bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MEDICAL EDUCATION VIA SKYPE BETWEEN A PAEDIATRIC EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN LONDON AND SOMALILAND AS A USEFUL ALTERNATIVE TO AN ALREADY EXISTING WEB-BASED PORTAL. A PILOT PROJECT
Authors: Son D , Ahmed H , Omar K , Wong A , Mahtani S , Burzic A
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

Trying to establish an alternative e-learning tool to provide medical education to a country in need of support for the slowly growing medical community at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Following a devastating civil war in 1991, Somaliland is suffering a shortage of healthcare workers. King's College London has been working in partnership with educational institutions and healthcare providers in Somaliland since 2000.

Methods

6 sessions over a period of 8 weeks were arranged to deliver teaching on topics such as clinical examination or discussion of various clinical ETAT/APLS/NLS scenarios trying to focus on clinical reasoning and emergency management skills. The London based participants were a paediatric emergency department registrar, present in all sessions, and occasionally paediatric FY1 doctors and one medical student. The participants on the Somaliland side were paediatric lecturers and occasionally several final year medical students and intern doctors. It was decided to use Skype and compare whether its audiovisual and text functions would bring additional benefits compared with an already established instant messenger type web-based portal.

Results

The initial feedback was positive and all participants agreed that Skype added a useful alternative to the still limited repertoire of distant learning opportunities. 100% of participants felt Skype with its audiovisual functions to be a very useful alternative to the existing teaching tool. 2 sessions had to be cancelled due to network problems. There were also connection issues in more than half of the other sessions. Over 80% of the participants would like more teaching in the form of Skype sessions. All participants identified network issues as a disadvantage and limiting factor.

Conclusion

Delivering distant online teaching sessions via Skype with its audiovisual functionality instead of purely text based online services clearly offers more advantages especially during clinical examination based or simulation sessions. It can currently only serve as an occasional teaching adjunct due to network instabilities and limited wifi availabilities in clinical areas mainly on the Somaliland teaching sites. Providing written and video materials in advance of Skype sessions will be tested in the future in order to use available time online more effectively.
WHAT IS THE RISK OF NEONATES PRESENTING TO EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS WITH NO PHYSIOLOGICAL OR OBSERVATIONAL DERANGEMENT HAVING SEPSIS?
Authors: Roland D , Alifieraki S , Anzar S , Davies F
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

Infants, especially those in the first month of life, are a very high risk group of attendees to Emergency Departments. Despite immunistaion programmes the incidence of serious bacterial illness in this group remains around 10%. Although in some cases the protocolised nature of fever management according to NICE guidance makes a physiological assessment less relevant (all children under 3 months with a fever>38.5 tend to get a full septic screen) increasing attendances to emergency and urgent care settings make early and correct decision making vitally important.

Table 1

POPS versus bloods results and postive cultures

POPSPatients (total =104)Positive Bloods (Raised WCC or CRP)Positive Cultures0310012500217Patient A (CRP 25) Patient B (CRP 7)Patient A (Mixed Flora in Urine)3100049Patient C (CRP 9)Patient D (Mixed flora in urine)55Patient E (CRP 17) Patient F (CRP 8) Patient G (CRP 26)Patient E (Enterovirus in CSF* and Coliform in urine) Patient F (Enterovirus in CSF* and PCR)65Patient I (CRP 137*)Patient H (Enterovirus in CSF*)7200

Values with * represent those meeting RCPCH recognising acute illness in children working group criteria

Methods

Nearly all patients attending our Children's Emergency Department have their vital signs assessed at triage or expediently with the Paediatric Observation Priority Score (POPS). POPS aggregates a combination of physiological characteristics, with observational components and specific domains of nurse gut feeling and past medical history (Figure 1). All infants less than 4 weeks old who presented over a two month period were included as part of a service evaluation of POPS. Data was recorded on POPS, disposition and outcome of any investigations pertaining to the diagnosis of a serious bacterial illness. The criteria for a serious bacterial illness was that defined by the RCPCH recognising acute illness in children working group.

Results

104 patients (less than 4 weeks) presenting to the Emergency Department had POPS scores, disposition and any investigations recorded. There were 3 patients with enterovirus meningitis (of which 1 had a coliform UTI) but no positive blood cultures. Results by POPS are in table 1. With a prevalance of serious bacterial illness at 3.8% the negative predictive value of POPS<4 was 100%.

Conclusion

The POPS system applied at initial assessment maybe useful in recognising children who are not at risk of serious bacterial illness. However the lack of positive blood cultures in this sample means it is not definitively possible to demonstrate the utility of physiological and observational signs alone in assisting with decision making in neonates presenting to the ED i.e does a POPS 0 exclude serious bacterial illness? A national study evaluating the exclusion of sepsis in neonates would be a beneficial health service research project.

Figure 1
NOVEL USE OF A CHILDREN'S EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT SCORING SYSTEM AS A MARKER OF RESOURCE UTILISATION
Authors: Ronald D , Fielding P , Davies F
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

The Paediatric Observation Priority Score is an acuity scoring tool made of physiological, historial and subjective components. It is designed to be used in Children's urgent care settings and aids identification of both the unwell child and those children who can safely be managed in the community. As part of a programme to ensure its validity and reliability this study tested its ability to be an indicator of departmental resource utilisation.

