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Corrosion protection is a matter of primary importance. In this regard, different methods have been explored to improve the protection of vulnerable areas of metallic structures with the aim of maintaining the homogeneous distribution of the protective layer and reducing cracks that allow the entry of corrosive agents. In this study, coatings with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Zinc (MWCNTs-Zn), synthesized by the chemical vapour deposition method, in a commercial acrylic sealant were tested to protect welds. The coatings were produced with three different MWCNTs-Zn ratios (80:20; 50:50; 20:80) and applied to welded joints. The tested samples, characterized by SEM and XRD, showed a good dispersion of the MWCNTs tubular structure surrounding the Zn lamellar structure. In addition, the coatings exhibited a particle size range from 29 to 352 nm, which acted as a barrier against the corrosive medium, improving the anticorrosive performance. Electrochemical techniques and accelerated tests at different ages showed that these coatings offer an effective protective barrier. The samples were subjected to an accelerated corrosion test during 336 h, the 50:50 MWNTCs-Zn ratio presented better results than the 80:20 ratio (icorr and Rcorr, ∼50% lower in the cyclic corrosion test and 27% lower in the salt spray test). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The boarfish (Capros aper) is a pelagic species that appears on numerous occasions as bycatch or discard in trawl fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean. Existing information on this species and its occurrence as bycatch is incomplete for the Atlantic coasts. The objectives of this work were to study its growth, ageing, and diet in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. We found that the length–weight relationship was TW = 0.022*TL2.89 (R2 = 0.94). We observed age classes ranging from 1 to 5 years and that otoliths vary in shape and size according to the age of the individual, becoming more irregular in the lateral areas and increasing the size of the central cleft as the specimens grow older. The parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth equation were L∞ = 11.80 cm; k = 0.21 yr−1; t0 = −1.60 yr. Diet analysis indicated that copepods were the most abundant prey in the stomachs analysed, (IRI index value of 84.24%). This study serves to increase knowledge on the biology of the boarfish, which may be useful for future studies on the species, as well as for other members of the family and fisheries in which it is discarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is well known for the transparency and immutability of the data stored in it. These characteristics are essential in a document management system where security mechanisms are required to prevent information forgery. Therefore, several authors have chosen to take advantage of the benefits of Blockchain technology in their document management systems for academic, medical, and work-related documents, among others. However, its implementation must include elements that reinforce information security, since documents often contain sensitive information that requires special treatment. This article reviews the most recent articles on document management with Blockchain in order to extract the security elements implemented in their solutions and make a synthesis that can be used as a basis for anyone interested in developing a similar system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serum 1H NMR metabolomics has been used as a diagnostic tool for screening type 2 diabetes (T2D) with chronic kidney disease (CKD) as comorbidity. This work aimed to evaluate 1H NMR data to detect the initial kidney damage and CKD in T2D subjects, through multivariate statistical analysis. Clinical data and biochemical parameters were obtained for classifying five experimental groups using KDIGO guidelines: Control (healthy subjects), T2D, T2D-CKD-mild, T2D-CKD-moderate, and T2D-CKD-severe. Serum 1H NMR spectra were recorded to follow two strategies: one based on metabolite-to-creatinine (Met/Cr) ratios as targeted metabolomics, and the second one based on untargeted metabolomics from the 1H NMR profile. A prospective biomarkers panel of the early stage of T2D-CKD based in metabolite-to-creatinine ratio (ornithine/Cr, serine/Cr, mannose/Cr, acetate/Cr, acetoacetate/Cr, formate/Cr, and glutamate/Cr) was proposed. Later, a statistical model based on non-targeted metabolomics was used to predict initial CKD, and its metabolic pathway analysis allowed identifying the most affected pathways: phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis; valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation; glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism; glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism; and histidine metabolism. Nonetheless, further studies with a larger cohort are advised to precise ranges in metabolite-to-creatinine ratios and evaluate the prediction pertinency to detect initial CKD in T2D patients in both statistical models proposed. [Display omitted] • Serum 1H NMR metabolomics signature to identify initial kidney damage of T2D. • Targeted PLS-DA revealed seven metabolite-to-creatinine ratios as early biomarkers. • A T2D-CKD model based on non-targeted metabolomics to predict the early stage. • Differential metabolites depicted the metabolic pathway imbalance of T2D-CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the offline assignment of fixed priorities in partitioned preemptive real-time systems where tasks have precedence constraints. This problem is crucial in this type of systems, as having a good fixed priority assignment allows for an efficient use of the processing resources while meeting all the deadlines. In the literature, we can find several proposals to solve this problem, which offer varying trade-offs between the quality of their results and their computational complexities. In this paper , we propose a new approach, leveraging existing algorithms that are widely exploited in the field of Machine Learning: Gradient Descent, the Adam Optimizer, and Gradient Noise. We show how to adapt these algorithms to the problem of fixed priority assignment in conjunction with existing worst-case response time analyses. We demonstrate the performance of our proposal on synthetic task-sets with different sizes. This evaluation shows that our proposal is able to find more schedulable solutions than previous heuristics, approximating optimal but intractable algorithms such as MILP or brute-force, while requiring reasonable execution times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the treatment strategies for COVID-19 consists in using drugs targeted against the S protein, or Spike protein, a structure which is fundamental for the transmission and replication of the virus. For this review, we searched for relevant clinical trials in relation to specific monoclonal antibodies targeted at this protein, assessing their benefit in cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2. To achieve this, a search was carried out using various databases, such as PubMed, and databases of the regulatory agencies such as the FDA and EMA, over a time period from January 2020 to February 2021. The search resulted in references for three high-quality randomised clinical trials in relation to four monoclonal antibodies administered intravenously, namely: bamlanivimab co-administered with etesevimab; and casirivimab co-administered with imdevimab. The preliminary results from these trials showed a decrease in viral load compared to placebo in the first few days of treatment in non-hospitalised patients who had risk factors for progression to serious disease, namely: advanced age; obesity; diabetes; chronic kidney disease; and treatment with immunosuppressants. There were no significant adverse effects. These drugs currently have FDA approval through an emergency authorisation procedure, whilst the EMA has carried out an emergency review with the decision to position them in a similar way to the American agency, pending authorisation and marketing approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this manuscript is to propose two new schemes having three and four substeps of order eight and sixteen, respectively. Both