bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic Effect of Garcinia cambogia Extract and Hydroxycitric Acid Inhibiting Hypoxia-Inducible Factor in a Murine Model of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Authors: Ibuki Mari , Shoda Chiho , Miwa Yukihiro , Ishida Ayako , Tsubota Kazuo , Kurihara Toshihide
Published: October 2019

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness and can be classified into two types called atrophic AMD (dry AMD) and neovascular AMD (wet AMD). Dry AMD is characterized by cellular degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelium, choriocapillaris, and photoreceptors. Wet AMD is characterized by the invasion of abnormal vessels from the choroid. Although anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy has a potent therapeutic effect against the disease, there is a possibility of chorio-retinal atrophy and adverse systemic events due to long-term robust VEGF antagonism. We focused on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) regulation of VEGF transcription, and report the suppressive effects of HIF inhibition against ocular phenotypes in animal models. Many of the known HIF inhibitors are categorized as anti-cancer drugs, and their systemic side effects are cause for concern in clinical use. In this study, we explored food ingredients that have HIF inhibitory effects and verified their effects in an animal model of AMD. Methods: Food ingredients were screened using a luciferase assay. C57BL6/J mice were administered the Garcinia cambogia extract (Garcinia extract) and hydroxycitric acid (HCA). Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) was induced by laser irradiation. Results: Garcinia extract and HCA showed inhibitory effects on HIF in the luciferase assay. The laser CNV model mice showed significant reduction of CNV volume by administering Garcinia extract and HCA. Conclusions: Garcinia extract and HCA showed therapeutic effects in a murine AMD model.
Aquaporins Involvement in Pancreas Physiology and in Pancreatic Diseases
Authors: Arsenijevic Tatjana , Perret Jason , Van Laethem Jean-Luc , Delporte Christine
Published: October 2019

Aquaporins are a family of transmembrane proteins permeable to water. In mammals, they are subdivided into classical aquaporins that are permeable to water; aquaglyceroporins that are permeable to water, glycerol and urea; peroxiporins that facilitate the diffusion of H2O2 through cell membranes; and so called unorthodox aquaporins. Aquaporins ensure important physiological functions in both exocrine and endocrine pancreas. Indeed, they are involved in pancreatic fluid secretion and insulin secretion. Modification of aquaporin expression and/or subcellular localization may be involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic insufficiencies, diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Aquaporins may represent useful drug targets for the treatment of pathophysiological conditions affecting pancreatic function, and/or diagnostic/predictive biomarker for pancreatic cancer. This review summarizes the current knowledge related to the involvement of aquaporins in the pancreas physiology and physiopathology.
Modeling the Fatigue Wear of the Cylinder Liner in Internal Combustion Engines during the Break-In Period and Its Impact on Piston Ring Lubrication
Authors: Gu Chongjie , Wang Renze , Tian Tian
Published: October 2019

In internal combustion engines, a significant portion of the total fuel energy is consumed to overcome the mechanical friction between the cylinder liner and the piston rings. The engine work loss through friction gradually reduces during the engine break-in period, as the result of liner surface topography changes caused by wear. This work is the first step toward the development of a physics-based liner wear model to predict the evolution of liner roughness and ring pack lubrication during the break-in period. Two major mechanisms are involved in the wear model: plastic deformation and asperity fatigue. The two mechanisms are simulated through a set of submodels, including elastoplastic asperity contact, crack initiation, and crack propagation within the contact stress field. Compared to experimental measurements, the calculated friction evolution of different liner surface finishes during break-in exhibits the same trend and a comparable magnitude. Moreover, the simulation results indicate that the liner wear rate or duration of break-in depends greatly on the roughness, which may provide guidance for surface roughness design and manufacturing processes.
Environmentally Sustainable Cement Composites Based on End-of-Life Tyre Rubber and Recycled Waste Porous Glass
Authors: Petrella Andrea , Di Mundo Rosa , De Gisi Sabino , Todaro Francesco , Labianca Claudia , Notarnicola Michele
Published: October 2019

In this paper, environmentally sustainable cement mortars were prepared with end-of-life tyre rubber (TR) and recycled waste porous glass (PG) as aggregates in order to obtain lightweight products characterized by renewable and not-pretreated materials specifically for indoor applications. The secondary raw materials were added as partial and/or total replacement of the conventional sand aggregate. The resulting lightweight specimens were characterized by rheological, mechanical, thermal, microstructural and wettability tests. Fine tyre rubber aggregates affected the cohesiveness of the composites, as opposite to coarse tyre rubber and porous glass. The flexural and the compressive strengths of the porous glass samples were higher than the tyre rubber samples because of the higher stiffness and good adhesion of the glass to the cement paste as observed by microstructural observations. On the contrary, an unfavorable adhesion of the tyre aggregates to the cement paste was observed, together with discrete cracks after failure without separation of the two parts of the specimens. The latter result can explain the best results obtained by tyre rubber mortars in the case of impact compression tests where the super-elastic properties of the elastomeric material were evidenced by a deep groove before complete failure. Moreover, the thermal conductivity decrease of the lightweight porous TR and PG composites was in the range of ~80–90% with respect to the sand-based samples, which suggests that they can be used as plasters and masonries, and, in the case of tyre rubber specimens, outside applications are not excluded as observed from the wettability tests.
Temperature Investigation on 3C-SiC Homo-Epitaxy on Four-Inch Wafers
Authors: Anzalone Ruggero , Zimbone Massimo , Calabretta Cristiano , Mauceri Marco , Alberti Alessandra , Reitano Riccardo , La Via Francesco
Published: October 2019

In this work, results related to the temperature influence on the homo-epitaxial growth process of 3C-SiC is presented. The seed for the epitaxial layer was obtained by an innovative technique based on silicon melting: after the first step of the hetero-epitaxial growth process of 3C-SiC on a Si substrate, Si melts, and the remaining freestanding SiC layer was used as a seed layer for the homo-epitaxial growth. Different morphological analyses indicate that the growth temperature and the growth rate play a fundamental role in the stacking faults density. In details, X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman analysis show the strict relationship between growth temperature, crystal quality, and doping incorporation in the homo-epitaxial chemical vapor deposition CVD growth process of a 3C-SiC wafer. Furthermore, photoluminescence spectra show a considerable reduction of point defects during homo-epitaxy at high temperatures.
Comparative Analysis of Static and Dynamic Mechanical Behavior for Dry and Saturated Cement Mortar
Authors: Mustafa Ayyaz , Mahmoud Mohamed A. , Abdulraheem Abdulazeez , Furquan Sarfaraz A. , Al-Nakhli Ayman , BaTaweel Mohammed
Published: October 2019

Deformational and breakage behaviors of concrete and cement mortar greatly influence various engineering structures, such as dams, river bridges, ports, tunnels, and offshore rig platforms. The mechanical and petrophysical properties are very sensitive to water content and are controlled by the liquid part in pore spaces to a large extent. The objective of this paper is to investigate the water saturation effect on the strength characteristics and deformability of cement mortar under two loading conditions, static and dynamic compression. A set of cement mortar samples was prepared and tested to study the mechanical behavior in dry and saturated states. The first part of the research incorporates the study of static mechanical properties for dry and brine-saturated cement mortar through uniaxial compressive strength tests (UCS). Second, drop-weight impact experiments were carried out to study the dynamic mechanical properties (impact resistance, deformation pattern, and fracture geometry) for dry and saturated cases. The comparative analysis revealed that water saturation caused substantial changes in compressive strength and other mechanical characteristics. Under static loading, water saturation caused a reduction in strength of 36%, and cement mortar tended to behave in a more ductile manner as compared to dry samples. On the contrary, under dynamic loading conditions, water saturation resulted in higher impact resistance and fracture toughness as compared to dry conditions. In addition, fractures could propagate to smaller depths as compared to dry case. The study will help resolve many civil, mining, and petroleum engineering problems where cement structures undergo static as well as dynamic compression, especially in a hydraulic environment where these structures interact with the water frequently. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of water saturation on the dynamic mechanical properties of cement mortar has not been well understood and reported in the literature.
Halogen Bonds in 2,5-Dihalopyridine-Copper(I) Halide Coordination Polymers
Authors: von Essen Carolina , Rissanen Kari , Puttreddy Rakesh
Published: October 2019

Two series of 2,5-dihalopyridine-Cu(I)A (A = I, Br) complexes based on 2-X-5-iodopyridine and 2-X-5-bromopyridine (X = F, Cl, Br and I) are characterized by using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis to examine the nature of C2−X2···A–Cu and C5−X5···A–Cu halogen bonds. The reaction of the 2,5-dihalopyridines and Cu(I) salts allows the synthesis of eight 1-D coordination polymers and a discrete structure. The resulting Cu(I)-complexes are linked by C−X···A–Cu halogen bonds forming 3-D supramolecular networks. The C−X···A–Cu halogen bonds formed between halopyridine ligands and copper(I)-bound halide ions are stronger than C−X···X’–C interactions between two 2,5-dihalopyridine ligands. The C5−I5···I–Cu and C5−Br5···Br–Cu halogens bonds are shorter for C2-fluorine than C2-chlorine due to the greater electron-withdrawing power of fluorine. In 2,5-diiodopyridine-Cu(I)Br complex, the shorter C2−I2···Br–Cu [3.473(5) Å] distances are due to the combined polarization of C2-iodine by C2−I2···Cu interactions and para-electronic effects offered by the C5-iodine, whilst the long halogen bond contacts for C5−I5···Br–Cu [3.537(5) Å] are indicative that C2-iodine has a less para-electronic influence on the C5-iodine. In 2-fluoro-5-X-pyridine-Cu(I) complexes, the C2-fluorine is halogen bond passive, while the other C2-halogens in 2,5-dihalopyridine-Cu(I), including C2-chlorine, participate in halogen bonding interactions.
Simple In-House Fabrication of Microwells for Generating Uniform Hepatic Multicellular Cancer Aggregates and Discovering Novel Therapeutics
Authors: Chiu Chiao-Yi , Chen Ying-Chi , Wu Kuang-Wei , Hsu Wen-Chien , Lin Hong-Ping , Chang Hsien-Chang , Lee Yung-Chun , Wang Yang-Kao , Tu Ting-Yuan
Published: October 2019

