Beta 2-adrenergic receptor and angiotensin II receptor modulation of sympathetic neurotransmission in human atria

BACKGROUND: Cultures of epidermal cells are commonly used to study skin biology and differentiation. Recently a method to culture nail matrix cells has been established. OBJECTIVE: We report the biologic characteristics of nail matrix cells in vitro compared with those of epidermal keratinocytes. METHODS: Human nail matrix cells were isolated and cultured in defined medium. Electron-microscopic examination, growth rate, integrin expression and keratin synthesis pattern were evaluated. In addition, the cells were cultured in serum-containing medium. RESULTS: Nail matrix cells appear to be larger than human epidermal keratinocytes and, at the ultrastructural level, they contain a higher euchromatin/heterochromatin ratio and a lower nucleus/cytoplasm ratio and have a higher growth rate. The synthesis of "hard" keratins was detected at all calcium concentrations. Immunofluorescence analyses showed the expression of alpha 2, alpha 3, and alpha 6 integrin subunits. When cultured in serum-containing medium, nail matrix cells produced an outgrowth of epithelium and a spontaneous migration phenomenon associated with a tendency to stratify in a semilunar area that resembles the architecture of the nail matrix. The pluristratified epithelium showed characteristic markers of nail differentiation. CONCLUSION: Culture of nail matrix cells may represent a useful model to study the biologic properties of nail structure, alterations in some nail diseases and the effects of drugs.     

Feature Selection for Detecting ICMPv6-Based DDoS Attacks Using Binary Flower Pollination Algorithm

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the latest version of IP that goal to host 3.4 × 10³⁸ unique IP addresses of devices in the network. IPv6 has introduced new features like Neighbour Discovery Protocol (NDP) and Address Auto-configuration Scheme. IPv6 needed several protocols like the Address Auto-configuration Scheme and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6). IPv6 is vulnerable to numerous attacks like Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) which is one of the most dangerous attacks executed through ICMPv6 messages that impose security and financial implications. Therefore, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a monitoring system of the security of a network that detects suspicious activities and deals with a massive amount of data comprised of repetitive and inappropriate features which affect the detection rate. A feature selection (FS) technique helps to reduce the computation time and complexity by selecting the optimum subset of features. This paper proposes a method for detecting DDoS flooding attacks (FA) based on ICMPv6 messages using a Binary Flower Pollination Algorithm (BFPA-FA). The proposed method (BFPA-FA) employs FS technology with a support vector machine (SVM) to identify the most relevant, influential features. Moreover, The ICMPv6-DDoS dataset was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method through different attack scenarios. The results show that the proposed method BFPA-FA achieved the best accuracy rate (97.96%) for the ICMPv6 DDoS detection with a reduced number of features (9) to half the total (19) features. The proven proposed method BFPA-FA is effective in the ICMPv6 DDoS attacks via IDS.     

High-performance MEMS shutter display with metal-oxide thin-film transistors and optimized MEMS element

Active matrix prestressed microelectromechanical shutter displays enable outstanding optical properties as well as robust operating performance. The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) shutter elements have been optimized for higher light outcoupling efficiency with lower operation voltage and higher pixel density. The MEMS elements have been co-fabricated with self-aligned metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). Several optimizations were required to integrate MEMS process without hampering the performance of both elements. The optimized display process requires only seven photolithographic masks with ensuring proper compatibility between MEMS shutter and metal-oxide TFT process.     

An automatic query expansion based on hybrid CMO-COOT algorithm for optimized information retrieval

The World Wide Web(WWW) comprises a wide range of information, and it is mainly operated on the principles of keyword matching which often reduces accurate information retrieval. Automatic query expansion is one of the primary methods for information retrieval, and it handles the vocabulary mismatch problem often faced by the information retrieval systems to retrieve an appropriate document using the keywords. This paper proposed a novel approach of hybrid COOT-based Cat and Mouse Optimization (CMO) algorithm named as hybrid COOT-CMO for the appropriate selection of optimal candidate terms in the automatic query expansion process. To improve the accuracy of the Cat and Mouse Optimization (CMO) algorithm, the parameters are tuned with the help of the Coot algorithm. The best suitable expanded query is identified from the available expanded query sets also known as candidate query pools. All feasible combinations in this candidate query pool should be obtained from the top retrieved documents. Benchmark datasets such as the GOV2 Test Collection, the Cranfield Collections, and the NTCIR Test Collection are utilized to assess the performance of the proposed hybrid COOT-CMO method for automatic query expansion. This proposed method surpasses the existing state-of-the-art techniques using many performance measures such as F-score, precision, and mean average precision (MAP).

     

Facile synthesis of CsPbBr3/PbSe composite clusters

In this work, CsPbBr₃ and PbSe nanocomposites were synthesized to protect perovskite material from self-enlargement during reaction. UV absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicate that the addition of Se into CsPbBr₃ quantum dots modified the electronic structure of CsPbBr₃, increasing the band gap from 2.38 to 2.48 eV as the Cs:Se ratio increased to 1:3. Thus, the emission color of CsPbBr₃ perovskite quantum dots was modified from green to blue by increasing the Se ratio in composites. According to X-ray diffraction patterns, the structure of CsPbBr₃ quantum dots changed from cubic to orthorhombic due to the introduction of PbSe at the surface. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy confirmed that the atomic distribution in CsPbBr₃/PbSe composite clusters is uniform and the composite materials were well formed. The PL intensity of a CsPbBr₃/PbSe sample with a 1:1 Cs:Se ratio maintained 50% of its initial intensity after keeping the sample for 81 h in air, while the PL intensity of CsPbBr₃ reduced to 20% of its initial intensity. Therefore, it is considered that low amounts of Se could improve the stability of CsPbBr₃ quantum dots.     

