bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Recycling Agents on the Laboratory Performance of Asphalt Mixtures Containing Recycled Asphalt Shingles
Authors: Cooper Samuel B. , Mohammad Louay N. , Elseifi Mostafa A. , Medeiros Marcelo S.
Published: December 2015

The use of recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) as a partial replacement for aggregates and petroleum-based virgin asphalt cement binder has gained interest; however, many state departments of transportation are still cautious about adopting high RAS content in their designs because of construction concerns and durability issues. The objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive laboratory evaluation of asphalt mixtures containing RAS with and without recycling agents. The study used post-consumer waste shingles. Five 12.5-mm asphalt mixtures were designed to meet Superpave® design criteria, with three of the five mixtures containing no recycling agents and two mixtures containing recycling agents (a naphthenic and a vegetable oil). Laboratory testing evaluated rutting performance, moisture susceptibility, fracture resistance, and the critical cracking temperature of laboratory produced mixtures. The testing used the Hamburg loaded-wheel tester, the semicircular bending test, and the thermal stress restrained specimen test in addition to the dynamic modulus test. The results from the experimental program indicated that asphalt mixtures containing 5% RAS without recycling agents had similar performance compared with the control asphalt mixture containing no RAS at high, intermediate, and low temperatures. The inclusion of RAS with and without recycling agents showed an improvement in rutting performance with no adverse effect on moisture sensitivity compared with the control mixture without RAS. However, because the use of recycling agents increased the recycled binder ratio, the intermediate- and low-temperature performances of the mixture were adversely affected.
Biomodification of Rubberized Asphalt and Its High Temperature Properties
Authors: Hosseinnezhad Shahrzad , Bocoum Amadou , Martinez Francisco Martin , Fini Ellie H.
Published: December 2015

Asphalt rubber has been commonly used in the United States for modifying asphalt binder. There have been several studies on improving the interaction and adhesion between rubber and asphalt matrix. The modification of asphalt binder with crumb rubber (CR) is mainly controlled by the exchange equilibrium between components of asphalt binder and CR. This phenomenon increases the size of rubber particles (swelling) up to three times their original size and leads to a significant increase in the viscosity of the resulting asphalt. Swelling and increased viscosity not only promote separation of the modified matrix into two distinguishable phases but also increase the difficulty of pumping and application of rubberized asphalt. This study investigated the effectiveness of treating rubber with an amide-enriched biomodifier to facilitate breakage of disulfide bonds in rubber polymer while promoting interactions between free radicals and amide groups of biomodifier. Promoting interactions between rubber polymer and asphalt aromatic compounds by adding a biomodifier could alleviate phase separation while enhancing overall matrix elasticity. This modification enhanced the rheological properties of rubberized asphalt, including high-temperature properties as well as its palpability. The rotational viscometer and dynamic shear rheometer were used to evaluate the effect of biomodifier on the rheological properties of asphalt rubber at high and intermediate temperatures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to examine the presence of rubber polymer compounds inside the asphalt matrix. The results showed that introduction of biomodifier facilitated the application of higher CR percentages while improving the overall rheological properties of the asphalt rubber.
Characterization of Adhesion and Healing at the Interface between Asphalt Binders and Aggregate Using Atomic Force Microscopy
Authors: Gong Minghui , Yang Jun , Wei Jianming , Zhu Weiwei
Published: December 2015

The adhesion damage and healing in asphalt mixture have been studied at the macroscale for decades. This study investigated the adhesive performance and adhesion-healing property of asphalt binder–aggregate interface at the microscale. The study employed atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the adhesion force between asphalt binder [one base asphalt and one styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) modified asphalt] and silicon nitrite tip. In addition, two probes were selected for the AFM test, and the influences of the probe parameters on the test results were analyzed. On the basis of measurement of the adhesion forces, adhesion work was calculated, and the adhesive performance and adhesion-healing ability of the two asphalt binders were studied. The results showed that a relatively soft probe was suitable for measurement. With a combination of surface free energy data and AFM test results, SBS modified asphalt was found to have better adhesive performance and adhesion-healing ability. Also, the addition of SBS polymer induced an obvious contrast in phase separation behavior, which was responsible for the change in adhesion forces. This study provided fundamental research in the investigation of asphalt binder–aggregate interface and useful guidance for probe selection in the AFM test.
Nanomechanical Evaluation of Vapor-Conditioned and Unconditioned Asphalt
Authors: Faisal Hasan M. , Hossain Mohammad I. , Tarefder Rafiqul A.
Published: December 2015

