An Investigation into Hydraulic Permeability of Fibrous Membranes with Nonwoven Random and Quasi-Parallel Structures

Fibrous membranes with a nonwoven random structure and a quasi-parallel fibrous structure can be fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The membranes with different structures exhibited different behaviors to a hydraulic flow passing through the membranes. This work presents the effects of the fiber arrangement, fiber diameter, and deformations of the fibers on the hydraulic permeability. The results showed that the hydraulic flow can generate an extrusion pressure which affects the porosity and pore structure of the fibrous membranes. The quasi-parallel fibrous membranes and nonwoven membranes exhibited similar variation tendencies to the change of the experimental variables. However, the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes exhibited a higher sensibility to the change of the hydraulic flow rate. The hydraulic permeability of the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes was further analyzed with packing state models in this work.

Incorporating rainy season and reproductive phenology into the survival and transition rates of the invasive species Sambucus nigra: An approximation with multi-state models

Although it has been demonstrated that environmental changes within a year can affect the reproduction, survival, and growth of invasive species, these factors have rarely been incorporated into the demographic analysis. Therefore, we applied multi-state demographic models (based on capture–recapture animal methods accounting for imperfect detectability of individuals in natural conditions) to evaluate the effects of reproductive phenology and rainy season on the survival and transition/retrogression rates among stage categories of Sambucus nigra (L)—an invasive tree species, widely distributed in temperate forests of Europe and America. In the Abies religiosa temperate forest, Mexico City, a multi-state demographic model of S. nigra was built using bi-monthly censuses during a year. We selected the best-fitting model according to Akaike’s information criterion (AICc). We determined the response of reproductive phenology of S. nigra to the rainy season for two years through repeatability and phenotypic plasticity indexes. Our results showed that the reproductive phenology of S. nigra has a low repeatability index and a high phenotypic plasticity index. We demonstrated that additive and interactive effects of reproductive phenology and rainy season promote changes in survival and transition/retrogression rates among stage categories. During the rainy season, the survival probability of seedlings and transition probability towards the adult category increased. Therefore, our study represents a significant contribution to the knowledge of the demographic dynamics of invasive species on an intra-annual scale.

Value Orientations of Russian Youth in Interaction Models between the State and Civil Society

In the context of the formation of civil society in modern Russia with the traditionally significant role of the state, the problem of studying the inclusion of young people in a particular model of the relationship between these two institutions is of particular relevance. This choice will determine a certain type of political system in Russia in the future. The purpose of the study is to identify empirically groups of young people who are determined by the direction of value orientations in public life and their involvement in various models of interaction between the state and civil society. The empirical basis of the study was a project conducted in 2019 by Saint Petersburg State University and Altai State University to study the political consciousness of Russian youth. As a result of using multidimensional methods of analysis, the connection between the involvement of the citizen-state models and the types of value orientations of Russian youth is revealed. Four groups of young people were obtained, stratified by value orientations, the specifics of relations between the state and citizens of our country, and the choice of the preferred type of state to live in.

An Investigation into Current Sand Control Methodologies Taking into Account Geomechanical, Field and Laboratory Data Analysis

Sand production is one of the major issues in the development of reservoirs in poorly cemented rocks. Geomechanical modeling gives us an opportunity to calculate the reservoir stress state, a major parameter that determines the stable pressure required in the bottomhole formation zone to prevent sand production, decrease the likelihood of a well collapse and address other important challenges. Field data regarding the influence of water cut, bottomhole pressure and fluid flow rate on the amount of sand produced was compiled and analyzed. Geomechanical stress-state models and Llade’s criterion were constructed and applied to confirm the high likelihood of sanding in future wells using the Mohr–Coulomb and Mogi–Coulomb prototypes. In many applications, the destruction of the bottomhole zone cannot be solved using well mode operations. In such cases, it is necessary to perform sand retention or prepack tests in order to choose the most appropriate technology. The authors of this paper conducted a series of laboratory prepack tests and it was found that sanding is quite a dynamic process and that the most significant sand production occurs in the early stages of well operation. With time, the amount of produced sand decreases greatly—up to 20 times following the production of 6 pore volumes. Finally, the authors formulated a methodological approach to sand-free oil production.

