bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anti-Obesity Effect of Artemisia capillaris Extracts in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats
Authors: Lim Dong , Kim Yun , Jang Yu-Jung , Kim Young-Eon , Han Daeseok
Published: August 2013

This study evaluated the anti-obesity effects of Artemisia capillaris extracts in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. After six weeks feeding with HFD, Wistar male rats (12-weeks-old) were divided into three groups: HFD-control group and HFD mixed with 0.4% and 0.8% Artemisia capillaris extracts treated groups. After seven weeks of treatments, the body weight gain of the 0.4% and 0.8% A. capillaris extracts treated groups were significantly less than that of the HFD-control group by 11.8% and 15.4%, respectively. Also, A. capillaris extracts treated groups showed significantly lower serum TG, TC and LDL-c levels in a dose-related manner, while causing the reverse effect in serum HDL-c, and exhibited a hepatoprotective effects in vivo, indicated by reduced hepatic lipid contents, and serum ALT and AST levels. These results show that A. capillaris extracts may prevent body weight increases and improve dyslipidemia in HFD-induced obese rats by enhancing their lipid metabolism.
Potential of Phytase-Mediated Iron Release from Cereal-Based Foods: A Quantitative View
Authors: Nielsen Anne , Tetens Inge , Meyer Anne
Published: August 2013

The major part of iron present in plant foods such as cereals is largely unavailable for direct absorption in humans due to complexation with the negatively charged phosphate groups of phytate (myo-inositol (1,2,3,4,5,6)-hexakisphosphate). Human biology has not evolved an efficient mechanism to naturally release iron from iron phytate complexes. This narrative review will evaluate the quantitative significance of phytase-catalysed iron release from cereal foods. In vivo studies have shown how addition of microbially derived phytases to cereal-based foods has produced increased iron absorption via enzyme-catalysed dephosphorylation of phytate, indicating the potential of this strategy for preventing and treating iron deficiency anaemia. Despite the immense promise of this strategy and the prevalence of iron deficiency worldwide, the number of human studies elucidating the significance of phytase-mediated improvements in iron absorption and ultimately in iron status in particularly vulnerable groups is still low. A more detailed understanding of (1) the uptake mechanism for iron released from partially dephosphorylated phytate chelates, (2) the affinity of microbially derived phytases towards insoluble iron phytate complexes, and (3) the extent of phytate dephosphorylation required for iron release from inositol phosphates is warranted. Phytase-mediated iron release can improve iron absorption from plant foods. There is a need for development of innovative strategies to obtain better effects.
Determination of External Forces in Alpine Skiing Using a Differential Global Navigation Satellite System
Authors: Gilgien Matthias , Spörri Jörg , Chardonnens Julien , Kröll Josef , Müller Erich
Published: August 2013

In alpine ski racing the relationships between skier kinetics and kinematics and their effect on performance and injury-related aspects are not well understood. There is currently no validated system to determine all external forces simultaneously acting on skiers, particularly under race conditions and throughout entire races. To address the problem, this study proposes and assesses a method for determining skier kinetics with a single lightweight differential global navigation satellite system (dGNSS). The dGNSS kinetic method was compared to a reference system for six skiers and two turns each. The pattern differences obtained between the measurement systems (offset ± SD) were −26 ± 152 N for the ground reaction force, 1 ± 96 N for ski friction and −6 ± 6 N for the air drag force. The differences between turn means were small. The error pattern within the dGNSS kinetic method was highly repeatable and precision was therefore good (SD within system: 63 N ground reaction force, 42 N friction force and 7 N air drag force) allowing instantaneous relative comparisons and identification of discriminative meaningful changes. The method is therefore highly valid in assessing relative differences between skiers in the same turn, as well as turn means between different turns. The system is suitable to measure large capture volumes under race conditions.
A Negative Feedback Model for a Mechanism Based Description of Longitudinal Observations
Authors: Schmidt S. , Boroujerdi M. A.
Published: August 2013

In modern medicine the diagnosis and prognosis of an abnormal metabolic condition is based on blood borne measurements involving one or more biomarker.

Objective: This paper reports the development of a minimal negative feedback model for the description of longitudinal biomarkers concentrations for treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Methods: Literature data were obtained from double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial over three years. There were four treatment groups: 1) Placebo, 2) Alendro -nate, 3) Conjugated Estrogen, and/or 4) Combination therapy. The negative feedback model consists of a biomarker and a companion controller. By considering the above basal biomarker values it is shown that the dynamics can be described by a second order differential equation without the involvement of biomarker production rate. The second order differential equation is also analogous to classical negative feedback servomechanism model with two parameters ωn and ξ. It was assumed that the rate constants defining the negative feedback model were equal which would set ξ to 0.707 with only ωn to be estimated.

Results: ωn was estimated for both lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) in four treatments groups. The t½ of BMD and BAP were estimated at 26.8 (0.30) and 9.4 (0.30) days respectively.

