Generation of navigation graphs for indoor space

This article proposes a comprehensive approach to computing a navigation graph for an indoor space. It focuses on a single floor, but the work is easily extensible to multi-level spaces. The approach proceeds by using a formal model, based on the combinatorial map but enhanced with geometric and semantic information. The process is almost fully automatic, taking as input the building plans providing the geometric structure of the floors and semantics of the building, such as functions of interior spaces, portals, etc. One of the novel aspects in this work was the use of combinatorial maps and their duals to provide a compact formal description of the topology and connectivity of the indoor structure represented by a connected, embedded graph. While making use of existing libraries for the more routine computational geometry involved, the research develops several new algorithms, including one for computing the local kernel of a region. The process is evaluated by means of a case study using part of a university building

Membrane particles from mesenchymal stromal cells reduce the expression of fibrotic markers on pulmonary cells

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating lung disease with limited treatment options in which the telomere shortening is a strong predictive factor of poor prognosis. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) administration is probed in several experimental induced lung pathologies; however, MSC might stimulate fibrotic processes. A therapy that avoids MSC side effects of transformation would be an alternative to the use of living cells. Membranes particles (MP) are nanovesicles artificially generated from the membranes of MSC containing active enzymes involved in ECM regeneration. We aimed to investigate the anti-fibrotic role of MP derived from MSC in an in vitro model of pulmonary fibrosis. Methods: Epithelial cells (A549) and lung fibroblasts, from IPF patients with different telomere length, were co-cultured with MP and TGF-β for 48h and gene expression of major pro-fibrotic markers were analyzed. Results: About 90% of both types of cells effectively took up MP without cytotoxic effects. MP decreased the expression of profibrotic proteins such as Col1A1, Fibronectin and PAI-1, in A549 cells. In fibroblasts culture, there was a different response in the inhibitory effect of MP on some pro-fibrotic markers when comparing fibroblast from normal telomere length patients (FN) versus short telomere length (FS), but both types showed an inhibition of Col1A1, Tenascin-c, PAI-1 and MMP-1 gene expression after MP treatment

Internet of things

Manual of Digital Earth / Editors: Huadong Guo, Michael F. Goodchild, Alessandro Annoni .- Springer, 2020 .- ISBN: 978-981-32-9915-3Digital Earth was born with the aim of replicating the real world within the digital world. Many efforts have been made to observe and sense the Earth, both from space (remote sensing) and by using in situ sensors. Focusing on the latter, advances in Digital Earth have established vital bridges to exploit these sensors and their networks by taking location as a key element. The current era of connectivity envisions that everything is connected to everything. The concept of the Internet of Things(IoT)emergedasaholisticproposaltoenableanecosystemofvaried,heterogeneous networked objects and devices to speak to and interact with each other. To make the IoT ecosystem a reality, it is necessary to understand the electronic components, communication protocols, real-time analysis techniques, and the location of the objects and devices. The IoT ecosystem and the Digital Earth (DE) jointly form interrelated infrastructures for addressing today’s pressing issues and complex challenges. In this chapter, we explore the synergies and frictions in establishing an efficient and permanent collaboration between the two infrastructures, in order to adequately address multidisciplinary and increasingly complex real-world problems. Although there are still some pending issues, the identified synergies generate optimism for a true collaboration between the Internet of Things and the Digital Earth

TIGIT can inhibit T cell activation via ligation-induced nanoclusters, independent of CD226 co-stimulation

TIGIT is an inhibitory receptor expressed on lymphocytes and can inhibit T cells by preventing CD226 co-stimulation through interactions in cis or through competition of shared ligands. Whether TIGIT directly delivers cell-intrinsic inhibitory signals in T cells remains unclear. Here we show, by analysing lymphocytes from matched human tumour and peripheral blood samples, that TIGIT and CD226 co-expression is rare on tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. Using super-resolution microscopy and other techniques, we demonstrate that ligation with CD155 causes TIGIT to reorganise into dense nanoclusters, which coalesce with T cell receptor (TCR)-rich clusters at immune synapses. Functionally, this reduces cytokine secretion in a manner dependent on TIGIT’s intracellular ITT-like signalling motif. Thus, we provide evidence that TIGIT directly inhibits lymphocyte activation, acting independently of CD226, requiring intracellular signalling that is proximal to the TCR. Within the subset of tumours where TIGIT-expressing cells do not commonly co-express CD226, this will likely be the dominant mechanism of action

Fibroblast viability and phenotypic changes within glycated stiffened three-dimensional collagen matrices

