Risk compensation during COVID-19: The impact of face mask usage on social distancing

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via the DOI in this recordTo reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments around the world have recommended or required minimum physical distancing between individuals, as well as either mandating or recommending the use of face coverings (masks) in certain circumstances. When multiple risk reduction activities can be adopted, people may engage in risk compensation by responding to a reduced (perceived) risk exposure due to one activity by increasing risk exposure due to another. We tested for risk compensation in two online experiments that investigated whether either wearing a mask or seeing others wearing masks reduced physical distancing. We presented participants with stylized images of everyday scenarios involving themselves with or without a mask and a stranger with or without a mask. For each scenario, participants indicated the minimum distance they would keep from the stranger. In line with risk compensation, we found that participants indicated they would stand, sit, or walk closer to the stranger if either of them was wearing a mask. This form of risk compensation was stronger for those who believed masks were effective at preventing catching or spreading COVID-19, and for younger (18-40 years) compared to older (over 65 years) participants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Transboundary water interaction III: contest and compliance

This paper serves international water conflict resolution efforts by examining the ways that states contest hegemonic transboundary water arrangements. The conceptual framework of dynamic transboundary water interaction that it presents integrates theories about change and counter-hegemony to ascertain coercive, leverage, and liberating mechanisms through which contest and transformation of an arrangement occur. While the mechanisms can be active through sociopolitical processes either of compliance or of contest of the arrangement, most transboundary water interaction is found to contain elements of both. The role of power asymmetry is interpreted through classification of intervention strategies that seek to either influence or challenge the arrangements. Coexisting contest and compliance serve to explain in part the stasis on the Jordan and Ganges rivers (where the non-hegemons have in effect consented to the arrangement), as well as the changes on the Tigris and Mekong rivers, and even more rapid changes on the Amu Darya and Nile rivers (where the non-hegemons have confronted power asymmetry through influence and challenge). The framework also stresses how transboundary water events that may appear isolated are more accurately read within the many sociopolitical processes and arrangements they are shaped by. By clarifying the typically murky dynamics of interstate relations over transboundary waters, furthermore, the framework exposes a new suite of entry points for hydro-diplomatic initiatives

Nanofluid impingement jet heat transfer

Experimental investigation to study the heat transfer between a vertical round alumina-water nanofluid jet and a horizontal circular round surface is carried out. Different jet flow rates, jet nozzle diameters, various circular disk diameters and three nanoparticles concentrations (0, 6.6 and 10%, respectively) are used. The experimental results indicate that using nanofluid as a heat transfer carrier can enhance the heat transfer process. For the same Reynolds number, the experimental data show an increase in the Nusselt numbers as the nanoparticle concentration increases. Size of heating disk diameters shows reverse effect on heat transfer. It is also found that presenting the data in terms of Reynolds number at impingement jet diameter can take into account on both effects of jet heights and nozzle diameter. Presenting the data in terms of Peclet numbers, at fixed impingement nozzle diameter, makes the data less sensitive to the percentage change of the nanoparticle concentrations. Finally, general heat transfer correlation is obtained verses Peclet numbers using nanoparticle concentrations and the nozzle diameter ratio as parameters

