bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Developing and Analyzing a Local Gun-Case Database: The Process and Related Issues
Authors: Jiao Allan Y.
Published: February 2014

To maintain public safety and improve system response, a strong need exists for understanding the characteristics of individuals involved in gun crimes, related police activities, and situational/contextual variables surrounding gun incidents. A serious knowledge gap exists, however, in understanding weapon-related offenses at the city level and in how to develop a local gun-case database. This paper, which is based on research experiences at an urban police department in USA, describes and analyzes the process and related issues in developing such a database. The study revealed a few critical lessons concerning this process, including those related to communication and cooperation between the police and researchers, quality of data, and importance of a refined dataset for improving local police policies and operations.
The Importance of Materials Data and Modelling Parameters in an FE Simulation of Linear Friction Welding
Authors: Turner R. , Schroeder F. , Ward R. M. , Brooks J. W.
Published: February 2014

Linear friction welding has become a key technology in the aeroengine industry due to its capability to produce blisk components. Finite element (FE) simulation of linear friction welding applications has been studied in recent years by a number of institutions, using a variety of software codes. Several codes have been demonstrated to be capable of predicting with reasonable accuracy some or all of the critical outputs of friction welding, namely, the thermal loading, plastic deformation, and residual stresses generated. The importance of reliable material data in performing these calculations is paramount. Available material data in the published literature is often restricted to lower temperatures and strain rate regimes. Extrapolation methods used on this data to estimate high temperature properties can lead to uncertainties in the modelled predictions. This paper reviews the approach to materials modelling, including material datasets and material constitutive laws, for FE simulation work in the literature regarding linear friction welding. Best-practice methods for materials constitutive laws, materials data-sets, and the associated experimental temperatures and strain rates used to gather data are suggested. Finally, successfully validated modelled outcomes—when a robust, reliable, and accurate material database has been selected—are demonstrated for a number of the FE methods considered.
Double Periodic Wave Solutions of the (2 + 1)-Dimensional Sawada-Kotera Equation
Authors: Zhao Zhonglong , Zhang Yufeng , Xia Tiecheng
Published: February 2014

Based on a general Riemann theta function and Hirota’s bilinear forms, we devise a straightforward way to explicitly construct double periodic wave solution of(2+1)-dimensional nonlinear partial differential equation. The resulting theory is applied to the(2+1)-dimensional Sawada-Kotera equation, thereby yielding its double periodic wave solutions. The relations between the periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions are rigorously established by a limiting procedure.
Differential Subordination Results for Analytic Functions in the Upper Half-Plane
Authors: Tang Huo , Aouf M. K. , Deng Guan-Tie , Li Shu-Hai
Published: February 2014

There are many articles in the literature dealing with differential subordination problems for analytic functions in the unit disk, and only a few articles deal with the above problems in the upper half-plane. In this paper, we aim to derive several differential subordination results for analytic functions in the upper half-plane by investigating certain suitable classes of admissible functions. Some useful consequences of our main results are also pointed out.
Fourier Series Approximations to J2‐Bounded Equatorial Orbits
Authors: Wang Wei , Yuan Jianping , Zhao Yanbin , Chen Zheng , Chen Changchun
Published: February 2014

The current paper offers a comprehensive dynamical analysis and Fourier series approximations of J2‐bounded equatorial orbits. The initial conditions of heterogeneous families of J2‐perturbed equatorial orbits are determined first. Then the characteristics of two types of J2‐bounded orbits, namely, pseudo‐elliptic orbit and critical circular orbit, are studied. Due to the ambiguity of the closed‐form solutions which comprise the elliptic integrals and Jacobian elliptic functions, showing little physical insight into the problem, a new scheme, termed Fourier series expansion, is adopted for approximation herein. Based on least‐squares fitting to the coefficients, the solutions are expressed with arbitrary high‐order Fourier series, since the radius and the flight time vary periodically as a function of the polar angle. As a consequence, the solutions can be written in terms of elementary functions such as cosines, rather than complex mathematical functions. Simulations enhance the proposed approximation method, showing bounded and negligible deviations. The approximation results show a promising prospect in preliminary orbits design, determination, and transfers for low‐altitude spacecrafts.
A New Design of Vibration Absorber for Periodic Excitation
Authors: Huang Shyh-Chin , Lin Kao-An
Published: February 2014

The authors designed a novel type of dynamic vibration absorber, called periodic vibration absorber (PVA), for mechanical systems subjected to periodic excitation. Since the periodic rather than single harmonic excitation is themost occurring case in mechanical systems, the design of PVA is hence of engineering significance. The PVA designed in this paper is composed of a dual-beam interconnected with a discrete spring in between. By appropriately choosing the design parameters, the PVA can be of resonance frequencies in integer multiples of the base frequency such that the PVA can absorb significant amount of higher harmonics in addition to the base harmonic. The designed PVA was first experimentally verified for its resonance frequencies. The PVA implemented onto a mechanical system was then tested for its absorption ability. From both tests, satisfying agreement between experiments and numerical calculations has been obtained. The sensitivities of the design variables, such as the discrete spring’s stiffness and location, were discussed as well. The parameters’ sensitivities provided us with the PVA’s adjustable room for excitation frequency’s mismatch. Numerical results showed that within 3% of frequency mismatch, the PVA still performed better than a single DVA via adjusting the spring’s constant and location. All the results proved that the novel type of PVA could be a very effective device for vibration reduction of mechanical systems subjected to periodic excitation.
A Modularity Degree Based Heuristic Community Detection Algorithm
Authors: Chen Dongming , Wang Dongqi , Xia Fangzhao
Published: February 2014

