The Role of the Human Growth Hormone Gene Family in Pregnancy

A pregnant woman´s body undergoes profound anatomical and physiological changes to accommodate the needs of the maternal-fetal unit required for a successful pregnancy. During normal pregnancy, the placenta produces a variant of human growth hormone as well as a chorionic somatomammotropin hormone. These are the placental members of the human growth hormone gene family and play a crucial role in the regulation of maternal and fetal metabolism, as well as in the growth and development of the fetus. For this reason, the scope of this chapter is to describe the differences of the biochemical and physiological roles of the hormones coded in this locus during pregnancy, the repercussions of their deficiencies, and role in some of the most prevalent pathologies during pregnancy affecting either the mother or the fetus and also to describe how pioneering sequencing of this locus allowed our laboratory to invent the first companion diagnostics test and thus contributed to the dawn of the personalized medicine era

Eigenvalues of even very nice Toeplitz matrices can be unexpectedly erratic

It was shown in a series of recent publications that the eigenvalues of $n\times n$ Toeplitz matrices generated by so-called simple-loop symbols admit certain regular asymptotic expansions into negative powers of $n+1$. On the other hand, recently two of the authors considered the pentadiagonal Toeplitz matrices generated by the symbol $g(x)=(2\sin(x/2))^4$, which does not satisfy the simple-loop conditions, and derived asymptotic expansions of a more complicated form. We here use these results to show that the eigenvalues of the pentadiagonal Toeplitz matrices do not admit the expected regular asymptotic expansion. This also delivers a counter-example to a conjecture by Ekstr\"{o}m, Garoni, and Serra-Capizzano and reveals that the simple-loop condition is essential for the existence of the regular asymptotic expansion.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Multiplexing of encrypted data using fractal masks

This paper was published in OPTICS LETTERS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.37.002895. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under lawIn this Letter, we present to the best of our knowledge a new all-optical technique for multiple-image encryption and multiplexing, based on fractal encrypting masks. The optical architecture is a joint transform correlator. The multiplexed encrypted data are stored in a photorefractive crystal. The fractal parameters of the key can be easily tuned to lead to a multiplexing operation without cross talk effects. Experimental results that support the potential of the method are presented.This research was performed under grants TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme at Centres of Excellence in the South, CONICET No. 0863 (Argentina), ANCYT PICT 1167 (Argentina), and Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional de La Plata No. 11/I125 (Argentina), Sostenibilidad 2011-2012, and CODI (Universidad de Antioquia-Colombia). W. D. Furlan and J. A. Monsoriua acknowledge financial support from Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grant FIS2011-23175), Generalitat Valenciana (grant PROMETEO2009-077), and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (grants PAID-05-11 and PAID-02-11), Spain.Barrera, J.; Tebaldi, M.; Amaya, D.; Furlan, W.; Monsoriu Serra, JA.; Bolognini, NA.; Torroba, RD.... (2012). Multiplexing of encrypted data using fractal masks. Optics Letters. 37(14):2895-2897. doi:10.1364/OL.37.002895S289528973714Refregier, P., & Javidi, B. (1995). Optical image encryption based on input plane and Fourier plane random encoding. Optics Letters, 20(7), 767. doi:10.1364/ol.20.000767Matoba, O., & Javidi, B. (1999). Encrypted optical memory system using three-dimensional keys in the Fresnel domain. Optics Letters, 24(11), 762. doi:10.1364/ol.24.000762Unnikrishnan, G., Joseph, J., & Singh, K. (2000). Optical encryption by double-random phase encoding in the fractional Fourier domain. Optics Letters, 25(12), 887. doi:10.1364/ol.25.000887Nomura, T. (2000). Polarization encoding for optical security systems. Optical Engineering, 39(9), 2439. doi:10.1117/1.1288369Tebaldi, M., Furlan, W. D., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2009). Optical-data storage-readout technique based on fractal encrypting masks. Optics Letters, 34(3), 316. doi:10.1364/ol.34.000316Situ, G., & Zhang, J. (2005). Multiple-image encryption by wavelength multiplexing. Optics Letters, 30(11), 1306. doi:10.1364/ol.30.001306Liu, Z., & Liu, S. (2007). Double image encryption based on iterative fractional Fourier transform. Optics Communications, 275(2), 324-329. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2007.03.039Hwang, H.-E., Chang, H. T., & Lie, W.-N. (2009). Multiple-image encryption and multiplexing using a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm and phase modulation in Fresnel-transform domain. Optics Letters, 34(24), 3917. doi:10.1364/ol.34.003917Matoba, O., & Javidi, B. (1999). Encrypted optical storage with angular multiplexing. Applied Optics, 38(35), 7288. doi:10.1364/ao.38.007288Fredy Barrera, J., Henao, R., Tebaldi, M., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2006). Multiplexing encryption–decryption via lateral shifting of a random phase mask. Optics Communications, 259(2), 532-536. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2005.09.027Henao, R., Rueda, E., Barrera, J. F., & Torroba, R. (2010). Noise-free recovery of optodigital encrypted and multiplexed images. Optics Letters, 35(3), 333. doi:10.1364/ol.35.000333Barrera, J. F., Henao, R., Tebaldi, M., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2006). Multiple image encryption using an aperture-modulated optical system. Optics Communications, 261(1), 29-33. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2005.11.055Mosso, F., Barrera, J. F., Tebaldi, M., Bolognini, N., & Torroba, R. (2011). All-optical encrypted movie. Optics Express, 19(6), 5706. doi:10.1364/oe.19.005706Monsoriu, J. A., Saavedra, G., & Furlan, W. D. (2004). Fractal zone plates with variable lacunarity. Optics Express, 12(18), 4227. doi:10.1364/opex.12.00422

Smart and networking underwater robots in cooperation meshes : the swarms ECSEL : H2020 project

The work presented on this paper is aimed to explain the role that unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs/ROVs) plays in the ECSEL-H2020 SWARMS project. The main goal of the project is to reduce the operational cost and increase the safety of tasks assigned to divers in these operations. This will be achieved enabling the AUVs/ROVs to work in a cooperative mesh. The challenge is to design and develop an integrated platform (a set of Software/Hardware components), incorporated into the current generation of underwater vehicles in order to improve autonomy, cooperation, robustness, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of the offshore operations. The first demonstration of the project will be performed at PLOCAN (Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands) where these technologies will be validated on its first stage.Peer Reviewe

Constant of Motion for several one-dimensional systems and outlining the problem associated with getting their Hamiltonians

The constants of motion of the following systems are deduced: a relativistic particle with linear dissipation, a no-relativistic particle with a time explicitly depending force, a no-relativistic particle with a constant force and time depending mass, and a relativistic particle under a conservative force with position depending mass. The problem of getting the Hamiltonian for these systems is determined by getting the velocity as an explicit function of position and generalized linear momentum, and this problem can be solved a first approximation for the first above system.Comment: 15 pages, Te

Railcar Wheel Impact Detection Utilizing Vibration-Based Wireless Onboard Condition Monitoring Modules

The current limitations in established rail transport condition monitoring methods have motivated the UTCRS railway research team at UTRGV to investigate a novel solution that can address these deficiencies through wired, onboard, and vibration-based analytics. Due to the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), the research team has now transitioned into developing wireless modules that take advantage of the rapid data processing and wireless communication features these systems possess. This has enabled UTCRS to partner with Hum Industrial Technology, Inc. to assist them in the development of their “Boomerang” wireless condition monitoring system. Designed to revolutionize the way the railway industry monitors rolling stock assets; the product is intended to provide preemptive maintenance scheduling through the continuous monitoring of railcar wheels and bearings. Ultimately, customers can save time, money, and avoid potentially catastrophic events. The wheel condition monitoring capabilities of the Boomerang were evaluated through various laboratory experiments that mimicked rail service operating conditions. The possible optimization of the system by incorporating a filter was also investigated. To further validate the efficacy of the prototype, a pilot field test consisting of 40 modules was conducted. The exhibited agreement between the laboratory and field pilot test data as well as the detection of a faulty wheelset demonstrates the functionality of the sensor module as a railcar wheel health monitoring device

Separate ways: The Mass-Metallicity Relation does not strongly correlate with Star Formation Rate in SDSS-IV MaNGA galaxies

We present the integrated stellar mass-metallicity relation (MZR) for more than 1700 galaxies included in the integral field area SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. The spatially resolved data allow us to determine the metallicity at the same physical scale (effective radius in arcsecs, $\mathrm{R_{eff}}$ ) using a heterogeneous set of ten abundance calibrators. Besides scale factors, the shape of the MZR is similar for all calibrators, consistent with those reported previously using single-fiber and integral field spectroscopy. We compare the residuals of this relation against the star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR). We do not find a strong secondary relation of the MZR with either SFR or the sSFR for any of the calibrators, in contrast with previous single-fiber spectroscopic studies. Our results agree with an scenario in which metal enrichment happens at local scales, with global outflows playing a secondary role in shaping the chemistry of galaxies and cold-gas inflows regulating the stellar formation.Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted for publication in Ap