Motor Protection Characteristics of Ambient Insensitive Overload Devices

The performance of thermal overload devices with respect to the effect of ambient sensitivity factors on motor winding insulation temperatures is investigated. It is shown that ambient sensitivity characteristics must be defined in order to optimize output horsepower while maintaining insulation temperatures within design parameters.     

Selection of Materials for Pressure Vessels and Chemical Plants

The selection of materials for pressure vessels and chemical plants depends on a number of factors such as operating pressure, operating temperature, operating medium, regulations in force in the country of the plant user concerned and manufacturing possibilities. The essay clearly explains how the above specified factors individually influence the selection of materials. The article also deals with the ranges of application of certain material groups such as unalloyed and low-alloy steels, fine-grained steels, austenitic chromium-nickel steels, unalloyed ferritic chromium steels and other materials. The article closes with remarks on the operational safety of pressure vessels.     

Reduced Placental CD24 in Preterm Preeclampsia Is an Indicator for a Failure of Immune Tolerance

Introduction: CD24 is a mucin-like glycoprotein expressed at the surface of hematopoietic and tumor cells and was recently shown to be expressed in the first trimester placenta. As it was postulated as an immune suppressor, CD24 may contribute to maternal immune tolerance to the growing fetus. Preeclampsia (PE), a major pregnancy complication, is linked to reduced immune tolerance. Here, we explored the expression of CD24 in PE placenta in preterm and term cases. Methods: Placentas were derived from first and early second trimester social terminations (N = 43), and third trimester normal term delivery (N = 67), preterm PE (N = 18), and preterm delivery (PTD) (N = 6). CD24 expression was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blotting. A smaller cohort included 3–5 subjects each of term and early PE, and term and preterm delivery controls analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results: A higher expression (2.27-fold) of CD24 mRNA was determined in the normal term delivery compared to first and early second trimester cases. The mRNA of preterm PE cases was only higher by 1.31-fold compared to first and early second trimester, while in the age-matched PTD group had a fold increase of 5.72, four times higher compared to preterm PE. The delta cycle threshold (ΔCt) of CD24 mRNA expression in the preterm PE group was inversely correlated with gestational age (r = 0.737) and fetal size (r = 0.623), while correlation of any other group with these parameters was negligible. Western blot analysis revealed that the presence of CD24 protein in placental lysate of preterm PE was significantly reduced compared to term delivery controls (p = 0.026). In immunohistochemistry, there was a reduction of CD24 staining in villous trophoblast in preterm PE cases compared to gestational age-matched PTD cases (p = 0.042). Staining of PE cases at term was approximately twice higher compared to preterm PE cases (p = 0.025) but not different from normal term delivery controls. Conclusion: While higher CD24 mRNA expression levels were determined for normal term delivery compared to earlier pregnancy stages, this expression level was found to be lower in preterm PE cases, and could be said to be linked to reduced immune tolerance in preeclampsia.     

Fragmentation of the ribosome to investigate RNA-ligand interactions

RNA molecules perform a variety of important and diverse functions and, therefore, an understanding of their structure and interaction with proteins and ligands is essential. Large RNA molecules (for example, the ribosomal RNAs) are complex and hence reports describing their fragmentation into functional subdomains has provided a means for their detailed analysis. We present here an in vivo approach to study RNA-ligand interactions. This is based on the concept that an RNA fragment could mimic a drug-binding site present on the intact molecule. Overexpression of the fragment would sequester the drug thereby permitting the continued functioning of the ribosome and, thus, ensuring cell viability. Accordingly, a fragment of 16S rRNA encompassing the spectinomycin-binding domain in helix 34 (nucleotides 1046-1065 and 1191-1211) was cloned and in vivo expression resulted in drug resistance. Furthermore, an RNA fragment lacking flanking sequences to helix 34 was also selected from among a pool of random rRNA fragments and shown to confer spectinomycin resistance. A similar in vitro approach is also described for the analysis of rRNA molecules that interact with the yeast elongation factor 3 (EF-3).     

Retinal vascular tree morphology: a semi-automatic quantification

A semi-automatic method to measure and quantify geometrical and topological properties of continuous vascular trees in clinical fundus images is described. Measurements are made from binary images obtained with a previously described segmentation process. The skeletons of the segmented trees are produced by thinning,ff branch and crossing points are identified and segments of the trees are labeled and stored as a chain code. The operator selects a tree to be measured and decides if it is an arterial or venous tree. An automatic process then measures the lengths, areas and angles of the individual segments of the tree. Geometrical data and the connectivity information between branches from continuous retinal vessel trees are tabulated. A number of geometrical properties and topological indexes are derived. Vessel diameters and branching angles are validated against manual measurements and several derived geometrical and topological properties are extracted from red-free fundus images of ten normotensive and ten age- and sex-matched hypertensive subjects and compared with previously reported results.     

An Efficient Computational Alternative to 'Using Linear Programming to Design Oil Pollution Detection Schedules'

In Olson, Wright, and McKell's recent paper on the design of oil pollution detection schedules, an interesting and inventive development and application of a Markov Decision Process was presented. Optimal schedules for patrol flights of surveillance aircraft were found using linear programming. In this paper the model has been reformulated as a discrete time semi-Markov process. Significant computational advantages accrue from this alternative approach.     

A Note on a Combined Approach to the Pallet Loading Problem

In a recent paper the first author developed a dynamic-programming-based heuristic for the two-dimensional pallet loading problem. This note presents improvements to that procedure which have resulted in reductions in CPU run times of up to 1/20, as well as drastic lowering of memory requirements. A fundamental improvement in the bounding function is developed, and another improvement taken from observations of real-world pallet loaders and furniture movers is presented. Other implications of the improvements are also discussed, and results are compared.     

Satisfying due-dates in large multi-factory supply chains

A procedure is developed for the simultaneous scheduling of multi-factory supply chains, including inter-factory transportation. A job-shop scheduling procedure, known to provide near-optimal solutions to industrial-sized problems, is enhanced to include transportation elements in the fundamental model. In order to demonstrate the quality of the solutions, a lower bound calculation is compared to the procedure's solutions on a number of large-scale test problems. The lower bound is an enhancement of the classic lower bound calculation for the N-job, M-machine job shop. The computational effort in scheduling is linear in the size of the problem, and high quality solutions to large-scale problems can be obtained in seconds.