A Quantitative Comparative Study of Blended and Traditional Models in the Secondary Advanced Placement Statistics Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Susan T.

2017-01-01

Technology is becoming an integral tool in the classroom and can make a positive impact on how the students learn. This quantitative comparative research study examined gender-based differences among secondary Advanced Placement (AP) Statistic students comparing Educational Testing Service (ETS) College Board AP Statistic examination scores…

Development of advanced secondary chemistry monitoring system for Korea nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hak; Kim, Chung Tae

1997-01-01

Water chemistry control is one of the most important tasks in order to maintain the reliability of plant equipments and extend the operating life of the plant. KEPCO and KOPEC developed a computerized tool for this purpose -ASCMS (advanced secondary chemistry monitoring system) which is able to monitor and diagnose the secondary water chemistry. A prototype system had been installed at KORI 3 nuclear power plant since April 1993 in order to evaluate the system performance. After the implementation of enhancements identified during the testing of the prototype, we have developed the advanced secondary monitoring system, ASCMS which is installed at 5 nuclear power plants and has been under operations since April 1997. The ASCMS comprises PC subsystem designed for data acquisition, data analysis, and data diagnosis. The ASCMS will provide overall information related to steam generator secondary side water chemistry problems and improve plant availability, reduce radiation exposure to workers, and reduce operating and maintenance costs. 6 figs

Advances in ambient temperature secondary lithium cells

Science.gov (United States)

Subbarao, S.; Shen, D. H.; Deligiannis, F.; Huang, C-K.; Halpert, G.

1989-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is involved in a Research and Development program sponsored by NASA/OAST on the development of ambient temperature secondary lithium cells for future space applications. Some of the projected applications are planetary spacecraft, planetary rovers, and astronaut equipment. The main objective is to develop secondary lithium cells with greater than 100 Wh/kg specific energy while delivering 1000 cycles at 50 percent Depth of Discharge (DOD). To realize these ambitious goals, the work was initially focused on several important basic issues related to the cell chemistry, selection of cathode materials and electrolytes, and component development. The performance potential of Li-TiS2, Li-MoS3, Li-V6O13 and Li-NbSe3 electrochemical systems was examined. Among these four, the Li-TiS2 system was found to be the most promising system in terms of realizable specific energy and cycle life. Some of the major advancements made so far in the development of Li-TiS2 cells are in the areas of cathode processing technology, mixed solvent electrolytes, and cell assembly. Methods were developed for the fabrication of large size high performance TiS2 cathodes. Among the various electrolytes examined, 1.5M LiAsF6/EC + 2-MeTHF mixed solvent electrolyte was found to be more stable towards lithium. Experimental cells activated with this electrolyte exhibited more than 300 cycles at 100 percent Depth of Discharge. Work is in progress in other areas such as selection of lithium alloys as candidate anode materials, optimization of cell design, and development of 5 Ah cells. The advances made at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the development of secondary lithium cells are summarized.

Composite, Polymer-Based Electrolytes for Advanced Batteries

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ratner, Mark A

2001-01-01

.... Several substantive advances towards new, improved performance electrolyte materials both for low temperature fuel cell applications and for advanced secondary lithium battery materials have been reported...

Advancement of mass spectrometry-based proteomics technologies to explore triple negative breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, Sayem; Banks, Charles A S; Adams, Mark K; Florens, Laurence; Lukong, Kiven E; Washburn, Michael P

2016-12-20

Understanding the complexity of cancer biology requires extensive information about the cancer proteome over the course of the disease. The recent advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics technologies have led to the accumulation of an incredible amount of such proteomic information. This information allows us to identify protein signatures or protein biomarkers, which can be used to improve cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. For example, mass spectrometry-based proteomics has been used in breast cancer research for over two decades to elucidate protein function. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous group of diseases with distinct molecular features that are reflected in tumour characteristics and clinical outcomes. Compared with all other subtypes of breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer is perhaps the most distinct in nature and heterogeneity. In this review, we provide an introductory overview of the application of advanced proteomic technologies to triple-negative breast cancer research.

Content Adaptation for Heterogeneous Mobile Devices using web-based Mobile Services

OpenAIRE

Schmohl, Robert;Baumgarten, Uwe;Köthner, Lars

2017-01-01

Recent advances in mobile computing have spawned a very heterogeneous environment of mobile devices. Those devices have di erent capabilities in providing mobile services to the user, implying the challenge of considering heterogeneous devices during mobile service development. This especially encompasses the task of adapting the content, which a mobile service provides to a specific mobile device. In this paper we present an approach using a service platform, which utilizes a content adaptat...

Giant cell tumor with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst shows heterogeneous metabolic pattern on {sup 18}F-FDG PET.CT: A case reort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Hee Jeong; Kwon, Seong Young; Yoon, Yeon Hong [Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Huasun (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Sang Geon; Kim, Jahae; Song, Ho Chun; Kim, Sung Sun; Park, Jin Gyoon [Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-15

Giant cell tumor (GCT) is a generally benign bone tumor accounting for approximately 5 % of all primary bone neoplasms. Cystic components in GCTs that indicate secondary aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are reported in 14 % of GCTs. Although both of them have been described separately in previous reports that may show considerable fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake despite their benign nature, the findings of GCT with secondary ABC on 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) have not been well-known. We report a case of GCT with secondary ABC in a 26-year-old woman. 18F-FDG PET/CT revealed a heterogeneous hypermetabolic lesion in the left proximal femur with the maximum standardized uptake value of 4.7. The solid components of the tumor showed higher FDG uptake than the cystic components. These observations suggest that the ABC components in GCTs show heterogeneous metabolic patterns on {sup 18}F-FDG PET/CT.

Giant cell tumor with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst shows heterogeneous metabolic pattern on "1"8F-FDG PET.CT: A case reort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Hee Jeong; Kwon, Seong Young; Yoon, Yeon Hong; Cho, Sang Geon; Kim, Jahae; Song, Ho Chun; Kim, Sung Sun; Park, Jin Gyoon

2016-01-01

Giant cell tumor (GCT) is a generally benign bone tumor accounting for approximately 5 % of all primary bone neoplasms. Cystic components in GCTs that indicate secondary aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are reported in 14 % of GCTs. Although both of them have been described separately in previous reports that may show considerable fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake despite their benign nature, the findings of GCT with secondary ABC on 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) have not been well-known. We report a case of GCT with secondary ABC in a 26-year-old woman. 18F-FDG PET/CT revealed a heterogeneous hypermetabolic lesion in the left proximal femur with the maximum standardized uptake value of 4.7. The solid components of the tumor showed higher FDG uptake than the cystic components. These observations suggest that the ABC components in GCTs show heterogeneous metabolic patterns on "1"8F-FDG PET/CT

submitter Heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous secondary organic aerosol produced from ozonolysis of α-pinene

CERN Document Server

Ignatius, Karoliina; Järvinen, Emma; Nichman, Leonid; Fuchs, Claudia; Gordon, Hamish; Herenz, Paul; Hoyle, Christopher R; Duplissy, Jonathan; Garimella, Sarvesh; Dias, Antonio; Frege, Carla; Höppel, Niko; Tröstl, Jasmin; Wagner, Robert; Yan, Chao; Amorim, Antonio; Baltensperger, Urs; Curtius, Joachim; Donahue, Neil M; Gallagher, Martin W; Kirkby, Jasper; Kulmala, Markku; Möhler, Ottmar; Saathoff, Harald; Schnaiter, Martin; Tomé, Antonio; Virtanen, Annele; Worsnop, Douglas; Stratmann, Frank

2016-01-01

There are strong indications that particles containing secondary organic aerosol (SOA) exhibit amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states in the atmosphere. This may facilitate heterogeneous ice nucleation and thus influence cloud properties. However, experimental ice nucleation studies of biogenic SOA are scarce. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation ability of viscous SOA particles. The SOA particles were produced from the ozone initiated oxidation of α-pinene in an aerosol chamber at temperatures in the range from −38 to −10 ◦C at 5–15 % relative humidity with respect to water to ensure their formation in a highly viscous phase state, i.e. semi-solid or glassy. The ice nucleation ability of SOA particles with different sizes was investigated with a new continuous flow diffusion chamber. For the first time, we observed heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous α-pinene SOA for ice saturation ratios between 1.3 and 1.4 significantly below the homogeneous freezing limit. The maximum frozen fraction...

Recent advances in heterogeneous catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural via green routes

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jianjian

2017-05-12

With concerns of diminishing fossil fuel reserves and environmental deterioration, great efforts have been made to explore novel approaches of efficiently utilizing bio-renewable feedstocks to produce chemicals and fuels. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), generated from dehydration of six-carbon ketose, is regarded as a primary and versatile renewable building block to realize the goal of production of these high valued products from renewable biomass resources transformation. In this review, we summarize the recent advances via green routes in the heterogeneous reaction system for the catalytic production of HMF from glucose conversion, and emphasize reaction pathways of these reaction approaches based on the fundamental mechanistic chemistry as well as highlight the challenges (such as separation and purification of products, reusing and regeneration of catalyst, recycling solvent) in this field.

Heterogeneous ice nucleation and phase transition of viscous α-pinene secondary organic aerosol

Science.gov (United States)

Ignatius, Karoliina; Kristensen, Thomas B.; Järvinen, Emma; Nichman, Leonid; Fuchs, Claudia; Gordon, Hamish; Herenz, Paul; Hoyle, Christopher R.; Duplissy, Jonathan; Baltensperger, Urs; Curtius, Joachim; Donahue, Neil M.; Gallagher, Martin W.; Kirkby, Jasper; Kulmala, Markku; Möhler, Ottmar; Saathoff, Harald; Schnaiter, Martin; Virtanen, Annele; Stratmann, Frank

2016-04-01

There are strong indications that particles containing secondary organic aerosol (SOA) exhibit amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states in the atmosphere. This may facilitate deposition ice nucleation and thus influence cirrus cloud properties. Global model simulations of monoterpene SOA particles suggest that viscous biogenic SOA are indeed present in regions where cirrus cloud formation takes place. Hence, they could make up an important contribution to the global ice nucleating particle (INP) budget. However, experimental ice nucleation studies of biogenic SOA are scarce. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation ability of viscous SOA particles at the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) experiment at CERN (Ignatius et al., 2015, Järvinen et al., 2015). In the CLOUD chamber, the SOA particles were produced from the ozone initiated oxidation of α-pinene at temperatures in the range from -38 to -10° C at 5-15 % relative humidity with respect to water (RHw) to ensure their formation in a highly viscous phase state, i.e. semi-solid or glassy. We found that particles formed and grown in the chamber developed an asymmetric shape through coagulation. As the RHw was increased to between 35 % at -10° C and 80 % at -38° C, a transition to spherical shape was observed with a new in-situ optical method. This transition confirms previous modelling of the viscosity transition conditions. The ice nucleation ability of SOA particles was investigated with a new continuous flow diffusion chamber SPIN (Spectrometer for Ice Nuclei) for different SOA particle sizes. For the first time, we observed heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous α-pinene SOA in the deposition mode for ice saturation ratios between 1.3 and 1.4, significantly below the homogeneous freezing limit. The maximum frozen fractions found at temperatures between -36.5 and -38.3° C ranged from 6 to 20 % and did not depend on the particle surface area. References Ignatius, K. et al., Heterogeneous ice

Activities of Heterogeneous Acid-Base Catalysts for Fragrances Synthesis: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hartati Hartati

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews various types of heterogeneous acid-base catalysts for fragrances preparation. Catalytic activities of various types of heterogeneous acid and base catalysts in fragrances preparation, i.e. non-zeolitic, zeolitic, and mesoporous molecular sieves have been reported. Generally, heterogeneous acid catalysts are commonly used in fragrance synthesis as compared to heterogeneous base catalysts. Heteropoly acids and hydrotalcites type catalysts are widely used as heterogeneous acid and base catalysts, respectively. © 2013 BCREC UNDIP. All rights reservedReceived: 20th January 2013; Revised: 31st March 2013; Accepted: 1st April 2013[How to Cite: Hartati, H., Santoso, M., Triwahyono, S., Prasetyoko, D. (2013. Activities of Heterogeneous Acid-Base Catalysts for Fragrances Synthesis: A Review. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 8 (1: 14-33. (doi:10.9767/bcrec.8.1.4394.14-33][Permalink/DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.8.1.4394.14-33] | View in  |

The development of leadership outcome-indicators evaluating the contribution of clinical specialists and advanced practitioners to health care: a secondary analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Naomi; Begley, Cecily; Kleinpell, Ruth; Higgins, Agnes

2014-05-01

To report a secondary analysis of data collected from the case study phase of a national study of advanced practitioners and to develop leadership outcome-indicators appropriate for advanced practitioners. In many countries, advanced practitioners in nursing and midwifery have responsibility as leaders for health care development, but without having leadership outcome measures available they are unable to demonstrate the results of their activities. In Ireland, a sequential mixed method research study was used to develop a validated tool for the evaluation of clinical specialists and advanced practitioners. Despite strong evidence of leadership activities, few leadership-specific outcomes were generated from the primary analysis. Secondary analysis of a multiple case study data set. Data set comprised 23 case studies of advanced practitioner/clinical specialists from 13 sites across each region in Ireland from all divisions of the Nursing Board Register. Data were collected 2008-2010. Data sources included non-participant observation (n = 92 hours) of advanced practitioners in practice, interviews with clinicians (n = 21), patients (n = 20) and directors of nursing/midwifery (n = 13) and documents. Analysis focused on leadership outcome-indicator development in line with the National Health Service's Good Indicators Guide. The four categories of leadership outcomes for advanced practitioner developed were as follows: (i) capacity and capability building of multidisciplinary team; (ii) measure of esteem; (iii) new initiatives for clinical practice and healthcare delivery; and (iv) clinical practice based on evidence. The proposed set of leadership outcome-indicators derived from a secondary analysis captures the complexity of leadership in practice. They add to existing clinical outcomes measuring advanced practice. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Recent Advances in Transition-Metal-Mediated Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction: From Homogeneous to Heterogeneous Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Da-Ming Feng

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Global climate change and increasing demands for clean energy have brought intensive interest in the search for proper electrocatalysts in order to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2 to higher value carbon products such as hydrocarbons. Recently, transition-metal-centered molecules or organic frameworks have been reported to show outstanding electrocatalytic activity in the liquid phase. Their d-orbital electrons are believed to be one of the key factors to capture and convert CO2 molecules to value-added low-carbon fuels. In this review, recent advances in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction have been summarized based on the targeted products, ranging from homogeneous reactions to heterogeneous ones. Their advantages and fallbacks have been pointed out and the existing challenges, especially with respect to the practical and industrial application are addressed.

Recent Advances in Transition-Metal-Mediated Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction: From Homogeneous to Heterogeneous Systems

KAUST Repository

Feng, Da-Ming

2017-12-01

Global climate change and increasing demands for clean energy have brought intensive interest in the search for proper electrocatalysts in order to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) to higher value carbon products such as hydrocarbons. Recently, transition-metal-centered molecules or organic frameworks have been reported to show outstanding electrocatalytic activity in the liquid phase. Their d-orbital electrons are believed to be one of the key factors to capture and convert CO2 molecules to value-added low-carbon fuels. In this review, recent advances in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction have been summarized based on the targeted products, ranging from homogeneous reactions to heterogeneous ones. Their advantages and fallbacks have been pointed out and the existing challenges, especially with respect to the practical and industrial application are addressed.

Circulating tumor DNA functions as an alternative for tissue to overcome tumor heterogeneity in advanced gastric cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jing; Wang, Haixing; Zang, Wanchun; Li, Beifang; Rao, Guanhua; Li, Lei; Yu, Yang; Li, Zhongwu; Dong, Bin; Lu, Zhihao; Jiang, Zhi; Shen, Lin

2017-09-01

Overcoming tumor heterogeneity is a major challenge for personalized treatment of gastric cancer, especially for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 targeted therapy. Analysis of circulating tumor DNA allows a more comprehensive analysis of tumor heterogeneity than traditional biopsies in lung cancer and breast cancer, but little is known in gastric cancer. We assessed mutation profiles of ctDNA and primary tumors from 30 patients with advanced gastric cancer, then performed a comprehensive analysis of tumor mutations by multiple biopsies from five patients, and finally analyzed the concordance of HER2 amplification in ctDNA and paired tumor tissues in 70 patients. By comparing with a single tumor sample, ctDNA displayed a low concordance of mutation profile, only approximately 50% (138/275) somatic mutations were found in paired tissue samples, however, when compared with multiple biopsies, most DNA mutations in ctDNA were also shown in paired tumor tissues. ctDNA had a high concordance (91.4%, Kappa index = 0.784, P < 0.001) of HER2 amplification with tumor tissues, suggesting it might be an alternative for tissue. It implied that ctDNA-based assessment could partially overcome the tumor heterogeneity, and might serve as a potential surrogate for HER2 analysis in gastric cancer. © 2017 The Authors. Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.

Incentivizing Advanced Mathematics Study at Upper Secondary Level: The Case of Bonus Points in Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

Treacy, Páraic Thomas

2018-01-01

Secondary level mathematics education in Ireland has recently experienced a period of significant change with the introduction of new curricula and the addition of an incentive to study upper secondary mathematics at the most advanced level (Higher Level). This incentive, typically referred to as 'bonus points', appears to have aided a significant…

Secondary Neutron Production from Space Radiation Interactions: Advances in Model and Experimental Data Base Development

Science.gov (United States)

Heilbronn, Lawrence H.; Townsend, Lawrence W.; Braley, G. Scott; Iwata, Yoshiyuki; Iwase, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Takashi; Ronningen, Reginald M.; Cucinotta, Francis A.

2003-01-01

For humans engaged in long-duration missions in deep space or near-Earth orbit, the risk from exposure to galactic and solar cosmic rays is an important factor in the design of spacecraft, spacesuits, and planetary bases. As cosmic rays are transported through shielding materials and human tissue components, a secondary radiation field is produced. Neutrons are an important component of that secondary field, especially in thickly-shielded environments. Calculations predict that 50% of the dose-equivalent in a lunar or Martian base comes from neutrons, and a recent workshop held at the Johnson Space Center concluded that as much as 30% of the dose in the International Space Station may come from secondary neutrons. Accelerator facilities provide a means for measuring the effectiveness of various materials in their ability to limit neutron production, using beams and energies that are present in cosmic radiation. The nearly limitless range of beams, energies, and target materials that are present in space, however, means that accelerator-based experiments will not provide a complete database of cross sections and thick-target yields that are necessary to plan and design long-duration missions. As such, accurate nuclear models of neutron production are needed, as well as data sets that can be used to compare with, and verify, the predictions from such models. Improvements in a model of secondary neutron production from heavy-ion interactions are presented here, along with the results from recent accelerator-based measurements of neutron-production cross sections. An analytical knockout-ablation model capable of predicting neutron production from high-energy hadron-hadron interactions (both nucleon-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions) has been previously developed. In the knockout stage, the collision between two nuclei result in the emission of one or more nucleons from the projectile and/or target. The resulting projectile and target remnants, referred to as

Formation of equiaxed crystal structures in directionally solidified Al-Si alloys using Nb-based heterogeneous nuclei

Science.gov (United States)

Bolzoni, Leandro; Xia, Mingxu; Babu, Nadendla Hari

2016-01-01

The design of chemical compositions containing potent nuclei for the enhancement of heterogeneous nucleation in aluminium, especially cast alloys such as Al-Si alloys, is a matter of importance in order to achieve homogeneous properties in castings with complex geometries. We identified that Al3Nb/NbB2 compounds are effective heterogeneous nuclei and are successfully produced in the form of Al-2Nb-xB (x = 0.5, 1 and 2) master alloys. Our study shows that the inoculation of Al-10Si braze alloy with these compounds effectively promotes the heterogeneous nucleation of primary α-Al crystals and reduces the undercooling needed for solidification to take place. Moreover, we present evidences that these Nb-based compounds prevent the growth of columnar crystals and permit to obtain, for the first time, fine and equiaxed crystals in directionally solidified Al-10Si braze alloy. As a consequence of the potent heterogeneous particles, the size of the α-Al crystals was found to be less dependent on the processing conditions, especially the thermal gradient. Finally, we also demonstrate that the enhanced nucleation leads to the refinement of secondary phases such as eutectic silicon and primary silicon particles. PMID:28008967

Synchronous message-based communication for distributed heterogeneous systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkinson, N.; Dohan, D.

1992-01-01

The use of a synchronous, message-based real-time operating system (Unison) as the basis of transparent interprocess and inter-processor communication over VME-bus is described. The implementation of a synchronous, message-based protocol for network communication between heterogeneous systems is discussed. In particular, the design and implementation of a message-based session layer over a virtual circuit transport layer protocol using UDP/IP is described. Inter-process communication is achieved via a message-based semantic which is portable by virtue of its ease of implementation in other operating system environments. Protocol performance for network communication among heterogeneous architecture is presented, including VMS, Unix, Mach and Unison. (author)

at advanced level in rural secondary schoolş in Makonde District in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Variations in the Geography 'A' level results for both the Physical and Human Geography components have been noticed in both ... It cantherefore be concluded that the variations in the results for Advanced level Geography in rural secondary schools ..... not problem-solving approaches yet diversification of teaching and ...

Aerosol processing: a wind of innovation in the field of advanced heterogeneous catalysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Debecker, Damien P; Le Bras, Solène; Boissière, Cédric; Chaumonnot, Alexandra; Sanchez, Clément

2018-04-16

Aerosol processing is long known and implemented industrially to obtain various types of divided materials and nanomaterials. The atomisation of a liquid solution or suspension produces a mist of aerosol droplets which can then be transformed via a diversity of processes including spray-drying, spray pyrolysis, flame spray pyrolysis, thermal decomposition, micronisation, gas atomisation, etc. The attractive technical features of these aerosol processes make them highly interesting for the continuous, large scale, and tailored production of heterogeneous catalysts. Indeed, during aerosol processing, each liquid droplet undergoes well-controlled physical and chemical transformations, allowing for example to dry and aggregate pre-existing solid particles or to synthesise new micro- or nanoparticles from mixtures of molecular or colloidal precursors. In the last two decades, more advanced reactive aerosol processes have emerged as innovative means to synthesise tailored-made nanomaterials with tunable surface properties, textures, compositions, etc. In particular, the "aerosol-assisted sol-gel" process (AASG) has demonstrated tremendous potential for the preparation of high-performance heterogeneous catalysts. The method is mainly based on the low-cost, scalable, and environmentally benign sol-gel chemistry process, often coupled with the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) concept. It allows producing micronic or submicronic, inorganic or hybrid organic-inorganic particles bearing tuneable and calibrated porous structures at different scales. In addition, pre-formed nanoparticles can be easily incorporated or formed in a "one-pot" bottom-up approach within the porous inorganic or hybrid spheres produced by such spray drying method. Thus, multifunctional catalysts with tailored catalytic activities can be prepared in a relatively simple way. This account is an overview of aerosol processed heterogeneous catalysts which demonstrated interesting performance in

Resource allocation in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: advances and challenges

KAUST Repository

Dahrouj, Hayssam; Douik, Ahmed S.; Dhifallah, Oussama Najeeb; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2015-01-01

, becomes a necessity. By connecting all the base stations from different tiers to a central processor (referred to as the cloud) through wire/wireline backhaul links, the heterogeneous cloud radio access network, H-CRAN, provides an open, simple

Full Scope Modeling and Analysis on the Secondary Circuit of Chinese Large-Capacity Advanced PWR Based on RELAP5 Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dao-gang Lu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Chinese large-capacity advanced PWR under construction in China is a new and indispensable reactor type in the developing process of NPP fields. At the same time of NPP construction, accident sequences prediction and operators training are in progress. Since there are some possible events such as feedwater pumps trip in secondary circuit may lead to severe accident in NPP, training simulators and engineering simulators of CI are necessary. And, with an increasing proportion of nuclear power in China, NPP will participate in regulating peak load in power network, which requires accuracy calculation and control of secondary circuit. In order to achieve real-time and full scope simulation in the power change transient and accident scenarios, RELAP5/MOD 3.4 code has been adopted to model the secondary circuit for its advantage of high calculation accuracy. This paper describes the model of steady state and turbine load transient from 100% to 40% of secondary circuit using RELAP5 and provides a reasonable equivalent method to solve the calculation divergence problem caused by dramatic two-phase condition change while guaranteeing the heat transfer efficiency. The validation of the parameters shows that all the errors between the calculation values and design values are reasonable and acceptable.

Pretreatment 18F-FDG PET Textural Features in Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Secondary Analysis of ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohri, Nitin; Duan, Fenghai; Snyder, Bradley S; Wei, Bo; Machtay, Mitchell; Alavi, Abass; Siegel, Barry A; Johnson, Douglas W; Bradley, Jeffrey D; DeNittis, Albert; Werner-Wasik, Maria; El Naqa, Issam

2016-06-01

In a secondary analysis of American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) 6668/RTOG 0235, high pretreatment metabolic tumor volume (MTV) on (18)F-FDG PET was found to be a poor prognostic factor for patients treated with chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here we utilize the same dataset to explore whether heterogeneity metrics based on PET textural features can provide additional prognostic information. Patients with locally advanced NSCLC underwent (18)F-FDG PET prior to treatment. A gradient-based segmentation tool was used to contour each patient's primary tumor. MTV, maximum SUV, and 43 textural features were extracted for each tumor. To address overfitting and high collinearity among PET features, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method was applied to identify features that were independent predictors of overall survival (OS) after adjusting for MTV. Recursive binary partitioning in a conditional inference framework was utilized to identify optimal thresholds. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank testing were used to compare outcomes among patient groups. Two hundred one patients met inclusion criteria. The LASSO procedure identified 1 textural feature (SumMean) as an independent predictor of OS. The optimal cutpoint for MTV was 93.3 cm(3), and the optimal SumMean cutpoint for tumors above 93.3 cm(3) was 0.018. This grouped patients into three categories: low tumor MTV (n = 155; median OS, 22.6 mo), high tumor MTV and high SumMean (n = 23; median OS, 20.0 mo), and high tumor MTV and low SumMean (n = 23; median OS, 6.2 mo; log-rank P textural PET features in the context of established prognostic factors. We have also identified a promising feature that may have prognostic value in locally advanced NSCLC patients with large tumors who are treated with chemoradiotherapy. Validation studies are warranted. © 2016 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.

Pretreatment 18F-FDG PET Textural Features in Locally Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: Secondary Analysis of ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235

Science.gov (United States)

Ohri, Nitin; Duan, Fenghai; Snyder, Bradley S.; Wei, Bo; Machtay, Mitchell; Alavi, Abass; Siegel, Barry A.; Johnson, Douglas W.; Bradley, Jeffrey D.; DeNittis, Albert; Werner-Wasik, Maria; El Naqa, Issam

2016-01-01

In a secondary analysis of American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) 6668/RTOG 0235, high pretreatment metabolic tumor volume (MTV) on 18F-FDG PET was found to be a poor prognostic factor for patients treated with chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here we utilize the same dataset to explore whether heterogeneity metrics based on PET textural features can provide additional prognostic information. Methods Patients with locally advanced NSCLC underwent 18F-FDG PET prior to treatment. A gradient-based segmentation tool was used to contour each patient’s primary tumor. MTV, maximum SUV, and 43 textural features were extracted for each tumor. To address over-fitting and high collinearity among PET features, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method was applied to identify features that were independent predictors of overall survival (OS) after adjusting for MTV. Recursive binary partitioning in a conditional inference framework was utilized to identify optimal thresholds. Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank testing were used to compare outcomes among patient groups. Results Two hundred one patients met inclusion criteria. The LASSO procedure identified 1 textural feature (SumMean) as an independent predictor of OS. The optimal cutpoint for MTV was 93.3 cm3, and the optimal Sum-Mean cutpoint for tumors above 93.3 cm3 was 0.018. This grouped patients into three categories: low tumor MTV (n = 155; median OS, 22.6 mo), high tumor MTV and high SumMean (n = 23; median OS, 20.0 mo), and high tumor MTV and low SumMean (n = 23; median OS, 6.2 mo; log-rank P textural PET features in the context of established prognostic factors. We have also identified a promising feature that may have prognostic value in locally advanced NSCLC patients with large tumors who are treated with chemoradiotherapy. Validation studies are warranted. PMID:26912429

A comprehensive review of nongenetic prognostic and predictive factors influencing the heterogeneity of outcomes in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuyún Carter G

2014-10-01

results provide a comprehensive overview of nongenetic prognostic and predictive factors assessed in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer over the last decade. This information can be used to inform the design of future clinical trials by suggesting additional subgroups based on nongenetic factors that may be analyzed to further investigate potential prognostic and predictive factors. Keywords: NSCLC, heterogeneity, treatment outcome, review

Heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous secondary organic aerosol produced from ozonolysis of α-pinene

Science.gov (United States)

Ignatius, Karoliina; Kristensen, Thomas B.; Järvinen, Emma; Nichman, Leonid; Fuchs, Claudia; Gordon, Hamish; Herenz, Paul; Hoyle, Christopher R.; Duplissy, Jonathan; Garimella, Sarvesh; Dias, Antonio; Frege, Carla; Höppel, Niko; Tröstl, Jasmin; Wagner, Robert; Yan, Chao; Amorim, Antonio; Baltensperger, Urs; Curtius, Joachim; Donahue, Neil M.; Gallagher, Martin W.; Kirkby, Jasper; Kulmala, Markku; Möhler, Ottmar; Saathoff, Harald; Schnaiter, Martin; Tomé, Antonio; Virtanen, Annele; Worsnop, Douglas; Stratmann, Frank

2016-05-01

There are strong indications that particles containing secondary organic aerosol (SOA) exhibit amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states in the atmosphere. This may facilitate heterogeneous ice nucleation and thus influence cloud properties. However, experimental ice nucleation studies of biogenic SOA are scarce. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation ability of viscous SOA particles. The SOA particles were produced from the ozone initiated oxidation of α-pinene in an aerosol chamber at temperatures in the range from -38 to -10 °C at 5-15 % relative humidity with respect to water to ensure their formation in a highly viscous phase state, i.e. semi-solid or glassy. The ice nucleation ability of SOA particles with different sizes was investigated with a new continuous flow diffusion chamber. For the first time, we observed heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous α-pinene SOA for ice saturation ratios between 1.3 and 1.4 significantly below the homogeneous freezing limit. The maximum frozen fractions found at temperatures between -39.0 and -37.2 °C ranged from 6 to 20 % and did not depend on the particle surface area. Global modelling of monoterpene SOA particles suggests that viscous biogenic SOA particles are indeed present in regions where cirrus cloud formation takes place. Hence, they could make up an important contribution to the global ice nucleating particle budget.

Recent Advances in Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Decolorization of Synthetic Dyes

Science.gov (United States)

Muhd Julkapli, Nurhidayatullaili; Bagheri, Samira; Bee Abd Hamid, Sharifah

2014-01-01

During the process and operation of the dyes, the wastes produced were commonly found to contain organic and inorganic impurities leading to risks in the ecosystem and biodiversity with the resultant impact on the environment. Improper effluent disposal in aqueous ecosystems leads to reduction of sunlight penetration which in turn diminishes photosynthetic activity, resulting in acute toxic effects on the aquatic flora/fauna and dissolved oxygen concentration. Recently, photodegradation of various synthetic dyes has been studied in terms of their absorbance and the reduction of oxygen content by changes in the concentration of the dye. The advantages that make photocatalytic techniques superior to traditional methods are the ability to remove contaminates in the range of ppb, no generation of polycyclic compounds, higher speed, and lower cost. Semiconductor metal oxides, typically TiO2, ZnO, SnO, NiO, Cu2O, Fe3O4, and also CdS have been utilized as photocatalyst for their nontoxic nature, high photosensitivity, wide band gap and high stability. Various process parameters like photocatalyst dose, pH and initial dye concentrations have been varied and highlighted. Research focused on surface modification of semiconductors and mixed oxide semiconductors by doping them with noble metals (Pt, Pd, Au, and Ag) and organic matter (C, N, Cl, and F) showed enhanced dye degradation compared to corresponding native semiconductors. This paper reviews recent advances in heterogeneous photocatalytic decolorization for the removal of synthetic dyes from water and wastewater. Thus, the main core highlighted in this paper is the critical selection of semiconductors for photocatalysis based on the chemical, physical, and selective nature of the poisoning dyes. PMID:25054183

Recent Advances in Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Decolorization of Synthetic Dyes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurhidayatullaili Muhd Julkapli

2014-01-01

Full Text Available During the process and operation of the dyes, the wastes produced were commonly found to contain organic and inorganic impurities leading to risks in the ecosystem and biodiversity with the resultant impact on the environment. Improper effluent disposal in aqueous ecosystems leads to reduction of sunlight penetration which in turn diminishes photosynthetic activity, resulting in acute toxic effects on the aquatic flora/fauna and dissolved oxygen concentration. Recently, photodegradation of various synthetic dyes has been studied in terms of their absorbance and the reduction of oxygen content by changes in the concentration of the dye. The advantages that make photocatalytic techniques superior to traditional methods are the ability to remove contaminates in the range of ppb, no generation of polycyclic compounds, higher speed, and lower cost. Semiconductor metal oxides, typically TiO2, ZnO, SnO, NiO, Cu2O, Fe3O4, and also CdS have been utilized as photocatalyst for their nontoxic nature, high photosensitivity, wide band gap and high stability. Various process parameters like photocatalyst dose, pH and initial dye concentrations have been varied and highlighted. Research focused on surface modification of semiconductors and mixed oxide semiconductors by doping them with noble metals (Pt, Pd, Au, and Ag and organic matter (C, N, Cl, and F showed enhanced dye degradation compared to corresponding native semiconductors. This paper reviews recent advances in heterogeneous photocatalytic decolorization for the removal of synthetic dyes from water and wastewater. Thus, the main core highlighted in this paper is the critical selection of semiconductors for photocatalysis based on the chemical, physical, and selective nature of the poisoning dyes.

Advances in Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging enable quantitative measurement of laterally heterogeneous coatings of nanoscale thickness

Science.gov (United States)

Raegen, Adam; Reiter, Kyle; Clarke, Anthony; Lipkowski, Jacek; Dutcher, John

2013-03-01

The Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) phenomenon is routinely exploited to qualitatively probe changes to the optical properties of nanoscale coatings on thin metallic surfaces, for use in probes and sensors. Unfortunately, extracting truly quantitative information is usually limited to a select few cases - uniform absorption/desorption of small biomolecules and films, in which a continuous ``slab'' model is a good approximation. We present advancements in the SPR technique that expand the number of cases for which the technique can provide meaningful results. Use of a custom, angle-scanning SPR imaging system, together with a refined data analysis method, allow for quantitative kinetic measurements of laterally heterogeneous systems. We first demonstrate the directionally heterogeneous nature of the SPR phenomenon using a directionally ordered sample, then show how this allows for the calculation of the average coverage of a heterogeneous sample. Finally, the degradation of cellulose microfibrils and bundles of microfibrils due to the action of cellulolytic enzymes will be presented as an excellent example of the capabilities of the SPR imaging system.

Application-specific mesh-based heterogeneous FPGA architectures

CERN Document Server

Parvez, Husain

2011-01-01

This volume presents a new exploration environment for mesh-based, heterogeneous FPGA architectures. Readers will find a description of state-of-the-art techniques for reducing area requirements, which both increase performance and enable power reduction.

Research on detecting heterogeneous fibre from cotton based on linear CCD camera

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xian-bin; Cao, Bing; Zhang, Xin-peng; Shi, Wei

2009-07-01

The heterogeneous fibre in cotton make a great impact on production of cotton textile, it will have a bad effect on the quality of product, thereby affect economic benefits and market competitive ability of corporation. So the detecting and eliminating of heterogeneous fibre is particular important to improve machining technics of cotton, advance the quality of cotton textile and reduce production cost. There are favorable market value and future development for this technology. An optical detecting system obtains the widespread application. In this system, we use a linear CCD camera to scan the running cotton, then the video signals are put into computer and processed according to the difference of grayscale, if there is heterogeneous fibre in cotton, the computer will send an order to drive the gas nozzle to eliminate the heterogeneous fibre. In the paper, we adopt monochrome LED array as the new detecting light source, it's lamp flicker, stability of luminous intensity, lumens depreciation and useful life are all superior to fluorescence light. We analyse the reflection spectrum of cotton and various heterogeneous fibre first, then select appropriate frequency of the light source, we finally adopt violet LED array as the new detecting light source. The whole hardware structure and software design are introduced in this paper.

Resource allocation in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: advances and challenges

KAUST Repository

Dahrouj, Hayssam

2015-06-01

Base station densification is increasingly used by network operators to provide better throughput and coverage performance to mobile subscribers in dense data traffic areas. Such densification is progressively diffusing the move from traditional macrocell base stations toward heterogeneous networks with diverse cell sizes (e.g., microcell, picocell, femotcell) and diverse radio access technologies (e.g., GSM, CDMA), and LTE). The coexistence of the different network entities brings an additional set of challenges, particularly in terms of the provisioning of high-speed communications and the management of wireless interference. Resource sharing between different entities, largely incompatible in conventional systems due to the lack of interconnections, becomes a necessity. By connecting all the base stations from different tiers to a central processor (referred to as the cloud) through wire/wireline backhaul links, the heterogeneous cloud radio access network, H-CRAN, provides an open, simple, controllable, and flexible paradigm for resource allocation. This article discusses challenges and recent developments in H-CRAN design. It proposes promising resource allocation schemes in H-CRAN: coordinated scheduling, hybrid backhauling, and multicloud association. Simulations results show how the proposed strategies provide appreciable performance improvement compared to methods from recent literature. © 2015 IEEE.

Heterogeneity of (18)F-FDG PET combined with expression of EGFR may improve the prognostic stratification of advanced oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hung-Ming; Cheng, Nai-Ming; Lee, Li-Yu; Fang, Yu-Hua Dean; Chang, Joseph Tung-Chieh; Tsan, Din-Li; Ng, Shu-Hang; Liao, Chun-Ta; Yang, Lan-Yan; Yen, Tzu-Chen

2016-02-01

The Ang's risk profile (based on p16, smoking and cancer stage) is a well-known prognostic factor in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Whether heterogeneity in (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomographic (PET) images and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression could provide additional information on clinical outcomes in advanced-stage OPSCC was investigated. Patients with stage III-IV OPSCC who completed primary therapy were eligible. Zone-size nonuniformity (ZSNU) extracted from pretreatment FDG PET scans was used as an index of image heterogeneity. EGFR and p16 expression were examined by immunohistochemistry. Disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) served as outcome measures. Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for survival analysis. A bootstrap resampling technique was applied to investigate the stability of outcomes. Finally, a recursive partitioning analysis (RPA)-based model was constructed. A total of 113 patients were included, of which 28 were p16-positive. Multivariate analysis identified the Ang's profile, EGFR and ZSNU as independent predictors of both DSS and OS. Using RPA, the three risk factors were used to devise a prognostic scoring system that successfully predicted DSS in both p16-positive and -negative cases. The c-statistic of the prognostic index for DSS was 0.81, a value which was significantly superior to both AJCC stage (0.60) and the Ang's risk profile (0.68). In patients showing an Ang's high-risk profile (N = 77), the use of our scoring system clearly identified three distinct prognostic subgroups. It was concluded that a novel index may improve the prognostic stratification of patients with advanced-stage OPSCC. © 2015 UICC.

Interfacial mechanisms of heterogeneous Fenton reactions catalyzed by iron-based materials: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jie; Yang, Xiaofang; Men, Bin; Wang, Dongsheng

2016-01-01

The heterogeneous Fenton reaction can generate highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH) from reactions between recyclable solid catalysts and H2O2 at acidic or even circumneutral pH. Hence, it can effectively oxidize refractory organics in water or soils and has become a promising environmentally friendly treatment technology. Due to the complex reaction system, the mechanism behind heterogeneous Fenton reactions remains unresolved but fascinating, and is crucial for understanding Fenton chemistry and the development and application of efficient heterogeneous Fenton technologies. Iron-based materials usually possess high catalytic activity, low cost, negligible toxicity and easy recovery, and are a superior type of heterogeneous Fenton catalysts. Therefore, this article reviews the fundamental but important interfacial mechanisms of heterogeneous Fenton reactions catalyzed by iron-based materials. OH, hydroperoxyl radicals/superoxide anions (HO2/O2(-)) and high-valent iron are the three main types of reactive oxygen species (ROS), with different oxidation reactivity and selectivity. Based on the mechanisms of ROS generation, the interfacial mechanisms of heterogeneous Fenton systems can be classified as the homogeneous Fenton mechanism induced by surface-leached iron, the heterogeneous catalysis mechanism, and the heterogeneous reaction-induced homogeneous mechanism. Different heterogeneous Fenton systems catalyzed by characteristic iron-based materials are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, related future research directions are also suggested. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching STSE-Based High School Physics: Implications for Post-Secondary Studies

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Katarin

2014-01-01

Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) education has received attention in educational research, policy, and science curricula development, yet less advancement has been made in moving theory into practice. There are many examples of STSE-based teaching in science at the elementary and secondary levels, yet little has focused…

Advanced pigment dispersion glaucoma secondary to phakic intraocular collamer lens implant.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Clara; Patel, Cajal K; Momont, Anna C; Liu, Yao

2018-06-01

We report a case of pigment dispersion glaucoma secondary to uncomplicated phakic intraocular collamer lens (ICL) (Visian ICL™, Staar Inc., Monrovia, CA) implant that resulted in advanced visual field loss. A 50-year-old man presented for routine follow-up status post bilateral phakic intraocular collamer lens (ICL) placement 8 years earlier. He was incidentally found to have a decline in visual acuity from an anterior subcapsular cataract and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in the left eye. There were signs of pigment dispersion and no evidence of angle closure. Diffuse optic nerve thinning was consistent with advanced glaucomatous visual field defects. Pigment dispersion was also present in the patient's right eye, but without elevated IOP or visual field defects. The patient was treated with topical glaucoma medications and the phakic ICL in the left eye was removed concurrently with cataract surgery to prevent further visual field loss. Pigment dispersion glaucoma is a serious adverse outcome after phakic ICL implantation and regular post-operative monitoring may prevent advanced visual field loss.

Micromechanics Based Failure Analysis of Heterogeneous Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Sertse, Hamsasew M.

In recent decades, heterogeneous materials are extensively used in various industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive and others due to their desirable specific properties and excellent capability of accumulating damage. Despite their wide use, there are numerous challenges associated with the application of these materials. One of the main challenges is lack of accurate tools to predict the initiation, progression and final failure of these materials under various thermomechanical loading conditions. Although failure is usually treated at the macro and meso-scale level, the initiation and growth of failure is a complex phenomena across multiple scales. The objective of this work is to enable the mechanics of structure genome (MSG) and its companion code SwiftComp to analyze the initial failure (also called static failure), progressive failure, and fatigue failure of heterogeneous materials using micromechanics approach. The initial failure is evaluated at each numerical integration point using pointwise and nonlocal approach for each constituent of the heterogeneous materials. The effects of imperfect interfaces among constituents of heterogeneous materials are also investigated using a linear traction-displacement model. Moreover, the progressive and fatigue damage analyses are conducted using continuum damage mechanics (CDM) approach. The various failure criteria are also applied at a material point to analyze progressive damage in each constituent. The constitutive equation of a damaged material is formulated based on a consistent irreversible thermodynamics approach. The overall tangent modulus of uncoupled elastoplastic damage for negligible back stress effect is derived. The initiation of plasticity and damage in each constituent is evaluated at each numerical integration point using a nonlocal approach. The accumulated plastic strain and anisotropic damage evolution variables are iteratively solved using an incremental algorithm. The damage analyses

Research on Heterogeneous Data Exchange based on XML

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Huanqin; Liu, Jinfeng

Integration of multiple data sources is becoming increasingly important for enterprises that cooperate closely with their partners for e-commerce. OLAP enables analysts and decision makers fast access to various materialized views from data warehouses. However, many corporations have internal business applications deployed on different platforms. This paper introduces a model for heterogeneous data exchange based on XML. The system can exchange and share the data among the different sources. The method used to realize the heterogeneous data exchange is given in this paper.

To Fly or Not to Fly: Teaching Advanced Secondary School Students about Principles of Flight in Biological Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Pietsch, Renée B.; Bohland, Cynthia L.; Schmale, David G., III.

2015-01-01

Biological flight mechanics is typically taught in graduate level college classes rather than in secondary school classes. We developed an interdisciplinary unit for advanced upper-level secondary school students (ages 15-18) to teach the principles of flight and applications to biological systems. This unit capitalised on the tremendous…

Research on distributed heterogeneous data PCA algorithm based on cloud platform

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jin; Huang, Gang

2018-05-01

Principal component analysis (PCA) of heterogeneous data sets can solve the problem that centralized data scalability is limited. In order to reduce the generation of intermediate data and error components of distributed heterogeneous data sets, a principal component analysis algorithm based on heterogeneous data sets under cloud platform is proposed. The algorithm performs eigenvalue processing by using Householder tridiagonalization and QR factorization to calculate the error component of the heterogeneous database associated with the public key to obtain the intermediate data set and the lost information. Experiments on distributed DBM heterogeneous datasets show that the model method has the feasibility and reliability in terms of execution time and accuracy.

Career Advancement Experiences of Hispanic Secondary Principals in Suburban School Districts: A Phenomenological Study

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Rick

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of Hispanic secondary school principals who work in suburban school districts regarding their career advancement. Moreover, the objective of this research was to understand these Hispanic principals' motivational drivers and barriers regarding their career choices,…

General expressions for downlink signal to interference and noise ratio in homogeneous and heterogeneous LTE-Advanced networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Nora A; Mourad, Hebat-Allah M; ElSayed, Hany M; El-Soudani, Magdy; Amer, Hassanein H; Daoud, Ramez M

2016-11-01

The interference is the most important problem in LTE or LTE-Advanced networks. In this paper, the interference was investigated in terms of the downlink signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR). In order to compare the different frequency reuse methods that were developed to enhance the SINR, it would be helpful to have a generalized expression to study the performance of the different methods. Therefore, this paper introduces general expressions for the SINR in homogeneous and in heterogeneous networks. In homogeneous networks, the expression was applied for the most common types of frequency reuse techniques: soft frequency reuse (SFR) and fractional frequency reuse (FFR). The expression was examined by comparing it with previously developed ones in the literature and the comparison showed that the expression is valid for any type of frequency reuse scheme and any network topology. Furthermore, the expression was extended to include the heterogeneous network; the expression includes the problem of co-tier and cross-tier interference in heterogeneous networks (HetNet) and it was examined by the same method of the homogeneous one.

General expressions for downlink signal to interference and noise ratio in homogeneous and heterogeneous LTE-Advanced networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nora A. Ali

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The interference is the most important problem in LTE or LTE-Advanced networks. In this paper, the interference was investigated in terms of the downlink signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR. In order to compare the different frequency reuse methods that were developed to enhance the SINR, it would be helpful to have a generalized expression to study the performance of the different methods. Therefore, this paper introduces general expressions for the SINR in homogeneous and in heterogeneous networks. In homogeneous networks, the expression was applied for the most common types of frequency reuse techniques: soft frequency reuse (SFR and fractional frequency reuse (FFR. The expression was examined by comparing it with previously developed ones in the literature and the comparison showed that the expression is valid for any type of frequency reuse scheme and any network topology. Furthermore, the expression was extended to include the heterogeneous network; the expression includes the problem of co-tier and cross-tier interference in heterogeneous networks (HetNet and it was examined by the same method of the homogeneous one.

Heterogeneous conversion of NO2 on secondary organic aerosol surfaces: A possible source of nitrous acid (HONO in the atmosphere?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Bröske

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The heterogeneous conversion of NO2 on different secondary organic aerosols (SOA was investigated with the focus on a possible formation of nitrous acid (HONO. In one set of experiments different organic aerosols were produced in the reactions of O3 with alpha-pinene, limonene or catechol and OH radicals with toluene or limonene, respectively. The aerosols were sampled on filters and exposed to humidified NO2  mixtures under atmospheric conditions. The estimated upper limits for the uptake coefficients of NO2  and the reactive uptake coefficients NO2  -> HONO are in the range of 10-6 and 10-7, respectively. The integrated HONO formation for 1 h reaction time was 13 cm-2 geometrical surface and 17 g-1 particle mass. In a second set of experiments the conversion of NO2 into HONO in the presence of organic particles was carried out in an aerosol flow tube under atmospheric conditions. In this case the aerosols were produced in the reaction of O3 with beta-pinene, limonene or catechol, respectively. The upper limits for the reactive uptake coefficients NO2 -> HONO were in the range of 7 x 10-7 - 9 x 10-6. The results from the present study show that heterogeneous formation of nitrous acid on secondary organic aerosols (SOA is unimportant for the atmosphere.

An investigation of interference coordination in heterogeneous network for LTE-Advanced systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, M. K.; Ismail, A. F.; H, Aisha-Hassan A.; Abdullah, Khaizuran; Ramli, H. A. M.

2013-12-01

The novel "femtocell" in Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) for LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) set-up will allow Malaysian wireless telecommunication operators (Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U-Mobile, P1, YTL and etc2.) to extend connectivity coverage where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable, particularly indoors of large building complexes. A femtocell is a small-sized cellular base station that encompasses all the functionality of a typical station. It therefore allows a simpler and self-contained deployment including private residences. For the Malaysian service providers, the main attractions of femtocell usage are the improvements to both coverage and capacity. The operators can provide a better service to end-users in turn reduce much of the agitations and complaints. There will be opportunity for new services at reduced cost. In addition, the operator not only benefits from the improved capacity and coverage but also can reduce both capital expenditure and operating expense i.e. alternative to brand new base station or macrocell installation. Interference is a key issue associated with femtocell development. There are a large number of issues associated with interference all of which need to be investigated, identified, quantified and solved. This is to ensure that the deployment of any femtocells will take place successfully. Among the most critical challenges in femtocell deployment is the interference between femtocell-to-macrocell and femtocell-to-femtocell in HetNets. In this paper, all proposed methods and algorithms will be investigated in the OFDMA femtocell system considering HetNet scenarios for LTE-A.

An investigation of interference coordination in heterogeneous network for LTE-Advanced systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasan, M K; Ismail, A F; Aisha-Hassan A H; Abdullah, Khaizuran; Ramli, H A M

2013-01-01

The novel ''femtocell'' in Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) for LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) set-up will allow Malaysian wireless telecommunication operators (Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U-Mobile, P1, YTL and etc2.) to extend connectivity coverage where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable, particularly indoors of large building complexes. A femtocell is a small-sized cellular base station that encompasses all the functionality of a typical station. It therefore allows a simpler and self-contained deployment including private residences. For the Malaysian service providers, the main attractions of femtocell usage are the improvements to both coverage and capacity. The operators can provide a better service to end-users in turn reduce much of the agitations and complaints. There will be opportunity for new services at reduced cost. In addition, the operator not only benefits from the improved capacity and coverage but also can reduce both capital expenditure and operating expense i.e. alternative to brand new base station or macrocell installation. Interference is a key issue associated with femtocell development. There are a large number of issues associated with interference all of which need to be investigated, identified, quantified and solved. This is to ensure that the deployment of any femtocells will take place successfully. Among the most critical challenges in femtocell deployment is the interference between femtocell-to-macrocell and femtocell-to-femtocell in HetNets. In this paper, all proposed methods and algorithms will be investigated in the OFDMA femtocell system considering HetNet scenarios for LTE-A

Interference-Based Decode and Forward Scheme Using Relay Nodes in Heterogeneous Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kentaro Nishimori

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes interference-based decode and forward scheme that utilizes relay stations (RSs. In Long-Term-Evolution (LTE- Advanced, heterogeneous networks in which femto- and picocells are overlaid onto macrocells are extensively discussed. However, interference between macro- and pico(femtocells arises due to their different transmit power levels. Unlike conventional cooperative transmission schemes, the RS decodes interference in the first transmit timing period and forwards it to the user equipment (UE in the second period. Moreover, cooperative transmission can be achieved without stopping the transmission from the base station (BS to UE when forwarding the interference from the RS to the UE by utilizing the fact that signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR between the RS and UE is much greater than that between the BS and UE. The basic performance of the proposed method is shown based on computer simulation. Moreover, the interference temperature and shadowing effect are measured when considering the coexistence between macro- and femtocells, and the performance of the proposed method is verified using measured shadowing effect.

Learning in Advance Selling with Heterogeneous Consumers

OpenAIRE

Oksana Loginova; X. Henry Wang; Chenhang Zeng

2012-01-01

The advance selling strategy is implemented when a firm offers consumers the opportunity to order its product in advance of the regular selling season. Advance selling reduces uncertainty for both the firm and the buyer and enables the firm to update its forecast of future demand. The distinctive feature of the present study of advance selling is that we divide consumers into two groups, experienced and inexperienced. Experienced consumers know their valuations of the product in advance, whil...

Computational experiment approach to advanced secondary mathematics curriculum

CERN Document Server

Abramovich, Sergei

2014-01-01

This book promotes the experimental mathematics approach in the context of secondary mathematics curriculum by exploring mathematical models depending on parameters that were typically considered advanced in the pre-digital education era. This approach, by drawing on the power of computers to perform numerical computations and graphical constructions, stimulates formal learning of mathematics through making sense of a computational experiment. It allows one (in the spirit of Freudenthal) to bridge serious mathematical content and contemporary teaching practice. In other words, the notion of teaching experiment can be extended to include a true mathematical experiment. When used appropriately, the approach creates conditions for collateral learning (in the spirit of Dewey) to occur including the development of skills important for engineering applications of mathematics. In the context of a mathematics teacher education program, this book addresses a call for the preparation of teachers capable of utilizing mo...

Advanced pigment dispersion glaucoma secondary to phakic intraocular collamer lens implant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Ye

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: We report a case of pigment dispersion glaucoma secondary to uncomplicated phakic intraocular collamer lens (ICL (Visian ICL™, Staar Inc., Monrovia, CA implant that resulted in advanced visual field loss. Observations: A 50-year-old man presented for routine follow-up status post bilateral phakic intraocular collamer lens (ICL placement 8 years earlier. He was incidentally found to have a decline in visual acuity from an anterior subcapsular cataract and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP in the left eye. There were signs of pigment dispersion and no evidence of angle closure. Diffuse optic nerve thinning was consistent with advanced glaucomatous visual field defects. Pigment dispersion was also present in the patient's right eye, but without elevated IOP or visual field defects. The patient was treated with topical glaucoma medications and the phakic ICL in the left eye was removed concurrently with cataract surgery to prevent further visual field loss. Conclusions and importance: Pigment dispersion glaucoma is a serious adverse outcome after phakic ICL implantation and regular post-operative monitoring may prevent advanced visual field loss. Keywords: Phakic intraocular lens, Intraocular collamer lens, Pigment dispersion, Glaucoma

Integrating CLIPS applications into heterogeneous distributed systems

Science.gov (United States)

Adler, Richard M.

1991-01-01

SOCIAL is an advanced, object-oriented development tool for integrating intelligent and conventional applications across heterogeneous hardware and software platforms. SOCIAL defines a family of 'wrapper' objects called agents, which incorporate predefined capabilities for distributed communication and control. Developers embed applications within agents and establish interactions between distributed agents via non-intrusive message-based interfaces. This paper describes a predefined SOCIAL agent that is specialized for integrating C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS)-based applications. The agent's high-level Application Programming Interface supports bidirectional flow of data, knowledge, and commands to other agents, enabling CLIPS applications to initiate interactions autonomously, and respond to requests and results from heterogeneous remote systems. The design and operation of CLIPS agents are illustrated with two distributed applications that integrate CLIPS-based expert systems with other intelligent systems for isolating and mapping problems in the Space Shuttle Launch Processing System at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.

Ensemble-based prediction of RNA secondary structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Aghaeepour, Nima; Hoos, Holger H

2013-04-24

Accurate structure prediction methods play an important role for the understanding of RNA function. Energy-based, pseudoknot-free secondary structure prediction is one of the most widely used and versatile approaches, and improved methods for this task have received much attention over the past five years. Despite the impressive progress that as been achieved in this area, existing evaluations of the prediction accuracy achieved by various algorithms do not provide a comprehensive, statistically sound assessment. Furthermore, while there is increasing evidence that no prediction algorithm consistently outperforms all others, no work has been done to exploit the complementary strengths of multiple approaches. In this work, we present two contributions to the area of RNA secondary structure prediction. Firstly, we use state-of-the-art, resampling-based statistical methods together with a previously published and increasingly widely used dataset of high-quality RNA structures to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of existing RNA secondary structure prediction procedures. The results from this evaluation clarify the performance relationship between ten well-known existing energy-based pseudoknot-free RNA secondary structure prediction methods and clearly demonstrate the progress that has been achieved in recent years. Secondly, we introduce AveRNA, a generic and powerful method for combining a set of existing secondary structure prediction procedures into an ensemble-based method that achieves significantly higher prediction accuracies than obtained from any of its component procedures. Our new, ensemble-based method, AveRNA, improves the state of the art for energy-based, pseudoknot-free RNA secondary structure prediction by exploiting the complementary strengths of multiple existing prediction procedures, as demonstrated using a state-of-the-art statistical resampling approach. In addition, AveRNA allows an intuitive and effective control of the trade-off between

The development of leadership outcome-indicators evaluating the contribution of clinical specialists and advanced practitioners to health care: a secondary analysis.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Elliott, Naomi

2014-05-01

To report a secondary analysis of data collected from the case study phase of a national study of advanced practitioners and to develop leadership outcome-indicators appropriate for advanced practitioners.

A CFD Heterogeneous Parallel Solver Based on Collaborating CPU and GPU

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Jianqi; Tian, Zhengyu; Li, Hua; Pan, Sha

2018-03-01

Since Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) has a strong ability of floating-point computation and memory bandwidth for data parallelism, it has been widely used in the areas of common computing such as molecular dynamics (MD), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and so on. The emergence of compute unified device architecture (CUDA), which reduces the complexity of compiling program, brings the great opportunities to CFD. There are three different modes for parallel solution of NS equations: parallel solver based on CPU, parallel solver based on GPU and heterogeneous parallel solver based on collaborating CPU and GPU. As we can see, GPUs are relatively rich in compute capacity but poor in memory capacity and the CPUs do the opposite. We need to make full use of the GPUs and CPUs, so a CFD heterogeneous parallel solver based on collaborating CPU and GPU has been established. Three cases are presented to analyse the solver’s computational accuracy and heterogeneous parallel efficiency. The numerical results agree well with experiment results, which demonstrate that the heterogeneous parallel solver has high computational precision. The speedup on a single GPU is more than 40 for laminar flow, it decreases for turbulent flow, but it still can reach more than 20. What’s more, the speedup increases as the grid size becomes larger.

7YSZ coating prepared by PS-PVD based on heterogeneous nucleation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ziqian DENG

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD as a novel coating process based on low-pressure plasma spray (LPPS has been significantly used for thermal barrier coatings (TBCs. A coating can be deposited from liquid splats, nano-sized clusters, and the vapor phase forming different structured coatings, which shows obvious advantages in contrast to conventional technologies like atmospheric plasma spray (APS and electron beam-physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD. In addition, it can be used to produce thin, dense, and porous ceramic coatings for special applications because of its special characteristics, such as high power, very low pressure, etc. These provide new opportunities to obtain different advanced microstructures, thus to meet the growing requirements of modern functional coatings. In this work, focusing on exploiting the potential of gas-phase deposition from PS-PVD, a series of 7YSZ coating experiments with various process conditions was performed in order to better understand the deposition process in PS-PVD, where coatings were deposited on different substrates including graphite and zirconia. Meanwhile, various substrate temperatures were investigated for the same substrate. As a result, a deposition mechanism of heterogeneous nucleation has been presented showing that surface energy is an important influencing factor for coating structures. Besides, undercooling of the interface between substrate and vapor phase plays an important role in coating structures. Keywords: 7YSZ, Deposition mechanism, Heterogeneous nucleation, PS-PVD, TBC

Transfers in heterogeneous environments; Transferts en milieux heterogenes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flesselles, J M [Saint-Gobain Recherche, 93 - Aubervilliers (France); Gouesbet, G; Mees, L; Roze, C; Girasole, Th; Grehan, G [Laboratoire d' Electromagnetisme et Systemes Particulaires (LESP), UMR CNRS 6614, CORIA. Universite de Rouen et INSA de Rouen, 76 - Saint-Etienne du Rouvray (France); Goyheneche, J M; Vignoles, G; Coindreau, O [Laboratoire des Composites Thermostructuraux (LCTS), UMR 5801, 33 - Pessac (France); Moyne, Ch [LEMTA (UMR 7563) CNRS-INPL-UHP, 54 - Vandoeuvre les Nancy (France); Coussy, O [Institut Navier - ENPC, 77 - Marne-la-Vallee (France); Lassabatere, Th [Electricite de France Les Renardieres, Dept. Materiaux Mecanique des Composants, 77 - Moret sur Loing (France); Tadrist, L [IUSTI - UMR 6595, 13 - Marseille (France)

2004-07-01

This document gathers the articles and transparencies of the invited talks given at the 2004 French congress of thermal engineering about transfers in heterogeneous environment. Content: transfer phenomena in industrial glass furnaces; simple and multiple scattering diagnosis by femto-second pulsed laser: application to particulate diagnoses; thermal modeling of thermo-structural composites; hybrid mixtures theory, average volumic measurement, periodical or stochastic homogenization: advance in scale change processes; thermo-hydro-chemical-mechanical coupling in porous medium: application to young concrete structures and to clay barriers of disposal facilities; transfers and flows in fluidization: recent advances and future challenges. (J.S.)

DEMARCATE: Density-based magnetic resonance image clustering for assessing tumor heterogeneity in cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Abhijoy; Banerjee, Sayantan; Kurtek, Sebastian; Narang, Shivali; Lee, Joonsang; Rao, Ganesh; Martinez, Juan; Bharath, Karthik; Rao, Arvind U K; Baladandayuthapani, Veerabhadran

2016-01-01

Tumor heterogeneity is a crucial area of cancer research wherein inter- and intra-tumor differences are investigated to assess and monitor disease development and progression, especially in cancer. The proliferation of imaging and linked genomic data has enabled us to evaluate tumor heterogeneity on multiple levels. In this work, we examine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with brain cancer to assess image-based tumor heterogeneity. Standard approaches to this problem use scalar summary measures (e.g., intensity-based histogram statistics) that do not adequately capture the complete and finer scale information in the voxel-level data. In this paper, we introduce a novel technique, DEMARCATE (DEnsity-based MAgnetic Resonance image Clustering for Assessing Tumor hEterogeneity) to explore the entire tumor heterogeneity density profiles (THDPs) obtained from the full tumor voxel space. THDPs are smoothed representations of the probability density function of the tumor images. We develop tools for analyzing such objects under the Fisher-Rao Riemannian framework that allows us to construct metrics for THDP comparisons across patients, which can be used in conjunction with standard clustering approaches. Our analyses of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) based Glioblastoma dataset reveal two significant clusters of patients with marked differences in tumor morphology, genomic characteristics and prognostic clinical outcomes. In addition, we see enrichment of image-based clusters with known molecular subtypes of glioblastoma multiforme, which further validates our representation of tumor heterogeneity and subsequent clustering techniques.

To Stretch the Boundary of Secondary Metabolite Production in Plant Cell-Based Bioprocessing: Anthocyanin as a Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Zhang

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Plant cells and tissue cultures hold great promise for controlled production of a myriad of useful secondary metabolites on demand. The current yield and productivity cannot fulfill the commercial goal of a plant cell-based bioprocess for the production of most secondary metabolites. In order to stretch the boundary, recent advances, new directions and opportunities in plant cell-based bioprocessing, have been critically examined for the 10 years from 1992 to 2002. A review of the literature indicated that most of the R&D work was devoted predominantly to studies at an empirical level. A rational approach to molecular plant cell bioprocessing based on the fundamental understanding of metabolic pathways and their regulations is urgently required to stimulate further advances; however, the strategies and technical framework are still being developed. It is the aim of this review to take a step forward in framing workable strategies and technologies for molecular plant cell-based bioprocessing. Using anthocyanin biosynthesis as a case study, an integrated postgenomic approach has been proposed. This combines the functional analysis of metabolic pathways for biosynthesis of a particular metabolite from profiling of gene expression and protein expression to metabolic profiling. A global correlation not only can thus be established at the three molecular levels, but also places emphasis on the interactions between primary metabolism and secondary metabolism; between competing and/or complimentary pathways; and between biosynthetic and post-biosynthetic events.

An open, object-based modeling approach for simulating subsurface heterogeneity

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, J.; Ross, M.; Haslauer, C. P.; Cirpka, O. A.

2017-12-01

Characterization of subsurface heterogeneity with respect to hydraulic and geochemical properties is critical in hydrogeology as their spatial distribution controls groundwater flow and solute transport. Many approaches of characterizing subsurface heterogeneity do not account for well-established geological concepts about the deposition of the aquifer materials; those that do (i.e. process-based methods) often require forcing parameters that are difficult to derive from site observations. We have developed a new method for simulating subsurface heterogeneity that honors concepts of sequence stratigraphy, resolves fine-scale heterogeneity and anisotropy of distributed parameters, and resembles observed sedimentary deposits. The method implements a multi-scale hierarchical facies modeling framework based on architectural element analysis, with larger features composed of smaller sub-units. The Hydrogeological Virtual Reality simulator (HYVR) simulates distributed parameter models using an object-based approach. Input parameters are derived from observations of stratigraphic morphology in sequence type-sections. Simulation outputs can be used for generic simulations of groundwater flow and solute transport, and for the generation of three-dimensional training images needed in applications of multiple-point geostatistics. The HYVR algorithm is flexible and easy to customize. The algorithm was written in the open-source programming language Python, and is intended to form a code base for hydrogeological researchers, as well as a platform that can be further developed to suit investigators' individual needs. This presentation will encompass the conceptual background and computational methods of the HYVR algorithm, the derivation of input parameters from site characterization, and the results of groundwater flow and solute transport simulations in different depositional settings.

In vitro chemosensitivity based on depth of invasion in advanced colorectal cancer using ATP-based chemotherapy response assay (ATP-CRA).

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Y B; Lee, W Y; Song, S Y; Choi, S H; Shin, H J; Ahn, K-D; Lee, J M; Kim, H C; Yun, S H; Chun, H-K

2009-09-01

Tumors are composed of subpopulations of cells with heterogeneous characteristics that allow for tumor progression and development of treatment resistance. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is heterogeneity in the in vitro chemosensitivity in different invasive sections of a single tumor. Chemosensitivity in advanced colorectal cancer specimens was examined using an ATP-based chemotherapy response assay. Four chemotherapeutic agents (5-fluorouracil (5-FU), oxaliplatin, irinotecan, and mitomycin) were used for chemosensitivity studies. Tumor tissues were obtained from the superficial (mucosa/submucosa) and deep parts (muscle/subserosa/serosa), respectively. Twenty patients who had results for both the superficial and deep parts were evaluated. The chemosensitivity study showed variable cell death rates in both parts of the tumor. Regression analysis showed some correlations with 5-FU and irinotecan, but not with oxaliplatin or mitomycin. With the exception of three patients in whom no drug was recommended, at least one chemotherapeutic drug showed some consistency between the superficial and deep parts of the tumor. Mitomycin was the most frequently active agent for the superficial part. In the deep part, oxaliplatin and mitomycin were the most active agents. There may be heterogeneity in the responses to anti-chemotherapeutic agents in advanced colorectal cancer, according to the depth of invasion. Therefore, in clinical situations, chemosensitivity test specimens should be mixed with various parts of the whole tumor in order to obtain representative chemosensitivity and chemoresistance profiles.

Heterogeneous Community-based mobility model for human opportunistic network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Liang; Dittmann, Lars

2009-01-01

a heterogeneous community-based random way-point (HC-RWP) mobility model that captures the four important properties of real human mobility. These properties are based on both intuitive observations of daily human mobility and analysis of empirical mobility traces. By discrete event simulation, we show HC...

Graph Regularized Meta-path Based Transductive Regression in Heterogeneous Information Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Mengting; Ouyang, Yunbo; Kaplan, Lance; Han, Jiawei

2015-01-01

A number of real-world networks are heterogeneous information networks, which are composed of different types of nodes and links. Numerical prediction in heterogeneous information networks is a challenging but significant area because network based information for unlabeled objects is usually limited to make precise estimations. In this paper, we consider a graph regularized meta-path based transductive regression model ( Grempt ), which combines the principal philosophies of typical graph-based transductive classification methods and transductive regression models designed for homogeneous networks. The computation of our method is time and space efficient and the precision of our model can be verified by numerical experiments.

Towards an Organizational Economics of Heterogeneous Capabilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Nicolai Juul

The notion of “capability” has long been influential in management research as an approach to address firm-level heterogeneity and heterogeneity in competitive outcomes. I discuss how recent advances in economics may allow for a more rigorous understanding and measurement of capability that take...

When high achievers and low achievers work in the same group: the roles of group heterogeneity and processes in project-based learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Rebecca Wing-yi; Lam, Shui-fong; Chan, Joanne Chung-yan

2008-06-01

There has been an ongoing debate about the inconsistent effects of heterogeneous ability grouping on students in small group work such as project-based learning. The present research investigated the roles of group heterogeneity and processes in project-based learning. At the student level, we examined the interaction effect between students' within-group achievement and group processes on their self- and collective efficacy. At the group level, we examined how group heterogeneity was associated with the average self- and collective efficacy reported by the groups. The participants were 1,921 Hong Kong secondary students in 367 project-based learning groups. Student achievement was determined by school examination marks. Group processes, self-efficacy and collective efficacy were measured by a student-report questionnaire. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to analyse the nested data. When individual students in each group were taken as the unit of analysis, results indicated an interaction effect of group processes and students' within-group achievement on the discrepancy between collective- and self-efficacy. When compared with low achievers, high achievers reported lower collective efficacy than self-efficacy when group processes were of low quality. However, both low and high achievers reported higher collective efficacy than self-efficacy when group processes were of high quality. With 367 groups taken as the unit of analysis, the results showed that group heterogeneity, group gender composition and group size were not related to the discrepancy between collective- and self-efficacy reported by the students. Group heterogeneity was not a determinant factor in students' learning efficacy. Instead, the quality of group processes played a pivotal role because both high and low achievers were able to benefit when group processes were of high quality.

Advanced Heterogeneous Fenton Treatment of Coalbed Methane-Produced Water Containing Fracturing Fluid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng Zhang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the heterogeneous Fenton treatment to process coalbed methane-produced water containing fracturing fluid and chose the development region of coalbed methane in the Southern Qinshui Basin as a research area. We synthesized the catalyst of Fe-Co/γ-Al2O3 by homogeneous precipitation method and characterized it by BET, XRD, SEM-EDS, FTIR, and XPS. Based on the degradation rate, we studied the influences of the heterogeneous Fenton method on the coalbed methane output water treatment process parameters, including initial pH, H2O2 concentration, and the catalyst concentration. We also investigated the impacts of overall reaction kinetics of heterogeneous catalytic oxidation on coalbed methane-produced water containing fracturing fluid. Results showed that Fe-Co/γ-Al2O3 as a Fenton catalyst has a good catalytic oxidation effect and can effectively process coalbed methane-produced water. This reaction also followed first-order kinetics. The optimal conditions were as follows: the initial pH of 3.5, a H2O2 concentration of 40 mol L−1, a catalyst concentration of 4 g/L, and an apparent reaction rate constant of 0.0172 min−1. Our results provided a basis to establish methods for treating coalbed methane-produced water.

Sampling strategies to capture single-cell heterogeneity

OpenAIRE

Satwik Rajaram; Louise E. Heinrich; John D. Gordan; Jayant Avva; Kathy M. Bonness; Agnieszka K. Witkiewicz; James S. Malter; Chloe E. Atreya; Robert S. Warren; Lani F. Wu; Steven J. Altschuler

2017-01-01

Advances in single-cell technologies have highlighted the prevalence and biological significance of cellular heterogeneity. A critical question is how to design experiments that faithfully capture the true range of heterogeneity from samples of cellular populations. Here, we develop a data-driven approach, illustrated in the context of image data, that estimates the sampling depth required for prospective investigations of single-cell heterogeneity from an existing collection of samples. ...

Advances in methods of commercial FBR core characteristics analyses. Investigations of a treatment of the double-heterogeneity and a method to calculate homogenized control rod cross sections

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sugino, Kazuteru [Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., Oarai, Ibaraki (Japan). Oarai Engineering Center; Iwai, Takehiko

1998-07-01

A standard data base for FBR core nuclear design is under development in order to improve the accuracy of FBR design calculation. As a part of the development, we investigated an improved treatment of double-heterogeneity and a method to calculate homogenized control rod cross sections in a commercial reactor geometry, for the betterment of the analytical accuracy of commercial FBR core characteristics. As an improvement in the treatment of double-heterogeneity, we derived a new method (the direct method) and compared both this and conventional methods with continuous energy Monte-Carlo calculations. In addition, we investigated the applicability of the reaction rate ratio preservation method as a advanced method to calculate homogenized control rod cross sections. The present studies gave the following information: (1) An improved treatment of double-heterogeneity: for criticality the conventional method showed good agreement with Monte-Carlo result within one sigma standard deviation; the direct method was consistent with conventional one. Preliminary evaluation of effects in core characteristics other than criticality showed that the effect of sodium void reactivity (coolant reactivity) due to the double-heterogeneity was large. (2) An advanced method to calculate homogenize control rod cross sections: for control rod worths the reaction rate ratio preservation method agreed with those produced by the calculations with the control rod heterogeneity included in the core geometry; in Monju control rod worth analysis, the present method overestimated control rod worths by 1 to 2% compared with the conventional method, but these differences were caused by more accurate model in the present method and it is considered that this method is more reliable than the conventional one. These two methods investigated in this study can be directly applied to core characteristics other than criticality or control rod worth. Thus it is concluded that these methods will

Heterogeneous base-catalyzed methanolysis of vegetable oils: State of art

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miladinović Marija R.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Today, homogeneous base-catalyzed methanolysis is most frequently used method for industrial biodiesel production. High requirements for the quality of feedstocks and the problems related to a huge amount of wastewaters have led to the development of novel biodiesel production technologies. Among them, the most important is heterogeneous base-catalyzed methanolysis, which has been intensively investigated in the last decade in order to develop new catalytic systems, to optimize the reaction conditions and to recycle catalysts. These studies are a base for developing continuous biodiesel production on industrial scale in near future. The present work summarizes up-to-date studies on biodiesel production by heterogeneous base-catalyzed methanolysis. The main goals were to point out the application of different base compounds as catalysts, the methods of catalyst preparation, impregnation on carriers and recycling as well as the possibilities to improve existing base-catalyzed biodiesel production processes and to develop novel ones.

Secondary heat exchanger design and comparison for advanced high temperature reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabharwall, P.; Kim, E. S.; Siahpush, A.; McKellar, M.; Patterson, M.

2012-01-01

Next generation nuclear reactors such as the advanced high temperature reactor (AHTR) are designed to increase energy efficiency in the production of electricity and provide high temperature heat for industrial processes. The efficient transfer of energy for industrial applications depends on the ability to incorporate effective heat exchangers between the nuclear heat transport system and the industrial process heat transport system. This study considers two different types of heat exchangers - helical coiled heat exchanger and printed circuit heat exchanger - as possible options for the AHTR secondary heat exchangers with distributed load analysis and comparison. Comparison is provided for all different cases along with challenges and recommendations. (authors)

An FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion system design method

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Le; Lin, Yu-chi; Chen, Yan-hua; Zhao, Mei-rong

2011-08-01

Taking the advantages of FPGA's low cost and compact structure, an FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion platform is established in this study. Altera's Cyclone IV series FPGA is adopted as the core processor of the platform, and the visible light CCD camera and infrared thermal imager are used as the image-capturing device in order to obtain dualchannel heterogeneous video images. Tailor-made image fusion algorithms such as gray-scale weighted averaging, maximum selection and minimum selection methods are analyzed and compared. VHDL language and the synchronous design method are utilized to perform a reliable RTL-level description. Altera's Quartus II 9.0 software is applied to simulate and implement the algorithm modules. The contrast experiments of various fusion algorithms show that, preferably image quality of the heterogeneous image fusion can be obtained on top of the proposed system. The applied range of the different fusion algorithms is also discussed.

Heterogeneity, histological features and DNA ploidy in oral carcinoma by image-based analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Diwakar, N; Sperandio, M; Sherriff, M; Brown, A; Odell, E W

2005-04-01

Oral squamous carcinomas appear heterogeneous on DNA ploidy analysis. However, this may be partly a result of sample dilution or the detection limit of techniques. The aim of this study was to determine whether oral squamous carcinomas are heterogeneous for ploidy status using image-based ploidy analysis and to determine whether ploidy status correlates with histological parameters. Multiple samples from 42 oral squamous carcinomas were analysed for DNA ploidy using an image-based system and scored for histological parameters. 22 were uniformly aneuploid, 1 uniformly tetraploid and 3 uniformly diploid. 16 appeared heterogeneous but only 8 appeared to be genuinely heterogeneous when minor ploidy histogram peaks were taken into account. Ploidy was closely related to nuclear pleomorphism but not differentiation. Sample variation, detection limits and diagnostic criteria account for much of the ploidy heterogeneity observed. Confident diagnosis of diploid status in an oral squamous cell carcinoma requires a minimum of 5 samples.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shrivastava, Manish [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Cappa, Christopher D. [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis California USA; Fan, Jiwen [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Goldstein, Allen H. [Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley California USA; Guenther, Alex B. [Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine California USA; Jimenez, Jose L. [Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder Colorado USA; Kuang, Chongai [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton New York USA; Laskin, Alexander [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Martin, Scot T. [School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts USA; Ng, Nga Lee [School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia USA; Petaja, Tuukka [Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Finland; Pierce, Jeffrey R. [Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado USA; Rasch, Philip J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Roldin, Pontus [Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund Sweden; Seinfeld, John H. [Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena California USA; Shilling, John [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Smith, James N. [Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine California USA; Thornton, Joel A. [Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle Washington USA; Volkamer, Rainer [Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder Colorado USA; Wang, Jian [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton New York USA; Worsnop, Douglas R. [Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica Massachusetts USA; Zaveri, Rahul A. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Zelenyuk, Alla [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Zhang, Qi [Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis California USA

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the ‘climate sensitivity’). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through a combination of laboratory and field measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important SOA-relevant processes. Therefore, major gaps exist at present between current measurement-based knowledge on the one hand and model implementation of organic aerosols on the other. The critical review herein summarizes some of the important developments in understanding SOA formation that could potentially have large impacts on our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and climate. We highlight the importance of some recently discovered processes and properties that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. In addition, this review also highlights some of the important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions, such as the role of sulfate and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) on SOA formation from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Studies that relate the observed evolution of organic aerosol

Early Change in Metabolic Tumor Heterogeneity during Chemoradiotherapy and Its Prognostic Value for Patients with Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinzhe Dong

Full Text Available To observe the early change of metabolic tumor heterogeneity during chemoradiotherapy and to determine its prognostic value for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC.From January 2007 to March 2010, 58 patients with NSCLC were included who were received 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG PET/CT before and following 40 Gy radiotherapy with the concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy (CCRT. Primary tumor FDG uptake heterogeneity was determined using global and local scale textural features extracted from standardized uptake value (SUV histogram analysis (coefficient of variation [COV], skewness, kurtosis, area under the curve of the cumulative SUV histogram [AUC-CSH] and normalized gray-level co-occurrence matrix (contrast, dissimilarity, entropy, homogeneity. SUVmax and metabolic tumor volume (MTV were also evaluated. Correlations were analyzed between parameters on baseline or during treatments with tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS, and overall survival (OS.Compared with non-responders, responders showed significantly greater pre-treatment COV, contrast and MTV (AUC = 0.781, 0.804, 0.686, respectively. Receiver-operating-characteristic curve analysis showed that early change of tumor textural analysis serves as a response predictor with higher sensitivity (73.2%~92.1% and specificity (80.0%~83.6% than baseline parameters. Change in AUC-CSH and dissimilarity during CCRT could also predict response with optimal cut-off values (33.0% and 28.7%, respectively. The patients with greater changes in contrast and AUC-CSH had significantly higher 5-year OS (P = 0.008, P = 0.034 and PFS (P = 0.007, P = 0.039. In multivariate analysis, only change in contrast was found as the independent prognostic factor of PFS (HR 0.476, P = 0.021 and OS (HR 0.519, P = 0.015.The metabolic tumor heterogeneity change during CCRT characterized by global and local scale textural features may be valuable for predicting treatment response

A QoS-Based Dynamic Queue Length Scheduling Algorithm in Multiantenna Heterogeneous Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verikoukis Christos

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The use of real-time delay-sensitive applications in wireless systems has significantly grown during the last years. Therefore the designers of wireless systems have faced a challenging issue to guarantee the required Quality of Service (QoS. On the other hand, the recent advances and the extensive use of multiple antennas have already been included in several commercial standards, where the multibeam opportunistic transmission beamforming strategies have been proposed to improve the performance of the wireless systems. A cross-layer-based dynamically tuned queue length scheduler is presented in this paper, for the Downlink of multiuser and multiantenna WLAN systems with heterogeneous traffic requirements. To align with modern wireless systems transmission strategies, an opportunistic scheduling algorithm is employed, while a priority to the different traffic classes is applied. A tradeoff between the maximization of the throughput of the system and the guarantee of the maximum allowed delay is obtained. Therefore, the length of the queue is dynamically adjusted to select the appropriate conditions based on the operator requirements.

Advanced conceptual design report: T Plant secondary containment and leak detection upgrades. Project W-259

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hookfin, J.D.

1995-01-01

The T Plant facilities in the 200-West Area of the Hanford site were constructed in the early 1940s to produce nuclear materials in support of national defense activities. T Plant includes the 271-T facility, the 221-T facility, and several support facilities (eg, 2706-T), utilities, and tanks/piping systems. T Plant has been recommended as the primary interim decontamination facility for the Hanford site. Project W-259 will provide capital upgrades to the T Plant facilities to comply with Federal and State of Washington environmental regulations for secondary containment and leak detection. This document provides an advanced conceptual design concept that complies with functional requirements for the T Plant Secondary Containment and Leak Detection upgrades

An Erbium-Based Bifuctional Heterogeneous Catalyst: A Cooperative Route Towards C-C Bond Formation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuela Oliverio

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Heterogeneous bifuctional catalysts are multifunctional synthetic catalysts enabling efficient organic transformations by exploiting two opposite functionalities without mutual destruction. In this paper we report the first Er(III-based metallorganic heterogeneous catalyst, synthesized by post-calcination MW-assisted grafting and modification of the natural aminoacid L-cysteine. The natural acid–base distance between sites was maintained to assure the cooperation. The applicability of this new bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst to C-C bond formation and the supposed mechanisms of action are discussed as well.

Spatial Heterogeneity of the Forest Canopy Scales with the Heterogeneity of an Understory Shrub Based on Fractal Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine K. Denny

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Spatial heterogeneity of vegetation is an important landscape characteristic, but is difficult to assess due to scale-dependence. Here we examine how spatial patterns in the forest canopy affect those of understory plants, using the shrub Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis (L. Nutt. as a focal species. Evergreen and deciduous forest canopy and buffaloberry shrub presence were measured with line-intercept sampling along ten 2-km transects in the Rocky Mountain foothills of west-central Alberta, Canada. Relationships between overstory canopy and understory buffaloberry presence were assessed for scales ranging from 2 m to 502 m. Fractal dimensions of both canopy and buffaloberry were estimated and then related using box-counting methods to evaluate spatial heterogeneity based on patch distribution and abundance. Effects of canopy presence on buffaloberry were scale-dependent, with shrub presence negatively related to evergreen canopy cover and positively related to deciduous cover. The effect of evergreen canopy was significant at a local scale between 2 m and 42 m, while that of deciduous canopy was significant at a meso-scale between 150 m and 358 m. Fractal analysis indicated that buffaloberry heterogeneity positively scaled with evergreen canopy heterogeneity, but was unrelated to that of deciduous canopy. This study demonstrates that evergreen canopy cover is a determinant of buffaloberry heterogeneity, highlighting the importance of spatial scale and canopy composition in understanding canopy-understory relationships.

ANSL-V: ENDF/B-V based multigroup cross-section libraries for Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) reactor studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, W.E. III; Arwood, J.W.; Greene, N.M.; Petrie, L.M.; Primm, R.T. III; Waddell, M.W.; Webster, C.C.; Westfall, R.M.; Wright, R.Q.

1987-01-01

Multigroup P3 neutron, P0-P3 secondary gamma ray production (SGRP), and P6 gamma ray interaction (GRI) cross section libraries have been generated to support design work on the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) reactor. The libraries, designated ANSL-V (Advanced Neutron Source Cross-Section Libraries), are data bases in a format suitable for subsequent generation of problem dependent cross sections. The ANSL-V libraries are available on magnetic tape from the Radiation Shielding Information Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Image-based computational quantification and visualization of genetic alterations and tumour heterogeneity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Qing; Rüschoff, Jan H; Guo, Tiannan; Gabrani, Maria; Schüffler, Peter J; Rechsteiner, Markus; Liu, Yansheng; Fuchs, Thomas J; Rupp, Niels J; Fankhauser, Christian; Buhmann, Joachim M; Perner, Sven; Poyet, Cédric; Blattner, Miriam; Soldini, Davide; Moch, Holger; Rubin, Mark A; Noske, Aurelia; Rüschoff, Josef; Haffner, Michael C; Jochum, Wolfram; Wild, Peter J

2016-04-07

Recent large-scale genome analyses of human tissue samples have uncovered a high degree of genetic alterations and tumour heterogeneity in most tumour entities, independent of morphological phenotypes and histopathological characteristics. Assessment of genetic copy-number variation (CNV) and tumour heterogeneity by fluorescence in situ hybridization (ISH) provides additional tissue morphology at single-cell resolution, but it is labour intensive with limited throughput and high inter-observer variability. We present an integrative method combining bright-field dual-colour chromogenic and silver ISH assays with an image-based computational workflow (ISHProfiler), for accurate detection of molecular signals, high-throughput evaluation of CNV, expressive visualization of multi-level heterogeneity (cellular, inter- and intra-tumour heterogeneity), and objective quantification of heterogeneous genetic deletions (PTEN) and amplifications (19q12, HER2) in diverse human tumours (prostate, endometrial, ovarian and gastric), using various tissue sizes and different scanners, with unprecedented throughput and reproducibility.

Efficacy of tegafur-uracil in advanced urothelial cancer patients after the treatment failure of platinum-based chemotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Maolake, Aerken; Izumi, Kouji; Takahashi, Rie; Itai, Shingo; Machioka, Kazuaki; Yaegashi, Hiroshi; Nohara, Takahiro; Kitagawa, Yasuhide; Kadono, Yoshifumi; Konaka, Hiroyuki; Mizokami, Atsushi; Namiki, Mikio

2015-03-01

Platinum-based chemotherapy is the first-line treatment for advanced urinary tract urothelial cancers. However, the optimal second-line treatment is unclear. Although tegafur-uracil is sometimes used for advanced urothelial cancer patients after the treatment failure of platinum-based chemotherapy, there is little evidence regarding its use as a second-line treatment. Advanced urothelial cancer patients previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival (OS) was compared between patients with and without tegafur-uracil treatment. Thirty-one patients (27 and 4 patients with and without tegafur-uracil treatment, respectively) were analyzed. OS from the last day of the final chemotherapy course was better in patients with tegafur-uracil treatment than in those without (p<0.001, 358 and 66.5 days of the median survival time, respectively). Tegafur-uracil may be a candidate for the secondary treatment of advanced urothelial cancer patients after the treatment failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

Promoting Student Collaboration in a Detracked, Heterogeneous Secondary Mathematics Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Staples, Megan E.

2008-01-01

Detracking and heterogeneous groupwork are two educational practices that have been shown to have promise for affording all students needed learning opportunities to develop mathematical proficiency. However, teachers face significant pedagogical challenges in organizing productive groupwork in these settings. This study offers an analysis of one…

A link prediction method for heterogeneous networks based on BP neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ji-chao; Zhao, Dan-ling; Ge, Bing-Feng; Yang, Ke-Wei; Chen, Ying-Wu

2018-04-01

Most real-world systems, composed of different types of objects connected via many interconnections, can be abstracted as various complex heterogeneous networks. Link prediction for heterogeneous networks is of great significance for mining missing links and reconfiguring networks according to observed information, with considerable applications in, for example, friend and location recommendations and disease-gene candidate detection. In this paper, we put forward a novel integrated framework, called MPBP (Meta-Path feature-based BP neural network model), to predict multiple types of links for heterogeneous networks. More specifically, the concept of meta-path is introduced, followed by the extraction of meta-path features for heterogeneous networks. Next, based on the extracted meta-path features, a supervised link prediction model is built with a three-layer BP neural network. Then, the solution algorithm of the proposed link prediction model is put forward to obtain predicted results by iteratively training the network. Last, numerical experiments on the dataset of examples of a gene-disease network and a combat network are conducted to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed MPBP. It shows that the MPBP with very good performance is superior to the baseline methods.

DIGITAL ONCOLOGY PATIENT RECORD - HETEROGENEOUS FILE BASED APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolay Sapundzhiev

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Oncology patients need extensive follow-up and meticulous documentation. The aim of this study was to introduce a simple, platform independent file based system for documentation of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in oncology patients and test its function.Material and methods: A file-name based system of the type M1M2M3.F2 was introduced, where M1 is a unique identifier for the patient, M2 is the date of the clinical intervention/event, M3 is an identifier for the author of the medical record and F2 is the specific software generated file-name extension.Results: This system is in use at 5 institutions, where a total of 11 persons on 14 different workstations inputted 16591 entries (files for 2370. The merge process was tested on 2 operating systems - when copied together all files sort up as expected by patient, and for each patient in a chronological order, providing a digital cumulative patient record, which contains heterogeneous file formats.Conclusion: The file based approach for storing heterogeneous digital patient related information is an reliable system, which can handle open-source, proprietary, general and custom file formats and seems to be easily scalable. Further development of software for automatic checks of the integrity and searching and indexing of the files is expected to produce a more user-friendly environment

Study on evaluation method for heterogeneous sedimentary rocks based on forward model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masui, Yasuhiro; Kawada, Koji; Katoh, Arata; Tsuji, Takashi; Suwabe, Mizue

2004-02-01

It is very important to estimate the facies distribution of heterogeneous sedimentary rocks for geological disposal of high level radioactive waste. The heterogeneousness of sedimentary rocks is due to variable distribution of grain size and mineral composition. The objective of this study is to establish the evaluation method for heterogeneous sedimentary rocks based on forward model. This study consisted of geological study for Horonobe area and the development of soft wear for sedimentary model. Geological study was composed of following items. 1. The sedimentary system for Koetoi and Wakkanai formations in Horonobe area was compiled based on papers. 2. The cores of HDB-1 were observed mainly from sedimentological view. 3. The facies and compaction property of argillaceous rocks were studied based on physical logs and core analysis data of wells. 4. The structure maps, isochrone maps, isopach maps and restored geological sections were made. The soft wear for sedimentary model to show sedimentary system on a basin scale was developed. This soft wear estimates the facies distribution and hydraulic conductivity of sedimentary rocks on three dimensions scale by numerical simulation. (author)

Strategic Alliance to Advanced Technological Education through Enhanced Mathematics, Science, Technology, and English Education at the Secondary Level

Science.gov (United States)

Scarborough, Jule Dee

2004-01-01

This document (book) reports on the Strategic Alliance to Advance Technological Education through Enhanced Mathematics, Science, Technology, and English Education at the Secondary Level, funded by National Science Foundation. It was a collaborative partnership involving the Rockford Public Schools, Rock Valley College, and Northern Illinois…

ToF-SIMS and Laser-SNMS Imaging of Heterogeneous Topographically Complex Polymer Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelster, Andreas; Körsgen, Martin; Kurosawa, Takako; Morita, Hiromi; Arlinghaus, Heinrich F

2016-10-04

Heterogeneous polymer coatings, such as those used in organic electronics and medical devices, are of increasing industrial importance. In order to advance the development of these types of systems, analytical techniques are required which are able to determine the elemental and molecular spatial distributions, on a nanometer scale, with very high detection efficiency and sensitivity. The goal of this study was to investigate the suitability of laser postionization secondary neutral mass spectrometry (Laser-SNMS) with a 157 nm postionization laser beam to image structured polymer mixtures and compare the results with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) measurements using Bi 3 + primary ions. The results showed that Laser-SNMS is better suited than ToF-SIMS for unambiguous detection and submicrometer imaging of the wide range of polymers investigated. The data also showed that Laser-SNMS has the advantage of being much more sensitive (in general higher by more than an order of magnitude and peaking at up to 3 orders of magnitude) than ToF-SIMS while also showing superior performance on topographically complex structured insulating surfaces, due to significantly reduced field effects and a higher dynamic range as compared to ToF-SIMS. It is concluded that Laser-SNMS is a powerful complementary technique to ToF-SIMS for the analysis of heterogeneous polymers and other complex structured organic mixtures, providing submicrometer resolution and high sensitivity.

Using the learning management evaluation model for advancing to life skills of lower secondary students in the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Kansaart, Preecha; Suikraduang, Arun; Panya, Piyatida

2018-01-01

The aims of this research study were to develop the Learning Management Evaluation Model (LMEM) for advancing to lower secondary students of their life skills in the 21st century with the Research & Development process technique. The research procedures were administered of four steps that composed of analyze, the synthetic indicator to assess learning to advance to their life skills in the 21st century by the 4-educational experts were interviewed. The LMEM model was developed by the information from the first draft format and the educational experts to check a suitability and feasibility of the draft assessment form with a technical symposium multipath characteristics to find consensus dimensional (Multi-Attribute Consensus Reaching: MACR) by 12 specialists who provided the instruction in the form of Assessment and Evaluation Guide (AEG) was brought to five the number of professionals who ensure the proper coverage, a clear assessment of the manual before using the AEG. The LMEM model was to trial at an experiment with different schools in the Secondary Educational Office Area 26 (Maha Sarakham) whereas taught at the upper secondary educational school with the sample consisted of 7 schools with the purposive sampling was selected. Assessing the LMEM model was evaluated the based on the evaluation criteria of the educational development. The assessor was related to the trial consisted of 35 evaluators. Using the interview form with the rubric score and a five rating scale level was analyzed; the qualitative and quantitative data were used. It has found that: The LMEM evaluation model of learning to advance to life skills of students in the 21st century was a chart structure that ties together of 6 relevant components of the evaluation such as; the purpose of the assessment, the evaluation focused assessment methods, the evaluator, the evaluation technique, and the evaluation criteria. The evaluation targets were to assess the management of learning, the factors

A model-based approach to studying changes in compositional heterogeneity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baeten, L.; Warton, D.; Calster, van H.; Frenne, De P.; Verstraeten, G.; Bonte, D.; Bernhardt-Romermann, M.; Cornelis, R.; Decocq, G.; Eriksson, O.; Hommel, P.W.F.M.

2014-01-01

1. Non-random species loss and gain in local communities change the compositional heterogeneity between communities over time, which is traditionally quantified with dissimilarity-based approaches. Yet, dissimilarities summarize the multivariate species data into a univariate index and obscure the

Secondary Coordinated Control of Islanded Microgrids Based on Consensus Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Dan; Dragicevic, Tomislav; Vasquez, Juan Carlos

2014-01-01

systems. Nevertheless, the conventional decentralized secondary control, although does not need to be implemented in a microgrid central controller (MGCC), it has the limitation that all decentralized controllers must be mutually synchronized. In a clear cut contrast, the proposed secondary control......This paper proposes a decentralized secondary control for islanded microgrids based on consensus algorithms. In a microgrid, the secondary control is implemented in order to eliminate the frequency changes caused by the primary control when coordinating renewable energy sources and energy storage...... requires only a more simplified communication protocol and a sparse communication network. Moreover, the proposed approach based on dynamic consensus algorithms is able to achieve the coordinated secondary performance even when all units are initially out-of-synchronism. The control algorithm implemented...

A Deep Convolutional Coupling Network for Change Detection Based on Heterogeneous Optical and Radar Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jia; Gong, Maoguo; Qin, Kai; Zhang, Puzhao

2018-03-01

We propose an unsupervised deep convolutional coupling network for change detection based on two heterogeneous images acquired by optical sensors and radars on different dates. Most existing change detection methods are based on homogeneous images. Due to the complementary properties of optical and radar sensors, there is an increasing interest in change detection based on heterogeneous images. The proposed network is symmetric with each side consisting of one convolutional layer and several coupling layers. The two input images connected with the two sides of the network, respectively, are transformed into a feature space where their feature representations become more consistent. In this feature space, the different map is calculated, which then leads to the ultimate detection map by applying a thresholding algorithm. The network parameters are learned by optimizing a coupling function. The learning process is unsupervised, which is different from most existing change detection methods based on heterogeneous images. Experimental results on both homogenous and heterogeneous images demonstrate the promising performance of the proposed network compared with several existing approaches.

Subgroup effects of occupational therapy-based intervention for people with advanced cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampedro Pilegaard, Marc; Oestergaard, Lisa Gregersen; la Cour, Karen; Thit Johnsen, Anna; Brandt, Åse

2018-03-23

Many people with advanced cancer have decreased ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). We recently performed a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) assessing the efficacy of an occupational therapy-based program, the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' in people with advanced cancer (N = 242) and found no overall effects on ADL ability. However, heterogeneity of treatment effect may disguise subgroup differences. To investigate whether subgroups of people with advanced cancer gain positive effects from the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' on ADL ability. An exploratory subgroup analysis including 191 participants from a RCT. The outcome was ADL motor ability measured by the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS). Subgroups were defined by age, gender, years of education, type of primary tumor, functional level, and activity problems. The 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' had no statistically significant effect in the six subgroups. Modifying effects of age (0.30 [95% CI: -0.05 to 0.64]) and gender (0.23 [95% CI: -0.11 to 0.57]) were not found. There were no subgroup effects of the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention'on ADL motor ability. Some indications suggest greater effects for those aged below 69 years; however, this result should be interpreted with caution.

Consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems based on sampled data with a small sampling delay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Na; Wu Zhi-Hai; Peng Li

2014-01-01

In this paper, consensus problems of heterogeneous multi-agent systems based on sampled data with a small sampling delay are considered. First, a consensus protocol based on sampled data with a small sampling delay for heterogeneous multi-agent systems is proposed. Then, the algebra graph theory, the matrix method, the stability theory of linear systems, and some other techniques are employed to derive the necessary and sufficient conditions guaranteeing heterogeneous multi-agent systems to asymptotically achieve the stationary consensus. Finally, simulations are performed to demonstrate the correctness of the theoretical results. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

An updated 18S rRNA phylogeny of tunicates based on mixture and secondary structure models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shenkar Noa

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Tunicates have been recently revealed to be the closest living relatives of vertebrates. Yet, with more than 2500 described species, details of their evolutionary history are still obscure. From a molecular point of view, tunicate phylogenetic relationships have been mostly studied based on analyses of 18S rRNA sequences, which indicate several major clades at odds with the traditional class-level arrangements. Nonetheless, substantial uncertainty remains about the phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status of key groups such as the Aplousobranchia, Appendicularia, and Thaliacea. Results Thirty new complete 18S rRNA sequences were acquired from previously unsampled tunicate species, with special focus on groups presenting high evolutionary rate. The updated 18S rRNA dataset has been aligned with respect to the constraint on homology imposed by the rRNA secondary structure. A probabilistic framework of phylogenetic reconstruction was adopted to accommodate the particular evolutionary dynamics of this ribosomal marker. Detailed Bayesian analyses were conducted under the non-parametric CAT mixture model accounting for site-specific heterogeneity of the evolutionary process, and under RNA-specific doublet models accommodating the occurrence of compensatory substitutions in stem regions. Our results support the division of tunicates into three major clades: 1 Phlebobranchia + Thaliacea + Aplousobranchia, 2 Appendicularia, and 3 Stolidobranchia, but the position of Appendicularia could not be firmly resolved. Our study additionally reveals that most Aplousobranchia evolve at extremely high rates involving changes in secondary structure of their 18S rRNA, with the exception of the family Clavelinidae, which appears to be slowly evolving. This extreme rate heterogeneity precluded resolving with certainty the exact phylogenetic placement of Aplousobranchia. Finally, the best fitting secondary-structure and CAT-mixture models

Digital game-based learning in secondary education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huizenga, J.C.

2017-01-01

This PhD thesis presents research on digital game-based learning in secondary education. The main research question is: How do digital games contribute to learning, engagement and motivation to learn? The thesis contains seven chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to digital game-based learning

Force Sensor Based Tool Condition Monitoring Using a Heterogeneous Ensemble Learning Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guofeng Wang

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Tool condition monitoring (TCM plays an important role in improving machining efficiency and guaranteeing workpiece quality. In order to realize reliable recognition of the tool condition, a robust classifier needs to be constructed to depict the relationship between tool wear states and sensory information. However, because of the complexity of the machining process and the uncertainty of the tool wear evolution, it is hard for a single classifier to fit all the collected samples without sacrificing generalization ability. In this paper, heterogeneous ensemble learning is proposed to realize tool condition monitoring in which the support vector machine (SVM, hidden Markov model (HMM and radius basis function (RBF are selected as base classifiers and a stacking ensemble strategy is further used to reflect the relationship between the outputs of these base classifiers and tool wear states. Based on the heterogeneous ensemble learning classifier, an online monitoring system is constructed in which the harmonic features are extracted from force signals and a minimal redundancy and maximal relevance (mRMR algorithm is utilized to select the most prominent features. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a titanium alloy milling experiment was carried out and samples with different tool wear states were collected to build the proposed heterogeneous ensemble learning classifier. Moreover, the homogeneous ensemble learning model and majority voting strategy are also adopted to make a comparison. The analysis and comparison results show that the proposed heterogeneous ensemble learning classifier performs better in both classification accuracy and stability.

[Advances in the treatment of secondary osteoporosis].

Science.gov (United States)

Galindo Zavala, R; Núñez Cuadros, E; Díaz Cordovés-Rego, G; Urda Cardona, A L

2014-12-01

Osteoporosis is being increasingly recognised in paediatric practice as a consequence of the increasing life expectancy of children who suffer from chronic diseases and other factors. There are many non-pharmacological measures that can improve children' bone health, for example, avoiding inflammatory activity and osteotoxic treatments; increasing sun exposure and weight-bearing exercise, and maintaining an adequate nutritional status. Vitamin D and calcium supplements have been proposed as a measure to increase bone mass, but their effect and therapeutic indications are not completely clear. On the other hand, bisphosphonates are currently the only pharmacological alternative for the patients with infantile secondary osteoporosis. However, more studies are required on the therapeutic indications, posology, and long term secondary effects of biphosphonates. The aim of this article is to analyze the scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the therapeutic alternatives for childhood secondary osteoporosis and their safety in children. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Conduction and Narrow Escape in Dense, Disordered, Particulate-based Heterogeneous Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Lechman, Jeremy

For optimal and reliable performance, many technological devices rely on complex, disordered heterogeneous or composite materials and their associated manufacturing processes. Examples include many powder and particulate-based materials found in phyrotechnic devices for car airbags, electrodes in energy storage devices, and various advanced composite materials. Due to their technological importance and complex structure, these materials have been the subject of much research in a number of fields. Moreover, the advent of new manufacturing techniques based on powder bed and particulate process routes, the potential of functional nano-structured materials, and the additional recognition of persistent shortcomings in predicting reliable performance of high consequence applications; leading to ballooning costs of fielding and maintaining advanced technologies, should motivate renewed efforts in understanding, predicting and controlling these materials' fabrication and behavior. Our particular effort seeks to understand the link between the top-down control presented in specific non-equilibrium processes routes (i.e., manufacturing processes) and the variability and uncertainty of the end product performance. Our ultimate aim is to quantify the variability inherent in these constrained dynamical or random processes and to use it to optimize and predict resulting material properties/performance and to inform component design with precise margins. In fact, this raises a set of deep and broad-ranging issues that have been recognized and as touching the core of a major research challenge at Sandia National Laboratories. In this talk, we will give an overview of recent efforts to address aspects of this vision. In particular the case of conductive properties of packed particulate materials will be highlighted. Combining a number of existing approaches we will discuss new insights and potential directions for further development toward the stated goal. Sandia National

Pre-set extrusion bioprinting for multiscale heterogeneous tissue structure fabrication.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Donggu; Ahn, Geunseon; Kim, Donghwan; Kang, Hyun-Wook; Yun, Seokhwan; Yun, Won-Soo; Shim, Jin-Hyung; Jin, Songwan

2018-06-06

Recent advances in three-dimensional bioprinting technology have led to various attempts in fabricating human tissue-like structures. However, current bioprinting technologies have limitations for creating native tissue-like structures. To resolve these issues, we developed a new pre-set extrusion bioprinting technique that can create heterogeneous, multicellular, and multimaterial structures simultaneously. The key to this ability lies in the use of a precursor cartridge that can stably preserve a multimaterial with a pre-defined configuration that can be simply embedded in a syringe-based printer head. The multimaterial can be printed and miniaturized through a micro-nozzle without conspicuous deformation according to the pre-defined configuration of the precursor cartridge. Using this system, we fabricated heterogeneous tissue-like structures such as spinal cords, hepatic lobule, blood vessels, and capillaries. We further obtained a heterogeneous patterned model that embeds HepG2 cells with endothelial cells in a hepatic lobule-like structure. In comparison with homogeneous and heterogeneous cell printing, the heterogeneous patterned model showed a well-organized hepatic lobule structure and higher enzyme activity of CYP3A4. Therefore, this pre-set extrusion bioprinting method could be widely used in the fabrication of a variety of artificial and functional tissues or organs.

Heterogeneity of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lochner, Christine; Stein, Dan J

2003-01-01

Significant advances have been made in characterizing the phenomenology and psychobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in recent years. In many ways, such advances suggest a conceptualization of OCD as a relatively homogeneous neuropsychiatric entity, underpinned by particular mechanisms that manifest in universal symptoms. Nevertheless, some data have pointed to the heterogeneity of this disorder. A computerized literature search (MEDLINE: 1964-2001) was used to collect studies addressing the heterogeneity of OCD. In addition, reviews of the phenomenology, psychobiology, family studies, and treatment of OCD were examined in an attempt to collate data addressing this issue. There is a growing consensus that some subtypes of OCD are valid and provide a useful means of integrating data on its symptomatology, neurobiology, and treatment response; for example, OCD with comorbid tics is characterized by earlier onset, a particular range of OCD symptoms, and worse response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The heterogeneity of OCD has important clinical and research implications.

Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Look Inside Its Heterogeneous Nature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inda, Maria-del-Mar; Bonavia, Rudy; Seoane, Joan

2014-01-01

Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor heterogeneity has been studied widely, intra-tumor heterogeneity has been neglected even though numerous studies support this aspect of tumor pathobiology. The main reason has been the technical difficulties, but with new advances in single-cell technology, intra-tumor heterogeneity is becoming a key area in the study of cancer. Several models try to explain the origin and maintenance of intra-tumor heterogeneity, however, one prominent model compares cancer with a tree where the ubiquitous mutations compose the trunk and mutations present in subpopulations of cells are represented by the branches. In this review we will focus on the intra-tumor heterogeneity of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common brain tumor in adults that is characterized by a marked heterogeneity at the cellular and molecular levels. Better understanding of this heterogeneity will be essential to design effective therapies against this devastating disease to avoid tumor escape

Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Look Inside Its Heterogeneous Nature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inda, Maria-del-Mar, E-mail: mminda@vhio.net; Bonavia, Rudy [Translational Research Program, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, 119-129 Passeig Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona 08035 (Spain); Seoane, Joan [Translational Research Program, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, 119-129 Passeig Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona 08035 (Spain); Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona 08035 (Spain)

2014-01-27

Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor heterogeneity has been studied widely, intra-tumor heterogeneity has been neglected even though numerous studies support this aspect of tumor pathobiology. The main reason has been the technical difficulties, but with new advances in single-cell technology, intra-tumor heterogeneity is becoming a key area in the study of cancer. Several models try to explain the origin and maintenance of intra-tumor heterogeneity, however, one prominent model compares cancer with a tree where the ubiquitous mutations compose the trunk and mutations present in subpopulations of cells are represented by the branches. In this review we will focus on the intra-tumor heterogeneity of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common brain tumor in adults that is characterized by a marked heterogeneity at the cellular and molecular levels. Better understanding of this heterogeneity will be essential to design effective therapies against this devastating disease to avoid tumor escape.

Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Look Inside Its Heterogeneous Nature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria-del-Mar Inda

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor heterogeneity has been studied widely, intra-tumor heterogeneity has been neglected even though numerous studies support this aspect of tumor pathobiology. The main reason has been the technical difficulties, but with new advances in single-cell technology, intra-tumor heterogeneity is becoming a key area in the study of cancer. Several models try to explain the origin and maintenance of intra-tumor heterogeneity, however, one prominent model compares cancer with a tree where the ubiquitous mutations compose the trunk and mutations present in subpopulations of cells are represented by the branches. In this review we will focus on the intra-tumor heterogeneity of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, the most common brain tumor in adults that is characterized by a marked heterogeneity at the cellular and molecular levels. Better understanding of this heterogeneity will be essential to design effective therapies against this devastating disease to avoid tumor escape.

Glioblastoma multiforme: a look inside its heterogeneous nature.

