bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using a “Microbe Minute” to Improve Class Attendance and Increase Course Interest
Authors: Feldman Kathleen A.
Published: December 2013

Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between lecture attendance and exam performance (2). Teaching an introductory microbiology class in a large lecture format to 200–375 students at 8:00 a.m. has unique challenges. In particular, due to the early morning lecture, students tend to arrive late and some cease attending after the first few weeks of class, since lecture PowerPoint slides are provided on the class website. Additionally, student interest in the subject may be low since it is a required course. Many introductory level textbooks focus on large concepts but minimize discussion of interesting microorganisms, particularly pathogens. To address these issues, a “Microbe Minute” was added to the start of the class period (1). The “Microbe Minute” consists of four PowerPoint slides focusing on an interesting microorganism. The class starts exactly at 8:00 a.m. and copies of the slides are not provided to the students. Spending the first five minutes of an undergraduate introductory microbiology class discussing an interesting microbe can improve class attendance, foster discussion, and increase course interest, which ultimately benefits both the students and the instructor. The “Microbe Minute” can be implemented in any undergraduate or graduate-level microbiology or biology course from the introductory to the advanced level. It is particularly useful in a large lecture format but can also be used for a small classroom.
TIA: A Resource for Those Interested in Educational DevelopmentReview of:	To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional and Organizational Development, Volume 31;	GrocciaJames E.CruzLaura (ed); (	2012).	Jossey-Bass Publishers,	San Francisco, CA.	400 pages.
Authors: Leonardo Michael R.
Published: December 2013

Review of:
To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional and Organizational Development, Volume 31;
James E. Groccia and Laura Cruz (ed); (2012). Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 400 pages.
All contraindications to thrombolysis for life-threatening pulmonary embolus should be considered relative
Authors: Mercer Rachel M , Bowen Jordan S T , Armstrong Richard J
Published: December 2013

Acute massive pulmonary embolism (PE) can be fatal; however, timely thrombolytic therapy can be life saving. Guidelines advocate the use of thrombolysis for massive PE in patients with an acceptable bleeding-risk profile. Nonetheless, estimating what constitutes an acceptable bleeding risk in those with life-threatening PE is a clinical challenge, and even contraindications considered ‘absolute’ may present lesser risk than leaving PE untreated. We discuss the case of a 77-year-old man who received thrombolysis for a massive PE 4 weeks following admission with a significant intracerebral bleed. There was rapid resolution of hypotension and hypoxia and he survived to be discharged home. This case is used to illustrate that no potential therapy should be discounted in patients faced with acute life-threatening PE. Decisions to thrombolyse patients with traditional contraindications—even those considered absolute—must be taken by clinicians able to weigh relative risks.
Nematode infection mimicking paratesticular malignancy
Authors: Kallampallil Jins , Wood Sarah J , O'Dempsey Timothy , Craigie Ross J
Published: December 2013

Paratesticular swellings pose a diagnostic dilemma due to concerns over malignancy. We present a case of paratesticular swelling in a 13-year-old boy as a result ofDirofilaria immitisinfection. The boy presented with a 2-month history of right testicular discomfort associated with an irregular mass within the scrotum.
Small bowel injury after suprapubic catheter insertion presenting 3 years after initial insertion
Authors: Gallagher Kevin M , Good Daniel W , Brush John P , Al-hasso Ammar , Stewart Grant D
Published: December 2013

A 77-year-old woman was referred to urology with blockages of her suprapubic catheter (SPC). The catheter was replaced easily in the emergency department, however, no urine was draining, only a cloudy green fluid was visible. On cystoscopy bilious material was identified in the bladder. There was no catheter visible. There seemed to be a fistulous tract entering the bladder at the left dome. The urethra was dilated, a urethral catheter was placed and the SPC was removed. A CT demonstrated that the SPC tract transfixed a loop of pelvic small bowel and entered the bladder with no intraperitoneal contrast leak. The patient recovered well and did not require laparotomy. This case emphasises that bowel perforation, although rare, must be considered as a complication of SPC placement even years after initial insertion when catheter problems arise. Unusually, we learn that this complication may not present with abdominal pain or peritonism.
Necrotising fasciitis
Authors: Dapunt Ulrike , Klingmann Alexander , Schmidmaier Gerhard , Moghaddam Arash
Published: December 2013

A patient in his late 50s who suffered from necrotising fasciitis is described in this case report. The patient first presented at the chest pain unit, where he reported of respiratory distress and showed systemic signs of an infection. Because of progressive skin lesions indicative of necrotising fasciitis on both the lower extremities, the patient was immediately rushed into surgery and was treated at the intensive care unit. Despite receiving immediate treatment, the patient died of this rapidly spreading infectious disease. Because of the fast advance of this disease, we would like to emphasise the importance of early recognition of symptoms.
Empyema necessitans: very late complication of pulmonary tuberculosis
Authors: Gomes Manuel Mendes , Alves Márcia , Correia José Bernardes , Santos Lèlita
Published: December 2013

