Two-Way Protocol with Imperfect Devices

The security of a deterministic quantum scheme for communication, namely the LM05 [1], is studied in presence of a lossy channel under the assumption of imperfect generation and detection of single photons. It is shown that the scheme allows for a rate of distillable secure bits higher than that pertaining to BB84 [2]. We report on a first implementation of LM05 with weak pulses.     

In situ impedance study of the Y-Ni thin film under electrochemical hydrogenation

A thin film of yttrium Y (150 nm) protected by a 6 nm coating of nickel Ni on a glass substrate was completely hydrogenated in a 1 M NaOH electrolyte at a constant negative current until the transparent Y tri-hydride phase was achieved and hydrogen gas evolution from the electrode began. A series of impedance measurements were performed in situ during the electrochemical experiment to study the properties of the system as dependent on hydrogenation degree and time of relaxation. The equivalent electrical circuit (EEC) simulations were performed with a Randles-like scheme R₀[R₁CPE₁], where R₀ is the thin film electrode resistance, R₁ the charge transfer resistance and CPE₁ is the capacitive constant phase element. The behavior of all the components of the EEC undergoes a clear transition when the hydrogenation degree of the electrode is approximated to its maximum value (H to Y ratio 2.7) and electrochemical process changes from hydrogen uptake to hydrogen evolution.     

Ability of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) to observe structural modifications in ion-implanted and annealed GaAs

GaAs 100 wafers were implanted and later annealed by using three different techniques: furnace thermal annealing (FTA), flash lamp (RTA) and low-power laser annealing (LPLA). The resulting modifications of the structure were studied by RHEED. The RHEED pattern analysis indicates that: (a) A well annealed structure is observed after thermal treatment in furnace at 850 °C for 30 min; (b) the particular RTA employed leads to some texturing, but is not sufficient to provide good structural effects; (c) best annealing under our conditions is obtained by the LPLA technique, especially for low ion doses (less than 10¹³ cm^–2); (d) variable-glancing-angle RHEED is an effective and convenient method to investigate the ion induced disorder in crystals at small depths.     

Gelatin supports with immobilized laccase as sustainable biocatalysts for water treatment

Millimeter-size beads of gelatin are manufactured by dripping process to give enzyme supports qualified for micropollutants biodegradation in alternative wastewater treatment. The bead diameter is dependent on the tip diameter, the gelatin solution viscosity and the swelling of polymer chains in the collecting bath. Chemical crosslinking was performed with glutaraldehyde using optimal concentration to give mechanical and thermal properties suitable for application in stirred reactor in aqueous medium. Laccases from Trametes versicolor are grafted on the gelatin beads with glutaraldehyde. Sixty percentage of the initial enzymatic activity, evaluated by the oxidation of 2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)diammonium salt (ABTS) is maintained after 10 successive cycles of reaction. Thermal stability at 60°C of immobilized biocatalysts is improved when compared to free enzymes (45% vs 10% of relative activity after 6 h of incubation). The simplicity of the procedure to form gelatin beads and their properties make them promising bio-based and biodegradable support for enzyme immobilization.     

Contribution of laser microdissection-based technology to proteomic analysis in hepatocellular carcinoma developing on cirrhosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer worldwide. Proteomic studies provide opportunities to uncover targets for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. However, in HCC developing in a setting of cirrhosis, the detection of proteome alterations may be hampered by the increased cellular heterogeneity of tissue when analysing global liver homogenates. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the identification of proteome alterations in these HCC cases was improved when the differential protein profile between tumour and non-tumour areas of liver was determined using hepatocytes isolated by laser microdissection (LM). Differential profiles established with LM-hepatocytes and liver section homogenates using 2-DE and MS exhibited noticeable differences: 30% of the protein spots with deregulated expression in tumorous LM-samples did not display any modification in homogenates; conversely 15% of proteins altered in tumorous homogenates were not impaired in LM-hepatocytes. These alterations resulted from the presence in cirrhotic liver of fibrotic stroma which displayed a protein pattern different from that determined in LM-hepatocytes. In conclusion, our data demonstrate the interest of LM in distinguishing between fibrotic and hepatocyte proteome alterations and thus the benefit of LM to proteome studies of HCC developing in a context of cirrhosis.     

High‐quality pagination for publishing

The problem of line breaking consists of finding the best way to split paragraphs into lines. It has been cleverly addressed by the total‐fit algorithm exposed by Knuth and Plass in a well‐known paper. Similarly, page‐breaking algorithms break the content flow of a document into page units. Formatting languages—such as the World Wide Web Consortium standard Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL‐FO)—allow users to set which content should be kept in the same page and how many isolated lines are acceptable at the beginning/end of each page. The strategies most formatters adopt to meet these requirements, however, are not satisfactory for many publishing contexts as they very often generate unpleasant empty areas. In that case, typographers are required to manually craft the results in order to completely fill pages. This paper presents a page‐breaking algorithm that extends the original Knuth and Plass line‐breaking approach and produces high‐quality documents without unwanted empty areas. The basic idea consists of delaying the definitive choice of breaks in the line‐breaking process in order to provide a larger set of alternatives to the actual pagination step. The algorithm also allows users to decide the set of properties to be adjusted for pagination and their variation ranges. An application of the algorithm to XSL‐FO is also presented, with an extension of the language that allows users to drive the pagination process. The tool, named FOP+, is a customized version of the open‐source Apache Formatting Objects Processor formatter. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An extended finite element formulation for contact in multi‐material arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian calculations

Multi‐material Eulerian and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian methods were originally developed for solving hypervelocity impact problems, but they are attractive for solving a broad range of problems having large deformations, the evolution of new free surfaces, and chemical reactions. The contact, separation, and slip between two surfaces have traditionally been addressed by the mixture theory, however the accuracy of this approach is severely limited. To improve the accuracy, an extended finite element formulation is developed and example calculations are presented. As a side benefit, the mixture theory is eliminated from the multi‐material formulation, eliminating the issues associated with the equilibration time between adjacent materials. By design, the new formulation is relatively simple to implement in existing multi‐material codes, parallelizes without difficulty, and has a low memory burden. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solving large multiple-depot multiple-vehicle-type bus scheduling problems in practice

We consider the multiple-depot multiple-vehicle-type scheduling problem (MDVSP) which arises in public transport bus companies and aims to assign buses to cover a given set of timetabled trips with consideration of practical requirements, such as multiple depots and vehicle types as well as depot capacities. An optimal schedule is characterized by minimal fleet size and minimal operational costs including costs for empty movements and waiting time. It is well-known that the MDVSP is NP-hard.Although progress has recently been made in solving large practical MDVSP to optimality with time-space network models, current optimization technology sets limits to the model size that can be solved. In order to approach very large practical instances we propose a two-phase method which produces close to optimal solutions. This modeling approach enables us to solve real-world problem instances with thousands of scheduled trips by direct application of standard optimization software. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of depot groups for the case that a bus may return in the evening into another depot than where it started in the morning.