bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measures of stored red blood cell quality
Authors: Hess J. R.
Published: January 2014

Blood banking underpins modern medical care, but blood storage, necessary for testing and inventory management, reduces the safety and efficacy of individual units of red blood cells (RBCs). Stored RBCs are damaged by the accumulation of their own waste products, by enzymatic and oxidative injury, and by metabolically programmed cell death. These chemical activities lead to a complex RBC storage lesion that includes haemolysis, reduced in vivo recovery, energy and membrane loss, altered oxygen release, reduced adenosine tri‐phosphate and nitric oxide secretion, and shedding of toxic products. These toxic products include lysophospholipids that can cause transfusion‐related acute lung injury, free iron that can potentiate infections and cause inflammation, and shed microvesicles that can scavenge nitric oxide and potentiate inflammation and thrombosis. However, most of the obvious negative outcomes of RBC storage are uncommon and appear to be related to exceptionally bad units. Generally, the quality of stored RBCs is highly related to the conditions of storage, so refrigerator temperature, intact bags, residual leucocyte counts and visible haemolysis remain excellent general measures. Specific biochemical measures, such as adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) and 2,3‐diphosphoglycerate (DPG) concentrations, calcium and potassium content or lipid breakdown products, require specialized measures that are not widely available, involve destructive testing and generally reflect only a part of the storage lesion. This review describes a number of components of the storage lesion and their measurement and attempts to access the utility of the measures.
EFFECTS OF STIFLE FLEXION ANGLE AND SCAN PLANE ON VISIBILITY OF THE NORMAL CANINE CRANIAL CRUCIATE LIGAMENT USING LOW‐FIELD MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
Authors: Podadera Juan , Gavin Patrick , Saveraid Travis , Hall Evelyn , Chau Jennifer , Makara Mariano
Published: January 2014

Low‐field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used to evaluate dogs with suspected cranial cruciate ligament injury; however, effects of stifle positioning and scan plane on visualization of the ligament are incompletely understood. Six stifle joints (one pilot, five test) were collected from dogs that were scheduled for euthanasia due to reasons unrelated to the stifle joint. Each stifle joint was scanned in three angles of flexion (90°, 135°, 145°) and eight scan planes (three dorsal, three axial, two sagittal), using the same low‐field MRI scanner and T2‐weighted fast spin echo scan protocol. Two experienced observers who were unaware of scan technique independently scored visualization of the cranial cruciate ligament in each scan using a scale of 0–3. Visualization score rank sums were higher when the stifle was flexed at 90° compared to 145°, regardless of the scan plane. Visualization scores for the cranial cruciate ligament in the dorsal (H (2) = 19.620,P= 0.000), axial (H (2) = 14.633,P= 0.001), and sagittal (H (2) = 8.143,P= 0.017) planes were significantly affected by the angle of stifle flexion. Post hoc analysis showed that the ligament was best visualized at 90° compared to 145° in the dorsal (Z= −3.906,P= 0.000), axial (Z= −3.398,P= 0.001), and sagittal (Z= −2.530,P= 0.011) planes. Findings supported the use of a 90° flexed stifle position for maximizing visualization of the cranial cruciate ligament using low‐field MRI in dogs.
Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) model for three type imperfect items with rework and learning in setup
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Arindum , Goswami Adrijit
Published: January 2014

Imperfect quality Items are unavoidable in an Inventory system due to imperfect productionprocess, natural disasters, damages, or many other reasons. The setup cost and production cycletime can be related in terms of process deterioration and learning and forgetting effects. Learningreduces production run length and setup cost, whereas deterioration and forgetting increases both.Keeping these facts in mind, this paper investigates an Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) modelwith imperfect quality items with varying set-up costs. Mathematical model and solution proceduresare developed with major insight to its charecteristics. Numerical example and sensitivity analysisare provided to illustrate and analyze the model performance. It is observed that our model has asignificant impacts on the optimal lot size and optimal profit of the model.Classication: 90B05
Synthesis and deposition of metal nanoparticles by gas condensation process
Authors: Maicu Marina , Schmittgens Ralph , Hecker Dominic , Glöß Daniel , Frach Peter , Gerlach Gerald
Published: January 2014

In this work, the synthesis of Pt and Ag nanoparticles by means of the inert gas phase condensation of sputtered atomic vapor is presented. The process parameters (power, sputtering time, and gas flow) were varied in order to study the relationship between deposition conditions and properties of the nanoparticles such as their quantity, size, and size distribution. Moreover, the gas phase condensation process can be combined with a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition procedure in order to deposit nanocomposite coatings consisting of metallic nanoparticles embedded in a thin film matrix material. Selected examples of application of the generated nanoparticles and nanocomposites are discussed.
Growth of FePt encapsulated carbon nanotubes by thermal chemical vapor deposition
Authors: Fujiwara Yuji , Kaneko Tetsuya , Hori Kenta , Takase Sho , Sato Hideki , Maeda Kohji , Kobayashi Tadashi , Kato Takeshi , Iwata Satoshi , Jimbo Mutsuko
Published: January 2014

