Dynamic replication factor model for Linux containers-based cloud systems

The Journal of Supercomputing - Infrastructure-as-a-service container-based virtualization is gaining interest as a platform for running distributed applications. With increasing scale of cloud...     

Defining Dry Eye from a Clinical Perspective

Over the past decades, the number of patients with dry eye disease (DED) has increased dramatically. The incidence of DED is higher in Asia than in Europe and North America, suggesting the involvement of cultural or racial factors in DED etiology. Although many definitions of DED have been used, discrepancies exist between the various definitions of dry eye disease (DED) used across the globe. This article presents a clinical consensus on the definition of DED, as formulated in four meetings with global DED experts. The proposed new definition is as follows: “Dry eye is a multifactorial disease characterized by a persistently unstable and/or deficient tear film (TF) causing discomfort and/or visual impairment, accompanied by variable degrees of ocular surface epitheliopathy, inflammation and neurosensory abnormalities.” The key criteria for the diagnosis of DED are unstable TF, inflammation, ocular discomfort and visual impairment. This definition also recommends the assessment of ocular surface epitheliopathy and neurosensory abnormalities in each patient with suspected DED. It is easily applicable in clinical practice and should help practitioners diagnose DED consistently. This consensus definition of DED should also help to guide research and clinical trials that, to date, have been hampered by the lack of an established surrogate endpoint.     

A Tool Support for Reusing ELAN Rule-Based Components

The adaptation of software components developed for a specific application in order to generate reusable components often includes some kind of generalization. This generalization may be carried out, for instance, by the renaming of some identifiers or by its parameterization. In our work, we are specially interested in the generalization by parameterization of algebraic specification components. Generalization and some other transformations on algebraic specifications are being integrated in the FERUS tool. This tool was initially developed for the Common Algebraic Specification Language, called CASL, and we show in the paper its adaptation to the new version of the rule-based programming language ELAN.     

Sensory-specific satiety: comparison of taste and texture effects

The respective contributions of taste (saltiness and sweetness) and texture (the hardness dimension) to sensory-specific satiety (SSS) were compared. Sixteen male and 16 female, young, normal-weight adults rated the pleasantness of taste, pleasantness of texture and desire to eat on visual analog scales for eight test foods, were then given one of the foods to eat ad libitum for lunch, and re-rated the same parameters for the eight foods 2 and 20 min after the end of the meal. The experimental sets of eight test foods and four lunch foods were balanced for taste quality (salty vs. sweet) and texture quality (hard vs. soft). Lunch foods were the hard and soft versions of a salty food (ham and cheese sandwich on baguette vs. white bread) or of a sweet food (apples vs. applesauce). Sensory-specific satiety was observed for both saltiness and sweetness (e.g. pleasantness of the taste of, and desire to eat sweet test foods decreased significantly after eating a sweet lunch food and similarly for salty foods), and to a lesser extent for texture (e.g. pleasantness of the texture of, and desire to eat hard test foods decreased after eating a hard lunch food and similarly for one of the soft foods). The authors conclude texture-specific satiety may be a significant component of satiety.     

Combined PIXE and SEM study of the behaviour of trace elements in gel formed around implant coated with bioactive glass

Bioactive glasses are used as coating biomaterials to facilitate anchorage of metallic prostheses implanted into the body. The aim of this work is to study the behavior of gel formed in contact with alloys and BVA and BVH bioactive glasses implanted. Cylinders of metallic implants composed by Ti, Al and V, are coated with bioactive glass. Three sheep were implanted for different time length: 3, 6 and 12 months in the femoral epiphysis. Results obtained with particle induced X-ray emission and scanning electron microscopy show that BVA coating induces a better contact between the metallic implant and bone. On the other hand, BVH coating prevents corrosion from the metallic implant.     

Fourier-transform-limited pulses from gain-switched distributed-Bragg-reflector lasers using simultaneous modulation of gain and phase sections

Fourier-transform-limited pulses ( Delta tau . Delta nu approximately=0.35) have been obtained from a microwave-modulated DBR laser at 1.56 mu m. The chirp of the gain-switched pulse is compensated for by applying a fraction of the microwave signal to the phase section, thereby creating an instantaneous frequency shift of opposite sign. The generation of short coherent pulses from such a monolithic source can be of great interest for long haul soliton transmission.<>     

Effects of mechanical interactions on the hydrostatic stress in randomly distributed rubber particles in an amorphous polymer matrix

The equivalent inclusion method (EIM) assuming linear elasticity is used to calculate the mechanical interactions between spherical rubber particles in an amorphous matrix, as in a rubber toughened polymer. The influences of the various calculation parameters are examined and it is shown that the method can provide reliable results with regard to the level of hydrostatic stress in the particles. Damage of the material is simulated by replacing the most stressed particles by voids. Numerical simulations for several hundreds of interacting particles give information on the kinetics and spatial organisation of the damage. It appears that, as the volume fraction of particles increases from 10 to 20%, the spatial configuration of the damage evolves from a localised to a diffuse mode. These results are discussed in relation to the efficiency of rubber toughening.     

Frequency control and chirp compensation from an electro-opticalDBR laser

The variability of optical frequency modulation with electric field in an electro-optical phase section is analysed. When configured for maximum sensitivity, the electro-optical phase section was used to compensate for the chirp of the gain section: 48 ps and 8.5 GHz wide transform-limited pulses were obtained at 5 GHz     

In situ regeneration of the Ni-based catalytic reformer of a 5 kW PEMFC system

The paper reports the results of on-site regeneration catalytic bed of the natural gas reformer in a 5 kW PEM fuel cell system. The Ni catalyst previously poisoned by sulphur from the available natural gas, could be re-activated by injection of pure water steam, following the method developed for industrial reformers using the same metal catalyst: this method was shown to be perfectly efficient, provided no natural gas was fed during the operation. Results of the tests conducted are presented and discussed in relation to published data on S-sorption on Ni surfaces.