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models have become powerful tools because they better simulate the in vivo pathophysiological microenvironment than traditional two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cultures. Tumor cells cultured in a 3D system as multicellular cancer aggregates (MCAs) recapitulate several critical in vivo characteristics that enable the study of biological functions and drug discovery. The microwell, in particular, has emerged as a revolutionary technology in the generation of MCAs as it provides geometrically defined microstructures for culturing size-controlled MCAs amenable for various downstream functional assays. This paper presents a simple and economical microwell fabrication methodology that can be conveniently incorporated into a conventional laboratory setting and used for the discovery of therapeutic interventions for liver cancer. The microwells were 400–700 µm in diameter, and hepatic MCAs (Huh-7 cells) were cultured in them for up to 5 days, over which time they grew to 250–520 µm with good viability and shape. The integrability of the microwell fabrication with a high-throughput workflow was demonstrated using a standard 96-well plate for proof-of-concept drug screening. The IC50 of doxorubicin was determined to be 9.3 µM under 2D conditions and 42.8 µM under 3D conditions. The application of photothermal treatment was demonstrated by optimizing concanavalin A-FITC conjugated silica-carbon hollow spheres (SCHSs) at a concentration of 500:200 µg/mL after a 2 h incubation to best bind with MCAs. Based on this concentration, which was appropriate for further photothermal treatment, the relative cell viability was assessed through exposure to a 3 W/cm2 near-infrared laser for 20 min. The relative fluorescence intensity showed an eight-fold reduction in cell viability, confirming the feasibility of using photothermal treatment as a potential therapeutic intervention. The proposed microwell integration is envisioned to serve as a simple in-house technique for the generation of MCAs useful for discovering therapeutic modalities for liver cancer treatment.
Molecular Dynamics Study of the Swelling of Poly(methyl methacrylate) in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
Authors: Gurina Darya , Budkov Yury , Kiselev Mikhail
Published: October 2019

The swelling of a poly (methyl methacrylate) in supercritical carbon dioxide was studied by means of full atomistic classical molecular dynamics simulation. In order to characterize the polymer swelling, we calculated various properties related to the density, structure, and dynamics of polymer chains as a function of the simulation time, temperature, and pressure. In addition, we compared the properties of the macromolecular chains in supercritical CO2 with the properties of the corresponding bulk system at the same temperature and atmospheric pressure. It was shown that diffusion of CO2 molecules into the polymer led to a significant increase in the chain mobility and distances between them. Analysis of diffusion coefficients of CO2 molecules inside and outside the poly(methyl methacrylate) sample has shown that carbon dioxide actively interacts with the functional groups of poly (methyl methacrylate). Joint analysis of the radial distribution functions obtained from classical molecular dynamics and of the averaging interatomic distances from Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics allows us to make a conclusion about the possibility of formation of weak hydrogen bonds between the carbon dioxide oxygen atom and the hydrogen atoms of the polymer methyl groups.
Pharmacokinetic Study of Bioactive Glycopeptide from Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis After Intranasal Administration to Rats Using Biomarker Approach
Authors: Shikov Alexander , Pozharitskaya Olga , Faustova Natalia , Kosman Vera , Makarov Valery , Razzazi-Fazeli Ebrahim , Novak Johannes
Published: October 2019

A glycopeptide fraction (GPF) from internal organs of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis Müller, Strongylocentrotidae) has been reported to be an effective bronchitis treatment. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution of GPF, following single and repeated intranasal (i/n) administration over the course of seven days in rats. The method measuring lactate dehydrogenase as biomarker was used to analyse the plasma and tissue concentrations of GPF. GPF appears in the plasma 15 min after single i/n administration (100 µg/kg) and reaches its maximum at 45 min. The area under the curve (AUC)0–24 and Cmax were similar using both i/n and intravenous administration, while mean residence time (MRT) and T1/2 after i/n administration were significantly higher compared with intravenous (i/v) administration. The absolute bioavailability of GPF after i/n administration was 89%. The values of tissue availability (ft) provided evidence about the highest concentration of GPF in the nose mucosa (ft = 34.9), followed by spleen (ft = 4.1), adrenal glands (ft = 3.8), striated muscle (ft = 1.8), kidneys (ft = 0.5), and liver (ft = 0.3). After repeated dose administration, GPF exhibited significantly higher AUC0–24 and MRT, indicating its accumulation in the plasma.
Electrochemical Impedance Analysis on Cryogenically Treated Dissimilar Metal Welding of 316L Stainless Steel and Monel 400 Alloy Using GTAW
Authors: Mani Cherish , Karthikeyan R , Kannan Sathish
Published: October 2019

An attempt was made to study the corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless-steel SS 316L/Monel 400 alloy dissimilar metal welded joints using gas tungsten arc welding. This combination of welded joints is used in re-heaters and heat exchangers in gas processing and oil refining industries. The welded specimens were subjected to post-weld treatments, such as annealing and deep cryogenic treatment. The welded specimens were sectioned into five different parts: SS 316L base, SS 316L HAZ, weld, Monel HAZ, and Monel base. The polarization method and electrochemical impedance analysis were used to analyze the corrosion resistance in a NaCl solution. A polarization graph, Nyquist plot, and Bode plot were constructed for all regions, separately, for the heat-treated and cryo-treated specimens, to analyze the variation in corrosion resistance in different regions, and then the results were compared. To validate the results of electrochemical impedance analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS) analyses were also performed. The results indicated that the cryo-treated specimens have better corrosion resistance when compared to the annealed ones. Weld region on both specimens exhibited better corrosion resistance when compared to other zones.
Severe Weight Loss and Its Association with Fatigue in Old Patients at Discharge from a Geriatric Hospital
Authors: Franz Kristina , Otten Lindsey , Müller-Werdan Ursula , Doehner Wolfram , Norman Kristina
Published: October 2019