Using Selective Electron Beam Melting to Enhance the High-Temperature Strength and Creep Resistance of NiAl–28Cr–6Mo In Situ Composites

By increasing the density of interfaces in NiAl–CrMo in situ composites, the mechanical properties can be significantly improved compared to conventionally cast material. The refined microstructure is achieved by manufacturing through electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB). By varying the process parameters, an equiaxed or columnar cell morphology can be obtained, exhibiting a plate-like or an interconnected network of the (Cr,Mo) reinforcement phase which is embedded in a NiAl matrix. The microstructure of the different cell morphologies is investigated in detail using scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, and atom probe tomography. For both morphologies, the mechanical properties at elevated temperatures are analyzed by compression and creep experiments parallel and perpendicular to the building direction. In comparison to cast NiAl and NiAl–(Cr, Mo), the yield strength of the PBF-EB fabricated specimens is significantly improved at temperatures up to 1,027 °C. While the columnar morphology exhibits the best improved mechanical properties at high temperatures, the equiaxial morphology shows nearly ideal isotropic mechanical behavior, which is a substantial advantage over directionally solidified material.     

Modeling and Analysis of UAV-Assisted Mobile Network with Imperfect Beam Alignment

With the rapid development of emerging 5G and beyond (B5G), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly important to improve the performance of dense cellular networks. As a conventional metric, coverage probability has been widely studied in communication systems due to the increasing density of users and complexity of the heterogeneous environment. In recent years, stochastic geometry has attracted more attention as a mathematical tool for modeling mobile network systems. In this paper, an analytical approach to the coverage probability analysis of UAV-assisted cellular networks with imperfect beam alignment has been proposed. An assumption was considered that all users are distributed according to Poisson Cluster Process (PCP) around base stations, in particular, Thomas Cluster Process (TCP). Using this model, the impact of beam alignment errors on the coverage probability was investigated. Initially, the Probability Density Function (PDF) of directional antenna gain between the user and its serving base station was obtained. Then, association probability with each tier was achieved. A tractable expression was derived for coverage probability in both Line-of-Sight (LoS) and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) condition links. Numerical results demonstrated that at low UAVs altitude, beam alignment errors significantly degrade coverage performance. Moreover, for a small cluster size, alignment errors do not necessarily affect the coverage performance.     

WiMA: Towards a Multi-Criterion Association in Software Defined Wi-Fi Networks

Despite the planned installation and operations of the traditional IEEE 802.11 networks, they still experience degraded performance due to the number of inefficiencies. One of the main reasons is the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) association problem, in which the user remains connected to the access point (AP) unless the RSSI becomes too weak. In this paper, we propose a multi-criterion association (WiMA) scheme based on software defined networking (SDN) in Wi-Fi networks. An association solution based on multi-criterion such as AP load, RSSI, and channel occupancy is proposed to satisfy the quality of service (QoS). SDN having an overall view of the network takes the association and reassociation decisions making the handoffs smooth in throughput performance. To implement WiMA extensive simulations runs are carried out on Mininet-NS3-Wi-Fi network simulator. The performance evaluation shows that the WiMA significantly reduces the average number of retransmissions by 5%–30% and enhances the throughput by 20%–50%, hence maintaining user fairness and accommodating more wireless devices and traffic load in the network, when compared to traditional client-driven (CD) approach and state of the art Wi-Balance approach.     

Royal Crown Shaped Polarization Insensitive Perfect Metamaterial Absorber for C-, X-, and Ku-Band Applications

This study proposed a new royal crown-shaped polarisation insensitive double negative triple band microwave range electromagnetic metamaterial absorber (MA). The primary purpose of this study is to utilise the exotic characteristics of this perfect metamaterial absorber (PMA) for microwave wireless communications. The fundamental unit cell of the proposed MA consists of two pentagonal-shaped resonators and two inverse C-shaped metallic components surrounded by a split ring resonator (SRR). The bottom thin copper deposit and upper metallic resonator surface are disjoined by an FR-4 dielectric substrate with 1.6 mm thickness. The CST MW studio, a high-frequency electromagnetic simulator has been deployed for numerical simulation of the unit cell in the frequency range of 4 to 14 GHz. In the TE mode, the offered MA structure demonstrated three different absorption peaks at 6.85 GHz (C-band), 8.87 GHz (X-band), and 12.03 GHz (Ku-band), with 96.82%, 99.24%, and 99.43% absorptivity, respectively. The electric field, magnetic field, and surface current distribution were analysed using Maxwell’s-Curl equations, whereas the angle sensitivity was investigated to comprehend the absorption mechanism of the proposed absorber. The numerical results were verified using the Ansys HFSS (high-frequency structure simulator) and ADS (advanced design system) for equivalent circuit models. Moreover, the proposed MA is polarisation and incident angle independent. Hence, the application of this MA can be extended to a great extent, including airborne radar applications, defence, and stealth-coating technology.     

The whistle and the rattle: the design of sound producing muscles

Vertebrate sound producing muscles often operate at frequencies exceeding 100 Hz, making them the fastest vertebrate muscles. Like other vertebrate muscle, these sonic muscles are "synchronous," necessitating that calcium be released and resequestered by the sarcoplasmic reticulum during each contraction cycle. Thus to operate at such high frequencies, vertebrate sonic muscles require extreme adaptations. We have found that to generate the "boatwhistle" mating call (approximately 200 Hz), the swimbladder muscle fibers of toadfish have evolved (i) a large and very fast calcium transient, (ii) a fast crossbridge detachment rate, and (iii) probably a fast kinetic off-rate of Ca2+ from troponin. The fibers of the shaker muscle of rattlesnakes have independently evolved similar traits, permitting tail rattling at approximately 90 Hz.