Science.gov (United States)

Inda, Maria-Del-Mar; Bonavia, Rudy; Seoane, Joan

2014-01-27

Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor heterogeneity has been studied widely, intra-tumor heterogeneity has been neglected even though numerous studies support this aspect of tumor pathobiology. The main reason has been the technical difficulties, but with new advances in single-cell technology, intra-tumor heterogeneity is becoming a key area in the study of cancer. Several models try to explain the origin and maintenance of intra-tumor heterogeneity, however, one prominent model compares cancer with a tree where the ubiquitous mutations compose the trunk and mutations present in subpopulations of cells are represented by the branches. In this review we will focus on the intra-tumor heterogeneity of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common brain tumor in adults that is characterized by a marked heterogeneity at the cellular and molecular levels. Better understanding of this heterogeneity will be essential to design effective therapies against this devastating disease to avoid tumor escape.

Engineering Microbial Metabolite Dynamics and Heterogeneity.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Alexander C; Hartline, Christopher J; Zhang, Fuzhong

2017-10-01

As yields for biological chemical production in microorganisms approach their theoretical maximum, metabolic engineering requires new tools, and approaches for improvements beyond what traditional strategies can achieve. Engineering metabolite dynamics and metabolite heterogeneity is necessary to achieve further improvements in product titers, productivities, and yields. Metabolite dynamics, the ensemble change in metabolite concentration over time, arise from the need for microbes to adapt their metabolism in response to the extracellular environment and are important for controlling growth and productivity in industrial fermentations. Metabolite heterogeneity, the cell-to-cell variation in a metabolite concentration in an isoclonal population, has a significant impact on ensemble productivity. Recent advances in single cell analysis enable a more complete understanding of the processes driving metabolite heterogeneity and reveal metabolic engineering targets. The authors present an overview of the mechanistic origins of metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity, why they are important, their potential effects in chemical production processes, and tools and strategies for engineering metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity. The authors emphasize that the ability to control metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity will bring new avenues of engineering to increase productivity of microbial strains. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Meta-path based heterogeneous combat network link prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jichao; Ge, Bingfeng; Yang, Kewei; Chen, Yingwu; Tan, Yuejin

2017-09-01

The combat system-of-systems in high-tech informative warfare, composed of many interconnected combat systems of different types, can be regarded as a type of complex heterogeneous network. Link prediction for heterogeneous combat networks (HCNs) is of significant military value, as it facilitates reconfiguring combat networks to represent the complex real-world network topology as appropriate with observed information. This paper proposes a novel integrated methodology framework called HCNMP (HCN link prediction based on meta-path) to predict multiple types of links simultaneously for an HCN. More specifically, the concept of HCN meta-paths is introduced, through which the HCNMP can accumulate information by extracting different features of HCN links for all the six defined types. Next, an HCN link prediction model, based on meta-path features, is built to predict all types of links of the HCN simultaneously. Then, the solution algorithm for the HCN link prediction model is proposed, in which the prediction results are obtained by iteratively updating with the newly predicted results until the results in the HCN converge or reach a certain maximum iteration number. Finally, numerical experiments on the dataset of a real HCN are conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed HCNMP, in comparison with 30 baseline methods. The results show that the performance of the HCNMP is superior to those of the baseline methods.

How does uncertainty shape patient experience in advanced illness? A secondary analysis of qualitative data.

Science.gov (United States)

Etkind, Simon Noah; Bristowe, Katherine; Bailey, Katharine; Selman, Lucy Ellen; Murtagh, Fliss Em

2017-02-01

Uncertainty is common in advanced illness but is infrequently studied in this context. If poorly addressed, uncertainty can lead to adverse patient outcomes. We aimed to understand patient experiences of uncertainty in advanced illness and develop a typology of patients' responses and preferences to inform practice. Secondary analysis of qualitative interview transcripts. Studies were assessed for inclusion and interviews were sampled using maximum-variation sampling. Analysis used a thematic approach with 10% of coding cross-checked to enhance reliability. Qualitative interviews from six studies including patients with heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal disease, cancer and liver failure. A total of 30 transcripts were analysed. Median age was 75 (range, 43-95), 12 patients were women. The impact of uncertainty was frequently discussed: the main related themes were engagement with illness, information needs, patient priorities and the period of time that patients mainly focused their attention on (temporal focus). A typology of patient responses to uncertainty was developed from these themes. Uncertainty influences patient experience in advanced illness through affecting patients' information needs, preferences and future priorities for care. Our typology aids understanding of how patients with advanced illness respond to uncertainty. Assessment of these three factors may be a useful starting point to guide clinical assessment and shared decision making.

Heterogeneous Wireless Networks for Smart Grid Distribution Systems: Advantages and Limitations.

Science.gov (United States)

Khalifa, Tarek; Abdrabou, Atef; Shaban, Khaled; Gaouda, A M

2018-05-11

Supporting a conventional power grid with advanced communication capabilities is a cornerstone to transferring it to a smart grid. A reliable communication infrastructure with a high throughput can lay the foundation towards the ultimate objective of a fully automated power grid with self-healing capabilities. In order to realize this objective, the communication infrastructure of a power distribution network needs to be extended to cover all substations including medium/low voltage ones. This shall enable information exchange among substations for a variety of system automation purposes with a low latency that suits time critical applications. This paper proposes the integration of two heterogeneous wireless technologies (such as WiFi and cellular 3G/4G) to provide reliable and fast communication among primary and secondary distribution substations. This integration allows the transmission of different data packets (not packet replicas) over two radio interfaces, making these interfaces act like a one data pipe. Thus, the paper investigates the applicability and effectiveness of employing heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs) in achieving the desired reliability and timeliness requirements of future smart grids. We study the performance of HWNs in a realistic scenario under different data transfer loads and packet loss ratios. Our findings reveal that HWNs can be a viable data transfer option for smart grids.

Heterogeneous Wireless Networks for Smart Grid Distribution Systems: Advantages and Limitations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tarek Khalifa

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Supporting a conventional power grid with advanced communication capabilities is a cornerstone to transferring it to a smart grid. A reliable communication infrastructure with a high throughput can lay the foundation towards the ultimate objective of a fully automated power grid with self-healing capabilities. In order to realize this objective, the communication infrastructure of a power distribution network needs to be extended to cover all substations including medium/low voltage ones. This shall enable information exchange among substations for a variety of system automation purposes with a low latency that suits time critical applications. This paper proposes the integration of two heterogeneous wireless technologies (such as WiFi and cellular 3G/4G to provide reliable and fast communication among primary and secondary distribution substations. This integration allows the transmission of different data packets (not packet replicas over two radio interfaces, making these interfaces act like a one data pipe. Thus, the paper investigates the applicability and effectiveness of employing heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs in achieving the desired reliability and timeliness requirements of future smart grids. We study the performance of HWNs in a realistic scenario under different data transfer loads and packet loss ratios. Our findings reveal that HWNs can be a viable data transfer option for smart grids.

Investigating reservation policies of advance orders in the presence of heterogeneous demand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Bisheng; Larsen, Christian

We consider an inventory system, operated by a base stock policy and serving two customer classes. One customer class, Class 1, does not provide any advance demand information at all, while the other, Class 2, does. In order to reward a customer of Class 2 for providing advance order information......, it may be sensible to make reservations for the order in the inventory system, thereby preventing later arriving orders from getting access to the inventory before this particular order. We propose various reservation policies and study their impact on the performance of the inventory system....

Pathway-based Analysis of the Hidden Genetic Heterogeneities in Cancers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaolei Zhao

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Many cancers apparently showing similar phenotypes are actually distinct at the molecular level, leading to very different responses to the same treatment. It has been recently demonstrated that pathway-based approaches are robust and reliable for genetic analysis of cancers. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether such function-based approaches are useful in deciphering molecular heterogeneities in cancers. Therefore, we aimed to test this possibility in the present study. First, we used a NCI60 dataset to validate the ability of pathways to correctly partition samples. Next, we applied the proposed method to identify the hidden subtypes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL. Finally, the clinical significance of the identified subtypes was verified using survival analysis. For the NCI60 dataset, we achieved highly accurate partitions that best fit the clinical cancer phenotypes. Subsequently, for a DLBCL dataset, we identified three hidden subtypes that showed very different 10-year overall survival rates (90%, 46% and 20% and were highly significantly (P = 0.008 correlated with the clinical survival rate. This study demonstrated that the pathway-based approach is promising for unveiling genetic heterogeneities in complex human diseases.

Educational program on HPC technologies based on the heterogeneous cluster HybriLIT (LIT JINR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir V. Korenkov

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article highlights the issues of training personnel for work with high-performance computing systems (HPC, as well as of support of the software and information environment which is necessary for the efficient use of heterogeneous computing resources and the development of parallel and hybrid applications. The heterogeneous computing cluster HybriLIT, which is one of the components of the Multifunctional Information and Computing Complex of JINR, is used as the main platform for training and re-training specialists, as well as for training students, graduate students and young scientists. The HybriLIT cluster is a dynamic, actively developing structure, incorporating the most advanced HPC computing architectures (graphics accelerators, Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors, and also it has a developed software and information environment, which in turn, makes it possible to build educational programs on the up-to-date level, and enables the learners to master both modern computing platforms and modern IT technologies.

Capturing alternative secondary structures of RNA by decomposition of base-pairing probabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagio, Taichi; Sakuraba, Shun; Iwakiri, Junichi; Mori, Ryota; Asai, Kiyoshi

2018-02-19

It is known that functional RNAs often switch their functions by forming different secondary structures. Popular tools for RNA secondary structures prediction, however, predict the single 'best' structures, and do not produce alternative structures. There are bioinformatics tools to predict suboptimal structures, but it is difficult to detect which alternative secondary structures are essential. We proposed a new computational method to detect essential alternative secondary structures from RNA sequences by decomposing the base-pairing probability matrix. The decomposition is calculated by a newly implemented software tool, RintW, which efficiently computes the base-pairing probability distributions over the Hamming distance from arbitrary reference secondary structures. The proposed approach has been demonstrated on ROSE element RNA thermometer sequence and Lysine RNA ribo-switch, showing that the proposed approach captures conformational changes in secondary structures. We have shown that alternative secondary structures are captured by decomposing base-paring probabilities over Hamming distance. Source code is available from http://www.ncRNA.org/RintW .

XML-based approaches for the integration of heterogeneous bio-molecular data.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesiti, Marco; Jiménez-Ruiz, Ernesto; Sanz, Ismael; Berlanga-Llavori, Rafael; Perlasca, Paolo; Valentini, Giorgio; Manset, David

2009-10-15

The today's public database infrastructure spans a very large collection of heterogeneous biological data, opening new opportunities for molecular biology, bio-medical and bioinformatics research, but raising also new problems for their integration and computational processing. In this paper we survey the most interesting and novel approaches for the representation, integration and management of different kinds of biological data by exploiting XML and the related recommendations and approaches. Moreover, we present new and interesting cutting edge approaches for the appropriate management of heterogeneous biological data represented through XML. XML has succeeded in the integration of heterogeneous biomolecular information, and has established itself as the syntactic glue for biological data sources. Nevertheless, a large variety of XML-based data formats have been proposed, thus resulting in a difficult effective integration of bioinformatics data schemes. The adoption of a few semantic-rich standard formats is urgent to achieve a seamless integration of the current biological resources.

Human disease MiRNA inference by combining target information based on heterogeneous manifolds.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Pingjian; Luo, Jiawei; Liang, Cheng; Xiao, Qiu; Cao, Buwen

2018-04-01

The emergence of network medicine has provided great insight into the identification of disease-related molecules, which could help with the development of personalized medicine. However, the state-of-the-art methods could neither simultaneously consider target information and the known miRNA-disease associations nor effectively explore novel gene-disease associations as a by-product during the process of inferring disease-related miRNAs. Computational methods incorporating multiple sources of information offer more opportunities to infer disease-related molecules, including miRNAs and genes in heterogeneous networks at a system level. In this study, we developed a novel algorithm, named inference of Disease-related MiRNAs based on Heterogeneous Manifold (DMHM), to accurately and efficiently identify miRNA-disease associations by integrating multi-omics data. Graph-based regularization was utilized to obtain a smooth function on the data manifold, which constitutes the main principle of DMHM. The novelty of this framework lies in the relatedness between diseases and miRNAs, which are measured via heterogeneous manifolds on heterogeneous networks integrating target information. To demonstrate the effectiveness of DMHM, we conducted comprehensive experiments based on HMDD datasets and compared DMHM with six state-of-the-art methods. Experimental results indicated that DMHM significantly outperformed the other six methods under fivefold cross validation and de novo prediction tests. Case studies have further confirmed the practical usefulness of DMHM. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emergence of heterogeneity in an agent-based model

OpenAIRE

Abdullah, Wan Ahmad Tajuddin Wan

2002-01-01

We study an interacting agent model of a game-theoretical economy. The agents play a minority-subsequently-majority game and they learn, using backpropagation networks, to obtain higher payoffs. We study the relevance of heterogeneity to performance, and how heterogeneity emerges.

Study on distributed generation algorithm of variable precision concept lattice based on ontology heterogeneous database

Science.gov (United States)

WANG, Qingrong; ZHU, Changfeng

2017-06-01

Integration of distributed heterogeneous data sources is the key issues under the big data applications. In this paper the strategy of variable precision is introduced to the concept lattice, and the one-to-one mapping mode of variable precision concept lattice and ontology concept lattice is constructed to produce the local ontology by constructing the variable precision concept lattice for each subsystem, and the distributed generation algorithm of variable precision concept lattice based on ontology heterogeneous database is proposed to draw support from the special relationship between concept lattice and ontology construction. Finally, based on the standard of main concept lattice of the existing heterogeneous database generated, a case study has been carried out in order to testify the feasibility and validity of this algorithm, and the differences between the main concept lattice and the standard concept lattice are compared. Analysis results show that this algorithm above-mentioned can automatically process the construction process of distributed concept lattice under the heterogeneous data sources.

Quantum-dot-based immunofluorescent imaging of HER2 and ER provides new insights into breast cancer heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Chuang; Li Yan; Peng Jun; Xu Hao; Tang Hongwu; Zhang Zhiling; Pang Daiwen; Xia Heshun; Wu Qiongshui; Zeng Libo; Zhu Xiaobo

2010-01-01

Breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous tumor, and better understanding of its heterogeneity is essential to improving treatment effect. Quantum dot (QD)-based immunofluorescent nanotechnology (QD-IHC) for molecular pathology has potential advantages in delineating tumor heterogeneity. This potential is explored in this paper by QD-IHC imaging of HER2 and ER. BC heterogeneity can be displayed more clearly and sensitively by QD-IHC than conventional IHC in BC tissue microarrays. Furthermore, the simultaneous imaging of ER and HER2 might help understand their interactions during the process of evolution of heterogeneous BC.

Advances in nonmarket valuation econometrics: Spatial heterogeneity in hedonic pricing models and preference heterogeneity in stated preference models

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Jin Woo

In my 1st essay, the study explores Pennsylvania residents. willingness to pay for development of renewable energy technologies such as solar power, wind power, biomass electricity, and other renewable energy using a choice experiment method. Principle component analysis identified 3 independent attitude components that affect the variation of preference, a desire for renewable energy and environmental quality and concern over cost. The results show that urban residents have a higher desire for environmental quality and concern less about cost than rural residents and consequently have a higher willingness to pay to increase renewable energy production. The results of sub-sample analysis show that a representative respondent in rural (urban) Pennsylvania is willing to pay 3.8(5.9) and 4.1(5.7)/month for increasing the share of Pennsylvania electricity generated from wind power and other renewable energy by 1 percent point, respectively. Mean WTP for solar and biomass electricity was not significantly different from zero. In my second essay, heterogeneity of individual WTP for various renewable energy technologies is investigated using several different variants of the multinomial logit model: a simple MNL with interaction terms, a latent class choice model, a random parameter mixed logit choice model, and a random parameter-latent class choice model. The results of all models consistently show that respondents. preference for individual renewable technology is heterogeneous, but the degree of heterogeneity differs for different renewable technologies. In general, the random parameter logit model with interactions and a hybrid random parameter logit-latent class model fit better than other models and better capture respondents. heterogeneity of preference for renewable energy. The impact of the land under agricultural conservation easement (ACE) contract on the values of nearby residential properties is investigated using housing sales data in two Pennsylvania

Ontology based heterogeneous materials database integration and semantic query

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shuai; Qian, Quan

2017-10-01

Materials digital data, high throughput experiments and high throughput computations are regarded as three key pillars of materials genome initiatives. With the fast growth of materials data, the integration and sharing of data is very urgent, that has gradually become a hot topic of materials informatics. Due to the lack of semantic description, it is difficult to integrate data deeply in semantic level when adopting the conventional heterogeneous database integration approaches such as federal database or data warehouse. In this paper, a semantic integration method is proposed to create the semantic ontology by extracting the database schema semi-automatically. Other heterogeneous databases are integrated to the ontology by means of relational algebra and the rooted graph. Based on integrated ontology, semantic query can be done using SPARQL. During the experiments, two world famous First Principle Computational databases, OQMD and Materials Project are used as the integration targets, which show the availability and effectiveness of our method.

Evaluation of all-electric secondary power for transport aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, W. E.; Feiner, L. J.; Flores, R. R.

1992-01-01

This report covers a study by Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC) of electrical power systems for advanced transport aircraft based upon an all-electric design concept. The concept would eliminate distributed hydraulic and pneumatic secondary power systems, and feature an expanded secondary electrical power system redesigned to supply power to the loads customarily supplied by hydraulic or pneumatic power. The initial study was based on an advanced 20-kHz electrical power transmission and distribution system, using a system architecture supplied by NASA-Lewis Research Center for twin-engine aircraft with many advanced power conversion concepts. NASA-LeRC later requested DAC to refocus the study on 400-Hz secondary power distribution. Subsequent work was based on a three-engine MD-11 aircraft, selected by DAC as a baseline system design that would provide data for the comparative cost/benefit analysis. The study concluded that the 20-kHz concept produced many expected benefits, and that the all-electric trijet weight savings on hardware redesign would be 2,304 pounds plus a 2.1-percent fuel reduction and resized for a total weight reduction of 11,000 pounds. Cost reductions for a fleet of 800 aircraft in a 15-year production program were estimated at $76.71 million for RDT&E; $2.74 million per aircrat for production; $9.84 million for nonrecurring expenses; $120,000 per aircraft for product support; and $300,000 per aircraft per year for operating and maintenance costs, giving a present value of $1.914 billion saved or a future value of $10.496 billion saved.

Advances in microscale separations towards nanoproteomics applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yi, Lian; Piehowski, Paul D.; Shi, Tujin; Smith, Richard D.; Qian, Wei-Jun

2017-11-01

Microscale separations (e.g., liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) has become the primary tool for advanced proteomics, an indispensable technology for gaining understanding of complex biological processes. While significant advances have been achieved in MS-based proteomics, the current platforms still face a significant challenge in overall sensitivity towards nanoproteomics (i.e., with less than 1 g total amount of proteins available) applications such as cellular heterogeneity in tissue pathologies. Herein, we review recent advances in microscale separation techniques and integrated sample processing systems that improve the overall sensitivity and coverage of the proteomics workflow, and their contributions towards nanoproteomics applications.

School-Based Management and Effectiveness of Public Secondary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... to achieve its statutory roles, objectives and aspirations. We suggest that the adoption of School-based management by way of increasing the principals' sphere of influence would facilitate effective service delivery in schools. Keywords: school-based management, principals' effectiveness, public secondary schools.

The role of differentiation and standards-based grading in the science learning of struggling and advanced learners in a detracked high school honors biology classroom

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, Michelina Ruth Carter

and advanced learners. My fourth finding reflects what I learned about heterogeneous grouping: (4) Heterogeneously grouping students for argumentation through engagement in science inquiry serves both to reinforce proficiency of learning goals for struggling learners and simultaneously push all learners towards advanced proficiency. These findings indicate how planning for and implementing a differentiated, standards-based instructional unit can support the learning needs of both struggling and advanced learners in a detracked, honors biology classroom.

Conformity-based cooperation in online social networks: The effect of heterogeneous social influence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei; Zhang, Xuejun

2015-01-01

This paper extends the conformity model by introducing heterogeneous social influence into the analysis. We associate the influence of a player in the network with its degree centrality assuming that players of higher degree exhibit more social influence on its neighbors. The results show that the equilibrium level of cooperators can be dramatically enhanced if the conformity-driven players are preferentially influenced by neighbors of higher degree. We attribute this finding to two elementary mechanisms in the evolutionary process: (1) degree-based social influence facilitates the formation of strategic clusters around hubs; and (2) payoff-heterogeneity between cooperative clusters and defective clusters contributes to the promotion of cooperation. This research reveals the important role of heterogeneous social influence on the emergence of cooperation in social networks.

Sulfur based electrode materials for secondary batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Yong

Developing next generation secondary batteries has attracted much attention in recent years due to the increasing demand of high energy and high power density energy storage for portable electronics, electric vehicles and renewable sources of energy. This dissertation investigates sulfur based advanced electrode materials in Lithium/Sodium batteries. The electrochemical performances of the electrode materials have been enhanced due to their unique nano structures as well as the formation of novel composites. First, a nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets/sulfur (NGNSs/S) composite was synthesized via a facile chemical reaction deposition. In this composite, NGNSs were employed as a conductive host to entrap S/polysulfides in the cathode part. The NGNSs/S composite delivered an initial discharge capacity of 856.7 mAh g-1 and a reversible capacity of 319.3 mAh g-1 at 0.1C with good recoverable rate capability. Second, NGNS/S nanocomposites, synthesized using chemical reaction-deposition method and low temperature heat treatment, were further studied as active cathode materials for room temperature Na-S batteries. Both high loading composite with 86% gamma-S8 and low loading composite with 25% gamma-S8 have been electrochemically evaluated and compared with both NGNS and S control electrodes. It was found that low loading NGNS/S composite exhibited better electrochemical performance with specific capacity of 110 and 48 mAh g-1 at 0.1C at the 1st and 300th cycle, respectively. The Coulombic efficiency of 100% was obtained at the 300th cycle. Third, high purity rock-salt (RS), zinc-blende (ZB) and wurtzite (WZ) MnS nanocrystals with different morphologies were successfully synthesized via a facile solvothermal method. RS-, ZB- and WZ-MnS electrodes showed the capacities of 232.5 mAh g-1, 287.9 mAh g-1 and 79.8 mAh g-1 at the 600th cycle, respectively. ZB-MnS displayed the best performance in terms of specific capacity and cyclability. Interestingly, MnS electrodes

FEATURE SELECTION METHODS BASED ON MUTUAL INFORMATION FOR CLASSIFYING HETEROGENEOUS FEATURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ratri Enggar Pawening

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Datasets with heterogeneous features can affect feature selection results that are not appropriate because it is difficult to evaluate heterogeneous features concurrently. Feature transformation (FT is another way to handle heterogeneous features subset selection. The results of transformation from non-numerical into numerical features may produce redundancy to the original numerical features. In this paper, we propose a method to select feature subset based on mutual information (MI for classifying heterogeneous features. We use unsupervised feature transformation (UFT methods and joint mutual information maximation (JMIM methods. UFT methods is used to transform non-numerical features into numerical features. JMIM methods is used to select feature subset with a consideration of the class label. The transformed and the original features are combined entirely, then determine features subset by using JMIM methods, and classify them using support vector machine (SVM algorithm. The classification accuracy are measured for any number of selected feature subset and compared between UFT-JMIM methods and Dummy-JMIM methods. The average classification accuracy for all experiments in this study that can be achieved by UFT-JMIM methods is about 84.47% and Dummy-JMIM methods is about 84.24%. This result shows that UFT-JMIM methods can minimize information loss between transformed and original features, and select feature subset to avoid redundant and irrelevant features.

Primary and secondary electrical space power based on advanced PEM systems

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderborgh, N. E.; Hedstrom, J. C.; Stroh, K. R.; Huff, J. R.

1993-01-01

For new space ventures, power continues to be a pacing function for mission planning and experiment endurance. Although electrochemical power is a well demonstrated space power technology, current hardware limitations impact future mission viability. In order to document and augment electrochemical technology, a series of experiments for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lewis Research Center (NASA LeRC) are underway at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that define operational parameters on contemporary proton exchange membrane (PEM) hardware operating with hydrogen and oxygen reactants. Because of the high efficiency possible for water electrolysis, this hardware is also thought part of a secondary battery design built around stored reactants - the so-called regenerative fuel cell. An overview of stack testing at Los Alamos and of analyses related to regenerative fuel cell systems are provided in this paper. Finally, this paper describes work looking at innovative concepts that remove complexity from stack hardware with the specific intent of higher system reliability. This new concept offers the potential for unprecedented electrochemical power system energy densities.

Micropollutant degradation, bacterial inactivation and regrowth risk in wastewater effluents: Influence of the secondary (pre)treatment on the efficiency of Advanced Oxidation Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannakis, Stefanos; Voumard, Margaux; Grandjean, Dominique; Magnet, Anoys; De Alencastro, Luiz Felippe; Pulgarin, César

2016-10-01

In this work, disinfection by 5 Advanced Oxidation Processes was preceded by 3 different secondary treatment systems present in the wastewater treatment plant of Vidy, Lausanne (Switzerland). 5 AOPs after two biological treatment methods (conventional activated sludge and moving bed bioreactor) and a physiochemical process (coagulation-flocculation) were tested in laboratory scale. The dependence among AOPs efficiency and secondary (pre)treatment was estimated by following the bacterial concentration i) before secondary treatment, ii) after the different secondary treatment methods and iii) after the various AOPs. Disinfection and post-treatment bacterial regrowth were the evaluation indicators. The order of efficiency was Moving Bed Bioreactor > Activated Sludge > Coagulation-Flocculation > Primary Treatment. As far as the different AOPs are concerned, the disinfection kinetics were: UVC/H2O2 > UVC and solar photo-Fenton > Fenton or solar light. The contextualization and parallel study of microorganisms with the micropollutants of the effluents revealed that higher exposure times were necessary for complete degradation compared to microorganisms for the UV-based processes and inversed for the Fenton-related ones. Nevertheless, in the Fenton-related systems, the nominal 80% removal of micropollutants deriving from the Swiss legislation, often took place before the elimination of bacterial regrowth risk. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hot news recommendation system from heterogeneous websites based on bayesian model.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Zhengyou; Xu, Shengwu; Liu, Ningzhong; Zhao, Zhengkang

2014-01-01

The most current news recommendations are suitable for news which comes from a single news website, not for news from different heterogeneous news websites. Previous researches about news recommender systems based on different strategies have been proposed to provide news personalization services for online news readers. However, little research work has been reported on utilizing hundreds of heterogeneous news websites to provide top hot news services for group customers (e.g., government staffs). In this paper, we propose a hot news recommendation model based on Bayesian model, which is from hundreds of different news websites. In the model, we determine whether the news is hot news by calculating the joint probability of the news. We evaluate and compare our proposed recommendation model with the results of human experts on the real data sets. Experimental results demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of our method. We also implement this model in hot news recommendation system of Hangzhou city government in year 2013, which achieves very good results.

Accelerating Mathematics Achievement Using Heterogeneous Grouping

Science.gov (United States)

Burris, Carol Corbett; Heubert, Jay P.; Levin, Henry M.

2006-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the effects of providing an accelerated mathematics curriculum in heterogeneously grouped middle school classes in a diverse suburban school district. A quasi-experimental cohort design was used to evaluate subsequent completion of advanced high school math courses as well as academic achievement. Results showed…

Effects of Heterogeneity in Residential Preferences on an Agent-Based Model of Urban Sprawl

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel G. Brown

2006-06-01

Full Text Available The ability of agent-based models (ABMs to represent heterogeneity in the characteristics and behaviors of actors enables analyses about the implications of this heterogeneity for system behavior. The importance of heterogeneity in the specification of ABMs, however, creates new demands for empirical support. An earlier analysis of a survey of residential preferences within southeastern Michigan revealed seven groups of residents with similar preferences on similar characteristics of location. In this paper, we present an ABM that represents the process of residential development within an urban system and run it for a hypothetical pattern of environmental variation. Residential locations are selected by residential agents, who evaluate locations on the basis of preference for nearness to urban services, including jobs, aesthetic quality of the landscape, and their similarity to their neighbors. We populate our ABM with a population of residential preferences drawn from the survey results in five different ways: (1 preferences drawn at random; (2 equal preferences based on the mean from the entire survey sample; (3 preferences drawn from a single distribution, whose mean and standard deviation are derived from the survey sample; (4 equal preferences within each of seven groups, based on the group means; and (5 preferences drawn from distributions for each of seven groups, defined by group means and standard deviations. Model sensitivity analysis, based on multiple runs of our model under each case, revealed that adding heterogeneity to agents has a significant effect on model outcomes, measured by aggregate patterns of development sprawl and clustering.

An operational framework for object-based land use classification of heterogeneous rural landscapes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Watmough, Gary Richard; Palm, Cheryl; Sullivan, Clare

2017-01-01

The characteristics of very high resolution (VHR) satellite data are encouraging development agencies to investigate its use in monitoring and evaluation programmes. VHR data pose challenges for land use classification of heterogeneous rural landscapes as it is not possible to develop generalised...... and transferable land use classification definitions and algorithms. We present an operational framework for classifying VHR satellite data in heterogeneous rural landscapes using an object-based and random forest classifier. The framework overcomes the challenges of classifying VHR data in anthropogenic...

Heterogeneous network architectures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henrik Lehrmann

2006-01-01

is flexibility. This thesis investigates such heterogeneous network architectures and how to make them flexible. A survey of algorithms for network design is presented, and it is described how using heuristics can increase the speed. A hierarchical, MPLS based network architecture is described......Future networks will be heterogeneous! Due to the sheer size of networks (e.g., the Internet) upgrades cannot be instantaneous and thus heterogeneity appears. This means that instead of trying to find the olution, networks hould be designed as being heterogeneous. One of the key equirements here...... and it is discussed that it is advantageous to heterogeneous networks and illustrated by a number of examples. Modeling and simulation is a well-known way of doing performance evaluation. An approach to event-driven simulation of communication networks is presented and mixed complexity modeling, which can simplify...

Agent-based land markets: Heterogeneous agents, land proces and urban land use change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Filatova, Tatiana; Parker, Dawn C.; van der Veen, A.; Amblard, F.

2007-01-01

We construct a spatially explicit agent-based model of a bilateral land market. Heterogeneous agents form their bid and ask prices for land based on the utility that they obtain from a certain location (houte/land) and base on the state of the market (an excess of demand or supply). We underline the

Vortex forcing model for turbulent flow over spanwise-heterogeneous topogrpahies: scaling arguments and similarity solution

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, William; Yang, Jianzhi

2017-11-01

Spanwise surface heterogeneity beneath high-Reynolds number, fully-rough wall turbulence is known to induce mean secondary flows in the form of counter-rotating streamwise vortices. The secondary flows are a manifestation of Prandtl's secondary flow of the second kind - driven and sustained by spatial heterogeneity of components of the turbulent (Reynolds averaged) stress tensor. The spacing between adjacent surface heterogeneities serves as a control on the spatial extent of the counter-rotating cells, while their intensity is controlled by the spanwise gradient in imposed drag (where larger gradients associated with more dramatic transitions in roughness induce stronger cells). In this work, we have performed an order of magnitude analysis of the mean (Reynolds averaged) streamwise vorticity transport equation, revealing the scaling dependence of circulation upon spanwise spacing. The scaling arguments are supported by simulation data. Then, we demonstrate that mean streamwise velocity can be predicted a priori via a similarity solution to the mean streamwise vorticity transport equation. A vortex forcing term was used to represent the affects of spanwise topographic heterogeneity within the flow. Efficacy of the vortex forcing term was established with large-eddy simulation cases, wherein vortex forcing model parameters were altered to capture different values of spanwise spacing.

The use of molecular imaging combined with genomic techniques to understand the heterogeneity in cancer metastasis

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, R; Ganeshan, B; Irshad, S; Lawler, K; Eisenblätter, M; Milewicz, H; Rodriguez-Justo, M; Miles, K; Ellis, P; Groves, A; Punwani, S

2014-01-01

Tumour heterogeneity has, in recent times, come to play a vital role in how we understand and treat cancers; however, the clinical translation of this has lagged behind advances in research. Although significant advancements in oncological management have been made, personalized care remains an elusive goal. Inter- and intratumour heterogeneity, particularly in the clinical setting, has been difficult to quantify and therefore to treat. The histological quantification of heterogeneity of tumours can be a logistical and clinical challenge. The ability to examine not just the whole tumour but also all the molecular variations of metastatic disease in a patient is obviously difficult with current histological techniques. Advances in imaging techniques and novel applications, alongside our understanding of tumour heterogeneity, have opened up a plethora of non-invasive biomarker potential to examine tumours, their heterogeneity and the clinical translation. This review will focus on how various imaging methods that allow for quantification of metastatic tumour heterogeneity, along with the potential of developing imaging, integrated with other in vitro diagnostic approaches such as genomics and exosome analyses, have the potential role as a non-invasive biomarker for guiding the treatment algorithm. PMID:24597512

Enhancement of Treatment Efficiency of Recalcitrant Wastewater Containing Textile Dyes Using a Newly Developed Iron Zeolite Socony Mobil-5 Heterogeneous Catalyst

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Mushtaq; Asghar, Anam; Abdul Raman, Abdul Aziz; Wan Daud, Wan Mohd Ashri

2015-01-01

Fenton oxidation, an advanced oxidation process, is an efficient method for the treatment of recalcitrant wastewaters. Unfortunately, it utilizes H2O2 and iron-based homogeneous catalysts, which lead to the formation of high volumes of sludge and secondary pollutants. To overcome these problems, an alternate option is the usage of heterogeneous catalyst. In this study, a heterogeneous catalyst was developed to provide an alternative solution for homogeneous Fenton oxidation. Iron Zeolite Socony Mobile-5 (Fe-ZSM-5) was synthesized using a new two-step process. Next, the catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and tested against a model wastewater containing the azo dye Acid Blue 113. Results showed that the loading of iron particles reduced the surface area of the catalyst from 293.59 to 243.93 m2/g; meanwhile, the average particle size of the loaded material was 12.29 nm. Furthermore, efficiency of the developed catalyst was evaluated by performing heterogeneous Fenton oxidation. Taguchi method was coupled with principal component analysis in order to assess and optimize mineralization efficiency. Experimental results showed that under optimized conditions, over 99.7% degradation and 77% mineralization was obtained, with a 90% reduction in the consumption of the developed catalyst. Furthermore, the developed catalyst was stable and reusable, with less than 2% leaching observed under optimized conditions. Thus, the present study proved that newly developed catalyst has enhanced the oxidation process and reduced the chemicals consumption. PMID:26517827

Enhancement of Treatment Efficiency of Recalcitrant Wastewater Containing Textile Dyes Using a Newly Developed Iron Zeolite Socony Mobil-5 Heterogeneous Catalyst.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Mushtaq; Asghar, Anam; Abdul Raman, Abdul Aziz; Wan Daud, Wan Mohd Ashri

2015-01-01

Fenton oxidation, an advanced oxidation process, is an efficient method for the treatment of recalcitrant wastewaters. Unfortunately, it utilizes H2O2 and iron-based homogeneous catalysts, which lead to the formation of high volumes of sludge and secondary pollutants. To overcome these problems, an alternate option is the usage of heterogeneous catalyst. In this study, a heterogeneous catalyst was developed to provide an alternative solution for homogeneous Fenton oxidation. Iron Zeolite Socony Mobile-5 (Fe-ZSM-5) was synthesized using a new two-step process. Next, the catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and tested against a model wastewater containing the azo dye Acid Blue 113. Results showed that the loading of iron particles reduced the surface area of the catalyst from 293.59 to 243.93 m2/g; meanwhile, the average particle size of the loaded material was 12.29 nm. Furthermore, efficiency of the developed catalyst was evaluated by performing heterogeneous Fenton oxidation. Taguchi method was coupled with principal component analysis in order to assess and optimize mineralization efficiency. Experimental results showed that under optimized conditions, over 99.7% degradation and 77% mineralization was obtained, with a 90% reduction in the consumption of the developed catalyst. Furthermore, the developed catalyst was stable and reusable, with less than 2% leaching observed under optimized conditions. Thus, the present study proved that newly developed catalyst has enhanced the oxidation process and reduced the chemicals consumption.

Non-invasive quality evaluation of confluent cells by image-based orientation heterogeneity analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Kei; Sasaki, Hiroto; Takahashi, Atsuki; Kang, Siu; Yuasa, Tetsuya; Kato, Ryuji

2016-02-01

In recent years, cell and tissue therapy in regenerative medicine have advanced rapidly towards commercialization. However, conventional invasive cell quality assessment is incompatible with direct evaluation of the cells produced for such therapies, especially in the case of regenerative medicine products. Our group has demonstrated the potential of quantitative assessment of cell quality, using information obtained from cell images, for non-invasive real-time evaluation of regenerative medicine products. However, image of cells in the confluent state are often difficult to evaluate, because accurate recognition of cells is technically difficult and the morphological features of confluent cells are non-characteristic. To overcome these challenges, we developed a new image-processing algorithm, heterogeneity of orientation (H-Orient) processing, to describe the heterogeneous density of cells in the confluent state. In this algorithm, we introduced a Hessian calculation that converts pixel intensity data to orientation data and a statistical profiling calculation that evaluates the heterogeneity of orientations within an image, generating novel parameters that yield a quantitative profile of an image. Using such parameters, we tested the algorithm's performance in discriminating different qualities of cellular images with three types of clinically important cell quality check (QC) models: remaining lifespan check (QC1), manipulation error check (QC2), and differentiation potential check (QC3). Our results show that our orientation analysis algorithm could predict with high accuracy the outcomes of all types of cellular quality checks (>84% average accuracy with cross-validation). Copyright © 2015 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A procalcitonin-based algorithm to guide antibiotic therapy in secondary peritonitis following emergency surgery: a prospective study with propensity score matching analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ting-Shuo; Huang, Shie-Shian; Shyu, Yu-Chiau; Lee, Chun-Hui; Jwo, Shyh-Chuan; Chen, Pei-Jer; Chen, Huang-Yang

2014-01-01

Procalcitonin (PCT)-based algorithms have been used to guide antibiotic therapy in several clinical settings. However, evidence supporting PCT-based algorithms for secondary peritonitis after emergency surgery is scanty. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether a PCT-based algorithm could safely reduce antibiotic exposure in this population. From April 2012 to March 2013, patients that had secondary peritonitis diagnosed at the emergency department and underwent emergency surgery were screened for eligibility. PCT levels were obtained pre-operatively, on post-operative days 1, 3, 5, and 7, and on subsequent days if needed. Antibiotics were discontinued if PCT was Advanced age, coexisting pulmonary diseases, and higher severity of illness were significantly associated with longer durations of antibiotic use. The PCT-based algorithm safely reduces antibiotic exposure in this study. Further randomized trials are needed to confirm our findings and incorporate cost-effectiveness analysis. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000601831.

Advances in pharmacotherapy for secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Mariano; Rodríguez-Ortiz, María E

2015-01-01

Secondary hyperparathyroidism is a frequent complication of chronic kidney disease. This review will discuss the various therapeutic options available for the management of hyperparathyroidism. The main therapeutic strategies available to prevent or slow down the progression of hyperparathyroidism will be detailed here. Reductions in phosphatemia may be achieved by controlling dietary phosphorus, administering phosphorus binders, or increasing the frequency of dialysis sessions. Vitamin D sterols reduce parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion while normalizing calcium (Ca) and vitamin D levels. Calcimimetics decrease PTH levels, probably with an additional effect on hyperplasia. Percutaneous injections in parathyroids represent an option useful in cases of hyperparathyroidism resistant to pharmacological therapy. Pubmed was searched by combining the terms 'secondary hyperparathyroidism' and the name of each one of the drugs reported in this review. PTH increases from early stages of renal disease. One of the goals in pre-dialysis is the prevention of hyperphosphatemia and the maintenance of Ca levels in the normal range. The management of hyperparathyroidism in dialysis requires control of phosphorus level. In this stage, the decision to use calcimimetics and vitamin D derivatives should be made according to serum levels of Ca and phosphorus.

Transitions in Secondary Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Britt Østergaard; Jensen, Leif; Pilegaard Jensen, Torben

2014-01-01

statistical model of educational progression. By using this method, we parcel educational attainment into a series of transitions and the model is able to control for educational selection and unobserved heterogeneity. We apply counterfactual analyses to allow a formal decomposition of the effects of social......The purpose of this article is to investigate educational choices and attainment of children who experience social problems during their upbringing. The study explores the extent to which social problems can help explain the gaps in entry and dropout rates in upper secondary education in Denmark...... between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Population-based registers are used to include information on family upbringing, e.g. alcohol abuse, criminality, use of psychopharmaca and out-of-home placement. We estimate a parsimonious version of Cameron and Heckman's (2001) dynamic...

Cancer Metabolism and Tumor Heterogeneity: Imaging Perspectives Using MR Imaging and Spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gigin Lin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism to maintain viability via genetic mutations and epigenetic alterations, expressing overall dynamic heterogeneity. The complex relaxation mechanisms of nuclear spins provide unique and convertible tissue contrasts, making magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS pertinent imaging tools in both clinics and research. In this review, we summarized MR methods that visualize tumor characteristics and its metabolic phenotypes on an anatomical, microvascular, microstructural, microenvironmental, and metabolomics scale. The review will progress from the utilities of basic spin-relaxation contrasts in cancer imaging to more advanced imaging methods that measure tumor-distinctive parameters such as perfusion, water diffusion, magnetic susceptibility, oxygenation, acidosis, redox state, and cell death. Analytical methods to assess tumor heterogeneity are also reviewed in brief. Although the clinical utility of tumor heterogeneity from imaging is debatable, the quantification of tumor heterogeneity using functional and metabolic MR images with development of robust analytical methods and improved MR methods may offer more critical roles of tumor heterogeneity data in clinics. MRI/MRS can also provide insightful information on pharmacometabolomics, biomarker discovery, disease diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment response. With these future directions in mind, we anticipate the widespread utilization of these MR-based techniques in studying in vivo cancer biology to better address significant clinical needs.

Heterogeneity wavelet kinetics from DCE-MRI for classifying gene expression based breast cancer recurrence risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahrooghy, Majid; Ashraf, Ahmed B; Daye, Dania; Mies, Carolyn; Feldman, Michael; Rosen, Mark; Kontos, Despina

2013-01-01

Breast tumors are heterogeneous lesions. Intra-tumor heterogeneity presents a major challenge for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Few studies have worked on capturing tumor heterogeneity from imaging. Most studies to date consider aggregate measures for tumor characterization. In this work we capture tumor heterogeneity by partitioning tumor pixels into subregions and extracting heterogeneity wavelet kinetic (HetWave) features from breast dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) to obtain the spatiotemporal patterns of the wavelet coefficients and contrast agent uptake from each partition. Using a genetic algorithm for feature selection, and a logistic regression classifier with leave one-out cross validation, we tested our proposed HetWave features for the task of classifying breast cancer recurrence risk. The classifier based on our features gave an ROC AUC of 0.78, outperforming previously proposed kinetic, texture, and spatial enhancement variance features which give AUCs of 0.69, 0.64, and 0.65, respectively.

Teacher Perceptions of Project Based Learning in the Secondary Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

MacMath, Sheryl; Sivia, Awneet; Britton, Vandy

2017-01-01

This study examines teacher perceptions of their experiences with Project Based Learning (PBL) at a secondary school in Western Canada. This PBL initiative included English language arts, mathematics, science, and digital literacy courses and all the grade nines at this large secondary school. This article reports on two teacher focus group…

Sub-Tg enthalpy relaxation in an unstable oxide glass former: insights into the structural heterogeneity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yue, Yuanzheng; Zhang, Yanfei

Structural heterogeneity plays a crucial role in determining functionality of glasses. In this work we have found that the sub-Tg enthalpy relaxation pattern in a hyperquenched glass is highly sensitive to structural heterogeneity. As a consequence, the former can be used as an effective approach...... to detect and quantify the structural heterogeneity in glass-forming liquids. However, the chemical nature of structural heterogeneity should be revealed by other means such as high resolution microscopic and spectroscopic methods. To study the impact of the structural heterogeneity on the sub-Tg relaxation...... chemical features and degrees of structural heterogeneity in glass-forming liquids. This finding contributes to the microscopic origin of both the primary and secondary relaxation in terms of structural heterogeneity. Finally the results provide insights into the relation between structural heterogeneity...

[Secondary thrombotic microangiopathies].

Science.gov (United States)

Coppo, P

2017-11-01

Thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA) are termed secondary when associated to a specific context favouring their occurrence. They encompass mainly TMA associated with pregnancy, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cancer, drugs, or HIV infection. Secondary TMA represent a heterogeneous group of diseases which clinical presentation largely depends on the associated context. It is therefore mandatory to recognize these conditions since they have a significant impact in TMA management and prognosis. A successful management still represents a challenge in secondary TMA. Significant progresses have been made in the understanding of pregnancy-associated TMA, allowing an improvement of prognosis; on the opposite, other forms of secondary TMA such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated TMA or TMA associated with chemotherapy remain of dismal prognosis. A better understanding of pathophysiology in these forms of TMA, in association with a more empirical approach through the use of new therapeutic agents that can also help in the understanding on new mechanisms a posteriori, should improve their prognosis. The preliminary encouraging results reported with complement blockers in this field could represent a convincing example. Copyright © 2017 Société Nationale Française de Médecine Interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

A family-based joint test for mean and variance heterogeneity for quantitative traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Ying; Maxwell, Taylor J; Wei, Peng

2015-01-01

Traditional quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis focuses on identifying loci associated with mean heterogeneity. Recent research has discovered loci associated with phenotype variance heterogeneity (vQTL), which is important in studying genetic association with complex traits, especially for identifying gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. While several tests have been proposed to detect vQTL for unrelated individuals, there are no tests for related individuals, commonly seen in family-based genetic studies. Here we introduce a likelihood ratio test (LRT) for identifying mean and variance heterogeneity simultaneously or for either effect alone, adjusting for covariates and family relatedness using a linear mixed effect model approach. The LRT test statistic for normally distributed quantitative traits approximately follows χ(2)-distributions. To correct for inflated Type I error for non-normally distributed quantitative traits, we propose a parametric bootstrap-based LRT that removes the best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) of family random effect. Simulation studies show that our family-based test controls Type I error and has good power, while Type I error inflation is observed when family relatedness is ignored. We demonstrate the utility and efficiency gains of the proposed method using data from the Framingham Heart Study to detect loci associated with body mass index (BMI) variability. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/University College London.

Hot News Recommendation System from Heterogeneous Websites Based on Bayesian Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhengyou Xia

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The most current news recommendations are suitable for news which comes from a single news website, not for news from different heterogeneous news websites. Previous researches about news recommender systems based on different strategies have been proposed to provide news personalization services for online news readers. However, little research work has been reported on utilizing hundreds of heterogeneous news websites to provide top hot news services for group customers (e.g., government staffs. In this paper, we propose a hot news recommendation model based on Bayesian model, which is from hundreds of different news websites. In the model, we determine whether the news is hot news by calculating the joint probability of the news. We evaluate and compare our proposed recommendation model with the results of human experts on the real data sets. Experimental results demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of our method. We also implement this model in hot news recommendation system of Hangzhou city government in year 2013, which achieves very good results.

Knowledge base and neural network approach for protein secondary structure prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Maulika S; Mazumdar, Himanshu S

2014-11-21

Protein structure prediction is of great relevance given the abundant genomic and proteomic data generated by the genome sequencing projects. Protein secondary structure prediction is addressed as a sub task in determining the protein tertiary structure and function. In this paper, a novel algorithm, KB-PROSSP-NN, which is a combination of knowledge base and modeling of the exceptions in the knowledge base using neural networks for protein secondary structure prediction (PSSP), is proposed. The knowledge base is derived from a proteomic sequence-structure database and consists of the statistics of association between the 5-residue words and corresponding secondary structure. The predicted results obtained using knowledge base are refined with a Backpropogation neural network algorithm. Neural net models the exceptions of the knowledge base. The Q3 accuracy of 90% and 82% is achieved on the RS126 and CB396 test sets respectively which suggest improvement over existing state of art methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A uniform approach for programming distributed heterogeneous computing systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Grasso, Ivan; Pellegrini, Simone; Cosenza, Biagio; Fahringer, Thomas

2014-12-01

Large-scale compute clusters of heterogeneous nodes equipped with multi-core CPUs and GPUs are getting increasingly popular in the scientific community. However, such systems require a combination of different programming paradigms making application development very challenging. In this article we introduce libWater, a library-based extension of the OpenCL programming model that simplifies the development of heterogeneous distributed applications. libWater consists of a simple interface, which is a transparent abstraction of the underlying distributed architecture, offering advanced features such as inter-context and inter-node device synchronization. It provides a runtime system which tracks dependency information enforced by event synchronization to dynamically build a DAG of commands, on which we automatically apply two optimizations: collective communication pattern detection and device-host-device copy removal. We assess libWater's performance in three compute clusters available from the Vienna Scientific Cluster, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the University of Innsbruck, demonstrating improved performance and scaling with different test applications and configurations.

Advanced Neutron Source Cross Section Libraries (ANSL-V): ENDF/B-V based multigroup cross-section libraries for advanced neutron source (ANS) reactor studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, W.E. III; Arwood, J.W.; Greene, N.M.; Moses, D.L.; Petrie, L.M.; Primm, R.T. III; Slater, C.O.; Westfall, R.M.; Wright, R.Q.

1990-09-01

Pseudo-problem-independent, multigroup cross-section libraries were generated to support Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) Reactor design studies. The ANS is a proposed reactor which would be fueled with highly enriched uranium and cooled with heavy water. The libraries, designated ANSL-V (Advanced Neutron Source Cross Section Libraries based on ENDF/B-V), are data bases in AMPX master format for subsequent generation of problem-dependent cross-sections for use with codes such as KENO, ANISN, XSDRNPM, VENTURE, DOT, DORT, TORT, and MORSE. Included in ANSL-V are 99-group and 39-group neutron, 39-neutron-group 44-gamma-ray-group secondary gamma-ray production (SGRP), 44-group gamma-ray interaction (GRI), and coupled, 39-neutron group 44-gamma-ray group (CNG) cross-section libraries. The neutron and SGRP libraries were generated primarily from ENDF/B-V data; the GRI library was generated from DLC-99/HUGO data, which is recognized as the ENDF/B-V photon interaction data. Modules from the AMPX and NJOY systems were used to process the multigroup data. Validity of selected data from the fine- and broad-group neutron libraries was satisfactorily tested in performance parameter calculations

General enumeration of RNA secondary structures based on new ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Crick base pairs between AU and GC. Based on the new representation, this paper also computes the number of various types of constrained secondary structures taking the minimum stack length 1 and minimum size m for each bonding loop as ...

Digital Microdroplet Ejection Technology-Based Heterogeneous Objects Prototyping

OpenAIRE

Li, Na; Yang, Jiquan; Feng, Chunmei; Yang, Jianfei; Zhu, Liya; Guo, Aiqing

2016-01-01

An integrate fabrication framework is presented to build heterogeneous objects (HEO) using digital microdroplets injecting technology and rapid prototyping. The heterogeneous materials part design and manufacturing method in structure and material was used to change the traditional process. The net node method was used for digital modeling that can configure multimaterials in time. The relationship of material, color, and jetting nozzle was built. The main important contributions are to combi...

Analysis of energy-based algorithms for RNA secondary structure prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hajiaghayi Monir

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background RNA molecules play critical roles in the cells of organisms, including roles in gene regulation, catalysis, and synthesis of proteins. Since RNA function depends in large part on its folded structures, much effort has been invested in developing accurate methods for prediction of RNA secondary structure from the base sequence. Minimum free energy (MFE predictions are widely used, based on nearest neighbor thermodynamic parameters of Mathews, Turner et al. or those of Andronescu et al. Some recently proposed alternatives that leverage partition function calculations find the structure with maximum expected accuracy (MEA or pseudo-expected accuracy (pseudo-MEA methods. Advances in prediction methods are typically benchmarked using sensitivity, positive predictive value and their harmonic mean, namely F-measure, on datasets of known reference structures. Since such benchmarks document progress in improving accuracy of computational prediction methods, it is important to understand how measures of accuracy vary as a function of the reference datasets and whether advances in algorithms or thermodynamic parameters yield statistically significant improvements. Our work advances such understanding for the MFE and (pseudo-MEA-based methods, with respect to the latest datasets and energy parameters. Results We present three main findings. First, using the bootstrap percentile method, we show that the average F-measure accuracy of the MFE and (pseudo-MEA-based algorithms, as measured on our largest datasets with over 2000 RNAs from diverse families, is a reliable estimate (within a 2% range with high confidence of the accuracy of a population of RNA molecules represented by this set. However, average accuracy on smaller classes of RNAs such as a class of 89 Group I introns used previously in benchmarking algorithm accuracy is not reliable enough to draw meaningful conclusions about the relative merits of the MFE and MEA-based algorithms

Industrial wastewater advanced treatment via catalytic ozonation with an Fe-based catalyst.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xufang; Chen, Weiyu; Ma, Luming; Wang, Hongwu; Fan, Jinhong

2018-03-01

An Fe-based catalyst was used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the ozonation of industrial wastewater, and key operational parameters (pH and catalyst dosage) were studied. The results indicated that the Fe-based catalyst significantly improved the mineralization of organic pollutants in wastewater. TOC (total organic carbon) removal was high, at 78.7%, with a catalyst concentration of 200 g/L, but only 31.6% with ozonation alone. The Fe-based catalyst significantly promoted ozone decomposition by 70% in aqueous solution. Hydroxyl radicals (·OH) were confirmed to be existed directly via EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) experiments, and ·OH were verified to account for about 34.4% of TOC removal with NaHCO 3 as a radical scavenger. Through characterization by SEM-EDS (field emission scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive spectrometer), XRD (X-ray powder diffraction) and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), it was deduced that FeOOH on the surface of the catalyst was the dominant contributor to the catalytic efficiency. The catalyst was certified as having good stability and excellent reusability based on 50 successive operations and could be used as a filler simultaneously. Thereby, it is a promising catalyst for practical industrial wastewater advanced treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EXPANDA-75: one-dimensional diffusion code for multi-region plate lattice heterogeneous system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikuchi, Yasuyuki; Katsuragi, Satoru; Suzuki, Tomoo; Ogitsu, Makoto.

1975-08-01

An advanced treatment has been developed for analyzing a multi-region plate lattice heterogeneous system using the coarse group constants set provided for a homogeneous system. The essential points of this treatment are modification of effective admixture cross sections and improvement of effective elastic removal cross sections. By this treatment the heterogeneity effects for flux distributions and effective cross sections in the unit cell can be reproduced accurately in comparison with the ultra fine group treatment which consumes huge amounts of computing time. Based on the present treatment and using the JAERI-Fast set, a one-dimensional diffusion code, EXPANDA-75, was developed for extensive use for analyses of fast critical experiments. The user's guide is also presented in this report. (auth.)

Heterogeneously Catalysed Chemical Reactions in Carbon Dioxide Medium

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Musko, Nikolai E.

In this PhD-study the different areas of chemical engineering, heterogeneous catalysis, supercritical fluids, and phase equilibrium thermodynamics have been brought together for selected reactions. To exploit the beneficial properties of supercritical fluids in heterogeneous catalysis, experimental...... studies of catalytic chemical reactions in dense and supercritical carbon dioxide have been complemented by the theoretical calculations of phase equilibria using advanced thermodynamic models. In the recent years, the use of compressed carbon dioxide as innovative, non-toxic and non-flammable, cheap......, and widely available reaction medium for many practical and industrial applications has drastically increased. Particularly attractive are heterogeneously catalysed chemical reactions. The beneficial use of CO2 is attributed to its unique properties at dense and supercritical states (at temperatures...

Confabulation Based Real-time Anomaly Detection for Wide-area Surveillance Using Heterogeneous High Performance Computing Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

CONFABULATION BASED REAL-TIME ANOMALY DETECTION FOR WIDE-AREA SURVEILLANCE USING HETEROGENEOUS HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE SYRACUSE...DETECTION FOR WIDE-AREA SURVEILLANCE USING HETEROGENEOUS HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER FA8750-12-1-0251 5b. GRANT...processors including graphic processor units (GPUs) and Intel Xeon Phi processors. Experimental results showed significant speedups, which can enable

Recent Advances in Paper-Based Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edith Chow

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Paper-based sensors are a new alternative technology for fabricating simple, low-cost, portable and disposable analytical devices for many application areas including clinical diagnosis, food quality control and environmental monitoring. The unique properties of paper which allow passive liquid transport and compatibility with chemicals/biochemicals are the main advantages of using paper as a sensing platform. Depending on the main goal to be achieved in paper-based sensors, the fabrication methods and the analysis techniques can be tuned to fulfill the needs of the end-user. Current paper-based sensors are focused on microfluidic delivery of solution to the detection site whereas more advanced designs involve complex 3-D geometries based on the same microfluidic principles. Although paper-based sensors are very promising, they still suffer from certain limitations such as accuracy and sensitivity. However, it is anticipated that in the future, with advances in fabrication and analytical techniques, that there will be more new and innovative developments in paper-based sensors. These sensors could better meet the current objectives of a viable low-cost and portable device in addition to offering high sensitivity and selectivity, and multiple analyte discrimination. This paper is a review of recent advances in paper-based sensors and covers the following topics: existing fabrication techniques, analytical methods and application areas. Finally, the present challenges and future outlooks are discussed.

Coordinated SLNR based Precoding in Large-Scale Heterogeneous Networks

KAUST Repository

Boukhedimi, Ikram

2017-03-06

This work focuses on the downlink of large-scale two-tier heterogeneous networks composed of a macro-cell overlaid by micro-cell networks. Our interest is on the design of coordinated beamforming techniques that allow to mitigate the inter-cell interference. Particularly, we consider the case in which the coordinating base stations (BSs) have imperfect knowledge of the channel state information. Under this setting, we propose a regularized SLNR based precoding design in which the regularization factor is used to allow better resilience with respect to the channel estimation errors. Based on tools from random matrix theory, we provide an analytical analysis of the SINR and SLNR performances. These results are then exploited to propose a proper setting of the regularization factor. Simulation results are finally provided in order to validate our findings and to confirm the performance of the proposed precoding scheme.

Coordinated SLNR based Precoding in Large-Scale Heterogeneous Networks

KAUST Repository

Boukhedimi, Ikram; Kammoun, Abla; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2017-01-01

This work focuses on the downlink of large-scale two-tier heterogeneous networks composed of a macro-cell overlaid by micro-cell networks. Our interest is on the design of coordinated beamforming techniques that allow to mitigate the inter-cell interference. Particularly, we consider the case in which the coordinating base stations (BSs) have imperfect knowledge of the channel state information. Under this setting, we propose a regularized SLNR based precoding design in which the regularization factor is used to allow better resilience with respect to the channel estimation errors. Based on tools from random matrix theory, we provide an analytical analysis of the SINR and SLNR performances. These results are then exploited to propose a proper setting of the regularization factor. Simulation results are finally provided in order to validate our findings and to confirm the performance of the proposed precoding scheme.

Heterogeneous Materials I and Heterogeneous Materials II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knowles, K M

2004-01-01

In these two volumes the author provides a comprehensive survey of the various mathematically-based models used in the research literature to predict the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of hetereogeneous materials, i.e., materials containing two or more phases such as fibre-reinforced polymers, cast iron and porous ceramic kiln furniture. Volume I covers linear properties such as linear dielectric constant, effective electrical conductivity and elastic moduli, while Volume II covers nonlinear properties, fracture and atomistic and multiscale modelling. Where appropriate, particular attention is paid to the use of fractal geometry and percolation theory in describing the structure and properties of these materials. The books are advanced level texts reflecting the research interests of the author which will be of significant interest to research scientists working at the forefront of the areas covered by the books. Others working more generally in the field of materials science interested in comparing predictions of properties with experimental results may well find the mathematical level quite daunting initially, as it is apparent that the author assumes a level of mathematics consistent with that taught in final year undergraduate and graduate theoretical physics courses. However, for such readers it is well worth persevering because of the in-depth coverage to which the various models are subjected, and also because of the extensive reference lists at the back of both volumes which direct readers to the various source references in the scientific literature. Thus, for the wider materials science scientific community the two volumes will be a valuable library resource. While I would have liked to see more comparison with experimental data on both ideal and 'real' heterogeneous materials than is provided by the author and a discussion of how to model strong nonlinear current--voltage behaviour in systems such as zinc oxide varistors, my overall

Characterizing heterogeneous cellular responses to perturbations.

Science.gov (United States)

Slack, Michael D; Martinez, Elisabeth D; Wu, Lani F; Altschuler, Steven J

2008-12-09

Cellular populations have been widely observed to respond heterogeneously to perturbation. However, interpreting the observed heterogeneity is an extremely challenging problem because of the complexity of possible cellular phenotypes, the large dimension of potential perturbations, and the lack of methods for separating meaningful biological information from noise. Here, we develop an image-based approach to characterize cellular phenotypes based on patterns of signaling marker colocalization. Heterogeneous cellular populations are characterized as mixtures of phenotypically distinct subpopulations, and responses to perturbations are summarized succinctly as probabilistic redistributions of these mixtures. We apply our method to characterize the heterogeneous responses of cancer cells to a panel of drugs. We find that cells treated with drugs of (dis-)similar mechanism exhibit (dis-)similar patterns of heterogeneity. Despite the observed phenotypic diversity of cells observed within our data, low-complexity models of heterogeneity were sufficient to distinguish most classes of drug mechanism. Our approach offers a computational framework for assessing the complexity of cellular heterogeneity, investigating the degree to which perturbations induce redistributions of a limited, but nontrivial, repertoire of underlying states and revealing functional significance contained within distinct patterns of heterogeneous responses.

A numerical homogenization method for heterogeneous, anisotropic elastic media based on multiscale theory

KAUST Repository

Gao, Kai

2015-06-05

The development of reliable methods for upscaling fine-scale models of elastic media has long been an important topic for rock physics and applied seismology. Several effective medium theories have been developed to provide elastic parameters for materials such as finely layered media or randomly oriented or aligned fractures. In such cases, the analytic solutions for upscaled properties can be used for accurate prediction of wave propagation. However, such theories cannot be applied directly to homogenize elastic media with more complex, arbitrary spatial heterogeneity. Therefore, we have proposed a numerical homogenization algorithm based on multiscale finite-element methods for simulating elastic wave propagation in heterogeneous, anisotropic elastic media. Specifically, our method used multiscale basis functions obtained from a local linear elasticity problem with appropriately defined boundary conditions. Homogenized, effective medium parameters were then computed using these basis functions, and the approach applied a numerical discretization that was similar to the rotated staggered-grid finite-difference scheme. Comparisons of the results from our method and from conventional, analytical approaches for finely layered media showed that the homogenization reliably estimated elastic parameters for this simple geometry. Additional tests examined anisotropic models with arbitrary spatial heterogeneity in which the average size of the heterogeneities ranged from several centimeters to several meters, and the ratio between the dominant wavelength and the average size of the arbitrary heterogeneities ranged from 10 to 100. Comparisons to finite-difference simulations proved that the numerical homogenization was equally accurate for these complex cases.

Separation of Process Wastewater with Extractive Heterogeneous-Azeotropic Distillation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tóth András József

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The application of vapour-liquid equilibria-based separation alternatives can be extraordinarily complicated for the treatment of process wastewaters containing heterogeneous-azeotropic. Despite dissimilar successfully tested methods for separation, there is possibility to get better distillation method by enabling the separation of more and more specific process wastewater. Extractive heterogeneous-azeotropic distillation (EHAD is a new advance in treatment of fine chemical wastewater showing special features to cope with the treatment of highly non-ideal mixtures. This method combines the worth of heterogeneous-azeotropic and extractive distillations in one apparatus without addition of any extra materials. The study of the separations of ternary component process wastewater from the fine chemical industry shows both in the modelled and experimental results that EHAD can be successfully applied. The measured and modelled compositions at extreme purities, that is, close to 0% or 100%, can be different because of the inaccuracies of the modelling. This highlights the paramount importance of the experiments if special extra-fine chemicals with almost no impurities, e.g. of pharmacopoeial quality are to be produced by special distillation technique. This study expands the application of EHAD technique, this new field is the separation of process wastewaters.

Evaluation Considerations for Secondary Uses of Clinical Data: Principles for an Evidence-based Approach to Policy and Implementation of Secondary Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, P J; Rigby, M; Ammenwerth, E; McNair, J Brender; Georgiou, A; Hyppönen, H; de Keizer, N; Magrabi, F; Nykänen, P; Gude, W T; Hackl, W

2017-08-01

Objectives: To set the scientific context and then suggest principles for an evidence-based approach to secondary uses of clinical data, covering both evaluation of the secondary uses of data and evaluation of health systems and services based upon secondary uses of data. Method: Working Group review of selected literature and policy approaches. Results: We present important considerations in the evaluation of secondary uses of clinical data from the angles of governance and trust, theory, semantics, and policy. We make the case for a multi-level and multi-factorial approach to the evaluation of secondary uses of clinical data and describe a methodological framework for best practice. We emphasise the importance of evaluating the governance of secondary uses of health data in maintaining trust, which is essential for such uses. We also offer examples of the re-use of routine health data to demonstrate how it can support evaluation of clinical performance and optimize health IT system design. Conclusions: Great expectations are resting upon "Big Data" and innovative analytics. However, to build and maintain public trust, improve data reliability, and assure the validity of analytic inferences, there must be independent and transparent evaluation. A mature and evidence-based approach needs not merely data science, but must be guided by the broader concerns of applied health informatics. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

Advanced location-based technologies and services

CERN Document Server

Karimi, Hassan A

2013-01-01

Due to the rapid increase in the number of mobile device users worldwide, location-based services (LBSs) have become pervasive, and the demand for them will continue to grow. Exploring recent changes in the technology and its uses, Advanced Location-Based Technologies and Services takes an in-depth look at new and existing technologies, techniques, applications, and opportunities. Under the editorial guidance of Hassan Karimi, with contributions from experts in the field, the book examines the breadth and depth of advanced LBS technologies and techniques. The book provides up-to-date informati

Evolutionary Rate Heterogeneity of Primary and Secondary Metabolic Pathway Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Dola; Mukherjee, Ashutosh; Ghosh, Tapash Chandra

2015-11-10

Primary metabolism is essential to plants for growth and development, and secondary metabolism helps plants to interact with the environment. Many plant metabolites are industrially important. These metabolites are produced by plants through complex metabolic pathways. Lack of knowledge about these pathways is hindering the successful breeding practices for these metabolites. For a better knowledge of the metabolism in plants as a whole, evolutionary rate variation of primary and secondary metabolic pathway genes is a prerequisite. In this study, evolutionary rate variation of primary and secondary metabolic pathway genes has been analyzed in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Primary metabolic pathway genes were found to be more conserved than secondary metabolic pathway genes. Several factors such as gene structure, expression level, tissue specificity, multifunctionality, and domain number are the key factors behind this evolutionary rate variation. This study will help to better understand the evolutionary dynamics of plant metabolism. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Secondary osteoporosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gennari, C; Martini, G; Nuti, R

1998-06-01

Generalized osteoporosis currently represents a heterogeneous group of conditions with many different causes and pathogenetic mechanisms, that often are variably associated. The term "secondary" is applied to all patients with osteoporosis in whom the identifiable causal factors are other than menopause and aging. In this heterogeneous group of conditions, produced by many different pathogenetic mechanisms, a negative bone balance may be variably associated with low, normal or increased bone remodeling states. A consistent group of secondary osteoporosis is related to endocrinological or iatrogenic causes. Exogenous hypercortisolism may be considered an important risk factor for secondary osteoporosis in the community, and probably glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis is the most common type of secondary osteoporosis. Supraphysiological doses of corticosteroids cause two abnormalities in bone metabolism: a relative increase in bone resorption, and a relative reduction in bone formation. Bone loss, mostly of trabecular bone, with its resultant fractures is the most incapacitating consequence of osteoporosis. The estimated incidence of fractures in patients prescribed corticosteroid is 30% to 50%. Osteoporosis is considered one of the potentially serious side effects of heparin therapy. The occurrence of heparin-induced osteoporosis appeared to be strictly related to the length of treatment (over 4-5 months), and the dosage (15,000 U or more daily), but the pathogenesis is poorly understood. It has been suggested that heparin could cause an increase in bone resorption by increasing the number of differentiated osteoclasts, and by enhancing the activity of individual osteoclasts. Hyperthyroidism is frequently associated with loss of trabecular and cortical bone; the enhanced bone turnover that develops in thyrotoxicosis is characterized by an increase in the number of osteoclasts and resorption sites, and an increase in the ratio of resorptive to formative bone

Fuzzy Logic-Based Model That Incorporates Personality Traits for Heterogeneous Pedestrians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhuxin Xue

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Most models designed to simulate pedestrian dynamical behavior are based on the assumption that human decision-making can be described using precise values. This study proposes a new pedestrian model that incorporates fuzzy logic theory into a multi-agent system to address cognitive behavior that introduces uncertainty and imprecision during decision-making. We present a concept of decision preferences to represent the intrinsic control factors of decision-making. To realize the different decision preferences of heterogeneous pedestrians, the Five-Factor (OCEAN personality model is introduced to model the psychological characteristics of individuals. Then, a fuzzy logic-based approach is adopted for mapping the relationships between the personality traits and the decision preferences. Finally, we have developed an application using our model to simulate pedestrian dynamical behavior in several normal or non-panic scenarios, including a single-exit room, a hallway with obstacles, and a narrowing passage. The effectiveness of the proposed model is validated with a user study. The results show that the proposed model can generate more reasonable and heterogeneous behavior in the simulation and indicate that individual personality has a noticeable effect on pedestrian dynamical behavior.

Physical Heterogeneity and Aquatic Community Function in ...

Science.gov (United States)

The geomorphological character of a river network provides the template upon which evolution acts to create unique biological communities. Deciphering commonly observed patterns and processes within riverine landscapes resulting from the interplay between physical and biological components is a central tenet for the interdisciplinary field of river science. Relationships between the physical heterogeneity and food web character of functional process zones (FPZs) – large tracts of river with a similar geomorphic character - in the Kanawha River (West Virginia, USA) are examined in this study. Food web character was measured as food chain length (FCL), which reflects ecological community structure and ecosystem function. Our results show the same basal resources were present throughout the Kanawha River but their assimilation into the aquatic food web by primary consumers differed between FPZs. Differences in the trophic position of secondary consumers – fish - were also recorded between FPZs. Overall, both the morphological heterogeneity and heterogeneity of the river bed sediment of FPZs were significantly correlated with FCL. Specifically, FCL increases with greater FPZ physical heterogeneity, supporting tenet 8 of the river ecosystem synthesis. In previous research efforts, we delineated the functional process zones (FPZs) of the Kanawha River. In this study, we examined the relationship between the hydrogeomorphically-derived zones with food webs.

Polymer-based 2D/3D wafer level heterogeneous integration for SSL module

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yuan, C.; Wei, J.; Ye, H.; Koh, S.; Harianto, S.; Nieuwenhof, M.A. van den; Zhang, G.Q.

2012-01-01

This paper demonstrates a heterogeneous integration of solid state lighting (SSL) module, including light source (LED) and driver/control components. Such integration has been realized by the polymer-based reconfigured wafer level package technologies and such structure has been prototyped and

Platform for Quantitative Evaluation of Spatial Intratumoral Heterogeneity in Multiplexed Fluorescence Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Spagnolo, Daniel M; Al-Kofahi, Yousef; Zhu, Peihong; Lezon, Timothy R; Gough, Albert; Stern, Andrew M; Lee, Adrian V; Ginty, Fiona; Sarachan, Brion; Taylor, D Lansing; Chennubhotla, S Chakra

2017-11-01

We introduce THRIVE (Tumor Heterogeneity Research Interactive Visualization Environment), an open-source tool developed to assist cancer researchers in interactive hypothesis testing. The focus of this tool is to quantify spatial intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH), and the interactions between different cell phenotypes and noncellular constituents. Specifically, we foresee applications in phenotyping cells within tumor microenvironments, recognizing tumor boundaries, identifying degrees of immune infiltration and epithelial/stromal separation, and identification of heterotypic signaling networks underlying microdomains. The THRIVE platform provides an integrated workflow for analyzing whole-slide immunofluorescence images and tissue microarrays, including algorithms for segmentation, quantification, and heterogeneity analysis. THRIVE promotes flexible deployment, a maintainable code base using open-source libraries, and an extensible framework for customizing algorithms with ease. THRIVE was designed with highly multiplexed immunofluorescence images in mind, and, by providing a platform to efficiently analyze high-dimensional immunofluorescence signals, we hope to advance these data toward mainstream adoption in cancer research. Cancer Res; 77(21); e71-74. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

in Heterogeneous Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Balouchi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Fractured reservoirs contain about 85 and 90 percent of oil and gas resources respectively in Iran. A comprehensive study and investigation of fractures as the main factor affecting fluid flow or perhaps barrier seems necessary for reservoir development studies. High degrees of heterogeneity and sparseness of data have incapacitated conventional deterministic methods in fracture network modeling. Recently, simulated annealing (SA has been applied to generate stochastic realizations of spatially correlated fracture networks by assuming that the elastic energy of fractures follows Boltzmann distribution. Although SA honors local variability, the objective function of geometrical fracture modeling is defined for homogeneous conditions. In this study, after the introduction of SA and the derivation of the energy function, a novel technique is presented to adjust the model with highly heterogeneous data for a fractured field from the southwest of Iran. To this end, the regular object-based model is combined with a grid-based technique to cover the heterogeneity of reservoir properties. The original SA algorithm is also modified by being constrained in different directions and weighting the energy function to make it appropriate for heterogeneous conditions. The simulation results of the presented approach are in good agreement with the observed field data.

Bridging Models and Business: Understanding heterogeneity in hidden drivers of customer purchase behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Korkmaz (Evsen)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Recent years have seen many advances in quantitative models in the marketing literature. Even though these advances enable model building for a better understanding of customer purchase behavior and customer heterogeneity such that firms develop optimal targeting and

Dynamics of epidemics outbreaks in heterogeneous populations

Science.gov (United States)

Brockmann, Dirk; Morales-Gallardo, Alejandro; Geisel, Theo

2007-03-01

The dynamics of epidemic outbreaks have been investigated in recent years within two alternative theoretical paradigms. The key parameter of mean field type of models such as the SIR model is the basic reproduction number R0, the average number of secondary infections caused by one infected individual. Recently, scale free network models have received much attention as they account for the high variability in the number of social contacts involved. These models predict an infinite basic reproduction number in some cases. We investigate the impact of heterogeneities of contact rates in a generic model for epidemic outbreaks. We present a system in which both the time periods of being infectious and the time periods between transmissions are Poissonian processes. The heterogeneities are introduced by means of strongly variable contact rates. In contrast to scale free network models we observe a finite basic reproduction number and, counterintuitively a smaller overall epidemic outbreak as compared to the homogeneous system. Our study thus reveals that heterogeneities in contact rates do not necessarily facilitate the spread to infectious disease but may well attenuate it.

Post secondary project-based learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

OpenAIRE

Ralph, Rachel A.

2016-01-01

Project-based learning (PjBL - to distinguish from problem-based learning - PBL) has become a recurrent practice in K-12 classroom environments. As PjBL has become prominent in K-12 classrooms, it has also surfaced in post-secondary institutions.  The purpose of this paper is to examine the research that has studied a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematic subjects using PjBL in post-secondary classrooms. Eleven articles (including qualitative, quantitative and mixed metho...

Generative Adversarial Networks Based Heterogeneous Data Integration and Its Application for Intelligent Power Distribution and Utilization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuanpeng Tan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Heterogeneous characteristics of a big data system for intelligent power distribution and utilization have already become more and more prominent, which brings new challenges for the traditional data analysis technologies and restricts the comprehensive management of distribution network assets. In order to solve the problem that heterogeneous data resources of power distribution systems are difficult to be effectively utilized, a novel generative adversarial networks (GANs based heterogeneous data integration method for intelligent power distribution and utilization is proposed. In the proposed method, GANs theory is introduced to expand the distribution of completed data samples. Then, a so-called peak clustering algorithm is proposed to realize the finite open coverage of the expanded sample space, and repair those incomplete samples to eliminate the heterogeneous characteristics. Finally, in order to realize the integration of the heterogeneous data for intelligent power distribution and utilization, the well-trained discriminator model of GANs is employed to check the restored data samples. The simulation experiments verified the validity and stability of the proposed heterogeneous data integration method, which provides a novel perspective for the further data quality management of power distribution systems.

Secondary data sources for health services research in urologic oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Alexander P; Friedlander, David F; Trinh, Quoc-Dien

2018-04-01

Though secondary data analyses of large datasets may reduce logistical and financial barriers required to perform significant and innovative work, such research requires specialized skills in data handling and statistical techniques as well as thorough and detailed knowledge of the data sources being used. To provide an overview of several common types of secondary data, focusing on strengths, weaknesses and examples of how these data may be used for health services research. Secondary data comprise a broad and heterogeneous category. This review covers several large categories of such data with examples of their use and discussions about their strengths and weaknesses. Sources include administrative data, claims-based datasets, electronic health records health surveys, patient or disease or both registries, quality improvement initiatives, as well as data from existing trials. Linkages of different types of data may expand the scope of questions answerable using secondary data analysis. Specific strengths and weaknesses of each type of dataset are discussed along with examples from the recent urologic literature. Choice of the appropriate data source should be tailored to the specific research question as well as the research resources and expertise available. Appropriate decisions about which data to use are the foundation for valid, high-impact research using secondary data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanics and model-based control of advanced engineering systems

CERN Document Server

Irschik, Hans; Krommer, Michael

2014-01-01

Mechanics and Model-Based Control of Advanced Engineering Systems collects 32 contributions presented at the International Workshop on Advanced Dynamics and Model Based Control of Structures and Machines, which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2012. The workshop continued a series of international workshops, which started with a Japan-Austria Joint Workshop on Mechanics and Model Based Control of Smart Materials and Structures and a Russia-Austria Joint Workshop on Advanced Dynamics and Model Based Control of Structures and Machines. In the present volume, 10 full-length papers based on presentations from Russia, 9 from Austria, 8 from Japan, 3 from Italy, one from Germany and one from Taiwan are included, which represent the state of the art in the field of mechanics and model based control, with particular emphasis on the application of advanced structures and machines.

Mixed acid-base disorder secondary to topiramate use in traumatic brain injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Golla

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We report a case of a man with traumatic brain injury. He was started on to prophylactic topiramate which led to a mixed acid-base disorder. He had severe metabolic acidosis secondary to renal tubular acidification defect and respiratory alkalosis secondary to hyperventilation. Withdrawal of the offending drug led to the prompt resolution of the acid-base disturbance.

Advances and Challenges in Convergent Communication Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toral-Cruz, Homero; Mihovska, Albena

2017-01-01

Welcome to this special issue of Wireless Personal Communications on Advances and Challenges in Convergent Communication Networks. The main purpose of this special issue is to present new progresses and challenges in convergent networks. Communication networks play an important role in our daily...... life because they allow communicating and sharing contents between heterogeneous nodes around the globe. The emergence of multiple network architectures and emerging technologies have resulted in new applications and services over a heterogeneous network. This heterogeneous network has undergone...... significant challenges in recent years, such as the evolution to a converged network with the capability to support multiple services, while maintaining a satisfactory level of QoE/QoS, security, efficiency and trust. The special issue on Advances and Challenges in Convergent Communication Networks...

Consumer Product Perceptions and Salmon Consumption Frequency: The Role of Heterogeneity Based on Food Lifestyle Segments

OpenAIRE

Yuko Onozaka; Håvard Hansen; Arne Sørvig

2014-01-01

Seafood consumers are vastly heterogeneous in terms of their knowledge, confidence, and perceptions about seafood. This article examines the relationship between consumer perceptions (healthiness, value for money, and convenience) and salmon consumption frequencies while modeling unobserved consumer heterogeneity by segmenting consumers based on their food-related lifestyle. We employ latent class analysis (LCA) that embeds the structural equation modeling (SEM) to ensure the latent nature of...

Teaching Chinese in heterogeneous classrooms: strategies and practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rong Zhang Fernandez

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The heterogeneous nature of the Chinese classroom is a reality in the teaching of Chinese in France, both in secondary and higher education. This heterogeneity is due to several reasons: different levels of language knowledge, different origins and backgrounds of the students, different teaching/learning objectives, different cultural and family background, and social factors. Our research has been conducted in  a final-year LIE college class (langue inter-établissement; in a French secondary school. In our study, the following questions have been posed: How to best adapt the teaching of Chinese to fit the needs of all students? Would differentiated instruction be a solution? What would be the best strategies and practices, in view of the CEFR requirements related to teaching content, to tasks and to assessment? Taking into account a detailed analysis of the class in question in terms of the type of students, the differences in their knowledge of language, and their learning goals, , we adopt  the theory of differentiated instruction –  its main ideas strategies, its overall methodology and practical techniques to address the difficulties ensuing from classroom heterogeneity. The differentiation is implemented at the level of content, task selection, course structure and evaluation. Are there any limitations to differentiated instruction? Strong discrepancies in the levels of students’ knowledge is potentially a problem, and differences in their work pace as well as the teachers’ increased workload can also present difficulties. New ways of organizing language classes such as grouping students on the basis of their various language skills could help solve these issues.

The refining of secondary lead for use in advanced lead-acid batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellis, Timothy W.; Mirza, Abbas H.

2010-01-01

Secondary lead, i.e. material produced by the recycling of lead-acid batteries has become the primary source of lead in much of the world. This has been important to the secondary lead industry as other uses have dwindled, e.g. lead based pigments, chemicals, fuel additives, solders and CRT glasses. Presently, battery manufacturing accounts for greater than 80% of lead consumption while recycled lead accounts for approximately the same market share of lead supply. These two facts strongly demonstrate the battery manufacturing and recycled lead are intimately coupled in everyday life. In this paper we will explore how recycled lead has become the material of choice for battery construction through the development of a recovery and refining process that exceeds the industries requirements. Particular focus will be on addressing the results presented by Prengaman on the effects of contaminant or tramp elements on gassing in lead-acid batteries. (author)

Characterizing permafrost active layer dynamics and sensitivity to landscape spatial heterogeneity in Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Yonghong; Kimball, John S.; Chen, Richard H.; Moghaddam, Mahta; Reichle, Rolf H.; Mishra, Umakant; Zona, Donatella; Oechel, Walter C.

2018-01-01

An important feature of the Arctic is large spatial heterogeneity in active layer conditions, which is generally poorly represented by global models and can lead to large uncertainties in predicting regional ecosystem responses and climate feedbacks. In this study, we developed a spatially integrated modeling and analysis framework combining field observations, local-scale ( ˜ 50 m resolution) active layer thickness (ALT) and soil moisture maps derived from low-frequency (L + P-band) airborne radar measurements, and global satellite environmental observations to investigate the ALT sensitivity to recent climate trends and landscape heterogeneity in Alaska. Modeled ALT results show good correspondence with in situ measurements in higher-permafrost-probability (PP ≥ 70 %) areas (n = 33; R = 0.60; mean bias = 1.58 cm; RMSE = 20.32 cm), but with larger uncertainty in sporadic and discontinuous permafrost areas. The model results also reveal widespread ALT deepening since 2001, with smaller ALT increases in northern Alaska (mean trend = 0.32±1.18 cm yr-1) and much larger increases (> 3 cm yr-1) across interior and southern Alaska. The positive ALT trend coincides with regional warming and a longer snow-free season (R = 0.60 ± 0.32). A spatially integrated analysis of the radar retrievals and model sensitivity simulations demonstrated that uncertainty in the spatial and vertical distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) was the largest factor affecting modeled ALT accuracy, while soil moisture played a secondary role. Potential improvements in characterizing SOC heterogeneity, including better spatial sampling of soil conditions and advances in remote sensing of SOC and soil moisture, will enable more accurate predictions of active layer conditions and refinement of the modeling framework across a larger domain.

Dimethylamine as a Replacement for Ammonia Dosing in the Secondary Circuit of an Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armstrong, C.; Mitchell, M.; Bull, A.; Quirk, G.P.; Rudge, A.

2012-09-01

Increasing flow resistance observed over recent years within the helical once-through boilers in the four Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) at Hartlepool and Heysham 1 Power stations have reduced boiler performance, resulting in reductions in feedwater flow, steam temperatures, power output and the need to carry out periodic chemical cleaning. The root cause is believed to be the development of magnetite deposits with high flow impedance in the 9%Cr evaporator section of the boiler tubing. To prevent continued increases in boiler flow resistance, dimethylamine is being trialled, in one of the four affected units, as a replacement to the conventional ammonia dosing. Dimethylamine increases the pH at temperature around the secondary circuit and, based on full scale boiler rig simulations, is expected to reduce iron transport and prevent flow resistance increases within the evaporator section of the boiler. The dimethylamine plant trial commenced in January 2011 and is ongoing. The feedwater concentration of dimethylamine has been increased progressively towards a final target value of 900 μg kg -1 and its effect on iron transport and boiler pressure loss is being closely monitored. The high steam temperatures (>500 deg. C) of the secondary circuit lead to some decomposition of dimethylamine, which is being carefully monitored at various locations around the circuit. The decomposition products identified with dimethylamine dosing include ammonia, methylamine, formic acid, carbon dioxide and, as yet, unidentified neutral organic species. The effect of dimethylamine dosing on iron transport, boiler pressure drops and its decomposition behaviour around the secondary circuit during the plant trial will be presented in this paper. (authors)

GeauxDock: Accelerating Structure-Based Virtual Screening with Heterogeneous Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Ye; Ding, Yun; Feinstein, Wei P.; Koppelman, David M.; Moreno, Juana; Jarrell, Mark; Ramanujam, J.; Brylinski, Michal

2016-01-01

Computational modeling of drug binding to proteins is an integral component of direct drug design. Particularly, structure-based virtual screening is often used to perform large-scale modeling of putative associations between small organic molecules and their pharmacologically relevant protein targets. Because of a large number of drug candidates to be evaluated, an accurate and fast docking engine is a critical element of virtual screening. Consequently, highly optimized docking codes are of paramount importance for the effectiveness of virtual screening methods. In this communication, we describe the implementation, tuning and performance characteristics of GeauxDock, a recently developed molecular docking program. GeauxDock is built upon the Monte Carlo algorithm and features a novel scoring function combining physics-based energy terms with statistical and knowledge-based potentials. Developed specifically for heterogeneous computing platforms, the current version of GeauxDock can be deployed on modern, multi-core Central Processing Units (CPUs) as well as massively parallel accelerators, Intel Xeon Phi and NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). First, we carried out a thorough performance tuning of the high-level framework and the docking kernel to produce a fast serial code, which was then ported to shared-memory multi-core CPUs yielding a near-ideal scaling. Further, using Xeon Phi gives 1.9× performance improvement over a dual 10-core Xeon CPU, whereas the best GPU accelerator, GeForce GTX 980, achieves a speedup as high as 3.5×. On that account, GeauxDock can take advantage of modern heterogeneous architectures to considerably accelerate structure-based virtual screening applications. GeauxDock is open-sourced and publicly available at www.brylinski.org/geauxdock and https://figshare.com/articles/geauxdock_tar_gz/3205249. PMID:27420300

GeauxDock: Accelerating Structure-Based Virtual Screening with Heterogeneous Computing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ye Fang

Full Text Available Computational modeling of drug binding to proteins is an integral component of direct drug design. Particularly, structure-based virtual screening is often used to perform large-scale modeling of putative associations between small organic molecules and their pharmacologically relevant protein targets. Because of a large number of drug candidates to be evaluated, an accurate and fast docking engine is a critical element of virtual screening. Consequently, highly optimized docking codes are of paramount importance for the effectiveness of virtual screening methods. In this communication, we describe the implementation, tuning and performance characteristics of GeauxDock, a recently developed molecular docking program. GeauxDock is built upon the Monte Carlo algorithm and features a novel scoring function combining physics-based energy terms with statistical and knowledge-based potentials. Developed specifically for heterogeneous computing platforms, the current version of GeauxDock can be deployed on modern, multi-core Central Processing Units (CPUs as well as massively parallel accelerators, Intel Xeon Phi and NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit (GPU. First, we carried out a thorough performance tuning of the high-level framework and the docking kernel to produce a fast serial code, which was then ported to shared-memory multi-core CPUs yielding a near-ideal scaling. Further, using Xeon Phi gives 1.9× performance improvement over a dual 10-core Xeon CPU, whereas the best GPU accelerator, GeForce GTX 980, achieves a speedup as high as 3.5×. On that account, GeauxDock can take advantage of modern heterogeneous architectures to considerably accelerate structure-based virtual screening applications. GeauxDock is open-sourced and publicly available at www.brylinski.org/geauxdock and https://figshare.com/articles/geauxdock_tar_gz/3205249.

Metal- and Carbon-Based Materials as Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for CO₂ Reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Azam; Ullah, Haseeb; Nasir, Jamal Abdul; Shuda, Suzanne; Chen, Wei; Khan, M Abdullah

2018-05-01

Climate change caused by continuous rising level of CO2 and the depletion of fossil fuels reserves has made it highly desirable to electrochemically convert CO2 into fuels and commodity chemicals. Implementing this approach will close the carbon cycle by recycling CO2 providing a sustainable way to store energy in the chemical bonds of portable molecular fuels. In order to make the process commercially viable, the challenge of slow kinetics of CO2 electroreduction and low energy efficiency of the process need to be addressed. To this end, this review summarizes the progress made in the past few years in the development of heterogeneous electrocatalysts with a focus on nanostructured material for CO2 reduction to CO, HCOOH/HCOO-, CH2O, CH4, H2C2O4/HC2O-4, C2H4, CH3OH, CH3CH2OH, etc. The electrocatalysts presented here are classified into metals, metal alloys, metal oxides, metal chalcogenides and carbon based materials on the basis of their elemental composition, whose performance is discussed in light of catalyst activity, product selectivity, Faradaic efficiency (FE), catalytic durability and in selected cases mechanism of CO2 electroreduction. The effect of particle size, morphology and solution-electrolyte type and composition on the catalyst property/activity is also discussed and finally some strategies are proposed for the development of CO2 electroreduction catalysts. The aim of this article is to review the recent advances in the field of CO2 electroreduction in order to further facilitate research and development in this area.

Heterogeneity mapping of protein expression in tumors using quantitative immunofluorescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Faratian, Dana; Christiansen, Jason; Gustavson, Mark; Jones, Christine; Scott, Christopher; Um, InHwa; Harrison, David J

2011-10-25

-quantitative and subject to intra- and inter-observer bias, more sensitive and quantitative methodologies are required in order to accurately map and quantify tissue heterogeneity in situ. We have developed and applied an experimental and statistical methodology in order to systematically quantify the heterogeneity of protein expression in whole tissue sections of tumors, based on the Automated QUantitative Analysis (AQUA) system(6). Tissue sections are labeled with specific antibodies directed against cytokeratins and targets of interest, coupled to fluorophore-labeled secondary antibodies. Slides are imaged using a whole-slide fluorescence scanner. Images are subdivided into hundreds to thousands of tiles, and each tile is then assigned an AQUA score which is a measure of protein concentration within the epithelial (tumor) component of the tissue. Heatmaps are generated to represent tissue expression of the proteins and a heterogeneity score assigned, using a statistical measure of heterogeneity originally used in ecology, based on the Simpson's biodiversity index(7). To date there have been no attempts to systematically map and quantify this variability in tandem with protein expression, in histological preparations. Here, we illustrate the first use of the method applied to ER and HER2 biomarker expression in ovarian cancer. Using this method paves the way for analyzing heterogeneity as an independent variable in studies of biomarker expression in translational studies, in order to establish the significance of heterogeneity in prognosis and prediction of responses to therapy.

Cancer heterogeneity and imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, James P B

2017-04-01

There is interest in identifying and quantifying tumor heterogeneity at the genomic, tissue pathology and clinical imaging scales, as this may help better understand tumor biology and may yield useful biomarkers for guiding therapy-based decision making. This review focuses on the role and value of using x-ray, CT, MRI and PET based imaging methods that identify, measure and map tumor heterogeneity. In particular we highlight the potential value of these techniques and the key challenges required to validate and qualify these biomarkers for clinical use. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Research and Design of Dynamic Migration Access Control Technology Based on Heterogeneous Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Feng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the continuous development of wireless networks, the amount of privacy services in heterogeneous mobile networks is increasing, such as information storage, user access, and so on. Access control security issues for heterogeneous mobile radio network, this paper proposes a dynamic migration access control technology based on heterogeneous network. Through the system architecture of the mutual trust system, we can understand the real-time mobile node failure or abnormal state. To make the service can be terminated for the node. And adopt the 802.1X authentication way to improve the security of the system. Finally, it by combining the actual running test data, the trust update algorithm of the system is optimized to reduce the actual security threats in the environment. Experiments show that the system’s anti-attack, the success rate of access, bit error rate is in line with the expected results. This system can effectively reduce the system authentication information is illegally obtained after the network security protection mechanism failure and reduce the risk of user data leakage.

A least-effort principle based model for heterogeneous pedestrian flow considering overtaking behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chi; Ye, Rui; Lian, Liping; Song, Weiguo; Zhang, Jun; Lo, Siuming

2018-05-01

In the context of global aging, how to design traffic facilities for a population with a different age composition is of high importance. For this purpose, we propose a model based on the least effort principle to simulate heterogeneous pedestrian flow. In the model, the pedestrian is represented by a three-disc shaped agent. We add a new parameter to realize pedestrians' preference to avoid changing their direction of movement too quickly. The model is validated with numerous experimental data on unidirectional pedestrian flow. In addition, we investigate the influence of corridor width and velocity distribution of crowds on unidirectional heterogeneous pedestrian flow. The simulation results reflect that widening corridors could increase the specific flow for the crowd composed of two kinds of pedestrians with significantly different free velocities. Moreover, compared with a unified crowd, the crowd composed of pedestrians with great mobility differences requires a wider corridor to attain the same traffic efficiency. This study could be beneficial in providing a better understanding of heterogeneous pedestrian flow, and quantified outcomes could be applied in traffic facility design.

CHAOS-BASED ADVANCED ENCRYPTION STANDARD

KAUST Repository

Abdulwahed, Naif B.

2013-01-01

This thesis introduces a new chaos-based Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The AES is a well-known encryption algorithm that was standardized by U.S National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) in 2001. The thesis investigates and explores

Mesothelioma and anti-Ma paraneoplastic syndrome; heterogeneity in immunogenic tumours increases.

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, Hilary Anne; Panopoulou, Aikaterini; Bhatt, Nidhi; Edey, Anthony James; Giffin, Nicola Jane

2014-02-01

We present a patient with opsoclonus and diffuse cerebellar signs who had an anti-Ma2 antibody-associated paraneoplastic syndrome secondary to a sarcomatoid mesothelioma. This case highlights the importance of early tumour detection, instigation of therapeutic measures, and the heterogeneity of underlying malignancies in neurological paraneoplastic syndromes.

A station blackout simulation for the Advanced Neutron Source Reactor using the integrated primary and secondary system model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, E.A.

1994-01-01

The Advanced Neutron Source Reactor (ANSR) is a research reactor to be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This paper deals with thermal-hydraulic analysis of ANSR's cooling systems during nominal and transient conditions, with the major effort focusing upon the construction and testing of computer models of the reactor's primary, secondary and reflector vessel cooling systems. The code RELAP5 was used to simulate transients, such as loss of coolant accidents and loss of off-site power, as well as to model the behavior of the reactor in steady state. Three stages are involved in constructing and using a RELAP5 model: (1) construction and encoding of the desired model, (2) testing and adjustment of the model until a satisfactory steady state is achieved, and (3) running actual transients using the steady-state results obtained earlier as initial conditions. By use of the ANSR design specifications, a model of the reactor's primary and secondary cooling systems has been constructed to run a transient simulating a loss of off-site power. This incident assumes a pump coastdown in both the primary and secondary loops. The results determine whether the reactor can survive the transition from forced convection to natural circulation

Perceptions of STEM-based outreach activities in secondary education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vennix, J.; den Brok, P.J.; Taconis, R.

2017-01-01

We investigated and compared the learning environment perceptions of students, teachers and guides who participated in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-based outreach activities in secondary education. In outreach activities, schools and teachers work together with companies

Thermomechanical behaviour of two heterogeneous tungsten materials via 2D and 3D image-based FEM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zivelonghi, Alessandro

2011-01-01

An advanced numerical procedure based on imaging of the material microstructure (Image- Based Finite Element Method or Image-Based FEM) was extended and applied to model the thermomechanical behaviour of novel materials for fusion applications. Two tungsten based heterogeneous materials with different random morphologies have been chosen as challenging case studies: (1) a two-phase mixed ductile-brittle W/CuCr1Zr composite and (2) vacuum plasma-sprayed tungsten (VPS-W 75 vol.%), a porous coating system with complex dual-scale microstructure. Both materials are designed for the future fusion reactor DEMO: W/CuCr1Zr as main constituent of a layered functionally graded joint between plasma-facing armor and heat sink whereas VPS-W for covering the first wall of the reactor vessel in direct contact with the plasma. The primary focus of this work was to investigate the mesoscopic material behaviour and the linkage to the macroscopic response in modeling failure and heat-transfer. Particular care was taken in validating and integrating simulation findings with experimental inputs. The solution of the local thermomechanical behaviour directly on the real material microstructure enabled meaningful insights into the complex failure mechanism of both materials. For W/CuCr1Zr full macroscopic stress-strain curves including the softening and failure part could be simulated and compared with experimental ones at different temperatures, finding an overall good agreement. The comparison of simulated and experimental macroscopic behaviour of plastic deformation and rupture also showed the possibility to indirectly estimate micro- and mesoscale material parameters. Both heat conduction and elastic behaviour of VPS-W have been extensively investigated. New capabilities of the Image-Based FEM could be shown: decomposition of the heat transfer reduction as due to the individual morphological phases and back-fitting of the reduced stiffness at interlamellar boundaries. The

Thesaurus-based search in large heterogeneous collections

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Wielemaker (Jan); M. Hildebrand (Michiel); J.R. van Ossenbruggen (Jacco); G. Schreiber (Guus); A. Sheth; not CWI et al

2008-01-01

htmlabstractIn cultural heritage, large virtual collections are coming into existence. Such collections contain heterogeneous sets of metadata and vocabulary concepts, originating from multiple sources. In the context of the E-Culture demonstrator we have shown earlier that such virtual

Experimental oligopolies modeling: A dynamic approach based on heterogeneous behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Cerboni Baiardi, Lorenzo; Naimzada, Ahmad K.

2018-05-01

In the rank of behavioral rules, imitation-based heuristics has received special attention in economics (see [14] and [12]). In particular, imitative behavior is considered in order to understand the evidences arising in experimental oligopolies which reveal that the Cournot-Nash equilibrium does not emerge as unique outcome and show that an important component of the production at the competitive level is observed (see e.g.[1,3,9] or [7,10]). By considering the pioneering groundbreaking approach of [2], we build a dynamical model of linear oligopolies where heterogeneous decision mechanisms of players are made explicit. In particular, we consider two different types of quantity setting players characterized by different decision mechanisms that coexist and operate simultaneously: agents that adaptively adjust their choices towards the direction that increases their profit are embedded with imitator agents. The latter ones use a particular form of proportional imitation rule that considers the awareness about the presence of strategic interactions. It is noteworthy that the Cournot-Nash outcome is a stationary state of our models. Our thesis is that the chaotic dynamics arousing from a dynamical model, where heterogeneous players are considered, are capable to qualitatively reproduce the outcomes of experimental oligopolies.

Energy Cost Minimization in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks with Hybrid Energy Supplies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bang Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The ever increasing data demand has led to the significant increase of energy consumption in cellular mobile networks. Recent advancements in heterogeneous cellular networks and green energy supplied base stations provide promising solutions for cellular communications industry. In this article, we first review the motivations and challenges as well as approaches to address the energy cost minimization problem for such green heterogeneous networks. Owing to the diversities of mobile traffic and renewable energy, the energy cost minimization problem involves both temporal and spatial optimization of resource allocation. We next present a new solution to illustrate how to combine the optimization of the temporal green energy allocation and spatial mobile traffic distribution. The whole optimization problem is decomposed into four subproblems, and correspondingly our proposed solution is divided into four parts: energy consumption estimation, green energy allocation, user association, and green energy reallocation. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can significantly reduce the total energy cost.

A Regression-based K nearest neighbor algorithm for gene function prediction from heterogeneous data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruzzo Walter L

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As a variety of functional genomic and proteomic techniques become available, there is an increasing need for functional analysis methodologies that integrate heterogeneous data sources. Methods In this paper, we address this issue by proposing a general framework for gene function prediction based on the k-nearest-neighbor (KNN algorithm. The choice of KNN is motivated by its simplicity, flexibility to incorporate different data types and adaptability to irregular feature spaces. A weakness of traditional KNN methods, especially when handling heterogeneous data, is that performance is subject to the often ad hoc choice of similarity metric. To address this weakness, we apply regression methods to infer a similarity metric as a weighted combination of a set of base similarity measures, which helps to locate the neighbors that are most likely to be in the same class as the target gene. We also suggest a novel voting scheme to generate confidence scores that estimate the accuracy of predictions. The method gracefully extends to multi-way classification problems. Results We apply this technique to gene function prediction according to three well-known Escherichia coli classification schemes suggested by biologists, using information derived from microarray and genome sequencing data. We demonstrate that our algorithm dramatically outperforms the naive KNN methods and is competitive with support vector machine (SVM algorithms for integrating heterogenous data. We also show that by combining different data sources, prediction accuracy can improve significantly. Conclusion Our extension of KNN with automatic feature weighting, multi-class prediction, and probabilistic inference, enhance prediction accuracy significantly while remaining efficient, intuitive and flexible. This general framework can also be applied to similar classification problems involving heterogeneous datasets.

The Use of Advanced Transportation Monitoring Data for Official Statistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Y. Ma (Yinyi)

2016-01-01

markdownabstractTraffic and transportation statistics are mainly published as aggregated information, and are traditionally based on surveys or secondary data sources, like public registers and companies’ administrations. Nowadays, advanced monitoring systems are installed in the road network, offering

Contrast and Synergy between Electrocatalysis and Heterogeneous Catalysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Wieckowski

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The advances in spectroscopy and theory that have occurred over the past two decades begin to provide detailed in situ resolution of the molecular transformations that occur at both gas/metal as well as aqueous/metal interfaces. These advances begin to allow for a more direct comparison of heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis. Such comparisons become important, as many of the current energy conversion strategies involve catalytic and electrocatalytic processes that occur at fluid/solid interfaces and display very similar characteristics. Herein, we compare and contrast a few different catalytic and electrocatalytic systems to elucidate the principles that cross-cut both areas and establish characteristic differences between the two with the hope of advancing both areas.

Inference of Cell Mechanics in Heterogeneous Epithelial Tissue Based on Multivariate Clone Shape Quantification

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuboi, Alice; Umetsu, Daiki; Kuranaga, Erina; Fujimoto, Koichi

2017-01-01

Cell populations in multicellular organisms show genetic and non-genetic heterogeneity, even in undifferentiated tissues of multipotent cells during development and tumorigenesis. The heterogeneity causes difference of mechanical properties, such as, cell bond tension or adhesion, at the cell–cell interface, which determine the shape of clonal population boundaries via cell sorting or mixing. The boundary shape could alter the degree of cell–cell contacts and thus influence the physiological consequences of sorting or mixing at the boundary (e.g., tumor suppression or progression), suggesting that the cell mechanics could help clarify the physiology of heterogeneous tissues. While precise inference of mechanical tension loaded at each cell–cell contacts has been extensively developed, there has been little progress on how to distinguish the population-boundary geometry and identify the cause of geometry in heterogeneous tissues. We developed a pipeline by combining multivariate analysis of clone shape with tissue mechanical simulations. We examined clones with four different genotypes within Drosophila wing imaginal discs: wild-type, tartan (trn) overexpression, hibris (hbs) overexpression, and Eph RNAi. Although the clones were previously known to exhibit smoothed or convoluted morphologies, their mechanical properties were unknown. By applying a multivariate analysis to multiple criteria used to quantify the clone shapes based on individual cell shapes, we found the optimal criteria to distinguish not only among the four genotypes, but also non-genetic heterogeneity from genetic one. The efficient segregation of clone shape enabled us to quantitatively compare experimental data with tissue mechanical simulations. As a result, we identified the mechanical basis contributed to clone shape of distinct genotypes. The present pipeline will promote the understanding of the functions of mechanical interactions in heterogeneous tissue in a non-invasive manner. PMID

Achieving secondary prevention low-density lipoprotein particle concentration goals using lipoprotein cholesterol-based data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon C Mathews

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies suggest that LDL particle concentration (LDL-P may remain elevated at guideline recommended LDL cholesterol goals, representing a source of residual risk. We examined the following seven separate lipid parameters in achieving the LDL-P goal of <1000 nmol/L goal for very high risk secondary prevention: total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio, TC/HDL, <3; a composite of ATP-III very high risk targets, LDL-C<70 mg/dL, non-HDL-C<100 mg/dL and TG<150 mg/dL; a composite of standard secondary risk targets, LDL-C<100, non-HDL-C<130, TG<150; LDL phenotype; HDL-C ≥ 40; TG<150; and TG/HDL-C<3. METHODS: We measured ApoB, ApoAI, ultracentrifugation lipoprotein cholesterol and NMR lipoprotein particle concentration in 148 unselected primary and secondary prevention patients. RESULTS: TC/HDL-C<3 effectively discriminated subjects by LDL-P goal (F = 84.1, p<10(-6. The ATP-III very high risk composite target (LDL-C<70, nonHDL-C<100, TG<150 was also effective (F = 42.8, p<10(-5. However, the standard secondary prevention composite (LDL-C<100, non-HDL-C<130, TG<150 was also effective but yielded higher LDL-P than the very high risk composite (F = 42.0, p<10(-5 with upper 95% confidence interval of LDL-P less than 1000 nmol/L. TG<150 and TG/HDL-C<3 cutpoints both significantly discriminated subjects but the LDL-P upper 95% confidence intervals fell above goal of 1000 nmol/L (F = 15.8, p = 0.0001 and F = 9.7, p = 0.002 respectively. LDL density phenotype neared significance (F = 2.85, p = 0.094 and the HDL-C cutpoint of 40 mg/dL did not discriminate (F = 0.53, p = 0.47 alone or add discriminatory power to ATP-III targets. CONCLUSIONS: A simple composite of ATP-III very high risk lipoprotein cholesterol based treatment targets or TC/HDL-C ratio <3 most effectively identified subjects meeting the secondary prevention target level of LDL-P<1000 nmol/L, providing a potential alternative to advanced lipid testing in many clinical

Metaheuristic Based Scheduling Meta-Tasks in Distributed Heterogeneous Computing Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hesam Izakian

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Scheduling is a key problem in distributed heterogeneous computing systems in order to benefit from the large computing capacity of such systems and is an NP-complete problem. In this paper, we present a metaheuristic technique, namely the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO algorithm, for this problem. PSO is a population-based search algorithm based on the simulation of the social behavior of bird flocking and fish schooling. Particles fly in problem search space to find optimal or near-optimal solutions. The scheduler aims at minimizing makespan, which is the time when finishes the latest task. Experimental studies show that the proposed method is more efficient and surpasses those of reported PSO and GA approaches for this problem.

Distributed sensor coordination for advanced energy systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tumer, Kagan [Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

2015-03-12

Motivation: The ability to collect key system level information is critical to the safe, efficient and reliable operation of advanced power systems. Recent advances in sensor technology have enabled some level of decision making directly at the sensor level. However, coordinating large numbers of sensors, particularly heterogeneous sensors, to achieve system level objectives such as predicting plant efficiency, reducing downtime or predicting outages requires sophisticated coordination algorithms. Indeed, a critical issue in such systems is how to ensure the interaction of a large number of heterogenous system components do not interfere with one another and lead to undesirable behavior. Objectives and Contributions: The long-term objective of this work is to provide sensor deployment, coordination and networking algorithms for large numbers of sensors to ensure the safe, reliable, and robust operation of advanced energy systems. Our two specific objectives are to: 1. Derive sensor performance metrics for heterogeneous sensor networks. 2. Demonstrate effectiveness, scalability and reconfigurability of heterogeneous sensor network in advanced power systems. The key technical contribution of this work is to push the coordination step to the design of the objective functions of the sensors, allowing networks of heterogeneous sensors to be controlled. By ensuring that the control and coordination is not specific to particular sensor hardware, this approach enables the design and operation of large heterogeneous sensor networks. In addition to the coordination coordination mechanism, this approach allows the system to be reconfigured in response to changing needs (e.g., sudden external events requiring new responses) or changing sensor network characteristics (e.g., sudden changes to plant condition). Impact: The impact of this work extends to a large class of problems relevant to the National Energy Technology Laboratory including sensor placement, heterogeneous sensor

Thesaurus-based search in large heterogeneous collections

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wielemaker, J.; Hildebrand, M.; van Ossenbruggen, J.; Schreiber, G.

2008-01-01

In cultural heritage, large virtual collections are coming into existence. Such collections contain heterogeneous sets of metadata and vocabulary concepts, originating from multiple sources. In the context of the E-Culture demonstrator we have shown earlier that such virtual collections can be

Genetic heterogeneity in Alzheimer disease and implications for treatment strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ringman, John M; Goate, Alison; Masters, Colin L; Cairns, Nigel J; Danek, Adrian; Graff-Radford, Neill; Ghetti, Bernardino; Morris, John C

2014-11-01

Since the original publication describing the illness in 1907, the genetic understanding of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has advanced such that it is now clear that it is a genetically heterogeneous condition, the subtypes of which may not uniformly respond to a given intervention. It is therefore critical to characterize the clinical and preclinical stages of AD subtypes, including the rare autosomal dominant forms caused by known mutations in the PSEN1, APP, and PSEN2 genes that are being studied in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network study and its associated secondary prevention trial. Similar efforts are occurring in an extended Colombian family with a PSEN1 mutation, in APOE ε4 homozygotes, and in Down syndrome. Despite commonalities in the mechanisms producing the AD phenotype, there are also differences that reflect specific genetic origins. Treatment modalities should be chosen and trials designed with these differences in mind. Ideally, the varying pathological cascades involved in the different subtypes of AD should be defined so that both areas of overlap and of distinct differences can be taken into account. At the very least, clinical trials should determine the influence of known genetic factors in post hoc analyses.

