In situ kinetics study of the formation of organic nanoparticles by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) along a microfluidic device

In this study, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing microfluidic method is presented that allows full control of the nano-precipitation process of adamantyl mesityl BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-3,5-di-(adamantyl)-8-mesityl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene) (Adambodipy). The precipitation is achieved by combining a central Adambodipy organic flow with a mixture of water and a cationic surfactant, creating a non-solvent precipitation method. The flow and mixing were simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics^® 3.4. A good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained for the flow velocity, concentration fields and the subsequent precipitation kinetics. Fluorescence lifetime imaging was used to visualize the precipitation domains following the changes in fluorescence lifetime. The lifetime decreases from 6.1 ns for the molecules down to 0.9 ns for nanoparticles. A principal components analysis of the successive fluorescence decay curves showed that the process could be adequately modeled using three components, which can be attributed to monomers (single molecule), clusters (nuclei) and nanoparticles.     

Optimal BSR Solutions to Several Convex Polygon Problems

This paper focuses on BSR (Broadcasting with Selective Reduction) implementation of algorithms solving basic convex polygon problems. More precisely, constant time solutions on a linear number, max(N, M) (where N and M are the number of edges of the two considered polygons), of processors for computing the maximum distance between two convex polygons, finding critical support lines of two convex polygons, computing the diameter, the width of a convex polygon and the vector sum of two convex polygons are described. These solutions are based on the merging slopes technique using one criterion BSR operations.     

A New Control Strategy of 5-Phase PM Motor under Open-Circuited Phase Based on High Order Sliding Mode and Current References Real-Time Generation

The high quality of electrical power in high power and high reliability applications is a crucial necessity even under fault mode function. However, in these conditions, the quality of the torque is a key feature. To overcome this problem, the multiphase permanent magnet (PM) motors seems to be a very attractive choice. In order to highlight the robustness and reliability of this technology, this paper investigates the control of a five-phase PM motor under an open circuited phase fault conditions. Moreover, a High Order Sliding Mode (HOSM) controller combined to an optimal reference current generation is tested and compared to a PID controller under fault mode conditions. This original control strategy is proposed for faulted conditions. Compared to classical fault tolerant control, this strategy allows a better dynamic tracking of the non-sinusoidal reference currents and leads to a smooth torque with minimal losses even in severe fault conditions. To validate the proposed control strategy, simulation, and experimental results are presented and discussed.     

Evaluation of bis-alkylamidoxime O-alkylsulfonates as orally available antimalarials

The main threat to controlling malaria is the emerging multidrug resistance of Plasmodium sp. parasites. Bis-alkylamidines were developed as a potential new chemotherapy that targets plasmodial phospholipid metabolism. Unfortunately, these compounds are not orally available. To solve this absorption issue, we investigated a prodrug strategy based on sulfonate derivatives of alkylamidoximes. A total of 25 sulfonates were synthesized as prodrug candidates of one bis-N-alkylamidine and of six N-substituted bis-C-alkylamidines. Their antimalarial activities were evaluated in vitro against P. falciparum and in vivo against P. vinckei in mice to define structure-activity relationships. Small alkyl substituents on the sulfonate group of both C-alkyl- and N-alkylamidines led to the best oral antimalarial activities; alkylsulfonate derivatives are chemically transformed into the corresponding alkylamidines.     

Morbidity and Outpatient Care for the Elderly in Kerala, South India: Evidence from a National Population based Survey

This paper aims at understanding the elderly-non-elderly difference in morbidity and utilization of outpatient care and how such differences vary across economic classes by using a population based self reported health survey in the context of Kerala??an Indian state which is in the advanced stage of demographic transition and has the highest share of elderly population in comparison to other Indian states. It is found that for the elderly chronic non-communicable diseases account for four out of five of the most frequently reported illnesses. An elderly belonging to rich or middle classes is more likely to utilize outpatient care in comparison to a rich non-elderly, however such a pattern is not observed for the poor elderly. Experience of Kerala suggests that ageing of the population is going to impose severe challenge to the public health sector in other Indian states which will be entering into the advanced stage of demographic transition shortly and there is a need to examine in greater details the willingness and capacity of the private sector to share this increased burden for health care need.     

Work-efficient BSR-based parallel algorithms for some fundamental problems in graph theory

This paper presents BSR-parallel algorithms for some problems in fundamental graph theory : transitive closure, connected components, spanning tree, bridges and articulation points of a graph and bipartite graph recognition. There already exist constant time algorithms to solve these problems on a mesh with reconfigurable bus system using O(N ⁴) processors. Here we show that these problems can be solved in constant time using only O(N ²) processors on the BSR model (N is the number of vertices of the graph G). Therefore, our algorithms are more work-efficient. These new results suggest that many other problems in graph theory can be solved in constant time using the BSR model.     

A formal and sound transformation from Focal to UML: an application to airport security regulations

We propose an automatic transformation of Focal specifications to UML class diagrams. The main motivation for this work lies within the framework of the EDEMOI project, which aims to integrate and apply several requirements engineering and formal methods techniques to analyze airport security regulations. The idea is to provide a graphical documentation of formal models for developers, and in the long-term, for certification authorities. The transformation is formally described and an implementation has been designed. We also show how the soundness of our approach can be achieved.