ALBERT

Description: ABSTRACT Daqingye and Banlangen are commonly used Chinese medicinal materials derived from the leaves and roots of Isatis indigotica Fort., respectively, which clinical effects have been confirmed by many studies in recent years. However, many problems have arisen concerning the quality and identity of materials sold in the market under these two names. Thus, the identification of Daqingye and Banlangen has drawn public attention. In this work, transverse sections of Daqingye and Banlangen from I . indigotica Fort. and two easily confused species, namely Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek. and Clerodendrum cyrtophyllum Turcz., were investigated with normal light and fluorescence microscopy. The distinguishing features were 7–9 vascular bundles, cystoliths and nonglandular hairs in the leaves of I . indigotica , B . cusia , and C . cyrtophyllum , respectively. The Banlangen could be distinguished according to the characteristics of parenchymous cells, cystoliths, and stone cells. Moreover, the fluorescence features of Daqingye and Banlangen investigated in this study can provide direct points for differentiating those samples. Importantly, whether the crude drugs were decocted could be easily identified by their different fluorescence features, which can ensure their quality in clinical application. This is the first report to distinguish the three species that are commonly found in the market sold as Daqingye and Banlangen by normal light and fluorescence microscopy. This work indicates that the combination of normal light and fluorescence microscopy could be powerful, convenient, and economical for authenticating Daqingye and Banlangen from the three species, including crude drugs and decoction dregs. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Atomic force microscopy (AFM) proved to be able to obtain high-resolution three-dimensional images of single-membrane proteins, isolated, crystallized, or included in reconstructed model membranes. The extension of this technique to native systems, such as the protein immersed in a cell membrane, needs a careful manipulation of the biological sample to meet the experimental constraints for high-resolution AFM imaging. In this article, a general protocol for sample preparation is presented, based on the mechanical stretch of the cell membrane. The effectiveness for AFM imaging has been tested on the basis of an integrated optical and AFM approach and the proposed method has been applied to cells expressing cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, a channel involved in cystic fibrosis, showing the possibility to identify and analyze single proteins in the plasma membrane. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT It is well known that estrogen is neuroprotective through various mechanisms which suggest that sex hormone levels, thrombotic mechanisms, and inflammatory processes are strongly interconnected in predicting the outcome and consequences of cerebral ischemia. Because platelet ultrastructure is altered in conditions like thrombosis and associated with stroke, the question arises whether ultrastructural analyses of platelet morphology may provide further insight into the role of estrogen during ischemic insult. In the current study, a hyperglycemic modification to the two-vessel occlusion model for inducing experimental cerebral ischemia was employed, in order to correlate neural tissue integrity levels between three experimental groups to corresponding platelet ultrastructure so as to determine whether there is an association between cerebral ischemia and the presence of inflammatory or necrotic platelet ultrastructure. It is apparent in the results that under the influence of estrogen in cyclic or intact females, there is lesser neural tissue damage as well as a reduced degree of inflammation evident in platelet activation morphology when compared to males and acyclic or ovariectomized females. It is unmistakable that neural injury is closely shadowed, if not preceded, by inflammatory changes in the coagulation system, particularly manifested in platelet ultrastructure. It is therefore suggested that platelets may indeed be used successfully to follow the progression of events of cerebral ischemia and possibly assist in the assessment of treatment strategies and their effects on hemostasis. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The suffix tree is an extremely important data structure in bioinformatics. Classical implementations require much space, which renders them useless to handle large sequence collections. Recent research has obtained various compressed representations for suffix trees, with widely different space-time tradeoffs. In this paper we show how the use of range min-max trees yields novel representations achieving practical space/time tradeoffs. In addition, we show how those trees can be modified to index highly repetitive collections, obtaining the first compressed suffix tree representation that effectively adapts to that scenario.

Description: ABSTRACT We examined CD133 distribution in a human hepatoblastoma cell line (HuH-6 clone 5). We directly observed the cultured cells on a pressure-resistant thin film (silicon nitride thin film) in a buffer solution by using the newly developed atmospheric scanning electron microscope (ASEM), which features an open sample dish with a silicon nitride thin film window at its base, through which the scanning electron microscope beam scans samples in solution, from below. The ASEM enabled observation of the ventral cell surface, which could not be observed using standard SEM. However, observation of the dorsal cell surface was difficult with the ASEM. Therefore, we developed a new method to observe the dorsal side of cells by using Aclar® plastic film. In this method, cells are cultured on Aclar plastic film and the dorsal side of cells is in contact with the thin silicon nitride film of the ASEM dish. A preliminary study using the ASEM showed that CD133 was mainly localized in membrane ruffles in the peripheral regions of the cell. Standard transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed that CD133 was preferentially concentrated in a complex structure comprising filopodia and the leading edge of lamellipodia. We also observed co-localization of CD133 with F-actin. An antibody against CD133 decreased cell migration. Methyl-β-cyclodextrin treatment decreased cell adhesion as well as lamellipodium and filopodium formation. A decrease in the cholesterol level may perturb CD133 membrane localization. The results suggest that CD133 membrane localization plays a role in tumor cell adhesion and migration. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Data storage is a major and growing part of IT budgets for research since manyyears. Especially in biology, the amount of raw data products is growing continuously,and the advent of the so-called "next-generation" sequencers has made things worse.Affordable prices have pushed scientists to massively sequence whole genomes and to screenlarge cohort of patients, thereby producing tons of data as a side effect. The need formaximally fitting data into the available storage volumes has encouraged and welcomednew compression algorithms and tools. We focus here on state-of-the-art compression toolsand measure their compression performance on ABI SOLiD data.

Description: In biology, the notion of degenerate pattern plays a central role for describing various phenomena. For example, protein active site patterns, like those contained in the PROSITE database, e.g., [FY ]DPC[LIM][ASG]C[ASG], are, in general, represented by degenerate patterns with character classes. Researchers have developed several approaches over the years to discover degenerate patterns. Although these methods have been exhaustively and successfully tested on genomes and proteins, their outcomes often far exceed the size of the original input, making the output hard to be managed and to be interpreted by refined analysis requiring manual inspection. In this paper, we discuss a characterization of degenerate patterns with character classes, without gaps, and we introduce the concept of pattern priority for comparing and ranking different patterns. We define the class of underlying patterns for filtering any set of degenerate patterns into a new set that is linear in the size of the input sequence. We present some preliminary results on the detection of subtle signals in protein families. Results show that our approach drastically reduces the number of patterns in output for a tool for protein analysis, while retaining the representative patterns.

Description: As the internet has become an integral part of everyday life, it is understood that patterns of racial stereotyping and discrimination found in the offline world are often reproduced online. In our paper, we examine two exclusionary practices in an online environment for adult toy collectors: First, the exclusion of non-white individuals who are expected to form immediate friendships with other non-white members; and second, the essentializing of racial issues when concerns over the lack of racial diversity in the toys are discussed. This dismissal is often directly connected to non-white members’ decisions to no longer participate, resulting in a new form of segregation within virtual space.

Description: Energy saving in networks has traditionally focussed on reducing battery consumption through smart wireless network design. Recently, researchers have turned their attention to the energy cost and carbon emissions of the backbone network that both fixed and mobile communications depend on, proposing primarily mechanisms that turn equipments OFF or put them into deep sleep. This is an effective way of saving energy, provided that the nodes can return to working condition quickly, but it introduces increased delays and packet losses that directly affect the quality of communication experienced by the users. Here we investigate the associated tradeoffs between power consumption and quality of service in backbone networks that employ deep sleep energy savings. We examine these tradeoffs by conducting experiments on a real PC-based network topology, where nodes are put into deep sleep at random times and intervals, resulting in a continuously changing network with reduced total power consumption. The average power consumption, the packet loss and the average delay of this network are examined with respect to the average value of the ON rate and the ON/OFF cycle of the nodes.

Description: In the stable marriage problem, any instance admits the so-called man-optimal stable matching, in which every man is assigned the best possible partner. However, there are instances for which all men receive low-ranked partners even in the man-optimal stable matching. In this paper we consider the problem of improving the man-optimal stable matching by changing only one man’s preference list. We show that the optimization variant and the decision variant of this problem can be solved in time O(n3) and O(n2), respectively, where n is the number of men (women) in an input. We further extend the problem so that we are allowed to change k men’s preference lists. We show that the problem is W[1]-hard with respect to the parameter k and give O(n2k+1)-time and O(nk+1)-time exact algorithms for the optimization and decision variants, respectively. Finally, we show that the problems become easy when k = n; we give O(n2.5 log n)-time and O(n2)-time algorithms for the optimization and decision variants, respectively.

Description: In this contribution, a generic two-phase stochastic variable neighborhood approach is applied to nurse rostering problems. The proposed algorithm is used for creating feasible and efficient nurse rosters for many different nurse rostering cases. In order to demonstrate the efficiency and generic applicability of the proposed approach, experiments with real-world input data coming from many different nurse rostering cases have been conducted. The nurse rostering instances used have significant differences in nature, structure, philosophy and the type of hard and soft constraints. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm performs better than six different existing approaches applied to the same nurse rostering input instances using the same evaluation criteria. In addition, in all cases, it manages to reach the best-known fitness achieved in the literature, and in one case, it manages to beat the best-known fitness achieved till now.

