A detailed morphological study of the vomeronasal organ and the accessory olfactory bulb of cats

The organization of the vomeronasal system (VNS) of fetal, newborn, and adult cats was investigated by microdissection and microscopic examination of sections stained conventionally or with lectins (UEA-1, LEA) or antibodies against proteins Gα(i2) (associated with vomeronasal receptor type1) and Gα(o) (associated with receptor vomeronasal receptor type2). The feline VNS is morphologically similar to that of other mammals. Staining with lectins and anti-Gα(i2) was uniform throughout the sensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organ, and throughout the nervous and glomerular layers of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB); anti-Gα(o) stained no VNS tissue. This organization places the cat together with several other domestic or farm animals (dog, horse, sheep, goat, pig) in a group of mammals with just a single path of communication between the sensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organ and AOB, in contrast to the two-path model found in rodents and other mammals (in which apical and basal sensory epithelium layers project to rostral and caudal AOB areas, respectively). However, the cat differs from the sheep and pig in that the development of its VNS is still incomplete at birth.     

On the sound insulation of masonry wall façades

In this paper, laboratory measurements of sound reduction index for two types of cavity walls commonly used in façades are presented. The first type consists of “masonry–air cavity–brick” and the second one consists of “masonry–air cavity–-gypsum board”. Data are used to show that masonry walls with gypsum boards provide higher sound insulation than masonry cavity walls. The influence on sound reduction index of apertures made on external leaf of the wall to ventilate the cavity of the wall is also examined.     

Soil salinity of urban turf areas irrigated with saline water: I. Spatial variability

With increasing use of saline water for irrigating urban landscapes, soil salinization is becoming a concern. This study examined spatial variation in soil salinity over the length of selected fairways at five golf courses, and of large turf areas at two public parks located in west Texas and southern New Mexico. Salinity of water used for irrigation ranged from 680 to 2700 mg L⁻¹, and the sites consisted mostly of Aridisols (upland soils) or Entisols (alluvial soils). Soil salinity distribution at sites consisting of deep Aridisols was spatially independent with the coefficient of variability (CV) ranging from 24 to 42%. The sites consisting of shallow Aridisols over a calcic horizon had erratic and random soil salinity distributions with an average CV of 37%. Since soil salinity distributions in Aridisols and Alfisols appeared to be spatially independent within the distance of fairways, soil sampling adequacy can be determined by the conventional probability statistics. However, salinity distributions at Entisols sites were spatially dependant to a length of 100 m or more. In addition, the clayey Entisols used for public parks had high levels of salt accumulation (>10 dS m⁻¹ in the saturation extract) with the CV exceeding 60%. When salinity readings were stratified by soil type distribution, the CV was reduced to 28% on the average. The number of samples required to obtain the mean salinity over a typical length of fairways (250–300 m) within a deviate range of 20% averaged 6 in deep sandy Aridisols and Alfisols, and 13 each in other cases, provided that sampling of Entisols is made based on soil type distributions. These sampling requirements are greater than those for field soil moisture or saturation water contents. The spacing to collect the required number of samples over the prevailing length of fairways was between 23 and 38 m. Soil sampling for salinity appraisal is most problematic in Entisols, but can be made simple if a detailed soil map is available. In Aridisols containing a calcic horizon, it is probable to have saline spots over poorly permeable caliche.     

Meso-structural study of concrete fracture using interface elements. I: numerical model and tensile behavior

A recently developed FE-based mesostructural model for the mechanical behavior of heterogeneous quasi-brittle materials is used systematically to analyze concrete specimens in 2D. The numerical model is based on the use of zero-thickness interface elements equipped with a normal-shear traction-separation constitutive law representing non-linear fracture, which may be considered a mixed-mode generalization of Hillerborg’s “Fictitious Crack Model.” Specimens with 4 × 4 and 6 × 6 arrays of aggregates are discretized into finite elements. Interface elements are inserted along the main lines in the mesh, representing potential crack lines. The calculations presented in this paper consist of uniaxial tension loading, and the continuum elements themselves are assumed to behave as linear elastic. In this way, the influence of various aspects of the heterogeneous geometry and interface parameters on the overall specimen response has been investigated. These aspects are aggregate volume fraction, type of arrangement and geometry, interface layout, and values of the crack model parameters chosen for both the aggregate-aggregate and matrix-aggregate interfaces. The results show a good qualitative agreement with experimental observations and illustrate the capabilities of the model. In the companion second part of the paper, the model is used to represent other loading states such as uniaxial compression, Brazilian test, or biaxial loading.     

