Outcome of an Asymmetric Coupling Antennas over a 2 × 2 MIMO System

The aim of this paper is to study a 2 × 2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) with antenna’s coupling phenomena at the transmitters and at the receivers. The single motivation of this study is to show how to choose a couple of couplings in order to reach a fixed Signal to Noise Ratio according to the application considered. It is shown, that a certain combination of couplings can make the system more powerful.     

Estimating non-fatal road casualties in a large French county, using the capture-recapture method

INTRODUCTION: Non-fatal road casualties are under-reported, with official figures coming from the police. In the French Rh?ne county, a road trauma registry constitutes a second source of reporting but its completeness needs to be assessed. We also wish to estimate an incidence rate of non-fatal road casualties that is corrected for under-count. METHODS: Having two sources of reporting available, we can apply the capture-recapture method under certain conditions. To take into account different reporting probabilities among casualties, the capture-recapture analysis is stratified according to injury severity (New Injury Severity Score=NISS), road user type and human third party. To evaluate the sensitivity of the capture-recapture estimate on the number of matched casualties between the police file and the registry, three scenarios of record-linkage are considered. RESULTS: For serious (NISS 9+) non-fatal road casualties, the police ascertainment rate is at most 57%, the registry ascertainment rate is at most 87%, and the aggregate ascertainment rate is at most 95%. The ascertainment-corrected incidence rate for serious (NISS 9+) non-fatal road casualties is at least 65 per 100,000. CONCLUSION: The degree of completeness of the registry for serious casualties is rather high, though not satisfactory.     

Robust 3-D modeling of vasculature imagery using superellipsoids

This paper presents methods to model complex vasculature in three-dimensional (3-D) images using cylindroidal superellipsoids, along with robust estimation and detection algorithms for automated image analysis. This model offers an explicit, low-order parameterization, enabling joint estimation of boundary, centerlines, and local pose. It provides a geometric framework for directed vessel traversal, and extraction of topological information like branch point locations and connectivity. M-estimators provide robust region-based statistics that are used to drive the superellipsoid toward a vessel boundary. A robust likelihood ratio test is used to differentiate between noise, artifacts, and other complex unmodeled structures, thereby verifying the model estimate. The proposed methodology behaves well across scale-space, shows a high degree of insensitivity to adjacent structures and implicitly handles branching. When evaluated on synthetic imagery mimicking specific structural complexities in tumor microvasculature, it consistently produces ubvoxel accuracy estimates of centerlines and widths in the presence of closely-adjacent vessels, branch points, and noise. An edit-based validation demonstrated a precision level of 96.6% at a recall level of 95.4%. Overall, it is robust enough for large-scale application.     

Direct and Rapid Profiling of Biophenols in Olive Pomace by UHPLC-DAD-MS

Olive mill by-products are effluents generated during olive oil production process. The two-phase centrifugation system produces a semi-solid olive pomace called “alperujo.” This by-product is a combination of liquid and solid wastes derived from the three-phase manufacturing process. A direct and fast analytical method by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-DAD coupled with ESI/MS-MS has been developed for the profiling of phenolic compounds. Thirty-five metabolites belonging to phenyl alcohols, secoiridoids, flavonoids, and iridoids were identified as the main constituents of alperujo in 12 min, including p-coumaroyl aldarate and a verbascoside derivative found for the first time in alperujo and a new ligstroside derivative. Six quantitatively significant components were determined at concentrations ranging from 17.7 mg/L for p-coumaric acid to 370.7 mg/L for hydroxytyrosol. Our data confirm that alperujo is an interesting source of phenolic compounds that could be extracted for use as nutraceuticals.     

Facultative anaerobic halophilic and alkaliphilic bacteria isolated from a natural smear ecosystem inhibit Listeria growth in early ripening stages

In vitro and in situ anti-listerial properties of 3 strains of Facultative Anaerobic Halophilic and Alkaliphilic (FAHA) species, i.e. Alkalibacterium kapii ALK 6, Marinilactibacillus psychrotolerans ALK 9 and Facklamia tabacinasalis ALK 1, were investigated. The 3 strains were isolated from a smear ecosystem originating from a commercial Raclette type cheese and exhibiting strong anti-listerial activity in situ on cheese surface.In a first step, strains were tested in vitro for production of antimicrobial compounds against Listeria innocua 81000-1 and Listeria ivanovii HPB 28. M. psychrotolerans ALK 9 inhibited both indicator strains in spot-on-the-lawn tests while A. kapii ALK 6 showed no inhibiting effect. F. tabacinasalis ALK 1 exerted an in vitro inhibition on L. ivanovii HPB 28, but induced the formation of dense ball-shaped microcolonies of L. innocua 81000-1 in the soft agar, a typical biofilm microstructure. The extent of the biofilm zone was enhanced when F. tabacinasalis ALK 1 and M. psychrotolerans ALK 9 were tested together.In a second step, different combinations of strains were applied on Raclette cheeses ripened at pilot scale and contaminated with 50 cfu/cm²L. innocua at day 7. A control flora of 6 strains, isolated from ecosystem F and corresponding to species commonly found on smear cheeses, was applied on control and test cheeses. In test cheeses, we investigated the impact on Listeria growth of the addition of the 3 FAHA strains, applied as single or mixed cultures. A 1-log inhibition was obtained at day 15 on cheeses treated with FAHA strains applied either as single or mixed cultures. This 1-log inhibition was correlated with the development of FAHA species that reached their maximal count at day 15.This study suggests that the development of FAHA species in early ripening likely contributes to the initial part of the in situ inhibition exerted by the complex cheese surface ecosystem investigated.     

