четверг, 5 января 2012 г.

Games

Games

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 534-548: Improvement of Pyroelectric Cells for Thermal Energy Harvesting

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

This study proposes trenching piezoelectric (PZT) material in a thicker PZT pyroelectric cell to improve the temperature variation rate to enhance the efficiency of thermal energy-harvesting conversion by pyroelectricity. A thicker pyroelectric cell is beneficial in generating electricity pyroelectrically, but it hinders rapid temperature variations. Therefore, the PZT sheet was fabricated to produce deeper trenches to cause lateral temperature gradients induced by the trenched electrode, enhancing the temperature variation rate under homogeneous heat irradiation. When the trenched electrode type with an electrode width of 200 μm and a cutting depth of 150 μm was used to fabricate a PZT pyroelectric cell with a 200 μm thick PZT sheet, the temperature variation rate was improved by about 55%. Therefore, the trenched electrode design did indeed enhance the temperature variation rate and the efficiency of pyroelectric energy converters.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 518-533: A Magnetic Flux Leakage and Magnetostrictive Guided Wave Hybrid Transducer for Detecting Bridge Cables

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Condition assessment of cables has gained considerable attention for the bridge safety. A magnetic flux leakage and magnetostrictive guided wave hybrid transducer is provided to inspect bridge cables. The similarities and differences between the two methods are investigated. The hybrid transducer for bridge cables consists of an aluminum framework, climbing modules, embedded magnetizers and a ribbon coil. The static axial magnetic field provided by the magnetizers meets the needs of the magnetic flux leakage testing and the magnetostrictive guided wave testing. The magnetizers also provide the attraction for the climbing modules. In the magnetic flux leakage testing for the free length of cable, the coil induces the axial leakage magnetic field. In the magnetostrictive guided wave testing for the anchorage zone, the coil provides a pulse high power variational magnetic field for generating guided waves; the coil induces the magnetic field variation for receiving guided waves. The experimental results show that the transducer with the corresponding inspection system could be applied to detect the broken wires in the free length and in the anchorage zone of bridge cables.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 500-517: Performance Evaluation of Multi-Channel Wireless Mesh Networks with Embedded Systems

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Many commercial wireless mesh network (WMN) products are available in the marketplace with their own proprietary standards, but interoperability among the different vendors is not possible. Open source communities have their own WMN implementation in accordance with the IEEE 802.11s draft standard, Linux open80211s project and FreeBSD WMN implementation. While some studies have focused on the test bed of WMNs based on the open80211s project, none are based on the FreeBSD. In this paper, we built an embedded system using the FreeBSD WMN implementation that utilizes two channels and evaluated its performance. This implementation allows the legacy system to connect to the WMN independent of the type of platform and distributes the load between the two non-overlapping channels. One channel is used for the backhaul connection and the other one is used to connect to the stations to wireless mesh network. By using the power efficient 802.11 technology, this device can also be used as a gateway for the wireless sensor network (WSN).

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 489-499: A Wireless sEMG Recording System and Its Application to Muscle Fatigue Detection

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is an important measurement for monitoring exercise and fitness. Because if its high sampling frequency requirement, wireless transmission of sEMG data is a challenge. In this article a wireless sEMG measurement system with a sampling frequency of 2 KHz is developed based upon a MSP 430 microcontroller and Bluetooth transmission. Standard isotonic and isometric muscle contraction are clearly represented in the receiving user interface. Muscle fatigue detection is an important application of sEMG. Traditional muscle fatigue is detected from the median frequency of the sEMG power spectrum. The regression slope of the linear regression of median frequency is an important muscle fatigue index. A more negative slope value represents a higher muscle fatigue condition. To test the system performance, muscle fatigue detection was examined by having subjects run on a pedaled-multifunctional elliptical trainer for approximately 30 minutes at three loading levels. Ten subjects underwent a total of 60 exercise sessions to provide the experimental data. Results showed that the regression slope gradually decreases as expected, and there is a significant gender difference.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 481-488: Measurement of Organic Chemical Refractive Indexes Using an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

In this investigation, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for measuring the refractive index (RI) of liquid organic chemicals. The scheme is based on a single-mode fiber (SMF) sensor and an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). Here, due to the different reflectance (R) between the SMF and organic liquid chemicals, the reflected power level of the backscattering light (BSL) measured by the OTDR would be different. Therefore, we can measure the RI of chemical under test via the measured BSL level. The proposed RI sensor is simple and easy to manipulate, with stable detected signals, and has the potential to be a valuable tool for use in biological and chemical applications.

