Identification of the Representative Point for Soil Moisture Storage Using a Precipitation History Model

Soil water storage is an essential variable in hydrological processes at the hillslope scale. This study proposed models for predicting soil water based on the precipitation history. According to the mathematical analysis of soil water storage on the hillslope scale, hydrological fluxes can be effectively expressed in terms of the weighted time series of precipitation and evapotranspiration. Moreover, the impact of evapotranspiration on soil water storage was incorporated into the model structure as an autoregressive process. A new soil water prediction model was developed through the integration of the soil moisture stochastic process into the structure of a precipitation-based model for the hillslope scale. Intensive soil moisture and rainfall data collected over two years were then used to test the performance of the developed models for two different hillslopes. The proposed model exhibited a better ability to find representative points for soil water storage than either existing precipitation-based models or the temporal stability method

Varying importance of the work-life balance dimension of career success for Korean accountants: The effects of gender and generation

In this study, we examine the effects of gender, generation, and the interaction between gender and generation on Korean accountants’ perception of career success. With the large survey data collected from 1,000 accountants working in South Korea, we found that Korean female accountants have higher perceived importance of work-life balance dimension of career success than male accountants; and younger generations (Millennials or younger) have higher perceived importance for this dimension than older generations (Generation X or older). No interaction effects between gender and generation were found in relation to the perceived importance of work-life balance dimension of career success. Specifically, female accountants had higher perceived importance of work-life balance than their male counterparts regardless of generation; and while the mean was higher for younger generations the gap between the female accountants’ means and the male accountants’ means of work-life balance dimension has not been reduced. The insignificant interaction effects between gender and generation regarding the perceived level of the work-life balance dimension of career success suggest that, despite the national and organizational efforts in changing the gender discriminating practices, Korean accounting field may still be making a very slow progress in breaking its glass ceiling

Spatially arranged encapsulation of stem cell spheroids within hydrogels for the regulation of spheroid fusion and cell migration

Mesenchymal stem cell spheroids have been encapsulated in hydrogels for various applications because spheroids demonstrate higher cell activity than individual cells in suspension. However, there is limited information on the effect of distance between spheroids (inter-spheroid distance) on fusion or migration in a hydrogel. In this study, we developed temperature-responsive hydrogels with surface microwell patterns to culture adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) spheroids and deliver them into a Matrigel for the investigation of the effect of inter-spheroid distance on spheroid behavior. The ASC spheroids were encapsulated successfully in a Matrigel, denoted as sandwich culture, with a specific inter-spheroid distance ranging from 100 to 400 ??m. Interestingly, ASCs migrated from the host spheroid and formed a bridge-like structure between spheroids, denoted as a cellular bridge, only when the inter-spheroid distance was 200 ??m. Thus, we performed a sandwich culture of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and ASCs in co-cultured spheroids in the Matrigel to create a homogeneous endothelial cell network in the hydrogel. The HUVECs sprouted through the ASC cellular bridge and directly interacted with the adjacent spheroid when the inter-spheroid distance was 200 ??m. Similar results were obtained from an in vivo study. Thus, our study suggests the appropriate inter-spheroid distance for effective spheroid encapsulation in a hydrogel

Additional file 1 of Development of a composite hydrogel incorporating anti-inflammatory and osteoinductive nanoparticles for effective bone regeneration

Supplementary material