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Accurate location information is crucial for ensuring the reliability of service robots, such as field vehicles and agricultural robots. These practical robots often encounter fluctuating or inclined terrains in dynamic conditions during operation. Additionally, the performance of mobile robots depends on the physical size and weight of the localization system–physically heavy systems may degrade performance. In this paper, we present a compact, lightweight RTK‐GNSS device weighing under 40 g, which achieves centimeter‐level accuracy across different attitudes and dynamic situations. To enhance signal reception and positioning performance, we lessen noise levels in the power circuit and radio‐frequency signal conditioning using a low‐dropout regulator and low‐noise amplifier. Utilizing the configured device, we verified centimeter‐level accuracy through experiments of tracking an unmanned ground vehicle. The potential of the device is substantiated via three application scenarios—a localization of a moving human for a wearable device, a heading estimation of a mobile robot in stationary conditions, and practical field tests in various signal‐reception environments. Attributable to its compact dimensions and lightweight features, the proposed device can yield a low system strain while maintaining high accuracy and reliable performance, rendering it highly adaptable for various robotic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing discrimination persists decades after the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. Limited qualitative research exists that examines the experience of victims. This qualitative study used data from newspapers that reported housing discrimination in Mississippi from 1998 to 2018 to examine the experience of victims. Content analysis was used to assess the sociodemographic characteristics of victims and the penalties awarded to perpetrators. Inductive thematic analysis was used to assess victims' perspectives and thoughts on their experience and included four themes: "it's never about money," "inflict pain," "racism is still a problem," and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the structural safety of the developed panel‐to‐base joint technique for full‐size precast lightweight aggregate concrete (PLC) insulation panels subjected to cyclic lateral loads. The main parameters were the compressive strength of insulating concrete and the safety factor of the joint reinforcing bar for connecting with the base or beam. The test results revealed that the PLC insulation panel specimens with a safety factor of 1.0 experienced severe pinching effect and low ductile performance. However, the PLC insulation panel specimens with a safety factor of 1.6 exhibited higher flexural moment capacity, displacement ductility ratio, and work damage index than those with a safety factor of 1.0. Consequently, the overall flexural behavior of the PLC insulation panel specimens with a safety factor of 1.6 can be developed stably, resulting in satisfactory seismic connection performance requirements specified in NEHRP. Meanwhile, the developed panel‐to‐base joint using the joint reinforcing bar and L‐shaped steel plates can be considered as a fixed end according to the analysis of the collapse mechanism, as with spliced sleeve or welding plate joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most crack‐detection methods adopt a pixel‐level segmentation‐based approach, which requires considerable time and complexity to detect the pixel area of the crack. Unlike a pixel‐level segmentation‐based approach, in this paper, the authors proposed an AugMoCrack network, a bounding box‐level crack detection approach for weakly supervised crack detection achieved by augmenting the training data with Poisson blending, as well as high‐frequency discrete cosine transform‐based features. The proposed AugMoCrack detects the box position of the crack object from a morphological perspective, such as neighbour connectivity within the crack pixels and crack‐area fitting. Based on this perspective, the authors also proposed new morphological attention loss functions for considering the neighbour connectivity and the box area border. Specifically, the authors trained the AugMoCrack network using two datasets and verified its performance based on 591 validation images in the concrete crack dataset and 672 validation images in the Crack500 dataset. Compared with the baseline architecture, with the authors' proposed network, the authors achieved increases of approximately 4.5% points and 2.5% points in the mean average precision (mAP) in the concrete crack and Crack500 datasets, respectively. The proposed network also outperforms previous state‐of‐the‐art crack‐detection methods in a weakly supervised learning environment where the training data are insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For real‐world postcombustion applications in the mitigation of CO2 emissions using dry sorbents, adsorption and desorption behaviors