Drop of Activity of the Oxygen Electrode on the Base of Ag Catalyst (Polytetrafluorethylene)

The article describes the determination of the effect of »impurities«, o,riginating from dissolution of the cell components, upon the activity of the oxygen electrode Ag-catalyst .in 7 N KOH. It was confirmed that the silver surface plays a more serious part in electrochemical processes than it had been assumed previously. It refers, above all, to the formation and solubility of silver oxides and further to eventual adsorption of ions [Ag(OH) 2]- on the active surface of the oxygen electrode silver catalyst, especially with positive potentials in unloaded conditions. For the determination of the total effect of events upon the activity of the oxygen electrode, methods comparing the changes of current density, in dependence on time, were applied. Current density was measured with electrode potential of -300 mV vs. Hg/HgO. The experiments proved that the activity of the oxygen electrode on the base of Ag catalyst ~ PTFE in unloaded conditions and without oxygen pressure in 7 N KOH at the approximate temperature of 63° C, drops expressively with time. More we observed the influence of the collector material construction, effect of Zn, Ni, Cd and Fe, effect of amalgamation of the oxygen electrode and effect of CO i- upon its activity. It was proved, on the basis of experimental results, that the oxygen electrode on the basis of Ag/PTFE is practically inapplicable. »Selfpoisoning « occurs here probably due to the effect of ions [Ag(OH) 2]-. On the other hand, the formation of [Ag(OH)2]- can be utilized in the production technology of electron conductive skeleton of the electrode by the application of a mixture of silver and electronegative metal, e. g. Zn

Effect of bacteria on pre-formed and nascent biofilms of Irpex lacteus

Fungal biofilms are applicable to removal of pollutants in biofilters in nonsterile conditions but the bacterial effect is poorly known. Interactions between fungal and bacterial organisms were investigated in preformed or nascent biofilms and the enzyme activities and degradation capacity measured. Different effects of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on degradation of an anthraquinone dye by fungal biofilms colonizing polyurethane foam (PUF) in the presence of bacteria (104-106 CFU) at pH 4.5 and 6 were observed in a 10-day experiment: the former bacterium inhibited degradation whereas the latter not. Production of peroxidases but not of laccase was reduced; the bacteria could not remove the dye. The fungal biomass amount colonizing PUF was unaffected by bacteria, E. coli and P. aeruginosa increased their respective counts by 1 to 3 and 0 to 2 orders of magnitude. In contrast, the degradation capacity (85-95% decolorization rate at pH 5.5) of preformed 1-week-old fungal biofilms colonizing PUF or pinewood was not affected by the added 106 CFU of E.coli in a 4-week experiment. The fungal growth was reduced 1.4-fold and bacterial counts increased up to 2-fold compared to bacterial controls. The results demonstrate a significant resistance of preformed I. lacteus biofilms to bacterial stress which is important for practical application.The work was supported by the project IAAX00200901

Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have long been a central focus of complexity science and physics. To better grasp and understand symmetry of configurations in decentralized toroidal architectures, we employ group-theoretic methods, which allow us to identify and enumerate these inputs, and argue about irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational problems. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied to two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. Regardless of the transition function, the results show the universal insolvability of crucial distributed tasks, such as leader election, pattern recognition, hashing, and encryption. By using compact enumeration formulas and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate the probability of a configuration being shift-symmetric for a uniform or density-uniform distribution. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. Given the resource constraints, the enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error and provide recommendations for system's size and initialization. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 appendice

Towards actionable international comparisons of health system performance: expert revision of the OECD framework and quality indicators

Objective To review and update the conceptual framework, indicator content and research priorities of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) project, after a decade of collaborative work. Design A structured assessment was carried out using a modified Delphi approach, followed by a consensus meeting, to assess the suite of HCQI for international comparisons, agree on revisions to the original framework and set priorities for research and development. Setting International group of countries participating to OECD projects. Participants Members of the OECD HCQI expert group. Results A reference matrix, based on a revised performance framework, was used to map and assess all seventy HCQI routinely calculated by the OECD expert group. A total of 21 indicators were agreed to be excluded, due to the following concerns: (i) relevance, (ii) international comparability, particularly where heterogeneous coding practices might induce bias, (iii) feasibility, when the number of countries able to report was limited and the added value did not justify sustained effort and (iv) actionability, for indicators that were unlikely to improve on the basis of targeted policy interventions. Conclusions The revised OECD framework for HCQI represents a new milestone of a long-standing international collaboration among a group of countries committed to building common ground for performance measurement. The expert group believes that the continuation of this work is paramount to provide decision makers with a validated toolbox to directly act on quality improvement strategie

COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset on psychological and behavioural consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak

This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey – an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortium from 39 countries and regions worked together to build and translate a survey with variables of shared interests, and recruited participants in 47 languages and dialects. Raw plus cleaned data and dynamic visualizations are available

Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries

People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal. Indeed, 99% of participants reported spending >10 min a day performing beauty-enhancing behaviors. The results largely support evolutionary hypotheses: more time was spent enhancing beauty by women (almost 4 h a day, on average) than by men (3.6 h a day), by the youngest participants (and contrary to predictions, also the oldest), by those with a relatively more severe history of infectious diseases, and by participants currently dating compared to those in established relationships. The strongest predictor of attractiveness-enhancing behaviors was social media usage. Other predictors, in order of effect size, included adhering to traditional gender roles, residing in countries with less gender equality, considering oneself as highly attractive or, conversely, highly unattractive, TV watching time, higher socioeconomic status, right-wing political beliefs, a lower level of education, and personal individualistic attitudes. This study provides novel insight into universal beauty-enhancing behaviors by unifying evolutionary theory with several other complementary perspectives

Stress and worry in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic: Relationships to trust and compliance with preventive measures across 48 countries in the COVIDiSTRESS global survey

The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173 429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus restrictions and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments' efforts, there was no clear geographical pattern in compliance with behavioural measures. Detailed plots illustrating between-countries differences are provided. Using both traditional and Bayesian analyses, we found that individuals who worried about getting sick worked harder to protect themselves and others. However, concern about the coronavirus itself did not account for all of the variances in experienced stress during the early months of COVID-19 restrictions. More alarmingly, such stress was associated with less compliance. Further, those most concerned over the coronavirus trusted in government measures primarily where policies were strict. While concern over a disease is a source of mental distress, other factors including strictness of protective measures, social support and personal lockdown conditions must also be taken into consideration to fully appreciate the psychological impact of COVID-19 and to understand why some people fail to follow behavioural guidelines intended to protect themselves and others from infection. The Stage 1 manuscript associated with this submission received in-principle acceptance (IPA) on 18 May 2020. Following IPA, the accepted Stage 1 version of the manuscript was preregistered on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/g2t3b. This preregistration was performed prior to data analysis

Stress and worry in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic: relationships to trust and compliance with preventive measures across 48 countries in the COVIDiSTRESS global survey

The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173 429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus restrictions and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments' efforts, there was no clear geographical pattern in compliance with behavioural measures. Detailed plots illustrating between-countries differences are provided. Using both traditional and Bayesian analyses, we found that individuals who worried about getting sick worked harder to protect themselves and others. However, concern about the coronavirus itself did not account for all of the variances in experienced stress during the early months of COVID-19 restrictions. More alarmingly, such stress was associated with less compliance. Further, those most concerned over the coronavirus trusted in government measures primarily where policies were strict. While concern over a disease is a source of mental distress, other factors including strictness of protective measures, social support and personal lockdown conditions must also be taken into consideration to fully appreciate the psychological impact of COVID-19 and to understand why some people fail to follow behavioural guidelines intended to protect themselves and others from infection. The Stage 1 manuscript associated with this submission received in-principle acceptance (IPA) on 18 May 2020. Following IPA, the accepted Stage 1 version of the manuscript was preregistered on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/g2t3b. This preregistration was performed prior to data analysis

Self and others' willingness to pay for improvements to the paved road surface

A contingent valuation study involving a quasi-experimental design was undertaken to measure motorists self and perceived others' willingness to pay (WTP) for improvements to the paved road surface. The three benefits considered were: (1) improved fuel efficiency, (2) reduced interior noise and (3) reduced stopping distance in wet conditions. To assess the perceived relative importance of the improvements, 1200 motorists received one of eighteen versions of a questionnaire outlining a road surface scenario with different levels of the benefits within a 3 × 2 × 3 factorial design. It was found that motorists were willing to pay for improved fuel efficiency and reduced interior vehicle noise. However, motorists showed no significant WTP for a reduction in vehicle stopping distance. No systematic bias is detected in perceptions of self-other WTP for road surface improvements and perceived other WTP presents the same pattern of results. These findings are contrasted with the finding for a preference for Government to spend additional petrol taxation on safety benefits. The explanation for the absence of a positive WTP for reduced stopping distance is discussed along with the importance of recognising that motorists' preference for improved safety benefits need not translate into a positive WTP.

Curve Advisory Speeds in New Zealand

This research project investigated the use of curve advisory speed signs in New Zealand. A literature review identified key issues to examine. Current traffic behaviour at the location of curve advisory speed signs was observed in order to determine effectiveness and compliance. Alternative methods for determining curve advisory speeds, using road geometry data or accelerometer-based systems, were compared with ball-bank surveys. The existing criteria and methods used for setting curve advisory speeds in New Zealand were assessed in light of the above findings, and changes suggested