Cancer proteomics

Cancer presents high mortality and morbidity globally, largely due to its complex and heterogenous nature, and lack of biomarkers for early diagnosis. A proteomics study of cancer aims to identify and characterize functional proteins that drive the transformation of malignancy, and to discover biomarkers to detect early‐stage cancer, predict prognosis, determine therapy efficacy, identify novel drug targets, and ultimately develop personalized medicine. The various sources of human samples such as cell lines, tissues, and plasma/serum are probed by a plethora of proteomics tools to discover novel biomarkers and elucidate mechanisms of tumorigenesis. Innovative proteomics technologies and strategies have been designed for protein identification, quantitation, fractionation, and enrichment to delve deeper into the oncoproteome. In addition, there is the need for high‐throughput methods for biomarker validation, and integration of the various platforms of oncoproteome data to fully comprehend cancer biology. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 31:583–605, 2012     

Salvage of exhausted neck access using a novel inside‐out device in dialysis‐dependent patients

Chronic central venous occlusion represents a challenge for upper body central dialysis access for both surgical and endovascular interventions. The Surfacer (Surfacer Inside‐Out Access Catheter System) is a novel technique that offers a device‐based solution over various physician‐modified techniques in salvaging exhausted right‐sided neck veins for catheter placement. We report a retrospective series of four cases in which this system is used to gain upper body venous access from a single center in Singapore. This report seeks to integrate the understanding of the technical aspects of a new inside‐out device and its utility in recanalization of occluded right‐sided neck veins as it relates to Asian patients.     

Noise emission of universal motor drives

Flexural and transverse vibrations from static and dynamic components of tensioning forces in belt driven systems can cause changes in the noise radiation from the universal motors of clothes washers. This study describes a successful effort to analyze the effect of tensioning forces on noise emission of the drive system. The data show that principal parameters of tensile forces can cause parametric excitation of transverse and flexural vibrations resulting in a considerable change in the noise emissions of universal motors. Using the correlations for validation and recovery of distorted vibration and acoustic data, optimum tensioning forces, hence quieter operation of the universal motor, can be achieved     

Vehicle capacity planning system: a case study on vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper, we consider a local logistic company that provides transportation service for moving empty and laden containers within Singapore. Due to the limited capacity of its own fleet of vehicles, the company cannot handle all the job orders and have to outsource some orders to other smaller local transportation companies. The current operation of assigning jobs for outsourcing goes through two steps. In the first step, a certain percentage of jobs will be preselected for outsourcing according to some simple rules. Then at the second step, the rest of the jobs will be put into an in-house computer system which assigns jobs to its internal fleet of vehicles according to some greedy rules and the remaining jobs that cannot be served by the internal fleet of vehicles will be outsourced. This paper presents a vehicle capacity planning system (VCPS), which models the problem as a vehicle routing problem with time window constraints (VRPTW) and tabu search (TS) is applied to find a solution for the problem. From the simulation results, some new rules on how to assign jobs for outsourcing are derived, which are shown to be about 8% better than existing rules currently adopted by the company.     

空气清新器外壳模具的数控加工

介绍了利用Pro/E软件编制空气清新器外壳模具数控加工程序的过程 ,分析了该模具型腔的加工工艺 ,尤其是高速精加工策略 ,并探讨了Pro/E软件提供的各种制造几何形状在数控加工编程中的应用     

High Performance Ni Based Catalyst for Toluene Hydrocracking

The one step hydrocracking of toluene to n-paraffins was successfully carried out using a Ni-based bifunctional catalyst supported on H-ZSM-5 zeolite. Two methods of catalyst preparation were compared and a quantifiable difference in selectivity was identified depending on the preparation method. Additionally, a high C₂₊ n-alkane selectivity of ~75% was obtained with both catalysts, which is comparable to previous work using Pd. Both catalysts generated a toluene conversion of 100%.     

CFD modeling of shell-and-tube heat exchanger header for uniform distribution among tubes

Several different designs for a header type were numerically studied to achieve uniform distribution of gas phase flow in the header of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. The different geometries included the position and shape of the inlet nozzle, number of outlet tubes, and length. In numerical calculations, the k-epsilon realizable turbulent model was employed. Standard deviation was used to evaluate the uniformity of the velocity distribution among the whole outlets of the header. As a result, flow patterns in the header could be visualized by using post-processing of numerical results. The uniformity of flow distribution increased with header length, whereas it decreased with gas flow rate. Furthermore, the optimum position and shape of the inlet nozzle could be proposed for a uniform distribution of a 1.3 m-length header, the very same used for the heat exchange of the commercially viable allyl chloride process.     

Galvanostatic desorption of hydrogen from Pd layers—III. The anodic volmer reaction

The anodic Volmer reaction on equilibrated α-(PdH) electrodes has been studied using the galvanostatic technique within the anodic current range of 0.1–20 mA. The influence of the concentration of electrolyte solution (H₂SO₄ and Na₂SO₄ solutions), surface structure and temperature on the anodic transfer coefficient, α and the formal rate constant, βk⁰_a have been reported. Generally α-values diminish, while βk⁰_a-values increase with the anodic current density. This effect is stronger in so far as the electrode surface is more activated by electrodeposition of Pd-black. The apparent activation energy of the overall oxidation reaction depends on the surface structure: it is high on an unactivated surface (～ 11 kcal/g-atom H), and practically negligible on an activated surface. This is interpreted on the basis of complex structure of surface region on a (PdH) electrode.     

Human Pacman: a mobile,wide-area entertainment system based on physical,social, and ubiquitous computing

Human Pacman is a novel interactive entertainment system that ventures to embed the natural physical world seamlessly with a fantasy virtual playground by capitalizing on mobile computing, wireless LAN, ubiquitous computing, and motion-tracking technologies. Our human Pacman research is a physical role-playing augmented-reality computer fantasy together with real human–social and mobile gaming. It emphasizes collaboration and competition between players in a wide outdoor physical area which allows natural wide-area human–physical movements. Pacmen and Ghosts are now real human players in the real world, experiencing mixed computer graphics fantasy–reality provided by using the wearable computers. Virtual cookies and actual tangible physical objects are incorporated into the game play to provide novel experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds. We believe human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.