bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Capacity Estimation for On-Ramp Merging Section of Urban Expressway Based on Time Headway Loss
Authors: Xue Xing-jian , Shi Feng , Chen Qun
Published: February 2014

This paper proposes a model for estimating capacity of on-ramp merging section of urban expressway based on dynamics and gap acceptance theory, considering lane-changing processes and time headway loss. Survey data were collected from on-ramp merging sections of shanghai urban expressway system and showed that capacity drop of on-ramp merging section is caused by drivers’ lane-changing which may lead to unsteady speed of vehicles and so prolonged time headway compared to the minimum time headway corresponding to the maximum capacity. Three parameters (optimal time headway, time headway loss, and interference quantity of lane-changing) are given and a methodology by accumulating time headway loss due to lane-changing is developed to estimate the capacity drop. Results’ comparisons between real data and microsimulation of on-ramp merging sections and sensitivity analysis show that the proposed model can produce reliable and accurate results. This study also reveals that ramp flow and the difference between the optimal speed and the lane-changing speed of fleet have a great impact on capacity drop. This study is beneficial to evaluate congestion levels, to understand complex traffic phenomena, and so to find efficient solutions.
Long-Term Persistency of Abnormal Heart Rate Variability following Long NICU Stay and Surgery at Birth
Authors: Morin Mélanie , Marchand Serge , Couturier Louis , Nadeau Sophie , Lafrenaye Sylvie
Published: February 2014

Preterm birth is associated with painful procedures during the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. Full-term newborns can also experience pain, following surgery. These procedures can have long-lasting consequences. It has been shown that children born preterm show pain responses and cardiac alterations. This study aimed to explore the heart rate reactivity to pain in 107 subjects born either preterm or full-term who were between 7 and 25 years old at testing. We also evaluated the effect of pain experienced at birth, as represented by a longer NICU stay, time under ventilation, and surgery at birth. Participants were asked to immerse their right forearm in 10°C water for 2 minutes. Electrocardiograms were recorded at baseline and during the immersion procedure. Full-term subjects showed a stable increase in heart rate throughout the procedure, whereas preterm ones showed a strong increase at the beginning, which decreased over time. Also, preterm and full-term subjects who experienced pain at birth showed higher resting heart rate, stronger sympathetic activity, and lower cardiac vagal activity. Our study demonstrated a long-term impact of a long NICU stay and surgery at birth on cardiac autonomic activity. This could lead to impaired reactions to pain or stress in later life.
Pedestrian Guiding Signs Optimization for Airport Terminal
Authors: Lin Jianxin , Song Rui , Dai Jifeng , Jiao Pengpeng
Published: February 2014

The pedestrian guiding sign (PGS) is used to lead people within the transportation terminal to their directions efficiently and without boundaries. In this paper, we aim to optimize the guiding signs for people in the comprehensive transportation terminal with a mathematical model, which describes the pedestrian's reaction, judgment, and perception of the outline about the guiding signs, as well as pedestrian's moving status through self-organized characteristic behavior. Furthermore, the model also reflects the information intensity of the guiding signs within the pedestrian's visual field which is taken as the influence level score of PGS. In order to solve the model, cellular automation (CA) is employed to simulate the characteristics of the pedestrians such as crowd moving and sign selection.
Expeditious Quantification of Lignocellulolytic Enzymes from Indigenous Wood Rot and Litter Degrading Fungi from Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests of Tamil Nadu
Authors: Sudarson Jenefar , Ramalingam Shenbhagaraman , Kishorekumar Premalatha , Venkatesan Kaviyarasan
Published: February 2014

In this study thirty wood rotting and litter degrading basidiomycetes were screened for the production of lignocellulolytic enzymes such as, laccase, peroxidase, and cellulase using rapid micro quantification assay. Out of the 30 indigenous isolates Trametes gibbosa was identified to be a potential lignocellulolytic enzyme producer, producing a maximum amount of cellulase (299.66±1.59 IU/L) and laccase (257.94±1.79 U/L). Moreover, it is the second leading producer of peroxidase enzyme (170.19±1.98 U/L). Tricholomopsis sp. a wood rot basidiomycete was found to be the leading lignin decomposer with maximum peroxidase activity (287.84±2 U/L) and second maximum laccase activity (250.19±1.83 U/L). However, its cellulolytic potential was found to be moderate (100.04±1.13 U/L). A higher level of lignocellulolytic enzymes was recorded in wood rotting basidiomycetes, whereas very low levels of lignolytic enzymes were found in litter inhabiting basidiomycetes. However, their cellulolytic potential was found to be moderate.
An SIR Epidemic Model with Time Delay and General Nonlinear Incidence Rate
Authors: Li Mingming , Liu Xianning
Published: February 2014

