42 research outputs found
Photochemically reduced polyoxometalate assisted generation of silver and gold nanoparticles in composite films: a single step route
A simple method to embed noble metal (Ag, Au) nanoparticles in organic–inorganic nanocomposite films by single step method is described. This is accomplished by the assistance of Keggin ions present in the composite film. The photochemically reduced composite film has served both as a reducing agent and host for the metal nanoparticles in a single process. The embedded metal nanoparticles in composites film have been characterized by UV–Visible, TEM, EDAX, XPS techniques. Particles of less than 20 nm were readily embedded using the described approach, and monodisperse nanoparticles were obtained under optimized conditions. The fluorescence experiments showed that embedded Ag and Au nanoparticles are responsible for fluorescence emissions. The described method is facile and simple, and provides a simple potential route to fabricate self-standing noble metal embedded composite films
A comparative study on q-deformed fermion oscillators
In this paper, the algebras, representations, and thermostatistics of four
types of fermionic q-oscillator models, called fermionic Newton (FN),
Chaichian-Kulish-Ng (CKN), Parthasarathy-Viswanathan-Chaichian (PVC),
Viswanathan-Parthasarathy-Jagannathan-Chaichian (VPJC), are discussed.
Similarities and differences among the properties of these models are revealed.
Particular emphasis is given to the VPJC-oscillators model so that its Fock
space representation is analyzed in detail. Possible physical applications of
these models are concisely pointed out.Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Int. J. Theor. Phys. (IJTP
Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases
Central corneal thickness (CCT) is a highly heritable trait associated with complex eye diseases such as keratoconus and glaucoma. We perform a genome-wide association meta-analysis of CCT and identify 19 novel regions. In addition to adding support for known connective tissue-related pathways, pathway analyses uncover previously unreported gene sets. Remarkably, >20% of the CCT-loci are near or within Mendelian disorder genes. These included FBN1, ADAMTS2 and TGFB2 which associate with connective tissue disorders (Marfan, Ehlers-Danlos and Loeys-Dietz syndromes), and the LUM-DCN-KERA gene complex involved in myopia, corneal dystrophies and cornea plana. Using index CCT-increasing variants, we find a significant inverse correlation in effect sizes between CCT and keratoconus (r =-0.62, P = 5.30 × 10-5) but not between CCT and primary open-angle glaucoma (r =-0.17, P = 0.2). Our findings provide evidence for shared genetic influences between CCT and keratoconus, and implicate candidate genes acting in collagen and extracellular matrix regulation
Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol
High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol—which is a marker of cardiovascular risk—changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million–4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.</p
A century of trends in adult human height
Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)
Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol
High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol�which is a marker of cardiovascular risk�changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95 credible interval 3.7 million�4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited
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Modification of the finite element heat and mass transfer code (FEHM) to model multicomponent reactive transport
The finite element code FEHMN, developed by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), is a three-dimensional finite element heat and mass transport simulator that can handle complex stratigraphy and nonlinear processes such as vadose zone flow, heat flow and solute transport. Scientists at LANL have been developing hydrologic flow and transport models of the Yucca Mountain site using FEHMN. Previous FEHMN simulations have used an equivalent Kd model to model solute transport. In this thesis, FEHMN is modified making it possible to simulate the transport of a species with a rigorous chemical model. Including the rigorous chemical equations into FEHMN simulations should provide for more representative transport models for highly reactive chemical species. A fully kinetic formulation is chosen for the FEHMN reactive transport model. Several methods are available to computationally implement a fully kinetic formulation. Different numerical algorithms are investigated in order to optimize computational efficiency and memory requirements of the reactive transport model. The best algorithm of those investigated is then incorporated into FEHMN. The algorithm chosen requires for the user to place strongly coupled species into groups which are then solved for simultaneously using FEHMN. The complete reactive transport model is verified over a wide variety of problems and is shown to be working properly. The new chemical capabilities of FEHMN are illustrated by using Los Alamos National Laboratory`s site scale model of Yucca Mountain to model two-dimensional, vadose zone {sup 14}C transport. The simulations demonstrate that gas flow and carbonate chemistry can significantly affect {sup 14}C transport at Yucca Mountain. The simulations also prove that the new capabilities of FEHMN can be used to refine and buttress already existing Yucca Mountain radionuclide transport studies
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The cross-scale science of CO2 capture and storage: from pore scale to regional scale
Bureau of Economic Geolog