Charge-flow structures as polymeric early-warning fire alarm devices

The charge-flow transistor (CFT) and its applications for fire detection and gas sensing were investigated. The utility of various thin film polymers as possible sensing materials was determined. One polymer, PAPA, showed promise as a relative humidity sensor; two others, PFI and PSB, were found to be particularly suitable for fire detection. The behavior of the charge-flow capacitor, which is basically a parallel-plate capacitor with a polymer-filled gap in the metallic tip electrode, was successfully modeled as an RC transmission line. Prototype charge-flow transistors were fabricated and tested. The effective threshold voltage of this metal oxide semiconductor was found to be dependent on whether surface or bulk conduction in the thin film was dominant. Fire tests with a PFI-coated CFT indicate good sensitivity to smouldering fires

Ontogeny and thermogenic role for sternal fat in female sheep

Brown adipose tissue acting through a unique uncoupling protein (UCP1) has a critical role in preventing hypothermia in new-born sheep but is then considered to rapidly disappear during postnatal life. The extent to which the anatomical location of fat influences postnatal development and thermogenic function, particularly following feeding, in adulthood, are not known and were both examined in our study. Changes in gene expression of functionally important pathways (i.e. thermogenesis, development, adipogenesis and metabolism) were compared between sternal and retroperitoneal fat depots together with a representative skeletal muscle over the first month of postnatal life, coincident with the loss of brown fat and accumulation of white fat. In adult sheep, implanted temperature probes were used to characterise the thermogenic response of fat and muscle to feeding and the effects of reduced or increased adiposity. UCP1 was more abundant within sternal than retroperitoneal fat and was only retained in the sternal depot of adults. Distinct differences in the abundance of gene pathway markers were apparent between tissues, with sternal fat exhibiting some similarities with muscle that were not apparent in the retroperitoneal depot. In adults, the post-prandial rise in temperature was greater and more prolonged in sternal than retroperitoneal fat and muscle, a difference that was maintained with altered adiposity. In conclusion, sternal adipose tissue retains UCP1 into adulthood when it shows a greater thermogenic response to feeding than muscle and retroperitoneal fat. Sternal fat may be more amenable to targeted interventions that promote thermogenesis in large mammals

A TRAP for SAT: On the Imperviousness of a Transistor-Level Programmable Fabric to Satisfiability-Based Attacks

Locking-based intellectual property (IP) protection for integrated circuits (ICs) being manufactured at untrusted facilities has been largely defeated by the satisfiability (SAT) attack, which can retrieve the secret key needed for instantiating proprietary functionality on locked circuits. As a result, redaction-based methods have gained popularity as a more secure way of protecting hardware IP. Among these methods, transistor-level programming (TRAP) prohibits the outright use of SAT attacks due to the mismatch between the logic-level at which SAT attack operates and the switch-level at which the TRAP fabric is programmed. Herein, we discuss the challenges involved in launching SAT attacks on TRAP and we propose solutions which enable expression of TRAP in propositional logic modeling in a way that accurately reflects switch-level circuit capabilities. Results obtained using a transistor-level SAT attack tool-set that we developed and are releasing corroborate that SAT attacks can be launched against TRAP. However, the increased complexity of switch-level circuit modeling prevents the attack from realistically compromising all but the most trivial IP-protected designs

Effects of dietary fat and conjugated linoleic acid on plasma metabolite concentrations and metabolic responses to homeostatic signals in pigs

