Finite dynamic deformations of a hyperelastic,anisotropic, incompressible and prestressed tube. Applications to in vivo arteries

In this paper, we study the mechanical behavior of a prestressed tube subjected to finite dynamic deformations. The tube is assumed to be made of a hyperelastic, anisotropic and incompressible material. The analysis is carried out by using a Mooney–Rivlin stored energy function augmented with fiber reinforcements in four unidimensional orientations. A semi-analytical solution is proposed to study the radial dynamic mechanical response of an artery by using in vivo data. The optimal model parameters describing the mechanical characteristics of arterial wall microconstituents are obtained by minimizing the difference between computed and measured inner pressures over the cardiac cycle using a nonlinear regression. Theoretical and experimental results on rat carotid elastic arteries are compared in order to assess the validity of the approach by estimating differences of the model parameters and wall stresses with aging.     

Multi-scale Modeling of Vision-Guided Remodeling and Age-Dependent Growth of the Tree Shrew Sclera During Eye Development and Lens-Induced Myopia

The sclera uses unknown mechanisms to match the eye’s axial length to its optics during development, producing eyes with good focus (emmetropia). A myopic eye is too long for its own optics. We propose a multi-scale computational model to simulate eye development based on the assumption that scleral growth is controlled by genetic factors while scleral remodeling is driven by genetic factors and the eye’s refractive error. We define growth as a mechanism that changes the tissue volume and mass while remodeling involves internal micro-deformations that are volume-preserving at the macro-scale. The model was fitted against longitudinal refractive measurements in tree shrews of different ages and exposed to three different visual conditions: (i) normal development; (ii) negative lens wear to induce myopia; and (iii) recovery from myopia by removing the negative lens. The model was able to replicate the age- and vision-dependent response of the tree shrew experiments. Scleral growth ceased at younger age than scleral remodeling. The remodeling rate decreased as the eye emmetropized but increased at any age when a negative lens was put on. The predictive power of the model was investigated by calculating the susceptibility to scleral remodeling and the response to form deprivation myopia in tree shrews. Both predictions were in good agreement with experimental data that were not used to fit the model. We propose the first model that distinguishes scleral growth from remodeling. The good agreement of our results with experimental data supports the notion that scleral growth and scleral remodeling are two independently controlled mechanisms during eye development.     

Selection criteria for two-parameter solutions to scalar-tensor gravity

We investigate the generic properties of static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat solutions to the field equations describing gravity minimally coupled to a nonlinear self-gravitating real scalar field. Five corollaries and a theorem on selection criteria for two- and one-parametric solutions are proven and conditions for obtaining particle-like solutions, black holes or naked singularities are derived. A series of exact solutions in closed forms including different black holes, naked singularities and particle-like solutions, all of which obey the weak energy condition at spatial infinity, are provided. Two further corollaries elaborate on the behavior of solutions at spatial infinity, critical mass, mass density, pressure and energy conditions.     

Solutions analytiques globales de problèmes linéaires avec argument absorbant

The aim of this work is the study of the Cauchy problem for a large class of linear operators, non-necessarily kowalevskian, with shrinking argument. We prove the well posedness of this problem in the space of analytic functions with respect to time and Gevrey class with respect to spatial variable. Our tools are based on formal norms of Leray and Waelbroeck [J. Leray, L. Waelbroeck, Norme formelle d'une fonction composée (Préliminaire à l'étude des systèmes non linéaires, hyperboliques non stricts), in: Colloque de Liège, CBRM, 1964, pp. 145-152. [23]], already used in [Cl. Wagschal, Le problème de Goursat non linéaire, J. Math. Pure Appl. 58 (1979) 309-337; D. Gourdin, M. Mechab, Solution globale d'un problème de Cauchy linéaire, J. Funct. Anal. 202 (2003) 123-146].     

On Asymptotic Stability and Sweeping of Collisionless Kinetic Equations

We study a collisionless kinetic equation describing density distribution function of the position and velocity of particles moving in a slab with finite thickness and with a partly diffusive boundary reflection. In particular, we deal with existence of an invariant density and with the convergence to the equilibrium. We also study the long time behavior of densities when the equilibrium does not exists.     

An expeditious,environment-friendly,and microwave-assisted synthesis of 5-isatinylidenerhodanine derivatives

A series of nine 5-arylidenerhodanine derivatives was prepared in good yields and purity without the use of a solvent or catalyst under microwave-assisted condensation with some substituted isatins. All 5-arylidenerhodanines were evaluated as possible inhibitors of the CK1α/β, CDK5/p25, and GSK-3α/β kinases. None of them showed substantive inhibitory activity against these kinases when evaluated at the concentration of 10 μM.     

Modulating the photophysical properties of azamacrocyclic europium complexes with charge-transfer antenna chromophores

Two europium complexes with bis(bipyridine) azamacrocyclic ligands featuring pendant arms with or without π-conjugated donor groups are synthesized and fully characterized by theoretical calculations and NMR spectroscopy. Their photophysical properties, including two-photon absorption, are investigated in water and in various organic solvents. The nonfunctionalized ligand gives highly water-stable europium complexes featuring bright luminescence properties but poor two-photon absorption cross sections. On the other hand, the europium complex with an extended conjugated antenna ligand presents a two-photon absorption cross section of 45 GM at 720 nm but is poorly luminescent in water. A detailed solvent-dependent photophysical study indicates that this luminescence quenching is not due to the direct coordination of O-H vibrators to the metal center but to the increase of nonradiative processes in a protic solvent induced by an internal isomerization equilibrium.     

Ni(0)-CMC-Na - nickel colloids in sodium carboxymethyl-cellulose: catalytic evaluation in hydrogenation reactions

A recyclable catalyst, Ni(0)-CMC-Na, composed of nickel colloids dispersed in a water soluble bioorganic polymer, sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC-Na), was synthesized by a simple procedure from readily available reagents. The catalyst thus obtained is stable and highly active in alkene hydrogenations.     

Energy harvesting in a nonlinear energy sink absorber using delayed resonators

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper examines periodic and quasi-periodic (QP) vibration-based energy harvesting (EH) in a nonlinear energy sink (NES) absorber that is coupled to an electric circuit...