A community in a complex network can be seen as a subgroup of nodes that are densely connected. Discovery of community structures is a basic problem of research and can be used in various areas, such as biology, computer science, and sociology. Existing community detection methods usually try to expand or collapse the nodes partitions in order to optimize a given quality function. These optimization function based methods share the same drawback of inefficiency. Here we propose a heuristic algorithm (MDBH algorithm) based on network structure which employs modularity degree as a measure function. Experiments on both synthetic benchmarks and real‐world networks show that our algorithm gives competitive accuracy with previous modularity optimization methods, even though it has less computational complexity. Furthermore, due to the use of modularity degree, our algorithm naturally improves the resolution limit in community detection.
Towards Thermodynamics with Generalized Uncertainty Principle
Authors: Farag Ali Ahmed , Moussa Mohamed
Published: February 2014

Various frameworks of quantum gravity predict a modification in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to a so-called generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). Introducing quantum gravity effect makes a considerable change in the density of states inside the volume of the phase space which changes the statistical and thermodynamical properties of any physical system. In this paper we investigate the modification in thermodynamic properties of ideal gases and photon gas. The partition function is calculated and using it we calculated a considerable growth in the thermodynamical functions for these considered systems. The growth may happen due to an additional repulsive force between constitutes of gases which may be due to the existence of GUP, hence predicting a considerable increase in the entropy of the system. Besides, by applying GUP on an ideal gas in a trapped potential, it is found that GUP assumes a minimum measurable value of thermal wavelength of particles which agrees with discrete nature of the space that has been derived in previous studies from the GUP.
Applications of Differential Subordination for Argument Estimates of Multivalent Analytic Functions
Authors: Lu Meng-Ting , Jia Ting , Ling Xing-Qian , Liu Jin-Lin
Published: February 2014

By using the method of differential subordinations, we derive some properties of multivalent analytic functions. All results presented here are sharp.
Estimation of Nonlinear Dynamic Panel Data Models with Individual Effects
Authors: Hu Yi , Guo Dongmei , Deng Ying , Wang Shouyang
Published: February 2014

This paper suggests a generalized method of moments (GMM) based estimation for dynamic panel data models with individual specific fixed effects and threshold effects simultaneously. We extend Hansen’s (Hansen, 1999) original setup to models including endogenous regressors, specifically, lagged dependent variables. To address the problem of endogeneity of these nonlinear dynamic panel data models, we prove that the orthogonality conditions proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991) are valid. The threshold and slope parameters are estimated by GMM, and asymptotic distribution of the slope parameters is derived. Finite sample performance of the estimation is investigated through Monte Carlo simulations. It shows that the threshold and slope parameter can be estimated accurately and also the finite sample distribution of slope parameters is well approximated by the asymptotic distribution.
Discrimination Analysis for Predicting Defect-Prone Software Modules
Authors: Ma Ying , Qin Ke , Zhu Shunzhi
Published: February 2014

Software defect prediction studies usually build models without analyzing the data used in the procedure. As a result, the same approach has different performances on different data sets. In this paper, we introduce discrimination analysis for providing a good method to give insight into the inherent property of the software data. Based on the analysis, we find that the data sets used in this field have nonlinearly separable and class-imbalanced problems. Unlike the prior works, we try to exploit the kernel method to nonlinearly map the data into a high-dimensional feature space. By combating these two problems, we propose an algorithm based on kernel discrimination analysis called KDC to build more effective prediction model. Experimental results on the data sets from different organizations indicate that KDC is more accurate in terms ofF-measure than the state-of-the-art methods. We are optimistic that our discrimination analysis method can guide more studies on data structure, which may derive useful knowledge from data science for building more accurate prediction models.
Measuring Staff Empowerment Regarding Health Care for Clients with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Wilkinson Joanne , Greenwood Nechama W. , Wang Claire Tienwey , White Laura F. , Culpepper Larry
Published: February 2014

Background. Women with intellectual disabilities (ID) contract breast cancer at the same rate as the general population but have higher breast cancer mortality and lower rates of breast cancer screening. Many women with ID live in group homes or supported residences where they are cared for by direct support workers. While direct support workers are thought to influence client health, this effect is underresearched, and we lack tools for measuring staff empowerment and perceptions regarding client health. Methods. We developed and validated an instrument, the staff empowerment tool (SET), to measure staff empowerment as related to supporting clients in preventive health. Results. The SET was found to be a reliable instrument for measuring staff activation and empowerment in helping clients access mammography screening. Discussion. Quantifying staff empowerment and perspectives is important in studying and reducing disparities among adults with ID, a vulnerable population. Further research to determine the impact of staff empowerment levels on their clients’ health and health care access is suggested. The SET is a valuable tool for measuring the construct of staff empowerment, evaluating interventions, and collecting data regarding variation in staff empowerment.
Uplink Scheduling and Adjacent-Channel Coupling Loss Analysis for TD-LTE Deployment
Authors: Yeo Woon-Young , Moon Sung Ho , Kim Jae-Hoon
Published: February 2014

