Visual analysis of geospatial habitat suitability model based on inverse distance weighting with paired comparison analysis

Geospatial data analytical model is developed in this paper to model the spatial suitability of malaria outbreak in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. In general, Disease control strategies are only the spatial information like landscape, weather and climate, but also spatially explicit information like socioeconomic variable, population density, behavior and natural habits of the people. The spatial multi-criteria decision analysis approach combines the multi-criteria decision analysis and geographic information system (GIS) to model the spatially explicit and implicit information and to make a practical decision under different scenarios and different environment. Malaria is one of the emerging diseases worldwide; the cause of malaria is weather & climate condition of the study area. The climate condition is often called as spatially implicit information, traditional decision-making models do not use the spatially implicit information it most often uses spatially explicit information such as socio-economic, natural habits of the people. There is need to develop an integrated approach that consists of spatially implicit and explicit information. The proposed approach is used to identity an effective control strategy that prevents and control of malaria. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) is a type of deterministic method used in this paper to assign the weight values based on the neighborhood locations. ArcGIS software is used to develop the geospatial habitat suitability model.     

How governance mechanisms in family firms impact open innovation choices: A fuzzy logic approach

The inbound open innovation (OI) process consists of the opening of the innovation funnel to the contribution of external partners, with the aim of tapping into their knowledge. This opportunity is particularly valuable for family firms (FFs), which often have insufficient resources. However, the literature on the OI behaviour of family firms is not conclusive. Indeed, both the behavioural theory (BT) and the resource‐based view (RBV) posit negative and positive outcomes regarding openness choices in FFs. We claim that these contrasting results can be reconciled if, according to the literature, FFs are seen as a heterogeneous breed, whose differences are determined by different levels of participation of non‐family members in the governance mechanisms. Indeed, non‐family members can act in favour of OI. However, previous literature has failed to satisfactorily grasp the nuances of this heterogeneity. We suggest that it is necessary to adequately operationalize the heterogeneity concept by means of fuzzy logic. We conducted a survey on 178 Italian FFs. Results show that the involvement of non‐family members affects the extent to which firms draw on knowledge from external partners. Specifically, the higher the involvement of non‐family members, the more there is collaboration with vertical partners along the supply chain.     

Nearshore benthic blooms of filamentous green algae in Lake Baikal

For the first time, species of the genus Spirogyra, non-typical of the open nearshore waters of Lake Baikal, formed algal mats with Ulothrix zonata, Ulothrix tenerrima, and Ulothrix tenuissima near the village of Listvyanka, Russia. Normally widely distributed in the 0- to 1.5-m depth range, the growth of U. zonata was now evident and dominant (63% of the biomass) in the 2- to 5-m depth range. The overgrowth of the lake bottom by filamentous green algae, changes in distributional boundaries, the emergence and mass development of species of the genus Spirogyra, the presence of the eutrophic diatom indicator Fragilaria capucina var. vaucheriae, elevated abundances of coliform bacteria, and elevated levels of nutrients suggest an early stage of cultural eutrophication in the nearshore of Lake Baikal near Listvyanka, a popular tourist destination. The unusual abundance of Fragilaria associated with the filamentous green algae consisted of long-ribbon colonies of F. capucina var. vaucheriae, a eutrophic species, wound around the filamentous green algae, enhancing the dense algae mats. Historically dominant species, such as Didymosphenia geminata, Tetraspora cylindrica var. bullosa, and Draparnaldioides baicalensis typically observed at deeper depths of Lake Baikal, are now subdominants or minor species in the nearshore along the shoreline near Listvyanka.     

Glycine N‐Methylation in NGR‐Tagged Nanocarriers Prevents Isoaspartate Formation and Integrin Binding without Impairing CD13 Recognition and Tumor Homing

NGR (asparagine–glycine–arginine) is a tumor vasculature‐homing peptide motif widely used for the functionalization of drugs, nanomaterials, and imaging compounds for cancer treatment and diagnosis. Unfortunately, this motif has a strong propensity to undergo rapid deamidation. This reaction, which converts NGR into isoDGR, is associated with receptor switching from CD13 to integrins, with potentially important manufacturing and pharmacological and toxicological implications. It is found that glycine N‐methylation of NGR‐tagged nanocarriers completely prevents asparagine deamidation without impairing CD13 recognition. Studies in animal models have shown that the methylated NGR motif can be exploited for delivering radiolabeled compounds and nanocarriers, such as tumor necrosis factor‐α‐bearing nanogold and liposomal doxorubicin, to tumors with improved selectivity. These findings suggest that this NGR derivative is a stable and efficient tumor‐homing ligand that can be used for delivering functional nanomaterials to tumor vasculature.     

