bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aetiological Factors of Osteoarthritis: A Review Update
Authors: Islam M. Jahidul , Hossain M. Shahadat , Amin M. Ruhul , Ahmed Monzur
Published: March 2015

Osteoarthritis (OA) is no longer considered degenerative or wear and tear arthritis; rather involves dynamic biomechanical, biochemical and cellular process. Indeed, the joint damage that occurs in OA is the result of active remodeling involving all the joint structures. Although articular cartilage is at the center of change, OA is viewed as a disease of the entire joint. Traditionally, OA has been viewed as an inevitable degenerative condition of the cartilage. It is currently viewed as a biomechanical and biochemical inflammatory disease of the entire joints. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis. Its high prevalence, especially in the elderly, and the high rate of disability related to disease make it a leading cause of disability in the elderly. Because of the aging of Western populations and because obesity, a major risk factor, are increasing in prevalence, the occurrence of osteoarthritis is on the rise. In the United States, osteoarthritis prevalence will increase from 66100% by the year 2020. OA affects certain joints, yet spares others. Commonly affected joints include the cervical and lumbosacral spine, hip, knee, and first metatarsal phalangeal joint (MTP). In the hands, the distal and proximal inter-phalangeal joints and the base of the thumb are often affected. Usually spared are the wrist, elbow, and ankle.Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research 2015;2(1):18-23DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jcamr.v2i1.22584
On the phonological status of Spanish compound words
Authors: Rao Rajiv
Published: March 2015

Primarily inspired by Bustos de Gisbert (1986) , Hualde (2006/2007 ), and Moyna (2011) , specifically by their comments on stress deletion in the left members of some Spanish compounds, the current investigation fills a gap in this field by conducting an acoustic analysis of fundamental frequency evidence of stress in Spanish compounds and phonologically classifying them through the Autosegmental-Metrical model. Using a data elicitation task of 30 noun+noun compounds demonstrating syntactic, semantic, orthographic, and phonological variation, eight speakers of Mexican Spanish recorded two iterations of each compound, which is embedded at the beginning or at the end of a declarative carrier phrase. The acoustic analysis reveals that, as expected, right members categorically exhibit F0 evidence of stress. However, only the 15 compounds written as two orthographic units show strong evidence of left stress. This is especially so in utterance-initial position. The number of unstressed syllables between left and right stresses determines the tonal sequences produced in left members. In compounds spelled as two orthographic units, the phonological targets of each member resemble those of two simple content words in broad focus declaratives. Evidence of left stress in orthographically united compounds occurs in less than 20% of cases, and these are viewed as carrying postlexical secondary stress. The tonal sequences of this group are more wide-ranging than those of the first group. The results have implications for language processing and raise questions for the study of compound stress in Spanish.
Label-Free Sensing of Adenosine Based on Force Variations Induced by Molecular Recognition
Authors: Li Jingfeng , Li Qing , Ciacchi Lucio , Wei Gang
Published: March 2015

We demonstrate a simple force-based label-free strategy for the highly sensitive sensing of adenosine. An adenosine ssDNA aptamer was bound onto an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe by covalent modification, and the molecular-interface adsorption force between the aptamer and a flat graphite surface was measured by single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). In the presence of adenosine, the molecular recognition between adenosine and the aptamer resulted in the formation of a folded, hairpin-like DNA structure and hence caused a variation of the adsorption force at the graphite/water interface. The sensitive force response to molecular recognition provided an adenosine detection limit in the range of 0.1 to 1 nM. The addition of guanosine, cytidine, and uridine had no significant interference with the sensing of adenosine, indicating a strong selectivity of this sensor architecture. In addition, operational parameters that may affect the sensor, such as loading rate and solution ionic strength, were investigated.
Geometric Shrinkage Priors for Kählerian Signal Filters
Authors: Choi Jaehyung , Mullhaupt Andrew
Published: March 2015

We construct geometric shrinkage priors for Kählerian signal filters. Based on the characteristics of Kähler manifolds, an efficient and robust algorithm for finding superharmonic priors which outperform the Jeffreys prior is introduced. Several ansätze for the Bayesian predictive priors are also suggested. In particular, the ansätze related to Kähler potential are geometrically intrinsic priors to the information manifold of which the geometry is derived from the potential. The implication of the algorithm to time series models is also provided.
Thermo-Economic Evaluation of Organic Rankine Cycles for Geothermal Power Generation Using Zeotropic Mixtures
Authors: Heberle Florian , Brüggemann Dieter
Published: March 2015