Conclusions: The negative feedback model of BMD supports the mechanism whereby Conjugated Estrogen and Alendronate decrease the clearance rate constant of BMD analogous to increased apoptosis of osteoclasts. The linked negative feedback models facilitate a mechanism based prediction of BMD using the concentrations of the bone turnover marker BAP.
A Lewis acid-promoted Pinner reaction
Authors: Pfaff Dominik , Nemecek Gregor , Podlech Joachim
Published: August 2013

Carbonitriles and alcohols react in a Lewis acid-promoted Pinner reaction to carboxylic esters. Best results are obtained with two equivalents of trimethylsilyl triflate as Lewis acid. Good yields are achieved with primary alcohols and aliphatic or benzylic carbonitriles, but the straightforward synthesis of acrylates and benzoates starting with acrylonitrile and benzonitrile, respectively, is similarly possible. Phenols are not acylated under these reaction conditions. The method has been used for the first total synthesis of the natural product monaspilosin. In the reaction of benzyl alcohols variable amounts of amides are formed in a Ritter-type side reaction.
New Features of Disease After Diagnosis in 6 Forms of Systemic Vasculitis
Authors: Grayson Peter C. , Cuthbertson David , Carette Simon , Hoffman Gary S. , Khalidi Nader A. , Koening Curry L. , Langford Carol A. , Maksimowicz-McKinnon Kathleen , Monach Paul A. , Seo Philip , Specks Ulrich , Ytterberg Steven R. , Merkel Peter A. ,   for the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium
Published: August 2013

Objective.

To quantify the occurrence of features of vasculitis that initially present after diagnosis in 6 types of primary vasculitis.

Methods.

Standardized collection of data on 95 disease manifestations in 6 vasculitides, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss; EGPA), polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), giant cell arteritis (GCA), and Takayasu arteritis (TAK), was obtained within a set of multicenter longitudinal, observational cohorts. For each form of vasculitis, the frequency of disease-specific manifestations at diagnosis was compared to the cumulative frequency of each manifestation. The percentage of patients who initially developed severe manifestations after diagnosis, defined as organ- or life-threatening in the small and medium vessel vasculitides (GPA, MPA, EGPA, PAN) and as ischemic/vascular in the large vessel vasculitides (GCA, TAK), was reported.

Results.

Out of 838 patients with vasculitis, 490 (59%) experienced ≥ 1 new disease manifestation after diagnosis. On average, patients with vasculitis experienced 1.3 new manifestations after diagnosis (GPA = 1.9, MPA = 1.2, EGPA = 1.5, PAN = 1.2, GCA = 0.7, and TAK = 1.0). New severe manifestations occurred after diagnosis in 224 (27%) out of 838 patients (GPA = 26%, MPA = 19%, EGPA = 21%, PAN = 23%, GCA = 24%, and TAK = 44%). Timing of onset of new manifestations was not significantly associated with disease duration.

Conclusion.

A majority of patients with vasculitis develop new disease features after diagnosis, including a substantial number of new, severe manifestations. Ongoing assessment of patients with established vasculitis should remain broad in scope.
Prevalence of Anti-Peptidylarginine Deiminase Type 4 Antibodies in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Unaffected First-degree Relatives in Indigenous North American Populations
Authors: Ferucci Elizabeth D. , Darrah Erika , Smolik Irene , Choromanski Tammy L. , Robinson David B. , Newkirk Marianna M. , Fritzler Marvin J. , Rosen Antony , El-Gabalawy Hani S.
Published: August 2013

Objective.

To determine whether anti-peptidylarginine deiminase type 4 (PAD4) antibodies were present in first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2 indigenous North American populations with high prevalence of RA.

Methods.

Participants were recruited from 2 indigenous populations in Canada and the United States, including patients with RA (probands), their unaffected FDR, and healthy unrelated controls. Sera were tested for the presence of anti-PAD4 antibodies, anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, and rheumatoid factor (RF). HLA-DRB1 subtyping was performed and participants were classified according to number of shared-epitope alleles present.

Results.

Antibodies to PAD4 were detected in 24 of 82 (29.3%) probands; 2 of 147 (1.4%) relatives; and no controls (p < 0.0001). Anti-CCP was present in 39/144 (27.1%) of the relatives, and there was no overlap between positivity for anti-CCP and PAD4 in the relatives. In RA patients, anti-PAD4 antibodies were associated with disease duration (p = 0.0082) and anti-CCP antibodies (p = 0.008), but not smoking or shared-epitope alleles.

Conclusion.

