In vitro 3D cancer spheroids (tumoroids) exhibit a drug resistance profile similar to that found in solid tumors. 3D spheroid culture methods recreate more physiologically relevant microenvironments for cells. Therefo...In vitro 3D cancer spheroids (tumoroids) exhibit a drug resistance profile similar to that found in solid tumors. 3D spheroid culture methods recreate more physiologically relevant microenvironments for cells. Therefore, these models are more appropriate for cancer drug screening. We have recently developed a protocol for MCF-7 cell spheroid culture, and used this method to test the effects of different types of drugs on this estrogen-dependent breast cancer cell spheroid. Our results demonstrated that MCF-7 cells can grow spheroid in medium using a low attachment plate. We managed to grow one spheroid in each well, and the spheroid can grow over a month, the size of the spheroid can grow over a hundred times in volume. Our targeted drug experimental results suggest that estrogen sulfotransferase, steroid sulfatase, and G protein-coupled estrogen receptor may play critical roles in MCF-7 cell spheroid growth, while estrogen receptors α and β may not play an essential role in MCF-7 spheroid growth. Organoids are the miniatures of in vivo tissues and reiterate the in vivo microenvironment of a specific organ, best fit for the in vitro studies of diseases and drug development. Tumoroid, developed from cancer cell lines or patients’ tumor tissue, is the best in vitro model of in vivo tumors. 3D spheroid technology will be the best future method for drug development of cancers and other diseases. Our reported method can be developed clinically to develop personalized drugs when the patient’s tumor tissues are used to develop a spheroid culture for drug screening.展开更多
The future Wireless Cloud Networks (WCNs) are required to satisfy both extremely high levels of service resilience and security assurance (i.e., Blue criteria) by overproviding backup network resources and cryptograph...The future Wireless Cloud Networks (WCNs) are required to satisfy both extremely high levels of service resilience and security assurance (i.e., Blue criteria) by overproviding backup network resources and cryptographic protection on wireless communication respectively, as well as minimizing energy consumption (i.e., Green criteria) by switching off unnecessary resources as much as possible. There is a contradiction to satisfy both Blue and Green design criteria simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a new BlueGreen topological control scheme to leverage the wireless link connectivity for WCNs using an adaptive encryption key allocation mechanism, named as Shared Backup Path Keys (SBPK). The BlueGreen SBPK can take into account the network dependable requirements such as service resilience, security assurance and energy efficiency as a whole, so as trading off between them to find an optimal solution. Actually, this challenging problem can be modeled as a global optimization problem, where the network working and backup elements such as nodes, links, encryption keys and their energy consumption are considered as a resource, and their utilization should be minimized. The case studies confirm that there is a trade-off optimal solution between the capacity efficiency and energy efficiency to achieve the dependable WCNs.展开更多
In this paper, the design, customization and implem en tation of an integrated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system for a Semi conductor Backend Assembly environment is described. The company is one of the w ...In this paper, the design, customization and implem en tation of an integrated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system for a Semi conductor Backend Assembly environment is described. The company is one of the w orldwide market leaders in semiconductor packaging technology. The project was d riven by the company’s quest to achieve a competitive edge as a manufacturing po werhouse by providing the shortest possible cycle time with a high degree of fle xibility through the application of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) tech nology. Gintic was responsible for the Planning & Scheduling functions through o ur APS tool kit, which is called Gintic Scheduling System (GSS). Our APS system is to be integrated with the other two key software systems, namely, the Enterpr ise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES), with the C IM framework. The project was divided into four major execution phases. Phase One activities w ere focused on the gathering and analysis of the end users requirements in order to establish the ’As-Is’ situation and the wish list & the expectation of the ’To-Be’ system. Planning and Scheduling prototypes were built using GSS to iden tify the functionality gap between the existing GSS system and the ’To-Be’ mode l, in order to determine the customization effort needed. The project team perfo rmed detailed system analysis, design and development of the ’To-Be’ system dur ing Phase Two of the project. There are a total of four planning and scheduling modules, including Capacity Planning (CP), Daily Lot Release (DLR), Daily Produc tion Scheduling (DPS) and Dynamic Operation Scheduling (DOS). The detailed desig n specifications of each of the features and functionality were confirmed and ac cepted by the end users before the commencement of the development effort. The c ompleted and tested modules were delivered in stages for testing and acceptance by the end user during the Phase Three of the project. Pilot product line was se lected for live testing of the developed planning and scheduling modules, before they are proliferated to the rest of the product lines. System fine-tuning req uests were raised during the last phase of the project; the Planning & Schedulin g modules were fine-tuned to satisfy the end user requirements. This paper will conclude by highlighting the actual benefits achieved by the suc cessful deployment of the GSS system. The company has expressed their deep s atisfaction and has requested Gintic to look into the automation of the Plan ning and Scheduling functions in the Pre-Assembly and Test operations.展开更多