Table 1

Disposition of Children presenting by POPS

POPSTotal NumberHomeRe-directed/Followed-upAdmitted029818547661–2346210301063–4196987915–663172447–82221189+11109Total93651387334

Methods

Since its inception, prospective data has been collected by the Emergency Department (ED) at Leicester Royal Infirmary with regards to initial triage POPS, diagnosis and management in ED, and eventual disposition in the department. From this data, we isolated 936 presentations to ED over a small time frame. All children were aged 0–15 years. We analysed the initial POPS on presentation of these patients as a function of the investigations and interventions they went on to receive whilst in ED.

Results

POPS scores range from 0 to 16. 298 of the 936 (31.8%) patients had an initial POPS of 0, and with 89.7% (840/936) having a POPS of 4 or less on presentation (Table 1). Grouping investigations and interventions together, patients with a POPS of 0 had on average 0.85 interventions per person. The average number of interventions per person increased in a linear fashion with increasing acuity as demonstrated by increasing POPS (Figure 1). Patients with a total POPS of 9 or above had on average 2.45 interventions per person. Chest X-ray, paracetamol and nebuliser administration, oral fluid challenge and intravenous antibiotic prescription all demonstrate a linear relationship between increased resource consumption and increasing clinical acuity.

Conclusion

POPS demonstrates good correlation between acuity on presentation to the ED and the clinical requirement for investigation and intervention. This confirms the interval validity of the system although it is not suprising those children who are most unwell will require the most intervention. As POPS may provide a means of predicting likely resource consumption of children in ED at the point of assessment its utility to both senior decision makers and managers is apparent. Over time a model for resources utilisation which may aid and support service investment decisions could be developed.

Figure 1

CAU=Admitted, UCC=Redirected or Followed Up.
DELAYED BLEEDING IN ANTICOAGULATED PATIENTS AFTER BLUNT HEAD TRAUMA
Authors: Kuczawski M , Mason S , Teare M , Stevenson M , Goodacre S , Holmes M , Harper R , Ramlakhan S , Morris F
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

The AHEAD Study aimed to determine the head injury complication rate and identify risk factors associated with a poor outcome in patients taking warfarin after blunt head trauma. The presence of neurological symptoms was associated with an increased risk of adverse outcome. As delayed bleeding is of concern in this cohort of patients, we undertook exploratory analyses of those patients who re-attended the emergency department (ED) after discharge.

Methods

The study was undertaken in 33 type I EDs from October 2011 for 18-months. 3,566 adult patients taking warfarin with blunt head trauma were enrolled into the study. Anonymised patient-level data including time to CT head scan and details of any re-attendance to the ED within 10 weeks of the original episode were collected and available for 3534 patients. We examined the presentation and outcomes of those patients re-attending the ED with a related attendance.

Results

Of the 3534 patients in the study, 557 re-attended the ED of which 98 patients (2.8%) presented with a head-injury related condition, and 37 (1.1%) patients re-attended with a reason related to the original head-injury. In this patient group (median age 75.8 years; mean INR 2.59 (SD 0.82); GCS=15 86.5%): 0.54% (n=19) did not present with any neurological symptoms; 0.6% (n=21) were admitted and 0.48% (n=17) underwent CT scanning, 73.3% (n=11) of which were within 4 hours of attendance. There were significant head injury-related CT findings in 0.08% (n=3) patients; no patients underwent a neurosurgical procedure. Median number of days to re-attendance was 3 days (range 0–46 days) with length of re-attendance stay median 2 days (range 0–44 days). Neurosurgery was performed on 0.06% (n=2) patients that re-attended and 0.14% (n=5) patients died; 2 deaths were head-injury related but both patients originally presented with no symptoms and GCS=15, no CT scans were performed and the patients were not admitted.

Conclusion

Only a small fraction (1.1%) of anticoagulated patients re-attended the ED after discharge from their original ED attendance for blunt head trauma. On re-attendance, 2 (0.06%) patients died due to head-injury related reasons however on their original presentation to the ED, both patients were neurologically normal. The rate of delayed complications is very low following head injury in patients on warfarin and there is no justification for admission and prolonged observation of these patients.
SPREADING INNOVATION IN CHILDREN'S EMERGENCY CARE: AN EXTERNAL PRAGMATIC VALIDATION OF THE PAEDIATRIC OBSERVATION PRIORITY SCORE
Authors: Roland D , Arshad F , Douglas A , Davies F
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

In paediatric emergency care the stakes are high: serious illness is uncommon but demand for urgent face-to-face medical assessment is increasing and there continue to be errors in the identification of seriously unwell children. Risk-averse strategies of referring all children of ‘potential concern’ for specialist paediatric assessment overloads an already stretched out of hours system, and leads to unnecessary hospital admissions.

Scoring systems, despite being beneficial at the centre of development, often have not been shown to implement well in other settings. In a study of 20000 patients using our locally developed Paediatric Observation Priority Score (POPS) it was found a POPS >4 correlated with admission for greater than 24 hours and no patients with a POPS of 0 had a serious bacterial illness.