We present a thermo-economic evaluation of binary power plants based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for geothermal power generation. The focus of this study is to analyse if an efficiency increase by using zeotropic mixtures as working fluid overcompensates additional requirements regarding the major power plant components. The optimization approach is compared to systems with pure media. Based on process simulations, heat exchange equipment is designed and cost estimations are performed. For heat source temperatures between 100 and 180 °C selected zeotropic mixtures lead to an increase in second law efficiency of up to 20.6% compared to pure fluids. Especially for temperatures about 160 °C, mixtures like propane/isobutane, isobutane/isopentane, or R227ea/R245fa show lower electricity generation costs compared to the most efficient pure fluid. In case of a geothermal fluid temperature of 120 °C, R227ea and propane/isobutane are cost-efficient working fluids. The uncertainties regarding fluid properties of zeotropic mixtures, mainly affect the heat exchange surface. However, the influence on the determined economic parameter is marginal. In general, zeotropic mixtures are a promising approach to improve the economics of geothermal ORC systems. Additionally, the use of mixtures increases the spectrum of potential working fluids, which is important in context of present and future legal requirements considering fluorinated refrigerants.
Carbon Storage and Allocation Pattern in Plant Biomass among Different Forest Plantation Stands in Guangdong, China
Authors: Chen Yuanqi , Liu Zhanfeng , Rao Xingquan , Wang Xiaoling , Liang Chenfei , Lin Yongbiao , Zhou Lixia , Cai Xi-an , Fu Shenglei
Published: March 2015

In order to understand how carbon storage and allocation patterns vary among plantation types, we estimated carbon allocation between above- and below-ground compartments in four subtropical plantations and a naturally recovered shrubland (as a control). Results indicated that the carbon storage and allocation pattern varied greatly among forest types and was highly dependent on specific traits of trees and understory vegetation. The fast-growing species, such as Eucalyptus urophylla, accumulated more carbon in plant biomass. The biomass carbon was about 1.9- and 2.2-times greater than the 10-species mixed plantation and Castanopsis hystrix plantations, respectively. Meanwhile, the plantations sequestered 1.5- to 3-times more carbon in biomass than naturally recovered shrubland. The carbon allocation pattern between above- and below-ground compartments also varied with plantation type and stand age. The ratio of tree root carbon to tree aboveground carbon decreased with stand age for Eucalyptus urophylla and the 10-species mixed plantation. In contrast, the ratio increased for Acacia crassicarpa. Our data suggested that planting the fast-growing species in the degraded land of subtropical China was an effective choice in terms of carbon sequestration. The information about carbon allocation patterns was also valuable for decision making in sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation.
Decreasing Health Disparities for People with Disabilities through Improved Communication Strategies and Awareness
Authors: Sharby Nancy , Martire Katharine , Iversen Maura
Published: March 2015

Factors influencing access to health care among people with disabilities (PWD) include: attitudes of health care providers and the public, physical barriers, miscommunication, income level, ethnic/minority status, insurance coverage, and lack of information tailored to PWD. Reducing health care disparities in a population with complex needs requires implementation at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This review article discusses common barriers to health care access from the patient and provider perspective, particularly focusing on communication barriers and how to address and ameliorate them. Articles utilized in this review were published from 2005 to present in MEDLINE and CINAHL and written in English that focused on people with disabilities. Topics searched for in the literature include: disparities and health outcomes, health care dissatisfaction, patient-provider communication and access issues. Ineffective communication has significant impacts for PWD. They frequently believe that providers are not interested in, or sensitive to their particular needs and are less likely to seek care or to follow up with recommendations. Various strategies for successful improvement of health outcomes for PWD were identified including changing the way health care professionals are educated regarding disabilities, improving access to health care services, and enhancing the capacity for patient centered care.
Monoamine Oxidase A Promoter Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MAOA-uVNTR) in Alcoholics According to Lesch Typology
Authors: Samochowiec Agnieszka , Chęć Magdalena , Kopaczewska Edyta , Samochowiec Jerzy , Lesch Otto , Grochans Elżbieta , Jasiewicz Andrzej , Bienkowski Przemyslaw , Kołodziej Łukasz , Grzywacz Anna
Published: March 2015

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the association between the MAOA-uVNTR gene polymorphism in a homogeneous subgroups of patients with alcohol dependence categorized according to Lesch’s typology. Methods: DNA was provided from alcohol dependent (AD) patients (n = 370) and healthy control subjects (n = 168) all of Polish descent. The history of alcoholism was obtained using the Polish version of the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA). Samples were genotyped using PCR methods. Results: We found no association between alcohol dependence and MAOA gene polymorphism. Conclusions: Lesch typology is a clinical consequence of the disease and its phenotypic description is too complex for a simple genetic analysis.
Mitochondria as Key Targets of Cardioprotection in Cardiac Ischemic Disease: Role of Thyroid Hormone Triiodothyronine
Authors: Forini Francesca , Nicolini Giuseppina , Iervasi Giorgio
Published: March 2015

