Search

Fuel economy improvement of Class 8 long-haul trucks has been a constant topic of discussion in the commercial vehicle industry due to the significant potential it offers in reducing GHG emissions and operational costs. Among the different vehicle categories in on-road transportation, Class 8 long-haul trucks are a significant contributor to overall GHG emissions. Furthermore, with the upcoming 2027 GHG emission and low-NOx regulations, advanced powertrain technologies will be needed to meet these stringent standards. Connectivity-based powertrain optimization is one such technology that many fleets are adopting to achieve significant fuel savings at a relatively lower technology cost.With advancements in vehicle connectivity technologies for onboard computing and sensing, the full potential of connected vehicles in reducing fuel consumption can be realized through V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication. Upcoming road grade, traffic lights and lead vehicle speeds can be utilized to optimize vehicle speed profile, energy management and thermal management strategies. While many studies have been conducted in the past to evaluate control strategy changes based on longer time horizon, limited studies have been conducted to evaluate shorter time horizon strategies that dynamically adjust vehicle speed (or suggest vehicle speed) for fuel efficiency. In this study, FEV North America, Inc. has applied a model-based approach to evaluate the fuel economy improvement potential of a connected electrified Class 8 long-haul truck. A system-level 1-D propulsion and thermal system model of an electrified Class 8 truck was simulated in real-world conditions including traffic lights, multiple lead vehicle and varying road grades using GT-SUITE. The look-ahead information on road grade, traffic light schedule and lead vehicle speeds were assumed to be available through GPS, V2X communication and long-range radar sensors. A system-level 1-D propulsion model of a Class 8 truck was developed and simulated in real-world driving conditions including traffic lights, multiple lead vehicles, and varying road grade using GT-SUITE. The look-ahead information on road grade, traffic light schedule, and lead vehicle states were assumed to be available through GPS, V2X communication, and long-range radar sensors. The connectivity information was used to implement ADAS features like Predictive Cruise Control (PCC), Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control (AACC), and Eco-Approach (EA) to optimize the vehicle target speed and evaluate their combined fuel economy benefit on a real-world drive cycle.

Distributed Stream Processing is a valuable paradigm for\ud reliably processing vast amounts of data at high throughput rates with\ud low end-to-end latencies. Most systems of this type offer a fine-grained\ud level of control to parallelize the computation of individual tasks within\ud a streaming job. Adjusting the parallelism of tasks has a direct impact\ud on the overall level of throughput a job can provide as well as the amount\ud of resources required to provide an adequate level of service. However,\ud finding optimal parallelism configurations that fall within the expected\ud Quality of Service requirements is no small feat to accomplish.\ud In this paper we present Rafiki, an approach to automatically determine optimal parallelism configurations for Distributed Stream Processing jobs. Here we conduct a number of proactive profiling runs to gather\ud information about the processing capacities of individual tasks, thereby\ud making the selection of specific utilization targets possible. Understanding the capacity information enables users to adequately provision resources so that streaming jobs can deliver the desired level of service\ud at a reduced operational cost with predictable recovery times. We implemented Rafiki prototypically together with Apache Flink where we\ud demonstrate its usefulness experimentally.

Due to the increasing popularity of cost-based outsourcing and growing stakeholder concern about environmental, social, and technological issues, supply chain sustainability is vital in both developed and emerging economies. Bangladesh is an emerging economy and wood industry of Bangladesh is suffering from severe sustainability issues besides its growth. Hence, this article aims to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) for sustainability in the Bangladeshi wood industry, which is crucial to help supply chain managers engage in achieving sustainable development goals. This research investigated the CSFs and uncovered their interdependencies through the development of a methodology integrating a literature review, principal component analysis (PCA), interpretive structural modelling (ISM), and Matriced Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquee aunClassement (MICMAC) techniques. PCA (n = 150) was used to identify and rank the CSFs for sustainability in the Bangladeshi wood industry while ISM (n = 9) and MICMAC were used to determine the driving and dependence power of the CSFs. The findings reveal that research and development, supplier relations, and using eco-friendly technology are the most significant CSFs of the Bangladeshi wood industry. Indispensable links revealing the driving and dependence power among the CSFs were also reported. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that examined the CSFs for supply chain sustainability in the Bangladeshi wood industry. The proposed methodology and findings will help managers in the Bangladeshi wood industry as well as other similar industries to understand the CSFs and reduce the complexity of decision-making in managing business process towards sustainability journey.

