Delivering real-world ubiquitous location systems

Location-enhanced applications are poised to become the first real-world example of ubiquitous computing. In this paper, we emphasize the practical aspects of getting location-enhanced applications deployed on existing devices, such as laptops, tablets, PDAs, and cell phones, without the need to purchase additional sensors or install special infrastructure. Our goal is to provide readers with an overview of the practical considerations that are currently being faced, and the research challenges that lie ahead. We ground the article with a summary of initial work on two deployments of location- enhanced computing: multi-player location-based games and a guide for the Edinburgh Festival

Generation Mixtape: A User\u27s Guide to Online Copyright

In conjunction with the Program in Law and Journalism at New York Law School, Tribeca Square Press publishes a monograph series, Legal Backgrounders, to provide those who regularly report on law and the legal profession, including print and broadcast reporters, editorial writers, bloggers, and editors, with concise, objective, timely, and readable information on legal topics currently in the news. Monographs in this series are not intended to advocate legal or policy positions but to describe and summarize the state of the law. An electronic version of each Legal Backgrounder, including links to sources, will be available on the Tribeca Square Press website shortly after publication of the print edition. For more information, sec http://www.tribccasquarepress. com.https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/tribeca_square_press/1004/thumbnail.jp

An Unsupervised Method to Detect the Left Atrial Appendages and Classify their Morphologies

The left atrial appendage (LAA) is the site where the left atrial thrombi are most likely (90%) to develop. Despite the increasing interest that LAA has attracted over the last decade, the methods currently used to classify its morphology are mainly based on cardiologists’ judgment. Given the remarkable improvement of imaging techniques, we propose an unsupervised quantitative method that can overcome the limits of the current classification systems. The resulting classification system is objective and reproducible

Multi-scale approach to first-principles electron transport beyond 100 nm

Multi-scale computational approaches are important for studies of novel, low-dimensional electronic devices since they are able to capture the different length-scales involved in the device operation, and at the same time describe critical parts such as surfaces, defects, interfaces, gates, and applied bias, on a atomistic, quantum-chemical level. Here we present a multi-scale method which enables calculations of electronic currents in two-dimensional devices larger than 100 nm$^2$, where multiple perturbed regions described by density functional theory (DFT) are embedded into an extended unperturbed region described by a DFT-parametrized tight-binding model. We explain the details of the method, provide examples, and point out the main challenges regarding its practical implementation. Finally we apply it to study current propagation in pristine, defected and nanoporous graphene devices, injected by chemically accurate contacts simulating scanning tunneling microscopy probes

Enabling Inline Correction of Speech Transcript via Audio Cues

While voice input has become a popular way of interacting with devices, user frustration due to incorrect transcription is common. Speech-to-text (STT) conversion errors can require users to provide the spoken input again, manually issue a correction command, or use a non-voice modality to make corrections. This disclosure describes techniques to automatically play audio cues to indicate when the confidence in the accuracy of speech transcription is low. The cues enable timely, inline correction of the transcript as the user speaks, in a manner akin to human conversation. The cues can include a discernible tone/ beep or spoken phrases that indicate that particular spoken phrases were not transcribed with sufficient confidence

Beyond Dordt and De Auxiliis The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’ explores post-Reformation inter-confessional theological exchange on soteriological topics including predestination, grace, and free choice. These doctrines remained controversial within confessional traditions after the Reformation, as Dominicans and Jesuits and later Calvinists and Arminians argued about these critical issues in the Augustinian theological heritage. Some of those involved in condemning Arminianism at the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619) were inspired by Dominican followers of Thomas Aquinas in Spain who had recently opposed the vigorous defense of free choice by Jesuit Molinists in the Congregatio de auxiliis (1598-1607). This volume, appearing on the 400th anniversary of the closing of the Synod of Dordt, brings together a group of scholars working in fields that only rarely speak to one another to address these theological debates that cross geographical and confessional boundaries

Do Anti-Angiogenic VEGF (VEGFxxxb) Isoforms Exist? A Cautionary Tale

Splicing of the human vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) gene has been reported to generate angiogenic (VEGFxxx) and anti-angiogenic (VEGFxxxb) isoforms. Corresponding VEGFxxxb isoforms have also been reported in rat and mouse. We examined VEGFxxxb expression in mouse fibrosarcoma cell lines expressing all or individual VEGF isoforms (VEGF120, 164 or 188), grown in vitro and in vivo, and compared results with those from normal mouse and human tissues. Importantly, genetic construction of VEGF164 and VEGF188 expressing fibrosarcomas, in which exon 7 is fused to the conventional exon 8, precludes VEGFxxxb splicing from occurring. Thus, these two fibrosarcoma cell lines provided endogenous negative controls. Using RT-PCR we show that primers designed to simultaneously amplify VEGFxxx and VEGFxxxb isoforms amplified only VEGFxxx variants in both species. Moreover, only VEGFxxx species were generated when mouse podocytes were treated with TGFβ-1, a reported activator of VEGFxxxb splice selection in human podocytes. A VEGF164/120 heteroduplex species was identified as a PCR artefact, specifically in mouse. VEGFxxxb isoform-specific PCR did amplify putative VEGFxxxb species in mouse and human tissues, but unexpectedly also in VEGF188 and VEGF164 fibrosarcoma cells and tumours, where splicing to produce true VEGFxxxb isoforms cannot occur. Moreover, these products were only consistently generated using reverse primers spanning more than 5 bases across the 8b/7 or 8b/5 splice junctions. Primer annealing to VEGFxxx transcripts and amplification of exon 8b primer ‘tails’ explained the artefactual generation of VEGFxxxb products, since the same products were generated when the PCR reactions were performed with cDNA from VEGF164/VEGF188 ‘knock-in’ vectors used in the generation of single VEGF isoform-expressing transgenic mice from which the fibrosarcoma lines were developed. Collectively, our results highlight important pitfalls in data interpretation associated with detecting VEGFxxxb isoforms using current methods, and demonstrate that anti-angiogenic isoforms are not commonly expressed in mouse or human tissues

Assessing the response of plant flavonoids to UV radiation : an overview of appropriate techniques

Flavonoids are a large group of plant secondary metabolites that are present in most plants, and are vital for plant growth, development and protection. Among the many functions of these compounds is their contribution to stress amelioration. The accurate identification and quantification of total or individual flavonoids in plants exposed to stressful conditions (e.g. ultraviolet radiation) is challenging due to their structural diversity. The present review provides the up to date knowledge and highlights trends in plant flavonoid analysis. The review covers all steps from the field to the laboratory, focussing on UV-B effects on flavonoids, and identifying critical issues concerning sample collection, pre-treatment, extraction techniques and quantitative or qualitative analysis. A well-planned sampling and sample prehandling strategy is vital when capturing organ, tissue and developmental-stage dependent changes in flavonoids, as well as the dynamic changes due to time of UV-exposure and diurnal or seasonal parameters. A range of advanced extraction and purification techniques can facilitate the quantitative transfer of flavonoids to solvents. The advantages and disadvantages of analytical methods, including chromogenic assays, liquid and thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance detection, and non-destructive in situ fluorescent analysis need to be consciously evaluated in the context of the specific biological question posed. Thus, no one method can be applied to every single study of flavonoid. The message of this review is that researchers will need to carefully consider the biological process that they intend to study, and select an analytical method that optimally matches their specific objectives.Peer reviewe

Guidelines for the implementation of SMARTI: Sustainable Multifunctional Automated Resilient Transport Infrastructure

The World's transport infrastructures (TI) network is facing fast changes due to population growth, mobility, business trades and globalization. More challenges are coming from unforeseen natural and human-induced hazards, including climate change's effects. Meanwhile, technology development continues apace, and new solutions from multi-disciplinary sectors could help solve the main challenges faced by the TI industry. This work presents “SMARTI”, a vision that aims at engineering and implementing concepts such as Sustainability, Multifunctionality, Automation and Resilience within the design, construction and management of TI. As a result, the paper provides roadmaps for each of the above-mentioned pillars, identifying aims, current practices and stepping stones that infrastructure managers, policymakers and governors should consider toward more sustainable TI within 2030

Altering Murine Leukemia Virus Integration Through Disruption of the Integrase and BET Protein Family Interaction

We report alterations to the murine leukemia virus (MLV) integrase (IN) protein that successfully result in decreasing its integration frequency at transcription start sites and CpG islands, thereby reducing the potential for insertional activation. The host bromo and extraterminal (BET) proteins Brd2, 3 and 4 interact with the MLV IN protein primarily through the BET protein ET domain. Using solution NMR, protein interaction studies, and next generation sequencing, we showthat the C-terminal tail peptide region ofMLV IN is important for the interaction with BET proteins and that disruption of this interaction through truncation mutations affects the global targeting profile of MLV vectors. The use of the unstructured tails of gammaretroviral INs to direct association with complexes at active promoters parallels that used by histones and RNA polymerase II. Viruses bearingMLV IN C-terminal truncations can provide new avenues to improve the safety profile of gammaretroviral vectors for human gene therapy