Collaborative 3D BPMN Editor Two

Video presented as part of AMCIS 2010 conference in Lima Peru. New improved collaborative BPMN editor video, showing a new interface and collaboration capabilities via remote login of another avatar.

Open Simulator BPMN Process Model Editor

Video presented as part of APCCM 2010 conference in Brisbane Australia. Video illustrating the main components of an Open Simulator BPMN Editor we have developed.

Collaborative 3D BPMN Editor

Video presented as part of ACIS 2009 conference in Melbourne Australia. This video outlines a collaborative BPMN editing system, developed by Stephen West, an IT Research Masters student at QUT, Brisbane, Australia. The editor uses a number of tools to facilitate collaborative process modelling, including a presentation wall, to view text descriptions of business processes, and a tile-based BPMN editor. We will post a video soon focussing on the multi-user capabilities of this editor. For more details see www.bpmve.org.

Methyl ester preparation from peanut oil and its effect on DI diesel engine combustion

This study investigated the preparation of methyl ester (Biodiesel) from peanut oil by transesterification method and its effect on DI diesel engine. Two parameters were measured during the engine operation: one is engine performance (brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption), and the other is the exhaust emissions (NOx and CO). The result showed that, when compared with neat diesel fuel, the brake thermal efficiency of biodiesel blend was almost similar or a slight lower. However, brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) was a little higher than neat diesel. CO was lower and NOx was little higher with biodiesel blend than that of diesel. The engine performance for B10 and B20 was very similar. At medium and high load conditions the engine emissions for B10 and B20 has no significant variation. Hence, B20 can safely be used in diesel engine without any significant penalty in engine performance and emissions.

Editor 3.0: Redesigining the YAWL user interface

It has long been a concern that the wider uptake of the YAWL environment may have been hindered by the usability issues identified in the current Process Editor. As a consequence, it was decided that the Editor be completely rewritten to address those usability limitations. The result has been the implementation of a new YAWL Process Editor architecture that creates a clear separation between the User Interface component layer and the core processing back end, facilitating the redesign of the default user interface. This new architecture also supports the development of multiple User Interface front ends for specific contexts that take advantage of the core capabilities the new Editor architecture has to offer.

Thyroxine and reserpine-induced changes in metabolic profiles of rat urine and the therapeutic effect of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan detected by UPLC-HDMS

The promise of metabonomics, a new "omics" technique, to validate Chinese medicines and the compatibility of Chinese formulas has been appreciated. The present study was undertaken to explore the excretion pattern of low molecular mass metabolites in the male Wistar-derived rat model of kidney yin deficiency induced with thyroxine and reserpine as well as the therapeutic effect of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (LW) and its separated prescriptions, a classic traditional Chinese medicine formula for treating kidney yin deficiency in China. The study utilized ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization synapt high definition mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-SYNAPT-HDMS) in both negative and positive electrospray ionization (ESI). At the same time, blood biochemistry was examined to identify specific changes in the kidney yin deficiency. Distinct changes in the pattern of metabolites, as a result of daily administration of thyroxine and reserpine, were observed by UPLC-HDMS combined with a principal component analysis (PCA). The changes in metabolic profiling were restored to their baseline values after treatment with LW according to the PCA score plots. Altogether, the current metabonomic approach based on UPLC-HDMS and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) indicated 20 ions (14 in the negative mode, 8 in the positive mode, and 2 in both) as "differentiating metabolites".

Letter to the editor

We read with interest the article entitled ‘Population spherical aberration: associations with ametropia, age, corneal curvature, and image quality’ by Amanda C Kingston and Ian G Cox (2013). The authors provided higher order aberrations data for a sample of 1124 eyes and performed correlation analyses to compare higher order aberrations with refraction and biometry data, such as spherical equivalent power and corneal curvature. Special attention was drawn to spherical aberration...

The poor penetration of topical burn agent through burn eschar on a porcine burn model [Letter to the Editor]

We read with great interest the article entitled “Enhancing drugs absorption through third-degree burn wound eschar” by Manafi et al. [1]. The authors addressed the concern of poor penetration of topically applied anti-microbials through burn eschar and detailed the improvement of this penetration by penetration enhancers. Here, we would like to report the poor penetration of a topical agent into the viable deep dermal layer under burn eschar on a porcine burn model [2]. In burn treatment, a common practice is the topical application of either anti-microbial products or wound enhancing agents. While the activity of anti-microbial products is designed to fight against microbes on the wound surface but with the least toxicity to viable tissue, wound enhancing agents need to reach the viable tissue layer under the burn eschar. Many studies have reported the accelerated healing of superficial burn wounds and skin graft donor sites by the topical application of exogeneous growth factors [3]. It is well known that the efficacy of the penetration of a topical agent on intact skin mostly depends on the molecular size of the product [4] and [5]. While burn injury destroys this epidermal physiological barrier, the coagulated burn tissue layer on the burn wound surface makes it difficult for topical agents to reach viable tissue....

Fetuin-A : a major fetal serum protein that promotes "wound closure" and scarless healing [Letter to the Editor]

Burn-wound healing is a dynamic, interactive process involving a number of cellular and molecular events and is characterized by inflammation, granulation tissue formation, re-epithelialization, and tissue remodeling (Greenhalgh, 2002; Linares, 2002). Unlike incisional-wound healing, it also requires extensive re-epithelialization due to a predominant horizontal loss of tissue and often heals with abnormal scarring when burns involve deep dermis. The early mammalian fetus has the remarkable ability to regenerate normal epidermis and dermis and to heal dermal incisional wounds with no signs of scarring. Extensive research has indicated that scarless healing appears to be intrinsic to fetal skin (McCallion and Ferguson, 1996; Ferguson and O’Kane, 2004). Previously, we reported a fetal burn model, in which 80-day-old ovine fetuses (gestation¼ 145–153 days) healed deep dermal partial thickness burns without scars, whereas postnatal lambs healed equal depth burns with significant scarring (Cuttle et al., 2005; Fraser et al., 2005). This burn model provided early evidence that fetal skin has the capacity to repair and restore dermal horizontal loss, not just vertical injuries.

Acticoat™ : A cost-effective and evidence-based dressing strategy [Letter to the Editor]

We thank Dr. Burd et al. for taking an interest in our paper [1]. The retrospective cohort study was performed and published for two reasons. Firstly, we wished to compare and contrast the use of Acticoat™ and Silvazine™, and secondly we wished to demonstrate how one's practice can be dramatically altered by a change in dressing used. We found that Acticoat™ was safe and easy to use, caused less trauma to patients, required less frequent dressing changes and enabled treatment to be conducted on an outpatient, rather than an inpatient basis. During the period of Acticoat™ treatment we also saw a dramatic reduction in grafting requirements and also in the need for long-term scar management. Burd et al. correctly state that silver-based dressings are now more widely available, however many burn centres in the world continue to use silver sulphadiazine with daily baths. We therefore feel that a comparison is very relevant and useful. Prospective, randomised clinical trials of a range of silver-based dressings would indeed be useful, and hopefully Dr. Burd and colleagues will take up their own suggestion and perform these studies...