families are optimal in the sense to Kung-Traub conjecture. The derivation of them are based on the weight function approach. In addition, theoretical and computational properties are fully investigated along with two main theorems describing the order of convergence. Further, we also provide the local convergence of them in Banach space setting under weak conditions. From the numerical experiments, we find that they perform better than the existing ones when we checked the performance of them on a concrete variety of non-linear scalar equations. Finally, we analyze the complex dynamical behavior of them which also provide a great extent to this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is reported the synthesis of a non-circular gear connection portion to be used in a Bourdon pressure gauge. The purpose of the gear connection is compensating the bellows' deformation non-linearity. The connection Input-Output (I/O) gear ratio was deduced by identifying and analyzing a four-bar linkage. The bellows deformation was represented as a rigid element and its position angle was set as the mechanism input variable. The angle described by the pointer element (pressure indicator) is established as the connection output angle. The ideal output angles should allow a linear motion of the pointer while keeping same amplitude divisions along the scale. The I/O gear ratio, the input and output angles, in addition to the center distance allowed the primitive curve portion synthesis along which the teeth would be designed. The mathematical formulation was programmed in GNU Octave in order to visualize the output angles, I/O ratio, and the non-circular gear pitch curves. The nonlinearity of the Bourdon manometer was counteracted by the integration of non-circular (non-linear) profile mechanical elements. Measurement scale was linearized for uniform resolution across the entire measurement range. Findings were validated by comparing the pitch curves against the motion of a CAD model generated in SolidWorks. Thus, an uniform resolution along the measuring span was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is a follow-on of the work presented in Manzanas et al. (Clim Dyn 53(3–4):1287–1305, 2019) which provides a comprehensive intercomparison of alternatives for the post-processing (statistical adjustment, calibration and downscaling) of seasonal forecasts for a particularly interesting region, Southeast Asia. To answer the questions that were raised in the preceding work, apart from Bias Adjustment (BA) and ensemble Re-Calibration (RC) methods—which transform directly the variable of interest,—we include here more complex Perfect Prognosis (PP) and Model Outputs Statistics (MOS) downscaling techniques—which operate on a selection of large-scale model circulation variables linked to the local observed variable of interest. Moreover, we test the suitability of BA and PP methods for the post-processing of daily—not only seasonal—time-series, which are often needed in a variety of sectoral applications (crop, hydrology, etc.) or to compute specific climate indices (heat waves, fire weather index, etc.). In addition, we also undertake an assessment of the effect that observational uncertainty may have for statistical post-processing. Our results indicate that PP methods (and to a lesser extent MOS) are highly case-dependent and their application must be carefully analyzed for the region/season/application of interest, since they can either improve or degrade the raw model outputs. Therefore, for those cases for which the use of these methods cannot be carefully tested by experts, our overall recommendation would be the use of BA methods, which seem to be a safe, easy to implement alternative that provide competitive results in most situations. Nevertheless, all methods (including BA ones) seem to be sensitive to observational uncertainty, especially regarding the reproduction of extremes and spells. For MOS and PP methods, this issue can even lead to important regional differences in interannual skill. The lessons learnt from this work can substantially benefit a wide range of end-users in different socio-economic sectors, and can also have important implications for the development of high-quality climate services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute fibrinous organized pneumonia is a rare lung disease of non-infectious origin characterized by the presence of fibrinous plugs at the alveoli. There are a few cases reported in the literature. It occurs in almost all age groups and it is in association with other systemic diseases. There are two forms of presentation: a severe form that leads to acute respiratory failure and a subacute form that has a better prognosis. We present the case of an 80-year-old woman in whom the diagnosis of acute fibrinous organized pneumonia was confirmed. This disease is subdiagnosed, therefore there is insufficient information about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a comprehensive intercomparison of different alternatives for the calibration of seasonal forecasts, ranging from simple bias adjustment (BA)—e.g. quantile mapping—to more sophisticated ensemble recalibration (RC) methods—e.g. non-homogeneous Gaussian regression, which build on the temporal correspondence between the climate model and the corresponding observations to generate reliable predictions. To be as critical as possible, we validate the raw model and the calibrated forecasts in terms of a number of metrics which take into account different aspects of forecast quality (association, accuracy, discrimination and reliability). We focus on one-month lead forecasts of precipitation and temperature from four state-of-the-art seasonal forecasting systems, three of them included in the Copernicus Climate Change Service dataset (ECMWF-SEAS5, UK Met Office-GloSea5 and Météo France-System5) for boreal winter and summer over two illustrative regions with different skill characteristics (Europe and Southeast Asia). Our results indicate that both BA and RC methods effectively correct the large raw model biases, which is of paramount importance for users, particularly when directly using the climate model outputs to run impact models, or when computing climate indices depending on absolute values/thresholds. However, except for particular regions and/or seasons (typically with high skill), there is only marginal added value—with respect to the raw model outputs—beyond this bias removal. For those cases, RC methods can outperform BA ones, mostly due to an improvement in reliability. Finally, we also show that whereas an increase in the number of members only modestly affects the results obtained from calibration, longer hindcast periods lead to improved forecast quality, particularly for RC methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of particle shape in the small amplitude oscillatory shear behavior of magnetorheological (MR) fluids is investigated from zero magnetic field strengths up to 800 kA/m. Two types of MR fluids are studied: the first system is prepared with spherical particles and a second system is prepared with rodlike particles. Both types of particles are fabricated following practically the same precipitation technique and have the same intrinsic magnetic and crystallographic properties. Furthermore, the distribution of sphere diameters is very similar to that of rod thicknesses. Rod-based MR fluids show an enhanced MR performance under oscillatory shear in the viscoelastic linear regime. A lower magnetic field strength is needed for the structuration of the colloid and, once saturation is fully achieved, a larger storage modulus is observed. Existing sphere- and rod-based models usually underestimate experimental results regarding the magnetic field strength and particle volume fraction dependences of both storage modulus and yield stress. A simple model is proposed here to explain the behavior of microrod-based MR fluids at low, medium and saturating magnetic fields in the viscoelastic linear regime in terms of magnetic interaction forces between particles. These results are further completed with rheomicroscopic and dynamic yield stress observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VALUE is an open European collaboration to intercompare downscaling approaches for climate change research, focusing on different validation aspects (marginal, temporal, extremes, spatial, process‐based, etc.). Here we describe the participating methods and first results from the first experiment, using "perfect" reanalysis (and reanalysis‐driven regional climate model (RCM)) predictors to assess the intrinsic performance of the methods for downscaling precipitation and temperatures over a set of 86 stations representative of the main climatic regions in Europe. This study constitutes the largest and most comprehensive to date intercomparison of statistical downscaling methods, covering the three common downscaling approaches (perfect prognosis, model output statistics—including bias correction—and weather generators) with a total of over 50 downscaling methods representative of the most common techniques. Overall, most of the downscaling methods greatly improve (reanalysis or RCM) raw model biases and no approach or technique seems to be superior in general, because there is a large method‐to‐method variability. The main factors most influencing the results are the seasonal calibration of the methods (e.g., using a moving window) and their stochastic nature. The particular predictors used also play an important role in cases where the comparison was possible, both for the validation results and for the strength of the predictor–predictand link, indicating the local variability explained. However, the present study cannot give a conclusive assessment of the skill of the methods to simulate regional future climates, and further experiments will be soon performed in the framework of the EURO‐CORDEX initiative (where VALUE activities have merged and follow on). Finally, research transparency and reproducibility has been a major concern and substantive steps have been taken. In particular, the necessary data to run the experiments are provided at http://www.value‐cost.eu/data and data and validation results are available from the VALUE validation portal for further investigation: http://www.value‐cost.eu/validationportal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Strymon cryptodes sp. nov. is described from puna grasslands of northern Peru. Its phenotype corresponds with the male paralectotype of a congeneric species originally described as Thecla heodes Druce, 1909, which, in consequence, turns out to be a mixture of two biological species. Males of S. heodes have conspicuous scent patches, absent in S. cryptodes sp. nov. The new species is known from four individuals recently collected in the vicinity of the city of Cajamarca and two historical specimens from other localities in the department of Cajamarca. Based on wing colour patterns and other morphological characters S. cryptodes sp. nov. is placed in the Strymon istapa species-group defined by Robbins & Nicolay (2002), although the presence or absence of male androconial patch and genitalia brush organ are demonstrated not to be a valid diagnostic infrageneric character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) can be triggered by the presence of inflammatory factors which promote the activation of immune cells by costimulatory molecules such as CD40 and its ligand CD40L. Environmental and genetic factors are involved in the etiology of the ACS. The aim of this study was to explore the gene and protein expression associated with CD40 and CD40L genetic variants in ACS patients from the western Mexican population. A total of 620 individuals from western Mexico were recruited: 320 ACS patients and 300 individuals without a history of ischemic cardiopathy were evaluated. The genotype was determined using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. CD40 and CD40L expressions at the mRNA level were quantified using TaqMan Gene Expression Assays. Soluble protein isoforms were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We did not find evidence of association between CD40 (rs1883832, rs4810485, and rs11086998) and CD40L (rs3092952 and rs3092920) genetic variants and susceptibility to ACS, although rs1883832 and rs4810485 were significantly associated with high sCD40 plasma levels. Plasma levels of sCD40L can be affected by gender and the clinical spectrum of acute coronary syndrome. Our results do not suggest a functional role of CD40 and CD40L genetic variants in ACS. However, they could reflect the inflammatory process and platelet activation in ACS patients, even when they are under pharmacological therapy. Due to the important roles of the CD40-CD40L system in the pathogenesis of ACS, longitudinal studies are required to determine if soluble levels of CD40 and CD40L could be clinically useful markers of a recurrent cardiovascular event after an ACS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work assesses the suitability of a first simple attempt for process-conditioned bias correction in the context of seasonal forecasting. To do this, we focus on the northwestern part of Peru and bias correct 1- and 4-month lead seasonal predictions of boreal winter (DJF) precipitation from the ECMWF System4 forecasting system for the period 1981-2010. In order to include information about the underlying large-scale circulation which may help to discriminate between precipitation affected by different processes, we introduce here an empirical quantile-quantile mapping method which runs conditioned on the state of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), which is accurately predicted by System4 and is known to affect the local climate. Beyond the reduction of model biases, our results show that the SOI-conditioned method yields better ROC skill scores and reliability than the raw model output over the entire region of study, whereas the standard unconditioned implementation provides no added value for any of these metrics. This suggests that conditioning the bias correction on simple but well-simulated large-scale processes relevant to the local climate may be a suitable approach for seasonal forecasting. Yet, further research on the suitability of the application of similar approaches to the one considered here for other regions, seasons and/or variables is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous study, we pointed out that the neurotoxic action evoked by methylmercury (MeHg), a potent environmental pollutant responsible for fatal food poisoning, is associated with alterations of cellular excitability by irreversible blockade of sodium and calcium currents. Here, we investigated the MeHg effects on synaptic transmission and neuronal plasticity using extracellular field recording in CA1 area of rat hippocampal slices. MeHg caused a fast and drastic depression of evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC50 of 25.7 μM. This depression was partially caused by the irreversible reduction of axon recruitment deduced from the decrement of the fiber volley (FV) amplitude. Nevertheless, this MeHg-induced synaptic depression represents a true reduction of synaptic efficacy, as judged by input/output curves. In addition, a reduction on presynaptic release of glutamate was detected with the paradigm of paired-pulse facilitation during MeHg application. Moreover, MeHg also reduced population spike (PS) ampxlitude, and this effect was more prominent when the PS was evoked by ortodromic stimulation than by antidromic stimulation. Interestingly, despite these strong effects of MeHg on synaptic transmission and excitability, this compound did not modify the induction of long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP). The effects described here for MeHg were irreversible or very slowly reversible after drug wash-out. In summary, the blockade of sodium and calcium channels by MeHg affects synaptic transmission and cellular excitability but not synaptic plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article presents and discusses a unifying simulation procedure aimed at providing more realistic performance prediction of basic imaging systems, combining 3D EM (3 Dimensions Electro‐Magnetic) simulations and nonlinear receiver circuit simulation. New methods are proposed to emulate the radiated emissivity profile of a target body and to use harmonic balance simulation to emulate nonlinear circuit/system response to a broadband noisy stimulus. The procedure focuses mainly on passive imaging, but active imaging including illuminated passive imaging is dealt with and some elemental experiments are presented