When is optimal experimental design advantageous for the analysis of Michaelis–Menten kinetics?

A systematic analysis is performed for the estimation of parameters for the Michaelis–Menten kinetic using the dynamic mechanistic model. As quality measure the Cramer–Rao lower bond (CRLB) is used. Depending on three different optimization criteria, two different measurement errors, the process operation mode (batch and fed-batch) as well as the error of the rough estimates of the parameters used for optimal experimental design the CRLB is calculated. These values are used to decide, if optimal experimental design is favourable compared to equidistant measurement points. It will be demonstrated, that optimization criteria A and E are just slightly more favourable than criteria D. The considered measurement errors give different results, but will not change the design and the precision of the parameters significant. The fed-batch process operation gives always a significant higher precision of the parameters compared to the batch mode. If the rough estimated parameter values, with which the optimal experimental design is carried out, are just known with low accuracy equidistant measurement points are in favour to model-based optimal experimental design. Using a batch process the error of the rough value of k₂ (=v_max/E_tot) must be smaller than 17% and of K_m smaller than 40% so an optimal experimental design is worth for the parameter estimation. For fed-batch the errors of the rough estimates can be even bigger (up to 40% for k₂ and 68% for K_m).     

Defeating Colluding Nodes in Desktop Grid Computing Platforms

Desktop Grid systems reached a preeminent place among the most powerful computing platforms in the planet. Unfortunately, they are extremely vulnerable to mischief, because computing projects exert no administrative or technical control on volunteers. These can very easily output bad results, due to software or hardware glitches (resulting from over-clocking for instance), to get unfair computational credit, or simply to ruin the project. To mitigate this problem, Desktop Grid servers replicate work units and apply majority voting, typically on 2 or 3 results. In this paper, we observe that simple majority voting is powerless against malicious volunteers that collude to attack the project. We argue that to identify this type of attack and to spot colluding nodes, each work unit needs at least 3 voters. In addition, we propose to post-process the voting pools in two steps. i) In the first step, we use a statistical approach to identify nodes that were not colluding, but submitted bad results; ii) then, we use a rather simple principle to go after malicious nodes which acted together: they might have won conflicting voting pools against nodes that were not identified in step i. We use simulation to show that our heuristic can be quite effective against colluding nodes, in scenarios where honest nodes form a majority.     

Antioxidant effect of drugs used in cardiovascular therapy

With respect to clinical signs of the radiation syndromes, some remarkable species variations exist. For example the marked delayed reaction of the acute hematologic response in cows. An unusually high sensitivity of the central nervous system is found in burros, which is probably caused by acute vascular and/or metabolic changes in the brain. The species-specific number of intestinal crypt and hemopoietic stem cells may explain the early survival differences among species after high doses of irradiation. Mortality due to acute radiation syndromes is lowest in chickens. Regarding late effects, various neoplasms are typical in dogs, and cattle more commonly develop cataracts.     

Deformed reverse osmosis membrane and low pressure operation

The phenomena of hysteresis described elsewhere in cellulose acetate RO membranes are discussed, in order to show that the pressure normally required by the desalting process produces two effects: one deforming the membrane and the other maintaining the flux through the deformed membrane. This paper shows that the use of independently deformed membranes can permit a lower operating pressure while maintaining the rejection factor and flux in the effluent water.     

Comparing the quality of life of cities that gained and lost population: An assessment with DEA and the Malmquist index

This study compares the quality of life (QoL) of cities that lost population with that of cities that gained population. A unique dataset composed of observations for 11 dimensions of QoL for all mainland Portuguese cities is used. By employing a non-parametric approach (data envelopment analysis), and by using a Malmquist-type index, this study identifies differences in QoL between the group of cities that lost population and the group of cities that gained population, as well as differences within each group. Despite the heterogeneity in cities that shrunk, this group presents, on average, higher QoL than cities that have grown.     

Influence of processing conditions on the morphological and mechanical properties of compatibilized PP/LCP blends

The main aim of this work is to study the influence of the application of different processing conditions on the morphological and mechanical properties of thermoplastic/LCP blends, in which the viscosity ratios are inferior to unity and decrease with increasing temperature. The way the microstructure evolves along the extruder determines the final morphology and thus, the mechanical performance of the systems. In the present case, the mechanical properties are related with the degree of fibrillation in the final composites. The best degree of fibrillation was obtained for low screw speeds and temperatures and for intermediate outputs. The use of high screw speeds and processing temperatures results in a decrease of the viscosity ratio, in the former case via an increase in the viscous dissipation, at the regions of higher shear rates (kneading‐elements). The application of a lower processing temperature is advantageous for deformation, break‐up, and fibrillar formation because of the higher viscosity ratios and higher shear stresses involved. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Optical fibre-based micro-analyser for indirect measurements of volatile amines levels in fish

An analytical method based on optical fibre (OF) detection has been developed and validated for monitoring of trimethylamine (TMA) and dimethylamine (DMA) in fish handling environments and for non invasive assessment of fish quality.