The traditional way of diagnosing malaria takes time, as physicians have to check about 5000 cells to produce the final report. The accuracy of the final report also depends on the physician’s expertise. In the event of a malaria epidemic, a shortage of qualified physicians can become a problem. In the manual method, the parasites are identified by visual identification; this technique can be automated with the use of new algorithms. There are numerous publicly available image datasets containing the intricate structure of parasites, and deep learning algorithms can recognize these complicated patterns in the images. This study aims to identify and localize malaria parasites in the photograph of blood cells using the YOLOv5 model. In this research, a publicly available malaria trophozoite dataset is utilized which contains 1182 data samples. YOLOv5, with the novel technique of weight ensemble and traditional transfer learning, is trained using this dataset, and the results were compared with the other object detection models—for instance, Faster RCNN, SSD net, and the hybrid model. It was observed that YOLOv5 with the ensemble weights yields better results in terms of precision, recall, and mAP values: 0.76, 0.78, and 0.79, respectively. The mAP score closer to 1 signifies a higher confidence in localizing the parasites. This study is the first implementation of ensemble YOLOv5 in the malaria parasite detection field. The proposed ensemble model can detect the presence of malaria parasites and localize them with bounding boxes better than previously used models.

Every year around one million human beings all over the world dies of malaria. It is one of the deadliest mosquito-borne diseases that is caused by the presence of parasites. Physicians are using microscopic analysis of patients' blood to detect malaria parasite presence in early stages, but there are problems with this approach that include the time and accuracy. With the advancement in technologies, the expertise shifted towards automated techniques to detect the presence of malaria in the human blood. This paper explores various dataset collected from relevant sources as well as handcrafted data, use of various pre-processing techniques, and substantial computational methods that were used for classification.

Data Security has become one of the major concerns in the modern world. As everything is going digital and our data is on the cloud, its security is a major research area. The various suggested method provides better security and more important integrity. However, with more advancement in technology, these proposed methods are getting snooped. This paper proposed an approach of a combination of Steganography, Cryptography, and Transposition cipher technique. In particular, it focuses on the LSB technique in another way i.e., while performing the LSB steganography technique instead of embedding data at LSB of the base image, this method takes MSB of Video Frame and LSB of Stego Image. This combination helps in providing very little distortion and higher quality of the secure image. The value of efficiency of the algorithm would be determined by the PSNR value.

Human GBA1 encodes lysosomal acid β-glucocerebrosidase (GCase), which hydrolyzes cleavage of the beta-glucosidic linkage of glucosylceramide (GlcCer). Mutations in this gene lead to reduced GCase activity, accumulation of glucosylceramide and glucosylsphingosine, and development of Gaucher disease (GD). Drosophila melanogaster has two GBA1 orthologs. Thus far, GBA1b was documented as a bone fide GCase-encoding gene, while the role of GBA1a encoded protein remained unclear. In the present study, we characterized a mutant variant of the fly GBA1a, which underwent ERAD and mildly activated the UPR machinery. RNA-seq analyses of homozygous mutant flies revealed upregulation of inflammation-associated as well as of cell-cycle related genes and reduction in programmed cell death (PCD)-associated genes, which was confirmed by qRT-PCR. We also observed compromised cell death in the midgut of homozygous larvae and a reduction in pupation. Our results strongly indicated that GBA1a-encoded protein plays a role in midgut maturation during larvae development.

Gaucher disease (GD) results from mutations in the GBA1 gene, which encodes lysosomal glucocerebrosidase (GCase). The large number of mutations known to date in the gene lead to a heterogeneous disorder, which is divided into a non-neuronopathic, type 1 GD, and two neurological, type 2 and type 3, forms. We studied the two fly GBA1 orthologs, GBA1a and GBA1b. Each contains a Minos element insertion, which truncates its coding sequence. In the GBA1am/m flies, which express a mutant protein, missing 33 C-terminal amino acids, there was no decrease in GCase activity or substrate accumulation. However, GBA1bm/m mutant flies presented a significant decrease in GCase activity with concomitant substrate accumulation, which included C14:1 glucosylceramide and C14:0 glucosylsphingosine. GBA1bm/m mutant flies showed activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) and presented inflammation and neuroinflammation that culminated in development of a neuronopathic disease. Treatment with ambroxol did not rescue GCase activity or reduce substrate accumulation; however, it ameliorated UPR, inflammation and neuroinflammation, and increased life span. Our results highlight the resemblance between the phenotype of the GBA1bm/m mutant fly and neuronopathic GD and underlie its relevance in further GD studies as well as a model to test possible therapeutic modalities.

The advancement of the Internet of Things technology is playing a key role in developing the health sector by making it much more accessible and affordable through easy to use applications for virtual and distant interactions with patients. Taking the capability of IoT technology into account, it is possible to overcome the difficulties faced by physically unstable patients in consulting a doctor physically on a regular basis. This work has led to a prototype of IoT Based Remote Health Monitoring System for Patients. This prototype consists of three health sensors: heart pulse sensor, body temperature sensor and galvanic skin response sensor. All these sensors were merged together into a single system with Arduino Uno and Raspberry Pi combined together. The data acquired from the sensors is transferred to a cloud storage via the Raspberry Pi. The cloud storage is continuously being updated in real time database. An Android Application was developed using Android Studio which could access the database and show a graphical representation of the health parameters. IoT integrated with the health wearables can overcome the need of visiting hospitals for primary health issues. This also reduces the medical expenses for patients significantly. In addition, the doctors can prescribe necessary medications by observing the patient’s health stats over time through an application. Detailed analysis of the signals was obtained with respect to variations in physical and environmental activities to understand the functioning of the sensors used.

Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is a popular rapid prototyping technique. Finite Element (FE) methods are generally applied in simulations of the FDM process. Mostly FE methods are used for initial analysis which are compared with experimental methods. The main objective of this paper is reviewing the existing literature related to finite element methods in FDM research and pointing out some limitations. For the literature review, the selected papers are divided into three domains: thermal analysis, geometrical analysis, and mechanical characterization. It is found that there is no FE model on surface finish and geometrical analysis. However, there are geometrical simulation models on surface finish and geometrical analysis. It is also found that there is no realistic FE model in the existing literature. Realistic FE models are very much required for increasing the prediction accuracy of the models. For this reason, researchers should more focus on the FE analysis of FDM fabricated parts.

Transportation is one of the logistical drivers in supply chains. Transportation disruption is costly in supply chains. This paper aims to assess transportation disruption risks using a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN). First, the disruption risk factors and their sub-factors were identified from the relevant articles and experts' opinions. The BBN-based model is developed to calculate the marginal probabilities of the risk factors and their sub-factors to determine the most sensitive factors/sub-factors. The framework was demonstrated using an example case of the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh. The findings reveal the usefulness of BBN in examining transportation disruptions in supply chains. BBN captured the interdependencies between the disruption risk factors/sub-factors effectively. The proposed model will be useful to managers for predicting transportation disruptions and to build resilient strategies to tackle them.

