bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Traveling Wave Phenomenon Through Piezoelectric Actuation of a Free-Free Cylindrical Tube
Authors: Phoenix Austin , Malladi V. V. N. Sriram , Tarazaga Pablo A.
Published: January 2016

Previous work has demonstrated that piezoceramics are capable of generating net wave propagation without reflections in one-dimensional structures. The investigation into cylindrical traveling waves provides insight into unique dynamics (i.e., symmetric and non-symmetric modes) that have yet to be fully defined for two and three dimensional systems. The work herein will focus on the generation and characterization of traveling waves that propagate along the circumferential direction. The coupled system, given by a free-free cylinder with multiple piezoelectric actuator (PZT) patches, is used to evaluate several traveling wave modes in the cylinder. The use of structurally integrated piezoelectric patches as actuators has many advantages over the conventional shakers. Apart from the small, low weight, low cost and the size of these ceramic plates, PZTs can also generate waves over a wide frequency range. The use of multiple PZTs can be leveraged to excite the systems at a given frequency with a defined phase difference between them in order to generate highly controlled directional traveling waves in the cylindrical structure without reflections. Finite Element Modeling (FEM), in conjunction with experiments, were conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the generation and propagation behavior of the traveling wave modes in a thin walled cylinder.
Uncertainty Quantification of Energy Harvesting Systems Using Method of Quadratures and Maximum Entropy Principle
Authors: Nanda Aditya , Karami M. Amin , Singla Puneet
Published: January 2016

This paper uses the method of Quadratures in conjunction with the Maximum Entropy principle to investigate the effect of parametric uncertainties on the mean power output and root mean square deflection of piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesting systems. Uncertainty in parameters of harvesters could arise from insufficient manufacturing controls or change in material properties over time. We investigate bimorph based harvesters that transduce ambient vibrations to electricity via the piezoelectric effect. Three varieties of energy harvesters — Linear, Nonlinear monostable and Nonlinear bistable are considered in this research.

This analysis quantitatively shows the probability density function for the mean power and root mean square deflection as a function of the probability densities of the excitation frequency, excitation amplitude, initial deflection of the bimorph and magnet gap of the energy harvester. The method of Quadratures is used for numerically integrating functions by propagating weighted points from the domain and evaluating the integral as a weighted sum of the function values. In this paper, the method of Quadratures is used for evaluating central moments of the distributions of rms deflection and mean harvested power and, then, in conjunction with the principle of Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) an optimal density function is obtained which maximizes the entropy and satisfies the moment constraints. The The computed nonlinear density functions are validated against Monte Carlo simulations thereby demonstrating the efficiency of the approach. Further, the Maximum Entropy principle is widely applicable to uncertainty quantification of a wide range of dynamic systems.
Design and Demonstration of a Flexible Matrix Composite Actuated Flap in a UAV
Authors: Heim Michael , Pyne Kyle , Bialy Adrian , Burns Meghan , Mohan Glendon , Beaty Noah , MacNeal Connor , Weit Colby , Doepke E. Brady , Kevorkian Chris , Philen Michael , Woolsey Craig
Published: January 2016

Morphing wings are of great interest in the aerospace community. Control surfaces with continuously variable geometry can increase the efficiency of aircraft aerodynamics. This research focuses on demonstrating a morphing flap on a small span-wise section of the trailing edge in a wing for a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The flaps used flexible matrix composite (FMC) actuators embedded in a flexible structure, rather than hinged control surfaces with conventional actuators. This created a local aerodynamic control force whose effect can be measured using the UAV’s on-board flight control system. After multiple design iterations, in which the FMC actuator material and structure were varied, the final design incorporates a carbon fiber frame with an actuator system embedded in a foam matrix. The FMC control surfaces were successfully demonstrated in flight tests on the eSPAARO unmanned aerial vehicle.
Equivalent Circuit Modeling of Patch-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting on Plate-Like Structures With AC-DC Conversion
Authors: Aghakhani Amirreza , Basdogan Ipek , Erturk Alper
Published: January 2016

The equivalent circuit modeling of the vibration-based energy harvesters for accurate estimation of electrical response has drawn much attention over the recent years. Different methods have been proposed to obtain the equivalent circuit parameters using analytical and finite element models of the piezoelectric energy harvesters. In such methods, the structure is a typical cantilever beam with piezoelectric layers under base excitation. As an alternative to beams, piezoelectric patch-based harvesters attached to thin plates can be considered due to the wide use of plate-like structures in automotive, marine and aerospace applications. Considering these needs, a multi-mode equivalent circuit model of a piezoelectric energy harvester integrated to a thin plate is developed in this study. Equivalent circuit parameters are obtained from analytical distributed-parameter model of the harvester which covers the electromechanical coupling behavior of the piezoelectric patch and vibration of the host plate. The multi-mode circuit representation of the harvester is built via electronic circuit simulation software SPICE. Using the SPICE software, electrical outputs of the piezoelectric energy harvester connected to linear and nonlinear circuit elements are computed. Simulation results are then validated for the standard AC-AC and AC-DC configurations. For the AC configuration, voltage Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) are calculated for various resistive loads and they exhibit excellent agreement with the published analytical closed-form solution. For the full-wave rectifier configuration, simulation results of the DC voltage and power outputs are calculated for a wide range of load resistance values and compared with the analytical single-mode expression of the harvester in the literature.
A Novel Safety Brake System Based on Magneto-Rheological Fluids
Authors: Yun Dongwon , Koo Jeong-Hoi , Lee Sunghwi , Kim Byungin
Published: January 2016

