bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Production of Thermal-Resistant Cornstarch-Alginate Beads by Dripping Agglomeration
Authors: Feltre Gabriela , Silva Cassiane A. , Lima Gisele B. , Menegalli Florencia C. , Dacanal Gustavo C.
Published: January 2018

This work investigated the agglomeration of native cornstarch and production of microcapsules by dripping of sodium alginate suspensions into calcium chloride solution. The crosslinking reaction formed a calcium alginate that worked as an encapsulation matrix and coated the cornstarch granules. The spherical beads produced were rigid and compact, and resistant to mechanical handling. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) computed the thermal resistance of the cornstarch-alginate beads. Particles containing 50 % w/w calcium alginate showed an increased gelatinization peak compared to particles with a higher starch content. The increase in alginate fraction resulted in beads with a higher particle density. Scanning electron micrographs showed the coating of cornstarch by the calcium alginate matrix. The beads were compact and with no superficial pores. DSC thermograms of native cornstarch showed a gelatinization temperature of 70.0 °C, and the gelatinization range was 64.6–80.4 °C, while beads containing 50 % alginate had an increased peak at 79.5 °C and the gelatinization interval was 71.0–90.2 °C. When compared with the native cornstarch, cornstarch-alginate beads had a lower water absorption, and the gelatinization occurred at a higher temperature and over a wider temperature range.
Receptive vocabulary size and its relationship to EFL language skills
Authors: Miralpeix Imma , Muñoz Carmen
Published: January 2018

This study analyses the relationship between receptive vocabulary size in upper-intermediate/advanced learners and EFL proficiency and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Little research has been conducted on this dimension of lexical knowledge and the four skills (Staehr, 2008; Milton et al., 2010), in spite of the fact that previous studies of separate language skills have highlighted the importance of vocabulary size for language proficiency development. A sample of 42 participants was assessed by means of a receptive vocabulary size test on ten word-frequency levels (1k to 10k), and on both receptive and productive skills (oral and written). Results reveal that vocabulary size explains language proficiency to a large extent, even in learners with vocabularies of more than 5,000 words, though its influence on performance is not as strong as in learners with smaller vocabularies. At a high proficiency level, vocabulary size is closely linked to writing and is moderately correlated with reading, speaking and listening. The findings help to provide a more complete picture than earlier research by including more proficient learners in EFL settings.
Modeling Semantic Distance in the Pattern Dictionary of English Verbs
Authors: Cinková Silvie , Hlávka Zdeněk
Published: January 2018

We explore human judgments on how well individual patterns of 29 target verbs from the Pattern Dictionary of English Verbs describe their random KWICs. We focus on cases where more than one pattern is judged as highly appropriate for a given KWIC and seek to estimate the effect of event participants (arguments) being denotatively similar in two patterns, considering all pair combinations in a given lemma. We compare this effect to the effect of several contextual features of the KWICs, the effect of paired PDEV implicatures implying each other, and the effect of belonging to a given lemma. We show that the lemma effect is still stronger than any feature going across lemmas we have examined so far, so that each verb appears to be a little universe in its own right.
Golden Rule of Morphology and Variants of Word forms
Authors: Hlaváčová Jaroslava
Published: January 2018

In many languages, some words can be written in several ways. We call them variants. Values of all their morphological categories are identical, which leads to an identical morphological tag. Together with the identical lemma, we have two or more wordforms with the same morphological description. This ambiguity may cause problems in various NLP applications. There are two types of variants – those affecting the whole paradigm (global variants) and those affecting only wordforms sharing some combinations of morphological values (inflectional variants). In the paper, we propose means how to tag all wordforms, including their variants, unambiguously. We call this requirement “Golden rule of morphology”. The paper deals mainly with Czech, but the ideas can be applied to other languages as well.
Morphological Disambiguation of Multiword Expressions and Its Impact on the Disambiguation of Their Environment in a Sentence
Authors: Hnátková Milena , Petkevič Vladimír
Published: January 2018

This study concerns the impact of the collocation/phraseme disambiguation component within the complex system of the rule-based morphological disambiguation of Czech. This system constitutes one of the two main disambiguation subsystems that are responsible for the morphological disambiguation of the corpora of synchronic Czech within the Czech National Corpus project. We will show that although the part of texts constituted by collocations/phrasemes (generally multiword expressions – MWEs) is relatively small and consequently the errorfree morphological disambiguation of MWEs covers only a small portion of textual material, such perfectly disambiguated fragments in sentences help to improve the disambiguation of the rest, non-MWE part of sentences.
Clitic Climbing, Finiteness and the Raising-Control Distinction. A Corpus–based study
Authors: Jurkiewicz-Rohrbacher Edyta , Hansen Björn , Kolaković Zrinka
Published: January 2018

In the paper, we discuss the phenomenon of clitic climbing out of finite da2-complements in contemporary Serbian. Scholars’ opinions on the acceptability and occurrence of this construction, based on a handful of self-made examples, vary considerably. Expanding on the assumption that the correctness of the phenomenon has often been denied due to its rareness we employ large corpora to examine the problem. We focus on possible constraints arising from the syntactic properties of clause-embedding predicates.
Grammatical Change Trends in Contemporary Czech Newspapers
Authors: Křen Michal
Published: January 2018

The paper presents a corpus-driven method for the detection of recent grammatical change in contemporary Czech newspapers. It is based on a large and homogeneous material (825 million tokens of a single newspaper) that covers a 23-year time span. The task is operationalised into finding the most relevant frequency change manifested by selected subsets of the Czech tagset. The results show changing proportions of parts of speech, nominal cases etc. that indicate a shift towards more “verbal” language associated with increasing informality of the newspaper register.
Text collections for evaluation of Russian morphological taggers
Authors: Lyashevskaya Olga , Bocharov Victor , Sorokin Alexey , Shavrina Tatiana , Granovsky Dmitry , Alexeeva Svetlana
Published: January 2018

The paper describes the preparation and development of the text collections within the framework of MorphoRuEval-2017 shared task, an evaluation campaign designed to stimulate development of the automatic morphological processing technologies for Russian. The main challenge for the organizers was to standardize all available Russian corpora with the manually verified high-quality tagging to a single format (Universal Dependencies CONLL-U). The sources of the data were the disambiguated subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus, SynTagRus, OpenCorpora.org data and GICR corpus with the resolved homonymy, all exhibiting different tagsets, rules for lemmatization, pipeline architecture, technical solutions and error systematicity. The collections includes both normative texts (the news and modern literature) and more informal discourse (social media and spoken data), the texts are available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
Measuring and Improving Children’s Reading Aloud Attributes by Computers
Authors: Nagy Marek
Published: January 2018

In this paper, method of an automated measuring reading aloud attributes is presented. The forced alignment as a part of speech recognition technique is used. The recorded reading aloud is forced aligned to the known text and the attributes are computed from it. The tempo and fluency of children are monitored and used for an individual motivation. The length of the read text is chosen according to readers’ skills so that children end up reading at about the same time and poor readers are not frustrated. This approach has been tested and improved at the elementary school for five years and brought positive results.
Three Aspects of Processing Ophthalmological Terminology in a “Small Language”: a Case of Croatian Term Bank Struna
Authors: Nahod Bruno , Nahod Perina Vukša , Bjeloš Mirjana
Published: January 2018

In this paper, we will present the problems we have observed while editing terminological units as a part of the specialized language of ophthalmology that is currently being processed as part of the program Struna. Struna is the Croatian National term bank (http://struna.ihjj.hr/). Its aim is to gradually standardize Croatian terminology, for all professional domains, by coordinating the work of domain experts, terminologists and language experts [1], [2]. The Croatian Ophthalmological Terminology1 is the first Struna project that encompasses a subfield of an already existing field in the database. Namely, in 2013 the general medical terminology was processed as a part of the project Croatian Anatomy and Physiology. This situation has revealed a new set of problems that previously were not taken into account and has forced us to re-evaluate methodology and adapt accordingly.
Terminology and Labelling Words by Subject in Monolingual Dictionaries – What Do Domain Labels Say to Dictionary Users ?
Authors: Nová Jana , Mžourková Hana
Published: January 2018

The paper focuses on labelling words by subject in a non-specialized dictionary. We compare the existing monolingual dictionaries of Czech and their ways of labelling terms of medicine and related fields; besides apparent differences between dictionaries, there are also inconsistencies within one dictionary. We consider pros and cons of domain labels as such and their usability in the light of needs and limits of dictionary users, with the aim to motivate further discussion on related issues.
Correlative Conjunctions in Spoken Texts
Authors: Poukarová Petra
Published: January 2018

Correlative conjunctions (such as buď – anebo (either – or), jednak – jednak (firstly – secondly) etc.) represent one means of textual cohesion. The occurrence of one component of the pair implies the use of the other, which contributes to the cohesiveness of a text. Using data provided by the corpus of informal spoken Czech ORAL2013, I will try to demonstrate their use in a prototypical spoken language, that is commonly considered less coherent and more fragmentary compared to written language.
Issues of POS Tagging of the (Diachronic) Corpus of Czech : Preparing a Morphological Dictionary
Authors: Řehořková Anna
Published: January 2018

Many important decisions concerning the part-of-speech categorization remain unexplained in the current practice, only reported in corpus manuals. The aim of this paper is to offer a different perspective on the problems of morphological annotation of corpora – the perspective of mapping and analyzing conceptual problems in the annotation. Focused mainly on function words in Czech, we discuss the possibilities of the POS tagging of the inherently ambiguous category of particles and we introduce criteria for distinguishing particles from interjections.
Designing the Database of Speech Under Stress
Authors: Sabo Róbert , Rajčáni Jakub
Published: January 2018

