Phase transitions and hysteresis in a cellular automata-based model of opinion formation

A particular case of a cellular automata-based model of two-state opinion formation in social groups with a strong leader is studied. We consider a 2D Euclidian geometry of social space and mutual interactions 1/r ⁿ . The model shows an interesting dynamics which can be analytically calculated. There are two stable states of the system: a cluster around the leader and unification. Unstable clusters may also appear. A variation in parameters such as the leader's strength or the social temperature can change the size of a cluster or, when they reach some critical values, make the system jump into another state. For a certain range of parameters the system exhibits bistability and hysteresis phenomena. We obtained explicit formulas for the cluster size, critical leader's strength, and critical social temperature. These analytical results are verified by computer simulations.     

Cellular automata approach to site percolation on ℤ2. A numerical study

We present a cellular automata model as a new approach to Bernoulli site percolation on the square lattice. A new macroscopic quantity is defined and numerically computed at each level step of the automata dynamics. Its limit manifests a critical behavior at a value of the site occupancy probability quite close to those obtained for site percolation on ² with the best-known numerical methods.     

稀土对人正常肝细胞株7701和人宫颈癌Hela细胞生长的影响及其诱导细胞凋亡的作用

采用MTT法考察了16种稀土元素在9×10-8~2×10-4mol.L-1浓度范围内对体外培养的人正常肝细胞株7701细胞和宫颈癌Hela细胞的生长的影响。结果表明,稀土对细胞生长的影响存在浓度依赖性;低浓度促进细胞增殖,高浓度抑制细胞生长;不同稀土离子对细胞作用强弱不同,稀土间存在轻重分组效应;不同细胞对稀土的响应不同,表现出稀土对正常细胞和癌细胞作用的某种选择性。Hoechst 33258标记细胞DNA,用激光共聚焦显微镜和流式细胞仪对稀土处理的肝细胞株7701进行形态学观察和DNA含量分析。结果表明,较高浓度的稀土作用后的肝细胞株7701出现了明显的凋亡特征,稀土表现出的细胞毒性作用,其本质是诱导细胞发生凋亡。     

枸椽酸锗对小鼠免疫功能的影响

枸椽酸锗能明显提高小鼠血清溶血素抗体水平，增强二硝基氯苯（DNCB）致小鼠迟发型皮肤过敏反应。增加小鼠免疫器官胸腺和脾脏的重量，表明枸椽酸锗能增强小鼠体液免疫和细胞免疫水平。     

Effect of dose rate of gamma irradiation on biochemical quality and browning of mushrooms Agaricus bisporus

In order to enhance the shelf-life of edible mature mushrooms Agaricus bisporus, 2 kGy ionising treatments were applied at two different dose rates: 4.5 kGy/h (I⁻) and 32 kGy/h (I⁺). Both I⁺ and I⁻ showed 2 and 4 days shelf-life enhancement compared to the control (C). Before day 9, no significant difference (p>0.05) in L^* value was detected in irradiated mushrooms. However, after day 9, the highest observed L^* value (whiteness) was obtained for the mushrooms irradiated in I⁻. Analyses of phenolic compounds revealed that mushrooms in I⁻ contained more phenols than I⁺ and C, the latter containing the lower level of phenols. The polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities of irradiated mushrooms, analysed via catechol oxidase and dopa oxidase substrates, resulted in being significantly lowered (p0.05) compared to C, with a further decrease in I⁺. Analyses of the enzymes indicated that PPO activity was lower in I⁺, contrasting with its lower phenol concentration. Ionising treatments also increased significantly (p0.05) the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity. The observation of mushrooms cellular membranes, by electronic microscopy, revealed a better preserved integrity in I⁻ than in I⁺. It is thus assumed that the browning effect observed in I⁺ was caused by both the decompartimentation of vacuolar phenol and by the entry of molecular oxygen into the cell cytoplasm. The synergetic effect of the residual active PPO and the molecular oxygen, in contact with the phenols, allowed an increased oxidation rate and, therefore, a more pronounced browning in I⁺ than in I⁻.     

New antiproliferative 14,15-secopregnane glycosides from Solenostemma argel

Eight new 14,15-secopregnane glycosides, namely argelosides C-J, possessing two ketal functions involved in three five-membered rings, have been isolated from the hairy seeds of Solenostemma argel. Their structures have been established by MS and NMR experiments, combined with quantum mechanical calculations of the ¹³C chemical shifts for the interpretation of the experimental data. On the basis of the obtained results, the structures of argelosides A and B have been revised. Additionally, the effect of these compounds on the VEGF-induced in Kaposi's sarcoma cell proliferation was evaluated. Results indicated that all the compounds reduced the cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.     

Kinetic limits of the HPP cellular automaton

We study the Boltzmann-Grad limit in various versions of the two-dimensional HPP cellular automaton. In the completely deterministic case we prove convergence to an evolution that is not of kinetic type, a well-known phenomenon after Uchyiama's paper on the Broadwell gas, whereas the limiting equation becomes of kinetic type in the model with random collisions. The main part of the paper concerns the case where the collisions are deterministic and the randomness comes from inserting, between any two successive HPP updatings, ^- stirring updatings, <1 being any fixed positive number and a parameter which tends to 0. The initial measure is a product measure with average occupation numbers of the order of (low-density limit) and varying on distances of the order of ^–1. The limit as 0 of the system evolved for times of the order of ^-1- corresponds to the Boltzmann-Grad limit. We prove propagation of chaos and that the renormalized average occupation numbers (i.e., divided by) converge to the solution of the Broadwell equation. Convergence is proven at all times for which the solution of the Broadwell equation is bounded.     

An improved cellular automaton model with the consideration of a multi-point tollbooth

Based on the classical Nagel–Schreckenberg model, we in this paper propose an improved cellular automaton (CA) model to study the influences of a multi-point tollbooth on traffic flow. The numerical results show that the multi-point tollbooth can be looked at as a bottleneck and that it can improve the road capacity compared with other tolling stations, which shows that the proposed model is more effective than other traffic flow models. In addition, the results can help readers to better understand the effects of a multi-point tollbooth on traffic flow and help traffic engineers to reasonably design the tolling station.     

明胶改性聚醚醚酮微载体的制备、表征及性能

微载体因其具有较高的表面积/体积比等优点可以大大提高哺乳动物细胞培养效率,被广泛应用于生物制药和组织工程等领域。 但微载体多为一次性使用,不耐高温,且主要依赖进口,价格昂贵,因而限制了其国内的应用和推广。 聚醚醚酮(PEEK)材料具有良好的生物相容性、化学稳定性及耐高温等特性,是一种优异的微载体材料,但存在熔点高,加工方法单一和生物惰性等缺陷。 本文以浓硫酸为溶剂,乙醇溶液为萃取剂,采用气流辅助滴注/相分离法,将PEEK制备成448 μm左右,尺寸均匀的微球;经氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷(APTES)处理,获得表面氨基化修饰的PEEK微球(PEEK-N);进一步,以N,N'-羰基二咪唑(CDI)为活性中间体,将明胶分子接枝到PEEK-N微球表面,获得表面明胶修饰的PEEK微载体(PEEK-G)。 对材料的物理化学性质、表面接枝量进行表征;并通过体外细胞实验评估其细胞毒性、细胞粘附效率和细胞增殖能力。 结果显示,通过该方法制备成功了3种不同明胶接枝含量的PEEK细胞微载体(PEEK-G1,PEEK-G2,PEEK-G3),其中明胶含量较高的PEEK-G3毒性最低,细胞粘附和增殖效果最理想。     

Synthesis and Characterization of CdTe@CdS Quantum Dots Layered on Silica Nanoparticles

CdTe@CdS quantum dots, cationic polyelectrolyte poly-diallyldimethylammonium chloride, and anionic polyelectrolyte polyacrylic acid were assembled on the surface of silica nanoparticles based on the electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly to prepare fluorescent composite nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the particles had a uniform size distribution (approximately 70 nm) and good monodispersity. The fluorescence shielding effect of the silica shell was reduced and the assembled quantum dots were well protected by the sandwich structure. The nanoparticles provided strong fluorescence, high stability for storage, and low photobleaching and leakage. Furthermore, they possessed high fluorescence stability and high-concentration staining for cytoplasm, which enabled them to be used for sensitive cellular imaging analysis. Because of the presence of numerous carboxyl groups, they have potential application for biolabeling and bioanalysis.