Experimental and bond graph based sensitivity calculations for micro-scale robust engineering design

Copyright @ 2005 IEEEBond graph modeling and sensitivity analysis are used to provide a platform for the robust design of a small mechatronic device, a behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid. Two key components of the device, namely the telecoil and the receiver, are considered. Experimental measurements, bond graph simulation models and analytic sensitivity analysis are used to investigate the interaction between these components in order to gain insight into the effect of component placement on the robustness of the final product

The European Union, borders and conflict transformation: the case of Cyprus

Much of the existing literature on the European Union (EU), conflict transformation and border dynamics has been premised on the assumption that the nature of the border determines EU intervention and the consequences that flow from this in terms of EU impact. The article aims to transcend this literature through assessing how domestic interpretations influence EU border transformation in conflict situations, taking Cyprus as a case study. Moreover, the objective is to fuse the literature on EU bordering impact and perceptions of the EU’s normative projection in conflict resolution. Pursuing this line of inquiry is an attempt to depart from the notion of borders being constructed solely by unidirectional EU logics of engagement or bordering practices to a conceptualization of the border as co-constituted space, where the interpretations of the EU’s normative projections by conflict parties, and the strategies that they pursue, can determine the relative openness of the EU border

Extreme ionization of heavy atoms in solid-density plasmas by relativistic second-harmonic laser pulses

Stripping heavy atoms in solid matter of most of their electrons requires the extreme conditions that exist in astrophysical plasmas, but are difficult to create in the laboratory1–3. Here we demonstrate solid-density gold plasmas with atoms stripped of up to 72 electrons (N-like Au72+) over large target depths. This record ionization is achieved by irradiating solid foils and near-solid-density nanowire arrays with highly relativistic (3 × 1021 W cm−2) second-harmonic femtosecond laser pulses of '10 J energy focused into a 1.6 µm spot. The short wavelength and high intensity enable the interaction to occur at a relativistic critical density4,5 of 1023 cm−3. Solid targets reach a higher average charge in 1- to 2-µm-thick layers, while the less dense nanowire plasmas are heated to much larger depths ('8 µm) by energetic electrons generated near the nanowire tips. Larger laser spots could result in solid Au plasmas ionized up to He-like.Fil: Hollinger, R.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, S.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Y.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Moreau, A.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Capeluto, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Song, H.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Rockwood, A.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Bayarsaikhan, E.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Kaymak, V.. Universitat Dusseldorf; AlemaniaFil: Pukhov, A.. Universitat Dusseldorf; AlemaniaFil: Shlyaptsev, V.N.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Rocca, J.J.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unido

Measurement and physical interpretation of the mean motion of turbulent density patterns detected by the BES system on MAST

The mean motion of turbulent patterns detected by a two-dimensional (2D) beam emission spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) is determined using a cross-correlation time delay (CCTD) method. Statistical reliability of the method is studied by means of synthetic data analysis. The experimental measurements on MAST indicate that the apparent mean poloidal motion of the turbulent density patterns in the lab frame arises because the longest correlation direction of the patterns (parallel to the local background magnetic fields) is not parallel to the direction of the fastest mean plasma flows (usually toroidal when strong neutral beam injection is present). The experimental measurements are consistent with the mean motion of plasma being toroidal. The sum of all other contributions (mean poloidal plasma flow, phase velocity of the density patterns in the plasma frame, non-linear effects, etc.) to the apparent mean poloidal velocity of the density patterns is found to be negligible. These results hold in all investigated L-mode, H-mode and internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges. The one exception is a high-poloidal-beta (the ratio of the plasma pressure to the poloidal magnetic field energy density) discharge, where a large magnetic island exists. In this case BES detects very little motion. This effect is currently theoretically unexplained.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, submitted to PPC

Enhanced electron acceleration in aligned nanowire arrays irradiated at highly relativistic intensities

We report a significant enhancement in both the energy and the flux of relativistic electrons accelerated by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiation (>1 10 21 W cm-2) of near solid density aligned CD2 nanowire arrays in comparison to those from solid CD2 foils irradiated with the same laser pulses. Ultrahigh contrast femtosecond laser pulses penetrate deep into the nanowire array creating a large interaction volume. Detailed three dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations show that electrons originating anywhere along the nanowire length are first driven towards the laser to reach a lower density plasma region near the tip of the nanowires, where they are accelerated to the highest energies. Electrons that reach the lower density plasma experience direct laser acceleration up to the dephasing length, where they outrun the laser pulse. This yields an electron beam characterized by a 3 higher electron temperature and an integrated flux 22.4 larger respect to foil targets. Additionally, the generation of >1 MeV photons were observed to increase up to 4.5.Fil: Moreau, A.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Hollinger, R.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Calvi, C.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, S.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Y.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Capeluto, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Rockwood, A.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Curtis, A.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Kasdorf, S.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Shlyaptsev, V.N.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Kaymak, V.. Universitat Dusseldorf; AlemaniaFil: Pukhov, A.. Universitat Dusseldorf; AlemaniaFil: Rocca, J.J.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unido

