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W3092589482
|
Design and implementation of a BDS precise point positioning service
|
Precise point positioning (PPP) service is of great significance for BDS. The design and implementation of the service are presented. The PPP-B2b signal of the service is constructed, which is efficient multiplexed with other signal components, and achieves compatibility between two service phases. A customized message format that can augment all visible satellites of four core constellations in mainland China is proposed. The high-gain, 64-ary, low-density parity check (LDPC) coding is used, which facilitates the integrated design of the receivers. A signal quality test has revealed that the S-curve bias (SCB) of PPP-B2b does not exceed 0.0165 ns and the coherence between the code and the carrier of the signal is only 0.137 degrees. A performance evaluation has indicated that at its current stage, the positioning accuracy in the horizontal and vertical directions is better than 0.15 m and 0.3 m, respectively, and the convergence time does not exceed 800 s.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
W1991053710
|
An adaptive evidence structure for Bayesian recognition of 3D objects
|
Classification of an object under various environmental conditions is a challenge for developing a reliable service robot. In this work, we show problems of using simple Naive Bayesian classifier and propose a Tree-Augmented Naive (TAN) Bayesian Network -- based classifier. We separate feature space into binary TRUE/FALSE regions which allows us to drive Bayesian inference prior conditional probabilities from statistical database. We go further using TRUE/FALSE regions to estimate expected posterior probabilities of each object under online specific conditions. These expectations are then used to select optimal feature sets under this environment and autonomously reconstruct Bayesian Network. Experimental results, validation and comparison show the performance of the proposed system.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1088/1475-7516/2016/08/012
|
Lyman Alpha Forests Cool Warm Dark Matter
|
The free-streaming of keV-scale particles impacts structure growth on scales that are probed by the Lyman-alpha forest of distant quasars. Using an unprecedentedly large sample of medium-resolution QSO spectra from the ninth data release of SDSS, along with a state-of-the-art set of hydrodynamical simulations to model the Lyman-alpha forest in the non-linear regime, we issue one of the tightest bounds to date, from Ly-α data alone, on pure dark matter particles: mX>4. 09 keV (95% CL) for early decoupled thermal relics such as a hypothetical gravitino, and correspondingly ms>24. 4 keV (95% CL) for a non-resonantly produced right-handed neutrino. This limit depends on the value on ns, and Planck measures a higher value of ns than SDSS-III/BOSS. Our bounds thus change slightly when Ly-α data are combined with CMB data from Planck 2016. The limits shift to mX>2. 96 keV (95% CL) and ms>16. 0 keV (95% CL). Thanks to SDSS-III data featuring smaller uncertainties and covering a larger redshift range than SDSS-I data, our bounds confirm the most stringent results established by previous works and are further at odds with a purely non-resonantly produced sterile neutrino as dark matter.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
W2619825536
|
Regional economic integration in Mercosur: The role of real and financial sectors
|
Abstract This study explores economic interdependence in Mercosur by examining common trends and common cycles among key macro-variables representing both the real and financial sectors of the economy. The serial correlation common features test reveals that the key macroeconomic variables (real output, investment, and intra-regional trade) share common trends in the long run suggesting that macroeconomic interdependence in the Mercosur economies is strong. The exchange rates demonstrate co-movement in the long run as they share a single common trend. These finding suggests that these economies cannot swing away from long-run equilibrium for an extended duration; they will be brought together by their common trends. Similarly, each variable under consideration shares common cycles lending support to the notion of short-run synchronous movement. The trend-cycle decomposition results reveal that the cyclical movements of real output and trade are synchronized with a high degree of positive correlations. Our overall findings thus provide justification and optimism for deeper economic integration among Mercosur countries.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevE.95.023105
|
Inelastic non-Newtonian flow over heterogeneously slippery surfaces
|
In this study, we investigated inelastic non-Newtonian fluid flow over heterogeneously slippery surfaces. First, we simulated the flow of aqueous xanthan gum solutions over a bubble mattress, which is a superhydrophobic surface consisting of transversely positioned no-slip walls and no-shear gas bubbles. The results reveal that for shear-thinning fluids wall slip can be increased significantly, provided that the system is operated in the shear-thinning regime. For a 0. 2 wt% xanthan gum solution with a power-law index of n=0. 4, the numerical results indicate that wall slip can be enhanced 3. 2 times when compared to a Newtonian liquid. This enhancement factor was also predicted from a theoretical analysis, which gave an expression for the maximum slip length that can be attained over flat, heterogeneously slippery surfaces. Although this equation was derived for a no-slip/no-shear unit length that is much larger than the typical size of the system, we found that it can also be used to predict the enhancement in the regime where the slip length is proportional to the size of the no-shear region or the bubble width. The results could be coupled to the hydrodynamic development or entrance length of the system, as maximum wall slip is only reached when the fluid flow can fully adapt to the no-slip and no-shear conditions at the wall.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1609/aaai.v34i02.5606
|
Deep Learning—Powered Iterative Combinatorial Auctions
|
In this paper, we study the design of deep learning-powered iterative combinatorial auctions (ICAs). We build on prior work where preference elicitation was done via kernelized support vector regressions (SVRs). However, the SVR-based approach has limitations because it requires solving a machine learning (ML)-based winner determination problem (WDP). With expressive kernels (like gaussians), the ML-based WDP cannot be solved for large domains. While linear or quadratic kernels have better computational scalability, these kernels have limited expressiveness. In this work, we address these shortcomings by using deep neural networks (DNNs) instead of SVRs. We first show how the DNN-based WDP can be reformulated into a mixed integer program (MIP). Second, we experimentally compare the prediction performance of DNNs against SVRs. Third, we present experimental evaluations in two medium-sized domains which show that even ICAs based on relatively small-sized DNNs lead to higher economic efficiency than ICAs based on kernelized SVRs. Finally, we show that our DNN-powered ICA also scales well to very large CA domains.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.5194/cp-13-1213-2017
|
Sources and characteristics of terrestrial carbon in Holocene-scale sediments of the East Siberian Sea
|
. Thawing of permafrost carbon (PF-C) due to climate warming can remobilise considerable amounts of terrestrial carbon from its long-term storage to the marine environment. PF-C can be then be buried in sediments or remineralised to CO2 with implications for the carbon–climate feedback. Studying historical sediment records during past natural climate changes can help us to understand the response of permafrost to current climate warming. In this study, two sediment cores collected from the East Siberian Sea were used to study terrestrial organic carbon sources, composition and degradation during the past ∼ 9500 cal yrs BP. CuO-derived lignin and cutin products (i. e. , compounds solely biosynthesised in terrestrial plants) combined with δ13C suggest that there was a higher input of terrestrial organic carbon to the East Siberian Sea between ∼ 9500 and 8200 cal yrs BP than in all later periods. This high input was likely caused by marine transgression and permafrost destabilisation in the early Holocene climatic optimum. Based on source apportionment modelling using dual-carbon isotope (Δ14C, δ13C) data, coastal erosion releasing old Pleistocene permafrost carbon was identified as a significant source of organic matter translocated to the East Siberian Sea during the Holocene.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.5194/acp-16-14891-2016
|
Using <i>δ</i><sup>13</sup>C-CH<sub>4</sub> and <i>δ</i>D-CH<sub>4</sub> to constrain Arctic methane emissions
|
Abstract. We present a global methane modelling study assessing the sensitivity of Arctic atmospheric CH4 mole fractions, δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4 to uncertainties in Arctic methane sources. Model simulations include methane tracers tagged by source and isotopic composition and are compared with atmospheric data at four northern high-latitude measurement sites. We find the model's ability to capture the magnitude and phase of observed seasonal cycles of CH4 mixing ratios, δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4 at northern high latitudes is much improved using a later spring kick-off and autumn decline in northern high-latitude wetland emissions than predicted by most process models. Results from our model simulations indicate that recent predictions of large methane emissions from thawing submarine permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf region could only be reconciled with global-scale atmospheric observations by making large adjustments to high-latitude anthropogenic or wetland emission inventories.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00066-3
|
Spatial Distribution Of Schistosomiasis And Treatment Needs In Sub Saharan Africa A Systematic Review And Geostatistical Analysis
|
Summary Background Schistosomiasis affects more than 200 million individuals, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, but empirical estimates of the disease burden in this region are unavailable. We used geostatistical modelling to produce high-resolution risk estimates of infection with Schistosoma spp and of the number of doses of praziquantel treatment needed to prevent morbidity at different administrative levels in 44 countries. Methods We did a systematic review to identify surveys including schistosomiasis prevalence data in sub-Saharan Africa via PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and African Journals Online, from inception to May 2, 2014, with no restriction of language, survey date, or study design. We used Bayesian geostatistical meta-analysis and rigorous variable selection to predict infection risk over a grid of 1 155 818 pixels at 5 × 5 km, on the basis of environmental and socioeconomic predictors and to calculate the number of doses of praziquantel needed for prevention of morbidity. Findings The literature search identified Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni surveys done in, respectively, 9318 and 9140 unique locations. Infection risk decreased from 2000 onwards, yet estimates suggest that 163 million (95% Bayesian credible interval [CrI] 155 million to 172 million; 18·5%, 17·6–19·5) of the sub-Saharan African population was infected in 2012. Mozambique had the highest prevalence of schistosomiasis in school-aged children (52·8%, 95% CrI 48·7–57·8). Low-risk countries (prevalence among school-aged children lower than 10%) included Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and Rwanda. The numbers of doses of praziquantel needed per year were estimated to be 123 million (95% CrI 121 million to 125 million) for school-aged children and 247 million (239 million to 256 million) for the entire population. Interpretation Our results will inform policy makers about the number of treatments needed at different levels and will guide the spatial targeting of schistosomiasis control interventions. Funding European Research Council, China Scholarship Council, UBS Optimus Foundation, and Swiss National Science Foundation.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
] |
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.022
|
Experience of action depends on intention, not body movement: An experiment on memory for mens rea
|
How do we know whether our own actions were voluntary or involuntary? Intentional theories of sense of agency suggest that we consciously perceive the intentions that accompany our actions, but reconstructive theories suggest that we perceive our actions only through the body movements and other effects that they produce. Intentions would then be mere confabulations, and not bona fide experiences. Previous work on voluntary action has focused on immediate experiences of authorship, and few studies have considered memory for voluntary actions. We devised an experiment in which both voluntary action and involuntary movement always occurred at the same time, but could either involve the same hand (congruent condition), or different hands (incongruent condition). When signals from the voluntary and involuntary movements involved different hands, they could therefore potentially interfere in memory. We found that recall of a voluntary action was unaffected by an incongruent involuntary movement. In contrast, recall of an involuntary movement was strongly influenced by an incongruent voluntary action. Our results demonstrate an "intentional capture" of body movement by voluntary actions, in support of intentional theories of agency, but contrary to reconstructive theories. When asked to recall both actions and movements, people's responses are shaped by memory of what they intended to do, rather than by how their body moved.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
833076
|
A woman's reproductive experience: Long-term implications for chronic disease and death
|
Pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and preterm birth are known to affect infant health, but their influence on mothers’ long-term health is not well understood. Most previous studies are seriously limited by their reliance on information from the first pregnancy. Often they lack the data to study women’s complete reproductive histories. Without a complete reproductive history, the relationship between pregnancy complications and women’s long-term health cannot be reliably studied. The Medical Birth Registry of Norway, covering all births from 1967-, includes information on more than 3 million births and 1.5 million sibships. Linking this to population based death and cancer registries provides a worldwide unique source of population-based data which can be analysed to identify heterogeneities in risk by lifetime parity and the cumulative experience of pregnancy complications. Having worked in this field of research for many years, I see many erroneous conclusions in studies based on insufficient data. For instance, both after preeclampsia and after a stillbirth, the high risk of heart disease observed in one-child mothers is strongly attenuated in women with subsequent pregnancies. I will study different patterns of pregnancy complications that occur alone or in combination across pregnancies, and analyse their associations with cause specific maternal mortality. Using this unique methodology, I will challenge the idea that placental dysfunction is the origin of preeclampsia and test the hypothesis that pregnancy complications may cause direct long-term effects on maternal health. The findings of this research have the potential to advance our understanding of how pregnancy complications affect the long-term maternal health and help to develop more effective chronic disease prevention strategies.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1038/nsmb.3065
|
Structure of Rab11-FIP3-Rabin8 reveals simultaneous binding of FIP3 and Rabin8 effectors to Rab11
|
The small GTPase Rab11 and its effectors FIP3 and Rabin8 are essential to membrane-trafficking pathways required for cytokinesis and ciliogenesis. Although effector binding is generally assumed to be sequential and mutually exclusive, we show that Rab11 can simultaneously bind FIP3 and Rabin8. We determined crystal structures of human Rab11-GMPPNP-Rabin8 and Rab11-GMPPNP-FIP3-Rabin8. The structures reveal that the C-terminal domain of Rabin8 adopts a previously undescribed fold that interacts with Rab11 at an unusual effector-binding site neighboring the canonical FIP3-binding site. We show that Rab11-GMPPNP-FIP3-Rabin8 is more stable than Rab11-GMPPNP-Rabin8, owing to direct interaction between Rabin8 and FIP3 within the dual effector-bound complex. The data allow us to propose a model for how membrane-targeting complexes assemble at the trans-Golgi network and recycling endosomes, through multiple weak interactions that create high-avidity complexes.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevB.95.180404
|
Emergent Haldane phase in the S=1 bilinear-biquadratic Heisenberg model on the square lattice
|
Infinite projected entangled pair states simulations of the S=1 bilinear-biquadratic Heisenberg model on the square lattice reveal an emergent Haldane phase in between the previously predicted antiferromagnetic and three-sublattice 120° magnetically ordered phases. This intermediate phase preserves SU(2) spin and translational symmetry but breaks lattice rotational symmetry, and it can be adiabatically connected to the Haldane phase of decoupled S=1 chains. Our results contradict previous studies which found a direct transition between the two magnetically ordered states.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1016/j.cma.2009.10.017
|
Flow rate boundary problems for an incompressible fluid in deformable domains: Formulations and solution methods
|
In this paper we consider the numerical solution of the interaction of an incompressible fluid and an elastic structure in a truncated computational domain. As well known, in this case there is the problem of prescribing realistic boundary data on the artificial sections, when only partial data are available. This problem has been investigated extensively for the rigid case. In this work we start considering the compliant case, by focusing on the flow rate conditions for the fluid. We propose three formulations of this problem, different algorithms for its numerical solution and carry out several 2D numerical simulations with the aim of comparing the performances of the different algorithms.