Ischemic heart disease is the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Early reperfusion after acute myocardial ischemia has reduced short-term mortality, but it is also responsible for additional myocardial damage, which in the long run favors adverse cardiac remodeling and heart failure evolution. A growing body of experimental and clinical evidence show that the mitochondrion is an essential end effector of ischemia/ reperfusion injury and a major trigger of cell death in the acute ischemic phase (up to 48–72 h after the insult), the subacute phase (from 72 h to 7–10 days) and chronic stage (from 10–14 days to one month after the insult). As such, in recent years scientific efforts have focused on mitochondria as a target for cardioprotective strategies in ischemic heart disease and cardiomyopathy. The present review discusses recent advances in this field, with special emphasis on the emerging role of the biologically active thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3).
Detection of Shoreline and Land Cover Changes around Rosetta Promontory, Egypt, Based on Remote Sensing Analysis
Authors: Masria Ali , Nadaoka Kazuo , Negm Abdelazim , Iskander Moheb
Published: March 2015

Rosetta Promontory, Egypt has been suffering from a continuous erosion problem. The dramatic retreatment was observed during the last century. It is basically due to the construction of Aswan High Dam in 1964, which reduced the flow and sediment discharges. In this paper, four Landsat images (two Thematic Mapper and two Enhanced Thematic Mapper) covering the period from 1984 to 2014 were used. These Landsat images were radio-metrically and geometrically corrected, and then, multi-temporal post-classification analysis was performed to detect land cover changes, extracting shoreline positions to estimate shoreline change rates of the Nile delta coast around Rosetta Promontory. This method provides a viable means for examining long-term shoreline changes. Four categories, including seawater, developed (agriculture and urban), sabkhas (salt-flat), and undeveloped areas, were selected to evaluate their temporal changes by comparing the four selected images. Supervised classification technique was used with support vector machine algorithm to detect temporal changes. The overall accuracy assessment of this method ranged from 97% to 100%. In addition, the shoreline was extracted by applying two different techniques. The first method is based on a histogram threshold of Band 5, and the other uses the combination of histogram threshold of Band 5 and two band ratios (Band 2/Band 4 and Band 2/Band 5). For land cover change detection from 1984 to 2014, it was found that the developed area that increased by 9% although the land in the study area has been contracted by 1.6% due to coastal erosion. The shoreline retreat rate has decreased more than 70% from 1984 to 2014. Nevertheless, it still suffers from significant erosion with a maximum rate of 37 m/year. In comparison to ground survey and different remote sensing techniques, the established trend of shoreline change extracted using histogram threshold was found to be closely consistent with these studies rather than combining band ratio with histogram threshold.
Highly Iterated Palindromic Sequences (HIPs) and Their Relationship to DNA Methyltransferases
Authors: Elhai Jeff
Published: March 2015

The sequence GCGATCGC (Highly Iterated Palindrome, HIP1) is commonly found in high frequency in cyanobacterial genomes. An important clue to its function may be the presence of two orphan DNA methyltransferases that recognize internal sequences GATC and CGATCG. An examination of genomes from 97 cyanobacteria, both free-living and obligate symbionts, showed that there are exceptional cases in which HIP1 is at a low frequency or nearly absent. In some of these cases, it appears to have been replaced by a different GC-rich palindromic sequence, alternate HIPs. When HIP1 is at a high frequency, GATC- and CGATCG-specific methyltransferases are generally present in the genome. When an alternate HIP is at high frequency, a methyltransferase specific for that sequence is present. The pattern of 1-nt deviations from HIP1 sequences is biased towards the first and last nucleotides, i.e., those distinguish CGATCG from HIP1. Taken together, the results point to a role of DNA methylation in the creation or functioning of HIP sites. A model is presented that postulates the existence of a GmeC-dependent mismatch repair system whose activity creates and maintains HIP sequences.
Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Archaea: A Comparison of the Whole-Genome-Based CVTree Approach with 16S rRNA Sequence Analysis
Authors: Zuo Guanghong , Xu Zhao , Hao Bailin
Published: March 2015

A tripartite comparison of Archaea phylogeny and taxonomy at and above the rank order is reported: (1) the whole-genome-based and alignment-free CVTree using 179 genomes; (2) the 16S rRNA analysis exemplified by the All-Species Living Tree with 366 archaeal sequences; and (3) the Second Edition of Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology complemented by some current literature. A high degree of agreement is reached at these ranks. From the newly proposed archaeal phyla, Korarchaeota, Thaumarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota and Aigarchaeota, to the recent suggestion to divide the class Halobacteria into three orders, all gain substantial support from CVTree. In addition, the CVTree helped to determine the taxonomic position of some newly sequenced genomes without proper lineage information. A few discrepancies between the CVTree and the 16S rRNA approaches call for further investigation.
Gas-Phase Deposition of Ultrathin Aluminium Oxide Films on Nanoparticles at Ambient Conditions
Authors: Valdesueiro David , Meesters Gabrie , Kreutzer Michiel , Van Ommen J.
Published: March 2015

We have deposited aluminium oxide films by atomic layer deposition on titanium oxide nanoparticles in a fluidized bed reactor at 27 ± 3 °C and atmospheric pressure. Working at room temperature allows coating heat-sensitive materials, while working at atmospheric pressure would simplify the scale-up of this process. We performed 4, 7 and 15 cycles by dosing a predefined amount of precursors, i.e., trimethyl aluminium and water. We obtained a growth per cycle of 0.14–0.15 nm determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), similar to atomic layer deposition (ALD) experiments at a few millibars and ~180 °C. We also increased the amount of precursors dosed by a factor of 2, 4 and 6 compared to the base case, maintaining the same purging time. The growth per cycle (GPC) increased, although not linearly, with the dosing time. In addition, we performed an experiment at 170 °C and 1 bar using the dosing times increased by factor 6, and obtained a growth per cycle of 0.16 nm. These results were verified with elemental analysis, which showed a good agreement with the results from TEM pictures. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed a negligible amount of unreacted molecules inside the alumina films. Overall, the dosage of the precursors is crucial to control precisely the growth of the alumina films at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Dosing excess of precursor provokes a chemical vapour deposition type of growth due to the physisorption of molecules on the particles, but this can be avoided by working at high temperatures.
Composite Behavior of Insulated Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels Subjected to Wind Pressure and Suction
Authors: Choi Insub , Kim JunHee , Kim Ho-Ryong
Published: March 2015

A full-scale experimental test was conducted to analyze the composite behavior of insulated concrete sandwich wall panels (ICSWPs) subjected to wind pressure and suction. The experimental program was composed of three groups of ICSWP specimens, each with a different type of insulation and number of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) shear grids. The degree of composite action of each specimen was analyzed according to the load direction, type of the insulation, and number of GFRP shear grids by comparing the theoretical and experimental values. The failure modes of the ICSWPs were compared to investigate the effect of bonds according to the load direction and type of insulation. Bonds based on insulation absorptiveness were effective to result in the composite behavior of ICSWP under positive loading tests only, while bonds based on insulation surface roughness were effective under both positive and negative loading tests. Therefore, the composite behavior based on surface roughness can be applied to the calculation of the design strength of ICSWPs with continuous GFRP shear connectors.
A New Cyclic Hexapeptide and a New Isocoumarin Derivative from the Marine Sponge-Associated Fungus Aspergillus similanensis KUFA 0013
Authors: Prompanya Chadaporn , Fernandes Carla , Cravo Sara , Pinto Madalena , Dethoup Tida , Silva Artur , Kijjoa Anake
Published: March 2015

A new isocoumarin derivative, similanpyrone C (1), a new cyclohexapeptide, similanamide (2), and a new pyripyropene derivative, named pyripyropene T (3) were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the culture of the marine sponge-associated fungus Aspergillus similanensis KUFA 0013. The structures of the compounds were established based on 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis, and in the case of compound 2 the stereochemistry of its amino acid constituents was determined by chiral HPLC analysis of the hydrolysate by co-injection with the d and l amino acids standards. Compounds 2 and 3 were evaluated for their in vitro growth inhibitory activity against MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), NCI-H460 (non-small cell lung cancer) and A373 (melanoma) cell lines, as well as antibacterial activity against reference strains and the environmental multidrug-resistant isolates (MRS and VRE). Only compound 2 exhibited weak activity against the three cancer cell lines, and neither of them showed antibacterial activity.
Ciona intestinalis as a Marine Model System to Study Some Key Developmental Genes Targeted by the Diatom-Derived Aldehyde Decadienal
Authors: Lettieri Anna , Esposito Rosaria , Ianora Adrianna , Spagnuolo Antonietta
Published: March 2015

The anti-proliferative effects of diatoms, described for the first time in copepods, have also been demonstrated in benthic invertebrates such as polychaetes, sea urchins and tunicates. In these organisms PUAs (polyunsaturated aldehydes) induce the disruption of gametogenesis, gamete functionality, fertilization, embryonic mitosis, and larval fitness and competence. These inhibitory effects are due to the PUAs, produced by diatoms in response to physical damage as occurs during copepod grazing. The cell targets of these compounds remain largely unknown. Here we identify some of the genes targeted by the diatom PUA 2-trans-4-trans-decadienal (DD) using the tunicate Ciona intestinalis. The tools, techniques and genomic resources available for Ciona, as well as the suitability of Ciona embryos for medium-to high-throughput strategies, are key to their employment as model organisms in different fields, including the investigation of toxic agents that could interfere with developmental processes. We demonstrate that DD can induce developmental aberrations in Ciona larvae in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, through a preliminary analysis, DD is shown to affect the expression level of genes involved in stress response and developmental processes.
Modification of Purine and Pyrimidine Nucleosides by Direct C-H Bond Activation
Authors: Liang Yong , Wnuk Stanislaw
Published: March 2015

