Novel Flexible Electrochemical Microreactor and its Validation by Three Model Electrosyntheses

A novel flexible electrochemical microreactor has been developed. Flexibility is reached by a modular design, suitability for a broad process parameter range including high pressure operation, and accessibility of production scale. Selected reactor aspects have been validated by applying the reactor to three different electrosyntheses: synthesis of tailor-made mixtures of paraffins by Kolbe electrolysis, cation flow method, and synthesis of peroxodicarbonate. High conversion rates, yields, selectivities, and Faraday efficiency levels have been observed, showing precise process control.     

Data hiding based on image texture classification

In this paper, a new pattern-based fragile, semi-blind, spatial domain data hiding scheme is proposed. The Local Binary Pattern texture classification approach is used, in order to transparently and securely embed secret data into an image. Pixel values are modified in such a way that the texture satisfies the message requirements. The method is thoroughly studied and compared to other techniques in spatial domain in terms of capacity and image quality. The scheme performs well in images with smooth areas and can be used for authentication, tamper proofing, and secret communications.     

Baseline conditions in structural induction: Comment on Pitt, Smith, and Klein (1998).

M. A. Pitt, K. L. Smith, and J. M. Klein (see record 1998-11401-003) claimed that a baseline condition is necessary in experiments using the structural induction paradigm (S. A. Finney, A. Protopapas, & P. D. Eimas, [see record 1996-07006-008]; C. Pallier, N. Sebastián-Gallés, T. Felguera, A. Christophe, & J. Mehler, [see record 1993-40045-001]) to correctly interpret interaction effects. In this article it is shown that this constitutes a misunderstanding of the interpretation of statistical interaction and that a baseline condition offers little unless comparisons between cells of different target types within induction conditions are necessary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physicochemical and sensory analysis of dry bean landraces in conjunction with multivariate analysis: an exploratory approach

Five landraces of Greek common dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), were analysed for thirteen physico‐chemical and eighteen sensory variables. Brightness, acceptance, odour and hardness were the most important sensory variables for the overall acceptability of the cooked product. Application of principal component analysis revealed a rather weak relationship between the sensory attributes and the physico‐chemical variables. However, a certain grouping of cultivars with corresponding properties [(PC1 vs. PC2, Kastoria with saltiness, hardness, grassiness, intensity, protein and metal; Byzitsa bushy with fat, odour and sourness; Ksanthi and Belestino with tenaciousness, chroma, pH and overall impression), (PC1 vs. PC3 Byzitsa bushy with odour and acridness; Ksanthi with metal, hardness and pH; Kastoria with colour, protein and intensity)] was made. On the contrary, cluster analysis showed a much more satisfactory grouping of dry bean varieties based on their geographical origin. The multiple regression equation explained 72.3% of the variation in total acceptance of dry beans. The relative importance of brightness, acceptance, smell and hardness in predicting the overall impression of dry beans was 13%, 13.7%, 26% and 10%, respectively. These results may indicate that smell, brightness and acceptance are the most important factors determining dry bean total acceptability, so effort should be directed at improving these attributes in an attempt to satisfy consumer experience.     

Providing and verifying advanced IP services in hierarchical DiffServ networks‐the case of GEANT

The differentiated services (DiffServ) framework is widely proposed as an efficient method for providing advanced IP services to large‐scale networks, with QoS requirements. However, the provisioning of such services in production networks has proved to be more difficult than initially expected, in defining, setting and verifying appropriate Service Level Agreements (SLAs). GEANT, the Gigabit core pan‐European research network, on a pilot basis introduced ‘Premium IP’ service, offering bounded delay and negligible packet loss to the European National Research & Education Networks (NRENs) that it interconnects. However, large scale provisioning of this new service requires the definition of efficient interaction procedures between administrative domains involved and methods for SLA monitoring. This paper focuses on these issues and presents the experience acquired from the early experiments in GEANT, as an example of hierarchical Gigabit multi‐domain environment, enabled with QoS provisioning to its constituent NRENs. This model scales more efficiently than the common peering Internet Service provider (ISP) commercial paradigm. Finally, we outline other options that promise QoS, such as Layer 2 VPNs in MPLS backbones, with non‐standard (yet) mechanisms. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Node-Level Energy Management for Sensor Networks in the Presence of Multiple Applications

Wireless Networks - Energy related research in wireless ad hoc sensor networks (WASNs) is focusing on energy saving techniques in the application-, protocol-, service-, or hardware-level. Little...     