The aim of this study was to examine the utility of POPS in Emergency Departments in the UK and determine baseline performance characteristics.

Methods

POPS was implemented in 4 emergency departments for children presenting between the ages of 0–16. Patients were managed as per local trust guidelines with POPS observations being taken prospectively at the first opportunity. Patient disposition was recorded, with participants being grouped into 4 categories: Discharged from ED, discharged but return within 7 days and admitted for less or more than 24 hours.

Results

3323 participants met inclusion/exclusion criteria with POPS scores ranging from 0 to 11 with a mean score 2.33 and standard deviation of 2.00.

Combining data from all sites, there was a correlation between admission/discharge and POPS (R2=0.96) (figure 1). 90% of patients with a POPS 0 were discharged from the ED. 111 (3.3%) of patients re-presented. Odds ratio of readmission with POPS 5–9 against 0–4 was 2.05 (CI 1.20 to 3.52). Receiver operator curve for admission/discharge was 0.66 (CI 0.64 to 0.69).

Using chi-squared models, admission/discharge for POPS 0–4 at each individual site showed no significant difference (p=0.93). However, for POPS >5 a significant difference was found (p<0.01).

Conclusion

It is feasible to implement POPS into Emergency Departments and have similar peformance characteristics to the original site of development. This 'second' knowledge translation gap is often challenging to overcome and there is now evidence to support a wider health service evaluation of POPS' impact.

Figure 1

The Paediatric Observation Priority Score***.

Figure 2

Relationship between discharge rates and POPS.
INITIAL RESULTS OF THE RE-VERSE AD TRIAL: IDARUCIZUMAB REVERSES THE ANTICOAGULANT EFFECTS OF DABIGATRAN IN PATIENTS IN AN EMERGENCY SETTING OF MAJOR BLEEDING, URGENT SURGERY OR INTERVENTIONS
Authors: Pollack C , Eikelboom J , Weitz J , Reilly P , Glund S , Dubiel R , Kreuzer J , Stangier J , Wang B , Gagg J , Verhamme P , Bernstein R , Huisman M , Hylek E , Kamphuisen P , Levy J , Selke F , Steiner T , Kam C
Published: November 2015

Objectives & Background

Dabigatran, an oral thrombin inhibitor, is widely used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Idarucizumab, a monoclonal antibody fragment directed against dabigatran, demonstrated immediate, complete and sustained reversal of the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran, without procoagulant activity, in animal models and human volunteers.AimsTo examine the efficacy and safety of idarucizumab to rapidly reverse the anticoagulation effects of dabigatran in critical clinical situations.

Methods

RE-VERSE AD is an ongoing multinational, open-label, single cohort study with a target size of up to 300 patients. It is designed to study the reversal of dabigatran's anticoagulant effect by 5 g idarucizumab given as two 2.5 g IV bolus infusions, in patients who experience life-threatening or uncontrollable bleeding (Group A) or who require emergency surgery or invasive procedure (Group B). The primary endpoint is the maximum reversal of the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran, based on central laboratory determination of the dilute thrombin time or ecarin clot time up to 4 hours after idarucizumab administration. Drug levels and other measures of dabigatran activity are also determined. Clinical outcomes, including cessation of bleeding, thrombotic events, and other safety measures, are assessed.

Results

In the first 90 patients, idarucizumab normalized clotting tests in at least 90% of patients, an effect evident at the first measurement. There was one thrombotic event within 72 hours of idarucizumab administration in a patient whose anticoagulant therapy had not been restarted.

Conclusion

Idarucizumab is a promising specific reversal agent that rapidly and safely reverses dabigatran's anticoagulant effects within minutes in emergency situations that reflect real world clinical practice.
Top 10 TARN research publications
Authors: Edwards Antoinette
Published: November 2015

The last 25 years have seen Trauma Audit and Research Network's (TARN) research agenda develop into a significant portfolio of over 100 publications, including a number of international collaborations. Holding the largest trauma registry in Europe, TARN continues to provide researchers with the ability to pursue their interests in both epidemiological and clinical topics relating to traumatic injury. This edition of theEmergency Medicine Journalprovides an opportunity to celebrate some of these papers with a ‘Top 10’, which have been voted by members of the TARN Research Committee on the basis of their impact.
Abstracts from international Emergency Medicine journals
Authors: Weber Ellen J
Published: November 2015

Editor's note: EMJhas partnered with the journals of multiple international emergency medicine societies to share from each a highlighted research study, as selected by their editors.
Tumours and inflammatory lesions of the anal canal and perianal skin revisited: an update and practical approach
Authors: Dawson Heather , Serra Stefano
Published: November 2015

