Interfacial activity and rate of palladium(II) extraction with decyl pyridine monocarboxylates

Decyl isonicotiniate and decyl nicotiniate permit a rapid extraction of palladium(II) from its hydrochloride solutions. Decyl picoliniate is not a suitable extractant. 4-Octylphenylamine can act as a phase transfer catalyst when its concentration in the organic phase is at least 2·5 × 10^?4 M . It seems that the interfacial adsorption of pyridine carboxylates and of 4-octylphenylamine is not the decisive phenomenon in palladium(II) extraction. The negligible protonation of the pyridine-type extractants and the phase transfer catalysis explains well the quick extraction of palladium(II) with the commercial and highly hydrophobic extractant ACORGA CLX-50.     

Performance analysis of available bandwidth estimation tools for grid networks

Modern large-scale grid computing systems for processing advanced science and engineering applications rely on geographically distributed clusters. In such highly distributed environments, estimating the available bandwidth between clusters is a key issue for efficient task scheduling. We analyze the performance of two well known available bandwidth estimation tools, pathload and abget, with the aim of using them in grid environments. Differently than previous investigations (Jain et al., ; Shriram et al., in Passive and active network measurement: 6th international workshop, PAM 2005. Springer, Berlin, 2005), our experiments consider a series of relevant metrics such as accuracy of the estimation, convergence time, degree of intrusion in the grid links, and ability to handle multiple simultaneous estimations. No previous work has analyzed the use of available bandwidth tools for the derivation of efficient grid scheduling.     

Melatonin and the Brain–Heart Crosstalk in Neurocritically Ill Patients—From Molecular Action to Clinical Practice

Brain injury, especially traumatic brain injury (TBI), may induce severe dysfunction of extracerebral organs. Cardiac dysfunction associated with TBI is common and well known as the brain–heart crosstalk, which broadly refers to different cardiac disorders such as cardiac arrhythmias, ischemia, hemodynamic insufficiency, and sudden cardiac death, which corresponds to acute disorders of brain function. TBI-related cardiac dysfunction can both worsen the brain damage and increase the risk of death. TBI-related cardiac disorders have been mainly treated symptomatically. However, the analysis of pathomechanisms of TBI-related cardiac dysfunction has highlighted an important role of melatonin in the prevention and treatment of such disorders. Melatonin is a neurohormone released by the pineal gland. It plays a crucial role in the coordination of the circadian rhythm. Additionally, melatonin possesses strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and antiapoptotic properties and can modulate sympathetic and parasympathetic activities. Melatonin has a protective effect not only on the brain, by attenuating its injury, but on extracranial organs, including the heart. The aim of this study was to analyze the molecular activity of melatonin in terms of TBI-related cardiac disorders. Our article describes the benefits resulting from using melatonin as an adjuvant in protection and treatment of brain injury-induced cardiac dysfunction.     

Categorization of ambient media projects on their business models, innovativeness, and characteristics—evaluation of Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award Projects of 2010

Ambient Media describe media environments, where the medium is embedded within the natural environment. They follow the anytime, anywhere, and anyhow principle for media access. The Nokia Ubimedia MindTreks Awards have been established a few years ago to explore the potential of ambient media. In this article we analyze the total project portfolio submitted to the 4th Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards in 2010 according to their business value, innovativeness, and use of ambient media. The aim of this article is to gain insights into the general characteristics of ambient media, their properties, and business functions. The article rounds up in providing a substantial framework and guidelines for ambient media developers in their product designs.     

Functionalization of Nanostructured Hematite Thin‐Film Electrodes with the Light‐Harvesting Membrane Protein C‐Phycocyanin Yields an Enhanced Photocurrent

The integration of light‐harvesting proteins and other photosynthetic molecular machinery with semiconductor surfaces plays an important role in improving their performance as solar‐cell materials. Phycocyanin is one such protein that can be employed for this purpose. Phycocyanins have light‐harvesting properties and belong to the phycobilisome protein family. They are present in cyanobacteria, which capture light energy and funnel it to reaction centers during photosynthesis. Here, a way of increasing the photocurrent of hematite by covalent cross‐coupling with phycocyanin is reported. For this, a hematite–phycocyanin integrated system is assembled by consecutive adsorption and cross‐coupling of protein molecules, separated by an agarose layer and a linker molecule, on the top of a mesoporous hematite film. The hematite–phycocyanin assembly shows a two‐fold increased photocurrent in comparison with pristine hematite film. The increase in the photocurrent is attributed to the enhanced light absorption of the hematite film after integration with the protein, as is evident from the UV–vis spectra and from the photocurrent‐action spectrum. The assembly shows long‐term stability and thus constitutes a promising hybrid photoanode for photo‐electrochemical applications.     

Isolation of Failing Scan Cells through Convolutional Test Response Compaction

This paper describes a non-recursive fault diagnosis technique for scan-based designs with convolutional test response compaction. The proposed approach allows a time-efficient and accurate identification of failing scan cells using Gauss–Jordan elimination method.

SDN-based architecture for providing quality of service to high-performance distributed applications

The specification of quality of service (QoS) requirements in most of the existing networks is still challenging. In part, traditional network environments are limited by their high administrative cost, although software-defined networks (SDNs), a newer network paradigm, simplify the management of the whole network infrastructure. In fact, SDN provides a simple way to effectively develop QoS provisioning mechanisms. In this sense, we explore the SDN model and its flexibility to develop a QoS provisioning architecture. Through the use of our new architecture, network operators are able to specify QoS levels in a simple way. Each individual data flow can be addressed, and the architecture we propose also negotiates the QoS requirements between the network controller and applications. On the other hand, the network controller continuously monitors the network environment. Then, it allocates network elements resources and prioritizes traffic, adjusting the network performance. We evaluate the feasibility of our QoS provisioning mechanism by presenting three experimental setups under realistic scenarios. For example, for a given scenario where we evaluate file transfers, our results indicate that the additional SDN modules present negligible overhead. Moreover, for a given setup, we observe a reduction of up to 82% in the file transfer times.     

Hybrid and optical packet switching supporting different service classes in data center network

Photonic Network Communications - Optical packet switching is a prominent technology proposing not only a reduction in the energy consumption by the elimination of numerous...