Although malnutrition is frequent in the old, little is known about its association with fatigue. We evaluated the relation of self-reported severe weight loss with fatigue and the predictors for fatigue in old patients at hospital discharge. Severe weight loss was defined according to involuntary weight loss ≥5% in the last three months. We determined fatigue with the validated Brief Fatigue Inventory questionnaire. The regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, number of comorbidities, medications/day, and BMI. Of 424 patients aged between 61 and 98 y, 34.1% had severe weight loss. Fatigue was higher in patients with severe weight loss (3.7 ± 2.3 vs. 3.2 ± 2.3 points, p = 0.021). In a multinomial regression model, weight loss was independently associated with higher risk for moderate fatigue (OR:1.172, CI:1.026–1.338, p = 0.019) and with increased risk for severe fatigue (OR:1.209, CI:1.047–1.395, p = 0.010) together with the number of medications/day (OR:1.220, CI:1.023-1.455, p = 0.027). In a binary regression model, severe weight loss predicted moderate-to-severe fatigue in the study population (OR:1.651, CI:1.052-2.590, p = 0.029). In summary, patients with self-reported severe weight loss at hospital discharge exhibited higher fatigue levels and severe weight loss was an independent predictor of moderate and severe fatigue, placing these patients at risk for impaired outcome in the post-hospital period.
Curcumin, Gut Microbiota, and Neuroprotection
Authors: Di Meo Francesco , Margarucci Sabrina , Galderisi Umberto , Crispi Stefania , Peluso Gianfranco
Published: October 2019

Curcumin, a nontoxic, naturally occurring polyphenol, has been recently proposed for the management of neurodegenerative and neurological diseases. However, a discrepancy exists between the well-documented pharmacological activities that curcumin seems to possess in vivo and its poor aqueous solubility, bioavailability, and pharmacokinetic profiles that should limit any therapeutic effect. Thus, it is possible that curcumin could exert direct regulative effects primarily in the gastrointestinal tract, where high concentrations of curcumin are present after oral administration. Indeed, a new working hypothesis that could explain the neuroprotective role of curcumin despite its limited availability is that curcumin acts indirectly on the central nervous system by influencing the “microbiota–gut–brain axis”, a complex bidirectional system in which the microbiome and its composition represent a factor which preserves and determines brain “health”. Interestingly, curcumin and its metabolites might provide benefit by restoring dysbiosis of gut microbiome. Conversely, curcumin is subject to bacterial enzymatic modifications, forming pharmacologically more active metabolites than curcumin. These mutual interactions allow to keep proper individual physiologic functions and play a key role in neuroprotection.
Privacy Engineering for Domestic IoT: Enabling Due Diligence
Authors: Lodge Tom , Crabtree Andy
Published: October 2019

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has recently come into effect and insofar as Internet of Things (IoT) applications touch EU citizens or their data, developers are obliged to exercise due diligence and ensure they undertake Data Protection by Design and Default (DPbD). GDPR mandates the use of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) as a key heuristic enabling DPbD. However, research has shown that developers generally lack the competence needed to deal effectively with legal aspects of privacy management and that the difficulties of complying with regulation are likely to grow considerably. Privacy engineering seeks to shift the focus from interpreting texts and guidelines or consulting legal experts to embedding data protection within the development process itself. There are, however, few examples in practice. We present a privacy-oriented, flow-based integrated development environment (IDE) for building domestic IoT applications. The IDE enables due diligence in (a) helping developers reason about personal data during the actual in vivo construction of IoT applications; (b) advising developers as to whether or not the design choices they are making occasion the need for a DPIA; and (c) attaching and making available to others (including data processors, data controllers, data protection officers, users and supervisory authorities) specific privacy-related information that has arisen during an application’s development.
ITC: Infused Tangential Curves for Smooth 2D and 3D Navigation of Mobile Robots †
Authors: Ravankar Abhijeet , Ravankar Ankit A. , Rawankar Arpit , Hoshino Yohei , Kobayashi Yukinori
Published: October 2019

Navigation is an indispensable component of ground and aerial mobile robots. Although there is a plethora of path planning algorithms, most of them generate paths that are not smooth and have angular turns. In many cases, it is not feasible for the robots to execute these sharp turns, and a smooth trajectory is desired. We present ‘ITC: Infused Tangential Curves’ which can generate smooth trajectories for mobile robots. The main characteristics of the proposed ITC algorithm are: (1) The curves are tangential to the path, thus maintaining G 1 continuity, (2) The curves are infused in the original global path to smooth out the turns, (3) The straight segments of the global path are kept straight and only the sharp turns are smoothed, (4) Safety is embedded in the ITC trajectories and robots are guaranteed to maintain a safe distance from the obstacles, (5) The curvature of ITC curves can easily be controlled and smooth trajectories can be generated in real-time, (6) The ITC algorithm smooths the global path on a part-by-part basis thus local smoothing at one point does not affect the global path. We compare the proposed ITC algorithm with traditional interpolation based trajectory smoothing algorithms. Results show that, in case of mobile navigation in narrow corridors, ITC paths maintain a safe distance from both walls, and are easy to generate in real-time. We test the algorithm in complex scenarios to generate curves of different curvatures, while maintaining different safety thresholds from obstacles in vicinity. We mathematically discuss smooth trajectory generation for both 2D navigation of ground robots, and 3D navigation of aerial robots. We also test the algorithm in real environments with actual robots in a complex scenario of multi-robot collision avoidance. Results show that the ITC algorithm can be generated quickly and is suitable for real-world scenarios of collision avoidance in narrow corridors.
Quality of Daily-Life Gait: Novel Outcome for Trials that Focus on Balance, Mobility, and Falls
Authors: van Schooten Kimberley S. , Pijnappels Mirjam , Lord Stephen R. , van Dieën Jaap H.
Published: October 2019

