2,487 research outputs found
Virtual gardening: Identifying problems and potential directions for 'ecological awareness' through soil management and plant recognition gaming
Games are increasingly proven to be effective learning tools through a multitude of methodologies and approaches and this is no different for issues relating to the environment and the place of humans within it. We collaborated with the Eden Project to create a mobile game addressing some concerns on the ecological awareness of visitors that they raised with us: a mobile garden management game with a plant recognition technology. Such a project proved a valuable opportunity to understand how a game for smart devices might promote short-term ecological awareness for a general audience. Using a research creation methodology, we analyse, document and run a limited empirical study through user experience testing on players to investigate if the game had an effect on their ecological awareness
Role of endocannabinoids in regulating drug dependence
This review will discuss the latest knowledge of how the endocannabinoid system might be involved in treating addiction to the most common illicit drugs. Experimental models are providing increasing evidence for the pharmacological management of endocannabinoid signaling not only to block the direct reinforcing effects of cannabis, opioids, nicotine and ethanol, but also for preventing relapse to the various drugs of abuse, including opioids, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol and metamphetamine. Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system can be manipulated by the CBI receptor antagonist SR141716A, that might constitute a new generation of compounds for treating addiction across different classes of abused drugs
On the existence and asymptotic stability of solutions for unsteady mixing-layer models
We introduce in this paper some elements for the mathematical analysis of turbulence models for oceanic surface mixing layers. We consider Richardson-number based vertical eddy diffusion models. We prove the existence of unsteady solutions if the initial condition is close to an equilibrium, via the inverse function theorem in Banach spaces. We use this result to prove the non-linear asymptotic stability of equilibrium solutions
Exploring Autodiff and Finite Differences Using the Rosenbrock Function
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp21/1218/thumbnail.jp
Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Al2O3 and Al2O3/TiB2 Ceramics Consolidated by Plasma Pressure Compaction
Alumina oxide ceramics were produced by plasma pressure compaction (P2C) sintering process. Two types of pure α-alumina (Al2O3) and a mixture of alumina and titanium diboride (TiB2) powders were used as starting materials. Microstructure and mechanical properties, namely hardness, elastic modulus, and fracture toughness, were analyzed and correlated to the type of the sintered powders and the adopted manufacturing route. The microstructural development and the chemical composition variation induced by the sintering process were assessed by using scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Nano-indentation and Chevron notch beam techniques were adopted to estimate the mechanical properties of the sintered ceramics. The conducted analyses show the capability of P2C technique to produce sound alumina ceramics. Pure alumina bulks exhibit a good level of compaction and mechanical properties close to those achievable with conventional sintering processes, such as hot isostatic pressing or spark plasma sintering. No significant alterations in the chemical composition of the ceramics were observed. The addition of the titanium diboride in the alumina powders caused a moderate increase in the grain size lowering the hardness and Young’s modulus of the sintered alumina and, at the same time, increased its fracture toughness to the occurrence of toughening mechanisms, like crack bridging and crack deflection
Association between serum Mg2+ concentrations and cardiovascular organ damage in a cohort of adult subjects
Magnesium (Mg2+) levels are associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We evaluated the clinical utility of physiological Mg2+ in assessing subclinical cardiovascular organ damage including increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in a cohort of well-characterized adult non-diabetic individuals. Age-and gender-adjusted correlations between Mg2+ and metabolic parameters showed that Mg2+ circulating levels were correlated negatively with body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose, and 2h-oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose. Similarly, Mg2+ levels were significantly and negatively related to c-IMT and LVMI. A multivariate regression analysis revealed that age (β = 0.440; p < 0.0001), BMI (β = 0.225; p < 0.0001), and Mg2+ concentration (β = −0.122; p < 0.01) were independently associated with c-IMT. Age (β = 0.244; p = 0.012), Mg2+ (β = −0.177; p = 0.019), and diastolic blood pressure (β = 0.184; p = 0.038) were significantly associated with LVMI in women, while age (β = 0.211; p = 0.019), Mg2+ (β = −0.171; p = 0.038) and the homeostasis model assessment index of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (β = −0.211; p = 0.041) were the sole variables associated with LVMI in men. In conclusion, our data support the hypothesis that the assessment of Mg2+ as part of the initial work-up might help unravel the presence of subclinical organ damage in subjects at increased risk of cardiovascular complications
In-cell NMR reveals potential precursor of toxic species from SOD1 fALS mutants
Mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene are related to familial cases of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS). Here we exploit in-cell NMR to characterize the protein
folding and maturation of a series of fALS-linked SOD1 mutants in human cells and to obtain
insight into their behaviour in the cellular context, at the molecular level. The effect of various
mutations on SOD1 maturation are investigated by changing the availability of metal ions in
the cells, and by coexpressing the copper chaperone for SOD1, hCCS. We observe for most of
the mutants the occurrence of an unstructured SOD1 species, unable to bind zinc.
This species may be a common precursor of potentially toxic oligomeric species, that are
associated with fALS. Coexpression of hCCS in the presence of copper restores the correct
maturation of the SOD1 mutants and prevents the formation of the unstructured species,
confirming that hCCS also acts as a molecular chaperone
Parametric scaling of power exhaust in EU-DEMO alternative divertor simulations
Investigations of parametric scaling of power exhaust in the alternative
divertor configuration (ADC) SOLPS-ITER simulation database of the EU-DEMO are
conducted and compared to predictions based on the Lengyel model. The Lengyel
model overpredicts the necessary argon concentrations for LFS divertor
detachment by about a factor of 5-10 relative to the SOLPS-ITER simulations.
Therefore, while the Lengyel model predicts that plasmas with accetable
divertor heat loads in EU-DEMO would exceed the tolerable upstream impurity
concentrations by a large margin, there are several SOLPS-ITER solutions within
an acceptable operational space. The SOLPS-ITER simulations indicate that,
unlike assumed by the standard Lengyel model, there are significant heat
dissipation mechanisms other than argon radiation, such as cross-field
transport, that reduce the role of argon radiation by a factor of 2 to 3.
Furthermore, the Lengyel model assumes that the radiation front is powered by
parallel heat conduction only, which tends to lead to a narrow radiation front
as the radiative efficiency increases strongly with reducing thermal
conductivity. As a result, the radiative volume and total impurity radiation
are suppressed for a given impurity concentration. However, the SOLPS-ITER
simulations indicate that other mechanisms, such as cross-field transport, can
compete with parallel heat conduction within the radiative front and increase
the radiative volume. Due to these findings, usage of the standard Lengyel
model for analyzing scaling between divertor conditions and configurations for
devices such as EU-DEMO is strongly discouraged
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