bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experimental study on volumetric behaviour of Maryland clay and the role of degree of saturation
Authors: Burton Glen J. , Sheng Daichao , Airey David
Published: August 2014

In this paper, the volume change behaviour of Maryland clay compacted on the wet side of standard Proctor optimum water content (with lower compaction energy) is studied in reference to the saturated reconstituted state. Oedometer tests over a range of suctions and vertical stresses have been carried out, and the results have shown that the compression index reaches a peak (approximately twice that of the reconstituted material) and then gradually reduces to the reconstituted value as the stress level is increased. The results are analyzed in a framework where the degree of saturation is treated as a state parameter and controls the slope of the unsaturated normal compression line. Tests conducted under constant suction and constant water content have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of using the degree of saturation as a state variable.
Measurement and numerical modeling studies of the highest bottom shear stress in the Randle Reef area
Authors: He Cheng , Scott Eric , Graham Matthew , Binns Andrew
Published: August 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the highest bottom shear stress, induced by wind in an area of Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada known as Randle Reef. The study was conducted in support of a component of a contaminated sediment remediation plan utilizing a thin layer of sand to manage contaminated sediments. Toward this end, four acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) were deployed at two locations in the study region to measure velocity profiles for the purpose of indirectly measuring bottom shear stress (BSS) and model verification. There is no easy way to directly measure BSS in the field. As a result, the use of the logarithmic-profile method from the ADCP measured high resolution velocity profiles in the bottom layer was explored. This approach, according to our best knowledge, has not been published for a wind driven flow in a small open water body. To use the indirectly measured BSS to estimate the highest BSS in the study area, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model was adopted to provide the spatial and temporal information of the bottom flow. The results showed that the modeled and measured flow velocity components agreed reasonably well at most of the water depths with the correlation coefficients being greater than 0.6. However, agreements between the modeled and measured bottom flow speeds were worse than expected due to the error contributions from both the modeled velocity components. Therefore, the modeled flow speed required rescaling based on ADCP velocity measurements before it could be deemed reliable. This is especially important in estimation of the BSS with a quadratic formula because the calculated BSS is proportional to the square of the speed.
TRADE UNIONS AND ECONOMIC REFORM IN AUSTRALIA, 1983–2013
Authors: WRIGHT CHRIS F. , LANSBURY RUSSELL D.
Published: August 2014

Many of the key reforms of the past three decades that helped to strengthen the Australian economy were implemented during the operation of the Accord that existed between Australian Labor Party governments and the union movement. In order to address structural economic problems, unions agreed to moderate wage outcomes and to facilitate the transition to workplace bargaining in return for social welfare gains for workers, which successive governments have maintained. These reforms helped to improve labor market efficiency and allowed firms to integrate successfully into international markets, without substantially compromising the interests of workers and their families, which thereby allowed economic dislocation and social unrest to be contained. In contrast to the assertions of certain Australian employer groups, research has consistently shown that union involvement in workplace bargaining has a benign impact on business productivity. However, declining membership presents a significant challenge to the capacity of Australian unions to influence economic outcomes at the national and workplace levels in the future.
Class-Based Storage Assignment in a Unit-Load Warehouse Employing AS/RS with Inventory Space Allocation Considering Product Specific Setup to Holding Cost Ratio
Authors: Rao Subir S. , Adil Gajendra K.
Published: August 2014

Many authors have used continuous optimization models for class-based storage allocation for unit load warehouses employing AS/RS system assuming the same setup to holding cost ratio for all products in their EOQ inventory policy. Accordingly, an ABC curve based on demand ordering of products is used to determine pallet turnovers in their travel distance models which is not applicable in many practical situations and can be inaccurate. This paper develops a new model to determine two/three class optimal partitions while relaxing assumption of constant setup to holding cost ratio in the EOQ formula and as a consequence uses an ABC curve based on decreasing ranking of product turnovers rather than that based on demand. Computational experience shows that this new continuous model approximates pick travel distances which are very close to as compared to that of a semi-discrete model (SDM) proposed in this paper. Further computational experiments are also provided comparing traditional models with our formulations.
A Survey of Automatic Event Detection in Multi-Camera Third Generation Surveillance Systems
Authors: D'Orazio Tiziana , Guaragnella Cataldo
Published: August 2014

Third generation surveillance systems are largely requested for intelligent surveillance of different scenarios such as public areas, urban traffic control, smart homes and so on. They are based on multiple cameras and processing modules that integrate data coming from a large surveillance space. The semantic interpretation of data from a multi-view context is a challenging task and requires the development of image processing methodologies that could support applications in extensive and real-time contexts. This paper presents a survey of automatic event detection functionalities that have been developed for third generation surveillance systems with a particular emphasis on open problems that limit the application of computer vision methodologies to commercial multi-camera systems.
How to Use Temporal-Driven Constrained Clustering to Detect Typical Evolutions
Authors: Rizoiu Marian-Andrei , Velcin Julien , Lallich Stéphane
Published: August 2014