Empyema necessitansis a rare clinical finding nowadays. We report the case of a patient admitted in our ward for investigation of an unknown onset anterior chest wall mass, with no accompanying signs or symptoms. It is noteworthy that the patient had had pulmonary tuberculosis submitted to thoracoplasty more than 60 years before. Thoracic MRI showed a large heterogeneous mass, with a thick wall and internal septations located at the right anterior chest wall, as well as a heterogeneous content inside the right pleural cavity, with direct communication between both. An aspirative puncture of both masses was performed, with positive cultures forMycobacterium tuberculosis, thus leading to the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis with anterior chest wallempyema necessitans. A drain was inserted and antibiotics started. This case draws our attention to a very rare complication of pulmonary tuberculosis and its surgical treatment, though it aroused many decades after primary infection.
Child passenger safety practices and injury risk in crashes with father versus mother drivers
Authors: Kallan Michael J , Winston Flaura K , Zonfrillo Mark R
Published: December 2013

In order to test stereotypes that mothers are more safety conscious than fathers, this study aimed to explore differences in restraint patterns, front-row seating and injury for children in crashes when driven by fathers versus mothers, both when driving alone and with other adults. From 15 January 2003 to 30 November 2007, data were collected via insurance claims records and telephone surveys on a weighted sample of 10 715 child passengers in crashes. When riding with children and no other adults, father drivers in crashes were more likely than mother drivers to transport children <9 years old unrestrained or suboptimally restrained (35.0% vs 26.1%, p=0.001) and to seat children <13 years old in the front row (23.7% vs 14.3%, p<0.001). For children <16 years, no statistically significant difference in injury risk was noted for father versus mother drivers, regardless of adult passenger presence. Further improvements in child passenger safety might be gained with campaigns directed at both fathers and mothers.
Receptor expression is essential for forward motility in the course of sperm cell maturation
Authors: Dey Souvik , Roy Debarun , Majumder Gopal C. , Bhattacharyya Debdas
Published: December 2013

Forward motility stimulating factor (FMSF) is a glycoprotein previously purified from buffalo blood serum that promotes progressive motility of caprine caudal spermatozoa. We have prepared a functionally active covalent conjugate of this factor with horseradish-peroxidase (HRP) to obtain an idea of its binding efficacy on maturing spermatozoa. Receptor-assay was performed using FMSF-HRP conjugate in saturating conditions to bind with spermatozoa isolated from different epididymal segments. Activity and binding profile of the motility stimulating factor coincided, suggesting both these parameters come into play only partially when spermatozoa reach the maturation state in the distal-corpus region and largely in caudal part (around 24% and 80% binding and 10% and 79% forward motility, respectively). Spermatozoa from caput up to mid-corpus regions neither displayed any substantial binding with FMSF nor exhibited significant induction in forward motility. Study of cell surface-bound FMSF on maturing spermatozoa in physiological milieu demonstrated their presence on anterior spermhead and suggests a nearly similar pattern of occurrence. Flow-cytometric analysis also implies analogous presence of this receptor. The factor was also immunodetected in uterine fluids of cattle species. This study displays a maturation-dependent expression of FMSF-receptor and consequential stimulation of forward motility that may be crucial for its journey to meet the ovum.
THE ISOTROPIZATION PROCESS IN THE QUADRATIC GRAVITY
Authors: MÜLLER DANIEL , ALVES MÁRCIO E. S. , de ARAUJO JOSÉ C. N.
Published: December 2013

It is believed that soon after the Planck era, spacetime should have a semi-classical nature. Therefore, it is unavoidable to modify the theory of general relativity or look for alternative theories of gravitation. An interesting possibility found in the literature considers two geometric counter-terms to regularize the divergences of the effective action. These counter-terms are responsible for a higher-order derivative metric theory of gravitation. In the present paper, we investigate how isotropization occurs. For this reason a single solution is chosen throughout this paper. We obtain perturbatively, by two different methods, that the tensor and scalar components emerge naturally during the isotropization process. In this sense our result provides a numerical example to Stelle's well-known result on classical gravity with higher derivates. Our entire analysis is restricted to the particular Bianchi type I case.
EFFECT OF SHEAR AND BULK VISCOSITIES ON INTERACTING MODIFIED CHAPLYGIN GAS COSMOLOGY
Authors: NAJI J. , POURHASSAN B. , AMANI ALI R.
Published: December 2013

In this paper, we study interacting modified Chaplygin gas (MCG) which has shear and bulk viscosities. We consider sign-changeable interaction between MCG and matter, then investigate the effects of shear and bulk viscosities on the cosmological parameters such as energy, density, Hubble expansion parameter, scale factor and deceleration parameter.
UPCONVERSION LUMINESCENCE ENHANCEMENT OF NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ NANOPARTICLES ON INVERSE OPAL SURFACE
Authors: LIAO JIAYAN , YANG ZHENGWEN , WU HANGJUN , LAI SHENFENG , QIU JIANBEI , SONG ZHIGUO , YANG YONG , ZHOU DACHENG , YIN ZHAOYI
Published: December 2013

LaPO 4 inverse opal photonic crystals with different photonic band gaps were fabricated by template-assisted method. The Yb 3+/ Er 3+ co-doped NaYF 4 nanoparticles were deposited on the surfaces of the inverse opals, and their up-conversion emission properties were investigated. The upconversion emissions of Yb 3+/ Er 3+ co-doped NaYF 4 nanoparticles on the inverse opal surfaces have been enhanced when the upconversion emission bands of the nanoparticles are in the range of photonic band gaps of the inverse opals, which is attributed to an efficient and selective reflection of photonic band gaps.
Design and Evaluation of a New Approach to RAID-0 Scaling
Authors: Zhang Guangyan , Zheng Weimin , Li Keqin
Published: December 2013

Scaling up a RAID-0 volume with added disks can increase its storage capacity and I/O bandwidth simultaneously. For preserving a round-robin data distribution, existing scaling approaches require all the data to be migrated. Such large data migration results in a long redistribution time as well as a negative impact on application performance. In this article, we present a new approach to RAID-0 scaling called FastScale. First, FastScale minimizes data migration, while maintaining a uniform data distribution. It moves only enough data blocks from old disks to fill an appropriate fraction of new disks. Second, FastScale optimizes data migration with access aggregation and lazy checkpoint. Access aggregation enables data migration to have a larger throughput due to a decrement of disk seeks. Lazy checkpoint minimizes the number of metadata writes without compromising data consistency. Using several real system disk traces, we evaluate the performance of FastScale through comparison with SLAS, one of the most efficient existing scaling approaches. The experiments show that FastScale can reduce redistribution time by up to 86.06% with smaller application I/O latencies. The experiments also illustrate that the performance of RAID-0 scaled using FastScale is almost identical to, or even better than, that of the round-robin RAID-0.
The complexity of regular expressions and property paths in SPARQL
Authors: Losemann Katja , Martens Wim
Published: December 2013

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently introduced property paths in SPARQL 1.1, a query language for RDF data. Property paths allow SPARQL queries to evaluate regular expressions over graph-structured data. However, they differ from standard regular expressions in several notable aspects. For example, they have a limited form of negation, they have numerical occurrence indicators as syntactic sugar, and their semantics on graphs is defined in a nonstandard manner.

We formalize the W3C semantics of property paths and investigate various query evaluation problems on graphs. More specifically, let
x
and
y
be two nodes in an edge-labeled graph and
r
be an expression. We study the complexities of: (1) deciding whether there exists a path from
x
to
y
that matches
r
and (2) counting how many paths from
x
to
y
match
r
. Our main results show that, compared to an alternative semantics of regular expressions on graphs, the complexity of (1) and (2) under W3C semantics is significantly higher. Whereas the alternative semantics remains in polynomial time for large fragments of expressions, the W3C semantics makes problems (1) and (2) intractable almost immediately.

As a side-result, we prove that the membership problem for regular expressions with numerical occurrence indicators and negation is in polynomial time.
Mergeable summaries
Authors: Agarwal Pankaj K. , Cormode Graham , Huang Zengfeng , Phillips Jeff M. , Wei Zhewei , Yi Ke
Published: December 2013

We study the
mergeability
of data summaries. Informally speaking, mergeability requires that, given two summaries on two datasets, there is a way to merge the two summaries into a single summary on the two datasets combined together, while preserving the error and size guarantees. This property means that the summaries can be merged in a way akin to other algebraic operators such as sum and max, which is especially useful for computing summaries on massive distributed data. Several data summaries are trivially mergeable by construction, most notably all the
sketches
that are linear functions of the datasets. But some other fundamental ones, like those for heavy hitters and quantiles, are not (known to be) mergeable. In this article, we demonstrate that these summaries are indeed mergeable or can be made mergeable after appropriate modifications. Specifically, we show that for ε-approximate heavy hitters, there is a deterministic mergeable summary of size
O
(1/ε); for ε-approximate quantiles, there is a deterministic summary of size
O
((1/ε) log(ε
n
)) that has a restricted form of mergeability, and a randomized one of size
O
((1/ε) log
3/2
(1/ε)) with full mergeability. We also extend our results to geometric summaries such as ε-approximations which permit approximate multidimensional range counting queries. While most of the results in this article are theoretical in nature, some of the algorithms are actually very simple and even perform better than the previously best known algorithms, which we demonstrate through experiments in a simulated sensor network.

