Additive manufacturing and digital fabrication bring new horizons to concrete and cement-based material construction. 3D printing inspired construction techniques that have recently been developed at ...laboratory scale for cement-based materials. This study aims to investigate the role of the structural build-up properties of cement-based materials in such a layer by layer construction technique. As construction progresses, the cement-based materials become harder with time. The mechanical strength of the cement-based materials must be sufficient to sustain the weight of the layers subsequently deposited. It follows that the comparison of the mechanical strength, which evolves with time (i.e. structural build-up), with the loading due to layers subsequently deposited, can be expected to provide the optimal rate of layer by layer construction. A theoretical framework has been developed to propose a method of optimization of the building rate, which is experimentally validated in a layer-wise built column.
The carbon cycle of the coastal ocean is a dynamic component of the global carbon budget. But the diverse sources and sinks of carbon and their complex interactions in these waters remain poorly ...understood. Here we discuss the sources, exchanges and fates of carbon in the coastal ocean and how anthropogenic activities have altered the carbon cycle. Recent evidence suggests that the coastal ocean may have become a net sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide during post-industrial times. Continued human pressures in coastal zones will probably have an important impact on the future evolution of the coastal ocean's carbon budget.
Humidity has been an important factor, in both negative and positive ways, in the development of perovskite solar cells and will prove critical in the push to commercialize this exciting new ...photovoltaic technology. The interaction between CH3NH3PbI3 and H2O vapor is investigated by characterizing the ground-state and excited-state optical absorption properties and probing morphology and crystal structure. These undertakings reveal that H2O exposure does not simply cause CH3NH3PbI3 to revert to PbI2. It is shown that, in the dark, H2O is able to complex with the perovskite, forming a hydrate product similar to (CH3NH3)4PbI6·2H2O. This causes a decrease in absorption across the visible region of the spectrum and a distinct change in the crystal structure of the material. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic measurements show the effect that humidity has on the ultrafast excited state dynamics of CH3NH3PbI3. More importantly, the deleterious effects of humidity on complete solar cells, specifically on photovoltaic efficiency and stability, are explored in the light of these spectroscopic understandings.
Depressive syndromes are frequent and heterogeneous brain conditions with more than 90% of patients suffering from sleep complaints. Better characterizing this “sleep” domain may allow to both better ...treat acute episodes with existing chronotherapeutics, but also to prevent the manifestation or recurrences of mood disorders. This work aims to i) review theoretical and fundamental data of chronotherapeutics, and ii) provide practical recommendations. Light therapy (LT) can be used as a first-line monotherapy of moderate to severe depression of all subtypes. LT can be also used as a combination with antidepressant to maximize patients’ response rates, which has a clear superiority to antidepressant alone. Sleep deprivation (SD) is a rapid and powerful chronotherapeutic with antidepressant responses within hours in 45-60% of patients with unipolar or bipolar depression. Different strategies should be combined to stabilize the SD antidepressant effect, including concomitant medications, repeated SD, combination with sleep phase advance and/or LT (triple chronotherapy). Melatonin treatment is of interest in remitted patients with mood disorder to prevent relapses or recurrences, if a complaint of insomnia, poor sleep quality or phase delay syndrome is associated. During the acute phase, melatonin could be used as an adjuvant treatment for symptoms of insomnia associated with depression. The cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can be recommend to treat insomnia during euthymic phases. The Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) is indicated for the acute treatment of bipolar depression and for the prevention of mood episodes. Chronotherapeutics should always be associated with behavioral measures for healthy sleep.
•Light therapy is recommended as a first-line monotherapy for all depression subtypes.•Sleep deprivation has a rapid action stabilized with triple chronotherapy.•Melatonin use in case of insomnia, poor sleep quality or phase delay syndrome.•IPSRT and CBTI-BP as preventive strategies for both depressive and manic episodes.•IPSRT is also recommended in acute depressive bipolar depression.
We study the symmetries of twisted trilayer graphene's band structure under various extrinsic perturbations, and analyze the role of long-range electron-electron interactions near the first magic ...angle. The electronic structure is modified by these interactions in a similar way to twisted bilayer graphene. We analyze electron pairing due to long-wavelength charge fluctuations, which are coupled among themselves via the Coulomb interaction and additionally mediated by longitudinal acoustic phonons. We find superconducting phases with either spin-singlet/valley-triplet or spin-triplet/valley-singlet symmetry, with critical temperatures up to a few Kelvin for realistic choices of parameters.
Stored biological samples with pathology information and medical records are invaluable resources for translational medical research. However, RNAs extracted from the archived clinical tissues are ...often substantially degraded. RNA degradation distorts the RNA-seq read coverage in a gene-specific manner, and has profound influences on whole-genome gene expression profiling.
We developed the transcript integrity number (TIN) to measure RNA degradation. When applied to 3 independent RNA-seq datasets, we demonstrated TIN is a reliable and sensitive measure of the RNA degradation at both transcript and sample level. Through comparing 10 prostate cancer clinical samples with lower RNA integrity to 10 samples with higher RNA quality, we demonstrated that calibrating gene expression counts with TIN scores could effectively neutralize RNA degradation effects by reducing false positives and recovering biologically meaningful pathways. When further evaluating the performance of TIN correction using spike-in transcripts in RNA-seq data generated from the Sequencing Quality Control consortium, we found TIN adjustment had better control of false positives and false negatives (sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.91, accuracy = 0.90), as compared to gene expression analysis results without TIN correction (sensitivity = 0.98, specificity = 0.50, accuracy = 0.86).
TIN is a reliable measurement of RNA integrity and a valuable approach used to neutralize in vitro RNA degradation effect and improve differential gene expression analysis.
New antipsychotics continuously arrive on the market, which thereby influences the approved and off-label prescribing (OLP) schemes. We aimed to identify the recent trends in the OLP of ...antipsychotics. We conducted a literature review based on three different populations: adult, pediatric, and elderly patients.
A literature search was performed in the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases using the following keyword algorithm: "offlabel" AND ("antipsychotic*" OR "neuroleptic*"). The period investigated ranged from January 2000 to January 2015. Only Englishwritten pharmacoepidemiological studies were included.
Seventy-seven relevant results were identified. Among adults, OLP consisted of 40 to 75% of all antipsychotic prescriptions. The main indications were mood disorders, anxiety disorders, insomnia and agitation. Quetiapine was the most frequently prescribed offlabel antipsychotic, especially for anxiety and insomnia. Among children, OLP was estimated between 36 and 93.2% of all antipsychotic prescriptions. Risperidone and aripiprazole were primarily used and were most often prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, or mood disorders. Among elderly individuals, OLP consisted of 22 to 86% of all antipsychotic prescriptions. Antipsychotic OLP was particularly frequent for agitation; however, a recent decrease in this OLP was identified.
Antipsychotics have largely been prescribed off-label in recent years. The types of antipsychotic OLP practices differ according to the age category of patients. OLP is often used in cases of therapeutic dead-ends or for specific disorders with few or no currently approved medications. However, other OLP practices only reflect temporary prescription trends for mild symptoms, which may induce safety concerns.
Because post qualitative inquiry uses an ontology of immanence from poststructuralism as well as transcendental empiricism, it cannot be a social science research methodology with preexisting ...research methods and research practices a researcher can apply. In fact, it is methodology-free and so refuses the demands of “application.” Recommendations for those interested in post qualitative inquiry include putting methodology aside and, instead, reading widely across philosophy, social theories, and the history of science and social science to find concepts that reorient thinking. Post qualitative inquiry encourages concrete, practical experimentation and the creation of the not yet instead of the repetition of what is.
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