bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clustering and Compressive Data Gathering for Transmission Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Pacharaney Utkarsha Sumedh , Jain Ranjan Bala , Gupta Rajiv Kumar
Published: September 2020

The chapter focuses on minimizing the amount of wireless transmission in sensory data gathering for correlated data field monitoring in wireless sensor networks (WSN), which is a major source of power consumption. Compressive sensing (CS) is a new in-node compression technique that is economically used for data gathering in an energy-constrained WSN. Among existing CS-based routing, cluster-based methods offer the most transmission-efficient architecture. Most CS-based clustering methods randomly choose nodes to form clusters, neglecting the topology structure. A novel base station (BS)-assisted cluster, spatially correlated cluster using compressive sensing (SCC_CS), is proposed to reduce number of transmissions in and form the cluster by exploiting spatial correlation based on geographical proximity. The proposed BS-assisted clustering scheme follows hexagonal deployment strategy. In SCC_CS, cluster heads are solely involved in data gathering and transmitting CS measurements to BS, saving intra-cluster communication cost, and thus, network life increases as proved by simulation.
Constrained Average Design Method for QoS-Based Traffic Engineering at the Edge/Gateway Boundary in VANETs and Cyber-Physical Environments
Authors: Minoli Daniel , Occhiogrosso Benedict
Published: September 2020

Cyber physical systems (CPSs) are software-intensive smart distributed systems that support physical components endowed with integrated computational capabilities. Tiered, often wireless, networks are typically used to collect or push the data generated or required by a distributed set of CPS-based devices. The edge-to-core traffic flows on the tiered networks can become overwhelming. Thus, appropriate traffic engineering (TE) algorithms are required to manage the flows, while at the same time meeting the delivery requirements in terms of latency, jitter, and packet loss. This chapter provides a basic overview of CPSs followed by a discussion of a newly developed TE method called ‘constrained average', where traffic is by design allowed to be delayed up to a specified, but small value epsilon, but with zero packet loss.
Higher Ed Through Grad Consulting
Authors: Totterman Henrik , von Briesen Jennifer
Published: September 2020

This chapter describes how graduate students identify client needs, negotiate paid executive consulting assignments, and deliver insightful solutions with the support of senior experts. It's the responsibility of grad consultants to scope, sell, and deliver cutting edge projects. Sponsoring clients can be located anywhere as long as the client possesses a problem or need worth solving. Mentorship ensures high performance and timely delivery by grad consultants, who work as independent contributors in the context of an international management consulting firm. Client executives can benefit from solving pressing business challenges by working directly with the next generation of international professionals. In return, grad consultants are offered a unique opportunity to develop leadership and consulting skills by being fully in charge of a real paying client project from start to finish. This is a call for action to overcome criticism towards traditional business schools, and their insufficient ability to develop practical competencies needed in industry and society at large.
Automatic Incremental Clustering Using Bat-Grey Wolf Optimizer-Based MapReduce Framework for Effective Management of High-Dimensional Data
Authors: Vidyadhari Ch. , Sandhya N. , Premchand P.
Published: September 2020

In this research paper, an incremental clustering approach-enabled MapReduce framework is implemented that include two phases, mapper and reducer phase. In the mapper phase, there are two processes, pre-processing and feature extraction. Once the input data is pre-processed, the feature extraction is done using wordnet features. Then, the features are fed to the reducer phase, where the features are selected using entropy function. Then, the automatic incremental clustering is done using bat-grey wolf optimizer (BAGWO). BAGWO is the integration of bat algorithm (BA) into grey wolf optimization (GWO) for generating various clusters of text documents. Upon the arrival of the incremental data, the mapping of the new data with respect to the centroids is done to obtain the effective cluster. For mapping, kernel-based deep point distance and for centroid update, fuzzy concept is used. The performance of the proposed framework outperformed the existing techniques using rand coefficient, Jaccard coefficient, and clustering accuracy with maximal values 0.921, 0.920, and 0.95, respectively.
WSN-Based Information Dissemination for Optimizing Irrigation Through Prescriptive Farming
Authors: Balakrishna K.
Published: September 2020

Prescriptive agriculture is the art of science utilizing modern technology to enhance productivity with optimizing inputs/cost. In this paper, the advent of wireless sensor network, APSim, and statistical software spurred a new direction in the farming domain at optimizing irrigation. Sensors are designed to collect the datasets of climatic parameters such as relative humidity and temperature, where the datasets were forwarded to the server through a GSM module. Datasets collected were analyzed through statistical software for grown crops by considering field soil conditions and evapotranspiration. Finally, information on irrigation is determined through an algorithm designed by way2SMS and WebHost server.
A Delta Normal Approach for Modelling Risk Forecasting of Currency Portfolio
Authors: Todri Ardita , Scalera Francesco Roberto
Published: September 2020