Transition metal-catalyzed modifications of the activated heterocyclic bases of nucleosides as well as DNA or RNA fragments employing traditional cross-coupling methods have been well-established in nucleic acid chemistry. This review covers advances in the area of cross-coupling reactions in which nucleosides are functionalized via direct activation of the C8-H bond in purine and the C5-H or C6-H bond in uracil bases. The review focuses on Pd/Cu-catalyzed couplings between unactivated nucleoside bases with aryl halides. It also discusses cross-dehydrogenative arylations and alkenylations as well as other reactions used for modification of nucleoside bases that avoid the use of organometallic precursors and involve direct C-H bond activation in at least one substrate. The scope and efficiency of these coupling reactions along with some mechanistic considerations are discussed.
Comparison of Two Species of Notopterygium by GC-MS and HPLC
Authors: Wang Yaping , Huang Linfang
Published: March 2015

Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (Qianghuo), including Notopterygium incisum Ting ex H. T. Chang (NI) and Notopterygium franchetii H. de Boiss (NF), is an important traditional Chinese medicine. Of these two plants, NI, is more commonly used and has a much higher price in the marketplace. To compare these two plants, a combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was carried out, thus obtaining an overall characterization for both volatile and none-volatile compounds. Combined with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis, GC-MS was successfully applied to distinguish NF and NI. The chemical constitutes of volatile oil in NI and NF were firstly compared in detail, and 1R-alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and 4-isopropyl-1-methyl-1,4-cyclohexadiene had great contribution to the discrimination. Fingerprints of 14 batches of Qinghuo samples were also established based on HPLC, and an obvious difference was found between the two species. The chromatographic fingerprints were further analyzed by similarity analysis and HCA. The present study is the first reported evaluation of two origins of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix by GC-MS and HPLC, which will facilitate quality control and its clinical application.
Synthesis of Novel Dihydropyridothienopyrimidin-4,9-dione Derivatives
Authors: Kim Youngjae , Kim Minjoo , Park Mooseong , Tae Jinsung , Baek Du-Jong , Park Ki , Choo Hyunah
Published: March 2015

A novel molecular scaffold, dihydropyridothienopyrimidin-4,9-dione, was synthesized from benzylamine or p-methoxybenzylamine in six steps involving successive ring closure to form a fused ring system composed of dihydropyridone, thiophene and pyrimidone. The pharmacological versatility of the dihydropyridothenopyrimidin-4,9-dione scaffold was demonstrated by inhibitory activity against metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 1 (mGluR1), which shows that the title compounds can serve as an interesting scaffold for the discovery of potential bioactive molecules for the treatment of human diseases.
Game Design to Measure Reflexes and Attention Based on Biofeedback Multi-Sensor Interaction
Authors: Ortiz-Vigon Uriarte Inigo , Garcia-Zapirain Begonya , Garcia-Chimeno Yolanda
Published: March 2015

This paper presents a multi-sensor system for implementing biofeedback as a human-computer interaction technique in a game involving driving cars in risky situations. The sensors used are: Eye Tracker, Kinect, pulsometer, respirometer, electromiography (EMG) and galvanic skin resistance (GSR). An algorithm has been designed which gives rise to an interaction logic with the game according to the set of physiological constants obtained from the sensors. The results reflect a 72.333 response to the System Usability Scale (SUS), a significant difference of p = 0.026 in GSR values in terms of the difference between the start and end of the game, and an r = 0.659 and p = 0.008 correlation while playing with the Kinect between the breathing level and the energy and joy factor. All the sensors used had an impact on the end results, whereby none of them should be disregarded in future lines of research, even though it would be interesting to obtain separate breathing values from that of the cardio.
Water Area Extraction Using RADARSAT SAR Imagery Combined with Landsat Imagery and Terrain Information
Authors: Hong Seunghwan , Jang Hyoseon , Kim Namhoon , Sohn Hong-Gyoo
Published: March 2015

This paper exploits an effective water extraction method using SAR imagery in preparation for flood mapping in unpredictable flood situations. The proposed method is based on the thresholding method using SAR amplitude, terrain information, and object-based classification techniques for noise removal. Since the water areas in SAR images have the lowest amplitude value, the thresholding method using SAR amplitude could effectively extract water bodies. However, the reflective properties of water areas in SAR imagery cannot distinguish the occluded areas caused by steep relief and they can be eliminated with terrain information. In spite of the thresholding method using SAR amplitude and terrain information, noises which interfered with users’ interpretation of water maps still remained and the object-based classification using an object size criterion was applied for the noise removal and the criterion was determined by a histogram-based technique. When only using SAR amplitude information, the overall accuracy was 83.67%. However, using SAR amplitude, terrain information and the noise removal technique, the overall classification accuracy over the study area turned out to be 96.42%. In particular, user accuracy was improved by 46.00%.
Multi-Layer Sparse Representation for Weighted LBP-Patches Based Facial Expression Recognition
Authors: Jia Qi , Gao Xinkai , Guo He , Luo Zhongxuan , Wang Yi
Published: March 2015

In this paper, a novel facial expression recognition method based on sparse representation is proposed. Most contemporary facial expression recognition systems suffer from limited ability to handle image nuisances such as low resolution and noise. Especially for low intensity expression, most of the existing training methods have quite low recognition rates. Motivated by sparse representation, the problem can be solved by finding sparse coefficients of the test image by the whole training set. Deriving an effective facial representation from original face images is a vital step for successful facial expression recognition. We evaluate facial representation based on weighted local binary patterns, and Fisher separation criterion is used to calculate the weighs of patches. A multi-layer sparse representation framework is proposed for multi-intensity facial expression recognition, especially for low-intensity expressions and noisy expressions in reality, which is a critical problem but seldom addressed in the existing works. To this end, several experiments based on low-resolution and multi-intensity expressions are carried out. Promising results on publicly available databases demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach.
Estimating Potential GDP for the Romanian Economy and Assessing the Sustainability of Economic Growth: A Multivariate Filter Approach
Authors: Armeanu Dan , Crețan Georgiana , Lache Leonard , Mitroi Mihaela
Published: March 2015

In the current context of economic recovery and rebalancing, the necessity of modelling and estimating the potential output and output gap emerges in order to assess the quality and sustainability of economic growth, the monetary and fiscal policies, as well as the impact of business cycles. Despite the importance of potential GDP and the output gap, there are difficulties in reliably estimating them, as many of the models proposed in the economic literature are calibrated for developed economies and are based on complex macroeconomic relationships and a long history of robust data, while emerging economies exhibit high volatility. The object of this study is to develop a model in order to estimate the potential GDP and output gap and to assess the sustainability of projected growth using a multivariate filter approach. This trend estimation technique is the newest approach proposed by the economic literature and has gained wide acceptance with researchers and practitioners alike, while also being used by the IMF for Romania. The paper will be structured as follows. We first discuss the theoretical background of the model. The second section focuses on an analysis of the Romanian economy for the 1995–2013 time frame, while also providing a forecast for 2014–2017 and an assessment of the sustainability of Romania’s economic growth. The third section sums up the results and concludes.
The ecology, evolution, and biogeography of dioecy in the genus Solanum: With paradigms from the strong dioecy in Solanum polygamum, to the unsuspected and cryptic dioecy in Solanum conocarpum
Authors: Anderson Gregory J. , Anderson Mona K. J. , Patel Nikisha
Published: March 2015

• Premise of the study: Island plants are over‐exploited and “under‐explored.” Understanding the reproductive biology of plants, especially rare species, is fundamental to clarifying their evolution, estimating potential for change, and for creating effective conservation plans. Clarification of sexual systems like dioecy, and unusual manifestations of it in specific studies within Solanum, helps elucidate evolutionary patterns and genetic and ecological control of sex expression.

• Methods: Studies of reproductive systems of two Caribbean endemics, S. polygamum and S. conocarpum, combined multifaceted analyses of field populations and of multiple generations of greenhouse plants.

• Key results: The dioecy in both species is, like that in other solanums, largely cryptic, although the gender of S. polygamum flowers is obvious. The rare S. conocarpum is recognized as dioecious; floral gender is not obvious. Variation in sex expression facilitated experiments and promoted hypotheses on control and significance of morphological features and sex expression.

• Conclusions: Confirmed dioecy in at least 15 solanums is distributed across the genus, with perhaps 6 independent origins, and with crypticity in the form of morphologically hermaphroditic, but functionally unisexual, flowers characterizing all species. Dioecy is not more strongly associated with islands. Inaperturate pollen in pistillate flowers characterizes almost all, but not the two dioecious species studied herein. Dioecy in both species indicates leakiness (rare hermaphroditic flowers on male plants) that helps explain island colonization and radiation. Leakiness allowed confirmation—usually impossible for dioecious species—of self‐compatibility for S. polygamum, and thus support for the hypothesis that dioecy evolved to promote outcrossing.
Leadership Needs Assessment
Authors: Bleich Michael R.
Published: March 2015

Documenting a leadership needs assessment is complex. One approach is through developing a central aim, followed by the competencies needed to lead the organization, others, and self. By adding contextual factors, an actionable leadership development plan evolves.
J Contin Educ Nurs.
2015;46(1):10–11.
ENGINEERING ANALYSIS OF A FAILED COMPASS PROXIMAL INTERPHALANGEAL (PIP) JOINT HINGE
Authors: Youssef M. M. , Shepherd D. E. T. , Titley O. G.
Published: March 2015

A failed compass hinge external fixator for fingers has been analyzed. The device consists of polymer parts manufactured from polyetherimide. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to investigate the principal stresses in the device under different loading conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the fracture surfaces. The FEA showed that the maximum principal stress was greater than the fatigue strength of polyetherimide. The SEM fractographs confirm that failure was by brittle fatigue.
Strategies and Methods for Ontology Alignment
Authors: Wimmer Hayden , Yoon Victoria , Rada Roy
Published: March 2015

