 study participants) with ample data on epidemiology, myopia phenotype, and genomic markers, we will exploit the recent technological advances to analyze a large number of genetic variants including those altering protein function. We will annotate significant hits to major pathways, study gene effects on phenotype, identify retinal cell structures which drive myopiagenesis, investigate gene-environment interaction, and develop a prediction model for progression to high myopia.
2. Identify gene effects, influence of environment, and targets for intervention in animals.
In mice and zebrafish which have been manipulated for high myopia risk genes, we will study ocular biometry, retinal anatomy, visual behavior, and molecular and biochemical effects of genes as a function of environment. Interventions tailored to altering gene effects will be explored.
Impact:
Integrating the results obtained from these genetic, epidemiologic, functional and molecular studies will advance our understanding of the underlying biology of myopia and help create novel therapeutic targets to reduce the burden of high myopia.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
887122
|
Theorizing the production of 'comedia nueva': the process of play configuration in spanish golden age theater
|
The main objective of this project is to reconsider the traditional conception of the individual creation of a theater text and to propose a new theory about the production of 'Comedia Nueva' (1580-1635). This model is going to be established from the information extracted from analyzing a corpus of autograph plays, using palaeographic and codicological knowledge, but also incorporating digital technologies, such as hyperspectral photography. The result will offer a faithful reflection of the production process of Spanish Golden Age Theater, will provide a methodological protocol for the manuscripts analysis through photographic and digital instruments and will allow us to establish active collaboration between playwrights and other agents of the theater system. The project will contribute to research on the formation of European classical theater of the 16th and 17th centuries and will enrich the fields of Modern Literature, History of Theater and Spanish Theater of the Golden Age.
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
10.1121/1.4864485
|
Green S Function Retrieval Through Cross Correlations In A Two Dimensional Complex Reverberating Medium
|
Cross-correlations of ambient noise averaged at two receivers lead to the reconstruction of the two-point Green's function, provided that the wave-field is uniform azimuthally, and also temporally and spatially uncorrelated. This condition depends on the spatial distribution of the sources and the presence of heterogeneities that act as uncorrelated secondary sources. This study aims to evaluate the relative contributions of source distribution and medium complexity in the two-point cross-correlations by means of numerical simulations and laboratory experiments in a finite-size reverberant two-dimensional (2D) plate. The experiments show that the fit between the cross-correlation and the 2D Green's function depends strongly on the nature of the source used to excite the plate. A turbulent air-jet produces a spatially uncorrelated acoustic field that rapidly builds up the Green's function. On the other hand, extracting the Green's function from cross-correlations of point-like sources requires more realizations and long recordings to balance the effect of the most energetic first arrivals. When the Green's function involves other arrivals than the direct wave, numerical simulations confirm the better Green's function reconstruction with a spatially uniform source distribution than the typical contour-like source distribution surrounding the receivers that systematically gives rise to spurious phases.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
W2002699304
|
Importance of feature selection in decision-tree and artificial-neural-network ecological applications. Alburnus alburnus alborella: A practical example
|
Abstract Recent advances in computing technology have increased interest in applying data mining to ecology. Machine learning is one of the methods used in most of these data mining applications. As is well known, approximately 80% of the resources in most data mining applications are devoted to cleaning and preprocessing the data. However, there are few studies on preprocessing the ecological data used as the input in these data mining systems. In this study, we use four different feature selection methods (χ 2 , Information Gain, Gain Ratio, and Symmetrical Uncertainty) and evaluate their effectiveness in preprocessing the input data to be used for inducing artificial neural networks (ANNs) and decision trees (DTs). The presence/absence of fish is the data item used to illustrate our models. Feature selection is fundamental in order to increase the performances of the models obtained. Accuracy of classification improves when a small set of optimally selected features is used. DTs and ANNs are very useful tools when applied to modeling presence/absence of Alburnus alburnus alborella . ANNs generally performed better than DT models.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
W1917913165
|
An Empirical Analysis of Real Deposits in Nigeria
|
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionA requisite component of economic growth and development is a well-functioning financial system characterised by a banking sub-sector that efficiently intermediates between surplus and deficit holders of funds. In a developing economy like Nigeria where the non-bank component of the financial sector is limited, problems in deposit money banks (DMBs) are instantly transmitted to the rest of the economy (Olofin and Afangideh, 2008). This is in view of the fact that commercial banks facilitate a bulk of financial transactions. Nevertheless, banking dominance of the Nigerian financial system has, however, dropped as controlled financial system assets fell from 90.5% in 2006 to 78.6% in 2011 (IMF, 2013).The main sources of the banking liquidity in Nigeria are public and private sector deposits which DMBs transmit to deficit holders of funds. However, growth rate of deposits have been lopsided in recent times as the rate fell from 65% in 2008 to -11.3% and -1.6% in 2010 and 2012, respectively (International Monetary Fund, 2013). It follows therefore that a negative shock to the depositary base will inhibit the flow of credit, constrain development of domestic industries and adversely affect economic growth. Therefore, factors influencing savings' decisions of households and firms become important determinants of a stable banking sector with particular reference to its intermediation role.iAn assessment of real deposits has gained ample attention in the literature (See Tvalodze and Tchaidze, 2011 for Georgia; Kibet, Mutai, Ouma, Ouma and Owuor, 2009 for Kenya; Dadkhah and Rajen, 1988 for India; Felmingham and Qing, 2001 for Australia; Hasan, 2001 for China; Mutluer and Yasemin, 2002 for Turkey; Lucas, 1988 for US; Vega, 1998 for Spain). Similarly, the behaviour of real deposits has been analysed within the context of currency deposit ratio. In this regard, Khaskeli, Ahmed and Hyder (2013) analysed the behaviour and determinants of the currency deposit ratio in Pakistan based on the notion that an increase in currency in circulation reduces deposits and invariably, loanable funds. This is because an increase in the volume of currency in circulation implies that deposits are being withdrawn from the banks, which restrict their ability to meet investors' credit demand.Research on the factors affecting real deposit creation in Nigeria is scanty, as inadequate attention has been given to the behaviour of real deposits with specific reference to the dynamic interaction of money supply and currency in circulation. The dominant strand of literature has focused on estimating the determinants and behaviour of real deposits (See Nwachukwu and Odigie, 2009; Odemero, 2012; Uneze, 2013; Nwachukwu and Egwaikhide, 2007, Nwachukwu, 2011) while some others have inferred real deposit behaviour on the basis of money demand models (See Aschani, 2010; Kumar, Webber and Fargher, 2010; Chukwu, Agu and Onah, 2010; Omotor, 2010; amongst others). It is against this background that this study departs from the literature by examining the behaviour of the real deposits in Nigeria by considering the difference between estimated broad money balance (money supply) and currency deposit ratio.iiAn investigation of the behavioural patterns of real deposits in Nigeria is expected to play a pivot role in formulating and fine-tuning financial sector and monetary policies, respectively. Notably, a major component of such policy considerations is increased transmission of funds to the real sector; particularly geared towards stimulating non-oil sector growth that has remained at the forefront of government's policy objectives over the years. For an emerging economy like Nigeria with high savings and investment gaps, enhanced real deposit is critical for sustained trickle-down growth. This is further exacerbated by the crucial role of domestic saving mobilisation in the sustenance of domestic saving-investment-growth chain in developing economies (Nwachukwu, 2011). …
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
interreg_1582
|
Environmental Rehabilitation of brownfield Sites in central Europe
|
The European Environment Agency estimates that polluting activities (40% due to industries) have occurred in about 3 million sites in Europe & that “data on the redevelopment of brownfields are patchy & hardly comparable, reflecting the lack of a common definition of the problem across Europe”. Territorial analyses carried out by prominent networks (e.g. Cabernet) show that the issue of brownfield development outlines a core topic for the CE area. GreenerSites seeks to improve the environmental management of unused/underused industrial areas through the definition of strategies & tools based on a sustainable integrated approach to make involved Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) cleaner, healthier & more liveable places. Thanks to the project, PPs will bring about a shared & enhanced knowledge on integrated environmental management of brownfields, reinforced capacities of the public sector to plan & carry out brownfield regeneration, well-defined sustainability measures & tools to ensure viability & effectiveness of environmental planning. GreenerSites will build on know-how from previous EU projects & existing networks & will apply an innovative integrated approach which takes into account the whole FUA (9 FUAs involved for a total of 6 million citizens) & the need to reconcile effective environmental quality with necessary economic development. Main outputs will be a common tool for brownfield regeneration stemming from the preliminary analyses conducted in 9 CE FUAs; 9 Strategic Action Plans defined in two steps (joint concept and full definition at FUA level after pilot phase); 11 pilot actions (PAs) testing more sustainable & novel technical solutions in brownfields to improve their environmental performance; a full training package for public employees and stakeholders; a Common transferability manual. Transnational added value of the project will be the elaboration of common tools, the definition of the innovative approach & its pilot application in 9 FUAs.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
337488
|
Stability and Instability in the Mathematical Analysis of the Einstein equations
|
The present proposal is concerned with the global analysis of solutions to the Einstein equations of general relativity. This subject lies at the intersection of the analysis of partial differential equations, differential geometry and theoretical physics and is a field of intense current activity, with several important advances having been achieved in the last decade only.