TD-LTE, one of the two duplexing modes in LTE, operates in unpaired spectrum and has the advantages of TDD-based technologies. It is expected that TD-LTE will be more rapidly deployed in near future and most of WiMax operators will upgrade their networks to TD-LTE gradually. Before completely upgrading to TD-LTE, WiMax may coexist with TD-LTE in an adjacent frequency band. In addition, multiple TD-LTE operators may deploy their networks in adjacent bands. When more than one TDD network operates in adjacent frequency bands, severe interference may happen due to adjacent channel interference (ACI) and unsynchronized operations. In this paper, coexistence issues between TD-LTE and other systems are analyzed and coexistence requirements are provided. This paper has three research objectives. First, frame synchronization between TD-LTE and WiMax is discussed by investigating possible combinations of TD-LTE and WiMax configurations. Second, an uplink scheduling algorithm is proposed to utilize a leakage pattern of ACI in synchronized operations. Third, minimum requirements for coexistence in unsynchronized operations are analyzed by introducing a concept of adjacent-channel coupling loss. From the analysis and simulation results, we can see that coexistence of TD-LTE with other TDD systems is feasible if the two networks are synchronized. For the unsynchronized case, some special cell-site engineering techniques may be required to reduce the ACI.
MRI-Based Assessment of Safe Margins in Tumor Surgery
Authors: Bellanova Laura , Schubert Thomas , Cartiaux Olivier , Lecouvet Frédéric , Galant Christine , Banse Xavier , Docquier Pierre-Louis
Published: February 2014

Introduction. In surgical oncology, histological analysis of excised tumor specimen is the conventional method to assess the safety of the resection margins. We tested the feasibility of using MRI to assess the resection margins of freshly explanted tumor specimens in rats.Materials and Methods. Fourteen specimen of sarcoma were resected in rats and analysed both with MRI and histologically. Slicing of the specimen was identical for the two methods and corresponding slices were paired. 498 margins were measured in length and classified using the UICC classification (R0, R1, and R2).Results. The mean difference between the 498 margins measured both with histology and MRI was 0.3 mm (SD 1.0 mm). The agreement interval of the two measurement methods was [−1.7 mm; 2.2 mm]. In terms of the UICC classification, a strict correlation was observed between MRI- and histology-based classifications (κ=0.84,P<0.05).Discussion. This experimental study showed the feasibility to use MRI images of excised tumor specimen to assess the resection margins with the same degree of accuracy as the conventional histopathological analysis. When completed, MRI acquisition of resected tumors may alert the surgeon in case of inadequate margin and help advantageously the histopathological analysis.
The Interpolating Element‐Free Galerkin Method for 2D Transient Heat Conduction Problems
Authors: Zhao Na , Ren Hongping
Published: February 2014

An interpolating element‐free Galerkin (IEFG) method is presented for transient heat conduction problems. The shape function in the moving least‐squares (MLS) approximation does not satisfy the property of Kronecker delta function, so an interpolating moving least‐squares (IMLS) method is discussed; then combining the shape function constructed by the IMLS method and Galerkin weak form of the 2D transient heat conduction problems, the interpolating element‐free Galerkin (IEFG) method for transient heat conduction problems is presented, and the corresponding formulae are obtained. The main advantage of this approach over the conventional meshless method is that essential boundary conditions can be applied directly. Numerical results show that the IEFG method has high computational accuracy.
A Novel Blind Separation Method in Magnetic Resonance Images
Authors: Gao Jianbin , Xia Qi , Yin Lixue , Zhou Ji , Du Li , Fan Yunfeng
Published: February 2014

A novel global search algorithm based method is proposed to separate MR images blindly in this paper. The key point of the method is the formulation of the new matrix which forms a generalized permutation of the original mixing matrix. Since the lowest entropy is closely associated with the smooth degree of source images, blind image separation can be formulated to an entropy minimization problem by using the property that most of neighbor pixels are smooth. A new dataset can be obtained by multiplying the mixed matrix by the inverse of the new matrix. Thus, the search technique is used to searching for the lowest entropy values of the new data. Accordingly, the separation weight vector associated with the lowest entropy values can be obtained. Compared with the conventional independent component analysis (ICA), the original signals in the proposed algorithm are not required to be independent. Simulation results on MR images are employed to further show the advantages of the proposed method.
Stabilization of the Wave Equation with Boundary Time-Varying Delay
Authors: Li Hao , Lin Changsong , Wang Shupeng , Zhang Yanmei
Published: February 2014

