Search results for: multi-source image geometric process

Authors: Liliana Gomez Cardona, Mary McComber, Kristyn Brown, Arlene Laliberté, Outi Linnaranta

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The history of colonialism and more contemporary political issues have resulted in the exposure of Kanien'kehá:ka: non (Kanien'kehá:ka of Kahnawake) to challenging and even traumatic experiences. Colonization, religious missions, residential schools as well as economic and political marginalization are the factors that have challenged the wellbeing and mental health of these populations. In psychiatry, screening for mental illness is often done using questionnaires with which the patient is expected to respond to how often he/she has certain symptoms. However, the Indigenous view of mental wellbeing may not fit well with this approach. Moreover, biomedical treatments do not always meet the needs of Indigenous people because they do not understand the culture and traditional healing methods that persist in many communities. Assess whether the questionnaires used to measure symptoms, commonly used in psychiatry are appropriate and culturally safe for the Mohawk in Quebec. Identify the most appropriate tool to assess and promote wellbeing and follow the process necessary to improve its cultural sensitivity and safety for the Mohawk population. Qualitative, collaborative, and participatory action research project which respects First Nations protocols and the principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP). Data collection based on five focus groups with stakeholders working with these populations and members of Indigenous communities. Thematic analysis of the data collected and emerging through an advisory group that led a revision of the content, use, and cultural and conceptual relevance of the instruments. The questionnaires measuring psychiatric symptoms face significant limitations in the local indigenous context. We present the factors that make these tools not relevant among Mohawks. Although the scale called Growth and Empowerment Measure (GEM) was originally developed among Indigenous in Australia, the Mohawk in Quebec found that this tool comprehends critical aspects of their mental health and wellbeing more respectfully and accurately than questionnaires focused on measuring symptoms. We document the process of cultural adaptation of this tool which was supported by community members to create a culturally safe tool that helps in growth and empowerment. The cultural adaptation of the GEM provides valuable information about the factors affecting wellbeing and contributes to mental health promotion. This process improves mental health services by giving health care providers useful information about the Mohawk population and their clients. We believe that integrating this tool in interventions can help create a bridge to improve communication between the Indigenous cultural perspective of the patient and the biomedical view of health care providers. Further work is needed to confirm the clinical utility of this tool in psychological and psychiatric intervention along with social and community services.

Keywords: cultural adaptation, cultural safety, empowerment, Mohawks, mental health, Quebec

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Authors: Mayada Mazher, Ahmed Moustafa, Ahmed Abdellatif

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Background: Autophagy is a eukaryotic, highly conserved catabolic process implicated in many pathophysiologies such as wound healing. Autophagy-associated genes serve as a scaffolding platform for signal transduction of macrophage polarization during the inflammatory phase of wound healing and tissue repair process. In the current study, we report a model for the interplay between autophagy-associated genes and macrophages polarization associated genes. Methods: In silico analysis was performed on 249 autophagy-related genes retrieved from the public autophagy database and gene expression data retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO); GSE81922 and GSE69607 microarray data macrophages polarization 199 DEGS. An integrated protein-protein interaction network was constructed for autophagy and macrophage gene sets. The gene sets were then used for GO terms pathway enrichment analysis. Common transcription factors for autophagy and macrophages' polarization were identified. Finally, microRNAs enriched in both autophagy and macrophages were predicated. Results: In silico prediction of common transcription factors in DEGs macrophages and autophagy gene sets revealed a new role for the transcription factors, HOMEZ, GABPA, ELK1 and REL, that commonly regulate macrophages associated genes: IL6,IL1M, IL1B, NOS1, SOC3 and autophagy-related genes: Atg12, Rictor, Rb1cc1, Gaparab1, Atg16l1. Conclusions: Autophagy and macrophages' polarization are interdependent cellular processes, and both autophagy-related proteins and macrophages' polarization related proteins coordinate in tissue remodelling via transcription factors and microRNAs regulatory network. The current work highlights a potential new role for transcription factors HOMEZ, GABPA, ELK1 and REL in wound healing.

Keywords: autophagy related proteins, integrated network analysis, macrophages polarization M1 and M2, tissue remodelling

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Authors: Shahla Bukhtair

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A paradigm presents a consensus view of a particular or collective community, accepted into by the members of that community, either consciously pronounced or, more likely, simply assumed and not intentionally acknowledged but is articulated. Paradigm shift is based on the behavioral attitude of the community. Change is inexorable. The world is suffering with the innovative creation of globalization. Media boosted this paradigm shift all over the world. Globalization is a vigorous process which impacts differentially on various cultures around the world. The outcome of the globalization is permeates cultural boundaries and in the process results in the spread of Western ideologies and values across the world. The term flourished in 20th century. Globalization is regarded as having substantial impact on such crises through its encouragement of conflicts rather than conciliation; through opportunities of expression, various groups get benefit with it. Identity crisis refers to inflexible mechanism i.e. cultural and political conflicts among polarized groups, which struggle with each other over the definition of a national identity. Violence is not only a kind of physical but it also psychological as well. Due to identity crisis, a person is having an issue of fear, anxiety, and lack of security. Everything has negative and positive aspects. Newspaper columns, magazine articles, films, made-for-TV movies, television special reports, and talk shows are all public arenas where images of political agenda of their own interest are constructed, debated, and reproduced. From these resources, individuals construct their own conceptions of what is normal and acceptable. This bias affects images in the media, and in turn has a negative effect on public development in a society. This paper investigates the relationship between globalization and cultural war, identity crisis and the role of violence. Objectives: - To determine which type of media plays an important role in shaping perceptions and attitudes of public negatively; - To analyze the impact of globalization on identity crisis, violence and global culture (positive and negative).

Keywords: paradigm shift, globalization, identity crisis, cultural war

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Authors: Kwan-Ho Kim, Jin-Hong Park

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The multi-valued logic (MVL) circuits, which can handle more than two logic states, are one of the promising solutions to overcome the bit density limitations of conventional binary logic systems. Recently, tunneling devices such as Esaki diode and resonant tunneling diode (RTD) have been extensively explored to construct the MVL circuits. These tunneling devices present a negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomenon in which a current decreases as a voltage increases in a specific applied voltage region. Due to this non-monotonic current behavior, the tunneling devices have more than two threshold voltages, consequently enabling construction of MVL circuits. Recently, the emergence of two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals has opened up the possibility to fabricate such tunneling devices easily. Owing to the defect-free surface of the 2D crystals, a very abrupt junction interface could be formed through a simple stacking process, which subsequently allowed the implementation of a high-performance tunneling device. Here, we report a vdW heterostructure based tunneling device with multiple threshold voltages, which was fabricated with black phosphorus (BP) and hafnium diselenide (HfSe₂). First, we exfoliated BP on the SiO₂ substrate and then transferred HfSe₂ on BP using dry transfer method. The BP and HfSe₂ form type-Ⅲ heterojunction so that the highly doped n+/p+ interface can be easily implemented without additional electrical or chemical doping process. Owing to high natural doping at the junction, record high peak to valley ratio (PVCR) of 16 was observed to the best our knowledge in 2D materials based NDR device. Furthermore, based on this, we first demonstrate the feasibility of the ternary latch by connecting two multi-threshold voltage devices in series.

Keywords: two dimensional van der Waals crystal, multi-valued logic, negative differential resistnace, tunneling device

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Authors: Nazira B. Bekenova, Lydia A. Mukovozova, Andrej M. Grjibovski, Alma Z. Tokayeva, Yerbol M. Smail, Nurlan E. Aukenov

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Erysipelas is an infectious disease with socio-economic significance and prone to prolonged recurrent course (30%). Contribution of genetic factors, in particular the gene polymorphism of cytokines, can be essential in disease etiology and pathogenesis. Interleukin – 17 A are produced by T helpers of 17 type and plays a key role in development of local inflammation process. Local inflammatory process is a dominant in the clinic of erysipelas. Established that the skin and mucosas are primary areas of migration (homing) Th17-cell and their cytokines are stimulate the barrier function of the epithelium. We studied associations between gene polymorphism of IL-17A (C737T) rs 8193036 and IL-17A level in patients with erysipelas Kazakh population. Altogether, 90 cases with erysipelas and 90 healthy controls from an ethnic Kazakh population comprised the sample. Cases were identified at Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital of Semey (Kazakhstan). The IL-17A (rs8193036) polymorphism was analyzed by a real time polymerase chain reaction. Plasma levels of IL-17 A were assessed by immuneenzyme analysis method using ‘Vector-Best’ test-system (Russia). Differences in levels of IL-17 A between CC, TT, CT groups were studied using Kruskal — Wallis test. Pairwise comparisons were performed using Mann-Whitney tests with Bonferroni correction (New significance level was set to 0.025). We found, that in patients with erysipelas with CC genotype the level of IL-17 A was higher (p= 0, 010) compared to the carriers of CT genotype. When compared the level of IL – 17 A between the patients with TT genotype and patients with CC genotype, also between the patients with CT genotype and patients with TT genotype statistically significant differences are not revealed (p = 0.374 and p = 0.043, respectively). Comparisons of IL-17 A plasma levels between the CC and CT genotypes, between the CC and TT genotypes, and between the TT and CT in healthy patients did not reveal significant differences (p = 0, 291). Therefore, we are determined the associations of gene polymorphism of IL-17 A (C737T) with its level in patients erysipelas carriers CC genotype.

Keywords: erysipelas, interleukin – 17 A, Kazakh, polymorphism

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Authors: Saeedeh Imani Moqadam, Ilya Bobrov, Jérémy Epp, Nils Ellendt, Lutz Mädler

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High entropy alloys (HEAs), having adjustable properties and enhanced stability compared with intermetallic compounds, are solid solution alloys that contain more than five principal elements with almost equal atomic percentage. The concept of producing such alloys pave the way for developing advanced materials with unique properties. However, the synthesis of such alloys may require advanced processes with high cooling rates depending on which alloy elements are used. In this study, the micro spheres of different diameters of HEAs were generated via a drop-on-demand droplet generator and subsequently solidified during free-fall in an argon atmosphere. Such droplet generators can generate individual droplets with high reproducibility regarding droplet diameter, trajectory and cooling while avoiding any interparticle momentum or thermal coupling. Metallography as well as X-ray diffraction investigations for each diameter of the generated metallic droplets where then carried out to obtain information about the microstructural state. To calculate the cooling rate of the droplets, a droplet cooling model was developed and validated using model alloys such as CuSn%6 and AlCu%4.5 for which a correlation of secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) and cooling rate is well-known. Droplets were generated from these alloys and their SDAS was determined using quantitative metallography. The cooling rate was then determined from the SDAS and used to validate the cooling rates obtained from the droplet cooling model. The application of that model on the HEA then leads to the cooling rate dependency and hence to the identification of process windows for the synthesis of these alloys. These process windows were then compared with cooling rates obtained in processes such as powder production, spray forming, selective laser melting and casting to predict if a synthesis is possible with these processes.

Keywords: cooling rate, drop-on-demand, high entropy alloys, microstructure, single droplet generation, X-ray Diffractometry

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Authors: Ph. Fauquet-Alekhine

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Decision-making occurs several times an hour when working in high risk industry and an erroneous choice might have undesirable outcomes for people and the environment surrounding the industrial plant. Industrial decisions are very often made in a context of acute stress. Time pressure is a crucial stressor leading decision makers sometimes to boost up the decision-making process and if it is not possible then shift to the simplest strategy. We thus found it interesting to update the characterization of the stress factors impairing decision-making at Chinon Nuclear Power Plant (France) in order to optimize decision making contexts and/or associated processes. The investigation was based on the analysis of reports addressing safety events over the last 3 years. Among 93 reports, those explicitly addressing decision-making issues were identified. Characterization of each event was undertaken in terms of three criteria: stressors, biases impairing decision making and weaknesses of the decision-making process. The statistical analysis showed that biases were distributed over 10 possibilities among which the hypothesis confirmation bias was clearly salient. No significant correlation was found between criteria. The analysis indicated that the main stressor was time pressure and highlights an unexpected form of stressor: the trust asymmetry principle of the expert. The analysis led to the conclusion that this stressor impaired decision-making from a psychological angle rather than from a physiological angle: it induces defensive bias of self-esteem, self-protection associated with a bias of confirmation. This leads to the hypothesis that this stressor can intervene in some cases without being detected, and to the hypothesis that other stressors of the same kind might occur without being detected too. Further investigations addressing these hypotheses are considered. The analysis also led to the conclusion that dealing with these issues implied i) decision-making methods being well known to the workers and automated and ii) the decision-making tools being well known and strictly applied. Training was thus adjusted.

Keywords: bias, expert, high risk industry, stress.

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Authors: A. Cervantes-Diaz, B. Sevilla-Moran, Manuel Alcami, Al Mokhtar Lamsabhi, J. L. Alonso-Prados, P. Sandin-España

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Profoxydim is a post-emergence herbicide belonging to the cyclohexanedione oxime family, used to control weeds in rice crops. The use of soil organic amendments has increased significantly in the last decades, and their effects on the behavior of many herbicides are still unknown. Additionally, it is known that photolysis is an important degradation process to be considered when evaluating the persistence of this family of herbicides in the environment. In this work, the photodegradation of profoxydim in an amended paddy soil-water system with alperujo compost was studied. Photodegradation experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions using simulated solar light (Suntest equipment) in order to evaluate the reaction kinetics of the active substance. The photochemical behavior of profoxydim was investigated in soil with and without alperujo amendment. Furthermore, due to the rice crop characteristics, profoxydim photodegradation in water in contact with these types of soils was also studied. Determination of profoxydim degradation kinetics was performed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC-DAD). Furthermore, we followed the evolution of resulting transformation by-products, and their tentative identification was achieved by mass spectrometry. All the experiments allowed us to fit the data of profoxydim photodegradation to a first-order kinetic. Photodegradation of profoxydim was very rapid in all cases. The half-lives in aqueous matrices were in the range of 86±0.3 to 103±0.5 min. The addition of alperujo amendment to the soil produced an increase in the half-life from 62±0.2 min (soil) to 75±0.3 min (amended soil). In addition, a comparison to other organic amendments was also performed. Results showed that the presence of the organic amendment retarded the photodegradation in paddy soil and water. Regarding degradation products, the main process involved was the cleavage of the oxime moiety giving rise to the formation of the corresponding imine compound.

Keywords: by-products, herbicide, organic amendment, photodegradation, profoxydim

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Authors: Gary Pattemore, Michael Edgar, Andrew Job, Marina Auad, Kathryn Job

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As critical commodities become more scarce, significant time and resources have been used to better understand complicated ore bodies and extract their full potential. These challenging ore bodies provide several pain points for geologists and engineers to overcome, poor handling of these issues flows downs stream to the processing plant affecting throughput rates and recovery. Many open cut mines utilise blast hole drilling to extract additional information to feed back into the modelling process. This method requires samples to be collected during or after blast hole drilling. Samples are then sent for assay with turnaround times varying from 1 to 12 days. This method is time consuming, costly, requires human exposure on the bench and collects elemental data only. To address this challenge, research has been undertaken to utilise hyperspectral imaging across a broad spectrum to scan samples, collars or take down hole measurements for minerals and moisture content and grade abundances. Automation of this process using unmanned vehicles and on-board processing reduces human in pit exposure to ensure ongoing safety. On-board processing allows data to be integrated into modelling workflows with immediacy. The preliminary results demonstrate numerous direct and indirect benefits from this new technology, including rapid and accurate grade estimates, moisture content and mineralogy. These benefits allow for faster geo modelling updates, better informed mine scheduling and improved downstream blending and processing practices. The paper presents recommendations for implementation of the technology in open cut mining environments.

Keywords: grade control, hyperspectral scanning, artificial intelligence, autonomous mining, machine learning

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Authors: Wonil Nam, Xiang Ren, Inyoung Kim, Masoud Agah, Wei Zhou

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Despite its ultrasensitive detection capability, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) faces challenges as a quantitative biochemical analysis tool due to the significant dependence of local field intensity in hotspots on nanoscale geometric variations of plasmonic nanostructures. Therefore, despite enormous progress in plasmonic nanoengineering of high-performance SERS devices, it is still challenging to quantitatively correlate the measured SERS signals with the actual molecule concentrations at hotspots. A significant effort has been devoted to developing SERS calibration methods by introducing internal standards. It has been achieved by placing Raman tags at plasmonic hotspots. Raman tags undergo similar SERS enhancement at the same hotspots, and ratiometric SERS signals for analytes of interest can be generated with reduced dependence on geometrical variations. However, using Raman tags still faces challenges for real-world applications, including spatial competition between the analyte and tags in hotspots, spectral interference, laser-induced degradation/desorption due to plasmon-enhanced photochemical/photothermal effects. We show that electronic Raman scattering (ERS) signals from metallic nanostructures at hotspots can serve as the internal calibration standard to enable quantitative SERS analysis and improve biostatistical analysis. We perform SERS with Au-SiO₂ multilayered metal-insulator-metal nano laminated plasmonic nanostructures. Since the ERS signal is proportional to the volume density of electron-hole occupation in hotspots, the ERS signals exponentially increase when the wavenumber is approaching the zero value. By a long-pass filter, generally used in backscattered SERS configurations, to chop the ERS background continuum, we can observe an ERS pseudo-peak, IERS. Both ERS and SERS processes experience the |E|⁴ local enhancements during the excitation and inelastic scattering transitions. We calibrated IMRS of 10 μM Rhodamine 6G in solution by IERS. The results show that ERS calibration generates a new analytical value, ISERS/IERS, insensitive to variations from different hotspots and thus can quantitatively reflect the molecular concentration information. Given the calibration capability of ERS signals, we performed label-free SERS analysis of living biological systems using four different breast normal and cancer cell lines cultured on nano-laminated SERS devices. 2D Raman mapping over 100 μm × 100 μm, containing several cells, was conducted. The SERS spectra were subsequently analyzed by multivariate analysis using partial least square discriminant analysis. Remarkably, after ERS calibration, MCF-10A and MCF-7 cells are further separated while the two triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and HCC-1806) are more overlapped, in good agreement with the well-known cancer categorization regarding the degree of malignancy. To assess the strength of ERS calibration, we further carried out a drug efficacy study using MDA-MB-231 and different concentrations of anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (PTX). After ERS calibration, we can more clearly segregate the control/low-dosage groups (0 and 1.5 nM), the middle-dosage group (5 nM), and the group treated with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50, 15 nM). Therefore, we envision that ERS calibrated SERS can find crucial opportunities in label-free molecular profiling of complicated biological systems.

Keywords: cancer cell drug efficacy, plasmonics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), SERS calibration

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Authors: Kherbache Mehdi

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Within the framework of the validation of the Master in business administration marketing and sales in INSIM institute international in management Blida, we get the opportunity to do a professional internship in Sonelgaz Enterprise and a thesis. The thesis deals with the integration of social networking in the communication strategy of a company. The problematic is: How communicate with social network can be a solution for companies? The challenges stressed by this thesis were to suggest limits and recommendations to Sonelgaz Enterprise concerning social networks. The whole social networks represent more than a billion people as a potential target for the companies. Thanks to research and a qualitative approach, we have identified tree valid hypothesis. The first hypothesis allows confirming that using social networks cannot be ignored by any company in its communication strategy. However, the second hypothesis demonstrates that it’s necessary to prepare a strategy that integrates social networks in the communication plan of the company. The risk of this strategy is very limited because failure on social networks is not a restraint for the enterprise, social networking is not expensive and, a bad image which could result from it is not as important in the long-term. Furthermore, the return on investment is difficult to evaluate. Finally, the last hypothesis shows that firms establish a new relation between consumers and brands thanks to the proximity allowed by social networks. After the validation of the hypothesis, we suggested some recommendations to Sonelgaz Enterprise regarding the communication through social networks. Firstly, the company must use the interactivity of social network in order to have fruitful exchanges with the community. We also recommended having a strategy to treat negative comments. The company must also suggest delivering resources to the community thanks to a community manager, in order to have a good relation with the community. Furthermore, we advised using social networks to do business intelligence. Sonelgaz Enterprise can have some creative and interactive contents with some amazing applications on Facebook for example. Finally, we recommended to the company to be not intrusive with “fans” or “followers” and to be open to all the platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In for example.