Development of a few TW Ti:Sa laser system at 100 Hz for proton acceleration

[EN] We report the development of a table-top high peak power Titanium:Sapphire (Ti:Sa) CPA laser working at 100 Hz capable of delivering 205 mJ, 55 fs pulses. Every amplification stage is pumped by Nd-doped solid-state lasers and fully powered by diodes. Thermal effects in the Ti:Sa amplifiers are compensated passively with optics. This system is intended to be used for proton acceleration experiments at high repetition rates.Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI, Spain) within the INNPRONTA program, Grant no. IPT-20111027.Lera, R.; Bellido-Millán, PJ.; Sánchez, I.; Mur, P.; Seimetz, M.; Benlloch Baviera, JM.; Roso, L.... (2019). Development of a few TW Ti:Sa laser system at 100 Hz for proton acceleration. Applied Physics B. 125(1):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-018-7113-8S181251P. Zeitoun, G. Faivre, S. Sebban, T. Mocek, A. Hallou, M. Fajardo, D. Aubert, P. Balcou, F. Burgy, D. Douillet, S. Kazamias, G. de Lachèze-Murel, T. Lefrou, S. le Pape, P. Mercère, H. Merdji, A.S. Morlens, J.P. Rousseau, C. Valentin, Nature 431(7007), 426–429 (2004)V. Malka, S. Fritzler, E. Lefebvre, M.-M. Aleonard, F. Burgy, J.-P. Chambaret, J.-F. Chemin, K. Krushelnick, G. Malka, S.P.D. Mangles, Z. Najmudin, M. Pittman, J.-P. Rousseau, J.-N. Scheurer, B. Walton, A.E. Dangor, Science 298(5598), 1596–1600 (2002)H. Daido, M. Nishiuchi, A.S. Pirozhkov, Rep. Progress Phys. 75(5), 056401 (2012)A. Macchi, M. Borghesi, M. Passoni, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 751–793 (2013)T. Tajima, J.M. Dawson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 267–270 (1979)M. Noaman-ul Haq, H. Ahmed, T. Sokollik, L. Yu, Z. Liu, X. Yuan, F. Yuan, M. Mirzaie, X. Ge, L. Chen, J. Zhang, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 20, 041301 (2017)D. Strickland, G. Mourou, Opt. Commun. 53(3), 219–221 (1985)G. Cheriaux, B. Walker, L.F. Dimauro, P. Rousseau, F. Salin, J.P. Chambaret, Opt. Lett. 21(6), 414–416 (1996)P. Tournois, Opt. Commun. 140(4), 245–249 (1997)R. Soulard, A. Brignon, S. Raby, E. Durand, R. Moncorgé, Appl. Phys. B 106(2), 295–300 (2012)J. Liu, L. Ge, L. Feng, H. Jiang, H. Su, T. Zhou, J. Wang, Q. Gao, J. Li, Chin. Opt. Lett. 14(5), 051404 (2016)A. Maleki, M.K. Tehrani, H. Saghafifar, M.H.M. Dindarlu, H. Ebadian, Laser Phys. 26(2), 025003 (2016)R. Lera, F. Valle-Brozas, S. Torres-Peiró, A.R. de-la Cruz, M. Galán, P. Bellido, M. Seimetz, J.M. Benlloch, L. Roso, Appl. Opt. 55(33), 9573–9576 (2016)R. Lausten, P. Balling, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 20(7), 1479–1485 (2003)I. Nam, M. Kim, T.H. Lee, S.W. Lee, H. Suk, Curr. Appl. Phys. 15(4), 468–472 (2015)E. Treacy, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 5(9), 454–458 (1969)A. Trisorio, S. Grabielle, M. Divall, N. Forget, C.P. Hauri, Opt. Lett. 37(14), 2892–2894 (2012)Y.-H. Cha, Y.-W. Lee, S.M. Nam, J.M. Han, Y.J. Rhee, B.D. Yoo, B.C. Lee, Y.U. Jeong, Appl. Opt. 46(28), 6854–6858 (2007)P. Bellido, R. Lera, M. Seimetz, A.R. de la Cruz, S. Torres-Peiró, M. Galán, P. Mur, I. Sánchez, R. Zaffino, L. Vidal, A. Soriano, S. Sánchez, F. Sánchez, M. Rodríguez-Álvarez, J. Rigla, L. Moliner, A. Iborra, L. Hernández, D. Grau-Ruiz, A. González, J. García-Garrigos, E. Díaz-Caballero, P. Conde, A. Aguilar, L. Roso, J. Benlloch, J. Instrum. 12(05), T05001 (2017

The role of valuation and bargaining in optimising transboundary watercourse treaty regimes

