The present work deals with the optimal placement of piezoelectric actuators on a thin plate using Modified Control Matrix and Singular Value Decomposition (MCSVD) approach. The problem has been formulated using the finite element method using ten piezoelectric actuators on simply supported plate to suppress first six modes. The sizes of ten actuators are combined to outline one actuator by add...

Recent anatomical investigations of the mammalian neostriatum have uncovered discrete neurochemical zones characterized by low levels of AChE and high levels of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (ELI) compared with the surrounding neostriatal tissue. These regions, termed striosomes, which appear as patches in individual sections, have been associated with specific afferent and efferent pathways...

Multi-patch systems, in which several species interact in patches connected by dispersal, offer a general framework for the description and analysis of spatial ecological systems. This paper describes how to analyse the local stability of spatially homogeneous solutions in such systems. The spatial arrangement of the patches and their coupling is described by a matrix. For a local stability ana...

This study investigates the effects of habitat fragmentation on an Angola black-andwhite colobus (Colobus angolensis palliatus) metapopulation in southern Kenya. 124 coastal forest fragments were surveyed in 2001. Fifty-five C. a. palliatus populations were found during this survey, (44% habitat patch occupancy), with an estimated national population estimate of 3,100 5,000 individuals. Colobus...

The unidirectional release buccal patches of carbamazepine (CBZ) were designed in total of 36 formulations using a 32 full factorial design. Different hydrophilic polymers were used in the formulation along with chitosan-HPMC matrix. The thickness of the prepared patches varied between 0.3 ± 0.10 and 0.5 ± 0.15 mm. The mass of the patches varied from 142.4 ± 0.22 and 160.2 ± 0.13 mg. The pH of ...

Human-dominated landscapes often feature patches that fluctuate in suitability through space and time, but there is little experimental evidence relating the consequences of dynamic patches for species persistence. We used a spatially and temporally dynamic metapopulation model to assess and compare metapopulation capacity and persistence for red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) in experimen...

We develop a multi-patch and multi-group model that captures the dynamics of an infectious disease when the host is structured into an arbitrary number of groups and interacts into an arbitrary number of patches where the infection takes place. In this framework, we model host mobility that depends on its epidemiological status, by a Lagrangian approach. This framework is applied to a general S...

As biodiversity hotspots are often characterized by high human population densities, implementation of conservation management practices that focus only on the protection and enlargement of pristine habitats is potentially unrealistic. An alternative approach to curb species extinction risk involves improving connectivity among existing habitat patches. However, evaluation of spatially explicit...

Negative effects of habitat fragmentation are well-known phenomena in ecology, and the use of corridors is one suggested remedy to ameliorate community disassembly. Most experiments of landscape structure, however, do not consider matrix quality and environmental conditions, despite their potential to affect both landscape permeability and population densities. For the first time in fragmented ...

BACKGROUND Heart failure remains a significant problem. Tissue-engineered cardiac patches offer potential to treat severe heart failure. We studied an extracellular matrix scaffold for repairing the infarcted left ventricle. METHODS AND RESULTS Pigs (n=42) underwent left ventricular (LV) infarction. At 6 to 8 weeks, either 4-layer multilaminate urinary bladder-derived extracellular matrix or ...