bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Foreign Body Aspiration in Northern Ghana: A Review of Pediatric Patients
Authors: Adjeso Theophilus , Damah Michael Chanalu , Murphy James Patrick , Anyomih Theophilus Teddy Kojo
Published: October 2017

Background. Foreign body (FB) aspiration requires a high index of suspicion for diagnosis and prompt management to avoid morbidity and mortality. This retrospective study was conducted to review pediatric foreign body aspiration at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). Materials and Methods. The theater records of children managed for foreign body aspiration from January 2010 to December 2016 at the ENT Unit of TTH were retrieved and data summarized with respect to age, gender, indications for bronchoscopy, nature of foreign body, location of foreign body, and outcome of the bronchoscopy procedure. Results. A total of 33 children were managed within the five-year study period and comprised 16 (48.5%) males and 17 (51.5%) females. The commonly aspirated FBs were groundnuts (13, 39.4%) and metallic objects (7, 21.1%). The peak incidence occurred in children aged ≤ 3 years. The foreign bodies (FBs) were commonly localized to the right (24.2%) and left (24.2%) main bronchi, respectively. One patient had emergency tracheostomy for failed bronchoscopy. Conclusion. Groundnuts were the most commonly aspirated foreign body with most of the FBs localized in the bronchi.
Using a Bayesian Network to Predict L5/S1 Spinal Compression Force from Posture, Hand Load, Anthropometry, and Disc Injury Status
Authors: Hughes Richard E.
Published: October 2017

Stochastic biomechanical modeling has become a useful tool most commonly implemented using Monte Carlo simulation, advanced mean value theorem, or Markov chain modeling. Bayesian networks are a novel method for probabilistic modeling in artificial intelligence, risk modeling, and machine learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the suitability of Bayesian networks for biomechanical modeling using a static biomechanical model of spinal forces during lifting. A 20-node Bayesian network model was used to implement a well-established static two-dimensional biomechanical model for predicting L5/S1 compression and shear forces. The model was also implemented as a Monte Carlo simulation in MATLAB. Mean L5/S1 spinal compression force estimates differed by 0.8%, and shear force estimates were the same. The model was extended to incorporate evidence about disc injury, which can modify the prior probability estimates to provide posterior probability estimates of spinal compression force. An example showed that changing disc injury status from false to true increased the estimate of mean L5/S1 compression force by 14.7%. This work shows that Bayesian networks can be used to implement a whole-body biomechanical model used in occupational biomechanics and incorporate disc injury.
Compression of the Femoral Vessels by a Pseudotumor after Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Arthroplasty
Authors: Tamaki Yasuaki , Goto Tomohiro , Tsutsui Takahiko , Takasago Tomoya , Wada Keizo , Sairyo Koichi
Published: October 2017

Here we present a case of pseudotumor following total hip arthroplasty (THA) that resulted in a circulatory disturbance caused by compression of the femoral vasculature. A 63-year-old man presented with pain, swelling, and redness of the left leg 5 years after primary metal-on-metal THA using the AML-Plus stem, Pinnacle® acetabular cup, and 36 mm diameter Ultamet™ metal head system (DePuy Orthopaedics, Warsaw, IN). Enhanced computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large cystic lesion extending from the left hip anteriorly to the intrapelvic region and compressing the left femoral vessels. Percutaneous puncture of the lesion yielded a dark red aspirate and the patient was diagnosed to have a pseudotumor causing compression of the femoral vessels. We performed revision surgery to replace the metal head and metal liner with a smaller ceramic head and polyethylene liner without removal of the stem. Corrosion of the head-neck junction was identified intraoperatively with no obvious wear on the bearing surfaces. The left leg swelling and redness improved immediately postoperatively. A large pseudotumor should be kept in mind as a cause of vascular compression with unilateral leg edema in a patient who has undergone metal-on-metal THA.
A One‐Dimensional Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for a Water Transfer Project with Multihydraulic Structures
Authors: Yi Yujun , Tang Caihong , Yang Zhifeng , Zhang Shanghong , Zhang Cheng
Published: October 2017

The long Middle Route of the South to North Water Transfer Project is composed of complex hydraulic structures (aqueduct, tunnel, control gate, diversion, culvert, and diverted siphon), which generate complex flow patterns. It is vital to simulate the flow patterns through hydraulic structures, but it is a challenging work to protect water quality and maintain continuous water transfer. A one‐dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model was built to understand the flow and pollutant movement in this project. Preissmann four‐point partial‐node implicit scheme was used to solve the governing equations in this study. Water flow and pollutant movement were appropriately simulated and the results indicated that this water quality model was comparable to MIKE 11 and had a good performance and accuracy. Simulation accuracy and model uncertainty were analyzed. Based on the validated water quality model, six pollution scenarios (Q1 = 10 m3/s, Q2 = 30 m3/s, and Q3 = 60 m3/s for volatile phenol (VOP) and contaminant mercury (Hg)) were simulated for the MRP. Emergent pollution accidents were forecasted and changes of water quality were analyzed according to the simulations results, which helped to guarantee continuously transferring water for a large water transfer project.
Epileptic MEG Spike Detection Using Statistical Features and Genetic Programming with KNN
Authors: Alotaiby Turky N. , Alrshoud Saud R. , Alshebeili Saleh A. , Alhumaid Majed H. , Alsabhan Waleed M.
Published: October 2017

