A Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture for contextual visualisation of task-based multi-dimensional energy KPIs in a manufacturing process

Existing energy-monitoring tools do not offer to monitor the basic 3 C’s of energy, that is, cost, carbon emission and more importantly direct energy consumption with its associated value-added and auxiliary components in a single envelope during the entire hierarchy of a manufacturing process. The visualisation of these hierarchical Key process indicators (KPIs), however, poses a multi-dimensional and hierarchal data visualisation problem. We in this paper introduce through Focus-plus-Context and treemap visualisation techniques, a platform-independent pervasive software solution, providing task-based contextual visualisation of hierarchical, multi-dimensional and relevant energy KPIs such as Total Production Units with total production energy consumed, Energy Intensity, Energy cost per production unit and Carbon emission through the entire manufacturing hierarchy of a product drilling down from the factory level to specific production lines, machines or processes. A comparison of existing energy management software along with multi-dimensional visualisation techniques is also presented in this paper.     

Structural and surface energy analysis of nitrogenated ta-C films

Surface and bulk properties of the Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc prepared nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) films were characterized by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), Raman spectroscopy, Atomic Force microscopy and contact angle techniques. An increase in the Nitrogen (N) content of the films is accompanied by a reduction in the sp³ fraction, confirmed via the deconvolution of the C 1 s XPS spectra. Critical Raman parameters such as peak position and peak width of the G band, defect ratio, I_D/I_G and skewness of the G line were analyzed as a function of N content. ToF-SIMS showed the variance of chemical composition with the increase in the sputtering depth. While some amount of incorporated oxygen and hydrogen were observed for all films; for high N content ta-C:N films signature of CN bonds was evident. Surface energies (both polar and dispersive components) for these ta-C:N films were analyzed in a geometric mean approach. Contact angle measurements using both deionized water and ethylene glycol reveal that upon the insertion of nitrogen into ta-C films, the initial change in the contact angle is sharp, followed by a gradual decrease with subsequent increase in N content. The variation of contact angle with increasing N content corresponds to an increase of the total surface energy with an increase of the polar component and a decrease of the dispersive component.     

Gem: an induced, immediate early protein belonging to the Ras family

A gene encoding a 35-kilodalton guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding protein, Gem, was cloned from mitogen-induced human peripheral blood T cells. Gem and Rad, the product of a gene overexpressed in skeletal muscle in individuals with Type II diabetes, constitute a new family of Ras-related GTP-binding proteins. The distinct structural features of this family include the G3 GTP-binding motif, extensive amino- and carboxyl-terminal extensions beyond the Ras-related domain, and a motif that determines membrane association. Gem was transiently expressed in human peripheral blood T cells in response to mitogenic stimulation; the protein was phosphorylated on tyrosine residues and localized to the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. Deregulated Gem expression prevented proliferation of normal and transformed 3T3 cells. These results suggest that Gem is a regulatory protein, possibly participating in receptor-mediated signal transduction at the plasma membrane.     

Analytical considerations in the use of capture-recapture to estimate prevalence: case studies of the estimation of opiate use in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain

Capture-recapture, an indirect method widely used to estimate undetected populations, has been criticized because it causes problems due to a lack of compliance with several important assumptions and model selection strategies. This paper expands on the problems encountered when applying this methodology to drug abuse estimations, specifically the prevalence of opiate use in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain, in 1993. Three samples of opiate users (from hospital emergency rooms, treatment centers, and prisons) were available in the area studied; an additional sample (mortality data) was analyzed for the city of Barcelona. Log-linear models that provided a good fit were considered, to which further model selection strategies were applied. A total of 3,207 unique individuals aged 15-44 years were identified in the three samples from the greater Barcelona area; the mortality sample from the city of Barcelona contained an additional 83 individuals. Heterogeneity was observed in different age, sex, and residence area subgroups. Population estimates differed widely according to the log-linear model chosen. Minimum Akaike's information criterion model and saturated model estimates were used to produce population prevalence rates. The main problems the authors encountered in this study were related to population definition, source heterogeneity, and assessment of an adequate model, a problem associated with sample size.     

Affective variables and school achievement: A study of possible causal influences.

Studied the predictive and causal relationship of affective variables and academic achievement (376 Ss in Grades 3–6), both concurrently and 1 yr later. Affective characteristics studied were general and academic self-concept, academic locus of control, and expectations for future academic achievement (Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Student's Perception of Ability Scale, Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire, and the Projected Academic Performance Scale) whereas levels of achievement were ascertained by end-of-year grades. The findings indicate that affective variables, especially academic self-concept, made a small but significant contribution to school grades. The data suggest a possible reciprocal interaction between affective characteristics and school achievement. Implications for children experiencing learning difficulties are discussed. (French abstract) (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A mobile virtual-distributed system architecture for supporting wireless mobile computing and communications

This paper describes a novel mobile virtual-distrubuted system architecture for supporting global mobile computing and communications. the principal contribution of this paper is to innovatively apply virtual memory concepts to mobile systems by deploying mobile-floating agents to de-couple services and resources from the underlying network and allow them to move around following their mobile users. The mobile-floating agents maintain data structures associated with a mobile user. By combining the mobile-floating agent functions with a predictive mobility management algorithm and location-aware caching and prefetching, services and user data structure are pre-connected and pre-assigned at the locations to which the user is moving. Thus, the users can maintain their data structures or immediately receive service with virtually the same efficiency as at the previous location.     

Disentangling causal relationships of a manufacturing process using genetic algorithms and six-sigma techniques

The manufacturing of hard disk drive storage is a highly competitive industry due to ever changing technology and the introduction of solid-state storage. Therefore manufacturers have introduced business improvement techniques to help leverage manufacturing advantages over competitors. This paper aims to investigate the integration of business improvement methodologies with intelligent techniques for the improvement of manufacturing efficiency. The authors use a case study based on the disentangling of causal relationships during the manufacturing of hard disk drive components. This paper reports on the application of intelligent system techniques to aid implementation of business improvement methodologies within this manufacturing environment. The results reported highlight that significant gains may be made when utilizing such a hybrid approach. The approach is validated by determining the secondary effects that degraded a previously implemented six-sigma project and also by identifying areas of investigation that enabled engineers to improve process yield.     

Pentacycloundecane-diol-based HIV-1 protease inhibitors: biological screening, 2D NMR, and molecular simulation studies

Novel compounds incorporating a pentacycloundecane (PCU) diol moiety were designed, synthesized, and evaluated as inhibitors of the wild-type C-South African (C-SA) HIV-1 protease. Seven compounds are reported herein, three of which displayed IC(50) values in the 0.5-0.6 μM range. The cytotoxicity of PCU cage peptides toward human MT-4 cells appears to be several orders of magnitude less toxic than the current antiviral medications ritonavir and lopinavir. NMR studies based on the observed through-space (1)H,(1)H distances/contacts in the EASY-ROESY spectra of three of the considered PCU peptide inhibitors enabled us to describe their secondary solution structure. Conserved hydrogen bonding interactions were observed between the hydroxy group of the PCU diol inhibitors and the catalytic triad (Asp25, Ile26, Gly27) of HIV protease in docking and molecular dynamics simulations. The biological significance and possible mode of inhibition by PCU-based HIV protease inhibitors discussed herein facilitates a deeper understanding of this family of inhibitors and their potential application to a vast number of alternative diseases related to proteases.