bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Added Value of the Hybrid Virtual Learning Approach
Authors: Christopoulos Athanasios , Conrad Marc , Shukla Mitul
Published: December 2017

This chapter maps the types of interactions that relate to the use of virtual worlds in hybrid virtual learning scenarios. Students were asked to state their opinions regarding their experiences and were also observed along the way. The results highlight that the learning activities and students' attitudes and experiences greatly affect learner engagement. It is vital, though, that instructional designers plan the learning activities thoughtfully and provide learners with enough time and support. Offering content with examples of the expectations of the teaching team can be invaluably helpful. Furthermore, a game-like content can be considered a great source of motivation. Moreover, the vividness of the virtual world makes the learning process more stimulating and less tedious. Additionally, avatars enable users to interact with the content and increase the opportunities for interactions with others. Nevertheless, learners' simultaneous co-presence in the physical classroom is a more immediate and preferred option, since it offers increased opportunities for collaboration.
Use of ICT to Innovate in Teaching and Learning Processes in Higher Education
Authors: Quintana María Graciela Badilla , Aránguiz Matilde Susana Basso
Published: December 2017

In this chapter are shared experiences in educative innovation by using Information Communication and Technologies in higher education. The objective of this contribution is to provide a view related to the curricular integration of ICT, highlighting by practical examples of implementation, which include their impact in cognitive processes and in the development of personal and interpersonal abilities in students. In the distribution, it is incorporated a description in planning activities and their application in the classroom, methodological aspects and assessing strategies selected for each experience are detailed. In addition, it is delivered a reflexive view related to the teacher role in the educative act. Finally, it is discussed the relevance of an active role in higher education institutions, referring to improve permanent training programs in educative innovation and to generate communicational spaces between teachers as well as different formation areas in the sense of strengthening the educative process and improve the quality of education.
The Development of a Virtual University Campus Using Second Life
Authors: Vargas-Vera Maria
Published: December 2017

This paper presents the development of a virtual campus named DeepThink designed to support a postgraduate program named MPhil (Master in Philosophy) at The Open University. The MPhil is a formal Open University degree delivered to a distance. The virtual campus integrates second life, moodle and several Web 2.0 technologies like elluminate (online conferencing tool), MyStuff (e-Portfolio), Skype and Ning (Social network). This integration between second life and web 2.0 technologies has caused enthusiasm in tutors at the Open University who saw the benefit of using DeepThink in their courses. This campus is an innovative project which brings new ways of supervision. Our campus DeepThink in general promotes higher Education using technologies like second life, which has shown to be useful in supervision and teaching undergraduate courses. Finally, we discuss our experiences on second life and its limitations.
Innovation on Geo-Enrichment of Texts Using Gazetteers for Massive Open On-Line Courses
Authors: Luna-Soto Vladimir , Quintero Rolando , Torres-Ruiz Miguel , Moreno-Ibarra Marco , Escamilla Imelda
Published: December 2017

Text documents available in the Web contain a large amount of geographic information. For instance, forum messages posted by students in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) may contain references to places. Normally, this information is not exploited, although it can be useful to further understand the topics of courses. Therefore, we propose an approach to instantly provide additional information to MOOC students about geographic features found in publications at course forums (geo-enrichment). The results are displayed through our tool, called ORBIS, which automatically highlights the geographic entities in the texts, and provides access to additional information in the same environment, without disruption; interacting with maps and spatial relationships with other entities. Information on locations mentioned in text is obtained from queries posted to the gazetteer Linked OntoGazetteer. We applied our prototype to the students' posts in the forum space for the MOOC titled Maps and the Geospatial Revolution, offered by the Pennsylvania State University.
Internal Branding as Innovation Tenet
Authors: Matiatou Maria
Published: December 2017

Innovation as a core value for most organizations is not simply the application of new technology to achieve a business goal: it must be directly expressed through brand experience. Brand driven innovation is human centric. New ideas require a welcoming organizational culture, positive mindsets and internal advocacy to grow. Businesses can really innovate when employees become their brand evangelists. In this chapter, we initially explore internal branding values and tactics. We assess its role as critical bridge over vision, culture and image gaps in case studies to bring awareness on success and risk factors. Employee perceptions of communication practices are captured and matched to aspiration, missions and organizational values. From this premise, we establish internal branding as practice that affects the company's ability to innovate effortlessly and organically. The strong liaison between diffusion of innovation and brand endorsement is confirmed, consolidating the vital role of internal branding in the implementation of an organization's business strategy.
Thermal Spray Methods and Splat Formation
Authors: Xie Wei
Published: December 2017

This chapter describes how surface coatings play a significant role in manufacturing industries due to improvements in the properties of the engineering components that lead to longer service life and reliability. Thermal spray is well suited for large structures and can be easily repaired. Previous publications concerning the principle of thermal spray processing; powder and their fabrication methods; the effect of substrate surface conditions on splat formation and morphologies; the effect of process parameters on splat formation and morphology; and thermal spray coating morphology are reviewed. Also described in detail is physical behaviour, such as thermal conductivity and wetting ability at impact between the thermal spray particle and the substrate, influences the individual splat geometry and coating build-up and, consequently, the coating properties.
Investigation on Improved-Durability Thermal Barrier Coatings
Authors: Hassanzadeh Mohammad , Saremi Mohsen , Valefi Zia , Pakseresht Amir Hossein
Published: December 2017

Concurrent with the development of new generation of gas turbines, many attempts have been made to introduce advanced thermal barrier coatings with lower thermal conductivity and higher temperature stability. Most of the research to improve TBCs performance are based on two general approaches: structural modifications and chemical modifications. In most cases, the improvements in some properties are at the expense of loss of some other properties. Changing in the TBCs architecture and the application of multilayer coatings, consisting of layers with engineered properties based on the requirements, is a solution to achieve a combination of desired properties. In all of these development methods it is to be understood that the principle is reducing the possibility of formation of cracks, but, once formed, all such cracks can grow under and thermal cycles and eventually lead to coating delamination and spallation. Self-healing is the most precious phenomenon to overcome this problem.
Thermal Barrier Coatings on the Base of Samarium Zirconates
Authors: Jucha Sebastian Oliwer , Moskal Grzegorz Jan
Published: December 2017

The zirconates of rare earth elements, such as Sm2Zr2O7, can be an alternative material for zirconia modified by yttria (8YSZ) usually used as an insulation layer in thermal barrier coatings (TBC) systems. This chapter describes the morphology of feedstock zirconate powder, internal morphology and selected properties of different samarium zirconate TBC systems. These included: composite TBC coatings of Sm2Zr2O7 + 8YSZ type with different ratio of both used to coatings deposition powders (25/75, 50/50 and 75/25) as well as the TBC of double ceramic layer (DCL) type with an 8YSZ internal layer and an outer layer of Sm2Zr2O7 type, and a monolayer TBC based on Sm2Zr2O7. Another presented subject is related to the oxidation resistance of TBC systems during static oxidation test at temperature 1100°C. In this case, the special emphasis was taken on the characterization of thermally grown oxides (TGO) zone thickness where the most important phenomena related with overall live-time of TBC systems usually take place.
Oxidation Behavior of LTA/YSZ Intermixed Layer Coating
Authors: Purohit Pritee , Vagge Shashikant T.
Published: December 2017

This chapter describes how for power generators like gas turbines and aero engines, the economic and environmental challenges are increasing day by day for producing electricity more efficiently. The efficiency of power generators can be increased by changing its operating conditions like inlet temperature and procedure. Currently, the inlet temperature to the industrial gas turbine is reaching up to 1400°C. Also, in aero engines, the ring temperature reaches around 1550°C. Therefore, the coatings used in aero engine applications undergo short duration thermal cycles at very high temperature. The mean metal temperatures reach around 950°C and can increase up to 1100°C. But in industrial gas turbines, it varies from 800 to 950°C. Operating temperature of industrial gas turbines slowly reaches to maximum and ideally remains constant for thousands of hours, unlike aero engines.
Surface Engineering at High Temperature
Authors: Henao John , Sotelo Oscar
Published: December 2017

Thermal and chemical properties are key aspects that determines whether a coating material is useful for high temperature applications. The progress in the application of coatings as high performance and functional materials is currently driven by their reliability under changing environmental conditions. Particularly, for high temperature applications, new gas turbines, propulsion systems, and cutting tools are outstanding examples for the development of enhanced coating systems. With the increase in the complexity of applications of coatings at high temperature, it became necessary that engineers and designers look inside into various aspects of material properties. In that order of ideas, this chapter focuses on reviewing the main physical and chemical concepts related with the performance of engineering coatings at high temperature. Especially, the subjects for reviewing here are thermal shock and hot corrosion.
Slurry Sprayed Mullite Coatings and Their Corrosion Performances
Authors: Verma Rajeev , Suri Narendra Mohan , Kant Suman
Published: December 2017

Slurry spray technique (SST) is a distinctive variant among the numerous and already established coating techniques. Functionally graded thermal barrier and environmental barrier coating have been the functionalities developed so far for the process. Among the choice of the various ceramic feedstocks available mullite and partially stabilized zircona have been found suitable and investigated for the coating deposition via SST. This chapter reports the findings of the corrosion studies in simulated industrial corrosive environments and characterization results of the six sets of slurry sprayed mulite-nickel based coatings. Decent protection against coating has been found during the immersion test performed on these coatings for evaluating their corrosion performance. The developed coatings are recommended for use in applications to endure the elevated temperature and inflict corrosion. Thermal cycling test was performed to support the acceptable thermal shock resistance and coating compliance of the developed coatings.
Hybrid Sol-Gel Coatings
Authors: Figueira Rita Bacelar
Published: December 2017

The properties and wide application range of organic-inorganic hybrid (O-IH) sol-gel materials have attracted significant attention over the past decades. The combination of organic polymers and inorganic materials in a single-phase provides exceptional possibilities to tailor electrical, optical and mechanical properties concerning diverse applications. This unlimited design concept has led to the development of diverse coatings for several applications such as glasses, and metals to mitigate mechanical abrasion, erosion and corrosion. This class of materials could be easily obtained by sol-gel method at mild synthesis conditions. Furthermore, the large variety of available chemical precursors allows producing a diversity of coatings with tuned mechanical and thermal properties. This chapter will introduce the fundamentals of the sol-gel method to produce O-IH protective thin coatings and discuss the methodologies used to apply these materials onto different metallic substrates for erosion and corrosion protection.
Managing Large Volumes of Interlinked Text and Knowledge With the KnowledgeStore
Authors: Corcoglioniti Francesco , Rospocher Marco , Cattoni Roldano , Magnini Bernardo , Serafini Luciano
Published: December 2017

This chapter describes the KnowledgeStore, a scalable, fault-tolerant, and Semantic Web grounded open-source storage system to jointly store, manage, retrieve, and query interlinked structured and unstructured data, especially designed to manage all the data involved in Knowledge Extraction applications. The chapter presents the concept, design, function and implementation of the KnowledgeStore, and reports on its concrete usage in four application scenarios within the NewsReader EU project, where it has been successfully used to store and support the querying of millions of news articles interlinked with billions of RDF triples, both extracted from text and imported from Linked Open Data sources.
On Semantic Relation Extraction Over Enterprise Data
Authors: Shen Wei , Wang Jianyong , Luo Ping , Wang Min
Published: December 2017

Relation extraction from the Web data has attracted a lot of attention recently. However, little work has been done when it comes to the enterprise data regardless of the urgent needs to such work in real applications (e.g., E-discovery). One distinct characteristic of the enterprise data (in comparison with the Web data) is its low redundancy. Previous work on relation extraction from the Web data largely relies on the data's high redundancy level and thus cannot be applied to the enterprise data effectively. This chapter reviews related work on relation extraction and introduces an unsupervised hybrid framework REACTOR for semantic relation extraction over enterprise data. REACTOR combines a statistical method, classification, and clustering to identify various types of relations among entities appearing in the enterprise data automatically. REACTOR was evaluated over a real-world enterprise data set from HP that contains over three million pages and the experimental results show its effectiveness.
Semantic Web Search Through Natural Language Dialogues
Authors: Melo Dora , Rodrigues Irene Pimenta , Nogueira Vitor Beires
Published: December 2017

The Semantic Web as a knowledge base gives to the Question Answering systems the capabilities needed to go well beyond the usual word matching in the documents and find a more accurate answer, without needing the user intervention to interpret the documents returned. In this chapter, the authors introduce a Dialogue Manager that, throughout the analysis of the question and the type of expected answer, provides accurate answers to the questions posed in Natural Language. The Dialogue Manager not only represents the semantics of the questions but also represents the structure of the discourse, including the user intentions and the questions' context, adding the ability to deal with multiple answers and providing justified answers. The system performance is evaluated by comparing with similar question answering systems. Although the test suite is of small dimension, the results obtained are very promising.
Semantic-Based Geospatial Data Integration With Unique Features
Authors: Zhang Ying , Li Chaopeng , Chen Na , Liu Shaowen , Du Liming , Wang Zhuxiao , Ma Miaomiao
Published: December 2017

Since large amount of geospatial data are produced by various sources, geospatial data integration is difficult because of the shortage of semantics. Despite standardised data format and data access protocols, such as Web Feature Service (WFS), can enable end-users with access to heterogeneous data stored in different formats from various sources, it is still time-consuming and ineffective due to the lack of semantics. To solve this problem, a prototype to implement the geospatial data integration is proposed by addressing the following four problems, i.e., geospatial data retrieving, modeling, linking and integrating. We mainly adopt four kinds of geospatial data sources to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed linking method can get high performance in generating the matched candidate record pairs in terms of Reduction Ratio(RR), Pairs Completeness(PC), Pairs Quality(PQ) and F-score. The integrating results denote that each data source can get much Complementary Completeness(CC) and Increased Completeness(IC).
Theory of the interaction of flat sensing organ with the head of the sugar beet root
Authors: Bulgakov Volodymyr , Adamchuk Valerii , Nozdrovicky Ladislav , Holovach Ivan
Published: December 2017

Sugar beet leaves now are very widely used for livestock feeding, as an organic fertiliser, and also as a raw material for the production of biogas. Therefore the harvest of the sugar beet tops (including leaves) can be considered as current task for the sugar beet growing system. Modern technologies involve harvest of the tops of sugar beet in two stages: flat basic cut and collecting of the entire green mass at higher altitude and the subsequent cutting of the heads of root crops from the residues. Therefore, topical issues of the sensing of the heads of sugar beet roots arranged in rows, are related to the majority of the sugar beet toppers, cleaners of the sugar beet heads, leaves cutters and, digging up working bodies of some designs. The aim of this study is theoretical determination the optimum design and kinematic parameters of a new sensing mechanism of the sugar beet heads located in the soil on the basis of the theory of interaction of flat passive swath board sensing organ with the sugar beet heads during their topping when located in the soil. In the study there are used methods of creation of mathematical models of functioning of the agricultural machines and their working bodies with the using of main provisions of mathematics, theoretical mechanics, programming and numerical calculations on the PC. In this paper, there is presented a theoretical study of the interaction of passive sensing organ with the head of the sugar beet root when there are located residues of the leaves on a root head spherical surface in the form of short elastic rods. Thus, for such an interaction of the sensing organ and the head of sugar beet root head there is taken into account elastic-damping properties of the sugar beet leaves residues. In the study there was first of all developed a new design of the topper for sugar beet heads with the use of a flat swath board sensing organ, there was developed the equivalent scheme of the interaction of the sensing organ with a fixed sugar beet root head. There was also selected and arranged the axis of coordinates, and determined the active forces and angle parameters. Using the basic law of dynamics there was made up a new system of differential equations and the integration of which has made it possible to find the laws of variation of the speed of movement and of the movement of the flat passive sensing organ on the head of sugar beet root head at the beginning of the contact. After determining the initial values of force and design parameters it is possible to solve them on PC to optimise kinematic and structural parameters of the sensing mechanism.
Soil electrical conductivity estimated by time domain reflectometry and electromagnetic induction sensors: Accounting for the different sensor observation volumes
Authors: Saeed Ali , Comegna Alessandro , Dragonetti Giovanna , Lamaddalena Nicola , Sommella Angelo , Coppola Antonio
Published: December 2017

This paper dealt with the calibration of an EMI sensor for monitoring the time dynamics of root zone salinity under irrigation with saline water. Calibration was based on an empirical multiple regression approach largely adopted in the past and still applied in practice for its relative simplicity. Compared to the more complex inversion approaches, it requires an independent dataset of local σb measured within discrete depth intervals, to be compared to horizontal and vertical electrical conductivity (ECaH and ECaV) readings for estimating the parameters of the empirical regression equations. In this paper, we used time domain reflectometry (TDR) readings to replace direct sampling for these local σb measurements. When using this approach, there is the important issue of taking into account the effect of the different sensor observation volumes, making the readings not immediately comparable for empirical calibration. Accordingly, a classical Fourier’s filtering technique was applied to remove the high frequency part (at small spatial scale) of the original data variability, which, due to the different observation volume, was the main source of dissimilarity between the two datasets. Thus, calibration focused only on the lower frequency information, that is, the information at a spatial scale larger than the observation volume of the sensors. By this analysis, we showed and quantified the degree to which the information of the set of TDR readings came from a combination of local and larger scale heterogeneities and how they have to be manipulated for use in EMI electromagnetic induction sensor calibration.
Consideration of Problem-Based Learning in Athletic Training Education
Authors: Gillette Cordial M.
Published: December 2017

Context:

Athletic training educators are faced with the tasks of assessing learning styles, preparing and delivering content, and assessing student learning. Within content delivery, some educators may subscribe to certain learning theories and teaching strategies. One teaching strategy that holds potential for athletic training education is problem-based learning, which is grounded in cognitive theory and aligns with the way in which athletic training students learn by constructing knowledge based on previous experiences.

Objective:

To describe problem-based learning, the theoretical basis for using problem-based learning in athletic training education, and provide examples of incorporating problem-based learning activities into an evaluation course.

Background:

Problem-based learning was first introduced at McMaster University in an attempt to better transition between what medical students were learning in the classroom and what they were experiencing in their clinical settings. Problem-based learning has been studied and found to be effective in health care education and can be considered by athletic training educators.

Description:

Problem-based learning is a philosophy as well as a teaching strategy that uses problem solving to learn both content and clinical skills. Students work independently and in small groups to acquire knowledge through problem solving. Problem-based learning challenges the idea that students need a reservoir of knowledge before being able to solve a complex problem.

Clinical Advantage(s):

Based on theory and research in health care education, problem-based learning can be used in athletic training education to improve students' abilities to construct knowledge, to be active learners, to collaborate, and to give them the skills to be lifelong learners.

Conclusion(s):

Athletic training educators can consider implementing problem-based learning into their curriculums to integrate the learning of content and clinical skills.
Tubular variant of mammary adenomyoepithelioma: Diagnostic challenges and cytomorphological correlation in two cases
Authors: Jassar Aneeta , Pathania Kunjan
Published: December 2017

The authors describe the cytomorphologic features of two cases of tubular variant of adenomyoepithelioma of the breast that were first examined by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and diagnosed as fibroadenoma. On retrospective review of the cytology, subtle features such as less cohesive epithelial clusters, intimate association of clusters of stromal cells with epithelial elements, a dominant population of plump-epithelioid naked (myoepithelial) cells, and occasional cells with intranuclear inclusions, were noted. Thus, these lesions can be diagnostically challenging and cannot be conclusively differentiated from either fibroadenoma or tubular adenoma cytologically and the pathologist may only be able to give a differential on FNAC. Recognition of the biphasic nature and the characteristic overall architecture of the tumors in combination with immunohistochemistry are essential to establish the correct diagnosis on biopsy. Although most tumors have a benign clinical course, rare instances of local recurrence, malignant transformation, and distant metastases have been reported. A complete excision with adequate margins would lower the chance of local recurrence.
Prácticas, competencias y tendencias de la comunicación publicitaria digital: una visión desde la perspectiva de los anunciantes españoles
Authors: Carcelén García Sonia , Alameda García David , Pintado Blanco Teresa
Published: December 2017

Este estudio pretende conocer el uso actual y futuro de las distintas herramientas de comunicación online en las empresas españolas, así como su percepción sobre el nivel de formación en competencias digitales de los profesionales del sector. Metodología: Para ello, se ha realizado una encuesta online a una muestra nacional de 301 anunciantes, representados por distintos tamaños y sectores de actividad. Resultados y conclusiones: Las empresas incrementarán cada vez más su presupuesto en marketing digital. Por ello, se prevé una mayor profesionalización del sector, así como una mayor demanda de expertos en nuevas tecnologías y comunicación digital. En la actualidad, los anunciantes están desarrollando estrategias de comunicación basadas en las técnicas digitales más tradicionales y de más fácil implementación, dejando a un lado aquéllas más sofisticadas y que requieren de profesionales más cualificados. En este sentido, se observa entre el sector una falta de formación en competencias digitales.
CD45RO+ T Cells and T Cell Activation in the Long-Lasting Immunity after Leishmania infantum Infection
Authors: Rodrigues-Neto João F. , Monteiro Gloria R. , Keesen Tatjana S. L. , Lacerda Henio G. , Carvalho Edgar M. , Jeronimo Selma M. B.
Published: December 2017

Manifestations of Leishmania infantum infection range from asymptomatic to symptomatic visceral leishmaniasis (VL). People with symptomatic VL (sVL) have suppressed immune responses against Leishmania antigens that are reversed after clinical cure. The intradermal leishmanin skin test (LST) is negative during sVL, but it becomes positive after treatment. The aim of this study was to compare T cell responses in individuals with sVL, recovered VL (RecVL), and endemic controls. Endemic controls were household contacts of a VL case and they were grouped by their LST results, either positive (LST+) or negative (LST−). Mononuclear cells were studied ex vivo or after stimulation with soluble Leishmania antigens (SLA); cell surface markers and cytokines were determined. T cells, ex vivo, from individuals with sVL and from LST+ individuals presented a higher activation for CD4+ and CD8+ cells expressing CD69. However, lymphocytes from sVL stimulated with SLA had lower percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ cells expressing CD69 and CD8+ cells expressing CD25, with no release of interferon-γ or tumor necrosis factor. sVL subjects had lower percentage of memory cells (CD4+ CD45RO+), ex vivo, without SLA stimulation than RecVL, LST+, or LST− (P = 0.0022). However, individuals with sVL had fewer regulatory cells after SLA stimulation (CD4+ CD25HIGH, P = 0.04 and CD4+ FOXP3+, P = 0.02) than RecVL. The decrease in specific memory and activated CD4+ and CD8+ cells, as in response to Leishmania antigens, could explain, in part, the immune impairment during sVL. Finally, protective T cell responses are long lasting because both RecVL or LST+ individuals maintain a specific protective response to Leishmania years after the primary infection.
Porcine Cysticercosis: Possible Cross-Reactivity of Taenia hydatigena to GP50 Antigen in the Enzyme-Linked Immunoelectrotransfer Blot Assay
Authors: Muro Claudio , Gomez-Puerta Luis A. , Flecker Robert H. , Gamboa Ricardo , Barreto Percy Vilchez , Dorny Pierre , Tsang Victor C. W. , Gilman Robert H. , Gonzalez Armando E. , Garcia Hector H. , O’Neal Seth E. , for the Cysticercosis Working Group
Published: December 2017

The lentil lectin glycoprotein enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (LLGP EITB, reported sensitivity 99% and specificity 100%) is used as a serologic marker of exposure to Taenia solium in pigs. However, only a limited number of parasites have been evaluated for cross reactivity. Pigs may host other related cestode infections, including Taenia hydatigena, which have not been formally evaluated for cross-reactions. We investigated a corral in Tumbes, Peru, a region where a cysticercosis elimination demonstration project was completed in 2012. In this corral, 14/19 (73.7%) 6–8-week-old piglets were reactive to GP50 on LLGP EITB, and all had circulating Taenia sp. antigens. From eight necropsied piglets; four were infected with T. hydatigena metacestodes whereas none had evidence of T. solium infection. Two resident dogs were subsequently confirmed to have T. hydatigena taeniasis. These results suggest GP50 cross-reactivity in T. hydatigena-infected pigs, although controlled experimental infection is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Evaluating the Recombinant T24H Enzyme-Linked Immunoelectrotransfer Blot Assay for the Diagnosis of Neurocysticercosis in a Panel of Samples from a Large Community-Based Randomized Control Trial in 60 Villages in Burkina Faso
Authors: Dermauw Veronique , Carabin Hélène , Cissé Assana , Millogo Athanase , Tarnagda Zékiba , Ganaba Rasmané , Noh John , Handali Sukwan , Breen Kathleen , Richter Vivian , Cissé Rabiou , Preux Pierre-Marie , Boncoeur-Martel Marie-Paule , Winkler Andrea Sylvia , Van Hul Anke , Dorny Pierre , Gabriël Sarah
Published: December 2017

Current guidelines for the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis (NCC) recommend the use of the lentil lectin-bound glycoprotein enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot assay (LLGP-EITB) as the reference standard for serological testing. In response to the drawbacks involved with the use of the LLGP-EITB, a recombinant T24H antigen (rT24H) EITB assay was developed, with promising results. However, the test has yet to be evaluated among individuals from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The aim of the present study was to investigate the performance of the rT24H EITB assay for the detection of NCC cases in a panel of serum samples (N = 366, of which 173 patients presented with epileptic seizures and/or severe chronic headaches, and 193 matched manifestation-free participants) collected as part of a large community-based trial in Burkina Faso. A perfect agreement between the rT24H EITB and the native gp24 (and its homodimer, gp42) LLGP-EITB was found (kappa value of 1.0). Furthermore, among patients with the neurological manifestations of interest who underwent a computed tomography scan, the rT24H EITB and native antigen LLGP-EITB had a comparable ability to correctly identify NCC cases with multiple viable (rT24H: sensitivity: 80.0%), single viable (66.7%), and calcified/degenerating cysts only (25.0%), albeit for multiple viable and calcified cysts, the rT24H estimated sensitivity seemed lower, but more uncertain, than previously reported. The rT24H EITB specificity was high (98.2%) and in line with previous studies. This study confirms the value of the recombinant rT24H EITB as an alternative to the native antigen LLGP-EITB for the diagnosis of NCC in a SSA community setting.
African and Asian Zika Virus Isolates Display Phenotypic Differences Both In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Smith Darci R. , Sprague Thomas R. , Hollidge Bradley S. , Valdez Stephanie M. , Padilla Susana L. , Bellanca Stephanie A. , Golden Joseph W. , Coyne Susan R. , Kulesh David A. , Miller Lynn Jean , Haddow Andrew D. , Koehler Jeff W. , Gromowski Gregory D. , Jarman Richard G. , Alera Maria Theresa P. , Yoon In-Kyu , Buathong Rome , Lowen Robert G. , Kane Christopher D. , Minogue Timothy D. , Bavari Sina , Tesh Robert B. , Weaver Scott C. , Linthicum Kenneth J. , Pitt Margaret L. , Nasar Farooq
Published: December 2017

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne member of the genus Flavivirus that has emerged since 2007 to cause outbreaks in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and most recently, in the Americas. Here, we used an isolate history as well as genetic and phylogenetic analyses to characterize three low-passage isolates representing African (ArD 41525) and Asian (CPC-0740, SV0127-14) lineages to investigate the potential phenotypic differences in vitro and in vivo. The African isolate displayed a large plaque phenotype (∼3–4 mm) on Vero and HEK-293 cells, whereas the Asian isolates either exhibited a small plaque phenotype (∼1–2 mm) or did not produce any plaques. In multistep replication kinetics in nine different vertebrate and insect cell lines, the African isolate consistently displayed faster replication kinetics and yielded ∼10- to 10,000-fold higher peak virus titers (infectious or RNA copies) compared with the Asian isolates. Oral exposure of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with the African isolate yielded higher infection and dissemination rates compared with the Asian isolates. Infection of Ifnar1−/− mice with the African isolate produced a uniformly fatal disease, whereas infection with the Asian isolates produced either a delay in time-to-death or a significantly lower mortality rate. Last, the African isolate was > 10,000-fold more virulent than the Asian isolates in an interferon type I antibody blockade mouse model. These data demonstrate substantial phenotypic differences between low-passage African and Asian isolates both in vitro and in vivo and warrant further investigation. They also highlight the need for basic characterization of ZIKV isolates, as the utilization of the uncharacterized isolates could have consequences for animal model and therapeutic/vaccine development.
Tooth Implant-supported Obturator for a Hemimaxillectomy Patient
Authors: Sapat Makrand , Rathod Chandan , Sodawala Fatema , Sodawala Javed
Published: December 2017

The esthetic and functional rehabilitation of the patients with palatal defects using obturator poses challenge to the clinician. The use of existing teeth along with implants helps in providing good retention, support, and stability to the prosthesis. Ball-socket type of attachments offer efficient, yet economical alternative to these patients. This case report describes management of a hemimaxillectomy adult patient with a class II palatal defect using tooth implant-supported obturator. Osseointegrated implants and direct overdenture post with ball-socket type of attachments were used to construct a definitive obturator for prosthetic rehabilitation of this patient.

