bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
HARD X-RAY EMISSION FROM SH 2‐104: A NuSTAR SEARCH FOR GAMMA-RAY COUNTERPARTS
Authors: Gotthelf E. V. , Mori K. , Aliu E. , Paredes J. M. , Tomsick J. A. , Boggs S. E. , Christensen F. E. , Craig W. W. , Hailey C. J. , Harrison F. A. , Hong J. S. , Rahoui F. , Stern D. , Zhang W. W.
Published: July 2016

We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of Sh 2–104, a compact H ii region containing several young massive stellar clusters (YMSCs). We have detected distinct hard X-ray sources coincident with localized VERITAS TeV emission recently resolved from the giant gamma-ray complex MGRO J2019+37 in the Cygnus region. Fainter, diffuse X-rays coincident with the eastern YMSC in Sh2-104 likely result from the colliding winds of a component star. Just outside the radio shell of Sh 2–104 lies 3XMM J201744.7+365045 and a nearby nebula, NuSTAR J201744.3+364812, whose properties are most consistent with extragalactic objects. The combined XMM-Newton and NuSTAR spectrum of 3XMM J201744.7+365045 is well-fit to an absorbed power-law model with

cm−2 and a photon index

. Based on possible long-term flux variation and the lack of detected pulsations (≤43% modulation), this object is likely a background active galactic nucleus rather than a Galactic pulsar. The spectrum of the NuSTAR nebula shows evidence of an emission line at E = 5.6 keV, suggesting an optically obscured galaxy cluster at z = 0.19 ± 0.02 (d = 800 Mpc) and L

X
= 1.2 × 1044 erg s−1. Follow-up Chandra observations of Sh 2–104 will help identify the nature of the X-ray sources and their relation to MGRO J2019+37. We also show that the putative VERITAS excess south of Sh 2–104, is most likely associated with the newly discovered Fermi pulsar PSR J2017+3625 and not the H ii region.
A NuSTAR OBSERVATION OF THE GAMMA-RAY-EMITTING X-RAY BINARY AND TRANSITIONAL MILLISECOND PULSAR CANDIDATE 1RXS J154439.4–112820
Authors: Bogdanov Slavko
Published: July 2016

I present a 40 ks Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array observation of the recently identified low-luminosity X-ray binary and transitional millisecond pulsar (tMSP) candidate 1RXS J154439.4−112820, which is associated with the high-energy γ-ray source 3FGL J1544.6−1125. The system is detected up to ∼30 keV with an extension of the same power-law spectrum and rapid large-amplitude variability between two flux levels observed in soft X-rays. These findings provide further evidence that 1RXS J154439.4−112820 belongs to the same class of objects as the nearby bona fide tMSPs PSR J1023+0038 and XSS J12270−4859 and therefore almost certainly hosts a millisecond pulsar accreting at low luminosity. I also examine the long-term accretion history of 1RXS J154439.4−112820 based on archival optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and γ-ray light curves covering approximately the past decade. Throughout this period, the source has maintained similar flux levels at all wavelengths, which is an indication that it has not experienced prolonged episodes of a non-accreting radio pulsar state but may spontaneously undergo such events in the future.
THE GIGAELECTRONVOLT COUNTERPART OF VER J2019+407 IN THE NORTHERN SHELL OF THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT G78.2+2.1 (γ Cygni)
Authors: Fraija N. , Araya M.
Published: July 2016

Analysis of gamma-ray emission from the supernova remnant G78.2+2.1 (γ Cygni) with 7.2 years of cumulative data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope shows a distinct hard, bright, and extended component to the north of the shell coincident with the known teraelectronvolt source VER J2019+407. In the gigaelectronvolt to teraelectronvolt (GeV–TeV) energy range, its spectrum is best described by a broken power law with indices 1.8 below a break energy of 71 GeV and 2.5 above the break. A broadband spectral energy distribution is assembled, and different scenarios for the origin of the gamma rays are explored. Both hadronic and leptonic mechanisms are able to account for the GeV–TeV observations. In the leptonic framework, a superposition of inverse Compton and nonthermal bremsstrahlung emissions is needed, whereas the hadronic scenario requires a cosmic-ray population described by a broken power-law distribution with a relatively hard spectral index of ∼1.8 below a break particle energy of 0.45 TeV. In addition, the neutrino flux expected from cosmic-ray interactions is calculated.
A MONTE-CARLO METHOD FOR ESTIMATING STELLAR PHOTOMETRIC METALLICITY DISTRIBUTIONS
Authors: Gu Jiayin , Du Cuihua , Jing Yingjie , Zuo Wenbo
Published: July 2016

Based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we develop a new Monte-Carlo-based method to estimate the photometric metallicity distribution function (MDF) for stars in the Milky Way. Compared with other photometric calibration methods, this method enables a more reliable determination of the MDF, particularly at the metal-poor and metal-rich ends. We present a comparison of our new method with a previous polynomial-based approach and demonstrate its superiority. As an example, we apply this method to main-sequence stars with