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. Monitoring the brain activities and identifying the seizure source which starts with spike detection are important steps for epilepsy treatment. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an emerging epileptic diagnostic tool with high-density sensors; this makes manual analysis a challenging task due to the vast amount of MEG data. This paper explores the use of eight statistical features and genetic programing (GP) with the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) for interictal spike detection. The proposed method is comprised of three stages: preprocessing, genetic programming-based feature generation, and classification. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated using real MEG data obtained from 28 epileptic patients. It has achieved a 91.75% average sensitivity and 92.99% average specificity.
Effects of Ambient Parameters on the Performance of a Direct-Expansion Solar-Assisted Heat Pump with Bare Plate Evaporators for Space Heating
Authors: Huang Wenzhu , Ji Jie , Modjinou Mawufemo , Qin Jing
Published: October 2017

Research on the direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump (DX-SAHP) system with bare plate evaporators for space heating is meaningful but insufficient. In this paper, experiments on a DX-SAHP system applying bare plate evaporators for space heating are conducted in the enthalpy difference lab with a solar simulator, with the ambient conditions stable. The independent effects of ambient temperature, solar irradiation, and relative humidity on the system performance are investigated. When ambient temperature changes as 5°C, 10°C, and 15°C, COP increases as 2.12, 2.18, and 2.26. When solar irradiance changes as 0 W m−2, 100 W m−2, 200 W m−2, 300 W m−2, and 500 W m−2, COP of the system changes as 2.07, 2.09, 2.14, 2.26, and 2.36. With ambient temperature of 5°C and solar irradiance of 0 W m−2, when relative humidity is 50%, no frost formed. Whereas with relative humidity of 70% and 90%, frost formed but not seriously frosted after 120 min of operating. Frost did not deteriorate but improved the heating performance of the DX-SAHP system. The change of relative humidity from 70% to 90% improves the evaporating heat exchange rate by 35.0% and increases COP by 16.3%, from 1.78 to 2.07.
XBP1-Mediated BiP/GRP78 Upregulation Copes with Oxidative Stress in Mosquito Cells during Dengue 2 Virus Infection
Authors: Chen Tien-Huang , Chiang Yi-Hsuan , Hou Jiun-Nan , Cheng Chih-Chieh , Sofiyatun Eny , Chiu Cheng-Hsun , Chen Wei-June
Published: October 2017

Dengue viruses (DENVs) cause dengue fever which is an important mosquito-borne disease in tropical areas. Generally, DENV does not cause cellular damage in mosquito cells. However, alterations in cytosolic calcium ions ([Ca2+]cyt) and the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), as well as accumulated reactive oxygen species (ROS), including superoxide anions (O2∙-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), can be detected in C6/36 cells with DENV2 infection. Evident upregulation of BiP/GRP78 also appeared at 24 h postinfection in DENV2-infected C6/36 cells. As expression of BiP/GRP78 mRNA was reduced when the transcription factor X-box-binding protein-1 (XBP1) was knocked down in C6/36 cells, it demonstrated that BiP/GRP78 is the target gene regulated by the XBP1 signal pathway. We further demonstrated that the expression and splicing activity of XBP1 were upregulated in parallel with DENV2 infection in C6/36 cells. In C6/36 cells with BiP/GRP78 overexpression, oxidative stress indicators including [Ca2+]cyt, MMP,O2∙-, and H2O2were all pushed back to normal. Taken together, DENV2 activates XBP1 at earlier stage of infection, followed by upregulating BiP/GRP78 in mosquito cells. This regulatory pathway contributes a cascade in relation to oxidative stress alleviation. The finding provides insights into elucidating how mosquitoes can healthily serve as a vector of arboviruses in nature.
Decomposition Technique and a Family of Efficient Schemes for Nonlinear Equations
Authors: Shah Farooq Ahmed , Darus Maslina , Faisal Imran , Shafiq Muhammad Arsalan
Published: October 2017

Various problems of pure and applied sciences can be studied in the unified framework of nonlinear equations. In this paper, a new family of iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations is developed by using a new decomposition technique. The convergence of the new methods is proven. For the implementation and performance of the new methods, some examples are solved and the results are compared with some existing methods.
Seasonally Feed-Related Aflatoxins B1 and M1 Spread in Semiarid Industrial Dairy Herd and Its Deteriorating Impacts on Food and Immunity
Authors: Mozafari Saideh , Mohsenzadeh Mohammad , Mehrzad Jalil
Published: October 2017

