Social capital is frequently indicated as a determinant of population health. Despite an increase in the frequency of public health studies including such measures, our understanding of social ...capital's effects on health remains unclear. In 2008, a systematic review of the “first decade” of research on social capital and health was published in the textbook Social Capital and Health. Our study intends to update and expand upon this original review to account for developments in the literature over the second decade of research on social capital and health.
We employed a systematic review of empirical studies investigating the relationship between measures of social capital and physical health outcomes published between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2018. To identify potential studies, we conducted searches of PubMed, Embase, and PsychINFO databases in January 2019 using combinations of “social capital” and “physical health” search terms.
We identified 1,608 unique articles and reviewed 145 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. The most frequently examined health condition was self-reported health (57%), followed by mortality (12%), cardiovascular diseases (10%), obesity (7%), diabetes (6%), infectious diseases (5%), and cancers (3%). Of these studies, 127 (88%) reported at least partial support for a protective association between social capital and health. However, only 41 (28%) reported exclusively positive findings. The majority (59%) of results were mixed, suggesting a nuanced relationship between social capital and health. This finding could also be indicative of differences in study design, which showed substantial variation.
Despite limitations in the literature, our review chronicles an evolution in the field of social capital and health in terms of size and sophistication. Overall, these studies suggest that social capital may be an important protective factor for some physical health outcomes, but further research is needed to confirm and clarify these findings.
•Systematic review of studies linking social capital to physical health.•Growing size and sophistication of social capital and health literature exists.•Literature largely supports association between social capital and self-rated health.•Mixed evidence and nuanced findings for other measures of physical health.•Ample opportunities exist for improving understanding of the complex relationships between social capital and physical health.
The aim of this study was to investigate cutting force when milling 40 × 13 stainless steel samples obtained via electron-beam surfacing. The samples were obtained by surfacing the wire made from the ...martensitic 40 × 13 stainless steel. The microstructure of the samples and the hardness are discussed in the present study. Emphasis is placed on the study of cutting forces when handling the samples. The structure of the samples obtained by electron-beam surfacing consisted of tempered martensite. The average hardness of the samples was similar to the hardness obtained after quenching and tempering the samples-576 HV for horizontally printed workpieces and 525 HV for vertically printed workpieces. High-speed milling, high-efficiency milling, and conventional milling have been proven to be suitable for handling such workpieces. This study shows that an increase in milling width leads to a gradual decrease in specific cutting force. As the milling depth increases, the specific cutting force decreases intensively at first but then more slowly with time. Machining the workpieces made of the martensitic stainless steel and produced by electron-beam surfacing requires the use of purely carbide mills with a diameter of at least 12 mm. Using a high-speed steel as a tool material results in the rapid failure of the tool. The cutting conditions during the investigation allowed for a decrease in the temperature of the cutting edge, cutting force, and the low-rigid end mill bending. Therefore, this study has made it possible to select modes that allow for a reduction in the vibration of the lathe-fixture-tool-part system.
Modern power and transportation systems are subject to high requirements for reliability and performance in performing their specified functions. At the same time, these requirements are constantly ...increasing with the increasing complexity of technology and the introduction of electronics and computer technology into its structure. This is fully applicable to energy and transportation infrastructure, including electric vehicles. The complexity of the systems and increasing requirements for them have led to the fact that the problem of increasing their operational reliability has acquired great importance. The article presents a review of methods and justification of ensuring a high level of reliability and serviceability of technical systems as one of the most important tasks in the creation and operation of complex systems, such as modern energy and transportation systems. It is shown that a significant reserve in solving the problem of increasing the reliability and performance of technical systems is the information on failures and malfunctions of these systems obtained from the field of operation. The methodology of collection and processing of statistical information on failures of vehicles described by different distribution laws is outlined.
DNA vaccines require a considerable enhancement of immunogenicity. Here, we optimized a prototype DNA vaccine against drug-resistant HIV-1 based on a weak Th2-immunogen, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase ...(RT). We designed expression-optimized genes encoding inactivated wild-type and drug-resistant RTs (RT-DNAs) and introduced them into mice by intradermal injections followed by electroporation. RT-DNAs were administered as single or double primes with or without cyclic-di-GMP, or as a prime followed by boost with RT-DNA mixed with a luciferase-encoding plasmid ("surrogate challenge"). Repeated primes improved cellular responses and broadened epitope specificity. Addition of cyclic-di-GMP induced a transient increase in IFN-γ production. The strongest anti-RT immune response was achieved in a prime-boost protocol with electroporation by short 100V pulses done using penetrating electrodes. The RT-specific response, dominated by CD4+ T-cells, targeted epitopes at aa 199-220 and aa 528-543. Drug-resistance mutations disrupted the epitope at aa 205-220, while the CTL epitope at aa 202-210 was not affected. Overall, multiparametric optimization of RT strengthened its Th2- performance. A rapid loss of RT/luciferase-expressing cells in the surrogate challenge experiment revealed a lytic potential of anti-RT response. Such lytic CD4+ response would be beneficial for an HIV vaccine due to its comparative insensitivity to immune escape.
Numerical modeling is used to study the characteristics of an ultra-wideband distributed probing system for different network configurations. An optimal configuration of the system is proposed
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It ...is shown that range and transverse coordinate resolutions are determined by the characteristics of the probing pulse and can reach 2–3 centimeters, corresponding to an effective angular resolution of several tens of micro-radians.
Improving the productivity and reliability of mining infrastructure is an important task contributing to the mining performance enhancement of any enterprise. Open-pit dump trucks that move rock ...masses from the mining site to unloading points are an important part of the infrastructure of coal mines, and they are the main transport unit used in the technological cycle during open-pit mining. The failure of any of the mining truck systems causes unscheduled downtime and leads to significant economic losses, which are associated with the need to immediately restore the working state and lost profits due to decreased site productivity and a disruption of the production cycle. Therefore, minimizing the number and duration of unscheduled repairs is a necessity. The most time-consuming operations are the replacement of the diesel engine, traction generator, and traction motors, which requires additional disassembly of the dump truck equipment; therefore, special reliability requirements are imposed on these units. In this article, a mathematical model intended for processing the statistical data was developed to determine the reliability indicators of the brush collector assembly and the residual life of brushes of electric motors, which, unlike existing models, allow the determination of the refined life of the brushes based on the limiting height of their wear. A method to predict the residual life of an electric brush of a DC electric motor is presented, containing a list of controlled reliability indicators that are part of the mathematical model. Using the proposed mathematical model, the reliability of the brush-collector assembly, the minimum height of the brush during operation, and the average rate of its wear were studied and calculated.
There are a sufficient number of works devoted to modeling crushing machines. Nevertheless, the fact that there are a large number of working conditions, and the ongoing development of science and ...technology, require continuous improvement and specification of the models intended for crushing processes and those of the devices concerned. However, there are few studies related to single-roll gyratory crushers. Such crushers are promising for use in mines to crush rocks laid in the developed space. Mathematical modeling and optimization of the design parameters of the working chamber and the executive body (roll) of a single-roll gyratory shaft crusher, designed for crushing strong rocks, was performed in this paper. A differential equation was derived. As a result of its solution, the rational shape of the working chamber cheek of the single-roll gyratory crusher was established, representing a logarithmic spiral arc. Analytical expressions were derived to determine the rational rotation speed and productivity of the crusher under consideration. Expressions for calculating the kinematic load components acting on the roll were formulated. They are the periodic functions of the shaft rotation angle. The Fourier series expansion showed that the loads contained harmonics of the first, second, third and fourth orders. Using the concept of fuzzy sets, a multi-criteria optimization of the design parameters of the working chamber was performed, including the values of the eccentricity and the central angle of the beginning of the cheek profile. The variation coefficients of the kinematic components of the loads acting on the working body reduced, due to the optimal choice of the working chamber profile and the angular coordinates of the installation of the fixed cheeks. The torque reduced 1.67 times, while the radial load decreased 1.2 times.
A scheme is proposed for a specialized analog processor that uses a microwave photonics correlation receiver in the form of a matched filter to treat an ultra-wideband microwave signal. The operation ...of such a filter is investigated numerically, and its characteristics (potential performance and the accuracy of identifying the position of the maximum of the output signal) are determined.
The issues of the evaluation and prediction of the reliability and testability of mining machinery and equipment are becoming particularly relevant, since the safety of technological processes and ...human life is reaching a new level of realisation due to changes in mining technology. The work is devoted to the development of a logical model for analysing the controllability of mining equipment. The paper presents a model of reliability of the operation of mining equipment on the example of a mine load and passenger hoist. This generalised model is made in the form of a graph of transitions and supplemented with a system of equations. The model allows for the estimation of the reliability of equipment elements and equipment as a whole. A mathematical and logical model for the calculation of the availability and downtime coefficients of various designs of mining equipment systems is proposed. This model became the basis for the methods to calculate the optimal values of diagnostic depth. At these calculated values, the maximum value of availability factor will be obtained. In this paper, an analytical study was carried out and dependences of the readiness factor of parameters of the investigated system such as the intensity of control of technical systems, intensity of failures, etc., were constructed. The paper proposes a mathematical model to assess the reliability of mine hoisting plants through its integration into the method of improving the reliability of mine hoisting plants.
The work analyzes the performance assurance of mine hoisting machines, including the problem of the quality of performance of the functions. The quality of functioning allows evaluation of a set of ...properties of the process of lifting loads, designed to meet the given requirements in accordance with the purpose and evaluated performance indicators. In this case, the quality of the function depends not only on the elements that worked properly or failed during system functioning but also on the moments involving certain changes in the states of the system. The considered system of power supply of mine hoisting installations is rather complex with respect to reliability. The proposed approach allows this rather complex system to lead in terms of the form of a serial connection of elements, allowing for determining the influence of the functioning of its subsystems and electrical equipment on the technological process of cargo lifting in a coal mine. The presented mathematical concept of increasing the reliability and failure-free operation of mine hoisting plants with the help of the developed mathematical model of the mine hoisting plant allowed studying the reliability indicators of the hoisting plant operation and reserving the equipment most effectively to increase reliability. The determination of coupling coefficients in this study made it possible to analyze the impact of the reliability of electrical equipment and power supply systems on the operation of technological machines to improve the reliability of mining equipment and the efficiency of technical systems of mining equipment.