Reversible lesions of the nucleus of the solitary tract attenuate the memory-modulating effects of posttraining epinephrine.

Male rats implanted with cannula tips placed above the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) were trained to obtain food pellets placed in 2 arms of a Y-maze and then given a footshock in 1 arm of the maze. Ss then received bilateral injections of lidocaine or buffer into the NTS and peripheral injections of saline or epinephrine (0.01 or 0.05 mg/kg, intraperitoneally [ip]). Two tests were given 24 and 48 hrs after training to assess retention in the presence and absence of contextual cues (the stainless steel floor) associated with the footshock training trial. Epinephrine (0.05 mg/kg) produced a significant enhancement in retention, which was attenuated by injections of lidocaine into the NTS. These findings indicate that the NTS is involved in mediating the memory-modulating effects of peripheral epinephrine and that such effects are initiated at least in part by activation of vagal afferents projecting to the NTS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of a variable parameter test-cell for the study of latent-heat solar walls

A paraffin Trombe wall with double glazing, is studied experimentally with the help of a test-cell allowing several working conditions to be checked. The efficiency of the wall itself is shown to be very similar whether thermocirculation is on or not. But an important additional contribution comes from the glazing in the first case. The analysis of the results points out that a controlled air circulation would give much better results than the two cases considered. Indeed the overheating due to thermocirculation can be cancelled by some controlled air circulation only, and the important convective front losses observed at the begining of the night have to be decreased by getting the heat back to the room through forced air circulation.     

A fixed grid method for the numerical solution of phase change problems

A fixed grid method using an updated iterative implicit scheme is developed to solve one-dimensional phase change problems. The temperature field is deduced from the resolution of the governing equations whose discretization takes into account the discontinuous variation of the temperature derivative at the phase change front. At each iteration an updated position of the moving front is found from the resolution of the energy conservation at the solid-liquid interface. The accuracy of the proposed numerical method has been checked on three test problems.     

Cuticular Hydrocarbons Provide Reliable Cues of Fertility in the Ant Gnamptogenys striatula

In ca. 150 species of queenless ants, a specialized queen caste is rare or absent, and mated workers take over the role of the queen in some or all of the colonies. Previously, it has been shown that reproduction in queenless ants is regulated by a combination of dominance behavior and chemical fertility signaling. It is unknown, however, whether chemical signals alone can sufficiently regulate reproduction. To investigate this possibility, we studied reproductive regulation in the facultatively queenless ant Gnamptogenys striatula, a species where dominance behavior is rare or absent. Active egg layers and infertile workers showed qualitative and quantitative differences in their cuticular hydrocarbon profile. Five long-chain methyl alkanes, 3,13- and 3,15-dimethyl pentriacontane, 3,13- and 3,15-dimethyl heptentriacontane, and 3,11,15-trimethyl heptentriacontane occurred only on the cuticles of virgin and mated egg layers. Pronounced quantitative differences were found in a further 27 alkenes; alkanes; and mono-, di-, and trimethyl alkanes. Workers that had recently stopped laying eggs had profiles similar to infertile workers, and mating status did not affect this chemical pattern. We conclude that the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of G. striatula workers provide reliable information about their current fertility. In the interest of colony productivity, this allows reproduction to be regulated without the use of aggression.     

An investigation of drum granulation of post-pyrolysis washed biochar

Biochar, unwashed and washed with a solution of Triton and hydrogen peroxide, was wet drum granulated using molasses binder solutions. Unwashed biochar was very hydrophobic and granulation proceeded through forming liquid marbles and layering. Washing reduced the hydrophobicity of the biochar. The effectiveness of the wash depended on the biochar source; it significantly reduced the hydrophobicity of biochar from woodchips and moderately reduced the hydrophobicity of biochar from flower digestate. Therefore, washed biochar from woodchips was granulated using a hydrophilic mechanism, while washed biochar from digestate was granulated according to a combination mechanism of liquid marbles collapsing and then coalescing. The change in granulation mechanism produced stronger and denser granules with higher yields of granules in the 1–4 mm optimal size range. Washing and then granulating biochar created a product that could be further tailored for optimal soil amendment.     

Diffusion pathways of benzene, toluene and p-xylene in MFI

The diffusion of alkyl-substituted aromatic molecules in H-ZSM-5 was investigated by means of the frequency response method decoupling particle size effects and intracrystalline diffusion. For zeolite crystals above 5 μm average diameter, the transport in the zeolite pores exerts a significant effect on the overall transport causing anisotropic diffusion as the aspect ratio of the aromatic molecules increases. Diffusion of benzene is nearly isotropic, while p-xylene shows marked differences between the diffusive processes in the straight and sinusoidal channel system of ZSM-5. The isotropic diffusion of benzene is rationalized on the basis of its ability to reorient between the two channel systems without major hindrances. For p-xylene, switching between the channels is only possible by energetically unfavorable rotational motions leading to a low probability for changing between both channel systems.     

Using a new diffusivity model to accelerate the drying of biopolymer films

A model was developed to study the drying rate of biopolymer films. The diffusivity of water in this biopolymer film is an exponential function of the water concentration. This creates a situation where simply increasing gas velocity can decrease the actual drying rate. The model revealed that the main factor limiting the drying of the biopolymer film was a significant and rapid decrease in the diffusivity of water through the film as the film dried. To avoid this a pulsing scheme was proposed where the velocity of the drying gas would be varied during the experiment; this variation allowed for a compromise between a high overall drying rate and maintaining a high diffusivity within the film. It was found that the optimum combination of gas velocities was 0.8 and 0.6 m/s with a duration of 10 min at the high and low gas velocities.     

Molecularly‐Engineered, 4D‐Printed Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators

Three‐dimensional structures that undergo reversible shape changes in response to mild stimuli enable a wide range of smart devices, such as soft robots or implantable medical devices. Herein, a dual thiol‐ene reaction scheme is used to synthesize a class of liquid crystal (LC) elastomers that can be 3D printed into complex shapes and subsequently undergo controlled shape change. Through controlling the phase transition temperature of polymerizable LC inks, morphing 3D structures with tunable actuation temperature (28 ± 2 to 105 ± 1 °C) are fabricated. Finally, multiple LC inks are 3D printed into single structures to allow for the production of untethered, thermo‐responsive structures that sequentially and reversibly undergo multiple shape changes.     

Equivalent Structures of Interval Sets and Fuzzy Interval Sets

Ideas of interval sets come from the lower and upper approximations of rough sets to study a unified structure of rough sets and their generalizations. Starting from the interval sets and their operations, this paper summarizes and analyzes other sets that have similarities with the interval sets or fuzzy interval sets. Our conclusions are that interval sets are mathematically equivalent to shadowed sets and flou sets, respectively, and fuzzy interval sets are mathematically equivalent to interval‐valued fuzzy sets and intuitionistic fuzzy sets, respectively.