Development and evaluation of lessons in socialized learning for grade I: volumes I-II

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Formal verification and co-simulation in the design of a synchronous motor control algorithm

Mechatronic systems are a class of cyber-physical systems, whose increasing complexity makes their validation and verification more and more difficult, while their requirements become more challenging. This paper introduces a development method based on model-based design, co-simulation and formal verification. The objective of this paper is to show the applicability of the method in an industrial setting. An application case study comes from the field of precision servo-motors, where formal verification has been used to find acceptable intervals of values for design parameters of the motor controller, which have been further explored using co-simulation to find optimal values. The reported results show that the method has been applied successfully to the case study, augmenting the current model-driven development processes by formal verification of stability, formal identification of acceptable parameter ranges, and automatic design-space exploration

Can platelet-rich plasma be an alternative to surgery for resistant chronic patellar tendinopathy in sportive people? Poor clinical results at 1-year follow-up

Introduction and purpose: Patellar tendinopathy is a disease affecting particularly athletes. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections have gained increasing interest for their potential benefits. Anyway, a tendon disease longer than 6 months should be considered as an indication for surgery. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of PRP in athletes with a severe chronic patellar tendinopathy longer than 6 months when surgery should be chosen. Methods: We enrolled 17 sport practitioners (19 patellar tendons) who did not want to undergo surgery and who are nonresponders to other conservative treatments. We treated them with PRP and calculated the results using the visual analog scale (VAS), the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Patellar (VISA-P) score, and Tegner Activity Scale. Every test has been conducted at T0, T1 (4 months), and T2 (12 months). Results: We found a poor improvement at T1 and a clinical worsening at T2 through VAS. VISA-P showed a medium improvement both at T1 and T2. Tegner scale did not show improvements. Conclusions: Our study was not able to remove the doubts about the benefits of PRP in patellar tendinopathy, confirming ambiguous certainties. Further investigations are needed to assess its effectiveness

Total Synthesis of 1”- and 2”-Hydroxycannabidiol Metabolites

Herein we report a new practical and efficient multistep syntheses of 1”- and 2”-hydroxycannabidiol metabolites. Both products and intermediates were fully characterized, and the target metabolites were produced in good overall yields

Malignant hypertension and hyperreninemia: Primary or secondary hypertension? A case report

Malignant hypertension is a rare condition characterized by severe hypertension and multi-organ ischemic damage. Marked activation of the renin-angiotensin system is observed in many patients, but its persistence over time is not known. We report a case of a 42-year-old woman who presented with severe hypertension and multi-organ damage. Initial evaluation showed an elevated value of direct renin concentration with normal plasma aldosterone concentration and a nodular lesion in the left adrenal gland. The differential diagnosis between the primary and secondary form of hypertension had to be questioned. Consequently, the patient was followed up for 20 months. Repeated checks showed a significant increase in renin levels with a normal aldosterone concentration and regression of organ damage. After 20 months, renin values returned within normal range. Hyperreninemia persisting over a long period of time has not been fully explained. Long-term follow-up allowed us to attribute malignant hypertension to de novo essential hypertension

Transcription of the mitochondrial citrate carrier gene: identification of a silencer and its binding protein ZNF224

In the last few years, we have been functionally characterizing the promoter of the human mitochondrial citrate carrier (CIC). In this study we show that CIC silencer activity extends over 26 bp (-595/-569), which specifically bind a protein present in HepG2 cell nuclear extracts. This transcription factor was purified by DNA affinity and identified as ZNF224. Overexpression of ZNF224 decreases LUC transgene activity in cells transfected with a construct containing the CIC silencer region, whereas ZNF224 silencing activates reporter transcription in cells transfected with the same construct. Moreover, overexpression and silencing of ZNF224 diminishes and enhances, respectively, CIC transcript and protein levels. Finally, ZNF224 is abundantly expressed in fetal tissues contrary to CIC. It is suggested that CIC transcriptional repression by ZNF224 explains, at least in part, the low expression of CIC in fetal tissues in which fatty acid synthesis is low

Partial purification and MALDI-TOF MS analysis of UN1, a tumor antigen membrane glycoprotein.

UN1 is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed in immature human thymocytes, a subpopulation of peripheral T lymphocytes, the HPB acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) T-cell line and fetal thymus. We previously reported the isolation of a monoclonal antibody (UN1 mAb) recognizing the UN1 protein that was classified as "unclustered" at the 5th and 6th International Workshop and Conference on Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigens. UN1 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and was undetected in non-proliferative lesions and in normal breast tissues, indicating a role for UN1 in the development of a tumorigenic phenotype of breast cancer cells. In this study, we report a partial purification of the UN1 protein from HPB-ALL T cells by anion-exchange chromatography followed by immunoprecipitation with the UN1 mAb and MALDI-TOF MS analysis. This analysis should assist in identifying the amino acid sequence of UN

85 Prediction of response to biventricular pacing from dyssynchrony indices: the absolute limit on predictability, and its clinical implications

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Self-Assembly of Polyhedral Hybrid Colloidal Particles

We have developed a new method to produce hybrid particles with polyhedral shapes in very high yield (liter quantities at up to 70% purity) using a combination of emulsion polymerization and inorganic surface chemistry. The procedure has been generalized to create complex geometries, including hybrid line segments, triangles, tetrahedra, octahedra, and more. The optical properties of these particles are tailored for studying their dynamics and self-assembly. For example, we produce systems that consist of index-matched spheres allowing us to define the position of each elementary particle in three-dimensional space. We present some preliminary studies on the self-assembly of these complex shaped systems based on electron and optical microscopy.Engineering and Applied SciencesPhysic

Titanium Nitride Coating of RF Ceramic Windows by Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering

International audienceLAL-Orsay is developing an important effort on R&D and technology studies on RF power couplers for superconductive cavities. These are complex and high technology devices due to their basic functions: vacuum and temperature separation form the environment to the cavity. One of the most critical components of high power couplers is the ceramic RF window that allows the power flux to be injected in the coaxial line. The presence of a dielectric window on a high power RF line has in fact a strong influence on the multipactor phenomena, a resonant electron discharge that is strongly limiting for the RF components performances. The most important method to reduce the multipactor is to decrease the secondary emission yield of the ceramic window. Due to its low secondary electron emission coefficient, TiN thin film is used as a multipactor suppressor coating on RF ceramic coupler windows. In the framework of the EU program FP6 the LAL-Orsay and the LNL-Legnaro establish a collaboration to develop a coating bench that takes into account the different strong constraints on stoechiometry and film coating thickness given by coupler operating conditions. Reactive magnetron sputtering technology was chosen to obtain such deposit. A full description of a sputtering bench recently installed in LAL, and its main characteristics are given. Stoechiometric TiN films are obtained by optimization of reactive gas flow (N2), for a given bias and a given ionisation gas flow (Ar). XRD analysis was performed to control film composition. From the data obtained, lattice parameter is calculated for each deposit and film stoechiometry is determined. XPS analysis of stoechiometric film had shown the existence of oxygen and carbon mainly in the surface. However, it shows also that the ratio Ti/N in atomic percentage is equal to 1