447 research outputs found

    Transport of injected impurities in Heliotron E

    Get PDF
    No. DE-AC02-78ET51013. Reproduction, translation, publication, use and disposal, in whole or in part by or for the United States govern-ment is permitted. By acceptance of this article, the publisher and/or recipient ac-knowledges the U.S. Government's right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright covering this paper

    Functional recovery is considered the most important target: a survey of dedicated professionals

    Get PDF
    Background: The aim of this study was to survey the relative importance of postoperative recovery targets and perioperative care items, as perceived by a large group of international dedicated professionals. Methods: A questionnaire with eight postoperative recovery targets and 13 perioperative care items was mailed to participants of the first international Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) congress and to authors of papers with a clear relevance to ERAS in abdominal surgery. The responders were divided into categories according to profession and region. Results: The recovery targets ‘To be completely free of nausea’, ‘To be independently mobile’ and ‘To be able to eat and drink as soon as possible’ received the highest score irrespective of the responder's profession or region of origin. Equally, the care items ‘Optimizing fluid balance’, ‘Preoperative counselling’ and ‘Promoting early and scheduled mobilisation’ received the highest score across all groups. Conclusions: Functional recovery, as in tolerance of food without nausea and regained mobility, was considered the most important target of recovery. There was a consistent uniformity in the way international dedicated professionals scored the relative importance of recovery targets and care items. The relative rating of the perioperative care items was not dependent on the strength of evidence supporting the items

    Financial Inclusion in China: Use of Credit

    Get PDF
    Limited access to credit can cause financial vulnerability for a household and economic loss for a country. Previous studies have shown that only small portions of populations in developing countries use formal credit, but few studies have focused on Chinese populations. Analyzing data from the 2011 China Household Financial Survey, this study explored Chinese households’ credit use. Over half of the sample (53.21%) reported using credit, and only 19.77% of the sample used formal credit. Use of formal credit was associated with the socioeconomic characteristics of household heads (e.g., employment and education) and of households (e.g., income and net worth). The findings suggest that promoting financial inclusion in China involves expanding access to formal credit among socially and economically disadvantaged households

    The porin and the permeating antibiotic: A selective diffusion barrier in gram-negative bacteria

    Get PDF
    Gram-negative bacteria are responsible for a large proportion of antibiotic resistant bacterial diseases. These bacteria have a complex cell envelope that comprises an outer membrane and an inner membrane that delimit the periplasm. The outer membrane contains various protein channels, called porins, which are involved in the influx of various compounds, including several classes of antibiotics. Bacterial adaptation to reduce influx through porins is an increasing problem worldwide that contributes, together with efflux systems, to the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. An exciting challenge is to decipher the genetic and molecular basis of membrane impermeability as a bacterial resistance mechanism. This Review outlines the bacterial response towards antibiotic stress on altered membrane permeability and discusses recent advances in molecular approaches that are improving our knowledge of the physico-chemical parameters that govern the translocation of antibiotics through porin channel

    Enhancing the sustainability performance of Agri-Food Supply Chains by implementing Industry 4.0

