Surface operators in 5d gauge theories and duality relations

We study half-BPS surface operators in 5d N=1 gauge theories compactified on a circle. Using localization methods and the twisted chiral ring relations of coupled 3d/5d quiver gauge theories, we calculate the twisted chiral superpotential that governs the infrared properties of these surface operators. We make a detailed analysis of the localization integrand, and by comparing with the results from the twisted chiral ring equations obtain constraints on the 3d and 5d Chern-Simons levels so that the instanton partition function does not depend on the choice of integration contour. For these values of the Chern-Simons couplings, we comment on how the distinct quiver theories that realize the same surface operator are related to each other by Aharony-Seiberg dualities.Comment: 39 pages. v2: A few sentences rephrased, references added, and typos corrected. Matches version published in JHE

XRSpotlight: Example-based Programming of XR Interactions using a Rule-based Approach

Research on enabling novice AR/VR developers has emphasized the need to lower the technical barriers to entry. This is often achieved by providing new authoring tools that provide simpler means to implement XR interactions through abstraction. However, novices are then bound by the ceiling of each tool and may not form the correct mental model of how interactions are implemented. We present XRSpotlight, a system that supports novices by curating a list of the XR interactions defined in a Unity scene and presenting them as rules in natural language. Our approach is based on a model abstraction that unifies existing XR toolkit implementations. Using our model, XRSpotlight can find incomplete specifications of interactions, suggest similar interactions, and copy-paste interactions from examples using different toolkits. We assess the validity of our model with professional VR developers and demonstrate that XRSpotlight helps novices understand how XR interactions are implemented in examples and apply this knowledge in their projects

AR TutorialKit: an Augmented Reality Toolkit to Create Tutorials

Augmented Reality (AR) is a widely used technology in fields such as medicine, engineering, and architecture, and is also prevalent in social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. In recent years, the availability of AR applications and improvements in hardware have made it affordable for educational training in various disciplines. However, limited options are available for the general construction of AR tutorials in the literature. Most solutions are specific for particular contexts, such as medical procedures or industry-specific tasks. This paper proposes an AR toolkit that enables novice programmers to create tutorials without topic restrictions. Our aim is to keep improving TutorialKit in such a way that it can be used flexibly and effectively in a variety of different contexts, enabling it to meet the diverse needs and requirements of users

Centrosomal and mitotic abnormalities in cell lines derived from papillary thyroid cancer harboring specific gene alterations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Differentiated thyroid carcinoma offers a good model to investigate the possible correlation between specific gene mutations and chromosome instability. Papillary thyroid neoplasms are characterized by different mutually exclusive genetic alterations, some of which are associated with aneuploidy and aggressive phenotype.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We investigated the centrosome status and mitotic abnormalities in three thyroid carcinoma-derived cell lines, each maintaining the specific, biologically relevant gene alteration harbored by the parental tumors: <it>RET/PTC1 </it>rearrangement in TPC1; heterozygous and homozygous <it>BRAF^V600E</it>mutation in K1 and in B-CPAP, respectively. B-CPAP cells showed a statistically significant (<it>P </it>< 0.01) higher frequency of abnormal mitotic figures compared to TPC1 and K1 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data indicate that <it>RET/PTC1 </it>oncogenic activity is not related to mitotic chromosome impairment and missegregation whereas, based on the consistent difference in types/frequencies of centrosome and spindle abnormalities observed between K1 and B-CPAP cells, the hetero/homozygous allelic status of <it>BRAF^V600E</it>mutation seems to be not irrelevant in respect to chromosomal instability development.</p

Carba-D,L-allal- and -D,L-galactal-derived vinyl N-nosyl aziridines as useful tools for the synthesis of 4-deoxy-4-(N-nosylamino)-2,3-unsaturated-5a-carbasugars

The novel carba-D,L-allal- and carba-D,L-galactal-derived vinyl N-nosyl aziridines were prepared and the regio- and stereoselective behavior in opening reactions with O- and N-nucleophiles examined. The carbaglycosylating ability of the novel aziridines, as deduced by the amount of 1,4-addition products (1,4-regioselectivity) obtained in the acid-catalyzed methanolysis taken as a model reaction, is similar or superior to that observed with the corresponding carba-D,L-allal- and -D,L-galactal-derived vinyl epoxides, respectively. In all 1,2- and 1,4-addition products obtained, a –(N-nosylamino) group is regio- and stereoselectively introduced at the C(4) carbon of a 1,2- or 2,3-unsaturated carbasugar, susceptible to further elaborations toward aminocyclitol derivatives. The stereoselective synthesis of the corresponding, enantiomerically pure carba-D,L-allal- and -D,L-galactal-derived vinyl N-acetyl aziridines is also described

Defining Configurable Virtual Reality Templates for End Users

This paper proposes a solution for supporting end users in configuring Virtual Reality environments by exploiting reusable templates created by experts. We identify the roles participating in the environment development and the means for delegating part of the behaviour definition to the end users. We focus in particular on enabling end users to define the environment behaviour. The solution exploits a taxonomy defining common virtual objects having high-level actions for specifying event-condition-Action rules readable as natural language sentences. End users exploit such actions to define the environment behaviour. We report on a proof-of-concept implementation of the proposed approach, on its validation through two different case studies (virtual shop and museum), and on evaluating the approach with expert users

Perineural invasion in vulvar squamous-cell carcinoma is an independent risk factor for cancer-specific survival, but not for locoregional recurrence: results from a single tertiary referral center

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma is a rare tumor but represents a serious health issue, especially due to the increasing incidence over the past decades. Many efforts have been made to identify new prognostic and therapeutic factors and, in this context, growing evidence concerning a pivotal role of perineural invasion. With this study, we investigated the role of perineural invasion in a large cohort of FIGO stage Ib-IIIc vulvar squamous cell carcinomas and found that perineural invasion-positive tumors have more aggressive biological behaviors and showed reduced cancer-specific survival as compared to perineural invasion-negative tumors, while this feature does not appear to be related to a greater risk to develop loco-regional recurrence. Further evaluations are warranted to confirm the prognostic role of perineural invasion and its potential use to tailor adjuvant treatment. ABSTRACT: The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of perineural invasion (PNI) in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) and its prognostic role in locoregional recurrence (LRR) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). We performed a retrospective analysis of 223 consecutive stage IB–IIIC surgically treated VSCCs at S. Anna Hospital, University of Turin, from 2000 to 2019. We identified 133/223 (59.6%) patients with PNI-positive VSCCs. PNI was associated with aggressive biological features (i.e., advanced FIGO stage, larger tumor diameter, greater depth of invasion, a higher number of metastatic lymph nodes, and lymphovascular invasion) and shorter 5-year CSS (78% vs. 90%, log-rank p = 0.02) compared with PNI-negative VSCCs. Multivariate analysis showed that PNI (HR 2.99 CI 95% 1.17–7.63; p = 0.02) and the presence of tumor cells on pathological surgical margins (HR 3.13 CI 95% 1.37–7.13; p = 0.007) are independent prognostic factors for CSS. PNI does not appear to be related to LRR, but is an independent prognostic factor for worse survival outcomes. Future studies are necessary to explore the possible value of PNI in tailoring the choice of adjuvant treatment

Characterization of complex fractionated atrial electrograms by sample entropy: An international multi-center study

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly clinically-encountered arrhythmia. Catheter ablation of AF is mainly based on trigger elimination and modification of the AF substrate. Substrate mapping ablation of complex fractionated atrial electrograms (CFAEs) has emerged to be a promising technique. To improve substrate mapping based on CFAE analysis, automatic detection algorithms need to be developed in order to simplify and accelerate the ablation procedures. According to the latest studies, the level of fractionation has been shown to be promisingly well estimated from CFAE measured during radio frequency (RF) ablation of AF. The nature of CFAE is generally nonlinear and nonstationary, so the use of complexity measures is considered to be the appropriate technique for the analysis of AF records. This work proposes the use of sample entropy (SampEn), not only as a way to discern between non-fractionated and fractionated atrial electrograms (A-EGM), but also as a tool for characterizing the degree of A-EGM regularity, which is linked to changes in the AF substrate and to heart tissue damage. The use of SampEn combined with a blind parameter estimation optimization process enables the classification between CFAE and non-CFAE with statistical significance (p < 0:001), 0.89 area under the ROC, 86% specificity and 77% sensitivity over a mixed database of A-EGM combined from two independent CFAE signal databases, recorded during RF ablation of AF in two EU countries (542 signals in total). On the basis of the results obtained in this study, it can be suggested that the use of SampEn is suitable for real-time support during navigation of RF ablation of AF, as only 1.5 seconds of signal segments need to be analyzed