bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of genetic diversity among the maize inbred lines (Zea mays L.) under heat stress condition
Authors: Kandel Manoj , Ghimire Surya Kant , Ojha Bishnu Raj , Shrestha Jiban
Published: January 2018

High temperature adversely affects the plant physiological processes: limits plant growth and reduction in grain yield. Heat stress is often encountered to spring sowing of maize in spring season. Twenty maize inbred lines were studied for days to 50 % anthesis and silking, anthesis–silking interval, leaf firing, tassel blast, SPAD reading and leaf senescence, plant and ear height, leaf area index, ear per plant, cob length and diameter, number of kernel/ear, number of kernel row/ear, number of kernel row, silk receptivity, shelling percentage, thousand kernel weight and grain yield in alpha lattice design at National Maize Research Program at Rampur, Chitwan,Nepal with the objective to identify superior heat stress tolerant lines. Analysis of variance showed significant difference for all the traits. Result of multivariable analysis revealed that twenty inbred lines formed four clusters. The resistance inbred lines and susceptible inbred lines formed different clusters. The members of  cluster 4  were found to be tolerant to heat stress due to they had lowest value of tassel blast, leaf firing, and leaf area index with highest value of cob diameter and length, ear per plant, number of kernel row/ear, number of kernel/ear, number of kernel row, shelling percentage, silk receptivity and grain yield whereas as members of cluster 1were found most susceptible due to they had longer anthesis silking interval, with maximum tassel blast and leaf firing along with no grain yield under heat stress condition. From this study inbred lines RL-140, RML-76, RML-91 and RML-40 were found most tolerant to heat stress. These inbred lines belonging to superior cluster could be considered very useful in developing heat tolerant variety and other breeding activities.
Screening of promising maize genotypes against maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulky) in storage condition
Authors: Paneru Ram B , Thapa Resham B
Published: January 2018

The maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky) is a serious pest of economic importance in stored grains. It causes major damage to stored maize grain thereby reducing its weight, quality and germination. An experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications to screen 32 maize genotypes against maize weevil in no-choice and free-choice conditions at Entomology Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur (Room temperature: Maximum 24-32°C and Minimum 18-27°C). The findings showed that the maize genotypes had different response to maize weevil damage ranging from susceptible to tolerance. The genotypes Manakamana-3, Lumle White POP Corn and Ganesh-2 showed their tolerance to S. zeamais as evidenced by lower number of weevil emerged/attracted, lower amount of grain debris release and lower proportion of bored grains, while the genotype ZM-627 was the most susceptible to weevil damage in both tests. The other remaining genotypes were intermediate types. This information is useful to improve grain protection in storage and varietal improvement/release program.
Pattern of Malocclusion in Orthodontic Patients in South-Eastern Region of Nepal
Authors: Acharya Anand , Bhattarai Bhushan , George Diana , Bhagat Tarakant
Published: January 2018

Introduction: Occlusal traits in orthodontic patients have been studied in different parts of Nepal. However, very few data are available on malocclusion in south-eastern region of Nepal.Objective: To assess the pattern of malocclusion occurring in orthodontic patients in south-eastern region of Nepal, and to estimate the age of presentation of Class II malocclusion among the patients.Materials & Method: Data were collected from 150 pre-treatment study models and lateral cephalograms from two orthodontic specialty clinics in Biratnagar. Angle’s classification system was used to determine dental malocclusion and ANB angle was used to determine skeletal malocclusion. Chi square test was used to test the association between dental and skeleton malocclusions.Result: Angle’s Class I malocclusion was found in 95(63.33%), Class II Div 1 in 41(27.33%), Class II Div 2 in 13(8.66%) and Class III in 1(0.66%). Among all subjects; 119 (79.33%) had skeletal Class I, 24(16%) had skeletal Class II and 7(4.66%) had skeletal Class III. There was significant association between dental and skeletal malocclusions. The average age for reporting Class II Div 1 malocclusion was 16.5 years and Class II Div 2 malocclusion was 19 years.Conclusion: Angle’s Class I is the most common malocclusion followed by Class II and Class III among orthodontic patients in south-eastern Nepal. The subjects lack awareness on age factor for orthodontic treatment.
Angular Relationship between Frankfort Horizontal Plane and Sella-Nasion Plane in Nepalese Orthodontic Patients: A Cephalometric Study
Authors: Giri Jamal , Pokharel Prabhat Ranjan , Gyawali Rajesh
Published: January 2018

Introduction: The angle between Frankfort horizontal (FH) plane and Sella-Nasion (SN) plane is considered to be 7°. Various studies have shown that the FH-SN angulations could vary; which can affect cephalometric diagnosis.Objective: To determine average FH-SN angle for a group of Nepalese orthodontic patients. The secondary objectives were to assess whether the FH-SN angle exhibits sexual dimorphism and to evaluate the FH-SN angle in different skeletal relationships.Materials & Method: Lateral cephalograms of 238 orthodontic patients were hand traced and the angle between the FH and SN plane was measured and recorded. The cephalograms were also classified as skeletal Class I, II or III cases using Wits appraisal.Result: The average FH-SN angle was 6.71° ± 3.13°. FH-SN angle was greater in female samples compared to males. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Similarly, the ANOVA analysis revealed no significant difference between FH-SN angles in different skeletal relationships.Conclusion: The average FH-SN angle for a group of Nepalese orthodontic patients was 6.71° ± 3.13°. There was no statistically significant difference in FH-SN angle between skeletal Class I, II and III relationships
Morphological Diversity of Soft Palate in Nepalese Population: A Retrospective Cephalometric Study
Authors: Upadhyaya Chandan , Neupane Ichchha , Sapkota Binam , Srivastava Shatakshi
Published: January 2018

Introduction: Soft palate is a fibromuscular portion constituting the back of roof of the mouth which is essential for phonation, deglutition, respiration and velopharyngeal competence.Objective: To study various morphologies of soft palate, difference in proportion of each type and their differencesamong gender and agegroups in Nepalese sample.Materials & Method: A retrospective study was conducted on patients seeking orthodontic treatment. 263 lateral cephalograms were classified on the basis of radiographic appearance. Analysis was done using SPSS (version 20.0). Pearson chi square and descriptive statistics were performed and level of significance was set at p<0.05. Result: In the order of occurrence; rat tail type of soft palate was most prevalent followed by leaf type, butt type, straightline, crooked type and S shaped. There was no significant difference between male and female subjects (p=0.338) and through age groups (p=0.998).Conclusion: The study highlights various types of soft palate present in Nepalese sample which will help as a reference for research pertaining to cleft palate/ velopharyngeal closure and in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome in Nepalese population
Evaluation of Smile Line in Natural and Forced Smile Position: An Institution-based Study
Authors: Sapkota Binam , Srivastava Shatakshi , Koju Sushmit , Srii Ritesh
Published: January 2018

Introduction: Smile line is a major factor considered in esthetic treatment planning.Objective: To assess the position of the smile line both in natural and forced position in relation to age and gender in Nepali population sample.Materials & Method: A cross sectional study was done in 220 adults. DSLR camera was used to take photograph of the participants. Two different photographs were taken of each participant in natural and forced smile position in standardized format. The smile lines were determined and classified according to Liebart et al. Data analysis was done by SPSS 20.0 software. Chi square test was performed to analyze statistical significance between the gender and age groupsResult: Maximum individuals had low type of natural smile (59.1%) and average type of forced smile (40.0%). Very few individuals had very high type of natural smile (1.4%) and very high type of forced smile (15.9%). Among all, 41% had visibility of the periodontium during normal smile while on forced smile 79.1% had visibility of the periodontium.Conclusion: Females have significantly more periodontal visibility when compared to males during forced smile in Nepali population sample. This concept of smile line should be utilized for treatment planning to achieve desirable facial esthetics in many fields of dentistry including Orthodontics, Prosthodontics, Periodontics, Restorative Dentistry.
Assessment of Skeletal Class I Subjects of Uttarakhand using Beta Angle
Authors: Rathod Dhananjay , Rathod GP , Rathod Pankaj , Bisht Gazal
Published: January 2018

Objective: To evaluate and establish the norms for Class I subjects of Uttarakhand population using the beta angle.Materials & Method: The sample included pre-treatment lateral cephalograms of 100 subjects aged 18-30 years belonging to Uttarakhand ethnicity and possessing skeletal Class I malocclusion with pleasing profile. Beta angle measurement was performed and compared with Caucasian standards.Result: No statistically significant difference was found in the beta angle values of Uttarakhand and Caucasian populations. Beta angle norms for Caucasian population can be applied for the Uttarakhand population.Conclusion: Beta angle is relatively a stable parameter in population with different ethnicities.
Occurrence of Second Mesio-buccal Canal in Maxillary First Permanent Molar: A CBCT Study
Authors: Shrestha Sandhya , Sapkota Manish Raj , Shah Ankit , Rajbhandari Santosh , Sapkota Pratyush
Published: January 2018

Introduction: Complexity in root canal morphology leads to chances of failure in endodontic treatment due to missed canal. Availability of Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has contributed to assess second mesiobuccal canals in maxillary first molars.Objective: To study the presence of second mesiobuccal (MB2) canals, classify morphology of canals according to Vertucci’s classification and to measure the distance between MB1 and MB2 canals.Materials & Method: 72 CBCT scans including 115 permanent maxillary first molars were evaluated by endodontist and oral radiologist separately using Dicom software to study the mesiobuccal root canal morphology. Oral radiologist and endodontist individually evaluated the scans through coronal, axial and oblique views to study canal configurations. Vertucci’s Classification was used to classify the canal configurations. Statistical tests were done to assess the gender variation and arch side difference.Result: Among 115 images evaluated; 30.4% samples had second mesiobuccal canal. The most common canal configuration was Type I (60.9 %) in mesiobuccal root. The mean distance between MB1 and MB2 canals was 2.39 mm in female and 2.56 mm in male.Conclusion: The occurrence of second canal in mesiobuccal root of maxillary permanent molar is considerable in Nepali patients. CBCT can be an effective tool to detect MB2 canal and other complexities of root canal system to achieve clinical success
Onosma bracteatum wall: A Potent analgesic agent
Authors: Imran Hina , Rahman Atiq Ur , Sohail Tehmina , Taqvi S Intasar H , Yaqeen Zahra
Published: January 2018

