Side-by-side Research Articles

Pot size matters revisited: does container size affect the response to elevated CO2 and our ability to detect genotypic variability in this response in wheat?

Many studies have investigated the effect of elevated CO2 (eCO2) in wheat, although few have evaluated the potential of genotypic variability in the response. Such studies are the next logical step in wheat climate change adaptation research, and they will require the evaluation of large numbers of genotypes. For practical reasons the preliminary studies are most likely to be conducted in controlled environments. There have been concerns that the root restriction related to container-grown plants can influence (1) the response to eCO2, (2) the detection of genotypic variability for various traits of interest, and (3) the ability to find the genotypes most responsive to eCO2. In the present study we evaluated two sizes of container - 1.4L pots and 7.5L columns - side-by side in a glasshouse environment and found that for 14 of 23 traits observed environment effects (ambient CO2, eCO2 or eCO2 and high temperature) were not consistent between plants grown in pots and in columns. More importantly, of the 21 traits showing genotypic variability, only 8 showed consistent genotype differences and rankings across both container types. Statistical analyses conducted separately for plants grown in pots or in columns showed different cultivars as being the most responsive to elevated CO2 and would thus, have led to different conclusions. This study is intended as a message of caution to controlled environment experimenters: using small containers can artificially create conditions that could either hide or overly express genotypic variability in some traits in response to eCO2 compared with what might be expected in larger containers.

A comparison of simultaneous organic carbon and nitrogen removal in microbial fuel cells and microbial electrolysis cells

This study demonstrates simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal in laboratory-scale continuous flow microbial fuel cell (MFC) and microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) and provides side-by side comparison of these bioelectrochemical systems. The maximum organic carbon removal rates in MFC and MEC tests were similar at 5.1 g L−1 d−1 and 4.16 g L−1 d−1, respectively, with a near 100% carbon removal efficiency at an organic load of 3.3 g L−1 d−1. An ammonium removal efficiency of 30–55% with near-zero nitrite and nitrate concentrations was observed in the MFC operated at an optimal external resistance, while open-circuit MFC operation resulted in a reduced carbon and ammonium removal of 53% and 21%, respectively. In the MEC ammonium removal was limited to 7–12% under anaerobic conditions, while micro-aerobic conditions increased the removal efficiency to 31%. Also, at zero applied voltage both carbon and ammonium removal efficiencies were reduced to 42% and 4%, respectively. Based on the observed performance under different operating conditions, it was concluded that simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal was facilitated by concurrent anaerobic and aerobic biotransformation pathways at the anode and cathode, which balanced bioelectrochemical nitrification and denitrification reactions.

Heat-enhanced symmetry breaking in dynamic gold nanorod oligomers: the importance of interface control.

We reported a surprisingly strong plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) response in side-by-side (SS) oligomers of gold nanorods (GNRs) just by a simple heat treatment. The maximal anisotropic (g) factor achieved was up to 0.065, one of the largest reported for plasmon-enhanced chiral nanostructures based on a bottom-up strategy. The introduction of chiral thiolated molecules is suggested to guide the symmetry breaking of GNR assemblies and heat treatment provides the necessary energy to assist this process, and thus produces a huge PCD. Furthermore, we first demonstrated the critical role of the non-chiral component (surfactant layer) on the gold nanorod surface in mediating symmetry breaking. Our findings highlight the importance of interface control in the formation of chiral configuration for a plasmonic nanoparticle system. It offers new possibilities for fabricating nanostructures with strong chiroptical activity by the rational design of interface layers.

