Crafting a Systematic Literature Review on Open-Source Platforms

This working paper unveils the crafting of a systematic literature review on open-source platforms. The high-competitive mobile devices market, where several players such as Apple, Google, Nokia and Microsoft run a platforms- war with constant shifts in their technological strategies, is gaining increasing attention from scholars. It matters, then, to review previous literature on past platforms-wars, such as the ones from the PC and game-console industries, and assess its implications to the current mobile devices platforms-war. The paper starts by justifying the purpose and rationale behind this literature review on open-source platforms. The concepts of open-source software and computer-based platforms were then discussed both individually and in unison, in order to clarify the core-concept of 'open-source platform' that guides this literature review. The detailed design of the employed methodological strategy is then presented as the central part of this paper. The paper concludes with preliminary findings organizing previous literature on open-source platforms for the purpose of guiding future research in this area.Comment: As presented in 10th IFIP WG 2.13 International Conference on Open Source Systems, OSS 2014, San Jos\'e, Costa Rica, May 6-9, 201

Color image registration under illumination changes

The estimation of parametric global motion has had a significant attention during the last two decades, but despite the great efforts invested, there are still open issues. One of the most important ones is related to the ability to recover large deformation between images in the presence of illumination changes while kipping accurate estimates. Illumination changes in color images are another important open issue. In this paper, a Generalized least squared-based motion estimator is used in combination with color image model to allow accurate estimates of global motion between two color images under the presence of large geometric transformation and illumination changes. Experiments using challenging images have been performed showing that the presented technique is feasible and provides accurate estimates of the motion and illumination parameter

The structural basis for high‐affinity uptake of lignin‐derived aromatic compounds by proteobacterial TRAP transporters

The organic polymer lignin is a component of plant cell walls, which like (hemi)-cellulose is highly abundant in nature and relatively resistant to degradation. However, extracellular enzymes released by natural microbial consortia can cleave the β-aryl ether linkages in lignin, releasing monoaromatic phenylpropanoids that can be further catabolised by diverse species of bacteria. Biodegradation of lignin is therefore important in global carbon cycling, and its natural abundance also makes it an attractive biotechnological feedstock for the industrial production of commodity chemicals. Whilst the pathways for degradation of lignin-derived aromatics have been extensively characterised, much less is understood about how they are recognised and taken up from the environment. The purple phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris can grow on a range of phenylpropanoid monomers and is a model organism for studying their uptake and breakdown. R. palustris encodes a tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic (TRAP) transporter (TarPQM) linked to genes encoding phenylpropanoid-degrading enzymes. The periplasmic solute-binding protein component of this transporter, TarP, has previously been shown to bind aromatic substrates. Here, we determine the high-resolution crystal structure of TarP from R. palustris as well as the structures of homologous proteins from the salt marsh bacterium Sagittula stellata and the halophile Chromohalobacter salexigens, which also grow on lignin-derived aromatics. In combination with tryptophan fluorescence ligand-binding assays, our ligand-bound co-crystal structures reveal the molecular basis for high-affinity recognition of phenylpropanoids by these TRAP transporters, which have potential for improving uptake of these compounds for biotechnological transformations of lignin

Physical activity, sedentary time, and fatness in a biethnic sample of young children

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate associations of objectively measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary time with adiposity in a predominantly biethnic (South Asian and White British) sample of young children. Methods: The sample included 333 children age 11 months to 5 yr who provided 526 cross-sectional observations for PA and body composition. Total PA volume (vector magnitude counts per minute), daily time at multiple intensity levels (the cumulative time in activity 9500, 91000, 91500, I, 96000 counts per minute), and time spent sedentary (G820 counts per minute), in light PA (820–3907 counts per minute) and in moderate-to-vigorous PA (Q3908 counts per minute) were estimated with triaxial accelerometry. Indicators of adiposity included body mass index, waist circumference, and the sum of subscapular and triceps skinfold thicknesses. Statistical analyses were performed using multilevel regression and isotemporal substitution models adjusted for confounders. Effect modification by ethnicity was examined. Results: There was no evidence for effect modification by ethnicity (P interaction Q 0.13). In the whole sample, the accumulated time spent above 3500 counts per minute (i.e., high light-intensity PA) was inversely associated with the sum of skinfolds (A = j0.60 mm, 95% confidence interval [CI] = j1.19 to j0.021, per 20 minIdj1), and the magnitude of association increased dose dependently with PA intensity (peaking for time spent 96000 counts per minute = j1.57 mm, 95% CI = j3.01 to j0.12, per 20 minIdj1). The substitution of 20 minIdj1 of sedentary time with moderate-to-vigorous PA was associated with a lower sum of skinfolds (j0.77 mm, 95% CI = j1.46 to j0.084). Conclusions: High light-intensity PA appears to be beneficial for body composition in young South Asian and White British children, but higher-intensity PA is more advantageous

A purely algebraic construction of a gauge and renormalization group invariant scalar glueball operator

This paper presents a complete algebraic proof of the renormalizability of the gauge invariant $d=4$ operator $F_{\mu\nu}^2(x)$ to all orders of perturbation theory in pure Yang-Mills gauge theory, whereby working in the Landau gauge. This renormalization is far from being trivial as mixing occurs with other $d=4$ gauge variant operators, which we identify explicitly. We determine the mixing matrix $Z$ to all orders in perturbation theory by using only algebraic arguments and consequently we can uncover a renormalization group invariant by using the anomalous dimension matrix $\Gamma$ derived from $Z$. We also present a future plan for calculating the mass of the lightest scalar glueball with the help of the framework we have set up.Comment: 17 page