Tumours of the anal and perianal region are relatively rare, and clinically often interpreted as innocuous lesions, leading to frequent delays in diagnosis and adequate treatment. Although squamous cell neoplasia represents the most common entity encountered in this anatomically complex area, many conditions, both neoplastic and inflammatory, may occur. Adding to the challenge of correct diagnosis and patient management, recent years have seen major updates in the terminology of squamous cell neoplasia, created to reflect advances in our understanding of the role of human papilloma virus and unify previous terminologies used for different sites in the anogenital tract. However, squamous cell neoplasia in the anal canal and perianal region may differ in terms of histology, biological behaviour, staging and treatment. The aim of this review is to present an overview of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions that may be seen in this area, an update on important developments and terminology, potential pitfalls that may be encountered in routine pathology practice and a practical approach on how to resolve these issues.
Neonatal SSRI exposure improves mitochondrial function and antioxidant defense in rat heart
Authors: Braz Glauber Ruda F. , Freitas Cristiane M. , Nascimento Luciana , Pedroza Anderson A. , da Silva Aline Isabel , Lagranha Claudia
Published: November 2015

Protein restriction during prenatal, postnatal, or in both periods has a close relationship with subsequent development of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Elevated brain levels of serotonin and its metabolites have been found in malnourished states. The aim in the present study was to investigate whether treatment with fluoxetine (Fx), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, mimics the detrimental effect of low-protein diet during the perinatal period on the male rat heart. Our hypothesis is that increased circulating serotonin as a result of pharmacologic treatment with Fx leads to cardiac dysfunction similar to that observed in protein-restricted rats. Male Wistar rat pups received daily subcutaneous injection of Fx or vehicle from postnatal day 1 to postnatal day 21. Male rats were euthanized at 60 days of age and the following parameters were evaluated in the cardiac tissue: mitochondrial respiratory capacity, respiratory control ratio, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial membrane potential, and biomarkers of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense. We found that Fx treatment increased mitochondrial respiratory capacity (123%) and membrane potential (212%) and decreased ROS production (55%). In addition we observed an increase in the antioxidant capacity (elevation in catalase activity (5-fold) and glutathione peroxidase (4.6-fold)). Taken together, our results suggest that Fx treatment in the developmental period positively affects the mitochondrial bioenergetics and antioxidant defense in the cardiac tissue.
Piezocone dissipation tests at the Canadian Test Site No. 1, Gloucester, Ontario
Authors: McQueen Will , Miller Bruce , Mayne Paul W. , Agaiby Shehab
Published: November 2015

A series of pore-water pressure dissipation records were acquired using a type 2 piezocone penetrometer sounding that was performed in the sensitive Leda clays underlying the Canadian Geotechnical Research site in South Gloucester, Ontario. This note presents the results of the piezocone penetration test (CPTu) sounding and the individual pore-water pressure decays with time that were measured at 1 m vertical intervals, ranging from depths of 2 to 23 m at the site. Using soil behavioral charts, the sounding confirmed the presence of soft sensitive clays. While many of the dissipations were predominantly monotonic, some dilatory response was also observed at shallow depths. Thus, a grouping of dissipatory behaviors was used to infer layers of similar clay characteristics. The results are offered as complementary data to existing in situ and laboratory information that have been collected at this important experimental test site.
Removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons from oil refinery waste using granulated NaA zeolite nanoparticles modified with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide
Authors: Saremnia Betsabe , Esmaeili Akbar , Sohrabi Mahmoud-Reza
Published: November 2015

Petroleum pollution is a common problem in industrial areas to such an extent that it poses a global threat. The wastes of oil refineries contain a wide variety of hydrocarbons. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility to removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) from the Behregan oil refinery, Bushehr, Iran, by granulated nanozeolite NaA particles (NaA-ZNPs) modified with cationic surfactants. Synthesized NaA-ZNPs with a silica source extracted from Hordeum vulgare were granulated by an alginate granulation method and were modified by the cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The CTAB-modified granulated NaA-ZNPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller theory. Adsorption of TPH was studied using both a batch process and a continuous-flow process in a fixed-bed column. The effect of various parameters, including time, pH, adsorbent dosage, flow rate, and column height, were investigated and the results were analyzed by gas chromatography – mass spectroscopy. The efficiency of the CTAB-modified granulated NaA-ZNPs was evaluated with one-way analysis of variance software SPSS 21. The highest TPH removal efficiency for batch processing (92.3%) was achieved at an adsorbent dosage 0.5 mg, pH = 7, and 20 min of contact time; the highest TPH removal efficiency for continuous processing (87.4%) was achieved at 15 cm column height and a 17.26 mL/min flow rate. The results indicated the potential of CTAB-modified granulated NaA-ZNPs for absorbing TPH in treating oil refinery waste.
Examining the factors affecting the severity of run-off-road crashes in Abu Dhabi
Authors: Shawky Mohamed , Hassan Hany M. , Garib Atef M. , Al-Harthei Hussain A.
Published: November 2015

Recently, the severity of injuries resulting from traffic crashes has been extensively investigated in numerous studies. However, the number of studies that addressed the severity of the run-off-road (ROR) crashes is relatively low. In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (AD), approximately 22% of the total serious crashes and fatalities that occurred from 2007 to 2013 were ROR crashes. Despite these facts and the uniqueness of the composition of licensed drivers in AD (approximately 87% of them are non-Emiratis), the factors affecting the occurrence and severity of ROR crashes in AD have not been explicitly addressed in any prior studies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the characteristics of at-fault drivers involved in ROR crashes in AD, the nature and main causes of those crashes. In this regard, conditional distribution and two-way contingency tables were developed. In addition, this study aims to identify and quantify the factors affecting the severity of ROR crashes such as driver, road, vehicle and environment factors. To achieve this goal, ordered probit model approach was employed. Crash data for a total of 3819 ROR crashes that occurred in AD were employed in the analysis. The results indicated that driver factors (carelessness, speeding, and nationality), vehicle characteristics (vehicle type), and road and environment factors (road type, crash location and road surface condition) were the significant factors influencing the severity of ROR crashes in AD. Countermeasures to improve traffic safety and reduce numbers and severity of ROR crashes in AD were discussed.
Different evolutionary patterns of classical swine fever virus envelope proteins
Authors: Li Yan , Yang Zexiao , Zhang Mingwang
Published: November 2015

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is the causative agent of classical swine fever, which is a highly contagious disease of the domestic pig as well as wild boar. The proteins Erns, E1, and E2 are components of the viral envelope membrane. They are also implicated in virus attachment and entry, replication, and (or) anti-immune response. Here, we studied the genetic variations of these envelope proteins in the evolution of CSFV. The results reveal that the envelope proteins underwent different evolutionary fates. In Ernsand E1, but not E2, a number of amino acid sites experienced functional divergence. Furthermore, the diversification in Ernsand E1 was generally episodic because the divergence-related changes of E1 only occurred with the separation of 2 major groups of CSFV and that of Ernstook place with the division of 1 major group. The major divergence-related sites of Ernsare located on one of the substrate-binding regions of the RNase domain and C-terminal extension. These functional domains have been reported to block activation of the innate immune system and attachment and entry into host cells, respectively. Our results may shed some light on the divergent roles of the envelope proteins.
Association mapping of germinability and seedling vigor in sorghum under controlled low-temperature conditions
Authors: Upadhyaya Hari D. , Wang Yi-Hong , Sastry Dintyala V.S.S.R. , Dwivedi Sangam L. , Prasad P.V. Vara , Burrell A. Millie , Klein Robert R. , Morris Geoffrey P. , Klein Patricia E.
Published: November 2015

Sorghum is one of the world’s most important food, feed, and fiber crops as well as a potential feedstock for lignocellulosic bioenergy. Early-season planting extends sorghum’s growing season and increases yield in temperate regions. However, sorghum’s sensitivity to low soil temperatures adversely impacts seed germination. In this study, we evaluated the 242 accessions of the ICRISAT sorghum mini core collection for seed germination and seedling vigor at 12 °C as a measure of cold tolerance. Genome-wide association analysis was performed with approximately 162 177 single nucleotide polymorphism markers. Only one marker locus (Locus 7-2) was significantly associated with low-temperature germination and none with vigor. The linkage of Locus 7-2 to low-temperature germination was supported by four lines of evidence: strong association in three independent experiments, co-localization with previously mapped cold tolerance quantitative trait loci (QTL) in sorghum, a candidate gene that increases cold tolerance and germination rate when its wheat homolog is overexpressed in tobacco, and its syntenic region in rice co-localized with two cold tolerance QTL in rice. This locus may be useful in developing tools for molecular breeding of sorghums with improved low-temperature germinability.
Study of three-dimensional electro-osmotic flow with curved boundary via lattice Boltzmann method
Authors: Chen Q. , Zhang X. B. , Li Q. , Jiang X. S. , Zhou H. P.
Published: November 2015

A three-dimensional (3D) lattice Boltzmann model and boundary method is developed to simulate electro-osmotic flow (EOF) with a charged spherical particle immersed in an electrolyte solution. The general governing equations for electro-osmotic transport are Navier–Stokes equations for fluid flow and the Poisson–Boltzmann equation for electric potential distribution around the particle. Two sets of D3Q19 lattice structure with curved boundary conditions are implemented. The simulation results are compared with analytical predictions and are found to be in excellent agreement. The potential distribution appears circularly symmetric and the flow velocity decreases with the cross-sectional area for flow passage increasing due to the mass conservation. The effects of the ionic concentration, the sphere radius, electric potential and external electric field on the velocity profiles are investigated. The flow velocity increases with both the electric potential and the external electric field. However, the variation in flow velocity with the ionic concentration and the sphere radius is complex due to the change in electrical double layer (EDL) thickness.
Dark Coulomb binding of heavy neutrinos of fourth family
Authors: Belotsky K. M. , Esipova E. A. , Khlopov M. Yu. , Laletin M. N.
Published: November 2015

