bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Radiation reaction at the level of the action
Authors: Birnholtz Ofek , Hadar Shahar , Kol Barak
Published: September 2014

The aim of this paper is to highlight a recently proposed method for the treatment of classical radiative effects, in particular radiation reaction, via effective field theory methods. We emphasize important features of the method and in particular the doubling of fields. We apply the method to two simple systems: a mass–rope system and an electromagnetic charge-field system. For the mass–rope system in 1 + 1 dimensions we derive a double-field effective action for the mass which describes a damped harmonic oscillator. For the EM charge-field system, i.e. the system of an accelerating electric charge in 3 + 1 dimensions, we show a reduction to a 1 + 1 dimensions radial system of an electric dipole source coupled to an electric dipole field (analogous to the mass coupled to the rope). For this system we derive a double-field effective action and reproduce in an analogous way the leading part of the Abraham–Lorentz–Dirac force.
DO MICRO ENTERPRISES CHOOSE MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS TO MEET THEIR FINANCIAL NEEDS? EVIDENCE FROM MUMBAI SLUMS
Authors: GHOSH CHANDRALEKHA , GUHA SAMAPTI
Published: September 2014

The study empirically investigates types of microenterprises (MEs) resorting to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for their financial needs in the slums of Mumbai, India. The study is based on a primary survey of MEs, located in two different types of slums, namely "declared" and "undeclared," in Mumbai including the largest slum, "Dharavi," in India, Asia. Empirical results show that the MEs from the undeclared slums mainly depend on the MFIs. Apart from this fact, it has also been observed that MEs operating from private places and started their operation less than five years ago depend on the MFIs to meet their financial requirements. The other MEs are either depending on informal money lenders or their own resources for running their enterprises.
Bit errors in the Kirchhoff-Law–Johnson-Noise secure key exchange
Authors: Saez Yessica , Kish Laszlo B. , Mingesz Robert , Gingl Zoltan , Granqvist Claes G.
Published: September 2014

We classify and analyze bit errors in the voltage and current measurement modes of the Kirchhoff-law–Johnson-noise (KLJN) secure key distribution system. In both measurement modes, the error probability decays exponentially with increasing duration of the bit sharing period (BSP) at fixed bandwidth. We also present an error mitigation strategy based on the combination of voltage-based and current-based schemes. The combination method has superior fidelity, with drastically reduced error probability compared to the former schemes, and it also shows an exponential dependence on the duration of the BSP.
Performance analysis of the “intelligent” Kirchhoff-Law-Johnson-Noise secure key exchange
Authors: Smulko Janusz
Published: September 2014

The Kirchhoff-Law-Johnson-Noise (KLJN) secure key distribution system provides a way of exchanging information theoretic secure keys by measuring the random voltage and current through the wire connecting two different resistors at Alice's and Bob's ends. Recently new advanced protocols for the KLJN method have been proposed with enhanced performance. In this paper we analyze the KLJN system and compare with “intelligent” KLJN (iKLJN) scheme. This task requires the determination of the applied resistors and the identification of the various superpositions of known and unknown noise components. Some statistical tools to determine how the duration of the bit exchange window (averaging time) influences the performance of secure bit exchange will be explored.
A broadcasting multiple blind signature scheme based on quantum GHZ entanglement
Authors: Tian Yuan , Chen Hong , Gao Yan , Zhuang Honglin , Lian Haigang , Han Zhengping , Yu Peng , Kong Xiangze , Wen Xiaojun
Published: September 2014

Using the correlation of the GHZ triplet states, a broadcasting multiple blind signature scheme is proposed. Different from classical multiple signature and current quantum signature schemes, which could only deliver either multiple signature or unconditional security, our scheme guarantees both by adopting quantum key preparation, quantum encryption algorithm and quantum entanglement. Our proposed scheme has the properties of multiple signature, blindness, non-disavowal, non-forgery and traceability. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose the broadcasting multiple blind signature of quantum cryptography.
Evaluation of partial digestions for soils to detect a deeply buried VMS Cu-Zn prospect in boreal forests
Authors: van Geffen Pim W.G. , Kyser T. Kurt , Oates Christopher J. , Ihlenfeld Christian
Published: September 2014

Eleven partial extraction methods were assessed for their exploration utility on 15 soil samples from a one-kilometre transect over the Palaeoproterozoic Talbot VMS occurrence that is hosted by metamorphic sequences of the Flin Flon-Snow Lake terrane and overlain by 100 m of Palaeozoic dolomites and up to 2 m of Quaternary glacial sediments. Student’s
t-
test statistics and
t-
distribution probabilities (P

t

) were calculated to evaluate the magnitude and spatial accuracy of anomalies in each dataset. In the surface soil that was analysed, Zn anomalies have the greatest contrast by most methods, followed by P and Cd, albeit mostly restricted to a strong anomaly at a fault zone that is laterally offset
c.
100 m from the projection of mineralization. Extraction methods with significant anomaly contrast in decreasing order of exploration utility are Enzyme Leach, deionized water, sodium pyrophosphate, MMI, and ammonium acetate at pH 7. Weaker leaches generate anomalies with greater contrast than stronger acid digests of the soils, which tend to dissolve the sample matrix and overwhelm the secondary signal from adsorbed species of ore indicator elements. Aqua regia digestions on the clay fraction extracted from the soil also have greater contrast than most soil digestions for ore-indicator elements. Continuous-leach ICP-MS analysis of the Talbot soil provides detailed phase relationships that indicate the presence of labile Zn present as organic complexes in anomalous soil over the fault, and the absence of such secondary Zn species in background soil, in which most Zn is released from carbonate dissolution.
Discovering Novelty Patterns from the Ancient Christian Inscriptions of Rome
Authors: Pio Gianvito , Fumarola Fabio , Felle Antonio E. , Malerba Donato , Ceci Michelangelo
Published: September 2014

