Thiophene-based dendronized macromonomers and polymers

The synthesis of thiophene-containing second (G2) and third generation (G3) dendronized macromonomers with methacrylate polymerizable units as well as their corresponding dendronized polymers is reported. The dendrons are prepared from branched thiophene oligomers and are decorated with straight alkyl chains for solubility reasons. The polymerization reactions were done with AIBN as initiator and the polymers were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and GPC. Molar masses are in the range of 2.2-5.4 × 10⁵ g mol⁻¹ (G2) and 1.3-3.0 × 10⁴ g mol⁻¹ (G3) for different runs. These polymers are investigated by cyclic voltammetry and optical spectroscopy.     

ILP-assisted de novo drug design

The accurate and early detection of epileptic seizures in continuous electroencephalographic (EEG) data has a growing role in the management of patients with epilepsy. Early detection allows for therapy to be delivered at the start of seizures and for caregivers to be notified promptly about potentially debilitating events. The challenge to detecting epileptic seizures, however, is that seizure morphologies exhibit considerable inter-patient and intra-patient variability. While recent work has looked at addressing the issue of variations across different patients (inter-patient variability) and described patient-specific methodologies for seizure detection, there are no examples of systems that can simultaneously address the challenges of inter-patient and intra-patient variations in seizure morphology. In our study, we address this complete goal and describe a multi-task learning approach that trains a classifier to perform well across many kinds of seizures rather than potentially overfitting to the most common seizure types. Our approach increases the generalizability of seizure detection systems and improves the tradeoff between latency and sensitivity versus false positive rates. When compared against the standard approach on the CHB–MIT multi-channel scalp EEG data, our proposed method improved discrimination between seizure and non-seizure EEG for almost 83 % of the patients while reducing false positives on nearly 70 % of the patients studied.     

Intralesional Infiltrations of Arteriosclerotic Tissue Cells-Free Filtrate Reproduce Vascular Pathology in Healthy Recipient Rats

Lower-extremity arterial disease is a major health problem with increasing prevalence, often leading to non-traumatic amputation, disability and mortality. The molecular mechanisms underpinning abnormal vascular wall remodeling are not fully understood. We hypothesized on the existence of a vascular tissue memory that may be transmitted through soluble signaling messengers, transferred from humans to healthy recipient animals, and consequently drive the recapitulation of arterial wall thickening and other vascular pathologies. We examined the effects of the intralesional infiltration for 6 days of arteriosclerotic popliteal artery-derived homogenates (100 µg of protein) into rats’ full-thickness wounds granulation tissue. Animals infiltrated with normal saline solution or healthy brachial arterial tissue homogenate obtained from traumatic amputation served as controls. The significant thickening of arteriolar walls was the constant outcome in two independent experiments for animals receiving arteriosclerotic tissue homogenates. This material induced other vascular morphological changes including an endothelial cell phenotypic reprogramming that mirrored the donor’s vascular histopathology. The immunohistochemical expression pattern of relevant vascular markers appeared to match between the human tissue and the corresponding recipient rats. These changes occurred within days of administration, and with no cross-species limitation. The identification of these “vascular disease drivers” may pave novel research avenues for atherosclerosis pathobiology.     

Multiplex qualitative PCR assay for identification of genetically modified canola events and real-time event-specific PCR assay for quantification of the GT73 canola event

Genetically modified (GM) canola is the most widely grown oilseed crop in Canada. At this time, commercially produced GM canola cultivars in Canada have the events GT73/RT73 and Ms8xRf3. Commercial seed sale of canola cultivars containing the GM events such as OXY235 and T45 has been discontinued. Adventitious presence of GM seeds and grains in non-GM grains is a concern for international grain trade, and development of effective detection methods is important. A multiplex qualitative PCR procedure was established for the detection of the GM canola events OXY235, Ms8xRf3, T45 and GT73. The presence of the GM canola events was also successfully detected in ground spiked wheat and barley grain samples prepared at 0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0% levels (w/w). The GT73 real-time PCR assay was successfully used to quantify DNA extracted from spiked ground canola samples consisting of 5%, 1%, 0.5% and 0.1% GT73 (w/w).     

Synthesis,characterization and comparative OFET behaviour of indenofluorene–bithiophene and terthiophene alternating copolymers

The synthesis of alternating copolymers of tetraalkylindenofluorene with bithiophene and terthiophene using Suzuki polycondensation route is reported. We report on the optical and electrochemical properties of these copolymers. AFM analysis of the microscopic morphology of thin deposits showed that the copolymer with terthiophene units produced the more ordered films, with well-defined fibrillar structures, resulting from highly-regular dense packing due to strong π–π interchain interactions, in contrast to the amorphous bithiophene copolymer. Upon testing these materials in FETs the terthienyl copolymers displayed the higher charge mobilities among the studied compounds, with values of over 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1 being obtained.     

Thermal and mechanical behavior of copper molds during thin-slab casting (I): Plant trial and mathematical modeling

Three-dimensional (3-D) finite-element thermal-stress models have been developed to predict temperature, distortion, and residual stress in the mold of continuous casters of thin steel slabs, comparing both funnel-shaped and parallel molds. The mold shape and high casting speed leads to higher mold temperatures and shorter mold life than in conventional slab casters. This study investigates heat flux and the effects of mold shape on distortion and cracking of the thin-slab mold. In Part I of this two-part article, mold wall temperatures measured in the plant were analyzed to determine the corresponding heat-flux profiles in thin-slab molds. This data was then used in an elastic-visco-plastic analysis to investigate the deformation of the molds in service for the two different mold shapes. The model predictions of temperature and distortion during operation match plant observations. During operation, the hot-face temperature reaches 580 °C and heat flux varies from 7 to 4.5 MW/m² when casting at 3.6 m/min. The copper plates bend toward the steel, with a maximum outward distortion of about 0.3 mm. This occurs just above the center of the wide faces and is smaller than the distortion of a conventional slab mold.     

The application of a radial basis function neural network for predicting the surface roughness in a turning process

This study considers the performance of a radial basis function neural network for predicting the surface roughness in a turning process. A simple algorithm is proposed for finding the upper and lower estimates of the surface roughness. A code is developed that automatically fits the best network architecture for a given training and testing dataset. The validation of the methodology is carried out for dry and wet turning of mild steel using HSS and carbide tools, and is compared to the performance of the studied network with the reported performance of a multi-layer perception neural network. It is observed that the performance of the radial basis function network is slightly inferior compared to multi-layer perceptron neural network. However, the training procedure is simpler and requires less computational time.