Exponential Progress Research Articles

Guest Editorial

Guest Editorial

Brain‐inspired computing

The inner workings of the brain as a biological information processing system remain largely a mystery to science. Yet there is a growing interest in applying what is known about the brain to the design of novel computing systems, in part to explore hypotheses of brain function, but also to see if brain-inspired approaches can point to novel computational systems capable of circumventing the limitations of conventional approaches, particularly in the light of the slowing of the historical exponential progress resulting from Moore's Law. Although there are, as yet, few compelling demonstrations of the advantages of such approaches in engineered systems, a number of large-scale platforms have been developed recently that promise to accelerate progress both in understanding the biology and in supporting engineering applications. SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network Architecture) is one such large-scale example, and much has been learnt in the design, development and commissioning of this machine that will inform future developments in this area.

Multicentric study of the effect of pre-analytical variables in the quality of plasma samples stored in biobanks using different complementary proteomic methods

Analytical proteomics has experienced exponential progress in the last decade and can be expected to lead research studies on diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in the near future. Because the development of this type of analysis requires the use of a large number of human samples with a minimum of quality requirements, our objective was to identify appropriate indicators for quality control of plasma samples stored in biobanks for research in proteomics. To accomplish this, plasma samples from 100 healthy donors were obtained and processed according to the pre-analytical variables of: a) time delay for the first centrifugation of the original blood sample (4 or 24h) and b) number of freeze/thaw cycles (1, 2 or 3) of the processed plasma samples. The analyses of samples were performed by different and complementary methods such as SPE MALDI-TOF, DIGE, shotgun (iTRAQ, nLC MALDI TOF/TOF) and targeted nLC MS/MS proteomic techniques (SRM). In general, because the distribution of proteins in all samples was found to be very similar, the results shown that delayed processing of blood samples and the number of freeze/thaw cycles has little or no effect on the integrity of proteins in the plasma samples. SignificanceThe results of the present work indicate that blood proteins in plasma are broadly insensitive to such preanalytical variables as delayed processing or freeze/thaw cycles when analyzed at the peptide level. Although there are other studies related to protein stability of clinical samples with similar results, what is remarkable about our work is the large number of plasma samples examined and that our analyses assessed protein integrity by combining a wide set of complementary proteomic approaches performed at different proteomic platform participating laboratories that all yielded similar results. We believe our study is the most comprehensive performed to date to determine the changes in proteins induced by delayed sample processing and plasma freeze/thaw cycles.

The ICT revolution, world economic growth, and policy issues

The ICT revolution fueled by the exponential progress of the semiconductor technology and the accelerated pace of globalization has become an important driver of economic growth across nations. In this rapidly changing landscape, the world economy is entering into a New Economic Order, in which developing Asia led by two fast-growing giant economies, China and India, will have much larger impacts on the world economy. This paper provides empirical evidence on these phenomena and highlights policy issues that deem important for a country to seize the ICT revolution for promoting economic growth.

Performance Evaluation of Contaminated Cohesive Soils

In recent years, due to exponential population growth and industrial progress, much of the air, water and land have become contaminated due to open dumps of municipal chemical and industrial wastes and effluents. All types of contamination have direct or indirect effects on ground soil properties. The oil, gas and petrochemical industry are considered as a potential source having complex and concentrated influence on the soil environment. The economic prosperity of a country is judged by its industrial capacity. Therefore, with more industries using more and more petroleum hydrocarbons as a fuel, the problems of soil pollution due to influence of industrial waste containing oils and greases has also increased. An analysis of the effects of the contaminated soil has to be carried out before any recommendation can be made for soil regarding its use in various construction activities. As the clays or colloids have so much surface area and are negatively charged at their outer particle perimeters, can attract and swell too many hundred times their original particle size with contaminants. Clayey soils also form a barrier and can trap hydrocarbons contaminants. The study was carried out by using engine oil as contaminant. The two types of clay samples (Natural clay and China clay + bentonite) with different plasticity were contaminated with different concentrations of engine oil ranging from 3% to 9% and the engineering properties of the soil samples were evaluated and compared.

