bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pyrosequencing-based analysis reveals a novel capsular gene cluster in a KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolate identified in Brazil
Authors: Ramos Pablo Ivan Pereira , Picão Renata Cristina , Vespero Eliana Carolina , Pelisson Marsileni , Zuleta Luiz Fernando Goda , Almeida Luiz Gonzaga P , Gerber Alexandra L , Vasconcelos Ana Tereza R , Gales Ana Cristina , Nicolás Marisa Fabiana
Published: August 2012

Background

An important virulence factor ofKlebsiella pneumoniaeis the production of capsular polysaccharide (CPS), a thick mucus layer that allows for evasion of the host's defense and creates a barrier against antibacterial peptides. CPS production is driven mostly by the expression of genes located in a locus calledcps, and the resulting structure is used to distinguish between different serotypes (K types). In this study, we report the unique genetic organization of thecpscluster fromK. pneumoniaeKp13, a clinical isolate recovered during a large outbreak of nosocomial infections that occurred in a Brazilian teaching hospital.

Results

A pyrosequencing-based approach showed that thecpsregion of Kp13 (cpsKp13) is 26.4 kbp in length and contains genes common, although not universal, to other strains, such as thermlBADC operon that codes for L-rhamnose synthesis.cpsKp13also presents some unique features, like the inversion of thewzygene and a unique repertoire of glycosyltransferases. In silico comparison ofcpsKp13RFLP pattern with 102 previously publishedcpsPCR-RFLP patterns showed thatcpsKp13is distinct from the C patterns of all other K serotypes. Furthermore, in vitro serotyping showed only a weak reaction with capsular types K9 and K34. We confirm that K9cpsshares common genes withcpsKp13such as thermlBADC operon, but lacks features likeugeand Kp13-specific glycosyltransferases, while K34 capsules contain three of the five sugars that potentially form the Kp13 CPS.

Conclusions

We report the first description of acpscluster from a Brazilian clinical isolate of a KPC-producingK. pneumoniae. The gathered data including K-serotyping support that Kp13’s K-antigen belongs to a novel capsular serotype. The CPS of Kp13 probably includes L-rhamnose and D-galacturonate in its structure, among other residues. Because genes involved in L-rhamnose biosynthesis are absent in humans, this pathway may represent potential targets for the development of antimicrobial agents. Studying the capsular serotypes of clinical isolates is of great importance for further development of vaccines and/or novel therapeutic agents. The distribution of K-types among multidrug-resistant isolates is unknown, but our findings may encourage scientists to perform K-antigen typing of KPC-producing strains worldwide.
Non-canonical peroxisome targeting signals: identification of novel PTS1 tripeptides and characterization of enhancer elements by computational permutation analysis
Authors: Chowdhary Gopal , Kataya Amr RA , Lingner Thomas , Reumann Sigrun
Published: August 2012

Background

High-accuracy prediction tools are essential in the post-genomic era to define organellar proteomes in their full complexity. We recently applied a discriminative machine learning approach to predict plant proteins carrying peroxisome targeting signals (PTS) type 1 from genome sequences. For Arabidopsis thaliana 392 gene models were predicted to be peroxisome-targeted. The predictions were extensively tested in vivo, resulting in a high experimental verification rate of Arabidopsis proteins previously not known to be peroxisomal.

Results

In this study, we experimentally validated the predictions in greater depth by focusing on the most challenging Arabidopsis proteins with unknown non-canonical PTS1 tripeptides and prediction scores close to the threshold. By in vivo subcellular targeting analysis, three novel PTS1 tripeptides (QRL>, SQM>, and SDL>) and two novel tripeptide residues (Q at position −3 and D at pos. -2) were identified. To understand why, among many Arabidopsis proteins carrying the same C-terminal tripeptides, these proteins were specifically predicted as peroxisomal, the residues upstream of the PTS1 tripeptide were computationally permuted and the changes in prediction scores were analyzed. The newly identified Arabidopsis proteins were found to contain four to five amino acid residues of high predicted targeting enhancing properties at position −4 to −12 in front of the non-canonical PTS1 tripeptide. The identity of the predicted targeting enhancing residues was unexpectedly diverse, comprising besides basic residues also proline, hydroxylated (Ser, Thr), hydrophobic (Ala, Val), and even acidic residues.