The main objective of the proposal is to establish a research group based at Imperial College to develop novel mathematical techniques that would allow one to move considerably beyond the current limits of the field. These techniques will be devised and mature in the context of two fundamental problems, which we intend to solve.
1) Instability of AdS: The stability of Minkowski space and the stability of de Sitter space are celebrated theorems in mathematical general relativity. In contrast, the dynamics near Anti de Sitter (AdS) space, the maximally symmetric solution with negative cosmological constant, is mathematically entirely unexplored. Heuristic andnumerical arguments suggest instability of this spacetime. Instability problems are typically much more intricate than stability problems and require very different techniques. A rigorous proof of instability would resolve a major conjecture in general relativity and have important implications for theoretical physics.
2) The Black Hole Stability Problem: A central problem of general relativity is to prove the full non-linear stability of the 2-parameter Kerr family of black holes. Very recently, the dynamics of linear waves on such stationary black holes has been satisfactorily understood. The proposal suggests to suitably enhance the techniques developed for linear scalar waves to be applicable in the non-linear, tensorial setting of of the Einstein equations. Key will be to establish important estimates on the curvature in a class of (non-stationary) spacetimes which are assumed to converge to a fixed member of the Kerr family.
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
171229
|
Fashioning georgian englishness: race, national identity, and codes of proper behaviour
|
The proposed research project ‘Fashioning Georgian Englishness: Race, National Identity, and Codes of Proper Behaviour’ examines the interconnectedness of nationality, race, and conduct within an eighteenth-century colonial perspective. The interdisciplinary project argues that race played a vital but ambiguous role in the construction of the nascent English national identity in the Georgian era (1714–1830); however, since race was a fluid and heterogeneous concept, the racial and/or national status of English subjects was constructed through the vocabulary and practices of decency, propriety, refinement, and good conduct. Articulations and practices of class- and gender-based ‘proper behaviour’ were thus used to create a naturalised English national character that had a racial foundation.
The project employs an interdisciplinary methodology that combines cultural and intellectual historical methods with constructionist and postcolonial perspectives; through this approach, it examines race and national character as deeply performative, fictive constructions, created through internalising discursive knowledge. The project makes a significant and novel contribution to the history of eighteenth-century English nationalism, which has thus far ignored the importance of race for the construction of a national identity. Moreover, the questions and themes the research addresses also offer a highly fruitful point of comparison to recent processes of cultural interaction and exchange, and the structures of racism and nationalism in present-day Europe.
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
895084
|
An optofluidic platform based on liquid-gradient refractive index microlens for the isolation and quantification of extracellular vesicles
|
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) describe distinct populations of small (30-200 nm) and large (500 nm-2 μm)
microvesicles actively or passively secreted by cells. Whilst, they are recognized as promising biomarkers for
diseases diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, their purification, selective enrichment, and characterization remains
immensely challenging. The goal of the current proposal is to develop an optofluidic platform able to
manipulate and characterize single EVs and facilitate their efficient purification and quantitation from
biological samples. The optofluidic platform will incorporate a dynamically reconfigurable optical lattice
(constructed from a liquid gradient refractive index - L-GRIN microlens) for separation followed by a viscoelastic
focusing module for single EV imaging. The strength of the interaction between a nanoparticle and the optical
lattice will depend on the optical polarizability of the particle, thus providing a size selection criterion to allow
identification and isolation. Put simply, we aim to develop a size-selective optofluidic platform integrated for
non-invasive EVs sorting and fractionation that can be applied to a wide range of biological matrices and
addresses the most challenging technological bottleneck in EVs research.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.11646/zootaxa.4441.1.8
|
A non-destructive virtual dissection by micro-CT reveals diagnostic characters in the type specimen of Caloptilia stigmatella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)
|
Nearly a century ago, wing venation was introduced in gracillariid taxonomy as a means to diagnose closely related genera and species groups. Recent advances in non-destructive virtual micro-dissections suggest promising approaches with which to revisit the relevance of wing venation characters on historic primary type specimens. Many unique type specimens in Gracillariidae and other microlepidoptera groups preserved in museum collections are in poor condition, and over the course of history have suffered loss or damage to their abdomens. Consequently, genitalia morphology is not available for diagnoses and comparisons. In this paper we emphasize the need to include the type species and type specimens into the broader context of taxonomic studies on micro-moths in general and the family Gracillariidae in particular. The genus Caloptilia has a world-wide distribution and has been the subject of research for more than 200 years, yet the generic boundaries and groupings within the genus are still unresolved due to the lack of a reliable set of taxonomic characters obtained from the primary types. We describe a method of virtual descaling of the fore- and hindwings using the unset micro-moth type specimen of Caloptilia stigmatella Fabricius, 1781, in order to demonstrate that the study of historic and fragile type specimens and diagnoses of their internal morphological characters becomes possible by applying new and non-destructive technology.
|
[
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1016/j.aeolia.2015.01.001
|
Derivation of an observation-based map of North African dust emission
|
Changes in the emission, transport and deposition of aeolian dust have profound effects on regional climate, so that characterizing the lifecycle of dust in observations and improving the representation of dust in global climate models is necessary. A fundamental aspect of characterizing the dust cycle is quantifying surface dust fluxes, yet no spatially explicit estimates of this flux exist for the World's major source regions. Here we present a novel technique for creating a map of the annual mean emitted dust flux for North Africa based on retrievals of dust storm frequency from the Meteosat Second Generation Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) and the relationship between dust storm frequency and emitted mass flux derived from the output of five models that simulate dust. Our results suggest that 64 (±16)% of all dust emitted from North Africa is from the Bodélé depression, and that 13 (±3)% of the North African dust flux is from a depression lying in the lee of the Aïr and Hoggar Mountains, making this area the second most important region of emission within North Africa.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
W1875389939
|
Early mobilization practice in a single Brazilian intensive care unit
|
To characterize the provision of early mobilization therapy in critically ill patients in a Brazilian medical intensive care unit (ICU) and to investigate the relationship between physical activity level and clinical outcomes.Intensive care unit and physiotherapy data were collected retrospectively from 275 consecutive patients. Here we report on the subset of patients (n = 120) who were mechanically ventilated during their ICU stay (age, 49 ± 18 years; Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3, 45 [25]).Median (interquartile range) time of mechanical ventilation and ICU length of stay were 3 (4) and 8 (10) days, respectively. Intensive care unit and 1-year mortality were 31% and 50%, respectively. During the ICU stay, these patients all received respiratory physiotherapy and 90% (n = 108) received mobilization therapy. When intubated and ventilated, mobilization therapy was performed in 76% (n = 92) of the patients with no adverse events. The most common activity was in-bed exercises (55%), and the number of out-of-bed activities (sitting out of bed, standing, or walking) was small (29%) and more prevalent in patients with tracheostomy than with an endotracheal tube (27% × 2%, respectively).In our Brazilian ICU, mobilization therapy in critically ill patients was safe and feasible; however, similar to other countries, in-bed exercises were the most prevalent activity. During mechanical ventilation, only a small percentage of activities involved standing or mobilizing away from the bed.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W1981257880
|
Digital transceiver design for two-way AF-MIMO relay systems with imperfect CSI
|
In the paper, combined optimization of the terminal precoders/equalizers and single-relay precoder is proposed for an amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) two-way single-relay system with correlated channel uncertainties. Both terminal transceivers and relay precoding matrix are designed based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion when terminals are unable to erase completely self-interference due to imperfect correlated channel state information (CSI). This robust joint optimization problem of beamforming and precoding matrices under power constraints belongs to neither concave nor convex so that a nonlinear matrix-form conjugate gradient (MCG) algorithm is applied to explore local optimal solutions. Simulation results show that the robust transceiver design is able to overcome effectively the loss of bit-error-rate (BER) due to inclusion of correlated channel uncertainties and residual self-interference.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
W1982937837
|
In response to “Discharge against medical advice: How often do we intervene?”
