A novel approach in the estimation of splashing in the BOF

A new physical model has been developed to represent the splashing behaviour in the BOF. By this technique, which is performed by a relatively simple experimental set‐up, determination of splashing distribution on the walls of the model is possible. The method enables quite fast definition of the effect of different blowing parameters on the location and quantity of liquid splashed. The main advantage of this novel method is the fact that splashes are collected from the whole model wall circumference which is very important when interaction between lance jet cavities and bottom blowing plumes results in irregular splashing distribution. Preliminary results show that the method is excellently suited for investigation of splashing in the BOF.     

HIBI Communication Network for System-on-Chip

This paper presents a communication network targeted for complex system-on-chip (SoC) and network-on-chip (NoC) designs. The Heterogeneous IP Block Interconnection (HIBI) aims at maximum efficiency and minimum energy per transmitted bit combined with quality-of-service (QoS) in transfers. Other features include support for hierarchical topologies with several clock domains, flexible scalability, and runtime reconfiguration of network parameters. HIBI is intended for integrating coarse-grain components such as intellectual property (IP) blocks that have size of thousands of gates.HIBI has been implemented in VHDL and SystemC and synthesized on several CMOS technologies and on FPGA. A 32-bit wrapper requires 5400 gates and runs with 315 MHz on 0.18 μ m technology which shows that only minimal area overhead is paid for the advanced features. The area and frequency results are well comparable to other NoC proposals.Furthermore, data transfers are shown to approach the maximum theoretical performance for protocol efficiency. HIBI network is accompanied with a design framework with tools for optimizing the system through automated design space exploration. Erno Salminen Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland.Currently he is working towards his PhD degree in the Institute of Digital and Computer Systems (DCS) at TUT. His main research interests are digital systems design and communication issues in SoCs. Tero KangasTampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland.Since 1999 he has been working as a research scientist in the Institute of Digital and Computer Systems (DCS) at TUT. Currently he is working towards his PhD degree and his main research topics are system architectures and SoC design methodologies in multimedia applications. Timo D. H?m?al?ainen Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland. He was nominated to full professor at TUT/Institute of Digital and Computer Systems in 2001. He heads the DACI research group that focuses on three main research areas: wireless sensor networks, high-performance multi-DSP and hardware based video encoding, and design flow tools for heterogeneous MP-SoC platforms. Jouni Riihi?mki Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland. Currently he is working as a senior design engineer at Nokia Technlogy Platforms. He is also working towards his PhD degree. His research interests include SoC design and verification methodologies. Vesa Lahtinen received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from TUT in 1998 and 2004, respectively. In TUT, his main research areas were system-on-chips and their interconnects. Currently, Dr. Lahtinen is a Senior Research Engineer in the Computing Architectures Laboratory of Nokia Research Center (NRC) concentrating on architecture modeling and, specifically, memory architectures. Kimmo Kuusilinna Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland. His main research interests include system-level design and verification, on-chip interconnections, and parallel memories. Currently he is working as a senior research engineer at the Nokia Research Center.     

Thermopower in Andrew Interferometers

We examine the thermopower Q of a mesoscopic normal-metal (N) wire in contact to superconducting (S) segments and show that even with electron-hole symmetry, Q may become finite due to the presence of supercurrents. Moreover, we show how the dominant part of Q can be directly related to the equilibrium supercurrents in the structure. We also discuss the thermopower arising due to an anomalous kinetic coefficient which is finite in the presence of supercurrent and in some situations gives the dominant contribution. In general, a finite thermopower appears both between the N reservoirs and the superconducters, and between the N reservoirs themselves. The latter, however, strongly depends on the geometrical symmetry of the structure. The paper includes a detailed analytical derivation of the results and an exact numerical solution of the quasiclassical equations in a few sample geometries. PACS numbers: 74.25.Fy, 73.23.-b, 74.45.+c.     

Security and Authentication in the Mobile World

Mobile systems are evolving into data centric, packet switched,multiacess networks. New types of security threats are emerging in thesenew networks. From the user point of view a seamless solution for thesethreats is required. This paper presents a vision of network convergenceand its implications to authentication and authorization solutions.Security requirements are discussed and current authentication solutionsin GSM, UMTS and operator wireless local area networks (OWLAN) areintroduced. All-IP multimedia session security is discussed.Implications of AdHoc network architecture into security requirement arediscussed.     

