429 research outputs found
EcoBot-II: An artificial agent with a natural metabolism
In this paper we report the development of the robot EcoBot-II, which exhibits a primitive form of artificial symbiosis. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) were used as the onboard energy supply, which consisted of bacterial cultures from sewage sludge and employed oxygen from free air for oxidation at the cathode. EcoBot-II was able to perform sensing, information processing, communication and actuation when fed (amongst other substrates) with flies. This is the first robot in the world, to utilise unrefined substrate, oxygen from free air and exhibit four different types of behaviour
Foot Muscle Energy Reserves in Diabetic Patients Without and With Clinical Peripheral Neuropathy
Objective: To investigate changes in the foot muscle energy reserves in diabetic non-neuropathic and neuropathic patients. Research Design and Methods: We measured the phosphocreatinine (PCr)/inorganic phosphate (Pi) ratio, total P concentration, and the lipid/water ratio in the muscles in the metatarsal head region using MRI spectroscopy in healthy control subjects and non-neuropathic and neuropathic diabetic patients. Results: The PCr/Pi ratio was higher in the control subjects (3.23 0.43) followed by the non-neuropathic group (2.61 0.36), whereas it was lowest in the neuropathic group (0.60 1.02) (P < 0.0001). There were no differences in total P concentration and lipid/water ratio between the control and non-neuropathic groups, but both measurements were different in the neuropathic group (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Resting foot muscle energy reserves are affected before the development of peripheral diabetic neuropathy and are associated with the endothelial dysfunction and inflammation
Increased power generation in supercapacitive microbial fuel cell stack using Fe-N-C cathode catalyst
The anode and cathode electrodes of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) stack, composed of 28 single MFCs, were used as
the negative and positive electrodes, respectively of an internal self-charged supercapacitor. Particularly, carbon
veil was used as the negative electrode and activated carbon with a Fe-based catalyst as the positive electrode.
The red-ox reactions on the anode and cathode, self-charged these electrodes creating an internal electrochemical
double layer capacitor. Galvanostatic discharges were performed at different current and time pulses.
Supercapacitive-MFC (SC-MFC) was also tested at four different solution conductivities. SC-MFC had an
equivalent series resistance (ESR) decreasing from 6.00 Ω to 3.42 Ω in four solutions with conductivity between
2.5 mScm−1 and 40 mScm−1. The ohmic resistance of the positive electrode corresponded to 75–80% of the
overall ESR. The highest performance was achieved with a solution conductivity of 40 mS cm−1 and this was due
to the positive electrode potential enhancement for the utilization of Fe-based catalysts. Maximum power was
36.9mW (36.9Wm−3) that decreased with increasing pulse time. SC-MFC was subjected to 4520 cycles (8 days)
with a pulse time of 5 s (ipulse 55 mA) and a self-recharging time of 150 s showing robust reproducibility
Daily reduction of oral malodor with the use of a sonic tongue brush combined with an antibacterial tongue spray in a randomized cross-over clinical investigation
Abstract The objective of this clinical investigation was to test the effectiveness on breath odor of a newly designed sonic tongue brush (TongueCare+, TC). It consists of a soft silicone brush optimally designed based on the tongue's anatomy to remove bacterial biofilm from the tongue's complex surface, and it is coupled with a sonic power toothbrush handle. TC was used in combination with an antibacterial tongue spray (BreathRx, BRx) containing 0.09% cetylpyridinium chloride and 0.7% zinc gluconate. A total of 21 participants with oral malodor exceeding the threshold for recognition took part in this cross-over clinical investigation, which consisted of a single use of four treatment arms with one week washout period in between. The treatments consisted of: (1) TC + BRx, (2) TC + water, (3) BRx and (4) water. Malodor levels and bacterial density were monitored up to 6 h by organoleptic scoring and selective plating, respectively. The organoleptic score and bacterial density were significantly lower after using TC + BRx compared to all alternative treatments at all time points. A significant decrease in both parameters was detected after a single use of TC + BRx, from levels characteristic of high oral malodor, to barely noticeable levels after treatment and this was maintained up to 6 h. Moreover, we identified a significant positive correlation between bacterial density and organoleptic score, confirming that bacterial tongue biofilm is the root cause of oral malodor in these subjects. The results of this clinical investigation demonstrated that the combined treatment of a sonic tongue brush with the antibacterial tongue spray is able to deliver more than 6 h of fresh breath following a single use. The clinical investigation was registered at the ISRCTN registry under study identification number ISRCTN38199132
Concentration and activity of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of matalloproteinases in the wall of abdominal aortic aneurysm at different wall stress
Spectral statistics for quantized skew translations on the torus
We study the spectral statistics for quantized skew translations on the
torus, which are ergodic but not mixing for irrational parameters. It is shown
explicitly that in this case the level--spacing distribution and other common
spectral statistics, like the number variance, do not exist in the
semiclassical limit.Comment: 7 pages. One figure, include
Quantization of multidimensional cat maps
In this work we study cat maps with many degrees of freedom. Classical cat
maps are classified using the Cayley parametrization of symplectic matrices and
the closely associated center and chord generating functions. Particular
attention is dedicated to loxodromic behavior, which is a new feature of
two-dimensional maps. The maps are then quantized using a recently developed
Weyl representation on the torus and the general condition on the Floquet
angles is derived for a particular map to be quantizable. The semiclassical
approximation is exact, regardless of the dimensionality or of the nature of
the fixed points.Comment: 33 pages, latex, 6 figures, Submitted to Nonlinearit
Analysis of the potential of cancer cell lines to release tissue factor-containing microvesicles: correlation with tissue factor and PAR2 expression
BackgroundDespite the association of cancer-derived circulating tissue factor (TF)-containing microvesicles and hypercoagulable state, correlations with the incidence of thrombosis remain unclear.MethodsIn this study the upregulation of TF release upon activation of various cancer cell lines, and the correlation with TF and PAR2 expression and/or activity was examined. Microvesicle release was induced by PAR2 activation in seventeen cell lines and released microvesicle density, microvesicle-associated TF activity, and phoshpatidylserine-mediated activity were measured. The time-course for TF release was monitored over 90 min in each cell line. In addition, TF mRNA expression, cellular TF protein and cell-surface TF activities were quantified. Moreover, the relative expression of PAR2 mRNA and cellular protein were analysed. Any correlations between the above parameters were examined by determining the Pearson’s correlation coefficients.ResultsTF release as microvesicles peaked between 30–60 min post-activation in the majority of cell lines tested. The magnitude of the maximal TF release positively correlated with TF mRNA (c = 0.717; p
Ab-Initio Calculation of Molecular Aggregation Effects: a Coumarin-343 Case Study
We present time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations for
single and dimerized Coumarin-343 molecules in order to investigate the quantum
mechanical effects of chromophore aggregation in extended systems designed to
function as a new generation of sensors and light-harvesting devices. Using the
single-chromophore results, we describe the construction of effective
Hamiltonians to predict the excitonic properties of aggregate systems. We
compare the electronic coupling properties predicted by such effective
Hamiltonians to those obtained from TDDFT calculations of dimers, and to the
coupling predicted by the transition density cube (TDC) method. We determine
the accuracy of the dipole-dipole approximation and TDC with respect to the
separation distance and orientation of the dimers. In particular, we
investigate the effects of including Coulomb coupling terms ignored in the
typical tight-binding effective Hamiltonian. We also examine effects of orbital
relaxation which cannot be captured by either of these models
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