An SIR epidemic model with nonlinear incidence rate and time delay is investigated. The disease transmission function and the rate that infected individuals recovered from the infected compartment are assumed to be governed by general functionsF(S,I)andG(I), respectively. By constructing Lyapunov functionals and using the Lyapunov-LaSalle invariance principle, the global asymptotic stability of the disease-free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium is obtained. It is shown that the global properties of the system depend on both the properties of these general functions and the basic reproductive numberR0.
Redox Signaling as a Therapeutic Target to Inhibit Myofibroblast Activation in Degenerative Fibrotic Disease
Authors: Sampson Natalie , Berger Peter , Zenzmaier Christoph
Published: February 2014

Degenerative fibrotic diseases encompass numerous systemic and organ-specific disorders. Despite their associated significant morbidity and mortality, there is currently no effective antifibrotic treatment. Fibrosis is characterized by the development and persistence of myofibroblasts, whose unregulated deposition of extracellular matrix components disrupts signaling cascades and normal tissue architecture leading to organ failure and death. The profibrotic cytokine transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) is considered the foremost inducer of fibrosis, driving myofibroblast differentiation in diverse tissues. This review summarizes recentin vitroandin vivodata demonstrating that TGFβ-induced myofibroblast differentiation is driven by a prooxidant shift in redox homeostasis. Elevated NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4)-derived hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) supported by concomitant decreases in nitric oxide (NO) signaling and reactive oxygen species scavengers are central factors in the molecular pathogenesis of fibrosis in numerous tissues and organs. Moreover, complex interplay between NOX4-derived H2O2and NO signaling regulates myofibroblast differentiation. Restoring redox homeostasis via antioxidants or NOX4 inactivation as well as by enhancing NO signaling via activation of soluble guanylyl cyclases or inhibition of phosphodiesterases can inhibit and reverse myofibroblast differentiation. Thus, dysregulated redox signaling represents a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of wide variety of different degenerative fibrotic disorders.
Satellite Attitude Control Using Analytical Solutions to Approximations of the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation
Authors: LeBel Stefan , Damaren Christopher J.
Published: February 2014

The solution to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation associated with the nonlinear ℋ∞ control problem is approximated using a Taylor series expansion. A recently developed analytical solution method is used for the second-, third-, and fourth-order terms. The proposed controller synthesis method is applied to the problem of satellite attitude control with attitude parameterization accomplished using the modified Rodrigues parameters and their associated shadow set. This leads to kinematical relations that are polynomial in the modified Rodrigues parameters and the angular velocity components. The proposed control method is compared with existing methods from the literature through numerical simulations. Disturbance rejection properties are compared by including the gravity-gradient and geomagnetic disturbance torques. Controller robustness is also compared by including unmodeled first- and second-order actuator dynamics, as well as actuation time delays in the simulation model. Moreover, the gap metric distance induced by the unmodeled actuator dynamics is calculated for the linearized system. The results indicated that a linear controller performs almost as well as those obtained using higher-order solutions for the Hamilton-Jacobi equation and the controller dynamics.
Frequency and Prognostic Relevance ofFLT3Mutations in Saudi Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients
Authors: Elyamany Ghaleb , Awad Mohammad , Fadalla Kamal , Albalawi Mohamed , Al Shahrani Mohammad , Al Abdulaaly Abdulaziz
Published: February 2014

The Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that plays a key role in cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells. Mutations ofFLT3were first described in 1997 and account for the most frequent molecular mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML patients withFLT3internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations have poor cure rates the prognostic significance of point mutations; tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) is still unclear. We analyzed the frequency ofFLT3mutations (ITD and D835) in patients with AML at diagnosis; no sufficient data currently exist regardingFLT3mutations in Saudi AML patients. This study was aimed at evaluating the frequency ofFLT3mutations in patients with AML and its significance for prognosis. The frequency ofFLT3mutations in our study (18.56%) was lower than many of the reported studies,FLT3-ITD mutations were observed in 14.4%, andFLT3-TKD in 4.1%, of 97 newly diagnosed AML patients (82 adult and 15 pediatric). Our data show significant increase ofFLT3mutations in male more than female (13 male, 5 female). Our results support the view thatFLT3-ITD mutation has strong prognostic factor in AML patients and is associated with high rate of relapse, and high leucocytes and blast count at diagnosis and relapse.
Evaluation of the Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease and Rates of Oral Antidiabetic Prescribing in Accordance with Guidelines and Manufacturer Recommendations in Type 2 Diabetic Patients within a Long-Term Care Setting
Authors: Wu Ning , Yu Xia , Greene Mallik , Oderda Gary
Published: February 2014

This retrospective study assessed the prevalence of moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) among nursing home (NH) residents with type 2 diabetes. The pattern of oral antidiabetic drug (OAD) use and their concordance with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) guideline and prescribing information (PI) was also assessed. About half (47%) of diabetic residents had moderate to severe CKD. A little over a quarter of the 186 residents using OADs received at least one NKF-discordant OAD prescription. Metformin was the most commonly misused OAD. PI nonconcordance was observed in 58.6% of residents and was highest in glipizide and metformin users. With the high prevalence of moderate to severe CKD in NH residents with diabetes, physicians should consider residents’ renal function when choosing treatment plans and review treatments regularly to check compliance with the NKF guidelines or PIs.
Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Thymus capitata Essential Oil with Its Preservative Effect against Listeria monocytogenes Inoculated in Minced Beef Meat
Authors: El Abed Nariman , Kaabi Belhassen , Smaali Mohamed Issam , Chabbouh Meriem , Habibi Kamel , Mejri Mondher , Marzouki Mohamed Nejib , Ben Hadj Ahmed Sami
Published: February 2014

The chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, and the preservative effect of Thymus capitata essential oil against Listeria monocytogenes inoculated in minced beef meat were evaluated. The essential oil extracted was chemically analyzed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Nineteen components were identified, of which carvacrol represented (88.89%) of the oil. The antioxidant activity was assessed in vitro by using both the DPPH and the ABTS assays. The findings showed that the essential oil exhibited high antioxidant activity, which was comparable to the reference standards (BHT and ascorbic acid) with IC50 values of 44.16 and 0.463 μg/mL determined by the free‐radical scavenging DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. Furthermore, the essential oil was evaluated for its antimicrobial activity using disc agar diffusion and microdilution methods. The results demonstrated that the zone of inhibition varied from moderate to strong (15–80 mm) and the minimum inhibition concentration values ranged from 0.32 to 20 mg/mL. In addition, essential oil evaluated in vivo against Listeria monocytogenes showed clear and strong inhibitory effect. The application of 0.25 or 1% (v/w) essential oil of T. capitata to minced beef significantly reduced the L. monocytogenes population when compared to those of control samples (P-value  <0.01).
Proton Pump Inhibition Increases Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in the Rat
Authors: Qureshi Munazah Fazal , Jha Sushil K.
Published: February 2014

Increased bodily CO2concentration alters cellular pH as well as sleep. The proton pump, which plays an important role in the homeostatic regulation of cellular pH, therefore, may modulate sleep. We investigated the effects of the proton pump inhibitor “lansoprazole” on sleep-wakefulness. Male Wistar rats were surgically prepared for chronic polysomnographic recordings. Two different doses of lansoprazole (low: 1 mg/kg; high: 10 mg/kg) were injected intraperitoneally in the same animal (n=7) and sleep-wakefulness was recorded for 6 hrs. The changes in sleep-wakefulness were compared statistically. Percent REM sleep amount in the vehicle and lansoprazole low dose groups was9.26±1.03and9.09±0.54, respectively, which increased significantly in the lansoprazole high dose group by 31.75% (from vehicle) and 34.21% (from low dose). Also, REM sleep episode numbers significantly increased in lansoprazole high dose group. Further, the sodium-hydrogen exchanger blocker “amiloride” (10 mg/kg; i.p.) (n=5) did not alter sleep-wake architecture. Our results suggest that the proton pump plays an important role in REM sleep modulation and supports our view that REM sleep might act as a sentinel to help maintain normal CO2level for unperturbed sleep.
Modeling Approach for Predicting the Rate of Frequency Change of Notched Beam Exposed to Gaussian Random Excitation
Authors: Habtour Ed , Paulus Mark , Dasgupta Abhijit
Published: February 2014

During fatigue damage accumulation, cracks propagate through the material leading to catastrophic failure. As the cracks propagate, the natural frequency lowers, leading to a changing stress state. A new method has been developed where the damage accumulation rate is computed in the frequency domain using Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), stress intensity, and the natural frequency. A finite element model was developed to predict the stress intensity and natural frequency during damage accumulation. Validation of the LEFM technique was done through comparison to experimental data. Reasonably good correlations between the FEM and the analytic model were achieved for the stress intensity and natural frequency.
Unregistered Biological Words Recognition by Q-Learning with Transfer Learning
Authors: Zhu Fei , Liu Quan , Wang Hui , Zhou Xiaoke , Fu Yuchen
Published: February 2014

Unregistered biological words recognition is the process of identification of terms that is out of vocabulary. Although many approaches have been developed, the performance approaches are not satisfactory. As the identification process can be viewed as a Markov process, we put forward a Q-learning with transfer learning algorithm to detect unregistered biological words from texts. With the Q-learning, the recognizer can attain the optimal solution of identification during the interaction with the texts and contexts. During the processing, a transfer learning approach is utilized to fully take advantage of the knowledge gained in a source task to speed up learning in a different but related target task. A mapping, required by many transfer learning, which relates features from the source task to the target task, is carried on automatically under the reinforcement learning framework. We examined the performance of three approaches with GENIA corpus and JNLPBA04 data. The proposed approach improved performance in both experiments. The precision, recall rate, andFscore results of our approach surpassed those of conventional unregistered word recognizer as well as those of Q-learning approach without transfer learning.
Major Pesticides Are More Toxic to Human Cells Than Their Declared Active Principles
Authors: Mesnage Robin , Defarge Nicolas , Spiroux de Vendômois Joël , Séralini Gilles-Eric
Published: February 2014