Background: This study was aimed to find out the central and peripheral analgesic activity of hydro methanolic extract of aerial parts of Onosma bracteatum.Material and methods: The central and peripheral analgesic activity is evaluated by tail flick test and acetic acid induced writhing test at the doses of 50, 100, 250 and 500mg/kg body weight respectively in animal models.Results: The results obtained from Tail flick test revealed that O. bracteatum possesses potent analgesic effects by inducing significant increase in latency period in dose dependent manner at all doses at 1, 2 and 3 hours post feeding respectively. The maximum effect was observed at a dose of 500mg/kg i.e. 258.9% (p<0.05) at 3hrs post feeding. Diclofenac sodium (5mg/kg body weight) run as standard also increased the latency period continuously and highest activity was noted at 3hr i.e. 284.5% (p<0.05). Acetic acid induced writhing test also showed significant activity in a similar manner by O. bracteatum i.e 54% (p<0.05) at 500mg/kg while standard drug Diclofenic sodium (5mg/kg body weight) showed 45.9% (p<0.05) activity.Conclusion: It is concluded that O. bracteatum possesses significant central and peripheral analgesic activity in animal model.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.17(1) 2018 p.36-41
The irrational offering of benzodiazepines by medicine shops in Bangladesh: Recommends implementation of retail pharmacy as soon as possible
Authors: Jakaria Md , Rahman Atiqur , Rahat Mohammad Rasib Uddin , Islam Mukimul , Clinton Chayan Dhar , Talukder Mohammad Belal , Islam Md Shariful , Sayeed Mohammed Abu , Rashid Mohammad Abdur
Published: January 2018

As controlled drugs, benzodiazepines are one of the most familiar prescription drugs. This present study was designed to determine the proportion of medicine shops that irrationally offered benzodiazepines without prescription in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh. A crosssectional study on the sample of 563 medicine shops was conducted from July 2015 to August 2015. A simulated client methodology was used to complete this survey. Among the total 539 medicine shops, 237(43.97%) medicine shops were offered benzodiazepines. On the other hand, 302(56.02%) medicine shops were denied to sell benzodiazepines. The offering of controlled drugs without the prescription was terrifyingly high by medicine shops in the Chittagong division. Thus, the responsible authority should be taken steps to overcome this irrationality.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.17(1) 2018 p.175-177
Predicting Lameness in Sheep Activity Using Tri-Axial Acceleration Signals
Authors: Barwick Jamie , Lamb David , Dobos Robin , Schneider Derek , Welch Mitchell , Trotter Mark
Published: January 2018

Lameness is a clinical symptom associated with a number of sheep diseases around the world, having adverse effects on weight gain, fertility, and lamb birth weight, and increasing the risk of secondary diseases. Current methods to identify lame animals rely on labour intensive visual inspection. The aim of this current study was to determine the ability of a collar, leg, and ear attached tri-axial accelerometer to discriminate between sound and lame gait movement in sheep. Data were separated into 10 s mutually exclusive behaviour epochs and subjected to Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA). Initial analysis showed the high misclassification of lame grazing events with sound grazing and standing from all deployment modes. The final classification model, which included lame walking and all sound activity classes, yielded a prediction accuracy for lame locomotion of 82%, 35%, and 87% for the ear, collar, and leg deployments, respectively. Misclassification of sound walking with lame walking within the leg accelerometer dataset highlights the superiority of an ear mode of attachment for the classification of lame gait characteristics based on time series accelerometer data.
Audlet Filter Banks: A Versatile Analysis/Synthesis Framework Using Auditory Frequency Scales
Authors: Necciari Thibaud , Holighaus Nicki , Balazs Peter , Průša Zdeněk , Majdak Piotr , Derrien Olivier
Published: January 2018

Many audio applications rely on filter banks (FBs) to analyze, process, and re-synthesize sounds. For these applications, an important property of the analysis–synthesis system is the reconstruction error; it has to be minimized to avoid audible artifacts. Other advantageous properties include stability and low redundancy. To exploit some aspects of auditory perception in the signal chain, some applications rely on FBs that approximate the frequency analysis performed in the auditory periphery, the gammatone FB being a popular example. However, current gammatone FBs only allow partial reconstruction and stability at high redundancies. In this article, we construct an analysis–synthesis system for audio applications. The proposed system, referred to as Audlet, is an oversampled FB with filters distributed on auditory frequency scales. It allows perfect reconstruction for a wide range of FB settings (e.g., the shape and density of filters), efficient FB design, and adaptable redundancy. In particular, we show how to construct a gammatone FB with perfect reconstruction. Experiments demonstrate performance improvements of the proposed gammatone FB when compared to current gammatone FBs in terms of reconstruction error and stability, especially at low redundancies. An application of the framework to audio source separation illustrates its utility for audio processing.
Reduction of T2 Relaxation Rates due to Large Volume Fractions of Magnetic Nanoparticles for All Motional Regimes
Authors: Issa Bashar
Published: January 2018

