The thermoregulatory and thermal responses of individuals with a spinal cord injury during exercise, acclimation and by using cooling strategies-A systematic review

In individuals with a spinal cord injury thermoregulatory mechanisms are fully or partially interrupted. This could lead to exercise-induced hyperthermia in temperate conditions which can be even more distinct in hot conditions. Hyperthermia has been suggested to impair physiological mechanisms in athletes, which could negatively influence physical performance and subjective well-being or cause mild to severe health issues. The aim was to evaluate the literature on the thermoregulatory and thermal responses of individuals with a spinal cord injury during exercise in temperate and hot conditions taking the effects of cooling techniques and heat acclimation into account. Two electronic databases, PubMed and Web of Science were searched. Studies were eligible if they observed the influence of exercise on various thermoregulatory parameters (e.g., core and skin temperature, sweat rate, thermal sensation) in individuals with a spinal cord injury. In total 32 articles were included of which 26 were of strong, 3 of moderate and 3 of weak quality. Individuals with a high lesion level, especially those with a tetraplegia, reached a higher core and skin temperature with a lower sweat rate. The use of cooling techniques before and during exercise can positively affect the burden of the impaired thermoregulatory system in all individuals with a spinal cord injury. Due to the absence of normal thermoregulatory abilities, individuals with a high-level spinal cord injury need special attention when they are exercising in temperate and hot conditions to prevent them from potential heat related issues. The use of cooling techniques can reduce this risk. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Grossmann, Flueck, Perret, Meeusen and Roelands.

MASSIV: Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS. VI. Metallicity-related fundamental relations in star-forming galaxies at 1<z<21 < z < 2

The MASSIV (Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS) project aims at finding constraints on the different processes involved in galaxy evolution. This study proposes to improve the understanding of the galaxy mass assembly through chemical evolution using the metallicity as a tracer of the star formation and interaction history. Methods. We analyse the full sample of MASSIV galaxies for which a metallicity estimate has been possible, that is 48 star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 0.9-1.8$, and compute the integrated values of some fundamental parameters, such as the stellar mass, the metallicity and the star formation rate (SFR). The sample of star-forming galaxies at similar redshift from zCOSMOS (P\'erez-Montero et al. 2013) is also combined with the MASSIV sample. We study the cosmic evolution of the mass-metallicty relation (MZR) together with the effect of close environment and galaxy kinematics on this relation. We then focus on the so-called fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) proposed by Mannucci et al. (2010) and other relations between stellar mass, SFR and metallicity as studied by Lara-L\'opez et al. (2010). We investigate if these relations are really fundamental, i.e. if they do not evolve with redshift. Results. The MASSIV galaxies follow the expected mass-metallicity relation for their median redshift. We find however a significant difference between isolated and interacting galaxies as found for local galaxies: interacting galaxies tend to have a lower metallicity. The study of the relation between stellar mass, SFR and metallicity gives such large scattering for our sample, even combined with zCOSMOS, that it is diffcult to confirm or deny the existence of a fundamental relation

Assessing the Adequacy of the Physical, Social and Attitudinal Environment to the Specific Needs of Young Adults with Cerebral Palsy: the European Adult Environment Questionnaire

Objectives: To present the development of the European Adult Environment Questionnaire (EAEQ), to assess to what extent it covers the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and to describe the adequacy of the physical, social, and attitudinal environment to the specific needs of young adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Administrative regions in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Sweden. Participants: Young adults with CP (N=357), with varying severity profiles, aged 19-28 years at time of interview (2018-20). Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure(s): Physical, social, and attitudinal environment unmet needs. Results: Relevant environmental factors (EFs) for young adults with CP were identified during focus groups in England and Portugal. EFs were mapped to the ICF environmental classification and the EAEQ analytical structure resulted from this linking procedure. It comprised 61 items, linked to 31 ICF environmental classification categories, and covered 4 of its 5 chapters. Content validity assessed with the bandwidth index (percentage coverage of ICF Core Sets for adults with CP) was satisfactory (79.3%). A descriptive analysis was carried out. Participants had a mean age of 24 years, 56% were men, 38% had severely limited mobility. Less than 16% reported unmet needs for EFs relating to home, college/work/day placement, and communication in the Products and technology chapter. Unmet needs were higher (&gt;20%) for the other items in the Public use and Land development categories. Social support, attitudes, and understanding of relatives were often adequate to the participants’ needs. The proportion of unmet needs varied by sex (women were more often concerned) and raised with increasing gross motor impairment. Conclusion: The EAEQ describes in detail the adequacy of the environment to the specific needs of young adults with CP. Its ICF-based structure opens up possibilities for use in a universal conceptual framewor