Segmentation of joint and musculoskeletal tissue in the study of arthritis

As the most frequent cause of physical disability, musculoskeletal diseases such as arthritis and osteoporosis have a great social and economical impact. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers are important tools that allow clinicians to better characterize, monitor, and even predict musculoskeletal disease progression. Post-processing pipelines often include image segmentation. Manually identifying the border of the region of interest (ROI) is a difficult and time-consuming task. Manual segmentation is also affected by inter- and intrauser variability, thus limiting standardization. Fully automatic or semi-automatic methods that minimize the user interaction are highly desirable. Unfortunately, an ultimate, highly reliable and extensively evaluated solution for joint and musculoskeletal tissue segmentation has not yet been proposed, and many clinical studies still adopt fully manual procedures. Moreover, the clinical translation of several promising quantitative MRI techniques is highly affected by the lack of an established, fast, and accurate segmentation method. The goal of this review is to present some of the techniques proposed in recent literature that have been adopted in clinical studies for joint and musculoskeletal tissue analyses in arthritis patients. The most widely used MRI sequences and image processing algorithms employed to accomplish segmentation challenges will be discussed in this paper.     

Engineered nanomaterials exposure in the production of graphene

The objective of this study was to obtain the multi-metric occupational exposure assessment to graphene family nanomaterials (GFNs) particles of workers engaged in the large-scale production of graphene. The study design consisted of the combination of (i) direct-reading instruments, used to evaluate the total particle number concentrations relative to the background concentration (time series with spatial approach) and the mean size-dependent characteristics of particles (mean diameter and surface-area concentration) and (ii) filter-based air sampling for the determination of size-resolved particle mass concentrations. The data obtained from direct reading measurement were then used to estimate the 8-h time weighted average (8-h TWA) exposure to GFNs particles for workers involved in different working tasks. Workers were generally exposed to 8-h TWA GFNs particle levels lower than the proposed reference value (40,000 particle/cm³). Furthermore, despite high short-term exposure conditions were present during specific operations of the production process, the possibility of significant exposure peaks is not likely to be expected. The estimated 8-h TWA concentration showed differences between the unexposed (<100 particle/cm³; <0.05 µg/m³) and exposed subjects (mean concentration ranging from 909 to 6438 particle/cm³ and from 0.38 to 3.86 µg/m³). The research outcomes can be of particular interest because the exposure of workers in real working conditions was assessed with a multi-metric approach; in this regard, the study suggests that workers who are directly involved in some specific working task (material sampling for quality control) have higher potential for occupational exposure than operators who are in charge of routine production work.

© 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Properties of metal–polymer coatings obtained via joint electrodeposition on a cathode of a polyelectrolyte and metals

Copper- and zinc–polymer coatings were obtained via joint electrodeposition on a cathode of a water-soluble amine-containing polymer electrolyte and metals. The process of their formation, composition, structure, morphology, and properties were examined. The obtained coatings were found to possess high hardness and strength compared to pure polymer coatings if they have good elasticity.     

Influence of interfacial heat exchange on the flow organization in liquid bridge

The appearance and development of thermoconvective oscillatory flows in a cylindrical column with a free lateral surface (so-called liquid bridge) filled with 5 cSt silicone oil are investigated experimentally. The experiments were carried out under terrestrial conditions for a wide range of volumes of liquid bridges. Heat transfer from the interface changed the threshold of socillatory instabilities. The sensitivity of thermo-convective flows to the interfacial heat exchange was found to be strongly depending on the liquid bridge volume. Slender liquid bridges (under filled zone with respect to the straight cylinder) are rather stable to external disturbances. On the contrary, fat liquid bridges are extremely sensitive to the thermal environment in the gas phase.