A New Microbial Polysaccharide Membrane for Ethanol Dehydration by Pervaporation

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Scanning microscopies of superconductors at very low temperatures

We discuss basics of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S) of the superconducting state with normal and superconducting tips. We present a new method to measure the local variations in the Andreev reflection amplitude between a superconducting tip and the sample. This method is termed Scanning Andreev Reflection Spectroscopy (SAS). We also briefly discuss vortex imaging with STM/S under an applied current through the sample, and show the vortex lattice as a function of the angle between the magnetic field and sample's surface

Block copolymer based novel magnetic mixed matrix membranes-magnetic modulation of water permeation by irreversible structural changes

This contribution focuses on understanding the effect of magnetic field intensity on the performance of novel hydrophilic and hydrophobic mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). The hydrophilic MMMs were made up of polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) that were synthesized through polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) and iron oxide nanoparticles prepared in presence of poly (methacrylic acid)-b-poly quaternized (2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate. The hydrophobic MMMs were prepared by the addition of iron oxide nanoparticles with different surface properties to a linear poly (methacrylic acid)-b-poly (methylmethacrylate) diblock copolymer dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF). Three different types of hydrophilic membranes were prepared with polymeric nanoparticles of different morphologies (spherical, vermicular and vesicular). In case of the hydrophobic membranes, six different membranes containing different iron oxide core coated with different stabilizers such as poly (methacrylic acid), quaternized poly(2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and meso-2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid were prepared. An external magnetic field with intensity values up to 1.15 T was used for the permeation studies and the results were compared with those obtained in the absence of magnetic field. The collected data indicate an increase in the water flux of up to 16% and 29% under the magnetic field for hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes, respectively. The STEM analyses suggest that the magnetic nanoparticles move within the membrane structure during the application of the magnetic field. This displacement/rearrangement causes constant changes in the membrane structure (structure of the active layer) and consequently on the membrane permeability. These results suggest that the application of the magnetic field could be used as a pretreatment step to obtain high flux membranes

Digital predistortion technique with in-band interference optimisation applied to DVB-T2

The efficient transmission and nonlinear modelling of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are difficult to address owing to the special characteristics of this modulation scheme. Proposed is a digital predistortion technique suitable for the implementation in an OFDM transmitter to optimise the in-band interference caused by the nonlinear distortion generated in the amplification chain. The approach is experimentally validated by its application in one of the world's most advanced broadcasting systems, achieving an outstanding linearisation performance in the transmitter; specially for the in-band interference, a modulation error ratio (MER) of 42.1 dB is obtained.CICYT TEC2011-2355

Measuring Human Capital with Productivity-Weighted Labor Force: Methodology and Projections for China, India, the United States, and the European Union

This working paper provides a comprehensive overview of the methodology used to calculate a standardized and internationally comparable productivity-weighted labor force (PWLF) measure that takes into account both the education structure of the population and the quality of the educational system. Education-specific weights are calculated with a Mincerian earnings function on pooled data from all IPUMS-I censuses containing information on education, labor force status, and income. The education parameters are interacted with the countries' average educational attainment to account for the dependence of returns to education on the number of workers sharing that education level. Country and time specific adjustment factors for education quality are derived from skills assessment surveys. To calculate the productivity-weighted labor force size, these adjusted weights are then applied to labor force estimates and projections. The analytical value of the PWLF is validated making use of prediction exercise for GDP growth applied to a panel dataset covering all countries of the world from 1970 to 2015 for which data are available. Finally, the paper provides a practical application by forecasting PWLF figures for China, India, the United States, and the European Union from 2020 to 2100. These forecasts are compared against other population indicators (total population size, working-age population, and labor force size), highlighting the importance of population heterogeneity in the analysis of demographic trends

Assessment of oceanographic services for the monitoring of highly anthropised coastal lagoons: The Mar Menor case study

