Progression and Dissemination of Pulmonary Mycobacterium Avium Infection in a Susceptible Immunocompetent Mouse Model

Pulmonary infections caused by the group of nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), are a growing public health concern with incidence and mortality steadily increasing globally. Granulomatous inflammation is the hallmark of MAC lung infection, yet reliable correlates of disease progression, susceptibility, and resolution are poorly defined. Unlike widely used inbred mouse strains, mice that carry the mutant allele at the genetic locus sst1 develop human-like pulmonary tuberculosis featuring well-organized caseating granulomas. We characterized pulmonary temporospatial outcomes of intranasal and left intrabronchial M. avium spp. hominissuis (M.av) induced pneumonia in B6.Sst1S mice, which carries the sst1 mutant allele. We utilized traditional semi-quantitative histomorphological evaluation, in combination with fluorescent multiplex immunohistochemistry (fmIHC), whole slide imaging, and quantitative digital image analysis. Followingintrabronchiolar infection with the laboratory M.av strain 101, the B6.Sst1S pulmonary lesions progressed 12–16 weeks post infection (wpi), with plateauing and/or resolving disease by 21 wpi. Caseating granulomas were not observed during the study. Disease progression from 12–16 wpi was associated with increased acid-fast bacilli, area of secondary granulomatous pneumonia lesions, and Arg1+ and double positive iNOS+/Arg1+ macrophages. Compared to B6 WT, at 16 wpi, B6.Sst1S lungs exhibited an increased area of acid-fast bacilli, larger secondary lesions with greater Arg1+ and double positive iNOS+/Arg1+ macrophages, and reduced T cell density. This morphomolecular analysis of histologic correlates of disease progression in B6.Sst1S could serve as a platform for assessment of medical countermeasures against NTM infection.     

Rotatable Aggregation‐Induced‐Emission/Aggregation‐Caused‐Quenching Ratio Strategy for Real‐Time Tracking Nanoparticle Dynamics

Real‐time tracking of the dynamics change of self‐assembled nanostructures in physiological environments is crucial to improving their delivery efficiency and therapeutic effects. However, such tracking is impeded by the complex biological microenvironment leading to inhomogeneous distribution. A rotatable fluorescent ratio strategy is introduced that integrates aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) and aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) into one nanostructured system, termed AIE and ACQ fluorescence ratio (AAR). Following this strategy, an advanced probe, PEG^5k‐TPE₄‐ICGD₄ (PTI), is developed to track the dynamics change. The extremely sharp fluorescent changes (up to 4008‐fold) in AAR allowed for the clear distinguishing and localization of the intact state and diverse dissociated states. The spatiotemporal distribution and structural dynamics of the PTI micelles can be tracked, quantitatively analyzed in living cells and animal tissue by the real‐time ratio map, and be used to monitor other responsive nanoplatforms. With this method, the dynamics of nanoparticle in different organelles are able to be investigated and validated by transmission electron microscopy. This novel strategy is generally applicable to many self‐assembled nanostructures for understanding delivery mechanism in living systems, ultimately to enhance their performance in biomedical applications.     

Editorial: Security and Privacy in Internet of Things

Mobile Networks and Applications -     

A detection statistic for random-valued impulse noise.

This paper proposes an image statistic for detecting random-valued impulse noise. By this statistic, we can identify most of the noisy pixels in the corrupted images. Combining it with an edge-preserving regularization, we obtain a powerful two-stage method for denoising random-valued impulse noise, even for noise levels as high as 60%. Simulation results show that our method is significantly better than a number of existing techniques in terms of image restoration and noise detection.     

Probabilistic Discovery of Semantically Diverse Content in MANETs

Mobile ad hoc networks rely on the opportunistic interaction of autonomous nodes to form networks without the use of infrastructure. Given the radically decentralized nature of such networks, their potential for autonomous communication is significantly improved when the need for a priori consensus among the nodes is kept to a minimum. This paper addresses an issue within the domain of semantic content discovery, namely, its current reliance on the preexisting agreement between the schema of content providers and consumers. We present OntoMobil, a semantic discovery model for ad hoc networks that removes the assumption of a globally known schema and allows nodes to publish information autonomously. The model relies on the randomized dissemination and replication of metadata through a gossip protocol. Given schemas with partial similarities, the randomized metadata dissemination mechanism facilitates eventual semantic agreement and provides a substrate for the scalable discovery of content. A discovery protocol can then utilize the replicated metadata to identify content within a predictable number of hops using semantic queries. A stochastic analysis of the gossip protocol presents the different trade-offs between discoverability and replication. We evaluate the proposed model by comparing OntoMobil against a broadcast-based protocol and demonstrate that semantic discovery with proactive replication provides good scalability properties, resulting in a high discovery ratio with less overhead than a reactive nonreplicated discovery approach.     