This paper presents a novel Magentorheological (MR) brake with permanent magnets. The proposed MR brake can generate a braking torque at a critical rotation speed without an external power source, sensors, or controllers, making it simple and cost-effective device. The brake system consists of a rotary disk, permanent magnets, springs and MR fluid. Permanent magnets are attached to the rotary disk via springs, and they move outward through grooves with two different gap distances along the radial direction of the stator due to centrifugal force. Thus, the position of the magnets is dependent on the spin speed, and it can determine the magnetic fields applied to MR fluids. Proper design of the stator geometry gives the system unique torque characteristics. To show the performance of an MR brake system, the electromagnetic characteristics of the system are analyzed, and the torques generated by the brake are calculated using the result of the electromagnetic analysis. After the simulation study, a prototype brake system is constructed and its performance is experimentally evaluated. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed MR brake as a speed regulator in rotating systems.
Quantifying and Comparing Surrogate Fold Motions in Thick Sheet Materials
Authors: Allen Jason T. , Magleby Spencer P. , Howell Larry L.
Published: January 2016

Origami-based design is increasing in popularity as its benefits and advantages become better understood and explored. Surrogate folds are a means of achieving fold-like behavior, offering solutions for origami-based products in new materials. A surrogate fold is a localized reduction in stiffness in a given direction allowing the material to function like a fold. A family of surrogate folds is reviewed and the respective behaviors of the folds discussed. For a given fold configuration, the material thickness is varied to yield different sizes of surrogate folds. Constraint assumptions drive the design, and the resultant configurations are compared for bending motions. Finite element and analytical models for the folds are also compared. Prototypes are made from different materials. This work creates a base for creating design guidelines for using surrogate folds in thick sheet materials.
Zinc Oxide Nanostructures as Electrochemical Biosensors on Flexible Substrates
Authors: Radha Shanmugam Nandhinee , Muthukumar Sriram , Prasad Shalini
Published: January 2016

A novel flexible electrochemical biosensor for protein biomarker detection was successfully designed and fabricated on a nanoporous polyimide membrane using zinc oxide (ZnO). Nanostructures of ZnO were grown on microelectrode platform using aqueous solution bath. Electrochemical measurements were performed using gold, ZnO seed and nanostructured electrodes to study the influence of electrode surface area on biosensing performance. Feasibility analysis of sensor platforms was evaluated using high concentrations (in ng/mL) of troponin-T. The results showed that improved performance can be obtained on nanostructured platform by careful optimization of growth conditions. This study demonstrates the development of nanostructured ZnO flexible biosensors towards ultra-sensitive protein biosensing.
Nonlinear Two-to-One Internal Resonance for Broadband Energy Harvesting
Authors: Cao D. X. , Leadenham S. , Erturk A.
Published: January 2016

The transformation of waste vibration energy into low-power electricity has been heavily researched to enable self-sustained wireless electronic components. Monostable and bistable nonlinear oscillators have been explored by several researchers in an effort to enhance the frequency bandwidth of operation. Linear two degree of freedom (2-DOF) configurations as well as combination of a nonlinear single-DOF harvester with a linear oscillator to constitute a nonlinear 2-DOF harvester have also been explored to develop broadband energy harvesters. In the present work, the concept of nonlinear internal resonance in a continuous frame structure is explored for broadband energy harvesting. The L-shaped beam-mass structure with quadratic nonlinearity was formerly studied in the nonlinear dynamics literature to demonstrate modal energy exchange and the saturation phenomenon when carefully tuned for two-to-one internal resonance. In the current effort, piezoelectric coupling is introduced, and electromechanical equations of the L-shaped energy harvester are employed to explore the primary resonance behaviors around the first and the second linear natural frequencies for bandwidth enhancement. Simulations using approximate analytical frequency response equations as well as time-domain numerical solutions reveal that 2-DOF configuration with quadratic and two-to-one internal resonance could extend the bandwidth enhancement capability. Both electrical power and shunted vibration frequency response curves of steady-state solutions are explored in detail. Effects of various electromechanical system parameters, such as piezoelectric coupling and load resistance, on the overall dynamics of the internal resonance energy harvesting system are reported.
Active Structural Acoustic Control of Sound Transmission Into a Laminated Composite Enclosure Using Piezoelectric Actuator-Sensor Pair With a Frequency Weighted Optimal H2 Controller
Authors: Sahu Atanu , Bhattacharya Partha
Published: January 2016