In this paper, we propose a new time-aware dissimilarity measure that takes into account the temporal dimension. Observations that are close in the description space, but distant in time are considered as dissimilar. We also propose a method to enforce the segmentation contiguity, by introducing, in the objective function, a penalty term inspired from the Normal Distribution Function. We combine the two propositions into a novel time-driven constrained clustering algorithm, called TDCK-Means, which creates a partition of coherent clusters, both in the multidimensional space and in the temporal space. This algorithm uses soft semi-supervised constraints, to encourage adjacent observations belonging to the same entity to be assigned to the same cluster. We apply our algorithm to a Political Studies dataset in order to detect typical evolution phases. We adapt the Shannon entropy in order to measure the entity contiguity, and we show that our proposition consistently improves temporal cohesion of clusters, without any significant loss in the multidimensional variance.
Multi-Criteria Decision Making Method with Belief Preference Relations
Authors: Ennaceur Amel , Elouedi Zied , Lefèvre Eric
Published: August 2014

In modeling Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem, we usually assume that the decision maker is able to elicitate his preferences with precision and without difficulty. However, in many situations, the expert is unable to provide his assessment with certainty or he is unwilling to quantify his preferences. To deal with such situations, a new MCDM model under uncertainty is introduced. In fact, we focus here on the problem of modeling expert opinions despite the presence of incompleteness and uncertainty in their preference assessments. Besides, our proposed solution suggests to model these preferences qualitatively rather than exact numbers. Therefore, we propose to incorporate belief preference relations into a MCDM method. The expert assessments are then formulated as a belief function problem since this theory is considered as a useful tool to model expert judgments.
COMPARISON OF RADIOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF INTERNAL FIXATION USING TWO DIFFERENT VOLAR PLATES FOR DISTAL RADIUS FRACTURES
Authors: Cho Chul-Hyun , Lee Si-Wook , Jung Gu-Hee
Published: August 2014

The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of volar plating using two different implants for distal radius fractures. Fifty-two patients with AO type C fractures were placed in either of two groups: the AO LDRS group (26 patients) or the Acu-Loc group (26 patients). Radiological parameters including radial length, radial inclination, volar tilt, and intra-articular step-off were significantly improved after surgery. The mean Mayo Wrist Performance Score was 84.6 in the AO LDRS group and 81.1 in the Acu-Loc group. The mean Subjective Wrist Value was 86.7% in the AO LDRS group and 86.3% in the Acu-Loc group. There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to both radiological and clinical outcomes at the final follow-up evaluation. Volar fixed-angle plating for unstable distal radius fractures had satisfactory radiological and clinical outcomes. The difference of implant design did not influence overall final outcomes.
UNUSUAL CASE OF AN ELBOW MASS CAUSED BY CANDIDA ARTHRITIS IN A PATIENT WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS
Authors: Imamura Hitoshi , Iwamoto Takuji , Momohara Shigeki
Published: August 2014

A 45-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus presented with a painless bulky mass on her elbow. Joint fluid analysis showed the presence of a yeast-like organism. Surgical debridement was performed and specimens obtained at surgery showed growth of Candida albicans. Although Candida species are an uncommon cause of infectious arthritis, fungal arthritis should be considered in the patient with predisposing factors.
THE HOLEVICH FLAP REVISITED: A COMPARISON WITH THE FOUCHER FLAP, CASE SERIES
Authors: Couceiro José , Sanmartín Marcos
Published: August 2014

The first dorsal metacarpal artery flap was initially described by Hilgenfeldt, it was designed as a racquet flap by Holevich and modified as an island flap by Foucher and Braun. The objective of the present is to compare the Holevich flap and the Foucher flap in terms of venous congestion and flap necrosis.

From 2009 to 2013, ten first dorsal metacarpal artery flaps were performed at our hospital's hand unit. Five of the flaps were Holevich type flaps and five of the flaps were Foucher flaps. There were seven men and three women. The mean age was 47 years for the Foucher flap group (17–67 years), and 48 years for the Holevich flap group (36–61 years).

Strength, static two tips discrimination, ranges of motion, satisfaction, cold intolerance, pain, flap congestion and flap necrosis were recorded for both groups.

Similar values of strength, pain, range of motion and two tips discrimination were found on both groups. There was a higher incidence of flap congestion and necrosis on the Foucher flap group (two thumbs underwent partial flap necrosis and two underwent venous congestion in three patients). There was also a higher incidence of cold intolerance in the Foucher group (two patients exhibited moderate cold intolerance and one exhibited a severe cold intolerance). A proper statistical analysis was not possible due to the size of the case series.

