A Bio-Conjugated Fullerene as a Subcellular-Targeted and Multifaceted Phototheranostic Agent

Fullerenes are candidates for theranostic applications because of their high photodynamic activity and intrinsic multimodal imaging contrast. However, fullerenes suffer from low solubility in aqueous media, poor biocompatibility, cell toxicity, and a tendency to aggregate. C₇₀@lysozyme is introduced herein as a novel bioconjugate that is harmless to a cellular environment, yet is also photoactive and has excellent optical and optoacoustic contrast for tracking cellular uptake and intracellular localization. The formation, water-solubility, photoactivity, and unperturbed structure of C₇₀@lysozyme are confirmed using UV-visible and 2D ¹H, ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. The excellent imaging contrast of C₇₀@lysozyme in optoacoustic and third harmonic generation microscopy is exploited to monitor its uptake in HeLa cells and lysosomal trafficking. Last, the photoactivity of C₇₀@lysozyme and its ability to initiate cell death by means of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) production upon exposure to low levels of white light irradiation is demonstrated. This study introduces C₇₀@lysozyme and other fullerene-protein conjugates as potential candidates for theranostic applications.     

The TSIMMIS Approach to Mediation: Data Models and Languages

TSIMMIS—The Stanford-IBM Manager of Multiple InformationSources—is a system for integrating information. It offers a datamodel and a common query language that are designed to support thecombining of information from many different sources. It also offerstools for generating automatically the components that are needed tobuild systems for integrating information. In this paper we shalldiscuss the principal architectural features and their rationale.     

Synthesis, optical and morphological characterization of soluble main chain 1,3,4-oxadiazole copolyarylethers—potential candidates for solar cells applications as electron acceptors

New copoly(arylether)s containing substituted terphenyl, quinquephenyl, fluorene and anthracene moieties with aromatic 1,3,4-oxadiazole units were prepared and the resulting copolymers are soluble in common organic solvents. Investigation of their optical properties revealed that they emit blue and yellow light. Moreover, their photovoltaic response was studied in blends with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the electron donor. Despite the low power conversion efficiencies it was shown that photo-induced electron transfer does take place and the performances are higher than a single layer P3HT device. In addition, an anthracene-fluorene-oxadiazole main chain copolymer (PAFOXD) was also examined in a single layer photovoltaic device and gave one of the highest reported open-circuit voltage (V_oc) values in the literature (0.89 V). Finally, a detailed morphological study of the blends and the PAFOXD surface using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique, revealed the effect of solvent selection to the preparation of thin films exhibiting the desired performance characteristics.     

Dependability and performance stochastic modelling of a two-unit repairable production system with preventive maintenance

In this paper, a two-unit multistate repairable production system is considered in which preventive maintenance (PM) is implemented in order to improve its dependability and performance. A general model is provided for the production system using a semi-Markov process, for examining system’s limiting behaviour. Apart from combining redundancy with PM, we introduce scenarios like imperfect and failed maintenance which are usually met in real life production systems. For the proposed model, we calculate the availability, the mean time to failure and the total operational cost and we formulate optimisation problems settled with respect to the system’s inspection times. The main aim of our work is to determine the optimal inspection times and consequently the optimal PM policies to be adopted in order to optimise system’s dependability and performance.     

Adaptive Smooth Simulcast Protocol (ASSP) for Video Applications: Description and Performance Evaluation

In this paper, we present Adaptive Smooth Simulcast Protocol (ASSP) for simulcast transmission of multimedia data over best-effort networks. ASSP is a new multiple-rate protocol that implements a single rate TCP-friendly protocol as the underlying congestion control mechanism for each simulcast stream. The key attributes of ASSP are: (a) TCP-friendly behavior, (b) adaptive per-stream transmission rates, (c) adaptive scalability to large sets of receivers and (d) smooth transmission rates that are suitable for multimedia applications. We evaluate the performance of ASSP under an integrated simulation environment which combines the measurements of both network and video performance metrics. We also compare ASSP against other proposed solutions and the results demonstrate that the performance of ASSP is significantly better than the tested solutions. Finally, ASSP is a practical solution with very low implementation complexity for video transmission over best-effort networks.     

