Interacting Agents and Continuous Opinions Dynamics

We present a model of opinion dynamics in which agents adjust continuous opinions as a result of random binary encounters whenever their difference in opinion is below a given threshold. High thresholds yield convergence of opinions towards an average opinion, whereas low thresholds result in several opinion clusters. The model is further generalised to network interactions, threshold heterogeneity, adaptive thresholds and binary strings of opinions.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures. http://www.lps.ens.fr/~weisbuch/contopidyn/contopidyn.htm

The largest reservoir of mitochondrial introns is a relic of an ancestral split gene

In eukaryotes, introns are located in nuclear and organelle genes from several kingdoms (ref. 1-4). Large introns (0.1 to 5 kbp) are frequent in mitochondrial genomes of plant and fungi (ref. 1,5) but scarce in Metazoa, despite these organisms are grouped with fungi among Opisthokonts. Introns are classified in two main groups (I and II) according to their RNA secondary structure involved in the intron self-splicing mechanism (ref. 5,6). Most of the group I introns carry a "Homing Endonuclease Gene" (ref. 7-9) encoding a DNA endonuclease acting in the transfer and site specific integration "homing") and allowing the intron spreading and gain after lateral transfer even between species from different kingdoms (ref. 10,11). Opposite to this "late intron" paradigm, the "early intron" theory indicates that introns, which would have been abundant in the ancestral genes, would mainly evolve by loss (ref. 12,13).

Here we report the sequence of the cox1 gene of the button mushroom _Agaricus bisporus_, the most worldwide cultivated mushroom. This gene is both the longest mitochondrial gene (29,902 nt) and the largest Group I intron reservoir reported to date. An analysis of the group I introns available in _cox1_ genes shows that they are ancestral mobile genetic elements, whose frequent events of loss (according to the "late theory") and gain by lateral transfer ("early theory") must be combined to explain their wide and patchy distribution extending on several kingdoms. This allows the conciliation of the "early" and "late intron" paradigms, which are still matters of much debate (ref. 14,15). The overview of the intron distribution indicates that they evolve towards elimination. In such a landscape of eroded and lost intron sequences, the _A. bisporus_ largest intron reservoir, by its singular dynamics of intron keeping and catching, constitutes the most fitted relic of an early split gene

Intrusion and extrusion of water in hydrophobic mesopores

We present experimental and theoretical results on intrusion-extrusion cycles of water in hydrophobic mesoporous materials, characterized by independent cylindrical pores. The intrusion, which takes place above the bulk saturation pressure, can be well described using a macroscopic capillary model. Once the material is saturated with water, extrusion takes place upon reduction of the externally applied pressure; Our results for the extrusion pressure can only be understood by assuming that the limiting extrusion mechanism is the nucleation of a vapour bubble inside the pores. A comparison of calculated and experimental nucleation pressures shows that a proper inclusion of line tension effects is necessary to account for the observed values of nucleation barriers. Negative line tensions of order $10^{-11} \mathrm{J.m}^{-1}$ are found for our system, in reasonable agreement with other experimental estimates of this quantity

Human hepatic cell behavior on polysulfone membrane with double porosity level

In the membrane-based bioartificial livers developed up to now,the hepatic cells were located either in the fibers lumen or in the cartridge,with limited capacity for cell hosting.Here,we designed a polysulfone (PSU) membrane with a double porosity level:(i)surface macroporosity emerging in macrochambers accessible to hepatic cell colonization;(ii)microporosity to ensure gas and molecule transfers between macrochambers and supernatant,as well as potential immune barrier. ESEM and X-ray tomography confirmed that macrochambers accessed the membrane surface and were inter-connected. Biocompatibility and performances of this PSU membrane with double porosity level were compared to classical semi-permeable structures,following cell organization,cell proliferation and liver specific activities over a 9 days incubation. Macrochambers were colonized by hepatic cells, leading to higher albumin synthesis compared to control.Therefore,this membrane with double porosity appeared as a promising support to offer an inner 3D environment adequate to cell proliferation to form a liver-like tissue

Purification of androgen-binding protein from rat testis using high-performance liquid chromatography and physicochemical properties of the iodinated molecule

AbstractThe androgen-binding protein (ABP) has been purified 87 500-fold from rat testis using 4 steps of HPLC, with a yield of 14%. The molecule was 99% pure with a specific activity estimated to 16 600 pmol/mg protein. The iodinated molecule was eluted in 2 peaks in Sephacryl S300 gel filtration with a molecular mass estimated to be 92 600 ± 3300 and 50 300 ± 4000 Da. The column isoelectrofocusing of 125I-ABP demonstrated 3 isoproteins isoelectric at pH 4.7, 4.9 and 5.3 and the sedimentation coefficient was estimated to be 4.7 S in sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. The 125I-ABP had similar physicochemical properties to the non-labelled ABP of epididymis

An elementary algorithm for digital arc segmentation

International audienceThis paper concerns the digital circle recognition problem, especially in the form of the circular separation problem. General fundamentals, based on classical tools, as well as algorithmic details are given (the latter by providing pseudo-code for major steps of the algorithm). After recalling the geometrical meaning of the separating circle problem, we present an incremental algorithm to segment a discrete curve into digital arcs

Application of detection filter theory to longitudinal control of guideway vehicles.

Thesis. 1978. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS.Bibliography: leaf 86.M.S

Prédiction de la structure et des propriétés de pyrocarbones à partir d'une reconstruction à l'échelle atomique

National audienceNous présentons ici une approche originale permettant de construire des modèles à l'échelle atomique de matériaux nanotexturés à partir de leurs images de Microscopie Electronique en Transmission à Haute Résolution (HRTEM). Partant d'une image HRTEM filtrée à hautes et basses fréquences (a), un ensemble de descripteurs statistiques est collecté puis imposé à une synthèse d'image 3D aléatoire (b). Cette dernière est ensuite utilisée comme champ de potentiel attirant les atomes sur les franges lors d'une simulation de trempe d'un liquide de carbone par dynamique moléculaire (c). Une simulation d'image HRTEM à partir du matériau virtuel obtenu permet de valider la qualité de la reconstruction (d). Nous présentons en détail cette méthode ainsi que la structure et les propriétés mécaniques calculées pour des pyrocarbones laminaires rugueux, tels que préparés et traités thermiquement

Atomistic models of pyrolytic carbons obtained with the IGAR method

International audienceThis study aims at obtaining atomistic representations of these RL and ReL pyCs and at describing their nano-texture/structure. We will first describe some improvements in the IGAR method. Then, the nature of defects in these materials, in terms of non-hexagonal rings and screw dislocations, as well as their hydrogen atoms contents and locations, will be thoroughly compared and discussed. These models will also be validated against experimental HRTEM images and pair distribution functions (PDF) (and structure factors) obtained from neutron diffraction