Drivers and barriers for the adoption of cargo cycles: An exploratory factor analysis

A variety of drivers and barriers for the adoption of cargo cycles has been described in contemporary academic literature. This paper aims at reducing this complexity by identifying their underlying factor structure. To achieve this aim, 389 organizations interested in cargo cycles rated their agreement towards the adoption of cargo cycles with 23 literature-derived drivers and barriers. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three driver factors (soft factors, cost benefits and urban advantages) and four barrier factors (vehicle limitations, worries and perils, riders’ concerns and infrastructure constraints) which are interpreted and discussed.Peer Reviewe

Associations of neural error-processing with symptoms and traits in a dimensional sample recruited across the obsessive–compulsive spectrum

The error-related negativity (ERN), a neural response to errors, has been associated with several forms of psychopathology and assumed to represent a neural risk marker for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. Yet, it is still unknown which specific symptoms or traits best explain ERN variation. This study investigated performance-monitoring in participants (N = 100) recruited across a spectrum of obsessive–compulsive characteristics (n = 26 patients with OCD; n = 74 healthy participants including n = 24 with low, n = 24 with medium, and n = 26 with high OC-characteristics). Several compulsivity- and anxiety-associated characteristics were assessed and submitted to exploratory principal axis factor analysis. Associations of raw measures and derived factors with ERN and correct-related negativity (CRN) were examined. Patients with OCD showed increased ERN amplitudes compared to healthy participants. The ERN was associated with a variety of traits related to anxiety and negative affect. Factor analysis results revealed a most prominent association of the ERN with a composite measure of anxiety and neuroticism, whereas the CRN was specifically associated with compulsivity. Results support differential associations for the ERN and CRN and demonstrate that a dimensional recruitment approach and use of composite measures can improve our understanding of characteristics underlying variation in neural performance monitoring.Peer Reviewe

Network-Aware Flexibility Requests for Distribution-Level Flexibility Markets

This article proposes a method to design network-aware flexibility requests for local flexibility markets. These markets are becoming increasingly important for distribution system operators (DSOs) to ensure grid safety while minimizing costs and public opposition to new network investments. Despite extended recent literature on local flexibility markets, little attention has been paid to quantifying the flexibility required at each location, considering physical network constraints (e.g. line and voltage limits). The method introduced uses a chance-constrained optimization model and a LinDistFlow approximation to consider both physical network constraints and uncertainty caused by renewable production or demand fluctuations. Unlike other methods, it avoids sharing sensitive grid data with the market operator. We compare our approach against a stochastic market-clearing mechanism which serves as a benchmark, and we derive analytical conditions for the performance of our method to determine flexibility requests. We show on two case studies that our method outperforms the stochastic market-clearing benchmark in terms of computation time while achieving comparable social welfare and costs for the DSOs. One of the case studies is conducted on an actual German distribution grid, showing that the proposed method can scale well to real-sized networks.</p

Network-Aware Flexibility Requests for Distribution-Level Flexibility Markets

Local flexibility markets will become a central tool to procure flexibility for distribution system operators (DSOs), who need to ensure a safe grid operation against increased costs and public opposition towards new network investments. Despite extended recent literature on local flexibility markets, little attention has been paid on how to determine the amount of flexibility required at each location, considering the constraints that the network introduces (e.g. line and voltage limits). Addressing an open question for several DSOs, this paper introduces a method to design network-aware flexibility requests from a DSO perspective. In that, we also consider uncertainty, which could be the result of fluctuating renewable production or demand. We compare our approach against a stochastic market clearing mechanism, which serves as a benchmark; and we derive analytical conditions for the performance of our method to determine flexibility requests. We demonstrate our methods on a real German distribution grid.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Reduced Sensitivity to Non-Fear-Related Stimulus Changes in Panic Disorder

Panic disorder (PD) is associated with increased body vigilance and reduced cognitive resources directed at non-fear-related stimuli, particularly in the absence of stimulus-rich environments. To date, only few studies have investigated whether this deficit in PD is reflected in reduced mismatch negativity (MMN), an event-related potential indexing preattentive sensitivity to unexpected stimulus changes. We tested 35 patients affected by PD and 42 matched healthy controls in an oddball paradigm, using frequency and duration deviant stimuli to measure auditory MMN. PD patients displayed reduced duration MMN amplitudes in comparison to healthy controls. No group differences were detected for duration MMN latency, as well as frequency MMN indices. Results support the notion of reduced larly with regard to the preattentive processing of sound duration deviants. Additionally, our findings are in line with clinical studies reporting divergent deficits in preattentive processing of frequency and duration deviants

