Search results

This paper aims to use an imidazole-based n-ionic Gemini surfactant derived from palm oil to inhibit the sulfide stress corrosion cracking of a supermartensitic stainless steel.

The slow strain rate testing technique, hydrogen permeation tests and potentiodynamic polarization curves have been used.

Addition of the inhibitor below the critical micelle concentration (CMC) decreased the corrosion current density (i_corr), but not enough to avoid embrittlement due to the entry of hydrogen into the steel. Instead, the addition of the inhibitor close to the CMC decreased the i_corr, suppressed the entry of hydrogen and inhibited the sulfide stress cracking of steel. Finally, the addition of inhibitor above the CMC led to a slight increase of i_corr and promoted localized corrosion, however, the sulfide stress cracking of steel was inhibited.

A green sulfide stress corrosion cracking inhibitor of a supermartensitic stainless steel has been obtained.

Brush border intestinal disaccharidases (maltase, sucrase and lactase) play an important role in carbohydrate assimilation. These enzymes are located on the brush border and may interact with legume seed components such as dietary fiber and polyphenols. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of legume dietary fiber on rat disaccharidase in vitro.

Rat intestinal disaccharidases from Sprague‐Dawley rats fed a basal diet for 21 days were partially purified from intestinal scrapings. Enzyme activities were tested in vitro in the absence and presence of total dietary fiber isolated from Phaseolus vulgaris (Varieties Tacarigua and Montalbán) and Vigna unguiculata (Varieties Unare and Tuy) seeds that differ in fiber and polyphenol content. Dietary fiber was purified using the AOAC method.

The specific activities of the intestinal brush‐border disaccharidases from rats fed the basal diet were 3.29 ± 0.06, 3.13 ± 0.62 and 0.18 ± 0.04 umoles of glucose released/mg of protein/min for maltase, sucrase and lactase, respectively. Total dietary fiber from the legume tested inhibited both sucrase and maltase. Fiber from the four seeds tested affected sucrase similarly (average inhibition 35 per cent) whereas the fiber residue from P. vulgaris Montalbán was more effective on maltase (26.7 per cent) than that from P. vulgaris Tacarigua (12.2 per cent). Effect of V. unguiculata fibers on maltase was similar and somewhat in between those from P. vulgaris.

These results suggest that dietary fiber, as well as other factors from beans with anti‐physiological effect, such as condensed tannins and fitic acid possibly associated with the dietary fiber, may impair carbohydrate availability and may contribute to the low glycemic index proper of these foodstuffs.

The aim of this paper is to solve the toxic and harmful problems caused by traditional volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) and to analyze the effect of the layered structure on the enhancement of the volatile corrosion inhibition prevention performance of amino acids.

The carbon dots-montmorillonite (DMT) hybrid material is prepared via hydrothermal process. The effect of the DMT-modified alanine as VCI for mild steel is investigated by volatile inhibition sieve test, volatile corrosion inhibition ability test, electrochemical measurement and surface analysis technology. It demonstrates that the DMT hybrid materials can improve the ability of alanine to protect mild steel against atmospheric corrosion effectively. The presence of carbon dots enlarges the interlamellar spacing of montmorillonite and allows better dispersion of alanine. The DMT-modified alanine has higher volatilization ability and an excellent corrosion inhibition of 85.3% for mild steel.

The DMT hybrid material provides a good template for the distribution of VCI, which can effectively improve the vapor-phase antirust property of VCI.

The increased volatilization rate also means increased VCI consumption and higher costs.

Provides a new way of thinking to replace the traditional toxic and harmful VCI.

For the first time, amino acids are combined with nano laminar structures, which are used to solve the problem of difficult volatilization of amino acids.

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between auditor industry specialization and accounting quality in the European Union (EU).

This study employs a difference-in-differences design and explores audit quality from different industry specialist perspectives and different accounting standard regimes. Specifically, this study examines accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists, EU member country-level industry specialists (EUM-level), EU community-level industry specialists (EUC-level), as well as joint industry specialists.

This study finds evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists post-IFRS. There is also evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by EUC-level industry specialists post-IFRS. In addition, accounting quality among audits performed by EUM-level industry specialists seems to be greater than that of audits performed by non-industry specialists in either the pre-IFRS period or the post-IFRS period. Overall, the mandatory adoption of IFRS in the EU appears to be associated with an improvement in accounting quality among some auditor groups.

Industry specialization and accounting quality are not directly observable constructs; this study inevitably employs proxy measures for both. The findings of this study are location-specific and apply to mandatory IFRS adopters only.

This study informs regulators with respect to the importance of industry specialist auditors and financial reporting quality, particularly within the context of the EU. The findings suggest that industry specialists were a significant accounting quality determinant during the mandatory adoption of IFRS. The findings have implications for regulators in the EU and beyond.

This study is among the first to investigate the impact of auditor specialization on accounting quality in the EU, particularly in connection with the adoption of IFRS.