We also achieve two results of independent interest: (1) we provide the best known randomized streaming bound for ε-approximate quantiles that depends only on ε, of size
O
((1/ε) log
3/2
(1/ε)), and (2) we demonstrate that the MG and the SpaceSaving summaries for heavy hitters are isomorphic.
Compression in wireless sensor networks
Authors: Razzaque M. A. , Bleakley Chris , Dobson Simon
Published: December 2013

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are highly resource constrained in terms of power supply, memory capacity, communication bandwidth, and processor performance. Compression of sampling, sensor data, and communications can significantly improve the efficiency of utilization of three of these resources, namely, power supply, memory and bandwidth. Recently, there have been a large number of proposals describing compression algorithms for WSNs. These proposals are diverse and involve different compression approaches. It is high time that these individual efforts are put into perspective and a more holistic view taken. In this article, we take a step in that direction by presenting a survey of the literature in the area of compression and compression frameworks in WSNs. A comparative study of the various approaches is also provided. In addition, open research issues, challenges and future research directions are highlighted.
Secure and verifiable outsourcing of large-scale biometric computations
Authors: Blanton Marina , Zhang Yihua , Frikken Keith B.
Published: December 2013

Cloud computing services are becoming more prevalent and readily available today, bringing to us economies of scale and making large-scale computation feasible. Security and privacy considerations, however, stand in the way of fully utilizing the benefits of such services and architectures. In this work we address the problem of secure outsourcing of large-scale biometric experiments to a cloud or grid in a way that the client can verify that with very high probability the task was computed correctly. We conduct thorough theoretical analysis of the proposed techniques and provide implementation results that indicate that our solution imposes modest overhead.
High-performance complex event processing over hierarchical data
Authors: Mozafari Barzan , Zeng Kai , D'antoni Loris , Zaniolo Carlo
Published: December 2013

While Complex Event Processing (CEP) constitutes a considerable portion of the so-called Big Data analytics, current CEP systems can only process data having a simple structure, and are otherwise limited in their ability to efficiently support complex continuous queries on structured or semistructured information. However, XML-like streams represent a very popular form of data exchange, comprising large portions of social network and RSS feeds, financial feeds, configuration files, and similar applications requiring advanced CEP queries. In this article, we present the XSeq language and system that support CEP on XML streams, via an extension of XPath that is both powerful and amenable to an efficient implementation. Specifically, the XSeq language extends XPath with natural operators to express sequential and Kleene-* patterns over XML streams, while remaining highly amenable to efficient execution. In fact, XSeq is designed to take full advantage of the recently proposed Visibly Pushdown Automata (VPA), where higher expressive power can be achieved without compromising the computationally attractive properties of finite state automata. Besides the efficiency and expressivity benefits, the choice of VPA as the underlying model also enables XSeq to go beyond XML streams and be easily applicable to any data with both sequential and hierarchical structures, including JSON messages, RNA sequences, and software traces. Therefore, we illustrate the XSeq's power for CEP applications through examples from different domains and provide formal results on its expressiveness and complexity. Finally, we present several optimization techniques for XSeq queries. Our extensive experiments indicate that XSeq brings outstanding performance to CEP applications: two orders of magnitude improvement is obtained over the same queries executed in general-purpose XML engines.
Consistent thinning of large geographical data for map visualization
Authors: Sarma Anish Das , Lee Hongrae , Gonzalez Hector , Madhavan Jayant , Halevy Alon
Published: December 2013

Large-scale map visualization systems play an increasingly important role in presenting geographic datasets to end-users. Since these datasets can be extremely large, a map rendering system often needs to select a small fraction of the data to visualize them in a limited space. This article addresses the fundamental challenge of
thinning
: determining appropriate samples of data to be shown on specific geographical regions and zoom levels. Other than the sheer scale of the data, the thinning problem is challenging because of a number of other reasons: (1) data can consist of complex geographical shapes, (2) rendering of data needs to satisfy certain constraints, such as data being preserved across zoom levels and adjacent regions, and (3) after satisfying the constraints, an
optimal
solution needs to be chosen based on
objectives
such as
maximality
,
fairness
, and
importance
of data.

This article formally defines and presents a complete solution to the thinning problem. First, we express the problem as an integer programming formulation that efficiently solves thinning for desired objectives. Second, we present more efficient solutions for maximality, based on DFS traversal of a spatial tree. Third, we consider the common special case of point datasets, and present an even more efficient randomized algorithm. Fourth, we show that
contiguous
regions are tractable for a general version of maximality for which arbitrary regions are intractable. Fifth, we examine the structure of our integer programming formulation and show that for point datasets, our program is integral. Finally, we have implemented all techniques from this article in Google Maps [Google 2005] visualizations of fusion tables [Gonzalez et al. 2010], and we describe a set of experiments that demonstrate the trade-offs among the algorithms.
Real Advantage
Authors: Razborov Alexander , Viola Emanuele
Published: December 2013

We highlight the challenge of proving correlation bounds between boolean functions and real-valued polynomials, where any non-boolean output counts against correlation.

We prove that real-valued polynomials of degree 1 2 lg
2
lg
2
n
have correlation with parity at most zero. Such a result is false for modular and threshold polynomials. Its proof is based on a variant of an anti-concentration result by Costello et al. [2006].
Robust Satisfiability for CSPs
Authors: Dalmau Víctor , Krokhin Andrei
Published: December 2013

An algorithm for a constraint satisfaction problem is called robust if it outputs an assignment satisfying at least a (1 −
f
(
ε
))-fraction of constraints for each (1 −
ε
)-satisfiable instance (i.e., such that at most a
ε
-fraction of constraints needs to be removed to make the instance satisfiable), where
f
(
ε
) → 0 as
ε
→ 0. We establish an algebraic framework for analyzing constraint satisfaction problems admitting an efficient robust algorithm with functions
f
of a given growth rate. We use this framework to derive hardness results. We also describe three classes of problems admitting an efficient robust algorithm such that
f
is
O
(1/log (1/
ε
)),
O
(
ε
1/k
) for some
k
> 1, and
O
(
ε
), respectively. Finally, we give a complete classification of robust satisfiability with a given
f
for the Boolean case.
Connexin 36 mediates blood cell flow in mouse pancreatic islets
Authors: Short Kurt W. , Head W. Steve , Piston David W.
Published: December 2013

The insulin-secreting β-cells are contained within islets of Langerhans, which are highly vascularized. Blood cell flow rates through islets are glucose-dependent, even though there are no changes in blood cell flow within in the surrounding exocrine pancreas. This suggests a specific mechanism of glucose-regulated blood flow in the islet. Pancreatic islets respond to elevated glucose with synchronous pulses of electrical activity and insulin secretion across all β-cells in the islet. Connexin 36 (Cx36) gap junctions between islet β-cells mediate this synchronization, which is lost in Cx36 knockout mice (Cx36−/−). This leads to glucose intolerance in these mice, despite normal plasma insulin levels and insulin sensitivity. Thus, we sought to investigate whether the glucose-dependent changes in intraislet blood cell flow are also dependent on coordinated pulsatile electrical activity. We visualized and quantified blood cell flow using high-speed in vivo fluorescence imaging of labeled red blood cells and plasma. With the use of a live animal glucose clamp, blood cell flow was measured during either hypoglycemia (∼50 mg/dl) or hyperglycemia (∼300 mg/dl). In contrast to the large glucose-dependent islet blood velocity changes observed in wild-type mice, only minimal differences are observed in both Cx36+/− and Cx36−/− mice. This observation supports a novel model where intraislet blood cell flow is regulated by the coordinated electrical activity in the islet β-cells. Because Cx36 expression and function is reduced in type 2 diabetes, the resulting defect in intraislet blood cell flow regulation may also play a significant role in diabetic pathology.
MicroRNAs in normal and psoriatic skin
Authors: Xia Jing , Zhang Weixiong
Published: December 2013

Psoriasis is a chronic and common human skin disorder currently with no cure. Psoriatic skin displays inflammatory, raised, and scaly lesions with widely aberrant gene expression. Recent studies have revealed critical roles that microRNAs play as a class of posttranscriptional gene regulator in skin development and skin diseases. A substantial number of novel microRNAs have been identified in skin, and much has been learned about the dysregulated expression and functional roles of microRNAs in psoriasis, as well as the robustness and plasticity of microRNA-mediated gene expression regulation. Here we review recent progresses in discovery, profiling, and characterization of microRNAs in human psoriatic skin, discuss insights to their biological functions, and share our view on remaining challenges to be addressed.
Randomized Controlled Pilot Study Testing Use of Smartphone Technology for Obesity Treatment
Authors: Allen Jerilyn K. , Stephens Janna , Dennison Himmelfarb Cheryl R. , Stewart Kerry J. , Hauck Sara
Published: December 2013

Background. The established interventions for weight loss are resource intensive which can create barriers for full participation and ultimate translation. The major goal of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of theoretically based behavioral interventions delivered by smartphone technology.Methods. The study randomized 68 obese adults to receive one of four interventions for six months: (1) intensive counseling intervention, (2) intensive counseling plus smartphone intervention, (3) a less intensive counseling plus smartphone intervention, and (4) smartphone intervention only. The outcome measures of weight, BMI, waist circumference, and self-reported dietary intake and physical activity were assessed at baseline and six months.Results. The sample was 78% female and 49% African American, with an average age of 45 years, and average BMI of 34.3 kg/m2. There were trends for differences in weight loss among the four intervention groups. Participants in the intensive counseling plus self-monitoring smartphone group and less intensive counseling plus self-monitoring smartphone group tended to lose more weight than other groups (5.4 kg and 3.3 kg, resp.).Conclusions. The results of this pilot trial of a weight loss intervention provide preliminary support for using a smartphone application for self-monitoring as an adjunct to behavioral counseling.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Cardiac Inflammation: Immunomodulatory Properties and the Influence of Toll-Like Receptors
Authors: van den Akker F. , de Jager S. C. A. , Sluijter J. P. G.
Published: December 2013

