492 research outputs found
High porosity metallic glass foam: A powder metallurgy route
A powder metallurgy route to the fabrication of metallic glass foam is introduced. The method involves consolidating metallic glass powder blended with blowing agent particulates to produce expandable precursors, capable of yielding foams with porosities as high as 86%. The foams are found to inherit the strength of the parent metallic glass and to be able to deform heavily toward full densification absorbing high amounts of energy
Direct observation of an irradiance dependent nonlinear refraction in CVD single layer graphene
The nonlinear optical properties of single layer graphene are studied via Z-scan. The measurements are carried out at 1045 nm with a 360 femtosecond highly stable Yb doped mode-locked fiber laser. Under laser illumination single-layer graphene exhibits both a transmittance increase due to saturable absorption and a nonlinear phase-shift due to nonlinear refraction. The nonlinear refraction measurements were carried out from 0.5 to 8 GW/cm(2) revealing an expected irradiance-dependent nonlinear refraction. An effective nonlinear refractive index coefficient (n) over tilde (I) is used to describe this and discriminate it from the conventional n(2) coefficient usually measured by Z-scan. The saturation level of the nonlinear phase-shift where the nonlinear response becomes irradiance dependent is deduced from the experimental data
Meson exchange currents in electromagnetic one-nucleon emission
The role of meson exchange currents (MEC) in electron- and photon-induced
one-nucleon emission processes is studied in a nonrelativistic model including
correlations and final state interactions. The nuclear current is the sum of a
one-body and of a two-body part. The two-body current includes pion seagull,
pion-in-flight and the isobar current contributions. Numerical results are
presented for the exclusive 16O(e,e'p)15N and 16O(\gamma,p)15N reactions. MEC
effects are in general rather small in (e,e'p), while in (\gamma,p) they are
always large and important to obtain a consistent description of (e,e'p) and
(\gamma,p) data, with the same spectroscopic factors. The calculated (\gamma,p)
cross sections are sensitive to short-range correlations at high values of the
recoil momentum, where MEC effects are larger and overwhelm the contribution of
correlations.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
The association between IgG and IgM antibodies against cardiolipin, β2-glycoprotein I and Domain I of β2-glycoprotein I with disease profile in patients with multiple sclerosis
Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) occur in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with a number of studies reporting elevated levels; their exact prevalence and pathogenic role remain unclear. Epidemiological studies associate MS with an increased risk of deep venous thromboembolism and stroke; overlapping clinical features with APS. Antibodies against the first domain – Domain I (DI) – of β2glycoprotein I (β2GPI), show the most clinical significance and evidence for pathogenicity in the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), but have not yet been investigated in MS. Serum from a well-defined cohort of 127 MS patients and 92 healthy controls were tested for IgM and IgG antibodies against cardiolipin (CL), β2GPI and DI. Higher frequency of IgM and IgG anti-CL were found in MS patients (18.1% and 21.3%), compared to controls (1.1% in both cases, p < 0.0001). We report that anti-DI antibodies were associated with MS patients, with 6.3% and 7.1% positive for IgM and IgG, respectively, compared to controls, 1.1% (p < 0.05). IgM anti-CL antibodies were elevated in secondary progressive MS and primary progressive MS compared to relapse-remitting MS, (p < 0.005). This study enrolled the largest number of patients with definite MS for studying the association with aPL. Although we confirmed IgM and IgG anti-CL antibodies occur in patients with MS, this is the first study that identified anti-DI antibodies in MS patients. This new finding may prove valuable and future studies are required to evaluate its role as a potential risk factor of thromboembolic phenomena in MS
Field-based tests for the assessment of physical fitness in children and adolescents practicing sport: A systematic review within the ESA program
High levels of physical fitness (PF) can positively affect both health and cognitive function, thus monitoring its levels in youth can help increase health and quality of life in adult populations later on. This systematic review aims to identify PF field-based tests used in young European populations practicing sport to find tools that are adequate for the considered target involving a new battery within the Enriched Sport Activities (ESA) project. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was followed. In the 83 identified articles, the main tests used were: vertical/horizontal jumps (for muscular strength/power); push-ups, running at maximum effort, sit-ups (for muscular strength/endurance); multistage non-intermittent and intermittent tests (for aerobic endurance); sit and reach (for flexibility); sprinting and agility T-tests (for speed and agility, respectively); 10 x 5 m shuttle run (SR) (for both speed and agility). Few studies assessed coordination, reaction time, power, and balance. Although the selected tests are widely used and validated, they do not determine all PF aspects and do not reflect sport-specific features. A final decision was made for the inclusion of the following tests: standing broad jump, seated medicine ball throw, 20 m SR test, 30 m sprint, Illinois test, and a new test, i.e., the crunning test, to assess different skill-related components at once. The use of this combination of tests allows for the assessment of all PF components and can help planning eective training programs and cultivate sporting talent