Despite a significant prevalence of anti-CCP in FDR, anti-PAD4 antibodies were almost exclusively found in established RA. The prevalence of anti-PAD4 antibodies in RA is similar to the prevalence described in other populations and these autoantibodies are associated with disease duration and anti-CCP in RA.
Les partis politiques : la fin d’un cycle historique
Authors: Berstein Serge
Published: August 2013

Avant l’ère moderne, les partis étaient des coteries, des factions au service de la conquête du pouvoir par un homme. Avec l’avènement du suffrage, ils s’organisent, se structurent autour d’idées, de programmes visant à donner des réponses aux interrogations des sociétés, et tentent de fédérer les intérêts de groupes divers pour accéder au pouvoir. Mais avec la mondialisation et la fragmentation des sociétés contemporaines, ce modèle semble radicalement remis en cause.
La force du localisme
Authors: Sawicki Frédéric
Published: August 2013

L’ancrage local est primordial pour les partis, afin qu’ils puissent capter les préoccupations de la population. Mais ce qui devrait leur donner une plus grande ouverture finit par les enfermer ; aujourd’hui, le poids du local a de nombreux effets pervers, comme l’entre-soi, mais aussi l’abandon des idées et du programme. Ce qu’on appelle « parti » est en réalité une faible coalition de baronnies locales.
De quoi la crise démographique au Sahel est-elle le nom ?
Authors: Cooper Barbara M. , Botiveau Raphaël
Published: August 2013

Les femmes nigériennes ont le taux de fécondité le plus élevé d’Afrique subsaharienne, une statistique qui contribue à la pauvreté et aux perturbations politiques dans la région. Les données nationales nous renseignent cependant bien peu sur les expériences individuelles de la fécondité. Ce texte approche les récentes études démographiques à partir d’un travail anthropologique et historique plus large sur le Sahel. Il s’agit de montrer qu’au Niger, comme ailleurs dans la région, l’expérience ressentie d’une crise démographique n’est pas, pour beaucoup, celle d’une surfécondité mais bien au contraire d’une sous-fécondité. Les décideurs politiques et les bailleurs internationaux devraient sans doute considérer plus productif de chercher à satisfaire les besoins perçus par les femmes et les hommes de la région, plutôt que d’exacerber un peu plus l’impression d’encerclement prévalant parfois parmi des populations qui interprètent le « planning familial » comme une intrusion génocidaire dans leurs existences reproductives.
La guerre au Darfour au prisme des alliances du mouvement islamique : retour sur quelques trajectoires d'hommes d'affaires zaghawa
Authors: Chevrillon-Guibert Raphaëlle
Published: August 2013

Dans cet article, il s’agit d’analyser les trajectoires individuelles de différents segments des communautés zaghawa du Darfour. Nous nous interrogeons sur leur place dans la construction de l’alliance hégémonique islamiste en étudiant l’évolution des conjonctions d’intérêts entre ces groupes et le mouvement islamique, et ce spécialement dans les dispositifs économiques. Cela permet de comprendre leur délitement au cours des années 1990 et le rapprochement des segments qui conduit à leur réunion dans une opposition commune au régime et leur soutien à la rébellion au Darfour.
Les origines et la transformation de l'insurrection de Boko Haram dans le Nord du Nigeria
Authors: Higazi Adam , Brisset-Foucault Florence
Published: August 2013

Le mouvement militant Jamā’at ahl al-sunna li’l-da’wa wa’l-jihad – « l’Association des gens de la Sunna pour le prosélytisme et la lutte armée » – est mieux connu sous le surnom de « Boko Haram ». Le groupe a émergé en 2003 dans le Nord-Est du Nigeria mais a depuis recruté des militants dans d’autres régions du Nord. Boko Haram n’a pas de soutien massif au Nord du pays, mais la forme de son militantisme et les tactiques contre-insurrectionnelles de l’État nigérian ont généré une insécurité considérable dans ses zones d’activité. Cet article retrace les origines de Boko Haram et les étapes de sa campagne de violence contre l’État nigérian, contre les influences laïques et chrétiennes et contre les musulmans qui s’opposent à lui.
« Prendre la rue » : les parcours citadins des Shégués de Kinshasa
Authors: Dugrand Camille
Published: August 2013

Cet article se penche sur les parcours citadins des Shégués, les enfants dits « de la rue » de Kinshasa. « Prendre la rue », c’est s’immerger avec ses pairs au cœur de formes de sociabilités urbaines qui combinent l’apprentissage collectif de comportements spécifiques (techniques de vol, consommation de drogue, usage de la violence) et l’affirmation de soi. Entre la valorisation de qualités liées à leur mode d’existence « différent », l’aspiration à la reconnaissance sociale et les rêves de réussite personnelle, les Shégués se construisent au cœur d’une société dans laquelle ils ne cessent de s’employer à « devenir quelqu’un » et à simplement « exister ».
E-Health Solutions in Rural Healthcare in the Mbaise Area of Imo State
Authors: Ukwandu Elochukwu , Iro Sylvanus
Published: August 2013

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions (e.g. e-health, telemedicine, e-education, e-Planning) are often viewed as vehicles to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing Nations, rural and urban centers, to achieve a better planning and distribution of health infrastructures and equipments, and to resolve shortcomings in the rural health sector. This study focused on factors perceived to influence the uptake and use of ICTs as e-health solutions in rural healthcare centres in Mbaise Imo State, and on structural variables relating to these facilities and processes. Attention was also given to patients who equally decide whether to go for e-health solution or to maintain the statuesque. Facilities on ground that will enable the immediate take off of ICTs e-health solutions were accessed. Recommendations were made with regard to how ICTs can be used more effectively to improve health systems in rural healthcare centres.
Eliciting Local Spatial Knowledge for Community-Based Disaster Risk Management
Authors: Spanu Valentina , McCall Michael Keith
Published: August 2013