Background. After myocardial infarction (MI), the inflammatory response is indispensable for initiating reparatory processes. However, the intensity and duration of the inflammation cause additional damage to the already injured myocardium. Treatment with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) upon MI positively affects cardiac function. This happens likely via a paracrine mechanism. As MSC are potent modulators of the immune system, this could influence this postinfarct immune response. Since MSC express toll-like receptors (TLR), danger signal (DAMP) produced after MI could influence their immunomodulatory properties.Scope of Review. Not much is known about the direct immunomodulatory efficiency of MSC when injected in a strong inflammatory environment. This review focuses first on the interactions between MSC and the immune system. Subsequently, an overview is provided of the effects of DAMP-associated TLR activation on MSC and their immunomodulative properties after myocardial infarction.Major Conclusions. MSC can strongly influence most cell types of the immune system. TLR signaling can increase and decrease this immunomodulatory potential, depending on the available ligands. Although reports are inconsistent, TLR3 activation may boost immunomodulation by MSC, while TLR4 activation suppresses it.General Significance. Elucidating the effects of TLR activation on MSC could identify new preconditioning strategies which might improve their immunomodulative properties.
Soil Water Retention Modeling Using Pedotransfer Functions
Authors: Jaiswal R. K. , Thomas T. , Galkate R. V. , Tyagi Jaivir
Published: December 2013

The unsaturated hydraulic functions are key input data in numerical models of vadose zone processes. The direct measurement of soil moisture at different suction heads requires detailed analysis of soil samples with sophisticated instruments which can be replaced with the help of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) which are empirical relationships between the soil hydraulic properties and the more easily obtainable basic soil properties. The CalcPTF software has been used to compute the parameters of the most commonly used models of Brooks and Corey (BC) and Van Genuchten (VG) from PTFs for determination of soil water retention curves on seventeen sites in the commands of Benisagar and Rangawan reservoirs in Chhatarpur district (MP), India. The parameters of sixteen PTFs have been estimated and results have been compared with observed data using root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R2), Radj2, and graphical representation. The PTF of BC model suggested by Rawls and Brakensiek, 1985 (BC-RB), has been found to be the best-fit PTF for sites 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 17, where BC model by Saxton et al., 1986 (BC-SEL), can be used for modeling the soil moisture for sites 3, 4, 9, 12, and 16. It may be concluded that the PTF suggested by Rawls and Brakensiek, 1985 (BC-RB), or Saxton et al., 1986 (BC-SEL), can be used for computation of soil moisture retention curves in the region.
Collision-Free and Energy-Saving Trajectory Planning for Large-Scale Redundant Manipulator Using Improved PSO
Authors: Jin Min , Wu Dan
Published: December 2013

The large-scale boom system, such as the five-arm concrete pump truck with the arm length of 36–65 meters, usually operates in an unknown dynamic outdoor environment. The motion safety and the energy consumption are thus the two vital measurements to the effectiveness of the trajectory planning for the large-scale boom system. Due to the redundancy of the large-scale boom system and some drawbacks of the original particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, an improved PSO algorithm is presented to solve the inverse kinematic problem of the redundant large-scale boom system. By the improved PSO algorithm, the energy-saving trajectory planning of the large-scale boom system that operates in a workspace without obstacles and with obstacles is optimized, which considers different important degrees of the subgoals, respectively. The optimal results from the simulation study and the practical application verify the effectiveness of the proposed planning strategy. At the same time, the performance of the improved strategy is compared with that of the traditional, and the superiority is further demonstrated.
Computational Approaches for Modeling the Multiphysics in Pultrusion Process
Authors: Carlone P. , Baran I. , Hattel J. H. , Palazzo G. S.
Published: December 2013

Pultrusion is a continuous manufacturing process used to produce high strength composite profiles with constant cross section. The mutual interactions between heat transfer, resin flow and cure reaction, variation in the material properties, and stress/distortion evolutions strongly affect the process dynamics together with the mechanical properties and the geometrical precision of the final product. In the present work, pultrusion process simulations are performed for a unidirectional (UD) graphite/epoxy composite rod including several processing physics, such as fluid flow, heat transfer, chemical reaction, and solid mechanics. The pressure increase and the resin flow at the tapered inlet of the die are calculated by means of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) finite volume model. Several models, based on different homogenization levels and solution schemes, are proposed and compared for the evaluation of the temperature and the degree of cure distributions inside the heating die and at the postdie region. The transient stresses, distortions, and pull force are predicted using a sequentially coupled three-dimensional (3D) thermochemical analysis together with a 2D plane strain mechanical analysis using the finite element method and compared with results obtained from a semianalytical approach.
Adaptive Sliding Mode Robust Control for Virtual Compound-Axis Servo System
Authors: Ren Yan , Liu Zhenghua , Chang Le , Wen Nuan
Published: December 2013

A structure mode of virtual compound-axis servo system is proposed to improve the tracking accuracy of the ordinary optoelectric tracking platform. It is based on the structure and principles of compound-axis servo system. A hybrid position control scheme combining the PD controller and feed-forward controller is used in subsystem to track the tracking error of the main system. This paper analyzes the influences of the equivalent disturbance in main system and proposes an adaptive sliding mode robust control method based on the improved disturbance observer. The sliding mode technique helps this disturbance observer to deal with the uncompensated disturbance in high frequency by making use of the rapid switching control value, which is based on the subtle error of disturbance estimation. Besides, the high-frequency chattering is alleviated effectively in this proposal. The effectiveness of the proposal is confirmed by experiments on optoelectric tracking platform.
A Remark on the Global Attractors of the Nonlinear Evolution Equations
Authors: Ya-ya Chang , Qiao-zhen Ma
Published: December 2013