The effect of high volume fraction of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) transverse relaxation rates (R2 = 1/T2 and R2* = 1/T2*) is investigated using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Theoretical models assume that particles occupy a small volume fraction of the sample space. Results presented in this work show that models based on both motional averaged (MAR) and static dephasing (SDR) regimes respectively underestimate and overestimate relaxation rates at large volume fractions. Furthermore, both R2* and R2* become echo-time dependent. This suggests that diffusion is involved with larger echo-times producing smaller relaxation rates due to better averaging of the magnetic field gradients. Findings emphasize the need for the models to be modified to take account of high particle concentration especially important for application involving clustering and trapping of nanoparticles inside cells. This is important in order to improve the design process of MNP Contrast Agents.
The Intention to be Physically Active in Sedentary Obese Children: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: García-Hermoso Antonio , Saavedra Jose , Escalante Yolanda , Domínguez Ana
Published: January 2018

Obese children are usually less active than their normal-weight counterparts, although the reasons for this remain unclear. The objective of the present study was to determine how a long-term program (3 years of intervention and 6 months of follow-up detraining) of physical exercise with or without a low calorie diet influenced sedentary obese children’s intention to be physically active. The participants were 27 children, ages from 8 to 11 years, who formed two groups according to the program that they followed. One group followed an exercise program (three 90-min sessions per week), and the other this same exercise program together with a hypocaloric diet. The intention to be physically active was assessed via the Measurement of Intention to be Physically Active (MIFA) questionnaire. The subjects’ scores at different times of the program (baseline, Year 3, and detraining) were compared using a repeated-measures ANOVA, and a post-hoc Tukey’s test was applied to confirm the differences. After both the intervention and detraining, both groups showed greater intention to be physically active. This suggests the suitability of long-term physical exercise to generate greater intention to be physically active and thus establish healthy life habits including increased levels of physical activity.
Esophageal Web in a Down Syndrome Infant—A Rare Case Report
Authors: Thomas Nirmala , Mukkada Roy , Abdul Jalal Muhammed , Narayanankutty Nisha
Published: January 2018

We describe the rare case of an infant with trisomy 21 who presented with recurrent vomiting and aspiration pneumonia and a failure to thrive. Infants with Down’s syndrome have been known to have various problems in the gastrointestinal tract. In the esophagus, what have been described are dysmotility, gastroesophageal reflux and strictures. This infant on evaluation was found to have an esophageal web and simple endoscopic dilatation relieved the infant of her symptoms. No similar case has been reported in literature.
PPoma Review: Epidemiology, Aetiopathogenesis, Prognosis and Treatment
Authors: Ligiero Braga Thais , Santos-Oliveira Ralph
Published: January 2018

Generally, pancreatic polypeptide-secreting tumor of the distal pancreas (PPoma) is classified as a rare tumor, and may occur sporadically or be associated in families or with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (NEM 1). It grows slowly, reaching large dimensions at the time of diagnosis and the symptomatology is fundamentally due to the mass effect, causing either non-specific abdominal pain or symptoms suggestive of obstruction of the pancreatic or biliary duct. Therefore, when detected, they are usually malignant, with metastases mainly in the liver. The combination of serum analysis of increased levels of chromogranin A and pancreatic polypeptide and pancreastatin is very useful with a sensitivity of up to 95%. However, in addition, scintigraphicexams with somatostatin analogues should be performed to better clarify the diagnosis. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice, despite surgical difficulty and because they are generally palliative due to the metastases. Surgeries for tumor volume reduction are also performed to relieve symptoms. Chemotherapy commonly uses streptozotocin and somatostatin analogues to treat residual disease. Unfortunately, the survival rates are still very low, less than 10%, and if metastases already exist, this percentage drops to 3%.
Investigation of a Novel Coaxial Power-Split Hybrid Powertrain for Mining Trucks
Authors: Yang Weiwei , Liang Jiejunyi , Yang Jue , Zhang Nong
Published: January 2018

Due to the different working conditions and specification requirements of mining trucks when compared to commercial passenger vehicles, better fuel efficiency of mining trucks could lead to more significant economic benefits. Therefore, investigating a hybrid transmission system becomes essential. A coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain system for mining trucks is presented in this paper. The system is characterized as comprising an engine, a generator (MG1), a motor (MC2), two sets of planetary gears, and a clutch (CL1). There are six primary operation modes for the hybrid system including the electric motor mode, the engine mode, the hybrid electric mode, the hybrid and assist mode, the regenerative mode, and the stationary charging mode. The mathematical model of the coaxial power-split hybrid system is established according to the requirements of vehicle dynamic performance and fuel economy performance in a given driving cycle. A hybrid vehicle model based on a rule-based control strategy is established to evaluate the fuel economy. Compared with the Toyota Hybrid System (THS) and the conventional mechanical vehicle system using a diesel engine, the simulation results based on an enterprise project indicate that the proposed hybrid system can enhance the vehicle’s fuel economy by 8.21% and 22.45%, respectively, during the given mining driving cycle. The simulation results can be used as a reference to study the feasibility of the proposed coaxial hybrid system whose full potential needs to be further investigated by adopting non-causal control strategies.
Heart Rate Variability Frequency Domain Alterations among Healthy Nurses Exposed to Prolonged Work Stress
Authors: Borchini Rossana , Veronesi Giovanni , Bonzini Matteo , Gianfagna Francesco , Dashi Oriana , Ferrario Marco
Published: January 2018

