bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on Clinical and Histopathological Changes of Alopecia Areata
Authors: Husain Md Anwar , Alam Mohd Nurul , Rahim Rezaur , Joarder Yasmin , Wahiduzzaman Mohammad , Ferdous Monalisa , Afroz Farzana
Published: February 2018

Alopecia areata is a common, unpredictable, nonscarring form of hair loss. It is characterized by rapid and complete loss of hair in one or more round or oval patches, usually on the scalp, bearded area, eyebrows, eyelashes and less commonly on other hairy areas of the body. The present study was undertaken in the department of Dermatology and Venereology of Ibn Sina Medical College, Dhaka from July 2014 to June 2015 to observe the histopathological changes in different stages of alopecia areata. For this purpose 30 patients with age ranged from 18 to 45 years were enrolled. Of them 17 were males and 13 were females. A 4 mm punch biopsy from the involved scalp taken from each patient and histopatological changes were examined. The study revealed that anagen hairs decreased but catagen and telogen hair increased in all stages of alopecia areata. Telogen hairs increased in acute and chronic stage and catagen hair increased markedly in subacute stage. Although miniaturized (atrophic) follicle was frequently found in chronic stage. It was absent in acute and subacute stages. Moderate to dense peribulbar infiltration of lymphocytes were observed in acute stage and mild to moderate infiltration in subacute stage. In chronic stage either no or mild infiltrations were observed. Peribulbar infiltration of eosinophils and macrophages was seen in all stages of alopecia areata. Thus we can conclude that alopecia areata can be diagnosed with some confidence, even when inflammatory infiltrate is absent, based on increasing numbers of telogen hairs in the acute and subacute stages and increasing miniaturized hairs in chronic stage.Medicine Today 2018 Vol.30(1): 30-33
La nécropole de la Maladrerie à Albi (Tarn)
Authors: Muller André , Lautier Jean
Published: February 2018

Une fouille de sauvetage menée en 1978 dans la banlieue sud-ouest de la ville d'Albi a mis au jour douze sépultures qui représentent la presque totalité d'une nécropole. Ces tombes à incinération en fosse ont fourni un mobilier diversifié, caractéristique de la transition Bronze/Fer dans un contexte Moulin/Grand Bassin I. La céramique fournit des éléments comparatifs pertinents avec la vallée de la Garonne, le littoral du Languedoc et surtout les nécropoles découvertes anciennement dans le Tarn (Lavène-Monsalvi, Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe...). Le mobilier métallique présente des affinités avec des séries du Tarn, du Languedoc et des Pyrénées. Toutes ces informations permettent de poser pour la moyenne Garonne des questions liées à la circulation des hommes, des objets et des idées.
L'occupation du sol du VIIe au Ve siècle avant notre ère dans la moyenne vallée de l'Hérault
Authors: Feugère Michel , Mauné Stéphane
Published: February 2018

Le développement des prospections systématiques dans la moyenne vallée de l'Hérault débouche aujourd'hui pour l'occupation du sol au premier Age du fer sur une documentation entièrement renouvelée, notamment dans un rayon de quelques kilomètres autour des grands oppida de Fontès et Pézenas. Les données issues de telles prospections, présentées sous forme de catalogue détaillé, posent de redoutables problèmes d'interprétation ; on les discute ici dans le cadre d'une approche du territoire protohistorique et de ses multiples composantes. On s'interroge notamment sur la place de l'habitat dispersé par rapport au site perché, siège d'un habitat groupé. Notre perception de l'occupation du sol aux périodes protohistoriques doit désormais admettre une plus grande diversité des formes de l'habitat rural.
La nécropole de Malausette (Soustelle, Gard) à l'Age du bronze, aux VIe et Ve s. av. J.-C
Authors: Dedet Bernard , Gauthey Jacques
Published: February 2018

La nécropole de Malausette, fouillée de 1993 à 1995, compte douze tertres bâtis au Néolithique final, au Bronze moyen et au Bronze final II ou IIIa, et plusieurs d'entre eux font l'objet d'un nouvel usage de tombe aux VIe et Ve s. av. J.-C. Elle comprend également, associée aux monuments, une structure particulière à poteau central, datée du Bronze final. Les lieux portent aussi traces de fréquentation dans l'Antiquité tardive et le Moyen Age. Voisine du cimetière de Peyraube (publié dans le tome 17 de la revue), la nécropole de Malausette permet de compléter notre connaissance des coutumes funéraires des habitants des Cévennes micaschisteuses durant la Protohistoire.
Nouvelles données sur le premier Age du fer à Vaison-la-Romaine (Vaucluse)
Authors: Meffre Joël-Claude , de Kisch Yves , Champagne Clotilde
Published: February 2018

