Mold Filling Simulation of Semi-Solid Magnesium Alloys

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Cloud computing: survey on energy efficiency

International audienceCloud computing is today’s most emphasized Information and Communications Technology (ICT) paradigm that is directly or indirectly used by almost every online user. However, such great significance comes with the support of a great infrastructure that includes large data centers comprising thousands of server units and other supporting equipment. Their share in power consumption generates between 1.1% and 1.5% of the total electricity use worldwide and is projected to rise even more. Such alarming numbers demand rethinking the energy efficiency of such infrastructures. However, before making any changes to infrastructure, an analysis of the current status is required. In this article, we perform a comprehensive analysis of an infrastructure supporting the cloud computing paradigm with regards to energy efficiency. First, we define a systematic approach for analyzing the energy efficiency of most important data center domains, including server and network equipment, as well as cloud management systems and appliances consisting of a software utilized by end users. Second, we utilize this approach for analyzing available scientific and industrial literature on state-of-the-art practices in data centers and their equipment. Finally, we extract existing challenges and highlight future research directions

Energy Harvesting Using Piezoelectric Thick Films Fabricated by a Sol-Gel Process

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Ultrasonic monitoring of die-casting process using clad buffer rod sensor

In-line monitoring of die-casting of aluminum (A356, A357, 86S), magnesium (AZ91) and a metal matrix composite (Gra-NiRTM 6S:3G) will be monitored using the reflection coefficient obtained by using an ultrasonic technique, the pulse/echo. For each of the materials enumerated above, the average temperature of the mold through its thickness, the end of filling of the part, the solidification of the part in the cavity of the mold, the gap and/or the detachment of the part, the sound velocity and the attenuation of the material will be measured by this ultrasonic technique during the process.For the materials the melt temperature will not exceed 600°C because the casting is made at the semi-solid state, between the solidus and liquidus, of the materials. A novel high performance buffer rod with a cooling system is integrated into the die. Therefore, ultrasonic measurements can be carried out with high signal-to-noise ratio at elevated temperatures

Tracking of cells in a sequence of images using a low-dimension image representation

International audienceWe propose a new image analysis method to segment and track cells in a growing colony. By using an intermediate low-dimension image representation yielded by a reliable over-segmentation process, we combine the advantages of two-steps methods (possibility to check intermediate results) and the power of simultaneous segmentation and tracking algorithms, which are able to use temporal redundancy to resolve segmentation ambiguities. We improve and measure the tracking performances with a notion of decision risk derived from cell motion priors. Our algorithm permits to extract the complete lineage of a growing colony during up to seven generations without requiring user interaction

Measurement of the heat transfer coefficient under transient and steady state conditions during magnesium semi-solid casting process

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Hybrid Color-Tunable Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes Using Electrospraying

This paper proposes a new paradigm in polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) fabrication by using a uniform electrosprayed microparticle film as the active layer. Among the seven electrospraying parameters analyzed, three crucial parameters are statistically identified and optimized to obtain thin electrosprayed microparticle layers. Using optimized electrospraying conditions, single-color red-emitting PLED (MEH-PPV) with a peak current density of 16.1 mA/mm2 under a 13.5 V bias and a peak external quantum efficiency of 3.2% are successfully fabricated. Finally, a combinatorial approach is implemented using both MEH-PPV (red-emitting) and F8BT (green-emitting) polymer microparticles at different mixing ratios to tune the emission spectrum of the devices. As such, it has been demonstrated that hybrid multilayer films using different organic materials with nonorthogonal solvents can be produced using this new approach. The parameter analysis and color-tunable properties pave the way towards white light PLED fabrication

Abstract 817: Enhancement of paclitaxel and carboplatin therapy by CCL2 blockade in ovarian cancers

Abstract Ovarian cancer is strongly associated with a pro-inflammatory leukocyte infiltrate, and very high levels of chemokines are found in ascites, including CCL2. CNTO 888, a neutralizing anti-CCL2 antibody, could inhibit the pro-tumor inflammatory infiltrate and tumor growth, thus providing clinical benefit to ovarian cancer patients. It was reported that CCL2 stimulated tumor cells to produce pro-angiogenic factors instead of directly stimulating bone marrow endothelial cells (Zhang J et al. 2009). The anti-CCL2 antibody CNTO 888 also had no effect as a monotherapy on capillary tube formation; however, CCL2 increased VEGF-A mRNA expression levels in PC-3 cells after 4-6 h of treatment. The induction of VEGF-A mRNA expression in PC-3 cells was blocked by pretreatment with a neutralizing antibody, indicating this induction was mediated by CCL2. CCL2 has been shown to be overexpressed in tumor cell lines resistant to taxanes. CCL2 may be induced by chemotherapy and mediate chemoresistance to taxanes. Moreover, this upregulation of CCL2 by taxane-based chemotherapy has been shown to occur via the JNK pathway. Study design: Our overall hypothesis is that CCL2 neutralization can inhibit tumor growth of taxane resistant metastatic ovarian cancer, and that stroma plays an important role in promoting tumor growth. This project is focused on three pairs of taxane resistant variants developed in the lab: ES-2/TP, MES-OV/TP and OVCAR-3/TP. These three cell models exhibit alterations in tubulin expression and dynamics along with other non-MDR1/P-glycoprotein mechanisms of resistance to taxanes. Using quantitative PCR, we observed elevated CCL2 expression (7x, 45x and 9x, respectively) in these cell models relative to parental controls, and confirmed these findings at the protein level by ELISA. CCR2 expression has been determined as well, by qPCR and by FACS analysis. In order to assess tumor growth by bioluminescent imaging, our taxane variants were transduced with the pHR2-gfp/luc lentiviral vector and were sorted in order to obtain homogenous gfp/luc positive population. These cells have been implanted intraperitoneally (i.p.) and subcutaneously (s.c.) in athymic nude, adult female mice. A pilot study was done to determine the growth of our three cell lines pairs injected subcutaneously or intraperitoneally into mice. Mice were then treated with antibodies to neutralize both the human tumor-derived CCL2 (CNTO 888) and the mouse orthologue of human CCL2, MCP-1 (C1142), with and without chemotherapy (paclitaxel or carboplatin). Bioluminescence images have been acquired in order to evaluate tumor growth during treatment. We observed a significant additive effect on efficacy of paclitaxel and carboplatin when the CCL2 blockade is added, compared to the chemotherapy alone (percent tumor burden at week 7 compared with week 3: paclitaxel 82%, paclitaxel + CNTO888/C1142 19%, carboplatin 74%, carboplatin + CNTO888/C1142 13%). Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 817. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-817</jats:p