bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clustering approach to characterize haptic expressions of emotions
Authors: Gaffary Yoren , Eyharabide Victoria , Martin Jean-Claude , Ammi Mehdi
Published: January 2014

Several studies have investigated the relevance of haptics to physically convey various types of emotion. However, they use basic analysis approaches to identify the relevant features for an effective communication of emotion. This article presents an advanced analysis approach, based on the clustering technique, that enables the extraction of the general features of affective haptic expressions as well as the identification of specific features in order to discriminate between close emotions that are difficult to differentiate. This approach was tested in the context of affective communication through a virtual handshake. It uses a haptic device, which enables the expression of 3D movements. The results of this research were compared to those of the standard Analysis of Variance method in order to highlight the advantages and limitations of each approach.
Perceptual impact of gesture control of spatialization
Authors: Marentakis G. , Mcadams S.
Published: January 2014

In two experiments, visual cues from gesture control of spatialization were found to affect auditory movement perception depending on the identifiability of auditory motion trajectories, the congruency of audiovisual stimulation, the sensory focus of attention, and the attentional process involved. Visibility of the performer’s gestures improved spatial audio trajectory identification, but it shifted the listeners’ attention to vision, impairing auditory motion encoding in the case of incongruent stimulation. On the other hand, selectively directing attention to audition resulted in interference from the visual cues for acoustically ambiguous trajectories. Auditory motion information was poorly preserved when dividing attention between auditory and visual movement feedback from performance gestures. An auditory focus of attention is a listener strategy that maximizes performance, due to the improvement caused by congruent visual stimulation and its robustness to interference from incongruent stimulation for acoustically unambiguous trajectories. Attentional strategy and auditory motion calibration are two aspects that need to be considered when employing gesture control of spatialization.
Optimizing GPU energy efficiency with 3D die-stacking graphics memory and reconfigurable memory interface
Authors: Zhao Jishen , Sun Guangyu , Loh Gabriel H. , Xie Yuan
Published: January 2014

The performance of graphics processing unit (GPU) systems is improving rapidly to accommodate the increasing demands of graphics and high-performance computing applications. With such a performance improvement, however, power consumption of GPU systems is dramatically increased. Up to 30% of the total power of a GPU system is consumed by the graphic memory itself. Therefore, reducing graphics memory power consumption is critical to mitigate the power challenge.

In this article, we propose an energy-efficient reconfigurable 3D die-stacking graphics memory design that integrates wide-interface graphics DRAMs side-by-side with a GPU processor on a silicon interposer. The proposed architecture is a “3D+2.5D” system, where the DRAM memory itself is 3D stacked memory with through-silicon via (TSV), whereas the integration of DRAM and the GPU processor is through the interposer solution (2.5D). Since GPU computing units, memory controllers, and memory are all integrated in the same package, the number of memory I/Os is no longer constrained by the package’s pin count. We can reduce the memory power consumption by scaling down the supply voltage and frequency of memory interface while maintaining the same or even higher peak memory bandwidth. In addition, we design a reconfigurable memory interface that can dynamically adapt to the requirements of various applications. We propose two reconfiguration mechanisms to optimize the GPU system energy efficiency and throughput, respectively, and thus benefit both memory-intensive and compute-intensive applications. The experimental results show that the proposed GPU memory architecture can effectively improve GPU system energy efficiency by 21%, without reconfiguration. The reconfigurable memory interface can further improve the system energy efficiency by 26%, and system throughput by 31% under a capped system power budget of 240W.
Using in-flight chains to build a scalable cache coherence protocol
Authors: Subramaniam Samantika , Steely Simon C. , Hasenplaugh Will , Jaleel Aamer , Beckmann Carl , Fossum Tryggve , Emer Joel
Published: January 2014

As microprocessor designs integrate more cores, scalability of cache coherence protocols becomes a challenging problem. Most directory-based protocols avoid races by using blocking tag directories that can impact the performance of parallel applications. In this article, we first quantitatively demonstrate that state-of-the-art blocking protocols significantly constrain throughput at large core counts for several parallel applications. Nonblocking protocols address this throughput concern at the expense of scalability in the interconnection network or in the required resource overheads. To address this concern, we enhance nonblocking directory protocols by migrating the point of service of responses. Our approach uses in-flight chains of cores making parallel memory requests to incorporate scalability while maintaining high-throughput. The proposed cache coherence protocol called
chained cache coherence
, can outperform blocking protocols by up to 20% on scientific and 12% on commercial applications. It also has low resource overheads and simple address ordering requirements making it both a high-performance and scalable protocol. Furthermore, in-flight chains provide a scalable solution to building hierarchical and nonblocking tag directories as well as optimize communication latencies.
Unikernels
Authors: Madhavapeddy Anil , Scott David J.
Published: January 2014

What if all the software layers in a virtual appliance were compiled within the same safe, high-level language framework?
Touchless interaction in surgery
Authors: O'Hara Kenton , Gonzalez Gerardo , Sellen Abigail , Penney Graeme , Varnavas Andreas , Mentis Helena , Criminisi Antonio , Corish Robert , Rouncefield Mark , Dastur Neville , Carrell Tom
Published: January 2014

