Polyurethane–epoxy maleate of bisphenol a semi‐interpenetrating polymer networks

Semi‐interpenetrating polymer networks were synthesized starting from polyurethane (PU) and epoxy maleate of bisphenol A (EMBA). Differential scanning calorimetry and swelling measurements showed good miscibility and the presence of the strong intermolecular interactions within the synthesized networks. The physicomechanical properties increased against PU to a maximum value with the increasing of EMBA content up to 12 wt % and then decreased with further increasing EMBA content. Generally, with exception of the elongation at the limit of elasticity, the mechanical properties improved very much under action of the UV radiation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 138–144, 2002     

Transfer functions obtained by a transform derived from the Darlington transform

A method is given for determining a family of transfer functions by transforming the poles of a known transfer function. By means of a transformation derived from the Darlington one, the attenuation characteristics and the group transit-time characteristics of the system thus obtained are expressed by means of Cheby?shev polynomials.     

Designs and concept reliance of a fully automated high-content screening platform

High-content screening (HCS) is becoming an accepted platform in academic and industry screening labs and does require slightly different logistics for execution. To automate our stand-alone HCS microscopes, namely, an alpha IN Cell Analyzer 3000 (INCA3000), originally a Praelux unit hooked to a Hudson Plate Crane with a maximum capacity of 50 plates per run, and the IN Cell Analyzer 2000 (INCA2000), in which up to 320 plates could be fed per run using the Thermo Fisher Scientific Orbitor, we opted for a 4 m linear track system harboring both microscopes, plate washer, bulk dispensers, and a high-capacity incubator allowing us to perform both live and fixed cell-based assays while accessing both microscopes on deck. Considerations in design were given to the integration of the alpha INCA3000, a new gripper concept to access the onboard nest, and peripheral locations on deck to ensure a self-reliant system capable of achieving higher throughput. The resulting system, referred to as Hestia, has been fully operational since the new year, has an onboard capacity of 504 plates, and harbors the only fully automated alpha INCA3000 unit in the world.     

Determination of the method of construction of 1650 B.C. wall paintings

In this paper, a methodology of general applicability is presented for answering the question if an artist used a number of archetypes to draw a painting or if he drew it freehand. In fact, the contour line parts of the drawn objects that potentially correspond to archetypes are initially spotted. Subsequently, the exact form of these archetypes and their appearance throughout the painting is determined. The method has been applied to celebrated Thera Late Bronze Age wall paintings with full success. It has been demonstrated that the artist or group of artists has used seven geometrical archetypes and seven corresponding well-constructed stencils (four hyperbolae, two ellipses, and one Archimedes' spiral) to draw the wall painting "Gathering of Crocus" in 1650 B.C. This method of drawing seems to be unique in the history of arts and of great importance for archaeology, and the history of mathematics and sciences, as well.     

Hydrodynamic study of fine metallic powders in an original spouted bed contactor in view of chemical vapor deposition treatments

An original gas-solid contactor was developed so as to treat by chemical vapor deposition, fine (mean diameter 23 μm) and dense (bulk density 7700 kg/m³) NiCoCrAlYTa powders with large size distribution. In order to avoid the presence of a distributor in the reactive zone, a spouted bed configuration was selected, consisting in a glass cylindrical column associated through a 60° cone to an inlet tube, connected at its bottom to a grid so as to support the powders at rest. A hydrodynamic study was conducted at ambient temperature and pressure, combining pressure drop measurements and visual observations as a function of gas velocity and of the ratio H/D of the height of the bed at rest over the bed diameter. Using conventional alumina particles belonging to Geldart's group B, it was shown that this equipment is able to ensure conventional spouted bed behavior, especially for H/D ratio equal to 1. From numerous experiments conducted with the fine metallic powders of interest, it was shown that (i) conventional pressure drop curves for spouted beds are obtained for H/D ratios between 1 and 1.8, (ii) due to the large grain size distribution of particles, minimum spouted bed velocities occur in a range rather than at precise values. Visual observations reveal the presence of the spout and fountain at the minimum spouted bed velocity and for H/D equal to 1.     