Realistic turbulent inflow conditions for estimating the performance of a floating wind turbine

A novel method for generating turbulent inflow boundary conditions for aeroelastic computations is proposed, based on interfacing hybrid hot-wire and particle image velocimetry measurements performed in a wind tunnel to a full-scale load simulation conducted with FAST. This approach is based on the use of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to interpolate and extrapolate the experimental data onto the numerical grid. The temporal dynamics of the temporal POD coefficients is driven by the high-frequency hot-wire measurements used as input for a lower-order model built using a multi-time-delay linear stochastic estimation (LSE) approach. Being directly extracted from the data, the generated three-component velocity fields later used as inlet conditions present correct one- and two-point spatial statistics and realistic temporal dynamics. Wind tunnel measurements are performed at a scale of 1:750, using a properly scaled porous disk as a floating wind turbine model. The motions of the platform are imposed by a linear actuator. Between all 6 degrees of freedom (DOFs) possible, the present study focus on the streamwise direction motion of the model (surge motion). The POD analysis of the flow, with or without considering the presence of the surge motion of the model, shows that a few modes are able to capture the characteristics of the most energetic flow structures and the main features of the wind turbine wake, such as its meandering and the influence of the surge motion. The interfacing method is first tested to estimate the performance of a wind turbine in an offshore boundary layer and then those of a wind turbine immersed in the wake of an upstream wind turbine subjected to a sinusoidal surge motion. Results are also compared to those obtained using the standard inflow generation method provided by TurbSim available in FAST.</p

Variable strength of forest stand attributes and weather conditions on the questing activity of Ixodes ricinus ticks over years in managed forests

Given the ever-increasing human impact through land use and climate change on the environment, we crucially need to achieve a better understanding of those factors that influence the questing activity of ixodid ticks, a major disease-transmitting vector in temperate forests. We investigated variation in the relative questing nymph densities of Ixodes ricinus in differently managed forest types for three years (2008–2010) in SW Germany by drag sampling. We used a hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach to examine the relative effects of habitat and weather and to consider possible nested structures of habitat and climate forces. The questing activity of nymphs was considerably larger in young forest successional stages of thicket compared with pole wood and timber stages. Questing nymph density increased markedly with milder winter temperatures. Generally, the relative strength of the various environmental forces on questing nymph density differed across years. In particular, winter temperature had a negative effect on tick activity across sites in 2008 in contrast to the overall effect of temperature across years. Our results suggest that forest management practices have important impacts on questing nymph density. Variable weather conditions, however, might override the effects of forest management practices on the fluctuations and dynamics of tick populations and activity over years, in particular, the preceding winter temperatures. Therefore, robust predictions and the detection of possible interactions and nested structures of habitat and climate forces can only be quantified through the collection of long-term data. Such data are particularly important with regard to future scenarios of forest management and climate warming

A narrow, edge-on disk resolved around HD 106906 with SPHERE

HD~106906AB is so far the only young binary system around which a planet has been imaged and a debris disk evidenced thanks to a strong IR excess. As such, it represents a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of young planetary systems. We aim at further investigating the close (tens of au scales) environment of the HD~106906AB system. We used the extreme AO fed, high contrast imager SPHERE recently installed on the VLT to observe HD~106906. Both the IRDIS imager and the Integral Field Spectrometer were used. We discovered a very inclined, ring-like disk at a distance of 65~au from the star. The disk shows a strong brightness asymmetry with respect to its semi-major axis. It shows a smooth outer edge, compatible with ejection of small grains by the stellar radiation pressure. We show furthermore that the planet's projected position is significantly above the disk's PA. Given the determined disk inclination, it is not excluded though that the planet could still orbit within the disk plane if at a large separation (2000--3000 au). We identified several additional point sources in the SPHERE/IRDIS field-of-view, that appear to be background objects. We compare this system with other debris disks sharing similarities, and we briefly discuss the present results in the framework of dynamical evolution.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic

Normal State Resistivity of Underdoped YBa2Cu3Ox Thin Films and La2-xSrxCuO4 Ultra-Thin Films under Epitaxial Strain

The normal state resistivity of high temperature superconductors can be probed in the region below Tc by suppressing the superconducting state in high magnetic fields. Here we present the normal state properties of YBa2Cu3Ox thin films in the underdoped regime and the normal state resistance of La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films under epitaxial strain, measured below Tc by applying pulsed fields up to 60 T. A universal rho(T) behaviour is reported. We interpret these data in terms of the recently proposed 1D quantum transport model with the 1D paths corresponding to the charge stripes.Comment: 5 pages, PDF and PS, including figures, presented at MOS99 and accepted for publication in J. of Low Temp. Phy