, 6 kpc < R < 9 kpc, and in different intervals in height above the plane,

. The MDFs for the selected stars within two relatively local intervals (0.8 kpc

, 1.5 kpc

kpc) can be well-fit by two Gaussians with peaks at [Fe/H] ≈ −0.6 and −1.2, respectively: one associated with the disk system and the other with the halo. The MDFs for the selected stars within two more distant intervals (3 kpc

, 6 kpc

kpc) can be decomposed into three Gaussians with peaks at [Fe/H] ≈ −0.6, −1.4, and −1.9, respectively, where the two lower peaks may provide evidence for a two-component model of the halo: the inner halo and the outer halo. The number ratio between the disk component and halo component(s) decreases with vertical distance from the Galactic plane, which is consistent with the previous literature.
FERMI GBM OBSERVATIONS OF V404 CYG DURING ITS 2015 OUTBURST
Authors: Jenke P. A. , Wilson-Hodge C. A. , Homan Jeroen , Veres P. , Briggs M. S. , Burns E. , Connaughton V. , Finger M. H. , Hui M.
Published: July 2016

V404 Cygni was discovered in 1989 by the Ginga X-ray satellite during its only previously observed X-ray outburst and soon after confirmed as a black hole binary. On 2015 June 15, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) triggered on a new outburst of V404 Cygni. We present 13 days of GBM observations of this outburst, including Earth occultation flux measurements and spectral and temporal analysis. The Earth occultation fluxes reached 30 Crab with detected emission to 100 keV and determined, via hardness ratios, that the source was in a hard state. At high luminosity, spectral analysis between 8 and 300 keV showed that the electron temperature decreased with increasing luminosity. This is expected if the protons and electrons are in thermal equilibrium during an outburst with the electrons cooled by the Compton scattering of softer seed photons from the disk. However, the implied seed photon temperatures are unusually high, suggesting a contribution from another source, such as the jet. No evidence of state transitions is seen during this time period. The temporal analysis reveals power spectra that can be modeled with two or three strong, broad Lorentzians, similar to the power spectra of black hole binaries in their hard state.
NARROWBAND GYROSYNCHROTRON BURSTS: PROBING ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN SOLAR FLARES
Authors: Fleishman Gregory D. , Nita Gelu M. , Kontar Eduard P. , Gary Dale E.
Published: July 2016

Recently, in a few case studies we demonstrated that gyrosynchrotron microwave emission can be detected directly from the acceleration region when the trapped electron component is insignificant. For the statistical study reported here, we have identified events with steep (narrowband) microwave spectra that do not show a significant trapped component and, at the same time, show evidence of source uniformity, which simplifies the data analysis greatly. Initially, we identified a subset of more than 20 radio bursts with such narrow spectra, having low- and high-frequency spectral indices larger than three in absolute value. A steep low-frequency spectrum implies that the emission is nonthermal (for optically thick thermal emission, the spectral index cannot be steeper than two), and the source is reasonably dense and uniform. A steep high-frequency spectrum implies that no significant electron trapping occurs, otherwise a progressive spectral flattening would be observed. Roughly half of these radio bursts have RHESSI data, which allow for detailed, joint diagnostics of the source parameters and evolution. Based on an analysis of radio-to-X-ray spatial relationships, timing, and spectral fits, we conclude that the microwave emission in these narrowband bursts originates directly from the acceleration regions, which have a relatively strong magnetic field, high density, and low temperature. In contrast, the thermal X-ray emission comes from a distinct loop with a smaller magnetic field, lower density, but higher temperature. Therefore, these flares likely occurred due to interaction between two (or more) magnetic loops.
A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE INTRINSIC BRIGHTNESS AND AVERAGE DECAY RATE OF GAMMA-RAY BURST X-RAY AFTERGLOW LIGHT CURVES
Authors: Racusin J. L. , Oates S. R. , Pasquale M. de , Kocevski D.
Published: July 2016

We present a correlation between the average temporal decay (

) and early-time luminosity (

) of X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts as observed by the Swift X-ray Telescope. Both quantities are measured relative to a rest-frame time of 200 s after the γ-ray trigger. The luminosity–average decay correlation does not depend on specific temporal behavior and contains one scale-independent quantity minimizing the role of selection effects. This is a complementary correlation to that discovered by Oates et al. in the optical light curves observed by the Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope. The correlation indicates that, on average, more luminous X-ray afterglows decay faster than less luminous ones, indicating some relative mechanism for energy dissipation. The X-ray and optical correlations are entirely consistent once corrections are applied and contamination is removed. We explore the possible biases introduced by different light-curve morphologies and observational selection effects, and how either geometrical effects or intrinsic properties of the central engine and jet could explain the observed correlation.
Global Burden of Mental Disorders
Authors: Tavaragi Meghamala S. , C. Sushma
Published: July 2016

