Progression and Dissemination of Pulmonary Mycobacterium Avium Infection in a Susceptible Immunocompetent Mouse Model

Pulmonary infections caused by the group of nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), are a growing public health concern with incidence and mortality steadily increasing globally. Granulomatous inflammation is the hallmark of MAC lung infection, yet reliable correlates of disease progression, susceptibility, and resolution are poorly defined. Unlike widely used inbred mouse strains, mice that carry the mutant allele at the genetic locus sst1 develop human-like pulmonary tuberculosis featuring well-organized caseating granulomas. We characterized pulmonary temporospatial outcomes of intranasal and left intrabronchial M. avium spp. hominissuis (M.av) induced pneumonia in B6.Sst1S mice, which carries the sst1 mutant allele. We utilized traditional semi-quantitative histomorphological evaluation, in combination with fluorescent multiplex immunohistochemistry (fmIHC), whole slide imaging, and quantitative digital image analysis. Followingintrabronchiolar infection with the laboratory M.av strain 101, the B6.Sst1S pulmonary lesions progressed 12–16 weeks post infection (wpi), with plateauing and/or resolving disease by 21 wpi. Caseating granulomas were not observed during the study. Disease progression from 12–16 wpi was associated with increased acid-fast bacilli, area of secondary granulomatous pneumonia lesions, and Arg1+ and double positive iNOS+/Arg1+ macrophages. Compared to B6 WT, at 16 wpi, B6.Sst1S lungs exhibited an increased area of acid-fast bacilli, larger secondary lesions with greater Arg1+ and double positive iNOS+/Arg1+ macrophages, and reduced T cell density. This morphomolecular analysis of histologic correlates of disease progression in B6.Sst1S could serve as a platform for assessment of medical countermeasures against NTM infection.     

Evaluation of the Growth of Dislocations Density in Fatigue Loading Process via Electrical Resistivity Measurements

The paper focuses on quantitative evaluation of the microstructural changes - growth of the dislocation density - in stainless steel specimens subjected to fatigue loading. We propose to use electrical resistivity measurements for this goal. Change in electrical resistance of the specimens has been monitored in dependence on the number of fatigue cycles and the relative growth of the dislocation density was calculated from these data and known values of the specific resistivity of dislocations for iron. We also estimated the growth of dislocation density using analysis of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of etched specimens. This estimate however appears to be unreasonably low, so that SEM may be used for qualitative analysis only.     

Analysis of the Earthʼs magnetic field variations on the basis of a wavelet-based approach

In the present paper we will discuss a new wavelet-based approach aimed at processing and analyzing different features of complex geomagnetic signals. This approach makes it possible to automatically extract different kinds of disturbances in the Earth?s magnetic field variations, which characterize solar activity and help to predict magnetic storms. In order to analyze geomagnetic signals wavelet packets are used in order to isolate local variations for quiet and perturbed periods and determine their intensity. Furthermore, a new automatic method of calculating the index of geomagnetic activity K is suggested on the basis of forming a quiet-day diurnal variation (Sq-curve). This method allows us to do calculations in the way that is closest to that developed by J. Bartels, who introduced the K-index in 1938. The results are compared with those obtained by INTERMAGNET and the original method of J. Bartels and the advantages of the suggested method are clearly demonstrated. For geomagnetic data collected in high-latitude regions of our planet it has become possible to reduce the error of estimating the K-index by 20% and unlike the technique used by INTERMAGNET here all the calculations can be done automatically. We will use geomagnetic signals that were kindly provided to us by the Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation (Paratunka, Kamchatka region, Far East of Russia) for the period from January, 2002 till December, 2010.     

The Effect of Titanium, Zirconium and Tin on the Growth of Diatom Synedra Acus and Morphology of Its Silica Valves

The effect of three Group IV metals (titanium, zirconium and tin) on the growth, morphology and chemical composition of the freshwater diatom Synedra acus subsp. radians (Kützing) Skabichevsky was studied and compared with germanium. The elements in their highest oxidation states were introduced into the culture medium in the form of hydroxides. Germanium was found to be toxic at ??5?mol. % of the total Ge-Si content in the culture medium. In the presence of other elements, a slight decrease in the cell division rate was observed independent of the element within 1?C15% content interval. The analysis of the obtained biomass and silica valves revealed the presence of all the added elements within the cells. However, only germanium was incorporated into the valves in considerable amounts. S. acus cultivation with the addition of 5% Group IV elements resulted in cells having the following aberrations in the structure of the silica valves: changes in valve shape, thickening of valves, alterations of the areolae rows, irregularity or absence of the areolae and a decrease in the mechanical strength of valves. Moreover, the effect of Group IV elements on silica formation was simulated in vitro using a synthetic polymer bearing polyamine and phosphate groups found in silaffines (proteins from diatom frustules). The studied elements were observed to provoke the formation of unstable silica particles in solution. We propose that the observed effects of germanium, titanium, zirconium and tin on diatom growth and structure are due to uncontrollable silica condensation.     

Automatic categorisation of comments in social news websites

The use of the social web has brought a series of changes in the way how content is created. In particular, social news sites link stories and the different users can comment them. In this paper, we propose a new method based on different features extracted from the text able to categorise the comments. To this end, we use a combination of statistical, syntactic and opinion features and machine-learning classifiers to classify a comment within three different categorisation types: the focus of the comment, the type of information contained in the comment and the controversy level of the comment. We validate our approach with data from ‘Menéame’, a popular Spanish social news site.     

Sources of Fluxes of Energy, Heat, and Diffusion Heat in a Bipolar Semiconductor: Influence of Nonequilibrium Charge Carriers

The equations of energy balance, heat balance, and diffusion heat balance are obtained for a bipolar semiconductor. The roles of nonequilibrium charge carriers and the recombination in the heat transport are established. The expressions for the sources of energy fluxes, heat fluxes, and diffusion heat fluxes are discussed. Both radiative and nonradiative recombinations are studied.     

Control of mineral wool thickness using predictive functional control

The production process of mineral wool is affected by several constantly changing factors. The ingredients for the mineral wool are melted in a furnace. The molten mineral charge exits the bottom of the furnace in a water-cooled trough and falls into a fiberization device (the centrifuge). The centrifuge forms the fibers. At this stage binders are injected to bind the fibers together. To ensure the quality of the end product (the consistent thickness) the flow of the bounded fibers must be as constant as possible. One way to ensure that is to control the speed of the conveyor belt that transports the bounded fibers from the centrifuge to the curing process. Predictive functional controller and PID controller are considered to replace an existing algorithm. Both can easily replace an existing one as they do not require any new sensor installation. All three algorithms are presented and tested on a developed plant model. The study showed that the predictive control gives better results than the existing and PID controller.     

Design of a Telescopic Linear Actuator Based on Hollow Shape Memory Springs

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are smart materials exploited in many applications to build actuators with high power to mass ratio. Typical SMA drawbacks are: wires show poor stroke and excessive length, helical springs have limited mechanical bandwidth and high power consumption. This study is focused on the design of a large-scale linear SMA actuator conceived to maximize the stroke while limiting the overall size and the electric consumption. This result is achieved by adopting for the actuator a telescopic multi-stage architecture and using SMA helical springs with hollow cross section to power the stages. The hollow geometry leads to reduced axial size and mass of the actuator and to enhanced working frequency while the telescopic design confers to the actuator an indexable motion, with a number of different displacements being achieved through simple on-off control strategies. An analytical thermo-electro-mechanical model is developed to optimize the device. Output stroke and force are maximized while total size and power consumption are simultaneously minimized. Finally, the optimized actuator, showing good performance from all these points of view, is designed in detail.