bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mediastinal lipoblastoma: unexpected finding of a chest infection
Authors: Hanafiah Mohammad , Noryati Mohammad , Arni Talib
Published: June 2013

A 2-year-old boy was presented with symptoms of chest infection. The chest radiograph showed a large mediastinal mass, which led to further investigations including biopsy of the tumour. Histopathological analysis revealed a diagnosis of lipoblastoma. We highlight the imaging appearance of the lesion. Although histopathological analysis is required for the confirmation of the diagnosis, cross-sectional imaging is useful in evaluating the extent of the tumour for surgical planning.
Thyroid associated orbitopathy
Authors: Verma Rajesh , Gupta Mani , Mehta Vinod Kumar
Published: June 2013

Thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO) is a self-limiting auto-immune condition usually associated with Grave's disease. It is characterised by ocular pain, eyelid swelling, chemosis, proptosis and keratopathy. As the mechanism for ophthamoplegia and optic neuropathy is the orbital swelling leading to mechanical restriction of ocular muscles and compression of optic nerve, one expects proptosis rather than ptosis in TAO. We describe a case of a young adult woman who presented with acute onset restriction of movement along with partial ptosis and severe diminution of vision in left eye. The MRI of orbit revealed significant swelling of recti along with signal alteration consistent with TAO. The radio-isotope thyroid scan revealed thyroiditis, and thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody was significantly high; hence, the diagnosis of Hashimoto thyroiditis was considered. A course of intravenous methylprednisolone followed by oral steroid was administered, which produced marked improvement in vision and extraocular movement.
Synchrony in the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) cycle in northwestern North America, 1970–2012
Authors: Krebs Charles J. , Kielland Knut , Bryant John , O’Donoghue Mark , Doyle Frank , McIntyre Carol , DiFolco Donna , Berg Nathan , Carriere Suzanne , Boonstra Rudy , Boutin Stan , Kenney Alice J. , Reid Donald G. , Bodony Karin , Putera Judy , Timm Henry K. , Burke Toby
Published: June 2013

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) fluctuate in 9–10 year cycles throughout much of their North American range. Regional synchrony has been assumed to be the rule for these cycles, so that hare populations in virtually all of northwestern North America have been assumed to be in phase. We gathered qualitative and quantitative data on hare numbers and fur returns of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792) in the boreal forest regions of Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia to describe synchrony in the time window of 1970–2012. Broad-scale synchrony in lynx fur returns was strong from 1970 to about 1995 but then seemed to break down in different parts of this region. Hare populations at 20 sites in Alaska, the Yukon, and Northwest Territories showed peak populations that lagged by 1–4 years during the 1990s and 2000s cycles. The simplest hypothesis to explain these patterns of asynchrony in hare cycles is the movement of predators from British Columbia north into the Yukon and then east into the Northwest Territories and west into Alaska. A traveling wave of these cycles is clearly seen in the lynx fur returns from western Canada and Alaska from 1970 to 2009. One consequence of a failure of synchrony is that hare predators like Canada lynx and Great-horned Owls (Bubo virginianus (Gmelin, 1788)) can move from one adjacent area to the next within this region and survive long enough to prolong low densities in hare populations that have declined earlier.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO MANFRED L. RISTIG (1935–2011)
Authors: CLARK JOHN W.
Published: June 2013

Manfred Ristig was a leading contributor to the advancement of microscopic theory of strongly interacting quantum many-body systems for over four decades. This retrospective on his life and scientific career pays tribute to his pivotal role in the development of correlated wavefunction approaches to quantitative ab initio description of quantum fluids, nuclear systems and condensed matter more generally. Highlights include his contributions to the formulation of Fermi hypernetted chain theory and correlated density matrix theory. Special attention is given to Ristig's seminal work of recent years, which has yielded rich insights into the interplay of exchange effects (arising from quantum statistics) and the strong interactions between constituent bosons or fermions.
AN ATTEMPT AT A RESONATING MEAN-FIELD THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION OF THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF TWO-GAP SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
Authors: NISHIYAMA SEIYA , DA PROVIDÊNCIA JOÃO , PROVIDÊNCIA CONSTANÇA , OHNISHI HIROMASA
Published: June 2013

The resonating mean-field theory (Res-MFT) has been applied and shown to effectively describe two-gap superconductivity (SC). Particularly at T = 0 using a suitable chemical potential, the two-gap SC in MgB2 has been well described by the Res-Hartree-Bogoliubov theory (Res-HBT). The Res-HB ground state generated with HB wavefunctions almost exhausts the ground-state correlation energy in all the correlation regimes. In this paper we make an attempt at a Res-MF theoretical description of thermal behavior of the two-gap SC. In an equal energy-gap case we find a new formula leading to a higher critical temperature Tc than the Tc of the usual HB formula.
WHY FARIMA MODELS ARE BRITTLE
Authors: VEITCH D. , GORST-RASMUSSEN A. , GEFFERTH A.
Published: June 2013