The use of laminated composite materials in aircraft or automobile structures, though very common due to various advantages of these materials, often escalates the overall noise and vibration level. An active structural acoustic control (ASAC) strategy based on a frequency weighted optimal H2 controller is developed in the present work to attenuate the transmitted sound into an enclosure surrounded by laminated composite panels. A state-space model based on a two-way coupled fluid-structure interaction analysis using Green’s theorem is proposed to include the influence of the flexible panels on the enclosed fluid (air) and vice-versa. Few points within the cavity are identified as the observer locations based on the maximum sound pressure level (SPL) within the enclosure due to external mechanical excitation. The SPL averaged over these locations is used as the performance vector for the proposed H2 controller. A feedback control strategy is then developed using surface bonded collocated IDE-PFC actuators and PVDF sensors while optimizing the quadratic H2 norm between the external excitation and the performance vector with a limit on the actuation voltage. Numerical simulation shows a maximum of 11.4 dB of averaged SPL reduction achieved inside the enclosure for a particular configuration.
An examination of the different ways that non-native phones may be perceptually assimilated as uncategorized
Authors: Faris Mona M. , Best Catherine T. , Tyler Michael D.
Published: January 2016

This study examined three ways that perception of non-native phones may be uncategorized relative to native (L1) categories: focalized (predominantly similar to a single L1 category), clustered (similar to > 2 L1 categories), and dispersed (not similar to any L1 categories). In an online study, Egyptian Arabic speakers residing in Egypt categorized and rated all Australian English vowels. Evidence was found to support focalized, clustered, and dispersed uncategorized assimilations. Second-language (L2) category formation for uncategorized assimilations is predicted to depend upon the degree of perceptual overlap between the sets of L1 categories listeners use in assimilating each phone within an L2 contrast.
Characterization of Two Dinoflagellate Cold Shock Domain Proteins
Authors: Beauchemin Mathieu , Roy Sougata , Pelletier Sarah , Averback Alexandra , Lanthier Frederic , Morse David
Published: January 2016

Dinoflagellate transcriptomes contain cold shock domain proteins as the major component of the proteins annotated as transcription factors. We show here that the major family of cold shock domain proteins in the dinoflagellate
Lingulodinium
do not bind specific sequences, suggesting that transcriptional control is not a predominant mechanism for regulating gene expression in this group of protists.
A pilot, quasi-experimental, mixed methods investigation into the efficacy of a group psychotherapy intervention for caregivers of outpatients with cancer: the COPE study protocol
Authors: Mahendran Rathi , Tan Joyce Yi Siang , Griva Konstadina , Lim Haikel Asyraf , Ng Hui Ying , Chua Joanne , Lim Siew Eng , Kua Ee Heok
Published: January 2016

Introduction

Despite the rising trend of cancer prevalence and increase in family caregiving, little attention has been paid to the efficacy of psychosocial interventions among Asian caregiver samples, particularly support groups, given the benefits that have been shown in studies on Western populations. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot 4-week group psychotherapy for Singaporean family caregivers of patients receiving outpatient care.

Methods and analysis

Facilitated by a clinical psychologist, this intervention is primarily based on the brief integrative psychological therapy with a supportive-expressive intent. Participants will be recruited while they are accompanying their care recipients for outpatient consultations. Since this is a pilot study, a sample size of 120 participants is targeted on the basis of sample sizes of previous studies. The study adopts a quasi-experimental design, as participants are assigned the intervention or control arms based on their availability to attend the intervention. A mixed methods approach is used to evaluate the outcomes of the intervention. A self-administered battery of tests is completed at four time points: baseline, postintervention and follow-up at 1-month and 2-month postinterventions; semi-structured interviews are conducted at baseline and post-intervention. Primary outcomes are quality of life and anxious and depressive symptoms; secondary outcomes are stress and basic psychological needs. Analysis using analysis of covariance would be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

Ethics and dissemination

This study protocol has ethics approval from the National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board (NHG DSRB Ref: 2013/00662). Written informed consent is obtained from every participant. Results will be disseminated through journals and conferences, and will be particularly relevant for clinicians intending to implement similar support groups to address the psychosocial concerns of caregivers, as well as for researchers seeking to refine the structure and evaluate the effectiveness of such programmes.

Trial registration number

Current Controlled TrialsNCT02120183(https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02120183)
Mesh fixation methods in open inguinal hernia repair: a protocol for network meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomised controlled trials
Authors: Ge Long , Tian Jin-hui , Li Lun , Wang Quan , Yang Ke-hu
Published: January 2016

Introduction

Randomised clinical trials (RCTs) have been used to compare and evaluate different types of mesh fixation usually employed to repair open inguinal hernia. However, there is no consensus among surgeons on the best type of mesh fixation method to obtain optimal results. The choice often depends on surgeons’ personal preference. This study aims to compare different types of mesh fixation methods to repair open inguinal hernias and their role in the incidences of chronic groin pain, risk of hernia recurrence, complications, operative time, length of hospital stay and postoperative pain, using Bayesian network meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of RCTs.

