Supramolecular Architectures of Nucleic Acid/Peptide Hybrids

Supramolecular architectures that are built artificially from biomolecules, such as nucleic acids or peptides, with structural hierarchical orders ranging from the molecular to nano-scales have attracted increased attention in molecular science research fields. The engineering of nanostructures with such biomolecule-based supramolecular architectures could offer an opportunity for the development of biocompatible supramolecular (nano)materials. In this review, we highlighted a variety of supramolecular architectures that were assembled from both nucleic acids and peptides through the non-covalent interactions between them or the covalently conjugated molecular hybrids between them.     

Early age deformations of concrete with high content of mineral additions

Under the project “EcoBéton” (Green concrete) funded by the French National Agency (ANR), concrete mixtures with a high quantity of mineral additions, such as blast-furnace slag and fly ash were studied. A first approach to quantify their cracking risk was to measure their plastic shrinkage evolution. In parallel, the evolution of other parameters such as setting, capillary depression and porosity were also monitored to relate this deformation to the evolution of the microstructure of the studied mixtures. Setting monitoring by means of ultrasonic measurements allows obtaining significant macroscopic information such as hardening process and rigidity evolution. The correlation between these different parameters shows that the plastic shrinkage evolution can be divided into three phases driven by different mechanisms. Moreover, it appears that the use of mineral additions has an effect on the plastic shrinkage behaviour, but this impact is not proportional to the percentage of additions. It depends on the hydration process and the microstructure of the cementitious materials. So, it seems that an optimum content of cement replacement by mineral additions must be sought to limit the development of plastic shrinkage of concretes with mineral additions at early age. However, a high rate of substitution of cement may affect the early age compressive strength of the concrete. So these mixtures were also optimised to obtain a significant compressive strength at an early age, but this optimisation leads to a higher risk of cracking for some of them.     

Pikeperch,Sander lucioperca Invasion in the Neretva River Watershed (Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia) After Alteration of River Flow

The invasion history and the recent distribution, abundance and prey composition of pikeperch, Sander lucioperca in Neretva River watershed (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) are presented. The species was illegally/unintentionally introduced in Ramski Reservoir in the upper river part in 1986, while establishment of its abundant populations was reported during the 1990s in two connected artificial reservoirs. The research on the present abundance and food composition was executed during the 2012–2014 period. The results showed that pikeperch occupied most of the water bodies of the Neretva River, with an exception of natural river parts with gravel sediment and fast flow: all five artificial reservoirs (Ramski, Jablani?ki, Grabovica, Salakovac and Mostarski reservoirs) and lower wetland zone. However, the success and impact of colonization differ among water bodies, indicating pikeperch preference for warm and shallow reservoirs. Pikeperch prey is composed of different fish species abundant in specific water bodies. In artificial reservoirs, it preys mostly on introduced fish species, with a potential for controlling pumpkinseed abundance and biomass. Sampling carried out in Ramski Reservoir between 2013 and 1014 showed exclusive feeding on the introduced Leucaspius delineatus, and the establishment of a new food web, where only introduced species play significant roles. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

4种动物骨骼的化学成分与生物活性研究进展

动物骨骼在我国传统医药中具有悠久的应用历史和良好的疗效，具备较高的食用价值。骨骼化学成分主要以胶原蛋白、油脂、矿物质及硫酸软骨素等为主，具有抗氧化、抗菌、降血压、免疫调节、促进成骨细胞增殖及治疗类风湿、关节炎、骨质疏松等骨科疾病作用。因此，本文整理了古籍关于羊、牛、马及骆驼4种动物骨骼的来源、性味、作用等领域的记载，并对其近年来报道的化学成分、生物活性及产品概况等方面的研究进展进行综述，以期为副产物-骨骼资源的功能物质进行基础研究、综合利用及开发高附加值骨骼产品提供参考依据。     

Influence of electrolyte co-additives on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

