Background: We aimed to study the frequency, management, and outcomes of patients with blunt pancreatic trauma. Methods: We reviewed the medical records for all patients admitted with pancreatic injuries between 2011 and 2017 at the only level 1 trauma center in the country. Results: There were 71 patients admitted with pancreatic trauma (0.6% of trauma admissions and 3.4% of abdominal injury admissions) with a mean age of 31 years. Sixty-two patients had pancreatic injury grade I-II and 9 had grade III-IV. Thirty-eight percent had GCS <9 and 73% had ISS >16. The level of pancreatic enzymes was significantly proportional to the grade of injury. Over half of patients required a laparotomy, of them 12 patients had an intervention on the pancreas. Eight patients developed complications related to pancreatic injuries ranging from pancreatitis to pancreatico-cutaneous fistula while 35% developed hemorrhagic shock. Mortality was 31% and regardless of the grade of injury, the mortality was associated with high ISS, low GCS and presence of hemorrhagic shock. Conclusion: Pancreatic injuries following blunt trauma are rare and the injured subjects are usually young male. However, most injuries are of low-grade severity. This study shows that shock, higher ISS and lower GCS are associated with worse in-hospital out-comes. Non-operative management may suffice in patients with lower grade injuries, which may not be the case in patients with higher grade injuries unless carefully selected

(1) Background: Sensing of critical events or flow signatures in nature often presents itself as a coupled interaction between a fluid and arrays of slender flexible beams, such a wind-hairs or whiskers. It is hypothesized that important information is gained in highly noisy environments by the inter-correlation within the array. (2) Methods: The present study uses a model sea lion head with artificial whiskers in the form of slender beams (optical fibres), which are subjected to a mean flow with overlaid turbulent structures generated in the wake of a cylinder. Motion tracking of the array of fibres is used to analyse the correlation of the bending deformations of pairs of fibres. (3) Results: Cross-correlation of the bending signal from tandem pairs of whiskers proves that the detection of vortices and their passage along the animals head is possible even in noisy environments. The underlying pattern, during passage of a vortex core, is a jerk-like response of the whiskers, which can be found at later arrival-times in similar form in the downstream whisker's response. (4) Conclusion: Coherent vortical structures can be detected from cross-correlation of pairs of cantilever-beam like sensors even in highly turbulent flows. Such vortices carry important information within the environment, e.g. the underlying convection velocity. More importantly in nature, these vortices are characteristic elementary signals left by prey and predators. The present work can help to further develop flow, or critical event, sensory systems which can overcome high noise levels due to the proposed correlation principle.

Long-chain omega-3 fatty acid status during pregnancy may influence newborn anthropometry and duration of gestation. Evidence from high-quality trials from LMICs is limited. We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial among 957 pregnant women (singleton gestation, 14-20 weeks’ gestation at enrollment) in India to test the effectiveness of 400 mg/d algal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) compared to placebo provided from enrollment through delivery. Among 3379 women who were screened, 1171 were found eligible; 957 enrolled and were randomized. The intervention was two microencapsulated algal DHA (200 X 2= 400 mg/d) or two microencapsulated soy and corn oil placebo tablets to be consumed daily from enrollment (20 weeks) through delivery. The primary outcome was newborn anthropometry (birth weight, length, head circumference). Secondary outcomes were gestational age and 1 and 5 min Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration (APGAR) score. The groups (DHA; n=478 and placebo; n=479) were well balanced at baseline. There were 902 live births. Compliance with the intervention was similar across groups (DHA: 88.5%; placebo: 87.1%). There were no significant differences between DHA and placebo group for birth weight (2750.6 ± 421.5 vs. 2768.2 ± 436.6 g, p=0.54), length (47.3 ± 2.0 vs. 47.5 ±2.0 cm, p=0.13) or head circumference (33.7 ± 1.4 vs 33.8 ± 1.4 cm, p=0.15). The mean gestational age at delivery was similar between groups (DHA: 38.8 ± 1.7 placebo: 38.8 ± 1.7 wk, p= 0.54) as were APGAR scores at 1 and 5 min. Supplementing mothers through pregnancy with 400mg/d DHA did not impact the offspring birthweight, length or head circumference.

Conformal radiotherapy is a primary treatment in head and neck cancer, which putative adverse effects depend on relatively low doses of radiation delivered to increased volumes of normal tissues. Systemic effects of such treatment include radiation-induced changes in serum lipid profile, yet dose- and volume-dependence of these changes remain to be established. Here we analyzed levels of choline-containing phospholipids in serum samples collected consecutively during the radiotherapy used as the only treatment modality. The LC-MS approach applied in the study enabled the detection and quantitation of 151 phospholipids, including (lyso)phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins. No statistically significant differences were found in the pre-treatment samples from patients with different location and stage of cancer. To compensate for potential differences between schemes of radiotherapy the biologically effective doses were calculated and used in the search of correlations with specific lipid levels. We found that the levels of several phospholipids depended on the maximum dose delivered to the gross tumor volume and total radiation energy absorbed by the patient’s body. Increased doses correlated with increased levels of sphingomyelins and reduced levels of phosphatidylcholines. Noteworthy, serum phospholipid levels were associated mainly with volumes of normal tissues irradiated with relatively low doses (i.e., total accumulated dose 20 Gy), which indicated the importance of such effects on the systemic response of the patient’s organism to IMRT.

For the KdV-Burgers equations on cylindrical and spherical waves the development of a regular profile starting from an equilibrium under a periodic perturbation at the boundary is studied. The equations describe a medium which is both dissipative and dispersive. Symmetries, invariant solutions and conservation laws are investigated. For an appropriate combination of dispersion and dissipation the asymptotic profile looks like a periodical chain of shock fronts with a decreasing amplitude (sawtooth waves). The development of such a profile is preceded by a head shock of a constant height and equal velocity which depends on spatial dimension as well as on integral characteristics of boundary condition; an explicit asymptotic for this head shock and a median of the oscillating part is found.

Pediculus humanus capitis, the head louse, is an obligate blood-sucking ectoparasite that occurs in six divergent mitochondrial haplogroups (A, D, B, F, C and E), each exhibiting a particular geographic distribution. A few years ago, several studies reported the presence of different pathogenic agents in head lice specimens from different clades collected worldwide. These findings suggest that head louse could be a vector for dangerous diseases and therefore a serious public health problem. Herein, we aimed to study the mitochondrial genetic diversity, the PHUM540560 gene polymorphisms profile of head lice collected in Guinea, as well as to screen for the pathogens present in these lice. In 2018, a total of 155 head lice were collected from 49 individuals at the Medicals Centers of rural (Maférinyah village) and urban (Kindia city) areas, in Guinea. All head lice were subjected to genetic analysis and screened for the presence of several pathogens using molecular tools. The results showed that all head lice belonged to the haplogroups C/E using the duplex qPCR which detects both clades. Standard PCR and sequencing revealed that all specimens belonged to the haplogroup E, including 8 haplotypes, whither 6 new identified for the first time in this study. The study of the PHUM540560 gene polymorphisms in our Guinean head lice revealed that 7/40 (17.5%) of our tested samples exhibit three different polymorphism profiles compared to the clade A-head lice PHUM540560 gene profile, while the remaining specimens 33/40 (82,5%) showed the same PHUM540560 gene polymorphism profile as the previously reported clade A-body lice. Molecular investigations of the targeted pathogens revealed only the presence of Acinetobacter species in 9% of our samples using real time PCR. Sequencing results identified highlighted the presence of several Acinetobacter species, including Acinetobacter baumannii (14.3%), Acinetobacter nosocomialis (14.3%), Acinetobacter variabilis (14.3%), Acinetobacter haemolyticus (7.2%), Acinetobacter towneri (7.2%). Furthermore, a candidate new species of Acinetobacter sp. (7.2%) was detected. Positive specimens were collected from 24,5% individuals in Maférinyah. We also investigated in our study the carbapenem’s-resistant profile of A. baumannii, none of our specimens were positive for the following resistance genes blaOXA-21, blaOXA-24 and blaOXA-58. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to report the existence of the Guinean haplogroup E, the PHUM540560 gene polymorphism profile as well as the presence of Acinetobacter species in head lice collected from Guinea.

Spending on out-patient health care by citizens in limited resource countries has received little attention.The purpose of this study is to determine the predictors of household spending on out-patient expenses in a cross-sectional study in Kenya. We applied the GEE methods to determine the effect of various variables on outpatient care. We established that the best predictors for outpatient spending in Kenya are Age of the household head, wealth index, marital status and education, which had the lowest QICu of 976341.2. There were no differences on age in mean spending on outpatient care and was changing in a sinusoidal manner. The rich spend more on outpatient care, due to financial ability. Spending increased across the wealth quantiles while gender had a significant effect in the general performance of the models, it didn’t assist in lowering the QICu

Fanconi anemia (FA) patients have an exacerbated risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Treatment is challenging as FA patients display enhanced toxicity to standard treatments, including radio/chemotherapy. Therefore better therapies as well as new disease models are urgently needed. We have used CRISPR/Cas9 editing tools in order to interrupt the human FANCA gene by the generation of insertions/deletions (indels) in exon 4 in two cancer cell lines from sporadic HNSCC having no mutation in FA-genes: CAL27 and CAL33 cells. Our approach allowed efficient editing, subsequent purification of single-cell clones, and Sanger sequencing validation at the edited locus. Clones having frameshift indels in homozygosis did not express FANCA protein and were selected for further analysis. When compared with parental CAL27 and CAL33, FANCA-mutant cell clones displayed a FA-phenotype as they i) are highly sensitive to DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) agents such as mitomycin C (MMC) or cisplatin, ii) do not monoubiquitinate FANCD2 upon MMC treatment and therefore iii) do not form FANCD2 nuclear foci, and iv) they display increased chromosome fragility and G2 arrest after diepoxybutane (DEB) treatment. These FANCA-mutant clones display similar growth rates as their parental cells. Interestingly, mutant cells acquire phenotypes associated with more aggressive disease, such as increased migration in wound healing assays. Therefore, CAL27 and CAL33 cells with FANCA mutations are phenocopies of FA-HNSCC cells.

Chemotherapy treatment based on Cisplatin (CDDP) is established as the drug of choice for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Malignant tumors respond to microenvironment alteration through a dynamic balance of mitochondrial fission and fusion. HNSCC is known to have hypoxic conditions, yet the effects and underlying mechanisms of hypoxia on chemosensitivity and mitochondrial dynamics remain unclear. We found that hypoxia promoted mitochondrial fission and CDDP sensitivity in HNSCC cells. Importantly, Mff was shown to be correlated with chemosensitivity in clinical samples of HNSCC that underwent a hypoxic condition. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α-subunit (HIF-1α) dramatically increased Mff transcriptional expression and directly bound to Mff. Hypoxia enhanced the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulated the expression of Mff via HIF-1α in HNSCC cells. ROS depletion in HNSCC cells attenuated HIF-1α, Mff expression, and mitochondrial fission. Moreover, a knockdown of Mff suppressed hypoxia-induced mitochondrial fission and decreased CDDP chemosensitivity in vivo and in vitro. Our findings revealed that the hypoxia-induced release of ROS promoted mitochondrial fission and CDDP chemosensitivity via the regulation of HIF-1α/Mff in HNSCC cells, indicating that Mff may serve as a new biomarker to predict neoadjuvant chemosensitivity in HNSCC patients

The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a potent enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (PG), including PGE2, a key mediator of inflammation and angiogenesis. Importantly, COX-2 is activated in response to inflammatory stimuli, where it is also believed to promote the development and progression of head and neck cancers (HNC). COX-2 can mediate its protumorigenic effect through various mechanisms such as inducing cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, and suppressing the host’s immune response. Furthermore, COX-2 can induce the production of vascular endothelial growth factors, hence promoting angiogenesis. Indeed, the ability of COX-2 inhibitors to selectively restrict the proliferation of tumor cells and mediating apoptosis provides promising therapeutic targets for cancer patients. Thus, in this comprehensive review, we summarized the reported differential expression patterns of COX-2 in different stages of head and neck carcinogenesis—from potentially premalignant lesions to invasive carcinomas. Furthermore, we examined the available meta-analysis evidence for COX-2 role in the carcinogenesis of HNC. Finally, further understanding of the biological processes of COX-2 and its role in orchestrating cell proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis may give therapeutically beneficial insight to develop the management plan of HNC patients and improve their clinical outcomes.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) can cause contamination of cereal grain with mycotoxins. Triticale is also infected with FHB; however, it is more resistant than wheat to head infection. The aim of this study was to identify triticale lines that combine low head infection with low toxin contamination. Resistance to FHB of 15 winter triticale and three winter wheat lines was evaluated over a three-year experiment established in two locations. At the anthesis stage, heads were inoculated with Fusarium culmorum isolates. The FHB index was scored and the percentage of Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDKs) assessed. The grain was analysed for type B trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol and derivatives, nivalenol) and zearalenone content. The average FHB index was 10.7%. The proportion of FDK was 18.1% (weight) and 21.6% (number). An average content of deoxynivalenol for wheat amounted to 7.258 mg/kg and nivalenol to 5.267 mg/kg. In total, it was 12.788 m/kg of type B trichothecenes. The zearalenone content in the grain was 0.805 mg/kg. Relationships between FHB index, FDK and mycotoxin contents were statistically significant for triticale lines; however, they were stronger for FDK versus mycotoxins. Lines combing all types of FHB resistance were found, and two of them had resistance similar to that of wheat lines with the Fhb1 gene.

