Hypergravity effects on myoblast proliferation and differentiation

This study aimed at the investigation of behavior of myoblasts in conditions of altered gravity. C2C12 cells underwent stimulations by different hypergravity intensities (2 h at 5 g, 10 g, and 20 g) in the Large Diameter Centrifuge of the European Space Agency (ESA), highlighting positive effects on both proliferation and differentiation.     

Looking at the viewer: analysing facial activity to detect personal highlights of multimedia contents

This paper presents an approach to detect personal highlights in videos based on the analysis of facial activities of the viewer. Our facial activity analysis was based on the motion vectors tracked on twelve key points in the human face. In our approach, the magnitude of the motion vectors represented a degree of a viewer’s affective reaction to video contents. We examined 80 facial activity videos recorded for ten participants, each watching eight video clips in various genres. The experimental results suggest that useful motion vectors to detect personal highlights varied significantly across viewers. However, it was suggested that the activity in the upper part of face tended to be more indicative of personal highlights than the activity in the lower part.     

Water Services are the Bridgehead for a Return to Publicly Owned Utilities in Europe. A Comparative Analysis

Although for decades all across Europe numerous privatization phenomena have involved utilities, today the European Union appears on the edge of a profound change and water services are undoubtedly the bridgehead of a new model. Firstly, in a comparative perspective the present analysis aims to find some clues of the new trend at the national level. In particular, it moves from a case-based approach in order to carry out a wider exam of the relevant regulatory schemes. It thus focuses on the referenda concerning water supply services that took place in Italy and Germany. Plus, it studies local government decisions on the matter in the context of a debate regarding public companies, as in France. Secondly, the present paper gives an overview of the current water regulatory framework at European level. Directive 2000/60/EC gives a peculiar definition of water as a heritage rather than a commercial product as any other. Directive 2014/23/EU excludes water sector from the scope of the new concession regulatory scheme, given that water is a public good of fundamental value to all Union citizens. Besides, Directive 2014/25/EU clearly states that no by no means Member States are obliged to externalize the provision of water services, if they prefer to organize them in ways alternative to procurement. Eventually, the present article stresses out the new favourable background for re-publicisation processes set forth by the current European Union law.     

Ripples and layers in ultrathin MoS2 membranes

Single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a newly emerging two-dimensional semiconductor with a potentially wide range of applications in the fields of nanoelectronics and energy harvesting. The fact that it can be exfoliated down to single-layer thickness makes MoS2 interesting both for practical applications and for fundamental research, where the structure and crystalline order of ultrathin MoS2 will have a strong influence on electronic, mechanical, and other properties. Here, we report on the transmission electron microscopy study of suspended single- and few-layer MoS2 membranes with thicknesses previously determined using both optical identification and atomic force microscopy. Electron microscopy shows that monolayer MoS2 displays long-range crystalline order, although surface roughening has been observed with ripples which can reach 1 nm in height, just as in the case of graphene, implying that similar mechanisms are responsible for the stability of both two-dimensional materials. The observed ripples could explain the degradation of mobility in MoS2 due to exfoliation. We also find that symmetry breaking due to the reduction of the number of layers results in distinctive features in electron-beam diffraction patterns of single- and multilayer MoS2, which could be used as a method for identifying single layers using only electron microscopy. The isolation of suspended single-layer MoS2 membranes will improve our understanding of two-dimensional systems, their stability, and the interplay between their structures, morphologies, and electrical and mechanical properties.     

A study of the pharmacokinetics and tolerability of ritipenem acoxil in healthy volunteers following multiple oral dosing

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suffers extensive damage from the environment, however, the enzymes involved in the repair of mtDNA are still unknown. Here, we partially purified mitochondrial endonuclease G (Endo G) from the bovine heart, and examined the action of Endo G on damaged DNA. Treatment of DNA with L-ascorbic acid or peplomycin, that introduces single-strand breaks through active oxygen radicals, greatly enhanced the susceptibility to nucleolytic attacks from Endo G. The enzyme cleaved at or near sites where single-strand breaks were present in the opposite strand. Cisplatin-mediated DNA damage, which causes intrastrand crosslinks between adjacent guanine residues, also facilitated Endo G digestion, indicating that the enzyme can recognize local distortions in the duplex DNA introduced by adducts. These nucleolytic properties of Endo G in vitro suggest its possible involvement in the maintenance of mtDNA by eliminating defective genomes from the multicopy pool.     