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
W1996762049
|
Use of higher thromboelastogram transfusion values is not associated with greater blood loss in liver transplant surgery
|
Plasma-containing products are given during the pre-anhepatic stage of liver transplant surgery to correct abnormal thromboelastogram (TEG) values and prevent blood loss due to coagulation defects. However, evidence suggests that abnormal TEG results do not always predict bleeding. We questioned what effect using higher TEG values to initiate treatment would have on blood loss. A single transfusion protocol was used for all patients who underwent liver transplantation between 2007 and 2010. Thirty-eight patients received coagulation products when standard TEG cutoff values were exceeded, whereas another 39 patients received coagulation products when the TEG values were 35% greater than normal. The results of postoperative coagulation tests for total blood loss and the use of blood products were compared for the 2 groups. When the critical TEG values for transfusion were higher, significantly fewer units of fresh frozen plasma (5.58 ± 6.49 versus 11.53 ± 6.66 U) and pheresis platelets (1.84 ± 1.33 versus 3.55 ± 1.43 U) were used. There were no differences in blood loss or postoperative blood product use. In conclusion, the use of higher critical TEG values to initiate the transfusion of plasma-containing products is not associated with increased blood loss. Further testing is necessary to identify what TEG value predicts bleeding due to a deficit in coagulation factors.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1145/2677037
|
Efficient Out-of-Order Execution of Guarded ISAs
|
ARM ISA-based processors are no longer low-cost, low-power processors. Nowadays, ARM ISA-based processor manufacturers are striving to implement medium-end to high-end processor cores, which implies implementing a state-of-the-art out-of-order execution engine. Unfortunately, providing efficient out-of-order execution on legacy ARM codes may be quite challenging due to guarded instructions. Predicting the guarded instructions addresses the main serialization impact associated with guarded instructions execution and the multiple definition problem. Moreover, guard prediction allows one to use a global branch-and-guard history predictor to predict both branches and guards, often improving branch prediction accuracy. Unfortunately, such a global branch-and-guard history predictor requires the systematic use of guard predictions. In that case, poor guard prediction accuracy would lead to poor overall performance on some applications. Building on top of recent advances in branch prediction and confidence estimation, we propose a hybrid branch-and-guard predictor, combining a global branch history component and global branch-and-guard history component. The potential gain or loss due to the systematic use of guard prediction is dynamically evaluated at runtime. Two computing modes are enabled: systematic guard prediction use and high-confidence-only guard prediction use. Our experiments show that on most applications, an overwhelming majority of guarded instructions are predicted. Therefore, a simple but relatively inefficient hardware solution can be used to execute the few unpredicted guarded instructions. Significant performance benefits are observed on most applications, while applications with poorly predictable guards do not suffer from performance loss.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1088/0004-637X/793/2/72
|
Trigonometric Parallaxes Of Star Forming Regions In The Scutum Spiral Arm
|
We report measurements of trigonometric parallaxes for six high-mass star-forming regions in the Scutum spiral arm of the Milky Way as part of the BeSSeL Survey. Combining our measurements with 10 previous measurements from the BeSSeL Survey yields a total sample of 16 sources in the Scutum arm with trigonometric parallaxes in the Galactic longitude range from 5 deg to 32 deg. Assuming a logarithmic spiral model, we estimate a pitch angle of 19. 8 (+/-3. 1) deg for the Scutum arm, which is larger than pitch angles reported for other spiral arms. The high pitch angle of the arm may be due to the arm's proximity to the Galactic bar. The Scutum arm sources show an average peculiar motion of 4 km/s slower than the Galactic rotation and 8 km/s toward the Galactic center. While the direction of this non-circular motion has the same sign as determined for sources in other spiral arms, the motion toward the Galactic center is greater for the Scutum arm sources.
|
[
"Universe Sciences"
] |
10.1007/s12229-014-9149-8
|
Effects of Warming and Drought on the Vegetation and Plant Diversity in the Amazon Basin
|
Climate change is strong in the Amazon basin. Climate models consistently predict widespread warmer and drier conditions by the end of the 21st century. As a consequence, water stress will increase throughout the region. We here review current understanding of the impact of climate change on forests’ distribution patterns, species diversity and ecosystem functioning of lowland rainforests in the Amazon basin. We reviewed 192 studies that provide empirical evidence, historical information and theoretical models. Over millions of years rainforests expansions and contractions have been accompanied by changes in the diversity and productivity of forests. In the future, drought will produce forest contractions along the forest edges and the savanna ecotone, causing an extensive savannization, particularly in the east. In terms of diversity, warming will reduce plant species survival by decreasing their productivity, but extinctions may also occur as a result of vegetation disequilibrium, as many plants, dispersal and pollinator species will fail to track changing climate; mild drought kills understory trees and severe drought may eliminate canopy trees as well. Severe droughts will thus produce directional changes in species composition, although these shifts may vary among forests on different soil types. In terms of ecosystem functioning, droughts will reduce root growth and standing biomass and may shift the Amazonian forest from being CO2 sinks to become CO2 sources. Physiological and ecological responses to warming and the feedback between vegetation and climate are still not completely understood. In particular, experimental assays that allow direct conclusions on the response of Amazonian plants to the predicted climatic conditions are needed. Such studies could make possible more reliable estimates of future climatic and vegetation responses.
|
[
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1109/TWC.2017.2681067
|
Simultaneous Spectrum Sensing And Data Reception For Cognitive Spatial Multiplexing Distributed Systems
|
A multi-user cognitive (secondary) radio system is considered, where the spatial multiplexing mode of operation is implemented amongst the nodes, under the presence of multiple primary transmissions. The secondary receiver carries out minimum mean-squared error detection to effectively decode the secondary data streams, while it performs spectrum sensing at the remaining signal to capture the presence of primary activity or not. New analytical closed-form expressions regarding some important system measures are obtained, namely, the outage and detection probabilities, the transmission power of the secondary nodes, the probability of unexpected interference at the primary nodes, and the detection efficiency with the aid of the area under the receive operating characteristics curve. The realistic scenarios of channel fading time variation and channel estimation errors are encountered for the derived results. Finally, the enclosed numerical results verify the accuracy of the proposed framework, while some useful engineering insights are also revealed, such as the key role of the detection accuracy to the overall performance and the impact of transmission power from the secondary nodes to the primary system.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1007/s10555-017-9674-0
|
Platelet RNA signatures for the detection of cancer
|
Platelets are equipped with RNA processing machineries, such as pre-mRNA splicing, pre-miRNA processing, and mRNA translation. Since platelets are devoid of a nucleus, most RNA transcripts in platelets are derived from megakaryocytes during thrombocytogenesis. However, platelets can also ingest RNA molecules during circulation and/or interaction with other cell types. Since platelets were first described by Bizzozero in 1881, their well-established role in hemostasis and thrombosis has been intensively studied. However, in the past decades, the list of biological processes in which platelets play an important role keeps expanding. In this review, we discuss how platelet RNA biomarker signatures can be altered in the presence of cancer.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
628470
|
Soft milli-robots
|
SOMIRO
Precision agriculture for rice farming and smart methods such as aquaponics are vital to ensure a safe supply of fresh food for Europe while reducing our environmental footprint. In line with the Digitising European Industry initiative under their description of smart agriculture, the SOMIRO project will develop a flat-worm-inspired mm-scale swimming robot with month-long energy autonomy, local intelligence, and ability to continuously generate data and optically communicate to reduce farming’s environmental impact in terms of carbon footprint, over fertilization, pesticide use, and overfeeding. Swimming robots would cover a much larger area than stationary systems and could be rapidly deployed and self-redistribute where most needed. They may serve as a stand-alone monitoring solution for indoor farming or complement drone-based remote sensing in outdoors scenarios.
Until today, no energy autonomous (untethered and with local intelligence) milli-robot capable of hours of continuous operation has been demonstrated. The major reason for this is power limitation: locomotion requires much power and small robots have very limited energy storage and energy harvesting. Our milli-robot will be less than 1 cm long and show how soft and stretchable systems, with undulating swimming like flat worms, require far less energy for locomotion than other systems of comparable size. For power, it will not rely on any dedicated infrastructure but only on ambient light.
The design of SOMIRO focuses on its industry transfer: industrial partners will use cutting-edge assembly technologies that can scale up to production volumes with no change in process. The bulk materials are low-cost elastomers and polymers and the electronic circuits will be based on commercial components. Throughout the project, all application scenarios and exploitation plans will be developed in close collaboration among the SOMIRO partner enterprises and end-users, and external industrial stakeholders.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
W2951819000
|
Will Consumption of Indian Handicrafts Endure
|
Purpose : This article examines the survival probability of Indian handicrafts in the face of globalization and the artisans’ descendants exiting this industry for other new-age professions. Approach/Research Methodology : Literature has been reviewed and important theories behind consumption of handicrafts examined and a theoretical framework that explains the survival potential of handicrafts presented. Findings : Handicrafts are one of the means of the community to display its values and spiritualities. They give a social and cultural identity; this has been handed down through generations. A ‘true blue’ handicraft is characterized by singularity which, in turn, comprises (1) uniqueness, (2) rarity, and (3) extraordinariness. Singularity comes from design intensity. Design cannot be minimal. The handicrafts of such minimal design are doomed to die. This article sets out to argue that (a) culture, (b) taste, ( c) personal values and ( d) ancestral and identity motives in conjunction with singularity of product have the potential to restrain the globalization forces from consumers’ withdrawal of patronage for handicrafts. Practical Applications : These findings which come in the form of a theoretical framework will potentially help the industry formulate their survival and growth strategies; the article establishes that if the product attributes are unique, extraordinary and rare, their survival probability will be high since culture, personal factors and personal values drive their consumption of handicrafts embedded with uniqueness, rarity and extraordinariness. Originality : No comprehensive review of literature as been made yet, as done in this; all the relevant theories are examined and integrated into a new theoretical framework. It integrates social forces and personal factors with singularity of product to drive positive customer outcomes.
