Modeling of convection phenomena in Bridgman-Stockbarger crystal growth

Thermal convection phenomena in a vertically oriented Bridgman-Stockbarger apparatus were modeled by computer simulations for different gravity conditions, ranging from earth conditions to extremely low gravity, approximate space conditions. The modeling results were obtained by the application of a state-of-the art, transient, multi-dimensional, completely densimetrically coupled, discrete-element computational model which was specifically developed for the simulation of flow, temperature, and species concentration conditions in two-phase (solid-liquid) systems. The computational model was applied to the simulation of the flow and the thermal conditions associated with the convection phenomena in a modified Germanium-Silicon charge enclosed in a stationary fused-silica ampoule. The results clearly indicated that the gravitational field strength influences the characteristics of the coherent vortical flow patterns, interface shape and position, maximum melt velocity, and interfacial normal temperature gradient

Autism detection based on eye movement sequences on the web: a scanpath trend analysis approach

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by ACM in W4A '20: Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference on 20/04/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1145/3371300.3383340 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Autism diagnostic procedure is a subjective, challenging and expensive procedure and relies on behavioral, historical and parental report information. In our previous, we proposed a machine learning classifier to be used as a potential screening tool or used in conjunction with other diagnostic methods, thus aiding established diagnostic methods. The classifier uses eye movements of people on web pages but it only considers non-sequential data. It achieves the best accuracy by combining data from several web pages and it has varying levels of accuracy on different web pages. In this present paper, we investigate whether it is possible to detect autism based on eye-movement sequences and achieve stable accuracy across different web pages to be not dependent on specific web pages. We used Scanpath Trend Analysis (STA) which is designed for identifying a trending path of a group of users on a web page based on their eye movements. We first identify trending paths of people with autism and neurotypical people. To detect whether or not a person has autism, we calculate the similarity of his/her path to the trending paths of people with autism and neurotypical people. If the path is more similar to the trending path of neurotypical people, we classify the person as a neurotypical person. Otherwise, we classify her/him as a person with autism. We systematically evaluate our approach with an eye-tracking dataset of 15 verbal and highly-independent people with autism and 15 neurotypical people on six web pages. Our evaluation shows that the STA approach performs better on individual web pages and provides more stable accuracy across different pages

Volumetric measurements of the subcortical structures of healthy adult brains in the Turkish population

Background: The interest in the morphological development of brain structures during childhood and adolescence arises from discussions on subcortical anomalies and sexual dimorphism, from adolescent changes in cognitive functions supported by cortical and subcortical structures to a wide range of childhood neuropsychiatric diseases. This study aims to investigate the relationships subcortical structures regarding age/gender changes in the healthy adult human brain using web-based VolBrain. Materials and methods: In this study, 303 normal healthy adults [male and female] were obtained using a 1.5 T unit with a 20-channel head coil. Results: The volumes of White Matter, Gray Matter, Total Brain, Cerebrospinal Fluid, and Total Intracranial Volume were significantly higher in males than those in females. Our analysis revealed a significantly larger accumbens volume for females. With age less than or equal to 50 years, older males were found to have higher total LV, putamen, thalamus, amygdala, cerebrum, White Matter and Gray Matter volumes than females. The age greater than the 50-years-old group resulted in a mean of total thalamus, Globus Pallidus and accumbens volumes higher in females than those in males. Right hemisphere volumes in younger and older age groups resulted in volumes except caudate in the older age group; the mean of caudate was significantly higher in females than those in males. Conclusions: These conclusions might have important for the explanation of the effects of gender and age in cross-sectional structural MRI studies. Also, knowing the volume changes of the subcortical structures can provide convenience about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various neuromental disorders

Web users with autism: eye tracking evidence for differences

Anecdotal evidence suggests that people with autism may have different processing strategies when accessing the web. However, limited empirical evidence is available to support this. This paper presents an eye tracking study with 18 participants with high-functioning autism and 18 neurotypical participants to investigate the similarities and differences between these two groups in terms of how they search for information within web pages. According to our analysis, people with autism are likely to be less successful in completing their searching tasks. They also have a tendency to look at more elements on web pages and make more transitions between the elements in comparison to neurotypical people. In addition, they tend to make shorter but more frequent fixations on elements which are not directly related to a given search task. Therefore, this paper presents the first empirical study to investigate how people with autism differ from neurotypical people when they search for information within web pages based on an in-depth statistical analysis of their gaze patterns

Tumor-specific mutations in low-frequency genes affect their functional properties

Causal genetic changes in oligodendrogliomas (OD) with 1p/19q co-deletion include mutations in IDH1, IDH2, CIC, FUBP1, TERT promoter and NOTCH1. However, it is generally assumed that more somatic mutations are required for tumorigenesis. This study aimed to establish whether genes mutated at low frequency can be involved in OD initiation and/or progression. We performed whole-genome sequencing on three anaplastic ODs with 1p/19q co-deletion. To estimate mutation frequency, we performed targeted resequencing on an additional 39 ODs. Whole-genome sequencing identified a total of 55 coding mutations (range 8–32 mutations per tumor), including known abnormalities in IDH1, IDH2, CIC and FUBP1. We also identified mutations in genes, most of which were previously not implicated in ODs. Targeted resequencing on 39 additional ODs confirmed that these genes are mutated at low frequency. Most of the mutations identified were predicted to have a deleterious functional effect. Functional analysis on a subset of these genes (e.g. NTN4 and MAGEH1) showed that the mutation affects the subcellular localization of the protein (n = 2/12). In addition, HOG cells stably expressing mutant GDI1 or XPO7 showed altered cell proliferation compared to those expressing wildtype constructs. Similarly, HOG cells expressing mutant SASH3 or GDI1 showed altered migration. The significantly higher rate of predicted deleterious mutations, the changes in subcellular localization and the effects on proliferation and/or migration indicate that many of these genes functionally may contribute to gliomagenesis and/or progression. These low-frequency genes and their affected pathways may provide new treatment targets for this tumor type