The deregulation of the autonomic nervous system assessed through the heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a promising pathway linking work stress and cardiovascular diseases. We aim to investigate the associations between HRV High Frequency (HF) and Low Frequency (LF) powers and work stress in a sample of 36 healthy nurses. Perceived work stress was assessed twice one year apart, using the Job Content and Effort Reward Imbalance questionnaires. This allows to classify nurses in three exposure groups: “prolonged high stress” (PHS), “recent high stress” (RHS) and “stable low stress” (SLS). A 24-h ECG monitoring was later performed during a working day (WD) and a subsequent resting day (RD). Statistically significantly lower (p < 0.02) HF and LF means were found in PHS and RHS nurses during the working periods. In the subsequent resting periods, HF means showed increases over time in the RHS (beta = +0.41, p < 0.05), but not in PHS nurses. LF means did not show any substantial increases in the resting periods, in the PHS group with geometric means lower when compared to SLS, in the non-working and resting periods. Our study evidences that both prolonged and recent perceived high work stress were associated with a reduction of HF and LF powers during work. In addition, prolonged stress was associated with a lack of recovery during not-working and resting periods.
Geo-Information Tools, Governance, and Wicked Policy Problems
Authors: Georgiadou Yola , Reckien Diana
Published: January 2018

The emblematic intergovernmental Group of Earth Observations (GEO) sees food, water and energy security, natural hazards, pandemics of infectious diseases, sustainability of key services, poverty, and climate change as societal challenges [...]
Effect of Ultrasonic Extraction on Production and Structural Changes of C-Phycocyanin from Marine Spirulina maxima
Authors: Choi Woon , Lee Hyeon
Published: January 2018

This work first showed that very high amounts of phycocyanins, such as 11.3 mg/mL C-phycocyanin (C-PC), 3.1 mg/mL allophycocyanin (APC), and 0.8 mg/mL phycoerythrin (PE), can be obtained using an ultrasonic extraction process (UE) with a 60 kHz frequency and 3 h of process time at 25 °C, without any other pretreatments. These yields were higher than those from most conventional water extractions at 4 °C for 24 h (Control condition) or at 25 °C for 24 h (WE), namely, 9.8 and 5.7 mg/mL C-PC, 2.3 and 1.2 mg/mL APC, and 0.7 and 0.3 mg/mL PE, respectively. These yields were also shown to be even higher than yields from other reported data. Structural changes in C-PC in the extracts were also found for the first time, according to extraction conditions, showing that the total concentration of C-PC and of the α-subunit of C-PC in the UE were much higher than in the WE, with little difference in the amount of β-subunit of C-PC in the UE or WE. It was also shown that the structural changes in C-PC in the WE decreased both antioxidant and anti-inflammation activities—29.83% vs. 32.09% of α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity and 8.21 vs. 7.25 µM of NO production for the WE and UE, respectively—while the UE, with similar patterns to standard C-PC, showed very high biological effects, which may suggest that the biologically active part is the α-subunit of C-PC, not the β-subunit.
Genome-Wide Identification, Expression, and Functional Analysis of the Alkaline/Neutral Invertase Gene Family in Pepper
Authors: Shen Long-Bin , Yao Yuan , He Huang , Qin Yu-Ling , Liu Zi-Ji , Liu Wei-Xia , Qi Zhi-Qiang , Yang Li-Jia , Cao Zhen-Mu , Yang Yan
Published: January 2018

Alkaline/neutral invertase (NINV) proteins irreversibly cleave sucrose into fructose and glucose, and play important roles in carbohydrate metabolism and plant development. To investigate the role of NINVs in the development of pepper fruits, seven NINV genes (CaNINV1–7) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the CaNINV family could be divided into α and β groups. CaNINV1–6 had typical conserved regions and similar protein structures to the NINVs of other plants, while CaNINV7 lacked amino acid sequences at the C-terminus and N-terminus ends. An expression analysis of the CaNINV genes in different tissues demonstrated that CaNINV5 is the dominant NINV in all the examined tissues (root, stem, leaf, bud, flower, and developmental pepper fruits stage). Notably, the expression of CaNINV5 was found to gradually increase at the pre-breaker stages, followed by a decrease at the breaker stages, while it maintained a low level at the post-breaker stages. Furthermore, the invertase activity of CaNINV5 was identified by functional complementation of the invertase-deficient yeast strain SEY2102, and the optimum pH of CaNINV5 was found to be ~7.5. The gene expression and enzymatic activity of CaNINV5 suggest that it might be the main NINV enzyme for hydrolysis of sucrose during pepper fruit development.
Transcription of Spanish Historical Handwritten Documents with Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Granell Emilio , Chammas Edgard , Likforman-Sulem Laurence , Martínez-Hinarejos Carlos-D. , Mokbel Chafic , Cîrstea Bogdan-Ionuţ
Published: January 2018