To comparatively determine the levels of aflatoxin (AF) B1 in feedstuffs and of AFM1 in milk from semiarid industrial cattle farms in northeastern Iran during four seasons and to elucidate the effects of mixed AFB1 and AFM1 on bovine granulocytes, 72 feedstuffs (concentrate, silage, and totally mixed ration (TMR)) and 200 bulk milk samples were simultaneously collected for ELISA-based AFs detection. Isolated blood and milk neutrophils (n=8/treatment) were also preincubated with mix of 10 ng/ml AFB1 and 10 ng/ml AFM1 for 12 h; the impact was assessed on neutrophils functions. AFB1 levels in feedstuffs averaged 28 μg/kg (4–127 μg/kg), with TMR maximal (38±6.3 μg/kg), concentrate (32±6.5 μg/kg), and silage (16±1.5 μg/kg). The levels of AFB1 and AFM1 in feedstuffs and milk averaged 42±9.3, 27±2.8, 26±4.1, and 18.5±2.8 μg/kg and 85±7.3, 62±6.1, 46±6.2, and 41±6.5 ppb μg/kg in winter (maximal), autumn, spring, and summer, respectively. Mix of AFB1 and AFM1 weakened various functions of granulocytes. It adds new reason why during winter semiarid raised food-producing animals show more immune-incompetence.
Designing a Control System for an Airplane Wing Flutter Employing Gas Actuators
Authors: Ansari A. R. , Novinzadeh A. R. B.
Published: October 2017

The wing flutter is a dynamic instability of a flight vehicle associated with the interaction of aerodynamic, elastic, and inertial forces (aeroelastics phenomena). In this study, just the primary control is investigated. Also, in order to control the two-dimensional wing flutter, the force jet and pulse width pulse frequency (PWPF) are suggested. The PWPF modulator has the advantage of almost linear operation, low jet gas consumption, flexibility in addressing various needs, and good accuracy in presence of oscillations. This scheme makes use of quasi-steady dynamic premises and incompressible flow, as well as the thin airfoil theory. It should be noted that, to justify the application of the aerodynamic theory, we have speculated that the thruster jet ejected through a nozzle with a diameter smaller than several millimeters has a supersonic regime (with Mach number of the order of M≈3.5). Consequently, the interference of the thruster jet in the boundary layer, flow, and circulation around the airfoil which are characterized by low speed would be negligible. The operation of the jet as a thruster is handled by the PWPF modulator, and the process output is fed back to the system via a PD controller. In order to control the wing flutter oscillation, the location of installing the actuator on the airfoil is investigated.
Multicriteria Based Next Forwarder Selection for Data Dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks Using Analytical Network Process
Authors: Latif Shahid , Mahfooz Saeed , Jan Bilal , Ahmad Naveed , Farman Haleem , Khan Murad , Javed Huma
Published: October 2017

Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a wireless emerging technology that aims to provide safety and communication services to drivers and passengers. In VANETs, vehicles communicate with other vehicles directly or through road side units (RSU) for sharing traffic information. The data dissemination in VANETs is a challenging issue as the vehicles have to share safety critical information in real time. The data distribution is usually done using broadcast method resulting in inefficient use of network resources. Therefore, to avoid the broadcast storm and efficiently use network resources, next forwarder vehicle (NFV) is selected to forward data to nearby vehicles. The NFV selection is based on certain parameters like direction, distance, and position of vehicles, which makes it a multicriteria decision problem. In this paper, analytical network process (ANP) is used as a multicriteria decision tool to select the optimal vehicle as NFV. The stability of alternatives (candidate vehicles for NFV selection) ranking is checked using sensitivity analysis for different scenarios. Mathematical formulation shows that ANP method is applicable for NFV selection in VANETs. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art data dissemination schemes in terms of reachability, latency, collisions, and number of transmitted and duplicate data packets.
A Study on the Manufacturing Properties of Crack Self-Healing Capsules Using Cement Powder for Addition to Cement Composites
Authors: Choi Yun-Wang , Oh Sung-Rok , Choi Byung-Keol
Published: October 2017

We fabricated crack self-healing capsules using cement powder for mixing into cement composites and evaluated the properties of the capsule manufacturing process in this study. The manufacture of the self-healing capsules is divided into core production processing of granulating cement in powder form and a coating process for creating a wall on the surfaces of the granulated cement particles. The produced capsules contain unhardened cement and can be mixed directly with the cement composite materials because they are protected from moisture by the wall material. Therefore, the untreated cement is present in the form of a capsule within the cement composite, and hydration can be induced by moisture penetrating the crack surface in the event of cracking. In the process of granulating the cement, it is important to obtain a suitable consistency through the kneading agent and to maintain the moisture barrier performance of the wall material. We can utilize the results of this study as a basis for advanced self-healing capsule technology for cement composites.
Chronic Central Serous Chorioretinopathy in a Patient with Pigment Dispersion Syndrome: A Possible Correlation
Authors: Kourkoutas Dimitrios , Tsakonas George , Karamaounas Aristotelis , Karamaounas Nikolaos
Published: October 2017

Chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a progressive chorioretinopathy with widespread atrophic RPE abnormalities and serous retinal detachments (SRDs) present for 6 months or longer. We report a case of CSCR in a 38-year-old patient with Pigment Dispersion Syndrome (PDS). In the presented case of CSCR, the chronic course of the disease may in part be associated with an underlying generalized degenerative dysfunction of the pigmented cells of the eye on grounds of PDS. We suggest that a chronic course of disease may be suspected in the setting of CSCR with concurrent RPE pathology, such as what is found in PDS.
Evaluating Reservoir Risks and Their Influencing Factors during CO2 Injection into Multilayered Reservoirs
Authors: Shi Lu , Bai Bing , Wu Haiqing , Li Xiaochun
Published: October 2017

