Applications of Industry 4.0 Digital Technologies Towards A Construction Circular Economy: Thematic, Gap Analysis and Conceptual Framework

Purpose This paper aims to explore the emerging relationship between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) digital technologies (e.g. blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI)) and the construction industry’s gradual transition into a circular economy (CE) system to foster the adoption of circular economy in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach A critical and thematic analysis conducted on 115 scientific papers reveals a noticeable growth in adopting digital technologies to leverage a CE system. Moreover, a conceptual framework is developed to show the interrelationship between different I4.0 technologies to foster the implantation of CE in the construction industry. Findings Most of the existing bodies of research provide conceptual solutions rather than developing workable applications and the future of smart cities. Moreover, the coalescence of different technologies is highly recommended to enable tracking of building assets’ and components’ (e.g. fixtures and fittings and structural components) performance, which enables users to optimize the salvage value of components reusing or recycling them just in time and extending assets’ operating lifetime. Finally, circular supply chain management must be adopted for both new and existing buildings to realise the industry's CE ambitions. Hence, further applied research is required to foster CE adoption for existing cities and infrastructure that connects them. Originality/value This paper investigates the interrelationships between most emerging digital technologies and circular economy and concludes with the development of a conceptual digital ecosystem to integrate IoT, blockchain and AI into the operation of assets to direct future practical research application

Application of carbon nanotubes in cancer vaccines: Achievements, challenges and chances

Tumour-specific, immuno-based therapeutic interventions can be considered as safe and effective approaches for cancer therapy. Exploitation of nano-vaccinology to intensify the cancer vaccine potency may overcome the need for administration of high vaccine doses or additional adjuvants and therefore could be a more efficient approach. Carbon nanotube (CNT) can be described as carbon sheet(s) rolled up into a cylinder that is nanometers wide and nanometers to micrometers long. Stemming from the observed capacities of CNTs to enter various types of cells via diversified mechanisms utilising energy-dependent and/or passive routes of cell uptake, the use of CNTs for the delivery of therapeutic agents has drawn increasing interests over the last decade. Here we review the previous studies that demonstrated the possible benefits of these cylindrical nano-vectors as cancer vaccine delivery systems as well as the obstacles their clinical application is facing

All-Cause Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19 and Treated with Corticosteroids: A Single Center Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: This study aims to compare all-cause mortality and other hospital outcomes of hospitalized coronavirusdisease of 2019 patients using corticosteroids. Materials and methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was performed over three months by collecting data from patients’ medical charts. Results: The sample included 129 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and 293 patients without diabetes, with more men than women in both groups. Patients withT2D were older, namely, those aged more than 70 years (54.3%) with the majority having abnormal glucose levels on admission (76.1%) and at discharge (76.9%). As a primary outcome, higher all-cause mortality was reported among patients without diabetes having more than two comorbidities (38.2%) compared to those with two or single comorbidities (21.0% and 13.9% respectively; p = 0.009). It significantly increased if patients without diabetes had abnormal glucose levels at admission (51.7%; p < 0.001) and discharge (44.7%; p < 0.001) compared to those with normal levels. Critical cases had higher all-cause mortality compared to less severe cases in patients with T2D (58.8%; p < 0.001) and without diabetes (61.0%; p < 0.001). Among secondary outcomes, a higher length of stay in the hospital was noted among patients with T2D (8.4 vs. 7.3 days; p = 0.015), in addition to a significantly higher number of ventilator-free days (2.7 vs. 1.6 days; p = 0.039). Conclusions: Although the treatment with corticosteroids was comparable between patients with and without T2D, hospital outcomes varied between the groups. Findings from this study can help provide additional clinical support for patients with T2D to allow better in-hospital management of COVID-19 cases

Obesity status and physical fitness levels in male and female portuguese adolescents: a two-way multivariate analysis

Obesity and decreasing fitness levels among the youth are growing concerns in Portugal, similar to other developed countries, with implications for health and psychomotor development. Understanding the influence of health determinants such as sex and age are crucial for developing effective public health strategies. This study aimed to analyze the association between sex and chronological age with obesity status and physical fitness in Portuguese adolescents. A total of 170 adolescents (85 males and 85 females) were evaluated for body mass index, abdominal adiposity, aerobic fitness, abdominal resistance, upper limb resistance, lower limb power, and maximal running speed in a 40 m sprint using the FITescola® physical fitness battery, a Portuguese government initiative. The general model, analyzed using Pillai’s trace, showed a significant effect of age and sex on body mass index, abdominal circumference, aerobic fitness, abdominal resistance, upper limb resistance, lower limb power, and maximal running speed (V = 0.99, F (7) = 10,916.4, p < 0.001, partial η2, sex = 0.22; age = 0.43, sex and age interaction = 0.10). Boys had higher physical fitness levels than girls in most tests, but both sex groups had a significantly higher proportion of non-fit adolescents, with boys showing the highest number of participants classified as non-fit.This research was funded by the National Funds through FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (UIDB/DTP/04045/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Degradação e estabilização do diclofenaco em nanocápsulas poliméricas

