Pectic Galactan Polysaccharide-Based Gene Delivery System for Targeting Neuroinflammation

Treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and disorders through manipulation of neuroinflammation functions is being heralded as a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, a novel pectic galactan (PG) polysaccharide based gene therapy approach is developed for targeting reactive gliosis in neuroinflammation. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a cell protein with a high affinity to β-galactoside sugars and is highly expressed in reactive gliosis. Since PG carries galactans, it can target reactive gliosis via specific carbohydrate interaction between galactan and Gal-3 on the cell membrane, and therefore can be utilized as a carrier for delivering genes to these cells. The carrier is synthesized by modifying quaternary ammonium groups on the PG. The resulting quaternized PG (QPG) is found to form complexes with plasmid DNA with a mean diameter of 100 nm and have the characteristics required for targeted gene therapy. The complexes efficiently condense large amounts of plasmid per particle and successfully bind to Gal-3. The in vivo study shows that the complexes are biocompatible and safe for administration and can selectively transfect reactive glial cells of an induced cortical lesion. The results confirm that this PG-based delivery system is a promising platform for targeting Gal-3 overexpressing neuroinflammation cells for treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.     

Further Establishment of the Field Perturbation Theory of the Pseudogaps in HTSC

Here I establish the field perturbation theory of pseudogaps in HTSC. The proposed ground state suggests an internal particle-hole field, which is normal to nesting surfaces, and having twice the Fermi wave number. It is proved that the system violates momentum conservation by the wave vector of this internal field. This violation applies to the quasi-particle propagators, as well as to the interactions. Interaction vertices via the Pauli matrix-τ₁ are established. This, in turn, establishes the validity of the pseudogap Hartree self-energy.     

Multiplicative Operator Splittings in Nonlinear Diffusion: From Spatial Splitting to Multiple Timesteps

Operator splitting is a powerful concept used in many diversed fields of applied mathematics for the design of effective numerical schemes. Following the success of the additive operator splitting (AOS) in performing an efficient nonlinear diffusion filtering on digital images, we analyze the possibility of using multiplicative operator splittings to process images from different perspectives.We start by examining the potential of using fractional step methods to design a multiplicative operator splitting as an alternative to AOS schemes. By means of a Strang splitting, we attempt to use numerical schemes that are known to be more accurate in linear diffusion processes and apply them on images. Initially we implement the Crank-Nicolson and DuFort-Frankel schemes to diffuse noisy signals in one dimension and devise a simple extrapolation that enables the Crank-Nicolson to be used with high accuracy on these signals. We then combine the Crank-Nicolson in 1D with various multiplicative operator splittings to process images. Based on these ideas we obtain some interesting results. However, from the practical standpoint, due to the computational expenses associated with these schemes and the questionable benefits in applying them to perform nonlinear diffusion filtering when using long timesteps, we conclude that AOS schemes are simple and efficient compared to these alternatives.We then examine the potential utility of using multiple timestep methods combined with AOS schemes, as means to expedite the diffusion process. These methods were developed for molecular dynamics applications and are used efficiently in biomolecular simulations. The idea is to split the forces exerted on atoms into different classes according to their behavior in time, and assign longer timesteps to nonlocal, slowly-varying forces such as the Coulomb and van der Waals interactions, whereas the local forces like bond and angle are treated with smaller timesteps. Multiple timestep integrators can be derived from the Trotter factorization, a decomposition that bears a strong resemblance to a Strang splitting. Both formulations decompose the time propagator into trilateral products to construct multiplicative operator splittings which are second order in time, with the possibility of extending the factorization to higher order expansions. While a Strang splitting is a decomposition across spatial dimensions, where each dimension is subsequently treated with a fractional step, the multiple timestep method is a decomposition across scales. Thus, multiple timestep methods are a realization of the multiplicative operator splitting idea. For certain nonlinear diffusion coefficients with favorable properties, we show that a simple multiple timestep method can improve the diffusion process.     

