bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ethyl Acetate Fraction from Dendropanax morbifera Leaves Increases T Cell Growth by Upregulating NF-AT-Mediated IL-2 Secretion
Authors: Park Jung Up , Kang Bok Yun , Kim Young Ran
Published: February 2018

Dendropanax morbifera Leveille (Araliaceae) is an endemic species that grows in Southwestern Korea and has been used as a folk medicine. Several studies reported that D. morbifera leaves have diverse therapeutic potentials. We found that the water extract of D. morbifera leaves increased the growth of EL-4 T cells. The water extract was divided into five fractions: [Formula: see text]-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, [Formula: see text]-butanol, and water layers. The ethyl acetate (W-EA) fraction showed a more significant effect than the other fractions on the growth of EL-4 T cells, splenocytes, and isolated murine CD4[Formula: see text] T cells. We evaluated the W-EA fraction for its immunomodulatory effects focusing on T cell functions. First, we tested the effect of the W-EA fraction on the regulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2), a potent T cell growth factor. The W-EA fraction significantly increased IL-2 secretion in EL-4 T cells activated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin (Io). In addition, the W-EA fraction increased interferon-gamma (IFN-[Formula: see text] production in isolated murine splenocytes activated with Concanavalin A (ConA). Next, we examined the effect of the W-EA fraction on the regulation of transcriptional factors related to IL-2 production in T cells. The W-EA fraction significantly increased PMA/Io-induced promoter activity of a nuclear factor of activated T cells (NF-AT) in EL-4 T cells, but did not show any significant effects on the promoters of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-[Formula: see text]B). These results indicate that the W-EA fraction from water extract of D. morbifera leaves enhances IL-2 production at the transcriptional levels via the up-regulation of NF-AT in PMA/Io-activated EL-4 T cells.
Camera Motion Detection Through Frame Splitting and Combination of Region-Based Motion Signals
Authors: Ioannidis Antonis , Chasanis Vasileios , Likas Aristidis
Published: February 2018

Most of the existing approaches for camera motion detection are based on optical flow analysis and the use of the affine motion model. However, these methods are computationally expensive due to the cost of optical flow estimation and may be inefficient in the presence of moving objects whose motion is independent of the camera motion. We present an effective approach to detect camera motions by considering four trapezoidal regions in each frame and computing the horizontal and vertical translations of those regions. Then, simple decision rules based on the translations of the regions are employed in order to decide for the existence and the type of camera motion in each frame. In this way, three signals are constructed (pan, tilt, zoom) which are subsequently filtered to improve the robustness of the method. Comparative experiments on a variety of videos indicate that our method efficiently detects any type of camera motion (pan, tilt, zoom), even in the case where moving objects exist in the video sequence.
Global solutions to the coupled chemotaxis-fluids system in a 3D unbounded domain with boundary
Authors: Peng Yingping , Xiang Zhaoyin
Published: February 2018

In this paper, we investigate the global existence of solutions to a coupled chemotaxis-fluids system in a three-dimensional unbounded domain with boundary. In the chemotaxis-Navier–Stokes case, we establish the global existence and uniqueness of strong solutions around a constant state, while in the chemotaxis-Stokes case, we show the global existence of weak solution for large initial cell density and velocity. Our proof is based on some uniform a priori estimates obtained by using the anisotropic [Formula: see text] technique and the elliptic estimates. Trading time derivative and spatial derivative is one of our highlights too. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analytical work for the well-posedness of chemotaxis-fluids system in an unbounded domain with boundary, which is a first step toward a qualitative theory for the free boundary problem of chemotaxis-fluids system. Our results are consistent with the experiment observation and numerical simulation.
Spoken Language Understanding with a Novel Simultaneous Recognition Technique for Intelligent Personal Assistant Software
Authors: Lee Changsu , Ko Youngjoong
Published: February 2018

Intelligent personal assistant software, such as Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S-Voice, is being widely used these days. One of the core modules of this kind of software is the spoken language understanding (SLU) module used to predict the user’s intention for determining the system actions. The SLU module usually consists of several connected recognition components on a pipeline framework, whereas the proposed SLU module is developed by a novel technique that can simultaneously recognize four recognition components, namely named entity, speech-act, target, and operation using conditional random fields. In the experiments, the proposed simultaneous recognition technique achieved a relative improvement as high as approximately 2.2% and a faster speed of approximately 15% compared to a pipeline framework. A significance test showed that this improvement was statistically significant because the p-value was smaller than 0.01.
SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY STUDIES ON ZINC OXIDE THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY SOL–GEL METHOD WITH VARIOUS PRECURSOR CONCENTRATIONS
Authors: AGHGONBAD MARYAM MOTALLEBI , SEDGHI HASSAN
Published: February 2018