This research explores the benefits of a proactive model developed through delta normal approach implementation for the forecasting of currency portfolio volatility. The latter becomes a necessity for the Albanian agro exporters as they act in an international trading environment and face the de-Euroization process effects in domestic market. The forecasting of value at risk (VaR) at 99% confidence level is obtained through the implementation of a moving window containing 251 daily currency exchange rates logarithmic returns calculated by the exponentially weighted moving average method (EWMA). A decay factor of 0.94 is used in the simulated currency portfolios database (composed from six different currency positions) pertaining to 30 agro exporters in reference of 2018 year data. The analysis of incremental VaR decomposed in risk per currency unit and VaR contribution concludes that the implementation of this mechanism offers hedge opportunities and enables the agro exporters to undertake even speculative interventions.
Proposed Technique for Efficient Cloud Computing Model in Effective Digital Training Towards Sustainable Livelihoods for Unemployed Youths
Authors: Bansal Ritu , Singh Vikash Kumar
Published: September 2020

This research work seeks to suggest the development of an efficient cloud computing system to show that the various forms of effective online learning for sustainable livelihoods for unemployed youth are accountable for and lead to a number of factors. In the scope of sustainable livelihoods for unemployed people, it also aims to recognize certain fields of data analysis and their interrelationship. One question seems to bubble to the surface more than any other in the authors' discussions with clients, friends, and peers: How does successful online learning for sustainable living for unemployed youth explain switching to the cloud? Cloud computing could allow more adequate performance of its own efficient distributed tools through the SaaS system; therefore, both design the cloud computing SaaS distribution framework for unemployed youth talent learning. This article proposes an efficient cloud computing system strategy for active online learning for unemployed youth sustainable livelihoods.
Execution of Long-Duration Multi-Cloud Serverless Functions Using Selective Migration-Based Approach
Authors: Soltani Boubaker , Ghenai Afifa , Zeghib Nadia
Published: September 2020

A relatively new paradigm for the Cloud-based software deployment is serverless computing. By adopting stateless loosely-coupled functions, the system can obtain many compositions for several purposes. Contrarily to monolithic approach, serverless computing facilitates the evolution of the applications, since the functions may be independently scheduled for reconstitution. Nevertheless, serverless computing dictates that function execution should be within a short duration (five minutes max in most Cloud platforms), after which the function is abruptly ended even if it has not completed its task. This leads to prevent functions requiring longer time from being adopted as Serverless functions. This paper deals with this drawback. It proposes a migration-based approach that promotes the execution of long-duration serverless functions: each running function that reaches the maximum time limit is repeatedly transferred to another cloud platform where it is carried on. At each migration step, the destination cloud is selected regarding the most relevant criteria.
End Users' Initial Perceptions of mHealth in Nigeria
Authors: Fox Grace , O'Connor Yvonne , Eze Emmanuel , Ndibuagu Edmund Onyemaechi , Heavin Ciara
Published: September 2020

Mobile health (mHealth) is perceived as a “silver bullet” solution to many of the existing healthcare delivery issues in developing regions. However, the design, development, piloting, implementation, and maintenance activities associated with mHealth are significant. Fundamental to the success of mHealth is stakeholder support within the healthcare system. A qualitative exploratory approach using interviews, presentations, and focus groups was pursued to investigate primary healthcare (PHC) workers' initial perceptions of the proposed IMPACT app to support the assessment of sick young children in the community in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. PHC workers welcomed the prospect of using the IMPACT app. However, they were keen to highlight local infrastructural challenges and lack of access to training as barriers to the wider rollout of the IMPACT app. Through investigating PHC workers' initial perceptions, mHealth projects may be better designed to positively influence end users' commitment and motivation to use mHealth as part of their roles in the future.
Using Learner Group Profiles for Content Recommendation in Ubiquitous Environments
Authors: Ferreira Luis Gustavo , Barbosa Jorge Luis Victória , Gluz João Carlos , Matter Vítor Kehl , Barbosa Debora Nice Ferrari
Published: September 2020

The application of ubiquitous technologies in the improvement of education strategies is called ubiquitous learning. This strategy amplifies the pedagogical potential of e-learning through a ubiquitous and contextualized perspective. On the other hand, a ubiquitous technological mediation in learning can also increase the isolation of learners and reduce the integration among colleagues. Strategies to encourage the group learning can minimize these possible side effects. In this sense, this article proposes UbiGroup, an agent-based model for ubiquitous recommendation of educational contents for groups of learners. UbiGroup aims to help teachers to search, select and distribute educational materials for groups. The model considers the group profile and the context where learners are. The recommendation for dynamic groups of learners through a consensus profile is the main scientific contribution of this research. The model was evaluated through simulated scenarios. The results were encouraging and show potential for implementing UbiGroup in real learning environments.
Challenges Facing Faculty Members When Using a Learning Management System
Authors: Abu-Shanab Emad A. , Samara Jumana , Ayari Mohamed Arselene
Published: September 2020

Universities use learning management systems (LMS) to support teaching practices and add value to the educational system. A leading university in the gulf region (XYZ) provides support for faculty members (FMs) through its Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), where experts respond to their enquiries on how to use the LMS features. This study analyzed data available from such interactions and concluded that FMs preferred office (face-to-face) contacting method, assessment is the major generator of FMs enquiries, and also the majority of enquiries were clustered into five major dimensions. Full details and analyses are available in this study.
Determinants of the Adoption Academic Electronic Books by University Students in a Developing Country
Authors: Okocha Foluke
Published: September 2020

