Quantification of Dendritic Spines Remodeling under Physiological Stimuli and in Pathological Conditions

Numerous brain diseases are associated with abnormalities in morphology and density of dendritic spines, small membranous protrusions whose structural geometry correlates with the strength of synaptic connections. Thus, the quantitative analysis of dendritic spines remodeling in microscopic images is one of the key elements towards understanding mechanisms of structural neuronal plasticity and bases of brain pathology. In the following article, we review experimental approaches designed to assess quantitative features of dendritic spines under physiological stimuli and in pathological conditions. We compare various methodological pipelines of biological models, sample preparation, data analysis, image acquisition, sample size, and statistical analysis. The methodology and results of relevant experiments are systematically summarized in a tabular form. In particular, we focus on quantitative data regarding the number of animals, cells, dendritic spines, types of studied parameters, size of observed changes, and their statistical significance.     

Novel model reference adaptive control architecture using semi‐initial excitation‐based switched parameter estimator

This paper is a generalization of the recently developed techniques of initial excitation (IE)–based adaptive control with an introduction to the definition of semi‐initial excitation (semi‐IE), a still more relaxed notion than IE. Classical adaptive controllers typically ensure Lyapunov stability of the extended error dynamics (tracking error + parameter estimation error) and asymptotic tracking, while requiring a stringent condition of persistence of excitation (PE) for parameter convergence. Of late, the authors have proposed a new adaptive control architecture, which guarantees parameter convergence under the online‐verifiable IE condition leading to exponential stability of the extended error dynamics. In earlier works, it has been established that the IE condition is significantly milder than the classical PE condition. The current work further slackens the excitation condition by proposing the concept of semi‐IE. The proposed adaptive controller is proved to ensure convergence of the parameter estimation error to a lower‐dimensional manifold under the weaker semi‐IE condition, while the stronger condition of IE guarantees convergence of the parameter estimation error to zero. The designed algorithm is shown to improve transient response of tracking error sufficiently in contrast to conventional adaptive controllers.     

Automated classification of simulated wind field patterns from multiphysics ensemble forecasts

In this study, we have proposed an automated classification approach to identify meaningful patterns in wind field data. Utilizing an extensive simulated wind database, we have demonstrated that the proposed approach can identify low‐level jets, near‐uniform profiles, and other patterns in a reliable manner. We have studied the dependence of these wind profile patterns on locations (eg, offshore vs onshore), seasons, and diurnal cycles. Furthermore, we have found that the probability distributions of some of the patterns depend on the underlying planetary boundary layer schemes in a significant way. The future potential of the proposed approach in wind resource assessment and, more generally, in mesoscale model parameterization improvement is touched upon in this paper.     

Swelling and rheological study of calcium phosphate filled bacterial cellulose-based hydrogel scaffold

This work focuses mainly about swelling and rheological properties of calcium phosphate filled bacterial cellulose (BC)-based hydrogel scaffolds. Calcium phosphate is incorporated in the form of hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) in different ratios, that is, 00:00, 10:90, 20:80, 40:60, 50:50, and 60:40. These scaffolds are also comprised with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), poly(ethylene glycol), agar, and glycerin; designated as “BC-PVP” and “BC-PVP-β-TCP/HA.” All the hydrogel scaffolds are showing the notable viscoelastic property at 28 and 37 °C temperatures. The degree of swelling is found significant in BC-PVP-β-TCP/HA_50:50 scaffold and it is notably elastic at 37 °C after 5 min of swelling. However, after 60 min of swelling and at equilibrium swelling state, the elastic property of BC-PVP-β-TCP/HA_20:80 is revealed the highest. Considering the degree of swelling and rheological properties, the BC-PVP-β-TCP/HA_50:50 and BC-PVP-β-TCP/HA_20:80 hydrogel scaffolds found suitable for their application in bone tissue engineering or bone tissue regeneration. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48522.     

Radial Sub-band Allocation with Downlink Interference Mitigation in Macro–Femto Environment

Wireless Personal Communications - Femtocell deployment is an important strategy when it comes to improvement of QoS metrics in areas of poor cell coverage like indoors in an LTE environment. This,...     

