Versatile anisotropic mesh adaptation methodology applied to pure quantity of interest error estimator. Steady,laminar incompressible flow

We introduce a new flexible mesh adaptation approach to efficiently compute a quantity of interest by the finite element method. Efficiently, we mean that the method provides an evaluation of that quantity up to a predetermined accuracy at a lower computational cost than other classical methods. The central pillar of the method is our scalar error estimator based on sensitivities of the quantity of interest to the residuals. These sensitivities result from the computation of a continuous adjoint problem. The mesh adaptation strategy can drive anisotropic mesh adaptation from a general scalar error contribution of each element. The full potential of our error estimator is then reached. The proposed method is validated by evaluating the lift, the drag, and the hydraulic losses on a 2D benchmark case: the flow around a cylinder at a Reynolds number of 20.     

Multi-scale simulation reveals that an amino acid substitution increases photosensitizing reaction inputs in Rhodopsins

Evaluating the availability of molecular oxygen (O₂) and energy of excited states in the retinal binding site of rhodopsin is a crucial challenging first step to understand photosensitizing reactions in wild-type (WT) and mutant rhodopsins by absorbing visible light. In the present work, energies of the ground and excited states related to 11-cis-retinal and the O₂ accessibility to the β-ionone ring are evaluated inside WT and human M207R mutant rhodopsins. Putative O₂ pathways within rhodopsins are identified by using molecular dynamics simulations, Voronoi-diagram analysis, and implicit ligand sampling while retinal energetic properties are investigated through density functional theory, and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods. Here, the predictions reveal that an amino acid substitution can lead to enough energy and O₂ accessibility in the core hosting retinal of mutant rhodopsins to favor the photosensitized singlet oxygen generation, which can be useful in understanding retinal degeneration mechanisms and in designing blue-lighting-absorbing proteic photosensitizers.     

Visible-Light Photoswitching by Azobenzazoles

Three visible-light responsive photoswitches are reported, azobis(1-methyl-benzimidazole) ( 1 ), azobis(benzoxazole) ( 2 ) and azobis(benzothiazole) ( 3 ). Photostationary distributions are obtained upon irradiation with visible light comprising approximately 80 % of the thermally unstable isomer, with thermal half-lives up to 8 min and are mostly invariant to solvent. On protonation, compound 1 H⁺ has absorption extending beyond 600 nm, allowing switching with yellow light, and a thermal half-life just under 5 minutes. The two isomers have significantly different pK_a values, offering potential as a pH switch. The absorption spectra of 2 and 3 are insensitive to acid, although changes in the thermal half-life of 3 indicate more basic intermediates that significantly influence the thermal barrier to isomerization. These findings are supported by high-level ab initio calculations, which validate that protonation occurs on the ring nitrogen and that the Z isomer is more basic in all cases.     

Seed layer effect on morphological,structural, and optical properties of electrochemically grown ZnO nanowires over different SnO2:F/glass substrates

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Transparent conductive oxide electrodes and specifically SnO2:F/glass are widely employed substrates in the preparation of optoelectronic devices. This...     

Applicability of Microaerobic Technology to Enhance BTEX Removal from Contaminated Waters

As the addition of low concentrations of oxygen can favor the initial degradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) compounds, this work verified the applicability of the microaerobic technology to enhance BTEX removal in an anaerobic bioreactor supplemented with high and low co-substrate (ethanol) concentrations. Additionally, structural alterations on the bioreactor microbiota were assessed throughout the experiment. The bioreactor was fed with a synthetic BTEX-contaminated water (~ 3 mg L^?1 of each compound) and operated at a hydraulic retention time of 48 h. The addition of low concentrations of oxygen (1.0 mL min^?1 of atmospheric air at 27 °C and 1 atm) assured high removal efficiencies (> 80%) for all compounds under microaerobic conditions. In fact, the applicability of this technology showed to be viable to enhance BTEX removal from contaminated waters, especially concerning benzene (with a 30% removal increase), which is a very recalcitrant compound under anaerobic conditions. However, high concentrations of ethanol adversely affected BTEX removal, especially benzene, under anaerobic and microaerobic conditions. Finally, although bacterial community richness decreased at low concentrations of ethanol, in general, the bioreactor microbiota could deal with the different operational conditions and preserved its functionality during the whole experiment.     

Existence and equivalence of twisted products on a symplectic manifold

The twisted products play an important role in Quantum Mechanics [1, 2]. We introduce here a distinction between Vey *_ν-products and strong Vey *_ν-products and prove that each *_ν-product is equivalent to a Vey *_ν-product. If b ₃(W)=0, the symplectic manifold (W, F) admits strong Vey *_ν-products. If b ₂(W)=0, all *_ν-products are equivalent as well as the Vey Lie algebras. In the general case, we characterize the formal Lie algebras which are generated by a *_ν-product and we prove that the existence of a *_ν-product is equivalent to the existence of a formal Lie algebra infinitesimally equivalent to a Vey Lie algebra at the first order.     

Singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flow: zero-Maslov class case

We study singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flow in ℂ ⁿ when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. We start by showing that, in this setting, singularities are unavoidable. More precisely, we construct Lagrangians with arbitrarily small Lagrangian angle and Lagrangians which are Hamiltonian isotopic to a plane that, nevertheless, develop finite time singularities under mean curvature flow. We then prove two theorems regarding the tangent flow at a singularity when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. The first one (Theorem A) states that that the rescaled flow at a singularity converges weakly to a finite union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The second theorem (Theorem B) states that, under the additional assumptions that the initial condition is an almost-calibrated and rational Lagrangian, connected components of the rescaled flow converges to a single area-minimizing Lagrangian cone, as opposed to a possible non-area-minimizing union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The latter condition is dense for Lagrangians with finitely generated H ₁(L,ℤ).     

Cellular and subcellular localization of Marlin-1 in the brain

Background  

Marlin-1 is a microtubule binding protein that associates specifically with the GABA_B1 subunit in neurons and with members of the Janus kinase family in lymphoid cells. In addition, it binds the molecular motor kinesin-I and nucleic acids, preferentially single stranded RNA. Marlin-1 is expressed mainly in the central nervous system but little is known regarding its cellular and subcellular distribution in the brain.     

Status epilepticus affects the gigantocellular network of the pontine reticular formation

Background  

The impairment of the pontine reticular formation (PRF) has recently been revealed to be histopathologically connected with focal-cortical seizure induced generalized convulsive status epilepticus. To elucidate whether the impairment of the PRF is a general phenomenon during status epilepticus, the focal-cortical 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) application was compared with other epilepsy models. The presence of "dark" neurons in the PRF was investigated by the sensitive silver method of Gallyas in rats sacrificed at 3 h after focal 4-AP crystal or systemic 4-AP, pilocarpine, or kainic acid application. The behavioral signs of the developing epileptic seizures were scored in all rats. The EEG activity was recorded in eight rats.