Background: There is growing interest in the development of cell culture assays that enable the rigidity of the extracellular matrix to be increased. A promising approach is based on three-dimensional collagen type I matrices that are stiffened by cross-linking through non-enzymatic glycation with reducing sugars. Methods: The present study evaluated the biomechanical changes in the non-enzymatically glycated type I collagen matrices, including collagen organization, the advanced glycation end products formation and stiffness achievement. Gels were glycated with ribose at different concentrations (0, 5, 15, 30 and 240 mM). The viability and the phenotypic changes of primary human lung fibroblasts cultured within the non-enzymatically glycated gels were also evaluated along three consecutive weeks. Statistical tests used for data analyze were MannWhitney U, Kruskal Wallis, Student's t-test, two-way ANOVA, multivariate ANOVA, linear regression test and mixed linear model. Results: Our findings indicated that the process of collagen glycation increases the stiffness of the matrices and generates advanced glycation end products in a ribose concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, we identified optimal ribose concentrations and media conditions for cell viability and growth within the glycated matrices. The microenvironment of this collagen based three-dimensional culture induces α-smooth muscle actin and tenascin-C fibroblast protein expression. Finally, a progressive contractile phenotype cell differentiation was associated with the contraction of these gels. Conclusions: The use of non-enzymatic glycation with a low ribose concentration may provide a suitable model with a mechanic and oxidative modified environment with cell s embedded in it, which allowed cell proliferation and induced fibroblast phenotypic changes. Such culture model could be appropriate for investigations of the behavior and phenotypic changes in cells that occur during lung fibrosis as well as for testing different antifibrotic therapies in vitro

Enabling hand-crafted visual markers at scale

As locative media and augmented reality spread into the everyday world so it becomes important to create aesthetic visual markers at scale. We explore a designer-centred approach in which skilled designers handcraft seed designs that are automatically recombined to create many markers as subtle variants of a common theme. First, we extend the d-touch topological approach to creating visual markers that has previously been shown to support creative design with two new techniques: area order codes and visual checksums. We then show how the topological structure of such markers provides the basis for recombining designs to generate many variations. We demonstrate our approach through the creation of beautiful, personalized and interactive wallpaper. We reflect on how technologies must enable designers to balance goals of scalability, aesthetics and reliability in creating beautiful interactive decoration. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).This research has been supported by the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute (EPSRC Grant No. EP/G065802/1 and EP/M02315X/1) and the ‘Living With Interactive Decorative Patterns’ project (EPSRC Grant No. EP/L023717/1)

Distribution and diversity of Phytophthora across Australia

The introduction and subsequent impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi within native vegetation is one of the major conservation issues for biodiversity in Australia. Recently, many new Phytophthora species have been described from Australia's native ecosystems; however, their distribution, origin, and potential impact remain unknown. Historical bias in Phytophthora detection has been towards sites showing symptoms of disease, and traditional isolation methods show variable effectiveness of detecting different Phytophthora species. However, we now have at our disposal new techniques based on the sampling of environmental DNA and metabarcoding through the use of high-throughput sequencing. Here, we report on the diversity and distribution of Phytophthora in Australia using metabarcoding of 640 soil samples and we compare the diversity detected using this technique with that available in curated databases. Phytophthora was detected in 65% of sites, and phylogenetic analysis revealed 68 distinct Phytophthora phylotypes. Of these, 21 were identified as potentially unique taxa and 25 were new detections in natural areas and/or new introductions to Australia. There are 66Phytophthora taxa listed in Australian databases, 43 of which were also detected in this metabarcoding study. This study revealed high Phytophthora richness within native vegetation and the additional records provide a valuable baseline resource for future studies. Many of the Phytophthora species now uncovered in Australia's native ecosystems are newly described and until more is known we need to be cautious with regard to the spread and conservation management of these new species in Australia's unique ecosystems

Text Mining the History of Medicine

Historical text archives constitute a rich and diverse source of information, which is becoming increasingly readily accessible, due to large-scale digitisation efforts. However, it can be difficult for researchers to explore and search such large volumes of data in an efficient manner. Text mining (TM) methods can help, through their ability to recognise various types of semantic information automatically, e.g., instances of concepts (places, medical conditions, drugs, etc.), synonyms/variant forms of concepts, and relationships holding between concepts (which drugs are used to treat which medical conditions, etc.). TM analysis allows search systems to incorporate functionality such as automatic suggestions of synonyms of user-entered query terms, exploration of different concepts mentioned within search results or isolation of documents in which concepts are related in specific ways. However, applying TM methods to historical text can be challenging, according to differences and evolutions in vocabulary, terminology, language structure and style, compared to more modern text. In this article, we present our efforts to overcome the various challenges faced in the semantic analysis of published historical medical text dating back to the mid 19th century. Firstly, we used evidence from diverse historical medical documents from different periods to develop new resources that provide accounts of the multiple, evolving ways in which concepts, their variants and relationships amongst them may be expressed. These resources were employed to support the development of a modular processing pipeline of TM tools for the robust detection of semantic information in historical medical documents with varying characteristics. We applied the pipeline to two large-scale medical document archives covering wide temporal ranges as the basis for the development of a publicly accessible semantically-oriented search system. The novel resources are available for research purposes, while the processing pipeline and its modules may be used and configured within the Argo TM platform