Statistical Analysis and Modeling of Jobs in a Grid Environment

The existence of good probabilistic models for the job arrival process and the delay components introduced at different stages of job processing in a Grid environment is important for the improved understanding of the Grid computing concept. In this study, we present a thorough analysis of the job arrival process in the EGEE infrastructure and of the time durations a job spends at different states in the EGEE environment. We define four delay components of the total job delay and model each component separately. We observe that the job inter-arrival times at the Grid level can be adequately modelled by a rounded exponential distribution, while the total job delay (from the time it is generated until the time it completes execution) is dominated by the computing element’s register and queuing times and the worker node’s execution times. Further, we evaluate the efficiency of the EGEE environment by comparing the job total delay performance with that of a hypothetical ideal super-cluster and conclude that we would obtain similar performance if we submitted the same workload to a super-cluster of size equal to 34% of the total average number of CPUs participating in the EGEE infrastructure. We also analyze the job inter-arrival times, the CE’s queuing times, the WN’s execution times, and the data sizes exchanged at the kallisto.hellasgrid.gr cluster, which is node in the EGEE infrastructure. In contrast to the Grid level, we find that at the cluster level the job arrival process exhibits self-similarity/long-range dependence. Finally, we propose simple and intuitive models for the job arrival process and the execution times at the cluster level.     

Simulating pavement structural condition using artificial neural networks

This article aims to investigate the feasibility of incorporating of an artificial neural network (ANN) as an innovative technique for modelling the pavement structural condition, into pavement management systems. For the development of the ANN, strain assessment criteria are set in order to characterise the structural condition of flexible asphalt pavements with regards to fatigue failure. This initial task is directly followed with the development of an ANN model for the prediction of strains primarily based on in situ field gathered data and not through the usage of synthetic databases. For this purpose, falling weight deflectometer (FWD) measurements were systematically conducted on a highway network, with ground-penetrating radar providing the required pavement thickness data. The FWD data (i.e. deflections) were back-analysed in order to assess strains that would be utilised as output data in the process of developing the ANN model. A paper exercise demonstrates how the developed ANN model combined with the suggested conceptual approach for characterising pavement structural condition with regard to strain assessment could make provisions for pavement management activities, categorising network pavement sections according to the need for maintenance or rehabilitation. Preliminary results indicate that the ANN technique could help assist policy decision makers in deriving optimum strategies for the planning of pavement infrastructure maintenance.     

Performance evaluation of ad hoc routing protocols for military communications

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are of much interest to both the research community and the military because of the potential to establish a communication network in any situation that involves emergencies. Examples are search‐and‐rescue operations, military deployment in hostile environments, and several types of police operations. One critical open issue is how to route messages considering the characteristics of these networks. The nodes act as routers in an environment without a fixed infrastructure, the nodes are mobile, the wireless medium has its own limitations compared to wired networks, and existing routing protocols cannot be employed, at least without modifications. Over the last few years, a number of routing protocols have been proposed and enhanced to address the issue of routing in MANETs. It is not clear how those different protocols perform under different environments. One protocol may be the best in one network configuration but the worst in another. This article provides an analysis and performance evaluation of those protocols that may be suitable for military communications. The evaluation is conducted in two phases. In the first phase, we compare the protocols based on qualitative metrics to locate those that may fit our evaluation criteria. In the second phase, we evaluate the selected protocols from the first phase based on quantitative metrics in a mobility scenario that reflects tactical military movements. The results disclose that there is no routing protocol in the current stage without modifications that can provide efficient routing to any size of network, regardless of the number of nodes and the network load and mobility. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.