Wellbore and site safety must be ensured during CO2 injection into multiple reservoirs during carbon capture and storage projects. This study focuses on multireservoir injection and investigates the characteristics of the flow-rate distribution and reservoir-risk evaluation as well as their unique influences on multireservoir injection. The results show that more CO2 enters the upper layers than the lower layers. With the increase in injection pressure, the risks of the upper reservoirs increase more dramatically than those of the low reservoirs, which can cause the critical reservoir (CR) to shift. The CO2 injection temperature has a similar effect on the injection flow rate but no effect on the CR’s location. Despite having no effect on the flow-rate distribution, the formation-fracturing pressures in the reservoirs determine which layer becomes the CR. As the thickness or permeability of a layer increases, the inflows exhibit upward and downward trends in this layer and the lower layers, respectively, whereas the inflows of the upper layers remain unchanged; meanwhile, the risks of the lower layer and those of the others decrease and remain constant, respectively. Compared to other parameters, the reservoir porosities have a negligible effect on the reservoir risks and flow-rate distributions.
Exploration of Superior Modality: Safety and Efficacy of Hypofractioned Image-Guided Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy in Patients with Unresectable but Confined Intrahepatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Jiang Tao , Zeng Zhao-Chong , Yang Ping , Hu Yong
Published: October 2017

Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hypofractioned image-guided intensity modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT) for unresectable but confined intrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma in comparison with conventional 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT). Methods. Ninety patients with unresectable but confined intrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma without distant metastasis and tumor thrombosis received external beam radiation therapy. Of these patients, 45 received IG-IMRT and 45 received 3D-CRT. The IG-IMRT design delivered a median total hypofractionated dose of 54 Gy (2.2–5.5 Gy/fx), and 3D-CRT delivered a median total dose of 54 Gy with a conventional fraction (2.0 Gy/fx). The clinical response, overall survival, and side effects were analyzed. Results. The IG-IMRT group showed significantly higher 1-year survival (93.3 versus 77.8%) and 2-year survival (73.3 versus 51.1%) and longer median survival (44.7 versus 24.0 months) than the 3D-CRT group. Multivariate analysis indicated that the patients with intrahepatic tumors smaller than 8 cm, prior TACE before RT, and IG-IMRT would have a survival benefit. There were no significant differences in the rates of side effects between the two groups. Conclusion. Hypofractioned IG-IMRT could improve the therapeutic response and confer a potential survival of patients with unresectable but confined intrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma compared to 3D-CRT with acceptable toxicity.
Effect of Exercise Intervention on Flow-Mediated Dilation in Overweight and Obese Adults: Meta-Analysis
Authors: Son Younsun , Kim Kyungun , Jeon Soeun , Kang Minsoo , Lee Sukho , Park Yoonjung
Published: October 2017

The objective of this meta-analysis is to summarize the effect of exercise intervention on flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in overweight and obese adults. We searched four electronic databases (PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and CINAHL) through June 2016 for relevant studies pertaining to the effectiveness of exercise intervention on FMD. Seventeen of the 91 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 3) was used to compute the standardized mean difference effect size (ES) and 95% CI using a random effects model. We calculated 34 ESs. We found that exercise intervention had medium and positive effects on FMD, with an overall ES of 0.522 (95% CI = 0.257, 0.786). Heterogeneity of ESs was observed (Qb=239, p≤0.001, I2 = 86.19), and the effect was moderated by comorbidity (Qb = 6.39, df = 1, p=0.011). A large ES for the combination exercise, low intensity exercise, and comorbidity subgroups (ES = 0.82~1.24) was found. We conclude that while exercise intervention significantly improves FMD in overweight and obese adults, the effect may depend on the different characteristics of exercise intervention and on participants’ demographics.
Fashion Evaluation Method for Clothing Recommendation Based on Weak Appearance Feature
Authors: Zhang Yan , Liu Xiang , Shi Yunyu , Guo Yunqi , Xu Chaoqun , Zhang Erwen , Tang Jiaxun , Fang Zhijun
Published: October 2017

With the rapid rising of living standard, people gradually developed higher shopping enthusiasm and increasing demand for garment. Nowadays, an increasing number of people pursue fashion. However, facing too many types of garment, consumers need to try them on repeatedly, which is somewhat time- and energy-consuming. Besides, it is difficult for merchants to master the real-time demand of consumers. Herein, there is not enough cohesiveness between consumer information and merchants. Thus, a novel fashion evaluation method on the basis of the appearance weak feature is proposed in this paper. First of all, image database is established and three aspects of appearance weak feature are put forward to characterize the fashion level. Furthermore, the appearance weak features are extracted according to the characters’ facial feature localization method. Last but not least, consumers’ fashion level can be classified through support vector product, and the classification is verified with the hierarchical analysis method. The experimental results show that consumers’ fashion level can be accurately described based on the indexes of appearance weak feature and the approach has higher application value for the clothing recommendation system.
Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
Authors: Liu Yangzexi , Guo Jingqiu , Taplin John , Wang Yibing
Published: October 2017

The technology of autonomous vehicles is expected to revolutionize the operation of road transport systems. The penetration rate of autonomous vehicles will be low at the early stage of their deployment. It is a challenge to explore the effects of autonomous vehicles and their penetration on heterogeneous traffic flow dynamics. This paper aims to investigate this issue. An improved cellular automaton was employed as the modeling platform for our study. In particular, two sets of rules for lane changing were designed to address mild and aggressive lane changing behavior. With extensive simulation studies, we obtained some promising results. First, the introduction of autonomous vehicles to road traffic could considerably improve traffic flow, particularly the road capacity and free-flow speed. And the level of improvement increases with the penetration rate. Second, the lane-changing frequency between neighboring lanes evolves with traffic density along a fundamental-diagram-like curve. Third, the impacts of autonomous vehicles on the collective traffic flow characteristics are mainly related to their smart maneuvers in lane changing and car following, and it seems that the car-following impact is more pronounced.
Validity of Digital Imaging of Fiber-Optic Transillumination in Caries Detection on Proximal Tooth Surfaces
Authors: Laitala Marja-Liisa , Piipari Liina , Sämpi Noora , Korhonen Maria , Pesonen Paula , Joensuu Tiina , Anttonen Vuokko
Published: October 2017

Objective. The aim of our study was to evaluate the validity of the digital imaging fiber-optic transillumination (DIFOTI) method in comparison with clinical visual examination (CV) and bitewing (BW) radiography on detecting caries lesions on proximal surfaces of teeth.Materials and Methods. Proximal tooth surfaces of premolars and molars (n=2,103) of 91 voluntary university students aged from 18 to 30 years were examined with CV, BW radiography, and the DIFOTI method.Results.DIFOTI detected more initial and manifested caries lesions compared with CV and BW. Of the analyzed tooth surfaces, 69.8% were classified as sound by DIFOTI, 80.3% by BW, and 91.6% by CV. Initial caries lesions were found in 21.2% of the surfaces by DIFOTI, in 14.1% by BW, and in 6.2% by CV, whereas the proportions for manifested dental caries lesions were 9.0%, 5.6%, and 2.2%, respectively. The interexaminer agreement regarding the DIFOTI findings between an experienced clinician and a fifth-year dental student was high:κ=0.67for initial andκ=0.91for manifested caries lesions.Conclusions.The noninvasive DIFOTI method seems to offer a potential tool for everyday clinical practice. In clinical use, DIFOTI finds well even initial caries lesions on proximal surfaces, thus providing an instrument for detecting lesions potential for arresting as well as for monitoring the outcome after preventive measures.
Verification for Different Contrail Parameterizations Based on Integrated Satellite Observation and ECMWF Reanalysis Data
Authors: Zhang Jinglin , Shang Jian , Zhang Guoyu
Published: October 2017

Aviation induced cloud termed contrail plays a more and more important role in the climate change, which makes a significant contribution to anthropogenic climate forcing through impacting the coverage of cirrus in the intersection of troposphere and stratosphere. In this paper, we propose one novel automatic contrail detecting method based on Himawari-8 stationary satellite imagery and two kinds of potential contrail coverage (PCC1 and PCC2) from contrail parameterization in ECHAM4 and HadGEM2. In addition, we propose one new climatological index called contrail occurrence and persistence (COP). According to the algorithm identification (AI) and artificial visual inspection (AVI), COP measured from Himawari-8 stationary satellite imagery is related to upper tropospheric relative humidity over ice (RHI) computed with the ECMWF reanalysis data by simple linear regression. Similarly, we compared the linear correlation between COP and PCCs fractions and found that PCC1 has better correspondence with COP than PCC2.
Epoetin Alfa: A Cause of Coronary Artery Thrombosis
Authors: Siddiqui Muhammad Umer , Galumyan Yelena , Klein James , Naeem Zunaira , Schwarcz Aron
Published: October 2017

Introduction. Epoetin alfa is an erythrocyte-stimulating factor. We here present a case of an anemic patient, who was given epogen before a coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery and developed periprocedural myocardial infarction. To our knowledge, there has been no previous case reported of epogen causing myocardial infarction. Case Presentation. 66-year-old female presented with substernal chest pain. EKG showed ST segment elevations in aVf and L-III. Patient underwent left heart catheterization (LHC) and had triple vessel disease. A bare metal stent was placed in RCA. Patient continued to have symptoms after discharge and presented to the ED again with these complaints. She underwent coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). Before the procedure, patient’s hemoglobin was 11.1 grams/deciliter and was given epogen to raise hemoglobin level. Postoperative day (POD) #1 patient had ST elevations in inferior and anterolateral leads. She was diagnosed with periprocedural myocardial infarction. Patient underwent repeat LHC, which identified obstruction of saphenous vein graft (SVG). Hypercoagulable workup was negative for any disease and the patient was diagnosed with epogen induced early graft occlusion. Conclusion. Epogen administration can cause myocardial infarction and coronary artery thrombosis. We suggest that physicians use epogen very cautiously, especially in population who has underlying coronary artery disease.
Early Renal Involvement in a Girl with Classic Fabry Disease
Authors: Perretta Fernando , Antongiovanni Norberto , Jaurretche Sebastián
Published: October 2017

Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder resulting from the deficiency or absence of the enzyme alpha galactosidase A; this defect leads to the systemic accumulation of globotriaosylceramide and its metabolites. Organic involvement in men is well known, but in women it is controversial, mainly due to the random X-chromosome inactivation in each of their cells (Lyon hypothesis). This would explain why women (heterozygotes) present a wide variability in the severity of their phenotype. The manifestations are multisystemic and begin in early childhood, reaching a severe compromise in adulthood. Typical acroparesthesia in hands and feet, gastrointestinal symptoms, angiokeratomas, dyshidrosis, hearing loss, arrhythmias, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cerebrovascular accidents, and renal failure can be observed. Nephropathy is one of the major complications of Fabry disease. Glomerular and vascular changes are present before progression to overt proteinuria and decreased glomerular filtration rate, even in pediatric patients. A case of incipient renal involvement in a girl with classic Fabry disease is reported.
Noise Characterization in InAlAs/InGaAs/InP pHEMTs for Low Noise Applications
Authors: Djennati Z. A. , Ghaffour K.
Published: October 2017

In this paper, a noise revision of an InAlAs/InGaAs/InP psoeudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) in presented. The noise performances of the device were predicted over a range of frequencies from 1GHz to 100GHz. The minimum noise figure (NFmin), the noise resistance (Rn) and optimum source impedance (Zopt) were extracted using two approaches. A physical model that includes diffusion noise and G-R noise models and an analytical model based on an improved PRC noise model that considers the feedback capacitance Cgd. The two approaches presented matched results allowing a good prediction of the noise behaviour. The pHEMT was used to design a single stage S-band low noise amplifier (LNA). The LNA demonstrated a gain of 12.6dB with a return loss coefficient of 2.6dB at the input and greater than -7dB in the output and an overall noise figure less than 1dB.
Improvement at Network Planning using Heuristic Algorithm to Minimize Cost of Distance between Nodes in Wireless Mesh Networks
Authors: Ameen Shivan Qasim , Muniyandi Ravie Chandren
Published: October 2017

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) consists of wireless stations that are connected with each other in a semi-static configuration. Depending on the configuration of a WMN, different paths between nodes offer different levels of efficiency. One areas of research with regard to WMN is cost minimization. A Modified Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (MBPSO) approach was used to optimize cost. However, minimized cost does not guarantee network performance. This paper thus, modified the minimization function to take into consideration the distance between the different nodes so as to enable better performance while maintaining cost balance. The results were positive with the PDR showing an approximate increase of 17.83% whereas the E2E delay saw an approximate decrease of 8.33%.
FDMC: Framework for Decision Making in Cloud for Efficient Resource Management
Authors: Ngenzi Alexander , R Selvarani , R Suchithra
Published: October 2017

An effective resource management is one of the critical success factors for precise virtualization process in cloud computing in presence of dynamic demands of the user. After reviewing the existing research work towards resource management in cloud, it was found that there is still a large scope of enhancement. The existing techniques are found not to completely utilize the potential features of virtual machine in order to perform resource allocation. This paper presents a framework called FDMC or Framework for Decision Making in Cloud that gives better capability for the VMs to perform resource allocation. The contribution of FDMC is a joint operation of VM to ensure faster processing of task and thereby withstand more number of increasing traffic. The study outcome was compared with some of the existing systems to find FDMC excels better performance in the scale of task allocation time, amount of core wasted, amount of storage wasted, and communication cost.
A Model Unavailability Perspective of Existing Nigerian Township Electricity Distribution
Authors: Oladipo Melodi Adegoke , Olusesan Temikotan Kehinde
Published: October 2017

The study aimed to investigate and obtain model values of system unavailability and cost of energy not supplied in existing Nigerian township electricity distributions using a robust representative system. Outage data was obtained from system records for analysis using frequency distribution statistics to identify the causes of outages, and the contribution of each cause of outage to the overall system outage. The cost of energy not supplied (CENS) due to faults, was evaluated at a rate of NGN6 per kWHr. An analysis of the results shows that in a distribution feeder (and system) unavailability is mainly due to load shedding arising and faults; feeder unavailability involving load shedding is 0.25, and 0.1 without load shedding. Compared with standard UA value for well managed systems of less than or 0.01, the obtained unavailability values for a feeder show that downtime management was poor, and the corresponding cost – prohibitive. In view of the regular load shedding on the feeders and poor downtime management, this study recommends a need to obtain model loadflow perspective of township electricity distribution to ascertain load carrying capacity, and the application of distribution automation system or other effective strategies to mitigate downtime.
Wide Area Oscillation Damping using Utility-Scale PV Power Plants Capabilities
Authors: Moradi Mehrdad , Maghouli Pouria
Published: October 2017

