Common mechanisms underlying membrane modifications induced by protein interactions

2022

Assessment of the Sabellaria alveolata reefs’ structural features along the Southern coast of Sicily (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea)

2022

The honeycomb worm Sabellaria alveolata is a gregarious tube-dwelling polychaete that builds remarkable biogenic reefs in marine coastal waters. Sabellaria alveolata reefs are considered valuable marine habitats requiring protection measures for their conservation, as they play a key role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems. Sabellarid reefs are extensively developed along the Atlantic coasts of Europe and reported for the Mediterranean Sea and the Italian coasts, where large reefs have been recorded in several localities. Fragmentary information is available on their health status, Sabellaria reefs thus being listed as “Data Deficient” in the Red List of Marine Habitats. To fill this …

Hydrogen Production from Methanol-Water Solution and Pure Water Electrolysis Using Nanocomposite Perfluorinated Sulfocationic Membranes Modified by P…

2022

In this work, we report the preparation of Nafion membranes containing two different nanocomposite MF-4SC membranes, modified with polyaniline (PANI) by the casting method through two different polyaniline infiltration procedures. These membranes were evaluated as a polymer electrolyte membrane for water electrolysis. Operating conditions were optimized in terms of current density, stability, and methanol concentration. A study was made on the effects on the cell performance of various parameters, such as methanol concentration, water, and cell voltage. The energy required for pure water electrolysis was analyzed at different temperatures for the different membranes. Our experiments showed …

Estimating the causal effect of timing on the reach of social media posts

2022

AbstractModern companies regularly use social media to communicate with their customers. In addition to the content, the reach of a social media post may depend on the season, the day of the week, and the time of the day. We consider optimizing the timing of Facebook posts by a large Finnish consumers’ cooperative using historical data on previous posts and their reach. The content and the timing of the posts reflect the marketing strategy of the cooperative. These choices affect the reach of a post via a dynamic process where the reactions of users make the post more visible to others. We describe the causal relations of the social media publishing in the form of a directed acyclic graph, …

Pathogenic strains of Shewanella putrefaciens contain plasmids that are absent in the probiotic strain Pdp11

2022

Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 is a strain described as a probiotic for use in aquaculture. However, S. putrefaciens includes strains reported to be pathogenic or saprophytic to fish. Although the probiotic trait has been related to the presence of a group of genes in its genome, the existence of plasmids that could determine the probiotic or pathogenic character of this bacterium is unknown. In the present work, we searched for plasmids in several strains of S. putrefaciens that differ in their pathogenic and probiotic character. Under the different conditions tested, plasmids were only found in two of the five pathogenic strains, but not in the probiotic strain nor in the two saprophytic s…

Spiroplasma as facultative bacterial symbionts of stinkbugs

2022

Many insects are associated with facultative symbiotic bacteria, and their infection prevalence provides an important clue to understand the biological impact of such microbial associates. Here we surveyed diverse stinkbugs representing 13 families, 69 genera, 97 species and 468 individuals for Spiroplasma infection. Diagnostic PCR detection revealed that 4 families (30.8%), 7 genera (10.1%), 11 species (11.3%) and 21 individuals (4.5%) were Spiroplasma positive. All the 21 stinkbug samples with Spiroplasma infection were subjected to PCR amplification and sequencing of Spiroplasma’s 16S rRNA gene. Molecular phylogenetic analysis uncovered that the stinkbug-associated Spiroplasma symbionts …

Can fathers' leave take-up dismantle gendered parental responsibilities? Evidence from Finland

2022

Objective: This article reports on the associations of fathers' leave take-up with parents' care responsibilities when their child is around four years old. Background: In families with small children women continue to do more parental care work than men. Several studies, however, have suggested that fathers who take up parental leave also take more responsibility for childcare. Method: We applied logistic regression analysis to Finnish survey data collected in 2019 from the mothers and fathers of four-year-old children to find out whether father’s take-up and length of leave is related to fathers taking equal or more responsibility for different dimensions of parental responsibilities, inc…

Musification of Accelerometry Data Towards Raising Awareness of Physical Activity

2022

Previous research has shown that the temporal dynamics of human activity recorded by accelerometers share a similar structure with music. This opens the possibility to use musical sonification of accelerometry data to raise awareness of daily physical activity. In this study a method was developed for quantifying the daily structure of human activity using multigranular temporal segmentation, and applying it to produce musical sonifications. Two accelerometry recordings of physical activity were selected from a dataset, such that one shows more physical activity than the other. These data were segmented in different time-scales so that segmentation boundaries at a given time-scale have a co…

Do Intestinal Unicellular Parasites Have a Role in the Inflammatory and Redox Status among the Severely Obese?