"Author! Author!" : Shakespeare and biography

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t714579626~db=all Copyright Informa / Taylor & Francis Group. DOI: 10.1080/17450910902764454Since 1996, not a year has passed without the publication of at least one Shakespeare biography. Yet for many years the place of the author in the practice of understanding literary works has been problematized, and even on occasions eliminated. Criticism reads the “works”, and may or may not refer to an author whose “life” contributed to their meaning. Biography seeks the author in the works, the personality that precedes the works and gives them their characteristic shape and meaning. But the form of literary biography addresses the unusual kind of “life” that puts itself into “works”, and this is particularly challenging where the “works” predominate massively over the salient facts of the “life”. This essay surveys the current terrain of Shakespeare biography, and considers the key questions raised by the medium: can we know anything of Shakespeare's “personality” from the facts of his life and the survival of his works? What is the status of the kind of speculation that inevitably plays a part in biographical reconstruction? Are biographers in the end telling us as much about themselves as they tell us about Shakespeare?Peer reviewe

Limited added value of laboratory monitoring in thiopurine maintenance monotherapy in inflammatory bowel disease patients

Background: To timely detect myelotoxicity and hepatotoxicity, laboratory monitoring at 3-month intervals is advised throughout thiopurine maintenance treatment for IBD. However, reported incidence rates of myelotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in maintenance treatment are low. Aim: To assess incidence rates and clinical consequences of myelotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in thiopurine maintenance therapy after at least 1 year of thiopurine treatment. Methods: Retrospective analysis of therapy adjustment for laboratory toxicity in adult IBD patients after 12 consecutive months of azathioprine (AZA) or mercaptopurine monotherapy (ie baseline) between 2000 and 2016. Incidence rates of laboratory toxicity (ie myelotoxicity [leucocyte count <4.0 × 10e9/L, and/or platelet count <150 × 10e9/L] and/or hepatotoxicity (gamma-glutamyltransferase [GGT], alkaline phosphatase [AP], ALT and/or AST above ULN, excluding isolated increased AST/AP]) and associated diagnostic procedures and complications were assessed. Results: In total, 12.391 laboratory assessments were performed on 1132 patients (56% female, AZA 74%) during 3.3 years of median follow-up. Median monitoring frequency was 3.1 assessments/treatment year. Only 83/12.391 (0.7%) assessments resulted in therapy adjustment, dose reduction in 46 patients, cessation in 28 and allopurinol initiation in nine; risk of therapy adjustment was 1.9% per treatment year. Incidence rates of myelotoxicity were 7.1% (5.1% mild/1.8% moderate/0.1% severe) and hepatotoxicity 5.1% (3.8% mild/1.1% moderate/0.2% severe) per treatment year. Treatment-related complications with concurrent laboratory toxicity occurred in 12 patients (1.1%) and would not have been prevented by monitoring. Conclusion: Severe laboratory toxicity is uncommon after 1 year of thiopurine monotherapy at 4-month monitoring intervals. Therapy adjustments are rare after detection of laboratory toxicity. After 1 year of thiopurine monotherapy, laboratory monitoring may be lowered to less than a 4-month interval

Svestka's Research: Then and Now

Zdenek Svestka's research work influenced many fields of solar physics, especially in the area of flare research. In this article I take five of the areas that particularly interested him and assess them in a "then and now" style. His insights in each case were quite sound, although of course in the modern era we have learned things that he could not readily have envisioned. His own views about his research life have been published recently in this journal, to which he contributed so much, and his memoir contains much additional scientific and personal information (Svestka, 2010).Comment: Invited review for "Solar and Stellar Flares," a conference in honour of Prof. Zden\v{e}k \v{S}vestka, Prague, June 23-27, 2014. This is a contribution to a Topical Issue in Solar Physics, based on the presentations at this meeting (Editors Lyndsay Fletcher and Petr Heinzel

An Adeno-Associated Viral Vector Capable of Penetrating the Mucus Barrier to Inhaled Gene Therapy

Diffusion of the viral vectors evaluated in inhaled gene therapy clinical trials to date are largely hindered within airway mucus, which limits their access to, and transduction of, the underlying airway epithelium prior to clearance from the lung. Here, we discovered that adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 6 was able to rapidly diffuse through mucus collected from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, unlike previously tested AAV serotypes. A point mutation of the AAV6 capsid suggests a potential mechanism by which AAV6 avoids adhesion to the mucus mesh. Significantly greater transgene expression was achieved with AAV6 compared to a mucoadhesive serotype, AAV1, in air-liquid interface cultures of human CF bronchial epithelium with naturally secreted mucus or induced mucus hypersecretion. In addition, AAV6 achieved superior distribution and overall level of transgene expression compared to AAV1 in the airways and whole lungs, respectively, of transgenic mice with airway mucus obstruction. Our findings motivate further evaluation and clinical development of AAV6 for inhaled gene therapy

Linear temperature dependence of conductivity in the "insulating" regime of dilute two-dimensional holes in GaAs

The conductivity of extremely high mobility dilute two-dimensional holes in GaAs changes linearly with temperature in the insulating side of the metal-insulator transition. Hopping conduction, characterized by an exponentially decreasing conductivity with decreasing temperature, is not observed when the conductivity is smaller than $e^{2}/h$. We suggest that strong interactions in a regime close to the Wigner crystallization must be playing a role in the unusual transport.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure