ALBERT

Description: Genome packing in adenovirus has long evaded precise description, since the viral dsDNA molecule condensed by proteins (core) lacks icosahedral order characteristic of the virus protein coating (capsid). We show that useful insights regarding the organization of the core can be inferred from the analysis of spatial distributions of the DNA and condensing protein units (adenosomes). These were obtained from the inspection of cryo-electron tomography reconstructions of individual human adenovirus particles. Our analysis shows that the core lacks symmetry and strict order, yet the adenosome distribution is not entirely random. The features of the distribution can be explained by modeling the condensing proteins and the part of the genome in each adenosome as very soft spheres, interacting repulsively with each other and with the capsid, producing a minimum outward pressure of ~0.06 atm. Although the condensing proteins are connected by DNA in disrupted virion cores, in our models a backbone of DNA linking the adenosomes is not required to explain the experimental results in the confined state. In conclusion, the interior of an adenovirus infectious particle is a strongly confined and dense phase of soft particles (adenosomes) without a strictly defined DNA backbone.

Description: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 100, Issue 10, Page 1909-1921, October 2019. 〈br/〉

Description: In this article, we introduce and study a family of compatible functions in Hilbert algebras which in the case of Heyting algebras agree with the frontal operators given by Esakia (2006, J. Appl. Non-Class. Log ., 16, 349–366). Moreover, we give a representation theory, based on previous works by Cabrer, Celani and Montangie, for Hilbert algebras with a frontal operator and for Hilbert algebras with some particular frontal operators.

Description: Energies, Vol. 11, Pages 54: Potential of Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Biodiesel Production under Natural Conditions in Chile Energies doi: 10.3390/en11010054 Authors: Monique Branco-Vieira Sergio San Martin Cristian Agurto Marco Santos Marcos Freitas Teresa Mata António Martins Nídia Caetano Diatoms are very diverse and highly productive organisms, found in a wide variety of environments. This study aims to analyze the growth and lipid composition of Phaeodactylum tricornutum, cultured in an outdoor pilot-scale bubble column photobioreactor under natural conditions in Chile for biodiesel production. Results showed that P. tricornutum cultures reached their highest biomass concentration (0.96 ± 0.04 kg m−3) after 14 days of culturing, at the stationary phase, with a volumetric productivity of 0.13 kg m−3 d−1. Biomass samples showed a total lipid content of 9.08 ± 0.38 wt %. The fatty acid methyl ester analysis revealed a composition of 24.39% C16-C18 fatty acids, 42.34% saturated fatty acids, 21.91% monounsaturated fatty acids and 31.41% polyunsaturated fatty acids. These findings suggest that P. tricornutum oil can be used as an alternative raw material for the production of biodiesel capable of meeting international quality standards.

Description: A scalable second-order analytical orbit propagator programme based on modern and classical perturbation methods is being developed. As a first step in the validation and verification of part of our orbit propagator programme, we only consider the perturbation produced by zonal harmonic coefficients in the Earth’s gravity potential, so that it is possible to analyze the behaviour of the mathematical expressions involved in Delaunay normalization and the Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolsky method in depth and determine their limits.

Description: We present a new approach in astrodynamics and celestial mechanics fields, called hybrid perturbation theory. A hybrid perturbation theory combines an integrating technique, general perturbation theory or special perturbation theory or semianalytical method, with a forecasting technique, statistical time series model or computational intelligence method. This combination permits an increase in the accuracy of the integrating technique, through the modeling of higher-order terms and other external forces not considered in the integrating technique. In this paper, neural networks have been used as time series forecasters in order to help two economic general perturbation theories describe the motion of an orbiter only perturbed by the Earth’s oblateness.

