Quaterionic Construction of the W(F_4) Polytopes with Their Dual Polytopes and Branching under the Subgroups B(B_4) and W(B_3)*W(A_1)

4-dimensional $F_{4}$ polytopes and their dual polytopes have been constructed as the orbits of the Coxeter-Weyl group $W(F_{4})$ where the group elements and the vertices of the polytopes are represented by quaternions. Branchings of an arbitrary \textbf{$W(F_{4})$} orbit under the Coxeter groups $W(B_{4}$ and $W(B_{3}) \times W(A_{1})$ have been presented. The role of group theoretical technique and the use of quaternions have been emphasizedComment: 26 pages, 10 figure

Autonomous Bidding Coordinated Acceptance in one-to-many negotiations

This work presents the Autonomous Bidding Coordinated Acceptance framework (ABCA): An agent-Team design that allows general bilateral agents to engage in oneto-many negotiations in a setting where (possibly overlapping) deals with multiple opponents are desirable. We propose also a coordinated acceptance strategy that uses the estimated outcomes of its bilateral negotiations while deciding to accept a deal

The effect of diclofenac sodium on neural tube development in the early stage of chick embryos

Background: Neural tube defects are congenital malformations of the central nervous system. Genetic predisposition and some environmental factors play an important role in the development of neural tube defects. This study aimed to investigate the effects of diclofenac sodium on the neural tube development in a chick embryo model that corresponds to the first month of vertebral deve- lopment in mammals.  Materials and methods: Seventy-five fertile, specific pathogen-free eggs were incubated for 28 h and were divided into five groups of 15 eggs each. Diclofenac sodium was administered via the sub-blastodermic route at this stage. Incubation was continued till the end of the 48th h. All eggs were then opened and embryos were dissected from embryonic membranes and evaluated morphologically and histopathologically.  Results: It was determined that the use of increasing doses of diclofenac sodium led to defects of midline closure in early chicken embryos. There were statistically significant differences in neural tube positions (open or close) among the groups. In addition; crown–rump length, somite number were significantly decreased in high dose experimental groups compared with control group.  Conclusions: This study showed that development of neurons is affected in chi- cken embryos after administration of diclofenac sodium. The exact teratogenic mechanism of diclofenac sodium is not clear; therefore it should be investigated.

Saliency for animated meshes with material properties

We propose a technique to calculate the saliency of animated meshes with material properties. The saliency computation considers multiple features of 3D meshes including their geometry, material and motion. Each feature contributes to the final saliency map which is view independent; and therefore, can be used for view dependent and view independent applications. To verify our saliency calculations, we performed an experiment in which we use an eye tracker to compare the saliencies of the regions that the viewers look with the other regions of the models. The results confirm that our saliency computation gives promising results. We also present several applications in which the saliency information is used. © 2010 ACM

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid of patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Aim: To evaluate concentration of MMP-9 in blood plasma and broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Blood рlasma from 40 NSCLC patients and 40 healthy donors was collected and concentrations of blood plasma and BALF MMP-9 were measured using ELISA. Correlation between MMP-9 level and gender, histological type of tumor and stage of disease was analyzed. Results: Levels of blood plasma MMP-9 were significantly higher in NSCLC patients (p < 0.0001) then in control group, and were especially high in patients with stage IV of disease (stage I vs stage IV — p < 0.005, stage II vs stage IV — p < 0.01, stage III vs stage IV — p < 0.01). Also, stage IV of NSCLC was characterized by the highest level of BALF MMP-9 (stage I vs stage IV — p < 0.002, stage II vs stage IV p < 0.002, and stage III vs stage IV p < 0.007). Correlation between blood plasma and BALF MMP-9 levels and gender or histological type of tumor was insignificant. Conclusion: Our data revealed significant correlation between tumor stage and BALF and plasma MMP-9 levels in NSCLC patients.Цель: определить концентрацию матриксной металлопротеиназы 9 (ММП-9) в плазме крови и бронхо-альвеолярной жидкости (БАЖ) больных немелкоклеточным раком легкого (НМКРЛ). Методы: концентрацию ММП-9 в плазме крови и БАЖ больных НМКРЛ (n = 40) и здоровых доноров (n = 40) определяли иммуноферментным методом и анализировали корреляцию этих параметров с клиническими данными (полом больного, гистологическим типом опухоли, стадией заболевания). Результаты: содержание ММП-9 в плазме крови было значительно выше у больных НМКРЛ по сравнению с контрольной группой (p < 0,0001), особенно у больных с IV стадией заболевания. Стадия IV НМКРЛ также характеризовалась наиболее высоким уровнем ММП-9 в БАЖ. Корреляции между уровнем ММП-9 в плазме крови и БАЖ, полом больного и гистологическим типом опухоли не была выявлена. Выводы: существует статистически значимая корреляция между стадией развития НМКРЛ и содержанием ММП-9 в плазме крови и БАЖ больных

Spatiotemporal graph indicators for air traffic complexity analysis

There has been extensive research in formalising air traffic complexity, but existing works focus mainly on a metric to tie down the peak air traffic controllers workload rather than a dynamic approach to complexity that could guide both strategical, pre-tactical and tactical actions for a smooth flow of aircraft. In this paper, aircraft interdependencies are formalized using graph theory and four complexity indicators are described, which combine spatiotemporal topological information with the severity of the interdependencies. These indicators can be used to predict the dynamic evolution of complexity, by not giving one single score, but measuring complexity in a time window. Results show that these indicators can capture complex spatiotemporal areas in a sector and give a detailed and nuanced view of sector complexity

Bargaining Chips: Coordinating one-to-many concurrent composite negotiations

This study presents Bargaining Chips: a framework for one-to-many concurrent composite negotiations, where multiple deals can be reached and combined. Our framework is designed to mirror the salient aspects of real-life procurement and trading scenarios, in which a buyer seeks to acquire a number of items from different sellers at the same time. To do so, the buyer needs to successfully perform multiple concurrent bilateral negotiations as well as coordinate the composite outcome resulting from each interdependent negotiation. This paper contributes to the state of the art by: (1) presenting a model and test-bed for addressing such challenges; (2) by proposing a new, asynchronous interaction protocol for coordinating concurrent negotiation threads; and (3) by providing classes of multi-deal coordinators that are able to navigate this new one-to-many multi-deal setting. We show that Bargaining Chips can be used to evaluate general asynchronous negotiation and coordination strategies in a setting that generalizes over a number of existing negotiation approaches