Introduction of a pseudo-6th order ISDN splitter with bandstop topology

A newly developed ‘integrated services digital network’ (ISDN) splitter with bandstop (BS) topology is presented and compared to an actual ISDN splitter with a traditional lowpass (LP) topology. The LP-to-BS topology change reduced the amount of filter stages: a LP ISDN splitter requires an 8th order elliptic-like filter in order to be compliant to the standard ‘TS 101 952-1-4 V1.1.1’ [1] of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), whereas the BS ISDN splitter only needs a pseudo-6th order elliptic-like filter. The design of the new BS ISDN filter is discussed in the light of the enforced ETSI specifications. Furthermore, both the ISDN splitters are compared in the field of their specific stopband performance and their physical implementation. The area reduction that comes together with the introduction of the new ISDN splitter with BS topology is more than 25%

Surface treatment of a polypropylene film with a nitrogen DBD at medium pressure

Surface treatment of polymer films is usually necessary to improve surface wetting and adhesion characteristics. Traditional liquid chemical processes have several disadvantages in contrast to dry finishing processes, like plasma technology. Dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure are extensively studied for surface treatment, however, almost no research has been done on surface treatment with a dielectric barrier discharge at medium pressure. Therefore, in this paper, a polypropylene (PP) film is plasma-treated with a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in nitrogen at medium pressure (5.0 kPa). The surface properties of the plasma-treated samples are examined using contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results show that the surface wettability is significantly enhanced after plasma treatment. The incorporation of nitrogen on the surface is significant (10 at%), demonstrating the ability of the used DBD set-up to generate nitrogen-containing functional groups on the PP surface. Nevertheless, a considerable amount of oxygen (10 at%) is incorporated onto the PP surface underlining the extreme reactivity of oxygen active species and the difficulty in overcoming the air contamination problem. Moreover, AFM analysis reveals that the nitrogen plasma creates large changes in the surface morphology of the PP film due to the selective etching of the amorphous regions of the polymer film

newYAWL : achieving comprehensive patterns support in workflow for the control-flow, data and resource perspectives

The Workflow Patterns provide a conceptual foundation for the control-flow, data and resource perspectives of process-aware information systems (PAIS). In this paper we present newYAWL, a reference language for PAIS based on the workflow patterns. newYAWL radically extends previous work undertaken on the YAWL language and provides a comprehensive formal description of how the complete set of workflow patterns can be realized and integrated in the context of an operational PAIS

Renormalization of \Phi-derivable approximations in scalar field theories

We discuss the renormalization of \Phi-derivable approximations for scalar field theories. In such approximations, the self-energy is obtained as the solution of a self-consistent equation which effectively resums infinite subsets of diagrams of perturbation theory. We show that a consistent renormalization can be carried out, and we provide an explicit construction of the counterterms needed to eliminate the subdivergences. The counterterms are calculated from the solution of an auxiliary gap equation which determines the leading asymptotic part of the self-energy. This auxiliary gap equation may be chosen as the gap equation of the massless theory at zero temperature. We verify explicitly that the counterterms determined at zero temperature are sufficient to eliminate the divergences which occur in finite temperature calculations.Comment: 69 pages, 26 figure

Solar window blinds with passive cooling coating and smart controllers

In the recent design of solar window blinds, the flexible solar films are attached to one side of the window blinds, making use of the building facades. As solar films absorb the heat from sunlight, a significant decrease in energy conversion efficiency becomes one obstacle for widespread commercial application. In order to tackle the difficulty, this project yields an improvement, where a passive cooling coating (PCC) is applied to another side of the window blinds. The PCC makes the temperature of window blinds lower than the ambient temperature effectively, by emitting the long-wave infrared to the outer environment. With the aid of PCC, the lower in-room temperature is attained, resulting in less energy required for air conditioners during summers. The solar window blinds involve two work states: (I) solar films are orientated towards the sunlight to harvest energy; (II) PCCs are orientated towards the sunlight to cool down the surrounding temperature. The switch of work states between (I) and (II) is achieved by smart controllers based on temperature data acquired from sensors. A prototype is fabricated to demonstrated how much energy conversion efficiency is promoted with PCCs

Comprehensive proteomic analysis of human cervical-vaginal fluid using colposcopy samples

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cervical-vaginal fluid (CVF) plays an important role in the prevention of gynecological infections, although little is known about the contribution of CVF proteins to the immunity of the lower female genital tract. In order to analyze the protein composition of human CVF, we used CVF samples that are routinely collected during colposcopy, but are usually discarded. Since these samples are available in large quantities we aimed to analyze their usefulness for proteomics experiments. The samples were analyzed using different prefractionation techniques (ultrafiltration and C₄(RP)-LC protein separation) followed by C₁₈(RP)-LC peptide separation and identification by MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. To determine the reproducibility of this proteomics platform we analyzed three technical replicates. Using spectral counting, protein abundances were estimated in a semiquantitative way. We also compared the results obtained in this study with those from previous studies derived from patients with different physiological conditions in order to determine an overlapping protein set.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, we were able to identify 339 proteins in human CVF of which 151 proteins were not identified in any other proteomics study on human CVF so far. Those included antimicrobial peptides, such as human beta-defensin 2 and cathelicidin, which were known to be present in CVF, and endometrial proteins such as glycodelin and ribonucleoprotein A. Comparison of our results with previously published data led to the identification of a common protein set of 136 proteins. This overlapping protein set shows increased fractions of immunological and extracellular proteins, confirming the extracellular immunological role of CVF.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrated here that CVF colposcopy samples can be used in proteomics experiments and hence are applicable for biomarker discovery experiments. The delineation of an overlapping set of proteins that is identified in most proteomics studies on CVF may help in the description of a reference proteome when performing proteomics studies on human CVF.</p

Reduction rules for YAWL workflow nets with cancellation regions and OR-joins

A reduction rule can transform a large net into a smaller and simple net while preserving certain interesting properties and it is usually applied before verification to reduce the complexity and to prevent state space explosion. Reset nets have been proposed to formally describe workflows with cancellation behaviour. In our previous work, we have presented a set of reduction rules for Reset Workflow Net (RWF-net), which is a subclass of reset nets. In this paper, we will present a set of reduction rules for YAWL nets with cancellation regions and OR-joins. The reduction rules for RWF-nets combined with the formal mappings from YAWL nets provide us with the means to dene a set of reduction rules for YAWL nets. We will also demonstrate how these reduction rules can be used for efficient verification of YAWL nets these features

Reduction rules for reset workflow nets

When a workflow contains a large number of tasks and involves complex control flow dependencies, verification can take too much time or it may even be impossible. Reduction rules can be used to abstract from certain transitions and places in a large net and thus could cut down the size of the net used for verification. Petri nets have been proposed to model and analyse workflows and Petri nets reduction rules have been used for efficient verification of various properties of workflows, such as liveness and boundedness. Reset nets are Petri nets with reset arcs, which can remove tokens from places when a transition fires. The nature of reset arcs closely relates to the cancellation behaviour in workflows. As a result, reset nets have been proposed to formally represent workflows with cancellation behaviour, which is not easily modelled in ordinary Petri nets. Even though reduction rules exist for Petri nets, the nature of reset arcs could invalidate the transformation rules applicable to Petri nets. This motivated us to consider possible reduction rules for reset nets. In this paper, we propose a number of reduction rules for Reset Workflow Nets (RWF-nets) that are soundness preserving. These reduction rules are based on reduction rules available for Petri nets [19] and we present the necessary conditions under which these rules hold in the context of reset nets

Reduction rules for YAWL workflow nets with cancellation regions and OR-joins

A reduction rule can transform a large net into a smaller and simple net while preserving certain interesting properties and it is usually applied before verification to reduce the complexity and to prevent state space explosion. Reset nets have been proposed to formally describe workflows with cancellation behaviour. In our previous work, we have presented a set of reduction rules for Reset Workflow Net (RWF-net), which is a subclass of reset nets. In this paper, we will present a set of reduction rules for YAWL nets with cancellation regions and OR-joins. The reduction rules for RWF-nets combined with the formal mappings from YAWL nets provide us with the means to dene a set of reduction rules for YAWL nets. We will also demonstrate how these reduction rules can be used for efficient verification of YAWL nets these features

Pharmacological and Parenteral Nutrition-Based Interventions in Microvillus Inclusion Disease

Microvillus inclusion disease (MVID) is a rare inherited and invariably fatal enteropathy, characterized by severe intractable secretory diarrhea and nutrient malabsorption. No cure exists, and patients typically die during infancy because of treatment-related complications. The need for alternative treatment strategies is evident. Several pharmacological interventions with variable successes have been tried and reported for individual patients as part of their clinical care. Unfortunately, these interventions and their outcomes have remained hidden in case reports and have not been reviewed. Further, recent advances regarding MVID pathogenesis have shed new light on the outcomes of these pharmacological interventions and offer suggestions for future clinical research and trials. Hence, an inventory of reported pharmacological interventions in MVID, their rationales and outcomes, and a discussion of these in the light of current knowledge is opportune. Together with a discussion on MVID-specific pharmacokinetic, -dynamic, and -genetic concerns that pose unique challenges regarding pharmacological strategies, we envision that this paper will aid researchers and clinicians in their efforts to develop pharmacological interventions to combat this devastating disease