Mental disorders are an important cause of long-term disability and dependency. It accounts for over 15% of the disease burden in developed countries, which is more than the disease burden caused by all cancers. Mental illness is a leading cause of suffering, economic loss and social problems. The burden of mental disorders is likely to have been underestimated because of inadequate appreciation of the connectedness between mental illness and other health conditions. Mental disorders increase risk for communicable and non-communicable diseases, and contribute to unintentional and intentional injury, and comorbidity complicates help-seeking, diagnosis, and treatment, and influences prognosis. Consequently, health professionals have trivialized the issue of mental illness. It is essential that researchers and public health professionals work together to resolve the enormous public health crisis presented by mental disorders. In short, we must “mainstream” mental health.
Chronic Mental Illness in Prisons
Authors: Tavaragi Meghamala S
Published: July 2016

It has been known that psychiatric disorders are highly prevalent among prisoners. Many people with identifiable psychiatric illness do conflict with the law, often by no fault of their own but because of symptoms of their psychiatric illness and end up in jails. Poor communication between the prison, court, and hospital systems hinders the assessment and management of the mentally disordered offender, and medical intervention can actually delay release from custody. In conclusion Prisons are detrimental to mental-health, and the standards of psychiatric care are significantly lower than those for the general public. Certain remedial measures are to be implemented for a better future of prison and community because ultimately these prisoners will be released from prison and become a part of community. Beginning of reforms is the immediate need as a long journey ahead.
Feedback, Feedforward, or Dialogue?
Authors: Carver Mark
Published: July 2016

Better feedback is commonly demanded by students and institutions as a way of improving student satisfaction, encouraging more scholarly approaches to assessment, and building students' capacity for self-regulated learning. Student responses to surveys are very clear on what they think makes good feedback: it is prompt, regular, specific, and accurate (e.g. Bols & Wicklow, 2013). Institutional efforts therefore typically try to improve feedback by improving in these four areas. However, Price (2013) has questioned if the customer is always right. This chapter looks at the main models of feedback from the research literature and etymology, in particular how these relate to concepts of self-regulated learning and sustainable assessment (Boud & Molloy, 2013). It is argued that dialogic feedback and feedforward are wrongly currently conceptualised in a purely positive way, which serves to limit effective critique of these models. The chapter ends by describing principles of any type of feedback, providing a working definition which is more compatible with self-regulated learning.
Teacher Self-Assessment of Feedback Practices in an EFL Academic Writing Class - A Reflective Case Study
Authors: White Eddy
Published: July 2016

Unlike studies of teacher feedback on student writing, research into teacher self-assessment of their own feedback practices is quite rare in the assessment literature. In this reflective case study, the researcher/teacher systematically analyzed feedback practices to clearly determine the form and kind of formative feedback being provided on student essays, and also to compare these feedback practices to recommended practice from the feedback literature. The research took place in an academic English writing course for third-year students at a Japanese university. A close examination of the teacher feedback on the first draft of 21 student essays was undertaken, and more than 800 feedback interventions were identified and coded. Results of this investigation show a number of patterns of practice in giving feedback, including; extensive use of questions in teacher commentary, very limited use of praise comments, and varying amounts of feedback provided on individual essays. Results also show that the feedback practices discovered through this investigation align well with recommended best practice. The case study positions the teacher as ‘learner' in this feedback process, and calls for similar published research describing in detail what teachers do when providing feedback to students on their work.
Teaching for Epistemological Change
Authors: Nogueiras Gloria , Herrero David , Iborra Alejandro
Published: July 2016

As higher education teachers, the authors are committed to supporting students in their epistemological development, specifically in their transition towards self-direction. In this chapter, they share their experience of using self-assessment in a Teacher Training Degree course as a way to both enhance self-direction and assess its development. A thematic analysis of the self-assessments of a sample of 30 students is carried out, and four themes are identified: 1) the degree of authorship, 2) the degree of elaboration, 3) “taking notice of” subtle levels of analysis, and 4) the identification of temporal milestones throughout the course. These themes enable a different pattern of mental complexity to be identified, a complexity which is understood as evidence of students' different degrees of self-direction. The findings are discussed in the light of developmental constructivist theories. In addition, some implications for education regarding the current debates on self-assessment literature are presented.
Assessing the Non-Cognitive Domains
Authors: Crossley James G. M.
Published: July 2016

Good assessment assures attainment and drives learning. In vocational and practical programmes, the important learning outcomes are non-cognitive skills and attitudes - for example, dexterity, situational awareness, professionalism, compassion, or resilience. Unfortunately, these domains are much more difficult to assess. There are three main reasons. First, the constructs themselves are tacit - making them difficult to define. Second, performance is highly variable and situation-specific. Third, significant assessor judgement is required to differentiate between good and poor performance, and this brings subjectivity. The chapter reviews seven existing strategies for addressing these problems: delineating the constructs, using cognitive assessments as a proxy, making the subjective objective, sampling across performances and opinions, using outcome measures as a proxy, using meta-cognition as a proxy, and abandoning the existing measurement paradigm. Given the limitations of these strategies, the author finishes by offering three promising ways forward.
Authentic Assessment
Authors: Iftimescu Simona , Iucu Romiță , Marin Elena , Stîngu Mihaela Monica
Published: July 2016