This study describes the methodology used for designing a database of speech under real stress. Based on limits of existing stress databases, we used a communication task via a computer game to collect speech data. To validate the presence of stress, known psychophysiological indicators such as heart rate and electrodermal activity, as well as subjective self-assessment were used. This paper presents the data from first 5 speakers (3 men, 2 women) who participated in initial tests of the proposed design. In 4 out of 5 speakers increases in fundamental frequency and intensity of speech were registered. Similarly, in 4 out of 5 speakers heart rate was significantly increased during the task, when compared with reference measurement from before the task. These first results show that proposed design might be appropriate for building a speech under stress database. However, there are still considerations that need to be addressed.
Helping the Translator Choose: The Concept of a Dictionary of Equivalents
Authors: Szemińska Weronika
Published: January 2018

The purpose of the article is to present the innovative concept of a dictionary of equivalents, a reference work designed specifically for translators of legal texts. The article describes the features of legal terminology which render legal translation particularly difficult, such as polysemy and synonymy as well as incongruence among legal systems. Then it proposes a classification and labelling system of equivalents which ought to be offered in a terminographic reference work for legal translators.
Compound Adverbs as an Issue in Machine Analysis of Czech language
Authors: Žižková Hana
Published: January 2018

Compound adverbs represent an interesting issue in terms of Automatic Morphological Analysis (AMA). The reason is that compound adverbs in Czech are expressions formed by compounding existing words that are different parts of speech without any change in their form. An indicative sign of compound adverbs is that they can always be decomposed again. Compound adverbs may be written as one word but sometimes a multiword form coexists. A word that is originally a different part of speech gains an adverbial meaning and becomes an adverb. This article presents the results of a corpus probe aimed at mapping expressions that are demonstrably compound adverbs and were not recognized by AMA or were incorrectly tagged by AMA as another part of speech. Analysis of data obtained from the Czech National Corpus (ČNK) SYN v3 show that the unrecognized and incorrectly tagged units can be divided into several groups. Based on knowledge of these groups it is possible to refine part of speech tagging by AMA. The corpus probe examined units written in accordance with the current codification as well as substandard units.
The Use of Authorial Corpora Beyond Linguistics
Authors: Změlík Richard
Published: January 2018

The study concentrates on the issue of quantitative and qualitative methods within the context of literary theory. It intends namely to present the concept of the literary corpus of Czech prose and define main parameters of the corpus. Besides the project of a specialized corpus, primarily intended for the use in the field of literary theory, the study deals with current stochastic and corpus methods applied by foreign scholars in analysis of literary prosaic texts. The study tries to incorporate the original project of Czech prose literary corpus in this contemporary context that represents one form of a recently flourishing discipline called Digital Humanities (Digital Literary Studies).
A Survey of Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment Schemes for TDM-Based Passive Optical Network
Authors: Butt Rizwan Aslam , Waqar Ashraf M. , Faheem M , Idrus Sevia M
Published: January 2018

In time division, multiple access (TDMA)-based passive optical network (PONs), a dynamic bandwidth assignment (DBA) is necessary for efficient utilization of the available bandwidth of the upstream link. An efficient DBA scheme can improve the upstream performance of a traffic class of an ONU in two ways. First, it can increase the bandwidth assignment to it by efficiently utilizing the available bandwidth. Secondly, it can reduce the channel and frame idle time by increasing the polling frequency and by assigning extra surplus bandwidth not used by the other ONUs. Many DBA schemes have been reported for both ITU PONs (GPON and XGPON) and IEEE PONs (EPON and 10 G EPON). In this study, we explain the impact of DBA scheme on the upstream performance of PON and then do a thorough survey of both PON standards, categorize the DBA schemes and review them critically. Based on the literature review we also give our opinion on the most suitable DBA scheme for both type PONs on the basis of upstream delays, frame loss and bandwidth utilization efficiency.
Adenosine receptor agonists differentially affect the anticonvulsant action of carbamazepine and valproate against maximal electroshock test-induced seizures in mice
Authors: Jasiński Mirosław , Chrościńska-Krawczyk Magdalena , Czuczwar Stanisław J.
Published: January 2018

Background.Adenosine is regarded as an endogenous anticonvulsant and its agonists have been proved to affect the anticonvulsant activity of a number of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in animal models of seizures.

Aim.To evaluate effects of adenosine agonists on carbamazepine (CBZ) and valproate (VPA) in mouse model of generalized tonic-clonic convulsions.

Methods.The following adenosine receptor agonists were used: A1– cyclohexyladenosine, A2A– CGS 21 680, A3– N6-benzyl-NECA and A1(preferentially) and A2– 2-chloroadenosine. Their possible anticonvulsant effects were studied in a threshold electroconvulsive test for maximal electroconvulsions. The protective activity of AEDs alone or in combinations with adenosine agonists was evaluated in the form of their respective ED50values necessary to protect 50% of mice against tonic extension of the hind limbs, following maximal electroshock, delivered through ear electrodes. The specificity of interactions between AEDs and adenosine agonists was challenged with an adenosine receptor A1and A2antagonist, aminophylline (5 mg/kg). The effects of AEDs alone or with adenosine agonists were tested for the occurrence of adverse effects (AE) (impairment of motor coordination) in a chimney test. All combinations with an enhancement the protective activity of CBZ or VPA were verified with the free plasma or brain concentration of these AED.

Results.Adenosine receptor agonists (cycloheksyladenosine up to 4 mg/kg; CGS 21 680 – 8 mg/kg; N6-benzyl-NECA – 1 mg/kg; 2-chloroadenosine – 2 mg/kg) did not significantly affect the threshold for maximal electroconvulsions. Cycloheksyladenosine (1 mg/kg), N6-benzyl-NECA (0.5 and 1 mg/kg) and 2-chloroadenosine (1 mg/kg) potentiated the anticonvulsant activity of CBZ. Valproate’s protective action was enhanced by one adenosine agonist – cycloheksyladenosine (1 mg/kg). Only the combination of CBZ + N6-benzyl-NECA (1 mg/kg) was resistant to aminophylline (5 mg/kg). Pharmacokinetic interactions were evident in case of the combination of CBZ + N6-benzyl-NECA (1 mg/kg) and resulted in an increased free plasma concentration of this CBZ. Interestingly, total brain concentration of CBZ confirmed the pharmacokinetic interaction as regards CBZ + N6-benzyl-NECA (1 mg/kg).

Conclusion.The best profile was shown by the combination of CBZ + 2-chloroadenosine which involved no AE or a pharmacokinetic interaction. The remaining positive combinations in terms of anticonvulsant activity were associated with general profound AE and pharmacokinetic interactions in some of them.
Alteration in Prooxidant-Antioxidant Balance Associated with Selenium Concentration in Patients with Congenital Hypothyroidism
Authors: Rostami Shilan , Fathollahpour Asadollah , Abdi Mohammad , Naderi Kejal
Published: January 2018

There is a paucity of studies regarding oxidative balance and selenium (Se) status in congenital hypothyroidism. Recently, more attention has been given to the use of Se supplementation as a new treatment for thyroid disorders. Oxidative stress increases in different thyroid disorders and causes many pathological outcomes. The present study aimed to determine the serum prooxidant-anti - oxidant balance (PAB), Se, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) concentration in congenital hypothyroidism (CH) patients and the association of their probable change with hematological indices. Blood samples were collected from 60 healthy and 39 CH subjects. Serum PAB values were measured and Se, TSH, FT4 and hematological indices were determined. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 and p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Serum TSH concentration was significantly higher in CH patients group compared to the controls (p value < 0.05); however, FT4 was in the same concentration in patients and controls. Platelet (Plt) and lymphocytes (Lym) counts markedly decreased in all patients and showed a significant direct correlation with serum TSH levels (rs= 0.307, p value = 0.004 and rs = 0.413, p value < 0.0001). Serum PAB and Se had no significant correlation with he - mato logical indices in the studied subjects. Although there was no correlation between PAB and also Se with hematologic and biochemical markers in CH patients, changes in these two factors might be considered as a potential risk factor due to the other known effects of high PAB values and low Se concentrations.
Lipid Peroxidation, Antioxidative Defense and Level of 8-Hydroxy-2-Deoxyguanosine in Cervical Cancer Patients
Authors: Jelić Marija , Mandić Aljoša , Kladar Nebojša , Sudji Jan , Božin Biljana , Srdjenović Branislava
Published: January 2018

Oxidative stress has been associated with cervical cancer. Our aim was to examine lipid peroxidation and the extent of oxidative stress in women diagnosed with different stages of cervical cancer in order to evaluate its potential role in the evolution of cancer. We measured the concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, activities of antioxidative enzymes and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine in 153 subjects. Enzymatic activity as well as TBARS concentration were measured spectrophotometrically, while 8-OHdG was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. PPatients were categorized: group II H-SIL; group III FIGO Ia-Ib and group IV FIGO IIa-IV. Our results showed highly significant increase in the level of lipid peroxidation in group IV when com pared to the control group, group II and group III (p<0.001). Activity of superoxide dismutase was also significantly higher in group IV when compared to control group (p<0.01), group II (p<0.01) and group III (p<0.05). Activity of catalase was also significantly higher in group IV when compared to control group (p<0.005), group II (p<0.005) and group III (p<0.05). Activity of glutathione-S-transferase was also significantly higher in group IV when compared to control group (p<0.05), group II (p<0.05) and group III (p<0.05). Activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase showed no significant differences among the groups. Level of 8-OHdG was significantly higher in group IV than in the other groups (p<0.01). It can be concluded that oxidative stress is possibly involved in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer, demonstrated by increased lipid peroxidation and an altered antioxidant defense system and higher levels of 8-OHdG.
Hypercalcemia, hyperkalemia and supraventricular tachycardia in a patient with subcutaneous fat necrosis
Authors: Bahadur Kandy A. , Johnson Stacey , Lentzner Benjamin , Gangat Mariam , Carlson Joann , Balachandar Sadana
Published: January 2018

Background:

Subcutaneous fat necrosis (SCFN) is a rare, self-limiting condition that has been associated with several complications including hypercalcemia.

