Hemispheric asymmetries of near-far spatial attention.

Although most of the visual cognitive activities performed by the left hemisphere take place close to the body (peripersonal space), most visual cognitive activities mediated by the right hemisphere take place in extrapersonal space. The left hemisphere, therefore, may have a propensity to direct attention toward the body and the right hemisphere away from the body. Because attentional bias influences judgments of spatial magnitude, the authors tested this hypothesis. Normal participants were asked to compare the size of horizontal lines presented in the sagittal plane in either right or left hemispace. When participants looked leftward, lines appeared shorter than when participants looked rightward. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the right hemisphere directs attention toward visual extrapersonal space and the left hemisphere directs attention toward visual peripersonal space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a real-life EKF based SLAM system for mobile robots employing vision sensing

Developing real-life solutions for implementation of the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm for mobile robots has been well regarded as a complex problem for quite some time now. Our present work demonstrates a successful real implementation of extended Kalman filter (EKF) based SLAM algorithm for indoor environments, utilizing two web-cam based stereo-vision sensing mechanism. The vision-sensing mechanism is a successful development of a real algorithm for image feature identification in frames grabbed from continuously running videos on two cameras, tracking of these identified features in subsequent frames and incorporation of these landmarks in the map created, utilizing a 3D distance calculation module. The system has been successfully test-run in laboratory environments where the robot is commanded to navigate through some specified waypoints and create a map of its surrounding environment. Our experimentations showed that the estimated positions of the landmarks identified in the map created closely tallies with the actual positions of these landmarks in real-life.     

Low-temperature thermal conductivity of polyethylene

The thermal conductivity of polyethylene is linear in temperature from \s~0.6 K to below 0.03 K. This behavior can be explained by the scattering of thermal phonons of wavelength from the lamella of thicknessH whenH<.Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract EY-76-C-02-1198.     

Resonant optical solitons with parabolic and dual-power laws by semi-inverse variational principle

This paper obtains bright optical soliton solutions from resonant nonlinear Schrödinger’s equation by the aid of semi-inverse variational principle. The two forms of nonlinear media studied are parabolic and dual-power law. The necessary constraints for the existence of these solitons are also presented.     

An iterative polynomial chaos approach toward stochastic elastostatic structural analysis with non-Gaussian randomness

Stochastic analysis of structure with non-Gaussian material property and loading in the framework of polynomial chaos (PC) is considered. A new approach for the solution of stochastic mechanics problem with random coefficient is presented. The major focus of the method is to consider reduced size of expansion in an iterative manner to overcome the problem of large system matrix in conventional PC expansion. The iterative method is based on orthogonal expansion of stochastic responses and generation of an iterative PC based on the responses of the previous iteration. The polynomials are evaluated using Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process. The numbers of random variables in PC expansion are reduced by considering only the dominant components of the response characteristics, which is evaluated using Karhunen-Loève (KL) expansion. In case of random material field problem, the KL expansion is used to discretize and simulate the non-Gaussian random field. Independent component analysis (ICA) is carried out on the non-Gaussian KL random variables to minimize statistical dependence. The usefulness of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency is examined. From the numerical analysis of three different types of structural mechanics problems, the proposed iterative method is observed to be computationally more efficient and accurate than conventional PC method for solution of linear elastostatic structural mechanics problems.     

The Next Frontier: Translational Development of Ubiquitination,SUMOylation, and NEDDylation in Cancer

Post-translational modifications of proteins ensure optimized cellular processes, including proteostasis, regulated signaling, cell survival, and stress adaptation to maintain a balanced homeostatic state. Abnormal post-translational modifications are associated with cellular dysfunction and the occurrence of life-threatening diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, some of the frequently seen protein modifications have been used as disease markers, while others are targeted for developing specific therapies. The ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like post-translational modifiers, namely, small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) and neuronal precursor cell-expressed developmentally down-regulated protein 8 (NEDD8), share several features, such as protein structures, enzymatic cascades mediating the conjugation process, and targeted amino acid residues. Alterations in the regulatory mechanisms lead to aberrations in biological processes during tumorigenesis, including the regulation of tumor metabolism, immunological modulation of the tumor microenvironment, and cancer stem cell stemness, besides many more. Novel insights into ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like pathways involved in cancer biology reveal a potential interplay between ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and NEDDylation. This review outlines the current understandings of the regulatory mechanisms and assay capabilities of ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and NEDDylation. It will further highlight the role of ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and NEDDylation in tumorigenesis.     

Experimental determination of axial compressive strength of crimped cold-formed channels

This paper presents experimental axial compressive failure loads of 33 cold-formed regular channels and 51 cold-formed crimped channels varying in sizes, lengths, and end conditions. Strain gauges and mechanical dial gauges were used during the centering of the specimens in the test frame. For some specimens, the failure loads of regular channels were greater than those of the crimped channels. In other cases, the crimped channels were stronger. Therefore, statistical analysis (Student's t-test) was carried out and the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the compressive strength of regular and crimped channels was accepted at 0.01 significance level. Thus, the compressive strength of crimped channels can be calculated using the formulas applicable for regular channels.     

A novel scheduling with multi-criteria for high-performance computing systems: an improved genetic algorithm-based approach

Engineering with Computers - Scheduling in high-performance computing systems is experiencing potential challenges in modern computing applications due to different application sizes, computational...     

An efficient traffic sign recognition based on graph embedding features

Neural Computing and Applications - Traffic sign recognition (TSR) is one of the significant modules of an intelligent transportation system. It instantly assists the drivers to efficiently...