This paper aims to identify the negative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on supply chains and propose strategies to deal with the impacts in the context of the readymade garment (RMG) industry supply chain of an emerging economy: Bangladesh. To achieve the aims, a methodological framework is proposed through a literature review, expert inputs, and a decision-aid tool, namely the grey-based digraph-matrix method. A total of 10 types of negative impacts and 22 strategic measures to tackle the impacts were identified based on the literature review and expert inputs. Then, the grey-based digraph-matrix was applied for modeling the strategic measures based on their influence to deal with the impacts. Findings reveal that the strategies “manufacturing flexibility”, “diversify the source of supply”, and “develop backup suppliers” have significant positive consequences for managing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the RMG supply chain. The findings help industrial managers recover from supply chain disruptions by identifying and classifying the impacts and strategies required to manage the major supply chain disturbances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a theoretical contribution, this study is one of few initial attempts to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and the strategies to deal with the impacts in the supply chain context.

MANET is collection of mobile devices form a self-creating, self-organizing and self-administering wireless networks. Due to mobility of nodes it is not possible to establish fixed paths for message delivery through the network. Hence, congestion is happening and it is the key problem for MANET. Many routing protocols have been proposed to overcome the congestion in MANET. One of the popular routing protocol is AODV, but it depends on individual receivers to detect congestion and adjust their receiving rates. Another common routing protocol is EERCCP, which is better than AODV but sometimes it fails when link failure happens to relay node or if relay node moves from its current group to another group then there is no other mechanism to select an alternative relay nodes i.e. lack of cooperativeness. Consequently, we proposed a routing protocol named as EECCCP, which utilizes user cooperation to reduce congestion. The proposed energy efficient and cooperative congestion control routing protocol (EECCCP), performs well better than both the AODV and EERCCP. The proposed scheme encorporates the benefits of energy efficiency and cooperativeness which in turn reduces the congestion effectively. It also overcomes the disadvantages of existing multicast congestion control protocol. Moreover, the proposed scheme does not impose any significant changes on the queuing, scheduling or forwarding policies of existing network protocols. The simulation results have shown that our proposed protocol EECCCP has the about 95% better delivery ratio and throughput with about 85 % less delay and energy consumption when compared with the existing protocol AODV. It also has the about 65% better delivery ratio and throughput with about 60 % less delay and energy consumption when compared with the existing protocol EERCCP.

We report on an all-optical sensor system that employs InGaN/GaN nanowires (NWs) as opto-chemical transducers. The NWs, grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on low-resistivity n-type Si (1 1 1) substrates, exhibit an efficient room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) that persists up to about 200 °C. After deposition of a thin (5 nm) catalytic Pt-film onto the NWs the PL intensity rises when the NWs are exposed to small concentrations of hydrogen and hydrocarbons. The gas response of the NWs was analyzed using an integrated sensor system with fiber-coupled excitation from a GaN-based power LED emitting at 365 nm and a fiber coupled photo multiplier tube for detection. With this setup, H2 concentrations as low as 200 ppb and C2H2 concentrations as low as 5 ppm could be detected when the transducers were operated at temperatures around 80 °C. This opto-chemical transducer principle is best suited for safety-critical applications where a reliable media separation is required.

The disease of reproductive women, endometriosis represents implantation of functional endometrial glands outside uterine cavity. This invasive disorder is associated with dysregulation of matrix metalloproteases (MMP)s and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. In this study, we investigated the role of MMP-3 on apoptosis during endometriosis. We also checked whether curcumin has potency to regress endometriosis by modulating MMP-3 and apoptotic pathway. Mouse model of endometriosis was designed by intraperitoneal inoculation of endometrial tissues to syngeneic female BALB/c. At 15th day, stable endometriotic developments were observed with increased MMP-3 expression. TUNEL positive cells were also found with endometriotic progression, which might resulted from destruction of local immune cells. We speculate that increased MMP-3 activity might be involved in the Fas mediated apoptosis. Curcumin treatment regressed endometriosis by inhibiting NFκB translocation and MMP-3 expression. It also accelerated apoptosis in endometriomas predominantly via cytochrome-c mediated mitochondrial pathway. Involvement of mitochondria in apoptosis was further confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). These results were also supported by our therapeutic study, where curcumin induced apoptosis both by p53 dependent and independent manner, while celecoxib followed only p53 independent pathway. Altogether, our study establishes the novel role of curcumin as a potent anti-endometriotic compound.