should be controlled to design and fabricate prospective materials with optimal CO2 performances. Herein, we prepared diamine‐functionalized Mg2(dobpdc) (H4dobpdc=4,4′‐dihydroxy‐(1,1′‐biphenyl)‐3,3′‐dicarboxylic acid). (1‐diamine) with ethylenediamine (en), primary–secondary (N‐ethylethylenediamine—een and N‐isopropylethylenediamine—ipen), primary–tertiary, and secondary–secondary diamines. A slight alteration of the number of alkyl substituents on the diamines and their alkyl chain length dictates the desorption temperature (Tdes) at 100 % CO2, desorption characteristics, and ΔT systematically to result in the tuning of the working capacity. The existence of bulky substituents on the diamines improves the framework stability upon exposure to O2, SO2, and water vapor, relevant to real flue‐gas conditions. Bulky substituents are also responsible for an interesting two‐step behavior observed for the ipen case, as revealed by DFT calculations. Among the diamine‐appended metal–organic frameworks, 1‐een, which has the required adsorption and desorption properties, is a promising material for sorbent‐based CO2 capture processes. Hence, CO2 performance and framework durability can be tailored by the judicial selection of the diamine structure, which enables property design at will and facilitates the development of desirable CO2‐capture materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined housing adequacy of elderly households aged 65 years and older in southern communities in the United States. Housing adequacy was considered as a well-being indicator for the elderly households. The researchers developed a model which hypothesized a relationship between selected demographic and housing variables (which represent American housing norms and restraints) and housing inadequacy. The 2011 American Housing Survey ( AHS) National and Metropolitan Data were used for analysis. The results consist of statistics on the demographic and housing characteristics of the 7,675 elderly householders and the results of binary logistic regression. The results of the regression showed that elderly households in southern communities were more likely to live in inadequate housing if they had lower incomes, more household members, or low housing satisfaction; were Blacks or Hispanics or not married; or lived in housing built before the 1970s, in rural areas, or the West South Central areas, or in a smaller structure size. This analysis of the newly released 2011 AHS data is important because of its post-housing-crisis perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Purpose: To ascertain the difference of intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement between vitrectomized air-filled and fluid-filled eyes. Methods: Thirty-one eyes of 31 consecutive patients who underwent conventional vitrectomy and intraocular gas tamponade were assessed. After vitrectomy, IOP of the fluid-filled eyes was measured by Tono-Pen. Thereafter, fluid-air exchange was performed, and IOP of the air-filled eyes was measured again. The IOP within each fluid- and air-filled eye was varied by selecting settings on the vitrectomy system, from 10 to 50 mmHg with 5-mmHg increments. Postoperatively, IOP was assessed by both Tono-Pen and Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT). Linear and nonlinear regression analyses were conducted between intraoperatively measured Tono-Pen readings and actual IOPs. Bland-Altman plot was used to assess the agreements between postoperatively measured Tono-Pen readings and GAT readings. Results: The discrepancy between Tono-Pen readings and actual IOP in fluid-filled eyes was not significant, except for the profound high pressures over 45 mmHg. However, Tono-Pen readings in air-filled eyes were significantly lower than actual IOPs in all ranges, and Tono-Pen increasingly underestimates IOP at higher levels. Intraoperative Tono-Pen readings were correlated significantly with actual IOP and a quadratic equation evidenced the best fit ( R2 = 0.996). Postoperatively, difference of the measurements between Tono-Pen and GAT was not significant. Conclusion: Tono-Pen and GAT significantly underestimate actual IOP in air-filled eyes. It should be considered that actual IOP would be greater than the measured IOP in gas-filled eyes, even though the IOP is measured as normal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 705-716. Abstract Glutamate receptor (GluR) δ1 is widely expressed in the developing forebrain, whereas GluRδ2 is selectively expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Recently, we found that trans-synaptic interaction of postsynaptic GluRδ2 and pre-synaptic neurexins (NRXNs) through cerebellin precursor protein (Cbln) 1 mediates excitatory synapse formation in the cerebellum. Thus, a question arises whether GluRδ1 regulates synapse formation in the forebrain. In this study, we showed that the N-terminal domain of GluRδ1 induced inhibitory presynaptic differentiation of some populations of cultured cortical neurons. When Cbln1 or Cbln2 was added to cultures, GluRδ1 