Aforementioned Domain Research Articles

Intracellular Construction of Organelle-like Compartments Facilitates Metabolic Flux in Escherichia coli.

The formation of well-designed synthetic compartments or membraneless organelles for applications in synthetic biology and cellular engineering has aroused enormous interest. However, establishing stable and robust intracellular compartments in bacteria remains a challenge. Here, we use the structured DIX domains derived from Wnt signaling pathway components, more specifically, Dvl2 and Axin1, as building blocks to generate intracellular synthetic compartments in Escherichia coli. Moreover, the aggregation behaviors and physical properties of the DIX-based compartments can be tailored by genetically embedding a specific dimeric domain into the DIX domains. Then, a pair of interacting motifs, consisting of the aforementioned dimeric domain and its corresponding binding ligand, was incorporated to modify the client recruitment pattern of the synthetic compartments. As a proof of concept, the human milk oligosaccharide lacto-N-tetraose (LNT) biosynthesis pathway was selected as a model metabolic pathway. The fermentation results demonstrated that the co-compartmentalization of sequential pathway enzymes into intracellular compartments created by DIX domain, or by the DIX domain in conjunction with interacting motifs, prominently enhanced the metabolic flux and increased LNT production. These synthetic protein compartments may provide a feasible and effective tool to develop versatile organelle-like compartments in bacteria for applications in cellular engineering and synthetic biology.

Computationally Efficient Adaptive Design of Experiments for Global Metamodeling through Integrated Error Approximation and Multicriteria Search Strategies

Gaussian processes (GPs) are a popular technique for global metamodeling applications. Their objective in such settings is to establish an efficient and globally accurate approximation of the response surface of computationally expensive simulation models. When developing such GPs, the design of (simulation) experiments (DoE) plays an important role in reducing the required number of model runs for obtaining accurate approximations. Sequential (adaptive) selection of experiments can provide significant advantages, especially when the response surface is characterized by localized nonlinearities. Such adaptive DoE strategies for global metamodeling applications typically focus on minimizing the predictive GP variance, representing an exploration strategy, while recent developments have additionally considered the reduction of the GP bias obtained through cross validation, representing an exploitation strategy. While significant focus has been placed on the definition of appropriate adaptive DoE criteria, computational challenges still exist that limit the widespread adoption of adaptive DoE techniques—for example, related to the additional computational demand for identifying the optimal new experiment(s) or the necessity to establish proper schemes to combine exploration and exploitation strategies. To address these specific challenges, this research investigates two new adaptive DoE formulations. The first one focuses on the approximation of the popular integrated mean square error (IMSE) DoE criterion. The computationally demanding GP predictive variance update (after addition of each candidate experiment), required in the original IMSE formulation, is replaced by an approximation based on the current predictive variance and the domain of influence that surrounds each new experiment. The approximation is established through a parametric formulation that leverages the GP kernel to describe the aforementioned domain, with characteristics that are progressively calibrated across the GP training stages, to minimize the discrepancy between the actual and the approximated IMSE. The second formulation establishes a multicriteria search for simultaneously identifying multiple Pareto optimal experiments that balance exploration and exploitation objectives, replacing conventional strategies that establish a weighted combination of these objectives to promote a single DoE selection criterion.

A hybrid tuple selection pipeline for smartphone based Human Activity Recognition

With the increasing use of sensors in almost every device and application worldwide, the volume of data increases exponentially. Instance selection is an important data preprocessing step that can be applied to many machine learning models. It is even crucial for executing machine learning tasks in constrained environments as demanded by many Internet of Things (IoT) enabled applications today such as the Human Activity Recognition (HAR) domain of applications. In this paper, we have proposed a hybrid selection and training pipeline methodology that combines the nearest neighbor concept with evolutionary computing to address the instance selection problem of smartphone sensing-based HAR. A clustering algorithm has been proposed first followed by a Genetic Algorithm based instance selection approach. It is so far the first of its kind in the aforementioned domain of HAR based on smartphone sensing data. The proposed instance selection has been tested on two of the popular benchmark HAR datasets — UCI-HAR and WISDM. The experimented outputs report that the proposed method has effectively reduced the dataset size by around 40% for the benchmark datasets while retaining the recognition accuracy above 94%. This is a clear depiction of the removal of the outliers from the instance set. The proposed approach has also been compared with other state-of-the-art under-sampling approaches and the results show that our approach has performed better.

Optimizing Parallel Task Execution for Multi-Agent Mission Planning

Multi-agent systems have received a tremendous amount of attention in many areas of research and industry, especially in robotics and computer science. With the increased number of agents in missions, the problem of allocation of tasks to agents arose, and it is one of the most fundamental classes of problems in robotics, formally known as the Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) problem. MRTA encapsulates numerous problem dimensions, and it aims at providing formulations and solutions to various problem configurations, i.e., complex multi-agent missions. One dimension of the MRTA problem has not caught much of the research attention. In particular, problem configurations including Multi-Task (MT) robots have been neglected. However, the increase in computational power, in robotic systems, has allowed the utilization of parallel task execution. This in turn had the benefit of allowing the creation of more complex robotic missions; however, it came at the cost of increased problem complexity. Our contribution to the aforementioned domain can be grouped into three categories. First, we model the problem using two different approaches, Integer Linear Programming and Constraint Programming. With these models, we aim at filling the gap in the literature related to the formal definition of MT robot problem configuration. Second, we introduce the distinction between physical and virtual tasks and their mutual relationship in terms of parallel task execution. This distinction allows the modeling of a wider range of missions while exploiting possible parallel task execution. Finally, we provide a comprehensive performance analysis of both models, by implementing and validating them in CPLEX and CP Optimizer on the set of problems. Each problem consists of the same set of test instances gradually increasing in complexity, while the percentage of virtual tasks in each problem is different. The analysis of the results includes exploration of the scalability of both models and solvers, the effect of virtual tasks on the solvers’ performance, and overall solution quality.

Opioid Knowledge and Prescribing Habits at a Large Tertiary Care Academic Center.

Background: Opioids are commonly prescribed medications for pain management with high risks associated with chronic use. The inherent risk associated with opioids is worsened by variable prescribing practices used by prescribers. In the midst of the “opioid epidemic,” perceptions of opioid prescription among healthcare practitioners have not been widely investigated.Objective: This study aimed to explore the opinions, experiences, and habits of prescribers as well as other healthcare personnel involved in the administration of opioids at an academic medical center.Methods: Questions were shared through an online survey format, answerable in Likert scale scores from 1 to 5, and categorized into three domains; prescribing habits/management, education, and risk stratification.Results: A total of 638 survey responses were collected comprising 130 physicians (21%), 44 residents and fellows (6.9%), 53 physician assistants and nurse practitioners (8.31%), 18 pharmacists (2.82%), 85 medical students (13.32%), and 308 nurses (48.28%). Collected responses revealed a weak consensus on prescribing practices and a lack of evidence-based opioid management such as low utilization of multidisciplinary clinics and unfamiliarity with the WHO analgesic ladder across all specialties. The survey also indicated a lack of education regarding the prescribing of opioids across all specialties although pharmacists reported obtaining the most. Lastly, the use of risk stratification tools such as prescription drug monitoring programs and urine drug testing were underutilized amongst practitioners.Conclusion: Strengthening practitioners’ opioid management abilities with evidence-based interventions for each aforementioned domain may aid in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

RecIoT: A Deep Insight into IoT-Based Smart Recommender Systems

Typically, Internet of Things (IoT) is perceived as the technology for connecting people, devices, vehicles, home appliances, etc., and 212 billion heterogenous devices are presumed to be connected by 2020 under its umbrella. This domain is gaining popularity worldwide because of the wave it has brought in both research and industrial sector. Smart applications of this scenario provide assistance and services to the users in smart homes, smart cities, smart retail, agriculture, healthcare, etc. However, researchers are now exploring the potential of IoT systems in other domains, one of them being recommender systems. In recent years, the focus of researchers has drifted towards utilizing recommender systems to improve offered selections to IoT users. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to study the present practices, approaches, and challenges in the aforementioned domain along with possible solutions. Briefly, the contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) providing an overview of the prevailing scenario in a range of application domains associated with IoT based recommender systems, (2) providing a framework of some real-world applications, (3) outlining key areas for the improvement towards context-aware personalized services in the future research, and (4) providing a bibliometric trend analysis prevalent in the concerned domain.

Remote cooling systems with mesh-based heat exchangers for cryogenic applications

In the refrigeration technologies available for the 2 W - 5 W cooling power range at 4.5 K, innovative designs for intermediate cooling options are proposed between the large-scale cryogenic plants and small-scale commercially available cryocoolers. This paper presents a number of remote cooling solutions, which use high-effectiveness mesh-based counterflow heat exchangers (CFHEX) to support the aforementioned refrigeration domain. Additionally, the cooling power is aimed to be provided in a remote, distributed and non-disturbing manner (i.e. reduced mechanical vibrations and magnetic disturbances) for high-technology cryogenic applications that require very low background noise levels. The proposed remote cooling options are analysed in terms of their cooling power performance. Designs and sizing of individual system components, i.e. CFHEXs and cooling interface options, for superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavity cooling application are also proposed. CFHEX compactness and influence of their individual effectiveness values on the performance of the remote cooling systems are assessed, and capillary cooling interface performance is analysed.

Les anglicismes français relatifs au cinéma : entre la terminologie, les recommendations officielles et l’usage

The complex terminology of cinematography, where French and foreign terms meet and compete, reflects the nature of this domain, which is the area of international cooperation, of the exchange of thoughts and expression. In order to avoid the compulsory usage of foreign nomenclature, the creation and distribution of French equivalents have become the assignment of institutions such as the Commission d’enrichissement de la langue française and l’Académie française. Despite the development of indigenous terminology in the field of cinema, which is strongly associated with the international film industry, especially the American one, the circulation of Anglicisms remains significant. The objective of this article is to study English terms in the aforementioned domain. Therefore, firstly, the official recommendations of the Commission d’enrichissement de la langue française and l’Académie française for the employment of French terms in the field of cinema are presented. The second part constitute the analysis of the presence of English terms from the corpus, such as casting, flashback, steadicam, trailer, in contemporary French dictionaries, in relation to the official recommendations of the aforementioned institutions. Finally, we focus on the presence of Anglicisms and their French equivalents in French journalistic discourse on the example of the common press, in order to study the circulation of loans words and to examine whether they are actually substituted by notions of French terminology.

Decision support system for medical pathology recognition

Given article considers the problem of automation of chromosome pathology recognition. Overview of existing publications in adjacent topics has shown the need for further research due to the scientific relevance and lack of groundwork. The application domain has been considered - both theoretical aspects of pathology recognition automation and the chromosome pathology diagnostics process itself. Classification of main chromosome abnormalities has been performed. A formal algorithm has been derived from the aforementioned application domain analysis. The algorithm version provided in given publication is a high-level draft and will be extended. Along with the algorithm, requirements to the prototype software and the prototype software itself have been designed. It should accept karyogram image as an input and return information about chromosome anomaly as an output. Software has been implemented on Python programing language using OpenCV image processing library. Prototype has been implemented as a program library, allowing to use it in different contexts. For example, it is possible to use it via terminal or design a Web API wrapper around it. Prototype of a decision support system for chromosome pathology recognition is currently capable of detecting quantity chromosome abnormalities. Results obtained from given paper prove the possibility of designing full-powered decision support system for chromosome pathology recognition automation and allow to focus on extending and improving functionality of each distinct step of the basic algorithm, allowing to cover more chromosome abnormality types

An improved empirical model for a semiconductor’s velocity-field characteristic applied to gallium arsenide