2022

The diagnosis of obesity comprises subjects with totally different phenotypes and metabolic profiles. Systemic inflammation and oxidative stress derived from the white adipose tissue are suggested as the link between this disease and the development of insulin resistance and metabolic comorbidities. The presence of unicellular eukaryotic parasites colonizing the human gut ecosystem is a common circumstance, and yet their influence on the inflammatory and redox status of the obese host has not been assessed. Herein, a set of inflammatory and redox biomarkers were assessed together with a parasitological analysis of 97 severely obese subjects. Information was also collected on insulin resista…

Malignant Scalp Tumors: Retrospective Analysis of 1000 Patients.

2022

Abstract Background: Limited data on large cohort of patients with malignant tumors of the scalp are available in the literature. e aim of this study was to review a large cohort of patients with malignant scalp tumors to determine epidemilogy, tumor characteristics of this region and treatment. Materials and Method: A retrospective review of patients with malignant scalp tumors diagnosed histopathologically between 2005 and 2021 was performed. Demographic features and tumor characteristics were analyzed. Results: A total of 1080 patients (M: F 3,5:1) were treated and followed up for a mean period of 42 months (12-120 months). Age at diagnosis ranged from 12 to 98 years. Most malignant scal…

Female-driven social entrepreneurship in service business

2022

AbstractThe United Nations has stated that to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, analysis of the development and impact of women entrepreneurship is needed. Based on data from the Web of Science, an initial analysis of research on both women entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship was performed. Although the first published article date back to 2004, it was not until 2014 when scholars began to study women social entrepreneurship more systematically. This special issue covers these two areas in conjunction, with an added emphasis on service business.

Relationship between Postural Stability, Lead Content, and Selected Parameters of Oxidative Stress

2022

This study attempts to determine whether the increased blood lead concentration affects the posturographic test and to determine the relationship between the parameters of posture stability and selected parameters of oxidative stress. The study population consisted of 268 male employees and was divided into two equal subgroups, depending on the lead content in the blood. A posturographic examination was performed. Concentrations of lead, cadmium, zinc protoporphyrin, selected essential elements, and selected markers of oxidative stress in the blood were tested. Higher blood lead concentrations positively affected the values of the sway results: the field and the mean velocity of the center …

Psycho-social working conditions of nursing, medical and paramedic staff in a hospital emergency department

2022

Background: A hospital Emergency Department (ED) is a working place in which numerous working conditions evoke various organisational and operational stressors affecting medical staff working there. Aim of the study: Analysing the psycho-social working environment in nursing, paramedic and medical staff in a specific hospital ED and, in particular, examining 1) work requirements, 2) levels of control, 3) psycho-physical wellbeing and 4) changes expected by the staff. Material and methods: The research was conducted among 69 employees of ED (nursing, paramedic and medical staff) in the University Clinical Hospital in Opole. A standardized Psychosocial Working Conditions Questionnaire (PWCQ) …

Medium-chain triglycerides may improve memory in non-demented older adults: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

2022

Abstract Background Ketosis has been exploited for its neuroprotective impact and treatment of neurological conditions via ketone production. Exogenous medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) supplementation may induce nutritional ketosis. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the effects of MCTs on memory function in older adults without cognitive impairment. Methods A systematic literature search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science was employed from inception until April 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, investigating the impact of MCT oils on com…

Polybutylene Succinate Processing and Evaluation as a Micro Fibrous Graft for Tissue Engineering Applications

2022

A microfibrous tubular scaffold has been designed and fabricated by electrospinning using poly (1,4-butylene succinate) as biocompatible and biodegradable material. The scaffold morphology was optimized as a small diameter and micro-porous conduit, able to foster cell integration, adhesion, and growth while avoiding cell infiltration through the graft’s wall. Scaffold morphology and mechanical properties were explored and compared to those of native conduits. Scaffolds were then seeded with adult normal human dermal fibroblasts to evaluate cytocompatibility in vitro. Haemolytic effect was evaluated upon incubation with diluted whole blood. The scaffold showed no delamination, and mech…

On abstraction in the OMG hierarchy: systems, models, and descriptions

2022

The Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) uses a metadata hierarchy with several layers that are placed on top of each other. The traditional view is that the layers provide abstractions related to models in languages defined by meta-models. Over the years, it has been difficult to define a consistent understanding of the layers. In this paper, we propose such a consistent understanding by clarifying the relations between the different elements in the hierarchy. This is done based on the Scandinavian approach to modelling that distinguishes between systems and system descriptions. Systems can be physical, digital, or even mental, while descriptions can be programs, language descriptions, specific…

Perovskite/Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells in the Substrate Configuration with Potential for Bifacial Operation.

2022

Perovskite/perovskite tandem solar cells have recently exceeded the record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of single-junction perovskite solar cells. They are typically built in the superstrate configuration, in which the device is illuminated from the substrate side. This limits the fabrication of the solar cell to transparent substrates, typically glass coated with a transparent conductive oxide (TCO), and adds constraints because the first subcell that is deposited on the substrate must contain the wide-bandgap perovskite. However, devices in the substrate configuration could potentially be fabricated on a large variety of opaque and inexpensive substrates, such as plastic and metal fo…

Non-intrusive speech quality assessment using context-aware neural networks

2022

AbstractTo meet the human perceived quality of experience (QoE) while communicating over various Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications, for example Google Meet, Microsoft Skype, Apple FaceTime, etc. a precise speech quality assessment metric is needed. The metric should be able to detect and segregate different types of noise degradations present in the surroundings before measuring and monitoring the quality of speech in real-time. Our research is motivated by the lack of clear evidence presenting speech quality metric that can firstly distinguish different types of noise degradations before providing speech quality prediction decision. To that end, this paper presents a novel n…

Friction and Heat Transfer in Membrane Distillation Channels: An Experimental Study on Conventional and Novel Spacers

2022

The results of an experimental investigation on pressure drop and heat transfer in spacer-filled plane channels, which are representative of Membrane Distillation units, are presented and discussed. Local and mean heat transfer coefficients were obtained by using Thermochromic Liquid Crystals and Digital Image Processing. The performances of a novel spacer geometry, consisting of spheres that are connected by cylindrical rods, and are hereafter named spheres spacers, were compared with those of more conventional woven and overlapped spacers at equal values of the Reynolds number Re (in the range ~150 to ~2500), the pitch-to-channel height ratio, the flow attack angle and the thermal boundar…

A non-linear Ritz method for progressive failure analysis of variable angle tow composite laminates

2022

A Ritz formulation for non-linear analysis of damage initiation and evolution in variable angle tow composite plates under progressive loading is presented. The model is built on a few key items. It assumes first order shear deformation theory kinematics and non-liner strains in the von Karman sense. The constitutive relationships are formulated in the framework of continuum damage mechanics at the ply level, so that each laminate layer can experience in-plane damage initiation and evolution, then reflected in material softening and loss of local stiffness. A Ritz polynomial expansion of the primary variables and the minimization of the total potential energy provide the discrete solution e…

Refugee-background students negotiating academic literacy practices in L2: a dialogical and nexus analytical approach

2022

Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan pakolaistaustaisten opiskelijoiden osallistumista akateemisiin tekstikäytänteisiin toisella kielellä. Näillä opiskelijoilla oli myös aiempaa korkeakoulutusta. Ryhmä on jäänyt aiemmissa tutkimuksissa vähälle huomiolle. Tutkimuksen konteksti on uudenlainen korkeakoulutaustaisille maahanmuuttajille tarkoitettu koulutus, jossa yhdistyvät kieli- ja sisältöopinnot. Tutkin, miten kaksi avainosallistujaa ymmärtää ja ottaa haltuun suomenkielisen laskentatoimen kurssin tekstikäytänteitä osana koulutusta. Teoreettisesti ja metodologisesti tutkimus nojaa dialogiseen lähestymistapaan ja neksusanalyysin viitekehykseen. Ensisijainen aineisto koostui haastatteluista ja vide…

Planetary activism at the end of the world: Feminist and posthumanist imaginaries beyond Man

2022

We are currently experiencing a planetary crisis that will lead, if worst comes to worst, to the end of the entire world as we know it. Several feminist scholars have suggested that if the Earth is to stay livable for humans and nonhumans alike, the ways in which many human beings – particularly in the wealthy parts of the world, infested with Eurocentrism, (neo)colonialism, neoliberalism, and capitalism – inhabit this planet requires radical, ethical, and political transformation. In this article, we propose that feminist theory, particularly feminist posthumanities, and Black feminist and decolonial thought, together with creative practices such as writing, have much to contribute to tra…

Image Processing and Measurement of the Bubble Properties in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed Reactor