Description: ABSTRACT To determine whether the geometrical accuracy of small printed elements does not worsen on recycled paper, microscopic analysis of the dot area and the graphic elements raggedness printed on different types of recycled and coated papers at different screen ruling was carried out. Experimental tests have shown that geometrical accuracy of small elements printed on recycled paper/cardboard, in comparison to pictures printed on primary production paper is almost the same. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In this study, microstructural characterization of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, subjected to the duplex surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT)/nitriding treatment, leading to improve its mechanical properties, was carried out through novel and original samples preparation methods. Instead of acid etching which is limited for morphological characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), an original ion polishing method was developed. Moreover, for structural characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), an ion milling method based with the use of two ions guns was also carried out for cross-section preparation. To demonstrate the efficiency of the two developed methods, morphological investigations were done by traditional SEM and field emission gun SEM. This was followed by structural investigations through selected area electron diffraction (SAED) coupled with TEM and X-ray diffraction techniques. The results demonstrated that ionic polishing allowed to reveal a variation of the microstructure according to the surface treatment that could not be observed by acid etching preparation. TEM associated to SAED and X-ray diffraction provided information regarding the nanostructure compositional changes induced by the duplex SMAT/nitriding process. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the erosive potential of hydrogen peroxide (HP) containing mouthwash on dentin assessed by Focus variation three-dimensional (3D) microscopy. Twenty dentin slabs were selected and randomly allocated into two groups ( n = 10): DW—Distilled water (pH = 7.27) and HP—1.5% (pH = 3.78). Each specimen was cyclically demineralized (4 × 60 s/day, 10 days) with HP or DW and brushed 3×/day (200 g, 150 strokes—toothpaste with 1,450 ppmF as NaF). Between the challenges, the specimens were exposed to artificial saliva. Afterward, dentin loss was analyzed using focus variation 3D microscopy, and the data were submitted to unpaired t -test (α = 0.05). Statistically significant difference was found between the mean wear rate (μm, ±SD) of HP (1.98 ± 0.51) and DW (1.45 ± 0.39). The results suggest that the use of HP-containing mouthwash associated to brushing may increase the risk of tissue loss and focus variation 3D microscopy may be used as a technique for quantifying dental wear. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The poultry industry is a sector of agribusiness which represents an important role in the country's agricultural exports. Therefore, the study about embryogenesis of the domestic chicken ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) has a great economic importance. The aim of this study was to evaluate embryonic development of the endoderm in chicken ( Gallus gallus domesticus ). Forty fertilized eggs of domestic chickens, starting from the 1st day of gestation and so on until the 19 days of the incubation were collected from the Granja São José (Amparo, SP, Brazil). Embryos and fetus were fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution, identified, weighed, measured, and subjected to light and scanning electron microscopy. The endoderm originates the internal lining epithelium of the digestive, immune, respiratory systems, and the organs can be visualized from the second day (48 h) when the liver is formed. The formation of the digestive system was complete in the 12th day. Respiratory system organs begin at the fourth day as a disorganized tissue and undifferentiated. Their complete differentiation was observed at the 10 days of incubation, however, until the 19 days the syrinx was not observed. The formation of immune system at 10th day was observed with observation of the spleen, thymus, and cloacal bursa. The study of the organogenesis of the chicken based on germ layers is very complex and underexplored, and the study of chicken embryology is very important due the economic importance and growth of the use of this animal model studies such as genetic studies. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Lignocellulosic plant cell wall is considered a potential source for second generation biofuels. The plant cell wall is a highly complex structure mainly composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin that form a network of crosslinked fibers. The structural organization of the sugarcane cell wall has not been previously analyzed in detail, and this analysis is a prerequisite for further studies on the recalcitrance and deconstruction of its biomass. In this work, cellulose and lignin localization were investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy. In addition, the internode sugarcane cell wall structural organization was analyzed by electron microscopy. Internode stem anatomy showed a typical monocot structure consisting of epidermis, hypoderm, and vascular bundles scattered throughout ground parenchyma tissue and surrounded by sclerenchyma fibers. Confocal images of safranin labeled sugarcane showed that lignin distribution was predominant in the vessel elements, cell wall corners (CC), and middle lamella (ML), while cellulose-rich cell walls were randomly distributed in the ML and organized in the other cell wall layers. KMnO 4 cytochemistry revealed that lignin was predominantly distributed in secondary cell walls, ML and CC. Cell wall sublayers (S1, S2, and S3) were identified and measured by transmission electron microscopy. Our results provide insights that may help further understanding of sugarcane cell wall organization, which is crucial for the research and technology of plant-based biofuel production. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) projects and their crowdsourced data have been the focus of a number of scientific analyses and investigations in recent years. Oftentimes the results show that the collaboratively collected geodata of one of the most popular VGI projects, OpenStreetMap (OSM), provides good coverage in urban areas when considering particular completeness factors. However, results can potentially vary significantly for different world regions. In this article, we conduct an analysis to determine similarities and differences in data contributions and community development in OSM between 12 selected urban areas of the world. Our findings showed significantly different results in data collection efforts and local OSM community sizes. European cities provide quantitatively larger amounts of geodata and number of contributors in OSM, resulting in a better representation of the real world in the dataset. Although the number of volunteers does not necessarily correlate with the general population density of the urban areas, similarities could be detected while comparing the percentage of different contributor groups and the number of changes they made to the OSM project. Further analyses show that socio-economic factors, such as income, can have an impact on the number of active contributors and the data provided in the analyzed areas. Furthermore, the results showed significant data contributions by members whose main territory of interest lies more than one thousand kilometers from the tested areas.

Description: ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to investigate the pecten oculi of stork by using macroscopic, light and electron microscopic techniques. A total of 20 eyes that were obtained from 10 storks were used. The eyes were cleaned and isolated by dissection. After various procedures, four of the pecten oculi were examined by light microscope while the other four with an electron microscope. The remaining 12 eyes were assigned for macroscopic investigation. Pecten oculi of the stork were determined as accordion-like structures that originated from n. opticus, consisting of 15–17 plica and projecting up to 2/5 of the diameter of the bulbus oculi. Light microscopic examination revealed two types of blood vessels. Afferent–efferent vessels were larger in diamater (40–45 µm), fewer in numbers, and the capillary vessels were smaller in diamater (2–5 µm) and more in numbers. There were granules including amount of melanin pigment at the apical part of the pleats. These granules were fewer and scattered randomly on the basal part of the pleats. As a result, pecten oculi in the stork, which is a migrating bird, were determined to be similar to those of other diurnal birds. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Rooted triplets are becoming one of the most important types of input for reconstructing rooted phylogenies. A rooted triplet is a phylogenetic tree on three leaves and shows the evolutionary relationship of the corresponding three species. In this paper, we investigate the problem of inferring the maximum consensus evolutionary tree from a set of rooted triplets. This problem is known to be APX-hard. We present two new heuristic algorithms. For a given set of m triplets on n species, the FastTree algorithm runs in O(m + α(n)n2) time, where α(n) is the functional inverse of Ackermann’s function. This is faster than any other previously known algorithms, although the outcome is less satisfactory. The Best Pair Merge with Total Reconstruction (BPMTR) algorithm runs in O(mn3) time and, on average, performs better than any other previously known algorithms for this problem.

Description: ABSTRACT This study represents the first definitive anatomical description of the tongue and lingual papillae of the pampas deer and compares the different information on the morphology of the other ruminant species available in the literature. In this study, the tongues of four adult and one fetal deer were used. The tongue was elongated with an oval or rounded apex. The filiform papillae on the lingual apex were smaller than the ones on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the lingual body. Two very thin secondary papillary projections were found to emerge from the bilateral sides of some filiform papillae. Spherical fungiform papillae were randomly distributed among filiform papillae on dorsal surface of the lingual body and ventral surface of the apex. More developed conical papillae were observed in the caudal half of the lingual torus, whereas the rostral half of the torus had smaller conical papillae. Each conical papilla included shallow longitudinal groove on its anterior surface and some conical papillae on the lingual torus had bifid sharp apices. On the caudal portion of the torus, we also observed a few fungiform papillae, which were larger than those located on the lingual body. There were no lenticular papillae on the lingual torus, and five to nine round or oval circumvallate papillae were situated on each caudolateral side of the lingual torus. Morphological features of the tongue in the pampas deer were more similar to wild ruminant species than they were to domestic species. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Quantitative fluorescence microscopy is severely hindered by intrinsic autofluorescence (AF). Endogenous fluorescent molecules in tissue and cell samples emit fluorescence that often dominates signals from specific dyes. This makes AF removal critical to the development and practice of quantitative fluorescence microscopy. In this study, we showed that AF signal could be separated from specific signal using a customized filter set. The filter set used the same excitation and beam splitter as the standard filter set, but the emission filter was red-shifted 40–60 nm from the peak of the specific dye. This filter set configuration collected mostly AF with minimum contribution from the specific dye. A linear transformation of AF images was required to correct for the difference in exposure and filter configuration. The constants (slope and intercept) in linear transformation were obtained through a pixel to pixel comparison between AF images (no staining) obtained by the standard filter set and the customized AF filter set. After staining of specific dye, the standard filter collecting target dye spectra was used to capture both target signal and AF, whereas customized filter was used to capture only AF. AF removal was accomplished by subtracting the linear transformed AF image from the image obtained from the standard filter. To validate our approach, we examined weak staining of androgen receptor in an AF abundant prostate tissue sample. Our method revealed a similar but cleaner nuclear staining of androgen receptor in a specimen, when compared to a traditional autofluorescence removal method. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT One of the fundamental problems in the analysis of single particle tracking data is the detection of individual particle positions from microscopy images. Distinguishing true particles from noise with a minimum of false positives and false negatives is an important step that will have substantial impact on all further analysis of the data. A common approach is to obtain a plausible set of particles from a larger set of candidate particles by filtering using manually selected threshold values for intensity, size, shape, and other parameters describing a particle. This introduces subjectivity into the analysis and hinders reproducibility. In this paper, we introduce a method for automatic selection of these threshold values based on maximizing temporal correlations in particle count time series. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo to find the threshold values corresponding to the maximum correlation, and we study several experimental data sets to assess the performance of the method in practice by comparing manually selected threshold values from several independent experts with automatically selected threshold values. We conclude that the method produces useful results, reducing subjectivity and the need for manual intervention, a great benefit being its easy integratability into many already existing particle detection algorithms. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: A key property of overlay networks is the overlay nodes’ ability to establish connections (or be matched) to other nodes by preference, based on some suitability metric related to, e.g., the node’s distance, interests, recommendations, transaction history or available resources. When there are no preference cycles among the nodes, a stable matching exists in which nodes have maximized individual satisfaction, due to their choices, however no such guarantees are currently being given in the generic case. In this work, we employ the notion of node satisfaction to suggest a novel modeling for matching problems, suitable for overlay networks. We start by presenting a simple, yet powerful, distributed algorithm that solves the many-to-many matching problem with preferences. It achieves that by using local information and aggregate satisfaction as an optimization metric, while providing a guaranteed convergence and approximation ratio. Subsequently, we show how to extend the algorithm in order to support and adapt to changes in the nodes’ connectivity and preferences. In addition, we provide a detailed experimental study that focuses on the levels of achieved satisfaction, as well as convergence and reconvergence speed.

Description: We develop an efficient multicore algorithm, PMS6MC, for the (l; d)-motif discovery problem in which we are to find all strings of length l that appear in every string of a given set of strings with at most d mismatches. PMS6MC is based on PMS6, which is currently the fastest single-core algorithm for motif discovery in large instances. The speedup, relative to PMS6, attained by our multicore algorithm ranges from a high of 6.62 for the (17,6) challenging instances to a low of 2.75 for the (13,4) challenging instances on an Intel 6-core system. We estimate that PMS6MC is 2 to 4 times faster than other parallel algorithms for motif search on large instances.

Description: The stable matching problem (also known as the stable marriage problem) is a well-known problem of matching men to women, so that no man and woman, who are not married to each other, both prefer each other. Such a problem has a wide variety of practical applications, ranging from matching resident doctors to hospitals, to matching students to schools or, more generally, to any two-sided market. In the classical stable marriage problem, both men and women express a strict preference order over the members of the other sex, in a qualitative way. Here, we consider stable marriage problems with weighted preferences: each man (resp., woman) provides a score for each woman (resp., man). Such problems are more expressive than the classical stable marriage problems. Moreover, in some real-life situations, it is more natural to express scores (to model, for example, profits or costs) rather than a qualitative preference ordering. In this context, we define new notions of stability and optimality, and we provide algorithms to find marriages that are stable and/or optimal according to these notions. While expressivity greatly increases by adopting weighted preferences, we show that, in most cases, the desired solutions can be found by adapting existing algorithms for the classical stable marriage problem. We also consider the manipulability properties of the procedures that return such stable marriages. While we know that all procedures are manipulable by modifying the preference lists or by truncating them, here, we consider if manipulation can occur also by just modifying the weights while preserving the ordering and avoiding truncation. It turns out that, by adding weights, in some cases, we may increase the possibility of manipulating, and this cannot be avoided by any reasonable restriction on the weights.

Description: ABSTRACT Tau is a microtubule-associated protein mainly found in neurons. The protein is associated with process of microtubule assembly, which plays an important role in intracellular transport and cell structure of the neuron. Tauopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases specifically associated with tau abnormalities. While a well-defined mechanism remains unknown, most facts point to tau as a prominent culprit in neurodegeneration. In most cases of Tauopathies, aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau have been found. Two proposals are present when discussing tau toxicity, one being the aggregation of tau proteins and the other points toward a conformational change within the protein. Previous work we carried out showed tau hyperphosphorylation promotes tau to behave abnormally resulting in microtubule assembly disruption as well as a breakdown in tau self-assembly. We found that tau's N-terminal region has a putative site for ATP/GTP binding. In this paper we demonstrate that tau is able to bind ATP and not GTP, that this binding induces tau self-assembly into filaments. At 1 mM ATP the filaments are 4–7 nm in width, whereas at 10 mM ATP the filaments appeared to establish lateral interaction, bundling and twisting, forming filaments that resembled the Paired Helical Filaments (PHF) isolated from Alzheimer disease brain. ATP-induced self-assembly is not energy dependent because the nonhydrolysable analogue of the ATP induces the same assembly. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: We address the numerical solution of Lyapunov, algebraic and differential Riccati equations, via the matrix sign function, on platforms equipped with general-purpose multicore processors and, optionally, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). In particular, we review the solvers for these equations, as well as the underlying methods, analyze their concurrency and scalability and provide details on their parallel implementation. Our experimental results show that this class of hardware provides sufficient computational power to tackle large-scale problems, which only a few years ago would have required a cluster of computers.