Effects of Birefringence Within Ice Sheets on Obliquely Propagating Radio Waves

In this paper, effects of birefringence on radio waves obliquely propagating though polar ice sheets are examined to facilitate interpretations of bistatic and side-looking radar data. A formalism applicable for arbitrary radar configurations is developed to predict the returned power from within and beneath the ice sheets that have arbitrary alignments of ice crystals (ice fabrics). We applied this formalism to a range of ice fabrics found in ice cores and assessed the effects of birefringence in terms of ray-path configurations, ice fabrics, and radar frequency. Predicted frequency dependence of the bed return power replicates prominent features observed at Greenland NGRIP ice-core site. Results show that birefringence in ice of 1 km or more thickness with strong (weak) fabric can reduce the power returned from the bed 2 dB or more at frequencies higher than 200 MHz (20 MHz) as compared to isotropic ice. This suggests that quantitative interpretation of the power returned from the bed requires careful assessment of birefringence almost everywhere over the ice sheets. Application of this formalism also suggests a radar-frequency range usable for attenuation measurements, possible effects of fabric on synthetic aperture radar processing, and a feasibility of remote sensing of ice fabric.     

高清转换以及信息技术

首先介绍一下汤姆逊草谷公司：以前的飞利浦和草谷GVG的有关产品。现在都整合在汤姆逊的旗下，汤姆逊的专业设备使用的是汤姆逊草谷的品牌即Grassvalley，另外一个Technicolor部门提供包括DVD版权．复制．后期制作和数字影院等专业服务．RCA和汤姆逊是汤姆逊用于消费类的品牌。     

Enhanced efficiency and frequency assignment by optimizing the base stations location in a mobile radio network

Most mobile radio networks have been planned based on the classical cellular concept. However, alternative planning strategies that lead to more efficient network configurations are necessary due to the fact that the traffic density is generally far from constant throughout the service area, making necessary the relocation of base stations inside the traffic hotspots. If the traffic is characterized in a discrete way, the optimization of base stations location resembles vector quantization, a well-known problem in signal processing. In this paper, we use this analogy to propose a mobile radio network planning algorithm. Simulation results show that higher trunking efficiency as well as improved frequency assignment can be obtained if an existing mobile radio network is redesigned using the presented strategy. Raúl Chávez-Santiago was born in Oaxaca City, Mexico. He obtained the B.Sc. degree in communications and electronics engineering in 1997 from the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME-IPN), and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 2001 from the Center of Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV-IPN) in Mexico City. He has professional experience as Computer Networking Engineer, and Research and Teaching Assistant. Currently, he is completing his studies toward the Ph.D. degree at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev, Israel. In 2002, he received the URSI Young Scientist Award. His main research interests are the optimal planning of radio communication networks, the electromagnetic compatibility of terrestrial and satellite radio systems, and the efficient use of the radio spectrum. He is an IEEE and IEICE student member, and a URSI radio scientist. Avi Raymond was born in Yavne, Israel. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev in 2000 and 2005, respectively. He worked for two years in a communication company in the field of Telephony and Broadband Services. He also worked as a Research Assistant in the communications laboratory at BGU. He currently works at Elta Electronic Industries Ltd. as System Engineer and pursues studies toward a second M.Sc. degree in systems engineering at the Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. His research interests are the optimization algorithms for frequency assignment in cellular networks. Vladimir Lyandres was born in 1944, in Vologda, Russia. He received the M.Sc. degree in communications engineering in 1966 and the Ph.D. degree in communications theory in 1972 from the State University of Telecommunications (SUT), Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was with SUT until 1990 holding a position of Senior Scientific Associate and working on research and development of digital transmission systems, modeling of radio communication channels and algorithms of frequency planning for broadcasting and cellular systems. Since 1991 he holds a position of Researcher at the communications laboratory and Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev, Israel. His research interests include synthesis of Markov models, combinatorial optimization, and adaptive power loading. He is a senior member of IEEE and member of IEICE.