Studying Greek and Latin cultural heritage has always been considered essential to the understanding of important aspects of the roots of current European societies. However, only a small fraction of the total production of texts from ancient Greece and Rome has survived up to the present, leaving many gaps in the historiographic records. Epigraphy, which is the study of inscriptions (epigraphs), helps to fill these gaps. In particular, the goal of epigraphy is to clarify the meanings of epigraphs; to classify their uses according to their dating and cultural contexts; and to study aspects of the writing, the writers, and their “consumers.” Although several research projects have recently been promoted for digitally storing and retrieving data and metadata about epigraphs, there has actually been no attempt to apply data mining technologies to discover previously unknown cultural aspects. In this context, we propose to exploit the temporal dimension associated with epigraphs (dating) by applying a data mining method for novelty detection. The main goal is to discover relational novelty patterns—that is, patterns expressed as logical clauses describing significant variations (in frequency) over the different epochs, in terms of relevant features such as language, writing style, and material. As a case study, we considered the set of
Inscriptiones Christianae Vrbis Romae
stored in Epigraphic Database Bari, an epigraphic repository. Some patterns discovered by the data mining method were easily deciphered by experts since they captured relevant cultural changes, whereas others disclosed unexpected variations, which might be used to formulate new questions, thus expanding the research opportunities in the field of epigraphy.
Lazy Scheduling
Authors: Tzannes Alexandros , Caragea George C. , Vishkin Uzi , Barua Rajeev
Published: September 2014

Lazy scheduling
is a runtime scheduler for task-parallel codes that effectively coarsens parallelism on load conditions in order to significantly reduce its overheads compared to existing approaches, thus enabling the efficient execution of more fine-grained tasks. Unlike other adaptive dynamic schedulers, lazy scheduling does not maintain any additional state to infer system load and does not make irrevocable serialization decisions. These two features allow it to scale well and to provide excellent load balancing in practice but at a much lower overhead cost compared to work stealing, the golden standard of dynamic schedulers. We evaluate three variants of lazy scheduling on a set of benchmarks on three different platforms and find it to substantially outperform popular work stealing implementations on fine-grained codes. Furthermore, we show that the vast performance gap between manually coarsened and fully parallel code is greatly reduced by lazy scheduling, and that, with minimal static coarsening, lazy scheduling delivers performance very close to that of fully tuned code.

The tedious manual coarsening required by the best existing work stealing schedulers and its damaging effect on performance portability have kept novice and general-purpose programmers from parallelizing their codes. Lazy scheduling offers the foundation for a declarative parallel programming methodology that should attract those programmers by minimizing the need for manual coarsening and by greatly enhancing the performance portability of parallel code.
Identifying Efficient Abductive Hypotheses Using Multicriteria Dominance Relation
Authors: Komosinski Maciej , Kups Adam , Leszczyńska-Jasion Dorota , Urbański Mariusz
Published: September 2014

In this article, results of the automation of an abductive procedure are reported. This work is a continuation of our earlier research [Komosinski et al. 2012], where a general scheme of the procedure has been proposed. Here, a more advanced system developed to generate and evaluate abductive hypotheses is introduced. Abductive hypotheses have been generated by the implementation of the synthetic tableau method. Prior to the evaluation, the set of hypotheses has undergone several reduction phases. To assess usefulness of abductive hypotheses in the reduced set, several criteria have been employed. The evaluation of efficiency of the hypotheses has been provided by the multicriteria dominance relation. To comprehend the abductive procedure and the evaluation process more extensively, analyses have been conducted on a number of artificially generated abductive problems.
Three levels three dimensional compact coding
Authors: Sen Soumik , Maitra Subhashis
Published: September 2014

Hardware and timing complexities are the major issues in current security related algorithms. Some of them shows better efficiency with respect to time and some of them reduce hardware complexities. Researchers try to solve both the problem at the same time in an efficient way. There are different existing algorithms which prove this efficiency. Here we will propose a new algorithm named as "Three Levels Three Dimensional Compact Coding (TLTDCC)" which will show better response time as well as it requires less hardware and also in security aspect, it will provide higher security. This paper explores a novelty of the work through a comparative study of the proposed algorithm with respect to different existing algorithms both in tabular method and graphically.
Accumulation Studies at a High Elevation Glacier Site in Central Karakoram
Authors: Mayer Christoph , Lambrecht Astrid , Oerter Hans , Schwikowski Margit , Vuillermoz Elisa , Frank Nicola , Diolaiuti Guglielmina
Published: September 2014