The FARIMA models, which have long-range-dependence (LRD), are widely used in many areas. Through the derivation of a precise characterization of the spectrum and variance time function, we show that this family is very atypical among LRD processes, being extremely close to the fractional Gaussian noise in a precise sense which results in ultra-fast convergence to fGn under rescaling. Furthermore, we show that this closeness property is not robust to additive noise. We argue that the use of FARIMA, and more generally fractionally differenced time series, should be reassessed in some contexts, in particular when convergence rate under rescaling is important and noise is expected.
CURRENT NOISE AND HIGHER ORDER FLUCTUATIONS IN SEMICONDUCTING BILAYER SYSTEMS
Authors: SOLLER H. , KOMNIK A.
Published: June 2013

We analyze the transport properties of a semiconductor-based bilayer system under nonequilibrium conditions with special emphasis on the charge transfer statistics in the regime dominated by the exciton transport. We consider two different models. In one of them the transport occurs incoherently and is dominated by incoherent tunneling processes of individual excitons, while in the other system no disorder is present and transport processes are fully coherent. We find that the strength of cross-correlations of currents in different layers is only insignificantly affected by the disorder and shows up similar behavior in both systems. We discuss possible experimental realizations and make predictions for measurable quantities.
EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF ASYMPTOMATIC GAS EMBOLI ON THE VESSEL WALL
Authors: GU LINXIA , CUTLER ERIC L.
Published: June 2013

Quantitative evaluation of shear stress in the vessel wall due to the presence of asymptomatic gas emboli is lacking. The goal of this work was to assess the impact of chronic asymptomatic gas emboli on the risk of atherosclerosis through a custom-built cardiovascular flow simulator. Gas bubbles were created by forced air from a syringe pump. The influences of embolism injection rate, pulse rate, and time-averaged flow rate on the wall mean shear stress were investigated at resting and elevated heart rate conditions. The recorded pressure and volumetric flow rate from 24 experimental settings with four repetitions each were used to calculate the mean wall shear stress (MWSS). A directly inverse relationship between gas embolus rate and MWSS in the vessel, particularly at low vascular flow and diminished pulse rates was subsequently found. This study established a positive correlation between gas bubbles in the bloodstream and diminished MWSS, which implied a potential onset of atherosclerosis.
Kimberlite Volcanism
Authors: Sparks R.S.J.
Published: June 2013

Kimberlite magmas are volatile-rich, silica-poor ultrabasic magmas originating as small-degree mantle melts at depths of 150 km or greater. Alteration and entrained xenoliths obscure their original magma chemistry and properties. Kimberlite magmas decrease temperature by a few hundred degrees during ascent. Changes of melt composition can result as a function of assimilation. Stalling of kimberlite can result in fractional crystallization, loss of xenocrysts, and loss of volatiles. Multiple pulses of kimberlite magmas form several distinct geological units in the same pipe or intrusion. Kimberlite pipes form by explosive disruption and deformation of country rocks. Confinement in a pipe introduces new processes such as fluidization, dynamic sintering, and intense mixing between volcanic jets and concentrated trapped mixtures. Occurrences of extravent and crater-fill lithofacies indicate that kimberlite eruptions generate eruptive products that are similar to those produced by common magma types. Alteration is largely attributed to hydrothermal systems, diagenesis, and weathering involving external water.
The Isotopic Anatomies of Molecules and Minerals
Authors: Eiler John M.
Published: June 2013

Most natural compounds are composed of diverse isotopologues that differ in the number and/or symmetrically unique atomic locations of isotopic substitutions. Little of this isotopic diversity is observed by conventional methods of stable isotope geochemistry, which generally measure concentrations of rare isotopes without constraining differences in isotopic composition between different atomic sites or nonrandom probabilities of multiple isotopic substitutions in the same molecule. Recent advances in analytical instrumentation and methodology have created a set of geochemical tools—geothermometers, biosynthetic signatures, forensic fingerprints—based on these position-specific isotope effects and multiply substituted isotopologues. This progress suggests we are entering a period in which many new geochemical tools of this type will be created. This review describes the principles, background, analytical methods, existing applied tools, and likely future progress of this emerging field.
Global Warming and Neotropical Rainforests: A Historical Perspective
Authors: Jaramillo Carlos , Cárdenas Andrés
Published: June 2013

There is concern over the future of the tropical rainforest (TRF) in the face of global warming. Will TRFs collapse? The fossil record can inform us about that. Our compilation of 5,998 empirical estimates of temperature over the past 120 Ma indicates that tropics have warmed as much as 7°C during both the mid-Cretaceous and the Paleogene. We analyzed the paleobotanical record of South America during the Paleogene and found that the TRF did not expand toward temperate latitudes during global warm events, even though temperatures were appropriate for doing so, suggesting that solar insolation can be a constraint on the distribution of the tropical biome. Rather, a novel biome, adapted to temperate latitudes with warm winters, developed south of the tropical zone. The TRF did not collapse during past warmings; on the contrary, its diversity increased. The increase in temperature seems to be a major driver in promoting diversity.
The Behavior of the Lithosphere on Seismic to Geologic Timescales
Authors: Watts A.B. , Zhong S.J. , Hunter J.
Published: June 2013