The digitization of historical handwritten document images is important for the preservation of cultural heritage. Moreover, the transcription of text images obtained from digitization is necessary to provide efficient information access to the content of these documents. Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) has become an important research topic in the areas of image and computational language processing that allows us to obtain transcriptions from text images. State-of-the-art HTR systems are, however, far from perfect. One difficulty is that they have to cope with image noise and handwriting variability. Another difficulty is the presence of a large amount of Out-Of-Vocabulary (OOV) words in ancient historical texts. A solution to this problem is to use external lexical resources, but such resources might be scarce or unavailable given the nature and the age of such documents. This work proposes a solution to avoid this limitation. It consists of associating a powerful optical recognition system that will cope with image noise and variability, with a language model based on sub-lexical units that will model OOV words. Such a language modeling approach reduces the size of the lexicon while increasing the lexicon coverage. Experiments are first conducted on the publicly available Rodrigo dataset, which contains the digitization of an ancient Spanish manuscript, with a recognizer based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). They show that sub-lexical units outperform word units in terms of Word Error Rate (WER), Character Error Rate (CER) and OOV word accuracy rate. This approach is then applied to deep net classifiers, namely Bi-directional Long-Short Term Memory (BLSTMs) and Convolutional Recurrent Neural Nets (CRNNs). Results show that CRNNs outperform HMMs and BLSTMs, reaching the lowest WER and CER for this image dataset and significantly improving OOV recognition.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering in 2017
Authors:   JMSE Editorial Office
Published: January 2018

Peer review is an essential part in the publication process, ensuring that Journal of Marine Science and Engineering maintains high quality standards for its published papers.[...]
Candida albicans Hyphae: From Growth Initiation to Invasion
Authors: Desai Jigar
Published: January 2018

Candida albicans is a commensal resident of the human gastrointestinal and genital tracts. Under conditions such as dysbiosis, host immune perturbances, or the presence of catheters/implanted medical devices, the fungus may cause debilitating mucosal or fatal systemic infections. The ability of C. albicans to grow as long filamentous hyphae is critical for its pathogenic potential as it allows the fungus to invade the underlying substratum. In this brief review, I will outline the current understanding regarding the mechanistic regulation of hyphal growth and invasion in C. albicans.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Journal of Risk and Financial Management in 2017
Authors: JRFM Editorial Office
Published: January 2018

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Study of the Microstructure and Cracking Mechanisms of Hastelloy X Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion
Authors: Marchese Giulio , Basile Gloria , Bassini Emilio , Aversa Alberta , Lombardi Mariangela , Ugues Daniele , Fino Paolo , Biamino Sara
Published: January 2018

Hastelloy X (HX) is a Ni-based superalloy which suffers from high crack susceptibility during the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. In this work, the microstructure of as-built HX samples was rigorously investigated to understand the main mechanisms leading to crack formation. The microstructural features of as-built HX samples consisted of very fine dendrite architectures with dimensions typically less than 1 µm, coupled with the formation of sub-micrometric carbides, the largest ones were mainly distributed along the interdendritic regions and grain boundaries. From the microstructural analyses, it appeared that the formation of intergranular carbides provided weaker zones, which combined with high thermal residual stresses resulted in hot cracks formation along the grain boundaries. The carbides were extracted from the austenitic matrix and characterized by combining different techniques, showing the formation of various types of Mo-rich carbides, classified as M6C, M12C and MnCm type. The first two types of carbides are typically found in HX alloy, whereas the last one is a metastable carbide probably generated by the very high cooling rates of the process.
Nitrogen-Doped Diamond Film for Optical Investigation of Hemoglobin Concentration
Authors: Majchrowicz Daria , Kosowska Monika , Sankaran Kamatchi , Struk Przemysław , Wąsowicz Michał , Sobaszek Michał , Haenen Ken , Jędrzejewska-Szczerska Małgorzata
Published: January 2018

In this work we present the fabrication and characterization of a diamond film which can be utilized in the construction of optical sensors for the investigation of biological samples. We produced a nitrogen-doped diamond (NDD) film using a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MWPECVD) system. The NDD film was investigated with the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy. The NDD film was used in the construction of the fiber optic sensor. This sensor is based on the Fabry–Pérot interferometer working in a reflective mode and the NDD film is utilized as a reflective layer of this interferometer. Application of the NDD film allowed us to obtain the sensor of hemoglobin concentration with linear work characteristics with a correlation coefficient (R2) equal to 0.988.
Influence of Nb on the Microstructure and Fracture Toughness of (Zr0.76Fe0.24)100−xNbx Nano-Eutectic Composites
Authors: Maity Tapabrata , Dutta Anushree , Jana Parijat , Prashanth Konda , Eckert Jürgen , Das Jayanta
Published: January 2018

