Fetal Neurobehavioral Development: A Tale of Two Cities.

Longitudinal neurobehavioral development was examined in 237 fetuses of low-risk pregnancies from 2 distinct populations-Baltimore, Maryland, and Lima. Peru-at 20. 24. 28. 32, 36. and 38 weeks gestation. Data were based on digitized Doppler-based fetal heart rate (FHR) and fetal movement (FM). In both groups. FHR declined while variability, episodic accelerations, and FM-FHR coupling increased, with discontinuities evident between 28 and 32 weeks gestation. Fetuses in Lima had higher FHR and lower variability, accelerations, and FM-FHR coupling. Declines in trajectories were typically observed 1 month sooner in Lima, which magnified these disparities. Motor activity differences were less consistent. No sex differences in fetal neurobehaviors were detected. It is concluded that population factors can influence the developmental niche of the fetus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partial or total silylation of dextran with hexamethyldisilazane

The silylation reaction of dextran with 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) in DMSO was studied as the first step of the synthesis of new amphiphilic polyester-grafted dextrans. According to the experimental conditions, i.e. dextran molar weight, medium temperature and reaction time, HMDS/OH ratio, addition of a catalyst and co-solvent, partially or totally silylated dextrans were recovered. The highest silylation yields were obtained with the lowest molecular weight dextrans. The increase in temperature medium and/or reaction time, the presence of catalyst or co-solvent favored the protection yield. Whatever the dextran used, complete silylation of the polysaccharide chain could be achieved by adequate selection of the experimental conditions. The thermal properties of resulting silylated polysaccharides were investigated by temperature modulated DSC. It was observed that T_g values of partially silylated dextran were maintained between 120 and 140 °C, independently of the dextran molecular weight. Interestingly, DMSO proved to behave as an efficient plasticizer of (partially) silylated dextrans. The partially silylated dextrans were efficiently used as multifunctional macroinitiators for the controlled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactone. The ROP was then promoted from the remaining hydroxyl groups in the presence of tin or aluminium activator. After polymerization and ultimate deprotection of the silylated dextran backbone, amphiphilic polyester-grafted dextrans were readily recovered.     

RF/wireless-interconnect: The next wave of connectivity

In the era of the nanometer CMOS technology, due to stringent system requirements in power, performance and other fundamental physical limitations (such as mechanical reliability, thermal constraints, overall system form factor, etc.), future VLSI systems are relying more on ultra-high data rates (up to 100 Gbps/pin or 20 Tbps aggregate), scalable, re-configurable, highly compact and reliable interconnect fabric. To overcome such challenges, we first explore the use of multiband RF/wireless-interconnects wh...     

Generalized modal satisfiability

It is well known that modal satisfiability is PSPACE-complete (Ladner (1977) [21]). However, the complexity may decrease if we restrict the set of propositional operators used. Note that there exist an infinite number of propositional operators, since a propositional operator is simply a Boolean function. We completely classify the complexity of modal satisfiability for every finite set of propositional operators, i.e., in contrast to previous work, we classify an infinite number of problems. We show that, depending on the set of propositional operators, modal satisfiability is PSPACE-complete, coNP-complete, or in P. We obtain this trichotomy not only for modal formulas, but also for their more succinct representation using modal circuits. We consider both the uni-modal and the multi-modal cases, and study the dual problem of validity as well.     

Hybrid learning for interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems based on orthogonal least-squares and back-propagation methods

This paper presents a novel learning methodology based on a hybrid algorithm for interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems. Since only the back-propagation method has been proposed in the literature for the tuning of both the antecedent and the consequent parameters of type-2 fuzzy logic systems, a hybrid learning algorithm has been developed. The hybrid method uses a recursive orthogonal least-squares method for tuning the consequent parameters and the back-propagation method for tuning the antecedent parameters. Systems were tested for three types of inputs: (a) interval singleton, (b) interval type-1 non-singleton, and (c) interval type-2 non-singleton. Experiments were carried out on the application of hybrid interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems for prediction of the scale breaker entry temperature in a real hot strip mill for three different types of coil. The results proved the feasibility of the systems developed here for scale breaker entry temperature prediction. Comparison with type-1 fuzzy logic systems shows that hybrid learning interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems provide improved performance under the conditions tested.     

Impacts in multibody systems: modeling and experiments

This paper outlines a novel approach to the modeling and analysis of impact involving multibody systems. This approach is based on an analysis of energy absorption and restitution during impact, using a decomposition of the kinetic energy, which decouples the parts associated with the spaces of admissible and constrained motions of the underlying unilateral constraints. Such a decomposition turns out to be useful in the analysis of energy dissipation during impact, and leads to a generalized definition of the energetic coefficient of restitution, which targets particularly collisions in multibody systems. The applicability of the approach reported is investigated by conducting an experimental study on a robotic testbed. It is shown that impact between multibody systems is considerably affected not only by the local dynamics characteristics of the interacting bodies, but also the configuration of the whole multibody system. The results reported here show that our decomposition can offer a sound characterization of impact in several problems of multibody systems.     

Food vacuole proteome of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum

The Plasmodium falciparum food vacuole (FV) is a lysosome-like organelle where erythrocyte hemoglobin digestion occurs. It is a favorite target in the development of antimalarials. We have used a tandem mass spectrometry approach to investigate the proteome of an FV-enriched fraction and identified 116 proteins. The electron microscopy analysis and the Western blot data showed that the major component of the fraction was the FV and, as expected, the majority of previously known FV markers were recovered. Of particular interest, several proteins involved in vesicle-mediated trafficking were identified, which are likely to play a key role in FV biogenesis and/or FV protein trafficking. Recovery of parasite surface proteins lends support to the cytostomal pathway of hemoglobin ingestion as a FV trafficking route. We have identified 32 proteins described as hypothetical in the databases. This insight into FV protein content provides new clues towards understanding the biological function of this organelle in P. falciparum.     

3D numerical simulation of the behaviour of a spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to a simple shear

The 3D flow around a rigid spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to simple shear is numerically studied using Rem3D^® finite element code. The sphere motion is imposed by a sticking contact between the sphere and the fluid. The effect of the particle size as compared with the finite dimension of the shear cell was investigated. The direct calculations show that 3D modelling is necessary to correctly predict the sphere behaviour. The proximity of the particle and the cell walls strongly affects the flow velocities, the sphere motion (increase of the rotation period of the sphere) and the stress field (change of orientation angle and increase of maximal local stresses).     

论计算运动学在机构理论中的作用

简述了计算运动学的发展过程，论述了计算运动学的基础理论，并利用两个实例展现了计算运动学在机构运动分析中的作用。最后以转向机构综合为例，对比传统综合方法和现代计算运动学方法的特点。结果表明：计算运动学方法在寻找所有解，精度和系统性等方面具有较大的优势。