Actions of Esomeprazole on the Maternal Vasculature in Lean and Obese Pregnant Mice with Impaired Nitric Oxide Synthesis: A Model of Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a devastating, multisystem disorder of pregnancy. It has no cure except delivery, which if premature can impart significant neonatal morbidity. Efforts to repurpose pregnancy-safe therapeutics for the treatment of preeclampsia have led to the assessment of the proton pump inhibitor, esomeprazole. Preclinically, esomeprazole reduced placental secretion of anti-angiogenic sFlt-1, improved endothelial dysfunction, promoted vasorelaxation, and reduced maternal hypertension in a mouse model. Our understanding of the precise mechanisms through which esomeprazole works to reduce endothelial dysfunction and enhance vasoreactivity is limited. Evidence from earlier studies suggested esomeprazole might work via the nitric oxide pathway, upregulating endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Here, we investigated the effect of esomeprazole in a mouse model of L-NAME-induced hypertension (decreased eNOS activity). We further antagonised the model by addition of diet-induced obesity, which is relevant to both preeclampsia and the nitric oxide pathway. Esomeprazole did not decrease blood pressure in this model, nor were there any alterations in vasoreactivity or changes in foetal outcomes in lean mice. We observed similar findings in the obese mouse cohort, except esomeprazole treatment enhanced ex vivo acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation. As acetylcholine induces nitric oxide production, these findings hint at a function for esomeprazole in the nitric oxide pathway.     

Predicate Abstraction of ANSI-C Programs Using SAT

Predicate abstraction is a major method for verification of software. However, the generation of the abstract Boolean program from the set of predicates and the original program suffers from an exponential number of theorem prover calls as well as from soundness issues. This paper presents a novel technique that uses an efficient SAT solver for generating the abstract transition relations of ANSI-C programs. The SAT-based approach computes a more precise and safe abstraction compared to existing predicate abstraction techniques.     

Energy localization and frequency analysis in the locust ear

Animal ears are exquisitely adapted to capture sound energy and perform signal analysis. Studying the ear of the locust, we show how frequency signal analysis can be performed solely by using the structural features of the tympanum. Incident sound waves generate mechanical vibrational waves that travel across the tympanum. These waves shoal in a tsunami-like fashion, resulting in energy localization that focuses vibrations onto the mechanosensory neurons in a frequency-dependent manner. Using finite element analysis, we demonstrate that two mechanical properties of the locust tympanum, distributed thickness and tension, are necessary and sufficient to generate frequency-dependent energy localization.     

Bottom‐Up Synthesis of Advanced Carbonaceous Anode Materials Containing Sulfur for Na‐Ion Batteries

The fabrication of sulfur‐containing carbonaceous anode materials (CS) that show exceptional activity as anode material in Na‐ions batteries is reported. To do so, a general and straightforward bottom‐up synthesis of CS materials with precise control over the sulfur content and functionality is introduced. The new synthetic path combined with a detailed structural analysis and electrochemical studies provide correlations between i) the sulfur content and chemical species and ii) the structural, electronic, and electrochemical performance of the associated materials. As a result, the new CS substances demonstrate excellent activity as Na‐ion battery anode materials, reaching capacity values above 500 mAh g^?1 at a current density of 0.1 A g^?1, as well as high reversible sodium storage capabilities and excellent cycling durability. The results reveal the underlying working principles of carbonaceous materials, alongside the storage mechanism of the Na⁺ ions in these advanced sodium‐ion battery anode materials and provide a new avenue for their practical realization.     

‘Hotel Middle East’: social shocks and adaptation in Jordan’s domestic water sector

While socio-ecological systems are susceptible to social shocks, a theoretical and empirical understanding of social-shock adaptation remains absent from the literature. This article investigates the Syrian refugee crisis in water-scarce Jordan, where historical waves of migration have shaped water governance. Findings suggest that water sector adaptation to social shocks fits within broader adaptation theory, and that frequent refugee crises in Jordan have perpetuated reactive water governance, shaping the sector’s resiliencies, vulnerabilities, and adaptation processes. Through examining adaptation processes in the acute water and refugee contexts of Jordan, we suggest that through planning and preparedness, socio-ecological systems could build resilience to social shocks.     

