bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Corrections to finite-size scaling in the 3D Ising model based on nonperturbative approaches and Monte Carlo simulations
Authors: Kaupužs J. , Melnik R. V. N. , Rimšāns J.
Published: April 2017

Corrections to scaling in the 3D Ising model are studied based on nonperturbative analytical arguments and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation data for different lattice sizes [Formula: see text]. Analytical arguments show the existence of corrections with the exponent [Formula: see text], the leading correction-to-scaling exponent being [Formula: see text]. A numerical estimation of [Formula: see text] from the susceptibility data within [Formula: see text] yields [Formula: see text], in agreement with this statement. We reconsider the MC estimation of [Formula: see text] from smaller lattice sizes, [Formula: see text], using different finite-size scaling methods, and show that these sizes are still too small, since no convergence to the same result is observed. In particular, estimates ranging from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] are obtained, using MC data for thermodynamic average quantities, as well as for partition function zeros. However, a trend toward smaller [Formula: see text] values is observed in one of these cases in a refined estimation from extended data up to [Formula: see text]. We discuss the influence of [Formula: see text] on the estimation of critical exponents [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].
Overview of the future upgrade of the INFN-LNS superconducting cyclotron
Authors: Calabretta Luciano , Calanna Alessandra , Cuttone Giacomo , D’Agostino Grazia , Rifuggiato Danilo , Domenico Russo Antonio
Published: April 2017

The LNS Superconducting Cyclotron, named “Ciclotrone Superconduttore” (CS), has been in operation for more than 20 years. A wide range of ion species from hydrogen to lead, with energy in the range 10 to 80 AMeV, have been delivered to users. The maximum beam power is limited to 100 W due to the beam dissipation on the electrostatic deflectors. To fulfil the demand of users aiming at studying rare processes in nuclear physics, an upgrade of the cyclotron is necessarily intended to increase the intensity of ion beams with mass lower than 40 a.m.u. up to a power 10 kW. This will be achieved by means of extraction by stripping. This solution needs to replace the cryostat including the superconducting coils. The present capability of the cyclotron will be maintained, i.e. all the ion species allowed by the operating diagram will be available, being extracted by electrostatic extraction. In addition to the high power beams for nuclear physics, it will be possible to produce medical radioisotopes like [Formula: see text] using an internal target.
Scientific biography of Stanley Mandelstam: 1955–1980
Authors: Thorn Charles B.
Published: April 2017

I review Stanley Mandelstam’s many contributions to particle physics, quantum field theory and string theory covering the years 1955 through 1980. His more recent work will be reviewed by Nathan Berkovits.
Scientific biography of Stanley Mandelstam: 1981–2016
Authors: Berkovits Nathan
Published: April 2017

In this contribution to the memorial volume, I will review Stanley Mandelstam’s work after 1980 and concentrate on his powerful application of light-cone gauge methods in super-Yang–Mills theory and superstring theory.
Feature Extraction Methods for Speaker Recognition: A Review
Authors: Chaudhary Gopal , Srivastava Smriti , Bhardwaj Saurabh
Published: April 2017

This paper presents main paradigms of research for feature extraction methods to further augment the state of art in speaker recognition (SR) which has been recognized extensively in person identification for security and protection applications. Speaker recognition system (SRS) has become a widely researched topic for the last many decades. The basic concept of feature extraction methods is derived from the biological model of human auditory/vocal tract system. This work provides a classification-oriented review of feature extraction methods for SR over the last 55 years that are proven to be successful and have become the new stone to further research. Broadly, the review work is dichotomized into feature extraction methods with and without noise compensation techniques. Feature extraction methods without noise compensation techniques are divided into following categories: On the basis of high/low level of feature extraction; type of transform; speech production/auditory system; type of feature extraction technique; time variability; speech processing techniques. Further, feature extraction methods with noise compensation techniques are classified into noise-screened features, feature normalization methods, feature compensation methods. This classification-oriented review would endow the clear vision of readers to choose among different techniques and will be helpful in future research in this field.
New Sleep-Based PFSCL Tri-State Inverter/Buffer Topologies
Authors: Pandey Neeta , Choudhary Bharat , Gupta Kirti , Mittal Ankit
Published: April 2017

This paper describes new sleep-based positive feedback source-coupled logic (PFSCL) tri-state inverter/buffer topologies. The tri-state behavior is obtained by disconnecting the circuit from both power supply and ground. This is achieved by placing additional transistors, driving the load transistor to cut off or disabling the current source. The combination of the three methods results in six new topologies. The functionality and performance of the proposed topologies is studied through SPICE simulations. A comparison with available sleep-based PFSCL tri-state buffer circuit shows a maximum reduction of 11% and 60% in the propagation delay and output enable time, respectively. The usefulness of the proposed topologies is illustrated through bus and D latch implementation.
An Efficient Particle Swarm Optimization for Large-Scale Hardware/Software Co-Design System
Authors: Yan Xiaohu , He Fazhi , Hou Neng , Ai Haojun
Published: April 2017

