Data-Analytics Modeling of Electrical Impedance Measurements for Cell Culture Monitoring

High-throughput data analysis challenges in laboratory automation and lab-on-a-chip devices’ applications are continuously increasing. In cell culture monitoring, specifically, the electrical cell-substrate impedance sensing technique (ECIS), has been extensively used for a wide variety of applications. One of the main drawbacks of ECIS is the need for implementing complex electrical models to decode the electrical performance of the full system composed by the electrodes, medium, and cells. In this work we present a new approach for the analysis of data and the prediction of a specific biological parameter, the fill-factor of a cell culture, based on a polynomial regression, data-analytic model. The method was successfully applied to a specific ECIS circuit and two different cell cultures, N2A (a mouse neuroblastoma cell line) and myoblasts. The data-analytic modeling approach can be used in the decoding of electrical impedance measurements of different cell lines, provided a representative volume of data from the cell culture growth is available, sorting out the difficulties traditionally found in the implementation of electrical models. This can be of particular importance for the design of control algorithms for cell cultures in tissue engineering protocols, and labs-on-a-chip and wearable devices applicationsEspaña, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades project RTI2018-093512-B-C2

A characterization of some families of Cohen--Macaulay, Gorenstein and/or Buchsbaum rings

We provide algorithmic methods to check the Cohen--Macaulayness, Buchsbaumness and/or Gorensteiness of some families of semigroup rings that are constructed from the dilation of bounded convex polyhedrons of $\R^3_{\geq}$. Some families of semigroup rings are given satifying these properties

Radiation in (2+1)-dimensions

In this paper we discuss the radiation equation of state $p=\rho/2$ in (2+1)-dimensions. In (3+1)-dimensions the equation of state $p=\rho/3$ may be used to describe either actual electromagnetic radiation (photons) as well as a gas of massless particles in a thermodynamic equilibrium (for example neutrinos). In this work it is shown that in the framework of (2+1)-dimensional Maxwell electrodynamics the radiation law $p=\rho/2$ takes place only for plane waves, i.e. for $E = B$. Instead of the linear Maxwell electrodynamics, to derive the (2+1)-radiation law for more general cases with $E \neq B$, one has to use a conformally invariant electrodynamics, which is a 2+1-nonlinear electrodynamics with a trace free energy-momentum tensor, and to perform a volumetric spatial average of the corresponding Maxwell stress-energy tensor with its electric and magnetic components at a given instant of time $t$.Comment: 7 pages. Accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Programmable low-voltage continuous-time filter for audio applications

The implementation of a continuous-time filter (CTF) useful for audio frequency applications is presented in this paper. The filter functions can be programmed and tuned with two independent control variables. The filter here proposed has been designed to work at 1.5 V of power supply and at a maximum of 0.5 /spl mu/A/OTA for the worst case current consumption. Electrical simulations of a Tow-Thomas biquad (TTB) show the possibility of obtaining low-pass and band-pass filter functions over the 10 Hz-40 kHz frequency range by changing a control current over four decades.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC-97-064

Design of a CMOS closed-loop system with applications to bio-impedance measurements

This paper proposes a method for impedance measurements based on a closed-loop implementation of CMOS circuits. The proposed system has been conceived for alternate current excited systems, performing simultaneously driving and measuring functions, thanks to feedback. The system delivers magnitude and phase signals independently, which can be optimized separately, and can be applied to any kind of load (resistive and capacitive). Design specifications for CMOS circuit blocks and trade-offs for system accuracy and loop stability have been derived. Electrical simulation results obtained for several loads agree with the theory, enabling the proposed method to any impedance measurement problem, in special, to bio-setups including electrodes.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2007-6807

Publicity In The Age Of Postproduction: The Virtual Product

El producto publicitario y su acabado final han sido muy poco estudiados en la investigación sobre publicidad. Este estudio pretende aportar algo de luz a este vacío. Todo producto publicitario en la actual Era Digital debe crearse tanto para los medios convencionales (sobre todo en el ámbito de internet) como para los medios no convencionales, a partir de la transversalidad del producto. La única manera de conseguir esto, es que ese producto sea moldeable, manipulable e intercambiable de un medio a otro. Para alcanzar este objetivo es necesario conocer las posibilidades que nos da la postproducción. El objetivo principal de este estudio es desvelar como la postproducción, el mundo del CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), de la infografía en definitiva de la imagen computacional, reina en la publicidad audiovisual actual. Otro objetivo planteado es hacer un llamamiento a los profesionales de la publicidad del futuro para que conozcan esas herramientas y para ofrecer a los investigadores del presente una breve guía de las diversas formas de uso de los elementos de la postproducción.The advertising material and its finished product has been very little studied in advertising research. This study aims to fill that gap. All advertising products in the current Digital Era must be created for both the mainstream media (especially in the field of internet) to unconventional ways, from the transversality of the product. The only way to achieve this, is that this product is malleable, manipulable and interchangeable from one medium to another. To achieve this goal it is necessary to know the possibilities that we postproduction. The main objective of this study is to reveal as post-production, the world of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), computer graphics ultimately computational image reigns in the current broadcast advertising. Another goal we set ourselves is to appeal to the advertising professionals of the future to know these tools and provide researchers present a brief guide to the various ways to uncover the elements of the post