|
We believe medications can safely be prescribed tomost patients who leave against medical advice(AMA), and that follow-up should be offered to mostif not all such patients. Why should we do this? Con-sider a wheezing asthma patient who leaves AMA.She or he is probably more likely to return to theemergency department (somewhere) or be readmitted(somewhere) and cost more money (to the system)than if given an inhaler and steroid taper.Dr. Querques et al. suggest that doctors shouldpotentially not prescribe and should not offer follow-upto certain patients who want to leave AMA, particu-larly those who show disinterest in heeding the doctor’sadvice and have already demonstrated a lack of adher-ence. How should doctors make those judgments?Patients leave AMA for a variety of reasons: for exam-ple to avoid cost, because they feel better, or poor com-munication. Certainly, not all patients who want toleave AMA are categorically nonadherent. Conversely,up to 50% of all continuity patients are not fully adher-ent to the lifestyle changes and medications their physi-cians prescribe,
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
W2319962310
|
Early feed restriction in broilers. I–Performance, body fraction weights, and meat quality
|
SUMMARY Two experiments were performed, with male and female broilers separately, to evaluate the effect of early feed restriction on performance, carcass, organs, breast, legs, and back weights, and breast meat quality. Treatments were applied from 8 to 16 d of age as follows: without feed restriction [T1; standard feed (SF) ad libitum]; quantity restriction (T2; 80% ad libitum consumption of SF); time restriction (T3; SF offered throughout 8 h/d); and quality restriction (T4; SF with 80% of the limiting nutrients). Birds from both sexes submitted to T2 or T3 had lower BW at the end of the restriction period, however, they were able to reach the same BW at 42 d when compared to T1. Quality restriction did not reduce initial growth because birds compensated for the dilution by increasing feed intake. Organ weights recovered more quickly than the other fractions. Females on T3 recovered BW earlier than males. Quantity restriction allowed the full recovery of breast weight at 35 d, whereas T3 only achieved that at 42 d. Restriction programs did not have any effect on weight loss due to thawing, cooking, shear force, or lipid oxidation on the breast meat. Early restriction programs either by T2 or T3 can be used as a method for controlling growth rate in broilers without any damage to performance and meat quality at 42 d of age.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
] |
10.1109/SISPAD.2015.7292313
|
Injection Direction Sensitive Spin Lifetime Model In A Strained Thin Silicon Film
|
The electron spin properties are promising for future spin-driven applications. Silicon, the major material of microelectronics, also appears to be a perfect material for spintronic applications. The peculiarities of the subband structure and details of the spin propagation in ultra-thin silicon films in presence of the spin-orbit interaction and strain are investigated. The application of shear strain dramatically reduces the spin relaxation in such films. We investigate in detail, how spin injection in any arbitrary direction modifies the spin relaxation matrix elements, and finally the spin lifetime in the samples. We demonstrate a two-fold enhancement of spin lifetime, when spin is injected in-plane of the sample, compared to that, when injected along the perpendicular-plane direction.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1017/fms.2020.46
|
Generic Newton points and the Newton poset in Iwahori-double cosets
|
We consider the Newton stratification on Iwahori-double cosets in the loop group of a reductive group. We describe a group-theoretic condition on the generic Newton point, called cordiality, under which the Newton poset (that is, the index set for non-empty Newton strata) is saturated and Grothendieck’s conjecture on closures of the Newton strata holds. Finally, we give several large classes of Iwahori-double cosets for which this condition is satisfied by studying certain paths in the associated quantum Bruhat graph.
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
interreg_1821
|
An INTEgrated broadband telecommunication pilot teleservices-platform for improving health care provision in the Region of MEDiterranean
|
The regions of southeast Mediterranean are characterized by expanded inner space and isolated areas. Those makes difficult the socially, technologically, and economical integration and consequently, the equally and efficient provision of services like health care services. The main objective of the project INTERMED is to implement a platform that will enhance the provision of medical services for both citizens and travellers in remote/isolated regions of southeast Mediterranean, and on board ships travelling across it, and the distribution of knowledge and collaboration among the health personnel of these areas, making use of wireless and terrestrial lines. The project aims to upgrade the provided health and learning services at remote areas of Greece, Cyprus and Italy, and interconnect them with central hospitals in all three countries. The platform will provide to the project direct beneficiaries (residents, travelers, crew members, medical staff), through infrastructure upgrade, the following health care services: • Tele-collaboration and tele-consultation services between health care personnel. Those services will support the provision of expert’s advices from central hospitals to rural medicine centers and smaller health facilities, in order to support the diagnosis procedure with a second opinion. • Home care telemedical services for “at risk” citizens, e.g. elderly, patients with chronic diseases, and post-surgery patients. Those services will include the utilization of wireless communications for the provision of on site expert’s advices after evaluation of the transmitted vital signals. • Tele-medicine services in emergency situations, e.g. passengers onboard a ship. Those services will be provided through interconnecting a ferry serving a Mediterranean Sea area via satellite with the hospitals of the network. • Public health and elearning services for the continuous training through seminars for both health care personnel (doctors, nurses etc.), and persons supporting “at risk” citizens. The above services will be provided through the combined use of already evaluated systems, results of EU founded project. These systems supports capabilities for ultrasound images, ECGs, blood pressure and oxygen saturation meters, video conference interfaces, and numerous communication gateways over satellite, GRPS, UMTS, analog telephone ISDN, WLAN. The proposed infrastructure will function as a unified health platform and will offer functionality such as: • High speed broadband connections • Streaming audio/video services • Full duplex, real time communications The aforementioned capabilities will be the result of a series of activities which include, among other, user requirements and technical need collection, platform (infrastructure and applications) design, various subsystem development and integration into one network, which will run in various pilots, and system evaluation. The network will be based on the partnership (nodes) of universities (University of Cyprus, University of Catania), research institutes (NCSR “Demokritos, ICCS), hospitals (Paphos general hospital, Sotiria hospital, hospital of Catania), regional medical centres in Greece, Sicily (Italy), and Cyprus, and ferries travelling across southeast Mediterranean. The above nodes will be able to communicate each other in a broadband basis, through an open architecture. Furthermore the implementation of an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) infrastructure to support proposed system’s interoperability will provide the fundamental basis for future collaboration and information technology projects in the area
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1111/jofi.12735
|
The International Bank Lending Channel of Monetary Policy Rates and QE: Credit Supply, Reach-for-Yield, and Real Effects
|
We identify the international credit channel by exploiting Mexican supervisory data sets and foreign monetary policy shocks in a country with a large presence of European and U. S. banks. A softening of foreign monetary policy expands credit supply of foreign banks (e. g. , U. K. policy affects credit supply in Mexico via U. K. banks), inducing strong firm-level real effects. Results support an international risk-taking channel and spillovers of core countries’ monetary policies to emerging markets, both in the foreign monetary softening part (with higher credit and liquidity risk-taking by foreign banks) and in the tightening part (with negative local firm-level real effects).
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
W1503024080
|
Experimental determination of the range of binocular disparity for which stereoscopic fusion occurs at a viewing distance of 2.5 m for a stereoscopic TV
|
The threshold for binocular disparity for which a participant can observe a clear stereoscopic image on a 3D TV using Patterned Retarder technology and polarizing eyeglasses is determined for a viewing distance of 2.5 m. An optotype, the letter “m” with a line thickness of 1.08 mm in the upward or downward direction, was used as the stereoscopic stimulus. Under the measurement conditions of the increase and decrease of binocular disparity of the stereoscopic stimulus, the binocular disparity thresholds for 40 participants were measured for the horizontal direction. Most of the participants were in their twenties. The thresholds were measured to be slightly larger for the condition of increasing binocular disparity compared with the condition of decreasing binocular disparity. Personal differences were measured to be noticeable.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
W2119169577
|
“Comparative evaluation of microleakage of composite restorative materials”
|
Objectives: To evaluate and compare the marginal leakage in class V cavities restored with three different tooth colored restorative materials using dye penetration system. Materials and methods: Thirty extracted premolars were randomly selected for this study. Standardized classV cavities were prepared and then divided into three equal groups. Group I was restored with nano filled composite, Group II was restored with hybrid composite and group III with polyacid modified composite. They were then subjected to thermo cycling, immersed in 2% methylene blue dye, sectioned and examined under stereomicroscope. Dye penetration for each section was recorded and data was analyzed. Results: Lowest micrileakage was recorded in group I and highest leakage recorded in Group III.Conclusion: Nanofilled composite resins provide a better sealing than hybrid and polyacid modified composites. .