The precipitation conditions in central Karakoram are investigated on the basis of snow samples from high elevated snow pits at Urdok glacier from 2006 and the analysis of atmospheric transport trajectories in combination with the general, large scale pressure distribution. Our analysis shows that accumulation at the high elevated regions of the central Karakoram is dominated by the west wind circulation (WWC). Incursions of the South Asian monsoon (SAM) occur sometimes during the summer months accompanied by strong precipitation but play a minor role for the total accumulation amount. Dust layers found in the snow pits show a rare earth elements signature which indicates that the dust very likely originates from the arid regions of western China and Central Asia. Our trajectory calculations based on NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data confirm that especially during late spring and early summer the westerly flow is redirected over the Tarim basin to reach central Karakoram from an East/Southeast direction. The preservation of the layer structure and the clear seasonal signals in the snow pits indicate that locations above 5200 m in central Karakoram will be suitable places for retrieving longer climate records from ice cores.
Correlation between Global Rating Scale and Specific Checklist Scores for Professional Behaviour of Physical Therapy Students in Practical Examinations
Authors: Turner Kaitlin , Bell Maegan , Bays Lindsay , Lau Carmen , Lai Clara , Kendzerska Tetyana , Evans Cathy , Davies Robyn
Published: September 2014

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the specific item checklist (checklist) and global rating scale (GRS) scores are correlated in practical skills examinations (PSEs). Professional behaviour was evaluated using both the checklist and GRS scores for 183 students in three PSEs. Mean, standard deviation, and correlation for checklist and GRS scores were calculated for each station, within each PSE. Pass rate for checklist and GRS was determined for each PSE, as well as for each individual checklist item within each PSE. Overall, pass rate was high for both checklist and GRS evaluations of professional behaviour in all PSEs. Generally, mean scores for the checklist and GRS were high, with low standard deviations, resulting in low data variability. Spearman correlation between total checklist and GRS scores was statistically significant for two out of five stations in PSE 1, five out of six stations in PSE 2, and three out of four stations in PSE 3. The GRS is comparable to the checklist for evaluation of professional behaviour in physical therapy (PT) students. The correlation between the checklist and GRS appears to become stronger in the assessment of more advanced students.
Structural Differences Observed in Arboviruses of the Alphavirus and Flavivirus Genera
Authors: Hernandez Raquel , Brown Dennis T. , Paredes Angel
Published: September 2014

Arthropod borne viruses have developed a complex life cycle adapted to alternate between insect and vertebrate hosts. These arthropod-borne viruses belong mainly to the families Togaviridae, Flaviviridae, and Bunyaviridae. This group of viruses contains many pathogens that cause febrile, hemorrhagic, and encephalitic disease or arthritic symptoms which can be persistent. It has been appreciated for many years that these viruses were evolutionarily adapted to function in the highly divergent cellular environments of both insect and mammalian phyla. These viruses are hybrid in nature, containing viral-encoded RNA and proteins which are glycosylated by the host and encapsulate viral nucleocapsids in the context of a host-derived membrane. From a structural perspective, these virus particles are macromolecular machines adapted in design to assemble into a packaging and delivery system for the virus genome and, only when associated with the conditions appropriate for a productive infection, to disassemble and deliver the RNA cargo. It was initially assumed that the structures of the virus from both hosts were equivalent. New evidence that alphaviruses and flaviviruses can exist in more than one conformation postenvelopment will be discussed in this review. The data are limited but should refocus the field of structural biology on the metastable nature of these viruses.
Effect of the Herbal Drug Guilu Erxian Jiao on Muscle Strength, Articular Pain, and Disability in Elderly Men with Knee Osteoarthritis
Authors: Tsai Chen-Chen , Chou Yin-Yi , Chen Yi-Ming , Tang Yih-Jing , Ho Hui-Ching , Chen Der-Yuan
Published: September 2014

Background. Guilu Erxian Jiao (GEJ) is a widely used Chinese herbal remedy for knee osteoarthritis, but its clinical efficacy is unknown. Methods. We enrolled 42 elderly male patients with knee OA, including 21 patients who received the herbal drug GEJ as the case group and 21 patients who did not receive GEJ as the control group. The effects of 12 weeks of GEJ treatment on muscle strength of lower limbs were measured by a Biodex dynamometer, with disability evaluated on the Lequesne index and articular pain measured on the visual analog scale (VAS) between the two groups on the baseline and after treatment. Results. There were significant increases in the levels of muscle strength of TQ/BW‐ext‐dominant and TQ/BW‐flex‐dominant between the two groups after treatment (P < 0.05). There were also significant increases in muscle strength of knee extensor muscles in the GEJ‐treated group (n = 21) self‐controlled before and after 12 weeks of treatment (all P < 0.01). There were significant decreases in articular pain (P < 0.01) and Lequesne index scores (P < 0.01) in the GEJ‐treated group when compared to the non‐GEJ‐treated group. Conclusions. Our results showed that GEJ is effective and is tolerated well in elderly men with knee OA.
Yokukansan, a Traditional Japanese Medicine, Adjusts Glutamate Signaling in Cultured Keratinocytes
Authors: Wakabayashi Maki , Hasegawa Toshio , Yamaguchi Takuji , Funakushi Naoko , Suto Hajime , Ueki Rie , Kobayashi Hiroyuki , Ogawa Hideoki , Ikeda Shigaku
Published: September 2014