Characterization and comparative analysis of the tensile properties of five tempered martensitic steels and an oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic alloy irradiated at ≈295 °C to ≈6.5 dpa

Tensile test results at 25 and 300 °C on five 9-12Cr tempered martensitic steels and one 14Cr oxide dispersion strengthened alloy, that were side-by side irradiated to 6.5 dpa at 295 °C in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), are reported. The engineering stress–strain curves are analyzed to provide true stress–strain constitutive σ(ε) laws for all of these alloys. In the irradiated condition, the σ(ε) fall into categories of: strain softening, nearly perfectly plastic and strain hardening. Increases in yield stress (Δσy) and reductions in uniform strain ductility (eu) are observed, where the latter can be understood in terms of the alloy's σ(ε) behavior. Increases in the average σ(ε) in the range of 0–10% strain are smaller than the corresponding Δσy, and vary more from alloy to alloy. The data are also analyzed to establish relations between Δσy and coupled changes in the ultimate stresses as well as the effects of both test temperature and the unirradiated yield stress (σyu). The latter shows that higher σyu correlates with lower Δσy. In five out of six cases the effects of irradiation are generally consistent with previous observations on these alloys. However, the particular heat of the 12Cr HT-9 tempered martensitic steel in this study has a much higher eu than observed for earlier heats. The reasons for this improved behavior are not understood and may be microstructural in origin. However, it is noted that the new heat of HT-9, which was procured under modern quality assurance standards, has lower interstitial nitrogen than previous heats. Notably lower interstitial solute contents correlate with improved ductility and homogenous deformation in broadly similar steels.

Topic controversies in the endoscopic management of malignant hilar strictures using metal stent: side-by-side versus stent-in-stent techniques.

Endoscopic management of unresectable hilar malignant biliary stricture (MBS) is currently challenging, and the best approach is still controversial. Liver volume is the key to adequate biliary drainage in hilar MBS and multiple stenting is mandatory to drain over 50% of liver volume in most cases. The self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) has shown superior patency to plastic stents in recent reports. There are two methods of multiple stenting for hilar MBS: stent-in-stent (SIS) and side-by-side (SBS). Advantages of SIS include multiple SEMS placement in one stent caliber at the common bile duct (CBD), which is considered physiologically ideal. The through-the-mesh (TTM) technique with guidewires and the SEMS delivery system can be technically difficult in SIS, although the recent development of dedicated SEMSs having a loose portion facilitating the TTM technique makes SIS technically feasible both at stent deployment and re-interventions. Conversely, the SBS technique, if placed across the papilla, is technically simple at initial placement and re-intervention at stent occlusion. However, SBS has potential disadvantages of overexpansion of the CBD because of parallel placement of multiple SEMS, which can lead to portal vein thrombosis. Given the limited evidence available, a well-designed randomized controlled trial comparing these two techniques is warranted.

39 Inhibition of CFTR slows forskolin-stimulated mucociliary clearance in ferret trachea

Objective Mucus clearance is a primary defense mechanism of the airways. Mucus secretion and clearance are abnormal in diverse organs in humans with CF and in all CF animal models. To better understand the contribution of CFTR to mucociliary clearance (MCC), we asked if CFTR plays a role in ferret tracheal MCC by directly inhibiting CFTR with a selective CFTR inhibitor, CFTRinh172. Methods We measured MCC velocities in ex vivo adult ferret tracheas by following particle movements with time-lapse digital imaging (Jeong et al . 2014 AJP-lung, L83) in the presence or absence of CFTRinh172. Tracheas were mounted side-by side in a chamber that was sealed, 37°C-maintained, and continuously supplied with warmed, humidified 95% O 2 -5% CO 2 gas. Particle movements (MCC) were measured at 20 sec intervals for 30 min: 10 mM forskolin or 0.3 mM carbachol +/– CFTRinh172. Tissue viability was assessed by then stimulating MCC for 30 min with 0.3 mM carbachol plus 10 mM forskolin in the absence of CFTRinh172. Results CFTRinh172 significantly reduced forskolin-induced MCC but did not significantly decrease MCC-stimulated by 0.3 mM carbachol. The MCC increase to carbachol + forskolin given after either agonist alone was not inhibited by prior CFTRinh172 treatment. Conclusion The present study demonstrated an important contribution of CFTR activity to forskolin-stimulated increases in MCC. In the ex vivo ferret trachea, ∼66% inhibition was produced with CFTRinh172 pretreatment. Cholinergically stimulated MCC was reduced only ∼18% by CFTRinh172 (n.s.). MCC was synergistically increased by forskolin + carbachol. Supported by CFF and CFFT.