Conclusions

Our computational and experimental analyses demonstrate that the plant PTS1 tripeptide motif is more diverse than previously thought, including an increasing number of non-canonical sequences and allowed residues. Specific targeting enhancing elements can be predicted for particular sequences of interest and are far more diverse in amino acid composition and positioning than previously assumed. Machine learning methods become indispensable to predict which specific proteins, among numerous candidate proteins carrying the same non-canonical PTS1 tripeptide, contain sufficient enhancer elements in terms of number, positioning and total strength to cause peroxisome targeting.
Goat milk with and without increased concentrations of lysozyme improves repair of intestinal cell damage induced by enteroaggregative Escherichia coli
Authors: Carvalho Eunice B , Maga Elizabeth A , Quetz Josiane S , Lima Ila FN , Magalhães Hemerson YF , Rodrigues Felipe AR , Silva Antônio VA , Prata Mara MG , Cavalcante Paloma A , Havt Alexandre , Bertolini Marcelo , Bertolini Luciana R , Lima Aldo AM
Published: August 2012

Background

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) causes diarrhea, malnutrition and poor growth in children. Human breast milk decreases disease-causing bacteria by supplying nutrients and antimicrobial factors such as lysozyme. Goat milk with and without human lysozyme (HLZ) may improve the repair of intestinal barrier function damage induced by EAEC. This work investigates the effect of the milks on intestinal barrier function repair, bacterial adherence in Caco-2 and HEp-2 cells, intestinal cell proliferation, migration, viability and apoptosis in IEC-6 cells in the absence or presence of EAEC.

Methods

Rat intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6, ATCC, Rockville, MD) were used for proliferation, migration and viability assays and human colon adenocarcinoma (Caco-2, ATCC, Rockville, MD) and human larynx carcinoma (HEp-2, ATCC, Rockville, MD) cells were used for bacterial adhesion assays. Goats expressing HLZ in their milk were generated and express HLZ in milk at concentration of 270 μg/ml . Cells were incubated with pasteurized milk from either transgenic goats expressing HLZ or non-transgenic control goats in the presence and absence of EAEC strain 042 (O44:H18).

Results

Cellular proliferation was significantly greater in the presence of both HLZ transgenic and control goat milk compared to cells with no milk. Cellular migration was significantly decreased in the presence of EAEC alone but was restored in the presence of milk. Milk from HLZ transgenic goats had significantly more migration compared to control milk. Both milks significantly reduced EAEC adhesion to Caco-2 cells and transgenic milk resulted in less colonization than control milk using a HEp-2 assay. Both milks had significantly increased cellular viability as well as less apoptosis in both the absence and presence of EAEC.

Conclusions

These data demonstrated that goat milk is able to repair intestinal barrier function damage induced by EAEC and that goat milk with a higher concentration of lysozyme offers additional protection.
Causes and determinants of inequity in maternal and child health in Vietnam
Authors: Målqvist Mats , Hoa Dinh Thi Phuong , Thomsen Sarah
Published: August 2012

Background

Inequities in health are a major challenge for health care planners and policymakers globally. In Vietnam, rapid societal development presents a considerable risk for disadvantaged populations to be left behind. The aim of this review is to map the known causes and determinants of inequity in maternal and child health in Vietnam in order to promote policy action.

Methods

A review was performed through systematic searches of Pubmed and Proquest and manual searches of “grey literature.” A thematic content analysis guided by the conceptual framework suggested by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health was performed.

Results

More than thirty different causes and determinants of inequity in maternal and child health were identified. Some determinants worth highlighting were the influence of informal fees and the many testimonies of discrimination and negative attitudes from health staff towards women in general and ethnic minorities in particular. Research gaps were identified, such as a lack of studies investigating the influence of education on health care utilization, informal costs of care, and how psychosocial factors mediate inequity.

Conclusions

The evidence of corruption and discrimination as mediators of health inequity in Vietnam calls for attention and indicates a need for more structural interventions such as better governance and anti-discriminatory laws. More research is needed in order to fully understand the pathways of inequities in health in Vietnam and suggest areas for intervention for policy action to reach disadvantaged populations.
Low-temperature synthesis of multilayer graphene/amorphous carbon hybrid films and their potential application in solar cells
Authors: Cui Tongxiang , Lv Ruitao , Huang Zheng-Hong , Zhu Hongwei , Jia Yi , Chen Shuxiao , Wang Kunlin , Wu Dehai , Kang Feiyu
Published: August 2012

The effect of reaction temperature on the synthesis of graphitic thin film on nickel substrate was investigated in the range of 400°C to 1,000°C. Amorphous carbon (a-C) film was obtained at 400°C on nickel foils by chemical vapor deposition; hybrid films of multilayer graphene (MLG) and a-C were synthesized at a temperature of 600°C, while MLG was obtained at temperatures in excess of 800°C. Schottky-junction solar cell devices prepared using films produced at 400°C, 600°C, 800°C, and 1,000°C coupled with n-type Si demonstrate power conversion efficiencies of 0.003%, 0.256%, 0.391%, and 0.586%, respectively. A HNO3 treatment has further improved the efficiencies of the corresponding devices to 0.004%, 1.080%, 0.800%, and 0.820%, respectively. These films are promising materials for application in low-cost and simple carbon-based solar cells.
Infection with street strain rabies virus induces modulation of the microRNA profile of the mouse brain
Authors: Zhao Pingsen , Zhao Lili , Zhang Kun , Feng Hao , Wang Hualei , Wang Tiecheng , Xu Tao , Feng Na , Wang Chengyu , Gao Yuwei , Huang Geng , Qin Chuan , Yang Songtao , Xia Xianzhu
Published: August 2012

Background

Rabies virus (RABV) causes a fatal infection of the central nervous systems (CNS) of warm-blooded animals. Once the clinical symptoms develop, rabies is almost invariably fatal. The mechanism of RABV pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Recent studies have shown that microRNA (miRNA) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of viral infections. Our recent findings have revealed that infection with laboratory-fixed rabies virus strain can induce modulation of the microRNA profile of mouse brains. However, no previous report has evaluated the miRNA expression profile of mouse brains infected with RABV street strain.