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze and discuss the concept of authentic assessment at Master's degree level. Firstly, this chapter attempts to provide a better understanding of the Master's program within the context of the Bologna system by providing a short historical perspective on the evolution of the Bologna process, as well as trying to identify the true beneficiaries. The chapter also addresses some of the challenges of the assessment process with two main themes: types and aim of the assessment process. Furthermore, the authors focus on the role of the authentic assessment, at a Master's degree level – as reflected by students' perception and correlated with its intended purpose. Drawing on the findings, the authors attempt to shape a description of what authentic assessment is and what it should be at Master's degree level.
Acute Coronary Syndrome
Authors: Calenda Brandon W. , Gidwani Umesh K.
Published: July 2016

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a common and sometimes lethal event, usually precipitated by sudden rupture and thrombosis of an atherosclerotic plaque. Patients presenting with ACS can be rapidly risk stratified based on signs, symptoms, electrocardiogram, and biomarkers. There is a new generation of potent and reliable antiplatelet drugs, which in concert with anticoagulation and rapid revascularization, can preserve myocardium and save lives. When choosing how to revascularize, hemodynamically stable patients with diabetes mellitus and complex coronary disease benefit more from coronary artery bypass grafting rather than percutaneous coronary intervention. Despite optimal treatment, ACS can result in deadly complications such as cardiogenic shock. Supportive care is paramount, but despite its widespread use, the utility of intraaortic balloon counterpulsation is uncertain. In the future, advanced coronary imaging may enhance preventative care, novel molecular targets will help expand treatment options, and cell-based regenerative therapies may aid myocardial recovery after acute coronary syndrome.
Non-Invasive Data Acquisition and Measurement in Bio-Medical Technology
Authors: Patil H. G. Sandeep , Babu Ajit N. , Ramkumar P. S.
Published: July 2016

Non-invasive medical measurements have expanded into several types of diagnostic and monitoring activities in health care delivery. They are being used in handling a number of non-infectious diseases such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, etc., as well as infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria, etc. Non-Invasive Medical Devices (NIMDs) are naturally preferred over invasive methods considering patient convenience, reduced patient risk, increased speed, and operational simplicity. However non-invasive methods are often perceived to be less accurate than their invasive counterparts. Over the last decade, technological advances and mathematical techniques have improved significantly, challenging this perception across the board. The chapter will discuss this important transformation in health care diagnostics and monitoring. The chapter will also provide further insight into some of the currently available non-invasive measurement products and explore how futuristic techniques and technology trends which have great potential to transform healthcare into a significantly different paradigm than the one we experience today.
Bag-of-Features in Microscopic Images Classification
Authors: Beagum Samsad , Ashour Amira S. , Dey Nilanjan
Published: July 2016

Microscopic image analysis plays a foremost role for understanding biological processes, diagnosis of diseases and cells/ tissues identification. Microscopic image classification is one of the challenging tasks that have a leading role in the medical domain. In this chapter, an overview on different classification techniques elaborated with microscopic images is presented to guide the reader through the advanced knowledge of major quantitative image classification approaches. Applied examples are conducted to classify different Albino rats' samples captured using light microscope for three different organs, namely hippocampus, renal and pancreas. The Bag-of-Features (BoF) technique was employed for features extraction and selection. The BoF selected features were used as input to the multiclass linear support vector machine classifier. The proposed classifier achieved 94.33% average classification accuracy for the three classes. Additionally, for binary classification the achieved average accuracy was 100% for hippocampus and pancreas sets classification.
Intensity-Based Classification and Related Methods in Brain MR Images
Authors: Moraru Luminita , Moldovanu Simona , Biswas Anjan
Published: July 2016

Today, medical image processing and analysis are highly active research fields boosted by rapid technical developments in medical imaging field. This chapter describes common procedures such as thresholding methods and clustering algorithms (both non-hierarchical and hierarchical approaches) used for digital image processing, with specific reference to brain magnetic resonance images. These techniques represent starting points for other sophisticated methods such as segmentation and classification. The results, which are an outcome of these methods, are used for classification of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Pick's, Huntington's or cerebral calcinosis. A number of applications together with the code listing are provided with the aim to make the subject accessible and practical. The MATLAB software will help the readers to identify and choose the best solution for a particular problem.
Active Contour Model for Medical Applications
Authors: Saha Ritam , Bhowmik Mrinal Kanti
Published: July 2016

Recent developments in medical imaging techniques have brought an entirely new research field. Medical images are frequently corrupted by inherent noise and artifacts that could make it difficult to extract accurate information, and hence compromising the quality of clinical examination. So accurate detection is one of the major problems for medical image segmentation. Snakes or Active contour method have gained wide attention in medical image segmentation for a long time. A Snake is an energy-minimizing spline that controlled by an external energy and influenced by image energy that pull it towards features such as lines and edges. One of the key difficulties with traditional active contour algorithms is a large capture range problem. The contribution of this paper is that to in-depth analysis of the existing different contour models and implementation of techniques with minor improvements that to solve the large capture range problem. The experiment results of this model attain high accuracy detection and outperform the classical snake model in terms of efficiency and robustness.
Application of Phage Biotechnology in Nanobiotechnology
Authors: Singleton Rana , Sanders Carrie , Waffo Alain B.
Published: July 2016

