Spatial disparities in the European Union: an analysis of regional polarization

This paper examines the degree of polarization in the European Union regional per capita income distribution between 1977 and 1999 from several complementary perspectives. Specifically, we have combined a non-parametric analysis with the information provided by various polarization measures proposed by the literature on personal income distribution. The results reveal that the European regions tend to cluster into different per capita income classes during the study period. Nevertheless, the level of intra-distribution mobility is relatively low, especially in regions at the upper and lower ends of the distribution. In any event, regional polarization has decreased over time, as a consequence of various factors sometimes working in opposite directions. Additionally, the empirical evidence provided reveals that the geographical location of the various regions and the differences in their productivity levels, play a major role in explaining the polarization patterns observed in the European Union.     

Statistical and Hybrid Methods for Speech Recognition in Romanian

The present paper describes the evolution of our work concerning the problem of speech recognition. Beginning with a classical hidden Markov model (HMM), we have investigated two ways to improve the performance of this basic structure. The first way was to realize a neuro-statistical hybrid by integrating a multilayer perceptron (MLP) as a posteriori probability estimator. The system was further refined by adding supplementary discriminative training (DT) based on the minimum classification error (MCE). Tests performed on a 15,000 isolated spoken-word database, showed an increase in the recognition rate from 92.2% for the HMM-based recognition system, to 94.7% for the HMM-MLP system, and then to 98.1% for the refined HMM-MLP-DT system. The second way to improve the classical HMM was to build a fuzzy-statistical hybrid, FHMM, based on a fuzzy similarity measure instead of the probabilistic measure specific to the usual statistical model. The benefits of the fuzzy measure introduction were evaluated on a vowel recognition task, and a decrease of approximately 3% in the error rate is reported.     

Towards a Treatment for Neuroinflammation in Epilepsy: Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist,Anakinra, as a Potential Treatment in Intractable Epilepsy

Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome (FIRES) is a unique catastrophic epilepsy syndrome, and the development of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is inevitable. Recently, anakinra, an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), has been increasingly used to treat DRE due to its potent anticonvulsant activity. We here summarized its effects in 38 patients (32 patients with FIRES and six with DRE). Of the 22 patients with FIRES, 16 (73%) had at least short-term seizure control 1 week after starting anakinra, while the remaining six suspected anakinra-refractory cases were male and had poor prognoses. Due to the small sample size, an explanation for anakinra refractoriness was not evident. In all DRE patients, seizures disappeared or improved, and cognitive function improved in five of the six patients following treatment. Patients showed no serious side effects, although drug reactions with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms, cytopenia, and infections were observed. Thus, anakinra has led to a marked improvement in some cases, and functional deficiency of IL-1RA was indicated, supporting a direct mechanism for its therapeutic effect. This review first discusses the effectiveness of anakinra for intractable epileptic syndromes. Anakinra could become a new tool for intractable epilepsy treatment. However, it does not currently have a solid evidence base.     

Studies on the thermal and mechanical behavior of PLA‐PET blends

The increasing use of bio‐sourced and biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in bottle packaging presents an increasing challenge to the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling process. Despite advanced separation technologies to remove PLA from PET recyclate, PLA may still be found in rPET process streams. This study explores the effects of PLA on the mechanical properties and crystallization behavior of blends of PET containing 0.5–20% PLA produced by injection molding. SEM indicates an immiscible blend of the two polymers and TGA confirms the independent behavior of the two polymers under thermal degradation conditions. Temperature‐modulated DSC studies indicate that adding PLA to PET increases the rigid amorphous fraction of the PET moiety. Critical amounts of PLA induce stress oscillation behavior during mechanical testing. The mechanical behavior of the samples is explained by antagonistic interaction between increased rigid amorphous fraction and decreased fracture strength arising from an increased population of PLA microparticles. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44147.     

Boundary Element Simulation of Thermal Waves

In this paper we survey computational techniques based on boundary integral formulations for the simulation of thermal waves. Time-harmonic solutions to diffusion problems appear in many physical situations of interest and give rise to many interesting problems related to material characterization, parameter assessment or detection of defects. We review the main direct, indirect and mixed integral numerical methods for a model of scattering of thermal waves by many obstacles and discuss how multiple scattering techniques and other physical tools can be understood as iterative methods or used as preconditioners. We also deal with some transient problems that can be solved with boundary element methods using the Laplace transform and with coupled finite and boundary element schemes for non-homogeneous obstacles.     

The diffusion barrier effect of a vanadium layer in the formation of nickel silicides

The formation of nickel silicides and vanadium silicides and the diffusion barrier effect of a vanadium layer in the formation of nickel silicides were studied for annealed metal films deposited on silicon substrates by depth profiling using secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Nickel films more than 2500 Å thick react with silicon after annealing at 400 °C for 30 min in a vacuum. A vanadium layer 250 Å thick between nickel and silicon shows a barrier effect in the nickel silicide formation after annealing at 400 °C for 30 min. The barrier effect of a vanadium layer 250 Å thick becomes imperfect after annealing at 500 °C for 30 min.     

Bioactivity of degradable polymer sutures coated with bioactive glass

Novel bioactive materials have been prepared by coating violet resorbable Vicryl sutures with a bioactive glass powder derived from a co-precipitation method. Two techniques have been chosen for the composite preparation: pressing the sutures in a bed of glass powder and slurry-dipping of sutures in liquid suspensions of bioactive glass powders. The uniformity and thickness of the coatings obtained by the two methods were compared. The bioactivity of the sutures with and without bioactive glass coating was tested by soaking in an inorganic acellular simulated body fluid (SBF). The composite sutures were characterised by XRD, SEM and FTIR analyses before and after soaking in SBF solution to assess the formation of hydroxyapatite on their surfaces, which is a qualitative measure of their bioactivity. The possible use of bioactive sutures to produce tissue engineering scaffolds and as reinforcement of resorbable calcium phosphates is discussed.     

Formation of CoFe2O4/PVA-SiO2 nanocomposites: Effect of diol chain length on the structure and magnetic properties

The paper presents the influence of diol (1,2-ethanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol and 1,4-butanediol) on the formation of magnetic crystalline cobalt ferrite embedded in polyvinyl alcohol-silica hybrid matrix at 200?°C. Formation of crystalline oxides (CoFe₂O₄, Co₃O₄ and Co₂SiO₄) was studied by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The effect of annealing temperature and diol chain length on the cobalt ferrite nanocrystallites size was investigated. Using transmission electron microscopy, the size and shape of particles obtained at 200?°C were recorded and compared to those obtained by annealing at 500, 800 and 1100?°C. The saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercive field were calculated from the magnetic hysteresis loops of nanocomposites. The M_s was influenced by the particle size and crystallinity only for nanocomposites annealed at 800 and 1100?°C, when the magnetic domains started to form and to be larger than the critical particle size. The diols used in the synthesis influence both the oxidic phase formation and its properties.