CyberTracker (CT) participatory field data collection software is used as an element of Participatory GIS for acquiring, geo-referencing, storing and transferring local spatial knowledge. It has been developed initially for animal tracking, ecological surveys and conservation management activities, but has extended into the social environment for health and welfare surveys, and it is being applied to social data collection about hazards, vulnerability and coping mechanisms in disaster risk management. This article provides a critical guide of CyberTracker under field conditions with representative participation. The practical experiences informing this critical review of field operations come from employing CyberTracker with staff of NGOs and local government agencies in a workshop in two hazard-prone communities in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia.
A PSO-Inspired Multi-Robot Map Exploration Algorithm Using Frontier-Based Strategy
Authors: Zhou Yi , Xiao Kai , Wang Yiheng , Liang Alei , Hassanien Aboul Ella
Published: August 2013

Map exploration is a fundamental problem in mobile robots. This paper presents a distributed algorithm that coordinates a team of autonomous mobile robots to explore an unknown environment. The proposed strategy is based on frontiers which are the regions on the boundary between open and unexplored space. With this strategy, robots are guided to move constantly to the nearest frontier to reduce the size of unknown region. Based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) model incorporated in the algorithm, robots are navigated towards remote frontier after exploring the local area. The exploration completes when there is no frontier cell in the environment. The experiments implemented on both simulated and real robot scenarios show that the proposed algorithm is capable of completing the exploration task. Compared to the conventional method of randomly selecting frontier, the proposed algorithm proves its efficiency by the decreased 60% exploration time at least. Additional experimental results show the decreased coverage time when the number of robots increases, which further suggests the validity, efficiency and scalability.
Image Color Transfer Approach by Analogy with Taylor Expansion
Authors: Liu Hongbo , Ji Ye , Hassanien Aboul Ella
Published: August 2013

The Taylor expansion has shown in many fields to be an extremely powerful tool. In this paper, the authors investigated image features and their relationships by analogy with Taylor expansion. The kind of expansion could be helpful for analyzing image feature and engraftment, such as transferring color between images. By analogy with Taylor expansion, the image color transfer algorithm is designed by the first and second-order information. The luminance histogram represents the first-order information of image, and the co-occurrence matrix represents the second-order information of image. Some results illustrate the proposed algorithm is effective. In this study, each polynomial in the Taylor analogy expansion of images is considered as one of image features which help in re-understanding images and its features. By using the proposed technique, the features of image, such as color, texture, dimension, time series, would be not isolated but mutual relational based on image expansion.
Real-Time Scalable Resource Tracking Framework (DIORAMA) for Mass Casualty Incidents
Authors: Ganz Aura , Schafer James , Yu Xunyi , Lord Graydon , Burstein Jonathan , Ciottone Gregory R.
Published: August 2013

DIORAMA system which is using rapid information collection and accurate resource tracking can assist incident commanders in their attempt to bring order to the chaos as they direct rescue operations for Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI). This system makes use of active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to identify the location and status of the patients and responders involved in a MCI. The authors introduce DIORAMA’s hardware and software architecture as well as the trials they conducted with up to 40 human subjects. The authors show that the DIORAMA system can significantly reduce the patient’s evacuation time compared to paper triage, consequently reducing the patients’ mortality. Moreover, the evacuation completeness of the DIORAMA based evacuation is always 100% as opposed to the paper-based evacuation where a number of patients are left behind. The information provided by the DIORAMA system can improve the coordination of the response to better match supply (care providers, ambulances, medical equipment) with demand (number of patients, level of acuity).
Regulations Initiatives in France for the Interoperability of Communicating Medical Devices
Authors: Noury Norbert , Bourquard Karima , Bergognon Didier , Schroeder Jean-Bernard
Published: August 2013

Telemedicine has introduced new challenges in health delivery with the introduction of advanced information communication technologies in home care medicine. To meet the high standard of quality in health service delivery, the data flow of medical data must be maintained, which implies harmonization and standardization frameworks within the field of the communicating medical devices. Those medical devices must be certified to prove their effectiveness and compliance with the requirements on health and safety of patients, before to be brought into service or used. But there is no requirement concerning the interoperability of these communicating medical devices. A group of French experts have anticipated the need in developing projects to define communication medical device in the home and by taking part in standardization projects on the interoperability of data and systems in health. They first identified the standardization rules at European and national level and confirmed that most guides and directives are well available. They based their study on three specialties, commonly using medical devices and telemedicine and covering various use cases. Then, they defined a methodology following the IHE International and Continua Alliance approach in order to define the integration profile. Eventually, they defined a generic workflow and an inventory of the integration profiles, norms and standards that can support this generic workflow.
The Need for a Socio-Technical Analysis in E-Health
Authors: Muhammad Imran , Teoh Say Yen , Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: August 2013

