Assessing gloss under diffuse and specular lighting

The visual sensation of gloss is built on cues deduced from the interaction between light, surfaces sunder evaluation, and surrounding conditions. Gloss is a second-order attribute of the visual appearance, this means that its perception is not directly encoded on biological sensors but constructed from the global scene in the field of view of the observer. It is then a complex quantity to measure. When most studies based on simulated samples stress on the importance of realistic observation conditions, we measure the effect of environment complexity over perception of real samples. We test two different lighting conditions: either diffuse or a combination of diffuse and collimated lighting in order to approach natural complex illumination patterns. Under both lighting conditions, we test two environments: a standard black light booth, designed according to the ASTM D4449, and a realistic office cubicle. Samples consist in a seven-level gloss scale ranging from full matt to high gloss. These are presented to observers through pair comparison protocol, according to a maximum likelihood difference scaling algorithm. Our results confirm that gloss constancy is maintained even if the convergence of illumination varies. We however measure that the constancy is lost for matt samples perception.     

Hydrogen and power co-generation based on coal and biomass/solid wastes co-gasification with carbon capture and storage

This paper investigates the potential use of renewable energy sources (various sorts of biomass) and solid wastes (municipal wastes, sewage sludge, meat and bone meal etc.) in a co-gasification process with coal to co-generate hydrogen and electricity with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The paper underlines one of the main advantages of gasification technology, namely the possibility to process lower grade fuels (lower grade coals, renewable energy sources, solid wastes etc.), which are more widely available than the high grade coals normally used in normal power plants, this fact contributing to the improvement of energy security supply. Based on a proposed plant concept that generates 400–500 MW net electricity with a flexible output of 0–200 MW_th hydrogen and a carbon capture rate of at least 90%, the paper develops fuel selection criteria for coal blending with various alternative fuels for optimizing plant performance e.g. oxygen consumption, cold gas efficiency, hydrogen production and overall energy efficiency. The key plant performance indicators were calculated for a number of case studies through process flow simulations (ChemCAD).     

Human primary osteoblast behaviour on microrough zirconia-toughened alumina and on selectively etched microrough zirconia-toughened alumina

Hip arthroplasty cementless acetabular components require excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, low friction and good osseointegration with surrounding bone tissue. Zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) fulfils these demands but requires combination with a rough metal shell for adequate osseointegration. Surface modifications of ZTA could allow a metal-free solution, thus preserving the bone stock for an eventual revision surgery. In this study, selective chemical etching proved to be an innovative method for the introduction of nano-features on micro-rough surfaces obtained by injection moulding. Results suggest that micro-roughness, fluorine enrichment and nano-porosity at the surface of ZTA play a synergistic role on human osteoblast (hOb) maturation. Among the tested groups, hydrofluoric acid etched “medium” roughness (Sa = 330 nm) ZTA showed the highest and/or earliest ALP expression at both the protein and gene level, while microroughness alone induced only minor effects on hOb maturation on ZTA.     

A Recent Insight Regarding the Phytochemistry and Bioactivity of Origanum vulgare L. Essential Oil

Origanum vulgare L. is a widely used aromatic plant, especially due to its content in essential oil, mainly rich in carvacrol and thymol. The ethnopharmacological uses of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil (OEO) comprise digestive, respiratory, or dermatological disorders. The review focuses on the increasing number of recent studies investigating several biological activities of OEO. The bioactivities are in tight relation to the phytochemical profile of the essential oil, and also depend on taxonomic, climatic, and geographical characteristics of the plant material. The antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, skin disorders beneficial effects, next to antihyperglycemic and anti-Alzheimer activities were reported and confirmed in multiple studies. Moreover, recent studies indicate a positive impact on skin disorders of OEO formulated as nanocarrier systems in order to improve its bioavailability and, thus, enhancing its therapeutic benefits. The review brings an up to date regarding the phytochemistry and bioactivity of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil, underlining also the most successful pharmaceutical formulation used for skin disorders.     

Enhanced Suppression of Immune Cells In Vitro by MSC Overexpressing FasL

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) display several mechanisms of action that may be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. One of their most attractive features is their immunomodulatory activity that has been extensively characterized both in vitro and in vivo. While this activity has proven to be very efficient, it is transient. We aimed to enhance it by transforming MSC to overexpress a first apoptosis signal (Fas) ligand (FasL). In this study, our goal was to induce FasL overexpression through adenoviral transduction in MSC to improve their immunomodulatory activity. We characterized the impact of FasL overexpression on the morphology, proliferation, viability, phenotype, multilineage differentiation potential and immunomodulation of MSC. Moreover, we determined their suppressive properties in mixed reactions with A20 cells, as well as with stimulated splenocytes. Our findings demonstrate that FasL-overexpressing MSC exhibit improved immunosuppressive properties, while maintaining their MSC-characteristic features. In conclusion, we establish, in a proof-of-concept set-up, that FasL-overexpressing MSC represent good candidates for therapeutic intervention targeted at autoimmune disorders.     

