International Organizations as Normative Agenda Setters: Social Influence and Reputational Costs in the effects of the International Human Rights Regime

This paper focuses on the question of how International Organizations (IOs) influence states. In particular, we assess the role of the mechanism of social influence in shaping states’ normative (discursive) behavior, by looking at the “reporting procedure” of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) of the United Nations (UN). Our study finds that in the definition of the substantive content of their “periodic reports,” states follow the human rights agenda set by the HRC in its “concluding observations.” In this sense, we provide systematic evidence that shows that, through social influence, even poorly “legalized” IOs can have an influence over state (discursive) practices

Wind turbine control design to enhance the fault ride-through capability

This paper presents a control strategy for wind turbines to enhance their fault ride-through capability. The controller design is based on pitch controlled variable speed wind turbine equipped with doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). The fault ride-through is realized by injecting a crowbar with variable resistance on the generator rotor circuit. To reduce the mechanical loads induced by grid faults, the wind turbine controller is improved by means of filtering techniques which alleviate the loads on the turbine blades and drive-train. The performance of the control strategy is tested by simulation. It is shown that the combined mechanical and electrical controller design significantly improves the wind turbine fault ride-through capability

Effects of Dysprosium Oxide Nanoparticles on Escherichia coli

There is increasing interest in the study of dysprosium oxide nanoparticles (nDy2O3) for biomedical applications due to their fluorescence and paramagnetic properties. However, the fate of nDy2O3 and their effects on natural biological systems are a growing concern. This study assessed the toxicity of nDy2O3 on Escherichia coli for concentrations between 0.02 and 2 mg L−1, exposed to three concentrations of NaCl (8500, 850, and 85 mg L−1) and three glucose concentrations (35, 70, and 140 mg L−1). The ranges of these variables were selected to cover manufacturer recommendations of analytical methodologies for toxicity assessment, environmental and industrial nDy2O3 effluent concentrations, and metabolic activity. Two array-based toxicity techniques were used to evaluate the 27 combinations of conditions. Fluorescent dyes (Live/Dead) and respirometric assays were used to measure the undisturbed cell membrane (UCM) and remaining respiration percentage (RRP), respectively. Respirometric tests showed a higher toxic effect than Live/Dead test assays, indicating that metabolic processes are more affected than the physical structure of the cell by exposure to nDy2O3. After exposing the bacteria to concentrations of 2.0 mg L−1 uncoated nDy2O3 for 2 h at 85 mg L−1 NaCl and 140 mg L−1 glucose, the RRP and UCM decreased to 43% and 88%, respectively. Dysprosium ion (Dy+3) toxicity measurement suggested that Dy+3 was the main contributor to the overall toxicity

Orthogonalization of vectors with minimal adjustment

Two transformations are proposed that give orthogonal components with a one-to-one correspondence between the original vectors and the components. The aim is that each component should be close to the vector with which it is paired, orthogonality imposing a constraint. The transformations lead to a variety of new statistical methods, including a unified approach to the identification and diagnosis of collinearities, a method of setting prior weights for Bayesian model averaging, and a means of calculating an upper bound for a multivariate Chebychev inequality. One transformation has the property that duplicating a vector has no effect on the orthogonal components that correspond to nonduplicated vectors, and is determined using a new algorithm that also provides the decomposition of a positive-definite matrix in terms of a diagonal matrix and a correlation matrix. The algorithm is shown to converge to a global optimum

Total recovery from monoclonal gammopathy and autoimmune phenomena after parathyroidectomy

Based on the observation of a patient with a causal relationship between hyperparathyroidism and development of both autoimmune disease and paraproteinemia, we hypothesize a novel cause of autoimmunity triggered in the context of hyperparathyroidism. © Cañas et al.; Licensee Bentham Open

Cumulant-cumulant relations in free probability theory from Magnus' expansion

Relations between moments and cumulants play a central role in both classical and non-commutative probability theory. The latter allows for several distinct families of cumulants corresponding to different types of independences: free, Boolean and monotone. Relations among those cumulants have been studied recently. In this work we focus on the problem of expressing with a closed formula multivariate monotone cumulants in terms of free and Boolean cumulants. In the process we introduce various constructions and statistics on non-crossing partitions. Our approach is based on a pre-Lie algebra structure on cumulant functionals. Relations among cumulants are described in terms of the pre-Lie Magnus expansion combined with results on the continuous Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula due to A. Murua

Autoimmune neurological conditions associated with Zika virus infection

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging flavivirus rapidly spreading throughout the tropical Americas. mosquitoes is the principal way of transmission of the virus to humans. ZIKV can be spread by transplacental, perinatal, and body fluids. ZIKV infection is often asymptomatic and those with symptoms present minor illness after 3 to 12 days of incubation, characterized by a mild and self-limiting disease with low-grade fever, conjunctivitis, widespread pruritic maculopapular rash, arthralgia and myalgia. ZIKV has been linked to a number of central and peripheral nervous system injuries such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), transverse myelitis (TM), meningoencephalitis, ophthalmological manifestations, and other neurological complications. Nevertheless, mechanisms of host-pathogen neuro-immune interactions remain incompletely elucidated. This review provides a critical discussion about the possible mechanisms underlying the development of autoimmune neurological conditions associated with Zika virus infection

Influence of the 60 Hz Magnetic Field on the Airborne Microbial Distribution of Indoor Environments

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of the magnetic field generated by the household appliances on the airborne microbial surrounding these equipment located on indoor environments with particular interest in the environmental fungi. A simultaneous environmental study was carried out in locals of three different geographical places of Havana, Cuba, which have televisions, computers and an electric generator. The air samples were made by a sedimentation method using Malt Extract Agar. The concentration of total aerobic mesophilic as well as fungi and yeasts were determined in rainy and little rainy seasons by applying as factors: exposure time of dishes (5 to 60 min) and distance to the wall (0 and 1 m) at a height of 1 m above the floor. The predominant fungal genera were Cladosporium, Penicillium and Aspergillus. In the dishes that were placed at 0 and 0.5 m from the emitting sources were observed that some bacteria colonies formed inhibition halos, a great diversity of filamentous fungi and an increase in the mycelium pigmentation as well as the pigments excretion. In the rainy season, the highest amounts of fungi were obtained in all samples. In the little rain season the count of the Gram-negative bacilli increased three times the Gram-positive cocci