SIMPLE ENTRAPMENT OF ALCALASE IN DIFFERENT SILICA XEROGELS USING THE TWO STEPS SOL-GEL METHOD

The present study has focused on the entrapment of Alcalase in different xerogels obtained by using various molar ratios of methyltriethoxysilane, dimethyldietoxisilane and tetraethoxysilane. Silica and their derivatives were characterized with regard to specific surface area (nitrogen adsorbtion), chemical composition (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR)), weight loss upon heating (thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)) and catalytic activity

A Quantum Adiabatic Evolution Algorithm Applied to Random Instances of an NP-Complete Problem

A quantum system will stay near its instantaneous ground state if the Hamiltonian that governs its evolution varies slowly enough. This quantum adiabatic behavior is the basis of a new class of algorithms for quantum computing. We test one such algorithm by applying it to randomly generated, hard, instances of an NP-complete problem. For the small examples that we can simulate, the quantum adiabatic algorithm works well, and provides evidence that quantum computers (if large ones can be built) may be able to outperform ordinary computers on hard sets of instances of NP-complete problems.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, email correspondence to [email protected] ; a shorter version of this article appeared in the April 20, 2001 issue of Science; see http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/292/5516/47

La Tragédie du Roy Franc-Arbitre ou le paysage en ruine de l'Eglise romaine

L\u2019\ue9tude analyse les personnages et le d\ue9cor d\u2019une trag\ue9die en italien et en prose, La Tragedia del libero arbitrio, compos\ue9e par un moine d\ue9froqu\ue9, le b\ue9n\ue9dictin Francesco Negri. La trag\ue9die para\ueet en 1546, sans lieu d\u2019\ue9dition, mais publi\ue9e probablement chez J. Oporin \ue0 B\ue2le et elle obtient un succ\ue9s que cette \ue9tude cherche \ue0 expliquer. La trag\ue9die para\ueet au moment de l\u2019ouverture du Concile de Trente et traite des th\ue8mes actuels, tels que la gr\ue2ce et le libre arbitre. Mais bien au-del\ue0 d\u2019un sec d\ue9bat th\ue9ologique, la pi\ue8ce donne corps et voix aux controverses les plus abstraites: le \u2018petit livre\u2019, en effet, met sous les yeux du spectateur -lecteur une fiction spatiale - le r\ue8gne du libre arbitre - qui mat\ue9rialise horriblement les concepts et les institutions catholiques. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019un proc\ue9d\ue9 de construction satyrique qui vise \ue0 \ue9craser l\u2019\uc9glise romaine en la repr\ue9sentant comme un vaste paysage en ruine et une architecture grandiose, mais intimement pourrie, vou\ue9e \ue0 la d\ue9composition. L\u2019\ue9tude met en relief la finalit\ue9 de ce paysage p\ue9dagogique: ce r\ue8gne permet aux n\ue9ophytes de la foi luth\ue9rienne de visualiser, donc de m\ue9moriser, selon le proc\ue9d\ue9 connu des arts de la m\ue9moire, le \u2018syst\ue8me\u2019 catholique et sa corruption. M\ueame le libre arbitre, acquiert tout autre familiarit\ue9 si l\u2019on apprend sans effort sa g\ue9n\ue9alogie et son histoire : le destin tragique du personnage consiste en effet dans une confiance en ses propres actions qui devient arrogance et tyrannie \ue0 la fin de la pi\ue8ce jusqu\u2019au moment o\uf9 Gr\ue2ce justifiante, envoy\ue9e par Dieu, tranche la t\ueate de \u2018Libero Arbitrio\u2019, en d\ue9non\ue7ant son aveugle pr\ue9somption. Reimprim\ue9e \ue0 Venise en 1547, la trag\ue8die de Negri conna\ueet une nouvelle \ue9dition en 1550 avec une Pr\ue9face et une Confession de l\u2019auteur sign\ue9e Francesco Negri Bassanese. Une traduction fran\ue7aise est publi\ue9e \ue0 Gen\ue8ve chez Jean Crispin en 1558, bient\uf4t suivie d\u2019une contrefa\ue7on, la premi\ue8re trace de l\u2019activit\ue9 d\u2019un faussaire normand qui publie sous la marque de Crespin. L\u2019\ue9tude analyse aussi la fortune \u2018fran\ue7aise\u2019 de la trag\ue9die

Magnetic Resonance imaging Assessment of Tumor Microvessels and Response to Antiangiogenesis Therapy

Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic modality with high inherent contrast resolution and multiplanar imaging capability. Advances in MR technology and image processing have increased the utility and availability of this technique in the past two decades. MRI has become one of the leading modalities in current diagnostic imaging, combining soft tissue contrast with high anatomic and temporal resolution. MRI is now a widely employed diagnostic method for the clinical evaluation of tumors. One of the most recent applications of MRI is the investigation of angiogenesis using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). DCE-MRI represents the acquisition of serial MR images before, during, and after the administration of an intravenous contrast agent. The use of contrast enhancement in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging provides a means to evaluate tissue function, as well as morphology. Tissue blood volume, blood flow, perfusion and capillary permeability represent indicators of the status of the vasculature that can be investigated with DCE-MRI. Use of such quantitation potentially allows tumors to be characterized in terms of pathophysiology and to be monitored over time, during the course of therapeutic interventions. The understanding of the angiogenesis process and the evaluation of new drugs that inhibit or stimulate angiogenesis are directly related to the development of an imaging assay of angiogenic activity. This method should provide functionally relevant and quantitative images, should be high in spatial resolution, should sample the entire tumor and could be repeated at frequent intervals. DCE-MRI has grown in importance with the development of antiangiogenic and neoadjuvant strategies for tumor therapy. Dedicated software makes it possible to interpret imaging pharmacokinetics and aid the assessment of physiological parameters such as capillary permeability and tissue perfusion. For instance, the permeability of functional tumor microvessels can be assessed noninvasively by dynamic MRI of contrast agent uptake in the tumor tissue (1-4). The analysis of contrast kinetics can be applied to differentiate between a malignant and a benign lesion and to determine whether a tumor is responding to treatment (5). It has been demonstrated that the permeability of blood vessels correlates with the ability of the tumor to metastasize, and with its response to treatment (6, 7). Thus, information concerning the status of vascular permeability might help assessing the metastatic potential of tumors and predict the sensitivity to chemotherapy or to antiangiogenic treatment

