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This paper reports a study on 8 unconventional hydraulic lime-based mortars able to improve indoor air quality by acting as passive systems. Mortars have been prepared with commercial sand or highly adsorbent materials as aggregates with/without TiO2 as photocatalytic agent, to test also the decomposition of airborne pollutants. Mechanical properties, hygrometric behavior, inhibition of growth of molds and depollution properties have been tested. Despite using porous materials (zeolite and activated carbon), in mortars with unconventional aggregates, compressive strength is higher than in sand-based ones, with a more than double higher water vapor permeability. Zeolite-based mortars have the highest moisture buffering capacity followed by silica gel- and activated carbon-based mortars (1.5–2 times higher than reference, respectively, because of the high porosity of unconventional aggregates). Sand-based mortars show optimum inhibitory capacity against fungal growth. Concerning unconventional aggregates, silica gel mortars have good inhibitory capacity, whereas zeolite and activated carbon give to mortars an optimum substrate for molds. Mortars with unconventional aggregates as silica gel remove more than 80% of tracer pollutant after 2 h of test, whereas zeolite-based mortars remove the 65% of it after 120 min. TiO2 enhances depollution properties as photocatalytic oxidation agent when the mortar is close to saturation.

La histología, como disciplina fundamental en ciencias de la salud, desentraña la complejidad microscópica de los tejidos y órganos, proporcionando la base necesaria para comprender los procesos fisiológicos y patológicos del cuerpo humano. En un mundo marcado por la digitalización, la integración de entornos virtuales en la enseñanza emerge como una herramienta revolucionaria. Este ensayo explora la vanguardia de la educación en histología, destacando la importancia de la innovación mediante entornos virtuales para potenciar la formación en ciencias de la salud. Al fusionar la riqueza conceptual de la histología con la tecnología digital, se despliega un terreno educativo que no solo mejora la comprensión, sino que redefine la manera en que los futuros profesionales de la salud interactúan con el conocimiento anatómico y fisiológico.

Este artigo apresenta a história e a etnografia do povo udi-albanês, minoria étnica do Azerbaijão e uma das mais antigas culturas da humanidade com história contínua. Remanescentes do antigo Reino da Albânia do Cáucaso, conservaram a língua nativa, costumes e o cristianismo em meio ao milenar domínio islâmico. Atualmente tem representatividade junto ao governo da República do Azerbaijão e encontra-se em pleno processo de renascimento cultural e desenvolvimento econômico. Fruto de diligentes pesquisas nas áreas da antropologia cultural, história documentada e oral, o autor apresenta relevantes resultados no campo da linguística, história e etnografia do povo udi.

Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primate cognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we tested the largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimental delayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance across species and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factors on the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-term memory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea, who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecology of a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of short-term memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies and individual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’s evolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and the role of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities.

Modal analysis is an effective tool in the context of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) since the dynamic characteristics of cement-based structures reflect the structural health status of the material itself. The authors consider increasing level load tests on concrete beams and propose a methodology for damage identification relying on the computation of modal curvatures combined with continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to highlight damage-related changes. Unlike most literature studies, in the present work, no numerical models of the undamaged structure were exploited. Moreover, the authors defined synthetic damage indices depicting the status of a structure. The results show that the I mode shape is the most sensitive to damages; indeed, considering this mode, damages cause a decrease of natural vibration frequency (up to approximately −67%), an increase of loss factor (up to approximately fivefold), and changes in the mode shapes morphology (a cuspid appears). The proposed damage indices are promising, even if the level of damage is not clearly distinguishable, probably because tests were performed after the load removal. Further investigations are needed to scale the methodology to in-field applications.

La presente investigación se basa en una revisión bibliográfica que tuvo como objetivo describir las características del microbioma y viroma, y cómo influyen las variaciones de los mismos en el proceso de salud y enfermedad en la cavidad oral del ser humano, para ello se emplearon las bibliotecas virtuales BVS y PubMed, así como Scholar google y LILACS, se utilizaron como palabras para la búsqueda: microbioma, viroma y cavidad bucal. Se seleccionaron un total de 58 artículos tanto en inglés como español que cumplieron como criterio de inclusión tener máximo 5 años de haberse publicado al momento de la búsqueda, se incluyeron estudios observacionales, descriptivos y explicativos, con valor epidemiológico, biológico y metodológico. Se concluye que existe evidencia científica publicada que respalda que tanto el microbioma como el viroma juegan un papel importante en los procesos de salud y enfermedad, permitiendo analizar las disbiosis, tanto a nivel bucal como sistémico. Se requieren más estudios para conocer a profundidad esta compleja relación y su repercusión en el estado de salud de los individuos.

The article is devoted to the description of inter-religious and interethnic tolerance and diversity in the multiculturalism model of Azerbaijan using the example of the Udis, a small people who are the successors of autocephalous Christianity in Caucasian Albania and direct descendants of Caucasian Albanians. This article is intended to emphasize the historical roots that led to the birth and existence of religious tolerance in a multinational country. The model of the Udi phenomenon of selfpreservation of an ethnic group in a multicultural model of the world is also considered.