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
W2560360327
|
The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania: Environmental and Social Change, 1890–1916 by Robert B. Munson
|
The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania: Environmental and Social Change, 1890-1916. By Robert B. Munson. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. 2013. Pp. xviii, 379. $110.00. ISBN 9780-7391-7780-8.)In The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania, Robert B. Munson explores the ideas and practices associated with the introduction and development of Christianity in northern Tanzania during the German colonial period. This period started in 1890 and ended during World War I. Munson's specific interest is to examine the role that the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Christian missions played in introducing Christianity, reordering space, and introducing new species of plants that Africans appropriated, adapted, and used to address their own social, economic, and political needs. Drawing on a rich array of German archival sources, Munson argues that Christian Missions' emphasis on new plant species and ordering the natural world supported their goal of spreading Christianity and vice versa, a process he refers to as proselytization (p. 252). By this concept, Munson means that the spread of Christianity in northern Tanzania assisted and was itself supported by the new order upon the landscape and the introduction of new plants (pp. 2, 228).The book is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 sets the background by documenting places, plants, and people before colonial conquest and institutionalization of Christianity. Chapter 2 explores colonial conquest and the penetration of missionary societies from 1890 to 1906. This period witnessed initial efforts by the Germans to strengthen the colonial presence in northern Tanzania by building military posts, district offices, mission schools, and churches; experimenting with new plants; and reorganizing space. Chapter 3 examines the period from 1907 to 1916 when Africans became aware of the benefits of German religious, spatial, and botanical changes and began adopting and appropriating them. Chapter 4 addresses the Germans' efforts to reorder space through land surveying, boundary creation, and map making. Munson notes that this spatial ordering was necessary for establishing places for uses such as establishing plantations, constructing roads and railways, urban planning, and creating forest and game reserves. Chapter 5 explores new plant species that the Germans introduced such as European pota- toes, grevillae, ceara rubber, Arabica coffee, and sisal, and how Africans adapted to them. Chapter 6 looks at changes in people as they evolved into Christians and Africanized environmental and social changes brought by Germans to expand their livelihood opportunities.Munson's book makes an important contribution to Tanzania's history, since the interplay between spatial transformation and the development of Christianity has not received adequate attention from historians of Tanzania. By documenting German colonial initiatives and African responses in shaping and reshaping landscape, Munson uncovers the complex nature of colonial encounter between Africans and European. As opposed to nationalist- and Marxist-oriented literature that emphasized the passive nature of Africans in their encounter with the colonizers, Munson's work joins new African histories that underscore the fact that Africans were not passive recipients of missionary teachings. …
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
10.1039/c5sc01496d
|
Cucurbit[8]uril directed stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymer brushes for dynamic surface engineering
|
Dual stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymer brushes are attached to the surface with cucurbit[8]uril-rotaxanes for dynamic surface engineering.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
3730387
|
Privacy on the move: two-way processes, data and legacy of danish metropolitan and colonial architecture and urbanism
|
INDIABRIDGE aims to produce an understanding of the historical notions of privacy in architecture and urbanism since the 17th century were a bilateral mechanism between West and East. This will be achieved by analysing and recording border-crossing patterns and relationships in the built environment between Denmark and India. I will claim that Danish colonial architecture in India and the imprint of Indian architecture in metropolitan Denmark, represented a larger history of influence on how notions of privacy shape relations between individuals and society across diverse historical contexts.
By combining architectural and urbanism with history, anthropology and area studies’, my intention is to map and analyse border-crossing patterns and relationships of privacy between Denmark and the India. Accordingly, I will conduct the research through systematic, site-based, interdisciplinary spatial analysis of the Danish case studies of Tranquebar and Serampore, two former Danish colonial cities in India. It will locate Tranquebar and Serampore within the shifting locations of European architectural narratives in India and will propose relating other European colonial case studies, which enables comparative analysis between Northern and Southern Europe. I will approach the built environment in Denmark and in India as a material and spatial reality that has persisted through the notion of privacy.
The benefits are two-fold. First, I will establish research on privacy in Danish colonial architecture and urbanism, with the ambition of turning it into a forum for comparative and interdisciplinary enquiry in the field and ultimately in the host institution. Second, I will re-launch academic career in a specialized collaborative research infrastructure with focus on the built environment itself.
It will be a key to document and study the coming into being of Danish architecture and urbanism in Asia as a relevant Northern European case study for historical notions of privacy.
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
] |
W2088839606
|
Research of the method of point pattern recognition extraction in thematic map
|
Data acquisition and storage is an important step in the process in building GIS system. In the process of building a database, using the method of intelligent automatic vectorization is of great significance for reducing the workload of building a database and improving working efficiency. This paper presents a method of point pattern recognition based on interactive approach, that is to say, the way of creating punctuate ground feature on the grid thematic map and using the model to identify the same other model of punctuate background feature on the thematic map. Practice has proved that the algorithm in this paper can help the recognition rate reach 95% for the stable model thematic mapsand then improve the data collecting efficiency of pinctuate ground feature.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Earth System Science"
] |
EP 2021071975 W
|
METHOD FOR PRODUCING A BIOCOMPATIBLE IMPLANT, AND IMPLANT
|
The present invention provides a method for producing a biocompatible implant and a corresponding biocompatible implant. The biocompatible implant (10) has a main implant part (8) that consists of a polyaryletherketone plastic material, the main implant part (8) having at least one first porous portion (12) and a second porous portion (13), the first porous portion (12) and the second porous portion differing in porosity.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1038/srep39114
|
Anode potential influences the structure and function of anodic electrode and electrolyte-associated microbiomes
|
Three bioelectrochemical systems were operated with set anode potentials of +300 mV, +550 mV and +800 mV vs. Standard Hydrogen Electrode (SHE) to test the hypothesis that anode potential influences microbial diversity and is positively associated with microbial biomass and activity. Bacterial and archaeal diversity was characterized using 16 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and biofilm thickness was measured as a proxy for biomass. Current production and substrate utilization patterns were used as measures of microbial activity and the mid-point potentials of putative terminal oxidases were assessed using cyclic voltammetry. All measurements were performed after 4, 16, 23, 30 and 38 days. Microbial biomass and activity differed significantly between anode potentials and were lower at the highest potential. Anodic electrode and electrolyte associated community composition was also significantly influenced by anode potential. While biofilms at +800 mV were thinner, transferred less charge and oxidized less substrate than those at lower potentials, they were also associated with putative terminal oxidases with higher mid-point potentials and generated more biomass per unit charge. This indicates that microbes at +800 mV were unable to capitalize on the potential for additional energy gain due to a lack of adaptive traits to high potential solid electron acceptors and/or sensitivity to oxidative stress.
|
[
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1109/JPHOT.2018.2831001
|
Self Sustained Laser Pulsation In Active Optomechanical Devices
|
We developed a model for an active optomechanical cavity embedding a semiconductor optical gain medium in the presence of dispersive and dissipative optomechanical couplings. Radiation pressure drives the mechanical oscillation and the back-action occurs due to the mechanical modulation of the cavity loss rate. Our numerical analysis utilizing this model shows that, even in a wideband gain material, such mechanism couples the mechanical vibration with the laser relaxation oscillation, enabling an effect of self-pulsed laser emission. In order to investigate this effect, we propose a bullseye-shaped device with high confinement of both the optical and the mechanical modes at the edge of a disk combined with a dissipative structure in its vicinity. The dispersive interaction is promoted by the strong photoelastic effect while the dissipative mechanism is governed by the boundary motion mechanism, enhanced by near-field interaction with the absorptive structure. This hybrid optomechanical device is shown to lead sufficient coupling for the experimental demonstration of the self-pulsed emission.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1080/13604813.2018.1473126
|
From Landscapes Of Utopia To The Margins Of The Green Urban Life
|
Today, municipal decision-makers, planners, and investors rely on valuation studies of ecosystem services, public health assessments, and real estate projections to promote a consensual view of urb. . .
|
[
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1371/journal.pone.0045237
|
Viscoelastic Properties of Differentiating Blood Cells Are Fate- and Function-Dependent
|
Although cellular mechanical properties are known to alter during stem cell differentiation, understanding of the functional relevance of such alterations is incomplete. Here, we show that during the course of differentiation of human myeloid precursor cells into three different lineages, the cells alter their viscoelastic properties, measured using an optical stretcher, to suit their ultimate fate and function. Myeloid cells circulating in blood have to be advected through constrictions in blood vessels, engendering the need for compliance at short time-scales (<seconds). Intriguingly, only the two circulating myeloid cell types have increased short time scale compliance and flow better through microfluidic constrictions. Moreover, all three differentiated cell types reduce their steady-state viscosity by more than 50% and show over 140% relative increase in their ability to migrate through tissue-like pores at long time-scales (>minutes), compared to undifferentiated cells. These findings suggest that reduction in steady-state viscosity is a physiological adaptation for enhanced migration through tissues. Our results indicate that the material properties of cells define their function, can be used as a cell differentiation marker and could serve as target for novel therapies.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevB.91.125436
|
Optimal control of light propagation and exciton transfer in arrays of molecular-like noble-metal clusters
|
We demonstrate theoretically the possibility of optimal control of light propagation and exciton transfer in arrays constructed of subnanometer sized noble-metal clusters by using phase-shaped laser pulses and analyze the mechanism underlying this process. The theoretical approach for simulation of light propagation in the arrays is based on the numerical solution of the coupled time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the classical electric field propagation in an iterative self-consistent manner. The electronic eigenstates of individual clusters and the dipole couplings are obtained from ab initio TDDFT calculations. The total electric field is propagated along the array by coupling an external excitation electric field with the electric fields produced by all clusters. A genetic algorithm is used to determine optimal pulse shapes which drive the excitation in a desired direction. The described theoretical approach is applied to control the light propagation and exciton transfer dynamics into a T-shaped structure built of seven Ag8 clusters. We demonstrate that a selective switching of light localization is possible in ∼5nm sized cluster arrays which might serve as a building block for plasmonic devices with an ultrafast operation regime.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1007/978-3-540-70583-3_53
|
Robust Multi Property Combiners For Hash Functions Revisited
|
A robust multi-property combiner for a set of security properties merges two hash functions such that the resulting function satisfies each of the properties which at least one of the two starting functions has. Fischlin and Lehmann (TCC 2008) recently constructed a combiner which simultaneously preserves collision-resistance, target collision-resistance, message authentication, pseudorandomness and indifferentiability from a random oracle ( IRO ). Their combiner produces outputs of 5nbits, where ndenotes the output length of the underlying hash functions. In this paper we propose improved combiners with shorter outputs. By sacrificing the indifferentiability from random oracles we obtain a combiner which preserves all of the other aforementioned properties but with output length 2nonly. This matches a lower bound for black-box combiners for collision-resistance as the only property, showing that the other properties can be achieved without penalizing the length of the hash values. We then propose a combiner which also preserves the IRO property, slightly increasing the output length to 2n+ i¾?(logn). Finally, we show that a twist on our combiners also makes them robust for one-wayness (but at the price of a fixed input length).
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1038/nature15766
|
Disentangling type 2 diabetes and metformin treatment signatures in the human gut microbiota
|
In recent years, several associations between common chronic human disorders and altered gut microbiome composition and function have been reported. In most of these reports, treatment regimens were not controlled for and conclusions could thus be confounded by the effects of various drugs on the microbiota, which may obscure microbial causes, protective factors or diagnostically relevant signals. Our study addresses disease and drug signatures in the human gut microbiome of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Two previous quantitative gut metagenomics studies of T2D patients that were unstratified for treatment yielded divergent conclusions regarding its associated gut microbial dysbiosis. Here we show, using 784 available human gut metagenomes, how antidiabetic medication confounds these results, and analyse in detail the effects of the most widely used antidiabetic drug metformin. We provide support for microbial mediation of the therapeutic effects of metformin through short-chain fatty acid production, as well as for potential microbiota-mediated mechanisms behind known intestinal adverse effects in the form of a relative increase in abundance of Escherichia species. Controlling for metformin treatment, we report a unified signature of gut microbiome shifts in T2D with a depletion of butyrate-producing taxa. These in turn cause functional microbiome shifts, in part alleviated by metformin-induced changes. Overall, the present study emphasizes the need to disentangle gut microbiota signatures of specific human diseases from those of medication.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
W95230768
|
The preference and consumption of chicken lovers with race as a moderator - An empirical study in Malaysia
|
Abstract Chicken meat is widely consumed and it is the most common and popular poultry species in the world. The preference and consumption of chicken meat have been tremendously increasing in Malaysia. About 120 respondents who took part in the study were classified into four groups namely routine chicken eaters, chicken likers, chicken lovers with a health concern and real chicken lovers based on their preference and consumption of chicken meat. It is worthwhile to mention that the taste, price, and easy to cook were statistically significant between the four groups. In addition, race moderates the relationship with Malays dominating the chicken lovers’ category. It is interesting to observe that Malays prefer chicken meat with chilies, Chinese prefer chicken meat with sauce and Indians prefer chicken meat with salad. The findings of the study are useful to the broiler plants and agencies that are responsible in selling chicken meat. Further, the results may be used as a guide to the selection of chicken meat, and also to the restaurant owners in the selection of food to be offered to their consumers.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
10.1038/s41598-020-64423-4
|
Ultra Short Echo Time MRI of Iron-Labelled Mesenchymal Stem Cells in an Ovine Osteochondral Defect Model
|
Multipotent Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSCs) are widely used in cellular therapy for joint repair. However, the use of MSC therapies is complicated by a lack of understanding of the behaviour of cells and repair within the joint. Current methods of MSC tracking include labelling the cells with Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs). However, standard acquisition sequences (T2 and T2*) give poor anatomical definition in the presence of SPIOs. To avoid anatomical compromise in the presence of SPIOs, we have investigated the use of Ultra-short Echo Time (UTE) MRI, using a 3D cones acquisition trajectory. This method was used to track SPIO labelled MSC injected into joints containing osteochondral defects in experimental sheep. This study demonstrates that multiple echo times from UTE with 3 T MRI can provide excellent anatomical detail of osteochondral defects and demonstrate similar features to histology. This work also monitors the location of SPIO-labelled cells for regenerative medicine of the knee with MRI, histology, and Prussian blue staining. With these methods, we show that the SPIOs do not hone to the site of defect but instead aggregate in the location of injection, which suggests that any repair mechanism with this disease model must trigger a secondary process.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.5194/tc-8-1275-2014
|
Initial results from geophysical surveys and shallow coring of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS)
|
Abstract. The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is the sole interior Greenlandic ice stream. Fast flow initiates near the summit dome, and the ice stream terminates approximately 1000 km downstream in three large outlet glaciers that calve into the Greenland Sea. To better understand this important system, in the summer of 2012 we drilled a 67 m firn core and conducted ground-based radio-echo sounding (RES) and active-source seismic surveys at a site approximately 150 km downstream from the onset of streaming flow (NEGIS firn core, 75°37. 61' N, 35°56. 49' W). The site is representative of the upper part of the ice stream, while also being in a crevasse-free area for safe surface operations. Annual cycles were observed for insoluble dust, sodium and ammonium concentrations and for electrolytic conductivity, allowing a seasonally resolved chronology covering the past 400 yr. Annual layer thicknesses averaged 0. 11 m ice equivalent (i. e. ) for the period 1607–2011, although accumulation varied between 0. 08 and 0. 14 m i. e. , likely due to flow-related changes in surface topography. Tracing of RES layers from the NGRIP (North Greenland Ice Core Project) ice core site shows that the ice at NEGIS preserves a climatic record of at least the past 51 kyr. We demonstrate that deep ice core drilling in this location can provide a reliable Holocene and late-glacial climate record, as well as helping to constrain the past dynamics and ice–lithosphere interactions of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
|
[
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.4049/jimmunol.1801589
|
Borrelia miyamotoi activates human dendritic cells and elicits T Cell Responses
|
The spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi has recently been shown to cause relapsing fever. Like the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, B. miyamotoi is transmitted through the bite of infected ticks; however, little is known about the response of the immune system upon infection. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a central role in the early immune response against B. burgdorferi. We investigated the response of DCs to two different strains of B. miyamotoi using in vitro and ex vivo models and compared this to the response elicited by B. burgdorferi. Our findings show that B. miyamotoi is phagocytosed by monocyte-derived DCs, causing upregulation of activation markers and production of proinflammatory cytokines in a similar manner to B. burgdorferi. Recognition of B. miyamotoi was demonstrated to be partially mediated by TLR2. DCs migrated out of human skin explants upon inoculation of the skin with B. miyamotoi. Finally, we showed that B. miyamotoi–stimulated DCs induced proliferation of naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to a larger extent than B. burgdorferi. In conclusion, we show in this study that DCs respond to and mount an immune response against B. miyamotoi that is similar to the response to B. burgdorferi and is able to induce T cell proliferation. The Journal of Immunology, 2020, 204: 386–393.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
] |
US 2016/0066987 W
|
ACCUMULATOR MANAGEMENT
|
Effectively managing the activity of an accumulator in a hydraulic system can improve the efficiency and safety of the system. A hydraulic system includes a variable displacement pump and a hydraulic transformer. The hydraulic transformer includes an output shaft mechanically connected to a working load. The working load is a swing gearbox for an excavator. The hydraulic system also includes an accumulator fluidly connected to the pump by a pump line. The accumulator is also fluidly connected to the hydraulic transformer by a transformer line. The hydraulic system further includes a pre-charge valve positioned on the pump line between the accumulator and the pump. Fluid passes to the accumulator from the pump through the pre-charge valve along the pump line when the pump is first powered on.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
771985
|
Living bioelectronics: Bridging the interface between devices and tissues
|
When bionic devices such as cochlear implants, bionic eyes and brain-machine interfaces are implanted into the body they induce an inflammatory response that is difficult to control. Metals used historically for these types of devices are both stiff and inorganic, which makes them recognisable as foreign to the soft and organic human nervous system. Consequently, these implants are tolerated by the body rather than integrated and the device is walled off in a scar tissue capsule. As a result high powered and unsafe currents are required to activate tissues and produce a therapeutic response.
I have brought together concepts from tissue engineering for regenerative medicine and bionic device technologies to pioneer living bioelectronics – creating a functional neural cell component as part of the device to avert scar formation. My laboratory has established a range of novel conductive polymeric biomaterials which can be used to coat existing devices or fabricate new devices from conductive polymers, hydrogels, proteins and cells.
Living Bionics is based on a world-wide unique combination of technologies and proposes to combine electronic devices with cell laden polymers to generate devices that can bridge the implant interface and improve tissue integration. Pioneering and ground breaking research within Living Bionics includes:
• An engineered hydrogel that can support differentiation of stem cells into neural cell networks on devices
• 3D patterning of living polymer electrode arrays that contain cells
• Understanding of the combined effects of environmental, biological and electrical cues to guide cell fate and create connections to nerve tissues
• In vivo proof of principle in the murine model
Living Bionics will be a ground breaking step towards safer neural cell stimulation, which is more compatible with tissue survival and regeneration. This research will create a paradigm shift in biomedical electrode design with tremendous impact on healthcare worldwide.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2225731844
|
Effect of fertility levels and bio-fertilizers on yield and economics of groundnut
|
A field experiment was conducted at S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner (Rajasthan) during kharif 2011 on loamy sand soil to evaluate sixteen treatment combinations of four fertility levels (control, 50, 75 and 100% RDF) and four bio-fertilizers (control, Rhizobium, phosphate solubilizing bacteria and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza) on groundnut. Recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) for groundnut was 20 kg N and 60 kg P2 O5 /ha. Results indicated that application of fertilizers up to 100% RDF recorded significantly higher number of pods per plant, kernels per pod, yields (pod, haulm and biological) and net returns (Rs. 51, 261/ha) over its preceding levels. However, seed index and shelling per cent were increased significantly only up to 75% RDF. Results further indicated that application of Rhizobium, being at par with PSB and VAM bio-fertilizers, significantly increased number of pods per plant, kernels per pod, seed index, pod, haulm and biological yields, shelling per cent over control, whereas net returns (Rs. 43, 717/ha) was significantly higher over control and VAM inoculation and remained at par to PSB inoculation.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1007/978-3-642-36249-1_8
|
Achieving Self Adaptation Through Dynamic Group Management
|
Distributed pervasive systems have been employed in a wide spectrum of applications, from environmental monitoring to smart transportation, to emergency response. In all these applications high volumes of typically volatile software components need to coordinate and collaborate to achieve a common goal, given a defined set of constraints.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
W2162791669
|
Institutional, geographic, and facility factors affecting differences in prices for wastewater services
|
The provision of wastewater services is an important infrastructure service that affects social welfare. It improves the quality of community life by promoting sanitary conditions and minimizing the negative impact of wastewater on ecosystems. The price for this important public service, however, varies considerably across regions and localities. In this paper, we examine the physical factors and institutional characteristics that affect wastewater service prices across regions and localities. Our major concerns are the following: (1) institutional arrangements and characteristics of a wastewater utility, (2) government regulations, (3) supply factors and characteristics, and (4) natural environments and local characteristics. To analyze the price differences, we employ the demand and price equations for wastewater services using a simultaneous equations framework. For empirical estimation, we utilize a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) method to account for the correlations between the residuals in the four price equations for wastewater services. Our empirical results are that the institutional arrangement of services, including monthly charges (versus bi-monthly or quarterly charges), provision of other infrastructure services in addition to wastewater services, and long-term debt, explain much of the price difference. In addition, the wastewater prices are influenced by state environmental regulations as well as supply factors, such as the number of wastewater treatment plants and infiltration and inflow into the sewer system. Interestingly, local geographic and meteorologic factors that were hypothesized to affect the selection of treatment processes were not found to be associated with price. These findings suggest ways wastewater services might be offered at lower prices for users.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.1530/rep-20-0243
|
Embryonic disc formation following post-hatching bovine embryo development in vitro
|
Failures during conceptus elongation are a major cause of pregnancy losses in ungulates, exerting a relevant economic impact on farming. The developmental events occurring during this period are poorly understood, mainly because this process cannot be recapitulated in vitro. Previous studies have established an in vitro post-hatching development (PHD) system that supports bovine embryo development beyond the blastocyst stage, based on agarose gel tunnels and serum- and glucose-enriched medium. Unfortunately, under this system embryonic disc formation is not achieved and embryos show notorious signs of apoptosis and necrosis. The objective of this study has been to develop an in vitro system able to support embryonic disc formation. We first compared post-hatching development inside agarose tunnels or free-floating over an agarose-coated dish in serum- and glucose-enriched medium (PHD medium). Culture inside agarose tunnels shaped embryo morphology by physical constriction, but it restricted embryo growth and did not provide any significant advantage in terms of development of hypoblast and epiblast lineages. In contrast to PHD medium, a chemically defined and enriched medium (N2B27) supported complete hypoblast migration and epiblast survival in vitro, even in the absence of agarose coating. Cells expressing the pluripotency marker SOX2 were observed in ~56% of the embryos and ~25% developed embryonic disc-like structures formed by SOX2+ cells. In summary, here we provide a culture system that supports trophectoderm proliferation, hypoblast migration and epiblast survival after the blastocyst stage.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
10.1007/978-3-662-48995-6_1
|
Sequential Posted Price Mechanisms With Correlated Valuations
|
We study the revenue performance of sequential posted price mechanisms and some natural extensions, for a general setting where the valuations of the buyers are drawn from a correlated distribution. Sequential posted price mechanisms are conceptually simple mechanisms that work by proposing a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to each buyer. We apply sequential posted price mechanisms to single-parameter multi-unit settings in which each buyer demands only one item and the mechanism can assign the service to at most k of the buyers. For standard sequential posted price mechanisms, we prove that with the valuation distribution having finite support, no sequential posted price mechanism can extract a constant fraction of the optimal expected revenue, even with unlimited supply. We extend this result to the case of a continuous valuation distribution when various standard assumptions hold simultaneously. In fact, it turns out that the best fraction of the optimal revenue that is extractable by a sequential posted price mechanism is proportional to the ratio of the highest and lowest possible valuation. We prove that for two simple generalizations of these mechanisms, a better revenue performance can be achieved: if the sequential posted price mechanism has for each buyer the option of either proposing an offer or asking the buyer for its valuation, then a $$\varOmega 1/\max \{1,d\}$$ fraction of the optimal revenue can be extracted, where d denotes the "degree of dependence" of the valuations, ranging from complete independence $$d=0$$ to arbitrary dependence $$d = n-1$$. When we generalize the sequential posted price mechanisms further, such that the mechanism has the ability to make a take-it-or-leave-it offer to the i-th buyer that depends on the valuations of all buyers except i, we prove that a constant fraction $$2 - \sqrt{e}/4 \approx 0. 088$$ of the optimal revenue can be always extracted.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevB.90.024411
|
Raman study of the temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the electronic and lattice properties of MnSi
|
The temperature and magnetic-field dependence of lattice and carrier excitations in MnSi is studied in detail using inelastic light scattering. The pure symmetry components of the electronic response are derived from the polarization-dependent spectra. The E and T2 responses agree by and large with longitudinal and optical transport data. However, an anomaly is observed right above the magnetic ordering temperature TC=29 K that is associated with the fluctuations that drive the transition into the helimagnetic phase first order. The T1 spectra, reflecting mostly chiral spin excitations, have a temperature dependence similar to that of the E and T2 symmetries. The response in the fully symmetric A1 representation has a considerably weaker temperature dependence than that in the other symmetries. All nine Raman active phonon lines can be resolved at low temperature. The positions and linewidths of the strongest four lines in E and T2 symmetry are analyzed in the temperature range 4<T<310 K. Above 50 K, the temperature dependence is found to be conventional and given by anharmonic phonon decay and the lattice expansion. Distinct anomalies are observed in the range of the helimagnetic transition and in the ordered phase. Applying a magnetic field of 4 T, well above the critical field, removes all anomalies and restores a conventional behavior highlighting the relationship between the anomalies and magnetism. The anomaly directly above TC in the fluctuation range goes along with an anomaly in the thermal expansion. While the lattice constant changes continuously and has only a kink at TC, all optical phonons soften abruptly, suggesting a direct microscopic coupling between spin order and optical phonons rather than a reaction to magnetostriction effects.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1039/c4dt02151g
|
Accurate yet feasible computations of resonance Raman spectra for metal complexes in solution: [Ru(bpy)3]2+ as a case study
|
Herein we present a new and promising approach for the high-resolution modeling of vibrational resonance Raman spectra of metal complexes in solution.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1039/C5CC09189F
|
Analysis Of Enzyme Responsive Peptide Surfaces By Raman Spectroscopy
|
We report on the use of Raman spectroscopy as a tool to characterise model peptide functionalised surfaces. By taking advantage of Raman reporters built into the peptide sequence, the enzymatic hydrolysis of these peptides could be determined.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1109/FCCM.2015.52
|
Architectures And Precision Analysis For Modelling Atmospheric Variables With Chaotic Behaviour
|
The computationally intensive nature of atmospheric modelling is an ideal target for hardware acceleration. Performance of hardware designs can be improved through the use of reduced precision arithmetic, but maintaining appropriate accuracy is essential. We explore reduced precision optimisation for simulating chaotic systems, targeting atmospheric modelling in which even minor changes in arithmetic behaviour can have a significant impact on system behaviour. Hence, standard techniques for comparing numerical accuracy are inappropriate. We use the Hellinger distance to compare statistical behaviour between reduced-precision CPU implementations to guide FPGA designs of a chaotic system, and analyse accuracy, performance and power efficiency of the resulting implementations. Our results show that with only a limited loss in accuracy corresponding to less than 10% uncertainly in input parameters, a single Xilinx Virtex 6 SXT475 FPGA can be 13 times faster and 23 times more power efficient than a 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processor.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1039/c6py00561f
|
A two-dimensional conjugated polymer framework with fully sp2-bonded carbon skeleton
|
2D conjugated COF based on olefin (CC) linkages has been readily synthesized using the Knoevenagel condensation reaction.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
Q4050332
|
CORPORATE STRATEGY TO TACKLE THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY
|
THE INVESTMENT PROJECT CONCERNS THE ACTIVITIES AND EXPENSES AIMED AT ENSURING THE SAFETY OF WORKERS AGAINST THE EMERGENCY CAUSED BY THE SARS-COV-2 VIRUS. THE COMPANY WAS FORCED TO ADAPT TO THE NEW SAFETY STANDARDS AT WORK BY INTRODUCING PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT IN ALL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS. THESE ADJUSTMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE SINCE THE END OF FEBRUARY. THE INTRODUCTION OF DISINFECTANT MASKS AND GELS IN THE PRODUCTION AREA, IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.1088/0957-4484/22/17/175701
|
Tip Enhanced Raman Mapping With Top Illumination Afm
|
Tip-enhanced Raman mapping is a powerful, emerging technique that offers rich chemical information and high spatial resolution. Currently, most of the successes in tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) measurements are based on the inverted configuration where tips and laser are approaching the sample from opposite sides. This results in the limitation of measurement for transparent samples only. Several approaches have been developed to obtain tip-enhanced Raman mapping in reflection mode, many of which involve certain customisations of the system. We have demonstrated in this work that it is also possible to obtain TERS nano-images using an upright microscope (top-illumination) with a gold-coated Si atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever without significant modification to the existing integrated AFM/Raman system. A TERS image of a single-walled carbon nanotube has been achieved with a spatial resolution of ∼ 20-50 nm, demonstrating the potential of this technique for studying non-transparent nanoscale materials.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
W2324455008
|
Long-Term Fire Trends in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico from Sedimentary Charcoal: A Comparison of Three Records
|
Charcoal preserved in lake sediments is commonly used to reconstruct past trends in fire occurrence. However, interpretation of the charcoal record is often complicated, as changes in charcoal influx could represent natural shifts in fire regimes associated with changes in climate, changes in vegetation, or changes in patterns of anthropogenic burning. Here we examine sedimentary charcoal records from three lakes on the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico: Laguna Saladilla in the Dominican Republic, Lake Miragoane in Haiti, and Laguna Tortuguero in Puerto Rico. All records are based on microscopic charcoal fragments quantified from pollen slides and cover the last 7,000 or more years of the Holocene. We compare charcoal influx values to archeological and palynological evidence of human activity and explore the role of increasing winter insolation over the Holocene in driving increased charcoal deposition beginning ca. 6,000–5,000 cal yr BP. An increase in charcoal influx at Laguna Tortuguero a...