Earth’s ecosystems and human activities are threatened by a broad spectrum of hazards of major importance for the safety of ground infrastructures,space systems and space flight:solar activity,earthquakes,atmospheric...Earth’s ecosystems and human activities are threatened by a broad spectrum of hazards of major importance for the safety of ground infrastructures,space systems and space flight:solar activity,earthquakes,atmospheric and climatic disturbances,changes in the geomagnetic field,fluctuations of the global electric circuit.Monitoring and understanding these major hazards to better predict and mitigate their effects is one of the greatest scientific and operational challenges of the 21st century.Though diverse,these hazards share one feature in common:they all leave their characteristic imprints on a critical layer of the Earth’s environment:its ionosphere,middle and upper atmosphere(IMUA).The objective of the International Meridian Circle Program(IMCP),a major international program led by the Chines Academy of Sciences(CAS),is to deploy,integrate and operate a global network of research and monitoring instruments to use the IMUA as a screen on which to detect these imprints.In this article,we first show that the geometry required for the IMCP global observation system leads to a deployment of instruments in priority along the 120°E-60°W great meridian circle,which will cover in an optimal way both the dominant geographic and geomagnetic latitude variations,possibly complemented by a second Great Circle along the 30°E-150°W meridians to capture longitude variations.Then,starting from the Chinese Meridian Project(CMP)network and using it as a template,we give a preliminary and promising description of the instruments to be integrated and deployed along the 120°E-60°W great circle running across China,Australia and the Americas.展开更多
New Zealand government’s Rural Broadband Initiative(RBI)aims to invest 400 million New Zealand dollar to provide 99%of New Zealanders with access to 50 Mbps peak broadband speed,with the remaining 1%at 10 Mbps by 202...New Zealand government’s Rural Broadband Initiative(RBI)aims to invest 400 million New Zealand dollar to provide 99%of New Zealanders with access to 50 Mbps peak broadband speed,with the remaining 1%at 10 Mbps by 2025.By 2017,stage 1 of the RBI has been completed,and research is needed to find out the level of usage,proficiency,and productivity achieved by then.Therefore,a survey was carried out to learn whether the rural residents and their communities are making good use of the new fast broadband connection.The survey collected data from 217 rural residents from North Island,and the results indicate that about half of the interview respondents are satisfied with the new broadband speed and the reliability which is offered by RBI stage 1.However,there is about 28%of the respondents disagreed with them.The majority of the Internet uses for rural residents are information searching,reading news,online entertainment,and online banking.Besides that,only a small proportion of respondents know how to utilize the Internet in their work/business and benefit/profit from it,e.g.,using cloud technology capabilities and online marketing campaigns,etc.by then.Therefore,we argue that information and communications technologies(ICT)adoption is not only the availability of the infrastructure but also the beneficial outcomes of Internet availability.In other words,Internet skills in-depth training and education need to catch up with the infrastructure deployment,which is useful to fuel the digital productivity and inclusion for booming rural economies.The survey data-driven findings presented in this paper could serve as a reference to inform government policymakers and those who wish to create,invest,and take actions to speed up the economic and social growth of rural communities in Aotearoa New Zealand through the Internet while shifting from the Internet speed and traffic volume-driven to a more effective Internet connectivity and value-added driven rural economy.展开更多
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are produced for many different purposes, including development of therapeutic and diagnostic nanoparticles for cancer detection and treatment, drug delivery, induction of DNA d...Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are produced for many different purposes, including development of therapeutic and diagnostic nanoparticles for cancer detection and treatment, drug delivery, induction of DNA double-strand breaks, and imaging of specific cells and subcellular structures. Currently, the use of optical microscopy, an imaging technique most accessible to biology and medical patholog36 to detect TiO2 nanoparticles in cells and tissues ex vivo is limited with low detection limits, while more sensitive imaging methods (transmission electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscop~ etc.) have low throughput and technical and operational complications. Herein, we describe two in situ post- treatment labeling approaches to stain TiO2 nanoparticles taken up by the cells. The first approach utilizes fluorescent biotin and fluorescent streptavidin to label the nanoparticles before and after cellular uptake; the second approach is based on the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition, the so-called Click chemistry, for labeling and detection of azide-conjugated TiO2 nanoparticles with alkyne- conjugated fluorescent dyes such as Alexa Fluor 488. To confirm that optical fluorescence signals of these nanoparticles match the distribution of the Ti element, we used synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Titanium-specific XFM showed excellent overlap with the location of optical fluorescence detected by confocal microscopy. Therefore, future experiments with TiO2 nanoparticles may safely rely on confocal microscopy after in situ nanoparticle labeling using approaches described here.展开更多
文摘In vitro 3D cancer spheroids (tumoroids) exhibit a drug resistance profile similar to that found in solid tumors. 3D spheroid culture methods recreate more physiologically relevant microenvironments for cells. Therefore, these models are more appropriate for cancer drug screening. We have recently developed a protocol for MCF-7 cell spheroid culture, and used this method to test the effects of different types of drugs on this estrogen-dependent breast cancer cell spheroid. Our results demonstrated that MCF-7 cells can grow spheroid in medium using a low attachment plate. We managed to grow one spheroid in each well, and the spheroid can grow over a month, the size of the spheroid can grow over a hundred times in volume. Our targeted drug experimental results suggest that estrogen sulfotransferase, steroid sulfatase, and G protein-coupled estrogen receptor may play critical roles in MCF-7 cell spheroid growth, while estrogen receptors α and β may not play an essential role in MCF-7 spheroid growth. Organoids are the miniatures of in vivo tissues and reiterate the in vivo microenvironment of a specific organ, best fit for the in vitro studies of diseases and drug development. Tumoroid, developed from cancer cell lines or patients’ tumor tissue, is the best in vitro model of in vivo tumors. 3D spheroid technology will be the best future method for drug development of cancers and other diseases. Our reported method can be developed clinically to develop personalized drugs when the patient’s tumor tissues are used to develop a spheroid culture for drug screening.
文摘The future Wireless Cloud Networks (WCNs) are required to satisfy both extremely high levels of service resilience and security assurance (i.e., Blue criteria) by overproviding backup network resources and cryptographic protection on wireless communication respectively, as well as minimizing energy consumption (i.e., Green criteria) by switching off unnecessary resources as much as possible. There is a contradiction to satisfy both Blue and Green design criteria simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a new BlueGreen topological control scheme to leverage the wireless link connectivity for WCNs using an adaptive encryption key allocation mechanism, named as Shared Backup Path Keys (SBPK). The BlueGreen SBPK can take into account the network dependable requirements such as service resilience, security assurance and energy efficiency as a whole, so as trading off between them to find an optimal solution. Actually, this challenging problem can be modeled as a global optimization problem, where the network working and backup elements such as nodes, links, encryption keys and their energy consumption are considered as a resource, and their utilization should be minimized. The case studies confirm that there is a trade-off optimal solution between the capacity efficiency and energy efficiency to achieve the dependable WCNs.
文摘In this paper, the design, customization and implem en tation of an integrated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system for a Semi conductor Backend Assembly environment is described. The company is one of the w orldwide market leaders in semiconductor packaging technology. The project was d riven by the company’s quest to achieve a competitive edge as a manufacturing po werhouse by providing the shortest possible cycle time with a high degree of fle xibility through the application of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) tech nology. Gintic was responsible for the Planning & Scheduling functions through o ur APS tool kit, which is called Gintic Scheduling System (GSS). Our APS system is to be integrated with the other two key software systems, namely, the Enterpr ise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES), with the C IM framework. The project was divided into four major execution phases. Phase One activities w ere focused on the gathering and analysis of the end users requirements in order to establish the ’As-Is’ situation and the wish list & the expectation of the ’To-Be’ system. Planning and Scheduling prototypes were built using GSS to iden tify the functionality gap between the existing GSS system and the ’To-Be’ mode l, in order to determine the customization effort needed. The project team perfo rmed detailed system analysis, design and development of the ’To-Be’ system dur ing Phase Two of the project. There are a total of four planning and scheduling modules, including Capacity Planning (CP), Daily Lot Release (DLR), Daily Produc tion Scheduling (DPS) and Dynamic Operation Scheduling (DOS). The detailed desig n specifications of each of the features and functionality were confirmed and ac cepted by the end users before the commencement of the development effort. The c ompleted and tested modules were delivered in stages for testing and acceptance by the end user during the Phase Three of the project. Pilot product line was se lected for live testing of the developed planning and scheduling modules, before they are proliferated to the rest of the product lines. System fine-tuning req uests were raised during the last phase of the project; the Planning & Schedulin g modules were fine-tuned to satisfy the end user requirements. This paper will conclude by highlighting the actual benefits achieved by the suc cessful deployment of the GSS system. The company has expressed their deep s atisfaction and has requested Gintic to look into the automation of the Plan ning and Scheduling functions in the Pre-Assembly and Test operations.
基金This work was supported by the International PartnershipProgram of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.183311KYSB20200003)the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission(Grant No.Z181100002918001).
文摘Earth’s ecosystems and human activities are threatened by a broad spectrum of hazards of major importance for the safety of ground infrastructures,space systems and space flight:solar activity,earthquakes,atmospheric and climatic disturbances,changes in the geomagnetic field,fluctuations of the global electric circuit.Monitoring and understanding these major hazards to better predict and mitigate their effects is one of the greatest scientific and operational challenges of the 21st century.Though diverse,these hazards share one feature in common:they all leave their characteristic imprints on a critical layer of the Earth’s environment:its ionosphere,middle and upper atmosphere(IMUA).The objective of the International Meridian Circle Program(IMCP),a major international program led by the Chines Academy of Sciences(CAS),is to deploy,integrate and operate a global network of research and monitoring instruments to use the IMUA as a screen on which to detect these imprints.In this article,we first show that the geometry required for the IMCP global observation system leads to a deployment of instruments in priority along the 120°E-60°W great meridian circle,which will cover in an optimal way both the dominant geographic and geomagnetic latitude variations,possibly complemented by a second Great Circle along the 30°E-150°W meridians to capture longitude variations.Then,starting from the Chinese Meridian Project(CMP)network and using it as a template,we give a preliminary and promising description of the instruments to be integrated and deployed along the 120°E-60°W great circle running across China,Australia and the Americas.
基金funded by InternetNZ and the original survey report[18]was released by InternetNZ on their official home page.
文摘New Zealand government’s Rural Broadband Initiative(RBI)aims to invest 400 million New Zealand dollar to provide 99%of New Zealanders with access to 50 Mbps peak broadband speed,with the remaining 1%at 10 Mbps by 2025.By 2017,stage 1 of the RBI has been completed,and research is needed to find out the level of usage,proficiency,and productivity achieved by then.Therefore,a survey was carried out to learn whether the rural residents and their communities are making good use of the new fast broadband connection.The survey collected data from 217 rural residents from North Island,and the results indicate that about half of the interview respondents are satisfied with the new broadband speed and the reliability which is offered by RBI stage 1.However,there is about 28%of the respondents disagreed with them.The majority of the Internet uses for rural residents are information searching,reading news,online entertainment,and online banking.Besides that,only a small proportion of respondents know how to utilize the Internet in their work/business and benefit/profit from it,e.g.,using cloud technology capabilities and online marketing campaigns,etc.by then.Therefore,we argue that information and communications technologies(ICT)adoption is not only the availability of the infrastructure but also the beneficial outcomes of Internet availability.In other words,Internet skills in-depth training and education need to catch up with the infrastructure deployment,which is useful to fuel the digital productivity and inclusion for booming rural economies.The survey data-driven findings presented in this paper could serve as a reference to inform government policymakers and those who wish to create,invest,and take actions to speed up the economic and social growth of rural communities in Aotearoa New Zealand through the Internet while shifting from the Internet speed and traffic volume-driven to a more effective Internet connectivity and value-added driven rural economy.
文摘Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are produced for many different purposes, including development of therapeutic and diagnostic nanoparticles for cancer detection and treatment, drug delivery, induction of DNA double-strand breaks, and imaging of specific cells and subcellular structures. Currently, the use of optical microscopy, an imaging technique most accessible to biology and medical patholog36 to detect TiO2 nanoparticles in cells and tissues ex vivo is limited with low detection limits, while more sensitive imaging methods (transmission electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscop~ etc.) have low throughput and technical and operational complications. Herein, we describe two in situ post- treatment labeling approaches to stain TiO2 nanoparticles taken up by the cells. The first approach utilizes fluorescent biotin and fluorescent streptavidin to label the nanoparticles before and after cellular uptake; the second approach is based on the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition, the so-called Click chemistry, for labeling and detection of azide-conjugated TiO2 nanoparticles with alkyne- conjugated fluorescent dyes such as Alexa Fluor 488. To confirm that optical fluorescence signals of these nanoparticles match the distribution of the Ti element, we used synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Titanium-specific XFM showed excellent overlap with the location of optical fluorescence detected by confocal microscopy. Therefore, future experiments with TiO2 nanoparticles may safely rely on confocal microscopy after in situ nanoparticle labeling using approaches described here.