NEUROCOMPUTING AND INTERFACING DIGITAL TASTING SYSTEM: RESEARCH, DESIGN, AND EVALUATION

The continuous evolution in computing and interfacing has been extended to develop multi-sensory experiences in many domains such as neurological, auditory, vision, and haptic domains. So far, only a few remarkable system approaches have been approved to be serving the taste sensation digitally. Although taste sensation is linked to the brain, there is a lack of optimal neurocomputing digital taste sensation systems. Our study provides a new neurocomputing method to digitally stimulate the sense of taste by electrical stimulation on the human tongue. We aim to link chemical stimulation and electrical stimulation in order to design an electronic interface for inducing taste digitally. The design proposes a module that is responsible for electric and stimulation to produce different taste sensations. In addition, the taste is delivered through the tongue interface by silver electrodes, coupled with a control system responsible for generating specific stimulation parameters based on user inputs selected on his mobile. A spoon for implementing the taste interface is issued in order to provide a user-friendly tool as a solution for various problems. Experimental results showed that the new model and design of the digital taste system works well and testing results showed clearly that 90% of the tested members were able to distinguish the taste. Among the taste categories, the initial results recommended that sourness and saltiness are the most probable sensations that would be induced. Besides the Biomedical importance of the new taste system for people suffering from taste problems, (no sense of taste, bad taste in the mouth, diminished sense of taste, distorted sense of taste) and for people having diabetes and hypertension, this technology shows the possibility and could be considered for sharing tastes in social networking and adapting it in virtual reality, gaming and other domains, also the sensation of tastes could be improved by involving others senses such as olfactory and sounds and increasing the population of tested members

Methylation Status of Imprinted Genes and Repetitive Elements in Sperm DNA from Infertile Males

Stochastic, environmentally and/or genetically induced disturbances in the genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming processes during male germ-cell development may contribute to male infertility. To test this hypothesis, we have studied the methylation levels of 2 paternally (H19 and GTL2) and 5 maternally methylated (LIT1, MEST, NESPAS, PEG3, and SNRPN) imprinted genes, as well as of ALU and LINE1 repetitive elements in 141 sperm samples, which were used for assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including 106 couples with strictly male-factor or combined male and female infertility and 28 couples with strictly female-factor infertility. Aberrant methylation imprints showed a significant association with abnormal semen parameters, but did not seem to influence ART outcome. Repeat methylation also differed significantly between sperm samples from infertile and presumably fertile males. However, in contrast to imprinted genes, ALU methylation had a significant impact on pregnancy and live-birth rate in couples with male-factor or combined infertility. ALU methylation was significantly high-er in sperm samples leading to pregnancy and live-birth than in those that did not. Sperm samples leading to abortions showed significantly lower ALU methylation levels than those leading to the birth of a baby. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Self-Powered Wireless Sensing for Smart Infrastructure

Effective sensing of environmental parameters or conditions rely on wireless connectivity of spatially distributed autonomous sensors to acquire and transmit data to a main location. To date, the majority of sensing and wireless transmission devices rely on wired connections or batteries that require periodic replacement, which is not entirely true to the concept of an autonomous embedded sensing network. Advances made towards the development of low-power microcontrollers, sensing devices and ultra low-power wireless technologies open the opportunity for substituting depletable batteries with low levels of locally-harvested kinetic, light, or thermal energy to power the sensing and transmission functions of a network. The predominant approach to using locally-harvested power has been to use an auxiliary harvester, solar or mechanical power, to operate vibration or ow sensing and transmission devices. In contrast, it would be more advantageous, in terms of size or volume of sensing element or in terms of availability of power, to use the same device to sense a physical quantity over a specific time period and to harvest energy that can be used to operate itself as a sensor and to power the transmission of the acquired signal over other periods. In this work, we will present examples of self-powered wireless sensors of air speed, water flow and vibrations

CorDeep and the Sacrobosco Dataset: Detection of Visual Elements in Historical Documents

Recent advances in object detection facilitated by deep learning have led to numerous solutions in a myriad of fields ranging from medical diagnosis to autonomous driving. However, historical research is yet to reap the benefits of such advances. This is generally due to the low number of large, coherent, and annotated datasets of historical documents, as well as the overwhelming focus on Optical Character Recognition to support the analysis of historical documents. In this paper, we highlight the importance of visual elements, in particular illustrations in historical documents, and offer a public multi-class historical visual element dataset based on the Sphaera corpus. Additionally, we train an image extraction model based on YOLO architecture and publish it through a publicly available web-service to detect and extract multi-class images from historical documents in an effort to bridge the gap between traditional and computational approaches in historical studies

SiGe Raman spectra vs. local clustering/anticlustering : Percolation scheme and ab initio calculations