Traditionally, moisture damage of asphalt concrete (AC) is evaluated by comparing the macroscale strength and stiffness values of a set of moisture- or vapor-conditioned samples with those of a set of unconditioned AC samples. The moisture damage of a bulk (liquid) asphalt binder is determined by the surface energy components of the binder with a Wilhelmy plate device: the most recent and advanced way to evaluate moisture damage in liquid asphalt. Despite these advancements, moisture damage in AC or asphalt binder is an unsolved issue. Different from previous approaches, this study evaluated the moisture damage of thin films of asphalt deposited on glass substrates, conditioned at 25%, 49%, and 71% vapors, and used a nanoindentation technique for testing. In nanoindentation, a point load indents the asphalt film surface and load–displacement data are recorded. The study analyzed nanoindentation data with the traditional Oliver–Pharr method and a nontraditional mechanical model that captures the viscoelastoplastic behavior of the indented film with spring, dashpot, and rigid (SDR) body elements. The model results showed that the modulus and hardness of asphalt film decreased with an increase in vapor level. The SDR model showed that at higher humidity, at 49% and 71% humidity conditions, the viscosity decreased by approximately 60% in thin film binder.
Emergency Braking in Adults versus Novice Teen Drivers: Response to Simulated Sudden Driving Events
Authors: Loeb Helen S. , Kandadai Venk , McDonald Catherine C. , Winston Flaura K.
Published: December 2015

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death of teens in the United States. Newly licensed drivers are the group most at risk for such crashes. The driving skills of teen drivers are new and still often untested; therefore, their ability to react properly in an emergency situation remains a subject for research. Because it is not possible to expose human subjects to critical life-threatening driving scenarios, researchers increasingly have been using driving simulators to assess driving skills. This paper summarizes the results of a driving scenario in a study that compared the driving performance of novice teen drivers ( n = 21) 16 to 17 years old with 90 days of provisional licensure with that of experienced adult drivers ( n = 17) 25 to 50 years old with at least 5 years of Pennsylvania licensure who drove at least 100 mi per week and had experienced no self-reported collisions in the previous 3 years. As part of a 30 to 35 mph simulated drive that encompassed the most common scenarios that result in serious crashes, participants were exposed to a sudden car event. As the participant drove on a suburban road, a car surged from a driveway hidden by a fence on the right-hand side of the road. To avoid the crash the participant had to brake hard and demonstrate dynamic control over both attentional and motor resources. The results showed significant differences between the experienced adult and the novice teen drivers in the amount of brake pressure applied. When placed in the same situation, the novice teens decelerated on average 50% less than the experienced adults ( p < .01).
Teen Drivers' Perceptions of Their Peer Passengers
Authors: Ehsani Johnathon P. , Haynie Denise L. , Luthers Christina , Perlus Jessamyn , Gerber Eli , Ouimet Marie Claude , Klauer Sheila G. , Simons-Morton Bruce
Published: December 2015

The presence of peer passengers increases the risk of fatal crashes among teenage drivers. Distraction and social influence are the two main factors associated with this increased risk. Teen drivers' perceptions of their peer passengers with regard to distraction and social influence could help inform the understanding of the conditions under which peer passengers increase crash risk or promote safer driving. The purpose of this study was to examine such perceptions. A convenience sample of male and female drivers participated in a semistructured interview process that included questions about their perceptions of the effects of peer passengers on driving. The analysis of the interviews was guided by a grounded theory approach. Teenage drivers were found to be aware of the risk that peer passengers posed. Some described having passengers in the vehicle as distracting and recognized that the level of distraction increased with the number of passengers. Drivers who felt responsible for the safety of their peer passengers described strategies that they used to control the in-vehicle environment. Drivers described driving with passengers as a performance and articulated direct and indirect sources of pressure, gender norms, and the unspoken expectations of their passengers as influences on their driving behavior. The influence of passengers is situation specific and dependent on who the passengers are; passenger influence may be either protective or harmful, according to the circumstances. Some passengers exert direct influence, but often their influence appears more indirect and subtle.
Before-and-After Empirical Bayes Evaluation of Automated Mobile Speed Enforcement on Urban Arterial Roads
Authors: Li Ran , El-Basyouny Karim , Kim Amy
Published: December 2015

Speeding is a leading factor in road collisions and is found to contribute to approximately one-third of all fatal collisions. Speed enforcement is one of the most common countermeasures used to reduce speed. However, a gap exists in the literature regarding the effectiveness of automated mobile photo enforcement on urban arterial roads. This study addresses this gap using the before-and-after empirical Bayes method to account for regression to the mean effects and other confounding factors. Locally developed safety performance functions and yearly calibration factors for different collision severities were obtained by using a reference group of urban arterial roads. The evaluation period covers 8 years. Collision records, deployment information, traffic counts, and road geometric data were collected. The results showed consistent reductions in different collision severities; the reductions ranged from 14% to 20%, with the highest reductions observed for severe collisions. The enforced segments were further categorized according to site selection criteria and deployment hours to examine the effect of enforcement on collision reduction. More reductions were found at segments that had more collisions during the before period and longer deployment hours. The study also compared the safety effects of continuous and discontinuous enforcement strategies on different arterials, and the analysis revealed that continuous enforcement achieved more reductions across all severities and types of collisions. The study also investigated the spillover effects on adjacent unenforced approaches. Significant reductions were found, and these results are discussed with regard to the general and specific deterrence of the enforcement.
Accuracy of Injury Severity Ratings on Police Crash Reports
Authors: Burdett Beau , Li Zhixia , Bill Andrea R. , Noyce David A.
Published: December 2015

