Voice Activated Chess Set

Abstract Chess is a game enjoyed by people of all ages and physical abilities. The Voice-Activated Chess Set was designed to allow persons who cannot use their arms, due to either a disability or if they are preoccupied with something else, to play a game of chess without assistance after initial setup. The chess game was intended to be solely controlled by voice recognition using set commands. After much testing of the voice recognition chip, it was established that the microphone could not stay always on and a dial pad was implemented to control it. A position system repositions a solenoid which is set underneath of the chessboard. The chess pieces are made of plastic and have a nail and bolt inside of them to be able to be moved by a normally closed solenoid with a magnet on the shaft. The position system moves chess pieces according to the player’s voice command or input into the dial pad, provided that they follow the rules of chess. With a better microphone or voice recognition chip, this design lets individuals who are handicapped, in the sense that they cannot use their hands, to enjoy a challenging and fun game

A subpopulation of monocytes in normal human blood has significant magnetic susceptibility : quantification and potential implications

The presence of iron in circulating monocytes is well known as they play essential roles in iron recycling. Also, the storage of this metal as well as its incorrect uptake and/or release are important data to diagnose different pathologies. It has been demonstrated that iron storage in human blood cells can be measured through their magnetic behavior with high accuracy; however, the magnetic characteristics of monocytes have not been reported so far to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, in this work, we report, for the first time, the physical and magnetic properties of human monocytes, along with plasma platelets, oxyhemoglobin red blood cells (oxyHb‐RBCs), and methemoglobin red blood cells (metHb‐RBCs). The different cell populations were separated by Ficoll‐density gradient centrifugation, followed by a flow sorting step to isolate monocytes from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The different fractions were analyzed by Coulter Counter (for determining the size distribution and concentration) and the sorted monocytes were qualitatively analyzed on ImageStream, a state‐of‐the‐art imaging cytometer. The analysis of the Coulter Counter and ImageStream data suggests that although there exists contamination in the monocyte fraction, the integrity of the sorted monocytes appears to be intact and the concentration was high enough to precisely measure their magnetic velocity by Cell Tracking Velocimetry. Surprisingly, monocytes reported the highest magnetic mobility from the four fractions under analysis, with an average magnetic velocity 7.8 times higher than MetHb‐RBCs, which is the only type of cells with positive magnetic velocities. This value is equivalent to a susceptibility 2.5 times higher than the value reported by fresh MetHb‐RBCs. It should be noted that this is the first study that reports that a subpopulation of human monocytes is much more magnetic than MetHb‐RBCs, opening the door to the possible isolation of human monocytes by label‐free magnetic techniques. Further, it is suggested that these magnetic monocytes could “contaminate” positively selected, immunomagnetically labeled blood cells (i.e., during a process using magnetically conjugated antibodies targeting cells, such as CD34 positive cells). Conversely, these magnetic monocytes could be inadvertently removed from a desired blood population when one is using a negative magnetic isolation technique to target cells for removal.The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1R01HL131720-01A1) and DARPA (BAA07-21).https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/155249302020-05-01hj2019BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant PathologyPlant Production and Soil Scienc

Group support systems features and their contribution to technology strategy decision-making: A review and analysis

Collective decision-making processes require careful design considerations in organizations. On one hand, the inclusion of a greater number of actors contribute to a wider knowledge base, on the other, it can become a diffuse process and be distorted from the principles initially established. This paper observes a specific collective decision making process in organizations—technology strategy formulation—and, through a critical review of the literature, analyzes how the advances in features of group support systems support improvements in different stages of this process. This paper also discusses the implications of GSS appropriation in group dynamics.This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/ BD/ 33727/ 2009), within the framework of the MIT Portugal Program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ibuprofen is deleterious for the development of first trimester human fetal ovary ex vivo

International audienceSTUDY QUESTION Does ibuprofen use during the first trimester of pregnancy interfere with the development of the human fetal ovary? SUMMARY ANSWER In human fetuses, ibuprofen exposure is deleterious for ovarian germ cells. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY In utero stages of ovarian development define the future reproductive capacity of a woman. In rodents, analgesics can impair the development of the fetal ovary leading to early onset of fertility failure. Ibuprofen, which is available over-the-counter, has been reported as a frequently consumed medication during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester when the ovarian germ cells undergo crucial steps of proliferation and differentiation. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Organotypic cultures of human ovaries obtained from 7 to 12 developmental week (DW) fetuses were exposed to ibuprofen at 1-100 μM for 2, 4 or 7 days. For each individual, a control culture (vehicle) was included and compared to its treated counterpart. A total of 185 individual samples were included. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Ovarian explants were analyzed by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and quantitative PCR. Endpoints focused on ovarian cell number, cell death, proliferation and germ cell complement. To analyze the possible range of exposure, ibuprofen was measured in the umbilical cord blood from the women exposed or not to ibuprofen prior to termination of pregnancy. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Human ovarian explants exposed to 10 and 100 μM ibuprofen showed reduced cell number, less proliferating cells, increased apoptosis and a dramatic loss of germ cell number, regardless of the gestational age of the fetus. Significant effects were observed after 7 days of exposure to 10 μM ibuprofen. At this concentration, apoptosis was observed as early as 2 days of treatment, along with a decrease in M2A-positive germ cell number. These deleterious effects of ibuprofen were not fully rescued after 5 days of drug withdrawal. LARGE SCALE DATA N/A. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION This study was performed in an experimental setting of human ovaries explants exposed to the drug in culture, which may not fully recapitulate the complexity of in vivo exposure and organ development. Inter-individual variability is also to be taken into account. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Whereas ibuprofen is currently only contra-indicated after 24 weeks of pregnancy, our results points to a deleterious effect of this drug on first trimester fetal ovaries ex vivo. These findings deserve to be considered in light of the present recommendations about ibuprofen consumption pregnancy, and reveal the urgent need for further investigations on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the effect of ibuprofen on fetal ovary development. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Roadmap on photonic metasurfaces