Methods and analysis

A systematic search will be performed using PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) and Chinese Journal Full-text Database, to include RCTs of different mesh fixation methods (or fixation vs no fixation) during open inguinal hernia repair. The risk of bias in included RCTs will be evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook V.5.1.0. Standard pairwise meta-analysis, trial sequential analysis and Bayesian network meta-analysis will be performed to compare the efficacy of different mesh fixation methods.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval and patient consent are not required since this study is a meta-analysis based on published studies. The results of this network meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

Protocol registration number

PROSPERO CRD42015023758.
Cardiovascular, renal and gastrointestinal effects of incretin-based therapies: an acute and 12-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, mechanistic intervention trial in type 2 diabetes
Authors: Smits Mark M , Tonneijck Lennart , Muskiet Marcel H A , Hoekstra Trynke , Kramer Mark H H , Pieters Indra C , Cahen Djuna L , Diamant Michaela , van Raalte Daniël H
Published: January 2016

Introduction

Incretin-based therapies, that is, glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors, are relatively novel antihyperglycaemic drugs that are frequently used in type 2 diabetes management. Apart from glucose-lowering, these agents exhibit pleiotropic actions that may have favourable and unfavourable clinical consequences. Incretin-based therapies have been associated with heart rate acceleration, heart failure, acute renal failure and acute pancreatitis. Conversely, these agents may reduce blood pressure, glomerular hyperfiltration, albuminuria and hepatic steatosis. While large-sized cardiovascular safety trials can potentially identify the clinical significance of some of these pleiotropic actions, small-sized mechanistic studies are important to understand the (patho)physiological rationale of these findings. The current protocol describes a mechanistic study to assess cardiovascular, renal and gastrointestinal effects, and mechanisms of incretin-based therapies in type 2 diabetes.

Methods and analyses

60 patients with type 2 diabetes will undergo acute and prolonged randomised, double-blind, intervention studies. The acute intervention will consist of intravenous administration of the GLP-1 receptor agonist exenatide or placebo. For the prolonged intervention, patients will be randomised to 12-week treatment with the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide, the DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin or matching placebos. For each examined organ system, a primary end point is defined. Primary cardiovascular end point is change in resting heart rate variability assessed by beat-to-beat heart rate monitor and spectral analyses software. Primary renal end point is change in glomerular filtration rate assessed by the classic inulin clearance methodology. Primary gastrointestinal end points are change in pancreatic exocrine function assessed by MRI-techniques (acute intervention) and faecal elastase-1 levels (12-week intervention). Secondary end points include systemic haemodynamics, microvascular function, effective renal plasma flow, renal tubular function, pancreatic volume and gallbladder emptying-rate.

Medical ethics and dissemination

The study is approved by the local Ethics Review Board (VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice.

Trial registration number

NCT01744236.
Pathogenic Candida species differ in the ability to grow at limiting potassium concentrations
Authors: Hušeková B. , Elicharová H. , Sychrová H.
Published: January 2016

A high intracellular concentration of potassium (200–300 mmol/L) is essential for many yeast cell functions, such as the regulation of cell volume and pH, maintenance of membrane potential, and enzyme activation. Thus, cells use high-affinity specific transporters and expend a lot of energy to acquire the necessary amount of potassium from their environment. In Candida genomes, genes encoding 3 types of putative potassium uptake systems were identified: Trk uniporters, Hak symporters, and Acu ATPases. Tests of the tolerance and sensitivity of C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis to various concentrations of potassium showed significant differences among the species, and these differences were partly dependent on external pH. The species most tolerant to potassium-limiting conditions were C. albicans and C. krusei, while C. parapsilosis tolerated the highest KCl concentrations. Also, the morphology of cells changed with the amount of potassium available, with C. krusei and C. tropicalis being the most influenced. Taken together, our results confirm potassium uptake and accumulation as important factors for Candida cell growth and suggest that the sole (and thus probably indispensable) Trk1 potassium uptake system in C. krusei and C. glabrata may serve as a target for the development of new antifungal drugs.
Common Due-Window Assignment and Group Scheduling with Position-Dependent Processing Times
Authors: Liu Shang-Chia
Published: January 2016