Keywords: social network, buzz, communication, consumer, return on investment, internet users, web 2.0, Facebook, Twitter, interaction

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Authors: Gabrielle O'Donoghue

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Background: Pre-operative radiographs facilitate assessment and treatment planning in minor oral surgery. Quality assurance for dental radiography advocates the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle in collecting accurate diagnostic information. Aims: To audit the quality of digital intraoral periapicals (IOPAs) taken prior to dental extractions in a metropolitan general dental practice setting. Standards: The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) guidance outlines three grades of radiograph quality: excellent (Grade 1 > 70% of total exposures), diagnostically acceptable (Grade 2 <20%), and unacceptable (Grade 3 <10%). Methodology: A study of pre-operative radiographs taken prior to dental extractions across 12 private general dental practices in a large metropolitan area by 44 practitioners. A total of 725 extractions were assessed, allowing 258 IOPAs to be reviewed in one audit cycle. Results: First cycle: Of 258 IOPAs: 223(86.4%) scored Grade 1, 27(10.5%) Grade 2, and 8(3.1%) Grade 3. The standard was met. 35 dental extractions were performed without an available pre-operative radiograph. Action Plan & Recommendations: Results were distributed to all staff and a continuous professional development evening organized to outline recommendations to improve image quality. A second audit cycle is proposed at a six-month interval to review the recommendations and appraise results. Conclusion: The overall standard of radiographs met the published guidelines. A significant improvement in the number of procedures undertaken without pre-operative imaging is expected at a six-month interval period. An investigation into undiagnostic imaging and associated adverse patient outcomes is being considered. Maintenance of the standards achieved is predicted in the second audit cycle to ensure consistent high quality imaging.

Keywords: audit, oral radiology, oral surgery, periapical radiographs, quality assurance

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Authors: Ho-Ting Wu, Kai-Wei Ke, Bo-Yu Huang, Liang-Lin Yan, Chun-Ting Lin

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With the advances in advanced technology, wireless sensor network (WSN) has become one of the most promising candidates to implement the wireless industrial internet of things (IIOT) architecture. However, the legacy IEEE 802.15.4 based WSN technology such as Zigbee system cannot meet the stringent QoS requirement of low powered, real-time, and highly reliable transmission imposed by the IIOT environment. Recently, the IEEE society developed IEEE 802.15.4e Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) access mode to serve this purpose. Furthermore, the IETF 6TiSCH working group has proposed standards to integrate IEEE 802.15.4e with IPv6 protocol smoothly to form a complete protocol stack for IIOT. In this work, we develop key network technologies for IEEE 802.15.4e based wireless IIoT architecture, focusing on practical design and system implementation. We realize the OpenWSN-based wireless IIOT system. The system architecture is divided into three main parts: web server, network manager, and sensor nodes. The web server provides user interface, allowing the user to view the status of sensor nodes and instruct sensor nodes to follow commands via user-friendly browser. The network manager is responsible for the establishment, maintenance, and management of scheduling and topology information. It executes centralized scheduling algorithm, sends the scheduling table to each node, as well as manages the sensing tasks of each device. Sensor nodes complete the assigned tasks and sends the sensed data. Furthermore, to prevent scheduling error due to packet loss, a schedule inspection mechanism is implemented to verify the correctness of the schedule table. In addition, when network topology changes, the system will act to generate a new schedule table based on the changed topology for ensuring the proper operation of the system. To enhance the system performance of such system, we further propose dynamic bandwidth allocation and distributed scheduling mechanisms. The developed distributed scheduling mechanism enables each individual sensor node to build, maintain and manage the dedicated link bandwidth with its parent and children nodes based on locally observed information by exchanging the Add/Delete commands via two processes. The first process, termed as the schedule initialization process, allows each sensor node pair to identify the available idle slots to allocate the basic dedicated transmission bandwidth. The second process, termed as the schedule adjustment process, enables each sensor node pair to adjust their allocated bandwidth dynamically according to the measured traffic loading. Such technology can sufficiently satisfy the dynamic bandwidth requirement in the frequently changing environments. Last but not least, we propose a packet retransmission scheme to enhance the system performance of the centralized scheduling algorithm when the packet delivery rate (PDR) is low. We propose a multi-frame retransmission mechanism to allow every single network node to resend each packet for at least the predefined number of times. The multi frame architecture is built according to the number of layers of the network topology. Performance results via simulation reveal that such retransmission scheme is able to provide sufficient high transmission reliability while maintaining low packet transmission latency. Therefore, the QoS requirement of IIoT can be achieved.

Keywords: IEEE 802.15.4e, industrial internet of things (IIOT), scheduling mechanisms, wireless sensor networks (WSN)

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Authors: Ghadeer Mohammad Said El-Sheikh, Samer Mohamad Shalhoob

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Medical equipment operation state is a valid reflection of health care organizations' performance, where such equipment highly contributes to the quality of healthcare services on several levels in which quality improvement has become an intrinsic part of the discourse and activities of health care services. In healthcare organizations, clinical and biomedical engineering departments play an essential role in maintaining the safety and efficiency of such equipment. One of the most challenging topics when it comes to such sophisticated equipment is the lifespan of medical equipment, where many factors will impact such characteristics of medical equipment through its life cycle. So far, many attempts have been made in order to address this issue where most of the approaches are kind of arbitrary approaches and one of the criticisms of existing approaches trying to estimate and understand the lifetime of a medical equipment lies under the inquiry of what are the environmental factors that can play into such a critical characteristic of a medical equipment. In an attempt to address this shortcoming, the purpose of our study rises where in addition to the standard technical factors taken into consideration through the decision-making process by a clinical engineer in case of medical equipment failure, the dimension of environmental factors shall be added. The investigations, researches and studies applied for the purpose of supporting the decision making process by a clinical engineers and assessing the lifespan of healthcare equipment’s in the Lebanese society was highly dependent on the identification of technical criteria’s that impacts the lifespan of a medical equipment where the affecting environmental factors didn’t receive the proper attention. The objective of our study is based on the need for introducing a new well-designed plan for evaluating medical equipment depending on two dimensions. According to this approach, the equipment that should be replaced or repaired will be classified based on a systematic method taking into account two essential criteria; the standard identified technical criteria and the added environmental criteria.