How to cite this article

Rathod C, Sapat M, Sodawala F, Sodawala J. Tooth Implant-supported Obturator for a Hemimaxillectomy Patient. Int J Prosthodont Restor Dent 2017;7(4):129-132.
La inoculación con un hongo ectomicorrízico comestible y bacterias incrementa el crecimiento y mejora la calidad fisiológica de Pinus montezumae
Authors: Barragán-Soriano José L. , Pérez-Moreno Jesús , Almaraz-Suárez Juan José , Carcaño-Montiel Moisés G. , Medrano-Ortiz Karla I.
Published: December 2017

Introducción: La ectomicorriza y las bacterias auxiliadoras de la micorrización son fundamentales en el reciclaje nutrimental de los ecosistemas forestales. Objetivo: El crecimiento, tasa fotosintética, clorofilas, carotenos, colonización de raíz y contenido de N, P y K se evaluaron en plantas de Pinus montezumae inoculadas con el hongo ectomicorrízico comestible Hebeloma mesophaeum (Hm), solo y en combinación con las bacterias Cohnella sp. (C) o Azospirillum brasilense (Ab). Resultados y discusión: Las plantas inoculadas solamente con el hongo o coinoculados con el hongo y las bacterias presentaron mejor calidad fisiológica que las plantas no inoculadas y las inoculadas exclusivamente con las bacterias, principalmente, en términos de crecimiento, fotosíntesis y contenido nutrimental. La inoculación con Hm, sola o combinada con las bacterias, incrementó la concentración de clorofilas a, b, y total. La inoculación bacteriana incrementó la concentración de carotenos, mientras que el hongo por sí solo no tuvo efecto. Existió sinergismo en las plantas inoculadas con Hm + Ab, el cual se reflejó en el contenido de N aéreo y total, en comparación con las plantas inoculadas con Hm o Ab por separado. La colonización ectomicorrízica varió de 69 a 76 % en los tratamientos inoculados. Conclusión: Existe potencial biotecnológico de la coinoculación con hongos comestibles ectomicorrízicos y bacterias auxiliadoras de la micorrización en P. montezumae.
Morfoanatomía de embriones de Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart. (Arecaceae)
Authors: Díaz-Lezcano Maura I. , Navarro-Cerrillo Rafael M. , Ruíz-Gómez Francisco J.
Published: December 2017

Introducción: El estudio morfoanatómico de las semillas y sus embriones sirve para obtener información sobre la germinación, almacenamiento y viabilidad. Objetivo: Describir la morfoanatomía del embrión de la palma Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart., a nivel celular. Materiales y métodos: Los embriones se obtuvieron de frutos maduros de A. aculeata, recolectados en individuos de una población nativa, próxima a la ciudad de San Lorenzo, Departamento Central, Paraguay. El estudio morfoanatómico se hizo mediante la fijación, deshidratación e inclusión de los embriones en bloques de resina y análisis cualitativo mediante microscopía.  Resultados y discusión: El embrión es pequeño de color amarillo verdoso y de forma lanceolada. En el extremo proximal se localiza el cotiledón, y en el distal, el limbo o haustorio. El embrión presenta una hendidura longitudinal o ventana cotiledonar que permitirá la emergencia de la plántula (radicula y plúmula). La plúmula, bien diferenciada, está situada en ángulo con respecto al eje longitudinal del embrión; en forma opuesta se encuentra la zona meristemática, donde se desarrollará la radícula. La plúmula consta de dos primordios foliares y un ápice, con el esbozo de un tercer primordio.  Conclusión: En general, el embrión de A. aculeata es semejante al de otras palmas del mismo grupo, en cuanto a forma e inclusión en el endosperma.
On the Nonlinear Relationship between Bank Financing and Firm Performance: A PSTR Model for Tunisian Companies
Authors: Hakimi Abdelaziz
Published: December 2017

