Prediction of vertical bearing capacity of waveform micropile

This study proposes a predictive equation for bearing capacity considering the behaviour characteristics of a waveform micropile that can enhance the bearing capacity of a conventional micropile. The bearing capacity of the waveform micropile was analysed by a three-dimensional numerical model with soil and pile conditions obtained from the field and centrifuge tests. The load-transfer mechanism of the waveform micropile was revealed by the numerical analyses, and a new predictive equation for the bearing capacity was proposed. The bearing capacities of the waveform micropile calculated by the new equation were comparable with those measured from the field and centrifuge tests. This validated a prediction potential of the new equation for bearing capacity of waveform micropiles

Workfare, Wellbeing And Consumption: Evidence From A Field Experiment With Kenya’s Urban Poor

Restrictions like work requirements and constraints on voucher transfers are often used in social welfare systems, but little empirical evidence exists on their impact on wellbeing. We conducted a 10-day randomized experiment with 432 individuals living below the poverty line in the Kawangware settlement of Nairobi, Kenya, testing two elements of social welfare design: workfare versus welfare and restricted versus unrestricted vouchers. Participants were randomly assigned to a “Work” condition, involving daily work for unrestricted vouchers, or one of two “Wait” conditions, involving daily waiting for vouchers that were either unrestricted or partially restricted to staple foods. We find that working improved psychological wellbeing relative to waiting, suggesting that the means of implementing welfare programs may have important effects on individuals beyond the impact of monetary benefit alone. Furthermore, although the restrictions were inframarginal, partially restricted vouchers crowded-in spending on staple foods, suggesting the existence of a “flypaper effect” in spending from restricted vouchers

Editorial: Biology of stress granules in plants

Eukaryotic cells have developed sophisticated mechanisms to survive under ever-changing environments which include compartmentalization of translationally arrested mRNA molecules and proteins into a type of membraneless cytoplasmic foci called stress granules (SGs). Stress granules were first identified as phase-dense cytoplasmic particles formed in mammalian cells when subjected to heat shock (Arrigo et al., 1988). To date, intensive studies in yeast and animal model systems have helped elucidate the major molecular composition of SGs (Jain et al., 2016; Markmiller et al., 2018; Marmor-Kollet et al., 2020). SGs are typically consisted of small ribosomal subunits, various translation initiation factors (eIFs), poly(A)-binding proteins (PABs), and a variety of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and non-RNA-binding proteins. Although SGs were initially thought to facilitate mRNA translational arrest during stress, it has been well-documented that SGs play a more active role in stress response, mRNA triage and stress signaling, among other processes (Hofmann et al., 2021). The mechanisms governing the assembly of SGs have been recently extensively discussed (Schmit et al., 2021). Growing evidence have now suggested that SGs can be classified as droplets formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in the cytoplasm (Jain et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2020). In contrast to mammalian or yeast model system, research in the plant SGs field is still in its infancy. Despite very recent works that have begun to provide a better understanding on some of the mechanistic questions, the investigation of plant SGs still represents an emerging field. Therefore, numerous knowledge gaps remain to be filled. Here, we share with the plant biology community a Research Topic that aims to highlight the most current findings in the field of SG biology in plants.USA National Science Foundation MCB-1906060Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center OHOA1627Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIN). España PID2020-119737GA-I0

How many photons are needed to distinguish two transparencies?

We give a bound on the minimum number of photons that must be absorbed by any quantum protocol to distinguish between two transparencies. We show how a quantum Zeno method in which the angle of rotation is varied at each iteration can attain this bound in certain situations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure