Stereo Matching with Transparency and Matting

This paper formulates and solves a new variant of the stereo correspondence problem: simultaneously recovering the disparities, true colors, and opacities of visible surface elements. This problem arises in newer applications of stereo reconstruction, such as view interpolation and the layering of real imagery with synthetic graphics for special effects and virtual studio applications. While this problem is intrinsically more difficult than traditional stereo correspondence, where only the disparities are being recovered, it provides a principled way of dealing with commonly occurring problems such as occlusions and the handling of mixed (foreground/background) pixels near depth discontinuities. It also provides a novel means for separating foreground and background objects (matting), without the use of a special blue screen. We formulate the problem as the recovery of colors and opacities in a generalized 3D (x, y, d) disparity space, and solve the problem using a combination of initial evidence aggregation followed by iterative energy minimization.     

False cyanide formation during drinking water sample preservation and storage

Carefully controlled bench-scale and on-site experiments demonstrated that cyanide can form in the treated drinking water sample container during preservation and storage. In the bench-scale experiment, treated tap water samples were collected on 20 days over six months. The tap water samples were split and some of the splits were spiked with formaldehyde, a known ozone disinfection byproduct, held for three hours and tested for cyanide. Then they were preserved and held for 2-10 days. None of the 69 initial samples had cyanide detects, but 22 of 49 formaldehyde-spiked samples and three of the 20 unspiked samples developed detectable cyanide concentrations during storage. In the on-site experiment, six samples were collected at a finished water tap at an ozone/chloramination treatment plant over three days. Each sample was split, and a portion was spiked with formaldehyde. Each portion was analyzed in triplicate after three different procedures: (1) immediately distilled on-site, (2) stabilized on-site in a distillation tube and distilled back at the laboratory several days later, or (3) following the conventional procedure of preserving the sample to pH > 12 in a container and distilling the sample back at the laboratory. Only the samples handled in the conventional way had detectable amounts of cyanide. Both experiments demonstrated that cyanide can form during conventional preservation and storage, and it is likely that the cyanide detected for this treated drinking water was formed in the sample container as a consequence of the preservation and storage conditions.     

Citizen (dis)engagement during assessment of sports mega-events: the case of the 2013 Universiade in Kazan,Russia

Based on the environmental case of the 2013 Universiade in Kazan, this research highlights that despite the variety of tools employed for citizen engagement, the key procedures can be claimed as ‘false dialogues’. The study identifies the key factors for such a discrepancy. The main external barriers for post-socialist Russian cities include the limited time frame for building sports venues, poor execution of environmental legislation, and complicated bureaucratic procedures maintained by governmental actors. The internal factors are polarized positions in the community due to the complexity of the project, the gap between the citizen environmental concern and actual engagement in environmentally friendly behaviours associated with the lack of the environmental knowledge, time, and financial resources, lack of knowledge of the environmental impact assessment process, and dominance of the material and paternalistic values and low trust in government proponents.     

Thermodynamic Swings: How Ideal Complex of Cas9–RNA/DNA Forms

Most processes of the recognition and formation of specific complexes in living systems begin with collisions in solutions or quasi-solutions. Then, the thermodynamic regulation of complex formation and fine tuning of complexes come into play. Precise regulation is very important in all cellular processes, including genome editing using the CRISPR–Cas9 tool. The Cas9 endonuclease is an essential component of the CRISPR–Cas-based genome editing systems. The attainment of high-specificity and -efficiency Cas9 during targeted DNA cleavage is the main problem that limits the practical application of the CRISPR–Cas9 system. In this study, we analyzed the thermodynamics of interaction of a complex’s components of Cas9–RNA/DNA through experimental and computer simulation methods. We found that there is a small energetic preference during Cas9–RNA/DNA formation from the Cas9–RNA and DNA/DNA duplex. The small difference in binding energy is relevant for biological interactions and could be part of the sequence-specific recognition of double-stranded DNA by the CRISPR–Cas9 system.     

Bioenergetic and Metabolic Impairments in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes Generated from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in DMD patients. We tested the hypothesis that DCM is caused by metabolic impairments by employing induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) generated from four DMD patients; an adult male, an adult female, a 7-year-old (7y) male and a 13-year-old (13y) male, all compared to two healthy volunteers. To test the hypothesis, we measured the bioenergetics, metabolomics, electrophysiology, mitochondrial morphology and mitochondrial activity of CMs, using respirometry, LC–MS, patch clamp, electron microscopy (EM) and confocal microscopy methods. We found that: (1) adult DMD CMs exhibited impaired energy metabolism and abnormal mitochondrial structure and function. (2) The 7y CMs demonstrated arrhythmia-free spontaneous firing along with “healthy-like” metabolic status, normal mitochondrial morphology and activity. In contrast, the 13y CMs were mildly arrhythmogenic and showed adult DMD-like bioenergetics deficiencies. (3) In DMD adult CMs, mitochondrial activities were attenuated by 45–48%, whereas the 7y CM activity was similar to that of healthy CMs. (4) In DMD CMs, but not in 7y CMs, there was a 75% decrease in the mitochondrial ATP production rate compared to healthy iPSC-CMs. In summary, DMD iPSC-CMs exhibit bioenergetic and metabolic impairments that are associated with rhythm disturbances corresponding to the patient’s phenotype, thereby constituting novel targets for alleviating cardiomyopathy in DMD patients.     