Description: ABSTRACT To overcome the loss of structural integrity when eyeball sections are prepared by wax embedding, we experimentally modified the routine histological procedure and report satisfactorily well-preserved antero-posterior sections of whole eyeballs for teaching/learning purposes. Presently histological sections of whole eyeballs are not readily available because substantial structural distortions attributable to variable consistency of tissue components (and their undesired differential shrinkage) result from routine processing. Notably, at the dehydration stage of processing, the soft, gel-like vitreous humor considerably shrinks relative to the tough fibrous sclera causing collapse of the ocular globe. Additionally, the combined effects of fixation, dehydration, and embedding at 60°C renders the eye lens too hard for microtome slicing at thicknesses suitable for light microscopy. We satisfactorily preserved intact antero-posterior sections of eyeballs via routine paraffin wax processing procedure entailing two main modifications; (i) careful needle aspiration of vitreous humor and replacement with molten wax prior to wax infiltration; (ii) softening of lens in trimmed wax block by placing a drop of concentrated liquid phenol on it for 3 h during microtomy. These variations of the routine histological method produced intact whole eyeball sections with retinal detachment as the only structural distortion. Intact sections of the eyeball obtained compares well with the laborious, expensive, and 8-week long celloidin method. Our method has wider potential usability than costly freeze drying method which requires special skills and equipment (cryotome) and does not produce whole eyeball sections. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The progressive consolidation of information technologies on a large scale has been facilitating and progressively increasing the production, collection, and diffusion of geographic data, as well as facilitating the integration of a large amount of external information into geographic information systems (GIS). Traditional GIS is transforming into a consolidated information infrastructure. This consolidated infrastructure is affecting more and more aspects of internet computing and services. Most popular systems (such as social networks, GPS, and decision support systems) involve complex GIS and significant amounts of information. As a web service, GIS is affected by exactly the same problems that affect the web as a whole. Therefore, next generation GIS solutions have to address further methodological and data engineering challenges in order to accommodate new applications’ extended requirements (in terms of scale, interoperability, and complexity). The conceptual and semantic modeling of GIS, as well as the integration of semantics into current GIS, provide highly expressive environments that are capable of meeting the needs and requirements of a wide range of applications.

Description: ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the biocompatibility of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) Bio and Portland cement (PC) and compare with those of ProRoot MTA. Polyethylene tubes were filled with materials and placed into dorsal subcutaneous connective tissue of Wistar albino rats. After 7, 30, and 60 days after the surgical procedure, the implants with the surrounding tissue were removed. Tissue samples were subjected to histological processing, and sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Sections were evaluated for the intensity of inflammation, predominant cell type, presence of fibrous capsule and granulation tissue. Data were submitted to Kruskal-Wallis test at a significant level of P ≤ 0.05. No statistical differences were observed at any evaluated condition among tested materials ( P 〉 0.05). Statistically significant differences were observed between mean inflammatory scores, cell types and granulation tissue of the same material in different experimental periods ( P 〈 0.05). Can be concluded that biocompatibility of MTA bio and PC were comparable with that of ProRoot MTA. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Platelet adhesion is one of the most pivotal events of blood clotting for artificial surfaces. However, the mechanisms of surface-induced platelet activation have not been fully been elucidated or visualized so far. In this study, we attempted to observe the internal structures and adhesion interfaces of human platelets attached to artificial surfaces by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) during the platelet activation process. We prepared observation samples by a conventional embedding method using EPON 812 resin. The sectioning was sliced perpendicular to the a-platelet/material interface. Observation by TEM indicates that internal granules coalesce in the center of the platelet accompanied by pseudopodial growth in the early stage of platelet activation. Pseudopodia from a platelet attach to the material interface not along a plane but at a point. In addition, along with the process of platelet activation, the gap between the platelet membrane and the material surface at the interface disappeared and a-platelet/material adhesion became much tighter. In the fully activated platelet stage, the platelet becomes thinner and tightly adheres to the substrate. As a result of comparative observation of an adherent platelet on polycarbonate (PC) and on amorphous carbon (a-C:H), it was found that internal granules release was inhibited more remarkably on a-C:H coating rather than on PC. Despite numerous technical difficulties in preparing sectional samples, such a study might prove the essential mechanism of biomaterial-related thrombosis, and it might become possible to modify the surfaces of materials to minimize material-related thrombosis. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In a previous study, the dislocations in Fe 30 Ni 20 Mn 25 Al 25 (at. %), which consist of 50 nm wide alternating b.c.c. and B2 phases, were shown to have a/2〈111〉 Burgers vectors after room temperature deformation. The dislocations were found to glide in pairs on both {110} and {112} slip planes and were relatively widely separated in the b.c.c. phase, where the dislocations were uncoupled, and closely spaced in the B2 phase, where the dislocations were connected by an anti-phase boundary. In this article, we analyze the dislocations in the two ∼5 nm-wide B2 phases in a related two-phase alloy Fe 30 Ni 20 Mn 20 Al 30 , with compositions Fe-23Ni-21Mn-24Al and Fe-39Ni-12Mn-34Al, compressed to ∼3% strain at a strain rate 5 × 10 −4 s −1 at 873 K (the lowest temperature at which substantial plastic flow was observed). It is shown that slip occursby the glide of a 〈100〉 dislocations. A review of the literature suggests that the differences in the observed slip vector between these B2 phases could be due to the differences in composition, differences in deformation temperature, or possibly both. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The diaphragm is the main respiratory muscle. Along with other respiratory muscles, the diaphragm is responsible for the muscular contraction that generates the respiratory cycle and, as a consequence, the gaseous interchanges in the lungs. Guinea pigs ( Cavia porcellus Linnaeus 1758) are largely used as experimental animals in many biology applications due to their easy management, low cost, and docile behavior. As the diaphragm exerts important effects on lung physiology and function, this study aimed at investigating the morphological characteristics of the muscle, through macroscopic, microscopic, and scanning electron microscopy to add reference data for future studies. We observed a “U”-shaped tendineous center and its morphology was similar to other mammals. These results cooperate with the descriptive and comparative anatomy of mammals, besides can be used as control data for areas of surgery and stem cells. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different activation protocols for chelating agents used after chemo-mechanical preparation (CMP), for smear layer (SL) removal. Forty-five single-rooted human premolars with straight canals and fully formed apex were selected. The specimens were randomly divided into three groups depending on the chelating agent used for smear layer removal: distilled water (DW, control group); 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); and 10% citric acid (CA). Each group was further divided into three subgroups according to the activation protocol used: no-activation (NA), manual dynamic activation (MDA), or sonic activation (SA). After CMP, all specimens were sectioned and processed for observation of the apical thirds by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Two calibrated evaluators attributed scores to each specimen. The differences between activation protocols were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used for comparison between each root canal third. When chelating agents were activated, either by MDA or SA, it was obtained the best cleaning results with no significant difference between EDTA and CA ( P 〉 0.05). Sonic activation showed the best results when root canal thirds were analyzed, in comparison to MDA and NA groups ( P 〈 0.05). The activation of chelating agents, independent of the protocol used, benefits smear layer removal from root canals. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT This study investigated the relationship among heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and testicular apoptosis during a breeding cycle of Prochilodus argenteus , a neotropical migratory characiform fish of importance in commercial fishery from the São Francisco River basin. A total of 48 (12 fish/sampling) adult males were caught using casting and drifting nets in four samplings from June 2008 to March 2009. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and caspase-3 colorimetric assay were assessed in different phases of spermatogenesis. Labeling for HSP70 occurred in spermatogonia (SPG A 18.0±1.5 and SPG B 27.9±1.0 in 100 mm 2 , respectively) and Sertoli cells in all sampling periods, with higher values in June (resting period) while spermatocytes were labeled in September (maturation period) and December (ripe period). For PCNA, immunoreaction was predominant in spermatogonia in June and September, while primary spermatocytes were labeled mainly in December (18.7±2.0). TUNEL-positive reaction occurred throughout the sampling periods, and labeling was detected in the nucleus of germ cells in all developmental phases, except spermatozoa. By ELISA, total HSP70 in testis increased significantly from June to December, and decreased in March (regression period), P 〈0.05. Caspase-3 activity decreased from June to December and increased in March. Taken together, our results suggest that HSP70 may protect the germ cells from caspase-3-dependent apoptosis during testicular activity and, reduction of HSP70 and increase of apoptosis contribute for testicular remodeling after the breeding season in wild populations of P. argenteus in the São Francisco River. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT This study aims to describe the morphology of Didelphis sp. male genital organs (penis, testes, epididymis, ductus deferens, prostate, and bulbourethral gland). Ten male animals were used, eight for macroscopic and light microscopy analysis, and two for scanning electron microscopy. The testes and epididymis showed similarity to other eutherian mammals. The bifid penis showed the urethra ending in the medial region where the bifurcation begins, occurring in each segment extension of the urethral groove until the beginning of the glans. Histologically, the penis consists of a cavernous and spongy body, covered by stratified squamous epithelium with loose connective tissue. The urethra was lined by transitional stratified epithelium. In the prostate, prostatic segments were found consisting of tubular glands in a radial arrangement around the urethra, coated externally by a dense connective tissue associated with a relatively thick layer of smooth muscle arranged in two layers that surround the glandular tissue. The animals had three pairs of bulbourethral glands placed at the membranous and cavernous urethra junction with descending and parallel excretory ducts ending caudally in the urethral lumen. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The objective was to characterize and associate the receptor reactivities of fibroblastic growth factor (FGF)-2, FGF-7, FGF-8, epidermal growth factor (EGF), α-actin and vimentin in relation to the androgen receptor (AR), α and β estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ), and prolactin receptor in the prostate of elderly men showing low- and high-grade adenocarcinoma. Thirty prostatic samples were taken from 60- to 90-year-old patients without prostatic lesions and with low-grade cancer and high-grade cancer, from the University Hospital, School of Medicine, the State University of Campinas. The results showed that increased FGF-2, FGF-7, and FGF-8 receptor reactivities and decreased AR reactivity were verified in both high- and low-grade cancer. However, the FGF-8 receptor showed greater involvement at the beginning of the malignancy alterations. Increased EGF receptor (EGFR) reactivity and diminished α-actin immunohistochemistry were identified in both cancer groups. Also, increased ERα, PR, and vimentin receptors were verified in both cancer groups. To conclude, the ERα involvement in the reactive stroma activation led to a microenvironment, which was favorable to cancer progression, due to maximizing stromal imbalance. The prolactin could be related to cancer progression due to its interaction with ERα action, indicating that this hormone could be a relevant target to prevent the estrogenic effects in the prostatic lesions. Both FGF receptor (FGFR)-2 and FGFR-8 play a fundamental role in the early stages of prostate cancer, suggesting that these molecules could be a promising therapeutic target. The differential localization of the fibroblastic factors between the prostatic epithelium and stroma of elderly men, who presented prostate cancer, could indicate a favorable distinction for tumoral progression. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The focused ion beam (FIB) technology has drawn considerable attention in diverse research fields. FIB can be used to mill samples at the nanometer scale by using an ion beam derived from electrically charged liquid gallium (Ga). This powerful technology with accuracy at the nanometer scale is now being applied to life science research. In this study, we show the potential of FIB as a new tool to investigate the internal structures of cells. We sputtered Ga + onto the surface or the cross section of animal cells to emboss the internal structures of the cell. Ga + sputtering can erode the cell surface or the cross section and thus emboss the cytoskeletons quasi-3 dimensionally. We also identified the embossed structures by comparing them with fluorescent images obtained via confocal laser microscopy because the secondary ion micrographs did not directly provide qualitative information directly. Furthermore, we considered artifacts during the FIB cross sectioning of cells and propose a way to prevent undesirable artifacts. We demonstrate the usefulness of FIB to observe the internal structures of cells. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The term prosumer, first introduced by Toffler in the 1980s, has been developed by sociologists in response to Web 2.0 (the set of technologies that has transformed a predominantly static web into the collaborative medium initially envisaged by Tim Berners-Lee). The phenomena is now understood as a process involving the creation of meanings on the part of the consumer, who re-appropriates spaces that were dominated by institutionalized production, and this extends to the exploitation of consumer creativity on the production side. Recent consumption literature can be re-interpreted through the prosumer lens in order to understand whether prosumers are more creative or alienated in their activities. The peculiar typology of prosumption introduced by Web 2.0 leads us to analyze social capital as a key element in value creation, and to investigate its different online and offline forms. Our analysis then discusses the digital divide and critical consumerism as forms of empowerment impairment.

