Radio bubbles in the composite AGN-starburst galaxy NGC6764

We present multi-frequency radio continuum as well as HI observations of the composite galaxy NGC6764, which has a young, circumnuclear starburst and also harbours an active galactic nucleus (AGN). These observations have been made at a number of frequencies ranging from ~600 MHz to 15 GHz using both the GMRT and the VLA. They reveal the structure of the bipolar bubbles of non-thermal, radio emission which are along the minor axis of the galaxy and extend up to ~1.1 and 1.5 kpc on the northern and southern sides respectively. Features in the radio bubbles appear to overlap with filaments of H_alpha emission. The high-resolution observations reveal a compact source, likely to be associated with the nucleus of the galaxy, and a possible radio jet towards the south-west. We have compiled a representative sample of galaxies with bubbles of non-thermal radio emission and find that these are found in galaxies with an AGN. The HI observations with the GMRT show two peaks of emission on both ends of the stellar-bar and depletion of HI in the central region of the galaxy. We also detect HI in absorption against the central radio peak at the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The HI-absorption spectrum also suggests a possible weak absorption feature blue-shifted by ~120 km/s, which requires confirmation. A similar feature has also been reported from observations of CO in emission, suggesting that the circumnuclear starburst and nuclear activity affect the kinematics of the atomic and molecular gas components, in addition to the ionised gas seen in H_alpha and [N II]

Biochemical Effects of Exercise on a Fasciocutaneous Flap in a Rat Model.

Importance: An overwhelming amount of data suggest that cardiovascular exercise has a positive effect on the mind and body, although the precise mechanism is not always clear. Objective: To assess the clinical and biochemical effects of voluntary cardiovascular exercise on pedicled flaps in a rodent model. Design, Setting, and Participants: Eighteen adult Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomized into a resting animal group (RAG) (n=9) and an exercise animal group (EAG) (n=9) for 14 days (July 23, 2013, through July 30, 2013). A pedicled transposition flap was performed on the ventral surface of the rat, and biopsy specimens were taken from the proximal, middle, and distal portions on postoperative days 0, 2, 5, and 9. Flap survival was analyzed planimetrically, and biopsy specimens were analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin-stained microscopy and immunoblotting. The housing, exercise, surgery, and analysis of the rats were conducted at a single basic science research laboratory at the tertiary care center campus of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Exposures: The rats were caged for 14 days or housed in a cage connected to an exercise wheel and pedometer. Main Outcomes and Measures: Study measures were gross and micrographic necrosis and expression of proteins within cell survival and apoptosis pathways. Results: A total of 18 rats were studied, 9 in the RAG and 9 in the EAG. the mean (SEM) amount of necrosis in flaps was 41.3% (3%) in the RAG rats and 10.5% (3.5%) in the EAG rats (P \u3c .001). Immunoblotting revealed increased Caspase-9 activity resulting in poly-(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase 1 cleavage in the RAG vs the EAG, as well as lower phosphorylated protein kinase B (also known as Akt), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, and total B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 protein levels. Throughout the postoperative period, the cumulative vascular endothelial growth factor A levels of the EAG flaps were significantly higher than those of the RAG flaps (2.30 vs 1.25 fold induction [FI], P = .002), with differences of 2.76 vs 1.54 FI in the proximal segment, 2.40 vs 1.20 FI in the middle segment, and 1.90 vs 0.79 FI in the distal segment. A similar response was noted when comparing phosphorylated Akt, with cumulative mean (SEM) p-Akt expression levels of 0.62 (0.04) for RAG and 1.98 (0.09) for EAG (P = .002 between the 2 groups). Conclusions and Relevance: Voluntary preoperative exercise improves survival in pedicled fasciocutaneous flaps; the EAG rats had less necrosis, decreased apoptotic markers, and increased amounts of vascular endothelial growth factor A and prosurvival proteins. These results have implications to increase flap survival in other mammal populations, such as humans. Level of Evidence: 3

Study and Implementation of Power Control in Ad hoc Networks

An ad hoc network facilitates communication between nodes without the existence of an established infrastructure. Random nodes are connected to one another using Ad hoc networking and routing among the nodes is done by forwarding packets from one to another which is decided dynamically. The transmission of packets among the nodes is done on a specified power level. Power control is the method used for transmission of the packets at an optimized power level so as to increase the traffic carrying capacity, reduce the usage of battery power and minimize the interference to improve the overall performance of the system with regards to the usage of power. This thesis tells us regarding COMPOW (Common Power) and CLUSTERPOW (Cluster Power) protocols, which are two existing protocols for power control in homogeneous and non-homogeneous networks respectively. We have implemented these two protocols in Java Platform and run it for different number of nodes. From the implementation we have come up with the power optimal route among the nodes and the routing table for each node for both homogeneous and non-homogeneous networks. COMPOW (Common Power) protocol is an asynchronous, distributed and adaptive algorithm for calculating the common optimized power for communication among different nodes. CLUSTERPOW (Cluster Power) protocol is a protocol designed for optimizing the transmit power and establish efficient clustering and routing in non-homogeneous networks