Sustainable solutions for the construction sector: integration of secondary raw materials in the production cycle of concrete

The construction industry is one of the largest consumers of raw materials and energy and one of the highest contributor to green-houses gases emissions. In order to become more sustainable it needs to reduce the use of both raw materials and energy, thus lim-iting its environmental impact. Developing novel technologies to integrate secondary raw materials (i.e. lightweight recycled aggre-gates and alkali activated “cementless” binders - geopolymers) in the production cycle of concrete is an all-inclusive solution to im-prove both sustainability and cost-efficiency of construction industry. SUS-CON “SUStainable, Innovative and Energy-Efficiency CONcrete, based on the integration of all-waste materials” is an European project (duration 2012-2015), which aim was the inte-gration of secondary raw materials in the production cycle of concrete, thus resulting in innovative, sustainable and cost-effective building solutions. This paper presents the main outcomes related to the successful scaling-up of SUS-CON concrete solutions in traditional production plants. Two European industrial concrete producers have been involved, to design and produce both pre-cast components (blocks and panels) and ready-mixed concrete. Recycled polyurethane foams and mixed plastics were used as aggre-gates, PFA (Pulverized Fuel Ash, a by-product of coal fuelled power plants) and GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag, a by-product of iron and steel industries) as binders. Eventually, the installation of SUS-CON concrete solutions on real buildings has been demonstrated, with the construction of three mock-ups located in Europe (Spain, Turkey and Romania

Comparisons of log-normal mixture and Pareto tails, GB2 or log-normal body of Romania's all cities size distribution

Modeling demographic data has been on the agenda of statisticians for many years. Some of the distributions used are Pareto, reverse Pareto, q-exponential and log-normal models. An approach to this problem is to consider three statistical models: one for the upper tail, one for the middle range, and another for the lower tail. This paper deals with the size distribution of urban and rural agglomerations in Romania for the 1992–2017 period, by comparing the recently introduced three log-normal mixture (3LN), Pareto tails log-normal (PTLN), and threshold double Pareto Generalized Beta of second kind (tdPGB2) models. The tdPGB2 statistical model has the PTLN distribution as a limiting case. The maximum likelihood estimates of the distributions are computed, and goodness-of-fit tests are performed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS), Cramér–von Mises (CM) and Anderson–Darling (AD) statistics. Also, we use the Vuong and Bayes factor log-likelihood tests. Using both graphical and formal statistical tests, our results rigorously confirm that the 3LN model is statistically equivalent to PTLN and tdPGB2 distributions, the preferred model being the PTLN probability law. Both the PTLN and tdPGB2 distributions have Pareto tails but the 3LN model does not. All the three models prove to be very well suited parameterizations of Romania's city size data

A model for adapting 3D graphics based on scalable coding, real-time simplification and remote rendering

Most current multiplayer 3D games can only be played on dedicated platforms, requiring specifically designed content and communication over a predefined network. To overcome these limitations, the OLGA (On-Line GAming) consortium has devised a framework to develop distributive, multiplayer 3D games. Scalability at the level of content, platforms and networks is exploited to achieve the best trade-offs between complexity and quality

Healing of Prosthetic Arterial Grafts

Numerous synthetic biomaterials have been developed as vascular substitutes. In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies have demonstrated that in animals, selected materials, i.e., Dacron and ePTFE (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene) grafts, are successfully incorporated in both the large and the small caliber host arteries through a process which is generally referred to as graft healing. Morphologically, this process consists of a series of complex events including fibrin deposition and degradation, monocyte-macrophage recruitment and flow-oriented cell-layer generation, this last event being the complete endothelialization of the arterial substitute. In contrast to experimental animals, the flow surface of synthetic vascular grafts remains unhealed in humans, particularly in the small caliber conduits. Healing in man consists of graft incorporation by the perigraft fibrous tissue response with a surface covered by more or less compacted, cross-linked fibrin. It is therefore obvious that: i) marked differences in graft healing exist between animals and man; and ii) the usual mechanisms of graft endothelialization are partially ineffective in man. In order to guarantee the patency of synthetic vascular grafts for human small artery bypass, new strategies and approaches have recently been attempted. In particular, the endothelial cell seeding approach has been successfully accomplished in animals and is being experimented in human clinical studies. The problems and results of this biological approach are outlined in this paper

Effect of maleic anhydride–aniline derivative buffer layer on the properties of flexible substrate heterostructures: Indium tin oxide/nucleic acid base/metal

This paper presents some investigations on the properties of guanine (G) and cytosine (C) based heterostructures deposited on flexible substrates. The effects of two types of maleic anhydride–aniline derivatives (maleic anhydride-cyano aniline or maleic anhydride-2,4 dinitroaniline) buffer layer, deposited between indium tin oxide and (G) or (C) layer, on the optical and electrical properties of the heterostructures have been identified.The heterostructures containing a film of maleic anhydride-2,4 dinitroaniline have shown a good transparency and low photoluminescence in visible range. This buffer layer has determined an increase in the conductance only in the heterostructures based on (G) and (C) deposited on biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate substrate