Development of topical gel containing aceclofenac-crospovidone solid dispersion by “Quality by Design (QbD)” approach

This article describes the development, optimization, and evaluation of Carbopol 940 topical gel containing aceclofenac-crospovidone (1:4) solid dispersion using “Quality by Design (QbD)” approach based on 2³ factorial design. The effect of crospovidone, tri-ethanolamine, and ethyl alcohol amount on the drug permeation profile of the topical gel containing aceclofenac-crospovidone solid dispersion was optimized by 2³ factorial design. The optimized gel showed improved permeation profile with cumulative drug permeation of 26.262 ± 2.157%, and permeation flux of 0.059 ± 0.011 μg/cm²/h. These gels were characterized by pH, viscosity, gel strength and FTIR study. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of the optimized gel was evaluated in rats using carrageenan-induced rat-paw oedema model and found excellent anti-inflammatory comparable with a marketed gel without producing any skin irritation.     

Electrophoretic Deposition of Zirconia Thin Film on Nonconducting Substrate for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Application

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of 8 mol% yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte thin film has been carried out onto nonconducting porous NiO‐YSZ cermet anode substrate using a fugitive and electrically conducting polymer interlayer for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) application. Such polymer interlayer burnt out during the high‐temperature sintering process (1400°C for 6 h) leaving behind a well adhered, dense, and uniform ceramic YSZ electrolyte film on the top of the porous anode substrate. The EPD kinetics have been studied in depth. It is found that homogeneous and uniform film could be obtained onto the polymer‐coated substrate at an applied voltage of 15 V for 1 min. After the half‐cell (anode + electrolyte) is co‐fired at 1400°C, a suitable cathode composition (La_0.65Sr_0.3MnO₃) thick film paste is screen printed on the top of the sintered YSZ electrolyte. A second stage of sintering of such cathode thick film at 1100°C for 2 h finally yield a single cell SOFC. Such single cell produced a power output of 0.91 W/cm² at 0.7 V when measured at 800°C using hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and oxidant, respectively.     

Angular absorptance and thermal degradation analysis of TiB2/Ti(B,N)/SiON/SiO2 multilayer solar absorber coating

Multilayer solar selective absorber coatings have been developed in the last few decades. The thermal stability in terms of microstructure gives an insightful understanding of the optical properties of such coatings. In this context, we extensively utilized transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis to establish the thermal stability of TiB₂/Ti(B,N)/SiON/SiO₂ coating, under thermal cycling/continuous heating to 500°C in vacuum for 250 h. In particular, this work reports the variation in the solar absorptance of TiB₂/Ti(B,N)/SiON/SiO₂ coating with different angles of incidence of the solar radiation. Extensive analysis using the TEM technique reveals the presence of oxide interlayers that act as diffusion barrier layers to enhance the thermal stability of the coating. Computational simulation using SCOUT software validates the measured reflectance spectrum of the developed multilayer coating. The minor changes in absorptance and emissivity after heat treatment in vacuum at 500°C, together with high solar absorptance over a broad angular variation, establish the potential application of TiB₂/Ti(B,N)/SiON/SiO₂ as a selective coating in concentrated solar power systems.     

Analysis of Fatty Acid and Lignan Composition of Indian Germplasm of Sesame to Evaluate Their Nutritional Merits

An attempt was made to individually analyze a germplasm collection of 54 indigenous Indian sesame cultivars for fatty acid and lignan composition of their seed oil by gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The entries varied in their fatty acid and lignan composition. The mean percentage contents of palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and α‐linolenic acids ranged between 10–22, 5–10, 38–50, 18–43 and less than 1 whereas sesamol, sesamin and sesamolin scored between 3–37, 27–67, 20–59 of the total percentage of lignan, respectively. The highest percentage of α‐linolenic acid (ALA) was obtained in Var‐9 (1.3 % of the total fatty acids). Among the lignans, high sesamin content is considered to be significant, particularly in terms of long shelf life and nutraceutical value of sesame seed oil. The study has broadened our understanding related to differential biochemical composition of the rich sesame germplasms, thereby providing us with a useful groundwork for identifying potential targets and suitable cultivars for genetic engineering approaches to be undertaken in order to improve the nutritional quality of sesame oil, which in turn would be beneficial towards human health.