bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Potential impact on blood availability and donor iron status of changes to donor hemoglobin cutoff and interdonation intervals
Authors: Spencer Bryan R. , Johnson Bryce , Wright David J. , Kleinman Steven , Glynn Simone A. , Cable Ritchard G. ,   for the REDS‐II RISE Analysis Group
Published: May 2016

BACKGROUND

A minimum male hemoglobin (Hb) level of 13.0 g/dL becomes a Food and Drug Administration requirement effective May 2016. In addition, extending whole blood (WB) interdonation intervals (IDIs) beyond 8 weeks has been considered to reduce iron depletion in repeat blood donors. This study estimates the impact these changes might have on blood availability and donor iron status.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Six blood centers participating in Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study‐II (REDS‐II) collected information on all donation visits from 2006 to 2009. Simulations were developed from these data using a multistage approach that first sought to adequately reproduce the patterns of donor return, Hb and ferritin levels, and outcomes of a donor's visit (successful single– or double–red blood cell donation, deferral for low Hb) observed in REDS‐II data sets. Modified simulations were used to predict the potential impact on the blood supply and donor iron status under different Hb cutoff and IDI qualification criteria.

RESULTS

More than 10% of WB donations might require replacement under many simulated scenarios. Longer IDIs would reduce the proportion of donors with iron depletion, but 80% of these donors may remain iron‐depleted if minimal IDIs increased to 12 or 16 weeks.

CONCLUSION

Higher Hb cutoffs and longer IDIs are predicted to have a potentially large impact on collections but only a modest impact on donor iron depletion. Efforts to address iron depletion should be targeted to at‐risk donors, such as iron supplementation programs for frequent donors, and policy makers should try to avoid broadly restrictive donation requirements that could substantially reduce blood availability.
Risk factors for transfusion in cesarean section deliveries at a tertiary hospital
Authors: Bao Yirong , Xu Chuanlu , Qu Xiaoxian , Quan Sijie , Dong Yinuo , Ying Hao
Published: May 2016

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to determine which variables are associated with different levels of transfusion for cesarean delivery.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

This was a retrospective study conducted in a tertiary hospital. A total of 271 patients receiving blood transfusions for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) during a cesarean section and up to 24 hours after cesarean delivery between January 2006 and December 2013 were eligible for inclusion. Women in the transfused group were stratified into three subgroups according to number of units of red blood cells transfused: fewer than 5 units (mild transfusion), 5 to 10 units (moderate transfusion), and 10 or more units (massive transfusion). An additional 271 patients who delivered by cesarean section and suffered from PPH but did not require blood transfusion were selected as the nontransfused group.

RESULTS

There were 271 patients who required a blood transfusion for PPH. The blood transfusion rate was 0.53% (271/50,699). After potential confounders were adjusted for, when compared with the nontransfused group, assisted reproductive technologies was a risk factor for mild transfusion (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.452, 95% CI 1.250‐4.808) and moderate transfusion (AOR 2.075, 95% CI 1.069‐4.028); placenta previa was a risk factor for moderate transfusion (AOR 2.736, 95% CI 1536‐4.874); and pernicious placenta previa was a risk factor for all transfusion subgroups (AOR 14.211, 95% CI 1.452‐39.089; AOR 12.462, 95% CI 1.275‐121.749; AOR 73.636, 95% CI 9.041‐599.742). More women were treated with intrauterine balloon pressure and uterine compression sutures in the mild, moderate, and massive transfusion groups.

CONCLUSION

Placenta previa was a risk factor associated with moderate transfusion, and pernicious placenta previa was the only modifiable prepartum risk factor independently associated with all transfused subgroups.
Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis due to PNPLA1 mutation in a golden retriever–poodle cross‐bred dog and the effect of topical therapy
Authors: Tamamoto‐Mochizuki Chie , Banovic Frane , Bizikova Petra , Laprais Aurore , Linder Keith E. , Olivry Thierry
Published: May 2016

Background

Ichthyoses represent a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous syndrome of abnormal epidermal cornification. Although the clinical presentation, histopathological findings and genetic cause of autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) in golden retriever dogs have been well investigated, the optimal management of this disease remains uncharacterized.

Objectives

In this report we describe the beneficial effect of oral and topical fatty acids for management of a golden retriever and poodle cross‐bred dog (goldendoodle) with ARCI due to a PNPLA1 (Patatin‐like phospholipase domain containing 1) mutation.

Case report

A six‐month‐old, intact female, second generation golden retriever and poodle cross‐bred dog presented with a history of generalized scaling since the age of 6 weeks. Histopathology showed diffuse, laminated‐to‐compact hyperkeratosis with a single small perinuclear vacuole in occasional stratum granulosum keratinocytes. Genetic testing revealed a homozygotic insertion/deletion mutation in the gene PNPLA1. Daily oral fatty acid supplementation and humectant rinse, following weekly moisturizing shampoo, resulted in only mild improvement after two months. Weekly application of a topical essential oils and fatty acid product was then added. Thirteen months after the initial presentation the dog exhibited a marked improvement in clinical signs. The temporal discontinuation of topical therapy resulted in the worsening of scaling, which improved again after resuming this combination.