Malgré son exiguïté, la fouille du quartier Saint-Laurent à Vaison-la-Romaine, situé en rive gauche de l'Ouvèze sous le rocher dit de "la haute-ville", a permis de révéler l'existence d'un ensemble de structures bâties, comprenant des murs à parement unique retenant une charge importante de pierres. Une tour trapézoïdale qui flanquait l'un de ces murs constitue la construction la plus remarquable. Plusieurs structures de cuisson existent cependant sous ces aménagements. Parmi ces derniers, certains comportaient en remploi une vingtaine de stèles à sommet cintré. Les arguments de datation demeurent extrêmement résiduels et ne fournissent que des indications provisoires : la phase des constructions et de remploi des stèles pourrait être située dans le courant du Ve s. av. n. è. ; la phase antérieure est datée du VIe s. et pourrait correspondre à l'installation initiale des stèles (lieu de culte ou ensemble sépulcral ?).
L'anthropologie à Entremont
Authors: Mahieu Éric
Published: February 2018

Cette étude est consacrée à l'analyse des restes humains découverts lors des campagnes 1986 et 1987. Elle a été élargie aux découvertes anciennes réalisées par F. Benoît à Entremont et fait également référence à d'autres restes humains mis au jour dans la région (oppidum de la Cloche ou de Roquepertuse). Un premier ensemble appartient à des crânes, sans doute masculins, liés à des pratiques cultuelles. Un second groupe rassemble des vestiges qui peuvent être liés au siège du site.
L'habitat côtier de Tamaris (B.-du-Rh.) Bilan des recherches et étude du mobilier des fouilles de Ch. Lagrand
Authors: Duval Sandrine
Published: February 2018

The site at Tamaris, which was established at about 600 BC, is an indigenous settlement at which the main phase of occupation is dated to the first half of the sixth century. Traces of use continue into the fifth century. Its location at a strategic point on the coast contemporary with the establishment of the Phocean city , gives it a particular importance in the context of relations established between local people and Mediterranean navigators. This study considers research carried out between 1960 and 1962 by Charles Lagrand and deals with the results of subsequent work accomplished in 1997. This data allows an analysis of the nature of the organisation of the settlement, which covered the entire 2.5 hectares of the plateau, which was also defended by two fortification lines. The 1961 and 1962 excavations revealed at least three habitations and adjacent areas. The detailed analysis of the finds according to chronological phases based on the archaeological stratigraphy, provides new data relating to the early Iron Age economy, especially relating to the trade of Etruscan wine in the local area.
L'importation des meules en basalte dans le secteur de Martigues au deuxième âge du Fer. Identification pétrographique des sources
Authors: Reille Jean-Louis
Published: February 2018

The micro-textural petrographie study of the sources of lithic material is applied to the analysis of a sample of 45 late Iron Age basalt querns from the Martigues area on the Mediterranean coast. This work allows us to clearly distinguish two periods separated by a radical change in the materials imported : an early period (6th -3rd centuries BC) when the querns were the neolithic type and tended to come from provençal sites and the Toulon hinterland ; a later period (2nd-1st centuries BC and antiquity) when the querns are of the hopper (35 %) and rotary (65 %) types and tended to come form sites in the Languedoc : largely from the Cap d'Agde, incidentally from the lower valley of the Hérault. Carried out on a statistically significant sample, such a study, despite its geological nature, provides information, which is useful in both archaeological and historical analyses.
Upregulation of miR-324-5p Inhibits Proliferation and Invasion of Colorectal Cancer Cells by Targeting ELAVL1
Authors: Gu Chijiang , Zhang Mingyuan , Sun Weiliang , Dong Changzheng
Published: February 2018

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common clinical cancer that remains incurable in most cases. miRNAs are reported to play a part in the development of various tumors. In the present study, we found that miR-324-5p was downregulated in CRC cells, while ELAV (embryonic lethal, abnormal vision,
Drosophila)-like protein 1 (ELAVL1) showed a higher expression. miR-324-5p transfection significantly inhibited the proliferation as well as invasion in both SW620 and SW480 cells. miR-324-5p mimic transfection markedly decreased the expression of ELAVL1. Luciferase reporter gene assay
confirmed that ELAVL1 is a direct target of miR-324-5p. Furthermore, cancer invasion factors uPA, uPAR, and MMP-9 were found to drop significantly in miR-324-5p-transfected groups. To conclude, our findings indicate that miR-324-5p may play a suppressive role in colorectal cell viability and
invasion, at least in part, through directly targeting ELAVL1. Therefore, miR-234-5p might function as a promising candidate for CRC treatment and deserves deeper research.
miR-522-3p Promotes Tumorigenesis in Human Colorectal Cancer via Targeting Bloom Syndrome Protein
Authors: Shuai Feng , Wang Bo , Dong Shuxiao
Published: February 2018