With increasing implementation of Wide Area Measurement Systems (WAMS) in power grids, application of wide area damping controllers (WADCs) to damp power system oscillations is of interest. On the other hand it is well known that rapidly increasing integration of renewable energy sources into the grid can dangerously reduce the inertia of the system and degrade the stability of power systems. This paper aimed to design a novel WADC for a utility-scale PV solar farm to damp out inter area oscillations while the main focus of the work is to eliminate the impact of communication delays of wide-area signals from the WAMS. Moreover the PV farm impact on inter area oscillation mitigation is investigated in various case studies, namely, with WADC on the active power control loop and with WADC on the reactive power control loop. The Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO) technique is applied to normalize and optimize the parameters of WADC for inter-area oscillations damping and continuous compensation of time-varying latencies. The proposed method is prosperously applied in a 16-bus six-machine test system and various case studies are conducted to demonstrate the potential of the proposed structure.
Power Quality Enhancement in Grid Connected PV Systems using High Step Up DC-DC Converter
Authors: Prasadarao K V S , Krishna Rao K V , Koteswara Rao P Bala , Abishai T.
Published: October 2017

Renewable energy sources (RES) are gaining more importance in the present scenario due to the depletion of fossil fuels and increasing power demand. Solar energy is the one of the most promising as it is clean and easily available source. The voltage obtained from the PV system is low. This voltage is increased by high step up dc-dc converter which uses only one switch leads to low switching losses and hence the efficiency of this converter is high. To get the good response this converter is operated in closed loop manner. Integration of PV system with existing grid has so many issues like distorted voltage, current and reactive power control etc. This paper presents a four leg inverter which works on hysteresis current control technique to address the power quality issues like reactive power compensation, balanced load currents and compensation of neutral current. The switching to the inverter is designed in such a way that it supplies the extra current to stabilise the current of the grid that is being supplied to the loads. Finally, the proposed technique is validated by using mat lab/Simulink software and corresponding results are presented in this paper.
Focusing Properties of a Modified Retarding Structure for Linear Electron Accelerators
Authors: Shilov Vladimir Kuz'mich , Filatov Aleksandr Nikolaevich , Novozhilov Aleksandr Evgen'evich
Published: October 2017

When using accelerators in industry and medicine, important are the dimensions of the device used, especially the radial ones. In the linear electron accelerators based on a biperiodic retarding structure, which operates in the standing wave mode, there is a possibility to provide focusing of the accelerated particles with the help of high-frequency fields without the use of external focusing elements. In the accelerating cell, due to the presence of the far protruding drift sleeves, the electric field lines become strongly curved, which leads to the appearance in the regions adjacent to these sleeves of a substantial in magnitude radial component of the electric field. The particles entering the accelerating gap experience the action of a force directed toward the axis of the system, and at the exit, of a force directed away from the axis. Under certain conditions, alternation of the focusing and defocusing fields can lead to a general focusing effect. In the paper we study the focusing properties of a modified biperiodic structure with standing wave. The main attention is paid to the possibility of using the focusing properties of the electromagnetic accelerating field for guiding the electron beam through the aperture of the accelerating system, which will lead to a significant reduction in the accelerator sizes. The proposed method can be applied in the calculation and design of linear electron accelerators.
Fuzzy Recursive Least-Squares Approach in Speech System Identification: A Transformed Domain LPC Model
Authors: Cheah Kah Wai , Ahmad Noor Atinah
Published: October 2017

In speech system identification, linear predictive coding (LPC) model is often employed due to its simple yet powerful representation of speech production model. However, the accuracy of LPC model often depends on the number and quality of past speech samples that are fed into the model; and it becomes a problem when past speech samples are not widely available or corrupted by noise. In this paper, fuzzy system is integrated into the LPC model using the recursive least-squares approach, where the fuzzy parameters are used to characterize the given speech samples. This transformed domain LPC model is called the FRLS-LPC model, in which its performance depends on the fuzzy rules and membership functions defined by the user. Based on the simulations, the FRLS-LPC model with this special property is shown to outperform the LPC model. Under the condition of limited past speech samples, simulation result shows that the synthetic speech produced by the FRLS-LPC model is better than those produced by the LPC model in terms of prediction error. Furthermore with corrupted past speech samples, the FRLS-LPC model is able to provide better reconstructed speech while the LPC model is failed to do so.
p-Laplace Variational Image Inpainting Model Using Riesz Fractional Differential Filter
Authors: Gamini Sridevi , Kumar S Srinivas
Published: October 2017

In this paper, p-Laplace variational image inpainting model with symmetric Riesz fractional differential filter is proposed. Variational inpainting models are very useful to restore many smaller damaged regions of an image. Integer order variational image inpainting models (especially second and fourth order) work well to complete the unknown regions. However, in the process of inpainting with these models, any of the unindented visual effects such as staircasing, speckle noise, edge blurring, or loss in contrast are introduced. Recently, fractional derivative operators were applied by researchers to restore the damaged regions of the image. Experimentation with these operators for variational image inpainting led to the conclusion that second order symmetric Riesz fractional differential operator not only completes the damaged regions effectively, but also reducing unintended effects. In this article, The filling process of damaged regions is based on the fractional central curvature term. The proposed model is compared with integer order variational models and also GrunwaldLetnikov fractional derivative based variational inpainting in terms of peak signal to noise ratio, structural similarity and mutual information.
Urban Road Materials Identification using Narrow Near Infrared Vision System
Authors: Ipung Heru Purnomo , Tjandrasa Handayani
Published: October 2017

