ReTiF: A declarative real-time scheduling framework for POSIX systems

This paper proposes a novel framework providing a declarative interface to access real-time process scheduling services available in an operating system kernel. The main idea is to let applications declare their temporal requirements or characteristics without knowing exactly which underlying scheduling algorithms are offered by the system. The proposed framework can adequately handle such a set of heterogeneous requirements configuring the platform and partitioning the requests among the available multitude of cores, so to exploit the various scheduling disciplines that are available in the kernel, matching application requirements in the best possible way. The framework is realized with a modular architecture in which different plugins handle independently certain real-time scheduling features. The architecture is designed to make its behavior customization easier and enhance the support for other operating systems by introducing and configuring additional plugins

When Madagascar produced natural rubber: a brief, forgotten yet informative history.

From 1891 to 1914, Madagascar, like other western African countries, was a production zone for forest rubber destined for export to Europe when Asian plantations where not yet sufficiently developed . Numerous species endemic to the forests of the three major Malagasy ecosystems were exploited, often with a view to maximising short term productivity without any consideration for the sustainable management of the resource. This episode represents one of the first cases of industrial exploitation of Madagascar's biological resources. Although Madagascar occupies a modest position on the world rubber market at that time, the exploitation of rubber bore major consequences for the island's forestry resources and, moreover, influenced the vision and discourse of scientists and politicians concerning their management. It was one of the factors triggering awareness of the value of Madagascar's biodiversity and the threat to which it might be exposed through poorly-controlled human activity. As a result, highly repressive and forcible legislation was introduced aimed at containing the activity practiced by local populations considered to be mostly to blame. But from the early days of French colonial rule, naturalists judged the outcomes of political decisions too weak to offer any guarantee of an effective defence. They responded by adopting an intentionally alarmist and catastrophist discourse with the object of provoking a reaction from the politicians, considered too lax. This discourse, in fact, took an about-turn from 1942-45 when the war effort led to a revitalisation of the Malagasy rubber sector as Asian production was mainly out of reach. A second consequence came in 1927 with the creation of a network of protected areas managed by naturalists, making Madagascar at that time, a pioneer in Africa. There was a simultaneous flurry of activity to promote the domestication of Malagasy rubber species, combined with the introduction of new species with high potential (Hevea brasiliensis, Castilloa elastica). However, with the emergence of far more profitable Asian rubber, all attempts at cultivation in Madagascar were abandoned when exploitation ceased to be profitable, and thus the Malagasy forests were redeemed. This episode demonstrates how it was in fact economic reality, by condemning an unprofitable sector, that was the real vehicle by which the survival of Malagasy rubber species was secured, and not the naturalists' discourse, nor the creation of protected zones, nor the promulgation of repressive legislations. This case study is of more than purely historical interest, in that it still has currency where, for example, the exploitation of Prunus africana is concerned

Rapid One-Step Fabrication of Graphene Oxide-Decorated Polycaprolactone Three-Dimensional Templates for Water Treatment

Coating of flexible substrates is crucial to prepare versatile, multifunctional materials. However, exploration of effective fabrication approaches is still a challenging issue, because the pathways generally proposed require time-consuming, multistep protocols. Here, we developed a one-pot process for decorating either pearl necklace-like or fibrous fluffy-like structures of polycaprolactone (PCL) with graphene oxide (GO) skin. PCL solutions were dry jet-wet electrosprayed or electrospun into a stirred liquid collector constituted by ethanol-containing GO nanoparticles. The stirred liquid collector enables the formation of 3D-structures, whose microarchitecture can be designed by controlling the rheological behavior of PCL solutions. Two molecular weights of PCL were used (45 or 80 kDa) with ensuing different viscosity, which determines the prevalent formation of beads or fibers. The presence of GO in the coagulation bath allows the polymeric structures to be rapidly wrapped by those nanoparticles. Graphenic coating endows these materials with the intriguing peculiarities of GO: PCL/GO nanocomposites displayed increments of elastic modulus ranging from 1250% (beads) to 3300% (fibers) with respect to the neat matrices and a change from hydrophobic to amphiphilic character. A potential application of such devices in water treatment was assessed in phenol removal. The results pointed out that PCL/GO scaffolds retain the same sorption capacity of GO nanoparticles, while bringing several advantages in terms of handling, robustness, and recyclability. The ease of control of the process, as well as its fastness and cost-effectiveness could open a wide range of scenarios, including sensors, energy, catalysis, biomedicine