To date, the phage display system has enabled the discovery of material binding peptides. Diversity and functionality of these peptides could be improved using RNA-based display systems instead of the conventional DNA-based ones. RNA phage replication systems possess unique features that make them a versatile tool for any combinatory approach and evolutionary application. Phage display was used to monitor the chemical surface properties and to initiate nanoparticle assembly. Novel bio-panning was recently used in RNA-based display to screen new functionality without acidic elution used in other conventional DNA phage display systems. Therefore, Hybrid RNA phages would be a perfect platform for attachment and exploration of nanoparticles. In this chapter, the authors present an overview on research conducted on these cross fields and areas. They not only focus on the novel selection and amplification process but also on the importance of RNA phage and its peptide display as tools for preventing nanoparticle aggregation.
Diagnosis of Angina Using Neuro-Fuzzy Technique
Authors: Vijayachitra S.
Published: July 2016

The majority of people will suffer heart attacks (Dr. A. Abdul Jallel, Personal communication, December 10, 2005). To confirm the disease, patients need to undergo tests like ECG, treadmill, etc., which cost money and time. After heavy expenses and large duration only, they come to know whether they are affected by a heart attack or another disease. To help the people, it is planned to give a suitable solution by an emerging technology called “Neuro-Fuzzy.” The main objective of this chapter is to identify the symptom called “angina,” which is severe chest pain prior to a heart attack. With various symptoms like location of pain, radiation of pain, precipitation of pain, duration of pain, cholesterol, smoking, family history, angina can be diagnosed. After the diagnosis, it is possible to know angina's severity, and based on it, a biopsy is recommended for the affected people.
Automatic Diagnosis of Brain Magnetic Resonance Images Based on Riemannian Geometry
Authors: Gouskir Mohamed , Bouikhalene Belaid , Aissaoui Hicham , Elhadadi Benachir
Published: July 2016

Automated brain tumor detection and segmentation, from medical images, is one of the most challenging. The authors present, in this paper, an automatic diagnosis of brain magnetic resonance image. The goal is to prepare the image of the human brain to locate the existence of abnormal tissues in multi-modal brain magnetic resonance images. The authors start from the image acquisition, reduce information, brain extraction, and then brain region diagnosis. Brain extraction is the most important preprocessing step for automatic brain image analysis. The authors consider the image as residing in a Riemannian space and they based on Riemannian manifold to develop an algorithm to extract brain regions, these regions used in other algorithm to brain tumor detection, segmentation and classification. Riemannian Manifolds show the efficient results to brain extraction and brain analysis for multi-modal resonance magnetic images.
Overview of Clinical Decision Support Systems in Healthcare
Authors: Moon Jane Dominique , Galea Mary P.
Published: July 2016

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are software designed to help clinicians to make decisions about patient diagnosis using technical devices such as desktops, laptops and iPads, and mobile devices, to obtain medical information and set up alert systems to monitor medication. A Clinical Decision Support System has been suggested by many as a key to a solution for improving patient safety together with Physician Based Computer Order Entry. This technology could prove to be very important in conditions such as chronic diseases where health outlay is high and where self-efficacy can affect health outcomes. However, the success of CDSS relies on technology, training and ongoing support. This chapter includes a historical overview and practical application of CDSS in medicine, and discusses challenges involved with implementation of such systems. It discusses new frontiers of CDSS and implications of self-management using social computing technologies, in particular in the management of chronic disease.
Authentication and Error Resilience in Images Transmitted through Open Environment
Authors: Memon Qurban A
Published: July 2016

Nowadays data compression and authentication are believed to be vital to image transmission through heterogeneous infrastructure or storage at a centralized place. Though compression and authentication have independently grown to be matured technologies, but currently integration of these technologies is understood to be a key factor in handling tampering in images transmitted through unsecure channels like cloud. In this chapter, an error-resistant approach is investigated to add to low cost image authentication scheme to increase visual quality as well as improve author and user satisfaction. The image authentication includes content based digital signature that is watermarked and later diffused in the whole image before JPEG2000 coding. To tackle manipulations in the image, edge information of the image is examined to offset manipulations in the image transmission through noisy or open and unsecure channels. The edge image is sent along with JPEG2000 coded image to determine corrupted coefficients. The simulation results are conducted on test images for different values of bit error rate to judge confidence in error concealment within the received images.
Multimodal Indexing and Information Retrieval in Medical Image Mammographies
Authors: Sidhom Sahbi , Bourkache Noureddine , Laghrouche Mourad
Published: July 2016