Keywords: technical, environmental, healthcare, characteristic of medical equipment

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Authors: Akram Boubakri, Fethi Choubani, Tan Hoa Vuong, Jacques David

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Nowadays, microwave hyperthermia is considered as an effective treatment for the malignant tumors. This microwave treatment which comes to substitute the chemotherapy and the surgical intervention enables an in-depth tumor heating without causing any diseases to the sane tissue. This technique requires a high precision system, in order to effectively concentrate the heating just in the tumor, without heating any surrounding healthy tissue. In the hyperthermia treatment, the temperature in cancerous area is typically raised up to over 42◦C and maintained for one hour in order to destroy the tumor sufficiently, whilst in the surrounding healthy tissues, the temperature is maintained below 42◦C to avoid any damage. Metamaterial lenses are widely used in medical applications like microwave hyperthermia treatment. They enabled a subdiffraction resolution thanks to the amplification of the evanescent waves and they can focus electromagnetic waves from a point source to a point image. Metasurfaces have been used to built metamaterial lenses. The main mechanical advantages of those structures over three dimensional material structures are ease of fabrication and a smaller required volume. Here in this work, we proposed a metasurface based lens operating at the frequency of 6 GHz and designed for microwave hyperthermia. This lens was applied and showed good results in focusing and heating the tumor inside a breast tissue with an increased and maintained temperature above 42°C. The tumor was placed in the focal distance of the lens so that only the tumor tissue will be heated. Finally, in this work, it has been shown that the hyperthermia area within the tissue can be carefully adjusted by moving the antennas or by changing the thickness of the metamaterial lenses based on the tumor position. Even though the simulations performed in this work have taken into account an ideal case, some real characteristics can be considered to improve the obtained results in a realistic model.

Keywords: focusing, hyperthermia, metamaterial lenses, metasurface, microwave treatment

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Authors: C. Bolakis, I. S. Karanasiou, D. Grbovic, G. Karunasiri, N. Uzunoglu

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A new approach for efficient detection of THz radiation in biomedical imaging applications is proposed. A double-layered absorber consisting of a 32 nm thick aluminum (Al) metallic layer, located on a glass medium (SiO2) of 1 mm thickness, was fabricated and used to design a fine-tuned absorber through a theoretical and finite element modeling process. The results indicate that the proposed low-cost, double-layered absorber can be tuned based on the metal layer sheet resistance and the thickness of various glass media taking advantage of the diversity of the absorption of the metal films in the desired THz domain (6 to 10 THz). It was found that the composite absorber could absorb up to 86% (a percentage exceeding the 50%, previously shown to be the highest achievable when using single thin metal layer) and reflect less than 1% of the incident THz power. This approach will enable monitoring of the transmission coefficient (THz transmission ‘’fingerprint’’) of the biosample with high accuracy, while also making the proposed double-layered absorber a good candidate for a microbolometer pixel’s active element. Based on the aforementioned promising results, a more sophisticated and effective double-layered absorber is under development. The glass medium has been substituted by diluted poly-si and the results were twofold: An absorption factor of 96% was reached and high TCR properties acquired. In addition, a generalization of these results and properties over the active frequency spectrum was achieved. Specifically, through the development of a theoretical equation having as input any arbitrary frequency in the IR spectrum (0.3 to 405.4 THz) and as output the appropriate thickness of the poly-si medium, the double-layered absorber retains the ability to absorb the 96% and reflects less than 1% of the incident power. As a result, through that post-optimization process and the spread spectrum frequency adjustment, the microbolometer detector efficiency could be further improved.

Keywords: bio-imaging, fine-tuned absorber, fingerprint, microbolometer

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Authors: Ileen Van den Berg, Reinier J. Daals, Chris E. M. Heuberger, Sven P. Hildering, Bob E. Van Maris, Carla M. Smulders, Rafael Aránguiz

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Chile is located along the subduction zone of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate, where large earthquakes and tsunamis have taken place throughout history. The last significant earthquake (Mw 8.2) occurred in September 2015 and generated a destructive tsunami, which mainly affected the city of Coquimbo (71.33°W, 29.96°S). The inundation area consisted of a beach, damaged seawall, damaged railway, wetland and old neighborhood; therefore, local authorities started a reconstruction process immediately after the event. Moreover, a seismic gap has been identified in the same area, and another large event could take place in the near future. The present work proposed an integrated tsunami reconstruction plan for the city of Coquimbo that considered several variables such as safety, nature & recreation, neighborhood welfare, visual obstruction, infrastructure, construction process, and durability & maintenance. Possible future tsunami scenarios are simulated by means of the Non-hydrostatic Evolution of Ocean WAVEs (NEOWAVE) model with 5 nested grids and a higher grid resolution of ~10 m. Based on the score from a multi-criteria analysis, the costs of the alternatives and a preference for a multifunctional solution, the alternative that includes an elevated coastal road with floodgates to reduce tsunami overtopping and control the return flow of a tsunami was selected as the best solution. It was also observed that the wetlands are significantly restored to their former configuration; moreover, the dynamic behavior of the wetlands is stimulated. The numerical simulation showed that the new coastal protection decreases damage and the probability of loss of life by delaying tsunami arrival time. In addition, new evacuation routes and a smaller inundation zone in the city increase safety for the area.