Technological advances in inertial sensors allow for monitoring of daily-life gait characteristics as a proxy for fall risk. The quality of daily-life gait could serve as a valuable outcome for intervention trials, but the uptake of these measures relies on their power to detect relevant changes in fall risk. We collected daily-life gait characteristics in 163 older people (aged 77.5 ± 7.5, 107♀) over two measurement weeks that were two weeks apart. We present variance estimates of daily-life gait characteristics that are sensitive to fall risk and estimate the number of participants required to obtain sufficient statistical power for repeated comparisons. The provided data allows for power analyses for studies using daily-life gait quality as outcome. Our results show that the number of participants required (i.e., 8 to 343 depending on the anticipated effect size and between-measurements correlation) is similar to that generally used in fall prevention trials. We propose that the quality of daily-life gait is a promising outcome for intervention studies that focus on improving balance and mobility and reducing falls.
Factors Affecting the Synthesis of Autonomous Sensors with RFID Interface
Authors: Węglarski Mariusz , Jankowski-Mihułowicz Piotr
Published: October 2019

A general view on the problem of designing atypical battery-free, autonomous semi-passive RFID transponders-sensors (autonomous sensors with RFID interfaces) is presented in this review. Although RFID devices can be created in any of the electronic technologies, the design stage must be repeated each time when the manufacturing processes are changed, and their specific conditions have to be taken into consideration when modeling new solutions. Aspects related to the factors affecting the synthesis of semi-passive RFID transponder components on the basis of which the idea of the autonomous RFID sensor was developed are reflected in the paper. Besides their general characteristics, the operation conditions of modern RFID systems and achievements in autonomous RFID sensor technology are revealed in subsequent sections—they include such issues as technological aspects of the synthesis process, designing antennas for RFID transponders, determining RFID chip and antenna parameters, creating the interrogation zone IZ, etc. It should be pointed that the universal construction of an autonomous RFID sensor, which could be use in any application of the automatic object identification system, cannot be developed according to the current state of the art. Moreover, a trial and error method is the most commonly used in the today’s process of designing new solutions, and the basic parameters are estimated on the basis of the tests and the research team experience. Therefore, it is necessary to look for new inventions and methods in order to improve implementations of RFID systems.
Coupling Single-Drop Microextraction with SERS: A Demonstration Using p-MBA on Gold Nanohole Array Substrate
Authors: Santos Elias B. , Valsecchi Chiara , Gonçalves Jaderson L. S. , Ávila Luis F. , Menezes Jacson W.
Published: October 2019

Single-drop microextraction (SDME) was coupled with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to provide sample extraction and pre-concentration for detection of analyte at low concentrations. A gold nanohole array substrate (AuNHAS), fabricated by interference lithography, was used as SERS substrate and para-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA) was tested as a probe molecule, in the concentration range 10−8–10−4 mol L−1. With this approach, a limit of 10−7 mol L−1 was clearly detected. To improve the detection to lower p-MBA concentration, as 10−8 mol L−1, the SDME technique was applied. The p-MBA Raman signature was detected in two performed extractions and its new concentration was determined to be ~4.6 × 10−5 mol L−1. This work showed that coupling SDME with SERS allowed a rapid (5 min) and efficient pre-concentration (from 10−8 mol L−1 to 10−5 mol L−1), detection, and quantification of the analyte of interest, proving to be an interesting analytical tool for SERS applications.
Mixed Maximum Loss Design for Optic Disc and Optic Cup Segmentation with Deep Learning from Imbalanced Samples
Authors: Xu Yong-li , Lu Shuai , Li Han-xiong , Li Rui-rui
Published: October 2019

Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can cause permanent blindness and is difficult to diagnose early. Optic disc (OD) and optic cup (OC) play a pivotal role in the screening of glaucoma. Therefore, accurate segmentation of OD and OC from fundus images is a key task in the automatic screening of glaucoma. In this paper, we designed a U-shaped convolutional neural network with multi-scale input and multi-kernel modules (MSMKU) for OD and OC segmentation. Such a design gives MSMKU a rich receptive field and is able to effectively represent multi-scale features. In addition, we designed a mixed maximum loss minimization learning strategy (MMLM) for training the proposed MSMKU. This training strategy can adaptively sort the samples by the loss function and re-weight the samples through data enhancement, thereby synchronously improving the prediction performance of all samples. Experiments show that the proposed method has obtained a state-of-the-art breakthrough result for OD and OC segmentation on the RIM-ONE-V3 and DRISHTI-GS datasets. At the same time, the proposed method achieved satisfactory glaucoma screening performance on the RIM-ONE-V3 and DRISHTI-GS datasets. On datasets with an imbalanced distribution between typical and rare sample images, the proposed method obtained a higher accuracy than existing deep learning methods.
Resource-Efficient Sensor Data Management for Autonomous Systems Using Deep Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Jeong Seunghwan , Yoo Gwangpyo , Yoo Minjong , Yeom Ikjun , Woo Honguk
Published: October 2019

Hyperconnectivity via modern Internet of Things (IoT) technologies has recently driven us to envision “digital twin”, in which physical attributes are all embedded, and their latest updates are synchronized on digital spaces in a timely fashion. From the point of view of cyberphysical system (CPS) architectures, the goals of digital twin include providing common programming abstraction on the same level of databases, thereby facilitating seamless integration of real-world physical objects and digital assets at several different system layers. However, the inherent limitations of sampling and observing physical attributes often pose issues related to data uncertainty in practice. In this paper, we propose a learning-based data management scheme where the implementation is layered between sensors attached to physical attributes and domain-specific applications, thereby mitigating the data uncertainty between them. To do so, we present a sensor data management framework, namely D2WIN, which adopts reinforcement learning (RL) techniques to manage the data quality for CPS applications and autonomous systems. To deal with the scale issue incurred by many physical attributes and sensor streams when adopting RL, we propose an action embedding strategy that exploits their distance-based similarity in the physical space coordination. We introduce two embedding methods, i.e., a user-defined function and a generative model, for different conditions. Through experiments, we demonstrate that the D2WIN framework with the action embedding outperforms several known heuristics in terms of achievable data quality under certain resource restrictions. We also test the framework with an autonomous driving simulator, clearly showing its benefit. For example, with only 30% of updates selectively applied by the learned policy, the driving agent maintains its performance about 96.2%, as compared to the ideal condition with full updates.
Fumonisin B1, B2 and B3 in Muscle and Liver of Broiler Chickens and Turkey Poults Fed with Diets Containing Fusariotoxins at the EU Maximum Tolerable Level
Authors: Tardieu Didier , Travel Angelique , Metayer Jean-Paul , Le Bourhis Celeste , Guerre Philippe
Published: October 2019

Although provisional maximum tolerable daily intake and recommended guidelines have been established for fumonisins (FB) in food, few data are available concerning levels of FB in edible animal tissues. Such data are of particular interest in avian species that can tolerate relatively high levels of fumonisins in their feed. Also, even if multiple contamination of animal feed by toxins produced by Fusarium is very frequent, little is known about the consequences of multiple contamination for FB levels in tissues. The aim of this study was to analyze the concentrations of FB in the muscle and liver of chickens and turkeys fed with FB alone and with FB combined with deoxynivalenol (DON), and with zearalenone (ZEN). Experimental diets were formulated by incorporating ground cultured toxigenic Fusarium strains in corn-soybean based feeds. Control diets were free of mycotoxins, FB diets contained 20 mg FB1+FB2/kg, and FBDONZEN diets contained 20, 5, and 0.5 mg/kg of FB1+FB2, DON, and ZEN, respectively. Animals were reared in individual cages with free access to water and feed. The feed was distributed to male Ross chickens from the 1st to the 35th day of age and to male Grade Maker turkeys from the 55th to the 70th day of age. On the last day of the study, the birds were starved for eight hours, killed, and autopsied for tissues sampling. No sign of toxicity was observed. A UHPLC-MS/MS method with isotopic dilution and immunoaffinity clean-up of samples has been developed for analysis of FB in muscle (n = 8 per diet) and liver (n = 8 per diet). Only traces of FB that were below the LOQ of 0.25 µg/kg were found in most of the samples of animals fed with the control diets. Mean concentrations of FB1, FB2, and FB3 in muscle were 17.5, 3.39, and 1.26 µg/kg, respectively, in chickens, and 5.77, 1.52, and 0.54 µg/kg in turkeys, respectively. In the liver, the respective FB1, FB2, and FB3 concentrations were 44.7, 2.61, and 0.79 µg/kg in chickens, and 41.47, 4.23, and 1.41 µg/kg, in turkeys. Cumulated level of FB1+FB2+FB3 in the highly contaminated samples were above 60 and 100 µg/kg in muscle and liver, respectively. The concentrations of FB in the tissues of animals fed the FBDONZEN diet did not greatly differ from the concentrations measured in animals fed the diet containing only FB.
Oxydation ménagée de la chalcopyrite en solution acide : analyse cinétique des réactions. II. Modèles diffusionnels
Authors: Ammou-Chokroum Mustapha , Cambazoglu Mehmet , Steinmetz Daniel
Published: October 2019

In order to demonstrate the mechanisms which govern the dissolution of copper from chalcopyrite submitted to a soft oxidation in acid solution, kinetic curves were compared with mathematical models of different possible reaction schemes. During this kinetic study, different models, involving either purely chemical reactions or diffusion procedures, were examined. In conformity with the paralinear model finally retained, the solubilization of copper is determined by its diffusion in the compact solid oxidation products of the chalcopyrite.
Intercroissances et inclusions dans les associations graftonite˗sarcopside˗triphylite
Authors: Fransolet André-Mathieu
Published: October 2019

Des associations de graftonite, sarcopside et triphylite (parfois oxydée en hétérosite), provenant des pegmatites de la plaine des Zenaga (Anti-Atlas, Maroc) et de Marivolinatra (Madagascar), sont l'objet d'un examen pétrologique. Une description détaillée des relations structurales, accompagnées de la composition chimique des graftonites et des sarcopsides, précède une discussion du problème génétique de ces associations.