Zinc Oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates by sol–gel spin coating method. Zinc acetate dihydrate, 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine were used as precursor, solvent and stabilizer, respectively. Zinc acetate dihydrate was used with different molar concentrations of 0.15, 0.25 and 0.5 M. Optical properties of ZnO thin films such as dielectric constants, absorption coefficient, Urbach energy and optical band gap energy were calculated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) method. The effect of zinc acetate concentration on optical properties of ZnO thin films is investigated. ZnO thin film with Zn concentration of 0.25 M had the highest optical band gap. Wemple DiDomenico oscillator model was used for calculation of the energy of effective dispersion oscillator, the dispersion energy, the high frequency dielectric constant, the long wavelength refractive index and the free carrier concentration.
A STUDY ON THE SURFACE QUALITIES OF FOUR POLYMER SUBSTRATE MICROCHANNELS USING CO2 LASER FOR MICROFLUIDIC CHIP
Authors: HU ZENGLIANG , CHEN XUEYE , REN YI
Published: February 2018

The paper demonstrates four different polymer substrate microchannels are fabricated by CO2 laser machine. The four different polymer substrates are Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), Polycarbonate (PC), Polystyrene (PS) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), respectively. A number of microchannels are obtained and all roughness is measured. The four different polymer substrate microchannels are processed with different processing parameters. Laser power is set from 4[Formula: see text]W to 32[Formula: see text]W and laser cutting speed is set from 5[Formula: see text]mm/s to 30[Formula: see text]mm/s. The results show the roughness of PS substrate microchannel is lower than that of other three polymer substrate microchannels at the same parameters. When laser power is below 4[Formula: see text]W, the roughness of four polymer substrates are similar. The roughness of different polymer substrate microchannels decreases with the increase of laser power. The roughness of different polymer substrate microchannels also happens to change with increase of laser cutting speed.
Cotype dimension and cotype chain conditions
Authors: Alvarado-García Alejandro , Rincón-Mejía Hugo A. , Ríos-Montes José , Tomé-Arreola Bertha
Published: February 2018

Previous results on cotype dimension are generalized from amply supplemented modules to arbitrary ones in order to define the ct-ACC and the ct-DCC conditions. These in turn are used to determine when conat-[Formula: see text] is atomic with a finite number of atoms. Finally, we prove that each noncosingular semiperfect projective module is a direct sum of pairwise coorthogonal [Formula: see text]-atomic modules if and only if so is each noncosingular semiperfect CTS-module with (CT3).
An application of the Maslov complex germ method to the one-dimensional nonlocal Fisher–KPP equation
Authors: Shapovalov A. V. , Trifonov A. Yu.
Published: February 2018

A semiclassical approximation approach based on the Maslov complex germ method is considered in detail for the one-dimensional nonlocal Fisher–Kolmogorov–Petrovskii–Piskunov (Fisher–KPP) equation under the supposition of weak diffusion. In terms of the semiclassical formalism developed, the original nonlinear equation is reduced to an associated linear partial differential equation and some algebraic equations for the coefficients of the linear equation with a given accuracy of the asymptotic parameter. The solutions of the nonlinear equation are constructed from the solutions of both the linear equation and the algebraic equations. The solutions of the linear problem are found with the use of symmetry operators. A countable family of the leading terms of the semiclassical asymptotics is constructed in explicit form. The semiclassical asymptotics are valid by construction in a finite time interval. We construct asymptotics which are different from the semiclassical ones and can describe evolution of the solutions of the Fisher–KPP equation at large times. In the example considered, an initial unimodal distribution becomes multimodal, which can be treated as an example of a space structure.
Toluene vapor sensing characteristics of novel copper(II), indium(III), mono-lutetium(III) and tin(IV) phthalocyanines substituted with 2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy bioactive moieties
Authors: Pişkin Mehmet , Can Nursel , Odabaş Zafer , Altındal Ahmet
Published: February 2018

This study presents the synthesis, characterization and toluene sensing properties of copper(II), indium(III) acetate, mono-lutetium(III) acetate and tin(IV) phthalocyanines substituted with 2,6-dimethoxyphenol bioactive groups at the peripheral and non-peripheral positions. The effects of the substituent’s position on the toluene vapor detection capabilities of these compounds were investigated. Adsorption data were analyzed by using first-order and Elovich equations in order to investigate the adsorption kinetics. It was found that the kinetics of the toluene adsorption strongly depends on the position of the substituent groups. Our results showed that the Elovich equation fits the experimental data well for non-peripherally substituted Pc based sensors, while the pseudo first-order model best describes the adsorption data for peripheral substituted Pc based sensors.
Facile One-Pot Bottom–Up Synthesis of Graphene and Ni/Graphene Nanostructures and Their Excellent Adsorption Performances
Authors: Tao Xiaojun , Wang Shuang , Zhao Yanbao , Li Zhiwei
Published: February 2018

