bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Female Sex Hormones on Susceptibility to HSV-2 in Vaginal Cells Grown in Air-Liquid Interface
Authors: Lee Yung , Dizzell Sara , Leung Vivian , Nazli Aisha , Zahoor Muhammad , Fichorova Raina , Kaushic Charu
Published: August 2016

The lower female reproductive tract (FRT) is comprised of the cervix and vagina, surfaces that are continuously exposed to a variety of commensal and pathogenic organisms. Sexually transmitted viruses, such as herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), have to traverse the mucosal epithelial lining of the FRT to establish infection. The majority of current culture systems that model the host-pathogen interactions in the mucosal epithelium have limitations in simulating physiological conditions as they employ a liquid-liquid interface (LLI), in which both apical and basolateral surfaces are submerged in growth medium. We designed the current study to simulate in vivo conditions by growing an immortalized vaginal epithelial cell line (Vk2/E6E7) in culture with an air-liquid interface (ALI) and examined the effects of female sex hormones on their growth, differentiation, and susceptibility to HSV-2 under these conditions, in comparison to LLI cultures. ALI conditions induced Vk2/E6E7 cells to grow into multi-layered cultures compared to the monolayers present in LLI conditions. Vk2 cells in ALI showed higher production of cytokeratin in the presence of estradiol (E2), compared to cells grown in progesterone (P4). Cells grown under ALI conditions were exposed to HSV-2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the highest infection and replication was observed in the presence of P4. Altogether, this study suggests that ALI cultures more closely simulate the in vivo conditions of the FRT compared to the conventional LLI cultures. Furthermore, under these conditions P4 was found to confer higher susceptibility to HSV-2 infection in vaginal cells. The vaginal ALI culture system offers a better alternative to study host-pathogen interactions.
Foamy Virus Protein—Nucleic Acid Interactions during Particle Morphogenesis
Authors: Hamann Martin , Lindemann Dirk
Published: August 2016

Compared with orthoretroviruses, our understanding of the molecular and cellular replication mechanism of foamy viruses (FVs), a subfamily of retroviruses, is less advanced. The FV replication cycle differs in several key aspects from orthoretroviruses, which leaves established retroviral models debatable for FVs. Here, we review the general aspect of the FV protein-nucleic acid interactions during virus morphogenesis. We provide a summary of the current knowledge of the FV genome structure and essential sequence motifs required for RNA encapsidation as well as Gag and Pol binding in combination with details about the Gag and Pol biosynthesis. This leads us to address open questions in FV RNA engagement, binding and packaging. Based on recent findings, we propose to shift the point of view from individual glycine-arginine-rich motifs having functions in RNA interactions towards envisioning the FV Gag C-terminus as a general RNA binding protein module. We encourage further investigating a potential new retroviral RNA packaging mechanism, which seems more complex in terms of the components that need to be gathered to form an infectious particle. Additional molecular insights into retroviral protein-nucleic acid interactions help us to develop safer, more specific and more efficient vectors in an era of booming genome engineering and gene therapy approaches.
A Worksite Health Education Workshop as Empowerment Intervention for Health Promotion in the National Research Centre of Egypt
Authors: Amer Nagat Mohamed , Monir Zeinab M. , Saleh Mai Sabry , Mahdy-Abdallah Heba , Hafez Salwa Farouk
Published: August 2016

AIM: The study aimed to assess worksite health education workshops as a successful tool for health promotion of employees.MATERIAL AND METHODS: A one day workshop was held for individuals engaged in research activities in the National research Centre of Egypt at the worksite. Its main objective was to highlight the nature, causes, symptoms and management of job stress. Participants were asked to fill a personality assessment sheet, a self-reported questionnaire for job satisfaction. Other questionnaires for assessment of falsification of type and some socio-demographic data were filled by the attendants. A concise survey was introduced at the end of the workshop for feedback collection.RESULTS: Attendants of the workshop were 36 subjects mainly females (94.4%). Mean age was 40.5 years with 63.9% of participants at their postdoctoral studies stage. Participants were at midway in the scale of job satisfaction (3.3) and did not suffer from falsification (0.3). The feedback survey score (11.5) showed great acceptance for the intervention. Special interest in the topic of stress was reported by 35.1% of attendants who found it the best item in the workshop and the interactive manipulation came next as declared by 18.9% of the participants. CONCLUSION: Worksite health education workshops seem to be a successful practice for empowerment in the Egyptian workplace.
A new spider species, Heser stoevi sp. nov., from Turkmenistan (Araneae: Gnaphosidae)
Authors: Deltshev Christo
Published: August 2016

The genus Heser (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) belongs to the Zelotes group, and is currently known to comprise 10 species distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The type species is Heser malefactor Tuneva, 2004 from Kazakhstan.

A new spider species, Heser stoevi sp. nov. (male and female) found in Koytendag Mountains, southeastern Turkmenistan is described and illustrated. It is morphologically close to H. aradensis (Levy, 1998) from Israel but can be readily distinguished by the longer embolus, the smaller and flattened conductor, the lack of retrolateral tibial apophysis, all this coupled with very distinctive female copulatory organs. The new species was found under stones in arid grassland habitats.
Garantir l’accès à l’électricité en Afrique : les défis à relever en matière de financement et de réformes
Authors: Eberhard Anton
Published: August 2016

L’Afrique subsaharienne est confrontée à des problèmes d’alimentation électrique chroniques, avec notamment une capacité de production insuffisante. Le manque d’investissements en faveur de la capacité de production d’électricité est au cœur de la crise énergétique en Afrique. La plupart des gouvernements africains ne sont pas en mesure de financer leurs besoins énergétiques et la majorité des services publics ne disposent pas d’une notation incitative et sont incapables de lever des crédits suffisants à un taux abordable. L’APD et les IFD n’ont que partiellement comblé ce déficit de financement. Aujourd’hui, les sources de financement qui augmentent le plus rapidement sont les sources privées et les financements chinois.
Les théories de l’investissement et la prise en compte de la matérialité dans les situations d’apprentissage des langues
Authors: Dagenais Diane , Toohey Kelleen
Published: August 2016

Pour illustrer comment les théories de la matérialité (Barad, 2007 ; Ingold, 2011 ; Latour, 2005) informent nos recherches plus récentes, nous présentons un bref sommaire de quelques résultats de deux projets de production vidéo menés auprès d’enfants bilingues et plurilingues en situation d’apprentissage de l’anglais. Nous proposons que l’analyse des réseaux formés par les outils de production, les enfants et les autres participants humains et matériels rende visible les dynamiques du monde sociomatériel qui co-construisent la situation d’apprentissage. En observant que celles-ci peuvent être contraignantes, nous soulignons comment elles peuvent aussi, dans certains cas, faciliter la mobilisation des ressources plurilingues et multimodales, l’adoption d’une identité désirable chez l’apprenant, et l’investissement dans la situation d’apprentissage.
L’acculturation linguistique (français/langue régionale) des enfants de migrants en Corse : représentations et dimension socio-identitaire
Authors: Géa Jean-Michel
Published: August 2016

Nous proposons dans cet article d’évaluer les bénéfices de l’offre éducative en langue régionale auprès des populations migrantes installées en Corse, en particulier portugaise et marocaine. Présenté comme un facteur de mixité sociale à même de promouvoir le dialogue interculturel, l’enseignement du corse (aujourd’hui généralisé à toutes les écoles insulaires) fait l’objet de représentations différenciées. Si les parents portugais jugent positivement l’apprentissage scolaire de la langue régionale, l’essentiel des parents maghrébins reste sceptique quant aux gains ou aux avantages réels de cet apprentissage dans le parcours d’intégration de leurs enfants. Sans remettre en cause le bien-fondé ni des sections bilingues ni de l’enseignement généralisé du corse, rares sont les parents maghrébins qui perçoivent l’offre bilingue comme un moyen efficace pour mieux préparer l’insertion culturelle ou professionnelle de leurs enfants ou, plus largement, une fois les compétences langagières acquises, pour contrebalancer le sentiment d’exclusion sociale dont beaucoup s’estiment être victimes.
Adoption, institutionnalisation et diffusion des primaires ouvertes. Une approche comparée franco-italienne
Authors: Giannetti Daniela , Lefebvre Rémi
Published: August 2016

L’article développe une analyse comparée des primaires en France et en Italie. Quels sont les facteurs ont conduit les élites dirigeantes et les militants à se déposséder de leur fonction de sélection des candidats ? L’adoption des primaires est le plus souvent le produit de bricolages organisationnels dans des conjonctures de crise. Le modèle italien de primaire de coalition n’a pas réussi à s’imposer en France où la diffusion des primaires à l’échelle locale est limitée. D’emblée concurrentielles en France, les primaires y sont utilisées dans le cadre d’un parti politique pour réguler la concurrence interne.
Scolarisation et imputabilité électorale dans le monde en développement
Authors: Gélineau François
Published: August 2016

Au cours des dernières décennies, les défenseurs de la démocratie ont surtout axé leurs efforts sur la mise en place d’institutions dont les caractéristiques favorisent la pratique démocratique. En ce sens, on a accordé davantage d’importance aux mécanismes qu’aux acteurs eux-mêmes. Pourtant, la démocratie ne fonctionne que si les participants y consentent. La démocratie repose sur l’aval des élites, mais aussi sur celui des masses. Dans cette veine, certains auteurs ont avancé que la scolarisation étend l’horizon des citoyens, leur donnant ainsi les outils pour mieux intégrer la tolérance, pour leur permette de prendre un certain recul par rapport aux idéologies extrémistes ou monistes et pour faire des choix électoraux plus rationnels. Ces derniers sont même allés jusqu’à conclure que la scolarisation est probablement une condition « nécessaire » à la démocratie. À ce jour, les tests empiriques de cette hypothèse se sont limités à des analyses plurinationales mesurant le degré de covariation entre des données nationales de fréquentation scolaire et des indices de maturité démocratique. Pourtant, les fondements théoriques de l’hypothèse sont clairement situés au niveau individuel, au niveau du comportement des citoyens. L’analyse proposée dans le présent texte explore cette hypothèse à l’aide d’une banque de données individuelles provenant de plusieurs pays en développement. Elle tente d’apporter une réponse aux questions suivantes : dans quelle mesure la propension des citoyens à sanctionner le gouvernement pour sa performance en matière économique est-elle affectée par la scolarisation ? Et quelles sont les implications de ce comportement individuel à l’échelle systémique ? En répondant à cette question, nous proposons de mettre en exergue le rôle important que joue la scolarisation dans le processus démocratique.
Comparison of Interscalene Brachial Plexus Block Performed With and Without Steroids
Authors: Webb Brian G. , Sallay Peter I. , McMurray Sherman D. , Misamore Gary W.
Published: August 2016

This prospective comparative clinical study was performed to evaluate the effect of triamcinolone when added to bupivacaine during brachial plexus blockade in patients undergoing shoulder surgery. Interscalene brachial plexus blocks were performed on 910 patients before shoulder surgery. Of the patients, 574 were randomly allocated to receive steroids added to the injected local anesthetic and 336 patients received local anesthetic without steroids. All patients were followed prospectively to evaluate the rate of successful anesthesia, duration of anesthesia, side effects of the block, adverse events, and persistent neurologic complications associated with interscalene brachial plexus block. Patients who received steroids had statistically longer pain relief than those who did not receive steroids (
P
<.001). No difference was found in adverse events, complications, or side effects. Compared with blocks performed without steroids, a statistically longer duration of block analgesia occurred with the addition of steroids to the local anesthetic solution during brachial plexus blockade. Rates of side effects, adverse events, and persistent neurologic complications were similar between the groups. [
Orthopedics.
2016; 39(6):e1100–e1103.]
Radiographic Determinants of Early Failure After Posterior Wall Acetabular Fracture Fixation
Authors: Shah Swapnil B. , Manson Theodore T. , Nascone Jason W. , Sciadini Marcus F. , O'Toole Robert V.
Published: August 2016

A retrospective review was conducted at an academic trauma center to determine whether fracture characteristics or aspects of native anatomy are predictive of early failure after fixation of posterior wall acetabular fractures. A chart review of posterior wall acetabular fractures treated from 2004 to 2009 yielded the study group that met the inclusion criteria. The study group included 18 consecutive patients who had clinical failure. The control group included 27 patients who did not have clinical failure. Operative notes were reviewed and axial view computed tomography scans were analyzed to determine 8 fracture descriptors (dislocation, comminution, marginal impaction, femoral head injury, incarcerated fragments, involvement of the subchondral arc, proximal-to-distal fracture extension, and size of the fracture measured by 3 methods) and 6 native anatomy descriptors (transverse plane acetabular anteversion, anterior acetabular sector angle, 2 measures of the posterior acetabular sector angle, and 2 measures of change in the posterior acetabular sector angle). Failure of treatment (n=18) was defined as the need for total hip arthroplasty (n=5) or the development of symptomatic posttraumatic arthritis (n=13). Fisher's exact test and Student's
t
test were conducted. The only variable that was predictive of failure of operative treatment of posterior wall fractures was extension of the fracture into the subchondral arc (12 of 18 patients in the failure group vs 7 of 27 patients in the nonfailure group,
P
=.01). Native anatomy, fracture size, and marginal impaction did not play a significant role in predicting failure. [
Orthopedics.
2016; 39(6):e1104–e1111.]
Segmental Subtotal Corpectomy and Reconstruction With Titanium Cage and Anterior Plate for Multilevel Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament
Authors: Zhang Tao , Guo Ying , Hu Naiwu , Chen Limin , Wu Yin , Wang Yang , Liu Libing , Zhao Chengbin
Published: August 2016

This retrospective study assessed the outcomes of segmental subtotal corpectomy with titanium cage reconstruction and anterior plate fixation for multilevel ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. The study included 34 patients with multilevel ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament who underwent segmental subtotal corpectomy with titanium cage reconstruction and anterior plate fixation from June 2005 to May 2011. Clinical and radiologic data were obtained. Neurologic function was evaluated by Japanese Orthopedic Association scores before and after surgery. No death, paralysis, or other surgically associated injuries occurred. After surgery, the bone graft fusion was firm, with no cases of lack of postoperative bone fusion, broken or loose titanium plate and screws, dislodged titanium cage, or injury to the vertebral artery, nerve root, or spinal cord. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage occurred in 2 cases. Japanese Orthopedic Association scores improved from 6.74±1.82 preoperatively to 11.33±3.5 postoperatively (
P
<.05). Neurologic outcomes were excellent or good in 84.21% of patients at follow-up of 1 to 6 years. No postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage occurred. Reasonable and skilled operation of the pneumatic drill is the key to successful surgery. Anterior corpectomy with titanium cage reconstruction and plate fixation and drilling applications can directly remove the hypertrophy and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament and relieve spinal cord compression. This technique retained the integrity of the vertebrae, increasing the possibility of bone graft healing. Segmental subtotal corpectomy with titanium cage reconstruction and anterior plate fixation can be used for the treatment of multilevel ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. [
Orthopedics.
2016; 39(6):e1140–e1146.]
A Web-Based Tool for Collaboration and Transdisciplinary Learning Design in Communities of Practice
Authors: Vestergaard Erik , Storm Helle , Hansen Gitte Riis
Published: August 2016

idématch is a digital, web-based, and noncommercial platform developed by associate professors from University College Zealand, in cooperation with private enterprises, municipalities, and students. It is designed to bring students, public and private organizations, and citizens together, transforming ideas into practical solutions, through innovation, using collaborative and transdisciplinary learning designs contributing to new ways of welfare solutions for the Region of Zealand. The key focus is the contribution to innovation in partnership with the work field, students’ learning processes, and the development of analytical, experiential, experimental, and management competencies.
Lightweight QoE Driven and Invulnerability Guarantee Opportunistic Control Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Jin Yong , Cai Jian , Dai Huan , Xia Kaijian , Xu Ping
Published: August 2016

This paper proposed the lightweight QoE driven adaptive invulnerability wireless communication control method, including the wireless communication terminal equipment with invulnerability antenna. According to the quality of wireless network channel quality, the lightweight QoE driven scheme was developed. According to user needs, the quality of the network, survivable ability of wireless communication terminal and wireless communication survivability requirements, we proposed three matching rules by considering the wireless hop number, data size and life cycle. The experiments demonstrated that the proposed scheme can optimize wireless communication terminal equipment and wireless opportunistic communication network construction, guarantee the user experience quality and improve wireless communication network survivability.
La CEDH et la pratique française de rétention des mineurs étrangers : L’impossibilité pratique plutôt que l’interdiction de principe ?
Authors: Gelblat Antonin
Published: August 2016

La Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme a, par cinq arrêts rendus le 12 juillet 2016, condamné la France pour traitements inhumains et dégradants, violation du droit à la liberté et à la sûreté et violation du droit à une vie familiale normale pour sa gestion des mineurs étrangers accompagnants leurs parents en centre de rétention. Mais la portée symbolique de ces arrêts, et leur caractère infamant pour les autorités nationales, ne doit pas dissimuler le fait que la Cour se refuse à consacrer une interdiction de principe de cette pratique. Toutefois, la juridiction strasbourgeoise cherche tout de même à durcir globalement les conditions qu’elles imposent aux États pour que ces derniers soient autorisés à y recourir.
Enhancing Regulatory, Financial, Fiscal Investment Incentives as a Means of Promoting Foreign Direct Investment
Authors: Edwards Jon , Newton Sarah
Published: August 2016

According to UNCTAD, regulatory incentives, which include “lowering of environmental, health, safety or labor standards; temporary or permanent exemption from compliance with applicable standards; stabilization clauses guaranteeing that existing regulations will not be amended to the detriment of investors”, in addition to financial incentives, are considered “less important policy tools for attracting and benefiting from Foreign Direct Investment.” Whilst survey results, also illustrate that fiscal incentives are the most important type for attracting and benefiting from foreign investment, it is also highlighted that certain scenarios exist whereby investment incentives could be regarded as “compensation for information asymmetries between the investor and the host government, as well as for deficiencies in the investment climate, such as weak infrastructure, underdeveloped human resources.” This chapter not only explores how environmental incentives can serve as means of attracting investment, but also contributes to the literature on how their effectiveness could be enhanced.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Patro Chandra Sekhar , Raghunath K. Madhu Kishore
Published: August 2016

There is a famous saying “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” and speaking of this in terms of a country's financial position Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can be considered as a power and CSR as a share of responsibility. Generally the unfurling of CSR is a riveted and intrigued corner of developing country like India. Every business entity is willing to take up more responsibility as it is given lot of respect from various international agencies in the form of FDI and most of the organizations are realizing that more business heights will imply sustained development for social progress. Social innovation is the output derived when FDI and CSR come together leading to development of a nation in various facets. The purpose of the study is to articulate the impact of FDI on CSR activities in Indian context and to analyze the importance of how both FDI and CSR are interdependent and complement each other in various facets, not forgetting the fact that it's high time for Indian economy to boost up its CSR activities keeping in view the subsequent flow of investments.
Entrepreneurship Policy Framework
Authors: Chauhan Raghubir Singh , Das Rituparna
Published: August 2016

The ongoing debate regarding how to formulate an entrepreneurship policy is globally vital so it is pertinent to understand the other dimensions also. By using a broad spectrum of space and time, and covering heterogeneous correlation the why, what if, where etc. regarding policy framework and deeper fundamentals of global economic understanding as well as misunderstanding is explored on an intersubjective context. By multi-stage data substantiation, analysis and literature review the direction and important determinants of policy framework are examined.
Search Space Reduction in Biometric Databases
Authors: Kavati Ilaiah , Prasad Munaga V. N. K. , Bhagvati Chakravarthy
Published: August 2016

Deployment of biometrics for personal recognition in various real time applications lead to large scale databases. Identification of an individual on such large biometric databases using a one-one matching (i.e., exhaustive search) increases the response time of the system. Reducing the search space during identification increases the search speed and reduces the response time of the system. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the current developments of the search space reduction techniques in biometric databases. Search space reduction techniques for the fingerprint databases are categorized into classification and indexing approaches. For the palmprint, the current search space reduction techniques are classified as hierarchical matching, classification and indexing approaches. Likewise, the iris indexing approaches are classified as texture based and color based techniques.
Physical Layer Security in Multiuser Wireless Networks
Authors: Shrestha Anish Prasad , Kwak Kyung Sup
Published: August 2016

Physical layer (PHY) security has recently gained considerable attention as an alternative option to cryptographic techniques since it can provide unconditional perfect secrecy. This chapter presents brief concept about PHY security and solutions along with quantitative measurement of secrecy performance for multiuser wireless networks. A typical transmitter in wireless communication may be required to send a confidential message to either a single or several users simultaneously. Aiming to provide comprehensive investigation of secrecy performance in such multiuser network, secure multicasting and opportunistic scheduling techniques are presented. Furthermore, to look into the effects of multiple antennas, system model under consideration employ maximal ratio combining at receiver.
Internet of Things Research Challenges
Authors: Elkhodr Mahmoud , Shahrestani Seyed , Cheung Hon
Published: August 2016

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to revolute communications on the Internet. The IoT enables numerous business opportunities in fields as diverse as e-health, smart cities, smart homes, among many others. It incorporates multiple long-range, short-range, and personal area wireless networks and technologies into the designs of IoT applications. This will result in the IoT being pervasive in many areas which raise many challenges. This chapter reviews the major research issues challenging the IoT with regard to security, privacy, and management.
Tails Linux Operating System
Authors: Cardenas-Haro Jose Antonio , Dawson Maurice
Published: August 2016

After the information released by Edward Snowden, the world realized about the security risks of high surveillance from governments to citizens or among governments, and how it can affect the freedom, democracy and/or peace. Research has been carried out for the creation of the necessary tools for the countermeasures to all this surveillance. One of the more powerful tools is the Tails system as a complement of The Onion Router (TOR). Even though there are limitations and flaws, the progress has been significant and we are moving in the right direction.
Medical Image Mining Using Fuzzy Connectedness Image Segmentation
Authors: Bhagat Amol P. , Atique Mohammad
Published: August 2016

This chapter presents novel approach fuzzy connectedness image segmentation with geometric moments (FCISGM) for digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) image mining. As most of the medical imaging data is exchanged in DICOM format, this chapter focuses on the various methodologies available for DICOM image feature extraction and mining. The comparison of existing medical image mining approaches with the proposed FCISGM approach is provided in this chapter. After carrying out exhaustive results it has been found that proposed FCISGM method gives more precise results and requires minimum number of computations compare to other medical image mining approaches resulting in improved relevant outcomes.
Theoretical Methods of Images Processing in Optoelectronic Systems
Authors: Strelkova Tatyana , Kartashov Vladimir , Lytyuga Alexander P. , Strelkov Alexander I.
Published: August 2016

The chapter covers development of mathematical model of signals in output plane of optoelectronic system with registration of optical signals from objects. Analytical forms for mean values and dispersion of signal and interference components of photo receiver response are given. The mathematical model can be used as a base with detection algorithm development for optical signal from objects. An algorithm of signals' detection in output plane of optoelectronic system for the control is offered. The algorithm is synthesized taking into account corpuscular and statistical properties of optical signals. Analytical expressions for mean values and signal and noise components dispersion are cited. These expressions can be used for estimating efficiency of the offered algorithm by the criterion of detection probabilistic characteristics and criterion of signal/noise relation value. The possibility of signal detection characteristics improvement with low signal-to-noise ratio is shown.
Cloud-Based Infiltration Detection System for Military Purposes
Authors: Sharma ChandraMani , Sharma Deepika , Kumar Harish
Published: August 2016

Massive military manpower is deployed on borders to keep a vigilant eye on possible infiltration from neighboring countries. This traditional approach is prone to errors because of human factors. To make border surveillance more effective, countries have installed CCTV cameras on borders but generally such systems are passive in nature and require human operators to keep an eye on the captured video footage. This chapter describes a cloud based approach for infiltration detection in border defense environments. The processing of video data, in cloud, and the real-time response are the factors that make system suitable for military purposes. As far as affordability is concerned, the governments can easily bear expense of establishing a private cloud for implementing visual surveillance. This chapter represents pertinent research of authors in the field of visual surveillance as well as other state-of-the-art breakthroughs in this area. The chapter is of multi-disciplinary significance in the field of cloud computing, video & image processing, behavioral sciences, and defense studies.
Mobile GPU Computing Based Filter Bank Convolution for Three-Dimensional Wavelet Transform
Authors: Zhao Di
Published: August 2016

Mobile GPU computing, or System on Chip with embedded GPU (SoC GPU), becomes in great demand recently. Since these SoCs are designed for mobile devices with real-time applications such as image processing and video processing, high-efficient implementations of wavelet transform are essential for these chips. In this paper, the author develops two SoC GPU based DWT: signal based parallelization for discrete wavelet transform (sDWT) and coefficient based parallelization for discrete wavelet transform (cDWT), and the author evaluates the performance of three-dimensional wavelet transform on SoC GPU Tegra K1. Computational results show that, SoC GPU based DWT is significantly faster than SoC CPU based DWT. Computational results also show that, sDWT can generally satisfy the requirement of real-time processing (30 frames per second) with the image sizes of 352×288, 480×320, 720×480 and 1280×720, while cDWT can only obtain read-time processing with small image sizes of 352×288 and 480×320.
iCellFusion
Authors: Santinha João , Martins Leonardo , Häkkinen Antti , Lloyd-Price Jason , Oliveira Samuel M. D. , Gupta Abhishekh , Annila Teppo , Mora Andre , Ribeiro Andre S. , Fonseca Jose Ribeiro
Published: August 2016

Temporal, multimodal microscopy imaging of live cells is becoming widely used in studies of cellular processes. In general, temporal sequences of images with functional and morphological data from live cells are acquired using multiple image sensors. The images from the different sources usually differ in resolution and have non-coincident fields of view, making the merging process complex. We present a new tool – iCellFusion – that performs data fusion of images from Phase-Contrast Microscopy and Fluorescence Microscopy in order to correlate the information on cell morphology, lineage and functionality. Prior to image fusion, iCellFusion performs automatic or computer-aided cell segmentation and establishes cell lineages. We exemplify its usage on time-lapse, multimodal microscopy images of bacteria producing fluorescent spots. We expect iCellFusion to assist research in Cell and Molecular Biology and the healthcare sector, where live-cell imaging is an increasingly important technique to detect and study diseases at the cellular level.
Multiple Description Coding for Multipath Video Streaming
Authors: Correia Pedro , Assuncao Pedro A. Amado , Silva Vítor
Published: August 2016

This Chapter addresses robust video coding and adaptation of compressed streams in multipath communications environments, using Multiple Description Coding (MDC). A review of Multiple Description (MD) video coding is presented, covering different video coding approaches. Different path diversity topologies and MDC networking applications are described, including MD video adaptation schemes to operate at network edges, for robust video streaming. A multi-loop architecture for Advanced Video Coding (AVC) to prevent drift distortion accumulation is also described. A simulation study of MDC for AVC is presented to evaluate the coding efficiency, the effects of distortion propagation and streaming performance in lossy networks. These research findings extend the current state-of-the-art MDC methods by developing new networking capabilities in different application scenarios maintaining coding efficiency, and increasing error robustness, when subject to transmission losses.
Application of Fuzzy Logic and Fuzzy Optimization Techniques in Medical Image Processing
Authors: Datta Niladri Sekhar , Dutta Himadri Sekhar , Majumder Koushik
Published: August 2016

Fuzzy logic deals with approximate rather than fixed and exact reasoning. Fuzzy variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree between 0 and 1; extended to handle the concept of partial truth where the truth value may range between completely true or completely false. This computational logic uses truth degrees as a mathematical model of the vagueness phenomenon while probability is a mathematical model of ignorance. A huge number of complex problems may be solve using Fuzzy logic specifically Fuzzy modeling and optimization method. Fuzzy modeling is the understanding of the problem and analysis of the Fuzzy information where the Fuzzy optimization solves Fuzzy model optimally using optimization techniques via membership functions. In this research article authors describe the Fuzzy rules and its application and the different types of well known problems solved by the Fuzzy optimization technique.
3D Image Acquisition and Analysis of Range Face Images for Registration and Recognition
Authors: Ganguly Suranjan , Bhattacharjee Debotosh , Nasipuri Mita
Published: August 2016

Although, automatic face recognition has been studied for more than four decades; there are still some challenging issues due to different variations in face images. There are mainly two categories of face recognition based on acquisition procedure. One technology that deals with video based face recognition and another approach where different sensors are used for acquisition purpose of different stationary face images, for instance: optical image, infra-red image and 3D image. In this context, researchers have focused only on 3D face images. 3D face images convey a series of advantages over 2D i.e. video frame, optical as well as infra-red face images. In this chapter, a detailed study of acquisition, visualization, detail about 3D images, analyzing it with some fundamental image processing techniques and application in the field of biometric through face registration and recognition are discussed. This chapter also gives a brief idea of the state of the art about the research methodologies of 3D face recognition and its applications.
Intelligence-Based Adaptive Digital Watermarking for Images in Wavelet Transform Domain
Authors: Santhi V. , Acharjya D. P.
Published: August 2016

Advances in technologies facilitate the end users to carry out unauthorized manipulation and duplication of multimedia data with less effort. Because of these advancements, the two most commonly encountered problems are (1) copyright protection and (2) unauthorized manipulation of multimedia data. Thus a scheme is required to protect multimedia data from those two above said problems. Digital Watermarking is considered as one of the security mechanisms to protect copyrights of multimedia data. The literature review reveals that the calculation of scaling and embedding parameters are not completely automated. In order to automate the procedure of calculating scaling and embedding parameters the computational intelligence need to be incorporated in the watermarking algorithm. Moreover the quality of the watermarked images could also be preserved by combining computational intelligence concepts. Thus watermarking schemes utilizing computational intelligence concepts could be called as intelligence based watermarking schemes and it is presented in this chapter in detail.
Adding Context Information to Video Analysis for Surveillance Applications
Authors: Javanbakhti Solmaz , Bao Xinfeng , Creusen Ivo , Hazelhoff Lykele , Sanberg Willem P. , van de Wouw D.W.J.M. (Denis) , Dubbelman Gijs , Zinger Svitlana , de With Peter H.N.
Published: August 2016

Smart surveillance systems become more meaningful if they both grow in reliability and robustness, while simultaneously offering a higher semantic level of understanding. To achieve a higher level of semantic scene understanding, the objects and their actions have to be interpreted in the given context, so that the extraction of contextual information is required. This chapter explores several techniques for extracting the contextual information such as spatial, motion, depth and co-occurrence, depending on applications. Afterwards, the chapter provides specific case studies to evaluate the usefulness of context information, based on: (1) region labeling of the surroundings of objects, (2) motion analysis of the water for moving ships, (3) traffic sign recognition for safety event evaluation and (4) the use of depth signals for obstacle detection. The chapter shows that the previous cases can be solved in an improved way with respect to robustness and semantic understanding. Case studies indicate up to 6.8% improvement of reliable correct object understanding and the novel possibility of labeling scene events as safe/unsafe depending on the object behavior and the detected surrounding context. In this chapter, it is shown that using contextual information improves automated video surveillance analysis, as it not only improves the reliability of moving object detection, but also enables scene understanding that is far beyond object understanding.
Medical Image Enhancement Using Edge Information-Based Methods
Authors: Anand S.
Published: August 2016

Medical image enhancement improves the quality and facilitates diagnosis. This chapter investigates three methods of medical image enhancement by exploiting useful edge information. Since edges have higher perceptual importance, the edge information based enhancement process is always of interest. But determination of edge information is not an easy job. The edge information is obtained from various approaches such as differential hyperbolic function, Haar filters and morphological functions. The effectively determined edge information is used for enhancement process. The retinal image enhancement method given in this chapter improves the visual quality of the vessels in the optic region. X-ray image enhancement method presented here is to increase the visibility of the bones. These algorithms are used to enhance the computer tomography, chest x-ray, retinal, and mammogram images. These images are obtained from standard datasets and experimented. The performance of these enhancement methods are quantitatively evaluated.
Digital Forensics
Authors: Naskar Ruchira , Malviya Pankaj , Chakraborty Rajat Subhra
Published: August 2016

Digital forensics deal with cyber crime detection from digital multimedia data. In the present day, multimedia data such as images and videos are major sources of evidence in the courts of law worldwide. However, the immense proliferation and easy availability of low-cost or free, user-friendly and powerful image and video processing software, poses as the largest threat to today's digital world as well as the legal industry. This is due to the fact that such software allow efficient image and video editing, manipulation and synthesis, with a few mouse clicks even by a novice user. Such software also enable formation realistic of computer-generated images. In this chapter, we discuss different types of digital image forgeries and state-of-the-art digital forensic techniques to detect them. Through these discussions, we also give an idea of the challenges and open problems in the field of digital forensics.
A New Swarm Intelligence Technique of Artificial Haemostasis System for Suspicious Person Detection with Visual Result Mining
Authors: Bouarara Hadj Ahmed , Hamou Reda Mohamed , Amine Abdelmalek
Published: August 2016

In the last few years, the video surveillance system is ubiquitous and can be found in many sectors (banking, transport, industry) or living areas (cities, office building, and store). Unfortunately, this technology has several drawbacks such as the violation of individual freedom and the inability to prevent malicious acts (stealing, crime, and terrorist attack ... etc.). The authors' work deals on the development of a new video surveillance system to detect suspicious person based on their gestures instead of their faces, using a new artificial haemostasis system composed of four steps: pre-processing (pre-haemostasis) for digitalization of images using a novel technique of representation called n-gram pixel, and the weighting normalized term frequency; Each image vector passes through three filters: primary detection (primary haemostasis), secondary detection (secondary haemostasis) and the final detection (fibrinolysis), with an identification step (plasminogen activation) to evaluate the malicious degree of the person presents in this image; the results obtained by their system are promising compared to the performance of classical machine learning algorithms (C4.5 and KNN). The authors' system is composed of a visualization tool in order to see the results with more realism using the functionality of zooming and rotating. Their objectives are to help the justice in its investigations and ensure the safety of people and nation.
The Impact of a Scaffolded Assessment Intervention on Students' Academic Achievement in Web-based Peer Assessment Activities
Authors: Lee Chien-I , Yang Ya-Fei , Mai Shin-Yi
Published: August 2016

Web-based peer assessment has been considered an important process for learning. However, students may not offer constructive feedback due to lack of expertise knowledge. Therefore, this study proposed a scaffolded assessment approach accordingly. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the quasi-experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of scaffolded assessment for self-critiques and peer assessment on students' learning effectiveness in the web-based assessment activities. A total of ninety 7th graders participated in the experiment, and divided into three groups with or without the scaffolding critique. The results show the use of the scaffolded assessment in the web-based peer assessment activities did not show a significant difference in the students' learning effectiveness. Even though the results show that learning effectiveness of the participants in the two experimental groups is significantly enhanced, there is no significant effect of providing the scaffolded assessment on the participants' learning effectiveness in the three groups. In addition, the participants showed a positive learning attitude toward the web-based assessment activities and agreed that the activities could enhance the participants' interactions between the peers and instructor.
BIOMIND Portal for Developing 21st Century Skills and Overcoming Students' Misconception in Biology Subject
Authors: Vebrianto Rian , Rery Radjawaly Usman , Osman Kamisah
Published: August 2016

This research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of BIOMIND portal in enhancing students' 21st century skills and overcoming their misconceptions in Biology subject. 118 Indonesian high school students were involved in this quasi-experimental study. The experimental group underwent learning experiences using BIOMIND portal whereas the control group experienced conventional learning approaches. The effectiveness of the BIOMIND portal was measured based on the students' 21st century skills development and their level of misconceptions. There were significant differences in the 21st century skills development found between the experimental group and the control group. In addition, this research has found that the BIOMIND portal could overcome misconceptions among students due to the trainings given during interventions. This study concluded that teaching and learning using BIOMIND portal has brought positive impacts especially in developing the 21st century skills and overcoming students' misconceptions in Biology subject.
Arabic Query Expansion Using WordNet and Association Rules
Authors: Abbache Ahmed , Meziane Farid , Belalem Ghalem , Belkredim Fatma Zohra
Published: August 2016

Query expansion is the process of adding additional relevant terms to the original queries to improve the performance of information retrieval systems. However, previous studies showed that automatic query expansion using WordNet do not lead to an improvement in the performance. One of the main challenges of query expansion is the selection of appropriate terms. In this paper, the authors review this problem using Arabic WordNet and Association Rules within the context of Arabic Language. The results obtained confirmed that with an appropriate selection method, the authors are able to exploit Arabic WordNet to improve the retrieval performance. Their empirical results on a sub-corpus from the Xinhua collection showed that their automatic selection method has achieved a significant performance improvement in terms of MAP and recall and a better precision with the first top retrieved documents.
A Coordinated Supply Chain Model for Imperfect Items under Power Function Lead Time Crashing Cost and Investment with a Service Level Constraint
Authors: Kurdhi Nughthoh Arfawi , Santoso Livvia Paradisea , Handajani Sri Sulistijowati , Martini Titin Sri
Published: August 2016

This paper presents a coordinated vendor-buyer supply chain model in two stages with imperfect quality items, lead time and ordering cost reduction, and service level constraint. It is assumed that each arrival lot received by the buyer contains a percentage of imperfect quality items which follows a uniform distribution. A 100% screening process for detecting the defective items is conducted. Lead time crashing cost and investment for ordering cost reduction follow power function distribution. The shortage during the lead time is permitted and backordered partially for the buyer. However, the level of shortage is limited by service level constraint policy. The optimal order quantity, reorder point, lead time, ordering cost, and the number of delivery are determined by the Lagrange method such that joint total cost of the system is minimized and the service level constraint is satisfied. An iterative procedure is developed to determine the optimal solution and a numerical example is presented to illustrate the result of the proposed model.