The present study demonstrates the evolution of eutectic microstructure in arc-melted (Zr0.76Fe0.24)100−xNbx (0 ≤ x ≤ 10 atom %) composites containing α-Zr//FeZr2 nano-lamellae phases along with pro-eutectic Zr-rich intermetallic phase. The effects of Nb addition on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties under compression, bulk hardness, elastic modulus, and indentation fracture toughness (IFT) were investigated. The Zr–Fe–(Nb) eutectic composites (ECs) exhibited excellent fracture strength up to ~1800 MPa. Microstructural characterization revealed that the addition of Nb promotes the formation of intermetallic Zr54Fe37Nb9. The IFT (KIC) increases from 3.0 ± 0.5 MPa√m (x = 0) to 4.7 ± 1.0 MPa√m (x = 2) at 49 N, which even further increases from 5.1 ± 0.5 MPa√m (x = 0) and up to 5.9 ± 1.0 MPa√m (x = 2) at higher loads. The results suggest that mutual interaction between nano-lamellar α-Zr//FeZr2 phases is responsible for enhanced fracture resistance and high fracture strength.
Microstructure and Tensile-Shear Properties of Resistance Spot-Welded Medium Mn Steel
Authors: Jia Qiang , Liu Lei , Guo Wei , Peng Yun , Zou Guisheng , Tian Zhiling , Zhou Y.
Published: January 2018

The medium Mn steels are gaining increasing attention due to their excellent combination of mechanical properties and material cost. A cold-rolled 0.1C5Mn medium Mn steel with a ferrite matrix plus metastable austenite duplex microstructure was resistance spot-welded with various welding currents and times. The nugget size rose with the increase of heat input, but when the welding current exceeded the critical value, the tensile-shear load increased slowly and became unstable due to metal expulsion. The fusion zone exhibited a lath martensite microstructure, and the heat-affected zone was composed of a ferrite/martensite matrix with retained austenite. The volume fraction of retained austenite decreased gradually from the base metal to the fusion zone, while the microhardness presented a reverse varying trend. Interfacial failure occurred along the interface of the steel sheets with lower loading capacity. Sufficient heat input along with serious expulsion brought about high stress concentration around the weld nugget, and the joint failed in partial interfacial mode. Pull-out failure was absent in this study.
Multi-Stage Flotation for the Removal of Ash from Fine Graphite Using Mechanical and Centrifugal Forces
Authors: Bu Xiangning , Zhang Tuantuan , Peng Yaoli , Xie Guangyuan , Wu Erdong
Published: January 2018

Graphite ore collected from Hunan province, south China was characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, and optical microscopy. Rougher and multi-stage flotation tests using a mechanical flotation cell and a flotation column containing an additional centrifugal force field were carried out to promote its grade and economic value. In rougher flotation, both the mechanical flotation cell and flotation column reduced the ash content of the graphite ore from 15.43% to 10.8%, while the yield of the flotation column (91.41%) was much higher than that of the mechanical flotation cell (50%). In the presence of hydrophobic graphite, the seriously entrained gangue restricted further improvement in the quality and economic value of the graphite ore. Therefore, multi-stage flotation circuits were employed to diminish this entrainment. Multi-stage flotation circuits using the two flotation devices further decreased the ash content of the graphite ore to ~8%, while the yield when using the flotation column was much higher than that obtained from the mechanical flotation cell employed. On the other hand, the ash removal efficiency of the flotation column was 3.82-fold higher than that observed for the mechanical flotation cell. The Cleaner 3 flotation circuit using the flotation column decreased the ash content in graphite from 15.43% to 7.97% with a yield of 77.53%.
Dietary Carotenoid Intakes and Prostate Cancer Risk: A Case-Control Study from Vietnam
Authors: Van Hoang Dong , Pham Ngoc , Lee Andy , Tran Duong , Binns Colin
Published: January 2018

The incidence of prostate cancer has increased in Vietnam, but there have been few studies of the risk factors associated with this change. This retrospective case-control study investigated the relation of the intake of carotenoids and their food sources to prostate cancer risk. A sample of 652 participants (244 incident prostate cancer patients, aged 64–75 years, and 408 age frequency-matched controls) were recruited in Ho Chi Minh City during 2013–2015. The habitual diet was ascertained with a validated food-frequency questionnaire, and other factors including demographic and lifestyle characteristics were assessed via face-to-face interviews by trained nurses. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression models. The risk of prostate cancer decreased with increasing intakes of lycopene, tomatoes, and carrots; the respective ORs (95% CIs) were 0.46 (0.27, 0.77), 0.39 (0.23, 0.66), and 0.35 (0.21, 0.58), when comparing the highest with the lowest tertile of intake (p for trend < 0.01). No statistically significant associations were found for the intake of α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and major food sources of carotenoids. In conclusion, Vietnamese men with a higher intake of lycopene, tomatoes, and carrots may have a lower risk of prostate cancer. However, large prospective studies are needed in this population to confirm this finding.
Listeria monocytogenes: The Impact of Cell Death on Infection and Immunity
Authors: McDougal Courtney , Sauer John-Demian
Published: January 2018