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"The Study of the Human Past"
] |
10.3390/cancers11030385
|
Perilipin 5 and Lipocalin 2 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
|
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers worldwide. Therefore, current global research focuses on molecular tools for early diagnosis of HCC, which can lead to effective treatment at an early stage. Perilipin 5 (PLIN5) has been studied as one of the main proteins of the perilipin family, whose role is to maintain lipid homeostasis by inhibiting lipolysis. In this study, we show for the first time that PLIN5 is strongly expressed in tumors of human patients with HCC as well as in mouse livers, in which HCC was genetically or experimentally induced by treatment with the genotoxic agent diethylnitrosamine. Moreover, the secreted acute phase glycoprotein Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) established as a biomarker of acute kidney injury, is also proven to indicate liver injury with upregulated expression in numerous cases of hepatic damage, including steatohepatitis. LCN2 has been studied in various cancers, and it has been assigned roles in multiple cellular processes such as the suppression of the invasion of HCC cells and their metastatic abilities. The presence of this protein in blood and urine, in combination with the presence of α -Fetoprotein (AFP), is hypothesized to serve as a biomarker of early stages of HCC. In the current study, we show in humans and mice that LCN2 is secreted into the serum from liver cancer tissue. We also show that AFP-positive hepatocytes represent the main source for the massive expression of LCN2 in tumoral tissue. Thus, the strong presence of PLIN5 and LCN2 in HCC and understanding their roles could establish them as markers for diagnosis or as treatment targets against HCC.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1080/21507740.2017.1320331
|
Could Closed Loop Dbs Enhance A Person S Feeling Of Being Free
|
Compulsive actions are by definition not autonomous actions. Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not decide, for instance, to repeatedly wash their hands as a conclusion of their o. . .
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
W2507786429
|
HIGH LEVEL SYNTHESIS FOR DESIGN SPACE EXPLORATION
|
In VLSI, design space exploration considering various constraints complex using conventional RTL design flow. The techniques of high level synthesis are useful in abstracting the design to a higher level than in the regular RTL design flow. The various hardware architectures possible need to be explored to bring out the design trade-offs in terms of parameters namely latency, critical path delay and resource utilization. The focus of the work presented here is to explore systolic array mapping methods with and without HLS transformations. Unfolding and pipelining are the HLS transformations applied on the DSP benchmark –FIR filter. Unfolding enhances the possibilities of concurrency in loops and pipeline architecture makes concurrency possible. Vivado HLS tool is used to explore the design space for random subspace mapping and computational subspace mapping and analyze their merits and demerits in terms of the design tradeoff performance parameters when the design is mapped to Zynq architecture.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.030
|
Emotion and location cues bias conceptual retrieval in people with deficient semantic control
|
Visuo-spatial context and emotional valence are powerful cues to episodic retrieval, but the contribution of these inputs to semantic cognition has not been widely investigated. We examined the impact of visuo-spatial, facial emotion and prosody cues and miscues on the retrieval of dominant and subordinate meanings of ambiguous words. Cue photographs provided relevant visuo-spatial or emotional information, consistent with the interpretation of the ambiguous word being probed, while miscues were consistent with an alternative interpretation. We compared the impact of these cues in healthy controls and semantic aphasia patients with deficient control over semantic retrieval following left-hemisphere stroke. Patients showed greater deficits in retrieving the subordinate meanings of ambiguous words, and stronger effects of cueing and miscuing relative to healthy controls. These findings suggest that contextual cues that guide retrieval to the appropriate semantic information reduce the need to constrain semantic retrieval internally, while miscues that are not aligned with the task increase the need for semantic control. Moreover, both valence and visuo-spatial context can prime particular semantic interpretations, in line with theoretical frameworks that argue meaning is computed through the integration of these features. In semantic aphasia, residual comprehension relies heavily on facial expressions and visuospatial cues. This has important implications for patients, their families and clinicians when developing new or more effective modes of communication.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
W2082972150
|
Former Bush adviser is appointed to lead Global Fund
|
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has appointed Mark Dybul as its executive director.
Dybul, a medical doctor and former head of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), had already emerged as a frontrunner in a shortlist of four candidates and was formally appointed on 15 November.
In recent years the Global Fund has had its reputation damaged, notably by fraud, but it is hoped that the appointment will be a key step in its rehabilitation.1
Dybul rose to prominence for his role in helping to create and then lead PEPFAR. When it was set up in 2003 by the former president George W …
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
US 201615007887 A
|
PLANTS AND SEEDS OF SORGHUM VARIETY GSV616359
|
The invention relates to the sorghum variety designated GSV616359. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the sorghum variety GSV616359. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the sorghum variety GSV616359 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing sorghum plants by crossing the sorghum variety GSV616359 with itself or another sorghum variety and plants produced by such methods.
|
[
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
interreg_3878
|
La previsione del vento per la gestione e la sicurezza delle aree portuali
|
The project is aimed at equipping the ports with an advanced and affordable forecasting and monitoring of the wind for the management and operational areas of security, into a network cooperating stakeholders / science. The project has the unique characteristic of approaching the study of the wind in the ports in general and operational, using a network to cooperating among institutional stakeholders, business and social partners and the other five ports of the contribution of science. The joint use of monitoring, and statistical simulations, development of integrated forecast short and medium term are both a completely new methodology for the expected results; Reference area: each operating point, water surface and piers, the main ports of the Tirreno. The overall objective of the project is the acquisition of capitalization in the field of scientific study of the wind and direct them specifically to the world in order to access port in real time the wind expected in all areas of the port in the medium (24-12 h) and short-term (1 h), to protect physical integrity, security, and ensure operation; target: institutional stakeholders, business and social (Port Authorities, harbor Master, Health, Regional Environmental Protection Agencies, Fire Department, Industrial Associations, Companies port , port companies, trade unions), the main activities and operations related to the analysis of the planned management of the wind / security / operation in each port, install the network stations, advanced detection, monitoring, data processing / modeling / forecasting, usability, graphic / information for the benefit of stakeholders.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
W1602923488
|
Ion Exchange Fractionation of Rabbits Seminal Fluid: Recognizing a DNA Retardation Activity from the Main DNase Activity
|
The role of seminal proteins charge on the nature of seminal fluid inhibitory effect that exerted against exogenous DNA. Has been identified and an approach closely with more details to the nature of inhibitory activities available in rabbit seminal fluid proteins that prevent the entry of exogenous DNA into the head of sperm. After collection of rabbit’s ejaculate and removing sperm cells, seminal fluid was incubated with fixed concentration of exogenous DNA. The seminal fluid – exogenous DNA mixture was analyzed by electrophoresis. Ion exchange chromatography was used to separate seminal proteins on the basis of their charge. Positively charged proteins were eluted, lyophilized, and their profile was characterized by SDS-PAGE and native-PAGE. After incubation of this eluted group with the same source of DNA, the same electrophoretic conditions were applied on this group. According to our knowledge, this is the first paper in which ion exchange chromatography was used to separate two DNA counterfeiting activities of the seminal fluid using non-radioactive method in rabbits and even in other mammals. Thus, more than one inhibitory activity were identified and separated. DNA retardation activity (or DNA binding activity) which repressed DNA electrophoretic migration was the only activity that found to be available on the positively charged fractions while the DNase activity was found exclusively on the negatively charged group. Key words : Seminal fluid , transgenesis techniques , DNA electrophoretic migration , DNase
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1007/978-3-030-12547-9_25
|
The Energy Cascade Of Surface Wave Turbulence Toward Identifying The Active Wave Coupling
|
We investigate experimentally turbulence of surface gravity waves in the Coriolis facility in Grenoble by using both high sensitivity local probes and a time and space resolved stereoscopic reconstruction of the water surface. We show that the water deformation is made of the superposition of weakly nonlinear waves following the linear dispersion relation and of bound waves resulting from non resonant triadic interaction. Although the theory predicts a 4-wave resonant coupling supporting the presence of an inverse cascade of wave action, we do not observe such inverse cascade. We investigate 4-wave coupling by computing the tricoherence i. e. 4-wave correlations. We observed very weak values of the tricoherence at the frequencies excited on the linear dispersion relation that are consistent with the hypothesis of weak coupling underlying the weak turbulence theory.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1051/m2an/2018034
|
Localization of global norms and robust a posteriori error control for transmission problems with sign-changing coefficients
|
We present a posteriori error analysis of diffusion problems where the diffusion tensor is not necessarily symmetric and positive definite and can in particular change its sign. We first identify the correct intrinsic error norm for such problems, covering both conforming and nonconforming approximations. It combines a dual (residual) norm together with the distance to the correct functional space. Importantly, we show the equivalence of both these quantities defined globally over the entire computational domain with the Hilbertian sums of their localizations over patches of elements. In this framework, we then design a posteriori estimators which deliver simultaneously guaranteed error upper bound, global and local error lower bounds, and robustness with respect to the (sign-changing) diffusion tensor. Robustness with respect to the approximation polynomial degree is achieved as well. The estimators are given in a unified setting covering at once conforming, nonconforming, mixed, and discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretizations in two or three space dimensions. Numerical results illustrate the theoretical developments.
