Spatial Practices/Digital Traces: Embodiment and Reconfigurations of Urban Spaces Through GPS Mobile Applications

This research explores the relationship between bodies, space and mobile technologies by studying the affective and spatial properties of three GPS-based mobile applications—Grindr, Mappiness and Waze. Discussions of how newly constructed subjectivities experience location, orientation and spatial movements—both physical and digital—emerge throughout the chapters. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: How are GPS-based apps enabling the construction of new digital subjects and embodiments? How do they enable users to perform these identities in space? How does the production of these new subjectivities create alternate forms of inhabiting urban spaces as well as alternate modes of digital mobility? In what ways do GPS apps create new spatiotemporal relations for bodies, and how are these relations made visible by the interfaces’ spatial and urban representations? To answer these questions, the three apps—which were selected from a group of contemporary apps based on their GPS properties, strong link to urban space and relation to embodied performance—are treated as a series of material objects. Though each app’s particular purpose varies, as a set they suggest coupled themes that structure the study’s analysis: physical boundaries/digital peripheries, companionship/wayfinding, embodiments/othering, judgement/ confidence, gamification/interface, intimacy/tactility and trails/digital residue. Guided by Cyberfeminist theories, the method of study is conducted through three phases: personal empirical research, in-depth interviews with participants and the designing of a series of coded avatars of the participants’ identities. The dissertation argues that there exists a mutual shaping between a person’s subjectivity and app-technology, and that these constructions affect the way space is navigated and perceived. To elaborate on this triadic relationship between body/space/technology and to open up new imaginaries to theorise about the body in space through a Cyberfeminist perspective, it proposes a new, performative figuration—the boy—arguing that these newly constructed identities are fluidly assembled and disassembled by their continuous negotiation between physical and digital boundaries. In this way, the study rethinks how Grindr, Mappiness and Waze enable alternate embodiments for performing identities in space, while also seeking to discuss how they create new spatial organisations and socio-spatial manifestations

Bending and Free Vibration Analysis of Functionally Graded Plates via Optimized Non-polynomial Higher Order Theories

Optimization concept in the context of shear deformation theories was born for the development of accurate models to study the bending problem of structures. The present study seeks to extend such an approach to the dynamic analysis of plates. A compact and unified formulation with non-polynomial shear strain shape functions (SSSFs) is employed to develop a static and free vibration analysis of simply supported functionally graded plates. In this context, three new non-polynomial displacement fields are proposed using trigonometric and hyperbolic SSSFs. Then, the non-polynomial SSSFs are optimized by varying the arguments of the trigonometric and hyperbolic functions. Additionally, the Mori-Tanaka approach is used to estimate the effective properties of the functionally graded plates. The Principle of Virtual Displacement (PVD) and the Hamilton’s Principle along with the Navier closed-form solution technique are used to obtain exact results. The obtained numerical results are in a good agreement with 3D and 2D higher order shear deformation theory solutions available in the literature

Evaluation of the Detectability of Electromechanical Faults in Induction Motors Via Transient Analysis of the Stray Flux

© 1972-2012 IEEE. The stray flux that is present in the vicinity of an induction motor is a very interesting information source to detect several types of failures in these machines. The analysis of this quantity can be employed, in some cases, as a supportive tool to complement the diagnosis provided by other quantities. In other cases, when no other motor quantities are available, stray flux analysis can become one of the few alternatives to evaluate the motor condition. Its noninvasive nature, low cost, and easy implementation makes it a very interesting option that requires further investigation. The aim of this work is to evaluate the suitability of the stray flux analysis under the starting transient as a way to detect certain faults in induction motors (broken rotor bars and misalignments), even when these types of faults coexist in the motor. To this end, advanced signal processing tools will be applied. Several positions of the flux sensors are considered in this study. Also, for the first time, a fault indicator based on the stray flux analysis under the starting is introduced and its sensitivity is compared versus other indicators relying on other quantities. It must be emphasized that, since the capture of the transient and steady-state flux signals can be carried out in the same measurement, the application of the approach presented in this work is straightforward and its derived information may become crucial for the diagnosis of some faults.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’ (MINECO) and FEDER program in the framework of the ‘Proyectos I+D del Subprograma de Generación de Conocimiento, Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia’ (ref: DPI2014-52842-P)

Self-supervised Depth Estimation to Regularise Semantic Segmentation in Knee Arthroscopy

Intra-operative automatic semantic segmentation of knee joint structures can assist surgeons during knee arthroscopy in terms of situational awareness. However, due to poor imaging conditions (e.g., low texture, overexposure, etc.), automatic semantic segmentation is a challenging scenario, which justifies the scarce literature on this topic. In this paper, we propose a novel self-supervised monocular depth estimation to regularise the training of the semantic segmentation in knee arthroscopy. To further regularise the depth estimation, we propose the use of clean training images captured by the stereo arthroscope of routine objects (presenting none of the poor imaging conditions and with rich texture information) to pre-train the model. We fine-tune such model to produce both the semantic segmentation and self-supervised monocular depth using stereo arthroscopic images taken from inside the knee. Using a data set containing 3868 arthroscopic images captured during cadaveric knee arthroscopy with semantic segmentation annotations, 2000 stereo image pairs of cadaveric knee arthroscopy, and 2150 stereo image pairs of routine objects, we show that our semantic segmentation regularised by self-supervised depth estimation produces a more accurate segmentation than a state-of-the-art semantic segmentation approach modeled exclusively with semantic segmentation annotation.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Interventions to Promote Cancer Awareness and Early Presentation: Systematic Review