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
170370
|
Accelerating entrepreneurial learning across european regions
|
Accelerating Entrepreneurial Learning across European Regions
There are a number of profound challenges facing the European Union. Despite the single market being in existence for quite some time, start-ups and entrepreneurs tend not to think European wide and business scaling is very fragmented. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is also fragmented and not joined up between countries. Unemployment levels are very high, with high rates of over 50% of under-25s among Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Greece. Entrepreneurship in Europe lags behind the US, in terms of effectiveness, scale and impact.
Set in this context, the focus of the proposal is to develop more ICT entrepreneurs and this is adopted as the key objectives, which is the core outcomes required from the Horizon 2020 ICT 35 call. Specifically this programme sets out to train ICT entrepreneurs to be ‘incubator ready’ and this is informed by research into current practice in incubators across Europe. The Horizon 2020 is an ideal opportunity for Europe to enable a different breed of European ICT entrepreneurs. Some of the characteristics of achieving this include the need to spend an appropriate amount of time to allow ICT entrepreneurs develop the commercial skills, as well as the technical proposition.
This project will develop a network of ICT entrepreneurship creative physical and virtual spaces and coordinate European wide intensive entrepreneurial action training events called ‘Start-up Scrums’ between consortia members with international teams. The programme will cultivate a European entrepreneurial mind-set and pilot a ‘Born European Enterprise’ annual event. It is recognised that ICT enterprises take time to develop the technology. The proposal sets out to engage with 300 ICT students using an intensive training package over 4 months, starting with the ‘start-up Scrums’, continuing with virtual support via the EU Virtual Incubator and culminating with the best teams competing in the ‘Born European Enterprise Challenge’. A key element of the programme is student exchange as well as staff exchange, which will enable cross-fertilisation.
This proposal is thematically focused on creating ‘Born European Enterprises’ and fulfills the three objectives of the Horizon 2020 2014 ICT 35 a, b & c call: a pan European competition (across over 10 MS), summer schools (Start-up Scrums) and supporting the creation of new virtual and physical ICT creative spaces (Athens). The ICT teams will have opportunities to pursue their new ventures in a number of European incubators, within the consortia. The action will combine ICT physical and virtual entrepreneurship spaces, which facilitate European collaboration and on-going support after workshop events.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
10.1134/S1560354713060075
|
Semi Concave Singularities And The Hamilton Jacobi Equation
|
We study the Cauchy problem for the Hamilton-Jacobi equation with a semiconcave initial condition. We prove an inequality between two types of weak solutions emanating from such an initial condition (the variational and the viscosity solution). We also give conditions for an explicit semi-concave function to be a viscosity solution. These conditions generalize the entropy inequality characterizing piecewise smooth solutions of scalar conservation laws in dimension one.
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1364/OL.40.000593
|
Compact Low Noise All Solid State Laser System For Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy
|
We present a highly stable and compact laser source for stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy. cw-seeding of an optical parametric amplifier pumped by a bulk femtosecond Yb-oscillator and self-phase modulation in a tapered fiber allow for broad tunability without any optical or electronic synchronization. The source features noise levels of the Stokes beam close to the shot-noise limit at MHz modulation frequencies. We demonstrate the superior performance of our system by SRS imaging of micrometer-sized polymer beads.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
174525
|
Quantiative study of major historic epidemics and transitions to longer, healthier lives
|
Only 150 years ago, one in five Europeans died in infancy, life expectancy was 40 years, and the leading causes of death were infectious diseases: tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, pertussis, diphtheria, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever. But in just a few decades beginning about 1880, life expectancy rose dramatically as infectious disease mortality plummeted. This “2nd epidemiologic transition”, in which chronic diseases began replacing infections as leading causes of death, occurred well in advance of antibiotics and most vaccines. Many factors have been proposed to explain it, including improved nutrition, sanitation, clean drinking water, better housing and the emergence of social support systems.
Little has been done, however, to systematically rescue and quantitatively study historic health data and rigorously investigate the epidemiologic transition. I lay out here an ambitious, novel, interdisciplinary and feasible proposal to do just that. In the process, I will broaden my research scope from statistical modeling of historic pandemic influenza to all historic infections, understand the historical context in which the transition occurred, and master new concepts in dynamic disease modeling. Danish historic medical data are uniquely detailed and reach far back in time, and are uniquely suited for quantitative studies of long time series of morbidity and mortality, with the promise to further illuminate the epidemiology of important diseases including smallpox, cholera, and measles.
After 25 years abroad as a senior researcher at the National Institutes of Health and Professor of Global Health in the U.S., I now wish to return to my native Denmark. I had the honor this year to be elected to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and receive funding to be a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen, and trust this signals the beginning of my successful re-integration to European academia.
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.23638/LMCS-13(2:13)2017
|
On The Fly Computation Of Bisimilarity Distances
|
We propose a distance between continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) and study
the problem of computing it by comparing three different algorithmic
methodologies: iterative, linear program, and on-the-fly. In a work presented
at FoSSaCS'12, Chen et al. characterized the bisimilarity distance of
Desharnais et al. between discrete-time Markov chains as an optimal solution of
a linear program that can be solved by using the ellipsoid method. Inspired by
their result, we propose a novel linear program characterization to compute the
distance in the continuous-time setting. Differently from previous proposals,
ours has a number of constraints that is bounded by a polynomial in the size of
the CTMC. This, in particular, proves that the distance we propose can be
computed in polynomial time. Despite its theoretical importance, the proposed
linear program characterization turns out to be inefficient in practice. Nevertheless, driven by the encouraging results of our previous work presented
at TACAS'13, we propose an efficient on-the-fly algorithm, which, unlike the
other mentioned solutions, computes the distances between two given states
avoiding an exhaustive exploration of the state space. This technique works by
successively refining over-approximations of the target distances using a
greedy strategy, which ensures that the state space is further explored only
when the current approximations are improved. Tests performed on a consistent
set of (pseudo)randomly generated CTMCs show that our algorithm improves, on
average, the efficiency of the corresponding iterative and linear program
methods with orders of magnitude.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1186/s13059-018-1536-8
|
Clust: automatic extraction of optimal co-expressed gene clusters from gene expression data
|
Identifying co-expressed gene clusters can provide evidence for genetic or physical interactions. Thus, co-expression clustering is a routine step in large-scale analyses of gene expression data. We show that commonly used clustering methods produce results that substantially disagree and that do not match the biological expectations of co-expressed gene clusters. We present clust, a method that solves these problems by extracting clusters matching the biological expectations of co-expressed genes and outperforms widely used methods. Additionally, clust can simultaneously cluster multiple datasets, enabling users to leverage the large quantity of public expression data for novel comparative analysis. Clust is available at https://github. com/BaselAbujamous/clust.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1051/0004-6361/201935253
|
First Direct Detection Of An Exoplanet By Optical Interferometry Astrometry And K Band Spectroscopy Of Hr 8799 E
|
Aims. To date, infrared interferometry at best achieved contrast ratios of a few times 10^(−4) on bright targets. GRAVITY, with its dual-field mode, is now capable of high contrast observations, enabling the direct observation of exoplanets. We demonstrate the technique on HR 8799, a young planetary system composed of four known giant exoplanets. Methods. We used the GRAVITY fringe tracker to lock the fringes on the central star, and integrated off-axis on the HR 8799 e planet situated at 390 mas from the star. Data reduction included post-processing to remove the flux leaking from the central star and to extract the coherent flux of the planet. The inferred K band spectrum of the planet has a spectral resolution of 500. We also derive the astrometric position of the planet relative to the star with a precision on the order of 100 μas. Results. The GRAVITY astrometric measurement disfavors perfectly coplanar stable orbital solutions. A small adjustment of a few degrees to the orbital inclination of HR 8799 e can resolve the tension, implying that the orbits are close to, but not strictly coplanar. The spectrum, with a signal-to-noise ratio of ≈5 per spectral channel, is compatible with a late-type L brown dwarf. Using Exo-REM synthetic spectra, we derive a temperature of 1150 ± 50 K and a surface gravity of 10^(4. 3 ± 0. 3) cm s^2. This corresponds to a radius of 1. 17_(−0. 11)^(+0. 13) R_(Jup) and a mass of 10_(−4)^(+7) M_(Jup), which is an independent confirmation of mass estimates from evolutionary models. Our results demonstrate the power of interferometry for the direct detection and spectroscopic study of exoplanets at close angular separations from their stars.
