Modelling and analyzing adaptive self-assembling strategies with Maude

Building adaptive systems with predictable emergent behavior is a challenging task and it is becoming a critical need. The research community has accepted the challenge by introducing approaches of various nature: from software architectures, to programming paradigms, to analysis techniques. We recently proposed a conceptual framework for adaptation centered around the role of control data. In this paper we show that it can be naturally realized in a reflective logical language like Maude by using the Reflective Russian Dolls model. Moreover, we exploit this model to specify and analyse a prominent example of adaptive system: robot swarms equipped with obstacle-avoidance self-assembly strategies. The analysis exploits the statistical model checker PVesta

Measurement of the total cross section for e^+e^-→hadrons at √s=10.52 GeV

Using the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have made a measurement of R≡σ(e^+e^-→hadrons)/σ(e^+e^-→μ^+μ^-)=3.56±0.01±0.07 at √s=10.52 GeV. This implies a value for the strong coupling constant of α_s(10.52 GeV)=0.20±0.01±0.06, or α_s(MZ)=0.13±0.005±0.03

A different approach in an AAL ecosystem: a mobile assistant for the caregiver

Currently the Ambient Assisted Living and the Ambient Intelligence areas are very prolific. There is a demand of security and comfort that should be ensured at people’s homes. The AAL4ALL (ambient assisted living for all) pro-ject aims to develop a unified ecosystem and a certification process, allowing the development of fully compatible devices and services. The UserAccess emerges from the AAL4ALL project, being a demonstration of its validity. The UserAc-cess architecture, implementation, interfaces and test scenario are presented, along with the sensor platform specially developed for the AAL4ALL project.Project "AAL4ALL", co-financed by the European Community Fund FEDER, through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC). Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Lisbon, Portugal, through Project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013 and the project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014. Project CAMCoF - Context-aware Multimodal Communication Framework funded by ERDF -European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980

The gastrointestinal electrical mapping suite (GEMS): software for analyzing and visualizing high-resolution (multi-electrode) recordings in spatiotemporal detail

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal contractions are controlled by an underlying bioelectrical activity. High-resolution spatiotemporal electrical mapping has become an important advance for investigating gastrointestinal electrical behaviors in health and motility disorders. However, research progress has been constrained by the low efficiency of the data analysis tasks. This work introduces a new efficient software package: GEMS (Gastrointestinal Electrical Mapping Suite), for analyzing and visualizing high-resolution multi-electrode gastrointestinal mapping data in spatiotemporal detail. RESULTS: GEMS incorporates a number of new and previously validated automated analytical and visualization methods into a coherent framework coupled to an intuitive and user-friendly graphical user interface. GEMS is implemented using MATLAB®, which combines sophisticated mathematical operations and GUI compatibility. Recorded slow wave data can be filtered via a range of inbuilt techniques, efficiently analyzed via automated event-detection and cycle clustering algorithms, and high quality isochronal activation maps, velocity field maps, amplitude maps, frequency (time interval) maps and data animations can be rapidly generated. Normal and dysrhythmic activities can be analyzed, including initiation and conduction abnormalities. The software is distributed free to academics via a community user website and forum (http://sites.google.com/site/gimappingsuite). CONCLUSIONS: This software allows for the rapid analysis and generation of critical results from gastrointestinal high-resolution electrical mapping data, including quantitative analysis and graphical outputs for qualitative analysis. The software is designed to be used by non-experts in data and signal processing, and is intended to be used by clinical researchers as well as physiologists and bioengineers. The use and distribution of this software package will greatly accelerate efforts to improve the understanding of the causes and clinical consequences of gastrointestinal electrical disorders, through high-resolution electrical mapping

Made from Mud: Functional Categorization and Analyses of Bronze Age Earthen Materials from Western Turkey

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The antimicrobial polymer PHMB enters cells and selectively condenses bacterial chromosomes

To combat infection and antimicrobial resistance, it is helpful to elucidate drug mechanism(s) of action. Here we examined how the widely used antimicrobial polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) kills bacteria selectively over host cells. Contrary to the accepted model of microbial membrane disruption by PHMB, we observed cell entry into a range of bacterial species, and treated bacteria displayed cell division arrest and chromosome condensation, suggesting DNA binding as an alternative antimicrobial mechanism. A DNA-level mechanism was confirmed by observations that PHMB formed nanoparticles when mixed with isolated bacterial chromosomal DNA and its effects on growth were suppressed by pairwise combination with the DNA binding ligand Hoechst 33258. PHMB also entered mammalian cells, but was trapped within endosomes and excluded from nuclei. Therefore, PHMB displays differential access to bacterial and mammalian cellular DNA and selectively binds and condenses bacterial chromosomes. Because acquired resistance to PHMB has not been reported, selective chromosome condensation provides an unanticipated paradigm for antimicrobial action that may not succumb to resistance

