Integrated Behavior of Artificial Skin

This paper deals with a system of planary distributed transducers called "Artificial skin." The material used for this purpose is soft, homogeneous and elastic. The Belgrade hand prosthesis is covered with it. The aim of this paper is to find those properties of the sensor unit which would enable the optimal integrated behavior of the whole system to be obtained. Two basic integral properties of artificial skin are implemented: tactile perception and perception proportional to pressure on the skin. From this it is possible to have slipping perception of the grasped objects.     

Development and Application of a Decision Support System for Human Reliability Assessment – A Case Study of an Electric Power Company

This paper describes the human reliability assessment using absolute probability judgment (APJ) method in the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS). Taking into account conventional APJ approach, a new decision support tool EPS‐APJ was developed. The EPS‐APJ tool is intended for use by a group of experts for human error probability assessment. The basic goal of the tool is to facilitate the process of decision‐making by experts, in the complex environment of the electric power companies. The usefulness of this new tool is approved in a case study of use of the EPS‐APJ for the purpose of the analysis of a repair intervention on a 10/0.4‐kV steel lattice tower ‘Nogaje’, in the EPS. For the purpose of this study, a database on work‐related injuries, accidents, and critical interventions occurred over a 10‐year period was created. The research comprised analysis of 1074 workplaces, with the total of 3997 employees. The case study performed at the EPS has confirmed that the EPS‐APJ tool for quantification of human errors is highly applicable, comprehensive, and simple to use. Comparison of the results obtained by application of the EPS‐APJ tool versus the basic APJ method has confirmed the accuracy of the decision support tool, and significant speed advantage in conducting an expert evaluation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gene Mutation Profiles in Primary Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma of Central Nervous System: Next Generation Sequencing Analyses

The existence of a potential primary central nervous system lymphoma-specific genomic signature that differs from the systemic form of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has been suggested, but is still controversial. We investigated 19 patients with primary DLBCL of central nervous system (DLBCL CNS) using the TruSeq Amplicon Cancer Panel (TSACP) for 48 cancer-related genes. Next generation sequencing (NGS) analyses have revealed that over 80% of potentially protein-changing mutations were located in eight genes (CTNNB1, PIK3CA, PTEN, ATM, KRAS, PTPN11, TP53 and JAK3), pointing to the potential role of these genes in lymphomagenesis. TP53 was the only gene harboring mutations in all 19 patients. In addition, the presence of mutated TP53 and ATM genes correlated with a higher total number of mutations in other analyzed genes. Furthermore, the presence of mutated ATM correlated with poorer event-free survival (EFS) (p = 0.036). The presence of the mutated SMO gene correlated with earlier disease relapse (p = 0.023), inferior event-free survival (p = 0.011) and overall survival (OS) (p = 0.017), while mutations in the PTEN gene were associated with inferior OS (p = 0.048). Our findings suggest that the TP53 and ATM genes could be involved in the molecular pathophysiology of primary DLBCL CNS, whereas mutations in the PTEN and SMO genes could affect survival regardless of the initial treatment approach.     

The identification of exported proteins with gene fusions to invasin

Exported proteins are integral to understanding the biology of bacterial organisms. They have special significance in pathogenesis research because they can mediate critical interactions between pathogens and eukaryotic cell surfaces. Further, they frequently serve as targets for vaccines and diagnostic tests. The commonly used genetic assays for identifying exported proteins use fusions to alkaline phosphatase or beta-lactamase. These systems are not ideal for identifying outer membrane proteins because they identify a large number of inner membrane proteins as well. We addressed this problem by developing a gene fusion system that preferentially identifies proteins that contain cleavable signal sequences and are released from the inner membrane. This system selects fusions that restore outer membrane localization to an amino terminal-truncated Yersinia pseudotuberculosis invasin derivative. In the present study, a variety of Salmonella typhimurium proteins that localize beyond the inner membrane were identified with gene fusions to this invasin derivative. Previously undescribed proteins identified include ones that share homology with components of fimbrial operons, multiple drug resistance efflux pumps and a haemolysin. All of the positive clones analysed contain cleavable signal sequences. Moreover, over 40% of the genes identified encode putative outer membrane proteins. This system has several features that may make it especially useful in the study of genetically intractable organisms.     

Correlation between crystal structure and morphology of potentiostatically electrodeposited silver dendritic nanostructures

Silver dendritic nanonstructures obtained by the potentiostatic electrolysis from different electrolytes at different overpotentials were characterized by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique and X-ray diffraction analysis of the produced particles. The needle-like and fern-like dendrites were formed from the nitrate electrolyte at overpotentials inside and outside plateaus of the limiting diffusion current density, respectively. The three-dimensional pine-like dendrites constructed from approximately spherical grains were formed from the ammonium electrolyte at overpotentials both inside and outside plateaus of the limiting diffusion current density. The morphology of silver dendrites was correlated with their crystal structure at the semi quantiative level. The change of crystal orientation from the strong (111) preferred orientation for the needle-like dendrites to almost randomly orientied spherical grains in the pine-like dendrites obtained at the overpotential outside the plateau of the limiting diffusion current density was observed. This trend in change of crystal orientation and morphology of Ag nanostructures was accompanied by considerable increase of the specific surface area (SSA) of the produced powders. The average crystallite sizes were in the range of 38–50 nm, proving nanostructural character of the formed Ag particles.     

A novel active soft switching snubber designed for boost converter

A novel active snubber for the boost converter is presented in this paper. The main novelty in this solution is that auxiliary (snubber) switch takes part in energy transfer from source to output. Although equal currents do not flow through the boost and snubber switches they operate in parallel during most of the time they are turned on. Zero-voltage turn-off and zero-current turn-on for both switches, and reduced reverse-recovery-related losses in the boost switch and diode are achieved as well. Very simple and reliable control circuit is employed because nonisolated gate-drive signals are the same for both switches.