    Full text link
    [EN] In order to enhance the sustainability in the supply chain, its members should define and pursue common objectives in the three dimensions of the sustainability (economic, environmental and social). The Agri-Food Supply Chain (AFSC) is a network of different members such as farmers (producers), processors and distributors (wholesales, retailers.), etc.. In order to achieve the performance objectives of the AFSC, Industry 4.0 technologies can be implemented. The aim of this paper is to present a classification of these technologies according to two criteria: objective to be achieved (environmental or social) specified in the main issues to be covered in each objective and member of the AFSC supply chain where it is implemented. In this work, we focus on technologies that deal with environmental and social sustainability because economic sustainability will depend on the specific characteristics of the business (a supply chain using a specific Industry 4.0 technology may be profitable while others do not).This work has been funded by the Project GV/2017/065 "Development of a decision support tool for the management and improvement of sustainability in supply chains" funded by the Regional Government of Valencia. Authors also acknowledge the Project 691249, RUC-APS: Enhancing and implementing Knowledge based ICT solutions within high Risk and Uncertain Conditions for Agriculture Production Systems.Pérez Perales, D.; Verdecho Sáez, MJ.; Alarcón Valero, F. (2019). Enhancing the sustainability performance of Agri-Food Supply Chains by implementing Industry 4.0. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 568:496-503. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28464-0_43S496503568Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Fornasiero, R., Afsarmanesh, H.: Collaborative networks as a core enabler of Industry 4.0. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Afsarmanesh, H., Fornasiero, R. (eds.) PRO-VE 2017. IAICT, vol. 506, pp. 3–17. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65151-4_1Stich, V., Gudergan, G., Zeller, V.: Need and solution to transform the manufacturing industry in the age of Industry 4.0 – a capability maturity index approach. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Afsarmanesh, H., Rezgui, Y. (eds.) PRO-VE 2018. IAICT, vol. 534, pp. 33–42. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99127-6_3Flores, M., Maklin, D., Golob, M., Al-Ashaab, A., Tucci, C.: Awareness towards Industry 4.0: key enablers and applications for internet of things and big data. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Afsarmanesh, H., Rezgui, Y. (eds.) PRO-VE 2018. IAICT, vol. 534, pp. 377–386. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99127-6_32Seuring, S., Müller, M.: From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. J. Clean. Prod. 16, 1699–1710 (2008)Prima, W.A., Xing, K., Amer, Y.: Collaboration and sustainable agri-food supply chain: a literature review. In: MATEC (2016). https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20165802004Pérez Perales, D., Alarcón Valero, F., Drummond, C., Ortiz, Á.: Towards a sustainable agri-food supply chain model. The case of LEAF. In: Ortiz, Á., Andrés Romano, C., Poler, R., García-Sabater, J.-P. (eds.) Engineering Digital Transformation. LNMIE, pp. 333–341. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96005-0_40Savastano, M., Amendola, C., Bellini, F., D’Ascenzo, F.: Contextual impacts on industrial processes brought by the digital transformation of manufacturing: a systematic review. Sustainability 11, 891 (2019)Varela, L., Araújo, A., Ávila, P., Castro, H., Putnik, G.: Evaluation of the relation between lean manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and sustainability. Sustainability 11, 1439 (2019)Bonilla, S.H., Silva, H.R.O., da Silva, M.T., Gonçalves, R.F., Sacomano, J.B.: Industry 4.0 and sustainability implications: a scenario-based analysis of the impacts and challenges. Sustainability 10, 3740 (2018)Bányai, T., Tamás, P., Illés, B., Stankeviciute, Z., Bányai, A.: Optimization of municipal waste collection routing: impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on environmental awareness and sustainability. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 16, 634 (2019)Lin, K.C., Shyu, J.Z., Ding, K.: A cross-strait comparison of innovation policy under Industry 4.0 and sustainability development transition. Sustainability 9, 786 (2017)Kamble, S.: Sustainable Industry 4.0 framework: a systematic literature review identifying the current trends and future perspectives. In: Process Safety and Environmental Protection Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, Part B, vol. 117, pp. 408–25. Institution of Chemical Engineers (2018)Franciosi, C., Iung, B., Miranda, S., Riemma, S.: Maintenance for sustainability in the Industry 4.0 context: a scoping literature review. IFAC-Pap. Online 51(11), 903–908 (2018)Bocken, N.M.P., Short, S.W., Rana, P., Evans, S.: A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. J. Clean. Prod. 65, 42–56 (2014)Bourlakis, M., Maglaras, G., Aktas, E., Gallear, D., Fotopoulos, C.: Firm size and sustainable performance in food supply chains: insights from Greek SMEs. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 152, 112–130 (2014)Garbie, I.H.: An analytical technique to model and assess sustainable development index in manufacturing enterprises. Int. J. Prod. Res. 52(16), 4876–4915 (2014)Beier, G., Niehoff, S., Ziems, T., Xue, B.: Sustainability aspects of a digitalized industry - a comparative study from China and Germany. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. Green Technol. 4, 227–234 (2017)Pérez, D., Verdecho, M.J., Alarcón, F: Industry 4.0 for the development of more sustainable decision support tools for agri-food supply chain management. In: 13rd International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management, XXIII, Gijón, Spain (2019)Xiaolin, L., Linnan, Y., Lin, P., Wengfeng, L., Limin, Z.: Procedia engineering county soil fertility information management system based on embedded GIS. Procedia Eng. 29, 2388–2392 (2012)Satyanarayana, G.V.: Wireless sensor based remote monitoring system for agriculture using ZigBee and GPS. In: 2013 (CAC2S), pp. 110–114 (2013)Phillips, A.J., Newlands, N.K., Liang, S.H.L., Ellert, B.H.: Integrated sensing of soil moisture at the field-scale: measuring, modeling and sharing for improved agricultural decision support. Comput. Electron. Agric. 107, 73–88 (2014)Liopa-tsakalidi, A., Tsolis, D., Barouchas, P.: Application of mobile technologies through an integrated management system for agricultural production. Procedia Technol. 8, 165–170 (2013). (Haicta)Yerpude, S., Singhal, T.K.: Impact of Internet of Things (IoT) data on demand forecasting. Indian J. Sci. Technol. 10, 5 (2017)Wolfert, S., Ge, L., Verdouw, C., Bogaardt, M.: Big data in smart farming – a review. Agric. Syst. 153, 69–80 (2017)Castka, P., Balzarova, M.A.: ISO 26000 and supply chains-on the diffusion of the social responsibility standard. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 111(2), 274–286 (2008)Stock, T., Obenaus, M., Kunz, S., Kohl, H.: Industry 4.0 as enabler for a sustainable development: A qualitative assessment of its ecological and social potential. Process. Saf. Environ. 118, 254–267 (2018)Verdecho, M.J., Pérez, D., Alarcón F.: Proposal of a customer-oriented sustainable balanced scorecard for agri-food supply chains. In: 12th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management, Girona, Spain, 12–13 July (2018)Valcour, P.M., Hunter, L.W.: Technology, organizations, and work-life integration. In: Kossek, E.E. Lambert, S.J. (eds.), Work and Life Integration: Organizational, Cultural, and Individual Perspectives, pp. 61–84. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah (2005)Arntz, M., Gregory, T., Zierahn, U.: The risk of automation for jobs in OECD countries: a comparative analysis. In: OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, no. 189. OECD Publishing, Paris (2016)Grubert, J., Langlotz, T., Zollmann, S., Regenbrecht, H.: Towards pervasive augmented reality: context-awareness in augmented reality. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 23, 1 (2016)Velthuis, A.G.J.: New Approaches to Food-Safety Economics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2003)Sándor, Z.P., Csiszár, C.: Development stages of intelligent parking information systems for trucks. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica 10(4), 161–174 (2013)Scognamiglio, V., Arduini, F., Palleschi, G., Rea, G.: Biosensing technology for sustainable food safety. Trends Analyt. Chem. 62, 1–10 (2014)Brynjolfsson, E., McAfee, A.: The Second Machine Age. Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. W.W. Norton & Company, London (2014)Smith, A., Caiazza, T.: Automation in everyday life (2017). http://assets.pewresearch.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/14/2017/10/03151500/PI_2017.10.04_Automation_FINAL.pdfHefferon, K.L.: Nutritionally enhanced food crops; progress and perspectives. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 16, 3895–3914 (2015)Glass, S., Fanzo, J.: Genetic modification technology for nutrition and improving diets: an ethical perspective. Curr. Opin. Biotech. 44, 46–51 (2017)Moe, T.: Perspectives on traceability in food manufacture’. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 9(5), 211–214 (1998)Latino, M., Corallo, A., Menegoli, M.: From Industry 4.0 to Agriculture 4.0: how manage product data in agri-food supply chain for voluntary traceability, a framework proposed. In: 20th International Conference on Food and Environment (ICFE), Rome (2018)Linus, U.O.: Traceability in agriculture and food supply chain: a review of basic concepts, technological implications, and future prospects. J. Food Agric. Environ. 1(1), 101–106 (2003)Maumbe, B.M., Okello, J.: Uses of information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture and rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from South Africa and Kenya. IJICTRDA 1(1), 1–22 (2010)Dlodlo, N., Kalezhi, J.: The internet of things in agriculture for sustainable rural development. In: International Conference on Emerging Trends in Networks and Computer Communications (ETNCC) (2015