This paper investigates a single-machine scheduling problem involving both the due-window assignment and position-dependent processing times under a group technology environment. By position-dependent processing times, we mean that the processing time of a job is dependent of its processing position in the job sequence within the group it belongs to. A setup time is incurred whenever the single machine transfers job processing from a group to another group. Each group is assigned an assignable common due-window. A job completed earlier (respectively, later) than the common due-window of the group it belongs to will incur an earliness (respectively, tardiness) penalty. The objective is to determine the optimal group sequence, the optimal job sequence, and the optimal due-window assignment so as to minimize the total cost including the earliness and tardiness (or weighted number of tardy jobs) penalties, black and the due-window starting time and due-window size costs. We show that both the problems can be solved in polynomial times.
Some problems with reproducing the Standard Model fields and interactions in five-dimensional warped brane world models
Authors: Smolyakov Mikhail N. , Volobuev Igor P.
Published: January 2016

In this paper we examine, from the purely theoretical point of view and in a model-independent way, the case, when matter, gauge and Higgs fields are allowed to propagate in the bulk of five-dimensional brane world models with compact extra dimension, and the Standard Model fields and their interactions are supposed to be reproduced by the corresponding zero Kaluza–Klein modes. An unexpected result is that in order to avoid possible pathological behavior in the fermion sector, it is necessary to impose constraints on the fermion field Lagrangian. In the case when the fermion zero modes are supposed to be localized at one of the branes, these constraints imply an additional relation between the vacuum profile of the Higgs field and the form of the background metric. Moreover, this relation between the vacuum profile of the Higgs field and the form of the background metric results in the exact reproduction of the gauge boson and fermion sectors of the Standard Model by the corresponding zero mode four-dimensional effective theory in all the physically relevant cases, allowed by the absence of pathologies. Meanwhile, deviations from these conditions can lead either back to pathological behavior in the fermion sector or to a variance between the resulting zero mode four-dimensional effective theory and the Standard Model, which, depending on the model at hand, may, in principle, result in constraints putting the theory out of the reach of the present day experiments.
Hetero-junction carbon nanotube FET with lightly doped drain and source regions
Authors: Yousefi Reza , Doorzad Leila
Published: January 2016

In this paper, a new structure was introduced for carbon nanotube (CNT) MOSFET transistors. The proposed structure was composed of two different nanotubes for the source/drain and channel regions. Electrical characteristics of this structure were investigated using nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. Results of the simulations demonstrated that the proposed hetero-structure had almost the same ON-current and much less OFF-current and as a result higher [Formula: see text] ratio than the conventional homo-structure. Results of the comparison between switching behavior in equal [Formula: see text] ratio showed that, although the proposed structure had longer delay, its power dissipation for every switching event was less than that of the conventional structure. A further comparison of the switching characteristic in equal ON-current values showed that the proposed structure enjoys from shorter delay and also consumes less power-delay product (PDP) when compared to the LDDS structure.
On (m,n)-closed ideals of commutative rings
Authors: Anderson David F. , Badawi Ayman
Published: January 2016

Let [Formula: see text] be a commutative ring with [Formula: see text], and let [Formula: see text] be a proper ideal of [Formula: see text]. Recall that [Formula: see text] is an [Formula: see text]-absorbing ideal if whenever [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text], then there are [Formula: see text] of the [Formula: see text]’s whose product is in [Formula: see text]. We define [Formula: see text] to be a semi-[Formula: see text]-absorbing ideal if [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] implies [Formula: see text]. More generally, for positive integers [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], we define [Formula: see text] to be an [Formula: see text]-closed ideal if [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] implies [Formula: see text]. A number of examples and results on [Formula: see text]-closed ideals are discussed in this paper.
Finite p-groups whose proper subgroups are of class ≤ n
Authors: Li Pujin , Qu Haipeng , Zeng Jiwen
Published: January 2016

A finite group [Formula: see text] is said to be a minimal non-[Formula: see text] group if [Formula: see text] itself is not a group of nilpotency class [Formula: see text] and all of whose proper subgroups are of nilpotency class [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we get a upper bound of nilpotency class of a minimal non-[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-group and some properties about minimal non-[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-groups.
A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR THE ESTIMATION OF THERMAL STRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF COLD INJURIES ON THE EXPOSED ORGANS OF HUMAN BODY
Authors: KHANDAY M. A. , HUSSAIN FIDA , NAJAR AIJAZ , NAZIR KHALID
Published: January 2016

The severe ambient temperature always disrupts the normal thermoregulatory system of the human body. The decrease in core temperature leads to hypothermia and the development of cold injuries takes place at the exposed shells of the human body. The intensity of the cold exposure and its duration leads to various degrees of frostbites and resulting cell damage and fluid passage from the necrotic regions. In this paper, variational finite element has been employed to estimate the thermal damage due to severe cold conditions. The formulation of the model is based on Pennes’ bioheat equation and mass diffusion equation. Moreover, the fluid passage from the cold injuries at the peripheral tissues of the human body with respect to extreme cold conditions has been analyzed in relation with other parameters.
Semi-supervised learning using multiple one-dimensional embedding based adaptive interpolation
Authors: Wang Jianzhong
Published: January 2016