Glutamate plays an important role in skin barrier signaling. In our previous study, Yokukansan (YKS) affected glutamate receptors in NC/Nga mice and was ameliorated in atopic dermatitis lesions. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of YKS on skin and cultured human keratinocytes. Glutamate concentrations in skin of YKS-treated and nontreated NC/Nga mice were measured. Then, glutamate release from cultured keratinocytes was measured, and extracellular glutamate concentrations in YKS-stimulated cultured human keratinocytes were determined. The mRNA expression levels of NMDA receptor 2D (NMDAR2D) and glutamate aspartate transporter (GLAST) were also determined in YKS-stimulated cultured keratinocytes. The glutamate concentrations and dermatitis scores increased in conventional mice, whereas they decreased in YKS-treated mice. Glutamate concentrations in cell supernatants of cultured keratinocytes increased proportionally to the cell density. However, they decreased dose-dependently with YKS. YKS stimulation increased NMDAR2D in a concentration-dependent manner. Conversely, GLAST decreased in response to YKS. Our findings indicate that YKS affects peripheral glutamate signaling in keratinocytes. Glutamine is essential as a transmitter, and dermatitis lesions might produce and release excess glutamate. This study suggests that, in keratinocytes, YKS controls extracellular glutamate concentrations, suppresses N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and activates glutamate transport.
Trypanosomosis, Its Risk Factors, and Anaemia in Cattle Population of Dale Wabera District of Kellem Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia
Authors: Biyazen Habtamu , Duguma Reta , Asaye Mebratu
Published: September 2014

Cross-sectional study was conducted in Dale Wabera district of Kellem Wollega zone, Western Ethiopia, to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and to evaluate association of bovine trypanosomosis to anaemia. Blood samples collected from 384 randomly selected cattle were subjected to parasitological and haematological analysis. For the parasitological survey, blood samples were examined using a buffy coat technique. The packed cell volume (PCV) value of each animal was also measured using hematocrit reader. The overall prevalence of trypanosomosis was 2.86%. The most common trypanosome species identified were Trypanosoma congolense (63.64%) followed by T. vivax (27.27%) and T. brucei (9%). The prevalence showed no significant difference in susceptibility between sex categories, age groups, and different body conditioned animals. The overall anaemia prevalence in the area was 19.27%. The anaemia prevalence was significantly higher in trypanosome positive cattle (54.54%) than in noninfected animals (18.23%) (P < 0.05). The mean PCV value of the infected animals was lower (22.36%±7.39%) compared to noninfected animals (27.86±5.38%). There was statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) in the PCV values of infected and noninfected animals. In conclusion, this study confirmed that trypanosomosis poses a threat to cattle production in the area and also contributed to the occurrence of anaemia.
A Clustering Approach for the l-Diversity Model in Privacy Preserving Data Mining Using Fractional Calculus-Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Bhaladhare Pawan R. , Jinwala Devesh C.
Published: September 2014

In privacy preserving data mining, the l-diversity and k-anonymity models are the most widely used for preserving the sensitive private information of an individual. Out of these two, l-diversity model gives better privacy and lesser information loss as compared to the k-anonymity model. In addition, we observe that numerous clustering algorithms have been proposed in data mining, namely, k-means, PSO, ACO, and BFO. Amongst them, the BFO algorithm is more stable and faster as compared to all others except k-means. However, BFO algorithm suffers from poor convergence behavior as compared to other optimization algorithms. We also observed that the current literature lacks any approaches that apply BFO with l-diversity model to realize privacy preservation in data mining. Motivated by this observation, we propose here an approach that uses fractional calculus (FC) in the chemotaxis step of the BFO algorithm. The FC is used to boost the computational performance of the algorithm. We also evaluate our proposed FC-BFO and BFO algorithms empirically, focusing on information loss and execution time as vital metrics. The experimental evaluation shows that our proposed FC-BFO algorithm derives an optimal cluster as compared to the original BFO algorithm and existing clustering algorithms.
Detection and Measurement of the Intracellular Calcium Variation in Follicular Cells
Authors: Herrera-Navarro Ana M. , Terol-Villalobos Iván R. , Jiménez-Hernández Hugo , Peregrina-Barreto Hayde , Gonzalez-Barboza José-Joel
Published: September 2014

This work presents a new method for measuring the variation of intracellular calcium in follicular cells. The proposal consists in two stages: (i) the detection of the cell’s nuclei and (ii) the analysis of the fluorescence variations. The first stage is performed via watershed modified transformation, where the process of labeling is controlled. The detection process uses the contours of the cells as descriptors, where they are enhanced with a morphological filter that homogenizes the luminance variation of the image. In the second stage, the fluorescence variations are modeled as an exponential decreasing function, where the fluorescence variations are highly correlated with the changes of intracellular free Ca2+. Additionally, it is introduced a new morphological called medium reconstruction process, which helps to enhance the data for the modeling process. This filter exploits the undermodeling and overmodeling properties of reconstruction operators, such that it preserves the structure of the original signal. Finally, an experimental process shows evidence of the capabilities of the proposal.
Early Changes in Costameric and Mitochondrial Protein Expression with Unloading Are Muscle Specific
Authors: Flück Martin , Li Ruowei , Valdivieso Paola , Linnehan Richard M. , Castells Josiane , Tesch Per , Gustafsson Thomas
Published: September 2014