|
[
"Universe Sciences",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
642427
|
Towards a neural field theory for spiking neuron networks with electrical synapses
|
A major challenge in statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics and theoretical neuroscience over the last half century has been to understand the self-organizing principles governing the dynamics of large networks of neurons. Physicists and applied mathematicians have proposed simple mean-field descriptions of spatially-extended neural networks in terms of a relevant macroscopic observable, the firing rate. This approach has been particularly successful and so-called Neural Field Models (NFM) have become an extremely popular mathematical tool in neuroscience, physics and applied mathematics. Yet, to date, mean-field theories describe networks with chemical synapses, but it remains a major theoretical challenge to incorporate electrical synaptic interactions in such mathematical descriptions. Recently, a mean-field theory for large networks of spiking neurons has been proposed, which exactly links the dynamics of single neurons with that of two mean-field variables: The firing rate and the mean membrane potential. Remarkably, this theory permits to incorporate electrical interactions, but the mathematical derivation and the analysis of the dynamics of the first NFM is lagging. This project proposes the formal mathematical derivation of such NFM, as well as the thorough analysis of its dynamics and bifurcations. Towards this goal, at the host institution UPF in Barcelona, the ER will apply mean-field methods and nonlinear dynamical systems theory to derive the novel NFM (which we conjecture is of reaction-diffusion type). During a secondment at VU Amsterdam, the ER will be trained to become an expert in numerical analysis of partial differential equations, which will further allow him to perform extensive state-of-the-art computer simulations. The expected results will provide completely novel mechanistic insights on the emergence of complex spatio-temporal patterns of neuronal activity due to the intricate interplay between chemical and electrical synapses.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Mathematics"
] |
Q123298
|
Umsetzung von Prozessinnovationen bei der Herstellung technologisch fortschrittlicher, dichter, abflussfreier Stahlbetontanks mit Anwendung auf der Klärgrube.
|
Das Projekt zielt darauf ab, die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Antragstellers zu erhöhen und die Anwendung von Innovationen in seinen Aktivitäten durch Diversifizierung der Anlage zu erhöhen. Eine Prozessinnovation wird bei der Herstellung technisch verbesserter Stahlbetontanks für Klärgruben umgesetzt, die zuvor nicht vom Antragsteller hergestellt wurden. Das Projekt wird eine selbstfahrende Umform- und Vibrationsmaschine in kontinuierlicher Verformungstechnologie für die Herstellung von Stahlbetonelementen von 4000 x 2000 x 1 300 mm und kleiner mit der Möglichkeit der Verstärkung von Betonelementen mit Stahlstangen zusammen mit einer kompletten elektronischen und computergesteuerten Steuerung, ausgestattet mit elektrischer Installation, Hydrauliksystem mit Antiatheseöl und einem Satz von drei Formen erwerben. Alle Teile zusammen bilden ein Ganzes, und die auf ihnen hergestellten Produkte zeichnen sich durch hohe Qualität und unvergleichliche Dichtigkeit mit der Konkurrenz aus.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
W2008377292
|
Characteristics of individual reactions of the cardiovascular system of healthy people to changes in meteorological factors in a wide temperature range
|
Based on the results of 4-year observations of daily variations in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in seven healthy volunteers, two distinct types of reaction of physiological indicators (PIs) to changes in meteorological parameters (first and foremost, atmospheric temperature T
atm) are revealed. The first type is a monotonic (but nonuniform with respect to speed) decrease in systolic BP with increasing temperature, which is most pronounced for T
atm < −5°C and T
atm > 15°C, with a weaker reaction of diastolic BP and no reaction of HR (in four volunteers). The second type is a two-phase nonmonotonic dependence of BP indicators on T
atm, which coincides with the first type in the range T
atm < −5°C and is characterized by a positive correlation of BP and HR indicators with T
atm for T
atm > −5°C (in two volunteers). The physiological mechanisms that can provide the observed compensatory-adaptive reactions of healthy individuals to atmospheric factors in different temperature ranges are analyzed in detail. It has been shown that the revealed regularities can explain the results obtained by the authors in earlier studies.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1017/ehs.2020.4
|
Tracing population movements in ancient East Asia through the linguistics and archaeology of textile production
|
Abstract
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1042/bst0381615
|
Cutting the nonsense: the degradation of PTC-containing mRNAs
|
In eukaryotes, mRNAs harbouring PTCs (premature translation-termination codons) are recognized and eliminated by NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay). In addition to its quality-control function, NMD constitutes a translation-dependent post-transcriptional pathway to regulate the expression levels of physiological mRNAs. In contrast with PTC recognition, little is known about the mechanisms that trigger the rapid degradation of mammalian nonsense mRNA. Studies have shown that mammalian NMD targets can be degraded via both an SMG6 (where SMG is suppressor of morphological defects on genitalia)-dependent endonucleolytic pathway and a deadenylation and decapping-dependent exonucleolytic pathway, with the possible involvement of SMG5 and SMG7. In contrast, Drosophila melanogaster NMD is confined to the former and Saccharomyces cerevisiae NMD to the latter decay pathway. Consistent with this conclusion, mammals possess both SMG6 and SMG7, whereas D. melanogaster lacks an SMG7 homologue and yeast have no SMG6 equivalent. In the present paper, we review what is known about the degradation of PTC-containing mRNAs so far, paying particular attention to the properties of the NMD-specific factors SMG5–SMG7 and to what is known about the mechanism of degrading mRNAs after they have been committed to the NMD pathway.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1145/3072959.3073666
|
Robust Extended Finite Elements For Complex Cutting Of Deformables
|
In this paper we present a robust remeshing-free cutting algorithm on the basis of the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and fully implicit time integration. One of the most crucial points of the XFEM is that integrals over discontinuous polynomials have to be computed on subdomains of the polyhedral elements. Most existing approaches construct a cut-aligned auxiliary mesh for integration. In contrast, we propose a cutting algorithm that includes the construction of specialized quadrature rules for each dissected element without the requirement to explicitly represent the arising subdomains. Moreover, we solve the problem of ill-conditioned or even numerically singular solver matrices during time integration using a novel algorithm that constrains non-contributing degrees of freedom (DOFs) and introduce a preconditioner that efficiently reuses the constructed quadrature weights. Our method is particularly suitable for fine structural cutting as it decouples the added number of DOFs from the cut's geometry and correctly preserves geometry and physical properties by accurate integration. Due to the implicit time integration these fine features can still be simulated robustly using large time steps. As opposed to this, the vast majority of existing approaches either use remeshing or element duplication. Remeshing based methods are able to correctly preserve physical quantities but strongly couple cut geometry and mesh resolution leading to an unnecessary large number of additional DOFs. Element duplication based approaches keep the number of additional DOFs small but fail at correct conservation of mass and stiffness properties. We verify consistency and robustness of our approach on simple and reproducible academic examples while stability and applicability are demonstrated in large scenarios with complex and fine structural cutting.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
10.12688/f1000research.13396.1
|
Validation of a yeast malate dehydrogenase 2 (Mdh2) antibody tested for use in western blots
|
Malate dehydrogenases (Mdhs) reversibly convert malate to oxaloacetate and serve as important enzymes in several metabolic pathways. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae there are three Mdh isozymes, localized to different compartments in the cell. In order to identify specifically the Mdh2 isozyme, GenScript USA produced three different antibodies that we further tested by western blot. All three antibodies recognized the S. cerevisiae Mdh2 with different background and specificity properties. One of the antibodies had a relatively low background and high specificity and thus can be used for specific identification of Mdh2 in various experimental settings.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1017/s174392131100682x
|
Energetic particle acceleration and transport by Alfvén/acoustic waves in tokamak-like Solar flares
|
AbstractAlfven/acoustic waves are ubiquitous in astrophysical as well as in laboratory plasmas. Their interplay with energetic ions is of crucial importance to understanding the energy and particle exchange in astrophysical plasmas as well as to obtaining a viable energy source in magnetically confined fusion devices. In magnetically confined fusion plasmas, an experimental phase-space characterisation of convective and diffusive energetic particle losses induced by Alfven/acoustic waves allows for a better understanding of the underlying physics. The relevance of these results in the problem of the anomalous heating of the solar corona is checked by MHD simulations of Tokamak-like Solar flare tubes.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
Q2012208
|
ENRE ENERGIE ET RESSOURCES — DURABILITÉ ET INNOVATION
|
Durabilité ET INNOVATION — ENRE ÉNERGIE & RESSOURCES. ACHAT D’ÉQUIPEMENTS ET DE LOGICIELS POUR AUGMENTER LE NIVEAU DE COMPÉTITIVITÉ DE L’ENTREPRISE, EN PARTICULIER: MACHINE THERMIQUE POUR DÉTECTER LES PROBLÈMES LIÉS À LA DÉTÉRIORATION DES CELLULES PHOTOVOLTAÏQUES
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
2718077
|
Membrane-Free low cost high density rfb
|
Redox Flow Batteries (RFB) are a key enabling technology for the energy transition. Mass market introduction of RFB’s has been hampered by various factors – material scarcity and cost (e.g. vanadium-based RBF), limited catalyst lifetime, membrane costs, system complexity and safety issues. The development of an economically viable, environmentally benign and sustainable redox-flow battery (RFB) storage systems is therefore eagerly awaited. The MEmbraneless LOw cost high DensitY RFB (MELODY) project will develop a sustainable RFB technology that is able to reduce the costs of electricity storage to an absolute minimum, even below the 0.05 €/kWh/cycle by 2030 as set out in the SET plan. MELODY employs a unique triple cost reduction strategy on the conventional RFB concept while tackling all major technical issues in an integrated manner. The three key elements are 1) A membraneless flow battery concept 2) the choice for hydrogen and bromine 3) Simplified system design.
