Resistivity image beneath an area of active methane seeps in the west Svalbard continental slope

The Arctic continental margin contains large amounts of methane in the form of methane hydrates. The west Svalbard continental slope is an area where active methane seeps have been reported near the landward limit of the hydrate stability zone. The presence of bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs) on seismic reflection data in water depths greater than 600 m suggests the presence of free gas beneath gas hydrates in the area. Resistivity obtained from marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data provides a useful complement to seismic methods for detecting shallow hydrate and gas as they are more resistive than surrounding water saturated sediments. We acquired two CSEM lines in the west Svalbard continental slope, extending from the edge of the continental shelf (250 m water depth) to water depths of around 800 m. High resistivities (5–12 Ωm) observed above the BSR support the presence of gas hydrate in water depths greater than 600 m. High resistivities (3–4 Ωm) at 390–600 m water depth also suggest possible hydrate occurrence within the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) of the continental slope. In addition, high resistivities (4–8 Ωm) landward of the GHSZ are coincident with high-amplitude reflectors and low velocities reported in seismic data that indicate the likely presence of free gas. Pore space saturation estimates using a connectivity equation suggest 20–50 per cent hydrate within the lower slope sediments and less than 12 per cent within the upper slope sediments. A free gas zone beneath the GHSZ (10–20 per cent gas saturation) is connected to the high free gas saturated (10–45 per cent) area at the edge of the continental shelf, where most of the seeps are observed. This evidence supports the presence of lateral free gas migration beneath the GHSZ towards the continental shelf

Spatial and temporal evolution of rifting and continental breakup in the Eastern Black Sea Basin revealed by long‐offset seismic reflection data

The age and distribution of the synrift and early postrift infill records the spatial and temporal distribution of extension and breakup processes in a rift basin. The Eastern Black Sea Basin (EBSB) is thought to have formed by back‐arc extension during Cretaceous to Early Cenozoic time. However, a lack of direct constraints on its deep stratigraphy leaves uncertainties over the time, duration, and location for rifting and breakup processes in the basin. Here we use the enhanced imaging provided by 2‐D long‐offset seismic reflection profiles to analyze the deep structural and stratigraphic elements of the EBSB. Based on these elements, we infer the presence of two distinct Late Cretaceous synrift units, recording initial extension (rift stage 1) over the continental highs (Shatsky Ridge and the Mid Black Sea High), followed by strain localization along the major basin‐bounding faults and rift migration toward the basin axis (rift stage 2). Overlying these units, Palaeocene(?)‐Eocene and Oligocene units show a synkinematic character in the NW, with evidence for ongoing extension until Oligocene time. Toward the SE, these sequences are instead postkinematic, directly overlaying a basement emplaced during breakup. We interpret the Palaeocene(?)‐Oligocene units to record the time spanning from the initiation of breakup (Late Cretaceous‐Palaeocene, in the SE) to the end of extension (Oligocene, in the NW). The first ubiquitously postrift infill is the Lower Miocene Maykop Formation. Our results highlight the along‐strike temporal variability of extension and breakup processes in the EBSB

HEMIC Project: Design of a Clinical Information Modelling Tool Based on ISO13972 Technical Specification

The Andalusian Health Service is the public healthcare provider for 8.302.923 inhabitants in the South Spain. This organization coordinates primary and specialized care with an IT infrastructure composed by multiple Electronic Health Record Systems. According to the large volume of healthcare professionals involved, there is a need for providing a consistent management of information through multiple locations and systems. The HEMIC project aims to address this need developing and validating a methodology based on a software tool for standardizing information contained within EHR systems. The developed tool has been designed for supporting the participation of healthcare professionals the establishment of mechanisms for information governance. This research presents the requirements and designs for of a software tool focused on the adoption of recognized best practice in clinical information modeling. The designed tool has a Service Oriented Architecture that will be able to integrate terminology servers and repositories of clinical information models as part of the modeling process. Moreover, the defined tool organizes clinicians, IT developers and terminology experts involved in the modeling process in three levels to promote their coordination in the definition, specialization and validation of clinical information models. In order to ensure the quality of the developed clinical information models, the defined tool is based on the requirements defined in the ISO13972 Technical Specification

Comparison of thermistor linearization techniques for accurate temperature measurement in phase change materials

Alternate energy technologies are developing rapidly in the recent years. A significant part of this trend is the development of different phase change materials (PCMs). Proper utilization of PCMs requires accurate thermal characterization. There are several methodologies used in this field. This paper stresses the importance of accurate temperature measurements during the implementation of T-history method. Since the temperature sensor size is also important thermistors have been selected as the sensing modality. Two thermistor linearization techniques, one based on Wheatstone bridge and the other based on simple serial-parallel resistor connection, are compared in terms of achievable temperature accuracy through consideration of both, nonlinearity and self-heating errors. Proper calibration was performed before T-history measurement of RT21 (RUBITHERM® GmbH) PCM. Measurement results suggest that the utilization of serial-parallel resistor connection gives better accuracy (less than ±0.1°C) in comparison with the Wheatstone bridge based configuration (up to ±1.5°C)

Cladding welding of CA6M with pulsed FCAW and results analysis through the L9 TAGUCHI and ANOVA

