A Bayesian destructive weighted Poisson cure rate model and an application to a cutaneous melanoma data

In this article, we propose a new Bayesian flexible cure rate survival model, which generalises the stochastic model of Klebanov et al. [Klebanov LB, Rachev ST and Yakovlev AY. A stochastic-model of radiation carcinogenesis - latent time distributions and their properties. Math Biosci 1993; 113: 51-75], and has much in common with the destructive model formulated by Rodrigues et al. [Rodrigues J, de Castro M, Balakrishnan N and Cancho VG. Destructive weighted Poisson cure rate models. Technical Report, Universidade Federal de S?o Carlos, S?o Carlos-SP. Brazil, 2009 (accepted in Lifetime Data Analysis)]. In our approach, the accumulated number of lesions or altered cells follows a compound weighted Poisson distribution. This model is more flexible than the promotion time cure model in terms of dispersion. Moreover, it possesses an interesting and realistic interpretation of the biological mechanism of the occurrence of the event of interest as it includes a destructive process of tumour cells after an initial treatment or the capacity of an individual exposed to irradiation to repair altered cells that results in cancer induction. In other words, what is recorded is only the damaged portion of the original number of altered cells not eliminated by the treatment or repaired by the repair system of an individual. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are then used to develop Bayesian inference for the proposed model. Also, some discussions on the model selection and an illustration with a cutaneous melanoma data set analysed by Rodrigues et al. [Rodrigues J, de Castro M, Balakrishnan N and Cancho VG. Destructive weighted Poisson cure rate models. Technical Report, Universidade Federal de S?o Carlos, S?o Carlos-SP. Brazil, 2009 (accepted in Lifetime Data Analysis)] are presented.     

Improved device performance based on crosslinking of poly (3-hexylthiophene)

Diode devices (glass/ITO/polymer/Al) have been fabricated using poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) crosslinked with two different biaryl crosslinkers. Crosslinking was performed by exposing the thin films with different wt% of crosslinker to UV irradiation and progress of crosslinking was monitored by IR spectroscopy. An increase in hole mobility of two orders of magnitude has been observed after crosslinking.     

Fouling control in sugarcane juice ultrafiltration with surface modified polysulfone and polyethersulfone membranes

Commercial 50 and 100 kD polyethersulfone (PES) and polysulfone (PS) ultrafiltration membranes were surface modified by UV photografting of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA) monomer. The modified membranes were characterized by the degree of grafting, water flux and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) rating. The flux and fouling of the modified and unmodified membranes were examined with sugarcane juice and its polysaccharide fraction. Under the conditions of this study, the modified membranes displayed a low degree of grafting (26-36 μg/cm²), which was independent of the UV exposure duration; however, both membrane water flux and MWCO rating were affected by the irradiation time. In the best case, the modified membranes exhibited lower fouling with sugarcane juice; furthermore, the propensity to foul also decreased. More significantly, juice flux recovery was almost complete for successive UF-cleaning cycles.     

Effect of tube diameter on two‐phase flow patterns in mini tubes

The effect of tube diameter on two‐phase flow patterns was investigated in circular tubes with inner diameters of 0.6, 1.2, 1.7, 2.6, and 3.4 mm using air and water. The gas and liquid superficial velocity ranges were 0.01–50 and 0.01–3 m/s, respectively. The gas and liquid flow rates were measured and the two‐phase flow pattern images were recorded using high‐speed CMOS camera. The flow patterns observed were dispersed bubbly, bubbly, slug, slug‐annular, wavy‐annular, stratified, and annular flows. These flow patterns were not observed in all the test diameters, but were found to be unique to particular tube diameters, confirming the effect of tube diameter on the flow pattern. The data obtained were compared to existing experimental data and flow regime transition maps which show generally reasonable overall agreement at the larger diameters, but significant differences were observed with the smaller diameter tubes.     

Studies on the Behaviour of Thiourea in Bright Nickel Plating

An attempt has been made to discuss the various phenomena taking place at a nickel electrode during the deposition of bright nickel from a Watts bath containing different concentrations of thiourea. The potential, polarization and capacity measurements indicate that the decomposition products rather than thiourea itself are responsible for the increased polarization arid the decrease in capacity and so for the consequent inhibition. Spectrophotometric measurements in the ultra violet region indicate the presence of another absorption range, in addition to that corresponding to thiourea, for the solution of thiourea in a Watts bath. It remains to be confirmed, however, whether it corresponds to the nickel-thiourea complex or to the decomposition products of thiourea. Spectrophotometric measurements have also indicated that the consumption of thiourea at the cathode is greater than at the anode and the difference is still greater in the presence of oxygen.     