Direct dark matter searches put severe constraints on the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). These constraints cause serious troubles for the model of stable neutrino of fourth generation with mass around 50[Formula: see text]GeV. Though the calculations of primordial abundance of these particles make them in the charge symmetric case a sparse subdominant component of the modern dark matter, their presence in the universe would exceed the current upper limits by several orders of the magnitude. However, if quarks and leptons of fourth generation possess their own Coulomb-like [Formula: see text]-interaction, recombination of pairs of heavy neutrinos and antineutrinos and their annihilation in the “neutrinium” atoms can play important role in their cosmological evolution, reducing their modern abundance far below the experimental upper limits. The model of stable fourth generation assumes that the dominant part of dark matter is explained by excessive [Formula: see text] antiquarks, forming [Formula: see text] charged clusters, bound with primordial helium in nuclear-interacting O-helium (OHe) dark atoms. The [Formula: see text] charge conservation implies generation of the same excess of fourth generation neutrinos, potentially dangerous WIMP component of this scenario. We show that due to [Formula: see text]-interaction recombination of fourth neutrinos with OHe hides these WIMPs from direct WIMP searches, leaving the negligible fraction of free neutrinos, what makes their existence compatible with the experimental constraints.
An Empirical Investigation of Combining Filter-Based Feature Subset Selection and Data Sampling for Software Defect Prediction
Authors: Gao Kehan , Khoshgoftaar Taghi M. , Napolitano Amri
Published: November 2015

The main goal of software quality engineering is to produce a high-quality software product through the use of various techniques and processes. Classification models are effective tools for software quality prediction, helping practitioners to detect potentially problematic modules and eventually improve software product. However, two potential problems, high dimensionality and class imbalance, may affect the classifiers performance. In this study, we propose a data pre-processing approach, in which feature selection is combined with data sampling, to overcome these problems. We investigate two filter-based feature subsets selection techniques, i.e., correlation-based and consistency-based subset evaluation methods, and three data sampling methods, i.e., random undersampling, random oversampling, and synthetic minority oversampling. We are interested in exploring the effect of the various feature selection techniques, sampling methods, and their interactions on the performance of classification models. The empirical studies were carried out on 13 datasets from two real-world software systems. The results demonstrate that the correlation-based subset evaluation technique outperformed the consistency-based method when they were used along with a random sampling method and when the training data had a high degree of class imbalance; however, when synthetic minority oversampling was employed or when the training dataset was less imbalanced, the consistency-based technique had better performance than the correlation-based approach.
Scheduling Preventive Maintenance for a Nonperiodically Inspected Deteriorating System
Authors: Ahmadi Reza
Published: November 2015

We consider the problem of scheduling maintenance activities for a stochastically deteriorating manufacturing system inspected aperiodically. The state of the system (which can only be revealed at inspection epochs) is characterized jointly by the system’s physical state (the level of damage or remaining capacity) and its virtual age. Assuming a threshold-type policy, the paper aims at minimizing the long-run average maintenance cost per unit time by determining appropriate inspection intervals and maintenance thresholds. Using the renewal reward theorem, the expected cost per cycle and expected cycle length emerge as solutions of an integral equation, and a recursive scheme is devised to solve them. We illustrate the procedure for the case when the physical state evolves as a Gamma process.
PREPARATION AND INVESTIGATION OF ELECTRODEPOSITED Ni–NANO-Cr2O3 COMPOSITE COATINGS
Authors: JIANG JIBO , FENG CHENQI , QIAN WEI , YU LIBIN , YE FENGYING , ZHONG QINGDONG , HAN SHENG
Published: November 2015

The electrodeposition of Ni–nano-Cr2O3 composite coatings was studied in electrolyte containing different contents of Cr2O3 nanoparticles (Cr2O3 NPs) on mild steel surfaces. Some techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), microhardness, the potentiodynamic polarization curves (Tafel) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to compare pure Ni coatings and Ni–nano-Cr2O3 composite coatings. The results show that the incorporation of Cr2O3 NPs resulted in an increase of hardness and corrosion resistance, and the maximum microhardness of Ni-nano-Cr2O3 composite coatings reaches about 495 HV. The coatings exhibit an active-passive transition and relatively large impedance values. Moreover, the effect of Cr2O3 NPs on Ni electrocrystallization is also investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and EIS spectroscopy, which demonstrates that the nature of Ni-based composite coatings changes attributes to Cr2O3 NPs by offering more nucleation sites and less charge transfer resistance.
A note on commutative weakly nil clean rings
Authors: Stancu Alin
Published: November 2015

In this paper we discuss some properties of abelian (weakly) nil clean rings. We prove that any subring of an abelian (weakly) nil clean ring is (weakly) nil clean (Theorem 2). We also show that the tensor product of commutative (weakly) nil clean rings is also (weakly) nil clean and give sufficient conditions for the converse to be true (Theorems 3–6).
A complete characterization of the existence of rational functional solutions with infinite support bases
Authors: Nguyen Lan
Published: November 2015

It is known that there exist polynomial solutions [Formula: see text] with infinite support base [Formula: see text], of certain functional equations arising from quantum arithmetics, which cannot be constructed from quantum integers. A description of the necessary and sufficient conditions on a set of primes [Formula: see text] for the existence of a polynomial solution, with field of coefficients of characteristic zero and support base [Formula: see text], which cannot be constructed from quantum integers is also known, leading to the classification of the set of polynomial solutions. In his papers on quantum arithmetics, Melvyn Nathanson raises a question concerning the classification of the possibly non-trivially broader set of solutions, namely the set of rational function solutions. It is not known at the time that the set of rational function solutions is more than just the set of ratio of polynomial solutions. However, it is now known that there are infinitely many rational function solutions [Formula: see text], with support base [Formula: see text] and field of coefficients of characteristic zero, which are not ratios of polynomial solutions with the same support base, even in the purely cyclotomic case. Thus, a natural question that should be asked in order to classify the set of rational function solutions, is: If polynomial solutions are replaced by merely rational function solutions, what would the necessary and sufficient conditions be on the support base [Formula: see text]? In this paper, we give a complete description of the necessary and sufficient conditions on the set of primes [Formula: see text] for the existence of a rational function solution, with field of coefficients of characteristic zero and support base [Formula: see text], which cannot be constructed from quantum integers.
A note on Gorenstein transposes
Authors: Zhao Guoqiang , Sun Juxiang
Published: November 2015