2022

The efficiency of a fluidized bed reactor depends on the bed fluid dynamic behavior, which is significantly influenced by the bubble properties. This work investigates the bubble properties of a bubbling fluidized bed reactor using computational particle fluid dynamic (CPFD) simulations and electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) measurements. The two-dimensional images (along the reactor horizontal and vertical planes) of the fluidized bed are obtained from the CPFD simulations at different operating conditions. The CPFD model was developed in a commercial CPFD software Barracuda Virtual Reactor 20.0.1. The bubble behavior and bed fluidization behavior are characterized form the bubble pro…

An equivalent formulation of 0-closed sesquilinear forms

2022

AbstractIn 1970, McIntosh introduced the so-called 0-closed sesquilinear forms and proved a corresponding representation theorem. In this paper, we give a simple equivalent formulation of 0-closed sesquilinear forms. The main underlying idea is to consider minimal pairs of non-negative dominating forms.

Littérature et savoir. De la flaubertologie quenienne à l’invention du roman

2022

Les recherches que Queneau entreprend à la Bibliothèque nationale de France pour construire son ouvrage d’érudition sur les Fous littéraires s’entrecroisent avec la rédaction de Derniers jours, des Enfants du Limon et de certains de ses textes théoriques et critiques. En parcourant ses romans, l’analyse de certains documents avant-textuels et la lecture du texte sur les Fous qui sera publié seulement en 2002 dans la version originale qui précédait son intégration aux Enfants du Limon permettent de démontrer la fonction du modèle flaubertien — et du roman Bouvard et Pécuchet en particulier — dans l’œuvre de Raymond Queneau. Dans cet article, nous essaierons de démontrer à travers la lecture …

Maternal Parenting and Preschoolers’ Psychosocial Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study

2022

Previous research reported that positive parenting and parenting stress might impact children’s psychosocial adjustment. The current longitudinal study aimed at evaluating the associations over time between mothers’ positive parenting, their parenting stress, and their preschoolers’ social–emotional competence and emotional–behavioral difficulties. Participants were 53 Italian mothers, aged between 24 and 47 years (M = 35.30, SD = 5.28) at T0, and their children (females = 51%), aged between 3 and 6 years (M = 4.48, SD = 0.84) at T0. Mothers completed self-report scales at 2 time points (with a 2-year lag). An autoregressive cross-lagged model was tested that h…

From Small Peptides to Large Proteins against Alzheimer'sDisease.

2022

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the elderly. The two cardinal neuropathological hallmarks of AD are the senile plaques, which are extracellular deposits mainly constituted by beta-amyloids, and neurofibrillary tangles formed by abnormally phosphorylated Tau (p-Tau) located in the cytoplasm of neurons. Although the research has made relevant progress in the management of the disease, the treatment is still lacking. Only symptomatic medications exist for the disease, and, in the meantime, laboratories worldwide are investigating disease-modifying treatments for AD. In the present review, results centered on the use of peptides of different sizes invol…

Security Controls for Smart Buildings with Shared Space

2022

In this paper we consider cyber security requirements of the smart buildings. We identify cyber risks, threats, attack scenarios, security objectives and related security controls. The work was done as a part of a smart building design and construction work. From the controls identified w e concluded security practices for engineering-in smart buildings security. The paper provides an idea toward which system security engineers can strive in the basic design and implementation of the most critical components of the smart buildings. The intent of the concept is to help practitioners to avoid ad hoc approaches in the development of security mechanisms for smart buildings with shared space. pe…

Endophytic Bacteria Associated with Origanum heracleoticum L. (Lamiaceae) Seeds

2022

Seed-associated microbiota are believed to play a crucial role in seed germination, seedling establishment, and plant growth and fitness stimulation, due to the vertical transmission of a core microbiota from seeds to the next generations. It might be hypothesized that medicinal and aromatic plants could use the seeds as vectors to vertically transfer beneficial endophytes, providing plants with metabolic pathways that could influence phytochemicals production. Here, we investigated the localization, the structure and the composition of the bacterial endophytic population that resides in Origanum heracleoticum L. seeds. Endocellular bacteria, surrounded by a wall, were localized close to th…

Impact of medications on salivary flow rate in patients with xerostomia: a retrospective study by the Xeromeds Consortium

2022

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates the impact of systemic medications and polypharmacy on unstimulated (UWS) and chewing-stimulated whole saliva (SWS) flow rates in patients with xerostomia.MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional multicenter study is based on data of patients referred to five oral medicine outpatient practices in Europe and USA from January 2000 and April 2014. Relevant demographic, social, medical history and current medications were collected.RESULTS: The study included 1144 patients, 972 (85%) females, with a mean (SD) age of 59 (14.1) years. In unmatched patients, the UWS flow rate was lower in patients taking a medication (vs. not taking a medication) from the followi…

Nano- to Global-Scale Uncertainties in Terrestrial Enhanced Weathering.