miR-522-3p is known to degrade bloom syndrome protein (BLM) and enhance expression of other proto-oncogenes, leading to tumorigenesis. This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of miR-522-3p in human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Expressions of miR-522-3p in CRC and
adjacent tissues, as well as in normal human colon epithelial cell line (FHC) and five CRC cell lines, were detected. Human CRC cell lines, HCT-116 and HT29, were transfected with miR-522-3p mimic, inhibitor, or scrambled controls. Then cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle progression, and
the expressions of c-myc, cyclin E, CDK2, and BLM were assessed. It was found that miR-522-3p was highly expressed in CRC tissues when compared to adjacent nontumor tissues and was highly expressed in CRC cell lines when compared to FHC cells. miR-522-3p overexpression promoted cell viability,
reduced apoptotic cell rate, arrested more cells in the S phase, and upregulated c-myc, cyclin E, and CDK2 expression. BLM was a target gene of miR-522-3p, and miR-522-3p suppression did not exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities when BLM was silenced. These findings demonstrate
that miR-522-3p upregulation negatively regulates the expression of BLM, with upregulation of c-myc, CDK2, and cyclin E, and thereby promoting the proliferation of human CRC cells.
Does Routine Bioimpedance-Guided Fluid Management Provide Additional Benefit to Non-Anuric Peritoneal Dialysis Patients? Results from Compass Clinical Trial
Authors: Oh Kook-Hwan , Baek Seon Ha , Joo Kwon-Wook , Kim Dong Ki , Kim Yon Su , Kim Sejoong , Oh Yun Kyu , Han Byoung Geun , Chang Jae Hyun , Chung Wookyung , Na Ki Young
Published: February 2018

Introduction

In peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, volume overload is related to cardiac dysfunction and mortality, while intravascular volume depletion is associated with a rapid decline in the residual renal function (RRF). This study sought to determine the clinical usefulness of bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS)-guided fluid management for preserving RRF and cardiac function in PD patients.

Subjects and methods

This is a multicenter, prospective, open-label study that was conducted over a 1-year period (NCT01887262). Non-anuric (urine volume > 500 mL/day) subjects on PD were enrolled. Subjects in the control group received fluid management based on the clinical information alone. Those in the BIS group received BIS-guided fluid management along with clinical information.

Results

The subjects ( N = 137, mean age 51.3 ± 12.8 years, 54% male) were randomly assigned to the BIS group ( n = 67) or to the control group ( n = 70). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups with regard to age, sex ratio, cause of kidney failure, duration of PD, baseline comorbidity, RRF, PD method, or peritoneal transport type. At baseline, the 2 groups were not different in terms of RRF (glomerular filtration rate [GFR], 5.1 ± 2.9 vs 5.5 ± 3.7 mL/min/1.73 m2). After follow-up, changes in the GFR between the 2 groups were not different (-1.5 ± 2.4 vs -1.3 ± 2.6 mL/min/1.73 m2, p = 0.593). Over the 1-year study period, both groups maintained stability of various fluid status parameters. Between the 2 groups, there were no differences in the net change of various fluid status parameters such as overhydration (OH) and extracellular water/total body water (ECW/TBW). A net change in ECW over 1 year was slightly but significantly higher in the control group (net increase, 0.57 ± 1.27 vs 0.05 ± 1.63 L, p = 0.047). However, this difference was not translated into an improvement in RRF in the BIS group. There were no differences in echocardiographic parameters or arterial stiffness at the end of follow-up.

Conclusion

Routine BIS-guided fluid management in non-anuric PD patients did not provide additional benefit in volume control, RRF preservation, or cardiovascular (CV) parameters. However, our study cannot be generalized to the whole PD population. Further research is warranted in order to investigate the subpopulation of PD patients who may benefit from routine BIS-guided fluid management.
Market Structure in the Context of Developing Competitive Strategy
Authors: Krivka Algirdas , Ginevičius Romualdas
Published: February 2018

The abstract deals with the application of positioning strategies under the conditions of classical market structures. It is discovered that the assumptions of pure competition leave no space for M. Porter’s generic cost leadership and differentiation strategies to be applied. The enterprise’s actions, influencing five competitive forces and implementing generic strategies, are reasonable under the conditions of imperfect competition market structures. The game theory models, applied to oligopoly, indicate the close interaction of enterprises and interdependence of their strategic decisions: cost reduction and differentiation strategies not only increase the profit of the enterprise, implementing the strategy, but by affecting market price and residual demand decrease the competitor’s profit.
Models of Business Internationalisation
Authors: Vabinskaitė Jurgita
Published: February 2018

The study deals with the theoretical models of business internationalisation: the “Uppsala” Internationalisation Model, modified “Uppsala” model, the Eclectic Paradigm and analysis of transactional costs, Industrial Network approach, the Advantage Package and the Advantage Cycle.
Une gestion démocratique et solidaire des communs ?
Authors: Filho Genauto França , Guérin Isabelle , Hillenkamp Isabelle , Vasconcelos Ósia
Published: February 2018

À partir de l’exemple des banques communautaires de développement (BCD) brésiliennes, cet article met en évidence une conception novatrice de la gestion des ressources financières comme commun. Celle-ci répond non seulement aux critères de durabilité identifiés par Elinor Ostrom, mais aussi à la recherche de relations d’interdépendance égalitaires. Ces interdépendances dépendent de combinaisons, en tension permanente, entre plusieurs principes économiques, dont l’enjeu est de faire prévaloir les valeurs de solidarité et de démocratie sur certaines tendances marchandes et bureaucratiques. Cet effort repose sur l’ancrage sociopolitique des BCD, c’est-à-dire le processus continu, complexe et jamais acquis, de délibération et de construction de leur légitimité, tant auprès des habitants et avec eux, qu’avec les partenaires institutionnels.
Le chantier de Milin ar Vaou
Authors: Petit Caroline
Published: February 2018

La présentation d’un chantier permanent de travaux forestiers et de charpente conduit avec des jeunes en errance. La démarche est détaillée, et les effets identifiables sont évoqués.
Le négatif et le positif
Authors: Bastien Robert , Perreault Isabelle , Besse Monique
Published: February 2018

Cet article, sous forme d’essai, pose un regard à plusieurs voix sur le suicide et les dommages collatéraux que ce geste de désespoir de soi engendre chez les survivants. Il questionne de manière critique la façon dont le domaine biomédical envisage le suicide, entre autres en recourant à des perspectives anthropologiques et philosophiques qui révèlent toute la complexité de bien cerner la nature du désir d’en finir avec la vie de manière définitive. En conclusion, il questionne les campagnes de prévention en se demandant si celles-ci pourraient générer des effets contraires au but recherché.
Entre contrainte et soin médiatisé, le tissage du lien en umd
Authors: Katsaros Irène , Durr Lucie
Published: February 2018

La pratique soignante en unité pour malades difficiles invite à la réflexion sur la singularité des relations cliniques qui peuvent s’y instaurer. Dans un contexte où le patient est dans le refus et parfois l’opposition agressive aux soins, comment aborder la question de l’alliance thérapeutique ? Une situation clinique permet ici d’illustrer la complexité du tissage de ce lien dans deux espaces de soin médiatisés que sont l’ergothérapie et la psychomotricité.
Socio-Economic Impact of Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries
Authors: Boachie Christopher , Adu-Darko Eunice
Published: February 2018

The purpose of this chapter is to empirically examine the impact of socio-economic determinate of foreign direct investment in developing economies. FDI is an important part of the massive private investment that is driving economic growth around the world, particularly in the past two decades. This was achieved by examining 10 African countries using data from world development indicators on FDI and socio-economic parameters ranging from 1990 to 2015. A panel regression model was applied to 260 samples. The results showed openness, exchange rate, domestic credit to private sector, and regulatory quality have a significant effect on FDI. Policy makers in African countries need to adopt institutional reforms that could contribute to improving their state of governance, promote their investment climate, and help in attracting more FDI.
The Relative Importance of Trade vs. FDI-Led Economic Growth in Thailand
Authors: Tanna Sailesh , Topaiboul Kitja , Li Chengchun
Published: February 2018

This chapter investigates the relative strength of the contributions of trade openness and FDI inflows towards economic growth of Thailand, taking account of the importance of human capital and other conditioning factors as a source of technology transfer in facilitating growth. Using Granger causality tests conducted within a vector-error-correction framework, the authors find significant evidence of the complementarities between domestic investment and trade openness, providing support for import-led growth. In contrast, direct support for FDI-led growth is relatively weak, which implies that trade openness has played a more significant role than FDI in influencing Thai economic growth. However, the results reveal a subtle role for technology transfer through the complementary effect of trade on FDI, and FDI on government expenditure, which henceforth influences human capital development with spillovers into domestic investment and growth. This leads us to argue that there is a potential role for FDI interacting with human capital in influencing the future development of the Thai economy, given its active policy of FDI promotion over the past decade.
The Comparative Study of the FDI in India and China in Retail Sector
Authors: Khatri Rita Naraindas
Published: February 2018

Every economy across the globe is developing at a rapid pace. Offshore investment opportunities have not only transformed some of the business sectors like infrastructure, technology, media, and telecommunication, but it has also brought some dynamic changes in the life style and shopping preference of the consumers. One such sector that has diverted the attention of the mass is the retail sector. Over the last few years, retail sector has experienced drastic transformation. Some countries are well developed while others are emerging in the retail sector. India and China are among the top developing countries attracting huge foreign direct investment. China follows open investment policy and has liberalized the investment for foreign players while India adopted conservative investment policy with strong government involvement. Retail growth in India is very slow as compared to China. Therefore, this chapter attempts to highlight the economy of India and China and has compared some of the parameters of the economy to reflect the difference in the growth in India and China.
Database Systems for Big Data Storage and Retrieval
Authors: Gudivada Venkat , Apon Amy , Rao Dhana L.
Published: February 2018

Special needs of Big Data applications have ushered in several new classes of systems for data storage and retrieval. Each class targets the needs of a category of Big Data application. These systems differ greatly in their data models and system architecture, approaches used for high availability and scalability, query languages and client interfaces provided. This chapter begins with a description of the emergence of Big Data and data management requirements of Big Data applications. Several new classes of database management systems have emerged recently to address the needs of Big Data applications. NoSQL is an umbrella term used to refer to these systems. Next, a taxonomy for NoSQL systems is developed and several NoSQL systems are classified under this taxonomy. Characteristics of representative systems in each class are also discussed. The chapter concludes by indicating the emerging trends of NoSQL systems and research issues.
Hadoop Framework for Handling Big Data Needs
Authors: Ahuja Rupali
Published: February 2018

The data generated today has outgrown the storage as well as computing capabilities of traditional software frameworks. Large volumes of data if aggregated and analyzed properly may provide useful insights to predict human behavior, to increase revenues, get or retain customers, improve operations, combat crime, cure diseases, etc. In conclusion, the results of effective Big Data analysis can be used to provide actionable intelligence for humans, as well as for machine consumption. New tools, techniques, technologies and methods are being developed to store, retrieve, manage, aggregate, correlate and analyze Big Data. Hadoop is a popular software framework for handling Big Data needs. Hadoop provides a distributed framework for processing and storage of large datasets. This chapter discusses in detail the Hadoop framework, its features, applications and popular distributions, and its Storage and Visualization tools.
Role of Open Source Software in Big Data Storage
Authors: Ahuja Rupali , Malik Jigyasa , Tyagi Ronak , Brinda R.
Published: February 2018

Today, the world is revolving around Big Data. Each organization is trying hard to explore ways for deriving value out of huge pile of data we are generating each moment. Open Source Software are widely being adopted by most academicians, researchers and industrialists to handle various Big Data needs because of their easy availability, flexibility, affordability and interoperability. As a result, several open source Big Data tools have been developed. This chapter discusses the role of Open Source Software in Big Data Storage and how various organizations have benefitted from its use. It provides an overview of popular Open Source Big Data Storage technologies existing today. Distributed File Systems and NoSQL databases meant for storing Big Data have been discussed with their features, applications and comparison.
Big Data Tools for Computing on Clouds and Grids
Authors: Handford Forest Jay
Published: February 2018

The number of tools available for Big Data processing have grown exponentially as cloud providers have introduced solutions for businesses that have little or no money for capital expenditures. The chapter starts by discussing historic data tools and the evolution to those of today. With Cloud Computing, the need for upfront costs has been removed, costs are continuing to fall and costs can be negotiated. This chapter reviews the current types of Big Data tools, and how they evolved. To give readers an idea of costs, the chapter shows example costs (in today's market) for a sampling of the tools and relative cost comparisons of the other tools like the Grid tools used by the government, scientific communities and academic communities. Readers will take away from this chapter an understanding of what tools work best for several scenarios and how to select cost effective tools (even tools that are unknown today).
Issues and Methods for Access, Storage, and Analysis of Data From Online Social Communities
Authors: Quinn Christopher John , Quinn Matthew James , Olinsky Alan , Quinn John Thomas
Published: February 2018

This chapter provides an overview for a number of important issues related to studying user interactions in an online social network. The approach of social network analysis is detailed along with important basic concepts for network models. The different ways of indicating influence within a network are provided by describing various measures such as degree centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality. Network structure as represented by cliques and components with measures of connectedness defined by clustering and reciprocity are also included. With the large volume of data associated with social networks, the significance of data storage and sampling are discussed. Since verbal communication is significant within networks, textual analysis is reviewed with respect to classification techniques such as sentiment analysis and with respect to topic modeling specifically latent semantic analysis, probabilistic latent semantic analysis, latent Dirichlet allocation and alternatives. Another important area that is provided in detail is information diffusion.
Statistical Visualization of Big Data Through Hadoop Streaming in RStudio
Authors: Verma Chitresh , Pandey Rajiv
Published: February 2018

Data Visualization enables visual representation of the data set for interpretation of data in a meaningful manner from human perspective. The Statistical visualization calls for various tools, algorithms and techniques that can support and render graphical modeling. This chapter shall explore on the detailed features R and RStudio. The combination of Hadoop and R for the Big Data Analytics and its data visualization shall be demonstrated through appropriate code snippets. The integration perspective of R and Hadoop is explained in detail with the help of a utility called Hadoop streaming jar. The various R packages and their integration with Hadoop operations in the R environment are explained through suitable examples. The process of data streaming is provided using different readers of Hadoop streaming package. A case based statistical project is considered in which the data set is visualized after dual execution using the Hadoop MapReduce and R script.
Mining Multimodal Big Data
Authors: Roy Sujoy , Berry Michael W.
Published: February 2018

The last decade has witnessed exponential growth of data particularly in the fields of biomedicine, unstructured text processing and signal processing. There exist instances of data depicting simultaneous interactions amongst more than two types of entities. Such data are not readily amenable to matrix representation as matrices can show interactions between only two types of entities at a time. Tensors are multimodal extensions of matrices (a matrix can be thought of as 2-mode tensor), and tensor factorizations (decompositions) are multiway generalizations of matrix factorizations. This chapter provides an overview of tensor factorization methods as well as a literature review of selected applications in areas that are currently experiencing exponential data growth and likely of interest to a broad audience.
Dynamic Pricing and Ordering Policies With Quality and Physical Deterioration Under Quadratic Demand
Authors: Naik Monika , Shah Nita H.
Published: February 2018