Les phénomènes d'exsolution sont confirmés dans le cas d'une paragenèse triphylite˗sarcopside. En ce qui concerne les relations entre graftonite˗sarcopside et graftonite˗triphylite, l'hypothèse d'une métasomatose ferreuse et lithique ferreuse, respectivement, est défendue et replacée dans le contexte pegmatitique.
Les occurrences antimonifères de l'île de Sein et du cap Sizun (Finistère). Leur place dans la métallogénie armoricaine
Authors: Chauris Louis , Fouquet Yves , Moëlo Yves
Published: October 2019

Mise en évidence de paragenèses plombo˗zincifères à sulfo˗antimoniures de plomb subordonnés et de paragenèses à stibine et à berthiérite, dans des filons quartzeux intra˗granitiques ou intra˗gneissiques, à proximité de la zone broyée sud˗armoricaine, entre l'île de Sein et Audierne (Finistère). Importance des grands accidents tectoniques dans la répartition des gîtes d'antimoine en Armorique.
Efficiency of Fertilization in Sustainable Wheat Production
Authors: Pepó Péter
Published: October 2019

In sustainable (wheat) production plant nutrition supply and fertilization play decisive roles among the agrotechnical elements, because of their direct and indirect effects on other agronomical factors.In long-term experiments, we studied the roles of agroecological, genetic-biological and agrotechnical factors in the nutrient supply, fertilization and its efficiency in wheat production under continental climatic conditions (eastern part of Hungary, Trans-Tisza) on chernozem soil. Our results have proved that there are different (positive and negative) interactions among ecological, biological, and agrotechnical elements of wheat production. These interaction effects could modify the nutrient demand, fertilizer (mainly nitrogen) response of wheat varieties and efficiency of fertilization in wheat production.The optimum N-doses (+PK) of wheat varieties varied from 60 kg ha-1 (+PK) to 120 kg ha-1 (+PK) depending on cropyears, agrotechnical elements and genotypes. The winter wheat varieties could be classified into 4 groups according to their fertilizer demand, natural and fertilizer utilization, fertilizer response and yield capacity.Appropriate fertilization (mainly N) of wheat could affect both the quantity and quality of the yield. By using optimum N (+PK) fertilizer doses, we could manifest genetically- coded baking quality traits of winter wheat varieties and reduce quality fluctuation caused by ecological and other management factors. The efficiency of fertilization on different baking quality parameters (wet-gluten, valorigraph index etc) were variety specific (the changes depended on genotypes).Our long-term experiments proved that appropriate fertilization provides optimum yield, good yield stability and excellent yield quality in sustainable wheat production. We could this get better agronomic and economic fertilization efficiency with less harmful environmental effects.
DETERMINAN PROFITABILITAS: KAJIAN PENGELOLAAN FAKTOR INTERNAL DAN EKSTERNAL PERUSAHAAN TEKSTIL DAN PRODUK TEKSTIL (TPT) YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA
Authors: Siwi Nugraheni
Published: October 2019

This research looks at the effect of internal factors or microeconomics and external factors or macroeconomic factors on profitability of textiles and textiles products companies. The result showed that partially, only current ratio and the interest rates which have significant impact on ROA. simultanously, internal and external factors have significant impact on ROA. Managerial implication based on this research are, the companies should apply liquidity risk management like mitigation on liquidity crisis and liquidity risk bearing analysis also look for another fund resources to decrease interest rates expenses.
Life cycle rituals in Sangam Literature
Authors: K Shanthi
Published: October 2019

The rituals in human life during birth, death etc., are called ‘life cycle rituals’. Rituals are one among many life activities. Performing ceremonies on death anniversaries and rest the soul in heaven are common. Celebration on puberty is referred to as life cycle prosperity ritual. The physical maturity of a girl for motherhood is called puberty and the rituals are called puberty rituals or prosperity ritual. Though the rituals are common to the corresponding cultural communities, they differ from men and women. Particularly, this difference could be seen in Sangam literature.  For a man one who dominates, mostly the rituals are based on his social activities such as war, agriculture, reign and for a woman, who concentrates on the family, the rituals are based on their genital body, that is,  marriage, child birth, widowhood, etc., representing reproduction, or ban on reproduction,’- Raj Gowthaman points out.  Rituals of men imbibe social value whereas that of women are associated with possessions. Most of the life cycle rituals are linked with the reproduction of women.
UPAYA MENINGKATKAN HASIL BELAJAR MATEMATIKA MATERI SISTEM PERSAMAAN LINIER DUA VARIABEL MELALUI MODEL COOPERATIVE LEARNING TIPE STUDENT TEAM ACHIEVEMENT DIVISION (STAD ) PADA SISWA KELAS VIII A SMP NEGERI I CUGENANG
Authors: Sunarya Cahya
Published: October 2019