Healthcare systems around the globe are facing a number of challenges. Thus Increasing focus is being placed on constructing appropriate healthcare reforms which are attempting to address how to tackle these challenges. A critical enabler in these reforms is the adoption of an e-health solution. Such e-health solutions are not only expensive and complex endeavours, but also have far reaching implications. Given that the implementation and adoption of these e-health solutions is so important, not to mention also requiring a substantial investment in various resources such as time and money, it is therefore essential to ensure their success. The following proffers a socio-technical analysis as an appropriate strategy to ensure more successful outcomes. An exemplar case study of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), the chosen e-health solution by the Australian government is provided to illustrate the benefits such an analysis might provide
E-Learning and Multimedia Contents for Minimally Invasive Surgery Learning
Authors: Sánchez-Peralta Luisa F. , Sánchez-Margallo Francisco M. , Pagador José Blas , Moyano-Cuevas José Luis , Aguilera Enrique J. Gómez , Noguera-Aguilar José Francisco
Published: August 2013

Background: Minimally Invasive Surgery has revolutionized the surgical practice for the last years but it presents specific training processes. At the same time, e-Learning platforms and multimedia contents are now having great success within teaching processes in different fields. Purpose: to determine perception of surgeons towards e-MIS: e-Learning and multimedia contents for minimally invasive surgery. Methods: A 19-item online survey was sent. Statistical and descriptive analyses were performed. Results: 307 surgeons responded to the survey. 99% of participants agree to include new technologies in surgical learning and 99.3% consider surgical videos as a good training tool. Conclusion: The widespread use and capabilities of e-Learning together with the use of surgical videos within the surgical learning process makes possible creating new technological systems and tools that address current problems in surgical training derived from time constraints and patient safety concerns.
A Combined Approach for Implementation of Broadcast Operation in Grid Computing
Authors: Belalem Ghalem , Mostefa Mohammed Ilyes Kara
Published: August 2013

In distributed computing, the collective communications scheduling is among the most important scheduling problems related to intensive applications executed over heterogeneous platforms. The optimization of collective operations allows the improvement of parallel and distributed applications performance by reducing the completion time of these operations. In this paper, the authors are particularly interested by the optimization of broadcast operation executed over large scale distributed environment such as grid computing. For this aim, we combined the two levels approach implemented in MagPIe library proposed for the hierarchical large scale systems with the ECEF (Earliest Completion Edge First) heuristic proposed for the IPG (Information Power Grid). Simulation results show the advantage of our proposed hybrid strategy compared to the classical ECEF heuristic.
Monitoring of a Grid Storage Virtualization Service
Authors: Jorda Jacques , Ortiz Aurélien , M’zoughi Abdelaziz , Traboulsi Salam
Published: August 2013

Grid computing is commonly used for large scale application requiring huge computation capabilities. In such distributed architectures, the data storage on the distributed storage resources must be handled by a dedicated storage system to ensure the required quality of service. In order to simplify the data placement on nodes and to increase the performance of applications, a storage virtualization layer can be used. This layer can be a single parallel filesystem (like GPFS) or a more complex middleware. The latter is preferred as it allows the data placement on the nodes to be tuned to increase both the reliability and the performance of data access. Thus, in such a middleware, a dedicated monitoring system must be used to ensure optimal performance. In this paper, the authors briefly introduce the Visage middleware – a middleware for storage virtualization. They present the most broadly used grid monitoring systems, and explain why they are not adequate for virtualized storage monitoring. The authors then present the architecture of their monitoring system dedicated to storage virtualization. We introduce the workload prediction model used to define the best node for data placement, and show on a simple experiment its accuracy.
Resource Allocation Mechanism with New Models for Grid Environment
Authors: Sathish Kuppani , Reddy A. Rama Mohan
Published: August 2013

Resource allocation is playing a vital role in grid environment because of the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of grid resources. Literature offers numerous studies and techniques to solve the grid resource allocation problem. Some of the drawbacks occur during grid resource allocation are low utilization, less economic reliability and increased waiting time of the jobs. These problems were occurred because of the inconsiderable level in the code of allocating right resources to right jobs, poor economic model and lack of provision to minimize the waiting time of jobs to get their resources. So, all these drawbacks need to be solved in any upcoming resource allocation technique. Hence in this paper, the efficiency of the resource allocation mechanism is improved by proposing two allocation models. Both the allocation models have used the Genetic Algorithm to overcome all the aforesaid drawbacks. However, one of the allocation models includes penalty function and the other does not consider the economic reliability. Both the models are implemented and experimented with different number of jobs and resources. The proposed models are compared with the conventional resource allocation models in terms of utilization, cost factor, failure rate and make span.
SAMEVED
Authors: Chen Shao-Jui , Huang Jing-Ying , Huang Cheng-Ta , Wang Wei-Jen
Published: August 2013