Conclusions and clinical importance

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case report of ARCI with homozygous PNPLA1 mutation in a golden retriever–poodle cross‐bred dog. The long‐term combination of oral fatty acids and topical therapy appeared to be beneficial in this case.
Molecular confirmation of shampoo as the putative source of Pseudomonas aeruginosa‐induced postgrooming furunculosis in a dog
Authors: Tham Heng L. , Jacob Megan E. , Bizikova Petra
Published: May 2016

Background

An acute onset furunculosis due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa following grooming is a well recognized entity. Although contaminated shampoos have been suspected to be the source of the infection, a molecular confirmation of this association has been missing.

Objective

This case report describes a dog with postgrooming furunculosis in which Pseudomonas aeruginosa with an identical genetic fingerprint was isolated from the skin lesions as well as from the shampoo used prior to the disease onset.

Results

The dog presented for lethargy, anorexia, pain and rapidly progressing skin lesions consistent with haemorrhagic papules, pustules, coalescing ulcers and crusts localized to the dorsal and lateral aspects of the thorax and gluteal region, which developed within 24 h after a bath. Cytology demonstrated suppurative inflammation with occasional intracellular rod‐shaped bacteria. Bacterial culture from skin lesions and the shampoo bottle yielded Pseudomonas aeruginosa with an identical pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis pattern. Treatment with oral ciprofloxacin and topical antimicrobial shampoo resulted in a complete resolution of skin lesions within eight weeks.

Conclusion and clinical importance

Our clinical investigation suggests a link between Pseudomonas‐contaminated shampoo and development of postgrooming furunculosis, and underscores the need for hygienic management of shampoos to help limit this disease.
Influence of surgical bleeding on the relationship between admission coagulopathy and risk of massive transfusion: lesson from 704 severe trauma patients
Authors: Charbit J. , Lakhal K. , Deras P. , Dehon A. , Latry P. , Boissier E. , Schved J.‐F. , Capdevila X.
Published: May 2016

Background

This study hypothesized that the relationship between early coagulopathy and massive transfusion (MT) in trauma was highly dependent on the presence of surgical bleeding.

Methods

Consecutive severe trauma patients admitted to our institution over a 4‐year period were included in this retrospective study. Surgical bleeding was defined as an injury requiring an invasive endovascular or surgical haemostatic procedure. The ability of prothrombin time ratio (PTr) and activated partial thromboplastin time ratio (aPTTr) to predict MT (≥10 units of packed red blood cells during the first 24 h) was determined by ROC curves. The strength of association and interaction between PTr, surgical bleeding and MT was assessed using a logistic regression analysis.

Results

Among the 704 patients included (ISS 21·0 ± 16·2), MT rate was higher in patients with surgical bleeding than in those with no surgical bleeding (47% vs. 5%; P < 0·001). The global performance of PTr and aPTTr to predict MT was only fair in our study population (AUCs 0·83 and 0·81). MT rate was widely higher in the surgical bleeding group whatever the severity of coagulopathy (P < 0·001). PTr was found to be significantly associated with TM [PTr ≥ 1·5, OR 23·6 (95% CI 13·4–41·7); PTr 1·2–1·5, OR 3·0 (95% CI 1·7–5·3)]. Corresponding ORs were reduced after adjusting for the surgical bleeding: 12·1 (95% CI 6·5–22·5) and 2·1 (95% CI 1·2–4·0), respectively. However, no significant interaction was found regression models.

Conclusion

The strength of association between MT and coagulation status on admission was found strongly influenced by surgical bleeding. The admission coagulopathy monitoring in trauma patients without considering the surgical bleeding does not allow a reliable determination of MT probability.
COMPARISONS AMONG RADIOGRAPHY, ULTRASONOGRAPHY AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY FOR EX VIVO CHARACTERIZATION OF STIFLE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN THE HORSE
Authors: De Lasalle Julie , Alexander Kate , Olive Julien , Laverty Sheila
Published: May 2016

A better understanding of imaging characteristics of equine stifle osteoarthritis (OA) may allow earlier detection and improve prognosis. Objectives of this ex vivo, prospective, methods comparison study were to (1) describe the location and severity of naturally acquired OA lesions in the equine stifle using ultrasound (US), radiography (XR), computed tomography (CT), and macroscopic evaluation (ME); (2) compare the diagnostic performance of each imaging modality with ME; and (3) describe subchondral bone mineral density (BMD) in equine stifle joints with OA using CT. Radiographic, CT, and US evaluations were performed on 23 equine cadaver stifles and compared with ME. Significant associations were found between osteophyte global scores for all imaging modalities (CT,P˂ 0.0001; XR,P= 0.005; US,P= 0.04) vs. ME osteophyte global scores. Osteophytes were detected most frequently in the medial femorotibial (MFT) joint. A specific pattern of osteophytes was observed, with a long ridge of new bone at the insertion of the MFT joint capsule cranially on the medial femoral condyle. A novel caudo‐10°proximo‐5°lateral‐cranio‐disto‐medial oblique radiographic projection was helpful for detection of intercondylar osteophytes. Multiplanar CT reformatted images were helpful for characterizing all osteophytes. Osteophyte grades at most sites did not differ among modalities. Low sensitivity/specificity for subchondral bone sclerosis and flattening of femoral condyles suggested that these signs may not be reliable radiographic and CT indicators of equine stifle OA. Equine stifle OA was associated with a decrease in BMD and specific sites of focal subchondral bone resorption/cyst formation were found in some specimens.
Instrument Motion Metrics for Laparoscopic Skills Assessment in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
Authors: Fransson Boel A. , Chen Chi‐Ya , Noyes Julie A. , Ragle Claude A.
Published: May 2016

Objective

To determine the construct and concurrent validity of instrument motion metrics for laparoscopic skills assessment in virtual reality and augmented reality simulators.

Study Design

Evaluation study.

Sample Population: Veterinarian students (novice, n = 14) and veterinarians (experienced, n = 11) with no or variable laparoscopic experience.

Methods

Participants' minimally invasive surgery (MIS) experience was determined by hospital records of MIS procedures performed in the Teaching Hospital. Basic laparoscopic skills were assessed by 5 tasks using a physical box trainer. Each participant completed 2 tasks for assessments in each type of simulator (virtual reality: bowel handling and cutting; augmented reality: object positioning and a pericardial window model). Motion metrics such as instrument path length, angle or drift, and economy of motion of each simulator were recorded.

Results

None of the motion metrics in a virtual reality simulator showed correlation with experience, or to the basic laparoscopic skills score. All metrics in augmented reality were significantly correlated with experience (time, instrument path, and economy of movement), except for the hand dominance metric. The basic laparoscopic skills score was correlated to all performance metrics in augmented reality. The augmented reality motion metrics differed between American College of Veterinary Surgeons diplomates and residents, whereas basic laparoscopic skills score and virtual reality metrics did not.

Conclusion

Our results provide construct validity and concurrent validity for motion analysis metrics for an augmented reality system, whereas a virtual reality system was validated only for the time score.
Examination of endothelial cell‐induced epidermal regeneration in a mice‐based chimney wound model
Authors: Seo Joseph , Park Soon‐Jung , Choi Jong‐Jin , Kang Sun‐Woong , Lim Joa‐Jin , Lee Hye‐Jin , Kim Jong‐Soo , Yang Heung‐Mo , Kim Sung‐Joo , Kim Eun‐Young , Park Se‐Pil , Moon Sung‐Hwan , Chung Hyung‐Min
Published: May 2016

As wound contraction in the cutaneous layer occurs rapidly in mice, mechanical means are typically used to deliberately expose the wound to properly investigate healing by secondary intention. Previously, silicon rings and splinting models were attempted to analyze histological recovery but prevention of surrounding epidermal cell migration and subsequent closure was minimal. Here, we developed an ideal chimney wound model to evaluate epidermal regeneration in murine under hESC‐EC transplantation through histological analysis encompassing the three phases of regeneration: migration, proliferation, and remodeling. Human embryonic stem cell derived endothelial cells (hESC‐EC) were transplanted due to possessing a well‐known therapeutic effect in angiogenesis which also enhances epidermal repair to depict the process of regeneration. Following a standard 1 mm biopsy punch, a chimney manufactured by modifying a 1.7 mL microtube was simply inserted into the excisional wound to complete the modeling process. Under this model, the excisional wound remained fully exposed for 14 days and even after 4 weeks, only a thin transparent layer of epidermal tissue covered the wound site. This approach is able to more accurately depict epidermal repair in relation to histology while also being a user‐friendly and cost‐effective way to mimic human recovery in rodents and evaluate epithelial repair induced by a form of therapy.
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION PATTERN DISAGGREGATION USING NON-INTRUSIVE APPLIANCE LOAD MONITORING METHOD
Authors: Asa @ Esa Nur Farahin , Abdullah Md Pauzi , Hassan Mohammad Yusri , Hussin Faridah
Published: May 2016

In practice, a standard energy meter can only capture the overall electricity consumption and estimating electricity consumption pattern of various appliances from the overall consumption pattern is complicated. Therefore, the Non-Intrusive Appliance Load Monitoring (NIALM) technique can be applied to trace electricity consumption from each appliance in a monitored building. However, the method requires a detailed, second-by-second power consumption data which is commonly not available without the use of high specification energy meter. Hence, this paper analyzes the impact of different time sampling data in estimating the energy consumption pattern of various appliances through NIALM method.  This is so that consumers will have an overview of time sampling data which is required in order to apply the NIALM technique. As for the analysis, air-conditioning systems and fluorescent lamps were used in the experimental setup. One minute sample rate was the minimum time interval required by NIALM carried out in this analysis. Through the study presented in this paper, it can be established that higher time sampling led to uncertain appliance detection and low accuracy.
MODELLING OF ONE WAY GEARS WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER FOR IRREGULAR OCEAN WAVES TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY
Authors: Masjono Masjono , Manjang Salama , A. Suriamiharja Dadang , Thaha M. Arsyad
Published: May 2016

