Spherical Morita contexts and relative Serre functors

The Morita context provided by an exact module category over a finite tensor category gives a two-object bicategory with duals. Right and left duals of objects in the module category are given by internal Homs and coHoms, respectively. We express the double duals in terms of relative Serre functors, which leads to a Radford isomorphism for module categories. There is a bicategorical version of the Radford $S^4$ theorem: on the bicategory of a Morita context, the relative Serre functors assemble into a pseudo-functor, and the Radford isomorphisms furnish a trivialization of the square of this pseudo-functor, i.e. of the fourth power of the duals. We also show that the Morita bicategories coming from pivotal exact module categories are pivotal as bicategories, leading to the notion of pivotal Morita equivalence. This equivalence of tensor categories amounts to the equivalence of their bicategories of pivotal module categories. Furthermore, we introduce the notion of a spherical module category; it ensures that all categories in the Morita context of a spherical module category are spherical. Our results are motivated by and have applications to topological field theory.Comment: 48 pages. Version 2: Added an interpretation of relative Serre functors as a pseudo-functor (Def. 4.13) and a bicategorical analog to the Radford $S^4$ theorem for a Morita context (Sect. 4.4

Spatially Resolved Measurements of HNCO Hydrolysis over SCR Catalysts

In order to understand deposit formation during urea selective catalytic reduction (SCR) resulting from isocyanic acid (HNCO) formation, the present study investigates the potential of HNCO hydrolysis by spatially resolved gas phase concentration profiles along a single catalyst channel of commercial Cu-zeolite and V-based SCR catalysts. The spatially resolved profiles, obtained in a special hot gas test rig via capillary technique, provide information on reaction rates of HNCO hydrolysis, NH$_3$ adsorption and NO conversion, hereby revealing a better performance of the standard V-based catalyst regarding the HNCO hydrolysis, which is attributed to the TiO$_2$ support

Facial Skin Coloration Affects Perceived Health of Human Faces

Numerous researchers have examined the effects of skin condition, including texture and color, on the perception of health, age, and attractiveness in human faces. They have focused on facial color distribution, homogeneity of pigmentation, or skin quality. We here investigate the role of overall skin color in determining perceptions of health from faces by allowing participants to manipulate the skin portions of color-calibrated Caucasian face photographs along CIELab color axes. To enhance healthy appearance, participants increased skin redness (a*), providing additional support for previous findings that skin blood color enhances the healthy appearance of faces. Participants also increased skin yellowness (b*) and lightness (L*), suggesting a role for high carotenoid and low melanin coloration in the healthy appearance of faces. The color preferences described here resemble the red and yellow color cues to health displayed by many species of nonhuman animals

The Pneumococcal Iron Uptake Protein a (PiuA) Specifically Recognizes Tetradentate FeIIIbis- and Mono-Catechol Complexes

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) is an important Gram-positive human pathogen that causes millions of infections worldwide with an increasing occurrence of antibiotic resistance. Fe acquisition is a crucial virulence determinant in Spn; further, Spn relies on exogenous FeIII-siderophore scavenging to meet nutritional Fe needs. Recent studies suggest that the human catecholamine stress hormone, norepinephrine (NE), facilitates Fe acquisition in Spn under conditions of transferrin-mediated Fe starvation. Here we show that the solute binding lipoprotein PiuA from the piu Fe acquisition ABC transporter PiuBCDA, previously described as an Fe-hemin binding protein, binds tetradentate catechol FeIII complexes, including NE and the hydrolysis products of enterobactin. Two protein-derived ligands (H238, Y300) create a coordinately-saturated FeIII complex, which parallel recent studies in the Gram-negative intestinal pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Our in vitro studies using NMR spectroscopy and 54Fe LC-ICP-MS confirm the FeIII can move from transferrin to apo-PiuA in a NE-dependent manner. Structural analysis of PiuA FeIII-bis-catechol and GaIII-bis-catechol and GaIII-(NE)2 complexes by NMR spectroscopy reveals only localized structural perturbations in PiuA upon ligand binding, largely consistent with recent descriptions of other solute binding proteins of type II ABC transporters. We speculate that tetradentate FeIII complexes formed by mono- and bis-catechol species are important Fe sources in Gram-positive human pathogens, since PiuA functions in the same way as SstD from Staphylococcus aureus