and discussed for comparisons. The method enables the extrapolation of the frequency response of a single pixel detector to an array with more elements suitable for providing a complete set of pixels and can help in evaluating the most suitable bandwidth according to the operation mode (passive/active), frequency range of operation, desired resolution, and the pixel number‐image resolution tradeoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work reports on the study of biofuel production from biooil obtained by cardoon pyrolysis ( Cynara cardunculus L.). The main process was carried out at 700 °C and at 50 cm 3 min −1 nitrogen flow rate for 1 h. The liquid yield in such pyrolysis process was 38.91% (wt/wt). Two solvents were used for biofuel extraction, namely ethyl ether and ethyl acetate, to achieve a 34.72% yield in biofuel. Subsequently, a distillation process in the range of kerosene (200–275 °C) was performed to finally obtain “biokerosene”, which was used to feed both a self-manufactured jet engine and an internal combustion engine (ICE). In the jet engine, experimental tests were run for four kerosene/biofuel mixtures in the range 0–20% biofuel, in atmospheric conditions (20 °C and 1015 mbar) and setting the engine in a slightly sloped arrangement in order to prevent excessive displacements. Fuel pressure at maximum power was recorded as 6 bar, which yielded 0.00252 kg s −1 fuel flow rate. Results –even for the mixture with 20% biofuel content– were found to be similar to those for pure kerosene. The turbocharger yield was 74% with 200,000 rpm and 0.091 kg s −1 air flow rate for all conditions, which equates to an approximate power of 100 hp for the use of the turbocharger in self-propulsion. On another note, the ICE was operated using a 80–20% diesel-biokerosene mix and was observed to show a satisfactory behaviour in terms of torque and power yields. The use of such biofuels to feed jet and ICE engines represents an excellent alternative to fossil fuels, and therefore quality improvement is a key topic for further research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until now, getting non-porous pure PVDF in the piezoelectric β-phase involved the application of stresses that limit the production of piezoelectric films into a flat form. In this work we present a new method to obtain, directly from the melt, pure β-PVDF which also allows the production of films with a 3D shape. A hydrophilic ionic liquid (IL), C 2 mim BF 4 , is used to totally induce the direct crystallization of PVDF in the piezoelectric β-phase during the melt. Afterwards, this IL is completely removed by washing the film in water at 70 °C. The process results in the production of a non-porous pure PVDF film, totally crystallized in the β-phase. Finally and for the first time, the replication of a 3D shape given by a glass form could be demonstrated by using this polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The histomorphometric features of umbilical cord constituents in seven foetuses of alpaca ( Vicugna pacos) from Cerro de Pasco, Department, Peru, were determined. Sections of 2-5 cm of umbilical cord were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and processed for light microscopy. Standard histological slides stained with haematoxylin and eosin, Masson's trichrome and Van Gieson's trichrome were obtained. Histologically, common features of umbilical artery and vein were observed as well as mucous connective tissue, some cell features that compound this tissue constituted by cells presented features of myofibroblasts. Among most important findings that were observed, the lumen of umbilical vein was obliterated into star-shaped form with the thinner umbilical artery wall; the smooth muscles and fibroblast were comparatively more in number in umbilical artery than that of umbilical vein, and the tunica media was larger in dimension than the tunica adventitia in umbilical vein. Conclusively, this histological study features an observation of the umbilical cord of alpaca foetuses and shows the similarity between them and those of other mammal species, including dromedaries and South American camelids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Smoking is associated with high healthcare resource utilisation and cost to society. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit high susceptibility to nicotine dependence. Varenicline, bupropion and nicotine replacement therapy are all indicated for smoking cessation; however funding by the Spanish national health system (SNHS) is limited. We modelled a budgetary impact analysis (BIA) to estimate the impact of the SNHS funding drug-based therapies for smoking cessation in smokers with MDD. Methods The BIA compared the current unfunded scenario versus a funded scenario (varenicline, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy combined with medical follow-up and counselling) using the Spanish SNHS and societal perspectives. The BIA design was a hybrid model using a decision tree algorithm (population size: smokers with MDD) and Markov chains (smoking cessation attempts) over a 5-year horizon. Smoking cessation drug efficacy was derived from clinical trials, and smoking cessation costs avoided were taken from an analysis of the Spanish National Health Survey. Results were shown as incremental cost savings. Scenarios and threshold univariate sensitivity analyses tested model robustness. Results The funded scenario resulted in an increase of 43,478 cessation attempts and 8930 fewer smokers after 5 years compared to the unfunded scenario. The cost of funding was €25.3 million and costs avoided were €26.5 million. There was a cumulative 5-year incremental cost saving of €1.2 million to Spanish society. Results were robust using alternative scenarios. Conclusions Funding smoking cessation drugs in patients with MDD is of economic benefit to Spain and could produce net savings from the third year of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size effects have been analyzed in the sensitivity and in the equivalent magnetic noise of three-layered ME sensors, working at the magnetoelastic resonance frequency of the magnetostrictive constituents. These effects have been studied in laminates of 4, 3 and 2 cm long, fabricated with metallic glasses of Fe 64 Co 17 Si 7 B 12 and with the piezoelectric polymer PVDF. It has been observed a decrease in the sensitivity to the applied AC and DC magnetic fields as reducing the length of the sensor. In the same way, the equivalent magnetic noise measurements performed in a mu-metal magnetic shielding chamber show a worsening in the performance of the sensors as reducing their length, ranging from 20 pT/Hz 1/2 for the 4 cm long ME sensor down to 103 pT/Hz 1/2 for the 2 cm one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some infantile hemangiomas called in literature “minimal or arrested growth hemangiomas” or “abortive hemangiomas” are present at birth and have a proliferative component equaling less than 25% of its total surface area. Often, they are mistaken for vascular malformation. We present five patients (three girls and two boys) with abortive hemangiomas diagnosed between January 2010 and December 2015 localized in acral part of the extremities. They were congenital lesions resembling precursor of hemangiomas but did not show proliferation phase. Immunohistochemical Glut-1 was performed in all of them as a way to confirm the abortive hemangioma diagnosis. The most common appearance was a reticulated erythematous patch with multiple fine telangiectasias on the surface. We remark that one of them presented a segmental patch with two different morphologies and evolutions. The proximal part showed pebbled patches of bright-red hemangioma and presented proliferation and the distal part with a reticulated network-like telangiectasia morphology remained unchanged. We detected lower half of the body preference and dorsal region involvement preference without ventral involvement. The ulceration occurred in three patients with two different degrees of severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalyptus is used as a source of renewable energy and the development of several products at industrial level; wasted leaves and branches whose content of lignocellulosic material can be converted into raw material product with specific applications, therefore, physicochemical