We examined the molecular mechanism of curcumin in a preventive and therapeutic model of indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration with regard to angiogenic processes.Disrupted blood vessels, reduced collagen matrices, and significant (60%) injury to mucosal cells were observed during ulceration. In addition, ulcerated tissues exhibited decreased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in blood vessels. Interestingly, curcumin blocked ulceration by induction of collagenization and angiogenesis in gastric tissues via upregulation of MMP-2, membrane type (MT) 1-MMP, VEGF, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β at protein and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels. To examine the angiogenic properties of curcumin, we employed a chorioallantoic membrane model and Matrigel assay. During healing, curcumin promoted collagenization and angiogenesis as well as enhanced MMP-2 activity via positive MT1-MMP regulation and negative tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 regulation.Our study demonstrates that curcumin-mediated healing is associated with increased MMP-2, TGF-β, and VEGF expression and that it plays a pivotal role as an angiogenic modulator by stimulating vascular sprout formation and collagen fiber restoration in ulcerated tissues.We conclude that curcumin remodels gastric tissues by restoring the collagen architecture and accelerating angiogenesis.

Paul-Choudhury presents three major UK political parties to comment on their six pledges. The first to reply was Labor, which told them it will raise the UK's nvestment in R&D to three percent of GDP, inline with other industrialized nations. It's spokesman added that deputy leader Tom Watson has set up an independent commission on the future of work, looking at the impact of new technology and automation. That's due to report back later this year. In its manifesto, Labor promises to "clamp down" on gig economy platforms that shirk their responsibilities as employers--but doesn't specify how.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been implicated in inflammatory and degradative processes in several diseases. The study aims to explore the mechanism of MMP-9 regulation in alcohol-induced acute liver injury and its protection by melatonin in mice. Alcohol-induced acute liver injury was induced in female Balb/C mice by ethanol administration and protection studies were carried out with a well-known antioxidant molecule, melatonin. Degree of liver injury was monitored by histological and biochemical analysis of liver tissues. Oral administration of ethanol in mouse caused significant increase in alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity in serum. Depletion of glutathione and enhancement of lipid peroxidation as well as protein oxidation was observed in liver tissues following ethanol treatment. However, melatonin exhibited potent hepatoprotective activity by inhibiting ALT activity and oxidative stress. Additionally, MMP-9 expression was increased by ethanol in a dose and time dependent manner in liver tissue and serum. Increased secretion of proMMP-9 was strongly correlated with the expression of proinflammatory cytokines e.g., tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL6. Melatonin showed hepatoprotective role by downregulation of MMP-9 and upregulation of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteases (TIMP-1) expression in liver tissue. Nuclear factor (NF)-κB, plays an important role in inducing inflammatory genes during oxidative stress, thus the role of NF-κB in ethanol-induced liver injury was investigated. Ethanol induced nuclear translocation of NF-κB and increased degradation of inhibitor of NF-κB (IκBα) in liver tissues. Moreover, ethanol-induced NF-κB translocation into nucleus was inhibited significantly by melatonin. This is the first study to elucidate the induction of MMP-9 expression by NF-κB-dependent pathway in ethanol-induced acute liver injury in mice. This study also identifies the novel role of melatonin in hepatoprotection via MMP-9 down regulation.

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein miniaturisiertes Messsystem für hydraulische Flüssigkeiten vorgestellt. Das System besteht aus zwei Teilen: (i) einem opto-chemischen Sensor, der die Stärke und die energetische Lage der O-H Absorption in der Umgebung von 3500 cm−1 detektiert, und (ii) einem Partikelsensor, der auf einem Lichtschrankenprinzip beruht. Der erste Sensor misst den Wasser- und den Säuregehalt und der zweite die Anzahl fester Teilchen in der Flüssigkeit.

Background: Idiopatiic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a disease of dysregulated fibrogenesis with abnormal matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) activity, angiogenesis, and profibrotic milieu wherein MMPs inhibition appears to be target-based therapy. We evaluated the role of doxycycline as a nonspecific inhibitor of MMPs in IPF patients. Materials and Methods: Patients of IPF diagnosed on the basis of ATS-ERS consensus criteria were put on oral doxycycline in an open prospective trial. They were followed up for long term with spirometry, 6 min walk test (6MWT), St. Georges respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ), forced vital capacity (FVC), and repeat bronchoscopy while on doxycycline monotherapy for over 24 weeks. Both the initial and follow-up broncho alveolar lavage fluids (BALF) from IPF patients (n = 6) and control subjects (n = 6) were looked for MMP-9, -3, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. Additionally, doxycycline's action on MMP activities in vitro was tested in BALF of IPF patients. Results: Doxycycline intervention showed significant improvement in IPF patients in terms of change in 6MWT, SGRQ, FVC, and quality of life. The level of MMP-9, -3, TIMP-1 and VEGF in the BALF were found significantly higher in the IPF patients compared to the controls while doxycycline therapy reduced those parameters nearer to control value. Doxycycline also showed a significant dose-dependent reduction in the in vitro MMPs activities in BALF. Conclusion: Doxycycline shows significant prospect in the treatment of IPF through its anti MMPs activities. This is the first report on a case series of long-term doxycycline monotherapy in IPF patients.

The paper discusses chemical sensor applications in commercial aircraft. Potential applications range from air quality to system health monitoring and smart maintenance. These application fields are described and suitable sensor technologies are pointed out. The use of MEMS and nanotechnologies in realizing such sensor functionalities is demonstrated by considering selected sensor examples.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are part of a superfamily of metal-requiring proteases that play important roles in tissue remodeling by breaking down proteins in the extracellular matrix that provides structural support for cells. The intricate balance in protease/anti-protease stoichiometry is a contributing factor in a number of diseases. Melatonin possesses multifunctional bioactivities including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, endocrinologic and behavioral effects. As melatonin affects the redox status of tissues, the association of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with tissue injury under different circumstances may be mitigated by melatonin. Redox signaling is expanding into all areas of basic and clinical sciences, and this timely review focuses on the topic of regulation of MMP activities by melatonin. This is a rapidly growing field. Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress plays an important role in regulating the activities of MMPs that are involved in various cellular processes such as cellular proliferation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis. This review offers sections on MMPs, melatonin, major physiological and pathophysiological conditions in the context to MMPs, followed by redox signaling mechanisms that are known to influence the cellular processes. Finally, we discuss the emerging molecular mechanisms relevant to regulatory actions of melatonin on the activities of MMPs. The possibility that melatonin might have therapeutic significance via regulation of MMPs may be a novel approach in the treatment of some diseases.

It's an eye-popping show of marine anatomy, but Sumit Paul-Choudhury longs to dive deeper

Over the past 60 years, The New Scientist has not just reported new discoveries and inventions in science and technology. They have also tried to explain why they matter and where they're likely to lead. That's not easy. There can be very fine lines between testable predictions, educated guesswork and flights of fancy. But it is very much a rough draft: then, as now, attempting to predict the future in detail is a largely futile enterprise. Here, Paul-Choudry delves into how science and technology might upturn the world as people know it, for good and ill.

It is forbidden by law to die of natural causes in Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost town--because the rock-hard permafrost makes it impossible to bury people. Nor can they be born here, due to the peculiar legal status of the Svalbard archipelago, a thousand kilometers north of Norway. Forty-two nations, including the unlikely Arctic powers of Afghanistan and Venezuela, have the right to settle and exploit its resources: from whales in the 18th century, to furs in the 19th and coal in the 20th. Now, with coal on its way out, Svalbard is presenting itself as a location for scientific research, ecotourism and the arts. As such it may find itself at the nexus of a new global reality. Here, Paul-Choudbury discusses a hunt for aesthetics in the Arctic that hints people should unfreeze an 18-century concept.