The prediction of converted energy by one way gears wave energy converter may be influenced by non-linearity properties of the ocean waves. To date there has not been an adequate analytical model to predict the power production of one way gear wave energy converter under irregular wave condition. In this work, analytical model is developed to describe the interaction of one way gear wave energy converter that utilized gravity force of the gravityweight (M) with irregular ocean waves using JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project) model. This interaction model has been simulated numerically by means of computer software. The simulation result showed that wave height is strongly determining the converted output power. The outcome of harnessing the gravity force instead of buoyant force of this proposed model that commonly used by the previous wave energy converter demonstrate significant potential output power. The proposed model can be used to design feasible and efficient wave energy converter.
AUTOMATION SYSTEM HYDROPONIC USING SMART SOLAR POWER PLANT UNIT
Authors: Siregar Simon , Ike Sari Marlindia , Jauhari Rakhmi
Published: May 2016

Automation system hydroponic is one of the farming solution. There are several problems in hydroponic that can be divided into two parts. First part is the hydroponic system. The system needs to control and monitor temperature, pH and distribution of water. Second part is the power supply, generally it run from conventional electrical energy and it should continue to run all the time. Electrical energy needs is increasing from time to time. In this research, there are two possible solutions to solve the problem. The first possible solution is the automation for hydroponics system that would measure and control temperature, pH and water level in water tank. The second possible solution is smart solar power plant unit which function as primary power supply and will shift to conventional electrical energy if there is no adequate energy to run the automation for hydroponics system. The smart solar power plant unit monitor the intensity of light, voltage and electrical current between battery and DC to AC converter and the voltage that produced from solar panel. The value of temperature, pH and water level in water tank, intensity of light, electrical current and voltage will be sent to a server by wireless communication. The result of this research is a prototype of automation system hydroponic using smart solar power plant that can monitor and control pH, temperature, water level, intensity of light, electrical current and voltage.
AN IMPROVED LOAD SHEDDING SCHEDULING STRATEGY FOR SOLVING POWER SUPPLY DEFISIT
Authors: Syadli Husna , Abdullah Md Pauzi , Faridiansyah Iqbal , Hassan Mohammad Yusri , Hussin Faridah
Published: May 2016

When high electricity demand growth not matched by the growth in generating capacity, energy deficit problem cannot be avoided. Power outages of up to 6 hours per day are part of the power crisis experienced by electricity consumers in Sumatra. The utility has applied load shedding approach to tackle the problem, however, there are weaknesses on the current load shedding program. It is discovered that most of the power outage occurs randomly without any prior notice and sometime lasted for many hours. Load shedding program is not properly scheduled and not fairly distributed among all consumers. A proper scheduling program must have a clear periodic schedule, fixed outage hours, fairly distributed and alternated among consumers and most importantly solve energy deficit problem. This paper presented an improved load shedding scheduling strategy based on Round Robin method. The method is then illustrated and applied on actual daily load profile of Sumatra electrical system.
DATA SELECTION TEST METHOD FOR BETTER PREDICTION OF BUILDING ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
Authors: Syah Iqbal Faridian , Abdullah Md Pauzi , Syadli Husna , Hassan Mohammad Yusri , Hussin Faridah
Published: May 2016

The issue of obtaining an accurate prediction of electricity consumption has been widely discussed by many previous works. Various techniques have been used such as statistical method, time-series, heuristic methods and many more. Whatever the technique used, the accuracy of prediction depends on the availability of historical data as well as the proper selection of the data. Even the data is exhaustive; it must be selected so that the prediction accuracy can be improved. This paper presented a test method named Data Selection Test (DST) method that can be used to test the historical data to select the correct data set for prediction. The DST method is demonstrated and tested on practical electricity consumption data of a selected commercial building. Three different prediction methods are used (ie. Moving Average, MA, Exponential Smoothing, ES and Linear Regression, LR) to evaluate the prediction accuracy by using the data set recommended by the DST method.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTRONIC AEROSOL SYSTEM FOR GENERATING MICROCAPSULES
Authors: Yean Leong Wai , Fhong Soon Chin , Wong Soon Chuan , Sek Tee Kian
Published: May 2016

The encapsulation of living cells in a variety of soft polymers or hydrogels is important, particularly for the generation of microtissues. Various techniques have been developed for the production of microcapsules to encapsulate cells but presented threat to the cells due to the harsh treatment during the encapsulation process.  In this paper, we propose a simple, economic and compact design of aerosol electronic system for producing different sizes of microcapsules. The aerosol system was developed with the incorporation of a conventional syringe pump and a customised air pump. The syringe pump purged the droplets of sodium alginate and air pump dispersed the droplets into microdroplets of sodium alginate which was then polymerised in the calcium chloride solution. In this system, the air flow rate from the air pump was controlled by a programmed microcontroller that received input instructions from a potentiometer. The suitable air flow rates that worked synchronously with the speed of the syringe pump were characterised. At 0.2 and 0.3 L/min of air flow and 20 µl/min of alginate solution flow, this device successfully generated round microcapsules with various sizes ranging from 100 to 350 µm.
RISK ANALYSIS OF DATABASE PRIVELEGE IMPLEMENTATION IN SQL INJECTION CASE
Authors: Ibnugraha Prajna Deshanta , Nugroho Lukito Edi , Widyawan Widyawan , Santosa Paulus Insap
Published: May 2016

