Norma de reconocimiento, convención y obligación. Aquello que Shapiro todavía puede aprender de los errores de Hart

2021

Shapiro works out a version of legal positivism taking as its starting point Hart’s practice theory of law. Some serious limits of Hart’s practice theory of norms concern the conception of legal obligation and normativity of law. In this paper I analyze the limits of Hart’s conception of legal normativity and I appraise whether the planning theory of law indicates the correct direction for overcoming them. To anticipate the conclusion, my effort is to show that Shapiro replicates Hart’s mistakes on this subject-matters. The paper is divided in three main sections. First, I will present briefly a critical reconstruction of Hart’s conception of normativity, reconstruction which is partially d…

Las raíces del 'Brexit': institucionalización del euroescepticismo

2021

El Reino Unido votó abandonar la Unión Europea el 23 de junio de 2016, con un 51,9% de votos. Fue una decisión que sorprendió a todo el mundo, pese a que un análisis de la relación entre ambos actores puede denotar cierta ajenidad en el comportamiento del Estado británico respecto al organismo supranacional. Es por esto por lo que la tesis del presente estudio va a ser que la campaña del Leave basó sus argumentos en cuestiones identitarias y emocionales, para lo que reprodujeron las tradiciones históricas de la relación entre el Reino Unido y la Unión Europea. Para defenderla, se analizarán las razones esgrimidas en la campaña del Referéndum del 2016, a fin de buscar una explicación del fra…

Multiscale Simulations of SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibition with Aldehyde Derivatives. Role of Protein and Inhibitor Conformational Changes in the R…

2021

We here investigate the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibition by one of the most promising families of inhibitors, those containing an aldehyde group as a warhead. These compounds are covalent inhibitors that inactivate the protease, forming a stable hemithioacetal complex. Inhibitor 11a is a potent inhibitor that has been already tested in vitro and in animals. Using a combination of classical and QM/MM simulations, we determined the binding mode of the inhibitor into the active site and the preferred rotameric state of the catalytic histidine. In the noncovalent complex, the aldehyde group is accommodated into the oxyanion hole formed by the NH main-chain groups of residues 143 …

Genetic analysis of familial Alzheimer’s disease, primary lateral sclerosis and paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia: a tool to uncover common mechanist…

2021

Tesis doctoral 270 p. figuras y tablas

¿Podemos elegir entre Particularismo y Generalismo?

2021

La antítesis entre particularismo y universalismo es uno de los temas más discutidos en la filosofía práctica anglosajona de los últimos años. Pero, ¿de qué tipo de antítesis se trata? Es decir, ¿que género de alternativa constituye la que media entre particularismo y universalismo? Discutiré este problema tomando como punto de partida las tesis sostenidas por Cristina Redondo.

Limited proteolysis by acrosin affects sperm-binding and mechanical resilience of the mouse zona pellucida.

2021

Abstract The encounter of oocyte and sperm is the key event initiating embryonic development in mammals. Crucial functions of this existential interaction are determined by proteolytic enzymes, such as acrosin, carried in the sperm head acrosome, and ovastacin, stored in the oocyte cortical granules. Ovastacin is released upon fertilisation to cleave the zona pellucida, a glycoprotein matrix surrounding the oocyte. This limited proteolysis hardens the oocyte envelope, and thereby provides a definitive block against polyspermy and protects the developing embryo. On the other hand, acrosin, the renowned and most abundant acrosomal protease, has been thought to enable sperm to penetrate the oo…

Long-term non-sustainable soil erosion rates and soil compaction in drip-irrigated citrus plantation in Eastern Iberian Peninsula.

2021

Abstract Agriculture is known to commonly cause soil degradation. In the Mediterranean, soil erosion is widespread due to the millennia-old farming, and new drip-irrigated plantations on slopes, such as the citrus ones, accelerate the process of soil degradation. Until now, the published data about soil erosion in citrus orchards is based on short-term measurements. Long-term soil erosion measurements are needed to assess the sustainability of drip-irrigated citrus production and to design new strategies to control high soil erosion rates. The objective of this study is to assess long-term soil erosion rates in citrus plantations and report the changes in soil bulk density as indicators of …

Letter in response to “ COVID ‐19, Virchow's triad and thromboembolic risk in obese pregnant women”

2021

Trichuris trichiura egg extract proteome reveals potential diagnostic targets and immunomodulators.

2021

The proteomic analysis was performed at the proteomics facility of SCSIE, University of Valencia (Burjassot, Spain) that belongs to ProteoRed, PRB2-ISCIII, Madrid, Spain. We also thank Dr. Tatiana Corey, Dr. Amy Beierschmitt and Dr. Pompei Bolfa for their support during sample collection.

Lithium isotopes and partition coefficients in inorganic carbonates: Proxy calibration for weathering reconstruction

2021

We report Li measurements from cave-analogue carbonate-precipitation experiments in order to: i) assess the expected isotope fractionation factors applicable to speleothem growth, and ii) contribute to the wider understanding of lithium incorporation in carbonates. The experimental setup closely mimics natural processes (e.g. precipitation driven by CO2 degassing, low ionic strength solution, thin solution film) but within a laboratory setting that allows for controlled growth conditions (temperature, pCO2, drip rate, carbonate saturation index and the composition of the initial solution). For the main batch of calcite growth experiments our average 1000lnαcalcite-solution is -8.5&plu…

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2021

ObjectiveTo assess the safety and efficacy of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) add-on to glatiramer acetate (GA) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).MethodsWe enrolled patients with RRMS (aged 18–60 years, Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score 0–6.5), receiving stable GA treatment in a multicenter, prospective, double-blind, phase II, randomized controlled trial. Participants received up to 800 mg oral EGCG daily over a period of 18 months. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients without new hyperintense lesions on T2-weighted (T2w) brain MRI within 18 months. Secondary end points included additional MRI and clinical parameters. Immunologic eff…

Nuclear structure of Te isotopes beyond neutron magic number N=82

2021

15 pags., 10 figs., 4 tabs.

Comparing Cybersecurity Information Exchange Models and Standards for the Common Secure Information Management Framework

2021

Cyber threats have increased in spite of formal economic integration in the world. Decision-makers and authorities need to respond to the growing challenge of cyberthreats by increasing cooperation. Information is one of the main facilities when the objective is to prevent hybrid threats at the EU level and between the western countries. The main purpose of the study is to find out separating and combining factors concerning existing cyber information sharing models and information management frameworks in western countries. The aim is also to find out crucial factors, which affect the utilization of a common Early Warning System for the ECHO stakeholders. The main findings are that unclear…

Troubled cosmic flows: turbulence, enstrophy and helicity from the assembly history of the intracluster medium

2021

Both simulations and observations have shown that turbulence is a pervasive phenomenon in cosmic scenarios, yet it is particularly difficult to model numerically due to its intrinsically multiscale character which demands high resolutions. Additionally, turbulence is tightly connected to the dynamical state and the formation history of galaxies and galaxy clusters, producing a diverse phenomenlogy which requires large samples of such structures to attain robust conclusions. In this work, we use an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) cosmological simulation to explore the generation and dissipation of turbulence in galaxy clusters, in connection to its assembly history. We find that major mergers…

Does access to care play a role in liver cancer survival? The ten-year (2006–2015) experience from a population-based cancer registry in Southern Ita…

2021

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary invasive cancer of the liver. During the last decade, the epidemiology of HCC has been continuously changing in developed countries, due to more effective primary prevention and to successful treatment of virus-related liver diseases. The study aims to examine survival by level of access to care in patients with HCC, for all patients combined and by age. Methods We included 2018 adult patients (15–99 years) diagnosed with a primary liver tumour, registered in the Palermo Province Cancer Registry during 2006–2015, and followed-up to 30 October 2019. We obtained a proxy measure of access to care by linking each re…

GHOST: GRADIENT HISTOGRAM OF SPECTRAL TEXTURE

2021

International audience; A gradient-based texture feature for hyperspectral image is formulated with straightforward application to grayscale and color images. Processed in full band, GHOST is expressed as a four-dimensional probability density distribution encompassing joint metrological assessment of spectral and spatial properties. Its performance is close to Opponent Band Local Binary Pattern (OBLBP) in HyTexiLa texture classification (91 %-99 % accuracy) with feature size 0.2 % of OBLBP's.