Ontogenetic Changes in the Expression of the Lin28 Protein in the Rat Hypothalamic Tuberal Nuclei

The hypothalamus is a primary regulator of homeostasis, biological rhythms and adaptation to different environment factors. It also participates in the aging regulation. The expression of neurons containing Lin28 was studied by immunohistochemistry in male rats aged 2, 6, 12, and 24 months in the tuberal region of the rat hypothalamus. We have shown for the first time the presence of Lin28-immunoreactive (IR) neurons in the ventromedial nucleus (VMH) and their absence in the dorsomedial and arcuate nuclei in all studied animals. With aging, the percentage of Lin28-IR neurons increases from 37 ± 4.7 in 2-month-old rat until 76 ± 4.6 in 6-month-old and further decreases to 41 ± 7.3 in 12-month-old rat and 28 ± 5.5 in 24-month-old rats. Many VMH Lin28-IR neurons colocalized components of insulin signaling including mTOR, Raptor, PI3K and Akt. The percentage of Lin28/Akt-IR neurons was maximal in 6-month-old and 1-year-old rats compared to 2-month-old and 2-year-old animals. The proportion of Lin28/PI3K-IR neurons significantly increased from 77 ± 1.2 in 2-month-old rat until 99 ± 0.3 in 24-month-old rats and 96–99% of Lin28-IR neurons colocalized mTOR and mTORC1 component Raptor without statistically significant differences in all studied age groups. Thus, Lin28 expresses only in the VMH neurons of the tuberal nuclei of the hypothalamus and the Lin 28 expression changes during the development together with the components of PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling.     

Adaptive filters cascade applied to a frequency identification improvement problem

Problem of frequency identification performance improvement for a single‐tone sinusoidal signal is solved via construction of an adaptive filters cascade. The cascade consists of adaptive band‐pass filters tuned by estimates of the frequency provided by a given identification algorithm. Stability of the cascade is studied and boundedness of trajectories is proven with Lyapunov analysis under certain assumption on identification algorithm. Numerical simulations are given illustrating improved identification performance for different identification algorithms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines in the Context of NK Cell–Trophoblast Interactions

During pregnancy, uterine NK cells interact with trophoblast cells. In addition to contact interactions, uterine NK cells are influenced by cytokines, which are secreted by the cells of the decidua microenvironment. Cytokines can affect the phenotypic characteristics of NK cells and change their functional activity. An imbalance of pro- and anti-inflammatory signals can lead to the development of reproductive pathology. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of cytokines on NK cells in the presence of trophoblast cells in an in vitro model. We used TNFα, IFNγ, TGFβ and IL-10; the NK-92 cell line; and peripheral blood NK cells (pNKs) from healthy, non-pregnant women. For trophoblast cells, the JEG-3 cell line was used. In the monoculture of NK-92 cells, TNFα caused a decrease in CD56 expression. In the coculture of NK cells with JEG-3 cells, TNFα increased the expression of NKG2C and NKG2A by NK-92 cells. Under the influence of TGFβ, the expression of CD56 increased and the expression of NKp30 decreased in the monoculture. After the preliminary cultivation of NK-92 cells in the presence of TGFβ, their cytotoxicity increased. In the case of adding TGFβ to the PBMC culture, as well as coculturing PBMCs and JEG-3 cells, the expression of CD56 and NKp44 by pNK cells was reduced. The differences in the effects of TGFβ in the model using NK-92 cells and pNK cells may be associated with the possible influence of monocytes or other lymphoid cells from the mononuclear fraction.     

Combinatorial approach to the preparation and characterization of catalysts for biomass steam reforming into syngas

A number of catalysts based on Al₂O₃ loaded with doped Ce-Zr mixed oxides and different active components (Cu, Cu-Ni, Ru, Pt, etc.) were synthesized via standard wet impregnation method using the robotic workstation. Ethanol (EtOH) was taken as a model compound of bio-oil and steam reforming of ethanol (ESR)—as a model reaction. Activity screening experiments performed at 600–700 °C in 0.5 vol.% C₂H₅OH + 2.5 vol.% H₂O + 97 vol.% He mixture revealed that the most effective catalyst composition is Ru/Ce_0.4Zr_0.4Sm_0.2/Al₂O₃. Catalytic activity investigations at high reagent concentrations (10 vol.% C₂H₅OH + 40 vol.% H₂O + 50 vol.% N₂) at 650–800 °C confirmed this fact, revealing also that at high temperatures the activity of Cu-Ni catalysts is comparable with that of Ru-containing catalyst.     

Thixomolded AZ91D and MRI153M magnesium alloys and their enhanced corrosion resistance

AZ91D and MRI153M alloys were produced by thixomolding. Their corrosion resistance is significantly higher than that of similar materials produced by ingot or die-casting. A corrosion rate smaller than 0.2 mm/year in 5 wt% NaCl solution is measured for the thixomolded AZ91D alloy. The corrosion behaviour was evaluated using immersion tests, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, hydrogen evolution, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, and atomic emission spectroelectrochemistry. A bimodal microstructure is observed for both alloys, with the presence of coarse primary α-Mg grains, fine secondary α-Mg grains, β-phase, and other phases with a minor volume fraction. The amount of coarse primary α-Mg is significantly higher for the AZ91D compared with the MRI153M. The network of β-phase around the fine secondary α-Mg grains is better established in the thixomolded AZ91D alloy. A combination of several factors such as the ratio of primary to secondary α-Mg grains, localised corrosion or barrier effect due to other phases, as well as regions of preferential dissolution of the α-Mg due to chemical segregation, are thought to be responsible for the high corrosion resistance exhibited by the thixomolded AZ91D and MRI153M.