A new generation of smart building materials, able to passively improve the indoor environment and the comfort of occupants owing to their interaction with the surrounding environment, can be addressed. This paper investigates the use of three highly porous aggregates to manufacture hydraulic lime-based multifunctional mortars to be used as indoor finishes. The same water/binder ratio was used for each mortar mix, and conventional calcareous sand was totally replaced by volume with zeolite, silica gel, and activated carbon. Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO2) was added to award a photocatalytic behavior under UV radiation to the mortars. Results show that, as expected, when highly porous aggregates are used, mortars absorb more water by capillary suction. However, even though the mortars manufactured with lightweight aggregates have a lower density, the mechanical behavior of zeolite and activated carbon mortars is comparable or even higher than that of sand mortars, thanks to an optimum interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the binder paste and the aggregate. The photocatalytic activity, in terms of photocatalytic NOx degradation efficiency and selectivity of unwanted produced NO2, results to be optimal when silica gel-based mortar is tested. Additionally, the thermal-insulation properties are enhanced up to 40% by using all the unconventional aggregates.

Membrane-based processes are taking a more and more prominent position in the search for sustainable and energy-efficient gas separation applications. It is known that the separation performance of pure polymers may significantly be improved by the dispersion of suitable filler materials in the polymer matrix, to produce so-called mixed matrix membranes. In the present work, four different organic cages were dispersed in the poly(ether ether ketone) with cardo group, PEEK-WC. The m-xylyl imine and furanyl imine-based fillers yielded mechanically robust and selective films after silicone coating. Instead, poor dispersion of p-xylyl imine and diphenyl imine cages did not allow the formation of selective films. The H2, He, O2, N2, CH4, and CO2 pure gas permeability of the neat polymer and the MMMs were measured, and the effect of filler was compared with the maximum limits expected for infinitely permeable and impermeable fillers, according to the Maxwell model. Time lag measurements allowed the calculation of the diffusion coefficient and demonstrated that 20 wt % of furanyl imine cage strongly increased the diffusion coefficient of the bulkier gases and decreased the diffusion selectivity, whereas the m-xylyl imine cage slightly increased the diffusion coefficient and improved the size-selectivity. The performance and properties of the membranes were discussed in relation to their composition and morphology.

Some unusual microorganisms have been isolated from samples of patients with oral cavity periodontal disease. The objective of this research was to determine the frequency of Staphylococcus spp. in periodontal pockets based on the epidemiological characteristics of patients attending a dental center in the municipality of San Diego, Carabobo state. Samples from periodontal pockets of 50 patients attending the dental center were studied. The isolated strains were identified by biochemical tests and finally the profile of antimicrobial susceptibility was determined. It was found that the frequency of patients with Staphylococcus spp. was 32%, 16 patients. Staphylococcus Coagulase Negative (SCN) was isolated in 10 patients, followed by S. aureus in 6. Regarding to antimicrobial susceptibility profile, it was determined that of the 6 isolated strains of Staphylococcus aureus, 2 proved to be Methicillin-resistant. The presence of Staphylococcus spp. in periodontal pockets is low frequency; however in this study, the presence of said microorganism was determined in 32% of the patients studied, which means that these patients are more colonized than what is believed.

This work investigates the hydration behaviour and the physico-mechanical properties of mortars based on calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements and fly ash-based geopolymers (GEO) as alternatives to ordinary Portland cement. According to the EN 1504-3, mortars were prepared in order to reach three compressive strength classes, namely R1, R2 and R3 (R1 with Rc = 10 MPa, R2 with Rc = 15 MPa and R3 with Rc = 25 MPa). CSA mortars were prepared by using sulfoaluminate cement alone (R3) or in mixture with a limestone filler (R1 and R2); GEO mortars were manufactured by alkali-activation of coal fly ash and calcium aluminate cement with a sodium silicate and potassium hydroxide water solution. The hydration behaviour was evaluated on pastes submitted to differential thermal-thermogravimetric and X-ray diffraction analyses. Mortars was analysed through mercury intrusion porosimetry; their mechanical properties were evaluated in terms of compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity. Furthermore, capillary water absorption and drying shrinkage tests were carried out in order to evaluate their durability. Due to the rapid ettringite formation, CSA-based mixtures reached their maximum compressive strength values faster than the corresponding GEO mortars. Results showed that the lower modulus of elasticity of GEO mortars causes the higher drying shrinkage. Moreover, the lower porosity exhibited by GEO mortars was responsible for the lower water capillary absorption.

Purpose: This paper presents the outcomes of the international project "Protecting Landscape Heritage: a requalification project as an instrument for the re-birth of Quang Tri Old Citadel in Vietnam", achieved with scientific cooperation between the Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy) and Hue University of Sciences (Vietnam) funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam. The research focuses on the Quang Tri Citadel, founded in 1809 and now in an advanced state of degradation. Design/methodology/approach: For the purpose of rehabilitation, the wide multidisciplinary project first examined the historical context of the military model, the architectural aspects of the structure, the characterization of the existing materials, the degradation levels of different parts, and, finally, a proposal of the suggested interventions. Findings: The original structure and geometry were extrapolated and studied. Building materials were produced with nearby raw materials. Firing temperatures of bricks ranged from 800 to 1,000 °C, hydraulic lime was supposed the binder of the mortar with a calcination temperature lower than 1,000 °C. Damage assessment was provided and after these analyses a requalification project was proposed so the cultural heritage can play a role for the future in the dialog between different cultures. Originality/value: The requalification project achieved by an integrated analytical approach defines aspects in relation to the restoration of the structures, enabling compliance with the geometry, techniques, building materials used in the original construction and allowing its guardianship and management to align with the historical context of the architectural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]