Causes of damage to industrial brick masonry chimneys

[EN] From the early 19th to the middle of the 20th century, brick chimneys formed part of the industrial landscape. As technology advanced, factories were abandoned and became absorbed by the cities growing around them but masonry brick chimneys found a new role as part of the historical heritage. A large number of these structures are now protected buildings, which means they have to be maintained in a good state of conservation. Architects and engineers who have to assess the condition or retrofit these structures therefore need to be familiar with the different types of damage that can affect brickwork chimneys, and having access to a classification of the different types of damage they are prone to would be very useful to them. This paper classifies and describes the most common defects found in these structures, compiled after a close inspection of 538 Spanish industrial chimneys. The types of damage were classified according to: a) changes in the materials used in their construction, b) damage caused by repeated actions, c) damage due to extraordinary events, and d) damage caused by living organisms.López Patiño, MG.; Adam Martínez, JM.; Verdejo Gimeno, P.; Milani, G. (2017). Causes of damage to industrial brick masonry chimneys. Engineering Failure Analysis. 74:188-201. doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2017.01.014S1882017

A Blueprint for the 2021 Administration and Congress The Promise of Good Health for All: Transforming Public Health in America

The nation's public health system is dangerously inadequate and needs sustained attention and investment. This report provides an action plan for the administration and Congress taking office in 2021

Pengaruh Atribut Nasional terhadap Kebijakan Cina Bersengketa dengan Jepang di Kepulauan Diaoyu/Senkaku

The dispute between China and Japan over administrative control of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands raises a question about the intention of China with its confrontative foreign policy. China's foreign policy is often difficult to understand clearly largely because of its ambiguity in determining the appropriate instruments to fight for its interests. China's foreign policy in regards to its dispute with Japan over Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands should not have been implemented because of China's membership and ratification of UNCLOS back in 1996. By using the qualitative method along with the National Attribute theory by Valerie Hudson, it was found that China's confrontative foreign policy was based of the fact that China has an advantage on the aspects of its national attribute, mainly on its natural resources, economic and military capabilities. Keywords: Diaoyu; Senkaku; Cina; Jepang; Atribut NasionalKebijakan luar negeri Cina kerapkali sulit dipahami dengan baik, karena terjadi ambiguitas dalam menentukkan instrumen-instrumen yang tepat dalam memperjuangkan keinginannya. Melalui penelitian ini, kami berusaha mencermati dan menganalisis kebijakan luar negeri Cina dalam sengketa dengan Jepang di Kepulauan Diaoyu/Senkaku. Ketika dilihat secara normatif, kebijakan luar negeri Cina untuk menguasai Kepulauan Diaoyu/Senkaku tidak dapat dilakukan karena Cina telah menjadi negara pihak dalam UNCLOS pada tahun 1996. Walaupun begitu, kebijakan Cina kini yang mempersengketakan Kepulauan ini, menjadi nyata bahwa Cina seolah tidak memperhatikan aspek normatif yang telah dilakukannya sebelumnya. Dengan demikian, penelitian ini akan menganalisis kebijakan Cina yang cenderung konfrontatif dengan Jepang dan melalui instrumen teori Atribut Nasional oleh Valerie Hudson dapat diketahui intensi Cina ini.     Kata Kunci: Diaoyu; Senkaku; Cina; Jepang; Atribut Nasiona

Regularization in quantum field theory from the causal point of view

The causal approach to perturbative quantum field theory is presented in detail, which goes back to a seminal work by Henri Epstein and Vladimir Jurko Glaser in 1973. Causal perturbation theory is a mathematically rigorous approach to renormalization theory, which makes it possible to put the theoretical setup of perturbative quantum field theory on a sound mathematical basis. Epstein and Glaser solved this problem for a special class of distributions, the time-ordered products, that fulfill a causality condition, which itself is a basic requirement in axiomatic quantum field theory. In their original work, Epstein and Glaser studied only theories involving scalar particles. In this review, the extension of the method to theories with higher spin, including gravity, is presented. Furthermore, specific examples are presented in order to highlight the technical differences between the causal method and other regularization methods, like, e.g. dimensional regularization.Comment: 75 pages, 8 figures, style file included, some comments and references adde

IRF3 regulates neuroinflammatory responses and the expression of genes associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The pathological role of interferon signaling is emerging in neuroinflammatory disorders, yet, the specific role of Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 (IRF3) in neuroinflammation remains poorly understood. Here, we show that global IRF3 deficiency delays TLR4-mediated signaling in microglia and attenuates the hallmark features of LPS-induced inflammation such as cytokine release, microglial reactivity, astrocyte activation, myeloid cell infiltration, and inflammasome activation. Moreover, expression of a constitutively active IRF3 (S388D/S390D:IRF3-2D) in microglia induces a transcriptional program reminiscent of the Activated Response Microglia and the expression of genes associated with Alzheimer's Disease, notably apolipoprotein-e. Lastly, using bulk-RNAseq of IRF3-2D brain myeloid cells, we identified Z-DNA binding protein-1 as a target of IRF3 that is relevant across various neuroinflammatory disorders. Together, our results identify IRF3 as an important regulator of LPS-mediated neuroinflammatory responses and highlight IRF3 as a central regulator of disease-specific gene activation in different neuroinflammatory diseases

