X-Band Interferometric SAR Observations of Baltic Fast Ice

Detailed mapping of fast-ice deformation can be used to characterize the rheological behavior of fast ice and subsequently improve sea ice modeling. This study uses interferometric synthetic aperture radar to map fast-ice deformation with unprecedented spatial resolution (meter range) and sensitivity (cm-mm range). Two interferometric acquisitions, each with a temporal baseline of 24 h, were performed by the X-band SAR satellite constellation Cosmo-SkyMed over the northeast Bay of Bothnia in the middle of the 2012 ice season. The first interferogram shows deformation of the fast ice due to force from impinging drift ice, and the normal strain within the fast ice is measured. Complementary intensity correlation measurements reveal a slow movement of the drift ice toward the fast ice. The second interferogram exhibits a low fringe rate over the fast ice with fringes being aligned along the coastline. Deformation appears to be stronger around leads, skerries, and grounded ice ridges. It is also observed that the coherence images provide information that is complementary to the information in the backscatter images

Challenges in top-down and bottom-up soft-linking: Lessons from linking a Swedish energy system model with a CGE model

This paper proposes and discusses a soft-linking procedure between a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and an energy system model with the aim to improve national energy policy decision-making. Significant positive and negative experiences are communicated. Specifically, the process of soft-linking the EMEC and TIMES-Sweden models is presented, and unlike previous work we rely on the use of multiple direction-specific connection points. Moreover, the proposed soft-linking methodology is applied in the context of a climate policy scenario for Sweden. The results display a partly new description of the Swedish economy, which when soft-linking, generates lower CO2-emissions in the reference scenario due to a decline in industrial energy demand. These findings point at the importance of linking bottom-up and top-down models when assessing national energy and climate policies

Novel Application of Polymer Networks Carrying Tertiary Amines as a Catalyst Inside Microflow Reactors Used for Knoevenagel Reactions

A novel application is described for utilizing hydrogel dots as organocatalyst carriers inside microfluidic reactors. Tertiary amines were covalently immobilized in the hydrogel dots. Due to the diffusion of reactants within the swollen hydrogel dots, the accessible amount of catalysts inside a microfluidic reactor chamber can be increased compared to the accessible amount of surface-bound catalysts. To perform fast Knoevenagel reactions, important flow parameters had to be validated to optimize the reactor performance while keeping the dimensions of the reactor chamber constant; e.g. the height of the hydrogel dots had to be adjusted to the invariable dimensions of the reactor chamber, or an adjustment of organocatalysts in the hydrogel dots had to be validated to achieve the highest conversion rate during a certain residence time. To characterize the conversion, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and UV/Vis-spectroscopy were utilized as an offline and online method, respectively. With suitable hydrogel dots, the influence of different flow parameters (e.g., operating flow rate and reactant concentration) on the selected model reactions in the microfluidic reactor was investigated. Finally, a variety of reactants were screened with the optimized flow parameters. With these results, the turnover frequency was determined for the Knoevenagel reactions in a microfluidic reactor, and the results were compared with published data that were determined by other synthetic approaches. © 2020 The Authors published by Wiley-VCH Gmb

Continuous Flow Synthesis of Azoxybenzenes by Reductive Dimerization of Nitrosobenzenes with Gel‐Bound Catalysts

In the search for a new synthetic pathway for azoxybenzenes with different substitution patterns, an approach using a microfluidic reactor with gel-bound proline organocatalysts under continuous flow is presented. Herein the formation of differently substituted azoxybezenes by reductive dimerization of nitrosobenzenes within minutes at mild conditions in good to almost quantitative yields is described. The conversion within the microfluidic reactor is analyzed and used for optimizing and validating different parameters. The effects of the different functionalities on conversion, yield, and reaction times are analyzed in detail by NMR. The applicability of this reductive dimerization is demonstrated for a wide range of differently substituted nitrosobenzenes. The effects of these different functionalities on the structure of the obtained azoxyarenes are analyzed in detail by NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Based on these results, the turnover number and the turnover frequency were determined

Comparison of Joint and Muscle Biomechanics in Maximal Flywheel Squat and Leg Press

The aim was to compare the musculoskeletal load distribution and muscle activity in two types of maximal flywheel leg-extension resistance exercises: horizontal leg press, during which the entire load is external, and squat, during which part of the load comprises the body weight. Nine healthy adult habitually strength-training individuals were investigated. Motion analysis and inverse dynamics-based musculoskeletal modelling were used to compute joint loads, muscle forces, and muscle activities. Total exercise load (resultant ground reaction force; rGRF) and the knee-extension net joint moment (NJM) were slightly and considerably greater, respectively, in squat than in leg press (p ≤ 0.04), whereas the hip-extension NJM was moderately greater in leg press than in squat (p = 0.03). Leg press was performed at 11° deeper knee-flexion angle than squat (p = 0.01). Quadriceps muscle activity was similar in squat and leg press. Both exercise modalities showed slightly to moderately greater force in the vastii muscles during the eccentric than concentric phase of a repetition (p ≤ 0.05), indicating eccentric overload. That the quadriceps muscle activity was similar in squat and leg press, while rGRF and NJM about the knee were greater in squat than leg press, may, together with the finding of a propensity to perform leg press at deeper knee angle than squat, suggest that leg press is the preferable leg-extension resistance exercise, both from a training efficacy and injury risk perspective

Применение технологии набрызгбетонирования в Новоавстрийском Методе Туннелирования (NATM)

У статті проаналізовані суть і основні принципи Новоавстрійського Методу Тунелювання (NATM), що широко застосовується в зарубіжній практиці будівництва транспортних тунелів. Також розглянуто застосування технології торкретування, яка лежить в основі методу.Essence and basic principles of New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), which widely used in foreign practice building of transport tunnels, is analysed in the article. Application of gunite technology, being the basis of method, is also considered

Harmonization of Neuroticism and Extraversion phenotypes across inventories and cohorts in the Genetics of Personality Consortium : an application of Item Response Theory

Peer reviewe

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for extraversion:Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion