Long Distance Wireless Networking for Site - Office Data Communications

Effective data communications between the project site and decision making office can be critical for the success of a construction project. It allows convenient access to centrally stored information and allows centrally located decision makers to remotely monitor the site and collect data in real-time. However, high bandwidth, flexible data communication networks, such as wired local area networks, can often be time-consuming and costly to deploy for such purposes especially when project sites (dams, highways, etc.) are located in rural, undeveloped areas where networking infrastructure is not available. In such construction sites, wireless networking could reliably link the construction site and the decision-making office. This paper presents a case study on long-distance, site – office wireless data communications. The purpose was to investigate the capability of wireless technology in exchanging construction data in a fast and efficient manner and in allowing site personnel to interact and share knowledge and data with the office staff. This study took place at the University of Michigan’s campus where performance, reliability, and cost/benefit tests were performed. The indoor and outdoor tests performed demonstrated the suitability of this technology for office-site data communications and exposed the need for more research to further improve the reliability and data handling of this technology.

MRI features of cellular angiomyofibroma with pathologic correlation.

Within the spectrum of extratesticular mesenchymal tumors in the scrotum and perineum lies cellular angiofibroma, also known as angiomyofibroblastoma-like tumor, a rare lesion originally described to almost exclusively occur in the vulva, perineum, and pelvis of women. We report a case of this tumor, with an adjacent scrotal lipoma, occurring in a 60-year-old male who presented to our department with a firm palpable scrotal mass. To our knowledge, the MRI findings of this entity have yet to be described in the radiological literature. We present the MRI features of cellular angiofibroma that are consistent with the pathological characteristics of this entity-a benign cellular and fibrous tumor with prominent vascularity.

Nonautonomous contact guidance signaling during collective cell migration.

Directed migration of groups of cells is a critical aspect of tissue morphogenesis that ensures proper tissue organization and, consequently, function. Cells moving in groups, unlike single cells, must coordinate their migratory behavior to maintain tissue integrity. During directed migration, cells are guided by a combination of mechanical and chemical cues presented by neighboring cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. One important class of signals that guide cell migration includes topographic cues. Although the contact guidance response of individual cells to topographic cues has been extensively characterized, little is known about the response of groups of cells to topographic cues, the impact of such cues on cell-cell coordination within groups, and the transmission of nonautonomous contact guidance information between neighboring cells. Here, we explore these phenomena by quantifying the migratory response of confluent monolayers of epithelial and fibroblast cells to contact guidance cues provided by grooved topography. We show that, in both sparse clusters and confluent sheets, individual cells are contact-guided by grooves and show more coordinated behavior on grooved versus flat substrates. Furthermore, we demonstrate both in vitro and in silico that the guidance signal provided by a groove can propagate between neighboring cells in a confluent monolayer, and that the distance over which signal propagation occurs is not significantly influenced by the strength of cell-cell junctions but is an emergent property, similar to cellular streaming, triggered by mechanical exclusion interactions within the collective system.