We hypothesised that load-sensitive expression of costameric proteins, which hold the sarcomere in place and position the mitochondria, contributes to the early adaptations of antigravity muscle to unloading and would depend on muscle fibre composition and chymotrypsin activity of the proteasome. Biopsies were obtained from vastus lateralis (VL) and soleus (SOL) muscles of eight men before and after 3 days of unilateral lower limb suspension (ULLS) and subjected to fibre typing and measures for costameric (FAK and FRNK), mitochondrial (NDUFA9, SDHA, UQCRC1, UCP3, and ATP5A1), and MHCI protein and RNA content. Mean cross-sectional area (MCSA) of types I and II muscle fibres in VL and type I fibres in SOL demonstrated a trend for a reduction after ULLS (0.05≤P<0.10). FAK phosphorylation at tyrosine 397 showed a 20% reduction in VL muscle (P=0.029). SOL muscle demonstrated a specific reduction in UCP3 content (-23%;P = 0.012). Muscle-specific effects of ULLS were identified for linear relationships between measured proteins, chymotrypsin activity and fibre MCSA. The molecular modifications in costamere turnover and energy homoeostasis identify that aspects of atrophy and fibre transformation are detectable at the protein level in weight-bearing muscles within 3 days of unloading.
The Effect of Perforation on the Dynamics of a Flexible Panel
Authors: Putra A. , Cheah Y. M. , Muhammad N. , Rivai A. , Wai C. M.
Published: September 2014

Introduction of holes into plate-like structures is commonly found as one of the practical noise control measures to reduce sound radiation. However, perforation also reduces the panel stiffness and hence increases its vibration. The discussion on this effect is lacking and hence this paper discusses the dynamics of a perforated panel from the results obtained from Finite Element (FE) model. Different hole geometries and arrangement are simulated to investigate their effect on the plate mobility. In general, it is found that increasing the perforation ratio increases the plate mobility. For a fixed perforation ratio, the mobility increases at high frequency (above 1 kHz) for a smaller hole density in the plate. The plate with holes concentrated at the middle shows the largest increase of vibration around the plate centre compared to those uniformly distributed or away from the middle and concentrated at the plate edges. This is because as the hole separation becomes smaller, the reduction of the global stiffness around the mid area of the plate becomes greater. This also corresponds to the finding here that the mobility is greater at the vicinity of the hole. Different conditions of the plate edges are found to give consistent trend of the effect of perforation.
In Vitro Antibacterial Activity and Mechanism of Silver Nanoparticles against Foodborne Pathogens
Authors: Rajeshkumar S. , Malarkodi C.
Published: September 2014

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles usingPlanomicrobiumsp. and to explore the antibacterial activity against food borne pathogenic bacteriaBacillus subtilis, (3053)Klebsiella planticola(2727)Klebsiella pneumoniae(MAA)Serratia nematodiphila(CAA) andEscherichia coli. In the current studies, 1 mM of silver nitrate was added into 100 mL ofPlanomicrobiumsp. culture supernatant. The bioreduction of pure AgNO3was characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive analysis (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by the presence of an absorption peak at 400 nm using UV-visible spectrophotometry. The morphology and size of the silver nanoparticles was monitored by TEM and SEM. Crystal structure was obtained by carrying out X-ray diffraction studies and it showed face centered cubic (FCC) structure. The bactericidal effect of silver nanoparticles was compared based on diameter of inhibition zone in well method. Bacterial sensitivity to nanoparticles a key factor in manufacture the suitable for long life application in food packaging and food safety. Food safety is a worldwide health goal and the food borne diseases get a main disaster on health. Therefore, controlling of bacterial pathogens in food is credit of harms associated to health and safety.
HELLP Syndrome and Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis Associated with Factor V Leiden Mutation during Pregnancy
Authors: Dag Zeynep Ozcan , Işik Yuksel , Simsek Yavuz , Tulmac Ozlem Banu , Demiray Demet
Published: September 2014

Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. The neurological complications of preeclampsia and eclampsia are responsible for a major proportion of the morbidity and mortality for women and their infants alike. Hormonal changes during pregnancy and the puerperium carry an increased risk of venous thromboembolism including cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). Factor 5 leiden (FVL) is a procoagulant mutation associated primarily with venous thrombosis and pregnancy complications. We report a patient with FVL mutation who presented with CVST at 24th week of pregnancy and was diagnosed as HELLP syndrome at 34th week of pregnancy.
Intelligent Bar Chart Plagiarism Detection in Documents
Authors: Al-Dabbagh Mohammed Mumtaz , Salim Naomie , Rehman Amjad , Alkawaz Mohammed Hazim , Saba Tanzila , Al-Rodhaan Mznah , Al-Dhelaan Abdullah
Published: September 2014

