Why are poor comprehenders inefficient searchers? An investigation into the effects of text representation and spatial memory on the ability to locate information in text.

Good comprehenders were more efficient than poor comprehenders when they were required to locate specific pieces of information in a text, and there were qualitative differences in search strategies between the groups. However, the performance of the good comprehenders was more like that of poor comprehenders when they were required to search through a scrambled text, suggesting that their search was guided by their representation of the content of the text. Although the groups did not differ in performance on a test of spatial memory, or on their ability to remember the location of individual words in a text, the good comprehenders were better at remembering the order in which specific words appeared in a text. This finding again suggests that their superior search strategies may arise because of their better memory for the order of events in a text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic association and altered gene expression of mir-155 in multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease of the central nervous system characterized by chronic inflammation, demyelination, and axonal damage. As microRNA (miRNA)-dependent alterations in gene expression in hematopoietic cells are critical for mounting an appropriate immune response, miRNA deregulation may result in defects in immune tolerance. In this frame, we sought to explore the possible involvement of miRNAs in MS pathogenesis by monitoring the differential expression of 22 immunity-related miRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of MS patients and healthy controls, by using a microbead-based technology. Three miRNAs resulted >2 folds up-regulated in MS vs controls, whereas none resulted down-regulated. Interestingly, the most up-regulated miRNA (mir-155; fold change = 3.30; P = 0.013) was previously reported to be up-regulated also in MS brain lesions. Mir-155 up-regulation was confirmed by qPCR experiments. The role of mir-155 in MS susceptibility was also investigated by genotyping four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping in the mir-155 genomic region. A haplotype of three SNPs, corresponding to a 12-kb region encompassing the last exon of BIC (the B-cell Integration Cluster non-coding RNA, from which mir-155 is processed), resulted associated with the disease status (P = 0.035; OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.05-1.77), suggesting that this locus strongly deserves further investigations.     

Thermo-mechanical properties of polyethylene composites filled with soapstone waste

In this study, soapstone waste originated from craftsmanship activities was used as an alternative filler (0–30 wt%) for a high-density polyethylene (PE) matrix. The aim of this paper is to understand the effect of the filler particles on crystallinity, thermal stability and thermo-mechanical properties of this newly developed composite material. Physico-chemical characterization was performed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), oxidation induction time (OIT) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMA) were performed to assess the effect of the filler on the themo-mechanical properties of PE. Thermal stability, measured by TGA, was enhanced, while OIT values reduced with filler content. A significant increase on the storage modulus of the composites (up to 148% in comparison with unfilled PE) was observed and this reinforcing effect was even more prominent at higher temperatures. XRD analysis revealed that the degree of crystallinity improved significantly with soapstone loading, which explains the substantial increase in stiffness observed. Increased crystallinity is also associated with higher strength, reduced residual stress, and better dimensional stability of end products, which can be particularly attractive for pressure pipe applications.     

Breakage of an artificial crushable material under loading

The mechanical behaviour of granular materials depends on their grading. Crushing of particles under compression or shear modifies the grain size distribution, with a tendency for the percentage of fine material to increase. It follows that the frictional properties of the material and the critical states are modified as a consequence of the changes in grain size distribution and the available range of packing densities. This paper illustrates an extended experimental investigation of the evolution of the grading of an artificial granular material, consisting of crushed expanded clay pellets under different loading conditions. The changes of grading of the material after isotropic, one-dimensional and constant mean effective stress triaxial compression were described using a single parameter based on the ratio of the areas under the current and an ultimate cumulative particle size distribution, which were both assumed to be consistent with self similar grading with varying fractal dimension. Relative breakage was related to the total work input for unit of volume. For poorly graded samples, the observed maximum rate of breakage is practically independent of initial uniformity. Further experiments at higher confining stress are required to investigate the mechanics of breakage of better graded samples.     

Thermoelastic finite element model updating with application to monumental buildings

A reliable and predictive model of an existing structure entails the use of model updating techniques, which are usually performed on the basis of operational modal analysis campaigns. In this paper, a new model calibration strategy is proposed that adopts a multiphysics approach to exploit data collected by both static and dynamic monitoring systems. More specifically, mechanical and temperature data are assimilated into the model through a thermoelastic updating. The proposed scheme is validated with numerical simulations and applied on the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, a complex historical building that is subjected to both static and dynamic monitoring.     

A quantitative study of air-borne particulate matter collected on membrane filters by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The capability of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS or ESCA, in analysing oxidation states and measuring the concentration of elements present in air pollution particulates collected on membrane filters is evaluated. Semi-quantitative data are compared with those from XRF and wet chemical analysis. Differences of about a factor of 2.0–2.5 are found which are critically discussed in relation to particle size and the distribution of ionic species. The importance of intrinsic properties of matrix materials and instrumental factors is also discussed.     

Macrobenthos community structural changes off Cesenatico coast (Emilia Romagna, Northern Adriatic), a six-year monitoring programme

Soft bottom macrobenthos at a station located off Cesenatico (Emilia Romagna, Northern Adriatic Sea) was investigated seasonally for six years from July 1996 to July 2002. Species composition and abundance of the community have been studied in relation to fluctuation in the water environment parameters, sediment texture patterns and mucilage, that occurred mainly in the water column at the study site. Three major Po river flow peaks occurred in November 1996, October 2000 and May 2002; after these events the community was reduced to minimum abundance values (total density<2000 individuals m(-2)). In the period between the first two episodes the river discharge remained rather low and conditions of increased salinity, lower nutrients and chl a and good oxygen saturation were experienced. The fossorial Crustacean Ampelisca diadema became dominant in the community between the first two river flow events, reaching maximum density of 10,200 individuals m(-2) and substituting the bivalve Corbula gibba, indicator of sediment instability. Species richness increased in the same period. The role of Ampelisca as a facilitator in structuring the community is discussed. Corbula gibba never recovered to initial densities, apart from an abundance peak that occurred in the summer of 2000. Faunal composition seemed to evolve slowly towards a higher degree of structural complexity (positive trend in diversity and evenness index). In the study site near-bottom mucilage events occurred in the summers of 1997, 1998, 2002; they appeared uncorrelated with the observed changes in the community structure. Multivariate analysis of community structure (MDS, ANOSIM) illustrates that community changes in this station are driven mainly by hydrographical conditions influencing sediment texture patterns and trophic resources for the benthos.     

Superfluid Gap in Neutron Matter from a Microscopic Effective Interaction

Correlated basis function (CBF) perturbation theory and the formalism of cluster expansions have been recently employed to obtain an effective interaction from a nuclear Hamiltonian strongly constrained by phenomenology. We report the results of a study of the superfluid gap in pure neutron matter, associated with the formation of Cooper pairs in the \(^1S_0\) channel. The calculations have been carried out using an improved version of the CBF effective interaction, in which three-nucleon forces are taken into account using a microscopic model. Our results show that a non-vanishing superfluid gap develops at densities in the range \(2 \times 10^{-4} \lesssim \rho /\rho _0 \lesssim 0.1\), where \(\rho _0 = 2.8 \times 10^{14}~\mathrm{g~cm}^{-3}\) is the equilibrium density of isospin-symmetric nuclear matter, corresponding mainly to the neutron-star inner crust.