Multifractal analysis of 3D video representation formats

Abstract One of the main properties of a three-dimensional (3D) video is the large amount of data, which impose challenges for network transport of videos, in applications such as digital video broadcast (DVB), streaming over IP networks, or for transmission over mobile broadband. Addressing these challenges requires a thorough understanding of the characteristics and traffic properties of 3D video formats. We analyzed 3D video formats using publicly available long video frame-size traces of videos in full high definition (HD) resolution with two views. Examined 3D video representation formats are the multiview (MV) video format, the frame sequential (FS) format, and the side-by-side (SBS) format. We performed a multifractal analysis through extensive simulation and showed multifractal properties of 3D video representation formats. It was shown that the MV video had the highest multifractal nature, while the FS video had the lowest. Also, a part of the multifractal spectrum connected to the highest changes in the signal (high bitrate variability) is analyzed in detail. Changes in multifractal properties for different streaming approaches of 3D videos with aggregated frames are examined, as well as the influence of frame types and values of quantization parameters. Multifractal analysis was performed by the method of moments and by the histogram method.

Controlling the orientations of gold nanorods inside highly packed 2D arrays.

Gold nanorods (AuNRs) were assembled into highly packed two dimensional (2D) arrays with different structures by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. The structure of the 2D arrays (the width of the arrays, the surface area and the shape of circular voids) was controlled by varying the applied surface pressure in the LB trough. Due to the shape anisotropy of AuNRs, both end-to-end (EE) and side-by-side (SS) assembly were observed depending on the chain length of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer functionalized with their surfaces. Short chain PEG encouraged the SS assembly of the AuNRs, while the SS and EE assemblies were obtained in case of using the long chain PEG. Numerical calculation of the potential energy between two nanorods as a function of separation and orientation yielded good predictions of the optimum separation distance between the nanorods and their orientations inside the arrays. Due to the alignment of the AuNRs inside the arrays, optical measurements of the arrays showed a strong longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak when excited by polarized light along the axis of the majority of the rods. When the polarization angle was rotated by 90 degrees, the intensity of the high energy transverse LSPR peak was increased. The measured LSPR spectrum of the arrays was confirmed by discrete dipole approximation (DDA) calculations, which was used to simulate both the LSPR spectrum and the plasmon field distribution.

Solid-phase extraction in segmented flow.

Two-phase flow systems are increasingly popular for miniaturized, high-throughput performance of analytical or chemical reactions. In this contribution, we extend a previously described method that allows to increase the range of applications of heterogeneous reactions in two-phase flow, i.e., reactions that rely on isolation and purification of the compound of interest for downstream analysis. Our concept is based on liquid plugs, which serve as miniaturized compartments for the analytical reactions. Purification of the target compound is achieved by extracting the analyte from the aqueous compartments using magnetic beads as solid carriers. In the present paper, we elucidate the influence of parameters such as the polarity of the liquid/liquid and solid/liquid interfaces, the magnetic forces and the fluidic conditions onto the extraction performance. The conditions for reliable extraction and purification of the target compounds are determined. Furthermore, we investigate how to facilitate breaking of the plugs through reduction of the surface tension of the solid/liquid interface. When a lower surface tension is employed, a smaller number of beads is required for the extraction process, which implies a higher sensitivity of the device. In addition, we generate channels with different surface chemistries, which are able to manipulate the flow of the two immiscible liquids. We describe a very simple way to generate such devices and show that we can achieve a transition from segmented flow of plugs to a side-by side flow of the two immiscible liquids, a key requirement for the purification of the compounds.