The concept of ontologies has been around for millennia and spans many domains and disciplines. Ontologies are a powerful concept when applied to intelligent computing. Ontologies are the backbone of intelligent computing on the World Wide Web and crucial in many decision-support situations. Many sophisticated tools have been developed to support working with ontologies, including prominently exploiting the vast array of existing ontologies. Systems have been developed to automatically generate, match, and integrate ontologies in a process called ontology alignment. This chapter extends the current literature by presenting a system called ALIGN, which demonstrates how to use freely available tools to develop and facilitate ontology alignment. The first two ontologies are built with the ontology editor Protégé and represented in OWL. ALIGN then accesses these ontologies via Java's JENA framework and SPARQL queries. The efficacy of the ALIGN prototype is demonstrated on a drug-drug interaction problem. The prototype could readily be applied to other domains or be incorporated into decision-support tools.
Welcome to the Party
Authors: Heinrich Kai
Published: March 2015

Modeling topic distributions over documents has become a recent method for coping with the problematic of huge amounts of unstructured data. Especially in the context of Web communities, topic models can capture the zeitgeist as a snapshot of people's communication. However, the problem that arises from that static snapshot is that it fails to capture the dynamics of a community. To cope with this problem, dynamic topic models were introduced. This chapter makes use of those topic models in order to capture dynamics in user behavior within microblog communities such as Twitter. However, only applying topic models yields no interpretable results, so a method is proposed that compares different political parties over time using regression models based on DTM output. For evaluation purposes, a Twitter data set divided into different political communities is analyzed and results and findings are presented.
Design Consideration of Sociomaterial Multi-Agent CSCW Systems
Authors: Gasmelseid Tagelsir Mohamed
Published: March 2015

The recent technological advancements have significantly redefined the context in which organizations do business processes including the processes used to acquire, process, and share information. The transformations that emerged across the organizational and institutional landscapes have led to the emergence of new organizational forms of design and new business models. Within this context, the new business patterns, platforms, and architectures have been developed to enable for the maximization of benefits from data through the adoption of collaborative work practices. The main focus of such practices is oriented towards the improvement of responsiveness, building of alliances, and enhancing organizational reach. The use of global networks and Web-based systems for the implementation of collaborative work has been accompanied with a wide range of computer-supported collaborative systems. This chapter examines the context of collaboration, collaborative work, and the development of agent-supported collaborative work system. It also examines the implications of the ontological positions of sociomateriality on agent-supported collaborative work domains in terms of the multi-agent architecture and multi-agent evaluation.
Influencing Actions-Related Decisions Using Soft Computing Approaches
Authors: Petry Frederick E. , Yager Ronald R.
Published: March 2015

This chapter describes soft computing approaches for human-agent communications in the context of influencing decision-making behavior for health-related actions. Several methods are illustrated including using a person's predispositions and generalization techniques that allow issues to be viewed in a more favorable light with social interaction persuasion tendencies modeled with soft computing. The context of a robotic assistant for the elderly is used to illustrate the various communication techniques. Hierarchical generalization is introduced as a technique for generating potential alternatives in choices that might be more broadly acceptable to an individual who is being motivated towards a better choice. Finally, the related topic of negotiations using some the developed techniques is presented.
Hybrid Privacy Preservation Technique Using Neural Networks
Authors: VidyaBanu R. , Nagaveni N.
Published: March 2015

A novel Artificial Neural Network (ANN) dimension expansion-based framework that addresses the demand for privacy preservation of low dimensional data in clustering analysis is discussed. A hybrid approach that combines ANN with Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is proposed to preserve the privacy of data in mining. This chapter describes a feasible technique for privacy preserving clustering with the objective of providing superior level of privacy protection without compromising the data utility and mining outcome. The suitability of these techniques for mining has been evaluated by performing clustering on transformed data and the performance of the proposed method is measured in terms of misclassification and privacy level percentage. The methods are further validated by comparing the results with traditional Geometrical Data Transformation Methods (GDTMs). The results arrived at are significant and promising.
Risk Prediction Model for Osteoporosis Disease Based on a Reduced Set of Factors
Authors: Moudani Walid , Shahin Ahmad , Chakik Fadi , Rajab Dima
Published: March 2015

The health industry collects huge amounts of health data, which, unfortunately, are not mined to discover hidden information. Information technologies can provide alternative approaches to the diagnosis of the osteoporosis disease. In this chapter, the authors examine the potential use of classification techniques on a huge volume of healthcare data, particularly in anticipation of patients who may have osteoporosis disease through a set of potential risk factors. An innovative solution approach based on dynamic reduced sets of risk factors using the promising Rough Set theory is proposed. An experimentation of several classification techniques have been performed leading to rank the suitable techniques. The reduction of potential risk factors contributes to enumerate dynamically optimal subsets of the potential risk factors of high interest leading to reduce the complexity of the classification problems. The performance of the model is analyzed and evaluated based on a set of benchmark techniques.
Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia (BPSD)
Authors: Deshpande Nikhila , Nayar Babu
Published: March 2015

Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia (BPSD) is a term that embraces a heterogeneous group of non-cognitive symptoms and behaviours that occur in people with dementia. The development of BPSD is associated with a worse prognosis and a more rapid rate of illness progression and adds significantly to the direct and indirect costs of care. Challenges in dealing with BPSD can be manifold and impacts significantly on patients, carers and service providers. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of commonly encountered BPSD and the challenges posed to carers and service providers in its management, with a particular focus on emerging technology to help deal with these challenges effectively. We attempt to consider the issues involved from the view point of patients, carers and service providers.
Employing Opportunistic Networks in Dementia Patient Monitoring
Authors: Ciobanu Radu-Ioan , Dobre Ciprian
Published: March 2015

By 2050, 135.5 million people will suffer from dementia worldwide. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies can help dementia patients enjoy an independent life. In particular, communication is vital to any AAL system. Opportunistic networking uses low-cost wearable devices to exchange packets at a close range in cases where there is limited or no infrastructure. In this chapter, the authors propose and describe an autonomous patient monitoring support system based on opportunistic communication. The monitored patient wears non-intrusive sensors, computing devices and actuators, forming a Body Area Network (BAN). The BAN can provide memory impairment support services for the patient and is used to construct personalized condition-monitoring patient models to evaluate against a set of potential life-threatening events. The authors present two data transfer algorithms and show that they are able to offer good hit rates while decreasing congestion and overhead when compared to other existing solutions.
NoSQL Technologies for Real Time (Patient) Monitoring
Authors: Dobre Ciprian , Xhafa Fatos
Published: March 2015

Today we witness a growing change in how public health administration thinks about medical data. We have slowly moved from paper-based patient records to digitally storing medical data, in support for advanced evidence-based mining and decision support processes. With this change comes great responsibility, among which efficient storing and accessing the health status of the patient is particularly important. In this chapter, the authors analyze current storage technologies for storing medical data. We are witnessing a shift from traditional relational database support to NoSQL technologies capable of offering great availability and scalability options, and back to the mixture between the SQL and NoSQL worlds, and scalable SQL databases. All these alternatives come with their own pros and cons, which the authors carefully analyze. They believe that their survey will help medical practitioners and developers of health applications make a more informed decision when designing medical data storage support.
Fostering Independent Living in the Aging Population through Proactive Paging
Authors: Migliardi Mauro , Degano Cristiana , Tettamanti Marco
Published: March 2015

Contemporary societies are facing a dramatic, pervasive increase in age-related cognitive impairment, such as dementia. Dementia is characterized by a slow and progressive decline of declarative memory and cognitive abilities resulting from various pathological conditions that cause brain cell damage. As a consequence of cognitive decline, demented people lose their independence and their capacity to live autonomously. Cognitive impairment is the largest cause of dependence worldwide, and about half of all people with dementia depend upon personal care to carry out daily activities and represent a significant cost for healthcare systems. The ability to remember to carry out planned daily activities at the appropriate temporal and spatial conditions (i.e. prospective memory) is indeed a significantly and consistently compromised cognitive function in demented people, and possibly also in elderly people who complain of a reduced intellectual efficiency but who are otherwise cognitively and neurologically unaffected. An efficient prospective memory capacity is fundamental to preserve independence and autonomy in daily life, to preserve social relations within the community, and to comply with own health needs. The project presented in this chapter aims at fostering independence and autonomy in elderly people without or with early clinical signs of dementia by improving their working memory and prospective memory capacity through the adoption of assistive smartphone technology. From a technological point of view, the project aims at leveraging the recent developments in mobile and context-aware computing to be able to provide “smart” suggestions to individuals by automatically analysing their environment and recognizing locations and time frames that are well suited to the completion of user's tasks. In this chapter, the authors describe the social, clinical, and economic motivations of the project and its technological development.
Using a Smartphone as a Track and Fall Detector
Authors: Ko Chia-Yin , Leu Fang-Yie , Lin I-Tsen
Published: March 2015

This chapter proposes a smartphone-based system for both indoor and outdoor monitoring of people with dementia. The whole system comprises wandering detection, safety-zone monitoring, fall detection, communication services, alert notifications, and emergency medical services. To effectively track the elderly, the proposed system uses a smartphone camera to take real-time pictures along the user's path as he or she moves about. Those photos, accompanied with time and GPS signals, are delivered to and stored on the Cloud system. When necessary, family caregivers can download those data to quickly find a way to help the elderly individual. Additionally, this study uses tri-axial accelerometers to examine falls. To assure individuals' data is safeguarded appropriately, an RSA method has been adopted by the system to encrypt stored data. This reliable and minimally intrusive system provides people with dementia with an opportunity to maintain their social networks and to improve their quality of lives.