This article includes policies regarding optimal dynamic pricing and ordering for items with synchronized deterioration of quality and physical quantity. Qualitative deterioration is an instantaneous process while physical deterioration-a non-instantaneous process. In view of the dynamic nature of the problem, selling price is assumed to be a time-dependent function of the initial price and discount rate. Initially with no physical deterioration, the product is sold at initial price value in the time period, successively in order to enhance customer's demand, price is exponentially discounted. For boosting the dynamic essence of the proposed model, the customer's demand is expressed as a quadratic function of time, price and changes in price over time, which is appropriate for the products for which demand increases initially and after sometime, it starts to decrease. Along with determining initial price, discount rate and optimal ordering cycle, the model also maximizes the total profit of the system. Numerical results with sensitivity analysis on the decision variables outputs managerial insights.
Collaboration of Single-Manufacturer Multi-Buyer Inventory Status With Credit Option Under Fuzzy Demand
Authors: Sangal Isha , Pareek Sarla , Shah Nita H.
Published: February 2018

In this paper, a coordinated single-manufacturer and multiple heterogeneous buyers inventory model under fuzzy demand is developed. Here two cases are considered: (i) ex-site delivery case considers manufacturer dominance where manufacturer produce items and delivers to the group of heterogeneous buyers at common replenishment time through common shipment, (ii) ex-factory delivery case considers buyer's dominance. Fuzzy set theory is used to handle the uncertainty in the demand variable. The model is analyzed using triangular membership function. Both models are illustrated with suitable numerical example.
Genetic Algorithm Approach for Inventory and Supply Chain Management
Authors: Mishra Poonam Prakash
Published: February 2018

Inventory and supply chain management is a real concern for business community in today's globally competitive scenario. Various inventory models are proposed, significant parameters are analysed and finally optimized by researchers in order to give managers an insight for the different parameters. Mathematical and logical analysis of different inventory and supply chain models helps mangers in overall cost reduction and further higher revenue generation. Members often encounter conflicting interest and unforeseen scenario. So, all this make supply chain very complex and dynamic process. Complex and uncertain nature of inventory and supply chain, many times either it is not feasible to solve the issue with traditional methods or it is not cost effective. Thus many researchers are using artificial intelligence approach for investigation. Genetic algorithm is one among them that works efficiently with complex nature of the inventory and supply chain management. This article provides an up to date review about the role of GA in overall inventory and supply chain management.
Intelligent Techniques for Analysis of Big Data About Healthcare and Medical Records
Authors: Kirci Pinar
Published: February 2018

To define huge datasets, the term of big data is used. The considered “4 V” datasets imply volume, variety, velocity and value for many areas especially in medical images, electronic medical records (EMR) and biometrics data. To process and manage such datasets at storage, analysis and visualization states are challenging processes. Recent improvements in communication and transmission technologies provide efficient solutions. Big data solutions should be multithreaded and data access approaches should be tailored to big amounts of semi-structured/unstructured data. Software programming frameworks with a distributed file system (DFS) that owns more units compared with the disk blocks in an operating system to multithread computing task are utilized to cope with these difficulties. Huge datasets in data storage and analysis of healthcare industry need new solutions because old fashioned and traditional analytic tools become useless.
Applications of Crowdsourcing in Sustainable Urban Development Planning in Developing Countries
Authors: Abubakar Ismaila Rimi
Published: February 2018

To efficiently manage growth and changes arising from rapidly increasing population and urbanization trends, developing countries need to employ appropriate tools to analyze the key issues involved. Globally, crowdsourcing is increasingly being applied to facilitate sustainable urban development (SUD) planning process. Crowdsourcing has already proved capable of generating new models for urban planning and governance that source and mobilize diverse social actors working toward sustainable and innovation-oriented urban space. However, few studies have explored crowdsourcing applications in SUD planning in developing countries. Therefore, based on desktop study, this chapter examines applications of crowdsourcing in SUD planning in developing countries. The chapter reviews the conceptual and historical foundation of crowdsourcing, and highlights some exemplary applications of crowdsourcing in SUD planning worldwide. It then discusses the challenges and potentials of crowdsourcing as a tool in planning for SUD in developing countries and concludes with future research directions.
Africa and Indian Crowdfunding Markets
Authors: Dano Umar Lawal , Benna Umar Garba
Published: February 2018

Developing countries will account for 90% of the new 2.5 billion urban population inflow projected by 2050. To provide decent urban environment new non-traditional financial sources such as crowdfunding are needed. In developing these sources, mutual learning experiences are the key to success but cross-cultural studies among cultures remain limited; this chapter seeks to address this issue. Africa and India are likely the key beneficiaries of future urban growth and most likely users of alternative finance tools to fund their growth. Both are slow starters in rapid urbanization and the use of crowdfunding but are making rapid progress.
Volunteerism in Urban Development the Case of Non-Cash, Non-Digital Crowdfunding Growth in Nigeria
Authors: Abdullahi Rabiu Bena
Published: February 2018