Case presentation:

We present the case of a 6-week-old male who presented to his pediatrician with a dime-sized erythematous nodule consistent with SCFN, who was also found to have supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Laboratory findings revealed hypercalcemia and hyperkalemia. Extensive evaluation for the electrolyte disturbances revealed no other etiology. This case reinforces that SCFN should be considered in newborns with hypercalcemia of unknown etiology. Additionally, this case is the first to suggest a connection between SCFN and hyperkalemia. Electrolyte abnormalities can potentially contribute to arrhythmogenesis and may have triggered the arrhythmia in our patient.

Conclusions:

Our case highlights the importance of remaining vigilant in the workup of atypical rashes of the infant, which should include early assessment of serum electrolytes.
Withania somnifera acts as a potential insect growth regulator in the polyphagous pest, Pericallia ricini
Authors: Gaur Sandeep Kumar , Kumar Krishna
Published: January 2018

Both seed and root extracts of the medicinal plant, Ashwagandha, Withania somnifera exhibit insect growth regulatory activity against the polyphagous pest, Pericallia ricini. Topical administration of W. somnifera seed and root extracts to last instar larvae of P. ricini disrupted moulting and metamorphosis, leading to a number of developmental abnormalities such as delay in larval-pupal and pupal-adult ecdysis, formation of larval-pupal, pupal-adult and larval-pupal-adult mosaics/chimeras, ecdysial failure, suppression of pupation and adult emergence and formation of abnormal pupae and adultoids. The treatment with seed extracts was more severe than that of root extracts as it completely suppressed the pupation and adult emergence. The results clearly suggest that the medicinal plant, W. somnifera acts as a potential insect growth regulatory (IGR) disrupting the moulting and metamorphosis as a consequence of interference with the endocrine system.
Ecological applications of Pseudomonas as a biopesticide to control two-spotted mite Tetranychus urticae: chitinase and HCN production
Authors: Qessaoui Redouan , Bouharroud Rachid , Amarraque Abderrahim , Ajerrar Abdelhadi , Mayad El Hassan , Chebli Bouchra , Dadi Mokhtara , Elaini Rachid , El Filali Fayssal , Walters Alan Stuart
Published: January 2018

The two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) is an important pest of many horticultural crops. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of three fluorescent Pseudomonas isolates obtained from rhizospheric soil of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) in Agadir, Morocco: Q110B, Q036B and Q172B, as potential biological control agents for T. urticae. Both acaricide and repellent activities were assessed on homogenous adult mites. The acaricidal activity test evaluated five concentrations of bacterial suspensions: 0 (control), 102, 104, 106, 108, and 1010 cfu · ml−1, while only the 1010 cfu ∙ ml−1 concentration of each bacterium was used for the repellent bioassay. The mortality rate and repellentindex were recorded 24, 48 and 72 h after application. Results indicated that the survival rate of T. urticae was reduced (p ≤ 0.01) by all three bacterial isolates compared to control. Within the 24–72 h time period the mortality rates ranged from 8 to 87%, 16 to 99%, and 13 to 89%, for Q110B, Q036B and Q172B isolates, respectively. The isolate Q036B (LC50 = 0.598 cfu · ml−1) provided higher mortality rates than Q172B and Q110B with LC50 values of 90,846 and 169,585 cfu · ml−1, respectively. Repellent activity was also the highest with Pseudomonas Q036B having a 71% repellence index at 48 h after application. Regarding the mechanism of action, all three isolates produced hydrogen cyanide, and exhibited protease and cellulose activities, although only Q036B and Q172B had potential chitinase action. Identification analysis showed that the isolates were either Pseudomonas putida (Q172B) or P. fluorescens (Q110B and Q036B). Our results indicate that the P. fluorescens isolate Q036B is a promising candidate for biological control of T. urticae, and has potential to contribute to an integrated pest management program to control this important pest. Then the fruits produced will be qualified as safe for consumers and the environment. The present work was customized to give support for policy decision makers as an agroecological potential meeting needs of industries and ecological balance.
New Hydrokinetic Turbine for Free Surface Gravitational Wave Transformation
Authors: Berins J.
Published: January 2018

The present article deals with an alternative form of energy – the conversion of marine/ocean wave energy using an axial self-regulating blade (SB) hydrokinetic turbine (ASRBHK turbine). The article analyses the operation of the ASRBHK turbine and draws the resulting conclusions about the mechanism, in which the power transfer element is a self-regulating blade.
Performance Evaluation of Irbene RT-16 Radio Telescope Receiving System
Authors: Bleiders M. , Bezrukovs Vl. , Orbidans A.
Published: January 2018