FePt encapsulated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown by thermal chemical vapor deposition using an Fe/Pt bilayer catalyst. The CNTs were grown according to the base growth model. Selected area electron diffraction results revealed that the encapsulated particles were A1-FePt, L10-FePt, and Fe3PtC. The crystal structures of particles found at the root parts of CNTs were not able to be identified, however. The layered structure of catalytic films seemed to be responsible for the difference in Pt content between particles found at tip and root parts of CNTs. Approximately 60% of CNTs grown at 800 °C had particles at their tip parts, compared to only 30% when the growth temperature was 700 °C, indicating that higher process temperatures promote particle encapsulation in CNTs.
Closed-cycle cooling of cryopanels in molecular beam epitaxy
Authors: Lewis Ryan B. , Bahrami-Yekta Vahid , Patel Medhaj J. , Tiedje Thomas , Masnadi-Shirazi Mostafa
Published: January 2014

Closed-cycle cooling of the cryoshroud in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system with a dimethyl polysiloxane heat transfer fluid has reduced liquid nitrogen consumption by an order of magnitude, significantly lowering operating costs. The temperature dependence of cryopanel pumping efficacy in the MBE system has been investigated. H2O, CO, CO2, and As4 are all pumped effectively by liquid nitrogen cooled cryopanels (−196 °C) in the MBE. At −78 °C, the operating temperature of the closed-cycle chiller, H2O and As4 are pumped effectively, while CO and CO2 are not. The pumping speed for H2O is found to increase exponentially with decreasing temperature. Below ∼−40 °C and ∼−95 °C, the pumping speeds for As4 and H2O saturate, respectively. AlGaAs layers grown with the closed-cycle-cooled shroud show strong photoluminescence, expected room temperature electron mobility, and background doping levels less than 4 × 1015 cm−3.
Stability of amorphous InAlZnO thin-film transistors
Authors: Zhang Jie , Lu Jianguo , Jiang Qingjun , Lu Bin , Pan Xinhua , Chen Lingxiang , Ye Zhizhen , Li Xifeng , Guo Peijun , Zhou Nanjia
Published: January 2014

The stability of thin-film transistors (TFTs) with amorphous InAlZnO (a-IAZO) thin films as the channel layers was investigated. The devices annealed at 300 °C had a large threshold voltage (Vth) shift under gate voltage sweep, while the devices annealed at 400 °C were quite stable. The S value of the transfer characteristic curve was effectively reduced after 400 °C annealing as compared to 300 °C annealing. X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy results also showed oxygen deficiencies decreased as the annealing temperature increased. The improvement of TFTs stability might attribute to the reduction of trap states related to oxygen deficiencies. The 400 °C annealed a-IAZO TFTs exhibited small positive shift of threshold voltages under bias stress conditions, suggesting the a-IAZO might be a promising candidate for application in TFTs.
Transfer free suspended graphene devices on silicon using electrodeposited copper
Authors: Krishna Bharadwaj B. , Pratap Rudra , Raghavan Srinivasan
Published: January 2014

Transfer free processes using Cu films greatly simplify the fabrication of reliable suspended graphene devices. In this paper, the authors report on the use of electrodeposited Cu films on Si for transfer free fabrication of suspended graphene devices. The quality of graphene layers on optimized electrodeposited Cu and Cu foil are found to be the same. By selectively etching the underlying Cu, the authors have realized by a transfer free process metal contacted, suspended graphene beams up to 50 μm in length directly on Si. The suspended graphene beams do not show any increase in defect levels over the as grown state indicating the efficiency of the transfer free process. Measured room temperature electronic mobilities of up to 5200 cm2/V·s show that this simpler and CMOS compatible route has the potential to replace the foil based route for such suspended nano and micro electromechanical device arrays.
Quantification of beam complexity in intensity‐modulated radiation therapy treatment plans
Authors: Du Weiliang , Cho Sang Hyun , Zhang Xiaodong , Hoffman Karen E. , Kudchadker Rajat J.
Published: January 2014

Purpose:

Excessive complexity in intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans increases the dose uncertainty, prolongs the treatment time, and increases the susceptibility to changes in patient or target geometry. To date, the tools for quantitative assessment of IMRT beam complexity are still lacking. In this study, The authors have sought to develop metrics to characterize different aspects of beam complexity and investigate the beam complexity for IMRT plans of different disease sites.

Methods:

The authors evaluated the beam complexity scores for 65 step‐and‐shoot IMRT plans from three sites (prostate, head and neck, and spine) and 26 volumetric‐modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans for the prostate. On the basis of the beam apertures and monitor unit weights of all segments, the authors calculated the mean aperture area, extent of aperture shape irregularity, and degree of beam modulation for each beam. Then the beam complexity values were averaged to obtain the complexity metrics of the IMRT plans. The authors studied the correlation between the beam complexity metrics and the quality assurance (QA) results. Finally, the effects of treatment planning parameters on beam complexity were studied.

Results:

The beam complexity scores were not uniform among the prostate IMRT beams from different gantry angles. The lateral beams had larger monitor units and smaller shape irregularity, while the anterior‐posterior beams had larger modulation values. On average, the prostate IMRT plans had the smallest aperture irregularity, beam modulation, and normalized monitor units; the head and neck IMRT plans had large beam irregularity and beam modulation; and the spine stereotactic radiation therapy plans often had small beam apertures, which may have been associated with the relatively large discrepancies between planned and QA measured doses. There were weak correlations between the beam complexity scores and the measured dose errors. The prostate VMAT beams showed greater complexity than the prostate step‐and‐shoot IMRT beams. In the treatment planning process, the beam complexity increased as the minimum segment area decreased and as the number of optimization iterations and the maximum number of segments increased.