Efficient Broadband Triplet–Triplet Annihilation‐Assisted Photon Upconversion at Subsolar Irradiance in Fully Organic Systems

The latest trend in solar cell technology is to develop photon managing processes that adapt the solar emission to the spectral range at which the devices show the largest intrinsic efficiency. Triplet–triplet annihilation‐assisted photon upconversion (sTTA‐UC) is currently the most promising process to blue‐shift sub‐bandgap photons at solar irradiance, even if the narrow absorption band of the employed chromophores limits its application. In this work, we demonstrate how to obtain broadband sTTA‐UC at sub‐solar irradiance, by enhancing the system's light‐harvesting ability by way of an ad‐hoc synthesized family of chromophores with complementary absorption properties. The overall absorptance is boosted, thus doubling the number of upconverted photons and significantly reducing the irradiance required to achieve the maximum upconversion yield. An outstanding yield of ≈10% is obtained under broadband air mass (AM) 1.5 conditions, which allows a DSSC device to operate by exploiting exclusively sub‐bandgap photons.     

Resistive random access memory (RRAM) technology: From material,device, selector, 3D integration to bottom-up fabrication

Emerging non-volatile memory technologies are promising due to their anticipated capacity benefits, non-volatility, and zero idle energy. One of the most promising candidates is resistive random access memory (RRAM) based on resistive switching (RS). This paper reviews the development of RS device technology including the fundamental physics, material engineering, three-dimension (3D) integration, and bottom-up fabrication. The device operation, physical mechanisms for resistive switching, reliability metrics, and memory cell selector candidates are summarized from the recent advancement in both industry and academia. Options for 3D memory array architectures are presented for the mass storage application. Finally, the potential application of bottom-up fabrication approaches for effective manufacturing is introduced.     

Perception and Grasping of Object Parts from Active Robot Exploration

Like humans, robots that need semantic perception and accurate estimation of the environment can increase their knowledge through active interaction with objects. This paper proposes a novel method for 3D object modeling for a robot manipulator with an eye-in-hand laser range sensor. Since the robot can only perceive the environment from a limited viewpoint, it actively manipulates a target object and generates a complete model by accumulation and registration of partial views. Three registration algorithms are investigated and compared in experiments performed in cluttered environments with complex rigid objects made of multiple parts. A data structure based on proximity graph, that encodes neighborhood relations in range scans, is also introduced to perform efficient range queries. The proposed method for 3D object modeling is applied to perform task-level manipulation. Indeed, once a complete model is available the object is segmented into its constituent parts and categorized. Object sub-parts that are relevant for the task and that afford a grasping action are identified and selected as candidate regions for grasp planning.     

Chemical and photochemical degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the atmosphere

Results of studies on chemical and photochemical transformations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are reviewed. Various parameters may modify the kinetics of these reactions, such as light intensity, concentration of gaseous pollutants (NO_x, SO_x, O₃), chemico-physical characteristics of particulates or substrates into which the PAH are adsorbed. Depending on these variables, the half-life of BaP varies from 10 to 104 300 min. The possibility of artefact formation during sampling is discussed. The necessity of clarifying mechanisms for these phenomena, in order to correctly evaluate the risks for exposed populations, is emphasized.     

Biotransformation of trithiozine. III - Isolation and identification of further metabolites in rat urine

The metabolism of a new antisecretory and antiulcer drug, trithiozine (I.S.F. 2001, T), was studied in 4 hr rat urine samples after i.p. administration. After extraction at pH 7 with chloroform, the urine was either incubated with beta-glucuronidase or acidified to pH 2 and subsequently extracted with chloroform. The organic layers were evaporated to dryness and the residues used for TLC analysis. The neutral extracts revealed five spots, not present in control rat urine, corresponding to the unchanged drug T and to four metabolites. Two of the metabolites had been previously identified as the 4-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl)tetrahydro-1,4-oxazine (TBO) and the 4-(3,4,5-trimethoxythiobenzoyl)tetrahydro-1,4-oxazine-S-oxide (TO). Three other metabolites were found in the extracts after beta-glucuronidase incubation. TLC, U.V. and M.S. data were consistent with the structure 4-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxythiobenzoyl)tetrahydro-1,4-oxazine (HT), the corresponding S-oxide (HO) and the 4-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzoyl)tetrahydro-1,4-oxazine (HBO). The acidic extracts revealed two spots structurally identified as the 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid (TBA) and the previous HBO. On the basis of present knowledge, a possible metabolic pathway of T is reported, consisting in a rapid metabolic oxidation on the sulfur atom and a slower demethylation on the para methoxy group. The presence of TBA is indicative of subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of TBO. The intense and long-lasting inhibitory effect of T on gastric secretion is tentatively correlated with the pharmacological activities of some of its metabolites.