Injury severity as assessed by law enforcement officers on crash reports, particularly incapacitating injuries (severity = A on the KABCO scale, on which K denotes a fatal injury, A an incapacitating injury, B a non-incapacitating injury, C a possible injury, and O a property-damage-only crash, is used for estimating crash costs and, in turn, for allocating safety funds. The Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) database reports injury severity assessment from both law enforcement officers using the KABCO scale and medical practitioners using the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score (MAIS). The objective of this study was to analyze the accuracy of the injury severity ratings on Wisconsin crash reports by comparing crash data in the CODES database between 2008 and 2012. Results indicated that 66.6% of KABCO A crashes had only minor or moderate injury severities (MAIS 1 or 2); that is, two-thirds of crash victims' injury severities were overestimated. In addition, underestimation of injury severities occurred in 2.9% of all O, C, and B crashes. Further analyses found that injuries to all body regions statistically contributed to overestimation and underestimation as compared with injuries to body regions from all crash reports, with the exception of lower extremities for underestimated crashes. Several factors including gender, vehicle type, and the presence of alcohol significantly contributed to both overestimation and underestimation. Lighting conditions also affected underestimation. Spine, thorax, and abdomen or pelvic injuries were the injuries most frequently missed by law enforcement officers. The most common injuries found in the inaccurate crash reports were bone injuries, lacerations, abrasions, and contusions. These findings were used to develop guidance for law enforcement officers to assist in more accurate injury severity assessments.
Drug Use and Involvement in a Safety-Critical Event
Authors: Camden Matthew C. , Soccolich Susan A. , Hickman Jeffrey S. , Hanowski Richard J.
Published: December 2015

This study used the Naturalistic Truck Driving Study data set to test the feasibility of applying naturalistic data to evaluation of the relationship between prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) drug use and involvement in a safety-critical event (SCE). The risk of drug use was calculated by comparing SCEs and baseline epochs that occurred within a drug's half-life with SCEs and baseline epochs that did not occur within a drug's half-life (for the same half-life period). This research found that nearly 97% of commercial motor vehicle drivers used an OTC drug at least once (mostly caffeine), and 25% used at least one Rx drug. Furthermore, Rx and noncaffeine OTC drug use was not associated with an increased or decreased risk of involvement in an SCE. As caffeine was the only drug classification used multiple times by many drivers, this odds ratio analysis was the only analysis performed. Caffeine use while driving was found to be associated with a decreased risk of SCE involvement in all seven half-lives (half-life odds ratios ranging from 0.44 to 0.66). This project illustrated the feasibility of using a naturalistic driving approach to assess the risk associated with Rx and OTC drug use while driving. It is possible that analyses for specific medications could be performed with a sufficiently large sample of drivers who used each classification of drug.
Structure of Endomorphism Semigroup of Endomappings of Some Particular Rooted Trees
Authors: Hossain Mohd Altab
Published: December 2015

For an endomapping of a finite set of points lying on some rooted particular trees, endomorphism and endomorphism semigroup were studied. The main aim of this paper was to obtain the structure of the semigroup of all endomorphisms of the endomappings represented by directed graphs on particular types of rooted trees.Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 2, 169-175, 2015
Mycoflora of Cotton Plant (Gossypium hirsutum L.) - with three New Records of Deuteromycetes from Bangladesh
Authors: Shamsi Shamim , Naher Najmun , Azad Rumana
Published: December 2015

Fungal diseases of cotton plant (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were studied during July, 2011 to June, 2012. Eleven cotton varieties were selected for the experiment. Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler, Aspergillus niger van Tiegh, Colletotrichum gossypii Sowthworth, Colletotrichum dematium (Pers.) Grove, Curvularia clavata Jain, Fusarium sp., Gleotrichum sp., Hyalopycnis sp., Pestalotiopsis guepinii (Desm.) Stay, and a sterile fungus were isolated from infected leaves of cotton varieties CB6 and CB11. Colletotrichum gossypii was isolated from both the varieties and C. dematium was exclusively isolated from CB6. Varieties CB6 and CB11 were more susceptible than other varieties. Cotton varieties CB1, CB2, and CB3 showed negligible infection on leaves and bolls. Colletotrichum gossypii and Hyalopycnis sp. are new record for Bangladesh. Moreover, association of C. dematium, Gleotrichum sp., P. guepinii and Hyalopycnis sp. with cotton is being reported first time. The three fungi Colletotrichum. gossypii, C. dematium and Hyalopycnis sp. are described and illustrated in this account as new Deuteromycetous records for Bangladesh.Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 2, 213-221, 2015
Biology of Gram Blue Butterfly, Euchrysops Cnejus (Fabricius) (Lycaenidae: Lapidoptera) and its Relationship with the Phenology of Host-plant (Vigna Unguiculata: Fabaceae)
Authors: Akand Sajeda , Bashar MA , Khan Humayun Reza
Published: December 2015

The biology of the gram blue butterfly, Euchrysops cnejus (Fabricius) (Lycaenidae: Lapidoptera) and its relationship with the phenology of host plant cowpea, Vigna unguiculata L. (Fabaceae) were studied. Eggs were reared under the laboratory conditions at 28 ± 20C and 74 ± 3% RH. The incubation period of the eggs found to be 2.33 ± 0.51 days, larval developmental period 14.65 ± 0.51 days, pre-pupal period 0.30 ± 0.04 day and pupal period 5.66 ± 0.51 days. The species took 22.94 ± 0.55 days for development from egg to adult under the laboratory condition. The length of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instar larvae was 3.66 ± 0.40, 6.16 ± 0.51, 12.16 ± 0.51 and 15.33 ± 0.40 mm, respectively. The pre-pupal length was 9.16 ± 0.61 mm and the pupal length was 9.08 ± 0.37 mm. The host-plant occurs in the field from February to July. The butterfly appeared in March. The coincidence of the gram blue butterfly to its host-plant occurred between April and early July. The oviposition behaviour, incubation and immature stages were found to be profoundly related with host plant-phenological phases.Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 2, 241-248, 2015
Market Power Abuse in EU And UK: A Review of Consumer Detriment Issues
Authors: Bilkis Afroza , Halder Supravat
Published: December 2015

When a dominant company exploits its market power and that harms fair competition in the marketplace, average consumers remain in the most vulnerable condition having vital influence on but no active participation in the functioning of the market. The actions of a business that has market power can have serious effects on the operation of a market. An undertaking in a dominant position may use its market power in several ways, the most common being exploiting consumers by artificial scarcity and increasing prices. Moreover, there may be diverse interpretation as to the nature of an undertaking while considering market power abuse cases for the purposes of European Union (EU) Competition law. It is significant to consider the status of consumers in a market to see if dominant entities are abusing their powers and therefore test the level of commercialization.Northern University Journal of Law Vol.IV 2013; p.27-46
The Doctrine of Capital Maintenance and its Statutory Developments: An Analysis
Authors: Islam Md Saidul
Published: December 2015

This article emphasizes on the implication of the doctrine of capital maintenance which means the capital of a company needs to be kept intact for there is a contribution of the creditors and retaining the capital is normally expected to guarantee repayment to the creditors. Any reduction of capital can diminish the liability of members and consequently the position of the creditors can be vulnerable. Therefore, an attempt has been made by this study to reveal the origin, objective and application of the doctrine of capital maintenance to find out a way by which we can save the interest of the creditors as well as satisfy the needs of the modern business.Northern University Journal of Law Vol.IV 2013; p.47-55
A Contextual Analysis of the Medical Negligence in Bangladesh: Laws and Practices
Authors: Akter Khandakar Kohinur
Published: December 2015

Medical negligence is a clear violation of right to health by a professional group who are actually on duty to protect when emergency strikes and the health rights are under threat. Medical negligence is lately a popular topic of attention and discussion in many developed states and consequently many of them have enacted and established separate Acts and courts to strengthen health care laws. However in Bangladesh there is no specific and comprehensive legislation to prevent medical negligence though many legal provisions are there under different statutes which are not precisely codified. This article in this background has made an effort to define medical negligence, present laws concerning medical negligence of Bangladesh with their major loopholes and lastly recommends some actions to come on strong preventing such violation of health-care rights.Northern University Journal of Law Vol.IV 2013; p.67-81
Radiographic position of mental foramen in selected urban population of Bangladesh
Authors: Chowdhurya Tazdik G , Rahmanb Dilruba , Jannat Tasnim A , Hossaind Md Mahfuz , Sultanae Asma , Iqbalf Md Ashif , Noorg Ashek Elahi
Published: December 2015

Purpose of this study was to investigate the most common accurate position of the mental foramen in selected Bangladeshi population which helps in several clinical procedure and nerve block anesthesia.The study sample included one hundred and one panoramic radiographs of selected urban population of Bangladesh taken in Out Patient Department, Update Dental College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The most common Horizontal position of the mental foramen was below the root of second premolar tooth (37.6%). In vertical axis, the location of MF in lower half of body of mandible was found in all OPGs (100%).In vertical distance, Position B, which is measured by distance between 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm,is the most common position of MF in all aspect as viewed in OPGs in Bangladeshi population.In this study, the difference of the location of the mental foramen in different ethnics groups was discussed. Clinicians and anthropologists should expect to find the position of the mental foramen to be symmetrical and below the root of second premolar tooth.Update Dent. Coll. j: 2015; 5 (1): 03-09
Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
Authors: Dolan Emily , Scotto Jamie , Slater Margaret , Weiss Emily
Published: December 2015