The effect of antiviral treatment on SARS-CoV-2 infectious disease progression: A comparison of the multi-state models

Combating SARS-CoV-2 is the first concern and goal of the whole world faced with the global health crisis. Since 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) and even mutated infection cases have been increasing rapidly. From 2019 through 27 August 2021, a total of 214,468,601 individuals were confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2, including 4,470,969 death toll. Some of these individuals were able to access treatment and some could not, but for a while there was complete uncertainty. It was not known whether those who accessed treatment were lucky, but treatment was based on trial and error because of this uncertainty around the world until data was collected. Therefore, the aim of this study was to model SARS-CoV-2 infectious disease progression from the date of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to the date of negative outcome via Bayesian multi-state model approaches considering risk factors such as gender, age, and antiviral treatment. Data from 746 inpatients were collected from August 1st until the December 1st, 2020. For the multi-state model, five various discrete states were selected according to the Republic of Turkey Ministery of Health treatment algorithm. The results showed that Bayesian multi-state models with the Weibull distributed baseline hazard function were more appropriate models in the presence of risk factors and antiviral treatment.

Multiple trait breeding programs with genotype-by-environment interactions based on reaction norms, with application to genetic improvement of disease resilience

Background Genotype-by-environment interactions for a trait can be modeled using multiple-trait, i.e. character-state, models, that consider the phenotype as a different trait in each environment, or using reaction norm models based on a functional relationship, usually linear, between phenotype and a quantitative measure of the quality of the environment. The equivalence between character-state and reaction norm models has been demonstrated for a single trait. The objectives of this study were to extend the equivalence of the reaction norm and character-state models to a multiple-trait setting and to both genetic and environmental effects, and to illustrate the application of this equivalence to the design and optimization of breeding programs for disease resilience. Methods Equivalencies between reaction norm and character-state models for multiple-trait phenotypes were derived at the genetic and environmental levels, which demonstrates how multiple-trait reaction norm parameters can be derived from multiple-trait character state parameters. Methods were applied to optimize selection for a multiple-trait breeding goal in a target environment based on phenotypes collected in a healthy and disease-challenged environment, and to optimize the environment in which disease-challenge phenotypes should be collected. Results and conclusions The equivalence between multiple-trait reaction norm and multiple-trait character-state parameters allow genetic improvement for a multiple-trait breeding goal in a target environment to be optimized without recording phenotypes and estimating parameters for the target environment.

Active Aging From Theory to Practice: National Experiences of Policy Making in Europe and Canada

Born in Europe as a concept aiming to counteract new demographic and societal challenges, active aging has progressively become a key pillar of an extended welfare state for aging populations in many high-income countries. Needs, interests, and preferences of new aging cohorts are changing, becoming more diverse and requiring a better understanding and greater attention by policy makers, beyond mere social welfare programmes for those with social, economic or health needs. Active aging policies aim at improving individuals’ quality of life by optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security (WHO 2002), hence unlocking the potential of older people as active citizens in the community and the society. Since the focus is on a multidimensional concept of quality of life, active aging works at the intersection of labour, social, educational, family, infrastructure, and many other policy areas. However, there may be gaps and discrepancies between the concept in itself and its application at the policy level. The purpose of this symposium is to present and discuss how different post-industrial societies are advancing and implementing active aging policies, in the context of overarching societal challenges and competing needs. In this respect, the symposium focuses on four countries representing different traditional welfare state models: Canada, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. These four case studies bring analyses of active aging policies at national and/or regional level, providing a picture of how such policies have been designed, how they evolved and what they have achieved in recent years.

A Carefare Regime

Hungary’s anti-liberal government has invented a novel solution to the care crisis, which I call a “carefare regime”. This chapter describes four key features of the policies, policy practice and discourse that make up Hungary’s carefare regime. I argue that in contrast to welfare state models familiar from developed democracies, in post-2010 Hungary, women’s claims to social citizenship are most successfully made on the basis of doing care work. The state is re-engineered rather retrenched: services are not commodified but “churchified” in an effort to redistribute resources and build political loyalty. Women are constructed as “naturally” responsible for reproduction and care and this responsibility is tied to sentimentalized notions about femininity and true womanhood. In addition to providing care in the household, women are increasingly engaged in the paid labor market too, where the tolerance for gender inequality is officially mandated. A carefare regime provides limited financial advantages for a select group of women, while simultaneously increasing their devalued work burden both in and outside the household: it feeds a growing underclass of women workers.