Software is important thing that needed by enterprises to support business. When developers build software, security must be concerned as important element. In bad condition, security incidents can make financial loss to organizaion so it need mitigation actions to minimize risk. Security testing and risk analysis become base process to choose good mitigation method. Implementation of database privilege become one of mitigation methods that can be used in SQL injection attack case. Based on DREAD analysis, it can decrease risk of SQL injection attack from high to medium ranking.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF EXP-BET ALGORITHM FOR TRIPLE PLAY SERVICES IN LTE SYSTEM
Authors: Ku Mohd Noh Ku Siti Syahidah , Mohd Ali Darmawaty , Myo Zin Mar , Samingan Ahmad Kamsani , Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz , Ya’acob Norsuzila
Published: May 2016

Quality of Service (QoS) is defined as user’s satisfaction towards service performance that has been offered to them. Due to different traffic characteristics and QoS requirements of real-time and non-real-time services, thus provisioning the QoS requirements has become a challenge. In this study, we have compared our proposed algorithm namely the Exponential Blind Equal Throughput (EXP-BET) towards the Exponential Proportional Fairness (EXP-PF) and Frame Level Scheduler (FLS). The comparisons have been made in terms of fairness index, throughput,packet loss rate (PLR) and delay. From the simulation results, it is observed that EXP-BET delivers higher fairness and throughput and lower PLR and delay for real-time application. Instead, EXP-BET shows 17.72% improvement than FLS and 7.52% from EXP-PF in term of fairness index for the non-real-time application.
IMPROVING STFBC MIMO OFDMA WITH CHANNEL ESTIMATION USING DFT AND DCT TECHNIQUE
Authors: Idris Azlina , Sulong Siti Maisurah , Abu Bakar Lailatulmunira , Idris Mohd Syarhan
Published: May 2016

Higher demand in rapid data transmission makes the wireless technology become more popular in this new modern era. However due to the many users that want to have access in the same time, it can cause congested traffic and affect the data rate. OFDMA modulation scheme with combination of MIMO will support high data signal and become one of the best solutions that can fulfil everybody’s dream. These MIMO OFDMA system is based on the diversity coding and appropriate channel estimation in order to achieve maximum diversity order for each user and minimize the interference that have been generated during the transmission. Thus, in this paper in order to boost the overall system performances, Space Time Frequency Block Code (STFBC) and channel estimation technique involving Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) are going to be tested to compare their performance. The result states that when using STF block code, it will gain better performance in MIMO OFDMA system by producing lower bit error rate compare to existence DCT and DFT.
METAL OXIDE THIN FILMS AS PH SENSING MEMBRANE FOR EXTENDED GATE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR
Authors: Zulkefle Muhammad AlHadi , Abdul Rahman Rohanieza , Yusof Khairul Aimi , Abdullah Wan Fazlida Hanim , Mahmood Mohamad Rusop , Herman Sukreen Hana
Published: May 2016

In this research, metal oxides (ZnO and TiO2) thin films were fabricated by the sol-gel spin coating method. The thin films were applied as the pH sensing membrane for the extended-gate field effect transistor (EGFET) sensor to distinguish the sensing capability between them. The surface morphology, thin film components and crystalline quality were characterized and the sensor performance of both materials were characterized and compared. The results showed that TiO2 thin film gave higher sensitivity with better linearity compared to the ZnO thin films hence was considered a more suitable material to be used as sensing membrane in EGFET pH sensor compared to zinc oxide.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR INTEROPERABLE CHARGING FACILITIES
Authors: Lee Junghoon , Park Gyung-Leen
Published: May 2016

This paper designs and develops a real-time charger management system which keeps collecting the status information from chargers and converts control messages from the total operation center to a command predefined for charger control. RF cards complete the service chain from electric vehicles to the operation center, making the information flow bidirectional. The extended coverage of the operation control over the charging infrastructure allows an easy payment for the charging fee, based on the membership management and personalized services. A web application is implemented on the digital map of the target city for users to retrieve necessary information from the system and find the best service and chargers. The massive amount of real-time charger monitoring data is being accumulated in the database, and big data analysis will allow us to make intelligent plans for future smart grid city services.
DESIGN OF SIERPINSKI GASKET FRACTAL ANTENNA WITH SLITS FOR MULTIBAND APPLICATION
Authors: Ramli Mohamad Hafize , Abd. Aziz Mohamad Zoinol Abidin , Othman Mohd Azlishah , Hassan Nornikman , Noor Azizi Muhammad Syafiq , Azizul Azlan Siti Nurfarhanah , Dahalan Abdul Halim , Sulaiman Hamzah Asyrani
Published: May 2016

There is highly demand of antenna with these characteristics: compact size, low profile and multiband or broadband but at the same time have to maintain antenna parameters. This paper focuses on design of Sierpinski Gasket Fractal Antenna (SGFA) with slits for multiband application.Two methods are applied to this antenna to improve its performance. The first method is by adding two slits on the fractal antenna. The second method is by increasing the number of iterations of the fractal antenna. These methods can improve the return loss and gain of the antenna. The simulation of the designed antenna is carried out by using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software. The simulated return loss of SGFA with slit is about -20.1 dB and -11.64 dB compare with SGFA without slit -19.25 dB and -12.27 dB at 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHz. While, the gain also increase when slit is added to SGFA. The simulated and measured of antenna parameter is well compared
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OF HYBRID ALGORITHM FOR 3G – WIFIOFFLOAD NETWORKS
Authors: Budiyanto Setiyo , Asvial Muhamad , Gunawan Dadang
Published: May 2016

