Study of alkaline hydrothermal activation of belite cements by thermal analysis

The effect of alkaline hydrothermal activation of class-C fly ash belite cement was studied using thermal analysis (TG/DTG) by determining the increase in the combined water during a period of hydration of 180 days. The results were compared with those obtained for a belite cement hydrothermally activated in water. The two belite cements were fabricated via the hydrothermal-calcination route of class-C fly ash in 1 M NaOH solution (FABC-2-N) or demineralised water (FABC-2-W). From the results, the effect of the alkaline hydrothermal activation of belite cement (FABC-2-N) was clearly differentiated, mainly at early ages of hydration, for which the increase in the combined water was markedly higher than that of the belite cement that was hydrothermally activated in water. Important direct quantitative correlations were obtained among physicochemical parameters, such as the combined water, the BET surface area, the volume of nano-pores, and macro structural engineering properties such as the compressive mechanical strength

Semiparametric Estimation of Task-Based Dynamic Functional Connectivity on the Population Level

Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) estimates time-dependent associations between pairs of brain region time series as typically acquired during functional MRI. dFC changes are most commonly quantified by pairwise correlation coefficients between the time series within a sliding window. Here, we applied a recently developed bootstrap-based technique (Kudela et al., 2017) to robustly estimate subject-level dFC and its confidence intervals in a task-based fMRI study (24 subjects who tasted their most frequently consumed beer and Gatorade as an appetitive control). We then combined information across subjects and scans utilizing semiparametric mixed models to obtain a group-level dFC estimate for each pair of brain regions, flavor, and the difference between flavors. The proposed approach relies on the estimated group-level dFC accounting for complex correlation structures of the fMRI data, multiple repeated observations per subject, experimental design, and subject-specific variability. It also provides condition-specific dFC and confidence intervals for the whole brain at the group level. As a summary dFC metric, we used the proportion of time when the estimated associations were either significantly positive or negative. For both flavors, our fully-data driven approach yielded regional associations that reflected known, biologically meaningful brain organization as shown in prior work, as well as closely resembled resting state networks (RSNs). Specifically, beer flavor-potentiated associations were detected between several reward-related regions, including the right ventral striatum (VST), lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral anterior insular cortex (vAIC). The enhancement of right VST-vAIC association by a taste of beer independently validated the main activation-based finding (Oberlin et al., 2016). Most notably, our novel dFC methodology uncovered numerous associations undetected by the traditional static FC analysis. The data-driven, novel dFC methodology presented here can be used for a wide range of task-based fMRI designs to estimate the dFC at multiple levels-group-, individual-, and task-specific, utilizing a combination of well-established statistical methods

Relationships between adolescent physical self-concept and physical activity

El objetivo de este estudio es someter a prueba dos modelos contrapuestos sobre las relaciones entre las autopercepciones físicas y la actividad físico-deportiva en la adolescencia: mientras que un modelo postula la influencia de la actividad física sobre el autoconcepto físico, el modelo alternativo propone al autoconcepto físico como factor influyente en la actividad físicodeportiva. Participan en la investigación 704 estudiantes, 394 (55.96 %) hombres y 310 (44.04 %) mujeres entre 11 y 19 años (M = 14.91; D.T. = 2.13), residentes en dos Comunidades Autónomas (Cantabria y País Vasco) de España. Los resultados indican que las influencias entre el autoconcepto físico y la actividad físico-deportiva se producen de forma bidireccional si bien ajusta mejor el modelo que propone al autoconcepto físico como factor influyente. Se comprueban diferencias entre hombres y mujeres en el modelo. Por otro lado, la autopercepción de atractivo físico mantiene una relación negativa con la actividad físico-deportivaThe aim of this study is to test two opposing models of the relationship between physical self-perceptions and physical activity during adolescence: one which postulates that physical activity influences physical self-concept, and another one which proposes that physical self-concept influences physical activity. Participants were 704 students aged between 11 and 19 (M = 14.91; SD = 2.13) from two different Autonomous Regions in Spain (Cantabria and the Basque Country). 394 (55.96%) were male and 310 (44.04%) were female. The results indicate that the influences between physical self-concept and physical activity are bidirectional in nature, although the model that proposes physical selfconcept as an influencing factor was found to have a better fitness. Differences were found in the model between male and female students. Furthermore, selfperception of physical attractiveness was found to be negatively related to physical activityEste artículo lo firman componentes del Grupo Consolidado de Investigación del Sistema Universitario Vasco IT701-13 y forman parte de los resultados del proyecto EDU2009-10102 (subprograma EDUC) subvencionado por el MICINN. La investigación se ha realizado con la colaboración del Programa para la Contratación de Doctores Recientes de la Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU

The interaction of Bacillus protoplasts with sonicated phosphatidylcholine liposomes

AbstractWhen protoplasts from Bacillus subtilis are incubated with sonicated liposomes made from egg-yolk phosphatidylcholine, this phospholipid is incorporated into the protoplast membranes. Biochemical, fluorescence and ultrastructural data suggest that incorporation occurs through membrane fusion

Influencia de la conductividad y fuerza iónica de soluciones sintéticas que simulan la fase acuosa del hormigón en el fenómeno de la corrosión de armaduras

Polarization Resistance (Rp) has been the electrochemical technique employed to study quantitatively the influence of Cl- and OH- ions on the corrosion of steel reinforcing, in a synthetic aqueous medium of similar composition to those of the concrete pore solution. Ionic strength, resistivity and their variations in function of CI- and OH- concentration have been chosen as more interesting solution parameters, together with intensity and potential corrosion measurements. The results showed the clear antagonistic role played by CI- and OH- ions on the corrosion process, which decreased as ionic strength increased.Este trabajo presenta el estudio cuantitativo, mediante la técnica de Resistencia de Polarización (Rp), de la influencia de los iones Cl- y OH- en la corrosión de armaduras de acero, en un medio acuoso sintético de similar composición al contenido en los poros del hormigón. Fuerza iónica, conductividad (resistividad) y sus variaciones en función de la concentración de dichos iones, han sido los parámetros de interés escogidos para la evaluación del proceso, además de las medidas de intensidad y potenciales de corrosión. Los resultados muestran claramente el antagonismo de los iones Cl - y OH- , cuyo carácter agresivo o protector disminuye a medida que aumenta la fuerza iónica del medio

Use of an object-based system with reasoning capabilities to integrate relational databases

The integration of heterogeneous and autonomous information sources is a requirement for the new type of cooperative information systems. In this paper we show the advantages of using a terminological system for integrating pre-existing relational databases. From the resulting integrated schema point of view, using · a terminological system allows for the definition of semantically richer integrated schema. From the integrated schema generation process point of view, the use of a terminological system permits the definition of a more consistent, broad and automatic process. Last, from the query processing point of view, terminological systems provide interesting features for incorporating semantic and caching query optimization techniques. The advantages are presented in detail for each main step of the integration process: translation, integration and query processing

Materiales cementicios utilizados en el almacenamiento español de residuos de media y baja radiactividad

BWR and PWR cemented matrices to confine low and medium simulated liquid radioactive wastes have been submitted to the leaching process in de-ionized water at 20ºC and 40ºC, to obtain the medium leachability index (L) and the effective diffusion coefficient (De) of different ions. Otherwise, it has been studied the associated expansion of the backfilling mortar of the concrete containers of the Spanish repository of these wastes, due to a possible attack of the sulfate ions coming from the cemented matrices.Matrices cementicias confinantes tipo BWR y PWR de residuos simulados de baja y media radiactividad se han sometido a procesos de lixiviación en agua desionizada a 20ºC y 40ºC, obteniéndose los índices medios de lixiviación (L) y el coeficiente de difusión efectiva (De) de algunos iones. Por otra parte, se ha estudiado la expansión asociada a un mortero de relleno constitutivo del depósito de almacenamiento de los residuos, por posible ataque de los iones SO4-2 procedentes de las matrices

Hall-effect and resistivity measurements in CdTe and ZnTe at high pressure: Electronic structure of impurities in the zincblende phase and the semi-metallic or metallic character of the high-pressure phases

We carried out high-pressure resistivity and Hall-effect measurements in single crystals of CdTe and ZnTe up to 12 GPa. Slight changes of transport parameters in the zincblende phase of CdTe are consitent with the shallow character of donor impurities. Drastic changes in all the transport parameters of CdTe were found around 4 GPa, i.e. close to the onset of the cinnabar to rock-salt transition. In particular, the carrier concentration increases by more than five orders of magnitude. Additionally, an abrupt decrease of the resistivity was detected around 10 GPa. These results are discussed in comparison with optical, thermoelectric, and x-ray diffraction experiments. The metallic character of the Cmcm phase of CdTe is confirmed and a semi-metallic character is determined for the rock-salt phase. In zincblende ZnTe, the increase of the hole concentration by more than two orders of magnitude is proposed to be due to a deep-to-shallow transformation of the acceptor levels. Between 9 and 11 GPa, transport parameters are consistent with the semiconducting character of cinnabar ZnTe. A two orders of magnitude decrease of the resistivity and a carrier-type inversion occurs at 11 GPa, in agreement with the onset of the transition to the Cmcm phase of ZnTe. A metallic character for this phase is deduced.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure