Technical Scalability Research Articles

Masking Strategy Constructed Metal Coordination Hydrogels with Improved Mechanical Properties for Flexible Electronic Sensors.

Metal coordination hydrogels (MC-HGs) that introduce dynamically coordinate bonds together with metal ionic conduction have attracted considerable attention in flexible electronics. However, the traditional soaking method alleged to have technical scalability faces the challenge of forming MC-HGs with a "core-shell" structure, which undoubtedly reduces the whole mechanical properties and ionic stimulation responsiveness required for flexible electronics materials. Herein, a novel strategy referred to as "masking" has been proposed based on the theory of the valence bond and coordination chemistry. By regulating the masking agents and their concentrations as well as pairing mode with the metal ions, the whole mechanical properties of the resulting composites (MC-HGsMasking) show nearly double the values of their traditional soaking samples (MC-HGsSoaking). For example, the fracture stress and toughness of Fe-HGsMasking(SA,5.0g/L) are 1.55 MPa and 2.14 MJ/m3, almost twice those of Fe-HGsSoaking (0.83 MPa and 0.93 MJ/m3, respectively). Microstructure characterization combined with finite element analysis, molecular dynamics, and first-principles simulations demonstrates that the masking strategy first facilitating interfacial permeation of metal complexes and then effective coordination with functional ligands (carboxylates) of the hydrogels is the mechanism to strengthen the mechanical properties of composites MC-HGsMasking, which has the potential to break through the limitations of current MC-HGs in flexible electronic sensor applications.

Digital Health at Enterprise Scale: Evaluation Framework for Selecting Patient-Facing Software in a Digital-First Health System.

The digital transformation of our health care system will require not only digitization of existing tools but also a redesign of our care delivery system and collaboration with digital partners. Traditional patient journeys are reactive to symptom presentation and delayed by health care system-centric scheduling, leading to poor experience and avoidable adverse outcomes. Patient journeys will be reimagined to a digital health pathway that seamlessly integrates various care experiences from telemedicine, remote monitoring, to in-person clinic visits. Through centering the care delivery around the patients, they can have more delightful experiences and enjoy the quality of standardized condition pathways and outcomes. To design and implement digital health pathways at scale, enterprise health care systems need to develop capabilities and partnerships in human-centered design, operational workflow, clinical content management, communication channels and mechanisms, reporting and analytics, standards-based integration, security and data management, and scalability. Using a human-centered design methodology, care pathways will be built upon an understanding of the unmet needs of the patients to have a more enjoyable experience of care with improved clinical outcomes. To power this digital care pathway, enterprises will choose to build or partner for clinical content management to operationalize up-to-date, best-in-class pathways. With this clinical engine, this digital solution will engage with patients through multimodal communication modalities, including written, audio, photo, or video, throughout the patient journey. Leadership teams will review reporting and analytics functions to track that the digital care pathways will be iterated to improve patient experience, clinical metrics, and operational efficiency. On the backend, standards-based integration will allow this system to be built in conjunction with the electronic medical record and other data systems to provide safe and efficient use of the digital care solution. For protecting patient information and compliance, a security and data management strategy is critical to derisking breeches and preserving privacy. Finally, a framework of technical scalability will allow digital care pathways to proliferate throughout the enterprise and support the entire patient population. This framework empowers enterprise health care systems to avoid collecting a fragmented series of one-off solutions but develop a sustainable concerted roadmap to the future of proactive intelligent patient care.

Bio-crude oils production from wheat stem under subcritical water conditions and batch adsorption of post-hydrothermal liquefaction aqueous phase onto activated hydrochars

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is known to be a promising technology to produce crude bio-oils as intermediate to drop-in transport fuels. However, the co-production of liquefaction wastewater (HTL-AP) and hydrochar residues (HCs) limits the economic viability and technical scalability. Hence, the objective of this work is to study the effect of catalysts NaOH,KOH,Na2CO3,K2CO3,H3PO4,FeCl3andFe2O3 in the HTL reaction medium and on the characteristics of derived crude bio-oils from wheat stem under subcritical conditions at 350 °C for 15 min. Likewise, the mentioned chemical agents were used to enhance the structural, morphological, and chemical surface properties of the HCs for the uptake of the organic adsorbates and nutrients from the HTL-AP. A yield of 30.85 wt% crude bio-oil, having the highest HHV of 34.36 MJ/kg, and lowest 22.03 wt% hydrochar are achieved under Na2CO3-catalyzed HTL. In contrast, the acidic and Fe-based catalysts revealed a lesser bio-oil yield because of the low pH, which promotes dehydration and polymerization reactions. Reduced Na, K, Fe, and S contents were found in H3PO4, FeCl3, and Fe2O3-catalyzed biocrudes. This result supports the hypothesis of the in situ demetallation during HTL reaction due to their adsorption onto the mesoporous hydrochars with Dp = 13.77–33.58 nm. The removalefficiency levels for COD, TOC, phenols, total N, P, and dissolved K are 66.67–92.77 %, 62.58–91.84 %, 65.59–99.91 %, 37.63–80.80 %, 96.67–99.90 %, and 45.57–92.36 %, respectively after HTAL-AP treatement. The results demonstrate new insights and directions for the use of activated hydrochar as a low-cost adsorbent for HTL-AP remediation purposes.

Distributed fusion cross‐chain model and architecture

AbstractCross‐chain is the key technology to achieve interconnectivity and interoperability across various blockchain networks. It surpasses traditional single‐chain architecture in terms of the performance, capacity, privacy, economic and technical scalability. Cross‐chain can break barriers between institutions, industries, and regions. This paper integrates existing blockchain interoperability technologies and proposes a distributed fusion cross‐chain model in financial industry. In order to support large scale computing and high availability requirements in financial industry, the model is built on a decentralized architecture and highly scalable. It supports large‐scale isomorphic or heterogeneous blockchain cross‐chain data and state interaction. And it achieves reliable financial value circulation in various underlying blockchain networks.

Status and prospective of high-efficiency c-Si solar cells based on tunneling oxide passivation contacts

Current photovoltaic market is dominated by crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar modules and this status will last for next decades. Among all high-efficiency c-Si solar cells, the tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell has attracted much attention due to its excellent passivation and compatibility with the traditional c-Si solar cells. The so-called tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) consists of an ultra-thin silicon oxide layer less than 2 nm in thickness and a heavily doped poly-Si layer, which is used for implementing effective passivation and selective collection of carriers. This TOPCon solar cell has some advantages including no laser contact opening, no light-induced degradation and no elevated temperature-induced degradation because of N-type c-Si wafer, compatibility with high temperature sintering and technical scalability. This paper first introduces the basic structure and principles of TOPCon solar cells, then compares the existing methods of preparing ultra-thin silicon oxide layer and heavily doped poly-Si layer, and finally points out the future research direction of this cell based on the analysis of the current research status.

Scalability analysis comparisons of cloud-based software services

Performance and scalability testing and measurements of cloud-based software services are necessary for future optimizations and growth of cloud computing. Scalability, elasticity, and efficiency are interrelated aspects of cloud-based software services’ performance requirements. In this work, we use a technical measurement of the scalability of cloud-based software services. Our technical scalability metrics are inspired by metrics of elasticity. We used two cloud-based systems to demonstrate the usefulness of our metrics and compare their scalability performance in two cloud platforms: Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure. Our experimental analysis considers three sets of comparisons: first we compare the same cloud-based software service hosted on two different public cloud platforms; second we compare two different cloud-based software services hosted on the same cloud platform; finally, we compare between the same cloud-based software service hosted on the same cloud platform with two different auto-scaling policies. We note that our technical scalability metrics can be integrated into a previously proposed utility oriented metric of scalability. We discuss the implications of our work.

Cloud-based software services delivery from the perspective of scalability

Measuring and testing the scalability and performance of cloud-based software services is critical for the delivery of such services, and the development of cloud computing. There are three interconnected Cloud-based software services’ performance aspects; both elasticity and efficiency are depending on the delivery of a sufficient level of scalability performance. In this work, we focused on testing and measuring the cloud-based software services scalability from a technical perspective. This paper uses technical scalability metrics that address both volume and quality scaling, inspired by earlier technical metrics of elasticity. We demonstrate the application of the metrics using a practical example and three demand scenarios and discuss the importance of these metrics. We show how our technical scalability metrics integrated into an earlier utility-oriented metric of scalability, in order to enable the scalability analysis from technical and production-driven perspectives. This work is related to the delivery of cloud-based software services from scalability perspective. We demonstrate our metrics by testing a cloud-based software service connecting with both AWS auto-scaling and load-balancing services. Measurements have been collected and analysis, and then been used to calculate the values of our scalability metrics.

PEACH, a smartphone- and conversational agent-based coaching intervention for intentional personality change: study protocol of a randomized, wait-list controlled trial

BackgroundThis protocol describes a study that will test the effectiveness of a 10-week non-clinical psychological coaching intervention for intentional personality change using a smartphone application. The goal of the intervention is to coach individuals who are willing and motivated to change some aspects of their personality, i.e., the Big Five personality traits. The intervention is based on empirically derived general change mechanisms from psychotherapy process-outcome research. It uses the smartphone application PEACH (PErsonality coACH) to allow for a scalable assessment and tailored interventions in the everyday life of participants. A conversational agent will be used as a digital coach to support participants to achieve their personality change goals. The goal of the study is to examine the effectiveness of the intervention at post-test assessment and three-month follow-up.Methods/DesignA 2x2 factorial between-subject randomized, wait-list controlled trial with intensive longitudinal methods will be conducted to examine the effectiveness of the intervention. Participants will be randomized to one of four conditions. One experimental condition includes a conversational agent with high self-awareness to deliver the coaching program. The other experimental condition includes a conversational agent with low self-awareness. Two wait-list conditions refer to the same two experimental conditions, albeit with four weeks without intervention at the beginning of the study. The 10-week intervention includes different types of micro-interventions: (a) individualized implementation intentions, (b) psychoeducation, (c) behavioral activation tasks, (d) self-reflection, (e) resource activation, and (f) individualized progress feedback. Study participants will be at least 900 German-speaking adults (18 years and older) who install the PEACH application on their smartphones, give their informed consent, pass the screening assessment, take part in the pre-test assessment and are motivated to change or modify some aspects of their personality.DiscussionThis is the first study testing the effectiveness of a smartphone- and conversational agent-based coaching intervention for intended personality change. Given that this novel intervention approach proves effective, it could be implemented in various non-clinical settings and could reach large numbers of people due to its low-threshold character and technical scalability.

Research on the Competitiveness Promotion Based on Triple Play in Telecommunication Industry

Due to rapidly changing environment based on triple play, the conovation of competitiveness in telecommuni- cation industry has also changed. The operators should adjust their strategic direction timely according to changes in competitive environment. So how to promote the competitiveness under triple play has become a hot issue in telecommu- nication industry. Based on ISM (Interpretative Structural Model) method, we established the competitiveness promotion model under triple play environment. In this model, the competitiveness structure is divided into explicit layer, driver fac- tor layer and the basic layer; each layer contains several driver factors affecting the telecommunication competitiveness, including technical scalability, market innovation and so on. Through the empirical study on the status of telecommunica- tion industry and the model validation, we proposed strategies to promote the competitiveness for the development of telecommunication industry.

PD03-09: Breast Cancer Recurrence Risk Probed by Whole Transcriptome Next Generation Sequencing in 136 Patients.