In this small case series the Holevich exhibited less flap necrosis, less venous congestion, and less incidence of cold intolerance than the Foucher flap.
STUDY OF THE DIFFERENT RELEASE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTIBIOTICS FROM PATIENTS: A DYNAMIC ELUTING SYSTEM TO INVESTIGATE DRUG RELEASE FROM ANTIBIOTIC-IMPREGNATED CALCIUM SULFATE DELIVERY
Authors: ZHANG YANG , WU RENJIE , HU YING , DONG YU , SHEN LIFENG , CHEN LIJUN , WONG KELVIN K. L. , GHISTA DHANJOO N. , SHOU DAN
Published: August 2014

Background: Antibiotic-impregnated calcium sulfate delivery systems (ACDS) are commonly used to treat chronic osteomyelitis. Our research is to investigate drug release in vitro over a longer period, as a cautious predictor of in vivo release. Methods: The local release behavior of antibiotic in vitro was simulated. The consecutive dynamic eluting experiment was performed based on the pro-operative characteristic of osteomyelitis patients and the determined results of drug concentration in the human drainage tissue fluid (DTF). The concentration of each drug in the receiving solution was detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole detector mass spectrometry. The ACDS was reviewed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) after 48 h, and prepared to be eluted for another examination after 33 days. The mechanism of antibiotic release was analyzed by using the Ritger–Peppas and Weibull equations. Results: The cumulative release rate of vancomycin in a vancomycin-calcium sulfate delivery system (VCDS) was 77.50 % (3.0 mm diameter) and 72.43 % (4.8 mm diameter), while that of the tobramycin in a tobramycin-calcium sulfate delivery system (TCDS) was 88.0 % (3.0 mm diameter) and 84.55 % (4.8 mm diameter). At the 15th day, approximately 27.92% of vancomycin was and 29.35% of tobramycin was released from the local implant in vivo. Using SEM, numerous vancomycin and tobramycin particles were found to be attached to the columnar calcium sulfate crystals at the start of the experiment. The release behavior of the two antibiotics followed a combination of Fickian diffusion and Case II transport mechanisms within the first 48 h, and a Fickian diffusion mechanism during the subsequent time period. The correlation coefficient of tobramycin and vancomycin in vivo and in vitro was 0.9704–0.9949 and 0.9549–0.9782, respectively. Conclusion: A good correlation of the in vivo and in vitro cumulative release rates was observed by comparing the cumulative release rate of drugs in vitro by means of the dynamic eluting model, and in the DTF. Therefore, our study has proved that it is possible to use the dynamic eluting model as a cautious predictor of in vivo release.
Correlation of in vivo tumor response and singlet oxygen luminescence detection in mTHPC-mediated photodynamic therapy
Authors: Wilson Brian C. , Patterson Michael S. , Li Buhong , Jarvi Mark T.
Published: August 2014

Excited-state singlet oxygen (1 O 2), generated during photodynamic therapy (PDT), is believed to be the primary cytotoxic agent with a number of clinically approved photosensitizers. Its relative concentration in cells or tissues can be measured directly through its near-infrared (NIR) luminescence emission, which has correlated well with in vitro cell and in vivo normal skin treatment responses. Here, its correlation with the response of tumor tissue in vivo is examined, using the photosensitizer meso-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (mTHPC) in an animal model comprising luciferase- and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-transduced gliosarcoma grown in a dorsal window chamber. The change in the bioluminescence signal, imaged pretreatment and at 2, 5 and 9 d post treatment, was used as a quantitative measure of the tumor response, which was classified in individual tumors as "non", "moderate" and "strong" in order to reduce the variance in the data. Plotting the bioluminescence-based response vs the 1 O 2 counts demonstrated clear correlation, indicating that 1 O 2 luminescence provides a valid dosimetric technique for PDT in tumor tissue.
China Launches New Urbanisation Plan (2014-2020)
Authors: ZHOU Zhihua
Published: August 2014

China's new leadership pins high hopes on New Urbanisation as the engine to transform China into a domestic consumption-driven economy and solve its sannong issue to ease rural and urban disparity. The recently released National New Urbanisation Plan pinpointed the external economic conditions and the problems that had emerged in the previous urbanisation orbit, and is expected to serve as a strategic, comprehensive and instructional compendium for future urbanisation.
America's Asia Pivot: What does it Mean and will it Succeed?
Authors: COPPER John F
Published: August 2014

Observers saw US “pivot” to Asia announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011 as a strategic policy to balance China's rise. But the Obama administration denied this, making the goals of the pivot unclear. President Obama added an economic element to the pivot with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This complicated the pivot. Defence spending, needed to make it work, was cut. Currently it is difficult to discern where the pivot stands.
A stage structured model of malaria transmission and efficacy of mosquito larvicides in its control
Authors: Agarwal Manju , Bhadauria Archana S.
Published: August 2014

In this paper, we analyze a stage structured mathematical model for the transmission of malaria and its control by killing mosquitoes in larvae (immature) stage. Both the Mosquito and human populations are divided into susceptible and infective class. Susceptible class of mosquito population is further divided into mature and immature. The model is analyzed by using stability theory of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Basic reproduction ratio is derived which is found to be the decreasing function of maturation delay and larvicidal activity. In addition, it is observed that biting rate of mosquito, transmission efficiency of parasitic infection from infective human to mosquito and critical value of maturation delay are the key parameters determining the stability switch in the system. Numerical simulation is also carried out to confirm the analytical results obtained in the paper.
Analysis of Fork/Join and Related Queueing Systems
Authors: Thomasian Alexander
Published: August 2014