Assessing acceptability of hypertensive/diabetic patients towards mobile health based behavioral interventions in Pakistan: A pilot study

IntroductionDiabetes and hypertension are prevalent chronic diseases among the general population of Pakistan with an exponential progress expected over the upcoming years. Mobile Health services can be an efficient method of helping curtail this rise and improve quality of life of such patients as proven in developed countries. We aim to assess the acceptability of using Mobile Health services among diabetic and hypertensive patients in Pakistan. MethodsA total of 100 patients were approached in a large tertiary care Government Hospital of Karachi, Pakistan, using a nonprobability convenient sampling technique. Co-authors conducted an interview based sampling of a modified questionnaire to each participant after consent. All data was recorded and analyzed on SPSS 16. ResultsA total of 100 patients participated in our study with 66 (66%) males and 34 (34%) females having a mean prevalence age of 54.27. All the 100 participants had easy access to cell phones with 88% participants (88/100) stating that they would be willing to participate in Mobile Health based interventions. A statistically significant number (p=0.014) of them preferred receiving phone calls (85.2%) rather than SMS (14.8%) reminders for these interventions. 85% of the participants even agreed to participate in such intervention on cash incentives. ConclusionThe use of phone call reminders or SMS reminders seems like an acceptable and favorable option among hypertensive and diabetic patients. This can greatly improve their self-management and help curtail this rise in the future.

The Multiple Lives of Moore's Law

A HalF Century Ago, a young engineer named Gordon E. Moore took a look at his fledgling industry and predicted big things to come in the decade ahead. In a four-page article in the trade magazine Electronics, he foresaw a future with home computers, mobile phones, and automatic control systems for cars. All these wonders, he wrote, would be driven by a steady doubling, year after year, in the number of circuit components that could be economically packed on an integrated chip. A decade later, the exponential progress of the integrated circuit-later dubbed "Moore's Law" - showed no signs of stopping. And today it describes a remarkable, 50-year-long winning streak that has given us countless forms of computers, personal electronics, and sensors. The impact of Moore's Law on modern life can't be overstated. We can't take a plane ride, make a call, or even turn on our dishwashers without encountering its effects. Without it, we would not have found the Higgs boson or created the Internet. But what exactly is Moore's Law, and why has it been so successful? Is it evidence of technology's inevitable and unstoppable march? Or does it simply reflect a unique time in engineering history, when the special properties of silicon and a steady series of engineering innovations conspired to give us a few decades of staggering computational progress?

Blinded by the light: why the treatment of metastatic melanoma has created a new paradigm for the management of cancer.

Until recently, treatment for metastatic melanoma was characterised by a limited availability of treatment options that offer objective survival benefit. Cytotoxic agents fundamentally lack the ability to achieve disease control and cytokine therapy with interleukin-2 has an unacceptably high - for the use across all patient cohorts - rate of toxicities. The validation of braf as an oncogene driving melanoma tumorigenesis, as well as the discovery of the role of CTLA-4 receptor in the evasion of anticancer immune response by melanoma, has revolutionised our treatment options against a disease with dismal prognosis. Quick implementation of translational discoveries brought about BRAF/MEK inhibition in clinic, while at the same time, wider experience with CTLA-4 blockade enabled clinicians to manage previously fatal immune-related toxicities with greater confidence. The suitability for clinical use of other oncogenic drivers such as NRAS and c-kit is currently being tested whilst the PD-1/PD-L1/PD-L2 axis has emerged as a new immunotherapy target with exciting early phase results. The recent exponential progress in treatment of melanoma has set an example of translational medicine and the current review aims to explain why, as well as suggesting new goals for the future.

Implementing genomics into healthcare

Genetic information has been used in the diagnosis and management of patients for many decades. Recently, exponential progress in understanding of the genetic basis of diseases and ability to rapidly and cheaply sequence the genome has begun to transform health care. However, the availability of a new test does not ensure its adoption by clinicians or optimal use of the information. Barriers to the use of genomics in health care have been identified in the domains of ethics, data management, interpretation and workforce. This presentation will introduce international and local approaches to addressing these barriers and optimising the use of genomics in clinical practice.

Inovações para que se democratize o acesso à energia, sem ampliar as emissões

O V relatório do IPCC (2014), em seu capítulo referente à Mitigação reconhece a permanência da desigualdade entre os países na ocupação do espaço carbono. Reverter esta desigualdade é, evidentemente, importante. Mas o foco estratégico do G77+China não pode ser este. O mais importante é criar as condições para que os extraordinários avanços recentes na capacidade de geração de energia elétrica de fontes renováveis e descentralizadas cheguem de maneira massiva aos países em desenvolvimento. Fortalecer as economias fósseis e construir hidrelétricas nocivas a ecossistemas preciosos e frágeis é perenizar um caminho de acesso à energia que, globalmente, está sendo superado. Para a América Latina, persistir neste caminho significa aprofundar a reprimarização de suas economias distanciando-as ainda mais da sociedade do conhecimento. A bolha de carbono, a depreciação dos ativos das empresas convencionais de energia, juntamente com o avanço exponencial na capacidade de geração descentralizada das renováveis abrem condições inéditas para que a democratização do acesso à energia, o avanço das inovações técnicas e sociais e o respeito aos limites ecossistêmicos estejam organicamente integrados.

Biomimetic Nanopores: A New Age of DNA Sequencing?

The discoveries about the central role of ion channels in the dynamics of neuronal excitability (resting membrane potential, depolarization, action potential, repolarization, and hyperpolarization) have been regarded as one of the greatest neuroscience breakthroughs of the 20th century. The English physiologists Hodgkin and Huxley from the University of Cambridge (8) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1963 for their pioneering studies on the basic biophysical principles of cell membranes, which established a solid theoretical framework for the next generation of experimental studies on the nature of neuronal conduction. Defective ion channels have been implicated in the pathophysiology of various neurologic diseases. Abnormal sodium channels have been identified in patients with epilepsy (14), multiple sclerosis (3), and neuropathic pain (12). Water channels (so-called aquaporins) have been shown to be involved in the etiology of some demyelinating diseases (e.g., neuromyelitis optica) (15) as well as in the induction of brain edema in several different scenarios (e.g., after traumatic brain injury, stroke, and subarachnoid hemorrhage) (6). Pathologic calcium channels have been regarded as playing a central role in the pathophysiology of different genetic hereditary neurological diseases, such as spinocerebellar ataxia, familial hemiplegic migraine (16), and possibly Alzheimer’s disease (24). In recent decades, the exponential progress in the technology of biocompatible nanomaterials has enabled the emergence of new perspectives for artificial manipulation of channels that regulate neural excitability by modulating the gradient of ions on both sides of the cellular membrane. Based on computational analysis and computational modeling of the basic biomolecular structure of such passageways, it has been possible to design both purely synthetic and synthetically modified biomolecules (the so-called biomimetic nanopores), which are able to closely reproduce the biochemical functions of their original counterparts (10). The first strategies to design artificial ion-selective membrane channels were quite primitive and consisted in ion (or electron)beam sculpting of tiny holes with a diameter of a few nanometers in freestanding silicon nitride or silicon dioxide films (11). Nevertheless, further technical refinements, such as the possibility of coating these rude synthetic membranes with a lipid bilayer, enabled researchers to build laminar structures with properties much more similar to those of natural cellular membranes. Finally, more recent studies have demonstrated that by grafting additional bioactive molecules to these artificial nanopores (from polymers to enzymes or single-stranded pieces of DNA), it is possible to modify them so that they become able to perform very selective functions. Using such a paradigm, several different types of “solid-state” nanopores (in opposition to “biological nanopores”), which closely mimic the biochemical properties of natural ion channels, have already been developed, including a zincactivated (20), a potassium-responsive (9), and a proton-reactive channel (25). By employing emerging frontline technologies in material engineering (such as graphene, a new atomic-scale carbon honeycomb lattice with unique electronic, optical, and quantum properties) (13), some groups have also explored the use of such membranes as ionic insulators which are capable of displaying different degrees of electronic conductivity depending on the transmembrane solution potentials (5). More recently, other researchers have shown that graphene sheets can be used to design biomimetic nanopores that display preferential selectivity to Naþ or Kþ depending on the functional groups that are attached to their walls (4 negatively charged carboxylate groups for a Naþselective biomimetic nanopore or 4 carbonyl groups for a Kþ-selective biomimetic nanopore) (7). By employing new emerging fluorescence imaging techniques, such as those developed by optogenetics, other groups have developed newmethods for single-molecule, super-resolutionmicroscopy that enable the study of the three-dimensional morphological features of nanopores (e.g., their width dimensions, degree of interchannel heterogeneity, and overall in situ porosity of nanochannel arrays) with an advanced imaging resolution up to 40 nm (4). A different strategy for the creation of biomimetic nanopores involves the design of cyclic peptide nanotubes that form artificial transmembrane channels capable of ion transport. It has already been shown that, depending on the size of such nanotubes, different ions (e.g., Liþ, Naþ, Rbþ, Cl ) or ion-water clusters may be inserted in such gateways, generating channels with very specific transportational properties (18). In addition, it has been demonstrated that the transport of ions through nanopores can be controlled by the addition of certain polymers to their walls, which, by exhibiting a temperature-dependent conformational transition, allows the creation of a gating effect (Figure 1) (26). A wide variety of artificial nanopores have already been designed, including nanotube-based biochannels (built either with

Molecular classification of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a complex, multifaceted disease encompassing a great variety of entities that show considerable variation in clinical, morphological and molecular attributes. Traditional classifications including histological assessment and clinical staging are used to guide patient management. In recent years, there has been exponential progress in molecular analysis with profound implications for our understanding of breast cancer biology and, hence, classification. There are now genome-based frameworks for the molecular categorisation of breast cancer including the development of prognostic and predictive signatures that potentially allow individualisation of treatment. Here we review the current state of the molecular classifications of in situ and invasive breast cancer including special subtypes. Future perspectives are also provided.

Cerebral mechanisms of general anesthesia

How does general anesthesia (GA) work? Anesthetics are pharmacological agents that target specific central nervous system receptors. Once they bind to their brain receptors, anesthetics modulate remote brain areas and end up interfering with global neuronal networks, leading to a controlled and reversible loss of consciousness. This remarkable manipulation of consciousness allows millions of people every year to undergo surgery safely most of the time. However, despite all the progress that has been made, we still lack a clear and comprehensive insight into the specific neurophysiological mechanisms of GA, from the molecular level to the global brain propagation. During the last decade, the exponential progress in neuroscience and neuro-imaging led to a significant step in the understanding of the neural correlates of consciousness, with direct consequences for clinical anesthesia. Far from shutting down all brain activity, anesthetics lead to a shift in the brain state to a distinct, highly specific and complex state, which is being increasingly characterized by modern neuro-imaging techniques. There are several clinical consequences and challenges that are arising from the current efforts to dissect GA mechanisms: the improvement of anesthetic depth monitoring, the characterization and avoidance of intra-operative awareness and post-anesthesia cognitive disorders, and the development of future generations of anesthetics.

Temperature and storing time influence on selected physical properties of milk and acidophilus milk

This article deals with thermophysical parameters as: temperature, thermal conductivity, diffusivity and rheologic parameters as: dynamic, kinematic viscosity and fluidity of milk and acidophilus milk. For thermophysical parameters measurements was used Hot Wire method and for rheologic parameters measurements was used single – spindle viscometer. In the first series of measurements we measured relations between thermophysical and rheologic parameters in temperature range (5–25) °C for milk and acidophilus milk. Relations of all physical parameters of milk to the temperature showed influence of relative fat content. Effect of storage on milk and acidophilus milk is shown in the text. All measured relations for milk and acidophilus milk during temperature stabilisation had linear increasing progress with high coefficients of determination in the range (0.991–0.998). It was shown that increasing relative fat content has decreasing influence on milk thermal conductivity. Relations of rheologic parameters as dynamic and kinematic viscosity to the temperature had decreasing exponential progress, while relation of fluidity to the temperature had increasing exponential shape with high coefficients of determination in the range (0.985–0.994).. Mathematical description of the dependencies is summarised by regression equations and all coefficients are in presented tables.

Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses of reinforced concrete buildings - comparison of different modelling approaches

It generally accepted that most building structures shall exhibit a nonlinear response when subjected to medium-high intensity earthquakes. It is currently known, however, that this phenomenon is not properly modelled in the majority of cases, especially at the design stage, where only simple linear methods have effectively been used. Recently, as a result of the exponential progress of computational tools, nonlinear modelling and analysis have gradually been brought to a more promising level. A wide range of modelling alternatives developed over the years is hence at the designer's disposal for the seismic design and assessment of engineering structures. The objective of the study presented herein is to test some of these models in an existing structure, and observe their performance in nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. This evaluation is done by the use of two of a known range of advanced computer programs: SAP2000 and SeismoStruct. The different models will focus on the element flexural mechanism with both lumped and distributed plasticity element models. In order to appraise the reliability and feasibility of each alternative, the programs capabilities and the amount of labour and time required for modelling and performing the analyses are also discussed. The results obtained show the difficulties that may be met, not only in performing nonlinear analyses, but also on their dependency on both the chosen nonlinear structural models and the adopted computer programs. It is then suggested that these procedures should only be used by experienced designers, provided that they are aware of these difficulties and with a critical stance towards the result of the analyses.

SETI, Evolution and Human History Merged into a Mathematical Model

AbstractIn this paper we propose a new mathematical model capable of merging Darwinian Evolution, Human History and SETI into a single mathematical scheme:(1) Darwinian Evolution over the last 3.5 billion years is defined as one particular realization of a certain stochastic process called Geometric Brownian Motion (GBM). This GBM yields the fluctuations in time of the number of species living on Earth. Its mean value curve is an increasing exponential curve, i.e. the exponential growth of Evolution.(2) In 2008 this author provided the statistical generalization of the Drake equation yielding the number N of communicating ET civilizations in the Galaxy. N was shown to follow the lognormal probability distribution.(3) We call “b-lognormals” those lognormals starting at any positive time b (“birth”) larger than zero. Then the exponential growth curve becomes the geometric locus of the peaks of a one-parameter family of b-lognormals: this is our way to re-define Cladistics.(4) b-lognormals may be also be interpreted as the lifespan of any living being (a cell, or an animal, a plant, a human, or even the historic lifetime of any civilization). Applying this new mathematical apparatus to Human History, leads to the discovery of the exponential progress between Ancient Greece and the current USA as the envelope of all b-lognormals of Western Civilizations over a period of 2500 years.(5) We then invoke Shannon's Information Theory. The b-lognormals' entropy turns out to be the index of “development level” reached by each historic civilization. We thus get a numerical estimate of the entropy difference between any two civilizations, like the Aztec-Spaniard difference in 1519.(6) In conclusion, we have derived a mathematical scheme capable of estimating how much more advanced than Humans an Alien Civilization will be when the SETI scientists will detect the first hints about ETs.

Vplyv skladovania a teploty na reologické a termofyzikálne vlastnosti vzoriek whisky

Temperature and storing time can be included between the most significant parameters that influence physical properties of food. This article deals with selected rheologic and thermophysical properties of alcohol drink whisky. Our research was oriented on measuring of rheologic and thermophysical characteristics of whisky. There were measured two types of whisky – Grant’s and Jim Beam from two different producers, both samples had 40 % of alcohol content. During the experiments were analyzed rheologic parameters as: dynamic viscosity, kinematic viscosity and fluidity and thermophysical parameters as: thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volume specific heat. Selected parameters were measured in temperature range (-5 – 27) °C. Measurements were done on whisky samples in different days during the storage. Measuring of dynamic viscosity was performed by digital rotational viscometer Anton Paar (DV-3P). Principle of measuring is based on dependency of sample resistance against the probe rotation. Density of whisky samples was determined by pycnometric method. Average density at given temperature along with dynamic viscosity value was used at calculation of kinematic viscosity and fluidity was also determined. Measuring of thermophysical parameters was performed by instrument Isomet 2104. Measurement by Isomet is based on analysis of the temperature response of the measured sample to heat flow impulses. Relations of rheologic and thermophysical parameters to the temperature were made and influence of storing time was discussed. From obtained results is clear that dynamic and kinematic viscosity is decreasing exponentially with temperature and fluidity has increasing exponential progress. We found out that both whisky samples had at the beginning and after one week of storage very similar values of rheologic parameters. Very small difference in rheologic parameters of whisky samples was found after two weeks of storing. Values of dynamic and kinematic viscosity were a bit higher and values of fluidity were a bit smaller after storing, that can be caused by loosening of the water during storage. Thermophysical parameters are increasing linearly with temperature for both whisky samples. Higher values of thermophysical parameters were in all cases obtained for whisky Grant’s.

Standardization of Electronic Medical Records of Patients

INTRODUCTION: to create a medical record for use specifies a breast cancer specialist, as recommended by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) and the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics (SBIS). We analyzed the recommendations of the CFM, SBIS and Brazilian Mastology (SBM), grounded in the relevant legal issues, in order to standardize and implement an Electronic Medical Record Medical facing the Specialty Mastology that would meet these norms, it was feasible and mainly accessible and practical for its users. We analyzed the recommendations of the CFM, SBIS and Brazilian Mastology (SBM), grounded in the relevant legal issues, in order to standardize and implement an Electronic Medical Record Medical facing the Specialty Mastology that would meet these norms, it was feasible and mainly accessible and practical for its users. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors institution has released some years ago developed software to replace paper medical records for “Electronic Patient Record” (PEP) in order to collect, manage, deliver and streamline the care of their customers. The selected software has been used by all medical specialties of the institution, in a tertiary care hospital of high complexity, by doctors from different profiles, knowledge and computer skills. The authors comment regarding the clear under-utilizing the potential of the software, plus a few scattered attempts mastologists, including this motivated to evaluate the feasibility of adapting existing programs, facilitating access to, more familiar to many users, which could be easily used and available to mastologists in their daily practice. RESULTS: Based on the author s experience, which uses 11 years ago, in his private clinic, PEP, the recommendations of the SBIS and CFM 1 2, we assessed how best to optimize the tools available, based on assumptions of a PEP 3: Standardized set of documents, ordered and concise, for the registration of medical care provided to patients and pramedicos; DISCUSSION: The results of the evaluation of software in focus showed that none met the prerequisites set out by legal entities normalizing of PEPs and / or did not attend the items proposed by the author (low cost, easy, friendly interface, compatibility with various operating systems, integration with virtual servers, sharing between groups, accessibility for the patient, “paper-free”, research support). CONCLUSION: Though we live in an era entirely digital, we see no resistance from medical professionals, but more from lack of stimulation, the use of paper records, letters with illegible prescriptions, big waste of time to fill the various documents and forms, increased risk of proceedings for lack of documentation of medical acts performed. In addition, the virtualization of information, where much of human knowledge is available “in cloud”, this gap in the medical field with the exponential progress of computer technology can only be deleted if the class entities in the specific case, SBM, take upon itself the role to develop and offer a practical tool for everyday use of mastologists, which will bring in its wake a huge differential, which is the formation of a giant database “online” and “on-time “.

Late Effects in Cancer Survivors: “The Shared Care Model”

Advances continue to be made in the field of pediatric oncology ever since treatment for childhood cancer began in 1948. Since then, there has been exponential progress in the care for children with cancer as reflected in the current survival rates, which approach 90%. With such incredible survival rates, the number of childhood cancer survivors has increased significantly, with present estimates being above 300,000 in the United States alone. This success has, however, not been without cost. Long-term studies of cancer survivors have brought to light specific adverse effects of therapy, which often present years after treatment is finished, termed “late effects.” Over the years, it has become apparent that monitoring for and treating these late effects of treatment is essential for the continuing health of young cancer survivors. It is now well recognized that childhood cancer survivors require long-term follow-up care given by an integrated team of qualified and invested specialty-care providers in collaboration with their primary caregivers. These teams deliver care using a risk-based approach, following a systematic plan for lifelong screening,surveillance, and prevention that incorporates risks based on the previous cancer, cancer therapy, genetic predispositions,lifestyle behaviors, and co-morbid health conditions.

Superexponential long-term trends in information technology

Moore's Law has created a popular perception of exponential progress in information technology. But is the progress of IT really exponential? In this paper we examine long time series of data documenting progress in information technology gathered by [1]. We analyze six different historical trends of progress for several technologies grouped into the following three functional tasks: information storage, information transportation (bandwidth), and information transformation (speed of computation). Five of the six datasets extend back to the nineteenth century. We perform statistical analyses and show that in all six cases one can reject the exponential hypothesis at statistically significant levels. In contrast, one cannot reject the hypothesis of superexponential growth with decreasing doubling times. This raises questions about whether past trends in the improvement of information technology are sustainable.