An effective empirical model for the velocity-field characteristic associated with a semiconductor offers the community of semiconductor device engineers with a tool that will ultimately allow them to relate key features of a semiconductor’s velocity-field characteristic with the resultant device performance. Noting the limitations of previously devised empirical models for a semiconductor’s velocity-field characteristic, we have developed an alternate approach. In particular, building upon the empirical velocity-field characteristic model of Eastman et al. related to high-field domains (Eastman et al., 1980), we develop an approach wherein the model’s internal adjustable parameters may be directly tied with the velocity-field characteristic’s observable features. We then apply this approach to the specific case of gallium arsenide, a contrast with results gleaned from Monte Carlo electron transport simulations being used to show that the resultant fits are indeed quite satisfactory. A comparison with other empirical velocity-field characteristic modeling approaches is offered, our approach being shown to be more effective than the other ones in several regards. Finally, within the framework of this empirical model, a means of evaluating the maximum value of the negative differential mobility associated with a given velocity-field characteristic is provided, such a value being of interest to those who wish to draw upon the aforementioned high-field domain effects.

Thought-Action Fusion as Predictors of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptom Dimensions.

ObjectiveThere have been several studies investigating the relationships between dysfunctional beliefs and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, studies about the relationships between dysfunctional beliefs, especially thought-action fusion (TAF), and OC symptom dimensions have been scarce. Therefore, this study examined to what extent and how TAF subcomponents account for unique variability in four OC symptom dimensions.MethodsSixty-five patients with OCD and 45 healthy controls aged between 18 and 30 years completed measures for OC symptom dimensions, OC symptoms, and dysfunctional beliefs such as TAF, trait-guilt, and inflated responsibility. ResultsThree facets of TAF were exclusively associated with two symptom domains, namely, responsibility for harm and unacceptable thoughts, and explained the additional but small amount of variance to predict these two domains. In particular, the likelihood-others TAF positively predicted the unacceptable thoughts domain, whereas the likelihood-self TAF negatively predicted the aforementioned domain. For OC symptoms measured by the OC Inventory, no TAF components predicted the corresponding obsessing and mental neutralizing symptoms. ConclusionThis study provides supporting evidence that the three TAF subcomponents may be differently associated with certain OC symptom dimensions, and a dimensional approach may complement typical symptom-oriented OC measures.

Immunological response to COVID-19 and its role as a predisposing factor in invasive aspergillosis.

The world is involved with a pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The clinical manifestations of reported COVID-19-associated pulmonary impairments range from asymptomatic infections to a pneumonia-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome that requires mechanical ventilation. Fungal superinfections complicating the clinical course remain underexplored. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the receptor for COVID-19 that is mainly expressed in airway epithelia and lung parenchyma, is considered an important regulator of innate immunity. With regard to the viral-cell interaction, imbalanced immune regulation between protective and altered responses caused by the exacerbation of inflammatory responses should be considered a major contributor to secondary pulmonary aspergillosis. In addition, the complex inherited factors, age-related changes, and lifestyle may also affect immune responses. The complication and persistence of invasive aspergillosis have been well described in patients with severe influenza or COVID-19. However, there is a scarcity of information about the immunological mechanisms predisposing patients with COVID-19 to fungal co-infections. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the aforementioned domain.

High Temperature Deformation Behavior and Constitutive Modeling for Flow Behavior of Alloy 718

In the present work, hot deformation behavior of Alloy 718 was investigated over a temperature range of 1223–1373 K and strain rate range of 10−2–10 s−1. The flow curves were corrected for adiabatic temperature rise, particularly at high strain rates. Arrhenius type constitutive equations were derived for Alloy 718 to model the peak flow stress from apparent and physically based approaches. A stress exponent of 5 was obtained from the power-law equation, indicating that the deformation is governed by the dislocation climb mechanism within the aforementioned processing domain. Further, to model the flow behavior, a generalized constitutive equation was derived in which the effect of strain on the flow stress was incorporated. In addition, artificial neural networks (ANN) method was also employed to model the flow behavior. Statistical parameters such as regression coefficient (R) and average absolute relative error (AARE) indicated that the ANN method was more accurate in predicting the flow behavior with R = 0.99 and AARE = 0.79% compared to the apparent-based constitutive equation with R = 0.99 and AARE = 4.5%. Accuracy of the derived constitutive equation as a material model in finite element (FE) simulation studies was also evaluated. Flow curve predictions obtained from the FE simulation were comparable to the experimental results. The microstructure and hardness at different locations in the deformed samples were consistent with the strain distribution map generated by the FE simulation.

Identifying the ‘knowledge base’ or ‘intellectual structure’ of research on international business, 2000–2015: A citation/co-citation analysis of JIBS

The purpose of this study consists in analyzing the existing literature on international business from all the research papers published in Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) during the period of time comprised between 2000 and 2015. The authors apply bibliometric methods to that end –in particular, document citation and co-citation analyses (DCAs)– so that they can try and identify the main research lines within the aforementioned scientific field or domain; in other words, the ‘intellectual structure’ of the discipline examined. Social networks analysis was also used to carry out the representation or visualization of such structure or knowledge base. The highly interdisciplinary nature of the research undertaken, since the study field still keeps its characteristic diversity and interdisciplinarity or the need to integrate a variety of theoretical frameworks or approaches into the development of a widely-accepted theory about the field under study become evident. Amongst these theories would be the new institutional theory, the strategic theory or perspective or others such as the transaction cost theory or the agency theory, applied to the context of internationalization and to the field of international business, on whose integration the future development of this field may largely depend.

New Detrital Zircon Geochronology From the Cycladic Basement (Greece): Implications for the Paleozoic Accretion of Peri‐Gondwanan Terranes to Laurussia

AbstractBetween the eastern Mediterranean basin in the South and the East European (Baltica) Craton to the north, we distinguish two fundamental pre‐Variscan geological domains: an Internal domain, which hosts Ordovician‐Devonian (450–400 Ma) igneous rocks and detrital zircon populations, and an External domain, which contains no 450‐ to 400‐Ma zircon ages. From the Balkan Peninsula to the Turkish plate, the aforementioned Internal domain includes the Serbo‐Macedonian Massif, the Istanbul and Sakarya terranes, whereas the External domain, holding a more distal position relative to Baltica, includes the Pelagonian terrane and the External Hellenides. The two domains are interpreted as two consecutive (i.e., Caledonian and Variscan) Paleozoic accretionary belts, attached to the southern margin of Baltica. The Cycladic and Pelagonian terranes are currently juxtaposed along strike of the central Hellenides in Northern Greece. The Cycladic Massif is a Cadomian‐type terrane, while the Pelagonian displays an Avalonian‐type affinity. Despite its Avalonian affinity, the Pelagonian lacks Ordovician‐Devonian (450–400‐Ma) zircon ages. In contrast, detrital zircon grains of such ages are abundant in the Cycladic Massif. In this study, the Ordovician‐Devonian detrital zircon population is recognized also in pre‐Variscan (>310‐Ma) Cycladic Basement from Ios and Naxos Islands, affiliating the Cycladic Massif with the Internal (Caledonian) domain. This indicates that the Caledonian accretion incorporated some Cadomian‐type terranes. It also suggests that the protolith of the Cycladic blueschists was deposited within the Internal domain, that is, northeast of the Pelagonian terrane. This recognition helps to reconstruct the Paleozoic and Mesozoic paleogeography of the peri‐Gondwanan terranes.

Quality of life and associated factors in patients with chronic Chagas disease.

To evaluate the quality of life (QoL) of patients with Chagas disease (CD) and the association between QoL domains and several clinical, socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics of this population. Cross-sectional observational study conducted from March 2014 to March 2017 including a total of 361 outpatients followed at Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Disease, Brazil. QoL was assessed using the Portuguese shorter version of the original WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF). Information about clinical CD presentation, presence of comorbidities, functional class, previous benznidazole treatment, socioeconomic profile and lifestyle was also obtained. Environment and physical domains presented the worst QoL scores, while the social relationship domain presented the highest score. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that variables independently associated with QoL were functional class, sex, clinical presentation of CD, sleep duration, schooling, physical activity level, smoking, income per capita and residents by domicile. The low socioeconomic status and the physical limitations imposed by the disease presented an important impact on the QoL reduction among CD patients, especially on environment and physical domains. Strategies to improve QoL among CD patients should be tailored and consider many different variables to maximise improvements not only of patients' physical but also of their mental health.

Measuring the Feasibility of Clustering Techniques on Usability Performance Data

This paper proposes a methodology that utilizes unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques in performance based usability data. This paper will first discuss the introduction and current works in the aforementioned domain followed by proposing the methodology to compare and find a better clustering algorithm in processing usability performance data in the field of mobile augmented reality interfaces. The paper will then present the results yield from an experiment abiding by the proposed methodology and discusses the analysis. The paper will end with a short discussion followed by proposed future works in the research area. Keywords: Augmented Reality, Clustering, Machine Learning, Mobile, Usability

How effective is postoperative packing in FESS patients? A critical analysis of published interventional studies.

The present study aimed to assess the clinical effectiveness of absorbable packing alone, non-absorbable packing alone, and absorbable versus non-absorbable packing in the postoperative care of FESS patients, regarding bleeding control, adhesion formation, wound healing, and overall patient comfort. Systematic literature review in Medline and other database sources until July 2013, and critical analysis of pooled data were conducted. Blinded prospective randomized control trials, prospective, and retrospective comparative studies were included in study selection. The total number of analyzed studies was 19. Placing packs in the middle meatus after endoscopic procedures does not seem to be harmful for postoperative patient care. Regarding the postoperative bleeding rate, absorbable packing is not superior to no postoperative packing (strength of recommendation A). Comparing absorbable to non-absorbable packing, the former one seems slightly more effective than the latter in the aforementioned domain (strength of recommendation C). Absorbable packing was also found more effective than non-absorbable packing as a means of reducing the postoperative adhesion rate (strength of recommendation B), and more effective in comparison with not placing any packing material at all (strength of recommendation C). Non-absorbable packing also proves more effective than no postoperative packing in preventing the appearance of such adhesions (strength of recommendation A). Absorbable packing is also more comfortable compared to non-absorbable materials (strength of recommendation A), or no postoperative packing in FESS patients (strength of recommendation B). The comparative analysis between the different packing modalities performed in the present study may help surgeons design a more individualized postoperative patient care.

Biphasic MO2+x-M3O8-z domain of the U-Pu-O phase diagram.

The reduction of six mixed-oxide samples containing 14, 24, 35, 46, 54, and 62 mol % Pu was studied in situ by X-ray diffraction. The samples were first oxidized in air and subsequently reduced in a controlled atmosphere corresponding to a stoichiometric composition with an O/M = 2.00. After oxidation, we observed two structures, one cubic and one orthorhombic, MO2+x and M3O8-z. The two phases were subsequently reduced back to their stoichiometric O/M = 2.00 in a controlled atmosphere. The plutonium contents of the two resulting cubic structures differed from the initial one. We conclude that strong cation transport took place during oxidation, according to the shape of the tie lines in the biphasic MO2+x/M4O9-M3O8-z domain. The resulting overall O/M after oxidation was estimated. We propose the shape of the tie lines in the aforementioned biphasic domain and suggest a maximal plutonium solubility in the M3O8 structure at 8 ± 2 mol % (Pu/U + Pu) at 1573 K.

Perception of quality of life among student population at the University of Tuzla

At the center of the research of the authors' study is the phrase 'quality of life', which they, at first, consider at a theoretical level and from a perspective of its potential adequate scope of thinking. Generally speaking, the concept of quality of life is used to evaluate general well-being of individuals, but also of societies. The authors study the quality of life primarily through the prism of bioethics, and it usually encompasses areas of physical and psychological health, level of independence, social relationships, personal context, religious dimension and personal beliefs. In the second part of this paper the authors examine practical implications of the understanding of this phrase among the student population at the University of Tuzla, i.e. the perception of the quality of life of students at this University. According to the conducted survey it is obvious that the students at the University of Tuzla have lower self-assessment of the quality of life, as well as of the overall quality of life expressed through the four domains according to Cummins' standards. The best answers students gave for the domain of physical health, although even for this aspect the threshold of Cummins' standards was barely reached. Then follow the indicators related to mental health and social domain. Regarding the quality of life the students showed the greatest dissatisfaction in the field of environment. Finally, the authors found that their hypothesis stating that the students at the University of Tuzla have a high quality of life, except in the aforementioned domain of physical health, has not been confirmed.