Influence of the level of arterial resection on the replanting and revascularization results in hand surgery: prospective study over 22 months

2021

Abstract The objective of this work was to assess whether the injury mechanisms are responsible for histological arterial lesions. This prospective single-center study included adults with wrist or hand arterial injury. Arterial resection of at least 2 mm from the proximal and distal stumps was performed before the arterial anastomosis. Histological analysis of the arterial stumps was performed. An ultrasound was performed 1 month postoperatively to check arterial patency. A clinical and functional evaluation was done at 1 month postoperative, then every 3 months. From 2018 to 2020, 46 patients were included with a maximum follow-up of 13 months. There were 35 cuts, 2 crush injuries, 8 ampu…

Impact of food fortification on nutritional outcomes and satisfaction in the older people: A systematic literature review protocol

2021

Malnutrition, a recognized pathology in the older adults, corresponds to an imbalance of nutritional intake compared to the body's needs. To treat this disease, several alternatives can be used, among which there is food fortification. Food-based fortification (also known as dietary enrichment) corresponds to the addition of conventional foods or high calorie and/or nutrients ingredients in the person's meals and dishes. It is a strategy used to treat moderate and severe malnutrition but can be employed as prevention. In this context, the purpose of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of all studies related to the nutritional and satisfaction issue of fortified foods dedica…

Effective strain manipulation of the antiferromagnetic state of polycrystalline NiO

2021

As a candidate material for applications such as magnetic memory, polycrystalline antiferromagnets offer the same robustness to external magnetic fields, THz spin dynamics, and lack of stray field as their single crystalline counterparts, but without the limitation of epitaxial growth and lattice matched substrates. Here, we first report the detection of the average Neel vector orientiation in polycrystalline NiO via spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). Secondly, by applying strain through a piezo-electric substrate, we reduce the critical magnetic field required to reach a saturation of the SMR signal, indicating a change of the anisotropy. Our results are consistent with polycrystalline NiO…

Lessons in clinical reasoning – pitfalls, myths, and pearls: the contribution of faulty data gathering and synthesis to diagnostic error

2021

Abstract Objectives Errors in clinical reasoning are a major factor for delayed or flawed diagnoses and put patient safety at risk. The diagnostic process is highly dependent on dynamic team factors, local hospital organization structure and culture, and cognitive factors. In everyday decision-making, physicians engage that challenge partly by relying on heuristics – subconscious mental short-cuts that are based on intuition and experience. Without structural corrective mechanisms, clinical judgement under time pressure creates space for harms resulting from systems and cognitive errors. Based on a case-example, we outline different pitfalls and provide strategies aimed at reducing diagnost…

Reading road networks through time: How structural changes affect territorial accessibility ?

2021

International audience; City Road networks extend through time according to territorial constraints and local policies. This work focuses on the geographical and geometrical aspects of the road network skeleton. Following on the work on space syntax and successors (Hillier 1976, Hillier 2007, Porta 2006), an extended geographical object called the way is built, by pairing edges at each node of the road network graph. The way is constructed by local geographical rules, independently from the order in which the network is read. The resulting object is multi- scale, from the single edge to the largest way extending over the whole studied zone.This last property allows to make stable computatio…

Towards Estimation of Seasonal Water Dynamics of Winter Wheat from Ground-Based L-Band Radiometry 

2021

The vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameter contains information on plant water content and biomass, and can be estimated alongside soil moisture from currently operating satellite radiometer missions, such as SMOS (ESA) and SMAP (NASA). The estimation of water fluxes, such as plant water uptake (PWU) and transpiration rate (TR), from these Earth system parameters (VOD, soil moisture) requires assessing potential (suction tension) gradients of water and flow resistances in the soil, the vegetation and the atmosphere, yet it remains an elusive challenge especially on global scale. Here, we used a field-scale experiment to test mechanistic models for the estimation of seasonal water fluxes (…

Acute surgical abdomen during the COVID‑19 pandemic: Clinical and therapeutic challenges

2021

The present study investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical presentation and therapeutic management of acute surgical abdomen. A retrospective study of emergency hospitalizations with a diagnosis of acute surgical abdomen between April and July 2020 vs. a similar period in 2019 was performed. The observation sheets and the operating protocols were analyzed. Between April and July 2020, 50 cases of acute surgical abdomen were hospitalized and treated, compared to 43 cases in the same period last year. The main types of pathology in both groups included: Occlusions (60%, respectively 44.2% in 2019) and peritonitis (32%, respectively 41.8% in 2019). There was an increas…

Computerized dynamic fluid simulation (CFD) for measuring the influence of the cab deflector on the aerodynamics of trucks

2021

This paper refers to how the cab deflector of trucks can influence the aerodynamic coefficient. The first part of the paper includes some generalities taken from previous studies, regarding the types of solutions to improve aerodynamics for trucks. The second part of the paper is a more practical one and has two main chapters: modeling and simulation of modeled parts. In this sense, a truck and 3 cabin deflectors were schematically modeled in Catia v5. After assembly in the Catia v5 program, the impact of the cabin deflector was analyzed. Thus, a computerized dynamic fluid simulation (CFD) was performed using the specific module in Ansys. The simulation included the CFD analysis of the four…

A dynamic performance management approach to frame corruption in public procurement: a case study

2021

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to frame the causal relationships between corruption in public procurement and performance of local governments. Design/methodology/approach An outcome-based dynamic performance management approach is adopted to explore a representative case study of a small Italian municipality. The model is based on three sources: qualitative primary data generated by face-to-face convergent interviews; secondary data retrieved from documents describing legal cases linked to procurement and open-access repositories; and an extensive literature review. Findings Emphasizing the role of community civic morality systemically may help to understand some counterintuitive re…

ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a University hospital: Molecular features, diffusion of epidemic clones and evaluation of cross-transmission.

2021

The worldwide spread of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL-Kp) is a significant threat. Specifically, various pandemic clones of ESBL-Kp are involved in hospital outbreaks and caused serious infections. In that context, we assessed the phenotypic and molecular features of a collection of ESBL-Kp isolates in a French university hospital and evaluated the occurrence of potential cross-transmissions. Over a 2-year period (2017–2018), 204 non-duplicate isolates of ESBL-Kp were isolated from clinical (n = 118, 57.8%) or screening (n = 86, 42.2%) sample cultures. These isolates were predominantly resistant to cotrimoxazole (88.8%) and ofloxacin (82.8%) but remaine…

Short term associations of ambient nitrogen dioxide with daily total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality: multilocation analysis in 398 cities

2021

Objective To evaluate the short term associations between nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality across multiple countries/regions worldwide, using a uniform analytical protocol. Design Two stage, time series approach, with overdispersed generalised linear models and multilevel meta-analysis. Setting 398 cities in 22 low to high income countries/regions. Main outcome measures Daily deaths from total (62.8 million), cardiovascular (19.7 million), and respiratory (5.5 million) causes between 1973 and 2018. Results On average, a 10 μg/m3 increase in NO2 concentration on lag 1 day (previous day) was associated with 0.46% (95% confidence interval 0.36% to 0.5…

Increased Stress Resistance and Lifespan in Chaenorhabditis elegans Wildtype and Knockout Mutants—Implications for Depression Treatment by Medicinal …

2021

Depression and anxiety disorders are widespread diseases, and they belong to the leading causes of disability and greatest burdens on healthcare systems worldwide. It is expected that the numbers will dramatically rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Established medications are not sufficient to adequately treat depression and are not available for everyone. Plants from traditional medicine may be promising alternatives to treat depressive symptoms. The model organism Chaenorhabditis elegans was used to assess the stress reducing effects of methanol/dichlormethane extracts from plants used in traditional medicine. After initial screening for antioxidant activity, nine extracts were selected f…

Predictive Capacity of Boar Sperm Morphometry and Morphometric Sub-Populations on Reproductive Success after Artificial Insemination

2021

The aim of the study was to compare the morphometric features of sperm head sizeand shape from the Pietrain line and the Duroc×Pietrain boar crossbred terminal lines, and toevaluate their relationship with reproductive success after artificial insemination of sows producedfrom crossbreeding the York, Landrace and Pietrain breeds. Semen samples were collected from 11sexually mature boars. Only ejaculates with greater than 70% motility rate and <15% of abnormalsperm were used for artificial inseminations (AI) and included in the study. Samples were analyzedusing an ISAS®v1 computer-assisted sperm analysis system for eight morphometric parameters ofhead shape and size (CASA-Morph). Sub-populat…

Psychometric evaluations of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), based on nine samples

