Modified hippocampal long-term potentiation in PKC gamma-mutant mice

Calcium-phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (PKC) has long been suggested to play an important role in modulating synaptic efficacy. We have created a strain of mice that lacks the gamma subtype of PKC to evaluate the significance of this brain-specific PKC isozyme in synaptic plasticity. Mutant mice are viable, develop normally, and have synaptic transmission that is indistinguishable from wild-type mice. Long-term potentiation (LTP), however, is greatly diminished in mutant animals, while two other forms of synaptic plasticity, long-term depression and paired-pulse facilitation, are normal. Surprisingly, when tetanus to evoke LTP was preceded by a low frequency stimulation, mutant animals displayed apparently normal LTP. We propose that PKC gamma is not part of the molecular machinery that produces LTP but is a key regulatory component.     

既有钢筋混凝土框架结构抗震加固若干问题探讨

针对钢筋混凝土框架结构抗震加固问题的复杂性 ,本文深入分析了抗震加固结构的受力特征 ,探讨了卸荷对加固构件承载力的影响 ,并针对抗震加固后的“隐含危险转移”问题提出了相应的对策。最后 ,提出了抗震加固的基本原则 ,可供结构抗震加固时参考     

露天矿半连续工艺技术应用现状及发展前景

介绍了露天矿半连续工艺技术国内外应用现状、研究成果以及发展趋势。     

Clarification of a wheat straw‐derived medium with ion‐exchange resins for xylitol crystallization

BACKGROUND: Xylitol bioproduction from lignocellulosic residues comprises hydrolysis of the hemicellulose, detoxification of the hydrolysate, bioconversion of the xylose, and recovery of xylitol from the fermented hydrolysate. There are relatively few reports on xylitol recovery from fermented media. In the present study, ion‐exchange resins were used to clarify a fermented wheat straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate, which was then vacuum‐concentrated and submitted to cooling in the presence of ethanol for xylitol crystallization. RESULTS: Sequential adsorption into two anion‐exchange resins (A‐860S and A‐500PS) promoted considerable reductions in the content of soluble by‐products (up to 97.5%) and in medium coloration (99.5%). Vacuum concentration led to a dark‐colored viscous solution that inhibited xylitol crystallization. This inhibition could be overcome by mixing the concentrated medium with a commercial xylitol solution. Such a strategy led to xylitol crystals with up to 95.9% purity. The crystallization yield (43.5%) was close to that observed when using commercial xylitol solution (51.4%). CONCLUSION: The experimental data demonstrate the feasibility of using ion‐exchange resins followed by cooling in the presence of ethanol as a strategy to promote the fast recovery and purification of xylitol from hemicellulose‐derived fermentation media. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan‐based dispersions

Complexation of chitosan in aqueous solutions by low molecular weight electrolytes is one of the simplest methods for the preparation of aqueous chitosan dispersions. In this work, the influence of storage time, sulfate concentration, method of preparation and surfactant content on some properties of the resultant chitosan dispersions (turbidity, viscosity and zeta potential) was analyzed. Turbidimetry was adequate to monitor the formation of particles, while viscometry was suitable to monitor changes in the dispersing phase. An analysis of the properties of these systems, mainly in terms of particle–particle and macromolecule–macromolecule interactions was carried out. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Thermal-lens and photo-acoustic methods for the determination of SiC thermal properties

In this paper we report the use of photothermal techniques such as Thermal lens (TL) spectrometry, Photoacoustic and heat capacity, ρc_p, to determine the thermo-optical parameters, such as thermal conductivity (K), thermal diffusivity (D), specific heat (c_p) and the optical path dependence with temperature (ds/dT), of an undoped polycrystalline 3C-SiC. To our knowledge, this is the first time that Thermal lens technique is used for wide band-gap systems. Results obtained for the polycrystalline sample with TL technique indicates that ds/dT is negative at room temperature. Moreover, the obtained values of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity are in good agreement with that found in the literature, indicating that the phototermal techniques can be used to obtain the referred parameters in circumstances where other techniques cannot be used, for example, in harsh environments.     

Probing the thermal decomposition process of layered double hydroxides through in situ <Superscript>57</Superscript>Fe Mössbauer and in situ X-ray diffraction experiments

The thermal decomposition properties of Mg–Fe hydrotalcites were studied through in situ ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and in situ X-ray diffraction. Abrupt changes in the quadrupolar splitting measured in the Mössbauer spectra revealed a phase transition from the starting lamellar structure to a new crystalline arrangement. By analyzing the Mössbauer parameters we show that the material is highly disordered in the 300–400 °C temperature range. This hypothesis is confirmed by the X-ray results whose diffractograms indicated the collapse of the lamellar structure and the formation of a solid solution.     

Acoustic Properties of Amorphous Solids at Very Low Temperatures: The Quest for Interacting Tunneling States

We discuss the strain dependence of the acoustic properties of amorphous metals in both normal and superconducting states, in the temperature range 0.1 mK<T<1 K. A crossover is found when the strain energy is of the order of the effective interaction energy between tunneling systems at the corresponding temperature. Our results provide clear evidence for the interaction between tunneling systems, whose energy is in quantitative agreement with theoretical expectations, and reveal that without the knowledge of the corresponding strain dependences, the measured temperature dependences below ～50 mK of the acoustic properties of disordered solids are rather meaningless.     

Managing logical channel configurations in complex satellite architectures

As a result of the increased switching complexity of many communications satellites, often transponders are available with a variety of configuration options offering flexibility in power, bandwidth, and coverage. Many of these configurations share resources that prevent them from being simultaneously active, making it a challenge to understand and manage the satellite capacity inventory. In this paper we define the logical channel configuration (LCC) as an unambiguous unit of the inventory and present a novel method of modelling the interdependencies between these LCCs using linear algebra. In particular, a projector matrix is defined which can be used to update the activation state of all LCCs when the state of one or more of these is changed. As a result, a number of valid LCC scenarios can be easily generated and evaluated for optimal use of the satellite resources. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extracellular polysaccharides production by Arthrobacter viscosus

In this study the production of extracellular polysaccharides by the non-pathogenic soil bacteria Arthrobacter viscosus has been investigated. Different variables affecting extracellular polysaccharide production such as the carbon source (glucose or xylose), the agitation speed and the pH have been analysed.

In a first stage, experiments in shaken conical flasks (250 ml), containing 50 ml of culture medium, were carried out. Using xylose (25 g/l) as the carbon source at an initial pH 8 improved the extracellular polysaccharides levels obtained.

In a second stage, the experiments were scaling in bioreactors. Cultivation was carried out in discontinuous mode and with/without pH control. Polysaccharide production reached a maximum of 10 g of crude product per litre of growth medium after 14 days and the relationship between product formation and cell growth of A. viscosus is 2.7 g polysaccharide per gram biomass. This production was obtained at the optimal conditions determined with pH control at pH 7, xylose as carbon source (25 g/l) and an agitation rate of 800 rpm.