A distributed approximation algorithm for the bottleneck connected dominating set problem

Some of the most popular routing protocols for wireless sensor networks require a virtual backbone for efficient communication between the sensors. Connected dominating sets (CDS) have been studied as a method of choosing nodes to be in the backbone. The traditional approach is to assume that the transmission range of each node is given and to minimize the number of nodes in the CDS representing the backbone. A recently introduced alternative strategy is based on the concept of k-bottleneck connected dominating set (k-BCDS), which, given a positive integer k, minimizes the transmission range of the nodes that ensures a CDS of size k exists in the network. This paper provides a 6-approximate distributed algorithm for the k-BCDS problem. The results of empirical evaluation of the proposed algorithm are also included.     

The silent base flow and the sound sources in a laminar jet

An algorithm to compute the silent base flow sources of sound in a jet is introduced. The algorithm is based on spatiotemporal filtering of the flow field and is applicable to multifrequency sources. It is applied to an axisymmetric laminar jet and the resulting sources are validated successfully. The sources are compared to those obtained from two classical acoustic analogies, based on quiescent and time-averaged base flows. The comparison demonstrates how the silent base flow sources shed light on the sound generation process. It is shown that the dominant source mechanism in the axisymmetric laminar jet is "shear-noise," which is a linear mechanism. The algorithm presented here could be applied to fully turbulent flows to understand the aerodynamic noise-generation mechanism.     

Experimental Determination of NH3 Solubility in Toluene at Pressures up to 340 kPa at 398 K

Journal of Solution Chemistry - The solubility of ammonia in toluene has been measured at 398 K and at pressures up to 340 kPa using a static, synthetic and isochoric technique....     

Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Study of Nonionic Surfactant Micelles and Phase Transitions in w/o Microemulsion

The structure of micelles formed by a four component water-in-oil nonionic microemulsion surfactant polyoxyethene (20) sorbitan monoleate (Tween 80), sorbitan monolaurate (Span 20) at ethyl oleate and deuterated water interface have been probed by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The total surfactant concentration in each of the samples studied (Tween 80: Span 20) is fixed at 3:2. The deuterated water content is variable at 5–60% w/w. The experimental SANS data from all the seven samples are fit well by spherical micelles interacting with hard sphere potential. Increased deuterated water leads to spherical to lamellar and rod-like micelle geometry featured in the SANS scattering data. The observed change in micelle geometry supports the characterization of phase transition between the self-assembled micelles of the nonionic microemulsion.      

Establishing analytical comparability for “biosimilars”: filgrastim as a case study

Biosimilars are defined as biotherapeutic drugs that have been shown to have comparable quality, safety, and efficacy to the original product. Fuelled by the patent cliff in the next 5 years, the focus of the biopharmaceutical industry is gradually shifting towards production of biosimilars. Scientific and regulatory issues around development and approval of these biosimilars have been a topic of great interest and debate recently. Unlike the conventional small molecular weight drugs, biosimilars exhibit high complexity at the molecular level. Slight variations during the manufacturing of these complex protein molecules may lead to the significant changes in the safety and efficacy profile of the therapeutic product. Establishing comparability to the reference product is essential for successful approval of a biosimilar product. Analytical comparability provides the foundation to this exercise. This paper presents data from such an exercise involving use of several orthogonal analytical tools for establishing analytical comparability. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF/Filgrastim) expressed in Escherichia coli has been selected as the model protein. The approach would be of interest to those engaged in development and commercialization of biosimilars. Figure

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Vector variational inequalities on Hadamard manifolds involving strongly geodesic convex functions

This paper is intended to study the vector variational inequalities on Hadamard manifolds. Generalized Minty and Stampacchia vector variational inequalities are introduced involving generalized subdifferential. Under strongly geodesic convexity, relations between solutions of these inequalities and a nonsmooth vector optimization problem are established. To illustrate the relationship between a solution of generalized weak Stampacchia vector variational inequality and weak efficiency of a nonsmooth vector optimization problem, a non-trivial example is presented.     

Simultaneous Detection of Tyrosine and Structure-Specific Intrinsic Fluorescence in the Fibrillation of Alzheimer's Associated Peptides

Understanding of the structural changes during their aggregation and interaction is a prerequisite for establishing the precise clinical relevance of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) (involved in Type-II Diabetes Mellitus) in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease stemmed from beta-amyloid (Aβ). Herein, we show that the steady-state emission spectra obtained from photoluminescence (PL) simultaneously capture both the tyrosine derivative (tyrosinate) and the structure-specific intrinsic fluorescence during the aggregation of Aβ and hIAPP. We observe multiple peaks in the emission spectra which exist for structure-specific intrinsic fluorescence, and use the second derivative UV-Vis spectra and the shift in the tyrosine peak as a quantitative measure of the dissimilitude in the electronic states and the fibril growth. We further applied these techniques to detect the static electric field (0, 40, 120, 200 V/cm) induced promotion and inhibition of fibrillation in Aβ, hIAPP and their electric field dependent role in the fibrillation of Aβ : hIAPP(1 : 1). The results were corroborated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and the determinations of secondary structures by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results indicate that the emission spectrum can be used as a sensor to detect the presence of fibrils; hence for screening potential inhibitors of amyloid fibrillation.     

An accurate variational analysis of single-mode diffused channel waveguides

We present a procedure based on the variational principle to obtain the modal propagation characteristics of single-mode diffused channel waveguides with arbitrary index profiles. The only assumption in our method, in addition to the scalar approximation, is that the trial field is separable along the depth and the width directions. The method is iterative, with each cycle of iteration requiring the solution of two planar waveguide propagation problems. The convergence is usually achieved within 2–3 cycles of iteration. Comparisons with other methods show that our method gives much better accuracy.     

Jittering wave-packet models for subsonic jet noise

Three simplified wave-packet models of the coherent structures in subsonic jets are presented. The models comprise convected wave-packets with time-dependent amplitudes and spatial extents. The dependence of the radiated sound on the temporal variations of the amplitude and spatial extent of the modulations are studied separately in the first two model problems, being considered together in the third. Analytical expressions for the radiated sound pressure are obtained for the first and third models.Results show that temporally localised changes in the wave-packet can lead to radiation patterns which are directional and which comprise high-amplitude bursts; such intermittency is observed in subsonic jets at the end of the potential core, and so the models may help explain the higher noise levels and intermittent character of the sound radiated to low emission angles for subsonic jets. By means of an efficiency metric, relating the radiated acoustic power to the fluctuation energy of the source, we show that the source becomes more powerful as its temporal localisation is increased. This result extends that of Sandham et al. (Journal of Sound and Vibration 294(1) (2006) 355–361) who found similar behaviour for an infinitely extended wavy-wall.The pertinence of the model is assessed using two sets of data for a Mach 0.9 jet. One corresponds to a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a Reynolds number 3600 turbulent jet and the other to a large eddy simulation (LES) of a Reynolds number 4×10⁵ jet. Both time-averaged and time-dependent amplitudes and spatial extents are extracted from the velocity field of the numerical data. Computing the sound field generated by the wave-packet models we find for both simulations that while the wave-packet with a time-averaged envelope shows discrepancies of more than an order of magnitude with the sound field, when the wave-packet ‘jitters’ in a way similar to the intermittency displayed by the simulations, we obtain agreement to within 1.5 dB at low axial angles. This shows that the ‘jitter’ of the wave-packet is a salient source feature, and one which should be modelled explicitly.