Search results for "online"

New Approach of Controlling Cardiac Alternans

2018

The alternans of the cardiac action potential duration is a pathological rhythm. It is considered to be relating to the onset of ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. It is well known that, the predictive control is among the control methods that use the chaos to stabilize the unstable fixed point. Firstly, we show that alternans (or period-2 orbit) can be suppressed temporally by the predictive control of the periodic state of the system. Secondly, we determine an estimation of the size of a restricted attraction's basin of the unstable equilibrium point representing the unstable regular rhythm stabilized by the control. This result allows the application of predictive control…

Nonlinear trade-offs allow the cooperation game to evolve from Prisoner's Dilemma to Snowdrift.

2017

[EN] The existence of cooperation, or the production of public goods, is an evolutionary problem. Cooperation is not favoured because the Prisoner s Dilemma (PD) game drives cooperators to extinction. We have re-analysed this problem by using RNA viruses to motivate a model for the evolution of cooperation. Gene products are the public goods and group size is the number of virions co-infecting the same host cell. Our results show that if the trade-off between replication and production of gene products is linear, PD is observed. However, if the trade-off is nonlinear, the viruses evolve into separate lineages of ultra-defectors and ultra-cooperators as group size is increased. The nonlinear…

Mathematical investigation of innate immune responses to lung cancer: The role of macrophages with mixed phenotypes

2021

Abstract Macrophages’ role in the evolution of solid tumours is a well accepted fact, with the M1-like macrophages having an anti-tumour role and the M2-like macrophages having a pro-tumour role. Despite the fact that some clinical studies on lung tumours have emphasised also the presence of macrophages with mixed M1 and M2 phenotypes in addition to macrophages with distinct phenotypes, the majority of studies still use the distinct M1-M2 classification to predict the evolution of tumours and patient survival. In this theoretical study we use a mathematical modelling and computational approach to investigate the role of macrophages with mixed phenotype on growth/control/elimination of lung …

Collective Cell Migration in a Fibrous Environment: A Hybrid Multiscale Modelling Approach

2021

International audience; The specific structure of the extracellular matrix (ECM), and in particular the density and orientation of collagen fibres, plays an important role in the evolution of solid cancers. While many experimental studies discussed the role of ECM in individual and collective cell migration, there are still unanswered questions about the impact of nonlocal cell sensing of other cells on the overall shape of tumour aggregation and its migration type. There are also unanswered questions about the migration and spread of tumour that arises at the boundary between different tissues with different collagen fibre orientations. To address these questions, in this study we develop …

Purchase intention and purchase behavior online: A cross-cultural approach

2020

This article aims to explore the key factors on e-commerce adoption from elements of social psychology, such as attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, ease of use and perceived usefulness, introducing the study of non-traditional elements like buying impulse, compatibility, and self-efficacy in online stores, contrasting relationships in a cross-cultural environment. The proposed model is tested from quantitative research with a sample of 584 online consumers in Colombia and Spain. The following statistical analyses were conducted: CFA, structural equations, measurement instrument invariance, and multi-group analysis with EQS 6.3 software. The study reveals that self-effi…

Observation of elastic anisotropy in strained optical nanofibers using Brillouin spectroscopy

2019

Optical nanofibers (ONFs) are excellent nanophotonic platforms for many applications such as optical sensing, quantum photonics, and nonlinear optics, due to both tight optical confinement and their evanescent field. From an acoustic viewpoint, it has recently been reported the observation of a new class of Brillouin acoustic resonances in optical nanofibers, including hybrid shear/longitudinal acoustic waves (HAWs) and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) [1–2]. It has been later shown that, under axial tensile strain, the Brillouin frequency shifts (BFS) of these elastic resonances are fundamentally different from that of standard optical fibers [3]. This is principally due to the hybrid nature …

Multisite field potential recordings and analysis of the impulse propagation pattern in cardiac cells culture

2007

To provide further insights into the impulse propagation between cardiac myocytes, we performed multiparametric studies of excitation spread with cellular resolution in confluent monolayers of cultured cardiomyocytes (CM). Simultaneous paired intracellular recordings of action potentials in two individual CM revealed slight periodic spontaneous advances/delays in the interspike time lag. Multisite field potential recordings performed with microelectrode arrays (MEA) confirmed random and iterative cycle-to-cycle changes in the direction of excitation spread. These local spontaneous variations in the cardiac impulse propagation pathways may be a safety process protecting against microscopical…

2021

AbstractAs the global health crisis unfolded, many academic conferences moved online in 2020. This move has been hailed as a positive step towards inclusivity in its attenuation of economic, physical, and legal barriers and effectively enabled many individuals from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented to join and participate. A number of studies have outlined how moving online made it possible to gather a more global community and has increased opportunities for individuals with various constraints, e.g., caregiving responsibilities.Yet, the mere existence of online conferences is no guarantee that everyone can attend and participate meaningfully. In fact, many elements of a…

Oxidative stability of virgin olive oil: evaluation and prediction with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS).

2019

Background An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was employed to predict the oxidative stability of virgin olive oil (VOO) during storage as a function of time, storage temperature, total polyphenol, α-tocopherol, fatty acid profile, ultraviolet (UV) extinction coefficient (K268 ), and diacylglycerols (DAGs). Results The mean total quantities of polyphenols and DAGs were 1.1 and 1.9 times lower in VOOs stored at 25 °C than in the initial samples, and the mean total quantities of polyphenols and DAGs were 1.3 and 2.26 times lower in VOOs stored at 37 °C than in the initial samples, respectively. In a single sample, α-tocopherol was reduced by between 0.52 and 0.91 times during sto…

Quality Determinants and Effect of Therapeutic Properties in Honey Consumption. An Exploratory Study on Italian Consumers

2019

Nowadays, more and more consumers show a growing interest in healthy food products that may help to maintain or improve human health, such as honey. Honey has always represented a fundamental component of traditional medicine in many world cultures. However, only thanks to several studies carried out in the last years, its use is considered as an alternative and complementary medicine, namely apitherapy. In this way, honey is recognized increasingly by consumers not only as a natural alternative to refined sugar but as healthy food, as shown by determining an increase of its consumption worldwide. This study aims to explore the consumers&rsquo