Results

The results of microarray analysis show that miRNA expression becomes modulated in the brains of mice infected with street RABV. Quantitative real-time PCR assay of the differentially expressed miRNAs confirmed the results of microarray assay. Functional analysis showed the differentially expressed miRNAs to be involved in many immune-related signaling pathways, such as the Jak-STAT signaling pathway, the MAPK signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, and Fc gamma R-mediated phagocytosis. The predicted expression levels of the target genes of these modulated miRNAs were found to be correlated with gene expression as measured by DNA microarray and qRT-PCR.

Conclusion

RABV causes significant changes in the miRNA expression profiles of infected mouse brains. Predicted target genes of the differentially expression miRNAs are associated with host immune response, which may provide important information for investigation of RABV pathogenesis and therapeutic method.
Hemicelluloses negatively affect lignocellulose crystallinity for high biomass digestibility under NaOH and H2SO4 pretreatments in Miscanthus
Authors: Xu Ning , Zhang Wei , Ren Shuangfeng , Liu Fei , Zhao Chunqiao , Liao Haofeng , Xu Zhengdan , Huang Jiangfeng , Li Qing , Tu Yuanyuan , Yu Bin , Wang Yanting , Jiang Jianxiong , Qin Jingping , Peng Liangcai
Published: August 2012

Background

Lignocellulose is the most abundant biomass on earth. However, biomass recalcitrance has become a major factor affecting biofuel production. Although cellulose crystallinity significantly influences biomass saccharification, little is known about the impact of three major wall polymers on cellulose crystallization. In this study, we selected six typical pairs of Miscanthus samples that presented different cell wall compositions, and then compared their cellulose crystallinity and biomass digestibility after various chemical pretreatments.

Results

A Miscanthus sample with a high hemicelluloses level was determined to have a relatively low cellulose crystallinity index (CrI) and enhanced biomass digestibility at similar rates after pretreatments of NaOH and H2SO4 with three concentrations. By contrast, a Miscanthus sample with a high cellulose or lignin level showed increased CrI and low biomass saccharification, particularly after H2SO4 pretreatment. Correlation analysis revealed that the cellulose CrI negatively affected biomass digestion. Increased hemicelluloses level by 25% or decreased cellulose and lignin contents by 31% and 37% were also found to result in increased hexose yields by 1.3-times to 2.2-times released from enzymatic hydrolysis after NaOH or H2SO4 pretreatments. The findings indicated that hemicelluloses were the dominant and positive factor, whereas cellulose and lignin had synergistic and negative effects on biomass digestibility.

Conclusions

Using six pairs of Miscanthus samples with different cell wall compositions, hemicelluloses were revealed to be the dominant factor that positively determined biomass digestibility after pretreatments with NaOH or H2SO4 by negatively affecting cellulose crystallinity. The results suggested potential approaches to the genetic modifications of bioenergy crops.
EasyLCMS: an asynchronous web application for the automated quantification of LC-MS data
Authors: Fructuoso Sergio , Sevilla Ángel , Bernal Cristina , Lozano Ana Belén , Iborra José Luis , Cánovas Manuel
Published: August 2012

Background

Downstream applications in metabolomics, as well as mathematical modelling, require data in a quantitative format, which may also necessitate the automated and simultaneous quantification of numerous metabolites. Although numerous applications have been previously developed for metabolomics data handling, automated calibration and calculation of the concentrations in terms of μmol have not been carried out. Moreover, most of the metabolomics applications are designed for GC-MS, and would not be suitable for LC-MS, since in LC, the deviation in the retention time is not linear, which is not taken into account in these applications. Moreover, only a few are web-based applications, which could improve stand-alone software in terms of compatibility, sharing capabilities and hardware requirements, even though a strong bandwidth is required. Furthermore, none of these incorporate asynchronous communication to allow real-time interaction with pre-processed results.

Findings

Here, we present EasyLCMS (http://www.easylcms.es/), a new application for automated quantification which was validated using more than 1000 concentration comparisons in real samples with manual operation. The results showed that only 1% of the quantifications presented a relative error higher than 15%. Using clustering analysis, the metabolites with the highest relative error distributions were identified and studied to solve recurrent mistakes.