Sixteen female cross-bred (Large White &times; Landrace) pigs (initial weight 65 kg) with venous catheters were randomly allocated to four treatment groups in a 2&times;2 factorial design. The respective factors were dietary fat (25 or 100 g/kg) and dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; 0 or 10 g CLA-55/kg). Pigs were fed every 3 h (close to ad libitum digestible energy intake) for 8 d and were bled frequently. Plasma glucose and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) responses to insulin and adrenaline challenges were determined on day 8. Plasma concentrations of NEFA were significantly increased (10&middot;5 and 5&middot;4 % for low- and high-fat diets respectively, P=0&middot;015) throughout the experiment, suggesting that there was a possible increase in fat mobilisation. The increase in lipolysis, an indicator of &szlig;-adrenergic stimulated lipolysis, was also evident in the NEFA response to adrenaline. However, the increase in plasma triacylglycerol (11&middot;0 and 7&middot;1 % for low- and high-fat diets respectively, P=0&middot;008) indicated that CLA could have reduced fat accretion via decreased adipose tissue triacylglycerol synthesis from preformed fatty acids, possibly through reduced lipoprotein lipase activity. Plasma glucose, the primary substrate for de novo lipid synthesis, and plasma insulin levels were unaffected by dietary CLA suggesting that de novo lipid synthesis was largely unaffected (P=0&middot;24 and P=0&middot;30 respectively). In addition, the dietary CLA had no effect upon the ability of insulin to stimulate glucose removal.<br /

A design space for dynamic service level agreements in OpenStack

© 2014, Lee and Sill; licensee Springer. cc-byThis paper does a systematic review of the possible design space for cloud-hosted applications that may have changing resource requirements that need to be supported through dynamic service level agreements (SLAs).The fundamental SLA functions are reviewed: Admission Control, Monitoring, SLA Evaluation, and SLA Enforcement – a classic autonomic control cycle.This is followed by an investigation into possible application requirements and SLA enforcement mechanisms.We then identify five basic Load Types that a dynamic SLA system must manage: Best Effort, Throttled, Load Migration, Preemption and Spare Capacity.The key to meeting application SLA requirements under changing surge conditions is to also manage the spare surge capacity.The use of this surge capacity could be managed by one of several identified load migration policies.A more detailed SLA architecture is presented that discusses specific SLA components.This is done in the context of the OpenStack since it is open source with a known architecture.Based on this SLA architecture, a research and development plan is presented wherein fundamental issues are identified that need to be resolved through research and experimentation.Based on successful outcomes, further developments are considered in the plan to produce a complete, end-to-end dynamic SLA capability.Executing on this plan will take significant resources and organization.The NSF Center for Cloud and Autonomic Computing is one possible avenue for pursuing these efforts.Given the growing importance of cloud performance management in the wider marketplace, the cloud community would be well-served to coordinate cloud SLA development across organizations such as the IEEE, Open Grid Forum, and the TeleManagement Forum

Responses of North American and New Zealand strains of Holstein–Friesian dairy cattle to homeostatic challenges during early and mid-lactation

Peer-reviewedThis study investigated the physiological basis of differences in nutrient partitioning between the North American (NA) and New Zealand (NZ) strains of Holstein Friesian cattle by determining the responses to homeostatic challenges at two stages of lactation. Glucose tolerance tests, epinephrine challenges, and insulin challenges were carried out on consecutive days commencing on day 32 ± 0.48 (mean ± s.e.m) of lactation (T1) and again commencing on day 137 ± 2.44 of lactation (T2). The insulin and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) responses to glucose infusion did not differ between the strains. The NZ strain had a greater clearance rate (CR) of glucose (2.04 vs. 1.66 % / min) and tended to have a shorter (34.4 vs. 41.1 min) glucose half-life (t½) at T2 when infused with glucose. The NA cows had a greater glucose response to epinephrine infusion across T1 and T2, and tended to have a greater insulin response to epinephrine infusion. Plasma NEFA concentration declined to similar nadir concentrations for both strains at T1 in response to insulin, though from a higher basal concentration in NA cows, resulting in a greater (-2.29 vs. -1.38) NEFA area under the response curve (AUC) for NA cows. Glucose response to insulin varied with time, tending to be greater for NA at T1, but tending to be lower for NA at T2. The results indicated that NA cows had a greater glycogenolytic response to epinephrine, but both strains had similar lipolytic responses. The results also imply that higher basal circulating NEFA concentrations in the NA strain in early lactation were not due to diminished adipose tissue responsiveness to insulin. There were indications that glucose clearance rate was greater in NZ cows in mid-lactation, and may form the basis of increased body tissue accretion during mid- to late-lactation in this strain