In this chapter, we propose a new indexing approach on medical “image scanner” databases combining the analysis process of the texture characteristics with the information contents. The proposed model is based on the digital image components using the vector of characteristics. This vector represent the morphological processing result on image texture. It is linked to semantic attributes of the image using the annotations of medical professionals. Our context of study is based on “Mammographic Image Analysis” (MIAS) in databases. The first aspect concerning the morphology processing on images called the “numerical signature” vector. In our approach, the image analysis of the texture is based on the Gabor Wavelets (or Filters) Theory. In offline processing for each image in MIAS databases, the Gabor Wavelets determine all numerical signatures: vectors of image characteristics as multi-index. In online, the query by image is in real-time processing to define the query signature (or image-query vectors) and to determine similarities by matching of multi-index with all images in databases. The similarities are built between the image-query and images in MIAS databases using the same Gabors' algorithms implemented. In order to evaluate the robustness of our system (based on multi-index, semantic attributes, query and information retrieval by image), we experiment with a controlled database of 320 mammographies. The performance results show a set of successful criteria in image representations based on the Gabor's Wavelets, semantic attributes and combining with significant ratios in the system recall and precision.
New Diagnostic and Monitoring Method for Osteoporosis
Authors: Panteliou Sofia
Published: July 2016

Osteoporosis is chronic disease affecting most postmenopausal females and 30% of males with biological, behavioral and financial consequences. A non invasive method to assess bone structural integrity is presented, based on in-vitro or in-vivo measurement of bone dynamic characteristics (Modal Damping Factor) by applying vibration excitation in the range of acoustic frequencies, in the form of an acoustic sweep signal. This method has been applied on metallic structures and composites, including bones, and is supported by analytical and arithmetic tool based on model's theory. Experimental MDF results are compared to results acquired with conventional methods for bone quality assessment and show impressive correlations between damping factor and indices of bone quality in an advantageous manner. Evaluation of these research findings strengthens the potential of the proposed method to consist a valuable assessment tool for diagnosis and monitoring of bone integrity, in metabolic bone diseases, especially osteoporosis.
The Combination of Adaptive Filters to Improve the Quality of Medical Images in New Wavelet Domain
Authors: Binh Nguyen Thanh , Tuyet Vo Thi Hong
Published: July 2016

Most of medical images not only have noise but also have blur. This problem reduces the quality of images and influences diagnostic process of medical specialists because a small detail in a medical image is very useful for treatment process. This chapter explores the new generation wavelets, which provides the basic framework for the development of adaptive techniques to improve the quality of medical images. The process of the method for improving medical images includes: decompose of medical images in nonsubsampled contourlet domain and calculate the coefficients of Bayesian thresholding combined with Lucy Richard to reconstruct the medical images. For demonstrating the superiority of the method, the results of the proposed method are compared with the results of the other methods in new generation wavelet domain.
Performance Analysis of Multiple FEC Channel Coding Algorithms for Software Defined Radio Using Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
Authors: Marriwala Nikhil , Sahu O. P. , Vohra Anil
Published: July 2016

This paper describes the development of a Software Defined Radio (SDR)-based Transceiver simulation model using Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) Scheme and analyze its performance using Forward Error Correction (FEC) channel coding algorithms namely the Convolution and the Turbo Codes. This model efficiently evaluates the performance of high data rate multi array M-QAM, schemes. The performance of these FEC codes is evaluated when the system is subjected to noise and interference in the channel. In this design Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel has been considered. The design is analyzed using Bit Error Rate (BER) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for different M-QAM techniques. The simulation results give a possible solution for future SDR systems which may be used in various wireless communication systems. An experimental result shows that the QAM transceiver achieves the transmission of data at high level accurately. FEC Channel coding scheme is used wherever the re-transmission of the data is not feasible. On the receiver side, this channel coded signal is decoded in order to get back the original data even if the channel coded signal undergoes some interference from the noise in the transmission medium. The Performance is then analyzed in terms of BER for Convolution Coding and Turbo Coding algorithm at a particular value of SNR in LabVIEW graphical programming. Finally, comparison has been drawn based on different parameters between the existing SDR system and the proposed design in this paper to analyze and highlight the effectiveness of the proposed SDR design.
An Improved Secure SIP Registration Mechanism to Avoid VoIP Threats
Authors: Rasol Mohammed , Al Kasasbeh Bassam , Al Adwan Farah
Published: July 2016

The session initiation protocol is one the most popular protocols that is used in Internet protocol multimedia subsystems and adopted by a wide range of networking vendors. This research suggests a secure distributed session initiation protocol-based architectural model that can be deployed in service provider data centers to maintain the service availability, scalability, and security. This research proposes a secure session initiation protocol model. It called the redundant session initiation protocol model, and used to stop denial of service attacks. The proposed techniques should provide robust and secure implementations against today's vulnerabilities. The primary consideration of the predefined network is to acquire reliable mechanisms that handle the private information regarding legitimate users. The authors tried to suggest a secure distributed SIP registration mechanism that can be deployed in service provider data centers to maintain the service availability, security and reduce SIP attacks like IP spoofing.
Applying the Updated Delone and Mclean is Success Model for Enterprise Cloud Computing Readiness
Authors: Sabri Omar
Published: July 2016

One of the most technological trends that enables on demand sharing of resources through Internet is Cloud Computing. It is a collection of hardware, software, storage, and services which are efficiently utilized to enhance business agility through reducing communication and computing costs. Although there are many advantages of cloud computing, organizations concern of the negative outcomes that may result when employing this technology. In this paper the author aims to find some factors to be considered by the organization before employing cloud computing technology. To achieve this goal the author used DeLone and McLean successes model that provides a comprehensive framework for measuring IS success. The model will enable the organization to spot the weakness and strength for each factor and in turn to make suitable decision toward a successful implementation of Cloud Computing.
Investigating the Determinants of IT Professionals' Intention to Use Cloud-Based Applications and Solutions
Authors: Al-Somali Sabah , Baghabra Hanan
Published: July 2016