Keywords: tsunami, Coquimbo, Chile, reconstruction, numerical simulation

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Authors: Zhaojun Wang, Zongdi Sun, Yongjie Chen, Manman Chen, Linghui Wang

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This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process to study the execution effect of the minimum purchase price of grain in different regions and various grain crops. Firstly, for different regions, five indicators including grain yield, grain sown area, gross agricultural production, grain consumption price index, and disposable income of rural residents were selected to construct an evaluation index system. We collect data of six provinces including Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province and Shandong Province from 2006 to 2017. Then, the judgment matrix is constructed, and the hierarchical single ordering and consistency test are carried out to determine the scoring standard for the minimum purchase price of grain. The ranking of the execution effect from high to low is: Heilongjiang Province, Shandong Province, Hebei Province, Guizhou Province, Shaanxi Province, and Guangdong Province. Secondly, taking Shandong Province as an example, we collect the relevant data of sown area and yield of cereals, beans, potatoes and other crops from 2006 to 2017. The weight of area and yield index is determined by expert scoring method. And the average sown area and yield of cereals, beans and potatoes in 2006-2017 were calculated, respectively. On this basis, according to the sum of products of weights and mean values, the execution effects of different grain crops are determined. It turns out that among the cereals, the minimum purchase price had the best execution effect on paddy, followed by wheat and finally maize. Moreover, among major categories of crops, cereals perform best, followed by beans and finally potatoes. Lastly, countermeasures are proposed for different regions, various categories of crops, and different crops of the same category.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, grain yield, grain sown area, minimum grain purchase price

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Authors: Danuvasin Charoen

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The study investigates the business process and business model of GRABTAXI. The paper also discusses how the company implemented strategies to gain competitive advantages. The data is derived from the analysis of secondary data and the in-depth interviews among staffs, taxi drivers, and key customers. The findings indicated that the company’s competitive advantages come from being the first mover, emphasising on the ease of use and tangible benefits of application, and using network effect strategy.

Keywords: taxi, mobile application, innovative business model, Thailand

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Authors: B. Sanchez, D. Zambrana-Vasquez, J. Fresner, C. Krenn, F. Morea, L. Mercatelli

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Local administrations are facing established targets on sustainable development from different disciplines at the heart of different city departments. Nevertheless, some of these targets, such as CO₂ reduction, relate to two or more disciplines, as it is the case of sustainable mobility and energy plans (SUMP & SECAP/SEAP). This opens up the possibility to efficiently cooperate among different city departments and to create and develop harmonized spatial plans by using available resources and together achieving more ambitious goals in cities. The steps of the harmonization processes developed result in the identification of areas to achieve common strategic objectives. Harmonization, in other words, helps different departments in local authorities to work together and optimize the use or resources by sharing the same vision, involving key stakeholders, and promoting common data assessment to better optimize the resources. A methodology to promote resilient city planning via the harmonization of sustainable mobility and energy plans is presented in this paper. In order to validate the proposed methodology, a representative city engaged in an innovation process in efficient spatial planning is used as a case study. The harmonization process of sustainable mobility and energy plans covers identifying matching targets between different fields, developing different spatial plans with dual benefit and common indicators guaranteeing the continuous improvement of the harmonized plans. The proposed methodology supports local administrations in consistent spatial planning, considering both energy efficiency and sustainable mobility. Thus, municipalities can use their human and economic resources efficiently. This guarantees an efficient upgrade of land use plans integrating energy and mobility aspects in order to achieve sustainability targets, as well as to improve the wellbeing of its citizens.

Keywords: integrated multi-sector planning, spatial plans harmonization, sustainable energy and climate action plan, sustainable urban mobility plan

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Authors: Daphne Fietz

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This paper builds on a reflection on an autobiographical experience of uncanniness during fieldwork in the white Afrikaner settlement Orania in South Africa. Drawing on Kristeva’s theory of abjection to establish a theory of Whiteness which is based on boundary threats, it is argued that the uncanny experience as the emergence of the abject points to a moment of crisis of the author’s Whiteness. The emanating abject directs the author to her closeness or convergence with Orania's inhabitants, that is a reciprocity based on mutual Whiteness. The experienced confluence appeals to the author’s White complicity to racism. With recourse to Butler’s theory of subjectivation, the abject, White complicity, inhabits both the outside of a discourse on racism, and of the 'self', as 'I' establish myself in relation to discourse. In this view, the qualities of the experienced abject are linked to the abject of discourse on racism, or, in other words, its frames of intelligibility. It then becomes clear, that discourse on (overt) racism functions as a necessary counter-image through which White morality is established instead of questioned, because here, by White reasoning, the abject of complicity to racism is successfully repressed, curbed, as completely impossible in the binary construction. Hence, such discourse endangers a preservation of racism in its pre-discursive and structural forms as long as its critique does not encompass its own location and performance in discourse. Discourse on overt racism is indispensable to White ignorance as it covers underlying racism and pre-empts further critique. This understanding directs us towards a form of critique which does necessitate self-reflection, uncertainty, and vigilance, which will be referred to as a discourse of relationality. Such a discourse diverges from the presumption of a detached author as a point of reference, and instead departs from attachment, dependence, mutuality and embraces the visceral as a resource of knowledge of relationality. A discourse of relationality points to another possibility of White engagement with Whiteness and racism and further promotes a conception of responsibility, which allows for and highlights dispossession and relationality in contrast to single agency and guilt.

Keywords: abjection, discourse, relationality, the visceral, whiteness

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Authors: Roberta Martino, Viviana Ventre

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Every day we face choices whose consequences are deferred in time. These types of choices are the intertemporal choices and play an important role in the social, economic, and financial world. The Discounted Utility Model is the mathematical model of reference to calculate the utility of intertemporal prospects. The discount rate is the main element of the model as it describes how the individual perceives the indeterminacy of subsequent periods. Empirical evidence has shown a discrepancy between the behavior expected from the predictions of the model and the effective choices made from the decision makers. In particular, the term temporal inconsistency indicates those choices that do not remain optimal with the passage of time. This phenomenon has been described with hyperbolic models of the discount rate which, unlike the linear or exponential nature assumed by the discounted utility model, is not constant over time. This paper explores the problem of inconsistency by tracing the decision-making process through the concept of impatience. The degree of impatience and the degree of decrease of impatience are two parameters that allow to quantify the weight of emotional factors and cognitive limitations during the evaluation and selection of alternatives. In fact, although the theory assumes perfectly rational decision makers, behavioral finance and cognitive psychology have made it possible to understand that distortions in the decision-making process and emotional influence have an inevitable impact on the decision-making process. The degree to which impatience is diminished is the focus of the first part of the study. By comparing consistent and inconsistent preferences over time, it was possible to verify that some anomalies in the discounted utility model are a result of the combination of cognitive bias and emotional factors. In particular: the delay effect and the interval effect are compared through the concept of misperception of time; starting from psychological considerations, a criterion is proposed to identify the causes of the magnitude effect that considers the differences in outcomes rather than their ratio; the sign effect is analyzed by integrating in the evaluation of prospects with negative outcomes the psychological aspects of loss aversion provided by Prospect Theory. An experiment implemented confirms three findings: the greatest variation in the degree of decrease in impatience corresponds to shorter intervals close to the present; the greatest variation in the degree of impatience occurs for outcomes of lower magnitude; the variation in the degree of impatience is greatest for negative outcomes. The experimental phase was implemented with the construction of the hyperbolic factor through the administration of questionnaires constructed for each anomaly. This work formalizes the underlying causes of the discrepancy between the discounted utility model and the empirical evidence of preference reversal.