Touchless interaction with medical images lets surgeons maintain sterility during surgical procedures.
Approximate Mechanism Design without Money
Authors: Procaccia Ariel D. , Tennenholtz Moshe
Published: January 2014

The literature on algorithmic mechanism design is mostly concerned with game-theoretic versions of optimization problems to which standard economic money-based mechanisms cannot be applied efficiently. Recent years have seen the design of various truthful approximation mechanisms that rely on payments. In this article, we advocate the reconsideration of highly structured optimization problems in the context of mechanism design. We explicitly argue for the first time that, in such domains, approximation can be leveraged to obtain truthfulness without resorting to payments. This stands in contrast to previous work where payments are almost ubiquitous and (more often than not) approximation is a necessary evil that is required to circumvent computational complexity.

We present a case study in approximate mechanism design without money. In our basic setting, agents are located on the real line and the mechanism must select the location of a public facility; the cost of an agent is its distance to the facility. We establish tight upper and lower bounds for the approximation ratio given by strategyproof mechanisms without payments, with respect to both deterministic and randomized mechanisms, under two objective functions: the social cost and the maximum cost. We then extend our results in two natural directions: a domain where two facilities must be located and a domain where each agent controls multiple locations.
A framework of traveling companion discovery on trajectory data streams
Authors: Tang Lu-An , Zheng Yu , Yuan Jing , Han Jiawei , Leung Alice , Peng Wen-Chih , Porta Thomas La
Published: January 2014

The advance of mobile technologies leads to huge volumes of spatio-temporal data collected in the form of trajectory data streams. In this study, we investigate the problem of discovering object groups that travel together (i.e.,
traveling companions
) from trajectory data streams. Such technique has broad applications in the areas of scientific study, transportation management, and military surveillance. To discover traveling companions, the monitoring system should cluster the objects of each snapshot and intersect the clustering results to retrieve moving-together objects. Since both clustering and intersection steps involve high computational overhead, the key issue of companion discovery is to improve the efficiency of algorithms. We propose the models of closed companion candidates and smart intersection to accelerate data processing. A data structure termed
traveling buddy
is designed to facilitate scalable and flexible companion discovery from trajectory streams. The traveling buddies are microgroups of objects that are tightly bound together. By only storing the object relationships rather than their spatial coordinates, the buddies can be dynamically maintained along the trajectory stream with low cost. Based on traveling buddies, the system can discover companions without accessing the object details. In addition, we extend the proposed framework to discover companions on more complicated scenarios with spatial and temporal constraints, such as on the road network and battlefield. The proposed methods are evaluated with extensive experiments on both real and synthetic datasets. Experimental results show that our proposed buddy-based approach is an order of magnitude faster than the baselines and achieves higher accuracy in companion discovery.
Forecasting with twitter data
Authors: Arias Marta , Arratia Argimiro , Xuriguera Ramon
Published: January 2014

The dramatic rise in the use of social network platforms such as Facebook or Twitter has resulted in the availability of vast and growing user-contributed repositories of data. Exploiting this data by extracting useful information from it has become a great challenge in data mining and knowledge discovery. A recently popular way of extracting useful information from social network platforms is to build indicators, often in the form of a time series, of general public mood by means of sentiment analysis. Such indicators have been shown to correlate with a diverse variety of phenomena.

In this article we follow this line of work and set out to assess, in a rigorous manner, whether a public sentiment indicator extracted from daily Twitter messages can indeed improve the forecasting of social, economic, or commercial indicators. To this end we have collected and processed a large amount of Twitter posts from March 2011 to the present date for two very different domains:
stock market
and
movie box office revenue
. For each of these domains, we build and evaluate forecasting models for several target time series both using and ignoring the Twitter-related data. If Twitter does help, then this should be reflected in the fact that the predictions of models that use Twitter-related data are better than the models that do not use this data. By systematically varying the models that we use and their parameters, together with other tuning factors such as lag or the way in which we build our Twitter sentiment index, we obtain a large dataset that allows us to test our hypothesis under different experimental conditions. Using a novel decision-tree-based technique that we call
summary tree
we are able to mine this large dataset and obtain automatically those configurations that lead to an improvement in the prediction power of our forecasting models. As a general result, we have seen that nonlinear models do take advantage of Twitter data when forecasting trends in volatility indices, while linear ones fail systematically when forecasting any kind of financial time series. In the case of predicting box office revenue trend, it is support vector machines that make best use of Twitter data. In addition, we conduct statistical tests to determine the relation between our Twitter time series and the different target time series.
Trust and matching algorithms for selecting suitable agents
Authors: Osman Nardine , Sierra Carles , Mcneill Fiona , Pane Juan , Debenham John
Published: January 2014