Higher education institutions worldwide are transitioning to electronic books which have become a standard platform in providing reading materials. This study investigated the determinants of the adoption of academic e-books by university students in Nigeria. Results showed that a majority of students were aware of electronic books but only 44.5% of students used them often. Despite the availability of these resources, more than 50% of students did not use e-books, also surprising was that majority of students discovered e-books from their lecturers. The study further revealed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions were major determinants in the adoption of e-books by undergraduate students. However, social influence and gender did play a significant role in the intention to adopt electronic books by undergraduate students. This study has practical implications on academic institutions and electronic book publishers in encouraging e-book use and improving e-book features to align with the needs of the millennial students and also providing reliable internet facilities and improving lecturer and institutional support in driving e-book adoption by undergraduate students.
The Effect of Insulated Cracks on Heat Transfer of Thermoelectric Plates Using Peridynamics
Authors: Zeleke Migbar Assefa , Xin Lai , Lisheng Liu
Published: September 2020

In this article, peridynamic (PD) theory is applied to analyze two-dimensional heat conduction of thermoelectric plate with discontinuities. It is a well-known fact that heat flux is undefined at the crack tip and causes the temperature field across the crack surface discontinuous. Hence, numerical procedures like finite element method (FEM) became unsuccessful to capture details of moving discontinuities like growing cracks. Therefore, this article proposes a PD theory that is appropriate in resolving moving discontinuities in thermal and electric fields. The PD equations were constructed by writing the continuum-based electrical potentials and temperature fields in the form of their respective non-local integrals that are remarkably powerful in solving continuum problems whether the authors have moving discontinuities or not. To elucidate the trustworthiness of the PD theory, the results in the case of stationary cracks are compared with the one from FEM and witnessed that they were in good agreement.
Identification of Abusive Sinhala Comments in Social Media using Text Mining and Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Sandaruwan H. M. S. T. , Lorensuhewa S. A. S. , Kalyani M. A. L.
Published: September 2020

With the technology revolution, most of the natural languages that are used all over the world have won the digital world. Therefore, people use modern technologies such as Social Media and the Internet with their native languages. As a result, people who are with self-ego on their tradition, race, caste, religion and other social factors, tend to make abusiveness on others who do not belong to the same social group by their native languages. Since the Social Media platforms do not have centralized control, it has become a good platform to advertise their backward ideas without being governed and monitored. The Sinhala language has also been added to most famous Social Media platforms. Though the Sinhala language has more than 2500 years of history, it does not have rich resources for computer-based natural language processing. Therefore, it has been a very difficult task to automatically detect Sinhala abusive comments which are being published and shared among Social Media platforms. Therefore, here, we have used evenly distributed 2000 Sinhala comment corpus among offensive and neutral classes to train three different models: Multinomial Naïve Bayes (MNB), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and, Random Forest Decision Tree (RFDT) and the features were extracted from Bag of Word model, word n-gram model, character n-gram model, and word skip-gram model to automatically detect Sinhala abusive comments. After the training process, each model was tested with 200 evenly distributed comment corpus and MNB showed the highest accuracy of 96.5% with 96% average recall for both character tri-gram and character four-gram models. Further, two lexicon-based approaches called cross-lingual lexicon approach and corpus-based lexicon approach were considered to detect Sinhala abusive comments. From these two lexicon based approaches, the corpus-based lexicon gave the highest accuracy of 90.5% with an average recall of 90.5%.
Invisible Colour Image Watermarking Technique for Colour Images Using DWT and SVD
Authors: Ketipearachchi Tharindu , Wickramasinghe Manjusri
Published: September 2020

Recent popularity of social media and content sharing networks paired with fast Internet access has paved the way for mass multimedia content sharing on the Internet. As a result, volumes of sensitive data are been shared in various digital forms such that the risk of copyright infringements and misappropriations of digital content has grown at the same rate. In order to preserve copyright or authenticate digital content, digital watermarking has been considered as a viable solution for these problems. In the domain of digital watermarking, embedding a colour image as an invisible watermark to a colour cover image remain a challenge. As a solution to this problem, this paper presents such an invisible watermarking scheme based on DWT and SVD. The watermark created using the novel approach is experimentally shown to have the robustness, imperceptibility and capacity requirements.
Length weight relationship and diet composition of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) landed in Negombo Fishery Harbour, Sri Lanka.
Authors: Perera H. A. C. C. , Weerasiri P. A. S. A.
Published: September 2020

Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) is the second most economically important tuna species in Sri Lanka. Present study was focused on the determination of length-weight relationship and analysis of stomach contents of yellowfin tuna landed in Negombo fishery harbour. A total of 174 stomachs of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) were analyzed. The total length range of the observed yellowfin tuna was 50-169 cm and weight range was 10-86.5 kg. The diet of yellowfin tuna comprised of a variety of food items such as fish (55%), squids (30%), crabs (6%), shrimps (8%) and others (1%) indicating that it is a non-selective predator. The observed length weight relationship for yellowfin tuna was W= 0.000104 TL2.6892.
T Cells from NOD-PerIg Mice Target Both Pancreatic and Neuronal Tissue
Authors: Racine Jeremy J. , Chapman Harold D. , Doty Rosalinda , Cairns Brynn M. , Hines Timothy J. , Tadenev Abigail L. D. , Anderson Laura C. , Green Torrian , Dyer Meaghan E. , Wotton Janine M. , Bichler Zoë , White Jacqueline K. , Ettinger Rachel , Burgess Robert W. , Serreze David V.
Published: September 2020

It has become increasingly appreciated that autoimmune responses against neuronal components play an important role in type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis. In fact, a large proportion of islet-infiltrating B lymphocytes in the NOD mouse model of T1D produce Abs directed against the neuronal type III intermediate filament protein peripherin. NOD-PerIg mice are a previously developed BCR-transgenic model in which virtually all B lymphocytes express the H and L chain Ig molecules from the intra-islet–derived anti-peripherin–reactive hybridoma H280. NOD-PerIg mice have accelerated T1D development, and PerIg B lymphocytes actively proliferate within islets and expand cognitively interactive pathogenic T cells from a pool of naive precursors. We now report adoptively transferred T cells or whole splenocytes from NOD-PerIg mice expectedly induce T1D in NOD.scid recipients but, depending on the kinetics of disease development, can also elicit a peripheral neuritis (with secondary myositis). This neuritis was predominantly composed of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Ab depletion studies showed neuritis still developed in the absence of NOD-PerIg CD8+ T cells but required CD4+ T cells. Surprisingly, sciatic nerve–infiltrating CD4+ cells had an expansion of IFN-γ− and TNF-α− double-negative cells compared with those within both islets and spleen. Nerve and islet-infiltrating CD4+ T cells also differed by expression patterns of CD95, PD-1, and Tim-3. Further studies found transitory early B lymphocyte depletion delayed T1D onset in a portion of NOD-PerIg mice, allowing them to survive long enough to develop neuritis outside of the transfer setting. Together, this study presents a new model of peripherin-reactive B lymphocyte–dependent autoimmune neuritis.
Reactive Oxidative Species–Modulated Ca2+ Release Regulates β2 Integrin Activation on CD4+ CD28null T Cells of Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients
Authors: Samstag Yvonne , Bogert Nicolai V. , Wabnitz Guido H. , Din Shabana , Therre Markus , Leuschner Florian , Katus Hugo A. , Konstandin Mathias H.
Published: September 2020

The number and activity of T cell subsets in the atherosclerotic plaques are critical for the prognosis of patients with acute coronary syndrome. β2 Integrin activation is pivotal for T cell recruitment and correlates with future cardiac events. Despite this knowledge, differential regulation of adhesiveness in T cell subsets has not been explored yet. In this study, we show that in human T cells, SDF-1α–mediated β2 integrin activation is driven by a, so far, not-described reactive oxidative species (ROS)–regulated calcium influx. Furthermore, we show that CD4+CD28null T cells represent a highly reactive subset showing 25-fold stronger β2 integrin activation upon SDF-1α stimulation compared with CD28+ T cells. Interestingly, ROS-dependent Ca release was much more prevalent in the pathogenetically pivotal CD28null subset compared with the CD28+ T cells, whereas the established mediators of the classical pathways for β2 integrin activation (PKC, PI3K, and PLC) were similarly activated in both T cell subsets. Thus, interference with the calcium flux attenuates spontaneous adhesion of CD28null T cells from acute coronary syndrome patients, and calcium ionophores abolished the observed differences in the adhesion properties between CD28+ and CD28null T cells. Likewise, the adhesion of these T cell subsets was indistinguishable in the presence of exogenous ROS/H2O2. Together, these data provide a molecular explanation of the role of ROS in pathogenesis of plaque destabilization.
Trigeminal Sensory-Motor Neuropathy in a Patient with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease and Review of the Literature
Authors: Bekircan-Kurt Can Ebru , Temuçin Çağrı , Bilgen Şule Apraş , Erdem-Ozdamar Sevim
Published: September 2020

Trigeminal neuropathy is an infrequent condition, usually limited to the sensorial component of the nerve, and it is one of the most common neurologic manifestations of mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). However, to the best of our knowledge, no cases have been reported with MCTD presenting as trigeminal sensory and motor neuropathy. Herein, we report a 28-year-old female with unilateral trigeminal sensory–motor neuropathy who presented with numbness over the distribution of the right trigeminal region and right masseter atrophy. We also reviewed the literature for trigeminal neuropathy associated with MCTD.
Serum Immunoglobulin G of Neuro-Behçet's Disease Patients Reduce Cerebral Expression Levels of Survival Pathway Factors
Authors: Erdağ Ece , Şahin-Özkartal Ceren , Küçükali Cem Ismail , Arıcıoğlu Feyza , Tüzün Erdem
Published: September 2020

Objective:

Anti-neuronal antibodies are found in sera of neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD) patients. In this study, our aim was to analyze the potential mechanisms by which NBD immunoglobulin (Ig) Gs affect neuronal dysfunction.