Aggregation in sensor networks: an energy–accuracy trade-off

Wireless ad hoc sensor networks (WASNs) are in need of the study of useful applications that will help the researchers view them as distributed physically coupled systems, a collective that estimates the physical environment, and not just energy-limited ad hoc networks. We develop this perspective using a large and interesting class of WASN applications called aggregation applications. In particular, we consider the challenging periodic aggregation problem where the WASN provides the user with periodic estimates of the environment, as opposed to simpler and previously studied snapshot aggregation problems. In periodic aggregation our approach allows the spatial–temporal correlation among values sensed at the various nodes to be exploited towards energy-efficient estimation of the aggregated value of interest. Our approach also creates a system level energy vs. accuracy knob whereby the more the estimation error that the user can tolerate, the less is the energy consumed. We present a distributed estimation algorithm that can be applied to explore the energy–accuracy subspace for a subclass of periodic aggregation problems, and present extensive simulation results that validate our approach. The resulting algorithm, apart from being more flexible in the energy–accuracy subspace and more robust, can also bring considerable energy savings for a typical accuracy requirement (fivefold decrease in energy consumption for 5% estimation error) compared to repeated snapshot aggregations.     

The Association of Human Herpesviruses with Malignant Brain Tumor Pathology and Therapy: Two Sides of a Coin

The role of certain viruses in malignant brain tumor development remains controversial. Experimental data demonstrate that human herpesviruses (HHVs), particularly cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), are implicated in brain tumor pathology, although their direct role has not yet been proven. CMV is present in most gliomas and medulloblastomas and is known to facilitate oncomodulation and/or immunomodulation, thus promoting cancer cell proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and immunosuppression. EBV and HHV-6 have also been detected in brain tumors and high-grade gliomas, showing high rates of expression and an inflammatory potential. On the other hand, due to the neurotropic nature of HHVs, novel studies have highlighted the engagement of such viruses in the development of new immunotherapeutic approaches in the context of oncolytic viral treatment and vaccine-based strategies against brain tumors. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of recent scientific data concerning the emerging dual role of HHVs in malignant brain pathology, either as potential causative agents or as immunotherapeutic tools in the fight against these devastating diseases.     

Selective adenine/cytosine cations in one-dimensional coordination polymers of manganese (II) and copper (II) 2,3-pyridinedicarboxylates

One-dimensional coordination polymer {[1H,9H-ade]₂[MnL₂]?4H₂O}_n (1) and {[1H,3H-cyt]₂[CuL₂]?6H₂O}_n (2) (ade = adenine, cyt = cytosine, L = dianion of 2,3-pyridinedicarboxylic acid) are selectively synthesized and variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements revealed weak antiferromagnetic interactions within the chains of 1 and 2 (J = ? 0.29 cm^? 1 for 1 and J = ?0.03 cm^? 1 for 2, according to the ? 2J_ijS_iS_j HDvV Hamiltonian formalism).     

From application service provision to service-oriented computing: A study of the IT outsourcing evolution

IT outsourcing is not a new concept. Originating from the early 60’s in the form of time sharing, IT outsourcing has evolved to the application service provision (ASP) model, in the late 90’s to pure services in the beginning of the century. Services, and their major representative web services, are actually the next phase of the movement toward Internet-based componentized software, known in the not so distant past as ASP. As the continuous expansion of the Internet and its relating technologies creates new marketing opportunities, traditional monolithic architectures are giving way to service-oriented computing (SOC), the architecture that enables service provision. SOC permits the utilization of large systems which are comprised of self-containing building blocks: services. Services may be made public, searched, reused and combined to form complex business processes while in the same time retaining a significant level of flexibility. Services and SOC have emerged as a response to a fundamental shift in enterprise business culture that started at the late 90’s. Although they are promising as an IT outsourcing enabler, many issues need to be dealt with before they can be considered suitable for wide adoption. These issues are of technological, business, economic and cultural nature and they were also faced by ASPs in the past. It is worth revisiting the successes and failures of the ASP model in order to get a better understanding of the evolving IT outsourcing industry. In this work, we describe the evolution of service provision from its initial form as software application, through the application service provision era and towards the new trend of web services.