An urban road materials vision system using narrow band near infrared imaging indexes were proposed. This proposed imaging indexes were enhancement for previous work on autonomous multispectral road sensing method. Each urban road material has different near infrared spectral patterns which is as the base of its spectral identification. The new proposed imaging indexes, which using similar formula of NDVI, was normalized with narrow band near infrared spectrum range of 720nm to 1000nm of wavelength, were used to identify concretes, aggregates/sands/rocks, clay, natural dry fibers and bitumen/asphalt that make up most of urban road materials. This paper proposes imaging indexes evaluation from experiment results to identify those urban road materials. There were seven narrow band optical filter sets with the center spectrum at 710nm, 730nm, 750nm, 800nm, 870nm, 905nm and 970nm. Normalization band used was 720nm using high pass optical filter. The proposed multi-spectral imaging indexes were able to show the potential to classify the selected urban road materials, another approach may need to clearly distinguish between concrete and aggregates. The comparison to the previous imaging indexes (NDVI, NDGR, NDBR) were presented that used for urban road materials identification.
Evaluation of Feature Reduction using Principal Component Analysis and Sequential Pattern Matching for Manet
Authors: Reji M. , Raja P.C. Kishore , M Bhagyalakshmi
Published: October 2017

In Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) there are some security problems because of portability, element topology changes, and absence of any framework. In MANETs, it is of extraordinary significance to identify inconsistency and malignant conduct. With a specific end goal to recognize malignant assaults by means of interruption identification frameworks and dissect the information set, we have to choose some components. Thus, highlight determination assumes basic part in recognizing different assaults. In the writing, there are a few recommendations to choose such elements. For the most part, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) breaks down the information set and the chose highlights. In this paper, we have gathered a list of capabilities from some cutting edge works in the writing. Really, our reproduction demonstrates this list of capabilities identify inconsistency conduct more precise. Likewise, interestingly, we utilize PCA for investigating the information set. In contrast to PCA, our results show Sequential pattern mining (SPM) cannot be affected by outlier data within the network. The  normal and attack states are simulated and the results are analyzed using NS2 simulator.
Wireless Sensor Node with Passive RFID for Indoor Monitoring System
Authors: Nadzir Norsaidah Muhamad , Rahim M.K.A. , Zubir F. , Zabri A. , Majid H.A.
Published: October 2017

This paper discusses the development of an indoor monitoring system based on passive radio frequency identification (RFID) system and Raspberry Pi 3. There are two algorithms designed for this project where the first is to link the RFID module to the Raspberry Pi 3, and the other one is to send the data obtained to a database over wireless network via UDOO Quad as a secondary router. The result is then displayed on a localhost generated using XAMPP. The objective of this project is to realize a monitoring system that incorporates different systems such as Raspberry Pi 3, UDOO Quad, and also RFID module by designing algorithms using Python and C programming language. Plus, the performance of the system is also analyzed using different type of antennas such as the Raspberry Pi 3 Antenna, monopole antenna, and a Yagi Uda antenna in terms of power received versus distance in both line of sight position and non-line of sight position. Finally, antenna that produces the best performance for line-of-sight (LOS) propagation is Yagi Uda antenna while monopole antenna is better when it comes to non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation.
A Novel Right Handed Circular Polarization Folded Reflectarray Antenna at 60 GHz
Authors: Yusoff Mohd Fairus Mohd , Sauleau Ronan , Johari Zaharah , Rahim Mohamad Kamal A. , Majid Huda A.
Published: October 2017

A novel right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) folded reflectarray antenna with optimized parameters is presented at 60GHz. The RHCP folded reflectarray antenna is designed using left handed circularly polarized selective surface (LHCPSS) Pierrot unit cell. Through simulation, it is shown that the antenna operates well at 60GHz. The maximum antenna directivity is 19dB with a reflection coefficient below -15dB. The radiation patterns showed good responses with side lobes level below -10dB. In addition, the best axial ratio at 60GHz is achieved as 0.75dB.
Enhanced Position Control for Pneumatic System by Applying Constraints in MPC Algorithm
Authors: Sulaiman Siti Fatimaah , Rahmat M.F. , Faudzi A.A.M. , Osman Khairuddin , Sy Salim Sy Najib , Samsudin S.I. , Azira A.R.
Published: October 2017

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of applying constraints in a controller algorithm as a strategy to enhance the pneumatic actuator system’s positioning performance. The aim of the present study is to reduce the overshoot in the pneumatic actuator positioning system’s response. An autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX) model structure has been used to model the pneumatic system, while a model predictive control (MPC) has been employed as a control strategy. The input constraint has been applied to the control signals (on/off valves signals) to ensure accurate position tracking. Results show that the strategy with constraint effectively reduced overshoot by more than 99.0837 % and 97.0596 % in simulation and real-time experiments, respectively. Moreover, the performance of the proposed strategy in controlling the pneumatic positioning system is considered good enough under various loads. The proposed strategy can be applied in any industry that used pneumatic actuator in their applications, especially in industries that involved with position control such as in manufacturing, automation and robotics. The strategy proved to be capable of controlling the pneumatic system better, especially in the real-time environment.