We study the existence of global attractor of the nonlinear elastic rod oscillation equation when the forcing term belongs only to H−1(Ω); furthermore, we prove that the fractal dimension of global attractor is finite.
Wild Edible Plants as Potential Antioxidants in Vegetables Oils
Authors: Romojaro Ana , Sanchez-Bel Paloma , Serrano Maria , Pretel M. Teresa
Published: December 2013

The effect of the addition of fruits of Rosa canina and Quercus ballota and leaves of Sanguisorba minor to sunflower, seed, and olive oils on lipid oxidation during the frying process was analyzed. The three underutilised edible plants increased the oxidative stability of the sunflower oil, since the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was significantly decreased with respect to values of the control sunflower oil after the heating process. However, in olive oil, the effect of these edible plants on decreasing the lipid peroxidation was only evident for the highest concentration, while in seed oil the addition of the edible plant showed a prooxidant effect. Thus, these wild edible plants could be used to enrich vegetable oils with low content of natural antioxidant, such as sunflower oil, and avoid or decrease the use of synthetic antioxidant.
Exponential Decay for Nonlinear von Kármán Equations with Memory
Authors: Kang Jum-Ran
Published: December 2013

We consider the nonlinear von Kármán equations with memory term. We show the exponential decay result of solutions. Our result is established without imposing the usual relation betweengand its derivative. This result improves on earlier ones concerning the exponential decay.
Handle Region Peptide Ameliorating Insulin Resistance but NotβCell Functions in Male Rats Neonatally Treated with Sodium L-Glutamate
Authors: Yin Guo-shu , Lin Shao-da , Xu Dong-chuan , Sun Ru-qiong , Lin Kun , Lin Chu-jia
Published: December 2013

Handle region peptide (HRP), which was recognized as a blocker of (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR), may block the function of (P)RR. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of HRP with a large dose of 1 mg/kg/d on glucose status in the rats treated neonatally with monosodium L-glutamate (MSG). At the age of 8 weeks, the MSG rats were randomly divided into MSG control group, HRP treated group with minipump (MSG-HRP group), losartan treated group (MSG-L group), and HRP and losartan cotreated group (MSG-HRP-L group) and fed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks. Losartan but not HRP increased the levels of insulin releasing and ameliorate glucose status although both losartan and HRP improved insulin sensitivity. On the one hand, both losartan and HRP decreased levels of pancreatic local Ang-II and NADPH oxidase activity as well as its subunitsP22phox. On the other hand, losartan but not HRP decreasedα-cell mass and number of PCNA-positive cells located periphery of the islets and decreased picrosirius red stained area in islets. HRP ameliorating insulin resistance but notβ-cell functions leads to hyperglycemia in the end in male MSG rats, and the dual characters of HRP may partly account for the phenomenon.
Development of Sustainable Technology to Produce Jute-Ramie Blended Textile and Its Applications
Authors: Biswas Debkumar , Nandi Anup Kumar , Chakrabarti Syamal Kanti , Ray Prabir
Published: December 2013

Ramie (Boehmeria nivea), commonly known as China grass, is the strongest and finest plant fibre which is considered one of the valuable textile entities. Despite its unique characteristics, ramie has received reasonably less importance specially in the Indian subcontinent due to unavailability of appropriate postharvesting and processing technologies. With increase in global environmental awareness, the alternative (to cotton) cellulosic natural fibre “ramie” is gaining importance in the international textile domain. Sustainable methods and technologies which could trigger the utilization of ramie fibre are in demand worldwide. This paper will describe the developments carried out in the areas of postharvesting and spinning process of ramie. An ecofriendly degumming technology of ramie fibre has been elaborated along with suitable fibre processing route of ramie-jute blends that will bring new avenue for manufacturing jute diversified market acceptable products.
Warehouse Optimization Model Based on Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Qin Guofeng , Li Jia , Jiang Nan , Li Qiyan , Wang Lisheng
Published: December 2013

This paper takes Bao Steel logistics automated warehouse system as an example. The premise is to maintain the focus of the shelf below half of the height of the shelf. As a result, the cost time of getting or putting goods on the shelf is reduced, and the distance of the same kind of goods is also reduced. Construct a multiobjective optimization model, using genetic algorithm to optimize problem. At last, we get a local optimal solution. Before optimization, the average cost time of getting or putting goods is 4.52996 s, and the average distance of the same kinds of goods is 2.35318 m. After optimization, the average cost time is 4.28859 s, and the average distance is 1.97366 m. After analysis, we can draw the conclusion that this model can improve the efficiency of cargo storage.
Quality Evaluation Based on Multivariate Statistical Methods
Authors: Yin Shen , Zhu Xiangping , Karimi Hamid Reza
Published: December 2013

