Close Range Photogrammetric analysis of Earthen Buildings under Seismic Loading

Building Materials/Materials Testing (301.3)The digital Cuny Archive was made available in part through funding assistance from USAID.This paper describes an' INTERTECT project to demonstrate the feasibility of a new analytical technique for evaluating the performance of earthen buildings and other non-instrumentable structures subjected to earthquake-induced loads. Close range photogrammetrie equipment will be linked to, and triggered by, seismographic instrumentation to observe and record the performance of buildings during actual loading. If successful, the technique will provide a tool for observing adobe and other earthen buildings during seismic events. Successful development of this technique will give researchers and scientists a new tool for earthquake engineering research and will open numerous types of buildings and other structures such as earthen dams to observation, which have not previously been subject to complete analytical examination under actual or simulated loading conditions

Berry-Esseen type bounds for the Left Random Walk on GL d (R) under polynomial moment conditions

Let $A_n= \varepsilon_n \cdots \varepsilon_1$, where $(\varepsilon_n)_{n \geq 1}$ is a sequence of independent random matrices taking values in $GL_d(\mathbb R)$, $d \geq 2$, with common distribution $\mu$. In this paper, under standard assumptions on $\mu$ (strong irreducibility and proximality), we prove Berry-Esseen type theorems for $\log ( \Vert A_n \Vert)$ when $\mu$ has a polynomial moment. More precisely, we get the rate $((\log n) / n)^{q/2-1}$ when $\mu$ has a moment of order $q \in ]2,3]$ and the rate $1/ \sqrt{n}$ when $\mu$ has a moment of order $4$, which significantly improves earlier results in this setting

Rates in almost sure invariance principle for nonuniformly hyperbolic maps

We prove the Almost Sure Invariance Principle (ASIP) with close to optimal error rates for nonuniformly hyperbolic maps. We do not assume exponential contraction along stable leaves, therefore our result covers in particular slowly mixing invertible dynamical systems as Bunimovich flowers, billiards with flat points as in Chernov and Zhang (2005) and Wojtkowski' (1990) system of two falling balls. For these examples, the ASIP is a new result, not covered by prior works for various reasons, notably because in absence of exponential contraction along stable leaves, it is challenging to employ the so-called Sinai's trick (Sinai 1972, Bowen 1975) of reducing a nonuniformly hyperbolic system to a nonuniformly expanding one. Our strategy follows our previous papers on the ASIP for nonuniformly expanding maps, where we build a semiconjugacy to a specific renewal Markov shift and adapt the argument of Berkes, Liu and Wu (2014). The main difference is that now the Markov shift is two-sided, the observables depend on the full trajectory, both the future and the past

Ab Initio Quality NMR Parameters in Solid-State Materials Using a High-Dimensional Neural-Network Representation.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful experimental tools to probe the local atomic order of a wide range of solid-state compounds. However, due to the complexity of the related spectra, in particular for amorphous materials, their interpretation in terms of structural information is often challenging. These difficulties can be overcome by combining molecular dynamics simulations to generate realistic structural models with an ab initio evaluation of the corresponding chemical shift and quadrupolar coupling tensors. However, due to computational constraints, this approach is limited to relatively small system sizes which, for amorphous materials, prevents an adequate statistical sampling of the distribution of the local environments that is required to quantitatively describe the system. In this work, we present an approach to efficiently and accurately predict the NMR parameters of very large systems. This is achieved by using a high-dimensional neural-network representation of NMR parameters that are calculated using an ab initio formalism. To illustrate the potential of this approach, we applied this neural-network NMR (NN-NMR) method on the (17)O and (29)Si quadrupolar coupling and chemical shift parameters of various crystalline silica polymorphs and silica glasses. This approach is, in principal, general and has the potential to be applied to predict the NMR properties of various materials.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ACS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.5b0100

Differential Cav2.1 and Cav2.3 channel inhibition by baclofen and α-conotoxin Vc1.1 via GABAB receptor activation

