Chondrogenic differentiation within magnetic-responsive multilayered liquified capsules containing collagen II/TFG-β3 coated microparticles

The use of stem cells is a promising therapeutic approach for the substantial challenge to regenerate cartilage. Considering the two prerequisites, namely the use of a 3D system to enable the chondrogenic differentiation and growth factors to avoid dedifferentiation, the diffusion efficiency of essential biomolecules is an intrinsic issue. We already proposed a liquified bioencapsulation system containing solid microparticles as cell adhesion sites1. Here, we intend to use the optimized system towards chondrogenic differentiation by encapsulating stem cells and collagenII-TGF-β3 PLLA microparticles. As a proof-of-concept, magnetite-nanoparticles were incorporated into the multilayered membrane. This can be a great advantage after implantation procedures to fixate the capsules in situ with the held of an external magnetic patch and for the follow-up through imaging. Results showed that the production of glycosaminoglycans and the expression of cartilage-relevant markers (collagen II, Sox9, aggrecan, and COMP) increased up to 28 days, while hypertrophic (collagen X) and fibrotic (collagen I) markers were downregulated. The presence of nanofibers in the newly deposited ECM was visualized by SEM, which resembles the collagen fibrils of native cartilage. The presence of the major constituent of cartilage, collagen II, was detected by immunocytochemistry and afranin-O and alcian blue stainings revealed a basophilic ECM deposition, which is characteristic of neocartilage. These findings suggest that the proposed system may provide a suitable environment for chondrogenic differentiation.

The reasonant influence of supply chain management practices on organizational performance

A single supply chain management (SCM) practice will have a certain impact on organizational performance(OP). However, since it is placed in a system that many other practices are conducted simultaneously, the practice itself will interact with other ones and have a greater impact on OP. This mechanism is named the "resonant" influence. The technique of Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the above mechanism with data collected from Vietnamese garment enterprises. The tcst results showed that the model without mutual interaction among SCM practices could explain 42.8%, 26.3% and 34% variance of operational performance, customer satisfaction and financial performance. While the one containing this interaction is capable to explain 69.5%, 33.1% and 57.3%, respectively.

An investigation of safety design practices of metal machines

BACKGROUND: Machinery safety issues are a challenge facing manufacturers who are supposed to create and provide products in a better and faster way. In spite of their construction and technological advance, they still contribute to many potential hazards for operators and those nearby. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate safety aspects of metal machinery offered for sale on Internet market according to compliance with minimum and fundamental requirements. METHODS: The study was carried out with the application of a checklist prepared on the basis of Directive 2006/42/EC and Directive 2009/104/EC and regulations enforcing them into Polish law. RESULTS: On the basis of the study it was possible to reveal the safety aspects that were not met in practice. It appeared that in the case of minimum requirements the most relevant problems concerned information, signal and control elements, technology and machinery operations, whereas as far as fundamental aspects are concerned it was hard to assure safe work process. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the fact that more and more legal acts binding in the Member Countries of the European Union are being introduced to alleviate the phenomenon, these regulations are often not fulfilled.

Portuguese strengths and fragilities on safety and health practices

Despite improvements over the years, accidents continue to be a scourge in the construction sector, leading to an increase in the number of journal articles addressing the issue, in an attempt to help construction industry to increase safety performance [1]. This paper aims to, helping construction industry and particulary tunneling community, describe the Portuguese approach to most typical health and safety problems in underground excavations performed with the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM). The article will address various topics, from safety management and organizational practices, to collective and personal protection equipment, to emergency planning. nt problems in safety and health matters are similar to several other countries, the paper will expose a compilation of Portuguese best practices used to solve that problems. This enunciation of best practices describes experience from most important and recognized Project Owners and Contractors in Portugal. In a second phase it will be analysed Portuguese weaknesses, identifying preventive measures, and their comparative importance, that should be adopted in Portugal in order to reduce accidents and health diseases.