We propose a novel semi-supervised learning (SSL) scheme using adaptive interpolation on multiple one-dimensional (1D) embedded data. For a given high-dimensional dataset, we smoothly map it onto several different 1D sequences, so that the labeled subset is converted to a 1D subset for each of these sequences. Applying the cubic interpolation of the labeled subset, we obtain a subset of unlabeled points, which are assigned to the same label in all interpolations. Selecting a proportion of these points at random and adding them to the current labeled subset, we build a larger labeled subset for the next interpolation. Repeating the embedding and interpolation, we enlarge the labeled subset gradually, and finally reach a labeled set with a reasonable large size, based on which the final classifier is constructed. We explore the use of the proposed scheme in the classification of handwritten digits and show promising results.
Multiple one-dimensional embedding clustering scheme for hyperspectral image classification
Authors: Song Yalong , Li Hong , Wang Jianzhong , Kou Kit Ian
Published: January 2016

In this paper, we present a novel multiple 1D-embedding based clustering (M1DEBC) scheme for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. This novel clustering scheme is an iteration algorithm of 1D-embedding based regularization, which is first proposed by J. Wang [Semi-supervised learning using ensembles of multiple 1D-embedding-based label boosting, Int. J. Wavelets[Formula: see text] Multiresolut. Inf. Process. 14(2) (2016) 33 pp.; Semi-supervised learning using multiple one-dimensional embedding-based adaptive interpolation, Int. J. Wavelets[Formula: see text] Multiresolut. Inf. Process. 14(2) (2016) 11 pp.]. In the algorithm, at each iteration, we do the following three steps. First, we construct a 1D multi-embedding, which contains [Formula: see text] different versions of 1D embedding. Each of them is realized by an isometric mapping that maps all the pixels in a HSI into a line such that the sum of the distances of adjacent pixels in the original space is minimized. Second, for each 1D embedding, we use the regularization method to find a pre-classifier to give each unlabeled sample a preliminary label. If all of the [Formula: see text] different versions of regularization vote the same preliminary label, then we call it a feasible confident sample. All the feasible confident samples and their corresponding labels constitute the auxiliary set. We randomly select a part of the elements from the auxiliary set to construct the newborn labeled set. Finally, we add the newborn labeled set into the labeled sample set. Thus, the labeled sample set is gradually enlarged in the process of the iteration. The iteration terminates until the updated labeled set reaches a certain size. Our experimental results on real hyperspectral datasets confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
1D embedding multi-category classification methods
Authors: Li Luoqing , Yang Chuanwu , Xie Qiwei
Published: January 2016

In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised multi-category classification method based on one-dimensional (1D) multi-embedding. Based on the multiple 1D embedding based interpolation technique, we embed the high-dimensional data into several different 1D manifolds and perform binary classification firstly. Then we construct the multi-category classifiers by means of one-versus-rest and one-versus-one strategies separately. A weight strategy is employed in our algorithm for improving the classification performance. The proposed method shows promising results in the classification of handwritten digits and facial images.
The multistability in the coupled semiconductor microcavities
Authors: Zhang Yang , Zhang Jun , Wu Shao-Xiong , Yu Chang-Shui
Published: January 2016

We study the nonlinear phenomena of the coupled semiconductor microcavities driven by coherent lasers in different coupling regimes. It is shown that the bistability and multistability in the strong-coupling regime are gradually generated or eliminated by properly adjusting the coupling strength or the amplitude of the input pump laser. The proposed system serves as a good candidate for the diverse control optical switch and the potential applications.
Nonlinear Flexural Analysis of Laminated Composite Panel Under Hygro-Thermo-Mechanical Loading — A Micromechanical Approach
Authors: Mahapatra Trupti Ranjan , Panda Subrata Kumar , Kar Vishesh Ranjan
Published: January 2016

In this paper, the geometrically nonlinear transverse bending behavior of the shear deformable laminated composite spherical shell panel under hygro-thermo-mechanical loading is investigated. The laminated composite panel model has been developed mathematically based on the higher-order shear deformation theory and Green–Lagrange nonlinear strain kinematics. The material model is introduced through the micromechanical approach explicitly in terms of the matrix properties, the fiber properties, and the fiber volume fractions. Theoretical formulation is developed based on the hygrothermal dependent composite material properties to evaluate the corrugated behavior of the laminated structure. In addition to that, all the nonlinear higher-order terms arising in the strain displacement relation are included in the present formulation for accurate prediction of the flexural behavior. The desired nonlinear governing equations are obtained using the variational method and discretized with the help of suitable finite element steps. The desired responses are computed by solving the nonlinear equations numerically using the direct iterative method. The convergence behavior of the developed nonlinear numerical model has been checked and validated by comparing the responses with those available published literature. Finally, the effect of hygrothermal environment, geometrical and material parameters and the support conditions on the transverse bending behavior of the laminated composite curved shell panel have been highlighted by solving different numerical examples.
Preparation of Highly Ordered Anodic Aluminum Oxide Membranes with Wide-Range Tunable Pore Intervals in Mixed Electrolytes
Authors: Chang Yi , Ling Zhiyuan
Published: January 2016

