Evolution of the Sweetness Receptor in Primates. I. Why Does Alitame Taste Sweet in all Prosimians and Simians, and Aspartame only in Old World Simians?

In the order Primates the responses to sucrose, alitame and aspartame were ascertained. All primates tested to date like sucrose and prefer this sweet substance to tap water. The artificial dipeptide aspartame was found to be not sweet in Prosimii and Platyrrhini (New World monkeys). Only the Cercopithecoidea (Old World monkeys) and Hominoidea (apes and humans) show the same response to aspartame and to sucrose. In contrast, all primates tested so far prefer alitame, another artificial dipeptide sweetener, which is structurally closely related to aspartame. This phylogenetic difference is consistent with the existence in catarrhine primates of a sweetness receptor containing two differently located hydrophobic recognition sites, one for the hydrophobic binding site of alitame, the other for the hydrophobic binding site of aspartame. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the alitame-related hydrophobic recognition site, which is found in the sweetness receptor of all primates, could be a requisite for the interaction of the receptor with sucrose, while the aspartame-related hydrophobic recognition site, which is found exclusively in the sweetness receptor of Old World simians, could have been a crucial factor in the improvement in detection or selection of sucrose in foods, so favouring the mental development of these simians and maybe the emergence of humans. Chem. Senses 20: 573-584, 199

Ideal relativistic fluid limit for a medium with polarization

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQWe use Lagrangian effective field theory techniques to construct the equations of motion for an ideal relativistic fluid of which the constituent degrees of freedom have microscopic polarization. We discuss the meaning of such a system and argue that it is the first term in the Effective Field Theory ( EFT) appropriate for describing polarization observables in heavy ion collisions, such as final-state particle polarization and chiral magnetic and vortaic effects. We show that this system will generally require nondissipative dynamics at higher order in the gradient than second order, leading to potential stability issues known with such systems. We comment on the significance of this in the light of conjectured lower limits on viscosity.96519FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ2014/13120-7147435/2014-5301996/2014-8G.T. acknowledges support from FAPESP processo Grant No. 2014/13120-7 and CNPQ Bolsa de produtividade 301996/2014-8. L.T. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Award No. DE-SC0004286 and Polish National Science Center Grant No. DEC-2012/06/A/ST2/00390. D.M. would like to acknowledge CNPQ graduate Fellowship No. 147435/2014-5. Parts of this work were done when L.T. visited Campinas on FAEPEX Fellowship No. 2020/16 as well as when G.T. participated in the INT workshop "Exploring the QCD Phase Diagram through Energy Scans." We thank FAEPEX and the INT organizers for the support provided. We wish to thank Miklos Gyulassy for enlightening discussions that posed the conceptual challenges that eventually led to this work and Mike Lisa for showing us experimental literature and useful discussions

Trade complementarity and intra-industry trade between MERCOSUR and its main European Partners during 1991-2012: What does the evidence suggest?

This paper studies the Trade Complementarity (TC) and the Intra-industry Trade (ITT) between MERCOSUR and its main European partners during 1992-2012 using sectoral Krugman and the Grubel-Lloyd Indexes. The decline in TC between Argentina and Brazil together with a convergence to similar levels with their key partners (Germany and Spain) indicates that the South American economies have tended to resemble in some aspects during the last 20 years rather than complementing themselves. Additionally, the increase in ITT between Argentina and Brazil in major manufacturing sectors seems to be consistent with the hypothesis of productive diversification, although the reduction in IIT with their European partners suggests that such diversification does not occur under a technologytransfer process.http://www.asepelt.org/ficheros/File/Anales/2015/anales-2015.pdfFil: Jacobo, Alejandro D. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Tinti, Bernardo J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Economía, Econometrí

Data-Driven Disturbance Estimation and Control with Application to Blood Glucose Regulation

A data-driven control approach for nonlinear systems is proposed, called data-driven estimation and control (D2EC), which combines a disturbance estimator and a nonlinear control algorithm. The estimator provides a signal representing the unknown disturbances affecting the plant to control. This signal is used by the control algorithm to improve its performance. A real-data study is presented, concerned with the regulation of blood glucose concentration in type 1 diabetic patients. Preliminary tests of the D2EC approach are also carried out using a diabetic patient simulator, obtained from a revised version of the well-known University of Virginia/Padova model. Both the real-data and the simulator-based studies indicate that the proposed approach has the potential to become an effective tool in the context of diabetes treatment and, more in general, in the biomedical field, where accurate first-principle models can seldom be found and relevant disturbances are present