Lysophosphatidic Acid-Mediated GPR35 Signaling in CX3CR1⁺ Macrophages Regulates Intestinal Homeostasis.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene encoding G protein-coupled receptor 35 (GPR35) are associated with increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease. However, the mechanisms by which GPR35 modulates intestinal immune homeostasis remain undefined. Here, integrating zebrafish and mouse experimental models, we demonstrate that intestinal Gpr35 expression is microbiota dependent and enhanced upon inflammation. Moreover, murine GPR35 <sup>+</sup> colonic macrophages are characterized by enhanced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. We identify lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) as a potential endogenous ligand produced during intestinal inflammation, acting through GPR35 to induce tumor necrosis factor (Tnf) expression in macrophages. Mice lacking Gpr35 in CX3CR1 <sup>+</sup> macrophages aggravate colitis when exposed to dextran sodium sulfate, which is associated with decreased transcript levels of the corticosterone-generating gene Cyp11b1 and macrophage-derived Tnf. Administration of TNF in these mice restores Cyp11b1 expression and intestinal corticosterone production and ameliorates DSS-induced colitis. Our findings indicate that LPA signals through GPR35 in CX3CR1 <sup>+</sup> macrophages to maintain TNF-mediated intestinal homeostasis

Treatment of acne with intermittent and conventional isotretinoin: a randomized, controlled multicenter study

Oral isotretinoin is the most effective choice in the treatment of severe acne. Application of isotretionin to acne has been expanded to treat those patients with less severe but scarring acne who are responding unsatisfactorily to conventional therapies. However, its use is associated with many side effects, some of which can result in very disastrous consequences. Data related with intermittent isotretinoin therapy is still limited. Our aim was to asses the efficacy and tolerability of two different intermittent isotretinoin courses and compare them with conventional isotretinoin treatment. In this multicenter and controlled study, 66 patients with moderate to severe cases were randomized to receive either isotretionin for the first 10 days of each month for 6 months (group 1), or each day in the first month, afterwards the first 10 days of each month for 5 months (group 2) or daily for 6 months (group 3). The drug dosage was 0.5 mg/kg/day in all groups. Patients were followed-up for 12 months. Efficacy values were evaluable for 22 patients in group 1, 19 patients in group 2, and 19 patients in group 3. Acne scores in each group were significantly lower at the end of treatment and follow-up periods (P < 0.001). When patients were evaluated separately as moderate (n = 31) and severe (n = 29), no statistically significant differences were obtained among the treatment protocols in patients with moderate acne. However, there was a significant difference between groups 1 and 3 to the response of the treatments in severe acne patients at the end of follow-up period (P = 0.013). The frequency and severity of isotretionin-related side effects were found to be lower in groups 1 and 2 compared with group 3. Intermittent isotretinoin may represent an effective alternative treatment, especially in moderate acne with a low incidence and severity of side effects. The intermittent isotretinoin can be recommended in those patients not tolerating the classical dosage

Predicting RNA-Protein Interactions Using Only Sequence Information

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>RNA-protein interactions (RPIs) play important roles in a wide variety of cellular processes, ranging from transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression to host defense against pathogens. High throughput experiments to identify RNA-protein interactions are beginning to provide valuable information about the complexity of RNA-protein interaction networks, but are expensive and time consuming. Hence, there is a need for reliable computational methods for predicting RNA-protein interactions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose <b><it>RPISeq</it></b>, a family of classifiers for predicting <b><it>R</it></b>NA-<b><it>p</it></b>rotein <b><it>i</it></b>nteractions using only <b><it>seq</it></b>uence information. Given the sequences of an RNA and a protein as input, <it>RPIseq </it>predicts whether or not the RNA-protein pair interact. The RNA sequence is encoded as a normalized vector of its ribonucleotide 4-mer composition, and the protein sequence is encoded as a normalized vector of its 3-mer composition, based on a 7-letter reduced alphabet representation. Two variants of <it>RPISeq </it>are presented: <it>RPISeq-SVM</it>, which uses a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier and <it>RPISeq-RF</it>, which uses a Random Forest classifier. On two non-redundant benchmark datasets extracted from the Protein-RNA Interface Database (PRIDB), <it>RPISeq </it>achieved an AUC (Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve) of 0.96 and 0.92. On a third dataset containing only mRNA-protein interactions, the performance of <it>RPISeq </it>was competitive with that of a published method that requires information regarding many different features (e.g., mRNA half-life, GO annotations) of the putative RNA and protein partners. In addition, <it>RPISeq </it>classifiers trained using the PRIDB data correctly predicted the majority (57-99%) of non-coding RNA-protein interactions in NPInter-derived networks from <it>E. coli, S. cerevisiae, D. melanogaster, M. musculus</it>, and <it>H. sapiens</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our experiments with <it>RPISeq </it>demonstrate that RNA-protein interactions can be reliably predicted using only sequence-derived information. <it>RPISeq </it>offers an inexpensive method for computational construction of RNA-protein interaction networks, and should provide useful insights into the function of non-coding RNAs. <it>RPISeq </it>is freely available as a web-based server at <url>http://pridb.gdcb.iastate.edu/RPISeq/.</url></p

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]