Identification of cell surface targets for CAR-T cell therapies and antibody-drug conjugates in breast cancer

Background: Two promising therapeutic strategies in oncology are chimeric antigen receptor-T cell (CAR-T) therapies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). To be effective and safe, these immunotherapies require surface antigens to be sufficiently expressed in tumors and less or not expressed in normal tissues. To identify new targets for ADCs and CAR-T specifically targeting breast cancer (BC) molecular and pathology-based subtypes, we propose a novel in silico strategy based on multiple publicly available datasets and provide a comprehensive explanation of the workflow for a further implementation. Methods: We carried out differential gene expression analyses on The Cancer Genome Atlas BC RNA-sequencing data to identify BC subtype-specific upregulated genes. To fully explain the proposed target-discovering methodology, as proof of concept, we selected the 200 most upregulated genes for each subtype and undertook a comprehensive analysis of their protein expression in BC and normal tissues through several publicly available databases to identify the potentially safest and viable targets. Results: We identified 36 potentially suitable and subtype-specific tumor surface antigens (TSAs), including fibroblast growth factor receptor-4 (FGFR4), carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6 (CEACAM6), GDNF family receptor alpha 1 (GFRA1), integrin beta-6 (ITGB6) and ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1). We also identified 63 potential TSA pairs that might be appropriate for co-targeting strategies. Finally, we validated subtype specificity in a cohort of our patients, multiple BC cell lines and the METABRIC database. Conclusions: Overall, our in silico analysis provides a framework to identify novel and specific TSAs for the development of new CAR-T and antibody-based therapies in BC

STEM through Authentic Research and Training Program (START) for Underrepresented Communities: Adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The STEM Through Authentic Research and Training (START) Program is a new program integrating academic, social, and professional experiences, in the theme of exomedicine, to build a pipeline into college for first generation and traditionally underrepresented students by providing year-round authentic opportunities and professional development for high school students and teachers. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the START Program has worked with the local Fayette County public school and community partners to provide content to over 300 students through: virtual laboratory tours with community partner Space Tango, meet a scientist discussions, and online near-peer student demonstrations aimed at making the practice of STEM disciplines approachable. Furthermore, the START Program has partnered with Higher Orbits to provide at-home, space-themed learning kits for students to develop teamwork, communication, and STEM principles while engaging in online content with teachers, professionals, and astronauts. Finally, the START Program has moved its training platforms online, including receiving College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) Peer Educator accreditation for our near-peer mentoring and coaching training. As a result, the START Program is better positioned to address this critical need in STEM education, while reaching more students in the community than possible with face-to-face interactions alone

Imaging of SNR IC443 and W44 with the Sardinia Radio Telescope at 1.5 GHz and 7 GHz

Observations of supernova remnants (SNRs) are a powerful tool for investigating the later stages of stellar evolution, the properties of the ambient interstellar medium, and the physics of particle acceleration and shocks. For a fraction of SNRs, multi-wavelength coverage from radio to ultra high-energies has been provided, constraining their contributions to the production of Galactic cosmic rays. Although radio emission is the most common identifier of SNRs and a prime probe for refining models, high-resolution images at frequencies above 5 GHz are surprisingly lacking, even for bright and well-known SNRs such as IC443 and W44. In the frameworks of the Astronomical Validation and Early Science Program with the 64-m single-dish Sardinia Radio Telescope, we provided, for the first time, single-dish deep imaging at 7 GHz of the IC443 and W44 complexes coupled with spatially-resolved spectra in the 1.5-7 GHz frequency range. Our images were obtained through on-the-fly mapping techniques, providing antenna beam oversampling and resulting in accurate continuum flux density measurements. The integrated flux densities associated with IC443 are S_1.5GHz = 134 +/- 4 Jy and S_7GHz = 67 +/- 3 Jy. For W44, we measured total flux densities of S_1.5GHz = 214 +/- 6 Jy and S_7GHz = 94 +/- 4 Jy. Spectral index maps provide evidence of a wide physical parameter scatter among different SNR regions: a flat spectrum is observed from the brightest SNR regions at the shock, while steeper spectral indices (up to 0.7) are observed in fainter cooling regions, disentangling in this way different populations and spectra of radio/gamma-ray-emitting electrons in these SNRs.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication to MNRAS on 18 May 201