Cloud computing is an emerging computing paradigm that provides all kinds of services through the Internet. Existing elastic computing approaches are popular in cloud computing. They can fulfill the requirements of some cloud applications, but usually fail to provide an isolated computing environment consisting of connected virtual machines over a user-defined network topology. This paper presents a system architecture, namely SAMEVED, which exposes a cloud service that can allocate and manage a private, virtual elastic datacenter by integrating VPN and virtual routers into existing virtualization technologies. Authentication is required by user login while using SAMEVED. A user-friendly web interface and remote invocation interface are provided to support different operations for different users with different privileges.
Method to Evaluate Process Performance Focused on Minimizing Resistance to Change
Authors: Muñoz Mirna , Mejia Jezreel , Calvo-Manzano Jose A. , Cuevas Gonzalo , San Feliu Tomás
Published: August 2013

Software process improvement is a way that allows organizations to get a competitive advantage toward its competitors, therefore, in order to implement a successfully software process improvements process assessment is a key element, because it is the firsts step to know the performance of the organizational software process. Unfortunately, the current approaches to evaluate processes performance in software organizations most of the time increase the people resistance to perform software process improvement initiatives because they are based on applying questionnaires that people perceive as an assessment of their job. Besides, questionnaires used in those approaches are adaptations from models and standards mainly ISO 15504 and CMMI. Consequently the processes gaps are not focus on organization needs, however, organizations use these gaps as targets in the implementation of software process improvements. As a result, the obtained processes do not reflect the needs of the organizational business goals nor the way the organization works. This paper presents an approach to carry out internal fast assessment to software process using an alternative way to do it. So, resistance to change is minimized. The method is focused on using internal best practices and the organization business goals as a main source to assess process performance. This way allows organizations to identify improvements opportunities based on business goals needs and to address the improvement effort to those processes that need to be improved in order to achieve these needs.
Risk Management Framework That Meets the Implementation Challenges in IT-Centric Micro and Small Companies
Authors: Trajkovski Jasmina , Antovski Ljupcho
Published: August 2013

This paper presents an overview of the proposed risk management framework and how it is designed to meet the challenges usually faced by IT-centric micro and small companies when implementing risk management. The issues and challenges identified for the IT-centric micro and small companies are centered around the exposure to various risks and necessity to have a risk management approach which covers these various risks, as well as to limited resources for risk management and necessity for usable and comprehensive framework. The new framework is based on the analysis of the best practices in risk management concepts as well as direct experience from dealing with over 20 companies in South-east Europe. The segments covered by the framework include people, policy, methodology and process, and tools.
Relating Software Quality Models and Process Methods to User Value
Authors: Sheriff Mohamed A , Georgiadou Elli
Published: August 2013

The ultimate object of software development should be to deliver value to all stakeholders. The traditional approach to delivering this value is to ensure that the software developed is of the highest quality. A number of quality models have been proposed to specify or describe what constitutes high quality software. The ISO9126 is one such model and perhaps the most comprehensive. Similarly, there are several methods, frameworks and guidelines for ensuring software quality in either the development or use process or both. Software Quality Management and Risk Management are probably the two most popular methods employed by developers during software development and implementation to deliver quality. In this paper the authors examine whether, and to what extent, the implied value propositions of software products as portrayed by the ISO9126 quality model and the prescribed processes in Software Quality Management and Risk Management, map onto user value perceptions and experiences. An ontology of value, in the form of a value tree, is developed and used to identify and analyse the key value dimensions of the ISO9126 quality model and the Software Quality Management and Risk Management process methods. These are then mapped onto contextualised user value characterisations derived from the extant literature. Differences identified are analysed and discussed and the authors suggest approaches that could narrow the perennial gap between idealised quality product and process models and stakeholder perceptions and actualisations of software value.
Proposing a Business Model in Healthcare Industry
Authors: Hajiheydari Nastaran , Khakbaz Seyed Behnam , Farhadi Hamidreza
Published: August 2013

In modern-day developing countries, there are certain key problems in the healthcare system that adds to a patient’s confusion. An example of these difficulties relates to choosing an appropriate medical specialty and among specialists. Owing to the lack of structural healthcare services, there is the need for guidance in selecting the most appropriate diagnosis and medicine for patients with various symptoms or physical disabilities, the need to educate patients on self-treatment procedures, the need to reduce the high cost of treatment and diagnosis, the need to address boring procedures of diagnosis and treatment, the lack of adequate strategic planning due to the absence of valuable information about patients, the problems connected with unnecessary traffic congestion, and many more. Together, these problems create a great opportunity for the expert analysts to ameliorate the healthcare system in these countries by applying new methods, such as using web-based programs and data mining (DM). This article focuses on the use of software, healthcare data warehouse and the application of DM to generate models for solving the aforementioned problems.
A Review on 3D Signing Avatars
Authors: Jaballah Kabil , Jemni Mohamed
Published: August 2013