2022

Enhanced weathering (EW) is one of the most promising negative emissions technologies urgently needed to limit global warming to at least below 2 °C, a goal recently reaffirmed at the UN Global Climate Change conference (i.e., COP26). EW relies on the accelerated dissolution of crushed silicate rocks applied to soils and is considered a sustainable solution requiring limited technology. While EW has a high theoretical potential of sequestering CO2, research is still needed to provide accurate estimates of carbon (C) sequestration when applying different silicate materials across distinct climates and major soil types in combination with a variety of plants. Here we elaborate on fundamental …

Quantum correlations beyond entanglement in a classical-channel model of gravity

2022

A direct quantization of the Newtonian interaction between two masses is known to establish entanglement, which if detected would witness the quantum nature of the gravitational field. Gravitational interaction is yet compatible also with gravitational decoherence models relying on classical channels, hence unable to create entanglement. Here, we show in paradigmatic cases that, despite the absence of entanglement, a classical-channel model of gravity can still establish quantum correlations in the form of quantum discord between two masses. This is demonstrated for the Kafri-Taylor-Milburn (KTM) model and a recently proposed dissipative extension of this. In both cases, starting from an un…

Simulated effects of W dust ablation and deposition on the pedestal edge in JET D and DT experiments

2022

Abstract A modelling analysis is performed on JET D and DT discharges, where W dust influx across the separatrix, in the pedestal edge region may affect L–H–L mode transition. The experimental basis of the proposed approach stems from the observation that transient impurity events (TIEs) are often associated with the presence of a shower of particles seen in the camera images and with strong optical emission. If the localised source of radiation is a number of heated or ablated large dust particles, then the questions addressed here are: how far will the ablated dust material penetrate and what effect will this have on the edge of the pedestal in relevant JET D and in a high fusion yield D–…

Correlation Between Long-Term Acetylsalicylic Acid Use and Prostate Cancer Screening with PSA. Should We Reduce the PSA Cut-off for Patients in Chron…

2022

Guglielmo Mantica,1 Francesco Chierigo,1,2 Farzana Cassim,3 Francesca Ambrosini,1,2 Stefano Tappero,1,2 Rafaela Malinaric,1,2 Stefano Parodi,1,2 Andrea Benelli,4 Federico Dotta,4 Marco Ennas,4 Martina Beverini,1,2 Chiara Vaccaro,5 Salvatore Smelzo,6 Giovanni Guano,1,2 Federico Mariano,1,2 Calogero Paola,1,2 Giorgia Granelli,1,2 Virginia Varca,5 Carlo Introini,4 Salvatore Dioguardi,7 Alchiede Simonato,7 Andrea Gregori,8 Franco Gaboardi,6 Carlo Terrone,1,2 André Van der Merwe3 1IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, U.O. Urologia, Genova, Italy; 2Department of Surgical and Diagnostic Integrated Sciences (DISC), University of Genova, Genova, Italy; 3Department of Urology, Tygerberg Academic …

Textbook myths about early atomic models

2022

Most physics textbooks at college and university level introduce quantum physics in a historical context. However, the textbook version of this history does not match the actual history. In this article, the first in a series of articles looking at the textbook description of the quantum history, we follow an exceptional student through her endeavors to understand the early atomic models that led up to the work of Niels Bohr. We experience her disappointment when she discovers that the description of the famous atomic model by Thomson, is a mere caricature with almost no trace of Thomson's work and that the supposedly important radiative instability of Rutherford's atoms, is not there at al…

Individual and country-level factors associated with self-reported and accelerometer-based physical activity in old age: a cross-national analysis of…

2022

AbstractThis study aimed to investigate associations between individual-level (personality traits, quality of life) and country-level (gross domestic product per capita, number of policies and action plans for physical activity) factors with self-reported and accelerometer-based physical activity and cross-level interactions among European countries. Based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) from 2019–2020, self-reported physical activity (N = 46,617 from 27 countries) and accelerometer-based average acceleration and intensity gradient (N = 855 from 10 countries) were analyzed. Mixed-model regressions with two levels (individuals nested within countries) were us…