analysis of leaves and its hydrolyzate was performed to determine the viability of the substrate in the production of xylitol, through biotechnological processes. Physicochemical parameters such as humidity, water activity (Aw), total soluble solids (° Brix), thermogravimetry (TGA), and infrared (IR FT) to the plant sample, and titratable acidity, pH, reducing sugars (DNS) were evaluated, ° Brix and infrared to hydrolysates, showing results led to the conclusion that the residual biomass Eucalyptus camaldulensis, is a potential substrate in the production of xylitol from biotechnological reduction of fermentable sugars such as D-xylose utilizing yeasts Candida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new atmospheric-river detection and tracking scheme based on the magnitude and direction of integrated water vapour transport is presented and applied separately over 13 regions located along the west coasts of Europe (including North Africa) and North America. Four distinct reanalyses are considered, two of which cover the entire twentieth-century: NOAA-CIRES Twentieth Century Reanalysis v2 (NOAA-20C) and ECMWF ERA-20C. Calculations are done separately for the OND and JFM-season and, for comparison with previous studies, for the ONDJFM-season as a whole. Comparing the AR-counts from NOAA-20C and ERA-20C with a running 31-year window looping through 1900-2010 reveals differences in the climatological mean and inter-annual variability which, at the start of the twentieth-century, are much more pronounced in western North America than in Europe. Correlating European AR-counts with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reveals a pattern reminiscent of the well-know precipitation dipole which is stable throughout the entire century. A similar analysis linking western North American AR-counts to the North Pacific index (NPI) is hampered by the aforementioned poor reanalysis agreement at the start of the century. During the second half of the twentieth-century, the strength of the NPI-link considerably varies with time in British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska. Considering the period 1950-2010, AR-counts are then associated with other relevant large-scale circulation indices such as the East Atlantic, Scandinavian, Pacific-North American and West Pacific patterns (EA, SCAND, PNA and WP). Along the Atlantic coastline of the Iberian Peninsula and France, the EA-link is stronger than the NAO-link if the OND season is considered and the SCAND-link found in northern Europe is significant during both seasons. Along the west coast of North America, teleconnections are generally stronger during JFM in which case the NPI-link is significant in any of the five considered subregions, the PNA-link is significant in British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska and the WP-link is so along the U.S. West Coast. During OND, these links are significant in the Gulf of Alaska only. If AR-counts are calculated upon persistent (instead of instantaneous) ARs, the link to the NAO weakens over the British Isles and western Iberia. For the experimental set-ups most closely mirroring those applied in Lavers et al. (J Geophys Res Atmos 117, 2012. doi:) and Ramos et al. (J Hydrometeorol 16(2):579-597, 2015. doi:), the NAO-links are completely or partly insignificant indicating that the inclusion of the persistence criterion notably alters the results. Visual support for the present study is provided by an exhaustive historical atmospheric river archive built at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cyber-physical systems in the avionics domain are mission- or safety-critical systems. In this context, standard distribution middleware has recently emerged as a potential solution to interconnect heterogeneous partitioned systems, as it would bring important benefits throughout the software development process. A remaining challenge, however, is reducing the complexity associated with current distribution middleware standards which leads to prohibitive certification costs. To overcome this complexity, this work explores the use of the DDS distribution middleware standard on top of a software platform based on the ARINC-653 specification. Furthermore, it discusses how both technologies can be integrated in order to apply them in mission and safety-critical scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the use of parallelization techniques to reduce dynamic power consumption in hardware implementations of the Trivium stream cipher. Trivium is a synchronous stream cipher based on a combination of three non-linear feedback shift registers. In 2008, it was chosen as a finalist for the hardware profile of the eSTREAM project. So that their power consumption values can be compared and verified, the proposed low-power Trivium designs were implemented and characterized in 350-nm standard-cell technology with both transistors and gate-level models, in order to permit both electrical and logical simulations. The results show that the two designs decreased average power consumption by between 15% and 25% with virtually no performance loss and only a slight overhead (about 5%) in area. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in-situ generated carbon matrix has demonstrated to be essential to provide electrical conducting properties to Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 as cathode materials for sodium-ion cells. Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 /C nanocomposites are synthesized by varying their eventual carbon content in order to determine the influence in the electrochemical behavior. X-ray diffraction patterns evidence the crystallinity and purity of Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 , while Raman spectroscopy reveals the disordered character of the carbon phase. The determination of the chemical state of the carbonaceous phase unveils that an increase of the carbon content involves a decrease of carboxyl groups and a slight increase of graphitic carbon atoms, in agreement with the Raman results. The electrochemical characterization of these composites in sodium half cells reveals that carbon contents close to 7% are preferred to provide cycling stability, while the best rate performance is achieved for the sample with carbon content close to 11%. A full sodium-ion cell delivers an energy density of 320 W h kg − 1 at 2C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several measurements are often used in daily clinical practice in the assessment of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) patients. The Assessment in SpondyloArthiritis International Society (ASAS) recommend in its core set: chest expansion modified Schöber test, Occiput to wall distance, lateral lumbar flexion, cervical rotation and The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI). BASMI also includes five measurements, some of them recommended by ASAS. Three versions of BASMI have been published with different scales and intervals for each component of the index. Though studies about reliability of these measurements are needed. The aim of this study was to analyze inter-rater reliability of recommended spinal mobility measures in AS.Methods: We examined reproducibility of spinal mobility measurements on 33 AS patients performed by two experienced rheumatologists in the same day. Descriptive statistics, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), and Smallest Detectable Difference (SDD) using the Bland-Altman criteria were obtained for all the measurements.Results: Chest expansion showed the lowest value of ICC (0.66) and occiput-wall the highest (0.97). SDD was 2.43 units for BASMI2 and 1.27 units for BASMI10.Conclusions: Reliability according to ICC was moderate to high in all measurements. BASMI10, instead BASMI2, must be used: measurements used to calculate are the same but there is better reliability. Inter-rater variation, expressed as SDD, must be taken in account: smaller improvements do not demonstrate the efficacy of treatment because they can be due to experimental error and not to the treatment itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An architecture to use the IEEE 802.1AS clock for EDF scheduling in distributed systems with soft real-time requirements has been proposed. • Different scheduling deadline assignment techniques that can be