Atmospheric corrosion of reference metals in Antarctic sites

This paper presents the results obtained at three Antarctic test sites participating in the “Ibero-American Map of Atmospheric Corrosiveness” (MICAT), a project on atmospheric corrosion carried out during the period 1988–1994 at some 70 sites distributed across 12 countries of the Latin-American region, Spain and Portugal. The three Antarctic sites are located near the coastline.The singular climatic characteristics of Antarctic regions are related with the purity of the air, the absence of rainfall and the formation of ice on the metallic surface during an important part of the exposure time. However, electrochemical activity is possible below ice layers. This situation affects the structure and morphology of corrosion product films and the resulting corrosion rates of metallic surfaces.     

Electrochemical,FTIR and morphological study of polypyrrole—Polystyrenesulphonate conducting films

The electrochemical behaviour, FTIR spectrum and the morphology of polypyrrole-polystyrenesulphonate (PPy-PSS) films obtained potentiostatically at 0.6 V in a 0.05m Py + 1.7 × 10^?2m NaPSS medium have been analysed. Different electrochemical parameters have been modified in order to establish the first polaron formation, the reversibility of the redox process and the doping mechanism. The FTIR spectrum confirms the existence of C?O groups in the film structure and two possible explanations are suggested. SEM reveals a higher homogeneity in these films than in PPy films doped with smaller counterions.     

Image contrast enhancement for two-photon fluorescence microscopy in a turbid medium

Image contrast enhancement is investigated for two-photon excitation fluorescence images of a microscopic sample that is buried underneath a turbid medium. The image contrast, which deteriorates rapidly with sample depth because of scattering loss, is enhanced by an increase in the average excitation power of the focused Gaussian (the TEM(00) mode) beam according to a compensation relation that has been derived by use of a Monte Carlo analysis of the scattering problem. A correct increase in the excitation power results in a detected fluorescence signal that remains invariant with sample depth. The scheme is demonstrated on images of DAPI-stained nuclei cells viewed underneath a suspension of 0.105-mum-diameter polystyrene spheres.     

Exploring the benefits of the combination of a software architecture analysis and a usability evaluation of a mobile application

Designing easy to use mobile applications is a difficult task. In order to optimize the development of a usable mobile application, it is necessary to consider the mobile usage context for the design and the evaluation of the user-system interaction of a mobile application. In our research we designed a method that aligns the inspection method “Software ArchitecTure analysis of Usability Requirements realizatioN” SATURN and a mobile usability evaluation in the form of a user test. We propose to use mobile context factors and thus requirements as a common basis for both inspection and user test. After conducting both analysis and user test, the results described as usability problems are mapped and discussed. The mobile context factors identified define and describe the usage context of a mobile application. We exemplify and apply our approach in a case study. This allows us to show how our method can be used to identify more usability problems than with each method separately. Additionally, we could confirm the validity and identified the severity of usability problems found by both methods. Our work presents how a combination of both methods allows to address usability issues in a more holistic way. We argue that the increased quantity and quality of results can lead to a reduction of the number of iterations required in early stages of an iterative software development process.     

Incorporating technology in service-oriented i* business models: a case study

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to enterprise information systems. This interest is motivated by the need for achieving better integration of new technologies (hardware and software) with the business processes of an organization. Business processes have become more and more dependent on technologies because technology has a direct impact on business processes, changing the way they are performed and thus also affecting the way analysts design the software system. However, at the present time, there are still some gaps between the definition of business processes and the technologies used in the organization. In practice, organizations have carried out their business processes using different technologies; however, it is sometimes not possible to determine how technologies are useful in achieving current business goals. This is because business models do not explicitly consider the technologies in the organizational requirements. The goal of this paper is to present a systematic process for integrating business processes and technologies at the conceptual level. To validate our approach, we present a case study that describes the processes of the inventory management department of a public research center.     

Heat Shock Alters the Proteomic Profile of Equine Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The aim of this research was to determine the impact of heat stress on cell differentiation in an equine mesenchymal stem cell model (EMSC) through the application of heat stress to primary EMSCs as they progressed through the cell specialization process. A proteomic analysis was performed using mass spectrometry to compare relative protein abundances among the proteomes of three cell types: progenitor EMSCs and differentiated osteoblasts and adipocytes, maintained at 37 °C and 42 °C during the process of cell differentiation. A cell-type and temperature-specific response to heat stress was observed, and many of the specific differentially expressed proteins were involved in cell-signaling pathways such as Notch and Wnt signaling, which are known to regulate cellular development. Furthermore, cytoskeletal proteins profilin, DSTN, SPECC1, and DAAM2 showed increased protein levels in osteoblasts differentiated at 42 °C as compared with 37 °C, and these cells, while they appeared to accumulate calcium, did not organize into a whorl agglomerate as is typically seen at physiological temperatures. This altered proteome composition observed suggests that heat stress could have long-term impacts on cellular development. We propose that this in vitro stem cell culture model of cell differentiation is useful for investigating molecular mechanisms that impact cell development in response to stressors.     

Control of attendance applied in higher education through mobile NFC technologies

This paper presents an improved attendance control system, required for continuous evaluation which has become compulsory following the Bologna Process. It provides a solution based on NFC technology and is based on a real project developed and pilot tested at the “Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Campus Madrid”.