Hardy's inequality for functions vanishing on a part of the boundary

We develop a geometric framework for Hardy's inequality on a bounded domain when the functions do vanish only on a closed portion of the boundary.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, includes several improvements in Sections 6-8 allowing to relax the assumptions in the main results. Final version published at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11118-015-9463-

Worker remittances and the global preconditions of ‘smart development’

With the growing environmental crisis affecting our globe, ideas to weigh economic or social progress by the ‘energy input’ necessary to achieve it are increasingly gaining acceptance. This question is intriguing and is being dealt with by a growing number of studies, focusing on the environmental price of human progress. Even more intriguing, however, is the question of which factors of social organization contribute to a responsible use of the resources of our planet to achieve a given social result (‘smart development’). In this essay, we present the first systematic study on how migration – or rather, more concretely, received worker remittances per GDP – helps the nations of our globe to enjoy social and economic progress at a relatively small environmental price. We look at the effects of migration on the balance sheets of societal accounting, based on the ‘ecological price’ of the combined performance of democracy, economic growth, gender equality, human development, research and development, and social cohesion. Feminism in power, economic freedom, population density, the UNDP education index as well as the receipt of worker remittances all significantly contribute towards a ‘smart overall development’, while high military expenditures and a high world economic openness are a bottleneck for ‘smart overall development’

Red wine and components flavonoids inhibit UGT2B17 in vitro

Background The metabolism and excretion of the anabolic steroid testosterone occurs by glucuronidation to the conjugate testosterone glucuronide which is then excreted in urine. Alterations in UGT glucuronidation enzyme activity could alter the rate of testosterone excretion and thus its bioavailability. The aim of this study is to investigate if red wine, a common dietary substance, has an inhibitory effect on UGT2B17. Methods Testosterone glucuronidation was assayed using human UGT2B17 supersomes with quantification of unglucuronidated testosterone over time using HPLC with DAD detection. The selected red wine was analysed using HPLC and the inhibitory effects of the wine and phenolic components were tested independently in a screening assay. Further analyses were conducted for the strongest inhibitors at physiologically relevant concentrations. Control experiments were conducted to determine the effects of the ethanol on UGT2B17. Results Over the concentration range of 2 to 8% the red wine sample inhibited the glucuronidation of testosterone by up to 70% over 2 hours. The ethanol content had no significant effect. Three red wine phenolics, identified by HLPC analyses, also inhibited the enzyme by varying amounts in the order of quercetin (72%), caffeic acid (22%) and gallic acid (9%); using a ratio of phenolic:testosterone of 1:2.5. In contrast p-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid had no effect on the UGT2B17. The most active phenolic was selected for a detailed study at physiologically relevant concentrations, and quercetin maintained inhibitory activity of 20% at 2 M despite a ten-fold excess of testosterone. Conclusion This study reports that in an in vitro supersome-based assay, the key steroid-metabolising enzyme UGT2B17 is inhibited by a number of phenolic dietary substances and therefore may reduce the rate of testosterone glucuronidation in vivo. These results highlight the potential interactions of a number of common dietary compounds on testosterone metabolism. Considering the variety of foodstuffs that contain flavonoids, it is feasible that diet can elevate levels of circulating testosterone through reduction in urinary excretion. These results warrant further investigation and extension to a human trial to delineate the healt

What Goes in Must Come out: Testing for Biases in Molecular Analysis of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are widely distributed microbes that form obligate symbioses with the majority of terrestrial plants, altering nutrient transfers between soils and plants, thereby profoundly affecting plant growth and ecosystem properties. Molecular methods are commonly used in the study of AM fungal communities. However, the biases associated with PCR amplification of these organisms and their ability to be utilized quantitatively has never been fully tested. We used Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis to characterise artificial community templates containing known quantities of defined AM fungal genotypes. This was compared to a parallel in silico analysis that predicted the results of this experiment in the absence of bias. The data suggest that when used quantitatively the TRFLP protocol tested is a powerful, repeatable method for AM fungal community analysis. However, we suggest some limitations to its use for population-level analyses. We found no evidence of PCR bias, supporting the quantitative use of other PCR-based methods for the study of AM fungi such as next generation amplicon sequencing. This finding greatly improves our confidence in methods that quantitatively examine AM fungal communities, providing a greater understanding of the ecology of these important fungi

Thermal properties of highly structured composite and aluminium sheets in an aerodynamic tunnel

This article deals with the thermodynamic behaviour of heat shields - structured metal and composite plates. Experiments have been carried out in a wind tunnel with an additional heating, which simulates the heat source from engine or exhaust pipe and simultaneously the airflow generated during a car movement. The tested sheets with hexagonal structure were a standard commercial made of aluminium and a second manufactured by replication (lamination, diffusion) from glass fabric. The airflow in a parallel way along the sheets was analysed experimentally in order to determine the heat transfer efficiency between surfaces of sheets and surrounding airflow. The temperature on the sheets was chosen to observe the effects of different sheets material, various heat power and airflow velocity. During the experiment a thermal input below the sheets and airflow velocity through the tunnel have been changed. The thermal field distribution on the metal sheet is different than in case of composite sheet. For the composite material the thermal field distribution was more homogeneous. This article describe briefly also methods of obtaining real composite geometry based on scanned data and their reconstruction for using in some future numerical models

