Recent advances and challenges in the recovery and purification of cellular exosomes

Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by most cellular types that carry important biochemical compounds throughout the body with different purposes, playing a preponderant role in cellular communication. Because of their structure, physicochemical properties and stability, recent studies are focusing in their use as nanocarriers for different therapeutic compounds for the treatment of different diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease. However, current bioseparation protocols and methodologies are selected based on the final exosome application or intended use and present both advantages and disadvantages when compared among them. In this context, this review aims to present the most important technologies available for exosome isolation while discussing their advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of being combined with other strategies. This is critical since the development of novel exosome‐based therapeutic strategies will be constrained to the effectiveness and yield of the selected downstream purification methodologies for which a thorough understanding of the available technological resources is needed.     

Mathematical modeling of flows through inelastic porous solids

We propose a framework, based on classical mixture theory, to describe the isothermal flow of an incompressible fluid through a deformable inelastic porous solid. The modeling of the behavior of the inelastic solid takes into account changes in the elastic response due to evolution in the microstructure of the material. We apply the model to a compression layer problem. The mathematical problem generated by the model is a free boundary problem.     

Cosmic dust and our origins

The small solid particles in the space between the stars provide the surfaces for the production of many simple and complex molecules. Processes involving the effects of ultraviolet irradiation of the thin (hundredth micron) mantles are shown to produce a wide range of molecules and ions also seen in comets. Some of the more complex ones inferred from laboratory experiments are expected to play an important role in the origin of life. An outline of the chemical evolution of interstellar dust as observed and as studied in the laboratory is presented. Observations of comets are shown to provide substantial evidence for their being fluffy aggregates of interstellar dust as it was in the protosolar nebula, i.e. the interstellar cloud which collapsed to form the solar system. The theory that comets may have brought the progenitors of life to the earth is summarized.     

Simulation of the nonlinear vibration of a string using the Cellular Automata based on the reflection rule

In this study, the nonlinear dynamic responses of a string are simulated using the Cellular Automata method based on the reflection rule. In the case of nonlinear systems, the velocity of wave propagation is not constant and depends on the amplitude. A new treatment of the dynamic time step is proposed for the Cellular Automata method considering the effect of the propagation velocity. As numerical examples, first, the dynamic responses of a string with linear characteristic are simulated using the Cellular Automata method. A typical resonance curve can be obtained. Second, the dynamic responses of a string with nonlinear characteristic are simulated using the proposed method. Some characteristic types of vibration can be obtained. It is concluded that the linear and nonlinear dynamic responses of a string may be obtained by simulation using the Cellular Automata method.     

Adaptive remeshing for ductile fracture prediction in metal formingRemaillage adaptatif pour la prévision de la rupture ductile en mise en forme

The analysis of mechanical structures using the Finite Element Method in the framework of large elastoplastic strain, needs frequent remeshing of the deformed domain during computation. Indeed, the remeshing is due to the large geometrical distortion of finite elements and the adaptation to the physical behavior of the solution. This paper gives the necessary steps to remesh a mechanical structure during large elastoplastic deformations with damage. An important part of this process is constituted by geometrical and physical error estimates. The proposed method is integrated in a computational environment using the ABAQUS/Explicit solver and the BL2D-V2 adaptive mesher. To cite this article: H. Borouchaki et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 709–716.     

具有时滞的细胞神经网络的全局指数稳定性

利用Liapunov函数方法,结合积分不等式技巧,分析了时滞细胞神经网络的平衡点存在的唯一性和全局指数稳定性,保证时滞细胞神经网络全局指数稳定的一个新的充分判据被得到.所得判据比已有文献具有更少的限制,为实际应用提供了方便.     

A cellular automaton technique for modelling of a binary dendritic growth with convection

A two-dimensional model for the simulation of a binary dendritic growth with convection has been developed in order to investigate the effects of convection on dendritic morphologies. The model is based on a cellular automaton (CA) technique for the calculation of the evolution of solid/liquid (s/l) interface. The dynamics of the interface controlled by temperature, solute diffusion and Gibbs–Thomson effects, is coupled with the continuum model for energy, solute and momentum transfer with liquid convection. The solid fraction is calculated by a governing equation, instead of some approximate methods such as lever rule method [A. Jacot, M. Rappaz, Acta Mater. 50 (2002) 1909–1926.] or interface velocity method [L. Nastac, Acta Mater. 47 (1999) 4253; L. Beltran-Sanchez, D.M. Stefanescu, Mat. and Mat. Trans. A 26 (2003) 367.]. For the dendritic growth without convection, mesh independency of simulation results is achieved. The simulated steady-state tip velocity are compared with the predicted values of LGK theory [Lipton, M.E. Glicksmanm, W. Kurz, Metall. Trans. 18(A) (1987) 341.] as a function of melt undercooling, which shows good agreement. The growth of dendrite arms in a forced convection has been investigated. It was found that the dendritic growth in the upstream direction was amplified, due to larger solute gradient in the liquid ahead of the s/l interface caused by melt convection. In the isothermal environment, the calculated results under very fine mesh are in good agreement with the Oseen–Ivanstov solution for the concentration-driven growth in a forced flow.     

Widrow-cellular neural network and optoelectronic implementation

A new type of optoelectronic cellular neural network has been developed by providing the capability of coefficients adjusment of cellular neural network (CNN) using Widrow based perceptron learning algorithm. The new supervised cellular neural network is called Widrow-CNN. Despite the unsupervised CNN, the proposed learning algorithm allows to use the Widrow-CNN for various image processing applications easily. Also, the capability of CNN for image processing and feature extraction has been improved using basic joint transform correlation architecture. This hardware application presents high speed processing capability compared to digital applications. The optoelectronic Widrow-CNN has been tested for classic CNN feature extraction problems. It yields the best results even in case of hard feature extraction problems such as diagonal line detection and vertical line determination.     

Metastability of a circular o-ring due to intrinsic curvature

An o-ring takes spontaneously the shape of a chair when strong enough torsion is applied in its tangent plane. This state is metastable, since work has to be done on the o-ring to return to the circular shape. We show that this metastable state exists in a Hamiltonian where curvature and torsion are coupled via an intrinsic curvature term. If the o-ring is constrained to be planar (2d case), this metastable state displays a kink-anti-kink pair. This state is metastable if the ratio is less than , where C and A are the torsion and the bending elastic constants [#!landau!#]. In three dimensions, our variational approach shows that . This model can be generalized to the case where the bend is induced by a concentration field which follows the variations of the curvature. Received: 27 August 1997 / Revised: 23 October 1997 / Accepted: 12 November 1997