CR composites with improved processing safety crosslinked via Heck's reaction

The aim of this study was to optimize the composition of the chloroprene rubber (CR) composites crosslinked via the Heck-type reaction to ensure their safe processing at elevated temperature. The developed curing system consisting of iron (III) acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)) and triethanolamine (TEOA) demonstrates high activity and more eco-friendly composition in comparison with metal oxide system, commercially used for CR crosslinking. However, the high activity of Fe(acac)/TEOA system results in a short scorch time, which is the greatest disadvantage regarding the safe processing of CR rubber and thus, must be improved. Therefore, CR compounds with Fe(acac) in the presence of different additives were studied. The longest scorch times (t₀₂) were observed for rubber compounds with urotropine (U), N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenamide (CBS) or salicylic acid. Moreover, vulcanizates containing these additives exhibited higher tensile strengths and elongation at breaks compared to CR crosslinked with Fe(acac)/TEOA system.     

Empathy and Modern Technology: A Neuroergonomics Perspective

The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of empathy in the design of advanced systems in manufacturing and service industries in order to ensure suitable working conditions for employees from the social and technological point of view. The origins and components of empathy are briefly reviewed. The neural underpinnings of three components of empathy, including cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects, are considered in the context of human–human and human–machine interactions, as well as design of working environments. Finally, the potential advantages of applying empathy‐related knowledge to the design and development of human‐centered technology are discussed.     

Knowledge base support for dynamic information system management

Enterprise activities are governed by regulations and laws that are multiple, heterogeneous and not always easy to understand. The arising and/or the modification of these regulations and laws can cause a significant impact in the business context, especially in terms of enterprise information systems adaptation. Currently, there are many methodological and technological tools that facilitate the application of regulations and procedures, but they are not integrated enough to ensure a complete problem management. Therefore, they are not sufficient to support organizations and companies in the management of their business processes. In this paper we propose a methodological and technological solution, able to model, manage, execute and monitor business processes of complex domains. The system allows both the design of an information system and its prototyping as a web application, by the extension of an appropriately selected Business Process Management suite. During both the design and the usage phases of the prototyped information system, it is possible to interface with a knowledge base that contains information about regulations and aspects that characterize the enterprise (organizational chart, tasks, etc.).     

The contribution of proteomics towards deciphering the enigma of Coxiella burnetii

Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever, is an intracellular bacterium and a potential weapon for bioterrorism. The widespread throughout the world, zoonosis is manifested clinically as a self-limited febrile illness, as pneumonia (acute Q fever) or as a chronic illness with endocarditis being its major complication. The recent Netherlands Q fever outbreak has driven the bacterium from a relatively cryptic, underappreciated, “niche” microorganism on the sideline of bacteriology, to one of possibly great impact on public health. Advances in the study of this microorganism proceeded slowly, primarily due to the, until recently, obligatory intracellular nature of the pathogen that in its virulent phase I must be manipulated under biosafety level-3 conditions. Proteomic studies, in particular, have generated a vast amount of information concerning several aspects of the bacterium such as virulence factors, detection/diagnostic and immunogenic biomarkers, inter-/intraspecies variation, resistance to antibiotics, and secreted effector proteins with significant clinical impact. The phenomenon observed following the genomics era, that of generation and accumulation of huge amount of data that ultimately end up unexploited on several databases, begins to emerge in the proteomics field as well. This review will focus on the advances in the field of C. burnetii proteomics through MS, attempting in parallel to utilize some of the proteomics findings by suggesting future directions for the improvement of Q fever diagnosis and therapy.     

A Comparative Study of Two Wayfinding Aids With Simulated Driving Tasks—GPS and a Dual-Scale Exploration Aid

Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the most often used wayfinding aid for driving. Yet GPS is originally designed to provide a driving guide rather than to help users gain spatial knowledge. Accordingly, GPS might be less usable in situations where spatial knowledge is required. This study experimentally compared two wayfinding aids using simulated driving tasks in a virtual environment: a simulated GPS and a dual-scale exploration aid (DSEA). The DSEA, which provides two levels of details—both detailed and contextual information—was proposed to support participants in finding and selecting routes by themselves. The results show that although DSEA was less helpful in leading participants to their destination and corresponded to more turning errors in simulated driving, it was more useful for the corresponding participants to establish spatial awareness and a cognitive map. The influence of participants' spatial ability test score on wayfinding performance was measured and discussed. The proposed DSEA design and experimental results show some indications for designing new wayfinding aids aimed at reducing wayfinding errors and constructing cognitive maps while still providing easy navigation.     

Modalities in linear logic weaker than the exponential “of course”: Algebraic and relational semantics

We present a semantic study of a family of modal intuitionistic linear systems, providing various logics with both an algebraic semantics and a relational semantics, to obtain completeness results. We call modality a unary operator on formulas which satisfies only one rale (regularity), and we consider any subsetW of a list of axioms which defines the exponential of course of linear logic. We define an algebraic semantics by interpreting the modality as a unary operation on an IL-algebra. Then we introduce a relational semantics based on pretopologies with an additional binary relationr between information states. The interpretation of is defined in a suitable way, which differs from the traditional one in classical modal logic. We prove that such models provide a complete semantics for our minimal modal system, as well as, by requiring the suitable conditions onr (in the spirit of correspondence theory), for any of its extensions axiomatized by any subsetW as above. We also prove an embedding theorem for modal IL-algebras into complete ones and, after introducing the notion of general frame, we apply it to obtain a duality between general frames and modal IL-algebras.     

Imposing temporal consistency on deep monocular body shape and pose estimation

Computational Visual Media - Accurate and temporally consistent modeling of human bodies is essential for a wide range of applications, including character animation, understanding human social...     

Psychosocial aspects of children and families treated with hemodialysis

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the selected psychosocial aspects of chronic kidney disease in children treated with hemodialysis (HD). Methods: The study included 25 children treated with HD aged 2 to 18 years and their parents. Data concerning the illness and socio‐demographic parameters was collected. We used the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) for patients and for their parents the PedsQL‐proxy version, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12), Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS), and the Caregivers Burden Scale (CBS) to evaluate health‐related quality of life (QoL) of HD children and their primary caregivers. Findings: In the PedsQL test, the QoL of HD children was lower than in healthy children. Children treated with HD assessed their QoL on the PedsQL questionnaire higher than the primary caregivers, on all subscales as well as an overall health‐related QoL. Scoring below 2 on the GHQ‐12 test was reported in 56% of mothers, which may indicate that psychological symptoms have intensified. There was no correlation between BSSS, CBS, and GHQ‐12. Discussion: The assessment of QoL in pediatric patients would allow for the earliest possible identification of their nonsomatic problems and irregularities. This could, consequently, contribute to improving QoL in both children with chronic kidney disease and their families.