Programming a Parametric Design Algorithm to Improve Manufacturing Processes＇ Efficiency： The Case Study of Glued-Laminated Timber

In the last decade, parametric and generative design techniques become quite popular for form-finding strategies or for pushing automation in design processes. Nevertheless, these techniques could be applied in engineering processes as well in order to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of manufacturing processes in BI （building industry）. Focusing on the case study of GLT （glued-laminated timber）, this paper shows the procedure of programming a parametric algorithm adopted by authors that pursues two specific design intents： reducing the usage of unneeded high-quality raw material and improving the efficiency of production processes by producing DF （digital fabrication） contents for standard production systems of GLT. According to different European and international standards, thanks to FEM （finite element model） simulations and curvature analysis, the algorithm allows saving at least 33% of high-quality raw material and, according to early first surveys on a standard production system, 30% of operation time among product engineering-processes.

Age and depot-specific adipokine responses to obesity in mice

Leptin and adiponectin are the most abundant adipokines that regulate energy homeostasis. Here, we report the changes of leptin and adiponectin in response to age and their depot-specific expression in lean and genetically obese mice. Fat deposition patterns, adipokine levels and their adipose-tissue depot-specific expression patterns were examined in both sexes of lean and obese mice on two different diets at four and 20 weeks. In obese mice, body fat mass was higher than in lean mice and was increased with age. Leptin levels correlated with body fat mass and therefore increased with age. Leptin levels were correlated higher with the weight of subcutaneous than with the weight of reproductive adipose tissue. Likewise, leptin mRNA levels in subcutaneous adipose tissue corresponded well with serum leptin levels. Adiponectin levels did not differ significantly between the ages and did not correlate with body fat mass or with either of the adipose-tissue depots, although obese mice had lower adiponectin levels than lean mice. Nevertheless, serum adiponectin levels showed a pattern of changes that was similar to that of the adiponectin transcript amounts in the reproductive adipose tissue. Our results confirm that serum leptin levels are regulated by the body fat mass, predominantly by the subcutaneous adipose tissue mass. Furthermore, our data provide evidence that serum adiponectin levels are influenced by other factors than body fat mass alone.

Iron Mobilization and Mineralogical Alterations Induced by Iron-Deficient Cucumber Plants (Cucumis sativus L.) in a Calcareous Soil

Dicotyledons cope with ion(Fe) shortage by releasing low-molecular-weight organic compounds into the rhizosphere to mobilize Fe through reduction and complexation mechanisms. The effects induced by these root exudates on soil mineralogy and the connections between Fe mobilization and mineral weathering processes have not been completely clarified. In a batch experiment, we tested two different kinds of organic compounds commonly exuded by Fe-deficient plants, i.e., three organic acids(citrate, malate, and oxalate)and three flavonoids(rutin, quercetin, and genistein), alone or in combination, for their ability to mobilize Fe from a calcareous soil and modify its mineralogy. The effect of root exudates on soil mineralogy was assessed in vivo by cultivating Fe-deficient and Fe-sufficient cucumber plants(Cucumis sativus L.) in a RHIZOtest device. Mineralogical analyses were performed by X-ray powder diffraction. The batch experiment showed that citrate and, particularly, rutin(alone or combined with organic acids or genistein)promoted Fe mobilization from the soil. The combinations of rutin and organic acids modified the soil mineralogy by dissolving the amorphous fractions and promoting the formation of illite. These mineralogical alterations were significantly correlated with the amount of Fe mobilized from the soil. The RHIZOtest experiment revealed a drastic dissolution of amorphous components in the rhizosphere soil of Fe-deficient plants, possibly caused by the intense release of phenolics, amino acids, and organic acids, but without any formation of illite. Both batch and RHIZOtest experiments proved that exudates released by cucumber under Fe deficiency concurred to the rapid modification(on a day-scale) of the mineralogy of a calcareous soil.

Identities for Catalan’s Constant Arising from Integrals Depending on a Parameter

In this paper we provide some relationships between Catalan’s constant and the 3F2 and4F3 hypergeometric functions,deriving them from some parametric integrals.In particular,using the complete elliptic integral of the first kind,we found an alternative proof of a result of Ramanujan for3F2,a second identity related to 4F3 and using the complete elliptic integral of the second kind we obtain an identity by Adamchik.