Neuronal Ca(v)2.1 (P/Q-type), Ca(v)2.2 (N-type), and Ca(v)2.3 (R-type) calcium channels contribute to synaptic transmission and are modulated through G protein-coupled receptor pathways. The analgesic. alpha-conotoxin Vc1.1 acts through. gamma-aminobutyric acid type B (GABA(B)) receptors (GABA(B)Rs) to inhibit Cav2.2 channels. We investigated GABA(B)R-mediated modulation by Vc1.1, a cyclized form of Vc1.1 (c-Vc1.1), and the GABA(B)R agonist baclofen of human Cav2.1 or Cav2.3 channels heterologously expressed in human embryonic kidney cells. 50 mu M baclofen inhibited Cav2.1 and Cav2.3 channel Ba2+ currents by. similar to 40%, whereas c-Vc1.1 did not affect Cav2.1 but potently inhibited Cav2.3, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of. 300 pM. Depolarizing paired pulses revealed that. similar to 75% of the baclofen inhibition of Cav2.1 was voltage dependent and could be relieved by strong depolarization. In contrast, baclofen or Vc1.1 inhibition of Cav2.3 channels was solely mediated through voltage-independent pathways that could be disrupted by pertussis toxin, guanosine 5' -[beta-thio] diphosphate trilithium salt, or the GABABR antagonist CGP55845. Overexpression of the kinase c-Src significantly increased inhibition of Cav2.3 by c-Vc1.1. Conversely, coexpression of a catalytically inactive double mutant form of c-Src or pretreatment with a phosphorylated pp60c-Src peptide abolished the effect of c-Vc1.1. Site-directed mutational analyses of Cav2.3 demonstrated that tyrosines 1761 and 1765 within exon 37 are critical for inhibition of Cav2.3 by c-Vc1.1 and are involved in baclofen inhibition of these channels. Remarkably, point mutations introducing specific c-Src phosphorylation sites into human Cav2.1 channels conferred c-Vc1.1 sensitivity. Our findings show that Vc1.1 inhibition of Cav2.3, which defines Cav2.3 channels as potential targets for analgesic. alpha-conotoxins, is caused by specific c-Src phosphorylation sites in the C terminus

Key structural determinants in the agonist binding loops of human β2 and β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits contribute to α3β4 subtype selectivity of α-conotoxins

α-Conotoxins represent a large group of pharmacologically active peptides that antagonize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). The α3β4 nAChR, a predominant subtype in the peripheral nervous system, has been implicated in various pathophysiological conditions. As many α-conotoxins have multiple pharmacological targets, compounds specifically targeting individual nAChR subtypes are needed. In this study, we performed mutational analyses to evaluate the key structural components of human β2 and β4 nAChR subunits that determine α-conotoxin selectivity for α3β4 nAChR. α-Conotoxin RegIIA was used to evaluate the impact of non-conserved human β2 and β4 residues on peptide affinity. Two mutations, α3β2[T59K] and α3β2[S113R], strongly enhanced RegIIA affinity compared with wild-type α3β2, as seen by substantially increased inhibitory potency and slower off-rate kinetics. Opposite point mutations in α3β4 had the contrary effect, emphasizing the importance of loop D residue 59 and loop E residue 113 as determinants for RegIIA affinity. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed the side chains of β4 Lys59 and β4 Arg113 formed hydrogen bonds with RegIIA loop 2 atoms, whereas the β2 Thr59 and β2 Ser113 side chains were not long enough to form such interactions. Residue β4 Arg113 has been identified for the first time as a crucial component facilitating antagonist binding. Another α-conotoxin, AuIB, exhibited low activity at human α3β2 and α3β4 nAChRs. Molecular dynamics simulation indicated the key interactions with the β subunit are different to RegIIA. Taken together, these data elucidate the interactions with specific individual β subunit residues that critically determine affinity and pharmacological activity of α-conotoxins RegIIA and AuIB at human nAChRs

Epidemiological study of canine trypanosomosis in an urban area of Ivory Coast

Following confirmed cases of trypanosomosis in military working dogs, c cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the source of infection and determine the prevalence of canine infection with Trypanosoma congolense in the urban focus of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Blood from 123 dogs were collected and subjected to PCR using specific primers for Trypanosoma congolense "forest type". In addition, an entomological study was conducted in an urban area near the forest surronding the military camp. The observed prevalence was 30.1% end PCR positivity to Trypanosoma congolense was not significantly associated with sex or age of animals. This study demonstrates the high contamination rate of dogs in enzootic zones, the potential risk of introduction of the disease in free animal populations and the ability of Glossina palpalis to adopt to urban areas and to transmit trypanosomosis in such areas. The factors leading to a possible emergence of canine trypanosomiasis in enzootic zones need further investigations