Piezoceramic patches for energy harvesting and sensing purposes

This paper deals with a design, modelling, simulation, and test of vibrating mechanical cantilever with bonded piezoelectric patches for energy harvesting and sensing purposes. An experimental flexible structure was designed and piezoceramic patches were placed originally as energy harvesting devices. Furthermore, additional sensing functionality of piezoceramic patches is investigated in this paper. Such piezoceramic patches are integrated in the cantilever design and they could represent, for example, smart layers of an advanced aircraft structure. The design and position of the piezoceramic patches were analysed in the ANSYS environment. The finite element model was used to predict output voltage and power for varied vibration modes. This proposed design of the cantilever with piezoceramic patches was tested in laboratory conditions, and voltage response for varied mechanical excitation was measured and analysed for both energy harvesting and sensing purposes. Proposed paper will also present an example of practical usage of the tested design for impact detection. It could be mainly used in structural monitoring systems or health and usage systems in aircraft applications

Karyotype, centric fusion polymorphism and chromosomal aberrations in captive-born mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula).

Chromosomes of fourteen captive-born mountain reedbucks (Redunca fulvorufula) have been investigated. The diploid chromosome number was 2n = 56 (FN = 60). The mountain reedbuck karyotype consists of 26 acrocentric and two biarmed chromosome pairs resulting from two centric fusions involving chromosomes 2 and 25, and 6 and 10, respectively. In some animals, 57 chromosomes were detected. Variation in the diploid number was found to be due to polymorphism for the centric fusion 6;10. Both X and Y chromosomes are large and acrocentric. The entire Y chromosome and the proximal part of the X chromosome consist of heterochromatin. The chromosomes X, 9 and 14 appeared to be of caprine type. Chromosome aberrations have been detected in two of the 14 animals investigated. A de novo formed Robertsonian translocation rob(6;13) was found in one female heterozygous for the fusion 6;10. CBG-banding revealed one block of centromeric heterochromatin in the de novo formed translocation rob(6;13) and also in the evolutionarily fixed centric fusions 6;10 and 2;25. One examined male homozygous for fusion 6;10, had a mosaic 56,XY/57,XYY karyotype, with 11% of analyzed cells containing two Y chromosomes. The findings were confirmed by cross-species fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with bovine (Bos taurus L.) chromosome painting probes. The study demonstrates the relevance of cytogenetic screening in captive animals from zoological gardens

Molecular cytogenetic insights to the phylogenetic affinities of the giraffe (<I>Giraffa camelopardalis</I>) and pronghorn (<I>Antilocapra americana</I>)

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Hydrogen adsorption on the zeolite Ca-A: DFT and FT-IR investigation

[EN] Adsorption of H(2) on the zeolite Ca-A was investigated by a combination of variable temperature IR spectroscopy and calculations at the periodic DFT level. Calculations showed that adsorption complexes can be formed on two types of adsorption sites: Ca(2+) in the center of six-member rings and Ca(2+) in eight-member rings. Only the former adsorption complexes were experimentally observed in IR spectra; they are characterized by H-H stretching frequency of 4083 cm (1) and Delta H(0) = -12 kJ/mol in agreement with calculated results. The most likely explanation for not observing the adsorption complex on Ca(2+) in 8-member rings is that the geometry of the complex does not render the H-H stretching mode IR active. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B. V.Work in Prague was supported by research projects 203/09/0143 (GA C. R), MSM0021620857 and LC512 (MSMT C. R). AP acknowledges the support from Spanish MICINN (post-doctoral fellowship). The Spanish MICINN and FEDER funds are gratefully acknowledged for financial support to the work done at the UIB (Projects MAT2008-00089 and PCI2006-A7-0618). The access to the META Centrum computing facilities provided under the research intent MSM6383917201 is acknowledged.Otero Arean, C.; Turnes Palomino, G.; Llop Carayol, MR.; Pulido Junquera, MA.; Rubes, M.; Bludsky, O.; Nachtigall, P. (2009). Hydrogen adsorption on the zeolite Ca-A: DFT and FT-IR investigation. Chemical Physics Letters. 447(1-3):139-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2009.06.058S1391434471-

Reciprocal translocation t(4;7)(q14;q28) in cattle : molecular characterization

Cytogenetic analysis of a phenotypically normal young bull from the Marchigiana breed revealed the presence of an abnormal chromosome. The finding of one oversize chromosome in all metaphases, associated with a 2n=60, XY karyotype, suggested a reciprocal translocation occurred. RBG-banding and FISH analyses, using specific bovine BAC probes, identified a de novo reciprocal translocation t(4;7)(q14;q28). The presence of rcp(4;7) was confirmed by FISH experiments using BTA4 and BTA7 whole chromosome probes. An array-CGH analysis (Agilent 244A) using a bovine custom design was performed to investigate if the translocation was associated with loss or gain of genetic material. The absence of a concomitant deletion or duplication at the breakpoints allowed the balanced state of the translocation to establish. The analysis also revealed the presence of several CNVs throughout the genome. To our knowledge this is the first time the balanced condition of a cattle RCP has been ascertained using the array-CGH approach