Sensitivity of rat hepatocytes to phenobarbital after a single dose of N-nitrosodiethylamine in the embryonal and postnatal period or after partial hepatectomy

For the hepatocarcinogenesis initiation one-fold N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDENA) action upon the livers of embryos and of the 4-weeks rats, before or after partial hepatectomy was used. Phenobarbital and repeated partial hepatectomies were used as the promotive factors. The promotion effect was evaluated by the quantity and size of hyperplastic liver nodules, where gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity was revealed. It was determined, that NDENA-affected rat liver cells in the embryonic period or at the age of 4 weeks after single partial hepatectomy proved to be more sensitive to the action of promoters.     

4-Keto-bacteriorhodopsin films as a promising photochromic and electrochromic biological material

Photochromic and electrochromic spectral properties of 4-keto-bacteriorhodopsin (4-keto-BR) embedded in a polymer matrix were studied. The light-induced spectral changes were found to be similar to those for 4-keto-BR in suspension, but the duration of the photocycle is substantially longer (up to ten of h). Application of a constant electric field induces a bathochromic shift of the main absorption band, the amplitude of the field-induced spectral changes, showing a quadratic dependence on the field strength. Polymer films containing bacteriorhodopsin analogs show promise as new spectrally-selective photochromic and electrochromic materials.     

Cherenkov and Scintillation Light Measurements with Scintillating Glass, SCG1C

We have been able to observe and measure both the direct Cherenkov (C) and the Scintillation (S) light components from scintillating glass, distinctly separated in time. This has important implications for hadron calorimetry, electron/hadron separation and low energy particle identification.     

Improving on Linear Scan Register Allocation

Register allocation is a major step for all compilers. Various register allocation algorithms have been developed over the decades. This work describes a new class of rapid register allocation algorithms and presents experimental data on their behavior. Our research encourages the avoidance of graphing and graph-coloring based on the fact that precise graph-coloring is nondeterministic polynomial time-complete (NP-complete), which is not suitable for real-time tasks. In addition, practical graph-coloring algorithms tend to use polynomial-time heuristics. In dynamic compilation environments, their super linear complexity makes them unsuitable for register allocation and code generation. Existing tools for code generation and register allocation do not completely fulfill the require- ments of fast compilation. Existing approaches either do not allow for the optimization of register allocation to be achieved compre- hensively with a sufficient degree of performance or they require an unjustifiable amount of time and/or resources. Therefore, we pro- pose a new class of register allocation and code generation algorithms that can be performed in linear time. These algorithms are based on the mathematical foundations of abstract interpretation and the computation of the level of abstraction. They have been implemen- ted in a specialized library for just-in-time compilation. The specialization of this library involves the execution of common intermedi- ate language (CIL) and low level virtual machine (LLVM) with a focus on embedded systems.     

Graphene synthesis by cold implantation of carbon recoil atoms

A new method of introducing carbon into catalytic metal films for graphene synthesis is proposed. The method is based on the phenomenon of carbon recoil atoms from a layer of methane molecules that are adsorbed on a metal film being incorporated into this film under the action of bombardment with inert gas ions. To increase the thickness of adsorbed methane layer, the substrate is cooled down to ?190°C. The proposed method has been implemented on a polycrystalline nickel film. After the final annealing, Raman spectroscopy showed the presence of numerous fragments of multilayer graphene on the film surface.     

Investigating technical and non-technical factors influencing modern code review

When submitting patches for code review, individual developers are primarily interested in maximizing the chances of their patch being accepted in the least time possible. In principle, code review is a transparent process in which reviewers aim to assess the qualities of the patch on its technical merits in a timely manner; however, in practice the execution of this process can be affected by a variety of factors, some of which are external to the technical content of the patch itself. In this paper, we describe empirical studies of the code review processes for large, open source projects such as WebKit and Google Blink. We first consider factors that have been examined in previous studies — patch size, priority, and component — and then extend our enquiries to explore the effects of organization (which company is involved) and developer profile (review load and activity, patch writer experience) on code review response time and eventual outcome. Our approach uses a reverse engineered model of the patch submission process, and extracts key information from the issue-tracking and code review systems. Our findings suggest that these non-technical factors can significantly impact code review outcomes.     

Web user profiles with time-decay and prototyping

User profiling represents an important initial step in personalizing web services and in building recommendation systems. Non-invasive profiling methods monitor users’ behavior and infer interest profiles from their past actions. Most existing profiling methods, which relate the users’ interests to a given ontology, consider only the user’s past actions when calculating his/her profile. The profiling algorithms use a time-decay function for users’ past actions to adapt the profile to shifts in the user’s interests over time. In our work, we propose a hybrid method that combines time-decay and profile correction using prototype profiles. The additional profile correction step considers the interests of similar users and expands the interest scores beyond the concepts detected in the user’s past actions, which facilitates faster profile adaptation to the user’s new interests. In our experimental work, we experimented extensively with two real data sets: data of an online advertising network and student data in an online e-learning environment. We measured the quality of the computed user profiles by correlating them to users’ future actions. Experiments revealed that it is crucial to build the user’s profile using a large number of events from his/her past and to update the profile regularly. When we are unable to do so, the profile correction can be used to keep the quality of the profile from dropping too low. The results show that our method significantly outperforms existing ontological profiling methods.