Melanin Pigmentation and Inflammation in Human Gingiva
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141745/1/jper0701.pd
Proton capture cross section of Sr isotopes and their importance for nucleosynthesis of proton-rich nuclides
The (p,) cross sections of three stable Sr isotopes have been
measured in the astrophysically relevant energy range. These reactions are
important for the -process in stellar nucleosynthesis and, in addition, the
reaction cross sections in the mass region up to 100 are also of importance
concerning the -process associated with explosive hydrogen and helium
burning. It is speculated that this -process could be responsible for a
certain amount of -nuclei in this mass region. The (p,) cross
sections of Sr isotopes were determined using an activation
technique. The measurements were carried out at the 5 MV Van de Graaff
accelerator of the ATOMKI, Debrecen. The resulting cross sections are compared
with the predictions of statistical model calculations. The predictions are in
good agreement with the experimental results for Sr(p,)Y
whereas the other two reactions exhibit differences that increase with mass
number. The corresponding astrophysical reaction rates have also been computed.Comment: Phys. Rev. C in pres
Understanding IoT Security Through the Data Crystal Ball: Where We Are Now and Where We Are Going To Be
Inspired by the boom of the consumer IoT market, many device manufacturers, new start-up companies and technology behemoths have jumped into the space. Indeed, in a span of less than 5 years, we have experienced the manifestation of an array of solutions for the smart home, smart cities and even smart cars. Unfortunately, the exciting utility and rapid marketization of IoTs, come at the expense of privacy and security. Online and industry reports, and academic work have revealed a number of attacks on IoT systems, resulting in privacy leakage, property loss and even large-scale availability problems on some of the most influential Internet services (e.g. Netflix, Twitter). To mitigate such threats, a few new solutions have been proposed. However, it is still less clear what are the impacts they can have on the IoT ecosystem. In this work, we aim to perform a comprehensive study on reported attacks and defenses in the realm of IoTs aiming to find out what we know, where the current studies fall short and how to move forward. To this end, we first build a toolkit that searches through massive amount of online data using semantic analysis to identify over 3000 IoT-related articles (papers, reports and news). Further, by clustering such collected data using machine learning technologies, we are able to compare academic views with the findings from industry and other sources, in an attempt to understand the gaps between them, the trend of the IoT security risks and new problems that need further attention. We systemize this process, by proposing a taxonomy for the IoT ecosystem and organizing IoT security into five problem areas. We use this taxonomy as a beacon to assess each IoT work across a number of properties we define. Our assessment reveals that despite the acknowledged and growing concerns on IoT from both industry and academia, relevant security and privacy problems are far from solved. We discuss how each proposed solution can be applied to a problem area and highlight their strengths, assumptions and constraints. We stress the need for a security framework for IoT vendors and discuss the trend of shifting security liability to external or centralized entities. We also identify open research problems and provide suggestions towards a secure IoT ecosystem
Systematic Review of Explicit Instruments Measuring Nature Connectedness: What Do We Know and What is Next?
This systematic review assesses the methodological quality of manuscripts focusing on scales that explicitly measure nature connectedness. A literature search in six electronic databases was conducted using a search strategy based on PICO guidelines. Only peer-reviewed primary research available in English language, published between 2000 and 2021, meeting the scope of this review were included. Data from 35 studies were narratively analyzed. Their methodological quality was assessed using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist. Only five studies were rated as high/adequate quality. Based on the findings we make the following recommendations: (a) the need for the development of a more universal nature connectedness construct, (b) the requirement to increase the methodological quality of the scales, (c) the need to identify which the scales measure trait or state, (d) the need to increase the validate scales cross-culturally, and (e) the need to develop
scales that can be employed with non-adult samples
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