We study the stabilization of the wave equation with variable coefficients in a bounded domain and a time-varying delay term in the time-varying, weakly nonlinear boundary feedbacks. By the Riemannian geometry methods and a suitable assumption of nonlinearity, we obtain the uniform decay of the energy of the closed loop system.
Demiclosedness Principle for Total Asymptotically Nonexpansive Mappings inCAT(0)Spaces
Authors: Karapınar Erdal , Salahifard Hero , Vaezpour S. Mansour
Published: February 2014

We prove the demiclosedness principle for a class of mappings which is a generalization of all the forms of nonexpansive, asymptotically nonexpansive, and nearly asymptotically nonexpansive mappings. Moreover, we establish the existence theorem and convergence theorems for modified Ishikawa iterative process in the framework ofCAT(0)spaces. Our results generalize, extend, and unify the corresponding results on the topic in the literature.
The Analysis of Curved Beam Using B-Spline Wavelet on Interval Finite Element Method
Authors: Yang Zhibo , Chen Xuefeng , He Yumin , He Zhengjia , Zhang Jie
Published: February 2014

A B-spline wavelet on interval (BSWI) finite element is developed for curved beams, and the static and free vibration behaviors of curved beam (arch) are investigated in this paper. Instead of the traditional polynomial interpolation, scaling functions at a certain scale have been adopted to form the shape functions and construct wavelet-based elements. Different from the process of the direct wavelet addition in the other wavelet numerical methods, the element displacement field represented by the coefficients of wavelets expansions is transformed from wavelet space to physical space by aid of the corresponding transformation matrix. Furthermore, compared with the commonly used Daubechies wavelet, BSWI has explicit expressions and excellent approximation properties, which guarantee satisfactory results. Numerical examples are performed to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency with respect to previously published formulations for curved beams.
Defect Detection Techniques for Airbag Production Sewing Stages
Authors: Brad Raluca , Barac Lavinia , Brad Remus
Published: February 2014

Airbags are subjected to strict quality control in order to ensure passengers safety. The quality of fabric and sewing thread influences the final product and therefore, sewing defects must be early and accurately detected, in order to remove the item from production. Airbag seams assembly can take various forms, using linear and circle primitives, with threads of different colors and length densities, creating lockstitch or double threads chainstitch. The paper presents a framework for the automatic detection of defects occurring during the airbag sewing stage. Types of defects as skipped stitch, missed stitch, or superimposed seam for lockstitch and two threads chainstitch are detected and marked. Using image processing methods, the proposed framework follows the seams path and determines if a color pattern of the considered stitches is valid.
Comparing the State‐of‐the‐Art Efficient Stated Choice Designs Based on Empirical Analysis
Authors: Tang Li , Luo Xia , Cheng Yang , Yang Fei , Ran Bin
Published: February 2014

The stated choice (SC) experiment has been generally regarded as an effective method for behavior analysis. Among all the SC experimental design methods, the orthogonal design has been most widely used since it is easy to understand and construct. However, in recent years, a stream of research has put emphasis on the so‐called efficient experimental designs rather than keeping the orthogonality of the experiment, as the former is capable of producing more efficient data in the sense that more reliable parameter estimates can be achieved with an equal or lower sample size. This paper provides two state‐of‐the‐art methods called optimal orthogonal choice (OOC) and D‐efficient design. More statistically efficient data is expected to be obtained by either maximizing attribute level differences, or minimizing the D‐error, a statistic corresponding to the asymptotic variance‐covariance (AVC) matrix of the discrete choice model, when using these two methods, respectively. Since comparison and validation in the field of these methods are rarely seen, an empirical study is presented. D‐error is chosen as the measure of efficiency. The result shows that both OOC and D‐efficient design are more efficient. At last, strength and weakness of orthogonal, OOC, and D‐efficient design are summarized.
L(2,1)-Labeling of the Strong Product of Paths and Cycles
Authors: Shao Zehui , Vesel Aleksander
Published: February 2014

AnL(2,1)-labeling of a graphG=(V,E)is a functionffrom the vertex setV(G)to the set of nonnegative integers such that the labels on adjacent vertices differ by at least two and the labels on vertices at distance two differ by at least one. The span offis the difference between the largest and the smallest numbers inf(V). Theλ-number ofG, denoted byλ(G), is the minimum span over allL(2,1)-labelings ofG. We consider theλ-number ofPn⊠Cmand forn≤11theλ-number ofCn⊠Cm. We determineλ-numbers of graphs of interest with the exception of a finite number of graphs and we improve the bounds on theλ-number ofCn⊠Cm,m≥24andn≥26.
A Harmonic Linear Dynamical System for Prominent ECG Feature Extraction
Authors: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh , Yang Hyung-Jeong , Kim SunHee , Do Luu Ngoc
Published: February 2014