Conclusions

EasyLCMS is a new web application designed to quantify numerous metabolites, simultaneously integrating LC distortions and asynchronous web technology to present a visual interface with dynamic interaction which allows checking and correction of LC-MS raw data pre-processing results. Moreover, quantified data obtained with EasyLCMS are fully compatible with numerous downstream applications, as well as for mathematical modelling in the systems biology field.
Direct detection of nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage via helicase-dependent isothermal amplification and chip hybridization
Authors: Frech Georges C , Munns Denton , Jenison Robert D , Hicke Brian J
Published: August 2012

Background

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus constitutes one of the most important causes of nosocomial infections. One out of every three individuals naturally carries S. aureus in their anterior nares, and nasal carriage is associated with a significantly higher infection rate in hospital settings. Nasal carriage can be either persistent or intermittent, and it is the persistent carriers who, as a group, are at the highest risk of infection and who have the highest nasal S. aureus cell counts. Prophylactic decolonization of S. aureus from patients’ noses is known to reduce the incidence of postsurgical infections, and there is a clear rationale for rapid identification of nasal S. aureus carriers among hospital patients.

Findings

A molecular diagnostic assay was developed which is based on helicase-dependent target amplification and amplicon detection by chip hybridization to a chip surface, producing a visible readout. Nasal swabs from 70 subjects were used to compare the molecular assay against culturing on “CHROMagar Staph aureus” agar plates. The overall relative sensitivity was 89%, and the relative specificity was 94%. The sensitivity rose to 100% when excluding low-count subjects (<100 S. aureus colony-forming units per swab).

Conclusions

This molecular assay is much faster than direct culture and has sensitivity that is appropriate for identification of high-count (>100 S. aureus colony-forming units per swab) nasal S. aureus carriers who are at greatest risk for nosocomial infections.
Ground Vibration Induced by High-Speed Trains on Bridge Structures
Authors: Chen Yit-Jin , Chiu Ting-Jui
Published: August 2012

Ground vibration induced by high-speed trains can reach levels that cause annoyance to humans and interruption of sensitive instrumentation. To address this issue, the characteristics of ground vibration induced by Taiwan high-speed rail on bridge structures are evaluated using a wide range of field-measured data. The measurements for analysis consist of various foundation types, geological conditions, and train speeds. Both near-field vibration (25 m from track center) and far-field vibration propagation are evaluated. Specific influence factors for ground vibration assessment are also presented.
Noise Control of Home Appliances — The Green Way
Authors: Fatima S. , Mohanty A. R.
Published: August 2012

Material used for noise control applications should possess good sound absorption and dampening properties. In this work, the authors have focused on noise control applications of novel material made of jute which is a readily available, cheap and biodegradable natural fiber. Based on physical, flammable and acoustical properties, jute felt shows good sound absorption properties which has been used for noise control in a domestic clothes dryer and a vacuum cleaner. The noise sources in these appliances were ranked by measuring their radiated sound intensity levels. An overall reduction of radiated noise levels of 6 dB and 10 dB were obtained in the domestic dryer and the vacuum cleaner, respectively, by using the developed jute felt.
Removing Organic Compounds from Oily Sludge
Authors: Jing Guolin , Luan Mingming , Kong Lingrong , Han Chunjie
Published: August 2012

Oily sludge is one of the largest categories of wastes generated by oil industry petroleum production and petroleum refinery plant. Its release to the environment is strictly controlled and it is classified as priority environmental pollutants by the US Environmental Protection Agency. So, it must be treated. Wet peroxide oxidation (WPO) and catalytic wet oxidation (CWO) of oily sludge were investigated. The result indicated that homogenous catalyst (NaHCO3) showed effective removal for pollutants. WPO was an effective process for removing organic compounds from oily sludge. This paper may supply a new method of treating oily sludge for the oilfield.
The Roles of Greenhouse Gases in Global Warming
Authors: Ollila Antero V.E.
Published: August 2012

Scientists are still debating the reasons for “global warming”. The author questions the validity of the calculations for the models published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and especially the future scenarios. Through spectral calculations, the author finds that water vapour accounts for approximately 87% of the greenhouse (GH) effect and only 10% of CO2. A doubling of the present level of CO2 would increase the global temperature by only 0.51 °C without water feedback. The IPCC claims that a temperature increase of 0.76 °C for 2005 was caused in part by water (about 50%), because relative humidity (RH) stays constant in their model. The calculations prove that CO2 would have increased the temperature by only 0.2 °C since 1750 and that the measured decrease in water since 1948 has compensated for this increase. This study has also produced results indicating a negative feedback for relative humidity. The simulations of this study propose that the IPCC's model atmospheres could be approximately 50% too dry.
The Inconvenient Truth: Ocean Level Not Rising in Australia
Authors: Boretti Alberto , Watson Thomas
Published: August 2012

There is a claim that, by the end of this century, Australian coastal communities will experience rising sea levels of up to more than 1 metre because of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions causing global warming. This is the major argument supporting the Australia's Carbon Tax set to become law early next year. Under this legislation, 500 large Industrial manufacturers who emit carbon dioxide will be compelled to pay, from profitable income, for every tonne of carbon dioxide. Most of these emitters are electrical power generation and mining companies and heavy industry manufacturers. To compensate households for projected rising costs, due to the increased taxing pricing caused by this Carbon Tax, the government will cut income tax for smaller industries, boost payments to pensioners and offer various lump sum payments to small companies. This Australian scheme covers approximately 60% of Australia's emissions, making it the most broad-based scheme presented to the world. This carbon pricing will affectively apply to the 22.6 million Australians (2011) living in a 7,682,300 square kilometres country which is a relatively small number, proportional to the 7 billion people worldwide. The paper shows that locally and globally measured data, collected over short and long time scales, prove that the claim of sea level sharply accelerating is false.
The Night Time Radiative Transport between the Earth's Surface, its Atmosphere, and Free Space
Authors: Hertzberg Martin
Published: August 2012

Estimates are made for the exchange of radiative fluxes between the Earth's surface, its atmosphere, and free space on the basis of their average thermal structure and estimated values for the emissivity and absorptivity of those individual entities. The radiative fluxes obtained reflect nighttime conditions but also indicate the components of those fluxes that must be subtracted from the input solar flux for daytime conditions. The estimates show that infrared radiant energy is lost to free space from both the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. Under the normal atmospheric temperature structure there is no net radiation from the atmosphere that reaches the Earth's surface to be absorbed by it, and thus the so-called “greenhouse effect”, as it is traditionally depicted, is devoid of physical reality. The only exception occurs during atmospheric inversion conditions, but even in the presence of such rare inversions, the radiant power lost to free space from the atmosphere as a whole overwhelms the radiant power absorbed by the Earth's surface from the warmer inversion layer above it. Inversion conditions are thus the only ones in which the so-called “greenhouse effect” can possibly have any form of physical reality. But such inversion conditions, however, are present over only a small fraction of the Earth's surface for limited periods of time. In addition, since the recent increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations have a trivial effect on the atmosphere's total emissivity, the effect of those recent CO2 increases on the overall infrared radiative flux balance is insignificant. The analysis also suggests a cloud cooling mechanism for the Earth's surface and its atmosphere that is significantly different from the one traditionally cited. Cloud blockage such as that reflected in the Earth's albedo acts symmetrically with respect to both the input heating by solar radiation and the output cooling by infrared radiation to free space. On the other hand, it is shown that the increasing infrared emissivity of the atmosphere caused by the presence of clouds provides an effective cooling mechanism that is asymmetric.
Applying the Electronic Commerce Technology Acceptance (ECTA) Framework to Overcome Challenges Facing Governmental Institutions' E-mailing Systems Technology Adoption in Jordan
Authors: Al-Haraizah Ahed S , Choudhury Islam
Published: August 2012

Insight into the reasons why people adopt or reject technology is one of the most challenging issues in information technology research. This paper draws on the Electronic Commerce Technology Acceptance (ECTA) framework [1], which is in turn based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [2–3], and examines Jordan government's employees' attitudes towards adopting and use Electronic Mailing systems within their job. A quantitative survey is used to establish and illustrates employee's behavioural intention and decision to e-mailing systems. The main influencing issues that are discussed in this paper affect these employees imply perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, employees' attitudes towards new technologies, and behavioural intention to use. These various issues suggested in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [3–4]. Whereas the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been made to include the external social factors proposed in this paper such as trust, cultural beliefs, and sociology of technology.

Eventually, the significant insight emanated from the findings identifies ways of assisting and spurring employees to make use of technology effectively.
Compuational Algorithm of Fuzzy Stochastic Model for Forecasting
Authors: Arumugam P. , Senthamarai Kannan K.
Published: August 2012

In our daily life, often we use forecasting techniques to predict weather, economy, population growth, stock, etc. In recent years, many fuzzy time series methods are developed for forecasting of enrollments of Universities. Song and Chissom (1993) were the pioneers in studying such type of problems. Shiva Raj Sing (2007) presented a simple time variant method for forecasting the enrollment of the University of Alabama using fuzzy time series. Forecasts are needed only if there is uncertainty about the future. In this paper develop the modified algorithm to forecast enrollment for the same data set and compared with existing methods. The proposed method shows the better forecasting accuracy rate for enrollments, compared than other methods.
An End-To-End Secure Mobile Payment System Using Public Key Infrastructure System
Authors: Britto S. , Kumar R. , Rabara S. Albert
Published: August 2012

The exponential growth of wireless technologies and mobile devices, the mobile commerce becomes a significant for every one's life. Its popularity introduces a new channel for the research that is, M-Payment or Mobile Payment in terms of identifying new applications, designing frameworks, and producing innovative business models. The development of secured mobile payment system becomes a major research topic in the field of mobile commerce. A study reveals that there are wide ranges of mobile payment solutions and models available in the market, but there is no specific and global mobile payment system for academic institutions without huge investment. To overcome, this paper proposes a novel model called Mobile Payment Consortia System (MPCS) to carry out the transactions from the bank to the academic institutions for the payment of fees by students through mobile phone. MPCS provides an end-to-end security using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). This paper mainly focuses on strong authentication and secure communication between the institution server and MPCS Server. This model can be extended to all educational institutions, training divisions and universities so as to help the necessary payments by the students through mobile devices.
Query Optimization Using Global GIS Evaluation Strategies
Authors: Elariss Haifa Elsidani , Khaddaj Souheil , Greenhill Darrel
Published: August 2012