Crowdfunding is a digital-based tool for mobilizing cash for various projects contributing to urban development. This chapter argues that for societies with low digital penetration and less cash but with huge human resources and high physical interaction, crowdfunding should be used as tool for mobilizing human capital for urban development. In this sense, volunteering is a form of crowdfunding. This chapter explores the influence of volunteers in developing and maintaining their urban communities. As an activity aimed at promoting the welfare of other individuals or groups through services or cash transfers, volunteerism is a useful tool for emerging economies to fill the gap between their development resource demand and availability. Review of few relevant concepts and experiences reveal the potential contributions of paid and unpaid volunteers in Africa with a focus on the efforts to shift the Nigerian economy from an oil-based to an urban-based.
Exploring the Crowdfunding of Nigerian Volunteer Corps' Efforts in Urban Development
Authors: Abdullahi Rabiu Bena
Published: February 2018

In another chapter in this volume the author highlighted the potential role the various volunteer programs are expected to play in promoting urban development in Nigeria. This chapter, advocating urban development alternative to oil as driver of growth, carries the analysis further in three important ways: Firstly, by sharpening the ideas on the ways in which volunteerism enhance governance as the leading component of urban development, the poor state of which intensifies the many challenges. Secondly, the potential impacts of volunteer corps in social, economic, and knowledge development in selected key sub-national and national development problem areas. Thirdly, funding the huge volunteer programs that meets the speed and scale of expected urban development is considered to be beyond the traditional public finance mechanism and need the support of the emerging “alternative finance,” which include but are not limited to crowdfunding to deal with the emerging and persistent development challenges.
Mentoring Faculty Through the Glass Ceiling at HBCUs
Authors: Quarles Audrey McCrary
Published: February 2018

The mission of this chapter is to discuss the glass ceiling and the contributing factors that seem to impact faculty members at HBCUs continuously; provide insight on effective strategies to avoid pitfalls, and to provide helpful recommendations to advance to new grounds once the glass ceiling becomes unbreakable. While steps have been made to examine the impact of a positive environment, the individual is ultimately responsible for personal growth in their chosen environment.
The “Art” in Mentoring Women Faculty at Historically Black Colleges/Universities
Authors: Smith Susan , Conway Cassandra Sligh
Published: February 2018

The literature on mentoring women in certain fields like Fine Arts is scant. Therefore, in this chapter the authors shed light on personal mentoring opportunities at an HBCU environment. The purpose of this effort is to do the following: 1) review the mentoring literature; 2) provide the research available on mentoring women in Fine Arts; 3) provide solutions, recommendations, and future directions to administrators, faculty, stakeholders, that can impact mentoring opportunities and initiatives provided to women and minorities in the academy.
Intricacies of Cross-Cultural Mentoring
Authors: Rotich Jerono P. , Fuller Tiffany , Lee Minyong
Published: February 2018

This chapter describes how novice international faculty and scholars in American universities may face formidable challenges related to their new responsibilities and the cultural demands as they begin their tenure-track careers in the academe. Upon completion of the doctorate programs, some find themselves in organizations that have unfamiliar cultures and expectations. Regardless of their background, nationality or experience, they are expected to maintain the trademarks of teaching, scholarship, advisement, and community service in order to survive the rigor of academe. Unfortunately, the reality is often more overwhelming for international faculty and scholars because of multifaceted acculturation issues that are related to their new country and organization. Mentors can serve as facilitators for novice faculty. Through teamwork, mentors and novice faculty members can construct knowledge and create a culture of collaboration. It is envisioned that cross- culturally sensitive mentoring can help to ease the challenges of the new faculty as they navigate their unfamiliar environment in the academe.
Leveraging Hybrid Value Chain for Affordable Housing Delivery in the City of Windhoek
Authors: Randa Isaac Okoth
Published: February 2018

Hybrid Value Chain (HVC) has emerged both as a business model and development innovation that leverages joint capabilities of the business and citizen sectors to enable the delivery of essential goods and services to low income consumers in cost effective ways. In Namibia, especially in Windhoek, limited access to affordable housing for the low-medium income households is a major concern. Adopting an interpretivist perspective, an in-depth literature review of published records, and using hybrid value chain analysis; this chapter aims to identify an effective and efficient strategy for the delivery of affordable housing in Windhoek using the stakeholder engagement approach. HVC provides mechanisms to analyse the roles and duties of the public, private and community institutions, and thereby suggests possible policy interventions for a viable affordable housing delivery strategy. Presently, there are several non-integrated housing initiatives in Windhoek; however, the proposed Public-Private-Social-Sector Partnership model represents a new business model in the affordable housing sector.
Analysis on the European Union and the Concept of Welfare in the Context of the Economic Crisis the Cases of Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy
Authors: Schaub Luis Rodrigo Rodrigo Asturias
Published: February 2018