Unsupervised mining of electrocardiography (ECG) time series is a crucial task in biomedical applications. To have efficiency of the clustering results, the prominent features extracted from preprocessing analysis on multiple ECG time series need to be investigated. In this paper, a Harmonic Linear Dynamical System is applied to discover vital prominent features via mining the evolving hidden dynamics and correlations in ECG time series. The discovery of the comprehensible and interpretable features of the proposed feature extraction methodology effectively represents the accuracy and the reliability of clustering results. Particularly, the empirical evaluation results of the proposed method demonstrate the improved performance of clustering compared to the previous main stream feature extraction approaches for ECG time series clustering tasks. Furthermore, the experimental results on real-world datasets show scalability with linear computation time to the duration of the time series.
The Biological Effects of Combining Metals in a Posterior Spinal Implant:In VivoModel Development Report of the First Two Cases
Authors: Farnsworth Christine L. , Newton Peter O. , Breisch Eric , Rohmiller Michael T. , Kim Jung Ryul , Akbarnia Behrooz A.
Published: February 2014

Study Design. Combinations of metal implants (stainless steel (SS), titanium (Ti), and cobalt chrome (CC)) were placed in porcine spines. After 12 months, tissue response and implant corrosion were compared between mixed and single metal junctions.Objective.Model development and an attempt to determine any detriment of combining different metals in posterior spinal instrumentation.Methods. Yucatan mini-pigs underwent instrumentation over five unfused lumbar levels. A SS rod and a Ti rod were secured with Ti and SS pedicle screws, SS and Ti crosslinks, SS and CC sublaminar wires, and Ti sublaminar cable. The resulting 4 SS/SS, 3 Ti/Ti, and 11 connections between dissimilar metals per animal were studied after 12 months using radiographs, gross observation, and histology (foreign body reaction (FBR), metal particle count, and inflammation analyzed).Results. Two animals had constructs in place for 12 months with no complications. Histology of tissue over SS/SS connections demonstrated 11.1 ± 7.6 FBR cells, 2.1 ± 1.7 metal particles, and moderate to extensive inflammation. Ti/Ti tissue showed 6.3 ± 3.8 FBR cells, 5.2 ± 6.7 particles, and no to extensive inflammation (83% extensive). Tissue over mixed components had 14.1 ± 12.6 FBR cells and 13.4 ± 27.8 particles. Samples surrounding wires/cables versus other combinations demonstrated FBR (12.4 ± 13.5 versus 12.0 ± 9.6 cells,P= 0.96), particles (19.8 ± 32.6 versus 4.3 ± 12.7,P= 0.24), and inflammation (50% versus 75% extensive,P= 0.12).Conclusions. A nonfusion model was developed to study corrosion and analyze biological responses. Although no statistical differences were found in overlying tissue response to single versus mixed metal combinations, galvanic corrosion between differing metals is not ruled out. This pilot study supports further investigation to answer concerns when mixing metals in spinal constructs.
Strain Rate Dependent Ductile-to-Brittle Transition of Graphite Platelet Reinforced Vinyl Ester Nanocomposites
Authors: Pramanik Brahmananda , Mantena P. Raju
Published: February 2014

In previous research, the fractal dimensions of fractured surfaces of vinyl ester based nanocomposites were estimated applying classical method on 3D digital microscopic images. The fracture energy and fracture toughness were obtained from fractal dimensions. A noteworthy observation, the strain rate dependent ductile-to-brittle transition of vinyl ester based nanocomposites, is reinvestigated in the current study. The candidate materials of xGnP (exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets) reinforced and with additional CTBN (Carboxyl Terminated Butadiene Nitrile) toughened vinyl ester based nanocomposites that are subjected to both quasi-static and high strain rate indirect tensile load using the traditional Brazilian test method. High-strain rate indirect tensile testing is performed with a modified Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB). Pristine vinyl ester shows ductile deformation under quasi-static loading and brittle failure when subjected to high-strain rate loading. This observation reconfirms the previous research findings on strain rate dependent ductile-to-brittle transition of this material system. Investigation of both quasi-static and dynamic indirect tensile test responses show the strain rate effect on the tensile strength and energy absorbing capacity of the candidate materials. Contribution of nanoreinforcement to the tensile properties is reported in this paper.
3D Blade Hydraulic Design Method of the Rotodynamic Multiphase Pump Impeller and Performance Research
Authors: Zhang Yongxue , Zhang Jinya , Zhu Hongwu , Cai Shujie
Published: February 2014

A hydraulic design method of three-dimensional blade was presented to design the blades of the rotodynamic multiphase pump. Numerical simulations and bench test were conducted to investigate the performance of the example impeller designed by the presented method. The results obtained from the bench test were in good agreement with the simulation results, which indicated the reasonability of the simulation. The distributions of pressure and gas volume fraction were analyzed and the results showed that the designed impeller was good for the transportation of mixture composed of gas and liquid. In addition, the advantage of the impeller designed by the presented method was suitable for using in large volume rate conditions, which were reflected by the comparison of the head performance between this three-dimensional design method and another one.
Performance Enhancement of the In-Line Fan Equipped with the Guiding Vane and the Tail Body
Authors: Yen Hung-Cheng , Hsu Wen-Syang , Lin Sheam-Chyun
Published: February 2014

