INTERACTION OF WHEY PROTEIN WITH MODIFIED STAINLESS STEEL SURFACES

Modified stainless steel surfaces were fouled with whey protein solutions to study the deposition mechanisms and the effects of surface modification. Stainless steel samples were coated with diamond-like carbon (DLC) and titanium nitride (TiN). These surfaces are expected to present different surface chemistries to stainless steel in terms of their functional groups and hydrophobic or hydrophilic nature. Thus, it is expected that foulant-surface interactions will differ for the various fouled surfaces. The substrates were exposed to a flowing whey protein solution in a fouling rig designed to achieve laminar flow. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used to study the initial protein-surface interactions of samples fouled for 1 minute at 75°C. Ellipsometry was used to study the fouling and cleaning performance of samples fouled at 75°C and 85°C for up to 30 minutes followed by ultrasonic caustic cleaning of selected samples. XPS showed the presence of similar protein functional groups on all fouled surfaces. The bonding mechanisms during fouling of DLC is different to the stainless steel and TiN surfaces. The peptide link played a more active role at the deposit-surface interface for the non-polar DLC surface, while it was less significant for the two polar surfaces. Ellipsometry revealed that for the three surfaces, fouling increased in the order DL

Self Consistent Molecular Field Theory for Packing in Classical Liquids

Building on a quasi-chemical formulation of solution theory, this paper proposes a self consistent molecular field theory for packing problems in classical liquids, and tests the theoretical predictions for the excess chemical potential of the hard sphere fluid. Results are given for the self consistent molecular fields obtained, and for the probabilities of occupancy of a molecular observation volume. For this system, the excess chemical potential predicted is as accurate as the most accurate prior theories, particularly the scaled particle (Percus-Yevick compressibility) theory. It is argued that the present approach is particularly simple, and should provide a basis for a molecular-scale description of more complex solutions.Comment: 6 pages and 5 figure

Using Markov Models and Statistics to Learn, Extract, Fuse, and Detect Patterns in Raw Data

Many systems are partially stochastic in nature. We have derived data driven approaches for extracting stochastic state machines (Markov models) directly from observed data. This chapter provides an overview of our approach with numerous practical applications. We have used this approach for inferring shipping patterns, exploiting computer system side-channel information, and detecting botnet activities. For contrast, we include a related data-driven statistical inferencing approach that detects and localizes radiation sources.Comment: Accepted by 2017 International Symposium on Sensor Networks, Systems and Securit

Vision based referee sign language recognition system for the RoboCup MSL league

In RoboCup Middle Size league (MSL) the main referee uses assisting technology, controlled by a second referee, to support him, in particular for conveying referee decisions for robot players with the help of a wireless communication system. In this paper a vision-based system is introduced, able to interpret dynamic and static gestures of the referee, thus eliminating the need for a second one. The referee's gestures are interpreted by the system and sent directly to the Referee Box, which sends the proper commands to the robots. The system is divided into four modules: a real time hand tracking and feature extraction, a SVM (Support Vector Machine) for static hand posture identification, an HMM (Hidden Markov Model) for dynamic unistroke hand gesture recognition, and a FSM (Finite State Machine) to control the various system states transitions. The experimental results showed that the system works very reliably, being able to recognize the combination of gestures and hand postures in real-time. For the hand posture recognition, with the SVM model trained with the selected features, an accuracy of 98,2% was achieved. Also, the system has many advantages over the current implemented one, like avoiding the necessity of a second referee, working on noisy environments, working on wireless jammed situations. This system is easy to implement and train and may be an inexpensive solution

Application specific photonic integrated circuits through generic integration, a novel paradigm in photonics

[EN] This paper reviews our recent work on integrating photonic devices and sub-systems onto a single photonic chip, by means of generic integration.This work has been partially funded through the Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011 project ”Coupled Resonator Optical Waveguide eNgineering (CROWN)” grant no. TEC2008-06145/ TEC, by the Generalitat Valenciana through project PROMETEO/2008/092 and by the EC FP6 contract no. 004525 ePIXnet. J.D. Doménech acknowledges the FPI research grant BES-2009-018381.Muñoz Muñoz, P.; Doménech Gómez, JD.; Artundo Martínez, I.; Habib, C.; Leijtens, X.; De Vries, T.; Robbins, D.... (2011). Application specific photonic integrated circuits through generic integration, a novel paradigm in photonics. Waves. 3:58-64. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/57675S5864

