About optimal location of sensors and actuators for the control of flexible structures

This work deals with the problem of efficient location of sensors and actuators encountered in the domain of active control of flexible structure. It appears that the optimal solution depends upon the type ofcontrol scheme that is used as well as the kinds of sensors and actuators that are implemented, and on the criterion that is considered. This paper recalls and discusses some approaches that are presented in the literature and presents some results that are obtained with a mock-up equipped with piezoelectric sensors and actuators

Thermogravimetric study of a phase change slurry: effect of variable conditions

Microcapsules containing Phase Change Materials (MPCM) are widely used for passive systems in energy storage. When MPCM are mixed with a carrier fluid, Phase Change Slurries (PCS) are used for heat transfer fluids in active systems or heat transport systems. The thermal behavior of PCS can be measured as dry or wet basis, resulting in important differences in weight losses. This study explores the optimum conditions for analyzing the thermal behavior of dried PCS by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) varying the parameter conditions for obtaining peak temperature and heat flow (latent heat). The factors that were taken into account were the atmosphere of study (air and nitrogen) and the heating rate (0.5, 1, 5, and 10 °C·min−1). The best conditions to determine peak temperature are at 1 °C·min−1 and in N2 atmosphere, whereas the decomposition fusion/latent heat of the sample is improved at higher heating velocities towards 10 °C·min−1.The work is partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-2R). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 657466 (INPATH-TES). Ricardo del Valle Zermeño is grateful to the Government of Catalonia for the research grant (FI-DGR 2014). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group DIOPMA (2014 SGR 1543)

Education and older adults at the University of the Third Age

This article reports a critical analysis of older adult education in Malta. In educational gerontology, a critical perspective demands the exposure of how relations of power and inequality, in their myriad forms, combinations, and complexities, are manifest in late-life learning initiatives. Fieldwork conducted at the University of the Third Age (UTA) in Malta uncovered the political nature of elder-learning, especially with respect to three intersecting lines of inequality - namely, positive aging, elitism, and gender. A cautionary note is, therefore, warranted at the dominant positive interpretations of UTAs since late-life learning, as any other education activity, is not politically neutral.peer-reviewe

Interplay of Mre11 Nuclease with Dna2 plus Sgs1 in Rad51-Dependent Recombinational Repair

The Mre11/Rad50/Xrs2 complex initiates IR repair by binding to the end of a double-strand break, resulting in 5′ to 3′ exonuclease degradation creating a single-stranded 3′ overhang competent for strand invasion into the unbroken chromosome. The nuclease(s) involved are not well understood. Mre11 encodes a nuclease, but it has 3′ to 5′, rather than 5′ to 3′ activity. Furthermore, mutations that inactivate only the nuclease activity of Mre11 but not its other repair functions, mre11-D56N and mre11-H125N, are resistant to IR. This suggests that another nuclease can catalyze 5′ to 3′ degradation. One candidate nuclease that has not been tested to date because it is encoded by an essential gene is the Dna2 helicase/nuclease. We recently reported the ability to suppress the lethality of a dna2Δ with a pif1Δ. The dna2Δ pif1Δ mutant is IR-resistant. We have determined that dna2Δ pif1Δ mre11-D56N and dna2Δ pif1Δ mre11-H125N strains are equally as sensitive to IR as mre11Δ strains, suggesting that in the absence of Dna2, Mre11 nuclease carries out repair. The dna2Δ pif1Δ mre11-D56N triple mutant is complemented by plasmids expressing Mre11, Dna2 or dna2K1080E, a mutant with defective helicase and functional nuclease, demonstrating that the nuclease of Dna2 compensates for the absence of Mre11 nuclease in IR repair, presumably in 5′ to 3′ degradation at DSB ends. We further show that sgs1Δ mre11-H125N, but not sgs1Δ, is very sensitive to IR, implicating the Sgs1 helicase in the Dna2-mediated pathway

Clumping factor B promotes adherence of <i>Staphylococcus aureus </i>to corneocytes in atopic dermatitis

Staphylococcus aureus skin infection is a frequent and recurrent problem in children with the common inflammatory skin disease atopic dermatitis (AD). S. aureus colonizes the skin of the majority of children with AD and exacerbates the disease. The first step during colonization and infection is bacterial adhesion to the cornified envelope of corneocytes in the outer layer, the stratum corneum. Corneocytes from AD skin are structurally different from corneocytes from normal healthy skin. The objective of this study was to identify bacterial proteins that promote the adherence of S. aureus to AD corneocytes. S. aureus strains from clonal complexes 1 and 8 were more frequently isolated from infected AD skin than from the nasal cavity of healthy children. AD strains had increased ClfB ligand binding activity compared to normal nasal carriage strains. Adherence of single S. aureus bacteria to corneocytes from AD patients ex vivo was studied using atomic force microscopy. Bacteria expressing ClfB recognized ligands distributed over the entire corneocyte surface. The ability of an isogenic ClfB-deficient mutant to adhere to AD corneocytes compared to that of its parent clonal complex 1 clinical strain was greatly reduced. ClfB from clonal complex 1 strains had a slightly higher binding affinity for its ligand than ClfB from strains from other clonal complexes. Our results provide new insights into the first step in the establishment of S. aureus colonization in AD patients. ClfB is a key adhesion molecule for the interaction of S. aureus with AD corneocytes and represents a target for interventio

Crystalline phases involved in the hydration of calcium silicate-based cements: Semi-quantitative Rietveld X-ray diffraction analysis

Chemical comparisons of powder and hydrated forms of calcium silicate cements (CSCs) and calculation of alterations in tricalcium silicate (Ca3SiO5) calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) are essential for understanding their hydration processes. This study aimed to evaluate and compare these changes in ProRoot MTA, Biodentine and CEM cement. Powder and hydrated forms of tooth coloured ProRoot MTA, Biodentine and CEM cement were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis with Rietveld refinement to semi-quantitatively identify and quantify the main phases involved in their hydration process. Data were reported descriptively. Reduction in Ca3SiO5 and formation of Ca(OH)2 were seen after the hydration of ProRoot MTA and Biodentine; however, in the case of CEM cement, no reduction of Ca3SiO5 and no formation of Ca(OH)2 were detected. The highest percentages of amorphous phases were seen in Biodentine samples. Ettringite was detected in the hydrated forms of ProRoot MTA and CEM cement but not in Biodentine

Editorial: pattern formation in biology

Over the past two decades, the study of pattern formation in biology has attracted the attention of many scientists from diverse fields, ranging from developmental biology, cell biology and synthetic biology, to physics, mathematics and computer science. Quantitative and interdisciplinary approaches have become essential for understanding these challenging phenomena. This Research Topic contains a collection of articles and reviews that use quantitative and interdisciplinary perspectives to understand the underlying mechanisms driving biological pattern formation. Modeling morphogenetic processes, gene regulatory network dynamics and morphogen gradients link the articles of this Research Topic, with a focus on three research areas: 1) underlying mechanisms of patterning processes; 2) cross-talk of morphogenetic and pattern formation processes, and 3) mathematical methods for modeling and quantifying biological patterning and morphogenesis. Below, each of the present Research Topic papers is briefly discussed.Centro Regional de Estudios Genómico