Importance of the pyrolysis for microstructure and superconducting properties of CSD-grown GdBa2_{2}Cu3_{3}O7−x_{7-x}-HfO2_{2} nanocomposite films by the ex-situ approach

For the first time, GdBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-x}$ nanocomposites were prepared by chemical solution deposition following the ex-situ approach. In particular, ~ 220 nm GdBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-x}$-HfO$_{2}$ (GdBCO-HfO$_{2}$) nanocomposite films were fabricated starting from a colloidal solution of 5 mol% HfO2 nanoparticles. Hereby, one of the main challenges is to avoid the accumulation of the nanoparticles at the substrate interface during the pyrolysis, which would later prevent the epitaxial nucleation of the GdBCO grains. Therefore, the effect of pyrolysis processing parameters such as heating ramp and temperature on the homogeneity of the nanoparticle distribution has been investigated. By increasing the heating ramp to 300 °C/h and decreasing the final temperature to 300 °C, a more homogenous nanoparticle distribution was achieved. This translates into improved superconducting properties of the grown films reaching critical temperatures (T$_{c}$) of 94.5 K and self-field critical current densities ($_{c}$$^{sf}$) at 77 K of 2.1 MA/cm$^{2}$ with respect to films pyrolyzed at higher temperatures or lower heating ramps

The governance of formal university–industry interactions: understanding the rationales for alternative models

This article develops a conceptual framework to explain the economic rationale underpinning the choice of different modes of governance of formal university–industry interactions: personal contractual interactions, where the contract regulating the collaboration involves a firm and an individual academic researcher, and institutional interactions, where the relationship between the firm and the academic is mediated by the university. Although institutional interactions, for numerous reasons, have become more important, both governance modes are currently being implemented. We would argue that they have some important specificities that need to be understood if university–industry knowledge transfer is to be managed effectively and efficiently

Non destructive evaluation of heterogeneous media using cepstrum analysis

A new direction for the non destructive evaluation of heterogeneous materials is presented, which relies on the cepstrum of the backwards diffused signal for the characterization of the internat structure of the medium under study . The spectrum of the reflected signal is correlated to the sample structure . By using the cepstrum transform, informations about the mean spacing between the scatterers and the volume percent of heterogeneites may be obtained for biphase media . A set of simulations make the advantages of the cepstrum analysis over the spectral analysis clear . The theoretical results are compared with experiments.Approche nouvelle du contrôle non destructif par ultrasons des milieux hétérogènes. Elle permet, à l'aide de l'analyse cepstrale du signal rétrodiffusé, une caractérisation de la structure du milieu étudi

Performance analysis of priority queueing systems in discrete time

The integration of different types of traffic in packet-based networks spawns the need for traffic differentiation. In this tutorial paper, we present some analytical techniques to tackle discrete-time queueing systems with priority scheduling. We investigate both preemptive (resume and repeat) and non-preemptive priority scheduling disciplines. Two classes of traffic are considered, high-priority and low-priority traffic, which both generate variable-length packets. A probability generating functions approach leads to performance measures such as moments of system contents and packet delays of both classes

FASTER: Facilitating Analysis and Synthesis Technologies for Effective Reconfiguration

The FASTER (Facilitating Analysis and Synthesis Technologies for Effective Reconfiguration) EU FP7 project, aims to ease the design and implementation of dynamically changing hardware systems. Our motivation stems from the promise reconfigurable systems hold for achieving high performance and extending product functionality and lifetime via the addition of new features that operate at hardware speed. However, designing a changing hardware system is both challenging and time-consuming. FASTER facilitates the use of reconfigurable technology by providing a complete methodology enabling designers to easily specify, analyze, implement and verify applications on platforms with general-purpose processors and acceleration modules implemented in the latest reconfigurable technology. Our tool-chain supports both coarse- and fine-grain FPGA reconfiguration, while during execution a flexible run-time system manages the reconfigurable resources. We target three applications from different domains. We explore the way each application benefits from reconfiguration, and then we asses them and the FASTER tools, in terms of performance, area consumption and accuracy of analysis

A simple and fast method to exclude high Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia in travellers with imported malaria

Background: Counts of malaria parasites in peripheral blood are important to assess severity of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Thin and thick smears are routinely used for this purpose. Methods. In this study the Binax NOW® Malaria Test, an easy-to-perform rapid diagnostic test, with Histidine Rich Protein-2 (HRP-2) and aldolase as diagnostic markers, was used for semi-quantitative assessment of parasitaemia of P. faciparum. Results: In 257 patients with imported P. falciparum malaria, reactivity of aldolase increased with higher parasitaemia. In all patients with a parasitaemia above 50,000 asexual parasites/l (> 1%) co-reactivity of HRP-2 and aldolase was observed. Absence of aldolase reactivity in the presence of HRP-2 was a reliable predictive marker to exclude high (> 1%) parasitaemia in P. falciparum malaria. Conclusions: Assessment of HRP-2 and aldolase co-reactivity can be of help in clinical decision making in the acute care setting of returning travellers suspected of having malaria