Reconceptualization of Hormetic Responses in the Frame of Redox Toxicology

Cellular adaptive mechanisms emerging after exposure to low levels of toxic agents or stressful stimuli comprise an important biological feature that has gained considerable scientific interest. Investigations of low-dose exposures to diverse chemical compounds signify the non-linear mode of action in the exposed cell or organism at such dose levels in contrast to the classic detrimental effects induced at higher ones, a phenomenon usually referred to as hormesis. The resulting phenotype is a beneficial effect that tests our physiology within the limits of our homeostatic adaptations. Therefore, doses below the region of adverse responses are of particular interest and are specified as the hormetic gain zone. The manifestation of redox adaptations aiming to prevent from disturbances of redox homeostasis represent an area of particular interest in hormetic responses, observed after exposure not only to stressors but also to compounds of natural origin, such as phytochemicals. Findings from previous studies on several agents demonstrate the heterogeneity of the specific zone in terms of the molecular events occurring. Major factors deeply involved in these biphasic phenomena are the bioactive compound per se, the dose level, the duration of exposure, the cell, tissue or even organ exposed to and, of course, the biomarker examined. In the end, the molecular fate is a complex toxicological event, based on beneficial and detrimental effects, which, however, are poorly understood to date.

Hybrid Deflection of Spoiler Influencing Radar Cross-Section of Tailless Fighter

With the continuous development of advanced fighters towards tailless and flying wing layouts, diverse control surfaces have become the mainstream design. To study the influence of spoiler control surface on the radar cross-section (RCS) of a tailless fighter, a calculation method is presented. The deflection angle of the spoiler is controlled by the fixed mode, linear mode, and smooth mode. The results show that the opening action of the spoiler will break the original stealth characteristics of the aircraft at the key azimuth angles of the head and tail. As the elevation angle increases, this adverse effect will spread to the side. The influence of the different dynamic deflection modes of the spoiler on the aircraft RCS is analyzed. Compared with the linear dynamic deflection mode, the smooth dynamic deflection mode is conducive to the reduction in the average RCS at the given head azimuth. The presented method is effective to study the influence of the spoiler deflection on the electromagnetic scattering characteristics of the tailless aircraft.

Analysis of Material Susceptibility in Silicon on Insulator Waveguides With Combined Simulation of Four-Wave Mixing and Linear Mode Coupling

We derive propagation equations modeling third-order susceptibility-induced nonlinear interaction and linear mode coupling in waveguides. We model material susceptibility with Raman and electronic response which include approximations suited for optical communications. We validate our model by comparing numerical integration of the propagation equations to continuous wave measurements of a silicon on insulator waveguide.

Design of Low Voltage Low Power High Gain Operational Transconductance Amplifier

In this paper, a high gain structure of operational transconductance amplifier is presented. For low voltage operation with improved frequency response bulk driven quasi-floating gate MOSFET is used at the input. Further for achieving high gain the modified self cascode structure is used at the output. Compared to conventional self cascode the modified self cascode structure used provides higher transconductance which helps in significant boosting of gain of the amplifier. The modification is achieved by employing quasi-floating gate transistor which helps in scaling of the threshold which as a result increases the drain-to-source voltage of linear mode transistor thus changing it to saturation. This change of mode boosts the effective transconductance of self cascode MOSFET. The proposed operational transconductance amplifier when compared to its conventional showed improvement in DC gain by 30dB and also the unity gain bandwidth increases by 6 fold. The MOS models used for amplifier design are of 0.18µm CMOS technology at supply of 0.5V.

Mode structure symmetry breaking of reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes and its impact on the generation of parallel velocity asymmetries in energetic particle distribution

In this work, the gyrokinetic eigenvalue code LIGKA, the drift-kinetic/MHD hybrid code HMGC and the gyrokinetic full-f code TRIMEG-GKX are employed to study the mode structure details of Reversed Shear Alfv\'en Eigenmodes (RSAEs). Using the parameters from an ASDEX-Upgrade plasma, a benchmark with the three different physical models for RSAE without and with Energetic Particles (EPs) is carried out. Reasonable agreement has been found for the mode frequency and the growth rate. Mode structure symmetry breaking (MSSB) is observed when EPs are included, due to the EPs' non-perturbative effects. It is found that the MSSB properties are featured by a finite radial wave phase velocity, and the linear mode structure can be well described by an analytical complex Gaussian expression $\Phi(s)=e^{- \sigma (s-s_0)^2}$ with complex parameters $\sigma$ and $s_0$, where $s$ is the normalized radial coordinate. The mode structure is distorted in opposite {manners} when the EP drive shifted from one side of $q_{min}$ to the other side, and specifically, a non-zero average radial wave number $\langle k_s\rangle$ with opposite signs is generated. The initial EP density profiles and the corresponding mode structures have been used as the input of HAGIS code to study the EP transport. The parallel velocity of EPs is generated in opposite directions, due to different values of the average radial wave number $\langle k_s\rangle$, corresponding to different initial EP density profiles with EP drive shifted away from the $q_{min}$.