Directionality from anisotropic phonon production in solid state dark matter detection

We present results from computer simulations of the events immediately following the scattering of a dark matter particle off a nucleus in a crystal detector. Our simulations show that with NaF as the target, the recoil produces solitary waves that decay slowly, resulting in a narrow wake of phonons. The phonon wake allows a determination of direction of the nuclear recoil.     

Greedy hot-potato routing on the two-dimensional mesh

Summary We propose hot-potato (or, deflection) packet routing algorithms on the two-dimensional mesh. The algorithms are strongly greedy in the sense that they attempt to send packets in good directions whenever possible. Furthermore, the routing operations are simple and independent of the time that has elapsed. The first algorithm gives the best evacuation time known for delivering all the packets to their destinations. A batch ofk packets with maximal source-to-destination distanced _max is delivered in 2(k-1)+d _max. The second algorithm improves this bound tok+d _max when all packets are destined to the same node. This also implies a new bound for the multitarget case, which is the first to take into account the number of in-edges of a node. The third algorithm is designed for routing permutations with source-to-destination distance at most three, in which case the algorithm terminates in at most seven steps. We also show a lower bound of five steps for this problem. Ishai Ben-Aroya received the B.A. and M.Sc. in computer science from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology). He is currently working with Microsoft Israel R&D group. His main interests include Routing Algorithms, Cryptography and Computer Security. Tamar Eilam received the B.A. degree in Computer Science from the Technion IIL in 1995, and is currently studying towards her M.A. degree. Assaf Schuster received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (the last one in 1991). He is currently a lecturer at the Technion IIL. His main interests include Networks and Routing Algorithms, Parallel and Distributed Computation, Optical Computation and Communication, Dynamically Reconfiguring Networks, and Greedy Hot Potato Routing.This work was supported in part by the French-Israeli grant for cooperation in Computer Science, and by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Science. An extended abstract appeared in proc. 2nd European Symposium on Algorithms, September 1994     

Axial dispersion and enterainment of particles in wakes of bubbles

The entrainment and dispersion of solid particles in bubble columns was investigated experimentally and heoretically. A mechanistic model for the dispersion caused by entrainment in wakes of large solitary bubbles was developed. The dispersion coefficient was found to be dependent on the bubble size, bubble frequency, particle settling velocity and column surface area. Experimental tests were conducted in a rectangular bubble column. The system consisted of air, water and copper powder. Spherical cap bubbles were produced by a single nozzle. Significant entrainment of particles in wakes of rising bubbles observed in the lower region of the column, whereas, turbulence seemed to dominate the dispersion in the upper region of the tank. Calculated particle distributions were found to be in good agreement with experimental data.     

Heat transfer efficiency in a fliuidized bed

The equilibrium stage concept used in staged contacting operations was adopted as a measure of heat transfer efficiency for a fluidized bed. A simple model was developed which postulates that solids flow through the bed can be by perfect mixing, plug flow and short-circuiting. Efficiencies were determined experimentally in a 150 mm diameter fluidized bed with air as the fluidizing medium and sand as the solid. Heat transfer efficiencies greater than 100% were obtained indicating that small diameter, low aspect ratio fluidized beds do not behave as perfect mixers. The results indicate that heat transfer measurements can be used to develop information on solids flow behavior.     

Cu/Ti3SiC2新型受电弓滑板材料的研究

选用具有高导电、高导热性的新型陶瓷Ti3SiC2作为弥散强化相，通过与Cu的混合，采用热压和无压烧结后制备成Cu／Ti3SiC2复合材料。该材料是一种具有优良性能的新型受电弓滑板材料。实验中分析了掺杂含量、保温时间及烧结制度等因素对复合材料基本性能的影响。     

New product development team intelligence: Antecedents and consequences

Our study investigated the effect of team knowledge on new product development (NPD). By investigating 207 NPD projects, we found that the declarative and procedural knowledge of the team and their use of IT had a positive influence on the team's knowledge base; and that the higher the functional diversity of the project team, the greater their overall knowledge. We also found that team knowledge positively impacted new product creativity and success in the market place.