Evolution of the Sweetness Receptor in Primates. II. Gustatory Responses of Non-human Primates to Nine Compounds Known to be Sweet in Man

The gustatory responses of nine compounds, namely glycine, D-phenylalanine, D-tryptophan, cyanosuosan, magapame, sucrononate, campame, cyclamate and superaspartame, all known as sweet in man, were studied in 41 species or subspecies of non-human primates, selected among Prosimii (Lemuridae and Lorisidae), Platyrrhini (Callitrichidae and Cebidae) and Catarrhini (Cercopithecidae, Hylobatidae and Pongidae). The first six compounds are generally sweet to all primates, which implies that they interact with the primate sweetness receptors essentially through constant recognition sites. Campame is sweet only to Cebidae and Catarrhini, cyclamate only to Catarrhini, superaspartame principally to Callitrichidae and Catarrhini, which implies that all these compounds interact with the receptors partly through variable recognition sites. From the present work, from other previous results (where notably it was observed that alitame is sweet to all primates, ampame only to Prosimii and Catarrhini, and aspartame only to Catarrhini), and from the multipoint attachment (MPA) theory of sweetness reception (as elaborated by Nofre and Tinti from a detailed study of structure-activity relationships of various sweeteners in man), it is inferred that the primate sweetness receptors are very likely made up of eight recognition sites, of which the first, second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth are constant, and the fifth and sixth variable. From these results and from the MPA theory, it is also inferred that the recognition sites of the primate sweetness receptors could be: Asp-1 or Glu-1, Lys-2, Asp-3 or Glu-3, Thr-4, X-5, X-6, Thr-7, Ser-8, where the variable recognition sites X-5 and X-6 would be: Ala-5 and Ala-6 for Callitrichidae, Ser-5 and Ala-6 for Cebidae, Ala-5 and Thr-6 for Prosimii, and Thr-5 and Thr-6 for Catarrhini. By using Tupaiidae (tree shrews) as a reference outgroup and by means of other structural and functional molecular considerations, it appears that Callitrichidae have retained the most primitive receptor among the four types of primate receptors. The possible taxonomic and phylogenetic implications of these findings are discussed. Chem. Senses 21: 747-762, 199

Development of a Pilot Borehole Storage System of Solar Thermal Energy: Modeling, Design, and Installation

Borehole thermal energy storage systems represent a potential solution to increase the energy efficiency of renewable energy plants, but they generally have to comply with strict regulatory frameworks, mainly due to the deliberate modification of the subsoil’s natural state. This paper presents the design, testing, and monitoring phases carried out to set up a borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system able to exploit the excess solar heat from photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors. The case study is the refurbishment of a pig nursery barn, hosting up to 2500 weaners, in Northern Italy. This study aims to define a BTES suitable to develop a heating system based on renewable energy, ensuring environmental protection and long-term sustainability. The retrofitting intervention includes the installation of a dual-source heat pump (DSHP), in order to recover the solar heat stored in summer during winter. Specific constraints by the Environmental Authority were as follows: maximum storage temperature of 35 °C, authorization to intercept the shallowest aquifer at a maximum depth of 30 m, obligation of BHE grouting, and the definition of a strategy for continuous measuring and monitoring of the groundwater’s thermophysical properties. The results were used as inputs to optimize the design and installation of the integrated system with PVT, BTES, and DSHP

VLBA images of High Frequency Peakers

We propose a morphological classification based on the parsec scale structure of fifty-one High Frequency Peakers (HFPs) from the ``bright'' HFP sample. VLBA images at two adjacent frequencies (chosen among 8.4, 15.3, 22.2 and 43.2 GHz) have been used to investigate the morphological properties of the HFPs in the optically thin part of their spectrum. We confirm that there is quite a clear distinction between the pc-scale radio structure of galaxies and quasars: the 78% of the galaxies show a ``Double/Triple'' morphology, typical of Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs), while the 87% of the quasars are characterised by Core-Jet or unresolved structure. This suggests that most HFP candidates identified with quasars are likely blazar objects in which a flaring self-absorbed component at the jet base was outshining the remainder of the source at the time of the selection based on the spectral shape. Among the sources classified as CSOs or candidates it is possible to find extremely young radio sources with ages of about 100 years or even less.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; accepted for pubblication in A&A. Paper version with full resolution images is available at http://www.ira.inaf.it/~ddallaca/orienti.p

