Three-Dimensional Analysis of the Effect of Epidermal Growth Factor on Cell-Cell Adhesion in Epithelial Cell Clusters

The effect that growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) have on cell-cell adhesion is of interest in the study of cellular processes such as epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Because cell-cell adhesions cannot be measured directly, we use three-dimensional traction force microscopy to measure the tractions applied by clusters of MCF-10A cells to a compliant substrate beneath them before and after stimulating the cells with EGF. To better interpret the results, a finite element model, which simulates a cluster of individual cells adhered to one another and to the substrate with linear springs, is developed to better understand the mechanical interaction between the cells in the experiments. The experiments and simulations show that the cluster of cells acts collectively as a single unit, indicating that cell-cell adhesion remains strong before and after stimulation with EGF. In addition, the experiments and model emphasize the importance of three-dimensional measurements and analysis in these experiments

Competing failure mechanisms in thin films: Application to layer transfer

We investigate the origin of transverse cracks often observed in thin films obtained by the layer transfer technique. During this process, two crystals bonded to each other containing a weak plane produced by ion implantation are heated to let a thin layer of one of the material on the other. The level of stress imposed on the film during the heating phase due to the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients of the substrate and the film is shown to be the dominent factor in determining the quality of the transferred layer. In particular, it is shown that if the film is submitted to a tensile stress, the microcracks produced by ion implantation are not stable and deviate from the plane of implantation making the layer transfer process impossible. However, if the compressive stress exceeds a threshold value, after layer transfer, the film can buckle and delaminate, leading to transverse cracks induced by bending. As a result, we show that the imposed stress σ_m —- or equivalently the heating temperature -— must be within the range −σ_c<σ_m<0 to produce an intact thin film where σ_c depends on the interfacial fracture energy and the size of defects at the interface between film and substrate

Deformation and crystallization of Zr-based amorphous alloys in homogeneous flow regime

The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate the interaction of inelastic deformation and microstructural changes of two Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs): Zr_(41.25)Ti_(13.75)Cu_(12.5)Ni_(10)Be_(22.5) (commercially designated as Vitreloy 1 or Vit1) and Zr_(46.75)Ti_(8.25)Cu_(7.5)Ni_(10)Be_(27.5) (Vitreloy 4, Vit4). High-temperature uniaxial compression tests were performed on the two Zr alloys at various strain rates, followed by structural characterization using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Two distinct modes of mechanically induced atomic disordering in the two alloys were observed, with Vit1 featuring clear phase separation and crystallization after deformation as observed with TEM, while Vit4 showing only structural relaxation with no crystallization. The influence of the structural changes on the mechanical behaviors of the two materials was further investigated by jump-in-strain-rate tests, and flow softening was observed in Vit4. A free volume theory was applied to explain the deformation behaviors, and the activation volumes were calculated for both alloys

Adoption and Impact of Eco-Friendly Conservation Practices in The Nilgiris District of Western Ghats

The study was under taken to find out the relationship between the profile of the farmers of The Nilgiris district and the impact in their adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices. The study revealed that educational status, risk orientation, training undergone, progressiveness, self reliance, innovativeness and contact with extension agency were found  to have positively contributed to the adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices. With respect to impact, majority of the farmers opined that the cost of cultivation decreased, followed by increased farmers confidence level, improved fertility status of the soil and improved biodiversity in the farm fields

A successful full term delivery in a case of robotic assisted insertion of transabdominal cerclage in an obese woman with multiple uterine fibroids