Plasmonic Properties of the End-to-End and Side-by-Side Assembled Au Nanorods

Well-defined assemblies of Au nanorods (NRs) exhibit outstanding optical and electric properties, including surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of an individual nanorod and the coupling SPR among the assemblies. We present a direct approach for end-to-end (E-E) and side-by-side (S-S) assembly of Au NRs using poly (ethylene glycol) dithiol (HS-PEG-SH) and cysteine (Cys), respectively. The coupling SPR properties between the neighboring Au NRs are studied through experimental measurements and finite-different time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The simulated SPR tunability over the assembly agree with that of the experimental results, and both of the longitudinal SPR shifts for E-E and S-S assemblies are well fitted with the exponential function. The present assembled method provides a way for directing anisotropic nanostructures into well-defined orientations, and will be potentially useful in optoelectronics and biomedical engineering.

End-to-end and side-by-side assemblies of gold nanorods induced by dithiol poly(ethylene glycol)

The assemblies of gold nanorods (Au NRs) exhibit unique properties distinct from the isolated Au NR. We report an effective and simple method for the end-to-end (E-E) and side-by-side (S-S) assemblies of Au NRs with a molecularly defined nanogap (1–2 nm) only in the presence of dithiol poly(ethylene glycol) (HS-PEG-SH). The assembled methods need neither the pH value adjustments nor the addition of other organic solvent. With increasing amount of dithiol molecules, assembled modes of Au NRs experience an interesting procedure, changing from E-E to S-S orientation. The experimental results indicate that when the concentration of HS-PEG-SH is less than 0.25 μM, electrostatic repulsion of positive-charged CTA+ is stronger than the affinity of the Au-S binding, resulting in the E-E oriented assembly. Otherwise, the S-S oriented mode is predominated. The current assembled method will be potentially useful for the optoelectronics and biomedical engineering.

Proteome profiling of virus-host interactions of wild type and attenuated measles virus strains.

In the present study we investigated the host cell proteome upon measles virus (MV) infection. The novelty about this study is the side-by side comparison of different strains from the same virus, which has not been done at the proteome level for any other virus including MV. We used different virus strains including a vaccine strain, wild type isolates derived from MV-infected patients as well as a Vero cell adapted strain, which serves as an intermediate between vaccine and wild type strain. We observed differences between vaccine and wild type strains as well as common features between different wild type strains. Perhaps one of the most surprising findings was that differences did not only occur between wild type and vaccine or Vero cell adapted strains but also between different wild type strains. In fact our study suggests that besides the cytokeratin and the IFN system wild type viruses seem to differ as much among each other than from vaccine strains. Thus our results are suggestive of complex and diverse virus-host interactions which differ considerably between different wild type strains. Our data indicate that interstrain differences are prominent and have so far been neglected by proteomics studies.

Surface Plasmon Resonance Coupling Effect of Assembled Gold Nanorods Based on the FDTD Simulation

Much attention has been given to the optical properties of noble metal nanostructures and these are closely related to the size, morphology, and environment of the nanoparticles. In this paper, the influences of structures and assembly modes on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Au nanorods were studied through a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation on Au nanorod assemblies (dimers and multimers) of different configurations. The simulated optical spectra agree well with the experimental results. The simulated results for the side-by-side (S-S) orientedAu nanorods indicate that the transverse SPR (SPRT) has a slight red- shift, and the longitudinal SPR (SPRL) blue-shifts obviously. For the end-to-end (E-E) orientedAu nanorod dimer, the results indicate that with a decrease in the gap spacing of the E-E orientedAu nanorods, the SPRT does not shift while the SPRL red-shifts obviously. Moreover, a new coupling SPR peak appears in the near-infrared (NIR) region, blue-shifting and enhancing with a decrease in the gap spacing. Based on the spring oscillator model and the polarization of the nanoparticles under an incident electric field, we propose a reason for the SPR shift and the appearance of a new coupling SPR for the Au nanorod assemblies.