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1111/pala.12238
|
Fossilization of melanosomes via sulfurization
|
Fossil melanin granules (melanosomes) are an important resource for inferring the evolutionary history of colour and its functions in animals. The taphonomy of melanin and melanosomes, however, is incompletely understood. In particular, the chemical processes responsible for melanosome preservation have not been investigated. As a result, the origins of sulfur-bearing compounds in fossil melanosomes are difficult to resolve. This has implications for interpretations of original colour in fossils based on potential sulfur-rich phaeomelanosomes. Here we use pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to assess the mode of preservation of fossil microstructures, confirmed as melanosomes based on the presence of melanin, preserved in frogs from the Late Miocene Libros biota (NE Spain). Our results reveal a high abundance of organosulfur compounds and non-sulfurized fatty acid methyl esters in both the fossil tissues and host sediment; chemical signatures in the fossil tissues are inconsistent with preservation of phaeomelanin. Our results reflect preservation via the diagenetic incorporation of sulfur, i. e. sulfurization (natural vulcanization), and other polymerization processes. Organosulfur compounds and/or elevated concentrations of sulfur have been reported from melanosomes preserved in various invertebrate and vertebrate fossils and depositional settings, suggesting that preservation through sulfurization is likely to be widespread. Future studies of sulfur-rich fossil melanosomes require that the geochemistry of the host sediment is tested for evidence of sulfurization in order to constrain interpretations of potential phaeomelanosomes and thus of original integumentary colour in fossils.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1002/adma.201503292
|
Capillary-Force-Assisted Optical Tuning of Coupled Plasmons
|
An ultrathin (few nanometer) polymer spacer layer is softened by local optical heating and restructured by strong capillary forces, which increase the gap between the plasmonic metal components. This results in a continuous blue-shift of the coupled plasmon from near infrared to visible with a tuning range of >150 nm that can be tightly controlled by adjusting either irradiation time or power.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
175481
|
Rich, structured models for scene recovery, understanding and interaction
|
Computer vision has gained considerable momentum in recent years – both in industry and academia. There seems to be a spirit that the time is ripe to realize grand goals and to bring computer vision from the lab into real life. But is a vision system already as good as a human is? The answer is: “Unfortunately, not yet.” Given a single image, a child can describe the objects and their relationships in a much more detailed manner than any computer can. Also, humans can quite effortlessly “visually extract” an object from its background, even in the presence of fine details such as hair. Computers cannot yet achieve this automatically. But, for many real-world applications it is absolutely necessary to reach such levels of rich output, accuracy, quality, robustness, and system autonomy. In this proposal we try to get closer to this overarching goal. We believe that the key to success is a richer representation. Here “rich” stands for rich, detailed output, modelling rich, physical and semantic constraints, and learning rich, statistical relations between different aspects of a scene. Towards this end we propose the Rich Scene Model (RSM), which is one joint statistical, structured model of many physical and semantic scene aspects that can take full advantage of the synergy effect between all its components. This effort goes beyond previous attempts, in many respects. However, it is simple to say “We will build the best ever joint, rich scene model”. Accordingly, the crux of this proposal is to design novel models, learning and inference techniques to make the RSM a reality. This proposal addresses not only theoretical questions such as, “What can we infer from a few images of a dynamically changing 3D scene?”, and “Is our RSM rich enough to make statistical learning “work better” than deterministic learning?” we also propose a model that can give new forms of output, better deal with challenging real world scenarios, and can adapt nicely to human and application needs
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1088/1742-6596/675/1/012012
|
Understanding The Detector Behavior Through Montecarlo And Calibration Studies In View Of The Sox Measurement
|
Borexino is an unsegmented neutrino detector operating at LNGS in central Italy. The experiment has shown its performances through its unprecedented accomplishments in the solar and geoneutrino detection. These performances make it an ideal tool to accomplish a state- of-the-art experiment able to test the existence of sterile neutrinos (SOX experiment). For both the solar and the SOX analysis, a good understanding of the detector response is fundamental. Consequently, calibration campaigns with radioactive sources have been performed over the years. The calibration data are of extreme importance to develop an accurate Monte Carlo code. This code is used in all the neutrino analyses. The Borexino-SOX calibration techniques and program and the advances on the detector simulation code in view of the start of the SOX data taking are presented. 1
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
10.1039/C5CC08526H
|
Tunable Lanthanide Directed Metallosupramolecular Networks By Exploiting Coordinative Flexibility Through Ligand Stoichiometry
|
We report the self-assembly of multi-component lanthanide coordination metallosupramolecular structures on a Au(111) surface. Eu atoms coordinate with two heterotypic ligands of quarterphenyl-4,4′′-dicarbonitrile and 4′,4′′′′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine). For carbonitrile ligand : terpyridyl stoichiometric ratios of 0. 7, Eu atoms are primarily ligated in a four-fold coordination scheme. By increasing the carbonitrile ligand to reach a stoichiometry of 1. 8, Eu atoms are ligated now in a five-fold coordination sphere. Two types of coordination schemes result in structures exhibiting one-dimensional and two-dimensional morphologies, respectively. This study demonstrates that the flexible lanthanide coordination sphere facilitates the rational design of metallosupramolecular architectures.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1080/17550874.2013.818072
|
Disequilibrium And Hyperdynamic Tree Turnover At The Forest Cerrado Transition Zone In Southern Amazonia
|
Background: The zone of transition (ZOT) between the Cerrado and the Amazon forest in southern Amazonia represents a unique and rapidly shrinking area due to land-use change. Aims: To compare the dynamics and above-ground biomass of vegetation located in the ZOT with core Amazon forest and to determine how ZOT dynamics differ within vegetation types for different tree diameter classes. Methods: Censuses of trees were conducted in seven plots in monodominant forest, semi-deciduous seasonal forest, gallery forest, cerrado sensu stricto and cerradao, in north-eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil from 1996 to 2010, including data for the 2005 drought year. Separate analyses of stem dynamics and biomass were carried out for two different diameter (d) classes: 5 ≤ d < 10 cm and d ≥ 10 cm. Results: For trees with d ≥ 10 cm the average mortality rate was 2. 8% year−1, with an estimated above-ground dry biomass of 210 Mg ha−1. Trees with 5 ≤ d < 10 cm constituted only a small fraction of the total biomass store (ca. 10 Mg h. . .
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
185044
|
Why is business in some countries more hostile to social redistribution than in others?
|
Can differences in the attitudes and organization of business interests explain differences in the politics of social redistribution across countries? Since the 1970s, Europe and the United States have diverged in terms of how taxation and welfare policies ameliorate income inequality: In the United States, far-reaching policy changes have produced a substantial rise in income inequality, while income inequality in many European countries has increased to a much lesser extent. BUSWEL analyzes how the strategies and activities of business interest groups have contributed to these diverging outcomes. The project compares policy positions and strategies of business interest groups in five countries: Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, and the United States. These five countries have been selected because of their different policies of redistribution and different levels of inequality. The project focuses on three policy issues that are assumed to have an effect on social redistribution: corporate tax cuts, payroll tax cuts and deregulation of employment protection. The project aims to document differences in policy positions of business interest groups in these fields across countries and to identify the impact of these differences on the differing trajectories of policy change across countries.
The project bridges theoretical perspectives from sociology, political science, and history. The insights gained from this project on the political goals and strategies of business interest groups will be useful for national and European policy-makers confronting demands by business representatives. The project will be carried out at the Center for Welfare State Research at the University of Southern Denmark, a major center for research and expertise on welfare state politics and political economy. (1554 characters)
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
169874
|
European procurers platform - ehealth - transforming the market for ehealth solutions
|
Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) is a crucial challenge for public bodies to be implemented during next years. The “usual” way of purchasing goods is based solely on the price of the product. Life cycle costing, supply chain analysis or group purchase are rarely used, which means missing some opportunities to get innovative products that would give purchasers competitive advantage. Therefore, there is an urgent need to start developing networks of procurers. Such networks will enable them to identify common needs, conduct market analysis, understand supply chain, use these tools to comprise a higher procurement volume, and achieve bigger impact on suppliers. It will allow them voice out their unmet needs, create a new demand to access sustainable products of higher quality, and develop new applications with lower life cycle costs. This can be obtained through PPI.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has equally become an essential tool used in nearly all areas of society. Health sector, which is the core of this proposal, is no exception to this regard. The target of the project is to understand health care public procurers unmet needs, particularly in eHealth. That is why a network of procurers will be developed within the scope of the project. The network will allow the consortium to identify common needs, explore the best available solutions and stimulate the market with the aim of creating a PPI/PCP procurement strategy for the eHealth sector. In order for the EPP-eHealth consortium to be able to achieve the mentioned objectives, a set of 4 workshops aimed at project members and potential stakeholders will be developed. Three of these workshops will train attendees in public procurement while a 4th workshop will be used as a market test.
Finally and aiming to widespread project results, a comprehensive set of dissemination activities will be carried out.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
10.1002/2016GL071917
|
Is the intensification of precipitation extremes with global warming better detected at hourly than daily resolutions?
|
Although it has been documented that daily precipitation extremes are increasing worldwide, faster increases may be expected for subdaily extremes. Here after a careful quality control procedure, we compared trends in hourly and daily precipitation extremes using a large network of stations across the United States (U. S. ) within the 1950–2011 period. A greater number of significant increasing trends in annual and seasonal maximum precipitation were detected from daily extremes, with the primary exception of wintertime. Our results also show that the mean percentage change in annual maximum daily precipitation across the U. S. per global warming degree is ~6. 9% °C−1 (in agreement with the Clausius-Clapeyron rate) while lower sensitivities were observed for hourly extremes, suggesting that changes in the magnitude of subdaily extremes in response to global warming emerge more slowly than those for daily extremes in the climate record.
|
[
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1038/s41556-019-0298-1
|
Therapeutic targeting of macrophages enhances chemotherapy efficacy by unleashing type I interferon response
|
Recent studies have revealed a role for macrophages and neutrophils in limiting chemotherapy efficacy; however, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic benefit of myeloid-targeting agents in combination with chemotherapy are incompletely understood. Here, we show that targeting tumour-associated macrophages by colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) blockade in the K14cre;Cdh1F/F;Trp53F/F transgenic mouse model for breast cancer stimulates intratumoural type I interferon (IFN) signalling, which enhances the anticancer efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapeutics. Notably, anti-CSF-1R treatment also increased intratumoural expression of type I IFN-stimulated genes in patients with cancer, confirming that CSF-1R blockade is a powerful strategy to trigger an intratumoural type I IFN response. By inducing an inflamed, type I IFN-enriched tumour microenvironment and by further targeting immunosuppressive neutrophils during cisplatin therapy, antitumour immunity was activated in this poorly immunogenic breast cancer mouse model. These data illustrate the importance of breaching multiple layers of immunosuppression during cytotoxic therapy to successfully engage antitumour immunity in breast cancer.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2117353965
|
Coupling between overall rotational diffusion and domain motions in proteins and its effect on dielectric spectra
|
In this work, we formulate a closed-form solution of the model of a semirigid molecule for the case of fluctuating and reorienting molecular electric dipole moment. We illustrate with numeric calculations the impact of protein domain motions on dielectric spectra using the example of the 128 kDa protein dimer of Enzyme I. We demonstrate that the most drastic effect occurs for situations when the characteristic time of protein domain dynamics is comparable to the time of overall molecular rotational diffusion. We suggest that protein domain motions could be a possible explanation for the high-frequency contribution that accompanies the major relaxation dispersion peak in the dielectric spectra of protein aqueous solutions. We propose that the presented computational methodology could be used for the simultaneous analysis of dielectric spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance data. Proteins 2015; 83:1571-1581. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1016/j.epsl.2013.12.002
|
The influence of cooling, crystallisation and re-melting on the interpretation of geodetic signals in volcanic systems
|
Deformation of volcanic edifices is typically attributed to the movement of magma within the volcanic plumbing system, but a wide range of magmatic processes are capable of producing significant volume variations and may also produce deformation. In order to understand the evolution of magmatic systems prior to eruption and correctly interpret monitoring signals, it is necessary to quantify the patterns and timescales of surface deformation that processes such as crystallisation, degassing and expansion of the hydrothermal system can produce. We show how the combination of petrology and thermal modelling can be applied to geodetic observations to identify the processes occurring in a magmatic reservoir during volcanic unrest. Thermal modelling and petrology were used to determine the timescales and volumetric variations associated with cooling, crystallisation and gas exsolution. These calculations can be performed rapidly and highlight the most likely processes responsible for the variation of a set of monitoring parameters. We then consider the magnitude and timescales of deformation produced by other processes occurring within the vicinity of an active magma system. We apply these models to a time series of geodetic data spanning the period between the 1997 and 2008 eruptions of Okmok volcano, Aleutians, examining scenarios involving crystallisation, degassing and remelting of the crystallising shallow magmatic body and including a viscoelastic shell or hydrothermal system. The geodetic observations are consistent with the injection of a water-saturated basalt, followed by minor crystallisation and degassing. Other scenarios are not compatible either with the magnitude or rate of the deformation signals.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1080/17533171.2019.1576963
|
Stenographic Fictions Mary Benson S At The Still Point And The South African Political Trial
|
From the mid-1960s onward, compilations of the speeches and trial addresses of South African opponents of apartheid focused attention on the apartheid regime despite intensified repression in the w. . .