Exploitation of drainage water heat: A novel solution experimented at the Brenner Base Tunnel

Deep tunnels in permeable fractured rock-masses and under high piezometric levels can drain notable volumes of warm water, which are collected under gravity in specific conduits towards the portals, where heat can be exploited. The utilization of this energy source is generally narrowed by the limited presence of end-users near the portals, while other promising heating and cooling needs can be found directly along the tunnel length. The work presents the design, construction and installation of a geothermal system prototype exploiting the drainage water heat directly inside the tunnel. The prototype was named Smart Flowing due to the peculiarity of its heat exchange process. The system was realized and installed inside the exploratory tunnel of the Brenner Base Tunnel, near the border between Italy and Austria. The Smart Flowing modules were built outside and later moved inside the tunnel, where they were placed and assembled concurrently to the advancement of the Tunnel Boring Machine. A design procedure was proposed and validated against a testing and monitoring campaign. The data from the experimental activity confirmed that the drainage water flow guarantees long-term stabilization of circulating water temperature and fast heat recovery afterwards, thus securing the considerable power and performance values of a water-water heat pump connected to the system. A sensitivity analysis allowed the reproduction of different working scenarios, in order to generalize the application of Smart Flowing beyond the specific installation context

Proper motion and apparent contraction in J0650+6001

We present a multi-epoch and multi-frequency VLBI study of the compact radio source J0650+6001. In VLBI images the source is resolved into three components. The central component shows a flat spectrum, suggesting the presence of the core, while the two outer regions, with a steeper spectral index, display a highly asymmetric flux density. The time baseline of the observations considered to derive the source expansion covers about 15 years. During this time interval, the distance between the two outer components has increased by 0.28+/-0.13 mas, that corresponds to an apparent separation velocity of 0.39c+/-0.18c and a kinematic age of 360+/-170 years. On the other hand, a multi-epoch monitoring of the separation between the central and the southern components points out an apparent contraction of about 0.29+/-0.02 mas, corresponding to an apparent contraction velocity of 0.37c+/-0.02c. Assuming that the radio structure is intrinsically symmetric, the high flux density ratio between the outer components can be explained in terms of Doppler beaming effects where the mildly relativistic jets are separating with an intrinsic velocity of 0.43c+/-0.04c at an angle between 12 and 28 degrees to the line of sight. In this context, the apparent contraction may be interpreted as a knot in the jet that is moving towards the southern component with an intrinsic velocity of 0.66c+/-0.03c, and its flux density is boosted by a Doppler factor of 2.0.Comment: 7 pages, 5 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Near real time regional moment tensor estimation using italian broadband stations

Since 2002, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome has started the installation of a high quality regional broadband network throughout the Italian territory. Up today, the network consists of 125 stations equipped with 40 s natural period instruments. The dense station coverage allows for the implementation of real-time regional moment tensor (MT) estimation procedures such as that proposed by Dreger and Helmberger (1993). The automatic MT algorithm uses real-time broadband waveforms continuously telemetered to INGV, and it is triggered for events with magnitude greater than Ml 3.5. This is the lowermost value for which we have found it possible to obtain reliable MT determination in the frequency band used in the inversion. The automatic solution is available within about 3-5 minutes after the earthquake location. Each solution has an assigned quality factor dependent on the number of the station used in the inversion, and the godness of fit between synthetic and observed data. MT is published on the web after revision by a seismologist. Efforts are also made to evaluate MT solutions for earthquakes occurring in Italy and neighboring regions in the last years. The results are compared to those obtained from application of other moment tensor methods. It is always found a good agreement between the newly determined solutions and those from other methods. Overall, fast and accurate moment tensor solutions are an important ingredient when attempting to estimate the recorded ground shaking. Overall, in Italy, earthquakes in the magnitude range 3.5 – 5 are very common; the availability of their focal mechanisms allows the mapping of the principal stress field axes leading to a better understanding of the ongoing tectonics