This approach will results in the realization and operation technology for a practical membraneless H2-Br2 redox flow battery at industrially relevant scale (based on dedicated Cell, Stack and Balance of Plant development and piloting). Hereby MELODY will improve all elements that will be limiting after successfully eliminating the membrane (Electrode and electrolyte development, sustainability and techno-economic assessments). With an unrivalled low Levelized Cost of Storage MELODY’s solution is best positioned to change storage from a pure cost factor into a valuable business cases and will enable a wider integration of renewables in the European energy mix. To successfully complete all objectives as set out in the call, MELODY brings together a world-class consortium of SME’s (Elestor, PV3 Technologies, Vertech), industry (Shell) and academic leaders (TU Delft, Technion, University of Exeter, ETH Zurich) that has all required know-how and capabilities to complete the project.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.3765/salt.v28i0.4424
|
Polarity sensitivity of question embedding: experimental evidence
|
Attitude predicates can be classified by the kinds of complements they can embed: declaratives, interrogatives or both. However, several authors have claimed that predicates like be certain can only embed interrogatives in specific environments. According to Mayr, these are exactly the environments that license negative polarity items (NPIs). In his analysis, both NPIs and embedded interrogatives are licensed by the same semantic strengthening procedure. If this is right, one would expect a correlation between acceptability of be certain whether and NPIs. The analysis also predicts a contrast between antecedents vs. consequents of conditionals and restrictors vs. scopes of universal quantifiers. This paper tests these predictions experimentally through an acceptability judgment task. We find that judgments for be certain whether do not correlate with judgments on NPIs, which suggests that be certain whether and NPIs are in fact licensed by different mechanisms.
|
[
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
W2005959357
|
Neonate Presenting with a Midline Supraumbilical Raphe
|
A newborn female (2.07 kg, 45.5 cm), who was born at 32 weeks gestation via an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, presented at birth with hypoglycemia and a midline sternal defect. Physical examination revealed an 8-cm supraumbilical linear defect (Fig. 1) with surrounding welldemarcated patchy areas of hypopigmentation on the central chest, chin, and lower lip and focal deeply erythematous macules on the nasal columella and left malar cheek. The neonate received phototherapy for hyperbilirubinemia and empiric antibiotics for presumed sepsis due to the exposed tissue from the sternal defect; however, her blood cultures remained negative. Thoracic ultrasonography showed no evidence of ectopia cordis. An echocardiogram revealed a patent foramen ovale with a small patent ductus arteriosus without other defects, and an EKG showed normal sinus rhythm. Over several days of life, she progressively developed prominent and widespread plaque-like facial hemangiomas along the jawline and bilateral malar cheeks, as well as on the left temporal scalp, periocular, and nasal regions (Figs. 2 and 3).
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
US 0018701 W
|
CYCLIC DELOCALIZED CATIONS CONNECTED BY SPACER GROUPS
|
Cyclic delocalized cations joined together by spacer groups, with anions of equal number to cations to maintain charge neutrality, are disclosed. These spacer groups may be organic or inorganic in origin and may vary in length. The spacer groups may be saturated, containing single bonds, or may be unsaturated, containing double and triple bonds. With appropriate design these materials can have melting and glass transition temperatures below, around, and above room temperature. The lyophobic character of these materials may be adjusted, providing unique properties. These materials are well suited for use as electrolytes, lubricants, solvents for extractions and for running reactions, biphase catalysis media, media for electroluminescent and electrochromic devices.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
W2295960168
|
Schema-less XML in columns
|
C-store environment uses a relational database for storing table tuples on the disk by columns. Can it be effectively used as XML database? This paper considers XML data without a schema. A two-level model of C-store based on XML-enabled relational databases is proposed. A measure of the model suitability is the possibility of evaluating effectively XPath queries. The XPath fragment considered allows the node-test not referring to attribute values and text values. Child, descendant, parent, ancestor, siblings, and following (preceding) are just the XPath axes used here. Low level memory system enabling the estimation of the number of two abstract operations providing an interface to an external memory is characteristic for algorithms for each axis. We will show that our algorithms are mostly of logarithmic complexity in n, where n is the number of nodes of XML tree associated with a XML document.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1016/j.bpj.2017.04.018
|
Direct Observation of Cell-Cycle-Dependent Interactions between CTCF and Chromatin
|
The three-dimensional arrangement of chromatin encodes regulatory traits important for nuclear processes such as transcription and replication. Chromatin topology is in part mediated by the architectural protein CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) that binds to the boundaries of topologically associating domains. Whereas sites of CTCF interactions are well characterized, little is known on how long CTCF binds to chromatin and how binding evolves during the cell cycle. We monitored CTCF-chromatin interactions by live cell single molecule tracking in different phases of the cell cycle. In G1-, S-, and G2-phases, a majority of CTCF molecules was bound transiently (∼0. 2 s) to chromatin, whereas minor fractions were bound dynamically (∼4 s) or stably (>15 min). During mitosis, CTCF was mostly excluded from chromatin. Our data suggest that CTCF scans DNA in search for two different subsets of specific target sites and provide information on the timescales over which topologically associating domains might be restructured. During S-phase, dynamic and stable interactions decreased considerably compared to G1-phase, but were resumed in G2-phase, indicating that specific interactions need to be dissolved for replication to proceed.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1039/C4NR01265H
|
Structural Characterisation Of A Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheet
|
We report the atomic-scale structure of a Zn2Al–borate layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheet, as determined by reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modelling of X-ray total scattering data. This study involves the extension of the RMC method to enable structural refinement of two-dimensional nanomaterials. The refined LDH models show the intra-layer geometry in this highly-exfoliated phase to be consistent with that observed in crystalline analogues, with the reciprocal-space scattering data suggesting a disordered arrangement of the Zn2+ and Al3+ cations within the nanosheet. The approach we develop is generalisable and so offers a method of characterising the structures of arbitrary nanosheet phases, including systems that support complex forms of disorder within the nanosheets themselves.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1007/978-3-319-07557-0_21
|
Strong Lp Formulations For Scheduling Splittable Jobs On Unrelated Machines
|
We study a natural generalization of the problem of minimizing makespan on unrelated machines in which jobs may be split into parts. The different parts of a job can be (simultaneously) processed on different machines, but each part requires a setup time before it can be processed. First we show that a natural adaptation of the seminal approximation algorithm for unrelated machine scheduling [11] yields a 3-approximation algorithm, equal to the integrality gap of the corresponding LP relaxation. Through a stronger LP relaxation, obtained by applying a lift-and-project procedure, we are able to improve both the integrality gap and the implied approximation factor to 1 + φ, where φ ≈ 1. 618 is the golden ratio. This ratio decreases to 2 in the restricted assignment setting, matching the result for the classic version. Interestingly, we show that our problem cannot be approximated within a factor better than e/e-1 ≈ 1. 582 (unless P = NP). This provides some evidence that it is harder than the classic version, which is only known to be inapproximable within a factor 1. 5 - e. Since our 1 + φ bound remains tight when considering the seemingly stronger machine configuration LP, we propose a new job based configuration LP that has an infinite number of variables, one for each possible way a job may be split and processed on the machines. Using convex duality we show that this infinite LP has a finite representation and can be solved in polynomial time to any accuracy, rendering it a promising relaxation for obtaining better algorithms.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
] |
W2941830646
|
Pengendalain Harga Pokok Produksi Dengan Metode Full Costing Pada “Kerupuk Sari Udang Mbah Oerip-Sidoarjo”
|
Companies must be able to compete in terms of prices by managing the handling of raw materials, labor and overhaed factories. All three are very important because they directly affect the cost of the product (HPP). UD company Redjo Makmoer Indonesia, is a company that produces crackers. For the determination of production costs and pricing of sales, the company makes a policy on the method of calculating the cost of production. In addition to pricing, also to control the process and reduce the size of the company's production costs. Based on observations for one month the production process, the cost of production with the method of the company that has been run is Rp. 40,100.00. With the full costing method, Rp. 41,500.00. It can be concluded that the cost of production based on the two calculation methods above there are differences or differences. With the full costing method, the cost of production is higher. This shows that so far the calculations made by the company have several elements that have not been included in the calculation.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevB.90.115152
|
Electronic structure of spontaneously strained graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
|
Hexagonal boron nitride substrates have been shown to dramatically improve the electric properties of graphene. Recently, it has been observed that when the two honeycomb crystals are close to perfect alignment, strong lattice distortions develop in graphene due to the moiré adhesion landscape. Simultaneously, a gap opens at the Dirac point. Here, we derive a simple low-energy electronic model for graphene aligned with the substrate, taking into account spontaneous strains at equilibrium and pseudogauge fields. We carry out a detailed characterization of the modified band structure, gap, local and global density of states, and band topology in terms of physical parameters. We show that the overall electronic structure is strongly modified by the spontaneous strains.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1080/13501763.2019.1701531
|
Mismatch Comparing Elite And Citizen Polarisation On Eu Issues Across Four Countries
|
ABSTRACTNational politicisation of European Union issues has risen following events such as the economic crisis and the refugee influx. This has led to changes at the party (rising Eurosceptic part. . .