Fork/join (F/J) requests arise in contexts such as parallel computing, query processing in parallel databases, and parallel disk access in RAID. F/J requests spawnKtasks that are sent toKparallel servers, and the completion of allKtasks marks the completion of an F/J request. The exact formula for the mean response time ofK= 2-way F/J requests derived under Markovian assumptions (RF/J2) served as the starting point for an approximate expression forRF/JKfor 2 <K≤ 32. When servers process independent requests in addition to F/J requests, the mean response time of F/J requests is better approximated byRmaxK, which is the maximum of the response times of tasks constituting F/J requests.RmaxKis easier to compute and serves as an upper bound toRF/JK. We discuss techniques to computeRmaxKand generally the maximum ofKrandom variables denoting the processing times of the tasks of a parallel computationXmaxK. Graph models of computations such as Petri nets—a more general form of parallelism than F/J requests—are also discussed in this work. Jobs with precedence constraints may require multiple resources, which are represented by a queueing network model. We also discuss various queueing systems related to F/J queueing systems and outline their analysis.
Structured Sparse Boosting for Graph Classification
Authors: Fei Hongliang , Huan Jun
Published: August 2014

Boosting is a highly effective algorithm that produces a linear combination of weak classifiers (a.k.a. base learners) to obtain high-quality classification models. In this article, we propose a generalized logit boost algorithm in which base learners have structural relationships in the functional space. Although such relationships are generic, our work is particularly motivated by the emerging topic of pattern-based classification for semistructured data including graphs. Toward an efficient incorporation of the structure information, we have designed a general model in which we use an undirected graph to capture the relationship of subgraph-based base learners. In our method, we employ bothL1and Laplacian-basedL2regularization to logit boosting to achieve model sparsity and smoothness in the functional space spanned by the base learners. We have derived efficient optimization algorithms based on coordinate descent for the new boosting formulation and theoretically prove that it exhibits a natural grouping effect for nearby spatial or overlapping base learners and that the resulting estimator is consistent. Additionally, motivated by the connection between logit boosting and logistic regression, we extend our structured sparse regularization framework to logistic regression for vectorial data in which features are structured. Using comprehensive experimental study and comparing our work with the state-of-the-art, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed learning method.
GBAGC
Authors: Xu Zhiqiang , Ke Yiping , Wang Yi , Cheng Hong , Cheng James
Published: August 2014

Graph clustering, also known as community detection, is a long-standing problem in data mining. In recent years, with the proliferation of rich attribute information available for objects in real-world graphs, how to leverage not only structural but also attribute information for
clustering attributed graphs
becomes a new challenge. Most existing works took a distance-based approach. They proposed various distance measures to fuse structural and attribute information and then applied standard techniques for graph clustering based on these distance measures. In this article, we take an alternative view and propose a novel Bayesian framework for attributed graph clustering. Our framework provides a general and principled solution to modeling both the structural and the attribute aspects of a graph. It avoids the artificial design of a distance measure in existing methods and, furthermore, can seamlessly handle graphs with different types of edges and vertex attributes. We develop an efficient variational method for graph clustering under this framework and derive two concrete algorithms for clustering unweighted and weighted attributed graphs. Experimental results on large real-world datasets show that our algorithms significantly outperform the state-of-the-art distance-based method, in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency.
Reconstructing Graphs from Neighborhood Data
Authors: Erdős Dóra , Gemulla Rainer , Terzi Evimaria
Published: August 2014

Consider a social network and suppose that we are only given the number of common friends between each pair of users. Can we reconstruct the underlying network? Similarly, consider a set of documents and the words that appear in them. If we only know the number of common words for every pair of documents, as well as the number of common documents for every pair of words, can we infer which words appear in which documents? In this article, we develop a general methodology for answering questions like these.

We formalize these questions in what we call the R
econstruct
problem: given information about the common neighbors of nodes in a network, our goal is to reconstruct the hidden binary matrix that indicates the presence or absence of relationships between individual nodes. In fact, we propose two different variants of this problem: one where the number of connections of every node (i.e., the degree of every node) is known and a second one where it is unknown. We call these variants the
degree-aware
and the
degree-oblivious
versions of the R
econstruct
problem, respectively.