With the current scale of mobile GIS users and increase in the applications that are deployed for LBS, the optimization of proximity analysis queries becomes a major issue. The query melting processor (QMP) has been developed for processing multiple dynamic complex queries (MDCQ) based on the Query Melting paradigm which consists of the sharing paradigm and the push-down strategy. However, with the increase in volume of cost sensitive mobile users, the need emerges to develop a time cost optimizer for processing MDCQs. Thus, it is crucial to develop a new Decision Making Mechanism for handling the time cost optimization (TCOP) and prove its cost effectiveness. TCOP is based on the new paradigm “Sharing Global Execution Plans by MDCQs with similar scenarios”. The experimental evaluation results, using a case study based on the map of Paris, proved that significant saving in time can be achieved by employing the newly developed strategies.
Automating Reuse of Online Semantic Resources by Concept Extraction Using Word Sense Disambiguation
Authors: Imdadi Nadia , Rizvi Syed A.M.
Published: August 2012

Several dimensions have been added since the idea of Semantic web was conceived by Tim B. Lee, to the previously linear representation of the World Wide Web that consisted of web resources like web pages and hyperlinks. These dimensions allow for software agents/machines to make knowledgeable decisions and retrieve relevant resources which are related in meaning and not only by named links. The new infrastructure consists of semantic repositories like network of ontologies, also called semantic networks.

Some interesting research issues have emerged in the context of these semantic repositories and these are their creation, bootstrapping and interoperability to make semantic web a reality. A novel approach is proposed to deal with the issue of creation of ontologies from existing online semantic repositories by using Swoogle API. The aim is to discover concepts from online resources indexed by the Swoogle Search Engine by using advanced techniques of Word Sense Disambiguation in Computational Linguistics Techniques.
Semantic Products Analysis of E-Commerce Websites
Authors: John B. , Khaddaj S. , Hoppe A.
Published: August 2012

The semantic web and other web services give plenty of room for product search, evaluation and comparison in E-commerce. However in many cases there have been very little efforts directed toward defining, evaluating and comparing semantic items/products on an E-commerce website, Oreste Signore (2004) particularly in term of visual expression, items availability and behaviour. Thus, this paper aims to address these issues by presenting an analysis of some typical E-commerce websites and a semantic evaluation of the available items/products and services.
A Framework for the Testability of Service Oriented Architecture
Authors: Altalabani O , Khaddaj S
Published: August 2012

The majority of current researches on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) are focusing on the dynamic services composition design and development techniques, leaving testing task with inefficient outcome and results. Many papers have presented novel testing approaches for supporting testability of SOA systems and Component Based Distributed systems; in which these systems are experiencing many testing challenges under real environments. Many new specifications and standards emerged aiming to define the implementation, trustworthiness, and the Quality of Services (QoS). Furthermore, these standards aid SOA testing in real-time environments. In this paper, we will review prior research works derived from the literature, which aid us to identifying the issues in the testability of SOA systems in real-time. Grounded in this principle, we will highlight the standards, protocols that may apply and aid SOA testing. We will propose an approach to which will make SOA testing on real-time, much relevant and applicable.
Real-Time Analysis of CDN in an Academic Institute: A Simulation Study
Authors: Ramachandran N. , Sivaprakasam P.
Published: August 2012

This paper examines the website performance analysis of the Content Delivery Network (CDN) against the normal webhosting method, by using the existing resources available in an academic institute. It also compares the collected real-time data with CDN simulation software. In this experiment, ‘URL rewriting’ is the method adopted for the CDN and reverse proxy. It aims to improve the response time of access to the web site by overcoming the flash crowd and provide the content of the web site in the most efficient manner. The significance of this method is that it allows for using the existing and available local resources and it calls for no additional investment on infrastructure from the part of the organization. A detailed real-time account of both the methods and analyses, towards finding out the best suitable method is illustrated.
Lossless Compression of Colour Mosaic Video Frames Suitable for Progressive Transmission
Authors: Sathik M. Mohamed , Kannan K. Senthamarai , Raj Y. Jacob Vetha
Published: August 2012

