showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Biodeterioration
2022
The biodeterioration of organic and inorganic materials, as well as polymers, is a complex of alteration processes induced by the growing and metabolic activity of organisms. It can be recognized on monuments, wall paintings, stone, wood, paper, vegetal/animal fibers, and parchment artworks. As defined by Hueck, 1968, biodeterioration is “any undesirable change in the properties of a material caused by the vital activities of organisms”; this definition is accepted as the meaning of the phenomenon. Both macroorganisms (such as animals, plants, and mosses) and microorganisms (such as autotrophic or heterotrophic bacteria, microfungi, cyanobacteria, algae, and lichens) represent the triggers …
Nonlinear σ model for disordered systems with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling
2022
We derive the nonlinear σ model to describe diffusive transport in normal metals and superconductors with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The SOC is described via an SU(2) gauge field, and we expand the model to the fourth order in gradients to find the leading non-Abelian field-strength contribution. This contribution generates the spin-charge coupling that is responsible for the spin-Hall effect. We discuss how its symmetry differs from the leading quasiclassical higher-order gradient terms. We also derive the corresponding Usadel equation describing the diffusive spin-charge dynamics in superconducting systems. As an example, we apply the obtained equations to describe the anomalous…
Bioarosol
2022
Cultural heritage constitutive materials can provide excellent substrates for microbial colonisation, highly influenced by thermo-hygrometric parameters. In cultural heritage-related environments, a detrimental microbial load may be present both on artworks surface and in the aerosol. Confined environments (museums, archives, deposits, caves, hypogea) are characterised by peculiar structures and different thermo-hygrometric conditions, influencing the development of a wide range of microbial species, able to induce artefact biodeterioration and to release biological particles in the aerosol (spores, cellular debrides, toxins, allergens) potentially dangerous for the human health (visitors/u…
Límites a la libertad de enseñanza y Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOMLOE). Un debate constitucional en permanente definición
2022
La reciente aprobación de la LOMLOE ha propiciado un intenso debate sobre su contenido y, muy significadamente, sobre aquellos aspectos del texto legislativo orgánico más controvertidos desde la perspectiva constitucional. Más allá de la controversia generada en torno a su singular tramitación, impulsada con suma celeridad durante la pandemia y fruto de un procedimiento legislativo técnicamente cuestionable, la crítica se ha focalizado en las novedades legales referidas a la educación concertada, el modelo pedagógico de escuela diferenciada o el recorte de la potestad directiva respecto de las titularidades privadas. El texto orgánico estatal sobredimensiona la vertiente prestacional del de…
YAP/TAZ activity in stromal cells prevents ageing by controlling cGAS-STING
2022
Ageing is intimately connected to the induction of cell senescence(1,2), but why this is so remains poorly understood. A key challenge isthe identification of pathways that normally suppress senescence, are lost during ageing and are functionally relevant to oppose ageing(3). Here we connected the structural and functional decline of ageing tissues to attenuated function of the master effectors of cellular mechanosignalling YAP and TAZ. YAP/TAZ activity declines during physiological ageing in stromal cells, and mimicking such decline through genetic inactivation of YAP/TAZ in these cells leads to accelerated ageing. Conversely, sustaining YAP function rejuvenates old cells and opposes the e…
Migration Discourse and the New Socially Constructed Meanings of the English Lingua Franca
2022
After the 1990s, the mass arrival of immigrants in Europe transformed the phenomenon of migration from a benefit into a problem and opened the debate to issues of first aid, security, expulsion and rejection. Even today, migrants are no longer seen as a socio-economic resource to be protected and regulated, but as a potential social problem affecting areas such as the economy, health and national security. The paper deals with the linguistically relevant literature about migration discourse (MD) and the role of English as lingua franca in public discourse related to the migration phenomenon. The latter part examines some traditional English key terms used to represent migrants since their m…
