A thermostated coupled apparatus for the simultaneous determination of adsorption isotherms and differential enthalpies of adsorption at high pressure and high temperature

In order to assess and improve the quality of high pressure and temperature adsorption isotherms and differential enthalpies of adsorption on microporous and mesoporous materials, a specific thermostated device comprising a differential heat flow calorimeter coupled with a home-built manometric system has been built. The differential heat flow calorimeter is a Tian Calvet Setaram C80 model which can be operated isothermally, the manometric system is a stainless steel homemade apparatus. The thermostated coupled apparatus allows measurements for pressure up to 2.5?MPa and temperature from 303 to 423?K. Reliability and reproducibility were established by measuring adsorption isotherms on a benchmark sorbent (Filtrasorb F400). A detailed experimental study of the adsorption of pure carbon dioxide and methane has been made on activated carbons (Filtrasorb F400 and EcoSorb); a new procedure for determining the differential enthalpies of adsorption based on the stepwise method is also proposed. The error in the determination of the amount adsorbed is about 3.6%, and the error in the determination of the differential enthalpies of adsorption is 4%.     

Design of Oligourea-Based Foldamers with Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities

There is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies to fight the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria. Many antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been identified and characterized, but clinical translation has been limited partly due to their structural instability and degradability in physiological environments. The use of unnatural backbones leading to foldamers can generate peptidomimetics with improved properties and conformational stability. We recently reported the successful design of urea-based eukaryotic cell-penetrating foldamers (CPFs). Since cell-penetrating peptides and AMPs generally share many common features, we prepared new sequences derived from CPFs by varying the distribution of histidine- and arginine-type residues at the surface of the oligourea helix, and evaluated their activity on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as on fungi. In addition, we prepared and tested new amphiphilic block cofoldamers consisting of an oligourea and a peptide segment whereby polar and charged residues are located in the peptide segment and more hydrophobic residues in the oligourea segment. Several foldamer sequences were found to display potent antibacterial activities even in the presence of 50% serum. Importantly, we show that these urea-based foldamers also possess promising antifungal properties.     

Astringency Sensitivity to Tannic Acid: Effect of Ageing and Saliva

Astringency is an important sensory characteristic of food and beverages containing polyphenols. However, astringency perception in elderly people has not been previously documented. The aim of the present work was to evaluate sensitivity to astringency as a function of age, salivary flow and protein amount. Fifty-four panellists, including 30 elderly people (age = 75 ± 4.2 years) and 24 young people (age = 29.4 ± 3.8 years), participated in this study. Astringency sensitivity was evaluated by the 2-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) procedure using tannic acid solutions. Whole saliva was collected for 5 min before and after the sensory tests. The results showed that the astringency threshold was significantly higher in the elderly group than the young group. No correlation was observed between the salivary protein amount and threshold value. However, a negative correlation between salivary flow and threshold was observed in the young group only. These results showed a difference in oral astringency perception as a function of age. This difference can be linked to salivary properties that differ as a function of age.     

Ultrasonic wave propagation in heterogeneous solid media: theoretical analysis and experimental validation

This research deals with the ultrasonic characterization of thermal damage in concrete. This damage leads to the appearance of microcracks which then evolve in terms of volume rate and size in the material. The scattering of ultrasonic waves from the inclusions is present in this type of medium. The propagation of the longitudinal wave in the heterogeneous media is studied via a homogenization model that integrates the multiple scattering of waves. The model allows us to determine the phase velocity and the attenuation according to the elements which make the medium. Simulations adapted to the concrete are developed in order to test the responses of the model. These behaviors are validated by an experimental study: the measurements of phase velocity and attenuation are performed in immersion, with a comparison method, on a frequency domain which ranges from 160 kHz to 1.3 MHz. The analysis of different theoretical and experimental results obtained on cement-based media leads to the model validation, on the phase velocity behavior, in the case of a damage simulated by expanded polystyrene spheres in granular media. The application to the case of a thermally damaged concrete shows a good qualitative agreement for the changes in velocity and attenuation.     

Preface to the special issue of JOGO on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD).

Journal of Global Optimization -     

A neutron powder diffraction study of the helimagnetic structure of TlCo2Se2−xSx

The magnetic layer structure of TlCo₂Se_2−xS_x has been thoroughly re-investigated with neutron powder diffraction. The cobalt magnetic moments are ferromagnetically arranged within the layers, but the interlayer coupling differs profoundly with varying composition (x): the spins in TlCo₂Se₂ form a helix along the c-axis with a turning-angle of ∼119° at 1.4 K. This kind of helical structure prevails for 0≤x≤1.5 with a gradual decrease of the angle with increasing sulphur content, down to 34°, showing an almost linear relationship with the interlayer distance of Co-Co. For x≥1.75 the interlayer coupling changes to ferromagnetic. Unexpectedly, two helices were found to coexist at x=0.5 and x=1.0. The interaction between adjacent cobalt layers is there characterized by an incommensurate angle (106°, resp., 73°) together with a commensurate angle of 90°. The magnetic structures have been refined as two magnetic phases, each having a characteristic wave vector. A tentative model where the symmetry of the structure and the interlayer distance compete is considered for explaining the simultaneous occurrence of the two kinds of diffraction profile satellites.     

Use of Induced Circularly Polarized Luminescence (CPL) from Racemic D3 Lanthanide Complexes to Determine the Absolute Configuration of Amino Acids

The perturbation of the racemic equilibrium of luminescent D₃ lanthanide(III) complexes by added chiral agents, such as amino acids, may be a useful technique for determining the absolute configuration of the added species. It is shown in this work, however, that simple interpretation of the equilibrium shift of racemic tris-terdentate complexes of Tb(III) with 2,6-pyridine-dicarboxylate by amino acids, as measured by the sign of the resultant circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in terms of specific structural characteristics is not possible. CPL results for a number of derivatized amino acids are also presented, and some insights into the nature of the chiral discriminatory forces that might be exploited in this kind of study are discussed.     

Comparison of an analytic horn equation approach and a boundary element method for the calculation of sound fields in the human ear canal

The sound field inside a model human ear canal has been computed, to show both longitudinal variations along the canal length and transverse variations through cross-sectional slices. Two methods of computation were used. A modified horn equation approach parametrizes the sound field with a single coordinate, the position along a curved center axis-this approach can accommodate the curvature and varying cross-sectional area of the ear canal but cannot compute transverse variations of the sound field. A boundary element method (BEM) was also implemented to compute the full three-dimensional sound field. Over 2000 triangular mesh elements were used to represent the ear canal geometry. For a plane piston source at the entrance plane, the pressure along the curved center axis predicted by the two methods is in good agreement, for frequencies up to 15 kHz, for four different ear canals. The BEM approach, though, reveals spatial variations of sound pressure within each canal cross section. These variations are small below 4 kHz, but increase with frequency, reaching 1.5 dB at 8 kHz and 4.5 dB at 15 kHz. For source configurations that are more realistic than a simple piston, large transverse variations in sound pressure are anticipated in the vicinity of the source.