Viruses, Vol. 4, Pages 1-27: The Role of Humoral Innate Immunity in Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Infection with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) causes chronic disease in approximately 80% of cases, resulting in chronic inflammation and cirrhosis. Current treatments are not completely effective, and a vaccine has yet to be developed. Spontaneous resolution of infection is associated with effective host adaptive immunity to HCV, including production of both HCV-specific T cells and neutralizing antibodies. However, the supporting role of soluble innate factors in protection against HCV is less well understood. The innate immune system provides an immediate line of defense against infections, triggering inflammation and playing a critical role in activating adaptive immunity. Innate immunity comprises both cellular and humoral components, the humoral arm consisting of pattern recognition molecules such as complement C1q, collectins and ficolins. These molecules activate the complement cascade, neutralize pathogens, and recruit antigen presenting cells. Here we review the current understanding of anti-viral components of the humoral innate immune system that play a similar role to antibodies, describing their role in immunity to HCV and their potential contribution to HCV pathogenesis.

NFL Blitz (2012) - Screenshots

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:56 AM PST

Fact sheet pending.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 579-595: Nutraceutical Approach for Preventing Obesity-Related Colorectal and Liver Carcinogenesis

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Obesity and its related metabolic abnormalities, including insulin resistance, alterations in the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)/IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) axis, and the state of chronic inflammation, increase the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, these findings also indicate that the metabolic disorders caused by obesity might be effective targets to prevent the development of CRC and HCC in obese individuals. Green tea catechins (GTCs) possess anticancer and chemopreventive properties against cancer in various organs, including the colorectum and liver. GTCs have also been known to exert anti-obesity, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory effects, indicating that GTCs might be useful for the prevention of obesity-associated colorectal and liver carcinogenesis. Further, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), which improve protein malnutrition and prevent progressive hepatic failure in patients with chronic liver diseases, might be also effective for the suppression of obesity-related carcinogenesis because oral supplementation with BCAA reduces the risk of HCC in obese cirrhotic patients. BCAA shows these beneficial effects because they can improve insulin resistance. Here, we review the detailed relationship between metabolic abnormalities and the development of CRC and HCC. We also review evidence, especially that based on our basic and clinical research using GTCs and BCAA, which indicates that targeting metabolic abnormalities by either pharmaceutical or nutritional intervention may be an effective strategy to prevent the development of CRC and HCC in obese individuals.

Norwegian butter crisis predicted a year in advance in "funny" ad from butter monopolist

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:03 AM PST

This year-old butter ad from TINE, Norway's "butter monopolist" manufacturer, eerily presages Norway's notorious, Atkins-fuelled butter shortage.

Reklamefilm TINE Smør - Superchef (Thanks, Samurai!)

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 558-578: Non-Coding RNAs in Retinal Development

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Retinal development is dependent on an accurately functioning network of transcriptional and translational regulators. Among the diverse classes of molecules involved, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play a significant role. Members of this family are present in the cell as transcripts, but are not translated into proteins. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small ncRNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators. During the last decade, they have been implicated in a variety of biological processes, including the development of the nervous system. On the other hand, long-ncRNAs (lncRNAs) represent a different class of ncRNAs that act mainly through processes involving chromatin remodeling and epigenetic mechanisms. The visual system is a prominent model to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying neurogenesis or circuit formation and function, including the differentiation of retinal progenitor cells to generate the seven principal cell classes in the retina, pathfinding decisions of retinal ganglion cell axons in order to establish the correct connectivity from the eye to the brain proper, and activity-dependent mechanisms for the functionality of visual circuits. Recent findings have associated ncRNAs in several of these processes and uncovered a new level of complexity for the existing regulatory mechanisms. This review summarizes and highlights the impact of ncRNAs during the development of the vertebrate visual system, with a specific focus on the role of miRNAs and a synopsis regarding recent findings on lncRNAs in the retina.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 552-557: Development of Novel Microsatellite Markers in the Omei Treefrog (Rhacophorus omeimontis)

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Eleven novel microsatellite markers were developed and characterized for the Omei treefrog (Rhacophorus omeimontis) using the fast isolation by AFLP of sequences containing repeats method. Polymorphism of each locus was tested in 24 individuals from two wild populations. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 15, the average observed and expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.250 to 0.839 and from 0.562 to 0.914, respectively. Two of the 11 microsatellite loci showed significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Two locus pairs showed significant linkage disequilibrium. Neither evidence of scoring error due to stuttering nor evidence of large allele dropout was found at all of the 11 loci, but evidence of null alleles was indicated at two loci because of general excess of homozygotes for most allele size classes. These polymorphic loci will be useful markers in studying mate choice of the Omei treefrog.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 540-551: A Chitosan Induced 9-Lipoxygenase in Adelostemma gracillimum Seedlings

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Oxylipins generated by the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway play an important role in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stress. In chitosan-treated Adelostemma gracillimum seedlings, obvious accumulation of 9-LOX-derived oxylipins, namely 9,10,11-trihydroxy-12-octadecenoic acid, was detected. Using degenerate primers, a LOX-specific fragment putatively encoding LOX was obtained by RT-PCR, and a 2.9-kb full-length cDNA named AgLOX1 was isolated by RACE from chitosan-induced A. gracillimum seedlings. Genomic Southern analysis implied that there was only one copy of AgLOX1 in the A. gracillimum genome. AgLOX1 was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant protein was partially purified. The enzyme converted linoleic and linolenic acids almost exclusively to their 9-hydroperoxides. AgLOX1 encoded a 9-lipoxygenase. Northern blot analysis indicated that chitosan-induced AgLOX1 transcript accumulation peaked at 8 h after initiation of treatment, whereas trihydroxy derivatives accumulation was highest at 24 h after elicitation. Results showed that chitosan-induced AgLOX1 encoded a 9-lipoxygenase potentially involved in the defense response through 9-LOX pathway leading to biosynthesis of antimicrobial compounds in A. gracillimum seedlings.

Metabolites, Vol. 2, Pages 39-56: Comparative Chemistry of Aspergillus oryzae (RIB40) and A. flavus (NRRL 3357)

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Aspergillus oryzae and A. flavus are important species in industrial biotechnology and food safety and have been some of the first aspergilli to be fully genome sequenced. Bioinformatic analysis has revealed 99.5% gene homology between the two species pointing towards a large coherence in the secondary metabolite production. In this study we report on the first comparison of secondary metabolite production between the full genome sequenced strains of A. oryzae (RIB40) and A. flavus (NRRL 3357). Surprisingly, the overall chemical profiles of the two strains were mostly very different across 15 growth conditions. Contrary to previous studies we found the aflatrem precursor 13-desoxypaxilline to be a major metabolite from A. oryzae under certain growth conditions. For the first time, we additionally report A. oryzae to produce parasiticolide A and two new analogues hereof, along with four new alkaloids related to the A. flavus metabolites ditryptophenalines and miyakamides. Generally the secondary metabolite capability of A. oryzae presents several novel end products likely to result from the domestication process from A. flavus.

Retro games are the hot Toronto nightlife trend

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:20 AM PST

Jaiden Dalbello, right, and Jenn Elwell play a game at Snakes and Lattes in Koreatown.

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RestoreMeNot 1.0b7 - Disable window restoration in Mac OS X 10.7.. (Free)

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST



RestoreMeNot customizes Mac OS X 10.7's window restoration functionality.

The window restoration feature of Mac OS X Lion is one of the coolest features of Apple's new OS. Sometimes however, one might not want the windows of a certain application to be restored when launching it. Unfortunately window restoration can only be disabled system-wide and not on a per-application basis.

This is where RestoreMeNot comes in and provides a simple preference pane for disabling window restoration for individual applications. Please note that RestoreMeNot is only designed to disable the window restoration and not the reopening of apps that is part of Apple's "Resume" feature.



Version 1.0b7:
  • Czech localization.


Mac OS X 10.7 or later

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A Better Finder Rename 8.94 - File, photo, and MP3 batch renamer.. (Shareware)

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST



A Better Finder Rename is the most complete renaming solution available on the market today. That's why, since 1996, thousands of hobbyists, professionals and businesses depend on A Better Finder Rename to organize and maintain files.

A Better Finder Rename's user interface supports complex renaming tasks without sacrificing ease and speed of use. Simply drag the files you want to rename straight from the Finder into the large preview table or the application icon.. or use our Finder context menu and hot key.

The Instant Preview feature eliminates guesswork and costly errors and helps you find the right settings quickly and accurately by providing as-you-type feedback.

A Better Finder Rename offers a complete set of renaming options that are organized into 7 categories covering all the text, character, position, conversion and truncation features that you would expect from a file renamer, but it does not stop there.

Photographers use the advanced sequence number and date & time features to clean up their portfolios or prepare photos for delivery to their client. A Better Finder Rename knows how to extract EXIF shooting date and time information from digital camera images and exploit them in creating sequence numbers or adding time and date information to the file name. Support for all major RAW formats (including JPEG, CRW, CR2, THM, NEF, TIFF, RAJ, ORF , MRW, DNG, PEF, SRF, etc.) extends this to professional photographers. Version 8 now also deals gracefully with multiple shots captured in the same second.

System administrators, web masters and other power users will appreciate the presence of advanced features, such as regular expression support, conversion to Windows NTFS/SMB compatible names, the ability to import file names from a database, a spreadsheet or any other source that can produce plain or tab-delimited text files. Last but not least, the ability to save a record of the current and new file names greatly facilitates tracking your files.

Music lovers can use the built-in MP3/AAC support to exploit the id3 meta-data tags embedded in your most music files to create their own naming schemes for their music collection. Meta-data information from mp3, aac and iTunes music store files are supported.

The multi-step renaming feature allows multiple renaming steps to be combined to deal with complex renaming jobs in a single operation. Unlike other tools, A Better Finder Rename allows any number of renaming actions to be combined, re-ordered, copied and deleted.

Version 8.94:

  • adds improved support for third party drives


Mac OS X 10.6 or later

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jAlbum 10.3.1 - Organize your digital images and make website albums.. (Free)

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST



JAlbum helps you make website albums of your digital photographs. With JAlbum, no extra software is needed to view the albums, just your web browser. Unlike "server side" album scripts, JAlbum albums can be served from a plain web server without scripting support. You can also share your albums on CD-ROM. It is written after numerous disappointments with existing album software. With JAlbum you have full control of the look of the generated album, not just color theme and basic layout, still making an album is just a matter of drag and drop + a button click if you prefer to use one of the many existing looks. It will process your images, make index pages and slide show pages and even upload the final album to the Internet for your friends to see.

Pro version ($54.00) also available, featuring:

  • White labeled albums
  • No ads in your albums
  • Priority e-mail support
For a more detailed comparison, see this page.



Version 10.3.1:

News and Updates

  • Portuguese translation updated.
Bug fixes
  • Windows version would hang when dragging and dropping images from the file chooser onto jAlbum. This bug has been around for over a year and is now finally fixed.
  • Mac version would fail with "Could not initialize class com.adobe.xmp.impl.XMPMetaParser" error on Mac OS X 10.7
  • Error reporting for skins that require "compatibility mode" to run wasn't tight


Mac OS X 10.4 or later

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X-Plane 10.03b9 - Ultra-realistic flight simulator.. (Updater)

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST



X-Plane is the world's most comprehensive, powerful flight simulator, and has the most realistic flight model available for personal computers.

Welcome to the world of props, jets, single- and multi-engine airplanes, as well as gliders, helicopters and VTOLs such as the V-22 Osprey and AV8-B Harrier.

X-Plane comes with subsonic and supersonic flight dynamics, sporting aircraft from the Bell 206 Jet-Ranger helicopter and Cessna 172 light plane to the supersonic SR-71 and Space Shuttle. X-Plane comes with 35 aircraft spanning the aviation industry (and history), and several thousand more are freely downloadable from the internet. (See www.X-Plane.org as a good place to start).

X-Plane scenery is world-wide, with scenery for the entire planet Earth between 74 degrees north to 60 degrees south latitude. We also have MARS scenery! (thanks to the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter, which mapped that planet's elevation). On Earth, you can land at any of over 33,000 airports, as well as test your mettle on aircraft carriers, helipads on building tops, frigates that pitch and roll in the waves, and oil rigs.