Materials and Methods:

Purified IgGs obtained from pooled sera of six each NBD patients and healthy controls (HCs) were administered to Sprague Dawley rats through intraventricular injection. Control rats received phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) only. Locomotor activity was assessed by open field test on days 0, 10, and 25. Cerebral expression levels of intracellular pathway factors associated with cell survival and viability were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results:

Rats treated with NBD IgG exhibited reduced motor activity. On day 25, the mean number of crossings was 44 ± 7, 90 ± 12, and 93 ± 5 and the mean number of rearings was 18 ± 7, 34 ± 5, and 35 ± 6 for NBD IgG, HC IgG, and PBS groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Relative expression levels of Akt-1 (0.4 ± 0.2, 1.0 ± 0.3, and 0.9 ± 0.6; P = 0.004), DJ-1 (0.6 ± 0.2, 1.0 ± 0.6, and 0.9 ± 0.5; P = 0.047), mouse double mininute-2 (0.5 ± 0.3, 0.9 ± 0.2, and 1.0 ± 0.2; P = 0.002), and mechanistic target of rapamycin (0.4 ± 0.2, 0.8 ± 0.4, and 0.9 ± 0.6; P = 0.006) were significantly lower in NBD-IgG group than HC IgG and PBS groups. By contrast, the expression levels of factors associated with apoptosis (caspase 3, mitochondrial carrier homolog 1, and B-cell lymphoma-2) were comparable among different treatment arms.

Conclusion:

Our results suggest that at least a fraction of NBD IgG interacts with neuronal surface antigens and subsequently decreases neuronal viability through Akt pathway inhibition. By contrast, NBD IgG does not appear to activate neuronal apoptosis. Further identification of the binding sites of serum IgG ıs required.
Cutaneous Silent Period
Authors: Gündüz Ayşegül , Aydın Şenay , Kızıltan Meral E.
Published: September 2020

Cutaneous silent period (CSP) is the temporary suppression of voluntary muscle contraction by sensory stimulation. Here, we aimed to summarize the effect of physiological and pathological conditions on CSP and to reappraise its clinical utility in daily practice. We performed a literature search using the term “cutaneous silent period.” The search included all articles published in English in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE databases until October 2018. We have analyzed all articles covering CSP to collect the work on physiological conditions such as temperature, recording site, stimulus intensity, nonpharmacological interventions, and different medications or pathological conditions. Temperature, gender, recording site, stimulus duration, and stimulus intensity affect the parameters related to CSP. CSP onset latency is mainly affected by interventions affecting A-delta fibers. CSP shows changes in entrapment neuropathies and polyneuropathies. CSP is mainly mediated by A-delta fibers with contribution of large-diameter fibers. It is a spinal inhibitory response. It should be recorded under optimum temperature. Its clinical use in the diagnosis or assessment of neuropathic pain is limited. It is sometimes used to show functions of A-delta fibers.
The Association of Serum Clusterin Levels and Clusterin Rs11136000 Polymorphisms with Alzheimer Disease in a Turkish Cohort
Authors: Guven Gamze , Ozer Ebru , Bilgic Basar , Hanagasi Hasmet , Gurvit Hakan , Lohmann Ebba , Erginel-Unaltuna Nihan
Published: September 2020

Objectives:

Several large-scale genome association studies have shown that variants in the “Clusterin”' (CLU) gene are important risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has also been shown that plasma CLU levels were elevated in patients with AD and associated with disease severity and progression. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the CLU rs11136000 polymorphism was associated with AD in our cohort of Turkish patients. We also evaluated the association of serum CLU levels and rs11136000 genotypes between patients and controls.

Materials and Methods:

Genotyping was performed in 327 patients who were diagnosed as having AD (mean age: 67.2 ± 10.8 years) and 344 controls (mean age: 57.7 ± 13.1 years). The rs11136000 genotypes were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction with hydrolysis probes. Serum CLU levels were assessed in 25 patients with AD and 10 controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results:

Our results showed no significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of CLU rs11136000 polymorphisms between patients with AD and controls. Serum CLU levels in patients with AD did not differ from those of the controls. Furthermore, serum CLU levels showed no major difference between carriers of CC and TT + CT genotypes in the controls and patients with AD.

