The potentiometric behaviour of copolymers of methacrylic acid in water-ethanol solutions

Summary The synthesis is reported of copolymers of styrene with methacrylic acid and of methyl methacrylate with methacrylic acid by radical copolymerization, of copolymers of methyl methacrylate with methacrylic acid by partial alkaline hydrolysis of poly(methyl methacrylate), and of block copolymers of styrene with methacrylic acid. Modified titration curves of all these copolymers were recorded in water and water-ethanol solutions. In a solution containing 50 mass.% ethanol, only small differences could be observed between the potentiometric behaviour of the individual copolymers and polymethacrylic acid. Also, there were no essential differences in any of the solvents used between the potentiometric behaviour of block copolymers of styrene with methacrylic acid, on the one hand, and polymethacrylic acid, on the other. On the contrary, maxima and minima were always observed on the modified titration curves of statistical copolymers with a higher content of the hydrophobic comonomer in solutions with a high water content. Thus, using the modified titration curves, it is possible to decide whether a given copolymer is of the block or statistical type.     

Relationship between gliadin peptide structure and their effect on the fetal chick duodenum

Summary The tendency to form a-turn in-gliadin was estimated using the B-cell determinant prediction program based on the Chou and Fasman probability of-turn formation. Six sequences possessing a high probability of-turn formation were found. A statistically high agreement was found between these six sequences and three areas in-gliadin with the occurrence of Pro-Ser-Gln-Gln sequence which has recently been considered responsible for toxicity in coeliac disease. By means of solid-phase synthesis seven peptides were obtained covering the above-mentioned regions. Their toxicity was tested using the fetal chick duodenum. The results support the suggestion that peptides containing the sequences Pro-Ser-Gln-Gln and Gln-Gln-Gln-Pro may be involved in the pathogenesis of coeliac disease.

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Beziehung zwischen der Gliadin-Peptid-Struktur und ihr Einfluß auf den fetalen Kückendarm

Zusammenfassung Die Tendenz zur Bildung einer-Umwandlung im-Gliadin wurde bei Anwendung eines mathematischen Programms zur Vorhersage von B-Zelldeterminanten bestimmt, welches auf der Wahrscheinlichkeit der-Umwandlung nach Chou und Fasman basiert. Es wurden 6 Sequenzen gefunden, die eine hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit für die Bildung von-Umwandlungen aufwiesen. Zwischen diesen 6 Sequenzen und 3 Regionen im-Gliadin mit der Sequenz Pro-Ser-Gln-Gln, die kürzlich als verantwortlich für die Toxizität bei Cöliakie angesehen wurden, konnte eine statistisch gesicherte Beziehung gefunden werden. Mittels Festphasensynthese wurden 7 Peptide erhalten, die die oben genannten Regionen überdeckten. Ihre Toxizität wurde im fetalen Kückendarm getestet. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, daß Peptide, welche die Sequenz Pro-Ser-Gln-Gln und Gln-Gln-Gln-Pro enthalten, an der Pathogenese der Cöliakie beteiligt sein könnten.

     

Microstructure and physical properties of transparent thoria-yttria ceramics

The investigation of microstructure, some electrical and optical parameters of transparent ThO₂-15 mol % yo_1.5 ceramics has shown: (a) a very low porosity, close to zero; (b) a higher electrical conductivity than is usual for ThO₂ ceramics of the same composition, with the activation energy 1.12 eV; (c) a relative permittivity _r 33 under the given conditions; (d) confirmation of a single-phase fluorite-type cubic structure by means of Raman and infrared spectra.     