The economic crisis of 2007 is still a matter of preoccupation for the countries around the World. The effect of the economic crisis is still in the agendas of many regions, including Europe. The present paper analyzes the effect of the economic crisis on one of the most important values of the European Union: wellbeing. The analysis leads us to the response of two main questions that elaborated the document: What is the current situation in Europe? What is the effect of the current situation in the wellbeing of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy? The countries were chosen because of the similar situation they have concerning debt, inflation, unemployment and the search for immediate solutions. The empirical analysis based an inductive process and correlation and graphical analysis exemplify the situation of wellbeing in Europe.
The Variation in the Weighted Average Interest Rate and Its Influence on the Credit Portfolio of the Guatemalan Financial System
Authors: Gaitan Mayra Irasema
Published: February 2018

Due to the fact that the active weighted average interest rate that the banks of the national financial system have applied to the loan portfolio has been stable in recent years, it was considered important to calculate the impact of this measure on the performance of the balance of the loan portfolio by economic activity in Guatemala from 2008 to 2016; it was considered this time frame since the consulted web portals shows more information as of 2008. With the above information, it will be possible to observe the important variations and what events could propitiate it, the percentage of growth and which economic sectors have most financed their operations. The increase in the loan portfolio, in addition to being considered a strategic objective of any financial institution to increase its market share and income, is also a sign of confidence among corporate users, family members, and other entities involved in maintaining the national economic stability.
Local Best Particle Swarm Optimization Using Crown Jewel Defense Strategy
Authors: Zhou Jiarui , Yang Junshan , Lin Ling , Zhu Zexuan , Ji Zhen
Published: February 2018

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a swarm intelligence algorithm well known for its simplicity and high efficiency on various problems. Conventional PSO suffers from premature convergence due to the rapid convergence speed and lack of population diversity. It is easy to get trapped in local optima. For this reason, improvements are made to detect stagnation during the optimization and reactivate the swarm to search towards the global optimum. This chapter imposes the reflecting bound-handling scheme and von Neumann topology on PSO to increase the population diversity. A novel crown jewel defense (CJD) strategy is introduced to restart the swarm when it is trapped in a local optimum region. The resultant algorithm named LCJDPSO-rfl is tested on a group of unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions with rotation and shifting. Experimental results suggest that the LCJDPSO-rfl outperforms state-of-the-art PSO variants on most of the functions.
Multi-Objective Binary Fish School Search
Authors: Macedo Mariana Gomes da Motta , Bastos-Filho Carmelo J. A. , Vieira Susana M. , Sousa João M. C.
Published: February 2018

Fish school search (FSS) algorithm has inspired several adaptations for multi-objective problems or binary optimization. However, there is no particular proposition to solve both problems simultaneously. The proposed multi-objective approach binary fish school search (MOBFSS) aims to solve optimization problems with two or three conflicting objective functions with binary decision input variables. MOBFSS is based on the dominance concept used in the multi-objective fish school search (MOFSS) and the threshold technique deployed in the binary fish school search (BFSS). Additionally, the authors evaluate the proposal for feature selection for classification in well-known datasets. Moreover, the authors compare the performance of the proposal with a state-of-art algorithm called BMOPSO-CDR. MOBFSS presents better results than BMOPSO-CDR, especially for datasets with higher complexity.
A Computational Comparison of Swarm Optimization Techniques for Optimal Load Shedding Under the Presence of FACTS Devices to Avoid Voltage Instability
Authors: Kumar G. V. Nagesh , Rao B. Venkateswara , Chowdary D. Deepak , Sobhan Polamraju V. S.
Published: February 2018

Voltage instability has become a serious threat to the operation of modern power systems. Load shedding is one of the effective countermeasures for avoiding instability. Improper load shedding may result in huge technical and economic losses. So, an optimal load shedding is to be carried out for supplying more demand. This chapter implements bat and firefly algorithms for solving the optimal load shedding problem to identify the optimal amount of load to be shed. This is applied for a multi-objective function which contains minimization of amount of load to be shed, active power loss minimization, and voltage profile improvement. The presence of with and without static VAR compensator (SVC), thyristor-controlled series capacitor (TCSC), and unified power flow controller (UPFC) on load shedding for IEEE 57 bus system has been presented and analyzed. The results obtained with bat and firefly algorithms were compared with genetic algorithm (GA) and also the impact of flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices on load shedding problem has been analyzed.
Squeeze Casting Parameter Optimization Using Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Manjunath Patel G. C.  , Krishna Prasad , Parappagoudar Mahesh B. , Vundavilli Pandu Ranga , Bhushan S. N. Bharath
Published: February 2018

This chapter is focused to locate the optimum squeeze casting conditions using evolutionary swarm intelligence and teaching learning-based algorithms. The evolutionary and swarm intelligent algorithms are used to determine the best set of process variables for the conflicting requirements in multiple objective functions. Four cases are considered with different sets of weight fractions to the objective function based on user requirements. Fitness values are determined for all different cases to evaluate the performance of evolutionary and swarm intelligent methods. Teaching learning-based optimization and multiple-objective particle swarm optimization based on crowing distance have yielded similar results. Experiments have been conducted to test the results obtained. The performance of swarm intelligence is found to be comparable with that of evolutionary genetic algorithm in locating the optimal set of process variables. However, TLBO outperformed GA, PSO, and MOPSO-CD with regard to computation time.