Abstract Background: RNA biomarkers discovered by RT-PCR-based gene expression profiling of archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue are the basis for very precise and sensitive clinical diagnostic tests, such as the 21 gene Oncotype DX® breast cancer assay. Both inherent limits of technical scalability and the small amounts of patient FFPE RNA available place practical constraints on the number of transcripts that can be interrogated by RT-PCR. We developed new methods for RNA profiling through massively parallel “next generation” sequencing (RNA-Seq) of archival FFPE specimens. We report here the technical performance of this methodology and compare the results to RT-PCR results obtained in one of the studies that were carried out to develop the 21 gene assay. Methods: RNA was extracted in 2002 from 136 invasive breast tumors that were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded between 1990 and 1997. RNA-Seq was carried out using minor modifications to methods we have reported previously (Sinicropi et al., Advances in Genome Biology and Technology Conference, p. 170, 2010 and p. 198, 2011). Briefly, 0.1 mg of total RNA was selectively depleted of ribosomal RNA and sequencing libraries were prepared using a modification of the ScriptSeq™ kit from Epicentre. The libraries were sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 instrument with multiplexing of two libraries per lane for 50 cycles in one direction. The resulting FASTQ sequences were mapped to version hg19 of the human genome using the Illumina CASAVA pipeline. The total number of sequences (reads) that uniquely mapped to all exons of each RefSeq entry was used for quantification of expression levels. Results: On average, there were 43 million reads per sample (range 31 - 58 million; SD=4.6 million) of which 69% uniquely mapped to the human genome. Ribosomal RNA was effectively removed and accounted for <0.3% of total counts. Significant coverage of a high proportion of the human genome was obtained, with 40% of RefSeq transcripts represented by a median of more than 100 reads. Using Cox proportional hazards analysis to evaluate the association of quantitative gene expression with breast cancer recurrence, the standardized hazard ratios and p-values for the 21 Oncotype DX genes determined by RNA-Seq were comparable to those originally obtained using RT-PCR. Moreover, whole transcriptome RNA-Seq identified more than 1800 new coding, intronic, and intergenic transcripts that strongly associated with breast cancer recurrence risk (at a false discovery rate <10%) and revealed heretofore unappreciated co-expressed gene networks. Summary: New methodology has been developed for application of next generation sequencing-based whole transcriptome profiling to small amounts of archival FFPE tissue. This technology has sensitivity and selectivity comparable to RT-PCR, can provide a vast increase in the number of interrogated transcripts, can reveal new biological relationships, and has excellent performance suitable for the discovery of RNA biomarkers. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr PD03-09.

Model predictive control—Building a bridge between theory and practice

This paper describes the development of an MPC product at AspenTech. A brief historical view sets the stage, describing collaboration with university researchers that formed much of the technical foundation. Gaps between theory and practice were addressed during product development. Major effort focused on eliminating the need for practitioners to understand control theory, while ensuring that controllers satisfy theoretical requirements. This allows control strategies to be designed and implemented via configuration and tuning in a domain familiar to a process operations engineer. Terms like eigenvalue, covariance, detectability, controllability, etc. are never exposed. Robust numerical algorithms and software suitable for real time execution must augment the control theory foundation. Best practices and expertise are embedded in the software realization, thus reducing the skill level required for success while still allowing experts to push the envelope. The resulting technical scalability facilitates a wide range of process control practice in a single framework.

A strategic perspective on future residential broadband market

The industry structure of the dynamic residential broadband market is examined in order to gain strategic insights into how Internet service provider can maintain competitive advantages. The broadband service value chain is analyzed through evaluating the competition within the encompassing sectors. It is concluded that owning the optical last mile network is strategically important because of its monopolistic nature and the technical scalability to meet future bandwidth demand. We will also discuss new business opportunities due to the various industry trends that will lead to the emergence of residential broadband killer applications such as online interactive games. It is argued that when residential broadband applications become more useful and popular that consumers are willing to pay for them to support a subscription-based business model, the last mile operator will seize substantial market power in the broadband service value chain.