DIMETHOXYFLAVONE ISOLATED FROM THE STEM BARK OF STEREOSPERMUM KUNTHIANUM POSSESSES ANTIDIARRHOEAL ACTIVITY IN RODENTS

This study was undertaken to evaluate the antidiarrhoeal activity of 3, 7, 4/-trihydroxy-3/-(8//-acetoxy-7//-methyloctyl)-5, 6-dimethoxyflavone, a flavonoid isolated from the stem bark of Stereospermum kunthianum. The antidiarrhoeal activity was evaluated using rodent models with diarrhoea. The normal intestinal transit, castor oil-induced intestinal transit and castor oil-induced diarrhoea tests in mice as well as castor oil-induced intestinal fluid accumulation in rats were employed in the study. The animals were pretreated with distilled water (10 ml/kg for mice, 5 ml/kg for rats), dimethoxyflavone (25 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg), morphine (10 mg/kg), or indomethacin (10 mg/kg) before induction of diarrhoea with castor oil (0.2ml for mice and 2ml for rats). Dimethoxyflavone dose dependently and significantly reduced (

On the way to large-scale and high-resolution brain-chip interfacing

Brain-chip-interfaces (BCHIs) are hybrid entities where chips and nerve cells establish a close physical interaction allowing the transfer of information in one or both directions. Typical examples are represented by multi-site-recording chips interfaced to cultured neurons, cultured/acute brain slices, or implanted “in vivo”. This paper provides an overview on recent achievements in our laboratory in the field of BCHIs leading to enhancement of signals transmission from nerve cells to chip or from chip to nerve cells with an emphasis on in vivo interfacing, either in terms of signal-to-noise ratio or of spatiotemporal resolution. Oxide-insulated chips featuring large-scale and high-resolution arrays of stimulation and recording elements are presented as a promising technology for high spatiotemporal resolution interfacing, as recently demonstrated by recordings obtained from hippocampal slices and brain cortex in implanted animals. Finally, we report on an automated tool for processing and analysis of acquired signals by BCHIs

Novel photon detection based on electronically-induced stress in silicon

The feasibility of microcantilever-based optical detection is demonstrated. Specifically, the authors report here on an evaluation of laboratory prototypes that are based on commercially available microcantilevers. In this work, optical transduction techniques were used to measure microcantilever response to photons and study the electronic stress in silicon microcantilevers, and their temporal and photometric response. The photo-generation of free charge carriers (electrons, holes) in a semiconductor gives rise to photo-induced (electronic) mechanical strain. The excess charge carriers responsible for the photo-induced stress, were produced via photon irradiation from a diode laser with wavelength {lambda} = 780 nm. The authors found that for silicon, the photo-induced stress results in a contraction of the crystal lattice due to the presence of excess electron-hole-pairs. In addition, the photo-induced stress is of opposite direction and about four times larger than the stress resulting from direct thermal excitation. When charge carriers are generated in a short time, a very rapid deflection of the microcantilever is observed (response time {approximately} {micro}s)

Galleries-to-Calories (G2C): An International Collaboration Evaluating Thermal Energy Storage in Abandoned Mines for District Heating

With the increasing focus on sustainable energy solutions and national net-zero emissions goals, repurposing of abandoned underground mines for thermal energy storage has the potential to make significant impacts. The international Geothermica consortium, Galleries to Calories (G2C), is investigating the potential for storing waste heat from a supercomputing facility in abandoned, flooded coal mines southeast of Edinburgh, Scotland. The system termed the Geobattery or GeoTES involves injecting heat into mine workings, conveying it using regional groundwater flow, and then using the stored thermal energy for district heating and cooling via heat pumps. The Edinburgh site is unique due to the connection of three individual collieries that are linked by underground roadways and hydraulically conductive coal seams, thus enabling heat to be readily stored and transported over several kilometers. The internal structure of collieries poses challenges due to their partially unknown internal structure, involving fully excavated seams, partially mined pillars, open and collapsed tunnels, and unmined rock formations. To address these uncertainties, we propose to use a multi-level stochastic modeling approach using the open-source Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE). Our team has developed a preliminary and geometrically simplified numerical model that focuses on the main coal seams. These seams are further subdivided into multiple subdomains so that they can be discretized individually. Initially, a stochastic analysis involving many thermo-hydraulic simulations is conducted to identify promising bulk parameter combinations that replicate field observations. Once these parameter combinations are determined, the model is extended in a second phase to incorporate the geomechanical effects associated with various operational conditions of the Geobattery. This extension facilitates the necessary evaluation of heat plume migration and stress field changes, critical for assessing the mechanical stability of the collieries and heat losses that may occur during the operation of the Geobattery

The role of biofactors in the prevention and treatment of age‐related diseases

The present demographic changes toward an aging society caused a rise in the number of senior citizens and the incidence and burden of age‐related diseases (such as cardiovascular diseases [CVD], cancer, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [NAFLD], diabetes mellitus, and dementia), of which nearly half is attributable to the population ≥60 years of age. Deficiencies in individual nutrients have been associated with increased risks for age‐related diseases and high intakes and/or blood concentrations with risk reduction. Nutrition in general and the dietary intake of essential and nonessential biofactors is a major determinant of human health, the risk to develop age‐related diseases, and ultimately of mortality in the older population. These biofactors can be a cost‐effective strategy to prevent or, in some cases, even treat age‐related diseases. Examples reviewed herein include omega‐3 fatty acids and dietary fiber for the prevention of CVD, α‐tocopherol (vitamin E) for the treatment of biopsy‐proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, vitamin D for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, thiamine and α‐lipoic acid for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, and the role of folate in cancer epigenetics. This list of potentially helpful biofactors in the prevention and treatment of age‐related diseases, however, is not exhaustive and many more examples exist. Furthermore, since there is currently no generally accepted definition of the term biofactors , we here propose a definition that, when adopted by scientists, will enable a harmonization and consistent use of the term in the scientific literature