A new algorithm for optimizing  3G–WiFioffload and load balancing between nodes, called as New – Genetic Zone Routing Protocol (N – GZRP), is proposed in this paper. N – GZRP is a combination of outputs of Roulette Wheel selections method (RWs) and Rank Selections Method (Rs). Output from RWs is optimized by Rs where Rs is used as a threshold value of the uncertainty that occurs due to the use of RWs.  The algorithm is implemented for detecting the performance of mobile devices on several different types of networks.  The simulation results are compared with the (RWs)–GZRPand ZRP algorithm. The simulation results show that 35% of power consumption can be saved by using the proposed algorithm compared with GZRPalgorithm. Moreover,when compared with ZRP algorithm the proposed algorithm can save 60% power consumption. In addition, N – GZRP has a more stable throughput which is 3 Kbps higher than ZRP. The simulation results also show that N–GZRPhas smaller average delay than GZRP and ZRPwhich are about 20 msand 1400 ms, respectively.N – GZRP also reduces the synchronization delay about 25 ms and 45 ms compared withGZRPalgorithmand ZRP algorithm, respectively.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOSS OF LOAD EXPECTATION AND RESERVE MARGIN FOR OPTIMAL GENERATION PLANNING
Authors: Muhamad Zafir Siti Rasheeka , Muhamad Razali Noor Miza , Tengku Hashim Tengku Juhana
Published: May 2016

Generation planning utilizes reliability indices as criteria to ensure adequacy in terms of total installed capacity. Reserve Margin and Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE) are the most widely-used indices in generation adequacy evaluation. Reserve Margin is a measure of available capacity over and above the capacity needed to meet normal peak demand levels. In Peninsular Malaysia, the amount of Reserve Margin has been perceived to be high. Generally, high Reserve Margin can provide high reliability. However, it acquires more generation plant, for which some of them may not be necessary. This may indicate over investment which will be reflected in the tariff structure. LOLE is a probabilistic measure which indicates the risk at which the generation capacity fails to meet the demand and its evaluation involves specific parameters such as the plant capacity and outage rate of each generating unit. Therefore, in order to have optimum generation planning and investment efficiency, it is necessary to perform a study on the practical Reserve Margin level with respect to the current LOLE requirement without endangering the overall power system reliability. This research studies the factors affecting LOLE and evaluates the relationship between Reserve Margin and LOLE under various conditions. A modified Peninsular Malaysia system is simulated using Wien Automatic System Planning (WASP -IV) to determine LOLE focusing on thermal power plants. This study concludes that peak load and forced outage rate give significant impacts to the LOLE and thus, the reliability of the system. Effort to ensure availability especially during peak load may need to be intensified. The study also establishes an inverse exponential curve for the relationship between Reserve Margin and LOLE. It is found that the outcome of the study is to enhance generation planning decision making in obtaining the optimum Reserve Margin considering the LOLE under various conditions.
HISTOGRAM OF TRANSITION FOR HUMAN HEAD RECOGNITION
Authors: Mudjirahardjo Panca , Edy Purnomo M. Fauzan , Nur Hasanah Rini , Suyono Hadi
Published: May 2016

The main component for head recognition is a feature extraction. One of them as our novel method is histogram of transition. This feature is relied on foreground extraction. In this paper we evaluate some pre-processing to get foreground extraction before we calculate the histogram of transition.We evaluate the performance of recognition rate in related with preprocessing of input image, such as color, size and orientation. We evaluate for Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Hue-saturation-Value (HSV) color image; multi scale of 10×15 pixels, 20×30 pixels and 40×60 pixels; and multi orientation angle of 315o, 330o, 345o, 15o, 30o, and 45o.For comparison, we compare the recognition rate with the existing method of feature extraction, i.e. Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) and Linear Binary Pattern (LBP). The experimental results show Histogram of Transition robust for changing of color, size and orientation angle.
SELECTIVECODEWORD SHIFT (SCS) TECHNIQUE FOR PAPR REDUCTION OF OFDM SYSTEMS
Authors: Abdullah Ezmin , Idris Azlina
Published: May 2016

Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) has been known to be a common problem in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The peak value of power signals has contributed to other problems, thus the implementation of OFDM system in many wireless applications has been growing slowly. There are many techniques being discussed to reduce the PAPR in OFDM systems where one of them is reduction through scrambling. In this paper, a technique that is based on scrambling method in order to reduce high PAPR in OFDM system is introduced. This proposed technique is called the Selective Codeword Shift (SCS). The key idea of SCS is to produce a scramble data sequence where the candidate with minimum PAPR will then be selected for transmission. This has shown an improvement in reducing PAPR as compared to original OFDM signals and the conventional Selective Mapping (SLM) technique with 29.5% improvement. This technique also has the advantage of lower computational complexity as compared to conventional SLM where no multiplication of the phase factor involved in the process and no explicit side information was needed to retrieve the transmitted data at the receiver.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) MAP FOR FIRE AND RESCUE APPLICATION
Authors: Ya’acob Norsuzila , Ahmad Azmil Muhammad Salihin , Tahar Khairul Nizam , Yusof Azita Laily , Nasro Ali Mohd Saufi , Mustafa Norfazira , Mahmon Nur Anis
Published: May 2016