Energy spreading, equipartition and chaos in lattices with non-central forces

We numerically study a one dimensional, nonlinear lattice model which in the linear limit is relevant to the study of bending (flexural) waves. In contrast with the classic one dimensional mass-spring system, the linear dispersion relation of the considered model has different characteristics in the low frequency limit. By introducing disorder in the masses of the lattice particles, we investigate how different nonlinearities (cubic, quadratic and their combination) lead to energy delocalization, equipartition and chaotic dynamics. We excite the lattice using single site initial momentum excitations corresponding to a strongly localized linear mode and increase the initial energy of excitation. Beyond a certain energy threshold, when the cubic nonlinearity is present, the system is found to reach energy equipartition and total delocalization. On the other hand, when only the quartic nonlinearity is activated, the system remains localized and away from equipartition at least for the energies and evolution times considered here. However, for large enough energies for all types of nonlinearities we observe chaos. This chaotic behavior is combined with energy delocalization when cubic nonlinearities are present, while the appearance of only quadratic nonlinearity leads to energy localization. Our results reveal a rich dynamical behavior and show differences with the relevant Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou model. Our findings pave the way for the study of models relevant to bending (flexural) waves in the presence of nonlinearity and disorder, anticipating different energy transport behaviors.

The Influence of Aryl Substituents on the Supramolecular Structures and Photoluminescence of Cyclic Trinuclear Pyrazolato Copper(I) Complexes

Cyclic trinuclear complexes with group 11 metal (I) ions are fascinating and important to coordination chemistry. One of the ligands known to form these cyclic trinuclear complexes is pyrazolate, which is a bridging ligand that coordinates many transition metal ions in a Npz–M–Npz linear mode (Npz = pyrazolyl nitrogen atom). In these group 11 metal (I) ions, copper is the most abundant metal. Therefore, polynuclear Copper(I) complexes are very important in this field. The cyclic trinuclear Copper(I) complex [Cu(3,5-Ph2pz)]3 (3,5-Ph2pz– = 3,5-diphenyl-1-pyrazolate anion) was reported in 1988 as a landmark complex, but its photoluminescence properties have hitherto not been described. In this study, we report the photoluminescence and two different polymorphs of [Cu(3,5-Ph2pz)]3 and its derivative [Cu(3-Me-5-Phpz)]3 (3-Me-5-Phpz– = 3-metyl-5-phenyl-1-pyrazale anion). The substituents in [Cu(3-Me-5-Phpz)]3 cause smaller distortions in the solid-state structure and a red-shift in photoluminescence due to the presence of intermolecular cuprophilic interactions.

Correlating topography and elastic properties of Elastin-Like Polypeptide scaffolds probed at the nanoscale: Intermodulation Atomic Force Microscopy experiments and Molecular Dynamic simulations

The synthesis and property characterization of soft biomaterials has taken precedence in recent years. Although bulk physical-chemical properties are well known for these bio-materials, nanoscale properties still need to be probed and evaluated to fine tune the bio-compatibility (structural as well as functional) with natural tissues for regenerative medicine, prosthetics and other biological applications. In this study, we focus on a popular soft biomaterial, ELastin-like polypeptide (ELP) which has been prepared under different pH conditions. We explore the topographical features of the ELP at the nanoscale using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Additionally, we employ a non linear mode of AFM called Intermodulation-AFM (ImAFM) to correlate the elastic properties (Young's modulus) of ELP probed at the nanoscale with the topographical features which gives us a deep insight into the mechanical properties offered by ELP when the structural features are altered by change in the ELP synthesis conditions. The noteworthy point is that we measure theses properties at a spatial resolution of 0.9 nm. Finally, we explain the change in the structural features of ELP with varying pH through atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulations. We follow the interaction mechanisms of the amino acid sequences and crosslinkers with proteins as they form the backbone and sidechain of the ELP at different pH.