Project-Based Learning and Design-Focused Projects to Motivate Secondary Mathematics Students

Science.gov (United States)

Remijan, Kelly W.

2017-01-01

This article illustrates how mathematics teachers can develop design-focused projects, related to project-based learning, to motivate secondary mathematics students. With first-hand experience as a secondary mathematics teacher, I provide a series of steps related to the engineering design process, which are helpful to teachers in developing…

Performance Evaluation of a Cluster-Based Service Discovery Protocol for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marin Perianu, Raluca; Scholten, Johan; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Hartel, Pieter H.

2006-01-01

Abstract—This paper evaluates the performance in terms of resource consumption of a service discovery protocol proposed for heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The protocol is based on a clustering structure, which facilitates the construction of a distributed directory. Nodes with higher

A comprehensive patient-derived xenograft collection representing the heterogeneity of melanoma

OpenAIRE

Krepler, Clemens; Sproesser, Katrin; Brafford, Patricia; Beqiri, Marilda; Garman, Bradley; Xiao, Min; Shannan, Batool; Watters, Andrea; Perego, Michela; Zhang, Gao; Vultur, Adina; Yin, Xiangfan; Liu, Qin; Anastopoulos, Ioannis N; Wubbenhorst, Bradley

2017-01-01

Summary: Therapy of advanced melanoma is changing dramatically. Following mutational and biological subclassification of this heterogeneous cancer, several targeted and immune therapies were approved and increased survival significantly. To facilitate further advancements through pre-clinical in vivo modeling, we have established 459 patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and live tissue samples from 384 patients representing the full spectrum of clinical, therapeutic, mutational, and biological he...

Fast decision algorithms in low-power embedded processors for quality-of-service based connectivity of mobile sensors in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaraíz-Simón, María D; Gómez-Pulido, Juan A; Vega-Rodríguez, Miguel A; Sánchez-Pérez, Juan M

2012-01-01

When a mobile wireless sensor is moving along heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, it can be under the coverage of more than one network many times. In these situations, the Vertical Handoff process can happen, where the mobile sensor decides to change its connection from a network to the best network among the available ones according to their quality of service characteristics. A fitness function is used for the handoff decision, being desirable to minimize it. This is an optimization problem which consists of the adjustment of a set of weights for the quality of service. Solving this problem efficiently is relevant to heterogeneous wireless sensor networks in many advanced applications. Numerous works can be found in the literature dealing with the vertical handoff decision, although they all suffer from the same shortfall: a non-comparable efficiency. Therefore, the aim of this work is twofold: first, to develop a fast decision algorithm that explores the entire space of possible combinations of weights, searching that one that minimizes the fitness function; and second, to design and implement a system on chip architecture based on reconfigurable hardware and embedded processors to achieve several goals necessary for competitive mobile terminals: good performance, low power consumption, low economic cost, and small area integration.

Recent Advancements in Semiconductor-based Optical Signal Processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, M L; Mørk, Jesper

2006-01-01

Significant advancements in technology and basic understanding of device physics are bringing optical signal processing closer to a commercial breakthrough. In this paper we describe the main challenges in high-speed SOA-based switching.......Significant advancements in technology and basic understanding of device physics are bringing optical signal processing closer to a commercial breakthrough. In this paper we describe the main challenges in high-speed SOA-based switching....

The prediction of progression-free and overall survival in women with an advanced stage of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerestein, C G; Eijkemans, M J C; de Jong, D; van der Burg, M E L; Dykgraaf, R H M; Kooi, G S; Baalbergen, A; Burger, C W; Ansink, A C

2009-02-01

Prognosis in women with ovarian cancer mainly depends on International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage and the ability to perform optimal cytoreductive surgery. Since ovarian cancer has a heterogeneous presentation and clinical course, predicting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the individual patient is difficult. The objective of this study was to determine predictors of PFS and OS in women with advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) after primary cytoreductive surgery and first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Retrospective observational study. Two teaching hospitals and one university hospital in the south-western part of the Netherlands. Women with advanced stage EOC. All women who underwent primary cytoreductive surgery for advanced stage EOC followed by first-line platinum-based chemotherapy between January 1998 and October 2004 were identified. To investigate independent predictors of PFS and OS, a Cox' proportional hazard model was used. Nomograms were generated with the identified predictive parameters. The primary outcome measure was OS and the secondary outcome measures were response and PFS. A total of 118 women entered the study protocol. Median PFS and OS were 15 and 44 months, respectively. Preoperative platelet count (P = 0.007), and residual disease statistic of 0.63. Predictive parameters for OS were preoperative haemoglobin serum concentration (P = 0.012), preoperative platelet counts (P = 0.031) and residual disease statistic of 0.67. PFS could be predicted by postoperative residual disease and preoperative platelet counts, whereas residual disease, preoperative platelet counts and preoperative haemoglobin serum concentration were predictive for OS. The proposed nomograms need to be externally validated.

Immunophenotype Heterogeneity in Nasal Glomangiopericytoma

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Adriana Handra-Luca

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nasal glomangiopericytoma is rare. The immunophenotype is heterogeneous, more frequently smooth-muscle-actin and CD34-positive. We report expression patterns for several vascular-related proteins such as CD99, CD146, Bcl2, and WT1 as well as for treatment-related proteins such as mTOR and EGFR in a nasal glomangiopericytoma. The patient (woman, 86 years presented with a left nasal tumefaction. The resected specimen (1.5-cm showed a glomangiopericytoma. Tumor cells expressed smooth-muscle-actin, CD31, CD34, and progesterone receptor. They also expressed the vascular-cell-related proteins Bcl2, CD99, CD146, and WT1, as well as mTOR and EGFR. Nasal glomangiopericytomas show immunohistochemical heterogeneity for vascular-related markers, suggesting a possible extensive pericytic differentiation. The expression of potential targets for drug treatments such as mTOR and EGFR may impact on the clinical follow-up of these tumors occurring at advanced ages, which may require complex surgery.

Computational Hydrodynamics: How Portable and Scalable Are Heterogeneous Programming Paradigms?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pawlak, Wojciech; Glimberg, Stefan Lemvig; Engsig-Karup, Allan Peter

New many-core era applications at the interface of mathematics and computer science adopt modern parallel programming paradigms and expose parallelism through proper algorithms. We present new performance results for a novel massively parallel free surface wave model suitable for advanced......-device system sizes from desktops to large HPC systems such as superclusters and in the cloud utilizing heterogeneous devices like multi-core CPUs, GPUs, and Xeon Phi coprocessors. The numerical efficiency is evaluated on heterogeneous devices like multi-core CPUs, GPUs and Xeon Phi coprocessors to test...

Inflammogenesis of Secondary Spinal Cord Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Anwar, M. Akhtar; Al Shehabi, Tuqa S.; Eid, Ali H.

2016-01-01

Spinal cord injury (SCI) and spinal infarction lead to neurological complications and eventually to paraplegia or quadriplegia. These extremely debilitating conditions are major contributors to morbidity. Our understanding of SCI has certainly increased during the last decade, but remains far from clear. SCI consists of two defined phases: the initial impact causes primary injury, which is followed by a prolonged secondary injury consisting of evolving sub-phases that may last for years. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms driving this condition are complex. Derangement of the vasculature is a notable feature of the pathology of SCI. In particular, an important component of SCI is the ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) that leads to endothelial dysfunction and changes in vascular permeability. Indeed, together with endothelial cell damage and failure in homeostasis, ischemia reperfusion injury triggers full-blown inflammatory cascades arising from activation of residential innate immune cells (microglia and astrocytes) and infiltrating leukocytes (neutrophils and macrophages). These inflammatory cells release neurotoxins (proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, free radicals, excitotoxic amino acids, nitric oxide (NO)), all of which partake in axonal and neuronal deficit. Therefore, our review considers the recent advances in SCI mechanisms, whereby it becomes clear that SCI is a heterogeneous condition. Hence, this leads towards evidence of a restorative approach based on monotherapy with multiple targets or combinatorial treatment. Moreover, from evaluation of the existing literature, it appears that there is an urgent requirement for multi-centered, randomized trials for a large patient population. These clinical studies would offer an opportunity in stratifying SCI patients at high risk and selecting appropriate, optimal therapeutic regimens for personalized medicine. PMID:27147970

A case of peripheral gangrene and osteomyelitis secondary to terlipressin therapy in advanced liver disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heon Ju Lee

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Variceal bleeding and hepatorenal syndrome (HRS are serious and life-threatening complications of advanced liver disease. Terlipressin is widely used to manage both acute variceal bleeding and HRS due to its potency and long duration of action. The most severe (though rare adverse event is ischemia. The present report describes the case of a patient with gangrene and osteomyelitis secondary to terlipressin therapy. A 71-year-old male with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh B and chronic hepatitis C was admitted due to a drowsy mental status. The patient had several experiences of orthopedic surgery. His creatinine level had gradually elevated to 4.02 mg/dL, and his urine output decreased to 500 mL/24 hr. The patient was diagnosed as having grade III hepatic encephalopathy (HE and type II HRS. Terlipressin and albumin were administered intravenously to treat the HRS over 11 days. Although he recovered from the HE and HRS, the patient developed peripheral gangrene and osteomyelitis in both feet. His right toes were cured with the aid of rescue therapy, but his left three toes had to be amputated. Peripheral gangrene and osteomyelitis secondary to terlipressin therapy occur only rarely, and there is no specific rescue therapy for these conditions. Thus, attention should be paid to the possibility of ischemia of the skin and bone during or after terlipressin therapy.

Cloudification of mmwave-based and packet-based fronthaul for future heterogeneous mobile networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Artuso, Matteo; Marcano, Andrea; Christiansen, Henrik Lehrmann

2015-01-01

is seen as an enabler for next-generation heterogeneous mobile networks. This allows for simpler base stations and savings in deployment costs, but introduces challenges in the fronthaul network connecting the sites to the processing pool. The fronthaul needs to have very low latency and high capacity......, but the traditional architecture of this network uses point-to-point links between each site and the pool, thus making it impossible to share capacity as the demands change. To address these challenges, a flexible network architecture for the fronthaul is presented that is based on Ethernet to carry the baseband......Current deployments of mobile networks are seriously challenged by increasing capacity demands, and traditional solutions are no longer practical. The use of small cells is considered as a viable technique to meet these demands. In this context, the use of centralized signal processing in a pool...

A simple network agreement-based approach for combining evidences in a heterogeneous sensor network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raúl Eusebio-Grande

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this research we investigate how the evidences provided by both static and mobile nodes that are part of a heterogenous sensor network can be combined to have trustworthy results. A solution relying on a network agreement-based approach was implemented and tested.

Evidence-Based Secondary Transition Practices for Enhancing School Completion

Science.gov (United States)

Test, David W.; Fowler, Catherine H.; White, James; Richter, Sharon; Walker, Allison

2009-01-01

Approximately 28% of students with disabilities do not complete high school (National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, 2005). This increases the likelihood that these students will experience low wages, high rates of incarceration, and limited access to postsecondary education. This article reviews evidence-based secondary transition practices…

Gender differences and game-based learning in secondary education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Admiraal, W.; Huizenga, J.; Reitenbach, M.; Rosenthal, S.; Volman, M.; ten Dam, G.; Vanthournout, G.; Coertjens, L.; Donche, V.; Gijbels, D.; Evans, C.; Cools, E.; Pedrosa de Jesus, H.

2011-01-01

In the Netherlands, differences in school motivation and performance between boys and girls are a major issue in political debates. In the first years of secondary education in the Netherlands, boys tend to underachieve and to be disengaged from school. Game-based learning might improve the school

Digital Microdroplet Ejection Technology-Based Heterogeneous Objects Prototyping

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jiquan; Feng, Chunmei; Yang, Jianfei; Zhu, Liya; Guo, Aiqing

2016-01-01

An integrate fabrication framework is presented to build heterogeneous objects (HEO) using digital microdroplets injecting technology and rapid prototyping. The heterogeneous materials part design and manufacturing method in structure and material was used to change the traditional process. The net node method was used for digital modeling that can configure multimaterials in time. The relationship of material, color, and jetting nozzle was built. The main important contributions are to combine the structure, material, and visualization in one process and give the digital model for manufacture. From the given model, it is concluded that the method is effective for HEO. Using microdroplet rapid prototyping and the model given in the paper HEO could be gotten basically. The model could be used in 3D biomanufacturing. PMID:26981110

Heterogeneous Catalysis of Polyoxometalate Based Organic–Inorganic Hybrids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuanhang Ren

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Organic–inorganic hybrid polyoxometalate (POM compounds are a subset of materials with unique structures and physical/chemical properties. The combination of metal-organic coordination complexes with classical POMs not only provides a powerful way to gain multifarious new compounds but also affords a new method to modify and functionalize POMs. In parallel with the many reports on the synthesis and structure of new hybrid POM compounds, the application of these compounds for heterogeneous catalysis has also attracted considerable attention. The hybrid POM compounds show noteworthy catalytic performance in acid, oxidation, and even in asymmetric catalytic reactions. This review summarizes the design and synthesis of organic–inorganic hybrid POM compounds and particularly highlights their recent progress in heterogeneous catalysis.

Digital Microdroplet Ejection Technology-Based Heterogeneous Objects Prototyping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Li

2016-01-01

Full Text Available An integrate fabrication framework is presented to build heterogeneous objects (HEO using digital microdroplets injecting technology and rapid prototyping. The heterogeneous materials part design and manufacturing method in structure and material was used to change the traditional process. The net node method was used for digital modeling that can configure multimaterials in time. The relationship of material, color, and jetting nozzle was built. The main important contributions are to combine the structure, material, and visualization in one process and give the digital model for manufacture. From the given model, it is concluded that the method is effective for HEO. Using microdroplet rapid prototyping and the model given in the paper HEO could be gotten basically. The model could be used in 3D biomanufacturing.

Digital Microdroplet Ejection Technology-Based Heterogeneous Objects Prototyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Na; Yang, Jiquan; Feng, Chunmei; Yang, Jianfei; Zhu, Liya; Guo, Aiqing

2016-01-01

An integrate fabrication framework is presented to build heterogeneous objects (HEO) using digital microdroplets injecting technology and rapid prototyping. The heterogeneous materials part design and manufacturing method in structure and material was used to change the traditional process. The net node method was used for digital modeling that can configure multimaterials in time. The relationship of material, color, and jetting nozzle was built. The main important contributions are to combine the structure, material, and visualization in one process and give the digital model for manufacture. From the given model, it is concluded that the method is effective for HEO. Using microdroplet rapid prototyping and the model given in the paper HEO could be gotten basically. The model could be used in 3D biomanufacturing.

Synthesis, characterizations and catalytic studies of a new two-dimensional metal-organic framework based on Co-carboxylate secondary building units

Science.gov (United States)

Bagherzadeh, Mojtaba; Ashouri, Fatemeh; Đaković, Marijana

2015-03-01

A metal-organic framework [Co3(BDC)3(DMF)2(H2O)2] was synthesized and structurally characterized. X-ray single crystal analysis revealed that the framework contains a 2D polymeric chain through coordination of 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid linker ligand to cobalt centers. The polymer crystallize in monoclinic P21/n space group with a=13.989(3) Å, b=9.6728(17) Å, c=16.707(3) Å, and Z=2. The polymer features a framework based on the perfect octahedral Co-O6 secondary building units. The catalytic activities of [Co3(BDC)3(DMF)2(H2O)2]n for olefins oxidation was conducted. The heterogeneous catalyst could be facilely separated from the reaction mixture, and reused three times without significant degradation in catalytic activity. Furthermore, no contribution from homogeneous catalysis of active species leaching into reaction solution was detected.

Polishing of silicon based advanced ceramics

Science.gov (United States)

Klocke, Fritz; Dambon, Olaf; Zunke, Richard; Waechter, D.

2009-05-01

Silicon based advanced ceramics show advantages in comparison to other materials due to their extreme hardness, wear and creep resistance, low density and low coefficient of thermal expansion. As a matter of course, machining requires high efforts. In order to reach demanded low roughness for optical or tribological applications a defect free surface is indispensable. In this paper, polishing of silicon nitride and silicon carbide is investigated. The objective is to elaborate scientific understanding of the process interactions. Based on this knowledge, the optimization of removal rate, surface quality and form accuracy can be realized. For this purpose, fundamental investigations of polishing silicon based ceramics are undertaken and evaluated. Former scientific publications discuss removal mechanisms and wear behavior, but the scientific insight is mainly based on investigations in grinding and lapping. The removal mechanisms in polishing are not fully understood due to complexity of interactions. The role of, e.g., process parameters, slurry and abrasives, and their influence on the output parameters is still uncertain. Extensive technological investigations demonstrate the influence of the polishing system and the machining parameters on the stability and the reproducibility. It is shown that the interactions between the advanced ceramics and the polishing systems is of great relevance. Depending on the kind of slurry and polishing agent the material removal mechanisms differ. The observed effects can be explained by dominating mechanical or chemo-mechanical removal mechanisms. Therefore, hypotheses to state adequate explanations are presented and validated by advanced metrology devices, such as SEM, AFM and TEM.

Multi-slice MRI reveals heterogeneity in disease distribution along the length of muscle in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chrzanowski, Stephen M; Baligand, Celine; Willcocks, Rebecca J; Deol, Jasjit; Schmalfuss, Ilona; Lott, Donovan J; Daniels, Michael J; Senesac, Claudia; Walter, Glenn A; Vandenborne, Krista

2017-09-01

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) causes progressive pathologic changes to muscle secondary to a cascade of inflammation, lipid deposition, and fibrosis. Clinically, this manifests as progressive weakness, functional loss, and premature mortality. Though insult to whole muscle groups is well established, less is known about the relationship between intramuscular pathology and function. Differences of intramuscular heterogeneity across muscle length were assessed using an ordinal MRI grading scale in lower leg muscles of boys with DMD and correlated to patient's functional status. Cross sectional T 1 weighted MRI images with fat suppression were obtained from ambulatory boys with DMD. Six muscles (tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus, peroneus, soleus, medial and lateral gastrocnemii) were graded using an ordinal grading scale over 5 slice sections along the lower leg length. The scores from each slice were combined and results were compared to global motor function and age. Statistically greater differences of involvement were observed at the proximal ends of muscle compared to the midbellies. Multi-slice assessment correlated significantly to age and the Vignos functional scale, whereas single-slice assessment correlated to the Vignos functional scale only. Lastly, differential disease involvement of whole muscle groups and intramuscular heterogeneity were observed amongst similar age subjects. A multi-slice ordinal MRI grading scale revealed that muscles are not uniformly affected, with more advanced disease visible near the tendons in a primarily ambulatory population with DMD. A geographically comprehensive evaluation of the heterogeneously affected muscle in boys with DMD may more accurately assess disease involvement.

Advanced solid state batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levasseur, A; Delmas, C; Menetrier, M; Hagenmuller, P

1984-01-01

Direct electrochemical storage of electricity is attractive because of its adaptability to vehicle traction as well as to stationary applications. Important advancements are necessary to improve primary or secondary batteries so far used. The aim of this study was to develop and to characterize materials for the next generation of advanced, rechargeable solid state batteries for vehicle transport and stationary storage applications. One of the best electricity storage systems was the lithium/intercalation compound secondary battery, though up to now the behavior of liquid organic electrolytes did not allow for good recycling in such systems. The research program for these batteries is described.

Volatility and lifetime against OH heterogeneous reaction of ambient isoprene-epoxydiols-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hu, Weiwei; Palm, Brett B.; Day, Douglas A.; Campuzano-Jost, Pedro; Krechmer, Jordan E.; Peng, Zhe; de Sá, Suzane S.; Martin, Scot T.; Alexander, M. Lizabeth; Baumann, Karsten; Hacker, Lina; Kiendler-Scharr, Astrid; Koss, Abigail R.; de Gouw, Joost A.; Goldstein, Allen H.; Seco, Roger; Sjostedt, Steven J.; Park, Jeong-Hoo; Guenther, Alex B.; Kim, Saewung; Canonaco, Francesco; Prévôt, André S. H.; Brune, William H.; Jimenez, Jose L.

2016-01-01

Isoprene-epoxydiols-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA) can contribute substantially to organic aerosol (OA) concentrations in forested areas under low NO conditions, hence significantly influencing the regional and global OA budgets, accounting, for example, for 16–36 % of the submicron OA in the southeastern United States (SE US) summer. Particle evaporation measurements from a thermodenuder show that the volatility of ambient IEPOX-SOA is lower than that of bulk OA and also much lower than that of known monomer IEPOX-SOA tracer species, indicating that IEPOX-SOA likely exists mostly as oligomers in the aerosol phase. The OH aging process of ambient IEPOX-SOA was investigated with an oxidation flow reactor (OFR). New IEPOX-SOA formation in the reactor was negligible, as the OFR does not accelerate processes such as aerosol uptake and reactions that do not scale with OH. Simulation results indicate that adding ~100 µg m^-3 of pure H₂SO₄ to the ambient air allows IEPOX-SOA to be efficiently formed in the reactor. The heterogeneous reaction rate coefficient of ambient IEPOX-SOA with OH radical (k_OH) was estimated as 4.0 ± 2.0 ×10^-13 cm³ molec^-1 s^-1, which is equivalent to more than a 2-week lifetime. A similar k_OH was found for measurements of OH oxidation of ambient Amazon forest air in an OFR. At higher OH exposures in the reactor (> 1 × 10¹² molec cm^-3 s), the mass loss of IEPOX-SOA due to heterogeneous reaction was mainly due to revolatilization of fragmented reaction products. We report, for the first time, OH reactive uptake coefficients (γ_OH = 0.59±0.33 in SE US and γ_OH = 0.68±0.38 in Amazon) for SOA under ambient conditions. A relative humidity dependence of k_OH and γ_OH was observed, consistent with surface-area-limited OH uptake

Volatility and lifetime against OH heterogeneous reaction of ambient isoprene-epoxydiols-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Hu

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Isoprene-epoxydiols-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA can contribute substantially to organic aerosol (OA concentrations in forested areas under low NO conditions, hence significantly influencing the regional and global OA budgets, accounting, for example, for 16–36 % of the submicron OA in the southeastern United States (SE US summer. Particle evaporation measurements from a thermodenuder show that the volatility of ambient IEPOX-SOA is lower than that of bulk OA and also much lower than that of known monomer IEPOX-SOA tracer species, indicating that IEPOX-SOA likely exists mostly as oligomers in the aerosol phase. The OH aging process of ambient IEPOX-SOA was investigated with an oxidation flow reactor (OFR. New IEPOX-SOA formation in the reactor was negligible, as the OFR does not accelerate processes such as aerosol uptake and reactions that do not scale with OH. Simulation results indicate that adding  ∼  100 µg m−3 of pure H2SO4 to the ambient air allows IEPOX-SOA to be efficiently formed in the reactor. The heterogeneous reaction rate coefficient of ambient IEPOX-SOA with OH radical (kOH was estimated as 4.0 ± 2.0  ×  10−13 cm3 molec−1 s−1, which is equivalent to more than a 2-week lifetime. A similar kOH was found for measurements of OH oxidation of ambient Amazon forest air in an OFR. At higher OH exposures in the reactor (>  1  ×  1012 molec cm−3 s, the mass loss of IEPOX-SOA due to heterogeneous reaction was mainly due to revolatilization of fragmented reaction products. We report, for the first time, OH reactive uptake coefficients (γOH =  0.59 ± 0.33 in SE US and γOH =  0.68 ± 0.38 in Amazon for SOA under ambient conditions. A relative humidity dependence of kOH and γOH was observed, consistent with surface-area-limited OH uptake. No decrease of kOH was observed as OH concentrations increased. These observations of physicochemical

Measuring pilot workload in a motion base simulator. III - Synchronous secondary task

Science.gov (United States)

Kantowitz, Barry H.; Bortolussi, Michael R.; Hart, Sandra G.

1987-01-01

This experiment continues earlier research of Kantowitz et al. (1983) conducted in a GAT-1 motion-base trainer to evaluate choice-reaction secondary tasks as measures of pilot work load. The earlier work used an asynchronous secondary task presented every 22 sec regardless of flying performance. The present experiment uses a synchronous task presented only when a critical event occurred on the flying task. Both two- and four-choice visual secondary tasks were investigated. Analysis of primary flying-task results showed no decrement in error for altitude, indicating that the key assumption necessary for using a choice secondary task was satisfied. Reaction times showed significant differences between 'easy' and 'hard' flight scenarios as well as the ability to discriminate among flight tasks.

Silica-based PLC with heterogeneously-integrated PDs for one-chip DP-QPSK receiver.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurata, Yu; Nasu, Yusuke; Tamura, Munehisa; Kasahara, Ryoichi; Aozasa, Shinichi; Mizuno, Takayuki; Yokoyama, Haruki; Tsunashima, Satoshi; Muramoto, Yoshifumi

2012-12-10

To realize a DP-QPSK receiver PLC, we heterogeneously integrated eight high-speed PDs on a silica-based PLC platform with a PBS, 90-degree optical hybrids and a VOA. The use of a 2.5%-Δ waveguide reduced the receiver PLC size to 11 mm x 11 mm. We successfully demonstrated 32 Gbaud DP-QPSK signal demodulation with the receiver PLC.

Reprocessed and combined thorium fuel cycles in a PER system with a micro heterogeneous approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteiro, Fabiana B.A.; Castro, Victor F.; Faria, Rochkhudson B. de; Pereira, Claubia; Fortini, Angela

2015-01-01

A micro heterogeneous approaches were used to study the behavior of reprocessed fuel spiked with thorium in a PWR fuel element considering (TRU-Th) cycle. The goal is to achieve a higher burnup using three different configurations to model the fuel element using SCALE 6.0. The reprocessed fuels were obtained using the ORIGEN 2.1 code from a spent PWR standard fuel (33,000 MWd/tHM burned), with 3.1% of initial enrichment. The spent fuel remained in the cooling pool for five years and then reprocessed using the UREX+ technique. Three configurations of micro heterogeneous approaches were analyzed, and the k inf and plutonium evolution during the burnup were evaluated. The preliminary results show that the behavior of advanced fuel based on transuranic elements spiked with thorium, and micro heterogeneous approach are satisfactory in PWRs, and the configuration that use a combination of Th and TRU (configuration 1) seems to be the most promising once has higher values for k inf during the burnup, compared with other configurations. (author)

System-on-Chip Environment: A SpecC-Based Framework for Heterogeneous MPSoC Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel D. Gajski

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The constantly growing complexity of embedded systems is a challenge that drives the development of novel design automation techniques. C-based system-level design addresses the complexity challenge by raising the level of abstraction and integrating the design processes for the heterogeneous system components. In this article, we present a comprehensive design framework, the system-on-chip environment (SCE which is based on the influential SpecC language and methodology. SCE implements a top-down system design flow based on a specify-explore-refine paradigm with support for heterogeneous target platforms consisting of custom hardware components, embedded software processors, dedicated IP blocks, and complex communication bus architectures. Starting from an abstract specification of the desired system, models at various levels of abstraction are automatically generated through successive step-wise refinement, resulting in a pin-and cycle-accurate system implementation. The seamless integration of automatic model generation, estimation, and verification tools enables rapid design space exploration and efficient MPSoC implementation. Using a large set of industrial-strength examples with a wide range of target architectures, our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework and show significant productivity gains in design time.

Usefulness of ultrasonographic evaluation in primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, Tae Joo; Kim, Eun Kyung; Lee, Jong Doo; Park, Jung Soo; Lee, Jong Tae; Yoo, Hyung Sik

1999-01-01

To evaluate the accuracy and ultrasonographic findings of primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) and correlate them with pathologic results. We reviewed 31 cases of surgically confirmed primary (n=22) and secondary (n=9) hyperparathyroidism. We used 10 or 7.5 MHz linear transducer and reviewed the location, contour, size and echogenicity of lesions. Then we evaluated the detection rate of parathyroid lesions based on surgical result and compared the result of 99m Tc-sestamibi scan (15 cases). Location of primary HPT was left lower in 9, left upper in 5, right lower in 4, right upper in 3, left midportion in 1 and superior mediastinum in 1. Lesions showed variable echogenicity-mild low echo (2), moderate low echo (10), severe low echo (2), isoecho (4) and heterogeneous echo pattern (1). All the lesions except 5 were well defined and 3 lesions had echogenic rim. Posterior enhancement and lateral shadowing were noted in 3 and 4 lesions, respectively. Nineteen of 23 primary lesions were detected by ultrasonography (82.6%) and well correlated with sestamibi scan. In case of secondary HPT, most were well defined low echoic nodular lesions, and we could detect 6 of 9 patients (67%) and 15 of 36 lesions (41.7%). Only 6 of 24 secondary lesion were detected by sestamibi scan (25%). The detection rate of ultrasonography in primary HPT was fairly good and well correlated with the result of the 99m Tc-sestamibi scan, but both diagnostic modalities were not promising in secondary HPT.

Joint sparsity based heterogeneous data-level fusion for target detection and estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Ruixin; Zulch, Peter; Distasio, Marcello; Blasch, Erik; Shen, Dan; Chen, Genshe

2017-05-01

Typical surveillance systems employ decision- or feature-level fusion approaches to integrate heterogeneous sensor data, which are sub-optimal and incur information loss. In this paper, we investigate data-level heterogeneous sensor fusion. Since the sensors monitor the common targets of interest, whose states can be determined by only a few parameters, it is reasonable to assume that the measurement domain has a low intrinsic dimensionality. For heterogeneous sensor data, we develop a joint-sparse data-level fusion (JSDLF) approach based on the emerging joint sparse signal recovery techniques by discretizing the target state space. This approach is applied to fuse signals from multiple distributed radio frequency (RF) signal sensors and a video camera for joint target detection and state estimation. The JSDLF approach is data-driven and requires minimum prior information, since there is no need to know the time-varying RF signal amplitudes, or the image intensity of the targets. It can handle non-linearity in the sensor data due to state space discretization and the use of frequency/pixel selection matrices. Furthermore, for a multi-target case with J targets, the JSDLF approach only requires discretization in a single-target state space, instead of discretization in a J-target state space, as in the case of the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) or the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that the proposed JSDLF approach achieves excellent performance with near real-time accurate target position and velocity estimates.

Theoretical and Experimental Study on Secondary Piezoelectric Effect Based on PZT-5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Z H; Sun, B Y; Shi, L P

2006-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to confirm the existence of secondary and multiple piezoelectric effect theoretically and experimentally. Based on Heckmann model showing the relationship among mechanical, electric and heat energy and the physical model on mechanical, electric, heat, and magnetic energy, theoretical analysis of multiple piezoelectric effect is made through four kinds of piezoelectric equations. Experimental research of secondary direct piezoelectric effect is conducted through adopting PZT-5 piles. The result of the experiment indicates that charge generated by secondary direct piezoelectric effect as well as displacement caused by first converse piezoelectric effect keeps fine linearity with the applied voltage

Three-phase flow in heterogeneous wettability porous media; Deplacements triphasiques en milieux poreux de mouillabilite heterogene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jaffrennou-Laroche, C

1998-11-26

Better understanding and modelling of three-phase flow through porous media is of great interest, especially for improved oil recovery methods such as gas injection processes. Early theoretical and experimental studies have already demonstrated that the wettability characteristics of the solid surface and the spreading characteristics of the fluid system hold the key roles. This observation is confirmed by our theoretical results using DLP theory on the stability and the thickness of static oil films. In most of the works related to three-phase flow processes, homogeneous wettability is assumed. There exist only a few studies demonstrating the tremendous impact of the wettability heterogeneities on gas injection. The objective of the present work is twofold: to demonstrate the effect of small scale wettability heterogeneities on gas injection efficiency, and to develop a tool to predict this impact for various patterns and spatial distributions. To this end an experimental investigation in transparent glass micro-models is performed and a theoretical simulator is developed. Secondary and tertiary gas injections are performed for different heterogeneity patterns obtained by selective silane grafting. Displacement sequences are video-recorded and fluid saturations are determined by image analysis. Visualization of the displacement mechanisms provides the network model with the basic rules for water/oil and water/oil/gas motion. In water/oil displacement, drainage and imbibition occur according to the local wettability. Three-phase displacement is dominated by drainage mechanisms. The simulator allows the flow of oil through wetting films in the oil-wet regions and through spreading films on water in the water-wet regions. The effect of the wettability heterogeneities on: displacement mechanisms, sweep efficiency, and fluid distribution in three-phase gas injection is clearly demonstrated and successfully described by the network simulator. (author) 175 refs.

Evidence-Based Advances in Avian Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Summa, Noémie M; Guzman, David Sanchez-Migallon

2017-09-01

This article presents relevant advances in avian medicine and surgery over the past 5 years. New information has been published to improve clinical diagnosis in avian diseases. This article also describes new pharmacokinetic studies. Advances in the understanding and treatment of common avian disorders are presented in this article, as well. Although important progress has been made over the past years, there is still much research that needs to be done regarding the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of avian diseases and evidence-based information is still sparse in the literature. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patient perceptions of helpful communication in the context of advanced cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Stajduhar, Kelli I; Thorne, Sally E; McGuinness, Liza; Kim-Sing, Charmaine

2010-07-01

Based on a secondary analysis of data from a large qualitative study on cancer care communication, we address the question: what do patients with advanced cancer identify as helpful in their communication encounters with health care providers? Communication is of critical importance to the care of patients with advanced cancer. A better understanding of what such patients identify as helpful in their communication encounters with nurses and other health care providers seems critical to creating evidence-informed recommendations for best practices. Secondary analysis of qualitative interview data. Data from 18 participants interviewed individually and 16 focus group participants, with advanced cancer in the palliative phase of care. Interpretive description methodology informed data collection and analysis. Findings suggest four key elements are critically important to consider in communications with patients in an advanced or palliative phase - respecting the importance of time, demonstrating caring, acknowledging fear and balancing hope and honesty in the provision of information. Communication is an important element in the provision of advanced cancer care. Findings emphasise the complex meanings inherent in cancer care communication and identify central themes that are fundamental to effective cancer care communication. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Genre-Based Teaching and Assessment in Secondary English Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Icy

2012-01-01

This study investigates how genre can be used as an organisational principle to interweave teaching and assessment in the L2 school context. Relying on data from interviews and lesson observations gathered from two Secondary 1 (that is, Grade 7) Hong Kong classrooms, the study sought to discover how teachers implemented genre-based teaching and…

Wind resource assessment in heterogeneous terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderwel, C.; Placidi, M.; Ganapathisubramani, B.

2017-03-01

High-resolution particle image velocimetry data obtained in rough-wall boundary layer experiments are re-analysed to examine the influence of surface roughness heterogeneities on wind resource. Two different types of heterogeneities are examined: (i) surfaces with repeating roughness units of the order of the boundary layer thickness (Placidi & Ganapathisubramani. 2015 J. Fluid Mech. 782, 541-566. (doi:10.1017/jfm.2015.552)) and (ii) surfaces with streamwise-aligned elevated strips that mimic adjacent hills and valleys (Vanderwel & Ganapathisubramani. 2015 J. Fluid Mech. 774, 1-12. (doi:10.1017/jfm.2015.228)). For the first case, the data show that the power extraction potential is highly dependent on the surface morphology with a variation of up to 20% in the available wind resource across the different surfaces examined. A strong correlation is shown to exist between the frontal and plan solidities of the rough surfaces and the equivalent wind speed, and hence the wind resource potential. These differences are also found in profiles of graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="RSTA20160109IM1"/> and graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="RSTA20160109IM2"/> (where U is the streamwise velocity), which act as proxies for thrust and power output. For the second case, the secondary flows that cause low- and high-momentum pathways when the spacing between adjacent hills is beyond a critical value result in significant variations in wind resource availability. Contour maps of graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="RSTA20160109IM3"/> and graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="RSTA20160109IM4"/> show a large difference in thrust and power potential (over 50%) between hills and valleys (at a fixed vertical height). These variations do not seem to be present when adjacent hills are close to each other (i.e. when the spacing is much less than the boundary layer thickness). The

Integrating landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks to advance the understanding of ecosystem function in heterogeneous landscapes: An analysis on the carbon fluxes in the Northern Highlands Lake District (NHLD) of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Haile; Chen, Jiakuan

2018-01-01

The successful integration of ecosystem ecology with landscape ecology would be conducive to understanding how landscapes function. There have been several attempts at this, with two main approaches: (1) an ecosystem-based approach, such as the meta-ecosystem framework and (2) a landscape-based approach, such as the landscape system framework. These two frameworks are currently disconnected. To integrate these two frameworks, we introduce a protocol, and then demonstrate application of the protocol using a case study. The protocol includes four steps: 1) delineating landscape systems; 2) classifying landscape systems; 3) adjusting landscape systems to meta-ecosystems and 4) integrating landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks through meta-ecosystems. The case study is the analyzing of the carbon fluxes in the Northern Highlands Lake District (NHLD) of Wisconsin and Michigan using this protocol. The application of this protocol revealed that one could follow this protocol to construct a meta-ecosystem and analyze it using the integrative framework of landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks. That is, one could (1) appropriately describe and analyze the spatial heterogeneity of the meta-ecosystem; (2) understand the emergent properties arising from spatial coupling of local ecosystems in the meta-ecosystem. In conclusion, this protocol is a useful approach for integrating the meta-ecosystem framework and the landscape system framework, which advances the describing and analyzing of the spatial heterogeneity and ecosystem function of interconnected ecosystems.

Connexin-based intercellular communication and astrocyte heterogeneity.

Science.gov (United States)

Theis, Martin; Giaume, Christian

2012-12-03

This review gives an overview of the current knowledge on connexin-mediated communication in astrocytes, covering gap junction and hemichannel functions mediated by connexins. Astroglia is the main brain cell type that expresses the largest amount of connexin and exhibits high level of gap junctional communication compared to neurons and oligodendrocytes. However, in certain developmental and regional situations, astrocytes are also coupled with oligodendrocytes and neurons. This heterotypic coupling is infrequent and minor in terms of extent of the coupling area, which does not mean that it is not important in terms of cell interaction. Here, we present an update on heterogeneity of connexin expression and function at the molecular, subcellular, cellular and networking levels. Interestingly, while astrocytes were initially considered as a homogenous population, there is now increasing evidence for morphological, developmental, molecular and physiological heterogeneity of astrocytes. Consequently, the specificity of gap junction channel- and hemichannel-mediated communication, which tends to synchronize cell populations, is also a parameter to take into account when neuroglial interactions are investigated. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Electrical Synapses. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Secondary cycle design considerations for reduction of reactor transients frequency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bevilacqua, L.; Leal, M.R.L.V.

1980-01-01

The secondary cycle systems should not be considered of secondary importance to the pressurized water reactor safety. The advanced design and analysis techniques used for components related to nuclear safety are suggested. (E.G.) [pt

ADvanced IMage Algebra (ADIMA): a novel method for depicting multiple sclerosis lesion heterogeneity, as demonstrated by quantitative MRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Yiannakas, Marios C; Tozer, Daniel J; Schmierer, Klaus; Chard, Declan T; Anderson, Valerie M; Altmann, Daniel R; Miller, David H; Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A M

2013-05-01

There are modest correlations between multiple sclerosis (MS) disability and white matter lesion (WML) volumes, as measured by T2-weighted (T2w) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans (T2-WML). This may partly reflect pathological heterogeneity in WMLs, which is not apparent on T2w scans. To determine if ADvanced IMage Algebra (ADIMA), a novel MRI post-processing method, can reveal WML heterogeneity from proton-density weighted (PDw) and T2w images. We obtained conventional PDw and T2w images from 10 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and ADIMA images were calculated from these. We classified all WML into bright (ADIMA-b) and dark (ADIMA-d) sub-regions, which were segmented. We obtained conventional T2-WML and T1-WML volumes for comparison, as well as the following quantitative magnetic resonance parameters: magnetisation transfer ratio (MTR), T1 and T2. Also, we assessed the reproducibility of the segmentation for ADIMA-b, ADIMA-d and T2-WML. Our study's ADIMA-derived volumes correlated with conventional lesion volumes (p < 0.05). ADIMA-b exhibited higher T1 and T2, and lower MTR than the T2-WML (p < 0.001). Despite the similarity in T1 values between ADIMA-b and T1-WML, these regions were only partly overlapping with each other. ADIMA-d exhibited quantitative characteristics similar to T2-WML; however, they were only partly overlapping. Mean intra- and inter-observer coefficients of variation for ADIMA-b, ADIMA-d and T2-WML volumes were all < 6 % and < 10 %, respectively. ADIMA enabled the simple classification of WML into two groups having different quantitative magnetic resonance properties, which can be reproducibly distinguished.

Protein secondary structure prediction using modular reciprocal bidirectional recurrent neural networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Babaei, Sepideh; Geranmayeh, Amir; Seyyedsalehi, Seyyed Ali

2010-12-01

The supervised learning of recurrent neural networks well-suited for prediction of protein secondary structures from the underlying amino acids sequence is studied. Modular reciprocal recurrent neural networks (MRR-NN) are proposed to model the strong correlations between adjacent secondary structure elements. Besides, a multilayer bidirectional recurrent neural network (MBR-NN) is introduced to capture the long-range intramolecular interactions between amino acids in formation of the secondary structure. The final modular prediction system is devised based on the interactive integration of the MRR-NN and the MBR-NN structures to arbitrarily engage the neighboring effects of the secondary structure types concurrent with memorizing the sequential dependencies of amino acids along the protein chain. The advanced combined network augments the percentage accuracy (Q₃) to 79.36% and boosts the segment overlap (SOV) up to 70.09% when tested on the PSIPRED dataset in three-fold cross-validation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conceptualizing a tool to optimize therapy based on dynamic heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao, David; Estévez-Salmerón, Luis; Tlsty, Thea D

2012-01-01

Complex biological systems often display a randomness paralleled in processes studied in fundamental physics. This simple stochasticity emerges owing to the complexity of the system and underlies a fundamental aspect of biology called phenotypic stochasticity. Ongoing stochastic fluctuations in phenotype at the single-unit level can contribute to two emergent population phenotypes. Phenotypic stochasticity not only generates heterogeneity within a cell population, but also allows reversible transitions back and forth between multiple states. This phenotypic interconversion tends to restore a population to a previous composition after that population has been depleted of specific members. We call this tendency homeostatic heterogeneity. These concepts of dynamic heterogeneity can be applied to populations composed of molecules, cells, individuals, etc. Here we discuss the concept that phenotypic stochasticity both underlies the generation of heterogeneity within a cell population and can be used to control population composition, contributing, in particular, to both the ongoing emergence of drug resistance and an opportunity for depleting drug-resistant cells. Using notions of both ‘large’ and ‘small’ numbers of biomolecular components, we rationalize our use of Markov processes to model the generation and eradication of drug-resistant cells. Using these insights, we have developed a graphical tool, called a metronomogram, that we propose will allow us to optimize dosing frequencies and total course durations for clinical benefit. (paper)

Tumor Heterogeneity: Mechanisms and Bases for a Reliable Application of Molecular Marker Design

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz-Cano, Salvador J.

2012-01-01

Tumor heterogeneity is a confusing finding in the assessment of neoplasms, potentially resulting in inaccurate diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tests. This tumor heterogeneity is not always a random and unpredictable phenomenon, whose knowledge helps designing better tests. The biologic reasons for this intratumoral heterogeneity would then be important to understand both the natural history of neoplasms and the selection of test samples for reliable analysis. The main factors contributing to intratumoral heterogeneity inducing gene abnormalities or modifying its expression include: the gradient ischemic level within neoplasms, the action of tumor microenvironment (bidirectional interaction between tumor cells and stroma), mechanisms of intercellular transference of genetic information (exosomes), and differential mechanisms of sequence-independent modifications of genetic material and proteins. The intratumoral heterogeneity is at the origin of tumor progression and it is also the byproduct of the selection process during progression. Any analysis of heterogeneity mechanisms must be integrated within the process of segregation of genetic changes in tumor cells during the clonal expansion and progression of neoplasms. The evaluation of these mechanisms must also consider the redundancy and pleiotropism of molecular pathways, for which appropriate surrogate markers would support the presence or not of heterogeneous genetics and the main mechanisms responsible. This knowledge would constitute a solid scientific background for future therapeutic planning. PMID:22408433

A Parallel Strategy for Convolutional Neural Network Based on Heterogeneous Cluster for Mobile Information System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jilin Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the development of the mobile systems, we gain a lot of benefits and convenience by leveraging mobile devices; at the same time, the information gathered by smartphones, such as location and environment, is also valuable for business to provide more intelligent services for customers. More and more machine learning methods have been used in the field of mobile information systems to study user behavior and classify usage patterns, especially convolutional neural network. With the increasing of model training parameters and data scale, the traditional single machine training method cannot meet the requirements of time complexity in practical application scenarios. The current training framework often uses simple data parallel or model parallel method to speed up the training process, which is why heterogeneous computing resources have not been fully utilized. To solve these problems, our paper proposes a delay synchronization convolutional neural network parallel strategy, which leverages the heterogeneous system. The strategy is based on both synchronous parallel and asynchronous parallel approaches; the model training process can reduce the dependence on the heterogeneous architecture in the premise of ensuring the model convergence, so the convolution neural network framework is more adaptive to different heterogeneous system environments. The experimental results show that the proposed delay synchronization strategy can achieve at least three times the speedup compared to the traditional data parallelism.

Evolutionary Game Theory-Based Evaluation of P2P File-Sharing Systems in Heterogeneous Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusuke Matsuda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Peer-to-Peer (P2P file sharing is one of key technologies for achieving attractive P2P multimedia social networking. In P2P file-sharing systems, file availability is improved by cooperative users who cache and share files. Note that file caching carries costs such as storage consumption and processing load. In addition, users have different degrees of cooperativity in file caching and they are in different surrounding environments arising from the topological structure of P2P networks. With evolutionary game theory, this paper evaluates the performance of P2P file sharing systems in such heterogeneous environments. Using micro-macro dynamics, we analyze the impact of the heterogeneity of user selfishness on the file availability and system stability. Further, through simulation experiments with agent-based dynamics, we reveal how other aspects, for example, synchronization among nodes and topological structure, affect the system performance. Both analytical and simulation results show that the environmental heterogeneity contributes to the file availability and system stability.

Modelling heterogeneous ice nucleation on mineral dust and soot with parameterizations based on laboratory experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Hoose, C.; Hande, L. B.; Mohler, O.; Niemand, M.; Paukert, M.; Reichardt, I.; Ullrich, R.

2016-12-01

Between 0 and -37°C, ice formation in clouds is triggered by aerosol particles acting as heterogeneous ice nuclei. At lower temperatures, heterogeneous ice nucleation on aerosols can occur at lower supersaturations than homogeneous freezing of solutes. In laboratory experiments, the ability of different aerosol species (e.g. desert dusts, soot, biological particles) has been studied in detail and quantified via various theoretical or empirical parameterization approaches. For experiments in the AIDA cloud chamber, we have quantified the ice nucleation efficiency via a temperature- and supersaturation dependent ice nucleation active site density. Here we present a new empirical parameterization scheme for immersion and deposition ice nucleation on desert dust and soot based on these experimental data. The application of this parameterization to the simulation of cirrus clouds, deep convective clouds and orographic clouds will be shown, including the extension of the scheme to the treatment of freezing of rain drops. The results are compared to other heterogeneous ice nucleation schemes. Furthermore, an aerosol-dependent parameterization of contact ice nucleation is presented.

Heterogeneous inflation expectations, learning, and market outcomes

OpenAIRE

Madeira, Carlos; Zafar, Basit

2012-01-01

Using the panel component of the Michigan Survey of Consumers, we show that individuals, in particular women and ethnic minorities, are highly heterogeneous in their expectations of inflation. We estimate a model of inflation expectations based on learning from experience that also allows for heterogeneity in both private information and updating. Our model vastly outperforms existing models of inflation expectations in explaining the heterogeneity in the data. We find that women, ethnic mino...

Reward and aversion in a heterogeneous midbrain dopamine system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lammel, Stephan; Lim, Byung Kook; Malenka, Robert C

2014-01-01

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a heterogeneous brain structure that serves a central role in motivation and reward processing. Abnormalities in the function of VTA dopamine (DA) neurons and the targets they influence are implicated in several prominent neuropsychiatric disorders including addiction and depression. Recent studies suggest that the midbrain DA system is composed of anatomically and functionally heterogeneous DA subpopulations with different axonal projections. These findings may explain a number of previously confusing observations that suggested a role for DA in processing both rewarding as well as aversive events. Here we will focus on recent advances in understanding the neural circuits mediating reward and aversion in the VTA and how stress as well as drugs of abuse, in particular cocaine, alter circuit function within a heterogeneous midbrain DA system. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'NIDA 40th Anniversary Issue'. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heterogeneous chromium catalysts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2005-01-01

The present invention relates to a heterogeneous chromium catalyst system for the polymerisation of ethylene and/or alpha olefins prepared by the steps of: (a) providing a silica-containing support, (b) treating the silica-containing support with a chromium compound to form a chromium-based

Advances in Charge-Compensation in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS)

Science.gov (United States)

Hervig, R. L.; Chen, J.; Schauer, S.; Stanley, B. D.; Moore, G. M.; Roggensack, K.

2012-12-01

In secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), a sample is bombarded by a charged particle beam (the primary ion) and sputtered positive or negative secondary ions are analyzed in a mass spectrometer. When the target is not conducting (like many geological materials), sample charging can result in variable deflection of secondary ions away from the mass spectrometer and a low, unstable, or absent signal. Applying a thin conducting coat (e.g., C, Au) to polished samples is required, and if the primary ion beam is negatively-charged, the build-up of negative charge can be alleviated by secondary electrons draining to the conducting coat at the edge of the crater (if a positive potential is applied to the sample for the collection of positive secondary ions) or accelerated away from the crater (if a negative potential is applied for negative ion study). Unless the sputtered crater in the conducting coat becomes too large, sample charging can be kept at a controllable level, and high-quality trace element analyses and isotope ratios have been obtained using this technique over the past 3+ decades. When a positive primary beam is used, the resulting build-up of positive charge in the sample requires an electron gun to deliver sufficient negative charge to the sputtered crater. While there are many examples of successful analyses using this approach, the purpose of this presentation is to describe a very simple technique for aligning the electron gun on Cameca nf and 1270/80 SIMS instruments. This method allows reproducible analyses of insulating phases with a Cs+ primary beam and detection of negative secondary ions. Normally, the filament voltage on the E-gun is the same as the sample voltage; thus electrons do not strike the sample except when a positive charge has built up (e.g., in the analysis crater!). In this method, we decrease the sample voltage by 3 or more kV, so that the impact energy of the electrons is sufficient to induce a cathodoluminescent (CL) image on an

Project Scheduling Heuristics-Based Standard PSO for Task-Resource Assignment in Heterogeneous Grid

OpenAIRE

Chen, Ruey-Maw; Wang, Chuin-Mu

2011-01-01

The task scheduling problem has been widely studied for assigning resources to tasks in heterogeneous grid environment. Effective task scheduling is an important issue for the performance of grid computing. Meanwhile, the task scheduling problem is an NP-complete problem. Hence, this investigation introduces a named “standard“ particle swarm optimization (PSO) metaheuristic approach to efficiently solve the task scheduling problems in grid. Meanwhile, two promising heuristics based on multimo...

Evidence-Based Advances in Rabbit Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Summa, Noémie M; Brandão, João

2017-09-01

Rabbit medicine has been continuously evolving over time with increasing popularity and demand. Tremendous advances have been made in rabbit medicine over the past 5 years, including the use of imaging tools for otitis and dental disease management, the development of laboratory testing for encephalitozoonosis, or determination of prognosis in rabbits. Recent pharmacokinetic studies have been published, providing additional information on commonly used antibiotics and motility-enhancer drugs, as well as benzimidazole toxicosis. This article presents a review of evidence-based advances for liver lobe torsions, thymoma, and dental disease in rabbits and controversial and new future promising areas in rabbit medicine. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Systematic literature review: xerostomia in advanced cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanchanale, Sarika; Adkinson, Lucy; Daniel, Sunitha; Fleming, Michelle; Oxberry, Stephen G

2015-03-01

Dry mouth (xerostomia) is one of the commonest symptoms in cancer patients and can adversely affect quality of life. The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in treating xerostomia in adult advanced cancer patients. The literature search was performed in February 2014 using databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, BNI and Cochrane library. The search was carried out using standard MeSH terms and was limited to adult population and English language. Studies investigating xerostomia secondary to head and neck cancer treatment and autoimmune disease were excluded. Titles and abstracts were screened and reviewed for eligibility. Only studies involving primary research were included in the analysis. Six studies met the eligibility criteria for review: three randomized controlled trials and three prospective studies. The quality assessment and reporting was performed using PRISMA, Jadad and STROBE. These studies compared acupuncture, pilocarpine, Saliva Orthana and chewing gum with each other or with placebo. All interventions were considered effective in treating xerostomia. However, effectiveness versus placebo could not be demonstrated for Saliva Orthana. Meta-analysis could not be performed due to heterogeneity of the study type and intervention. Limited published data exists reporting the effectiveness of measures in the treatment of xerostomia in cancer patients. Based on primary research of low quality, firm conclusions cannot be drawn. However, pilocarpine, artificial saliva, chewing gum and acupuncture can be tried based on the available data. This highlights the explicit need to improve our evidence base. Properly constructed randomized controlled trials demonstrating effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for dry mouth are required.

Heterogeneity Measurement Based on Distance Measure for Polarimetric SAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Xiaoli; Chen, Qihao; Liu, Xiuguo

2018-04-01

To effectively test the scene heterogeneity for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data, in this paper, the distance measure is introduced by utilizing the similarity between the sample and pixels. Moreover, given the influence of the distribution and modeling texture, the K distance measure is deduced according to the Wishart distance measure. Specifically, the average of the pixels in the local window replaces the class center coherency or covariance matrix. The Wishart and K distance measure are calculated between the average matrix and the pixels. Then, the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean is established for the Wishart and K distance measure, and the two features are defined and applied to reflect the complexity of the scene. The proposed heterogeneity measure is proceeded by integrating the two features using the Pauli basis. The experiments conducted on the single-look and multilook PolSAR data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for the detection of the scene heterogeneity.