|
[
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
10.1142/S0217751X11054917
|
On Real Intrinsic Wall Crossings
|
We study moduli space stabilization of a class of BPS configurations from the perspective of the real intrinsic Riemannian geometry. Our analysis exhibits a set of implications towards the stability of the D-term potentials, defined for a set of Abelian scalar fields. In particular, we show that the nature of marginal and threshold walls of stabilities may be investigated by real geometric methods. Interestingly, we find that the leading order contributions may easily be accomplished by translations of the Fayet parameter. Specifically, we notice that the various possible linear, planar, hyperplanar and the entire moduli space stability may easily be reduced to certain polynomials in the Fayet parameter. For a set of finitely many real scalar fields, it may be further inferred that the intrinsic scalar curvature defines the global nature and range of vacuum correlations. Whereas, the underlying moduli space configuration corresponds to a noninteracting basis at the zeros of the scalar curvature, where the scalar fields become uncorrelated. The divergences of the scalar curvature provide possible phase structures, viz. , wall of stability, phase transition, if any, in the chosen moduli configuration. The present analysis opens up a new avenue towards the stabilization of gauge and string moduli.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
] |
259649
|
Magmas at Depth: an Experimental Study at Extreme Conditions
|
Magmas, i.e. silicate melts, have played a key role in the chemical and thermal evolution of the Earth and other planets. The Earth's interior today is the outcome of mass transfers which occurred primarily in its early history and still occur now via magmatic events. Present day magmatic and volcanic processes are controlled by the properties of molten silicate at high pressure, considering that magmas are produced at depth. However, the physical properties of molten silicates remain largely unexplored across the broad range of relevant P-T conditions, and their chemical properties are very often assumed constant and equal to those known at ambient conditions. This blurs out our understanding of planetary differentiation and current magmatic processes.
The aim of this proposal is to place fundamental constraints on magma generation and transport in planetary interiors by measuring the properties of silicate melts in their natural high pressures (P) and high temperatures (T) conditions using a broad range of in situ key diagnostic probes (X-ray and neutron scattering techniques, X-ray absorption, radiography, Raman spectroscopy). The completion of this proposal will result in a comprehensive key database in the composition-P-T space that will form the foundation for modelling planetary formation and differentiation, and will provide answers to the very fundamental questions on magma formation, ascent or trapping at depth in the current and past Earth.
This experimental program is allowed by the recent advancements in in situ high P-T techniques, and comes in conjunction with a large and fruitful theoretical effort; time has thus come to understand Earth's melts and their keys to Earth's evolution.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
interreg_1198
|
Entrepreneurial Diversity
|
Entrepreneurial activities have quite an enormous impact for the economic performance of regions and the renewal of regional knowledge. Fostering entrepreneurship with (semi) public funding contributes to a more prosperous regional economy and can reduce the unemployment rate significantly. The experiences of the project partners as well as acknowledged studies show that entrepreneurial initiatives are successful if different types of services are provided for latent nascent entrepreneurs, nascent entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs: Assessment, Training, Ongoing Consultation, Facilities and Networks.
Common business services providers mostly don’t consider these facts due to a limited philosophy: They are providing their services according to a sector, size of business, or a specific target group. This philosophy is insufficient. The only way of overcoming these gaps, coping with the challenges and taking the increasing
unemployment rate as a chance to boost Entrepreneurship on regional and local level is to shift from a fragmented support system to a holistic approach. Therefore, a well-developed related network of involved government agencies, regional economic development providers, labour offices, chambers, universities, associations, media and banks is necessary. Those regional networks are providing support to all potential and young entrepreneurs to overcome the initial hurdles of launching their businesses. A well developed network operates much like a public transit system. There are various bus and tramway stops where one can set forth or switch over to another line and a schedule, the business start-up roadmap. The network should also be based on the entrepreneurial diversity approach. Focusing on financial and market economics aspect considering by personal assessment, information and orientation and training seminars targeted to identify their potential and needs.
Active networks of public and private institutions as well as target group orientated consultation and qualification approaches are already implemented in some ENTREDI partner regions. All these activities and approaches and good practices should be gathered in a pool, where all regions can find methods, tools or some examples, waiting to be installed or to be improved due to their regional requirements the entrepreneurial spirit and basic conditions. After the successful formal conclusion of the ENTREDI project other European regions can benefit from the pool of experiences, methods and tools. 7 regional action plans on devolopment/improvement of enterpreneurship support will be signed by the respective of ROP managing authorities. The mainstreaming guideline will support the transfer and the sustainability of the integrative support programme of ENTREDI and the level of awareness of ROP managing activities policy about ENTREDI will be 50%.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01905
|
Free Energy Landscape of GAGA and UUCG RNA Tetraloops
|
We report the folding thermodynamics of ccUUCGgg and ccGAGAgg RNA tetraloops using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. We obtain a previously unreported estimation of the folding free energy using parallel tempering in combination with well-tempered metadynamics. A key ingredient is the use of a recently developed metric distance, eRMSD, as a biased collective variable. We find that the native fold of both tetraloops is not the global free energy minimum using the AmberχOL3 force field. The estimated folding free energies are 30. 2 ± 0. 5 kJ/mol for UUCG and 7. 5 ± 0. 6 kJ/mol for GAGA, in striking disagreement with experimental data. We evaluate the viability of all possible one-dimensional backbone force field corrections. We find that disfavoring the gauche+ region of α and ζ angles consistently improves the existing force field. The level of accuracy achieved with these corrections, however, cannot be considered sufficient by judging on the basis of available thermodynamic data and solution experiments.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1016/j.celrep.2017.02.063
|
Measurement of Rapid Protein Diffusion in the Cytoplasm by Photo-Converted Intensity Profile Expansion
|
The fluorescence microscopy methods presently used to characterize protein motion in cells infer protein motion from indirect observables, rather than measuring protein motion directly. Operationalizing these methods requires expertise that can constitute a barrier to their broad utilization. Here, we have developed PIPE (photo-converted intensity profile expansion) to directly measure the motion of tagged proteins and quantify it using an effective diffusion coefficient. PIPE works by pulsing photo-convertible fluorescent proteins, generating a peaked fluorescence signal at the pulsed region, and analyzing the spatial expansion of the signal. We demonstrate PIPE's success in measuring accurate diffusion coefficients in silico and in vitro and compare effective diffusion coefficients of native cellular proteins and free fluorophores in vivo. We apply PIPE to measure diffusion anomality in the cell and use it to distinguish free fluorophores from native cellular proteins. PIPE's direct measurement and ease of use make it appealing for cell biologists.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1109/MC.2011.130
|
Trends In Server Energy Proportionality
|
Energy proportionality should be a key target in future server design. Although energy proportionality, as quantified by the proposed EP metric, has improved significantly in recent years, much more can be done to move systems closer to ideal energy proportionality. Toward this end, we are pursuing a workload characterization and large-scale system simulation methodology for advising data center system integrators to move toward cost and power-efficient infrastructures.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.3390/antibiotics8020046
|
Directed evolution of a mycobacteriophage
|
Bacteriophages represent an alternative strategy to combat pathogenic bacteria. Currently, Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections constitute a major public health problem due to extensive antibiotic resistance in some strains. Using a non-pathogenic species of the same genus as an experimental model, Mycobacterium smegmatis, here we have set up a basic methodology for mycobacteriophage growth and we have explored directed evolution as a tool for increasing phage infectivity and lytic activity. We demonstrate mycobacteriophage adaptation to its host under different conditions. Directed evolution could be used for the development of future phage therapy applications against mycobacteria.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
] |
10.1038/ncomms13275
|
Myelinosome formation represents an early stage of oligodendrocyte damage in multiple sclerosis and its animal model
|