Impact of Helium Ion Implantation Dose and Annealing on Dense Near-Surface Layers of NV Centers
2022
A. Berzins acknowledges support from Latvian Council of Science project lzp-2021/1-0379, “A novel solution for high magnetic field and high electric current stabilization using color centers in diamond,” and LLC “MikroTik” donation project, administered by the UoL foundation, “Improvement of Magnetic field imaging system” for the opportunity to significantly improve experimental setup as well as “Simulations for stimulation of science” for the opportunity to acquire COMSOL license. I. Fescenko acknowledges support from ERAF project 1.1.1.5/20/A/001, and I.F. and A.B. acknowledge support from LLC “MikroTik” donation project “Annealing furnace for the development of new nanometer-sized sensor…
Sprawozdanie z działalności Diecezjalnego Instytutu Muzyki Kościelnej w roku szkolnym 2020/2021
2022
LONG HORIZON ANOMALY PREDICTION IN MULTIVARIATE TIME SERIES WITH CAUSAL AUTOENCODERS
2022
Predictive maintenance is essential for complex industrial systems to foresee anomalies before major system faults or ultimate breakdown. However, the existing efforts on Industry 4.0 predictive monitoring are directed at semi-supervised anomaly detection with limited robustness for large systems, which are often accompanied by uncleaned and unlabeled data. We address the challenge of predicting anomalies through data-driven end-to-end deep learning models using early warning symptoms on multivariate time series sensor data. We introduce AnoP, a long multi-timestep anomaly prediction system based on unsupervised attention-based causal residual networks, to raise alerts for anomaly preventio…
Implementing sentiment analysis to an open-ended questionnaire: Case study of digitalization in elderly care during COVID-19
2022
[EN] The rise of digital technology has enabled us to utilize even more integrated systems for social and health care, but these systems are often complex and time-consuming to learn for the end users without relevant training or experience. We aim to perform Named Entity Recognition based sentiment analysis using the answers of eldercare workers that have taken a survey about the effects of digitalization on their work. The collection of the panel survey data was carried out in two waves: in 2019 and 2021. For the sentiment analysis we compare these two waves to determine the effects of COVID-19 on the work of eldercare workers. The research questions we ask are the following: “Has technol…
Low angle bending detection semi-transparent piezoresistive sensor
2022
We designed, fabricated, and validated a piezoresistive bending sensor, a fundamental component of wearable electronic devices for monitoring human motion. The most diffused opaque carbon-based resistance flex sensors suffer from low detection for small bending angles. The sensor we here present is based on a semi-transparent active material (fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts polymer) and has the remarkable advantage of good electrical properties for low bending angles. The fabrication steps are effective since a pre-patterned ITO/PET surface is functionalized by chronoamperometric deposition, and the silver electrical contacts are inkjet printed. We propose a fitting function of the measured t…
Earth Degassing in Tectonically Active Regions: New Evidences from Southern Italy and the Balkans
2022
Editorial
2022
Estimation of Wind Turbine Performance Degradation with Deep Neural Networks
2022
In this paper, we estimate the age-related performance degradation of a wind turbine working under Norwegian environment, based on a deep neural network model. Ten years of high-resolution operational data from a 2 MW wind turbine were used for the analysis. Operational data of the turbine, between cut-in and rated wind velocities, were considered, which were pre-processed to eliminate outliers and noises. Based on the SHapley Additive exPlanations of a preliminary performance model, a benchmark performance model for the turbine was developed with deep neural networks. An efficiency index is proposed to gauge the agerelated performance degradation of the turbine, which compares measured per…
Improving statistical methodologies for landslide susceptibility modelling at regional and basin scale. Applications in the Sicilian and Salvadoran t…
2022
DC Bias Abatement in Dual Active Bridge Converter using Covalent Active and Passive Components
2022
The Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter is the most attractive bidirectional DC-DC converter topology in the distribution network. However, the DC bias is the most common issue in the dual active bridge converter due to the sudden change in internal or external phase shift angles to regulate the power signal. Consequently, it will increase conduction losses, a core saturation problem of High-Frequency Transformer (HFT), and loss of Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) operation. Therefore, this paper presents the DC bias abatement in the DAB converter using covalent active and passive components to alleviate these problems. The proposed method employs the series capacitor in the windings of HFT as t…
Modeling optical constants from the absorption of organic thin films using a modified Lorentz oscillator model
2022
Optical constants of organic thin films can be evaluated using the Lorentz oscillator model (LOM) which fails to fit inhomogeneously broadened absorption of highly concentrated molecular films. In modified LOM (MLOM), the inhomogeneous broadening is implemented through a frequency-dependent adjustable broadening function. In this work, we evaluate the optical constants of rhodamine 6G doped poly-vinyl alcohol thin films with varying doping concentration (including also extensively high concentrations) using MLOM, which outperforms LOM by showing a better agreement with the experimental results. Our proposed method provides a way to accurately determine optical constants of isotropic organic…
Exploitation of food processing discards as main ingredients of sustainable feeds for the aquaculture of Paracentrotus lividus
2022
Sea urchin gonads are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world, leading to an increase of fishing pressure and resulting in the decline of natural stock of commercially valuable species. Aquaculture could be the best solution to fill the gap between market demand and natural supply, but in a context of Sustainable Development and Blue Growth, aquaculture sector is called to reduce its ecological footprint. Aquaculture feeds are produced using ingredients obtained from natural resources already overexploited by human activities, such as fish meal and fish oil that are considered the best source of lipids, or cereal meals that are included as protein sources. In this context, in order…
Lessons from the 2018-2019 European droughts : a collective need for unifying drought risk management
2022
Funding Information: This open-access publication was funded by the University of Freiburg. Funding Information: Financial support. The project is supported by the Wassernetzwerk Baden-Württemberg (Water Research Network of the State Baden-Württemberg), which is funded by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg (Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State Baden-Württemberg) (grant no. AZ. 7532.21/2.1.6) and Maa-ja vesitekniikan tuki ry foundation. Doris E. Wendt acknowledges her support as part of the NERC-funded Groundwater Drought Initiative (NE/R004994/1). Lucy J. Barker was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/R016429/1) a…
Portable central baffle flume
2022
This paper investigated the hydraulic characteristics of the triangular central baffle (TCB) flume. Laboratory tests were carried out to determine the flume dimensions. The field applicability of the proposed portable device was examined by on-farm installation. According to the laboratory tests, when the contraction ratio, r, was less than 0.39, the flow capacity was not affected by the ratio between the flume’s floor height and the throat width. The laboratory analysis also showed that there was no significant effect of installing an entrance ramp on the stage-discharge relationship for r<0.39, while the entrance ramp increased the discharge capacity for r>0.39. The stage-discharge …
Bioaerosol
2022
Cultural heritage constitutive materials can provide excellent substrates for microbial colonisation, highly influenced by thermo-hygrometric parameters. In cultural heritage-related environments, a detrimental microbial load may be present both on artworks surface and in the aerosol. Confined environments (museums, archives, deposits, caves, hypogea) are characterised by peculiarstructures and different thermo-hygrometric conditions, influencing the development of a wide range of microbial species, able to induce artefact biodeterioration and to release biological particles in the aerosol (spores, cellular debrides, toxins, allergens) potentially dangerous for the human health (visitors/us…
Production of high value added nutraceuticals in a multi-trophic aquaculture system within a closed circuit marine hatchery (NUTRAQUA)
2022
Measuring and Modelling Evaporation Losses from Wet Branches of Lemon Trees
2022
Evaporation losses of rainfall intercepted by canopies depend on many factors, including the temporal scale of observations. At the event scale, interception is a few millimetres, whereas at a larger temporal scale, the number of times that a canopy is filled by rainfall and then depleted can make the interception an important fraction of the rainfall depth. Recently, a simplified interception/evaporation model has been proposed, which considers a modified Merrian model to compute interception during wet spells and a simple power-law equation to model evaporation from wet canopy during dry spells. Modelling evaporation process at the sub hourly temporal scale required the two parameters of …
Anterolateral thigh perforator flap made by customized 3D-printing fabrication of fixed positioning guide for oromaxillofacial reconstruction:a preli…
2022
Oromaxillofacial carcinomas frequently result in serious tissue defect due to enlarged resection for treating their extensive invasion, which require challenging reconstruction. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an advanced technology which has greatly promoted the progress of craniomaxillofacial reconstructive surgery. This present study aimed to investigate the advantages of anterolateral thigh (ALT) perforator flap manufactured by 3D printing fixed positioning guide template in curing oromaxillofacial defect. Twenty patients with oromaxillofacial defects resulted from severe primary malignant tumors were divided into experimental group assisted by digital technique (n=8) and controlled …
Predictions in Resilient Hybrid AC/DC Grids Leveraged by an Interoperable and Secure ICT Platform
2022
Power systems are undergoing a significant change and the main elements to address the new challenges is the new key-role played by the distribution grid and its transformation into a smart grid. While the distribution grid has traditionally operated with alternating current (AC), nowadays most devices operate with DC internally, and most distributed renewable resources generate power in DC. Furthermore, storage components, such as batteries and supercapacitors, have a DC character. DC seems to be the one of the most promising candidates to avoid stranded investments and to guarantee incredible saving for the community in Europe, making the transition to a fully decarbonised energy system a…
Migraine, Cognitive Decline, and Dementia in Older Adults: A Population-Based Study
2022
Background: The potential impact of migraine on cognitive aging among older adults remains controversial. Objective: To examine the relationship of migraine and subtypes with cognitive decline and dementia in an older Swedish population. Methods: This population-based study included 3,069 participants (age ≥ 60 years) from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, Stockholm. Baseline examination was conducted in 2001–2004, and participants were followed every 3 or 6 years until 2013–2016. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, clinical examinations, laboratory tests, and linkage with registers. Global cognitive function was measured with the Mini-Mental Stat…
Editorial: The Role of Neuropeptides in Drug Addiction and Other Psychiatric Disorders
2022
Synchronizing Interactions Between Different Types of Grid-Forming Converters in Smart Grids
2022
The work investigates the transient synchronizing interactions between different types of grid-forming controls. Two well-known grid-forming schemes are implemented and considered for analysis: a droop-based control and a swing-based control. The two controls are examined for a temporary loss of synchronism. The analysis is performed considering two different conditions for the grid interconnecting the converters: a resistive-inductive grid and a mainly inductive grid. The first case corresponds to actual conditions in low and medium voltage applications. The second case is realized with the implementation of a virtual reactance in the grid-forming control scheme. The analysis of the result…
Conditional connection explored: the case of Sicilian cusà
2022
Abstract Stemming from a wh-question, the Sicilian marker cusà (cu sa ‘who knows’) expresses several epistemic meanings, which can also reach the realm of conditionality. The paper explores the discourse profile of cusà as it emerges from the analysis of diachronic data (from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) and present-day informal Sicilian, namely spoken Sicilian and present-day informal Sicilian as written by speakers on the web. These data suggest a possible path of development leading from the wh-question to new functions. We propose that the origin of this development can be explained in the light of the strategy of the “impossible question”, while the diverse functions of cus…
EEG Resting-State Functional Networks in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.
