Airborne PM Impact on Health, Overview of Variables, and Key Factors to Decision Making in Air Quality

This chapter intends to contribute to the understanding of the multiple aspects related to particulate matter (PM) in an air urban environment, in particular, regarding its impact on human health. A general overview of variables and key factors is presented to identify, relate, and understand the diverse and multidisciplinary variables that contribute to PM concentration in urban environments associated with health impacts. This relation is difficult to quantify, given the numerous variables that are interlinked due to the multidisciplinary aspects involved. Our aim is to identify the main multidisciplinary aspects, namely, meteorology, urban geometry, buildings, roads and footpaths, road traffic, industries, air concentration measurements, and health. The main strategic aspects for decision making related to airborne PM impact on health are also discussed

AnCora-Net: integración multilingüe de recursos lingüísticos

AnCora-Net es un léxico verbal multilingüe creado a partir de la integración de los léxicos verbales AnCora-Verb, del catalán y español, en el Unified Verb Index del inglés. El Unified Verb Index aúna diferentes fuentes de conocimiento del inglés de amplia cobertura que son sin duda un referente en representación semántica. La integración de nuestros recursos con los del inglés nos permite enriquecer el contenido de los léxicos AnCora-Verb con información semántica codificada para el inglés. Asimismo, el Unified Verb Index también se enriquece con la incorporación de los léxicos AnCora-Verb, del catalán y español, dando lugar a un recurso multilingüe que puede ser útil para estudios comparativos

Capillary micromechanics: Measuring the elasticity of microscopic soft objects

We present a simple method for accessing the elastic properties of microscopic deformable particles. This method is based on measuring the pressure-induced deformation of soft particles as they are forced through a tapered glass microcapillary. It allows us to determine both the compressive and the shear modulus of a deformable object in one single experiment. Measurements on a model system of poly-acrylamide microgel particles exhibit excellent agreement with measurements on bulk gels of identical composition. Our approach is applicable over a wide range of mechanical properties and should thus be a valuable tool for the characterization of a variety of soft and biological materials

Neolithic in ‘La Pileta’ Cave (Benaoján, Málaga)

Cueva de la Pileta es uno de los enclaves clásicos en la historiografía de la Prehistoria del sur de Iberia, sobre todo por las representaciones de arte rupestre. No obstante, el yacimiento también dispone de una amplia secuencia estratigráfica del Cuaternario reciente (p. ej., 7 m de potencia en la sala de los Murciélagos) que apenas ha recibido atención bibliográfica. Este trabajo se centra en la historiografía de los trabajos en el yacimiento y en el estudio de los materiales neolíticos. La colección cerámica y sus paralelos técnicos y estilísticos en el contexto del Mediterráneo y sur ibérico permiten integrar La Pileta dentro del primer Neolítico en Andalucía con una edad encuadrada en la segunda mitad del 8º milenio cal BP.Cave of La Pileta is a key site in southern Iberia prehistoric historiography. It’s mainly known for its rock art paintings, but the archaeological site also has a wide stratigraphic sequence of Recent Quaternary period (e.g. 7 meters in ‘Murciélagos’ Room) that has scarcely been studied. This paper focuses on historiographical analysis of worked areas and Neolithic materials. Ceramics and its stylistic and technical parallels in the Mediterranean and southern Iberian context allow us to classify Pileta in the first Neolithic period of Andalusia, second half of 8th millenium cal BP

Multiple Scale Reorganization of Electrostatic Complexes of PolyStyrene Sulfonate and Lysozyme

We report on a SANS investigation into the potential for these structural reorganization of complexes composed of lysozyme and small PSS chains of opposite charge if the physicochemical conditions of the solutions are changed after their formation. Mixtures of solutions of lysozyme and PSS with high matter content and with an introduced charge ratio [-]/[+]intro close to the electrostatic stoichiometry, lead to suspensions that are macroscopically stable. They are composed at local scale of dense globular primary complexes of radius ~ 100 {\AA}; at a higher scale they are organized fractally with a dimension 2.1. We first show that the dilution of the solution of complexes, all other physicochemical parameters remaining constant, induces a macroscopic destabilization of the solutions but does not modify the structure of the complexes at submicronic scales. This suggests that the colloidal stability of the complexes can be explained by the interlocking of the fractal aggregates in a network at high concentration: dilution does not break the local aggregate structure but it does destroy the network. We show, secondly, that the addition of salt does not change the almost frozen inner structure of the cores of the primary complexes, although it does encourage growth of the complexes; these coalesce into larger complexes as salt has partially screened the electrostatic repulsions between two primary complexes. These larger primary complexes remain aggregated with a fractal dimension of 2.1. Thirdly, we show that the addition of PSS chains up to [-]/[+]intro ~ 20, after the formation of the primary complex with a [-]/[+]intro close to 1, only slightly changes the inner structure of the primary complexes. Moreover, in contrast to the synthesis achieved in the one-step mixing procedure where the proteins are unfolded for a range of [-]/[+]intro, the native conformation of the proteins is preserved inside the frozen core

Comparison of the structure and flexural properties of Moso, Guadua and Tre Gai bamboo

Bamboo is an underutilized resource widely available in countries with rapidly developing economies. Structural bamboo products, analogous to wood products, allow flexibility in the shape and dimensions of bamboo structural members. Here, the ultrastructure, microstructure, cell wall properties and flexural properties of three species of bamboo (Moso, Guadua and Tre Gai) are compared. At a given density, the axial modulus of elasticity of Guadua is higher than that of Moso or Tre Gai, which are similar; ultrastructural results suggest that Guadua has a higher solid cell wall stiffness. At a given density, their moduli of rupture are similar.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (OISE-1258574

Long-term adherence to IFN beta-1a treatment when using rebismart1device in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

The effectiveness of disease-modifying drugs in the treatment of multiple sclerosis is associated with adherence. RebiSmart® electronic device provides useful information about adherence to the treatment with subcutaneous (sc) interferon (IFN) ß-1a (Rebif®). The aim of the study was to determine long-term adherence to this treatment in patients with relapsing- remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). This retrospective multicentre observational study analysed 258 patients with RRMS who were receiving sc IFN ß-1a (Rebif®) treatment by using RebiSmart® until replacement (36 months maximum lifetime) or treatment discontinuation. Adherence was calculated with data (injection dosage, time, and date) automatically recorded by RebiSmart®. Patients in the study had a mean age of 41 years with a female proportion of 68%. Mean EDSS score at start of treatment was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.6-1.9). Overall adherence was 92.6%(95% CI, 90.6-94.5%). A total of 30.2% of patients achieved an adherence rate of 100%, 80.6% at least 90%, and only 13.2% of patients showed a suboptimal adherence (<80%). A total of 59.9% of subjects were relapse-free after treatment initiation. Among 106 subjects (41.1%) who experienced, on average, 1.4 relapses, the majority were mild (40.6%) or moderate (47.2%). Having experienced relapses from the beginning of the treatment was the only variable significantly related to achieving an adherence of at least 80% (OR = 3.06, 1.28-7.31). Results of this study indicate that sc IFN ß-1a administration facilitated by RebiSmart® could lead to high rates of adherence to a prescribed dose regimen over 36 months