Our algorithms for both variants exploit the properties of the singular value decomposition of the hidden binary matrix. More specifically, we show that using the available neighborhood information, we can reconstruct the hidden matrix by finding the components of its singular value decomposition and then combining them appropriately. Our extensive experimental study suggests that our methods are able to reconstruct binary matrices of different characteristics with up to 100% accuracy.
Quantifying Notions of Extensibility in FlexRay Schedule Synthesis
Authors: Schneider Reinhard , Goswami Dip , Chakraborty Samarjit , Bordoloi Unmesh , Eles Petru , Peng Zebo
Published: August 2014

FlexRay has now become a well-established in-vehicle communication bus at most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as BMW, Audi, and GM. Given the increasing cost of verification and the high degree of crosslinking between components in automotive architectures, an incremental design process is commonly followed. In order to incorporate FlexRay-based designs in such a process, the resulting schedules must be
extensible
, that is: (i) when messages are added in later iterations, they must preserve deadline guarantees of already scheduled messages, and (ii) they must accommodate as many new messages as possible without changes to existing schedules. Apart from extensible scheduling having not received much attention so far, traditional metrics used for quantifying them cannot be trivially adapted to FlexRay schedules. This is because they do not exploit specific properties of the FlexRay protocol. In this article we, for the first time, introduce new notions of extensibility for FlexRay that capture all the protocol-specific properties. In particular, we focus on the dynamic segment of FlexRay and we present a number of metrics to quantify extensible schedules. Based on the introduced metrics, we propose strategies to synthesize extensible schedules and compare the results of different scheduling algorithms. We demonstrate the applicability of the results with industrial-size case studies and also show that the proposed metrics may also be visually represented, thereby allowing for easy interpretation.
Multilevel Simulation of Nonfunctional Properties by Piecewise Evaluation
Authors: Hatami Nadereh , Baranowski Rafal , Prinetto Paolo , Wunderlich Hans-Joachim
Published: August 2014

As the technology shrinks, nonfunctional properties (NFPs) such as reliability, vulnerability, power consumption, or heat dissipation become as important as system functionality. As NFPs often influence each other, depend on the application and workload of a system, and exhibit nonlinear behavior, NFP simulation over long periods of system operation is computationally expensive, if feasible at all.

This article presents a piecewise evaluation method for efficient NFP simulation. Simulation time is divided into intervals called
evaluation windows
, within which the NFP models are partially linearized. High-speed functional system simulation is achieved by parallel execution of models at different levels of abstraction. A trade-off between simulation speed and accuracy is met by adjusting the size of the evaluation window.

As an example, the piecewise evaluation technique is applied to analyze aging caused by two mechanisms, namely Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and Hot Carrier Injection (HCI), in order to identify reliability hotspots. Experiments show that the proposed technique yields considerable simulation speedup at a marginal loss of accuracy.
Reduced REDD1 expression contributes to activation of mTORC1 following electrically induced muscle contraction
Authors: Gordon Bradley S. , Steiner Jennifer L. , Lang Charles H. , Jefferson Leonard S. , Kimball Scot R.
Published: August 2014

Regulated in DNA damage and development 1 (REDD1) is a repressor of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. In humans, REDD1 mRNA expression in skeletal muscle is repressed following resistance exercise in association with activation of mTORC1. However, whether REDD1 protein expression is also reduced after exercise and if so to what extent the loss contributes to exercise-induced activation of mTORC1 is unknown. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the role of REDD1 in governing the response of mTORC1 and protein synthesis to a single bout of muscle contractions. Eccentric contractions of the tibialis anterior were elicited via electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve in male mice in either the fasted or fed state or in fasted wild-type or REDD1-null mice. Four hours postcontractions, mTORC1 signaling and protein synthesis were elevated in fasted mice in association with repressed REDD1 expression relative to nonstimulated controls. Feeding coupled with contractions further elevated mTORC1 signaling, whereas REDD1 protein expression was repressed compared with either feeding or contractions alone. Basal mTORC1 signaling and protein synthesis were elevated in REDD1-null compared with wild-type mice. The magnitude of the increase in mTORC1 signaling was similar in both wild-type and REDD1-null mice, but, unlike wild-type mice, muscle contractions did not stimulate protein synthesis in mice deficient for REDD1, presumably because basal rates were already elevated. Overall, the data demonstrate that REDD1 expression contributes to the modulation of mTORC1 signaling following feeding- and contraction-induced activation of the pathway.
Human skeletal muscle metabolic economy in vivo: effects of contraction intensity, age, and mobility impairment
Authors: Christie Anita D. , Tonson Anne , Larsen Ryan G. , DeBlois Jacob P. , Kent Jane A.
Published: August 2014

We tested the hypothesis that older muscle has greater metabolic economy (ME) in vivo than young, in a manner dependent, in part, on contraction intensity. Twenty young (Y; 24 ± 1 yr, 10 women), 18 older healthy (O; 73 ± 2, 9 women) and 9 older individuals with mild-to-moderate mobility impairment (OI; 74 ± 1, 7 women) received stimulated twitches (2 Hz, 3 min) and performed nonfatiguing voluntary (20, 50, and 100% maximal; 12 s each) isometric dorsiflexion contractions. Torque-time integrals (TTI; Nm·s) were calculated and expressed relative to maximal fat-free muscle cross-sectional area (cm2), and torque variability during voluntary contractions was calculated as the coefficient of variation. Total ATP cost of contraction (mM) was determined from flux through the creatine kinase reaction, nonoxidative glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, and used to calculate ME (Nm·s·cm−2·mM ATP−1). While twitch torque relaxation was slower in O and OI compared with Y ( P ≤ 0.001), twitch TTI, ATP cost, and economy were similar across groups ( P ≥ 0.15), indicating comparable intrinsic muscle economy during electrically induced isometric contractions in vivo. During voluntary contractions, normalized TTI and total ATP cost did not differ significantly across groups ( P ≥ 0.20). However, ME was lower in OI than Y or O at 20% and 50% MVC ( P ≤ 0.02), and torque variability was greater in OI than Y or O at 20% MVC ( P ≤ 0.05). These results refute the hypothesis of greater muscle ME in old age, and provide support for lower ME in impaired older adults as a potential mechanism or consequence of age-related reductions in functional mobility.
Fertility Behaviour and Effect of Son Preference among the Muslims of Manipur, India
Authors: Asghar Mohammad , Murry Benrithung , Saraswathy Kallur Nava
Published: August 2014