This article addresses the problem of finding suitable agents to collaborate with for a given interaction in distributed open systems, such as multiagent and P2P systems. The agent in question is given the chance to describe its confidence in its own capabilities. However, since agents may be malicious, misinformed, suffer from miscommunication, and so on, one also needs to calculate how much trusted is that agent. This article proposes a novel trust model that calculates the expectation about an agent's future performance in a given context by assessing both the agent's willingness and capability through the semantic comparison of the current context in question with the agent's performance in past similar experiences. The proposed mechanism for assessing trust may be applied to any real world application where past commitments are recorded and observations are made that assess these commitments, and the model can then calculate one's trust in another with respect to a future commitment by assessing the other's past performance.
A SAT-based approach to cost-sensitive temporally expressive planning
Authors: Lu Qiang , Huang Ruoyun , Chen Yixin , Xu You , Zhang Weixiong , Chen Guoliang
Published: January 2014

Complex features, such as temporal dependencies and numerical cost constraints, are hallmarks of real-world planning problems. In this article, we consider the challenging problem of cost-sensitive temporally expressive (CSTE) planning, which requires concurrency of durative actions and optimization of action costs. We first propose a scheme to translate a CSTE planning problem to a minimum cost (MinCost) satisfiability (SAT) problem and to integrate with a relaxed parallel planning semantics for handling true temporal expressiveness. Our scheme finds solution plans that optimize temporal makespan, and also minimize total action costs at the optimal makespan. We propose two approaches for solving MinCost SAT. The first is based on a transformation of a MinCost SAT problem to a weighted partial Max-SAT (WPMax-SAT), and the second, called BB-CDCL, is an integration of the branch-and-bound technique and the conflict driven clause learning (CDCL) method. We also develop a CSTE customized variable branching scheme for BB-CDCL which can significantly improve the search efficiency. Our experiments on the existing CSTE benchmark domains show that our planner compares favorably to the state-of-the-art temporally expressive planners in both efficiency and quality.
Effective and efficient microprocessor design space exploration using unlabeled design configurations
Authors: Chen Tianshi , Chen Yunji , Guo Qi , Zhou Zhi-Hua , Li Ling , Xu Zhiwei
Published: January 2014

Ever-increasing design complexity and advances of technology impose great challenges on the design of modern microprocessors. One such challenge is to determine promising microprocessor configurations to meet specific design constraints, which is called Design Space Exploration (DSE). In the computer architecture community, supervised learning techniques have been applied to DSE to build regression models for predicting the qualities of design configurations. For supervised learning, however, considerable simulation costs are required for attaining the labeled design configurations. Given limited resources, it is difficult to achieve high accuracy. In this article, inspired by recent advances in semisupervised learning and active learning, we propose the COAL approach which can exploit unlabeled design configurations to significantly improve the models. Empirical study demonstrates that COAL significantly outperforms a state-of-the-art DSE technique by reducing mean squared error by 35% to 95%, and thus, promising architectures can be attained more efficiently.
Norms as a basis for governing sociotechnical systems
Authors: Singh Munindar P.
Published: January 2014

We understand a sociotechnical system as a multistakeholder cyber-physical system. We introduce
governance
as the administration of such a system by the stakeholders themselves. In this regard, governance is a peer-to-peer notion and contrasts with traditional management, which is a top-down hierarchical notion. Traditionally, there is no computational support for governance and it is achieved through out-of-band interactions among system administrators. Not surprisingly, traditional approaches simply do not scale up to large sociotechnical systems.

We develop an approach for governance based on a computational representation of norms in organizations. Our approach is motivated by the Ocean Observatory Initiative, a thirty-year $400 million project, which supports a variety of resources dealing with monitoring and studying the world's oceans. These resources include autonomous underwater vehicles, ocean gliders, buoys, and other instrumentation as well as more traditional computational resources. Our approach has the benefit of directly reflecting stakeholder needs and assuring stakeholders of the correctness of the resulting governance decisions while yielding adaptive resource allocation in the face of changes in both stakeholder needs and physical circumstances.
MOWL
Authors: Mallik Anupama , Ghosh Hiranmay , Chaudhury Santanu , Harit Gaurav
Published: January 2014

Several multimedia applications need to reason with concepts and their media properties in specific domain contexts. Media properties of concepts exhibit some unique characteristics that cannot be dealt with conceptual modeling schemes followed in the existing ontology representation and reasoning schemes. We have proposed a new perceptual modeling technique for reasoning with media properties observed in multimedia instances and the latent concepts. Our knowledge representation scheme uses a causal model of the world where concepts manifest in media properties with uncertainties. We introduce a probabilistic reasoning scheme for belief propagation across domain concepts through observation of media properties. In order to support the perceptual modeling and reasoning paradigm, we propose a new ontology language,
Multimedia Web Ontology Language
(MOWL). Our primary contribution in this article is to establish the need for the new ontology language and to introduce the semantics of its novel language constructs. We establish the generality of our approach with two disperate knowledge-intensive applications involving reasoning with media properties of concepts.
Toward a closer integration of law and computer science
Authors: Yoo Christopher S.
Published: January 2014

Seeking better integration of the insights from the fields of law and technology.
Actually, Turing did not invent the computer
Authors: Haigh Thomas
Published: January 2014

Separating the origins of computer science and technology.
Stability Analysis and H∞ Model Reduction for Switched Discrete‐Time Time‐Delay Systems
Authors: Liu Zheng-Fan , Cai Chen-Xiao , Duan Wen-Yong
Published: January 2014

This paper is concerned with the problem of exponential stability and H∞ model reduction of a class of switched discrete‐time systems with state time‐varying delay. Some subsystems can be unstable. Based on the average dwell time technique and Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional (LKF) approach, sufficient conditions for exponential stability with H∞ performance of such systems are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). For the high‐order systems, sufficient conditions for the existence of reduced‐order model are derived in terms of LMIs. Moreover, the error system is guaranteed to be exponentially stable and an H∞ error performance is guaranteed. Numerical examples are also given to demonstrate the effectiveness and reduced conservatism of the obtained results.
Intercity Travel Demand Analysis Model
Authors: Lu Ming , Zhu Hai , Luo Xia , Lei Lei
Published: January 2014

It is well known that intercity travel is an important component of travel demand which belongs to short distance corridor travel. The conventional four-step method is no longer suitable for short distance corridor travel demand analysis for the time spent on urban traffic has a great impact on traveler's main mode choice. To solve this problem, the author studied the existing intercity travel demand analysis model, then improved it based on the study, and finally established a combined model of main mode choice and access mode choice. At last, an integrated multilevel nested logit model structure system was built. The model system includes trip generation, destination choice, and mode-route choice based on multinomial logit model, and it achieved linkage and feedback of each part through logsum variable. This model was applied in Shenzhen intercity railway passenger demand forecast in 2010 as a case study. As a result, the forecast results were consistent with the actuality. The model's correctness and feasibility were verified.
Virtual Grasping: Closed-Loop Force Control Using Electrotactile Feedback
Authors: Jorgovanovic Nikola , Dosen Strahinja , Djozic Damir J. , Krajoski Goran , Farina Dario
Published: January 2014

Closing the control loop by providing somatosensory feedback to the user of a prosthesis is a well-known, long standing challenge in the field of prosthetics. Various approaches have been investigated for feedback restoration, ranging from direct neural stimulation to noninvasive sensory substitution methods. Although there are many studies presenting closed-loop systems, only a few of them objectively evaluated the closed-loop performance, mostly using vibrotactile stimulation. Importantly, the conclusions about the utility of the feedback were partly contradictory. The goal of the current study was to systematically investigate the capability of human subjects to control grasping force in closed loop using electrotactile feedback. We have developed a realistic experimental setup for virtual grasping, which operated in real time, included a set of real life objects, as well as a graphical and dynamical model of the prosthesis. We have used the setup to test 10 healthy, able bodied subjects to investigate the role of training, feedback and feedforward control, robustness of the closed loop, and the ability of the human subjects to generalize the control to previously “unseen” objects. Overall, the outcomes of this study are very optimistic with regard to the benefits of feedback and reveal various, practically relevant, aspects of closed-loop control.
Algebroid Solutions of Second Order Complex Differential Equations
Authors: Gao Lingyun , Wang Yue
Published: January 2014

Using value distribution theory and maximum modulus principle, the problem of the algebroid solutions of second order algebraic differential equation is investigated. Examples show that our results are sharp.
New Molecules and Old Drugs as Emerging Approaches to Selectively Target Human Glioblastoma Cancer Stem Cells
Authors: Würth Roberto , Barbieri Federica , Florio Tullio
Published: January 2014

Despite relevant progress obtained by multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive primary brain tumor, is still incurable. The most encouraging advancement of GBM drug research derives from the identification of cancer stem cells (CSCs), since these cells appear to represent the determinants of resistance to current standard therapies. The goal of most ongoing studies is to identify drugs able to affect CSCs biology, either inducing selective toxicity or differentiating this tumor cell population into nontumorigenic cells. Moreover, the therapeutic approach for GBM could be improved interfering with chemo- or radioresistance mechanisms, microenvironment signals, and the neoangiogenic process. During the last years, molecular targeted compounds such as sorafenib and old drugs, like metformin, displayed interesting efficacy in preclinical studies towards several tumors, including GBM, preferentially affecting CSC viability. In this review, the latest experimental results, controversies, and prospective application concerning these promising anticancer drugs will be discussed.
In Vitro Screening of 10 Edible Thai Plants for Potential Antifungal Properties
Authors: Suwanmanee Supattra , Kitisin Thitinan , Luplertlop Natthanej
Published: January 2014

Growing rates of fungal infections and increasing resistance against standard antifungal drugs can cause serious health problems. There is, therefore, increasing interest in the potential use of medicinal plants as novel antifungal agents. This study investigates the antifungal properties of crude plant extracts from ten medicinal plant species. Crude samples were extracted using the hot water extraction process. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and diameter zone of inhibition were determined in each extract against ten fungal strains, and fluconazole was used as a positive control. The cytotoxicity of crude extracts on in vitro human skin fibroblast (HSF) cell models was determined by MTT assay. Of the ten crude extracts, Psidium guajava L. exhibited the highest antifungal activity, diameter zone of inhibition, and percentage HSF cell viability. Although all extracts exhibited antifungal activity, Psidium guajava L. had the greatest potential for developing antifungal treatments.
Complex Dynamical Network Control for Trajectory Tracking Using Delayed Recurrent Neural Networks
Authors: Perez Jose P. , Perez Padron Joel , Flores Hemandez Angel , Arroyo Santiago
Published: January 2014