Low cancer awareness contributes to delay in presentation for cancer symptoms and may lead to delay in cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study was to review the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to raise cancer awareness and promote early presentation in cancer to inform policy and future research. We searched bibliographic databases and reference lists for randomised controlled trials of interventions delivered to individuals, and controlled or uncontrolled studies of interventions delivered to communities. We found some evidence that interventions delivered to individuals modestly increase cancer awareness in the short term and insufficient evidence that they promote early presentation. We found limited evidence that public education campaigns reduce stage at presentation of breast cancer, malignant melanoma and retinoblastoma

Enhanced production of taxadiene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Background: Cost-effective production of the highly effective anti-cancer drug, paclitaxel (Taxol®), remains limited despite growing global demands. Low yields of the critical taxadiene precursor remains a key bottleneck in microbial production. In this study, the key challenge of poor taxadiene synthase (TASY) solubility in S. cerevisiae was revealed, and the strains were strategically engineered to relieve this bottleneck. / Results: Multi-copy chromosomal integration of TASY harbouring a selection of fusion solubility tags improved taxadiene titres 22-fold, up to 57 ± 3 mg/L at 30 °C at microscale, compared to expressing a single episomal copy of TASY. The scalability of the process was highlighted through achieving similar titres during scale up to 25 mL and 250 mL in shake flask and bioreactor cultivations, respectively at 20 and 30 °C. Maximum taxadiene titres of 129 ± 15 mg/L and 127 mg/L were achieved through shake flask and bioreactor cultivations, respectively, of the optimal strain at a reduced temperature of 20 °C. / Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the benefit of employing a combination of molecular biology and bioprocess tools during synthetic pathway development, with which TASY activity was successfully improved by 6.5-fold compared to the highest literature titre in S. cerevisiae cell factories

Hidden Orbital Order in URu2Si2URu_{2}Si_{2}

When matter is cooled from high temperatures, collective instabilities develop amongst its constituent particles that lead to new kinds of order. An anomaly in the specific heat is a classic signature of this phenomenon. Usually the associated order is easily identified, but sometimes its nature remains elusive. The heavy fermion metal $URu_2Si_2$ is one such example, where the order responsible for the sharp specific heat anomaly at $T_0=17 K$ has remained unidentified despite more than seventeen years of effort. In $URu_{2}Si_{2}$, the coexistence of large electron-electron repulsion and antiferromagnetic fluctuations in $URu_2Si_2$ leads to an almost incompressible heavy electron fluid, where anisotropically paired quasiparticle states are energetically favored. In this paper we use these insights to develop a detailed proposal for the hidden order in $URu_2Si_2$. We show that incommensurate orbital antiferromagnetism, associated with circulating currents between the uranium ions, can account for the local fields and entropy loss observed at the $17 K$ transition; furthermore we make detailed predictions for neutron scattering measurements

Extragingival pyogenic granuloma: a case report

The pyogenic granuloma is thought to represent an exuberant tissue response to local irritation or trauma

The H-NS regulator plays a role in the stress induced by carbapenemase expression in acinetobacter baumannii

Disruption of the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS) was shown to affect the ability of Gram-negative bacteria to regulate genes associated with virulence, persistence, stress response, quorum sensing, biosynthesis pathways, and cell adhesion. Here, we used the expression of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), known to elicit envelope stress by the accumulation of toxic precursors in the periplasm, to interrogate the role of H-NS in Acinetobacter baumannii, together with other stressors. Using a multidrug-resistant A. baumannii strain, we observed that H-NS plays a role in alleviating the stress triggered by MBL toxic precursors and counteracts the effect of DNA-damaging agents, supporting its role in stress response. IMPORTANCE Carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) is recognized as one of the most threatening Gram-negative bacilli. H-NS is known to play a role in controlling the transcription of a variety of different genes, including those associated with the stress response, persistence, and virulence. In the present work, we uncovered a link between the role of H-NS in the A. baumannii stress response and its relationship with the envelope stress response and resistance to DNA-damaging agents. Overall, we posit a new role of H-NS, showing that H-NS serves to endure envelope stress and could also be a mechanism that alleviates the stress induced by MBL expression in A. baumannii. This could be an evolutionary advantage to further resist the action of carbapenems.Fil: Huang, Fanny. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Fitchett, Noelle. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Razo Gutierrez, Chelsea. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Le, Casin. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Martinez, Jasmine. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Ra, Grace. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados UnidosFil: Lopez, Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Lisandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Sieira, Rodrigo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Vila, Alejandro Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Bonomo, Robert A.. Louis Stokes Cleveland Va Medical Center; Estados Unidos. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Ramirez, Maria Soledad. California State University. College Of Natural Science And Mathematics; Estados Unido

The Effect of Transposable Element Insertions on Gene Expression Evolution in Rodents

Background:Many genomes contain a substantial number of transposable elements (TEs), a few of which are known to be involved in regulating gene expression. However, recent observations suggest that TEs may have played a very important role in the evolution of gene expression because many conserved non-genic sequences, some of which are know to be involved in gene regulation, resemble TEs. Results:Here we investigate whether new TE insertions affect gene expression profiles by testing whether gene expression divergence between mouse and rat is correlated to the numbers of new transposable elements inserted near genes. We show that expression divergence is significantly correlated to the number of new LTR and SINE elements, but not to the numbers of LINEs. We also show that expression divergence is not significantly correlated to the numbers of ancestral TEs in most cases, which suggests that the correlations between expression divergence and the numbers of new TEs are causal in nature. We quantify the effect and estimate that TE insertion has accounted for ~20% (95% confidence interval: 12% to 26%) of all expression profile divergence in rodents. Conclusions:We conclude that TE insertions may have had a major impact on the evolution of gene expression levels in rodents