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
W2091675214
|
The Weaker Sex? The Propensity for Male-Biased Piglet Mortality
|
For the most part solutions to farm animal welfare issues, such as piglet mortality, are likely to lie within the scientific disciplines of environmental design and genetic selection, however understanding the ecological basis of some of the complex dynamics observed between parent and offspring could make a valuable contribution. One interesting, and often discussed, aspect of mortality is the propensity for it to be sex-biased. This study investigated whether known physiological and behavioural indicators of piglet survival differed between the sexes and whether life history strategies (often reported in wild or feral populations) relating to parental investment were being displayed in a domestic population of pigs. Sex ratio (proportion of males (males/males+females)) at birth was 0.54 and sex allocation (maternal investment measured as piglet birth weight/litter weight) was statistically significantly male-biased at 0.55 (t(35) = 2.51 P = 0.017), suggesting that sows invested more in sons than daughters during gestation. Despite this investment in birth weight, a known survival indicator, total pre-weaning male mortality was statistically significantly higher than female mortality (12% vs. 7% respectively z = 2.06 P = 0.040). Males tended to suffer from crushing by the sow more than females and statistically significantly more males died from disease-related causes. Although males were born on average heavier, with higher body mass index and ponderal index, these differences were not sustained. In addition male piglets showed impaired thermoregulation compared to females. These results suggest male-biased mortality exists despite greater initial maternal investment, and therefore reflects the greater susceptibility of this sex to causal mortality factors. Life history strategies are being displayed by a domestic population of pigs with sows in this study displaying a form of parental optimism by allocating greater resources at birth to males and providing an over-supply of this more vulnerable sex in expectation of sex-biased mortality.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
FR 2007001618 W
|
USE OF THE 7F4 PROTEIN IN THE IN VITRO DIAGNOSIS OF MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE INFECTIONS
|
The invention relates to the use of the 7F4 protein, having polypeptide sequence SEQ ID No 2, or of fragments or variants of said protein, or the use of the sequences encoding said proteins, in the field of the in vitro diagnosis of a Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1090/proc/13673
|
On a general maclaurin’s inequality
|
Maclaurin’s inequality provides a sequence of inequalities that interpolate between the arithmetic mean at the high end and the geometric mean at the low end. We introduce a similar interpolating sequence of inequalities between the weighted arithmetic and geometric mean with arbitrary weights. Maclaurin’s inequality arises for uniform weights. As a by-product we obtain inequalities that may be of interest in the theory of Jacobi polynomials.
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
211055
|
Patterned optical activation of retinal ganglion cells
|
Direct activation of retinal ganglion cells is a promising approach for treating blindness resulting from degenerative diseases of the outer retina. Current neuro-retinal stimulation interfaces being developed use electrical currents from micro-electrode arrays, but future systems could use light patterns to create spatio-temporally complex activity patterns. We will develop, optimize and test different concepts allowing patterned optical stimulation of large populations of retinal ganglion cells based on emerging methods for light-based neuro-stimulation, including glutamate uncaging and ectopic expression of the light-sensitive ion channel Channelrhodopsin II. A series of in vitro and in vivo experiments will examine basic questions regarding the efficacy and safety of this general approach. Our experiments will define the major engineering requirements and constraints towards the development of a light-based approach for restoring vision in individuals with outer-retinal degenerative diseases.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W1508439146
|
Attitudes to the challenges of life among different occupation groups
|
To determine the attitudes of some occupation groups towards challenges. Materials and methods: In the present study, data were collected by administering the Fatih-Bursa Scale of Attitude to Challenges (F.B.-SATC) to various occupation groups. The participants were divided into 6 occupation groups: healthcare workers, educators, technical staff (engineers, architects, etc.), self-employed people, security staff (police offices, military staff), and housewives. Data were assessed with a F.B.-SATC scoring system measuring attitudes towards challenges. The scale has 5 factors: Thoughts about Challenges (TAC), Outlook on Life (OL), Problem Solving (PS), Targets and Ideals (AI), and Social State (SS) factors. The tool included 26 questions and is answered by a 5 point Likert-type rating scale. Results: Four hundred and fifty-three individuals (205 male and 248 female) participated in the study. Average factor scores of housewives were lower than the scores of the other groups. High scores were shared by healthcare workers and security staff. In dual comparisons, healthcare workers had the highest score in TAC scores and they were significantly higher than educators and housewives (P = 0.027, P < 0.001, respectively). Their OL scores were significantly higher than educators (P = 0.011), security staff (P = 0.003), technical staff (P = 0.003), and housewives (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The effect of the type of occupation on individuals’ attitudes towards challenges varies. Precautions should be taken for some occupation groups; guidance should be provided and social studies should be performed.
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.05.012
|
Somadril and edgework in South Sulawesi
|
The use of psychoactive prescription drugs (PPDs) by young people is part of a broader worldwide trend towards the consumption of pharmaceuticals to improve social, emotional, and sexual performance. Few studies have examined how young people use PPDs in developing countries, where off-label use is likely to be greater due to weaker market controls. This study presents our findings on PPD use among sex workers in Makassar, Indonesia. We focus on one potent painkiller, Somadril, which is freely available over the counter in pharmacies. The sex workers we studied used most of their earnings to purchase Somadril pills, which they used to feel more confident and to make their work more palatable. This paper also traces the history of the active component in Somadril, carisoprodol. This was developed in the United States, where it was soon used recreationally. We found that knowledge of its effects seeped from health professionals into youth networks, where it was spread by word of mouth. The flow of information on carisoprodol's harmful effects, however, was less evident.
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
714788
|
REsummation-Improved moNtecarlo eVEnt geNeraTor
|
With the start of the second run of the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of a particle compatible with the Standard Model Higgs boson, the high-energy particle physics community faces the task to carry out precise measurements of the properties of this new particle, in order to establish its nature. At the same time, it will be equally important to keep looking for the yet elusive signs of New Physics. Both tasks rely on the ability to accurately predict the expected signals and to disentangle them from the known backgrounds. At hadronic colliders like the LHC, accurate modeling of the strong interactions is crucial to interpret the experimental outcomes.
The goal of this project is to push forward the frontier of precision QCD for event simulations. The key idea is to combine the three possible theoretical description (fixed-order perturbative expansion, resummed calculations and parton showers) into the same theoretical framework, in order to benefit from the advantages of each. The innovative approach proposed here improves over past efforts thanks to the inclusion of higher-logarithmic resummation, which bridges the gap between the perturbative description of hard radiation and the shower domain. This brings together three important advantages: the ability to use the best theoretical description in each region, the sizable reduction of the theoretical uncertainties gained by replacing the shower evolution with the higher-logarithmic resummation, and the ability to produce hadron-level events that can be directly interfaced to detector simulations.
By going beyond the state-of-the-art, REINVENT will obtain the most precise theoretical predictions for the LHC in an event generator form that allows for direct comparison to data, producing tools that will be used by both experimentalists and theorists. The technology developed for this project will also have important applications for precision studies at future lepton colliders.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
Q101552
|
Steigerung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Unternehmens METAL-TECHNIKA durch die Einführung eines innovativen Produkts in Form einer optimierten Maschine für Holz- und Schneidfehler von Holz mit Schrägschnitt.
|
Der Antragsteller beschreibt kurz die wichtigsten Fragen rund um das Projekt, unter anderem Ziele, Aufgaben, Zielgruppen Das Projekt besteht aus dem Bau eines neuen Produktionsgebäudes, dem Kauf einer hydraulischen Presse, einem Portal von 2 Stück Schweißmaschinen und der Herstellung von Sachanlagen in Form von zwei Laserbrennern, die das Material in 3D-Technologie schneiden, eines für das Profil und das andere für Flachplatten. Daher kauft das Unternehmen: 6 und 8 KW Laserresonatoren, Laser 2 Stück 3D Schneidköpfe, Software und Steuerungssysteme für gebaute Ausrüstung. Laserbrenner, die vom Antragsteller hergestellt werden, zeichnen sich durch moderne Laserschneidverfahren aus, die von konkurrierenden Unternehmen nicht verwendet werden. Produktinnovationen werden durch die Umsetzung des Projekts und der eingesetzten Technologie erreicht. Als Ergebnis der Operation plant das Unternehmen, ein neues Produkt in Form eines Geräts zur Optimierung von Holzschnitt- und Schneidfehlern mit diagonalem Schneiden einzuführen, das im Vergleich zu den derzeit auf dem Markt angebotenen Geräten deutlich verbessert wird. Dieses Produkt ist neu und derzeit nicht auf dem Markt. Die Einführung eines neuen Produkts wird es dem Unternehmen ermöglichen, zusätzliche Gewinne zu erzielen und so seine Wettbewerbsfähigkeit im In- und Ausland zu steigern. Die Einführung eines neuen Produkts wird die Position des Marktführers im Vertrieb von Optimierern auf dem heimischen Markt stärken und es METAL-TECHNIKA ermöglichen, Expansionen auf ausländischen Märkten, insbesondere auf dem deutschen Markt, aufzunehmen. Die Durchführung des Projekts wird es ermöglichen, den aktuellen Investitionsbedarf zu decken. Für den Kauf des Geräts geplant ist ausreichend, um die für das Projekt geplanten Output-Indikatoren zu erreichen. Die Umsetzung der Investition wird auch zu einer Änderung der Organisationsstruktur des Unternehmens führen. Die Einführung eines neuen Produkt- und Produktionsprozesses erfordert eine Erhöhung der Beschäftigung in der Produktionsabteilung
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1039/c8lc01200h
|
Modular soft robotic microdevices for dexterous biomanipulation
|
We present a methodology for building biologically inspired, soft microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1098/rspb.2016.1607
|
Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees
|
Stone tool transport leaves long-lasting behavioural evidence in the landscape. However, it remains unknown how large-scale patterns of stone distribution emerge through undirected, short-term transport behaviours. One of the longest studied groups of stone-tool-using primates are the chimpanzees of the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Using hammerstones left behind at chimpanzee
Panda
nut-cracking sites, we tested for a distance-decay effect, in which the weight of material decreases with increasing distance from raw material sources. We found that this effect exists over a range of more than 2 km, despite the fact that observed, short-term tool transport does not appear to involve deliberate movements away from raw material sources. Tools from the millennia-old Noulo site in the Taï forest fit the same pattern. The fact that chimpanzees show both complex short-term behavioural planning, and yet produce a landscape-wide pattern over the long term, raises the question of whether similar processes operate within other stone-tool-using primates, including hominins. Where hominin landscapes have discrete material sources, a distance-decay effect, and increasing use of stone materials away from sources, the Taï chimpanzees provide a relevant analogy for understanding the formation of those landscapes.
|
[
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1088/0953-4075/46/4/045303
|
Motional Isotope And Quadratic Stark Effects In Rydberg Stark Deceleration And Electric Trapping Of H And D
|
Hydrogen and deuterium Rydberg atoms, initially moving at velocities of 600 and 560 m s−1, respectively, in pulsed supersonic beams, have been decelerated and electrostatically trapped following adiabatic 90° deflection from their initial axis of propagation to minimize collisions with the trailing edge of the gas pulses. The time evolution of the potential energy surfaces, over which the atoms undergoing deceleration travel during the trap-loading process, is analogous to that of a moving electrodynamic trap. It has been studied in the laboratory-fixed frame of reference and in the continuously moving frame of reference defined by the instantaneous position of the electric-field minimum around which the atoms are located. The importance of the quadratic Stark effect in the deceleration of samples in Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers above 35 has also been investigated by comparison of experimental results with predictions resulting from the numerical calculation of particle trajectories. The data presented for deuterium atoms represent the first application of Rydberg–Stark deceleration and trapping for this atom. Comparison of the rate of loss of n = 30 H and D atoms from the trap enables one to conclude that it is not affected by the particle dynamics during deceleration and trap loading.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1007/978-3-030-17941-0_2
|
The Evolution Of Oxygen Independent Energy Metabolism In Eukaryotes With Hydrogenosomes And Mitosomes
|
Hydrogenosomes and mitosomes are mitochondria in the evolutionary sense because they descend from one and the same bacterial endosymbiont. But the evolutionary significance of eukaryotic anaerobes that possess hydrogenosomes, mitosomes, and anaerobically functioning mitochondria is still an issue of some contention. This chapter serves to further revise the role of oxygen in eukaryote evolution in light of surprising findings about O2 and energetics and in light of what geologists have discovered regarding the timing of oxygen accumulation in Earth history. According to substantial newer findings that geologists have been reporting for about 20 years, the Proterozoic witnessed a protracted period of Earth ocean history, during which the oceans were mostly anoxic and often sulfidic. That period started about 2. 3 billion years ago and only came to an end about 580 million years ago, perhaps as recently as 450 million years ago. That was the time during which eukaryotes arose and diversified into their major lineages. In light of that, anaerobic eukaryotes with mitochondria are not, in an evolutionary sense, strange, obscure, unexpected, or otherwise out of the ordinary; hence no special or unusual mechanisms are required to explain their origin. They are normal in every respect and so are their mitochondria. The surprise from energetics is not that O2 increases ATP yield from glucose but that the energetic costs for synthesis of cellular building blocks in oxic environments are 13 times greater than in anaerobic environments. Is oxygen overrated? The benefits of O2 are offset by its costs.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1137/15M1018460
|
A Pde Approach To Data Driven Sub Riemannian Geodesics In Se 2
|
We present a new flexible wavefront propagation algorithm for the boundary value problem for sub-Riemannian (SR) geodesics in the roto-translation group $SE(2) = \mathbb{R}^2 \rtimes S^1$ with a metric tensor depending on a smooth external cost $\mathcal{C}:SE(2) \to [\delta,1]$, $\delta>0$, computed from image data. The method consists of a first step where an SR-distance map is computed as a viscosity solution of a Hamilton--Jacobi--Bellman system derived via Pontryagin's maximum principle (PMP). Subsequent backward integration, again relying on PMP, gives the SR-geodesics. For $\mathcal{C}=1$ we show that our method produces the global minimizers. Comparison with exact solutions shows a remarkable accuracy of the SR-spheres and the SR-geodesics. We present numerical computations of Maxwell points and cusp points, which we again verify for the uniform cost case $\mathcal{C}=1$. Regarding image analysis applications, trackings of elongated structures in retinal and synthetic images show that our line tra. . .