The effect of wetting characteristics, thermophysical properties, and roughness on spray-wall heat transfer in selective catalytic reduction systems

The effects of wettability, thermophysical properties, and roughness on spray-wall heat transfer in automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems are investigated experimentally. Using static contact angle measurements the wetting characteristics of ferritic and austenitic steel, iron, tungsten, silver, nickel, aluminum oxide, and technical ceramics (Shapal-M, Sialon) are analyzed. Details of the transient spray-wall interaction on the heated material samples (initial wall temperatures 120 degrees C-400 degrees C) are captured with a high-speed camera. The heat transfer from the wall to the impinging spray is calculated from transient temperature fields by using infrared thermography measurements of the plate's rear side. Our results reveal that the thermal preconditioning of the plate has a significant influence on its wettability, which induces a hysteresis in the spray-wall heat transfer boiling curve. Higher contact angles and higher thermal effusivity have considerable influence on the Leidenfrost temperature. On the contrary, changes in roughness R-z show only a minor effect. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

CRIP1 expression in monocytes related to hypertension

Hypertension is a complex and multifactorial disorder caused by lifestyle and environmental factors, inflammation and disease-related genetic factors and is a risk factor for stroke, ischemic heart disease and renal failure. Although circulating monocytes and tissue macrophages contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Cysteine rich protein 1 (CRIP1) is highly expressed in immune cells, and CRIP1 mRNA expression in monocytes associates with blood pressure (BP) and is upregulated by proinflammatory modulation suggesting a link between CRIP1 and BP regulation through the immune system. To address this functional link, we studied CRIP1 expression in immune cells in relation to BP using a human cohort study and hypertensive mouse models. CRIP1 expression in splenic monocytes/macrophages and in circulating monocytes was significantly affected by angiotensin II (Ang II) in a BP-elevating dose (2 mg/kg/day). In the human cohort study, monocytic CRIP1 expression levels were associated with elevated BP, whereas upon differentiation of monocytes to macrophages this association along with the CRIP1 expression level was diminished. In conclusion, CRIP1-positive circulating and splenic monocytes seem to play an important role in hypertension related inflammatory processes through endogenous hormones such as Ang II. These findings suggest that CRIP1 may affect the interaction between the immune system, in particular monocytes, and the pathogenesis of hypertension

Paleocene Thalassinidea colonization in deep-sea environment and the coprolite Palaxius osaensis n. ichnosp. in Southern Costa Rica

Palaxius osaensis n. ichnosp., a new ichnospecies of crustacean coprolite is described. The coprolite is preserved in a 200-m thick Paleocene sequence in Southern Costa Rica that is largely dominated by pillow basalts. The studied sample is part of a seamount formed in the Pacific Ocean that was accreted to the Central American isthmus during the Eocene. The absence of lava vesicles, shallow-water deposits, and detrital sediments in the section suggest that the coprolites were deposited in a deep environment during the first stage of the development of the seamount. This represents one of the deepest occurrences of Thalassinidea coprolites reported in the literature and indicates that the producers of the coprolites, presumably some shrimps, developed the aptitude to colonize abyssal environments at least since Early Tertiary. The crustacean coprolites were encountered at a site which apparently lacked a food supply, although hydrothermal processes are believed to have provided the opportunity for a chemotrophic community to develop on the deepest part of the seamount. P. osaensis n. ichnosp. is also found in Colombia in late Cretaceous shallow-water sediments that notably contain Palaxius caucaensis coprolites (Micropaleontology 41 (1995) 85–88). Occurrences of P. osaensis n. ichnosp. deposited at both shallow and deep levels may possibly be related to an aptitude of some thalassinid organisms to have developed in various biotopes during the late Cretaceous-Paleocene