A fully soft-switched extended-period quasi-resonantpower-factor-correction circuit

This paper presents the design criteria, procedure, and implementation of a soft-switched power-factor-correction (PFC) circuit based on the extended-period quasi-resonant (EPQR) principles. All power electronic devices including switches and diodes in the circuit are fully soft switched. The design method is demonstrated in a prototype circuit. The operating principles are confirmed with computer simulation and experimental results. A comparison of the EP-QR operation and zero-voltage-transition (ZVT) pulse-width modulation (PWM) method     

Cytotoxicity versus antibacterial activity of some antiseptics in vitro

The relationship between endometriosis and infertility is observed frequently. Patients with both conditions require a conservative approach to their management. Since hormonal therapy is one of those approaches, we sought to compare the efficacy of Danazol and Gestrinone in 80 infertile patients (48 and 32, respectively). Therapy lasted 6 months in both treatment groups, and all patients studied had laboratory tests performed and were clinically evaluated and classified through laparoscopy before and after therapy. The improvement of symptoms and favorable follow-up were similar with both treatments. The reestablishment of menstrual patterns and fertility were also nearly alike in both groups. However, Gestrinone was associated with fewer secondary effects and is easier to administer than Danazol. We conclude that Gestrinone is a useful medication in the management of the infertile patient with endometriosis.     

Direct contact heat transfer between two immiscible liquids during vaporization: Part II: Total evaporation time

A dilatometric technique was used to determine the total evaporation time of individual drops of furan, isopentane and cyclopentane as they rose in water. The values of total evaporation time were predicted reasonably well for each system by a different equation than was used to correlate the evaporative data for the initial 10% of the evaporative process as reported in Part I of this study. The total evaporation time data were also compared with the correlations given by Klipstein ⁽¹⁾, by Sideman and Taitel ⁽²⁾ and with the correlation which was found by the authors to best fit the total evaporative data for the three systems. In agreement with Klipstein ⁽¹⁾, the correlation for the overall heat transfer coefficient was found to be one of the form, q_A = Cd₁^2.0δt. The rate of rise of an evaporating drop for the conditions used in this study was found to be nearly equal to the instantaneous terminal velocity.     

Worst-case optimal algorithm for XPath evaluation over XML streams

We consider the XPath evaluation problem: Evaluate an XPath query Q on a streaming XML document D; i.e., determine the set Q(D) of document elements selected by Q. We mainly consider Conjunctive XPath queries that involve only the child and descendant axes. Previously known in-memory algorithms for this problem use O(|D|) space and O(|Q||D|) time. Several previously known algorithms for the streaming version use Ω(dn) space and Ω(dn|D|) time in the worst case; d denotes the depth of D, and n denotes the number of location steps in Q. Their exponential space requirement could well exceed the O(|D|) space used by the in-memory algorithms. We present an efficient algorithm that uses O(d|Q|+nc) space and O((|Q|+dn)|D|) time in the worst case; c denotes the maximum number of elements of D that can be candidates for output, at any one instant. For some worst case Q and D, the memory space used by our algorithm matches our lower bound proved in a different paper; so, our algorithm uses optimal memory space in the worst case.     

Distributed Symbolic Bounded Property Checking

In this paper we describe an algorithm for distributed, BDD-based bounded property checking and its implementation in the verification tool SymC. The distributed algorithm verifies larger models and returns results faster than the sequential version.The core algorithm distributes partitions of the state set to computation nodes after reaching a threshold size. The nodes proceed with image computation on the nodes asynchronously. The main scalability problem of this scheme is the overlap of state set partitions. We present static and dynamic overlap reduction techniques.     

Truncated O-Glycan-Bearing MUC16 Enhances Pancreatic Cancer Cells Aggressiveness via α4β1 Integrin Complexes and FAK Signaling

Elevated levels of Mucin-16 (MUC16) in conjunction with a high expression of truncated O-glycans is implicated in playing crucial roles in the malignancy of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the mechanisms by which such aberrant glycoforms present on MUC16 itself promote an increased disease burden in PDAC are yet to be elucidated. This study demonstrates that the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genetic deletion of MUC16 in PDAC cells decreases tumor cell migration. We found that MUC16 enhances tumor malignancy by activating the integrin-linked kinase and focal adhesion kinase (ILK/FAK)-signaling axis. These findings are especially noteworthy in truncated O-glycan (Tn and STn antigen)-expressing PDAC cells. Activation of these oncogenic-signaling pathways resulted in part from interactions between MUC16 and integrin complexes (α4β1), which showed a stronger association with aberrant glycoforms of MUC16. Using a monoclonal antibody to functionally hinder MUC16 significantly reduced the migratory cascades in our model. Together, these findings suggest that truncated O-glycan containing MUC16 exacerbates malignancy in PDAC by activating FAK signaling through specific interactions with α4 and β1 integrin complexes on cancer cell membranes. Targeting these aberrant glycoforms of MUC16 can aid in the development of a novel platform to study and treat metastatic pancreatic cancer.     

Dielectric properties of iron doped calcium copper titanate,CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>3.9</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>0.1</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> ceramic

Dielectric properties of iron doped CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO), viz. CaCu₃Ti_3.9Fe_0.1O₁₂ (CCTFO) prepared by a novel semi-wet route have been investigated. X-ray diffraction of powder sintered at 900 °C show formation of single phase solid solution. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed the presence of CuO rich phase at grain boundaries of CCTFO. Nature of dielectric relaxation observed above room temperature is studied using complex plane impedance analysis and modulus spectroscopy. It has been found that out of the two relaxations reported earlier above room temperature, one occurring at lower temperature is due to grainboundaries interfacial polarization.     

A Workflow Scheduling Method for Cloud Computing Platform

Wireless Personal Communications - Scheduling in computing environments such as homogeneous and heterogonous is very challenging and faces various difficulties computationally. This computing needs...     

Effects of solid-state annealing on the interfacial intermetallics between tin-lead solders and copper

The interfacial intermetallics between Cu and solder were studied for four Sn-Pb compositions at the annealing temperatures of 125°C, 150°C, and 175°C for up to 30 days. The η-phase (Cu₆Sn₅) layer formed during reflow continues to grow during annealing. An additional layer of ɛ-phase (Cu₃Sn) forms at the η/Cu interface after an incubation annealing time. The thickness results fit a power-law relationship against time with average exponents 0.69 and 0.44 for the η phase and the ɛ phase, respectively. On prolonged annealing, the proportions of the individual phases in the total layer reach a steady state.     

Distributed dynamic fault-tolerant channel allocation for cellularnetworks

Efficient allocation of communication channels is critical for the performance of cellular systems. The centralized channel allocation algorithms proposed in literature are neither robust nor scalable. Several of these algorithms are unable to dynamically adjust to spatial and temporal fluctuations in channel demand (load). We present a distributed dynamic channel allocation (DCA) algorithm in which heavily loaded regions acquire a large number of communication channels, while their lightly loaded neighbors get assigned fewer channels. As the spatial distribution of channel demand changes with time, the spatial distribution of allocated channels adjusts accordingly. The algorithm described in this paper requires minimal involvement of the mobile nodes, thus conserving their limited energy supply. The algorithm is proved to be deadlock free, starvation free, and fair. It prevents cochannel interference and can tolerate the failure of mobile as well as static nodes without any significant degradation in service. Simulation experiments demonstrate that the performance of the proposed distributed dynamic algorithm is comparable to, and for some metrics, better than that of efficient centralized dynamic algorithms where the central switch has complete and latest information about channel availability. The major advantages of the proposed algorithm over its dynamic centralized counterparts are its scalability, flexibility, and low computation and communication overheads