The purpose of this paper is to present research on vulnerability and service life indexes applied to cultural heritage buildings. The construction and rehabilitation industry is concerned with the maintenance of monuments and reducing the economic costs of urgent interventions by taking preventive conservation action in historic cities. By applying a vulnerability index or analyzing the service life of buildings, it is possible to reduce risk and optimize the identification, evaluation and prioritization of urgent monument restoration tasks in a city or a region to establish preventive conservation policies.

This research sets out the concepts of vulnerability and service life, focusing on their methodologies in comparison with other techniques for building diagnosis, discussing the differences between indexes that measure the vulnerability and service life of buildings.

The vulnerability of three churches in Seville (Spain) was studied by means of their vulnerability index, based on Delphi analysis, and the service life of these buildings was also assessed, based on artificial intelligence tools. Delphi and artificial intelligence tools allow us to compare and dovetail different scenarios and expert opinions. The degree of each monument’s conservation is defined as its vulnerability index, which is an indirect function of deterioration levels. The service life of buildings, on the other hand, includes the assessment of vulnerability and hazards.

This study is useful for stakeholders, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and policymakers, as an important reference on diagnosis, including updated, inexpensive and sustainable methodologies to manage the conservation of monuments, which are easy to implement in developed and developing countries. The application of vulnerability and/or service life indicators is crucial to ensuring the sustainability and improvement of maintenance carried out on cultural heritage buildings.

This study details new approaches based on artificial intelligence and Delphi analysis to prioritize preventive conservation actions in a city or region.

The process of chronic pain (CP) and strategies is to improve the patient’s health and well-being. CP is a frequent medical problem that presents a major challenge to healthcare providers because of its complex natural history, imprecise aetiology, and inadequate response to pharmacological treatment. Although different definitions exist it is widely accepted that CP is an ongoing pain that lasts more than 3 months or that persists longer than the reasonably expected healing time for the involved tissues. Also, it is acknowledged that its treatment is much different than the treatment for acute pain. When addressing a person with CP, one should always keep in mind that pain is much more about the individual than the underlying medical condition. Every person is different, and healthcare providers should take a tailor-made approach to managing their pain. This is the only way to ensure good results in pain treatment. Treatment goals should be discussed and adapted to the patient profile. It is fundamental to have clear goals from the beginning and to ensure these are realistic, individualized, and measurable. Effective treatment for CP is only achieved through a holistic framework in which the patient’s well-being is the first concern and an interdisciplinary and societal approach is implemented from the first day.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of different quantitative (traditionally used) and qualitative variables, such as the possible negative effect in determined periods of certain socio-political factors on share price formation.

We first analyse descriptively the evolution of the Ibex-35 in recent years and compare it with other international benchmark indices. Bellow, two techniques have been compared: a classic linear regression statistical model (GLM) and a method based on machine learning techniques called Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost).

XGBoost yields a very accurate market value prediction model that clearly outperforms the other, with a coefficient of determination close to 90%, calculated on validation sets.

According to our analysis, individual accounts are equally or more important than consolidated information in predicting the behaviour of share prices. This would justify Spain maintaining the obligation to present individual interim financial statements, which does not happen in other European Union countries because IAS 34 only stipulates consolidated interim financial statements.

The descriptive analysis allows us to see how the Ibex-35 has moved away from international trends, especially in periods in which some relevant socio-political events occurred, such as the independence referendum in Catalonia, the double elections of 2019 or the early handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Compared to other variables, the XGBoost model assigns little importance to socio-political factors when it comes to share price formation; however, this model explains 89.33% of its variance.

El propósito de este artículo es estudiar la influencia de diferentes variables cuantitativas (tradicionalmente usadas) y cualitativas, como la posible influencia negativa en determinados períodos de ciertos factores sociopolíticos, sobre la formación del precio de.

Primero analizamos de forma descriptiva la evolución del Ibex-35 en los últimos años y la comparamos con la de otros índices internacionales de referencia. A continuación, se han contrastado dos técnicas: un modelo estadístico clásico de regresión lineal (GLM) y un método basado en el aprendizaje automático denominado Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost).

XGBoost nos permite obtener un modelo de predicción del valor de mercado muy preciso y claramente superior al otro, con un coeficiente de determinación cercano al 90%, calculado sobre las muestras de validación.

De acuerdo con nuestro análisis, la información contable individual es igual o más importante que la consolidada para predecir el comportamiento del precio de las acciones. Esto justificaría que España mantenga la obligación de presentar estados financieros intermedios individuales, lo que no ocurre en otros países de la Unión Europea porque la NIC 34 solo obliga a realizar estados financieros intermedios consolidados.

El análisis descriptivo permite ver cómo el Ibex-35 se ha alejado de las tendencias internacionales, especialmente en periodos en los que se produjo algún hecho sociopolítico relevante, como el referéndum de autodeterminación de Cataluña, el doble proceso electoral de 2019 o la gestión inicial de la pandemia generada por el Covid-19.

En comparación con otras variables, el modelo XGBoost asigna poca importancia a los factores sociopolíticos cuando se trata de la formación del precio de las acciones; sin embargo, este modelo explica el 89.33% de su varianza.