Continuous global optimization of structured process systems models

Nonconvex models for the optimization of process systems in chemical engineering give rise to multiple suboptimal solutions, and a number of complications that often cause failure of standard local optimization techniques. A deterministic branch and bound algorithm is presented in this paper for the global optimization of structured process systems models that include non-convexities introduced by concave univariate, bilinear and linear fractional terms. The proposed branch and contract algorithm relies on a bounds contraction operation, which consists of the solution of a finite sequence of convex bounds-contraction subproblems for the subset of nonconvex variables in a problem. The application of the proposed algorithm is illustrated with several numerical examples, which include heat exchanger networks, chemical reactors, simplified process flowsheets, and waste-water treatment systems. The results show that by executing the contraction operation at selected branch and bound nodes, large portions of the search region over which the objective function takes only values above a known upper bound are eliminated. It is shown that with the proposed approach the total number of nodes in the solution tree is kept relatively small, and for some problems, no branching is required at all.     

聚乙烯醇对芳纶复合纱聚苯胺导电层耐久性影响

为提高聚苯胺导电层与基材之间的黏结牢度,以聚乙烯醇为共混高聚物,通过连续原位聚合法在对位芳纶纱线表面形成聚乙烯醇/聚苯胺导电层,制备得到芳纶/聚苯胺/聚乙烯醇复合导电纱。分析了导电纱的结构与性能,并研究了聚乙烯醇对聚苯胺导电层耐水洗和耐磨性的影响。结果表明:适量添加聚乙烯醇有助于提高导电纱导电层的结构规整性及电导率,随着聚乙烯醇质量分数的提高,导电纱的电导率呈先上升后下降的趋势,当聚乙烯醇占苯胺的质量分数为4.30%时,制得的复合导电纱线的电导率最高,达到(1.120±0.198) S/cm;聚乙烯醇的添加和质量分数的提高,有助于聚苯胺导电层耐水洗性及在较小外力作用下的耐磨性的提高。     

An easy entry to novel early–late oligonuclear transition metal complexes containing π-conjugated systems

Heterotrinuclear Ti–Cu–Ru (5) and heterotetranuclear Ti–Cu–Pt–Fe (7) containing complexes are accessible by using {[Ti](CC^tBu)₂}CuMe (1) ([Ti]=(η⁵-C₅H₄SiMe₃)₂Ti) as key molecule; in 5 and 7, the corresponding early and late transition metal atoms are linked by π-conjugated organic moieties.     

Lipase‐catalysed synthesis of natural ethanol esters: effect of water removal on enzyme reutilisation

Lipase‐catalysed synthesis of ethanol esters using natural substrates is presented. Initial substrate concentrations, optimised through an experimental design, were 0.8 mol dm⁻³ lauric acid and 0.58 mol dm⁻³ ethanol, with an initial esterification rate (r₀) of 17.13 mmol dm⁻³ min⁻¹. Two different water removal systems were compared: a cooling exchanger in the reactor headspace and a vacuum‐based system. The best results were obtained with the second system. After six consecutive operations with the same enzyme, no loss of activity was observed. The yields obtained in all the runs were greater than 90%. Using the same approach three different natural esters (ethyl laureate, ethyl myristate and ethyl palmitate) were synthesised at 0.9 dm³ scale. Similar results were obtained in all three cases, with chemical yields always being greater than 90%. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Paradigmatic De Novo GRIN1 Variants Recapitulate Pathophysiological Mechanisms Underlying GRIN1-Related Disorder Clinical Spectrum

Background: GRIN-related disorders (GRD), the so-called grinpathies, is a group of rare encephalopathies caused by mutations affecting GRIN genes (mostly GRIN1, GRIN2A and GRIN2B genes), which encode for the GluN subunit of the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) type ionotropic glutamate receptors. A growing number of functional studies indicate that GRIN-encoded GluN1 subunit disturbances can be dichotomically classified into gain- and loss-of-function, although intermediate complex scenarios are often present. Methods: In this study, we aimed to delineate the structural and functional alterations of GRIN1 disease-associated variants, and their correlations with clinical symptoms in a Spanish cohort of 15 paediatric encephalopathy patients harbouring these variants. Results: Patients harbouring GRIN1 disease-associated variants have been clinically deeply-phenotyped. Further, using computational and in vitro approaches, we identified different critical checkpoints affecting GluN1 biogenesis (protein stability, subunit assembly and surface trafficking) and/or NMDAR biophysical properties, and their association with GRD clinical symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings show a strong correlation between GRIN1 variants-associated structural and functional outcomes. This structural-functional stratification provides relevant insights of genotype-phenotype association, contributing to future precision medicine of GRIN1-related encephalopathies.     

Decreasing the cost of mutation testing with second‐order mutants

Although powerful, mutation is a computationally very expensive testing technique. In fact, its three main stages (mutant generation, mutant execution and result analysis) require many resources to be successfully accomplished. Thus, researchers have made important efforts to reduce its costs. This paper represents an additional effort in this sense. It describes the results of two experiments in which, by means of combining the original set of mutants and therefore obtaining a new set of mutants—each one with two faults—the number of mutants used is reduced to half. Results lead to believe that mutant combination does not decrease the quality of the test suite, whereas it supposes important savings in mutant execution and result analysis. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.