To determine the effects of continuous aerobic exercise training (CON) vs interval aerobic exercise training (INT) on glycemic control and endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation, 43 participants with ...type 2 diabetes were randomly allocated to the sedentary, CON, and INT groups. The CON and INT exercise training programs were designed to yield the same energy expenditure/exercise session and included walking on treadmill for 30 and 40 min/day, 3 times/week for 12 weeks. Body fatness and heart rate at rest decreased and leg muscle strength increased (all P < 0.05) in both the CON and INT groups. Fasting blood glucose levels decreased (P < 0.05) in both exercise groups but glycosylated hemoglobin levels decreased (P < 0.05) only in the INT group. Maximal aerobic capacity, flow‐mediated dilation, and cutaneous reactive hyperemia increased significantly in both exercise groups; however, the magnitude of improvements was greater in the INT group. Only the INT group experienced reductions in erythrocyte malondialdehyde and serum von Willebrand factor and increases in plasma glutathione peroxidase and nitric oxide (all P < 0.05). We concluded that both continuous and interval training were effective in improving glycemic control, aerobic fitness, and endothelium‐dependent vasodilation, but the interval training program appears to confer greater improvements than the continuous training program.
We examined the excitations of planetesimals caused by the resonances of a giant planet in a protoplanetary gas disk. The highly excited planetesimals generate bow shocks, the mechanism of which ...results in chondrule formation, crystallization of silicate dust, and evaporation of icy planetesimals. The planetesimals beyond 2:1 resonance migrate owing to the gas drag and obtain the maximum eccentricity around 3:1 resonance, which is located at approximately half the planetary distance. The eccentricity depends on the parameters of the planetesimals and the Jovian planet, such as size and location, and the gas density of the disk. The maximum relative velocity of a 100 km sized planetesimal with respect to the gas disk reaches up to ∼12 km s−1 in the case of Jupiter owing to secular resonance, which occurs because of the disk's gravity. We find that if a Jovian-mass planet is located within 10 au, the planetesimals larger than 100 km gain sufficient velocity to cause the melting of chondrule precursors and crystallization of the silicate. The maximum velocity is higher for large planetesimals and eccentric planets. Planetesimals are trapped temporarily in the resonances and continue to have high speed over 1 Myr after the formation of a Jovian planet. This duration fits into the timescale of chondrule formation suggested by the isotopic data. The evaporation of icy planetesimals occurs when a Jovian planet is located within 15 au. This mechanism can be a new indicator of planet formation in exosystems if some molecules ejected from icy planetesimals are detected.
The thalamus is the hub through which neural signals are transmitted from the basal ganglia and cerebellum to the neocortex. However, thalamocortical axonal activity during motor learning remains ...largely undescribed. We conducted two-photon calcium imaging of thalamocortical axonal activity in the motor cortex of mice learning a self-initiated lever-pull task. Layer 1 (L1) axons came to exhibit activity at lever-pull initiation and termination, while layer 3 (L3) axons did so at lever-pull initiation. L1 population activity had a sequence structure related to both lever-pull duration and reproducibility. Stimulation of the substantia nigra pars reticulata activated more L1 than L3 axons, whereas deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) stimulation did the opposite. Lesions to either the dorsal striatum or the DCN impaired motor learning and disrupted temporal dynamics in both layers. Thus, layer-specific thalamocortical signals evolve with the progression of learning, which requires both the basal ganglia and cerebellar activities.
•Thalamocortical (TC) axon activity reflects motor representations during learning•TC axon activation induces movement and their inactivation impairs motor learning•TC axons in layers 1 and 3 diverge to show distinct movement-locked activities•Evolving TC axon activity in each layer requires the basal ganglia and cerebellum
Tanaka et al. show that patterns of layer-specific thalamocortical axon activity involving signals from the basal ganglia and cerebellum evolve during learning of a self-initiated motor task. The progression of this activity is impaired by lesions to either region.