Signing avatars are becoming common thanks to their potential to improve deaf education. These 3D animated characters are able to perform manual and non-manual signs. As they tap the natural skills of deaf individuals and thanks to the advances in 3D humanoids modeling and animation technologies, 3D signing avatars are getting increasing interest. They are actually used for multiple purposes in multiple fields. Deaf parents, teacher, telecommunications’ companies and many other agencies are involving in this area for different reasons. In this paper, the authors report the state of the art in signing avatars research and development as well as the purposes for which 3D signing characters are being used. They discussed the methods and the technologies adopted to create 3D signed contents. A case study of five 3D Sign Language generation systems will be highlighted. The authors will consider their architectures, linguistic representations, the modeling and the animation techniques that have been undertaken. They conducted a study to compare the performance of the available systems regarding the understandability of the generated signed contents. By the end of the survey, the authors bring the lessons learned from this study.
Cervical and Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials Test Results in Individuals with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Sinha Sujeet Kumar , Shankar Kruthika , Sharanya Raja
Published: August 2013

“Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder” is a clinical disorder where the outer hair cell functioning is intact but the functioning of the auditory nerve is affected. Since, the 8th nerve is constituted by both the auditory and vestibular branch of nerve fibers, there are chances that the vestibular nerve might also be affected. Hence, the current study was carried out in order to determine the functioning of vestibular nerve in individuals with Auditory Neuropathy. A total of 11 participants were considered for the current study. cVEMPs and oVEMPs were administered using the conventional protocol. In all the participants (100%) the oVEMPs were absent whereas in 2 ears out of 22 ears tested (90.90%) the cVEMPs were absent. The results of the present study indicate a high incidence of vestibular involvement in individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorders. Also, it necessitates the inclusion of vestibular tests in the test battery used to assess individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.
Rees quotients of numerical semigroups
Authors: Delgado Manuel , Fernandes Vítor H.
Published: August 2013

We introduce a class of finite semigroups obtained by considering Rees quotients of numerical semigroups. Several natural questions concerning this class, as well as particular subclasses obtained by considering some special ideals, are answered while others remain open. We exhibit nice presentations for these semigroups and prove that the Rees quotients by ideals of

\mathbb{N}

, the positive integers under addition, constitute a set of generators for the pseudovariety of commutative and nilpotent semigroups.
Integration of Lie algebroid comorphisms
Authors: Cattaneo Alberto S. , Dherin Benoit , Weinstein Alan
Published: August 2013

We show that the path construction integration of Lie algebroids by Lie groupoids is an actual equivalence from the of integrable Lie algebroids and
complete
Lie algebroid comorphisms to the of source 1-connected Lie groupoids and Lie groupoid comorphisms. This allows us to construct an actual symplectization functor in Poisson geometry. We include examples to show that the integrability of comorphisms and Poisson maps may not hold in the absence of a completeness assumption.
Variations of gwistor space
Authors: Albuquerque Rui
Published: August 2013

We study natural variations of the

\mathrm{G}_2

structure

\sigma_0\in\Lambda^3_+

existing on the unit tangent sphere bundle

SM

of any oriented Riemannian 4-manifold

M

. We find a circle of structures for which the induced metric is the usual one, the so-called Sasaki metric, and prove how the original structure has a preferred role in the theory. We deduce the equations of calibration and cocalibration, as well as those of

W_3

pure type and nearly-parallel type.
Lie groupoids and their orbispaces
Authors: del Hoyo Matias L.
Published: August 2013

This is a concise introduction to the theory of Lie groupoids, with emphasis in their role as models for orbispaces. After some preliminaries, we review the foundations on Lie groupoids, and we carefully study equivalences and proper groupoids.

Orbispaces are geometric objects which have manifolds and orbifolds as special instances, and can be presented as the transverse geometry of a Lie groupoid. Two Lie groupoids are equivalent if they are presenting the same orbispace, and proper groupoids are presentations of separated orbispaces, which by the linearization theorem are locally modeled by linear actions of compact groups. We discuss all these notions in detail.

Our treatment diverges from the expositions already in the literature, looking for a complementary insight over this rich theory that is still in development.
Non-Semisimple Lie Algebras of Block Matrices and Applications to Bi-Integrable Couplings
Authors: Meng Jinghan , Ma Wen-Xiu
Published: August 2013

We propose a class of non-semisimple matrix loop algebras consisting of 3 × 3 block matrices, and form zero curvature equations from the presented loop algebras to generate bi-integrable couplings. Applications are made for the AKNS soliton hierarchy and Hamiltonian structures of the resulting integrable couplings are constructed by using the associated variational identities.
Analysis of Two-Phase Cavitating Flow with Two-Fluid Model Using Integrated Boltzmann Equations
Authors: Liu Shuhong , Wu Yulin , Xu Yu , Dou Hua-Shu
Published: August 2013

