EO/EP copolymer membranes as reservoir in a transdermal therapeutic system for caffeine and vitamin E delivery: modeling and simulation

The Maori people have always valued water as a taonga^⁎. Waitangi Tribunal^⁎ reports from the previous twenty years demonstrate this. In these reports it is concluded that the rivers and tributaries within the rohe^⁎ of the hapu^⁎ claimant groups were and are taonga of the Tangata Whenua^⁎. Water and water bodies such as rivers, lakes and wetlands, have their own mauri^⁎, which it is important for the Tangata Whenua to protect from pollution, degradation and damage. Rivers, lakes and wetlands are also key elements in the identity, whakapapa^⁎ and mana^⁎ of the hapu. In order to include indigenous perspectives appropriately in infrastructure evaluation and decision-making the Mauri Model has been created. Mauri is the central concept that this evaluation model uses to identify the Tangata Whenua perceptions of the sustainability of various techniques under consideration for proposed infrastructure development. The Mauri Model has a strong foundation in traditional Tangata Whenua values and also parallels the current policy direction being taken by Central Government in New Zealand. This enables a direct comparison between the results of a conventional analysis of techniques available and the results based on analysis of impacts on mauri within the Mauri Model. Research presented in this paper identified significant differences with regard to the appropriate use of recycled water, in particular wastewater. Recycling is a concept recognised by the Tangata Whenua; however, the integrity of the mauri in recycled water greatly influences how it can be used. Further, recycling some of these waters in a culturally consistent manner could only be achieved by returning the water to the ground or onto land.     

Cinchona Alkaloid‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Direct Aldol Reaction of N‐Boc‐Oxindoles with Polymeric Ethyl Glyoxylate

The first enantioselective direct aldol addition of N‐Boc‐oxindoles to polymeric ethyl glyoxylate is presented. The reaction is performed by using as low as 0.1 mol% (DHQ)₂PHAL and gives access to α‐hydroxycarboxylate derivatives bearing adjacent secondary alcohol and quaternary stereocenters with high levels of diastereo‐ and enantiocontrol. The use of ethyl glyoxylate in its polymeric form represents an important advantage for synthetic applications and allows us to directly install a C₂ unit ready to be converted in useful building blocks. A further one‐pot protection/deprotection sequence catalyzed by Zn(ClO₄)₂⋅6 H₂O preserved the α‐hydroxycarboxylates from racemization by means of a parasitic alcohol‐catalyzed retroaldol reaction.     

An automated algorithm for online detection of fragmented QRS and identification of its various morphologies

Fragmented QRS (f-QRS) has been proven to be an efficient biomarker for several diseases, including remote and acute myocardial infarction, cardiac sarcoidosis, non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy, etc. It has also been shown to have higher sensitivity and/or specificity values than the conventional markers (e.g. Q-wave, ST-elevation, etc.) which may even regress or disappear with time. Patients with such diseases have to undergo expensive and sometimes invasive tests for diagnosis. Automated detection of f-QRS followed by identification of its various morphologies in addition to the conventional ECG feature (e.g. P, QRS, T amplitude and duration, etc.) extraction will lead to a more reliable diagnosis, therapy and disease prognosis than the state-of-the-art approaches and thereby will be of significant clinical importance for both hospital-based and emerging remote health monitoring environments as well as for implanted ICD devices. An automated algorithm for detection of f-QRS from the ECG and identification of its various morphologies is proposed in this work which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first work of its kind. Using our recently proposed time–domain morphology and gradient-based ECG feature extraction algorithm, the QRS complex is extracted and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) with one level of decomposition, using the ‘Haar’ wavelet, is applied on it to detect the presence of fragmentation. Detailed DWT coefficients were observed to hypothesize the postulates of detection of all types of morphologies as reported in the literature. To model and verify the algorithm, PhysioNet''s PTB database was used. Forty patients were randomly selected from the database and their ECG were examined by two experienced cardiologists and the results were compared with those obtained from the algorithm. Out of 40 patients, 31 were considered appropriate for comparison by two cardiologists, and it is shown that 334 out of 372 (89.8%) leads from the chosen 31 patients complied favourably with our proposed algorithm. The sensitivity and specificity values obtained for the detection of f-QRS were 0.897 and 0.899, respectively. Automation will speed up the detection of fragmentation, reducing the human error involved and will allow it to be implemented for hospital-based remote monitoring and ICD devices.     