Dog relinquishment is a large component of shelter intake in the United States. Research has shown traits of the dog are associated with relinquishment as well as general characteristics of those relinquishing. Low income is often cited as a risk factor for relinquishment. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. A group of people accessing a shelter in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles to relinquish their dogs was surveyed. This study examined risk factors for relinquishment, controlling for household income, compared to a group utilizing low cost spay/neuter services. A total of 76.9% of those relinquishing noted cost as a reason for relinquishment. Of participants in the relinquishment group, 80.7% reported not being aware of any services available to them. Most notable in the findings was that the odds of relinquishment were generally higher as the amount of perceived stress in the home in the past three months increased. The majority of people in both groups reported being emotionally attached to the dog. In this sample from a South Los Angeles community, the majority of reasons for relinquishment were likely solvable with assistance. These findings highlight an opportunity to assess community needs and provide community specific alternatives to relinquishment.
Structure, Hydrogen Storage, and Electrochemical Properties of Body-Centered-Cubic Ti40V30Cr15Mn13X2 Alloys (X = B, Si, Mn, Ni, Zr, Nb, Mo, and La)
Authors: Young Kwo-Hsiung , Ouchi Taihei , Huang Baoquan , Nei Jean
Published: December 2015

Structure, gaseous phase hydrogen storage, and electrochemical properties of a series of TiVCrMn-based body-centered-cubic (BCC) alloys with different partial substitutions for Mn with covalent elements (B and Si), transition metals (Ni, Zr, Nb, and Mo), and rare earth element (La) were investigated. Although the influences from substitutions on structure and gaseous phase storage properties were minor, influences on electrochemical discharge capacity were significant. The first cycle capacity ranged from 16 mAh·g−1 (Si-substituted) to 247 mAh·g−1 (Mo-substituted). Severe alloy passivation in 30% KOH electrolyte was observed, and an original capacity close to 500 mAh·g−1 could possibly be achieved by Mo-substituted alloy if a non-corrosive electrolyte was employed. Surface coating of Nafion to the Mo-substituted alloy was able to increase the first cycle capacity to 408 mAh·g−1, but the degradation rate in mAh·g−1·cycle−1 was still similar to that of standard testing. Electrochemical capacity was found to be closely related to BCC phase unit cell volume and width of the an extra small pressure plateau at around 0.3 MPa on the 30 °C pressure-concentration-temperature (PCT) desorption isotherm. Judging from its high electrochemical discharge capacity, Mo was the most beneficial substitution in BCC alloys for Ni/metal hydride (MH) battery application.
Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: Their Characteristics and Their Roles in Tumor Growth
Authors: Shiga Kazuyoshi , Hara Masayasu , Nagasaki Takaya , Sato Takafumi , Takahashi Hiroki , Takeyama Hiromitsu
Published: December 2015

Cancer tissues are composed of cancer cells and the surrounding stromal cells (e.g., fibroblasts, vascular endothelial cells, and immune cells), in addition to the extracellular matrix. Most studies investigating carcinogenesis and the progression, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis of cancer have focused on alterations in cancer cells, including genetic and epigenetic changes. Recently, interactions between cancer cells and the stroma have attracted considerable attention, and increasing evidence has accumulated on this. Several researchers have gradually clarified the origins, features, and roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a major component of the cancer stroma. CAFs function in a similar manner to myofibroblasts during wound healing. We previously reported the relationship between CAFs and angiogenesis. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a multifunctional cytokine, plays a central role in regulating inflammatory and immune responses, and important roles in the progression, including proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, of several cancers. We showed that CAFs are an important IL-6 source and that anti-IL-6 receptor antibody suppressed angiogenesis and inhibited tumor-stroma interactions. Furthermore, CAFs contribute to drug-resistance acquisition in cancer cells. The interaction between cancer cells and the stroma could be a potential target for anti-cancer therapy.
Molecular Simulation of Shale Gas Adsorption and Diffusion in Clay Nanopores
Authors: Sui Hongguang , Yao Jun , Zhang Lei
Published: December 2015

The present work aims to study the adsorption behavior and dynamical properties of CH4 in clay slit pore with or without cation exchange structures at sizes of 1.0 nm–4.0 nm using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) and molecular dynamics (MD) methods. The adsorption isotherms of CH4 have been investigated by GCMC simulations at different temperatures and various pore sizes. In the montmorillonite (MMT) clays without a cation exchange structure, from the density profile, we find the molecules preferentially adsorb onto the surface, and only an obvious single layer was observed. The general trend within slit pores is that with increasing pore width, the adsorbed amount will increase. However, the larger pores exhibit lower excess density and the smaller pores exhibit higher excess density. The preloaded water will reduce CH4 sorption. The in plane self-diffusion coefficient of CH4 which is investigated by MD simulations combined with Einstein fluid equation increases rapidly with the pore size increasing at low pressure. Under these given conditions, the effect of temperature has little influence on the in-plane self-diffusion coefficient. In the MMT clays with cation exchange structure, cation exchange has little effect on CH4 adsorption and self-diffusion.
Pareto-Optimal Evaluation of Ultimate Limit States in Offshore Wind Turbine Structural Analysis
Authors: Muskulus Michael
Published: December 2015