Measuring individual locomotor rhythms in honey bees, paper wasps and similar sized insects

Circadian rhythms in social insects are highly plastic and are modulated by multiple factors. In addition, complex behaviors such as sun-compass orientation and time learning are clearly regulated by the circadian system in these organisms. Despite these unique features of social insect clocks, the mechanisms as well as the functional and evolutionary relevance of these traits remain largely unknown. Here we show a modification of the Drosophila activity monitoring (DAM) system that allowed us to measure locomotor rhythms of the honey bee, Apis mellifera (three variants; gAHB, carnica and caucasica), and two paper wasps (Polistes crinitus and Mischocyttarus phthisicus). A side-by-side comparison of the endogenous period under constant darkness (free-running period) led us to the realization that these social insects exhibit significant deviations from the Earth's 24 h rotational period as well as a large degree of inter-individual variation compared with Drosophila. Experiments at different temperatures, using honey bees as a model, revealed that testing the endogenous rhythm at 35°C, which is the hive's core temperature, results in average periods closer to 24 h compared with 25°C (23.8 h at 35°C versus 22.7 h at 25°C). This finding suggests that the degree of tuning of circadian temperature compensation varies among different organisms. We expect that the commercial availability, cost-effectiveness and integrated nature of this monitoring system will facilitate the growth of the circadian field in these social insects and catalyze our understanding of the mechanisms as well as the functional and evolutionary relevance of circadian rhythms.

The role of visual cues in learning escape behaviour in the little brown skink (Scincella lateralis)

Many small animals escape predators by running under an escape retreat such as a rock, log, or pile of leaves. Rapid escape to a retreat would be facilitated if the animal already learned the location of the retreat before it ever had to flee from a predator. One way a small animal might do this is to attend to a prominent ‘local cue’, that is, a visual cue that is part of, or contiguous with, the retreat. I tested the hypothesis that a small lizard commonly known as the little brown skink, Scincella lateralis, can use a local visual cue to learn an escape behaviour. Little brown skinks were presented with two retreats side-by side in an observation chamber. One retreat was backed with a vertical striped cue and the other backed with a horizontal striped cue. Each lizard was induced to run from one end of the observation tank to the opposite end with the two retreats; the retreat that each lizard chose for escape was recorded through a series of 15 trials conducted over three days. Half of the lizards were trained to escape to the vertical cue retreat; half were trained to escape to the horizontal cue retreat. About one-third of little brown skinks met the learning criterion of escaping to the correct retreat in five consecutive trials. However, significantly more of the vertical cue lizards met the learning criterion than did horizontal cue lizards. Also, the vertical cue lizards escaped to the correct retreat significantly more often than expected by chance. Furthermore, even the horizontal cue lizards showed a preference for escaping to the vertical cue retreat. This suggests little brown skinks can use a local visual cue to learn an escape behaviour, but only if it a vertical cue. This may be related to the use of a vertical cue to obtain positional information to locate a retreat or perhaps to the tendency of this forest species to attend to abundant vertical cues in its habitat.

Interface Behavior in Functionally Graded Ceramics for the Magnetic Refrigeration: Numerical Modeling

The active magnetic regenerator refrigerator is currently the most common magnetic refrigeration device for near room temperature applications, and it is driven by the magnetocaloric effect in the regenerator material. In order to make this efficient, a graded configuration of the magnetocaloric material is needed. Tape casting is a common process in producing functional ceramics, and it has recently been established for producing side-by-side (SBS) functionally graded ceramics (FGCs). The main goal of the present work is to study the multiple material flows in SBS tape casting and analyze the influence of the different material properties, i.e. the density and the viscosity, on the interface between the flows, since this is highly important for the efficiency of the device. The Newtonian flow behavior with relatively high viscosity is assumed for each fluid and used in the simulation with a commercial CFD code (ANSYS FLUENT). The results show that the density change does not affect the interface between the adjacent fluids. The viscosity of the fluids plays the most important role in the behavior of the interface. Moreover, increasing the viscosity difference of the adjacent flows, Δμ, leads to increasing the diffusive region between the two fluids.

