Influence of Co substitution on magnetic properties and thermal expansion of Nd6Fe13Si intermetallic compound

We studied the effect of Co substitution in Nd₆Fe_13?xCo_xSi (x = 0, 1) intermetallic compounds on the crystalline structure, magnetic properties and thermal expansion. The partial Co substitution reduces the lattice parameters of the tetragonal Nd₆Fe₁₃Si structure which enhance (3d–3d) exchange interaction and this causes an increase of the Néel temperature (T_N). The spin reorientation temperature (T_SR) of Nd₆Fe₁₂CoSi occurs at a higher temperature with respect to that of the Nd₆Fe₁₃Si compound. Both the linear thermal expansion and the linear thermal expansion coefficient α(T) show remarkable anomalies at T_SR and the magnetic ordering temperature (T_N). T_SR is associated with a shoulder in the linear thermal expansion and near T_N we observe invar-type of behaviour. Both effects are enhanced for the Co substituted sample, giving clear evidence for the enhanced exchange interactions.     

Displacement Discontinuity or Complex Shape of Sample: Assessment of Accuracy and Adaptation of Local DIC Approach

In this paper, we study the impact of a complex shape of sample and the appearance of a displacement discontinuity on performances of measurement by local Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Both cases are modelled from synthetic images into two parts: one with a speckle field and another part without speckle or two parts with similar speckle fields but with different kinematics. The accuracy of displacement measurements assessed for DIC subsets crossing the boundary between the two parts is lower than the one obtained without discontinuity and justifies adapting DIC method. A new local DIC process is presented in detail. It is an alternative way able to take into account any shape of sample and several curved lines of discontinuity in the same subset. Two experimental examples are presented: displacement and strain fields obtained by DIC and adapted DIC are compared. We can conclude that it is possible to lead a mechanical analysis until the limits of the sample and even during the appearance and the propagation of a crack.     

G-quadruplex formation of oligonucleotides containing ALS and FTD related GGGGCC repeat

A largely increased number of GGGGCC repeats located in the non-coding region of C9orf72 gene have been identified as the leading cause of two related neurological disorders, familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We examined G-quadruplex forming ability of GGGGCCrepeat containing oligonucleotides with four guanine tracts chosen as the smallest possible model to form a unimolecular G-quadruplex. These oligonucleotides are readily to folded into G-quadruplexes in the presence of K⁺ ions. However, the formation of multiple structures makes structural analysis challenging and time consuming. We observed that flanking sequences on 5'- and 3'-ends as well as mutations of loop residues have a profound effect on folding. Sequence d[(G₄C₂)₃G₄] was chosen for further scrutiny and optimization of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic properties with dG to 8Br-dG substitutions at specific positions in the sequence under different folding conditions. Expectedly, folding into desired predominant topology is facilitated when substituted residue adopted a syn conformation in the naturally-occurring structure. Single dG to 8Br-dG substitution at position 21 and fine tuning of folding conditions facilitate folding of d[(G₄C₂)₃GG^BrGG] into (mostly) a single G-quadruplex, and thus enable determination of its high-resolution structure by high-field NMR.

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On the approximation of the canard explosion point in singularly perturbed systems without an explicit small parameter

A canard explosion is the dramatic change of period and amplitude of a limit cycle of a system of nonlinear ODEs in a very narrow interval of the bifurcation parameter. It occurs in slow–fast systems and is well understood in singular perturbation problems where a small parameter epsilon defines the time-scale separation. We present an iterative algorithm for the determination of the canard explosion point which can be applied for a general slow–fast system without an explicit small parameter. We also present assumptions under which the algorithm gives accurate estimates of the canard explosion point. Finally, we apply the algorithm to the van der Pol equations, a Templator model for a self-replicating system and a model for intracellular calcium oscillations with no explicit small parameters and obtain very good agreement with results from numerical simulations.     

Generalized additive neural network with flexible parametric link function: model estimation using simulated and real clinical data

Neural Computing and Applications - Artificial neural networks have been proposed in medical research as an alternative to some regression models such as the generalized linear models, being the...     

Changes in the subcellular localization of replication initiation proteins and cell cycle proteins during G1- to S-phase transition in mammalian cells

DNA replication in eukaryotic cells is restricted to the S-phase of the cell cycle. In a cell-free replication model system, using SV40 origin-containing DNA, extracts from G1 cells are inefficient in supporting DNA replication. We have undertaken a detailed analysis of the subcellular localization of replication proteins and cell cycle regulators to determine when these proteins are present in the nucleus and therefore available for DNA replication. Cyclin A and cdk2 have been implicated in regulating DNA replication, and may be responsible for activating components of the DNA replication initiation complex on entry into S-phase. G1 cell extracts used for in vitro replication contain the replication proteins RPA (the eukaryotic single-stranded DNA binding protein) and DNA polymerase alpha as well as cdk2, but lack cyclin A. On localizing these components in G1 cells we find that both RPA and DNA polymerase alpha are present as nuclear proteins, while cdk2 is primarily cytoplasmic and there is no detectable cyclin A. An apparent change in the distribution of these proteins occurs as the cell enters S-phase. Cyclin A becomes abundant and both cyclin A and cdk2 become localized to the nucleus in S-phase. In contrast, the RPA-34 and RPA-70 subunits of RPA, which are already nuclear, undergo a transition from the uniform nuclear distribution observed during G1, and now display a distinct punctate nuclear pattern. The initiation of DNA replication therefore most likely occurs by modification and activation of these replication initiation proteins rather than by their recruitment to the nuclear compartment.