2022
Background. Alzheimer’s cognitive-behavioral syndrome is the result of impaired connectivity between nerve cells, due to misfolded proteins, which accumulate and disrupt specific brain networks. Electroencephalography, because of its excellent temporal resolution, is an optimal approach for assessing the communication between functionally related brain regions. O bjective. To detect and compare EEG resting-state networks (RSNs) in patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and healthy elderly (HE). Methods. We recruited 125 aMCI patients and 70 healthy elderly subjects. One hundred and twenty seconds of artifact-free EEG data were selected and compared between patients with aM…
Resistance exercise with different workloads have distinct effects on cellular respiration of peripheral blood mononuclear cells
2022
Little is known how acute exercise-induced inflammation and metabolic stress affect immune cell bioenergetics and the portion of its components. Therefore, we investigated acute effects of eccentric-only (E), concentric-only (C) and combined eccentric-concentric resistance exercise (E + C) bouts on cellular respiration of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Twelve strength-trained young men performed bench press resistance exercises in randomized order. Venous blood samples were drawn at pre-, 5 min post- and 24 h post-exercise. Several PBMC respiration states were measured using high-resolution respirometry. Levels of leukocytes, interleukin 6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), crea…
A Simulation Study for Assessing the Minimum Number of V2G Recharge Points in Favignana
2022
Issues related to the stability of non-interconnected grids are of high relevance given the increasing presence of renewable sources in the power generation system. In order to ensure adequate levels of system's reliability, it is necessary to find new methods to ensure the stability of the electric grid. The present work proposes a methodology for the definition of the minimum number of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging points that would allow the integration of 1 MW of photovoltaic power in the power grid of the Italian island of Favignana, electrically disconnected from the continental grid. Primary frequency regulation simulations are carried out in Matlab/Simulink environment for differen…
The Healthy Body Image intervention and reduction in eating disorder symptomatology and muscle building supplement use in high school students: a stu…
2022
BackgroundMediation analysis is important to test the theoretical framework underpinning an intervention. We therefore aimed to investigate if the healthy body image (HBI) intervention’s effect on eating disorder (ED) symptomatology and use of muscle building supplements was mediated by the change in risk and protective factors for ED development and muscle building supplement use.MethodsThis study used data from the HBI intervention: a cluster randomized controlled universal intervention aiming to promote positive body image and embodiment and reduce the risk for ED development including 30 schools in Norway. A total of 1,713 (37% boys) participants were included in the analyses. Condition…
Dynamic Control of Static Converters for the Transition from Grid-on to Grid-off Operation of AC/DC Microgrids
2022
In this paper, specific control logics defined for generators, controllable loads and electric energy storage systems are illustrated in order to improve the reliability of AC/DC hybrid microgrids in their grid-off operation following failure events such as short-circuits, line breaks, sudden disconnections of generating units or loads, etc. After defining specific control schemes, these were modelled in a digital environment and finally tested with dynamic simulations. Finally, the paper highlights the role of virtual synchronous machine control for the self-healing capacity of islanded hybrid microgrids.
A Blockchain-based Platform for Positive Energy Districts
2022
The reduction of climate change effects (mitigation) is now mainly driven by the limitation of CO2 emissions which is currently becoming increasingly necessary and urgent to achieve. In this context, within the past Horizon 2020 program, the Urban Europe Joint Programming Initiative aimed to promote the development and deployment of at least 100 Positive Energy Districts by 2025. The latter are flexible, energy-efficient urban areas or groups of buildings that produce zero net CO2 emissions and actively manage annual renewable energy surplus production at the local or regional level. As they are connected to the electric power system, Positive Energy Districts have the ability to offer flex…
Demand Responsive Transport Services for Improving the Public Transport in Suburban Areas
2022
Suburbs suffer from isolation from densely populated urban centers due to the poor performance of traditional public transport services such as buses. This isolation worsens the quality of life of the residents of these areas, with related problems of social exclusion. One of the possible solutions to meet the mobility needs of these people is a flexible service such as Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) systems. This article assessed the effectiveness of a DRT service as a feeder transit service, assuming a connection of three suburban districts of Palermo, Italy, with a Railway Line station. Thanks to a Revealed Preferences (RP) and Stated Preferences (SP) survey campaign, both the current…