Traffic and Statistical Multiplexing Characterization of 3-D Video Representation Formats

The network transport of 3-D video, which contains two views of a video scene, poses significant challenges due to the increased video data, compared to a conventional single-view video. Addressing these challenges requires a thorough understanding of the traffic and multiplexing characteristics of the different representation formats of a 3-D video. We examine the average bitrate-distortion (RD) and bitrate variability-distortion characteristics of three main representation formats. Specifically, we compare multiview video (MV) representation and encoding, frame sequential (FS) representation, and side-by-side (SBS) representation, whereby conventional single-view encoding is employed for the FS and SBS representations. Our results for long 3-D videos in the full HD format indicate that the MV representation and encoding achieves the highest RD efficiency, while exhibiting the highest bitrate variabilities. We examine the impact of these bitrate variabilities on network transport through extensive statistical multiplexing simulations. We find that when multiplexing a small number of streams, the MV and FS representations require the same bandwidth. However, when multiplexing a large number of streams or smoothing traffic, the MV representation and encoding reduces the bandwidth requirement relative to the FS representation.

Modeling of the interface behavior in tape casting of functionally graded ceramics for magnetic refrigeration parts

The main goal of this work is to study the multiple material flows in side-by-side (SBS) tape casting and analyze the influence of the different material properties, i.e. the density and the viscosity, on the interface between the fluids, since this is highly important for the efficiency of a graded configuration of the magnetocaloric materials. The Newtonian flow behavior with relatively high viscosity is assumed for each fluid and used in the simulation with a commercial CFD code (ANSYS FLUENT). The results show that the density difference does not affect the interface between the adjacent fluids, whereas the viscosity of the fluids plays the most important role in the behavior of the interface. Moreover, increasing the viscosity difference of the adjacent fluids, Δμ, leads to increasing the diffusive region between them. However, this can be counteracted by decreasing the velocity by the substrate.

Special issue on “Challenges, trends and solutions for 3-D imaging techniques”

We are pleased to present Challenges, Trends and Solutions for 3-D Imaging Techniques Special Issue. The interest in 3-D imaging systems and applications has been growing at a fast pace. Applications ranging from entertainment to computer vision, including augmented reality and teleoperation systems are tending to increasingly rely on 3-D imaging technologies. The papers in this special issue span awide range of problems arising in the development of algorithms for 3-D applications, technologies and services. Among the topics addressed are 3-D video transmission, quality assessment of 3-D content, virtual reality systems, production audit systems and 3-D reconstruction techniques. For this Special Issue we have received 13 submissions. Each one has undergone rigorous peer-review, and based on these reviews we have selected 7 papers for publication. The first two papers are on frame-compatible interpolation techniques for 3-D video transmission. The first one of them, Mode selective interpolation for stereoscopic 3D video in frame-compatible top-bottom packing, by C. S. Won, proposes a frame-compatible topand-bottom packing with a horizontal line offset. It exploits the horizontal parallax between the left and right viewpoints improving the quality of the reconstructed video when compared to conventional interpolation. The second paper,Analysis of frame-compatible subsampling structures for efficient 3DTV broadcast, byR. Mohedano et al., deals with alternative subsampling schemes for 3-D framecompatible broadcasting. It analyzes and compares different spatial multiplexing arrangementswith thewell known side-by-side (SbS) and top-and-bottom (TaB) formats. The authors propose, for progressive and interlaced video, schemes for frame-compatible packing that present higher objective quality for the reconstructed video than the SbS and TaB structures.

Aesthetics and Tourism

The aim of this few comments is to link tourism to the desire for beauty that seems to be side by side with humankind since the very beginnings. Reflections are grounded on Benjamin´s interpretation of Baudelaire, on Boorstin, MacCannel and Urry, as well as on my own field experience and intend to stimulate more research on the role played by aesthetics in tourism experience.