Penelitian Tindakan Kelas ini bertujuan untuk memperbaiki kinerja guru dan meningkatkan hasil belajar Matematika pada siswa kelas VIII A SMP Negeri I Cugenang. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif, subjek penelitian adalah guru mata pelajaran matematika SMP Negeri I Cugenang, data diperoleh melalui observasi, wawancara dan dokumen. Analisis data melalui (1) mereduksi data (2) menyajikan data (3) menarik kesimpulan. keabshan data dilakukan dengan pemperpanjang waktu penelitian. Triangulasi data, dan member checking. Data dianalisis dengan model interaktif. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa (a) supervisi akademik meliputi perencanaan pembelajaran; (b) prinsip-prinsip supervisi akademik meliputi; praktis, objektif, kooperatif dan komprehensif. Model pembelajaran yang digunakan yaitu Cooperative Learning tipe STAD. model Cooperative Learning muncul dari konsep bahwa siswa akan lebih mudah menemukan dan memahami konsep yang sulit jika mereka saling berdiskusi dengan temanya. Siswa secara rutin  bekerja dalam kelompok untuk saling membantu memecahkan masalah yang kompleks. Tipe STAD ini merupakan salah satu tipe dari model Cooperative Learning dengan mengunakan kelompok-kelompok kecil dengan jumlah anggota tiap kelompok 4-5 orang siswa secara hieterogin.Kata Kunci; Hasil Belajar, Matematika Model Cooperative Learning Tipe Student  Team Achievement Division (STAD)
Pengaruh Multi Level Marketing Terhadap Penjualan Produk Serum Vitamin C Salisa
Authors: Effendi Wiranto J. C , Kalangi Johnny A. F. , Mukuan Danny D. S.
Published: October 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Multilevel Marketing on the sale of Serim Vitamin C Salisa. Cosmetics has become one of the human needs in general. One of the cosmetics companies that saw this opportunity and marketed its products in Indonesia, namely PT. Aura Cantik Indonesia. This type of research is quantitative research. The data validity test results obtained all items in question declared valid. Furthermore, Anova output above is known that the calculated F value = 744,645 with a significance of 0,000 <0.05 then the regression model can be used to predict Multi-Level Marketing (X) variables or in other words, there are the influence of Multi-Level Marketing (X) variables on Sales variables ( Y). Furthermore, the results of the Determination Coefficient Test, R Square of 88.5% which states that the variable Sales of Vitamin C Salisa (Y) Serum Products is influenced by the Multi-Level Marketing (X) influence variable, while the remaining 11.5% is influenced by other variables that are not in this study.
Low Cost Automatic Street Light Control System With and Without Relay
Authors:   Assistant professor in electrical and electronics engineering department in Gitam school technology Bengaluru campus., Venkateshnaik Mr.B. , D.P Mr.Yathish. ,   Bachelor of Engineering Degree From Visvesvaraya Technological Universityin Channabasaweshwara Institute of Technology at Gubbi, Tumakuru, Phanidhar Mr. Venkata ,   associated with GITAM (Deemed to be University as Assistant professor in Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department, School of Technology, Bangalore., Nagaraju  ,   Assistant Professor in Electrical and Electricals engineering Department in GITAM School of Technology, Bengaluru campus., Rao Mr.K Lokeswara ,   H B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad
Published: October 2019

modern society entirely depends on electricity for daily life. It has become the key component for modern technology, without electricity most of the equipments which we are using daily will not work at all. Internet is our gateway for knowledge and we also depend on it a lot to get the things which are surrounding us very easily. Under this situation we are not using proper electrical energy in case of street lights. Street lights are perfect solution for night base loads at most of the utility companies during 1930’s were seeking for night timed base loads especially coal based power plants. In India approximately 40 million street lights are there which will generates a total demand of 4000 MW. The cost required to satisfy this demand will also very high. In most of the places maintenance of street lights is very poor. Even though several technologies have used to automatic control of street light but they may turn into several failures because of high cost, improper maintenance, environmental effects on the components or some other major issues. In this paper a low cost maintenance free automatic street light control system is proposed which can be used with relay al well as without relay by using basic electronics components. A small experimental set up has done in laboratory and it can be concluded that the street light automatically turns on and off depends on the darkness of the environment. It can be implemented anywhere irrespective of environmental conditions without any maintenance.
NLP: Text Summarization By Frequency And Sentence Position Methods
Authors:   M.E., Phd.,,Professor, Department of Computer Science ,Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia., Raja* Dr.N.Kannaiya , Bakala Mr. Naol ,   M.Sc., Head/Department of Computer Science, Ambo University, Ethiopia., Suresh Mr. S. ,   M.E., Asst. Professor, Asst Professor/ Department of Computer Science & Engineering, C. Abdul Hakeem College of Engineering & Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Published: October 2019

In today's fast-growing online information age we have an abundance of text, especially on the web. New information is constantly being generated. Often due to time constraints we are not able to consume all the data available. It is therefore essential to be able to summarize the text so that it becomes easier to ingest, while maintaining the essence and understandability of the information. The summarizer basically uses the combinations of term frequency and sentence position methods with language specific lexicons in order to identify the most important sentence for extractive summary. We aim to design an algorithm that can summarize a document by their performance both objectively and subjectively in Afan Oromo Language. The performance of the summarizers was measured based on subjective as well as objective evaluation methods. The techniques used in this paper are term frequency and sentence position methods with language specific lexicons to assign weights to the sentences to be extracted for the summary.