Cervical incompetence is not an uncommon presentation in an obstetric emergency unit. Some of these patients will be managed with a cervical cerclage. While the management of patients presenting with first time cervical incompetence is relatively established, the management of patient with repeated cervical incompetence might require an abdominal cerclage. Abdominal cerclages can be inserted traditionally via laparotomy or via a minimally invasive approach (MIS). We present a case of an obese patient presenting with 3 previous second trimester miscarriages despite 2 cervical cerclage complicated by multiple uterine fibroids who underwent a robotic assisted insertion of transabdominal cerclage (RTAC) pre-pregnancy. She subsequently conceived spontaneously and carried the pregnancy to term and delivered a healthy baby via caesarean section. There have been multiple published studies showing that an MIS approach for abdominal cerclage insertion is safe and viable. Robotic assisted procedures allow for better visualisation and manipulation of tissue especially in patients anticipating a complex procedure. For our patient we feel that a robotic assisted procedure would be more beneficial given her profile and the complexity of her case

Evaluation Framework for Understanding Sensitive Attribute Association Bias in Latent Factor Recommendation Algorithms

We present a novel evaluation framework for representation bias in latent factor recommendation (LFR) algorithms. Our framework introduces the concept of attribute association bias in recommendations allowing practitioners to explore how recommendation systems can introduce or amplify stakeholder representation harm. Attribute association bias (AAB) occurs when sensitive attributes become semantically captured or entangled in the trained recommendation latent space. This bias can result in the recommender reinforcing harmful stereotypes, which may result in downstream representation harms to system consumer and provider stakeholders. LFR models are at risk of experiencing AAB due to their ability to entangle explicit and implicit attributes into the trained latent space. Understanding this phenomenon is essential due to the increasingly common use of entity vectors as attributes in downstream components in hybrid industry recommendation systems. We provide practitioners with a framework for executing disaggregated evaluations of AAB within broader algorithmic auditing frameworks. Inspired by research in natural language processing (NLP) observing gender bias in word embeddings, our framework introduces AAB evaluation methods specifically for recommendation entity vectors. We present four evaluation strategies for sensitive AAB in LFR models: attribute bias directions, attribute association bias metrics, classification for explaining bias, and latent space visualization. We demonstrate the utility of our framework by evaluating user gender AAB regarding podcast genres with an industry case study of a production-level DNN recommendation model. We uncover significant levels of user gender AAB when user gender is used and removed as a model feature during training, pointing to the potential for systematic bias in LFR model outputs

Constraints in the Adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices

Adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices requires strong attitude and good knowledge level. Further, the adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices has put fourth many constraints. This study was conducted in The Nilgiris district to assess the constraints and suggestions to overcome the constraints in the adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices. Thus, to analyse the constraints Garett ranking method was used (Garett, H.E. et al 1973). The study revealed that the constraints of labour scarcity, Lack of skill about the eco friendly conservation practices, lack of credit facilities, high risk,Insect pest and diseases management, Lack of awareness of agro environmental problems and farmer’s attitude towards the Eco Friendly Conservation Practices are the major constraints in the adoption of Eco Friendly Conservation Practices.The study suggests educational, extension &amp; training strategies for fostering the adopted of ECO friendly Conservation Practices

Plastic Deformation in Laser-Induced Shock Compression of Monocrystalline Copper

Copper monocrystals were subjected to shock compression at pressures of 10–60 GPa by a short (3 ns initial) duration laser pulse. Transmission electron microscopy revealed features consistent with previous observations of shock-compressed copper, albeit at pulse durations in the µs regime. The results suggest that the defect structure is generated at the shock front. A mechanism for dislocation generation is presented, providing a realistic prediction of dislocation density as a function of pressure. The threshold stress for deformation twinning in shock compression is calculated from the constitutive equations for slip, twinning, and the Swegle-Grady relationship

Transient x-ray diffraction used to diagnose shock compressed Si crystals on the Nova laser

Transient x-ray diffraction is used to record time-resolved information about the shock compression of materials. This technique has been applied on Nova shock experiments driven using a hohlraum x-ray drive. Data were recorded from the shock release at the free surface of a Si crystal, as well as from Si at an embedded ablator/Si interface. Modeling has been done to simulate the diffraction data incorporating the strained crystal rocking curves and Bragg diffraction efficiencies. Examples of the data and post-processed simulations are presented