Stochastic modelling of individual cell growth using flow chamber microscopy images

In this paper, we analysed individual cell growth images obtained by flow chamber microscopy system. We used replicate flow chamber experiment data as reported by [Elfwing, A., Le Marc, Y., Baranyi, J., Ballagi, A., 2004. Observing the growth and division of large number of individual bacteria using image analysis. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70, 675-678] involving both unstressed and heat shocked Listeria innocua cells. After observing the kinetics of a large number of cells, we propose a new stochastic model for their individual growth. By comparing our model with other existing models in the literature, we demonstrate that ours can accurately describe the growth of both stressed and unstressed cells. Our results indicate that the lag period, in terms of cell division, coincides dominantly with a lag period in terms of cell size. We also reveal various connections between cell length, lag time and cell division models. Finally, we present the results of our investigation on the effect of the duration of sublethal heat shock on the found growth properties.     

Toxicity of formaldehyde to human oral fibroblasts and epithelial cells: influences of culture conditions and role of thiol status

The toxicity of formaldehyde, a monomer released from certain polymeric dental materials, was studied in cultured human oral fibroblasts and epithelial cells. The influences of growth conditions were evaluated for both cell types, as well as the role of the internal and external thiol states. A one-hour exposure to formaldehyde decreased the colony-forming efficiency (CFE) of both cell types in a concentration-dependent manner, although the toxicity varied up to 100-fold with the conditions. Clearly, the presence of serum and the thiol cysteine counteracted the toxicity in fibroblasts. Similarly, pituitary extract and cysteine, or a mixture of amino acids and ethanolamines, counteracted the formaldehyde toxicity in serum-free cultures of epithelial cells. In contrast, a growth-promoting surface matrix of fibronectin and collagen did not influence the formaldehyde toxicity, as shown by both the CFE assay and a dye reduction assay. Further, a short-term change to the various growth media per se with or without the supplements serum or cysteine did not significantly alter the CFE. Analysis of the thiol state demonstrated significant differences between epithelial cells and fibroblasts, i.e., comparatively lower cellular levels of the free low-molecular-weight thiols glutathione and cysteine in fibroblasts. This result correlated to significantly higher formaldehyde toxicity in the fibroblasts than in the epithelial cells. Taken together, the results indicated the cytoprotective function of both intracellular and extracellular thiols toward formaldehyde, as well as the usefulness of thiol-free and chemically defined conditions for toxicity assessments in oral epithelial cells and fibroblasts. We conclude that the combined use of a controlled external milieu and the presumed target cell type may be advantageous in evaluations of oral toxicity mechanisms or the toxic potency of dental materials, particularly those which, like formaldehyde, may react with thiols or amines.     

Study of solid-state sintered fine-grained cemented carbides

Submicron cemented carbides are most often produced by liquid phase sintering. To retard the grain growth during sintering, these materials are sintered at low temperatures and with addition of grain growth inhibitors, e.g. Cr and V. The common hypothesis is that the sintered material would benefit from a more evenly distributed inhibitor in the WC raw material, in order to control the grain growth during both the solid-state and liquid phase part of the sintering.

Aiming to study the distribution of Cr specifically after solid-state sintering, a Cr-doped WC-powder was mixed with Co and excess of carbon, and subsequently hot-pressed for 1 h and 30 MPa at 1200 °C. This transmission electron microscopy study shows that Cr is concentrated to the surfaces of the WC grains in the sample after mentioned solid-state sintering.     

Evolutionary Development of Hierarchical Learning Structures

Hierarchical reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms can learn a policy faster than standard RL algorithms. However, the applicability of hierarchical RL algorithms is limited by the fact that the task decomposition has to be performed in advance by the human designer. We propose a Lamarckian evolutionary approach for automatic development of the learning structure in hierarchical RL. The proposed method combines the MAXQ hierarchical RL method and genetic programming (GP). In the MAXQ framework, a subtask can optimize the policy independently of its parent task's policy, which makes it possible to reuse learned policies of the subtasks. In the proposed method, the MAXQ method learns the policy based on the task hierarchies obtained by GP, while the GP explores the appropriate hierarchies using the result of the MAXQ method. To show the validity of the proposed method, we have performed simulation experiments for a foraging task in three different environmental settings. The results show strong interconnection between the obtained learning structures and the given task environments. The main conclusion of the experiments is that the GP can find a minimal strategy, i.e., a hierarchy that minimizes the number of primitive subtasks that can be executed for each type of situation. The experimental results for the most challenging environment also show that the policies of the subtasks can continue to improve, even after the structure of the hierarchy has been evolutionary stabilized, as an effect of Lamarckian mechanisms     

Conducting Helical Structures from Celery Decorated with a Metallic Conjugated Polymer Give Resonances in the Terahertz Range

A method to decorate cellulose‐based helices retrieved from the plant celery with a conductive polymer is proposed. Using a layer‐by‐layer method, the decoration of the polyanionic conducting polymer poly(4‐(2,3‐dihydrothieno [3,4‐b]‐[1,4]dioxin‐2‐yl‐methoxy)‐1‐butanesulfonic acid (PEDOT‐S) is enhanced after coating the negatively charged cellulose helix with a polycationic polyethyleneimine. Microscopy techniques and two‐point probe are used to image the structure and measure the conductivity of the helix. Analysis of the optical and electrical properties of the coated helix in the terahertz (THz) frequency range shows a resonance close to 1 THz and a broad shoulder that extends to 3.5 THz, consistent with electromagnetic models. Moreover, as helical antennas, it is shown that both axial and normal modes are present, which are correlated to the orientation and antenna electrical lengths of the coated helices. This work opens the possibility of designing tunable terahertz antennas through simple control of their dimensions and orientation.     

Differences in Wetting Characteristics of Bi2O3 Polymorphs in ZnO Varistor Materials

Detailed analysis of the microstructure of grain boundaries, especially triple-grain and multiple-grain junctions, in ZnO varistor materials has been performed using transmission electron microscopy. Different polymorphs of Bi₂O₃ are shown to exhibit different wetting properties on ZnO interfaces. Recent investigations suggest that the equilibrium configuration consists of crystalline Bi₂O₃ in the triple-grain and multiple-grain junctions and an amorphous bismuth-rich film in the ZnO/ZnO grain boundaries. The present investigation supports this suggestion for δ-Bi₂O₃ and also adds to the microstructural image and wetting properties of α-Bi₂O₃.     

Modelling the variability of lag times and the first generation times of single cells of E. coli

A mathematical model combining deterministic and stochastic elements describes the growth and division of single cells. Its deterministic part is based on the model of Baranyi and Roberts [International Journal of Food Microbiology 23 (1994) 277] modelling the gradual adjustment of the cells to a new environment. The stochastic part assumes a random threshold size for the division of a single cell, which accounts for the variability of the individual generation times. Experimental results of the first division times of thousands of single cells using a microscopic flow system could be reproduced with this model, and it has the potential to be used to study the effects of different stress and environmental factors on the distribution of the lag and generation times of individual cells.     

Modelling the variability of lag times and the first generation times of single cells of E. coli

A mathematical model combining deterministic and stochastic elements describes the growth and division of single cells. Its deterministic part is based on the model of Baranyi and Roberts [International Journal of Food Microbiology 23 (1994) 277] modelling the gradual adjustment of the cells to a new environment. The stochastic part assumes a random threshold size for the division of a single cell, which accounts for the variability of the individual generation times. Experimental results of the first division times of thousands of single cells using a microscopic flow system could be reproduced with this model, and it has the potential to be used to study the effects of different stress and environmental factors on the distribution of the lag and generation times of individual cells.