We formalize within the percolation scheme, that operates along the linear chain approximation, namely at one dimension (1D), an intrinsic ability behind Raman scattering to achieve a quantitative insight into local clustering or anticlustering in an alloy, using SiGe as a case study. For doing so, we derive general expressions of the individual fractions of the six SiGe percolation-type oscillators [1(Ge-Ge), 3(Si-Ge), 2(Si-Si)], which monitor directly the Raman intensities, via a relevant order parameter k. This is introduced by adapting to the 1D oscillators of the SiGe diamond version of the 1D percolation scheme, namely along a fully consistent 1D treatment, the approach originally used by Verleur and Barker for the three-dimensional (3D) oscillators of their 1D cluster scheme applying to zincblende alloys [H.W. Verleur and A.S. Barker, Phys. Rev. 149, 715 (1966)], a somehow problematic one in fact, due to its 3D vs. 1D ambivalence. Predictive k-dependent intensity interplays between the SiGe (50 at.%Si) Raman lines are confronted with existing experimental data and with ab initio Raman spectra obtained by using large (32 atom) disordered supercells matching the required k values, with special attention to the Si-Ge triplet and to the Si-Si doublet, respectively.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Annular pancreas: endoscopic and pancreatographic findings from a tertiary referral ERCP center

Background and Aims Annular pancreas is a congenital anomaly whereby pancreatic tissue encircles the duodenum. Current knowledge of endoscopic findings of annular pancreas is limited to small case series. The aim of this study was to describe the endoscopic and pancreatographic findings of patients with annular pancreas at a large tertiary care ERCP center. Methods This is a retrospective observational study. Our Institutional Review Board–approved, prospectively collected ERCP database was queried for cases of annular pancreas. The electronic medical records were searched for patient and procedure-related data. Results From January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2016, 46 patients with annular pancreas underwent ERCP at our institution. Index ERCP was technically successful in 42 patients (91.3%), and technical success was achieved in all 46 patients (100%) after 2 attempts, when required. A duodenal narrowing or ring was found in most patients (n = 39, 84.8%), yet only 2 (4.3%) had retained gastric contents. Pancreas divisum was found in 21 patients (45.7%), 18 of which were complete divisum. Pancreatobiliary neoplasia was the indication for ERCP in 7 patients (15.2%). Pancreatographic findings consistent with chronic pancreatitis were noted in 15 patients (32.6%) at the index ERCP. Conclusion This is the largest series describing the endoscopic and pancreatographic findings of patients with annular pancreas. We found that 45.7% of patients had concurrent pancreas divisum. Endoscopic therapy was successful in most patients at our institution after 1 ERCP, and in all patients after a second ERCP. Nearly one-third of patients had findings consistent with chronic pancreatitis at the time of index ERCP. It is unclear whether this may be a feature of the natural history of annular pancreas

Multi-Fidelity Modeling and Simulation of Wave Energy Converters

Equations governing the response of wave energy converters (WECs) consist of partial differential equations and nonlinear boundary conditions that model the wave absorption, which is commonly used for classification of WECs, wave radiation and diffraction as required for prediction of wave energy generation by WEC farms, the converter’s response and the transduction mechanism. To date, the modeling and simulation of WECs or WEC arrays are based on linear wave theory, which assumes irrotational flow and limits the analysis for design to small wave amplitudes. In contrast, it is desirable to operate WECs in large waves under resonance conditions that would lead to large amplitude motions for effective energy conversion. With large amplitude waves and motions or responses, the linear and irrotational flow assumptions would not be valid. In this talk, we present a review and examples of (1) physics-based multi-fidelity modeling and simulation procedures that could be performed to develop effective control and optimization strategies for different types of WECs, and (2) nonlinear phenomena that can be exploited to enhance the performance of WECs

Assessment of Damage to Nucleic Acids and Repair Machinery in Salmonella typhimurium Exposed to Chlorine

Water disinfection is usually evaluated using mandatory methods based on cell culturability. However, such methods do not consider the potential of cells to recover, which should also be kept as low as possible. In this paper, we hypothesized that a successful disinfection is achieved only when the applied chlorine leads to both intracellular nucleic acid damage and strong alterations of the DNA repair machinery. Monitoring the SOS system responsiveness with a umuC’-‘lacZ reporter fusion, we found that the expression of this important cellular machinery was altered after the beginning of membrane permeabilization but prior to the total decline of both the cell culturability and the nucleic acid integrity as revealed by Sybr-II staining. Rapid measurement of such nucleic acid alterations by fluorochrome-based staining could be used as an alternative method for assessing the effectiveness of disinfection with chlorine

A self-consistent perturbative evaluation of ground state energies: application to cohesive energies of spin lattices

The work presents a simple formalism which proposes an estimate of the ground state energy from a single reference function. It is based on a perturbative expansion but leads to non linear coupled equations. It can be viewed as well as a modified coupled cluster formulation. Applied to a series of spin lattices governed by model Hamiltonians the method leads to simple analytic solutions. The so-calculated cohesive energies are surprisingly accurate. Two examples illustrate its applicability to locate phase transition.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev.

From Digitalis to Ziagen: The University of Minnesota's Department of Medicinal Chemistry

A comprehensive history of Medicinal Chemistry beginning with the founding of the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy in 1892 until today. In turn that same period of time—1892 to 2012—also represents the most revolutionary era in the history of the entire discipline of medicinal chemistry, witnessing the transformation of the field from an artisanal, trial-and-error approach to isolating and testing therapeutic elements in natural elements to today’s high-tech, computer-assisted discovery and design of new, targeted drugs.Department of Medicinal Chemistr