CtGEM typing: Discrimination of Chlamydia trachomatis ocular and urogenital strains and major evolutionary lineages by high resolution melting analysis of two amplified DNA fragments

© 2018 Giffard et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Chlamydia trachomatis infects the urogenital tract (UGT) and eyes. Anatomical tropism is correlated with variation in the major outer membrane protein encoded by ompA. Strains possessing the ocular ompA variants A, B, Ba and C are typically found within the phyloge-netically coherent “classical ocular lineage”. However, variants B, Ba and C have also been found within three distinct strains in Australia, all associated with ocular disease in children and outside the classical ocular lineage. CtGEM genotyping is a method for detecting and discriminating ocular strains and also the major phylogenetic lineages. The rationale was facilitation of surveillance to inform responses to C. trachomatis detection in UGT specimens from young children. CtGEM typing is based on high resolution melting analysis (HRMA) of two PCR amplified fragments with high combinatorial resolving power, as defined by computerised comparison of 65 whole genomes. One fragment is from the hypothetical gene defined by Jali-1891 in the C. trachomatis B_Jali20 genome, while the other is from ompA. Twenty combinatorial CtGEM types have been shown to exist, and these encompass unique genotypes for all known ocular strains, and also delineate the TI and T2 major phylogenetic lineages, identify LGV strains and provide additional resolution beyond this. CtGEM typing and Sanger sequencing were compared with 42 C. trachomatis positive clinical specimens, and there were no disjunctions. CtGEM typing is a highly efficient method designed and tested using large scale comparative genomics. It divides C. trachomatis into clinically and biologically meaningful groups, and may have broad application in surveillance

Hypercoagulability progresses to hypocoagulability during evolution of acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury in pigs

Increases in prothrombin time (PT) and international normalised ratio (INR) characterise acute liver injury (ALI) and failure (ALF), yet a wide heterogeneity in clotting abnormalities exists. This study defines evolution of coagulopathy in 10 pigs with acetaminophen (APAP)-induced ALI compared to 3 Controls. APAP administration began at 0 h and continued to ‘ALF’, defined as INR >3. In APAP pigs, INR was 1.05 ± 0.02 at 0 h, 2.15 ± 0.43 at 16 h and > 3 at 18 ± 1 h. At 12 h thromboelastography (TEG) demonstrated increased clot formation rate, associated with portal vein platelet aggregates and reductions in protein C, protein S, antithrombin and A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease with Thrombospondin type 1 repeats–13 (ADAMTS-13) to 60%, 24%, 47% and 32% normal respectively. At 18 ± 1 h, INR > 3 was associated with: hypocoagulable TEG profile with heparin-like effect; falls in thrombin generation, Factor V and Factor VIII to 52%, 19% and 17% normal respectively; further decline in anticoagulants; thrombocytopenia; neutrophilia and endotoxemia. Multivariate analysis, found that ADAMTS-13 was an independent predictor of a hypercoagulable TEG profile and platelet count, endotoxin, Protein C and fibrinogen were independent predictors of a hypocoagulable TEG profile. INR remained normal in Controls. Dynamic changes in coagulation occur with progression of ALI: a pro-thrombotic state progresses to hypocoagulability

Music for Thought: Examining Saudi Identities Expressed Through Music on Social Media

The aim of this chapter is to investigate how social media help create and diffuse popular music in Saudi Arabia and how such music questions the officially accepted identities and social practices. Social media are widely used as means of promotion among artists around the world; yet Saudi Arabia deserves special attention. This is because traditional media act much more strictly as gatekeepers in the kingdom; hence, social media offer greater possibility for circulation of popular entertainment, especially when it touches upon the questions related to the core values of the Saudi society. Such is the case of recordings by Hesham Fageeh “No woman, No drive” (2013) or the recently trending video clip “Hwages” that, both, received peak visibility online and sparked debates about women empowerment. Similarly, some videos trending online prompted a dance craze, for instance, “Barbs” showed a choreography that was subsequently copied by fans who uploaded their performances online. Dancing is a prohibition among the conservative segments of society; yet, the vastly young population of Saudi Arabia seeks entertainment.Social media in Saudi Arabia have become primordial means of communication in the kingdom with highest rates of social media participation in the Middle East and seventh rank in the world (2016). Consequently, this chapter employs a mixed-method approach in order to uncover how social media breaks the monopoly on entertainment by promoting different musical genres and encouraging social debate