Changing roles, changing preferences? The dual impact of gender identity on preferences for sex specific advertising stimuli.

This paper investigates whether gender identity, or the extent to which an individual identifies with socially constructed sex roles, moderates the influence of sex on typically male and female ad preferences. We distinguish primary from secondary ad stimuli. Universally, men prefer young women and women prefer babies and children (= primary stimuli). On the other hand, cultural changes might affect sex specific preferences of, for example, leisure activities (= secondary stimuli). Results of our first study partly support this duality. However, gender identity did moderate women's preference of primary stimuli. Study 2 revealed that identification may explain this unexpected result.Advertising; Impact; Preference; Research; Roles; Studies;

PCBs in cod (<i>Gadus morhua</i>), flounder (<i>Platichthys flesus</i>), blue mussel (<i>Mytilus edulis</i>) and brown shrimp (<i>Crangon crangon</i>) from the Belgian Continental Shelf: relation to biological parameters and trend analysis

PCB levels in cod, flounder, mussel and shrimp, covering a ten-year period, were assessed for temporal trends and their relation to biological parameters. A significant relation was found between the PCB levels on a wet weight basis and the total lipid content. Normalising on the total lipid content reduced the differences in PCB levels between the organisms and between different tissues within the organisms. A general downward trend was observed for the PCB levels on the Belgian continental shelf

PCBs in cod (<i>Gadus morhua</i>), flounder (<i>Platichthys flesus</i>), blue mussel (<i>Mytilus edulis</i>) and brown shrimp (<i>Crangon crangon</i>) from the Belgian Continental Shelf: relation to biological parameters and trend analysis

PCB levels in cod, flounder, mussel and shrimp, covering a ten-year period, were assessed for temporal trends and their relation to biological parameters. A significant relation was found between the PCB levels on a wet weight basis and the total lipid content. Normalising on the total lipid content reduced the differences in PCB levels between the organisms and between different tissues within the organisms. A general downward trend was observed for the PCB levels on the Belgian continental shelf

An ECMS-based powertrain control of a parallel hybrid electric forklift

n this paper we focus on the supervisory control problem of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV): minimize fuel consumption while ensuring self-sustaining State-of-Charge (SoC). We reapply the state of the art methodology by comparing optimal results of Dynamic Programming (DP) against a real-time control candidate. After careful selection, we opted for an Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) based approach for the following reasons: (i) results are quite remarkable with less than 5% fuel usage increase when compared to DP; (ii) simple and intuitive tuning of control parameters; (iii) readily usable for code generation (prototyping). Topics that distinguish this article from others in the literature include: (i) the usage of trapezoidal rule of integration implementing DP and ECMS; consequently, the offline simulation results are intended to be more precise and representative when compared against the more common, often used rectangular rule; (ii) a particular post-processing procedure of the recorded driving cycle data based on physical interpretation; it allows consistent offline simulations with quite high sampling period (in the order of seconds); (iii) tuning of control parameters in such a way that control system is robust towards new, unknown, unpredictable but closely resembling driving cycles. In particular, we focus on the supervisory control of a forklift truck. The real-time control is able to compute: (i) the power split (i.e. a balanced usage between an internal combustion engine and a supercapacitor); (ii) the drivetrain control (i.e. automatic gear shifting and clutching). Numerous numerical implementation issues are discussed along our presentation

Insulin-like growth factor I activates the invasion suppressor function of E-cadherin in MCF-7 human mammary carcinoma cells in vitro.

The calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin has been shown to counteract invasion of epithelial neoplastic cells. Using three monoclonal antibodies, we have demonstrated the presence of E-cadherin at the surface of human MCF-7/6 mammary carcinoma cells by indirect immunofluorescence coupled to flow cytometry and by immunocytochemistry. Nevertheless, MCF-7/6 cells failed to aggregate in a medium containing 1.25 mM CaCl2, and they were invasive after confrontation with embryonic chick heart fragments in organ culture. Treatment of MCF-7/6 cells with 0.5 microgram ml-1 insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) led to homotypic aggregation within 5 to 10 min and inhibited invasion in vitro during at least 8 days. The effect of IGF-I on cellular aggregation was insensitive to cycloheximide. However, monoclonal antibodies that interfered with the function of either the IGF-I receptor (alpha IR3) or E-cadherin (HECD-1, MB2) blocked the effect of IGF-I on aggregation. The effects of IGF-I on aggregation and on invasion could be mimicked by 1 microgram ml-1 insulin, but not by 0.5 microgram ml-1 IGF-II. The insulin effects were presumably not mediated by the IGF-I receptor, since they could not be blocked by an antibody against this receptor (alpha IR3). Our results indicate that IGF-I activates the invasion suppressor role of E-cadherin in MCF-7/6 cells

Silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) modulators for intensity-modulation / direct-detection links with line rates of up to 120 Gbit/s

High-speed interconnects in data-center and campus-area networks crucially rely on efficient and technically simple transmission techniques that use intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) to bridge distances of up to a few kilometers. This requires electro-optic modulators that combine low operation voltages with large modulation bandwidth and that can be operated at high symbol rates using integrated drive circuits. Here we explore the potential of silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZM) for generating high-speed IM/DD signals at line rates of up to 120 Gbit/s. Using a SiGe BiCMOS signal-conditioning chip, we demonstrate that intensity-modulated duobinary (IDB) signaling allows to efficiently use the electrical bandwidth, thereby enabling line rates of up to 100 Gbit/s at bit error ratios (BER) of 8.5 x 10(-5). This is the highest data rate achieved so far using a silicon-based MZM in combination with a dedicated signal-conditioning integrated circuit (IC). We further show four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4) at lines rates of up to 120 Gbit/s (BER = 3.2 x 10(-3)) using a high-speed arbitrary-waveform generator and a 0.5 mm long MZM. This is the highest data rate hitherto achieved with a sub-millimeter MZM on the silicon photonic platform. (C) 2017 Optical Society of Americ

Association of heart rate and blood pressure among European adolescents with usual food consumption: the HELENA study

Background and aim: In adults, there is some evidence that improving diet reduces blood pressure (BP) and the subsequent risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, studies that analyse this association in adolescents are still scarce. The objective of the present study was to examine the associations between heart rate, systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) among European adolescents and usual intake of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, fish, high-sugar foods and savoury snacks. Methods and results: In total, 2283 adolescents from the HELENA-study (12.5-17.5 years old; 1253 girls) were included. Dietary intake was assessed using two computerized 24-hour dietary recalls. Age, sex, body mass index, maternal educational level, physical activity and Tanner stage were considered as confounders. Associations were examined by mixed model analysis stratified by sex. Tests for trend were assessed by tertiles of intake while controlling for the aforementioned confounders. Dairy products and fish intake were negatively associated with BP and heart rate. Significant decreasing trends were observed for heart rate and BP across tertiles of dairy products, fish intake and high-sugar foods intake (p < 0.05). Significant increasing trends were observed for SBP and MAP across tertiles of savoury snack intake (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Significant but small inverse associations between fish and dairy products consumption with blood pressure and heart rate have been found in European adolescents. Dietary intervention studies are needed to explore these associations in the context of the modification of several risk factors for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases