Effect of soil grain size distribution on the mechanical damage of nonwoven geotextiles under repeated loading

Installation processes (which induce mechanical damage) may cause undesirable changes on the properties of geosynthetics, affecting their performance. This work evaluates the effect of mechanical damage on the short-term tensile behaviour of two nonwoven geotextiles (with different masses per unit area). The geotextiles were damaged in laboratory using a standardised procedure and an artificial aggregate (corundum) and eight other soils. The damage induced was characterized using wide-width tensile tests. Results showed reductions of the tensile strength of both geotextiles, which depended on the grain size distribution and uniformity of the soils and on the mass per unit area of the geotextiles. The reduction in tensile strength provoked by corundum was higher than the decreases caused by most of the other soils. The mechanical damage tests also led to a reduction of elongation at maximum load and an increase of stiffness

Reduced pancreatic β-cell mass is associated with decreased FoxO1 and Erk1/2 protein phosphorylation in low-protein malnourished rats

A low-protein diet leads to functional and structural pancreatic islet alterations, including islet hypotrophy. Insulin-signaling pathways are involved in several adaptive responses by pancreatic islets. We determined the levels of some insulin-signaling proteins related to pancreatic islet function and growth in malnourished rats. Adult male Wistar rats (N = 20 per group) were fed a 17% protein (normal-protein diet; NP) or 6% protein (low-protein diet; LP), for 8 weeks. At the end of this period, blood glucose and serum insulin and albumin levels were measured. The morphometric parameters of the endocrine pancreas and the content of some proteins in islet lysates were determined. The &#946;-cell mass was significantly reduced (&#8773;65%) in normoglycemic but hypoinsulinemic LP rats compared to NP rats. Associated with these alterations, a significant 30% reduction in insulin receptor substrate-1 and a 70% increase in insulin receptor substrate-2 protein content were observed in LP islets compared to NP islets. The phosphorylated serine-threonine protein kinase (pAkt)/Akt protein ratio was similar in LP and NP islets. The phosphorylated forkhead-O1 (pFoxO1)/FoxO1 protein ratio was decreased by 43% in LP islets compared to NP islets (P < 0.05). Finally, the ratio of phosphorylated-extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 (pErk1/2) to total Erk1/2 protein levels was decreased by 71% in LP islets compared to NP islets (P < 0.05). Therefore, the reduced &#946;-cell mass observed in LP rats is associated with the reduction of phosphorylation in mitogenic-related signals, FoxO1 and Erk proteins. The cause/effect basis of this association remains to be determined.FAPES

Superconducting thin rings with finite penetration depth

Recently Babaei Brojeny and Clem [Phys. Rev. B 68, 174514 (2003)] considered superconducting thin-film rings in perpendicular magnetic fields in the ideal Meissner state with negligibly small magnetic penetration depth and presented useful analytical limiting expressions and numerical results for the magnetic-field and sheet-current profiles, trapped magnetic flux, self-inductance, magnetic moment, and focusing of magnetic flux into the hole when no net current flows in the ring. The present paper generalizes all these results to rings with arbitrary values of the two-dimensional effective penetration depth \Lambda = \lambda^2 /d (\lambda is the London depth and d < \lambda/2 the film thickness) using a straightforward matrix inversion method. We also present results for the energy of a superconducting ring as a function of the applied magnetic induction B_a and the quantum number N defining the size of the fluxoid N \phi_0 trapped in the hole.Comment: with 19 figures, gives 11.5 page

Time of the day of exercise impact on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To compare the effect of a single bout of morning vs. evening exercise on cardiovascular risk factors in adults. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A systematic search of studies was conducted using PubMed andWeb of Science from inception to June 2022. Selected studies accomplished the following criteria: crossover design, acute effect of exercise, blood pressure, blood glucose, and/or blood lipids as the study's endpoint, awashout period of at least 24 h, and adults.Meta-analysis was performed by analyzing: 1) separated effect of morning and evening exercise (pre vs. post); and 2) comparison between morning and evening exercise. Results: A total of 11 studies were included for systolic and diastolic blood pressure and 10 studies for blood glucose. Meta-analysis revealed no significant difference between morning vs. evening exercise for systolic blood pressure (g Δ=0.02), diastolic blood pressure (g Δ=0.01), or blood glucose (g Δ=0.15). Analysis of moderator variables (age, BMI, sex, health status, intensity and duration of exercise, and hour within the morning or evening) showed no significant morning vs. evening effect. Conclusions: Overall, we found no influence of the time of the day on the acute effect of exercise on blood pressure neither on blood glucose.Spanish Government FPU19/0374

Dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity, Godel Universe and variable cosmological constant

We study the condition for the consistency of the G\"{o}del metric with the dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity. It turns out to be that this compatibility can be achieved only if the cosmological constant is variable in the space.Comment: 8 pages, references adde

Harnessing content and context for enhanced decision making

In a time in which a significant amount of interpersonal interactions take place online, one must enquire to which extent are these milieus suitable for supporting the complexity of our communication. This is especially important in more sensitive domains, such as the one of Online Dispute Resolution, in which inefficient communication environments may result in misunderstandings, poor decisions or the escalation of the conflict. The conflict manager, in particular, may find his skills severely diminished, namely in what concerns the accurate perception of the state of the parties. In this paper the development of a rich communication framework is detailed that conveys contextual information about their users, harnessed from the transparent analysis of their behaviour while communicating. Using it, the conflict manager may not only better perceive the conflict and how it affects each party but also take better contextualized decisions, closer to the ones taken in face-to-face settings.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT { Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and project PEst- OE/EEI/UI0752/2014

The metallic state in disordered quasi-one-dimensional conductors

The unusual metallic state in conjugated polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes is studied by dielectric spectroscopy (8--600 GHz). We have found an intriguing correlation between scattering time and plasma frequency. This relation excludes percolation models of the metallic state. Instead, the carrier dynamics can be understood in terms of the low density of delocalized states around the Fermi level, which arises from the competion between disorder-induced localization and interchain-interactions-induced delocalization.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure

Reduced Pancreatic β-cell Mass Is Associated With Decreased Foxo1 And Erk1/2 Protein Phosphorylation In Low-protein Malnourished Rats

A low-protein diet leads to functional and structural pancreatic islet alterations, including islet hypotrophy. Insulin-signaling pathways are involved in several adaptive responses by pancreatic islets. We determined the levels of some insulin-signaling proteins related to pancreatic islet function and growth in malnourished rats. Adult male Wistar rats (N = 20 per group) were fed a 17% protein (normal-protein diet; NP) or 6% protein (low-protein diet; LP), for 8 weeks. At the end of this period, blood glucose and serum insulin and albumin levels were measured. The morphometric parameters of the endocrine pancreas and the content of some proteins in islet lysates were determined. The β-cell mass was significantly reduced (≅65%) in normoglycemic but hypoinsulinemic LP rats compared to NP rats. Associated with these alterations, a significant 30% reduction in insulin receptor substrate-1 and a 70% increase in insulin receptor substrate-2 protein content were observed in LP islets compared to NP islets. The phosphorylated serine-threonine protein kinase (pAkt)/Akt protein ratio was similar in LP and NP islets. The phosphorylated forkhead-O1 (pFoxO1)/FoxO1 protein ratio was decreased by 43% in LP islets compared to NP islets (P < 0.05). Finally, the ratio of phosphorylated-extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 (pErk1/2) to total Erk1/2 protein levels was decreased by 71% in LP islets compared to NP islets (P < 0.05). Therefore, the reduced β-cell mass observed in LP rats is associated with the reduction of phosphorylation in mitogenic-related signals, FoxO1 and Erk proteins. 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Molecular velocity auto-correlation of simple liquids observed by NMR MGSE method

The velocity auto-correlation spectra of simple liquids obtained by the NMR method of modulated gradient spin echo show features in the low frequency range up to a few kHz, which can be explained reasonably well by a $t^{-3/2}$ long time tail decay only for non-polar liquid toluene, while the spectra of polar liquids, such as ethanol, water and glycerol, are more congruent with the model of diffusion of particles temporarily trapped in potential wells created by their neighbors. As the method provides the spectrum averaged over ensemble of particle trajectories, the initial non-exponential decay of spin echoes is attributed to a spatial heterogeneity of molecular motion in a bulk of liquid, reflected in distribution of the echo decays for short trajectories. While at longer time intervals, and thus with longer trajectories, heterogeneity is averaged out, giving rise to a spectrum which is explained as a combination of molecular self-diffusion and eddy diffusion within the vortexes of hydrodynamic fluctuations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figur