Paul-Choudhury talks about the taxation of robots. Bill Gates thinks people should: in a recent interview, he argued that they should raise the same amount of money by taxing robots as they would lose in payroll taxes from the humans they supplant. That money could be directed towards more human-dependent jobs, such as caring for the young, old and sick. Furthermore, automation is shaping up to be the biggest challenge to employment in the 21st century. Whatever Donald Trump may think, the trend to ship jobs overseas is dissipating, while immigrants tend to fill gaps in the about market rather than oust native worker

We are the first people in history to create vast online records of our lives. How much of it will endure when you are gone?

The detection of mental stress by acquiring and processing EEG and EOG signal from brain and processed through Virtual Instrumentation was done in real time using LABVIEW. A GSM modem and an Arduino Uno Microcontroller has been interfaced with the system for generating SMS alert at overstressed condition and to start some relief mechanism, i.e., Video and Audio automatically to reduce the stress and fatigue. The system developed is portable and affordable in cost.

In order to fully profit from the increased sensitivity of nanoscale transducer structures appropriate readout techniques are required. In this context optical methods are highly promising as they allow parallel probing of large ensembles of nano-objects without manipulating or processing single nanostructures. Furthermore, optical readout techniques feature significant advantages for certain applications as, e.g., measurements in potentially hazardous environments that prohibit any form of electricity at the point of measurement. In this article we discuss a novel type of gas-sensitive nanophotonic probes that are based on the photoluminescence response of group III-nitride nanostructures. This material class offers manifold possibilities for the synthesis of nano-objects as well as for the realization of complex semiconductor heterostructures. The latter is inevitable to fully exploit this optical approach by utilizing band engineering methods for a targeted control of the emission properties (such as the absorption behavior, the emission wavelength and intensity, as well as the temperature stability of the emission). In recent years, significant progress in terms of gas sensing applications has been obtained using GaN/AlN quantum dot systems as well as GaN nanowire ensembles with embedded heterostructures of either GaN/AlGaN or GaN/InGaN. These nanoscale transducer structures are highly suitable for the development of optical sensor systems and proved to be fully competitive to conventional sensor concepts. The state of the art of group III-nitride opto-chemical gas sensors is reviewed in the present chapter.

Crawick Multiverse is a major land restoration and art project in Dumfries & Galloway in the UK, utilizing landscape art to transform a former open cast coal mine into an outdoor space that can be enjoyed by future generations. Privately funded by the Duke of Buccleuch and designed by globally-renowned landscape artist Charles Jencks, Crawick Multiverse is a stunning representation of exciting discoveries and theories of the universe. This world-class landscape art design links the themes of space, astronomy and cosmology, creating a truly inspiring landmark that will appeal to everyone from art enthusiasts and scientists to the wider community. Here, Paul-Choudhury features Crawick Multiverse that proves a new way to explore the cosmos

The paper presents a novel concept for the realization of optochemical sensor systems which are capable of operating in harsh environments. Key components in such sensors are nanostructures formed from gallium nitride (GaN) and its alloys with aluminum (Al) and indium (In). Nanostructures of this kind emit an efficient, visible-light photoluminescence (PL) which can be excited with low-cost ultraviolet light sources and which extends up to temperatures in the order of 200°C. When exposed to various chemical environments, changes in the PL intensity occur which constitute valuable sensor signals. Due to the all-optical approach, the PL can be excited and its chemically induced changes be read out without requiring electrical wiring at the point of measurement. The present paper presents this innovative sensor concept, the nanostructures and optochemical transducer structures that form its material base, as well as several applications of such transducers in the fields of gas and fluid sensing. The applications addressed here range from the sensing of ppb concentrations of H 2 , NO 2 and O 3 in gaseous environments to the pH monitoring in aqueous solutions.

A keynote address given by the vice president of the US--followed by a speech from Pope Franciss. Their remarks were addressed to a small crowd, by the standards of the Vatican's audience chamber but a distinguished one: pioneering researchers, visionary technologists, dignified patients--and deep-pocketed philanthropists. They were assembled for a glitzy three-day conference on regenerative medicine orchestrated by the New York-based Stem for Life Foundation and the Pontifical Council for Culture intended to catalyze funding and "reduce human suffering throughout the world." Its centerpiece, the papal audience, epitomized how the new wave of precision medicine sits at the nexus of science, society and money.

Endometriosis is a common reproductive disorder believed to be associated with matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) activities for invasion and remodeling of endometrial tissues. Ectopic endometrium has higher capacity to produce proMMP-2 than eutopic tissues; however, the role of MMP-2 during early phase of endometriosis development is still unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of MMP-2 in establishment and development of endometriosis in mouse model. The effect of curcumin on regression of endometriosis through protease/antiprotease balance between MMP-2 and TIMP-2 was also examined. After endometrial inoculation into peritoneum, we observed a significant elevation of proMMP-2 activity from day 2 onwards. This increased MMP-2 activity was associated with decreased expression of tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-2, while a significant up-regulation of active MMP-2 activity was observed from day 3 onwards. The activation of proMMP-2 to active MMP-2 was associated with increased expression of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1MMP). Curcumin at a dose of 48 mg/kg b.w. repressed the MMP-2 activity via up-regulation of bound TIMP-2 expression, thus delayed endometriosis development. In addition, curcumin inhibited production of active MMP-2 by down-regulating MT1MMP expression. Moreover, endometriotic progression was directly linked with increased MMP-2/TIMP-2 ratio which was delayed by curcumin pretreatment. In summary, our study documents the regulation of MMP-2 activity by TIMP-2 during the early phase of endometriosis development and inhibitory action of curcumin thereon.

We report on InGaN/GaN nanowires (NWs) as opto-chemical transducers for the detection of H2 and hydrocarbons. The NWs exhibit a strong photoluminescence (PL) which persists up to temperatures of 150°C and above. The GaN/InGaN NWs were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on low-resistivity n-type Si (111) substrates and covered with a semitransparent catalytic Pt-coating after deposition. With the thin Pt coating on top, the PL intensity is dependent on the concentration of hydrogen or hydrocarbons in the surrounding atmosphere. Contrary to commercially available hydrogen sensors e.g. Pd or Pt gated high electron mobility transistors or catalytically activated metaloxide-silicon-carbide FETs our all-optical sensor system allows detection of ppm concentrations of H2 at low operating temperatures (30°C-120°C).

A threatened museum in London preserves a unique piece of Victorian engineering heritage, says Sumit Paul-Choudhury

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are part of a superfamily of metal-requiring proteases that play important roles in tissue remodeling by breaking down proteins in the extracellular matrix that provides structural support for cells. The intricate balance in protease/anti-protease stoichiometry is a contributing factor in a number of diseases. Melatonin possesses multifunctional bioactivities including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, endocrinologic and behavioral effects. As melatonin affects the redox status of tissues, the association of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with tissue injury under different circumstances may be mitigated by melatonin. Redox signaling is expanding into all areas of basic and clinical sciences, and this timely review focuses on the topic of regulation of MMP activities by melatonin. This is a rapidly growing field. Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress plays an important role in regulating the activities of MMPs that are involved in various cellular processes such as cellular proliferation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis. This review offers sections on MMPs, melatonin, major physiological and pathophysiological conditions in the context to MMPs, followed by redox signaling mechanisms that are known to influence the cellular processes. Finally, we discuss the emerging molecular mechanisms relevant to regulatory actions of melatonin on the activities of MMPs. The possibility that melatonin might have therapeutic significance via regulation of MMPs may be a novel approach in the treatment of some diseases.