The purpose of the Fire and Rescue Service is to protect human life, our property, and Earth natural resources from fire and other emergencies. With fluctuation in demands, the Fire and Rescue Service must be equipped with the best techniques, training regime and equipment to meet public expectations. Mitigation, preparedness and risk management have taken on new benefit with challenges faced by the fire service today. Fast response cannot be achieved without good planning and preparedness. This 3D network analysis model identifies the shortest path from the Fire and Rescue Service position to the source of emergency. The second objective was to design wireless fire detection systems to help fire-fighters to pinpoint the emergency call location, assess the potential consequences, and determine the most efficient strategy. The 3D model was built by Google Sketch Pro 8 and the 3D network analysis and it was mainly conducted in the ESRI’s ArcGIS software. The 3D network analysis was based on distance measurements instead of GNSS coordinates. The distance of each path will be measured on the site personally for maximum accuracy. The fire detection systems prototype hardware will be equipped with smoke sensor, image sensor, a transmitter and a receiver.
VOLTAGE LEVEL CONTROL IN WEAK DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS WITH DG BY USING HYBRID REACTIVE POWER COMPENSATIONS
Authors: Pachanapan Piyadanai
Published: May 2016

The hybrid reactive power compensations, using capacitor banks and distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) in the coordinated manner, are introduced to enhance voltage level control performances in weak distribution networks with the increasing of distributed generation (DG), such as in the rural areas. While the conventional compensation using capacitor banks gives the poor dynamic voltage control, these hybrid compensations are the cost effective solution which can deal with both under-and over-voltage changes, either short- or long duration voltage variations. The dynamic voltage control performances are demonstrated under various operating scenarios using the test system implemented in DIgSILENTPowerFactory. The simulation results showed that this approach can improve voltage controllability in weak distribution networks with DG effectively.
SCHEDULING ALGORITHM FOR MULTI-USER DIVERSITY IN URBAN AREA
Authors: Mohd Mahayudin Hamizah , Abdul Razak Nur Idora , Idris Mohd Syarhan
Published: May 2016

Generally knew that population density in the city is coupled with an increase in ownership of smart phones equipped with a wireless system which allows everyone to have access to the internet at any time anywhere. However, most of the wireless cellular network depending on the network to reliably and efficiently distribute data to a large number of users. We demystify the problem of radio resource sharing by users with different requirements. We present four types of scheduling algorithm which is adopted for allocating system resource. Here we will analyze the wireless connection attribute such as fairness, throughput and delay occur during users demanding for different services. Max Rate and Round Robin algorithm were used as a reference for analysing throughput and fairness respectively. Meanwhile, Proportionally Fair Scheduling and rate Craving Greedy attain in the concept of multiuser diversity by improving the throughput without deal fairness. Our scope is based on the urban area and pedestrian uses because only one fading channel that were used – Filtered Gaussian Noise. Common technique that used to transmit signals in wireless is OFDM. The performance of these algorithms is analyzed and compared through MATLAB computer simulations.
Reviewer Acknowledgements
Authors: Willianms Ellery
Published: May 2016

Business and Management Studies (BMS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether BMS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue. Reviewers for Volume 2, Number 2 Abbas Khandan Arash Riasi Florin Peci İzlem Gözükara Jayalakshmy Ramachandran Laleh Sheikhi Moghaddam Mythili Kolluru Serge Svizzero Yao Liu           Ellery Willianms Editorial Assistant On behalf of, The Editorial Board of Business and Management Studies Redfame Publishing 9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416 Beaverton, OR 97008, USA URL: http://bms.redfame.com
The General Stress Response Is Conserved in Long-Term Soil-Persistent Strains of Escherichia coli
Authors: Somorin Yinka , Abram Florence , Brennan Fiona , O'Byrne Conor
Published: May 2016

Although
Escherichia coli
is generally considered to be predominantly a commensal of the gastrointestinal tract, a number of recent studies suggest that it is also capable of long-term survival and growth in environments outside the host. As the extraintestinal physical and chemical conditions are often different from those within the host, it is possible that distinct genetic adaptations may be required to enable this transition. Several studies have shown a trade-off between growth and stress resistance in nutrient-poor environments, with lesions in the
rpoS
locus, which encodes the stress sigma factor RpoS (σ
S
). In this study, we investigated a unique collection of long-term soil-persistent
E. coli
isolates to determine whether the RpoS-controlled general stress response is altered during adaptation to a nutrient-poor extraintestinal environment. The sequence of the
rpoS
locus was found to be highly conserved in these isolates, and no nonsense or frameshift mutations were detected. Known RpoS-dependent phenotypes, including glycogen synthesis and γ-aminobutyrate production, were found to be conserved in all strains. All strains expressed the full-length RpoS protein, which was fully functional using the RpoS-dependent promoter reporter fusion P
gadX
::
gfp
. RpoS was shown to be essential for long-term soil survival of
E. coli
, since mutants lacking
rpoS
lost viability rapidly in soil survival assays. Thus, despite some phenotypic heterogeneity, the soil-persistent strains all retained a fully functional RpoS-regulated general stress response, which we interpret to indicate that the stresses encountered in soil provide a strong selective pressure for maintaining stress resistance, despite limited nutrient availability.

