The impact of tilt grain boundaries on the thermal transport in perovskite SrTiO3 layered nanostructures. A computational study

Stacking of interfaces at different length-scales affect the lattice thermal conductivity of strontium titanate layered nanostructures improving their thermoelectric performance

Progress in low-field benchtop NMR spectroscopy in chemical and biochemical analysis

The employment of spectroscopically-resolved NMR techniques as analytical probes have previously been both prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging in view of the large sizes of high-field facilities. However, with recent advances in the miniaturisation of magnetic resonance technology, low-field, cryogen-free “benchtop” NMR instruments are seeing wider use. Indeed, these miniaturised spectrometers are utilised in areas ranging from food and agricultural analyses, through to human biofluid assays and disease monitoring. Therefore, it is both intrinsically timely and important to highlight current applications of this analytical strategy, and also provide an outlook for the future, where this approach may be applied to a wider range of analytical problems, both qualitatively and quantitatively

A Functionally Relevant Tool for the Body following Spinal Cord Injury

<div><p>A tool such as a prosthetic device that extends or restores movement may become part of the identity of the person to whom it belongs. For example, some individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) adapt their body and action representation to incorporate their wheelchairs. However, it remains unclear whether the bodily assimilation of a relevant external tool develops as a consequence of altered sensory and motor inputs from the body or of prolonged confinement sitting or lying in the wheelchair. To explore such relationships, we used a principal component analysis (PCA) on collected structured reports detailing introspective experiences of wheelchair use in 55 wheelchair-bound individuals with SCI. Among all patients, the regular use of a wheelchair induced the perception that the body’s edges are not fixed, but are instead plastic and flexible to include the wheelchair. The PCA revealed the presence of three major components. In particular, the functional aspect of the sense of embodiment concerning the wheelchair appeared to be modulated by disconnected body segments. Neither an effect of time since injury nor an effect of exposure to/experience of was detected. Patients with lesions in the lower spinal cord and with loss of movement and sensation in the legs but who retained upper body movement showed a higher degree of functional embodiment than those with lesions in the upper spinal cord and impairment in the entire body. In essence, the tool did not become an extension of the immobile limbs; rather, it became an actual tangible substitution of the functionality of the affected body part. These findings suggest that the brain can incorporate relevant artificial tools into the body schema via the natural process of continuously updating bodily signals. The ability to embody new essential objects extends the potentiality of physically impaired persons and can be used for their rehabilitation.</p> </div

Loadings of the statements on the three principal components extracted.

<p>The labels on the x-axis refer to the statements shown in panel A. Black bars indicate the statements with the highest loadings (≥0.5) for each component. <b>A.</b> Statements used to assess wheelchair embodiment.</p

Relationship between the nerve level of the SCI and movement.

<p>Among all patients with SCI recruited for this study, the level of lesions ranged from C3 to L1, as highlighted in the figure.</p

Functional aspect of the sense of embodiment concerning the wheelchair.

<p>The mean subjective ratings for the statements with the highest loadings in Component 1 in the three subject groups with complete injuries (tetraplegia, high paraplegia and lower paraplegia). The error bars indicate the standard error of the mean (SEM). The asterisks (*) indicate significant results from the post hoc comparisons (p<.05).</p

Structure and Properties of Some Layered U₂O₅ Phases: A Density Functional Theory Study

U₂O₅ is the boundary composition between the fluorite and the layered structures of the UO_2→3 system and the least studied oxide in the group. δ-U₂O₅ is the only layered structure proposed so far experimentally, although evidence of fluorite-based phases has also been reported. Our DFT work explores possible structures of U₂O₅ stoichiometry by starting from existing M₂O₅ structures (where M is an actinide or transition metal) and replacing the M ions with uranium ions. For all structures, we predicted structural and electronic properties including bulk moduli and band gaps. The majority of structures were found to be less stable than δ-U₂O₅. U₂O₅ in the R-Nb₂O₅ structure was found to be a competitive structure in terms of stability, whereas U₂O₅ in the Np₂O₅ structure was found to be the most stable overall. Indeed, by including the vibrational contribution to the free energy using the frequencies obtained from the optimized unit cells we predict that Np₂O₅ structured U₂O₅ is the most thermodynamically stable under ambient conditions. δ-U₂O₅ only becomes more stable at high temperatures and/or pressures. This suggests that a low-temperature synthesis route should be tested and so potentially opens a new avenue of research for pentavalent uranium oxides

Overview of the participants grouped according to the presence or absence of subjective (illusory ownership as measured by Q3 in the questionnaire) and objective (proprioceptive drift) measures of rubber hand illusion.

<p>The category with the highest prevalence in each group is indicated in bold.</p

A–C) Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS) items with significant differences between the healthy subjects and the SCI patients A) Item 3 ‘Parts of my body feel as if they don't belong to me’; B) Item 27 ‘I have to touch myself to make sure that I have a body or a real existence’; C) Item 28 ‘I seem to have lost some bodily sensations (e.g. of hunger and thirst) so that when I eat or drink, it feels an automatic routine’.

<p>Higher scores indicate increasing agreement with the statement. D) Significant correlation between the standard deviation of the proprioceptive judgment (i.e. accuracy in their baseline judgment) and the total CDS score.</p

Demographic and clinical data of the individuals with spinal cord injury.

<p>Demographic and clinical data of the individuals with spinal cord injury.</p