COMPUTER SIMULATION AND COMPUTABILITY OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

The ability to simulate a biological organism by employing a computer is related to the ability of the computer to calculate the behavior of such a dynamical system, or the "computability" of the system.* However, the two questions of computability and simulation are not equivalent. Since the question of computability can be given a precise answer in terms of recursive functions, automata theory and dynamical systems, it will be appropriate to consider it first. The more elusive question of adequate simulation of biological systems by a computer will be then addressed and a possible connection between the two answers given will be considered. A conjecture is formulated that suggests the possibility of employing an algebraic-topological, "quantum" computer (Baianu, 1971b) for analogous and symbolic simulations of biological systems that may include chaotic processes that are not, in genral, either recursively or digitally computable. Depending on the biological network being modelled, such as the Human Genome/Cell Interactome or a trillion-cell Cognitive Neural Network system, the appropriate logical structure for such simulations might be either the Quantum MV-Logic (QMV) discussed in recent publications (Chiara, 2004, and references cited therein)or Lukasiewicz Logic Algebras that were shown to be isomorphic to MV-logic algebras (Georgescu et al, 2001)

Information technology and electronics firms from Taiwan Province of China in the United Kingdom: Emerging trends and implications

This article examines the modal choices, key activities and motivations of non-dominant information technology and electronics firms from Taiwan Province of China in the United Kingdom, against the backdrop of recent trends in the global economy. Its main findings include the limited prospects of the sample firms' evolution into manufacturing activity in the United Kingdom and the increasing importance of inter-firm logistics collaboration. Among the key policy implications discussed in the article are: the need for appropriate measures to support the United Kingdom's positioning as a gateway to, and a preferred base for intelligence gathering on, other European markets; the need for "high-wage" advanced economies to capitalize upon their not-easily-replicable location-specific advantages (e.g. reputable research-anddevelopment clusters; substantial domestic market) in targeting foreign direct investment in the research and development, design and sales-related areas; and the importance of a more balanced investment attraction strategy that actively targets major global players (and their capacity to attract secondary inward investment) without compromising support for indigenous growth companies. Future research should pay greater attention to the intra-regional, rather than intra-country, context of firms' evolution in international markets

Novel Techniques and Their Applications to Health Foods, Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology: Functional Genomics and Basic Epigenetic Controls in Plant and Animal Cells

Selected applications of novel techniques for analyzing Health Food formulations, as well as for advanced investigations in Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology aimed at defining the multiple connections between functional genomics and epigenomic, fundamental control mechanisms in both animal and plant cells are being reviewed with the aim of unraveling future developments and policy changes that are likely to open new niches for Biotechnology and prevent the shrinking or closing of existing markets. Amongst the selected novel techniques with applications in both Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology are: immobilized bacterial cells and enzymes, microencapsulation and liposome production, genetic manipulation of microorganisms, development of novel vaccines from plants, epigenomics of mammalian cells and organisms, and biocomputational tools for molecular modeling related to disease and Bioinformatics. Both fundamental and applied aspects of the emerging new techniques are being discussed in relation to their anticipated, marked impact on future markets and present policy changes that are needed for success in either Agricultural or Medical Biotechnology. The novel techniques are illustrated with figures presenting the most important features of representative and powerful tools which are currently being developed for both immediate and long term applications in Agriculture, Health Food formulation and production, pharmaceuticals and Medicine. The research aspects are naturally emphasized in our review as they are key to further developments in Biotechnology; however, the course adopted for the implementation of biotechnological applications, and the policies associated with biotechnological applications are clearly the determining factors for future Biotechnology successes, be they pharmaceutical, medical or agricultural

Metallic wafer bonding for the fabrication of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

[[abstract]]A novel metallic bonding method using AuGeNiCr as the bonding medium was developed for the fabrication of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The metallic bonding process can be performed at a low temperature of 320 °C within 1 h and it does not require chemical-mechanical polishing or etching treatments on the bonding surfaces. As determined by atomic force microscopy, the process can tolerate a surface roughness of ∼10 nm on the surface of bonding samples. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows that the bonding interface is smooth and damage-free. Using this bonding technique, a 1.55 μm GaInAsP/InP VCSEL structure with Al-oxide/Si distributed Bragg reflectors was demonstrated on a Si substrate. No degradation was found on the bonded VCSEL structure after annealing at 420 °C. The reflectivity and resonance measured from the bonded VCSEL cavity confirmed the high optical quality provided by this bonding process for device fabrication.[[fileno]]2030161010042[[department]]電機工程學

Understanding the beliefs and intentions in search and purchase functions in an e-commerce web site

10.1109/TEM.2008.922641IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management561106-114IEEM

A Survey on Evaluating and Realizing IS/IT Benefits in Taiwanese B2BEC Companies

A number of issues have emerged from the analysis of the data collected via a survey conducted in Taiwanese B2BEC companies. The results show relatively high usage of IS/IT investment evaluation and benefits realization methodologies, and yet, these methodologies were generally not used effectively within the responding organizations. Most of these organizations were not yet mature in terms of their IT. However, there was a clear association between level of IT maturity and both wide and effective use of methodologies for IS/IT investment evaluation and benefits management

Benzoxazine-based phosphinated bisphenols and their application in preparing flame-retardant, low dielectric cyanate ester thermosets

This work reveals a facile, one-pot synthesis of phosphinated bisphenols (1-2) from a nucleophilic addition of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene 10-oxide (DOPO) to diaminophenylmethane-and diaminophenylether-based benzoxazines (P-ddm and P-oda). A reaction mechanism including active hydrogen abstraction, ring-opening, and nucleophilic addition was proposed for the synthesis. Phosphinated dicyanate esters (3-4) were prepared based on bisphenols (1-2), and were copolymerized with a commercially available dicyanate ester of bisphenol A (BACY). The properties such as glass transition temperature, coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal decomposition temperature, water absorption, and flame retardancy of the resulting thermosets were evaluated. Experimental data show that incorporating (3-4) into BACY enhances the flame retardancy, dimensional stability and dielectric properties with small penalty to the thermal properties. A thermoset with T-g 241 degrees C, CTE 50 ppm per degrees C, D-k 3.01 (1 GHz), T-d (5%), N-2: 407 degrees C, and UL-94 V-0 rating can be achieved via this approach

Outer Regions of the Milky Way

With the start of the Gaia era, the time has come to address the major challenge of deriving the star formation history and evolution of the disk of our MilkyWay. Here we review our present knowledge of the outer regions of the Milky Way disk population. Its stellar content, its structure and its dynamical and chemical evolution are summarized, focussing on our lack of understanding both from an observational and a theoretical viewpoint. We describe the unprecedented data that Gaia and the upcoming ground-based spectroscopic surveys will provide in the next decade. More in detail, we quantify the expect accuracy in position, velocity and astrophysical parameters of some of the key tracers of the stellar populations in the outer Galactic disk. Some insights on the future capability of these surveys to answer crucial and fundamental issues are discussed, such as the mechanisms driving the spiral arms and the warp formation. Our Galaxy, theMilkyWay, is our cosmological laboratory for understanding the process of formation and evolution of disk galaxies. What we learn in the next decades will be naturally transferred to the extragalactic domain.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, Invited review, Book chapter in "Outskirts of Galaxies", Eds. J. H. Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, in pres

Pharmacological treatments in pregnant women with psoriasis in the U.S.A.

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110872/1/bjd13306.pd