Diagnosis of secondary hypertension: an age-based approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Viera, Anthony J; Neutze, Dana M

2010-12-15

Secondary hypertension is a type of hypertension with an underlying, potentially correctable cause. A secondary etiology may be suggested by symptoms (e.g., flushing and sweating suggestive of pheochromocytoma), examina- tion findings (e.g., a renal bruit suggestive of renal artery stenosis), or laboratory abnormalities (e.g., hypokalemia suggestive of aldosteronism). Secondary hypertension also should be considered in patients with resistant hyper- tension, and early or late onset of hypertension. The prevalence of secondary hypertension and the most common etiologies vary by age group. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of adults with hypertension have a secondary cause. In young adults, particu- larly women, renal artery stenosis caused by fibromuscular dyspla- sia is one of the most common secondary etiologies. Fibromuscular dysplasia can be detected by abdominal magnetic resonance imag- ing or computed tomography. These same imaging modalities can be used to detect atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis, a major cause of secondary hypertension in older adults. In middle-aged adults, aldosteronism is the most common secondary cause of hyperten- sion, and the recommended initial diagnostic test is an aldosterone/ renin ratio. Up to 85 percent of children with hypertension have an identifiable cause, most often renal parenchymal disease. Therefore, all children with confirmed hypertension should have an evaluation for an underlying etiology that includes renal ultrasonography.

Impacts of heterogeneous reactions to atmospheric peroxides: Observations and budget analysis study

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Mengru; Chen, Zhongming; Shen, Hengqing; Li, Huan; Wu, Huihui; Wang, Yin

2018-06-01

Atmospheric peroxides play important roles in atmospheric chemistry, acting as reactive oxidants and reservoirs of HOX and ROX radicals. Field measurements of atmospheric peroxides were conducted over urban Beijing from 2015 to 2016, including dust storm days, haze days and different seasons. We employed a box model based on RACM2 mechanism to conduct concentration simulation and budget analysis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and peroxyacetic acid (PAA). In this study, heterogeneous reaction is found to be a significant sink for atmospheric H2O2 and PAA in urban Beijing. Here, we recommend a suitable uptake coefficient formula considering the water effect for model research of peroxides. It is found that H2O2 and PAA unexpectedly maintained considerable concentrations on haze days, even higher than that on non-haze days. This phenomenon is mainly ascribed to relatively high levels of volatile organic compounds and ozone on haze days. In addition, high levels of water vapor in pollution episode can promote not only the heterogeneous uptake to aerosol phase but also the production of H2O2. Atmospheric PAA formation is suggested to be sensitive to alkenes and NOX in urban Beijing. In particular, with the help of peroxides, sulfate formation rate from heterogeneous uptake could increase by ∼4 times on haze days, indicating the potential effect of peroxides on enhancement of aerosol oxidative property and secondary sulfate formation.

How to measure genetic heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Ryo

2009-01-01

Genetic information of organisms is coded as a string of four letters, A, T, G and C, a sequence in macromolecules called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA sequence offers blueprint of organisms and its heterogeneity determines identity and variation of species. The quantitation of this genetic heterogeneity is fundamental to understand biology. We compared previously-reported three measures, covariance matrix expression of list of loci (pair-wise r 2 ), the most popular index in genetics, and its multi-dimensional form, Ψ, and entropy-based index, ε. Thereafter we proposed two methods so that we could handle the diplotypic heterogeneity and quantitate the conditions where the number of DNA sequence samples is much smaller than the number of possible variants.

The mechanical heterogeneity of the hard callus influences local tissue strains during bone healing: a finite element study based on sheep experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Vetter, A; Liu, Y; Witt, F; Manjubala, I; Sander, O; Epari, D R; Fratzl, P; Duda, G N; Weinkamer, R

2011-02-03

During secondary fracture healing, various tissue types including new bone are formed. The local mechanical strains play an important role in tissue proliferation and differentiation. To further our mechanobiological understanding of fracture healing, a precise assessment of local strains is mandatory. Until now, static analyses using Finite Elements (FE) have assumed homogenous material properties. With the recent quantification of both the spatial tissue patterns (Vetter et al., 2010) and the development of elastic modulus of newly formed bone during healing (Manjubala et al., 2009), it is now possible to incorporate this heterogeneity. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of this heterogeneity on the strain patterns at six successive healing stages. The input data of the present work stemmed from a comprehensive cross-sectional study of sheep with a tibial osteotomy (Epari et al., 2006). In our FE model, each element containing bone was described by a bulk elastic modulus, which depended on both the local area fraction and the local elastic modulus of the bone material. The obtained strains were compared with the results of hypothetical FE models assuming homogeneous material properties. The differences in the spatial distributions of the strains between the heterogeneous and homogeneous FE models were interpreted using a current mechanobiological theory (Isakson et al., 2006). This interpretation showed that considering the heterogeneity of the hard callus is most important at the intermediate stages of healing, when cartilage transforms to bone via endochondral ossification. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Greenhouse gas emission curves for advanced biofuel supply chains

Science.gov (United States)

Daioglou, Vassilis; Doelman, Jonathan C.; Stehfest, Elke; Müller, Christoph; Wicke, Birka; Faaij, Andre; van Vuuren, Detlef P.

2017-12-01

Most climate change mitigation scenarios that are consistent with the 1.5-2 °C target rely on a large-scale contribution from biomass, including advanced (second-generation) biofuels. However, land-based biofuel production has been associated with substantial land-use change emissions. Previous studies show a wide range of emission factors, often hiding the influence of spatial heterogeneity. Here we introduce a spatially explicit method for assessing the supply of advanced biofuels at different emission factors and present the results as emission curves. Dedicated crops grown on grasslands, savannahs and abandoned agricultural lands could provide 30 EJBiofuel yr-1 with emission factors less than 40 kg of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) emissions per GJBiofuel (for an 85-year time horizon). This increases to 100 EJBiofuel yr-1 for emission factors less than 60 kgCO2e GJBiofuel-1. While these results are uncertain and depend on model assumptions (including time horizon, spatial resolution, technology assumptions and so on), emission curves improve our understanding of the relationship between biofuel supply and its potential contribution to climate change mitigation while accounting for spatial heterogeneity.

The study of the price of gold futures based on heterogeneous investors' overconfidence

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Wei Jiang; Pupu Luan; Chunpeng Yang

2014-01-01

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to research and analyze the price of gold futures based on heterogeneous investors' overconfidence.Design/methodology/approach-This paper divides the traders of gold futures market into two kinds:the speculators and arbitrageurs,and then constructs a market equilibrium model of futures pricing to analyze the behaviors of the two kinds of traders with overconfidence.After getting the decision-making function,the market equilibrium futures price is attained on the condition of market clearing.Then,this paper analyzes how the overconfidence impacts on futures price,volatility of the price of gold futures and the effects on individual utility.Findings-Under different market conditions,the overconfidence psychological impacts of heterogeneous investor on the price and volatility of futures are different,sometimes completely opposite.Originality/value-In the past literature,the relationships between overconfidence and the price or volatility are positive;however,the study shows that sometimes it is positive,and sometimes it is negative

Characteristics and generation of secondary jets and secondary gigantic jets

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Li-Jou; Huang, Sung-Ming; Chou, Jung-Kung; Kuo, Cheng-Ling; Chen, Alfred B.; Su, Han-Tzong; Hsu, Rue-Rou; Frey, Harald U.; Takahashi, Yukihiro; Lee, Lou-Chuang

2012-06-01

Secondary transient luminous events (TLEs) recorded by the ISUAL-FORMOSAT2 mission can either be secondary jets or secondary gigantic jets (GJs), depending on their terminal altitudes. The secondary jets emerge from the cloud top beneath the preceding sprites and extend upward to the base of the sprites at ˜50 km. The secondary jets likely are negative electric discharges with vertically straight luminous columns, morphologically resembling the trailing jet of the type-I GJs. The number of luminous columns in a secondary jet seems to be affected by the size of the effective capacitor plate formed near the base of the preceding sprites and the charge distribution left behind by the sprite-inducing positive cloud-to-ground discharges. The secondary GJs originate from the cloud top under the shielding area of the preceding sprites, and develop upward to reach the lower ionosphere at ˜90 km. The observed morphology of the secondary GJs can either be the curvy shifted secondary GJs extending outside the region occupied by the preceding sprites or the straight pop-through secondary GJs developing through the center of the preceding circular sprites. A key factor in determining the terminal height of the secondary TLEs appears to be the local ionosphere boundary height that established by the preceding sprites. The abundance and the distribution of the negative charge in the thundercloud following the sprite-inducing positive cloud-to-ground discharges may play important role in the generation of the secondary TLEs.

Advancement of G T-SCALE and the construction of a graphical user interface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Postma, Todd A.; Vujic, Jasmina

1997-01-01

The issue of advanced reactor concepts with complex core geometries and advanced fuel compositions is being addressed through the development of a new computational methodology based on the coupling of two existing state-of-the-art methodologies - GTRAN2 and SCALE 4.3. The resulting methodology encompasses advanced features in analyzing new designs and in simplifying user-code interactions. The advanced nuclear features include an exact 2 D representation of a complete fuel assembly (or several assemblies), while preserving the heterogeneity of each of its pin cells, flexibility in the energy group structure, a comprehensive cross-section library and material data base, and accurate burnup calculations. A complex graphical user interface along with a graphical presentation of output data make up the user-interaction features of G T-SCALE. Extensive benchmarking of the G T-SCALE is under way, and some results and comparison with other code systems are presented in this paper. (author). 5 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs

Visualizing RNA Secondary Structure Base Pair Binding Probabilities using Nested Concave Hulls

OpenAIRE

Sansen , Joris; Bourqui , Romain; Thebault , Patricia; Allali , Julien; Auber , David

2015-01-01

International audience; The challenge 1 of the BIOVIS 2015 design contest consists in designing an intuitive visual depiction of base pairs binding probabilities for secondary structure of ncRNA. Our representation depicts the potential nucleotide pairs binding using nested concave hulls over the computed MFE ncRNA secondary structure. Thus, it allows to identify regions with a high level of uncertainty in the MFE computation and the structures which seem to match to reality.

Tumor Heterogeneity: Mechanisms and Bases for a Reliable Application of Molecular Marker Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salvador J. Diaz-Cano

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Tumor heterogeneity is a confusing finding in the assessment of neoplasms, potentially resulting in inaccurate diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tests. This tumor heterogeneity is not always a random and unpredictable phenomenon, whose knowledge helps designing better tests. The biologic reasons for this intratumoral heterogeneity would then be important to understand both the natural history of neoplasms and the selection of test samples for reliable analysis. The main factors contributing to intratumoral heterogeneity inducing gene abnormalities or modifying its expression include: the gradient ischemic level within neoplasms, the action of tumor microenvironment (bidirectional interaction between tumor cells and stroma, mechanisms of intercellular transference of genetic information (exosomes, and differential mechanisms of sequence-independent modifications of genetic material and proteins. The intratumoral heterogeneity is at the origin of tumor progression and it is also the byproduct of the selection process during progression. Any analysis of heterogeneity mechanisms must be integrated within the process of segregation of genetic changes in tumor cells during the clonal expansion and progression of neoplasms. The evaluation of these mechanisms must also consider the redundancy and pleiotropism of molecular pathways, for which appropriate surrogate markers would support the presence or not of heterogeneous genetics and the main mechanisms responsible. This knowledge would constitute a solid scientific background for future therapeutic planning.

A Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living Training in a Heterogeneous Sample of Psychiatric Outpatients : a Feasibility Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels-Velthuis, Agna A.; Schroevers, Maya J.; van der Ploeg, Karen; Koster, Frits; Fleer, Joke; van den Brink, Erik

We developed a novel compassion-focused training (mindfulness-based compassionate living; MBCL) and examined its effects in a heterogeneous psychiatric outpatient population with regard to feasibility and changes in levels of depression, anxiety, mindfulness and compassion. The training consisted of

Microenvironmental Heterogeneity Parallels Breast Cancer Progression: A Histology-Genomic Integration Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachael Natrajan

2016-02-01

study to couple unbiased measures of microenvironmental heterogeneity with genomic alterations to predict breast cancer clinical outcome. We propose a clinically relevant role of microenvironmental heterogeneity for advanced breast tumors, and highlight that ecological statistics can be translated into medical advances for identifying a new type of biomarker and, furthermore, for understanding the synergistic interplay of microenvironmental heterogeneity with genomic alterations in cancer cells.

Nonlinear lattice waves in heterogeneous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laptyeva, T V; Ivanchenko, M V; Flach, S

2014-01-01

We discuss recent advances in the understanding of the dynamics of nonlinear lattice waves in heterogeneous media, which enforce complete wave localization in the linear wave equation limit, especially Anderson localization for random potentials, and Aubry–André localization for quasiperiodic potentials. Additional nonlinear terms in the wave equations can either preserve the phase-coherent localization of waves, or destroy it through nonintegrability and deterministic chaos. Spreading wave packets are observed to show universal features in their dynamics which are related to properties of nonlinear diffusion equations. (topical review)

Large epidemic thresholds emerge in heterogeneous networks of heterogeneous nodes

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Tang, Ming; Gross, Thilo

2015-08-01

One of the famous results of network science states that networks with heterogeneous connectivity are more susceptible to epidemic spreading than their more homogeneous counterparts. In particular, in networks of identical nodes it has been shown that network heterogeneity, i.e. a broad degree distribution, can lower the epidemic threshold at which epidemics can invade the system. Network heterogeneity can thus allow diseases with lower transmission probabilities to persist and spread. However, it has been pointed out that networks in which the properties of nodes are intrinsically heterogeneous can be very resilient to disease spreading. Heterogeneity in structure can enhance or diminish the resilience of networks with heterogeneous nodes, depending on the correlations between the topological and intrinsic properties. Here, we consider a plausible scenario where people have intrinsic differences in susceptibility and adapt their social network structure to the presence of the disease. We show that the resilience of networks with heterogeneous connectivity can surpass those of networks with homogeneous connectivity. For epidemiology, this implies that network heterogeneity should not be studied in isolation, it is instead the heterogeneity of infection risk that determines the likelihood of outbreaks.

Large epidemic thresholds emerge in heterogeneous networks of heterogeneous nodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Tang, Ming; Gross, Thilo

2015-08-21

One of the famous results of network science states that networks with heterogeneous connectivity are more susceptible to epidemic spreading than their more homogeneous counterparts. In particular, in networks of identical nodes it has been shown that network heterogeneity, i.e. a broad degree distribution, can lower the epidemic threshold at which epidemics can invade the system. Network heterogeneity can thus allow diseases with lower transmission probabilities to persist and spread. However, it has been pointed out that networks in which the properties of nodes are intrinsically heterogeneous can be very resilient to disease spreading. Heterogeneity in structure can enhance or diminish the resilience of networks with heterogeneous nodes, depending on the correlations between the topological and intrinsic properties. Here, we consider a plausible scenario where people have intrinsic differences in susceptibility and adapt their social network structure to the presence of the disease. We show that the resilience of networks with heterogeneous connectivity can surpass those of networks with homogeneous connectivity. For epidemiology, this implies that network heterogeneity should not be studied in isolation, it is instead the heterogeneity of infection risk that determines the likelihood of outbreaks.

Research on Evaluation Model for Secondary Task Driving Safety Based on Driver Eye Movements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisheng Jin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study was designed to gain insight into the influence of performing different types of secondary task while driving on driver eye movements and to build a safety evaluation model for secondary task driving. Eighteen young drivers were selected and completed the driving experiment on a driving simulator. Measures of fixations, saccades, and blinks were analyzed. Based on measures which had significant difference between the baseline and secondary tasks driving conditions, the evaluation index system was built. Method of principal component analysis (PCA was applied to analyze evaluation indexes data in order to obtain the coefficient weights of indexes and build the safety evaluation model. Based on evaluation scores, the driving safety was grouped into five levels (very high, high, average, low, and very low using K-means clustering algorithm. Results showed that secondary task driving severely distracts the driver and the evaluation model built in this study could estimate driving safety effectively under different driving conditions.

A Novel Secondary Control for Microgrid Based on Synergetic Control of Multi-Agent System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiwen Yu

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In power systems, the secondary control is a very useful way to restore the system frequency and voltage to the rated value. This paper tries to propose a secondary frequency and voltage control of islanded microgrids based on the distributed synergetic control of multi-agent systems. In the proposed control, since each distributed generation only requires its own information and that of the neighbors, the secondary control is fully distributed. The system is more reliable because the central controller and complex communication network are reduced in the distributed structure. Based on multi-agent systems, the dynamic model is established, and distributed synergetic control algorithms are given to design the secondary control of the islanded microgrid. Meanwhile, the system has globally asymptotic stability under the proposed control, which is proved by the direct Lyapunov method. Simulation results about a test microgrid are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control.

RNACompress: Grammar-based compression and informational complexity measurement of RNA secondary structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Chun

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background With the rapid emergence of RNA databases and newly identified non-coding RNAs, an efficient compression algorithm for RNA sequence and structural information is needed for the storage and analysis of such data. Although several algorithms for compressing DNA sequences have been proposed, none of them are suitable for the compression of RNA sequences with their secondary structures simultaneously. This kind of compression not only facilitates the maintenance of RNA data, but also supplies a novel way to measure the informational complexity of RNA structural data, raising the possibility of studying the relationship between the functional activities of RNA structures and their complexities, as well as various structural properties of RNA based on compression. Results RNACompress employs an efficient grammar-based model to compress RNA sequences and their secondary structures. The main goals of this algorithm are two fold: (1 present a robust and effective way for RNA structural data compression; (2 design a suitable model to represent RNA secondary structure as well as derive the informational complexity of the structural data based on compression. Our extensive tests have shown that RNACompress achieves a universally better compression ratio compared with other sequence-specific or common text-specific compression algorithms, such as Gencompress, winrar and gzip. Moreover, a test of the activities of distinct GTP-binding RNAs (aptamers compared with their structural complexity shows that our defined informational complexity can be used to describe how complexity varies with activity. These results lead to an objective means of comparing the functional properties of heteropolymers from the information perspective. Conclusion A universal algorithm for the compression of RNA secondary structure as well as the evaluation of its informational complexity is discussed in this paper. We have developed RNACompress, as a useful tool

Ceria-Based Mixed Oxide Supported Nano-Gold as an Efficient and Durable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Amines to Imines Using Molecular Oxygen

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bashir Ahmad Dar

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The present work is intended to determine the catalytic activity of Mixed Oxide supported gold for aerobic oxidative dehydrogenation of amines to imines using Ceria as a main constituent of the each support. The model catalysts Au/CeO2:TiO2 Au/CeO2:SiO2, Au/CeO2:ZrO2 and Au/CeO2:Al2Os were prepared by deposition co-precipitation method and deposition of gold was determined by EDEX analysis. The supported nano-gold catalyzes the dehydrogenation of secondary amines to imines without loss of activity. On recycling good amount of product yield is obtained. Oxidation of secondary amines to imines is carried at 100˚C and almost 90 % conversion was obtained with >99% selectivity. © 2012 BCREC UNDIP. All rights reservedReceived: 26th December 2011; Revised: 7th June 2012; Accepted: 13rd June 2012[How to Cite: B.A. Dar, M. Sharma, B. Singh. (2012. Ceria-Based Mixed Oxide Supported Nano-Gold as an Efficient and Durable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Amines to Imines Using Molecular Oxygen. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 7(1: 79-84.  doi:10.9767/bcrec.7.1.1257.79-84][How to Link / DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.7.1.1257.79-84 ] | View in 

Heterogeneous Gossip

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, Davide; Guerraoui, Rachid; Kermarrec, Anne-Marie; Koldehofe, Boris; Mogensen, Martin; Monod, Maxime; Quéma, Vivien

Gossip-based information dissemination protocols are considered easy to deploy, scalable and resilient to network dynamics. Load-balancing is inherent in these protocols as the dissemination work is evenly spread among all nodes. Yet, large-scale distributed systems are usually heterogeneous with respect to network capabilities such as bandwidth. In practice, a blind load-balancing strategy might significantly hamper the performance of the gossip dissemination.

Incremental natural gas resources through infield reserve growth/secondary natural gas recovery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finley, R.J.; Levey, R.A.; Hardage, B.A.

1993-12-31

The primary objective of the Infield Reserve Growth/Secondary Natural Gas Recovery (SGR) project is to develop, test, and verify technologies and methodologies with near- to midterm potential for maximizing the recovery of natural gasfrom conventional reservoirs in known fields. Additional technical and technology transfer objectives of the SGR project include: To establish how depositional and diagenetic heterogeneities in reservoirs of conventional permeability cause reservoir compartmentalization and, hence, incomplete recovery of natural gas. To document examples of reserve growth occurrence and potential from fluvial and deltaic sandstones of the Texas gulf coast basin as a natural laboratory for developing concepts and testing applications to find secondary gas. To demonstrate how the integration of geology, reservoir engineering, geophysics, and well log analysis/petrophysics leads to strategic recompletion and well placement opportunities for reserve growth in mature fields. To transfer project results to a wide array of natural gas producers, not just as field case studies, but as conceptual models of how heterogeneities determine natural gas flow units and how to recognize the geologic and engineering clues that operators can use in a cost-effective manner to identify incremental, or secondary, gas.

Long-term Differences in Tillage and Land Use Affect Intra-aggregate Pore Heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kravchenko, A.N.; Wang, A.N.W.; Smucker, A.J.M.; Rivers, M.L.

2011-01-01

Recent advances in computed tomography provide measurement tools to study internal structures of soil aggregates at micrometer resolutions and to improve our understanding of specific mechanisms of various soil processes. Fractal analysis is one of the data analysis tools that can be helpful in evaluating heterogeneity of the intra-aggregate internal structures. The goal of this study was to examine how long-term tillage and land use differences affect intra-aggregate pore heterogeneity. The specific objectives were: (i) to develop an approach to enhance utility of box-counting fractal dimension in characterizing intra-aggregate pore heterogeneity; (ii) to examine intra-aggregate pores in macro-aggregates (4-6 mm in size) using the computed tomography scanning and fractal analysis, and (iii) to compare heterogeneity of intra-aggregate pore space in aggregates from loamy Alfisol soil subjected to 20 yr of contrasting management practices, namely, conventional tillage (chisel plow) (CT), no-till (NT), and native succession vegetation (NS). Three-dimensional images of the intact aggregates were obtained with a resolution of 14.6 (micro)m at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL. Proposed box-counting fractal dimension normalization was successfully implemented to estimate heterogeneity of pore voxel distributions without bias associated with different porosities in soil aggregates. The aggregates from all three studied treatments had higher porosity associated with large (>100 (micro)m) pores present in their centers than in their exteriors. Pores 15 to 60 (micro)m were equally abundant throughout entire aggregates but their distributions were more heterogeneous in aggregate interiors. The CT aggregates had greater numbers of pores 15 to 60 (micro)m than NT and NS. Distribution of pore voxels belonging to large pores was most heterogeneous in the aggregates from NS, followed by NT and by CT. This result was consistent with presence of

Cognitive resource management for heterogeneous cellular networks

CERN Document Server

Liu, Yongkang

2014-01-01

This Springer Brief focuses on cognitive resource management in heterogeneous cellular networks (Het Net) with small cell deployment for the LTE-Advanced system. It introduces the Het Net features, presents practical approaches using cognitive radio technology in accommodating small cell data relay and optimizing resource allocation and examines the effectiveness of resource management among small cells given limited coordination bandwidth and wireless channel uncertainty. The authors introduce different network characteristics of small cell, investigate the mesh of small cell access points in

Intra-tumor heterogeneity in breast cancer has limited impact on transcriptomic-based molecular profiling.

Science.gov (United States)

Karthik, Govindasamy-Muralidharan; Rantalainen, Mattias; Stålhammar, Gustav; Lövrot, John; Ullah, Ikram; Alkodsi, Amjad; Ma, Ran; Wedlund, Lena; Lindberg, Johan; Frisell, Jan; Bergh, Jonas; Hartman, Johan

2017-11-29

Transcriptomic profiling of breast tumors provides opportunity for subtyping and molecular-based patient stratification. In diagnostic applications the specimen profiled should be representative of the expression profile of the whole tumor and ideally capture properties of the most aggressive part of the tumor. However, breast cancers commonly exhibit intra-tumor heterogeneity at molecular, genomic and in phenotypic level, which can arise during tumor evolution. Currently it is not established to what extent a random sampling approach may influence molecular breast cancer diagnostics. In this study we applied RNA-sequencing to quantify gene expression in 43 pieces (2-5 pieces per tumor) from 12 breast tumors (Cohort 1). We determined molecular subtype and transcriptomic grade for all tumor pieces and analysed to what extent pieces originating from the same tumors are concordant or discordant with each other. Additionally, we validated our finding in an independent cohort consisting of 19 pieces (2-6 pieces per tumor) from 6 breast tumors (Cohort 2) profiled using microarray technique. Exome sequencing was also performed on this cohort, to investigate the extent of intra-tumor genomic heterogeneity versus the intra-tumor molecular subtype classifications. Molecular subtyping was consistent in 11 out of 12 tumors and transcriptomic grade assignments were consistent in 11 out of 12 tumors as well. Molecular subtype predictions revealed consistent subtypes in four out of six patients in this cohort 2. Interestingly, we observed extensive intra-tumor genomic heterogeneity in these tumor pieces but not in their molecular subtype classifications. Our results suggest that macroscopic intra-tumoral transcriptomic heterogeneity is limited and unlikely to have an impact on molecular diagnostics for most patients.

Advanced Parkinson's or "complex phase" Parkinson's disease? Re-evaluation is needed.

Science.gov (United States)

Titova, Nataliya; Martinez-Martin, Pablo; Katunina, Elena; Chaudhuri, K Ray

2017-12-01

Holistic management of Parkinson's disease, now recognised as a combined motor and nonmotor disorder, remains a key unmet need. Such management needs relatively accurate definition of the various stages of Parkinson's from early untreated to late palliative as each stage calls for personalised therapies. Management also needs to have a robust knowledge of the progression pattern and clinical heterogeneity of the presentation of Parkinson's which may manifest in a motor dominant or nonmotor dominant manner. The "advanced" stages of Parkinson's disease qualify for advanced treatments such as with continuous infusion or stereotactic surgery yet the concept of "advanced Parkinson's disease" (APD) remains controversial in spite of growing knowledge of the natural history of the motor syndrome of PD. Advanced PD is currently largely defined on the basis of consensus opinion and thus with several caveats. Nonmotor aspects of PD may also reflect advancing course of the disorder, so far not reflected in usual scale based assessments which are largely focussed on motor symptoms. In this paper, we discuss the problems with current definitions of "advanced" PD and also propose the term "complex phase" Parkinson's disease as an alternative which takes into account a multimodal symptoms and biomarker based approach in addition to patient preference.

AUDIOME: a tiered exome sequencing-based comprehensive gene panel for the diagnosis of heterogeneous nonsyndromic sensorineural hearing loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Qiaoning; Balciuniene, Jorune; Cao, Kajia; Fan, Zhiqian; Biswas, Sawona; Wilkens, Alisha; Gallo, Daniel J; Bedoukian, Emma; Tarpinian, Jennifer; Jayaraman, Pushkala; Sarmady, Mahdi; Dulik, Matthew; Santani, Avni; Spinner, Nancy; Abou Tayoun, Ahmad N; Krantz, Ian D; Conlin, Laura K; Luo, Minjie

2018-03-29

PurposeHereditary hearing loss is highly heterogeneous. To keep up with rapidly emerging disease-causing genes, we developed the AUDIOME test for nonsyndromic hearing loss (NSHL) using an exome sequencing (ES) platform and targeted analysis for the curated genes.MethodsA tiered strategy was implemented for this test. Tier 1 includes combined Sanger and targeted deletion analyses of the two most common NSHL genes and two mitochondrial genes. Nondiagnostic tier 1 cases are subjected to ES and array followed by targeted analysis of the remaining AUDIOME genes.ResultsES resulted in good coverage of the selected genes with 98.24% of targeted bases at >15 ×. A fill-in strategy was developed for the poorly covered regions, which generally fell within GC-rich or highly homologous regions. Prospective testing of 33 patients with NSHL revealed a diagnosis in 11 (33%) and a possible diagnosis in 8 cases (24.2%). Among those, 10 individuals had variants in tier 1 genes. The ES data in the remaining nondiagnostic cases are readily available for further analysis.ConclusionThe tiered and ES-based test provides an efficient and cost-effective diagnostic strategy for NSHL, with the potential to reflex to full exome to identify causal changes outside of the AUDIOME test.Genetics in Medicine advance online publication, 29 March 2018; doi:10.1038/gim.2018.48.

BioCarian: search engine for exploratory searches in heterogeneous biological databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaki, Nazar; Tennakoon, Chandana

2017-10-02

There are a large number of biological databases publicly available for scientists in the web. Also, there are many private databases generated in the course of research projects. These databases are in a wide variety of formats. Web standards have evolved in the recent times and semantic web technologies are now available to interconnect diverse and heterogeneous sources of data. Therefore, integration and querying of biological databases can be facilitated by techniques used in semantic web. Heterogeneous databases can be converted into Resource Description Format (RDF) and queried using SPARQL language. Searching for exact queries in these databases is trivial. However, exploratory searches need customized solutions, especially when multiple databases are involved. This process is cumbersome and time consuming for those without a sufficient background in computer science. In this context, a search engine facilitating exploratory searches of databases would be of great help to the scientific community. We present BioCarian, an efficient and user-friendly search engine for performing exploratory searches on biological databases. The search engine is an interface for SPARQL queries over RDF databases. We note that many of the databases can be converted to tabular form. We first convert the tabular databases to RDF. The search engine provides a graphical interface based on facets to explore the converted databases. The facet interface is more advanced than conventional facets. It allows complex queries to be constructed, and have additional features like ranking of facet values based on several criteria, visually indicating the relevance of a facet value and presenting the most important facet values when a large number of choices are available. For the advanced users, SPARQL queries can be run directly on the databases. Using this feature, users will be able to incorporate federated searches of SPARQL endpoints. We used the search engine to do an exploratory search

Advanced Microscopy of Microbial Cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haagensen, Janus Anders Juul; Regenberg, Birgitte; Sternberg, Claus

2011-01-01

Growing awareness of heterogeneity in cells of microbial populations has emphasized the importance of advanced microscopy for visualization and understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cell-to-cell variation. In this review, we highlight some of the recent advances in confocal...... microscopy, super-resolution optical microscopy (STED, SIM, PALM) as well as atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Using examples of bistability in microbial populations as well as biofilm development and differentiation in bacterial and yeast consortia, we demonstrate the importance of microscopy...

Replikasi Unidirectional pada Heterogen Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendro Nindito

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The use of diverse database technology in enterprise today can not be avoided. Thus, technology is needed to generate information in real time. The purpose of this research is to discuss a database replication technology that can be applied in heterogeneous database environments. In this study we use Windows-based MS SQL Server database to Linux-based Oracle database as the goal. The research method used is prototyping where development can be done quickly and testing of working models of the interaction process is done through repeated. From this research it is obtained that the database replication technolgy using Oracle Golden Gate can be applied in heterogeneous environments in real time as well.

Advancing current approaches to disease management evaluation: capitalizing on heterogeneity to understand what works and for whom.

Science.gov (United States)

Elissen, Arianne M J; Adams, John L; Spreeuwenberg, Marieke; Duimel-Peeters, Inge G P; Spreeuwenberg, Cor; Linden, Ariel; Vrijhoef, Hubertus J M

2013-03-14

Evaluating large-scale disease management interventions implemented in actual health care settings is a complex undertaking for which universally accepted methods do not exist. Fundamental issues, such as a lack of control patients and limited generalizability, hamper the use of the 'gold-standard' randomized controlled trial, while methodological shortcomings restrict the value of observational designs. Advancing methods for disease management evaluation in practice is pivotal to learn more about the impact of population-wide approaches. Methods must account for the presence of heterogeneity in effects, which necessitates a more granular assessment of outcomes. This paper introduces multilevel regression methods as valuable techniques to evaluate 'real-world' disease management approaches in a manner that produces meaningful findings for everyday practice. In a worked example, these methods are applied to retrospectively gathered routine health care data covering a cohort of 105,056 diabetes patients who receive disease management for type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Netherlands. Multivariable, multilevel regression models are fitted to identify trends in clinical outcomes and correct for differences in characteristics of patients (age, disease duration, health status, diabetes complications, smoking status) and the intervention (measurement frequency and range, length of follow-up). After a median one year follow-up, the Dutch disease management approach was associated with small average improvements in systolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein, while a slight deterioration occurred in glycated hemoglobin. Differential findings suggest that patients with poorly controlled diabetes tend to benefit most from disease management in terms of improved clinical measures. Additionally, a greater measurement frequency was associated with better outcomes, while longer length of follow-up was accompanied by less positive results. Despite concerted efforts to adjust

Pedagogical Applications from Real Analysis for Secondary Mathematics Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Nicholas; Weber, Keith

2017-01-01

In this article, we consider the potential influences of the study of proofs in advanced mathematics on secondary mathematics teaching. Thus far, the literature has highlighted the benefits of applying the conclusions of particular proofs to secondary content and of developing a more general sense of disciplinary practices in mathematics in…

Home-based specialized palliative care in patients with advanced cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordly, Mie; Vadstrup, Eva Soelberg; Sjøgren, Per

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Due to an urgent need for specialized palliative care (SPC) for patients with advanced cancer, an overview of available information on organization and outcomes of home-based SPC would be valuable. Our systematic review aims to give an overview of available information...... on the organization and outcomes of home-based SPC for patients with advanced cancer. Outcomes related to place of death, survival time, quality of life, performance status, and symptom management are included. METHOD: A PICO process search strategy consisting of terms related to cancer, palliation, and home care...... for patients with advanced cancer, resulting in poor information and a lack of evidence. Generally, home-based SPC seems to have some positive effect on pain and dyspnea, but more high-quality studies are required....

Heterogeneous structure and its effect on properties and electrochemical behavior of ion-exchange membrane

Science.gov (United States)

Ariono, D.; Khoiruddin; Subagjo; Wenten, I. G.

2017-02-01

Generally, commercially available ion-exchange membrane (IEM) can be classified into homogeneous and heterogeneous membranes. The classification is based on degree of heterogeneity in membrane structure. It is well known that the heterogeneity greatly affects the properties of IEM, such as conductivity, permselectivity, chemical and mechanical stability. The heterogeneity also influences ionic and electrical current transfer behavior of IEM-based processes during their operation. Therefore, understanding the role of heterogeneity in IEM properties is important to provide preliminary information on their operability and applicability. In this paper, the heterogeneity and its effect on IEM properties are reviewed. Some models for describing the heterogeneity of IEM and methods for characterizing the degree of heterogeneity are discussed. In addition, the influence of heterogeneity on the performance of IEM-based processes and their electrochemical behavior are described.

Heterogeneities in illite/smectite mixed/layers clays: some comments and recollections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johns, W.D.

1995-01-01

A review of some studies of heterogeneities, structure and surface in illite/smectite mixed-layer clays of Vienna Basin using X-ray diffraction, high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, infra-red spectroscopy, laser microprobe mass analysis, Auger electron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy is given. The models of hexyl ammonium ion configuration complexed between silica sheets is discussed. 1 tab., 10 figs., 6 refs

A system for tumor heterogeneity evaluation and diagnosis based on tumor markers measured routinely in the laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Liu; Rixv, Liu; Xiuying, Zhou

2015-12-01

To develop an efficient and reliable approach to estimate tumor heterogeneity and improve tumor diagnosis using multiple tumor markers measured routinely in the clinical laboratory. A total of 161 patients with different cancers were recruited as the cancer group, and 91 patients with non-oncological conditions were required as the non-oncological disease group. The control group comprised 90 randomly selected healthy subjects. AFP, CEA, CYFRA, CA125, CA153, CA199, CA724, and NSE levels were measured in all these subjects with a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. The tumor marker with the maximum S/CO value (sample test value:cutoff value for discriminating individuals with and without tumors) was considered as a specific tumor marker (STM) for an individual. Tumor heterogeneity index (THI)=N/P (N: number of STMs; P: percentage of individuals with STMs in a certain tumor population) was used to quantify tumor heterogeneity: high THI indicated high tumor heterogeneity. The tumor marker index (TMI), TMI = STM×(number of positive tumor markers+1), was used for diagnosis. The THIs of lung, gastric, and liver cancers were 8.33, 9.63, and 5.2, respectively, while the ROC-areas under the curve for TMI were 0.862, 0.809, and 0.966. In this study, we developed a novel index for tumor heterogeneity based on the expression of various routinely evaluated serum tumor markers. Development of an evaluation system for tumor heterogeneity on the basis of this index could provide an effective diagnostic tool for some cancers. Copyright © 2015 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual heterogeneity generating explosive system network dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Manrique, Pedro D; Johnson, Neil F

2018-03-01

Individual heterogeneity is a key characteristic of many real-world systems, from organisms to humans. However, its role in determining the system's collective dynamics is not well understood. Here we study how individual heterogeneity impacts the system network dynamics by comparing linking mechanisms that favor similar or dissimilar individuals. We find that this heterogeneity-based evolution drives an unconventional form of explosive network behavior, and it dictates how a polarized population moves toward consensus. Our model shows good agreement with data from both biological and social science domains. We conclude that individual heterogeneity likely plays a key role in the collective development of real-world networks and communities, and it cannot be ignored.

Individual heterogeneity generating explosive system network dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Manrique, Pedro D.; Johnson, Neil F.

2018-03-01

Individual heterogeneity is a key characteristic of many real-world systems, from organisms to humans. However, its role in determining the system's collective dynamics is not well understood. Here we study how individual heterogeneity impacts the system network dynamics by comparing linking mechanisms that favor similar or dissimilar individuals. We find that this heterogeneity-based evolution drives an unconventional form of explosive network behavior, and it dictates how a polarized population moves toward consensus. Our model shows good agreement with data from both biological and social science domains. We conclude that individual heterogeneity likely plays a key role in the collective development of real-world networks and communities, and it cannot be ignored.

Team Heterogeneity in Startups and its Development over Time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaiser, Ulrich; Müller, Bettina

We investigate the workforce heterogeneity of startups with respect to education, age and wages. Our explorative study uses data on the population of 1,614 Danish firms founded in 1998. We track these firms until 2001 which enables us to analyze changes in workforce composition over time. Such a ......We investigate the workforce heterogeneity of startups with respect to education, age and wages. Our explorative study uses data on the population of 1,614 Danish firms founded in 1998. We track these firms until 2001 which enables us to analyze changes in workforce composition over time....... Our result holds both for non-knowledge-based and, to a lesser extent, knowledge-based startups. This seems surprising since a vast management literature advocates heterogeneous teams. The difficulties associated with workforce heterogeneity (like affective conflict or coordination cost) as well...... as “homophily” (people’s inclination to bound with others with similar characteristics) hence appear to generally overweigh the benefits of heterogeneity (like greater variety in perspectives or more creativity). We also document that workforces become more heterogeneous over time startups add workers...

Mobile-based biology edutainment application for secondary schools

Science.gov (United States)

AL-Modwahi, Ashraf Abbas M.; Kaisara, Onalenna; Parkizkar, Behrang; Habibi Lashkari, Arash

2013-03-01

The high increase of mobile technology is leading to mobilized learning environment, thus making traditional learning to diminish slowly and become inactive and unproductive. Learners worldwide are being attracted to mobile environment more so that it promotes anytime, anywhere learning. Biology as a secondary school subject will be applicable for mobile learning for such a time and generation as this. This paper is therefore an attempt to mobile based biology edutainment system for the students who normally range from the ages of thirteen to sixteen.

Internet-based interventions for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Devi, Reena; Singh, Sally J; Powell, John; Fulton, Emily A; Igbinedion, Ewemade; Rees, Karen

2015-12-22

The Internet could provide a means of delivering secondary prevention programmes to people with coronary heart disease (CHD). To determine the effectiveness of Internet-based interventions targeting lifestyle changes and medicines management for the secondary prevention of CHD. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, in December 2014. We also searched six other databases in October 2014, and three trials registers in January 2015 together with reference checking and handsearching to identify additional studies. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating Internet-delivered secondary prevention interventions aimed at people with CHD. Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias and extracted data according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We assessed evidence quality using the GRADE approach and presented this in a 'Summary of findings' table. Eighteen trials met our inclusion criteria. Eleven studies are complete (1392 participants), and seven are ongoing. Of the completed studies, seven interventions are broad, targeting the lifestyle management of CHD, and four focused on physical activity promotion. The comparison group in trials was usual care (n = 6), minimal intervention (n = 3), or traditional cardiac rehabilitation (n = 2).We found no effects of Internet-based interventions for all-cause mortality (odds ratio (OR) 0.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 1.63; participants = 895; studies = 6; low-quality evidence). There was only one case of cardiovascular mortality in a control group (participants = 895; studies = 6). No incidences of non-fatal re-infarction were reported across any of the studies. We found no effects for revascularisation (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.37 to 1.27; participants = 895; studies = 6; low-quality evidence).We found no effects for total cholesterol (mean difference (MD) 0.00, 95% CI -0.27 to 0.28; participants = 439; studies = 4; low

Multiscale analysis and computation for flows in heterogeneous media

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Efendiev, Yalchin [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); Hou, T. Y. [California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Durlofsky, L. J. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Tchelepi, H. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

2016-08-04

Our work in this project is aimed at making fundamental advances in multiscale methods for flow and transport in highly heterogeneous porous media. The main thrust of this research is to develop a systematic multiscale analysis and efficient coarse-scale models that can capture global effects and extend existing multiscale approaches to problems with additional physics and uncertainties. A key emphasis is on problems without an apparent scale separation. Multiscale solution methods are currently under active investigation for the simulation of subsurface flow in heterogeneous formations. These procedures capture the effects of fine-scale permeability variations through the calculation of specialized coarse-scale basis functions. Most of the multiscale techniques presented to date employ localization approximations in the calculation of these basis functions. For some highly correlated (e.g., channelized) formations, however, global effects are important and these may need to be incorporated into the multiscale basis functions. Other challenging issues facing multiscale simulations are the extension of existing multiscale techniques to problems with additional physics, such as compressibility, capillary effects, etc. In our project, we explore the improvement of multiscale methods through the incorporation of additional (single-phase flow) information and the development of a general multiscale framework for flows in the presence of uncertainties, compressible flow and heterogeneous transport, and geomechanics. We have considered (1) adaptive local-global multiscale methods, (2) multiscale methods for the transport equation, (3) operator-based multiscale methods and solvers, (4) multiscale methods in the presence of uncertainties and applications, (5) multiscale finite element methods for high contrast porous media and their generalizations, and (6) multiscale methods for geomechanics. Below, we present a brief overview of each of these contributions.

Organizational heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Frenkel, Svetlana; Kirzhner, Valery; Korol, Abraham

2012-01-01

Genomes of higher eukaryotes are mosaics of segments with various structural, functional, and evolutionary properties. The availability of whole-genome sequences allows the investigation of their structure as "texts" using different statistical and computational methods. One such method, referred to as Compositional Spectra (CS) analysis, is based on scoring the occurrences of fixed-length oligonucleotides (k-mers) in the target DNA sequence. CS analysis allows generating species- or region-specific characteristics of the genome, regardless of their length and the presence of coding DNA. In this study, we consider the heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes as a joint effect of regional variation in sequence organization superimposed on the differences in nucleotide composition. We estimated compositional and organizational heterogeneity of genome and chromosome sequences separately and found that both heterogeneity types vary widely among genomes as well as among chromosomes in all investigated taxonomic groups. The high correspondence of heterogeneity scores obtained on three genome fractions, coding, repetitive, and the remaining part of the noncoding DNA (the genome dark matter--GDM) allows the assumption that CS-heterogeneity may have functional relevance to genome regulation. Of special interest for such interpretation is the fact that natural GDM sequences display the highest deviation from the corresponding reshuffled sequences.

Organizational heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetlana Frenkel

Full Text Available Genomes of higher eukaryotes are mosaics of segments with various structural, functional, and evolutionary properties. The availability of whole-genome sequences allows the investigation of their structure as "texts" using different statistical and computational methods. One such method, referred to as Compositional Spectra (CS analysis, is based on scoring the occurrences of fixed-length oligonucleotides (k-mers in the target DNA sequence. CS analysis allows generating species- or region-specific characteristics of the genome, regardless of their length and the presence of coding DNA. In this study, we consider the heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes as a joint effect of regional variation in sequence organization superimposed on the differences in nucleotide composition. We estimated compositional and organizational heterogeneity of genome and chromosome sequences separately and found that both heterogeneity types vary widely among genomes as well as among chromosomes in all investigated taxonomic groups. The high correspondence of heterogeneity scores obtained on three genome fractions, coding, repetitive, and the remaining part of the noncoding DNA (the genome dark matter--GDM allows the assumption that CS-heterogeneity may have functional relevance to genome regulation. Of special interest for such interpretation is the fact that natural GDM sequences display the highest deviation from the corresponding reshuffled sequences.

Dynamic modeling of the advanced neutron source reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

March-Leuba, J.; Ibn-Khayat, M.

1990-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary description and some applications of a computer model that has been developed to simulate the dynamic behavior of the advanced neutron source (ANS) reactor. The ANS dynamic model is coded in the advanced continuous simulation language (ACSL), and it represents the reactor core, vessel, primary cooling system, and secondary cooling systems. The use of a simple dynamic model in the early stages of the reactor design has proven very valuable not only in the development of the control and plant protection system but also of components such as pumps and heat exchangers that are usually sized based on steady-state calculations

Photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction with rhodium-based catalysts in solution and heterogenized within metal-organic frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, Matthew B; Wang, Xia; Elgrishi, Noémie; Hendon, Christopher H; Walsh, Aron; Bonnefoy, Jonathan; Canivet, Jérôme; Quadrelli, Elsje Alessandra; Farrusseng, David; Mellot-Draznieks, Caroline; Fontecave, Marc

2015-02-01

The first photosensitization of a rhodium-based catalytic system for CO2 reduction is reported, with formate as the sole carbon-containing product. Formate has wide industrial applications and is seen as valuable within fuel cell technologies as well as an interesting H2 -storage compound. Heterogenization of molecular rhodium catalysts is accomplished via the synthesis, post-synthetic linker exchange, and characterization of a new metal-organic framework (MOF) Cp*Rh@UiO-67. While the catalytic activities of the homogeneous and heterogeneous systems are found to be comparable, the MOF-based system is more stable and selective. Furthermore it can be recycled without loss of activity. For formate production, an optimal catalyst loading of ∼10 % molar Rh incorporation is determined. Increased incorporation of rhodium catalyst favors thermal decomposition of formate into H2 . There is no precedent for a MOF catalyzing the latter reaction so far. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Heterogeneity in Preferences and Productivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gørtz, Mette

This paper discusses the determinants of the retirement decision and the implications of retirement on economic well-being. The main contribution of the paper is to formulate the role of individual heterogeneity explicitly. We argue that individual heterogeneity in 1) productivity of market work...... choices of expenditure, household production and leisure for people in and around retirement. The unobserved individual heterogeneity factor is isolated by comparing cross-sectional evidence and panel data estimates of the effects of retirement on consumption and time allocation. Based on cross......-section data, we can identify a difference in consumption due to retirement status, but when the panel nature of the data is exploited, the effect of retirement on consumption is small and insignificant. Moreover, the analyses point at a large positive effect of retirement on household production. Our results...

Secondary access based on sensing and primary ARQ feedback in spectrum sharing systems

KAUST Repository

Hamza, Doha R.

2012-04-01

In the context of primary/secondary spectrum sharing, we propose a randomized secondary access strategy with access probabilities that are a function of both the primary automatic repeat request (ARQ) feedback and the spectrum sensing outcome. The primary terminal operates in a time slotted fashion and is active only when it has a packet to send. The primary receiver can send a positive acknowledgment (ACK) when the received packet is decoded correctly. Lack of ARQ feedback is interpreted as erroneous reception or inactivity. We call this the explicit ACK scheme. The primary receiver may also send a negative acknowledgment (NACK) when the packet is received in error. Lack of ARQ feedback is interpreted as an ACK or no-transmission. This is called the explicit NACK scheme. Under both schemes, when the primary feedback is interpreted as a NACK, the secondary user assumes that there will be retransmission in the next slot and accesses the channel with a certain probability. When the primary feedback is interpreted as an ACK, the secondary user accesses the channel with either one of two probabilities based on the sensing outcome. Under these settings, we find the three optimal access probabilities via maximizing the secondary throughput given a constraint on the primary throughput. We compare the performance of the explicit ACK and explicit NACK schemes and contrast them with schemes based on either sensing or primary ARQ feedback only. © 2012 IEEE.

Social support among heterogeneous partners : an experimental test

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogt, Sonja; Weesie, Jeroen

2006-01-01

This paper studies how dyadic social support is affected by heterogeneity of the partners.We distinguish heterogeneity with respect to three parameters: the likelihood of needing support; the benefits from receiving support; and the costs of providing support. Hypotheses are based on a

Model of monopolistic competition with heterogeneous labor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filatov Alexander

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a tool for modelling monopolistic competition markets, based on Dixit-Stiglitz ideology but taking into account heterogeneity at labor market. We analyse several modifications of a two-sector general equilibrium model. In the basic one with two levels of workers qualification their shares are determined endogenously on the base of comparison between the higher wage of the skilled worker and heterogeneous education costs, also taking into account the labor mobility between the manufacture and agriculture sector. The model is generalized for the case of continuous distribution of labor qualification. The impact of the model parameters (ratio of fixed and variable costs, market size, heterogeneity in productivity, elasticity of substitution, etc. on the obtained equilibrium prices, quantities, wages, number and size of firms, social welfare is investigated.

Toward heterogeneity in feedforward network with synaptic delays based on FitzHugh-Nagumo model

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Ying-Mei; Men, Cong; Zhao, Jia; Han, Chun-Xiao; Che, Yan-Qiu

2018-01-01

We focus on the role of heterogeneity on the propagation of firing patterns in feedforward network (FFN). Effects of heterogeneities both in parameters of neuronal excitability and synaptic delays are investigated systematically. Neuronal heterogeneity is found to modulate firing rates and spiking regularity by changing the excitability of the network. Synaptic delays are strongly related with desynchronized and synchronized firing patterns of the FFN, which indicate that synaptic delays may play a significant role in bridging rate coding and temporal coding. Furthermore, quasi-coherence resonance (quasi-CR) phenomenon is observed in the parameter domain of connection probability and delay-heterogeneity. All these phenomena above enable a detailed characterization of neuronal heterogeneity in FFN, which may play an indispensable role in reproducing the important properties of in vivo experiments.

Wavelet-based compression with ROI coding support for mobile access to DICOM images over heterogeneous radio networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Maglogiannis, Ilias; Doukas, Charalampos; Kormentzas, George; Pliakas, Thomas

2009-07-01

Most of the commercial medical image viewers do not provide scalability in image compression and/or region of interest (ROI) encoding/decoding. Furthermore, these viewers do not take into consideration the special requirements and needs of a heterogeneous radio setting that is constituted by different access technologies [e.g., general packet radio services (GPRS)/ universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), wireless local area network (WLAN), and digital video broadcasting (DVB-H)]. This paper discusses a medical application that contains a viewer for digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images as a core module. The proposed application enables scalable wavelet-based compression, retrieval, and decompression of DICOM medical images and also supports ROI coding/decoding. Furthermore, the presented application is appropriate for use by mobile devices activating in heterogeneous radio settings. In this context, performance issues regarding the usage of the proposed application in the case of a prototype heterogeneous system setup are also discussed.

Web-based Collaborative learning in secondary education: Teachers’ reflection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsi-Chi Hsiao

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This article is based on the researchers’ reflections after twice participating in a Web-based Collaborative Learning Program Contest. The contests were held by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC Cyber Academy (ACA. In collaborative learning, teachers are expected to provide participants with scaffolding assistance. The ACA is designed to provide student-centered activities for enhancing skills in information and communication technologies. Students are expected to find data, prepare presentations, and report their topics in English to communicate with other teams from other countries. During these processes, the researcher tried to apply theoretical models such as computerized instruction and topic based learning. The results of this study show the various benefits of Web-based Collaborative Learning for students and teachers. This study also includes several recommendations for primary and secondary schools.

Heuristic Data Placement for Data-Intensive Applications in Heterogeneous Cloud

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qing Zhao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Data placement is an important issue which aims at reducing the cost of internode data transfers in cloud especially for data-intensive applications, in order to improve the performance of the entire cloud system. This paper proposes an improved data placement algorithm for heterogeneous cloud environments. In the initialization phase, a data clustering algorithm based on data dependency clustering and recursive partitioning has been presented, and both the factor of data size and fixed position are incorporated. And then a heuristic tree-to-tree data placement strategy is advanced in order to make frequent data movements occur on high-bandwidth channels. Simulation results show that, compared with two classical strategies, this strategy can effectively reduce the amount of data transmission and its time consumption during execution.

A Bootstrap Neural Network Based Heterogeneous Panel Unit Root Test: Application to Exchange Rates

OpenAIRE

Christian de Peretti; Carole Siani; Mario Cerrato

2010-01-01

This paper proposes a bootstrap artificial neural network based panel unit root test in a dynamic heterogeneous panel context. An application to a panel of bilateral real exchange rate series with the US Dollar from the 20 major OECD countries is provided to investigate the Purchase Power Parity (PPP). The combination of neural network and bootstrapping significantly changes the findings of the economic study in favour of PPP.

Subgroup effects of occupational therapy-based intervention for people with advanced cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pilegaard, Marc Sampedro; Østergaard, Lisa Gregersen; la Cour, Karen

2018-01-01

cancer (N = 242) and found no overall effects on ADL ability. However, heterogeneity of treatment effect may disguise subgroup differences. Objective: To investigate whether subgroups of people with advanced cancer gain positive effects from the ‘Cancer Home-Life Intervention’ on ADL ability. Material....... Results: The ‘Cancer Home-Life Intervention’ had no statistically significant effect in the six subgroups. Modifying effects of age (0.30 [95% CI: −0.05 to 0.64]) and gender (0.23 [95% CI: −0.11 to 0.57]) were not found. Conclusion: There were no subgroup effects of the ‘Cancer Home-Life Intervention......’on ADL motor ability. Some indications suggest greater effects for those aged below 69 years; however, this result should be interpreted with caution....

Throughput-Based Traffic Steering in LTE-Advanced HetNet Deployments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gimenez, Lucas Chavarria; Kovacs, Istvan Z.; Wigard, Jeroen

2015-01-01

The objective of this paper is to propose traffic steering solutions that aim at optimizing the end-user throughput. Two different implementations of an active mode throughput-based traffic steering algorithm for Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) are introduced. One that always forces handover of t...... throughput is generally higher, reaching values of 36% and 18% for the medium- and high-load conditions....

Spatial characteristics of secondary flow in a turbulent boundary layer over longitudinal surface roughness

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Hyeon Gyu; Lee, Jae Hwa

2017-11-01

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) over spanwise heterogeneous surface roughness are performed to investigate the characteristics of secondary flow. The longitudinal surface roughness, which features lateral change in bed elevation, is described by immersed boundary method. The Reynolds number based on the momentum thickness is varied in the range of Reθ = 300-900. As the TBLs over the roughness elements spatially develop in the streamwise direction, a secondary flow emerges in a form of counter-rotating vortex pair. As the spanwise spacing between the roughness elements and roughness width vary, it is shown that the size of the secondary flow is determined by the valley width between the roughness elements. In addition, the strength of the secondary flow is mostly affected by the spanwise distance between the cores of the secondary flow. Analysis of the Reynolds-averaged turbulent kinetic energy transport equation reveals that the energy redistribution terms in the TBLs over-the ridge type roughness play an important role to derive low-momentum pathways with upward motion over the roughness crest, contrary to the previous observation with the strip-type roughness. This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A1A09000537) and the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (NRF-2017R1A5A1015311).