Multi-wavelength laser based on an arrayed waveguide grating and Sagnac loop reflectors monolithically integrated on InP

In this paper, a multi-wavelength laser monolithically integrated on InP is presented. A linear laser cavity is built between two integrated Sagnac loop reflectors, with an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) as frequency selective device, and Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOA) as gain sections. The power is out coupled from the cavity using a side diffraction order of the AWG. Simultaneous laser operation is provided for four wavelengths/cavities in the device. The termination of the laser cavities with integrated Sagnac loop reflectors avoids using high reflection coating. Only anti-reflection coating is used in the output facet of the chip

InP monolithically integrated label swapper device for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks

In this paper a label swapping device, for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks, fully integrated using InP technology is presented. Compared to previous demonstrations using discrete component assembly, the device footprint is reduced by a factor of 105 and the operation speed is increased by a factor of 103. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of a totally integrated label swapping device

InP monolithically integrated label swapper device for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks

In this paper a label swapping device, for spectral amplitude coded optical packet networks, fully integrated using InP technology is presented. Compared to previous demonstrations using discrete component assembly, the device footprint is reduced by a factor of 105 and the operation speed is increased by a factor of 103. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of a totally integrated label swapping device

Association of Sleep Apnea, Diagnosed by Self-Reported Physician Diagnosis or Hospital Discharge Codes, With Atrial Fibrillation and Ectopy Using Ambulatory Electrocardiogram in the ARIC Study

Sleep apnea is associated with cardiac arrhythmias1 such as atrial fibrillation (AF), premature ventricular contractions (PVC), and premature atrial contractions (PAC). Mechanisms that may explain this association include autonomic imbalance, hypertension, intermittent hypoxia, and atrial remodeling. However, prior studies of sleep apnea and cardiac arrhythmias relied on a single ten second,12-lead electrocardiogram, and/or hospital medical records, which would miss paroxysmal, asymptomatic, and intermittent arrhythmias. The Reveal XT-SA study reported that using a medically implanted device for cardiac monitoring in patients with severe obstructive SA may help to identify newly detected AF, however application of this study’s findings to our work was limited as the Reveal XT-SA study used a small sample size in a clinical population.4 Our study overcomes these limitations by adding standardized 48-hour continuous ambulatory ECG (aECG) monitoring to the population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study to examine the association between sleep apnea and AF, PACs, and PVCs

American Heart Association's Life Simple 7 and risk of atrial fibrillation in a population without known cardiovascular disease: The ARIC (Atherosclerosis risk in communities) study

Background-The American Heart Association has defined metrics of ideal cardiovascular health known as Life's Simple 7 (LS7) to prevent cardiovascular disease. We examined the association between LS7 and incident atrial fibrillation (AF) in a biracial cohort of middle- and older-aged adults without known cardiovascular disease. Methods and Results-This analysis included 13 182 ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study participants (mean baseline age=54±5.7 years; 56% women; 25% black) free of AF and cardiovascular disease. An overall LS7 score was calculated as the sum of the LS7 component scores and classified as inadequate (0-4), average (5-9), or optimal (10-14) cardiovascular health. The primary outcome was incident AF, identified primarily by ECG and hospital discharge coding of AF through December 31, 2014. A total of 2266 (17%) incident AF cases were detected over a median follow-up of 25.1 years. Compared with the inadequate category (n=1057), participants in the average (n=8629) and optimal (n=3496) categories each had a lower risk of developing AF in a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model (hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.51, 0.67 for average; and hazard ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.32, 0.44 for optimal). In a similar model, a 1-point-higher LS7 score was associated with a 12% lower risk of incident AF (hazard ratio 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.86, 0.89). Conclusions-A higher LS7 score is strongly associated with a lower risk of AF in individuals without baseline cardiovascular disease. Determining whether interventions that improve the population's cardiovascular health also reduce AF incidence is needed