Orthogonality of information structures

Summary In the mathematical framework of data spaces the paper develops some important general principles of information structuring. These principles are related to the notions of redundancy of information, completeness of a set of access paths, information sharing and compounding, and virtual access to information. The results are relevant to both sequential and concurrent processing.This research is supported in part by the Office of Naval Research under Contract No. N00014-77-C-0536 through the University of Southern CaliforniaA version of this paper was presented at the Conference on Theoretical Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 15–17, 1977     

Tunable microfluidic microlenses

A novel type of liquid microlens, bounded by a microfabricated, distensible membrane and activated by a microfluidic liquid-handling system, is presented. By use of an elastomer membrane fabricated by spin coating onto a dry-etched silicon substrate, the liquid-filled cavity acts as a lens whereby applied pressure changes the membrane distension and thus the focal length. Both plano-convex and plano-concave lenses, individual elements as well as arrays, were fabricated and tested. The lens surface roughness was seen to be approximately 9 nm rms, and the focal length could be tuned from 1 to 18 mm. This lens represents a robust, self-contained tunable optical structure suitable for use in, for example, a medical environment.     

Importance-driven feature enhancement in volume visualization

This paper presents importance-driven feature enhancement as a technique for the automatic generation of cut-away and ghosted views out of volumetric data. The presented focus+context approach removes or suppresses less important parts of a scene to reveal more important underlying information. However, less important parts are fully visible in those regions, where important visual information is not lost, i.e., more relevant features are not occluded. Features within the volumetric data are first classified according to a new dimension, denoted as object importance. This property determines which structures should be readily discernible and which structures are less important. Next, for each feature, various representations (levels of sparseness) from a dense to a sparse depiction are defined. Levels of sparseness define a spectrum of optical properties or rendering styles. The resulting image is generated by ray-casting and combining the intersected features proportional to their importance (importance compositing). The paper includes an extended discussion on several possible schemes for levels of sparseness specification. Furthermore, different approaches to importance compositing are treated.     

Deterministic performance parameters for an automotive polyurethane clearcoat loaded with hydrophilic or hydrophobic nano-silica

In this study, two different nano-silica particles (hydrophilic, Aerosil TT600 and hydrophobic, Aerosil R972) were selected in order to provide the most transparent, UV-absorbent nano-clearcoats. These nano-silica particles were used to improve and optimize properties of 2-pack polyurethane clearcoats based on acrylic polyol. Micro-PIXE analysis was employed to illustrate distribution of nano-silica in the polyurethane matrix. Physical and chemical degradations were investigated via spectrophotometry and FTIR spectroscopy.Additionally, thermal stability and the ability of the clearcoats to resist simulated car wash conditions were also studied. Contrary to belief, coatings loaded with hydrophilic nano-silica which are more UV-absorbent had less durability in UV-B/H₂O accelerated tests.     

A time‐dependent multiphysics,multiphase modeling framework for carbon nanotube synthesis using chemical vapor deposition

A time‐dependent multiphysics, multiphase model is proposed and fully developed here to describe carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fabrication using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The fully integrated model accounts for chemical reaction as well as fluid, heat, and mass transport phenomena. The feed components for the CVD process are methane (CH₄), as the primary carbon source, and hydrogen (H₂). Numerous simulations are performed for a wide range of fabrication temperatures (973.15–1273.15 K) as well as different CH₄ (500–1000 sccm) and H₂ (250–750 sccm) flow rates. The effect of temperature, total flow rate, and feed mixture ratio on CNTs growth rate as well as the effect of amorphous carbon formation on the final product are calculated and compared with experimental results. The outcomes from this study provide a fundamental understanding and basis for the design of an efficient CNT fabrication process that is capable of producing a high yield of CNTs, with a minimum amount of amorphous carbon. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Crystalline Intermediate Phases in the Sol–Gel-Based Synthesis of La2NiO4+δ

X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were applied to investigate a sol–gel synthetic process for the mixed oxygen ion and electron conductor La₂NiO_4+δ with a K₂NiF₄ structure type. The development of the La₂NiO_4+δ is elucidated considering the influence of calcination temperatures and dwell times. Following the thermal decomposition of nitrate and organic precursors in an intermediate step, the lanthanum nickel oxide is obtained after a short dwell time above 750°C. This occurs by the transformation of an ultrafinely dispersed powder consisting of lanthanum oxycarbonate, lanthanum oxide, and nickel oxide. The pure La₂NiO_4+δ phase was obtained by similar solid-state reactions between nanocrystalline powder particles at just 950°C.     

Discovery of Riociguat (BAY 63‐2521): A Potent,Oral Stimulator of Soluble Guanylate Cyclase for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension

Direct stimulation of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) represents a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of a range of diseases, including the severely disabling pulmonary hypertension (PH). Optimization of the unfavorable DMPK profile of previous sGC stimulators provided riociguat, which is currently being investigated in phase III clinical trials for the oral treatment of PH.

     

Geographical origin classification of olive oils by PTR-MS

The volatile compositions of 192 olive oil samples from five different European countries were investigated by PTR-MS sample headspace analysis. The mass spectra of all samples showed many masses with high abundances, indicating the complex VOC composition of olive oil. Three different PLS-DA models were fitted to the data to classify samples into ‘country’, ‘region’ and ‘district’ of origin, respectively. Correct classification rates were assessed by cross-validation. The first fitted model produced an 86% success rate in classifying the samples into their country of origin. The second model, which was fitted to the Italian oils only, also demonstrated satisfactory results, with 74% of samples successfully classified into region of origin. The third model, classifying the Italian samples into district of origin, yielded a success rate of only 52%. This lower success rate might be due to either the small class set, or to genuine similarities between olive oil VOC compositions on this tight scale.