Despite that bank lending and firm performance relationship has been strongly explored, to date there are few studies that investigated the threshold of credit that affects firm performance. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks the optimal threshold of short-term and long-term credits that affects firm performance. Second, it investigates the impact of bank credit of firm performance. To achieve these goals, we used a sample of 36 Tunisian listed companies over the period 2008-2015 and we performed the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) as econometric approach. Empirical results indicate that Tunisian firms require more short-term credits than long-term loans based on the optimal threshold. With regard to the impact of bank credit, findings indicate that this effect differs from short-term to long-term credit. We found that firm performance was significantly and positively correlated with short-term credit. However, long-term credit decreases significantly the performance of Tunisian companies. For macroeconomic factors, results show that GDPG increases significantly firm performance; however inflation acts negatively and significantly.
Students´ Language Learning Beliefs and other Aspects that Affect Their Achievement
Authors: Peralta Castro Fernando Manuel , Andrade-Arechiga María
Published: December 2017

Studies have revealed that language learners’ beliefs affect their language learning (White, 2008). Mori (1999) found significant correlation between beliefs and achievement in her study of American college students studying Japanese. This study investigates language students with very similar beliefs, but different level of achievement in a language test. Findings reveal that besides the students’ beliefs, other aspects such as students’ language learning background could also affect their achievement.
Rural Energy Demand and Climate Change Adaptation in Ghana
Authors: Adom-Opare Kwabena Boafo , Inkoom Daniel Kweku Baah
Published: December 2017

This paper applies a cross-sectional and prospective study designs to explore the nexus between energy forms in rural areas in Ghana and prevailing climate change impact indicators. The results indicate that rural energy forms in Ghana are mainly fuel wood and charcoal, with limited number of modern energy forms. These dominant energy forms affect and are affected by climate indices that were studied in this paper; which were rainfall, surface temperature and evaporation. There is continual increase in demand for fuel wood and charcoal across different altitude and economic zones in rural communities and this phenomenon will continue even with increased access to modern energy forms like electricity and LPG. The analysis also shows that with increasing demand and slow forest cover regeneration; there was a deficit in fuel wood supply even though there is surplus charcoal supply. This phenomenon threatens energy access and climate change in rural communities.
Impacts of Mobile Media on the Efficiency of Learning English for Special Purposes in Health Students
Authors: Atharizadeh Mahmood
Published: December 2017

With amazing speed of cyberspace, the internet, tablet, and mobile applications, they have been widely used also in education. Moreover, their availability in language learning and teaching has become very diverse so that their integration into traditional methods in language learning is significantly taken into account. The aim of the survey is to study the students’ overviews of impacts of mobile media language learning in better and more efficient learning of English for Special Purposes (ESP) among public and occupational health students studying in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Emptiness and the Eight Consciousnesses: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Intuitive Judgment
Authors: Liao Jen-Sheng , Chien Charles S.
Published: December 2017

This paper empirically investigates whether emptiness (according to the Madhyamaka school) has a positive association with the intuitive judgment that results from the eight consciousnesses (according to the Vijnanavada school). A questionnaire-based quantitative approach was used to collect data from 157 professional spirit mediums. The results show that emptiness is significantly correlated with pure brightness and that pure brightness is, in turn, is significantly associated with intuitive judgment. Therefore, this paper argues that emptiness can improve or enhance the eight consciousnesses in making moral decisions. Finally, for the gap between moral judgment and action, this research provides new insight by asserting that this gap must have existed a priori.
The Feasibility and Methodology for Water and Land Paintings in the Study of the Ming Dynasty Costumes
Authors: Bian Xiangyang , Niu Meng
Published: December 2017

Chinese Water and Land painting contains lots of figure costume modeling, providing intuitive and vivid image data for the study of ancient costumes. It is a new medium for the study of Chinese ancient costumes. This paper analyzes the feasibility and methodology for Water and Land paintings in the study of the Ming Dynasty. With the Ming costumes in the Water and Land Paintings, this paper discusses the shape, color, texture and fabric patterns of the ancient dresses. The feasibility of using Water and Land Paintings to study ancient costumes is further analyzed in this paper. This paper emphasizes the importance of ancient dresses in Water and Land Painting for the study of its wearing effect, and the specific methods of research that are put forward.
Review on Reformulation of the Mean-Variance Model with Real-life Trading Restrictions
Authors: Li Feng
Published: December 2017

In this paper, we consider a class of portfolio selection problems with cardinality and minimum buy-in threshold constraints in real-life which can be formulated as mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP). Two reformulation methods that generate the same tight continuous relaxation of original problem are compared in the context under the branch-and-bound algorithm, one is the Perspective Reformulation and another is the Lift-and-Convexification Reformulation (LCR). Computational results show that the (PC) is more competitive than the (LCR) method in terms of computing time and nodes in MIQP solver CPLEX 12.7, what's more, this outperformance becomes more obvious as the size of instances grows.
Treatment of the Race-Consciousness in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Authors: Habib Munther Mohd.
Published: December 2017

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man portrays the plight of 'blacks' in America and is a testimony to the fact that the negroes feel disillusioned in a world which is dominated by the white oppressors. Moreover, it is my assertion in the paper that the journey of the un-named hero is a journey from innocence to awareness. The protagonist at the end comes to realize the duplicity of the whites and through his experiences has been successful to convey his individuality.