In this paper, the problem of trajectory tracking is studied. Based on the V‐stability and Lyapunov theory, a control law that achieves the global asymptotic stability of the tracking error between a delayed recurrent neural network and a complex dynamical network is obtained. To illustrate the analytic results, we present a tracking simulation of a dynamical network with each node being just one Lorenz’s dynamical system and three identical Chen’s dynamical systems.
Behavior of Yb3+ and Er3+ during Heat Treatment in Oxyfluoride Glass Ceramics
Authors: Imanieh M. H. , Martín I. R. , Gonzalez-Platas J. , Eftekhari Yekta B. , Marghussian V. K. , Shakhesi S.
Published: January 2014

The effects of alumina content and heat treatment on upconversion properties of codoped (ErF3‐YbF3) oxyfluoride glass ceramics were investigated. Results showed that alumina content had an effect on phase separation and viscosity of the glass. Due to the high viscosity of low alumina content glass, the phase separated areas were smaller in these specimens. Increasing the heat treatment temperature led to the incorporation of Er3+ ions into CaF2 crystals and also increased the Yb3+ concentration in them. This increase improved the energy transfer and back transfer process between Er3+ and Yb3+ ions and as result upconversion intensity was increased.
Antiulcerogenic Activity of 1-Hydroxy-3,7,8-trimethoxyxanthone Isolated from the Methanol Extract of Anthocleista vogelii PLANCH. in Rats
Authors: Ateufack Gilbert , Nguelefack Télesphore B. , Wabo Hippolyte K. , Tane Pierre , Kamanyi Albert
Published: January 2014

Anthocleista vogelii (Loganiaceae) PLANCH. is used in Cameroonian ethnomedicine for the treatment of stomach ache and for curing fever and is used as purgative. Further investigations have shown that the stem bark of this plant possesses potent antiulcer properties. We have investigated the cytoprotective and antisecretory actions of 1-hydroxy-3,7,8-trimethoxyxanthone (AV), the xanthone obtained from the methanol extract of the stem bark. Oral administration of AV at the doses of 1, 2, and 5 mg/kg prevented in a dose-dependent manner ulcers induced by HCl/ethanol (60.90 to 93.22%), Indometacin (46.86 to 89.68%), and pylorus ligation (0.00 to 70.69%). AV reduced pylorus-ligated gastric acid secretion from 134.17 mEq/l in the controls to 118.55, 121.50, and 96.93 mEq/l, respectively, for the 1, 2, and 5 mg/kg doses and increased mucus secretion significantly in a dose-dependent manner in all experimental models. The cytoprotective and antisecretory properties of AV could thus be due to its ability to strengthen gastric mucosal defences through enhanced gastric mucus production.
Young Women Stroke Survivors and Their Desire for Peer Support
Authors: Stone Sharon-Dale
Published: January 2014

The concerns of young stroke survivors are not well known. The aim of this paper is to draw on data from a larger study to show that young women who survived a hemorrhagic stroke desire access to peer support, but there is not widespread access to peer support. Open-ended interviews were conducted with an international sample of 28 women to learn about their poststroke experiences and were analyzed qualitatively for common issues and themes. A prominent theme across the interviews was the significance of age-similar peer support. Participants discussed feeling alone and misunderstood and wanting to have access to peer support. In conclusion, peer support may help to enhance psychological well-being, but the survivor’s own understanding of her peers must be centrally considered.
Patient Aesthetic Satisfaction with Timing of Nasal Fracture Manipulation
Authors: Sharma Sunil Dutt , Kwame Ivor , Almeyda John
Published: January 2014

Introduction.To determine patient cosmetic satisfaction following nasal fracture manipulation under general anaesthetic when offered at different time intervals after injury.Materials and Methods.Prospective chart review of adult patients with nasal fractures treated by closed reduction at a busy district general hospital in Greater London over a 10-month period. Patients were asked by a standardised telephone interview about satisfaction with nasal cosmesis pre- and postoperatively using a Likert scale.Results.Seventy-six of 106 patients presented for nasal manipulation at up to 9 weeks after injury and were successfully contacted (72%) postoperatively. Forty-nine patients (64%) reported that they still would have had the surgery in retrospect. Those done within 1-2 weeks after injury resulted in the highest mean satisfaction score (4.56±0.25). There was a negative correlation between patient satisfaction and timing of surgery (ρ=-0.37,P=0.001). Of the patients satisfied or very satisfied with their procedure, 96% had it done within 4 weeks.Conclusion.The majority of patients treated with closed reduction of nasal fractures under general anaesthetic are satisfied with the cosmetic outcome and would still have undergone surgery in retrospect. Increasing time of surgery after 2 weeks resulted in lower patient satisfaction.
Formulation and Evaluation of Fixed-Dose Combination of Bilayer Gastroretentive Matrix Tablet Containing Atorvastatin as Fast-Release and Atenolol as Sustained-Release
Authors: Dey Sanjay , Chattopadhyay Sankha , Mazumder Bhaskar
Published: January 2014

