Preface to Special Topic: Microfluidics in cell biology and tissue engineering

In this special issue of Biomicrofluidics, a wide variety of applications of microfluidics to tissue engineering and cell biology are presented. The articles illustrate the benefits of using microfluidics for controlling the cellular environment in a precise yet high rate manner using minimum reagents. The topic is very timely and takes a stab at portraying a glimpse of what is to come in this exciting and emerging field of research.     

Neural embedding-based indices for semantic search

Traditional information retrieval techniques that primarily rely on keyword-based linking of the query and document spaces face challenges such as the vocabulary mismatch problem where relevant documents to a given query might not be retrieved simply due to the use of different terminology for describing the same concepts. As such, semantic search techniques aim to address such limitations of keyword-based retrieval models by incorporating semantic information from standard knowledge bases such as Freebase and DBpedia. The literature has already shown that while the sole consideration of semantic information might not lead to improved retrieval performance over keyword-based search, their consideration enables the retrieval of a set of relevant documents that cannot be retrieved by keyword-based methods. As such, building indices that store and provide access to semantic information during the retrieval process is important. While the process for building and querying keyword-based indices is quite well understood, the incorporation of semantic information within search indices is still an open challenge. Existing work have proposed to build one unified index encompassing both textual and semantic information or to build separate yet integrated indices for each information type but they face limitations such as increased query process time. In this paper, we propose to use neural embeddings-based representations of term, semantic entity, semantic type and documents within the same embedding space to facilitate the development of a unified search index that would consist of these four information types. We perform experiments on standard and widely used document collections including Clueweb09-B and Robust04 to evaluate our proposed indexing strategy from both effectiveness and efficiency perspectives. Based on our experiments, we find that when neural embeddings are used to build inverted indices; hence relaxing the requirement to explicitly observe the posting list key in the indexed document: (a) retrieval efficiency will increase compared to a standard inverted index, hence reduces the index size and query processing time, and (b) while retrieval efficiency, which is the main objective of an efficient indexing mechanism improves using our proposed method, retrieval effectiveness also retains competitive performance compared to the baseline in terms of retrieving a reasonable number of relevant documents from the indexed corpus.     

Recording soccer players' heart rates during matches

The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of obtaining information about the heart rate and physiological load imposed on soccer players during a game. The study was conducted on 27 soccer players, 9 each from semi-professional, university and recreational soccer teams. Players from all positions (attack, midfield and defence) were selected for the study. Each subject's heart rate was monitored during a match using a short-range radio telemetry (Sport Tester PE3000), and was sampled at 5-s intervals. The results indicate that it is possible to monitor successfully the heart rate of players with such equipment. The mean heart rate and standard deviation for each player during match play were: semi-professional players (172 +/- 12, 176 +/- 9 and 166 +/- 15 for forwards, midfielders and defenders, respectively); university players (171 +/- 13, 173 +/- 10 and 156 +/- 13 for forwards, midfielders and defenders, respectively); and recreational players (173 +/- 13, 170 +/- 12 and 162 +/- 13 for forwards, midfielders and defenders, respectively). Analysis by playing position revealed that midfield and forward players has a greater mean heart rate during a game than defensive players. To examine the suitability and accuracy of the two methods of obtaining objective data on heart rate, comparisons were made between the Sport Tester PE3000 and a standard electrocardiograph (ECG) telemetry technique. The results show that both techniques produce similar results; the former was the more convenient.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Evaluation of the remaining lateral torsional buckling capacity in corroded steel members

Corrosion is one of the main causes of deterioration in steel structures. Loss of thickness in flanges and web of corroded steel beams leads to reduction in section properties which can reduce the lateral torsional buckling capacity of the member. In this paper, thickness loss data were compiled from four samples of corrosion damaged I-beams removed from a petro-chemical plant. Visual examination of the four corroded beams showed that they were corroded uniformly. To improve the accuracy of the results, a large number of measurements for surface roughness were taken for each beam, totally 770 values to obtain the average thickness of flanges and web of each beam. The data was used to develop a corrosion decay model in order to calculate the percentage remaining lateral torsional buckling capacity of long and short span beams which are laterally unrestrained. To estimate the percentage of remaining lateral torsional buckling capacity in the corroded damaged I-beams, the readily available minimum curves for different types of universal beams in conj unction with information on the thickness loss were used. The results can be used by practicing engineers for better estimation on the service life of deteriorated steel structures.     

Allies in learning: critical insights into the importance of staff–student interactions in university education

Discussions of the quality of learning in university education often focus on curricula. Less attention is paid to the role of student–staff interactions. In a context in which a host of factors place pressure on the opportunities for students and staff to interact, it is important to use empirical insights to inform decisions about how to optimise learning. This paper uses data from a large survey of students and teaching staff in Australia to suggest that students and staff should be regarded as allies in learning. It investigates student reports to suggest that frequent interactions with those who teach them lead to higher levels of student engagement and satisfaction and lower attrition rates. The advantages do not only flow in one direction. Teaching staff gain insights into students' learning experiences, providing them with clues to better target their teaching.     