In the co-design process of hardware/software (HW/SW) system, especially for large and complicated embedded systems, HW/SW partitioning is a challenging step. Among different heuristic approaches, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has the advantages of simple implementation and computational efficiency, which is suitable for solving large-scale problems. This paper presents a conformity particle swarm optimization with fireworks explosion operation (CPSO-FEO) to solve large-scale HW/SW partitioning. First, the proposed CPSO algorithm simulates the conformist mentality from biology research. The CPSO particles with psychological conformist always try to move toward a secure point and avoid being attacked by natural enemy. In this way, there is a greater possibility to increase population diversity and avoid local optimum in CPSO. Next, to enhance the search accuracy and solution quality, an improved FEO with new initialization strategy is presented and is combined with CPSO algorithm to search a better position for the global best position. This combination can keep both the diversified and intensified searching. At last, the experiments on benchmarks and large-scale HW/SW partitioning demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Conducting Polymeric Hydrogel Electrolyte Based on Carboxymethylcellulose and Polyacrylamide/Polyaniline for Supercapacitor Applications
Authors: Suganya N. , Jaisankar V. , Sivakumar E. K. T.
Published: April 2017

Conducting polymer hydrogels represent a unique class of materials that possess enormous application in flexible electronic devices. In the present work, conducting carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)-co-polyacrylamide (PAAm)/polyaniline was synthesized by a two-step interpenetrating network solution polymerization technique. The synthesized CMC-co-PAAm/polyaniline with interpenetrating network structure was prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline to enhance conductivity. The molecular structure and morphology of the copolymer hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The novel conducting polymer hydrogels show good electrical and electrochemical behavior, which makes them potentially useful in electronic devices such as supercapacitors, biosensors, bioelectronics, solar cells and memory devices.
Optical Analysis of Iron-Doped Lead Sulfide Thin Films for Opto-Electronic Applications
Authors: Chidambara Kumar K. N. , Khadeer Pasha S. K. , Deshmukh Kalim , Chidambaram K. , Shakil Muhammad G.
Published: April 2017

Iron-doped lead sulfide thin films were deposited on glass substrates using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method (SILAR) at room temperature. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the film shows a well formed crystalline thin film with face-centered cubic structure along the preferential orientation (1 1 1). The lattice constant is determined using Nelson Riley plots. Using X-ray broadening, the crystallite size is determined by Scherrer formula. Morphology of the thin film was studied using a scanning electron microscope. The optical properties of the film were investigated using a UV–vis spectrophotometer. We observed an increase in the optical band gap from 2.45 to 3.03[Formula: see text]eV after doping iron in the lead sulfide thin film. The cutoff wavelength lies in the visible region, and hence the grown thin films can be used for optoelectronic and sensor applications. The results from the photoluminescence study show the emission at 500–720[Formula: see text]nm. The vibrating sample magnetometer measurements confirmed that the lead sulfide thin film becomes weakly ferromagnetic material after doping with iron.
Morphology and Admittance Spectroscopy of Cellulose Acetate/Graphene Quantum Dots Nanocomposites
Authors: Arthisree D. , Joshi Girish M. , Kumar Annamalai Senthil
Published: April 2017

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are considered as fascinating materials feasible for biological, optoelectronic devices, energy and environmental applications. Casting nanocomposite films for technological application is a challenging research interest. Cellulose acetate (CA) is one of the most abundant, economic, environmental friendly and biodegradable biomaterials. It has been found that CA is a preferred composite matrix to prepare recasting films, due to its efficient antifouling feature. In the present investigation, we exhibited preparation of CA/GQD nanocomposite by solution blending as a function of GQD loading 0.1–0.5[Formula: see text]wt.%. Morphology and electrical properties were examined as a function of GQD loading. The nanocomposite was characterized by impedance spectroscopy, and the measured admittance ([Formula: see text]) was plotted against temperature across broadband frequency. The magnitude of [Formula: see text] exhibits direct relation under the varying temperature. The morphology of the nanocomposites was observed by atomic force microscope technique in contact mode. Collective observation from our results is that it can be revealed that CA/GQD nanocomposites are suitable for thermal sensing applications.
Experimental Studies on the Effect of Enhanced Thermal Conductivity of SiC+Water Nanofluid in the Performance of Small Scale Solar Parabolic Dish Receiver
Authors: Rajendran D. R. , Sundaram E. Ganapathy , Jawahar P.
Published: April 2017

In this experimental study, exergy efficiencies of water and SiC[Formula: see text]water nanofluid, prepared from 50[Formula: see text]nm particle size and 1% of volume fraction were compared based on the effect of thermal conductivities by a dish reflector receiver system. The average temperature difference between the receiver walls and heat transfer fluids have been studied to understand the thermal performance of the system with respect to the important properties of thermal conductivities and specific heat capacities. The enhanced thermal conductivity of 0.800115[Formula: see text]W/mK with the [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] ratio of 1.1759 was determined by the Koo and Kleinstreuer correlation which is considering both the Maxwell correlation and Brownian motion. The attained higher average exergy efficiencies for water and SiC[Formula: see text]water nanofluid are 21.08% and 37.06.%, respectively with the enhanced nanofluid exergy efficiency of 75.80% than that of water at the flow rate of 0.5[Formula: see text]lpm. The result also shows that the system with SiC[Formula: see text]water nanofluid produced higher exergy efficiency, because the rates of energy and exergy carried by the nanofluid are 0.2378[Formula: see text]kW and 0.7593[Formula: see text]kW higher than that of water for all the flow rates except at 0.2[Formula: see text]lpm, due to the enhanced thermal conductivity of the nanofluid.
Distance-Based Multi-Criteria Group Decision-Making Approaches with Multi-Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Information
Authors: Wang Jing , Wang Jian-Qiang , Zhang Hong-Yu , Chen Xiao-Hong
Published: April 2017

In this paper, the distance-based multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) approaches using multi-hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (MHFLTSs) are proposed. MHFLTSs can contain nonconsecutive and repetitive linguistic terms, so as to deal with repeated linguistic values in group decision-making. A multi-hesitant fuzzy linguistic term element (MHFLTE) can be produced by collecting the evaluation values of several decision-makers or given by one person who has uncertainty in evaluation. The corresponding set operations and comparison rules are defined and the generalized hesitant fuzzy linguistic distance for MHFLTEs is given based on the linguistic scale function. Then this distance is embedded into the TOPSIS, VIKOR and TODIM approaches for the purpose of solving multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems in the context of multi-hesitant fuzzy linguistic information. With increasing concerns about deterioration in environment, organizations are obliged to carry out more environmental sustainable activities than before, such as progressive practices in green supply chain management (GSCM). Therefore, with respect to the application of MHFLTSs in GSCM, two illustrations for evaluating the related alternatives are finally provided, together with the sensitivity and comparison analysis, to show the validity and effectiveness of our proposal.
Novel Methodology for Triage and Prioritizing Using “Big Data” Patients with Chronic Heart Diseases Through Telemedicine Environmental
Authors: Salman O. H. , Zaidan A. A. , Zaidan B. B. , Naserkalid  , Hashim M.
Published: April 2017

Problem Statement: Improper triage and prioritization of big-data patients may result in erroneous strategic decisions. An example of such wrong decision making includes the triage of patients with chronic heart disease to low-priority groups. Incorrect decisions may jeopardize the patients’ health.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate and score the big data of patients with chronic heart disease and of those who require urgent attention. The assessment is based on multicriteria decision making in a telemedical environment to improve the triage and prioritization processes.

Methods: A hands-on study was performed. A total of 500 patients with chronic heart disease manifested in different symptoms and under various emergency levels were evaluated on the basis of the following four main measures. An electrocardiogram sensor was used to measure the electrical signals of the contractile activity of the heart over time. A SpO2sensor was employed to determine the blood oxygen saturation levels of the patients. A blood pressure sensor was used to obtain the physiological data of the systolic and diastolic blood pressures of the patients. Finally, a non-sensory measurement (text frame) was conducted to assess chest pain and breathing. The patients were prioritized on the basis of a set of measurements by utilizing integrated back-forward adjustment for weight computation and technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution.

Discussion Results: Patients with the most urgent cases were given the highest priority level, whereas those with the least urgent cases were assigned with the lowest priority level among all patients’ scores. The first three patients assigned to the medical committee of doctors were proven to be the most critical emergency cases with the highest priority level on the basis of their clinical symptoms. By contrast, the last three patients were proven to be the least critical emergency cases and given the lowest priority levels relative to other patients. The throughput measurement in terms of scalability based on our proposed algorithm was more efficient than that of the benchmark algorithm. Finally, the new method for determining the “big data” patients characteristics based on “4Vs” was suggested.
Heteroleptic μ-nitrido diiron complex supported by phthalocyanine and octapropylporphyrazine ligands: Formation of oxo species and their reactivity with fluorinated compounds
Authors: Colomban Cédric , Kudrik Evgeny V. , Sorokin Alexander B.
Published: April 2017