Biologically produced bifunctional recombinant protein nanoparticles for immunoassays

Nanoparticles are increasingly used as labels for analytical purposes. In general, nanoparticles need to be functionalized with binding molecules (mostly antibodies or fragments thereof) and label substances using a multistep process that requires several manufacturing and purification steps. Here, we present a biological method of producing functionalized nanoparticles for effective use as label agents in a bioaffinity assay. The particles are based on the globular protein shell of human ferritin. A single chain Fv fragment (scFv) of an antibody is used as the binding moiety and Eu3+ ions as the label substance. Conventional chemical conjugation of the particle and antibody fragment is replaced with genetic fusion between the ferritin subunit and scFv genes. The material, for example, the fusion construct is produced in a single bacterial culture as insoluble forms that are easily purified by centrifugations. The subunits are solubilized and self-assembled, and label ions are introduced by shifting the pH. The functionality of these particles is demonstrated with a bioaffinity assay. This method of producing nanoparticles with inherent antigen binding activity presents several possibilities for the simple production of specific, functional nanoparticles. Production is fast, economical, and environmentally sustainable, making the system advantageous, particularly in applications requiring large quantities of specific nanoparticles.     

Ligand Enabling Visible Wavelength Excitation of Europium(III) for Fluoroimmunoassays in Aqueous Micellar Solutions

Fluorescent reporters based on lanthanide ions, such as europium chelates, enable highly sensitive detection in immunoassays and other ligand binding assays. Unfortunately they normally require UV-excitation produced by a xenon flash or nitrogen laser light source. In order to use modern solid state excitation sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), these reporters need to be excited at wavelengths longer than 365 nm, where high-powered ultraviolet LEDs are available. A novel ligand, 9-ethyl-3,6-bis(5',5',5',4',4'-pentafluoro-1',3'-dioxopentyl)carbazole (bdc), was synthesized to efficiently excite europium(III) at wavelengths up to 450 nm in micellar solutions, and its performance was compared to a commercially available DELFIA enhancement solution. The detection limit of Eu(III) with the bdc-ligand using 365 nm excitation was determined to be 63 fM, which is 3 times lower than with the DELFIA solution. The bdc-ligand enabled sensitive detection of europium(III) ions in solution using 365 nm excitation and displayed similar sensitivity and functionality as commercially available DELFIA enhancement solution. Therefore, this novel enhancement solution might be a feasible alternative in producing time-resolved fluorescence under LED-excitation.     

The Effect of a Fish Oil and/or Probiotic Intervention from Early Pregnancy Onwards on Colostrum Immune Mediators: A Randomized,Placebo-Controlled,Double-Blinded Clinical Trial in Overweight/Obese Mothers

Scope

Modifying the composition of colostrum by external factors may provide opportunities to improve the infant's health. Here, we evaluated how fish oil and/or probiotics supplementation modify concentrations of colostrum immune mediators and their associations with perinatal clinical factors on mothers with overweight/obesity.

Methods and results

Pregnant women were randomized in a double-blind manner into four intervention groups, and the supplements were consumed daily from early pregnancy onwards. Colostrum samples were collected from 187 mothers, and 16 immune mediators were measured using bead-based immunoassays. Interventions modified colostrum composition; the fish oil+probiotics group had higher concentrations of IL-12p70 than probiotics+placebo and higher FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (FLT-3L) than fish oil+placebo and probiotics+placebo (one-way analysis of variance, post-hoc Tukey's test). Although the fish oil+probiotics group had higher levels of IFNα2 compared to the fish oil+placebo group, these differences were not statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. Multivariate linear model revealed significant associations between several immune mediators and the perinatal use of medication.

Conclusion

Fish oil/probiotics intervention exerted a minor effect on concentrations of colostrum immune mediators. However, medication during the perinatal period modulated the immune mediators. These changes in colostrum's composition may contribute to immune system development in the infant.     

Water balance in a free-breathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Water balance in a free-breathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell was studied, focusing on the effect of anode conditions. The methods used were current distribution measurement, water collection from the anode outlet, and the measurement of cell polarization and resistance. Current density levels were 100 and 200 mA cm^–2, temperature levels were 40 and 60 °C, and hydrogen stoichiometry range was from 1.5 to 2.5. The direction of hydrogen flow was varied. The fraction of product water exiting through the anode outlet varied from 0 to 58%, and it was found to increase with increasing temperature and hydrogen flow rate. When the general direction of hydrogen flow was against the direction of air flow, the percentage of water removal through the anode was smaller and the current distributions were more even than in the cases where the direction was the same as that of the air flow. This probably resulted from a more favorable distribution of water over the active area. The results also indicate that the net water transport coefficient varies across the active area. In further measurements, operation with the anode side in dead-end mode was investigated. It was also found that water distribution was more favorable when the general direction of hydrogen flow was against the air flow.