Dynamical Boson Stars

The idea of stable, localized bundles of energy has strong appeal as a model for particles. In the 1950s John Wheeler envisioned such bundles as smooth configurations of electromagnetic energy that he called {\em geons}, but none were found. Instead, particle-like solutions were found in the late 1960s with the addition of a scalar field, and these were given the name {\em boson stars}. Since then, boson stars find use in a wide variety of models as sources of dark matter, as black hole mimickers, in simple models of binary systems, and as a tool in finding black holes in higher dimensions with only a single killing vector. We discuss important varieties of boson stars, their dynamic properties, and some of their uses, concentrating on recent efforts.Comment: 79 pages, 25 figures, invited review for Living Reviews in Relativity; major revision in 201

Body dysmorphia in common skin diseases: Results of an observational, cross-sectional multi-centre study among dermatological out-patients in 17 European countries

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a common psychiatric disorder associated with high costs for healthcare systems as patients may repeatedly ask for different, often not effective interventions. BDD symptoms are more prevalent in patients with dermatological conditions than the general population, but there are no large sample studies comparing the prevalence of BDD symptoms between patients with dermatological conditions and healthy skin controls. Objectives: To compare the prevalence of BDD symptoms between patients with different dermatological conditions and healthy skin controls and to describe sociodemographic, physical and psychological factors associated with BDD symptoms to identify patients who may have a particularly high chance of having this condition. Methods: This observational cross-sectional, comparative multi-centre study included 8295 participants: 5487 consecutive patients with different skin diseases (56% female) recruited among dermatological out-patients at 22 clinics in 17 European countries and 2808 healthy skin controls (66% female). All patients were examined by a dermatologist. BDD symptoms were assessed by the Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (DCQ). Sociodemographic data, information on psychological factors and physical conditions were collected. Each patient was given a dermatological diagnosis according to ICD-10 by a dermatologist. Results: The participation rate of invited dermatological patients was 82.4% on average across all centres. BDD symptoms were five times more prevalent in patients with dermatological conditions than in healthy skin controls (10.5% vs. 2.1%). Patients with hyperhidrosis, alopecia and vitiligo had a more than eleven-fold increased chance (adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) > 11) of having BDD symptoms compared to healthy skin controls, and patients with atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, hidradenitis suppurativa, prurigo and bullous diseases had a more than six-fold increased chance (adjusted OR > 6) of having BDD symptoms. Using a logistic regression model, BDD symptoms were significantly related to lower age, female sex, higher psychological stress and feelings of stigmatisation. Conclusions: This study reveals that clinical BDD symptoms are significantly associated with common dermatological diseases. As such symptoms are associated with higher levels of psychological distress and multiple unhelpful consultations, general practitioners and dermatologists should consider BDD and refer patients when identified to an appropriate service for BDD screening and managementpublishedVersio

Fixation strength of biocomposite wedge interference screw in ACL reconstruction: effect of screw length and tunnel/screw ratio. A controlled laboratory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary stability of the graft is essential in anterior cruciate ligament surgery. An optimal method of fixation should be easy to insert and provide great resistance against pull-out forces.</p> <p>A controlled laboratory study was designed to test the primary stability of ACL tendinous grafts in the tibial tunnel. The correlation between resistance to traction forces and the cross-section and length of the screw was studied.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The tibial phase of ACL reconstruction was performed in forty porcine tibias using digital flexor tendons of the same animal. An 8 mm tunnel was drilled in each specimen and two looped tendons placed as graft. Specimens were divided in five groups according to the diameter and length of the screw used for fixation. Wedge interference screws were used. Longitudinal traction was applied to the graft with a Servohydraulic Fatigue System. Load and displacement were controlled and analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean loads to failure for each group were 295,44 N (Group 1; 9 × 23 screw), 564,05 N (Group 2; 9 × 28), 614,95 N (Group 3; 9 × 35), 651,14 N (Group 4; 10 × 28) and 664,99 (Group 5; 10 × 35). No slippage of the graft was observed in groups 3, 4 and 5. There were significant differences in the load to failure among groups (ANOVA/P < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Longer and wider interference screws provide better fixation in tibial ACL graft fixation. Short screws (23 mm) do not achieve optimal fixation and should be implanted only with special requirements.</p

A survey and classification of software-defined storage systems

The exponential growth of digital information is imposing increasing scale and efficiency demands on modern storage infrastructures. As infrastructure complexity increases, so does the difficulty in ensuring quality of service, maintainability, and resource fairness, raising unprecedented performance, scalability, and programmability challenges. Software-Defined Storage (SDS) addresses these challenges by cleanly disentangling control and data flows, easing management, and improving control functionality of conventional storage systems. Despite its momentum in the research community, many aspects of the paradigm are still unclear, undefined, and unexplored, leading to misunderstandings that hamper the research and development of novel SDS technologies. In this article, we present an in-depth study of SDS systems, providing a thorough description and categorization of each plane of functionality. Further, we propose a taxonomy and classification of existing SDS solutions according to different criteria. Finally, we provide key insights about the paradigm and discuss potential future research directions for the field.This work was financed by the Portuguese funding agency FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia through national funds, the PhD grant SFRH/BD/146059/2019, the project ThreatAdapt (FCT-FNR/0002/2018), the LASIGE Research Unit (UIDB/00408/2020), and cofunded by the FEDER, where applicable