Odontogenic infections are infections of the orofacial structures arising from dental disease. Despite its preventability, it exerts a significant burden on healthcare infrastructure worldwide. Our study explored the various different microbiological, social, and epidemiological characteristics of 103 cases of odontogenic infections at our regional center which demonstrated specific predilections for the young and middle-aged, those with diabetes mellitus, African American/Black and Hispanic ethnicities, posterior teeth, left-sided dentition, and male gender. However, nuances and exceptions to these trends were also seen with specific groups that may complicate treatment.

β₂-m, β₂-microglobulin; CAF, cancer associated fibroblast; CSC, cancer stem cell; CTL, cytotoxic T lymphocyte; DC, dendritic cell; ECM, extracellular matrix; EGF-R, epidermal growth factor receptor; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; HLA, human leukocyte antigen; HNSCC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; HPV, human papilloma virus; ICP immune checkpoint; ICPi, immune checkpoint inhibitor; IFN, interferon; LMP, low molecular weight protein; mAb, monoclonal antibody; MDSC, myeloid-derived suppressor cell; mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin; MSI, multispectral imaging; NK, natural killer; OS, overall survival; PBL, peripheral blood lymphocytes; PBMNC, peripheral blood mononuclear cells; PD1, programmed death receptor 1; PD-L1, programmed death ligand 1; PFS, progression-free survival; PI3K, phosphatidyl-linositol-3-kinase; R/M, recurrence and or metastatic; STAT, signal transducer and activator of transcription; TAA, tumor-associated antigen; TAM, tumor associated macrophages; TAP, transporter associated with antigen processing; TCR, T cell receptor; TIL, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte; TLS, tertiary lymphoid structure; TME, tumor microenvironment; Treg, regulatory T cell; TSA, tumor-specific antigen; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGF-R, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor.

Total hip arthroplasty is a complex procedure. The achievements of implantology enabled the development of a faithful representation of hip joint physiology as well as the production of materials that can successfully replace damaged natural tissues. A very important issue is the correct selection of the geometry of the endoprosthesis adequate to the load of the joint. Materials used for endoprosthesis are a metal head and a polymer cup (e.g. PE-UHMW). The main interactions in the endoprosthesis are friction and surface pressure, which must be limited, exceeding them causes the destruction of the biomechanical system - plastic deformation of the polymer and the formation of too large and unacceptable radial clearances. Based on the author's developed calculation method of hip joint endoprosthesis contact parameters, the impact on maximum contact pressure and the angle of contact of the joint load was estimated depending on the diameter of the endoprosthesis and radial clearance. The correctness of changing the values of maximum contact pressure from the mentioned parameters was determined. Correspondingly: an increase in joint load causes a linear increase in the maximum contact pressure; increasing the diameter of the endoprosthesis head - their non-linear decrease, and increasing radial clearance - their increase

A Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion has become a public health problem in the United State. Sports and recreational activities are major sources of concussions; with the most incidents connected to American football. Recently, many companies and research institutions have started studying concussions and introduced some means of protection and some alarming systems of strong jolts. The major detection and protection system currently available on the market is the electronic helmet (e-helmet) composed of measurement devices to record head impact acceleration. The most commonly used devices in e-helmets are accelerometers to measure linear acceleration and gyroscopes for rotational/angular acceleration. Using smart textiles for concussion detection is currently uncommon and limited due to the lack of literature studying their voltage related errors. Actually, there are few works that characterize some voltage-force related errors for such type of sensors but for small impact forces and under bench testing while the behavior of those sensors was not described for higher ranges of applied forces and in field situations. This paper previews some common techniques used in e-helmets for concussion detection and highlights electronic textiles and smart fabric sensors that could be very useful for these applications. It discusses and validates the general behavior of such type of sensors under high impact forces and on field testing instead of bench testing, and also it characterizes the effect of increasing the thickness of the sensing element layer on the sensor. A custom-made pressure sensor was created of some available fabrics to be embedded within the padding of a football helmet to quantify the impacting force to the head. The sensor is mainly composed a Semi Conductive Polymer Composite SCPC layer with modifiable thickness that was modified three times with 0.2, 0.4, and 1.6mm to characterize the general behavior of the sensor due to a high amount of impacts and correlated with the thickness. A pendulum system was built to test the pressure sensors, while a special camera and an open-source video analysis software, Tracker was used to track the pendulum bob. The speed and the acceleration of the pendulum bob were measured, then the impact force was calculated and a voltage-force response was obtained. The results showed that no meaningful improvement occurs by small increase in the thickness but better sensor behavior could be obtained by significant increment to observe any difference. Despite that at a very high impacts, the suggested sensor with Velostat layers is not giving the real voltage readings that reflect the actual applied forces but it gives a helpful information that illustrate the distribution of the force through identification the place of the highest and lowest voltage readings regardless of the exact values of those readings. However, the proposed smart textile pressure sensor could be applicable in future e-helmet designs with additional research-based improvements especially on the structure of the sensing element layer to be able to withstand such high impacts which in turns improves the overall sensor performance and accurately measures pressure in concussion-inducing ranges.

This paper examines the spatial and temporal distribution of all COVID-19 cases from January to June 2020 against the underlying distribution of population in the United States. It is found that, as time passes, COVID-19 cases become a power law with cut-off, resembling the underlying spatial distribution of populations. The power law implies that many states and counties have a low number of cases, while only a few highly populated states and counties have a high number of cases. To further differentiate patterns between the underlying populations and COVID-19 cases, we derived their inherent hierarchy characterized by the ht-index. We found that the ht-index of COVID-19 cases persistently approaches that of the populations; that is, 5 and 7 at the state and county levels, respectively. Mapping the ht-index of COVID-19 cases against that of populations provides new insights into the development of the pandemic in the United States.

Spherical harmonic (SH) interpolation is a commonly used method to spatially up-sample sparse Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) datasets to denser HRTF datasets. However, depending on the number of sparse HRTF measurements and SH order, this process can introduce distortions in high frequency representation of the HRTFs. This paper investigates whether it is possible to restore some of the distorted high frequency HRTF components using machine learning algorithms. A combination of Convolutional Auto-Encoder (CAE) and Denoising Auto-Encoder (DAE) models is proposed to restore the high frequency distortion in SH interpolated HRTFs. Results are evaluated using both Perceptual Spectral Difference (PSD) and localisation prediction models, both of which demonstrate significant improvement after the restoration process.

Background: The main factors to influence on the stroking performance of club head are alloy and spring-like effect. Design the structure of new club face to create the fairway wood which can show best stroking feeling and let driving distance become longer. Purpose: The club face of fairway wood is processed through the iron alloy heating procedure and CNC to innovate the club head with high spring-like effect (characteristic time). Method: (1) Use 455 stainless steel processed by heating and aging treatment, to do the analysis on microstructure and mechanical properties. (2) Through CNC to design seven different patterns for the back of club face, each pattern for three club head. The total amount is twenty-one. (3) Make finished product be test the characteristic time and the ability of strike by the practical measurement. (4) To analyze after the compare between three-way ANOVA and LSD. Results: After 455 stainless steel was heated in procedure S850℃-A550℃, mechanical properties became superior and had the better malleability, it is suitable for developing the club face of high spring-like effect. Before and after grinding among three-way ANOVA (pattern*thickness*place), did not achieve the significant level on the figure of characteristic time. Through two-way ANOVA (pattern*place and thickness*place), showed the significant deviation before and after grinding. After doing the crash test by 45m/s, all the results can reach the higher limited standard. Summary: 455 stainless steel was designed with the different club face’s thicknesses of fairway wood can make spring-like effect achieve high characteristic time. The much thinner club face let the characteristic time perform highly. But there was no obvious effects from the patterns of the back club face.

Importance: The rapidly expanding 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus) has challenged the medical community to an unprecedented degree. Physicians and healthcare workers are at added risk of exposure and infection during the course of the patient care. Due to the rapid spread of this disease through respiratory droplets, healthcare providers such as otolaryngologists-head & neck surgeons who come in close contact with the upper aerodigestive tract during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are particularly at risk. Here we present a set of safety recommendations based on our review of literature and communications with physicians with first-hand knowledge of safety procedures during the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic.Observations: A high number of healthcare providers were infected during the first phase of the pandemic in Wuhan province. Subsequently, by adopting strict safety precautions, other regions were able to achieve high levels of safety for healthcare providers without jeopardizing the care of patients. We reviewed the most common procedures related to the examination and treatment of upper aerodigestive tract diseases. Each category was reviewed based on the potential risk imposed to healthcare workers. Specific recommendations were made, based on the literature, when available, or consensus best practices. Specific safety recommendations were made for performing tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients. Conclusions and Relevance: Preserving highly skilled healthcare work force is a top priority for any community and healthcare system. Based on the experience of healthcare systems in Asia and Europe, by following strict safety guidelines, the risk of exposure and infection of healthcare providers could be significantly reduced, while providing high levels of care. The provided recommendations could be used as broad guidance for all healthcare workers who are involved with the care of COVID-19 patients.

Patient derived model systems are important tools for studying novel anti-cancer therapies. Patient derived xenografts (PDXs) have gained favor over the last 10 years as newer mouse strains have improved the success rate of establishing PDXs from patient biopsies. PDXs can be engrafted from head and neck cancer (HNC) samples across a wide range of cancer stages, retain the genetic features of their human source, and can be treated with both chemotherapy and radiation, allowing for clinically relevant studies. Not only do PDXs allow for study of patient tissues in an in vivo model, they can also provide a renewable source of cancer cells for organoid cultures. Herein, we review the uses of HNC patient derived models for radiation research including approaches to establishing both orthotopic and heterotopic PDXs, approaches and potential pitfalls to delivering chemotherapy and radiation to these animal models, biological advantages and limitations, and alternatives to animal studies that still use patient-derived tissues.

Aero-fuel centrifugal pumps are important power plants in aero-engines. Unlike most of the existing centrifugal pumps, a combination impeller is integrated with the pump to improve its performance. First, the critical geometrical parameters of combination impeller and volute are given. Then, the effects of combination impeller on flow characteristics inside the impeller and volute are clarified by comparing simulation results with that of the conventional impeller, where the effectiveness of selected numerical method is validated by an acceptable agreement between simulation and experiment. Finally, the experiment is performed to test the external performance of studied pump. A significant feature of this study is that the flow characteristics are significantly ameliorated by reducing the flow losses emerged in impeller inlet, impeller outlet and volute tongue. Correspondingly, the head and efficiency of combination impeller are higher with comparison to conventional impeller. Consequently, it is a promising approach in ameliorating flow field and improving external performance by applying a combination impeller to an aero-fuel centrifugal pump.

The sensor nodes have limited computation, sensing, communication capabilities and generally operated by batteries in a harsh atmosphere with non-replenish able power sources. These limitations force the sensor network subject to failure because most of the energy is spent on sensing, computing and data transmission. This paper introduces an Energy Efficient Clustering and Shortest-Path Routing Protocol (EECSRP) to assist Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) by (a) extending the lifespan of the network (b) effectively using the battery power (c) decreasing the network overhead and (d) ensuring a high packet transmission ratio with minimal delay. The delay time-based Cluster Head (CH) is elected based on the node degree, residual energy and Received Signal Strength (RSS) to accomplish the goal. Additionally, the RSS-based network partitioning is implemented to evaluate the gradient based on demand routing between source (sensing node) and destination (BS). Whenever the current CH residual energy goes under the threshold level, the proposed protocol performs the clustering process, reducing the exchange of control packets. However, the BS periodically gathers the data from every single CH which helps to reduce the collision and Medium Access Control (MAC) layer conflict. From the simulation results, it is the evident that the proposed protocol performance in terms of average end-to-end latency, packet delivery ratio, average energy consumption and control overhead is better than the well-known current protocols.

Head and neck cancers arise from mucosa lining the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, sinonasal tract, and nasopharynx and the etiology of head and neck cancers is complex and involves many factors, among which oncogenic viruses are also enumerated. Nevertheless, this type of cancers are among the most common cancers around the world. The thorough knowledge of the pathogenesis of viral infection is needed to fully understand its impact on cancer development.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified in many cancer types. This study identified and characterized CSCs in head and neck metastatic malignant melanoma (HNmMM) to regional lymph nodes using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) markers. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining performed on 20 HNmMM tissue samples demonstrated expression of iPSC markers OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC in all samples while NANOG was expressed at low levels in two samples. Immunofluorescence (IF) staining demonstrated an OCT4+/SOX2+/KLF4+/c-MYC+ CSC subpopulation within the tumor nests (TNs) and another within the peritumoral stroma (PTS) of HNmMM tissues. IF also showed expression of NANOG by some OCT4+/SOX2+/KLF4+/c-MYC+ cells within the TNs in an HNmMM tissue sample that expressed NANOG on IHC staining. In situ hybridization (n=6) and reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (n=5) on the HNmMM samples confirmed expression of all five iPSC markers. Western blotting of four primary cell lines derived from four of the 20 HNmMM tissue samples showed expression of SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC but not OCT4 and NANOG, and three of these cell lines formed tumorspheres in vitro. We demonstrate the presence of two putative CSC subpopulations within HNmMM, which may be a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of this aggressive cancer.

Growing acreage and changing consumer preferences cause increasing interest in the cereal products originating from organic farming. Lack of results of objective test, however, does not allow drawing conclusions about the effects of cultivation in the organic system and comparison to currently preferred conventional system. Field experiment was conducted in organic and conventional fields. Thirty modern cultivars of winter wheat were sown. They were characterized for disease infection including Fusarium head blight, seed sowing value, the amount of DNA of the six species of Fusarium fungi as well as concentration of ergosterol and trichothecenes in grain. The intensity Fusarium head blight was at a similar level in both systems. However, Fusarium colonization of kernels expressed as ergosterol level or DNA concentration was higher for the organic system. It did not reflect in an increased accumulation of trichothecenes in grain, which was similar in both systems, but sowing value of organically produced seeds was lower. Significant differences between analyzed cropping systems and experimental variants were found. The selection of the individual cultivars for organic growing in terms of resistance to diseases and contamination of grain with Fusarium toxins was possible. Effects of organic growing differ significantly from the conventional and grain obtained such way can be recommended to consumers. There are indications for use of particular cultivars bred for conventional agriculture in the case of organic farming, and the growing organic decreases plant stress resulting from intense fertilization and chemical plant protection.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease is extensively distributed worldwide. This disease damages grain quality and reduces yield. The detection of this disease in a high throughput way is crucial to planters and breeders. Our study focused on developing a method for processing wheat color images and accurately detecting disease areas using deep learning and image processing techniques. The color images of wheat at the milky stage were collected and processed to construct datasets, which were used to retrain a deep convolutional neural network model using transfer learning. Testing results showed that the model can detect spikes, and the coefficient of determination of the number of spikes between the manual count and the detection was 0.80. The model was assessed, and the mean average precision for the testing dataset was 0.9201. On the basis of the results of spike detection, a new color feature was applied to obtain the gray image of each spike. Then, a modified region growing algorithm was implemented to segment and detect the diseased areas of each spike. Results show that the region growing algorithm performs better than K-means and Otsu’s method in segmenting the FHB disease. Overall, this study demonstrates that deep learning techniques enable the accurate detection of FHB in wheat using color images, and the proposed method can effectively detect spikes and diseased areas, thereby improving the efficiency of FHB detection.

The aim of the study was to determine the presence Fusarium species and mycotoxins in winter wheat grain in Poland. Grain samples from different locations in Poland in 2009 and 2010 were analysed for the content of biomass of Fusarium species and mycotoxins. In 2009 biomass of F. graminearum and F. poae was present in all samples, F. culmorum in 82% of samples, F. avenaceum in 55% of samples. F. sporotrichioides, F. tricinctum and F. equiseti were found only in individual samples. F. langsethiae was not detected. In 2010, five Fusarium species were detected with the exception of F. sporotrichioides. The highest content of biomass was found for F. graminearum followed by F. avenaceum, F. poae and F. langsethiae. The amount of F. culmorum biomass was very low. The most frequently occurring species was F. poae and F. graminearum. In 2009, deoxynivalenol was detected in all samples. In 2010, the average content of deoxynivalenol was lower than in 2009. Nivalenol was detected at very low concentration in both years. Significant correlations between content of F. graminearum biomass and deoxynivalenol concentration in grain and between content of F. poae biomass and nivalenol concentration in grain in 2009 were found. The most important finding of this study was that main Fusarium species infecting wheat kernels in Poland in both years was F. graminearum. The amount of biomass of F. graminearum was the highest in both years. It was present in the most samples. The other frequently detected species was F. poae, which in 2010 appeared in more samples than F. graminearum. However, the amount of F. poae biomass was lower. F. culmorum, species that was previously dominating as wheat pathogen in Poland, was found less frequently than F. graminearum. The amount of biomass of this species was the lowest in 2010.

Conceived and developed by Christopher Alexander through his life’s work: The Nature of Order, wholeness is defined as a mathematical structure of physical space in our surroundings. Yet, there was no mathematics, as Alexander admitted then, that was powerful enough to capture his notion of wholeness. Recently, a mathematical model of wholeness, together with its topological representation, has been developed that is capable of addressing not only why a space is good, but also how much goodness the space has. This paper develops a structural perspective on goodness of space – both large- and small-scale – in order to bridge two basic concepts of space and place through the very concept of wholeness. The wholeness provides a de facto recursive definition of goodness of space from a holistic and organic point of view. A space is good, genuinely and objectively, if its adjacent spaces are good, the larger space to which it belongs is good, and what is contained in the space is also good. Eventually, goodness of space – sustainability of space – is considered a matter of fact rather than of opinion under the new view of space: space is neither lifeless nor neutral, but a living structure capable of being more living or less living, or more sustainable or less sustainable. Under the new view of space, geography or architecture will become part of complexity science, not only for understanding complexity, but also for making and remaking complex or living structures.

Authorities define cities – or human settlements in general – through imposing top-down rules in terms of whether buildings belong to cities. Emerging geospatial big data makes it possible to define cities from the bottom up, i.e., buildings determine themselves whether they belong to a city based on the notion of natural cities that is defined based on head/tail breaks, a classification and visualization tool for data with a heavy-tailed distribution. In this paper, we used 125 million building locations – all building footprints of America (mainland) or their centroids more precisely – to derive 2.1 million natural cities in the country (http://lifegis.hig.se/uscities/). These natural cities – in contrast to government defined city boundaries – constitute a valuable data source for city-related research.

Generating a range-wide population status of the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin spp.) is challenging due to a combination of species ecology and behavior, and limitations associated with traditional sampling methods. Visual counting of emergent heads offers an efficient, non-invasive and promising method for generating abundance estimates of terrapin populations across broader spatial scales and can be used to explain spatial variation in population size. We conducted repeated visual head count surveys at 38 predetermined sites along the shoreline of Wellfleet Bay in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. We analyzed the count data using a hierarchical modeling framework designed specifically to analyze repeated count data: the so-called N-mixture model. This approach allows for simultaneous modeling of imperfect detection to generate estimates of true terrapin abundance. We found detection probability was lowest when skies were overcast and when wind speed was highest. Site specific abundance varied but we found that abundance estimates were, on average, higher in unexposed sites compared to exposed sites. We demonstrate the utility of pairing visual head counts and N-mixture models as an efficient method for estimating terrapin abundance and show how the approach can be used to identifying environmental factors that influence detectability and distribution.

Currently, data regarding optimal treatment modality, response, and outcome specifically for N3 head and neck cancer are lacking. This study aimed to compare the treatment outcomes between definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) to the neck and upfront neck dissection followed by adjuvant CCRT. 93 N3 squamous cell carcinoma head and neck cancer patients were included. Primary tumor treatment was divided to definitive CCRT (CCRT group) or curative surgery followed by adjuvant CCRT (surgery group). Neck treatment was also classified into two treatment modalities: definitive CCRT to the neck (CCRT group) or curative neck dissection followed by adjuvant CCRT (neck dissection group). Overall, the 2-year overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), regional recurrence-free survival (RRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were 51.8%, 47.3%, 45.6%, and 43.6%, respectively. In both oropharyngeal cancer and nonoropharyngeal cancer patients, in terms of OS, LRFS, RRFS or DMFS no difference was noted regarding primary tumor treatment (CCRT vs. surgery) or neck treatment (CCRT vs. neck dissection). In summary, N3 neck patients treated with definitive CCRT can achieve similar outcomes to those treated with upfront neck dissection followed by adjuvant CCRT. Cautions should be made to avoid overtreatment for this group of patients.

Macrobrachium rosenbergii is a valuable freshwater prawn in Asian aquaculture. In recent years, a new symptom that was generally called as ‘white head’ caused high mortality in M. rosenbergii farms in China. Samples of M. rosenbergii, M. nipponense, Procambarus clarkii, M. superbum, Penaeus vannamei, and Cladocera from a farm suffering from ‘white head’ in Jiangsu Province were collected and analyzed in this study. Pathogen detection showed that all samples were positive for Shrimp hemocyte iridescent virus (SHIV). Histopathological examination revealed dark eosinophilic inclusions and pyknosis in hematopoietic tissue, hepatopancreas and gills of M. rosenbergii and M. nipponense. Blue signals of in situ DIG-labeled LAMP (ISDL) appeared in hematopoietic tissue, hemocytes, hepatopancreatic sinus, and antennal gland. TEM of ultrathin sections showed a large number of SHIV particles with a mean diameter about 157.9 nm. The virogenic stromata and budding virions were observed in hematopoietic cells. Quantitative detection by TaqMan probe based real-time PCR of different tissues in natural infected M. rosenbergii showed that hematopoietic tissue contained the highest SHIV load with a relative abundance of (25.4±16.9)%. Hepatopancreas and muscle contained the lowest SHIV load with a relative abundance at (2.44±1.24)% and (2.44±2.16)%, respectively. Above results verified that SHIV is the pathogen causing ‘white head’ in M. rosenbergii, and M. nipponense and Pr. clarkii are also the susceptible species of SHIV.

The article presents the results of tests of minor head losses through PVC and PP elbows for a flow of water and mixtures of water and sand with grain sizes of up to 0.5 mm and concentrations of 5.6 g∙L-1, 10.84 g∙L-1, and 15.73 g∙L-1. The tests were carried out at variable flow velocities for three elbow diameters of 63, 75, and 90 mm. The flow rate, pressure difference in the tested cross-sections, and temperature of the fluids were measured and automatically recorded. The results of the measurements were used to develop mathematical models for determining the minor head loss coefficient as a function of elbow diameter, sand concentration in the liquid, and Reynolds number. The mathematical model was developed by cross validation. It was shown that when the concentration of sand in the liquid was increased by 1.0 g∙L-1, the coefficient of minor head loss through the elbows increased, in the Reynolds number range of 4.6∙104 − 2.1∙105, by 0.3−0.01% for PP63, 0.6−0.03 % for PP75, 1.1−0.06 % for PP90, 0.8−0.01 % for PVC63, 0.8−0.02 % for PVC75, and 0.9−0.04 % for PVC90. An increase in Re from 5∙104 to 2∙106 for elbows with diameters of 63, 75 and 90 mm caused a 7.3 %, 6.8 %, and 6.0 % decrease in the minor head loss coefficient, respectively.

As noted in the introductory quotation, an ideal map was long ago seen as the map of the map, the map of the map, of the map, and so on endlessly. This recursive perspective on maps, however, has received little attention in cartography. Cartography, as a scientific discipline, is essentially founded on Euclidean geometry and Gaussian statistics, which deal with respectively regular shapes, and more or less similar things. It is commonly accepted that geographic features – such as rivers, cities, streets and building – are not regular and that the Earth’s surface is full of fractal or scaling or living phenomena with far more small things than large ones at different levels of scale. This paper argues for a new paradigm in mapping, based on fractal or living geometry and Paretian statistics, and – more critically – on the new conception of space, conceived and developed by Christopher Alexander, that space is neither lifeless nor neutral, but a living structure capable of being more living or less living. The fractal geometry is not limited to Benoit Mandelbrot’s framework, but is extended towards Christopher Alexander’s living geometry and based upon the third definition of fractal: A set or pattern is fractal if the scaling of far more small things than large ones recurs multiple times. Paretian statistics deals with far more small things than large ones, so it differs fundamentally from Gaussian statistics, which deals with more or less similar things. Under the new paradigm, I make several claims about maps and mapping: (1) Topology of geometrically coherent things – in addition to that of geometric primitives – enables us to see a scaling or fractal or living structure; (2) Under the third definition, all geographic features are fractal or living, given the right perspective and scope; (3) Exactitude is not truth – to paraphrase Henri Matisse – but the living structure is; and (4) Töpfer’s law is not universal, but scaling law is. All these assertions are supported by evidence, drawn from a series of previous studies. This paper demands a monumental shift in perspective and thinking from what we are used to on the legacy of cartography and GIS.

To improve the effect of multi-point stretch forming of sheet metal, it is proposed in this paper to replace fixed ball head with swinging ball head. According to the multi-point dies with different arrangements, this research establishes the finite element models of the following stretch forming, i.e. fixed ball heads with conventional arrangement, swinging ball heads with conventional arrangement, swinging ball heads with declining staggered arrangement, and swinging ball heads with parallel staggered arrangement and then numerical simulation is performed. The simulation results show that by replacing fixed ball head with swinging ball head, the surface indentation of the formed part was effectively suppressed, the stress and tension strain distribution of the formed part was improved and the forming quality was improved; that the thickness of the elastic pad was reduced, the springback was reduced and the forming accuracy was improved; and that when the ball head was applied to multi-point die with staggered arrangement, better forming result was achieved, where the best forming result was achieved in combining the swinging ball heads with the multi-point die with parallel staggered arrangement. The forming experiments were carried out, and the experimental results were consistent with the trend of numerical simulation results, which verified the correctness of the numerical simulation.

EZH2 overexpression is associated with tumor proliferation, metastasis, and poor prognosis. Targeting and inhibiting EZH2 may be an effective therapeutic strategy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We previously analyzed EZH2 mRNA expression in a well-characterized dataset of 230 (110 original and 120 validation cohorts) human head and neck cancer samples. This study aimed to investigate the effects of inhibiting EZH2, either via RNA interference or via pharmacotherapy, on HNSCC growth. EZH2 upregulation was significantly correlated with recurrence (P < 0.001) and the methylation index of tumor suppressor genes (P < 0.05). DNMT3A was significantly upregulated upon EZH2 upregulation (P = 0.043). Univariate analysis revealed that EZH2 upregulation was associated with poor disease-free survival (log-rank test, P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, EZH2 upregulation was evaluated as a significant independent prognostic factor of disease-free survival (hazard ratio: 2.085, 95% confidence interval: 1.390–3.127; P < 0.001). Cells treated with RNA interference and DZNep, an EZH2 inhibitor, showed the most dramatic changes in expression, accompanied with a reduction in the growth and survival of FaDu cells. These findings suggest that EZH2 upregulation is correlated with tumor aggressiveness and adverse patient outcomes in HNSCC. Evaluation of EZH2 expression might help predict the prognosis of HNSCC patients.

This work addresses the problem of automatic head pose estimation and its application in 3D gaze estimation using low quality RGB--D sensors without any subject cooperation or manual intervention. The previous works on 3D head pose estimation using RGB--D sensors require either an offline step for supervised learning or 3D head model construction which may require manual intervention or subject cooperation for complete head model reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a 3D pose estimator based on low quality depth data, which is not limited by any of the aforementioned steps. Instead, the proposed technique relies on modeling the subject's face in 3--D rather than the complete head, which in turn, relaxes all of the constraints with the previous works. The proposed method is robust, highly accurate and fully automatic. Moreover, it does not need any offline step. Unlike some of the previous works, the method only uses depth data for pose estimation. The experimental results on the Biwi head pose database confirm the efficiency of our algorithm in handling large pose variations and partial occlusion. We also evaluate the performance of our algorithm on IDIAP database for 3D head pose and eye gaze estimation.

Background and objectives: Induction chemotherapy (ICT) before definitive chemoradiation (CRT) gives high response rates in LA-SCCHN. However, pre-ICT gross tumour volume (GTV) for radiotherapy (RT) planning is still recommended. As ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT has an advantage of biological tumour information comparing to standard imaging methods, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT-based post-ICT GTV delineation for RT planning in LA-SCCHN and to assess the prognostic value of PET parameters: maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max), metabolic tumour volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). Methods: 47 LA-SCCHN patients were treated with 3 cycles of ICT (docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil) followed by CRT (70 Gy in 35 fractions with weekly cisplatin). Pre- and post-ICT PET/CT examinations were acquired. Planning CT was co-registered with post-ICT PET/CT and RT target volumes were contoured according to post-ICT PET. Post-ICT percentage decrease of SUV_max, MTV and TLG in primary tumour and metastatic regional lymphnodes (LN) was counted. Loco-regional failure patterns, 3-year progression free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Results: 3-year PFS and OS rates for study population were 67% and 61% respectively. 31.9% of patients progressed loco-regionally. All progresses were localised in high-to-intermediate dose (60–70 Gy) RT volumes and none in low dose (50 Gy) volumes. Decrease of SUV_max ≥74% (p = 0.03), MTV ≥ 68% (p = 0.04), TLG ≥ 76% (p = 0.02) in primary tumour, and LN TLG decrease ≥74% (p = 0.03) were associated with PFS. Decrease of primary tumour SUV_max ≥ 74% (p = 0.04), MTV ≥ 69% (p = 0.04), TLG ≥ 74% (p = 0.02) and LN TLG ≥ 73% (p = 0.02) were prognostic factors for OS. Conclusions: According to our results, 18F-FDG PET/CT-based post-ICT GTV delineation is feasible strategy without negative impact on loco-regional control and survival. Percentage decrease of metabolic PET parameters SUV_max, MTV and TLG has a prognostic value in LA-SCCHN.

Bidirectional gene promoters affect the transcription of two genes, leading to the hypothesis that they should exhibit protection against genetic or epigenetic changes in cancer. Therefore, they provide an excellent opportunity to learn about promoter susceptibility to somatic alteration in tumors. We tested this hypothesis using data from genome-scale DNA methylation (14 cancer types), simple somatic mutation (10 cancer types), and copy number variation profiling (14 cancer types). For DNA methylation, the difference in rank differential methylation between tumor and tumor-adjacent normal matched samples based on promoter type was tested by Wilcoxon rank sum test. Logistic regression was used to compare differences in simple somatic mutations. For copy number alteration, a mixed effects logistic regression model was used. The change in methylation between non-diseased tissues and their tumor counterparts was significantly greater in single compared to bidirectional promoters across all 14 cancer types examined. Similarly, the extent of copy number alteration was greater in single gene compared to bidirectional promoters for all 14 cancer types. Furthermore, among 10 cancer types with available simple somatic mutation data, bidirectional promoters were slightly more susceptible. These results suggest that selective pressures related with specific functional impacts during carcinogenesis drive the susceptibility of promoter regions to somatic alteration.

Purpose: The aim of present study was to compare the treatment results of daily cisplatin (CDDP), weekly docetaxel (DOC) intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy (DIACRT) regimen and weekly CDDP intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy (WIACRT) for patients with tongue cancer. Materials and Methods: Between January 2007 and December 2016, a total of 11 patients treated with WIACRT and 45 patients treated with DIACRT were enrolled in present study. In DIACRT group, 25 patients had T2, 20 patients had T3. A total of 9 patients had T2 and 2 had T3 in WIACRT (p = NS). In DIACRT, the treatment schedule consisted of intra-arterial chemotherapy (DOC, total 60 mg/m²; CDDP, total 150 mg/m²) and daily concurrent radiotherapy (RT) (total, 60 Gy). In WIACRT, the treatment schedule consisted of intra-arterial chemotherapy (CDDP, total 360 mg/m²) and daily concurrent RT (total, 60 Gy). Results: The median follow-up periods for DIACRT and WIACRT were 61 and 66 months respectively. The 5-year local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) rate were 94.5% and 89.6% for DIACRT group, 60.6% and 63.6% for WIACRT group respectively. The LC rate and OS of DIACRT group were significantly higher than that of WIACRT group. As regards toxicities, no treatment-related deaths were observed during the follow-up periods both in two groups. Conclusions: DIACRT was found to be feasible and effective for patients with tongue cancer and could become a new treatment modality.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium spp. that causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease in cereal crops. Ingestion of food contaminated with DON poses serious human health complications. However, the DON cytotoxicity has been mostly deduced from animal studies. In this study, we used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a tractable animal model to dissect the toxic effect of DON. Our results indicate that DON reduces the fecundity and lifespan of C. elegans. The real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that DON upregulates innate immunity-related genes including C17H12.8 and K08D8.5 encoding PMK-1 (mitogen activated protein kinase-1)-regulated immune effectors, and F35E12.5 encoding a CUB-like domain-containing protein. Furthermore, our RNAseq data demonstrate that out of ~ 17,000 C. elegans genes, 313 are upregulated and 166 were downregulated by DON treatment. Among the DON-upregulated genes, several are ugt genes encoding UDP-glucuronosyl transferase (UGTs) which are known to be involved in chemical detoxification. The three upregulated genes, F52F10.4 (oac-32), C10H11.6 (ugt-26) and C10H11.4 (ugt-28) encoding the O-acyltransferase homolog, UGT26 and UGT 28, respectively, are shown to contribute to DON tolerance by RNAi bacterial feeding experiment. The results of this study provide insights to the targets of DON cytotoxicity and potential mitigation measures.