Skype‐Hunter: A real‐time system for the detection and classification of Skype traffic

In the previous years, Skype has gained more and more popularity, since it is seen as the best VoIP software with good quality of sound, ease of use and one that works everywhere and with every OS. Because of its great diffusion, both the operators and the users are, for different reasons, interested in detecting Skype traffic. In this paper we propose a real‐time algorithm (named Skype‐Hunter) to detect and classify Skype traffic. In more detail, this novel method, by means of both signature‐based and statistical procedures, is able to correctly reveal and classify the signaling traffic as well as the data traffic (calls and file transfers). To assess the effectiveness of the algorithm, experimental tests have been performed with several traffic data sets, collected in different network scenarios. Our system outperforms the ‘classical’ statistical traffic classifiers as well as the state‐of‐the‐art ad hoc Skype classifier. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Insect Egg Deposition Induces Indirect Defense and Epicuticular Wax Changes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Egg deposition by the Large Cabbage White butterfly Pieris brassicae on Brussels sprouts plants induces indirect defense by changing the leaf surface, which arrests the egg parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae. Previous studies revealed that this indirect defense response is elicited by benzyl cyanide (BC), which is present in the female accessory reproductive gland (ARG) secretion and is released to the leaf during egg deposition. Here, we aimed (1) to elucidate whether P. brassicae eggs induce parasitoid-arresting leaf surface changes in another Brassicacean plant, i.e., Arabidopsis thaliana, and, if so, (2) to chemically characterize the egg-induced leaf surface changes. Egg deposition by P. brassicae on A. thaliana leaves had similar effects to egg deposition on Brussels sprouts with respect to the following: (a) Egg deposition induced leaf surface changes that arrested T. brassicae egg parasitoids. (b) Application of ARG secretion of mated female butterflies or of BC to leaves had the same inductive effects as egg deposition. Based on these results, we conducted GC-MS analysis of leaf surface compounds from egg- or ARG-induced A. thaliana leaves. We found significant quantitative differences in epicuticular waxes compared to control leaves. A discriminant analysis separated surface extracts of egg-laden, ARG-treated, untreated control and Ringer solution-treated control leaves according to their quantitative chemical composition. Quantities of the fatty acid tetratriacontanoic acid (C34) were significantly higher in extracts of leaf surfaces arresting the parasitoids (egg-laden or ARG-treated) than in respective controls. In contrast, the level of tetracosanoic acid (C24) was lower in extracts of egg-laden leaves compared to controls. Our study shows that insect egg deposition on a plant can significantly affect the quantitative leaf epicuticular wax composition. The ecological relevance of this finding is discussed with respect to its impact on the behavior of egg parasitoids.     

Amino acid sequence of myoglobin from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Our objective was to determine the primary structure of white-tailed deer myoglobin (Mb). White-tailed deer Mb was isolated from cardiac muscles employing ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel-filtration chromatography. The amino acid sequence was determined by Edman degradation. Sequence analyses of intact Mb as well as tryptic- and cyanogen bromide-peptides yielded the complete primary structure of white-tailed deer Mb, which shared 100% similarity with red deer Mb. White-tailed deer Mb consists of 153 amino acid residues and shares more than 96% sequence similarity with myoglobins from meat-producing ruminants, such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goat. Similar to sheep and goat myoglobins, white-tailed deer Mb contains 12 histidine residues. Proximal (position 93) and distal (position 64) histidine residues responsible for maintaining the stability of heme are conserved in white-tailed deer Mb.     

Low prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in horses in Ohio, USA

Manure from draft animals deposited in fields during vegetable and fruit production may serve as a potential source of preharvest pathogen contamination of foods. To better quantify this risk, we determined the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in horses. Between June and September 2009, freshly voided fecal samples were collected from horses stabled on 242 separate premises in Ohio, USA. Overall, the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 was 1 of 242 (0.4% prevalence, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01 to 2.28). E. coli O157:H7 was recovered from none of the 107 equine fecal samples (0% prevalence, 95% CI = 0.00 to 3.39) that originated from locations without ruminant presence, and only 1 of the 135 horse fecal samples (0.7% prevalence, 95% CI = 0.02 to 4.06) from sites where ruminants were also present. The lone positive sample was collected from a horse that was costabled with a goat. Subsequent sampling at that location identified indistinguishable subtypes of E. coli O157:H7 present in the cohoused goat, in the environment, insects, sheep, and other goats housed in an adjacent field. E. coli O157:H7 was not isolated from the five subsequent samples from this horse. These data indicate that E. coli O157:H7 carriage by horses is an uncommon event.     

你是否遇到遮蔽问题吗？了解太阳光电系统中的遮蔽效应

将太阳能透过由太阳能面板组成的太阳光电数组转换成一般电力能源是目前市场中最具发展潜力的再生能源技术。太阳光电是成熟、强大且可靠的技术。由于政府透过补贴以及税率优惠等措施的奖励性计划大力推动太阳能应用,再加上传统电力价格势必将会逐渐提高的预期心理,使得太阳光电系统成为一项引人注目的投资项目。     

Polynomial evaluation over finite fields: new algorithms and complexity bounds

An efficient evaluation method is described for polynomials in finite fields. Its complexity is shown to be lower than that of standard techniques, when the degree of the polynomial is large enough compared to the field characteristic. Specifically, if n is the degree of the polynomiaI, the asymptotic complexity is shown to be ${O(\sqrt{n})}$ , versus O(n) of classical algorithms. Applications to the syndrome computation in the decoding of Reed-Solomon codes are highlighted.     

Electron transport in SiGe alloy nanowires in the ballistic regime from first-principles

Silicon-germanium alloying is emerging as one of the most promising strategies to engineer heat transport at the nanoscale. Here, we perform first-principles electron transport calculations to assess at what extent such approach can be followed without worsening the electrical conduction properties of the system, providing then a path toward high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.