The application of the Boolean Stochastic Generation Method to model seepage under levees in heterogeneous soils

Soil heterogeneity plays an important role in incrementing the uncertainty about the reliability of geotechnical engineering works, especially levees. The presence of thin layers of soils more permeable than the surrounding matrix significantly changes the seepage flow net below and within the dike. However, the detection of these layers is extremely difficult. Consequently, to evaluate the overall safety of dikes it may be useful to adopt stochastic computation methods. The paper presents the calibration of a seepage model of an operational river embankment subject to sand boils. The levee, located along the Adige River (South Tyrol, Italy), has been monitored since 2016. Piezometers and spot temperature sensors are installed in the lateral banks while a distributed fiber optic sensors (FOS), buried in a 350 m long trench at the toe of the levee, is used to check temperature distribution in the subground. The Boolean Stochastic Generation (BoSG) method addresses the influence of layers of material with different properties with respect of the surrounding soil. 360 soil configurations were generated for a two-dimensional groundwater flow model of the levee and confronted with the monitoring data of two piezometers. This analysis permits to identify the configuration that has effects more congruent with piezometers data, which in this case is a configuration with a major presence of lenses on the waterside respect the field-side. This evidence could guide strategies for remedial works

Las gotas lípidicas nucleares constituyen un nuevo dominio nuclear

Teniendo en cuenta que los lípidos neutros nucleares pueden representar pooles alternativos de ácidos grasos y lípidos de señalización celular, el objetivo de este trabajo fue dilucidar un modelo de organización de estos lípidos neutro

Impact of dietary porcine blood by-products in meagre (Argyrosomus regius) physiology, evaluated by welfare biomarkers and the antibacterial properties of the skin mucus

Tools are required for quick and easy preliminary evaluation of functional feeds efficiency on fisheries. The analysis of skin mucus biomarkers is a recent alternative approach providing a faster feed-back from the laboratory which is characterized by being less invasive, more rapid and with reduced costs. The effect of replacing fishmeal and fish protein hydrolysates by means of two porcine by-products, the porcine spray-dried plasma (SDPP) and pig protein hydrolysate (PPH), in compound diets (50.4% crude protein, 16.2% crude protein, 22.1 MJ/kg feed) was evaluated in juvenile meagre (Argyrosomus regius) during a two-months period. To determine the impact of these dietary replacements, growth and food performance were measured together with digestive enzymes activities and filet proximal composition. Additionally, skin mucus was collected and characterized by determining main mucus biomarkers (protein, glucose, lactate, cortisol, and antioxidant capacity) and its antibacterial properties, measured by the quick in vitro co-culture challenges. In comparison to the control group, the inclusion of PPH and SDPP, in meagre diets reduced growth (7.4–8.8% in body weight), increased feed conversion ratios (9.0–10.0%), results that were attributed to a reduction in feed intake values (24.2–33.0%) (P 0.05). In contrast, a reduction in fillet lipid content associated to an increase in fillet protein levels were found in fish fed SDPP and PPH diets (P 0.05). Interestingly, regardless of the worst performance in somatic growth, meagre fed diets containing both tested porcine by-products showed a significantly improved antibacterial capacity of their skin mucus. This enhancement was more prominent for fish fed with the PPH diet, which may be attributed to a higher content of immunomodulatory bioactive compounds in PPH. Further research will be necessary to provide insights on how the inclusion of SDPP and PPH, at the expense of dietary fishmeal and fish protein hydrolysates, affects feed intake and growth performance in meagre. However, the use of skin mucus biomarkers has been demonstrated to be an excellent methodology for a preliminary characterization of the functional feeds, in particular for their prophylactic properties by the study of mucus antibacterial activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The Power to Resist: Mobilization and the Logic of Terrorist Attacks in Civil War

Existing research has argued that terrorism is common in civil war because it is "effective." Surprisingly, however, only some groups use terrorism during civil wars, while many refrain altogether. We also see considerable variation in the use of terrorism over time. This article presents a theory of terrorism as a mobilization strategy in civil war, taking into account benefits, costs, and temporal dynamics. We argue that the choice and the timing of terrorism arise from the interaction between conditions for effective mobilization and battlefield dynamics. Terrorism can mobilize support when it provokes indiscriminate government repression or when it radicalizes rebels' constituency by antagonizing specific societal groups. The timing of attacks, however, is in uenced by battlefield losses, which increase rebels' need to rally civilian support. The analyses of new disaggregated data on rebels' terrorist attacks during con icts (1989-2009) and of ISIS tactics in Iraq and Syria support our theoretical argument

Mask formulas for cograssmannian Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials

We give two contructions of sets of masks on cograssmannian permutations that can be used in Deodhar's formula for Kazhdan-Lusztig basis elements of the Iwahori-Hecke algebra. The constructions are respectively based on a formula of Lascoux-Schutzenberger and its geometric interpretation by Zelevinsky. The first construction relies on a basis of the Hecke algebra constructed from principal lower order ideals in Bruhat order and a translation of this basis into sets of masks. The second construction relies on an interpretation of masks as cells of the Bott-Samelson resolution. These constructions give distinct answers to a question of Deodhar.Comment: 43 page

The importance of sex as a risk factor for hospital readmissions due to pulmonary diseases

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. Few studies have focused on the difference in risk for rehospitalization between men and women in older patients. In this study we analyzed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation and other major pulmonary diseases. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study based on administrative data collected in the Veneto Region in 2016. We included 14,869 hospital admissions among residents aged 6565\u2009years for diagnosis related groups (DRGs) of the most common disorders of the respiratory system: bronchitis and asthma, pneumonia, pulmonary edema, respiratory failure, and COPD. Multilevel logistic regressions were performed to test the association between 30-day hospital readmission and sex, adjusting for confounding factors. RESULTS: For bronchitis and asthma, male patients had significantly higher odds of 30-day readmission than female patients (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.07; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-3.87). The odds of readmission for men were also significantly higher for pneumonia (aOR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.13-1.72), for pulmonary edema and respiratory failure (aOR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.05-1.55), and for COPD (aOR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.00-1.81). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that male sex is a major risk factors for readmission in patients aged more than 65\u2009years with a primary pulmonary diagnosis. More studies are needed to understand the underlying determinants of this phenomena and to provide targets for future interventions

Absence of R-Ras1 and R-Ras2 causes mitochondrial alterations that trigger axonal degeneration in a hypomyelinating disease model

Fast synaptic transmission in vertebrates is critically dependent on myelin for insulation and metabolic support. Myelin is produced by oligodendrocytes (OLs) that maintain multilayered membrane compartments that wrap around axonal fibers. Alterations in myelination can therefore lead to severe pathologies such as multiple sclerosis. Given that hypomyelination disorders have complex etiologies, reproducing clinical symptoms of myelin diseases from a neurological perspective in animal models has been difficult. We recently reported that R-Ras1 and/or R-Ras2 mice, which lack GTPases essential for OL survival and differentiation processes, present different degrees of hypomyelination in the central nervous system with a compounded hypomyelination in double knockout (DKO) mice. Here, we discovered that the loss of R-Ras1 and/or R-Ras2 function is associated with aberrant myelinated axons with increased numbers of mitochondria, and a disrupted mitochondrial respiration that leads to increased reactive oxygen species levels. Consequently, aberrant myelinated axons are thinner with cytoskeletal phosphorylation patterns typical of axonal degeneration processes, characteristic of myelin diseases. Although we observed different levels of hypomyelination in a single mutant mouse, the combined loss of function in DKO mice lead to a compromised axonal integrity, triggering the loss of visual function. Our findings demonstrate that the loss of R-Ras function reproduces several characteristics of hypomyelinating diseases, and we therefore propose that R-Ras1 and R-Ras2 neurological models are valuable approaches for the study of these myelin pathologies.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RTI2018-096303B-C33) to B. C., (RTI2018-096303B-C31) to F. W., and RTI2018-095166B-I00 to C. G. R. and P. L. and Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the “Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017–2020” (RD16/0008/0020; FIS/PI 18-00754

Modulación de Ras, arresto del ciclo celular e inducción de apoptosis por linalool en células hepáticas tumorales

La vía de mevalonato (VM) produce isoprenoides que son incorporados en productos finales (colesterol, dolicol, ubiquinona) importantes en el crecimiento y proliferación celular. La relación entre la VM y la proliferación de células tumorales son las proteínas preniladas (Ras, Rho, Rac, etc), proteínas de unión a membrana plasmática (MP) que unen GTP y actúan como interruptores moleculares controlando procesos como proliferación, diferenciación y apoptosis.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Modulación de Ras, arresto del ciclo celular e inducción de apoptosis por linalool en células hepáticas tumorales

La vía de mevalonato (VM) produce isoprenoides que son incorporados en productos finales (colesterol, dolicol, ubiquinona) importantes en el crecimiento y proliferación celular. La relación entre la VM y la proliferación de células tumorales son las proteínas preniladas (Ras, Rho, Rac, etc), proteínas de unión a membrana plasmática (MP) que unen GTP y actúan como interruptores moleculares controlando procesos como proliferación, diferenciación y apoptosis.Facultad de Ciencias Médica