With the increasing miniaturization of transistors, wire delays are becoming a dominant factor in microprocessor performance. To address this issue, a number of emerging architectures contain replicated processing units with software-exposed communication between one unit and another (e.g., Raw, SmartMemories, TRIPS). However, for their use to be widespread, it will be necesary to develop a common machine language to allow programmers to express an algorithm in a way that can be efficiently mapped across these architectures. We propose a new common machine language for grid-based software-exposed architectures: StreamIt. StreamIt is a high-level programming language with explicit support for streaming computation. Unlike sequential programs with obscured dependence information and complex communication patterns, a stream program is naturally written as a set of concurrent filters with regular steady-state communication. The language imposes a hierarchical structure on the stream graph that enables novel representations and optimizations within the StreamIt compiler. We have implemented a fully functional compiler that parallelizes StreamIt applications for Raw, including several load-balancing transformations. Though StreamIt exposes the parallelism and communication patterns of stream programs, analysis is needed to adapt a stream program to a software-exposed processor. We describe a partitioning algorithm that employs fission and fusion transformations to adjust the granularity of a stream graph, a layout algorithm that maps a stream graph to a given network topology, and a scheduling strategy that generates a fine-grained static communication pattern for each computational element. Using the cycle-accurate Raw simulator, we demonstrate that the StreamIt compiler can automatically map a high-level stream abstraction to Raw. We consider this work to be a first step towards a portable programming model for communication-exposed architectures. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Die Einsätze erhöhen sich. Player wie China mischen die Karten am Tisch des globalen Rohstoffpokers neu. Deutschland nimmt die Herausforderung an und verändert seine Strategie. Experten und Kritiker dieser Neuausrichtung kommen zu Wort. Ohne die Einbeziehung der geopolitisch entscheidenden Mitspieler Zentralasien und Russland können die Karten aber nicht aufgedeckt werden.

<p>The aim of this study was to compare the water quality of raw wastewater and treated sewage effluents from three different sewage treatment plants in the Western Cape, South Africa. The treatment plants investigated are on the same river system. Sewage treatment plant 1 and 2 use older technologies, while sewage treatment plant 3 has been upgraded and new technologies (membrane bioreactor) were incorporated in the treatment processes. The first objective was to determine the occurrence of total coliforms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and fluoroquinolone and sulfamethoxazole antibiotic residues in raw wastewater and treated sewage effluents. Bacteria in treated sewage effluents can result in diseases such as dysentery, gastroenteritis, and typhoid upon exposure. A chromogenic test was used to screen for coliforms and E. coli. Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) were used to quantitate antibiotic residues (fluoroquinolones and sulfamethoxazole) in raw wastewater and treated sewage effluents. This study showed that bacteria are present in raw wastewater and residual bacteria are released with treated sewage effluents from sewage treatment plants.</p>

Simvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug, has the capacity to stimulate bone formation along with having anti-inflammatory effects. Incorporating simvastatin to the calcium phosphate cement would result in slow release of the drug stimulating bone formation and by preventing a local inflammation and bone resorption. The main aim is to study and examine the inflammatory response towards calcium phosphate cements in vitro and compare it with cements incorporated with simvastatin.

Cette étude a pour objectif d'apporter des éléments de réponse à la compréhension de la nature et de l'origine des effets biologiques des nanoparticules (NP) de boehmite en réalisant des tests de contacts in vitro sur des macrophages de culture (RAW 264.7), les macrophages étant la cible cellulaire privilégiée au niveau du tractus respiratoire. Différents domaines de la réponse cellulaire en relation avec les propriétés physico-chimiques des particules ont été étudiés. Dans une première partie l'activité biologique a été mesurée sur des NP de boehmite puis après broyage ou dispersion permettant d'observer en particulier l'influence de la taille des particules dans la réponse cellulaire.Les résultats soulignent que les particules industrielles de boehmite sont principalement caractérisées par une activité modérée au niveau de la réponse inflammatoire, mais sans effet cytotoxique ou sans stress oxydant significatif. Des différences en fonction de la taille des particules ont été observées sur les paramètres inflammatoire et cytotoxique.Toutefois, les mesures des biomolécules libérées dans les surnageants de culture cellulaire peuvent être biaisées par l'adsorption de ces biomolécules sur les NP en présence. Ainsi, ce mécanisme d'adsorption doit être pleinement compris pour éviter une interprétation erronée des données obtenues. Dans un second temps l'objectif a donc été d'élaborer une méthodologie afin d'évaluer les interactions organo-minérales en terme d'affinité et de quantité de biomolécules adsorbées sur les nanoparticules à l'équilibre thermodynamique et de déterminer une loi de correction. Dans ce contexte nous nous sommes intéressés en particulier au TNF-α.

The river Göta Älv reaches between Vänern and Gothenburg and is the main raw water source for Gothenburg that supplies about 700 000 people with water. To protect and maintain a high water quality, continuously samples and water analyses are made throughout the river. In 1998 a protection area was founded between surte and Lärjeholm where the raw water intake is. This was made to increase the awareness of the importance to protect the water. However, there is a lot of contribution of untreated stormwater to Göta Älv within the protection area. Göteborg Water and Sewage Works commissioned this thesis where two areas, Tagene industrial area and Kärra residential area, with untreated stormwater outlets within the protection area are studied. The areas have been divided according to surface composition with different rates of pollutant contribution. Then the stormwater flow and the contribution of pollutants was simulated with the model SEWSYS. The future aim is that the model will be able to simulate the contribution of pollutants for a variety of rains, for the whole protection area. SEWSYS (Sewer System) is built in MATLAB/Simulink and consists of three modules, a stormwater module, a sanitary wastewater module and a treatment plant module. This project only includes the stormwater module. The model simulates the stormwater flow and the pollutants total phosphorous, total nitrogen, copper, zinc, lead, cadmium and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Samples and analysis for the two areas has been carried out for another thesis work during the same period. The results from those analyses have been used for the model settings for the areas. Simulations have been performed to adjust the model and evaluate its ability to describe the stormwater flow and the pollutant contribution within the areas. The amount of stormwater and the runoff are well simulated by the model. However, the measured and analysed data has not been enough to get reliable simulations over the pollutant contribution. Further development of the model is necessary. Generally the model simulates lower values compared to measured values, especially in the industrial area. For a more general understanding over how SEWSYS works for the two areas, simulations were carried out on a yearly basis. Those simulations have been compared with general data for stormwater pollutants. Even though the results from the simulations have shown lower values than the measured values, the model shows clearly that the contribution of pollutants from the industrial site is greater than the contribution from the residential site. / Göta Älv sträcker sig från Vänern ner till Göteborg och är Göteborgs huvudsakliga råvattentäkt som försörjer ca 700 000 personer med vatten dagligen. För att säkra råvattenkvaliteten görs kontinuerliga provtagningar utmed älven. Dessutom beslutade Länsstyrelsen 1998 om ett skyddsområde med skyddsföreskrifter för avrinningsområdet mellan Surte i norr till vattenintaget vid Lärjeholm i söder. Ett mål med skyddsområdet är att det ska öka medvetenheten hos boende och de som är verksamma inom området om behovet att värna om vårt vatten. Dock leds det på flera ställen ut orenat dagvatten till älven inom skyddsområdet. Examensarbetet är ett uppdrag av Göteborgs Va-verk där två områden med orenade dagvattenutsläpp till Göta Älv studeras, Tagene industriområde samt Kärra bostadsområde. Dessa områden har karterats och dagvattenflödet samt föroreningsbelastningen från dagvattnet har simulerats med modellen SEWSYS. Målet på lång sikt är att modellen ska kunna användas för att simulera föroreningsbelastningen vid olika regn för hela skyddsområdet. Modellen SEWSYS (Sewer System) är uppbyggd i MATLAB/Simulink och bygger på tre moduler, en dagvattenmodul, en spillvattenmodul och en reningsverksmodul. För detta projekt har endast delen för dagvatten använts. Modellen simulerar dagvattenflödet och behandlar föroreningarna totalfosfor, totalkväve, koppar, zink, bly, kadmium samt polycykliska aromatiska kolväten (PAH). I ett examensarbete parallellt med detta har provtagning och analyser av föroreningar för de båda områdena ägt rum och dessa värden ligger till grund för inställningen av modellen. Simuleringar har utförts för att anpassa modellen samt utvärdera dess förmåga att beskriva dagvattenflödet och föroreningsbelastningen inom de aktuella områdena. Simuleringarna visar att avrinningen och dagvattenflödet simuleras bra av modellen. Det har dock visat sig att de gjorda mätningarna inte har varit tillräckliga som underlag för att få en tillförlitlig beskrivning av föroreningsbelastningen och vidare utveckling är nödvändig. Detta gäller särskilt i industriområdet där modellen generellt simulerar för låga föroreningsmängder. För en mer allmän uppfattning av SEWSYS modellen för de två områdena, har även simuleringar på årsbasis utförts och jämförts med schablonhalter för dagvattenföroreningar. Trots att simuleringsvärdena har legat lägre än de uppmätta värdena på föroreningsmängderna har det gått att visa att industriområdet bidrar till högre föroreningsbelastning än bostadsområdet på recipienten Göta Älv.

The companies ought to care about OEE because it is a measure that shows the effect of the performance and quality related losses on the system or equipment. In order to improve OEE, they focus on defining the losses under each OEE elements and try to eliminate these losses.This study aims to enhance raw material inventory management in order to eliminateinventory management related losses and improve OEE.  Lack of raw material and improperstorage of raw material are main problems related to inventory management. A model isdeveloped and tested in order to prevent these problems and eliminate these losses.Performance rate can be improved by preventing idle time due to lack of raw material, andquality rate can be improved by standardization and improving raw material storageprocedure. In the result of model testing, it is shown that raw material inventory managementhas an effect on OEE and OEE can be improved by enhancing raw material inventorymanagement.

Der Bericht beschreibt ein neues, flexibles und deutschlandweit einmaliges Bewertungsinstrument für die Rohstoffe Steine und Erden sowie Braunkohle. Es ermöglicht, die sächsischen Braunkohlen nach unterschiedlichen Kriterien miteinander zu vergleichen und ihre Eignung für eine stoffliche Veredlung oder eine energetische Nutzung zu beurteilen. Mit Hilfe der Rohstoffbewertung können die Bau- und Sicherungswürdigkeit von Steine- und Erden sowie Braunkohlenvorkommen berechnet und kartografisch dargestellt werden. Durch die Variabilität der Bewertungsparameter und durch räumliche Auswahlmöglichkeiten sind verschiedene Betrachtungsvarianten möglich.

Disinfectants, such as chlorine, are widely used in water treatment plants to ensure the safety and quality of drinking water. However, these disinfectants easily react with some natural or man-made organic compounds in raw water and form disinfection by-products (DBPs). For example, halogenated acetic acid (HAAs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) are two main components of DBPs. These DBPs contained in drinking water will increase the risk of cancer in human body. Therefore, researches on halogenated acetic acid¡¦s potential of causing cancer have increased currently. Organic acids are usually the reactants which proceed in chlorination reaction into products of disinfection by-products in water treatment plant. The purpose of this study is to investigate adsorption characteristics in solution by using tests of kinetics and equilibrium adsorptions and kinetic model evaluations of selected fulvic acids (FA) extracted from raw water. Therefore, we use commercial single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) for the adsorbents, and calculate thermodynamic parameters (£GG, £GS and £GH) in order to further understand the adsorption mechanism of CNTs. The maximum adsorbed amounts of FA onto SWCNTs was calculated by the Langmuir model at 25¢J, reaching 61.88mg / g which were much higher than that onto commercially available granular activated carbon (10.69 mg/g). The adsorption capacity of FA onto CNTs increased with decreasing outer diameter of CNTs (dp), molecular weight of FA, trmperature and pH value in all texts. In the condition of constant temperature 25¢J, we analyzed HAAFP after the test of equilibrium adsorption and that the removal efficiency of HAAFP could reach 40.76%. The best selection in kinetic models evaluation, fitting models such as Modified Freundlich equation, Pseudo-1st-order equation and Pesudo-2nd-oder equation, is Modified Freundlch equation model. In addition, intraparticle diffusion equation model was fitted well and showed adsorption process was controlled by pore diffusion. We calculated the activation energy of carbon nanotube adsorption of FA and found that film diffusion was the main factor for controlling reaction rate. According to results of thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption was spontaneously and an exothermic reaction. It is obvious that the adsorption capacity as well as the reaction rate of CNTs are superior to that of granular activated carbon in raw water. These results suggest that CNTs possess highly potential applications in environmental protection. In the future, if we can combine nanotube technology with disinfection technology and apply such technique on the end of processing unit for design of either the domestic treatment facilities or small simple water treatment in drinking water. Thus it will enhance the new treatment technology of drinking water and the safety of the public health. Another possibility will be to promote the opportunity of marketing development in drinking water.

Many inflammatory diseases are growing increasing common in the aging society of Taiwan. Inflammation cascades can cause diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, chronic asthma, multiple sclerosis, and so on. The clinically used anti-inflammatory drugs have many side effects and are expensive. Therefore, it is imperative that we find alternatives to these drugs. Marine natural compounds offer great hope in the development of drugs for treating inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we found that Chao-10, which is a marine-derived compound isolated from Formosan soft coral, significantly inhibited the expression of the pro-inflammatory protein, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), in the lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. We suggest that Chao-10 may serve as a potential new anti-inflammatory agent. However, the mechanism by which the anti-inflammatory effects of Chao-10 are mediated is yet unclear. Therefore, we performed two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) to investigate the regulatory mechanism for the anti-inflammatory effect of Chao-10. We isolated some proteins that may be involved in the anti-inflammatory mechanism of Chao-10. In addition, we used immunoprecipitation to find that nucleophosmin (NPM) could interact with nuclear factor kappa B (NF-£eB). Therefore, we hypothesize that nucleophosminmay be involved in the regulation of NF-£eB to enhance the down-regulation of iNOS proteins. In summary, the anti-inflammatory effects of Chao-10 are probably mediated through the some other signaling pathway. Importantly, Chao-10 not only offers some new biomarkers of inflammation but also provides an encouraging outlook on therapeutic approaches.