This integrated numerical and experimental study intends to enhance the performance of an in-line fan with the implement of the guiding vane and the tail body. At first the flow flied associated with the original in-line fan is simulated and analyzed within the framework of CFD code Fluent, in which the finite volume method is applied. Next, the guiding vane is constructed based on the calculated flow characteristics, and attached in the downstream of rotor to smoothen the flow pattern. An appropriate guiding vane with high-performance and low-noise features can be achieved after several design iterations. In addition, the tail body connected to the motor is introduced for further enhancing the fan performance by reducing the sizes of wake and reversed flow behind the hub. Thereafter, to manufacture the mockup for experimental verification, the modified fan with guiding vane is plotted in the CAD/CAM format for mockup fabrication via the rapid-prototype technique. Moreover, a set of relations correlating the performance and noise of this fan prototype are executed inside AMCA test chamber and semianechoic chamber, respectively. Consequently, the feasibility of design scheme and numerical system can be verified according to these experimental results. In summary, this work provides a systematic scheme for designing and analyzing the in-line fan.
Recent Developments in Homogeneous Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water and Wastewater Treatment
Authors: Muruganandham M. , Suri R. P. S. , Jafari Sh. , Sillanpää M. , Lee Gang-Juan , Wu J. J. , Swaminathan M.
Published: February 2014

This paper reports on recent developments in homogeneous Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) for the treatment of water and wastewater. It has already been established that AOPs are very efficient compared to conventional treatment methods for degradation and mineralization of recalcitrant pollutants present in water and wastewater. AOPs generate a powerful oxidizing agent, hydroxyl radical, which can react with most of the pollutants present in wastewater. Therefore, it is important to discuss recent developments in AOPs. The homogeneous AOPs such as O3, UV/O3, UV/O3/H2O2, and UV/H2O2, Fe2+/H2O2, UV/Fe2+/H2O2on the degradation of pollutants are discussed in this paper. The influence on the process efficiency of various experimental parameters such as solution pH, temperature, oxidant concentration, and the dosage of the light source is discussed. A list of contaminants used for degradation by various AOPs and the experimental conditions used for the treatment are discussed in detail.
The Concept of q-Cycle and Applications
Authors: Pintoptang Umarin , Tadee Suton , Laohakosol Vichian
Published: February 2014

The concept of q-cycle is investigated for its properties and applications. Connections
with irreducible polynomials over a finite field are established with emphases on the
notions of order and degree. The results are applied to deduce new results about
primitive and self-reciprocal polynomials.
Analysis of Stiffened Penstock External Pressure Stability Based on Immune Algorithm and Neural Network
Authors: Dong Wensheng , Liu Xuemei , Li Yunhua
Published: February 2014

The critical external pressure stability calculation of stiffened penstock in the hydroelectric power station is very important work for penstock design. At present, different assumptions and boundary simplification are adopted by different calculation methods which sometimes cause huge differences too. In this paper, we present an immune based artificial neural network model via the model and stability theory of elastic ring, we study effects of some factors (such as pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness, sectional size of stiffening ring, and spacing between stiffening rings) on penstock critical external pressure during huge thin‐wall procedure of penstock. The results reveal that the variation of diameter and wall thickness can lead to sharp variation of penstock external pressure bearing capacity and then give the change interval of it. This paper presents an optimizing design method to optimize sectional size and spacing of stiffening rings and to determine penstock bearing capacity coordinate with the bearing capacity of stiffening rings and penstock external pressure stability coordinate with its strength safety. As a practical example, the simulation results illustrate that the method presented in this paper is available and can efficiently overcome inherent defects of BP neural network.
Tracking Mobile Robot in Indoor Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhang Liping , Lim Cheng-Chew , Chen Yiping , Karimi Hamid Reza
Published: February 2014

This work addresses the problem of tracking mobile robots in indoor wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Our approach is based on a localization scheme with RSSI (received signal strength indication) which is used widely in WSN. The developed tracking system is designed for continuous estimation of the robot’s trajectory. A WSN, which is composed of many very simple and cheap wireless sensor nodes, is deployed at a specific region of interest. The wireless sensor nodes collect RSSI information sent by mobile robots. A range‐based data fusion scheme is used to estimate the robot’s trajectory. Moreover, a Kalman filter is designed to improve tracking accuracy. Experiments are provided to assess the performance of the proposed scheme.
Guided Imagery for Stress and Symptom Management in Pregnant African American Women
Authors: Jallo Nancy , Ruiz R. Jeanne , Elswick R. K. , French Elise
Published: February 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a guided imagery (GI) intervention for stress reduction in pregnant African American women beginning early in the second trimester. This prospective longitudinal study of 72 women used a randomized controlled experimental design with two groups conducted over 12 weeks. The intervention was a CD with 4 professionally recorded tracts designed and sequenced to influence study variables. Participants in both GI and usual care (UC) completed measures and donated 5 cc of blood at baseline, 8 weeks and 12 weeks. Participants also completed a daily stress scale. A mixed‐effects linear model tested for differences between groups for self‐reported measures of stress, anxiety, and fatigue as well as corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH), a biologic marker of stress. Significant differences in perceived stress daily scores and at week 8 but not week 12 were found in the GI group compared to UC group. The GI group reported significantly less fatigue and anxiety than the UC group at week 8 but not week 12. There were no significant differences in CRH levels between groups. Results suggest that GI intervention may be effective in reducing perceived stress, anxiety, and fatigue measures among pregnant African American women.
Synthetic Melatoninergic Ligands: Achievements and Prospects
Authors: Kostiuk N. V. , Belyakova M. B. , Leshchenko D. V. , Zhigulina V. V. , Miniaev M. V.
Published: February 2014