Students' perception of university teaching behaviours

The purpose of the paper is to explore Students' perception of university teaching behaviours in Pakistan. Three hundred and fifty students from the six public sector Pakistani universities returned questionnaires. Assessment framework, learning activities and instructional strategies emerged from factor analysis as common factors. Students' views on five conceptual variables were also analysed: instructional design, active teaching, learning activities, questioning styles; and assessment framework. University teaching in Pakistan was found to be driven by assessment. This is a matter of concern for all stake holders, including the administration of the universities, teachers, students and the Higher Education Commission. A teaching behaviour paradigm shift is required, switching from knowledge-oriented teaching behaviour focused on successful passage through assessment, to teaching behaviour focused upon the development of transferable skills demanded by external markets.     

Rorty's Approach to Cultural Difference: The Conflict between Solidarity and Procedural Liberalism

Although Richard Rorty's controversial thought has been the subject of many works, there has not been much discussion about his approach to cultural difference. The purpose of this article is to examine how Rorty sees cultural differences philosophically and how he deals with them politically. For him, rationality, morality and even the scope of moral responsibility towards others are defined in terms of solidarity with a particular community and ‘ethnocentrism’, rather than in terms of a universal and metaphysically derived set of criteria. It can be argued that since language, language games and values are mainly components of culture, the latter is one of the most significant communities with which Rorty is concerned, though he is not explicit about it. Nevertheless, Rorty does not think that the moral and philosophical significance of communities, particularly cultural communities, should be reflected in politics. The main argument of the article is that there is an unresolved tension in Rorty's thought between philosophical, moral and emotional attribution of significance to communities and arguably cultural communities, and a disregard for them in the political sphere. This paves the way for outlining an approach to cultural difference that is more just and even more in harmony with Rorty's own philosophy.     

Efficiency of antibiotics and gamma irradiation in eliminating Streptomyces strains isolated from paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs

Forty-six Streptomyces strains were isolated from paintings and stone surfaces from Tell Basta and Tanis tombs (80 km south-east Cairo, Egypt). Eight of these strains were selected to determine their sensitivity against 13 antibiotics. In general, high levels of resistance could be observed. Gentamycin, spiramycin and doxycycline were the most effective antibiotics against the majority of strains under study. Due to the observed antibiotic resistances, gamma irradiation was studied as a possible alternative to inhibit microbial growth. Isolated bacteria were exposed to different doses of gamma irradiation (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kGy). The growth of all Streptomyces isolates except S. canarius was completely inhibited at 25 kGy. The applied doses of gamma irradiation did not cause any observable alterations or colour changes to pigments and binding media (arabic gum, animal glue and egg-yolk) used in the paintings.     

Neural dynamic sliding mode control of nonlinear systems with both matched and mismatched uncertainties

Mismatched uncertainty and chattering appear as two challenges in sliding mode control. To overcome the problem of mismatched uncertainty, multiple sliding surfaces with virtual inputs are proposed. Accordingly, we have proposed two new methods based on designed neural observer: sliding mode control (SMC) and dynamic sliding mode control (DSMC) methods. Although, the proposed SMC can significantly cope with the mismatched uncertainties, but it suffers from chattering phenomenon. The chattering problem can be removed in DSMC, because an integrator is placed before the system. This results in increased number of the system states. This new state can be identified with the proposed neural observer. Note that in both proposed approaches, the robust performance (invariance property) of system is reserved, even in the presence of mismatch uncertainties. Then, to have a valid comparison the proposed DSMC is also designed using loop transfer recovery observer (LTRO). This comparison shows the good performance of the DSMC based neural networks. Moreover, the upper bound of uncertainties is not used in SMC and DSMC controllers and also in the neural observer and LTRO, which is important in practical implementation. Finally, comparing the equations, one can see the simplicity of DSMC in concept and also in realization.     

Observer based leader-following consensus of second-order multi-agent systems with nonuniform sampled position data

This paper deals with the leader-following consensus problem of multi-agent systems with the consideration that each agent can only transmit its position state to the neighbors at irregular discrete sampling times. In the proposed algorithm, a continuous-discrete time observer is designed for the continuous estimation of both position and velocity from the discrete position information of the neighbors. These estimated states are then used for designing a continuous control law which solves the leader-following consensus problem. Moreover, the dynamics of the leader is not fixed and can be controlled through an external input. The stability analysis has been carried out by employing the Lyapunov approach which provides sufficient conditions to tune the parameters according to the maximum allowable sampling period. The developed algorithm has been simulated and then tested on an actual multi-robot system consisting of three differential drive wheeled robots. Both simulation and hardware results validate the effectiveness of the control algorithm.