Description: ABSTRACT We describe a simple, effective and relatively cheap instrument for the inflation of soft parts of insect genitalia, particularly the vesica (endophallus) of small male lepidopteran specimens. It can also be applied in female genitalia and for the hyperextension of postabdominal segments of the telescoping type. A fine glass capillary is mounted on a self-constructed micromanipulator system with capillary holder, moveably placed aside a microscope. The micromanipulator is constructed from the x - and y -pinions of a discarded microscope table and the z -pinion of a discarded microscope. Preparation is carried out as usual on a microscopic slide. The inflatable soft parts are pushed out mechanically and then fully inflated and subsequently hardened by pumping absolute alcohol with a medical syringe via a flexible PVC tube, the capillary holder and the glass capillary into the phallus. With affordable effort, our “hands-off”apparatus might considerably ease preparation. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Many Swertia species are utilized as a traditional medicine under the name “Qingyedan” in China, but are easily confused with one another. To distinguish eight Swertia species ( S. mileensis , S. cincta , S. patens , S. punicea , S. delavayi , S. nervosa , S. macrosperma , and S. yunnanensis ) and to ensure their safety and efficacy, the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of them were examined. The results showed that microscopic and macroscopic features helpful for authentication of the eight species were the sinuosity of the anticlinal walls of epidermal cells and presence or absence of hairs on the leaf lamina; presence or absence of V-shaped fibers and fibers with sinuous abaxial wall in the sepals; shape of epidermal cells and pattern of papillae on hairs on the margin of corolla nectary; distribution of stomata in leaf and sepal epidermises, stone cells in cortex and phloem of roots and in cortex and pith of stems, crystals in parenchymatous cells of mesophyll and stem, stomata size, stem diameter, and 4- or 5-merous flowers, and so on. Two keys to the eight Swertia species based on macroscopic and microscopic characteristics are presented. The study indicates that microscopy and related techniques are convenient, practicable, and can be unambiguously applied for authentication of Swertia species. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Widefield frequency-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FD-FLIM) is a fast and accurate method to measure the fluorescence lifetime, especially in kinetic studies in biomedical researches. However, the small range of modulation frequencies available in commercial instruments makes this technique limited in its applications. Herein, we describe a practical implementation of multifrequency widefield FD-FLIM using a pulsed supercontinuum laser and a direct digital synthesizer. In this instrument we use a pulse to modulate the image intensifier rather than the more conventional sine-wave modulation. This allows parallel multifrequency FLIM measurement using the Fast Fourier Transform and the cross-correlation technique, which permits precise and simultaneous isolation of individual frequencies. In addition, the pulse modulation at the cathode of image intensifier restores the loss of optical resolution caused by the defocusing effect when the cathode is sinusoidally modulated. Furthermore, in our implementation of this technique, data can be graphically analyzed by the phasor method while data are acquired, which allows easy fit-free lifetime analysis of FLIM images. Here, our measurements of standard fluorescent samples and a Föster resonance energy transfer pair demonstrate that the widefield multifrequency FLIM system is a valuable and simple tool in fluorescence imaging studies. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: This article speculates on the future of privacy and electronic identities on the Internet. Based on a short review of security models and the development of privacy-enhancing technology, privacy and electronic identities will be discussed as parts of a larger context—an ecosystem of personal information and electronic identities. The article argues for an ecosystem view of personal information and electronic identities, as both personal information and identity information are basic required input for many applications. Therefore, for both application owners and users, a functioning ecosystem of personal information and electronic identification is important. For the future of the Internet, high-quality information and controlled circulation of such information is therefore argued as decisive for the value of future Internet applications.

Description: The Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping problem aims to identify regions in the genome that are linked to phenotypic features of the developed organism that vary in degree. It is a principle step in determining targets for further genetic analysis and is key in decoding the role of specific genes that control quantitative traits within species. Applications include identifying genetic causes of disease, optimization of cross-breeding for desired traits and understanding trait diversity in populations. In this paper a new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) method is introduced and is shown to increase the accuracy of QTL mapping identification for both independent and epistatic loci interactions. The MOEA method optimizes over the space of possible partial least squares (PLS) regression QTL models and considers the conflicting objectives of model simplicity versus model accuracy. By optimizing for minimal model complexity, MOEA has the advantage of solving the over-fitting problem of conventional PLS models. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed by comparing the new method with Bayesian Interval Mapping approaches over a series of test cases where the optimal solutions are known. This approach can be applied to many problems that arise in analysis of genomic data sets where the number of features far exceeds the number of observations and where features can be highly correlated.

Description: ABSTRACT Among the various corrosion protection strategies for structural steels, coating techniques provide the most cost-effective protection and have been used as the primary mode of corrosion protection. Existing coating techniques however have been used mainly for their barrier capability and therefore all have a limited service life due to oxidation aging, electrolytic degradation, or various inadvertent defects and flaws occurred in and after coating applications. This work investigated the anti-corrosion potential of a π-conjugated polymer—polyaniline (PANi), which was doped into an intrinsically conducting polymer and then included in a two-layer coating system as a primer layer. To achieve a long service life, the primer layer was made by mixing the conductive PANi in a waterborne poly-vinyl butyral solution to provide strong adhesion to steel surface, and then topcoated with a layer of elastomer-modified polyethylene to obtain extra mechanical and barrier protections. Two ASTM standard tests were conducted to evaluate the corrosion durability and tensile adhesion of the two-layer system, in which the system demonstrated superior performance. The Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (SKPFM) was used to provide the microscopic evidences for the outstanding performance. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The sharpness of atomic force microscope (AFM) tips is essential for acquiring high quality AFM images. However, AFM tips would easily get contaminated during scanning and storage at ambient condition, which influences image resolution and causes image distortion. Replacing the probe frequently is a solution, but uneconomical. To solve this problem, several tip cleaning methods have been proposed but there is space for further improvement. Therefore, this article developed a method of tip cleaning by using a one-dimensional grating (600 lines/mm) as a micro-washboard to “wash” contaminated tips. We demonstrate that the contaminants can be scrubbed away by rapidly scanning such micro-washboard against the tip in the aids of Z -dithering (10–20 Hz) exerted on the washboard. This method is highly efficient and proved to be superior to traditional ones. Experiments show that AFM images acquired with “washed” tips have higher resolution and less distortion compared with images acquired using contaminated tips, even comparable to those scanned by new ones. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The present study evaluated the efficacy of fluazuron (active ingredient of the acaricide Acatak ® ) and its effects on Rhipicephalus sanguineus nymphs fed on rabbits exposed to different doses of this insect growth regulator. Three different doses of fluazuron (20 mg/kg, 40 mg/kg, and 80 mg/kg) were applied on the back of hosts (via “pour on”), while distilled water was applied to the Control group. On the first day of treatment with fluazuron (24 h), hosts were artificially infested with R. sanguineus nymphs. Once fully engorged, nymphs were removed and placed in identified Petri dishes in Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) incubator for 7 days. After this period, engorged nymphs were processed for ultramorphological analysis. The results revealed alterations in the ultramorphology of many chitinous structures (smaller hypostome and chelicerae, less sclerotized scutum, fewer sensilla, fewer pores, absence of grooves, marginal and cervical strips and festoons in the body, even the anal plaque was damaged) that play essential roles for the survivor of ticks and that can compromise the total or partial development of nymphs and emergence of adults after periodic molting. Our findings confirm the efficacy of fluazuron, a more specific and less aggressive chemical to the environment and human health, and that does not induce resistance, in nymphs of the tick R. sanguineus in artificially infested rabbits treated with this arthropod growth regulator (AGR), indicating that it could be used in the control of this stage of the biological cycle of the tick R. sanguineus . Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Ticks of Rhipicephalus sanguineus species have great medical and veterinary importance for being a vector of various diseases. In an attempt to minimize their action on the host, people have resorted to chemical control by using various acaricides, such as selamectin. Although previous studies have demonstrated its toxic action in domestic animals, no studies focused on the detection of cell death when exposed to selamectin. For this reason, the technique for detecting autophagic cell death was used in order to demonstrate the responses of rabbits' skin tissues pre-infested with R. sanguineus and exposed to different concentrations of selamectin. The obtained results when exposed to 100 and 80% concentrations of selamectin showed a strong mark of acid phosphatase on the cells of the connective tissue of the dermis and hair follicles, whereas the ones exposed to the 50% concentration had a weak mark on the cells of the connective tissue of the dermis and moderate staining in hair follicles. It became clear that, when used at high concentrations (100 and 80%), selamectin is capable to induce a large scale occurrence of the autophagic cell death process. On the other hand, the concentration of 50% causes minor morphophysiological changes in the skin of rabbit hosts when evaluated the cell death process. Therefore, the data confirms that selamectin is a powerful dose-dependent toxic agent causes increased activity of the enzyme acid phosphatase. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: In this paper, we address the implementation of physical layer network coding (PNC) based on compute and forward (CF) in relay networks. It is known that the maximum achievable rates in CF-based transmission is limited due to the channel approximations at the relay. In this work, we propose the integer forcing precoder (IFP), which bypasses this maximum rate achievability limitation. Our precoder requires channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter, but only that of the channel between the transmitter and the relay, which is a feasible assumption. The overall contributions of this paper are three-fold. Firstly, we propose an implementation of CF using IFP and prove that this implementation achieves higher rates as compared to traditional relaying schemes. Further, the probability of error from the proposed scheme is shown to have up to 2 dB of gain over the existent lattice network coding-based implementation of CF. Secondly, we analyze the two phases of transmission in the CF scheme, thereby characterizing the end-to-end behavior of the CF and not only one-phase behavior, as in previous proposals. Finally, we develop decoders for both the relay and the destination. We use a generalization of Bezout’s theorem to justify the construction of these decoders. Further, we make an analytical derivation of the end-to-end probability of error for cubic lattices using the proposed scheme.

Description: In this paper, the notion of stability is extended to network flows over time. As a useful device in our proofs, we present an elegant preflow-push variant of the Gale-Shapley algorithm that operates directly on the given network and computes stable flows in pseudo-polynomial time, both in the static flow and the flow over time case. We show periodical properties of stable flows over time on networks with an infinite time horizon. Finally, we discuss the influence of storage at vertices, with different results depending on the priority of the corresponding holdover edges.

Description: Lung cancer has been the largest cause of cancer deaths worldwide with an overall 5-year survival rate of only 15%. Its symptoms can be found exclusively in advanced stages where the chances for patients to survive are very low, thus making the mortality rate the highest among all other types of cancer. The present work deals with the attempt to design computer-aided detection or diagnosis (CAD) systems for early detection of lung cancer based on the analysis of sputum color images. The aim is to reduce the false negative rate and to increase the true positive rate as much as possible. The early detection of lung cancer from sputum images is a challenging problem, due to both the structure of the cancer cells and the stained method which are employed in the formulation of the sputum cells. We present here a framework for the extraction and segmentation of sputum cells in sputum images using, respectively, a threshold classifier, a Bayesian classification and mean shift segmentation. Our methods are validated and compared with other competitive techniques via a series of experimentation conducted with a data set of 100 images. The extraction and segmentation results will be used as a base for a CAD system for early detection of lung cancer which will improve the chances of survival for the patient.