Using a sample of 155 IT professionals from private and government organisations in Saudi Arabia, the authors tested a model of cloud-based applications adoption that is influenced by individual characteristics (represented by personal innovativeness in the domain of IT), organisational context (represented by the accessibility of the technology), technological context (represented by perceived vulnerabilities) and social context (represented by social image). The model explained 74% of the intention to use cloud-based applications. The findings show that accessibility of the technology, perceived vulnerabilities, individual characteristics and social image are all important determinants for using cloud applications and solutions. The findings will potentially contribute to research and practice by revealing the crucial factors that will impact IT professionals' intention to adopt cloud computing in the context of developing countries in the Arab world. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are presented.
Moving Vehicles Detection in Traffic Video Using Modified SXCS-LBP Texture Descriptor
Authors: Arun Kumar H. D.  , Prabhakar C. J.
Published: July 2016

Background modeling and subtraction based method for moving vehicle's detection in traffic video using a novel texture descriptor called as Modified Spatially eXtended Center Symmetric Local Binary Pattern (Modified SXCS-LBP) descriptor. The XCS-LBP texture descriptor is sensitive to noise because in order to generate binary code, the value of center pixel value is used as the threshold directly, and it does not consider temporal motion information. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposed a novel texture descriptor called as Modified SXCS-LBP descriptor for moving vehicle detection based on background modeling and subtraction. The proposed descriptor is robust against noise, illumination variation, and able to detect slow moving vehicles because it considers both spatial and temporal moving information. The evaluation carried out using precision and recall metric, which are obtained using experiments conducted on two popular datasets such as BMC and CDnet datasets. The experimental result shows that the authors' method outperforms existing texture and non-texture based methods.
Fuzzy Shape of Objects in Images with Similarity Measure for Image Retrieval Applications
Authors: Sumathy P. , Shanmugavadivu P. , Vadivel A.
Published: July 2016

The object present in an image is an important content and can be used in CBIR applications. Identifying and representing the shape of the object is highly complex because there are uncertainties in the boundary of the object of interest. In this paper, the authors have proposed Fuzzy-Object-Shape to capture the shape of the object of interest along with the degree of impreciseness in the boundary information. The Fuzzy-Object-Shape information is extracted from each object in an image. This information provides a measure of closeness of the object of interest with well-known shapes. For each object, the fuzzy membership values are calculated and considered as feature vector. A similarity measure is proposed for measuring the degree of closeness of objects present in both query and database images. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with some of the recently proposed similar approaches. Benchmark dataset and uncontrolled dataset are used for the experiments and found that the performance of the proposed approach is encouraging.
TÉCNICAS ESTATÍSTICAS PARA A HOMOGENEIZAÇÃO DE DADOS DE TEMPERATURA EM SÉRIES TEMPORAIS CLIMATOLÓGICAS ( STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR TEMPERATURE DATA HOMOGENIZATION IN CLIMATOLOGICAL TIME SERIES)
Authors: Fante Karime Pechutti , Sant'Anna Neto João Lima
Published: July 2016

O presente artigo tem como objetivo discutir os limites e possibilidades da eficácia da utilização de técnicas estatísticas para o preenchimento de falhas e homogeneização de séries temporais climatológicas. Por meio de testes de quatro técnicas (regressão linear, ponderação regional, técnica de Pinto e Alfonsi (1974), e técnica de Pinto e Alfonsi (1974) com compensação de dados de estação apoio (FANTE, 2014), o artigo buscou avaliar quais os métodos que apresentaram os melhores resultados e que simularam os valores mais próximos do real. Para tanto foi utilizado para esta análise o conjunto de dados mensais de temperatura máxima e mínima da estação meteorológica de Piracicaba/SP (ESALQ/USP), entre os anos de 2001 e 2011. Os melhores resultados foram alcançados pela Ponderação Regional, tanto para as temperaturas máximas (somatório de erros de 3,8°C) e também para temperaturas mínimas (somatório de erros de 6,1°C), demonstrando a eficiência e confiabilidade na estimativa de dados climatológicos faltantes por técnicas estatísticas; em seguida ressalta-se a técnica consagrada por Pinto e Alfonsi (1974) com compensação de dados de estação apoio (FANTE, 2014), com os resultados da somatória de erros de 5,1°C para as máximas e 7,8°C para as mínimas; posteriormente, a técnica de Pinto e Alfonsi (1974) com o total de erros de 12,1°C e 9,8°C para as temperaturas máximas mínimas, respectivamente; e por último a técnica de regressão linear que apresentou os resultados menos confiáveis, os mais discrepantes do real, com o somatório de erros de 20°C para as temperaturas máximas e 12,2°C para as temperaturas mínimas.
COMPORTAMENTO DAS SÉRIES TEMPORAIS DE TEMPERATURA DO AR, UMIDADE E PRECIPITAÇÃO PLUVIOMÉTRICA NO MUNICÍPIO DE ARIQUEMES (RONDÔNIA-BRASIL) (AIR TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY AND RAINY PRECIPITATION TIME SERIES BEHAVIOR IN ARIQUEMES TOWN (RONDÔNIA, BRAZIL))
Authors: Carvalho Roberto Luís da Silva , Nascimento Bruno Irineu Silva do , Querino Carlos Alexandre Santos , Silva Marcelo José Gama da , Delgado Angel Ramon Sanchez
Published: July 2016

