Mobile application platform heterogeneity: Android vs Windows phone vs iOS vs Firefox OS

Modern smartphones have a rich spectrum of increasingly sophisticated features, opening opportunities for software-led innovation. Of the large number of platforms to develop new software on, in this paper we look closely at three platforms identified as market leaders for the smartphone market by Gartner Group in 2013 and one platform, Firefox OS, representing a new paradigm for operating systems based on web technologies. We compare the platforms in several different categories, such as software architecture, application development, platform capabilities and constraints, and, finally, developer support. Using the implementation of a mobile version of the tic-tac-toe game on all the four platforms, we seek to investigate strengths, weaknesses and challenges of mobile application development on these platforms. Big differences are highlighted when inspecting community environments, hardware abilities and platform maturity. These inevitably impact upon developer choices when deciding on mobile platform development strategies

Chronic escitalopram treatment attenuated the accelerated rapid eye movement sleep transitions after selective rapid eye movement sleep deprivation: a model-based analysis using Markov chains

BackgroundShortened rapid eye movement (REM) sleep latency and increased REM sleep amount are presumed biological markers of depression. These sleep alterations are also observable in several animal models of depression as well as during the rebound sleep after selective REM sleep deprivation (RD). Furthermore, REM sleep fragmentation is typically associated with stress procedures and anxiety. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants reduce REM sleep time and increase REM latency after acute dosing in normal condition and even during REM rebound following RD. However, their therapeutic outcome evolves only after weeks of treatment, and the effects of chronic treatment in REM-deprived animals have not been studied yet.ResultsChronic escitalopram- (10 mg/kg/day, osmotic minipump for 24 days) or vehicle-treated rats were subjected to a 3-day-long RD on day 21 using the flower pot procedure or kept in home cage. On day 24, fronto-parietal electroencephalogram, electromyogram and motility were recorded in the first 2 h of the passive phase. The observed sleep patterns were characterized applying standard sleep metrics, by modelling the transitions between sleep phases using Markov chains and by spectral analysis.Based on Markov chain analysis, chronic escitalopram treatment attenuated the REM sleep fragmentation [accelerated transition rates between REM and non-REM (NREM) stages, decreased REM sleep residence time between two transitions] during the rebound sleep. Additionally, the antidepressant avoided the frequent awakenings during the first 30 min of recovery period. The spectral analysis showed that the SSRI prevented the RD-caused elevation in theta (5 inverted question mark9 Hz) power during slow-wave sleep. Conversely, based on the aggregate sleep metrics, escitalopram had only moderate effects and it did not significantly attenuate the REM rebound after RD.ConclusionIn conclusion, chronic SSRI treatment is capable of reducing several effects on sleep which might be the consequence of the sub-chronic stress caused by the flower pot method. These data might support the antidepressant activity of SSRIs, and may allude that investigating the rebound period following the flower pot protocol could be useful to detect antidepressant drug response. Markov analysis is a suitable method to study the sleep pattern

Puzzle: A Visual-Based Environment for End User Development in Touch-Based Mobile Phones

Abstract. Despite the widespread usage of mobile devices there is a lack of environments able to allow end users to create applications directly in such devices. In this paper, we present the Puzzle framework, which supports a visual environment for opportunistically creating mobile applications in touchbased mobile phones. The user interface is designed to be usable for mobile users that do not use programming languages in their daily work as well as to motivate end users to playfully experiment and create applications. In particular, we report on its user interface, framework and evaluation

Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of biomass

This paper is concerned with the kinetics of the thermal decomposition of a woody biomass, willow. It addresses two questions. First, what method of data analysis is appropriate for extracting reliable kinetic data from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) experiments? Second, what kinetics are most suitable for high heating rate situations such as those present in pulverized fuel power stations? It contains kinetic analysis of willow TGA data using a variety of approaches. A review of previously published work on biomass and its polymeric components helps ascertain the variation in kinetics, reasons for differences, and extrapolation to flame temperatures. The data falls into two main categories: (1) very high E and A values (>100 and up to 270 kJ/mol, and up to 1017 s-1) derived when model biomass components are studied, for example, cellulose; or the data is interpreted as the sum of a number of individual first-order reactions, for example, FG-BioMass; (2) intermediate and low E andA values (50-100 kJ/mol and103 K/s) high E kinetics predict conversion well, and this can be rationalized since primary cracking reactions will dominate under these conditions. However, at heating rates of 105 K/s and temperatures of 1500 C(i.e., flame conditions), a compensation on the rates is seen and the choice of rate parameters is less critical. Two sets of kinetic data, E=178.7 kJ/ mol,A=2.21013 s-1 andE=48.7 kJ/mol,A=6.84103 s-1, both predict conversions in keeping with the available experimental data