Archival Practices and the Making of “Memories”

Following Derrida (1995), our article explores the relationship between archival practices and archival documents on the assumption that “archivization produces as much as it records the event” (Derrida 1995, 17). On this approach, archival practices are understood as non-innocent practices that, in the act of “preservation,” help make specific “memories” at the expense of others (Barad 2007; Derrida 1995; Foucault 1972). We take up this issue in relation to the curation of social science quantitative research data and argue that the ontological identity of data is constituted through historically- and culturally-specific data curation practices including data cleaning, data anonymization, and metadata preparation.     

Material interface effects on the topology optimizationof multi-phase structures using a level set method

A level set method is used as a framework to study the effects of including material interface properties in the optimization of multi-phase elastic and thermoelastic structures. In contrast to previous approaches, the material properties do not have a discontinuous change across the interface that is often represented by a sharp geometric boundary between material regions. Instead, finite material interfaces with monotonic and non-monotonic property variations over a physically motivated interface zone are investigated. Numerical results are provided for several 2D problems including compliance and displacement minimization of structures composed of two and three materials. The results highlight the design performance changes attributed to the presence of the continuously graded material interface properties.     

Flexible Hybrid Electronics: Direct Interfacing of Soft and Hard Electronics for Wearable Health Monitoring

The interfacing of soft and hard electronics is a key challenge for flexible hybrid electronics. Currently, a multisubstrate approach is employed, where soft and hard devices are fabricated or assembled on separate substrates, and bonded or interfaced using connectors; this hinders the flexibility of the device and is prone to interconnect issues. Here, a single substrate interfacing approach is reported, where soft devices, i.e., sensors, are directly printed on Kapton polyimide substrates that are widely used for fabricating flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs). Utilizing a process flow compatible with the FPCB assembly process, a wearable sensor patch is fabricated composed of inkjet‐printed gold electrocardiography (ECG) electrodes and a stencil‐printed nickel oxide thermistor. The ECG electrodes provide 1 mVp–p ECG signal at 4.7 cm electrode spacing and the thermistor is highly sensitive at normal body temperatures, and demonstrates temperature coefficient, α ≈ –5.84% K^–1 and material constant, β ≈ 4330 K. This sensor platform can be extended to a more sophisticated multisensor platform where sensors fabricated using solution processable functional inks can be interfaced to hard electronics for health and performance monitoring, as well as internet of things applications.     

Forcing biological sciences into architectural design: On conceptual confusions in the field of biomimetic architecture

Certain confusion may be observed in the field of biomimetic architecture, as it emerges at the crossroad of two disciplinary domains: architectural design and biological sciences. If biomimetics is defined as a science, once it is applied to architecture, biomimetic architecture should logically be defined as a science too. This assertion collides with the nature of architectural design, which may rather be defined as a technology: its aim is to transform the world, not to explain it. On the one hand, there is no obvious relationship between architecture and life sciences. On the other hand, the biomimetic approach tends to redefine the concept of science itself by seeking to avoid the excesses of scientism. Moreover, existing applications of biomimetic design show that it is difficult to observe a genuine biomimetic architecture; most cases are closer to engineering component or urban planning and sometimes they involve little or no life sciences. The aim of this paper is to describe this conceptual confusion through two movements called “forcings”, occurring between design and science. These forcings are conceptualised as shifts between constructed scientific objects and given empirical objects. Models, used in biology as in architecture, allow these shifts by virtue of their double function. They are both tools for knowledge and for design, thus they may be conceptually forced into what they are not supposed to be, particularly in the field of biomimetic architecture where design process and scientific knowledge are said to meet.