Description: ABSTRACT The images of human erythrocytes and vesicles were analyzed by a light microscopy system with spatial resolution of better than 90 nm. The samples were observed in an aqueous environment and required no freezing, dehydration, staining, shadowing, marking, or any other manipulation. Temperature elevation resulted in significant concentration increase of structurally transformed erythrocytes (echinocytes) and vesicles in the blood. The process of vesicle separation from spiculated erythrocytes was video recorded in real time. At a temperature of 37°C, mean vesicle concentrations and diameters were found to be 1.50 ± 0.35 × 10 6 vesicles per microliter and 0.365 ± 0.065 μm, respectively. The vesicle concentration increased approximately threefold as the temperature increased from 37 to 40°C. It was estimated that 80% of all vesicles found in the blood are smaller than 0.4 μm. Accurate account of vesicle numbers and dimensions suggest that 86% of the lost erythrocyte material is lost not by vesiculation but by another, as yet, unknown mechanism. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The morphology of cells and expression status of specific surface markers [cluster of differentiation (CD)], such as CD5, CD19, CD20, CD38, and CD45, have long been considered as the essential indicators for the diagnosis and prognosis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). Clinically, it is difficult to simultaneously obtain cell morphology and distribution of surface markers with flow cytometry, especially for some surrogate markers such as CD38. Here, as an alternative and complementary prognostic method, fluorescence microscopy and image processing method are introduced to directly visualize the cells from patients and to quantitatively determine the expression status of surface markers. In this study, the morphological parameters of B-CLL cells were measured to establish the correlation between the cellular morphology and the surface marker expression. It was clear that the CD38+ and CD38− B-CLL cells from the same CD38+ patients had hardly any size differences; however, an increase in perimeter was observed for CD38− patients. Moreover, the expression level of the receptors on the cell was independent of the cell size. There was no evidence showing that the expression intensities of CD19 and CD38 were related to each other for the CD38+ B-CLL cells. On the same cells, CD5 was more selectively expressed on the cell membrane; however, the expression patterns suggested that the cell membrane of CD38− B-CLL cells contained the least expression level of CD19. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: In an indoor firefighter mission, coordination and communication support are of the utmost importance. We present our experience from over five years of research with current firefighter support technology. In contrast to some large scale emergency response research, our work is focused on the frontline interaction between teams of firefighters and the incident commander on a single site. In this paper we investigate the flaws in firefighter communication systems. Frequent technical failures and the high cognitive costs incurred by communicating impede coordination. We then extract a list of requirements for an assistant emergency management technology from expert interviews. Thirdly, we provide a system concept and explore challenges for building a novel firefighter support system based on our previous work. The system has three key features: robust ad-hoc network, telemetry and text messaging, as well as implicit interaction. The result would provide a complementary mode of communication in addition to the current trunked radio.

Description: This paper is motivated by, but not limited to, the task of scheduling jobs organized in workflows to a computational grid. Due to the dynamic nature of grid computing, more or less permanent replanning is required so that only very limited time is available to come up with a revised plan. To meet the requirements of both users and resource owners, a multi-objective optimization comprising execution time and costs is needed. This paper summarizes our work over the last six years in this field, and reports new results obtained by the combination of heuristics and evolutionary search in an adaptive Memetic Algorithm. We will show how different heuristics contribute to solving varying replanning scenarios and investigate the question of the maximum manageable work load for a grid of growing size starting with a load of 200 jobs and 20 resources up to 7000 jobs and 700 resources. Furthermore, the effect of four different local searchers incorporated into the evolutionary search is studied. We will also report briefly on approaches that failed within the short time frame given for planning.

Description: ABSTRACT The morphogenesis and cell proliferation in the retina of turbot ( Psetta maxima , Pleuronectiformes: Teleostei) from embryo through metamorphosis have been examined by using proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-immunohistochemistry and general histological procedures. In the embryonic retina, cell proliferation and spatial cell reorganization form the anlage of the pigment epithelium and neural retina. Neurogenesis begins around hatching in the temporal retina, dorsal to the optic nerve exit, and then a wave of cell differentiation spreads to the nasal retina to yield a laminated retina by the end of the prolarval turbot stage. Germinal zones in the differentiated retina persist as a rim at the retinal margin, as well as surrounding the optic fissure in premetamorphic and metamorphic turbot larvae. In these zones, progenitor cells with different morphologies show a similar spatial arrangement, which suggests that they have a similar retinogenic potential. During metamorphosis, asymmetric proliferative activity in turbot germinal zones is associated with a marked expansion of the retinal tissue. Scattered stem cells in the laminated retina, related to the lineage of rod photoreceptors, were also observed both in large premetamorphic larvae and metamorphic turbots. The proliferative activity of these cells increases considerably during metamorphosis, when rod photoreceptors become morphologically differentiated. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In the giant male prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii , the olfactory system is thought to be the main pathway for modulating sexual behavior through pheromone perception. In this report, we first used gross anatomical, histological, and SEM methods to describe the structures of the olfactory receptors (sensilla setae), their neural pathways, and possible role in modulating mating behavior. On the surfaces of antennule and antenna filaments there are four types of sensory receptors, viz single spike-like setae, single flagellum-like setae, multiple flagella-like setae, and aesthetascs (ASs). The ASs, which had previously been proposed to be odor receptor setae, are found only on the short filament of lateral antennule (slAn). Each AS on the slAn connects with olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), whose axons form an outer central antennule nerve (ocAnNv), which then connects with the olfactory neutrophil (ON) of the brain. Thus, the slAn is the major olfactory organ that conveys sensory inputs from each AS to the ON within the deutocerebrum. GABA immunoreactivity was present in ASs, neurons of ORNs, inner central antennular, lateral tegumentary nerve, ocAnNv and the ON, inferring that GABA is the likely neurotransmitter in modulating olfaction. Disruption of the slAn by ablation or covering with Vaseline, resulted in significant reduction of mating behavior, indicating that this organ is crucial for sex pheromone perception. Identification of the active pheromones and further bioassays are now being performed. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In Brazil, imidacloprid is a widely used insecticide on agriculture and can harm bees, which are important pollinators. The active ingredient imidacloprid has action on the nervous system of the insects. However, little has been studied about the actions of the insecticide on nontarget organs of insects, such as the Malpighian tubules that make up the excretory and osmoregulatory system. Hence, in this study, we evaluated the effects of chronic exposure to sublethal doses of imidacloprid in Malpighian tubules of Africanized Apis mellifera . In the tubules of treated bees, we found an increase in the number of cells with picnotic nuclei, the lost of part of the cell into the lumen, and a homogenization of coloring cytoplasm. Furthermore, we observed the presence of cytoplasmic vacuolization. We confirmed the increased occurrence of picnotic nuclei by using the Feulgan reaction, which showed the chromatin compaction was more intense in the tubules of bees exposed to the insecticide. We observed an intensification of the staining of the nucleus with Xylidine Ponceau, further verifying the cytoplasmic negative regions that may indicate autophagic activity. Additionally, immunocytochemistry experiments showed TUNEL positive nuclei in exposed bees, implicating increased cell apoptosis after chronic imidacloprid exposure. In conclusion, our results indicate that very low concentrations of imidacloprid lead to cytotoxic activity in the Malpighian tubules of exposed bees at all tested times for exposure and imply that this insecticide can alter honey bee physiology. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The locator/identifier split is an approach for a new addressing and routing architecture to make routing in the core of the Internet more scalable. Based on this principle, we developed the GLI-Split framework, which separates the functionality of current IP addresses into a stable identifier and two independent locators, one for routing in the Internet core and one for edge networks. This makes routing in the Internet more stable and provides more flexibility for edge networks. GLI-Split can be incrementally deployed and it is backward-compatible with the IPv6 Internet. We describe its architecture, compare it to other approaches, present its benefits, and finally present a proof-of-concept implementation of GLI-Split.

Description: ABSTRACT Infrared light from a pulsed optical parametric oscillator laser system was used to irradiate succinic acid (SA), a usual solid matrix used in matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, under vacuum. Ablated SA particles were trapped using a silica plate mounted 3.0 mm above and parallel to the sample surface. The morphology and particle size of ablated particles at different laser fluences were investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The dynamics of plume propagation for SA desorption process was studied with fast photography at atmospheric pressure. Plume expanding at 1.12 J/cm 2 laser fluence was recorded using a high-speed CMOS camera and corresponding propagation distance was measured. The solid matrix desorption was driven by phase explosion according to plume model fitting, which was consistent with the results of SEM. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The research results presented in this paper are part of a larger study on the materials and techniques used in polychrome altarpieces of gilded woodcarving decoration (“talha dourada”) in Portugal. The paper focuses on a narrative Portuguese Altarpiece from Miranda do Douro, considered one of the masterpieces of “talha dourada” among all the retables of the Iberian Peninsula in XVII th and XVIII th centuries. Although on the Portuguese territory, the altarpiece was made by artists from the Royal Spanish school of Valladolid, under a mannerist style. Thus the study opens a window on the artists' circulation between Spain and Portugal and influences of the Spanish schools in Baroque epoch on the Portuguese “talha”. During its history this altarpiece underwent several transformations and extensive conservation treatments in 1989. On this occasion more than 50 samples were collected and analyzed using an interdisciplinary multi-technique methodology. 27 of these samples are chosen for this study in order to investigate the chromatic palette, the materials and techniques used in the polychromy of the retable. A novel protocol of investigation using different conventional and unconventional analytical techniques (OM + fluorescent staining tests on cross-sections, Raman microscopy, XRD, XRF, X-ray micro-CT, SEM-EDX, MALDI-TOF-MS and LC-MS/MS) was established within an innovative research project ( http://sites.fct.unl.pt/gilt-teller/ ) and applied on these samples. This protocol is necessary to confirm the results obtained in the 1989 campaign and to have further insight into the gilding and polychrome decoration materials and techniques and the additional information reported in the historical documents. The material and technical history of this important altarpiece will be thus re-documented from a scientific perspective, meant to confirm and bring new information on the decorative technique used in the creation of this complex Portuguese monument.

Description: ABSTRACT The yolk sac (YS) is the main source of embryonic nutrition during the period when the placenta has not yet formed. It is also responsible for hematopoiesis because the blood cells develop from it as part of the primitive embryonic circulation. The objective of this study was to characterize the transitional area between the YS and primitive gut using the techniques of light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy , and immunohistochemistry to detect populations of pluripotent cells by labeling with Oct4 antibody. In all investigated embryos, serial sections were made to permit the identification of this small, restricted area. We identified the YS connection with the primitive intestine and found that it is composed of many blood islands, which correspond to the vessels covered by vitelline and mesenchymal cells. We identified large numbers of hemangioblasts inside the vessels. The mesenchymal layer was thin and composed of elongated cells, and the vitelline endodermal membrane was composed of large, mono- or binucleated cells. The epithelium of the primitive intestine comprised stratified columnar cells and undifferentiated mesenchymal cells. The transitional area between the YS and the primitive intestine was very thin and composed of cells with irregular shapes, which formed a delicate lumen containing hemangioblasts. In the mesenchyme of the transitional area, there were a considerable number of small vessels containing hemangioblasts. Using Oct4 as a primary antibody, we identified positive cells in the metanephros, primordial gonad, and hepatic parenchyma as well as in YS cells, suggesting that these regions contain populations of pluripotent cells. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The Bitcoin network of decentralized payment transactions has attracted a lot of attention from both Internet users and researchers in recent years. Bitcoin utilizes a peer-to-peer network to issue anonymous payment transactions between different users. In the currently used Bitcoin clients, the full transaction history is available at each node of the network to prevent double spending without the need for a central authority, forming a valuable source for empirical research on network structure, network dynamics, and the implied anonymity challenges, as well as guidance on the future evolution of complex payment systems. We found dynamical effects of which some increase anonymity while others decrease it. Most importantly, several parameters of the Bitcoin transaction graph seem to have become stationary over the last 12–18 months. We discuss the implications.

Description: Emergency planners, first responders and relief workers increasingly rely on computational and communication systems that support all aspects of emergency management, from mitigation and preparedness to response and recovery. Failure of these systems, whether accidental or because of malicious action, can have severe implications for emergency management. Accidental failures have been extensively documented in the past and significant effort has been put into the development and introduction of more resilient technologies. At the same time researchers have been raising concerns about the potential of cyber attacks to cause physical disasters or to maximise the impact of one by intentionally impeding the work of the emergency services. Here, we provide a review of current research on the cyber threats to communication, sensing, information management and vehicular technologies used in emergency management. We emphasise on open issues for research, which are the cyber threats that have the potential to affect emergency management severely and for which solutions have not yet been proposed in the literature.

Description: Norwegian authorities’ policy aims at securing an information society for all, emphasizing the importance of accessible and usable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for everyone. While the body of research on young people’s use of ICT is quite comprehensive, research addressing digital differentiation in young people with disabilities’ use of ICT is still in its early days. This article investigates how young people with disabilities’ use, or non-use, of assistive ICT creates digital differentiations. The investigation elaborates on how the anticipations and stereotypes of disability establish an authoritative definition of assistive ICT, and the consequence this creates for the use of the Web by young people with disabilities. The object of the article is to provide enhanced insight into the field of technology and disability by illuminating how assistive ICT sometimes eliminates and sometimes reproduces stereotypes and digital differentiations. The investigation draws on a qualitative interview study with 23 young Norwegians with disabilities, aged 15–20 years. I draw on a theoretical perspective to analyze the findings of the study, which employs the concept of identity multiplicity. The article’s closing discussion expands on technology’s significance in young people’s negotiations of impairment and of perceptions of disability

Description: ABSTRACT This study evaluated the mineral contents of root-canal dentin after treatment with different irrigation activation protocols. One hundred and eight maxillary lateral incisor teeth were randomly divided into eight experimental groups and one control group. Root canals were prepared using ProTaper rotary files, with the exception of the Self-Adjusting File (SAF) group. Canals were irrigated with 2 mL of 5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) at each instrument change, and received a final flush with 10 mL of 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and 10 mL of 5% NaOCl for 1 min. The control group was irrigated with distilled water. Group I (GI): Needle syringe irrigation; Group II (GII): NaviTip FX; Group III (GIII): CanalBrush; Group IV (GIV): Manual dynamic activation with gutta-percha; Group V (GV): Passive ultrasonic irrigation; Group VI (GVI): EndoActivator; Group VII (GVII): EndoVac; Group VIII (GVIII): SAF. The level of elemental composition was analyzed by a scanning electron microscopy and an energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) system. The results were then statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey tests. Ca/P ratio was changed after treatment with SAF and EndoActivator. The Ca, P, Mg, and S level changes were not statistically significant ( P 〉 0.05). Final irrigation activation protocols did not alter the mineral level of root dentin surface. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Motivated by the observation that most companies are more likely to consider job applicants referred by their employees than those who applied on their own, Arcaute and Vassilvitskii modeled a job market that integrates social networks into stable matchings in an interesting way. We call their model HR+SN because an instance of their model is an ordered pair (I, G) where I is a typical instance of the Hospital/Residents problem (HR) and G is a graph that describes the social network (SN) of the residents in I. A matching p, of hospitals and residents has a local blocking pair (h, r) if (h, r) is a blocking pair of ii, and there is a resident r' such that r' is simultaneously an employee of h in the matching and a neighbor of r in G. Such a pair is likely to compromise the matching because the participants have access to each other through r': r can give her resume to r' who can then forward it to h. A locally stable matching is a matching with no local blocking pairs. The cardinality of the locally stable matchings of I can vary. This paper presents a variety of results on computing a locally stable matching with maximum cardinality.

Description: Given the increasingly popular use of socially interactive technology (SIT), it is believed that the way in which individuals communicate and experience relationships has drastically been changing. For those who partake in this electronic world, damaging behaviors akin to those found in the real world have emerged. Yet, we know little about the extent of these behaviors in the context of romantic relationships, especially from a gender or cultural standpoint. Research on dating violence generally indicates that women experience in-person victimization at higher rates than men, although some research has called this into question. It also suggests that some national groups experience higher rates of violence than others. However, research is almost non-existent when it comes to exploring violence in the digital world. This study investigated gender and nationality in (1) the nature and extent of socially interactive intimate violence, and (2) perceptions of the seriousness of virtual relationship violence. Using a sample of students from the United States and Poland, findings revealed that socially interactive technology may serve as a new avenue for aggressing against partners, as virtual relationship violence was not uncommon and reflected some patterns present in the real world. Some unexpected patterns also emerged. The results of this research signal a possible transferability of covert intimate violence and highlight ways in which inequalities may exist in our virtual worlds.

Description: ABSTRACT A novel CCD-monitored atomic force microscope (AFM) with optical vision and improved performances has been developed. Compact optical paths are specifically devised for both tip-sample microscopic monitoring and cantilever's deflection detecting with minimized volume and optimal light-amplifying ratio. The ingeniously designed AFM probe with such optical paths enables quick and safe tip-sample approaching, convenient and effective tip-sample positioning, and high quality image scanning. An image stitching method is also developed to build a wider-range AFM image under monitoring. Experiments show that this AFM system can offer real-time optical vision for tip-sample monitoring with wide visual field and/or high lateral optical resolution by simply switching the objective; meanwhile, it has the elegant performances of nanometer resolution, high stability, and high scan speed. Furthermore, it is capable of conducting wider-range image measurement while keeping nanometer resolution. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The surface morphology of azo-polyimide films was investigated after 355nm Nd: YAG laser irradiation with two different incident fluencies. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to correlate the laser-induced tridimensional nanogrooved surface relief with the incident fluence and the number of irradiation pulses. The height images revealed that the grooves depth increased even tens of times by increasing the incident fluence, using the same numbers of irradiation pulses. For low incident fluence, the films were uniformly patterned till 100 pulses of irradiation. Instead, when using higher fluence, after 15 pulses of irradiation the accuracy of the surface relief definition was reduced. This behavior could be explained by means of two different mechanisms, one that suppose the film photo-fluidization due to the cis-trans isomerization processes of the azo-groups and the second one responsible for the directional mass displacement. The dominant surface direction and parameters like isotropy, periodicity, and period were evaluated from the polar representation for texture analysis, revealing the appearance of ordered and directionated nanostructures for most of the experimental conditions. Also, the graphical studies of the functional volume parameters have evidenced the improvement of the relief structuration during surface nanostructuration. The correlation of these statistical texture parameters with the irradiation characteristics is important in controlling the alignment of either the liquid crystals or the cells/tissues on patterned azo-polyimide surfaces for optoelectronic devices and implantable biomaterials, respectively. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Cyber-physical systems that include human beings and vehicles in a built environment, such as a building or a city, together with sensor networks and decision support systems have attracted much attention. In emergencies, which also include mobile searchers and rescuers, the interactions among civilians and the environment become much more diverse, and the complexity of the emergency response also becomes much greater. This paper surveys current research on sensor-assisted evacuation and rescue systems and discusses the related research issues concerning communication protocols for sensor networks, as well as several other important issues, such as the integrated asynchronous control of large-scale emergency response systems, knowledge discovery for rescue and prototyping platforms. Then, we suggest directions for further research.

Description: Recent vehicular networking activities include novel automotive applications, such as public vehicle to vehicle/infrastructure (V2X), large scale deployments, machine-to-machine (M2M) integration scenarios, and more. The platform described in this paper focuses on the integration of eHealth in a V2I setting. This is to allow the use of Internet from a vehicular setting to disseminate health-related information. From an eHealth viewpoint, the use of remote healthcare solutions to record and transmit a patient’s vital signs is a special telemedicine application that helps hospital resident health professionals to optimally prepare the patient’s admittance. From the automotive perspective, this is a typical vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication scenario. This proposal provides an IPv6 vehicular platform, which integrates eHealth devices and allows sending captured health-related data to a personal health record (PHR) application server in the IPv6 Internet. The collected data is viewed remotely by a doctor and supports his diagnostic decision. In particular, our work introduces the integration of vehicular and eHealth testbeds, describes related work and presents a lightweight auto-configuration method based on a DHCPv6 extension to provide IPv6 connectivity with a few numbers of messages.

Description: ABSTRACT Objective : The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the surface roughness parameters of four different types of dental luting agents used for cementation of implant restorations. Method and materials : Five specimens (8 mm high and 1 mm thick) of each cement were made using metal ring steelless molds. Atomic Force Microscope was employed to analyze different surface texture parameters of the materials. Bearing ratio analysis was used to calculate the potential microgap size between the cement and implant material and to calculate the depth of the valleys on the cement surface, while power spectral density (PSD) measurements were performed to measure the percentage of the surface prone to bacterial adhesion. Results : Glass ionomer cement showed significantly lower value of average surface roughness then the other groups of the materials ( P  〈 0.05) which was in line with the results of Bearing ratio analysis. On the other side, PSD analysis showed that zinc phosphate cement experience the lowest percentage of the surface which promote bacterial colonization. Conclusion : Glas ionomer cements present the surface roughness parameters that are less favorable for bacterial adhesion than that of zinc phosphate, resin-modified glass ionomer and resin cements. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The correlative light-electron fractography technique combines correlative microscopy concepts to the extended depth-from-focus reconstruction method, associating the reliable topographic information of 3-D maps from light microscopy ordered Z-stacks to the finest lateral resolution and large focus depth from scanning electron microscopy. Fatigue striations spacing analysis can be precisely measured, by correcting the mean surface tilting with the knowledge of local elevation data from elevation maps. This new technique aims to improve the accuracy of quantitative fractography in fatigue fracture investigations. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: This paper reports on the design of an OPNET simulation platform to test the performance of sending real-time safety video over VANET (Vehicular Adhoc NETwork) using the WiMAX technology. To provide a more realistic environment for streaming real-time video, a video model was created based on the study of video traffic traces captured from a realistic vehicular camera, and different design considerations were taken into account. A practical controller over real-time streaming protocol is implemented to control data traffic congestion for future road safety development. Our driving video model was then integrated with the WiMAX OPNET model along with a mobility model based on real road maps. Using this simulation platform, different mobility cases have been studied and the performance evaluated in terms of end-to-end delay, jitter and visual experience.

Description: Inspired by many deadlock detection applications, the feedback vertex set is defined as a set of vertices in an undirected graph, whose removal would result in a graph without cycle. The Feedback Vertex Set Problem, known to be NP-complete, is to search for a feedback vertex set with the minimal cardinality to benefit the deadlock recovery. To address the issue, this paper presents NewkLS FVS(LS, local search; FVS, feedback vertex set), a variable depth-based local search algorithm with a randomized scheme to optimize the efficiency and performance. Experimental simulations are conducted to compare the algorithm with recent metaheuristics, and the computational results show that the proposed algorithm can outperform the other state-of-art algorithms and generate satisfactory solutions for most DIMACSbenchmarks.

Description: The aim of this research is to present a detailed step-by-step method for classification of very high resolution urban satellite images (VHRSI) into specific classes such as road, building, vegetation, etc., using fuzzy logic. In this study, object-based image analysis is used for image classification. The main problems in high resolution image classification are the uncertainties in the position of object borders in satellite images and also multiplex resemblance of the segments to different classes. In order to solve this problem, fuzzy logic is used for image classification, since it provides the possibility of image analysis using multiple parameters without requiring inclusion of certain thresholds in the class assignment process. In this study, an inclusive semi-automatic method for image classification is offered, which presents the configuration of the related fuzzy functions as well as fuzzy rules. The produced results are compared to the results of a normal classification using the same parameters, but with crisp rules. The overall accuracies and kappa coefficients of the presented method stand higher than the check projects.