Let [Formula: see text] be a left and right Noetherian ring. In this paper, we prove that any Gorenstein transpose of a finitely generated [Formula: see text]-module is exactly an Auslander transpose. As applications, we obtain a new relation between a Gorenstein transpose of a module with a transpose of the same module, and show that the Gorenstein transpose of a module is unique up to Gorenstein projective equivalence. In addition, when [Formula: see text] is an Artin algebra, the corresponding Auslander–Reiten sequences are constructed in terms of Gorenstein transposes.
UN-rings
Authors: Călugăreanu Grigore
Published: November 2015

A nonzero ring is called a UN-ring if every nonunit is a product of a unit and a nilpotent element. We show that all simple Artinian rings are UN-rings and that the UN-rings whose identity is a sum of two units (e.g. if 2 is a unit), form a proper class of 2-good rings (in the sense of P. Vámos). Thus, any noninvertible matrix over a division ring is the product of an invertible matrix and a nilpotent matrix.
Quality assurance of the gene ontology using abstraction networks
Authors: Ochs Christopher , Perl Yehoshua , Halper Michael , Geller James , Lomax Jane
Published: November 2015

The gene ontology (GO) is used extensively in the field of genomics. Like other large and complex ontologies, quality assurance (QA) efforts for GO’s content can be laborious and time consuming. Abstraction networks (AbNs) are summarization networks that reveal and highlight high-level structural and hierarchical aggregation patterns in an ontology. They have been shown to successfully support QA work in the context of various ontologies. Two kinds of AbNs, called the area taxonomy and the partial-area taxonomy, are developed for GO hierarchies and derived specifically for the biological process (BP) hierarchy. Within this framework, several QA heuristics, based on the identification of groups of anomalous terms which exhibit certain taxonomy-defined characteristics, are introduced. Such groups are expected to have higher error rates when compared to other terms. Thus, by focusing QA efforts on anomalous terms one would expect to find relatively more erroneous content. By automatically identifying these potential problem areas within an ontology, time and effort will be saved during manual reviews of GO’s content. BP is used as a testbed, with samples of three kinds of anomalous BP terms chosen for a taxonomy-based QA review. Additional heuristics for QA are demonstrated. From the results of this QA effort, it is observed that different kinds of inconsistencies in the modeling of GO can be exposed with the use of the proposed heuristics. For comparison, the results of QA work on a sample of terms chosen from GO’s general population are presented.
A Bayesian approach to analyzing phenotype microarray data enables estimation of microbial growth parameters
Authors: Gerstgrasser Matthias , Nicholls Sarah , Stout Michael , Smart Katherine , Powell Chris , Kypraios Theodore , Stekel Dov
Published: November 2015

Biolog phenotype microarrays (PMs) enable simultaneous, high throughput analysis of cell cultures in different environments. The output is high-density time-course data showing redox curves (approximating growth) for each experimental condition. The software provided with the Omnilog incubator/reader summarizes each time-course as a single datum, so most of the information is not used. However, the time courses can be extremely varied and often contain detailed qualitative (shape of curve) and quantitative (values of parameters) information. We present a novel, Bayesian approach to estimating parameters from Phenotype Microarray data, fitting growth models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to enable high throughput estimation of important information, including length of lag phase, maximal “growth” rate and maximum output. We find that the Baranyi model for microbial growth is useful for fitting Biolog data. Moreover, we introduce a new growth model that allows for diauxic growth with a lag phase, which is particularly useful where Phenotype Microarrays have been applied to cells grown in complex mixtures of substrates, for example in industrial or biotechnological applications, such as worts in brewing. Our approach provides more useful information from Biolog data than existing, competing methods, and allows for valuable comparisons between data series and across different models.
The tangent bundle exponential map and locally autoparallel coordinates for general connections on the tangent bundle with application to Finsler geometry
Authors: Pfeifer Christian
Published: November 2015

We construct a tangent bundle exponential map and locally autoparallel coordinates for geometries based on a general connection on the tangent bundle of a manifold. As concrete application we use these new coordinates for Finslerian geometries and obtain Finslerian geodesic coordinates. They generalize normal coordinates known from metric geometry to Finsler geometric manifolds and it turns out that they are identical to the Douglas–Thomas normal coordinates introduced earlier. We expand the Finsler Lagrangian of a Finsler spacetime in these new coordinates and find that it is constant to quadratic order. The quadratic order term comes with the nonlinear curvature of the manifold. From physics these coordinates may be interpreted as the realisation of an Einstein elevator in Finslerian spacetime geometries.
THE IN VITRO AND IN VIVO CYTOTOXICITY OF LIPOSOME-ENCAPSULATED DICHLOROMETHYLENE-DIPHOSPHONATE ON CHICKEN MACROPHAGES AND THE POTENTIAL OF USING MACROPHAGE-DEPLETED CHICKENS AS A MODEL FOR REOVIRUS INFECTION
Authors: Wu Hsing Chieh , Shen Pin Chun , Lin Cheng Chung , Su Bor Sheu , Lee Long Huw
Published: November 2015