Fertility is one of the most important components of demographic studies affecting almost all aspects of human life. Present paper is an attempt to study various factors, including preference of son, affecting the fertility of Manipuri Muslims. A household survey was conducted in Imphal East and Thoubal districts where the concentration of Muslim is found to be the highest, interviewing 512 ever married women. Age at marriage, age at first conception, education, occupation, types of family, and per capita annual income are influencing the fertility rate among this population. Uses of birth control measures, consanguineous marriage, and age at menarche have no effect on fertility rate. The preference for more sons is observed in this study leading to increase in overall fertility rate.
Reducing Local Scouring at Bridge Piles Using Collars and Geobags
Authors: Akib Shatirah , Liana Mamat Noor , Basser Hossein , Jahangirzadeh Afshin
Published: August 2014

The present study examines the use of collars and geobags for reducing local scour around bridge piles. The efficiency of collars and geobags was studied experimentally. The data from the experiments were compared with data from earlier studies on the use of single piles with a collar and with a geobag. The results showed that using a combination of a steel collar and a geobag yields the most significant scour reduction for the front and rear piles, respectively. Moreover, the independent steel collar showed better efficiency than the independent geobag below the sediment level around the bridge piles.
Effect of Initial Stress on the Propagation Characteristics of Waves in Fiber-Reinforced Transversely Isotropic Thermoelastic Material under an Inviscid Liquid Layer
Authors: Kumar Rajneesh , Ahuja Sanjeev , Garg S. K.
Published: August 2014

The present investigation deals with the propagation of waves in fiber-reinforced transversely isotropic thermoelastic solid half space with initial stresses under a layer of inviscid liquid. The secular equation for surface equation in compact form is derived after developing the mathematical model. The phase velocity and attenuation coefficients of plane waves are studied numerically for a particular model. Effects of initial stress and thickness of the layer on the phase velocity, attenuation coefficient, and specific loss of energy are predicted graphically in the certain model. A particular case of Rayleigh wave has been discussed and the dispersion curves of the phase velocity and attenuation coefficients have also been presented graphically. Some other particular cases are also deduced from the present investigation.
Rational Rock Physics for Improved Velocity Prediction and Reservoir Properties Estimation for Granite Wash (Tight Sands) in Anadarko Basin, Texas
Authors: Durrani Muhammad Z. A. , Willson Keith , Chen Jingyi , Tapp Bryan , Akram Jubran
Published: August 2014

Due to the complex nature, deriving elastic properties from seismic data for the prolific Granite Wash reservoir (Pennsylvanian age) in the western Anadarko Basin Wheeler County (Texas) is quite a challenge. In this paper, we used rock physics tool to describe the diagenesis and accurate estimation of seismic velocities of P and S waves in Granite Wash reservoir. Hertz-Mindlin and Cementation (Dvorkin’s) theories are applied to analyze the nature of the reservoir rocks (uncemented and cemented). In the implementation of rock physics diagnostics, three classical rock physics (empirical relations, Kuster-Toksöz, and Berryman) models are comparatively analyzed for velocity prediction taking into account the pore shape geometry. An empirical (VP-VS) relationship is also generated calibrated with core data for shear wave velocity prediction. Finally, we discussed the advantages of each rock physics model in detail. In addition, cross-plots of unconventional attributes help us in the clear separation of anomalous zone and lithologic properties of sand and shale facies over conventional attributes.
A Nonlinear Weakly Singular Retarded Henry-Gronwall Type Integral Inequality and Its Application
Authors: Lin Yuanhua , Wu Shanhe , Wang Wu-Sheng
Published: August 2014

We establish a class of new nonlinear retarded weakly singular integral inequality. Under several practical assumptions, the inequality is solved by adopting novel analysis techniques, and explicit bounds for the unknown functions are given clearly. An application of our result to the fractional differential equations with delay is shown at the end of the paper.
Epinephrine Enhances the Response of Macrophages under LPS Stimulation
Authors: Zhou Jianyun , Yan Jun , Liang Huaping , Jiang Jianxin
Published: August 2014

