Blood-brain barrier and cerebral blood flow: Age differences in hemorrhagic stroke

Neonatal stroke is similar to the stroke that occurs in adults and produces a significant morbidity and long-term neurologic and cognitive deficits.There are important differences in the factors,clinical events and outcomes associated with the stroke in infants and adults.However,mechanisms underlying age differences in the stroke development remain largely unknown.Therefore,treatment guidelines for neonatal stroke must extrapolate from the adult data that is often not suitable for children.The new information about differences between neonatal and adult stroke is essential for identification of significant areas for future treatment and effective prevention of neonatal stroke.Here,we studied the development of stress-induced hemorrhagic stroke and possible mechanisms underlying these processes in newborn and adult rats.Using histological methods and magnetic resonance imaging,we found age differences in the type of intracranial hemorrhages.Newborn rats demonstrated small superficial bleedings in the cortex while adult rats had more severe deep bleedings in the cerebellum.Using Doppler optical coherent tomography,we found higher stress-reactivity of the sagittal sinus to deleterious effects of stress in newborn vs.adult rats suggesting that the cerebral veins are more vulnerable to negative stress factors in neonatal vs.adult brain in rats.However,adult but not newborn rats demonstrated the stroke-induced breakdown of blood brain barrier(BBB)permeability.The one of possible mechanisms underlying the higher resistance to stress-related stroke injures of cerebral vessels in newborn rats compared with adult animals is the greater expression of two main tight junction proteins of BBB(occludin and claudin-5)in neonatal vs.mature brain in rats.

A Finite-Difference Approximation for the Oneand Two-Dimensional Tempered Fractional Laplacian

This paper provides a finite-difference discretization for the one-and two-dimensional tempered fractional Laplacian and solves the tempered fractional Poisson equation with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions.The main ideas are to,respectively,use linear and quadratic interpolations to approximate the singularity and non-singularity of the one-dimensional tempered fractional Laplacian and bilinear and biquadratic interpolations to the two-dimensional tempered fractional Laplacian.Then,we give the truncation errors and prove the convergence.Numerical experiments verify the convergence rates of the order O(h^2−2s).

Multi-temporal NDVI analysis using UAV images of tree crowns in a northern Mexican pine-oak forest

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV)for forest monitoring has grown significantly in recent years,providing information with high spatial resolution and temporal versatility.UAV with multispectral sensors allow the use of indexes such as the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),which determines the vigor,physiological stress and photo synthetic activity of vegetation.This study aimed to analyze the spectral responses and variations of NDVI in tree crowns,as well as their correlation with climatic factors over the course of one year.The study area encompassed a 1.6-ha site in Durango,Mexico,where Pinus cembroides,Pinus engelmannii,and Quercus grisea coexist.Multispectral images were acquired with UAV and information on meteorological variables was obtained from NASA/POWER database.An ANOVA explored possible differences in NDVI among the three species.Pearson correlation was performed to identify the linear relationship between NDVI and meteorological variables.Significant differences in NDVI values were found at the genus level(Pinus and Quercus),possibly related to the physiological features of the species and their phenology.Quercus grisea had the lowest NDVI values throughout the year which may be attributed to its sensitivity to relative humidity and temperatures.Although the use of UAV with a multispectral sensor for NDVI monitoring allowed genera differentiation,in more complex forest analyses hyperspectral and LiDAR sensors should be integrated,as well other vegetation indexes be considered.

Smart Semi-active PID-ACO control strategy for tower vibration reduction in Wind Turbines with MR damper

Wind turbine technology is well known around the globe as an eco-friendly and eff ective renewable power source. However, this technology often faces reliability problems due to structural vibration. This study proposes a smart semi-active vibration control system using Magnetorheological (MR) dampers where feedback controllers are optimized with nature-inspired algorithms. Proportional integral derivative (PID) and Proportional integral (PI) controllers are designed to achieve the optimal desired force and current input for MR the damper. PID control parameters are optimized using an Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. The eff ectiveness of the ACO algorithm is validated by comparing its performance with Ziegler-Nichols (Z-N) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The placement of the MR damper on the tower is also investigated to ensure structural balance and optimal desired force from the MR damper. The simulation results show that the proposed semi-active PID-ACO control strategy can signifi cantly reduce vibration on the wind turbine tower under diff erent frequencies (i.e., 67%, 73%, 79% and 34.4% at 2 Hz, 3 Hz, 4.6 Hz and 6 Hz, respectively) and amplitudes (i.e. 50%, 58% and 67% for 50 N, 80 N, and 100 N, respectively). In this study, the simulation model is validated with an experimental study in terms of natural frequency, mode shape and uncontrolled response at the 1st mode. The proposed PID-ACO control strategy and optimal MR damper position is also implemented on a lab-scaled wind turbine tower model. The results show that the vibration reduction rate is 66% and 73% in the experimental and simulation study, respectively, at the 1st mode.

Aerodynamic interaction between forewing and hindwing of a hovering dragonfly

The phase change between the forewing and hindwing is a distinct feature that sets dragonfly apart from other insects.In this paper,we investigated the aerodynamic effects of varying forewing-hindwing phase di ff erence with a60 inclined stroke plane during hovering flight.Force measurements on a pair of mechanical wing models showed that in-phase flight enhanced the forewing lift by 17%and the hindwing lift was reduced at most phase differences.The total lift of both wings was also reduced at most phase di ff erences and only increased at a phase range around in-phase.The results may explain the commonly observed behavior of the dragonfly where 0 is employed in acceleration.We further investigated the wing-wing interaction mechanism using the digital particle image velocimetry（PIV）system,and found that the forewing generated a downwash flow which is responsible for the lift reduction on the hindwing.On the other hand,an upwash flow resulted from the leading edge vortex of the hindwing helps to enhance lift on the forewing.The results suggest that the dragonflies alter the phase di ff erences to control timing of the occurrence of flow interactions to achieve certain aerodynamic effects.

Phylogenetic relationship of Picea mongolica with other Picea species in the same area based on chloroplast gene variations

Picea mongolica is a conifer with a limited distribution in China and its taxonomic status is controversial.In order to explore genetic diff erences between P.mongolica and other nearby Picea species and to investigate its taxonomic status,phylogenetic relationships were analyzed between P.mongolica and Picea koraiensis,Picea meyeri and Picea wilsonii by three chloroplast gene sequences matK,chlB and atpA.The length of joint chloroplast sequence is 2379 bp.The fi fteen haplotypes were identifi ed by haplotype network analysis,among which two were major haplotypes and nine were unique.In addition,the genetic diversity of the sample collection species was inferred.Based on the haplotype network and Neighbor Joining phylogenetic tree analysis,P.mongolica was located on the basal clade of the phylogenetic tree which had more primitive taxa,and the genetic diversity of P.mongolica was highest.The signifi cant diff erences between P.mongolica and these other Picea species were identifi ed by this research.

Role of Microalloyed Y and Gd in Improving the Corrosion Resistance of Rolled Mg-3Al-1Zn Alloy

The corrosion performances of rolled AZ31 alloy with addition of Y and Gd were comparatively investigated. The corrosion rates of AZ31 alloy modified with Y and Gd were 3.3 and 3.7 mm/y immersing for 24 h in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, respectively, which were much lower than that of AZ31 alloy(23.6 mm/y). The remarkable improvement in corrosion performance by adding Y or Gd was ascribed to preferentially form less noble Al_(2)Y or Al_(6)GdMn_(6) and more protective corrosion product layer, resulting in the reduction in H_(2) evolution rate and the enhancement of passivity.