Conclusion:

Our results suggest that the CLU rs11136000 polymorphism is not associated with AD in our Turkish patients, and rs11136000 genotypes may not have an effect on serum CLU levels.
Ultrastructural changes in the underactive bladder
Authors: Ho Han-Chen , Hsu Yung-Hsiang , Jhang Jia-Fong , Jiang Yuan-Hong , Kuo Hann-Chorng
Published: September 2020

Underactive bladder (UAB) is a symptom complex suggestive of detrusor underactivity (DU). Although it implies a primary dysfunction of the detrusor muscle, many other conditions such as advanced age, neurogenic factors, and bladder outlet obstruction also lead to UAB. The current understanding of the pathophysiology directly leading to UAB is limited. We believe that by identifying the morphological changes associated with UAB might shed light on this. Therefore, we searched literature with keywords of electron microscopy, ultrastructure, UAB, and DU to review current ultrastructural evidence concerning UAB.
Analysis of Cyclic Variation Using Time-Resolved Tomographic Particle-Image Velocimetry
Authors: Braun Marco , Klaas Michael , Schröder Wolfgang
Published: September 2020

To achieve the strict legislative restrictions for emissions from combustion engines, vast improvements in engine emissions and efficiency are required. Two major impacting factors for emissions and efficiency are the reliable generation of an effective mixture before ignition and a fast, stable combustion process. While the mixture of air and injected fuel is generated by highly three-dimensional, time-dependent flow phenomena during the intake and compression stroke, the turbulent flame propagation is directly affected by the turbulence level in the flow close to the advancing flame front. However, the flow field in the combustion chamber is highly turbulent and subject to cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV). To understand the fundamental mechanisms and interactions, 3D flow measurements with combined high spatial and temporal resolution are required. Furthermore, most studies utilize velocity decompositions based on the standard Reynolds decomposition that yields a mean flow velocity and a fluctuation velocity, which comprises of fluctuations from CCV and turbulence. Therefore, time-resolved tomographic PIV measurements are coupled with a triple-velocity decomposition method based on a multiple-snapshot POD to investigate in-cylinder velocity fluctuations from cyclic variability. The method is extensively discussed and the most important steps are highlighted by examples. The results illustrate that the method yields valid findings, which allow a comparison of the impact of CCV between two parameter sets or between engine cycles.
LNG Fuel Differentiation: DME/LNG Blends for HPDI Engines
Authors: Kofod Max , Sleeswijk Visser Fenna , Bosma Paul , van Erp M.P.W. , MacDonald Stuart , Thierry Sebastiaan , Gersen Sander , Essen Martijn Van , Dijk Gerco van
Published: September 2020

With increased awareness and scrutiny of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the heavy-duty truck industry is on the lookout for solutions that can maximize GHG savings, through either lowering fuel consumption and lowering methane slip. This paper focuses on whether it is possible to provide a differentiated Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) that supports the further improvement of a High-Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) Engine. Desired improvements from this LNG blend are the lowering or substitution of the pilot Diesel use of the current HPDI engine, the lowering of the raw exhaust gas methane concentration and any additional performance improvements. Sixty-five substances were identified that could potentially be blended into cryogenic methane thus creating a differentiated LNG fuel. This paper goes through the process of additive selection and then focuses primarily on the results for using Dimethyl Ether (DME) as an LNG component, one of the candidate substances, but also showcases some of the other potential additives.

To study the autoignition properties of DME/LNG blends, autoignition delay times were simulated and then measured in a Rapid Compression Machine at engine conditions. The results were used to optimize the chemical mechanism that is used as input into a High-Pressure Direct Injection engine model. It was found that more than 5 vol% DME is required to reach a significant reduction in the autoignition delay time at typical operating conditions. The engine modelling results were also used to determine the initial conditions for HDPI engine tests using a modified 15L-Westport engine.

These engine tests showed that an LNG/DME blend could potentially be used to develop a mono-fuel HPDI engine. However, it was found that although the mono-fuel concept works for high load conditions with the existing HPDI engine, further research is needed to enable stable combustion at lower loads and idling while keeping DME proportions at levels that could be dissolved in LNG. It was also found that higher proportions of DME in the LNG could lead to a reduction of the methane slip.
Closed Loop Control of the Combustion Phase in SI Engines Using Alternative Fuels
Authors: Aengeby Jakob
Published: September 2020

Combustion engines using alternative and/or renewable fuels are vital to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. The property of such fuels may vary significantly. The heat release rate of bio and natural gas varies of natural reasons, which is known to cause problems when used in internal combustion engines. Hydrogen is an attractive renewable fuel that has a high potential to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Bio and natural gas can be mixed with hydrogen and the content may vary depending on the availability, e.g., depending on the production from solar and wind power. Variations in the fuel property reduces the engine efficiency, unless the combustion phase is estimated and the ignition (combustion) timing is adapted to compensate for the varying fuel property. Hereby the drivability can be improved, and the fuel consumption decreased significantly, reducing the total cost of ownership and emission of greenhouse gases. However, there is not yet any widespread industrially available technique to estimate the combustion phase. In-cylinder pressure measurement is not a practical solution due to cost and life-time issues. Here, a strategy for ion current measurement signal processing is proposed as a viable alternative to in cylinder pressure sensors by estimating the peak pressure location (PPL) from the ion current. The PPL estimate meets the robustness requirements of industrial applications. The approach is described and evaluated on engine measurements. The results show that ion sense can be used for PPL estimation and the standard deviation from one estimate to another is in the order of 1-2 CAD, which can be further reduced by averaging. The PPL estimates can be used in a closed control loop to compensate the ignition timing when the fuel property varies - saving cost and reducing greenhouse gas emission.
A Combined Markov Chain and Reinforcement Learning Approach for Powertrain-Specific Driving Cycle Generation
Authors: Dietrich Maximilian , Chen Xi , Sarkar Mouktik
Published: September 2020

