Trade imbalance in international message telephone services

An econometric model is estimated to identify determinants of trade imbalance in international message telephone services markets. Results indicate that asymmetric market structure is important in explaining bilateral market imbalances for high income country pairs. For low and high income country pairs, GDP per capita is the dominant cause of traffic imbalances. The findings suggest that telecommunications liberalization policies are effective in reducing distortions in international traffic flows and settlement payments. However, liberalization should be accompanied by developmental programmes that enhance income per capita and telecommunications network investment in developing countries. Such programmes may be effective in providing a more equitable distribution of the gains from telecommunications reform across countries.Trade imbalance; international message telephone services

Cardioprotective mechanisms targeting thiol redox homeostasis and mitochondrial bioenergetics

Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, totaled mostly by deaths associated with myocardial infarction and fatal ventricular arrhythmias. The inability to predict the occurrence of these pathologies due to their sudden and transient etiologies has hindered successful translation of therapies to the clinic. Given the multi-billion-dollar economic burden that cardiovascular disease exerts, it would be beneficial to further our knowledge on ways to better treat acute coronary syndromes. The goal of this work is to determine how mitochondria impact cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, and to identify potential mechanisms to therapeutically target. The studies within were conducted on treadmill-trained male rats, ex vivo heart preparations, isolated/cell cultures, and isolated mitochondria. Herein demonstrates a strong link between susceptibility to I/R injury and cardioprotection through the manipulation of mitochondrial thiol status. Hearts from exercised rats were better protected from ischemic insults, and this coincided with preserved thiol redox homeostasis and greater stability in mitochondrial bioenergetics. The maintenance of mitochondria thiol was demonstrated through preservation of glutathione, which is a key redox control point in cardiac bioenergetics. When the thiol pool becomes more oxidized following oxidative stress, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and collapsed bioenergetics increase susceptibility to I/R injury. Glutathione reductase helps maintain cell redox homeostasis by maintaining glutathione in a reduced form, where it can be utilized in ROS scavenging and redox signaling. In cell models of hypoxia/reoxygenation, targeting glutathione reductase expression influences the cells sensitivity to mitochondrial dysfunction. Several hallmark features of the cardioprotective phenotype include reductions in myocardial infarction, resistance to arrhythmic stimuli, lower ROS accumulation, and preserved mitochondrial function. Taken together, data from the studies suggest that targeting mitochondrial function during I/R, and more specifically, targeting mitochondrial thiol homeostasis, may have beneficial affects on treating coronary heart disease symptoms

First Report of Transmission of Soybean Mosaic Virus and Alfalfa Mosaic Virus by Aphis glycines in the New World

Originating text in English.Citation: Hill, J. H., Alleman, R., Hogg, D. B., Grau, C. R. (2001). First Report of Transmission of Soybean Mosaic Virus and Alfalfa Mosaic Virus by Aphis glycines in the New World. Plant Disease, 85(5), 561-561

First experimental demonstration of temporal hypertelescope operation with a laboratory prototype

In this paper, we report the first experimental demonstration of a Temporal HyperTelescope (THT). Our breadboard including 8 telescopes is firstly tested in a manual cophasing configuration on a 1D object. The Point Spread Function (PSF) is measured and exhibits a dynamics in the range of 300. A quantitative analysis of the potential biases demonstrates that this limitation is related to the residual phase fluctuation on each interferometric arm. Secondly, an unbalanced binary star is imaged demonstrating the imaging capability of THT. In addition, 2D PSF is recorded even if the telescope array is not optimized for this purpose.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 pages, 25 figure

Trade imbalance in international message telephone services

An econometric model is estimated to identify determinants of trade imbalance in international message telephone services markets. Results indicate that asymmetric market structure is important in explaining bilateral market imbalances for high income country pairs. For low and high income country pairs, GDP per capita is the dominant cause of traffic imbalances. The findings suggest that telecommunications liberalization policies are effective in reducing distortions in international traffic flows and settlement payments. However, liberalization should be accompanied by developmental programmes that enhance income per capita and telecommunications network investment in developing countries. Such programmes may be effective in providing a more equitable distribution of the gains from telecommunications reform across countries

Impacts of Biodiesel Fuel Blends Oil Dilution on Light-Duty Diesel Engine Operation

Assesses oil dilution impacts on a diesel engine operating with a diesel particle filter, NOx storage, a selective catalytic reduction emission control system, and a soy-based 20% biodiesel fuel blend

