The causes of government and the consequences for growth and well-being

Using a large cross-country data set, the authors examine the factors that cause governments to grow, and analyze how the size of government affects growth, whether measured as income growth or other measures of well-being, such as infant mortality and life expectancy. They find no robust link between government size and per capita income. The factors they find to be important in explaining government size are relative prices, the age-dependency ratio, how long a country has been independent, relative political freedom, and openness in trade. Their results also partially support the view that governments use consumption to buffer external risk, especially in low-income countries. As for how government size affects growth, they find a robust and significant negative relationship between growth and government size, as measured by consumption. Policy distortions, predictably, also have a negative effect on growth. But the positive effects of well-functioning institutions and high quality in government bureaucracies can offset the negative influence of large government size alone. Finally, they find that social-sector spending can exert a positive influence by reducing infant mortality and raising life expectancy. Better income distribution, higher per capita income, higher per capita income growth, and more political freedom have the same positive effect on those two measures of well-being.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Knowledge Economy,Knowledge Economy,Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance,Economic Theory&Research,Inequality

Length-weight and length-length relationships, relative condition factor and Fulton’s condition factor of five Cyprinid species in Anzali wetland, southwest of the Caspian Sea

This study was conducted to determine length-weight and length-length relationships, relative condition factor (Krel) and Fulton’s condition factor (K) for five species including Scardinius erythrophtalmus, Carassius auratus gibelio, Cyprinus carpio, Tinca tinca and Hemiculter leucisculus belonging to Cyprinidae family. Fish sampling was carried out by gill net and fyke net in the western region of Anzali wetland (SW of the Caspian Sea) between Nov. 2010 and May 2011. 368 specimens were measured and weighed. The values of the exponent b in the length-weight relationships (LWRs) ranged from 2.5358 to 3.3613 and those of the length-length relationship (LLRs) ranged from 0.8717 to 0.9412. Also, relative condition factor (Krel) ranged from 1.00±0.11 to 1.30±0.21 and Fulton’s condition factor (K) ranged from 0.80±0.05 to 1.60±0.18 for all species

Output-only Modal Identification of beams with different boundary condition

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) evaluates the integrity of a structure by observing its dynamic responses by an array of sensors over time to determine the current health state of the structure. The most important step of SHM is system identification which in civil structures is the identification of modal parameters of structures. Due to numerous limitations of input-output methods, system identification of ambient vibration structures using output-only identification techniques has become a key issue in structural health monitoring and assessment of engineering structures. In this paper, four beams with different boundary conditions and with arbitrary loading have been modeled in finite element software, ANSYS, and the responses (Acceleration of nodes) have been achieved. By using these data and the codes written in MATLAB software, the modal parameters (natural frequencies, mode shapes) of the beams are identified with FDD (frequency Domain Decomposition) and PP (Peak Picking) methods and then justified with the results of input-output method which was determined by frequency relation function (FRF). The results indicate a good agreement between the three methods for determining the dynamic characteristics of beams.Comment: Conference paper. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2010.0749

Effect of substrate grain size on structural and corrosion properties of electrodeposited nickel layer protected with self-assembled film of stearic acid

In the present study, the impact of copper substrate grain size on the structure of the succeeding electrodeposited nickel film and its consequent corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl medium were evaluated before and after functionalization with stearic acid. Nickel layers were electrodeposited on two different copper sheets with average grain size of 12 and 25 \u3bcm, followed by deposition of stearic acid film through self-assembly. X-ray diffraction analysis of the electrodeposited nickel films revealed that the deposition of nickel film on the Cu substrate with small (12 \u3bcm) and large (25 \u3bcm) grains is predominantly governed by growth in the (220) and (111) planes, respectively. Both electrodeposited films initially exhibited a hydrophilic nature, with water-contact angles of 56\ub0 and <10\ub0, respectively. After functionalization with stearic acid, superhydrophobic films with contact angles of ~150\ub0 were obtained on both samples. In a 3.5% NaCl medium, the corrosion resistance of the nickel layer electrodeposited on the copper substrate with 25 \u3bcm grains was three times greater than that deposited on the copper substrate with 12 \u3bcm grains. After functionalization, the corrosion resistance of both films was greatly improved in both short and long immersion times in 3.5% NaCl medium

Injectable hydrogels : An emerging therapeutic strategy for cartilage regeneration

Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the funding support from the North Staffordshire Medical Institute (NSMI Research Awards 2021). Arjan Atwal gratefully thanks Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences , Keele University , for funding his PhD studentship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dissociation Between Attention and Consciousness During a Novel Task: an ERP Study

While consciousness and attention seem to be tightly connected, recent evidence has suggested that one of these processes can be present in the absence of the other. Recent researches showed that observers can pay attention to an invisible (unconscious) stimulus, and that a stimulus can be clearly perceived (seen) in the absence of attention. We have proposed a novel psychophysical task to explore neural correlates of top-down attention and consciousness. The task is meant to confirm that these two processes can occur independently of each other. EEG was recorded during realizations of the task and target-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) for masked and unmasked conditions were constructed. Time features corresponding to the P100, N150, and P300 components were extracted for each channel separately. Utilizing these features, we employed some common classifiers for classification of the fourfold state. Our task could separate attention and consciousness successfully through their neural correlates. The results indicate that some of the mentioned components changed when attention or consciousness occurs. By comparing difference waves in each condition separately, our results introduce new ERP correlates of attention and consciousness. We also revealed that parieto-occipital areas are the most relevant areas for dissociation between attention and consciousness. To our knowledge, this is the first time that these correlates are introduced in a separable mode, and that the classification accuracies are reported for this purpose.Як вважають, увага та усвідомлення тісно поєднані, проте результати недавніх досліджень дають підстави думати, що один із цих процесів може реалізуватися за відсутності другого. У новітніх експериментах виявилося, що спостерігачі можуть приділяти увагу невидимому (неусвідомлюваному) стимулу і що стимул може чітко розпізнаватися (диференціюватися) за відсутності уваги. Ми запропонували нове психофізіологічне завдання для дослідження нервових корелятів змін рівнів уваги та усвідомлення. Цільові ЕЕГпотенціали, пов’язані з подією (ППП), відводили в умовах пред’явлення замаскованих та незамаскованих візуальних патернів. Часові характеристики компонентів P100, N150 та P300 визначалися роздільно для відведень по кожному ЕЕГканалу. З урахуванням цих характеристик були використані певні загальні класифікатори для параметрів, спостережуваних у всіх чотирьох стимуляційних станах. У нашому тесті ефекти уваги та усвідомлення могли бути успішно розділені відповідно до їх нервових ЕЕГ-корелятів. Згідно з отриманими результатами, згадані вище компоненти ППП змінюються залежно від того, як проявляється увага або усвідомлення. Роздільне порівняння відмінностей між хвилями ППП для кожної з умов дозволило виявити нові кореляти уваги та усвідомлення, що відбиваються в ППП. Показано також, що тім’яно-потиличні кортикальні зони є структурами, найбільшою мірою пов’язаними з дисоціацією ефектів уваги та усвідомлення. Як ми вважаємо, ці кореляти вперше представлені з використанням методики, котра дозволяє їх розрізнити, і наведені дані щодо точності такої диференціації

Thermoplastic impact property improvement in hybrid natural fibre epoxy composite bumper beam

Utilization of thermoset resin as a bumper beam composite matrix is currently more dominated in car manufacturer suppliers, because of availability, easy processing, low material cost and production equipment investment. Moreover, low viscosity, shrinkage and excellent flow facilitate better fibre impregnation and proper surface resin wetting. Three-dimensional cross linking curing increase impact, creep and environmental stress cracking resistance properties. Low impact properties of natural fibre epoxy composite, are main issues in its employment for automotive structural components. Impact properties in epoxy composite bumper beam could be increased by modifying the resin, reinforcement and manufacturing process as well as geometry parameters such as cross section, thickness, added ribs and fixing method optimizations could strengthen impact resistance. There are two main methods, flexibilisation and toughening, as modifying the resin in order to improve the impact properties of epoxy composite, which form single phase or two-phase morphology to make modifier as epoxy or from separate phase to keep the thermo-mechanical properties. Liquid rubber, thermoplastic, core shell particle and rigid particle are different methods of toughening improvements. In this research, thermoplastic toughening has used to improve impact properties in hybrid natural fibre epoxy composite for automotive bumper beam and has achieved reasonable impact improvements