Conclusions:

The proposed metrics were effective in characterizing the beam complexity of different disease sites and for different treatment modalities. Efforts should be made to reduce the unnecessary complexity of IMRT beams to minimize the radiation dose uncertainties.
Effects and Underlying Processes of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention With Young Elite Figure Skaters: Two Case Studies
Authors: Bernier Marjorie , Thienot Emilie , Pelosse Emilie , Fournier Jean F.
Published: January 2014

This article examines the effects and underlying processes of a mindfulness-based intervention through two case studies. A one-season intervention designed according to the mindfulness approach was implemented with young elite figure skaters. Case studies were complemented with different measurement methods: a questionnaire assessing mindfulness skills, percent improvement on competition scores compared with a control group, and interviews with skaters and coaches during the intervention. The two case studies presented demonstrate how the young skaters developed their mindfulness skills and how these skills benefited their performance. They also show the limitations of this intervention type in young populations. Performance improvement and processes underlying the intervention are discussed in light of the results, and new perspectives are provided for adapting them to the particular needs of young athletes.
Well-Being in Elite Sport: Dimensions of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being Among Elite Orienteers
Authors: Lundqvist Carolina , Sandin Fredrik
Published: January 2014

This study examined subjective (SWB), psychological (PWB) and social well-being (Social WB) at a global and sport contextual level among ten elite orienteers (6 women and 4 men, median age = 20.4, range 18–30) by employing semistructured interviews. Athletes described SWB as an interplay of satisfaction with life, sport experiences and perceived health combined with experienced enjoyment and happiness in both ordinary life and sport. SWB and PWB interacted, and important psychological functioning among the elite athletes included, among other things, abilities to adopt value-driven behaviors, be part of functional relationships, and to self-regulate one’s autonomy. The ability to organize and combine ordinary life with elite sport, and the use of strategies to protect the self during setbacks was also emphasized. For a comprehensive theoretical understanding of well-being applicable to elite athletes, the need for a holistic view considering both global and sport-specific aspects of WB is discussed.
Selling America's Fossil Record
Authors: Pringle Heather
Published: January 2014

Paleontologists fear that a growing commercial fossil industry is swallowing up U.S. fossils and the data they hold.
Giving Leptin a Second Chance
Authors: Jastreboff Ania M.
Published: January 2014

GLP-1/glucagon co-agonist may help restore leptin responsiveness in diet-induced-obese mice that remain on a high-fat diet.
A Metabolic Relic
Authors: Voight Benjamin F.
Published: January 2014

A risk haplotype common among Mexican and Latin American people implicates triacylglycerol metabolism in susceptibility to type 2 diabetes.
Ecological Succession and Stochastic Variation in the Assembly of Arabidopsis thaliana Phyllosphere Communities
Authors: Maignien Loïs , DeForce Emelia A. , Chafee Meghan E. , Eren A. Murat , Simmons Sheri L.
Published: January 2014

Bacteria living on the aerial parts of plants (the phyllosphere) are globally abundant and ecologically significant communities and can have significant effects on their plant hosts. Despite their importance, little is known about the ecological processes that drive phyllosphere dynamics. Here, we describe the development of phyllosphere bacterial communities over time on the model plant
Arabidopsis thaliana
in a controlled greenhouse environment. We used a large number of replicate plants to identify repeatable dynamics in phyllosphere community assembly and reconstructed assembly history by measuring the composition of the airborne community immigrating to plant leaves. We used more than 260,000 sequences from the v5v6 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene to characterize bacterial community structure on 32 plant and 21 air samples over 73 days. We observed strong, reproducible successional dynamics: phyllosphere communities initially mirrored airborne communities and subsequently converged to a distinct community composition. While the presence or absence of particular taxa in the phyllosphere was conserved across replicates, suggesting strong selection for community composition, the relative abundance of these taxa was highly variable and related to the spatial association of individual plants. Our results suggest that stochastic events in early colonization, coupled with dispersal limitation, generated alternate trajectories of bacterial community assembly within the context of deterministic selection for community membership.

IMPORTANCE
Commensal bacteria associated with plants help protect their hosts against infection and promote growth. Bacteria associated with plant leaves (the “phyllosphere”) are highly abundant and diverse communities, but we have very limited information about their ecology. Here, we describe the formation of phyllosphere communities on the plant model organism
Arabidopsis thaliana
. We grew a large number of plants in a greenhouse and measured bacterial diversity in the phyllosphere throughout the
Arabidopsis
life cycle. We also measured the diversity of airborne microbes landing on leaves. Our findings show that plants develop distinctive phyllosphere bacterial communities drawn from low-abundance air populations, suggesting the plant environment is favorable for particular organisms and not others. However, we also found that the relative abundances of bacteria in the phyllosphere are determined primarily by the physical proximity of individual plants. This suggests that a mixture of selective and random forces shapes phyllosphere communities.
Plummer-Vinson syndrome with pectus carinatum mitral valve prolapsus and exotropia in an 18-year-old boy
Authors: Sahin Cem , Ozseker Burak , Rencuzogullari Ibrahim , Zeybek Arife
Published: January 2014