Physics and chemistry of hydrogen in the vacancies of semiconductors

Hydrogen is well known to cause electrical passivation of lattice vacancies in semiconductors. This effect follows from the chemical passivation of the dangling bonds. Recently it was found that H in the carbon vacancy of SiC forms a three-center bond with two silicon neighbors in the vacancy, and gives rise to a new electrically active state. In this paper we examine hydrogen in the anion vacancies of BN, AlN, and GaN. We find that three-center bonding of H is quite common and follows clear trends in terms of the second-neighbor distance in the lattice, the typical (two-center) hydrogen-host-atom bond length, the electronegativity difference between host atoms and hydrogen, as well as the charge state of the vacancy. Three-center bonding limits the number of H atoms a nitrogen vacancy can capture to two, and prevents electric passivation in GaAs as well

Effects of macroscopic polarization in III-V nitride multi-quantum-wells

Huge built-in electric fields have been predicted to exist in wurtzite III-V nitrides thin films and multilayers. Such fields originate from heterointerface discontinuities of the macroscopic bulk polarization of the nitrides. Here we discuss the background theory, the role of spontaneous polarization in this context, and the practical implications of built-in polarization fields in nitride nanostructures. To support our arguments, we present detailed self-consistent tight-binding simulations of typical nitride QW structures in which polarization effects are dominant.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, uses revtex/epsf. submitted to PR

Compaction behaviour and mechanical characteristics of chewable binary tablet mixture containing lactose (Flowlac 100) and date (Phoenix dactylifera) powders

This study aimed to develop a formulation for a chewable tablet using date powder (DP) and Flowlac 100 utilizing a direct compression method. The powders were compacted as single and binary mixtures at five different formulations (DPL1, DPL2, DPL3, DPL4 and DPL5) to study their compaction behaviour. Stressor ranging from 15 to 74 MPa in a cylindrical die with flat face punches were introduced during the fabrication process, and the mechanical properties (plastic work, elastic work and tensile strength) of formed tablets were investigated. Findings of this study demonstrated that with a high percentage of DP in the formulation resulted in a high reading of plastic work, while a low amount of DP revealed low elastic work. Tensile strength of the tablet, on the other hand, varies with the percentage of DP present and applied pressure used. Formulation with 60% DP (DPL4) displayed the highest tensile strength compared to the other formulations, and it is coherent with industrial preferable tensile strength limit. In conclusion, the current findings could be useful in formulation and fabricating date chewable tablet which can be used as a food supplement by all categories of consumers since it is easy to be consumed by a wide range of age

Reciprocity as a foundation of financial economics

This paper argues that the subsistence of the fundamental theorem of contemporary financial mathematics is the ethical concept ‘reciprocity’. The argument is based on identifying an equivalence between the contemporary, and ostensibly ‘value neutral’, Fundamental Theory of Asset Pricing with theories of mathematical probability that emerged in the seventeenth century in the context of the ethical assessment of commercial contracts in a framework of Aristotelian ethics. This observation, the main claim of the paper, is justified on the basis of results from the Ultimatum Game and is analysed within a framework of Pragmatic philosophy. The analysis leads to the explanatory hypothesis that markets are centres of communicative action with reciprocity as a rule of discourse. The purpose of the paper is to reorientate financial economics to emphasise the objectives of cooperation and social cohesion and to this end, we offer specific policy advice