Correction to: Granular computing in mosaicing of images from capsule endoscopy

Natural Computing - In the original publication, Acknowledgments was published incorrectly. The correct Acknowledgments is provided in this correction.     

Sex-specific analysis of cartilage volume in the knee joint--a quantitative MRI-based study

Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), an adhesive glycoprotein, plays an important role in platelet adhesion, inflammation, cell-to-cell interaction, and angiogenesis. TSP-1 is expressed by endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages. TSP-1's unique cysteine-serine-valine-threonine-cysteine-glycine (CSVTCG) specific receptor plays an important role in the binding and modulation of cellular adhesion and invasion. This article histologically and quantitatively evaluates TSP-1 and its CSVTCG receptor in adult burn wounds over time. Tissue was obtained from burn wounds on several days and samples that were 5 microns thick were placed on slides. Expression of TSP-1 and its CSVTCG receptor were evaluated immunohistochemically and quantitated by computer image analysis in units of absorbance. Immunoglobin G (IgG) (negative) controls were performed and subtracted from the TSP-1 sample to eliminate background absorbance readings. Serum (negative) control was used for the CSVTCG receptor. Platelet concentrates were used as the positive control. A quantitative examination of the results yielded the following information, expressed as absorbance +/- standard error of the mean: TSP-1: day 1, 62.0 +/- 10.13; day 3, 76.2 +/- 6.90; day 5, 36.0 +/- 3.96; day 7, 60.4 +/- 5.67; and day 9, 29.5 +/- 2.91. TSP-1 displays an early peak, followed by a steep decrease over the time period studied. The readings for the CSVTCG receptor are as follows: day 1, 33.8 +/- 1.87; day 3, 34.5 +/- 5.39; day 7, 39.1 +/- 1.93; day 21, 39.1 +/- 1.93; day 28, 34.8 +/- 3.67. In contrast, the CVSTCG receptor continues to be present in the wound over time. Histologic findings are reported, and photographs and a histopathologic analysis are included. The information presented in this article leads to the conclusion that temporal and histologic differences exist in the localization and expression of TSP-1 and its CSVTCG receptor. TSP-1 is up-regulated in injured tissues immediately after the injury; it is rapidly down-regulated as the tissue heals. In contrast, the levels of the CSVTCG receptor remain relatively constant during the healing process. These data are consistent with TSP-1's known role in cell-to-cell interaction, including the modulation of the growth factor and protease activity.     

The Fungus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Raffaelea lauricola</Emphasis> Modifies Behavior of Its Symbiont and Vector,the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Xyleborus Glabratus</Emphasis>), by Altering Host Plant Volatile Production

The redbay ambrosia beetle Xyleborus glabratus is the vector of the symbiotic fungus, Raffaelea lauricola that causes laurel wilt, a highly lethal disease to members of the Lauraceae family. Pioneer X. glabratus beetles infect live trees with R. lauricola, and only when tree health starts declining more X. glabratus are attracted to the infected tree. Until now this sequence of events was not well understood. In this study, we investigated the temporal patterns of host volatiles and phytohormone production and vector attraction in relation to laurel wilt symptomology. Following inoculations with R. lauricola, volatile collections and behavioral tests were performed at different time points. Three days after infection (DAI), we found significant repellency of X. glabratus by leaf odors of infected swamp bay Persea palustris as compared with controls. However, at 10 and 20 DAI, X. glabratus were more attracted to leaf odors from infected than non-infected host plants. GC-MS analysis revealed an increase in methyl salicylate (MeSA) 3 DAI, whereas an increase of sesquiterpenes and leaf aldehydes was observed 10 and 20 DAI in leaf volatiles. MeSA was the only behaviorally active repellent of X. glabratus in laboratory bioassays. In contrast, X. glabratus did not prefer infected wood over healthy wood, and there was no associated significant difference in their volatile profiles. Analyses of phytohormone profiles revealed an initial increase in the amount of salicylic acid (SA) in leaf tissues following fungal infection, suggesting that the SA pathway was activated by R. lauricola infection, and this activation caused increased release of MeSA. Overall, our findings provide a better understanding of X. glabratus ecology and underline chemical interactions with its symbiotic fungus. Our work also demonstrates how the laurel wilt pathosystem alters host defenses to impact vector behavior and suggests manipulation of host odor by the fungus that attract more vectors.     

Selection of the optimization method for identification of phase transformation models for steels

Material models for steels, used widely in numerical simulations of manufacturing chains, require identification of their coefficients on the basis of measurements obtained from laboratory test. Precision of the identification highly influences modelling reliability. This is visible especially in the case of phase transformation models, which are crucial in predicting of the modern Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) properties after applied heat treatment. However, identification of phase transformation models for steels based on dilatometric tests presents serious difficulties. Two problems are investigated in the paper i.e. (i) efficiency of the inverse algorithms used for identification of phase transformation models, (ii) final reliability of the identified models in numerical simulations of manufacturing processes. In the work two phase transformation models were selected as an example. The first was a modified JMAK (Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov) equation. The second was an upgrade of the Leblond equation, in which second order derivative with respect to time was introduced. The identification was performed by coupling the selected model with nature inspired optimization techniques and performing inverse analysis for the experimental data. Dilatometric tests performed for various cooling rates were used as an experiment, which supplies data for the inverse analysis. Finally, validation of identified models is presented by using industrial data.     

Nondestructive identification of delaminations in concrete floor toppings with acoustic methods

This paper presents an original methodology for the nondestructive identification of delaminations in concrete floor toppings by means of the combined impulse-response and impact-echo acoustic methods. It is demonstrated that the impulse-response method is highly suitable for the fast exploration of large stretches of concrete floor and rough location of defective areas while the impact-echo method is ideal for the precise location of the boundaries of the areas. If the surface area of the tested floor topping is large, the nondestructive tests can be automated by mounting the equipment on a special scanner or robot. An example of the practical use of the proposed methodology is presented. It confirms the usefulness of the methodology for the nondestructive identification of delaminations in large-area concrete floor toppings.     

Unleashing the performance of ccNUMA multiprocessor architectures in heterogeneous stencil computations

The Journal of Supercomputing - This paper meets the challenge of harnessing the heterogeneous communication architecture of ccNUMA multiprocessors for heterogeneous stencil computations, an...     

Thermal,optical, electrochemical,and electrochromic characteristics of novel polyimides bearing the Acridine Yellow moiety

A series of novel polyimides and copolyimides were obtained by combining 2,7-dimethylacridine-3,6-diamine with one of three aromatic dianhydrides: 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride, 4,4′-(4,4′-isopropylidene-diphenoxy)bis(phthalic anhydride) and 4,4′-tetraphthaloyl-bis(1,8-naphthalene dicarboxylic)dianhydride. The resultant polymers showed glass transition temperatures (T_g) in the range 209–331 °C and decomposition temperature (T_d) in the range of 370–475 °C. The optical properties, absorption and photoluminescence (PL) of the obtained polymers were investigated in solution and in the solid state as blends with inert poly(methyl methacrylate). The polymers dissolved in NMP emitted blue or green light with the maximum emission wavelength in the range of 438–512 nm, while emitting blue light in the solid state. The electrochemical behavior of the polyimides was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). They exhibited electrochemical band gap in the range of 1.36–2.94 eV.