The strength of the lithosphere and how it responds to loading and unloading are fundamental problems with wide implications. Flexure studies suggest that the elastic thickness, a proxy for the strength of the lithosphere, increases with plate age but decreases with load age. The elastic thickness is significantly less than the seismic thickness of the lithosphere, as indicated by the depth to the low-velocity zone, suggesting that the lithosphere is a strong structure at short seismic timescales and a weak one at long timescales. The mechanism controlling this weakening is not known, but it probably involves some form of load-induced stress relaxation. Despite weakening, the lithosphere is capable of retaining its strength and supporting loads such as volcanoes and sediments for long periods of geological time. Lithosphere relaxation should be included in geodynamical models, especially as it has impacts on stratigraphy, sea-level change, and dynamic topography.
Global Cooling by Grassland Soils of the Geological Past and Near Future
Authors: Retallack Gregory J.
Published: June 2013

Major innovations in the evolution of vegetation such as the Devonian origin of forests created new weathering regimes and soils (Alfisols, Histosols) that increased carbon consumption and sequestration and ushered in the Permian-Carboniferous Ice Age. Similarly, global expansion of grasslands and their newly evolved, carbon-rich soils (Mollisols) over the past 40 million years may have induced global cooling and ushered in Pleistocene glaciation. Grassland evolution has been considered a consequence of mountain uplift and tectonic reorganization of ocean currents, but it can also be viewed as a biological force for global change through coevolution of grasses and grazers. Organisms in such coevolutionary trajectories adapt to each other rather than to their environment, and so can be forces for global change. Some past farming practices have aided greenhouse gas release. However, modern grassland agroecosystems are a potential carbon sink already under intensive human management, and carbon farming techniques may be useful in curbing anthropogenic global warming.
Stability Analysis of Learning Algorithms for Ontology Similarity Computation
Authors: Gao Wei , Xu Tianwei
Published: June 2013

Ontology, as a useful tool, is widely applied in lots of areas such as social science, computer science, and medical science. Ontology concept similarity calculation is the key part of the algorithms in these applications. A recent approach is to make use of similarity between vertices on ontology graphs. It is, instead of pairwise computations, based on a function that maps the vertex set of an ontology graph to real numbers. In order to obtain this, the ranking learning problem plays an important and essential role, especiallyk-partite ranking algorithm, which is suitable for solving some ontology problems. A ranking function is usually used to map the vertices of an ontology graph to numbers and assign ranks of the vertices through their scores. Through studying a training sample, such a function can be learned. It contains a subset of vertices of the ontology graph. A good ranking function means small ranking mistakes and good stability. For ranking algorithms, which are in a well-stable state, we study generalization bounds via some concepts of algorithmic stability. We also find that kernel-based ranking algorithms stated as regularization schemes in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces satisfy stability conditions and have great generalization abilities.
A Class of Numerical Algorithm for Impact Degree Assessment of Emergency Systems
Authors: Chang Yuwen , Gao Yifan , Yi Jiexin , Yan Wei , Geng Changbo , Zhang Song
Published: June 2013

A standard procedure for the evaluation of emergency impact is developed, concentrating on variation of the impact degree. A numerical method is presented in this paper. The concepts of impact depth and impact width are introduced to assess the impact degree, and both of which determine the evolution path of impact. Based on the variation pattern of impact depth, the evolution path could be divided into rising stage, plateau stage, and recession stage, and path of each stage could be expressed in terms of specified functions. The major goal of this procedure is to measure the emergency impact and make predictions for the consequences. In the case study, we applied this procedure to the analysis of the impact caused by 3.11 earthquake in Japan and demonstrated the algorithm's effectiveness and feasibility. Although this methodology shows improvement in quantitative analysis of the emergency impact, the accuracy of the impact path and the derivative effect of secondary derivative events are issues that yet to be further studied.
QR-Submanifolds of(p−1) QR-Dimension in a Quaternionic Projective SpaceQP(n+p)/4under Some Curvature Conditions
Authors: Kim Hyang Sook , Pak Jin Suk
Published: June 2013

The purpose of this paper is to studyn-dimensionalQR-submanifolds of(p−1)QR-dimension in a quaternionic projective spaceQP(n+p)/4and especially to determine such submanifolds under some curvature conditions.
Drain-Site Hernia Containing the Vermiform Appendix: Report of a Case
Authors: Gass Markus , Zynamon Anatol , von Flüe Markus , Peterli Ralph
Published: June 2013

The herniated vermiform appendix has been described as content of every hernia orifice in the right lower quadrant. While the femoral and inguinal herniated vermiform appendix is frequent enough to result in an own designation, port-site or even drain-site hernias are less frequently described. We report the case of a 62-year-old woman who presented with right lower quadrant pain seven years after Roux-en-Y Cystojejunostomy for a pancreatic cyst. CT scan showed herniation of the vermiform appendix through a former drain-site. A diagnostic laparoscopy with appendectomy and direct closure of the abdominal wall defect combined with mesh reinforcement was performed. Despite the decreasing use of intraperitoneal drains over the recent years, a multitude of patients had intraperitoneal drainage in former times. These patients face nowadays the risk of drain-site hernias with sometimes even unexpected structures inside.
Facile Solventless Synthesis of a Nylon-6,6/Silver Nanoparticles Composite and Its XPS Study
Authors: Morales-Luckie Raúl A. , Sánchez-Mendieta Víctor , Olea-Mejia Oscar , Vilchis-Nestor Alfredo R. , López-Téllez Gustavo , Varela-Guerrero Víctor , Huerta L. , Arenas-Alatorre Jesús
Published: June 2013

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized and supported on thin nylon membranes by means of a simple method of impregnation and chemical reduction of Ag ions at ambient conditions. Particles of less than 10 nm were obtained using this methodology, in which the nylon fibers behave as constrained nanoreactors. Pores on nylon fibres along with oxygen and nitrogen from amide moieties in nylon provide effective sites forin situreduction of silver ions and for the formation and stabilization of Ag nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed that silver nanoparticles are well dispersed throughout the nylon fibers. Furthermore, an interaction between nitrogen of amides moieties of nylon-6,6 and silver nanoparticles has been found by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
Therapeutic Effects of Saireito (Chai-Ling-Tang), a Traditional Japanese Herbal Medicine, on Lymphedema Caused by Radiotherapy: A Case Series Study
Authors: Nagai Aiko , Shibamoto Yuta , Ogawa Keiko
Published: June 2013

Despite the development of radiotherapy machines and technologies, a proportion of patients suffer from radiation-induced lymphedema. Saireito (SRT) is a traditional Japanese herbal medicine that has been used for treating edema and inflammation in conditions such as nephritic disease. This study investigated the effect of SRT on lymphedema caused by radiotherapy. Four patients were treated with SRT at a dose of 9 g/day. The severity of lymphedema was evaluated using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4 and Numerical Rating Scale before and after SRT treatment. After the treatment with SRT, 2 of 4 patients (50%) showed apparent improvement in lymphedema. One of the cases had difficulty in wearing the custom-made thermoplastic cast, but after SRT administration, he could wear the mask easily. One case decided to stop taking SRT 3 days after initiation because cough and fever appeared. In conclusion, it is important to control the side effects of radiotherapy, which leads to improved tumor control rates. Prospective randomized studies are necessary to confirm the findings of this case series study.
Dictionary Learning Based on Nonnegative Matrix Factorization Using Parallel Coordinate Descent
Authors: Tang Zunyi , Ding Shuxue , Li Zhenni , Jiang Linlin
Published: June 2013

Sparse representation of signals via an overcomplete dictionary has recently received much attention as it has produced promising results in various applications. Since the nonnegativities of the signals and the dictionary are required in some applications, for example, multispectral data analysis, the conventional dictionary learning methods imposed simply with nonnegativity may become inapplicable. In this paper, we propose a novel method for learning a nonnegative, overcomplete dictionary for such a case. This is accomplished by posing the sparse representation of nonnegative signals as a problem of nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) with a sparsity constraint. By employing the coordinate descent strategy for optimization and extending it to multivariable case for processing in parallel, we develop a so-called parallel coordinate descent dictionary learning (PCDDL) algorithm, which is structured by iteratively solving the two optimal problems, the learning process of the dictionary and the estimating process of the coefficients for constructing the signals. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs better than the conventional nonnegative K-SVD (NN-KSVD) algorithm and several other algorithms for comparison. What is more, its computational consumption is remarkably lower than that of the compared algorithms.
Area‐Selective ZnO Thin Film Deposition on Variable Microgap Electrodes and Their Impact on UV Sensing
Authors: Humayun Q. , Kashif M. , Hashim U.
Published: June 2013

ZnO thin films were deposited on patterned gold electrodes using the sol‐gel spin coating technique. Conventional photolithography process was used to obtain the variable microgaps of 30 and 43 μm in butterfly topology by using zero‐gap chrome mask. The structural, morphological, and electrical properties of the deposited thin films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Keithley SourceMeter, respectively. The current‐voltage (I‐V) characterization was performed to investigate the effect of UV light on the fabricated devices. The ZnO fabricated sensors showed a photo to dark current (Iph/Id) ratios of 6.26 for 30 μm and 5.28 for 43 μm gap electrodes spacing, respectively. Dynamic responses of both fabricated sensors were observed till 1V with good reproducibility. At the applied voltage of 1 V, the response time was observed to be 4.817 s and 3.704 s while the recovery time was observed to be 0.3738 s and 0.2891 s for 30 and 43 μm gaps, respectively. The signal detection at low operating voltages suggested that the fabricated sensors could be used for miniaturized devices with low power consumption.
Physical Therapists in Primary Care Are Interested in High Quality Evidence Regarding Efficacy of Therapeutic Ultrasound for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Provincial Survey
Authors: MacIntyre Norma J. , Busse Jason W. , Bhandari Mohit
Published: June 2013

Recent high‐level evidence favours therapeutic ultrasound (US) for reducing pain in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). It is unknown how current practice patterns align with current evidence regarding US efficacy and whether physical therapists perceive a need for further high‐level evidence. We conducted a descriptive electronic survey to characterize the beliefs and use of US among physical therapists in Ontario treating people with nonsurgical knee OA. Most of the 123 respondents (81%) reported at least some use of US with 45% using it often or sometimes. The main goal for using US was to reduce pain in the surrounding soft tissue (n = 66) and/or the knee joint (n = 43). Almost half (46%) endorsed the belief that US is likely to be beneficial for clients with nonsurgical knee OA. Most respondents (85%) expressed interest in the results of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of US on pain and physical function. Patterns of use reflect the respondents’ belief that US is likely to be beneficial for knee OA pain.
Impact of Adiponectin Overexpression on Allergic Airways Responses in Mice
Authors: Verbout Norah G. , Benedito Leandro , Williams Alison S. , Kasahara David I. , Wurmbrand Allison P. , Si Huiqing , Halayko Andrew J. , Hug Christopher , Shore Stephanie A.
Published: June 2013

Obesity is an important risk factor for asthma. Obese individuals have decreased circulating adiponectin, an adipose-derived hormone with anti-inflammatory properties. We hypothesized that transgenic overexpression of adiponectin would attenuate allergic airways inflammation and mucous hyperplasia in mice. To test this hypothesis, we used mice overexpressing adiponectin (Adipo Tg). Adipo Tg mice had marked increases in both serum adiponectin and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid adiponectin. Both acute and chronic ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and challenge protocols were used. In both protocols, OVA-induced increases in total BAL cells were attenuated in Adipo Tg versus WT mice. In the acute protocol, OVA-induced increases in several IL-13 dependent genes were attenuated in Adipo Tg versus WT mice, even though IL-13 per se was not affected. With chronic exposure, though OVA-induced increases in goblet cells numbers per millimeter of basement membrane were greater in Adipo Tg versus WT mice, mRNA abundance of mucous genes in lungs was not different. Also, adiponectin overexpression did not induce M2 polarization in alveolar macrophages. Our results indicate that adiponectin protects against allergen-induced inflammatory cell recruitment to the airspaces, but not development of goblet cell hyperplasia.
Local Fractional Series Expansion Method for Solving Wave and Diffusion Equations on Cantor Sets
Authors: Yang Ai-Min , Yang Xiao-Jun , Li Zheng-Biao
Published: June 2013

We proposed a local fractional series expansion method to solve the wave and diffusion equations on Cantor sets. Some examples are given to illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method to obtain analytical solutions to differential equations within the local fractional derivatives.
The Numerical Analysis of Transmission Tower-Line System Wind-Induced Collapsed Performance
Authors: Zhang Zhuoqun , Li Hongnan , Li Gang , Wang Wenming , Tian Li
Published: June 2013

The numerical simulation of transmission tower-line systems' progressive collapse performance is considered as a major research hotspot and significant project, due to the increasing number of wind-induced collapse accidents recently. In this study, the finite element models for single tower and transmission tower-line system were established to simulate wind-induced progressive collapse by birth-to-death element technique in ABAQUS/Explicit. The wind field, based on the Kaimal fluctuating wind power spectrum and harmonic superposition method, was constructed by MATLAB commercial software. The current research focuses on the dynamic behaviour and the mechanism of a typical transmission tower-line system progressive collapse under wind action with clear step-by-step description. The numerical simulation results demonstrated that transmission tower-line system collapse mechanism depended on the number, position and last deformation of damage elements. Since the gallop effect of conductor and ground lines were ignored in the single tower model, the transmission tower-line system model, which has higher computational precision than the single tower model, is relatively accurate and recommended strongly in the design.
Common Fixed Point Results for Mappings with Rational Expressions
Authors: Kutbi M. A. , Ahmad Jamshaid , Hussain Nawab , Arshad Muhammad
Published: June 2013

We obtain some common fixed point results for single as well as set valued mappings involving certain rational expressions in complete partial metric spaces. In the process, we generalize various results of the literature. Two examples are also included to illustrate the fact that our results cannot be obtained from the corresponding results in metric spaces.
Action Recognition by Joint Spatial-Temporal Motion Feature
Authors: Zhang Weihua , Zhang Yi , Gao Chaobang , Zhou Jiliu
Published: June 2013

This paper introduces a method for human action recognition based on optical flow motion features extraction. Automatic spatial and temporal alignments are combined together in order to encourage the temporal consistence on each action by an enhanced dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm. At the same time, a fast method based on coarse-to-fine DTW constraint to improve computational performance without reducing accuracy is induced. The main contributions of this study include (1) a joint spatial-temporal multiresolution optical flow computation method which can keep encoding more informative motion information than recent proposed methods, (2) an enhanced DTW method to improve temporal consistence of motion in action recognition, and (3) coarse-to-fine DTW constraint on motion features pyramids to speed up recognition performance. Using this method, high recognition accuracy is achieved on different action databases like Weizmann database and KTH database.
Estimation of Acceleration Amplitude of Vehicle by Back Propagation Neural Networks
Authors: Heidari Mohammad , Homaei Hadi
Published: June 2013