Probing the N=14N = 14 subshell closure: gg factor of the 26^{26}Mg(21+^+_1) state

The first-excited state $g$~factor of $^{26}$Mg has been measured relative to the $g$ factor of the $^{24}$Mg($2^+_1$) state using the high-velocity transient-field technique, giving $g=+0.86\pm0.10$. This new measurement is in strong disagreement with the currently adopted value, but in agreement with the $sd$-shell model using the USDB interaction. The newly measured $g$ factor, along with $E(2^+_1)$ and $B(E2)$ systematics, signal the closure of the $\nu d_{5/2}$ subshell at $N=14$. The possibility that precise $g$-factor measurements may indicate the onset of neutron $pf$ admixtures in first-excited state even-even magnesium isotopes below $^{32}$Mg is discussed and the importance of precise excited-state $g$-factor measurements on $sd$~shell nuclei with $N\neq Z$ to test shell-model wavefunctions is noted.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Evaluating the Performance of Infectious Disease Forecasts: A Comparison of Climate-Driven and Seasonal Dengue Forecasts for Mexico

Dengue viruses, which infect millions of people per year worldwide, cause large epidemics that strain healthcare systems. Despite diverse efforts to develop forecasting tools including autoregressive time series, climate-driven statistical, and mechanistic biological models, little work has been done to understand the contribution of different components to improved prediction. We developed a framework to assess and compare dengue forecasts produced from different types of models and evaluated the performance of seasonal autoregressive models with and without climate variables for forecasting dengue incidence in Mexico. Climate data did not significantly improve the predictive power of seasonal autoregressive models. Short-term and seasonal autocorrelation were key to improving short-term and long-term forecasts, respectively. Seasonal autoregressive models captured a substantial amount of dengue variability, but better models are needed to improve dengue forecasting. This framework contributes to the sparse literature of infectious disease prediction model evaluation, using state-of-the-art validation techniques such as out-of-sample testing and comparison to an appropriate reference model

Describing UI Screenshots in Natural Language

Funding Information: We acknowledge the computational resources provided by the Aalto Science-IT project. We thank Homayun Afrabandpey, Daniel Buschek, Jussi Jokinen, and Jörg Tiedemann for reviewing an earlier draft of this article. This work has been supported by the Horizon 2020 FET program of the European Union through the ERA-NET Cofund funding (grant CHIST-ERA-20-BCI-001), the European Innovation Council Pathfinder program (SYMBIOTIK project), and the Academy of Finland (grants 291556, 318559, 310947). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.Being able to describe any user interface (UI) screenshot in natural language can promote understanding of the main purpose of the UI, yet currently it cannot be accomplished with state-of-the-art captioning systems. We introduce XUI, a novel method inspired by the global precedence effect to create informative descriptions of UIs, starting with an overview and then providing fine-grained descriptions about the most salient elements. XUI builds upon computational models for topic classification, visual saliency prediction, and natural language generation (NLG). XUI provides descriptions with up to three different granularity levels that, together, describe what is in the interface and what the user can do with it. We found that XUI descriptions are highly readable, are perceived to accurately describe the UI, and score similarly to human-generated UI descriptions. XUI is available as open-source software.Peer reviewe

Neuropathological findings from COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms argue against a direct brain invasion of SARS-CoV-2: A critical systematic review

Background and purpose: Neuropathological studies can elucidate the mechanisms of nervous system damage associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite literature on this topic is rapidly expanding, correlations between neurological symptoms and brain pathology findings in COVID-19 patients remain largely unknown. Methods: We performed a systematic literature review on neuropathological studies in COVID-19, including 438 patients from 45 articles published by April 22, 2021. We retrieved quantitative data regarding demographic, clinical, and neuropathological findings. We carried out a Wilcoxon rank sum test or χ2 test to compare patients' subgroups based on different clinical and brain pathology features. Results: Neuropathological findings in COVID-19 patients were microgliosis (52.5%), astrogliosis (45.6%), inflammatory infiltrates (44.0%), hypoxic-ischemic lesions (40.8%), edema (25.3%), and hemorrhagic lesions (20.5%). SARS-CoV-2 RNA and proteins were identified in brain specimens of 41.9% and 28.3% of subjects, respectively. Detailed clinical information was available from 245 patients (55.9%), and among them, 96 subjects (39.2%) had presented with neurological symptoms in association with typical COVID-19 manifestations. We found that: (i) the detection rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and proteins in brain specimens did not differ between patients with versus those without neurological symptoms; (ii) brain edema, hypoxic-ischemic lesions, and inflammatory infiltrates were more frequent in subjects with neurological impairment; (iii) neurological symptoms were more common among older individuals. Conclusions: Our systematic revision of clinical correlates in COVID-19 highlights the pathogenic relevance of brain inflammatory reaction and hypoxic-ischemic damage rather than neuronal viral load. This analysis indicates that a more focused study design is needed, especially in the perspective of potential therapeutic trials