Impacts of supply duration on the design and performance of intermittent water distribution systems in the West Bank

This paper analyzes the intermittent water distribution system in the West Bank, Palestine. It quantifies the impacts of reduced supply duration on the hydraulics and costs of water distribution. It shows that designing systems based on intermittent supply criteria implies increasing the diameters of pipes significantly, which is expensive and infeasible. The paper recommends that studying the local conditions should precede the design of new systems to avoid reduced supply duration and related negative impacts. In addition, improving governance, revising tariffs, reducing leakage, saving water, involving the private sector, and improving water diplomacy should be considered in any water policy reform.     

Phase Space Projection of Dynamical Systems

Dynamical systems are commonly used to describe the state of time-dependent systems. In many engineering and control problems, the state space is high-dimensional making it difficult to analyze and visualize the behavior of the system for varying input conditions. We present a novel dimensionality reduction technique that is tailored to high-dimensional dynamical systems. In contrast to standard general purpose dimensionality reduction algorithms, we use energy minimization to preserve properties of the flow in the high-dimensional space. Once the projection operator is optimized, further high-dimensional trajectories are projected easily. Our 3D projection maintains a number of useful flow properties, such as critical points and flow maps, and is optimized to match geometric characteristics of the high-dimensional input, as well as optional user constraints. We apply our method to trajectories traced in the phase spaces of second-order dynamical systems, including finite-sized objects in fluids, the circular restricted three-body problem and a damped double pendulum. We compare the projections with standard visualization techniques, such as PCA, t-SNE and UMAP, and visualize the dynamical systems with multiple coordinated views interactively, featuring a spatial embedding, projection to subspaces, our dimensionality reduction and a seed point exploration tool.     

Comparative study of different methods for the assessment of print nonuniformity and their correlation with the human visual system

Print nonuniformity is the variation of optical density (reflection) on the print and can occur in several different types that can be classified into two basic groups: random and systematic variations. This article examines two types from each group of variations that are most commonly found in digital printing systems: blotches and streaks, where amplitude and size were varied. Three most commonly used methods for measuring the print nonuniformity were used: Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), ISO 13660 and Integration (also Improved Integration) method. The results obtained by measuring were compared with a visual assessment to find the link between objective and subjective analysis and to define and determine which method/parameter is the best for the measurement of which type of print (non)uniformity. The obtained results indicate the possibility of selecting the measurement parameter, but that the choice of the parameter depends on the type of nonuniformity. It is concluded that in the case of the GLCM method, the entropy and energy parameters are strongly related to the visual assessment for all three sets of samples. These parameters can be used regardless of the type of nonuniformity. The ISO G parameter can be used to measure both graininess and mottling, while the ISO M parameter is only suitable for measuring mottling. Integration method could be used to measure systematic error. On the basis of conclusions of the research, it is possible to propose the development of an industrially applicable solution for measuring print nonuniformity of digitally printed samples.     

General Anesthesia and the Young Brain: The Importance of Novel Strategies with Alternate Mechanisms of Action

Over the past three decades, we have been grappling with rapidly accumulating evidence that general anesthetics (GAs) may not be as innocuous for the young brain as we previously believed. The growing realization comes from hundreds of animal studies in numerous species, from nematodes to higher mammals. These studies argue that early exposure to commonly used GAs causes widespread apoptotic neurodegeneration in brain regions critical to cognition and socio-emotional development, kills a substantial number of neurons in the young brain, and, importantly, results in lasting disturbances in neuronal synaptic communication within the remaining neuronal networks. Notably, these outcomes are often associated with long-term impairments in multiple cognitive-affective domains. Not only do preclinical studies clearly demonstrate GA-induced neurotoxicity when the exposures occur in early life, but there is a growing body of clinical literature reporting similar cognitive-affective abnormalities in young children who require GAs. The need to consider alternative GAs led us to focus on synthetic neuroactive steroid analogues that have emerged as effective hypnotics, and analgesics that are apparently devoid of neurotoxic effects and long-term cognitive impairments. This would suggest that certain steroid analogues with different cellular targets and mechanisms of action may be safe alternatives to currently used GAs. Herein we summarize our current knowledge of neuroactive steroids as promising novel GAs.     

Customized daltonization: adaptation of different image types for observers with different severities of color vision deficiencies

Universal Access in the Information Society - The color vision deficiency, popularly called daltonism or color-blindness, manifests with limited color discrimination ranging from slightly reduced...     

Modulating Protein–Protein Interactions with Visible-Light-Responsive Peptide Backbone Photoswitches

Life relies on a myriad of carefully orchestrated processes, in which proteins and their direct interplay ultimately determine cellular function and disease. Modulation of this complex crosstalk has recently attracted attention, even as a novel therapeutic strategy. Herein, we describe the synthesis and characterization of two visible-light-responsive peptide backbone photoswitches based on azobenzene derivatives, to exert optical control over protein–protein interactions (PPI). The novel peptidomimetics undergo fast and reversible isomerization with low photochemical fatigue under alternatively blue-/green-light irradiation cycles. Both bind in the nanomolar range to the protein of interest. Importantly, the best peptidomimetic displays a clear difference between isomers in its protein-binding capacity and, in turn, in its potential to inhibit enzymatic activity through PPI disruption. In addition, crystal structure determination, docking and molecular dynamics calculations allow a molecular interpretation and open up new avenues in the design and synthesis of future photoswitchable PPI modulators.