Trauma associated with infection may directly trigger a neuroendocrine reactionin vivowhile the hormone epinephrine is known to mediate immune responses to inflammation after injury. However, the role of epinephrine during the earliest stage of trauma still remains unclear. We therefore explored the role of epinephrine on activated macrophages under LPS stimulationin vitroas well as the mechanisms underlying its effect. Dose- and time-dependent effects of epinephrine on macrophage immune function were assessed after LPS activation. We also employed CD14 siRNA interference to investigate whether CD14 played a role in the mechanism underlying the effect of epinephrine on LPS-induced macrophage responses. Our results showed that epinephrine pretreatment (10 ng/mL) significantly promoted immune responses from LPS stimulated macrophages, including phagocytic rate, phagocytic index, TNFα/IL-1β/IL-10 secretion, and CD14 expression (P< 0.05). Moreover, TNFα/IL-1β/IL-10 levels attained their peak value 1 hour after incubation with 10 ng/mL epinephrine (P< 0.05), and CD14 siRNA transfection dramatically decreased phagocytosis and cytokine secretion by LPS-activated macrophages (P< 0.05). We therefore conclude that 10 ng/mL epinephrine enhances immune responses from macrophages under LPS stimulation and that the underlying mechanism may relate to CD14 upregulation on the surface of macrophages.
Mobile Recommendation Based on Link Community Detection
Authors: Deng Kun , Zhang Jianpei , Yang Jing
Published: August 2014

Since traditional mobile recommendation systems have difficulty in acquiring complete and accurate user information in mobile networks, the accuracy of recommendation is not high. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel mobile recommendation algorithm based on link community detection (MRLD). MRLD executes link label diffusion algorithm and maximal extended modularity (EQ) of greedy search to obtain the link community structure, and overlapping nodes belonging analysis (ONBA) is adopted to adjust the overlapping nodes in order to get the more accurate community structure. MRLD is tested on both synthetic and real-world networks, and the experimental results show that our approach is valid and feasible.
SCondi: A Smart Context Distribution Framework Based on a Messaging Service for the Internet of Things
Authors: Park Jongmoon , Lee Myung-Joon
Published: August 2014

When developing IoT (Internet of Things) applications, context distribution is a key feature to support effective delivery of related contextual data obtained from things to all interested entities. With the advent of the IoT era, multiple billion devices can generate huge amounts of data that might be used in IoT applications. In this paper, we present a context distribution framework named SCondi utilizing the messaging service which supports MQTT—an OASIS standard IoT messaging protocol. SCondi provides the notion ofcontext channelas a core feature to support efficient and reliable mechanism for distributing huge context information in the IoT environment. The context channel provides a pluggable filter mechanism that supports effective extraction, tailoring, authentication, and security of information.
Deposition and Mineralogical Characteristics of Atmospheric Dust in relation to Land Use and Land Cover Change in Delhi (India)
Authors: Kumar Bablu , Verma Kopal , Kulshrestha Umesh
Published: August 2014

This study highlights that the increasing urbanization and industrialization in Delhi are responsible for higher fluxes of atmospheric dust and its chemical constituents. Delhi has experienced a drastic change in land use and land cover area during the past two decades. Road lengths of the city have increased by 76% from 1985 to 2011. The number of mobile vehicles has reached 80,52,508 in 2014 from 24,32,295 in 1994. The industrial units in Delhi have increased by 39.54% in 2011 as compared to 1994 value. Atmospheric dust which is originated from soil in this region becomes carbon rich due to interaction of suspended soil with atmospheric pollutants. Emissions of carbonaceous aerosols from coal and petroleum combustions are mainly responsible for silica dominated soil dust transforming into carbon rich particulate matter. Such dust may play very important role in the atmosphere having significant influence on human health, global warming, climate change, radiative forcing, visibility, and cloud formation. It is expected that if the rate of development remains the same, green cover of the city invariably will be sized down in order to meet the demand of housing, transportation, industries, and so forth in proportion to the rising population.
Global Clustering Quality Coefficient Assessing the Efficiency of PCA Class Assignment
Authors: Praisler Mirela , Ciochina Stefanut
Published: August 2014

An essential factor influencing the efficiency of the predictive models built with principal component analysis (PCA) is the quality of the data clustering revealed by the score plots. The sensitivity and selectivity of the class assignment are strongly influenced by the relative position of the clusters and by their dispersion. We are proposing a set of indicators inspired from analytical geometry that may be used for an objective quantitative assessment of the data clustering quality as well as a global clustering quality coefficient (GCQC) that is a measure of the overall predictive power of the PCA models. The use of these indicators for evaluating the efficiency of the PCA class assignment is illustrated by a comparative study performed for the identification of the preprocessing function that is generating the most efficient PCA system screening for amphetamines based on their GC-FTIR spectra. The GCQC ranking of the tested feature weights is explained based on estimated density distributions and validated by using quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).
Huge Benign Ovarian Cystic Teratoma in a Patient with a History of Hansen’s Disease
Authors: Okonta Patrick I. , Mofon Chukwuemeke
Published: August 2014

