Electrophoretic analysis of salivary proteins from man and Macaca Fascicularis and immunological identification of salivary proline-rich proteins in the in-vivo, formed pellicle

Illustrations are black and white photographs.Thesis (M.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Graduate Dentistry, 1979 (Oral Biology).The purpose of this study was the electrophoretic analysis and comparison of salivary proteins from Man and Macaca fascicularis with particular emphasis on the presence of four anionic proteins, known as the major acidic praline-rich proteins (PRP I, PRP II, PRP III, PRP VI). The second part of this study constitutes an immunological approach to identify these salivary praline-rich proteins as constituents of the naturally formed, acquired enamel pellicle. The results obtained from disc gel and slab gel acrylamide electrophoresis indicated that the concentrations of praline-rich proteins (PRPs) present in human glandular secretions were higher than those measured for whole saliva. The latter, however, exhibited a heavily stained component known as serum albumin. Enzymes derived from oral microorganisms have been implicated in the degradation of PRPs in the oral environment leading to the electrophoretic changes observed. Des~ite the great similarities between parotid and submandibular saliva disc gel acrylamide electrophoretograms, at least one qualitative difference could be detected. [TRUNCATED

Guaranteed Global Deterministic Optimization and Constraint Programming for Complex Dynamic Problems

International audienceIn this article we focus on particular multi-physics (mechanic, magnetic, electronic...) dynamic problems. These problems contain some differential constraints to model dynamic behaviors. The goal is to be able to solve it with guarantee, meaning to get a proof that all constraints are satisfied (without any approximation caused by binary representations or rounding modes from the unit core computing). The idea of getting guarantees on the arithmetic operations has been introduced via Interval Arithmetic. Computers become faster gradually, increasing the rate of operations number computable in one time unit. The results computed are often rounded to the nearest representable values, then the global errors are increasing gradually as well without any control over it

Propagation garantie de contraintes ODE par morceaux pour l'optimisation globale

Prix du jeune chercheurNational audienceL'objectif est de proposer un algorithme d'optimisation garantie d'un problème de dimensionnement dynamique et multi-physique. Le caractère dynamique est modélisé par des contraintes ODE (équations différentielles). Nous traitons le problème particulier pour lequel les fonctions décrivant le système ODE sont des contraintes définies par morceaux permettant de traduire des changements de comportement induits par l'état du système. C'est un problème difficile de part la nature des variables (paramétriques et d'états) et du type de contraintes (algébriques et fonctionnelles, non-linéaires et non-convexes). Nous proposons d'utiliser des approches déterministes d'optimisation globale. Nous développons des algorithmes de type Branch & Bound à base de calcul d'intervalle. Dans la littérature, ces algorithmes sont largement utilisés pour résoudre des problèmes statiques mais aussi dynamiques. Notre contribution porte sur la résolution garantie des ODE définies par morceaux. Nous proposons un ensemble de méthodes de propagation garantie des contraintes ODE par morceaux dans un algorithme de Branch & Bound à base d'intervalle. Nous adaptons pour cela l'approche classique utilisant (1) l'opérateur de Picard-Lindelöf pour déterminer un encadrement global de la solution sur un intervalle de temps, (2) le modèle de Taylor pour la contraction du domaine de la solution et enfin (3) les techniques de propagation de contraintes afin de guider la résolution.</p

Estimating Dynamic Properties from Static Tests

The applicability of various types of constitutive models to estimating dynamic material properties for soils from the results of static shear tests is briefly reviewed. The primary obstacle to making such predictions is the limiting resolution of conventional static tests. A simple procedure using empirical relationships to interpolate beyond the limit of the static shear tests is suggested for use in preliminary analysis and in cases where cyclic test data is not available

An optimization model for selecting a product family and designing its supply chain

International audienceWhen designing a new family of products, designers and manufacturers must define the product family and its supply chain simultaneously. At the very first step of the design process, designers propose various solutions for the set of variants of a product family and their bill-of-materials. The second step is to select some of these variants while choosing the architecture of the supply chain. A mixed integer linear programming model is investigated that optimizes the operating cost of the resulting supply chain while choosing the product variants. This work is applied to the problem of an automotive supplier

Mass customization, configuration and manufacturing

International audienceMass customization has become a main issue for many companies fighting on a world market. In order to define the customized product that fit each customer need, these companies use configuration software called configurators. Most of these configurators, mainly based on artificial intelligence techniques, are just interested in the product definition without addressing relevant manufacturing problems. The goal of this communication is to show that the same kinds of computer techniques can be used to define customized assembly operations and manufacturing routings

Longitudinal Analysis of Image Time Series with Diffeomorphic Deformations: A Computational Framework Based on Stationary Velocity Fields

International audienceWe propose and detail a deformation-based morphometry computational framework, called Longitudinal Log-Demons Framework (LLDF), to estimate the longitudinal brain deformations from image data series, transport them in a common space and perform statistical group-wise analyses. It is based on freely available software and tools, and consists of three main steps: (i) Pre-processing, (ii) Position correction, and (iii) Non-linear deformation analysis. It is based on the LCC log-Demons non-linear symmetric diffeomorphic registration algorithm with an additional modulation of the similarity term using a confidence mask to increase the robustness with respect to brain boundary intensity artifacts. The pipeline is exemplified on the longitudinal Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS) database and all the parameters values are given so that the study can be reproduced. We investigate the group-wise differences between the patients with Alzheimer's disease and the healthy control group, and show that the proposed pipeline increases the sensitivity with no decrease in the specificity of the statistical study done on the longitudinal deformations

One- and Two-Dimensional Analysis of Earth Dams

Earth dams may experience reduction in shear strength due to seismically induced pore pressures. Such reduction may be large enough to result in large deformations and eventual loss of the reservoir. While the analysis of embankment dams subject to earthquake loading is a complicated process, it is required for evaluation of seismic stability. In particular, the possibility of liquefaction in older, hydraulically-filled or otherwise poorly compacted dams during earthquakes presents a threat that must be addressed. This paper compares two methods of calculating the peak dynamic shear stress (critical to liquefaction evaluation) that occurs in an embankment during an earthquake. The first method is a one-dimensional analysis, which is simple, rapid and inexpensive. The second method is a two-dimensional finite element analysis, which is complicated, long and expensive. Because it is more desirable to use the simpler one-dimensional analysis, the results from the two analyses were compared and indicated that for slopes up to 35° the stresses were comparable

Mass customization and configuration: requirement analysis and constraint based modelling propositions

International audienceThe purpose of this paper is, on the one hand, to identify to define and classify customization requirements and, on the other hand, to evaluate how generic modeling and configuration assistance within the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) framework can fulfil the requirements. The aim is to provide commercial configurator knowledge base designers with constraint based generic modeling elements for customizable industrial product. A first part recalls the main trends of the configuration problem. In a second part divided in four sections corresponding with different requirement set; each section proposes a definition of the requirement set, some CSP based modeling elements and a discussion about adequacy of relevant configuration assistance techniques