Effect of hydrogen peroxide on bovine serum albumin adsorption on Ti6Al4V alloy: A scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy study

Abstract Protein adsorption on the surface of implant materials greatly affects the performance of the implants, such as their stability as well as the release of metal ions from and the adhesion of cells to their surface. In addition, the production of extracellular H2O2 from the activation of inflammatory cells could interfere with protein–metal interactions and/or modify the conformation of adsorbed proteins. In this study, we utilised scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPFM) to visualise the impact of H2O2 on bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption on the positively polarised Ti6Al4V alloy in a phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution. We show that the negatively charged BSA adsorbs onto the surface of polished and anodically polarised Ti6Al4V in a dense layer with a continuous network-like morphology or cluster shape and reduces the variation in the total surface potential compared to that of blank Ti6Al4V. However, addition of H2O2 to the PBS solution interferes with the formation of the dense protein network, and only a thin and discontinuous protein layer adsorbs onto the surface of the Ti6Al4V alloy, lowering the total surface potential difference. The information presented in this work provides new insights into the adsorption distribution of proteins on metallic substrates in biomaterials field

Вимоги видавничого відділу ІМФЕ ім. М. Т. Рильського до оформлення авторами рукописів

Industrial parts are manufactured to tolerances as no production process is capable of delivering perfectly identical parts. It is unacceptable that a plan for a manipulation task that was determined on the basis of a CAD model of a part fails on some manufactured instance of that part, and therefore it is crucial that the admitted shape variations are systematically taken into account during the planning of the task. We study the problem of orienting a part with given admitted shape variations by means of pushing with a single frictionless jaw. We use a very general model for admitted shape variations that only requires that any valid instance must contain a given convex polygon PI while it must be contained in another convex polygon PE. The problem that we solve is to determine, for a given h, the sequence of h push actions that puts all valid instances of a part with given shape variation into the smallest possible interval of final orientations. The resulting algorithm runs in O(hn) time, where n=|PI|+|PE|

Advanced Hydrogels for Cartilage Tissue Engineering: Recent Progress and Future Directions

Cartilage is a tension- and load-bearing tissue and has a limited capacity for intrinsic self-healing. While microfracture and arthroplasty are the conventional methods for cartilage repair, these methods are unable to completely heal the damaged tissue. The need to overcome the restrictions of these therapies for cartilage regeneration has expanded the field of cartilage tissue engineering (CTE), in which novel engineering and biological approaches are introduced to accelerate the development of new biomimetic cartilage to replace the injured tissue. Until now, a wide range of hydrogels and cell sources have been employed for CTE to either recapitulate microenvironmental cues during a new tissue growth or to compel the recovery of cartilaginous structures via manipulating biochemical and biomechanical properties of the original tissue. Towards modifying current cartilage treatments, advanced hydrogels have been designed and synthesized in recent years to improve network crosslinking and self-recovery of implanted scaffolds after damage in vivo. This review focused on the recent advances in CTE, especially self-healing hydrogels. The article firstly presents the cartilage tissue, its defects, and treatments. Subsequently, introduces CTE and summarizes the polymeric hydrogels and their advances. Furthermore, characterizations, the advantages, and disadvantages of advanced hydrogels such as multi-materials, IPNs, nanomaterials, and supramolecular are discussed. Afterward, the self-healing hydrogels in CTE, mechanisms, and the physical and chemical methods for the synthesis of such hydrogels for improving the reformation of CTE are introduced. The article then briefly describes the fabrication methods in CTE. Finally, this review presents a conclusion of prevalent challenges and future outlooks for self-healing hydrogels in CTE applications