Video transmission is a vital area in the era of communication. Video are of huge in size comparing to textual data, video transmission takes larger bandwidth of the communication channel. Since channel capacity is limited, the video transmission takes longer time. Thus video compression becomes an essential solution. Considering these factors this paper propose a way by which video is converted as a series of mosaic images and compressed for transmission. The entire process can be given in nutshell with few steps. Initially the RGB color video frames are converted into mosaic images according to Bayer Pattern. The mosaic image is one third of the size of RGB color image. Then the mosaic image is transformed to reduce the bits required to store the data. Two transformations are applied to this mosaic image. Firstly the difference between the color components of same color is computed. Since the same color components are interleaved slightly modified DPCM is used in this transformation. Secondly the inter-frame difference is computed. Finally the transformed mosaic image is compressed using Golomb Rice Code which is suitable for progressive transmission.
Testing & Integration Issues in Implementation of Advanced Health Information Management System
Authors: Singh Udai , Pandey Ashutosh , Kumar Amit
Published: August 2012

Retrofit of Hospital Information system in a running hospital is very challenging task. The difficulties are found to increase with the size of the hospital. C-DAC is in the process of implementing a total computerization of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) – a premier institute in public sector in India. This paper presents the Testing and Integration issues during this implementation.
Vibrant Ambient Intelligence with Agents Based Service Oriented Approach
Authors: Bhuvaneshwari N. Sudha , Sujatha S.
Published: August 2012

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is closely related to the long term vision of an intelligent service system in which technologies are able to automate a platform embedding the required devices for powering context aware, personalized, adaptive and anticipatory services. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time frame 2010–2020.

This paper on Vibrant Ambient Intelligence with Agents based Service Oriented Approach focuses on the ambient intelligence environment of managing the traffic congestion control in Coimbatore city through VAISTC4 proposal without crippling the mobility of users using Mobile Internet Protocol Version 6(IPV6). It also discusses on the benefit of coupling service-oriented approach and multi-agent systems towards more appropriate interactions with users.

With the advancement in Mobile Computing Technology the number and diversity of sensors being carried by people have increased that has made humans to behave like computers in their social context where privacy poses a greater issue. This paper also provides a solution on how the privacy context of an individual can be cherished using privacy mapping approach.
P2P Overlay Maintenance Algorithm
Authors: Umamaheswari S. , Leela V.
Published: August 2012

Peer to peer networking has emerged as viable business model and systems architecture for internet scale application since it attracts millions of simultaneous participants. In P2P overlay network (collection of peer connections in a P2P network) peers join and leave the overlay arbitrarily and do not stay in the overlay for a predictable time. To ensure dependability of the overlay, peers with neighbor links to the joining or leaving peers requires updates. Therefore overlay maintenance protocols have to be devised to include efficient features that able to handle peer churn. In this paper we are focusing on the P2P overlay maintenance protocol through which the peers in the overlay maintains routing properties, referred as overlay maintenance. We have proposed an efficient method to find stale routing table entries in a way that retains the desired routing behavior since the look up query traffic and overlay maintenance traffic both compete for the underlying network bandwidth and resources, maintenance traffic should be constrained to that needed for target table accuracy.
Performance of Protective Clothing and Equipment: 9th Volume, Emerging Issues and Technologies
Authors: Shepherd Angie M.
Published: August 2012

Description

Twenty-two peer-reviewed papers cover the latest information on the performance of protective clothing for government and industrial workers, first responders, and civilians.

Topics cover
Pavement Performance: Current Trends, Advances, and Challenges
Authors: Choubane Bouzid
Published: August 2012

Description

Sixteen peer-reviewed papers cover the latest research on pavement condition assessment and surface characteristics measurements used in evaluating the performance and management of roadway systems.

This new publication provides critical information for making informed decisions, including determining cost-effective rehabilitation and preservation strategies, identifying potentially hazardous conditions, and monitoring the condition and surface characteristics of the various in-service pavements.
Place of Death among Botswana'S Oldest Old
Authors: Lazenby J. Mark , Olshvevski Jodi
Published: August 2012

Botswana, a country in sub-Saharan Africa, has been in the midst of an HIV/AIDs pandemic that has halted its previously lengthening life expectancy trend. However, one group to escape immediate effects on falling life span is the oldest old age group (> 80 years). Their roles in the community due to the pandemic, however, have changed. Place of death is an important consideration in end-of-life care for older adults, and one which has been well studied in the Global North. The purpose of this article is to determine where Botswana's oldest old die (home or hospital), and to see whether cause of death, gender, or residence in a city, town, or rural area is associated with place of death. We use death certificate data from 2005 and 2006 to describe where the oldest old Batswana (the name for the people of Botswana) died, home or hospital. Two-thirds died at home. The mean age at death was 88.46 (± 6.21) years; more were female (56.9%); and of known causes of death, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause (16.8%). Most stated causes of death (62.4%) were listed as “unknown.” Most oldest-old Batswana died in rural areas (70.1%), and in rural areas, proportionally more oldest old died at home compared to cities and towns. On multivariate analysis, being a woman > 80 years of age at death predicted home death. Future longitudinal study needs to determine preferences of place of death and the quality of death of Batswana > 80 years, especially women.
Bereavement after Suicide: A Study of Memorials on the Internet
Authors: Lester David
Published: August 2012