In the present work, both computational and experimental methods are employed to study the two-phase flow occurring in a model pump sump. The two-fluid model of the two-phase flow has been applied to the simulation of the three-dimensional cavitating flow. The governing equations of the two-phase cavitating flow are derived from the kinetic theory based on the Boltzmann equation. The isotropic RNGk — ε — kcaturbulence model of two-phase flows in the form of cavity number instead of the form of cavity phase volume fraction is developed. The RNGk—ε—kcaturbulence model, that is the RNGk — eturbulence model for the liquid phase combined with thekcamodel for the cavity phase, is employed to close the governing turbulent equations of the two-phase flow. The computation of the cavitating flow through a model pump sump has been carried out with this model in three-dimensional spaces. The calculated results have been compared with the data of the PIV experiment. Good qualitative agreement has been achieved which exhibits the reliability of the numerical simulation model.
A Diffusively Corrected Multiclass Lighthill-Whitham-Richards Traffic Model with Anticipation Lengths and Reaction Times
Authors: Bürger Raimund , Mulet Pep , Villada Luis M.
Published: August 2013

Multiclass Lighthill-Whitham-Richards traffic models [Benzoni-Gavage and Colombo, Euro. J. Appl. Math., 14 (2003), pp. 587–612; Wong and Wong, Transp. Res. A, 36 (2002), pp. 827–841] give rise to first-order systems of conservation laws that are hyperbolic under usual conditions, so that their associated Cauchy problems are well-posed. Anticipation lengths and reaction times can be incorporated into these models by adding certain conservative second-order terms to these first-order conservation laws. These terms can be diffusive under certain circumstances, thus, in principle, ensuring the stability of the solutions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the stability of these diffusively corrected models under varying reaction times and anticipation lengths. It is demonstrated that instabilities may develop for high reaction times and short anticipation lengths, and that these instabilities may have controlled frequencies and amplitudes due to their nonlinear nature.
ACE-FTS observations of acetonitrile in the lower stratosphere
Authors: Harrison J. J. , Bernath P. F.
Published: August 2013

Abstract. This work reports the first infrared satellite remote-sensing measurements of acetonitrile (CH3CN) in the Earth's atmosphere using solar occultation measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) between 2004 and 2011. The retrieval scheme uses new quantitative laboratory spectroscopic measurements of acetonitrile (Harrison and Bernath, 2012). Although individual ACE-FTS profile measurements are dominated by measurement noise, median profiles in 10° latitude bins show a steady decline in volume mixing ratio from ~150 ppt (parts per trillion) at 11.5 km to < 40 ppt at 25.5–29.5 km. These new measurements agree well with the scant available air- and balloon-borne data in the lower stratosphere. An acetonitrile stratospheric lifetime of 73 ± 20 yr has been determined.
Observations of fluorescent and biological aerosol at a high-altitude site in central France
Authors: Gabey A. M. , Vaitilingom M. , Freney E. , Boulon J. , Sellegri K. , Gallagher M. W. , Crawford I. P. , Robinson N. H. , Stanley W. R. , Kaye P. H.
Published: August 2013

Abstract. Total bacteria, fungal spore and yeast counts were compared with ultraviolet-light-induced fluorescence (UV-LIF) measurements of ambient aerosol at the summit of the Puy de Dôme (PdD) mountain in central France (1465 m a.s.l), which represents a background elevated site. Bacteria, fungal spores and yeast were enumerated by epifluorescence microscopy (EFM) and found to number 2.2 to 23 L−1 and 0.8 to 2 L−1, respectively. Bacteria counts on two successive nights were an order of magnitude larger than in the intervening day. A wide issue bioaerosol spectrometer, version 3 (WIBS-3) was used to perform UV-LIF measurements on ambient aerosol sized 0.8 to 20 μm. Mean total number concentration was 270 L−1 (σ = 66 L−1), found predominantly in a size mode at 2 μm for most of the campaign. Total concentration (fluorescent + non-fluorescent aerosol) peaked at 500 L−1 with a size mode at 1 μm because of a change in air mass origin lasting around 48 h. The WIBS-3 features two excitation and fluorescence detection wavelengths corresponding to different biological molecules, although non-biological interferents also contribute. The mean fluorescent particle concentration after short-wave (280 nm; associated with tryptophan) excitation was 12 L−1 (σ = 6 L−1), and did not vary much throughout the campaign. In contrast, the mean concentration of particles fluorescent after long-wave (370 nm; associated with NADH) excitation was 95 L−1 (σ = 25 L−1), and a nightly rise and subsequent fall of up to 100 L−1 formed a strong diurnal cycle in the latter. The two fluorescent populations exhibited size modes at 3 μm and 2 to 3 μm, respectively. A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis algorithm was applied to the data and used to extract different particle factors. A cluster concentration time series representative of bacteria was identified. This was found to exhibit a diurnal cycle with a maximum peak appearing during the day. Analysis of organic mass spectra recorded using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS; Aerodyne Inc.) suggests that aerosol reaching the site at night was more aged than that during the day, indicative of sampling the residual layer at night. Supplementary meteorological data and previous work also show that PdD lies in the residual layer/free troposphere at night, and this is thought to cause the observed diurnal cycles in organic-type and fluorescent aerosol particles. Based on the observed disparity between bacteria and fluorescent particle concentrations, fluorescent non-PBA is likely to be important in the WIBS-3 data and the surprisingly high fluorescent concentration in the residual layer/free troposphere raises questions about a ubiquitous background in continental air during the summer.