This paper presents a novel features mining approach from documents that could not be mined via optical character recognition (OCR). By identifying the intimate relationship between the text and graphical components, the proposed technique pulls out the Start, End, and Exact values for each bar. Furthermore, the word 2-gram and Euclidean distance methods are used to accurately detect and determine plagiarism in bar charts.
Hyperacute Rejection of a Living Unrelated Kidney Graft
Authors: Tittelbach-Helmrich Dietlind , Bausch Dirk , Drognitz Oliver , Goebel Heike , Schulz-Huotari Christian , Kramer-Zucker Albrecht , Hopt Ulrich Theodor , Pisarski Przemyslaw
Published: September 2014

We present a case report of a 59-year-old man, who received a blood group identical living unrelated kidney graft. This was his second kidney transplantation. Pretransplant T-cell crossmatch resulted negative. B-cell crossmatch, which is not considered a strict contraindication for transplantation, resulted positive. During surgery no abnormalities occurred. Four hours after the transplantation diuresis suddenly decreased. In an immediately performed relaparotomy the transplanted kidney showed signs of hyperacute rejection and had to be removed. Pathological examination was consistent with hyperacute rejection. Depositions of IgM or IgG antibodies were not present in pathologic evaluation of the rejected kidney, suggesting that no irregular endothelial specific antibodies had been involved in the rejection. We recommend examining more closely recipients of second allografts, considering not only a positive T-cell crossmatch but also a positive B-cell crossmatch as exclusion criteria for transplantation.
Artificial Neural Network Application in the Diagnosis of Disease Conditions with Liver Ultrasound Images
Authors: Kalyan Karthik , Jakhia Binal , Lele Ramachandra Dattatraya , Joshi Mukund , Chowdhary Abhay
Published: September 2014

The preliminary study presented within this paper shows a comparative study of various texture features extracted from liver ultrasonic images by employing Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), a type of artificial neural network, to study the presence of disease conditions. An ultrasound (US) image shows echo-texture patterns, which defines the organ characteristics. Ultrasound images of liver disease conditions such as “fatty liver,” “cirrhosis,” and “hepatomegaly” produce distinctive echo patterns. However, various ultrasound imaging artifacts and speckle noise make these echo-texture patterns difficult to identify and often hard to distinguish visually. Here, based on the extracted features from the ultrasonic images, we employed an artificial neural network for the diagnosis of disease conditions in liver and finding of the best classifier that distinguishes between abnormal and normal conditions of the liver. Comparison of the overall performance of all the feature classifiers concluded that “mixed feature set” is the best feature set. It showed an excellent rate of accuracy for the training data set. The gray level run length matrix (GLRLM) feature shows better results when the network was tested against unknown data.
Fragility Fractures in Chronic Kidney Disease: Assessment and Pharmacologic Management
Authors: Anpalahan Mahesan , Venkatesan Sudharsan , Anpalahan Aksharaa
Published: September 2014

Fractures are common in all stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Both CKD and osteoporosis often coexist as they both are strongly age associated. However, the management of fragility fractures in CKD poses many dilemmas. These include diagnosing the aetiology of fractures and choosing appropriate treatment. This paper reviews the current evidence for the assessment and pharmacologic management of fragility fractures in CKD.
Contactless Inductive Flow Tomography: Brief History and Recent Developments in Its Application to Continuous Casting
Authors: Ratajczak Matthias , Gundrum Thomas , Stefani Frank , Wondrak Thomas
Published: September 2014

The contactless inductive flow tomography (CIFT) aims at reconstructing the velocity field of electrically conducting fluids, with special focus on applications in metallurgy and crystal growth technologies. The method relies on the induction of secondary magnetic fields if the moving fluid is exposed to a primary magnetic field. The theoretical foundation of the method is delineated, and some early experiments on the reconstruction of the three-dimensional flow in a cylinder are sketched. Then, the recent efforts to apply CIFT to various model problems in connection with the continuous casting of steel are summarized.
A Functional Interplay between 5-Lipoxygenase andμ-Calpain Affects Survival and Cytokine Profile of Human Jurkat T Lymphocyte Exposed to Simulated Microgravity
Authors: Gasperi Valeria , Rapino Cinzia , Battista Natalia , Bari Monica , Mastrangelo Nicolina , Angeletti Silvia , Dainese Enrico , Maccarrone Mauro
Published: September 2014

A growing body of evidence strongly indicates that both simulated and authentic weightlessness exert a broad range of effects on mammalian tissues and cells, including impairment of immune cell function and increased apoptotic death. We previously reported that microgravity-dependent activation of 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) might play a central role in the initiation of apoptosis in human T lymphocytes, suggesting that the upregulation of this enzyme might be (at least in part) responsible for immunodepression observed in astronauts during space flights. Herein, we supplement novel information about the molecular mechanisms underlying microgravity-triggered apoptotic cell death and immune system deregulation, demonstrating that under simulated microgravity human Jurkat T cells increase the content of cytosolic DNA fragments and cytochrome c (typical hallmarks of apoptosis) and have an upregulated expression and activity ofµ-calpain. These events were paralleled by the unbalance of interleukin- (IL-) 2 and interferon- (INF-)γ, anti- and proapoptotic cytokines, respectively, that seemed to be dependent on the functional interplay between 5-LOX andµ-calpain. Indeed, we report unprecedented evidence that 5-LOX inhibition reduced apoptotic death, restored the initial IL-2/INF-γratio, and more importantly revertedµ-calpain activation induced by simulated microgravity.
Heart Disease Diagnosis Utilizing Hybrid Fuzzy Wavelet Neural Network and Teaching Learning Based Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Majeed Alneamy Jamal Salahaldeen , Hameed Alnaish Rahma Abdulwahid
Published: September 2014