Highly ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes with pore interval from 100[Formula: see text]nm to 520[Formula: see text]nm were fabricated successfully in the mixed electrolytes, which are composed of 0.3[Formula: see text]M oxalic acid and 1[Formula: see text]wt.% phosphoric acid/0.01[Formula: see text]M aluminum oxalate. The study results show that oxalic acid volume percentage has an approximate linear relationship with the optimal anodic oxidation voltage. The optimal anodic oxidation voltage is basically equal to the critical oxidation voltage. The theoretical analysis suggests that the anodic oxidation current is closely related to the ionization constants of acid radical ion in the electrolyte. Since the secondary ionization constant of oxalic radical ion is greater than that of phosphoric acid radical ion, the optimal anodic oxidation voltage increases and the steady anodic oxidation current decreases with the decrease of oxalic acid volume percent.
Moving Least Squares Regression for High-Dimensional Stochastic Simulation Metamodeling
Authors: Salemi Peter , Nelson Barry L. , Staum Jeremy
Published: January 2016

Simulation metamodeling is building a statistical model based on simulation output as an approximation to the system performance measure being estimated by the simulation model. In high-dimensional metamodeling problems, larger numbers of design points are needed to build an accurate and precise metamodel. Metamodeling techniques that are functions of all of these design points experience difficulties because of numerical instabilities and high computation times. We introduce a procedure to implement a local smoothing method called Moving Least Squares (MLS) regression in high-dimensional stochastic simulation metamodeling problems. Although MLS regression is known to work well when there are a very large number of design points, current procedures are focused on two- and three-dimensional cases. Furthermore, our procedure accounts for the fact that we can make replications and control the placement of design points in stochastic simulation. We provide a bound on the expected approximation error, show that the MLS predictor is consistent under certain conditions, and test the procedure with two examples that demonstrate better results than other existing simulation metamodeling techniques.
Individual Judgments Versus Consensus
Authors: Song Hengjie , Xu Yonghui , Min Huaqing , Wu Qingyao , Wei Wei , Weng Jianshu , Han Xiaogang , Yang Qiang , Shi Jialiang , Gu Jiaqian , Miao Chunyan , Toyoaki Nishida
Published: January 2016

Query-URL relevance, measuring the relevance of each retrieved URL with respect to a given query, is one of the fundamental criteria to evaluate the performance of commercial search engines. The traditional way to collect reliable and accurate query-URL relevance requires multiple annotators to provide their individual judgments based on their subjective expertise (e.g., understanding of user intents). In this case, the annotators’ subjectivity reflected in each annotator individual judgment (AIJ) inevitably affects the quality of the ground truth relevance (GTR). But to the best of our knowledge, the potential impact of AIJs on estimating GTRs has not been studied and exploited quantitatively by existing work. This article first studies how multiple AIJs and GTRs are correlated. Our empirical studies find that the multiple AIJs possibly provide more cues to improve the accuracy of estimating GTRs. Inspired by this finding, we then propose a novel approach to integrating the multiple AIJs with the features characterizing query-URL pairs for estimating GTRs more accurately. Furthermore, we conduct experiments in a commercial search engine—Baidu.com—and report significant gains in terms of the normalized discounted cumulative gains.
Converting Continuous-Space Language Models into
N
-gram Language Models with Efficient Bilingual Pruning for Statistical Machine Translation
Authors: Wang Rui , Utiyama Masao , Goto Isao , Sumita Eiichiro , Zhao Hai , Lu Bao-Liang
Published: January 2016

The Language Model (LM) is an essential component of Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). In this article, we focus on developing efficient methods for LM construction. Our main contribution is that we propose a Natural
N
-grams based Converting (NNGC) method for transforming a Continuous-Space Language Model (CSLM) to a Back-off
N
-gram Language Model (BNLM). Furthermore, a Bilingual LM Pruning (BLMP) approach is developed for enhancing LMs in SMT decoding and speeding up CSLM converting. The proposed pruning and converting methods can convert a large LM efficiently by working jointly. That is, a LM can be effectively pruned before it is converted from CSLM without sacrificing performance, and further improved if an additional corpus contains out-of-domain information. For different SMT tasks, our experimental results indicate that the proposed NNGC and BLMP methods outperform the existing counterpart approaches significantly in BLEU and computational cost.
Effect ofN-glycosylation on the transport activity of the peptide transporter PEPT1
Authors: Stelzl Tamara , Baranov Tatjana , Geillinger Kerstin E. , Kottra Gabor , Daniel Hannelore
Published: January 2016