The objective of the present study was to develop bilayer tablets of atorvastatin and atenolol that are characterized by initial fast-release of atorvastatin in the stomach and comply with the release requirements of sustained-release of atenolol. An amorphous, solvent evaporation inclusion complex of atorvastatin withβ-cyclodextrin, present in 1 : 3 (drug/cyclodextrin) molar ratio, was employed in the fast-release layer to enhance the dissolution of atorvastatin. Xanthan gum and guar gum were integrated in the sustained-release layer. Bilayer tablets composed of sustained-release layer (10% w/w of xanthan gum and guar gum) and fast-release layer [1 : 3 (drug/cyclodextrin)] showed the desired release profile. The atorvastatin contained in the fast-release layer showed an initial fast-release of more than 60% of its drug content within 2 h, followed by sustained release of the atenolol for a period of 12 h. The pharmacokinetic study illustrated that the fast absorption and increased oral bioavailability of atorvastatin as well as therapeutic concentration of atenolol in blood were made available through adoption of formulation strategy of bilayer tablets. It can be concluded that the bilayer tablets of atorvastatin and atenolol can be successfully employed for the treatment of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia together through oral administration of single tablet.
Endoscopic Endonasal Transsphenoidal Resection for Pituitary Apoplexy during the Third Trimester of Pregnancy
Authors: Tandon Adesh , Alzate Juan , LaSala Patrick , Fried Marvin P.
Published: January 2014

Pituitary apoplexy is an uncommon phenomenon typically characterized by vascular insufficiency or acute hemorrhage into a pituitary adenoma. The overall incidence of pituitary apoplexy ranges between 1 and 25% of all pituitary adenomas. With the widespread use of MRI technology, the diagnosis of asymptomatic intratumoral hemorrhage is closer to 10%. The authors report a case of a 27-year-old female in her 36th week of pregnancy who presented with severe onset headache and acute left-sided vision loss. MRI of the brain revealed a large hemorrhagic mass occupying the sella turcica. The patient underwent an emergent endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection for pituitary apoplexy. Postoperatively, the patient’s neurologic deficit resolved. Minimally invasive endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection of pituitary apoplexy can be safely utilized in third trimester pregnant women presenting with acute severe neurologic deficits.
An Analytical Tire Model with Flexible Carcass for Combined Slips
Authors: Xu Nan , Guo Konghui , Zhang Xinjie , Karimi Hamid Reza
Published: January 2014

The tire mechanical characteristics under combined cornering and braking/driving situations have significant effects on vehicle directional controls. The objective of this paper is to present an analytical tire model with flexible carcass for combined slip situations, which can describe tire behavior well and can also be used for studying vehicle dynamics. The tire forces and moments come mainly from the shear stress and sliding friction at the tread‐road interface. In order to describe complicated tire characteristics and tire‐road friction, some key factors are considered in this model: arbitrary pressure distribution; translational, bending, and twisting compliance of the carcass; dynamic friction coefficient; anisotropic stiffness properties. The analytical tire model can describe tire forces and moments accurately under combined slip conditions. Some important properties induced by flexible carcass can also be reflected. The structural parameters of a tire can be identified from tire measurements and the computational results using the analytical model show good agreement with test data.
The Use of the S-MART Tourniquet in Hand Surgery: A Safe and Effective Way to Provide a Bloodless Field
Authors: Templeton-Ward O. , Feher J. , Davey P.
Published: January 2014

We have retrospectively reviewed our use of the S-MART sterile silicon ring self-exsanguinating tourniquet in 300 consecutive minor hand surgical procedures. A total of 3 postoperative complications were identified, only 1 of which was directly related to the tourniquet’s use. We outline the reasons of why we feel that this device provides a safe and effective bloodless field and the benefits of its use.
A Rare Cause of Pericardial Effusion: Giant Cell Arteritis
Authors: Tasliyurt Turker , Sivgin Hakan , Bekar Lutfu , Sahin Safak , Uzun Kaya Suheyla , Koseoglu Resit Dogan , Kutluturk Faruk , Yilmaz Abdulkerim
Published: January 2014

Giant cell arteritis is a granulomatous vasculitis characterized by medium or large sized vessel involvement. Although extracranial branches of the carotid artery are typically involved, involvement of aorta and its major branches can also be seen. Cardiac involvement has been encountered less frequently and pericardial effusion is rarely encountered. In this paper, a case has been presented in which pericardial effusion was determined during the examination and diagnosis was giant cell arteritis.
Bipolar Switching Characteristics of RRAM Cells with CaBi4Ti4O15Film
Authors: Lin Jian-Yang , Wu Chia-Lin
Published: January 2014