Keywords: decreasing impatience, discount utility model, hyperbolic discount, hyperbolic factor, impatience

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Authors: T. Marinaci, C. Venuleo

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Different conceptualizations of disease affect patient care. This study aims to address this gap. It explores how health professionals conceptualize gambling problem, addiction and the goals of recovery process. In-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with Italian psychologists, psychiatrists, general practitioners, and support staff (N= 114), working within health centres for the treatment of addiction (public health services or therapeutic communities) or medical offices. A Lexical Correspondence Analysis (LCA) was applied to the verbatim transcripts. LCA allowed to identify two main factorial dimensions, which organize similarity and dissimilarity in the discourses of the interviewed. The first dimension labelled 'Models of relationship with the problem', concerns two different models of relationship with the health problem: one related to the request for help and the process of taking charge and the other related to the identification of the psychopathology underlying the disorder. The second dimension, labelled 'Organisers of the intervention' reflects the dialectic between two ways to address the problem. On the one hand, they are the gambling dynamics and its immediate life-consequences to organize the intervention (whatever the request of the user is); on the other hand, they are the procedures and the tools which characterize the health service to organize the way the professionals deal with the user’ s problem (whatever it is and despite the specify of the user’s request). The results highlight how, despite the differences, the respondents share a central assumption: understanding gambling problem implies the reference to the gambler’s identity, more than, for instance, to the relational, social, cultural or political context where the gambler lives. A passive stance is attributed to the user, who does not play any role in the definition of the goal of the intervention. The results will be discussed to highlight the relationship between professional models and users’ ways to understand and deal with the problems related to gambling.

Keywords: cultural models, health professionals, intervention models, problem gambling

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Authors: Aurore Lechevallier, Mohend Chaouche, Jerome Soudier, Guillaume Renaudin

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The cement industry accounts for 8% of the global CO₂ emissions, and approximately 60% of these emissions are associated with the Portland cement clinker production from the decarbonization of limestone (CaCO3). Their impact on the greenhouse effect results in growing social awareness. Therefore, CO2 footprint becomes a product selection choice, and substituting Portland cement with a lower CO2-footprint alternative binder is sought. In this context, new hydraulic binders have been studied as a potential Ordinary Portland Cement substitute. Many of them are composed of iron oxides and aluminum oxides, present in the Ca₄Al₂-xFe₂+ₓO₁₀-like phase and forming Ca-LDH (i.e. AFM) as a hydration product. It has become essential to study the possible existence of Fe/Al AFM solid solutions to characterize the hydration process properly. Ca₂Al₂-xFex(OH)₆.X.nH₂O layered AFM samples intercalated with either nitrate or chloride X anions were synthesized based on the co-precipitation method under a nitrogen atmosphere to avoid the carbonation effect.AFM samples intercalated with carbonate anions were synthesized based on the anionic exchange process, using AFM-NO₃ as the source material. These three AFM samples were synthesized with varying Fe/Al molar ratios. The experimental conditions were optimized to make possible the formation of Al-AFM and Fe-AFM using the same parameters (namely pH value and salt concentration). Rietveld refinements were performed to demonstrate the existence of a solid solution between the two trivalent metallic end members. Spectroscopic analyses were used to confirm the intercalation of the targeted anion; secondary electron images were taken to analyze the AFM samples’ morphology, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was carried out to determine the elemental composition of the AFM samples. Results of this study make it possible to quantify the Al/Fe ratio of the AFM phases precipitated in our hydraulic binder, thanks to the determined Vegard's law characteristic to the corresponding solid solutions

Keywords: AFm phase, iron-rich binder, low-carbon cement, solid solution

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Authors: Vasileiou Apostolos, Theodosiou Chrysa, Tsitroulis Ioannis, Maris Fotios

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The severity of extreme phenomena is due to their ability to cause severe damage in a small amount of time. It has been observed that floods affect the greatest number of people and induce the biggest damage when compared to the total of annual natural disasters. The detection of potential flood-prone areas constitutes one of the fundamental components of the European Natural Disaster Management Policy, directly connected to the European Directive 2007/60. The aim of the present paper is to develop a new methodology that combines geographical information, fuzzy logic and multi-criteria evaluation methods so that the most vulnerable areas are defined. Therefore, ten factors related to geophysical, morphological, climatological/meteorological and hydrological characteristics of the basin were selected. Afterwards, two models were created to detect the areas pronest to flooding. The first model defined the gravitas of each factor using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the final map of possible flood spots were created using GIS and Boolean Algebra. The second model made use of the fuzzy logic and GIS combination and a respective map was created. The application area of the aforementioned methodologies was in Ardas basin due to the frequent and important floods that have taken place these last years. Then, the results were compared to the already observed floods. The result analysis shows that both models can detect with great precision possible flood spots. As the fuzzy logic model is less time-consuming, it is considered the ideal model to apply to other areas. The said results are capable of contributing to the delineation of high risk areas and to the creation of successful management plans dealing with floods.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, flood prone areas, fuzzy logic, geographic information system

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Authors: Chien Y. Lin, Jung Y. Huang, Leu-Wei Lo

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A growing body of data reveals that the membrane cholesterol molecules can alter the signaling pathways of living cells. However, the understanding about how membrane cholesterol modulates receptor proteins is still lacking. Single-molecule tracking can effectively probe into the microscopic environments and thermal fluctuations of receptor proteins in a living cell. In this study we applies single-molecule optical tracking on ligand-induced dimerization process of EGFRs in the plasma membranes of two cancer cell lines (HeLa and A431) and one normal endothelial cell line (MCF12A). We tracked individual EGFR and dual receptors, diffusing in a correlated manner in the plasma membranes of live cells. We developed an energetic model by integrating the generalized Langevin equation with the Cahn-Hilliard equation to help extracting important information from single-molecule trajectories. From the study, we discovered that ligand-bound EGFRs move from non-raft areas into lipid raft domains. This ligand-induced motion is a common behavior in both cancer and normal cells. By manipulating the total amount of membrane cholesterol with methyl-β-cyclodextrin and the local concentration of membrane cholesterol with nystatin, we further found that the amount of cholesterol can affect the stability of EGFR dimers. The EGFR dimers in the plasma membrane of normal cells are more sensitive to the local concentration changes of cholesterol than EGFR dimers in the cancer cells. Our method successfully captures dynamic interactions of receptors at the single-molecule level and provides insight into the functional architecture of both the diffusing EGFR molecules and their local cellular environment.