expressed in HEK293T cells induced preferentially inhibitory presynaptic differentiation of cultured cortical neurons. The synaptogenic activity of GluRδ1 was suppressed by the addition of the extracellular domain of NRXN1α or NRXN1β containing splice segment 4. Cbln subtypes directly bound to the N-terminal domain of GluRδ1. The synaptogenic activity of GluRδ1 in the presence of Cbln subtypes correlated well with their binding affinities. When transfected to cortical neurons, GluRδ1 stimulated inhibitory synapse formation in the presence of Cbln1 or Cbln2. These results together with differential interactions of Cbln subtypes with NRXN variants suggest that GluRδ1 induces preferentially inhibitory presynaptic differentiation of cortical neurons by interacting with NRXNs containing splice segment 4 through Cbln subtypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the inhibitory effects of costunolide isolated from the leaves of Laurus nobilis L. (Lauraceae) on basophil-mediated allergic reactions and interleukin (IL)-5-mediated B cell growth. The effects of costunolide on β-hexosaminidase (a key parameter of degranulation) release and IL-4 expression in rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells were determined by measuring β-hexosaminidase activity and by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, respectively. The effects of costunolide on Y16 pro-B cell viability and growth were determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Costunolide was found significantly to inhibit β-hexosaminidase activity ( p < 0.01) and IL-4 transcription in RBL-2H3 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Its 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 34 µ m, while that of the positive control, ketotifen, was 24 µ m (IL-4 mRNA transcription). Moreover, costunolide dose-dependently suppressed pro-B cell growth in IL-5-stimulated Y16 cells. These results provide evidence that costunolide stabilizes mast cells by inhibiting IgE-mediated degranulation and inhibits IL-5-stimulated B cell growth. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have shown that protein kinase CKII (CKII) inhibition induces senescence through the p53-dependent pathway in HCT116 cells. Here we examined the molecular mechanism through which CKII inhibition activates p53 in HCT116 cells. CKII inhibition by treatment with CKII inhibitor or CKIIα small-interfering RNA (siRNA) increased intracellular hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion levels. These effects were significantly blocked by pretreatment of cells with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine. Additionally, NADPH oxidase (NOX) inhibitor apocynin and p22phox siRNA significantly reduced p53 expression and suppressed the appearance of senescence markers. CKII inhibition did not affect mitochondrial superoxide generation. These data demonstrate that CKII inhibition induces superoxide anion generation via NOX activation, and subsequent superoxide-dependent activation of p53 acts as a mediator of senescence in HCT116 cells after down-regulation of CKII. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on a study which developed and characterized an in vitro tissue model that captures specific transport properties for drug delivery purposes. It notes that a one percent agarose hydrogel was used in developing an anisotropic porous medium. Results of the study showed that the anisotropic transport was captured by the developed substrate following direct infusion of a macromolecular tracer. It cites hydraulic conductivities in a variety of hydrogel concentrations.

Abstract: Stabilin-2 was recently identified as a novel receptor for membrane phosphatidylserine of apoptotic cells. To identify proteins that were candidates for stabilin-2 cytoplasmic domain binding, we screened a human spleen cDNA library using the yeast two-hybrid system. We found that thymosin β4 interacts with the stabilin-2 cytoplasmic domain and is co-localized with stabilin-2 at the phagocytic cup. Knockdown of thymosin β4 significantly decreased the phagocytic activity of stabilin-2, whereas overexpression of thymosin β4 increased this activity. Additionally, amino acids 2504–2514 of stabilin-2 cytoplasmic domain were found to be responsible for the interaction with thymosin β4. Taken together, these results suggest that thymosin β4 is a downstream molecule of stabilin-2 that plays a role in stabilin-2-mediated cell corpse clearance. Structured summary: MINT-6542321, MINT-6542357: Stab2-c (uniprotkb:Q8WWQ8) physically interacts (MI:0218) with tb4 (uniprotkb:P20065) by anti tag coimmunoprecipitation (MI:0007) MINT-6542368: Stab2-c (uniprotkb:Q8WWQ8) physically interacts (MI:0218) with tb4 (uniprotkb:P20065) by pull down (MI:0096) MINT-6542300: Stab2-c (uniprotkb:Q8WWQ8) physically interacts (MI:0218) with tb4 (uniprotkb:P62328) by two hybrid (MI:0018) [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article on intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA) and bevacizumab therapy of diabetic macular oedema.