The electrical conduction and bipolar switching properties of resistive random access memory (RRAM) cells with transparent calcium bismuth titanate (CaBi4Ti4O15—CBTi144) thin films were investigated. Experimentally, the (119)-oriented CBTi144 thin films were deposited onto the ITO/glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering followed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at a temperature range of 450–550°C. The surface morphologies and crystal structures of the CBTi144 thin films were examined by using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. The on/off ratio and switching behaviors of the transparent Al/CBTi144/ITO/glass RRAM devices were further discussed in this work.
Spatial Distributions of Humic Substances and Evaluation of Sediment Organic Index on Lake Dalinouer, China
Authors: Hou Dekun , He Jiang , Lü Changwei , Wang Wei , Zhang Fujin
Published: January 2014

The aim of this study is to examine and interpret the spatial distribution of sedimentary humic substances in Lake Dalinouer. Humic substances in sediments were analyzed separately in different fractions: humins (HM), humic acid (HA), fulvic acid (FA), and different forms of organic carbon. The results showed that total organic carbon (TOC) contents varied from 7.25 to 65.54 g kg−1 with a mean of 36.37 ± 17.74 g kg−1. It was found that high TOC concentrations were at lake’s center and low TOC concentrations occurred at the estuary of inflows. Different redox conditions caused by water depth were of the most important factors which might influence TOC contents. Concentrations of HM, HA, and FA in sediments were detected in range of 6.40–58.16 g kg−1, 0.27–3.50 g kg−1, and 0.27–4.26 g kg−1, respectively. Of them, HM was the dominant form and accounted for 74–94% of TOC and 80–90% of humus. Organic Sediment Index (OSI) was used to assess the organics accumulation, and the value of OSI ranged from 0.001 to 0.30, which indicated that Lake Dalinouer was relatively clean. The relative high degree of humidification was found in the eastern of lake, where it should be taken into consideration seriously.
Local Fractional Variational Iteration and Decomposition Methods for Wave Equation on Cantor Sets within Local Fractional Operators
Authors: Baleanu Dumitru , Tenreiro Machado J. A. , Cattani Carlo , Baleanu Mihaela Cristina , Yang Xiao-Jun
Published: January 2014

We perform a comparison between the fractional iteration and decomposition methods applied to the wave equation on Cantor set. The operators are taken in the local sense. The results illustrate the significant features of the two methods which are both very effective and straightforward for solving the differential equations with local fractional derivative.
Perioperative Avulsion of a Left Internal Mammary Artery Graft in a Patient with Syphilis
Authors: Kaleda Vasily I. , Belash Sergei A. , Barsuk Alexei V. , Barbuhatti Kirill O.
Published: January 2014

Avulsion of a graft after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is a rare but very serious complication which leads to massive bleeding and possible life-threatening cardiac tamponade. In this paper we report a very rare case of a left internal mammary artery graft avulsion on the day of surgery in a patient with syphilis.
Free Vibration Analysis of Fiber Metal Laminate Annular Plate by State-Space Based Differential Quadrature Method
Authors: Rahimi G. H. , Gazor M. S. , Hemmatnezhad M. , Toorani H.
Published: January 2014

A three-dimensional elasticity theory by means of a state-space based differential quadrature method is presented for free vibration analysis of fiber metal laminate annular plate. The kinds of composite material and metal layers are considered to be S2-glass and aluminum, respectively. A semianalytical approach which uses state-space in the thickness and differential quadrature in the radial direction is implemented for evaluating the nondimensional natural frequencies of the annular plates. The influences of changes in boundary condition, plate thickness, and lay-up direction on the natural frequencies are studied. A comparison is also made with the numerical results reported by ABAQUS software which shows an excellent agreement.
The New Nitinol Conformable Self-Expandable Metal Stents for Malignant Colonic Obstruction: A Pilot Experience as Bridge to Surgery Treatment
Authors: Di Mitri Roberto , Mocciaro Filippo
Published: January 2014

Introduction. Self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) are a nonsurgical option for treatment of malignant colorectal obstruction also as a bridge to surgery approach. The new nitinol conformable stent has improved clinical outcomes in these kinds of patients. We report a pilot experience with nitinol conformable SEMS placement as bridge to surgery treatment in patients with colorectal obstruction.Materials and Methods. Between April and August 2012, we collected data on colonic nitinol conformable SEMS placement in a cohort of consecutive symptomatic patients, with malignant colorectal obstruction, who were treated as a bridge to surgery. Technical success, clinical success, and adverse events were recorded.Results.Ten patients (7 male (70%)), with a mean age of 69.2 ± 10.1, were evaluated. The mean length of the stenosis was 3.6 ± 0.6 cm. Five patients (50%) were treated on an emergency basis. The median time from stent placement to surgery was 16 days (interquartile range 7–21). Technical and clinical success was achieved in all patients with a significant early improvement of symptoms. No adverse events due to the SEMS placement were observed.Conclusion. This pilot study confirmed the important role of nitinol conformable SEMS as a bridge to surgery option in the treatment of symptomatic malignant colorectal obstruction.
The Morphological Features and Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress Mechanism of the Retinal Neurons Apoptosis in Early Diabetic Rats
Authors: Li Xiaoyan , Zhang Maonian , Zhou Huanfen
Published: January 2014