Quality prediction models are constructed based on multivariate statistical methods, including ordinary least squares regression (OLSR), principal component regression (PCR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and modified partial least squares regression (MPLSR). The prediction model constructed by MPLSR achieves superior results, compared with the other three methods from both aspects of fitting efficiency and prediction ability. Based on it, further research is dedicated to selecting key variables to directly predict the product quality with satisfactory performance. The prediction models presented are more efficient than tradition ones and can be useful to support human experts in the evaluation and classification of the product quality. The effectiveness of the quality prediction models is finally illustrated and verified based on the practical data set of the red wine.
Optimality Condition and Wolfe Duality for Invex Interval-Valued Nonlinear Programming Problems
Authors: Zhang Jianke
Published: December 2013

The concepts of preinvex and invex are extended to the interval-valued functions. Under the assumption of invexity, the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality sufficient and necessary conditions for interval-valued nonlinear programming problems are derived. Based on the concepts of having no duality gap in weak and strong sense, the Wolfe duality theorems for the invex interval-valued nonlinear programming problems are proposed in this paper.
The Convergence Coefficient across Political Systems
Authors: Gallego Maria , Schofield Norman
Published: December 2013

Formal work on the electoral model often suggests that parties or candidates should locate themselves
at the electoral mean. Recent research has found no evidence of such convergence. In order to explain nonconvergence, the stochastic electoral model is extended by including estimates of electoral valence. We introduce the notion of a convergence coefficient, c. It has been shown that high values of c imply that there is a significant centrifugal tendency acting on parties. We used electoral surveys to construct a stochastic valence model of the the elections in various countries. We find that the convergence coefficient varies across elections in a country, across countries with similar regimes, and across political regimes. In some countries, the centripetal tendency leads parties to converge to the electoral mean. In others the centrifugal tendency dominates and some parties locate far from the electoral mean. In particular, for countries with proportional electoral systems, namely, Israel, Turkey, and Poland, the centrifugal tendency is very high. In the majoritarian polities of the United States and Great Britain, the centrifugal tendency is very low. In anocracies, the autocrat imposes limitations on how far from the origin the opposition parties can move.
Port-Based Ontology Modeling for Robot Leg Conceptual Design
Authors: Cao Dongxing , Fu Ming Wang , Mi Jiajia , Li Zhanwei
Published: December 2013

Port, as an interface of the component, can be used to exchange information with its outer environment. It is the basis of the component concept and configuration generation. In this paper, port-based ontology representation is first given, and component knowledge and the primitive concepts are presented to describe robot leg ontological concepts. Secondly, the taxonomy of port-based ontology is built to map the component connections and interactions to cluster functional blocks, and their semantic synthesis is employed to describe component ontology. Next, an approach is proposed for computing semantic similarity by mapping terms to function ontology and by examining their relationships based on port ontology language. Furthermore, the construction process of port-based ontology concepts is described and its elements are related to the similarity between two concepts. Finally, a robot leg example is shown to illustrate the proposed approach.
Prediction Method of Driver's Propensity Adapted to Driver's Dynamic Feature Extraction of Affection
Authors: Zhang Jinglei , Wang Xiaoyuan , Ban Xuegang (Jeff) , Cao Kai
Published: December 2013

Driver's propensity is a dynamic measurement of driver's characteristics, such as affection and preference. In the vehicle driver-assistance system, especially its collision warning subsystem, it is also an important parameter of computing driver's intention. The prediction of driver's propensity from relative static and macroscopic perspective is an essential precondition for further researching and extracting dynamic characteristics. Physiology and psychology tests are designed to measure driver's character and calculate physiological rhythm. Changing data of driver's psychology and emotion during driving are obtained by real vehicle test. Then driver's propensity values of different types are calculated by weighting method according to the contribution rate of standard features. Results show that this method is better than the traditional psychology test, and it provides a basis for further studying dynamic characteristics of driver's affection.
Ship Classification with High Resolution TerraSAR-X Imagery Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process
Authors: Zhao Zhi , Ji Kefeng , Xing Xiangwei , Chen Wenting , Zou Huanxin
Published: December 2013

Ship surveillance using space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), taking advantages of high resolution over wide swaths and all-weather working capability, has attracted worldwide attention. Recent activity in this field has concentrated mainly on the study of ship detection, but the classification is largely still open. In this paper, we propose a novel ship classification scheme based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in order to achieve better performance. The main idea is to apply AHP on both feature selection and classification decision. On one hand, the AHP based feature selection constructs a selection decision problem based on several feature evaluation measures (e.g., discriminability, stability, and information measure) and provides objective criteria to make comprehensive decisions for their combinations quantitatively. On the other hand, we take the selected feature sets as the input of KNN classifiers and fuse the multiple classification results based on AHP, in which the feature sets’ confidence is taken into account when the AHP based classification decision is made. We analyze the proposed classification scheme and demonstrate its results on a ship dataset that comes from TerraSAR-X SAR images.