In the present paper, recent measurement results of refurbished Irbene RT-16 radio telescope receiving system performance are presented. The aim of the research is to evaluate characteristics of RT-16, which will allow carrying out necessary amplitude calibration in both single dish and VLBI observations, to improve the performance of existing system as well as to monitor, control and compare performance if possible changes in the receiving system will occur in future. The evaluated receiving system is 16 m Cassegrain antenna equipped with a cryogenic receiver with frequency range from 4.5 to 8.8 GHz, which is divided into four sub-bands. Multiple calibration sessions have been carried out by observing stable astronomical sources with known flux density by using in-house made total power registration backend. First, pointing offset calibration has been carried out and pointing model coefficients calculated and applied. Then, amplitude calibration, namely antenna sensitivity, calibration diode equivalent flux density and gain curve measurements have been carried out by observing calibration sources at different antenna elevations at each of the receiver sub-bands. Beam patterns have also been evaluated at different frequency bands. As a whole, acquired data will serve as a reference point for comparison in future performance evaluation of RT-16.
Fast generation of isotropic Gaussian random fields on the sphere
Authors: Creasey Peter E. , Lang Annika
Published: January 2018

The efficient simulation of isotropic Gaussian random fields on the unit sphere is a task encountered frequently in numerical applications. A fast algorithm based on Markov properties and fast Fourier transforms in 1d is presented that generates samples on an

n
×
n

{n\times n}

grid in

O
⁡

(

n
2

⁢

log
⁡
n

)

{\operatorname{O}(n^{2}\log n)}

. Furthermore, an efficient method to set up the necessary conditional covariance matrices is derived and simulations demonstrate the performance of the algorithm. An open source implementation of the code has been made available at https://github.com/pec27/smerfs.
Monte-Carlo algorithms for a forward Feynman–Kac-type representation for semilinear nonconservative partial differential equations
Authors: Le Cavil Anthony , Oudjane Nadia , Russo Francesco
Published: January 2018

The paper is devoted to the construction of a probabilistic particle
algorithm. This is related to a nonlinear forward Feynman–Kac-type equation, which represents the solution of a nonconservative semilinear parabolic partial differential equation (PDE).
Illustrations of the efficiency of the algorithm are provided by numerical experiments.
Structure-property relationships in polypropylene/poly(ethylene-co-octene)/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites prepared via a novel eccentric rotor extruder
Authors: Meng Cong , Qu Jin-ping
Published: January 2018

In this work, polypropylene/poly(ethylene-co-octene)/multiwalled carbon nanotube (PP/POE/MWCNT) nanocomposites with different contents of MWCNTs were prepared by an eccentric rotor extruder to obtain engineering materials with excellent performance capability. Microphotographs (scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) and dynamic mechanical analysis indicate that the MWCNTs were well dispersed in the polymer matrix under the elongation flow. The crystallization behavior was explored by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The results show that MWCNTs promote heterogeneous nucleation and improve the T
o, T
c and T
e values of the composites. On the basis of the rheology analysis, the complex viscosity of the PP/POE/MWCNT composites increased and formed an obvious Newton plat in the low-frequency range; both the G′ and G″ of all the samples increased monotonically, and a percolation threshold appeared for 1 wt% MWCNTs. Thus, the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites prepared under an elongation flow lead to an effective strengthening of PP/POE better than under a shear flow. This work provides a novel method based on elongational rheology to prepare engineered materials that possess excellent performance capabilities.
Is Inflation Rate of Turkey Stationary? Evidence from Unit Root Tests with and Without Structural Breaks
Authors: Sivri Uğur
Published: January 2018

Turkey has high inflation experience and in order to bring inflation rate down as well as maintaining macroeconomic stability many policy changes and reforms have been implemented. Despite some success, decreasing inflation rate is still an aim of monetary policy and price stability is still faraway. This article investigates time series properties of Turkish CPI inflation rate in both seasonally unadjusted and adjusted forms. Results of various unit root tests without structural breaks generally show that inflation rate is a nonstationary variable. This article also uses one and two breaks minimum LM unit root tests due to Lee and Strazicich (2004, 2003), respectively. In this case, test results show that inflation rate is a stationary variable with breaks. Although selected break points differ with respect to models and variables to some extent, it is observed that one break occurred around March 1994, and the second break occurred around April 2001.
Bank Business Models and Performance During Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Andrieş Alin Marius , Mutu Simona
Published: January 2018

This paper investigates the impact of business models on bank performance during the period 2007-2008 among 156 banks from Central and Eastern European countries. The findings show that banks with higher capitalization perform better and present a lower probability of default. The orientation towards the traditional lending activities as well as a higher degree of income diversification boosts performance. Using a Difference-in-Difference framework we also highlight the importance of bank business strategies for bank performance across different bank characteristics (ownership, size) and macroeconomic conditions (financial crisis, EU membership status, regulatory framework.
Is Real Depreciation and More Government Spending Expansionary? The Case of Montenegro
Authors: Hsing Yu
Published: January 2018

Employing an extended IS-MP-AS model to study the effects of the exchange rate, fiscal policy and other related variables in Montenegro, the paper finds that real depreciation of the Euro, a lower government spending-to-GDP ratio, a lower real lending rate in the Euro area, a lower lagged real oil price, a higher lagged real GDP in Germany, and a lower expected inflation rate would promote economic growth.
Resilient SMES, Institutions and Justice. Evidence in Italy
Authors: Lorizio Marilene , Gurrieri Antonia Rosa
Published: January 2018

The recent financial crisis (2008) seriously affected the credibility of European and Italian institutions. It was also characterized by a general pessimism and low expectations of economic operators, especially firms. In literature, relationships between the quality of institutions and economic activities have been widely investigated. They show how the judicial system, the regulatory authorities and governance are important aspects for the quality of institutions.

The main conclusion of existing literature, or the necessity of a reform of judicial system, is the basis of this work. Thus, here there is an attempt to investigate the performances of the judicial system, considering the low and poor level of its effects on firms’ performances. In particular, in this work, there is a simple empirical analysis (data paucity is the big limit) in order to investigate the consequences of an efficient, long-time justice on resilient firms’ confidence and perspective. Those resilient firms, able to overcome the financial crisis, show their ability in surviving, even if justice doesn’t help them.
Physical activity during work and leisure show contrasting associations with fear-avoidance beliefs: cross-sectional study among more than 10,000 wage earners of the general working population
Authors: Tribian Annika , Vinstrup Jonas , Sundstrup Emil , Jay Kenneth , Bös Klaus , Andersen Lars L.
Published: January 2018

Background and aims:

The association between different types of physical activity and fear-avoidance beliefs remains unclear. This study investigates the association between work-related and leisure-time physical activity with fear-avoidance beliefs in the general working population.

Methods:

Currently employed wage earners (n=10,427) from the 2010 round of the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study replied to questions about work, lifestyle and health. General linear models controlling for lifestyle, psychosocial work factors, education, pain, medication-use and chronic diseases tested associations of work-related and leisure-time physical activity (explanatory variables) with fear-avoidance beliefs (outcome variable, scale 0–100).

Results:

The level of fear-avoidance was 41.7 (SD 27.3), 38.0 (SD 26.9) and 54.3 (SD 27.7) among the general working population, a subgroup of pain-free individuals, and a subgroup with back disease, respectively. In the general working population, the level of fear-avoidance among those with low, moderate and high physical activity during leisure were 47 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 45–49], 44 (95% CI 42–46) and 43 (95% CI 41–45), and physical activity at work were 40 (95% CI 39–42), 44 (95% CI 42–46) and 49 (95% CI 48–51), respectively. Individuals with back disease and a high level of physical activity at work showed the overall highest level of fear-avoidance whereas pain-free individuals with a low level of physical activity at work showed the overall lowest level of fear-avoidance.

Conclusions:

Physical activity during work and leisure shows contrasting associations with fear-avoidance beliefs. While high physical activity during leisure is associated with lower levels, high physical activity at work is associated with higher levels of fear-avoidance.

Implications:

The present results may reflect some deeply rooted negative beliefs about pain and work in the population. On the societal level, campaigns may be a possible way forward as these have shown to improve beliefs about musculoskeletal pain and work.
Analysing the effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the integration of East African farmers in a value chain context
Authors: Krone Madlen , Dannenberg Peter
Published: January 2018

Insufficient access to markets, limited financial transactions, and a lack of information and knowledge often restrict opportunities for small-scale farmers to link up with commercial value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially mobile phones and the internet, have expanded the possibility to communicate across geographical distances and to integrate into commercial value chains. By using a novel combination of conceptual considerations on ICTs, value chains, and relational proximity, this paper assesses: 1. How the use of ICTs affects the integration of small-scale farmers into the value chains (by analysing the information and knowledge flow, the financial and market transactions) and 2. to what extent the use of ICTs is on the other side influenced by the value chain context (i.e. the structure and coordination of the chain and the relational proximity between farmer and buyer). Our findings showed that even simple ICTs (phones) can lead to improvements for farmers to integrate into the chain as they facilitate simple information and complex knowledge flow, financial transactions, and market access, even though a greater structural transformation was absent. However, our results showed that the extent of the effects depends on the context in the value chains, in particular their structure, coordination, and the relational proximity between the actors. In this way, this paper contributes to the conceptual discussions on information and communication for development (ICT4D) and the dynamics in value chains.
Synthesis of madecassic acid derivatives and their cytotoxic activity
Authors: Van Loc Tran , Nhu Vo Thi Quynh , Van Chien Tran , Ha Le Thi Thu , Thao Tran Thi Phuong , Van Sung Tran
Published: January 2018

Fifteen new 28-amide derivatives of madecassic acid, isolated from the tropical medicinal herb Centella asiatica (Apiaceae), have been synthesised, and their cytotoxicity on three cancer cell lines, KB (carcinoma cancer), HepG2 (liver cancer) and Lu-1 (lung cancer), was evaluated. The results showed that acetylation of the 2,3,23-hydroxyl group and/or amidation of the 28-COOH group strongly increased the cytotoxicity of the synthesised compounds.
Quantum Mechanical Study of γ-Fe2O3 Nanoparticle as a Nanocarrier for Anticancer Drug Delivery
Authors: Lari Hadi , Morsali Ali , Heravi Mohammad Momen
Published: January 2018

Using density functional theory (DFT), noncovalent interactions and four mechanisms of covalent functionalization of melphalan anticancer drug onto γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been studied. Quantum molecular descriptors of noncovalent configurations were investigated. It was specified that binding of melphalan onto γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles is thermodynamically suitable. Hardness and the gap of energy between LUMO and HOMO of melphalan are higher than the noncovalent configurations, showing the reactivity of drug increases in the presence of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Melphalan can bond to γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles through NH2 (k
1 mechanism), OH (k
2 mechanism), C=O (k
3 mechanism) and Cl (k
4 mechanism) groups. The activation energies, the activation enthalpies and the activation Gibbs free energies of these reactions were calculated. Thermodynamic data indicate that k
3 mechanism is exothermic and spontaneous and can take place at room temperature. These results could be generalized to other similar drugs.
Comparison of Sprint Interval and Endurance Training in Team Sport Athletes
Authors: Kelly David T. , Tobin Críonna , Egan Brendan , McCarren Andrew , O'Connor Paul L. , McCaffrey Noel , Moyna Niall M.
Published: January 2018

Kelly, DT, Tobin, C, Egan, B, Carren, AM, O'Connor, PL, McCaffrey, N, and Moyna, NM. Comparison of sprint interval and endurance training in team sport athletes. J Strength Cond Res 32(11): 3051–3058, 2018—High-volume endurance training (ET) has traditionally been used to improve aerobic capacity but is extremely time-consuming in contrast to low-volume short-duration sprint interval training (SIT) that improves maximal oxygen uptake (V̇o
2max) to a similar extent. Few studies have compared the effects of SIT vs. ET using running-based protocols, or in team sport athletes. Club level male Gaelic football players were randomly assigned to SIT (n = 7; 21.6 ± 2.1 years) or ET (n = 8; 21.9 ± 3.5 years) for 6 sessions over 2 weeks. V̇o
2max, muscle mitochondrial enzyme activity, running economy (RE), and high-intensity endurance capacity (HEC) were measured before and after training. An increase in V̇o
2max (p ≤ 0.05) after 2 weeks of both SIT and ET was observed. Performance in HEC increased by 31.0 and 17.2% after SIT and ET, respectively (p ≤ 0.05). Running economy assessed at 8, 9, 10, and 11 km·h−1, lactate threshold and vV̇o
2max were unchanged after both SIT and ET. Maximal activity of 3-β-hydroxylacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase (β-HAD) was increased in response to both SIT and ET (p ≤ 0.05), whereas the maximal activity of citrate synthase remained unchanged after training (p = 0.07). A running-based protocol of SIT is a time-efficient training method for improving aerobic capacity and HEC, and maintaining indices of RE and lactate threshold in team sport athletes.
Sex Differences in Mechanical Properties of the Achilles Tendon: Longitudinal Response to Repetitive Loading Exercise
Authors: Lepley Adam S. , Joseph Michael F. , Daigle Nathan R. , Digiacomo Jessica E. , Galer John , Rock Emily , Rosier Samuel B. , Sureja Parth B.
Published: January 2018

Lepley, AS, Joseph, MF, Daigle, NR, Digiacomo, JE, Galer, J, Rock, E, Rosier, SB, and Sureja, PB. Sex differences in mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon: Longitudinal response to repetitive loading exercise. J Strength Cond Res 32(11): 3070–3079, 2018—Sex differences have been observed in the mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon, which may help to explain the increased risk of injury in men. However, the response and recovery of tendon mechanics to repetitive loading exercise, as well as sex-dependent responses, are not well understood. The purpose of our study was to compare Achilles tendon mechanical properties between men and women before, immediately after, and 60 minutes after a repetitive loading exercise. Seventeen female (age: 24.0 ± 3.9 years; height: 167.4 ± 6.9 cm; and mass: 64.9 ± 8.5 kg) and 18 male (age: 23.9 ± 2.4 years; height: 179.2 ± 5.09 cm; and mass: 78.4 ± 8.7 kg) recreationally active individuals volunteered. Using isokinetic dynamometry and diagnostic ultrasound, baseline levels of Achilles tendon force, elongation, stiffness, stress, strain, and Young's modulus were assessed before 100 successive calf-raise exercises using a Smith machine at 20% of participant body mass. Outcomes were reassessed immediately and 60 minutes after exercise. Women exhibited less Achilles tendon force, stiffness, stress, and modulus compared with men, regardless of time point. Both sexes responded to repetitive loading exercise similarly, with immediate decreases in mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon from baseline to immediately after exercise. Tendon properties were observed to be equal to baseline values at 60-minute postexercise. Baseline differences in tendon properties may help to explain the disparity in injury risk because both sexes responded to and recovered from exercise similarly. Future research should aim to include additional time points (both leading up to and after 60 minutes), and assess tendon responses to more sport-specific activities, while also including patients diagnosed with Achilles tendon injuries.