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Polyneuropathy is a disease involving multiple peripheral nerves injuries. Axon regrowth remains the major prerequisite for plasticity, regeneration, circuit formation, and eventually functional recovery and therefore, regulation of neurite outgrowth might be a candidate for treating polyneuropathies. In a recent study, we synthesized and established the methylene-cycloalkylacetate (MCAs) pharmacophore as a lead for the development of a neurotropic drug (inducing neurite/axonal outgrowth) using the PC12 neuronal model. In the present study we extended the characterizations of the in vitro neurotropic effect of the derivative 3-(3-allyl-2-methylenecyclohexyl) propanoic acid (MCA-13) on dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord neuronal cultures and analyzed its safety properties using blood biochemistry and cell counting, acute toxicity evaluation in mice and different in vitro "off-target" pharmacological evaluations. This MCA derivative deserves further preclinical mechanistic pharmacological characterizations including therapeutic efficacy in in vivo animal models of polyneuropathies, toward development of a clinically relevant neurotropic drug.

Abstract Airbnb, a leader of P2P accommodation markets, has acknowledged that “trust is what makes Airbnb work” and has implemented several trust indicators over the years: reputation system, impression formation, and certification. We evaluate the changes in these indicators over time: 1. the modification of the reputation system, 2. the removal of hosts’ photos from the main search screen, and 3. the introduction of the Superhost program. We find that the change of the rating system was associated with a small, yet significant, reduction in ratings, that the removal of the hosts’ photos might have eliminated the price premium of trustworthy images, and that Superhost certification involves a price premium, but does not seem to compensate for established reputation. This article also launches the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Peer-to-peer accommodation networks, a special selection of research in this field.

Capturing and converting waste heat into electrical power through thermoelectric generators based on the Seebeck effect is a promising alternative energy source. Among thermoelectric compounds, PbTe can be alloyed and form precipitates by aging at elevated temperatures, thus reducing thermal conductivity by phonon scattering. Here, PbTe is alloyed with Ag to form Ag-rich precipitates having a number density controlled by heat treatments. We employ complementary scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography to analyze the precipitate number density and the PbTe-matrix composition. We measure the temperature-dependent transport coefficients and correlate them with the microstructure. The thermal and electrical conductivities, as well as the Seebeck coefficients, are found to be highly sensitive to the microstructure and its temporal evolution, e.g., the number density of Ag-rich precipitates increases by ca. 3 orders of magnitude and reaches (1.68 ± 0.92) × 1024 m-3 upon aging at 380 °C for 6 h, which is pronounced by reduction in thermal conductivity to a value as low as 0.85 W m-1 K-1 at 300 °C. Our findings will help to guide predictive tools for further design of materials for energy harvesting.

In the Netherlands, more than 80% of the highways are surfaced by porous asphalt (PA) mixes. The benefits of using PA mixes include, among others, the reduction of noise and the improvement of skid resistance. However, pavements with PA mixes are known to have a shorter lifetime and higher maintenance costs as compared with traditional dense asphalt mixes. Raveling is one of the most prominent distresses that occur on PA mix pavements. To analyze the raveling distress of a PA mix pavement, the stress and strain fields at the component level are required. Computational models based on finite element methods (FEM), discrete element methods (DEM), or both, can be used to compute local stress and strain fields. However, they require the development of large FEM meshes and large-scale computational facilities. As an alternative, the homogenization technique provides a way to calculate the stress and strain fields at the component level without the need for much computation power. This study aims to propose a new approach to analyze the raveling distress of a PA mix pavement by using the homogenization technique. To demonstrate the application of the proposed approach, a real field-like example was presented. In the real field-like example, the Mori–Tanaka model was used as a homogenization technique. The commonly available pavement analysis tool 3D-MOVE was used to compute the response of the analyzed pavement. In general, it was concluded that the homogenization technique could be a reliable and effective way to analyze the raveling distress of a PA mix pavement.

Glycopolymers have emerged as powerful and versatile glycan analogues for the investigation of cellular signal transduction. In this study, a layer of the glycopolymer-brush (GlyB) interface was functionalized on the surface of gold substrates. In order to enhance the capability and accessibility of this transducer interface, a combined protocol of copper(0)-mediated living radical polymerization (Cu(0)-LRP) with subsequent "CuAAC" click reaction was utilized to synthesize a set of novel glycopolymer precursors with a tunable scaffold structure and pyranose ligands. The resulting glycopolymer exhibited a fine-tuned molecular weight with a minor dispersity of 1.27. Through surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis, various GlyB interfaces exhibiting different saccharide moieties (glucose, mannose, and galactose) were examined to study their adhesion or antiadhesion potential toward three types of proteins, concanavalin A, bovine serum albumin, and peanut agglutinin (PNA). The strong affinity between poly(galactose) and PNA was further employed to construct a proof-of-concept aggregation-mediated sensing system. This minimal naked-eye sensor that consisted of only two substances, namely, gold nanoparticles and glycopolymers, was characterized and tested for its potential in protein quantification.

Cholesterol crystallization from mixtures of unesterified cholesterol with phospholipids and cholesterol esters is believed to be a key event in atherosclerosis progression. Not much is understood, however, about the influence of the lipid environment on cholesterol crystallization. Here we study cholesterol monohydrate crystal formation from mixed bilayers with palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC), dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and sphingomyelin. We show that disordered phospholipids and sphingomyelin stabilize the formation of crystal plates of the triclinic cholesterol monohydrate polymorph, whereas saturated glycerolipids stabilize helical and tubular crystals of the metastable monoclinic polymorph. We followed the subsequent transformation of these helical crystals into the stable triclinic plates. Discovering the relations between membrane lipid composition and cholesterol crystal polymorphism may provide important clues to the understanding of cholesterol crystal formation in atherosclerosis.

Collaborative Mixed Reality (MR) systems are at a critical point in time as they are soon to become more commonplace. However, MR technology has only recently matured to the point where researchers can focus deeply on the nuances of supporting collaboration, rather than needing to focus on creating the enabling technology. In parallel, but largely independently, the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) has focused on the fundamental concerns that underlie human communication and collaboration over the past 30-plus years. Since MR research is now on the brink of moving into the real world, we reflect on three decades of collaborative MR research and try to reconcile it with existing theory from CSCW, to help position MR researchers to pursue fruitful directions for their work. To do this, we review the history of collaborative MR systems, investigating how the common taxonomies and frameworks in CSCW and MR research can be applied to existing work on collaborative MR systems, exploring where they have fallen behind, and look for new ways to describe current trends. Through identifying emergent trends, we suggest future directions for MR, and also find where CSCW researchers can explore new theory that more fully represents the future of working, playing and being with others Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In 2006, the Israeli Ministry of Welfare recognized the BSW degrees of two Palestinian and one Jordanian institutions, which enables their Israeli-Arab graduates to work in Israel’s social services...