Time-to-birth prediction models and the influence of expert opinions

Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among children under five years old. The pathophysiology and etiology of preterm labor are not yet fully understood. This causes a large number of unnecessary hospitalizations due to high--sensitivity clinical policies, which has a significant psychological and economic impact. In this study, we present a predictive model, based on a new dataset containing information of 1,243 admissions, that predicts whether a patient will give birth within a given time after admission. Such a model could provide support in the clinical decision-making process. Predictions for birth within 48 h or 7 days after admission yield an Area Under the Curve of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUC) of 0.72 for both tasks. Furthermore, we show that by incorporating predictions made by experts at admission, which introduces a potential bias, the prediction effectiveness increases to an AUC score of 0.83 and 0.81 for these respective tasks

Series-Bosch Technology for Oxygen Recovery During Lunar or Martian Surface Missions

Longduration surface missions to the Moon or Mars will require life support systems that maximize resource recovery to minimize resupply from Earth. To address this need, NASA previously proposed a SeriesBosch (SBosch) oxygen recovery system, based on the Bosch process, which can theoretically recover 100% of the oxygen from metabolic carbon dioxide. Bosch processes have the added benefits of the potential to recover oxygen from atmospheric carbon dioxide and the use of regolith materials as catalysts, thereby eliminating the need for catalyst resupply from Earth. In 2012, NASA completed an initial design for an SBosch development test stand that incorporates two catalytic reactors in series including a Reverse WaterGas Shift (RWGS) Reactor and a Carbon Formation Reactor (CFR). In 2013, fabrication of system components, with the exception of a CFR, and assembly of the test stand was initiated. Standalone testing of the RWGS reactor was completed to compare performance with design models. Continued testing of Lunar and Martian regolith simulants provided sufficient data to design a CFR intended to utilize these materials as catalysts. Finally, a study was conducted to explore the possibility of producing bricks from spend regolith catalysts. The results of initial demonstration testing of the RWGS reactor, results of continued catalyst performance testing of regolith simulants, and results of brick material properties testing are reported. Additionally, design considerations for a regolithbased CFR are discussed

Clues for a standardised thermal-optical protocol for the assessment of organic and elemental carbon within ambient air particulate matter

Along with some research networking programmes, the European Directive 2008/50/CE requires chemical speciation of fine aerosol (PM_2.5), including elemental (EC) and organic carbon (OC), at a few rural sites in European countries. Meanwhile, the thermal-optical technique is considered by the European and US networking agencies and normalisation bodies as a reference method to quantify EC–OC collected on filters. Although commonly used for many years, this technique still suffers from a lack of information on the comparability of the different analytical protocols (temperature protocols, type of optical correction) currently applied in the laboratories. To better evaluate the EC–OC data set quality and related uncertainties, the French National Reference Laboratory for Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (LCSQA) organised an EC–OC comparison exercise for French laboratories using different thermal-optical methods (five laboratories only). While there is good agreement on total carbon (TC) measurements among all participants, some differences can be observed on the EC / TC ratio, even among laboratories using the same thermal protocol. These results led to further tests on the influence of the optical correction: results obtained from different European laboratories confirmed that there were higher differences between OC_TOT and OC_TOR measured with NIOSH 5040 in comparison to EUSAAR-2. Also, striking differences between EC_TOT / EC_TOR ratios can be observed when comparing results obtained for rural and urban samples, with EC_TOT being 50% lower than EC_TOR at rural sites whereas it is only 20% lower at urban sites. The PM chemical composition could explain these differences but the way it influences the EC–OC measurement is not clear and needs further investigation. Meanwhile, some additional tests seem to indicate an influence of oven soiling on the EC–OC measurement data quality. This highlights the necessity to follow the laser signal decrease with time and its impact on measurements. Nevertheless, this should be confirmed by further experiments, involving more samples and various instruments, to enable statistical processing. All these results provide insights to determine the quality of EC–OC analytical methods and may contribute to the work toward establishing method standardisation

Achievement of Low Emissions by Engine Modification to Utilize Gas-to-Liquid Fuel and Advanced Emission Controls on a Class 8 Truck

A 2002 Cummins ISM engine was modified to be optimized for operation on gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel and advanced emission control devices. The engine modifications included increased exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), decreased compression ratio, and reshaped piston and bowl configuration