The ultimate capacity of support structures is checked with extreme loads. This is straightforward when the limit state equations depend on a single load component, and it has become common to report maxima for each load component. However, if more than one load component is influential, e.g., both axial force and bending moments, it is not straightforward how to define an extreme load. The combination of univariate maxima can be too conservative, and many different combinations of load components can result in the worst value of the limit state equations. The use of contemporaneous load vectors is typically non-conservative. Therefore, in practice, limit state checks are done for each possible load vector, from each time step of a simulation. This is not feasible when performing reliability assessments and structural optimization, where additional, time-consuming computations are involved for each load vector. We therefore propose to use Pareto-optimal loads, which are a small set of loads that together represent all possible worst case scenarios. Simulations with two reference wind turbines show that this approach can be very useful for jacket structures, whereas the design of monopiles is often governed by the bending moment only. Even in this case, the approach might be useful when approaching the structural limits during optimization.
A Scoping Review of Maternal and Child Health Clinicians Attitudes, Beliefs, Practice, Training and Perceived Self-Competence in Environmental Health
Authors: Massaquoi Lamin , Edwards Nancy
Published: December 2015

Clinicians regularly assess, diagnose and manage illnesses which are directly or indirectly linked to environmental exposures. Yet, various studies have identified gaps in environmental assessment in routine clinical practice. This review assessed clinicians’ environmental health practices, attitudes and beliefs, and competencies and training. Relevant articles were sought using a systematic search strategy using five databases, grey literature and a hand search. Search strategies and protocols were developed using tailored mesh terms and keywords. 43 out of 11,291 articles were eligible for inclusion. Clinicians’ attitudes and beliefs towards environmental health and routine clinical practice were generally positive, with most clinicians believing that environmental hazards affect human health. However, with the exception of tobacco smoke exposure, environmental health assessment was infrequently part of routine clinical practice. Clinicians’ self-competence in environmental assessment was reported to be inadequate. Major challenges were the time required to complete an assessment, inadequate training and concerns about negative patients’ responses. Clinicians have strong positive attitudes and beliefs about the importance of environmental health assessments. However, more concerted and robust strategies will be needed to support clinicians in assuming their assessment and counselling roles related to a wider range of environmental hazards.
Identification of Novel Chromosomal Aberrations Induced by 60Co-γ-Irradiation in Wheat-Dasypyrum villosum Lines
Authors: Zhang Jie , Jiang Yun , Guo Yuanlin , Li Guangrong , Yang Zujun , Xu Delin , Xuan Pu
Published: December 2015

Mutations induced by radiation are widely used for developing new varieties of plants. To better understand the frequency and pattern of irradiation-induced chromosomal rearrangements, we irradiated the dry seeds of Chinese Spring (CS)-Dasypyrum villosum nullisomic-tetrasomic (6A/6D) addition (6V) line (2n = 44), WD14, with 60Co-γ-rays at dosages of 100, 200, and 300 Gy. The M0 and M1 generations were analyzed using Feulgen staining and non-denaturing fluorescence in situ hybridization (ND-FISH) by using oligonucleotide probes. Abnormal mitotic behavior and chromosomes with structural changes were observed in the M0 plants. In all, 39 M1 plants had structurally changed chromosomes, with the B genome showing the highest frequency of aberrations and tendency to recombine with chromosomes of the D genome. In addition, 19 M1 plants showed a variation in chromosome number. The frequency of chromosome loss was considerably higher for 6D than for the alien chromosome 6V, indicating that 6D is less stable after irradiation. Our findings suggested that the newly obtained γ-induced genetic materials might be beneficial for future wheat breeding programs and functional gene analyses.
miR-29a Participated in Nacre Formation and Immune Response by Targeting Y2R in Pinctada martensii
Authors: Tian Rongrong , Zheng Zhe , Huang Ronglian , Jiao Yu , Du Xiaodong
Published: December 2015

miR-29a is a conserved miRNA that participates in bone formation and immune response in vertebrates. miR-29a of Pinctada martensii (Pm-miR-29a) was identified in the previous research though deep sequencing. In this report, the precise sequence of mature Pm-miR-29a was validated using miRNA rapid amplification of cDNA ends (miR-RACE) technology. The precursor sequence of Pm-miR-29a was predicted to have 87 bp. Stem loop qRT-PCR analysis showed that Pm-miR-29a was easily detected in all the tissues, although expressions in the mantle and gill were low. The microstructure showed the disrupted growth of the nacre after Pm-miR-29a over-expression, which was induced by mimic injection into P. martensii. Results of the target analysis indicated that neuropeptide Y receptor type 2 (Y2R) was the potential target of Pm-miR-29a. Meanwhile, Pm-miR-29a mimics could obviously inhibit the relative luciferase activity of the reporter containing 3′ UTR (Untranslated Regions) of the Y2R gene. Furthermore, the expression of Y2R was downregulated whereas expressions of interleukin 17 (IL-17) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) were upregulated after Pm-miR-29a over-expression in the mantle and gill, thereby suggesting that Pm-miR-29a could activate the immune response of the pearl oyster. Results showed that Pm-miR-29a was involved in nacre formation and immune response by regulating Y2R in pearl oyster P. martensii.
Antioxidant, Anti-Tyrosinase and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Oil Production Residues from Camellia tenuifloria
Authors: Chiou Shu-Yuan , Ha Choi-Lan , Wu Pei-Shan , Yeh Chiu-Ling , Su Ying-Shan , Li Man-Po , Wu Ming-Jiuan
Published: December 2015