P50, N100, and P200 Sensory Gating in Panic Disorder

Panic disorder (PD) has been linked to abnormalities in information processing. However, only little evidence has been published for sensory gating in PD. Sensory gating describes the brain’s ability to exclude stimuli of low relevance from higher level information processing, thereby sustaining efficient cognitive processing. Deficits in sensory gating have been associated with various psychiatric conditions, most prominently schizophrenia. In this case-control event-related potential study, we tested 32 patients with PD and 39 healthy controls in a double click paradigm. Both groups were compared with regard to pre-attentive (P50), early-attentive (N100), and late-attentive (P200) sensory gating indices. Contrary to a hypothesized deficit, PD patients and healthy controls showed no differences in P50, N100 and P200 values. These results suggest that sensory gating seems to be functional across the pre-attentive, early-attentive, and late-attentive time span in this clinical population. Given this consistency across auditory sensory gating indices, further research aiming to clarify information processing deficits in PD should focus on other neurophysiological markers to investigate information processing deficits in PD (eg, P300, error-related negativity or mismatch negativity).Peer Reviewe

Recombinant C1 inhibitor in the prevention of severe COVID-19: a randomized, open-label, multi-center phase IIa trial.

BACKGROUND Conestat alfa (ConA), a recombinant human C1 inhibitor, may prevent thromboinflammation. METHODS We conducted a randomized, open-label, multi-national clinical trial in which hospitalized adults at risk for progression to severe COVID-19 were assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive either 3 days of ConA plus standard of care (SOC) or SOC alone. Primary and secondary endpoints were day 7 disease severity on the WHO Ordinal Scale, time to clinical improvement within 14 days, and safety, respectively. RESULTS The trial was prematurely terminated because of futility after randomization of 84 patients, 56 in the ConA and 28 in the control arm. At baseline, higher WHO Ordinal Scale scores were more frequently observed in the ConA than in the control arm. On day 7, no relevant differences in the primary outcome were noted between the two arms (p = 0.11). The median time to defervescence was 3 days, and the median time to clinical improvement was 7 days in both arms (p = 0.22 and 0.56, respectively). Activation of plasma cascades and endothelial cells over time was similar in both groups. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) was higher in the intervention arm (any AE, 30% with ConA vs. 19% with SOC alone; serious AE, 27% vs. 15%; death, 11% vs. 0%). None of these were judged as being related to the study drug. CONCLUSION The study results do not support the use of ConA to prevent COVID-19 progression. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION https://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT04414631

Variation in the distribution and properties of Circumpolar Deep Water in the eastern Amundsen Sea, on seasonal timescales, using seal‐borne tags

In the Amundsen Sea, warm saline Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) crosses the continental shelf toward the vulnerable West Antarctic ice shelves, contributing to their basal melting. Due to lack of observations, little is known about the spatial and temporal variability of CDW, particularly seasonally. A new dataset of 6704 seal‐tag temperature and salinity profiles in the easternmost trough between February and December 2014 reveals a CDW layer on average 49 db thicker in late winter (August to October) than in late summer (February to April), the reverse seasonality of that seen at moorings in the western trough. This layer contains more heat in winter, but on the 27.76 kg/m3 density surface CDW is 0.32° C warmer in summer than winter, across the northeastern Amundsen sea, which may indicate wintertime shoaling offshelf changes CDW properties onshelf. In Pine Island Bay these seasonal changes on density surfaces are reduced, likely by gyre circulation

Durable vesicles for reconstitution of membrane proteins in biotechnology

The application of membrane proteins in biotechnology requires robust, durable reconstitution systems that enhance their stability and support their functionality in a range of working environments. Vesicular architectures are highly desirable to provide the compartmentalisation to utilise the functional transmembrane transport and signalling properties of membrane proteins. Proteoliposomes provide a native-like membrane environment to support membrane protein function, but can lack the required chemical and physical stability. Amphiphilic block copolymers can also self-assemble into polymersomes: tough vesicles with improved stability compared with liposomes. This review discusses the reconstitution of membrane proteins into polymersomes and the more recent development of hybrid vesicles, which blend the robust nature of block copolymers with the biofunctionality of lipids. These novel synthetic vesicles hold great promise for enabling membrane proteins within biotechnologies by supporting their enhanced in vitro performance and could also contribute to fundamental biochemical and biophysical research by improving the stability of membrane proteins that are challenging to work with