Silane Deuteration Catalyzed by Ruthenium Bis(dihydrogen) Complexes or Simple Metal Salts

The deuteration of a diverse group of silanes: alkyl‐, aryl‐, alkoxy‐ and chlorosilanes, siloxane and silazane, under an atmosphere of dideuterium (D₂) was explored with ruthenium bis(dihydrogen) dihydride complexes and hydrated metal salts. Deuterium incorporation of greater than 97% for the silanes O(SiMe₂H)₂, Et₃SiH, (EtO)₃SiH and Me₂ClSiH was possible with 0.1 mol% of the ruthenium complex [RuH₂(η²‐H₂)₂(PCyp₃)₂] [0.05 mol% for O(SiMe₂H)₂] when catalysis was conducted in the neat silane at 30 °C under 1 bar of D₂ for 3.5 h. The air‐stable ruthenium trichloride salt RuCl₃⋅x H₂O was also an efficient catalyst for the deuteration of O(SiMe₂H)₂ and Et₃SiH; deuterium incorporations for the two silanes of 93% and 90%, respectively, were possible under the same conditions as for [RuH₂(η²‐H₂)₂(PCyp₃)₂] with 0.1% catalyst loading. Hydrogen–deuterium exchange of O(SiMe₂H)₂ catalyzed by the rhodium trichloride (RhCl₃⋅x H₂O) and iridium trichloride (IrCl₃⋅x H₂O) was similarly efficient as with RuCl₃⋅x H₂O although catalytic alacrity dropped for Et₃SiH.

     

Prediction of colour of European Emmental cheeses by using near infrared spectroscopy: a feasibility study

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to predict colour of European Emmental cheese samples. Colour values (L, a and b) were measured on 20 Emmental cheese samples using a Hunter-lab D25-D-2 optical head in the system according to Hunter to determine L (brightness), a (green-red component) and b (blue-yellow component). The diffuse reflectance of the investigated cheeses was also determined by a Büchi NIR Lab N-200 spectrometer using a rotating measuring cell in the range of 1000–2500 nm. The best results for L-value (squared correlation coefficient (R ²) = 0.56, root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) = 0.76, ratio of prediction deviation (RPD) = 1.89 and range error ratio (RER) = 7.91), a-value (R ² = 0.72, RMSECV = 0.15, RPD = 1.98 and RER = 7.6) and b-value (R ² = 0.82, RMSECV = 0.52, RPD = 2.56 and RER = 9.42) were obtained when the first 12 principal components (PCs) of the principal component analysis (PCA) applied on normalised NIR spectra were used. It can be concluded that NIR spectroscopy could be used to predict b-value. The a- and L-values can also be predicted from NIR technique with approximate quantitative prediction.     

Properties of Biodegradable Multilayer Films Based on Plasticized Wheat Starch

Multilayer films based on plasticized wheat starch (PWS) and various biodegradable aliphatic polyesters have been prepared through flat film coextrusion and compression molding. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), polyesteramide (PEA), poly(μ‐caprolactone) (PCL), poly(butylene succinate adipate) (PBSA), and poly(hydroxybutyrate‐co‐valerate) (PHBV) were chosen as the outer layers of the stratified "polyester/PWS/polyester" film structure. The main goal of the polyester layers was to improve significantly the properties of PWS in terms of mechanical performance and moisture resistance. Since no specific compatibilizer or tie layer were added, the properties of subsequent films rely on the compatibility between the respective materials only. The effects of glycerol content in PWS, polyester type, and film composition on the mechanical properties and adhesion strength of multilayers were investigated. The conditions for optimal product performance were examined. The multilayer films may be suitable for applications in food packaging or disposable articles.     

Understanding the Interactions of Guanine Quadruplexes with Peptides as Novel Strategies for Diagnosis or Tuning Biological Functions

Guanine quadruplexes (G4s) are nucleic acid structures exhibiting a complex structural behavior and exerting crucial biological functions in both cells and viruses. The specific interactions of peptides with G4s, as well as an understanding of the factors driving the specific recognition are important for the rational design of both therapeutic and diagnostic agents. In this review, we examine the most important studies dealing with the interactions between G4s and peptides, highlighting the strengths and limitations of current analytic approaches. We also show how the combined use of high-level molecular simulation techniques and experimental spectroscopy is the best avenue to design specifically tuned and selective peptides, thus leading to the control of important biological functions.