High temperature ferroelastic phase in LiKSO4 crystals

Optical studies of LiKSO₄ crystals were performed in polarized 11yh.t within the temperature range from 300 up to 1000 K. The observations confirmed the existence of two phase transitions at about 700 and 940 K respectively. The high-temperature phase between 700 and 940 K was found to be ferroelastic.     

Embedding linear orders in grids

A grid (or a mesh) is a two-dimensional permutation: an m× n-grid of size mn is an m× n-matrix where the entries run through the elements {1,2, …, mn}. We prove that if δ₁ and δ₂ are any two linear orders on {1,2, …, N}, then they can be simultaneously embedded (in a well defined sense) into a unique grid having the smallest size.     

Doping influence on the interaction between a bioactive glass and a simulated physiological solution: Chemical and EPR tests

The adhesion between bioactive glass and metal is improved by the addition of small amounts of transition ion oxides. Because it is difficult to carry outin vivo tests to check with continuity, chemical information about the interactions of the different doped glasses with living tissues, the behaviour of the different doped bioactive glasses in a liquid simulating physiological conditions was studied. Chemical and EPR analyses show that the mineralization phenomena around the bioglasses in the tissues also take place at an inorganic level. This simulation shows that the ions released from the different vitreous systems are correlated with the adopted doping. In particular an increase in doping with iron involves a decrease in the release rate of the other ions. Furthermore the doping agents allow a control of the release rate and consequently the obtainment of the best biological adaptability.     

The Potential Role of Small-Molecule PERK Inhibitor LDN-0060609 in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Treatment

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) constitutes the most common type of glaucoma. Emerging evidence suggests that Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress and the protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK)-mediated Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) signaling pathway play a key role in POAG pathogenesis. Thus, the main aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the PERK inhibitor LDN-0060609 in cellular model of glaucoma using primary human trabecular meshwork (HTM) cells. To evaluate the level of the ER stress marker proteins, Western blotting and TaqMan gene expression assay were used. The cytotoxicity was measured by XTT, LDH assays and Giemsa staining, whereas genotoxicity via comet assay. Changes in cell morphology were assessed by phase-contrast microscopy. Analysis of apoptosis was performed by caspase-3 assay and flow cytometry (FC), whereas cell cycle progression by FC. The results obtained have demonstrated that LDN-0060609 triggered a significant decrease of ER stress marker proteins within HTM cells with induced ER stress conditions. Moreover, LDN-0060609 effectively increased viability, reduced DNA damage, increased proliferation, restored normal morphology, reduced apoptosis and restored normal cell cycle distribution of HTM cells with induced ER stress conditions. Thereby, PERK inhibitors, such as LDN-0060609, may provide an innovative, ground-breaking treatment strategy against POAG.     

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of the Ductile Al–Ti–Mo–Nb–V Refractory High Entropy Alloys

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - A number of non-equimolar refractory high entropy alloys (RF HEAs) from the Al–Ti–Mo–Nb–V system are synthesized, with the...     

Effect of Mode of Drying on Microstructure of Potato

Potato v. Irga was subjected to blanching, and thereafter was dried by convection, puff-drying, and freeze-drying. Microstructure of raw, blanched, and dried tissue was analyzed under the light microscope using computer image analysis. It was found that the tissue of the investigated variety is built up from cells much smaller than those described in literature for other cultivars. Blanching caused starch gelatinization and increase of cross-sectional area of cells. There was no evidence of broken cell walls. Convective drying resulted in cell shrinkage and some breaking of cell walls. It was estimated that some 12% of cells lost integrity during drying. Limited disintegration of the tissue caused by convective drying is attributed to small size of cells, large contact area, and high cohesive forces between cells. Puff-drying damaged the tissue much more than the convective drying. The most devastating to tissue microstructure was freeze-drying, probably freezing per se.     

Hypermobile Robots – the Survey

This article presents a survey on hypermobile robots – a group of articulated mobile robots that typically comprise of several segments with powered wheels, tracks, or legs to propel the vehicle forward. Segments are connected by 2- or 3-degree-of-freedom (DOF) joints that may or may not be powered and provide better mobility as compared with regular mobile robots. The origins are analyzed and over 14 projects are compared in order to find the best methodology of designing and developing hypermobile robots.     

An approach to reduce energy consumption and performance losses on heterogeneous servers using power capping

Journal of Scheduling - Rapid growth of demand for remote computational power, along with high energy costs and infrastructure limits, has led to treating power usage as a primary constraint in...     

Mobile context-based framework for threat monitoring in urban environment with social threat monitor

Engaging users in threat reporting is important in order to improve threat monitoring in urban environments. Today, mobile applications are mostly used to provide basic reporting interfaces. With a rapid evolution of mobile devices, the idea of context awareness has gained a remarkable popularity in recent years. Modern smartphones and tablets are equipped with a variety of sensors including accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure gauges, light and GPS sensors. Additionally, the devices become computationally powerful which allows for real-time processing of data gathered by their sensors. Universal access to the Internet via WiFi hot-spots and GSM network makes mobile devices perfect platforms for ubiquitous computing. Although there exist numerous frameworks for context-aware systems, they are usually dedicated to static, centralized, client-server architectures. There is still space for research in the field of context modeling and reasoning for mobile devices. In this paper, we propose a lightweight context-aware framework for mobile devices that uses data gathered by mobile device sensors and performs on-line reasoning about possible threats based on the information provided by the Social Threat Monitor system developed in the INDECT project.     

Recommendation of RILEM Technical Committee 250-CSM: Test method for Textile Reinforced Mortar to substrate bond characterization

Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM), also known as Fabric Reinforced Mortar or Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix, composites are an emerging technology for the external repair and strengthening of existing structures. For most applications, the effectiveness of the TRM reinforcement relies on its bond performance. This recommendation identifies the best practice to characterize the bond behaviour of TRM. A shear bond test method is proposed to determine the peak axial stress (associated with the maximum load that can be transferred from the structural member to the externally bonded TRM reinforcement), the stress–slip relationship and the failure mode that controls the TRM-to-substrate load transfer capacity. Guidelines on specimen manufacturing, experimental setup, test execution, and determination of test results are provided.