The Environmental Contribution to Wayfinding in Museums: Enhancement and Usage by Controlling Flows and Paths

The field of research in which wayfinding is situated refers to the way people move in reaction to environmental stimulation. It therefore fully concerns not just signage but also space designing, its geometric configuration, technical solutions and their material characterization. The focus is consequently on environmental factors that facilitate wayfinding in a museum (accessibility, visibility, etc.) and on other elements such as spatial configuration, architectural features and functional aspects. These factors influence relational phenomena and therefore visitors’ satisfaction. Methods and tools for designing and managing spaces have been studied in the research. The configurational analysis method of space has been used to objectify syntactic features of space. In particular, the outcomes of an experimental project, which have been analyzed in a master’s thesis on the re-functionalization of the museum of Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, are presented. Permeability, proximity, connections of spaces, namely meaningful features to ensure wayfinding have been examined. Space parameters resulting from the geometry of the layout, from the visual connections and from the changes of direction were then evaluated. The outcomes have been used as inputs for designing a unitary tour route circuit, that also reconnects the museum’s second floor, and for planning three independent alternative routes for a differentiated use of the museum

Visibility-based coverage of mobile sensors in non-convex domains

The area coverage problem of mobile sensor networks has attracted much attention recently, as mobile sensors find many important applications in remote and hostile environments. However, the deployment of mobile sensors in a non-convex domain is nontrivial due to the more general shape of the domain and the attenuation of sensing capabilities caused by the boundary walls or obstacles. We consider the problem of exploration and coverage by mobile sensors in an unknown non-convex domain. We propose the definition of 'visibility-based Voronoi diagram' and extend the continuous-time Lloyd's method, which only works for convex domains, to deploy the mobile sensors in the unknown environments in a distributed manner. Our simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe 8th International Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams in Science and Engineering (ISVD2011), Qingdao, China, 28-30 June 2011. In Proceedings of the 8th ISVD, 2011, p. 105-11

CVT-based 2D motion planning with maximal clearance

Maximal clearance is an important property that is highly desirable in multi-agent motion planning. However, it is also inherently difficult to attain. We propose a novel approach to achieve maximal clearance by exploiting the ability of evenly distributing a set of points by a centroidal Voronoi tessellation (CVT). We adapt the CVT framework to multi-agent motion planning by adding an extra time dimension and optimize the trajectories of the agents in the augmented domain. As an optimization framework, our method can work naturally on complex regions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in achieving maximal clearance in motion planning with some examples.published_or_final_versionThe 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, 9-13 May 2011. In Proceedings of the IEEE-ICRA, 2011, p. 2281-228

Planar hexagonal meshing for architecture

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Rod-like trabeculae extraction from cancellous bone microstructure using topological analysis

The study of the microstructure in cancellous bone is important in osteoporosis research. In this paper, we focus in the extraction of rod-like trabeculae in cancellous hone, whose topological and geometrical properties are known to be strongly related to bone strength. Three dimensional (3D) cancellous bone volume data obtained from micro Computed Tomography (micro-CT) scans is used in our analysis. Because of the complexity of the cancellous bone microstructure, the mere use of existing 3D digital topology method's is unable to yield satisfactory results for trabeculae extraction. We devise several enhancements which are specific to the identification of rod-like trabeculae. Experimental results show that the accuracy of trabeculae extraction is greatly improved. This application study may help clinicians to solve problems in future. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Gram-Negative Bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Induce Emphysema Mainly via IL-17A-Mediated Neutrophilic Inflammation

Recent evidence indicates that Gram-negative bacteria-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in indoor dust can evoke neutrophilic pulmonary inflammation, which is a key pathology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Escherichia coli is a ubiquitous bacterium present in indoor dust and secretes nanometer-sized vesicles into the extracellular milieu. In the current study, we evaluated the role of E. coli-derived EVs on the development of COPD, such as emphysema. E. coli EVs were prepared by sequential ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation. COPD phenotypes and immune responses were evaluated in C57BL/6 wild-type (WT), IFN-gamma-deficient, or IL-17A-deficient mice after airway exposure to E. coli EVs. The present study showed that indoor dust from a bed mattress harbors E. coli EVs. Airway exposure to E. coli EVs increased the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-alpha and IL-6. In addition, the repeated inhalation of E. coli EVs for 4 wk induced neutrophilic inflammation and emphysema, which are associated with enhanced elastase activity. Emphysema and elastase activity enhanced by E. coli EVs were reversed by the absence of IFN-gamma or IL-17A genes. In addition, during the early period, lung inflammation is dependent on IL-17A and TNF-alpha, but not on IFN-gamma, and also on TLR4. Moreover, the production of IFN-gamma is eliminated by the absence of IL-17A, whereas IL-17A production is not abolished by IFN-gamma absence. Taken together, the present data suggest that E. coli-derived EVs induce IL-17A-dependent neutrophilic inflammation and thereby emphysema, possibly via upregulation of elastase activity.X111613Ysciescopu

Implementation of secondary stroke prevention protocol for ischaemic stroke patients in primary care

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Continuous collision detection for ellipsoids

We present an accurate and efficient algorithm for continuous collision detection between two moving ellipsoids. We start with a highly optimized implementation of interference testing between two stationary ellipsoids based on an algebraic condition described in terms of the signs of roots of the characteristic equation of two ellipsoids. Then we derive a time-dependent characteristic equation for two moving ellipsoids, which enables us to develop a real-time algorithm for computing the time intervals in which two moving ellipsoids collide. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated with several practical examples. © 2006 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Efficient continuous collision detection for bounding boxes under rational motion

This paper presents a simple yet precise and efficient algorithm for collision prediction of two oriented bounding boxes under univariate (piecewise) rational motion. We present an analytic solution to the problem of finding the time of collision and the feature involved, or declaring that no collision should occur. Our solution can be applied to boxes of any size, under arbitrary rational rigid motion. The algorithm is based on the efficient examination of the Minkowski sum (MS) of the two boxes, using a spherical Gauss map dual representation, and a precise extraction of the collision time, if any, as a solution to a set of rational equations that are automatically derived. © 2006 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Active Immunization with Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Staphylococcus aureus Effectively Protects against Staphylococcal Lung Infections, Mainly via Th1 Cell-Mediated Immunity

Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogenic bacterium that causes various infectious diseases. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from S. aureus contain bacterial proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. These EVs can induce immune responses leading to similar symptoms as during staphylococcal infection condition and have the potential as vaccination agent. Here, we show that active immunization (vaccination) with S. aureus-derived EVs induce adaptive immunity of antibody and T cell responses. In addition, these EVs have the vaccine adjuvant ability to induce protective immunity such as the up-regulation of co-stimulatory molecules and the expression of T cell polarizing cytokines in antigen-presenting cells. Moreover, vaccination with S. aureus EVs conferred protection against lethality induced by airway challenge with lethal dose of S. aureus and also pneumonia induced by the administration of sub-lethal dose of S. aureus. These protective effects were also found in mice that were adoptively transferred with splenic T cells isolated from S. aureus EV-immunized mice, but not in serum transferred mice. Furthermore, this protective effect of S. aureus EVs was significantly reduced by the absence of interferon-gamma, but not by the absence of interleukin-17. Together, the study herein suggests that S. aureus EVs are a novel vaccine candidate against S. aureus infections, mainly via Th1 cellular response.111814Ysciescopu