The Plummer-Vinson syndrome is a clinical syndrome characterised by dysphagia, web or webs in upper oesophagus and iron-deficiency anaemia. The syndrome is often seen in women of age 40–70 years and rarely in adolescents. Plummer-Vinson syndrome might be associated with malignancy, myeloproliferative disorder and autoimmune diseases including coeliac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren syndrome. However, according to our literature search, there are no reports of such case associated with thorax deformity, cardiac pathology and ocular findings. We present a case of an 18-year-old boy with a rare presentation of this syndrome including pectus carinatum, exotropia and mitral valve prolapsus.
Delayed compartment syndrome of leg and foot due to rupture of popliteal artery pseudoaneurysm following posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
Authors: Shahrulazua Ahmad , Rafedon Mahidon , Mohd Nizlan Mohd Nasir , Sullivan James Anthony
Published: January 2014

Arthroscopic posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction carries some risk of complications, including injury to the neurovascular structures at the popliteal region. We describe a delayed presentation of the right leg and foot compartment syndrome following rupture of popliteal artery pseudoaneurysm, which presented 9 days after an arthroscopic transtibial PCL reconstructive surgery. Fasciotomy, surgical exploration, repair of an injured popliteal vein and revascularisation of the popliteal artery with autogenous great saphenous vein interposition graft were performed. Owing to the close proximity of vessels to the tibial tunnel, special care should be taken in patients who undergo arthroscopic PCL reconstruction, especially if there is extensive scarring of the posterior capsule following previous injury. Emergency fasciotomy should not be delayed and is justified when the diagnosis of compartment syndrome is clinically made.
Something old, something new: revisiting natural products in antibiotic drug discovery
Authors: Wright Gerard D.
Published: January 2014

Antibiotic discovery is in crisis. Despite a growing need for new drugs resulting from the increasing number of multi-antibiotic-resistant pathogens, there have been only a handful of new antibiotics approved for clinical use in the past 2 decades. Faced with scientific, economic, and regulatory challenges, the pharmaceutical sector seems unable to respond to what has been called an “apocalyptic” threat. Natural products produced by bacteria and fungi are genetically encoded products of natural selection that have been the mainstay sources of the antibiotics in current clinical use. The pharmaceutical industry has largely abandoned these compounds in favor of large libraries of synthetic molecules because of difficulties in identifying new natural product antibiotics scaffolds. Advances in next-generation genome sequencing, bioinformatics, and analytical chemistry are combining to overcome barriers to natural products. Coupled with new strategies in antibiotic discovery, including inhibition of resistance, novel drug combinations, and new targets, natural products are poised for a renaissance to address what is a pressing health care crisis.
The role of biasing electric field in intrinsic resistive switching characteristics of highly silicon-rich a-SiOx films
Authors: Wang Yuefei , Chen Kunji , Qian Xinye , Fang Zhonghui , Li Wei , Xu Jun
Published: January 2014

The resistive switching behaviors are investigated in highly silicon-rich SiOx (x = 0.73) films, which are deposited using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. For the Pt/SiO0.73/Pt structures, after the forming process the reset voltages (∼0.7 V) are lower than the set voltages (∼1.7 V). The metal-free structures N+-Si/SiO0.73/N++-Si/Pt show almost the same switching behaviors as those of Pt/SiO0.73/Pt structures, demonstrating an intrinsic resistive switching mechanism. We use the silicon dangling bonds (Si-DBs) percolation model to explain this. It is based on the biasing electric field decreasing the bond strength and leading to the breakage of Si–O bonds in SiOx films. Consequently the new Si-DBs are created and will contribute to form the dangling bonds percolation path. The temperature dependence of forming voltages is investigated. The forming voltages show no obvious changes and the forming process will occur as soon as the sweeping voltage reaches ∼10.5 V, even if the temperature decreases to 5.5 K. It indicates that the electric field plays an important role during the forming processes. Moreover, through the analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron spin resonance signals, it can be concluded that the •Si≡Si3 and •Si≡Si2O DBs centers are the main components in Si-DBs percolation path of SiO0.73 films.
Effect of annealing on carrier concentration in Ge2Sb2Te5 films
Authors: Gotoh Tamihiro
Published: January 2014

Carrier concentration of phase change materials is a critical parameter that determines electrical resistivity in amorphous and crystalline states. To obtain insights into carrier concentration of amorphous and face centered cubic (fcc) crystalline Ge2Sb2Te5, the Seebeck coefficients of as-deposited and thermal annealed Ge2Sb2Te5 films were evaluated from thermopower measurements. All the samples show p-type conduction. The Seebeck coefficients of amorphous and fcc crystalline phase were +0.89 and +0.028 mV/K, which correspond to carrier concentrations of ∼1016 and ∼1020 cm−3, respectively. Carrier mobility was also estimated to be in the range 0.02–0.6 cm2/Vs in both amorphous and fcc crystalline phases. High contrast in electrical resistivity between amorphous and fcc crystalline Ge2Sb2Te5 is originated from the difference of carrier concentration.
Investigation of metastability and instability effects on the minority carrier transport properties of microcrystalline silicon thin films by using the steady-state photocarrier grating technique
Authors: Cansever Hamza , Günes Mehmet , Yilmaz Gökhan , Sagban H. Muzaffer , Smirnov Vladimir , Finger Friedhelm , Brüggemann Rudolf
Published: January 2014

Metastability effects in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin films due to air, high purity nitrogen, helium, argon, and oxygen were investigated using temperature-dependent dark conductivity, photoconductivity, and steady-state photocarrier grating methods. It was found that short-term air, nitrogen, and inert gases caused a small reversible increase of σDark and σphoto within a factor of two, but they did not affect the minority carrier μτ-products significantly. These changes are partially reduced by vacuum treatment and completely reduced after heat treatment at 430 K. However, oxygen gas treatment at 80 °C resulted in more than an order of magnitude increase in both σDark and σphoto and an increase in the diffusion length, LD, by 50% from that of the annealed-state value in highly crystalline samples, while no significant metastability is detected in amorphous and low crystalline silicon thin films. A following heat treatment partially recovers both σDark and σphoto to their annealed-state values, while LD decreases only slightly. Such increase in the LD values could be due to a decrease in the density of recombination centers for holes below the Fermi level, which may be related to passivation of defects by oxygen on the surface of crystalline grains.
EFFECT OF THE ELECTRON SPIN-RELAXATION ON OPTICAL BISTABILITY VIA THE HEAVY-HOLE AND THE LIGHT-HOLE
Authors: JABERI M. , SOLEIMANI H. RAHIMPOUR , FARAHBOD A. H.
Published: January 2014

In this paper, the influence of the spin-relaxation on the optical bistability via a nonradiative coherence between the heavy-hole and the light-hole in a GaAs quantum well inside a unidirectional ring cavity is studied. In the present theoretical model, spin-relaxation was considered as a source for decoherence and it was found that the spin-relaxation leads to the change of optical bistability behavior, including increase in threshold intensity and hysteresis loop. Furthermore, in the presence of spin-relaxation, the transition from optical bistability to optical multistability can be obtained by tuning the applied field.
RIDGE FREQUENCY ESTIMATION FOR LOW-QUALITY FINGERPRINT IMAGES ENHANCEMENT USING DELAUNAY TRIANGULATION
Authors: LEHTIHET RAJA , EL ORAIBY WAEL , BENMOHAMMED MOHAMMED
Published: January 2014

In this paper, we propose a hybrid computational geometry-gray scale algorithm that enhances fingerprint images greatly. The algorithm extracts the local minima points that are positioned on the ridges of a fingerprint, then, it generates a Delaunay triangulation using these points of interest. This triangulation along with the local orientations give an accurate distance and orientation-based ridge frequency. Finally, a tuned anisotropic filter is locally applied and the enhanced output fingerprint image is obtained. When the algorithm is applied to rejected fingerprint images from FVC2004 DB2 database by the veryfinger application, these images pass and experimental results show that we obtain a low false and missed minutiae rate with an almost uniform distribution over the database. Moreover, the application of the proposed algorithm enables the extraction of features from all low-quality fingerprint images where the equal error rate of verification is decreased from 6.50% to 5% using nondamaged low-quality images in the database.
A NOVEL COMPOSITE RIGHT/LEFT-HANDED TRANSMISSION LINE FOR DUAL-BAND APPLICATIONS
Authors: HUANG LIYU , ZHANG HONGXIN , XU YUANYUAN , HE PENGFEI
Published: January 2014

A composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) composed of a substrate and X-shaped metal patches is proposed and investigated theoretically as well as experimentally. The scattering parameters are investigated both in electromagnetic (EM) simulation and equivalent circuit model simulation, it is found that the structure works as a dual band CRLH-TL having the first right-handed passband and the second balanced CRLH frequency band at the resonant frequencies of 6.27 GHz and 13.45 GHz, respectively. Moreover, the required equations and the dispersion diagram derived from the equivalent circuit model to analyze the proposed CRLH structure give strong support to the interpretation of all EM phenomena. The effect of the equivalent circuit model parameters on the dispersion diagram is investigated. A parallel-plate waveguide (PPW) measurement system is employed to validate the characteristics of the CRLH-TL whose features show that the design of the novel artificial TLs is more flexible and convenient.
COHERENT POPULATION TRANSFER IN V-TYPE ATOMIC SYSTEM
Authors: SHARABY Y. A. , JOSHI A. , HASSAN S. S.
Published: January 2014

In this paper, we investigate numerically the modeled density matrix equations for the interaction of a three-level atomic system in V-configuration with a train of chirped optical n-pulses (up to n = 10) within and without the rotating wave approximation. For adopted data of Rb 87, maximal population transfer to either of the upper levels is achieved with n > 1 pulse via variation of chirp parameter/frequency mismatch of the closely lying upper levels. Optimal steady population transfer and maximum atomic coherence of the upper levels are predicted for non-zero chirp parameter and train of n = 1 - 10, 30 pulses.
Estimation of relative effectiveness of phylogenetic programs by machine learning
Authors: Krivozubov Mikhail , Goebels Florian , Spirin Sergei
Published: January 2014