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1016/j.orgel.2013.08.004
|
High open circuit voltage in efficient thiophene-based small molecule solution processed organic solar cells
|
We have synthesized and fully characterized an oligothiophene small organic molecule for its use as electron donor moiety in solution processed bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells. Our results show that device solvent annealing process of the conjugated oligothiophene molecule leads to a light-to-energy conversion efficiency of 3. 75% under standard illumination conditions. The solar cell presents open-circuit voltage and fill factors as high as 1. 01 V and 63. 05% respectively, which are among the highest values obtained for small molecule solution processed organic solar cells.
|
[
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.01.002
|
The interplay between psychological predispositions and skill learning in the evolution of tool use
|
Tool use behaviours tend to be split into cases that appear to entail complex cognitive abilities and that are highly reliant on learning to be acquired (e. g. flexible tool use), and into others that seem to be more genetically canalized (e. g. stereotyped tool use). However recent evidences suggest that the differences between these forms of tool use are more nuanced than previously assumed, as in both cases tool use can entail some degree of both inborn predisposition and learning. Here, we particularly discuss the role played by intrinsic (e. g. not socially induced) motivation towards the manipulation of objects, in the emergence of flexible tool use. We highlight the importance of focussing on these psychological predispositions to understand the rarity of tool use among wild animals, as well as the higher proficiency in using tools that some species non-tool users express in captivity.
|
[
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
W1541475488
|
Avaliação de método digital para análise do índice funcional do ciático em ratos
|
This work aimed to study the reproduction and description of technique for digital sampling images during rats gait and determination of the sciatic functional index (SFI), through a glass walkway to obtain shoots with a digital camera. After controlled injury by strangulation of sciatic nerve, with 3mm of length, during 30 seconds, using hemostatic forceps, a group of 32 rats was performed 24 hours before the lesion which served as control and 24 hours, 7, 14 and 21 days after injury. The tests consisted in the filming and shooting each animal in order to observe the view from below (by a mirror to 45 degrees) and subsequently analyzed using the IMAGE-J program. Measures were taken from the lengths of the legs (right and left), and the distance between the ankle. In the analysis of IFC, values close to zero (0) suggest that the function of the sciatic nerve is still preserved and values coming from less one hundred (-100) indicate total loss of function. It was verified in this study that 24 hours before surgery the average SFI was -7.07 +/- 7.88 and 24 hours after injury these values rose to an average of -77.95 +/- 13.81, being about 10 times larger, where 78% of the animals showed 60 to 100% of functional loss in motor activity, demonstrated by the gradual recovery over the days analyzed, confirming the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed methodology. These results suggest that studies can be conducted to simplify and reduce costs using the technique for digital images of footprints during rats gait in the laboratory.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1038/cddis.2016.304
|
Adeno-associated virus-mediated CASQ2 delivery rescues phenotypic alterations in a patient-specific model of recessive catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia
|
Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia type 2 (CPVT2) is a highly lethal recessive arrhythmogenic disease caused by mutations in the calsequestrin-2 (CASQ2) gene. We have previously demonstrated that viral transfer of the wild-type (WT) CASQ2 gene prevents the development of CPVT2 in a genetically induced mouse model of the disease homozygous carrier of the R33Q mutation. In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of the virally mediated gene therapy in cardiomyocytes (CMs) differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) obtained from a patient carrying the homozygous CASQ2-G112+5X mutation. To this end, we infected cells with an Adeno-Associated Viral vector serotype 9 (AAV9) encoding the human CASQ2 gene (AAV9-hCASQ2). Administration of the human WT CASQ2 gene was capable and sufficient to restore the physiological expression of calsequestrin-2 protein and to rescue functional defects of the patient-specific iPSC-derived CMs. Indeed, after viral gene transfer, we observed a remarkable decrease in the percentage of delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) developed by the diseased CMs upon adrenergic stimulation, the calcium transient amplitude was re-established and the density and duration of calcium sparks were normalized. We therefore demonstrate the efficacy of the AAV9-mediated gene replacement therapy for CPVT2 in a human cardiac-specific model system, supporting the view that the gene-therapy tested is curative in models with different human mutations of CPVT.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
171322
|
Sewer inventory system to safeguard waste water infrastructures
|
Waste water networks have been an organic growing system in a 200 year process of pipes, leads, wells, etc. As there was never a standardized inventory system, governments have no or only partial information of their underground (waste) water infrastructure.
Without this information crisis management plans for health threats, floods, collapses or calamities are hard to execute. Plans for water management (scarcity of water resources), next generation emergency services (fire brigades), rainwater drainage challenges (enlarging urban environments) or strategic use of sensor systems to detect gas, drugs or explosives are essential and complex tasks.
As Europe is urging to solve the issues mentioned above (Groundwater directive, Urban Drainage, Water Framework directive), local governments are looking into this matter. Compiling all the data concerning the exact location and structural status of complete sewerage facilities is expensive and very time consuming. Additionally, all inventory jobs are done manually, error prone & inaccurate, dangerous and operator bound.
SEGU offers a solution to the European challenge by allowing for accurate digital 3D data that can be obtained 4 times faster, less expensive and safer. The aim of the SEGU (SEwer inventory system to safeGUard waste water infrastructures) project is to ensure market introduction of a Waste Water Infrastructure Data Service within EU28 as well as proper management of waste water infrastructure.
This feasibility study will focus on partner search, study of market mechanisms, local legislation / restrictions, and will result in an extensive business plan towards an EU strategy.
Specifically, phase I entails:
- Market mechanisms analysis
- Business models assessment (services of big data)
- (Local) regulations & legislations
- Financial verifications & impacts on Business plan
Phase II funding will be applied for to develop and build demonstrators to validate and set-up full scale database roll-out.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
724480
|
Extreme-Light Seeded Control of Ultrafast Laser Material Modifications
|
High-peak power compact femtosecond lasers allow strong-field interactions that are the basis for high-precision laser micro-fabrication. They also create extreme conditions within the matter, leading to the generation of rainbow light used to produce even shorter pulses and new frequencies that can extend from the X-ray to the TeraHertz domain. However, due to the low conversion efficiencies, these attractive light pulses remain unexploited in the context of laser nano-/micro-fabrication.
The main objective of this project is to exceed the intrinsic limits of ultrafast laser material processing by developing novel seeded-control technologies with extreme light pulses. In the proposed concept, seed free carriers are injected into materials from extreme light and then avalanched with perfectly synchronized infrared pulses to extract all potential benefits from modest energy new types of radiation.
The project includes the study of interactions seeded with deep-ultraviolet, few-optical-cycle and mid-infrared ultrashort pulses. The expected nonlinear processes with these radiations open new and exciting opportunities to tailor material properties with nanometer-scale spatial resolutions and in the three dimensions (3D) for materials inside which the occurrence of breakdown is, today, inaccessible (e.g. semiconductors). This will lead to the first demonstrations of rapid 3D prototyping by laser of silicon photonics microdevices.
A long term objective is to open the door to the use of the most extreme ultrashort laser-induced radiations, including extreme-ultraviolet attosecond pulses that hold promises to reach the highest degree of control in the time and space of the interactions.
These and other ideas require investigations on ionization physics by ultrashort pulses at extreme wavelengths. They also require tight control of the ultrafast pulses, broadband manipulations and novel interaction diagnostics technologies that will be developed as parts of the project.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
994378
|
Single-Cell map of the composition and evolution of t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
|
Spaniards have their daily siesta, Germans like sausages and Belgians love beer. Stereotypes can certainly be misleading, just like judging a cell by its membership to a particular cell type, the so-called population-based analysis. Nowadays we know that tumors are tremendously heterogeneous and, in the era of single-cell sequencing, we have the exquisite opportunity to study each individual cell with unprecedented resolution. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is the most common cancer in children, shows extensive genetic intratumoral heterogeneity. This heterogeneity might be the underlying reason for an incomplete response to treatment and for the development of relapse. In order to envision its clinical implementation, it is essential to first i) generate a single-cell map and ii) accumulate evidence on how the subclonal composition affects the response to treatment. With this aim, I will build a comprehensive single-cell overview of the composition, development and response to therapy for the aggressive subtype T-cell ALL. I will perform integrative single-cell genome and transcriptome profiling of ex vivo carefully selected pediatric samples at diagnosis, during drug treatment and in case of relapse. This approach will provide realtime temporal information about the sensitivity of each cell type to the therapy and about how relapse can develop. I will use state-of-the-art single-cell technologies to which the host institute has early access. Moreover, I will apply my previous single-cell expertise and bring a unique mix of experimental and computational skills to the lab. The results of scTALLmap, will have significant impact in leukemia by paving the way for improved risk-stratification based on the cellular heterogeneity and the presence of high-risk subclones at diagnosis. Ultimately, it will permit the design of novel and more personalized therapeutic modalities sparing toxicity and targeting the full complement of leukemia subclones.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
GB 9101640 W
|
IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO LIQUID FLOW SYSTEMS
|
A liquid flow system comprising conduit means through which liquid is pumped in normal use, and including means to determine the level of particulate contamination within that liquid, comprising: a valve in communication with the conduit means and comprising a valve member (1) moveable relatively to a valve housing (4), in which the member can be set relative to the housing to define a narrow clearance (20) through which flow takes place; means to interrupt the normal pumped flow of liquid through the system and, when it is so interrupted, to cause liquid to flow instead through the said valve clearance, and means to monitor the volume of liquid so passed, and thereby to derive a measure of the degree of contamination of the liquid in the system characterised in that the flow through the said narrow clearance is in a direction substantially at right angles to that of the said relative movement of the valve member and valve housing.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
W2037406818
|
Families matter: Social relationships and adolescent HIV testing behaviors in Ndola, Zambia
|
A cross-sectional survey among 550 randomly selected 16–19-year-olds in Ndola, Zambia, assessed the influence of individual (e.g., HIV knowledge), relational (e.g., discussed HIV testing with family), and environmental factors (e.g., distance) on adolescents’ use of HIV counseling and testing. A multivariable logistic regression analysis comparing respondents who have taken an HIV test to respondents who have not found that at the relational level believing that one’s family would not be upset if the youth has taken an HIV test (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 5.08; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16–22.35); and having discussed with a family member whether or not to take an HIV test (AOR = 3.51; 95% CI = 1.08–11.47) were significantly related to adolescent testing. At the individual-level, having ever had sex (AOR = 6.43; 95% CI = 2.14–19.30) and being out-of-school (AOR = 2.95; 95% CI = 1.32–6.59) were also strongly associated with HIV testing. Environmental measures were not found to be significantly rela...
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1016/j.jde.2014.01.019
|
Minimal periods for ordinary differential equations in strictly convex Banach spaces and explicit bounds for some L<sup>p</sup>-spaces
|
Let x(t) be a non-constant T-periodic solution to the ordinary differential equation x =f(x) in a Banach space X where f is assumed to be Lipschitz continuous with constant L. Then there exists a constant c such that TL≥c, with c only depending on X. It is known that c≥6 in any Banach space and that c=2π in any Hilbert space, but whereas the bound of c=2π is sharp in any Hilbert space, there exists only one known example of a Banach space such that c=6 is optimal. In this paper, we show that the inequality is in fact strict in any strictly convex Banach space. Moreover, we improve the lower bound for ℓp(Rn) and Lp(M, μ) for a range of p close to p=2 by using a form of Wirtinger's inequality for functions in Wper1,p([0,T],Lp(M,μ)).
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1109/TTHZ.2011.2177176
|
Limiting Factors To The Temperature Performance Of Thz Quantum Cascade Lasers Based On The Resonant Phonon Depopulation Scheme
|
We analyze the temperature performance of five terahertz (THz)-frequency quantum cascade lasers based on a three-quantum-well resonant-phonon depopulation design as a function of operating frequency in the 2. 3-3. 8-THz range. We find evidence that the device performance is limited by the interplay between two factors: 1) optical phonon scattering of thermal electrons, which dominates at shorter wavelengths, and 2) parasitic current, which dominates at longer wavelengths. We present a simple model that provides an accurate estimate of the parasitic current in these devices and predicts the dependence of the threshold current density on temperature.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
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