Description: This paper reports on the modelling of a commercial 1.2 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), based on interrelated electrical and thermal models. The electrical model proposed is based on the integration of the thermodynamic and electrochemical phenomena taking place in the FC whilst the thermal model is established from the FC thermal energy balance. The combination of both models makes it possible to predict the FC voltage, based on the current demanded and the ambient temperature. Furthermore, an experimental characterization is conducted and the parameters for the models associated with the FC electrical and thermal performance are obtained. The models are implemented in Matlab Simulink and validated in a number of operating environments, for steady-state and dynamic modes alike. In turn, the FC models are validated in an actual microgrid operating environment, through the series connection of 4 PEMFC. The simulations of the models precisely and accurately reproduce the FC electrical and thermal performance.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 61: Spatial Analysis of Digital Imagery of Weeds in a Maize Crop ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7020061 Authors: Carolina San Martín Alice Milne Richard Webster Jonathan Storkey Dionisio Andújar Cesar Fernández-Quintanilla José Dorado Modern photographic imaging of agricultural crops can pin-point individual weeds, the patterns of which can be analyzed statistically to reveal how they are affected by variation in soil, by competition from other species and by agricultural operations. This contrasts with previous research on the patchiness of weeds that has generally used grid sampling and ignored processes operating at a fine scale. Nevertheless, an understanding of the interaction of biology, environment and management at all scales will be required to underpin robust precise control of weeds. We studied the spatial distributions of six common weed species in a maize field in central Spain. We obtained digital imagery of a rectangular plot 41.0 m by 10.5 m (= 430.5 m2) and from it recorded the exact coordinates of every seedling: more than 82,000 individuals in all. We analyzed the resulting body of data using three techniques: an aggregation analysis of the punctual distributions, a geostatistical analysis of quadrat counts and wavelet analysis of quadrat counts. We found that all species were aggregated with average distances across patches ranging from 3 cm–18 cm. Species with small seeds tended to occur in larger patches than those with large seeds. Several species had aggregation patterns that repeated periodically at right angles to the direction of the crop rows. Wheel tracks favored some species (e.g., thornapple), whereas other species (e.g., johnsongrass) were denser elsewhere. Interactions between species at finer scales (<1 m) were negligible, although a negative correlation between thornapple and cocklebur was evident. We infer that the spatial distributions of weeds at the fine scales are products both of their biology and local environment caused by cultivation, with interactions between species playing a minor role. Spatial analysis of such high-resolution imagery can reveal patterns that are not immediately evident from sampling at coarser scales and aid our understanding of how and why weeds aggregate in patches.

Description: Hemi-implicative semilattices (lattices), originally defined under the name of weak implicative semilattices (lattices), were introduced by the second author of the present article. A hemi-implicative semilattice is an algebra $(H,{\wedge},{\rightarrow},1)$ of type $(2,2,0)$ such that $(H,{\wedge})$ is a meet semilattice, $1$ is the greatest element with respect to the order, $a{\rightarrow} a = 1$ for every $a\in H$ and for every $a$, $b$, $c\in H$, if $a\leq b{\rightarrow} c$ then $a{\wedge} b \leq c$. A bounded hemi-implicative semilattice is an algebra $(H,{\wedge},{\rightarrow},0,1)$ of type $(2,2,0,0)$ such that $(H,{\wedge},{\rightarrow},1)$ is a hemi-implicative semilattice and $0$ is the first element with respect to the order. A hemi-implicative lattice is an algebra $(H,{\wedge},\vee,{\rightarrow},0,1)$ of type $(2,2,2,0,0)$ such that $(H,{\wedge},\vee,0,1)$ is a bounded distributive lattice and the reduct algebra $(H,{\wedge},{\rightarrow},1)$ is a hemi-implicative semilattice. In this article, we introduce an equivalence for the categories of bounded hemi-implicative semilattices and hemi-implicative lattices, respectively, which is motivated by an old construction due J. Kalman that relates bounded distributive lattices and Kleene algebras.

Description: Deprit’s method has been revisited in order to take advantage of certain arbitrariness arising when the inverse of the Lie operator is applied to obtain the generating function of the Lie transform. This arbitrariness is intrinsic to all perturbation techniques and can be used to demonstrate the equivalence among different perturbation methods, to remove terms from the generating function of the Lie transform, or to eliminate several angles simultaneously in the case of having a degenerate Hamiltonian.