Oligodendrocyte damage is a central event in the pathogenesis of the common neuroinflammatory condition, multiple sclerosis (MS). Where and how oligodendrocyte damage is initiated in MS is not completely understood. Here, we use a combination of light and electron microscopy techniques to provide a dynamic and highly resolved view of oligodendrocyte damage in neuroinflammatory lesions. We show that both in MS and in its animal model structural damage is initiated at the myelin sheaths and only later spreads to the oligodendrocyte cell body. Early myelin damage itself is characterized by the formation of local myelin out-foldings - 'myelinosomes' -, which are surrounded by phagocyte processes and promoted in their formation by anti-myelin antibodies and complement. The presence of myelinosomes in actively demyelinating MS lesions suggests that oligodendrocyte damage follows a similar pattern in the human disease, where targeting demyelination by therapeutic interventions remains a major open challenge.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
] |
10.3791/51154
|
Systemic injection of neural stem/progenitor cells in mice with chronic EAE
|
Neural stem/precursor cells (NPCs) are a promising stem cell source for transplantation approaches aiming at brain repair or restoration in regenerative neurology. This directive has arisen from the extensive evidence that brain repair is achieved after focal or systemic NPC transplantation in several preclinical models of neurological diseases. These experimental data have identified the cell delivery route as one of the main hurdles of restorative stem cell therapies for brain diseases that requires urgent assessment. Intraparenchymal stem cell grafting represents a logical approach to those pathologies characterized by isolated and accessible brain lesions such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, this principle is poorly applicable to conditions characterized by a multifocal, inflammatory and disseminated (both in time and space) nature, including multiple sclerosis (MS). As such, brain targeting by systemic NPC delivery has become a low invasive and therapeutically efficacious protocol to deliver cells to the brain and spinal cord of rodents and nonhuman primates affected by experimental chronic inflammatory damage of the central nervous system (CNS). This alternative method of cell delivery relies on the NPC pathotropism, specifically their innate capacity to (i) sense the environment via functional cell adhesion molecules and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine receptors; (ii) cross the leaking anatomical barriers after intravenous (i. v. ) or intracerebroventricular (i. c. v. ) injection; (iii) accumulate at the level of multiple perivascular site(s) of inflammatory brain and spinal cord damage; and (i. v. ) exert remarkable tissue trophic and immune regulatory effects onto different host target cells in vivo. Here we describe the methods that we have developed for the i. v. and i. c. v. delivery of syngeneic NPCs in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), as model of chronic CNS inflammatory demyelination, and envisage the systemic stem cell delivery as a valuable technique for the selective targeting of the inflamed brain in regenerative neurology.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
681546
|
Family size matters: How low fertility affects the (re)production of social inequalities
|
This is the first comprehensive study on the consequences of low fertility for the (re)production of social inequalities. Inequalities in socio-economic well-being, including gender inequalities and regional inequalities, are reproduced from generation to generation. The family plays a central role in the reproduction of social inequalities. Over the last 5 decades, most societies in Europe and East-Asia moved or started moving towards low fertility regimes where the majority of women bear 0, 1 or 2 children. What does this radical change in family size imply for the (re)production of social inequalities?
While demographers focus on determinants rather than consequences of low fertility, social inequality scholars largely ignore fertility trends. I connect these major fields to understand the consequences of low fertility and re-think mechanisms for the reproduction of inequalities. From this perspective I generate new empirical and theoretical questions and I highlight growing but under-researched groups (i.e. childless adults and only-children).
I formulate three sets of related innovative questions on the consequences of low fertility for inequalities in (1) children, (2) adults and (3) societies. With regard to children, I investigate multigenerational processes, the changing role of sibling size and the role of only-children in reproducing inequalities. For parents with adult children, I study when and where the ‘quality’ of children becomes increasingly important and I examine the role of childless adults in the reproduction of inequalities.
I take a quantitative comparative approach over time and across societies in Europe and East-Asia using multi-actor multilevel data from the newest data initiatives and reviving underused existing data. The insights from the comparative studies are brought together at the macro level in a simulation study. Gender inequalities are addressed throughout the project: has lower fertility reduced gender inequalities?
|
[
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
10.1007/JHEP05(2015)124
|
Flavour Always Matters In Scalar Triplet Leptogenesis
|
We present a flavour-covariant formalism for scalar triplet leptogenesis, which takes into account the effects of the different lepton flavours in a consistent way. Our main finding is that flavour effects can never be neglected in scalar triplet leptogenesis, even in the temperature regime where all charged lepton Yukawa interactions are out of equilibrium. This is at variance with the standard leptogenesis scenario with heavy Majorana neutrinos. In particular, the so-called single flavour approximation leads to predictions for the baryon asymmetry of the universe that can differ by a large amount from the flavour-covariant computation in all temperature regimes. We investigate numerically the impact of flavour effects and spectator processes on the generated baryon asymmetry, and find that the region of triplet parameter space allowed by successsful leptogenesis is significantly enlarged.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
] |
10.1021/acs.analchem.7b00423
|
Spectrophotometric Quantification of Peroxidase with p-Phenylene-diamine for Analyzing Peroxidase-Encapsulating Lipid Vesicles
|
A spectrophotometric assay for the determination of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in aqueous solution with p-phenylenediamine (PPD, benzene-1,4-diamine) as electron donor substrate and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant was developed. The oxidation of PPD by HRP/H2O2 leads to the formation of Bandrowski's base ((3E,6E)-3,6-bis[(4-aminophenyl)imino]cyclohexa-1,4-diene-1,4-diamine), which can be quantified by following the increase in absorbance at 500 nm. The assay was applied for monitoring the activity of HRP inside ≈180 nm-sized lipid vesicles (liposomes), prepared from POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and purified by size exclusion chromatography. Because of the high POPC bilayer permeability of PPD and H2O2, the HRP-catalyzed oxidation of PPD occurs inside the vesicles once PPD and H2O2 are added to the vesicle suspension. In contrast, if instead of PPD the bilayer-impermeable substrate ABTS2- (2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate)) is used, the oxidation of ABTS2- inside the vesicles does not occur. Therefore, using PPD and ABTS2- in separate assays allows distinguishing between vesicle-trapped HRP and HRP in the external bulk solution. In this way, the storage stability of HRP-containing POPC vesicles was investigated in terms of HRP leakage and activity of entrapped HRP. It was found that pH 7. 0 suspensions of POPC vesicles (2. 2 mM POPC) containing on average about 12 HRP molecules per vesicle are stable for at least 1 month without any significant HRP leakage, if stored at 4 °C. Such high stability is beneficial not only for bioanalytical applications but also for exploring the kinetic properties of vesicle-entrapped HRP through simple spectrophotometric absorption measurements with PPD as a sensitive and cheap substrate.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1007/s11625-020-00827-5
|
Operationalising place for land system science
|
The following paper introduces the concept of place for land system science to better understand how the transformation of place, as place-making, can be operationalised. The aim is to operationalise place with the motivation that a deeper understanding of people–place interactions can advance knowledge of land systems towards practicable solutions to current sustainability challenges. An overview of place studies spanning a wide range of research disciplines is presented to form a clear and concise theoretical foundation, necessary when operationalising place beyond its traditional research domains and applications. The limitations and potential of place in the context of land systems science are then explored through examples and the importance of operationalising place as both a product and process is demonstrated. Place and place-making are presented as a conceptual model, which allows for expansion and substantiation when deployed to relevant land system research tasks. In closing, the directions and key themes for further development of people–place interactions in land system science are discussed.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1080/01402382.2016.1271597
|
Do Electoral Rules Have An Effect On Electoral Behaviour An Impact Assessment
|
AbstractElectoral democracies worldwide are all organised around elections but the rules under which the elections are organised differ greatly from one country to another. These electoral rules, such as whether voting is compulsory or what electoral system is used, are thought of as strongly affecting voters’ behaviour and the choices they make. If electoral rules indeed shape citizens’ electoral behaviour, the implication is that theories of what explains voters’ choices are country-specific as well. This is in sharp contrast to the idea that theories of electoral behaviour are generalisable. This special issue tackles this question and offers an assessment of the impact of electoral rules on voters’ behaviour, on the one hand, and the generalisability of individual-level theories of voting behaviour, on the other. The collection of papers furthermore offers an important contribution in terms of the kind of electoral rules that are scrutinised, with several papers focusing on the little-investigated phe. . .
|
[
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
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