Seismic-resistant building practices resulting from local seismic culture

Considering that vernacular architecture may bear important lessons on hazard mitigation, this chapter focuses on the European Mediterranean countries and studies traditional seismic-resistant architectural elements and techniques that local populations developed to prevent or repair earthquake damage. This area was selected as a case study because, as a highly seismic region, it has suffered the effect of many earthquakes along the history and, thus, regions within this area are prone to have developed a Local Seismic Culture. After reviewing seismic resistant construction concepts, a wide range of traditional construction solutions that, in many cases, have shown to improve the seismic performance of vernacular constructions of these regions is presented, as a contribution to the general overview of retrofitting building systems provided in this book. The main motivation is that most of these techniques can be successfully applied to preserve and to retrofit surviving examples without prejudice for their identity.

Literacy practices in adult learning biographies: possibilities and constraints

[Extrat] The answer to the social and economic challenges that it is assumed literacy (or its lack) puts to developed countries deeply concerns public policies of governments namely those of the OECD area. In the last decades, these concerns gave origin to several and diverse monitoring devices, initiatives and programmes for reading (mainly) development, putting a strong stress on education. UNESCO (2006, p. 6), for instance, assumes that the literacy challenge can only be met raising the quality of primary and secondary education and intensifying programmes explicitly oriented towards youth and adult literacy. (...)

One-step in situ synthesis of polyamide microcapsules with inorganic payload and their transformation into responsive thermoplastic composite materials

Well-dispersed loads of finely powdered metals, metal oxides, several carbon allotropes or nanoclays are incorporated into highly porous polyamide 6 microcapsules in controllable amounts via an original one-step in situ fabrication technique. It is based on activated anionic polymerization (AAP) of ε-caprolactam in a hydrocarbon solvent performed in the presence of the respective micro- or nanosized loads. The forming microcapsules with typical diameters of 25-50 µm entrap up to 40 wt% of load. Their melt processing produces hybrid thermoplastic composites. Mechanical, electric conductivity and magnetic response measurements show that transforming of in situ loaded microcapsules into composites by melt processing (MP) is a facile and rapid method to fabricate materials with high mechanical resistance and electro-magnetic characteristics sufficient for many industrial applications. This novel concept requires low polymerization temperatures, no functionalization or compatibilization of the loads and it is easy to scale up at industrial production levels.

User expectations for media sharing practices in open display networks

Open Display Networks have the potential to allow many content creators to publish their media to an open-ended set of screen displays. However, this raises the issue of how to match that content to the right displays. In this study, we aim to understand how the perceived utility of particular media sharing scenarios is affected by three independent variables, more specifically: (a) the locativeness of the content being shared; (b) how personal that content is and (c) the scope in which it is being shared. To assess these effects, we composed a set of 24 media sharing scenarios embedded with different treatments of our three independent variables. We then asked 100 participants to express their perception of the relevance of those scenarios. The results suggest a clear preference for scenarios where content is both local and directly related to the person that is publishing it. This is in stark contrast to the types of content that are commonly found in public displays, and confirms the opportunity that open displays networks may represent a new media for self-expression. This novel understanding may inform the design of new publication paradigms that will enable people to share media across the display networks.

Family relationship and parenting practices: a pathway to adolesents’ collectivist and individualist values?

Adolescents’ perceptions of parenting and family relationships are important variables for identifying mechanisms involved in how children acquire values and how these values are transmitted through families. In a sample of 515 adolescents, we investigated whether perceptions of the quality of parental practices would predict adolescents’ collectivist and individualist values. We hypothesized that perceived quality of family relations would mediate the relationship between the quality of parental practices and collectivist values but not of individualist values. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that perception of the quality of parental practices predicted adolescents’ both collectivist and individualist values. The predicted mediation effect was found for collectivist values, but not for individualist values. The results point to different functions of parenting and family relations on value acquisition. Implications for practice, such as the development and implementation of interventions to improve the formation of adolescents’ values by enhancing the quality of parenting and family relationships are discussed.