Pineal hormone melatonin is widely used in the treatment of disorders of circadian rhythms. The presence of melatonin receptors in various animal tissues motivates the use of this hormone in some other diseases. For this reason, in recent years investigators continued the search for synthetic analogues of melatonin which are metabolically stable and selective to receptors. This review includes recent information about the most famous melatonin analogues, their structure, properties, and physiological features of the interaction with melatonin receptors.
The Role of mTOR Inhibitors in Liver Transplantation: Reviewing the Evidence
Authors: Klintmalm Goran B. , Nashan Björn
Published: February 2014

Despite the success of liver transplantation, long-term complications remain, includingde novomalignancies, metabolic syndrome, and the recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The current mainstay of treatment, calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs), can also worsen posttransplant renal dysfunction, neurotoxicity, and diabetes. Clearly there is a need for better immunosuppressive agents that maintain similar rates of efficacy and renal function whilst minimizing adverse effects. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors with a mechanism of action that is different from other immunosuppressive agents has the potential to address some of these issues. In this review we surveyed the literature for reports of the use of mTOR inhibitors in adult liver transplantation with respect to renal function, efficacy, safety, neurological symptoms,de novotumors, and the recurrence of HCC and HCV. The results of our review indicate that mTOR inhibitors are associated with efficacy comparable to CNIs while having benefits on renal function in liver transplantation. We also consider newer dosing schedules that may limit side effects. Finally, we discuss evidence that mTOR inhibitors may have benefits in the oncology setting and in relation to HCV-related allograft fibrosis, metabolic syndrome, and neurotoxicity.
Color Image Evaluation for Small Space Based on FA and GEP
Authors: Deng Li , Yu Sui-Huai , Wang Wen-Jun , Chen Jun-Xuan , Liu Guo-Chang
Published: February 2014

Aiming at the problem that color image is difficult to quantify, this paper proposes an evaluation method of color image for small space based on factor analysis (FA) and gene expression programming (GEP) and constructs a correlation model between color image factors and comprehensive color image. The basic color samples of small space and color images are evaluated by semantic differential method (SD method), color image factors are selected via dimension reduction in FA, factor score function is established, and by combining the entropy weight method to determine each factor weights then the comprehensive color image score is calculated finally. The best fitting function between color image factors and comprehensive color image is obtained by GEP algorithm, which can predict the users’ color image values. A color image evaluation system for small space is developed based on this model. The color evaluation of a control room on AC frequency conversion rig is taken as an example, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed method. It also can assist the designers in other color designs and provide a fast evaluation tool for testing users’ color image.
Gluteal Compartment Syndrome following Vascular and Neurological Injuries
Authors: Hafez Mahmoud A. , Radwan Moustafa
Published: February 2014

Gluteal compartment syndrome is a serious but rare condition that has recently been increasingly reported in literature. This report presents two cases that followed neurological and vascular injuries (first case: an injury of the superior gluteal artery; second case: neurological injury bilaterally). A high index of suspicion and attention is needed to early diagnose this condition due to the possibility of developing serious and potentially fatal complications and difficulty in management.
An Activation Method of Topic Dictionary to Expand Training Data for Trend Rule Discovery
Authors: Sakurai Shigeaki , Makino Kyoko , Matsumoto Shigeru
Published: February 2014

This paper improves a method which predicts whether evaluation objects such as companies and products are to be attractive in near future. The attractiveness is evaluated by trend rules. The trend rules represent relationships among evaluation objects, keywords, and numerical changes related to the evaluation objects. They are inductively acquired from text sequential data and numerical sequential data. The method assigns evaluation objects to the text sequential data by activating a topic dictionary. The dictionary describes keywords representing the numerical change. It can expand the amount of the training data. It is anticipated that the expansion leads to the acquisition of more valid trend rules. This paper applies the method to a task which predicts attractive stock brands based on both news headlines and stock price sequences. It shows that the method can improve the detection performance of evaluation objects through numerical experiments.
Wave-Breaking Phenomena and Existence of Peakons for a Generalized Compressible Elastic-Rod Equation
Authors: Ai Xiaolian , Jiang Lingyu , Yi Ting
Published: February 2014

Consideration in this paper is the Cauchy problem of a generalized hyperelastic-rod wave equation. We first derive a wave-breaking mechanism for strong solutions, which occurs in finite time for certain initial profiles. In addition, we determine the existence of some new peaked solitary wave solutions.
Prooxidant Effects of Verbascoside, a Bioactive Compound from Olive Oil Mill Wastewater, onIn VitroDevelopmental Potential of Ovine Prepubertal Oocytes and Bioenergetic/Oxidative Stress Parameters of Fresh and Vitrified Oocytes
Authors: Dell'Aquila M. E. , Bogliolo L. , Russo R. , Martino N. A. , Filioli Uranio M. , Ariu F. , Amati F. , Sardanelli A. M. , Linsalata V. , Ferruzzi M. G. , Cardinali A. , Minervini F.
Published: February 2014