A microscopy technique based on bio-impedance sensors

It is proposed a microscopy for cell culture applications based on impedance sensors. The imagined signals are measured with the Electrical Cell-Substrate Spectroscopy (ECIS) technique, by identifying the cell area. The proposed microscopy allows real-time monitoring inside the incubator, reducing the contamination risk by human manipulation. It requires specific circuits for impedance measurements, a two-dimensional sensor array (pixels), and employing electrical models to decode efficiently the measured signals. Analogue Hardware Description Language (AHDL) circuits for cell-microelectrode enables the use of geometrical and technological data into the system design flow. A study case with 8x8 sensor array is reported, illustrating the evolution and power of the proposed image acquisition.Junta de Andalucía P0-TIC-538

Microcontroller-Based Sinusoidal Voltage Generation for Electrical Bio-Impedance Spectroscopy Applications

A sinusoidal voltage wave generator is proposed based on the use of micro- processor digital signals with programmable duty-cycles, with application to real-time Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Spectroscopy (ECIS) assays in cell cultures. The working principle relies on the time convolution of the programmed microcontroller (μC) digital signals. The expected frequency is easily tuned on the bio-impedance spectroscopy range [100 Hz, 1 MHz] thanks to the μC clock frequency selection. This system has been simulated and tested on the 8 bits μC Arduino™ Uno with ATmega328 version. Results obtained prove that only three digital signals are required to fit the general specification in ECIS experiments, below 1% THD accuracy, and show the appropriateness of the system for the real-time monitoring of this type of biological experiments.Spanish founded Project: TEC 2013- 46242-C3-1-P: Integrated Microsystem for Cell Culture AssaysFEDE

Detecting Functional Requirements Inconsistencies within Multi-teams Projects Framed into a Model-based Web Methodology

One of the most essential processes within the software project life cycle is the REP (Requirements Engineering Process) because it allows specifying the software product requirements. This specification should be as consistent as possible because it allows estimating in a suitable manner the effort required to obtain the final product. REP is complex in itself, but this complexity is greatly increased in big, distributed and heterogeneous projects with multiple analyst teams and high integration between functional modules. This paper presents an approach for the systematic conciliation of functional requirements in big projects dealing with a web model-based approach and how this approach may be implemented in the context of the NDT (Navigational Development Techniques): a web methodology. This paper also describes the empirical evaluation in the CALIPSOneo project by analyzing the improvements obtained with our approach.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

Factores determinantes en la eficacia del Viral Mobile Marketing

This objective of this study is to analyze the factors determining the effectiveness of Viral Mobile Marketing. It deals with the effects of personalization on grabbing attention in an environment considered private, taking into account factors such as trust in the contact network, virality in nano-niches and the value of identifiable recommendation. The analysis delves into elements that contribute to achieving scalability in the relationship of companies with users through marketing strategies with special attention to virality, multi-directionality, socialization and the influence of relational marketing. At the same time, the geo-localization variables influencing in brand omnipresence are examined. All of the foregoing allows us to observe an evolution from one-to-one communication to one-to-world communication, where multidirectional traffic through contact network emitters and receivers is decisive in producing a viral effect on the digital audience.El presente trabajo tiene como objeto de estudio el análisis de los factores que son determinantes en la eficacia del Viral Mobile Marketing. Se abordan los efectos de la personalización en la captación de la atención en un entorno considerado privado, para lo que se consideran factores como la confianza en la red de contactos, la viralidad en nanonichos y el valor de la recomendación identificada. Se profundiza en los elementos que contribuyen a lograr la escalabilidad en la relación de las empresas con los usuarios a través de sus estrategias de marketing, con especial atención a la viralidad, multidireccionalidad, socialización e influencia del marketing relacional. Al tiempo que se estudian las variables de geolocalización que influyen en la omnipresencia de la marca. Todo ello permite observar una evolución de la comunicación one-to-one a la comunicación one-to-world, donde el tráfico multidireccional a través de redes de contactos de emisores y receptores es determinante para provocar el efecto viral en la audiencia digital