The cladding welding analysis with pulsed flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process, were carried over a AISI 1020 base metal (thickness 12,7 mm, width 63,5 and length 185mm) with an CA6NM steel wire with diameter of 1.2mm. Was performed only one weld cord in the flat position. For experimental design was used the method of Taguchi L9 to determinate the parameter to be analyzed through the application of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method. The response signals in RMS (Root Mean Square) analyzed were the voltage, current and acceleration. The procedure is based on a non-parametric domain-selective ANOVA for functional data, which results in the selection of the intervals of the domain presenting the most statistically significant effects of each factor over the selected response signals. The statistical results presented by ANOVA show that not all the selected variables have influenced the results. The best results for the cladding welding were obtained from the current average of230amperes, and statistically the average current was the variable that significantly affected the results, however, the welding speed only affected the yield of the process

Contribution of non-ionic interactions on bile salt sequestration by chitooligosaccharides: potential hypocholesterolemic activity

Chitooligosaccharides have been suggested as cholesterol reducing ingredients mostly due to their ability to sequestrate bile salts. The nature of the chitooligosaccharides-bile salts binding is usually linked with the ionic interaction. However, at physiological intestinal pH range (6.4 to 7.4) and considering chitooligosaccharides pKa, they should be mostly uncharged. This highlights that other type of interaction might be of relevance. In this work, aqueous solutions of chitooligosaccharides with an average degree of polymerization of 10 and 90 % deacetylated, were characterized regarding their effect on bile salt sequestration and cholesterol accessibility. Chitooligosaccharides were shown to bind bile salts to a similar extent as the cationic resin colestipol, both decreasing cholesterol accessibility as measured by NMR at pH 7.4. A decrease in the ionic strength leads to an increase in the binding capacity of chitooligosaccharides, in agreement with the involvement of ionic interactions. However, when the pH is decreased to 6.4, the increase in charge of chitooligosaccharides is not followed by a significant increase in bile salt sequestration. This corroborates the involvement of non-ionic interactions, which was further supported by NMR chemical shift analysis and by the negative electrophoretic mobility attained for the bile salt-chitooligosaccharide aggregates at high bile salt concentrations. These results highlight that chitooligosaccharides non-ionic character is a relevant structural feature to aid in the development of hypocholesterolemic ingredients.publishe

Improved measurement technique for the characterization of organic and inorganic phase change materials using the T-history method

In the past decade, the interest in phase change materials (PCMs) has grown significantly due to their ability to store large amounts of thermal energy in relatively small temperature intervals. Accurate knowledge of thermo-physical properties is a prerequisite for any reliable utilization of these materials. The T-history method is widely used for the investigation of PCM. This paper presents an improved measurement technique for the characterization of PCM using the T-history method. The suggested improvements include the arrangements made in three different prospects: the experimental setup, data processing and data representation. T-history measurements of organic RT21 and inorganic SP22 A17 (RUBITHERM® GmbH) PCM were performed. The applied arrangements resulted in the temperature accuracy of ±0.3 °C and the reduction of uncertainty associated with heat stored/released between the cooling and heating measurements. The obtained results showed some important aspects of the T-history PCM investigation and could provide more effective design and development process of the thermal energy storage systems based on the investigated materials

Pmca-generated prions from the olfactory mucosa of patients with fatal familial insomnia cause prion disease in mice

Background: Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) is a genetic prion disease caused by the D178N mutation in the prion protein gene (PRNP) in coupling phase with methionine at PRNP 129. In 2017, we have shown that the olfactory mucosa (OM) collected from FFI patients contained traces of PrPSc detectable by Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA). Methods: In this work, we have challenged PMCA-generated products obtained from OM and brain homogenate of FFI patients in BvPrP-Tg407 transgenic mice expressing the bank vole prion protein to test their ability to induce prion pathology. Results: All inoculated mice developed mild spongiform changes, astroglial activation, and PrPSc deposition mainly affecting the thalamus. However, their neuropathological alterations were different from those found in the brain of BvPrP-Tg407 mice injected with raw FFI brain homogenate. Conclusions: Although with some experimental constraints, we show that PrPSc present in OM of FFI patients is potentially infectious. Funding: This work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of Health (GR-2013-02355724 and Ricerca Corrente), MJFF, ALZ, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Weston Brain Institute (BAND2015), and Euronanomed III (SPEEDY) to FM; by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant AGL2016-78054-R [AEI/FEDER, UE]) to JMT and JCE; AM-M was supported by a fellowship from the INIA (FPI-SGIT-2015-02)

Observation of a New Excited Ds+ Meson in B0 →d-D+K+π-Decays

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−1 collected with the LHCb detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, the B0 → D−DþKþπ− decay is studied. A new excited Dþ s meson is observed decaying into the DþKþπ− final state with large statistical significance. The pole mass and width, and the spin parity of the new state are measured with an amplitude analysis to be mR ¼ 2591 6 7 MeV, ΓR ¼ 89 16 12 MeV, and JP ¼ 0−, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. Fit fractions for all components in the amplitude analysis are also reported. The new resonance, denoted as Ds0ð2590Þþ, is a strong candidate to be the Dsð21 S0Þþ state, the radial excitation of the pseudoscalar ground-state Dþ s meson