Reconstruction of phylogeny of a protein family from a sequence alignment can produce results of different quality. Our goal is to predict the quality of phylogeny reconstruction basing on features that can be extracted from the input alignment. We used Fitch–Margoliash (FM) method of phylogeny reconstruction and random forest as a predictor. For training and testing the predictor, alignments of orthologous series (OS) were used, for which the result of phylogeny reconstruction can be evaluated by comparison with trees of corresponding organisms. Our results show that the quality of phylogeny reconstruction can be predicted with more than 80% precision. Also, we tried to predict which phylogeny reconstruction method, FM or UPGMA, is better for a particular alignment. With the used set of features, among alignments for which the obtained predictor predicts a better performance of UPGMA, 56% really give a better result with UPGMA. Taking into account that in our testing set only for 34% alignments UPGMA performs better, this result shows a principal possibility to predict the better phylogeny reconstruction method basing on features of a sequence alignment.
STEADY AND SELF-SIMILAR FULL EULER FLOW
Authors: ROBERTS JOSEPH
Published: January 2014

We consider solutions to the full (non-isentropic) two-dimensional Euler equations that are constant in time and along rays emanating from the origin. We prove that for a polytropic equation of state, entropy admissible solutions in L∞ with non-vanishing velocity, density, and internal energy must be BV. Moreover, we obtain some results concerning the structure of such solutions.
MAXIMUM BALANCED 3-PARTITIONS OF GRAPHS
Authors: LI HAIYAN , XU BAOGANG
Published: January 2014

A k-partition V1, V2, …, Vkof a graph G is said to be balanced if -1 ≤ |Vi| - |Vj| ≤ 1 for 1 ≤ i, j ≤ k. The maximum balanced k-partition problem asks for a balanced k-partition V1, V2, …, Vkof a graph that maximizes e(V1, V2, …, Vk) which is the total number of edges with ends in distinct ones of V1, V2, …, Vk. Let G be a graph with m edges, and let r be the maximum number of vertex-disjoint 2-paths, where a 2-path stands for a path of length 2. We show that G admits a balanced 3-partition V1, V2, V3such that [Formula: see text]. We also present, for each real number 3 ≤ p < 6, a sufficient condition that G admits a maximum balanced 3-partition V1, V2, V3with [Formula: see text], where e(Vi) denotes the number of edges of G with both ends in Vi.
Insulinotropic effect of high potassium concentration beyond plasma membrane depolarization
Authors: Belz M. , Willenborg M. , Görgler N. , Hamada A. , Schumacher K. , Rustenbeck I.
Published: January 2014

The question whether K+ depolarization is an appropriate experimental substitute for the physiological nutrient-induced depolarization of the β-cell plasma membrane was investigated using primary mouse β-cells and islets. At basal glucose 40 mM K+ induced a massive monophasic response, whereas 15 mM K+ had only a minimal insulinotropic effect, even though the increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was not inferior to that by 20 mM glucose. In voltage-clamp experiments, Ca2+ influx appeared as nifedipine-inhibitable inward action currents in the presence of sulfonylurea plus TEA to block compensatory outward K+ currents. Under these conditions, 15 mM K+ induced prolonged action currents and 40 mM K+ transformed the action current pattern into a continuous inward current. Correspondingly, 15 mM K+ led to an oscillatory increase and 40 mM K+ to a plateau of [Ca2+]i superimposed on the [Ca2+]i elevated by sulfonylurea plus TEA. Raising K+ to 15 or 40 mM in the presence of sulfonylurea (±TEA) led to a fast further increase of insulin secretion. This was reduced to basal levels by nifedipine or CoCl2. The effects of 15 mM K+ on depolarization, action currents, and insulin secretion were mimicked by adding 35 mM Cs+ and those of 40 mM K+ by adding 35 mM Rb+, in parallel with their ability to substitute for K+ as permeant cation. In conclusion, the alkali metals K+, Rb+, or Cs+ concentration-dependently transform the pattern of Ca2+ influx into the β-cell and may thus generate stimuli of supraphysiological strength for insulin secretion.
Nutrient-specific feeding and endocrine effects of jejunal infusions in obese animals
Authors: Dailey Megan J. , Moghadam Alexander A. , Moran Timothy H.
Published: January 2014

Intestinal nutrient infusions result in variable decreases in food intake and body weight based on the nutrient type and the specific intestinal infusion site. We previously found that intrajejunal infusions of a fatty acid and glucose, but not casein hydrolysate, decreases food intake and body weight in lean chow-fed laboratory rats. To test whether obese, high fat-fed animals would show similar decreases in food intake and body weight in response to intrajejunal infusions of the same nutrients, equal kilocalorie loads of these nutrients (11.4 kcal) or vehicle were infused into the jejunum of obese, high fat-fed male Sprague-Dawley rats over 7 h/day for 5 consecutive days. Food intake was continuously monitored, and body weight was measured daily. After the infusion on the final day, rats were killed and plasma was collected. Similar to lean chow-fed rats, intrajejunal infusions of linoleic acid (LA) and glucose (Glu), but not casein hydrolysate (Cas), suppressed food intake with no compensatory increase in food intake after the infusion period. In contrast to lean chow-fed rats, only the LA, and not the Glu or Cas, produced decreases in body weight in the obese high fat-fed rat. There also were no differences in plasma glucagon-like peptide-1 levels in any of the nutrient infusion groups compared with saline infusion. These results suggest that there is a differential response to the same nutrients in lean vs. obese animals.
Effect of Casting Parameters on the Microstructural and Mechanical Behavior of Magnesium AZ31-B Alloy Strips Cast on a Single Belt Casting Simulator
Authors: Changizi Ahmad , Medraj Mamoun , Isac Mihaiela
Published: January 2014