This paper aims to explore the relationship of retinal neuron apoptosis and manganese superoxidase dismutase (MnSOD) at early phase of diabetic retinopathy. Sprague-Dawley rats were grouped into normal controls and diabetics. Data were collected after 4, 8, and 12 weeks (n=12). The pathological changes and ultrastructure of the retina, the apoptosis rate of retinal neurons by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end label (TUNEL), mRNA expressions of MnSOD and copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu–Zn SOD), and the activities of total SOD (T-SOD) and subtypes of SOD were tested. For the controls, there was no abnormal structure or apoptosis of retinal neurons at any time. There was no change of structure for rats with diabetes at 4 or 8 weeks, but there was a decrease of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) number and thinner inner nuclear layer (INL) at 12 weeks. The apoptosis ratio of RGCs was higher than that of the controls at 8 and 12 weeks (P<0.001). The activity and mRNA levels of MnSOD were lower in diabetics at 4, 8, and 12 weeks (P<0.05). In summary, the apoptosis of the retinal neurons occurred at 8 weeks after the onset of diabetes. Retinal neuron apoptosis in early diabetic rats may be associated with the decreased activity and mRNA of MnSOD.
SEA Antagonizes the Imatinib-Meditated Inhibitory Effects on T Cell Activation via the TCR Signaling Pathway
Authors: Wang Guanming , Yan Yuhui , Chen Xiaohua , Lin Chen , Li Yangqiu
Published: January 2014

The BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor imatinib is highly effective in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, long-term imatinib treatment induces immunosuppression, which is mainly due to T cell dysfunction. Imatinib can reduce TCR-triggered T cell activation by inhibiting the phosphorylation of tyrosine kinases such as Lck, ZAP70, LAT, and PLCγ1 early in the TCR signaling pathway. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the superantigen SEA, a potent T cell stimulator, can block the immunosuppressive effects of imatinib on T cells. Our data show that the exposure of primary human T cells and Jurkat cells to SEA for 24 h leads to the upregulation of the Lck and ZAP70 proteins in a dose-dependent manner. T cells treated with SEA prior to TCR binding had increased the tyrosine phosphorylation of Lck, ZAP70, and PLCγ1. Pretreatment with SEA prevents the inhibitory effects of imatinib on TCR signaling, which leads to T cell proliferation and IL-2 production. It is conceivable that SEA antagonizes the imatinib-mediated inhibition of T cell activation and proliferation through the TCR signaling pathway.
On the Solution of a Nonlinear Semidefinite Program Arising in Discrete-Time Feedback Control Design
Authors: Mostafa El-Sayed M. E.
Published: January 2014

A sequential quadratic programming method with line search is analyzed and studied for finding the local solution of a nonlinear semidefinite programming problem resulting from the discrete-time output feedback problem. The method requires an initial feasible point with respect to two positive definite constraints. By parameterizing the optimization problem we ease that requirement. The method is tested numerically on several test problems chosen from the benchmark collection (Leibfritz, 2004).
Fatigue Performance and Multiscale Mechanisms of Concrete Toughened by Polymers and Waste Rubber
Authors: Chen Bo , Guo Liping , Sun Wei
Published: January 2014

For improving bending toughness and fatigue performance of brittle cement-based composites, two types of water-soluble polymers (such as dispersible latex powder and polyvinyl alcohol powder) and waste tire-rubber powders are added to concrete as admixtures. Multiscale toughening mechanisms of these additions in concretes were comprehensively investigated. Four-point bending fatigue performance of four series concretes is conducted under a stress level of 0.70. The results show that the effects of dispersible latex powder on bending toughness and fatigue life of concrete are better than those of polyvinyl alcohol powder. Furthermore, the bending fatigue lives of concrete simultaneously containing polymers and waste rubber powders are larger than those of concrete with only one type of admixtures. The multiscale physics-chemical mechanisms show that high bonding effect and high elastic modulus of polymer films as well as good elastic property and crack-resistance of waste tire-rubber powders are beneficial for improving bending toughness and fatigue life of cementitious composites.
Anticancer and Antitumor Potential of Fucoidan and Fucoxanthin, Two Main Metabolites Isolated from Brown Algae
Authors: Zorofchian Moghadamtousi Soheil , Karimian Hamed , Khanabdali Ramin , Razavi Mahboubeh , Firoozinia Mohammad , Zandi Keivan , Abdul Kadir Habsah
Published: January 2014

Seaweed is one of the largest producers of biomass in marine environment and is a rich arsenal of active metabolites and functional ingredients with valuable beneficial health effects. Being a staple part of Asian cuisine, investigations on the crude extracts of Phaeophyceae or brown algae revealed marked antitumor activity, eliciting a variety of research to determine the active ingredients involved in this potential. The sulfated polysaccharide of fucoidan and carotenoid of fucoxanthin were found to be the most important active metabolites of brown algae as potential chemotherapeutic or chemopreventive agents. This review strives to provide detailed account of all current knowledge on the anticancer and antitumor activity of fucoidan and fucoxanthin as the two major metabolites isolated from brown algae.