Pesticides are used throughout the world as mixtures called formulations. They contain adjuvants, which are often kept confidential and are called inerts by the manufacturing companies, plus a declared active principle, which is usually tested alone. We tested the toxicity of 9 pesticides, comparing active principles and their formulations, on three human cell lines (HepG2, HEK293, and JEG3). Glyphosate, isoproturon, fluroxypyr, pirimicarb, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, tebuconazole, epoxiconazole, and prochloraz constitute, respectively, the active principles of 3 major herbicides, 3 insecticides, and 3 fungicides. We measured mitochondrial activities, membrane degradations, and caspases 3/7 activities. Fungicides were the most toxic from concentrations 300–600 times lower than agricultural dilutions, followed by herbicides and then insecticides, with very similar profiles in all cell types. Despite its relatively benign reputation, Roundup was among the most toxic herbicides and insecticides tested. Most importantly, 8 formulations out of 9 were up to one thousand times more toxic than their active principles. Our results challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake for pesticides because this norm is calculated from the toxicity of the active principle alone. Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone.
Experimental Study on the Flexural Performance of Parallel Strand Bamboo Beams
Authors: Zhou Aiping , Bian Yuling
Published: February 2014

Searching for materials to provide proper housing with less emission and low energy becomes an urgent demand with the ever-growing population. Bamboo has gained a reputation as an ecofriendly, highly renewable source of material. Parallel Strand Bamboo (PSB) is a new biocomposite made of bamboo strips which has superiority performances than wood products. It has attracted considerable interests as a sustainable alternative for more traditional building materials. But the mechanical performance study of PSB as construction materials is still inadequate. Also, the structural behavior of PSB is not quite understood as conventional construction materials, which results in the difficulties to predict the performances of PSB structural members. To achieve this purpose, 4-point bending experiments for PSB beams were carried out. The flexural performances, mode of failure in bending, and the damage mechanism of PSB beams were investigated in this paper.
Spice Up Your Life: Adipose Tissue and Inflammation
Authors: Agarwal Anil K.
Published: February 2014

Cells of the immune system are now recognized in the adipose tissue which, in obesity, produces proinflammatory chemokines and cytokines. Several herbs and spices have been in use since ancient times which possess anti-inflammatory properties. In this perspective, I discuss and propose the usage of these culinary delights for the benefit of human health.
Subordination Properties of Multivalent Functions Defined by Generalized Multiplier Transformation
Authors: Jeyaraman M. P. , Suresh T. K.
Published: February 2014

The main object of the present paper is to investigate several interesting subordination properties and a sharp inclusion relationship for certain subclass of multivalent analytic functions, which are defined here by the generalized multiplier transformation. Relevant connections of the results which are presented in this paper with various known results are also considered.
The Profile Likelihood Estimation for Single‐Index ARCH(p)‐M Model
Authors: Xiong Qiang , Li Yuan , Zhang XingFa
Published: February 2014

We propose a class of single‐index ARCH(p)‐M models and investigate estimators of the parametric and nonparametric components. We first estimate the nonparametric component using local linear smoothing technique and then construct an estimator of parametric component by using profile quasimaximum likelihood method. Under regularity conditions, the asymptotic properties of our estimators are established.
Video Traffic Characteristics of Modern Encoding Standards: H.264/AVC with SVC and MVC Extensions and H.265/HEVC
Authors: Seeling Patrick , Reisslein Martin
Published: February 2014

Video encoding for multimedia services over communication networks has significantly advanced in recent years with the development of the highly efficient and flexible H.264/AVC video coding standard and its SVC extension. The emerging H.265/HEVC video coding standard as well as 3D video coding further advance video coding for multimedia communications. This paper first gives an overview of these new video coding standards and then examines their implications for multimedia communications by studying the traffic characteristics of long videos encoded with the new coding standards. We review video coding advances from MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 2 to H.264/AVC and its SVC and MVC extensions as well as H.265/HEVC. For single-layer (nonscalable) video, we compare H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC in terms of video traffic and statistical multiplexing characteristics. Our study is the first to examine the H.265/HEVC traffic variability for long videos. We also illustrate the video traffic characteristics and statistical multiplexing of scalable video encoded with the SVC extension of H.264/AVC as well as 3D video encoded with the MVC extension of H.264/AVC.
Immunophenotype Expressions and Cytokine Profiles of Influenza A H1N1 Virus Infection in Pediatric Patients in 2009
Authors: Wang Shih-Min , Liao Yu-Ting , Hu Yu-Shiang , Ho Tzong-Shiann , Shen Ching-Fen , Wang Jen-Ren , Lin Yee-Shin , Liu Ching-Chuan
Published: February 2014

Background. A novel swine-origin influenza A H1N1 virus (S-OIV) caused human infection and acute respiratory illness in 2009, resulting in an influenza pandemic.Objectives. This study characterized the immune responses of S-OIV infection in pediatric patients at risk of pulmonary complications.Methods. All enrolled pediatric patients were confirmed virologically for S-OIV infection in 2009-2010, prospectively. Changes in cellular immunophenotypes were analyzed using flow cytometry. Plasma cytokine levels associated with S-OIV infection by pulmonary and without pulmonary complications were measured using cytokine cytometric bead assay kits.Results. A total of 85 patients with a mean age of 10.3 years were recruited. The level of C-reactive protein (CRP) was high in patients exhibiting pulmonary complications. The percentage of cellular immunophenotypes did not change between patients with and without pulmonary complications. The absolute numbers of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), CD3, CD8, and CD16CD56 decreased with acute S-OIV pulmonary complications. Acute influenza infection with pulmonary complications was associated with high plasma concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, and IFN-γ.Conclusion. Immunophenotype studies have reported variability in immune response to the severity of S-OIV infections. Acute phase cytokine profiles of the 2009 S-OIV infection might have contributed to the pathogenesis of the pulmonary complications.
An Average Linear Difference Scheme for the Generalized Rosenau-KdV Equation
Authors: Zheng Maobo , Zhou Jun
Published: February 2014

An average linear finite difference scheme for the numerical solution of the initial-boundary value problem of Generalized Rosenau-KdV equation is proposed. The existence, uniqueness, and conservation for energy of the difference solution are proved by the discrete energy norm method. It is shown that the finite difference scheme is 2nd-order convergent and unconditionally stable. Numerical experiments verify that the theoretical results are right and the numerical method is efficient and reliable.
Neighborhood Social Capital, Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Change of Neighborhood as Predictors of School Readiness
Authors: Jones Charles , Shen Jing
Published: February 2014

Neighborhood income and social capital are considered important for child development, but social capital has rarely been measured directly at an aggregate level. We used Canadian data to derive measures of social capital from aggregated parental judgments of neighborhood collective efficacy and neighborhood safety. Measures of neighborhood income came from Census data. Direct measures of preschoolers’ school readiness were predicted from neighborhood-level variables, with regional indicators and household/parental characteristics taken into account. Our findings show that (1) residing in Quebec, being Black, and having a parent who was born outside Canada are positively associated with children’s living in disadvantaged or low collective efficacy neighborhoods as well as with their living in low-income households. (2) Children’s odds of residential mobility were reduced when the origin neighborhood had higher collective efficacy but increased when the family rented rather than owned. (3) Both neighborhood collective efficacy and children’s ever having lived in a poor neighborhood were correlated with receptive vocabulary scores, but results were mixed for other cognitive dimensions. Children of younger mothers scored worse on receptive vocabulary. There were similar patterns for demographic predictors related to visible minority status, sibship size, and birth order. Neighborhood average income had no effect on cognitive outcomes when the region was controlled.
Research on Associative Memory Models of Emotional Robots
Authors: Yi Wang , Zhi-liang Wang , Wei Wang
Published: February 2014

Associative memory is essential to realize man-machine cooperation in the natural interaction between humans and robots. The establishment of associative memory model is to solve the problem. First, based on the theory of emotional energy, mood spontaneous metastasis model and stimulate metastasis model are put forward. Then we can achieve affective computing on the external excitation combining with Markov chain model which is about emotions of spontaneous metastasis and HMM model which is about stimulating metastasis. Second, based on the neural network, the associative memory model which is applied in emotional robots is put forward by calculating the emotional state of the robot's dynamic change of mind and considering their own needs at the same time. Finally, the model was applied to the emotional robot platform which we developed. The effect is validated better.
A Meshless Solution Method for Unsteady Flow with Moving Boundary
Authors: Zhang Jun , Ren Deng-feng , Ma Xin-jian , Tan Jun-jie , Cai Xiao-wei
Published: February 2014

Using the concept of overlapping mesh method for reference, a new method called as Overlapping Clouds of Points Method (OCPM) is firstly proposed to simulate unsteady flow with moving boundary problems based on meshless method. Firstly, a set of static background discrete points is generated in the whole calculation zone. Secondly, moving discrete points are created around moving body. According to the initial position of moving object in the flow field, the two sets of discrete points can be overlapped. With the motion of moving objects in the calculation field, moving discrete points around the moving body will inherently move. The exchange of flow field information between static points and moving points is realized by the solution of the clouds of points made up of static and moving discrete points using weighted meshless method nearby overlapping boundary. Four cases including piston problem, NACA0012 airfoil vibration flow around a moving sphere in supersonic and multibody separation are given to verify accuracy and practicability of OCPM. The numerical results agree well with exact solution and experimental results, which shows that the proposed OCPM can be applied to the simulation of unsteady flow problem.
Fixed Points of Multivalued Contractive Mappings in Partial Metric Spaces
Authors: Khan Abdul Rahim , Abbas Mujahid , Nazir Talat , Ionescu Cristiana
Published: February 2014

The aim of this paper is to present fixed point results of multivalued mappings in the framework of partial metric spaces. Some examples are presented to support the results proved herein. Our results generalize and extend various results in the existing literature. As an application of our main result, the existence and uniqueness of bounded solution of functional equations arising in dynamic programming are established.
Solving Fractional Difference Equations Using the Laplace Transform Method
Authors: Xiao-yan Li , Wei Jiang
Published: February 2014

We discuss the Laplace transform of the Caputo fractional difference and the fractional discrete Mittag-Leffer functions. On these bases, linear and nonlinear fractional initial value problems are solved by the Laplace transform method.
Comparison Study on Different Compressibility Modifications of Turbulence Model in Supersonic Combustion Simulation
Authors: Niu Dongsheng , Hou Lingyun
Published: February 2014

Supersonic combustion in two-model scramjet combustors of hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuel was, respectively, simulated using the in-house two-dimensional compressible, turbulent, and reacting flow code. Three kinds of compressibility modifications, namely, the dilatational compressibility, structural compressibility, and shock unsteadiness corrections, were incorporated into the k-ω shear stress transport (SST) model, respectively. In addition, the case that employs all the three corrections simultaneously was also performed to evaluate the coupling effect of these individual corrections. The steady laminar flamelet model was adopted to simulate the interaction between turbulence and chemical kinetics. The calculation results using compressibility modifications are in good agreement with experiments, validating the effectiveness and accuracy of the turbulent modification model. Results show that the dilatational compressibility correction model has good versatility in all conditions. The structural compressibility correction model demonstrates the best correction effect in near wall region but has no significant effect in the central flow field. The correction effect of the shock unsteadiness compressibility correction model is sensitive and proportional to the strength of shock wave. Moreover, the coupling case gives the most remarkable correction effect in most situations, indicating that the overlying effect may improve the prediction accuracy.
Evaluation of Lung and Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Oxidative Stress Indices for Assessing the Preventing Effects of Safranal on Respiratory Distress in Diabetic Rats
Authors: Samarghandian Saeed , Afshari Reza , Sadati Aghdas
Published: February 2014

We investigated the effects of antioxidant activity of safranal, a constituent ofCrocus sativusL., against lung oxidative damage in diabetic rats. The rats were divided into the following groups of 8 animals each: control, diabetic, and three diabetic + safranal-treated (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 mg/kg/day) groups. Streptozotocin (STZ) was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) at a single dose of 60 mg/kg for diabetes induction. Safranal was administered (i.p.) from 3 days after STZ administration to the end of the study. At the end of the 4-week period, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and reduced glutathione (GSH) contents, activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) were measured in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissue. Safranal in the diabetic groups inhibited the level of MDA and NO in BALF supernatant and lung homogenate. The median effective dose (ED50) values were 0.42, 0.58, and 0.48, 0.71 mg/kg, respectively. Safranal in the diabetic groups increased the level of GSH and the activity of CAT and SOD in BALF supernatant and lung homogenate. The ED50values were 0.25, 0.33, 0.26 in BALF and 0.33, 0.35, 0.46 mg/kg in lung, respectively. Thus, safranal may be effective to prevent lung distress by amelioration oxidative damage in STZ diabetic rats.
Second‐Order Nonlinearity Assisted by Dual Surface Plasmon Resonance Modes in Perforated Gold Film
Authors: Zhou Renlong , Nie Guozheng , Wu Lingxi , Liu Qiong , Xie Suxia , Wu Mengxiong , Zeng Lisan , Xiao Yingyi
Published: February 2014

We have studied analytically the reflection assisted with surface plasmon through the square lattice perforated gold film. Under the excitation of the external electromagnetic field with one or two different frequencies, the second‐order nonlinearity exists in this noncentrosymmetric metal‐based metamaterial. We employed the two surface plasmon resonances modes with different lattice periods. With the excitation of two different plasmon resonances modes, the strong local field induces an expected increase of the second‐order nonlinearity including second harmonic generation as well as the sum (difference) frequency generation. The field distributions results also indicate that the enhancement of sum frequency signals and difference frequency signals strongly depends on surface plasmon resonance effect.
An Efficient Fitness Function in Genetic Algorithm Classifier for Landuse Recognition on Satellite Images
Authors: Yang Ming-Der , Yang Yeh-Fen , Su Tung-Ching , Huang Kai-Siang
Published: February 2014

Genetic algorithm (GA) is designed to search the optimal solution via weeding out the worse gene strings based on a fitness function. GA had demonstrated effectiveness in solving the problems of unsupervised image classification, one of the optimization problems in a large domain. Many indices or hybrid algorithms as a fitness function in a GA classifier are built to improve the classification accuracy. This paper proposes a new index, DBFCMI, by integrating two common indices, DBI and FCMI, in a GA classifier to improve the accuracy and robustness of classification. For the purpose of testing and verifying DBFCMI, well-known indices such as DBI, FCMI, and PASI are employed as well for comparison. A SPOT-5 satellite image in a partial watershed of Shihmen reservoir is adopted as the examined material for landuse classification. As a result, DBFCMI acquires higher overall accuracy and robustness than the rest indices in unsupervised classification.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv: In Silico Drug Targets Identification by Metabolic Pathways Analysis
Authors: Amir Asad , Rana Khyati , Arya Arvind , Kapoor Neelesh , Kumar Hirdesh , Siddiqui Mohd Asif
Published: February 2014

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a pathogenic bacteria species in the genus Mycobacterium and the causative agent of most cases of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in the world from a bacterial infectious disease. This antibiotic resistance strain lead to development of the new antibiotics or drug molecules which can kill or suppress the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We have performed an in silico comparative analysis of metabolic pathways of the host Homo sapiens and the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv). Novel efforts in developing drugs that target the intracellular metabolism of M. tuberculosis often focus on metabolic pathways that are specific to M. tuberculosis. We have identified five unique pathways for Mycobacterium tuberculosis having a number of 60 enzymes, which are nonhomologous to Homo sapiens protein sequences, and among them there were 55 enzymes, which are nonhomologous to Homo sapiens protein sequences. These enzymes were also found to be essential for survival of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis according to the DEG database. Further, the functional analysis using Uniprot showed involvement of all the unique enzymes in the different cellular components.
Identities of Symmetry for Higher-Order Generalizedq-Euler Polynomials
Authors: Dolgy D. V. , Kim D. S. , Kim T. G. , Seo J. J.
Published: February 2014

We investigate the properties of symmetry in two variables related to multiple Eulerq-l-function which interpolates higher-orderq-Euler polynomials at negative integers. From our investigation, we can derive many interesting identities of symmetry in two variables related to generalized higher-orderq-Euler polynomials and alternating generalizedq-power sums.
An Exact Series Solution for the Vibration of Mindlin Rectangular Plates with Elastically Restrained Edges
Authors: Kai Xue , Jiufa Wang , Qiuhong Li , Weiyuan Wang , Ping Wang
Published: February 2014

An analysis method is proposed for the vibration analysis of the Mindlin rectangular plates with general elastically restrained edges, in which the vibration displacements and the cross-sectional rotations of the mid-plane are expressed as the linear combination of a double Fourier cosine series and four one-dimensional Fourier series. The use of these supplementary functions is to solve the possible discontinuities with first derivatives at each edge. So this method can be applied to get the exact solution for vibration of plates with general elastic boundary conditions. The matrix eigenvalue equation which is equivalent to governing differential equations of the plate can be derived through using the boundary conditions and the governing equations based on Mindlin plate theory. The natural frequencies can be got through solving the matrix equation. Finally the numerical results are presented to validate the accuracy of the method.
Analytical Properties of Credibilistic Expectation Functions
Authors: Wang Shuming , Wang Bo , Watada Junzo
Published: February 2014

The expectation function of fuzzy variable is an important and widely used criterion in fuzzy optimization, and sound properties on the expectation function may help in model analysis and solution algorithm design for the fuzzy optimization problems. The present paper deals with some analytical properties of credibilistic expectation functions of fuzzy variables that lie in three aspects. First, some continuity theorems on the continuity and semicontinuity conditions are proved for the expectation functions. Second, a differentiation formula of the expectation function is derived which tells that, under certain conditions, the derivative of the fuzzy expectation function with respect to the parameter equals the expectation of the derivative of the fuzzy function with respect to the parameter. Finally, a law of large numbers for fuzzy variable sequences is obtained leveraging on the Chebyshev Inequality of fuzzy variables. Some examples are provided to verify the results obtained.
Closed‐Loop Estimation for Randomly Sampled Measurements in Target Tracking System
Authors: Xue-bo Jin , Xiao-feng Lian , Ting-li Su , Yan Shi , Bei-bei Miao
Published: February 2014

Many tracking applications need to deal with the randomly sampled measurements, for which the traditional recursive estimation method may fail. Moreover, getting the accurate dynamic model of the target becomes more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to update the dynamic model with the real‐time information of the tracking system. This paper provides a solution for the target tracking system with randomly sampling measurement. Here, the irregular sampling interval is transformed to a time‐varying parameter by calculating the matrix exponential, and the dynamic parameter is estimated by the online estimated state with Yule‐Walker method, which is called the closed‐loop estimation. The convergence condition of the closed‐loop estimation is proved. Simulations and experiments show that the closed‐loop estimation method can obtain good estimation performance, even with very high irregular rate of sampling interval, and the developed model has a strong advantage for the long trajectory tracking comparing the other models.
GPU-Accelerated Parallel FDTD on Distributed Heterogeneous Platform
Authors: Jiang Ronglin , Jiang Shugang , Zhang Yu , Xu Ying , Xu Lei , Zhang Dandan
Published: February 2014

This paper introduces a (finite difference time domain) FDTD code written in Fortran and CUDA for realistic electromagnetic calculations with parallelization methods of Message Passing Interface (MPI) and Open Multiprocessing (OpenMP). Since both Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) resources are utilized, a faster execution speed can be reached compared to a traditional pure GPU code. In our experiments, 64 NVIDIA TESLA K20m GPUs and 64 INTEL XEON E5-2670 CPUs are used to carry out the pure CPU, pure GPU, and CPU + GPU tests. Relative to the pure CPU calculations for the same problems, the speedup ratio achieved by CPU + GPU calculations is around 14. Compared to the pure GPU calculations for the same problems, the CPU + GPU calculations have 7.6%–13.2% performance improvement. Because of the small memory size of GPUs, the FDTD problem size is usually very small. However, this code can enlarge the maximum problem size by 25% without reducing the performance of traditional pure GPU code. Finally, using this code, a microstrip antenna array with16×18elements is calculated and the radiation patterns are compared with the ones of MoM. Results show that there is a well agreement between them.
Efficient Resources Provisioning Based on Load Forecasting in Cloud
Authors: Hu Rongdong , Jiang Jingfei , Liu Guangming , Wang Lixin
Published: February 2014

Cloud providers should ensure QoS while maximizing resources utilization. One optimal strategy is to timely allocate resources in a fine-grained mode according to application’s actual resources demand. The necessary precondition of this strategy is obtaining future load information in advance. We propose a multi-step-ahead load forecasting method, KSwSVR, based on statistical learning theory which is suitable for the complex and dynamic characteristics of the cloud computing environment. It integrates an improved support vector regression algorithm and Kalman smoother. Public trace data taken from multitypes of resources were used to verify its prediction accuracy, stability, and adaptability, comparing with AR, BPNN, and standard SVR. Subsequently, based on the predicted results, a simple and efficient strategy is proposed for resource provisioning. CPU allocation experiment indicated it can effectively reduce resources consumption while meeting service level agreements requirements.
Global Particle Swarm Optimization for High Dimension Numerical Functions Analysis
Authors: Jamian J. J. , Abdullah M. N. , Mokhlis H. , Mustafa M. W. , Bakar A. H. A.
Published: February 2014

The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Algorithm is a popular optimization method that is widely used in various applications, due to its simplicity and capability in obtaining optimal results. However, ordinary PSOs may be trapped in the local optimal point, especially in high dimensional problems. To overcome this problem, an efficient Global Particle Swarm Optimization (GPSO) algorithm is proposed in this paper, based on a new updated strategy of the particle position. This is done through sharing information of particle position between the dimensions (variables) at any iteration. The strategy can enhance the exploration capability of the GPSO algorithm to determine the optimum global solution and avoid traps at the local optimum. The proposed GPSO algorithm is validated on a 12-benchmark mathematical function and compared with three different types of PSO techniques. The performance of this algorithm is measured based on the solutions’ quality, convergence characteristics, and their robustness after 50 trials. The simulation results showed that the new updated strategy in GPSO assists in realizing a better optimum solution with the smallest standard deviation value compared to other techniques. It can be concluded that the proposed GPSO method is a superior technique for solving high dimensional numerical function optimization problems.
Adipokines, Metabolic Syndrome and Rheumatic Diseases
Authors: Abella Vanessa , Scotece Morena , Conde Javier , López Verónica , Lazzaro Verónica , Pino Jesús , Gómez-Reino Juan J. , Gualillo Oreste
Published: February 2014

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of cardiometabolic disorders that result from the increasing prevalence of obesity. The major components of MetS include insulin resistance, central obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. MetS identifies the central obesity with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients with rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and ankylosing spondylitis, have increased prevalence of CVDs. Moreover, CVD risk is increased when obesity is present in these patients. However, traditional cardiovascular risk factors do not completely explain the enhanced cardiovascular risk in this population. Thus, MetS and the altered secretion patterns of proinflammatory adipokines present in obesity could be the link between CVDs and rheumatic diseases. Furthermore, adipokines have been linked to the pathogenesis of MetS and its comorbidities through their effects on vascular function and inflammation. In the present paper, we review recent evidence of the role played by adipokines in the modulation of MetS in the general population, and in patients with rheumatic diseases.
Histological Ex Vivo Evaluation of Peri-Incisional Thermal Effect Created by a New-Generation CO2Superpulsed Laser
Authors: Palaia G. , Del Vecchio A. , Impellizzeri A. , Tenore G. , Visca P. , Libotte F. , Russo C. , Romeo U.
Published: February 2014

The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the histological effects of a new-generation superpulsed CO2laser through an “ex vivo” study. A CO2(λ = 10,600 nm) ultra-speed laser (SmartUS20D, DEKA, Florence, Italy) has been used at different parameters from 2 to 4 watt in Continuous Wave (CW) and Pulsed Wave (PW, 50 Hz) to obtain 30 samples from pig cadaver tongues. All the specimens have been subdivided into 6 groups (from A to F) and each group consisted of 5 samples. A final specimen has been taken by scalpel and used as control group. Histological analysis has been performed using an optical microscope (Leica DM 2000) at a magnification of ×40. Results showed that histological readability was optimal in all the samples. The thermal damage has been negligible in all the groups. Furthermore, the average of thermal damage was 0,095 mm in the epithelial, while it was 0.245 mm in the connective tissue. Statistical analysis using Graphpad Prism 5 software showed no significant differences among the groups. CO2laser demonstrated a good surgical effectiveness provoking little peripheral damage onto the cut edges and allowing a safe histological diagnosis.