Stand-alone Platform Research Articles

Fabrication of Synaptotagmin II-Functionalized Neuromimetic Copolymeric Nanomembranes

Nanoscale copolymer membranes that mimic the innate structure and properties of biological lipid membranes possessing hydrophilic and hydrophobic elements to support protein folding were used for a fundamental examination of protein—polymer integration. This study has integrated the neural synaptotagmin II (Syt II) protein, a documented target of the hemagglutinin-33 (Hn-33) protein associated with botulinum neurotoxin type A during the infection process, into polymethyloxazoline—polydimethylsiloxane—polymethyloxazoline nanomembranes. By integrating Syt II into block copolymer membranes, we have developed a neural mimetic membrane toward Hn-33 targeting the applications in nanomaterial-mediated detection. This technology can serve as a robust stand-alone platform for toxin diagnostic studies, or as a coating for integration with micro-/nanofabricated devices and electrodes for protein—protein interaction-based detection. To assess enhanced membrane complexity and toxin specificity, studies assessing the co-insertion of trisialoganglioside-GT1b (GT1b) and Syt II into the nanomembranes were used as a subsequent platform for botulinum neurotoxin type B detection. Protein—membrane integration was confirmed with atomic force microscopy imaging, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and Langmuir isotherm analysis.

Proteome discovery pipeline for mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Overview We have developed the Proteome Discovery Pipeline, a stand-alone bioinformatics platform used for LC/MS data analysis and biomarker discovery. Data is processed in a series of self-contained analytical steps using modules that are controlled by a graphical user interface. The user interface was developed in Visual C++ 6.0 and provides a multi-threaded, tabbed user interface with each tab representing a step in the analysis process. Modules included are spectrum deconvolution, alignment, normalization, significance tests and pattern recognition. Modules consist of applications developed in C++ and the R scripting language, which are called as external processes from the GUI using inputted parameters. Molecular correlation analysis can be viewed interactively using SysNet. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the Proteome Discovery Pipeline.

FPGA implementation of 1D wave equation for real-time audio synthesis

The paper addresses the potential benefits of using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as opposed to a traditional processor for music synthesis. The benefits result from the use of a cellular design, with each cell performing identical operations on its own state and the states of its neighbours. This gives advantages of design simplicity through inherent parallelism. A cellular model which has previously been used for music synthesis is the mass spring paradigm, and this model is implemented on an FPGA. On a sequential processor, the clock speed requirements of this model increase as N2 (where N is the number of cells), whereas the clock speed requirement increases as N on an FPGA (if the cells can be made small enough that available area on the chip is not a constraint). To make the cells small enough, a bit-serial design was used. This work was performed to advocate the FPGA as a stand-alone live performance music synthesis platform, which has the potential to be reconfigured for example in performance, between synthesis techniques as different sound patches are selected. The paper considers in particular the mass-spring model, because it demonstrates the type of music synthesis technique for which FPGAs provide the greatest potential benefit. The capability to reconfigure combined with the high performance that can be achieved using cellular design suggests that the FPGA is an ideal platform for a live performance hardware music synthesiser, combining the flexibility of software with the speed of a custom ASIC.

A Martin–Puplett cartridge FIR interferometer

A compact prealigned Martin–Puplett interferometer (MPI) cartridge for plasma interferometry is described. The MPI cartridge groups all components of a MP interferometer, with the exception of the end mirror for the scene beam, on a stand-alone rigid platform. The interferometer system is completed by positioning a cartridge anywhere along and coaxial with the scene beam, considerably reducing the amount of effort in alignment over a discrete component layout. This allows the interferometer to be expanded to any number of interferometry chords consistent with optical access, limited only by the laser power. The cartridge interferometer has been successfully incorporated as a second chord on the Helicity Injected Torus II (HIT-II) far infrared interferometer system and a comparison with the discrete component system is presented. Given the utility and compactness of the cartridge, a possible design for a five-chord interferometer arrangement on the HIT-II device is described.

Was the IDIIOM the first stand-alone CAD platform?

This article recounts the development of a stand-alone CAD platform, the IDIIOM. The IDIIOM was developed during the mid-1960s at Information Displays, Inc. (IDI), then in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. According to its creators, the IDIIOM was the first general-purpose design workstation, the first commercial CADD platform, and the first software drafting package to operate on its own computer without communication links to a mainframe computer. The article follows IDI's startup, the company's evolution into the fledgling computer graphics field, IDI's development of stand-alone CADD hardware and software, and IDI's unwillingness to accept the emerging technology of the Direct View Storage Tube.