Genetic and Epigenomic Modifiers of Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy (DN), the most common chronic and progressive complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), strongly affects patients’ quality of life. DN could be present as peripheral, autonomous or, clinically also relevant, uremic neuropathy. The etiopathogenesis of DN is multifactorial, and genetic components play a role both in its occurrence and clinical course. A number of gene polymorphisms in candidate genes have been assessed as susceptibility factors for DN, and most of them are linked to mechanisms such as reactive oxygen species production, neurovascular impairments and modified protein glycosylation, as well as immunomodulation and inflammation. Different epigenomic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNA action have been studied in DN, which also underline the importance of “metabolic memory” in DN appearance and progression. In this review, we summarize most of the relevant data in the field of genetics and epigenomics of DN, hoping they will become significant for diagnosis, therapy and prevention of DN.     

Performance-Analyse und -Optimierung in der Softwareentwicklung

Nicht-funktionale Anforderungen an ein Softwaresystem beschreiben Aspekte, die nicht direkt die Funktionalit?t, wie sie der Benutzer sieht, betreffen.     

Surface tension measurements of Al-Ni based alloys from ground-based and parabolic flight experiments: Results from the thermolab project

Surface tension measurements of different alloys of the Al-Ni system, performed both under reduced gravity conditions in parabolic flights and on ground by conventional techniques, are presented. The alloys compositions were selected on the basis of the intrinsic compound forming tendency with the aim to allow a sensitive test of model predictions.     

Reducing sensing error in cognitive PANs through reduction of the channel set and split sensing

Cognitive radio technology necessitates accurate and timely sensing of the primary users’ activity on the chosen set of channels. If sensing error is unacceptably high, we can reduce the number of working channels so as to improve the channels-vs.-sensing nodes ratio, and undertake differential or split sensing in which subsets of sensing nodes target idle and active channels, respectively. The paper presents a probabilistic analysis of the sensing process, including the split sensing policy, and investigates the range of values in which such, incomplete sensing is capable of maintaining an accurate view of the status of the working channel set.     

Adaptive local hyperplane algorithm for learning small medical data sets

Abstract: It is not unique that only a few samples from medical studies are available for knowledge discovery. Hence, a suitable classifier for the small data set learning problem is very interesting in medical work. In this paper, we experiment with the adaptive local hyperplane algorithm on small medical data sets. The experimental results on two cancer data sets demonstrate that the proposed classifier outperforms, on average, all the other four benchmarking classifiers for learning small data sets.     

Lifetime commissioning as a tool to achieve energy‐efficient solutions

Quality control of the complete energy system is necessary if energy‐efficient solutions are to be met. To perform good building operation and quality control of a given system, it is necessary to have information about building systems and assessment tools. The paper presents Norwegian lifetime commissioning (LTC) procedures that are enabling follow‐up of the building performance during the building lifetime by establishing a generic framework on building performance data. Further, three developed assessment tools are presented: inspection algorithm for ventilation system, mass balance inspection algorithm for consumer substation, and advanced method for improved measurement of heat pump performance based on data fusion technique. The LTC procedures were tested on two case buildings. The results showed that 20% of all the defined building performance data can be monitored by BEMS. Using the mass balance inspection algorithm, it was found that fault in mass balance prevented implantation of desired temperature control for floor heating system. For heat pump performance, measurement of differential water temperature can be very erroneous. Hence, use of compressor electrical signal can give more precise data on heat pump performance. Comparative analysis showed that detailed monitoring system helps tracking energy use and fault detection in operation. Yearly and hourly profiles of energy consumption with separated use and energy carriers are given in the paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wetting and surface tension measurements on gold alloys

The surface tension and the density of some gold alloys have been measured and their wetting behaviour investigated in relation to different ceramic supports. Relationships between surface tension and density as a function of temperature are proposed.     

The impact of MAC parameters on the performance of 802.15.4 PAN

The operation of a personal area network, operating under the IEEE Standard 802.15.4 in the beacon enabled mode, is analyzed using the theory of discrete time Markov chains and M/G/1/K queues. The model includes the impact of different parameters such as packet arrival rate, number of stations, station’s buffer size, packet size, and inactive period between the beacons. We have derived several important performance parameters such as probability of access, probability that medium is idle, queue length distribution in the device, and probability distribution of the packet service time. Some important conclusions regarding the implementation of 802.15.4 networks and compatible network devices are outlined.     

Influence of Rare-Earth Dopants on Barium Titanate Ceramics Microstructure and Corresponding Electrical Properties

In this article, ytterbium and erbium oxides are used as doping materials for barium titanate (BaTiO₃) materials. The amphoteric behavior of these rare-earth ions leads to the increase of dielectric permittivity and decrease of dielectric losses. BaTiO₃ ceramics doped with 0.01–0.5 wt% of Yb₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ were prepared by conventional solid-state procedure and sintered at 1320°C for 4 h. In BaTiO₃ doped with a low content of rare-earth ions (0.01 wt%) the grain size ranged between 10 and 25 μm. With the higher dopant concentration of 0.5 wt%, the abnormal grain growth is inhibited and the grain size ranged between 2 and 10 μm. The measurements of capacitance and dielectric losses as a function of frequency and temperature have been carried out in order to correlate the microstructure and dielectric properties of doped BaTiO₃ ceramics. The temperature dependence of the dielectric constant as a function of dopant amount has been investigated.     

Discrete time neural network synthesis using input and outputactivation functions

A new very fast algorithm for synthesis of a new structure of discrete-time neural networks (NN) is proposed. For this purpose the following concepts are employed: (i) combination of input and output activation functions, (ii) input time-varying signal distribution, (iii) time-discrete domain synthesis and (iv) one-step learning iteration approach. The problem of input-output mappings of time-varying vectors is solved. Simulation results based on the synthesis of a new structure of feedforward NN of an universal logical unit are presented. The proposed NN synthesis procedure is useful for applications to identification and control of nonlinear, very fast, dynamical systems. In this sense a feedforward NN for an adaptive nonlinear robot control is designed. Finally, a new algorithm for the direct inverse modeling of input/output nonquadratic systems is discussed.