A mobile-programmable smart mirror for ambient IoT environments

© 2017 IEEE. The purpose of this paper is to present a smart interactive mirror interface. In this paper, we describe the design and development of a futuristic mirror that offers simplified and customisable services to the home environment. On a par with the recent advances in the Internet of Things standards and applications, the mirror is designed to enable residents to control the household smart appliances and access personalised services; ensuring convenience in accessing these services with the slightest possible user intervention. The multipurpose user-friendly functionalities of the proposed mirror interface provide users with the versatility needed for better management and integration of daily tasks. A service oriented approach is adopted in the architecture of the proposed system. It consists mainly of two mobile applications devoted to the customisation of user profiles, which are displayed on the smart mirror interface once successfully paired. Moreover, in the proposed system, emphasis is particularly given to the user profile personalisation, as well as planned system interactivity and adaptability. Hence, the proposed system is set apart from others for its ease of use as well as its provision of various customised information services for user profile generation

The effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Artemisia herba alba on human laryngeal carcinoma and murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell lines

The present study was carried out to evaluate the cytological effects of aqueous (AE) and ethanolic (EE) extracts of Artemisia herba alba on human laryngeal carcinoma (Hep-2) cell line and murine mammary adenocarcinoma (AMN-3) cell line in vitro. The cytological study performed simultaneously with cell growth assay. The results of study revealed concentration-dependent cytological changes like patchy growth inhibition, loss of confluent feature and cellular degeneration after exposure to the lowest concentrations (156.25 and 312.5 μg/ml). The early findings of cytolysis were seen after exposure to 625 μg/ml. While the highest concentrations (1250, 2500 and 5000 μg/ml) caused severe growth inhibition with marked cytolytic features including loss of cellular outlines, large numbers of dead cells and high content of cellular debris. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed the high cytological effect of Artemisia herba alba extracts on Hep-2 and AMN-3 cell lines in vitro

Supersymmetric contributions to Bˉs→ϕπ0\bar{B}_s \to \phi \pi^0 and Bˉs→ϕρ0\bar{B}_s \to \phi \rho^0 decays in SCET

We study the decay modes $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \pi^0$ and $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0$ using Soft Collinear Effective Theory. Within Standard Model and including the error due to the SU(3) breaking effect in the SCET parameters we find that BR $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \pi^0 =7_{-1-2}^{+1+2}\times 10^{-8}$ and BR $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \pi^0=9_{-1-4}^{+1+3}\times 10^{-8}$ corresponding to solution 1 and solution 2 of the SCET parameters respectively.For the decay mode $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0$, we find that BR $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0 = 20.2^{+1+9}_{-1-12}\times 10^{-8}$ and BR $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0 = 34.0^{+1.5 + 15}_{-1.5-22}\times 10^{-8}$ corresponding to solution 1 and solution 2 of the SCET parameters respectively. We extend our study to include supersymmetric models with non-universal A-terms where the dominant contributions arise from diagrams mediated by gluino and chargino exchanges. We show that gluino contributions can not lead to an enhancement of the branching ratios of $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \pi^0$ and $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0$. In addition, we show that SUSY contributions mediated by chargino exchange can enhance the branching ratio of $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \pi^0$ by about 14% with respect to the SM prediction. For the branching ratio of $\bar{B}_s\to \phi \rho^0$, we find that SUSY contributions can enhance its value by about 1% with respect to the SM prediction.Comment: 25 pages,5 figures, version accepted for publicatio

Gateway vectors for efficient artificial gene assembly in vitro and expression in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Deep Mining of Oxysterols and Cholestenoic Acids in Human Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid: Quantification using Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry

Both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are rich in cholesterol and its metabolites. Here we describe in detail a methodology for the identification and quantification of multiple sterols including oxysterols and sterol-acids found in these fluids. The method is translatable to any laboratory with access to liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry. The method exploits isotope-dilution mass spectrometry for absolute quantification of target metabolites. The method is applicable for semi-quantification of other sterols for which isotope labelled surrogates are not available and approximate quantification of partially identified sterols. Values are reported for non-esterified sterols in the absence of saponification and total sterols following saponification. In this way absolute quantification data is reported for 17 sterols in the NIST SRM 1950 plasma along with semi-quantitative data for 8 additional sterols and approximate quantification for one further sterol. In a pooled (CSF) sample used for internal quality control, absolute quantification was performed on 10 sterols, semi-quantification on 9 sterols and approximate quantification on a further three partially identified sterols. The value of the method is illustrated by confirming the sterol phenotype of a patient suffering from ACOX2 deficiency, a rare disorder of bile acid biosynthesis, and in a plasma sample from a patient suffering from cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, where cholesterol 27-hydroxylase is deficient

Teucrium Polium Plant Extract Provokes Substantial Cytotoxicity at the Early Stage of Embryonic Development.

The aim of this study is to explore the outcome of Teucrium polium (TP) medicinal plant consumption on the early stage of fetal development. We used the chicken embryo at 3 days of incubation as a model to evaluate the effect of TP plant extract during embryogenesis. In addition, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was applied to explore the expression of six genes related to cell proliferation, apoptosis, sur-vival, angiogenesis, and migration. Our data revealed that TP exposure inhibits angiogenesis of the chicken embryo and its chorioallantoic membrane. In addition, we found that TP extract significantly harms the normal development of the embryos since around 95% of TP-exposed embryos died after 1-3 days of treatment. Macroscopic examination did not show any anomalies in these embryos. However, qPCR analysis of activation transcription factor-3, B-cell lymphoma-2, caspase 8, inhibin subunit beta A, vascular endothelial growth factor-C, and Cadherin-6 type-2 genes revealed that these genes are considerably deregulated in heart and brain tissues from TP-exposed embryos in comparison with their matched tissues from unexposed ones. Our study implies that TP plant can have very toxic effects on the early stage of the embryo. Therefore, it is important to alert expectant women to avoid the use of this medicinal plant during pregnancy