In this paper, a facile one-pot bottom-up approach for the preparation of graphene and Ni/graphene nanostructures at normal pressure and low temperature (150[Formula: see text]C) has been developed. The graphene and Ni/graphene nanostructures were prepared by reducing hexachloro-benzene (C6Cl[Formula: see text] with potassium in [Formula: see text]-tetradecane (C[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text] solution without the presence of a catalyst. Meanwhile, the effect of Ni content on the specific surface area (SSA) of the final products was investigated. The testing results display that the as-prepared samples have large SSA and high C/O ratio, implying that the designed synthesis method is simple and efficient. To evaluate the adsorption performances of the samples, we select organic dye rhodamine B (RhB) as the model organic contaminant in aqueous solutions. The experimental results show that the samples possess high adsorption capacity ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mg g[Formula: see text], ultrafast adsorption rate ([Formula: see text]%, 2[Formula: see text]min), high adsorption efficiency ([Formula: see text]%) and good chemical stability in a wide pH range (2–11), high salt tolerance ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mg mL[Formula: see text], and good reusability ([Formula: see text]%, 9 cycles) for dye RhB from water. In particular, the samples exhibit a good property for the treatment of the raw industrial wastewater (RIW).
Comparison of Triangular Silver Nanoprisms with Different Capping Agents and Structural Size for H2O2 Etching-Based Biosensors
Authors: Huang Lishi , Yuan Caihong , Chen Wenli , Zeng Fanshu , Xu Hui , Zhang Yahui , Jiang Tingting
Published: February 2018

This study compared the susceptibility of different triangular silver nanoprisms (TSNPRs) towards the etching of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a catalytical product of glucose oxidase (GOx). The influence of capping agents and structural size have been explored towards the oxidation of silver nanoprisms. Results indicated that the etching of the TSNPRs was extremely effected by surface capping agents, in which citrate contributed a highest H2O2-sensitive effect in the absence of secondary capping ligands (e.g., glycerol and ethanol). Meanwhile, compared to bigger TSNPRs, smaller nanoprisms exhibited a different signal output of plasma resonance peak through intensity decrease rather than wavelength shift, making them more H2O2-etching susceptibile. In virtue of GOx etching-based system, TSNPRs with a small size and citrate capping were served as a substitute for big nanoprisms to sense glucose, offering a number of advantages such as high sensitivity, improved calibration, time-saving and extended detection ranges. Moreover, the small sized TSNPRs capping with citrate alone have been expected to be of great interest in the trace of GOx, providing an ultrahigh sensitive GOx etching-based analytical platform for point-of-care diagnostics towards other analytes (e.g., DNA, protein).
Impact of Built Environment on Respiratory Health: An Empirical Study
Authors: Xu Wangyue , Zhao Xiaojing , Wang Lan
Published: February 2018

In many heavy industrialized countries such as China and India, the impact of air pollution on respiratory health has been headline news in recent years. Among the risk issues examined, exposure to particulate matter (PM) is cited as the prime contributing factor that causes respiratory diseases, yet it is traceable and controllable. In this paper, we report on an empirical study conducted in Shanghai, based on urban spatial determinants as independent variables to investigate its link to occurrence of lung cancer in their neighborhoods. A survey was conducted on a population of 472 lung cancer patients. After reliability and validity tests, only 156 pairs were included in this report. The questionnaire designed for this survey covers 11 outdoor and 6 indoor factors; these include the building density where they live, proximity to pollution sources, volume of traffic nearby, degree of enclosure by surrounding tall buildings, being residential or commercial with reference to their homes, proximity to parks, measured in terms of the plant type, green space per capita, accessibility to public open spaces for outdoor activities and water body; while parameters inside the house cover the age of the house, bedroom sizes, space per occupant, cooling-off time of taking up residency after renovation, humidity and dust inside the houses. Data collected were classified using random forest classification and further refined with Boruta algorithm for feature selection to identify possible correlation between risk of lung cancer to both outdoor and indoor factors of built environment. The results reveal a strong correlation between lung cancer and the environment where they live, so much so that the finding confirms our long-held belief that urban redevelopment could play an important role in reducing the risk of respiratory disease. Since prevention is better than cure, if by design to relocate pollution sources away from residential areas, provision of good public transportation to cut down vehicles on our streets, creation of green spaces to improve airflow pathway to deduce the concentration of PM in the atmosphere in our neighborhoods, we could perhaps reduce or even prevent lung cancer and a range of other respiratory diseases for the residents we served.
Biomimetic Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles for Preparing Preservative Solutions for Mandarins (Citrus DeliciosaTenore)
Authors: Bao Vo-Van Quoc , Vuong Le Dai , Luan Le Van
Published: February 2018

Mandarin (Citrus deliciosa Tenore) is one of the most important fruit crops grown in the Hue province, Vietnam, and has immense economic, health and cultural significance. However, mandarins are highly perishable and more susceptible to diseases compared to other citrus fruits. In the present study, biomimetic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for preparing preservative solutions for mandarins was investigated. Spherical and nanometer-sized AgNPs that were prepared with the help of ultrasound wave induced a reaction between silver nitrate solution (AgNO30.02[Formula: see text]M) and the leaf extract of Centella asiatica. Spherical AgNPs were formed easily in the extract at an ambient temperature and their average size ranged from 3[Formula: see text]nm to 30[Formula: see text]nm. These AgNPs exhibited potent antifungal activity against Macrophoma theicola B1 fungi, which were isolated from mandarin peels collected from agricultural lands of rural villages of Thua Thien-Hue province in Vietnam. Thus, we are successful in preparing an AgNPs-containing preservative solution as a mandarin fruit-coating material to inhibit the growth of M. theicola B1 fungi. The coating of mandarin fruits with this preservative solution prolonged the storage life of the fruits from 9 to 35 days. On the 35th day, the preserved fruits maintained their natural color and ripening, whereas the control sample decayed with white fungus covering its skin after 9 days of storage. Thus, coating mandarins with this solution can be proposed as an additional treatment for increasing their postharvest quality. Additionally, it can be a solution for protection against fungal infection and physiological damage and controlling the decay of mandarins, thereby prolonging their shelf life.
Results on the extension of isomonodromy deformations to the case of a resonant irregular singularity
Authors: Cotti Giordano , Guzzetti Davide
Published: February 2018