Linear-low-density polyethylene melt rheology: Extensibility and extrusion defects

This paper investigates three aspects of linear-low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) rheological properties: shear viscosity variations with shear rate and temperature, tensile behavior determined with an extensiometer, and extrusion defects. The differences in shear viscosity variation with shear rate and temperature between LLDPE and LDPE (low-density polyethylene) are shown. These differences, attributed to wider molecular weight distribution and to long chain branching (LCB) in LDPE, involve different extrusion behaviors. The lack of LCB in LLDPE can be demonstrated by comparison of the measured Newtonian viscosity with the value of the same parameter calculated from molecular weight distribution and composition law of Newtonian viscosities. The lack of LCB leads to good melt extensibility, which is shown by tensile properties of polyethylene melts determined with a non-isothermal extensiometer. The melt fracture phenomenon is studied because it promotes surface defects on bubbles in film application. Extrudate distortions are examined at the laboratory extruder outlet. This test shows differences between LLDPE and LDPE, but also between some LLDPE samples.     

Ferroelectric-to-Paraelectric Phase Transition in Barium Titanate Ceramics Investigated by Pyrocharge Measurements

Temperature dependencies of the pyrocharge were recorded in view of investigating the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition in barium titanate ceramics with average grain sizes between 0.5 m and 20 m. The transition temperature decreased with decreasing the grain size. The relatively small shift of the Curie temperature detected in these pyrocharge experiments suggests that internal stresses are the main cause of the observed grain size effects.     

A software integration approach for designing and assessing dependable embedded systems

Embedded systems increasingly entail complex issues of hardware-software (HW-SW) co-design. As the number and range of SW functional components typically exceed the finite HW resources, a common approach is that of resource sharing (i.e., the deployment of diverse SW functionalities onto the same HW resources). Consequently, to result in a meaningful co-design solution, one needs to factor the issues of processing capability, power, communication bandwidth, precedence relations, real-time deadlines, space, and cost. As SW functions of diverse criticality (e.g. brake control and infotainment functions) get integrated, an explicit integration requirement need is to carefully plan resource sharing such that faults in low-criticality functions do not affect higher-criticality functions.On this background, the main contribution of this paper is a dependability-driven framework that helps to conduct the integration of SW components onto HW resources such that the maintenance of system dependability over integration of diverse criticality components is assured by design.We first develop a clustering strategy for SW components into Fault Containment Modules (FCMs) such that error propagation via interaction is minimized. Subsequently, the rules of composition for FCMs with respect to error propagation are developed. To allocate the resulting FCMs to the existing HW resources we provide several heuristics, each optimizing particular attributes thereof. Further, a framework for assessing the goodness of the achieved HW-SW composition as a dependable embedded system is presented. Two new techniques for quantifying the goodness of the proposed mappings are introduced by examples, both based on a multi-criteria decision theoretic approach.     

PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signaling Pathway in Breast Cancer: From Molecular Landscape to Clinical Aspects

Breast cancer is a serious health problem worldwide, representing the second cause of death through malignancies among women in developed countries. Population, endogenous and exogenous hormones, and physiological, genetic and breast-related factors are involved in breast cancer pathogenesis. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a signaling pathway involved in cell proliferation, survival, invasion, migration, apoptosis, glucose metabolism and DNA repair. In breast tumors, PIK3CA somatic mutations have been reported, located in exon 9 and exon 20. Up to 40% of PIK3CA mutations are estrogen receptor (ER) positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative in primary and metastatic breast cancer. HER2 is overexpressed in 20–30% of breast cancers. HER1, HER2, HER3 and HER4 are membrane receptor tyrosine kinases involved in HER signaling to which various ligands can be attached, leading to PI3K/AKT activation. Currently, clinical studies evaluate inhibitors of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis. The main purpose of this review is to present general aspects of breast cancer, the components of the AKT signaling pathway, the factors that activate this protein kinase B, PI3K/AKT-breast cancer mutations, PI3K/AKT/mTOR-inhibitors, and the relationship between everolimus, temsirolimus and endocrine therapy.     

Watermill: An Optimized Fingerprinting System for Databases under Constraints

his paper presents a watermarking/fingerprinting system for relational databases. It features a built-in declarative language to specify usability constraints that watermarked datasets must comply with. For a subset of these constraints, namely weight-independent constraints, we propose a novel watermarking strategy which consists of translating them into an integer linear program. We show two watermarking strategies: an exhaustive one based on integer linear programming constraint solving and a scalable pairing heuristic. Fingerprinting applications, for which several distinct watermarks need to be computed, benefit from the reduced computation time of our method that precomputes the watermarks only once. Moreover we show that our method enables practical collusion-secure fingerprinting since the precomputed watermarks are based on binary alterations located at exactly the same positions. The paper includes an in-depth analysis of false hits and false misses occurrence probabilities for the detection algorithm. Experiments performed on our open source software Watermill assess the watermark robustness against common attacks, and show that our method outperforms the existing ones concerning the watermark embedding speed.