Among the various diseases that threaten human life is heart disease. This disease is considered to be one of the leading causes of death in the world. Actually, the medical diagnosis of heart disease is a complex task and must be made in an accurate manner. Therefore, a software has been developed based on advanced computer technologies to assist doctors in the diagnostic process. This paper intends to use the hybrid teaching learning based optimization (TLBO) algorithm and fuzzy wavelet neural network (FWNN) for heart disease diagnosis. The TLBO algorithm is applied to enhance performance of the FWNN. The hybrid TLBO algorithm with FWNN is used to classify the Cleveland heart disease dataset obtained from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository. The performance of the proposed method (TLBO_FWNN) is estimated using K-fold cross validation based on mean square error (MSE), classification accuracy, and the execution time. The experimental results show that TLBO_FWNN has an effective performance for diagnosing heart disease with 90.29% accuracy and superior performance compared to other methods in the literature.
Effect of Ultrahigh Frequency Radiation Emitted from 2G Cell Phone on Developing Lens of Chick Embryo: A Histological Study
Authors: D'Silva Mary Hydrina , Swer Rijied Thompson , Anbalagan J. , Bhargavan Rajesh
Published: September 2014

A Mobile phone in operation emits a pulsed radiofrequency electromagnetic field which is absorbed into the user’s body particularly the head region. Contradictory scientific reports on the health effect of nonionizing radiations on biological tissues have prompted to undertake the present study to evaluate the damage in the developing lens of a chick embryo following exposure to radiation emitted from a 2G cell phone. Fertilized chick embryos were incubated in two groups in a standard egg incubator. The experiment group was exposed to radiation emitted from a 2G cell phone. On completion of scheduled duration, the embryos were collected and processed for routine histological studies. The 9th to 12th day chick embryo eyes were processed for assessment of DNA damage using the alkaline comet assay technique. The lens thickness and the equatorial diameter were measured using oculometer and statistically compared for both groups. In the present study, the exposure of chick embryos to a 2G cell phone caused structural changes in lens epithelial cells, formation of cystic cells and spaces, distortion of lens fibers, and formation of posterior aberrant nuclear layer. The DNA damage in the developing eyes of the experiment group assessed by comet assay was highly significant.
Microwave-Assisted Three-Component “Catalyst and Solvent-Free” Green Protocol: A Highly Efficient and Clean One-Pot Synthesis of Tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyrans
Authors: Santra Sougata , Rahman Matiur , Roy Anupam , Majee Adinath , Hajra Alakananda
Published: September 2014

A green and highly efficient method has been developed for the one-pot synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyrans via a three-component condensation of aldehydes, 1,3-cyclic diketones, and malononitrile under MW irradiation without using any catalyst and solvent. This transformation presumably occurs by a sequential Knoevenagel condensation, Michael addition, and intramolecular cyclization. Operational simplicity, solvent and catalyst-free conditions, the compatibility with various functional groups, nonchromatographic purification technique, and high yields are the notable advantages of this procedure.
Closed-Loop Supply Chain Models with Considering the Environmental Impact
Authors: Mohajeri Amir , Fallah Mohammad
Published: September 2014

Global warming and climate changes created by large scale emissions of greenhouse gases are a worldwide concern. Due to this, the issue of green supply chain management has received more attention in the last decade. In this study, a closed-loop logistic concept which serves the purposes of recycling, reuse, and recovery required in a green supply chain is applied to integrate the environmental issues into a traditional logistic system. Here, we formulate a comprehensive closed-loop model for the logistics planning considering profitability and ecological goals. In this way, we can achieve the ecological goal reducing the overall amount of CO2emitted from journeys. Moreover, the profitability criterion can be supported in the cyclic network with the minimum costs and maximum service level. We apply three scenarios and develop problem formulations for each scenario corresponding to the specified regulations and investigate the effect of the regulation on the preferred transport mode and the emissions. To validate the models, some numerical experiments are worked out and a comparative analysis is investigated.
Characterization of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Survival Patterns by Age at Diagnosis
Authors: Hossain Md Jobayer , Xie Li , McCahan Suzanne M.
Published: September 2014