The liposome-encapsulated dichloromethylene-diphosphonate ([Formula: see text]) is known to be toxic to the cultured macrophages and has selective cytotoxic effects on macrophages in rats and mice, but has minimal adverse effects on the non-phagocytic cells following various administration routes. In this study, the cytotoxicity of [Formula: see text] on chicken macrophages was investigated. Similar to findings related to other mammals, the [Formula: see text] was toxic to the macrophages originating from the chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells as indicated by the MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl) 2, 5-diphonyltetrazolium bromide) cleavage assays. After administered with [Formula: see text], chicken spleens were rapidly and progressively reduced in sizes. This reduction was more severely gross than with the experimental course. One day post-treatment, the histopathology showed that most of the macrophages around the peri-ellipsoid white pulp had undergone marked cellular necrosis and lysis, and more severe lesions appeared with the loss of lymphoid and reticuloendothelial tissues at 3 and 5 days post-treatment. White pulp which has been replaced by red pulp in the spleen were noticed at 3 and 5 days post-treatment. The flow cytometric assays further confirmed the depletion of the macrophages in the chicken spleens following the administration of [Formula: see text], when compared with those of the controls. Furthermore, the replication of the avian reovirus (ARV) in the spleens was significantly reduced in the macrophage-depleted chickens administered with [Formula: see text]. Thus, depletion of the macrophages with [Formula: see text] followed by functional assesses in the macrophage-depleted chicken could be used as a model to confirm the involvement of the macrophages in ARV replication.
In vivo tumor detection with combined MR–Photoacoustic-Thermoacoustic imaging
Authors: Huang Lin , Cai Wei , Zhao Yuan , Wu Dan , Wang Lei , Wang Yuqing , Lai Dakun , Rong Jian , Gao Fabao , Jiang Huabei
Published: November 2015

Here, we report a new method using combined magnetic resonance (MR)–Photoacoustic (PA)–Thermoacoustic (TA) imaging techniques, and demonstrate its unique ability for in vivo cancer detection using tumor-bearing mice. Circular scanning TA and PA imaging systems were used to recover the dielectric and optical property distributions of three colon carcinoma bearing mice While a 7.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit with a mouse body volume coil was utilized for high resolution structural imaging of the same mice. Three plastic tubes filled with soybean sauce were used as fiducial markers for the co-registration of MR, PA and TA images. The resulting fused images provided both enhanced tumor margin and contrast relative to the surrounding normal tissues. In particular, some finger-like protrusions extending into the surrounding tissues were revealed in the MR/TA infused images. These results show that the tissue functional optical and dielectric properties provided by PA and TA images along with the anatomical structure by MRI in one picture make accurate tumor identification easier. This combined MR–PA–TA-imaging strategy has the potential to offer a clinically useful triple-modality tool for accurate cancer detection and for intraoperative surgical navigation.
Automatic counting method for complex overlapping erythrocytes based on seed prediction in microscopic imaging
Authors: Wei Xudong , Cao Yiping
Published: November 2015

Blood cell counting is an important medical test to help medical staffs diagnose various symptoms and diseases. An automatic segmentation of complex overlapping erythrocytes based on seed prediction in microscopic imaging is proposed. The four main innovations of this research are as follows: (1) Regions of erythrocytes extracted rapidly and accurately based on the G component. (2) K-means algorithm is applied on edge detection of overlapping erythrocytes. (3) Traces of erythrocytes’ biconcave shape are utilized to predict erythrocyte’s position in overlapping clusters. (4) A new automatic counting method which aims at complex overlapping erythrocytes is presented. The experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient and accurate with very little running time. The average accuracy of the proposed method reaches 97.0%.
Internet use and psychological well-being
Authors: Kraut Robert , Burke Moira
Published: November 2015

The connection between online communication and psychological well-being depends on whom you are communicating with.
Smart data pricing
Authors: Sen Soumya , Joe-Wong Carlee , Ha Sangtae , Chiang Mung
Published: November 2015

Economic incentives that alleviate congestion for Internet customers can also improve business performance for network operators.
Creating a new generation of computational thinkers
Authors: Scott Jeremy , Bundy Alan
Published: November 2015

Experiences with a successful school program in Scotland.
Challenges of memory management on modern NUMA systems
Authors: Gaud Fabien , Lepers Baptiste , Funston Justin , Dashti Mohammad , Fedorova Alexandra , Quéma Vivien , Lachaize Renaud , Roth Mark
Published: November 2015

Optimizing NUMA systems applications with Carrefour.
Lean software development
Authors: Matsudaira Kate
Published: November 2015

Catering to developers' strengths while still meeting team objectives.