Mature ovarian cystic teratomas are common benign ovarian neoplasm derived from germ cells. With increasing availability of ultrasound services even in developing countries, the diagnosis of benign ovarian tumour is made earlier and the size of the ovarian tumour at diagnosis is relatively small. It is unusual to find an ovarian cystic teratoma larger than 10 cm. We report a huge mature ovarian cystic teratoma in a multipara with a history of Hansen’s disease. We conclude that, in circumstances where women have restricted access to health care, the unusual finding of mature ovarian cystic teratoma larger than 10 cm is possible due to delayed presentation for diagnosis and treatment.
Etiology of Drug Abuse: A Narrative Analysis
Authors: Jadidi Nadjme , Nakhaee Nouzar
Published: August 2014

Introduction and Aim. Further gains in the prevention of drug abuse disorders require in-depth and holistic understanding of the risk factors of addiction from different perspectives. Lay persons and experts have different concepts of risk which could complement each other. The purpose of this study was to elaborate drug abuse risk factors through the story of individuals who had become drug dependent.Design and Methods. In this qualitative research, 33 individuals attending treatment centres for drug abuse were interviewed about the story of their addiction in Kerman, Iran. Interview questions were around the story of the participants.Results. All participants were male and in the age range of 18–40 years. Narrative analysis identified five themes as the main risk factors: family factors, peer pressure, the effect of gateway drugs (especially waterpipe), individual characteristics, and the community factors. More emphasis was placed upon the role of family factors, peer influence, and gateway effect.Discussion and Conclusion. This study elicited information from drug dependent subjects regarding the risk factors of drug abuse. According to drug dependent individuals’ views, more attention should be devoted to family and peer influences by policy makers, in developing culture-based preventive strategies.
A Prerecognition Model for Hot Topic Discovery Based on Microblogging Data
Authors: Zhu Tongyu , Yu Jianjun
Published: August 2014

The microblogging is prevailing since its easy and anonymous information sharing at Internet, which also brings the issue of dispersing negative topics, or even rumors. Many researchers have focused on how to find and trace emerging topics for analysis. When adopting topic detection and tracking techniques to find hot topics with streamed microblogging data, it will meet obstacles like streamed microblogging data clustering, topic hotness definition, and emerging hot topic discovery. This paper schemes a novel prerecognition model for hot topic discovery. In this model, the concepts of the topic life cycle, the hot velocity, and the hot acceleration are promoted to calculate the change of topic hotness, which aims to discover those emerging hot topics before they boost and break out. Our experiments show that this new model would help to discover potential hot topics efficiently and achieve considerable performance.
Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Rectangular Heated Pipe for Turbulent Nanofluid
Authors: Yarmand Hooman , Gharehkhani Samira , Kazi Salim Newaz , Sadeghinezhad Emad , Safaei Mohammad Reza
Published: August 2014

Thermal characteristics of turbulent nanofluid flow in a rectangular pipe have been investigated numerically. The continuity, momentum, and energy equations were solved by means of a finite volume method (FVM). The symmetrical rectangular channel is heated at the top and bottom at a constant heat flux while the sides walls are insulated. Four different types of nanoparticles Al2O3, ZnO, CuO, and SiO2at different volume fractions of nanofluids in the range of 1% to 5% are considered in the present investigation. In this paper, effect of different Reynolds numbers in the range of 5000 < Re < 25000 on heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids flowing through the channel is investigated. The numerical results indicate that SiO2-water has the highest Nusselt number compared to other nanofluids while it has the lowest heat transfer coefficient due to low thermal conductivity. The Nusselt number increases with the increase of the Reynolds number and the volume fraction of nanoparticles. The results of simulation show a good agreement with the existing experimental correlations.
Validity and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Persian Version of the Oxford Elbow Score
Authors: Ebrahimzadeh Mohammad H. , Kachooei Amir Reza , Vahedi Ehsan , Moradi Ali , Mashayekhi Zeinab , Hallaj-Moghaddam Mohammad , Azami Mehran , Birjandinejad Ali
Published: August 2014

Oxford Elbow Score (OES) is a patient-reported questionnaire used to assess outcomes after elbow surgery. The aim of this study was to validate and adapt the OES into Persian language. After forward-backward translation of the OES into Persian, a total number of 92 patients after elbow surgeries completed the Persian OES along with the Persian DASH and SF-36. To assess test-retest reliability, 31 randomly selected patients (34%) completed the Persian OES again after three days while abstaining from all forms of therapeutic regimens. Reliability of the Persian OES was assessed by measuring intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for test-retest reliability and Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to test the construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.92 showing excellent reliability. Cronbach’s alpha for function, pain, and social-psychological subscales was 0.95, 0.86, and 0.85, respectively. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.85 for the overall questionnaire and 0.90, 0.76, and 0.75 for function, pain, and social-psychological subscales, respectively. Construct validity was confirmed as the Spearman correlation between OES and DASH was 0.80. Persian OES is a valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure to assess postsurgical elbow status in Persian speaking population.