Verbascoside (VB) is a bioactive polyphenol from olive oil mill wastewater with known antioxidant activity. Oxidative stress is an emerging problem in assisted reproductive technology (ART). Juvenile ART is a promising topic because, in farm animals, it reduces the generation gap and, in human reproductive medicine, it helps to overcome premature ovarian failure. The aim of this study was to test the effects of VB on the developmental competence of ovine prepubertal oocytes and the bioenergetic/oxidative stress status of fresh and vitrified oocytes. In fresh oocytes, VB exerted prooxidant short-term effects, that is, catalase activity increase and uncoupled increases of mitochondria and reactive oxygen species (ROS) fluorescence signals, and long-term effects, that is, reduced blastocyst formation rate. In vitrified oocytes, VB increased ROS levels. Prooxidant VB effects in ovine prepubertal oocytes could be related to higher VB accumulation, which was found as almost one thousand times higher than that reported in other cell systems in previous studies. Also, long exposure times of oocytes to VB, throughout the duration ofin vitromaturation culture, may have contributed to significant increase of oocyte oxidation. Further studies are needed to identify lower concentrations and/or shorter exposure times to figure out VB antioxidant effects in juvenile ARTs.
Percolation of Carbon Nanoparticles in Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Enhancing Carrier Mobility in Organic Thin Film Transistors
Authors: Lee Chang-Hung , Hsu Chun-Hao , Chen Iu-Ren , Wu Wen-Jong , Lin Chih-Ting
Published: February 2014

To improve the field-effect mobility of all-inkjet-printed organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), a composite material consisted of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) was reported by using homemade inkjet-printing system. These all-inkjet-printed composite OTFTs represented superior characteristics compared to the all-inkjet-printed pristine P3HT OTFTs. To investigate the enhancement mechanism of the blended materials, the percolation model was established and experimentally verified to illustrate the enhancement of the electrical properties with different blending concentrations. In addition, experimental results of OTFT contact resistances showed that both contact resistance and channel resistance were halved. At the same time, X-ray diffraction measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectra, ultraviolet-visible light, and photoluminescence spectra were also accomplished to clarify the material blending effects. Therefore, this study demonstrates the potential and guideline of carbon-based nanocomposite materials in all-inkjet-printed organic electronics.
Simulation and Analysis of Indoor Visible Light Propagation Characteristics Based on the Method of SBR/Image
Authors: Yuan-jian Liu , Qin-jian Shi , Xue Ma , Ye-rong Zhang
Published: February 2014

The indoor visible light propagation characteristics are simulated and analyzed using the method of SBR/Image (shooting and bounding ray tracing/Image). A good agreement is achieved between the results simulated and the results given in published literature. So the correctness of the method has been validated. Some propagation parameters are obtained in the simulation, such as the indoor received power distribution, statistical distribution of phase angle of received power, RMS (root mean square) delay spread, direction of arrival, and Doppler shift. The foundation for the wireless network coverage of indoor visible light communication system is provided by the analysis of the above results.
Comparison of Two Derivatization Methods for the Analysis of Fatty Acids andTransFatty Acids in Bakery Products Using Gas Chromatography
Authors: Salimon Jumat , Omar Talal A. , Salih Nadia
Published: February 2014

Two different procedures for the methylation of fatty acids (FAs) andtransfatty acids (TFAs) in food fats were compared using gas chromatography (GC-FID). The base-catalyzed followed by an acid-catalyzed method (KOCH3/HCl) and the base-catalyzed followed by (trimethylsilyl)diazomethane (TMS–DM) method were used to prepare FA methyl esters (FAMEs) from lipids extracted from food products. In general, both methods were suitable for the determination ofcis/transFAs. The correlation coefficients (r) between the methods were relatively small (ranging from 0.86 to 0.99) and had a high level of agreement for the most abundant FAs. The significant differences (P=0.05) can be observed for unsaturated FAs (UFAs), specifically for TFAs. The results from the KOCH3/HCl method showed the lowest recovery values (%R) and higher variation (from 84% to 112%), especially for UFAs. The TMS-DM method had higherRvalues, less variation (from 90% to 106%), and more balance between variation and %RSD values in intraday and interday measurements (less than 4% and 6%, resp.) than the KOCH3/HCl method, except for C12:0, C14:0, and C18:0. Nevertheless, the KOCH3/HCl method required shorter time and was less expensive than the TMS-DM method which is more convenient for an accurate and thorough analysis of richcis/transUFA samples.
A Mean Value Related to Primitive Roots and Golomb’s Conjectures
Authors: Wang Weiqiong , Zhang Wenpeng
Published: February 2014

The main purpose of this paper is using the properties of Gauss sums and the estimate for character sums to study a mean value problem related to the primitive rootsmod pand the different forms of Golomb’s conjectures and propose an interesting asymptotic formula for it.