Driving cycles are valuable tools for emissions calibration at engine and powertrain test beds. While generic velocity profiles were sufficient in the past, legislative changes and increasing complexity of powertrain and exhaust aftertreatment systems require a new approach: Realistically transient cycles - which include critical driving maneuvers and can be tailored to a specific powertrain configuration - are needed to optimize the emission behavior of the said powertrain.

For the generation of realistic velocity profiles, the Markov chain approach has been widely used and described in literature. However, this approach, so far, has only been used to generate cycles that are statistically representative of a large database of real driving trips, which is typically not available during the early stages of development of a new powertrain.

The work at hand combines a Markov chain approach for driving cycle generation with Q-learning - a reinforcement learning algorithm - to generate driving cycles that meet user-defined criteria and include critical driving maneuvers reflecting individual powertrain development targets.

Using simplified models of the powertrain, vehicle and driver and an iterative process, the generated driving cycles are evaluated regarding the fulfillment of the set criteria. The learning algorithm then adapts the Markov chain transition probability matrix to increase the occurrence of the desired critical driving maneuvers and reduce the share of undesired stochastic elements.

Exemplary results show that the proposed method is indeed able to generate driving cycles with certain realistic properties that include the desired maneuvers with the expected statistical variance.
Bazı Cin Darı (Seteria italica (L.) P. Beauv) Genotiplerinin Çukurova Koşullarında Agro-Morfolojik ve Ot Kalite Özellikleri
Authors: Zeyni DAĞTEKİN  , Rüştü HATİPOĞLU  , Celal YÜCEL
Published: September 2020

Bu araştırma Uluslararası Yarı Kurak Tropik Bölge Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü’nden (ICRISAT) temin edilen cin darısı (Seteria italica (L.) P.Beauv) türüne ait 11 genotipin Çukurova koşullarındaki performanslarını belirlemek amacıyla 2017 yılı yetiştirme mevsiminde yürütülmüştür. Cin darısı genotipleri sıra arası 25 cm, sıra üzeri 10 cm olacak şekilde 5 m uzunluğundaki sıralara birer sıra halinde ekilmiştir. Araştırmada cin darısı genotiplerinde; % 50 çiçeklenmeye erişme süresi, bitki boyu (cm), kardeş sayısı /bitki, yaprak sayısı/ana sap, yeşil ot verimi/bitki, kuru ot verimi/bitki, yaprak oranı (%), kuru maddede ham protein oranı (%), ADF oranı (%), NDF oranı (%) , fosfor oranı (%), kalsiyum oranı (%), magnezyum oranı (%) ve potasyum oranı (%) incelenmiştir. İncelenen cin darısı genotiplerinde % 50 çiçeklenmeye erişme süresinin 47-105 gün, bitki boyunun 92.8-176 cm, bitki başına kardeş sayısının 7.6-40.4 adet, ana sapta yaprak sayısının 10-20.6 adet, yeşil ot veriminin 279.8-662.2 gr, kuru ot veriminin 84.6-164.4 gr, yaprak oranın % 12.7-41.5, ham protein oranının % 10.5-14.3, ADF oranının % 38.8-49.8, NDF oranının % 74.9-85.6, P oranının % 0.363-0.434, Ca oranının % 0.109-0.407, Mg oranının % 0.067-0.256 ve K oranının % 4.144 -4.664 arasında değiştiği saptanmıştır.
EFFECT OF SUCCESSION PLANNING ON ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH
Authors: Zafar Ammad , Khawaja Hummayun Akhtar Ghazal
Published: September 2020

In today’s modern world, globalization has increased competition among the organizations. In order to meet competition every organization require high skilled work force. Organizations are becoming more dependent on skilled work force. Increase in competition has also been increasing the stress on employees that is causing hi gh turnover in organization. Increase in employee turnover and unavailability of skilled work force has an indispensable question on the future growth of organizations. Every organization has two ways to tackle this situation either to hire person for the vacant key position from outside or to promote employee within the organization. The Study aims to analyze the impact of succession planning on organizational growth and association of gender variation with growth of organization. A survey of 300 persons doing an official task under the management, were interviewed through questionnaire based on five points Likert scale and developed through pilot study. Convenience sampling was used to draw the sample including 150 males and 150 females. Logistic regression was used to calculate impact of succession planning on organizational growth. Result of the study reveals effective succession plan can help the organization to meet desire objectives. It has significant positive impact of 2.5 times on growth of organization by increasing number employees through accurate hiring and by retaining key personnel on key position. Study also concludes, gender variation has no association with growth of organization.
TRANSITION IN RURAL ECONOMY: AN EMPLOYMENT PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Kumar Mukesh , Begam Azeema , Noman Nargis
Published: September 2020