Cyclic STAT3 decoy (CS3D) is a second-generation, double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) that mimics a genomic response element for signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), an oncogenic transcription factor. CS3D competitively inhibits STAT3 binding to target gene promoters, resulting in decreased expression of proteins that promote cellular proliferation and survival. Previous studies have demonstrated antitumor activity of CS3D in preclinical models of solid tumors. However, prior to entering human clinical trials, the efficiency of generating the CS3D molecule and its stability in biological fluids should be determined. CS3D is synthesized as a single-stranded ODN and must have its free ends ligated to generate the final cyclic form. In this study, we report a ligation efficiency of nearly 95 percent. The ligated CS3D demonstrated a half-life of 7.9 hours in human serum, indicating adequate stability for intravenous delivery. These results provide requisite biochemical characterization of CS3D that will inform upcoming clinical trials.

Purpose: To investigate the relationship of lamina cribrosa displacement to corneal biomechanical properties and visual function after mitomycin C-augmented trabeculectomy. Method: Eighty-one primary open angle eyes were imaged before and after trabeculectomy using an enhanced depth spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT). Corneal biomechanical properties were measured with the Ocular Response Analyser before the surgery. The anterior lamina cribrosa (LC) was marked at several points in each of six radial scans to evaluate LC displacement in response to Intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction. A Humphrey visual field test (HVF) was performed before the surgery as well as three and six months postoperatively. Results: Factors associated with a deeper baseline anterior lamina cribrosa depth (ALD) were cup-disc ratio (P=0.04), baseline IOP (P= 0.01), corneal hysteresis (P= 0.001), and corneal resistance factor (P= 0.001). After the surgery, the position of LC became more anterior (negative), posterior (positive) or remained unchanged. The mean LC displacement was -42 μm (P= 0.001) and was positively correlated with the magnitude of IOP reduction (regression coefficient: 0.251, P=0.02), and negatively correlated with age (regression coefficient: - 0.224, P= 0.04) as well as baseline cup-disk ratio (Regression coefficient: -0.212,P= 0.05) Eyes with a larger negative LC displacement were more likely to experience an HVF improvement of more than 3 dB gain in mean deviation (P= 0.002). Conclusion: A lower SDOCT cup-disc ratio, younger age, and a larger IOP reduction were correlated with a larger negative LC displacement and improving HVF. Corneal biomechanics did not predict LC displacement.

This work focuses on the design improvement of a tri-axial piezoresistive accelerometer specifically designed for head injuries monitoring where medium-G impacts are common, for example in sports such as racing cars or American Football. The device requires the highest sensitivity achievable with a single proof mass approach, and a very low error (<1%) as the accuracy for these types of applications is paramount. The optimization method differs from previous work as it is based on the progressive increment of the sensor mass moment of inertia (MMI) in all three axes. The work numerically demonstrates that an increment of MMI determines an increment of device sensitivity with a simultaneous reduction of cross-talk in the particular axis under study. The final device shows a sensitivity increase of about 80% in the Z-axis and a reduction of cross-talk of 18% respect to state-of-art sensors available in the literature. Sensor design, modelling and optimization are presented, concluding the work with results, discussion and conclusion.

As Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network (HWSN) fulfill the requirements of researchers in the design of real life application to resolve the issues of unattended problem. But, the main constraint face by researchers is energy source available with sensor nodes. To prolong the life of sensor nodes and hence HWSN, it is necessary to design energy efficient operational schemes. One of the most suitable routing scheme is clustering approach, which improves stability and hence enhances performance parameters of HWSN. A novel solution proposed in this article is to design energy efficient clustering protocol for HWSN, to enhance performance parameters by EECPEP-HWSN. Propose protocol is designed with three level nodes namely normal, advance and super node respectively. In clustering process, for selection of cluster head we consider three parameters available with sensor node at run time, i.e., initial energy, hop count and residual energy. This protocol enhance the energy efficiency of HWSN, it improves performance parameters in the form of enhance energy remain in the network, force to enhance stability period, prolong lifetime and hence higher throughput. It is been found that proposed protocol outperforms than LEACH, DEEC and SEP with about 188, 150 and 141 percent respectively.

Automotive manufacturers and suppliers develop new vehicle systems, such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), to increase traffic safety and driving comfort. ADAS are technologies that provide drivers with essential information or take over demanding driving tasks. More complex and intelligent vehicle systems are being developed toward fully autonomous and cooperative driving. Apart from the technical development challenges, training of drivers with these complex vehicle systems represents an important concern for automotive manufacturers. This paper highlights the new evolving requirements concerning the training of drivers with future complex vehicle systems. In accordance with these requirements, a new training concept is introduced, and a prototype of a training platform is implemented for utilization in future driving schools. The developed training platform has a scalable and modular architecture so that more than one driving simulator can be networked to a common driving instructor unit. The participating driving simulators provide fully immersive visualization to the drivers by utilizing head-mounted displays instead of conventional display screens and projectors. The driving instructor unit consists of a computer with a developed software tool for training session control, monitoring, and evaluation. Moreover, the driving instructor can use a head-mounted display to participate interactively within the same virtual environment of any selected driver. A simulation model of an autonomous driving system was implemented and integrated in the participating driving simulators. Using this simulation model, training sessions were conducted with the help of a group of test drivers and professional driving instructors to prove the validity of the developed concept and show the usability of the implemented training platform.

Affective computing in general and human activity and intention analysis in particular, is a rapidly growing field of research. Head pose and emotion changes, present serious challenges when applied to player’s training and ludology experience in serious games or analysis of customer satisfaction regarding broadcast and web services or monitoring a driver’s attention. Given the increasing prominence and utility of depth sensors, it is now feasible to perform large-scale collection of three-dimensional (3D) data for subsequent analysis. Discriminative random regression forests was selected in order to rapidly and accurately estimate head pose changes in unconstrained environment. In order to complete the secondary process of recognising four universal dominant facial expressions (happiness, anger, sadness and surprise), emotion recognition via facial expressions (ERFE) was adopted. After that, a lightweight data exchange format (JavaScript Object Notation-JSON) is employed, in order to manipulate the data extracted from the two aforementioned settings. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from different sets of data, in this paper we introduce a system capable of monitoring human activity through head pose and emotion changes, utilising an affordable 3D sensing technology (Microsoft Kinect sensor).

In small-scale hydropower scheme, the most important component is electro-mechanical equipment. Since cost contribution of this component is high because hydrokinetic projects require negligible civil works. Turbine and alternator contribute major fraction of the hydrokinetic projects. Thus, there is a requirement to estimates the electromechanical equipment cost for the hydrokinetic hydropower scheme. The present paper investigates design parameters of the hydrokinetic turbines and intends to develop cost correlation which depends on most critical parameters of hydropower sites such as velocity and power capacity. In this present work, three zero head turbines are considered including straight blade Darrieus, two Stage Savonius, and Gorlov Helical. The size and cost of major components have been calculated based on material, manufacturing, research and design, and assembly costs. Based on cost and site parameters, cost correlation has been developed. The obtained cost has been validated with available zero head turbines in the market and installed projects. A techno-economic analysis has been carried out to select economical hydrokinetic turbine for river and canal application.