This study compared the written memorials on websites posted by survivors of suicide with those written by people who had lost a significant other from natural causes, using a computer program, the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Thirteen significant differences were identified and, in addition, 13 differences that approach significance. Memorials written by survivors of suicide had longer sentences and used longer words. They had more death-related words, fewer references to the self or to the deceased (“you”), and more words reflective of anger and sadness. The results suggest the deaths from suicide had a more profound impact on the survivors than the natural deaths and results in greater emotional distress.
Maintaining Relational Continuity with the Deceased on Facebook
Authors: Degroot Jocelyn M.
Published: August 2012

Scholars have noted that communication helps maintain relational continuity despite physical absence; yet, the specific role of communication in continuing a relationship with the deceased has not been analyzed. In this study, messages directed to the deceased on Facebook memorial group walls were examined to explore how grieving individuals utilize Facebook memorial groups in order to make sense of the death of a loved one and reconnect with the deceased. Using a grounded theory approach, message topics and apparent grief-related functions served by messages were identified and characterized. Initial observation revealed that grieving individuals wrote to the deceased as if the deceased could read the messages, which is a unique type of communication. The communication written to the deceased individuals appeared to serve two functions for those writing the messages: (1) Sensemaking; and (2) Continuing Bonds, or upholding relational continuity, with the deceased.
Surviving Death-Anxieties in Liquid Modern Times: Examining Zygmunt Bauman'S Cultural Theory of Death and Dying
Authors: Higo Masa
Published: August 2012

Despite his prominence as a leading contemporary social theorist, Zygmunt Bauman's long-term writing on the cultural theory of death and dying has largely been overlooked in the sociological literature of death and dying, particularly in the United States. Bauman uniquely theorizes how we survive death-anxieties today: Contemporary, liquid modern culture has engaged us in ceaseless pursuit of the unattainable consumer sensation of bodily fitness as a way to suppress and thus survive our death-anxieties. Bauman also argues that the prevalence of this cultural formula to survive death-anxieties has simultaneously increased, more than ever before in social history, the volume of individual responsibility for restlessly coping with existential anxieties in the societies of consumers. While unique and insightful, his theoretical argument has a limitation; largely succeeding Freud's classic view of mortality, Bauman's contemporary theory may lead us to neglect potentially important social, cultural, and historical variations in how mortality has been understood.
Psychiatric Consultation after Kidney Transplantation: A 10-Year Single-Center Study Including Outpatients in Japan
Authors: Nishimura Katsuji , Kobayashi Sayaka , Sugawara Hiroko , Nakajima Ichiro , Ishida Hideki , Fuchinoue Shohei , Tanabe Kazunari , Ishigooka Jun
Published: August 2012

Background:

The aim of this study was to elucidate the clinical characteristics and frequency of psychiatric consultation in a routine clinical setting after kidney transplantation.

Methods:

Subjects were 1,139 consecutive recipients who received kidney transplantation at our hospital between January 1997 and September 2006. The hospital patient database was searched to determine whether these recipients received psychiatric consultation after their transplantation during this period.

Results:

Among 1,139 recipients, 118 (10%) received psychiatric consultation after their transplantation. There were significantly more women among these recipients ( p = 0.036). Many of the recipients had received psychiatric consultation before transplantation ( p < 0.0001) and had received dialysis for a long time ( p = 0.018). There were three main psychiatric diagnoses according to ICD-10 diagnostic criteria in these 118 recipients: 42 (36%) had neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (F4); 35 (30%) had organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders (F0); and 27 (23%) had mood (affective) disorders (F3). The median length of time between kidney transplantation and initial psychiatric consultation was 57 days (interquartile range: 10–650 days). The lengths were 7 days (6–17 days) for F0, 75 days (18–650 days) for F4, 243 days (35–1,004 days) for F3, and 253 days (10–1,393 days) for other diagnostic groups. Significant differences were observed among these four groups (Jonckheere-Terpstra test, p < 0.001).

Conclusion:

Our results show that appropriate psychiatric intervention is necessary not only in early stages after kidney transplantation but also over the long term.
Is the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy an Effective Intervention to Prevent the Postnatal Depression? A Critical Review
Authors: Nardi Bernardo , Laurenzi Sabrina , Di Nicolò Marzia , Bellantuono Cesario
Published: August 2012

Objective:

The aim of this article is to review and discuss the efficacy of the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), in the prevention of postnatal depression (PD) in pregnant women at risk.

Method:

PubMed, Medline, PsychInfo, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched from February 1991 to February 2011.

Method:

Eight Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) on the prevention of PD with the CBT were selected and their data were analyzed. The literature analyzed recommends that depression in pregnancy requires an efficient management to provide mother's symptoms relief as well as to prevent the PD. While several studies demonstrated the efficacy of the CBT in the treatment of PD, the efficacy of the CBT in preventing PD in pregnant women at risk has been investigated only by a few studies, presenting a number of methodological flaws.

Conclusions:

Better designed RCT are needed to support the efficacy of such psycho-therapeutic preventive strategy in women at risk for PD.