Light responsive multilayer surfaces with controlled spatial extinction capability

Multilayer systems obtained using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technology have been proposed for a variety of biomedical applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. LbL assembly is a simple and highly versatile method to modify surfaces and fabricate robust and highly-ordered nanostructured coatings over almost any type of substrates and with a wide range of substances. The incorporation of polyoxometalate (POM) inorganic salts as constituents of the layers presents a possibility of promoting light-stimuli responses in LbL substrates. We propose the design of a biocompatible photo-responsive multilayer system based on a Preyssler-type POM ([NaP5W30O110]14â ) and a natural origin polymer, chitosan, using the LbL methodology. The photo-reduction properties of the POM allow the spatially controlled disruption of the assembled layers due to the weakening of the electrostatic interactions between the layers. This system has found applicability in detaching devices, such as the cell sheet technology, which may solve the drawbacks actually found in other cell treatment proposals.

Optimal behavior of responsive residential demand considering hybrid phase change materials

Due to communication and technology developments, residential consumers are enabled to participate in Demand Response Programs (DRPs), control their consumption and decrease their cost by using Household Energy Management (HEM) systems. On the other hand, capability of energy storage systems to improve the energy efficiency causes that employing Phase Change Materials (PCM) as thermal storage systems to be widely addressed in the building applications. In this paper, an operational model of HEM system considering the incorporation of more than one type of PCM in plastering mortars (hybrid PCM) is proposed not only to minimize the customerâ s cost in different DRPs but also to guaranty the habitantsâ  satisfaction. Moreover, the proposed model ensures the technical and economic limits of batteries and electrical appliances. Different case studies indicate that implementation of hybrid PCM in the buildings can meaningfully affect the operational pattern of HEM systems in different DRPs. The results reveal that the customerâ s electricity cost can be reduced up to 48% by utilizing the proposed model.

The effect of high-fat diet on rat’s mood, feeding behavior and response to stress

An association between obesity and depression has been indicated in studies addressing common physical (metabolic) and psychological (anxiety, low self-esteem) outcomes. Of consideration in both obesity and depression are chronic mild stressors to which individuals are exposed to on a daily basis. However, the response to stress is remarkably variable depending on numerous factors, such as the physical health and the mental state at the time of exposure. Here a chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol was used to assess the effect of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity on response to stress in a rat model. In addition to the development of metabolic complications, such as glucose intolerance, diet-induced obesity caused behavioral alterations. Specifically, animals fed on HFD displayed depressive- and anxious-like behaviors that were only present in the normal diet (ND) group upon exposure to CMS. Of notice, these mood impairments were not further aggravated when the HFD animals were exposed to CMS, which suggest a ceiling effect. Moreover, although there was a sudden drop of food consumption in the first 3 weeks of the CMS protocol in both ND and HFD groups, only the CMS-HFD displayed an overall noticeable decrease in total food intake during the 6 weeks of the CMS protocol. Altogether, the study suggests that HFD impacts on the response to CMS, which should be considered when addressing the consequences of obesity in behavior.

Gender, sex and sexuality in two open access communication journals published in Portugal: a critical overview of current discursive practices

The links between gender, sex and sexuality and their relevance are theoretically and politically problematic (Richardson, 2007). One of the difficulties in understanding their interconnections is that these terms are often used differently and ambiguously by different authors (and even by the same authors). This article reports the results of an analysis of the articles published in open access communication journals with known impact factor, edited in Portugal and published between 2005 and 2012. The diverse conceptualisations of those three basic concepts and of their (inter)relationships within communication research are identified. The complexity and the intricate (and often implicit) nature of both the meanings of these categories and their relationships underlie and justify our attention and further research. What the findings suggest about the current communication research into gender issues published in the two journals surveyed is that the ‘Gender differences discourse’ (Sunderland, 2004) is the most pervasive discourse (also) in academic practice. Additionally, they show that gender and sex are mainly taken for a fact, not a question that is worth being studied. The editors of these journals, as well as the scholars submitting manuscripts, need to be more aware of the traditional nature of the theoretical and methodological choices that they make regarding gender- and sex-related issues, as well as of the relative lack of attention to sexuality as a research subject.

All different or all the same? Exploring the diversity of professional practices in Portuguese school psychology

"Published online: 29 March 2016"