applied to distributed real-time systems have been evaluated. • The experimental results obtained for EDF scheduling in distributed systems do not follow the same behaviour as the theoretical results obtained by state-of-the-art schedulability analysis techniques. • In general, the theoretical dominance of global-clock EDF (GC-EDF) over local-clock EDF(LC-EDF) has not been observed in the experimental results. Existing response time analysis and optimization techniques for real-time distributed systems show that EDF schedulers feature better scheduling capabilities when a global clock reference can be used; this form of scheduling is known as global-clock EDF. In this context, precise clock synchronization is an enabling technology for future distributed real-time systems that want to leverage EDF scheduling. The IEEE 802.1AS protocol can be considered a stable technology for this purpose, as it is part of the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) family of standards to provide real-time communication over Ethernet. This paper presents a system architecture for applying global-clock EDF scheduling in distributed systems with soft real-time requirements. It also presents experiments to (1) assess the synchronization capabilities of the clock synchronization mechanism in the proposed architecture, (2) evaluate the performance of different scheduling deadline assignment techniques, and (3) contrast the theoretical results obtained by the schedulability analysis against those obtained through the execution of these experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jellyfish swarms have a direct negative impact on human enterprise, specially on places dependent on the sun and beach economy. The local economy and the health of bathers may be at risk from the emergence of these gelatinous organisms. Economic losses can be mitigated by monitoring the occurrence of jellyfish on the coast. Due to the lack of jellyfish data, environmental citizen science is presented as an alternative for data collection. In this study, fuzzy logic-based models have been used to modelize the knowledge from citizen comments collected by the Infomedusa app. The effect of local climatological factors such as wind speed and direction on the incidence of jellyfish on the coast was studied. The fuzzy logic-based models showed that winds perpendicular to the coast lead to a higher occurrence of jellyfish swarms in central and eastern Malaga, while winds parallel to the coast have a greater influence in the westernmost coasts. Wind speed has a different effect on jellyfish incidence depending on the study area and wind direction. Data extracted from the Infomedusa app can help to address the historical scarcity of scientific data on jellyfish. This app presents an opportunity for future studies to expand the knowledge about the occurrence of these organisms on the coasts and may contribute to the prediction of onshore arrival. • Citizen science combined with fuzzy logic makes it possible to deal with the historical scarcity of jellyfish data. • Wind speed and direction play a fundamental role in understanding the appearance of jellyfish on the coast of Malaga. • In the western Costa del Sol, parallel winds favour the appearance of jellyfish. • In the central and eastern Costa del Sol, the winds perpendicular to the coast favour the appearance of jellyfish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although high-surface area activated carbons used as supercapacitor (SC) electrodes are frequently produced by KOH activation, this study shows that, when aqueous electrolytes are used, CO 2 activation is a better choice from the point of view of SC performance, environment and economy. Ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) produced by a mechanochemical synthesis method from mimosa tannin are activated with KOH to use these materials as electrodes for SCs. A comparative analysis of the same OMCs but activated with CO 2 is presented to examine the effect of the activation process on materials performance. KOH-activated materials exhibit good electrochemical performance at low charging rates, reaching specific cell capacitance values of 49 F g−1 at 0.5 Ag−1, however, restricted access to microporosity and low water affinity water reduces their performance at high charging rates. In contrast, the best performing CO 2 -activated material can retain 81% of capacitance at 20 A g−1, compared to 25% for a KOH-activated OMC with similar properties and tested under the same conditions. A thorough review of the open literature suggests that CO 2 activation would produce materials with a suitable combination of pore network connectivity and water affinity, resulting in SCs with high rate capability in an aqueous electrolyte. These conclusions were drawn by judiciously integrating the analysis of: (i) the hysteresis loop scanning of N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms; and (ii) water adsorption isotherms as tools to more accurately assess the pore network connectivity and water affinity of the materials, which are not generally considered when studying SC performance. • Pore connectivity and water affinity control the performance of SCs. • Scanning the N 2 hysteresis loop allows the assessment of pore connectivity. • Poor connectivity and hydrophobicity of KOH-activated OMCs hinder SC performance. • Good connectivity and hydrophilicity of CO 2 -activated OMCs enhance SC performance. • CO 2 activation is better in terms of SC performance and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is a multimorbidity, long-term condition, and one of the worldwide leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) –a silent disease, usually detected when non-reversible renal damage have already occurred. New strategies and more effective laboratory methods are needed for more opportune diagnosis of DM2-CKD. This study comprises clinical parameters and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based urine metabolomics data from 60 individuals (20–65 years old, 67.7% females), sorted in 5 experimental groups (healthy subjects; diabetic patients without any clinical sign of CKD; and patients with mild, moderate, and severe DM2-CKD), according to KDIGO. DM2-CKD produces a continuous variation of the urine metabolome, characterized by an increase/decrement of a group of metabolites that can be used to monitor CKD progression (trigonelline, hippurate, phenylalanine, glycolate, dimethylamine, alanine, 2-hydroxybutyrate, lactate, and citrate). NMR profiles were used to obtain a statistical model, based on partial least squares analysis (PLS-DA) to discriminate among groups. The PLS-DA model yielded good validation parameters (sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) plot: 0.692, 0.778 and 0.912, respectively) and, thus, it can differentiate between subjects with DM2-CKD in early stages, from subjects with a mild or severe condition. This metabolic signature exhibits a molecular variation associated to DM2-CKD, and data suggests it can be used to predict risk of DM2-CKD in patients without clinical signs of renal disease, offering a new alternative to current diagnosis methods. [Display omitted] • Diabetic renal disease produced a continuous variation of the urine metabolome. • PLS-DA model discriminate between disease groups using NMR profiles. • Nine metabolites were proposed as potential progression biomarkers. • This method offers a new alternative to current diagnosis procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time and space partitioning techniques are implemented in the development of safety-critical applications to ensure isolation among components. A suitable arrangement of the execution of such partitions is a key challenge so that applications meet the timing requirements imposed to software. In this work, the effect of window sizes and context switch overheads in the partition window configuration is studied, with the aim of analyzing their impact when the response-time analysis and priority assignment techniques are applied. Then, a heuristic algorithm is proposed, in order to obtain a partition window configuration that enables the schedulability of partition-based safety critical systems. This algorithm is evaluated in synthetic test scenarios and it is also applied to a safety-critical use-case in the railway domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic glass/polyvinylidene fluoride three-layered magnetoelectric laminated composites have been studied. Size effects in the magnetoelectric response arisen both from the reduction of the length of the laminate and from the increase of the operating frequency have been quantified for the lengths ranging from 3 cm down to 0.5 cm. It has been concluded that the decrease in this magnetoelectric response arises mainly from the demagnetizing effects, with reductions of 86% for the longest laminate that increase up to 99% for the shortest one. From these values, an intrinsic magnetoelectric coefficient of 325 V/cm Oe has been obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segmenting the continuum of rivers into homogeneous reaches is an important issue in river research and management. Automatic procedures provide significance, objectivity, and repeatability. Although univariate techniques are frequently used to identify river reaches, multivariate approaches offer a more integrative context. Three nonparametric methods (multi-response permutation procedures (MRPP) with an advance in the significance level estimation, the Pettitt and Mann–Kendall tests) are applied for segmenting the river based on three geomorphic variables (valley width, active channel width, and channel slope) systematically measured in a GIS environment. The cited techniques have been applied to the Curueño River (NW Spain) to illustrate the methods, we analyse reach distribution along the river longitudinal profile. The methods successfully characterize the evident transitions along fluvial systems and also others less noticeable. The three methods provide more reaches according to valley width and less reaches according to channel slope (18.0 and 3.7 reaches on average, respectively). In contrast to the Mann–Kendall test, MRPP and Pettitt tests provide more stable segmentations when significance level varies. However, the Pettitt test provides irregular segmentations for regular patterns. The MRPP both univariate and multivariate applications enables a wider scope for the segmentation issue, which is useful in diverse aspects of fluvial domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a problem particularly prevalent in patients older than 75 years, and hypoalbuminemia is thought to increase the risk of vulnerability and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of hypoalbuminemia in survival of frail patients older than 75 years. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study was performed. We analyzed records of patients with diagnosis of frailty, and at least one determination of serum albumin for the last 6 years. Patients were divided into 2 groups: frail patients with hypoalbuminemia (albumin equal to or less than 3.5 g/ dL, group 1) and patients with normal serum albumin levels (albumin greater than 3.5 g/dL, group 2). RESULTS: We evaluated 872 patients. 136 patients were identified with frailty (15.5%); 13 did not have albumin determinations, and therefore were excluded. The average age was 82.62 years (range 75 to 98 years). 80 patients were female (65%) and 43 were male (35%). From the final study group of 123 patients, we identified 97 patients (79%) with hypoalbuminemia. Occurred 79 deaths (64%) during the follow-up period of 72 months, 67 (85%) in group 1 (odds ratio [OR] 2.60, p=0.02) and 12 (15%) in group 2 (OR 2.09, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: hypoalbuminemia is associated with higher risk of death in frail elderly patients over 75 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation (ECH) of methyl oleate and methyl linoleate results electrolysis potential by which active hydrogen is producedby cyclic voltametry, was established at -600 mV. The electrocatalysts used were based on Titaniumcovered with nickel systems supported over tin oxide (II) and (IV) showed different behavior towards the diverse substrata studied. Tin oxide (II) system was most active towards the methyl oleate hydrogenation, whereas, tin oxide (IV) system was most active to methyl linoleate hydrogenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A kinetic study of the CO 2 desorption process by carbonated sodium zirconate (Na 2 ZrO 3 ) synthesized by a liquid suspension route is presented using zirconium acetylacetonate and sodium acetate as precursors. Na 2 ZrO 3 was characterized by XRD, SEM and TGA. Na 2 ZrO 3 exhibited a 90% conversion during absorption with respect to the theoretical value. CO 2 desorption kinetic study used three temperatures; 850, 900 °C and 950 °C and three concentrations: 5, 3 and 1% of CO 2 in Ar at 200 ml/min. XRD data shown only slight segregation of the precursors, which led to a small amount of ZrO 2 formation in the solid product. The global rate of the decarbonation reaction of Na 2 ZrO 3 was of first order in CO 2 concentration and strongly dependent on temperature. The calculated apparent activation energy was E A = 23.35 kcal/mol. Na 2 ZrO 3 performance during four continuous cycles, shown an excellent thermal and chemical stability, with the material conversion remaining practically unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a remote sensor able to extract three-dimensional information. Environmental models in forest areas have been benefited by the use of LiDAR-derived information in the last years. A multiple linear regression (MLR) with previous stepwise feature selection is the most common method in the literature to develop those models. MLR defines the relation between the set of field measurements and the statistics extracted from a LiDAR flight. Machine learning has emerged as a suitable tool to improve classic stepwise MLR results on LiDAR. Unfortunately, few studies have been proposed to compare the quality of the multiple machine learning approaches. This paper presents a comparison between the classic MLR-based methodology and regression techniques in machine learning (neural networks, support vector machines, nearest neighbour, ensembles such as random forests) with special emphasis on regression trees. The selected techniques are applied to real LiDAR data from two areas in the province of Lugo (Galizia, Spain). The results confirm that classic MLR is outperformed by machine learning techniques and concretely, our experiments suggest that Support Vector Regression with Gaussian kernels statistically outperforms the rest of the techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite films with filler microparticles of Barium ferrite BaFe 12 O 19 (BaFO, 1–20 wt.%) dispersed within P(VDF-TrFE) acting as piezoelectric polymeric matrix have been prepared by solvent evaporation. SEM and TEM images in combination with magnetic measurements clearly probe the good dispersion and random distribution of the BaFO microparticles within the films. Young’s modulus of the fabricated composites remains almost unchanged for all filler contents, indicating that this acts as a small defect within the P(VDF-TrFE) matrix. On the contrary, dielectric properties clearly reduce for low filler contents, 1 and 5 wt.%, and recover and increase their values in a smooth and monotonous way for higher BaFO filler contents of 10 and 20 wt.%. This trend is not followed by the electrical conductivity. Additionally, we have extended the study to fibers composed of BaFe 12 O 19 microparticles within a PVDF matrix. Due to the big size of BaFO particles (about 1 μm in diameter), a proper fabrication of the fiber shaped composites has not been achieved. We found that true BaFO content are always lower than nominal ones. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of size and morphology of the BaFO particles on the initial properties of the pure polymeric matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of methyldi(thiocyanato- N )silane (HMeSi(NCS) 2 ) with the Salen -type ligands 2,2′-{ethane-1,2-diylbis[nitrile( E )methylylidene]}diphenol (H 2 Salen ) and 2,2′-{ethane-1,2-diylbis[nitrile(1 E )eth-1-yl-1-ylidene]}diphenol (H 2 Me Salen ) leads to the formation of the neutral hexacoordinate silicon(IV) complexes ( Salen )SiMe(NCS) ( 4 ) and (Me Salen )SiMe(NCS) ( 5 ) with one –NCS functional group and a Si O 2 N 3 C coordination framework. The reaction of Si(NCS) 4 with the H 2 Me Salen ligand leads to the formation of (Me Salen )Si(NCS) 2 ( 6 ), a neutral silicon(IV) complex bi-functionalized with –NCS. 29 Si NMR solution studies confirmed that silicon complexes 4 – 6 are hexacoordinated and that complex 6 exists as a mixture of the three possible stereoisomers trans - 6 , all- cis - 6 and cis - 6 in approximately a 2.25/1.75/1.00 ratio, respectively. The assignments of the stereoisomers of 6 in dmso-d 6 solution were achieved by quantitative 29 Si NMR analysis and their relative energies (Δ H 0 298 values) obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. All of the complexes were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, solid-state 29 Si CP/MAS and solution 1 H, 13 C and 29 Si NMR. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis were used to confirm the structures and compositions of all of the complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water holding capacity (WHC) is a more important quality trait in meat and is associated with juiciness and weight loss of meat cutting during technologic procedures like aging, cooking, and thawing. WHC in raw (WHCr) and cooked (WHCc) meat were assessed in 164 cross-castrated bulls. These animals were genotyped in 23 genomic regions in CAPN1, CAST, DES, PRKAG3 and RYR1 genes. CAST2959 polymorphism was established as associated with WHCr in Longissimus dorsi (LD) and animals with genotype AA had the desired parameter. RYR1-11195 marker had association with WHCc in LD and steaks of animals with genotypes GG and GA had bigger weight loss than animals AA. Thus, these polymorphisms would be useful in animal selection and breeding programs involved in this meat feature (WHCr and WHCc) after a validation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a technique and develops an apparatus that allows the application of homogeneous external magnetic fields (parallel or perpendicular to the deformation axis) to a fluid sample undergoing extensional flow kinematics while measuring the filament thinning using the commercial version of the capillary breakup extensional rheometer (HaakeTM CaBERTM 1, Thermo Scientific). We also present innovative rheological measurements of several commercial ferrofluids (FFs) and one magnetorheological fluid (MRF) under uniaxial extensional flow. The experimental results demonstrate that FFs exhibit a Newtonian-like behavior in the absence of magnetic fields. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the extensional flow, no significant effects are observed similar to shear experiments. However, when the external magnetic field is aligned with the extensional flow, the filament takes longer to break up but otherwise behaves as a Newtonian fluid. In [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

μ-Calpain/Calpastatin enzymatic system are extensively evaluated in tenderness association studies of beef quality and several polymorphisms of these same genes have been reported previously associated with phenotypic variation in non-related bovine populations. Computational tools were used to screen four polymorphisms in μ-Calpain gene and 11 in Calpastatin gene that can alter the physical and mRNA chemical properties (stability and conformational polymorphism) and its respective proteins (isoelectric point, electrostatic potential and molecular surface) of polymorphisms previously reported in public databases. In silico aproximation is a useful tool in phenotype-genotype association studies because can provide a biological support to this type of animal production traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a major public health problem in the world of epidemic proportions. There is a relationship between overweight-obesity in the pediatric population and the presence of psychopathology where personality is involved. This descriptive study attempts to characterize and find relationships between dimensions and psychopathological personality profiles and overweight-obesity in children 9-14 years treated in Pediatrics. Junior Temperament and Character Inventory of Cloninger (JTCI), instrument based on the original inventory of Cloninger, is used to study personality along with sociodemographic, clinical, anthropometric and academic information collection. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analysis techniques are used. The dimensions reward dependence, fantasy and harm avoidance have the most extreme values, showing no psychopathological profiles 93% of the sample. Psychopathological profile associated with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Bipolar disorder (ADHD/BP) is the most common. ADHD/BP profile has a Body Mass Index (BMI) significantly higher than the rest. Being male and repeat course increases the risk of overweight-obesity, while increasing age and persistence dimension behave as protective factors in the multivariate analysis. A better understanding of the relationship between personality and overweight-obesity in children and adolescents to identify more effective therapies is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behaviour and electrochemical stability of two different electrocatalyst supports based on Sb-doped SnO 2 (ATO) were evaluated in an acidic medium over a wide potential range (0–1.8 V vs. NHE). The results were compared with those from a commercial Vulcan carbon XC-72 (254 m 2 g −1 ) support. ATO (85 m 2 g −1 ) and modified-ATO (216 m 2 g −1 ) were synthesized by the sol–gel method and were then characterized by XRD, BET and TEM. The modification of the ATO consisted of adding dodecylamine as a surfactant to generate a surface area similar to that of Vulcan carbon. The electrochemical characterization conditions were chosen to match the operating conditions of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and a solid polymer electrolyser (SPE), where the oxygen-evolution reaction takes place at a potential near 1.6 V with respect to normal hydrogen electrode (NHE). The results show good chemical stability when the ATO and the modified-ATO are subjected to these conditions, whereas Vulcan carbon corrodes easily. This indicates that Sb-doped SnO 2 is a good candidate for electrocatalyst supports for energy-conversion systems such as electrolysers and unified regenerative fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico City relies on groundwater for most of its domestic supply. Over the years, intensive pumping has led to significant drawdowns and, subsequently, to severe land subsidence. Tensile cracks have also developed or reactivated as a result. All such processes cause damage to urban infrastructure, increasing the risk of spills and favoring contaminant propagation into the aquifer. The effects of ground deformation are frequently ignored in groundwater vulnerability studies, but can be relevant in subsiding cities. This report presents an extension to the DRASTIC methodology, named DRASTIC-Sg, which focuses on evaluating groundwater vulnerability in urban aquifers affected by differential subsidence. A subsidence parameter is developed to represent the ground deformation gradient (Sg), and then used to depict areas where damage risk to urban infrastructure is higher due to fracture propagation. Space-geodetic SqueeSAR data and global positioning system (GPS) validation were used to evaluate subsidence rates and gradients, integrating hydrogeological and geomechanical variables into a GIS environment. Results show that classic DRASTIC approaches may underestimate groundwater vulnerability in settings such as the one at hand. Hence, it is concluded that the Sg parameter is a welcome contribution to develop reliable vulnerability assessments in subsiding basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water Holding Capacity (WHC) was established in raw meat (WHCr) through the press method and in cooked meat by cooking losses (WHCc). The beef was aged at 7, 14 and 21 days post mortem. The muscles Longissimus dorsi (LD) and Semitendinosus (ST) of 164 castrated males were used. These animals were F1 offsprings of Simmental, Normande, BON (Blanco Orejinegro), Braunvieh, Guzerat, White Brahman, Red Brahman, Limousin and Romosinuano bulls crossed with White Brahman females. In WHCr genetic type and ageing were significant factors in LD and ageing was significant in ST. Ideally, meat of ST and LD should be aged for short time post mortem and the genetic type can affect the water retention in LD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]