Camellia tenuifloria is an indigenous Camellia species used for the production of camellia oil in Taiwan. This study investigated for the first time the potential antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-inflammatory activities of oil production byproducts, specifically those of the fruit shell, seed shell, and seed pomace from C. tenuifloria. It was found that the crude ethanol extract of the seed shell had the strongest DPPH scavenging and mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory activities, followed by the fruit shell, while seed pomace was the weakest. The IC50 values of crude extracts and fractions on monophenolase were smaller than diphenolase. The phenolic-rich methanol fraction of seed shell (SM) reduced nitric oxide (NO) production, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. It also repressed the expression of IL-1β, and secretion of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and IL-6 in response to LPS. SM strongly stimulated heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) expression and addition of zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP), a HO-1 competitive inhibitor, reversed the inhibition of NO production, indicating the involvement of HO-1 in its anti-inflammatory activity. The effects observed in this study provide evidence for the reuse of residues from C. tenuifloria in the food additive, medicine and cosmetic industries.
Modulators of Macrophage Polarization Influence Healing of the Infarcted Myocardium
Authors: Ter Horst Ellis , Hakimzadeh Nazanin , Van der Laan Anja , Krijnen Paul , Niessen Hans , Piek Jan
Published: December 2015

To diminish heart failure development after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), several preclinical studies have focused on influencing the inflammatory processes in the healing response post-AMI. The initial purpose of this healing response is to clear cell debris of the injured cardiac tissue and to eventually resolve inflammation and support scar tissue formation. This is a well-balanced reaction. However, excess inflammation can lead to infarct expansion, adverse ventricular remodeling and thereby propagate heart failure development. Different macrophage subtypes are centrally involved in both the promotion and resolution phase of inflammation. Modulation of macrophage subset polarization has been described to greatly affect the quality and outcome of healing after AMI. Therefore, it is of great interest to reveal the process of macrophage polarization to support the development of therapeutic targets. The current review summarizes (pre)clinical studies that demonstrate essential molecules involved in macrophage polarization that can be modulated and influence cardiac healing after AMI.
The Role of Sulforaphane in Epigenetic Mechanisms, Including Interdependence between Histone Modification and DNA Methylation
Authors: Kaufman-Szymczyk Agnieszka , Majewski Grzegorz , Lubecka-Pietruszewska Katarzyna , Fabianowska-Majewska Krystyna
Published: December 2015

Carcinogenesis as well as cancer progression result from genetic and epigenetic changes of the genome that leads to dysregulation of transcriptional activity of genes. Epigenetic mechanisms in cancer cells comprise (i) post-translation histone modification (i.e., deacetylation and methylation); (ii) DNA global hypomethylation; (iii) promoter hypermethylation of tumour suppressor genes and genes important for cell cycle regulation, cell differentiation and apoptosis; and (iv) posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression by noncoding microRNA. These epigenetic aberrations can be readily reversible and responsive to both synthetic agents and natural components of diet. A source of one of such diet components are cruciferous vegetables, which contain high levels of a number of glucosinolates and deliver, after enzymatic hydrolysis, sulforaphane and other bioactive isothiocyanates, that are involved in effective up-regulation of transcriptional activity of certain genes and also in restoration of active chromatin structure. Thus a consumption of cruciferous vegetables, treated as a source of isothiocyanates, seems to be potentially useful as an effective cancer preventive factor or as a source of nutrients improving efficacy of standard chemotherapies. In this review an attempt is made to elucidate the role of sulforaphane in regulation of gene promoter activity through a direct down-regulation of histone deacetylase activity and alteration of gene promoter methylation in indirect ways, but the sulforaphane influence on non-coding micro-RNA will not be a subject of this review.
Effects of Semantic Features on Machine Learning-Based Drug Name Recognition Systems: Word Embeddings vs. Manually Constructed Dictionaries
Authors: Liu Shengyu , Tang Buzhou , Chen Qingcai , Wang Xiaolong
Published: December 2015