Programmable matter by folding Hawkes, E.; An, B.; Benbernou, N. M. ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
07/2010, Volume:
107, Issue:
28
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Programmable matter is a material whose properties can be programmed to achieve specific shapes or stiffnesses upon command. This concept requires constituent elements to interact and rear-range ...intelligently in order to meet the goal. This paper considers achieving programmable sheets that can form themselves in different shapes autonomously by folding. Past approaches to creating transforming machines have been limited by the small feature sizes, the large number of components, and the associated complexity of communication among the units. We seek to mitigate these difficulties through the unique concept of self-folding origami with universal crease patterns. This approach exploits a single sheet composed of interconnected triangular sections. The sheet is able to fold into a set of predetermined shapes using embedded actuation. To implement this self-folding origami concept, we have developed a scalable end-to-end planning and fabrication process. Given a set of desired objects, the system computes an optimized design for a single sheet and multiple controllers to achieve each of the desired objects. The material, called programmable matter by folding, is an example of a system capable of achieving multiple shapes for multiple functions.
Abstract
We study scattered-light properties of protoplanetary discs at near-infrared wavelengths for various dust size and structure by performing radiative transfer simulations. We show that ...different dust structures might be probed by measuring disc polarization fraction as long as the dust radius is larger than the wavelength. When the radius is larger than observing wavelength, disc scattered light will be highly polarized for highly porous dust aggregates, whereas more compact dust structure tends to show low polarization fraction. Next, roles of monomer radius and fractal dimension for scattered-light colours are studied. We find that, outside the Rayleigh regime, as fractal dimension or monomer radius increases, colours of the effective albedo at near-infrared wavelengths vary from blue to red. Our results imply that discs showing grey or slightly blue colours and high polarization fraction in near-infrared wavelengths might be explained by the presence of large porous aggregates containing sub-micron-sized monomers.
•Fly ash containing large amounts of unburned carbon was sintered by applying separated electrical field of microwaves.•The fly ash exhibited anomalous heating behavior at 450 °C.•At 900–1200 °C, the ...amount of chlorine and carbon in the fly ash decreased as the temperature increased.•The chlorine concentration in the sample decreased as a result of the heating, leading to the addition of carbon.
Recently, the application of microwave heating to high-temperature processing has received increased attention. In this study, fly ash containing large amounts of unburnt carbon and sodium chloride was sintered by applying microwaves as part of an investigation of the application of microwave heating to high-temperature processes. Microwave fields were separated by cavities, and pure electrical fields were employed as a heat source. The heating rate and maximum temperature increased with the microwave power, while the fly ash exhibited anomalous heating behavior at 450 °C. In this case, unburnt carbon in the fly ash plays an important role in the microwave absorption properties. At 900–1200 °C, no change was observed in the hardness or composition even when the heating duration was increased. In addition, it was found that the amount of chlorine and carbon in the fly ash decreased as the temperature increased. The chlorine concentration in the sample decreased due to the addition of carbon.
Integral cross sections for optically allowed electronic-state excitations of atoms and molecules by electron impact, by applying scaled plane-wave Born models, are reviewed. Over 40 years ago, ...Inokuti presented an influential review of charged-particle scattering, based on the theory pioneered by Bethe forty years earlier, which emphasized the importance of reliable cross-section data from low eV energies to high keV energies that are needed in many areas of radiation science with applications to astronomy, plasmas, and medicine. Yet, with a couple of possible exceptions, most computational methods in electron-atom scattering do not, in general, overlap each other's validity range in the region from threshold up to 300 eV and, in particular, in the intermediate region from 30 to 300 eV. This is even more so for electron-molecule scattering. In fact this entire energy range is of great importance and, to bridge the gap between the two regions of low and high energy, scaled plane-wave Born models were developed to provide reliable, comprehensive, and absolute integral cross sections, first for ionization by Kim and Rudd and then extended to optically allowed electronic-state excitation by Kim. These and other scaling models in a broad, general application to electron scattering from atoms and molecules, their theoretical basis, and their results for cross sections along with comparison to experimental measurements are reviewed. Where possible, these data are also compared to results from other computational approaches.
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