Age at diagnosis is a key prognostic factor in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivorship. However, literature providing adequate assessment of the survival variability by age at diagnosis is scarce. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of this prognostic factor in pediatric ALL survival. We estimated incidence rate of mortality, 5-year survival rate, Kaplan-Meier survival function, and hazard ratio using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data during 1973–2009. There was significant variability in pediatric ALL survival by age at diagnosis. Survival peaked among children diagnosed at 1–4 years and steadily declined among those diagnosed at older ages. Infants (<1 year) had the lowest survivorship. In a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model stratified by year of diagnosis, those diagnosed in age groups 1–4, 5–9, 10–14, and 15–19 years were 82%, 75%, 57%, and 32% less likely to die compared to children diagnosed in infancy, respectively. Age at diagnosis remained to be a crucial determinant of the survival variability of pediatric ALL patients, after adjusting for sex, race, radiation therapy, primary tumor sites, immunophenotype, and year of diagnosis. Further research is warranted to disentangle the effects of age-dependent biological and environmental processes on this association.
The Application of Genomic Technologies to Investigate the Inheritance of Economically Important Traits in Goats
Authors: Amills Marcel
Published: September 2014

Goat genomics has evolved at a low pace because of a lack of molecular tools and sufficient investment. Whilst thousands and hundreds of quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified in cattle and sheep, respectively, about nine genome scans have been performed in goats dealing with traits as conformation, growth, fiber quality, resistance to nematodes, and milk yield and composition. In contrast, a great effort has been devoted to the characterization of candidate genes and their association with milk, meat, and reproduction phenotypes. In this regard, causal mutations have been identified in theαS1-casein gene that has a strong effect on milk composition and thePISlocus that is linked to intersexuality and polledness. In recent times, the development of massive parallel sequencing technologies has allowed to build a reference genome for goats as well as to monitor the expression of mRNAs and microRNAs in a broad array of tissues and experimental conditions. Besides, the recent design of a 52K SNP chip is expected to have a broad impact in the analysis of the genetic architecture of traits of economic interest as well as in the study of the population structure of goats at a worldwide scale.
A Probabilistic Approach to Control of Complex Systems and Its Application to Real‐Time Pricing
Authors: Kobayashi Koichi , Hiraishi Kunihiko
Published: September 2014

Control of complex systems is one of the fundamental problems in control theory. In this paper, a control method for complex systems modeled by a probabilistic Boolean network (PBN) is studied. A PBN is widely used as a model of complex systems such as gene regulatory networks. For a PBN, the structural control problem is newly formulated. In this problem, a discrete probability distribution appeared in a PBN is controlled by the continuous‐valued input. For this problem, an approximate solution method using a matrix‐based representation for a PBN is proposed. Then, the problem is approximated by a linear programming problem. Furthermore, the proposed method is applied to design of real‐time pricing systems of electricity. Electricity conservation is achieved by appropriately determining the electricity price over time. The effectiveness of the proposed method is presented by a numerical example on real‐time pricing systems.
The Associations ofLeishmania majorandLeishmania tropicaAspects by Focusing Their Morphological and Molecular Features on Clinical Appearances in Khuzestan Province, Iran
Authors: Spotin Adel , Rouhani Soheila , Parvizi Parviz
Published: September 2014

Cutaneous leishmaniasis has various phenotypic aspects consisting of polymorphic amastigotes with different genetic ranges. Samples were collected from suspected patients of Khuzestan province. Prepared smears were stained, scaled, and measured using ocular micrometer. The Cytb, ITS-rDNA, and microsatellite genes ofLeishmaniawere amplified andLeishmaniaspecies were identified by molecular analyses. Of 150 examined suspected patients, 102 were identified toLeishmaniaspecies (90L. major, nineL. tropica, and three unidentified). The amastigotes of 90L. majorhad regular and different irregular shapes within three clinical lesions with no and/or low genetic diversity. Three haplotypes of CytbofL. majorwere found but no variation was observed using ITS-rDNA gene. Interesting findings were that all nineL. tropicahad regular amastigote shapes with more genetic variations, also a patient which had coinfection ofL. major,L. tropica, andCrithidia.At least twoL. majorandL. tropicawere identified in suspected patients of the regions. Different irregular amastigotes’ shapes ofL. majorcan be explained by various reservoir hosts and vectors. In contrast, more molecular variations inL. tropicacould be justified by genetic characters. UnidentifiedLeishmaniacould be mixed pathogens or nonpathogens with mammals’LeishmaniaorCrithidia.
Vertebral Artery Hypoplasia in a Black Kenyan Population
Authors: Ogeng’o Julius , Olabu Beda , Sinkeet Rankeet , Ogeng’o Nafula M. , Elbusaid Hemedi
Published: September 2014

This study examined the characteristics of vertebral artery hypoplasia in 346 arteries of adult black Kenyans. The circumference was measured on haematoxylin/eosin stained microscopic sections of the distal one-third of the intracranial vertebral arteries using scion image analyser. Internal diameter was calculated in millimetre. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16.0. Vertebral artery hypoplasia (diameter < 2.0 mm) occurred in 100 (28.9%) arteries. Sixty of these (17.3%) were on the left and 40 (11.6%) on the right. Sixty (17.3%) were in females while 40 (11.6%) were in males. The side and gender differences were statistically significant at confidence interval of 95%. Frequency of vertebral artery hypoplasia was higher than in most other populations studied. The condition differs from that in other populations because it is more common on the left side and in females. We recommend ultrasound, angio-CT, or angio-MRI evaluation of vertebral arterial system before diagnostic or interventional procedures on posterior circulation.