The presence of specific chemical additives in the redox electrolyte results in an efficient increase of the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The most effective additives are 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP), N-methylbenzimidazole (NMBI) and guanidinium thiocyanate (GuNCS) that are adsorbed onto the photoelectrode/electrolyte interface, thus shifting the semiconductor's conduction band edge and preventing recombination with triiodides. In a comparative work, we investigated in detail the action of TBP and NMBI additives in ionic liquid-based redox electrolytes with varying iodine concentrations, in order to extract the optimum additive/I₂ ratio for each system. Different optimum additive/I₂ ratios were determined for TBP and NMBI, despite the fact that both generally work in a similar way. Further addition of GuNCS in the optimized electrolytic media causes significant synergistic effects, the action of GuNCS being strongly influenced by the nature of the corresponding co-additive. Under the best operation conditions, power conversion efficiencies as high as 8% were obtained.     

Algorithm portfolios for noisy optimization

Noisy optimization is the optimization of objective functions corrupted by noise. A portfolio of solvers is a set of solvers equipped with an algorithm selection tool for distributing the computational power among them. Portfolios are widely and successfully used in combinatorial optimization. In this work, we study portfolios of noisy optimization solvers. We obtain mathematically proved performance (in the sense that the portfolio performs nearly as well as the best of its solvers) by an ad hoc portfolio algorithm dedicated to noisy optimization. A somehow surprising result is that it is better to compare solvers with some lag, i.e., propose the current recommendation of best solver based on their performance earlier in the run. An additional finding is a principled method for distributing the computational power among solvers in the portfolio.     

Role of the Organic Feed and the Support Acidity in Hydrotreating Reactions on Pd–Pt on MCM-41 Catalysts

The reactivity of different organic compounds (naphthalene, alkylnaphthalenes, decalins, tetralin and their mixtures) and the roles of the support acidity and of the noble metals were studied in Pd/Pt on MCM-41 (with different Si/Al ratios) catalysts. The catalytic tests showed that the hydrogenolysis/ring-opening reactions mainly occurred on saturated compounds, while cracking took places mainly on unsaturated compounds. The presence of alkyl side chains on the polyaromatic ring inhibited the hydrodearomatization activity, proportionally to their length and number. Mixtures of naphthalene and methylnaphthalenes gave rise to a competition between the substrates, with a decrease in both hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis/ring-opening activities. Increasing support acidity favoured hydrogenolysis/ring-opening and cracking reactions, smoothing the hydrogenation activity. Noble metals are shown to be necessary not only in hydrogenation, but also in hydrogenolysis/ring-opening reactions.     

维吾尔语多音词消歧混合方法

维吾尔语中存在的形同音不同单词(多音词)的正确发音是影响合成系统可懂读的重要原因之一。维吾尔语单词由词根和词缀构成,虽然多音词词根数量不多,但多音词词根连接各种词缀则构成了大量的多音词。将维吾尔语中经常用错的16个多音词词根作为研究对象,以多音词的不同特点为出发点,采取不同的规则,结合最大熵模型方法来处理不符规则的多音词,同时用似然比方法选取关键词,并用贪婪算法选择最佳特征模板。经过性能测试,该算法多音词消歧平均准确率达到87.7%。     

Survey on liver CT image segmentation methods

The segmentation of liver using computed tomography (CT) data has gained a lot of importance in the medical image processing field. In this paper, we present a survey on liver segmentation methods and techniques using CT images, recent methods presented in the literature to obtain liver segmentation are viewed. Generally, liver segmentation methods are divided into two main classes, semi-automatic and fully automatic methods, under each of these two categories, several methods, approaches, related issues and problems will be defined and explained. The evaluation measurements and scoring for the liver segmentation are shown, followed by the comparative study for liver segmentation methods, pros and cons of methods will be accentuated carefully. In this paper, we concluded that automatic liver segmentation using CT images is still an open problem since various weaknesses and drawbacks of the proposed methods can still be addressed.