I den tidigare gjorda kunskapsöversikten fann vi “hål” i forskningen gällande elevers upplevelser om kooperativt lärande. Denna studie undersöker därför elevers upplevelser och erfarenheter om kamratrespons i matematikämnet. Lundgren, Säljö och Liberg (2014, s.308) menar på att kunskap är någonting som växer fram i interaktion mellan elever. Lärandet ses alltså som en del av den mänskliga gemenskapen där skolans uppgift är att involvera människor i samhällets kollektiva kunskaper. Fohlin et al. (2017 s.13) menar i sin tur på att det samhället vi lever i idag är demokratiskt och förväntas därför ha sammanlänkande roller. Varför speglas då inte undervisningen av ett hjälpande beteende. Läroplanen för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011 (Lgr11, s. 9) slår fast att skolan ska sträva efter att vara en levande och social gemenskap som ska bidra till vilja, trygghet samt lust att lära. Den ska även sträva efter att skapa de ultimata förutsättningarna för elevernas kunskapsutveckling, bildning och tänkande. Varje enskild elev i skolan har rätt att få utvecklas, få en ökad glädje, få möjlighet till att uppleva tillfredsställelse som ges vid framsteg och klara av de svårigheter som kan uppstå. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka yngre elevers upplevelser och erfarenheter av arbetssättet kamratrespons inom matematikämnet. Vilka är elevernas upplevelser om kamratrespons och hur arbetar eleverna med kamratrespons och varför gör de det? För att finna svar på studiens syfte och frågeställningar har en kvalitativ metod använts, genom fokusgruppsdiskussioner. Resultatet i studien indikerar i huvudsak på att eleverna har en positiv inställning och upplevelse till arbetssättet kamratrespons. Det framgår även att eleverna inte endast tränar ämnesinnehåll utan även sociala förmågor då lärandet sker i en social kontext. Resultatet visar att kamratrespons har positiv inverkan på elevers kunskapsutveckling, uthållighet och motivation. Men förmågan att ge varandra gynnsam respons kräver övning där elevernas ansvarskänsla behöver utvecklas, både för sitt eget men också för gruppens lärande. För att kunna genomföra kamratrespons på korrekt sätt krävs det prioritering från läraren under en längre period. Läraren behöver också ha en förståelse för att arbetssättet inte passar alla elever. Men då forskningen belyser goda effekter när det gäller kooperativt lärande får läraren stöd i sitt didaktiska beslut att arbeta med kamratrespons

Hyperthermia Induces Functional and Molecular Modifications in Cardiac, Smooth and Skeletal Muscle Cells

Comparative Medicine - OneHealth and Comparative Medicine Poster SessionHyperthermia is used for the treatment of a number of diseases, including muscle injuries, inflammations, tendinitis, and osteoarticular disorder. More recently, hyperthermia has been used as an adjuvant in cancer treatment. Only two studies have shown that hyperthermia leads to hypertrophy in in-vitro models of cardiac and skeletal muscle cells. Functional, biochemical and molecular mechanisms of hyperthermia-induced hypertrophy in muscles remain largely undiscovered. We investigated the effects of mild heat shock (HS) on C2C12 skeletal, HL-1 cardiac and AR-75 smooth muscle cells. Mild HS (20 min 43ºC) induced increases in the cell area in all muscle cells tested. C2C12 cells are a well-accepted model of skeletal muscle fibers, and were selected for complementary studies. First, to biochemically confirm an increase in protein synthesis we measured and found an increase of ~6% in total protein content 24 hrs after HS. Second, we examined potential modifications in calcium (Ca) homeostasis regulation by measuring intracellular Ca. We detected a lower resting level of intracellular Ca and smaller and longer caffeine-induced Ca transients in C2C12 muscle cells 24 hrs after HS. Next, to search for molecular mechanisms involved with HS-induced hypertrophy and calcium homeostasis modifications, mRNA from C2C12 muscle cells was analyzed at different time points after HS (0, 1, 2, and 24 hrs). We used an ABI Step One Plus RT2 PCR Array System and a custom-built 96 gene array. We report for the first time that the expression of key heat-shock, hypertrophy/ metabolic, and Ca+2 signaling genes were altered after HS. Hsp70 and Hsp72 genes were highly expressed (211-1829 fold change) after HS. Also, Myh7 (MHC-I), Myh6, Srf, Ppp3r1 and Pck1 were up-regulated by 2-6 fold change compared with control cells.. Furthermore, a reduction in the expression of RyR and Trdn genes was observed (2- 3.6 fold change) with an associated increase in the expression of IP3R genes (2-4 fold change). These results indicate that hyperthermia modulates not only heat-shock related and hypertrophy genes, but also genes involved with metabolism, apoptosis repression, calcium homeostasis and signaling, and cell homeostasis. Our studies offer an initial exploration of the functional, biochemical and molecular mechanisms that may help explain the beneficially adaptive effects of hyperthermia on muscle function. Our studies shall also prove useful for the refinement of a specific device (EM-Stim) to be employed for the treatment of muscle and bone diseases (See poster by Hatem et al). Importantly, our studies have potential translational applications. By learning how to more precisely use hyperthermia to control specific genes that can improve or treat muscle injuries, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular diseases, the ensuing benefits shall be unmistakable. Our short and long-term goals are: i) optimize our protocols; ii) test HS in animal models; iii) manipulate expression of promising genes of interest in vitro and in in-vivo animal models; iv) initiate clinical studies to fully translate from the bench to the bed-side