2021

The aim of this study was to examine psychometric properties of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R).The LOT-R was administered in five clinical samples, three samples of the adult general population, and one sample of adolescents. Seven of the studies were performed in Germany and two in Colombia. All of the sample sizes were above 300.Cronbach's alpha coefficients were between .57 and .75 for the eight adult samples, the correlations between the scales optimism and pessimism ranged from -.05 to -.37, and the coefficients of temporal stability (test-retest correlations) of the scales ranged from .43 to .69. There were no systematic age and gender effects observed in the nine studies. …

A Regional Geography Approach to Understanding the Environmental Changes as a Consequence of the COVID-19 Lockdown in Highly Populated Spanish Cities

2021

Spain has been highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is reflected at different scales. From an economic point of view, lockdowns and the reduction of activities have damaged the country (e.g., complete lockdown from March 13 to June 21, 2020). However, it is not clear if the associated environmental impacts could be observed in 2020. Currently, studies on the effects of the lockdown (e.g., decrease in economic activities, transport and social communication) on specific parameters related to climate change, such as air temperature or air pollution, due to a drastic decrease in human activities are rare. They are focused on specific cities and short periods of time. Therefore, the m…

Longitudinal Flow Decorrelations in Xe+Xe Collisions at sNN=5.44  TeV with the ATLAS Detector

2021

The first measurement of longitudinal decorrelations of harmonic flow amplitudes v_{n} for n=2-4 in Xe+Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.44  TeV is obtained using 3  μb^{-1} of data with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decorrelation signal for v_{3} and v_{4} is found to be nearly independent of collision centrality and transverse momentum (p_{T}) requirements on final-state particles, but for v_{2} a strong centrality and p_{T} dependence is seen. When compared with the results from Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV, the longitudinal decorrelation signal in midcentral Xe+Xe collisions is found to be larger for v_{2}, but smaller for v_{3}. Current hydrodynamic models reproduce th…

LC circuit mediated sympathetic cooling of a proton via image currents

2021

Abstract Efficient cooling of trapped charged particles is essential in many fundamental physics experiments, for high-precision metrology, and for quantum technology. Until now, ion-ion coupling for sympathetic cooling or quantum state control has been limited to ion species with accessible optical transitions or has required close-range Coulomb interactions. To overcome this limitation and further develop scalable quantum control techniques, there has been a sustained desire to extend laser-cooling techniques to particles in macroscopically separated traps, opening quantum control techniques to previously inaccessible particles such as highly charged ions, molecular ions, and antimatter p…

The determinants of islamic banks performance : a compared and longitudinal analysis including governance mechanisms

2021

This doctoral thesis is part of a process of understanding the management of institutions practicing Islamic finance. It focuses on Islamic banks and studies their performance through some determinants offered by banking literature. The idea is to reflect on the sustainable determinants that could, on the one hand, help to better explain Islamic banking performance, and on the other hand, compare the relationships that might exist between these determinants and the different measures of banking performance (conventional and Islamic). This approach to understand Islamic banking performance includes the study of ownership structure, configuration of decision-making power, resilience to the 20…

A new trifocal corneal inlay for presbyopia

2021

[EN] Corneal inlays (CIs) are the most recent surgical procedure for the treatment of presbyopia in patients who want complete independence from the use of glasses or contact lenses. Although refractive surgery in presbyopic patients is mostly performed in combination with cataract surgery, when the implantation of an intraocular lens is not necessary, the option of CIs has the advantage of being minimally invasive. Current designs of CIs are, either: small aperture devices, or refractive devices, however, both methods do not have good performance simultaneously at intermediate and near distances in eyes that are unable to accommodate. In the present study, we propose the first design of a …

Saliva as a testing sample for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-PCR in low prevalence community settings

2021

AbstractObjectivesThe number of COVID-19 cases is increasing globally and there is an urgency for a simple non-invasive method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Our study aimed to demonstrate that saliva can be used as a specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection notably for the screening of extensive population groups via pooling.MethodsTo demonstrate that saliva is an appropriate specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection a field study including 3,660 participants was performed between September 29 and October 1, 2020. We collected paired nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs (NPS) and saliva specimens and processed them within 24 hours of collection. We performed 36 serial measurements of 8 SARS-CoV-2 positiv…