Description: ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effects of chemical agents on the physical properties and structure of primary pulp chamber dentin using surface roughness, microhardness tests, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Twenty-five primary teeth were sectioned exposing the pulp chamber and were divided into five groups ( n  = 5): NT, no treatment; SH1, 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl); SH1U, 1% NaOCl + Endo-PTC ® ; SH1E, 1% NaOCl + 17% EDTA; and E, 17% EDTA. After dentin treatment, the specimens were submitted to roughness, microhardness testing, and SEM analysis. Roughness and microhardness data were submitted to one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test ( P  〈 0.05). The SH1E group showed the highest roughness, followed by the E group ( P  〈 0.05) when compared with the NT, SH1, and SH1U groups. Microhardness values of SH1 and SH1U showed no significant difference as compared to the NT (control) group ( P  〉 0.05). Microhardness values could not be obtained in the EDTA groups (SH1E and E). The presence of intertubular dentin with opened dentin tubules was observed in the NT, SH1, and SH1U groups. SH1E showed eroded and disorganized dentin with few opened tubules and the intertubular/peritubular dentin was partially removed. Considering the physical and structural approaches and the chemical agents studied, it can be concluded that NaOCl and NaOCl associated with Endo-PTC ® were the agents that promoted the smallest changes in surface roughness, microhardness, and structure of the pulp chamber dentin of primary teeth. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Objectives To examine different types of restorative materials used in children as well as primary and permanent teeth enamel when affected by erosive foods. Materials and Method Buttermilk, fruit yoghurt, Coca-cola, fruit juice, Filtek Z-250, Dyract Extra, Fuji II LC, and Fuji IX and tooth enamel were used. Measurements were performed on 1-day, 1-week, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month time periods by using ATR-FTIR technique and surface of the specimens were examined with SEM. Results Permanent tooth showed the least change among human tooth samples when compared to restorative materials. Among filler materials, the most change was observed in Fuji IX. In terms of beverages the most changes on absorption peaks obtained from spectra were seen on the samples held in Coca-Cola and orange-juice. Conclusion The exposure of human enamel and restorative materials to acidic drinks may accelerate the degradation process and so reduce the life time of filler materials at equivalent integral exposure times longer than three months. Clinical Relevance Erosive foods and drinks having acidic potential destroy not only tooth enamel but also restorative materials. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Although recent research suggests that the selective nature of new media helps foster issue specialists, little empirical evidence has been documented, mostly due to theoretical and methodological limitations. Extending the concept of issue publics, the present study proposes a method to estimate the degree to which an individual is a specialist- or a generalist-type citizen. Applying the method to the 2008 American National Election Studies data, the study reveals various characteristics of specialists and generalists. The results indicate that specialist-type citizens are positively associated with online news use, but negatively associated with conventional news media, such as television, newspaper, and radio. The implications of the growth of specialists as well as the validity of the proposed method are discussed.

Description: ABSTRACT Confusion in the species associated with the name of “Bixie” in Chinese Materia Medica began centuries ago. In recent decades, diverse medicinal plants from the genera Dioscorea and Smilax , and even minor species from the genus Heterosmilax , have been documented under the name Bixie or a very similar name as folk medicines in different areas of China. However, the traditional efficacies and chemical profiles of these herbs are not exactly the same and even vary wildly. Comprehensive authentication of multiple Bixie herbs has not yet been attempted. To differentiate and ensure the correct use of these Bixie-related herbs, in this study, seven sorts of representative Bixie herbs ( Dioscorea collettii , D. zingiberensis , D. nipponica , D. septemloba , Smilax china , S. glabra , and Heterosmilax japonica ) were characterized based on the microscopic examination of their powders and cryotomed transverse sections. This is not only the first attempt to distinguish Bixie herbs by a comprehensive microscopic techniques, including common light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and polarized light microscopy, but also it is the first research to observe characteristics of transections of crude drugs under polarized lighting for the purpose of authentication. Polarized light has been found to provide a number of unique characteristics. The results indicate that starch granules, stone cells, vascular bundles, and other significant tissue features can be used to authenticate “Bixie” herbs. The method was proven to be quick, handy, specific, and simple. It should be widely applicable to other herbal materials. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT  Substance P (SP) after binding to the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor regulates many biological functions. Both SP and the NK-1 receptor are expressed in human normal placenta cells, monocytes, and macrophages. However, to our knowledge, the presence of both SP and the NK-1 receptor in macrophages of the placenta, the Hofbauer cells, is unknown. We demonstrate by immunohistochemistry in human normal placenta samples the presence of both SP and NK-1 receptors in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus of Hofbauer cells. The findings suggest a functional role of the SP/NK-1 receptor system in the physiology and pathophysiology of Hofbauer cells in the human placenta. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In this study, the probes 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (H 2 DCF-DA) and Fluo-3 AM were used to investigate the instantaneous change of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca 2+ in the gill and mantle of clams Ruditapes philippinarum exposed in 0.05 mg L −1 Cd 2+ with the laser-scanning confocal microscopy. The results indicated that Ca 2+ level was declined in the gill and slightly increased in the mantle. The level of ROS was declined in the gill, while the oscillation of ROS level was observed in the mantle. These data revealed that Ca 2+ could stimulate mitochondrial activity and enhance the respiratory chain in the gill and mantle. In addition, the expression of Hsp70 was increased in the gill and mantle of clams exposed in 0.05 mg L −1 Cd 2+ . The change of Ca 2+ and ROS level affected the expression of Hsp70 in the gill and mantle. An appropriate method was established to analyze the effects of Cd 2+ on ROS, Ca 2+ , and Hsp70 in the gill and mantle of clams with confocal microscopy. Both confocal microscopy and chemical fluorescent are valuable tools for measurement of time-dependent intracellular ROS and Ca 2+ signals. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: At the heart of many computations in science and engineering lies the need to efficiently and accurately solve large sparse linear systems of equations. Direct methods are frequently the method of choice because of their robustness, accuracy and potential for use as black-box solvers. In the last few years, there have been many new developments, and a number of new modern parallel general-purpose sparse solvers have been written for inclusion within the HSL mathematical software library. In this paper, we introduce and briefly review these solvers for symmetric sparse systems. We describe the algorithms used, highlight key features (including bit-compatibility and out-of-core working) and then, using problems arising from a range of practical applications, we illustrate and compare their performances. We demonstrate that modern direct solvers are able to accurately solve systems of order 106 in less than 3 minutes on a 16-core machine.

Description: Gradual patterns aim at describing co-variations of data such as the higher the size, the higher the weight. In recent years, such patterns have been studied more and more from the data mining point of view. The extraction of such patterns relies on efficient and smart orderings that can be built among data, for instance, when ordering the data with respect to the size, then the data are also ordered with respect to the weight. However, in many application domains, it is hardly possible to consider that data values are crisply ordered. When considering gene expression, it is not true from the biological point of view that Gene 1 is more expressed than Gene 2, if the levels of expression only differ from the tenth decimal. We thus consider fuzzy orderings and fuzzy gamma rank correlation. In this paper, we address two major problems related to this framework: (i) the high memory consumption and (ii) the precision, representation and efficient storage of the fuzzy concordance degrees versus the loss or gain of computing power. For this purpose, we consider multi-precision matrices represented using sparse matrices coupled with parallel algorithms. Experimental results show the interest of our proposal.

Description: ABSTRACT The size distribution of vesicles exocytosed from secretory cells displays quantal nature, vesicle volume is periodic multi-modal, suggesting that these heterogeneous vesicles are aggregate sums of a variable number of homogeneous basic granules. Whether heterogeneity is a lumping-together artifact of the measurement or an inherent intra-cell feature of the vesicles is an unresolved question. Recent empirical evidence will be provided for the quantal nature of intra-cell vesicle volume, supporting the controversial paradigm of homotypic fusion: basic cytoplasmic granules fuse with each other to create heterogeneously sized vesicles. An EM-algorithm-based method is presented for the conversion of multi-modal to quantal data that provides as by-product estimates of means and variances of basic granule packaging. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Propentofylline (PPF) is a xanthine derivative with pharmacological effects distinct from those of the classical methylxanthines. It depresses activation of microglial cells and astrocytes which is associated with neuronal damage during neural inflammation and hypoxia. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether PPF had the capacity of affecting glial cells behavior during the process of demyelination and remyelination following ethidium bromide (EB) gliotoxic injury. EB injection into the CNS is commonly used as an experimental demyelinating model inducing local oligodendroglial and astrocytic death, which results in primary demyelination, blood–brain barrier and glia limitans disruption and Schwann cells invasion. Sixty Wistar rats were divided into four different groups receiving 10 microlitres of 0.1% EB or 0.9% saline solution into the cisterna pontis and treated or not with the xanthine. PPF treatment was done using 12.5 mg/kg/day by the intraperitonial route for 31 days of the experimental period. The rats were euthanized from 7 to 31 days after EB injection and brainstem sections were collected and processed for light and transmission electron microscopy studies. Results from both groups were compared by using a semi-quantitative method developed for documenting in semithin sections the extent and nature of remyelination of demyelinating lesions. Results showed that PPF administration after EB injection significantly increased both oligodendroglial and Schwann cell remyelination at 31 days (mean remyelination scores of 3.67 ± 0.5 for oligodendrocytes and 1.27 ± 0.49 for Schwann cells) compared to untreated animals (scores of 3.19 ± 0.57 and 0.90 ± 0.33, respectively). Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT This study evaluates the bond strength of dentin prepared with Er:YAG laser or bur, after rewetting with chlorhexidine on long-term artificial saliva storage and thermocycling. One hundred and twenty human third molars were sectioned in order to expose the dentin surface ( n  = 10). The specimens were randomly divided in 12 groups according to treatment and aging: Er:YAG laser rewetting with deionized water (LW) and 24 h storage in artificial saliva (WC); LW and 6 months of artificial saliva storage + 12.000 thermocycling (6M), LW and 12 months of artificial saliva storage + 24.000 thermocycling (12M), Er:YAG laser rewetting with 2% chlorhexidine (LC) and WC, LC and 6M, LC and 12M, bur on high-speed turbine rewetting with deionized water (TW) and WC, TW6M, TW12M, bur on high-speed turbine + 2% chlorhexidine (TC) and WC, TC and 6M, TC and12M. The specimens were etched with 35% phosphoric acid, washed, and dried with air. Single Bond 2 adhesive was applied and the samples were restored with a composite. Each tooth was sectioned in order to obtain 4 sticks, which were submitted to microtensile bond strength test (µTBS). The two-way ANOVA, showed no significant differences for the interaction between the factors and for the aging factor. Tukey 5% showed that the LC group had the lowest µTBS. The rewetting with chlorhexidine negatively influenced the bond strength of the preparation with the Er:YAG laser. The artificial saliva aging and thermocycling did not interfere with dentin bond strength. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The aim of the current study was to evaluate the presence of debris and smear layer after endodontic irrigation with different formulations of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) and its effects on the push-out bond strength of an epoxy-based sealer on the radicular dentin. One hundred extracted human canines were prepared to F5 instrument and irrigated with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite and 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Fifty teeth were divided into five groups ( n  = 10), according to the final irrigation protocol with different 2% CHX formulations: G1 (control, no final rinse irrigation), G2 (CHX solution), G3 (CHX gel), G4 (Concepsis), and G5 (CHX Plus). In sequence, the specimens were submitted to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, in the cervical-medium and medium-apical segments, to evaluate the presence of debris and smear layer. The other 50 teeth were treated equally to a SEM study, but with the root canals filled with an epoxy-based endodontic sealer and submitted to a push-out bond strength test, in the cervical, middle, and apical thirds. G2, G3, G4, and G5 provided higher precipitation of the debris and smear layer than G1 ( P  〈 0.05), but these groups were similar to each other ( P  〉 0.05), in both segments. The values obtained in the push out test did not differ between groups, independent of the radicular third ( P  〉 0.05). The CHXs formulations caused precipitation of the debris and smear layer on the radicular dentin, but these residues did not interfere in the push-out bond strength of the epoxy-based sealer. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT In the northeast of Brazil, caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) is one of the key reasons for herd productivity decreasing that result in considerable economic losses. A comparative study was carried out using computed radiography (CR), histological analysis (HA), and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) of the joints of CAE infected and normal goats. Humerus head surface of positive animals presented reduced joint space, increased bone density, and signs of degenerative joint disease (DJD). The carpal joint presented no morphological alterations in CR in any of the animals studied. Tarsus joint was the most affected, characterized by severe DJD, absence of joint space, increased periarticular soft tissue density, edema, and bone sclerosis. Histological analysis showed chronic tissue lesions, complete loss of the surface zone, absence of proteoglycans in the transition and radial zones and destruction of the cartilage surface in the CAE positive animals. Analysis by SEM showed ulcerated lesions with irregular and folded patterns on the joint surface that distinguished the limits between areas of normal and affected cartilage. The morphological study of the joints of normal and CAE positive goats deepened understanding of the alteration in the tissue bioarchitecture of the most affected joints. The SEM finding sustained previous histological reports, similar to those found for rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting that the goat infected with CAE can be considered as a potential model for research in this area. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Splint immobilization of the forearm is often performed in clinical practice. Previous studies investigated the effect of immobilization on bone, cartilage, muscle, and tendon, however, the acute effects on human skin microcirculation and histomorphology remains elusive. METHODS: In 12 healthy, nonsmoking individuals (aged 29.7 ± 9.1 years) a randomly selected forearm was immobilized by splinting for 72 h, whereas the other forearm served as control. In vivo Reflectance-Mode Confocal-Microscopy (RMCM) was performed prior (baseline value) and postimmobilization to evaluate: quantitative blood cell flow; density of functional dermal capillaries; epidermal thickness; and granular cell size. RESULTS: At 72h forearm immobilization, quantitative blood cell flow was significantly reduced (42.86 ± 3.68 cells/min) compared to the control blood flow (53.11 ± 3.68 cells/min, P  〈 0.05) and dermal capillaries indicates less functional density (5.73 ± 0.63 capillaries/mm 2 ) compared to the controls (7.04 ± 0.81 capillaries/mm 2 , P  〈 0.05). Histometric assessment reveals significantly thinner epidermis following immobilization compared to the control site (40.02 ± 2.91 vs. 46.64±3.09 µm, P  〈 0.05). Granular cell size was significantly altered at 72 h splinting (730.1 ± 42.53 µm 2 ) compared to the control cell size at 770.2 ± 38.21 µm 2 . Comparison of baseline values of both forearms indicate statistically insignificance ( P  〉 0.05) for each parameter. CONCLUSION: At 72 h splint immobilization, for the first time, significant adaptive mechanisms were evaluated on human skin microcirculation and histomorphology using in vivo RMCM. These adaptations may be considered as an incipient atrophy of the human skin. Long-term effects of immobilization including the regenerative potential should be evaluated in further RMCM studies.

Description: ABSTRACT Maternal care is the main source of signals and stimuli for proper development, growth, and production of adjustment responses to stressful factors. Adverse experiences in childhood are associated with a vulnerability to developing abusive ethanol ingestion via alterations of the response of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Alcoholism causes global brain abnormalities, with the cerebellum being one of the most susceptible areas. We evaluated the effect of maternal separation on the cerebellum structure of male UCh rats. Adult male UChA (low 10% ethanol consumption) and UChB (high 10% ethanol consumption) rats were divided in to four experimental groups: (1) UChA, (2) UChA maternal separation (MS), (3) UChB, and (4) UChB MS. The MS occurred between the 4th and 14th days of age, for 240 min day −1 . Euthanasia was performed at 120 days of age. An image analysis system was used to measure cerebellar cortical height and Purkinje cellular area and height in five rats from each group. The cerebellar sections were stained with antibodies against IGFR-I. MS did not alter the ethanol consumption of UChA and UChB rats. Corticosterone level was significantly higher in UChA MS and UChB MS rats than in UChA and UChB rats. The Purkinje cellular area and height were higher in UChA MS rats. IGFR-I expression was observed in the cortical glomerular area of UChA MS and UChB MS rats. MS altered the Purkinje cells in the cerebella of male UCh rats. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT We investigated the effect of leptin on the postnatal development of gap junctions between folliculo-stellate cells by using Zucker fatty (fa/fa) rats that have defects of the functional leptin receptor. Male Zucker fatty rats (fa/fa) and male Zucker lean rats (+/+) were used at each of the following postnatal ages: 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 days, and 1 year. On one of the aforementioned dates, the anterior pituitary glands were prepared for observation by transmission electron microscopy. We quantified the number of follicles and gap junctions, and calculated the rate of occurrence as the ratio of the number of gap junctions existing between folliculo-stellate cells per intersected follicular profile. In Zucker lean male rats, the number of gap junctions remained relatively constant from days 50 to 90 (0.44 ± 0.02 to 0.49 ± 0.03), and was similar in 1 year old rats (0.47 ± 0.03). These data were statistically higher compared to Zucker fatty male rats. In Zucker fatty male rats, very few gap junctions were observed in 30-day-old rats (0.04 ± 0.01: mean ± SE). This disruption of gap junction formation persisted, and the number of gap junctions remained constant and showed a low level from days 40 to 90 (0.11 ± 0.02 to 0.17 ± 0.02); this finding was similar in 1-year-old rats (0.17 ± 0.02). These observations indicate that the effect of leptin over the gap junction formation within the anterior pituitary glands was directly mediated by interaction with the functional leptin receptor present on the folliculo-stellate cells. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Post-laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) corneal ectasia is a serious late postoperative complication. Here, we report the ultrastructural features of the post-LASIK cornea of two patients. METHODS: Two normal corneas (age 24 and 37 years old) and two post-LASIK ectaic corneas from two patients (A and B) were studied. The “patient A” (age 27 years) underwent penetrating keratoplasty and “patient B” (age 31 years) underwent deep-anterior lamellar keratoplasty. The excised corneas were processed for light and electron microscopy. A total of 120 images for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction were taken by using the software “Recorder” and using a bottom mounted camera “Quemesa” attached to a JOEL 1400 transmission electron microscope. The 3D images were constructed using “Visual Kai” software. RESULTS: In the post-LASIK cornea, the hemidesmosomes, the basement membrane, and Bowman”s layer were abnormal. The stromal lamellae were thin and disorganized. The collagen fibrils (CFs) diameter and interfibrillar spacing had decreased. Aggregated microfibrils were present in the Bowman's layer and all parts of the stroma. A large number of microfilaments were present at the detachment end of the flap and residual stroma. The 3D images showed the presence of collagen microfibrils and proteoglycans (PGs) within the CF of the normal and post-LASIK cornea. The collagen microfibrils and PGs within the CFs had degenerated in the post-LASIK cornea. CONCLUSION: Collagen microfibrils and PGs within the CFs were degenerated, leading to the degeneration of CFs, followed by the disorganization of lamellae in post-LASIK cornea. The CFs diameter and interfibrillar spacing decreased. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Electronic microscopy has been used for morphology evaluation of different materials structures. However, microscopy results may be affected by several factors. Image processing methods can be used to correct and improve the quality of these results. In this article, we propose an algorithm based on starlets to perform the segmentation of scanning electron microscopy images. An application is presented in order to locate gold nanoparticles in natural rubber membranes. In this application, our method showed accuracy greater than 85% for all test images. Results given by this method will be used in future studies, to computationally estimate the density distribution of gold nanoparticles in natural rubber samples and to predict reduction kinetics of gold nanoparticles at different time periods. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT Gap junctions play an important role in differentiation of odontoblasts. Gap junction protein, connexin 43 is expressed in odontoblast. However, the detailed localization in odontoblasts has yet to be fully investigated. We investigated the localization of connexin43 in rat odontoblasts immune-electron microscopically. The rats were transcardially fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde in 0.1M phosphate buffer, and mandibles were decalcified with 10% ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. Pre-embedding method was carried out for immune-electron microscopic analysis. Microscopically, gap junctions were localized between bodies of odontoblasts, and between bodies and processes of odontoblasts. The gap junctions were labeled with gold particles that indicated connexin43. These results suggest that gap junctions between odontoblasts are definitely composed of connexin43 in rats, and our methods used in this study is useful to investigate localization of connexin43 immuno-electron microscopically. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the histological effect of alcohol ingestion on the regeneration of the submandibular gland (SMG) in rats. Twelve 60-day-old male Wistar rats were randomized into two experimental groups. Test group (TG) animals ingested 40° GL of alcohol for 45 days before surgery, being its concentration gradually increased 10° GL/week for 4 weeks to achieve the final concentration of 40° GL. The control group (CG) received water during the whole experimental period. One-third of the left SMG lobe was removed. Three and seven days after, the whole gland was excised and analyzed. In the TG, the inflammatory process was pronounced when comparing the CG on day 3. The inverse aspect was observed on day 7, associated with an advanced parenchyma development. Changes in laminin expression and glycoproteins production were observed in the TG, causing advanced morphogenesis and delay in cytodifferentiation during the salivary gland regeneration, probably due to alcohol effects. Animals who received ethanol showed alterations in the pattern of glandular regeneration. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: In this work, we present an innovative approach for effective cross-network information dissemination, with applications to vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed approach, denoted as "Cross-Network Effective Traffic Alert Dissemination" (X-NETAD), leverages on the spontaneous formation of local WiFi (IEEE 802.11b) VANETs, with direct connections between neighboring vehicles, in order to disseminate, very quickly and inexpensively, traffic alerts received from the cellular network. The proposed communication architecture has been implemented on Android smartphones. The obtained experimental results show that an effective cross-network information dissemination service can entirely rely on smartphone-based communications. This paves the way to future Internet architectures, where vehicles will play a key role as information destinations and sources.

Description: A survey on the routing protocols based on ant-like mobile agents is given. These protocols are often employed in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET). Mobile Ad Hoc Networks are collections of wireless mobile nodes such as PDAs, laptop computers, and cellular phones having wireless communication capability that dynamically form a temporary network without using any existing network infrastructures such as wireless access points. The only infrastructure in MANET is the wireless communication interfaces on the devices. In such a circumstance, where some of the wireless devices are not within wireless range of each other, multi-hop routing is required to transmit messages to the destination. A node that wants to start communication with other nodes that are not within its one-hop wireless transmission range has to request intermediate nodes to forward their communication packets to the destination. In this paper, we survey a variety of proposed network protocols to accommodate this situation. We focus especially on biologically-inspired routing algorithms that are based on the ant colony optimization algorithm.

Description: ABSTRACT Nanoarchitecture of cured urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins was examined with a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) after coating samples with osmium, which is considered to produce particles of considerably smaller size compared to other metal coatings used in SEM studies. This method enabled comparison of the nanoarchitecture of UF resins of low (1.0) and high (1.6) formaldehyde/urea (F/U) mole ratios to be made, based on imaging of extremely small size particles as part of UF resin architecture, not described before. Imaging revealed presence of relatively large globular particles (148.084–703.983 nm size range) as well as smaller substructures (28.004–39.604 nm size range) as part of the architecture of 1.0-mole UF resin. Globular particles were also present in 1.6 mole UF resin, but of considerably smaller size (14.760–50.269 nm). The work presented demonstrates usefulness of osmium coating in unraveling the intricacies of the nanostructural organization of cured UF resins, prompting wider application of this immensely useful but grossly underutilized metal coating type in high resolution SEM examination of biological and materials samples. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.