Design and Characterization of a New pVII Combinatorial Phage Display Peptide Library for Protease Substrate Mining Using Factor VII Activating Protease (FSAP) as Model

We describe a novel, easy and efficient combinatorial phage display peptide substrate-mining method to map the substrate specificity of proteases. The peptide library is displayed on the pVII capsid of the M13 bacteriophage, which renders pIII necessary for infectivity and efficient retrieval, in an unmodified state. As capture module, the 3XFLAG was chosen due to its very high binding efficiency to anti-FLAG mAbs and its independency of any post-translational modification. This library was tested with Factor-VII activating protease (WT-FSAP) and its single-nucleotide polymorphism variant Marburg-I (MI)-FSAP. The WT-FSAP results confirmed the previously reported Arg/Lys centered FSAP cleavage site consensus as dominant, as well as reinforcing MI-FSAP as a loss-of-function mutant. Surprisingly, rare substrate clones devoid of basic amino acids were also identified. Indeed one of these peptides was cleaved as free peptide, thus suggesting a broader range of WT-FSAP substrates than previously anticipated.     

An 8-bit, 200 MSPS Folding and Interpolating ADC

An 8-bit, 200 MSPS folding and interpolating analog-to-digitalconverter, ADC, has been implemented in a 1.2 µmBiCMOS-process. It achieves 7.5 effective bits with a power dissipationof 575mW. The active area is 4mm². The implementationand measured results are presented. A simple analytical modelfor the interpolation-induced nonlinearity in a folding and interpolatingADC using sinusoidal folding is presented. The bowing of thereference ladder due to interaction with the input stages isanalyzed, and analytical models are derived.     

Solubility of some transition metal oxides in cryolite-alumina melts: Part II. Solubility of TiO2

The solubility of TiO₂ in cryolite-alumina melts at 1020 °C was measured; it decreased with increasing alumina concentration up to ∼3.5 wt pct total oxide and then increased at higher alumina concentrations. The solubility was found to be 3.1 wt pct Ti in cryolite, and 2.7 wt pct Ti in an alumina-saturated melt. Modeling indicated that the most probable titanium species are TiOF₂ and Na₂TiO₃, which coexist in the solution; the former dominates at low alumina concentrations and the latter at high alumina concentrations. Additional unknown amounts of fluoride may also be associated with these species. Determination of the solubility of TiO₂ in alumina-saturated melts as a function of temperature showed that the solubility increased from 1.9 wt pct Ti at 975 °C to 2.8 wt pct Ti at 1035 °C, the apparent partial molar enthalpy of dissolution of TiO₂ being 88±4 kJ mol⁻¹.     

Distributed Coordination and Workflow on the World Wide Web

This paper describes WebFlow, an environment thatsupports distributed coordination services on theWorld Wide Web. WebFlow leverages the HTTP Webtransport protocol and consists of a number of toolsfor the development of applications that require thecoordination of multiple, distributed servers.Typical applications of WebFlow include distributeddocument workspaces, inter/intra-enterprise workflow,and electronic commerce. In this paper we describe thegeneral WebFlow architecture for distributedcoordination, and then focus on the environment fordistributed workflow.     

Supernovae and gamma-ray bursts in the induced gravitational collapse paradigm

I review recent progress in the understanding of long, energetic (10⁵²–10⁵⁴ erg) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated to supernovae (SN) Ib/c. This occurrence is explained within the Induced Gravitational Collapse (IGC) paradigm, following the sequence: 1) an initial binary system consists in a compact Iron-Carbon-Oxygen (FeCO) core and a neutron star (NS); 2) the FeCO core explodes, giving origin to a SN, and part of the SN ejecta accretes onto the NS which reaches its criticalmass and collapses to a black hole (BH) giving rise to a long GRB; 3) a new NS (ν-NS) is generated by the SN as a remnant. Observational consequences of this scenario are outlined.     

Recent elevation changes of Svalbard glaciers derived from ICESat laser altimetry

We have tested three methods for estimating 2003-2008 elevation changes of Svalbard glaciers from multi-temporal ICESat laser altimetry: (a) linear interpolation of crossover points between ascending and descending tracks, (b) projection of near repeat-tracks onto common locations using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), and (c) least-squares fitting of rigid planes to segments of repeat-track data assuming a constant elevation change rate. The two repeat-track methods yield similar results and compare well to the more accurate, but sparsely sampled, crossover points. Most glacier regions in Svalbard have experienced low-elevation thinning combined with high-elevation balance or thickening during 2003-2008. The geodetic mass balance (excluding calving front retreat or advance) of Svalbard's 34,600 km² glaciers is estimated to be −4.3 ± 1.4 Gt y⁻¹, corresponding to an area-averaged water equivalent (w.e.) balance of −0.12 ± 0.04 m w.e. y⁻¹. The largest ice losses have occurred in the west and south, while northeastern Spitsbergen and the Austfonna ice cap have gained mass. Winter and summer elevation changes derived from the same methods indicate that the spatial gradient in mass balance is mainly due to a larger summer season thinning in the west and the south than in the northeast. Our findings are consistent with in-situ mass balance measurements from the same period, confirming that repeat-track satellite altimetry can be a valuable tool for monitoring short term elevation changes of Arctic glaciers.     

Low-cost telepresence for collaborative virtual environments

We present a novel low-cost method for visual communication and telepresence in a CAVEtrade-like environment, relying on 2D stereo-based video avatars. The system combines a selection of proven efficient algorithms and approximations in a unique way, resulting in a convincing stereoscopic real-time representation of a remote user acquired in a spatially immersive display. The system was designed to extend existing projection systems with acquisition capabilities requiring minimal hardware modifications and cost. The system uses infrared-based image segmentation to enable concurrent acquisition and projection in an immersive environment without a static background. The system consists of two color cameras and two additional b/w cameras used for segmentation in the near-IR spectrum. There is no need for special optics as the mask and color image are merged using image-warping based on a depth estimation. The resulting stereo image stream is compressed, streamed across a network, and displayed as a frame-sequential stereo texture on a billboard in the remote virtual environment