Targeting population heterogeneity for optimal cell factories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heins, Anna-Lena; Carlqvist, Magnus; Helmark, S.

the heterogeneity level of the population. To further investigate these phenomena and gain a deeper understanding of population heterogeneity, Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth reporter strains based on the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) were constructed which enabled us to perform single cell level...... analysis, and thereby created the possibility to map population heterogeneity. A factorial design with pH, glucose concentration and oxygen level was performed in batch cultivations using the growth reporter strains to evaluate the effect of those environmental factors on heterogeneity level and amount......To achieve an efficient production process, it is essential to optimize both the strain and the cultivation conditions. Traditionally, a microbial population has been considered homogeneous in optimization studies of fermentation processes. However, research has shown that a typical microbial...

MRI texture heterogeneity in the optic nerve predicts visual recovery after acute optic neuritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunyan Zhang

2014-01-01

Conclusions: Tissue heterogeneity may be a potential measure of functional outcome in ON patients and advanced analysis of the texture in standard MRI could provide insights into mechanisms of injury and recovery in patients with similar disorders.

Extracellular Vesicle Heterogeneity: Subpopulations, Isolation Techniques, and Diverse Functions in Cancer Progression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduard Willms

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Cells release membrane enclosed nano-sized vesicles termed extracellular vesicles (EVs that function as mediators of intercellular communication by transferring biological information between cells. Tumor-derived EVs have emerged as important mediators in cancer development and progression, mainly through transfer of their bioactive content which can include oncoproteins, oncogenes, chemokine receptors, as well as soluble factors, transcripts of proteins and miRNAs involved in angiogenesis or inflammation. This transfer has been shown to influence the metastatic behavior of primary tumors. Moreover, tumor-derived EVs have been shown to influence distant cellular niches, establishing favorable microenvironments that support growth of disseminated cancer cells upon their arrival at these pre-metastatic niches. It is generally accepted that cells release a number of major EV populations with distinct biophysical properties and biological functions. Exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies are EV populations most widely studied and characterized. They are discriminated based primarily on their intracellular origin. However, increasing evidence suggests that even within these EV populations various subpopulations may exist. This heterogeneity introduces an extra level of complexity in the study of EV biology and function. For example, EV subpopulations could have unique roles in the intricate biological processes underlying cancer biology. Here, we discuss current knowledge regarding the role of subpopulations of EVs in cancer development and progression and highlight the relevance of EV heterogeneity. The position of tetraspanins and integrins therein will be highlighted. Since addressing EV heterogeneity has become essential for the EV field, current and novel techniques for isolating EV subpopulations will also be discussed. Further dissection of EV heterogeneity will advance our understanding of the critical roles of EVs in health and

Extracellular Vesicle Heterogeneity: Subpopulations, Isolation Techniques, and Diverse Functions in Cancer Progression.

Science.gov (United States)

Willms, Eduard; Cabañas, Carlos; Mäger, Imre; Wood, Matthew J A; Vader, Pieter

2018-01-01

Cells release membrane enclosed nano-sized vesicles termed extracellular vesicles (EVs) that function as mediators of intercellular communication by transferring biological information between cells. Tumor-derived EVs have emerged as important mediators in cancer development and progression, mainly through transfer of their bioactive content which can include oncoproteins, oncogenes, chemokine receptors, as well as soluble factors, transcripts of proteins and miRNAs involved in angiogenesis or inflammation. This transfer has been shown to influence the metastatic behavior of primary tumors. Moreover, tumor-derived EVs have been shown to influence distant cellular niches, establishing favorable microenvironments that support growth of disseminated cancer cells upon their arrival at these pre-metastatic niches. It is generally accepted that cells release a number of major EV populations with distinct biophysical properties and biological functions. Exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies are EV populations most widely studied and characterized. They are discriminated based primarily on their intracellular origin. However, increasing evidence suggests that even within these EV populations various subpopulations may exist. This heterogeneity introduces an extra level of complexity in the study of EV biology and function. For example, EV subpopulations could have unique roles in the intricate biological processes underlying cancer biology. Here, we discuss current knowledge regarding the role of subpopulations of EVs in cancer development and progression and highlight the relevance of EV heterogeneity. The position of tetraspanins and integrins therein will be highlighted. Since addressing EV heterogeneity has become essential for the EV field, current and novel techniques for isolating EV subpopulations will also be discussed. Further dissection of EV heterogeneity will advance our understanding of the critical roles of EVs in health and disease.

Genomic and epigenomic heterogeneity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

OpenAIRE

Guièze, Romain; Wu, Catherine J.

2015-01-01

Defining features of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are not only its immunophenotype of CD19+CD5+CD23+sIgdim expressing clonal mature B cells but also its highly variable clinical course. In recent years, advances in massively parallel sequencing technologies have led to rapid progress in our understanding of the CLL genome and epigenome. Overall, these studies have clearly demarcated not only the vast degree of genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity among individuals with CLL but also even...

Arrester Resistive Current Measuring System Based on Heterogeneous Network

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yun Hua; Li, Zai Lin; Yuan, Feng; Hou Pan, Feng; Guo, Zhan Nan; Han, Yue

2018-03-01

Metal Oxide Arrester (MOA) suffers from aging and poor insulation due to long-term impulse voltage and environmental impact, and the value and variation tendency of resistive current can reflect the health conditions of MOA. The common wired MOA detection need to use long cables, which is complicated to operate, and that wireless measurement methods are facing the problems of poor data synchronization and instability. Therefore a novel synchronous measurement system of arrester current resistive based on heterogeneous network is proposed, which simplifies the calculation process and improves synchronization, accuracy and stability and of the measuring system. This system combines LoRa wireless network, high speed wireless personal area network and the process layer communication, and realizes the detection of arrester working condition. Field test data shows that the system has the characteristics of high accuracy, strong anti-interference ability and good synchronization, which plays an important role in ensuring the stable operation of the power grid.

Teachers' Knowledge and Readiness towards Implementation of School Based Assessment in Secondary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Veloo, Arsaythamby; Krishnasamy, Hariharan N.; Md-Ali, Ruzlan

2015-01-01

School-Based Assessment (SBA) was implemented in Malaysian secondary schools in 2012. Since its implementation, teachers have faced several challenges to meet the aims and objectives of the School-Based Assessment. Based on these challenges this study aims to find the level of teachers' knowledge and readiness towards the implementation of…

Advances and Recent Trends in Heterogeneous Photo(Electro-Catalysis for Solar Fuels and Chemicals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Highfield

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In the context of a future renewable energy system based on hydrogen storage as energy-dense liquid alcohols co-synthesized from recycled CO2, this article reviews advances in photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis that exploit solar (photonic primary energy in relevant endergonic processes, viz., H2 generation by water splitting, bio-oxygenate photoreforming, and artificial photosynthesis (CO2 reduction. Attainment of the efficiency (>10% mandated for viable techno-economics (USD 2.00–4.00 per kg H2 and implementation on a global scale hinges on the development of photo(electrocatalysts and co-catalysts composed of earth-abundant elements offering visible-light-driven charge separation and surface redox chemistry in high quantum yield, while retaining the chemical and photo-stability typical of titanium dioxide, a ubiquitous oxide semiconductor and performance “benchmark”. The dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cell and multi-junction Si are key “voltage-biasing” components in hybrid photovoltaic/photoelectrochemical (PV/PEC devices that currently lead the field in performance. Prospects and limitations of visible-absorbing particulates, e.g., nanotextured crystalline α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4, and TiO2 sensitized by C/N-based dopants, multilayer composites, and plasmonic metals, are also considered. An interesting trend in water splitting is towards hydrogen peroxide as a solar fuel and value-added green reagent. Fundamental and technical hurdles impeding the advance towards pre-commercial solar fuels demonstration units are considered.

Advances and recent trends in heterogeneous photo(electro)-catalysis for solar fuels and chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Highfield, James

2015-04-15

In the context of a future renewable energy system based on hydrogen storage as energy-dense liquid alcohols co-synthesized from recycled CO2, this article reviews advances in photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis that exploit solar (photonic) primary energy in relevant endergonic processes, viz., H2 generation by water splitting, bio-oxygenate photoreforming, and artificial photosynthesis (CO2 reduction). Attainment of the efficiency (>10%) mandated for viable techno-economics (USD 2.00-4.00 per kg H2) and implementation on a global scale hinges on the development of photo(electro)catalysts and co-catalysts composed of earth-abundant elements offering visible-light-driven charge separation and surface redox chemistry in high quantum yield, while retaining the chemical and photo-stability typical of titanium dioxide, a ubiquitous oxide semiconductor and performance "benchmark". The dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cell and multi-junction Si are key "voltage-biasing" components in hybrid photovoltaic/photoelectrochemical (PV/PEC) devices that currently lead the field in performance. Prospects and limitations of visible-absorbing particulates, e.g., nanotextured crystalline α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4, and TiO2 sensitized by C/N-based dopants, multilayer composites, and plasmonic metals, are also considered. An interesting trend in water splitting is towards hydrogen peroxide as a solar fuel and value-added green reagent. Fundamental and technical hurdles impeding the advance towards pre-commercial solar fuels demonstration units are considered.

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes: today and tomorrow. A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sirés, Ignasi; Brillas, Enric; Oturan, Mehmet A; Rodrigo, Manuel A; Panizza, Marco

2014-01-01

In recent years, new advanced oxidation processes based on the electrochemical technology, the so-called electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs), have been developed for the prevention and remediation of environmental pollution, especially focusing on water streams. These methods are based on the electrochemical generation of a very powerful oxidizing agent, such as the hydroxyl radical ((•)OH) in solution, which is then able to destroy organics up to their mineralization. EAOPs include heterogeneous processes like anodic oxidation and photoelectrocatalysis methods, in which (•)OH are generated at the anode surface either electrochemically or photochemically, and homogeneous processes like electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton, and sonoelectrolysis, in which (•)OH are produced in the bulk solution. This paper presents a general overview of the application of EAOPs on the removal of aqueous organic pollutants, first reviewing the most recent works and then looking to the future. A global perspective on the fundamentals and experimental setups is offered, and laboratory-scale and pilot-scale experiments are examined and discussed.

Promoting advance directives among African Americans: a faith-based model.

Science.gov (United States)

Bullock, Karen

2006-02-01

Studies show that African Americans are less likely than other ethnic groups to complete advance directives. However, what influences African Americans' decisions to complete or not complete advance directives is unclear. Using a faith-based promotion model, 102 African Americans aged 55 years or older were recruited from local churches and community-based agencies to participate in a pilot study to promote advance care planning. Focus groups were used to collect data on participants' preferences for care, desire to make personal choices, values and attitudes, beliefs about death and dying, and advance directives. A standardized interview was used in the focus groups, and the data were organized and analyzed using NUDIST 4 software (QRS Software, Victoria, Australia). Three fourths of the participants refused to complete advance directives. The following factors influenced the participants' decisions about end-of-life care and completion of an advance directive: spirituality; view of suffering, death, and dying; social support networks; barriers to utilization; and mistrust of the health care system. The dissemination of information apprises individuals of their right to self-determine about their care, but educational efforts may not produce a significant change in behavior toward completion of advance care planning. Thus, ongoing efforts are needed to improve the trust that African Americans have in medical and health care providers.

Advancing Evidence Based Policymaking and Regulation to Ensure ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Advancing Evidence Based Policymaking and Regulation to Ensure Greater ... which is Communications Policy Research South (CPRsouth), a yearly conference that ... policy intellectuals through tutorials for young scholars and internships.

Tchebichef image moment approach to the prediction of protein secondary structures based on circular dichroism.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Sha Sha; Li, Bao Qiong; Liu, Jin Jin; Lu, Shao Hua; Zhai, Hong Lin

2018-04-20

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is a widely used technique for the evaluation of protein secondary structures that has a significant impact for the understanding of molecular biology. However, the quantitative analysis of protein secondary structures based on CD spectra is still a hard work due to the serious overlap of the spectra corresponding to different structural motifs. Here, Tchebichef image moment (TM) approach is introduced for the first time, which can effectively extract the chemical features in CD spectra for the quantitative analysis of protein secondary structures. The proposed approach was applied to analyze reference set. and the obtained results were evaluated by the strict statistical parameters such as correlation coefficient, cross-validation correlation coefficient and root mean squared error. Compared with several specialized prediction methods, TM approach provided satisfactory results, especially for turns and unordered structures. Our study indicates that TM approach can be regarded as a feasible tool for the analysis of the secondary structures of proteins based on CD spectra. An available TMs package is provided and can be used directly for secondary structures prediction. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Porting AMG2013 to Heterogeneous CPU+GPU Nodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Samfass, Philipp [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-01-26

LLNL's future advanced technology system SIERRA will feature heterogeneous compute nodes that consist of IBM PowerV9 CPUs and NVIDIA Volta GPUs. Conceptually, the motivation for such an architecture is quite straightforward: While GPUs are optimized for throughput on massively parallel workloads, CPUs strive to minimize latency for rather sequential operations. Yet, making optimal use of heterogeneous architectures raises new challenges for the development of scalable parallel software, e.g., with respect to work distribution. Porting LLNL's parallel numerical libraries to upcoming heterogeneous CPU+GPU architectures is therefore a critical factor for ensuring LLNL's future success in ful lling its national mission. One of these libraries, called HYPRE, provides parallel solvers and precondi- tioners for large, sparse linear systems of equations. In the context of this intern- ship project, I consider AMG2013 which is a proxy application for major parts of HYPRE that implements a benchmark for setting up and solving di erent systems of linear equations. In the following, I describe in detail how I ported multiple parts of AMG2013 to the GPU (Section 2) and present results for di erent experiments that demonstrate a successful parallel implementation on the heterogeneous ma- chines surface and ray (Section 3). In Section 4, I give guidelines on how my code should be used. Finally, I conclude and give an outlook for future work (Section 5).

Cluster-based service discovery for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marin Perianu, Raluca; Scholten, Johan; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Hartel, Pieter H.

2007-01-01

We propose an energy-efficient service discovery protocol for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. Our solution exploits a cluster overlay, where the clusterhead nodes form a distributed service registry. A service lookup results in visiting only the clusterhead nodes. We aim for minimizing the

Exploring the Effects of Project-Based Learning in Secondary Mathematics Education

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Vicki-Lynn; Hwang, Yooyeun

2016-01-01

This mixed-method, longitudinal study investigated the benefits of project-based learning (PBL) on secondary-mathematics students' academic skill development and motivated strategies for learning (i.e., cognitive, social, and motivational). The focus of this study was academic skill development (algebra- and geometry-assessment scores) and other…

Practical chemical analysis of Pt and Pd based heterogeneous catalysts with hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoshikawa, H., E-mail: YOSHIKAWA.Hideki@nims.go.jp [National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047 (Japan); Matolínová, I.; Matolín, V. [Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, V Holešovičkách 2, 18000 Prague 8 (Czech Republic)

2013-10-15

Highlights: •Hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) enables interface analysis of catalyst. •HAXPES enables overall analysis of porous film of Pt-doped CeO{sub 2} and related catalyst. •HAXPES enables analysis of trace elements for Pd and Pt{sub 3}Ni nanoparticle catalysts. -- Abstract: Interfacial properties including configuration, porosity, chemical states, and atomic diffusion greatly affect the performance of supported heterogeneous catalysts. Hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) can be used to analyze the interfaces of heterogeneous catalysts because of its large information depth of more than 20 nm. We use HAXPES to examine Pt-doped CeO{sub 2} and related thin film catalysts evaporated on Si, carbon, and carbon nanotube substrates, because Pt-doped CeO{sub 2} has great potential as a noble metal-based heterogeneous catalyst for fuel cells. The HAXPES measurements clarify that the dopant material, substrate material, and surface pretreatment of substrate are important parameters that affect the interfacial properties of Pt-doped CeO{sub 2} and related thin film catalysts. Another advantage of HAXPES measurement of heterogeneous catalysts is that it can be used for chemical analysis of trace elements by detecting photoelectrons from deep core levels, which have large photoionization cross-sections in the hard X-ray region. We use HAXPES for chemical analysis of trace elements in Pd nanoparticle catalysts immobilized on sulfur-terminated substrates and Pt{sub 3}Ni nanoparticle catalysts enveloped by dendrimer molecules.

Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination in Co-Channel Multi-Layer LTE-Advanced Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Klaus I.; Wang, Yuanye; Strzyz, Stanislav

2013-01-01

Different technical solutions and innovations are enabling the move from macro-only scenarios towards heterogeneous networks with a mixture of different base station types. In this article we focus on multi-layer LTE-Advanced networks, and especially address aspects related to interference...... management. The network controlled time-domain enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) concept is outlined by explaining the benefits and characteristics of this solution. The benefits of using advanced terminal device receiver architectures with interference suppression capabilities...... are motivated. Extensive system level performance results are presented with bursty traffic to demonstrate the eICIC concepts ability to dynamically adapt according to the traffic conditions....

Textural features and SUV-based variables assessed by dual time point 18F-FDG PET/CT in locally advanced breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Vicente, Ana María; Molina, David; Pérez-Beteta, Julián; Amo-Salas, Mariano; Martínez-González, Alicia; Bueno, Gloria; Tello-Galán, María Jesús; Soriano-Castrejón, Ángel

2017-12-01

To study the influence of dual time point 18F-FDG PET/CT in textural features and SUV-based variables and their relation among them. Fifty-six patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) were prospectively included. All of them underwent a standard 18F-FDG PET/CT (PET-1) and a delayed acquisition (PET-2). After segmentation, SUV variables (SUVmax, SUVmean, and SUVpeak), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were obtained. Eighteen three-dimensional (3D) textural measures were computed including: run-length matrices (RLM) features, co-occurrence matrices (CM) features, and energies. Differences between all PET-derived variables obtained in PET-1 and PET-2 were studied. Significant differences were found between the SUV-based parameters and MTV obtained in the dual time point PET/CT, with higher values of SUV-based variables and lower MTV in the PET-2 with respect to the PET-1. In relation with the textural parameters obtained in dual time point acquisition, significant differences were found for the short run emphasis, low gray-level run emphasis, short run high gray-level emphasis, run percentage, long run emphasis, gray-level non-uniformity, homogeneity, and dissimilarity. Textural variables showed relations with MTV and TLG. Significant differences of textural features were found in dual time point 18F-FDG PET/CT. Thus, a dynamic behavior of metabolic characteristics should be expected, with higher heterogeneity in delayed PET acquisition compared with the standard PET. A greater heterogeneity was found in bigger tumors.

Recent Advances in Quartz Crystal Microbalance-Based Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandeep Kumar Vashist

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM has gained exceptional importance in the fields of (biosensors, material science, environmental monitoring, and electrochemistry based on the phenomenal development in QCM-based sensing during the last two decades. This review provides an overview of recent advances made in QCM-based sensors, which have been widely employed in a plethora of applications for the detection of chemicals, biomolecules and microorganisms.

KSC ADVANCED GROUND BASED FIELD MILL V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Advanced Ground Based Field Mill (AGBFM) network consists of 34 (31 operational) field mills located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The field mills...

Experiment-Based Teaching in Advanced Control Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Precup, R.-E.; Preitl, S.; Radac, M.-B.; Petriu, E. M.; Dragos, C.-A.; Tar, J. K.

2011-01-01

This paper discusses an experiment-based approach to teaching an advanced control engineering syllabus involving controlled plant analysis and modeling, control structures and algorithms, real-time laboratory experiments, and their assessment. These experiments are structured around the representative case of the longitudinal slip control of an…

Wireless Sensor Network Based Subsurface Contaminant Plume Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-16

Sensor Network (WSN) to monitor contaminant plume movement in naturally heterogeneous subsurface formations to advance the sensor networking based...time to assess the source and predict future plume behavior. This proof-of-concept research aimed at demonstrating the use of an intelligent Wireless

Green Cooperative Spectrum Sensing and Scheduling in Heterogeneous Cognitive Radio Networks

KAUST Repository

Celik, Abdulkadir

2016-09-12

In this paper, we consider heterogeneous cognitive radio networks (CRNs) comprising primary channels (PCs) with heterogeneous characteristics and secondary users (SUs) with various sensing and reporting qualities for different PCs. We first define the opportunity as the achievable total data rate and its cost as the energy consumption caused from sensing, reporting, and channel switching operations and formulate a joint spectrum discovery and energy efficiency objective to minimize the energy spent per unit of data rate. Then, a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem is formulated to determine: 1) the optimal subset of PCs to be scheduled for sensing; 2) the SU assignment set for each scheduled PC; and 3) sensing durations and detection thresholds of each SU on PCs it is assigned to sense. Thereafter, an equivalent convex framework is developed for specific instances of the above combinatorial problem. For comparison, optimal detection and sensing thresholds are also derived analytically under the homogeneity assumption. Based on these, a prioritized ordering heuristic is developed to order channels under the spectrum, energy, and spectrum-energy limited regimes. After that, a scheduling and assignment heuristic is proposed and is shown to perform very close to the exhaustive optimal solution. Finally, the behavior of the CRN is numerically analyzed under these regimes with respect to different numbers of SUs, PCs, and sensing qualities.

An orthogonal wavelet division multiple-access processor architecture for LTE-advanced wireless/radio-over-fiber systems over heterogeneous networks

Science.gov (United States)

Mahapatra, Chinmaya; Leung, Victor CM; Stouraitis, Thanos

2014-12-01

The increase in internet traffic, number of users, and availability of mobile devices poses a challenge to wireless technologies. In long-term evolution (LTE) advanced system, heterogeneous networks (HetNet) using centralized coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmitting radio over optical fibers (LTE A-ROF) have provided a feasible way of satisfying user demands. In this paper, an orthogonal wavelet division multiple-access (OWDMA) processor architecture is proposed, which is shown to be better suited to LTE advanced systems as compared to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) as in LTE systems 3GPP rel.8 (3GPP, http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/36300.htm). ROF systems are a viable alternative to satisfy large data demands; hence, the performance in ROF systems is also evaluated. To validate the architecture, the circuit is designed and synthesized on a Xilinx vertex-6 field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The synthesis results show that the circuit performs with a clock period as short as 7.036 ns (i.e., a maximum clock frequency of 142.13 MHz) for transform size of 512. A pipelined version of the architecture reduces the power consumption by approximately 89%. We compare our architecture with similar available architectures for resource utilization and timing and provide performance comparison with OFDMA systems for various quality metrics of communication systems. The OWDMA architecture is found to perform better than OFDMA for bit error rate (BER) performance versus signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in wireless channel as well as ROF media. It also gives higher throughput and mitigates the bad effect of peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR).

A Comprehensive Patient-Derived Xenograft Collection Representing the Heterogeneity of Melanoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clemens Krepler

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Summary: Therapy of advanced melanoma is changing dramatically. Following mutational and biological subclassification of this heterogeneous cancer, several targeted and immune therapies were approved and increased survival significantly. To facilitate further advancements through pre-clinical in vivo modeling, we have established 459 patient-derived xenografts (PDX and live tissue samples from 384 patients representing the full spectrum of clinical, therapeutic, mutational, and biological heterogeneity of melanoma. PDX have been characterized using targeted sequencing and protein arrays and are clinically annotated. This exhaustive live tissue resource includes PDX from 57 samples resistant to targeted therapy, 61 samples from responders and non-responders to immune checkpoint blockade, and 31 samples from brain metastasis. Uveal, mucosal, and acral subtypes are represented as well. We show examples of pre-clinical trials that highlight how the PDX collection can be used to develop and optimize precision therapies, biomarkers of response, and the targeting of rare genetic subgroups. : Krepler et al. have established a collection of melanoma patient-derived xenografts (PDX. Melanoma is a very heterogeneous cancer, and this large collection includes even rare subtypes and genetic aberrations in sufficient numbers. Multiple PDX from therapy-resistant patients are characterized and tested in pre-clinical trials for second line therapies. Keywords: melanoma, patient-derived xenografts, targeted therapy, immune checkpoint blockade, melanoma brain metastasis, in vivo models, BRAF inhibitor resistance, ERK inhibitor, MDM2 inhibitor, PI3K beta inhibitor

Measuring pilot workload in a moving-base simulator. I Asynchronous secondary choice-reaction task

Science.gov (United States)

Kantowitz, B. H.; Hart, S. G.; Bortolussi, M. R.

1983-01-01

The de facto method for measuring airplane pilot workload is based upon subjective ratings. While researchers agree that such subjective data should be bolstered by using objective behavioral measures, results to date have been mixed. No clear objective technique has surfaced as the metric of choice. It is believed that this difficulty is in part due to neglect of theoretical work in psychology that predicts some of the difficulties that are inherent in a futile search for 'the one and only' best secondary task to measure workload. An initial study that used both subjective ratings and an asynchronous choice-reaction secondary task was conducted to determine if such a secondary task could indeed meet the methodological constraints imposed by current theories of attention. Two variants of a flight scenario were combined with two levels of the secondary task. Appropriate single-task control conditions were also included. Results give grounds for cautious optimism but indicate that future research should use synchronous secondary tasks where possible.

A Reconfigurable Readout Integrated Circuit for Heterogeneous Display-Based Multi-Sensor Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyeonghwan Park

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a reconfigurable multi-sensor interface and its readout integrated circuit (ROIC for display-based multi-sensor systems, which builds up multi-sensor functions by utilizing touch screen panels. In addition to inherent touch detection, physiological and environmental sensor interfaces are incorporated. The reconfigurable feature is effectively implemented by proposing two basis readout topologies of amplifier-based and oscillator-based circuits. For noise-immune design against various noises from inherent human-touch operations, an alternate-sampling error-correction scheme is proposed and integrated inside the ROIC, achieving a 12-bit resolution of successive approximation register (SAR of analog-to-digital conversion without additional calibrations. A ROIC prototype that includes the whole proposed functions and data converters was fabricated in a 0.18 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS process, and its feasibility was experimentally verified to support multiple heterogeneous sensing functions of touch, electrocardiogram, body impedance, and environmental sensors.

Does heterogeneity of pimonidazole labelling correspond to the heterogeneity of radiation-response of FaDu human squamous cell carcinoma?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yaromina, Ala; Hoelscher, Tobias; Eicheler, Wolfgang; Rosner, Andrea; Krause, Mechthild; Hessel, Franziska; Petersen, Cordula; Thames, Howard D.; Baumann, Michael; Zips, Daniel

2005-01-01

Background and purpose: Pimonidazole is a marker for hypoxic cells which are radioresistant and thereby important for the outcome of radiotherapy. The present study evaluates heterogeneity in pimonidazole binding within and between tumours and relates the results to the heterogeneity of radiation response in the same tumour cell line. Materials and methods: FaDu, a poorly differentiated human squamous cell carcinoma line, was transplanted subcutaneously into the right hind-leg of NMRI nude mice. Tumours were irradiated with graded single doses either under ambient or clamped blood flow conditions and local tumour control was evaluated after 120 days. Complete dose-response curves for local tumour control were generated and the slope, a measure of heterogeneity of radiation response, was determined. In parallel, 12 unirradiated tumours were examined histologically. Seven serial 10 μm cross-sections per tumour were evaluated using fluorescence microscopy and computerised image analysis to determine the pimonidazole hypoxic fraction (pHF). Heterogeneity in pHF was quantified by its coefficient of variation (CV). Poisson-based model calculations considering the intertumoural heterogeneity of pHF were performed and the slopes of the predicted and the observed dose-response curves were compared. Results: The mean pHF was 11% [CV 50%] when one central section per tumour was evaluated. Measurements of multiple sections per tumour resulted in a mean pHF of 12% [CV 46%] (P=0.7). Intertumoural heterogeneity in pHF was more pronounced than heterogeneity in individual tumours by a factor of 2. Model calculations based on the variability in pHF resulted in similar slopes of the dose-response curve for local tumour control in comparison with the observed slope when the heterogeneity in an unknown and arbitrarily chosen additional radiobiologically relevant parameter, in this example clonogen density, was taken into account. Conclusions: While the average pimonidazole hypoxic

Simultaneous study of sputtering and secondary ion emission of binary Fe-based alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riadel, M.M.; Nenadovic, T.; Perovic, B.

1976-01-01

The sputtering and secondary ion emission of binary Fe-based alloys of simple phase diagrams have been studied simultaneously. A series FeNi and FeCr alloys in the concentration range of 0-100% have been bombarded by 4 keV Kr + ions in a secondary ion mass spectrometer. The composition of the secondary ions has been analysed and also a fraction of the sputtered material has been collected and analysed by electron microprobe. The surface topography of the etched samples has been studied by scanning electron microscope. The relative sputtering coefficients of the metals have been determined, and the preferential sputtering of the alloying component of lower S have been proved. The etching pictures of samples are in correlation with the sputtering rates. Also the degree of secondary ionization has been calculated from the simultaneously measured ion emission and sputtering data. α + shows the change in the concentration range of the melting point minimum. This fact emphasizes the connection between the physico-chemical properties of alloys and their secondary emission process. From the dependence of the emitted homo- and hetero-cluster ions, conclusions could be shown concerning the production mechanism of small metallic aggregates

Neutronic of heterogenous gas cooled reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maturana, Roberto Hernan

2008-01-01

At present, one of the main technical features of the advanced gas cooled reactor under development is its fuel element concept, which implies a neutronic homogeneous design, thus requiring higher enrichment compared with present commercial nuclear power plants.In this work a neutronic heterogeneous gas cooled reactor design is analyzed by studying the neutronic design of the Advanced Gas cooled Reactor (AGR), a low enrichment, gas cooled and graphite moderated nuclear power plant.A search of merit figures (some neutronic parameter, characteristic dimension, or a mixture of both) which are important and have been optimized during the reactor design stage is been done, to aim to comprise how a gas heterogeneous reactor is been design, given that semi-infinity arrangement criteria of rods in LWRs and clusters in HWRs can t be applied for a solid moderator and a gas refrigerator.The WIMS code for neutronic cell calculations is been utilized to model the AGR fuel cell and to calculate neutronic parameters such as the multiplication factor and the pick factor, as function of the fuel burnup.Also calculation is been done for various nucleus characteristic dimensions values (fuel pin radius, fuel channel pitch) and neutronic parameters (such as fuel enrichment), around the design established parameters values.A fuel cycle cost analysis is carried out according to the reactor in study, and the enrichment effect over it is been studied.Finally, a thermal stability analysis is been done, in subcritical condition and at power level, to study this reactor characteristic reactivity coefficients.Present results shows (considering the approximation used) a first set of neutronic design figures of merit consistent with the AGR design. [es

Quantification of heterogeneity in lung disease with image-based pulmonary function testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Stahr, Charlene S; Samarage, Chaminda R; Donnelley, Martin; Farrow, Nigel; Morgan, Kaye S; Zosky, Graeme; Boucher, Richard C; Siu, Karen K W; Mall, Marcus A; Parsons, David W; Dubsky, Stephen; Fouras, Andreas

2016-07-27

Computed tomography (CT) and spirometry are the mainstays of clinical pulmonary assessment. Spirometry is effort dependent and only provides a single global measure that is insensitive for regional disease, and as such, poor for capturing the early onset of lung disease, especially patchy disease such as cystic fibrosis lung disease. CT sensitively measures change in structure associated with advanced lung disease. However, obstructions in the peripheral airways and early onset of lung stiffening are often difficult to detect. Furthermore, CT imaging poses a radiation risk, particularly for young children, and dose reduction tends to result in reduced resolution. Here, we apply a series of lung tissue motion analyses, to achieve regional pulmonary function assessment in β-ENaC-overexpressing mice, a well-established model of lung disease. The expiratory time constants of regional airflows in the segmented airway tree were quantified as a measure of regional lung function. Our results showed marked heterogeneous lung function in β-ENaC-Tg mice compared to wild-type littermate controls; identified locations of airway obstruction, and quantified regions of bimodal airway resistance demonstrating lung compensation. These results demonstrate the applicability of regional lung function derived from lung motion as an effective alternative respiratory diagnostic tool.

Top management team heterogeneity, strategic change and operational performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Naranjo Gil, D.; Hartmann, F.; Maas, V.S.

2008-01-01

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity in facilitating strategic change. Based on the upper echelons literature, we argue that heterogeneous management teams are better able to handle the simultaneous and conflicting demands of refocusing the organization

Dispersal and habitat connectivity in complex heterogeneous landscapes: an analysis with a GIS based random walk model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schippers, P.; Verboom, J.; Knaapen, J.P.; Apeldoorn, van R.

1996-01-01

A grid-based random walk model has been developed to simulate animal dispersal, taking landscape heterogeneity and linear barriers such as roads and rivers into account. The model can be used to estimate connectivity and has been parameterized for thebadger in the central part of the Netherlands.

New heavy scintillating materials for precise heterogeneous EM-calorimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Britvich, G.I.; Britvich, I.G.; Vasil'chenko, V.G.; Lishin, V.A.; Obraztsov, V.F.; Polyakov, V.A.; Solovjev, A.S.; Ryzhikov, V.D.

2001-01-01

This investigation shows some optical and scintillation properties of new scintillating media, based on heavy composite materials and an inorganic crystal CsI:Br, intended for the creation of precise heterogeneous EM-calorimeters with the energy resolution σ/E congruent with 4-5% E-radical. The possibility to use cheap heavy scintillating plates based on optical ceramics as active media in heterogeneous EM-calorimeters is considered

Imperfect repair and lifesaving in heterogeneous populations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finkelstein, Maxim [Department of Mathematical Statistics, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, 9300 Bloemfontein (South Africa) and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock (Germany)]. E-mail: FinkelM.SCl@mail.uovs.ac.za

2007-12-15

In this theoretical paper we generalize the notion of minimal repair to the heterogeneous case, when the lifetime distribution function can be modeled by continuous or a discrete mixture of distributions. The statistical (black box) minimal repair and the minimal repair based on information just before the failure of an object are considered. The corresponding failure (intensity) rate processes are defined and analyzed. Demographic lifesaving model is also considered: each life is saved (cured) with some probability (or equivalently a proportion of individuals who would have died are now resuscitated and given another chance). Those who are saved experience the statistical minimal repair. Both of these models are based on the Poisson or non-homogeneous Poisson processes of underlying events, which allow for considering heterogeneity. We also consider the new model of imperfect repair in the homogeneous case and present generalizations to the heterogeneous setting.

Status of advanced ground-based laser interferometers for gravitational-wave detection

Science.gov (United States)

Dooley, K. L.; Akutsu, T.; Dwyer, S.; Puppo, P.

2015-05-01

Ground-based laser interferometers for gravitational-wave (GW) detection were first constructed starting 20 years ago and as of 2010 collection of several years’ worth of science data at initial design sensitivities was completed. Upgrades to the initial detectors together with construction of brand new detectors are ongoing and feature advanced technologies to improve the sensitivity to GWs. This conference proceeding provides an overview of the common design features of ground-based laser interferometric GW detectors and establishes the context for the status updates of each of the four gravitational-wave detectors around the world: Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, GEO 600 and KAGRA.

Agent-based inter-organizational systems in advanced logistics operations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Wasesa (Meditya)

2017-01-01

textabstract“Agent-based Inter-organizational Systems (ABIOS) in Advanced Logistics Operations” explores the concepts, the design, and the role and impact of agent-based systems to improve coordination and performance of logistics operations. The dissertation consists of one conceptual study and

Large-scale compositional heterogeneity in the Earth's mantle

Science.gov (United States)

Ballmer, M.

2017-12-01

Seismic imaging of subducted Farallon and Tethys lithosphere in the lower mantle has been taken as evidence for whole-mantle convection, and efficient mantle mixing. However, cosmochemical constraints point to a lower-mantle composition that has a lower Mg/Si compared to upper-mantle pyrolite. Moreover, geochemical signatures of magmatic rocks indicate the long-term persistence of primordial reservoirs somewhere in the mantle. In this presentation, I establish geodynamic mechanisms for sustaining large-scale (primordial) heterogeneity in the Earth's mantle using numerical models. Mantle flow is controlled by rock density and viscosity. Variations in intrinsic rock density, such as due to heterogeneity in basalt or iron content, can induce layering or partial layering in the mantle. Layering can be sustained in the presence of persistent whole mantle convection due to active "unmixing" of heterogeneity in low-viscosity domains, e.g. in the transition zone or near the core-mantle boundary [1]. On the other hand, lateral variations in intrinsic rock viscosity, such as due to heterogeneity in Mg/Si, can strongly affect the mixing timescales of the mantle. In the extreme case, intrinsically strong rocks may remain unmixed through the age of the Earth, and persist as large-scale domains in the mid-mantle due to focusing of deformation along weak conveyor belts [2]. That large-scale lateral heterogeneity and/or layering can persist in the presence of whole-mantle convection can explain the stagnation of some slabs, as well as the deflection of some plumes, in the mid-mantle. These findings indeed motivate new seismic studies for rigorous testing of model predictions. [1] Ballmer, M. D., N. C. Schmerr, T. Nakagawa, and J. Ritsema (2015), Science Advances, doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500815. [2] Ballmer, M. D., C. Houser, J. W. Hernlund, R. Wentzcovitch, and K. Hirose (2017), Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo2898.

Post secondary project-based learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel A Ralph

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Project-based learning (PjBL - to distinguish from problem-based learning - PBL has become a recurrent practice in K-12 classroom environments. As PjBL has become prominent in K-12 classrooms, it has also surfaced in post-secondary institutions.  The purpose of this paper is to examine the research that has studied a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematic subjects using PjBL in post-secondary classrooms. Eleven articles (including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods were included.  The format includes: an introduction and background (which defines PjBL and STEM, research methods, quality appraisal used, results, and a discussion, future research and a conclusion.  Two tables and two figures are included. In this paper, theoretical backgrounds and key terms were identified, followed by a literature review discussing four themes: content knowledge, interdisciplinary skills, collaboration and skill development for future education and careers.  Results suggested that there is a positive connection between content knowledge learning and PjBL in collaborative settings.  Additionally, some negative perceptions arose regarding teamwork situations.  Interdisciplinary skills were achieved, but quite limited in post-secondary classrooms.  PjBL and STEM were perceived to be important for future education and careers.  Future research needs to be completed and institutional curriculum changes informed by the results of this research need to occur to further explore interdisciplinary courses and the use of PjBL.

Ceramic thermal wind sensor based on advanced direct chip attaching package

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Lin; Qin Ming; Chen Shengqi; Chen Bei

2014-01-01

An advanced direct chip attaching packaged two-dimensional ceramic thermal wind sensor is studied. The thermal wind sensor chip is fabricated by metal lift-off processes on the ceramic substrate. An advanced direct chip attaching (DCA) packaging is adopted and this new packaged method simplifies the processes of packaging further. Simulations of the advanced DCA packaged sensor based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model show the sensor can detect wind speed and direction effectively. The wind tunnel testing results show the advanced DCA packaged sensor can detect the wind direction from 0° to 360° and wind speed from 0 to 20 m/s with the error less than 0.5 m/s. The nonlinear fitting based least square method in Matlab is used to analyze the performance of the sensor. (semiconductor devices)

The Modelling Analysis of the Response of Convective Transport of Energy and Water to Multiscale Surface Heterogeneity over Tibetan Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

SUN, G.; Hu, Z.; Ma, Y.; Ma, W.

2017-12-01

The land-atmospheric interactions over a heterogeneous surface is a tricky issue for accurately understanding the energy-water exchanges between land surface and atmosphere. We investigate the vertical transport of energy and water over a heterogeneous land surface in Tibetan Plateau during the evolution of the convective boundary layer using large eddy simulation (WRF_LES). The surface heterogeneity is created according to remote sensing images from high spatial resolution LandSat ETM+ images. The PBL characteristics over a heterogeneous surface are analyzed in terms of secondary circulations under different background wind conditions based on the horizontal and vertical distribution and evolution of wind. The characteristics of vertical transport of energy and heat over a heterogeneous surface are analyzed in terms of the horizontal distribution as well as temporal evolution of sensible and latent heat fluxes at different heights under different wind conditions on basis of the simulated results from WRF_LES. The characteristics of the heat and water transported into the free atmosphere from surface are also analyzed and quantified according to the simulated results from WRF_LES. The convective transport of energy and water are analyzed according to horizontal and vertical distributions of potential temperature and vapor under different background wind conditions. With the analysis based on the WRF_LES simulation, the performance of PBL schemes of mesoscale simulation (WRF_meso) is evaluated. The comparison between horizontal distribution of vertical fluxes and domain-averaged vertical fluxes of the energy and water in the free atmosphere is used to evaluate the performance of PBL schemes of WRF_meso in the simulation of vertical exchange of energy and water. This is an important variable because only the energy and water transported into free atmosphere is able to influence the regional and even global climate. This work would will be of great significance not

Evaluation of advanced wastewater treatment systems for water reuse in the era of advanced wastewater treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Kon, Hisao; Watanabe, Masahiro

This study focuses on effluent COD concentration from wastewater treatment in regards to the reduction of pathogenic bacteria and trace substances in public waters. The main types of secondary wastewater treatment were conventional activated sludge processes. Recently, however, advance wastewater treatment processes have been developed aimed at the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, and the effluent quality of these processes was analyzed in this study. Treatment processes for water reclamation that make effluent to meet the target water quality for reuse purposes were selected and also optimum design parameters for these processes were proposed. It was found that the treatment cost to water reclamation was greatly affected by the effluent COD of the secondary treatment. It is important to maintain low COD concentration in the secondary treated effluent. Therefore, it is considered that adequate cost benefits would be obtained by achieving target COD quality through shifting from a conventional activated sludge process to an advanced treatment process.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing

Science.gov (United States)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; Goldstein, Allen H.; Guenther, Alex B.; Jimenez, Jose L.; Kuang, Chongai; Laskin, Alexander; Martin, Scot T.; Ng, Nga Lee; Petaja, Tuukka; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Rasch, Philip J.; Roldin, Pontus; Seinfeld, John H.; Shilling, John; Smith, James N.; Thornton, Joel A.; Volkamer, Rainer; Wang, Jian; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Zelenyuk, Alla; Zhang, Qi

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.

Mining Heterogeneous Information Networks by Exploring the Power of Links

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jiawei

Knowledge is power but for interrelated data, knowledge is often hidden in massive links in heterogeneous information networks. We explore the power of links at mining heterogeneous information networks with several interesting tasks, including link-based object distinction, veracity analysis, multidimensional online analytical processing of heterogeneous information networks, and rank-based clustering. Some recent results of our research that explore the crucial information hidden in links will be introduced, including (1) Distinct for object distinction analysis, (2) TruthFinder for veracity analysis, (3) Infonet-OLAP for online analytical processing of information networks, and (4) RankClus for integrated ranking-based clustering. We also discuss some of our on-going studies in this direction.

Value-added Chemicals from Biomass by Heterogeneous Catalysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voss, Bodil

feedstock, having retained one C-C bond originating from the biomass precursor, the aspects of utilising heterogeneous catalysis for its conversion to value added chemicals is investigated. Through a simple analysis of known, but not industrialised catalytic routes, the direct conversion of ethanol....... The results of the thesis, taking one example of biomass conversion, show that the utilisation of biomass in the production of chemicals by heterogeneous catalysis is promising from a technical point of view. But risks of market price excursions dominated by fossil based chemicals further set a criterion...... been implemented. The subject on chemical production has received less attention. This thesis describes and evaluates the quest for an alternative conversion route, based on a biomass feedstock and employing a heterogeneous catalyst capable of converting the feedstock, to a value-added chemical...

Numerical Study of Critical Role of Rock Heterogeneity in Hydraulic Fracture Propagation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. Zhou; H. Huang; M. Deo

2016-03-01

Log and seismic data indicate that most shale formations have strong heterogeneity. Conventional analytical and semi-analytical fracture models are not enough to simulate the complex fracture propagation in these highly heterogeneous formation. Without considering the intrinsic heterogeneity, predicted morphology of hydraulic fracture may be biased and misleading in optimizing the completion strategy. In this paper, a fully coupling fluid flow and geomechanics hydraulic fracture simulator based on dual-lattice Discrete Element Method (DEM) is used to predict the hydraulic fracture propagation in heterogeneous reservoir. The heterogeneity of rock is simulated by assigning different material force constant and critical strain to different particles and is adjusted by conditioning to the measured data and observed geological features. Based on proposed model, the effects of heterogeneity at different scale on micromechanical behavior and induced macroscopic fractures are examined. From the numerical results, the microcrack will be more inclined to form at the grain weaker interface. The conventional simulator with homogeneous assumption is not applicable for highly heterogeneous shale formation.

An Efficient and Adaptive Mutual Authentication Framework for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network-Based Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pardeep Kumar

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Robust security is highly coveted in real wireless sensor network (WSN applications since wireless sensors’ sense critical data from the application environment. This article presents an efficient and adaptive mutual authentication framework that suits real heterogeneous WSN-based applications (such as smart homes, industrial environments, smart grids, and healthcare monitoring. The proposed framework offers: (i key initialization; (ii secure network (cluster formation (i.e., mutual authentication and dynamic key establishment; (iii key revocation; and (iv new node addition into the network. The correctness of the proposed scheme is formally verified. An extensive analysis shows the proposed scheme coupled with message confidentiality, mutual authentication and dynamic session key establishment, node privacy, and message freshness. Moreover, the preliminary study also reveals the proposed framework is secure against popular types of attacks, such as impersonation attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, and information-leakage attacks. As a result, we believe the proposed framework achieves efficiency at reasonable computation and communication costs and it can be a safeguard to real heterogeneous WSN applications.

An efficient and adaptive mutual authentication framework for heterogeneous wireless sensor network-based applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Pardeep; Ylianttila, Mika; Gurtov, Andrei; Lee, Sang-Gon; Lee, Hoon-Jae

2014-02-11

Robust security is highly coveted in real wireless sensor network (WSN) applications since wireless sensors' sense critical data from the application environment. This article presents an efficient and adaptive mutual authentication framework that suits real heterogeneous WSN-based applications (such as smart homes, industrial environments, smart grids, and healthcare monitoring). The proposed framework offers: (i) key initialization; (ii) secure network (cluster) formation (i.e., mutual authentication and dynamic key establishment); (iii) key revocation; and (iv) new node addition into the network. The correctness of the proposed scheme is formally verified. An extensive analysis shows the proposed scheme coupled with message confidentiality, mutual authentication and dynamic session key establishment, node privacy, and message freshness. Moreover, the preliminary study also reveals the proposed framework is secure against popular types of attacks, such as impersonation attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, and information-leakage attacks. As a result, we believe the proposed framework achieves efficiency at reasonable computation and communication costs and it can be a safeguard to real heterogeneous WSN applications.

An Efficient and Adaptive Mutual Authentication Framework for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network-Based Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Pardeep; Ylianttila, Mika; Gurtov, Andrei; Lee, Sang-Gon; Lee, Hoon-Jae

2014-01-01

Robust security is highly coveted in real wireless sensor network (WSN) applications since wireless sensors' sense critical data from the application environment. This article presents an efficient and adaptive mutual authentication framework that suits real heterogeneous WSN-based applications (such as smart homes, industrial environments, smart grids, and healthcare monitoring). The proposed framework offers: (i) key initialization; (ii) secure network (cluster) formation (i.e., mutual authentication and dynamic key establishment); (iii) key revocation; and (iv) new node addition into the network. The correctness of the proposed scheme is formally verified. An extensive analysis shows the proposed scheme coupled with message confidentiality, mutual authentication and dynamic session key establishment, node privacy, and message freshness. Moreover, the preliminary study also reveals the proposed framework is secure against popular types of attacks, such as impersonation attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, and information-leakage attacks. As a result, we believe the proposed framework achieves efficiency at reasonable computation and communication costs and it can be a safeguard to real heterogeneous WSN applications. PMID:24521942

Mobility Behavior of the Elderly: an attitude-based segmentation approach for a heterogeneous target group

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haustein, Sonja

2012-01-01

The western population is ageing. Based on the assumption that the elderly are a quite heterogeneous population group with an increasing impact on the transport system, mobility types of the elderly were identified. By means of 1,500 standardized telephone interviews, mobility behavior and possib...... of the diverse lifestyles, attitudes, travel behavior and needs of the elderly. Furthermore, it identifies starting points for the reduction of car use....

The possibility of using materials based on secondary gravel in civil construction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galitskova Yulia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available By now, the wear and tear of housing stock is more than 50%. Each year the number of old and dilapidated housing is growing, but it is gradually replaced by modern buildings. However, wastes accumulated from dismantling of buildings and constructions, are underutilized and, usually are just stored at landfills, or used for temporary roads construction. The purpose of this research is to define construction wastes characteristics and to explore possibilities for recycling of wastes from construction materials production. The paper also analyzes housing stock condition and basic requirements to building materials used in construction; and demonstrates results building materials based on secondary gravel investigation. While working with materials based on waste requirements the authors conducted laboratory research. Thus, the paper presents the analysis of laboratory tests results that made it possible to draw conclusions about the possible use of building materials based on secondary gravel and about their conformity to specified requirements. The researchers also developed proposals and recommendations to improve the competitiveness of such materials.

Halide salts and their structural properties in presence of secondary amine based molecule: A combined experimental and theoretical analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Pritam; Hazra, Abhijit; Ghosh, Meenakshi; Chandra Murmu, Naresh; Banerjee, Priyabrata

2018-04-01

Biologically relevant halide salts and its solution state structural properties are always been significant. In general, exposure of halide salts into polar solution medium results in solvation which in turn separates the cationic and anionic part of the salt. However, the conventional behaviour of salts might alter in presence of any secondary amine based compound, i.e.; moderately strong Lewis acid. In its consequence, to investigate the effect of secondary amine based compound in the salt solution, novel (E)-2-(4-bromobenzylidene)-1-(perfluorophenyl) hydrazine has been synthesized and used as secondary amine source. The secondary amine compound interestingly shows a drastic color change upon exposure to fluoride salts owing to hydrogen bonding interaction. Several experimental methods, e.g.; SCXRD, UV-Vis, FT-IR, ESI-MS and DLS together with modern DFT (i.e.; DFT-D3) have been performed to explore the structural properties of the halide salts upon exposure to secondary amine based compound. The effect of counter cation of the fluoride salt in binding with secondary amine source has also been investigated.

Identifying and quantifying heterogeneity in high content analysis: application of heterogeneity indices to drug discovery.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert H Gough

Full Text Available One of the greatest challenges in biomedical research, drug discovery and diagnostics is understanding how seemingly identical cells can respond differently to perturbagens including drugs for disease treatment. Although heterogeneity has become an accepted characteristic of a population of cells, in drug discovery it is not routinely evaluated or reported. The standard practice for cell-based, high content assays has been to assume a normal distribution and to report a well-to-well average value with a standard deviation. To address this important issue we sought to define a method that could be readily implemented to identify, quantify and characterize heterogeneity in cellular and small organism assays to guide decisions during drug discovery and experimental cell/tissue profiling. Our study revealed that heterogeneity can be effectively identified and quantified with three indices that indicate diversity, non-normality and percent outliers. The indices were evaluated using the induction and inhibition of STAT3 activation in five cell lines where the systems response including sample preparation and instrument performance were well characterized and controlled. These heterogeneity indices provide a standardized method that can easily be integrated into small and large scale screening or profiling projects to guide interpretation of the biology, as well as the development of therapeutics and diagnostics. Understanding the heterogeneity in the response to perturbagens will become a critical factor in designing strategies for the development of therapeutics including targeted polypharmacology.

Interpretable Categorization of Heterogeneous Time Series Data

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ritchie; Kochenderfer, Mykel J.; Mengshoel, Ole J.; Silbermann, Joshua

2017-01-01

We analyze data from simulated aircraft encounters to validate and inform the development of a prototype aircraft collision avoidance system. The high-dimensional and heterogeneous time series dataset is analyzed to discover properties of near mid-air collisions (NMACs) and categorize the NMAC encounters. Domain experts use these properties to better organize and understand NMAC occurrences. Existing solutions either are not capable of handling high-dimensional and heterogeneous time series datasets or do not provide explanations that are interpretable by a domain expert. The latter is critical to the acceptance and deployment of safety-critical systems. To address this gap, we propose grammar-based decision trees along with a learning algorithm. Our approach extends decision trees with a grammar framework for classifying heterogeneous time series data. A context-free grammar is used to derive decision expressions that are interpretable, application-specific, and support heterogeneous data types. In addition to classification, we show how grammar-based decision trees can also be used for categorization, which is a combination of clustering and generating interpretable explanations for each cluster. We apply grammar-based decision trees to a simulated aircraft encounter dataset and evaluate the performance of four variants of our learning algorithm. The best algorithm is used to analyze and categorize near mid-air collisions in the aircraft encounter dataset. We describe each discovered category in detail and discuss its relevance to aircraft collision avoidance.

IFR code for secondary particle dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teague, M.R.; Yu, S.S.

1985-01-01

A numerical simulation has been constructed to obtain a detailed, quantitative estimate of the electromagnetic fields and currents existing in the Advanced Test Accelerator under conditions of laser guiding. The code treats the secondary electrons by particle simulation and the beam dynamics by a time-dependent envelope model. The simulation gives a fully relativistic description of secondary electrons moving in self-consistent electromagnetic fields. The calculations are made using coordinates t, x, y, z for the electrons and t, ct-z, r for the axisymmetric electromagnetic fields and currents. Code results, showing in particular current enhancement effects, will be given

Status of advanced ground-based laser interferometers for gravitational-wave detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dooley, K L; Akutsu, T; Dwyer, S; Puppo, P

2015-01-01

Ground-based laser interferometers for gravitational-wave (GW) detection were first constructed starting 20 years ago and as of 2010 collection of several years’ worth of science data at initial design sensitivities was completed. Upgrades to the initial detectors together with construction of brand new detectors are ongoing and feature advanced technologies to improve the sensitivity to GWs. This conference proceeding provides an overview of the common design features of ground-based laser interferometric GW detectors and establishes the context for the status updates of each of the four gravitational-wave detectors around the world: Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, GEO 600 and KAGRA. (paper)

Fenton-like oxidation of 2,4-DCP in aqueous solution using iron-based nanoparticles as the heterogeneous catalyst.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Renchao; Gao, Ying; Jin, Xiaoying; Chen, Zuliang; Megharaj, Mallavarapu; Naidu, Ravendra

2015-01-15

In this report, various iron-based nanoparticles (nZVI, n-Ni/Fe, n-Pd/Fe) were used for both heterogeneous Fenton oxidation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and reductive dechlorination of 2,4-DCP in order to understand their roles in the Fenton oxidation and the reductive degradation of 2,4-DCP. The dechlorination efficiency of 2,4-DCP using nZVI, n-Ni/Fe, n-Fe/Pd and Fe(2)(+) was 6.48%, 6.80%, 15.95%, 5.02%, while Fenton oxidation efficiency of 2,4-DCP was 57.87%, 34.23%, 27.94%, 19.61% after 180 min, respectively. The new findings included a higher dechlorination using n-Fe/Pd due to Pd effective catalysis and the effective heterogeneous Fenton oxidation using nZVI depending on reductive dechlorination and heterogeneous Fenton oxidation occurs simultaneously. However, nZVI as the potential catalyst for heterogeneous Fenton was observed, and SEM, EDS and XRD demonstrate that change on the nZVI surface occurred due to the Fe(2+) leaching, and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) (30.71%) shows that 2,4-DCP was degraded. Furthermore, the experiment indicates that the pH values and concentration of 2,4-DCP significantly impacted on the heterogeneous Fenton oxidation of 2,4-DCP and the data fits well with the pseudo first-order kinetic model, which was a diffusion-controlled reaction. Finally, a possible mechanism for degradation of 2,4-DCP was proposed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Heterogeneity of pulmonary perfusion as a mechanistic image-based phenotype in emphysema susceptible smokers.

