Numerical Evaluation of Grouting Scenarios for Reducing Water Inflows from Major Faults in Underground Excavations

Mine Water and the Environment - Water inflows through fracture networks are a major economic and safety issue in underground mines. Although pre-grouting of pilot holes during mine development...     

A platform for P2P agent-based collaborative applications

The operational environment can be a valuable source of information about the behavior of software applications and their usage context. Although a single instance of an application has limited evidence of the range of the possible behaviors and situations that might be experienced in the field, the collective knowledge composed by the evidence gathered by the many instances of a same application running in several diverse user environments (eg, a browser) might be an invaluable source of information. This information can be exploited by applications able to autonomously analyze how they behave in the field and adjust their behavior accordingly. Augmenting applications with the capability to collaborate and directly share information about their behavior is challenging because it requires the definition of a fully decentralized and dependable networked infrastructure whose nodes are the user machines. The nodes of the infrastructure must be collaborative, to share information, and autonomous, to exploit the available information to change their behavior, for instance, to better accommodate the needs of the users to prevent known problems. This paper describes the initial results that we obtained with the design and the development of an infrastructure that can enable the execution of collaborative scenarios in a fully decentralized way. Our idea is to combine the agent-based paradigm, which is well suited to design collaborative and autonomous nodes, and the peer-to-peer paradigm, which is well suited to design distributed and dynamic network infrastructures. To demonstrate our idea, we augmented the popular JADE agent-based platform with a software layer that supports both the creation of a fully decentralized peer-to-peer network of JADE platforms and the execution of services within that network, thus enabling JADE multiagent systems (MASs) to behave as peer-to-peer networks. The resulting platform can be used to study the design of collaborative applications running in the field.     

Bovine milk oligosaccharides decrease gut permeability and improve inflammation and microbial dysbiosis in diet-induced obese mice

Obesity is characterized by altered gut homeostasis, including dysbiosis and increased gut permeability closely linked to the development of metabolic disorders. Milk oligosaccharides are complex sugars that selectively enhance the growth of specific beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and could be used as prebiotics. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the effects of bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis (B. infantis) on restoring diet-induced obesity intestinal microbiota and barrier function defects in mice. Male C57/BL6 mice were fed a Western diet (WD, 40% fat/kcal) or normal chow (C, 14% fat/kcal) for 7 wk. During the final 2 wk of the study, the diet of a subgroup of WD-fed mice was supplemented with BMO (7% wt/wt). Weekly gavage of B. infantis was performed in all mice starting at wk 3, yet B. infantis could not be detected in any luminal contents when mice were killed. Supplementation of the WD with BMO normalized the cecal and colonic microbiota with increased abundance of Lactobacillus compared with both WD and C mice and restoration of Allobaculum and Ruminococcus levels to that of C mice. The BMO supplementation reduced WD-induced increase in paracellular and transcellular flux in the large intestine as well as mRNA levels of the inflammatory marker tumor necrosis factor α. In conclusion, BMO are promising prebiotics to modulate gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function for enhanced health.     

Penetration of resin‐based materials into initial erosion lesion: A confocal microscopic study

The application of resin‐based materials is an alternative of treatment for eroded lesions. Nevertheless, there are no studies about the penetration of these materials into eroded lesion, which might affect its adhesion. Therefore, this study evaluated the penetration of four resin‐based materials, with and without enamel etching. By using an in vitro protocol, types of treatment were studied at five levels (AdheSE^®, Tetric N‐Bond^®, Single Bond 2^®, Helioseal Clear^®, Icon^®) and types of enamel etching in two levels (with and without). Materials were stained with 0.02 mg/mL ethanolic solution of tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate. Bovine enamel samples (4 × 4 mm) were immersed in 0.01 M HCl, pH 2.3, for 30 seconds to produce initial eroded lesions. Afterward, the materials were applied on half of sample enamel surface following the manufacturer's instructions. On the other half of sample, the materials were applied without etching the enamel. Materials penetration into the enamel was assessed by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy on reflection and fluorescence modes. The penetration depth (PD) was measured using ImageJ software. Data were analyzed by two‐way ANOVA and Tukey test (P < 0.05). Regardless of the material, etched enamel resulted in higher PD than non‐etched (P < 0.05). Icon^® showed the highest PD in enamel followed by Helioseal Clear^® (P < 0.05), with significant difference between them (P < 0.05) and no difference was found among AdheSE^®, Tetric N‐Bond^®, and Single Bond 2^® (P > 0.05). It can be concluded that prior enamel etching increased the materials penetration into eroded enamel and the Icon^®—infiltrant presented highest penetration. Microsc. Res. Tech. 79:72–80, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effects of Different Types of Chronic Training on Bioenergetic Profile and Reactive Oxygen Species Production in LHCN-M2 Human Myoblast Cells

Human skeletal muscle contains three different types of fibers, each with a different metabolism. Exercise differently contributes to differentiation and metabolism in human myoblast cells. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of different types of chronic training on the human LHCN-M2 myoblast cell bioenergetic profile during differentiation in real time and on the ROS overproduction consequent to H₂O₂ injury. We demonstrated that exercise differently affects the myoblast bioenergetics: aerobic exercise induced the most efficient glycolytic and oxidative capacity and proton leak reduction compared to untrained or anaerobic trained sera-treated cells. Similarly, ROS overproduction after H₂O₂ stress was lower in cells treated with differently trained sera compared to untrained sera, indicating a cytoprotective effect of training on the reduction of oxidative stress, and thus the promotion of longevity. In conclusion, for the first time, this study has provided knowledge regarding the modifications induced by different types of chronic training on human myoblast cell bioenergetics during the differentiation process in real time, and on ROS overproduction due to stress, with positive implications in terms of longevity.     

The Reactivity of Difluorocarbene with Hydroxylamines: Synthesis of Carbamoyl Fluorides

Carbamoyl fluorides are formed in reactions of hydroxylamines with difluorocarbene generated from sodium bromodifluoroacetate as readily available and non‐toxic carbene precursor. The process shows a high functional group tolerance, and the reaction path has been rationalized by computational calculations.