Geographically weighted evidence combination approaches for combining discordant and inconsistent volunteered geographical information

There is much interest in being able to combine crowdsourced data. One of the critical issues in information sciences is how to combine data or information that are discordant or inconsistent in some way. Many previous approaches have taken a majority rules approach under the assumption that most people are correct most of the time. This paper analyses crowdsourced land cover data generated by the Geo-Wiki initiative in order to infer the land cover present at locations on a 50 km grid. It compares four evidence combination approaches (Dempster-Shafer, Bayes, Fuzzy Sets and Possibility) applied under a geographically weighted kernel with the geographically weighted average approach applied in many current Geo-Wiki analyses. A geographically weighted approach uses a moving kernel under which local analyses are undertaken. The contribution (or salience) of each data point to the analysis is weighted by its distance to the kernel centre, reflecting Tobler’s 1^st law of geography. A series of analyses were undertaken using different kernel sizes (or bandwidths). Each of the geographically weighted evidence combination methods generated spatially distributed measures of belief in hypotheses associated with the presence of individual land cover classes at each location on the grid. These were compared with GlobCover, a global land cover product. The results from the geographically weighted average approach in general had higher correspondence with the reference data and this increased with bandwidth. However, for some classes other evidence combination approaches had higher correspondences possibly because of greater ambiguity over class conceptualisations and / or lower densities of crowdsourced data. The outputs also allowed the beliefs in each class to be mapped. The differences in the soft and the crisp maps are clearly associated with the logics of each evidence combination approach and of course the different questions that they ask of the data. The results show that discordant data can be combined (rather than being removed from analysis) and that data integrated in this way can be parameterised by different measures of belief uncertainty. The discussion highlights a number of critical areas for future research.     

Measurement of weak electric currents in copper wire phantoms using MRI: influence of susceptibility enhancement

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based methods for the direct detection of neuronal currents is a topic of intense investigation. Much experimental work has been carried out with the express aim of establishing detection thresholds and sensitivity to flowing currents. However, in most of these experiments, magnetic susceptibility enhancement was ignored. In this work, we present results that show the influence of a susceptibility artefact on the detection threshold and sensitivity. For this purpose, a novel phantom, consisting of a water-filled cylinder with two wires of different materials connected in series, was constructed. Magnitude MR images were acquired from a single slice using a gradient-echo echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence. The data show that the time course of the detected MR signal magnitude correlates very well with the waveform of the input current. The effect of the susceptibility artefacts arising from the two different wires was examined by comparing the magnitudes of the MR signals at different voxel locations. Our results indicate the following: (1) MR signal enhancement arising from the magnetic susceptibility effect influences the detection sensitivity of weak current; (2) the detection threshold and sensitivity are phantom-wire dependent; (3) sub-μ A electric current detection in a phantom is possible on a 1.5-T MR scanner in the presence of susceptibility enhancement.     

On the design of hybrid bio-inspired meta-heuristics for complex multiattribute vehicle routing problems

This paper addresses a multiattribute vehicle routing problem, the rich vehicle routing problem, with time constraints, heterogeneous fleet, multiple depots, multiple routes, and incompatibilities of goods. Four different approaches are presented and applied to 15 real datasets. They are based on two meta-heuristics, ant colony optimization (ACO) and genetic algorithm (GA), that are applied in their standard formulation and combined as hybrid meta-heuristics to solve the problem. As such ACO-GA is a hybrid meta-heuristic using ACO as main approach and GA as local search. GA-ACO is a memetic algorithm using GA as main approach and ACO as local search. The results regarding quality and computation time are compared with two commercial tools currently used to solve the problem. Considering the number of customers served, one of the tools and the ACO-GA approach outperforms the others. Considering the cost, ACO, GA, and GA-ACO provide better results. Regarding computation time, GA and GA-ACO have been found the most competitive among the benchmark.     

Treatment with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Overexpressing Fas-Ligand Ameliorates Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease in Mice

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) has the potential to cure malignant and non-malignant hematological disorders, but because of the serious side effects of this intervention its applications are limited to a restricted number of diseases. Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is the most frequent complication and the leading cause of mortality and morbidity following allo-HCT. It results from the attack of the transplanted T cells from the graft against the cells of the recipient. There is no clear treatment for this severe complication. Due to their immunomodulatory properties, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have been proposed to treat GvHD, but the results did not meet expectations. We have previously showed that the immunomodulatory effect of the MSC was significantly enhanced through adenoviral-mediated overexpression of FasL. In this study, we have tested the properties of FasL-overexpressing MSC in vivo, in a mouse model for acute GvHD. We found that treatment with FasL-overexpressing MSC delayed the onset of the disease and increased survival of the mice.     

Friends with Benefits: Chemokines,Glioblastoma-Associated Microglia/Macrophages,and Tumor Microenvironment

Glioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor and has the greatest prevalence of all brain tumors. Treatment resistance and tumor recurrence in GBM are mostly explained by considerable alterations within the tumor microenvironment, as well as extraordinary cellular and molecular heterogeneity. Soluble factors, extracellular matrix components, tissue-resident cell types, resident or newly recruited immune cells together make up the GBM microenvironment. Regardless of many immune cells, a profound state of tumor immunosuppression is supported and developed, posing a considerable hurdle to cancer cells’ immune-mediated destruction. Several studies have suggested that various GBM subtypes present different modifications in their microenvironment, although the importance of the microenvironment in treatment response has yet to be determined. Understanding the microenvironment and how it changes after therapies is critical because it can influence the remaining invasive GSCs and lead to recurrence. This review article sheds light on the various components of the GBM microenvironment and their roles in tumoral development, as well as immune-related biological processes that support the interconnection/interrelationship between different cell types. Also, we summarize the current understanding of the modulation of soluble factors and highlight the dysregulated inflammatory chemokine/specific receptors cascades/networks and their significance in tumorigenesis, cancer-related inflammation, and metastasis.