Ocean monitoring systems are designed for continuous monitoring to track their evolution and anticipate environmental issues. However, they are often based on IoT systems that offer little spatial coverage and are hard to maintain. Satellite remote sensing offers good geographical coverage but they also face several challenges to become a monitoring system. This paper introduces an easy-to-use software tool to crawl water-quality data from up to 6 satellite instruments from the ESA and NASA. Particularly, Chl-a data is deeply analyzed in terms of reliability and data coverage for a highly anthropised coastal lagoon (Mar Menor, Spain), where serious socio-environmental issues are happening. Our results show a good linear correlation between in situ data and SRS data, reaching values close to 0.9, and stating the relevance of organic matter inputs from ephemeral streams in Chl-a concentrations. Moreover, temporal granularity is increased from 5 to 1.5 days by combining SRS sources.Preprin

Daratumumab displays in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor activity in models of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and improves responses to standard chemo-immunotherapy regimens

Altres ajuts: This work was carried out at the Esther Koplowitz Center, Barcelona. Genmab and Janssen pharmaceuticals funded this research. Additional grants that contributed to this work included: [...], and CIBERONC (CB16/12/00334 and CB16/12/00225).CD38 is expressed in several types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and constitutes a promising target for antibody-based therapy. Daratumumab (Darzalex) is a first-in-class anti-CD38 antibody approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma (MM). It has also demonstrated clinical activity in Waldenström macroglobulinaemia and amyloidosis. Here, we have evaluated the activity and mechanism of action of daratumumab in preclinical in vitro and in vivo models of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), as monotherapy or in combination with standard chemo-immunotherapy. In vitro, daratumumab engages Fc-mediated cytotoxicity by antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell phagocytosis in all lymphoma subtypes. In the presence of human serum, complement-dependent cell cytotoxicity was marginally engaged. We demonstrated by Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy that daratumumab fully penetrated a three-dimensional (3D) lymphoma organoid and decreased organoid volume. In vivo, daratumumab completely prevents tumor outgrowth in models of MCL and FL, and shows comparable activity to rituximab in a disseminated in vivo model of blastic MCL. Moreover, daratumumab improves overall survival (OS) in a mouse model of transformed CD20 FL, where rituximab showed limited activity. Daratumumab potentiates the antitumor activity of CHOP and R-CHOP in MCL and FL xenografts. Furthermore, in a patient-derived DLBCL xenograft model, daratumumab anti-tumor activity was comparable to R-CHOP and the addition of daratumumab to either CHOP or R-CHOP led to full tumor regression. In summary, daratumumab constitutes a novel therapeutic opportunity in certain scenarios and these results warrant further clinical development

Optimization and testing of dried antibody tube: The EuroFlow LST and PIDOT tubes as examples

Within EuroFlow, we recently developed screening tubes for hematological malignancies and immune deficiencies. Pipetting of antibodies for such 8-color 12-marker tubes however is time-consuming and prone to operational mistakes. We therefore evaluated dried formats of the lymphocytosis screening tube (LST) and of the primary immune deficiency orientation tube (PIDOT). Both tubes were evaluated on normal and/or on patient samples, comparing the mean fluorescence intensity of specific lymphocyte populations. Our data show that the dried tubes and liquid counterparts give highly comparable staining results, particularly when analyzed in multidimensional plots. In addition, the use of dried tubes may result in a reduced staining variability between different samples and thereby contributes to the generation of more robust data. Therefore, by using ready-to-use reagents in a dried single test tube format, the laboratory efficiency and quality will be improved

Search for the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) in gamma gamma collisions

Data taken with the ALEPH detector at LEP1 have been used to search for gamma gamma production of the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) via their decay to pi+pi-. No signal is observed and upper limits to the product of gamma gamma width and pi+pi- branching ratio of the f0(1500) and the fJ(1710) have been measured to be Gamma_(gamma gamma -> f0(1500)). BR(f0(1500)->pi+pi-) < 0.31 keV and Gamma_(gamma gamma -> fJ(1710)). BR(fJ(1710)->pi+pi-) < 0.55 keV at 95% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure