Accurate prediction of the energy propagation direction and the associated lateral shift is very important for the design of efficient energy conversion devices and sensors based on nanoscale thermal ...radiation. This paper concerns the direction of energy flow during near-field radiative transfer between two parallel plates separated by a vacuum gap. An improved formulation, fully consistent with fluctuational electrodynamics, is developed to correctly trace the energy streamlines inside the emitter, receiver, and the vacuum gap. The influence of surface waves on the direction of energy propagation as well as on the lateral shift of energy streamlines is elucidated. An important finding with the improved formulation is that the lateral shift in the emitter may exceed that in the vacuum gap. The method can be extended for tracing the energy streamlines in multilayered structures.
► Directly calculated the energy streamlines during near-field radiative transfer. ► Employed fluctuational electrodynamics considering thermal emission. ► The lateral shift inside the emitter can be greater than that in the vacuum gap.
With the wide availability of high-speed network access, we are experiencing high quality streaming media delivery over the Internet. The emergence of ubiquitous computing enables mobile users to ...access the Internet with their laptops, PDAs, or even cell phones. When nomadic users connect to the network via wireless links or phone lines, high quality video transfer can be problematic due to long delay or size mismatch between the application display and the screen. Our proposed solution to this problem is to enable network proxies with the transcoding capability, and hence provide different, appropriate video quality to different network environment. The proxies in our transcoding-enabled caching (TeC) system perform transcoding as well as caching for efficient rich media delivery to heterogeneous network users. This design choice allows us to perform content adaptation at the network edges. We propose three different TeC caching strategies. We describe each algorithm and discuss its merits and shortcomings. We also study how the user access pattern affects the performance of TeC caching algorithms and compare them with other approaches. We evaluate TeC performance by conducting two types of simulation. Our first experiment uses synthesized traces while the other uses real traces derived from an enterprise media server logs. The results indicate that compared with the traditional network caches, with marginal transcoding load, TeC improves the cache effectiveness, decreases the user-perceived latency, and reduces the traffic between the proxy and the content origin server.
Exposure to blood and body fluids (BBF) remains a major occupational hazard in health care. Routine testing of source patients for blood borne viruses where exposure has occurred is recommended in ...the UK. Whilst in practice source patient identification may be challenging the reasons why identified individuals are not tested, including issues relating to consent and procedure compliance, are not fully understood.
To identify the frequency of serological testing in identified source patients and the reasons for not testing, including refusal and absence of consent.
A review of all BBF exposure incidents reported to the Sheffield Occupational Health Service between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009.
Of 490 reported BBF exposure incidents source patients were identified in 87% of cases and tested in 56% of the incidents. Rates of source patient testing were higher following incidents affecting medical (76%) and nursing staff (69%) than those involving non-clinical (36%) and dental staff (17%). Reasons for not testing source serology among identifiable patients (151) were not recorded in 66% of incidents, in 20% there was incapacity to give consent and in 5% testing was refused.
This study found that despite guidance, routine source testing is not universal. Incapacity to consent is a contributory factor for some source serology not being tested and clarification of the ethical and legal position would be helpful. Larger studies should explore other reasons why identified source patients are not tested in practice and explore the policy implications of those findings.
Context: High plasma adiponectin concentrations in human fetuses and neonates are unique features of early developmental stages. Yet, the origins of the high adiponectin concentrations in the ...perinatal period remain elusive.
Objective: This study was undertaken to identify the sources and functional properties of adiponectin in utero.
Design and Methods: Tissue specimens were obtained at autopsy from 21- to 39-wk-old stillborn human fetuses. Adipose tissue and placenta were obtained at term elective cesarean section. Adiponectin complexes and expression were measured by immunodetection and real-time PCR.
Results: Adiponectin mRNA transcripts were detected in fetal sc and omental adipose depots at lower concentrations than in maternal adipose tissue. Immunoreactive adiponectin was also observed in vascular endothelial cells of fetal organs, including skeletal muscle, kidney, and brain. The absence of adiponectin in all placental cell types and lack of correlation between maternal and umbilical adiponectin indicate that umbilical adiponectin reflects its exclusive production by fetal tissues. The most prominent forms of adiponectin in fetal plasma were high and low molecular mass (HMW and LMW) multimers of 340 and 160 kDa, respectively. The proportion of the HMW complexes was 5-fold (P < 0.001) higher in umbilical plasma than in adult. The high HMW and total adiponectin levels were associated with lower insulin concentration and lower homeostasis model of assessment of insulin resistance indices in umbilical plasma, reflecting higher insulin sensitivity of the fetus compared with adult.
Conclusions: The abundance of HMW adiponectin and its vascular expression are characteristics of human fetal adiponectin. Combined with high insulin sensitivity, fetal adiponectin may be a critical determinant of in utero growth.
The chickpea and pigeonpea are protein-rich grain legumes used for human consumption in many countries. Grain yield of these crops is low to moderate in the semi-arid tropics with large variation due ...to high GxE interaction. In the Indian subcontinent chickpea is grown in the post-rainy winter season on receding soil moisture, and in other countries during the cool and dry post winter or spring seasons. The pigeonpea is sown during rainy season which flowers and matures in post-rainy season. The rainy months are hot and humid with diurnal temperature varying between 25 and 35°C (maximum) and 20 and 25°C (minimum) with an erratic rainfall. The available soil water during post-rainy season is about 200-250 mm which is bare minimum to meet the normal evapotranspiration. Thus occurrence of drought is frequent and at varying degrees. To enhance productivity of these crops cultivars tolerant to drought need to be developed. ICRISAT conserves a large number of accessions of chickpea (>20,000) and pigeonpea (>15,000). However only a small proportion (<1%) has been used in crop improvement programs mainly due to non-availability of reliable information on traits of economic importance. To overcome this, core and mini core collections (10% of core, 1% of entire collection) have been developed. Using the mini core approach, trait-specific donor lines were identified for agronomic, quality, and stress related traits in both crops. Composite collections were developed both in chickpea (3000 accessions) and pigeonpea (1000 accessions), genotyped using SSR markers and genotype based reference sets of 300 accessions selected for each crop. Screening methods for different drought-tolerant traits such as early maturity (drought escape), large and deep root system, high water-use efficiency, smaller leaflets, reduced canopy temperature, carbon isotope discrimination, high leaf chlorophyll content (drought avoidance), and breeding strategies for improving drought tolerance have been discussed.
Six new bicycloazastannoxides of compositions Me2Sn(L1H) (1), nBu2Sn(L1H) (2), Ph2Sn(L1H) (3), Bz2Sn(L1H) (4), Me2Sn(L2H)(MeOH)·MeOH (5) and Ph2Sn(L3H) (6), where ...L1H = 2-((E)-((Z)-4-hydroxypent-3-en-2-ylidene)amino)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoate, L2H = (E)-2-((2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoate and L3H = (E)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-((1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)amino)propanoate, were synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. The 1H and 13C NMR spectra of compounds 1–6 displayed two sets of signals for Sn-R2 (R = Me, nBu, Ph and Bz) indicating a diastereotopic environment according to the asymmetric nature of the ligand. The 119Sn NMR data of the compounds in CDCl3 indicate five-coordinate tin atoms, showing that the bicycloazastannoxide assemblies remain intact as observed in the solid-state structures. The crystal structures of 1–6 revealed discrete molecular structures in all cases with distorted trigonal-bipyramidal geometries for 1–4 and 6, and a strongly distorted six-fold coordination for 5 due to association of a MeOH solvent molecule. At the supramolecular level, the molecular structures in 1–4 and 6 are linked either through double-bridged O-H⋯O/C-H⋯O synthons (1 and 6) or single O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds (2–4). The resulting 1D helical strands exhibit varying Sn⋯Sn distances due to the different molecular conformations. The molecules in 5 associate to dimers through two Sn⋯O and O-H⋯O interactions, which are further connected via O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds to give 1D strands containing 22-membered macrocycles.
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•Six new bicycloazastannoxides have been synthesized.•The coordination pattern at the Sn(IV) center was established by X-ray diffraction.•Tbp geometry was noted for Me2Sn(L1H), nBu2Sn(L1H), Ph2Sn(L1H), Bz2Sn(L1H) and Ph2Sn(L3H).•Trigonal-prismatic polyhedron was observed for Me2Sn(L2H)(MeOH)·MeOH (5).•Molecules in 5 associates to give 22-membered macrocycles via Sn⋯O and O-H⋯O contacts.
The present study was carried out with the water-soluble portion of the ethanol extracts of flowers, barks, seeds and leaves of Nyctanthes arbortristis Linn. to confirm their CNS depressant activity. ...The ethanol extracts of the plant parts were obtained by soxhlet extraction. After performing the gross behavioral study, the CNS depressant activity was evaluated by observing the prolongation of sleeping time induced by pentobarbital sodium in mice. Attempts have been made to explore the possible mechanism behind this activity by determining their effect on brain monoamine neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. The gross behavioral study showed that ethanol extracts of the leaves, flowers and seeds possess significant CNS depressant activity. The leaves, flowers, seeds and barks (600 mg/kg) showed significant and dose-dependent prolongation of onset and duration of sleep and so found to cause decrease dopamine and increase serotonin level. From which it can be concluded that the CNS depressant activity of the ethanol extracts of seeds, leaves and flowers may be due to the decrease in dopamine and increase in serotonin level.
dictyBase (http://www.dictybase.org), the model organism database for Dictyostelium, aims to provide the broad biomedical research community with well integrated, high quality data and tools for ...Dictyostelium discoideum and related species. dictyBase houses the complete genome sequence, ESTs, and the entire body of literature relevant to DICTYOSTELIUM: This information is curated to provide accurate gene models and functional annotations, with the goal of fully annotating the genome to provide a 'reference genome' in the Amoebozoa clade. We highlight several new features in the present update: (i) new annotations; (ii) improved interface with web 2.0 functionality; (iii) the initial steps towards a genome portal for the Amoebozoa; (iv) ortholog display; and (v) the complete integration of the Dicty Stock Center with dictyBase.
We present an asteroseismic study of the solar-like stars KIC 11395018, KIC 10273246, KIC 10920273, KIC 10339342, and KIC 11234888 using short-cadence time series of more than eight months from the ...Kepler satellite. For four of these stars, we derive atmospheric parameters from spectra acquired with the Nordic Optical Telescope. The global seismic quantities (average largefrequency separation and frequency of maximum power), combined with the atmospheric parameters, yield the mean density and surface gravity with precisions of 2% and ~0.03 dex, respectively. We also determine the radius, mass, and age with precisions of 2–5%, 7–11%, and ~35%, respectively, using grid-based analyses. Coupling the stellar parameters with photometric data yields an asteroseismic distance with a precision better than 10%. A vsini measurement provides a rotational period-inclination correlation, and using the rotational periods from the recent literature, we constrain the stellar inclination for three of the stars. An Li abundance analysis yields an independent estimate of the age, but this is inconsistent with the asteroseismically determined age for one of the stars. We assess the performance of five grid-based analysis methods and find them all to provide consistent values of the surface gravity to ~0.03 dex when both atmospheric and seismic constraints are at hand. The different grid-based analyses all yield fitted values of radius and mass to within 2.4σ, and taking the mean of these results reduces it to 1.5σ. The absence of a metallicity constraint when the average large frequency separation is measured with a precision of 1% biases the fitted radius and mass for the stars with non-solar metallicity (metal-rich KIC 11395018 and metal-poor KIC 10273246), while including a metallicity constraint reduces the uncertainties in both of these parameters by almost a factor of two. We found that including the average small frequency separation improves the determination of the age only for KIC 11395018 and KIC 11234888, and for the latter this improvement was due to the lack of strong atmospheric constraints.
Simulations using Ansys Fluent 6.3.26 have been performed to look into the adsorption characteristics of a single silica gel particle exposed to saturated humid air streams at Re=108 & 216 and ...temperature of 300K. The adsorption of the particle has been modeled as a source term in the species and the energy equations using a Linear Driving Force (LDF) equation. The interdependence of the thermal and the water vapor concentration field has been analysed. This work is intended to aid in understanding the adsorption effects in silica gel beds and in their efficient design.
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