The synthesis and reactivity of [Formula: see text]-bridged diiron macrocyclic complexes have been a topic of increasing interest in recent years since the observation of particular catalytic properties of these complexes. Herein, we report a preparation of a novel heteroleptic μ-nitrido diiron complex with unsubstituted phthalocyanine and octapropylporphyrazine macrocycles. This complex reacts with [Formula: see text]-chloroperbenzoic acid to form high-valent diiron oxo species showing strong oxidizing properties. The formation and structure of the transient oxo species was investigated by cryospray collision induced dissociation MS/MS technique. Analysis of fragmentation pattern showed that the attachment of oxo moiety occurred at either iron phthalocyanine or at iron porphyrazine site with slight preference for the phthalocyanine iron site. The catalytic properties of the heteroleptic μ-nitrido diiron complex were evaluated in the oxidative transformation of hexafluorobenzene and perfluoro(allylbenzene).
Pressure Wave in Liquid Generated by Pneumatic Pistons and Its Interaction with a Free Surface
Authors: Suponitsky Victoria , Plant David , Avital Eldad J. , Munjiza Ante
Published: April 2017

Numerical analysis of a pressure wave generated in a liquid [Formula: see text] upon impact of the pneumatic pistons and its interaction with a free surface has been performed for the geometry and parameters of the plasma compression system prototype constructed by General Fusion Inc. Stress wave developing in the hammer–anvil piston assembly is first simulated using high-fidelity structural mechanics research code, then propagated through the liquid [Formula: see text] with several solvers within OpenFOAM[Formula: see text] software and also with nonlinear acoustics in-house code based on the Westervelt equation. In the current system, a pressure wave transmitted into the liquid [Formula: see text] is characterized by a complex temporal double peak structure and strong spatial amplitude variation. An imprint of discrete pulses remains detectable during the entire propagation of the combined wave. An excellent agreement between the results produced with different numerical codes is obtained. Nonlinear effects associated with equation of state are found to be significant at impact velocities of [Formula: see text], while at lower velocities of [Formula: see text] the difference between the results obtained with linear and nonlinear equations of state is negligible. Liquid–gas interface dynamics during the compression process of a spherical gas cavity is captured very well by the compressibleInterFoam within OpenFOAM.
Hierarchical fuzzy ART for Q-learning and its application in air combat simulation
Authors: Zhou Yanan , Ma Yaofei , Song Xiao , Gong Guanghong
Published: April 2017

Value function approximation plays an important role in reinforcement learning (RL) with continuous state space, which is widely used to build decision models in practice. Many traditional approaches require experienced designers to manually specify the formulization of the approximating function, leading to the rigid, non-adaptive representation of the value function. To address this problem, a novel Q-value function approximation method named ‘Hierarchical fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory’ (HiART) is proposed in this paper. HiART is based on the Fuzzy ART method and is an adaptive classification network that learns to segment the state space by classifying the training input automatically. HiART begins with a highly generalized structure where the number of the category nodes is limited, which is beneficial to speed up the learning process at the early stage. Then, the network is refined gradually by creating the attached sub-networks, and a layered network structure is formed during this process. Based on this adaptive structure, HiART alleviates the dependence on expert experience to design the network parameter. The effectiveness and adaptivity of HiART are demonstrated in the Mountain Car benchmark problem with both fast learning speed and low computation time. Finally, a simulation application example of the one versus one air combat decision problem illustrates the applicability of HiART.
Effect of Ambient Temperature on Hydrophobic Recovery Behavior of Silicone Rubber Composites
Authors: Peng Xiangyang , Li Zijian , Zheng Feng , Zhang Ni , Huang Zhen , Fang Pengfei
Published: April 2017

A series of silicone rubber samples with different cyclosiloxanes contents have been successfully prepared, and their hydrophobic recovery behaviors and mechanism were investigated in detail. The gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy technique after Soxhlet extraction was utilized to examine the low molecular weight siloxanes in the sample, SEM was used to observe the surface morphology of the silicone rubber influenced by plasma treatment, and contact angle measurement was applied to probe the hydrophobic recovery of the sample surface after plasma treatment at different storage temperatures. The storage time-dependent contact angle of water can be well fitted by the diffusion model calculated from Fick’s second law. The results imply that the hydrophobic recovery of silicone rubber is related to the diffusion of low molecular weight siloxanes, while larger content or higher temperature can induce faster hydrophobic recovery.
A review of deformation bands in reservoir sandstones: geometries, mechanisms and distribution
Authors: Fossen Haakon , Soliva Roger , Ballas Gregory , Trzaskos Barbara , Cavalcante Carolina , Schultz Richard A.
Published: April 2017

Deformation bands are common subseismic structures in porous sandstones that vary with respect to deformation mechanisms, geometries and distribution. The amount of cataclasis involved largely determines how they impact fluid flow, and cataclasis is generally promoted by coarse grain size, good sorting, high porosity and overburden (usually >500–1000 m). Most bands involve a combination of shear and compaction, and a distinction can be made between those where shear displacement greatly exceeds compaction (compactional shear bands or CSB), where the two are of similar magnitude (shear-enhanced compaction bands or SECB), and pure compaction bands (PCB). The latter two only occur in the contractional regime, are characterized by high (70–100°) dihedral angles (SECB) or perpendicularity (PCB) to σ
1
(the maximum principal stress) and are restricted to layers with very high porosity. Contraction generally tends to produce populations of well-distributed deformation bands, whereas in the extensional regime the majority of bands are clustered around faults. Deformation bands also favour highly porous parts of a reservoir, which may result in a homogenization of the overall reservoir permeability and enhance sweep during hydrocarbon production. A number of intrinsic and external variables must therefore be considered when assessing the influence of deformation bands on reservoir performance.
A PUF-Based Secure Communication Protocol for IoT
Authors: Chatterjee Urbi , Chakraborty Rajat Subhra , Mukhopadhyay Debdeep
Published: April 2017

Security features are of paramount importance for the Internet of Things (IoT), and implementations are challenging given the resource-constrained IoT setup. We have developed a lightweight identity-based cryptosystem suitable for IoT to enable secure authentication and message exchange among the devices. Our scheme employs a
Physically Unclonable Function
(PUF) to generate the public identity of each device, which is used as the public key for each device for message encryption. We have provided formal proofs of security in the
Session Key Security
and
Universally Composable Framework
of the proposed protocol, which demonstrates the resilience of the scheme against passive and active attacks. We have demonstrated the setup required for the protocol implementation and shown that the proposed protocol implementation incurs low hardware and software overhead.
Replicated Computations Results (RCR) Report for “Semantics and Efficient Simulation Algorithms for an Expressive Multi-Level Modeling Language”
Authors: Hillston Jane
Published: April 2017

‘Semantics and Efficient Simulation Algorithms on an Expressive Multi-Level Modeling Language,” by Helms et al. presents new work on the domain-specific modelling and simulation language ML-Rules [Maus et al. 2011]. For the first time, the language is given a formal semantics that establishes the relationship between the language and its underlying mathematical model, continuous time Markov chains. Furthermore, subclasses of the language are identified for which it is possible to specify and implement more efficient approaches to simulation. These new algorithms are demonstrated on substantial case studies. This replicated computation report focuses on the ML-Rules modelling tool, specifically, the new algorithms as demonstrated in the case studies in the paper [Helms et al. 2017]. The software was straightforward to install and use, and all experimental results from the paper could be reproduced.
Empowering End Users to Customize their Smart Environments
Authors: Desolda Giuseppe , Ardito Carmelo , Matera Maristella
Published: April 2017

Research on the Internet of Things (IoT) has devoted many efforts to technological aspects. Little social and practical benefits have emerged so far. IoT devices, so-called
smart objects
, are becoming even more pervasive and social, leading to the need to provide non-technical users with innovative interaction strategies for controlling their behavior. In other words, the opportunities offered by IoT can be amplified if new approaches are conceived to enable non-technical users to be directly involved in “composing” their smart objects by synchronizing their behavior. To fulfill this goal, this article introduces a model that includes new operators for defining rules combining multiple events and conditions exposed by smart objects, and for defining temporal and spatial constraints on rule activation. The article also presents the results of an elicitation study that was conducted to identify possible visual paradigms for expressing composition rules. Prototypes implementing the resulting visual paradigms were compared during a controlled experiment and the one that resulted most relevant for our goals was used in a study that involved home-automation experts. Finally, the article discusses some design implications that came out from the performed studies and presents the architecture of a platform supporting rule definition and execution.
Natural Contextual Reasoning for End Users
Authors: Metaxas Georgios , Markopoulos Panos
Published: April 2017

The realization and deployment of the Internet of Things require providing to non-programmers some level of programmatic control for tailoring system behaviour to their context and needs. We introduce a simple context-range semantics (CRS) and a context-range editor (CoRE) that support end users formulate and understand logical expressions regarding context. The editor builds on two key ideas (a) contextual information is used to evaluate and minimize logical expressions; (b) logical expressions are presented in a disjunctive normal form (DNF) thus applying a principle established in mental model theory. User tests reveal situations in which the theory regarding the intuitiveness of the DNF needs to be extended with a new element: Logical terms are easier to comprehend and formulate when grouped according to their semantic affinity. We report two experiments that demonstrate the intuitiveness of this approach and how it improves performance of non-programmers in specifying context sensitive system behaviour.
Sustainability and participation in the digital commons
Authors: Franquesa David , Navarro Leandro
Published: April 2017

In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities.
--- Lisa Nathan, Editor
Toward a Geographic Understanding of the Sharing Economy
Authors: Thebault-Spieker Jacob , Terveen Loren , Hecht Brent
Published: April 2017

Despite the geographically situated nature of most sharing economy tasks, little attention has been paid to the role that geography plays in the sharing economy. In this article, we help to address this gap in the literature by examining how four key principles from human geography—distance decay, structured variation in population density, mental maps, and “the Big Sort” (spatial homophily)—manifest in sharing economy platforms. We find that these principles interact with platform design decisions to create systemic biases in which the sharing economy is significantly more effective in dense, high socioeconomic status (SES) areas than in low-SES areas and the suburbs. We further show that these results are robust across two sharing economy platforms: UberX and TaskRabbit. In addition to highlighting systemic sharing economy biases, this article more fundamentally demonstrates the importance of considering well-known geographic principles when designing and studying sharing economy platforms.
Health information technology
Authors: Chen Yunan
Published: April 2017