Perceptually enhanced blind single-channel music source separation by Non-negative Matrix Factorization

We propose a new approach that improves perceptual quality of the separated sources in blind single-channel musical source separation. It uses the advantages of subspace learning based on Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) in which the bases represent the notes. The cost function is formulated in the form of weighted β-divergence by adopting the PEAQ auditory model defined in ITU-R BS.1387 into the source separation. The proposed perceptually weighted factorization scheme is integrated into the Non-negative Matrix Factor 2-D Deconvolution (NMF2D) and Clustered Non-negative Matrix Factorization (CNMF) to overcome the source clustering problem encountered in under-determined source separation. It is shown that the introduced perceptually weighted NMF schemes, named as PW-NMF2D and PW-CNMF, efficiently learn the bases that enable us to apply a simple resynthesis of the musical sources based on the temporal model stored in the encoding matrix. Source separation performance has been reported on musical mixtures where 1–2 dB improvement is achieved in terms of SDR, SIR and SAR compared to the state-of-the-art methods. Performance has also been evaluated by perceptual measures resulting an improvement of 2–5 in OPS, TPS, IPS and APS values.     

The Price of Anarchy in Network Creation Games Is (Mostly) Constant

We study the price of anarchy and the structure of equilibria in network creation games. A network creation game is played by n players {1,2,…,n}, each identified with a vertex of a graph (network), where the strategy of player i, i=1,…,n, is to build some edges adjacent to i. The cost of building an edge is α>0, a fixed parameter of the game. The goal of every player is to minimize its creation cost plus its usage cost. The creation cost of player i is α times the number of built edges. In the SumGame variant, the usage cost of player i is the sum of distances from i to every node of the resulting graph. In the MaxGame variant, the usage cost is the eccentricity of i in the resulting graph of the game. In this paper we improve previously known bounds on the price of anarchy of the game (of both variants) for various ranges of α, and give new insights into the structure of equilibria for various values of α. The two main results of the paper show that for α>273?n all equilibria in SumGame are trees and thus the price of anarchy is constant, and that for α>129 all equilibria in MaxGame are trees and the price of anarchy is constant. For SumGame this answers (almost completely) one of the fundamental open problems in the field—is price of anarchy of the network creation game constant for all values of α?—in an affirmative way, up to a tiny range of α.     

An architectural counterpoint in Universal Everything: Fluid Bodies exhibition

ABSTRACT

This exhibition review focuses on the quest for weaving boundaries between body-form-space-and material relationship using immersive technologies. Emerging as an architectural counterpoint, Universal Everything: Fluid Bodies exhibition held in Borusan Contemporary focuses on how we perceive the motion and form in relation to it, as well as fusing senses of kinaesthetic and synaesthetic through a data driven and motion-based visual representation. Through these algorithms, the exhibition displays how neuroarchitecture reminds us of the senses of perception. The architectural counterpoint, intention as an interaction and encounter of the body with ‘the machine’ as the ‘voyeur body’ and how this observational dialogue becomes a research methodology in understanding the nature of movement in space through digital tools.     

Fuzzy FMEA application to improve purchasing process in a public hospital

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is one of the well-known techniques of quality management that is used for continuous improvements in product or process designs. While applying this technique, determining the risk priority numbers, which indicate the levels of risks associated with potential problems, is of prime importance for the success of application. These numbers are generally attained from past experience and engineering judgments, and this way of risk assessment sometimes leads to inaccuracies and inconsistencies during priority numbering. Fuzzy logic approach is preferable in order to remove these deficiencies in assigning the risk priority numbers. In this study, a fuzzy-based FMEA is to be applied first time to improve the purchasing process of a public hospital. Results indicate that the application of fuzzy FMEA method can solve the problems that have arisen from conventional FMEA, and can efficiently discover the potential failure modes and effects. It can also provide the stability of process assurance.     

Path partitions of hypercubes

A path partition of a graph G is a set of vertex-disjoint paths that cover all vertices of G. Given a set of pairs of distinct vertices of the n-dimensional hypercube Qn, is there a path partition of Qn such that ai and bi are endvertices of Pi? Caha and Koubek showed that for 6m?n, such a path partition exists if and only if the set P is balanced in the sense that it contains the same number of vertices from both classes of bipartition of Qn.In this paper we show that this result holds even for 2m−e<n, where e is the number of pairs of P that form edges of Qn. Moreover, our bound is optimal in the sense that for every n?3, there is a balanced set P in Qn such that 2m−e=n, but no path partition with endvertices prescribed by P exists.