Application of a bi-level scheme including topology optimization to the design of an aircraft pylon

In this paper, topology optimization is used to design aircraft pylons. Original results for two Airbus pylons are first presented. An innovative bi-level optimization scheme is then proposed, which combines topology and geometric optimizations. At the first level, the dimension of the design domain, that is the envelope of the structure, and the location of the fixations are variables. At the second level, topology optimization is used to determine the optimal lay-out for given geometric parameters. This bi-level scheme is used to solve the aero-structural optimization of a pylon.     

Simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol and florfenicol in liquid milk, milk powder and bovine muscle by LC-MS/MS

A validated method based on European and Brazilian legislation is reported. It is applicable to the simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol (CAP) and florfenicol (FF) by LC-MS/MS in liquid milk, milk powder and bovine muscle. The chromatographic analysis is completed in 6 min and the extraction procedure is very simple, involving only one step liquid-extraction with ethyl acetate. Where it proved necessary to include clean-up, an efficient and rapid step using C18-dispersive solid was added. Initially, a complete validation was performed with liquid milk matrix; later the scope was extended to the other matrices through extending the inter-day precision (within laboratory reproducibility) RSD values. An internal standard (d(5)-CAP) was employed for quantitative purposes. The method was shown to have good accuracy and precision for determining CAP residues at the level of 0.3-0.6 g kg(-1) and FF residues at the level of 5-15 μg kg(-1).     

Comportement electrochimique d''oxocarbones et d''aci-reductones en relation avec le transport d''electrons dans les processus biologiques—I: tetrahydroxyquinone et acide rhodizonique

The oxidation products of inositol:rhodizonic acid 1, tetrahydroxyquinone 2 and hexahydroxybenzene 3 have been studied in aqueous solution, using polarographic and coulometric techniques,

The ionic 1/2 and 2/3 couples form reversible redox systems. The 1/3 couple exchanges four electrons. The intermediate species 2⁻ disproportionates up to 50%.

The ^′°_1/2 and ^′°_2/3 values approach those of the vitamin K₁/dihydrovitamin K₁ system. They explain the catalytic action of these systems in the oxidation, by oxygen, of thiols to disulphides.     

Unequal protection using adaptive burst profile selection for WiMAX video streaming

It is proposed that in a compact urban region fixed WiMAX (IEEE 802.16d) burst profiles can be adaptively selected according to the picture type of packets from an arriving encoded video stream. Because additional protection of anchor picture packets reduces the data rate, an algorithm dynamically selects less favourable burst profiles for less important packets. Under the stringent Stanford University Interim channel model, this simple scheme achieves as much as 10 dB gain in video quality at the receiver.     

Communication: Retainer frame effects on Cone calorimeter results for building products

The Cone Calorimeter has been used for fire testing of different products on a small scale for almost a decade. However, the number of users has been increasing in the last two to three years. More experimentation with the apparatus has led to practical questions. One of these is about the use of a retainer frame which has been used mainly for building products, but very few direct comparisons have been presented.     

Forthcoming Contributions

Table of Contents

Forthcoming Contributions     

Specification and Dynamic Introduction of 3rd Party,Service-Specific Adaptation Policies for Mobile Applications

The development, delivery and management of mobile services are the subject of many research activities in both the academia and industry. The ultimate goal of these efforts is a dynamic environment that enables the delivery of situation-aware, personalised multimedia services over heterogeneous, ubiquitous infrastructures, commonly termed as systems beyond 3rd generation (3G). Reconfigurability and adaptability are key aspects of the mobile systems beyond 3G. Reconfigurable mobile systems and networks introduce additional requirements and complexity in service adaptation. Moreover, it is widely recognised that services will be increasingly developed by independent third parties, besides mobile operators and equipment vendors. The present contribution complements previous work by the authors, related to mediating service provision platforms and advanced adaptability and profile management frameworks. It introduces mechanisms and middleware that undertake the service adaptation overhead, imposed by the complexity of reconfigurable mobile networks, from application developers and third party service providers. In particular, it enables the introduction of third party policies for adaptation decision. Finally, it facilitates the adaptable application development and service deployment independently from the underlying dynamically reconfigurable communication environment. Nikos Houssos holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Informatics Telecommunications at the University of Athens, Greece, and an M.Sc. degree (with distinction) in Telematics from the department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Surrey, UK. Since 1999, he is working at the Communication Networks Laboratory of the University of Athens. He has participated in various research projects of the European Union IST framework (MOBIVAS, ANWIRE, POLOS, E2R). His research interests include middleware platforms and business models for mobile service provision in 3G/4G environments, service adaptability, network reconfigurability and context-aware pervasive systems. Nancy Alonistioti has a B.Sc. degree and a PhD degree in Informatics and Telecommunications (University of Athens). She has been working for several years at the Dept. of Informatics and Telecommunications in University of Athens as a senior researcher and project manager. She has been involved in many European and national projects (CTS, SS#7, ACTS RAINBOW, EURESCOM) in the areas of protocol and service design of mobile systems. She has been the Technical manager of the IST-MOBIVAS and IST-ANWIRE projects. She had been working as expert at the Greek Regulatory Agency. She is member of the core management team of the Greek Universities Network (GUNET). Her current research includes: mobile communications, re-configurable mobile systems and networks, adaptability, service provision, protocol design and mobile computing. Lazaros Merakos received a Diploma in electrical and mechanical engineering form the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1978 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the State University of New York, Buffalo, in 1981 and 1984, respectively. From 1983 to 1986 he was on the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Connectitut, Storrs. From 1986 to 1994 he was on the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. During the period 1993–1994 he served as a director of the Communications and Digital Processing Research Center at Northeastern University. During the summers of 1990 and 1991, he was a visiting scientist at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. In 1994 he joined the faculty of the University of Athens, Greece, where he is presently a professor in the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, and director of the Communication Networks Laboratory (UoA-CNL) and the Networks Operations and Management Center. His research interests are in the design and performance analysis of broadband networks, and wireless/mobile communication systems and services. He has authored more than 150 papers in the above areas. Since 1995, he is leading the research activities of UoA-CNL in the area of mobile communications, in the framework of the Advanced Communication Technologies and Services (ACTS) and Information Society Technologies (IST) programs funded by the European Union (projects RAINBOW, Magic WAND, WINE, MOBIVAS, POLOS). He is chairman of board of the Greek Universities Network, the Greek Schools Network, and a member of the board of the Greek Research Network. In 1994 he received the Guanella Award for the Best Paper presented at the International Zurich Seminar on Mobile Communications.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Nuclear morphometry of the myocardial cells as a diagnostic tool in cases of sudden death due to coronary thrombosis

One general signalling mechanism used to transfer the information delivered by agonists into appropriate intracellular compartments involves the rapid redistribution of ionised calcium throughout the cell, which results in transient elevations of the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration. Various physiological stimuli increase [Ca2+]i transiently and, thereby, induce cellular responses. However, under pathological conditions, changes of [Ca2+]i are generally more pronounced and sustained. Marked elevations of [Ca2+]i activate hydrolytic enzymes, lead to exaggerated energy expenditure, impair energy production, initiate cytoskeletal degradation, and ultimately result in cell death. Such Ca(2+)-induced cytotoxicity may play a major role in several diseases, including neuropathological conditions such as chronic neurodegenerative diseases and acute neuronal losses (e.g. in stroke).