This forum is dedicated to personal health in all its many facets: decision-making, goal setting, celebration, discovery, reflection, and coordination, among others. We look at innovations in interactive technologies and how they help address current critical healthcare challenges.
--- Yunan Chen, Editor
Gaze-Contingent Auditory Displays for Improved Spatial Attention in Virtual Reality
Authors: Vinnikov Margarita , Allison Robert S. , Fernandes Suzette
Published: April 2017

Virtual reality simulations of group social interactions are important for many applications, including the virtual treatment of social phobias, crowd and group simulation, collaborative virtual environments (VEs), and entertainment. In such scenarios, when compared to the real world, audio cues are often impoverished. As a result, users cannot rely on subtle spatial audio-visual cues that guide attention and enable effective social interactions in real-world situations. We explored whether gaze-contingent audio enhancement techniques driven by inferring audio-visual attention in virtual displays could be used to enable effective communication in cluttered audio VEs. In all of our experiments, we hypothesized that visual attention could be used as a tool to modulate the quality and intensity of sounds from multiple sources to efficiently and naturally select spatial sound sources. For this purpose, we built a gaze-contingent display (GCD) that allowed tracking of a user’s gaze in real-time and modifying the volume of the speakers’ voices contingent on the current region of overt attention. We compared six different techniques for sound modulation with a base condition providing no attentional modulation of sound. The techniques were compared in terms of source recognition and preference in a set of user studies. Overall, we observed that users liked the ability to control the sounds with their eyes. They felt that a rapid change in attenuation with attention but not the elimination of competing sounds (partial rather than absolute selection) was most natural. In conclusion, audio GCDs offer potential for simulating rich, natural social, and other interactions in VEs. They should be considered for improving both performance and fidelity in applications related to social behaviour scenarios or when the user needs to work with multiple audio sources of information.
Low-dose cadmium exposure induces peribronchiolar fibrosis through site-specific phosphorylation of vimentin
Authors: Li Fu Jun , Surolia Ranu , Li Huashi , Wang Zheng , Liu Gang , Liu Rui-Ming , Mirov Sergey B. , Athar Mohammad , Thannickal Victor J. , Antony Veena B.
Published: April 2017

Exposure to cadmium (Cd) has been associated with development of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). The mechanisms and signaling pathways whereby Cd causes pathological peribronchiolar fibrosis, airway remodeling, and subsequent airflow obstruction remain unclear. We aimed to evaluate whether low-dose Cd exposure induces vimentin phosphorylation and Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) activation leading to peribronchiolar fibrosis and subsequent airway remodeling. Our data demonstrate that Cd induces myofibroblast differentiation and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition around small (<2 mm in diameter) airways. Upon Cd exposure, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression and the production of ECM proteins, including fibronectin and collagen-1, are markedly induced in primary human lung fibroblasts. Cd induces Smad2/3 activation and the translocation of both Smad2/3 and Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) into the nucleus. In parallel, Cd induces AKT and cdc2 phosphorylation and downstream vimentin phosphorylation at Ser39and Ser55, respectively. AKT and cdc2 inhibitors block Cd-induced vimentin fragmentation and secretion in association with inhibition of α-SMA expression, ECM deposition, and collagen secretion. Furthermore, vimentin silencing abrogates Cd-induced α-SMA expression and decreases ECM production. Vimentin-deficient mice are protected from Cd-induced peribronchiolar fibrosis and remodeling. These findings identify two specific sites on vimentin that are phosphorylated by Cd and highlight the functional significance of vimentin phosphorylation in YAP1/Smad3 signaling that mediates Cd-induced peribronchiolar fibrosis and airway remodeling.
Characterization of a Dual Rac/Cdc42 Inhibitor MBQ-167 in Metastatic Cancer
Authors: Humphries-Bickley Tessa , Castillo-Pichardo Linette , Hernandez-O’Farrill Eliud , Borrero-Garcia Luis D. , Forestier-Roman Ingrid , Gerena Yamil , Blanco Manuel , Rivera-Robles Michael J. , Rodriguez-Medina José R. , Cubano Luis A. , Vlaar Cornelis P. , Dharmawardhane Suranganie
Published: April 2017

The Rho GTPases Rac (Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate) and Cdc42 (cell division control protein 42 homolog) regulate cell functions governing cancer malignancy, including cell polarity, migration, and cell-cycle progression. Accordingly, our recently developed Rac inhibitor EHop-016 (IC50, 1,100 nmol/L) inhibits cancer cell migration and viability and reduces tumor growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis in vivo. Herein, we describe MBQ-167, which inhibits Rac and Cdc42 with IC50 values of 103 and 78 nmol/L, respectively, in metastatic breast cancer cells. Consequently, MBQ-167 significantly decreases Rac and Cdc42 downstream effector p21-activated kinase (PAK) signaling and the activity of STAT3, without affecting Rho, MAPK, or Akt activities. MBQ-167 also inhibits breast cancer cell migration, viability, and mammosphere formation. Moreover, MBQ-167 affects cancer cells that have undergone epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by a loss of cell polarity and inhibition of cell surface actin-based extensions to ultimately result in detachment from the substratum. Prolonged incubation (120 hours) in MBQ-167 decreases metastatic cancer cell viability with a GI50 of approximately 130 nmol/L, without affecting noncancer mammary epithelial cells. The loss in cancer cell viability is due to MBQ-167–mediated G2–M cell-cycle arrest and subsequent apoptosis, especially of the detached cells. In vivo, MBQ-167 inhibits mammary tumor growth and metastasis in immunocompromised mice by approximately 90%. In conclusion, MBQ-167 is 10× more potent than other currently available Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors and has the potential to be developed as an anticancer drug, as well as a dual inhibitory probe for the study of Rac and Cdc42. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(5); 805–18. ©2017 AACR.
Navigating through the Jungle of Allergens: Features and Applications of Allergen Databases
Authors: Radauer Christian
Published: April 2017

The increasing number of available data on allergenic proteins demanded the establishment of structured, freely accessible allergen databases. In this review article, features and applications of 6 of the most widely used allergen databases are discussed. The WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Database is the official resource of allergen designations. Allergome is the most comprehensive collection of data on allergens and allergen sources. AllergenOnline is aimed at providing a peer-reviewed database of allergen sequences for prediction of allergenicity of proteins, such as those planned to be inserted into genetically modified crops. The Structural Database of Allergenic Proteins (SDAP) provides a database of allergen sequences, structures, and epitopes linked to bioinformatics tools for sequence analysis and comparison. The Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) is the largest repository of T-cell, B-cell, and major histocompatibility complex protein epitopes including epitopes of allergens. AllFam classifies allergens into families of evolutionarily related proteins using definitions from the Pfam protein family database. These databases contain mostly overlapping data, but also show differences in terms of their targeted users, the criteria for including allergens, data shown for each allergen, and the availability of bioinformatics tools.
A Case of Circumscribed Scalp Morphea with Perineural Lymphocytes on Pathology
Authors: Saceda-Corralo David , Nusbaum Aron G. , Romanelli Paolo , Miteva Mariya
Published: April 2017

Scalp morphea presents as a scarring alopecia in en coup du sabre pattern. We report an unusual presentation of a round hairless patch of morphea on the occipital scalp present for 15 years. The scalp lesion aligned with 2 other hyperpigmented lesions of biopsy-proven morphea in the lower back. Pathology of horizontal sections from the scalp lesion showed follicular dropout, thickening of the collagen bundles, and preserved eccrine and follicular structures. Marked lymphocytic perineural infiltrate, a reported clue to the diagnosis of scalp morphea, contributed to the diagnosis. This case is unusual due to its rare clinical presentation. It also highlights the importance of recognizing histopathological clues for the diagnosis of uncommon scalp disorders.
Variability in Ultrasound Measurement of Hyoid Bone Displacement and Submental Muscle Size Using 2 Methods of Data Acquisition
Authors: Perry Sarah E. , Winkelman Corina J. , Huckabee Maggie-Lee
Published: April 2017

Objective: This study compares variability in measures of hyoid bone displacement and submental muscle size using 2 methods of ultrasound transducer placement: fixed and hand-held. Patients and Methods: Twenty-four healthy participants (11 males, 13 females) aged between 51 and 84 years were scanned using both methods. Repeated measures were collected within and across 3 sessions. Results: A nonlinear mixed effects model was used to estimate the effects of the method, trial, and session. The fixed transducer produced greater within- and across-session variability on several measures compared to the hand-held method. Fixed-transducer measurements of hyoid bone displacement were 9.4% smaller compared to hand-held measurements (F[1, 24.34] = 3.58, p = 0.07). Conclusion: Results suggest that using a fixed transducer does not necessarily improve measurement accuracy of swallowing outcomes in a healthy system. The wide variability in individual measures indicates that further research is required before ultrasound is used for outcome measurement in rehabilitation.
Inhibition of Colon Carcinoma Cell Migration Following Treatment with Purified Venom from Lesser Weever Fish (Trachinus Vipera)
Authors: Fezai Myriam , Slaymi Chaker , Ben-Attia Mossadok , Kroemer Guido , Lang Florian , Jemaà Mohamed
Published: April 2017