Weather is variable from clear skies and high visibility to thunderstorms with controllable wind, wind shear, turbulence, and microbursts! Rain, snow and clouds are available for an instrument flying challenge, and thermals are available for the gliders! Real weather conditions can be downloaded from the internet, allowing you to fly in the actual weather that currently exists at the location of flight!

X-Plane also has detailed failure-modeling, with multitudes of systems that can be failed manually or randomly, when you least expect it! You can fail instruments, engines, flight controls, landing gear, or dozens of other systems at any moment.

While X-Plane is the world's most COMPREHENSIVE flight sim, your purchase also comes with Plane-Maker (to create your own airplanes) Airfoil-Maker (allowing users to create airfoil performance profiles), and Weather Briefer (to get a weather briefing before the flight if you use real weather conditions downloaded from the internet).

X-Plane is also extremely customizable, allowing you to easily create textures, sounds, and instrument panels for your own airplanes that you design or the planes that come with the sim.

X-Plane's accuracy (in flight model), scope (in aircraft and terrain coverage), versatility (in aircraft type and weather conditions), add-on programs (in aircraft and scenery editors), customizability, downloadable aircraft, and downloadable scenery makes it the ULTIMATE flight simulation experience for Macintosh, Windows, and Linux platforms.

BE SURE TO TURN ON THE >BETA< option in the installer before you run it to get the beta!

The demo contains a limited scenery area to keep the download size reasonable. It will run for 10 minutes before it begins to ignore the user's input, at which point the simulator must be restarted to fly more.



Version 10.03b9:

Beta 9 is a quick fix to beta 8. Beta 8 was removed from distribution due to a fatal crash; all of beta 8's bug fixes are of course included in beta 9, as well as:

  • Fixed a Windows crash bug in beta 8.
  • Fixed missing runway and city lights at some monitor settings.
  • Restored framerate with clouds visible.
  • Fixed crash in ATC system on startup.
  • Fixed missing sunlight in planet-wide view.


  • Mac OS X 10.5 or later
  • a 2 GHz, dual-core CPU
  • 2 GB of RAM
  • a DirectX 9-capable video card with 128 MB of on-board, dedicated video RAM (VRAM). See here for compatibility and graphics cards.


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Metabolites, Vol. 2, Pages 19-38: Mass Spectrometry Based Lipidomics: An Overview of Technological Platforms

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

One decade after the genomic and the proteomic life science revolution, new 'omics' fields are emerging. The metabolome encompasses the entity of small molecules—Most often end products of a catalytic process regulated by genes and proteins—with the lipidome being its fat soluble subdivision. Within recent years, lipids are more and more regarded not only as energy storage compounds but also as interactive players in various cellular regulation cycles and thus attain rising interest in the bio-medical community. The field of lipidomics is, on one hand, fuelled by analytical technology advances, particularly mass spectrometry and chromatography, but on the other hand new biological questions also drive analytical technology developments. Compared to fairly standardized genomic or proteomic high-throughput protocols, the high degree of molecular heterogeneity adds a special analytical challenge to lipidomic analysis. In this review, we will take a closer look at various mass spectrometric platforms for lipidomic analysis. We will focus on the advantages and limitations of various experimental setups like 'shotgun lipidomics', liquid chromatography—Mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) based approaches. We will also examine available software packages for data analysis, which nowadays is in fact the rate limiting step for most 'omics' workflows.

Nanomaterials, Vol. 2, Pages 15-30: Accurate Size and Size-Distribution Determination of Polystyrene Latex Nanoparticles in Aqueous Medium Using Dynamic Light Scattering and Asymmetrical Flow Field Flow Fractionation with Multi-Angle Light Scattering

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST

Accurate determination of the intensity-average diameter of polystyrene latex (PS-latex) by dynamic light scattering (DLS) was carried out through extrapolation of both the concentration of PS-latex and the observed scattering angle. Intensity-average diameter and size distribution were reliably determined by asymmetric flow field flow fractionation (AFFFF) using multi-angle light scattering (MALS) with consideration of band broadening in AFFFF separation. The intensity-average diameter determined by DLS and AFFFF-MALS agreed well within the estimated uncertainties, although the size distribution of PS-latex determined by DLS was less reliable in comparison with that determined by AFFFF-MALS.
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