The process of transition in rural economy has been observed with the deepest and fastest structural transformation from farm to non-farm sector in Pakistan. The structure and composition of labour market is also undergoing such considerable changes due to increasing share of the non-farm sector. Given this insight, the study assesses the change in rural economy particularly relying on population and migration trend and employment transition. The descriptive analysis of the study reveals that thereis declining trend in migration from rural to urban areas with a considerable transition in employment from farm to non-farm sectors. The factor analysis points out the fact that push incentives of the farm sector are stronger than the pull incentives of the nonfarm sector for the movement of labour away from the farm sector in Pakistan. Hence, an immense focus is required for the farm sector in the lieu of employment opportunity while creating more diversification in non-farm activities in rural areas. Thus, there is also a dire need to enhance occupational activities such as agro-based processing, new farming practices, livestock, small scale manufacturing, retail trade, construction etc. to enhance the earnings of labour in the rural economy.
Design of Microcontroller Based Injector Test Kit
Authors: Hidayat Rahmat , Putra Dwi Sudarno , Basri Irma Yulia
Published: September 2020

Automotive technology is growing very rapidly. one of the conventional fuel intake systems to the injection system. where is the fuel intake by the ECU based on engine conditions detected by electronic sensors. The injection will work optimally if the injector that is working is not blocked or has problems, the injector determines the smoothness of the injection system. If the injector's performance is less than optimal, the injection system is not optimal and the engine performance is disrupted. To maintain the injector before working optimally, routine cleaning of the injector is carried out, the problem is the scarcity of the injector test equipment encountered in the field because of the high cost of the equipment, therefore the researchers innovated the design of the injector test equipment using EFI fuel system capable of handling problematic injector problems and the scarcity of this tool in the field.
The Effect of Air Ionizers Installation on Motorcycle Performance
Authors: Zikri Afdhal , Martias Martias , Sugiarto Toto
Published: September 2020

An air ionizer device can produce negative ion which ionizes the air, can be used for engine air induction system for improving the quality of fuel mixture that increase the engine output of power & torque. Test is done by using a dynamometer by comparing power & torque with installed air ionizer active and inactive. Data analysis technique using descriptive analysis of formula ttest with 5% of significant level. The t test results showed a significant increase in maximum power under active air ionizer conditions (tcount 5,128> ttable 4,303) with a significant level of 5%, increase 0.8 HP or 11.7% of inactive air ionizer with a value 7.2 HP to 8.0 HP. Meanwhile, the maximum torque shows an insignificant increase (tcount = 0.929 <ttable = 4,303) with a significant level of 5%, increase 0.5 Nm or 6.9% of inactive air ionizer with a value of 7.24 Nm to 7, 74 Nm.
Numerical Analysis of Fluid Flow on Wall Cylinder Circular with K-ε Modeling for a High Reynolds Rate
Authors: Setiawan M. Yasep , Purwanto Wawan , Afnison Wanda , Hidayat Nuzul
Published: September 2020

This study discusses the numerical study of two-dimensional analysis of flow through circular cylinders. The original physical information entered in the equation governing most of the modeling is transferred into a numerical solution. Fluid flow on two-dimensional circular cylinder wall using high Reynolds k-ε modeling (Re = 106), Here we will do 3 modeling first oder upwind, second order upwind and third order MUSCL by using k-ε standard.  The general procedure for this research is formulated in detail for allocations in the dynamic analysis of fluid computing. The results of this study suggest that MUSCL's third order modeling gives more accurate results better than other models.
The Wireless Acquisition Data System Simulator Design on Automatic Weather Monitoring Station
Authors: Aminah Siti , Mulyadi Asep Deni , Erdani Yuliadi
Published: September 2020

The Wireless Acquisition Data System Simulator Design on Automatic Weather Monitoring Station is means of collecting, monitoring, and controlling some long distance subsystems. Automatic weather monitoring station is device for receiving data by a censor in use to gauge some weather parameters. In this Research we develop an automatic weather monitoring station design simulator by creating a subsystem in the form of prototype, using Digital Pin and Analog Pin from the microcontroller. Sensor characteristics are considered to measure several weather parameters. The principles of a system function are it will have to collect data from some subsystems to accommodate in a database, able to control and deliver instructions to the subsystem. The communication system makes the use of radio frequency by means of Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) method through Handy Talky (HT), picked out because advantages of lower power consumptions and long range of transmission. Additional advantages are, although catastrophes, data communication using HT allows to keep fast transmission. The transmission of data using HT media require a signal converter by which HT is operated by analogue signal (sound), while censor and microcontroller by digital signal and, therefore, Modulation and Demodulation techniques are necessary. The Modulation functions to convert digital signal into analogue, and just the opposite to the Demodulation, the Modulation and Demodulation processes  is using IC TCM3105. The results of the trial suggest that system design has proper functions, the communication process in this system is two-ways communication, the process was fast working in either transmitter mode or receiver mode.