Keywords: membrane proteins, single-molecule tracking, Cahn-Hilliard equation, EGFR dimers

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Authors: Eki Farlen, Akas

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Condition assessment of oil-paper-insulated power transformers, particularly of water content, is becoming increasingly important for aged transformers. As insulation ages, it can produce water, which reduces its dielectric strength, accelerates the cellulose ageing process, and causes gas bubbles to form at high temperatures. This paper mainly assesses the life condition of oil-paper insulation system of Inter Bus Transformer (IBT) 30 MVA, 150/30 kV in PT PLN-Substation Jelok that has been operating for 41 years, since 1974. Valuable information about the condition of high voltage insulation may be obtained by measuring its dielectric response. This paper describes in detail the interpretation of Dielectric Response Analysis (DIRANA) measurements and the test result compared to other insulation tests to get deep information for diagnostic, such as Tan delta test, oil characteristic test and Dissolve Gas Analysis (DGA) test. This paper mainly discusses the parameter relationship between moisture content, water content, acidity, oil conductivity and dissipation factor. The result and analysis show that IBT 30 MVA Jelok phase U and W had just been ageing due to high acidity level (>0.2 mgKOH/g) which cause high moisture in cellulose/paper (%) are in wet category about 4.7% and 5% and water content in oil (ppm) about 3.13 ppm and 3.33 ppm at temperature 20°C. High acidity level can make oxidation process and produce water in paper and particle which can decrease the value of Interfacial Tension (IFT) below 22 mN/m (poor category) for both phase U and W. Even if paper insulation of transformer are in wet condition, dissipation factor and capacitance at the same frequency (50 Hz) from both measurement DIRANA test and Tangent delta test give the same result (almost), the results are 0.69% and 0.71% (<1%), it may be acceptable and should not be investigated. The DGA results show that TDCG are in level one (1) condition and there are no found a Key Gases, it means that transformers had no failure during operation like arching, partial discharge and thermal in oil or cellulose.

Keywords: diagnostic, inter-bus transformer, oil-paper insulation, moisture, dissipation factor

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Authors: Lorena Coelho, David Ramada, Catarina Nobre, Joaquim Gaião, Juliana Duarte

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The development of processes that allows the valorization of waste and by-products generated by industries is crucial to promote symbiotic relationships between different sectors and is mandatory to “close the loop” in the circular economy paradigm. In recent years, by-products and waste from agro-food and forestry sector have attracted attention due to their potential application and technical characteristics. The extraction of bio-based active compounds to be reused is in line with the circular bioeconomy concept trends, combining the use of renewable resources with the process’s circularity, aiming the waste reduction and encouraging reuse and recycling. Among different types of bio-based materials, which are being explored and can be extracted, proteins fractions are becoming an attractive new raw material. Within this context, BioTrace4Leather project, a collaboration between two Technological Centres – CeNTI and CTIC, and a company of Tanning and Finishing of Leather – Curtumes Aveneda, aims to develop innovative and biologically sustainable solutions for leather industry and accomplish the market circularity trends. Specifically, it aims to the valorisation of waste and by-products from the tannery industry through proteins extraction and the development of an innovative and biologically sustainable materials. The achieved results show that keratin, gelatine, and collagen fractions can be successfully extracted from hair and leather bovine waste. These products could be reintegrated into the industrial manufacturing process to attain innovative and functional textile and leather substrates. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work has been developed under BioTrace4Leather scope, a project co-funded by Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE) of PORTUGAL2020, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under grant agreement Nº POCI-01-0247-FEDER-039867.

Keywords: leather by-products, circular economy, sustainability, protein fractions

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Authors: Paul J Yazaki, Michael Bouvet, John Shively

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Surgery for solid gastrointestinal (GI) cancers such as pancreatic, colorectal, and gastric adenocarcinoma remains the mainstay of curative therapy. Complete resection of the primary tumor with negative margins (R0 resection), its draining lymph nodes, and distant metastases offers the optimal surgical benefit. Real-time fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) promises to improve GI cancer outcomes and is rapidly advancing with tumor-specific antibody conjugated fluorophores that can be imaged using near infrared (NIR) technology. Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) is a non-internalizing tumor antigen validated as a surface tumor marker expressed in >95% of colorectal, 80% of gastric, and 60% of pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Our humanized anti-CEA hT84.66-M5A (M5A) monoclonal antibody (mAb)was conjugated with the NHS-IRDye800CW fluorophore and shown it can rapidly and effectively NIRoptical imageorthotopically implanted human colon and pancreatic cancer in mouse models. A limitation observed is that these NIR-800 dye conjugated mAbs have a rapid clearance from the blood, leading to a narrow timeframe for FGS and requiring high doses for effective optical imaging. We developed a novel antibody-fluorophore conjugate by incorporating a PEGylated sidearm linker to shield or mask the IR800 dye’s hydrophobicity which effectively extended the agent’s blood circulation half-life leading to increased tumor sensitivity and lowered normal hepatic uptake. We hypothesized that our unique anti-CEA linked to the fluorophore, IR800 by PEGylated sidewinder, M5A-SW-IR800 will become the next generation optical imaging agent, safe, effective, and widely applicable for intraoperative image guided surgery in CEA expressing GI cancers.

Keywords: optical imaging, anti-CEA, cancer, fluorescence-guided surgery

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Authors: Euripides Antoniades

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In 1821, the Greek Revolution movement, under the political influence that arose from the French revolution, and the corresponding movements in Italy, Germany and America, demanded the liberation of the nation and the establishment of an independent national state. Published topics in the British press regarding the Greek Revolution, focused on: a)the right of the Greeks to claim their freedom from Turkish domination in order to establish an independent state based on the principle of national autonomy, b)criticism regarding Turkish rule as illegal and the power of the Ottoman Sultan as arbitrary, c)the recognition of the Greek identity and its distinction from the Turkish one and d)the endorsement Greeks as the descendants of ancient Greeks. The London Times is a print publication that presents, in chronological or thematic order, the news, opinions or announcements about the most important events that have occurred in a place during a specified period of time. A combination of qualitative and quantitative content analysis was applied. An attempt was made to record Greek Revolution references along with the usage of specific words and expressions that contribute to the representation of the historical events and their exposure to the reading public. Key finds of this research reveal that a)there was a frequency of passionate daily articles concerning the events in Greece, their length, and context in The Times of London, b)he British public opinion was influenced by this particular newspaper and c) he newspaper published various news about the revolution by adopting the role of animator of the Greek struggle. In fact, this type of news was the main substance of the The London Times’ structure, establishing a positive image about the Greek Revolution contributing to the European diplomatic development. These factors offered a change in the attitude of the British and Russians respectively assuming a positive approach towards Greece.

Keywords: Greece, revolution, press, the london times, great britain, mass media

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