Evaluation of the surface strength of glass plates shaped by hot slumping process

The Hot Slumping Technology is under development by several research groups in the world for the realization of grazing-incidence segmented mirrors for X-ray astronomy, based on thin glass plates shaped over a mould at temperatures above the transformation point. The performed thermal cycle and related operations might have effects on the strength characteristics of the glass, with consequences on the structural design of the elemental optical modules and consecutively on the entire X-ray optic for large astronomical missions like IXO and ATHENA. The mechanical strength of glass plates after they underwent the slumping process was tested through destructive double-ring tests in the context of a study performed by the Astronomical Observatory of Brera with the collaboration of Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro and BCV Progetti. The entire study has been realized on more than 200 D263 Schott borosilicate glass specimens of dimension 100 mm x 100 mm and thickness 0.4 mm, either flat or bent at a Radius of Curvature of 1000 mm through the particular pressure assisted hot slumping process developed by INAF-OAB. The collected experimental data have been compared to non-linear FEM analyses and treated with Weibull statistic to assess the current IXO glass X-ray telescope design, in terms of survival probability, when subject to static and acoustic loads characteristic of the launch phase. The paper describes the activities performed and presents the obtained results.Comment: Accepted for publication in Optical Enginnering (Jun 26, 2014

Nowcasting gentrification using Airbnb data

There is a rumbling debate over the impact of gentrification: presumed gentrifiers have been the target of protests and attacks in some cities, while they have been welcome as generators of new jobs and taxes in others. Census data fails to measure neighborhood change in real-time since it is usually updated every ten years. This work shows that Airbnb data can be used to quantify and track neighborhood changes. Specifically, we consider both structured data (e.g., number of listings, number of reviews, listing information) and unstructured data (e.g., user-generated reviews processed with natural language processing and machine learning algorithms) for three major cities, New York City (US), Los Angeles (US), and Greater London (UK). We find that Airbnb data (especially its unstructured part) appears to nowcast neighborhood gentrification, measured as changes in housing affordability and demographics. Overall, our results suggest that user-generated data from online platforms can be used to create socioeconomic indices to complement traditional measures that are less granular, not in real-time, and more costly to obtain

Single-cell analysis of CD4+ T-cell differentiation reveals three major cell states and progressive acceleration of proliferation

Background: Differentiation of lymphocytes is frequently accompanied by cell cycle changes, interplay that is of central importance for immunity but is still incompletely understood. Here, we interrogate and quantitatively model how proliferation is linked to differentiation in CD4+ T cells. Results: We perform ex vivo single-cell RNA-sequencing of CD4+ T cells during a mouse model of infection that elicits a type 2 immune response and infer that the differentiated, cytokine-producing cells cycle faster than early activated precursor cells. To dissect this phenomenon quantitatively, we determine expression profiles across consecutive generations of differentiated and undifferentiated cells during Th2 polarization in vitro. We predict three discrete cell states, which we verify by single-cell quantitative PCR. Based on these three states, we extract rates of death, division and differentiation with a branching state Markov model to describe the cell population dynamics. From this multi-scale modelling, we infer a significant acceleration in proliferation from the intermediate activated cell state to the mature cytokine-secreting effector state. We confirm this acceleration both by live imaging of single Th2 cells and in an ex vivo Th1 malaria model by single-cell RNA-sequencing. Conclusion: The link between cytokine secretion and proliferation rate holds both in Th1 and Th2 cells in vivo and in vitro, indicating that this is likely a general phenomenon in adaptive immunity

Who benefits from the "sharing" economy of Airbnb?

Sharing economy platforms have become extremely popular in the last few years, and they have changed the way in which we commute, travel, and borrow among many other activities. Despite their popularity among consumers, such companies are poorly regulated. For example, Airbnb, one of the most successful examples of sharing economy platform, is often criticized by regulators and policy makers. While, in theory, municipalities should regulate the emergence of Airbnb through evidence-based policy making, in practice, they engage in a false dichotomy: some municipalities allow the business without imposing any regulation, while others ban it altogether. That is because there is no evidence upon which to draft policies. Here we propose to gather evidence from the Web. After crawling Airbnb data for the entire city of London, we find out where and when Airbnb listings are offered and, by matching such listing information with census and hotel data, we determine the socio-economic conditions of the areas that actually benefit from the hospitality platform. The reality is more nuanced than one would expect, and it has changed over the years. Airbnb demand and offering have changed over time, and traditional regulations have not been able to respond to those changes. That is why, finally, we rely on our data analysis to envision regulations that are responsive to real-time demands, contributing to the emerging idea of “algorithmic regulation”

Entangled Two-Dimensional Coordination Networks: A General Survey

Many of the reported species exhibit the intriguing feature of interpenetration or other types of entanglements. The properties of these materials are related not only to their molecular structures but also to the topology of the individual networks as well as to the way in which the individual nets are entangled. Different synthetic procedures have been developed to attain a certain control of entanglement in coordination networks, and recently some reviews have appeared that are focused on factors governing the entanglements, having in mind their potential applications. However, these analyses are mostly devoted to 3D networks thanks to the great wealth of data on interpenetration. Simplification of a network that contains 2-loops can lead to complete disappearance of the entanglement, and therefore such networks were picked out into a separate group

Winemaking Byproducts as Source of Antioxidant Components : Consumers’ Acceptance and Expectations of Phenol-Enriched Plant-Based Food

One of the food industry\u2019s priorities is to recover byproducts and move towards more sustainable systems. Among wine-chain byproducts, unripe grapes represent a promising source of antioxidants. However, the development of new foods enriched using phenol-rich ingredients is challenging due to their sensory attributes. The aims of the present study were to (1) use phenol-rich extract from unripe grapes to enrich a model plant-based food (beetroot puree\u2014BP); (2) evaluate consumers\u2019 acceptance and expectations for the beetroot pur\ue9e samples. The effect of information about the sustainability and pro-health activity of value-added ingredients on consumers\u2019 responses was also investigated. Four beetroot purees with increasing concentrations of phenol extract (0\u20131.93 g/kg) added were evaluated by 101 participants in three tasting conditions (blind: only samples; expected: only information without tasting; real: both samples and information).Liking slightly decreased with increasing concentrations of phenol extract, even if all the samples were considered acceptable. The health and sustainability information increased the hedonic expectations, although it was not assimilated by all consumers involved. The development of new phenol-enriched foods using functional ingredients from unripe grapes is challenging. However, it is also promising, since all the samples were generally accepted by the consumers and they presented phenol levels that were stable over time and that could have positive health effects when consumed

Autoluminescent Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Self-Photoemission of a Highly Stable Thorium MOF

A novel thorium(IV) metal-organic framework (MOF), Th(2,6-naphtalenedicarboxylate)2, has been synthesized via solvothermal reaction of thorium nitrate and 2,6-naphtalendicarboxilyc acid. This compound shows a new structural arrangement with an interesting topology and an excellent thermal resistance, as the framework is stable in air up to 450 \ub0C. Most notably, this MOF, combining the radioactivity of its metal center and the scintillation property of the ligand, has been proven capable of spontaneous photon emission