    A Bcl-x(L)-Drp1 complex regulates synaptic vesicle membrane dynamics during endocytosis

    Get PDF
    Following exocytosis, the rate of recovery of neurotransmitter release is determined by vesicle retrieval from the plasma membrane and by recruitment of vesicles from reserve pools within the synapse, which is dependent on mitochondrial ATP. The anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein Bcl-xL also regulates neurotransmitter release and recovery in part by increasing ATP availability from mitochondria. We now find, that Bcl-xL directly regulates endocytic vesicle retrieval in hippocampal neurons through protein–protein interaction with components of the clathrin complex. Our evidence suggests that, during synaptic stimulation, Bcl-xL translocates to clathrin-coated pits in a calmodulin-dependent manner and forms a complex with the GTPase Drp1, Mff and clathrin. Depletion of Drp1 produces misformed endocytic vesicles. Mutagenesis studies suggest that formation of the Bcl-xL–Drp1 complex is necessary for the enhanced rate of vesicle endocytosis produced by Bcl-xL, thus providing a mechanism for presynaptic plasticity

    Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

    Get PDF
    SummaryBackground The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors—the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57·8% (95% CI 56·6–58·8) of global deaths and 41·2% (39·8–42·8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211·8 million [192·7 million to 231·1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148·6 million [134·2 million to 163·1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143·1 million [125·1 million to 163·5 million]), high BMI (120·1 million [83·8 million to 158·4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113·3 million [103·9 million to 123·4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103·1 million [90·8 million to 115·1 million]), high total cholesterol (88·7 million [74·6 million to 105·7 million]), household air pollution (85·6 million [66·7 million to 106·1 million]), alcohol use (85·0 million [77·2 million to 93·0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83·0 million [49·3 million to 127·5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
    corecore