The intestinal peptide transporter PEPT1 provides bulk quantities of amino acids to epithelial cells. PEPT1 is a high-capacity and low-affinity solute carrier of the SLC15 family found in apical membranes of enterocytes in small intestine and distal colon. Surprisingly, murine PEPT1 (mPEPT1) has an apparent molecular mass of ∼95 kDa in the small intestine but ∼105 kDa in the large intestine. Here we describe studies on mPEPT1 protein glycosylation and how glycans affect transport function. Putative N-glycosylation sites of mPEPT1 were altered by site-directed mutagenesis followed by expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Replacement of six asparagine residues (N) at positions N50, N406, N439, N510, N515, and N532 by glutamine (Q) resulted in a decrease of the mPEPT1 mass by around 35 kDa. Electrophysiology revealed all glycosylation-deficient transporters to be functional with comparable expression levels in oocyte membranes. Strikingly, the mutant protein with N50Q exhibited a twofold decreased affinity for Gly-Sar but a 2.5-fold rise in the maximal inward currents compared with the wild-type protein. Elevated maximal transport currents were also recorded for cefadroxil and tri-l-alanine. Tracer flux studies performed with [14C]-Gly-Sar confirmed the reduction in substrate affinity and showed twofold increased maximal transport rates for the N50Q transporter. Elimination of individual N-glycosylation sites did not alter membrane expression in oocytes or overall transport characteristics except for the mutant protein N50Q. Because transporter surface density was not altered in N50Q, removal of the glycan at this location appears to accelerate the substrate turnover rate.
Unravelling the Interactions between Hydrolytic and Oxidative Enzymes in Degradation of Lignocellulosic Biomass bySporothrix carnisunder Various Fermentation Conditions
Authors: Ogunyewo Olusola A. , Olajuyigbe Folasade M.
Published: January 2016

The mechanism underlying the action of lignocellulolytic enzymes in biodegradation of lignocellulosic biomass remains unclear; hence, it is crucial to investigate enzymatic interactions involved in the process. In this study, degradation of corn cob bySporothrix carnisand involvement of lignocellulolytic enzymes in biodegradation were investigated over 240 h cultivation period. About 60% degradation of corn cob was achieved byS. carnisat the end of fermentation. The yields of hydrolytic enzymes, cellulase and xylanase, were higher than oxidative enzymes, laccase and peroxidase, over 144 h fermentation period. Maximum yields of cellulase (854.4 U/mg) and xylanase (789.6 U/mg) were at 96 and 144 h, respectively. Laccase and peroxidase were produced cooperatively with maximum yields of 489.06 U/mg and 585.39 U/mg at 144 h. Drastic decline in production of cellulase at 144 h (242.01 U/mg) and xylanase at 192 h (192.2 U/mg) indicates that they play initial roles in biodegradation of lignocellulosic biomass while laccase and peroxidase play later roles. Optimal degradation of corn cob (76.6%) and production of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes were achieved with 2.5% inoculum at pH 6.0. Results suggest synergy in interactions between the hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes which can be optimized for improved biodegradation.
Gender-Specific Association ofATP2B1Variants with Susceptibility to Essential Hypertension in the Han Chinese Population
Authors: Xu Jin , Qian Hai-xia , Hu Su-pei , Liu Li-ya , Zhou Mi , Feng Mei , Su Jia , Ji Lin-dan
Published: January 2016

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) found that severalATP2B1variants are associated with essential hypertension (EHT). But the “genome-wide significant”ATP2B1SNPs (rs2681472, rs2681492, rs17249754, and rs1105378) are in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) and are located in the same LD block in Chinese populations. We asked whether there are other SNPs within theATP2B1gene associated with susceptibility to EHT in the Han Chinese population. Therefore, we performed a case-control study to investigate the association of seven tagSNPs within theATP2B1gene and EHT in the Han Chinese population, and we then analyzed the interaction among different SNPs and nongenetic risk factors for EHT. A total of 902 essential hypertensive cases and 902 normotensive controls were involved in the study. All 7 tagSNPs within theATP2B1gene were retrieved from HapMap, and genotyping was performed using the Tm-shift genotyping method. Chi-squared test, logistic regression, and propensity score analysis showed that rs17249754 was associated with EHT, particularly in females. The MDR analysis demonstrated that the interaction of rs2070759, rs17249754, TC, TG, and BMI increased the susceptibility to hypertension. Crossover analysis and stratified analysis indicated that BMI has a major effect on the development of hypertension, whileATP2B1variants have a minor effect.
Estimation and Global Stability Analysis of PDAEs with Singular Time Derivative Matrix and Wetland Conservation Application
Authors: Jiang Yushan , Zhang Qingling
Published: January 2016

Some partial differential algebraic equations (PDAEs) system with singular time derivative matrices is analyzed. First, by PDE spectrum theory, this system is formulated as infinite-dimensional singular systems. Second, the state space and its properties of the system are built according to descriptor system theory. Third, the admissible property of the PDAEs is given via LMIs. Finally, the developed energy estimation method is proposed to investigate the global stability of PDAEs. The proposed approach is evaluated by an application in numerical simulations on some wetland conservation system with social behavior.