Background: Injury by the sting of Lesser weever fish (Trachinus vipera) may lead to severe pain, edema or tissue necrosis. Cellular effects of the venom are still incompletely understood. Previous observations revealed that purified Lesser weever fish venom (LWFV) induces suicidal death of erythrocytes and HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells. The present study addressed the effect of the venom on colon carcinoma cell toxicity, shape and migration both in p53+/+ and/or p53-/- conditions. Methods: Cells were exposed to medium without or with 500 µg/ ml LWFV. Cell shape, cell area and circularity were visualized and quantified by fluorescence microscopy. Cell volume, granularity and cells toxicity were assessed via the apoptotic parameters dissipation of mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential, phosphatidylserine surface exposure and cell membrane permeabilization were measured utilizing flow cytometry. Cell migration was evaluated using wound healing assay and two-dimensional migration assay. Results: LWFV treatment was followed by a marked change of cell shape and size, significant decrease of cell area and circularity, significant impairment of cell migration, as well as induction of apoptosis after long exposition. Conclusions: LWFV exposure leads to cell shrinkage, increased granularity, apoptosis and impairment of cell migration, effects presumably contributing to LWFV-induced tissue injury.
Alpha1-ACT Functions as a Tumour Suppressor in Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signalling Pathway via Activation of PTEN
Authors: Zhu Hanzhang , Liu Qiaoyu , Tang Junwei , Xie Yu , Xu Xiaoliang , Zhang Yuanguangyan , Jin Kangpeng , Sun Beicheng
Published: April 2017

Background & Aims: To investigate the expression and prognostic value of α1-ACT (Alpha1-antichymotrypsin) in patients with HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) and identify the mechanism by which α1-ACT inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of HCC. Methods: We first measured α1-ACT expression levels and determined their relationship with the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with HCC.We then established stable HCC cell lines with both α1-ACT overexpression and knockdown and performed a functional analysis in vitro.We first examined the relationship between α1-ACT and the PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway using Western blotting. Then, we determined whether α1-ACT can directly bind to PTEN using co-immunoprecipitation. Finally, we measured α1-ACT expression to evaluate its correlation with the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway-related apoptosis proteins in a xenograft tumour mouse model using immunohistochemistry. Results: The α1-ACT expression level was significantly lower in the HCC tissues than in the paratumour tissues and was negatively positively correlated with the level of Ki67, AFP, the AJCC stage, tumour size and tumour invasion. The overexpression of α1-ACT can inhibit cell proliferation and increase cell apoptosis by activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR-mediated apoptosis via binding to PTEN and activating it in vitro. Additionally, the overexpression of α1-ACT can also increase the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 stage by increasing cyclin p21 expression and inhibiting the migration and invasion abilities of HCC cells by regulating MMP2 and MMP9. The xenotransplantation studies with nude mice also showed that overexpression of α1-ACT inhibited tumourigenesis and knockdown of α1-ACT had the opposite effect. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that α1-ACT suppresses liver cancer development and metastasis via targeting the PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway, which may be a potential target for therapeutic intervention in HCC.
CD44 Promotes Inflammation and Extracellular Matrix Production During Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation
Authors: Kuwahara Go , Hashimoto Takuya , Tsuneki Masayuki , Yamamoto Kota , Assi Roland , Foster Trenton R. , Hanisch Jesse J. , Bai Hualong , Hu Haidi , Protack Clinton D. , Hall Michael R. , Schardt John S. , Jay Steven M. , Madri Joseph A. , Kodama Shohta , Dardik Alan
Published: April 2017

Objective—

Arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) remain the optimal conduit for hemodialysis access but continue to demonstrate poor patency and poor rates of maturation. We hypothesized that CD44, a widely expressed cellular adhesion molecule that serves as a major receptor for extracellular matrix components, promotes wall thickening and extracellular matrix deposition during AVF maturation.

Approach and Results—

AVF were created via needle puncture in wild-type C57BL/6J and CD44 knockout mice. CD44 mRNA and protein expression was increased in wild-type AVF. CD44 knockout mice showed no increase in AVF wall thickness (8.9 versus 26.8 μm;
P
=0.0114), collagen density, and hyaluronic acid density, but similar elastin density when compared with control AVF. CD44 knockout mice also showed no increase in vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expression, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression in the AVF compared with controls; there were also no increased M2 macrophage markers (transglutaminase-2: 81.5-fold,
P
=0.0015; interleukin-10: 7.6-fold,
P
=0.0450) in CD44 knockout mice. Delivery of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 to CD44 knockout mice rescued the phenotype with thicker AVF walls (27.2 versus 14.7 μm;
P
=0.0306), increased collagen density (2.4-fold;
P
=0.0432), and increased number of M2 macrophages (2.1-fold;
P
=0.0335).

Conclusions—

CD44 promotes accumulation of M2 macrophages, extracellular matrix deposition, and wall thickening during AVF maturation. These data show the association of M2 macrophages with wall thickening during AVF maturation and suggest that enhancing CD44 activity may be a strategy to increase AVF maturation.