To investigate the effects of changes in biopolymer composition on moisture in acetylated poplar wood (Populus euramericana Cv.), the acetylation of control wood was compared to the acetylation of wood with reduced hemicellulose or lignin content (about 9% reduction of total specimen dry weight in both cases). Time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry of water-saturated wood gave spin–spi

In this paper, a novel cognitive architecture for action recognition is developed by applying layers of growing grid neural networks. Using these layers makes the system capable of automatically arranging its representational structure. In addition to the expansion of the neural map during the growth phase, the system is provided with a prior knowledge of the input space, which increases the proce

In this paper we study resilience of TDMA-based wireless sensor networks to node failures. We investigate exploiting mutlicast routing for providing redundancy in the number of gateways used by data streams, so as to protect them against gateway failures. To do this, we develop an optimization model aiming at packet traffic throughput maximization composed of three mixed-integer programming proble

Sharing economy platforms have been transforming production and consumption systems in cities around the world. While the sharing economy may contribute to addressing sustainability issues, its actual economic, social and environmental impacts remain poorly understood. Advancing more sustainably promising forms of sharing and leveraging its benefits, while circumventing its pitfalls, is becoming i

With every major change in the understanding of Practical Theology in Scandinavia, there was an increase in the production of handbooks for the discipline. In this article, we take a closer look at such handbooks from the last two increases in production, tracing a shift the discipline went through from the 1990s up until 2020. The aim of this article is three­fold. Firstly, it describes a change

This special issue explores the extraordinary luminescence properties of metal halide perovskites. Metal halide perovskites have emerged at the forefront of next-generation, thin-film semiconductors for photovoltaic and light-emitting applications. These materials exhibit remarkable optoelectronic properties such as long charge carrier diffusion lengths and high radiative emission efficiencies, wh

Grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction was employed to measure, operando, during electrochemical hydrogen charging, the lattice strain development of the near-surface in super duplex stainless steel under applied tensile load. Hydrogen absorption led to the formation of tensile strains in both the austenite (γ) and ferrite (δ) phases perpendicular to the loading axis, whereas compressive strains were

Avian haemosporidians (Haemosporida) represent a globally distributed, species-rich multiparasite-multihost host-parasite system. Each year, many of these parasite lineages are carried between temperate and tropical regions by migratory birds. While several factors can limit the transmission of avian haemosporidians to new areas, recent studies have shown that some abundant parasites can sometimes

The coupled relationships among water, energy, and emission, i.e., water-energy-emission nexus (WEEN), are found to be spatial-temporally characterized. This research is aimed at evaluating the spatial-temporal characteristics of the WEEN of the selected 227 coal-fired power plants in China from 2012 to 2014 by employing the entropy weighting method. Firstly, the WEEN performances (the sub-indicat

Aims: In Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), electrophysiological pathology has been claimed to precede morphological and functional pathology. Accordingly, an ECG without ARVC markers should be rare in ARVC patients with pathology identified by cardiac imaging. We quantified the prevalence of ARVC patients with evidence of structural disease, yet without ECG Task Force Criteri

Aims: Rodent cystometry has provided valuable insights into the impact of the disease, injury, and aging on the cellular and molecular pathways, neurologic processes, and biomechanics of lower urinary tract function. The purpose of this white paper is to highlight the benefits and shortcomings of different experimental methods and strategies and to provide guidance on the proper interpretation of

In this study we used a large previously built database of 2,892 mammograms and 31,650 single mammogram radiologists' assessments to simulate the impact of replacing one radiologist by an AI system in a double reading setting. The double human reading scenario and the double hybrid reading scenario (second reader replaced by an AI system) were simulated via bootstrapping using different combinatio

The main source of soil moisture variability in savanna ecosystems is pulsed rainfall. Rainfall pulsing impacts water-stress durations, soil moisture switching between wet-to-dry and dry-to-wet states, and soil moisture spectra as well as derived measures from it such as soil moisture memory. Rainfall pulsing is also responsible for rapid changes in grassland leaf area and concomitant changes in e

A goal of the International Prophylaxis Study Group (IPSG) is to provide an accurate instrument to measure MRI-based disease severity of haemophilic arthropathy at various time points, so that longitudinal changes in disease severity can be identified to support decisions on treatment management. We review and discuss in this paper the evaluative purpose of the IPSG MRI scale in relation to its de

Background Some evidence suggests that chronic kidney disease is a risk factor for lower-extremity peripheral artery disease. We aimed to quantify the independent and joint associations of two measures of chronic kidney disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] and albuminuria) with the incidence of peripheral artery disease. Methods In this collaborative meta-analysis of international