Influence of iron doping towards the physicochemical and biological characteristics of hydroxyapatite

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is the naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite and the most studied material as a bone substituent. Considering HAP's inherent properties, this study explored changes in HAP's characteristics from doping with other metals such as Fe. To form pure HAP and Fe-HAP with different amounts of Fe, we used the hydrothermal approach, and the composites that formed were thoroughly analyzed for their crystallinity, surface bonding, morphology, magnetic behavior, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and in vitro cytotoxicity. The powder XRD studies confirmed the samples' crystallinity, and the lowest crystalline size was 19.7 nm in 10Fe-HAP. The FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of HAP by the hydroxyl, phosphate, and carbonate groups. The FESEM demonstrated that the morphology of the pure HAP was rod-shaped, which transformed into spheres after Fe doping. The EDS analysis confirmed the successful formation of HAP and Fe-HAP composites. The magnetic studies indicated the diamagnetic behavior of the pure HAP, while the Fe-doped HAPs had a superparamagnetic nature with saturation magnetizations (M_s) of 2Fe-HAP, 4Fe-HAP, and 10Fe-HAP at 0.0062, 0.0092, and 0.029 emu/g respectively. Assessment of the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and cytotoxicity indicated that the Fe-doped HAPs were superior to the pure HAP, and among the Fe-HAPs, the 10Fe-HAP) had the highest amount of Fe and the best characteristics. The studies also indicated that Ca²⁺ interactions influenced the cells via HAP doping with that of Fe, equally increasing the physicochemical and biological properties.     

Alkaline hydrolysis of the cyclic nitramine explosives RDX,HMX, and CL-20: new insights into degradation pathways obtained by the observation of novel intermediates

Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX, I) and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) hydrolyze at pH > 10 to form end products including NO2-, HCHO, HCOOH, NH3, and N2O, but little information is available on intermediates, apart from the tentatively identified pentahydro-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohex-1-ene (II). Despite suggestions that RDX and HMX contaminated groundwater could be economically treated via alkaline hydrolysis, the optimization of such a process requires more detailed knowledge of intermediates and degradation pathways. In this study, we hydrolyzed the monocyclic nitramines RDX, MNX (hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine), and HMX in aqueous solution (pH 10-12.3) and found that nitramine removal was accompanied by formation of 1 molar equiv of nitrite and the accumulation of the key ring cleavage product 4-nitro-2,4-diazabutanal (4-NDAB, O2NNHCH2NHCHO). Most of the remaining C and N content of RDX, MNX, and HMX was found in HCHO, N2O, HCOOH, and NH3. Consequently, we selected RDX as a model compound and hydrolyzed it in aqueous acetonitrile solutions (pH 12.3) in the presence and absence of hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) to explore other early intermediates in more detail. We observed a transient LC-MS peak with a [M-H] at 192 Da that was tentatively identified as 4,6-dinitro-2,4,6-triaza-hexanal (O2NNHCH2NNO2CH2NHCHO, III) considered as the hydrolyzed product of II. In addition, we detected another novel intermediate with a [M-H] at 148 Da that was tentatively identified as a hydrolyzed product of III, namely, 5-hydroxy-4-nitro-2,4-diaza-pentanal (HOCH2NNO2CH2NHCHO, IV). Both III and IV can act as precursors to 4-NDAB. In the case of the polycyclic nitramine 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), denitration (two NO2-) also led to the formation of HCOOH, NH3, and N2O, but neither HCHO nor 4-NDAB were detected. The results provide strong evidence that initial denitration of cyclic nitramines in water is sufficient to cause ring cleavage followed by spontaneous decomposition to form the final products.     

Structural Analysis of Highly Relaxed GaSb Grown on GaAs Substrates with Periodic Interfacial Array of 90° Misfit Dislocations

We report structural analysis of completely relaxed GaSb epitaxial layers deposited monolithically on GaAs substrates using interfacial misfit (IMF) array growth mode. Unlike the traditional tetragonal distortion approach, strain due to the lattice mismatch is spontaneously relieved at the heterointerface in this growth. The complete and instantaneous strain relief at the GaSb/GaAs interface is achieved by the formation of a two-dimensional Lomer dislocation network comprising of pure-edge (90°) dislocations along both [110] and [1-10]. In the present analysis, structural properties of GaSb deposited using both IMF and non-IMF growths are compared. Moiré fringe patterns along with X-ray diffraction measure the long-range uniformity and strain relaxation of the IMF samples. The proof for the existence of the IMF array and low threading dislocation density is provided with the help of transmission electron micrographs for the GaSb epitaxial layer. Our results indicate that the IMF-grown GaSb is completely (98.5%) relaxed with very low density of threading dislocations (10⁵ cm⁻²), while GaSb deposited using non-IMF growth is compressively strained and has a higher average density of threading dislocations (>10⁹ cm⁻²).     

The application of single-pass heuristics for U-lines

U-lines have been adopted in many manufacturing settings as part of JIT implementation. In this paper, we examine the applicability of existing straight-line heuristics for obtaining a balance on a U-line. We modify 13 single-pass heuristics and study the effectiveness of various heuristics under different problem conditions. An extensive computational study is carried out to help identify the best heuristics. In addition, we compare recent U-line procedures with a single-pass heuristic using some literature problems. Based on a single-pass heuristic, we compare the configurations of a straight- and U-line.     

Coplanar QCA crossovers

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is one of the promising nextgeneration fabrics for circuits. Coplanar wire crossings are one of the more elegant features of this new low-power computing paradigm. Proposed are coplanar wire crossovers using a single type of QCA cells, which has significant implications in fabrication and fault tolerance.