Variáveis meteorológicas são extremamente importantes para o entendimento do clima de uma determinada região, pois com o estudo delas é possível, por exemplo, mapear os riscos de eventos extremos climáticos ou identificar melhores épocas de plantio. Neste sentido, o objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar as séries temporais referentes à temperatura do ar, umidade relativa e precipitação pluviométrica, no município de Ariquemes (RO), verificando os aspectos de sazonalidade e/ou tendência. Foram utilizados os dados disponibilizados pelo Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia – INMET e registrados pela estação Meteorológica Automática de Ariquemes/RO, no período de dezembro de 2010 até fevereiro de 2014. Os dados foram tratados e posteriormente analisados por softwares apropriados para a tabulação e análise estatística. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma análise exploratória de dados para identificar os valores médios observados, bem como os valores de máximo e mínimo para o período. A seguir, foram ajustados modelos individuais sazonais autoregressivos integrados de médias móveis – SARIMA para as séries temporais. Dentre os resultados, foi possível identificar os padrões existentes nas séries temporais que ajudarão a compreender a climatologia da região. Constatou-se ainda, que o modelo SARIMA é apropriado para o trabalho com as séries temporais de temperatura e umidade relativa do ar, não observando a mesma eficiência para a precipitação.
EFEITOS DO CLIMA NA SAÚDE: ANÁLISE DAS INTERNAÇÕES DE CRIANÇAS MENORES DE CINCO ANOS POR PNEUMONIA NO MUNICÍPIO DE PONTA GROSSA – PR (INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON HUMAN HEALTH: ANALYSIS OF HOSPITALIZATIONS OVER PNEUMONIA FOR CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OLD IN PONTA GROSSA/PR)
Authors: Pontes Catherine Copas , Leite Maysa Lima , Virgens Filho Jorim Sousa , Galvão Natália
Published: July 2016

Durante anos vem se estudando a influência que o clima tem sobre a saúde humana e sabe-se que a variação climática é capaz de influenciar a incidência de patologias no ser. A partir disso, o objetivo desse trabalho foi quantificar e avaliar doenças do aparelho respiratório em relação a algumas variáveis climáticas (temperatura do ar, precipitação pluviométrica e umidade relativa do ar) no município de Ponta Grossa – PR, no período de 1998 a 2013. Dentro das DAR, pode-se observar uma grande relevância da pneumonia nas taxas de internações, uma vez que ela representa cerca de 66% do total das doenças respiratórias no município. Sendo assim, foram elaboradas taxas de internações de pneumonia e confrontadas com as variáveis climáticas para realização dos testes de correlação de Pearson e de regressão linear múltipla. Dentre essas variáveis climáticas a que se mostrou mais correlacionada à pneumonia foi a temperatura mínima com elevada significância estatística (p=0,0001). Já com a regressão linear múltipla obteve-se resultados importantes quando relacionadas as taxas de internações de pneumonia às três variáveis climáticas, tendo um R2 de 0,9746 altamente significativo (p=0,0001) para o modelo anual.
Red Pigment Content and Expression of Genes Related to Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Radishes (Raphanus sativus L.) with Different Colored Flesh
Authors: Chen F. B. , Xing C. Y. , Huo S. P. , Cao C. L. , Yao Q. L. , Fang P.
Published: July 2016

Radish with red skin and red flesh (Raphanus sativus) is a unique vegetable containing large amounts of a red pigment, which is widely used in foods, wine, and cosmetics. To investigate the gene or genes that play a key role in anthocyanin biosynthesis in radish with red skin and red flesh, the red pigment content and expression of genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis of 16 varieties with different colored flesh were studied. The expression level of the genes RsPAL, RsCHS, RsCHI, RsDFR, RsF3H, RsF3'H, and RsANS in radish with red skin and red flesh are all significantly higher than that of radish with white skin and white flesh, radish with red skin and white flesh, radish with green skin and pinky flesh, and radish with red skin and pinky flesh. Correlation analysis indicated that the gene expression level of RsDFR, RsF3H, RsCHS, RsANS, RsF3'H, RsCHI, and RsPAL showed remarkable positive and significant correlation to red pigment content of radish. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the gene expression level of RsDFR had the highest and significant direct effect (0.8932) on red pigment content of radish. The results indicated that (1) the red pigment content of radish is closely related to the increased expression of a number of structural genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis, (2) the RsDFR gene plays a key role in anthocyanin biosynthesis in red radish with red flesh, and (3) RsDFR might be one of the best targets in genetic engineering for anthocyanin production from radish and other plants.