We explain some results of [G. Cotti, B. A. Dubrovin and D. Guzzetti, Isomonodromy deformations at an irregular singularity with coalescing eigenvalues, preprint (2017); arXiv:1706.04808 .], discussed in our talk [G. Cotti, Monodromy of semisimple Frobenius coalescent structures, in Int. Workshop Asymptotic and Computational Aspects of Complex Differential Equations, CRM, Pisa, February 13–17, (2017).] in Pisa, February 2017. Consider an [Formula: see text] linear system of ODEs with an irregular singularity of Poincaré rank 1 at [Formula: see text] and Fuchsian singularity at [Formula: see text], holomorphically depending on parameter [Formula: see text] within a polydisk in [Formula: see text] centered at [Formula: see text]. The eigenvalues of the leading matrix at [Formula: see text], which is diagonal, coalesce along a coalescence locus [Formula: see text] contained in the polydisk. Under minimal vanishing conditions on the residue matrix at [Formula: see text], we show in [G. Cotti, B. A. Dubrovin and D. Guzzetti, Isomonodromy deformations at an irregular singularity with coalescing eigenvalues, preprint (2017); arXiv:1706.04808 .] that isomonodromic deformations can be extended to the whole polydisk, including [Formula: see text], in such a way that the fundamental matrix solutions and the constant monodromy data are well defined in the whole polydisk. These data can be computed just by considering the system at point of [Formula: see text], where it simplifies. Conversely, if the [Formula: see text]-dependent system is isomonodromic in a small domain contained in the polydisk not intersecting [Formula: see text], and if suitable entries of the Stokes matrices vanish, then [Formula: see text] is not a branching locus for the fundamental matrix solutions. The results have applications to Frobenius manifolds and Painlevé equations.
GrammarViz 3.0
Authors: Senin Pavel , Lin Jessica , Wang Xing , Oates Tim , Gandhi Sunil , Boedihardjo Arnold P. , Chen Crystal , Frankenstein Susan
Published: February 2018

The problems of recurrent and anomalous pattern discovery in time series, e.g., motifs and discords, respectively, have received a lot of attention from researchers in the past decade. However, since the pattern search space is usually intractable, most existing detection algorithms require that the patterns have discriminative characteristics and have its length known in advance and provided as input, which is an unreasonable requirement for many real-world problems. In addition, patterns of similar structure, but of different lengths may co-exist in a time series. Addressing these issues, we have developed algorithms for variable-length time series pattern discovery that are based on symbolic discretization and grammar inference—two techniques whose combination enables the structured reduction of the search space and discovery of the candidate patterns in linear time. In this work, we present GrammarViz 3.0—a software package that provides implementations of proposed algorithms and graphical user interface for interactive variable-length time series pattern discovery. The current version of the software provides an alternative grammar inference algorithm that improves the time series motif discovery workflow, and introduces an experimental procedure for automated discretization parameter selection that builds upon the minimum cardinality maximum cover principle and aids the time series recurrent and anomalous pattern discovery.
Participatory Design that Matters—Facing the Big Issues
Authors: Bødker Susanne , Kyng Morten
Published: February 2018

At a time where computer technology is putting human lives and work under pressure, we discuss how to provide alternatives. We look back at Participatory Design (PD) which was originally about possibilities and alternatives as much as it was about specific solutions. The paper aims to revitalize and revise PD to help people influence
big issues
. The agenda for this is set through proposing a set of key elements for realizing new, important possibilities. We discuss the possible changes of partnership with users, call for a new role of researchers as activists, debate how to work with demanding visions for lasting impact, and democratic control. We focus on high technological ambitions, on deployment of working prototypes, on alliances, and on scaling up, all seen as important for a PD that matters. We conclude the paper with an invitation to participate in the continued discussion, codesign, and realization of a PD that matters.
Selecting the Top-Quality Item Through Crowd Scoring
Authors: Nordio Alessandro , Tarable Alberto , Leonardi Emilio , Marsan Marco Ajmone
Published: February 2018

We investigate crowdsourcing algorithms for finding the top-quality item within a large collection of objects with unknown intrinsic quality values. This is an important problem with many relevant applications, such as in networked recommendation systems. The core of the algorithms is that objects are distributed to crowd workers, who return a noisy and biased evaluation. All received evaluations are then combined to identify the top-quality object. We first present a simple probabilistic model for the system under investigation. Then we devise and study a class of efficient adaptive algorithms to assign in an effective way objects to workers. We compare the performance of several algorithms, which correspond to different choices of the design parameters/metrics. In the simulations, we show that some of the algorithms achieve near optimal performance for a suitable setting of the system parameters.
Mean-Field Analysis of Coding Versus Replication in Large Data Storage Systems
Authors: Li Bin , Ramamoorthy Aditya , Srikant R.
Published: February 2018

We study cloud storage systems with a very large number of files stored in a very large number of servers. In such systems, files are either replicated or coded to ensure reliability, i.e., to guarantee file recovery from server failures. This redundancy in storage can further be exploited to improve system performance (mean file-access delay) through appropriate load-balancing (routing) schemes. However, it is unclear whether coding or replication is better from a system performance perspective since the corresponding queueing analysis of such systems is, in general, quite difficult except for the trivial case when the system load asymptotically tends to zero. Here, we study the more difficult case where the system load is not asymptotically zero. Using the fact that the system size is large, we obtain a mean-field limit for the steady-state distribution of the number of file access requests waiting at each server. We then use the mean-field limit to show that, for a given storage capacity per file, coding strictly outperforms replication at all traffic loads while improving reliability. Further, the factor by which the performance improves in the heavy traffic is at least as large as in the light-traffic case. Finally, we validate these results through extensive simulations.
EQ
Authors: Chu Cing-Yu , Chen Shannon , Yen Yu-Chuan , Yeh Su-Ling , Chu Hao-Hua , Huang Polly
Published: February 2018

The rising popularity of data calls and the slowed global economy have posed a challenge to voice data networking—how to satisfy the growing user demand for VoIP calls under limited network resources. In a bandwidth-constrained network in particular, raising the bitrate for one call implies a lowered bitrate for another. Therefore, knowing whether it is worthwhile to raise one call's bitrate while other users might complain is crucial to the design of a user-centric rate control mechanism. To this end, previous work (Chen et al. 2012) has reported a log-like relationship between bitrate and user experience (i.e., QoE) in Skype calls. To show that the relationship extends to more general VoIP calls, we conduct a 60-participant user study via the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform and reaffirm the log-like relationship between the call bitrate and user experience in widely used AMR-WB. The relationship gives rise to a simple and practical rate control scheme that exponentially quantizes the steps of rate change, therefore the name—exponential quantization (EQ). To support that EQ is effective in addressing the challenge, we show through a formal analysis that the resulting bandwidth allocation is optimal in both the overall QoE and the number of calls served. To relate EQ to existing rate control mechanisms, we show in a simulation study that the bitrates of calls administered by EQ converge over time and outperform those controlled by a (naïve) greedy mechanism and the mechanism implemented in Skype.
Recent Advancements in Event Processing
Authors: Dayarathna Miyuru , Perera Srinath
Published: February 2018

Event processing (EP) is a data processing technology that conducts online processing of event information. In this survey, we summarize the latest cutting-edge work done on EP from both industrial and academic research community viewpoints. We divide the entire field of EP into three subareas: EP system architectures, EP use cases, and EP open research topics. Then we deep dive into the details of each subsection. We investigate the system architecture characteristics of novel EP platforms, such as Apache Storm, Apache Spark, and Apache Flink. We found significant advancements made on novel application areas, such as the Internet of Things; streaming machine learning (ML); and processing of complex data types such as text, video data streams, and graphs. Furthermore, there has been significant body of contributions made on event ordering, system scalability, development of EP languages and exploration of use of heterogeneous devices for EP, which we investigate in the latter half of this article. Through our study, we found key areas that require significant attention from the EP community, such as Streaming ML, EP system benchmarking, and graph stream processing.
Trinity
Authors: Li Feng , Yang Yanbing , Chi Zicheng , Zhao Liya , Yang Yaowen , Luo Jun
Published: February 2018

Whereas a lot of efforts have been put on energy conservation in
wireless sensor networks
(WSNs), the limited lifetime of these systems still hampers their practical deployments. This situation is further exacerbated indoors, as conventional energy harvesting (e.g., solar) may not always work. To enable long-lived indoor sensing, we report in this article a self-sustaining sensing system that draws energy from indoor environments, adapts its duty-cycle to the harvested energy, and pays back the environment by enhancing the awareness of the indoor microclimate through an “energy-free” sensing. First of all, given the pervasive operation of
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems indoors, our system harvests energy from airflow introduced by the HVAC systems to power each sensor node. Secondly, as the harvested power is tiny, an extremely low but synchronous duty-cycle has to be applied whereas the system gets no energy surplus to support existing synchronization schemes. So, we design two complementary synchronization schemes that cost virtually no energy. Finally, we exploit the feature of our harvester to sense the airflow speed in an energy-free manner. To our knowledge, this is the first indoor wireless sensing system that encapsulates energy harvesting, network operating, and sensing all together.
Leveraging Hierarchical Deep Semantics to Classify Implicit Discourse Relations via a Mutual Learning Method
Authors: She Xiaohan , Jian Ping , Zhang Pengcheng , Huang Heyan
Published: February 2018

This article presents a mutual learning method using hierarchical deep semantics for the classification of implicit discourse relations in English. With the absence of explicit discourse markers, traditional discourse techniques mainly concentrate on discrete linguistic features in this task, which always leads to a data sparseness problem. To relieve this problem, we propose a mutual learning neural model that makes use of multilevel semantic information together, including the distribution of implicit discourse relations, the semantics of arguments, and the co-occurrence of phrases and words. During the training process, the predicting targets of the model, which are the probability of the discourse relation type and the distributed representation of semantic components, are learned jointly and optimized mutually. The experimental results show that this method outperforms the previous works, especially in multiclass identification attributed to the hierarchical semantic representations and the mutual learning strategy.
Mechanical Protein Unfolding and Degradation
Authors: Olivares Adrian O. , Baker Tania A. , Sauer Robert T.
Published: February 2018

AAA+ proteolytic machines use energy from ATP hydrolysis to degrade damaged, misfolded, or unneeded proteins. Protein degradation occurs within a barrel-shaped self-compartmentalized peptidase. Before protein substrates can enter this peptidase, they must be unfolded and then translocated through the axial pore of an AAA+ ring hexamer. An unstructured region of the protein substrate is initially engaged in the axial pore, and conformational changes in the ring, powered by ATP hydrolysis, generate a mechanical force that pulls on and denatures the substrate. The same conformational changes in the hexameric ring then mediate mechanical translocation of the unfolded polypeptide into the peptidase chamber. For the bacterial ClpXP and ClpAP AAA+ proteases, the mechanical activities of protein unfolding and translocation have been directly visualized by single-molecule optical trapping. These studies in combination with structural and biochemical experiments illuminate many principles that underlie this universal mechanism of ATP-fueled protein unfolding and subsequent destruction.
Isoform-specific role of Na/K-ATPase α1 in skeletal muscle
Authors: Kutz Laura C. , Mukherji Shreya T. , Wang Xiaoliang , Bryant Amber , Larre Isabel , Heiny Judith A. , Lingrel Jerry B. , Pierre Sandrine V. , Xie Zijian
Published: February 2018

The distribution of Na/K-ATPase α-isoforms in skeletal muscle is unique, with α1 as the minor (15%) isoform and α2 comprising the bulk of the Na/K-ATPase pool. The acute and isoform-specific role of α2 in muscle performance and resistance to fatigue is well known, but the isoform-specific role of α1 has not been as thoroughly investigated. In vitro, we reported that α1 has a role in promoting cell growth that is not supported by α2. To assess whether α1 serves this isoform-specific trophic role in the skeletal muscle, we used Na/K-ATPase α1-haploinsufficient (α1+/−) mice. A 30% decrease of Na/K-ATPase α1 protein expression without change in α2 induced a modest yet significant decrease of 10% weight in the oxidative soleus muscle. In contrast, the mixed plantaris and glycolytic extensor digitorum longus weights were not significantly affected, likely because of their very low expression level of α1 compared with the soleus. The soleus mass reduction occurred without change in total Na/K-ATPase activity or glycogen metabolism. Serum analytes including K+, fat tissue mass, and exercise capacity were not altered in α1+/− mice. The impact of α1 content on soleus muscle mass is consistent with a Na/K-ATPase α1-specific role in skeletal muscle growth that cannot be fulfilled by α2. The preserved running capacity in α1+/− is in sharp contrast with previously reported consequences of genetic manipulation of α2. Taken together, these results lend further support to the concept of distinct isoform-specific functions of Na/K-ATPase α1 and α2 in skeletal muscle.
Plasma endocannabinoid levels in lean, overweight, and obese humans: relationships to intestinal permeability markers, inflammation, and incretin secretion
Authors: Little Tanya J. , Cvijanovic Nada , DiPatrizio Nicholas V. , Argueta Donovan A. , Rayner Christopher K. , Feinle-Bisset Christine , Young Richard L.
Published: February 2018

Intestinal production of endocannabinoid and oleoylethanolamide (OEA) is impaired in high-fat diet/obese rodents, leading to reduced satiety. Such diets also alter the intestinal microbiome in association with enhanced intestinal permeability and inflammation; however, little is known of these effects in humans. This study aimed to 1) evaluate effects of lipid on plasma anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonyl- sn-glycerol (2-AG), and OEA in humans; and 2) examine relationships to intestinal permeability, inflammation markers, and incretin hormone secretion. Twenty lean, 18 overweight, and 19 obese participants underwent intraduodenal Intralipid infusion (2 kcal/min) with collection of endoscopic duodenal biopsies and blood. Plasma AEA, 2-AG, and OEA (HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) (multiplex), and duodenal expression of occludin, zona-occludin-1 (ZO-1), intestinal-alkaline-phosphatase (IAP), and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) (by RT-PCR) were assessed. Fasting plasma AEA was increased in obese compared with lean and overweight patients ( P < 0.05), with no effect of BMI group or ID lipid infusion on plasma 2-AG or OEA. Duodenal expression of IAP and ZO-1 was reduced in obese compared with lean ( P < 0.05), and these levels related negatively to plasma AEA ( P < 0.05). The iAUC for AEA was positively related to iAUC GIP ( r = 0.384, P = 0.005). Obese individuals have increased plasma AEA and decreased duodenal expression of ZO-1 and IAP compared with lean and overweight subjects. The relationships between plasma AEA with duodenal ZO-1, IAP, and GIP suggest that altered endocannabinoid signaling may contribute to changes in intestinal permeability, inflammation, and incretin release in human obesity.
Preclinical In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of [18F]FE@SUPPY for Cancer PET Imaging: Limitations of a Xenograft Model for Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Balber T. , Singer J. , Berroterán-Infante N. , Dumanic M. , Fetty L. , Fazekas-Singer J. , Vraka C. , Nics L. , Bergmann M. , Pallitsch K. , Spreitzer H. , Wadsak W. , Hacker M. , Jensen-Jarolim E. , Viernstein H. , Mitterhauser M.
Published: February 2018

Molecular imaging probes such as PET-tracers have the potential to improve the accuracy of tumor characterization by directly visualizing the biochemical situation. Thus, molecular changes can be detected early before morphological manifestation. The A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) is described to be highly expressed in colon cancer cell lines and human colorectal cancer (CRC), suggesting this receptor as a tumor marker. The aim of this preclinical study was the evaluation of F18FE@SUPPY as a PET-tracer for CRC using in vitro imaging and in vivo PET imaging. First, affinity and selectivity of FE@SUPPY and its metabolites were determined, proving the favorable binding profile of FE@SUPPY. The human adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29 was characterized regarding its hA3AR expression and was subsequently chosen as tumor graft. Promising results regarding the potential of F18FE@SUPPY as a PET-tracer for CRC imaging were obtained by autoradiography as ≥2.3-fold higher accumulation of F18FE@SUPPY was found in CRC tissue compared to adjacent healthy colon tissue from the same patient. Nevertheless, first in vivo studies using HT-29 xenografts showed insufficient tumor uptake due to (1) poor conservation of target expression in xenografts and (2) unfavorable pharmacokinetics of F18FE@SUPPY in mice. We therefore conclude that HT-29 xenografts are not adequate to visualize hA3ARs using F18FE@SUPPY.
Generalized Matrix Exponential Solutions to the AKNS Hierarchy
Authors: Zhang Jian-bing , Gu Canyuan , Ma Wen-Xiu
Published: February 2018

Generalized matrix exponential solutions to the AKNS equation are obtained by the inverse scattering transformation (IST). The resulting solutions involve six matrices, which satisfy the coupled Sylvester equations. Several kinds of explicit solutions including soliton, complexiton, and Matveev solutions are deduced from the generalized matrix exponential solutions by choosing different kinds of the six involved matrices. Generalized matrix exponential solutions to a general integrable equation of the AKNS hierarchy are also derived. It is shown that the general equation and its matrix exponential solutions share the same linear structure.
Practice Patterns and Barriers for Intravenous Thrombolysis: A Survey of Neurologists in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alanazy Mohammed H. , Barakeh Rima B. , Asiri Alanood , Edrees Maha F. , Abuzinadah Ahmad R. , Aljafen Bandar N. , Muayqil Taim
Published: February 2018

Only a small fraction of patients with acute ischemic stroke receive intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). We sought to assess barriers and practice patterns in using IVT for acute ischemic stroke among neurologists in Saudi Arabia. An electronic survey was sent to all neurologists registered with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. A total of 148 (77.5%) neurologists responded. The most common reported barriers for IVT administration were delayed presentation to hospitals (82.4%) and unclear time of symptom onset (50.0%). Only 9.9% of neurologists reported strict adherence to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines for IVT administration. The most frequently waived criteria were “minor stroke with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] < 5” (49.4%) and “seizure at onset” (45.7%). For the extended 3–4.5-hour window, 18.5% of neurologists reported strict adherence to the four exclusion criteria. The most frequently waived criteria were “age older than 80 years” (53.1%) and “history of both diabetes and prior stroke” (42.0%). In conclusion, most neurologists do not adhere to the IVT exclusion criteria. However, little consensus exists regarding which criteria do not interfere with IVT administration. Barriers to IVT administration were identified and require immediate action by healthcare authorities in Saudi Arabia.
The Effects of Ovine Whey Powders on Durum Wheat-Based Doughs
Authors: Secchi Nicola , Fadda Costantino , Piccinini Massimo , Pinna Ivo , Piga Antonio , Catzeddu Pasquale , Fois Simonetta
Published: February 2018

Two types of ovine whey powder, with different protein content, were added at increasing substitution rates to two types of semolina, one with strong and tenacious gluten and the other with weak and sticky gluten. For each dough the optimum mixing time and hydration level were calculated using the consistograph. The whey powder negatively affected the leavening volume of all doughs, at all percentages except the lowest one (5%), mainly because of its effects on the elastic component of gluten as measured with a stress relaxation test. Differences of the secondary structure of gluten proteins among samples were investigated by analyzing the amide I band in the Fourier transform infrared spectra of the dough. Weak and strong semolina showed a different relative percentage of α-helix, random coil, and β-sheet structures. The longer mixing times for dough formation when using semolina with strong gluten led to an increase in α-helices and random coils, which caused a worse leavening performance than the weak-gluten semolina.
Prediction of Cutting Conditions in Turning AZ61 and Parameters Optimization Using Regression Analysis and Artificial Neural Network
Authors: Alharthi Nabeel H. , Bingol Sedat , Abbas Adel T. , Ragab Adham E. , Aly Mohamed F. , Alharbi Hamad F.
Published: February 2018

All manufacturing engineers are faced with a lot of difficulties and high expenses associated with grinding processes of AZ61. For that reason, manufacturing engineers waste a lot of time and effort trying to reach the required surface roughness values according to the design drawing during the turning process. In this paper, an artificial neural network (ANN) modeling is used to estimate and optimize the surface roughness (Ra) value in cutting conditions of AZ61 magnesium alloy. A number of ANN models were developed and evaluated to obtain the most successful one. In addition to ANN models, traditional regression analysis was also used to build a mathematical model representing the equation required to obtain the surface roughness. Predictions from the model were examined against experimental data and then compared to the ANN model predictions using different performance criteria such as the mean absolute error, mean square error, and coefficient of determination.
A Finite Segment Method for Skewed Box Girder Analysis
Authors: Xue Xingwei , Wu Jiawei , Zhou Junlong , Li Hongnan
Published: February 2018

A finite segment method is presented to analyze the mechanical behavior of skewed box girders. By modeling the top and bottom plates of the segments with skew plate beam element under an inclined coordinate system and the webs with normal plate beam element, a spatial elastic displacement model for skewed box girder is constructed, which can satisfy the compatibility condition at the corners of the cross section for box girders. The formulation of the finite segment is developed based on the variational principle. The major advantage of the proposed approach, in comparison with the finite element method, is that it can simplify a three-dimensional structure into a one-dimensional structure for structural analysis, which results in significant saving in computational times. At last, the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed finite segment method are verified by a model test.
Acetylation Modification Improves Immunoregulatory Effect of Polysaccharide from Seeds of Plantago asiatica L.
Authors: Jiang Le-Ming , Nie Shao-Ping , Huang Dan-Fei , Fu Zhi-Hong , Xie Ming-Yong
Published: February 2018

The current study was conducted to investigate effects of acetylated Plantago asiatica L. polysaccharides (Ac-PLCPs) on their immunoregulatory activities in bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) model. Influences of natural Plantago asiatica L. crude polysaccharide (PLCP) and Ac-PLCPs on inducing phenotypic and functional maturation on DCs were determined. The results showed that Ac-PLCPs with degree of substitution (DS) from 0.06 to 0.1 could not only stimulate the expression of surface molecules major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II), cluster of differentiation 86 (CD86), and CD80 on DCs (P<0.01) but also increase the secretion of cytokine IL-12p70 (P<0.01). The endocytosis activity of DCs was attenuated by Ac-PLCPs treatment (P<0.01), while the mRNA expressions of chemokine receptors CCR7 and CXCR4 in DCs were significantly increased (P<0.01). Besides, DCs treated with the Ac-PLCPs showed extremely strong T cell proliferation stimulating activity (P<0.01). These data showed that Ac-PLCPs had higher maturation-stimulating activity on DCs than PLCP, which indicated that acetylation modification improved the immunoregulatory effect of PLCP.
Optimizing a Biobjective Production‐Distribution Planning Problem Using a GRASP
Authors: Casas-Ramírez Martha-Selene , Camacho-Vallejo José-Fernando , González-Ramírez Rosa G. , Marmolejo-Saucedo José-Antonio , Velarde-Cantú José-Manuel
Published: February 2018

This paper addresses a biobjective production‐distribution planning problem. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming problem with two objectives. The objectives are to minimize the total costs and to balance the total workload of the supply chain, which consist of plants and depots, considering that it represents a company vertically integrated. In order to solve the model, we propose an adapted biobjective GRASP to obtain an approximation of the Pareto front. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, numerical experimentations are conducted over a set of instances used for similar problems. Results indicate that the proposed GRASP obtains a relatively small number of nondominated solutions for each tested instance in very short computational time. The approximated Pareto fronts are discontinuous and nonconvex. Moreover, the solutions clearly show the compromise between both objective functions.
Evolution of Choroidal Neovascularization due to Presumed Ocular Histoplasmosis Syndrome on Multimodal Imaging including Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Authors: Liu T. Y. Alvin , Zhang Alice Yang , Wenick Adam
Published: February 2018

A 37-year-old Caucasian woman presented with acute decrease in central vision in her right eye and was found to have subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to presumed ocular histoplasmosis syndrome (POHS). Her visual acuity improved from 20/70 to 20/20 at her 6-month follow-up, after 3 consecutive monthly intravitreal bevacizumab injections were initiated at her first visit. Although no CNV activity was seen on fluorescein angiography (FA) or spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) at her 2-month, 4-month, and 6-month follow-up visits, persistent flow in the CNV lesion was detected on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). OCTA shows persistent vascular flow as well as changes in vascular flow in CNV lesions associated with POHS, indicating the continued presence of patent vessels and changes in these CNV lesions, even when traditional imaging of the lesion with OCT and FA indicates stability of the lesion with no disease activity. Additional cases with longitudinal follow-up are needed to assess how OCTA should be incorporated into clinical practice.