Science.gov (United States)

Alford, Sara K; van Beek, Edwin J R; McLennan, Geoffrey; Hoffman, Eric A

2010-04-20

Recent evidence suggests that endothelial dysfunction and pathology of pulmonary vascular responses may serve as a precursor to smoking-associated emphysema. Although it is known that emphysematous destruction leads to vasculature changes, less is known about early regional vascular dysfunction which may contribute to and precede emphysematous changes. We sought to test the hypothesis, via multidetector row CT (MDCT) perfusion imaging, that smokers showing early signs of emphysema susceptibility have a greater heterogeneity in regional perfusion parameters than emphysema-free smokers and persons who had never smoked (NS). Assuming that all smokers have a consistent inflammatory response, increased perfusion heterogeneity in emphysema-susceptible smokers would be consistent with the notion that these subjects may have the inability to block hypoxic vasoconstriction in patchy, small regions of inflammation. Dynamic ECG-gated MDCT perfusion scans with a central bolus injection of contrast were acquired in 17 NS, 12 smokers with normal CT imaging studies (SNI), and 12 smokers with subtle CT findings of centrilobular emphysema (SCE). All subjects had normal spirometry. Quantitative image analysis determined regional perfusion parameters, pulmonary blood flow (PBF), and mean transit time (MTT). Mean and coefficient of variation were calculated, and statistical differences were assessed with one-way ANOVA. MDCT-based MTT and PBF measurements demonstrate globally increased heterogeneity in SCE subjects compared with NS and SNI subjects but demonstrate similarity between NS and SNI subjects. These findings demonstrate a functional lung-imaging measure that provides a more mechanistically oriented phenotype that differentiates smokers with and without evidence of emphysema susceptibility.

Aggregation Algorithms in Heterogeneous Tables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Titus Felix FURTUNA

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The heterogeneous tables are most used in the problem of aggregation. A solution for this problem is to standardize these tables of figures. In this paper, we proposed some methods of aggregation based on the hierarchical algorithms.

Heterogeneity of compulsive buyers based on impulsivity and compulsivity dimensions: a latent profile analytic approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Sunghwan

2013-07-30

Despite the recognition that compulsive buyers are not one homogenous group, there is a dearth of theory-guided empirical investigation. Furthermore, although compulsivity and impulsivity are used as major psychiatric criteria for diagnosing compulsive buyers, these dimensions have rarely been considered in assessing the heterogeneity issue. We fill this gap by applying the motivation shift model of addiction to compulsive buying and empirically assessing the heterogeneity issue in the bi-dimensional space represented by the buying impulsivity and compulsivity dimensions. These hypotheses were tested with latent profile analysis based on survey data (N=445). Consistent with the hypothesis, we identified the cluster of buyers with high buying compulsivity and impulsivity ("compulsive-impulsive buyers"), the cluster of buyers with low buying compulsivity and high impulsivity ("impulsive excessive buyers"), and the cluster of ordinary buyers. Furthermore, it was found that disparate clusters of buyers exhibit unique dispositional tendencies. Theoretical contributions and policy implications of the findings are discussed as well. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

SULFATE RADICAL-BASED ADVANCED OXIDATION PROCESSES- ACS MEETING

Science.gov (United States)

This paper will present an overview of sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation technologies for the destruction of environmentally toxic chemicals in wastewater, industrial water, groundwater and sources of water supply. The paper will include fundamental aspects of the generati...

Heterogeneous classifier fusion for ligand-based virtual screening: or, how decision making by committee can be a good thing.

Science.gov (United States)

Riniker, Sereina; Fechner, Nikolas; Landrum, Gregory A

2013-11-25

The concept of data fusion - the combination of information from different sources describing the same object with the expectation to generate a more accurate representation - has found application in a very broad range of disciplines. In the context of ligand-based virtual screening (VS), data fusion has been applied to combine knowledge from either different active molecules or different fingerprints to improve similarity search performance. Machine-learning (ML) methods based on fusion of multiple homogeneous classifiers, in particular random forests, have also been widely applied in the ML literature. The heterogeneous version of classifier fusion - fusing the predictions from different model types - has been less explored. Here, we investigate heterogeneous classifier fusion for ligand-based VS using three different ML methods, RF, naïve Bayes (NB), and logistic regression (LR), with four 2D fingerprints, atom pairs, topological torsions, RDKit fingerprint, and circular fingerprint. The methods are compared using a previously developed benchmarking platform for 2D fingerprints which is extended to ML methods in this article. The original data sets are filtered for difficulty, and a new set of challenging data sets from ChEMBL is added. Data sets were also generated for a second use case: starting from a small set of related actives instead of diverse actives. The final fused model consistently outperforms the other approaches across the broad variety of targets studied, indicating that heterogeneous classifier fusion is a very promising approach for ligand-based VS. The new data sets together with the adapted source code for ML methods are provided in the Supporting Information .

Modeling heterogeneous unsaturated porous media flow at Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robey, T.H.

1994-01-01

Geologic systems are inherently heterogeneous and this heterogeneity can have a significant impact on unsaturated flow through porous media. Most previous efforts to model groundwater flow through Yucca Mountain have used stratigraphic units with homogeneous properties. However, modeling heterogeneous porous and fractured tuff in a more realistic manner requires numerical methods for generating heterogeneous simulations of the media, scaling of material properties from core scale to computational scale, and flow modeling that allows channeling. The Yucca Mountain test case of the INTRAVAL project is used to test the numerical approaches. Geostatistics is used to generate more realistic representations of the stratigraphic units and heterogeneity within units is generated using sampling from property distributions. Scaling problems are reduced using an adaptive grid that minimizes heterogeneity within each flow element. A flow code based on the dual mixed-finite-element method that allows for heterogeneity and channeling is employed. In the Yucca Mountain test case, the simulated volumetric water contents matched the measured values at drill hole USW UZ-16 except in the nonwelded portion of Prow Pass

An Innovative Three-Dimensional Heterogeneous Coarse-Mesh Transport Method for Advanced and Generation IV Reactor Core Analysis and Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahnema, Farzad

2009-01-01

This project has resulted in a highly efficient method that has been shown to provide accurate solutions to a variety of 2D and 3D reactor problems. The goal of this project was to develop (1) an accurate and efficient three-dimensional whole-core neutronics method with the following features: based solely on transport theory, does not require the use of cross-section homogenization, contains a highly accurate and self-consistent global flux reconstruction procedure, and is applicable to large, heterogeneous reactor models, and to (2) create new numerical benchmark problems for code cross-comparison.

Policy-Based mobility Management for Heterogeneous Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mihovska, Albena D.

2007-01-01

Next generation communications will be composed of flexible, scalable and context-aware, secure and resilient architectures and technologies that allow full mobility of the user and enable dynamic management policies that ensure end-to-end secure transmission of data and services across heterogen......Next generation communications will be composed of flexible, scalable and context-aware, secure and resilient architectures and technologies that allow full mobility of the user and enable dynamic management policies that ensure end-to-end secure transmission of data and services across...... access technology (RAT) association, user and flow context transfer, handover decision, and deployment priority. Index Terms— distributed RRM, centralized...

Heterogeneous Compression of Large Collections of Evolutionary Trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, Suzanne J

2015-01-01

Compressing heterogeneous collections of trees is an open problem in computational phylogenetics. In a heterogeneous tree collection, each tree can contain a unique set of taxa. An ideal compression method would allow for the efficient archival of large tree collections and enable scientists to identify common evolutionary relationships over disparate analyses. In this paper, we extend TreeZip to compress heterogeneous collections of trees. TreeZip is the most efficient algorithm for compressing homogeneous tree collections. To the best of our knowledge, no other domain-based compression algorithm exists for large heterogeneous tree collections or enable their rapid analysis. Our experimental results indicate that TreeZip averages 89.03 percent (72.69 percent) space savings on unweighted (weighted) collections of trees when the level of heterogeneity in a collection is moderate. The organization of the TRZ file allows for efficient computations over heterogeneous data. For example, consensus trees can be computed in mere seconds. Lastly, combining the TreeZip compressed (TRZ) file with general-purpose compression yields average space savings of 97.34 percent (81.43 percent) on unweighted (weighted) collections of trees. Our results lead us to believe that TreeZip will prove invaluable in the efficient archival of tree collections, and enables scientists to develop novel methods for relating heterogeneous collections of trees.

Pervasive Sensing: Addressing the Heterogeneity Problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Grady, Michael J; Murdoch, Olga; Kroon, Barnard; Lillis, David; Carr, Dominic; Collier, Rem W; O'Hare, Gregory M P

2013-01-01

Pervasive sensing is characterized by heterogeneity across a number of dimensions. This raises significant problems for those designing, implementing and deploying sensor networks, irrespective of application domain. Such problems include for example, issues of data provenance and integrity, security, and privacy amongst others. Thus engineering a network that is fit-for-purpose represents a significant challenge. In this paper, the issue of heterogeneity is explored from the perspective of those who seek to harness a pervasive sensing element in their applications. A initial solution is proposed based on the middleware construct.

Bayesian inference for heterogeneous caprock permeability based on above zone pressure monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Namhata, Argha; Small, Mitchell J.; Dilmore, Robert M.; Nakles, David V.; King, Seth

2017-02-01

The presence of faults/ fractures or highly permeable zones in the primary sealing caprock of a CO2 storage reservoir can result in leakage of CO2. Monitoring of leakage requires the capability to detect and resolve the onset, location, and volume of leakage in a systematic and timely manner. Pressure-based monitoring possesses such capabilities. This study demonstrates a basis for monitoring network design based on the characterization of CO2 leakage scenarios through an assessment of the integrity and permeability of the caprock inferred from above zone pressure measurements. Four representative heterogeneous fractured seal types are characterized to demonstrate seal permeability ranging from highly permeable to impermeable. Based on Bayesian classification theory, the probability of each fractured caprock scenario given above zone pressure measurements with measurement error is inferred. The sensitivity to injection rate and caprock thickness is also evaluated and the probability of proper classification is calculated. The time required to distinguish between above zone pressure outcomes and the associated leakage scenarios is also computed.

[Advanced treatment of coking wastewater with a novel heterogeneous electro-Fenton technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hai-Tao; Li, Yu-Ping; Zhang, An-Yang; Cao, Hong-Bin; Li, Xin-Gang; Zhang, Yi

2011-01-01

A novel electro-catalytic reactor, with oxygen-reduction cathode (PAQ/GF), dimensionally stable anode (IrO2-RuO2 -TiO2/ Ti) and heterogeneous catalysts, is developed for advanced treatment of coking wastewater after biological process, integrating cathodic and anodic simultaneous oxidation processes. A PAQ/GF electrode was synthesized by the electro-polymerization of 2-ethyl anthraquinone on graphite felt, which was characterized with cyclic voltametry measurements; the results indicated that the PAQ/GF electrode showed high reversibility for oxidation-reduction reaction of anthraquinone and catalytic activity for O2 reduction to H2O2; 13.5 mmol/L H2O2 was obtained after electrolysis for 6 h at -0.7 V (vs. SCE) and pH 6 with a current efficiency of 50% in a membrane reactor. Fe-Cu/Y350 catalysts, prepared by impregnation method, could catalyze the production of hydroxyl radicals (*OH) from H2O2, which was confirmed both by fading reaction of crystal violet and oxidation of *OH-probe compound (p-chlorobenzoic acid); Fe-Cu/Y350 also showed high catalytic-activity for the oxidation of organics by hypochlorous sodium, because COD removal of coking wastewater reached 26% in the catalytic process while only 11% of COD removal was obtained in the absence of Fe-Cu/Y350. COD removal of coking wastewater reached 49.4% (26.0% and 23.4% in cathodic system and anodic system, respectively) in the developed electrolytic-reactor, which was higher than that of conventional cathodic-anodic-oxidation process (29.8%). At optimal reaction condition of initial COD = 192 mg/L, I = 10A x m(-2) and pH 4-5, more than 50% COD were removed after electrolysis for 1 h. The mechanism might be as follows: in cathodic system, H2O2 is generated from reduction of O2 on PAQ/GF cathode, and catalyzed by Fe-Cu/Y350 for production of *OH, which causes mineralization and degradation of organic pollutants; in anodic system, Cl2 and HClO are generated from Cl- oxidation on IrO2-RuO2-TiO2/Ti anode and the

A multi-chip data acquisition system based on a heterogeneous system-on-chip platform

CERN Document Server

Fiergolski, Adrian

2017-01-01

The Control and Readout Inner tracking BOard (CaRIBOu) is a versatile readout system targeting a multitude of detector prototypes. It profits from the heterogeneous platform of the Zynq System-on-Chip (SoC) and integrates in a monolithic device front-end FPGA resources with a back-end software running on a hard-core ARM-based processor. The user-friendly Linux terminal with the pre-installed DAQ software is combined with the efficiency and throughput of a system fully implemented in the FPGA fabric. The paper presents the design of the SoC-based DAQ system and its building blocks. It also shows examples of the achieved functionality for the CLICpix2 readout ASIC.

Tunnel Face Stability and the Effectiveness of Advance Drainage Measures in Water-Bearing Ground of Non-uniform Permeability

Science.gov (United States)

Zingg, Sara; Anagnostou, Georg

2018-01-01

Non-uniform permeability may result in complex hydraulic head fields with potentially very high hydraulic gradients close to the tunnel face, which may be adverse for stability depending on the ground strength. Pore pressure relief by drainage measures in advance of the tunnel excavation improves stability, but the effectiveness of drainage boreholes may be low in the case of alternating aquifers and aquitards. This paper analyses the effects of hydraulic heterogeneity and advance drainage quantitatively by means of limit equilibrium computations that take account of the seepage forces acting upon the ground in the vicinity the tunnel face. The piezometric field is determined numerically by means of steady-state, three-dimensional seepage flow analyses considering the heterogeneous structure of the ground and a typical advance drainage scheme consisting of six axial boreholes drilled from the tunnel face. A suite of stability analyses was carried out covering a wide range of heterogeneity scales. The computational results show the effect of the orientation, thickness, location, number and permeability ratio of aquifers and aquitards and provide valuable indications about potentially critical situations, the effectiveness of advance drainage and the adequate arrangement of drainage boreholes. The paper shows that hydraulic heterogeneity results in highly variable face behaviour, even if the shear strength of the ground is constant along the alignment, but ground behaviour is considerably less variable in the presence of advance drainage measures.

Threshold Based Opportunistic Scheduling of Secondary Users in Underlay Cognitive Radio Networks

KAUST Repository

Song, Yao

2011-12-01

In underlay cognitive radio networks, secondary users can share the spectrum with primary users as long as the interference caused by the secondary users to primary users is below a certain predetermined threshold. It is reasonable to assume that there is always a large pool of secondary users trying to access the channel, which can be occupied by only one secondary user at a given time. As a result, a multi-user scheduling problem arises among the secondary users. In this thesis, by manipulating basic schemes based on selective multi-user diversity, normalized thresholding, transmission power control, and opportunistic round robin, we propose and analyze eight scheduling schemes of secondary users in an underlay cognitive radio set-up. The system performance of these schemes is quantified by using various performance metrics such as the average system capacity, normalized average feedback load, scheduling outage probability, and system fairness of access. In our proposed schemes, the best user out of all the secondary users in the system is picked to transmit at each given time slot in order to maximize the average system capacity. Two thresholds are used in the two rounds of the selection process to determine the best user. The first threshold is raised by the power constraint from the primary user. The second threshold, which can be adjusted by us, is introduced to reduce the feedback load. The overall system performance is therefore dependent on the choice of these two thresholds and the number of users in the system given the channel conditions for all the users. In this thesis, by deriving analytical formulas and presenting numerical examples, we try to provide insights of the relationship between the performance metrics and the involved parameters including two selection thresholds and the number of active users in the system, in an effort to maximize the average system capacity as well as satisfy the requirements of scheduling outage probability and

A comparison of methods for representing random taste heterogeneity in discrete choice models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fosgerau, Mogens; Hess, Stephane

2009-01-01

This paper reports the findings of a systematic study using Monte Carlo experiments and a real dataset aimed at comparing the performance of various ways of specifying random taste heterogeneity in a discrete choice model. Specifically, the analysis compares the performance of two recent advanced...... distributions. Both approaches allow the researcher to increase the number of parameters as desired. The paper provides a range of evidence on the ability of the various approaches to recover various distributions from data. The two advanced approaches are comparable in terms of the likelihoods achieved...

Heterogeneity in magnetic complex oxides

Science.gov (United States)

Arenholz, Elke

Heterogeneity of quantum materials on the nanoscale can result from the spontaneous formation of regions with distinct atomic, electronic and/or magnetic order, and indicates coexistence of competing quantum phases. In complex oxides, the subtle interplay of lattice, charge, orbital, and spin degrees of freedom gives rise to especially rich phase diagrams. For example, coexisting conducting and insulating phases can occur near metal-insulator transitions, colossal magnetoresistance can emerge where ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic domains compete, and charge-ordered and superconducting regions are present simultaneously in materials exhibiting high-temperature superconductivity. Additionally, externally applied fields (electric, magnetic, or strain) or other external excitations (light or heat) can tip the energy balance towards one phase, or support heterogeneity and phase coexistence and provide the means to perturb and tailor quantum heterogeneity at the nanoscale. Engineering nanomaterials, with structural, electronic and magnetic characteristics beyond what is found in bulk materials, is possible today through the technique of thin film epitaxy, effectively a method of `spray painting' atoms on single crystalline substrates to create precisely customized layered structures with atomic arrangements defined by the underlying substrate. Charge transfer and spin polarization across interfaces as well as imprinting nanoscale heterogeneity between adjacent layers lead to intriguing and important new phenomena testing our understanding of basic physics and creating new functionalities. Moreover, the abrupt change of orientation of an order parameter between nanoscale domains can lead to unique phases that are localized at domain walls, including conducting domain walls in insulating ferroelectrics, and ferromagnetic domain walls in antiferromagnets. Here we present our recent results on tailoring the electronic anisotropy of multiferroic heterostructures by

Factors behind Classroom Participation of Secondary School Students (A Gender Based Analysis)

Science.gov (United States)

Aziz, Fakhra; Quraishi, Uzma; Kazi, Asma Shahid

2018-01-01

It is evidence based conclusion that students' classroom participation makes them more motivated, supports their learning, improves their communication and promotes higher order thinking skills. The current study was an intention to investigate the current level of secondary school students' classroom participation and to identify the underlying…

In-situ secondary growth of nanocube-based Prussian-blue film as an ultrasensitive biosensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Liu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available A regular nanostructure has been widely confirmed to result ina marked improvement in material performance in biosensing applications. In the present study, a regular nanostructured Prussian blue (PB film with two heterogeneous crystal layers was synthesized in-situ using a secondary growth method. A PB seed layer was first controlled to form uniform cube-like crystal nuclei through an ultrasonic reaction with a single reactant. Then, well-defined 100 nm PB nanocubes were further crystallized on this seed layer using a self-assembly approach. In order to accelerate the electron transfer rate during the enzyme reaction for glucose detection, the graphene was used as the main cross-linker to immobilize glucose oxidase on the PB film. The as-prepared biosensor exhibited high electrocatalysis and electron conductivity for the detection of trace glucose with a sensitivity of 141.5 μA mM−1 cm−2, as well as excellent anti-interference ability in the presence of ascorbic acid and uric acid under a low operation potential of −0.05 V.

Probing Mantle Heterogeneity Across Spatial Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Hariharan, A.; Moulik, P.; Lekic, V.

2017-12-01

Inferences of mantle heterogeneity in terms of temperature, composition, grain size, melt and crystal structure may vary across local, regional and global scales. Probing these scale-dependent effects require quantitative comparisons and reconciliation of tomographic models that vary in their regional scope, parameterization, regularization and observational constraints. While a range of techniques like radial correlation functions and spherical harmonic analyses have revealed global features like the dominance of long-wavelength variations in mantle heterogeneity, they have limited applicability for specific regions of interest like subduction zones and continental cratons. Moreover, issues like discrepant 1-D reference Earth models and related baseline corrections have impeded the reconciliation of heterogeneity between various regional and global models. We implement a new wavelet-based approach that allows for structure to be filtered simultaneously in both the spectral and spatial domain, allowing us to characterize heterogeneity on a range of scales and in different geographical regions. Our algorithm extends a recent method that expanded lateral variations into the wavelet domain constructed on a cubed sphere. The isolation of reference velocities in the wavelet scaling function facilitates comparisons between models constructed with arbitrary 1-D reference Earth models. The wavelet transformation allows us to quantify the scale-dependent consistency between tomographic models in a region of interest and investigate the fits to data afforded by heterogeneity at various dominant wavelengths. We find substantial and spatially varying differences in the spectrum of heterogeneity between two representative global Vp models constructed using different data and methodologies. Applying the orthonormality of the wavelet expansion, we isolate detailed variations in velocity from models and evaluate additional fits to data afforded by adding such complexities to long

Joining of advanced materials

CERN Document Server

Messler, Robert W

1993-01-01

Provides an unusually complete and readable compilation of the primary and secondary options for joining conventional materials in non-conventional ways. Provides unique coverage of adhesive bonding using both organic and inorganic adhesives, cements and mortars. Focuses on materials issues without ignoring issues related to joint design, production processing, quality assurance, process economics, and joining performance in service.Joining of advanced materials is a unique treatment of joining of both conventional and advanced metals andalloys, intermetallics, ceramics, glasses, polymers, a

Rapid Prototyping for Heterogeneous Multicomponent Systems: An MPEG-4 Stream over a UMTS Communication Link

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorel Y

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Future generations of mobile phones, including advanced video and digital communication layers, represent a great challenge in terms of real-time embedded systems. Programmable multicomponent architectures can provide suitable target solutions combining flexibility and computation power. The aim of our work is to develop a fast and automatic prototyping methodology dedicated to signal processing application implementation on parallel heterogeneous architectures, two major features required by future systems. This paper presents the whole methodology based on the SynDEx CAD tool that directly generates a distributed implementation onto various platforms from a high-level application description, taking real-time aspects into account. It illustrates the methodology in the context of real-time distributed executives for multilayer applications based on an MPEG-4 video codec and a UMTS telecommunication link.

Access Selection Algorithm of Heterogeneous Wireless Networks for Smart Distribution Grid Based on Entropy-Weight and Rough Set

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, Min; Qu, Qinqin; Chen, Cheng; Tian, Li; Zeng, Lingkang

2017-11-01

To improve the reliability of communication service in smart distribution grid (SDG), an access selection algorithm based on dynamic network status and different service types for heterogeneous wireless networks was proposed. The network performance index values were obtained in real time by multimode terminal and the variation trend of index values was analyzed by the growth matrix. The index weights were calculated by entropy-weight and then modified by rough set to get the final weights. Combining the grey relational analysis to sort the candidate networks, and the optimum communication network is selected. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can implement dynamically access selection in heterogeneous wireless networks of SDG effectively and reduce the network blocking probability.

Radiation influence on heterogenous processes in stainless steel contact with sea-water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agayev, T.N.; Garibov, A.A.; Velibekova, G.Z.; Aliyev, A.Q.; Aliyev, S.M.

2005-01-01

increase of stainless steel samples electrical resistivity. On the base of acquired results the following conclusions have been made: - radiation defects in s.s. and influence of secondary electron radiation on contacting medium causes molecular hydrogen yield increase during sea-water radiolysis in contact with s.s.; - at the result of radiation-heterogeneous processes in stainless steel contact with sea-water at T≤523 K and D=3.06 kGy the formation of stable oxide film highly connected with the surface can be observed; - during radiation-heterogeneous processes in s.s. contact with sea-water at T≥773 K the connection of oxide Film with the surface weakens but at T≥873 K it carries destruction character. The received results are recommended to be taken into consideration during stainless steel use in conditions of their contact with sea-water and also on nuclear electric power installations

An heterogeneous nucleation model for the irradiation coloring of alkali halides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aguilar, M.; Jaque, F.; Agullo-Lopez, F.

1980-01-01

An heterogeneous nucleation model for the radiation-induced coloring of alkali halides is presented. The model assumes a primary mechanism producing F and H pairs, followed by secondary thermally activated reactions including F-H recombination as well interstitial capture. The existence of a very unstable interstitial aggregate is explicitely considered. The model is able to account for the three-stages structure of the F-coloring curve and the inhibition in the occurrence of the late-stage by lowering dose-rate or by impurity doping

Adopting reform-based pedagogy in post-secondary microbiology education

Science.gov (United States)

Bonner, Jeffery W.

Current emphasis on improving student learning and retention in post-secondary science education can potentially motivate veteran faculty to reconsider what is often a traditional, instructor-centered instructional model. Alternative models that foster a student-centered classroom environment are more aligned with research on how students learn. These models often incorporate active-learning opportunities that engage students in ways that passively taking notes in an instructor-centered classroom cannot. Although evidence is mounting that active-learning is an effective strategy for improving student learning and attitude, university professors, without formal pedagogical knowledge and training, can face uncertainty about where to start and how to implement these strategies. The research presented here was conducted in two parts under the same context during one semester of a post-secondary microbiology course. First, a quantitative study was conducted to compare collaborative and individual completion of a reform-based instructional strategy that utilized a student-centered, active-learning component. Students were evaluated on learning, critical thinking, and epistemological beliefs about biology. Results indicated no significant differences between treatment groups. Interestingly, the impact of active-learning implementations had positive effects on students' epistemological beliefs. This was a finding contradicting previous research in which epistemological beliefs became more novice-like in science majors enrolled in courses without an active-learning component. Study two represents one case in which a professor with a traditional instructional model became motivated to pursue instructional change in his introductory microbiology course. A single-case qualitative study was conducted to document the professor's initial effort at instructional reform. Results indicated that his utilization and understanding of reform-based instructional strategies improved over

Primary and secondary exercise dependence in a community-based sample of road race runners.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Brian; Karr, Trisha M; Zunker, Christie; Mitchell, James E; Thompson, Ron; Sherman, Roberta; Crosby, Ross D; Cao, Li; Erickson, Ann; Wonderlich, Stephen A

2013-10-01

The purpose of our study was to examine exercise dependence (EXD) in a large community-based sample of runners. The secondary purpose of this study was to examine differences in EXD symptoms between primary and secondary EXD. Our sample included 2660 runners recruited from a local road race (M age = 38.78 years, SD = 10.80; 66.39% women; 91.62% Caucasian) who completed all study measures online within 3 weeks of the race. In this study, EXD prevalence was lower than most previously reported rates (gamma = .248, p < .001) and individuals in the at-risk for EXD category participated in longer distance races, F(8,1) = 14.13, p = .01, partial eta squared = .05. Group differences were found for gender, F(1,1921) 8.08, p = .01, partial eta squared = .004, and primary or secondary group status, F(1,1921) 159.53, p = .01, partial eta squared = .077. Implications of primary and secondary EXD differences and future research are discussed.

High Resolution Definition of Subsurface Heterogeneity for Understanding the Biodynamics of Natural Field Systems: Advancing the Ability for Scaling to Field Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majer, Ernest L.; Brockman, Fred J.

1999-01-01

This research is an integrated project which uses physical (geophysical and hydrologic) and innovative geophysical imaging and microbial characterization methods to identify key scales of physical heterogeneities that affect bioremediation. In the this effort data from controlled laboratory and in situ experiments at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental (INEEL) Test Area North (TAN) site were used to determine the dominant physical characteristics (lithologic, structural, and hydrologic) that can be imaged in situ and correlated with flow and transport properties. Emphasis was placed on identifying fundamental scales of variation of physical parameters that control transport behavior relative to subsurface microbial dynamics that could be used to develop a predictive model. A key hypothesis of the work was that nutrient flux and transport properties are key factors in controlling microbial dynamics, and that geophysical techniques could be used to identify the critical physical properties and scales controlling transport. This hypothesis was essentially validated. The goal was not only to develop and apply methods to monitor the spatial and temporal distribution of the bioremediation in fractured sites such as TAN, but also to develop methods applicable to a wider range of DOE sites. The outcome has been an improved understanding of the relationship between physical, chemical and microbial processes in heterogeneous environments, thus applicable to the design and monitoring of bioremediation strategies for a variety of environments. In this EMSP work we demonstrated that high resolution geophysical methods have considerable resolving power, especially when linked with modern advanced processing and interpretation. In terms of basic science, in addition to providing innovative methods for monitoring bioremediation, the work also provided a strong motivation for developing and extending high resolution geophysical methods

ESPA Based Secondary Payload Orbit Maneuvering System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Busek Co. Inc. proposes to develop/design an integrated propulsion, power, ACS, and separation module for secondary ESPA payloads. The standardized secondary payload...

Effective thermal neutron absorption cross section for heterogeneous mixture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabanska, B.; Igielski, A.; Krynicka-Drozdowicz, E.; Woznicka, U.

1989-01-01

The first estimations (basing on Umiastowski's theory) of the influence of the sample heterogeneity of the effective thermal neutron absorption cross section were compared with the results obtained for the homogeneous mixture which components and concentration were the same as those of the heterogeneous sample. An experiment was prepared to determine how good this estimate is. Three artificial heterogeneous cylindrical samples (2R = H = 9 cm) were manufactured from pure silver cylinders embedded in plexiglass, keeping the Ag content and varying the size of cylinders (2R = H = 1.0 cm, 0.6 cm and 0.4 cm). Calculations performed show that the experimental effect of the sample heterogeneity can be significant. 5 figs., 5 tabs, 11 refs. (author)

Assessment of Cooperative and Heterogeneous Indoor Localization Algorithms with Real Radio Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jimmy Jessen; Noureddine, Hadi; Amiot, Nicolas

2014-01-01

In this paper we present results of real-life local- ization experiments performed in an unprecedented cooperative and heterogeneous wireless context. The experiments covered measurements of different radio devices packed together on a trolley, emulating a multi-standard Mobile Terminal (MT) along...... representative trajectories in a crowded office environment. Among all the radio access technologies involved in this campaign (including LTE, WiFi...), the focus is herein put mostly on Impulse Radio - Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) and ZigBee sub-systems, which are enabled with peer-to-peer ranging capabilities based...... on Time of Arrival (ToA) estimation and Received Signal Strength (RSS) measurements respectively. Single-link model parameters are preliminarily drawn and discussed. In comparison with existing similar campaigns, new algorithms are also applied to the measurement data, showing the interest of advanced de...

Relationship of Tree Stand Heterogeneity and Forest Naturalness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BARTHA, Dénes

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of our study was to investigate if compositional (tree species richness andstructural (vertical structure, age-structure, patterns of canopy closure heterogeneity of the canopylayer is related to individual naturalness criteria and to overall forest naturalness at the stand scale. Thenaturalness values of the assessed criteria (tree species composition, tree stand structure, speciescomposition and structure of shrub layer and forest floor vegetation, dead wood, effects of game, sitecharacteristics showed similar behaviour when groups of stands with different heterogeneity werecompared, regardless of the studied aspect of canopy heterogeneity. The greatest difference was foundfor criteria describing the canopy layer. Composition and structure of canopy layer, dead wood andtotal naturalness of the stand differed significantly among the stand groups showing consistentlyhigher values from homogeneous to the most heterogeneous group. Naturalness of the compositionand structure of the shrub layer is slightly but significantly higher in stands with heterogeneous canopylayer. Regarding other criteria, significant differences were found only between the homogeneous andthe most heterogeneous groups, while groups with intermediate level of heterogeneity did not differsignificantly from one extreme. However, the criterion describing effects of game got lowernaturalness values in more heterogeneous stands. Naturalness of site characteristics did not differsignificantly among the groups except for when stands were grouped based on pattern of canopyclosure. From the practical viewpoint it is shown that purposeful forestry operations affecting thecanopy layer cause changes in compositional and structural characteristics of other layers as well as inoverall stand scale forest naturalness.

Effect of acidic seed on biogenic secondary organic aerosol growth

Science.gov (United States)

Czoschke, Nadine M.; Jang, Myoseon; Kamens, Richard M.

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) growth in the presence of acid aerosols was studied in twin 500 l Teflon bags and in a 4 m flow reactor. In Teflon bags, isoprene, acrolein and α-pinene were all made to react individually with ozone and exposed to either acid or non-acid inorganic seed aerosols to determine the effect of acid-catalyzed heterogeneous reactions on SOA growth. α-Pinene and ozone were made to react in a flow reactor to assess the immediate effect of mixing an acid aerosol with SOA at high and low relative humidity levels. In all cases, exposure to acid seed aerosol increased the amount of SOA mass produced. Fourier transform infrared spectra of the SOA in acid systems confirmed the transformation of carbonyl functional groups through acid-catalyzed heterogeneous reactions when SOAs formed in acidic environments or were exposed to acidic aerosols. Organic products initially produced from ozonation in the gas phase partition onto the inorganic seed aerosol and react heterogeneously with an acid catalyst forming low vapor pressure products. These acid-catalyzed heterogeneous reactions are implicated in generating the increased SOA mass observed in acidic aerosol systems as they transform predominantly gas phase compounds of high volatility into low vapor pressure predominantly particle phase products.

A key heterogeneous structure of fractal networks based on inverse renormalization scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Yanan; Huang, Ning; Sun, Lina

2018-06-01

Self-similarity property of complex networks was found by the application of renormalization group theory. Based on this theory, network topologies can be classified into universality classes in the space of configurations. In return, through inverse renormalization scheme, a given primitive structure can grow into a pure fractal network, then adding different types of shortcuts, it exhibits different characteristics of complex networks. However, the effect of primitive structure on networks structural property has received less attention. In this paper, we introduce a degree variance index to measure the dispersion of nodes degree in the primitive structure, and investigate the effect of the primitive structure on network structural property quantified by network efficiency. Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis show a primitive structure is a key heterogeneous structure of generated networks based on inverse renormalization scheme, whether or not adding shortcuts, and the network efficiency is positively correlated with degree variance of the primitive structure.

A Semantic Big Data Platform for Integrating Heterogeneous Wearable Data in Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Mezghani, Emna; Exposito, Ernesto; Drira, Khalil; Da Silveira, Marcos; Pruski, Cédric

2015-12-01

Advances supported by emerging wearable technologies in healthcare promise patients a provision of high quality of care. Wearable computing systems represent one of the most thrust areas used to transform traditional healthcare systems into active systems able to continuously monitor and control the patients' health in order to manage their care at an early stage. However, their proliferation creates challenges related to data management and integration. The diversity and variety of wearable data related to healthcare, their huge volume and their distribution make data processing and analytics more difficult. In this paper, we propose a generic semantic big data architecture based on the "Knowledge as a Service" approach to cope with heterogeneity and scalability challenges. Our main contribution focuses on enriching the NIST Big Data model with semantics in order to smartly understand the collected data, and generate more accurate and valuable information by correlating scattered medical data stemming from multiple wearable devices or/and from other distributed data sources. We have implemented and evaluated a Wearable KaaS platform to smartly manage heterogeneous data coming from wearable devices in order to assist the physicians in supervising the patient health evolution and keep the patient up-to-date about his/her status.

Chondroblastoma with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst in the anterior skull base

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Jie Wang, MD, PhD

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Chondroblastoma with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC, especially in the anterior skull base, is an extremely rare condition. A 5-year-old boy presented with a large space-occupying lesion in the anterior skull base along with a left sided-epistaxis, proptosis and decreased vision. Radical excision of the lesion was performed by an endoscopic transnasal and transethmoidal approach. The patient recovered without any recurrence during a follow-up period of up to 28 months. Here, we review this rare case and discuss the clinical presentation and surgical treatment.

Advanced Approach of Multiagent Based Buoy Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Gricius, Gediminas; Drungilas, Darius; Andziulis, Arunas; Dzemydiene, Dale; Voznak, Miroslav; Kurmis, Mindaugas; Jakovlev, Sergej

2015-01-01

Usually, a hydrometeorological information system is faced with great data flows, but the data levels are often excessive, depending on the observed region of the water. The paper presents advanced buoy communication technologies based on multiagent interaction and data exchange between several monitoring system nodes. The proposed management of buoy communication is based on a clustering algorithm, which enables the performance of the hydrometeorological information system to be enhanced. The experiment is based on the design and analysis of the inexpensive but reliable Baltic Sea autonomous monitoring network (buoys), which would be able to continuously monitor and collect temperature, waviness, and other required data. The proposed approach of multiagent based buoy communication enables all the data from the costal-based station to be monitored with limited transition speed by setting different tasks for the agent-based buoy system according to the clustering information.

Homogenous and heterogenous advanced oxidation of two commercial reactive dyes.

Science.gov (United States)

Balcioglu, I A; Arslan, I; Sacan, M T

2001-07-01

Two commercial reactive dyes, the azo dye Reactive Black 5 and the copper phythalocyanine dye Reactive Blue 21, have been treated at a concentration of 75 mg l(-1) by titanium dioxide mediated photocatalytic (TiO2/UV), dark and UV-light assisted Fenton (Fe2+/H2O2) and Fenton-like (Fe3+/H2O2) processes in acidic medium. For the treatment of Reactive Black 5, all investigated advanced oxidation processes were quite effective in terms of colour, COD as well as TOC removal. Moreover, the relative growth inhibition of the azo dye towards the marine algae Dunaliella tertiolecta that was initially 70%, did not exhibit an increase during the studied advanced oxidation reactions and complete detoxification at the end of the treatment period could be achieved for all investigated treatment processes. However, for Reactive Blue 21, abatement in COD and UV-VIS absorbance values was mainly due to the adsorption of the dye on the photocatalyst surface and/or the coagulative effect of Fe3+/Fe2+ ions. Although only a limited fraction of the copper phythalocyanine dye underwent oxidative degradation, 47% of the total copper in the dye was already released after 1 h photocatalytic treatment.

The 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention': A randomised controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of an occupational therapy-based intervention in people with advanced cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilegaard, Marc Sampedro; la Cour, Karen; Gregersen Oestergaard, Lisa; Johnsen, Anna Thit; Lindahl-Jacobsen, Line; Højris, Inger; Brandt, Åse

2018-04-01

People with advanced cancer face difficulties with their everyday activities at home that may reduce their health-related quality of life. To address these difficulties, we developed the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention'. To evaluate the efficacy of the 'Cancer Home Life-Intervention' compared with usual care with regard to patients' performance of, and participation in, everyday activities, and their health-related quality of life. A randomised controlled trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02356627). The 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' is a brief, tailored, occupational therapy-based and adaptive programme for people with advanced cancer targeting the performance of their prioritised everyday activities. Home-living adults diagnosed with advanced cancer experiencing functional limitations were recruited from two Danish hospitals. They were assessed at baseline, and at 6 and 12 weeks of follow-up. The primary outcome was activities of daily living motor ability. Secondary outcomes were activities of daily living process ability, difficulty performing prioritised everyday activities, participation restrictions and health-related quality of life. A total of 242 participants were randomised either to the intervention group ( n = 121) or the control group ( n = 121). No effect was found on the primary outcome (between-group mean change: -0.04 logits (95% confidence interval: -0.23 to 0.15); p = 0.69). Nor was any effect on the secondary outcomes observed. In most cases, the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' was delivered through only one home visit and one follow-up telephone contact, which not was effective in maintaining or improving participants' everyday activities and health-related quality of life. Future research should pay even more attention to intervention development and feasibility testing.

Heterogenous mismatch-repair status in colorectal cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joost, Patrick; Veurink, Nynke; Holck, Susanne

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Immunohistochemical staining for mismatch repair proteins is efficient and widely used to identify mismatch repair defective tumors. The tumors typically show uniform and widespread loss of MMR protein staining. We identified and characterized colorectal cancers with alternative......, heterogenous mismatch repair protein staining in order to delineate expression patterns and underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Heterogenous staining patterns that affected at least one of the mismatch repair proteins MLH1, PMS2, MSH2 and MSH6 were identified in 14 colorectal cancers. Based on alternative....... CONCLUSIONS: Heterogenous mismatch repair status can be demonstrated in colorectal cancer. Though rare, attention to this phenomenon is recommended since it corresponds to differences in mismatch repair status that are relevant for correct classification. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article...

Heterogeneous silicon mesostructures for lipid-supported bioelectric interfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Yuanwen; Carvalho-de-Souza, João L.; Wong, Raymond C. S.; Luo, Zhiqiang; Isheim, Dieter; Zuo, Xiaobing; Nicholls, Alan W.; Jung, Il Woong; Yue, Jiping; Liu, Di-Jia; Wang, Yucai; De Andrade, Vincent; Xiao, Xianghui; Navrazhnykh, Luizetta; Weiss, Dara E.; Wu, Xiaoyang; Seidman, David N.; Bezanilla, Francisco; Tian, Bozhi

2016-06-27

Silicon-based materials have widespread application as biophysical tools and biomedical devices. Here we introduce a biocompatible and degradable mesostructured form of silicon with multi-scale structural and chemical heterogeneities. The material was synthesized using mesoporous silica as a template through a chemical vapour deposition process. It has an amorphous atomic structure, an ordered nanowire-based framework and random submicrometre voids, and shows an average Young’s modulus that is 2–3 orders of magnitude smaller than that of single-crystalline silicon. In addition, we used the heterogeneous silicon mesostructures to design a lipid-bilayer-supported bioelectric interface that is remotely controlled and temporally transient, and that permits non-genetic and subcellular optical modulation of the electrophysiology dynamics in single dorsal root ganglia neurons. Our findings suggest that the biomimetic expansion of silicon into heterogeneous and deformable forms can open up opportunities in extracellular biomaterial or bioelectric systems.

Advanced operation strategy for feed-and-bleed operation in an OPR1000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Bo Gyung; Yoon, Ho Joon; Kim, Jaewhan; Kang, Hyun Gook

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Advanced operating strategy covers all necessary conditions for F&B operation. • Advanced operating strategy identifies the urgency of F&B operation. • An advanced operating strategy for F&B operation is developed using a decision tree. • Human error probability is re-estimated based on a thermohydraulic analysis and K-HRA method. • An advanced operation strategy provides indications under various plant situations. - Abstract: When the secondary side is unavailable in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), heat from the core will accumulate in the primary side causing core damage. In this situation a heat removal mechanism called feed-and-bleed operation (F&B operation) must be used, which is a process of directly cooling the primary reactor cooling system (RCS). However, conventional operation strategy in emergency operating procedures (EOPs) does not cover all possible conditions to initiate F&B operation. If the EOP informs on the urgency of F&B operation, operators will be able to more clearly make decisions regarding F&B operation initiation. In order to cover all possible scenarios for F&B operation and systematically inform its urgency, an advanced operating strategy using a decision tree is developed in this study. The plant condition can be classified according to failure of secondary side, RCS pressure condition, injectable inventory to RCS, and remaining core inventory. RCS pressure, core level, and RCS temperature are representative indicators which provide information regarding the initiation of F&B operation. Indicators can be selected based on their detectability and quantification, and a decision tree is developed according to combinations of indicators. To estimate the effects of the advanced operation strategy, human error probability (HEP) of F&B operation is re-estimated based on a thermohydraulic analysis. The available time for operators to initiate F&B operation is also re-estimated to obtain more realistic data. This

Health literacy: a study of internet-based information on advance directives.

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Peter

2017-11-28

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and value of web-based information on advance directives. Internet-based information on advance directives was selected because, if it is inaccurate or difficult to understand, patients risk making decisions about their care that may not be followed in practice. Two validated health information evaluation tools, the Suitability Assessment of Materials and DISCERN, and a focus group were used to assess credibility, user orientation and effectiveness. Only one of the 34 internet-based information items on advance directives reviewed fulfilled the study criteria and 30% of the sites were classed as unreadable. In terms of learning and informing, 79% of the sites were considered unsuitable. Using health literacy tools to evaluate internet-based health information highlights that often it is not at a functional literacy level and neither informs nor empowers users to make independent and valid healthcare decisions. ©2017 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

Improving the Aircraft Design Process Using Web-based Modeling and Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, John A.; Follen, Gregory J.; Afjeh, Abdollah A.

2003-01-01

Designing and developing new aircraft systems is time-consuming and expensive. Computational simulation is a promising means for reducing design cycle times, but requires a flexible software environment capable of integrating advanced multidisciplinary and muitifidelity analysis methods, dynamically managing data across heterogeneous computing platforms, and distributing computationally complex tasks. Web-based simulation, with its emphasis on collaborative composition of simulation models, distributed heterogeneous execution, and dynamic multimedia documentation, has the potential to meet these requirements. This paper outlines the current aircraft design process, highlighting its problems and complexities, and presents our vision of an aircraft design process using Web-based modeling and simulation.

Waves spontaneously generated by heterogeneity in oscillatory media

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Xiaohua; Huang, Xiaodong; Hu, Gang

2016-05-01

Wave propagation is an important characteristic for pattern formation and pattern dynamics. To date, various waves in homogeneous media have been investigated extensively and have been understood to a great extent. However, the wave behaviors in heterogeneous media have been studied and understood much less. In this work, we investigate waves that are spontaneously generated in one-dimensional heterogeneous oscillatory media governed by complex Ginzburg-Landau equations; the heterogeneity is modeled by multiple interacting homogeneous media with different system control parameters. Rich behaviors can be observed by varying the control parameters of the systems, whereas the behavior is incomparably simple in the homogeneous cases. These diverse behaviors can be fully understood and physically explained well based on three aspects: dispersion relation curves, driving-response relations, and wave competition rules in homogeneous systems. Possible applications of heterogeneity-generated waves are anticipated.

High-performance simulation-based algorithms for an alpine ski racer’s trajectory optimization in heterogeneous computer systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dębski Roman

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Effective, simulation-based trajectory optimization algorithms adapted to heterogeneous computers are studied with reference to the problem taken from alpine ski racing (the presented solution is probably the most general one published so far. The key idea behind these algorithms is to use a grid-based discretization scheme to transform the continuous optimization problem into a search problem over a specially constructed finite graph, and then to apply dynamic programming to find an approximation of the global solution. In the analyzed example it is the minimum-time ski line, represented as a piecewise-linear function (a method of elimination of unfeasible solutions is proposed. Serial and parallel versions of the basic optimization algorithm are presented in detail (pseudo-code, time and memory complexity. Possible extensions of the basic algorithm are also described. The implementation of these algorithms is based on OpenCL. The included experimental results show that contemporary heterogeneous computers can be treated as μ-HPC platforms-they offer high performance (the best speedup was equal to 128 while remaining energy and cost efficient (which is crucial in embedded systems, e.g., trajectory planners of autonomous robots. The presented algorithms can be applied to many trajectory optimization problems, including those having a black-box represented performance measure

Generation of human secondary cardiospheres as a potent cell processing strategy for cell-based cardiac repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Hyun-Jai; Lee, Ho-Jae; Chung, Yeon-Ju; Kim, Ju-Young; Cho, Hyun-Ju; Yang, Han-Mo; Kwon, Yoo-Wook; Lee, Hae-Young; Oh, Byung-Hee; Park, Young-Bae; Kim, Hyo-Soo

2013-01-01

Cell therapy is a promising approach for repairing damaged heart. However, there are large rooms to be improved in therapeutic efficacy. We cultured a small quantity (5-10 mg) of heart biopsy tissues from 16 patients who received heart transplantation. We produced primary and secondary cardiospheres (CSs) using repeated three-dimensional culture strategy and characterized the cells. Approximately 5000 secondary CSs were acquired after 45 days. Genetic analysis confirmed that the progenitor cells in the secondary CSs originated from the innate heart, but not from extra-cardiac organs. The expressions of Oct4 and Nanog were significantly induced in secondary CSs compared with adherent cells derived from primary CSs. Those expressions in secondary CSs were higher in a cytokine-deprived medium than in a cytokine-supplemented one, suggesting that formation of the three-dimensional structure was important to enhance stemness whereas supplementation with various cytokines was not essential. Signal blocking experiments showed that the ERK and VEGF pathways are indispensable for sphere formation. To optimize cell processing, we compared four different methods of generating spheres. Method based on the hanging-drop or AggreWell™ was superior to that based on the poly-d-lysine-coated dish or Petri dish with respect to homogeneity of the product, cellular potency and overall simplicity of the process. When transplanted into the ischemic myocardium of immunocompromised mice, human secondary CSs differentiated into cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. These results demonstrate that generation of secondary CSs from a small quantity of adult human cardiac tissue is a feasible and effective cell processing strategy to improve the therapeutic efficacy of cell therapy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Education quality monitoring in a comprehensive secondary institution with the use of modern IT-based means

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Оксана Николаевна Ромашкова

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In the article one can find an example of the Balanced Score Card (BSC development for a comprehensive secondary organization. The idea of using the BSC for the education quality monitoring is justified. The interrelation between the modern IT-based means introduction and the educational process quality improvement in a comprehensive secondary organization has been set.

Dynamic heterogeneity in life histories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tuljapurkar, Shripad; Steiner, Uli; Orzack, Steven Hecht

2009-01-01

or no fixed heterogeneity influences this trait. We propose that dynamic heterogeneity provides a 'neutral' model for assessing the possible role of unobserved 'quality' differences between individuals. We discuss fitness for dynamic life histories, and the implications of dynamic heterogeneity...... generate dynamic heterogeneity: life-history differences produced by stochastic stratum dynamics. We characterize dynamic heterogeneity in a range of species across taxa by properties of the Markov chain: the entropy, which describes the extent of heterogeneity, and the subdominant eigenvalue, which...... distributions of lifetime reproductive success. Dynamic heterogeneity contrasts with fixed heterogeneity: unobserved differences that generate variation between life histories. We show by an example that observed distributions of lifetime reproductive success are often consistent with the claim that little...

Outcomes of vitrectomy for advanced diabetic retinopathy at Groote ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background. Present limitations in primary and secondary prevention of diabetic retinopathy mean that many patients with diabetes present with advanced retinal complications, often requiring surgery (vitrectomy). Objectives. To determine the outcomes of vitrectomy for advanced diabetic retinopathy and to examine ...

Guifi.net: Security analysis of a heterogeneous community network

OpenAIRE

Ramos García, Patricia

2018-01-01

Guifi.net is a heterogeneous community network that brings Internet to rural areas or vulnerable groups. This opens the door to many advances, but encompasses some risks as well. The aim of this project is to assess the general security of Guifi.net from tests performed on a key network element: the router. In particular, MikroTik and Ubiquiti are the most used makes in Guifi.net and hence, the target of this project. Basic, yet important, security settings are tested. On the plus side, the ...

Designing Domain-Specific Heterogeneous Architectures from Dataflow Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Süleyman Savas

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The last ten years have seen performance and power requirements pushing computer architectures using only a single core towards so-called manycore systems with hundreds of cores on a single chip. To further increase performance and energy efficiency, we are now seeing the development of heterogeneous architectures with specialized and accelerated cores. However, designing these heterogeneous systems is a challenging task due to their inherent complexity. We proposed an approach for designing domain-specific heterogeneous architectures based on instruction augmentation through the integration of hardware accelerators into simple cores. These hardware accelerators were determined based on their common use among applications within a certain domain.The objective was to generate heterogeneous architectures by integrating many of these accelerated cores and connecting them with a network-on-chip. The proposed approach aimed to ease the design of heterogeneous manycore architectures—and, consequently, exploration of the design space—by automating the design steps. To evaluate our approach, we enhanced our software tool chain with a tool that can generate accelerated cores from dataflow programs. This new tool chain was evaluated with the aid of two use cases: radar signal processing and mobile baseband processing. We could achieve an approximately 4 × improvement in performance, while executing complete applications on the augmented cores with a small impact (2.5–13% on area usage. The generated accelerators are competitive, achieving more than 90% of the performance of hand-written implementations.

A study on acceptance of mobileschool at secondary schools in Malaysia: Urban vs rural

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, Ahmad Sobri; Ahmad, Wan Fatimah Wan; Sarlan, Aliza

2017-10-01

Developing countries are in dilemma where sophisticated technologies are more advance as compared to the way their people think. In education, there have been many novel approaches and technologies were introduced. However, very minimal efforts were put to apply in our education. MobileSchool is a mobile learning (m-learning) management system, developed for administrative, teaching and learning processes at secondary schools in Malaysia. The paper presents the acceptance of MobileSchool between urban and rural secondary schools in Malaysia. Research framework was designed based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The constructs of the framework include computer anxiety, self-efficacy, facilitating condition, technological complexity, perceived behavioral control, perceive ease of use, perceive usefulness, attitude and behavioral intention. Questionnaire was applied as research instrument which involved 373 students from four secondary schools (two schools in urban category and another two in rural category) in Perak. Inferential analyses using hypothesis and t-test, and descriptive analyses using mean and percentage were used to analyze the data. Results showed that there were no big difference (acceptance constructs between urban and rural secondary schools except computer anxiety.

Information and Heterogeneous Beliefs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Peter Ove; Qin, Zhenjiang

2014-01-01

In an incomplete market with heterogeneous prior beliefs, we show public information can have a substantial impact on the ex ante cost of capital, trading volume, and investor welfare. The Pareto effcient public information system is the system enjoying the maximum ex ante cost of capital...... and the maximum expected abnormal trading volume. Imperfect public information increases the gains-to-trade based on heterogeneously updated posterior beliefs. In an exchange economy, this leads to higher growth in the investors' certainty equivalents and, thus, a higher equilibrium interest rate, whereas the ex...... ante risk premium is unaffected by the informativeness of the public information system. Similar results are obtained in a production economy, but the impact on the ex ante cost of capital is dampened compared to the exchange economy due to welfare improving reductions in real investments to smooth...

Advances in Biosensing Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reema Taneja

2007-02-01

Full Text Available A fractal analysis is presented for the binding and dissociation (if applicable kinetics of analyte-receptor reactions occurring on biosensor surfaces. The applications of the biosensors have appeared in the recent literature. The examples provided together provide the reader with a perspective of the advances in biosensors that are being used to detect analytes of interest. This should also stimulate interest in applying biosensors to other areas of application. The fractal analysis limits the evaluation of the rate constants for binding and dissociation (if applicable for the analyte-receptor reactions occurring in biosensor surfaces. The fractal dimension provides a quantitative measure of the degree of heterogeneity on the biosensor surface. Predictive relations are presented that relate the binding co-efficient with the degree of heterogeneity or the fractal dimension on the biosensor surface

A Distributed Dynamic Super Peer Selection Method Based on Evolutionary Game for Heterogeneous P2P Streaming Systems