Listeria monocytogenes has evolved exquisite mechanisms for invading host cells and spreading from cell-to-cell to ensure maintenance of its intracellular lifecycle. As such, it is not surprising that loss of the intracellular replication niche through induction of host cell death has significant implications on the development of disease and the subsequent immune response. Although L. monocytogenes can activate multiple pathways of host cell death, including necrosis, apoptosis, and pyroptosis, like most intracellular pathogens L. monocytogenes has evolved a series of adaptations that minimize host cell death to promote its virulence. Understanding how L. monocytogenes modulates cell death during infection could lead to novel therapeutic approaches. In addition, as L. monocytogenes is currently being developed as a tumor immunotherapy platform, understanding how cell death pathways influence the priming and quality of cell-mediated immunity is critical. This review will focus on the mechanisms by which L. monocytogenes modulates cell death, as well as the implications of cell death on acute infection and the generation of adaptive immunity.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Philosophies in 2017
Authors:   Philosophies Editorial Office
Published: January 2018

Peer review is an essential part in the publication process, ensuring that Philosophies maintains high quality standards for its published papers [...]
GPR Clutter Amplitude Processing to Detect Shallow Geological Targets
Authors: Salinas Naval Victor , Santos-Assunçao Sonia , Pérez-Gracia Vega
Published: January 2018

The analysis of clutter in A-scans produced by energy randomly scattered in some specific geological structures, provides information about changes in the shallow sedimentary geology. The A-scans are composed by the coherent energy received from reflections on electromagnetic discontinuities and the incoherent waves from the scattering in small heterogeneities. The reflected waves are attenuated as consequence of absorption, geometrical spreading and losses due to reflections and scattering. Therefore, the amplitude of those waves diminishes and at certain two-way travel times becomes on the same magnitude as the background noise in the radargram, mainly produced by the scattering. The amplitude of the mean background noise is higher when the dispersion of the energy increases. Then, the mean amplitude measured in a properly selected time window is a measurement of the amount of the scattered energy and, therefore, a measurement of the increase of scatterers in the ground. This paper presents a simple processing that allows determining the Mean Amplitude of Incoherent Energy (MAEI) for each A-scan, which is represented in front of the position of the trace. This procedure is tested in a field study, in a city built on a sedimentary basin. The basin is crossed by a large number of hidden subterranean streams and paleochannels. The sedimentary structures due to alluvial deposits produce an amount of the random backscattering of the energy that is measured in a time window. The results are compared along the entire radar line, allowing the location of streams and paleochannels. Numerical models were also used in order to compare the synthetic traces with the field radargrams and to test the proposed processing methodology. The results underscore the amount of the MAEI over the streams and also the existence of a surrounding zone where the amplitude is increasing from the average value to the maximum obtained over the structure. Simulations show that this zone does not correspond to any particular geological change but is consequence of the path of the antenna that receives the scattered energy before arriving to the alluvial deposits.
Object-Based Mangrove Species Classification Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Hyperspectral Images and Digital Surface Models
Authors: Cao Jingjing , Leng Wanchun , Liu Kai , Liu Lin , He Zhi , Zhu Yuanhui
Published: January 2018

Mangroves are one of the most important coastal wetland ecosystems, and the compositions and distributions of mangrove species are essential for conservation and restoration efforts. Many studies have explored this topic using remote sensing images that were obtained by satellite-borne and airborne sensors, which are known to be efficient for monitoring the mangrove ecosystem. With improvements in carrier platforms and sensor technology, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with high-resolution hyperspectral images in both spectral and spatial domains have been used to monitor crops, forests, and other landscapes of interest. This study aims to classify mangrove species on Qi’ao Island using object-based image analysis techniques based on UAV hyperspectral images obtained from a commercial hyperspectral imaging sensor (UHD 185) onboard a UAV platform. First, the image objects were obtained by segmenting the UAV hyperspectral image and the UAV-derived digital surface model (DSM) data. Second, spectral features, textural features, and vegetation indices (VIs) were extracted from the UAV hyperspectral image, and the UAV-derived DSM data were used to extract height information. Third, the classification and regression tree (CART) method was used to selection bands, and the correlation-based feature selection (CFS) algorithm was employed for feature reduction. Finally, the objects were classified into different mangrove species and other land covers based on their spectral and spatial characteristic differences. The classification results showed that when considering the three features (spectral features, textural features, and hyperspectral VIs), the overall classification accuracies of the two classifiers used in this paper, i.e., k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM), were 76.12% (Kappa = 0.73) and 82.39% (Kappa = 0.801), respectively. After incorporating tree height into the classification features, the accuracy of species classification increased, and the overall classification accuracies of KNN and SVM reached 82.09% (Kappa = 0.797) and 88.66% (Kappa = 0.871), respectively. It is clear that SVM outperformed KNN for mangrove species classification. These results also suggest that height information is effective for discriminating mangrove species with similar spectral signatures, but different heights. In addition, the classification accuracy and performance of SVM can be further improved by feature reduction. The overall results provided evidence for the effectiveness and potential of UAV hyperspectral data for mangrove species identification.