Strips of magnesium alloy AZ31-B were cast on a simulator of a horizontal single belt caster incorporating a moving mold system. Mixtures of CO2and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gases were used as protective atmosphere during melting and casting. The castability of the AZ31-B strips was investigated for a smooth, low carbon steel substrate, and six copper substrates with various textures and roughnesses. Graphite powder was used to coat the substrates. The correlation between strip thickness and heat flux was investigated. It was found that the heat flux from the forming strip to the copper substrate was higher than that to the steel substrate, while coated substrates registered lower heat fluxes than uncoated substrates. The highest heat flux from the strip was recorded for casting on macrotextured copper substrates with 0.15 mm grooves. As the thickness of the strip decreased, the net heat flux decreased. As the heat flux increased, the grain sizes of the strips were reduced, and the SDAS decreased. The mechanical properties were improved when the heat flux increased. The black layers which formed on the strips’ surfaces were analyzed and identified as nanoscale MgO particles. Nano-Scale particles act as light traps and appeared black.
Experiences of Injuries and Injury Reporting among Swedish Skydivers
Authors: Jong Mats , Westman Anton , Saveman Britt-Inger
Published: January 2014

The objective was to illuminate the experience of injuries and the process of injury reporting within the Swedish skydiving culture. Data contained narrative interviews that were subsequently analyzed with content analysis. Seventeen respondents (22–44 years) were recruited at three skydiving drop zones in Sweden. In the results injury events related to the full phase of a skydive were described. Risk of injury is individually viewed as an integrated element of the recreational activity counterbalanced by its recreational value. The human factor of inadequate judgment such as miscalculation and distraction dominates the descriptions as causes of injuries. Organization and leadership act as facilitators or constrainers for reporting incidents and injuries. On the basis of this study it is interpreted that safety work and incident reporting in Swedish skydiving may be influenced more by local drop zone culture than the national association regulations. Formal and informal hierarchical structures among skydivers seem to decide how skydiving is practiced, rules are enforced, and injuries are reported. We suggest that initial training and continuing education need to be changed from the current top-down to a bottom-up perspective, where the individual skydiver learns to see the positive implications of safety work and injury reporting.
Fixed Points of Difference Operator of Meromorphic Functions
Authors: Wu Zhaojun , Xu Hongyan
Published: January 2014

Letfbe a transcendental meromorphic function of order less than one. The authors prove that the exact differenceΔf=fz+1-fzhas infinitely many fixed points, ifa∈ℂand∞are Borel exceptional values (or Nevanlinna deficiency values) off. These results extend the related results obtained by Chen and Shon.
Numerical Study of Natural Convection Heat Loss from Cylindrical Solar Cavity Receivers
Authors: Prakash M.
Published: January 2014

The numerical study of the natural convection loss occurring from cylindrical solar cavity receivers is reported in this communication. These cavity receivers can be used with solar dish concentrators for process heat applications at medium temperature levels. Three cylindrical cavity receivers of diameter 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 m with aspect ratio equal to one and opening ratios of 1 and 0.5 are used for the analysis. Fluent CFD software is used for the analysis of the three-dimensional (3D) receiver models. In this study the receiver tubes within the cylindrical cavity are modeled as a helical coil similar to those existing in actual systems. The flow of the working fluid within the helical coil is also modeled. The simulations are performed for fluid inlet temperatures of 150°C and 250°C and for receiver inclination angles of 0 (sideways-facing cavity), 30, 45, 60, and 90 degree (vertically downward-facing receiver). It is found that the convective loss increases with increasing mean fluid temperature and decreases with, increase in receiver inclination. The convective loss is found to increase with, opening ratio. These observations are true for all cavity receivers analysed here. A Nusselt number correlation involving Rayleigh numbers, receiver inclinations, and opening ratios is proposed for the convective loss.
Diethylcarbamazine Attenuates the Development of Carrageenan-Induced Lung Injury in Mice
Authors: Ribeiro Edlene Lima , Barbosa Karla Patricia de Souza , Fragoso Ingrid Tavares , Donato Mariana Aragão Matos , Oliveira dos Santos Gomes Fabiana , Silva Bruna Santos da , Silva Amanda Karolina Soares e , Rocha Sura Wanessa Santos , Amaro da Silva Junior Valdemiro , Peixoto Christina Alves
Published: January 2014

Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) is an antifilarial drug with potent anti-inflammatory properties as a result of its interference with the metabolism of arachidonic acid. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of DEC in a mouse model of acute inflammation (carrageenan-induced pleurisy). The injection of carrageenan into the pleural cavity induced the accumulation of fluid containing a large number of polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) as well as infiltration of PMNs in lung tissues and increased production of nitrite and tumor necrosis factor-αand increased expression of interleukin-1β, cyclooxygenase (COX-2), and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Carrageenan also induced the expression of nuclear factor-κB. The oral administration of DEC (50 mg/Kg) three days prior to the carrageenan challenge led to a significant reduction in all inflammation markers. The present findings demonstrate that DEC is a potential drug for the treatment of acute lung inflammation.
EasiLIR: Lightweight Incremental Reprogramming for Sensor Networks
Authors: Qiu Jiefan , Li Dong , Shi Hailong , Cui Li
Published: January 2014

Energy-efficient wireless reprogramming is key issues for long-lived sensor network. Most of wireless reprogramming approaches focus on the energy efficiency of the data transmission phase. However, the program rebuilding phase on target node is possibly as another significant part of the total reprogramming energy consumption, due to the high energy overhead of reading or writing operation on the energy-hungry nonvolatile memory. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient reprogramming system—EasiLIR. The core of EasiLIR is to avoid r/w operations on nonvolatile memory as much as possible in two fold. Firstly, we design an in situ modification which creates a modified program equivalent to new one without rebuilding program. However, at the cost of no rebuilding program, the redundant binary codes existing in the modified program may break the program time constraint. Therefore, we also design a lightweight segmented rebuilding to directly create the new image in memory. Experiment results show that EasiLIR reduces the r/w operations on nonvolatile memory by approximately 88% and 81% compared to Deluge and R2, and its average reprogramming overhead is about 64.7% of R2.
Seminormal Structure and Fixed Points of Cyclic Relatively Nonexpansive Mappings
Authors: Gabeleh Moosa , Shahzad Naseer
Published: January 2014

LetAandBbe two nonempty subsets of a Banach spaceX. A mappingT:A∪B→A∪Bis said to be cyclic relatively nonexpansive ifT(A)⊆BandT(B)⊆AandTx-Ty≤x-yfor all (x,y)∈A×B. In this paper, we introduce a geometric notion of seminormal structure on a nonempty, bounded, closed, and convex pair of subsets of a Banach spaceX. It is shown that if (A,B) is a nonempty, weakly compact, and convex pair and (A,B) has seminormal structure, then a cyclic relatively nonexpansive mappingT:A∪B→A∪Bhas a fixed point. We also discuss stability of fixed points by using the geometric notion of seminormal structure. In the last section, we discuss sufficient conditions which ensure the existence of best proximity points for cyclic contractive type mappings.

Erratum to “Seminormal Structure and Fixed Points of Cyclic Relatively Nonexpansive Mappings”
Efficient Stereo Matching with Decoupled Dissimilarity Measure Using Successive Weighted Summation
Authors: Zhu Cheng-Tao , Chang Yau-Zen , Wang Huai-Ming , He Kai , Lee Shih-Tseng , Lee Chung-Fu
Published: January 2014

Developing matching algorithms from stereo image pairs to obtain correct disparity maps for 3D reconstruction has been the focus of intensive research. A constant computational complexity algorithm to calculate dissimilarity aggregation in assessing disparity based on separable successive weighted summation (SWS) among horizontal and vertical directions was proposed but still not satisfactory. This paper presents a novel method which enables decoupled dissimilarity measure in the aggregation, further improving the accuracy and robustness of stereo correspondence. The aggregated cost is also used to refine disparities based on a local curve‐fitting procedure. According to our experimental results on Middlebury benchmark evaluation, the proposed approach has comparable performance when compared with the selected state‐of‐the‐art algorithms and has the lowest mismatch rate. Besides, the refinement procedure is shown to be capable of preserving object boundaries and depth discontinuities while smoothing out disparity maps.
Boric Acid as an Accelerator of Cerium Surface Treatment on Aluminum
Authors: Cruz-Hernández K. , López-Leon S. , Rodríguez-Gómez F. J.
Published: January 2014

Aluminum pieces are often used in various industrial processes like automotive and aerospace manufacturing, as well as in ornamental applications, so it is necessary to develop processes to protect these materials, processes that can be industrialized to protect the aluminum as well or better than chromate treatments. The purpose of this research is to evaluate boric acid as an accelerator by optimizing its concentration in cerium conversion coatings (CeCC) with 10-minute immersion time with a concentration of 0.1 g L−1over aluminum to protect it. The evaluation will be carried out by measuring anticorrosion properties with electrochemical techniques (polarization resistance,Rp, polarization curves, PC, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS) in NaCl 3.5% wt. aqueous solution and surface characterization with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
On Best Proximity Point Theorems without Ordering
Authors: Farajzadeh A. P. , Plubtieng S. , Ungchittrakool K.
Published: January 2014

Recently, Basha (2013) addressed a problem that amalgamates approximation and optimization in the setting of a partially ordered set that is endowed with a metric. He assumed that ifAandBare nonvoid subsets of a partially ordered set that is equipped with a metric andSis a non-self-mapping fromAtoB, then the mappingShas an optimal approximate solution, called a best proximity point of the mappingS, to the operator equationSx=x, whenSis a continuous, proximally monotone, ordered proximal contraction. In this note, we are going to obtain his results by omitting ordering, proximal monotonicity, and ordered proximal contraction onS.