Effect of the Phase Composition of Barium-Calcium Alumoscandates on the Emission Properties of Impregnated Cathodes

The effect of scandium oxide additions on the emission properties of impregnated tungsten cathodes was investigated. The synthesis of alumoscandates in the BaO ― CaO ― Sc₂O₃ ― Al₂O₃ system were studied by x-ray diffraction, thermography, and petrographic analysis. The hygroscopic properties of the emission-active material was determined. Based on the results of emission tests the recommended optimal compositions of emission-active material are 2.4 BaO·0.6 CaO·0.1 Sc₂O₃·0.9 Al₂O₃ and 2.6 BaO·1.9 CaO·0.1 Sc₂O₃·0.9 Al₂O₃. Cathodes based on these compositions had lifetimes greater than 10000 h operating in the temperature range 900-1000°C at current densities of 15-20 A/cm² in a vacuum of the order of 10⁻⁶ Torr.

     

Kuwanon‐L as a New Allosteric HIV‐1 Integrase Inhibitor: Molecular Modeling and Biological Evaluation

HIV‐1 integrase (IN) active site inhibitors are the latest class of drugs approved for HIV treatment. The selection of IN strand‐transfer drug‐resistant HIV strains in patients supports the development of new agents that are active as allosteric IN inhibitors. Here, a docking‐based virtual screening has been applied to a small library of natural ligands to identify new allosteric IN inhibitors that target the sucrose binding pocket. From theoretical studies, kuwanon‐L emerged as the most promising binder and was thus selected for biological studies. Biochemical studies showed that kuwanon‐L is able to inhibit the HIV‐1 IN catalytic activity in the absence and in the presence of LEDGF/p75 protein, the IN dimerization, and the IN/LEDGF binding. Kuwanon‐L also inhibited HIV‐1 replication in cell cultures. Overall, docking and biochemical results suggest that kuwanon‐L binds to an allosteric binding pocket and can be considered an attractive lead for the development of new allosteric IN antiviral agents.     

An effective multipurpose building block for 3D electropolymerisation: 2,2′-Bis(2,2′-bithiophene-5-yl)-3,3′-bithianaphthene

Novel thiophene-based oligomer, 2,2′-bis(2,2′-bithiophene-5-yl)-3,3′-bithianaphthene (TX), was designed and synthesized, and its electrochemical and spectral properties characterised. TX was readily polymerised electrochemically to form well organized conducting homopolymer films on various solid electrode substrates. Moreover, it was successfully used for deposition by electropolymerisation of electrochemically active thin films of co-polymers with three different monomers of functionalised bis(2,2′-bithienyl)methane derivatives. It appeared that TX was an effective crosslinker and 3D promoter in these electropolymerisations involving co-monomers intrinsically showing limited aptitude for the electropolymerisation or forming polymer films of low conductivity. This attractive TX ability stems from combination of its (i) high conjugation efficiency in each of the two planar moieties, (ii) intrinsic 3D structure on account of the presence of the central node, and (iii) intrinsic regioselectivity in electropolymerisation on account of the positions of the two available free α-thiophene sites.     

UNICORE 6 — Recent and Future Advancements

UNICORE is a European Grid Technology with more than 10 years of history. Originating from the Supercomputing domain, the latest version UNICORE 6 has turned into a general-purpose Grid technology that follows established standards and offers a rich set of features to its users. The paper starts with an architectural insight into UNICORE 6, highlighting the workflow features, standards and the different clients. Next, the current state of advancement is presented by describing recent developments. The paper closes with an outlook on future planned developments.     

Confirmation of brand identity in foods by near infrared transflectance spectroscopy using classification and class-modelling chemometric techniques — The example of a Belgian beer

Food and beverage processors require tools to monitor conformance of finished goods to their defined specification; regulatory authorities need appropriate methods for detecting retail fraud. In this report, samples (n = 275) of Belgian and other European beers were collected and analysed using near infrared transflectance spectroscopy; three class-modelling techniques (soft independent modelling of class analogy, SIMCA; potential functions techniques, POTFUN; and unequal dispersed classes, UNEQ) were employed to characterise beer types (firstly Trappist and then Rochefort) while a classification method (partial least squares discriminant analysis, PLS-DA) was applied to discriminate between two final beer classes: Rochefort 8° and Rochefort 10°. The class-models and the classification rules developed were validated by means of an external prediction set. A discussion on the appropriate use of these chemometric approaches is included. Modelling of Trappist beers met with limited success while model efficiencies for Rochefort samples were highest for SIMCA and UNEQ applications i.e. 81.4% and 84.5% respectively. The classification of beers as Rochefort 8? or Rochefort 10? was possible with an average correct classification rate of 93.4%.     

Fast and accurate fuzzy C‐means algorithm for MR brain image segmentation

Fuzzy theory based intelligent techniques are widely preferred for medical applications because of high accuracy. Among the fuzzy based techniques, Fuzzy C‐Means (FCM) algorithm is popular than the other approaches due to the availability of expert knowledge. But, one of the hidden facts is that the computational complexity of the FCM algorithm is significantly high. Since medical applications need to be time effective, suitable modifications must be made in this algorithm for practical feasibility. In this study, necessary changes are included in the FCM approach to make the approach time effective without compromising the segmentation efficiency. An additional data reduction approach is performed in the conventional FCM to minimize the computational complexity and the convergence rate. A comparative analysis with the conventional FCM algorithm and the proposed Fast and Accurate FCM (FAFCM) is also given to show the superior nature of the proposed approach. These techniques are analyzed in terms of segmentation efficiency and convergence rate. Experimental results show promising results for the proposed approach. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 26, 188–195, 2016     

The ObReco-360°: a new ecological tool to memory assessment using 360° immersive technology

Virtual Reality - One important feature of a neuropsychological test is its ecological validity, which defines how much patients’ test scores are linked to real-life functioning. However,...     

Identification of freshwater fish commercially labelled “perch” by isoelectric focusing and two-dimensional electrophoresis

Isoelectric focusing (IEF) and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) were used to distinguish four freshwater fish species which are sold under the generic label of “perch”: Perca fluviatilis (European perch), Lates niloticus (Nile perch), Stizostedion lucioperca (European pikeperch) and Morone chrysops x saxatilis (sunshine bass). These species have different commercial values but are easily “interchangeable” because they are sold already filleted, in view of the numerous bones of the whole fish. IEF of the water-soluble proteins extracted from fish muscle resolved in species-specific patterns. Intra-species polymorphism was low, and did not concern the bands identified as characteristic of the species. As well, 2-DE maps showed numerous species-specific protein spots. Interestingly, while none of the IEF bands was common to all four species, several major 2-DE spots were similar. Therefore, IEF of water soluble sarcoplasmic proteins is sufficient to unambiguously discriminate among the four species considered. Analysis by 2-DE, which has a higher resolution power but it is more expensive and time consuming, may be applied to obtain further knowledge of the proteome of poorly characterized species.