Semantic features are very important for machine learning-based drug name recognition (DNR) systems. The semantic features used in most DNR systems are based on drug dictionaries manually constructed by experts. Building large-scale drug dictionaries is a time-consuming task and adding new drugs to existing drug dictionaries immediately after they are developed is also a challenge. In recent years, word embeddings that contain rich latent semantic information of words have been widely used to improve the performance of various natural language processing tasks. However, they have not been used in DNR systems. Compared to the semantic features based on drug dictionaries, the advantage of word embeddings lies in that learning them is unsupervised. In this paper, we investigate the effect of semantic features based on word embeddings on DNR and compare them with semantic features based on three drug dictionaries. We propose a conditional random fields (CRF)-based system for DNR. The skip-gram model, an unsupervised algorithm, is used to induce word embeddings on about 17.3 GigaByte (GB) unlabeled biomedical texts collected from MEDLINE (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA). The system is evaluated on the drug-drug interaction extraction (DDIExtraction) 2013 corpus. Experimental results show that word embeddings significantly improve the performance of the DNR system and they are competitive with semantic features based on drug dictionaries. F-score is improved by 2.92 percentage points when word embeddings are added into the baseline system. It is comparative with the improvements from semantic features based on drug dictionaries. Furthermore, word embeddings are complementary to the semantic features based on drug dictionaries. When both word embeddings and semantic features based on drug dictionaries are added, the system achieves the best performance with an F-score of 78.37%, which outperforms the best system of the DDIExtraction 2013 challenge by 6.87 percentage points.
FPGA-Based Portable Ultrasound Scanning System with Automatic Kidney Detection
Authors: Bharath R. , Kumar Punit , Dusa Chandrashekar , Akkala Vivek , Puli Suresh , Ponduri Harsha , Krishna K. , Rajalakshmi P. , Merchant S. , Mateen Mohammed , Desai U.
Published: December 2015

Bedsides diagnosis using portable ultrasound scanning (PUS) offering comfortable diagnosis with various clinical advantages, in general, ultrasound scanners suffer from a poor signal-to-noise ratio, and physicians who operate the device at point-of-care may not be adequately trained to perform high level diagnosis. Such scenarios can be eradicated by incorporating ambient intelligence in PUS. In this paper, we propose an architecture for a PUS system, whose abilities include automated kidney detection in real time. Automated kidney detection is performed by training the Viola–Jones algorithm with a good set of kidney data consisting of diversified shapes and sizes. It is observed that the kidney detection algorithm delivers very good performance in terms of detection accuracy. The proposed PUS with kidney detection algorithm is implemented on a single Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA, integrated with a Raspberry Pi ARM processor running at 900 MHz.
The Efficacy of Epidemic Algorithms on Detecting Node Replicas in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Shashidhar Narasimha , Kari Chadi , Verma Rakesh
Published: December 2015

A node replication attack against a wireless sensor network involves surreptitious efforts by an adversary to insert duplicate sensor nodes into the network while avoiding detection. Due to the lack of tamper-resistant hardware and the low cost of sensor nodes, launching replication attacks takes little effort to carry out. Naturally, detecting these replica nodes is a very important task and has been studied extensively. In this paper, we propose a novel distributed, randomized sensor duplicate detection algorithm called Discard to detect node replicas in group-deployed wireless sensor networks. Our protocol is an epidemic, self-organizing duplicate detection scheme, which exhibits emergent properties. Epidemic schemes have found diverse applications in distributed computing: load balancing, topology management, audio and video streaming, computing aggregate functions, failure detection, network and resource monitoring, to name a few. To the best of our knowledge, our algorithm is the first attempt at exploring the potential of this paradigm to detect replicas in a wireless sensor network. Through analysis and simulation, we show that our scheme achieves robust replica detection with substantially lower communication, computational and storage requirements than prior schemes in the literature.
Drastic Dependence of the pH Sensitivity of Fe2O3-Bi2O3-B2O3 Hydrophobic Glasses with Composition
Authors: Hashimoto Tadanori , Murayama Fumiya , Nakao Masashi , Nasu Hiroyuki , Ishihara Atsushi , Nishio Yuji
Published: December 2015

Fe2O3-Bi2O3-B2O3 (FeBiB) glasses were developed as novel pH responsive hydrophobic glasses. The influence of the glass composition on the pH sensitivity of FeBiB glasses was investigated. The pH sensitivity drastically decreased with decreasing B2O3 content. A moderate amount of Fe2O3 and a small amount of B2O3 respectively produces bulk electronic conduction and a pH response on glass surfaces. Because the remaining components of the glass can be selected freely, this discovery could prove very useful in developing novel pH glass electrodes that are self-cleaning and resist fouling.
Properties of Cadmium-(bis)dodecylthiolate and Polymeric Composites Based on It
Authors: Agareva Nadezhda , Smirnov Anton , Afanasiev Andrey , Sologubov Semen , Markin Alexey , Salomatina Evgenia , Smirnova Larisa , Bityurin Nikita
Published: December 2015

We study the thermo-physical and photoluminescence (PL) properties of cadmium-(bis)dodecylthiolate (Cd(C12H25S)2). Significant attention is drawn to characterization of Cd(C12H25S)2 by different methods. The laser-induced PLs of Cd(C12H25S)2 and Cd(C12H25S)2/(polymethyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composites are studied. Samples of Cd(C12H25S)2/PMMA are synthesized by the polymerization method. Ultraviolet (UV)-pulsed laser irradiation of the samples under relatively small fluences leads to the formation of induced PL with the maximum near the wavelength of 600 nm. This process can be attributed to the transformation of Cd(C12H25S)2 within the precursor grains. Another PL peak at 450–500 nm, which appears under the higher fluences, relies on the formation of CdS complexes with a significant impact of the polymer matrix.