Polyurethane Resin (PUR) Injection for Rock Mass and Structure Stabilization

The Federal Lands Highway Division (FLH), FHWA, is currently investigating the application of polyurethane resin (PUR) injection as a rapidly deployed, cost-effective ground stabilization measure providing superior stabilization performance, while achieving aesthetics objectives . Most recently, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), FLH completed full-scale PUR demonstration projects at a historic tunnel located along SH 14 in the scenic Poudre Canyon west of Ft. Collins, CO, and at a dry-laid stone masonry wall supporting SH 149 along the Rio Grande River west of South Fork, CO. The Poudre Canyon demonstration involved the “gluing” of a previously bolted section of the western tunnel portal where annual freeze/thaw cycles and rock mass creep toward the adjacent Cache La Poudre River were contributing to rock mass instability. The South Fork demonstration involved PUR injection within a highly-porous, actively failing and culturally-sensitive dry-laid stone masonry wall – a type of retaining structure commonly encountered throughout federal park and forest lands. Based on these investigations, application guidance is being developed for the selection of polyurethane resin products and injection methods when (1) stabilizing failing groundmasses (e.g., rock slopes, unique rock promontories, escarpments), and (2) preserving aging and/or deteriorating man-made structures (e.g., historic retaining walls, archeologic structures)

Dispersed Trading and the Prevention of Market Failure: The Case of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange

With augmented demands on power grids resulting in longer and larger blackouts combined with heightened concerns of terrorist attacks, trading institutions and policy makers have widened their search for systems that avoid market failure during these disturbing events. We provide insight into this issue by examining trading behavior at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange during a major blackout. We find that although market quality declined, markets remained functional and some price discovery occurred during the blackout period suggesting that the NOREX structure of interlinked trading systems combined with widely dispersed trading locations may be a viable means of protection against market failure during massive power disruptions or terrorist attacks.Power failure; Fragmented markets; Market failure;

The development of a ε-polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold for CNS repair

Potential treatment strategies for the repair of spinal cord injury (SCI) currently favour a combinatorial approach incorporating several factors, including exogenous cell transplantation and biocompatible scaffolds. The use of scaffolds for bridging the gap at the injury site is very appealing although there has been little investigation into CNS neural cell interaction and survival on such scaffolds before implantation. Previously we demonstrated that aligned micro-grooves 12.5-25 µm wide on ε-polycaprolactone (PCL) promoted aligned neurite orientation and supported myelination. In this study we identify the appropriate substrate and its topographical features required for the design of a 3D scaffold intended for transplantation in SCI. Using an established myelinating culture system of dissociated spinal cord cells, recapitulating many of the features of the intact spinal cord, we demonstrate that astrocytes plated on the topography secrete soluble factors(s) that delay oligodendrocyte differentiation but do not prevent myelination. However, as myelination does occur after a further 10-12 days in culture this does not prevent the use of PCL as a scaffold material as part of a combined strategy for the repair of SCI

Ethical considerations regarding head transplantation

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Depression and sickness behavior are Janus-faced responses to shared inflammatory pathways

It is of considerable translational importance whether depression is a form or a consequence of sickness behavior. Sickness behavior is a behavioral complex induced by infections and immune trauma and mediated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. It is an adaptive response that enhances recovery by conserving energy to combat acute inflammation. There are considerable phenomenological similarities between sickness behavior and depression, for example, behavioral inhibition, anorexia and weight loss, and melancholic (anhedonia), physio-somatic (fatigue, hyperalgesia, malaise), anxiety and neurocognitive symptoms. In clinical depression, however, a transition occurs to sensitization of immuno-inflammatory pathways, progressive damage by oxidative and nitrosative stress to lipids, proteins, and DNA, and autoimmune responses directed against self-epitopes. The latter mechanisms are the substrate of a neuroprogressive process, whereby multiple depressive episodes cause neural tissue damage and consequent functional and cognitive sequelae. Thus, shared immuno-inflammatory pathways underpin the physiology of sickness behavior and the pathophysiology of clinical depression explaining their partially overlapping phenomenology. Inflammation may provoke a Janus-faced response with a good, acute side, generating protective inflammation through sickness behavior and a bad, chronic side, for example, clinical depression, a lifelong disorder with positive feedback loops between (neuro)inflammation and (neuro)degenerative processes following less well defined triggers