Funding: C.R. and U.L. acknowledge support through the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy via the Excellence Cluster 3D Matter Made to Order (EXC-2082/1, Grant No. 390761711). A.B.E. acknowledges support through the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122, Project ID No. 390833453). I.F.-C. and C.R. acknowledge support through the CRC Waves: Analysis and Numerics (SFB 1173, Grant No. 258734477. K.A. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project No. PZ00P2_193221).Here we present a roadmap on Photonic metasurfaces. This document consists of a number of perspective articles on different applications, challenge areas or technologies underlying photonic metasurfaces. Each perspective will introduce the topic, present a state of the art as well as give an insight into the future direction of the subfield.Peer reviewe

Synthetic biology to access and expand nature's chemical diversity

Bacterial genomes encode the biosynthetic potential to produce hundreds of thousands of complex molecules with diverse applications, from medicine to agriculture and materials. Accessing these natural products promises to reinvigorate drug discovery pipelines and provide novel routes to synthesize complex chemicals. The pathways leading to the production of these molecules often comprise dozens of genes spanning large areas of the genome and are controlled by complex regulatory networks with some of the most interesting molecules being produced by non-model organisms. In this Review, we discuss how advances in synthetic biology — including novel DNA construction technologies, the use of genetic parts for the precise control of expression and for synthetic regulatory circuits — and multiplexed genome engineering can be used to optimize the design and synthesis of pathways that produce natural products

Neutrino Target-of-Opportunity Observations with Space-based and Suborbital Optical Cherenkov Detectors

Cosmic-ray accelerators capable of reaching ultra-high energies are expected to also produce very-high energy neutrinos via hadronic interactions within the source or its surrounding environment. Many of the candidate astrophysical source classes are either transient in nature or exhibit flaring activity. Using the Earth as a neutrino converter, suborbital and space-based optical Cherenkov detectors, such as POEMMA and EUSO-SPB2, will be able to detect upward-moving extensive air showers induced by decaying tau-leptons generated from cosmic tau neutrinos with energies ∼10 PeV and above. Both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will be able to quickly repoint, enabling rapid response to astrophysical transient events. We calculate the transient sensitivity and sky coverage for both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA, accounting for constraints imposed by the Sun and the Moon on the observation time. We also calculate both detectors\u27 neutrino horizons for a variety of modeled astrophysical neutrino fluences. We find that both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will achieve transient sensitivities at the level of modeled neutrino fluences for nearby sources. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects of each mission detecting at least one transient event for various modeled astrophysical neutrino sources

Neutrino Target-of-Opportunity Observations with Space-based and Suborbital Optical Cherenkov Detectors

Cosmic-ray accelerators capable of reaching ultra-high energies are expected to also produce very-high energy neutrinos via hadronic interactions within the source or its surrounding environment. Many of the candidate astrophysical source classes are either transient in nature or exhibit flaring activity. Using the Earth as a neutrino converter, suborbital and space-based optical Cherenkov detectors, such as EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA, will be able to detect upward-moving extensive air showers induced by decay tau-leptons generated from cosmic tau neutrinos with energies ∼10 PeV and above. Both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will be able to quickly repoint, enabling rapid response to astrophysical transient events. we calculate the transient sensitivity and sky coverage for both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA, accounting for constraints imposed by the Sun and the Moon on the observation time. We also calculate both detectors\u27 neutrino horizons for a variety of modeled astrophysical neutrino fluences. We find that both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will achieve transient sensitivities at the level of modeled neutrino fluences for nearby sources. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects of each mission detecting at least one transient event for various modeled astrophysical neutrino sources

Ibuprofen results in alterations of human fetal testis development

International audienceAmong pregnant women ibuprofen is one of the most frequently used pharmaceutical compounds with up to 28% reporting use. Regardless of this, it remains unknown whether ibuprofen could act as an endocrine disruptor as reported for fellow analgesics paracetamol and aspirin. To investigate this, we exposed human fetal testes (7-17 gestational weeks (GW)) to ibuprofen using ex vivo culture and xenograft systems. Ibuprofen suppressed testosterone and Leydig cell hormone INSL3 during culture of 8-9 GW fetal testes with concomitant reduction in expression of the steroidogenic enzymes CYP11A1, CYP17A1 and HSD17B3, and of INSL3. Testosterone was not suppressed in testes from fetuses younger than 8 GW, older than 10-12 GW, or in second trimester xenografted testes (14-17 GW). Ex vivo, ibuprofen also affected Sertoli cell by suppressing AMH production and mRNA expression of AMH, SOX9, DHH, and COL2A1. While PGE2 production was suppressed by ibuprofen, PGD2 production was not. Germ cell transcripts POU5F1, TFAP2C, LIN28A, ALPP and KIT were also reduced by ibuprofen. We conclude that, at concentrations relevant to human exposure and within a particular narrow 'early window' of sensitivity within first trimester, ibuprofen causes direct endocrine disturbances in the human fetal testis and alteration of the germ cell biology