This paper investigates the variation of vertical vibrations of vehicles using a neural network (NN). The NN is a back propagation NN, which is employed to predict the amplitude of acceleration for different road conditions such as concrete, waved stone block paved, and country roads. In this paper, four supervised functions, namely, newff, newcf, newelm, and newfftd, have been used for modeling the vehicle vibrations. The networks have four inputs of velocity (), damping ratio (), natural frequency of vehicle shock absorber (), and road condition (R.C) as the independent variables and one output of acceleration amplitude (AA). Numerical data, employed for training the networks and capabilities of the models in predicting the vehicle vibrations, have been verified. Some training algorithms are used for creating the network. The results show that the Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm and newelm function are better than other training algorithms and functions. This method is conceptually straightforward, and it is also applicable to other type vehicles for practical purposes.
Differential and Single-Ended Microstrip Lines Loaded with Slotted Magnetic-LC Resonators
Authors: Naqui J. , Durán-Sindreu M. , Martín F.
Published: June 2013

This paper is focused on magnetic-LC (MLC) resonators, namely, slotted resonators that can be considered the complementary counterparts of the so-called electric-LC (ELC) resonators. Both resonators exhibit two symmetry planes (i.e., they are bisymmetric), one of them being an electric wall and the other a magnetic wall at the fundamental resonance. Therefore, compared to other electrically small resonators such as folded stepped impedance resonators (SIRs), split ring resonators (SRRs), and their complementary counterparts, MLC and ELC resonators exhibit a very rich phenomenology. In this paper, single-ended microstrip lines and differential microstrip lines loaded with MLC resonators are studied, and potential applications are highlighted.
A Novel Adaptive Probabilistic Nonlinear Denoising Approach for Enhancing PET Data Sinogram
Authors: Alrefaya Musa , Sahli Hichem
Published: June 2013

We propose filtering the PET sinograms with a constraint curvature motion diffusion. The edge-stopping function is computed in terms of edge probability under the assumption of contamination by Poisson noise. We show that the Chi-square is the appropriate prior for finding the edge probability in the sinogram noise-free gradient. Since the sinogram noise is uncorrelated and follows a Poisson distribution, we then propose an adaptive probabilistic diffusivity function where the edge probability is computed at each pixel. The filter is applied on the 2D sinogram prereconstruction. The PET images are reconstructed using the Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization (OSEM). We demonstrate through simulations with images contaminated by Poisson noise that the performance of the proposed method substantially surpasses that of recently published methods, both visually and in terms of statistical measures.
Image Matching by Using Fuzzy Transforms
Authors: Di Martino Ferdinando , Sessa Salvatore
Published: June 2013

We apply the concept of Fuzzy Transform (for short, F-transform) for improving the results of the image matching based on the Greatest Eigen Fuzzy Set (for short, GEFS) with respect to max-min composition and the Smallest Eigen Fuzzy Set (for short, SEFS) with respect to min-max composition already studied in the literature. The direct F-transform of an image can be compared with the direct F-transform of a sample image to be matched and we use suitable indexes to measure the grade of similarity between the two images. We make our experiments on the image dataset extracted from the well-known Prima Project View Sphere Database, comparing the results obtained with this method with that one based on the GEFS and SEFS. Other experiments are performed on frames of videos extracted from the Ohio State University dataset.
Stress-Strain Law for Confined Concrete with Hardening or Softening Behavior
Authors: Colajanni Piero , Papia Maurizio , Spinella Nino
Published: June 2013

This paper provides a new general stress-strain law for concrete confined by steel, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP), or fiber reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM), obtained by a suitable modification of the well-known Sargin’s curve for steel confined concrete. The proposed law is able to reproduce stress-strain curve of any shape, having both hardening or softening behavior, by using a single closed-form simple algebraic expression with constant coefficients. The coefficients are defined on the basis of the stress and the tangent modulus of the confined concrete in three characteristic points of the curve, thus being related to physical meaningful parameters. It will be shown that if the values of the parameters of the law are deduced from experimental tests, the model is able to accurately reproduce the experimental curve. If they are evaluated on the basis of an analysis-oriented model, the proposed model provides a handy equivalent design model.
On the Cauchy Problem for the Two-Component Novikov Equation
Authors: Mi Yongsheng , Mu Chunlai , Tao Weian
Published: June 2013

We are concerned with the Cauchy problem of two-component Novikov equation, which was proposed by Geng and Xue (2009). We establish the local well-posedness in a range of the Besov spaces by using Littlewood-Paley decomposition and transport equation theory which is motivated by that in Danchin's cerebrated paper (2001). Moreover, with analytic initial data, we show that its solutions are analytic in both variables, globally in space and locally in time, which extend some results of Himonas (2003) to more general equations.
Persistent Homology of Collaboration Networks
Authors: Carstens C. J. , Horadam K. J.
Published: June 2013

Over the past few decades, network science has introduced several statistical measures to determine the topological structure of large networks. Initially, the focus was on binary networks, where edges are either present or not. Thus, many of the earlier measures can only be applied to binary networks and not to weighted networks. More recently, it has been shown that weighted networks have a rich structure, and several generalized measures have been introduced. We use persistent homology, a recent technique from computational topology, to analyse four weighted collaboration networks. We include the first and second Betti numbers for the first time for this type of analysis. We show that persistent homology corresponds to tangible features of the networks. Furthermore, we use it to distinguish the collaboration networks from similar random networks.
QSYQ Attenuates Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis Induced Heart Remodeling Rats through Different Subtypes of NADPH-Oxidase
Authors: Wang Yong , Li Chun , Ouyang Yuli , Shi Tianjiao , Yang Xiaomin , Yu Junda , Qiu Qi , Han Jing , Wu Yan , Tang Binghua , Wang Wei
Published: June 2013

We aim to investigate the therapeutic effects of QSYQ, a drug of heart failure (HF) in clinical practice in China, on a rat heart failure (HF) model. 3 groups were divided: HF model group (LAD ligation), QSYQ group (LAD ligation and treated with QSYQ), and sham-operated group. After 4 weeks, rats were sacrificed for cardiac injury measurements. Rats with HF showed obvious histological changes including necrosis and inflammation foci, elevated ventricular remodeling markers levels(matrix metalloproteinases-2, MMP-2), deregulated ejection fraction (EF) value, increased formation of oxidative stress (Malondialdehyde, MDA), and up-regulated levels of apoptotic cells (caspase-3, p53 and tunnel) in myocardial tissue. Treatment of QSYQ improved cardiac remodeling through counter-acting those events. The improvement of QSYQ was accompanied with a restoration of NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) and NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) pathways in different patterns. Administration of QSYQ could attenuate LAD-induced HF, and AngII-NOX2-ROS-MMPs pathway seemed to be the critical potential targets for QSYQ to reduce the remodeling. Moreover, NOX4 was another key targets to inhibit the p53 and Caspase3, thus to reduce the hypertrophy and apoptosis, and eventually provide a synergetic cardiac protective effect.
Implementation of Predictive Data Mining Techniques for Identifying Risk Factors of Early AVF Failure in Hemodialysis Patients
Authors: Rezapour Mohammad , Khavanin Zadeh Morteza , Sepehri Mohammad Mehdi
Published: June 2013

Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is an important vascular access for hemodialysis (HD) treatment but has 20–60% rate of early failure. Detecting association between patient's parameters and early AVF failure is important for reducing its prevalence and relevant costs. Also predicting incidence of this complication in new patients is a beneficial controlling procedure. Patient safety and preservation of early AVF failure is the ultimate goal. Our research society is Hasheminejad Kidney Center (HKC) of Tehran, which is one of Iran's largest renal hospitals. We analyzed data of 193 HD patients using supervised techniques of data mining approach. There were 137 male (70.98%) and 56 female (29.02%) patients introduced into this study. The average of age for all the patients was 53.87 ± 17.47 years. Twenty eight patients had smoked and the number of diabetic patients and nondiabetics was 87 and 106, respectively. A significant relationship was found between “diabetes mellitus,” “smoking,” and “hypertension” with early AVF failure in this study. We have found that these mentioned risk factors have important roles in outcome of vascular surgery, versus other parameters such as “age.” Then we predicted this complication in future AVF surgeries and evaluated our designed prediction methods with accuracy rates of 61.66%–75.13%.
Lossless Medical Image Compression by Integer Wavelet and Predictive Coding
Authors: Shirsat T. G. , Bairagi V. K.
Published: June 2013

The future of healthcare delivery systems and telemedical applications will undergo a radical change due to the developments in wearable technologies, medical sensors, mobile computing, and communication techniques. When dealing with applications of collecting, sorting and transferring medical data from distant locations for performing remote medical collaborations and diagnosis we required to considered many parameters for telemedical application. E-health was born with the integration of networks and telecommunications. In recent years, healthcare systems rely on images acquired in two-dimensional domains in the case of still images or three-dimensional domains for volumetric video sequences and images. Images are acquired by many modalities including X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, positron emission tomography, and computed axial tomography (Sapkal and Bairagi, 2011). Medical information is either in multidimensional or multiresolution form, which creates enormous amount of data. Retrieval, efficient storage, management, and transmission of these voluminous data are highly complex. One of the solutions to reduce this complex problem is to compress the medical data without any loss (i.e., lossless). Since the diagnostics capabilities are not compromised, this technique combines integer transforms and predictive coding to enhance the performance of lossless compression. The proposed techniques can be evaluated for performance using compression quality measures.
From Sociocultural Disintegration to Community Connectedness Dimensions of Local Community Concepts and Their Effects on Psychological Health of Its Residents
Authors: Sørensen Tom , Kleiner Robert , Ngo Paul , Sørensen Andreas , Bøe Nils
Published: June 2013

In a series of community mental health promotion studies in Lofoten, Norway, the concept of sociocultural integration is used to describe properties of a local community that are related to people's psychological health. Starting with Durkheim's description of a cohesive society, we compare different concepts that are related to sociocultural integration, for example, sense of community, social capital, and social cohesion. We then examine the relationship of various individual oriented social psychological concepts to sociocultural integration. These concepts often share theoretical and operational definitions. The concept of sociocultural integration in the Lofoten studies was proved to be very valuable in understanding how the properties of a community can affect people's mental health and their social psychological properties. It has also shown its value in the planning of mental health services and demonstrating its success in concrete community-based mental health promotion projects. Thus they could make important contributions to further studies and actions in local communities where the intersection between the individual, their social network, and their local community occurs.
Low-Voltage Complex Filters Using Current Feedback Operational Amplifiers
Authors: Samiotis Panagiotis , Psychalinos Costas
Published: June 2013

A novel complex filter topology realized using current feedback operational amplifiers as active elements is introduced in this paper. Offered benefits are the low-voltage operation capability and the requirement for employing only grounded passive elements. Two application examples are provided, where the frequency behavior of the derived filters fulfills the ZigBee and Bluetooth standards, respectively. Their performance evaluation has been done through simulation results at postlayout level, using MOS transistor models provided by AMS C35B4 CMOS process.
Advanced MR Imaging of Gliomas: An Update
Authors: Kao Hung-Wen , Chiang Shih-Wei , Chung Hsiao-Wen , Tsai Fong Y. , Chen Cheng-Yu
Published: June 2013

Recent advances in the treatment of cerebral gliomas have increased the demands on noninvasive neuroimaging for the diagnosis, therapeutic planning, tumor monitoring, and patient outcome prediction. In the meantime, improved magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques have shown much potentials in evaluating the key pathological features of the gliomas, including cellularity, invasiveness, mitotic activity, angiogenesis, and necrosis, hence, further shedding light on glioma grading before treatment. In this paper, an update of advanced MR imaging techniques is reviewed, and their potential roles as biomarkers of tumor grading are discussed.
Dominant Role of Oncogene Dosage and Absence of Tumor Suppressor Activity in Nras-Driven Hematopoietic Transformation
Authors: Xu Jin , Haigis Kevin M. , Firestone Ari J. , McNerney Megan E. , Li Qing , Davis Elizabeth , Chen Shann-Ching , Nakitandwe Joy , Downing James , Jacks Tyler , Le Beau Michelle M. , Shannon Kevin
Published: June 2013

Biochemical properties of Ras oncoproteins and their transforming ability strongly support a dominant mechanism of action in tumorigenesis. However, genetic studies unexpectedly suggested that wild-type (WT) Ras exerts tumor suppressor activity. Expressing oncogenic NrasG12D in the hematopoietic compartment of mice induces an aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm that is exacerbated in homozygous mutant animals. Here, we show that increased NrasG12D gene dosage, but not inactivation of WT Nras, underlies the aggressive in vivo behavior of NrasG12D/G12D hematopoietic cells. Modulating NrasG12D dosage had discrete effects on myeloid progenitor growth, signal transduction, and sensitivity to MAP-ERK kinase (MEK) inhibition. Furthermore, enforced WT N-Ras expression neither suppressed the growth of Nras-mutant cells nor inhibited myeloid transformation by exogenous NrasG12D. Importantly, NRAS expression increased in human cancer cell lines with NRAS mutations. These data have therapeutic implications and support reconsidering the proposed tumor suppressor activity of WT Ras in other cancers.

Significance: Understanding the mechanisms of Ras-induced transformation and adaptive cellular responses is fundamental. The observation that oncogenic Nras lacks tumor suppressor activity, whereas increased dosage strongly modulates cell growth and alters sensitivity to MEK inhibition, suggests new therapeutic opportunities in cancer. Cancer Discov; 3(9); 993–1001. ©2013 AACR.

This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 953
Perturbation of the heparin/heparin-sulfate interactome of human breast cancer cells modulates pro-tumourigenic effects associated with PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK signalling
Authors: Chen Yunliang , Scully Michael , Dawson Gloria , Goodwin Christopher , Xia Min , Lu Xinjie , Kakkar Ajay
Published: June 2013

Heparansulfate-proteoglycans (HSPGs) interact via their polyanionic heparansulfate (HS) side chains with a variety of proteins on the cell surface or within the extracellular matrix membrane. The large number of heparin/HS binding proteins form a highly interconnected functional network, which has been termed as the heparin/HS interactome and is functionally linked to physiological and pathological processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the global effect of these protein-HSPG interactions on the tumourigenicity of two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). Cancer cells were cultured in serum-free medium and treated with a concentration of heparin which was capable of modulating HS/ligand interaction. Microarray analysis of MCF-7 cells cultured under these conditions showed that expression of 105 of 1,357 genes potentially related to the pathogenesis of breast neoplasm was significantly altered by heparin treatment. The changes in gene expression correlated with a less tumourigenic phenotype, including reduction of cell adhesive, invasive and migratory properties. These effects were associated with an inhibition of the PI3K/Akt and Raf/MEK/ERK signalling pathways. The modulatory effect of heparin on HS-associated activity was confirmed with one example of heparin/HS interactomes, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ). The innate TGFβ activity of MCF-7 cells was reduced by heparin treatment, with specific interruption of the TGFβ–Smad signalling pathway. The pro-tumourigenic contribution of the heparin/HS interactomes was verified in cells in which HSPG synthesis was blocked using β-xyloside. In conclusion, the interaction between cell surface HPSGs and innate heparin/HS interactomes makes a significant contribution to the tumourigenicity.