In the face of water scarcity, growing water demands, population increase, ecosystem degradation, climate change, and so on transboundary watercourse states inevitably have to make difficult decisions on how finite quantities of water are distributed. Such waters, and their associated ecosystem services, offer multiple benefits. Valuation and bargaining can play a key role in the sharing of these ecosystems services and their associated benefits across sovereign borders. Ecosystem services in transboundary watercourses essentially constitute a portfolio of assets. Whilst challenging, their commodification, which creates property rights, supports trading. Such trading offers a means by which to resolve conflicts over competing uses and allows states to optimise their ‘portfolios’. However, despite this potential, adoption of appropriate treaty frameworks that might facilitate a market-based approach to the discovery and allocation of water-related ecosystem services at the transboundary level remains both a challenge, and a topic worthy of further study. Drawing upon concepts in law and economics, this paper therefore seeks to advance the study of how treaty frameworks might be developed in a way that supports such a market-based approach to ecosystem services and transboundary waters

Estrogen- and Progesterone (P4)-Mediated Epigenetic Modifications of Endometrial Stromal Cells (EnSCs) and/or Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSCs) in the Etiopathogenesis of Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common chronic inflammatory condition in which endometrial tissue appears outside the uterine cavity. Because ectopic endometriosis cells express both estrogen and progesterone (P4) receptors, they grow and undergo cyclic proliferation and breakdown similar to the endometrium. This debilitating gynecological disease affects up to 15% of reproductive aged women. Despite many years of research, the etiopathogenesis of endometrial lesions remains unclear. Retrograde transport of the viable menstrual endometrial cells with retained ability for attachment within the pelvic cavity, proliferation, differentiation and subsequent invasion into the surrounding tissue constitutes the rationale for widely accepted implantation theory. Accordingly, the most abundant cells in the endometrium are endometrial stromal cells (EnSCs). These cells constitute a particular population with clonogenic activity that resembles properties of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs). Thus, a significant role of stem cell-based dysfunction in formation of the initial endometrial lesions is suspected. There is increasing evidence that the role of epigenetic mechanisms and processes in endometriosis have been underestimated. The importance of excess estrogen exposure and P4 resistance in epigenetic homeostasis failure in the endometrial/endometriotic tissue are crucial. Epigenetic alterations regarding transcription factors of estrogen and P4 signaling pathways in MSCs are robust in endometriotic tissue. Thus, perspectives for the future may include MSCs and EnSCs as the targets of epigenetic therapies in the prevention and treatment of endometriosis. Here, we reviewed the current known changes in the epigenetic background of EnSCs and MSCs due to estrogen/P4 imbalances in the context of etiopathogenesis of endometriosis

Neuroendocrine–immune disequilibrium and endometriosis: an interdisciplinary approach

Endometriosis, a chronic disease characterized by endometrial tissue located outside the uterine cavity, affects one fourth of young women and is associated with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. However, an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiology and effective treatment strategies of endometriosis is still largely elusive. Inadequate immune and neuroendocrine responses are significantly involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, and key findings are summarized in the present review. We discuss here the role of different immune mechanisms particularly adhesion molecules, protein–glycan interactions, and pro-angiogenic mediators in the development and progression of the disease. Finally, we introduce the concept of endometrial dissemination as result of a neuroendocrine-immune disequilibrium in response to high levels of perceived stress caused by cardinal clinical symptoms of endometriosis

The state of health in the European Union (EU-27) in 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease study 2019

Background: The European Union (EU) faces many health-related challenges. Burden of diseases information and the resulting trends over time are essential for health planning. This paper reports estimates of disease burden in the EU and individual 27 EU countries in 2019, and compares them with those in 2010.Methods: We used the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study estimates and 95% uncertainty intervals for the whole EU and each country to evaluate age-standardised death, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates for Level 2 causes, as well as life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (HALE).Results:In 2019, the age-standardised death and DALY rates in the EU were 465.8 deaths and 20,251.0 DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. Between 2010 and 2019, there were significant decreases in age-standardised death and YLL rates across EU countries. However, YLD rates remained mainly unchanged. The largest decreases in age-standardised DALY rates were observed for "HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases" and "transport injuries" (each -19%). "Diabetes and kidney diseases" showed a significant increase for age-standardised DALY rates across the EU (3.5%). In addition, "mental disorders" showed an increasing age-standardised YLL rate (14.5%).Conclusions: There was a clear trend towards improvement in the overall health status of the EU but with differences between countries. EU health policymakers need to address the burden of diseases, paying specific attention to causes such as mental disorders. There are many opportunities for mutual learning among otherwise similar countries with different patterns of disease