IMPORTANCE
Escherichia coli
has been, and continues to be, used as an important indicator species reflecting potential fecal contamination events in the environment. However, recent studies have questioned the validity of this, since
E. coli
has been found to be capable of long-term colonization of soils. This study investigated whether long-term soil-persistent
E. coli
strains have evolved altered stress resistance characteristics. In particular, the study investigated whether the main regulator of genes involved in stress protection, the sigma factor RpoS, has been altered in the soil-persistent strains. The results show that RpoS stress protection is fully conserved in soil-persistent strains of
E. coli
. They also show that loss of the
rpoS
gene dramatically reduces the ability of this organism to survive in a soil environment. Overall, the results indicate that soil represents a stressful environment for
E. coli
, and their survival in it requires that they deploy a full stress protection response.
Camel milk and bee honey regulate profibrotic cytokine gene transcripts in liver cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride
Authors: Sadek Kadry , Beltagy Doha , Saleh Ebeed , Abouelkhair Reham
Published: May 2016

The lack of studies regarding the mechanism of the protective effects of camel milk and bee honey against hepatotoxic compounds led us to perform this study. Thirty-six male rats were divided into two main groups. The first group (n = 9) comprised control non-cirrhotic rats. The rats of the second group (n = 27) were administered carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) by intraperitoneal injection to induce liver cirrhosis. The cirrhotic rats were then divided into three equal subgroups, each comprising nine animals, as follows: (i) cirrhotic rats, (ii) cirrhotic rats treated with camel milk, and (iii) cirrhotic rats treated with camel milk and bee honey. The present findings revealed that CCl4elevated the activities of liver enzymes, blood glucose levels, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in the serum and glycogen content in the liver. On the other hand, CCl4significantly decreased phosphorylase activity in the liver tissue and significantly increased carbohydrate intolerance and insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR). Moreover, CCl4induced a significant increase in oxidative stress, along with increased expression of the profibrotic cytokine genes TNF-α and TGF-β. However, camel milk either alone or in combination with bee honey ameliorated these toxic actions. The antioxidant properties of these protective agents and their effects of downregulating certain procirrhotic cytokine gene transcripts underlie this protection.
Evaluation of a Connectionless Technique for System-on-Chip Interconnection
Authors: Berejuck Marcelo Daniel , Fröhlich Antônio A.
Published: May 2016

We present the design and evaluation of a high-performance network-on-chip (NoC) focused on telecommunication and multimedia applications that tolerate latency and bandwidth variations. The design is based on a connectionless strategy in which flits from different communication flows are interleaved in the same communication channel. Each flit carries routing information that is used by routers to perform arbitration and scheduling of the corresponding output ports in order to balance channel utilization. In order to compare our approach with others, we introduce an analytic model for the worst-case latency (WCL) of our NoC and recall those of related approaches. Analytic comparisons and experimental data show that our approach keeps average WCL lower for variable-bit-rate multimedia applications than a network based on resource reservation. For these applications, the overall throughput is larger than that of networks that perform resource reservation. A case study based on the proposed NoC shows that the average latency was 28% lower than the WCL expected for the experiment. Indeed, hard real-time flows designed considering the absolute WCL of the network will always meet the requirements of the associated hard real-time tasks, so no deadline can be lost due to network contention.
Alexander and writhe polynomials for virtual knots
Authors: Mellor Blake
Published: May 2016

We give a new interpretation of the Alexander polynomial [Formula: see text] for virtual knots due to Sawollek [On Alexander–Conway polynomials for virtual knots and Links, preprint (2001), arXiv:math/9912173] and Silver and Williams [Polynomial invariants of virtual links, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 12 (2003) 987–1000], and use it to show that, for any virtual knot, [Formula: see text] determines the writhe polynomial of Cheng and Gao [A polynomial invariant of virtual links, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 22(12) (2013), Article ID: 1341002, 33pp.] (equivalently, Kauffman’s affine index polynomial [An affine index polynomial invariant of virtual knots, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 22(4) (2013), Article ID: 1340007, 30pp.]). We also use it to define a second-order writhe polynomial, and give some applications.
Type-two invariants for knots in the solid torus
Authors: Bataineh Khaled
Published: May 2016

We introduce a natural filtration in the space of knots and singular knots in the solid torus, and start the study of the type-two Vassiliev invariants with respect to this filtration. The main result of the work states that any such invariant within the second term of this filtration in the space of knots with zero winding number is a linear combination of seven explicitly described Gauss diagram invariants. This introduces a basis (and a universal invariant) for the type-two Vassiliev invariants for knots with zero winding number. Then we formalize the problem of exploring the set of all type-two invariants for knots with zero winding number.